News Story not available This story has been published on: 2022-10-23. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. This story is no longer available on our site. , , , , . Next on the To-Do List: Ikigai Many moons ago, I worked as a career counselor, first for a college and then for a nonprofit in a... Voters need a third option at the polls I ran for a public office a few years ago. After winning a battle with Genesee County Parks the NRA... Wendy Wolcott best choice for Mott College We have a very special candidate running for Mott Community College Board of Trustees in Wendy Wolcott. Mrs. Wolcott is... Smith and Goyette are not fine men I am responding to Tamara Carlones editorial regarding Davison School Board members Matthew Smith and Nicholas Goyette. I disagree with... The legislation that Gov. Chris Christie supports already has cleared one legislative hurdle, but Democrats in the Legislature won't allow a vote on it. Sound familiar? This time the goal is not rescuing a failed city, but reforming a bi-state agency desperately needing it. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the transit facilities connecting the two states and since 2013 has managed Atlantic City International Airport, has been widely criticized for multiple toll hikes and the Bridgegate lane-closure scandal. Reformers consider it a four-headed monster, with its officials divided up by the two political parties in two states. New York legislators and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo have enacted a reform law that would give the authority one board-appointed chief executive. It would also strengthen rules on open records, public hearings and conflicts of interest. But to take effect, the exact same law must be passed and signed in New Jersey as well. Rather than allow a vote on that law, the Democrats in Trenton have passed their own, differing version. It would keep many of the New York reforms, but throw out a reform to the internal affairs process for Port Authority union police officers. It would also give legislators in each state the power to make Port Authority officials appear before them (grandstanding hearings, anyone?), and require more independent oversight of capital projects. That last element is important because the Port Authority is about to embark on two massive projects involving tens of billions of dollars: replacing its dysfunctional bus terminal in New York City and participating in the federal creation of a new Gateway tunnel. Unfortunately, the more the N.J. Legislature deviates from the Port Authority reforms already enacted by New York's governor and legislators, the less likely their reforms would clear New York in time to help on these major projects - if ever. Republican Sen. Tom Kean, whose reform bill matches that enacted in New York and is favored by Christie, says the Democratic version has "zero chance of becoming law" because Cuomo and Christie have indicated their support for the New York version. Christie is expected to conditionally veto the reform bill Democrats sent him last week, demanding a version that matches New York's. This is an instance in which either of the competing reforms will accomplish what's needed and would be welcome. However New Jersey officials decide the matter, they'd better make sure the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is reformed very soon. Too much is at stake. Our view R Sridharan, president of AIPIMA and Vimal Mehra, past-president of AIPIMA, in this interaction, say, the association is doing all it can to... For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME. Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire. Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever. Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation. View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union. Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history. Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words. DUBLIN, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Herbicides China News" newsletter to their offering. As a whole, China's herbicide market has no significant rebound in March 2016. The price still falls steadily. In particularly, the price declines of glyphosate and paraquat drag down the overall market price of herbicides. In detail, the domestic overcapacity, changed policies both at home and abroad, the outstanding resistance problems and stricter environmental acquirements made glyphosate market depressed. As the paraquat AS about to be banned in China, the transactions and demand for paraquat gradually reduce, pulling down the market price. Nowadays, the overseas demand becomes the major sales direction for China's paraquat industry. Although the development and promotion of non-AS paraquat cannot improve the sluggish paraquat market currently, industry insiders still hold wait-and-see attitude towards the substitute market for paraquat AS. Although the performance of some enterprises are hit by glyphosate and paraquat, some herbicides like glufosinate-ammonium and dicamba offset the negatives to some extent. For instance, that Lier Chemical expanded glufosinate-ammonium capacity helped increase the 2015 net profit by 49.82% year on year. Glufosinate-ammonium helped improve Lier Chemical's market influence and comprehensive competitiveness, enhancing its overall profitability. Thanks to the growing of the dicamba business, Jiangsu Yangnong's performance had not been seriously dragged down by the declining glyphosate price. Companies Mentioned - Lier Chemical Co., Ltd. - Zhejiang Shenghua Biok Biology Co., Ltd. - Shenzhen Noposion Agrochemicals Co., Ltd. - Nantong Jiangshan Agrochemical & Chemical Co., Ltd. For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/rxmr4j/herbicides_china Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com SOURCE Research and Markets ALBANY, New York, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Transparency Market Research (http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com ) has released a new market report titled "Global Bioenergy Market, by Product Type (Bioethanol, Biodiesel, Biogas, and Others) and by Application Type (Cooking, Off-grid Electricity Supply, Transportation, and Others) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth Trends, and Forecast, 2016-2024." According to this report, the global bioenergy market was valued at US$168.18 Bn in 2016 and is projected to reach US$ 246.52 Bn by 2024 at a CAGR of 4.90% from 2016 to 2024. The global bioenergy market is undergoing constant evolution to provide its users some of the most dependable and advanced solutions. Bioenergy refers to renewable energy that is generated from materials derived from biological sources. For instance, biomass is a source of bioenergy that may include manure, wood, waste, straw, sugarcane, and many such byproducts. Bioenergy is the single largest renewable energy source today, providing 10% of world's primary energy supply. It plays a significant role in several developing countries, where it provides basic energy for cooking and space heating. The deployment of advanced biomass cooking stoves, clean fuels, and additional off-grid biomass electricity supply in developing countries are key measures to improve the current situation and achieve universal access to clean energy. Get free research PDF for more Professional and Technical insights: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=10352 The bioenergy market has been segmented on the basis of product type, application, and region. In terms of product type, bioethanol and biodiesel together held about 77% share in 2015; bioethanol is used in large quantities as compared to other biofuels. High oil prices, constricted energy markets, and indications about climate change are among the reasons for policy makers around the world to support the production and use of alternative, renewable energy sources such as bioenergy. Agricultural commodities such as maize are now being used to produce biofuels, bio heat, and bio power which are the components of the bioenergy market. The bioenergy industry helps in the development of areas such as scientific developments, environmental effects, energy balances, and agricultural market economics. The bioenergy market is broadly classified into biofuels and biogas. Biofuels consists of bioethanol and biodiesel. Biogas is produced by processing residual waste from livestock (dung, manure, and unconsumed food), food production (fruit and vegetable waste, residues from meat, fish and dairy processing, brewery waste, food waste), and effluents from industrial as well as municipal wastewater treatment plants. Bioethanol in the biofuel segment is mainly produced by the sugar fermentation process, although it can also be manufactured by the chemical process of reacting ethylene with steam. Biodiesel is a clean burning renewable fuel made using natural vegetable oils and fats. Biodiesel is made through a chemical process which converts oils and fats of natural origin into fatty acid methyl esters. Browse Full Research Report with ToC & Free Analysis: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/global-bioenergy-market.html Bioenergy market in North America is increasing due to the stringent emission norms in the region. U.S. in North America is anticipated to lead the production of bioethanol during the forecast period whereas Germany in Europe is expected to lead the biogas production from 2016 to 2024.The bioenergy market in Europe is anticipated to grow due to favorable subsidization schemes regulated by government in countries such as the Germany, France, the U.K., and Sweden related to bioenergy use and production. Major EU directives, commonly known as the Promotion of Renewable Electricity, Biofuels and Landfill Directives, along with the European Emissions Trading Scheme and parts of the Common Agricultural Policy, are some of the most important drivers behind the growth of bioenergy in the European Union. Increase in demand for electricity due to high population growth has resulted in more efficient and clean energy solutions across the emerging economies in Asia Pacific. This has spurred investments in bioenergy industry. Countries such as India and China are focusing more on effective utilization of bioenergy in the application areas of manufacturing, off-grid electricity supply, and transportation. This would increase the demand for bioenergy market during the forecast period. Energy authorities in the regions of Latin America and South Africa are focusing on clean energy projects. Through these projects, bioenergy production would integrate energy efficiency by the means of distribution and transmission process. Brazil accounts for the majority of global bioethanol production after U.S. International trade in ethanol is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade, mainly with exports from Brazil to the US and EU. The bioenergy market has been segmented as follows: Bioenergy Market: By Product Type Bioethanol Biodiesel Biogas Others Bioenergy Market: By Application Type Cooking Off-grid Electricity Supply Transportation Others Bioenergy Market: By Region North America U.S. Canada Mexico Europe Germany U.K. France Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China India Japan Rest of Asia Pacific Rest of World Brazil Argentina Mozambique Others Research Press Release: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/global-bioenergy-market.htm Browse Other Research Reports: Biopower Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/biopower-market.html Blowout Preventer (BOP) Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/blowout-preventer-market.html About TMR Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The company's exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. TMR's data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports. Contact Transparency Market Research Mr. Sudip S State Tower 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany NY - 12207 United States Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Blog: http://www.tmrblog.com/ SOURCE Transparency Market Research DUBLIN, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Japan Diabetes Market Report: Patients, Prevalence, Oral Antidiabetics, Insulin and Diagnostics" report to their offering. Our new report Japan Diabetes Market Report: Patients, Prevalence, Oral Antidiabetics, Insulin and Diagnostics provides an analytical and statistical insight into the Japanese diabetes market. The report provides both current and future trends in the prevalence, demographical breakup, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes in Japan. The research study serves as an exceptional tool to understand the epidemiology, market trends, therapeutic structure, competitive structure and the outlook of the Japan diabetes market. This report can serve as an excellent guide for investors, researchers, consultants, marketing strategists and all those who are planning to foray into the Japan diabetes market in any form. Focus of the Analysis: Historical, current and future prevalence of diabetes in Japan Historical, current and future prevalence of type-1 and type-2 diabetes in Japan Historical, current and future prevalence of diabetes in the urban and rural regions in Japan Historical, current and future prevalence of diabetes among males and females in Japan Historical, current and future prevalence of diabetes among various age groups in Japan Historical, current and future diagnosis rates for diabetes in Japan Historical, current and future drug treatment rates for diabetes in Japan Comprehensive situation analysis of the Japanese Oral Antidiabetics market and its dynamics: Key Topics Covered: 1 Research Methodology 2 Executive Summary 3 Diabetes Disease Overview 3.1 What is Diabetes? 3.2 Diabetes Diagnosis and Treatment 3.2.1 Diagnosis 3.2.2 Treatment 3.3 Diabetes Complications 4 Key Factors Driving the Diabetes Market in Japan 5 Japan Diabetes Epidemiology 5.1 Diabetes Population and Prevalence Rates 5.2 Population and Prevalence Rates by Diabetes Type (Type-1 and Type-2) 5.3 Population and Prevalence Rates by Region 5.4 Population and Prevalence Rates by Gender 5.5 Population and Prevalence Rates by Age Group 5.6 Diabetes Diagnosis and Drug Treatment Rates 6 Japan Diabetes Market 6.1 Historical Market Trends 6.2 Market Outlook 6.3 Market Breakup by Segment 6.4 Japan Oral Antidiabetics Market 6.4.1 Historical Market Trends 6.4.2 Market Breakup by Class 6.4.3 Market Shares of Key Players 6.4.4 Market Outlook 6.5 Japan Insulin Market 6.5.1 Historical Market Trends 6.5.2 Market Breakup by Class 6.5.3 Market Shares of Key Players 6.5.4 Market Outlook 7 Japan Diabetes Diagnostics Market 7.1 Historical Market Trends 7.2 Market Segmentation 7.1 Key Players For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/gvhvf6/japan_diabetes Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com SOURCE Research and Markets AUSTIN, Texas, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- RxWiki, Inc., a rapidly growing eHealth company connecting pharmacies and patients through its Digital Pharmacist SaaS platform, revealed today that forty percent of patients who request a digital refill through its 1,300 private label websites and mobile apps, do so outside of the core 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. business hours. Twenty percent of patients order their web or mobile prescription refill from their community pharmacist after 9:00 p.m. at night. RxWiki also reports that digital refills among community pharmacies are growing rapidly, refills are up 1,262% from March 2015 to March 2016. The first week of April 2016 saw a record number of digital refill requests among community pharmacies using the Digital Pharmacist platform. "RxWiki's Digital Pharmacist platform is helping community pharmacies compete against national pharmacy chains. Patients can now engage with their community pharmacy's content and order prescription refills 24/7," said Chris Loughlin, chief executive officer of RxWiki. Denise McDaniel, head of marketing at Bellard's Pharmacy, commented on how RxWiki's Digital Pharmacist platform is helping Bellard's improve productivity and service, "Our patients are completing refills via our app and website at all times of day and night. When our Pharmacists come to work each morning, they'll take care of all of those overnight e-refills, giving them more time during the day to get out in front of the counter and engage with patients." For more information and to learn how community pharmacies across the nation are going digital, visit the www.digitalpharmacist.com blog. Data was collected on an anonymous basis from 716 digital prescriptions from 4:41 p.m. CDT on April 6, 2016 to 5:02 p.m. CDT on April 8, 2016. About RxWiki RxWiki, Inc., is a rapidly growing eHealth company connecting pharmacies and patients through its Digital Pharmacist SaaS platform (www.digitalpharmacist.com) and RxWiki consumer brand (www.rxwiki.com). The Digital Pharmacist SaaS platform enables over 1,300 specialty and community pharmacy websites, mobile applications and email newsletters. Patients can request refills and obtain the latest information about their medication through pharmacy branded websites and mobile apps. RxWiki.com is a medication information website edited and approved by pharmacists, with over 20,000 original articles, 7,500 health-related videos, 100 disease condition channels and co-pay assistance programs. More than 5,000 community pharmacies syndicate RxWiki's content to engage with patients on social media and increase their brand awareness. RxWiki, Inc. completed a series A funding in October, 2015, raising $5.75 million from investors including LiveOak Venture Partners and Milestone Venture Partners LP. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas. SOURCE RxWiki, Inc. Related Links http://www.rxwiki.com NEW YORK, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Keeping a pulse on market trends is an important growth strategy for owners that are looking to grow their small business. Understanding the competitive landscape is equally important if you are competing in a market that is heavily saturated with alternatives for consumers. Luckily, it can be easy to track your competition without spending a lot of time and money. In an effort to help small businesses understand how simple competitive analysis can be, PR Newswire's Small Business PR Toolkit contributing author Penny Sansevieri provides the following five tools: Google. Sansevieri suggests you start with the basics and run a Google search of your market. Identify who the key players are and compile a running list. Once you have the list of your competitors, visit their sites to sign up for their newsletters and follow them on social media. This will help you to measure their strengths and weaknesses and gain insight into your very own. Industry events. Attending industry events is not only a great way to better understand your industry, but you might even have the opportunity to meet your competitors that you've been following online. Keep an ear out for the questions that crop up during the Q&A since they might generate ideas for new blog topics and marketing messages. For discussion on the three remaining competitive analysis tools, read Sansevieri's post, "Stay One Step Ahead of your Competition" here. PR Newswire's Small Business PR Toolkit is a comprehensive resource that provides small businesses and entrepreneurs the tools to develop an affordable public relations and marketing plan that helps generate interest from potential customers, engage with key audiences and grow their businesses. The toolkit features relevant content such as informative white papers, interactive webinars and how-to articles and premium access to educational resources, as well as the opportunity to take advantage of special offers designed specifically for small businesses. To request information on how PR Newswire can help your small business, click here. You can receive updates on new Small Business PR Toolkit content by following @prnsmallbiz on Twitter. About PR Newswire PR Newswire (www.prnewswire.com) is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms that enable marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers to leverage content to engage with all their key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry over 60 years ago, PR Newswire today provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimize and target content -- from rich media to online video to multimedia -- and then distribute content and measure results across traditional, digital, mobile and social channels. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, and is a UBM plc company. Contact: Amanda Eldridge Director, Strategic Channels 201-360-6906 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110831/NY59180LOGO SOURCE PR Newswire Association LLC Related Links http://www.prnewswire.com NEW YORK, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Overview The aim of this report is to provide the fullest practical information on the current lending programs for the small and medium-sized businesses. The report provides information on those banks that have lending programs for the small and medium-sized businesses. The list of lending programs, by which one can obtain financing, includes foreign banks, Russian banks. All programs presented in this study are actually operating current programs. Analysis and interviews with officials of the banks were carried out for each of the banks included in the review. In addition, the report gives a considerable amount of information on the condition of the banking system over the last year, which allows to understand current trends in the banking system and provides an opportunity to be on the wavelength with the loan officers when obtaining loans. The annexes to the report also show complete, detailed and relevant factual information on the characteristics of the banking sector of the RF and the main financial and economic parameters of the Russian economy (See table of contents for detailed information included in the annexes). For more information or if you need assistance in obtaining financing, our staff is always ready to help you. Our experts have extensive experience in fund raising both the banking and private, we specialize in problems of financial modeling, strategic analysis and corporate financing. Excerpts from the study: In the 3rd quarter of 2015 (on 01/10/2015), the portfolio of loans to small and medium-sized businesses for the first time since the beginning of 2015 showed an increase of up to x trillion. rub. This corresponds to xx% compared with the data on 01/07/2015. This is due to change in July 2015 the criteria for inclusion of legal entities to small and medium-sized businesses. Without taking into account this classification, the portfolio of loans to small and medium-sized businesses by the end of the 3rd quarter of 2015 could be reduced. That is due to the stabilization of the economic situation and decline in the key rate of the Central Bank in the 1st half. The volume of Q315 loans to small and medium enterprises amounted to xx trillion. rubles. This is xx% less than the results of the same quarter of last year. At the same rate of reduction has slowed down the issuance. During the Q215 it was minus xx%. Banks of the TOP30 in terms of assets in the Q315 was given xx% more loans to small and medium-sized businesses than in Q215. Compared with last year, the loan portfolio of SME large banks fell by xx%, and the portfolio of other banks increased by xx%. The greatest reduction of the TOP10 banks showed "PromSvyazBank" (xx%). The Bank moved into four lines down to x-th position. Place in the TOP3 ranked bank "Peresvet". The most impressive growth rate of the portfolio of the TOP30 showed "Zenit" Bank (+xx%). Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p03700239-summary/view-report.html About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. http://www.reportlinker.com __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Arab American Institute Foundation will present the 2016 Kahlil Gibran "Spirit of Humanity" Awards on April 19. Award for International Commitment UNHCR is the world's leader in responding to humanitarian devastation resulting from conflict. "As we respond to the most significant global challenge we've faced since World War II, it's critically important to keep the voices of the millions who've been displaced, at the forefront. What they expect, and what they deserve is safety, dignity and a future." - Kelly T. Clements, Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Alek Wek, supermodel, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and former refugee, will present UNHCR's award. "My story is proof that refugees are all around us. What they want, is what anyone wants, health; education; jobs and a future. When so many millions are struggling for survival, the work of UNHCR has never been more important and more rightly recognized." Wek Award for Institutional Excellence United Lebanon Youth Project has reached thousands of youth with quality programs for low income children including Palestinian and Syrian refugees. "Gibran's message of inclusion and triumph is one that ULYP fully embraces. Indeed, in these challenging times for Lebanon and our region, education is the key for inclusion and truly the only viable way forward." - Melek El Nimr, ULYP Founder Special Recognition Jamie Farr is a distinguished Arab American actor and philanthropist most remembered for his portrayal of MASH's Corporal Klinger. "Comedy, when done well, not only makes us smile, it brings us comfort, breaks down stereotypes and joins us. I just hope I made you laugh, left you lighter and maybe taught you something in the process." - Jamie Farr Syrian violinist Mariela Shaker fled Aleppo in 2013 and will perform. "Anytime I can share my love of music while promoting a better understanding of who refugees are and what they can contribute, I will step forward." - Shaker The Kahlil Gibran "Spirit of Humanity" Awards are named for the author of The Prophet and recognize those who promote inclusion. A not-for-profit affiliate of the Arab American Institute, the Foundation recognizes and celebrates Arab American participation in civic life. WHAT: 18th Kahlil Gibran "Spirit of Humanity" Awards WHEN: Tuesday, April 19, Reception 5:30PM/Dinner 6:30PM WHERE: Omni Shoreham, 2500 Calvert St, NW SOURCE Arab American Institute Foundation WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- When politicians in Washington decide to send our troops into battle overseas, a promise is made. Our armed forces risk life and limb to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies," and in exchange they will be taken care of when they return. Now, some Koch-backed politicians on Capitol Hill are trying to break that promise to our veterans and sell them out to private, for-profit VA providers. And unless we do something about it, they just might succeed. Let me explain. Veterans' health care is on the verge of being sold to the lowest bidder. Original Op-Ed by AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. appears on The Daily Kos In 2014, the "secret waitlist" scandal rocked the VA. As millions of new veterans returned home from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, too few caregivers were hired to meet the demand. After months of work by veterans' groups and our union, Congress finally agreed to fund the VA and fill the care gap. The VA has made slow but steady progress ever since: adding 13,940 additional health care staffers, completing more than 97 percent of appointments within 30 days, reducing veteran unemployment to its lowest level in seven years, and increasing night and weekend clinical hours for veterans by 5.7 percent. Despite the progress in the intervening two years, a well-funded conspiracy of anti-government groups and politicians have plotted a strategy to exploit the waitlist issue and privatize the VA for good. The Koch Brothers' fake veterans' group, Concerned Veterans for America, and their mouthpieces in Congress launched a brutal smear campaign against the VA, painting it as a hapless bureaucracy that could never be fixed. The reality, of course, could not be further from the truth. According to a recent Vet Voice Foundation survey of veterans, 64% were opposed to privatizing VA medical centers and services. When asked whether they would like a voucher in place of their coordinated VA care, an overwhelming 80% of respondents said no. This is in addition to staunch opposition to privatization by the eight largest veterans' organizations in the country. You'd think with veterans, their service organizations, and VA caregivers agreeing that the VA must stay, we would be working toward making it better, not tearing it down. Unfortunately, big-money insider politics has infected Washington's effort to improve the VA and turned it into an all-out attempt to eliminate the system that 9 million veterans depend on for their care. The most imminent threat emerged just last month out of the so-called "Commission on Care," a group of political appointees tasked with developing recommendations for improving veterans' health care. Despite what its gentle name might suggest, this is no "independent" blue ribbon commission; it is rife with glaring conflicts of interest and undue political influence that make it a better tool for self-enrichment than helping veterans. Of the 15 Commission appointees, four are high-level private hospital executives that stand to profit from privatization. One is openly on the payroll of the Koch-funded Concerned Veterans for America. Even worse, not a single mainstream Veterans Service Organization like the American Legion or Disabled American Veterans you know, the veterans who will actually be forced to live with the group's decisions have a seat at the table. Plain and simple, the Commission has been rigged against veterans from the start, and the results could be devastating for millions of veterans and their families. Just last month, pro-privatization members of the Commission met in secret to develop the so-called "strawman document," (more on this next week) a proposal that would shutter VA medical centers and instead give veterans a coupon to shop for their care at private, for-profit VA providers. This shocking proposal would divert billions of public dollars to for-profit health insurance companies while forcing veterans returning from overseas to struggle with fractured care from private, for-profit VA providers lacking experience treating the unique needs of the veteran population. Commission members who disagree with privatization have been subject to unprecedented bullying by pro-privatization lawmakers like House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, who in a recent letter berated a committee member for an anti-privatization article a colleague wrote for Washington monthly. This blatantly partisan interference and intimidation further diminishes the Commission's work, and calls the entire process into question. How can we the people in good faith support this Commission when it is clearly designed to benefit the rich and powerful, and not our veterans? It is the very definition of the fox guarding the hen house, and our veterans stand to lose the most. As the saying goes, if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. Making matters worse, Miller and his Senate ally Marco Rubio are now targeting the very employees who exposed the waitlist problem in the first place. Their bills H.R. 1994 and S. 1082 respectively would make the entire VA workforce at-will employees who would have no meaningful protection from reprisals for blowing the whistle. The last thing we need is to give bad managers carte blanche authority to fire honest employees who just want to do right by the veterans they serve. President Abraham Lincoln created the Department of Veterans Affairs to fulfill a promise: "to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan." We must not allow a morally bankrupt group politicians and shadowy billionaires to break that promise now. Call your lawmakers at 202-224-3121 and tell them: do not privatize veterans' health care by selling out veterans to the lowest bidder. It's time to properly fund and staff the VA. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160414/355605 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131120/MM21150LOGO SOURCE American Federation of Government Employees Related Links http://www.afge.org Measuring from 362 square feet to 1,103 square feet, the suites will provide an abundance of open space and natural light. The fully equipped kitchens will feature stainless-steel Celador countertops, custom-made Italian cabinetry and Fisher Paykel cooktops, ovens, microwaves and full-size refrigerators for groceries, snacks and food prep. The corner suites will offer distinctive, curved walls with wide-window views of FiDi's narrow, winding streets. The amenities at AKA Wall Street will include a spectacular rooftop with a gracious outdoor space and a.terrace, a chic, glass-enclosed, four-season lounge. There will also be an outdoor a.cinema, AKA's branded, state-of-the-art cinematic experience, with magical views of 1 World Trade Center and the city as a backdrop. Guests will be able to reserve a.cinema for screenings, enjoy AKA's film series and library of movies, and watch their own films. AKA, the preferred home-away-from-home among many actors and producers, is a supporter of the Tribeca Film Festival. AKA hosted screenings for Richard Gere's "Time Out of Mind" in Philadelphia and LA. Larry Korman has produced two acclaimed documentaries. Guests will appreciate the latest in high-tech Technogym equipment at a.fitness, as well as complimentary use of AKA Wall Street's conference room. "Affluent travelers want more than a bed and a mini-bar," said Larry Korman, president of AKA and co-CEO of Korman Communities. "They want space, a kitchen and a sitting area," he continued. "We provide them with a place where they can feel at home in the world wherever they go. With the renaissance of FiDi, AKA Wall Street is poised to satisfy the need for hotel residences downtown," added Korman. True to their focus on high design for all AKA properties, the Kormans tapped Edward Asfour of Asfour Guzy Architects, who designed a.kitchen+bar at AKA Rittenhouse Square and the AKA Sutton Place suites, as well as the award-winning Blue Hill at Stone Barns, to create an urban oasis of modern design and efficiency within the Classic, English Baroque architecture of the 17-story, pre-existing building (formerly a collegiate residential hall) at 84 William Street. Asfour preserved Howells & Stokes' sculptured, 1907 facade of rusticated white marble, terra cotta and brick while reconfiguring the interiors to accommodate expansive suites. The entrance, on the prime corner of William Street and Maiden Lane, is topped by mythic creatures (a lion and unicorn) clutching a gilded clock, which the developer is restoring. There will be curated art throughout the property. AKA Wall Street's Burgeoning Neighborhood Nestled in Manhattan's Financial District, AKA Wall Street offers access to world-class as well as street-grown cultural, dining and shopping experiences. Museums abound and include 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Skyscraper Museum, Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York Stock Exchange and Museum of American Finance, National Museum of the American Indian, Fraunces Tavern Museum and Federal Hall. There is also Stone Street, said to be the city's oldest paved street, full of charm and lively bars, and Battery Park City with its waterfront promenades. Lower Manhattan has a vibrant street-food scene beginning with favorites Wafels & Dinges, The Cinnamon Snail food truck and Veronica's Kitchen. For retail, there is Century 21, the holy grail of discount fashion shopping. Nearby Brookfield Place is home to luxury shops, including Gucci, Hermes, Burberry, Bottega, DVF, Theory, Paul Smith, Bonobos, Lululemon, Saks and Omega, as well as exceptional, chef-driven restaurants, a European-style marketplace, Equinox for fitness, an ice-skating rink, a sailing school, culinary classes, performances and fabulous waterfront events. Elite companies, including Conde Nast and Goldman Sachs, call downtown home. The AKA Wall Street resident services team will personalize stays and provide a three-dimensional experience. The best tickets, hottest restaurant reservations and services are assured when residents allow the AKA team to coordinate. The AKA resident services team will deliver an excellent, customized and authentic New York City experience. For reservations via the booking form and information, visit www.stayaka.com. Phone: 212-252-9090. Address: AKA Wall Street, 84 William Street, New York, NY 10038. AKA AKA, a division of Korman Communities, is an innovative and growing portfolio of luxury hotel residences in prime urban locations, including New York City (five including Wall Street), Philadelphia (two existing with AKA University City coming), Beverly Hills, Washington, D.C., and London. Across the brand, architecturally inspired, spacious accommodations offer the privacy of a luxury residence integrated with hotel services and amenities. While each property is unique and has distinct resident offerings, all feature AKA brand standards and amenities, such as exclusive lounges, eateries, a.fitness workout centers, business centers, complimentary meetings spaces, complimentary high-speed Internet access in suites and throughout the properties, en-suite dining, 24-hour front desk assistance and dedicated doormen. In addition, resident guests at AKA Beverly Hills, AKA Central Park and AKA Sutton Place enjoy a.cinema, AKA's intimate screening room, which will also open at AKA Wall Street. All suites include top-of the-line, fully accessorized kitchens; contemporary furnishings; luxurious bathrooms; a.sleep, AKA's custom bedding by Frette; meticulous housekeeping; premium cable; HBO, and complimentary local phone calls. Select penthouse suites have Apple TV. AKA created the first outdoor bedroom (at AKA Central Park) and the first mobile suite (at AKA Beverly Hills) as well as a.vod, AKA's house vodka. www.stayaka.com Edward Asfour, Asfour Guzy Architects Edward Asfour of Asfour Guzy Architects in New York is known for his attention to refined detail, his use of beautiful natural materials, and his warm, yet modern design aesthetic. Asfour Guzy Architects, formed in 1988, has completed bespoke residential and prestigious commercial projects across the US. The studio's work has been showcased in publications including Architectural Record, Metropolitan Home, The New York Times, and Surface. Asfour's thoughtful design for AKA Beverly Hills was honored by Interior Design as Finalist Best of Year 2013: Luxury Residence, MultiUnit Dwelling, and the firm's work for Blue Hill at Stone Barns on the Rockefeller Estate in Tarrytown, New York is widely considered one of the most sophisticated restaurant designs of the past decade. Asfour also designed Blue Hill NYC, as well as other notable eateries, including Blue Ribbon Sushi 58th, Blue Ribbon Las Vegas and Blue Ribbon Izakaya. For AKA the firm designed: AKA Beverly HiIls, new suites at AKA Sutton Place and AKA United Nations and a.kitchen+bar at AKA Rittenhouse Square. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160414/355524 SOURCE AKA Related Links http://www.stayaka.com SAN FRANCISCO, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BioMed Realty announced today that Bristol-Myers Squibb signed a new lease at the Woodside Technology Park life science campus in Redwood City, Calif. The 62,000-square-foot expansion adds a third building to Bristol-Myers Squibb's existing 194,000 square feet at the company's Bay Area hub for discovering pioneering cancer therapies in the innovative field of immuno-oncology, including novel biologics therapeutics. With this latest agreement, Bristol-Myers Squibb will lease the entire Woodside Technology Park property which is comprised of approximately 256,000 square feet of real estate in the heart of the Bay Area Peninsula's life science and high-tech communities. The term of the leases for all three buildings now extends through March 2027. "The expansion of our facilities in Redwood City is evidence of the value that Bristol-Myers Squibb sees in the Bay Area scientific community and our relationship with BioMed Realty," said Nils Lonberg, Head of Oncology Biology Discovery at Bristol-Myers Squibb. The new laboratory and office space will be a state-of-the-art research facility that will support scientific innovation, and also set a new standard in energy and water efficiency. The Redwood City facility is the first Bristol-Myers Squibb site to undertake the "Energy Star Challenge for Industry" a program that requires a ten percent reduction in energy usage over the next five years. "We are thrilled to be able to provide cutting-edge spaces for the important cancer research conducted by Bristol-Myers Squibb," said Scott Altick, vice president and San Francisco market lead for BioMed Realty. "They are a global leader in the life science community known for scientific breadth and excellence and we look forward to supporting their science in the Bay Area for many years to come." The relationship with Bristol-Myers Squibb in the Bay Area began when BioMed Realty acquired the three-building Woodside Technology Park campus in 2013, with Bristol-Myers fully occupying one of the buildings that comprised approximately 133,000 square feet. In 2014, the two companies expanded the relationship with an additional ten-year lease that was signed for a second building with approximately 61,000 square feet. About BioMed Realty BioMed Realty invests in the highest quality institutional real estate to meet the needs of the growing demand across the life science industry. The company owns or has interests in properties comprising approximately 19.1 million rentable square feet. Additional information is available at www.biomedrealty.com. Follow us on Twitter @biomedrealty. SOURCE BioMed Realty Related Links http://www.biomedrealty.com BOSTON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Candescent Health today announced the expansion of its team with three recent appointments of vice presidents in the key areas of marketing, client operations and professional services. Vice President of Professional Services Katie Vahle and Vice President of Marketing and Communications Lori Scanlon started earlier this year and Vice President of Client Service Operations Tony Lenox will join this month. The new vice presidents, all with healthcare startup experience, will be instrumental in engaging the company's core audiences and developing key services to help radiologists provide the best, most efficient care. Vahle and Scanlon bring years of experience working with patients and customers and their knowledge and expertise will be instrumental in helping Candescent Health reach customers, optimize client goals and empower radiologists. Vahle is building, guiding and scaling enterprise-level implementation and related professional services for customers such as Cleveland Clinic. Prior to joining Candescent Health, Vahle co-founded CoPatient, a successful healthcare expense management service, and held leadership roles at athenahealth. Scanlon has expertise in launching new products, establishing new brands in the market and creating marketing programs that empower users and customers to make an impact. She spent the past eight years leading marketing efforts at PatientsLikeMe, where she created a widely admired model for engagement, and the standards for industry to partner with patients and develop better clinical trials, products and services. Before that, Scanlon held senior marketing and communications roles at technology research and publishing subsidiaries of IDG. She joins Candescent Health's senior leadership team to set the overall brand strategy and lead product marketing efforts. This month, the team will also welcome Tony Lenox, who will oversee the group supporting and monitoring the radiologists' workflow. Lenox most recently served as Vice President of Worldwide Customer Support at Imprivata where he oversaw customer experience and services. He also served in senior customer support roles for Brightcove and Envox Worldwide. Lenox has more than two decades of experience growing high-performance technical support teams for a variety of products and industries and supporting multiple products on various platforms and environments, including SaaS and on-premise solutions. All three vice presidents have established and scaled teams within successful healthcare start-ups during times of significant growth. "I'm really excited to welcome aboard this group of leaders," said Scott Seidelmann, Founder and CEO of Candescent Health. "Our team's expansion is a direct reflection of our accelerated growth over the past six months. We're all focused and ready to help radiologists optimize their workflow, improve care delivery and, in the end, provide the best possible patient care." Expanding the Cleveland Office To deliver services that help radiologists meet performance goals, Candescent Health is continuing to grow its client, clinical and technical support teams under Vahle and Lenox. Last month, the company moved into a newly expanded complex in its Cleveland office where a 40-person team of customer service representatives, technical support and performance analysts will support early partner organizations, including the Cleveland Clinic. The service teams help partners manage continuous organizational improvement, while supporting radiologist users with clinical and workflow needs. About Candescent Health Candescent Health's mission is to make healthcare dramatically more efficient and effective by enabling and empowering the providers who are transforming healthcare, starting with radiology. Based on a decade of operating one of the nation's largest multi-practice radiology groups, Candescent Health has reengineered clinical and workflow processes to fundamentally transform the radiology care delivery model and enable radiologists to improve quality, increase productivity and lower costs. Headquartered in the Boston area and with a major operations center in Cleveland, Candescent Health is backed by leading venture capital firms. For more information, visit WWW.CANDESCENTHEALTH.COM or follow us on Twitter. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151026/280694LOGO SOURCE Candescent Health Related Links http://www.candescenthealth.com DENVER, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 20 corporations are in Denver today to address a significant issue facing Colorado companies and consumers of healthcare: cybersecurity. Colorado's first-annual Health IT Cybersecurity Summit, hosted by SecureSet, Prime Health and Western Cyber Exchange, was designed to address cybersecurity risks within the healthcare industry. Deborah Blyth, chief information security officer (CISO) for the State of Colorado, is kicking off the event at 8:30 a.m. this morning. Specific topics at the summit include: Healthcare information threats Information vulnerabilities Actionable mitigation strategies Security for digital health start-ups Improving healthcare operations Addressing business risks "Cybersecurity is radically under-recognized in healthcare today, yet it is one of the most critical areas of health IT because of patient privacy laws, the transition to electronic health records, and the increasing use of cloud technologies in the delivery of healthcare," said Alex Kreilein, chief technology officer for SecureSet, a cybersecurity accelerator and academy and one of the primary organizers of the event. "Our goal is to elevate the cybersecurity conversation to the boardroom, where it should be viewed a significant business operation, not simply an IT operation." The 100+ attendees of the Health IT Cybersecurity Summit will learn what actions healthcare providers, insurers, enterprises and entrepreneurs are taking to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of systems and solutions that serve the patient. After the conference, Zayo is hosting a networking event. "Healthcare is rapidly evolving beyond a simple doctor's visit into telemedicine, mobile apps, wearable tech, genomics, business intelligence, data analytics and much more," said Jeffrey Nathanson, CEO of Prime Health, a Colorado digital health collaborative with more than 1500 members. "All of these new technologies if delivered correctly can help us reduce healthcare costs, deliver better care with more positive outcomes and empower patients. However, smart, effective cybersecurity must be built into every piece of the puzzle or all this innovation will be useless, or even dangerous." The event takes place today at SecureSet's headquarters at 3801 Franklin Street in Denver. Details including the line-up of speakers and the agenda for the Health IT Cybersecurity Summit can be found at https://www.secureset.com/events/2016/1/26/health-it-cybersecurity-summit. About SecureSet SecureSet is the nation's first cybersecurity accelerator and academy. Headquartered in Denver and supported by experienced and prestigious leaders in government, business, military and higher education, SecureSet is bringing an array of cybersecurity resources together to help innovate the next generation of cybersecurity technology, and educate thousands to fill the nation's cybersecurity job gap. Learn more at www.secureset.com SOURCE SecureSet Related Links http://www.secureset.com LIMA, Peru, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CORPORACION LINDLEY S.A. (a sociedad anonima incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Peru) Offers to Purchase for Cash Up to U.S.$150,000,000 Aggregate Principal Amount of the Outstanding Notes Listed on the Table Below Subject to the Tender Cap and Priorities Set Forth Herein Corporacion Lindley S.A., a company organized as a sociedad anonima incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Peru (the "Company"), hereby announces the commencement of its offers to purchase for cash up to U.S.$150,000,000 aggregate principal amount (subject to increase by the Company, the "Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount") of the outstanding notes set forth in the table below (collectively, the "Notes" and each series, a "series of Notes"), upon the terms and subject to the conditions described in the Offer to Purchase dated April 13, 2016 (as it may be amended or supplemented from time to time, the "Offer to Purchase") and the accompanying Letter of Transmittal dated April 13, 2016 (as it may be amended or supplemented from time to time, the "Letter of Transmittal" and, together with the Offer to Purchase, the "Offer Documents"). The following table sets forth certain terms of the Tender Offers: Dollars per U.S.$1,000 Principal Amount of Notes Title of Notes CUSIP and ISIN Numbers Aggregate Principal Amount Outstanding Tender Cap Acceptance Priority Level Tender Offer Consideration (1) Early Tender Premium(1) Total Consideration (1)(2) 4.625% Notes due 2023 (the "2023 Notes") CUSIP: 21988V AD5; P31442 AC3; ISIN: US21988VAD55; USP31442AC34 U.S.$260,000,000 U.S.$120,000,000 1 U.S.$1,025 U.S.$30 U.S.$1,055 6.750% Notes due 2021 (the "2021 Notes") CUSIP: 21988VAA1; P31442AA7;ISIN: US21988VAA17; USP31442AA77 U.S.$320,000,000 N/A 2 U.S.$1,130 U.S.$30 U.S.$1,160 (1) Per U.S.$1,000 principal amount of Notes tendered and accepted for purchase. (2) Includes the Early Tender Premium (as defined below). Subject to the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount and the Tender Cap specified below for each series of Notes (subject to increase by the Company), the amount of a series of Notes that is purchased in the Tender Offers on any Settlement Date (as such terms are defined in the Offer to Purchase) will be based on the order of priority (the "Acceptance Priority Level") for such series of Notes set forth in the table below, subject to the proration arrangements applicable to the Tender Offers. However, even if the Tender Offers are not fully subscribed as of the Early Tender Date (as defined below), subject to the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount and the Tender Cap, Notes tendered at or before the Early Tender Date will be accepted for purchase in priority to other Notes tendered after the Early Tender Date, even if such Notes tendered after the Early Tender Date have a higher Acceptance Priority Level than Notes tendered prior to the Early Tender Date. The Tender Offers will each expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on May 10, 2016, or any other date and time to which the Company extends such Tender Offers (such date and time, as it may be extended, the "Expiration Date"), unless earlier terminated. You must validly tender your Notes at or prior to the Expiration Date to be eligible to receive the applicable Tender Offer Consideration (as defined below) for such Notes plus Accrued Interest (as defined below). You must validly tender your Notes at or prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on April 26, 2016 (such date and time, as it may be extended, the "Early Tender Date") to be eligible to receive the applicable Total Consideration (as defined below) for such Notes plus Accrued Interest. The Total Consideration and the Tender Offer Consideration (as defined below) will be payable in cash. Tendered Notes may be validly withdrawn from the applicable Tender Offer at or prior to, but not after, 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on April 26, 2016 (such date and time, as it may be extended, the "Withdrawal Deadline"). All Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers will receive the applicable consideration set forth in the table above, plus accrued and unpaid interest on those Notes from the last interest payment date with respect to those Notes to, but not including, the applicable Settlement Date ("Accrued Interest"). The Tender Offers are not conditioned upon the tender of any minimum principal amount of Notes or upon any financing. The Company refers to the offers to purchase the Notes as the "Tender Offers," and each individual offer as a "Tender Offer." Each Tender Offer is a separate offer, and each Tender Offer may be individually amended, extended or terminated. The Tender Offers are open to all registered holders (individually, a "Holder," and collectively, the "Holders") of the Notes. The Tender Offers are subject to the satisfaction of the General Conditions (as defined in the Offer to Purchase). The purpose of the Tender Offers is to purchase Notes, thereby reducing Lindley's U.S. dollar-denominated debt. The Notes accepted for payment on any Settlement Date will be accepted in accordance with their Acceptance Priority Levels set forth in the table above (with 1 being the highest Acceptance Priority Level and 2 being the lowest Acceptance Priority Level), provided that the Company will only accept for purchase Notes in an aggregate principal amount up to the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount. The 2023 Notes are subject to a limit on the aggregate principal amount of Notes of that series that will be purchased in the Tender Offers (such aggregate principal amount, subject to increase by the Company, the "Tender Cap"). The 2023 Notes are subject to a Tender Cap of U.S.$120,000,000 aggregate principal amount representing the face value of the applicable Notes. The Company reserves the right, but is under no obligation, to increase the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount and/or the Tender Cap at any time, subject to compliance with applicable law, which could result in the Company purchasing a greater aggregate principal amount of Notes in the Tender Offers. There can be no assurance that the Company will increase the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount and/or the Tender Cap. If the Company increases the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount and/or the Tender Cap, the Company does not expect to extend the Withdrawal Deadline, subject to applicable law. Subject to the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount, the Tender Cap and proration, all Notes tendered at or before the Early Tender Date having a higher Acceptance Priority Level will be accepted before any Notes tendered at or before the Early Tender Date having a lower Acceptance Priority Level are accepted, and all Notes validly tendered after the Early Tender Date having a higher Acceptance Priority Level will be accepted before any Notes tendered after the Early Tender Date having a lower Acceptance Priority Level are accepted in the Tender Offers. However, even if the Tender Offers are not fully subscribed as of the Early Tender Date, subject to the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount and the Tender Cap, Notes tendered at or before the Early Tender Date will be accepted for purchase in priority to other Notes tendered after the Early Tender Date, even if such Notes tendered after the Early Tender Date have a higher Acceptance Priority Level than Notes tendered prior to the Early Tender Date. If the Tender Offers with respect to the 2023 Notes and the 2021 Notes are fully subscribed as of the Early Tender Date (which may be extended in the sole discretion of Lindley), no additional Notes tendered after the Early Tender Date will be accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Tender Offers, the consideration for each U.S.$1,000 principal amount of Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers will be the tender offer consideration for such series of Notes set forth in the table above (with respect to each series of Notes, the "Tender Offer Consideration"). Holders of Notes that are validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) at or prior to the Early Tender Date and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers will receive the applicable Tender Offer Consideration plus the applicable early tender premium for such series of Notes set forth in the table above (with respect to each series of Notes, the "Early Tender Premium" and, together with the applicable Tender Offer Consideration, the "Total Consideration"). Holders of Notes tendered after the Early Tender Date, but before the Expiration Date, and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers will receive the applicable Tender Offer Consideration, but not the Early Tender Premium. No tenders will be valid if submitted after the Expiration Date. The Tender Offers commence on the date of the Offer to Purchase and will expire on the Expiration Date, unless extended or earlier terminated by the Company. No tenders will be valid if submitted after the Expiration Date. If a Nominee holds your Notes, such Nominee may have an earlier deadline for accepting the offer. You should promptly contact such Nominee that holds your Notes to determine its deadline. The Tender Offers are open to all registered Holders of the Notes. Lindley reserves the right, but is under no obligation, at any point following the Early Tender Date and before the Expiration Date, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions to the Tender Offers, to accept for purchase any Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or prior to the Early Tender Date (the "Early Settlement Date"), subject to the Acceptance Priority Levels, the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount, the Tender Cap and proration. The Early Settlement Date will be determined at Lindley's option and is currently expected to occur on April 29, 2016, subject to all conditions to the Tender Offers having been either satisfied or waived by Lindley. If Lindley elects to have an Early Settlement Date, it will accept Notes validly tendered at or prior to the Early Tender Date, subject to the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount, the Tender Cap, the Acceptance Priority Levels and proration, each as described in the Offer to Purchase. Irrespective of whether Lindley chooses to have an Early Settlement Date, Lindley will purchase any remaining Notes that have been validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or prior to the Expiration Date and that Lindley chooses to accept for purchase, subject to all conditions to the Tender Offers having been either satisfied or waived by Lindley, promptly following the Expiration Date (the "Final Settlement Date," the Final Settlement Date and the Early Settlement Date each being a "Settlement Date"). The Final Settlement Date is expected to occur on the second business day following the Expiration Date. If Lindley elects to have an Early Settlement Date, and assuming that the conditions to the Tender Offers are satisfied or waived, such Early Settlement Date may be as early as two business days following the Early Tender Date. Notes accepted on the Final Settlement Date, if any, will be accepted subject to the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount, the Tender Cap, the Acceptance Priority Levels and proration, each as described in the Offer to Purchase. Acceptance for tenders of any Notes may be subject to proration if the aggregate principal amount for any series of Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn would cause the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount to be exceeded. In addition, acceptance for tenders of 2023 Notes may be subject to proration if the aggregate principal amount of the 2023 Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn is greater than the Tender Cap. Furthermore, if the Tender Offers are fully subscribed as of the Early Tender Date, Holders who validly tender Notes after the Early Tender Date will not have any of their Notes accepted for purchase, provided that such Notes may be accepted for purchase if the Company increases the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount and/or the Tender Cap, which the Company is entitled to do in its sole discretion. There can be no assurance that the Company will increase the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount and/or the Tender Cap. Any Notes tendered pursuant to a Tender Offer that are not accepted and purchased by the Company as a result of the operation of the proration provisions applicable to the Tender Offers shall be promptly returned to the relevant tendering Holders following the Expiration Date. Notwithstanding any other provision of the Tender Offers, the Company's obligation to accept for purchase, and to pay for, any Notes validly tendered pursuant to the Tender Offers, is conditioned upon the satisfaction of the General Conditions (as defined in the Offer to Purchase). The General Conditions to the Tender Offers are for the sole benefit of the Company and may be asserted by the Company, regardless of the circumstances giving rise to any such condition (including any action or inaction by the Company). The Company reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to waive any and all conditions of the Tender Offers, at or prior to the Expiration Date (or the Early Settlement Date, if the Company elects to have an early settlement). The Tender Offers are not subject to a minimum principal amount of Notes of any series, or a minimum aggregate principal amount of Notes of all series, being tendered. Withdrawal rights with respect to the Notes will terminate on the Withdrawal Deadline, unless extended pursuant to applicable law. Accordingly, following the Withdrawal Deadline, any Notes validly tendered (whether before, on or after the Withdrawal Deadline) may no longer be validly withdrawn. For the withdrawal of a tendered Note to be valid, such withdrawal must comply with the procedures set forth in the Offer to Purchase. Subject to applicable law and the terms set forth in the Offer to Purchase, the Company reserves the right with respect to any of the Tender Offers for any series of Notes, as the case may be: (i) to extend or otherwise amend the Early Tender Date or the Expiration Date, (ii) to increase the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount and/or the Tender Cap without extending the Withdrawal Deadline or otherwise reinstating withdrawal rights of Holders except as required by law; (iii) to waive or modify in whole or in part any and all conditions to the respective Tender Offer; (iv) to modify or terminate the respective Tender Offer; and (v) to otherwise amend the respective Tender Offer in any respect. In the event of the termination of any of the Tender Offers, the Notes tendered pursuant to such Tender Offer and not previously accepted and purchased will be promptly returned to the tendering Holders. If you do not tender your Notes or if you tender Notes that are not accepted for purchase, they will remain outstanding. If the Company consummates the Tender Offers, the applicable trading market for your outstanding Notes of the applicable series may be significantly more limited. For a discussion of this and other risks, see "Certain Significant ConsiderationsThe Tender Offers may adversely affect the market value and reduce the liquidity of any trading market of the Notes" in the Offer to Purchase. THE OFFER DOCUMENTS CONTAIN CERTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION THAT SHOULD BE READ BEFORE ANY DECISION IS MADE WITH RESPECT TO THE TENDER OFFERS, IN PARTICULAR, SEE "CERTAIN SIGNIFICANT CONSIDERATIONS" IN THE OFFER TO PURCHASE FOR A DISCUSSION OF CERTAIN FACTORS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER IN CONNECTION WITH THE TENDER OFFERS. NEITHER THE OFFER TO PURCHASE NOR ANY OF THE OFFER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE TENDER OFFERS HAVE BEEN FILED WITH OR REVIEWED BY THE FEDERAL OR ANY STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION OR REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF ANY COUNTRY, NOR HAS ANY SUCH COMMISSION OR AUTHORITY PASSED UPON THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THE OFFER TO PURCHASE OR ANY OF THE OFFER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE TENDER OFFERS. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS UNLAWFUL AND MAY BE A CRIMINAL OFFENSE. NONE OF THE COMPANY, ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS, THE DEALER MANAGERS (AS DEFINED BELOW), THE TENDER AND INFORMATION AGENT OR THE TRUSTEE (AS DEFINED IN THE OFFER TO PURCHASE) WITH RESPECT TO THE NOTES OR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES IS MAKING ANY RECOMMENDATION AS TO WHETHER HOLDERS SHOULD TENDER ANY NOTES IN RESPONSE TO THE TENDER OFFERS. HOLDERS MUST MAKE THEIR OWN DECISION AS TO WHETHER TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TENDER OFFERS, AND, IF SO, THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF NOTES TO TENDER. The Offer to Purchase does not constitute an offer to purchase the Notes in any jurisdiction in which, or to or from any person to or from whom, it is unlawful to make such offer under applicable securities or "blue sky" laws. If the Company becomes aware of any jurisdiction in which the making of the Tender Offers would not be in compliance with applicable laws, the Company will make a good faith effort to comply with any such laws. If, after such good faith effort, the Company cannot comply with any such laws, the Tender Offers will not be made to (nor will tenders of Notes be accepted from or on behalf of) the owners of Notes residing in such jurisdiction. Neither the delivery of this announcement, the Offer to Purchase nor any purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers shall under any circumstances create any implication that the information contained in this announcement or the Offer to Purchase is correct as of any time subsequent to the date hereof or thereof or that there has been no change in the information set forth herein or therein or in the Company's affairs since the date hereof or thereof. The Offer to Purchase does not constitute an offer to sell any securities or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities (other than the Notes). Any offering of securities will only be made by an offering document and any such offering may not be registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. D. F. King & Co., Inc. is acting as the tender agent and as the information agent (the "Tender and Information Agent") for the Tender Offers. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are acting as Dealer Managers (the "Dealer Managers") for the Tender Offers. The Tender and Information Agent for the Tender Offers is: D.F. King & Co., Inc. 48 Wall Street 22nd Floor New York, NY 10005 Banks and Brokers: (212) 269-5550 Toll free (U.S. only): (866) 416-0565 [email protected] By Facsimile (For Eligible Institutions only): (212) 709-3328 Confirmation: (212) 232-3235 Attention: Peter Aymar Any questions or requests for assistance or for additional copies of the Offer Documents may be directed to the Tender and Information Agent at one of its telephone numbers above. A Holder (or a beneficial owner that is not a Holder) may also contact any of the Dealer Managers at their telephone numbers set forth below or its broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee for assistance concerning the Offer Documents. The Dealer Managers for the Tender Offers are: Citigroup Global Markets Inc. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC Liability Management Group Latin America 390 Greenwich Street, 1st Floor Debt Capital Markets New York, NY 10013 383 Madison Avenue United States New York, NY 10179 US Toll-Free: (800) 558-3745 United States Collect: +1 (212) 723-6106 US Toll-Free: (866) 846-2874 Collect: +1 (212) 834-7279 SOURCE Corporacion Lindley S.A. ATLANTA, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) today reported financial results for the March 2016 quarter, including adjusted pre-tax income of $1.56 billion, a $966 million increase over March 2015 quarter. Adjusted net income was $1.0 billion or $1.32 per diluted share. "We have started 2016 with tremendous momentum, generating over $1.5 billion in adjusted pre-tax income, delivering industry-leading operations including 49 days of perfect mainline completion factor for our customers, and reaching our goal of becoming an investment grade company. With these results, the Delta people have proven again that they are the very best in the industry," said Ed Bastian, Delta's incoming chief executive officer. "We will continue to be disciplined with our business in the face of volatile fuel prices, strengthen our foundation, and prove our position as the airline that consistently delivers top results for our employees, our owners and the customers and communities we serve." Revenue Environment Delta's operating revenue for the March quarter decreased 1.5 percent, or $137 million, driven by $125 million in foreign currency pressures and a $5 million impact from the recent events in Brussels. Passenger unit revenues declined 4.6 percent, including 2 points of impact from foreign currency, on a 2.7 percent increase in capacity. "The momentum with our commercial initiatives, including corporate share gains, Branded Fares, and our partnership with American Express, allowed us to maintain our top line performance in the March quarter despite 40 percent lower market fuel prices and $125 million of pressure from foreign currency," said Glen Hauenstein, Delta's incoming president. "We are forecasting a unit revenue decline of 2.5 4.5 percent for the June quarter. While this is an improvement over our March quarter performance, we are focused on getting unit revenues back to a positive trajectory and we will make adjustments to our fall capacity levels if we are not making sufficient progress over the coming months." Increase (Decrease) 1Q16 versus 1Q15 Change Unit Passenger Revenue 1Q16 ($M) YoY Revenue Yield Capacity Mainline 4,211 3.2 % (4.4) % (3.7) % 8.0 % Regional 1,318 (4.1) % (4.2) % (4.5) % 0.1 % Total Domestic 5,529 1.4 % (4.8) % (4.4) % 6.5 % Atlantic 919 (9.7) % (6.4) % (6.6) % (3.5) % Pacific 637 (13.9) % (5.3) % (9.2) % (9.0) % Latin America 677 (4.8) % (9.2) % (10.8) % 4.8 % Total Passenger 7,762 (2.0) % (4.6) % (5.1) % 2.7 % Cargo Revenue 162 (25.3) % Other Revenue 1,327 6.3 % Total Revenue 9,251 (1.5) % June 2016 Quarter Guidance Following are Delta's projections for the June 2016 quarter: 2Q16 Forecast Operating margin 21% - 23% Passenger unit revenue (compared to 2Q15) Down 2.5% - 4.5% Fuel price, including taxes, settled hedges and refinery impact $1.48 - $1.53 CASM Ex including profit sharing (compared to 2Q15) Up ~ 2% System Capacity (compared to 2Q15) Up 2% - 3% Cost Performance Adjusted fuel expense2 declined $1.45 billion compared to the same period in 2015, on 40 percent lower market fuel prices. For the quarter, the refinery produced a loss of $28 million. Settled hedge losses were $118 million. CASM-Ex3 including profit sharing, increased 4.5 percent for the March 2016 quarter compared to the prior year period, with foreign exchange and the benefits of Delta's domestic refleeting and other cost initiatives offsetting the company's investments in its products, operations and employees. Half of the increase was attributable to $136 million of higher profit sharing expense. Non-operating expense declined by $106 million from lower foreign exchange losses, improved contribution from Delta's 49 percent equity stake in Virgin Atlantic, and the benefit of the company's debt reduction initiatives which reduced interest expense by $24 million versus prior year. "The March quarter represented the peak of our non-fuel cost pressures for the year and we expect our performance will improve as we move through the remainder of the year, allowing us to achieve our goal of keeping our non-fuel unit cost growth below 2 percent," said Paul Jacobson, Delta's chief financial officer. "Our cost discipline, combined with continued low fuel prices and solid outperformance on revenue, is helping to contribute to over $8 billion in operating cash flow this year, which we are using to invest in the business, strengthen the balance sheet and continue to return cash to our owners." Cash Flow, Shareholder Returns, and Adjusted Net Debt4 Delta generated $1.35 billion of adjusted operating cash flow and $497 million of free cash flow during the quarter. The company used this strong cash generation to invest $871 million into the business, including $764 million in fleet investments. Delta made an $825 million cash contribution and a $350 million stock contribution to its pension plans during the quarter. Subsequently, in April, Delta made an additional $135 million cash contribution, completing all pension funding for the year. For the March quarter, the company returned $882 million to shareholders, comprised of $107 million of dividends and $775 million of share repurchases. Included in the share buyback was a $350 million accelerated share repurchase to offset dilution to existing shareholders from the stock contribution made to the pension plans during the quarter. Adjusted net debt at the end of the quarter stood at $7.0 billion. Delta is on track to reduce adjusted net debt below $6 billion by the end of 2016. In recognition of its improved financial strength, Delta's corporate credit rating was upgraded during the quarter by Moody's Investors Service to Baa3, an investment grade rating. GAAP Metrics Below are GAAP metrics corresponding to the non-GAAP figures cited above. Change ($ in millions except per share and unit costs) 1Q16 1Q15 $ % Pre-tax income 1,434 1,186 248 21% Net income 946 746 200 27% Diluted earnings per share 1.21 0.90 0.31 34% Fuel expense (including regional carriers) 1,394 2,099 (705) (34%) Consolidated unit cost 13.26 14.12 (0.86) (6%) Operating cash flow 1,011 1,636 (625) (38%) Special Items Special items, net of taxes, in the March 2016 quarter totaled $80 million, including $98 million in mark-to-market adjustments on fuel hedges settling in future periods. Special items, net of taxes, in the March 2015 quarter totaled $374 million primarily comprised of mark-to-market adjustments and settlements on fuel hedges. About Delta Delta Air Lines serves nearly 180 million customers each year. In 2016, Delta was named to Fortune's top 50 Most Admired Companies in addition to being named the most admired airline for the fifth time in six years. Additionally, Delta has ranked No.1 in the Business Travel News Annual Airline survey for an unprecedented five consecutive years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 324 destinations in 58 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 800 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia as well as a joint venture with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with key hubs and markets including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK and LaGuardia, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Tokyo-Narita. Delta has invested billions of dollars in airport facilities, global products and services, and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on the Delta News Hub, as well as delta.com, Twitter @DeltaNewsHub, Google.com/+Delta, Facebook.com/delta and Delta's blog takingoff.delta.com. End Notes (1) Note A to the attached Consolidated Statements of Operations provides a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures used in this release to the comparable GAAP metric and provides the reasons management uses those measures. (2) Adjusted fuel expense reflects, among other things, the impact of mark-to-market ("MTM") adjustments and settlements. MTM adjustments are defined as fair value changes recorded in periods other than the settlement period. Such fair value changes are not necessarily indicative of the actual settlement value of the underlying hedge in the contract settlement period. Settlements represent cash received or paid on hedge contracts settled during the period. These items adjust fuel expense to show the economic impact of hedging, including cash received or paid on hedge contracts during the period. See Note A for a reconciliation of adjusted fuel expense and average fuel price per gallon to the comparable GAAP metric. (3) CASM - Ex, including profit sharing: In addition to fuel expense, Delta believes adjusting for certain other expenses is helpful to investors because other expenses are not related to the generation of a seat mile. These expenses include aircraft maintenance and staffing services Delta provides to third parties, Delta's vacation wholesale operations and refinery cost of sales to third parties. The amounts excluded were $313 million and $293 million for the March 2016 and March 2015 quarters, respectively. Management believes this methodology provides a more consistent and comparable reflection of Delta's airline operations. (4) Adjusted net debt includes $454 million of hedge margin receivable, which is cash that we have posted with counterparties as hedge margin. See Note A for additional information about our calculation of adjusted net debt. Forward Looking Statements Statements in this investor update that are not historical facts, including statements regarding our estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, projections or strategies for the future, may be "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, projections and strategies reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the cost of aircraft fuel; the impact of rebalancing our hedge portfolio, recording mark-to-market adjustments or posting collateral in connection with our fuel hedge contracts; the availability of aircraft fuel; the effects of terrorist attacks or geopolitical conflict; the possible effects of accidents involving our aircraft; the restrictions that financial covenants in our financing agreements will have on our financial and business operations; labor issues; interruptions or disruptions in service at one of our hub or gateway airports; disruptions or security breaches of our information technology infrastructure; our dependence on technology in our operations; the effects of weather, natural disasters and seasonality on our business; the effects of an extended disruption in services provided by third party regional carriers; failure or inability of insurance to cover a significant liability at Monroe's Trainer refinery; the impact of environmental regulation on the Trainer refinery, including costs related to renewable fuel standard regulations; our ability to retain management and key employees; competitive conditions in the airline industry; the effects of extensive government regulation on our business; the sensitivity of the airline industry to prolonged periods of stagnant or weak economic conditions; and the effects of the rapid spread of contagious illnesses. Additional information concerning risks and uncertainties that could cause differences between actual results and forward-looking statements is contained in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2015. Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which represent our views only as of Apr. 14, 2016, and which we have no current intention to update. DELTA AIR LINES, INC. Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, (in millions, except per share data) 2016 2015 $ Change % Change Operating Revenue: Passenger: Mainline $ 6,444 $ 6,549 $ (105) (2)% Regional carriers 1,318 1,374 (56) (4)% Total passenger revenue 7,762 7,923 (161) (2)% Cargo 162 217 (55) (25)% Other 1,327 1,248 79 6% Total operating revenue 9,251 9,388 (137) (1)% Operating Expense: Salaries and related costs 2,311 2,092 219 10% Aircraft fuel and related taxes 1,227 1,835 (608) (33)% Regional carrier expense Fuel 167 264 (97) (37)% Other 839 789 50 6% Depreciation and amortization 486 470 16 3% Contracted services 476 441 35 8% Aircraft maintenance materials and outside repairs 449 452 (3) (1)% Passenger commissions and other selling expenses 388 386 2 1% Landing fees and other rents 348 373 (25) (7)% Profit sharing 272 136 136 NM Passenger service 189 190 (1) (1)% Aircraft rent 66 60 6 10% Other 493 502 (9) (2)% Total operating expense 7,711 7,990 (279) (3)% Operating Income 1,540 1,398 142 10% Non-Operating expense: Interest expense, net (107) (131) 24 (18)% Miscellaneous, net 1 (81) 82 NM Total non-operating expense, net (106) (212) 106 (50)% Income Before Income Taxes 1,434 1,186 248 21% Income Tax Provision (488) (440) (48) 11% Net Income $ 946 $ 746 $ 200 27% Basic Earnings Per Share $ 1.22 $ 0.91 Diluted Earnings Per Share $ 1.21 $ 0.90 Basic Weighted Average Shares Outstanding 774 818 Diluted Weighted Average Shares Outstanding 780 826 DELTA AIR LINES, INC. Statistical Summary (Unaudited) Three Months Ended Mar 31, 2016 2015 Change Consolidated: Revenue passenger miles (millions) 47,725 46,221 3.3% Available seat miles (millions) 58,145 56,597 2.7% Passenger mile yield (cents) 16.26 17.14 (5.1)% Passenger revenue per available seat mile (cents) 13.35 14.00 (4.6)% Operating cost per available seat mile (cents) 13.26 14.12 (6.1)% CASM-Ex, including profit sharing - see Note A (cents) 10.33 9.88 4.5% Passenger load factor 82.1% 81.7% 0.4 pts Fuel gallons consumed (millions) 930 918 1.3% Average price per fuel gallon, adjusted - see Note A $1.33 $2.93 (54.6)% Number of aircraft in fleet, end of period 931 912 19 Full-time equivalent employees, end of period 83,817 81,055 3.4% Mainline: Revenue passenger miles (millions) 42,786 41,304 3.6% Available seat miles (millions) 51,710 50,171 3.1% Operating cost per available seat mile (cents) 12.84 13.49 (4.8)% CASM-Ex, including profit sharing - see Note A (cents) 9.93 9.32 6.5% Fuel gallons consumed (millions) 784 772 1.6% Average price per fuel gallon, adjusted - see Note A $1.36 $3.13 (56.5)% Number of aircraft in fleet, end of period 814 786 28 Note: except for full-time equivalent employees and number of aircraft in fleet, consolidated data presented includes operations under Delta's contract carrier arrangements. DELTA AIR LINES, INC. Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, (in millions) 2016 2015 Cash Flows From Operating Activities: Net income $ 946 $ 746 Depreciation and amortization 486 470 Hedge derivative contracts 145 (323) Deferred income taxes 475 435 Pension, postretirement and postemployment payments greater than expense (760) (905) Changes in: Hedge margin (335) 542 Air traffic liability 1,485 1,570 Profit sharing (1,226) (620) Other working capital changes, net (205) (279) Net cash provided by operating activities 1,011 1,636 Cash Flows From Investing Activities: Property and equipment additions: Flight equipment, including advance payments (764) (451) Ground property and equipment, including technology (107) (135) Net redemptions (purchases) of short-term investments 265 (229) Other, net 5 3 Net cash used in investing activities (601) (812) Cash Flows From Financing Activities: Payments on long-term debt and capital lease obligations (459) (301) Repurchases of common stock (775) (425) Cash dividends (107) (75) Fuel card obligation 141 (32) Proceeds from short-term obligations 68 - Proceeds from long-term obligations 450 41 Other, net 8 2 Net cash used in financing activities (674) (790) Net (Decrease) Increase in Cash and Cash Equivalents (264) 34 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 1,972 2,088 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 1,708 $ 2,122 DELTA AIR LINES, INC. Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited) March 31, December 31, (in millions) 2016 2015 ASSETS Current Assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 1,708 $ 1,972 Short-term investments 1,206 1,465 Accounts receivable, net 2,179 2,020 Hedge margin receivable 454 119 Fuel inventory 367 379 Expendable parts and supplies inventories, net 326 318 Hedge derivatives asset 2,179 1,987 Prepaid expenses and other 887 796 Total current assets 9,306 9,056 Property and Equipment, Net: Property and equipment, net 23,422 23,039 Other Assets: Goodwill 9,794 9,794 Identifiable intangibles, net 4,856 4,861 Deferred income taxes, net 4,489 4,956 Other noncurrent assets 1,475 1,428 Total other assets 20,614 21,039 Total assets $ 53,342 $ 53,134 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Current Liabilities: Current maturities of long-term debt and capital leases $ 1,531 $ 1,563 Air traffic liability 5,988 4,503 Accounts payable 2,732 2,743 Accrued salaries and related benefits 1,903 3,195 Hedge derivatives liability 2,630 2,581 Frequent flyer deferred revenue 1,605 1,635 Other accrued liabilities 1,719 1,306 Total current liabilities 18,108 17,526 Noncurrent Liabilities: Long-term debt and capital leases 6,920 6,766 Pension, postretirement and related benefits 12,695 13,855 Frequent flyer deferred revenue 2,276 2,246 Other noncurrent liabilities 2,091 1,891 Total noncurrent liabilities 23,982 24,758 Commitments and Contingencies Stockholders' Equity: Common stock Additional paid-in capital 10,339 10,875 Retained earnings 8,462 7,623 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (7,279) (7,275) Treasury stock (270) (373) Total stockholders' equity 11,252 10,850 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 53,342 $ 53,134 Note A: The following tables show reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures. The reasons Delta uses these measures are described below. Delta sometimes uses information ("non-GAAP financial measures") that is derived from the Consolidated Financial Statements, but that is not presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. ("GAAP"). Under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules, non-GAAP financial measures may be considered in addition to results prepared in accordance with GAAP, but should not be considered a substitute for or superior to GAAP results. The tables below show reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures used in this release to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. Forward Looking Projections. Delta is unable to reconcile certain forward-looking projections to GAAP as the nature or amount of special items cannot be estimated at this time. Pre-Tax Income and Net Income, adjusted for special items. We adjust for the following items to determine pre-tax income and net income, adjusted for special items, for the reasons described below: MTM adjustments and settlements. MTM adjustments are defined as fair value changes recorded in periods other than the settlement period. Such fair value changes are not necessarily indicative of the actual settlement value of the underlying hedge in the contract settlement period. Settlements represent cash received or paid on hedge contracts settled during the period. These items adjust fuel expense to show the economic impact of hedging, including cash received or paid on hedge contracts during the period. Adjusting for these items allows investors to better understand and analyze our core operational performance in the periods shown. Restructuring and other. Because of the variability in restructuring and other, the adjustment for this item is helpful to investors to analyze the company's recurring core performance in the period shown. Virgin Atlantic MTM adjustments. We record our proportionate share of earnings from our equity investment in Virgin Atlantic in non-operating expense. We adjust for Virgin Atlantic's MTM adjustments to allow investors to better understand and analyze the company's core financial performance in the periods shown. Income tax. Pre-tax income is adjusted for the income tax effect of special items. We believe this adjustment allows investors to better understand and analyze the company's core financial performance in the periods shown. Three Months Ended Three Months Ended March 31, 2016 March 31, 2016 Pre-Tax Income Net Net Income (in millions, except per share data) Income Tax Income Per Diluted Share GAAP $ 1,434 $ (488) $ 946 $ 1.21 Adjusted for: MTM adjustments and settlements 155 (57) 98 Virgin Atlantic MTM adjustments (29) 11 (18) Total adjustments 126 (46) 80 0.11 Non-GAAP $ 1,560 $ (534) $ 1,026 $ 1.32 Year-over-year change $ 966 Three Months Ended Three Months Ended March 31, 2015 March 31, 2015 Pre-Tax Income Net Net Income (in millions, except per share data) Income Tax Income Per Diluted Share GAAP $ 1,186 $ (440) $ 746 $ 0.90 Adjusted for: MTM adjustments and settlements (589) 217 (372) Restructuring and other 10 (4) 6 Virgin Atlantic MTM adjustments (13) 5 (8) Total adjustments (592) 218 (374) (0.45) Non-GAAP $ 594 $ (222) $ 372 $ 0.45 Fuel expense, adjusted and Average fuel price per gallon, adjusted. The tables below show the components of fuel expense, including the impact of the refinery segment and hedging on fuel expense and average price per gallon. We then adjust for MTM adjustments and settlements for the reason described below: MTM adjustments and settlements. MTM adjustments are defined as fair value changes recorded in periods other than the settlement period. Such fair value changes are not necessarily indicative of the actual settlement value of the underlying hedge in the contract settlement period. Settlements represent cash received or paid on hedge contracts settled during the period. These items adjust fuel expense to show the economic impact of hedging, including cash received or paid on hedge contracts during the period. Adjusting for these items allows investors to better understand and analyze our core operational performance in the periods shown. Consolidated: Average Price Per Gallon Three Months Ended Three Months Ended March 31, March 31, (in millions, except per gallon data) 2016 2015 2016 2015 Fuel purchase cost $ 1,093 $ 1,718 $ 1.18 $ 1.87 Airline segment fuel hedge losses 273 467 0.29 0.51 Refinery segment impact 28 (86) 0.03 (0.09) Total fuel expense $ 1,394 $ 2,099 $ 1.50 $ 2.29 MTM adjustments and settlements (155) 589 (0.17) 0.64 Total fuel expense, adjusted $ 1,239 $ 2,688 $ 1.33 $ 2.93 Change year-over-year (1,449) (55%) Mainline: Three Months Ended March 31, 2016 2015 Mainline average price per gallon $ 1.56 $ 2.37 MTM adjustments and settlements (0.20) 0.76 Mainline average price per gallon, adjusted $ 1.36 $ 3.13 Non-Fuel Unit Cost or Cost per Available Seat Mile, Including Profit Sharing ("CASM-Ex, including profit sharing"). We adjust CASM for the following items to determine CASM-Ex, including profit sharing, for the reasons described below: Aircraft fuel and related taxes. The volatility in fuel prices impacts the comparability of year-over-year financial performance. The adjustment for aircraft fuel and related taxes (including our regional carriers) allows investors to better understand and analyze our non-fuel costs and year-over-year financial performance. Restructuring and other. Because of the variability in restructuring and other, the adjustment for this item is helpful to investors to analyze our recurring core performance in the period shown. Other expenses. Other expenses include aircraft maintenance and staffing services we provide to third parties, our vacation wholesale operations, and refinery cost of sales to third parties. Because these businesses are not related to the generation of a seat mile, we adjust for the costs related to these sales to provide a more meaningful comparison of the costs of our airline operations to the rest of the airline industry. Consolidated CASM-Ex: Three Months Ended March 31, 2016 March 31, 2015 CASM (cents) 13.26 14.12 Adjusted for: Aircraft fuel and related taxes (2.40) (3.71) Restructuring and other - (0.02) Other expenses (0.53) (0.51) CASM-Ex 10.33 9.88 Year-over-year change 4.5 % Mainline CASM-Ex: Three Months Ended March 31, 2016 March 31, 2015 Mainline CASM (cents) 12.84 13.49 Adjusted for: Aircraft fuel and related taxes (2.36) (3.66) Other expenses (0.55) (0.51) Mainline CASM-Ex 9.93 9.32 Operating Cash Flow. We adjusted operating cash flow because management believes this metric is helpful to investors to evaluate the company's ability to generate cash that is available for use for debt service or general corporate initiatives. We adjust for hedge margin as we believe this adjustment removes the impact of current market volatility on our unsettled hedges and allows investors to better understand and analyze the company's core operational performance in the period shown. Three Months Ended (in billions) March 31, 2016 Net cash provided by operating activities $ 1.01 Adjustments: Hedge margin and other 0.34 Net cash provided by operating activities, adjusted $ 1.35 Free Cash Flow. We present free cash flow because management believes this metric is helpful to investors to evaluate the company's ability to generate cash that is available for use for debt service or general corporate initiatives. Adjustments include: Hedge deferrals. During the March 2016 quarter, we entered into transactions to further defer settlement of a portion of our hedge portfolio until 2017. These deferral transactions, excluding market movements from the date of inception, will settle and provide approximately $300 million in cash receipts during the second half of 2016 and require approximately $300 million in cash payments in 2017. Operating cash flow is adjusted to include these deferral transactions in order to allow investors to better understand the net impact of hedging activities in the period shown. Hedge margin. Free cash flow is adjusted for hedge margin as we believe this adjustment removes the impact of current market volatility on our unsettled hedges and allows investors to better understand and analyze the company's core operational performance in the period shown. Three Months Ended (in millions) March 31, 2016 Net cash provided by operating activities $ 1,011 Net cash used in investing activities (601) Adjustments: Hedge deferral 11 Hedge margin 335 Net redemptions of short-term investments and other (259) Total free cash flow $ 497 Adjusted Net Debt. Delta uses adjusted total debt, including aircraft rent, in addition to long-term adjusted debt and capital leases, to present estimated financial obligations. Delta reduces adjusted debt by cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments and hedge margin receivable, resulting in adjusted net debt, to present the amount of assets needed to satisfy the debt. Management believes this metric is helpful to investors in assessing the company's overall debt profile. Management has reduced adjusted debt by the amount of hedge margin receivable, which reflects cash posted to counterparties, as we believe this removes the impact of current market volatility on our unsettled hedges and is a better representation of the continued progress we have made on our debt initiatives. (in billions) March 31, 2016 Debt and capital lease obligations $ 8.5 Plus: unamortized discount, net and debt issuance costs $ 0.1 Adjusted debt and capital lease obligations $ 8.6 Plus: 7x last twelve months' aircraft rent $ 1.8 Adjusted total debt $ 10.4 Less: cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments $ (2.9) Less: hedge margin receivable $ (0.5) Adjusted net debt $ 7.0 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090202/DELTALOGO SOURCE Delta Air Lines Related Links http://www.delta.com VANCOUVER, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Destiny Media Technologies (TSXV: DSY) (OTCQX: DSNY), the makers of Play MPE, a system for the secure distribution of pre-release music to radio and the developer of Clipstream, a cross-platform player-less video streaming format, today announced its financial results for the second quarter ended February 29, 2016. Highlights Highlights during the second quarter include: Quarterly revenue increase 3% (YOY) Quarterly expenditures drop by 25% (YOY) Quarterly loss shrinks by 79% (YOY) Migration of Play MPE system to a cloud computing platform Second Quarter Results Play MPE revenue grew in Europe, USA and Australia for an overall increase of 1.4% or 8.5% after factoring in an unfavorable reduction in the Euro relative to the US dollar. Clipstream began to see positive revenue increases. Expenditures dropped by 25% due to a reduction in costs associated with restructuring, favorable exchange rates, and a reduction in director and officer compensation. Net loss for the second quarter declined by 79% to ($75,383), or ($0.00) per share, versus a net loss of ($364,457), or ($0.01) during the prior year. "During the quarter we began to see the positive results from restructuring that took place in the prior year with revenues increasing and expenses declining. While Clipstream is obviously at a very early commercial stage, the company saw progress in revenue in its hosted solution, enterprise plan, and market research clients, showing a 328% increase compared to the prior year's quarter," said Steve Vestergaard, Chief Executive Officer for Destiny Media Technologies. "With the technology restructure completed in the quarter, the Company can move forward with product design enhancements to grow revenue." Second Quarter Fiscal 2016 Earnings Conference Call Destiny Media Technologies will host a conference call at 4:30 p.m. ET (1:30pm PT) on April 14th, 2016, to further discuss its second quarter fiscal 2016 results. Investors and interested parties may participate in the call by dialing 416-764-8688 or 888-390-0546 and referring to conference ID # 74540260. A written transcript and archived stream will subsequently be made available on Destiny's corporate site at http://www.dsny.com. About Destiny Media Technologies, Inc. Destiny Media Technologies provides services that enable content owners to securely display and distribute their audio and video content digitally through the internet. The Company's two major services are Clipstream and Play MPE. Clipstream (www.clipstream.com) is an automated high availability self-serve video hosting service built around a proprietary Javascript playback system. This approach, which is protected by two dozen pending and granted patents is much more secure and flexible than standard video approaches. Play MPE (www.plaympe.com) provides a standardized method to securely and cost effectively distributes pre-release music to radio stations and other music industry professionals, before it is ready for sale. It is protected by granted security and watermark patents. More information can be found at www.dsny.com. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE (LOSS) (Expressed in United States dollars) Three Months Three Months Six Months Six Months Ended Ended Ended Ended February 29, February 28, February 29, February 28, 2016 2015 2016 2015 $ $ $ $ Service revenue 763,897 743,193 1,611,618 1,698,263 Operating expenses General and administrative 158,207 246,922 393,590 540,580 Sales and marketing 302,188 422,493 652,786 753,506 Research and development 331,722 411,282 650,762 775,251 Depreciation and amortization 53,196 38,998 103,025 74,783 845,313 1,119,695 1,800,163 2,144,120 Loss from operations (81,416) (376,502) (188,545) (445,857) Other income (expenses) Interest income 6,033 12,045 12,155 25,091 Net loss (75,383) (364,457) (176,390) (420,766) Foreign currency translation adjustments (19,309) (164,827) (37,065) (265,787) Total comprehensive loss (94,692) (529,284) (213,455) (686,553) Net loss per common share, basic and diluted (0.00) (0.01) (0.00) (0.01) CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS As at (Expressed in United States dollars) February 29, August 31, 2016 2015 $ $ ASSETS Current Cash and cash equivalents 673,008 387,316 Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $7,018 [2015 $6,129] 430,141 399,148 Other receivables 35,671 15,471 Current portion of long term receivable 102,830 98,180 Prepaid expenses 37,092 36,042 Total current assets 1,278,742 936,157 Deposits 22,241 32,222 Long term receivable 113,830 167,350 Property and equipment, net 403,126 401,461 Total assets 1,817,939 1,537,190 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Current Accounts payable 167,075 139,879 Accrued liabilities 176,748 189,672 Deferred leasehold inducement 44,852 63,217 Deferred revenue 5,179 24,712 Obligation under capital lease current portion 4,867 5,205 Total current liabilities 398,721 422,685 Obligation under capital lease long term portion 9,075 12,071 Total liabilities 407,796 434,756 Commitments and contingencies Stockholders' equity Common stock, par value $0.001 Authorized: 100,000,000 shares Issued and outstanding: 55,013,874 shares [2015 issued and outstanding 52,993,874 shares] 55,014 52,994 Additional paid-in capital 9,641,276 9,122,132 Accumulated deficit (7,884,451) (7,708,061) Accumulated other comprehensive loss (401,696) (364,631) Total stockholders' equity 1,410,143 1,102,434 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity 1,817,939 1,537,190 SOURCE Destiny Media Technologies, Inc. Related Links www.dsny.com NEW ORLEANS, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) announced today that it intends to refuel the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., next year to continue supplying power to New England, then cease operations on May 31, 2019. The decision narrows the previously announced shutdown timeframe of 2017-2019. "We're pleased that we will be able to keep our team of hardworking, professional employees actively engaged in safe operations for the next three years and in a return to regular NRC and industry oversight," said John Dent, Pilgrim's site vice president. "During this period, Pilgrim will continue safely to provide clean, emissions-free electricity to our neighbors. "Another benefit of the three-year window before shutdown is that Pilgrim will continue to be a good neighbor, providing economic benefits and charitable donations. In just the past four years, Pilgrim has donated more than $1.5 million to local, regional and statewide non-profit organizations," Dent added. The decision to remain in operation for another three years means that Pilgrim will conduct a refueling outage in the spring of 2017. Refueling outages, which the plant conducts every other year, result in significant positive economic impacts for the region. The 2015 refueling outage resulted in a $70 million investment in the plant, including $25 million in new equipment. Nearly 2,000 employees, including 1,184 extra contract workers, performed hundreds of activities. The enlarged workforce at Pilgrim increased the plant's economic contributions to Plymouth and surrounding communities through the purchase of hotel rooms, meals and tourism activities. Planning for decommissioning will begin with the formation of a dedicated team of individuals with both decommissioning and Pilgrim plant experience. This team will develop a Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report describing planned decommissioning activities, a schedule, cost estimate, and environmental impacts. That plan, due no later than two years after shutdown, is a public document sent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for review. Entergy will also create a Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen's Advisory/Engagement Panel to share information and educate the public. More information on decommissioning can be found at www.pilgrimpower.com. Entergy remains committed overall to nuclear power, whose benefits include carbon-free, reliable power that is cost- effective over the long term, contributes to supply diversity and energy security as part of a balanced energy portfolio and provides almost two-thirds of America's clean-air electricity. About the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station and Entergy The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station generates 680 megawatts of nearly carbon-free electricity, enough to power more than 600,000 homes. Pilgrim began generating electricity in 1972. Additional information regarding today's announcement is available on Entergy's corporate website at entergy.com. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including nearly 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of approximately $11.5 billion and more than 13,000 employees. Entergy's online address is: entergy.com Facebook.com/entergy Twitter: @entergy Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120913/MM74349LOGO SOURCE Entergy Corporation Related Links http://www.entergy.com Dear Supporter Porn Star (Or, Really, Anyone In The Adult Industry), WASHINGTON, D.C.Do you want to help eradicate sexual exploitation in all its forms? Do you want to defend the dignity of all children, women, and men? Do want to put your skills and life to work in ways that make a difference in the lives of others and create a better world? If so, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) invites you to become part of the movement to end sexual exploitation through our Sexual Justice Advocate (SJA) Internship Program or by joining our team full-time through some of our current open positions. NCOSE works to expose and combat the full spectrum of sexual exploitation (i.e. pornography, prostitution, stripping, sexual trafficking, child sexual abuse, sexual assault and rape), while emphasizing pornographys central role in fueling other forms of sexual abuse. We believe pornography is the cornerstone of sexual exploitation, and recognize that its harmful effects are creating a public health crisis that poses serious threats to society. Pornography encourages sexualization of children, child sexual abuse, sexual assault and violence against women, sex addiction, distorted perceptions of sexuality, dangerous sexual practices, and fuels demand for sexually trafficked women and children. Please share these opportunities with any you think would be a good fit! Full-Time Position for Marketing & Development Copywriter Full-Time Position for Executive Assistant to President/CEO & Vice-President Full-Time Position for Development Coordinator & Grant Writer Sexual Justice Advocate Interns Good luck! (You'll need it!) NEW YORK, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fireglass, the company revolutionizing cyber security by isolating common attack vectors including web, emails, documents and web applications, announces today its new channel-based program to bring the Fireglass Threat Isolation Platform to the enterprise landscape. Fireglass' SPARK Partner Program allows resellers and distributors to offer customers a clientless and easy to deploy solution to eliminate attacks such as malware, ransomware, phishing and more. "Many enterprises are still relying on legacy and detection-based security systems, which are no match for threats today. It's our responsibility as innovators and forward thinkers to bring them new and effective means to adapt to and defend against the most sophisticated threats," says Gary Fish, founder and CEO of Fishtech Labs. "At Fishtech Labs, we focus on next generation technologies which complement and enhance existing systems to create cohesive and secure environments. The Fireglass Threat Isolation Platform sets the bar when it comes to web security, and we're excited to join the SPARK Program in an effort to offer an unmatched level of protection to our customers. " "The goal of the Fireglass SPARK Partner Program is to provide innovative channel partners with the tools, means and support required to solve their customers' largest security concerns," says Guy Guzner, Founder and CEO, Fireglass. "Our Threat Isolation Platform offers the highest level of isolation and security with the simplest and easiest to deploy approach. The SPARK Partner Program is the first step in building a true partnership with forward thinking resellers and distributors as they bring to enterprises around the world the solutions of the future, today." The SPARK Partner program offers IT security partners the following benefits: Differentiate security solutions offered with an innovative threat isolation technology Long-lasting high margins Discounted pricing based on partner level Sales opportunity protection via deal registration Close collaboration with Fireglass sales, marketing and support teams Lead sharing and referrals Joint sales and marketing activities and programs Go-to-Market support including sales tools, education and collateral For more details about the SPARK Partner Program and how to become a partner, please visit the Fireglass Partners page here. About Fireglass Fireglass is revolutionizing enterprise network security by eliminating attack surfaces including web, emails, documents and web applications. Leveraging military-grade security approaches, Fireglass seamlessly protects both users and web applications from all known and unknown threats to offer future-proof security. Fireglass Threat Isolation Platform creates a secure execution environment between users and the web. All potentially malicious content is executed remotely, and only a safe visual stream is sent to the user. Easily deployable on-premises or offered as a cloud service, Fireglass requires no endpoint installation and supports any browser, OS and device, allowing organizations of all sizes to isolate web content and safely enable new functionality while reducing security operational costs. Fireglass customers include Fortune 500 companies, large financial services providers and healthcare providers. Founded by network security experts and military intelligence veterans, Fireglass is financially-backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Singtel Innov8, Liberty Israel Venture Fund, Deutsche Telecom Capital Partners and co-founders of Trusteer, Mickey Boodaei and Rakesh Loonkar, and is headquartered in New York City, NY with R&D in Israel. For more information about Fireglass, please visit: https://fire.glass/ , or follow on Twitter @WeAreFireglass . Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160125/325711LOGO SOURCE Fireglass Related Links https://fire.glass RALEIGH, N.C., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Genworth Mortgage Insurance ("Genworth"), a unit of Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW), strongly urges the North Carolina General Assembly to repeal HB2, which effectively negates broader anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens in North Carolina, where Genworth Mortgage Insurance is headquartered. "Gov. Pat McCrory's executive order is a step in the right direction," said Rohit Gupta, president and CEO of Genworth Mortgage Insurance. "No individual should be discriminated against because of gender identity or sexual orientation and we urge the North Carolina General Assembly to pass legislation that unequivocally protects members of the LGBT community from discrimination." "Because Genworth is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, this law is an affront to our company, which values and respects all individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity," Gupta said. "Those ideals also extend to the community, where we make the dream of homeownership more affordable for more American families and are committed to fair and equitable mortgage lending practices. Laws that condone discrimination are not only bad for people, but also bad for the economic vitality of the communities in which they are enacted." About Genworth Financial Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW) is a Fortune 500 insurance holding company committed to helping families achieve the dream of homeownership and address the financial challenges of aging through its leadership positions in mortgage insurance and long term care insurance. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Genworth traces its roots back to 1871 and became a public company in 2004. For more information, visit genworth.com. From time to time, Genworth releases important information via postings on its corporate website. Accordingly, investors and other interested parties are encouraged to enroll to receive automatic email alerts and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regarding new postings. Enrollment information is found under the "Investors" section of genworth.com. From time to time, Genworth's publicly traded subsidiaries, Genworth MI Canada Inc. and Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Limited, separately release financial and other information about their operations. This information can be found at http://genworth.ca and http://www.genworth.com.au. SOURCE Genworth Financial, Inc. Related Links http://www.genworth.com CHICAGO, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement is being issued by Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP regarding the Accretive Health, Inc. Securities Litigation: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS TIFFANY M. HUGHES, ) Case No. 13-cv-3688 Plaintiff, ) ) Honorable Joan B. Gottschall v. ) ) ACCRETIVE HEALTH, INC., MARY A. TOLAN, JOHN T. STATON, AND JAMES M. BOLOTIN, ) ) Defendants. __________________________________________ ) ) SUMMARY NOTICE OF PENDENCY AND PROPOSED SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION TO: ALL PERSONS WHO PURCHASED OR OTHERWISE ACQUIRED THE COMMON STOCK OF ACCRETIVE HEALTH, INC. ("ACCRETIVE HEALTH"), WHO PURCHASED OR ACQUIRED CALL OPTIONS ON ACCRETIVE HEALTH COMMON STOCK, OR WHO WROTE PUT OPTIONS ON ACCRETIVE HEALTH COMMON STOCK BETWEEN MAY 20, 2010 AND DECEMBER 30, 2014, INCLUSIVE YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED, pursuant to an Order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, that a hearing will be held on June 28, 2016, at 10:00 a.m., before the Honorable Joan B. Gottschall in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse, 219 South Dearborn Street, Courtroom 2325, Chicago, IL 60604, for the purpose of determining: (1) whether the proposed Settlement of the claims in the Litigation for the sum of $3.9 million in cash should be approved by the Court as fair, reasonable, and adequate to Settlement Class Members; (2) whether to certify the Settlement Class; (3) whether, thereafter, this Litigation should be dismissed with prejudice pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth in the Stipulation of Settlement dated February 19, 2016; (4) whether the proposed plan to distribute the Settlement proceeds (the "Plan of Allocation") is fair, reasonable, and adequate and therefore should be approved; (5) whether the application of Lead Counsel for the payment of attorneys' fees and expenses incurred in connection with this Litigation should be approved; (6) whether the Court should grant Lead Plaintiff's reimbursement of its reasonable costs and expenses (including lost wages) directly related to its representation of the Settlement Class; and (7) any other matters relevant to the Settlement that the Court considers necessary or appropriate (the "Settlement Hearing"). The Court has reserved the right to reschedule the hearing from time to time without further notice. IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE SETTLEMENT CLASS DESCRIBED ABOVE, YOUR RIGHTS WILL BE AFFECTED AND YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO SHARE IN THE SETTLEMENT FUND. If you have not received a detailed Notice of Proposed Settlement of Class Action, Motion for Attorneys' Fees and Expenses and Settlement Hearing (the "Notice"), and a copy of the Proof of Claim and Release form, you may obtain copies by writing to the Claims Administrator at the address below. Copies of the Notice and Claim Form are also available at www.accretivehealthsecuritieslitigation.com. To be eligible to participate in the proposed Settlement, you must have purchased or otherwise acquired the common stock of Accretive Health, Inc., purchased or otherwise acquired call options on Accretive Health common stock, or written put options on Accretive Health common stock from May 20, 2010, through December 30, 2014, inclusive, and not be excluded either by definition or by filing a request for exclusion (the "Settlement Class"). Further, to be eligible to participate in the proposed Settlement, you will be required to submit a Proof of Claim and Release postmarked by July 6, 2016 in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice. If you are a member of the Settlement Class and do not exclude yourself, you will be bound by any judgment entered in the Litigation whether or not you make a claim. To exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, you must submit a request for exclusion that is postmarked no later than June 7, 2016, in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice. Any objections to the Settlement, the Plan of Allocation, Lead Counsel's Fee and Expense Award, or the Lead Plaintiff Cost and Expense Award must be filed with the Court and postmarked to counsel identified in the Notice no later than June 7, 2016. All objections must be prepared and submitted in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice. If you are a Settlement Class Member and do not submit a proper Proof of Claim and Release form, you will not share in the proceeds of the Settlement but you will nevertheless be bound by any judgments or orders entered by the Court in the Litigation. This notice provides only a summary of matters regarding the Litigation and the Settlement. A more complete notice has been mailed to persons and entities known to be potential Settlement Class Members regarding the Litigation, the proposed Settlement, and the right of Settlement Class Members to: (i) appear at the Settlement Hearing; (ii) request to be excluded from the Settlement Class; and (iii) object to the Settlement, the Plan of Allocation, Lead Counsel's Fee and Expense Award, or the Lead Plaintiff Cost and Expense Award. You may obtain a copy of the Notice, Proof of Claim and Release form, and other information by writing to the following address or calling the following telephone number: Accretive Health, Inc. Securities Litigation c/o Kurtzman Carson Consultants Claims Administrator P.O. Box 30208 College Station, TX 77842-3208 (1-844-204-3501) You may also access these documents from the following website: www.accretivehealthsecuritieslitigation.com. Inquiries, other than requests for copies of the Notice and Proof of Claim and Release or for inclusion on the mailing list for future notices, may be directed to Joshua L. Crowell, Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, CA 90067, (T) (310) 201-9150, (F) (310) 432-1495, [email protected], www.glancylaw.com. PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT OR THE CLERK'S OFFICE REGARDING THIS NOTICE Dated: March 8, 2016 BY ORDER OF THE COURT SOURCE Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Related Links http://www.glancylaw.com NEW YORK, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America, Inc. (HWZOA), announces the launch of the Coalition for Women's Health Equity, which will work to address inequities in quality of care, funding and support, and gaps in women's health awareness, according to Hadassah National President Ellen Hershkin. The inaugural members of the Coalition include: American Association of University Women; American Heart Association; Black Women's Health Imperative; Breast Cancer Fund; Institute for Women's Health and Leadership of Drexel University College of Medicine; Jewish Women International; National Council of Jewish Women; National Organization for Women; National Partnership for Women & Families; National Women's Political Caucus; Society for Women's Health Research; Vision 2020; WomenAgainstAlzheimer's and WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. Hadassah has convened this coalition in response to pervasive gender disparities throughout the healthcare system, with the mission to create a well-coordinated and unified force to advocate for women's health equityfrom prevention and diagnosis, to treatment and cure. Coalition members represent a wide variety of the nation's most prominent organizations including those working towards female empowerment, equitable healthcare access, civil rights, and more. Membership in the Coalition is open and will continue to grow. Ellen Hershkin states, "This new collaborative effort amplifies our collective impactcombining the strength of Hadassah's 330,000 members, Associates and supporters with the heightened power of women's voices from around the country. For over a century, Hadassahin the U.S. and Israelhas advocated for, as well as provided, the highest quality healthcare for women. Hadassah is thrilled to partner with such influential organizations that have long-standing reputations of expertise and service in women's issues. By engaging in direct advocacy, grassroots mobilization and the sharing of resources, the Coalition will make a lasting and powerful difference for women's health equity." Women and men often present different symptoms for the same diseases and react differently to certain drugs, medical devices, and treatments. Gender disparities in medicineamong research subjects, and in health care access and deliveryput women at risk for misdiagnoses, ineffective treatments and compromised care. Heart disease, for example, is the number one killer of women, and yet only one third of cardiac research subjects are women. Studies also show that medical providers are more likely to ascribe women's pain symptoms to stress or psychological causes, and men's symptoms to physical or neurological conditions. A lack of women's health equity not only impacts the well-being of the American woman now, but for generations to come. The Coalition for Women's Health Equity will publicly promote policies in support of gender equity in medical prevention, research and treatment, and raise awareness about how that lack of equity adversely affects women and families throughout the United States. To learn more and hear from the members of the Coalition for Women's Health Equity visit hadassah.org/womenshealthequity. Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America, Inc. (HWZOA) is the largest Jewish women's organization in the United States. With 330,000 members, associates and supporters across the country, Hadassah brings Jewish women together to effect change and advocate on critical issues such as medical care and research, women's empowerment, and the security of Israel. Through the Hadassah Medical Organization's (HMO) two hospitals, the world-renowned trauma center and the leading research facility in Jerusalem, Hadassah supports the delivery of exemplary patient care to over a million people every year. HMO serves without regard to race, religion or nationality and earned a Nobel Peace Prize Nomination in 2005 for building "bridges to peace" through equality in medical treatment. For more information, visit www.hadassah.org. SOURCE Hadassah Related Links http://www.hadassah.org ARMONK, N.Y., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today named 11 new IBM Fellows, the company's most prestigious technical honor. The new Fellows are being honored for pioneering work in areas including cognitive computing, analytics, cloud, security, mobile and healthcare. As Fellows, these individuals will have the opportunity to dedicate significant time to free-form exploration and innovation in their areas of expertise. IBM today named 11 new IBM Fellows, the company's most prestigious technical honor. The new Fellows are being honored for pioneering work in areas including cognitive computing, analytics, cloud, security, mobile and healthcare. Pictured from left to right are the 2016 IBM Fellows: Adam Kocoloski, Ajay Royyuru, Shankar Kalyana, Tanveer Syeda-Mahmood, Mac Devine, Blaine Dolph, Gosia Steinder, Bill Kostenko, Stacy Joines, JR Rao, Salim Roukos (Jon Simon/Feature Photo Service for IBM) "These extraordinary men and women join a select community made up of some of the world's most creative thinkers," said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and CEO. "Our new IBM Fellows play a critical role in defining the next era of technology, business and society, with vital contributions to IBM's position as the world's leading cognitive solutions and cloud platform company." The IBM Fellow distinction is conferred in recognition of exceptional and sustained technical achievements and leadership in engineering, programming, services, science, technology and industry solutions. Collectively, the 11 new Fellows have 172 patents. This year's Fellows are transforming business and society with technical advancements, developments and research. For example, Director of IBM Healthcare and Life Sciences Research Ajay Royyuru is using Watson for Genomics to translate genomic variations in cancer to treatment options. IBM's Chief Scientist for Medical Sieve Radiology Tanveer Syeda-Mahmood is developing automated, cognitive radiology and cardiology technology that is aimed at helping clinicians in their decision-making. Director of IBM Security Research JR Rao is addressing emerging challenges in security and privacy with cognitive computing, data and analytics. IBM Cloud Computing Scientist Gosia Steinder is greatly simplifying application lifecycle management with container cloud research. Past IBM Fellows, who include a Kyoto Prize winner and five Nobel Prize winners, have fostered some of business and society's most significant breakthroughsfrom the IBM Watson cognitive system, to the systems that helped put the first man on the moon, and the first instrument to image atoms. To be awarded IBM's pre-eminent technical honor, an employee must meet four important criteria: Sustained innovation in some of the world's most important technologies Significant recognition as a leader among IBM's technical communities Broad industry acknowledgement of the individual's accomplishments A strong history of new technologies and business models being deployed at scale The program was founded in 1962 by Thomas J. Watson, Jr. to promote creativity among the company's most exceptional technical professionals. IBM has named 278 Fellows since the program's inception. Collectively, IBM Fellows have 9,329 patents. 2016 IBM Fellows Mac Devine Cloud Computing and Internet of Things IBM Cloud As Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Networking and Innovation Services within IBM's Cloud division, Mac Devine has helped shape the company's cloud computing and Internet of Things strategies, including IBM's acquisitions of SoftLayer, Cloudant, Fiberlink, Ustream and The Weather Company. Mac is a master innovator who constantly pushes IBM into new technology areas and finds innovative ways to leverage open source and its ecosystem. As an IBM Fellow, Mac will be responsible for defining the architecture and setting the technical direction for leveraging emerging technology used for supporting hyperscale workloads. He will also focus on advanced innovations to extend IBM's presence into Edge of Network in support of Internet of Things, data-as-a-service, video services and cyber security. Blaine Dolph Apple+IBM Partnership IBM Global Business Services Blaine Dolph is Chief Technology Officer of the Apple+IBM Global Partnership. He is also an IBM Master Inventor with more than 40 patents filed. Blaine has been instrumental in launching the technical strategy for several IBM organizations, including IBM Interactive, IBM Global Mobile Center of Competence and most recently the Apple+IBM Global Partnership. As an IBM Fellow, Blaine will continue to serve as CTO of the Apple+IBM Global Partnership, while also offering technical leadership and guidance to The Weather Company, an IBM Business, and IBM's Global Partnerships with Box and Twitter. Stacy Joines Performance Engineering IBM Watson Stacy Joines is the Chief Technology Officer of Watson Client Implementations. In this position, Stacy builds on her contributions to the field of performance to deliver robust cognitive solutions. She has a long history of delivering and sustaining IBM's high-volume clients in the WebSphere Application Server and Smarter Commerce spaces. As an IBM Fellow, Stacy will apply the concepts of performance and end-user workload metrics to the era of cognitive computing. Shankar Kalyana Cloud Business Solutions IBM Global Business Services Shankar Kalyana has worked for IBM in the US and India, helping clients across banking, government, automotive and other industries transform their organizations using cloud computing. Shankar Kalyana is currently serving as Vice President, Distinguished Engineer and Chief Technology Officer of IBM Cloud Business Solutions. Shankar's noteworthy technical accomplishments include launching the IBM Cloud Business Solutions technical and delivery model, and the launch of a cloud-based personalized learning solution that now delivers cognitive computing-generated education to students. Adam Kocoloski Cloud Data Services IBM Analytics Adam Kocoloski joined IBM in 2014 through the acquisition of Cloudant, where he built a highly scalable database-as-a-service by extending Apache CouchDB. At IBM, Adam applied the lessons learned at Cloudant to form a Cloud Data Services group. His expertise and entrepreneurial spirit will be critical as IBM continues to innovate and serve clients as a cognitive solutions and cloud platform company. William Kostenko z Systems IBM Systems William (Bill) Kostenko is the Chief Engineer for IBM z Systems hardware. Bill's innovation, leadership, and strategic vision were fundamental to the (5 GHz) z13 launch in 2015. His design also anticipated and provided key technology to accelerate the delivery of IBM's POWER8 high-end and mid-range systems. Bill is a leading innovator of data center optimization, system energy efficiency, the transformation of Systems hardware, and the delivery of large hardware cost reductions. Josyula Rao Security and Analytics IBM Research Josyula (JR) Rao is the Director of IBM Security Research. JR is widely known for his pioneering technical contributions to the development of empirical and analytical methods for security. This is best exemplified by an industry-wide vision that JR has created for applying big data security intelligence for protecting enterprise, mobile and cloud environments. These ideas were instrumental in IBM's acquisition of Q1 Labs as well as establishing and evolving IBM's Security Business Unit. As an IBM Fellow, JR will continue to define and develop new technologies that address emerging challenges in security and privacy. Salim Roukos Natural Language Processing IBM Research Salim Roukos' work has significantly accelerated machine translation research and development over the past decade. The multilingual technologies developed by Salim have been key drivers for expanding IBM cognitive services and multilingual question-answering client engagements by making Watson systems understand non-English languages. As an IBM Fellow, Salim will lead the strategic research and development in multilingual natural language cognitive systems and services, expanding his influence to provide cognitive, integrated analytics and big data components that can reason over large, unstructured multilingual content and integrate with structured information for the finance, healthcare, government, and insurance industries. Ajay Royyuru Computation Biology and Genomics IBM Research Ajay Royyuru leads Healthcare and Life Sciences Research at IBM and is an expert in computational biology and genomics. Ajay's latest work has been dedicated to human genetic research to help combat diseases. Using Watson for Genomics, Ajay built a system to translate genomic variations in cancer to treatment options. Today, leading medical institutions are using the technology as a research tool to inform deliberations on new patients. Ajay's early work on computer modeling 3D structures of protein sparked the birth of IBM Blue Gene. It was both the most powerful and efficient supercomputer of its time, and has gone on to advance other simulations in life sciences, for example exquisite biophysical simulations of human heart and neural tissue, and diverse disciplines of physics, chemistry, material science and other areas. Malgorzata Steinder Container Cloud Research IBM Research Malgorzata (Gosia) Steinder's work is in the area of workload and resource management for hybrid cloud and data centers. Over the course of her career, Gosia has pioneered important concepts and technologies such as dynamic application clusters, workload-centric resource management, power-aware and license-aware workload placement, and container clouds. Her work has enabled IBM clients to greatly simplify the lifecycle management of their applications by removing the need for manual intervention in deploying, scaling and managing availability of applications. Tanveer Syeda-Mahmood Cognitive Computing and Medical Imaging IBM Research Tanveer is currently the Chief Scientist leading the Medical Sieve Radiology Grand Challenge project, a global IBM Research project aiming to develop automated, cognitive radiology and cardiology technology to aid clinician decision-making. This flagship project has made tremendous scientific advancements to establish IBM as a thought leader in cognitive computing and medical imaging. Over the last 25 years, Dr. Syeda-Mahmood has made a broad and deep impact to the field of healthcare through her pioneering research in content-based image and video indexing that established a new field of multimodal clinical decision support in healthcare. As an IBM Fellow, Tanveer will continue to apply cognitive computing to healthcare informatics and strengthen medical imaging technology. For more information on the 2016 IBM Fellows, visit: http://ibm.biz/2016ibmfellows Join the conversation on Twitter at #ibmfellows CONTACT: Melissa Turesky IBM Media Relations [email protected] 781-414-9380 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160414/355471 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO SOURCE IBM Related Links http://www.ibm.com ATLANTA, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Changes in the tests that diagnose foodborne illness are helping identify infections faster but could soon pose challenges to finding outbreaks and monitoring progress toward preventing foodborne disease, according to a report published today in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Week Report. Culture-independent diagnostic tests (CIDTs) help doctors diagnose infections quickly because they provide results in hours instead of the days needed for traditional culture methods, which require growing bacteria to determine the cause of illness. But without a bacterial culture, public health officials cannot get the detailed information about the bacteria needed to help find outbreaks, check for antibiotic resistance, and track foodborne disease trends. In 2015, the percentage of foodborne infections diagnosed only by CIDT was about double compared with the percentage in 2012-2014. "Foodborne infections continue to be an important public health problem in the United States," said Robert Tauxe, M.D., M.P.H, director of CDC's Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases. "We are working with partners to make sure we still get important information about harmful bacteria despite the increasing use of diagnostic tests that don't require a culture." The increased use of CIDT could affect public health officials' ability to monitor trends and detect outbreaks. In the short term, clinical laboratories should work with their public health laboratories to make sure a culture is done whenever a CIDT indicates that someone with diarrheal illness has a bacterial infection. For a long-term solution, CDC is working with partners to develop advanced testing methods that, without culture, will give health care providers information to diagnose illness and also give the detailed information that public health officials need to detect and investigate outbreaks. Limited progress in reducing foodborne illness The report included the most recent data from CDC's Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, or FoodNet. It summarizes preliminary 2015 data on nine germs spread commonly through food. Overall, progress in reducing rates of foodborne illnesses has been limited since 2012, according to the report. The most frequent causes of infection in 2015 were Salmonella and Campylobacter, which is consistent with previous years. Other key findings from the FoodNet report include: The incidence of Salmonella Typhimurium infection, often linked to poultry and beef, decreased 15 percent from 2012-2014 levels. This decline may be due in part to tighter regulatory standards and vaccination of chicken flocks against Salmonella. Typhimurium infection, often linked to poultry and beef, decreased 15 percent from 2012-2014 levels. The incidence of some infections increased: Reported Cryptosporidium infections increased 57 percent since 2012-2014, likely due to increased testing for this pathogen. Reported non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections increased 40 percent since 2012-2014. Quicker and easier testing likely accounted for some or all of this increase. FoodNet has been monitoring illness trends since 1996. FoodNet provides a foundation for food safety policy and prevention efforts because surveillance data can tell us where prevention efforts are needed to reduce foodborne illnesses. CDC is working with federal, state, and local partners, and the food industry to improve food safety. New regulations and continuing industry efforts are focusing on challenging areas. USDA has made improvements in its poultry inspection and testing models and has tightened standards for both Salmonella and Campylobacter in poultry. "In 2013, we launched a series of targeted efforts to address Salmonella in meat and poultry products, known as the Salmonella Action Plan, and recent data show that since then the incidence of Salmonella Typhimurium infection has dropped by 15 percent," said USDA Deputy Undersecretary for Food Safety, Al Almanza. "However our work is not done. The newly published performance standards for poultry parts will lead to further Salmonella reductions and fewer foodborne illnesses." In 2015, FDA published new rules to improve the safety of the food supply including produce, processed foods, and imported foods. Dr. Kathleen Gensheimer, MD, MPH, director of the FDA's Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation team and Chief Medical Officer, Foods and Veterinary Medicine Program, said, "We want to respond quickly to foodborne illness, but our true goal is to move forward with preventive measures that will be implemented from farm to table. In addition to collaboration with other government agencies at the local, state and federal level, the rules we are implementing under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act will help the food industry minimize the risk of contamination to our food supply." For more information on avoiding illnesses from food, please visit www.foodsafety.gov. About FoodNet FoodNet collects information to track rates and determine trends in laboratory-confirmed illnesses caused by nine germs transmitted commonly by food: Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, Listeria, Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing O157 and non-O157, Shigella, Vibrio, and Yersinia. Annual data are compared with data from the previous three years (2012-2014). Since 2010, FoodNet has been tracking the increasing use of CIDTs used by clinical laboratories for diagnosis of bacterial enteric infection. FoodNet is a collaboration among CDC, 10 state health departments, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, and the FDA. FoodNet covers 48 million people, encompassing about 15 percent of the United States population. The sites are the states of Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, and Tennessee, and selected counties in California, Colorado, and New York. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services CDC works 24/7 protecting America's health, safety and security. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are curable or preventable, chronic or acute, stem from human error or deliberate attack, CDC is committed to respond to America's most pressing health challenges. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151112/286865LOGO SOURCE Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Highlighting a trend in its early stages, 'A Change in Behavior: Innovations in Financial Capability' explores innovations from around the world that focus on triggering positive customer behaviors, especially at critical decision-making moments, such as when clients sign up for and use financial products, or when they are prompted to put money aside to meet savings goals. The research identified seven behaviorally informed practices that show great promise in affecting changes in behavior. These include placing messages at 'teachable moments' that reach consumers when they are about to make a financial decision. Others include heuristics, or 'rules of thumb.' A third recommendation is to 'make it social' such as using peer-to-peer support, sometimes through social media, to help motivate consumers to save or stay on track to reach financial goals. The research also found that major redeployment of resources is needed to ensure that the millions of dollars spent on building consumer capability yield substantial benefits. It recommends six major changes in resource deployment and approach. The top recommendation is to enable financial-service providers to take a greater role in building financial capability. As only one example, banks can organize their client touch points to send savings reminders and tips. Other recommendations include engaging social-service agencies, such as hospitals that provide financial counseling to families experiencing a health shock; and strengthening governments' focus on shared responsibility among stakeholders. "Building financial capability is an enormous and urgent task. We're grateful to JP Morgan Chase for making this research possible," said Elisabeth Rhyne, managing director of the Center for Financial Inclusion and co-author of the report. "Financial capability requires effort from many stakeholders, including financial service providers, governments and organizations that connect with people at the base of the pyramid. As all these players get involved and spend their scarce resources, it's crucial that they use methods that actually make a difference." 'Financial capability' goes beyond 'financial literacy' and 'financial education,' to focus on ensuring that learning results in action. Research shows that learning from traditional financial education programs often fails to show up in behavior. But when techniques informed by behavioral economics are integrated into interventions, people are more likely to translate their knowledge into action. The research examined models around the world, with close looks at Mexico and India. While traditional methods still predominate, there are a host of exciting innovations. These interventions range from personal counseling, to mobile apps that help customers understand their finances at a glance, to soap operas, games and videos that embed financial-capability messages and lessons. In Mexico, for example, Banamex's Saldazo product is a Visa card-based transactional account with an optional mobile service, co-branded with OXXO, Mexico's largest convenience store chain. Saldazo uses text messaging and a call center to inform customers, answer queries, collect information and encourage product use. Customers receive an SMS after each transaction, with messages encouraging account usage and providing tips, such as how to send money or buy air time. In India, Janalakshmi Financial Services builds on research that demonstrates that simple, action-focused rules of thumb (like 'left drawer has cash for personal expenses, right drawer has cash for business expenses') are often more effective than longer, more abstract lessons. It delivers one rule of thumb at a time through pre-recorded mobile phone calls. When customers have questions, they can request a call-back from an expert. The full report and appendices, including dozens of examples of innovations in financial capability, are available online here. About The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI) is an action-oriented think tank working toward full global financial inclusion. Constructing a financial inclusion sector that reaches everyone with quality services will require the combined efforts of many actors. CFI contributes to full inclusion by collaborating with sector participants to tackle challenges beyond the scope of any one actor, using tools that include research, convening, capacity building, and communications. To learn more about CFI, visit www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130128/NE48925LOGO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/355158LOGO SOURCE Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion Related Links http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org "All attending manufacturing professionals will have the chance to start each day of the conference with inspiration from keynote speakers, highly relevant across all industry verticals," said Stephen Corrick, senior vice president and portfolio director of UBM Americas' Advanced Manufacturing group. "We're honored to present top leaders to share their own transformational business experiences and success stories to help attendees realize their potential." Inspirational, Aspirational and Technical Keynote Speakers will Share how Manufacturing Technology is Accelerating Business Each morning of the event will open with a thought-provoking keynote address by one of the industry's biggest thinkers in the categories of inspiration, aspiration and technical strategies. For the first time, the keynote presentations will be open to Expo pass holders across all industries. The first two confirmed keynote speakers include: Day 1, Inspirational (Tuesday) : Dr. Leroy Chiao - Astronaut and Pioneer in Commercial Spaceflight In his presentation, Preparing Your Business for the Future Technology Innovation Trends , Dr. Leroy Chiao will share awe-inspiring stories of his time in space and the implications on technology and business. He'll explain how organizations can take advantage of the next technological phase which may include thought-controlled computer augmentation, sensors that can identify you instantly, and personalized medicine tailored to your genetics. Day 2, Aspirational (Wednesday) : Martin McCourt - Former CEO of Dyson As the former CEO of Dyson, Martin McCourt has spent more than 40 years working at the heart of British-based manufacturing, design and marketing, and in 2010 was named UK Business Leader of the Year. He has devised and implemented a strategy that transformed the company from a single product, single market producer into one where 80% of the business comes from over 60 markets around the world. In his presentation, Iterative Development: Former CEO of Dyson Reflects on his Experience , Martin will share advice and guidance for success, and his passion for nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs to become leaders through his straightforward way of thinking. The third and final keynote at this year's event features a technical theme from a currently trending topic from news headlines around the world. Additional details for the technical keynote will be available in the coming weeks. Keynote presentations will take place at the start of each day of the event, June, 14-16, 9:00-9:45am. To request a Media Pass to attend keynotes along all seven co-located events, visit: https://newyork.am.ubm.com/2016/registrations/media Beyond access to the keynote presentations, attendees will have the chance to meet with top suppliers, demo cutting edge innovations, and build relationships with other professionals across the community. From complimentary content on the Expo floor, to exclusive educational opportunities across conference tracks, the event will cover the industry's most trending topics. To learn more about the seven co-located advanced manufacturing Expos happening June 14-16 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, NY, please visit: About Advanced Manufacturing Expos & Conferences UBM's Advanced Manufacturing portfolio is the leading B-to-B event producer, publisher, and digital media business for the world's $3 trillion advanced, technology-based manufacturing industry. Our print and electronic products deliver trusted information to the advanced manufacturing market and leverage our proprietary 1.3 million name database to connect suppliers with buyers and purchase influencers. We produce more than 50 events and conferences in a dozen countries, connecting manufacturing professionals from around the globe. The Advanced Manufacturing portfolio is organized by UBM Americas, a part of UBM plc (UBM.L), an Events First marketing and communication services business. For more information, visit ubmamericas.com. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/355161 SOURCE UBM Americas ClearPop launched in late 2015. Consumer demand grew faster than large drugstore purchasing cycles. Online sales at Amazon (http://bit.ly/ClearPop) have risen 25% every month. "When parents need an earache treatment, they need it right away," said Scott Morehouse, MD, ClearPop inventor and father of 2. "I know all too personally the desperation of seeing your child in pain." "In the first months after ClearPop was announced, we'd get emails or inquiries on social media from desperate mothers wanting one for their child," said CEO Gordon Rogers. "Because our family went through this with my daughter, I completely understand the desperation." Rogers described a late night housecall: "A mom contacted us when her four-year-old daughter cried the whole way home from a ski weekend." Rogers drove to their home and dropped off a ClearPop. The mom later reported on Facebook that her daughter stopped crying right after having ClearPop, finally went to sleep and remained pain-free the next day." https://www.facebook.com/ClearPop Dr. Morehouse has darted down to the main entrance of the hospital where he works to hand off a ClearPop through an SUV window to a mom who found out about ClearPop from friends, and has won many adherents among his hospital's nursing and emergency room staff. Morehouse and Rogers will be able to direct ClearPop seekers to Raley's, Bel Air, and Nob Hill Markets in California and Nevada starting this week. ClearPop costs $11.99 for a two-dose-pack. About Try This First, Inc. makers of ClearPop ClearPop uses a biomechanically designed shape - similar to a lollipop to equalize pressure in the congested ear without medication. ClearPop was invented by physician Scott Morehouse, MD in response to his own children's struggles with acute otitis media (AOM) and his concerns over the over-prescription of antibiotics. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/355206 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160114/322504LOGO SOURCE CLEARPOP.COM Related Links http://www.clearpop.com WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) has been granted membership in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an organization devoted to helping the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environmental and development challenges. IUCN is the world's oldest and largest global environmental organization, with almost 1,300 government and NGO members and more than 15,000 volunteer experts in 185 countries. "We are so pleased to join this network of conservation-minded organizations. Biodiversity conservation is central to both IUCN's and SFI's mission. SFI is committed to quantifying the conservation impact of certified forests and responsible sourcing of forest products through programs such as the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard. Membership in IUCN will give us access to important tools and expertise to help this work," said Kathy Abusow, President and CEO of SFI Inc. Forests managed to the SFI Forest Management Standard now constitute over 280 million acres (100 million hectares) across North America from Canada's boreal forest to the U.S. southeast, providing habitat for wide-ranging species and flyways for migratory birds. This vast scale also offers the potential to amplify the importance of SFI's effort to enumerate the conservation-related values of SFI certified forests. SFI is the only forest certification program that requires participants to support research to improve forest health, productivity, conservation understanding, and sustainable management of forest resources. SFI's Program Participants engage in a tremendous array of projects every day that help conserve the diversity of habitats, protect water quality, and sustain other important aspects of North America's great natural heritage. "We are pleased to welcome SFI as an IUCN member. Their work on measuring conservation values in production forests is an important contribution to the delivery of global conservation efforts," said Stewart Maginnis, IUCN Global Director Nature-based Solutions Group. SFI will also be participating in the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2016 Sept 1-10. Taking place every four years, this event is considered the "Olympics of conservation." This is the first time it will be in the United States. The congress theme is "Planet at the crossroads." With IUCN seeking solutions for nature conservation and sustainable development, participation in the IUCN Congress will be significantly influenced by the UN Sustainable Development Goals adopted in September 2015, which include specific objectives relative to forests. Particular attention will be directed to goals that are nature-based and focused on clean water, climate action, life below water and life on land. "Clean water, climate action and biodiversity are key areas for SFI. We are looking forward to the IUCN Congress as a way to initiate SFI's membership in IUCN. Participating will help build SFI's own conservation knowledge and capacity and enable us to contribute to global goals as they relate to the conservation of working forests," said Paul Trianosky, Chief Conservation Officer at SFI. About the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc. (SFI) SFI Inc. is an independent, nonprofit organization that is solely responsible for maintaining, overseeing and improving the internationally-recognized SFI program. SFI works at the intersection of sustainable forests, thriving communities and responsible procurement and works collaboratively with conservation groups, local communities, resource professionals, landowners and countless other organizations and individuals who share our passion for and commitment to responsible forest management. The SFI Forest Management Standard includes measures to protect water quality, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, special sites, species at risk, forests with exceptional conservation value, and indigenous people's rights. In addition, sustainable forestry is promoted through the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard and the SFI Chain-of-Custody Standard. SFI Inc. is governed by a three-chamber board of directors representing environmental, social and economic sectors equally. Learn more at sfiprogram.org. SOURCE Sustainable Forestry Initiative Related Links http://www.sfiprogram.org HOLLYWOOD, Calif.Today on Rock'N'SeXXXy Uncensored, Amber Lynn again gives listeners a sneak peak into the new upcoming 624 Productions romantic comedy by director Thomas Baldinger, Who's Jenna...? Amber recently flew to NY to film a guest role in the upcoming indie film, which boasts an all-star cast including Bill Sorvino, Tracey Birdsall, Joe D'Onofrio, Gary Pastore and more. Amber was cast in a scene shared by some very exciting, talented actors and comedians who will be joining her show this Thursday as guests, including award winning actor Ronnie Marmo (General Hospital, Two Sides of Love, Back In The Day, A Bronx Tale), and actor, comedian Kevin Carr (Two Sides of Love, The Polar Express, The Drew Carey Show), who bring back characters in Who's Jenna...? that they portrayed in Two Sides of Love, another of Thomas Baldinger's projects. They will be joined on RNSU this week by actor Michael Tota (A Beautiful Mind, Desederia) who plays a porn star named Kevin Steele in the movie. "Who's Jenna...? was such a fun project to work on, and I came away with some terrific new friends I can't wait to introduce to my listeners," said RNSU host Ms. Lynnand you just never know who's gonna call in. Tune in to Rock'N'SeXXXy Uncensored radio to get the scoop on Who's Jenna...?, all wrapped up in an action-packed hour of fun and laughs hosted by Amber Lynn. Fans who call in during the show will be treated to autographed memorabilia and other swag. The call-in number is 323-203-0815. Join Amber Lynn's Rock'N'SeXXXy Uncensored this Thursday, April 14, 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET on LATalkRadio.com and Stitcher.com. Visit the RNSU Blog at Rock-N-SeXXXy-Uncensored.com for guest updates, photos, and news. Those who miss the show can download it at iTunes. And please, follow the show and Amber herself on Twitter. Brygon Reserve Wines chief executive officer Robert Fraser-Scott gave the delegation a warm reception and followed up with a brief presentation on the winery's grape cultivation and wine making techniques during the delegation's visit to the vineyard. The CEO explained one of the winery's highlights: "The vineyard has a history going back 18 years, almost as long as our winery. Grape vines need to be allowed to grow and strengthen for ten years following plantation before they can be used to produce high quality wines. In its 12th year of cultivation, our Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard produced a fine wine that won almost all the gold prizes at major Australian wine contests in 2009." Brygon Reserve Wines beat some of Australia's most prestigious wine brands to win over 200 gold awards at leading global wine exhibitions. The winery was included in the roster of Australia's Top 40 Best-Selling Wines chosen by leading wine and spirit magazine Winestate, as well as being named Best Wine in Western Australia and Wine of the Year. The delegation visited Brygon Reserve Wines' oak barrel aging facility as well as the winery's production and bottling lines. The winery has state-of-the-art brewing equipment. Each step of the brewing process is controlled and monitored by computer to ensure precise temperature control. All the wines are aged in new French oak barrels, assuring an ideal combination of oak and fruit aromas. Wine is gaining a growing share of the Chinese alcohol retail market in tandem with the continued rise in the country's living standards. Wine data analysis service provider IWSR said in a report that China's wine retail market was valued at around 78 billion yuan (approx. US$12 billion) in 2015, one third of which was contributed by imported product. In 2015, Jiuxian.com expanded its reach into the global wine market by initiating direct purchases with wineries worldwide. Jiuxian.com's direct purchase team has been touring wineries worldwide. By choosing to partner with wineries that produce better quality cost-conscious wines, Jiuxian.com is able to provide Chinese consumers with an excellent selection of wines through its e-commerce platform. Jiuxian.com expects to partner with more than ten five-star wineries during the visit to Western Australia. To celebrate its Wine Festival, Jiuxian.com has rolled out a series of popular promotions, including a limited-run flash sale for some fine wines priced at only 1 yuan (approx. US$0.15), providing interested shoppers with over 10 million yuan (approx. US$1.5 million) in discount coupons as an incentive. Jiuxian.com plans to offer Chinese wine lovers an increased selection of high-quality economical wines as a result of the purchases made during the visit to Western Australia. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/355127 SOURCE Jiuxian.com McHenry Hohnen owner David Hohnen and partner Murray McHenry gave the delegation a warm reception at which Mr. Hohnen said, "We are pleased to welcome the management team of Jiuxian.com to McHenry Hohnen. We are fully aware of Jiuxian.com's reputation as China's largest vertical alcohol e-commerce company and one that hastens of millions of members. We are pleased to reach a strategic cooperation with Jiuxian.com, a firm which has rich experience in the Chinese alcohol market and proven brand promotion capabilities. We believe that the partnership with Jiuxian.com will serve to widen McHenry Hohnen's fan base in China." Mr. Hao explained some of the retailer's background: "Founded six years ago, Jiuxian.com is now a leading Chinese vertical alcohol e-commerce company with rich experience in management and a strong channel strategy. Jiuxian.com expects to build a bridge connecting Chinese consumers with fine wines from Australia. Our win-win cooperation starts now." Through the partnership with McHenry Hohnen, Jiuxian.com plans to introduce the wine maker's popular Rocky Road category to Chinese wine lovers. Rocky Road was rated a 94 by Australia's leading wine expert James Halliday, who, in his review of the wine, categorized it as an excellent value as a result of the high quality at a manageable price, and as one that merits being among the offerings at a sophisticated wine tasting event. The visit to Australia is a key step in the execution of Jiuxian.com's global wine direct purchase strategy. Since 2015, Jiuxian.com has been developing its wine business rapidly by choosing among high-quality wine products worldwide and enriching its production lines as a result of the initiation of the strategy of dealing directly with leading wine producers around the world. In 2016, Jiuxian.com's wine business is expected to contribute to 20 percent of the retailer's total annual revenue. Jiuxian.com decided to develop a global direct purchase strategy once the retailer noticed the continuing increase in the consumption of wine by the Chinese public. Data from China Customs show that the country imported nearly 600 million liters of wine in 2015, a rise of 44.58 percent over the numbers for 2014. The import value of wine grew by 34.30 percent year-on-year, setting a new record. Jiuxian.com expects to reach a strategic partnership with more than ten five-star wineries during the visit to Western Australia. Jiuxian.com plans to bring these fine wines to Chinese consumers by purchasing wine products directly from wine producers all over the world, providing Chinese wine lovers the opportunity to buy affordable foreign fine wines in their own country. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/355118 SOURCE Jiuxian.com IRVING, Texas, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- La Quinta Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LQ) (the "Company" or "La Quinta") announced today that John Cantele will be joining La Quinta as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer effective April 25, 2016. Mr. Cantele will join the Company from Hyatt Hotels Corporation where he served as the Global Head, Select Hotels. Angelo Lombardi and the Company have mutually agreed that Mr. Lombardi will step down as the Company's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. "We are excited to add John to our leadership team," said Keith A. Cline, President and Chief Executive Officer of La Quinta. "John has extensive experience across all aspects of select service hotels, both managed and franchised. He was instrumental in growing multiple select service brands at Hyatt where he used his entrepreneurial approach as a longtime owner/operator to help optimize brand distribution and implement significant operational enhancements. We are confident that John will be instrumental in advancing our strategy to optimize financial performance over the long-term by executing on our initiatives to drive an exceptional and consistent La Quinta guest experience." Mr. Cline continued, "We are very grateful to Angelo for all of his passion, hard work, and dedication to helping grow the La Quinta brand, and we wish him well." Mr. Cantele was most recently Global Head, Select Hotels at Hyatt where he led the operations of Hyatt's owned select service hotels, while also overseeing its franchised hotels operating under the Hyatt House, Hyatt Place and Summerfield Suites brands. In this role, Mr. Cantele was responsible for corporate operations, sales, revenue management, product design and planning, franchise development, and marketing. Prior to Hyatt, Mr. Cantele was with LodgeWorks Hotel Corporation where he oversaw all aspects of being a developer, an owner/operator and a franchisee of branded hotels throughout the United States. Early in his career, Mr. Cantele held positions with several hospitality brands including Guest Quarters Hotels, Residence Inn, and Summerfield Suites Hotels, serving in various roles, including Vice President of Operations as well as a front-line hotel general manager. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to the management transition described herein as well as our expectations regarding the performance of our business, our financial results, our liquidity and capital resources and other non-historical statements. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "outlook," "believes," "expects," "potential," "continues," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seeks," "projects," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates" or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described under the section entitled "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), as such factors may be updated from time to time in our periodic filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this release and in our filings with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law. About La Quinta Holdings Inc. La Quinta Holdings Inc. (LQ) is a leading owner, operator and franchisor of select-service hotels primarily serving the upper-midscale and midscale segments. The Company's owned and franchised portfolio consists of more than 880 properties representing approximately 87,400 rooms located in 48 states in the U.S., and in Canada, Mexico and Honduras. These properties operate under the La Quinta Inn & Suites, La Quinta Inn and LQ HotelTM brands. La Quinta's team is committed to providing guests with a refreshing and engaging experience. For more information, please visit: www.LQ.com . From time to time, La Quinta may use its website as a distribution channel of material company information. Financial and other important information regarding the Company is routinely accessible through and posted on our website at www.lq.com/investorrelations . In addition, you may automatically receive email alerts and other information about La Quinta when you enroll your email address by visiting the Email Notification section at www.lq.com/investorrelations . SOURCE La Quinta Holdings Inc. Related Links http://www.laquinta.com ORLANDO, Fla., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fairfield Inn & Suites Orlando at SeaWorld and SpringHill Suites Orlando at SeaWorld invites parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles to celebrate the girls in their lives with a special new package the children will surely adore, featuring American Girl bed, bathrobe and more that can only be acquired through the American Girl Sleepover package. Fairfield Inn & Suites Orlando at SeaWorld(R) and SpringHill Suites Orlando at SeaWorld(R) are offering the American Girl Store Orlando Getaway Package featuring overnight accommodations and a variety of exclusive American Girl amenities including a shopping bag, doll bed, doll bathrobe and doll slippers. For information, call 1-800-228-9290. Partnering with American Girl, the two hotels in Orlando, Florida, have created a custom deal to promote a one-of-a-kind getaway for young guests and their families. The American Girl Store Orlando Getaway Package features stylish overnight accommodations, as well as a variety of exclusive American Girl amenities for doll lovers to take home, including a shopping bag, bed, bathrobe and slippers. Available through Dec. 31, 2016, this unique package is perfect for parents of little ones looking for a family getaway, commemorate a birthday, or honor a great report card. Less than 6 miles from American Girl Orlando, both Orlando hotels offer young shoppers easy access to hours of excitement. Girls can shop for all of their favorite American Girl doll lines including BeForever, Truly Me, Girl of the Year, and Bitty Baby, then refuel with a mouthwatering meal or afternoon tea in the American Girl Bistro. From there, girls can take their dolls to the store's hair salon, where their best friends can receive a new look from the doll hair specialists. After a day of shopping and smiles, travelers can head back to the Fairfield Inn & Suites and SpringHill Suites to continue their adventures. Featuring a large, resort-style pool and special splash zone, the SeaWorld Orlando hotels provide the perfect spot for families looking for fun while soaking up the Florida sunshine. The property also features a Kids Check-In, Arcade Game Room, and Kids daily Activity allowing young ones to keep burning their energy with a variety of fun options to explore. When it's time to call it a night, travelers can retreat to relaxation in stylish rooms and suites featuring plenty of space to spread out. Guests will stay entertained with complimentary Wi-Fi and flat-panel TVs featuring premium movie channels, then savor sweet dreams on comfortable mattresses and pullout couches with luxurious bedding and pillows. In the morning, a complimentary breakfast buffet will be served, inviting guests to start their day off with all of their a.m. favorites, from eggs and bacon to fresh fruit and cereal. To book the American Girl Store Orlando Getaway Package at either of the hotels, make reservations online using promotional code XY1, or call 1-800-228-9290. About Fairfield Inn & Suites Orlando at SeaWorld Fairfield Inn & Suites Orlando at SeaWorld at 10815 International Drive in Orlando, FL is near SeaWorld, Disney World and Aquatica Orlando. The hotel features 6 floors, 152 rooms, 48 suites, 1 meeting room with 300 square feet, a restaurant, fitness center and outdoor pool. For information, visit www.FairfieldInnandSuitesSeaWorld.com or call 1-407-354-1139. About SpringHill Suites Orlando at SeaWorld SpringHill Suites Orlando at SeaWorld at 10801 International Drive Orlando, FL is near SeaWorld, Disney World and Aquatica Orlando. The hotel features 6 floors, 200 suites, 1 meeting room with 903 square feet, a restaurant, fitness center and outdoor pool. For information, visit www.SpringHillSuitesSeaWorld.com or call 1-407-354-1176. Sign up now for Marriott Rewards and get on the fast track to earn points for free hotel stays, room upgrades, flights, credit card purchases and deals with Marriott partners. Learn more about Marriott International Inc. PRESS CONTACT Jamie Caraher 1-407-354-1176 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160414/355480 SOURCE Fairfield Inn & Suites Orlando at SeaWorld; SpringHill Suites Orlando at SeaWorld Related Links http://www.SpringHillSuitesSeaWorld.com SAN FRANCISCO, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- April 23, 2016 will mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death and Shakespeare theatres all over the world will be celebrating this momentous occasion in many ways. PlayShakespeare.com will join that global event. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/355052 Back when the Shakespeare app was created in July 2008 and went live on the Apple App Store right after the store was launched, it was the only Shakespeare app available. It was a breakthrough in combining technology with liberal arts and literature. Carrying around large tomes of the Complete Works of Shakespeare was no longer necessary. Quality editions of all of Shakespeare's writings from PlayShakespeare.com were now in a portable and searchable format in your pocket. In 2009, PlayShakespeare.com co-organized with Apple a special reading of Macbeth at the Apple Store in San Francisco. Professional actors did a reading off their iPhones before an ecstatic live audience, the first time the marriage of performance and portable technology had ever happened. Since that time, the Shakespeare Pro app has grown to become the must-have app for students, teachers, actors, directors, theatre professionals and aficionados. With over 8 million downloads, it has a worldwide reach. The app currently includes Shakespeare's entire First Folio (in original spelling), the industry standard Shakespeare's Words glossary (by David and Ben Crystal), note-taking with shareable notebooks, power search to find the exact phrase you're looking for, and BardFind to locate any Shakespeare theatre or venue anywhere in the world. Priced at $9.99, the app is less expensive than a printed complete works edition, and even more cost effective when you consider the added price of the Shakespeare's Words glossary, a First Folio facsimile, and the wealth of other information in the app. Also included in the Shakespeare Passport (www.shakespearepassport.com), the best way to get freebies and discounts at participating Shakespeare venues and events all over the world. Normally $9.99, for 24 hours the Apple iOS app will be only $.99 to celebrate the anniversary. The Android app is free. Apple iOS: http://bit.ly/shakesproapp Android OS: http://bit.ly/shakesandroid About PlayShakespeare.com PlayShakespeare.com creates smart apps for literary and theatre lovers, including the Soliloquy app (http://bit.ly/soliloquypro). The PlayShakespeare.com website is the ultimate free Shakespeare resource with news, reviews, discussion forum, and more. Contact: Ron Severdia 4154469047 SOURCE PlayShakespeare.com NEW YORK, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) today announced Maria Elena Salinas, anchor, Noticiero Univision (Univision News) as the recipient of the 2016 Mickey Leland Humanitarian Achievement Award. Among the highest honors within the industry, the award was established in 1992 to commemorate the eponymous Congressman from Texas for his lifelong advocacy in social justice and equality for people around the world. Salinas will be honored as part of the NAMIC Annual Awards Breakfast scheduled for Wednesday, May 18, 2016 from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. ET at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, MA. The NAMIC breakfast is held in conjunction with the National Cable and Telecommunication Association's INTX: The Internet & Television Expo. Since the inception of the Mickey Leland Humanitarian Achievement Award, NAMIC has continued its tradition of honoring individuals and organizations affiliated with the communications industry that demonstrate a commitment to advancing concerns of people of color. "NAMIC is pleased to continue paying tribute to Congressman Leland's legacy, by honoring Maria Elena Salinas, a true humanitarian and diversity champion within the field of journalism," said Eglon E. Simon, president and CEO, NAMIC. Maria Elena Salinas co-anchors Univision Network's national newscast "Noticiero Univision" and the weekly primetime newsmagazine "Aqui y Ahora" (Here and Now). Called the "Voice of Hispanic America" by The New York Times, Salinas is the most recognized Hispanic female journalist in the United States. Her reputation as a serious, objective and highly trustworthy journalist has allowed her to tirelessly uplift Latino communities and bring their struggles to the public eye. Her career has been marked by her extraordinary commitment to pave the way for future generations. In 1984, Salinas helped launch the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. The organization's mission is to provide professional advancement opportunities, as well as create a unified vision for all Hispanic journalists. As a mentor, Salinas has been an invaluable resource to her colleagues and to young Latinos interested in media. She was instrumental in the creation of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, which has awarded over $470 million in scholarships to students, scholars, and their families. In 2000, Salinas started her own scholarship fund to support Hispanics students interested in journalism. In 2014, during one of the major humanitarian crisis in recent history, Salinas covered more than 5,700 miles over eight days to produce "Entre el Abandono y el Rechazo" (Between Abandonment and Rejection) to witness and expose the deplorable conditions that drove so many children in Central America to abandon their home in search of a better life. Salinas also explored and revealed the consequences of the massive exodus in the U.S. Mexico border, and wrote about it in The Washington Post. Salinas has received many prestigious recognitions for her distinguished career in broadcast journalism, including: the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Lifetime Achievement Award; the Peabody Award; a Gracies Award for Outstanding Anchor; five national and one regional Emmy Awards; a Walter Cronkite award; an Edward R. Murrow Award; the "Intrepid Award" from NOW; and the 2013 Outstanding Achievement Award in Hispanic Television by Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable magazines. Presented in partnership with Multichannel News, sponsors of the 2016 NAMIC Annual Awards Breakfast include the NCTA, Univision Communications Inc, Discovery Communications, REVOLT, Crown Media Family Networks and Scripps Networks Interactive. ABOUT NAMIC NAMIC (National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications) is the premier organization focusing on multi-ethnic diversity in the communications industry. Founded in 1980 as a non-profit trade association, today NAMIC comprises 2,700 professionals belonging to a network of 16 chapters nationwide. Through initiatives that focus on education, advocacy and empowerment, NAMIC champions equity and inclusion in the workforce, with special attention given to ensuring that the leadership cadres of our nation's communications industry giants reflect the multi-ethnic richness of the populations they serve. Comcast | NBCUniversal, Time Warner Cable and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. are NAMIC's Platinum Annual Corporate Sponsors. For more information, please visit www.namic.com and stay connected to NAMIC on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20060705/NYW092LOGO SOURCE NAMIC Related Links http://www.namic.com WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 400 eye physicians and surgeons representing the American Academy of Ophthalmology are in Washington, D.C., to engage Congress on key issues affecting the care of millions of Americans suffering from eye diseases. The ophthalmologists will visit the offices of the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and all 100 members of the Senate to make their patients' voices heard on several critical issues that impact the quality of care they are able to receive. The Academy is the leading voice for the profession of ophthalmology in Washington. The organization takes an active role in working with Congress and government agencies on policy issues that affect how medical and surgical eye care is provided in the United States. While in the nation's capital this week, Academy member physicians will work to secure new protections for eye care consumers and access to sight-saving medications, while seeking necessary funding for vision research to drive future innovative treatments. "Each year, the Academy works on behalf of our patients and our profession to inform our leaders in Congress of the emerging issues that put quality eye care at risk," said David W. Parke II, M.D., CEO of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. "We count on a strong partnership with our nation's public servants to develop innovative, bipartisan solutions that help to protect sight and empower lives of the patients we serve. By coming to Capitol Hill each year, we ensure that a strong, unified physician voice is informing critical decisions about eye health." Among the key issues ophthalmologists are discussing with Congress today and on an ongoing basis are: Protecting contact lens consumers The Academy supports the Contact Lens Consumer Health Act, sponsored by Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, R-La. This legislation would protect contact lens consumers and eye care providers from harmful business tactics. It would facilitate a prescriber's ability to verify and correct patient prescriptions. Additionally, it would put an end to contact lens vendors falsely advertising their ability to sell contact lenses without a prescription. Increasing funding for military and federal vision research programs With more than 50 million Americans expected to experience significant eye disease[i] by the year 2020, the Academy is leading the call for more research dollars to be dedicated to the pursuit of new treatments to preserve the sight of these patients. The Academy is a proponent of the Department of Defense's groundbreaking program to advance medicine's knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic eye injuries, including penetrating eye injuries, brain injury-related visual dysfunction and vision rehabilitation. The gains made under this program have broad application beyond the military, informing how ophthalmologists care for all patients. The Academy is also asking Congress to support greater funding levels for federal research led by the National Institutes of Health and National Eye Institute. Preserving access to ophthalmologists for Medicare patients Access to care is critical for nearly three million Americans living with glaucoma and the many people who require emergency surgery for retinal detachment. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently enacted dramatic cuts that may limit the availability of these services and timely treatment in some areas. The Academy is asking Congress to help limit these cuts and preserve patient access to care. Ensuring electronic health records are easy for physicians to use to achieve Medicare's goal of improved patient outcomes As electronic health records become more integrated in patient care, the Academy believes that it is important that they work efficiently for Medicare physicians and patients. Any requirements for the use of electronic health records must not prevent physicians from focusing their energies on their patients. Congress has the ability to develop policies that will facilitate physicians' ability to analyze and share data with other health care providers. This is expected to enable the promise of health care information technology as a powerful tool for facilitating better patient outcomes. About the American Academy of Ophthalmology The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons. A global community of 32,000 medical doctors, we protect sight and empower lives by setting the standards for ophthalmic education and advocating for our patients and the public. We innovate to advance our profession and to ensure the delivery of the highest-quality eye care. Our EyeSmart program provides the public with the most trusted information about eye health. For more information, visit www.aao.org. [i] 50 million Americans expected to experience significant eye disease Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151114/287412LOGO SOURCE American Academy of Ophthalmology Related Links http://www.aao.org Robert Half and IMA report reveals success factors for building teams with in-demand expertise MONTVALE, N.J., and MENLO PARK, Calif., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chief financial officers may not be able to maximize the potential value of Big Data for their organizations due to difficulties attracting and retaining the professionals with the requisite expertise, research suggests. According to a new report from global staffing firm Robert Half and IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) the association of accountants and financial professionals in business finance leaders face significant shortages of accounting and finance professionals who possess the technical and nontechnical skills required for data analytics initiatives. The report, Building a Team to Capitalize on the Promise of Big Data, is based on a survey of nearly 500 finance executives and managers. Survey findings revealed that the most severe skill gaps include: Identifying key data trends Data mining and extraction Operational analysis Decision analysis Process improvement Strategic thinking and execution "Many organizations are being hindered by an inability to find and retain accounting and finance professionals who can turn data analytics into actionable business intelligence," said Paul McDonald, senior executive director at Robert Half. "To successfully build teams with the necessary skills, financial leaders need to establish a comprehensive recruiting process and professional development program." According to Kip Krumwiede, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, IMA director of research, management must play a significant role in closing the talent gap. "Management must support efforts to retain financial professionals with data analytics skills through attractive compensation and benefits, training, a supportive corporate culture, and an emphasis on work-life balance," said Krumwiede. "Of course, since the number of internal employees with these skills is limited, businesses must also encourage continuing education and ongoing training." In addition to developing talent from within, the survey found that 44 percent of businesses are focusing on building their teams' analytics skills by hiring from outside the company, while 39 percent of respondents are working with external consultants. Financial leaders also need to remove self-inflicted obstacles commonly reported: a lack of competitive compensation and inadequate workforce planning. "Finding accounting and finance professionals with in-demand skills is always difficult," said McDonald, "but especially in a competitive hiring environment and when companies hamstring their own efforts through poor staffing strategies." For more information on the research and to download Building a Team to Capitalize on the Promise of Big Data, visit roberthalf.com. About IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) IMA, the association of accountants and financial professionals in business, is one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting profession. Globally, IMA supports the profession through research, the CMA (Certified Management Accountant) program, continuing education, networking and advocacy of the highest ethical business practices. IMA has a global network of more than 80,000 members in 140 countries and 300 professional and student chapters. Headquartered in Montvale, N.J., USA, IMA provides localized services through its four global regions: The Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe, and Middle East/Africa. For more information about IMA, please visit www.imanet.org. About Robert Half Founded in 1948, Robert Half is the world's first and largest specialized staffing firm. The company has more than 330 staffing locations worldwide and offers job search services on its divisional websites, all of which can be accessed at roberthalf.com. For career and hiring advice, visit The Robert Half Blog at roberthalf.com/blog. SOURCE Robert Half Related Links https://www.roberthalf.com TROY, Mich., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Altair has added Multiscale Designer to the HyperWorks Software Suite following the recent acquisition of MDS, LLC. Multiscale Designer is an efficient tool for the development and simulation of multiscale material models of continuous, woven, and/or chopped fiber composites, honeycomb cores, reinforced concrete, soil, bones, and various other heterogeneous materials. Multiscale technology is a way to tackle the design complexities inherent in composites and other multiphase materials without the expected computational overhead. This is achieved by substituting an over-refined single FE model with multiple interconnected and coarser FE models representing different length scales. This approach yields computational gains that can reduce computational time from hours to minutes, without loss of accuracy or flexibility. Applications include multiscale material modeling for design, ultimate failure, statistical-based material allowables, fatigue, fracture, impact, crash, environmental degradation, and multiphysics simulations and provides plugins to commercial FEA solvers such as OptiStruct, RADIOSS, LS-DYNA, and Abaqus. Multiscale Designer's unique feature is a systematic model reduction technology that simplifies complex unit cells with hundreds of thousands of finite elements, to a manageable number of deformation modes and state variables, eliminating the overhead of generating complex unit cell models and their linkage to macro-scale FEA solvers making multiscale modelling practical to implement for solving today's complex heterogeneous material simulations. Multiscale Designer features include: Develop multiscale material models using forward homogenization and inverse optimization technologies Built-in parametric unit cells for unidirectional, woven, chopped, and particulate fiber composites Simulate nonlinear material behavior including ultimate failure at the micro-scale Obtain virtual material allowables supported by test and perform fatigue analysis Efficient plugins to commercial FEA codes OptiStruct, RADIOSS, LS-DYNA, and Abaqus "Multiscale Designer adds significant new composites expertise to the Altair HyperWorks suite, including multiscale analysis, stochastic design, fatigue analysis, multiphysics simulation, and tighter integration with Altair solvers OptiStruct and RADIOSS," said Dr. Uwe Schramm, Chief Technical Officer, Solvers and Optimization. About Altair Altair is focused on the development and broad application of simulation technology to synthesize and optimize designs, processes and decisions for improved business performance. Privately held with more than 2,000 employees, Altair is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA and operates more than 45 offices throughout 22 countries. Today, Altair serves more than 5,000 corporate clients across broad industry segments. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com. Media Contacts Corporate / Americas Altair Corporate Biba A. Bedi +1.757.224.0548 x 406 [email protected] Altair Europe, the Middle East and Africa Evelyn Gebhardt +49 6421 9684351 [email protected] SOURCE Altair Related Links http://www.altair.com WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Augusto Russell, CIC, of Farmington, Connecticut, has been named the 2016 Professional Agent of the Year by the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA). Russell is a partner with May, Bonne & Walsh Inc. in Glastonbury, Connecticut. "This award is PIA's highest honor," said PIA National President Robert W. Hansen, Jr. "It recognizes the achievements of one Professional Insurance Agent who is an outstanding member of PIA." The PIA National Professional Agent of the Year award is the association's highest national award of distinction. It is presented annually to one outstanding professional insurance agent who is a member of PIA. Nominations for this award are made by PIA state and regional affiliate associations. "Augusto Russell's life and his career path have both been characterized by caring," Hansen said. "After entering the insurance industry in Boston in 1986, he left the industry in 1999 to work as director of development for HOPE Worldwidea charity that works to deliver community-based services to the poor and needy. He resumed his insurance career in 2003, when he and his family moved to Connecticut." Russell has been an active member of PIA of Connecticut since 2005, serving as its President in 2013-14. He has served with distinction on many PIA committees and was honored as the PIA of Connecticut Professional Agent of the Year in 2015. In addition, Russell participates in efforts to give back to his community, which he believes is a necessary ingredient to being a good agent. He is President of the Board of The Arc of the Farmington Valley (Favarh), and chair of its $2,000,000 capital campaign which is nearing completion. Favarh serves a large client population with intellectual disabilities. Russell is also Chair of the Economic Development Commission for his home town of Farmington, Connecticut and past President of the Farmington Rotary Club. "In my opinion, which is not just that of a Governor but as someone raised in a family of insurance brokersI recognize the value of a committed professional who cares deeply for both his customers and his community. Mr. Russell exemplifies that in every regard," wrote Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy in support of Russell's nomination for the PIA award. Former Insurance Commissioner of Connecticut Thomas Leonardi said that while there is much discussion about the need to attract bright young people into the industry, "Augusto has actually done something about it!" He was referring to how Russell initiated a program with Goodwin College to create a course curriculum to allow students a pathway into an insurance career. Board members of PIA of Connecticut collaborated in the effort. "I believe he is one of the finest human beings I have come across in my career," Leonardi added. "He genuinely cares about people, his community, and his profession." The PIA National Professional Agent of the Year award was presented during a gala luncheon ceremony on April 8, 2016, in Arlington, Virginia, held during the national PIA meetings, which followed the 2016 PIA Federal Legislative Summit (FLS). Founded in 1931, PIA is a national trade association that represents member insurance agents and their employees who sell and service all kinds of insurance, but specialize in coverage of automobiles, homes and businesses. PIA members are Local Agents Serving Main Street America SM. PIA's web address is www.pianet.com. This press release is online at: http://pianet.com/news/press-releases/2016/pianamesprofessionalagentoftheyear2016041316 SOURCE National Association of Professional Insurance Agents Related Links http://www.pianet.com/ SAN FRANCISCO, CA Daisy Ducati returns to Little Darlings Saturday, April 16, for "Kinky Nights," and joining her this time is Charlotte Sartre. Sartre says, "I'm honored that I get to dance with Daisy. She's ethereal. Plus I get to dance naked in front of strangers throwing money at us. Who can pass that up? We've got something special planned to get a rise out of you." Little Darlings is located at 312 Columbus Ave. in the North Beach/Telegraph Hill district of San Francisco, and inquiries can be made by calling 415-433-4020or visiting LittleDarlingsSF.com. WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Recent surveys of U.S. teens have shown record low levels of cigarette use, but the National Youth Tobacco Survey results for 2015 show what can only be described as a disappointing flattening of that downward trajectory, particularly in past 30-day cigarette use by high school students (9.3 percent in 2015 versus 9.2 percent in 2014). Use of any tobacco product within the past 30 days was also stalled, with nearly 5 million middle and high school students reporting tobacco use in the prior 30 days. The lack of progress in reducing the rate of tobacco use is driven in large part by polyuse, which is the use of multiple tobacco products, including cigarettes, little cigars, hookah and e-cigarettes. Half of the middle and high school students, who were current users of tobacco, reported that they used two or more products that is 2.3 million young people. It is also troubling that e-cigarette prevalence continues to expand at the middle and high school levels. It remains to be seen how much of this use is regular rather than experimental use. Nonetheless the increase should be cause for concern and action. The disappointing results underscore the value and urgency of commonsense regulations in an evolving tobacco landscape. While cigarettes have been subject to regulations that limit when, where and how they can be sold and marketed, the federal government has been too slow to regulate the full array of tobacco products in the same manner, such as flavored little cigars and hookah. Simply put, teens will use what they can get their hands on, what they can afford, and what is marketed in forms and manners that make them especially appealing such as flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes. Other research has demonstrated that half of young people who smoke cigarettes report using a menthol cigarette. Middle and high school students should not be using any tobacco product: end of story. Public education campaigns targeted to youth and young adults, like truth, are doing their part and taking aim at multiple tobacco products. But we're fighting with one hand tied behind our back. For public education to fulfill its potential to prevent teen tobacco use and escalation from experimentation to regular use, we need lawmakers at all levels to act on clean air indoor policies, excise taxes and price minimums, flavored tobacco bans and proposals to raise the minimum age of sale of tobacco products to 21. The glaringly obvious first step is for the Obama administration to issue final deeming regulations that bring all tobacco products under the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) authority so they can start issuing product standards and putting limitations in place on youth access for these products across the country. The deeming regulations, which were transmitted to the Office of Management and Budget in October for what should have been a 90-day review period, are the critical next step. Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States with nearly 500,000 deaths per year, and the FDA needs this authority to take aim at the tobacco products that are driving teen use up rather than down. Beyond deeming, the FDA should do more to limit cigarette use, which puts an estimated 5.6 million American young people alive today at risk of tobacco-related death. Action is needed beyond the nation's capital. States can follow the lead of Hawaii, which has risen the minimum age for tobacco sale to 21, and Florida, which has lowered their youth smoking rate with comprehensive youth tobacco prevention programs. Cities can emulate Chicago, which has banned flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, within 500 feet of schools. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA worked together on the results published today in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. They have spoken clearly about the disappointing results. Our fondest hope is that our collective disappointment can spur policymakers into action. About Truth Initiative Truth Initiative is a national public health organization that is inspiring tobacco-free lives and building a culture where all youth and young adults reject tobacco. The truth about tobacco and the tobacco industry are at the heart of our proven-effective and nationally recognized truth public education campaign, our rigorous and scientific research and policy studies, and our innovative community and youth engagement programs supporting populations at high risk of using tobacco. The Washington, D.C.-based organization, formerly known as Legacy, was established and funded through the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. To learn more about our work speaking, seeking and spreading the truth about tobacco, visit truthinitiative.org. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101101/DC86294LOGO SOURCE Truth Initiative Related Links http://www.truthinitiative.org SILICON VALLEY, Calif., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Qmarkets is proud to congratulate Swiss Post and their Head of Ideation, Lorenz Wyss, as winners of the "International Award for Best Idea Management" at the 2016 Zentrum Ideenmanagement (ZI) awards. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/354787 Zentrum Ideenmanagement is a Frankfurt-based company which focuses on the promotion and analysis of trends within idea and innovation management. Every year they gather a renowned panel of international journalists and scientists to examine a selection of the best idea management projects from across the globe. This evaluation uses qualitative criteria based on the EFQM model of quality management to select companies who have achieved outstanding results in the field. The International award for best idea management which Swiss Post won is their highest honor. While Swiss Post began as a postal service, it has since diversified to cover logistics, public transport, communication, and finance, giving it the third largest workforce in Switzerland with over 60,000 employees. In an industry like the postal service which has seen major disruption due to digital companies and services, it is crucial to take a serious approach to innovation, and this is part of the reason that Swiss Post originally invested in a new idea management platform for their employees back in 2010. Idea and Innovation Management platforms allow companies to receive and evaluate idea submissions from internal and/or external stakeholders. For this purpose Swiss Post chose to work with Qmarkets, a provider of configured enterprise-grade innovation software since 2008. Swiss Post began their innovation initiative with a classic "German approach" to Idea Management users who submitted ideas were rewarded with a share in the success of any submission which was then selected and implemented. However since then both customer and supplier have came a long way, with Swiss Post encountering many new challenges and discovering new requirements, and Qmarkets consequentially developing many new features and products. Today the relationship between Swiss Post and Qmarkets represents a highly innovative and mutually beneficial customer-vendor dynamic, with both parties continuously pushing each other to expand the boundaries of Idea and Innovation Management. This factor was key to the success of Swiss Post at the 2016 ZI awards, and it also helped Qmarkets to become the only company to win three awards for excellence at the 2013 Info Tech Vendor Landscape awards. Come Meet Qmarkets & Swiss Post Swiss Post and Qmarkets will both be present at the Chief Innovation Officer Summit in London, on the 26th and 27th of April 2016. Lorenz Wyss, Head of Ideation at Swiss Post, will be presenting a talk entitled "Chocolate, clocks, and the postal service: Disrupting stereotypes" at 10:00AM on day 2 of the event, followed by a short talk from Qmarkets' SVP Global Solutions, Michael Stilger. Michael will also be hosting a discussion panel at 14:30 on day 1 of the event, and the Qmarkets team will be answering questions and offering their expertise across both days at the event. Click here to find out more about and receive a 20% discount to attend! About Swiss Post Swiss Post is a diversified Group that operates in four markets. Its three subsidiaries Post CH Ltd, PostFinance Ltd and PostBus Switzerland Ltd provide high-quality, marketable and innovative services, and make every effort to satisfy the high expectations of their customers. About Qmarkets Qmarkets is the leading provider of Idea & Innovation Management software for enterprises from a wide range of business sectors and geographies. Contact Qmarkets today, to discover how they can help your organization to transform innovative ideas into measurable results. Contact: Elliott Wilkins +44 7469171016 SOURCE Qmarkets Related Links http://www.qmarkets.net MINNEAPOLIS, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Rasmussen College, a regionally accredited private college and Public Benefit Corporation, will host more than 20 free Community Career Fairs nationwide April 18-22 to help community members, students and graduates advance their job-seeking skills and gain access to career experts and local employers with open positions. Job-seekers will have the opportunity to network with potential employers, receive LinkedIn and resume consultations, participate in mock interviews and gain professional dress advice. The career fairs are designed to help local communities fill workforce gaps in high-demand fields. For example, in the Fargo-Moorhead area and in Green Bay, Wisc., where the healthcare industry has grown rapidly, campuses will help host healthcare- and nursing-focused events. In Mankato, Minn., the College is partnering with local organizations to help veterans get back in the workforce or advance their careers. "Community engagement has long been part of the Rasmussen College mission, which is why we open our career fairs free of charge to local community members twice a year," said Dr. Trenda Boyum-Breen, president, Rasmussen College. "Since 2009, we have connected thousands of individuals with prospective employees. In the last two years alone, more than 2,200 community members have attended our career fair events along with 1,700 employers. We're proud to help our local communities grow and thrive by connecting job-seekers with open positions." Career Webinar: Make a Difference Personally and Professionally by Volunteering In addition to the on-site career fairs, Rasmussen College is hosting free online career webinars. On Monday, community members are invited to join a live webinar featuring healthcare and nonprofit leaders speaking to the importance of volunteering as a way to build your professional profile. Experts will discuss: How volunteering can build relevant professional experiences How employers view volunteering when making hiring decisions How volunteering helps you build your professional network How to leverage volunteer experiences in your job search The webinar starts at 6 p.m. CDT. Registration is available immediately by clicking here. For a complete list of Community Career Fair events and to view a list of employers at a fair in your area, please visit http://www.rasmussen.edu/student-life/events/careerfair/. ABOUT RASMUSSEN COLLEGE: Rasmussen College is a regionally accredited private college and Public Benefit Corporation that is dedicated to changing lives through high-demand educational programs and public service. Rasmussen College offers certificate and diploma programs through associate's and bachelor's degrees online and across its 23 Midwest and Florida campuses in a supportive, student-centered and career-focused environment. Since 1900, Rasmussen College has been dedicated to being a primary contributor to the growth and development of the communities it serves. As a Public Benefit Corporation, Rasmussen College is committed to helping change lives through education and making a positive impact on society through public service and a variety of community-based initiatives. For more information about Rasmussen College, please visit www.rasmussen.edu. Contact: Molly Andersen Phone: 952-844-5647 Mobile: 903-920-4366 Email: [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121105/MM06109LOGO SOURCE Rasmussen College Related Links http://www.rasmussen.edu DALLAS, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Securus Technologies, a leading provider of civil and criminal justice technology solutions for public safety, investigation, corrections and monitoring, announced it has increased the volumes and minutes at a large state institution by 260% over the previous provider Global Tel Link (GTL). In comparing data from 2012 when GTL was the provider to now, Securus is completing 260% more calls and 259% more minutes than Global Tel Link (GTL). "Volume increases in the 20% to 30% range are not that uncommon when providers change, usually due to lower rates. But this is significant; it's a testament to how much better our system in general works than GTL's," said Richard A "Rick" Smith, CEO of Securus Technologies. We completed installation in early 2015, but it takes months for inmate calling patterns and friends/family funding to transition to the new carrier. "To put this into perspective, annualized call volume was 5.3 million calls in the past for GTL, and we're completing 18 million calls. Staggering for sure. Think about how many more calls we are connecting versus GTL!," said Smith. The volume is so high additional phones had to be installed because there were lines waiting to use them. "Our volume increase shows how we can increase communications call by call. Everything you read or hear is about how communications help improve recidivism. We've made the investments to ensure our experience is fast, easy, affordable and repeatable," said Smith. "While we continue to see evidence over and over again that we are making the right investments in improving the way we do business, we are not finished. Had we not made the investment and changes in our business, we would be like the previous provider completing a lower volume of calls. We will never stop innovating because our consumers and customers want more calls and more security. We will continue to meet this demand," stated Smith. ABOUT SECURUS TECHNOLOGIES Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and serving more than 3,450 public safety, law enforcement and corrections agencies and over 1,200,000 inmates across North America, Securus Technologies is committed to serve and connect by providing emergency response, incident management, public information, investigation, biometric analysis, communication, information management, inmate self-service, and monitoring products and services in order to make our world a safer place to live. Securus Technologies focuses on connecting what matters. To learn more about our full suite of civil and criminal justice technology solutions, please visit SecurusTechnologies.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100831/DA57799LOGO SOURCE Securus Technologies, Inc. Related Links http://www.securustechnologies.com SEATTLE, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In July, 2015, Google launched EddystoneTM, an open beacon format that supports Android and iOS devices, which is expected to bring about significant advances in beacon device application. On April 14, Google released the technical specifications for EID, a new frame type for Eddystone to enable a more secure beacon signal. SENSORO, an Eddystone manufacturer, simultaneously provided technical support for Eddystone-EID. It is well known that Eddystone could support multiple frame types, indicating it could perform a variety of functions. So far, there are four different frame types under Eddystone: UID, URLs, Ephemeral Identifiers (EIDs) and TLM Data. EID ensures the security to transmit In the era of Big Data, privacy and information security is one of the most biggest issues, and Google is fully aware of its importance. The main functions of Eddystone are: one is telling the smart devices where they are; the other is connecting real location with online data. While Eddystone-EID is designed for scenarios where beacon deployers want to manage access to the beacon signal, including privacy- and security-sensitive applications, the beacon with support for Eddystone-EID would make it safer to transmit information from beacons to the smart devices. Through the use of a rotating Ephemeral Identifier, Eddystone-EID protects the users by preventing spoofing, malicious asset tracking, replay attacks, or just unpermitted access. Therefore, with an Eddystone-EID beacon, such as SENSORO beacon, users can securely control access to their information while the beacon prevents against spoofing and replay attacks by potential malicious external parties. SENSORO, collaborating with Google SENSORO was one of the first companies in the world to research Bluetooth low energy smart sensors and seek to internationalize the technology. Currently, SENSORO has clients from across 51 countries and regions, including about 80 top brands around the world, such as K11, China Railway High-speed, Real Madrid, Chow Tai Fook, Costa Coffee, and Pizza Hut. Having sold more than 250,000 beacon devices around the world, SENSORO has realized numerous benchmark cases in proximity marketing at airports, restaurants, retail shops, museums, tourist destinations, transportation vehicles and other public venues. Last year, SENSORO recognized the potential of Eddystone, becoming an official partner just thirty days after its release. Google released the full list of partners on August 28, 2015, on which SENSORO was mentioned as one of thirteen. Even before Google-EID, SENSORO has done a significant amount of work on improving the security of BLE sensor devices. SENSORO devices can be ensured to broadcast in a safe mode by setting a cipher code. SENSORO is among the top beacon manufacturers to support EID. SENSORO beacon devices support iBeacon and Eddystone at the same time and are capable of working across Android and iOS devices. So far, SENSORO products have been deployed in about 31,560 traditional retail stores. Its high-end sensor tech and extensive international experience in IoT has made SENSORO one of Google's designated beacon manufacturers. Paving the way for IoT With the rapid development of IoT, all the big players in the tech world would like to crave a slice of the big pie. With the launch of Eddystone last year, the Bluetooth Low Energy application market would become more mature, providing more opportunity for beacon devices to play a part in the construction of the Internet of Things. With the new secure EID frame type, Google creates a safety net for its coming ecosystem. SENSORO is striving to deploy more real world contexts to users. By supporting Eddystone, SENSORO shows its willingness to take an active part in the IoT trend. Its beacon products will continue to provide services for near field communication, such as notification push based on precise location and indoor navigation. Coming this July, SENSORO will bring another high tech product to the market, which will boost the efficiency of city management. All in all, the era of IoT is here. SOURCE SENSORO INC. GARDENA, Calif., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Iconic Southern California mattress retailer Sit 'n Sleep, announced today that it teamed with Tempur Sealy International, Inc., ("Tempur-Pedic") to provide Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles (Habitat LA) with 104 new mattresses in 2016. Both companies will provide new mattresses, bedframes, and mattress foundations to every Los Angeles Habitat LA partner family this year. "Sit 'n Sleep has been a proud partner of Habitat LA for the past four years and we're honored to continue our commitment to the organization and all of the hardworking families they support," said Larry Miller, CEO, Sit 'n Sleep. "Sleep plays an essential role in overall health and well-being, and we know the donated mattresses will provide much needed support and relief to these deserving Habitat LA families." Sit 'n Sleep and Tempur-Pedic will kick off their donation program with a Habitat for Humanity build day on April 14 in Inglewood, California. This site will be the future home of three families, including one veteran family, and all of the bedrooms will be outfitted with new Tempur-Pedic mattress sets. Employees from Sit 'n Sleep and Tempur-Pedic will be rolling up their sleeves to participate in the building of these homes, alongside Habitat for Humanity's dedicated staff and partner families on April 14th. "It's an honor to work with Sit 'n Sleep to donate beds for all of Habitat LA's 2016 homeowners," says Daliah Santana, Sr. Key Account Manager, Tempur-Pedic. "These families put in their own sweat equity hours, helping to build their new home. We're thrilled to work with Sit 'n Sleep to provide families with the comfort of a new bed." Habitat LA is committed to providing their local partner homebuyers "with a hand up, not a handout." Habitat partner families and individuals pay back a zero equivalent-interest mortgage and contribute up to 500 hours of sweat equity by volunteering with Habitat LA. "We're so grateful for this generous donation of more than 100 mattresses made by Sit 'n Sleep and Tempur-Pedic this year," said Erin Rank, Habitat LA President and CEO. "It's an honor to continue our four-year partnership with the Sit 'n Sleep team, who has been incredibly supportive to our organization and partner families." Sit 'n Sleep and Tempur-Pedic are prominent members of the Southern California community. In addition to Habitat for Humanity, the companies have given back to a variety of other organizations including Padres Contra El Cancer, Jenesse Center, Make a Wish Foundation, Greater Los Angeles PATH (People Assisting the Homeless), and local fire departments (Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs and Orange County), to name a few. About Sit 'n Sleep Sit 'n Sleep is the mattress superstore dedicated to delivering a good night's sleep to millions of Californians. Sit 'n Sleep is focused on helping people find the right mattress for their needs, body type and healthwith the largest selection of mattresses, groundbreaking technology, including bedMATCH Technology that gives customers the support they need, and excellent customer service, all found at the best price. With 34 superstore locations throughout Southern California, Sit 'n Sleep is an established Southern California brand, operating the largest and most successful mattress stores in the nation for over 35 years. www.sitnsleep.com About Tempur Sealy International, Inc. Tempur Sealy International, Inc. is the world's largest bedding provider. Tempur Sealy International, Inc. develops, manufactures and markets mattresses, foundations, pillows and other products. The Company's brand portfolio includes many highly recognized brands in the industry, including Tempur, Tempur-Pedic, Sealy, Sealy Posturepedic and Stearns & Foster. World headquarters for Tempur Sealy International, Inc. is in Lexington, KY. For more information, visit http://www.tempursealy.com or call 800-805-3635. About Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles (Habitat LA) strives to eliminate substandard housing through advocacy, education and partnership with families and individuals in need to build decent, sustainable and affordable housing. Since 1990, Habitat LA has built, renovated and repaired more than 1,000 homes locally and worldwide, transforming the lives of thousands of individuals. Habitat LA has a Silver level GuideStar Nonprofit Profile and five consecutive Charity Navigator 4-Star ratings awarded to non-profits for sound fiscal management and showcasing a commitment to accountability and transparency. Habitat for Humanity International recognized 14 affiliates out of more than 1400 as Affiliates of Distinction for 2015-2017 and Habitat LA is proudly one of them. For more information, please visit www.habitatla.org or call 310-323-4663. SOURCE Sit 'n Sleep Related Links http://www.sitnsleep.com WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA) today welcomed the introduction of a bipartisan Senate bill that would overhaul the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) process. Just hours after House Ways & Means leadership introduced a bill to move the MTB process forward, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) released legislation that mirrors the House bill. "We are extremely pleased to see both the House and Senate introduce these bills that are so similar in nature and would, at long last, establish a new process for the enactment of a Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB)," said William E. Allmond, SOCMA Vice President of Government and Public Relations. "These proposed bills are a positive step forward in creating and delivering an open and transparent process for both chambers to consider manufacturing tax cuts, which will benefit many American manufacturers. "Passage of the MTB is especially critical to our SOCMA member companies, of which about 80 percent are small and medium-sized manufacturers," Allmond said. "Today Brooke DiDomenico of SOCMA member Nation Ford Chemical Company is testifying before the House Ways & Means Subcommittee on Trade to share their story about how much the MTB benefits small chemical manufacturers. Without duty suspensions provided through the MTB, our members are paying millions of dollars more for raw materials and intermediate products that are not available to them in the United States but are essential to their manufacturing processes. The cost savings help our members maintain competitive operations, invest in new facilities, re-train workers, and preserve our manufacturing base." Just like the House bill, the proposed Senate bill would require a review of domestic availability, including public comments, by the International Trade Commission (ITC), an independent, non-partisan agency. After its analysis, the ITC would then issue a public report to Congress recommending certain products that meet the MTB tests. Congress would then be able to consider the MTB within existing rules. "We strongly urge Congress to work quickly and jointly to pass a new MTB process that allows each chamber to set up MTB processes consistent with their rules," Allmond said. About SOCMA Since 1921, SOCMA has represented a diverse membership of small, medium and large chemical companies located around the world. www.socma.com. Media Contact: Jenny Gaines Director, Communications & PR (202) 721-4123 SOURCE Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates Related Links http://www.socma.com PRINCETON, N.J., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Soligenix, Inc. (OTCQB: SNGX) (Soligenix or the Company), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases where there is an unmet medical need, announced today that the Chinese Patent Office intends to grant the patent entitled "Novel Peptides for Treating and Preventing Immune-Related Disorders, Including Treating and Preventing Infection by Modulating Innate Immunity." The newly issued patent claims composition of matter of dusquetide (research name: SGX94) and related analogs. Dusquetide recently demonstrated positive results in a Phase 2 oral mucositis clinical trial. China now becomes the most recent jurisdiction to grant patent coverage over the composition of matter of dusquetide. Similar claims have been granted in the United States, Australia, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa and Taiwan. Furthermore, Soligenix is expecting to be granted similar protections in other important jurisdictions, including Europe, in the very near term. Soligenix recently reported positive Phase 2 results with SGX942, its drug product containing dusquetide, in the treatment of oral mucositis in head and neck cancer patients. SGX942 at a dose of 1.5 mg/kg successfully reduced the median duration of severe oral mucositis by 50% in all patients and by 67% in patients receiving the most aggressive chemoradiation therapy for treatment of their head and neck cancer. In addition to the oral mucositis findings, an increased incidence of "complete response" of tumor at the one month follow-up visit was observed (47% in placebo versus 63% in SGX942 at 1.5 mg/kg). Decreases in infection rate were also observed with SGX942 treatment. The new patents correspond to US patent 8,124,721, granted on February 28, 2012, that primarily included composition of matter claims and therapeutic use claims in infectious disease for dusquetide. "Soligenix continues to pursue broad patent coverage for its dusquetide technology, first with composition of matter claims followed by therapeutic use claims in oral mucositis," stated Christopher J. Schaber, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Soligenix. "Most recently, we were granted a composition of matter patent in China, which is of significant importance to us, as well as to SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc., our commercial partner for the Greater China market. The composition of matter patents are generally valid until 2028. The therapeutic use claims in oral mucositis will follow in the same jurisdictions, providing extended intellectual property coverage." About Oral Mucositis Mucositis is the clinical term for damage done to the mucosa by anticancer therapies. It can occur in any mucosal region, but is most commonly associated with the mouth, followed by the small intestine. It is estimated, based upon review of historic published studies and reports and an interpolation of data on the incidence of mucositis, that mucositis affects approximately 500,000 people in the US per year and occurs in 40% of patients receiving chemotherapy. Mucositis can be severely debilitating and can lead to infection, sepsis, the need for parenteral nutrition and narcotic analgesia. The gastrointestinal damage causes severe diarrhea. These symptoms can limit the doses and duration of cancer treatment, leading to sub-optimal treatment outcomes. The mechanisms of mucositis have been extensively studied and have been recently linked to the interaction of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy with the innate defense system. Bacterial infection of the ulcerative lesions is now regarded as a secondary consequence of dysregulated local inflammation triggered by therapy-induced cell death, rather than as the primary cause of the lesions. It is estimated, based upon review of historic published studies and reports and an interpolation of data on the incidence of oral mucositis, that oral mucositis in head and neck cancer is a subpopulation of approximately 90,000 patients in the US, with a comparable number in Europe. Oral mucositis almost always occurs in patients with head and neck cancer treated with chemoradiation therapy (>80% incidence of severe mucositis) and is common (40-100% incidence) in patients undergoing high dose chemotherapy and hematopoietic cell transplantation, where the incidence and severity of oral mucositis depends greatly on the nature of the conditioning regimen used for myeloablation. Oral mucositis in head and neck cancer remains an area of unmet medical need where there are currently no approved drug therapies. About SGX942 SGX942 is an innate defense regulator (IDR), which contains a new class of short, synthetic peptide, having the chemical name dusquetide. It has a novel mechanism of action in that it modulates the body's reaction to both injury and infection towards an anti-inflammatory and an anti-infective response. IDRs have no direct antibiotic activity but, by modulating the host's innate immune system responses, increase survival after infections with a broad range of bacterial Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens. It also accelerates resolution of tissue damage following exposure to a variety of agents including bacterial pathogens, trauma and chemo- and/or radiation therapy. Preclinical efficacy and safety has been demonstrated in numerous animal disease models including mucositis, colitis, melioidosis and other bacterial infections. SGX942 has demonstrated safety in a Phase 1 clinical study in 84 healthy human volunteers. Recently, SGX942 has demonstrated preliminary efficacy and safety in an exploratory Phase 2 clinical study in 111 patients with oral mucositis due to chemoradiation (CRT) therapy for head and neck cancer. Consistent with preclinical findings, SGX942 at a dose of 1.5 mg/kg demonstrated positive improvements in decreasing the duration of severe oral mucositis by 50% overall compared to the placebo group, from 18 days to 9 days (p=0.099). In patients exposed to the most aggressive concomitant chemotherapy, the reduction in the duration of severe oral mucositis was even more significant at 67% when treated with SGX942 1.5 mg/kg, from 30 days to 10 days (p=0.04). The p-values meet the prospectively defined statistical threshold of p<0.1 in the study protocol.Additional observations included an improved tumor response to CRT therapy at the one month follow up visit (47% in placebo versus 63% in SGX942 at 1.5 mg/kg), as well as decreases in infection rate. Dusquetide and related analogs have a strong intellectual property position, including composition of matter. Dusquetide was developed pursuant to discoveries made by Professors B. Brett Finlay, PhD and Robert Hancock, PhD of the University of British Columbia, Canada. SGX942 has received fast track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of oral mucositis as a result of radiation and/or chemotherapy treatment in head and neck cancer patients. Fast track is a designation that the FDA reserves for a drug intended to treat a serious or life-threatening condition and one that demonstrates the potential to address an unmet medical need for the condition. Fast track designation is designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of new drugs. For instance, should events warrant, Soligenix will be eligible to submit a new drug application (NDA) for SGX942 on a rolling basis, permitting the FDA to review sections of the NDA prior to receiving the complete submission. Additionally, NDAs for fast track development programs ordinarily will be eligible for priority review, which imparts an abbreviated review time of approximately six months. About Soligenix, Inc. Soligenix is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases where there is an unmet medical need. Our BioTherapeutics business segment is developing SGX301 as a first-in-class photodynamic therapy utilizing safe visible light for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, proprietary formulations of oral beclomethasone 17,21-dipropionate (BDP) for the prevention/treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders characterized by severe inflammation including pediatric Crohn's disease (SGX203) and acute radiation enteritis (SGX201), and our novel innate defense regulator technology (SGX942) for the treatment of oral mucositis and infectious disease. Our Vaccines/BioDefense business segment includes active development programs for RiVax, our ricin toxin vaccine candidate, OrbeShield, our GI acute radiation syndrome therapeutic candidate and SGX943, our melioidosis therapeutic candidate. The development of our vaccine programs incorporates the use of our proprietary heat stabilization platform technology, known as ThermoVax. Currently, this business segment is supported with up to $57 million in government grant and contract funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). For further information regarding Soligenix, Inc., please visit the Company's website at www.soligenix.com. This press release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect Soligenix, Inc.'s current expectations about its future results, performance, prospects and opportunities, including but not limited to, potential market sizes, patient populations and clinical trial enrollment. Statements that are not historical facts, such as "anticipates," "estimates," "believes," "intends," "potential," or similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results in future periods to differ materially from what is expressed in, or implied by, these statements. Soligenix cannot assure you that it will be able to successfully develop, achieve regulatory approval for or commercialize products based on its technologies, including SGX942, particularly in light of the significant uncertainty inherent in developing vaccines against bioterror threats conducting preclinical and clinical trials of vaccines, obtaining regulatory approvals and manufacturing vaccines, that product development and commercialization efforts will not be reduced or discontinued due to difficulties or delays in clinical trials or due to lack of progress or positive results from research and development efforts, that it will be able to successfully obtain any further funding to support product development and commercialization efforts, including grants and awards, maintain its existing grants which are subject to performance requirements, enter into any biodefense procurement contracts with the US Government or other countries, that it will be able to compete with larger and better financed competitors in the biotechnology industry, that changes in health care practice, third party reimbursement limitations and Federal and/or state health care reform initiatives will not negatively affect its business, or that the US Congress may not pass any legislation that would provide additional funding for the Project BioShield program. Positive results from the Phase 2 study evaluating SGX942 does not ensure that the follow-on Phase 2/3 clinical study will be successful. These and other risk factors are described from time to time in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Soligenix's reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K. Unless required by law, Soligenix assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events. SOURCE Soligenix, Inc. Related Links http://www.soligenix.com WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Chief executives from five of the leading steel companies in the U.S. told members of the Congressional Steel Caucus today that unfair foreign trade practices have caused an increase in steel imports resulting in the loss of more than 13,000 lost jobs in the industry this year, and the government needs to dramatically improve policies on trade. The Steel Caucus is chaired by Tim Murphy (R-PA) and vice-chaired by Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-IN). As members of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), Mario Longhi, President and CEO of United States Steel Corporation; Chad Utermark, Executive Vice President of Nucor Corporation; Jim Baske, CEO of ArcelorMittal North America; Chuck Schmitt, President, of SSAB Americas and Chairman of AISI; and, Roger Newport, CEO of AK Steel Corporation, testified before the more than two dozen members of Congress. Copies of the testimonies and the video broadcast of the hearing can be found here. Longhi said, "The American people and this caucus have declared that we must not rely on competitors or adversaries for vital elements of our national security. I contend that no element is more vital and fundamental than steel. The time for speculation and hand wringing has passed. We must now come together. Democrats and Republicans government and the private sector management and labor. We must join forces to preserve and defend our way of life by ensuring American industries can complete vigorously and unencumbered by harmful foreign practices." Utermark said, "From outright government ownership to a vast array of illegal subsidies, many foreign steel companies are shielded from the realities of the market. China is the prime example. Basically, the Chinese government is a company disguised as a country engaged in economic warfare. It is the major contributor to the capacity glut. China's economic slowdown, coupled with its estimated 425 million tons of excess capacity, has resulted in China flooding the global market with steel exports. This market-distorting behavior is creating real harm for American steelworkers." Baske said, "The American Steel Industry, as we see it today, is not sustainable, under the current conditions. However, we compete against governments around the world which support an industrial strategy of exporting excess steel, leading to record levels of imports into the United States. We need the U.S. Government to vigorously enforce U.S. trade remedy laws. And we need the international community to come together to make clear to China that they need to reduce their excess capacity in steel making the way a market-based economy would rather than exporting it." Schmitt said, "Our industry recently commissioned a survey of registered voters throughout the country to measure public concern about the steel industry's plight and to assess recommendations for action. The results of that poll confirm clear support for our shared mission here today. According to 82% of voters, the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs overseas and the damage to the American steel industry due to unfair foreign imports are very important issues facing our country. Many presidential candidates are also realizing that global overcapacity of steel -- in part due to massive subsidization by foreign governments -- is a huge problem and a chief contributor to the crisis we face in the American steel industry." Newport said, "I have been in the steel industry for 31 years, and I have never seen the conditions in the marketplace that we have experienced over the last two years. The U.S. government should strictly and thoroughly enforce our existing trade laws. It's that simple enforce the law. [And] the U.S. government should continue to treat China as a non-market economy for the purpose of the anti-dumping law. The U.S. government [also] needs to recognize that in many instances, trade relief on China alone will not be sufficient to address the problem of global overcapacity. Without effective action, the overcapacity in the market simply causes other countries to increase their exports to the U.S." Leo Gerard, International President of United Steelworkers (USW); Tracy Porter, President of CMC Americas; Robert Mandel, President of Welded Tube; and, Dennis Oates, President and CEO of Universal Stainless and Alloy Products also testified. AISI serves as the voice of the North American steel industry in the public policy arena and advances the case for steel in the marketplace as the preferred material of choice. AISI also plays a lead role in the development and application of new steels and steelmaking technology. AISI is comprised of 19 member companies, including integrated and electric furnace steelmakers, and approximately 125 associate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry. For more news about steel and its applications, view AISI's Web site at www.steel.org. Follow AISI on Facebook or Twitter (@AISISteel). SOURCE American Iron and Steel Institute Related Links http://www.steel.org CHERRY HILL, N.J., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Demonstrating a commitment to delivering legendary customer service over the channels today's customers prefer, TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, will offer customer service over Facebook Messenger, enabling live support over any connected device almost instantly. TD Bank will provide customer service over Messenger, which connects over 900 hundred million people on a monthly basis. TD Bank Group, based in Toronto, was the first bank in the world to offer Facebook Messenger customer service in December. Given that 67 percent of consumers would like to contact customer support over social media channels (JD Power), providing personalized support over the world's most popular social media channel demonstrates TD Bank's commitment to creating innovative omnichannel banking experiences that meet the evolving needs of today's digital consumers. Messenger support is available from 6 am to 11 pm, EST, seven days a week. Customers can also contact TD Bank Customer Support and speak with a real person, 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. "We want to make it as easy as possible for our customers to get the assistance they need, whenever and wherever they need it," said Michael Rhodes, Head of Consumer Banking at TD Bank. "Given the vast popularity of Messenger, we believe this initiative will make contacting us for support even faster and easier enabling us to deliver an unsurpassed customer experience." TD Bank has integrated Messenger for optimal simplicity. TD will be searchable directly from Messenger. In addition, customers can locate the Messenger icon on TD Bank's mobile "contact us" page. Once on Messenger, customers can get help with general product and account questions. They can also get maps to Store locations. TD Bank will solicit feedback to continually improve the experience. "For today's customers, convenience means providing instant access to support over digital and social channels," said Rhodes. "And at TD Bank, we recognize that convenience should never come at the cost of a real, human touch. Messenger will help us connect our customers with a real person to satisfy their support needs. It's all part of our commitment to being the Human Bank." TD will not ask you to provide personal information, or login information such as usernames, passwords, PINs, Identification. Plus security questions and answers, or account numbers, through Messenger. About TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is one of the 10 largest banks in the U.S., providing more than 8 million customers with a full range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services at more than 1,200 convenient locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas and Florida. In addition, TD Bank and its subsidiaries offer customized private banking and wealth management services through TD Wealth, and vehicle financing and dealer commercial services through TD Auto Finance. TD Bank is headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J. To learn more, visit www.tdbank.com. Find TD Bank on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TDBank and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TDBank_US. TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is a member of TD Bank Group and a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada, a top 10 financial services company in North America. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the ticker symbol "TD". To learn more, visit www.td.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131120/MM21057LOGO SOURCE TD Bank Related Links http://www.TDBank.com WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Vanda) (NASDAQ: VNDA) today announced it will release results for the first quarter of 2016 on Wednesday, May 4, 2016, after the market closes. Vanda will host a conference call at 4:30 PM ET on Wednesday, May 4, 2016, during which management will discuss the first quarter 2016 financial results and other corporate activities. To participate in the conference call, please dial 1-888-771-4371 (domestic) or 1-847-585-4405 (international) and use passcode 42335557. The conference call will be broadcast simultaneously and archived on Vanda's website, www.vandapharma.com. Investors should go to the website at least 15 minutes early to register, download, and install any necessary audio software. A replay of the call will be available on Wednesday, May 4, 2016, beginning at 7:00 PM ET and will be accessible until Wednesday, May 11, 2016, at 11:59 PM ET. The replay call-in number is 1-888-843-7419 for domestic callers and 1-630-652-3042 for international callers. The passcode number is 42335557. ABOUT VANDA PHARMACEUTICALS INC.: Vanda is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapies to address high unmet medical needs and improve the lives of patients. For more on Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc., please visit www.vandapharma.com. Investor Contact: Jim Kelly Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (202) 734-3428 [email protected] SOURCE Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. Related Links http://www.vandapharma.com Prepare for a new payment . Creating a monthly household budget will support staying on track toward homeownership. A budget should take into account how much income and expenses your family have each month. This will help identify areas of overspending and places where you can save to make room for a new payment amount. . Creating a monthly household budget will support staying on track toward homeownership. A budget should take into account how much income and expenses your family have each month. This will help identify areas of overspending and places where you can save to make room for a new payment amount. Use a mortgage calculator . A payment calculator can help give you an idea of how much you will need each month for your loan, taxes and insurance. . A payment calculator can help give you an idea of how much you will need each month for your loan, taxes and insurance. Set aside some savings . Taking on a new mortgage can have some up-front costs, such as appraisals, down payments, or service fees. Set aside as much as possible before working on financing. . Taking on a new mortgage can have some up-front costs, such as appraisals, down payments, or service fees. Set aside as much as possible before working on financing. Get pre-qualified from a lender . 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Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, Inc. is a national housing lender that specializes in financing manufactured homes. In business for more than 40 years, the company currently services more than 180,000 home loans and works hard to tailor loans to each family's needs. Vanderbilt has an A+ grade from the Better Business Bureau and is a Berkshire Hathaway company. For more information, visit VMFHomeLoan.com. NMLS Disclosure Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, Inc., 500 Alcoa Trail, Maryville, TN 37804, 865-380-3000, NMLS #1561, ( http://www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org/), AZ Lic. #BK-0902616, Loans made or arranged pursuant to a California Finance Lenders Law license, GA Residential Mortgage (Lic. #6911), Illinois Residential Mortgage Licensee, KS Licensed Mortgage Co. (SL.0000720), Licensed by the NH Banking Department, Mississippi Licensed Mortgage Company, MT Lic. #1561, Licensed by PA Dept. of Banking. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160414/355430 SOURCE Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance, Inc. Related Links http://www.vmfhomeloan.com NAMUR, Belgium, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- VolitionRx Limited (NYSE MKT: VNRX), today announced the appointment of Louise Day as its Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, effective April 11, 2016. Ms. Day will lead VolitionRx communications and develop the Company's branding and global marketing strategy in preparation for the initial market entry of its NuQ blood-based tests for cancer. The Company expects to commence the European launch of NuQ in 2016, to be followed by the U.S. and rest of the world. "Louise is a highly experienced marketing professional with a strong healthcare background in the U.S., U.K. and Europe, including consumer, prescription, retail and consulting work within the industry. We are very excited that she will be joining the VolitionRx team," said Cameron Reynolds, President and Chief Executive Officer of VolitionRx. "We are approaching critical milestones in the coming months as we launch our first commercial product, a blood test for colorectal cancer that we aim to make available for clinical use in Europe by the end of this year. The experience that Louise brings in developing strategy, gaining reimbursement and launching products within the complex regulatory environments of healthcare markets worldwide will be invaluable to VolitionRx at this key time." Ms. Day brings more than 20 years of marketing, sales and leadership experience to her role at VolitionRx. Since 2011, she has served as Director and Owner of Aculd Ltd, a strategic marketing consultancy specializing in healthcare, in which she developed UK market access programs, including submission to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), for a range of products. Ms. Day was formerly Global Brand Marketing Manager for Reckitt Benckiser Plc, based in New York, where she led the development of the global brand for the Lysol germ protection range. Working at Reckitt Benckiser from 2001-2009, Ms. Day also served as the European Business Unit Director, based in Paris, France, where she was responsible for general management of the European business and led the European regulatory strategy and launch of multiple products. Prior to joining Reckitt Benkiser, Ms. Day was a product manager, marketing executive, primary care field sales manager and a senior market research executive at Zeneca Pharmaceuticals Ltd in the U.K. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies from Sheffield Hallam University. "I am delighted to be joining VolitionRx at such an exciting time in the Company's development," said Ms. Day. "Starting with a blood test for colorectal cancer, the Company's suite of NuQ products have the potential to transform the diagnosis of cancer through early detection, resulting in better outcomes for patients worldwide. I look forward to building NuQ into a globally-recognized brand and leading the strategy for our initial market launch in Europe, the U.S. and worldwide." About VolitionRx VolitionRx is a life sciences company focused on developing blood-based diagnostic tests for different types of cancer. The NuQ tests are based on the science of Nucleosomics which is the practice of identifying and measuring nucleosomes in the bloodstream an indication that cancer is present. VolitionRx's goal is to make the tests as common and simple to use, for both patients and doctors, as existing diabetic and cholesterol blood tests. VolitionRx's research and development activities are currently centred in Belgium as the company focuses on bringing its diagnostic products to market first in Europe, then in the U.S. and ultimately, worldwide. Visit VolitionRx's website (www.volitionrx.com) or connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or YouTube. An animation introducing VolitionRx's Nucleosomics technology can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38dodCpyXf0. Media Contacts Anita Heward, VolitionRx [email protected] Telephone: +44 (0) 7756 034243 Kirsten Thomas, The Ruth Group [email protected] Telephone: +1 (508) 280-6592 Investor Contacts Scott Powell, VolitionRx [email protected] Telephone: +1 (646) 650-1351 Lee Roth, The Ruth Group [email protected] Telephone: +1 (646) 536-7012 Safe Harbor Statement Statements in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that concern matters that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in the forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "aims," "targets," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "optimizing," "potential," "goal," "suggests," "could," "would," "should," "may," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to the effectiveness of the Company's bodily-fluid-based diagnostic tests as well as the Company's ability to develop and successfully commercialize such test platforms for early detection of cancer. The Company's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements due to numerous risks and uncertainties. For instance, if we fail to develop and commercialize diagnostic products, we may be unable to execute our plan of operations. Other risks and uncertainties include the Company's failure to obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals to distribute and market future products in the clinical IVD market; a failure by the marketplace to accept the products in the Company's development pipeline or any other diagnostic products the Company might develop; the Company will face fierce competition and the Company's intended products may become obsolete due to the highly competitive nature of the diagnostics market and its rapid technological change; and other risks identified in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other documents that the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the Company's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and, except as required by law, the Company does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances. Nucleosomics, NuQ and HyperGenomics and their respective logos are trademarks and/or service marks of VolitionRx Limited and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to in this press release are the property of their respective owners. SOURCE VolitionRx Ltd Related Links https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38dodCpyXf0 NEW YORK, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Whitaker Securities LLC, a fixed income inter-dealer brokerage, is using Bloomberg's enterprise compliance platform, Bloomberg Vault, for social media monitoring and compliance, Bloomberg executives announced today. Bloomberg Vault's communications, compliance and analytics empowers Whitaker to manage social media access across its organization, deepening visibility into the commercial use of social channels and meeting regulatory communications, surveillance, and archiving requirements. "Utilization of social media will enable us to connect with customers, network with colleagues and stay informed. It's now so ingrained into our lives that its prominence can no longer be ignored," said Rosalie Nicosia, Chief Compliance Officer of Whitaker Securities. "Whitaker recognizes that social media is a valuable tool but we also need to remain compliant with our regulatory obligations to capture business-related communications. Bloomberg Vault's analytics and compliance tools help us balance the need to derive meaningful insight and connect with customers with the requirement to manage communications and social media access across our organization." Bloomberg Vault's social media surveillance and compliance solution was enhanced in January through the acquisition of Netbox Blue's intellectual property, patents and engineering assets. More than a thousand Bloomberg Vault clients, like Whitaker Securities, use Bloomberg Vault to monitor and control access to communications channels such as social media and online collaboration applications, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, GTalk, Yammer, and Skype for Business. The technology also provides visibility into the use of social media across the enterprise through advanced behavioral analytics. "Now it's more important than ever for firms to detect and quickly act on inappropriate behavior to prevent market abuse," said Harald Collet, Global Head of Bloomberg Vault. "Surveillance platforms are evolving to provide rich context around each compliance event, including behavioral and social network analysis across all communication, voice, social media, trade, news, and market data." Bloomberg Vault provides clients with cloud-based surveillance functionality and analytics to meet increasingly stringent regulatory guidelines, prevent market abuse, and deepen visibility into the commercial use of social media. These compliance capabilities integrate seamlessly with Bloomberg Vault's other communications archiving, eDiscovery and trade reconstruction functionality. To learn more about Bloomberg Vault, please visit www.bloomberg.com/vault. About Bloomberg Vault Bloomberg Vault is a secure managed service for information governance, surveillance, data analytics and trade reconstruction across the enterprise. It leverages the scalability and reliability of Bloomberg's global infrastructure, which distributes up to 360 million daily messages and manages more than 90 billion archived records on behalf of Bloomberg Vault subscribers. Bloomberg Vault also offers compliant record-keeping functionality to help more than a thousand firms manage and safely archive a broad range of enterprise communications and collaboration data to meet mounting legal and regulatory requirements on a global scale. Bloomberg uses Vault's technology to capture and safely encrypt its own email and instant message data. To learn more about Bloomberg Vault, please visit www.bloomberg.com/vault. About Bloomberg Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company's strength delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately is at the core of the Bloomberg Professional service, which provides real time financial information to more than 325,000 subscribers globally. For more information, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/company or request a demo. About Whitaker Whitaker Securities LLC is dedicated to providing first-class service to our customers and counterparties. Established in 2002 as an institutional fixed income interdealer broker, the firm participates in US Government Treasuries, Corporate Debt, Agency Debt, Emerging Market Credit, Corporate Repurchases as well as EMEA Sovereign Debt from its four geographically diverse locations. The firm credits its success to the exceptional talent of its staff and its continuous transparency with clients in this ever changing financial landscape. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150223/177195LOGO SOURCE Bloomberg Related Links http://www.bloomberg.com If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Los Angeles, April 9 : Actor Charlie Sheen's former fiance Brett Rossi has been granted a restraining order against the actor as she has claimed that Sheen attacked her, threatening her life. The restraining order granted on Friday, alleged that "Mr. Sheen choked Ms. Ross to the point of almost losing consciousness", and that at one point he "repeatedly kicked Ms.Ross while she was on the ground", reports people.com. The document reads that Ross became aware of an audio recording where Sheen allegedly said: "This piece of s--- needs to be f---ing buried" and, "Its treason. You know what treason is? It's punishable by death." The restraining order also claims that Sheen allegedly said on the recording: "I'd rather spend $20,000 to have her head kicked in. Then people will realize, oh, it's dangerous." The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) shared on Wednesday that it was opening a criminal investigation into Sheen. Though the LAPD declined to name the victim, a source shared that the investigation was in response to complaints made by Ross. Ross is a former porn star. Mumbai, April 10 : Actress Sayani Gupta has lauded actor Ranbir Kapoor, with whom she will be seen sharing screen space in the upcoming film "Jagga Jasoos", calling him the "best star actor" in the country. "Ranbir is the best star actor this country has seen. He is incredibly effortless and versatile as an actor. While working with him, I realised he uses a method and has a strong process, but never exhibits it," Sayani said in a statement. "His mind works like a director, so his overall understanding of the mise-en-scAne is from a filmmaker's point of view and not just an actor's," she added. The actress also feels that they share a "similar approach", but says that she is not even "close to his potential as an actor". "He is such a breeze to work with and even to watch on screen! He is aware, easy, crafted and unassuming," she said. Sayani, who made her debut in Bollywood with the film "Margarita With A Straw", also said that Ranbir's "special" quality is that he "never behaves like a star". She will soon be seen in superstar Shah Rukh Khan starrer "Fan" and is also busy shooting for "Baar Baar Dekho". Visakhapatnam, April 10 : Eleven people were killed in a road accident in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district on Sunday when a car hit a two-wheeler and then collided with a truck coming from opposite direction, police said. The accident occurred on Chennai-Kolkata (national highway 16) highway near Kagita in Nakkapalli mandal. The driver of the car, going from Visakhapatnam to Tuni, lost control apparently after a tyre got burst and the vehicle ran over the two-wheeler and hit the divider before crashing on the other side of the road and colliding with a truck coming from the opposite site. Nine people travelling in the car were killed as well as both the people on the two-wheeler. The dead include three children and four women. Such was the impact of the collision that car and the motorbike were badly mangled while the pieces of human flesh were seen strewn around. The accident hit the traffic out of gear on the national highway. Police said they were trying to identify the victims. Deputy Chief Minister N. Chinnarajappa expressed shock over the tragedy. He directed officials to provide all possible help to the families of the victims. London, April 11 : In a first, Brazilian researchers have demonstrated the harmful effects of Zika virus on human brain, revealing that the virus reduces growth and induces cell death and malformations in neural stem cells. Zika virus has been associated with a birth defect called microcephaly that causes brain damage and an abnormally small head in babies born to mothers infected during pregnancy. "Since the virus has been gradually established as a direct cause of central nervous system malformations, this study helps elucidate the etiological nature of the recently increasing number of microcephaly cases in Brazil," the authors noted in a paper that appeared in the journal Science. Scientists headed by Dr Stevens Rehen from the D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) differentiated human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into neural stem cells, neurospheres and brain organoids. Neurospheres and brain organoids represent excellent models to investigate developmental neuropathologies as they can outline, in vitro, several characteristics of the fetal brain formation. The research team observed that the virus infects human-derived iPS neural cells, neurospheres and cerebral organoids causing cell death, malformations and reducing growth by 40 percent. The researchers also compared these results with the ones generated with dengue virus. Even though dengue virus infected the cells such as Zika virus, there were no damaging outcomes registered to the neural cells, neurospheres or organoids. "These unique results may unravel some key features of Zika virus infection in the developing brain," said Dr Patricia Garcez, assistant professor at UFRJ and first author of the work. Zika virus is a mosquito-borne disease that has been reported in 33 countries. It also has been associated with the autoimmune disease Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can lead to temporary paralysis. Kiev, April 12 : Ukraine's parliament is set to try to vote in a replacement for Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk amid a growing sense of political crisis. On Sunday, Yatsenyuk announced that he would resign and accused Ukraine's politicians of failing to enact "real changes", BBC reported on Tuesday. His government has been accused of inaction and corruption. Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Groysman has been nominated by President Petro Poroshenko's party to replace Yatsenyuk. However, reports late Monday suggested he may not take the post. Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius resigned more than two months ago after accusing the government of not being committed enough to end corruption. Yatsenyuk has been in office since former pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted during huge demonstrations in February 2014. This latest crisis comes as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has threatened to withhold aid money if Ukraine does not carry out reforms. Istanbul, April 12 : Foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member nations, gathered here for its 13th summit, pledged on Tuesday to defeat terrorism and extremism. "We will continue to fight against force of darkness and extremism that misrepresent the real teaching of Islam, which is based on tolerance," Xinhua quoted Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry as saying. In his view, the Islamic world is in need of moderation and an integrated strategy for an effective struggle against terrorism and extremism. Shoukry also appealed for a dialogue among civilisations and religions to overcome the challenges facing the region. "We hope we will win despite all of the sacrifices we gave," he added. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said an action plan that will draw a road map for the OIC over the next 10 years will be adopted at the OIC leaders' summit slated for Thursday and Friday. "I believe that the Islamic world will achieve the targets of the action plan with a spirit of unity and solidarity," Cavusoglu said. At the meeting of foreign ministers, Shoukry handed over the OIC presidency to his Turkish counterpart. The 13th OIC summit is expected to draw more than 50 heads of state or government, including Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Bishkek, April 13 : Kyrgyz Parliament Speaker Asylbek Jeenbekov tendered his resignation here on Wednesday after his elder brother, Sooronbay Jeenbekov, was nominated as prime ministerial candidate, according to the parliament press service. Asylbek Jeenbekov said he decided to resign in order to avoid any suspicion about his brother's election, Xinhua reported. One day after Temir Sariyev verbally resigned as prime minister, the Kyrgyz parliamentary majority coalition decided on Tuesday to nominate Sooronbay Jeenbekov, first deputy head of the presidential office, as prime minister. Members of the parliament will vote on Thursday to approve the nomination as well as to elect a new speaker. Asylbek Jeenbekov has been speaker of the parliament since 2011, four years before Sariyev was sworn in as prime minister. Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev has accepted the resignation of Sariyev and his cabinet. Brasilia, April 14 : Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said she is confident that her supporters will deny the opposition the votes needed to bring her impeachment case to the upper house of parliament. If she wins, Rousseff would propose a new pact among all the political forces to establish a unity government, the Brazilian leader told a press conference in Brasilia on Wednesday. Should two-thirds of the lawmakers in the House of Deputies vote in favour of her impeachment on Sunday, Rousseff said she "would not interfere", Xinhua news agency reported. However, she also did not rule out the possibility of lodging an appeal to the Supreme Court against the result. The president also denounced "a conspiracy aiming to bring about a coup in Brazil," led by Vice President Michel Temer and Eduardo Cunha, president of the chamber of deputies. Both men are from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), a key coalition partner of Rousseff's left-leaning Workers' Party. The chamber will start the debate on her impeachment on Friday morning, and the process will last until the crucial vote set on Sunday. For the impeachment proceedings to move forward, 342 of the 513 lawmakers, or 67 percent, will have to vote in favour. If not, the proceedings will be shelved. Islamabad, April 14 : A top Pakistani official said that Indian intelligence agency, RAW has established a special cell at its headquarters in New Delhi to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and is being executed via Afghanistan. ""RAW and Afghanistan's NDS (National Directorate of Security - intelligence agency) have launched joint secret operations against Pakistan by using three Indian consulates in Jalalabad, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif," said Secretary Defence Alam Khattak on Wednesday. "The three consulates in Afghanistan are providing weapons, money, training and other logistical support to agents for subversive activities in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), Balochistan and Karachi in Pakistan," he said. The remarks were made while he briefed the Senate defence committee at Parliament House, Dawn online reported. RAW has also set-up a cell at NDS headquarters in Kabul for coordinating anti-Pakistan activities, the secretary defence said. Referring to the recent arrest of Kulbushan Jadhav, a deep cover RAW operative arrested from Balochistan, Khattak elaborated that his entire network has been dismantled by Pakistani security agencies. Law enforcement agencies announced the arrest of Jadhav during an intelligence-based raid in Balochistan's Chaman last week. Jadhav was later shifted to Islamabad for interrogation. Mumbai, April 14 : After the pan-India success of "Baahubali: The Beginning", actors from Telugu cinema are being welcomed in Bollywood. Actor Ravi Tejaa says that he would also like to do a Hindi film like "Ki & Ka". Andhra superstar Ravi Teja has been constantly getting offers from Bollywood but he says that Telugu cinema is his home ground. "I speak fluent Hindi. In fact I speak better Hindi than Telugu. But Telugu cinema is my home ground. I am in no hurry to try and conquer Bollywood. It would take a lot more than just a script that extends what I do in Telugu cinema to take me to Mumbai," says Ravi. The Telugu superstar, who is known as the Mass Maharaja in Andhra Pradesh says, he would love to something out-of-the-box in Hindi. "Something like R. Balki's 'Ki & Ka' or Karan Johar's 'Kapoor & Sons'. If I've to continue doing action and comedy I'd rather do it on my own home ground," he said. Lucknow, April 14 : BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday vowed to oust the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh and return to power to "uproot mafias and goons". Addressing a large gathering of party workers here on the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar, the four-time UP chief minister took on the BJP and the Congress as well. She labelled all three parties as "opportunists" who she said were wooing Dalits only for political and electoral gains. "I am cautioning the Dalits not only of Uttar Pradesh but the whole country to be watchful of the sweet talk by these parties as this is meant only for electoral gains and has no seriousness," she said. Urging her support base to act as "master keys to political power" as espoused by Ambedkar, she said the time had come to uproot what she said was the anti-Dalit government in UP in the assembly polls next year. She explained that she got her own statues installed during her rule in UP in 2007-12 as per the "verbal wishes and a written will" of her mentor and Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram. After that, she said, other parties plotted against her and slammed her for erecting elephant statues in parks. "They said these were attempts by me to promote the party symbol but the fact was that they were used as welcome symbols." New Delhi, April 14 : President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday led the nation in paying tributes to Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar, principal architect of the Indian Constitution, on his 125th birth anniversary. Mukherjee paid tributes at Ambedkar's statue in Parliament House lawns. Vice President Hamid Ansari, union ministers, leaders of political parties and people in large number also paid floral tributes to Ambedkar on the occasion. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot, among others, was also present during the function. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also paid tributes to Ambedkar at Mhow, his birth place in Madhya Pradesh. Functions are being organized all over the country to remember the contribution of Ambedkar in the building of the nation. The day was observed as "Social Harmony Day", an official statement said. "Portraits of Ambedkar are being garlanded at village Panchayats and literature about his life and work is being distributed. Discussions about his teaching and work are also being held," it added. Born on April 14, 1891 to Bhimabai Sakpal and Ramji in Madhya Pradesh, Ambedkar died on December 6, 1956. New Delhi, April 14 : Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday greeted citizens on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar, main architect of the Indian Constitution. She said that one of the greatest icons of modern India, Ambedkar's contribution spread across every field of national development. "His faith in democracy, which he shared with Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and other stalwarts of the freedom movement, is one of his proud legacies to our country," she said, according to a statement. As Ambedkar said in the "last session of the constituent assembly, our Constitution has given us not just a political democracy, but also a social democracy, guaranteeing equality of all and empowerment of the weak and the marginalized." Born on April 14, 1891 to Bhimabai Sakpal and Ramji in Madhya Pradesh, Ambedkar died on December 6, 1956. Gandhi said that the Indian Constitution, drafted by Ambedkar, is a unique affirmation of fundamental human rights and guarantees social empowerment through constitutional means. "India's unique experiment of social and economic transformation through peaceful and democratic means holds lessons for all societies in transition and for all nations divided by social and economic disparities and discrimination," she said. "On this occasion, we pay our humble tribute to one of the greatest son of India and champion of social equality and democracy," she added. Beijing, April 14 : China on Thursday published a report on the human rights situation in the US. The report, titled "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2015", was released by the Information Office of the State Council, in response to "the 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" issued by the US State Department on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported. China's report says that the United States made comments on the human rights situation in many countries while being tight-lipped about its own terrible human rights record and showing not a bit of intention to reflect on it. In 2015, the US saw no improvement in its existent human rights issues, but reported numerous new problems, according to the report. "Since the US government refuses to hold up a mirror to look at itself, it has to be done with other people's help," it said. The report stated money politics and family politics went from bad to worse in the US where voters found it hard to express their real volition. Figures cited in the report shows that civil rights were wantonly infringed upon in the US in 2015 with rampant gun-related crimes and excessive use of force by police. There were a total of 51,675 gun violence incidents in the United States in 2015 as of December 28, leaving 13,136 killed and 26,493 injured. US police shot dead 965 people last year as of December 24. No substantial progress concerning the economic and social rights of US citizens were made, the report said. In 2015, more than 560,000 people nationwide were homeless, and there were still 33 million people in the US with no healthcare insurance. It also quotes figures to show that the US continued to trample on human rights in other countries, causing tremendous civilian casualties. From August 2014 to December 2015, the United States launched 3,965 air strikes in Iraq and 2,823 in Syria, causing an estimated number of civilian deaths between 1,695 and 2,239. The report said that the USs' overseas monitoring projects infringed on the privacy of citizens of other countries. Though the US has repeatedly vowed to defend "human rights," it still has not ratified core human rights conventions of the UN, and took an uncooperative attitude towards international human rights issues, the report concluded. Hyderabad, April 14 : India's leading handset manufacturer Micromax, which opened its new manufacturing facility here on Thursday, plans to invest Rs.2,000 crore for expansion over the next five-six years. Rajesh Agarwal, co-founder, Micromax, told reporters that the company will expand its operatios to two to three countries this year. Already present in SAARC countries and Russia, it is looking at CIS countries, Africa and Iran for expansion. Micromax targets 25 percent growth during 2016-17 to achieve revenues of Rs.15,000 crore. The revenue in 2015-16 was Rs.12,000 crore. Currently selling 2.5 million units per month, Micromax has 14 percent market share. The market size is 220 million units a year. "We expect our share to go up to 20 percent in 2016-17," Rajesh said. The market size is expected to grow at 10 percent. The international operations contribute 8 percent to the company's revenues. On the funding for expansion, Rajesh said they were looking at various options including IPO. The Hyderabad facility, inaugurated by Telangana's IT minister K.T. Rama Rao, will have the capacity to manufacture one million mobile phones per month. The unit, which opened at Fab City here, currently employs 700 people and will increase the number to 1,000 in next two months. Spread over 19 acres, this is the second manufacturing plant of Bhagati Products Ltd in India, the manufacturing arm of Micromax. The company made an initial investment of Rs.100 crore in the unit which also has provision for expansion to manufacture LED TV, LED lights and other electronic equipment in the future. The Hyderabad plant along with the facility in Uttarakhand will take the overall production to 1.2 million handsets per month. The company is manufacturing rest of the handsets in China. The third facility coming up in Rajasthan and expected to be operational in six months will have a capacity of one million units in first phase. Stating that the company plans to have its presence across the chain of consumer electronics, Rajesh said they will focus on backward integration and research and development. Announcing that the company plans to shift its R&D centre from Beijing to Hyderabad, he urged Telangana government to allot land for the same. Patna, April 14 : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday attacked the BJP, saying "those who make a mockery of the Indian constitution" are now celebrating the birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar. "They make a mockery of the Indian constitution and then celebrate the birth anniversary of Ambedkar extravagantly to pretend as if they are close to his ideas and thoughts," Nitish Kumar said at a function to pay tributes to the Dalit icon at the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) office here. Nitish Kumar became the national president of JD-U on Sunday, replacing Sharad Yadav. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was going to town with Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary only with a view to winning the votes of the weaker sections of society. "It's their lust for power, nothing more. They have nothing to do with the ideology of the Dalit icon," said Nitish Kumar. While Ambedkar fought for the unity of the society and championed the cause of the deprived people, the BJP believes in dividing the society and exploiting the deprived people for political gains, he said. "Dalit students have been harassed in universities across the country and forced to commit suicide by those in power at the centre who feign love for Ambedkar." "Those who have no role in India's freedom struggle are talking too much about patriotism and nationalism these days," Nitish Kumar added. Mumbai, April 14 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday recalled India's rich maritime heritage, dating back to the world's first dock built at Lothal in Gujarat around 2,500 BC. "This dock was equipped to berth and service ships. It was built after studying tidal flows," Modi said of Lothal, still known by the same name in Ahmedabad district. Besides Lothal, there were several other important ancient Indian ports which proved to be major drivers of global maritime trade over 2000 years ago, he said. These were Barygaza or modern day Bharuch in Gujarat, Muziris of modern Kodungallur near Kochi in Kerala, Kaveripattinam and Korkai or today's Tuticorin, both in Tamil Nadu, and Arikamedu in Ariyankuppam district of Puducherry. "There are many references in ancient Indian literature, Greek and Roman works about the vibrant maritime trade of India with Rome, Greece, Egypt and Arabia. "Ancient and medieval Indian traders maintained links with countries in South-East and East Asia, Africa, Arabia and Europe," Modi said. He said the chief architect of India's Constitution, B.R. Ambedkar, whose 125th birth anniversary is being celebrated on Thursday, was also the architect of the country's water and river navigation policy. He said Ambedkar created two powerful institutions -- Central Waterways, Irrigation and Navigation Commission and Central Technical Power Board -- to best utilize water resources and help projects serve purposes other than irrigation. "Ambedkar emphasized the importance of the new waterways policy in order to lay the foundation for a regime of prosperity for the millions of poor. I am happy to state that we have embarked on the development of National Waterways in keeping with Babasaheb's vision and foresight," Modi said. Modi pointed out that 70 percent of the earth's surface was covered by water and 97 percent of this (water) was in the oceans. Oceans also contained 99 percent of the living space on Earth, which meant that our lifestyles, transport systems and trading behavior should not spoil the ocean ecology. Modi pointed out that the challenges of climate change had shown that even offshore human behaviour can change the ecology of glaciers and oceans. While maritime transport can be the most extensive and eco-friendly mode, care must be taken on maritime security, freedom of navigation and safety and security of sea lanes, he said. Montreal (Canada), April 14 : World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Craig Reedie has said the situation with banned drug Meldonium is "unprecedented". On April 13, WADA issued a notice regarding Meldonium, prohibited at all times (in-and out-of-competition) since January 1, 2016, reports Tass. "The mere presence of Meldonium in an athlete's sample collected on or after January 1, 2016 constitutes an anti-doping rule violation under article 2.1 of the WADA code, which triggers the results management process," the notice said. The notice said if the concentration is between 1 and 15 microgram and the test was taken before March 1 or if the concentration is below 1 mcg and the test was taken after March 1, given that the results of ongoing excretion studies are needed to determine the time of the ingestion. Cases where the concentration is below 1 mcg and the test was taken before March 1, 2016 are compatible with an intake prior to January 2016. If the anti-doping organisation finds that the athlete could not reasonably have known or suspected that the substance would still be present in his or her body on or after January 1, 2016, then a finding of no fault or negligence may be made. "Since Meldonium was prohibited on January 1 of this year, there have been 172 positive samples for the substance, for athletes across numerous countries and sports," Reedie said on Wednesday. "Concurrently, there has been a call by stakeholders for further clarification and guidance," he added. "WADA recognises this need - that Meldonium is a particular substance, which has created an unprecedented situation and therefore warranted additional guidance for the anti-doping community." New Delhi, April 14 : Bihar's Nitish Kumar government should have been more pragmatic before announcing prohibition as this cost Nagaland dearly in terms of revenue and only helped "bootleggers of neighbouring Assam", a former minister from the north-eastern state has said. "I think the Bihar chief minister should have been more careful and done a more in-depth study. This prohibition idea is a folly. Prohibition has either failed as in Nagaland or Manipur or had to be withdrawn as in Mizoram," Thomas Ngullie, an Independent legislator and former information minister, told IANS here. "We brought in the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act in 1989. I was part of the Congress party that brought the law. But that was a mistake. We only helped the bootleggers of Assam and cash-starved Nagaland lost huge revenue," he added. Apart from bootlegging, spurious liquor too takes its toll on consumers. The Naga politician's lament, though, is not in isolation. Within minutes of the announcement that prohibition had been enforced in governance-starved Bihar, microblogging site Twitter and social networking Facebook were on fire. This striking oneliner went viral: Breaking news: Bihar announces massive investments in bootlegging industry. This has generally been the outcome of prohibition laws wherever they have been imposed or tried. An IANS report from Kathmandu said that at a recent meeting in Forbesganj in Bihar, Indian authorities sought help from their Nepali counterparts to curb the movement of people seeking alcohol from Nepal. "Mizoram was reeling under Prohibition for 18 years and one of our governors said: 'Mizoram is the wettest dry state in the country.' Not a comment to be proud of. Let's not indulge in hypocrisy," wrote Hmar C. Vanlalruata from Mizoram capital Aizawl on Facebook on the day prohibition was enforced in Bihar. Christian-majority Mizoram declared prohibition under the influence of church bodies but lifted this in July 2014 after 18 years of struggling with its failure. In another northeastern state, Manipur, prohibition was brought in 1991 and for more reasons than one everyone seemed to believe in its limitations. There have been reports of bootlegging and also increase in drug abuse. In July 2014, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh stated in the Manipur assembly that his government favoured exploring options of lifting prohibition. He also had suggested that the country liquor produced in Manipur by scheduled castes and tribes be sold in other states "for revenue". While the state was declared dry, scheduled castes and tribes were permitted to brew liquor for traditional purposes. This situation continues till today. Prohibition had beeen in force in what is now Tamil Nadu since pre-Independence days and was lifted in 1971. It was again briefly imposed in 1974 before being lifted. Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha has promised to turn the state dry if she is voted back to power in the assembly elections later this year. Prohibition was imposed in Haryana in July 1996 by the government headed by then chief minister Bansi Lal, who had ridden to power on the promise of a dry state. However, it remained in force only till March 31, 1998. One of the reasons is that neighbouring Punjab has one of the highest per capita consumption rates of liquor, so it was always easily available. Rajasthan briefly flirted with prohibition in 1977-79. Bombay State - now Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat - briefly imposed prohibition from 1948 to 1950 and again from 1958 to 1960. With Maharashtra and Gujarat created on May 1, 1960, today there is prohibition in only three of Maharashtra's 36 districts - Wardha, Chandrapur and Ghadchiroli. Gujarat is quite a different story. Prohibition is as old as Independence and the fact that it is violated openly is also as old. Just like home-delivered pizza, illicit liquor is just a phone call away and the industry has grown exponentially. There are scooter-borne small bootleggers in thousands delivering one and two bottles of your choice. Then there are the sophisticated ones by who come dressed like a guest to your home to ensure nobody notices their purpose and deliver stuff nearly packed in grocery bags and flower bouquets. Some bigger suppliers have got tech-savvy: They keep lap-top computers and employ GPS to keep track of where the supplies have reached. The police is well aware of this, and so are ministers and bureaucrats. Gujarat looses Rs.5,000 crore ($750 million) in excise income to implement the dry law. The government tries to recover this from its 52 Permit Shops, where liquor is officially sold to 70,300 permit-holders. Revenue loss is also what Kerala will have to deal with by deciding to impose total prohibtion by 2023 when all the 730 bars will shut down and liquor will only be served in 29 five-star hotels. Kerala may be shooting its cash cow. "Alcohol helps in giving Kerala's economy a good high - shockingly, more than 40 percent of revenues for its annual budget come from booze," a posting on the BBC website said. In all these states, experience shows demand for prohibition is mostly guided by populism and surrendering to the pressure tactics of influential groups. Little wonder then, that celebrity Rishi Kapoor retorted in the context of Bihar: "Any law which tries to stop the people from doing something is bound to fail." But for the moment, more politicians are falling for prohibition policy's double-edged sword. (With inputs from V. Jagannathan in Chennai, Jaideep Sarin in Chandigarh, Anil Sharma in Jaipur, Darshan Desai in Ahmedabad and Sanu George in Thiruvananthapuram) (Nirendra Dev can be contacted at nirendra.n@ians.in) Paravur (Kerala), April 14 : It has been four days since over 110 people were killed in a horrific temple fire tragedy in this coastal town, but residents around the shrine are still a very shaken lot. Men and women here say life is unlikely to be the same again any more. Many are still trying to come to grips with what happened on Sunday when a huge quantity of stacked fireworks exploded suddenly, raining death. By Wednesday night, 113 people had been confirmed dead. Many more are still being treated in hospitals in Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram. A few remain in serious condition. "The situation is such that every time my two children hear a noise, they come running to me and start crying," said a young woman living near the Puttingal Devi temple where the devastation took place. "The children are still shaken up by the disaster," she said, not willing to give her name. B.V. Unnithan, a retired government official, said his wife and some relatives went to her sister's house around 200 metres from the temple to watch the fireworks show. They were among the thousands gathered in the temple premises. Unnithan said he remembered waking up at around 3.45 a.m. on Sunday, only to find the locked doors of his house wide open. "I did not realise that a tragedy had struck until a relative called me around 5.45 in the morning to find out what had happened at the Puttingal Devi temple." His wife watched the exploding and dazzling fireworks till around 3 a.m. and then went to sleep. Minutes after she hit the bed, dust from the roof of her sister's house fell on her face. "They were jolted as the ground shook," Unnithan explained. It was only much later that they learnt that a huge quantity of fireworks had exploded in the temple, killing scores instantly. "Many people in the area are yet to recover from the shock," Unnithan added. Though some residents had raised concerns over the annual fireworks show, most people in Paravur town used to keenly wait for the event. The fireworks display usually started the previous night and would go on till the early morning when the temple opened. The Kerala government has decided to send counselling teams to the temple town. The teams will visit each house where the impact of the disaster was the maximum. "I felt I had gone deaf because of the explosion," recalled a middle-aged man. "The final explosion was unbearable. "I am told some people suffered bleeding from their ears on account of the deafening sound. No words can describe what we suffered," he said. Fortunately for the man, he was viewing it all from his terrace. And so he escaped death. Since Monday, local authorities are supplying drinking water in trucks to houses in and around the temple as most wells have either collapsed or the water has turned black in colour. "We have been told not to use the water from the well until further notice. But no one has told us when our issues will be addressed," a woman complained. New Delhi, April 14 : The 'in principal' agreement between India and US to conclude an agreement for providing military logistics may prove beneficial for India as long as it is clear that Americcan troops will not be stationed on Indian soil, experts say. The announcement on a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) that came during US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter's just-concluded India visit is already facing political skepticism, which was expected for the agreement that has been pending for 10 years, with the former Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government soft-pedalling on it. It also comes at a time when US has been vocal about the growing Chinese activities in the South China Sea and has repeatedly on stressed 'freedom of navigation'. India on the other hand has been expressing concerns over terror emanating from Pakistan, with the proximity between Pakistan and China being another issue. The major concern expressed by different political parties for long remained that India, which had chosen to remain non-aligned post independence and through the Cold War period, must not enter the NATO block by supporting US troops. Former defence minister and Congress leader AK Antony went to the extent of terming the agreement "disastrous", while the Left has also opposed it. However, as both sides -- Carter and his Indian counterpart, Manohar Parrikar -- clarified, the renamed agreement LEMOA (it was previously the Logistics Support Agreement) would not involve the presence of US troops in India. The agreement, according to available information, will be country-specific for India and will focus on providing support that will primarily include food, fuel and stores. Former Indian Army chief General V.P. Malik said the agreement is likely to be beneficial for India. "This agreement has been floating around for ten years, but India had reservations. Now that the two sides have agreed, it is possible that the agreement has been modified," General Malik, who was in office from 1997 to 2000, a period which included the 1999 Kargil conflict, told IANS. "The basic opposition was that we do not want American troops to be stationed in India, nor do we want to support the process of the forces striking somewhere else," he added. "I feel the Indian and US governments have agreed on a draft that meets these two requirements. It is a useful agreement as long as we are not seen to be supporting americans fighting somewhere else," Gen. Malik noted. Strategic analyst C. Uday Bhaskar concurred and said the LEMOA would benefit India in the long term. "It is an India-specific agreement. I do think it will be in India's interest in the long term in terms of being able to obtain fuel and logistics at short notice," Bhaskar, who is the director of think tank Society for Policy Studies, told IANS. "At a time when India needs to maintain its presence in the region, this is a useful traction for India," he said. Bhaskar also underlined that the agreement, when it comes into force, is unlikely to be binding in nature and India will always have the right to refuse assistance. "We are not getting stuck in NATO," he clarified. The US had first proposed an India-specific LSA in 2004 at the sixth meeting of the India-US Defence Policy Group. This was a version of the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA), which the US has with several NATO nations, something that has raised concern. India has, in the past, provided logistics support to the US. During the 1990-91 Gulf War, prime minister Chandra Shekhar's coalition government provided overflight rights to US planes, and even permitted refueling, but revoked it after protests. During the 2004 tsunami, US support came in handy with India lacking the capability to provide assistance to the vast affected areas, as it did after 2015 Nepal earthquake. Both Gen. Malik and Bhaskar highlighted this aspect. "During the tsunami, there was good coordination and US helped, although US ships did not come on our side," Gen. Malik said. Bhaskar said India lacked resources to deploy on multiple fronts after the tsunami. "During the Nepal earthquake, US had the digital maps and geo-spatial data which came in handy," Bhaskar added. (Anjali Ojha can be contacted at anjali.o@ians.in) Mumbai, April 14 : Actress Deepika Padukone, who is currently shooting her Hollywood debut film "xXx: The Return of Xander Cage" in Hamilton, Canada, says she and her co-star Ruby Rose are setting "a new trend". Rose shared an image of herself along with Deepika on Instagram. The two can be seen wearing their jackets "backwards". "Cool people wear their jackets backwards... No really... Freezing cold... People wear their coats anyway they can! Toronto, why (are) you so freezing(?)! Ok, it isn't Toronto, it's Hamilton... That's why it's colder," Rose captioned the image. The "Bajirao Mastani" star took to Twitter where she mentioned that the duo have a "lot more" trends in their kitty. "We're probably setting a new trend Ruby Rose and definitely a lot more of this coming up!" Deepika tweeted. Directed by DJ Caruso, "xXx: The Return of Xander Cage" also stars Hollywood's celebrated name Vin Diesel. Srinagar, April 14 : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday directed the state police to ensure that no civilian is harmed during crowd control, as the valley remained tense over the deaths of four people, including three in alleged firing by security forces. Mehbooba, who returned to Srinagar on Thursday from New Delhi, held a meeting of top officials to review the security situation in the state. The chief minister, who earlier in the day met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah in New Delhi, directed her officials that the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of dealing with mobs should be followed to ensure that civilians do not get harmed during crowd control, said sources. The meeting, held at her Fair View residence on Gupkar Road in Srinagar, was attended by the Director General of Police K. Rajendra Kumar and senior officials of the police. The meeting came as curfew was clamped again in parts of a tense Kashmir Valley amid simmering anger over the death of four civilians. As a precautionary measure and to prevent troublemongers from spreading rumours, authorities also snapped cellphone internet. Restrictions were also imposed in the main business hub of Lal Chowk, amid a valley-wide shutdown call by separatist groups in protest against the civilian deaths. Curfew was also enforced in the north Kashmir Handwara town and parts of the border district of Kupwara. Three civilians were killed in Handwara on Tuesday when police fired at an angry mob protesting against the alleged molestation of a teenage girl by an army man. The army has, however, dismissed the allegation as a rumour to malign the force. A day later, people in Kupwara took to the streets to protest the Handwara deaths. A burning tear gas canister fired by police hit a 25-year-old man on his head. The man later succumbed to the injury. Separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik, have been placed under house arrest as they had appealed to people to observe a protest shutdown against the killings. There was a near-total response to the shutdown call as shops, schools, colleges, offices and other businesses in areas where restrictions have not been imposed remained closed. Public transport was also off the roads in the valley. Separatists have also called for post-prayer protests on Friday. New Delhi, April 14 : Actress Priyanka Chopra, who has carved out a niche for herself in western showbiz through her lead role in American TV series "Quantico", says she said 'yes' to the show to break the stereotypical image that many have about Indian cinema and actors abroad. Asked whether the stereotypical image of Indian actors is breaking in Hollywood, Priyanka told IANS: "That's what I did in 'Quantico'. Did you see me doing the stereotype of Indian part in that, even in 'Baywatch' I am not. I will never be the stereotype of what people think India should be. I feel that we can be anything. "Today India is the youngest country in the world and our youth is empowered with being able to do and be anything they want in any part of the world. So we should not be told that you can't do something." Priyanka questioned those who categorise actors on their ethnicity. She said: "Why is it not cool to be an Indian? Why can't an Indian girl who is from Indian descent be an FBI girl who kicks a**? So I was very clear about that. "I went to school in US and I saw the stereotype, not just US but the western world has for Hindi cinema, even today there is no one to look like us. So for me it was very important. Priyanka said that when American broadcasting company ABC offered her "Quantico", the only condition that she put in front of them is to not offer her any supportive role. "When ABC came to me, that was the very first thing that I told them that I am a lead actor, that's all I want to do. So if you have something like that for me then great," the "Bajirao Mastani" star, who was conferred with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour, earlier this week, said. "I read 26 scripts, they just signed me as a talent because they wanted to work with me. Then I told them that I don't want to do anything which is stereotype of how you see. Alex was not written for an Indian girl but American girl," Priyanka said. She added that she later convinced the producers of the show to make certain changes in the story. "I didn't want them to change name or anything. In fact I added Om, I added mother being an Indian or lots of cultural thing which made Alex (Parrish) very rich as a character...it made her interesting . I don't think art should have barriers of geography , language , colour or creed or anything. Art is art," Priyanka said. Kolkata, April 14 : They could have become the first transgenders from West Bengal to contest the assembly polls, but faced with "threats of dire consequences" from "Trinamool goons", Lok Janshakti Party's (LJP) Bobby Halder and Sankari Mondal have decided not to file their nominations, the LJP state unit said on Thursday. Halder, 39, was to contest from Bhowanipore, which has Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the fray. Mondal was slated to contest from Jadavpur, taking on the might of former Marxist MP Sujon Chakraborty and Trinamool's state minister Manish Gupta. However, both Halder and Mondal have not been able to file their nomination papers. "Fielding transgenders was a historic decision by the LJP, but that has been defeated by the terror tactics of the Trinamool. Ever since their candidature was announced, both were constantly threatened, humiliated and intimidated by Trinamool goons," LJP state president Mira Chakraborty told IANS. Mira said repeated efforts to find proposers for both the candidates went in vain. "Such has been the terror, that nobody dared to come up as a proposer for their nominations. Both Halder and Mondal were threatened with being thrown out of their community. They could not withstand all these intimidations and decided against contesting the polls," added Chakraborty. Even as he refused to comment on the issue, Halder told IANS: "I wanted to contest the polls." The LJP said it will be moving the Election Commission on the issue. The last date for filing the nominations both for Jadavpur and Bhowanipore was April 11. Inspired by Manabi Bandopadhyay, India's first openly transgender college principal who took over the reins of the Krishnagar Women's College in Nadia district last year, both Halder and Mondal aspired to work for the welfare of the "most marginalised" transgender community. New Delhi, April 14 : Actor Ram Charan, who is currently Shooting an yet to be titled Telugu remake of Tamil blockbuster "Thani Oruvan", says he is not sharing screen space with Salman Khan, contrary to reports surfacing in media. Ram, who was last seen in Bollywood film "Zanjeer", a remake of director Prakash Mehra's 1973 released film "Zanjeer", says that Salman once approached him for producing a film but they are not starring together as of now. "No, I don't know how these rumours are coming in. I am not starring in a film with Salman Khan," Ram, son of Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi, told IANS during his visit to the capital. He added: "But it was very nice of him when he once approached and said he wants to produce a film, and but of course the script and everything he has to select... but we are not acting together as of now." Ram is known for his performances in Telugu films like "Magadheera" and "Chirutha". Moscow, April 14 : Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday voiced hope that the current ceasefire in Syria will lead to a political settlement in the war-torn country. "We are expecting the cessation of hostilities from both sides to lead to pacification. It is necessary to adopt a constitution, hold early elections and resolve the crisis by these means," Xinhua news agency quoted Putin as saying during his annual live phone-in. The Syrian army was capable of launching offensive operations with the help of Russia's remaining forces in the country, Putin said. A tentative truce has largely been held since conflicting parties in Syria ceased hostilities in late February, under the auspices of Russia and the US. This is Putin's 14th Question and Answer session, dubbed "Direct Line with Vladimir Putin," which was launched in 2001 and held annually with exceptions only in 2004 and 2012. Beijing, April 14 : Twenty tigers in northeast China's Heilongjiang province embarked on a journey on Thursday morning to their new home more than 2,000 km away. The felines, one white tiger and 19 Siberian tigers, are all adults of about four years old. They will arrive at a new tiger park in Luanchuan County in central China's Henan province after three days of travel. "The distance is long, and some tigers may get tired or even carsick. We will give them water and food regularly," Xinhua news agency quoted Liu Dan of the Siberian Tiger Park as saying. The Park is the world's largest Siberian tiger breeding base. Siberian tigers are among the world's most endangered species. They mostly live in eastern Russia, northeast China and northern parts of the Korean Peninsula. The Siberian Tiger Park of Heilongjiang is now home to more than 1,100 tigers. So far it has sent more than 100 tigers to zoos in other parts of China. Last year, more than 150 tiger cubs were born in the park, the highest number since the park was built in 1986. About 100 cubs are expected to be born this year. Washington, April 14 : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has raised the issue of hike in the US visa fee for Indian technology professionals, which he said was targeted largely at the Indian IT (information technology) companies. "The finance minister held a bilateral meeting with United States Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman expressing India's concern over the hike in the H-1B and L1 visa fee which is discriminatory and in effect, largely targeted at Indian IT companies," the union finance ministry said in a statement. Jaitley is currently on a seven-day official tour to Washington DC to attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and other associated meetings. Jaitley is accompanied by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan, Secretary Economic Affairs Shaktikanta Das, and Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian. Jaitley also emphasised upon India's keenness for early conclusion of a Totalization Agreement with the United States, for the purpose of avoiding double taxation of incomes with respect to social security taxes. "As per industry estimates, Indian professionals have contributed more than $25 billion to the US social security during the last decade, without being able to retrieve their contributions," the statement said. Jaitley added that India looks forward to strengthening and deepening of its economic engagement with the US. Mumbai, April 14 : The mother and brother of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit scholar who committed suicide in Hyderabad, on Thursday embraced Buddhism here, saying they were now "truly free from shame". "If my brother were alive, he would have been proud of us," younger brother Naga Chaitanya alias Raja Vemula told mediapersons after a brief initiation ceremony at Ambedkar Bhavan at Dadar, on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar. "From today, my mother and I will start a life that Rohith always dreamt of. From today, my mother and I will be truly free, free from shame," he added. The duo was given the ceremonial 'deeksha' by Buddhist monks in the presence of Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of B.R. Ambedkar who similarly converted to Buddhism along with 600,000 followers in Nagpur in 1956. At the ceremony, both Radhika and Raja bowed before a portrait of Ambedkar and paid tributes to the staunch opponent of Hindu caste system. "My brother was always a Buddhist at heart, although he did not convert. He took his own life as he was discriminated because of his Dalit background," Raja said. "We performed his last rites according to Buddhist traditions. "Our mother felt we should honour Rohith's memory by embracing Buddhism. We are against the caste system in Hinduism and want freedom from it. Buddhism does not have such oppressive casteism," Raja said. Said Prakash Ambedkar of Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, a faction of the Republican Party of India: "We decided to organize the 'deeksha' ceremony after the family requested us." Raja recalled Rohit's love for Buddhism and how he had highlighted the discrimination of Dalits on the Hyderabad Central University campus to its Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao. He attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and central minister Smriti Irani over his brother's suicide in January that triggered nationwide protests. "Why doesn't Modi make one statement on people responsible for his death? He sheds tears for my brother but said nothing on Appa Rao," he said, referring to the vice-chancellor of the Hyderabad Central University where Rohith hanged himself. Raja Vemula said their rejection of Hinduism was a rejection of the Hindu caste system that he alleged "allows the persecution of Dalits". Rohith Vemula killed himself after alleging caste discrimination in the university. Students in the university are still demanding the dismissal of Appa Rao and action against central ministers Bandarau Dattatreya and Smriti Irani over Vemula's suicide. The three are accused of hounding Vemula and his Dalit friends based on a complaint by student leaders affiliated to the BJP in the university. "We know our fight is going to be long and hard. But we feel strong and hopeful because the spirit of Ambedkar, Buddha and my brother Rohith Vemula is with us," Raja said. Islamabad, April 14 : Pakistan is banking on good friend China to block India's chances of making it to the coveted Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a former Pakistani diplomat has said, adding that "chances of India gaining entry into NSG are virtually nil". Zamir Akram, Pakistan's former permanent representative at the United Nations in Geneva and envoy at the Conference on Disarmament, said on Wednesday that China would not allow India to enter the NSG because this would affect its nuclear cooperation with Pakistan, according to Dawn online. Akram said China is committed to ensuring that both India and Pakistan gain membership to the 48-nation NSG at the same time. Besides China, there are some countries that are upset by the "double standards" being shown in India's case, and are calling for an approach based on criteria, he added. Akram was speaking at a conference on the International Nuclear Order, organised by the Strategic Vision Institute (SVI) and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. According to Dawn, this is the second time in a month that a senior official involved in Pakistan's nuclear affairs has dismissed India's chances. At a conference late last month, adviser to the National Command Authority Lt. Gen. (retd) Khalid Kidwai had said: "We also have friends in NSG who would not let it happen." Discussing the global nuclear order, Akram said it had been destabilised by a number of factors, including the world powers' double standards and discriminatory exemptions granted to India. Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Ehsanul Haq, criticised the world nuclear order for being "highly discriminatory and obstructive". He said Pakistan's nuclear programme would continue, "no matter how adverse the environment, to provide us the credible deterrence against the existential threats we confront". SVI president Zafar Iqbal Cheema said the world powers were using the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Non-Proliferation Regime (NPR) for their political, strategic and foreign policy objectives, thereby diminishing their credibility. He said Pakistan was a victim of the West's discriminatory attitude. The Indo-US nuclear deal provides India with fissile material for 50 additional warheads every year by sparing local resources. SVI also called for maintaining credible deterrence capability against India, and advised against compromising security for mainstreaming in the nuclear order. Mumbai, April 14 : Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who will be seen essaying the role of Dalbir Kaur Singh in "Sarbjit", a biopic based on the life Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer who was convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan and was sentenced to death, says his story needed to be told. "When Omung Kumar(director of the film) came to me with the subject, it was an immediate yes. How can we walk away from telling such a story?" she said. "We all continue our lives and don't necessarily take a minute out to experience how an incident can completely change the dynamic of family," Aishwarya told reporters during the trailer launch of "Sarbjit" here. The film features Aishwarya in the role of Sarbjit's sister, who dedicated her entire life in getting her brother back home as a free man. And the actress says that "history cannot go unknown". "Dalbir for over 23 years fought for this kind of sibling love and commitment is commendable. This story needed to be told and thank you for bringing it to me," she said. The actress says she met the real Dalbir for the first time during the first schedule of the film. "I have not spent time with her before the film. I met her for the first time during our first schedule. There is certain physicality that we have brought to. I have not sat and watched everything. We have changed the eyes of the character." "Sarbjit", which also features actors Richa Chadha and Darshan Kumar in key roles, is slated to release on May 20. Washington, April 14 : The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said India remains a bright spot, even as global economic revovery has weakened and risks to global financial stability have increased, all of which call for a combination of monetary, fiscal, and structural actions. "India remains a particular bright spot with rising real incomes and confidence boosting domestic demand," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in her global policy agenda, just ahead of the Spring Meeting of the Fund and the World Bank. "Global economy is expanding moderately, but the outlook has weakened further since October and risks have increased," she said, adding this may well prove to be a deterrent to higher living standards, fresh employment levels and controlling debt of nations. The IMF chief said there could emerge some indirect ramifications from factors like geopolitical shocks from conflicts, terrorism, refugee flows, a potential exit of Britain from the European Union and global epidemics. At the same time, there were some positives also, she stressed. "Some recent improvement in data releases, somewhat firmer oil prices, reduced pressures on outflows from China, and actions by major central banks have all contributed to improving sentiment," said Lagarde, but felt these needed to be built upon. "A three-pronged approach with monetary, fiscal, and structural actions can work as a virtuous trinity, lifting actual and potential growth, averting recession risks, and enhancing financial stability." Among the various policy prescriptions, Lagarde said more needs to be done to support efficient infrastructure investment in all countries and that a new infrastructure policy initiative will be piloted this year to scale up spending in this area and improve institutional capacity. This apart, she said, the Fund will also assess the size and implications of the problem, and examine options to reduce the risk of adverse balance sheet effects from the rising private sector indebtedness, and unresolved crisis legacies in banks. Mumbai, April 14 : Actor Aditya Roy Kapur, who will next be seen onscreen in Karan Johar's production "OK Jaanu", has revealed that 50 percent of the film's shoot has been completed. Directed by Shaad Ali, the film is a remake of Mani Ratnam's Tamil film "Ok Kanmani". "The shoot is on and we have finished 50 percent of the shoot. It is a romantic film based in Mumbai. We are having great time shooting the film," Aditya said here. "OK Jaanu", which also stars actress Shraddha Kapoor, revolves around a young couple and deals with issues like live-in relationships. Kolkata, April 14 : The Election Commission has showcaused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for violation of the model code of conduct, Chief Election Commissioner Naseem Zaidi said here on Thursday. The poll watchdog is also set to initiate legal action against Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal. "It was brought to the knowledge of the commission that a statement was made in Asansol that Asansol district will be set up, and (there were) certain other utterances which are contained in our notice," Zaidi told the media. On threats by Birbhum district Trinamool president Anubrata Mondal that the opposition would "vanish" on the day of the polls there (April 17), Zaidi said the poll panel was taking action. "Barring one, all political parties have brought to our attention the alleged incident in the district and the commission is initiating urgent legal action against any such person. You will come to know soon," he said. Asked about the shifting of officials on allegations of lack of impartiality, Zaidi said: "It is under active consideration of the commission." Ahead of the visit of the full bench, opposition parties (including the Congress) lodged complaints against chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta for allegedly acting at the behest of the Trinamool. "Not exactly. Our CEO will do his level best to ensure the exercise is conducted in appropriate manner," Zaidi said on a poser on the opposition demanding the CEO's removal. The full bench of the Election Commission of India held day-long meetings with police and administration officials and also met delegations from various political parties ahead of the next phase of the state assembly polls scheduled for April 17. However, an unmoved Banerjee said she stood by whatever she had said. "They (the opposition) have complained to the Election Commission against me. Whatever I have said I stand by my point. I still stand by my point. "The CPI-M, Congress and the BJP have their men in the Election Commission. Even if 40 letters are sent, that would be fruitless. Can't rob me of my democratic rights. Whatever I have said, I have done the right thing. I will say the same thing thousands of times," she said at an election rally in Murarai of Birbhum district. Banerjee said she would ask the opposition to reply "inch by inch" for the canards and disinformation spread against her. "I will take replies inch by inch against the canards and disinformation spread against me. And also against the injustice done to me, and the character assassination they have indulged in." Banerjee also lashed out againt the poll panel for threatening legal aciton against Mondal. "Why should Anubrata be arrested? Why shouldn't (CPI-M leader) (Mohammed) Salim? What has Anubrata done? Why shouldn't (state Congress chief) Adhir (Chowdhury) be arrested? "Why shouldn't (CPI-M leader) Sujon (Chakraborty), Biman (Bose) and Buddahdeb (Bhattacharjee) be arrested?" She also alleged that the EC has changed 300-350 officers-in-charge and even removed the Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar. "You have removed police officers every day. Even the Kolkata police commissioner, the brightest of police officers, has been removed. You have changed 300-350 OCs. You are doing whatever the Congress, BJP and the CPI-M asks you to do." "Are we not human beings also? Why should everythign be done unilaterally?" said a fuming Banerjee. Nagpur, April 14 : Suspected right-wing Bajrang Dal activists pelted stones and hurled a slipper at Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union president Kanhaiya Kumar here on Thursday but he escaped unhurt. Police have detained 10 men in connection with the attack. Kanhaiya Kumar, who was arrested on charges of sedition before being released on bail, had arrived here to address a function marking the 125th anniversary of B. R. Ambedkar whom he considers his idol, at the invite of Progressive Students Youth Action Committee. Despite the X-level of security accorded to the student leader, Bajrang Dal activists were present to protest right outside the Nagpur airport when he arrived and even when he went to the historic Deekshabhoomi to pay homage to Ambedkar. When his car approached the venue of the public function, suspected Bajrang Dal activists pelted stones at it as security officials guided it to safety. Kanhaiya Kumar was unhurt. The function itself was disrupted by loud slogan-shouting of "Kanhaiya Kumar Murdabad", "Kanhaiya Triator, Go Away", forcing police to bundle the protestors outside the auditorium. Later, when he was addressing the meeting and making strong criticism of the BJP and RSS, an unidentified person hurled a shoe at Kumar, barely missing his target. Police have detained at least 10 Bajrang Dal activists who had warned they would disrupt Kanhaiya Kumar's meeting, being held in the city which houses the headquarters of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and is home town of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Nagpur, April 14 : A policeman was killed when Maoists opened indiscriminate fire on him at a function on Thursday in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district to mark the 125th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of Indian Constitution, police said. The attack came at the function which was addressed by former Maharashtra legislator Deepak Atram in Mauje Chhallewada village in Gadchiroli. His police bodyguard, Nanaji B. Nagose, who was posted on duty near the stage, was suddenly accosted by six heavily-armed Maoists who fired at several rounds at him before fleeing into the nearby jungles. The seriously-injured Nagose was rushed by a helicopter to Gadchiroli but succumbed during treatment at the district civil hospital. His last rites were conducted later in Gadchiroli with full state honours in the presence of top police and civil officials. Agra, April 14 : One of the biggest Dalit shows of strength began here on Thursday to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar. A huge "Bheem Nagri" has come up on the railway ground in Gadha Pada area, which will on Friday receive a 20-km-long 'Ambedkar Shobha Yatra' that will pass through the main streets of the Taj Mahal city. The organisers told IANS that there would be some 75 tableaux depicting the plight and aspirations of Dalits and social reformers who helped them in their struggles. There will also be 50 brass bands. A decorated elephant carrying an Ambedkar statue will be part of the show. Dalits constitute more than a third of Agra's 20 lakh plus population. The city is known as the Dalit capital of northern India. Activist Naresh Paras said Agra was a major player in shoe making business and the country's top exporter of shoes because of Dalits. Police are taking no chances. Senior Superintendent of Police Preetinder Singh said the city had been divided into three super zones, six zones and 33 sub zones plus six sectors to manage the crowds. A 100 feet wide dais at the Bheem Nagri will be the main focus of activities spread over three days. People from neighbouring districts will also be transported to the Bheem Nagri. District authorities estimate that several lakhs are expected to converge at Agra. The celebrations will include speeches by Dalit intellectuals, poets and followers of Ambedkar. Ambedkar visited Agra's Buddha Vihar in March 1956. The same year, he died on December 6. Agra's bonding with Ambedkar began with the first conversions of Dalits to Buddhism at his initiative. Kolkata, April 14 : Ahead of the second phase of the West Bengal assembly polls, the Election Commission is taking additional measures to prevent the possibility of unusual voter turnout, Chief Election Commissioner Naseem Zaidi said on Thursday. "The voter turnout at 5 p.m. and closing time at 6 p.m. will be obtained through mobile SMS-based information system. The number of electors standing in the queue at the time of closing of polls will be compiled by returning officer so the possibility of any unusual increase in voter turnout is ruled out," he said here. To ensure further transparency and accountability in those polling stations where voting continues beyond polling hours due to the presence of electors in the queue, the presiding officers have been given specific instructions. "They have been directed to submit a statement capturing the full information on votes polled by the electors present at the polling station at the time fixed for close of polls, and had actually voted till the actual closing of the polls. "This statement will be signed by the presiding officer and the polling agents present at the booth and will be submitted to the authorities," he said. Zaidi informed the final publication of electoral rolls for 51 enclaves which were transferred from Bangladesh have been completed on April 11. "Now these citizens will be able to cast their votes on May 5," he said. The full bench of the Election Commission of India held day-long meetings with police and administration officials and also met delegations from various political parties ahead of the next phase of the state assembly polls scheduled for April 17. Amid the ongoing controversy over high voter turnouts in the first phase (April 4 and April 11), the poll panel had earlier claimed Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) initiatives have led to "huge" voters' turnouts in first phase of assembly polls in both Bengal and Assam. For the part one of the first phase of polls on April 4 involving 18 segments (including 13 in Left-Wing Extremism areas), the poll watchdog declared a final turnout figure of 84.22 percent on April 6. A shortwhile after the scheduled time for close - 6 p.m. - on April 4, the panel had given a tentative figure of 80.92 percent. Opposition parties had questioned the increase in the turnout, and claimed the final figures were adulterated. Former state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya approached the Commission recently over the high percentages saying the spike in figures needs to be investigated. Kochi, April 14 : The Kerala High Court on Thursday accepted the state government's request to oversee the ongoing crime branch probe into the 'illegal' fireworks display at the Puttingal Devi temple in Kollam which led to a blaze that left 114 people dead and over 350 injured. The request was accepted by the division bench of Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice Anu Sivaraman, which had Tuesday, come down heavily on Kerala Police for not preventing the Kollam deaths, after they taking up a letter written to the high court registrar by their colleague Justice V. Chitambaresh, as a public interest litigation. The bench, after taking into account the seriousness of the issue, decided to have a special sitting on Thursday, despite being a public holiday on account of Vishu. The Kerala government informed the court that the present crime branch probe is headed by additional director general of police S.Ananthakrishnan, who has an exemplary track record, and it is their wish that the high court oversees it. Accepting the request, the court asked the probe officer to submit its report on May 18, when the court resumes its sitting after summer recess. Presiding over an all-party meeting in Thiruvananthapuram, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said his government was not averse to a probe by any central agency but it would be advisable to go forward with this crime branch probe, with the high court overseeing it. "In case a CBI probe is announced, then it will take at least 2 to 3 weeks time before it actually begins. Already the present probe has arrested 13 people and they are doing a good job. We have also informed the high court that, if at any point of time, they feel, the ongoing probe is having a problem, they can announce any probe by any agency and we will fully cooperate with it," he told reporters after the meeting. Chandigarh, April 14 : Acting on a tip-off, the Border Security Force (BSF) and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized over 31 kg of heroin in Punjab's Ferozepur sector on Thursday, BSF officials said. The seizure - the highest single seizure in Punjab's border belt this year - was made in the area of border outpost Barreke in Ferozepur sector, over 300 km from here. Two smugglers from Punjab's border belt were apprehended in the joint operation by the BSF troopers and DRI officials. They have been identified as Parkash and Angrej Singh, aged 20 and 24 years respectively. A 9mm pistol, four magazines and 61 rounds of ammunition were also recovered from the smugglers, said BSF DIG R.S. Kataria. Punjab shares a 553-km international border with Pakistan. The entire border is fenced with electrified barbed wire. Kolkata, April 14 : Chief Election Commissioner Naseem Zaidi on Thursday assued media persons of full sharing of information with them in response to complaints of lack of cooperation from chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta and his team during the ongoing West Bengal assembly polls. "I have heard your sentiments... there will be full sharing of information with the media," Zaidi responded to clamouring journalists who brought the matter to the notice of the poll panel chief during a media conference here. "Please ask Gupta to take our questions," said a media person. At the conclusion of the part two of the first poll phase on April 11, Gupta had refrained from answering questions on incidences of violence on poll day and had not provided a final voter-turnout percentage on the day much to the dismay of the patiently-waiting scribes. Further, media persons also drew attention to the overall unfriendly attitude of the poll panel officials who restricted entry of media to the Commission's office here beyond certain hours. New Delhi, April 14 : The third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation concluded here on Thursday with the 13 Tiger Range Countries adopting a resolution reasserting their commitment to the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP). Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said the 'New Delhi Resolution on Tiger Conservation' will help strengthen the commitment of the member countries toward the "Global Tiger Summit" resolution adopted in 2010 at St. Petersburg, Russia - which was to double the tiger population by 2022. The minister said there is need to align development and tiger conservation through participation of locals and other stakeholders. "We believe in partnership with local communities because they are the real protectors," said Javadekar. He added, "India is ready to help non-tiger countries to develop tiger habitats." "We have tigers, they have money," he said. Answering a question on the tiger parts trade in China, through its several 'tiger farms', he said that China has its own legal framework and "we respect that". He also stressed to include non-tiger countries, with rich bio-diversity, in the next conference, to be held two years later. The venue of the conference had not been decided yet. "Strengthen co-operation at the highest levels of government to combat wildlife crime, address the demand for tiger products and increase formal and informal trans boundary coordination," the resolution stated. The resolutions adopted also stressed on accelerated implementation of the GTRP, mutual and systematic reporting of the census, integrating tiger and wildlife safeguards in infrastructure at the landscape level, leverage funding and technical support from international organisations and financial institution in addition to the tiger range country governments. Providing ecosystem services to the tiger reserves, emphasising the tiger recovery growth in the areas with low tiger densities, knowledge sharing and capacity development for all stakeholders and increase in the use of technology were also part of the resolution adopted. "Restoration, Reintroduction and Rehabilitation is needed to increase tiger population in low density areas," Javadekar said. Artem Sidorov, head of the Federal Supervisory Natural Resources Management Service, Russia said, "We understand that our common goals and compliance still exists." "This resolution must not be limited to the respective ministries of environment or forest only. It's ambit must be broadened and other departments must be included," said Chencho Norbu, director general of Department of Forest and Park Services, Bhutan. During the three-day conference, representatives from the earlier 13 Tiger Range Countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, India, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russian Federation, Thailand and Vietnam as well as the two new ones of Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan participated. The two new countries gained entry for the Snow Leopard. While several Tiger Range Countries like India, Nepal, Russia and Bhutan have registered an increase in tiger population, the status of tiger remains 'endangered', and has declined to 'non-viable' level in some range countries, a cause for concern. India is home to 70 percent of the world's tigers. According to the latest figures, Bangladesh has 106 tigers, Bhutan 103, Cambodia nil, China seven, India 2,500, Indonesia 371, Lao PDR two, Malaysia 250, Nepal 198, Russia 433, Thailand 189 and Vietnam less than five tigers in the wild. Islamabad, April 14 : Pakistan pushed the Afghan Taliban on Thursday to join peace negotiations, two days after the group launched their annual fighting season that could further complicate efforts for the dialogue. The Taliban last month refused to take part in direct talks with the Afghan government under the Quadrilateral Coordination Group QCG), Xinhua news agency reported. Pakistan had agreed to host the talks. "It is in the interest of all groups in Afghanistan to participate in the process as this is the best hope to bring peace in Afghanistan and the entire region," foreign ministry spokesman Nafees Zikriya said. "We believe that a politically negotiated settlement is the best option for bringing lasting peace to Afghanistan," Zikriya said. He reiterated that Pakistan had higher stakes in Afghanistan peace than any other country and that Islamabad was "determined and serious in ensuring that peace returns to Afghanistan because it is not only in our interest but also the entire region". US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olson visited Islamabad this week for talks with military leaders and senior diplomats to review options for the next QCG meeting and the overall peace process, officials say. The spokesman said the US envoy and Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry had discussed "prospects of next QCG meeting and the situation in Afghanistan and both sides agreed that it should be held at the earliest on a mutually convenient date". Olson had also visited Kabul prior to his visit to Pakistan. There he exchanged views with Afghan leaders on how to begin the peace talks. Afghan sources in Islamabad insist that despite the Taliban's public refusal, some "background consultations" were on that were seen helpful in the peace initiative. New Delhi, April 14 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged the farming community to evolve a new policy for water conservation and improve their knowledge about soil behaviour for getting better yields. "I am on a new mission of per drop - more crop," Modi said launching an electronic trading platform, the national agriculture market -- eNAM. "With each drop of water saved, we can usher in a new era of progress and prosperity," Modi said. He stressed the need for farmers to improve their knowhow about soil behaviour. Modi also said that while emphasis should be given to technological upgradation in the fields, the old practice of "flood irrigation has become a thing of past". "Farmers should not merely think that abundant water only can bring in better results. For instance, even for sugarcane sprinkling water helps to get better yields," he said. The e-NAM trading mechanism proposes to integrate 585 regulated wholesale markets or agriculture produce market committees (APMCs) under one electronic platform within a couple of years. The eNAM will allow farmers to sell their produce to highest bidders. It will initially aim at integrating 21 mandis in eight states -- Uttar Pradesh (6), Gujarat (3), Telangana (5), Rajasthan (1), Madhya Pradesh (1), Haryana (2), Jharkhand (1) and Himachal Pradesh (2). Launched with a budget allocation of Rs.200 crore, as many as 25 key commodities, including wheat, paddy, maize, onion, jowar, bajra, groundnut, potato, soyabean and mustard seed, have been selected for e-trading, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh had said on Wednesday. Fruits and vegetables normally known for price fluctuations, however, have not yet included in the platform, officials said here. New Delhi, April 14 : The Centre has finally intervened in the controversy arising out of three bills passed by the Manipur state assembly in August last year that resulted in violence and the death of nine youths in the hills of the northeastern state. However, it is not the union home ministry, but the tribal welfare ministry that has written to Manipur's social welfare department seeking information and action taken in the aftermath of the passing of the bills. After the union tribal welfare ministry sent a letter on March 17, the state's social welfare department asked the home department for information "since the action is related to your department". IANS has access to the official letter from the social welfare department to the state home department that was dated April 4. Ostensibly to safeguard the rights of the indigenous people, the Manipur government, bowing to pressure from agitators from the state's valley, convened a special session of the assembly on August 31 last year and passed three controversial bills -- the Protection of Manipur People Bill, the Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Bill (Seventh Amendment) and the Manipur Shops and Establishments (Second Amendment) Bill. The very day the bills were passed, protestors, mainly comprising tribal organisations, torched five houses belonging to Congress legislators. Among them were the dwellings of Health and Family Welfare Minister Phungzathang Tonsing and Lok Sabha member from Outer Manipur Thangso Baite in Churachandpur district. The violence and resultant police action left at least nine people dead. The nine bodies are still lying in a Churachandpur hospital mortuary with the families refusing to bury them till the hill peoples' demands are met. The state government had passed the bills after a three-month-long agitation spearheaded by the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) demanding the enforcement of an inner line permit system similar to those in force in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland to check the influx of non-Manipuris into the state. The JCILPS says that according to the 2011 census, Manipur's population is 2.7 million. Of this, only 1.7 million are indigenous people while the rest are people who have their roots outside the state. However, according to the tribes inhabiting the hills of Manipur, the three bills would directly undermine the existing safeguards for the tribal hill areas regarding land ownership and population influx, as the primary threat for the tribal people came not from outside the state but from the Meitei people of the valley itself. Given that the hills of Manipur are inhabited by Nagas and Kukis among other tribes, Nagaland's lone MP Neiphio Rio in December pointed out in the Lok Sabha the anomaly in passing the bills saying these were passed without proper consultations with tribal leaders and elected members of the autonomous district council according to norms. Rio sought the intervention of the central government in this context. Rajya Sabha member Tarun Vijay also took up the issue in parliament stating that the agitating tribal people were the children of India. The union tribal welfare ministry's letter was dispatched to the Manipur government following the interventions of these two MPs as the social welfare department's letter to the home department showed. On the 227th day of an ongoing protest by the Manipur Tribals Forum Delhi (MTFD) in New Delhi on Thursday, April 14, its convenor Romeo Hmar expressed disappointment at what he called the Centre's reluctance to act. "The tribal people of Manipur fail to understand the reluctance of the central government in upholding Article 371C of the Constitution," Hmar told IANS. "The tribal people of Manipur are the only tribal people in the northeast who are not protected under the Sixth Schedule," he added. (Aroonim Bhuyan can be contacted at aroonim.b@ians.in) Patna, April 14 : Nepal has invited Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to attend the 2,560th birth anniversary celebrations of Lord Buddha in Kathmandu, officials said on Thursday. "Nitish Kumar has been invited by Nepal next month to attend a function in connection with the birth anniversary of the Buddha," said an official from the chief minister's office here. The Nepal government is organising an international Buddha seminar on May 19-20, and has also invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jingping and UN chief Ban Ki-moon. Nitish Kumar had visited Kathmandu last month to attend the inaugural function of the national convention of the Nepali Congress. Lucknow, April 14 : Vice President Hamid Ansari on Thursday called on the legal fraternity to ensure speedy trials and quick justice to those seeking it and ensure that pendency of cases is brought down. Ansari was in the Uttar Pradesh capital to attend the 'Sesquicentennial' celebrations of the Allahabad High Court. Citing the judicial system in the US, Ansari said both the sides in a case are given 30 minutes to present their side and this enables fast-tracking justice. At the event, Governor Ram Naik said he was peeved at the fact that 89 of the 160 posts of judges in the Allahabad High Court were vacant. Allahabad High Court Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud remembered B.R. Ambedkar and said delay in delivering justice was against the basic tenets of the Constitution. The delays, he said, shook the belief of the common man in the judicial system. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav skipped the event citing a busy schedule. He was represented by his cabinet minister Ahmad Hasan. Mhow (Madhya Pradesh), April 14 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched the 'Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday' campaign to promote rural development on the 125th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar and said the late leader fought for equality and dignity in society. "It is my privilege that I am here on the birth anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar. I bow to this land. He (Ambedkar) fought against injustice in society. His fight was for equality and dignity," Modi said, addressing a rally organised at Ambedkar's birthplace here. 'Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday Abhiyan' -- village self-governance campaign -- aims to generate nationwide efforts to increase social harmony across villages, strengthen Panchayati Raj institutions, promote rural development, and foster farmers' progress. The campaign will continue till April 24, the Panchayati Raj Day. Launching a veiled attack on the Congress, Modi said nobody had stopped those who were in power for 60 years from building a memorial to Ambedkar after his death. "The country saw many governments in these 60 years since Dr. Ambedkar's death. Who had stopped them from building a memorial?" "We were fortunate to get an opportunity to build his memorial. Now they are upset with this too. In fact, these people should regret and introspect that why they did not do it," Modi said. Opposition parties, including the Congress, Janata Dal-United, and others had attacked the government in the recent past for ignoring the villages and not taking up the cause of the Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes with the required earnest. "Few people are distressed over why is Modi talking about the legacy of Dr. Ambedkar. I want to tell them that he is a source of inspiration for us. We look up to him as we believe that he established the highest values of socialism and equality in our society," the prime minister said. "Babasaheb Ambedkar was the second name of determination. He never drifted away from his path of working for the Dalits and backwards despite facing insults," Modi said. "With his treasure of wisdom and degrees from some of the world's famous universities, he had several opportunities for his own growth but he left them due to his ambition to do something for the society," Modi said. The prime minister laid stress on development of villages for the growth of the country and said the focus of this year's union budget was on villages and farmers. "All our development initiatives have to be centered around rural development." Modi also committed to provide five crore poor families with new LPG connections in the next three years. He said more than 90 lakh families gave up subsidies on his call and the economical benefit that the government has got from it will be passed on to the real beneficiaries. "More than one crore families belonging to the poor sections of the society got LPG connections last year. This has never happened before... so many people were benefited in the span of just a year." "It was a pilot project and after its success, we announced that we will provide five crore families with new LPG cylinders in the next three years," Modi said. He also laid stress on digital connectivity in villages. "This is difficult to do, but we need to make a start somewhere." Modi said he wanted the income of farmers to double in the next few years. "Purchasing power of people in rural India has to increase and this will power India's economy. Give our farmers adequate water and see the wonders our farmers can do." He complimented Madhya Pradesh Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan "for chalking out a comprehensive roadmap to double the income of farmers by 2022 in the state". New Delhi, April 14 : Global financial institutions, like the World Bank, should provide a clear roadmap and increase their financial commitment from five percent to at least 15 percent in development of India's renewable energy sector, an official said on Thursday. "The international bodies must give a roadmap, that is, they must tell how much money they will give during next five years.. today World Bank gives 5 percent of their money for renewable, we need at least 15 percent and we need a roadmap from these bodies because they are the central controller of funds globally," said New and Renewable Energy Secretary Upendra Tripathy. Inaugurating the Solar India Summit 2016, organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), he said finance has been the biggest challenge in development of renewable energy sector in the country, and the government was roping in multilateral and bilateral agencies and banks, thereby finding new ways to reduce the cost of capital. "We are thinking whether we can have a $1,000 million equity fund to help new companies to come up for solar to become a movement and to make transit from megawatt to gigawatt," Tripathy added. He further said this will provide a clear roadmap to the industry, so it knows that this much of money will come into the sector and it will help in bringing down the costs further. "We have some $1,000 trillion in equity, pension and insurance funds.. Could we have a commitment from them that at least 10-15 percent funds will come to renewable energy sector...," he said. Tripathy also said there must be a global mechanism to bring down hedging costs, not completely but at least partially, and that his ministry had been negotiating loans with many banks including the State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank. Stating that the union government had given Rs.5,000 crore for raising bonds, he added: "We have raised bonds and that money will also be made available to the industry." Earlier in his address at the summit, Railway Board's member (electrical) A.K. Kapoor said Indian Railways was working to get international funding to harness renewable energy related potential for its operations. "For international funding, be it in wind, solar, LED lights and even waste to energy, we are in different process of discussions, we will be successful in harnessing that also," he said. Bengaluru, April 14 : Taking charge of the BJP's Karnataka unit as president on Thursday, the party's national vice president and former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa vowed to return to power through the 2018 legislative assembly poll. "My target is to get 150 seats in the 2018 state election to form a BJP government again, with absolute majority in the assembly," Yeddyurappa said at a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mega rally in the Bangalore Palace grounds here. In the 225-member assembly, that includes one nominated member, the opposition BJP has 47 lawmakers, the ruling Congress 123 and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) 40, while there are nine independents and five others. "My aim is to put our party back into power by getting rid of the Congress in the state to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of freeing the country from it (Congress-mukt India)," he told hundreds of party cadres and workers at the rally under a scorching sun. The rally was also held to mark the 125th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, and Yeddyurappa's appointment as the party's state unit president for the fourth time in his chequered political career. Terming the Congress a sinking ship, the 73-year-old leader of the state's second largest community Lingayats exhorted the party's state leaders and cadres to work hard for winning the next assembly elections with a huge margin to form the government unlike in 2008 when it had to depend on independents and others. He lamented that the party, which came to power first time and ruled the state for five years during 2008-2013, had no visible presence in nine districts, only one lawmaker in 13 districts and 21 lawmakers in Belagavi and Bengaluru districts. "When we were together, we were strong with 110-120 members in the assembly and plunged to 40 plus in the present time due to differences and working against the party's interests," he recalled. Ironically, Yeddyurappa who was forced to resign as the state's first BJP chief minister on July 31, 2011 following corruption charges against him and his kin in the multi-crore-rupee mining scam and for freeing government-owned lands (de-notification), left the party in a huff and formed the regional Karnataka Janata Party (KJP), winning six seats in the May 2013 assembly election. He, however, returned to the BJP in early 2014 after merging KJP with it and was elected to the Lok Sabha in the May 2014 general elections from his home parliamentary constituency of Shivamogga in the state's Malnad region. The BJP's state unit in-charge Muralidhar Rao, the state unit's outgoing president and Dharwad Lok Sabha member Prahlad Joshi, the party's central ministers Ananth Kumar and Siddeshwar and the party's former chief minister Jagadish Shettar also spoke briefly on the occasion, assuring full support assistance to Yeddyurappa in reviving the party's fortunes in the state. Mumbai, April 14 : Actor Randeep Hooda says that getting into the role of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer imprisoned in Pakistan and condemned to death for terrorism, for Omung Kumar's biopic "Sarbjit" affected him tremendously and people around him thought he was an "ass". "Everybody thought I was an ass... everybody around me just had enough of me... it somewhere has affected me. There is a certain sense of gloom that has come about since this movie," said Randeep at the trailer launch of the film. "I have to keep telling myself, that 'look, you did not go through 23 years of your life in prison, you did not go through all that hardship, you did not go through solitary confinement', that is something that I have to keep reminding myself," he added. Randeep also said that the first time he heard the movie was being made was when "somebody forwarded to me an article when the real Dalbir Kaur was saying that she would like me to play the role, and I was like 'Really!'. I then did more research and by the time I met Omung, I knew him very well". He said that Omung provided him Sarabjit's letters, pictures and video footage and they decided that Randeep should lose weight so that his "plight could come out better". He also started learning Punjabi and even arranged for a tooth mould from Canada, to show his tooth decay. "I went through the letters, I made his thoughts mine, I made his words mine. I have written many letters, which I have not sent to Omung, which I will never send, because now I read them and I think they're too personal. I used to sit at home in the chains and lie in my bathroom for a long time, and write letters to Omung, as if he was my sister, but I would address it as Omung." "Sorry Omung, if you love me enough I will give you those letters." Aishwarya Rai Bachchan plays the role of his sister Dalbir Kaur, who tried rigorously for his release. Los Angeles, April 15 : Actress Debby Ryan, who was arrested for drunk driving, has apologised to her fans for setting a bad example with her reckless behaviour. The former "Jessie" star took to Twitter to issue the apology, reports aceshowbiz.com. "Over the last few days I have had the chance to think about my actions, and I wish I had used better judgement," Ryan wrote. "I recognise that I am a role model and have always worked hard to set a good example for my millions of fans. I am so sorry to disappoint everyone," she added. Ryan, 22, was taken into police custody for driving under the influence after she slammed her car into another vehicle here last week. She has since been released prison on a bail. Property sales in England and Wales have seen their strongest March for nine years with transactions up 30%, some 80,000 home sales, the latest index data shows. House price growth also accelerated, up 6.9% year on year and 0.6% month on month, taking the average price to 291,650, the figures from the Your Move house price index also shows. It means that a typical home is now worth 18,745 more than a year ago. When London and the South East are left out of the calculation prices were up 5.1%, suggesting that the market is still strong outside these two growth areas. Indeed, the London market saw the fastest growth of any region as house prices rose 8.2% or 44,548 year on year. Bath and North East Somerset saw the largest March pick-up in property prices, climbing 5.3% or 18,603 month on month According to Adrian Gill, director of Reeds Rains and Your Move estate agents, the impending stamp duty rise for additional properties that was introduced at the start of April helped March record the strongest homes sales for the month since 2007. The surge was widespread across England and Wales. This goes beyond any normal seasonality, with second home and buy to let investors rushing to beat a bigger tax bill, he explained. Overall some 73% of local authorities in England and Wales experienced a monthly upswing in home values, the highest proportion of areas seeing positive property price rises since July 2014. This will be welcome news for homeowners, who now have a fantastic opportunity in the current sellers market. The pervasive shortage of homes on the market is still driving up values, as buyers have to compete for each available property. If they are going to make it easier to get a foot on the property ladder, the Government will have to double down on its help to first time buyers, or let up on landlords, said Gill. He also pointed out that after a bit of a downturn over the winter months, the London property market is growing again with prices up 8.2% higher than a year ago. The lift in Londons house prices seems steep. But were actually in a much calmer position than previous years, with the current rise still well below Londons record 20.6% year on year growth, established in July 2014, Gill said. He also pointed out that the growth in London property values means it is once again pulling away from the rest of the country, with London and the South East now dragging up national house price growth by 1.8%, double the rate seen at the end of 2015. As a result, weve returned to a two speed housing market, as growth in the rest of the country is easily outpaced by London and the South East. But its not all about London, as house prices are still advancing in the Northern cities, with the average property price in Manchester hitting a record high of 174,448, up 3.5% annually, Gill explained. The data shows that within London the gap in home prices has moderated. The cost of a typical home in Londons most expensive borough Kensington and Chelsea at 1.9 million remains 6.8 times higher than its cheapest, Barking and Dagenham at 274,000. However, this situation may now be improving, with house prices in Kensington & Chelsea only up 5.1% year on year. On the other hand, home owners in Barking and Dagenham have enjoyed an 18.4% rise in property values over the year, Gill said. An increasing number of real estate investors from China are looking to buy property in Canada with cities like Vancouver and Toronto proving popular, new data suggests. According to the latest research from property search engine Juwai which lists real estate around the world for Chinese buyers, inquiries for properties in Canada have increased by 134% in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the same period in 2015. A Juwai survey of real estate agents who work with mainland Chinese buyers found that 55% expected international property purchases to increase as people sought a safe haven for cash. Canada, particularly the cities of Vancouver and Toronto, has long been among the top targets for property investors from the Asian country. Barring any big changes in the environment, we expect Chinese investment in Canadian real estate to increase in 2016, and the impacts of that investment to be spread more widely as these buyers move into new markets, said Charles Pittar, Juwais chief executive officer. In Vancouver, where the average home price has jumped almost 40% in five years, Chinese demand is concentrated in the luxury market, according to real estate agents. The data from Juwai also shows that the total value of all Canadian properties that Chinese made inquiries for almost tripled to $14.9 billion in 2015 from $5.6 billion in 2014. The top city by total value of properties searched was Toronto where inquiries more than tripled to $7.4 billion. In Vancouver, the second most in demand city, inquiries more than doubled to $2.5 billion and Quebec had the biggest jump in interest, with $764 million searches, more than triple the number recorded in 2014. Chinese investment also has soared in countries such as Australia and the United States. The number of Chinese buyers completing on sales for commercial and residential property in Australia has doubled to US$18.4 billion in the 12 months to June 2015, according to the countrys Foreign Investment Review Board. In the United States Chinese buyers have surpassed Canadians as the top foreign buyers of homes, with $28.6 billion of deals in the 12 months to March 2015, according to figures published by the National Association of Realtors. Welcome to Line Danci Read more [...] "The move will improve our ability to innovate and collaborate alongside the best and brightest minds in St.Louis." On May 4th, 2016, Competitive Range will move into a private office within the Cortex Innovation Community in St. Louis historic Central West End neighborhood. Since its inception in 2011, Competitive Range has grown from a small consultancy to a Government-focused mission support and technology services partner that has increased headcount exponentially over the last year. The move will enable Competitive Range to not only expand its footprint, but also improve our ability to innovate and collaborate alongside the best and brightest minds in St. Louis. The CIC has been able to bring together a diverse pool of bold and creative individuals that dare to be different and solve real problems, said Noah Vasquez, CEO. Competitive Ranges new office inside CIC-St. Louis will be at the CIC@CET building, also known as the Center for Emerging Technologies. Founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1999 with a vision of enabling startups to help make the world a better place, more than $1.8B of venture capital has been invested in companies that were headquartered at CIC in Cambridge and St. Louis. As home to the St. Louis regions highest concentration of research and technology companies, Cortex is a diverse and energetic community of big thinkers and risk takers who are working together to change the world. To work alongside these talented men and women in such a high-energy space, I feel will compliment our own culture and be an edifying experience and environment, said Vasquez. Competitive Range is a service-disabled, veteran owned small business that works in partnership with the federal government to plan and deploy complex, IT-enabled and mission essential capabilities. For more information about CRS, visit our website at http://www.getcrs.com, e-mail us at info(at)getcrs(dot)com, or call us at 800-460-7935. Each year, dozens of progressive nonprofit groups apply to receive grants from CREDO. Groups will now be able to submit grant applications online using FluidReview, making the selection process streamlined and more efficient. CREDO, founded in 1985, gives its customers the power to make change in the world with products that give back. CREDO donates a portion of its revenue (at no extra cost to the customer) to progressive nonprofits working on timely issues. Each month CREDO gives away nearly $200,000 to three groups working on social justice issues like immigration reform, womens rights and climate change. Three groups are selected each month to receive funding from the CREDO donations pool. CREDO customers and activists then vote on how the donations are distributed to these groups. In 2015 alone, CREDO Mobile customers along with credit card customers generated over $2.4 million for 36 groups fighting for progressive change. Groups including Union of Concerned Scientists, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Planned Parenthood, Social Security Works and Friends of the Earth received CREDO donations last year. CREDO consistently steps up and speaks out on the critical civil rights issues of our time. ColorOfChange CREDO is a strong environmental champion, always ready to step up to challenge corporate power. Rainforest Action Network CREDO has been a stalwart in its support for womens health. Planned Parenthood FluidReview is extremely proud to be working with CREDO said Aydin Mirzaee, General Manager of FluidReview. The CREDO Donations initiative makes a tremendous impact in supporting nonprofits and enabling real social change. Were thrilled to make it easier to apply for CREDO Donations with a user-friendly online solution, said CREDO Mobile CFO, Doug Moore. This enables our partners who are working for social change to focus on their mission, Moore continued. And it helps us deliver our donations more efficiently to vital causes that need our support. About FluidReview FluidReview, a member of the SurveyMonkey family, is a leading online application management solution. FluidReview helps organizations manage the complete lifecycle of their application programs, from collecting applications, managing their process, and making awards. Since 2009, FluidReview has helped organizations collect and manage over 1 million applications and distribute over $3 billion in grants, scholarships and awards. Contact To learn more about FluidReview, please contact Rafal Deren at rafald(at)surveymonkey(at)com. To learn more about CREDO, please contact Josh Nelson at jnelson(at)credoaction(dot)com. There are so many ways to create revenue if you run an online business and collect any kind of data whatsoever, and this is one of the most overlooked, yet potentially one of the most lucrative High Traffic Academy, a platform specializing in visual training and resources for online entrepreneurs and marketers, has rolled out a new Data Secrets program, available to members and host by entrepreneur Jason McClain, a managing partner of the academy. McClain saw a gap in the online marketing education market when it came to helping marketers turn their contacts and correspondences into revenue and put together a six-part series showing how individuals with little-to-no knowledge of monetizing data can build a sustainable revenue model off of data they already have. "There are so many ways to create revenue if you run an online business and collect any kind of data whatsoever, and this is one of the most overlooked, yet potentially one of the most lucrative," McClain said. "It's a great way to generate passive earnings that so many of our members are not yet aware of and it is a pleasure to be able to bring this information to them." The "transformative" program, McClain says, will start with an overview before moving into trickier elements like getting permission, creating data, dissecting it, and appending it for results that monetize. The modules that will be focused on also include how to select the appropriate offers and third-party relationships, how to market via SMS and postal mail, and how to put together an actionable schedule from conception to results. "Data makes you money, and all that information that you already have who bought, who didn't it's attractive to companies, who are only too willing to pay you for it," McClain said. "What I will be doing with this all-encompassing program is bringing 20 years of secrets for how to monetize without becoming a spammer. it's fully legitimate. The Data Secrets program will be able to take someone, who doesn't know anything at all about online marketing from an email perspective, and open doors, records, data, and revenue in their back pocket that they're not using. They are leaving money on the table, and that's unacceptable." This specialized training program is now available to interested parties, starting at an annual subscription rate of $1,997, or just under $167 per month, for proven tips and up-to-date information that has earned exponentially more than that on a monthly basis. "I have seen how valuable this information has been over the years, to both myself and our members, and this is by far the most robust and relevant material ever produced on data monetization," McClain said. "we are ready to spread these life-changing results to our High Traffic Academy members." ABOUT HIGH TRAFFIC ACADEMY: High Traffic Academy is a high-end Internet marketing education and publishing company blending industry expertise with ongoing research and testing to teach aspiring entrepreneurs how to make money online from anywhere in the world. Through its step-by-step video guided approach, High Traffic Academys industry-leading model provides a platform for its different programs covering various inbound marketing and business topics. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., High Traffic Academy is a category leader with national operations throughout the United States. For more information, visit http://www.hightrafficacademy.com. ### Beyond Bank, one of Australia's largest customer owned banks, has achieved international recognition as a Celent Model Bank for 2016 in the omni-channel category. The award was made for its omni-channel customer engagement platform, designed and delivered by Avoka, the leader in digital customer acquisition for financial services. The Celent Model Bank Awards recognize excellence in the use of technology by financial institutions across the globe. Beyond Bank is one of the first financial institutions in Australia to launch an omni-channel customer engagement platform, transforming how it interacts with customers. The project, built on the Avoka Transact platform, has helped Beyond Bank achieve a truly customer centric, digital engagement strategy, eliminating manual processing across key customer facing channels, with more scheduled for roll out later this year. This type of global acknowledgement is proof of our commitment to offering a full customer experience, said Nick May, General Manager, Customer Experience, Beyond Bank. We began by looking at how we could engage faster and more easily with our customers, and working with Avoka, the results have surpassed our expectations, culminating in being a Celent Model Bank. Avoka Transact is a digital customer acquisition platform that helps financial institutions streamline their customer-facing business transactions, reducing abandonment, increasing sales and improving the customer experience. The Avoka Transact platform integrates directly into Beyond Banks existing systems via an API, eliminating the need for manual processing of applications completely. Prospective Beyond Bank customers now have a seamless online application and onboarding experience across mobile, tablet, home computer, as well as branch and contact center. No PDFs, no paper. The project was deployed in the cloud in four weeks and has resulted in an 80% reduction of time required by each customer to apply and open an account. Avoka and Beyond Bank share a passion for innovation and driving customer value. By cultivating and sharing our specialties, we are thrilled Beyond Bank has been recognized for its hard work in this area and we are looking forward to continuing to deliver great results as part of the digital transformation project, said Philip Copeland, Chief Executive Officer, Avoka. About Avoka Avoka accelerates customer-centric digital transformation in financial services, government, education, field service and other industries. Avoka Transact creates seamless omni-channel customer experiences that increase business agility and accelerate customer acquisition. Avoka was founded in 2002 and has digitized over 100 million transactions for 150+ global clients. Avoka is based in Broomfield, CO, London, England and Sydney, Australia. Visit us at http://www.avoka.com/. For Avoka sales: Don Bergal, CMO, Avoka, dbergal(at)avoka(dot)com About BEYOND BANK AUSTRALIA With more than 200,000 customers and assets under management in excess of $4.38 billion, Beyond Bank Australia is one of the nation's largest 100% customer-owned financial institutions. It operates branches across South Australia, Western Australia, Wagga Wagga, the Hunter Valley and the ACT, and provides banking services and wealth management. It also supports a range of community endeavours via the Beyond Bank Community Development Program including the Beyond Bank Foundation. In 2016 Beyond Bank Australia was awarded the Best Rate Savings Account Junior Savings Club at the Mozo Experts Choice Awards. In 2015 the bank received Money magazines Best of the Best Award for their Low Rate Visa Credit Card, AB+Fs Mutual of the Year, CANSTARs Customer-Owned Online Bank of the Year and CANSTARs Mutual of the Year First Home Buyers Award SA & WA. http://www.beyondbank.com.au With the increasing customer demand for Blackbaud CRM services, Stu and Matt will support the innovation and exceptional service that Omatic Software is built upon. Omatic Software, a Blackbaud Technology Partner providing software and services for leading nonprofits, announced today that the company has hired Stuart Manewith, CFRE and Matt Hall to further develop their growing Blackbaud CRM services portfolio. Stuart (Stu) Manewith has joined the Omatic Software team as the director of professional services. Stu is a seasoned nonprofit executive and consulting services professional with twenty-five years of experience in development and fundraising, nonprofit financial management, and nonprofit-focused information technology. Coming from Blackbaud, Stu most recently managed the design and delivery of Blackbaud CRM solutions for enterprise nonprofits. Stu has deep experience working with healthcare, human services, faith-based, and cultural organizations. Matt Hall has joined the Omatic Software team as a senior technical consultant. Matt brings eight years of software development experience in the higher education sector of the philanthropic community, working for the Georgia Tech Alumni Association and the University of Connecticut Foundation. Matt also spent four years at Blackbaud implementing and customizing Blackbaud CRM for enterprise nonprofits. Jeffery Montgomery, Managing Partner at Omatic Software said, The wealth of experience and industry knowledge that Stu and Matt both bring to Omatic Software has already made them key additions to support Omatics expanding portfolio of Blackbaud CRM services. With the increasing customer demand for Blackbaud CRM services, Stu and Matt will support the innovation and exceptional service that Omatic Software is built upon. About Omatic Omatic Software, named to Inc. Magazines Inc. 500|5000-Americas Fastest Growing Private Companies list for the last four consecutive years, provides software and services that help nonprofit organizations excel. The company provides a diverse set of software solutionsincluding products that enhance and extend the Blackbaud portfolio, along with custom development options for organizations with unique needs. Omatic Software also offers strategic services delivered by nonprofit experts to help clients get the most out of their technology platform. Founded in 2002, Omatic Software has provided thousands of leading nonprofits with innovative tools to eliminate manual processes, resulting in significant time and cost savings. For more information, visit http://try.omaticsoftware.com/BBCRMSolutions or email info(at)omaticsoftware(dot)com. Emanuel Richard Davis, 29, has been arrested on multiple drug and gun charges in Catoosa County. According to Catoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk, at approximately 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday, a woman was stationery in her vehicle at the red light on Battlefield Parkway at Old Mill Road when the driver of the vehicle in front of her put his vehicle in reverse and backed into the front of her vehicle. Davis then drove away and pulled into the parking lot of Hutcheson on the Parkway. The woman followed him into the parking lot and advised him that she had called 911. After hearing she had called 911, Davis then put his vehicle in reverse and backed into her vehicle a second time and as he was speeding off, she said he pointed a small black handgun at her and left the parking lot traveling westbound on Battlefield Parkway toward Fort Oglethorpe. She then called 911 a second time to report the second incident as well as the incident involving the handgun being pointed at her. After issuing a description of the vehicle, the suspect vehicle was spotted westbound on Battlefield Parkway by sheriffs office deputies. A traffic stop was initiated but the suspect did not stop. Deputies, along with the Georgia State Patrol, were able to get the suspect stopped in the 2000 Block of Battlefield Parkway. The suspect was identified as Emanuel Richard Davis, of 1027 Prospect Road, Chickamauga, and was taken into custody. After taking Davis into custody, deputies located crack cocaine, packaged for resale, two .380 caliber handguns and three spent .380 caliber shell casings inside the vehicle. Officers also observed a bullet hole in the passenger door, thought to have been fired from within the vehicle; however, the round did not penetrate the outside shell of the vehicle. Davis was booked into the Catoosa County Sheriffs Office detention facility on the following charges: aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, possession Schedule II cocaine, possession Schedule II with intent to distribute, participation in criminal gang activity and multiple traffic offenses. QUANTUM Essential Grey - Polished Mediterranea, a leading designer and manufacturer of porcelain tile for over 30 years, is announcing the launch of QUANTUM - a new brand of extra-large porcelain slabs that for the first time unites Mediterraneas design flair with the limitless possibilities afforded by a panel as large as 10 feet in length. Founded by industry-leading tile designer Michael Mariutto, Mediterranea is renowned for its numerous top-selling tile series, including Vatican Gallery, Boardwalk, Touch and Essence. This design heritage is now extended to QUANTUM -- porcelain panels that are an amazing 5 x 10 in size -- offering design possibilities never before imagined in a porcelain product. We are very proud and excited to launch the Quantum brand, as it symbolizes the technological future of porcelain, said Mediterranea president Michael Mariutto. When you conceive of a porcelain slab utilizing a blank canvas of 5 x 10 in size, the creative aspects and design possibilities can be limitless. It's like our industry has been granted a new beginning creatively. Currently manufactured in Italy, and later in 2016 from Mediterraneas newly-expanded factory in the United States, QUANTUM slabs offer the quality, durability and design innovation that architects and specifiers have come to expect from Mediterranea. Made with the same Dynamic HD Imaging technology that powers Mediterraneas porcelain tile series, QUANTUM slabs are commercially-rated, and are suitable for interior and exterior walls, floors, wet walls, bathrooms, countertops, public lobbies, commercial centers and numerous other spaces where design and function are of supreme importance. Mediterranea is initially launching the QUANTUM brand with two stunning new designs: Quantum Stone - The eternal beauty of vintage stone reimagined. An original look never seen before, Quantum Stone evokes the grand cathedrals and basilicas renowned for centuries in Europe. A totally original concept, Quantum Stone is destined to be an instant classic in interior design. White Wood - The look of classic stone engineered to perfection. White Wood is the perfect representation of high-demand veined marble, featuring the most desirable color sought by designers worldwide. With graphics carefully enhanced to highlight the beauty of natural slabs, White Wood has none of natures imperfections and flaws that make the actual stone product so difficult to obtain. QUANTUM will be unveiled to the industry for the first time at Coverings 16, to be held April 18-21 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. "The country's leading authorities on gun violence prevention will meet in Chicago April 16-17." At a time when Americas gun violence epidemic is the talk of the nation, The National Medical Council on Gun Violence (http://www.nmcgv.org) will sponsor a conference featuring the countrys leading authorities on gun violence prevention and treatment including clinicians, public health researchers, and gun violence prevention advocates. Theyll highlight the latest research and provide strategies to help medical caregivers identify and treat patients at risk for gun violence. The April 16-17 conference venue is the Student Center, University of Illinois Chicago, 828 S. Wolcott Ave. Among other speakers, the program will include a presentation by Charlie Ransford, Director of Science & Policy of Cure Violence. A Chicago-based, internationally recognized leader in the anti-violence movement, Cure Violence is an innovative program used successfully by more than I25 U.S. communities and in England, Iraq, South Africa and Latin America. Other presenters include Liza Gold, M.D., a foremost authority on firearms and suicide; Harrison Alter, M.D., director of violence research at the Oakland-Alameda Medical Center, Ted Alcorn, Director of Research at Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy organization; and Elspeth Ritchie, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University, whose area of expertise is military and veterans issues. Review the conference program at http://nmcgv.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/printed-program.pdf. The National Medical Council on Gun Violence will present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Katherine Christoffel, M.D., MPH and Professor Emerita of Pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago. Dr. Christoffel conducted pioneering research that helped establish gun violence as a public health concern worthy of funding, research and further study. Representatives of the American Academy of Pediatrics, including Judith Palfrey, MD, former president of the organization, will present the award. Conference attendees can elect to receive Level 1 continuing education credits. Enrollment and reservations are available at: http://nmcgv.org/conferences/. The cost is $30, including three meals. Conference speakers are available for interviews. For more information, contact Betsy Storm, (312) 421-1510, (312) 401-5222, or betsystorm(at)gmail(dot)com. The National Medical Council on Gun Violence was established in 2013 to address the medical issues of gun violence and its prevention. The NMCGV addresses the challenging issues of identifying and treating patients at risk for gun violence. Engel & Volkers represents the best that a real estate company has to offer. I am thrilled to be part of a company that places great importance on professionalism, the highest quality of service and commitment to excellence. -- Elizabeth Meyers European-based real estate brand, Engel & Volkers, announced today the addition of two female power players to their Sausalito team. Both Bay Area residents, Elizabeth Meyers and Kathleen Diringer bring unparalleled expertise to clientele of the local and surrounding luxury market. Perfectly aligning with the premium brand, Meyers and Diringer strive for the exceptional, a core Engel & Volkers value. With diverse and longstanding industry experience and solid foundations in their areas of service, this female force promises nothing short of excellence. Joining Engel & Volkers, as it opens its Sausalito office, makes perfect sense. I believe in quality of life and living an exceptional life values shared with the brand, says Meyers. A Marin county resident since 2005, she has experienced what she considers the best when it comes to an idyllic climate, beautiful outdoors, breath-taking views, endless amenities, and globally minded residents. Engel & Volkers represents the best that a real estate company has to offer. I am thrilled to be part of a company that places great importance on professionalism, the highest quality of service and commitment to excellence, she continued. Meyers is an active member of her community and through previous teaching experience, has special insight in regards to the areas schools, which enlists the trust of her familial relocation clients, who appreciate the depth of her knowledge. Further, with her solid writing background and marketing expertise, Meyers promotes the purchase or sale of her clients properties with the utmost clarity and finesse, ensuring first-rate transactions. Diringer also brings knowledge in marketing strategies, with a specialization in direct marketing and consumer behavior, which has proven to be extremely valuable to all of her clients. She also offers levels of service and commitment that have been recognized in her reception of production, quality service, and customer satisfaction awards. Diringer looks forward to bringing her love of people and homeownership, knowledge, skills, and passion to table. I love the excellent reputation that Engel & Volkers has on a global and local level. The company offers the support we need to serve our clients in the best possible way, she says. Giving Diringer an additional edge, she comes with years of experience flipping homes her time buying, remodeling, and reselling houses in a wide variety of market conditions has equipped her with a comprehensive skill set and rare insight to further aid her clientele. Both ladies are ready to take on this new chapter in their careers under the Engel & Volkers umbrella and are excited for the opportunities that this elite, global brand embodies. About Engel & Volkers Since its beginning in 1977 as a specialty boutique providing exclusive, high-end real estate services in Hamburg, Germany, Engel & Volkers has become one of the worlds leading companies specializing in the sale and lease of premium residential and commercial property, yachts and private aviation. Engel & Volkers currently operates a global network of over 7,000 real estate advisors in more than 700 brokerages spanning 37 countries across five continents, offering both private and institutional clients a professionally tailored range of luxury services. It established its North America corporate headquarters in 2007 and opened its first brokerage in the same year. Committed to exceptional service, Engel & Volkers supports its advisors with an array of premium quality business services; marketing programs and tools; multiple platforms for mobile, social and web; as well as access to its global network of real estate professionals, property listings and market data. Engel & Volkers is an active supporter of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Each brokerage is independently owned and operated. # # # For more information please contact: Sheela Shouhed Director of Communications Sheela.Shouhed(at)evusa(dot)com Smith & Howard Launches program for Atlanta Public School Juniors and Seniors We must be engaged in the pre-college space to provide these opportunities for students otherwise we allow other professions to pounce on this highly qualified talent that we need to continue building our pipeline in a robust way. Smith & Howard and Smith & Howard Wealth Management recently announced the launch of a new program for Atlantas high school students: Smith & Howard's Advancement of Rising Professionals (SHARP). The goal of this innovative program is to introduce juniors and seniors in Atlanta Public Schools to the potential of a career in accounting or finance. SHARP will offer a one-day program for students selected through an application process. The day will offer conversations with a panel of accountants and financial executives who have pursued accounting or finance degrees and have experienced success in their chosen areas. It will also provide an introduction to basic networking skills and other interactive sessions, such as day in the life discussions with professionals in the industry. John Lucht, Managing Partner of Smith & Howard says, The accounting and finance industries recognize that engaging teenagers prior to their enrollment at college is one important and often overlooked piece of developing a pipeline of future accountants and finance professionals. One of our goals in this project is to have Atlanta Public School students interact one-on-one and in small groups with professionals who chose accounting and finance as a career and help them discover that there are surprising and yes, even often exciting career paths in those industries. Developed with the support and input of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Atlanta Public Schools, SHARP will host its inaugural session on April 28 at the offices of Smith & Howard in Atlantic Station, Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. Of the importance of an early introduction to careers in these fields, Dr. Florence Holland, Lead Manager of Pipeline Initiatives at the AICPA said, When we survey young CPAs we find that for a lot of them, particularly underrepresented minorities, pre-college courses and exposure were the key and deciding factor as to whether accounting was a field they wanted to pursue. Therefore we must be engaged in the pre-college space to provide these opportunities for students otherwise we allow other professions to pounce on this highly qualified talent that we need to continue building our pipeline in a robust way. Dr. Michael Maze, Director of Career, Technical and Agricultural Education with Atlanta Public Schools says of the programs emphasis on getting high school students prepared for college and for future careers, Atlanta Public Schools is committed to ensuring that all students are college and career ready. Im excited about our partnership with Smith & Howard, because this partnership will afford APS students the opportunity to be exposed to the accounting and finance industry. More importantly, students will better understand the diverse career options in the fields of accounting and finance, while understanding the industry trends and best practices. On May 3, one junior and one senior from the program will be awarded the firms first Jim Howard Scholarship, named after co-founding partner Jim Howard who graduated from Grady High School. Truckstop.com and Lets Truck LLC this week announced a partnership designed to promote the education of owner-operators and help carriers create better, stronger, and more profitable businesses. Truckstop.com Chief Marketing Officer Brent Hutto and Lets Truck President and Founder Kevin Rutherford announced the partnership in time for both companies to collaborate prior to the annual CMC event hosted by Lets Truck. This years event will be held at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, IA, May 16-20. We are an education company, Rutherford said about Lets Truck. We are excited about partnering with Truckstop.com as an Industry Solution Partner. We want to teach owner/operators everything they need to know about operating their business. That includes the tools they need: load boards, rates and negotiations and all things that come along with being a carrier. Bringing Truckstop.coms tools to Lets Truck allows us to continue that education and give carriers all the nuts and bolts they need to run a profitable business. This years CMC event will feature five days of information throughout three lanes from which to choose. Lane 1 will focus primarily on start-up items for those just beginning as a carrier, while Lane 2 will teach about profitability of the truck, fuel mileage, maintenance and running an efficient, profitable business. Lane 3 will be geared toward the education carriers need about authority, using load boards, customers, rates, negotiations and more. Truckstop.com is a technology company, Hutto said. While most know us for our load board, our tools are designed to help grow your business and make it more profitable. We have the utmost faith and trust in Kevin and his product and our partnership with Lets Truck is the perfect opportunity to allow people to see what our tools can do for them. To learn more about Lets Truck or the CMC event, visit LetsTruck.com. About Truckstop.com Truckstop.com is the one-stop connection between carriers, brokers, and shippers. Founded in 1995 as the first freight-matching marketplace to hit the Web, Truckstop.com has grown to provide load planning and optimization, transportation management, telematics, rate benchmarking, and powerful negotiation tools. Truckstop Pro, Truckstop.coms most recent and most advanced software subscription, offers users a real-time load board and enhanced transportation partner search and qualification. Across North America, Truckstop.com is recognized as a leading resource for transportation data and trends and also serves as the largest credit reporting entity in the transportation industry. Media Contact: Larry Hurrle Truckstop.com P.O Box 99 larryh(at)truckstop(dot)com New Plymouth, ID 83655 (208) 647-6288 (800) 203-2540 FORMVERSE, the premier provider of form and workflow automation software within Microsoft Email, announced today the launch of support for clients running Microsoft Office 365. This platform is the latest tool the company has developed to help clients ease the burden of managing forms and workflow automation without staff needing to log in to multiple disparate systems. FORMVERSE is an enterprise-class a software system that leverages organizations investment in Microsoft Email (Outlook and/or Office 365), Exchange, and SQL Server technologies. FORMVERSE enables employees to access and complete any form right from the body of a Microsoft email, route those forms throughout the organization for action (such as approvals, denials, deferrals, or any action), based on the customers specific business rules. All form data and metadata is then automatically stored in the FORMVERSE SQL Server database. From there, the data can flow to other databases, such as ERPs, CRMs, HRIS, Document Management and Content Management Systems, even Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Excel. Employees and Management can even run reports on that data using the familiar Microsoft Outlook or Office 365 interface. The FORMVERSE product launch comes as Microsoft has recently announced that four out of five Fortune 500 companies are using Office 365. We respond to the needs to our clients which are primarily large corporations and government agencies said Kirk Deininger, President and CEO of FORMVERSE. FORMVERSE uses our clients existing Outlook/365 infrastructure and transforms it into a powerful business process automation platform, which enables users to stay in email while automating, searching, or reporting on any forms based process workflow. We have grown so quickly because every customer has the exact same problem, said Mitch Harper, VP of Sales and Marketing for FORMVERSE. Customers tell us that a typical employee now needs to log into 5-15 different systems just to get their job done. Customers using FORMVERSE with their existing Microsoft email can now have the ability for staff to use a single familiar interface to enter data and conduct workflow. If data needs to end up in other enterprise system, it occurs seamlessly in the background. Its really a game changer for corporations and government agencies. About FORMVERSE FORMVERSE, Inc. is changing the way organizations think about forms, workflow, email and data. We focus on enabling corporations and government agencies around the globe to become more productive and efficient. We do this by providing management and employees with the tools needed to be more productive and effective. Our flagship product leverages our customers existing email and SQL Server infrastructure into a powerful business forms & workflow automation tool. Customers can even enable forms and workflow to occur within mobile devices and to those inside and outside the organization. And, with FORMVERSE PASSPORT, their existing email platform becomes the single interface needed for collecting data to be used with their other enterprise systems. CONTACT INFORMATION Mitch Harper VP, Sales & Marketing mharper(at)formverse(dot)com 925-265-0045 x203 FORMVERSE, INC. CANADA OFFICES 80 Aberdeen Street, Suite 100 Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5R5 Canada 613-656-4207 U.S.A. OFFICES 275 Rose Avenue, Suite 216 Pleasanton, CA 94566 USA 925-264-0045 sales(at)formverse(dot)com askus(at)formverse(dot)com http://www.formverse.com Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Office, Office 365, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft SQL Server are all Trademarks or Registered Trademarks of Microsoft Cor I have explored the signs and symptoms of the secretly abused and have interviewed four women who were victims of partner and child abuse. I used their experiences to write Nickies story." The latest release by author Debra Shiveley Welch, addresses the subject of domestic abuse head on in her novel Spirit Woman. "Spirit Woman" reveals in shocking detail the true stories of four women and the abuse they suffered. Rolled into one character, "Spirit Woman" tells the story of Nickie Bahiti Greene and is set in Westerville, Ohio. Ms. Welch states, In my humble opinion, I feel that the story of Nickie Greene is very important to our society. Not only that, I feel that it will also help children being abused now - the markers are in the book. Stop child abuse now, and we prevent a good percentage of the cases of partner abuse that we see in adulthood. I have explored the signs and symptoms of the secretly abused and have interviewed four women who were victims of partner and/or child abuse and used them in weaving Nickies story. I hope that it will put an end to the shame the victims feel and help them to reach out for help. I pray that it will aid in saving and improving lives. Second in the Cedar Woman Saga, "Spirit Woman" won Hottest New Release and has achieved best seller status on Amazon. A percentage of royalties will go to St. Josephs School for Children. Ms. Welchs has also recently released "Swinging Bridge," a memoir told in essays, poems and short stories and is now writing "Brave Heart Woman," third in the Cedar Woman Saga, which takes up where "Spirit Woman" ends. She is also in the process of writing "Memories of an Old Farmhouse." Ms. Welchs books can be found on Amazon.com and other popular online book sellers. Debra Shiveley Welch can be reached at DebraSWelch(at)aol(dot)com Debra Shiveley Welch 340 Lakeside Dr. Westerville, OH 43081-3044 614.882.6683 614.325.2248 ### We have continued to increase our online-only delivery as an additional way of reducing barriers to education, and to increase course availability. HUNTERcourse.com and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VADGIF) are pleased to announce that hunters aged 12 and older can now take their required Virginia hunter education course entirely online at HUNTERcourse.com. In Virginia, hunters between 12 and 15 years of age must pass an VADGIF-approved hunter education course in order to purchase a hunting license. The launch of the online-only course will allow hunters to complete their certification in preparation for spring turkey season, which runs from April 9th to May 1st. We have continued to increase our online-only delivery as an additional way of reducing barriers to education, and to increase course availability, said Tom Guess, Deputy Director Agency Outreach for the VADGIF. Building on the success of the adult online-only course, and with the addition of the Virtual Field Day, we are excited to offer HUNTERcourse.com to young hunters in need of their hunter education certification. One of the key features of HUNTERcourse.com is its Virtual Field Day, which mimics the live Field Day used in most classroom courses. Using video, interactive animations and detailed illustrations, the Virtual Field Day allows new hunters to test their knowledge in real-life decision-making scenarios. We have received awesome feedback since adding the Virtual Field Day to our online-only hunter education course, said Kerry Moher, Vice President at Fresh Air Educators, makers of HUNTERcourse.com. Over 90% of students say that the Virtual Field Day has better prepared them for the field. The online-only Virginia Hunter Education course includes 12 study chapters and 12 chapter quizzes, followed by the Virtual Field Day. After passing the Virtual Field Day, the student can print off his or her course completion certificate and purchase their hunting licenses online. The online-only Virginia hunter education course is now available at HUNTERcourse.com Maximized Technology Solutions (MTS) announced the appointment of Jennifer Herson as president of the fast growing hosting and data center sales and services company. In her role, Ms. Herson will also be responsible for all marketing initiatives as well as a significant portion of the operations. Ms. Herson will replace Ryan Barbera, who has served for seven years as president and whose role now will be as CEO and founder of the organization. The change is effective immediately. Ms. Hersons appointment comes after an exhaustive search and is a welcome addition to the MTS family. Ms. Herson is a technology veteran, having worked in startup and enterprise environments. In the data center and hosting space, Ms. Herson had previously worked at Unleashed Technologies, the premier Wosting firm also located in Columbia, MD. In a statement by Mr. Barbera, Having Ms. Herson join the team is a boon for us and a huge lift for the organization. Combining her talents with the portfolio of products and momentum we are building will help to lift MTS to the next level. I could not be happier to have Ms. Herson accept the role and know great things are in store. Ms. Herson joins MTS as they look to continue their expansion in the Northern Virginia market, as well as nationally. The firm, which has locations in six markets around the country, is solely focused on developing and leading in the data center space. Her task will be to continue that growth as well as to lend her knowledge in product to developing additional offerings to MTS client base. While growing any company is a difficult challenge, I am very excited to be a part of this and look forward to the future of MTS. This is a great company with great people and to be in the space were in now is very exciting, said Ms. Herson. This is a key hire for MTS and one of several forthcoming positions and new growth that will be announced shortly. Mr. Barbera concluded by stating, We all look forward to working with Ms. Herson to execute the companys growth strategy today and into the future. About MTS Maximized Technology Solutions designs highly customized data center solutions from our facilities nationwide to help you maximize your business operations while keeping costs low. Keep your data highly available and secure from data centers in Ashburn, Austin, Chicago, Milwaukee, Richmond and Sacramento / Silicon Valley. Our custom-fit data center solutions ensure you are getting the redundancy, network, power configuration, and security standards that best support your data and business needs now and as you grow. Visit http://www.maxtechsol.com or contact us at 703-594-5200 to learn more. Graphic-Only Label Example In the last decade, there has been a marked shift towards utilizing global safety label design principles that use internationally formatted graphical symbols to convey a portion of the labels message. Past News Releases RSS Interview with Clarion Safety... Clarion Safety Systems Expands... Clarion Safety Systems Launches... Clarion Safety Systems, a leading designer and manufacturer of safety signs and safety labels, has been featured in the latest issue of In Compliance Magazine, a leading source for news, information and resources for electrical engineering professionals. In Compliance delivers the latest news, standards updates, technical explanations and guidance, as a resource for engineers to turn to for education, information and inspiration. Geoffrey Peckham, CEO of Clarion Safety Systems, authored the On Your Mark column, published in the magazines April 2016 edition. The article focuses on the trend towards multi-symbol labels, which shows both hazard description AND hazard avoidance visually. This shift in label design may ultimately mean moving to a fully graphic approach in the future. On Your Mark is a regular column that discusses the latest best practices in labeling and how graphical symbols are used to more effectively convey safety messages. The article is the second piece in a four-part series focusing on current trends in safety symbol design. For over 25 years Ive been leading a company thats helped businesses to use the latest safety sign and label standards to reduce risk and protect people from harm, says Peckham. From this vantage point, I can also confirm that, in the last decade, there has been a marked shift towards utilizing global safety label design principles that use internationally formatted graphical symbols to convey a portion of the labels message. Peckham asserts that graphically conveying only a portion of the labels message will, at some point, no longer be considered best practice; best practices will dictate that the entire labels message be communicated in graphic form. Given the cultural push towards visual learning, in my opinion, the more fully illustrated multi-symbol labels will be judged to be more adequate from a legal standpoint than warnings that continue to rely primarily on text when those same text messages could have been communicated by one or more symbols. Peckhams credentials include currently serving as chair of both the ANSI Z535 Committee for Safety Signs and Colors and the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to ISO Technical Committee 145 Graphical Symbols. He has also been selected as a member of the U.S. TAG to ISO/PC 283, an ISO committee writing a new standard, ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, which will, when finished, define global best practices for workplace safety. In addition, he is an active member of many industry-specific standards committees related to safety signs and labels for buildings, ships, machinery and products. To learn more about the latest developments in product safety labeling, visit Clarions website or watch its short, educational video on Effective Safety Symbols, Signs and Labels. ABOUT CLARION SAFETY SYSTEMS Clarion Safety Systems, LLC, is the leading designer and manufacturer of visual safety solutions that help customers in more than 180 industries worldwide to make their products and premises safer. Clarion offers a full range of standard and custom products including machinery safety labels, environmental and facility safety signs, pipe and valve identification markings, lockout/tagout products, and safety-grade photoluminescent egress path-marking escape systems. Founded in 1990, the company continues to play a leading role in the development and writing of international and national standards for safety signs, labels, and markings. Clarion is headquartered at 190 Old Milford Road in Milford, PA, 18337, and online at http://www.clarionsafety.com. Brad McCormick, assistant vice president for Student Affairs at Chattanooga State Community College, was presented the 2016 Community Impact Award for Youth Development during the 144th Annual Meeting of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga. As a student at Chattanooga School for Arts & Sciences (CSAS), Brad was an extraordinary and highly awarded delegate, officer and Director General of the Southeastern High School Model UN Conference (SHSMUN). After graduating from college and returning to Chattanooga, Brad continued to take an interest in SHSMUN and volunteered to help with the conference. In 2007, the YMCA asked Mr. McCormick to coordinate the conference. As a former officer, he understood and emphasized the things that make SHSMUN uniquely excellent among the growing field of high school Model UN conferences. College students run almost every Model UN program designed to host high school students. College students organize it, theyre the chairs of all the committees, but the participants are high school students. SHSMUN is the only program (that we know of) where high school students organize and chair it for their peers. Its one of the most distinctive features of our Model UN as compared to others. Mr. McCormick understands that the leadership skills gained through this experience will benefit these students in innumerable ways throughout their lives. Brad has guided and mentored countless SHSMUN officers and delegates and continues to do so. Even though Brad no longer coordinates SHSMUN, he continues to volunteer with the program and his expertise and vision remain critical to its growth. Theres something special about Model UN students, Mr. McCormick said. Its an honor to be able to work with a collection of high school students who spend their free time thinking about the world. SHSMUNs officers, delegates, and advisors have broadened my thinking and taught me so much year after year. Mr. McCormick helps to instill an understanding of and appreciation for the complex world of international diplomacy, peace and security. His guidance helps build the next generation of informed, caring leaders. Entitle Direct Group, Inc., parent company of EnTitle Insurance Company, the nations first direct-to-consumer title and settlement services company, announced today that Ellen Kardashian has been hired as a Vice President of Title Services Business Development, Western Division. Ms. Kardashian will further EnTitle Insurance Companys expansion in the Southern California market. Were thrilled to welcome Ellen aboard. Her level of expertise and knowledge of the industry will be a key addition to our California Business Development Team in this very important market for us, says Steven Palmer, CEO of Entitle Direct Group, Inc. Ms. Kardashians extensive experience in the title insurance industry spans over 25 years, serving residential, commercial, escrow and lending Institutions. Prior to joining EnTitle Insurance Company, Ellen most recently served as the Director of Sales for Stewart Title Company in San Diego, California. Ms. Kardashian has also worked for Western Resources Title, Heritage Escrow, Commonwealth Land & Title Company and Chicago Title, where she began her career. Ellen comes to Entitle Direct with a very compelling track record of successfully and rapidly creating relationships leading to gains in market share, says Roberto Olivera, President of EnTitle Insurance Companys Western Division Business Development Team. We are very lucky to have her as part of our team, continues Roberto. About Entitle Direct Group, Inc. Entitle Direct Group, Inc. is the parent company of the country's first direct-to-consumer title insurance underwriter, EnTitle Insurance Company, which has been issuing title policies since 1978. Currently operating in 39 states and the District of Columbia, EnTitle Insurance Company has endeavored, wherever possible, to file title insurance rates that are up to 25% lower than the standard rates of its major competitors, saving consumers hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars on their closing costs. For more information, visit http://www.ENTITLEDIRECT.com. Contact Information: Bill Shaughnessy, Director of Marketing Entitle Direct Group, Inc. 203-724-1142 http://www.entitledirect.com Thats the goal of the iLab -- to show brands the true potential of creating a new reality for their audience. For brands and companies hoping to make a positive impression and rewarding experience at their next live event or expo, Multi Image Group (MIG) will be presenting some of the latest tools and techniques being used around the world at their popular MIG Imagination Lab to be held at the Sofitel Hotel (223 Twin Dolphin Drive, Redwood City, CA 94065) on Wednesday, May 18th and Thursday, May 19, 2016. The MIG Imagination Lab will give confirmed guests a preview of some of the breakthrough creative strategies and technologies changing the face of corporate events, tradeshows, and experiential activations. From non-linear presentation software, to 3D display solutions, to personalized digital applications, to multi-sensory experience activators...MIG will share how organizations can take full advantage of these cutting-edge advancements to deepen connections between brands and audiences. MIGs Chief Creative Officer, Guy Hollier emphasized, There is a lot of new thinking out there. New ideas that are pushing the boundaries of whats possible. Companies need to partner with an experiential event agency that can bring these fresh concepts to the table and inspire them to approach their audiences differently. Thats the goal of the Imagination Lab -- to show people the true potential of creating a new reality. Multi Image Group has been a long-time adopter and developer of innovative and emerging presentation and communication tools, frequently traveling the world to seek out innovators who are stretching the boundaries of whats possible. This is a unique opportunity for organizations to get a sneak preview and experience firsthand whats coming next. People consistently come out of our MIG Imagination Lab presentations saying, Wow! You just opened my mind up to so many new possibilities. Im so glad I came,' said Executive Creative Director, Barry Ross Rinehart. Its very exciting and inspiring to us. Only a limited amount of time slots for these private presentations are available. For those interested in attending the MIG Imagination Lab, please contact Multi Image Group at 561-994-3515. Multi Image Group is an event production company specializing in live events, creative digital content, and exhibitions. Located at the intersection of creativity + technology, their teams generate innovative ideas that energize, engage, inform, and inspire audiences. On Thursday, April 14th at 11:30 a.m. Mayor Nancy Denson will officiate at a Ribbon Cutting ceremony celebrating the opening of Reddy & Associates, LLCs newest urgent care office located in the historic Charles Parrott building at 283 Broad Street in downtown Athens. Listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, Dr. Ram Reddy and his organization retained the historical integrity of the building while remodeling the space to accommodate the requirements of a state-of-the-art urgent care facility. The arrival of Dr. Reddy and his staff will bring improved access to healthcare and further diversify the business profile of the downtown area. Using the latest in healthcare technology, the clinic will keep telemedicine carts in each exam room so that, should the need arise, a second opinion can be easily obtained during the patients visit. In addition, the clinic will provide IV fluid therapy, treatment for common injuries, illnesses, conditions and requiring immediate attention. Open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. and on Sundays from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., Dr. Reddys team of healthcare providers will be available to provide services on a walk-in basis to the residents, students, merchants and visitors to downtown Athens. Reddy & Associates was first established in 1984 in Franklin Springs, Georgia. This Broad Street clinic will be their 6th clinic located in Northeast Georgia, continuing the organizations history of providing easy access to high quality, state-of-the art healthcare. Caridad Riveras new book, THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN, ($12.99, paperback, 9781498425049; $6.99, e-book, 9781498425056) is for everyone looking to know more about the Christian lifestyle. She encourages all readers to have a closer walk with the Lord and to see that being a Christian is much more than just sitting on a bench and listening to a sermon. This book is ideal for a new Christian serving God for the first time or a practicing Christian who may be struggling with their beliefs. She answers many important questions including: What are the struggles Christians may face? How can one live a life pleasing unto God in the mist of adversities? Is it really necessary to pray? Whose job is it to prepare the Christian for the coming of Christ? Why is it necessary for Christians to have the Fruit of the Spirit? Anyone who has ever contemplated these or other Christian-related questions is encouraged to read this book. I hope that with this book my readers will understand why it is important to make a stand as Christians whether you are an advanced or new Christian, states the author. Also to understand why leading a Christian lifestyle from head to toe is pleasing unto God. Why? Because I believe that a Christian that knows the Word of God and lives the Word on God will be a better servant for the Lord. When Caridad Rivera first came to Christ there were so many things she couldnt understand. She often found it hard to serve the Lord because she did not know what was expected of her. At times she even felt discouraged. As she began to hunger for the Lord, she was afraid to pick up any books that were confusing. She was looking for a book that would explain what it is to be a Christian in simple words. As she began to grow in the Lord, she started to think of all those people that struggled with the same issues. One day she decided to write this book about the life of a Christian. Her hopes is that it will serve to build strong solid foundations in new Christians and those already serving Christ, Caridad is currently a leader at her local Christian church, John 3:16 in Brooklyn, New York. She handles the bilingual services. Xulon Press, a division of Salem Media Group, is the worlds largest Christian self-publisher, with more than 15,000 titles published to date. Retailers may order THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN through Ingram Book Company and/or Spring Arbor Book Distributors. The book is available online through xulonpress.com/bookstore, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com. Media Contact: Caridad Rivera Email: caridadrivera992001(at)yahoo(dot)com Website: bilingual-ministry.com We are confident this resource will add real value for our members and help them in their practices. HotDocs Market, the cloud-based document assembly service and online marketplace from HotDocs, has today announced that the State Bar of Wisconsin now offers WisDocs Estate Planning automated legal content via the Market platform. The State Bar of Wisconsin is initially launching WisDocs Estate Planning with a series of wills, revocable trusts, marital property agreements, durable powers of attorney, advance care planning, and a variety of other estate planning forms. The product offering will continue to grow, providing additional forms to its 25,000+ member association. The State Bar of Wisconsin is the first mandatory state bar association to join the publisher list on HotDocs Market Kristin Ruby, Content Distribution Manager for the State Bar of Wisconsin, commented: We are thrilled to expand our legal resource offerings to now include WisDocs Estate Planning, our fully automated document assembly system. We are confident this resource will add real value for our members and help them in their practices. For more information about WisDocs Estate Planning, including answers to frequently asked questions, please visit http://www.hotdocsmarket.com/Marketplace > WisDocs Estate Planning. To purchase a subscription to WisDocs Estate Planning, please visit HotDocs Market at http://www.hotdocsmarket.com/Marketplace. HotDocs Market applies HotDocs powerful document assembly technology to publishers content, enabling subscribers to quickly and easily complete an interview to generate a document - or set of documents. The interview answers are automatically applied to produce an accurate, customized document that minimizes risk, saving time, effort and cost - thereby providing attorneys with increased bandwidth to focus on clients. Jonathan Hoy, Vice President of HotDocs Market, commented: We are excited to welcome the State Bar of Wisconsin as a publisher to our growing marketplace for automated legal content. HotDocs Market continues to expand rapidly, adding new subscribers daily. Thousands of document assemblies have been carried out by subscribers, saving themselves time and money. Wisconsin bar members will experience the same benefits when they subscribe to WisDocs Estate Planning on HotDocs Market. About HotDocs HotDocs is the market leading provider of automated document assembly software, with customers in 42 different countries and a user-base, globally, that exceeds one million. Document automation, or document assembly, facilitates a vast reduction in time spent in the production of high volume, repeat documentation such as contracts, agreements and other legal paperwork. Widely used within the legal, banking, insurance, public and corporate sectors, HotDocs software also increases accuracy, reduces cost/risk and improves efficiency in the generation of complex, or simple, repeat documentation. The software is available on premise, on desktop or via the cloud and can operate in a standalone capacity or as part of a wider business process management system, such as workflow, document management or case management systems. The most recent innovation from HotDocs is HotDocs Market an online document assembly platform that allows experts to publish and sell automated legal documents and forms to attorneys throughout the USA. Publishers already using HotDocs Market include the State Bar Associations of Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York and commercial publishers ALL-STATE LEGAL, James Publishing, and LexisNexis. About the State Bar of Wisconsin The State Bar of Wisconsin is a mandatory association comprising over 25,000 professional attorneys with a Wisconsin law license. The State Bar provides legal, continuing education and other benefit services for its members in addition to public services to the citizens of Wisconsin. For further information, visit http://www.wisbar.org. Heather Hopkins, Senior Director for Government Relations Heathers experience articulating clarity of mission and adding efficiencies to government interactions is absolutely an asset as SNC continues to grow," said Eren Ozmen, owner and President of SNC. Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) today announced a strategic addition to its Washington, D.C. office, bringing aboard Heather Hopkins as Senior Director for Government Relations. Hopkins brings to SNC more than 15 years as a strategic communications and government relations leader, having served in senior positions at the White House, on Capitol Hill for the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and at the Pentagon, including tours in Iraq. Hopkins is responsible for coordinating SNCs engagement with the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government, the companys growing communications efforts and other external initiatives. As SNC grows, we are committed to meeting and exceeding the standard of excellence expected by our customers in Washington and elsewhere, said Eren Ozmen, owner and President of SNC. Heathers experience articulating clarity of mission and adding efficiencies to government interactions is absolutely an asset to our company. SNC continues to attract top talent to support its broad commercial and government solutions. Most recently, SNC was awarded a share of NASAs Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract to service the International Space Station using SNCs own space shuttle, the Dream Chaser Spacecraft. Over more than 50 years, SNC has earned a reputation for delivering customer-focused, high-tech solutions and systems integration across DOD, on time and under budget. I am excited to join Sierra Nevada Corporations innovative and agile team, said Hopkins. The company is at a pivotal point and about to take off to the stars, literally! We are working on a range of interesting solutions that are affordable and have real impact for the military community. Hopkins has held numerous positions in government relations and communications both in and out of government, with consistent focus on national security. While at the State Department, she served twice overseas in Iraq for both Ambassadors Bremer and Khalilzad. Under President George W. Bush, Hopkins served on the National Security Council Staff as a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director running legislative affairs. Her public service continued after the Bush Administration at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert (HQE) running strategic communications for the Army and training senior officers in public affairs. Hopkins also worked on Capitol Hill for then-Speaker Newt Gingrich. Most recently, she worked in the private sector at BAE Systems, Inc. About Sierra Nevada Corporation Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) provides customer-focused technology solutions in the areas of aerospace, aviation, electronics and systems integration. SNC has been honored as one of The Worlds Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Space, and one of Americas fastest growing companies. SNCs diverse technologies are used in applications including telemedicine, navigation and guidance systems, threat detection and security, commercial aviation, scientific research and infrastructure protection. Founded in 1963 and headquartered in Sparks, Nevada, SNC operates under the leadership of owners, CEO Fatih Ozmen and President Eren Ozmen, with a workforce of nearly 3,000 personnel in 33 locations in 18 U.S. states, England, Germany and Turkey providing global support to customers. For more information on SNC visit http://www.sncorp.com and follow us at Facebook/Sierra Nevada Corporation. Sierra Nevada Corporation and SNC are trademarks of Sierra Nevada Corporation. ### He had so much potential as a young man, but life and circumstance steered his course. Like unrequited love, I wanted to honor my fathers life with his story told in glory. Can we ever truly escape the hand life has dealt us? Are we destined to have a purpose or simply live life to the best of our abilities? Author Constance Hall explores lifes greater meaning through the eyes of her father in her new novel, Valedictorian: A Story of the Hidden Glory of a Troubled Life. Born to alcoholic parents and forced to depend on only himself at eight years old, Wilbur, based on Halls father, strives for success through intelligence, hard work and a life of dedicated military service. Unfortunately, lifes devastating blows overshadow Wilburs remarkable accomplishments and cause him to question lifes value until one person lifts the veil and reveals his true purpose. I watched my father sacrifice his own happiness to always do the right thing, said Hall. He had so much potential as a young man, but life and circumstance steered his course. Like unrequited love, I wanted to honor my fathers life with his story told in glory." Born on a military base, Hall had an inside look into the struggles her father faced in an effort to provide for his family and find meaning in life after so many pitfalls. Wilbur eventually finds faith and his true purpose in an ending that will fill readers with promise and joy. The most rewarding part was writing the ending, said Hall. This book took on a life of its own and came to a surprising ending that will give readers hope." For more information, visit http://www.constancewhall.com/. Valedictorian: The Story of the Hidden Glory of Troubled Life By Constance W. Hall ISBN: 978-1-50497-851-4 Available in softcover, hardcover, e-book Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and AuthorHouse About the author Constance Hall was born on a military base in eastern North Carolina and has been a registered nurse for thirty years. She is also a family nurse practitioner and sees patients on a regular basis. She credits her intimate contact with people who share what really matters to them, during the times when life seems to matter most, for her deep understanding, insight, and empathy. Constance lives on the coast of eastern North Carolina with her husband of twenty-two years, Bill, and together they have five sons. # # # **FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** For review copies or interview requests, contact: Katie Weismiller, Publicist | kweismiller(at)bohlsengroup(dot)com | 812.212.8009 (When requesting a review copy, please provide street address) Climate Leadership Catastrophe it is clear that politicians cant stop climate change, most of them cant even define what it is Past News Releases RSS Friends of Science Society is pleased to announce the speakers for its Climate Leadership Catastrophe event, slated for May 10, 2016 at the Red and White Club in Calgary, featuring Ezra Levant, Canadian broadcaster, author and free speech advocate, fondly known as The Rebel Commander of web channel - The Rebel Media. Also on the podium, Dr. John D. Harper, FGSA, FGAC, P. Geol., former director of the Geological Survey of Canada, who will give a science presentation on the past 600 million years of climate change. Tickets are $45 on Eventbrite or FriendsofScience.org - tickets include a buffet dinner. Doors open at 5:45 pm. Friends of Science Society says the LEAP Manifesto that split the NDP Party Convention in Edmonton on the April 9th weekend, as reported by CBC News on April 11, 2016, is an example of the misinformed Climate Leadership Catastrophe gripping Canada, that is damaging the economy of the country and especially Alberta, the economic driver of the country. Climate Leadership Catastrophe will take a critical look at recent political events in Canada wherein the federal government made sweeping promises at the Paris COP-21 Conference in December, 2015, even pushing for a lower 1.5 degree Celsius limit on warming as reported by the Globe and Mail Dec. 6, 2015. Friends of Science Society say these steps are catastrophic for the Canadian economy, referring to their report by Robert Lyman on the economic implications of trying to reach the previous 2 degree Celsius targets. Featured guest speaker Ezra Levant provocatively challenges group think. Levant has a long track record of standing up for freedom of speech, challenging climate catastrophe thinking, and defending Canadian resource industries. In 2002, Ezra Levant published a book called Fight Kyoto that predicted massive economic damage. According to Dr. Harper 600 million years of evidence show that Carbon dioxide is a consequence of warming, not the cause. Carbon dioxide levels have been ten times higher in geologic history and the evidence shows a regular cycle going from icy glaciation, to temperate, tropical, and extremely dry evaporitization and back down to glaciation. Based on Dr. Harpers presentation, it is clear that politicians cant stop climate change, and most of them cant even define what it is, says Michelle Stirling, Communications Manager for Friends of Science Society. People are urged to buy tickets prior to the May 3, 2016 cutoff. About Friends of Science has spent a decade reviewing a broad spectrum of literature on climate change and have concluded the sun is the main driver of climate change, not carbon dioxide (CO2). Friends of Science is made up of a growing group of earth, atmospheric and solar scientists, engineers, and citizens. Friends of Science Society P.O. Box 23167, Mission P.O. Calgary, Alberta Canada T2S 3B1 Toll-free Telephone: 1-888-789-9597 Web: friendsofscience.org E-mail: contact(at)friendsofscience(dot)org We are delighted to help traditional and unique brands like the Lagrimas Hotels&Emotions Group to evolve to the leading edge of digital marketing", said Pedro Colaco, CEO of GuestCentric GuestCentric, the leading provider of cloud-based digital marketing software for hotels, today announced that Lagrimas Hotels&Emotions Group has chosen GuestCentric to strengthen its digital presence with award-winning website, social marketing and merchandising tools for all its properties. These features will enable the group to extend its customers base, providing singular shopping experiences while promoting the uniqueness of each property. With a strong tradition in hospitality, Lagrimas Hotels&Emotions Group is a family company that explores tourism flagship units, famous for being real temples for Portuguese emotions and well being. Lagrimas Hotels&Emotions Group boasts three of the most emblematic hotels in Portugal, members of international networks such as the Relais & Chateaux and the Small Luxury Hotels of the World: Infante Sagres Hotel, in Oporto; Quinta das Lagrimas Hotel, in Coimbra; and Hotel da Estrela, in Lisbon. The group also owns Eleven, a Michelin-distinguished restaurant. Each hotel of Lagrimas Hotels&Emotions Group carries a unique history and we needed a partner that could reflect it in our new websites. After looking at all options in the market, GuestCentric award-winning design stood out, said Miguel Judice, CEO of Lagrimas Hotels&Emotions Group. Besides, GuestCentrics sales oriented design engages our visitors encouraging them to book directly through the hotels official website having a great impact in our online revenue. GuestCentric is an award-winning leader in both design and innovation, recognized with over 100 international awards. Focused on revenue generation with simplicity and ease-of-use, its innovative digital marketing software provides all features needed for hotel digital marketing success: sales-oriented and responsive websites, user-friendly booking engine mobile-optimized for hundreds of devices, a channel manager with access to over 400 integrations, social marketing, SEO optimization and extensive reporting and analytics. We are delighted to help traditional and unique brands like the Lagrimas Hotels&Emotions Group to evolve to the leading edge of digital marketing. The great combination of GuestCentrics design best practices and rich content will result in a complete web experience that translates the group look and feel in award-winning websites, mobile and social media, said Pedro Colaco, CEO of GuestCentric. In addition, Lagrimas Hotels&Emotions Group will be able to drive its properties bookings through the hotel most valuable channel, their official website. About GuestCentric GuestCentric is a leading provider of cloud-based digital marketing software that helps hoteliers protect their brands, drive bookings and connect to their customers and on all digital platforms. GuestCentrics all-in-one platform provides hoteliers with award-winning responsive web sites for mobile, tablets and desktops; a user-friendly booking engine; a social marketing module to publish deals on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks; and a channel manager to offer rooms on Booking, Expedia, TripAdvisor and hundreds of other channels. GuestCentric has operations in New York, San Diego, London, Barcelona and Lisbon and is a proud partner of hotels that are part of collections like Design Hotels, Small Luxury Hotels, Leading Hotels of the World and Relais & Chateaux. For more information, please visit http://www.guestcentric.com About Lagrimas Hotels&Emotions Group Lagrimas Hotels&Emotions Group are iconic sanctuaries located in outstanding destinations around Portugal where understated luxury blends with warm service. They have been a home away from home for discerning travellers since 1917 offering one-of-a-kind experiences, exquisite Portuguese food and a genuine hospitality.For more informatiom, please visit: http://www.themahotels.pt/ Contact Info: Catarina Pimentel Marketing Assistant Email: catarina(dot)pimentel(at)guestcentric(dot)com Hundreds of families poured into the historic Tivoli Theater on Tuesday to watch their children win creative writing awards for original poetry and prose. Teachers of all grades attended the awards ceremony to see their students receive medals and cross the Tivoli Stage. They, too, were recognized by So Lit and UTC for their dedication to teaching students the joy and lifelong skill of writing. Established in 1999 by UTC English professors Hugh and Verbie Prevost, the Young Southern Student Writers contest challenges, rewards, and nurtures reading and writing skills of countless Hamilton County students in public, private, and home schools. The program also supports teachers and parents through encouraging their students and children with the fascination of reading and the importance of writing skills, said officials. The inaugural contest in 1999 had 450 student participants. Now in its 17th year, the Young Southern Student Writers contest received over 4,000 submissions, each of which were personally reviewed by the English department faculty of UTC under the direction of UC Foundation Professor Joe Wilferth. Nearly 400 students in grades K-12 were recognized with medals for originality of content and thematic skill in writing. When describing the impact of the program, Joe Wilferth said, The submissions provide a glimpse into the wild imagination of young minds. I thank this years young writers and their teachers. You have given me much to laugh about, much to enjoy, and much to appreciate. The 2016 recipients of the Prevost Awards for Poetry and Prose were, respectively, Annie Hunter of Signal Mountain High School and Max Radu of Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts. Miss Hunters poem Memories, and Mr. Radus short story Money Trees may be found on So Lits and UTCs websites. (http://www.southernlitalliance.org/#!yssw-winners/c23tm and http://www.utc.edu/english/yssw.php) For more information about So Lit and Young Southern Student Writers, visit www.SouthernLitAlliance.org. Extremely Rare Confederate Cofer Third Type Revolver in its Original Holster Captured by 11th Maine Captain S.H. Merrill - estimate $250,000/350,000 "They were traded among the high-end Confederate collectors and were never offered to the open market," said Lewis. "Collectors have seen these guns photographed in books for years and have never had an opportunity to buy them." The most important private collection of Confederate firearms ever assembled will be offered by Cowan's Auctions as part of a two-day sale April 26-27. The items have already drawn widespread interest due to their rarity, condition and historical significance. Assembled over 65 years, the Cliff and Lynne Young collection of Confederate arms includes some of the scarcest and best known examples in existence -- Cofer, Dance, Leech and Rigdon, LeMat and others. Many of the items were acquired nearly 60 years ago and have never been available to the public. Forty-two lots from the collection will be offered in April, with others to follow in November 2016 and spring 2017. This is no ordinary group of Civil War guns. "There are collectors who just buy Confederate revolvers. Cliff went deeper than that. It had to have quality. It had to have historical significance," said Jack Lewis, Cowan's director of Historic Firearms and Early Militaria. Young, who died last year, vigorously documented the weapons. "Some of them have a file of provenance two feet deep," Lewis noted. Almost all the guns have been pictured and described in literature focusing on arms made for the Confederate states. The emphasis on research fit perfectly with Young's overall interest in Confederate firearms. He was past president and a longtime member of the American Society of Arms Collectors, a well-known published author and lecturer, and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Massachusetts Antique Arms Collectors. For the most part, however, Young collected quietly, buying unquestionably authentic material at a time when the best items were sold privately. "They were traded among the high-end Confederate collectors and were never offered to the open market," said Lewis. "Collectors have seen these guns photographed in books for years and have never had an opportunity to buy them." Although Young never viewed his collection as an investment, values for premiere Confederate firearms have risen exponentially over the years. The potential hasn't dimmed. "Confederate arms have always been a blue chip of collecting," said Lewis. Part of the allure is the scarcity of weapons made for Southern troops during the Civil War. At the outbreak of the conflict, most American arms makers were based in the North. In the South, raw materials were scarce and skilled labor difficult to find. As a result, Southern companies producing weapons for Confederate troops had low output, and relatively few of those guns survived. While the Colt Manufacturing Co. of Hartford, Conn., sold almost 130,000 Model 1860 revolvers to the United States government during the Civil War, the T.W. Cofer Co. of Portsmouth, Va., produced an estimated 80 revolvers for Confederate forces. About a dozen of those Cofers remain. Of those, the Young collection contains two examples. That type of rarity exemplifies the firearms Young acquired. "We all like to brag the best of the best, but the God's honest truth is it's there in the Young collection," said Lewis. "It's the guns he selected. He was very meticulous about what he chose." The auction presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to obtain items from a legendary collection. Highlights of the April sale include: A Cofer Third Type revolver in its original holster, captured from a Confederate signal officer by Capt. Simeon H. Merrill of the 11th Maine Regiment on July 21, 1864. Young purchased the revolver in 1953 for $395, a considerable sum at the time. Cowan's estimates the gun at $250,000 to $350,000. A cased Second Model LeMat percussion revolver in near-mint condition, one of the best known, estimated at $70,000 to $110,000. An engraved Paris Second Model LeMat percussion revolver, one of about a dozen Baby LeMats known to exist, estimated at $75,000 to $100,000. A LeMat Krider percussion revolver, serial no. 2, likely used in the 1859 weapons trials in New Orleans and Washington, D.C., estimated at $60,000 to $80,000. It is one of only two LeMat revolvers known to have been made in the United States. A Spiller & Burr rounded frame percussion revolver, $50,000 to $100,000. Of the three examples known to exist, Young owned two. A Leech & Rigdon percussion revolver captured in August 1864 from the C.S.S. Tennessee at Mobile Bay, estimated at $50,000 to $100,000. A Tarpley breech-loading carbine identified to Waul's Legion, estimated at $70,000 to $100,000. It is the finest of 20 known to exist. An engraved Robinson Sharps carbine, the only known surviving example, estimated at $50,000 to $70,000. Beyond the Young collection, the April auction contains an array of quality firearms and militaria, including the Raymond Geddes collection of Civil War arms and the second installment of the Mel Flanagan collection of European and American arms. Top lots include a Zouave uniform identified to Charles Reisser of the 9th New York Hawkins Zouaves, estimated at $65,000 to $95,000; Sharps New Model 1869 sporting rifle, estimated at $50,000 to $75,000; massive Samuel Bell Bowie knife, circa 1830, possibly the largest Bell knife known, having a 14-inch blade, estimated at $40,000 to $60,000; Second Model Hoggson engraved Henry rifle, estimated at $35,000 to $60,000; First Model Henry rifle, estimated at $30,000 to $50,000; Marlin factory-engraved Third Model 1892 rifle belonging to Wild West Show sharpshooter T.H. Ford, estimated at $25,000 to $35,000; Lt. Col. Porter S. Cox Model 1840/60 presentation sword, estimated at $20,000 to $30,000; dueling pistol once owned by John Wilkes Booth, estimated at $15,000 to $30,000; and a mid-17th-century wheellock blunderbuss, estimated at $15,000 to $25,000. The sale will be held at Cowan's Auctions, 6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati. Public previews are noon to 5 p.m. Monday, April 25; and 8 to 10 a.m. both days of the sale, Tuesday and Wednesday, April 26-27. The auction starts at 10 a.m. each day, with the Cliff and Lynne Young collection of Confederate arms selling on Tuesday. Bidding is also available by phone, absentee and live through BidSquare.com. For more information, phone Jack Lewis at Cowan's Auctions at (513) 871-1670 or visit Cowans.com. Jill McDonagh, area fundraiser at Naomi House & Jacksplace, with Rohini Bali, NewVoiceMedia Foundation manager We are extremely grateful for NewVoiceMedias support. The companys generous donation will help us to buy a new minibus, which will make a big difference to children and young people with life-limited and life-threatened illnesses. NewVoiceMedia, a leading global provider of cloud technology which helps businesses sell more, serve better and grow faster, is giving back to the community by donating over 7000 to Naomi House & Jacksplace, a Hampshire-based charity which supports children and young adults with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions in Central Southern England. NewVoiceMedias Foundation raised 7,178 from a range of staff and customer initiatives throughout 2015, which will contribute towards fundraising efforts for a new minibus for the charity. Naomi House & Jacksplaces hospices provide expert care to more than 280 life-limited and life-threatened children, young people and their extended families from Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Berkshire, West Sussex, Surrey and the Isle of Wight. Its support teams are experts in delivering the crucial emotional and developmental aspects of care that families need and its emphasis on innovation, clinical excellence and holistic care means the charity can support children and young people with some of the most complex medical needs. Launched in 2010, NewVoiceMedias Foundation encompasses all charitable activities carried out at the company, focusing on skills-based volunteering, matched funding and fundraising activities. NewVoiceMedia also recently announced that it was among the first UK companies to join corporate philanthropy movement Pledge 1%. Founded by Atlassian, the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado, Rally and Salesforce.org, Pledge 1% empowers companies to donate 1% of product, 1% of equity, 1% of profit or 1% of employee time to improve communities around the world. Jill McDonagh, area fundraiser at Naomi House & Jacksplace, commented, We are extremely grateful for NewVoiceMedias support. The companys generous donation will help us to buy a new minibus, which will make a big difference to children and young people with life-limited and life-threatened illnesses. Without the tremendous generosity of individuals, businesses and groups in the community, we could not keep the doors of Naomi House and Jacksplace open and continue to provide much-needed respite, care and support for these families. Rohini Bali, NewVoiceMedia Foundation manager, said, Naomi House & Jacksplace is an exemplary charity, and one that we are incredibly proud to support. We are pleased to have increased our commitment to integrated philanthropy over the last year and that we are able to give something back to the community while supporting the causes that are important to our employees. For further information about Naomi House & Jacksplace, visit naomihouse.org.uk. For more about NewVoiceMedia, visit http://www.newvoicemedia.com About NewVoiceMedia NewVoiceMedia powers customer connections that transform businesses globally. The leading vendor's award-winning cloud customer contact platform revolutionises the way organisations connect with their customers worldwide, enabling them to deliver a personalised and unique customer service experience and drive a more effective sales and marketing team. With a true cloud environment and proven 99.999% platform availability, NewVoiceMedia ensures complete flexibility, scalability and reliability. Spanning 128 countries and six continents, NewVoiceMedia's 500+ customers include PhotoBox, MobileIron, TNT, Lumesse, JustGiving, Canadian Cancer Society and Wowcher. For more information visit http://www.newvoicemedia.com or follow NewVoiceMedia on Twitter @NewVoiceMedia. Winona Powder Coating, the largest high volume powder coater in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan, announced that they have been awarded recertification by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), meeting standards in both the United States and Canada. Winonas UL recertification, along with the companys ISO9001 and JDM F17 certifications, conveys its dedication to meeting customers high expectations. We are proud to serve as the exclusive powder coater to two of the top industrial component suppliers in the world, said Brian Bailey, president of Winona Powder Coating. We understand how important it is for a customer to be able to offer a product that is UL certified throughout the entire supply chain. Its a real asset to be able to offer this service to our customers that need and value UL certified powder coated components. We are constantly striving to raise the bar in order to compete with any in-house situation and meet our customers needs of exceptional quality levels. In addition to the UL recertification, Winona is currently in the process of seeking the AAMA 2604 specification. This specification is applicable to coatings of at least 30 microns thickness and intended primarily for commercial and architectural-grade applications. Over the next few months, tests will be conducted to evaluate abrasion resistance, chemical resistance and weathering. This specification recognizes high-performance coatings that can involve non-phosphate pretreatments, a necessity in some markets where phosphate pretreatments are not allowed due to environmental concerns. Bailey commented, We are excited to be able to offer this certification on our coatings. This coating is designed for superior corrosion resistance outdoors with limited fade and weathering. Customers that use us to coat their aluminum components will be able to offer a superior product to architects, building owners and contractors. We expect to finalize testing and obtain this certification in June or July of this year. ABOUT WINONA POWDER COATING Winona Powder Coating, with facilities in Elkhart and Etna Green, IN, is a leading supplier of powder coating services to large industrial companies throughout the Midwest. In business since 1974, Winona Powder Coating began powder coating in 1979, making it one of the first powder coating operations to open in the state of Indiana. Winona Powder Coating currently serves customers in the following industries: foundry, agriculture, military/defense, recreational vehicles, automotive, marine, heavy industry, construction, electrical equipment, plumbing, and government. Attorney Marion Munley The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) is pleased to announce that Marion Munley of Munley Law has been selected as the 2016 Lynette Norton Award Honoree. The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) is pleased to announce that Marion Munley of Munley Law has been selected as the 2016 Lynette Norton Award Honoree. Attorney Munley will receive her award at the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession Annual Conference on May 11, at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, PA. The Lynette Norton Award honors and recognizes a female attorney who excels in litigation and is devoted to mentoring other women in the legal profession. The award is named for Lynette Norton, a founding member of the PBAs Commission on Women in the Profession (WIP). Before her sudden passing in 2002, Norton was a mentor to young women attorneys, favored such causes as womens rights and literacy, and fought discrimination against women in the profession. For thirty years, Munley has been dedicated to the advancement of women in the legal profession. Munley currently serves as the First Vice Chair for the Women Trial Lawyers Caucus, a group within the American Association for Justice (AAJ) that encourages female trial lawyers to network, learn from one another, overcome challenges, and become better leaders. Active in the Pennsylvania Association for Justice as well, she has served as the chair of the associations Women Trial Lawyers Committee. She is the founder of the Association of Women Lawyers in Lackawanna County, which provides mentoring, networking, and scholarships to female lawyers. She has been named: Best Lawyers in America Board Certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy since 1996, the second woman in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to earn that distinction; Woman of Excellence Award Winner, as selected by the Scranton Chamber of Commerce. Top 50 Women Super Lawyers in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Magazine, 2013, 2015 A sought-after speaker, Munley is a member of the Melvin M. Belli Society, which is dedicated to the promotion of continuing legal education, and annually serves on the faculty of the nonprofit Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College. She currently serves on the Board of Governors for both the American Association for Justice and the Pennsylvania Association for Justice, and is a proud member of the International Society of Barristers and the American Board of Trial Advocates. The team at Munley Law maintains the highest standard of excellence in the protection of individual rights to personal injury clients through extensive resources and experience. Munleys expert accident lawyers have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America, named Best Lawyers by US New & World Report, Super Lawyers, and are proud members of the Multi Million Dollar and Million Dollar Advocates forums. Munley Law has an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, and is considered amongst the best personal injury firms in the nation. The law firm has several convenient office locations throughout northeastern Pennsylvania, the Pocono region and Philadelphia, PA. The size and sheer complexity of the system, and the amount of devices to control - such as mirrors and the vast number of cameras means that a highly capable and advanced control system needed to be in place... Data analytics expert Tessella has helped the UKs Central Laser Facility (CLF), part of The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), in its development of an advanced high-powered laser, created to help aid research and development in the scientific community. CLF was tasked to develop a laser system for the HiLASE research facility and Tessella joined the project to create and build bespoke software to enable control of the laser. Through using innovative design techniques, the resulting product created has all the capabilities of a high-powered laser, while also possessing a high repetition rate which is not typically found in such high energy models. The new laser technology for HiLASE, a project in the Czech Republic tagged New lasers for industry and research, will benefit industry and science in areas ranging from welding to testing the resistance of optical materials. The setup will provide a laser capability significantly more powerful, efficient and stable than current systems across Europe. Until now there have either been high energy lasers which are limited to the order of pulses per hour or systems that produce many pulses per second but only at relatively low energy levels. The combination of the two paves the way for a broad field of new applications. This project is a superb example of the UKs science capabilities being recognised internationally and leading to other countries major science facilities actively seeking to work with us. This project showcases not only what the CLF team can currently do but also acknowledges the fact that the possibilities with this new laser and what it could achieve are endless. The usual control software used in lasers is typically closed and not able to communicate with other parts of the system, leaving us with a collection of devices that require a manual mode of operation. In contrast, for this project one single system was developed that meant that this new connectivity gave access to an entirely new level of automation, which is highly beneficial to users. Tessella developed complete control system software, allowing scientists to operate the entire laser system and its sub-components remotely via a single integrated software solution. Working with STFC, Tessella implemented high-level automation software aiming for a turn-key operation of the laser by integrating all of the low-level devices together into an overarching control solution, including solutions such as automatic beam steering and alignment, timing systems, as well as watchdogs and machine safety software to shut down the laser in case of emergencies or when critical alarms are raised by the sub-systems. David Michel, Software Engineer at Tessella explained: The size and sheer complexity of the system, and the amount of devices to control - such as mirrors and the vast number of cameras means that a highly capable and advanced control system needed to be in place that could unify these different assets and ensure it worked quickly and efficiently. Alan Gaby, Chief Executive at Tessella added: We are delighted to have contributed to the success of this programme, Tessella excels in areas of complexity and innovation and this laser is truly a one of a kind, theres never been anything like it before. We would like to congratulate STFC on this remarkable achievement -Ends- About Tessella Tessella is an international analytics and data science consulting services company. We are known for finding and delivering innovative and pragmatic answers to the complex business and technical challenges of some of the worlds most forward-thinking organisations in the aerospace and defence, consumer goods, energy, life sciences and science research sectors. We are innovative problem solvers, passionate about science and technology, committed to excellence, and to our clients success. Tessella is part of the Altran Group, a global leader in innovation and high-tech engineering consulting. About STFC The Science and Technology Facilities Council is keeping the UK at the forefront of international sci-ence and tackling some of the most significant challenges facing society such as meeting our future energy needs, monitoring and understanding climate change, and global security. The Council has a broad science portfolio and works with the academic and industrial communities to share its expertise in materials science, space and ground-based astronomy technologies, laser science, microelectronics, wafer scale manufacturing, particle and nuclear physics, alternative energy production, radio communications and radar. STFC operates or hosts world class experimental facilities including in the UK the ISIS pulsed neutron source, the Central Laser Facility, and LOFAR, and is also the majority shareholder in Diamond Light Source Ltd. It enables UK researchers to access leading international science facilities by funding membership of international bodies including European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). STFC is one of seven publicly-funded research councils. It is an independent, non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). http://www.stfc.ac.uk/ About CLF The Central Laser Facility (CLF) at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) (an institution for the Science and Technology Facilities Council, near Oxford, UK) is one of the worlds leading laser facilities providing scientists from the UK and Europe with an unparalleled range of state-of-the-art laser technology. The CLFs wide ranging applications include experiments in physics, chemistry and biology, accelerating subatomic particles to high energies, probing chemical reactions on the shortest timescales and studying biochemical and biophysical process critical to life itself. From advanced, compact, tuneable lasers which can pinpoint individual particles to high power laser installations that recreate the conditions inside stars, a vigorous development programme ensures that our facilities maintain their international competitiveness. http://www.clf.stfc.ac.uk/CLF/ About HiLASE The main goal of the HiLASE project is to develop laser technologies having breakthrough technical parameters. In general, those lasers will be significantly more powerful and efficient, more compact, more stable and more easily maintained than the currently available technology. The HiLASE project focuses on development high-repetition lasers and laser systems that will find use in industry, in small- and medium-scale research laboratories and in the future European large-scale facilities that will be part of the European Research Area (ERA). The project will specifically focus on diode pumped solid state laser systems (DPSSLs) and on the development of associated technologies. The HiLASE laser centre with these parameters will be unique not only in the Czech Republic but also in Europe. This brings new opportunities for European research and for companies that will be able to benefit and contribute to applying these new technologies. The project has great application potential in the commercial sphere. Outputs of the project will be used e.g. for micro-machining technologies, testing resistance of optical materials, cutting, welding, removal of deposits and laser peening. More about HiLASE: http://www.clf.stfc.ac.uk/CALTA/38815.aspx Media contacts: Amita Hanspal Proof Communication Tel: +44 (0)208 816 8002 Email: amita(at)proofcommunication(dot)com Christina Tealdi Tessella Tel: +44 (0) 7799346453 Email: christina.tealdi(at)tessella(dot)com The May 5th program is designed to allow manufacturers a closer look at accessible solutions for improving energy and environmental strategies within their organization. On May 5th, IMEC will partner with Madison County Community Development, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, and Commerce Bank to present an introductory seminar titled Building Sustainable Manufacturing Communities to be held at the National Great Rivers Research & Education Center in Alton, IL from 7:30AM to 10:00AM. The complimentary event will introduce local manufacturers to E3, a program created to help manufacturers discover opportunities for organizational improvement and cost savings by lessening their environmental impact while improving productivity and customer satisfaction. Registration is available by visiting http://www.imec.org/events.cfm. The E3 focused event will also introduce local manufacturers to the improvement strategies available to companies through energy assessments, E3 complete interactive on-site assessments, and other tools available to get an organization on the path to sustainability. IMEC client and local community member Beall Manufacturing will provide a testimonial of their efficiency improvement efforts followed by a panel discussion with industry experts from the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, and Leidos Engineering, implementers of the Ameren Illinois Energy Efficiency Program. The May 5th program is designed to allow manufacturers a closer look at accessible solutions for improving energy and environmental strategies within their organization. Beall Manufacturing is a past participant of the energy and efficiency efforts in the Metro East and credits the partnership with IMEC as a key to their success. IMEC provided Beall the expertise, which was the ability to calculate savings, for us to qualify for the ActOnEnergy Custom Incentive Program, said John Pieper, Beall Director of Manufacturing. We knew we could save a lot on gas usage, but we needed IMEC to provide the help to prove it. The seminar is open to manufacturers in the Metro East interested in learning more about the opportunities that exist in energy and environmental solutions; making them accessible to companies of all sizes and delivering access to previously unrealized savings. To learn more about the Building Sustainable Manufacturing Communities event, please visit http://www.imec.org/events.cfm. Registration is also available on the IMEC website or by calling 888-806-4632. For questions about the local resources available to manufacturers, please contact Lisa Kenney, IMEC Regional Manager at lkenney(at)imec(dot)org or 314-330-9795. ### Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) IMEC was established in 1996 with the goal of improving the productivity and competitiveness of Illinois small and mid-sized manufacturing firms. A non-profit economic development organization, IMEC is funded in part by the National Institute of Standards and Technologys Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and through fees paid by Illinois manufacturers for IMECs services. IMEC has 11 offices statewide and 40 full-time manufacturing improvement specialists. http://www.imec.org/ Canned food donations collected on April 12th When everyone pitches in and becomes involved in helping others in our community, we can truly make a positive difference in the lives of others. The mission of the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida is to overcome hunger through education and by working in a cooperative effort with affiliated agencies in the procurement and distribution of food, equitably and without discrimination. In an effort to assist the community, Midland IRA is helping collect canned food donations for this cause and has invited food trucks to serve food during the collection dates. The Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida has been helping Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry, and Lee counties overcome hunger since 1983. Each month the food bank provides more than 30,000 individuals food through a network of 150 partner agencies. In fiscal year 2015, the Harry Chapin Food Bank provided 15.3 million meals (18.4 million pounds of fresh, nutritious food) by turning every donated $1 into $6 worth of food. Midland IRA believes active community involvement and giving is crucial to building strong communities. The self-directed retirement plan administrator frequently donates to different local charitable organizations in an effort to facilitate this belief. This month, the firm is proud to assist the foundation in providing canned food for the communities in need within the area. A couple times a year we hold a food drive like this in an effort to give back to our community, says Dave Owens, president and CEO of Midland IRA. When everyone pitches in and becomes involved in helping others in our community, we can truly make a positive difference in the lives of others. Midland IRA invites everyone to help make that difference this year by donating non-perishable items that benefit the Harry Chapin Food Bank. Items needed most at this time include: Canned meats and fish Canned fruit and vegetables Soups Breakfast Cereals Oatmeal Grits Rice Pasta Boxed macaroni and cheese Instant mashed potatoes All items can be dropped off during the month of April at the Midland IRA Fort Myers office, 1520 Royal Palm Square Boulevard, Suite 320, Fort Myers, Florida. MOFOs food truck came to the office on April 12th to serve food and Red Roc Cravings food truck will be there on April 22nd. Food drive donations are accepted and encouraged the 22nd and anytime throughout the month. The staff at Midland IRA plans to deliver the donations at the end of April. About Midland IRA Midland IRA is a self-directed IRA administrator that provides tax-deferred and tax-free investment opportunities, superior customer service, and educational tools to assist investors in realizing the maximum benefits possible within IRAs. Midland IRA makes it easy to use self-directed retirement plans to invest in assets that the individual investor knows, understands, and can control. Midland IRA is also a 1031 exchange qualified intermediary. To learn more visit www(dot)MidlandIRA(dot)com. About Dave Owens Dave Owens is president of Midland IRA in Fort Myers, Chicago, Miami, Gainesville, New England, and the Florida Panhandle. Owens opened the Fort Myers headquarters in 2003. His background as a certified public accountant, combined with a long history of personal retirement self-direction, provides his audiences and clients with solid advice and practical solutions to their IRA investment questions. Dave holds a BS in accounting from Purdue University. He also earned the prestigious Certified Exchange Specialist designation through the Federation of Exchange Accommodators. Having our peers recognize our platforms ease of use, innovation and performance is further proof were offering a product that serves the market. WebLinc, the commerce platform provider for the fastest growing online retailers, today announced that the 2016 SIIA CODiE Awards named WebLinc as a finalist for Best eCommerce Solution. WebLinc was selected as one of 215 finalists across 62 business technology categories. The next and final round will see WebLinc competing against 4 other software companies. The SIIA CODiE Awards are the only peer-reviewed awards program for the software and information industries, and have been recognizing product excellence for over 30 years. The Best eCommerce Solution category recognizes the best software solution designed to facilitate the purchase of products and services online. I am amazed by the level of innovation and creativity of the products that have been selected as this year's CODiE Award finalists. We are happy to recognize them for their great contributions and impact they are making on the software, content and business technology industries, said Ken Wasch, President of SIIA. WebLinc is a highly flexible cloud-based commerce platform built around a user-focused administrative interface. By leveraging modern, scalable technologies such as Ruby on Rails and MongoDB, WebLinc's platform has successfully supported some of the fastest growing online retailers. Were honored to be a finalist in this years SIIA CODiE Awards, said Darren C. Hill, CEO and co-founder of WebLinc. So much work has gone into creating our platform that gives online retailers what they need to quickly grow their business. Having our peers recognize our platforms ease of use, innovation and performance is further proof were offering a product that serves the market. Details about each finalist are listed at http://www.siia.net/codie/Finalists. Winners will be announced during a virtual award ceremony on May 18th. To learn more about WebLinc, please visit our site at http://www.weblinc.com. About WebLinc WebLinc is the commerce platform for fast growing online retailers. Mid to large-size retailers consistently outpace their competition with the modern, agile technologies of the WebLinc Commerce Platform and the companys strategic expertise. Based in Philadelphia with satellite offices in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto, WebLinc powers commerce sites for dynamic, high-growth retailers including Sanrio/Hello Kitty, Urban Outfitters, Inc.s brands Terrain and BHLDN, U.S. Polo Assn., Stila Cosmetics, Rachel Roy, and others. To learn more, visit http://www.weblinc.com or follow @WebLinc. About the SIIA CODiE Awards The SIIA CODiE Awards is the only peer-reviewed program to showcase business and education technologys finest products and services. Since 1986, thousands of products, services and solutions have been recognized for achieving excellence. For more information, visit http://siia.net/CODiE. Assessment Report Example Application of YouSeeU for analysis and reporting fills an academic need that enables substantial learning outcome measurement and provides actionable data for your program directors. YouSeeU, a leading Educational Technology Company, will introduce a new Soft Skills Assessment Service at the Higher Learning (HLC) Annual Conference, April 16-18, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago and at the ASU-GSV Summit, April 18-20, 2016 in San Diego, CA. The Soft Skills Assessment Service measures and analyzes student progress towards meeting program learning objectives, and aids in facilitating accreditation by demonstrating continuous improvement processes. The service enables broad learning outcome benefits for academic administrators: Improving Learning Outcomes - Provides metric-based analysis and reports to enable continuous improvement of learning outcomes. Increasing Quality/Efficiency - Aids in the development of standards, measurement and processes for increased quality and efficiency. Facilitating Accreditation - Insures your institution practices are consistent with accreditation guidelines and educational policy. Eliminating Time Consuming and Laborious Tasks - We do the work, taking the pain out of assessment preparation and execution. Soft Skills are critical and increasingly required in todays complex, fast changing academic and professional environments. YouSeeUs online platform enables students to complete video-based assignments to learn, practice and demonstrate advanced thinking, as well as develop organizational and communication skills to achieve desired results. Were excited to offer our new assessment service to improve outcomes and ultimately facilitate accreditation, said Dr. Jeff Lewis, Chief Learning Officer. Application of YouSeeU for analysis and reporting fills an academic need that enables substantial learning outcome measurement and provides actionable data for your program directors. The Soft Skills Assessment Service is an important addition to our platform, enabling institutions to help students learn critical soft skills, and help academic leaders measure performance and improve programs, added Jay Dokter, YouSeeU CEO. Visit the YouSeeU booth at Higher Learning (HLC) Annual Conference to learn more. View sample Soft Skills Assessment Reports that show how students were rated against university defined rubrics. Learn how you can benefit from measuring learning outcomes and demonstrate efforts toward continuous learning improvement. To learn more about how YouSeeU can enhance the student and instructor experience within traditional, blended or online courses, visit the website, http://www.youseeu.com. About YouSeeU YouSeeU is an educational technology company providing asynchronous and synchronous environments for soft skills assessment through video-based assignments. Enabling deeper connections between participants, YouSeeU broadens student engagement, improves outcomes and increases retention. A rapidly growing number of higher education institutions around the world are using YouSeeU to enhance teaching and learning through high-engagement activities such as oral communication assessment, spontaneous response Q&A, presentations, and student demonstrations of key skills. To learn more, visit http://www.youseeu.com, or find YouSeeU on Twitter and Facebook. Vistras steady and successful growth is attributed to our great Team Members, sound business practices, fostering meaningful relationships, making a positive difference in our community and knowing our success is dependent upon our clients success. Brian Butler, president of Vistra Communications, LLC, has been named the U.S. Small Business Administrations (SBA) South Florida District 2016 Veteran-Owned Small Business Person of the Year. Butler, a retired army officer, is being recognized for his efforts and achievements in creating and sustaining a successful business, creating jobs and serving our nation as a member of the armed forces. Vistra Communications (Vistra) provides communications strategy and professional solutions to corporate, government and nonprofit clients. Butler is among seven 2016 SBA South Florida Small Business Week Awards Winners and will be honored at the 29th Annual Government Small Business Conference May 5 at the Holiday Inn Tampa Westshore during the keynote luncheon. The conference is one of several around the state being held in conjunction with National Small Business Week May 1-5, 2016. It is both exciting and humbling to receive this award from the SBA, said Butler. This acknowledgement speaks to Vistras philosophy as a whole, which includes our teams dedication to excellence, focus on building client relationships and community involvement. Butler founded Vistra Communications in 2007 after retiring from the Army. The company has nearly 50 team members, each skilled in various backgrounds of communications, marketing and other professional services. Vistra has a proven track record of client success and provides a focused and integrated approach to all projects, designed to affect change and assist clients with reaching their ultimate goals. About Vistra Communications Vistra Communications is a nationally-recognized, full-service, communications strategy and professional solutions agency headquartered in Tampa, Florida providing services across the United States and beyond to corporate, government and nonprofit clients. Vistra is SBA 8(a) Certified and a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB). In addition to its public relations and marketing expertise, Vistra provides a range of program management and consulting services involving training, administrative support, IT solutions, assessments and special reports. For more information about Vistra, please call 813.961.4700 or visit http://www.ConsultVistra.com. ### At a hearing to examine the United Nations response to sexual abuse among peacekeeping forces, U.S. Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed disgust over continued reports of sexual abuse and exploitation (SEA) by peacekeepers and the failure of the United Nations to provide accountability. He suggested the U.S. should consider withholding peacekeeping funds or other forms of assistance when troop-contributing countries fail to punish those responsible for misconduct.If I heard right now that a U.N.peacekeeping mission was going to North Chattanooga today, which is where my wife is, I would be on the first plane out of here to go home and protect her, said Senator Corker. I am disgusted by the actions of U.N. peacekeepers that American taxpayers are paying for, and I hope that somehow well figure out a way to reel this in.The committee heard testimony today from U.S. Department of State officials who oversee U.S. contributions to U.N. peacekeeping missions, a U.N. whistle blower who exposed efforts to silence reporting of peacekeeping abuse allegations, and the Better World Campaign, an arm of the United Nations Foundation that advocates for U.S support of the U.N. The United States currently provides nearly 30 percent of the U.N. peacekeeping budget, which is more than the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council combined. In spite of a 2005 U.N. Secretary General report declaring a zero-tolerance policy for SEA, the U.N. Security Council only recently adopted a resolution that provides more authority to repatriate peacekeeping troops where there is credible evidence of abuse.While the State Department officials pointed to a renewed focus by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to address this ongoing crisis, they described recent steps to improve transparency and accountability regarding abuse allegations as necessary but insufficient to end the impunity.Clearly, given the shocking scale and gravity of the SEA incidents being reported from CAR and other missions, these actions are necessary but by themselves are not sufficient to address the crisis, said U.S. Ambassador Isobel Coleman. The U.N.s recent commitments to greater transparency and accountability must result in a long-overdue sea change that ends impunity. Our work is not done. We continue to make it our highest priority both in New York at the U.N. and bilaterally to see perpetrators held to account and sorely lacking integrity restored to peacekeeping.U.N. whistle blower Miranda Brown, a former official with the U.N. Office of The High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned of structural impediments within the U.N. system that discourage accurate reporting of abuse among peacekeepers and fail to properly protect victims and U.N. staff who take risks to do so. Ms. Browns former supervisor at the U.N., Anders Kompass, was initially suspended pending an investigation after he disclosed to French authorities an internal U.N. report that described shocking allegations of child sexual abuse perpetrated by French peacekeepers in the Central Africa Republic. Ms. Brown, who lost her job following subsequent disclosures regarding Mr. Kompasss treatment, argued recommendations from an expert panel that examined the CAR allegations will fail to adequately address claims of abuse as long as flaws in the reporting mechanisms remain in place.While the U.N. Secretary General has announced an intention to implement the recommendations made by the External CAR Panel and has announced measures for tackling sexual abuse in peacekeeping, these do not address the structural barriers to reporting, nor provide protections for U.N. staff who report wrongdoing by the institution, Ms. Brown said. These measures do not address the U.N. internal accountability for abuse of authority towards staff members. Soldiers provide freedom to me and my family everyday and I want to help them achieve the financial freedom they deserve. Grant Cardone New York Times bestselling author and top sales trainer in the worldGrant Cardonewill be visiting one of the largest military installations in the world, Fort Bragg, on Friday, April 15th. The base is home to the US Army airborne forces and Special forces, as well as U.S. Army Reserve. Cardone will be one of the first civilians to fly onto the base in his own private plane. He will be speaking to troops on behalf of American Dream U, an exclusive organization helping vets and their families transition out of the military by offering live events, monthly meetings, and free online courses. American Dream U gives vets the confidence and desire to start new chapters in their lives, assisting in the creation of robust networks, finding mentors, and providing troops tools to reach desired goals. The live events of American Dream U are where dynamic entrepreneurs and business leaders volunteer their time to help troops thrive in their transition from the military by teaching the steps they need to take to start their own successful business or find their own dream job. Cardone has been a big supporter of U.S. vets having already given free access to his world-class online Sales Training platform, Cardone University. Cardone University features over 1500 video courses on demand and is considered the #1 sales training university in the world. Hundreds of vets have already taken up the offer, which is a $13,200 value. Cardone has already spoken to Colombian military generals in Bogota, troops in Fort Benning, GA, and officials in the Pentagon. He sees a need in todays world to help vets transition back to civilian life. Soldiers provide freedom to me and my family everyday and I want to help them achieve the financial freedom they deserve. Grant Cardone Cardone University is designed to be a valuable tool to help people in practical ways succeed in life. The biggest problem for a soldier transitioning to civilian life is the sudden loss of highly structured leadership in day-to-day activities and living a regimented lifestyle. Grant teaches that to be successful in business you must find the right vehicleor mentorto guide you. 48% of U.S. veterans are unemployed. Everyday 22 vets commit suicide. With over 130,000 U.S. troops transitioning out of the military this coming year, and 2 out of 3 of those vets finding it difficult to transition back to civilian life, any interested U.S. member of the military should visit http://www.cardoneuniversity.com/vets to take advantage of Grant Cardones offer. About Grant Cardone: Grant Cardone is a business strategist, marketing and branding expert, the leading international sales expert in the world and best-selling author of five books. Cardone owns multiple companies; Cardone Training Technologies , Inc., Cardone Group (a software and technology business), Grant Cardone TV (online media network--GrantCardoneTV.com), and Cardone Acquisitions, a national real estate company which currently owns over 3,500 units throughout the United States. Cardone is the world's top sales training expert with the most viewed online sales training site in the world today with over 1500 segments of content used by companies like Ashley, Aflac, All State, Google, MIT, Inside Sales, Udemy, Chrysler, Toyota, Morgan Stanley, T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, Fran Tarkenton Companies and thousands more. You can follow Cardone on Twitter @GrantCardone or visit http://www.GrantCardone.com ---- For further press information on Grant Cardone please contact Vaughn Reynolds: Vaughn Reynolds Public Relations Vaughn(at)GrantCardone(dot)com Cardone Training Technologies, Inc Phone: 310.777.0255 Fax: 310.777.0256 Web: http://www.grantcardone.com I look forward to leading Nellson through its continued evolution while supporting its customers through new product and market expansion efforts. said Jamie Better, Nellson's new CEO Nellson Nutraceutical, the leading full-service nutrition bar and powder provider in North America, announced today that Jamie Better has been named the companys Chief Executive Officer. Better, who has been Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2014, brings to Nellson an extensive track record of senior leadership experience across industries, and is an Operating Partner of Kohlberg & Company, Nellsons majority shareholder. Better stated, I look forward to leading Nellson through its continued evolution while supporting its customers through new product and market expansion efforts. Better assumes this role from Scott Greenwood, Nellsons current Chief Executive Officer, who will remain in an advisory capacity to the Company. Under Greenwoods leadership, Nellson completed two transformative acquisitions and achieved significant growth, positioning the Company as North Americas leading third-party manufacturer and full service provider of high quality nutrition bars, nutritional-powders and healthy snacks. Having substantially completed his objective to transform Nellson, Scott is now pursuing other opportunities. Greenwood commented, I am proud of the accomplishments we have achieved together at Nellson under Kohlbergs ownership. Jamies distinguished track record, together with his strong professional and personal values, make him an outstanding successor to lead Nellson into the future. I wish Jamie and the people of Nellson much continued success in the years to come. Seth H. Hollander, Partner of Kohlberg, commented, On behalf of the Board of Directors of Nellson, I wish to sincerely thank Scott for his distinguished service to the company. Scott was instrumental in building a foundation for sustained growth at Nellson. Hollander continued, As Chairman, Jamie has been the architect of several of Nellsons recent transformational initiatives. As a result of his leadership, Nellson has strengthened its core capabilities and is well-positioned for continued excellence in customer service as well as growth execution. For further information on Nellson and its various products, please visit http://www.nellsonllc.com. Kinetiq, a new division of Quorum Review IRB with a focus on providing consulting and IT services, is proud to announce the completion of its executive leadership team. Im thrilled with the addition of our new leadership, says Cami Gearhart, CEO. Each of our new executives brings the talent and experience needed to keep Kinetiq at the forefront of providing services to the global clinical research community. Mitchell Parrish joins Kinetiq as Vice President of Legal Affairs. Mr. Parrish has served in both in-house and outside counsel roles focused on life sciences and human subject protection; he has been a consultant to the National Cancer Institute and an attorney with the global law firm K&L Gates. Mr. Parrish is a frequent speaker on clinical trial topics and is a published author on regulatory affairs. He is a member of the bar associations in Washington and Oregon, a member of the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society, a Certified IRB Professional and holds Regulatory Affairs Certification. Mr. Parrish will co-present along with Dr. Owen Garrick, CEO of Bridge Clinical, at the ACRP Annual Meeting in a panel session titled Social Media in Clinical Trial Patient Recruitment on Saturday, April 16. James Riddle joins Kinetiq as Vice President of Client Services. Prior to joining Kinetiq, Mr. Riddle served as Assistant Director at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, one of the nations largest independent cancer research centers, and he has over 15 years of experience leading private and academic human subject protection programs. Mr. Riddle has served as a site visitor for the Association for Accreditation of Human Subject Protection Programs, is a faculty member, mentor, and regular speaker for Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research, has served on the Board of the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research and is a Certified IRB Professional. Mr. Riddle will present at the AAHRPP Annual Conference in a breakout session titled Single IRB Review: Retooling Your Staff on Wednesday, April 20. Kyle Maeda has been selected to be the Vice President of Information Technology for Kinetiq. Mr. Maeda brings over 20 years of experience improving the performance of global technology firms. As a senior executive, Mr. Maeda has solved business transformation challenges in multiple industries focusing on global strategy and delivery excellence. Most recently, Mr. Maeda was principal of a cross-industry management consulting practice focused on the innovative use of technology. He also led the global IT team for a Fortune 200 manufacturing firm and provided mergers and acquisitions as well as technology leadership for a Global 1000 wireless carrier. The diverse leadership experience and strategic excellence of these executives will quickly position Kinetiq for growth as a leader in clinical trials consulting and software solutions, said Tom Favillo, President and COO of Quorum. Find out more about Kinetiq services at KinetiqIdeas.com. About Kinetiq Kinetiq is a consulting and technology division of Quorum that delivers innovative solutions to the challenges of human subjects protections and compliance in clinical research. Kinetiq works with clinical researchers, research institutions, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companiesas well as others around the worldto develop contemporary approaches to a changing landscape. Blue Whale Web, the company that has brought IT professionals independent how-to content and breaking industry news through the Petri IT Knowledgebase and Thurrott.com websites, announced that it has acquired IT Unity and NC Communications, which provide content and events for the Microsoft SharePoint and Office 365 community. IT Unity and NC Communications complement and extend the reach of Petri IT Knowledgebase and Thurrott.com, with IT Unity providing how-to articles, training events, industry news, and webinars that help technology professionals solve enterprise collaboration challenges, and NC Communications, in partnership with IT Unity, hosting Europes premier SharePoint and Office 365 conference, Unity Connect. "The acquisition of IT Unity and NC Communications is strategic to the Blue Whale Web portfolio of brands, properties, and communities that continue to demonstrate our commitment to, and support of, the technology professionals that are on the front line of leading business efficiency, knowledge, and collaboration, said Blue Whale Web CEO George Coll. "IT Unity and NC Communications have a track record of delivering the highest caliber content and events for technology professionals," Coll added. George Coll will lead the combined organization, and clients can now leverage the expanded network of the Petri IT Knowledgebase, Thurrott.com, and IT Unity to extend their reach to new audiences. Prior to the acquisition and after successfully leading IT Unity from its inception two years ago, Dan Holme, co-founder and CEO of IT Unity, joined Microsoft as Director of Product Marketing for SharePoint on April 4, 2016. Blue Whale Web wishes him well and looks forward to continuing to work with him as the IT Unity team pursues his vision. Its an exciting time for Blue Whale Web, where the company is focused on being the go-to destination for IT professionals who want to learn new skills and work smarter. IT Unity and NC Communications will continue to serve the SharePoint and Office 365 community, and readers can expect the same quality content from the Petri IT Knowledgebase and Thurrott.com. * * About the Petri IT Knowledgebase As one of the worlds leading IT-related content and community sites, the Petri IT Knowledgebase offers thousands of articles focused on helping IT professionals and system administrators do their jobs faster and more effectively. In addition to having an extensive library of how-to and tutorial content focused on Microsoft Windows, Windows Server, Exchange Server, System Center, Cisco, VMware, and dozens of other IT platforms and technologies, the Petri IT Knowledgebase forums are also a popular online destination for system administrators to network and exchange information with their peers. About IT Unity IT Unity provides technical articles, conferences, news, and webinars that empower the community to maximize the value of SharePoint and Office 365. About NC Communications NC Communications produces Europes premier SharePoint and Office 365 conference, Unity Connect, in collaboration with IT Unity. Upcoming IT Unity and NC Communication events: Unity Connect Online: June 20-23 SEF Unity Connect, Stockholm, Sweden: October 26-28 Unity Connect, Haarlem, Netherlands: November 16-18 About Blue Whale Web LLC Blue Whale Web LLC is an independent, privately held company based in Chicago, IL. Led by CEO George A. Coll, Blue Whale Web LLC is committed to providing the best content and community resources to help IT professionals and tech enthusiasts get the most out of their technology investments. Summit provides the insight and tools needed to overcome todays challenges in order to achieve future successes, said Andrej Suskavcevic. Financial Executives International (FEI), the association of choice for CFOs and other senior-level financial executives, will host the 2016 Financial Leadership Summit Conference from May 22-24 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This annual Summit will provide more than 500 financial executive attendees with an unparalleled, two-day event and an agenda comprised of in-depth presentations delivered by nationally-recognized speakers, tracks designed for public and private company executives, robust networking opportunities, and leadership development. Summit will feature these keynote speakers: James H. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship & Strategy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Josh Linkner, Chief Executive Officer, The Institute of Applied Creativity Kaihan Krippendorff, Founder, Outthinker and Author, Outthink the Competition Sessions at the 2016 Summit will feature more than 35 thought leaders from a wide range of organizations including Vishal Chawla, Managing Principal, Risk Advisory Services, Grant Thornton LLP; Roland Cloutier, VP, Chief Security Officer, ADP; Dr. Ajit Kambil, Global Research Director, CFO Academy at Deloitte; Shawn Panson, U.S. Private Company Services Leader, PwC and Katie Scherping, Chief Financial Officer, Quiznos. Our annual Financial Leadership Summit continues to offer financial executives an opportunity to engage with colleagues and peers while participating in presentations by sought-after thought leaders, said Andrej Suskavcevic, President and CEO of FEI and Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF). Todays financial executives are faced with changes and new challenges every day such as cybersecurity threats and identifying new opportunities for innovation and growth, and this Summit provides the insight and tools needed to overcome todays challenges in order to achieve future successes. Summit will feature key perspectives and guidance on topics such as cybersecurity, global growth, M&A, strategy, technology, data analytics, ethical and compliance issues. Select sessions at this years Summit include: The Road to Reinvention: During this keynote address, Linkner will identify six elements in any business that are ripe for reinvention, including examples, methods, and techniques for creating deliberate, productive disruption. Growth Now: CFO Tales from the Trenches: A panel of CFOs will identify the most pressing issues facing todays financial executives and offer strategies for growth and success. 7 Silent Growth Killers: Learn about the challenges and ideal conditions for the emergence of silent growth killers, and the role CFOs can play in guiding founders and CEOs to develop a Leadership Operating System. Balancing Risk and Opportunity: Improving Your Resilience: Improve resilience and meet challenges by understanding and managing risks effectively. Cybersecurity and the CFO: This Time Its Personal: This panel will review the current threat landscape and offer financial executives guidance to protect themselves, their companies and its customers. The 2016 Financial Leadership Summit will kick-off on Sunday, May 22 with the Annual Business Meeting for all FEI members to attend, followed by Leadership Day. Summit will also offer attendees several networking events, including a welcome reception on Sunday evening and a networking reception in the exhibit hall on Monday, May 23. To register for FEIs 2016 Financial Leadership Summit, or for additional information outlining the entire list of events please visit: summit.financialexecutives.org. About FEI Financial Executives International (FEI) is the leading advocate for the views of corporate financial management. Its more than 10,000 members hold policy-making positions as chief financial officers, treasurers and controllers at companies from every major industry. FEI enhances member professional development through peer networking, career management services, conferences, research and publications. Members participate in the activities of 74 chapters in the U.S. and a chapter in Japan. FEI is located in Morristown, NJ, and Washington, D.C. Visit http://www.financialexecutives.org for more information. Media Contacts: Dena Williams Crimson Communicates 917.817.5633 dena(at)crimsoncommunicates(dot)com Lili DeVita FEI 973.765.1021 ldevita(at)financialexecutives(dot)org ### Travel App Connects Locals and Explorers for Memorable Experiences New Orleanians are extremely passionate about this city, and showing it to people our way. I cant think of a better way to make extra money than being able to meet people from around the world, and show them what I already know and love. FUHWE (pronounced fa-we) will offer hundreds of thousands of tourists gathering in the Big Easy in late April the opportunity to explore like a local from their iOS devices, and New Orleanians a chance to monetize their passions. The travel app will launch just in time for the the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and national tech summit Collision, being held in New Orleans for the first time April 26 - 28. FUHWE is the brainchild of Grenada citizens, Patricia Maher and Shawn Louis, whose fiery passion for travel and connecting with locals inspired them to create a better way to explore destinations. The entrepreneurs won the top prize at New Orleans Startup Weekend in October 2015. The name is a Caribbean expression meaning for us, and its logo is a pineapple, a universal symbol of hospitality and warm greetings. When we came to New Orleans it instantly felt like home, and we knew it was the right city to launch our app. Its no wonder many say New Orleans is the northernmost Caribbean city, said Co-Founder Patricia Maher. That palpable hospitality is whats going to drive FUHWE. New Orleanians are extremely passionate about this city, and showing it to people our way. said one of the first enlisted FUHWE local hosts, Melissa Rekic. When I heard about FUHWE at Startup Weekend, I applied to be a local host right away. I cant think of a better way to make extra money than being able to meet people from around the world, and show them what I already know and love. FUHWE founders not only want to create authentic, safe, local experiences, but to contribute to the sustainability of destinations. By enlisting locals to create unique experiences that utilize their passions, interests and knowledge, money will stay closer to home. "Some of my favorite experiences in New Orleans involve trying out the restaurants. I love to support local businesses and to experience the city's unique culture, cuisine, and hospitality, said Trich Lee, Loyola student and FUHWE partner. The app will be available for free download on iOS at its launch in late April, and later this year on Android devices. FUHWEs hope is to offer hospitality, sustainability, and authentic local experiences in cities all around the world. FUHWE encourages locals and explorers to share their unique perspective of New Orleans with the world through using the hashtag #ExploreLikeALocal on social media. Apply to be a local host or learn more at fuhwe.com. Find FUHWE on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. About FUHWE FUHWE is a mobile app and travel website with a mission to enrich cities and travel by connecting explorers with locals to create unparalleled, memorable experiences. The business was incorporated by Patricia Maher and Shawn Louis in December 2015, and will launch in New Orleans, La. in spring 2016. FUHWE won New Orleans Startup Weekend in October 2015, was chosen for the Collision Alpha Program in 2016, and selected to participate in the Silicon Bayou Startup Showcase during New Orleans Entrepreneur Week in 2016. To learn more about FUHWE, visit fuhwe.com, or find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. #ExploreLikeALocal Rational Interaction Ranks No. 3 on Puget Sound Business Journals Top Advertising Agencies List. Rational Interaction, an integrated digital agency based in Seattle, was recently ranked No. 3 on the Puget Sound Business Journals Top Advertising Agencies list, a comprehensive ranking of the Puget Sound regions top advertising agencies by 2015 revenue. Rational Interaction, founded in 2009, provides its clients with integrated, immersive digital experiences and campaigns through a deep expertise in digital and technical mediums. The Seattle-based agency has experienced impressive advances in the advertising space, growing over 2100 percent from 2012 to 2015. We are honored to be recognized as one of the top advertising agencies in the region, said Selina Petosa, founding principal, chief creative officer at Rational Interaction. This recognition is a result of the perseverance and dedication of our team and is further proof of the excellent partnerships weve established with our clients. Rational Interactions No. 3 placement on this years Top Advertising Agencies list is a vast improvement over its No. 12 ranking on the 2015 list, showcasing the continued growth of the agency. Rational Interaction was also included in the Puget Sound Business Journals 2015 Best Workplaces, as well as its Fastest-Growing Private Companies list for 2013, and 2014. Selina and I couldnt be prouder of our team and the extraordinary growth weve seen over the past seven years, added Joseph Debons, executive managing partner at Rational Interaction. Were looking forward to seeing where the next seven years, and beyond, take us as we continue to deliver strategy-driven results for our clients. In addition to Puget Sound Business Journals recognition, the agency was recently ranked on Entrepreneurs Top Company Cultures list, a comprehensive ranking of high-performance cultures in U.S. businesses, and the Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nations fastest-growing private companies. The Puget Sound Business Journal list, presenting a total of 25 companies, is available on Puget Sound Business Journals online website at http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news. The rankings for companies on the list were determined by information obtained from firm representatives and Hoovers, a third-party database. To view Rational Interaction in the full ranking, visit http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/subscriber-only/2016/04/08/advertising-agencies.html. About Rational Interaction Rational is a new kind of full-service, integrated agency with proven ability to deliver across digital, technical and consulting engagements throughout the enterprise. We are strategically focused, results driven and customer obsessed. Our award-winning digital practice brings clients business goals to life through engaging brand experiences that raise awareness, inspire discovery and drive adoption. Rationals technical services practice combines user interface and design best practices together with deep, back-end expertise across in-house and cloud-based platforms to deliver elegant, scalable technical solutions. Whether through short-term discrete projects or longer-term engagements, Rationals consulting practice helps clients tackle their toughest ongoing challenges across marketing, operations, engineering and IT. Based in Seattle, Washington, Rationals clients consist of some of the worlds biggest brands including: Microsoft, Amazon, Acer, AT&T, Cisco, Expedia, Google, The Seattle Seahawks and more. For more information, please visit http://www.rationalagency.com. Allan Pavlick (left), vice president of Stertil ALM congratulated by Streator Mayor, Jimmy Lansford (right) Stertil ALM produces the highest quality products in the heavy duty lifting industry, all while providing outstanding business and employment opportunities in the region. Its a win-win one for the people of Streator and the other for our customers. Heavy duty vehicle lift leader, Stertil-Koni, a brand of the Stertil Group, today announced that its U.S. production facility located in Streator, Illinois, Stertil ALM, has been honored with the Manufacturing/Industry award from the Streator Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The award, which represents the second time Stertil ALM has received this accolade, was presented at a gala dinner recently, hosted by the Chamber and attended by the Mayor of Streator, Jimmy Lansford. Stertil ALM is an outstanding business in our community and we are very pleased to recognize their contributions, said Jack Dzuris, the executive director of the Streator Area Chamber of Commerce. Dzuris commended the company for providing years of steady employment. In fact, Stertil ALM is the areas third largest employer. The company also regularly brings in visitors from North America and Europe to get hands-on with its equipment and receive training on the broad range of heavy duty vehicle lifts produced in Streator. In turn, these guests help support and stimulate the local economy. Its all about being a good neighbor and giving back. In fact, over the past few years, Stertil ALM has undergone a major expansion, purchasing 4.8 acres of land and adding 36,000 square feet of work space. About 20 jobs have been added. The company previously won the Manufacturing/Industry award from the Chamber in 2012. Noted Allan Pavlick, vice president of Stertil ALM, This is a great community to work in. We are proud to be recognized for excellence by our host community. Added Dr. Jean DellAmore, president of Stertil-Koni USA, Inc., Stertil ALM produces the highest quality products in the heavy duty lifting industry, all while providing outstanding business and employment opportunities in the region. Its a win-win one for the people of Streator and the other for our customers. About Stertil-Koni Stertil-Koni, a brand of the Stertil Group, is the global market leader in heavy duty vehicle lifts bus lifts and truck lifts and is the preferred supplier to the worlds leading companies in the truck and bus industries. Stertil-Koni's breadth of products meets all ranges of lifting needs and includes mobile column lifts, two-post, four-post, in-ground piston lifts, platform lifts, half-scissors and its innovative axle-engaging, in-ground, scissor lift configuration, ECOLIFT. Stertil-Koni is also installing DIAMOND LIFT across North America, a full rise telescopic piston lift designed to set new standards in precision heavy duty lifting. The DIAMOND LIFT is now also available in a frame, version, engineered specifically for concrete foundations and ideal for replacement situations. Stertil-Koni USA is headquartered in Stevensville, Maryland. Stertil-Koni has production facilities in Europe, in The Netherlands, and in the USA in Streator, Illinois. Had a great time! GREAT program, love to sponsor one in Utah! Judy Edwards, Inventor of the Squatty Potty and Shark Tank Contestant Make48 started in 2015 out of a small production lab in Kansas City, Missouri; a year later it is heading to a world renowned museum. The next event will be held June 10th-12th, 2016 at the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. Not only is this competition heading to a city full of history and inspiration, but the the winner of this competition will win the biggest prize in Make48 history. Make48 is a competition fostering innovation and invention for everyday trailblazers. Teams have 48-hours to plan, prototype, and pitch an idea for prizes and licensing potential. Only 15 teams will be chosen for this special event. VIPs, sponsors, and teams will all be hand selected for this ingenious, themed event. Speakers from all around the United States will share their insight on inventing products, being entrepreneurs, and more. The Make48 team is bringing in some of the big brands to get involved in this competition as well. Shark Tank contestants like Aaron Krause of Scrub Daddy, and Judy Edwards of the Squatty Potty, will be also attending this year. With nationally known names and brands coming to Make48, it is not only an invention competition, but a networking event as well. Teams will get to meet inspiring entrepreneurs that have been in their shoes before, and share their journeys with them. The Make48 team is also pitching to PBS and fielding queries to bring the event worldwide. It will show the process of taking the winning products all the way to marketa process many dream about but dont know how to complete. About The Make48 competition was created by Curt McMillan, Rich Brull, Tom Gray, and Bob Coulston in 2015 to give inventors a way to compete and create state-of-the-art products. Visit the Make48 website, Twitter, and Facebook for more information. The Lemelson Center engages, educates, and empowers the public to participate in technological, economic, and social change. Through historical research, educational initiatives, exhibitions, and public programming the Lemelson Center advances new perspectives on invention and innovation and fosters interactions between the public and inventors. For more information, visit http://invention.si.edu. The strengthened workforce of T2 and broader skill-set, is providing our clients with a larger knowledge base and giving them access to more innovative and integrated solutions, expert consultants and value added partners than ever before. T2 Technology Group, LLC announced today recent additions to the companys team to meet the needs of their growing portfolio of regional and national accounts. Sr. Storage Architect, Steve Rieger and Systems Engineer, Adam Utt have joined T2 to provide innovative customer solutions as T2 capitalizes on recent project success with Verity Health System and Sharp Healthcare. Managing Partner Kevin Torf said, The strengthened workforce of T2 and broader skill-set, is providing our clients with a larger knowledge base and giving them access to more innovative and integrated solutions, expert consultants and value added partners than ever before. Steve Rieger comes to T2 as a Sr. Storage Architect with over 20 years of experience in storage strategy, design and implementation. Steve started his career as a Medic with the United States Air Force and then began working with some of the largest companies in the US, including The New York Stock Exchange, Edison, TBWA/Chiat/Day, TicketMaster, Edison, NASA, and Amgen, where he provided strategic value in storage strategies, technologies, and implementations. Steve holds multiple certifications in leading technologies around storage, database, server, networking and hypervisors. With his incredible background and skills, Steve will be a valuable asset to T2 clients and provide forward looking solutions that add value to an organizations IT. Adam Utt joins T2 as a Systems Engineer with 7 years of experience in information technology and expertise in core services and VMWares suite of products. With a solid background in security and multiple certifications in Microsoft, Adam understands core services and what is required to operate large IT infrastructures. Adam has worked in a variety of roles with some of the most prestigious organizations, including: systems design, systems administration, application deployment, and network configuration. Adam is well-versed in healthcare, finance, and government regulations and will be a great asset to T2 clients that require high security measures and high-availability implementations. In addition to these new hires, T2 has several other opportunities available listed on their website. Careers are listed at http://www.t2techgroup.com/careers/ About T2 Technology Group T2 Technology Group provides management advisory services and technology consulting expertise to executives and IT leadership. Because we have no financial interest in vendor selection, our consulting services focus entirely on strategic and ongoing operational value. We advocate for our clients, and we approach each project without bias, just solid, proven expertise. Our depth and breadth of knowledge in both technology and talent will increase operational efficiency and ensure the highest quality of results. Learn more at http://www.t2techgroup.com. Ivy Academy will host the annual Cumberland Trail Spring Festival on its campus, adjacent the North Chickamauga Creek Gorge, 8520 Dayton Pike in Soddy-Daisy, on Saturday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. "The Cumberland Trail State Park staff provides Ivy Academy very generous support throughout the year, and the school looks forward to partnering with them by hosting the festival annually, beginning with this year. This is an event for the whole family," officials said. Guided hikes will be held throughout the day in the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy, in addition to interpretive programs held by Tennessee State Parks. Activities will include: wildflower and historical hikes, Native American demonstrations, nature scavenger hunts in the gorge, plant sales by Trailhead Nursery and Ivy Academy, a display by the Soddy, Daisy, and Montlake Historical Association, invasive plant basket weaving, live music by Flatlands Jump, food vendors, craft vendors, and a silent auction. All proceeds benefit Ivy Academy and The Cumberland Trail State Park. Ariana's nonprofit distributed 500 backpacks to elementary school students last year. Crowdster has helped us reach a wider audience far beyond our local community and current donor base. Fifteen-year-old Ariana DeMattei is the type of person who notices when others are in need. She recognized the economic inequities in her Westhampton, New York school district and decided to help level the playing field. In 2012, she founded Backpacks for Fellow Students (BFFS), which supplies free backpacks full of required school supplies to those local students who are most in need. BFFS was originally intended to fulfill a year-long community service requirement; however, after witnessing the huge positive impact, Ariana wanted to keep it going.and growing. The need didnt stop, so why should I? BFFS became a 501(c)(3) in 2015, which has opened doors to many new opportunities. They can now use Crowdsters digital fundraising platform for their two major fundraisers: an annual appeal and an autumn 5k run that draws big-name sponsors like Jimmy Buffetts Margaritaville. Arianas mother, Nancy DeMattei, who serves as President of BFFS, said that the platform gives them greater credibility and a more professional approach. She considers Crowdster a key component of their expansion plans: The East End of Long Island has a limited pool of fundraising opportunities. Crowdster has helped us reach a wider audience far beyond our local community and current donor base through their easy-to-use platform, their integrated email and social media marketing, and their helpful management team. The Crowdster team met Ariana at Philanthropy Day 2015, where she was being honored by the Long Island chapter of the Association for Fundraising Professionals as a Leader of Tomorrow. Her poise and conviction instantly made a great impression, and Crowdster is thrilled to help take her efforts to the next level. In its first year of operations, BFFS supplied 150 backpacks to students at a single elementary school. Just three years later, they branched out to three elementary schools and provided 500 backpacks. Ariana wants to keep up this momentum and eventually go national so that many more children, no matter what their socio-economic situation, can compete with their peers and achieve academic excellence. "Through BFFS I have seen many lives change for the better, and I am so grateful to those who have joined me on this journey. By yourself you can do incredible things, but when you have the support of people around you, you can do anything." ARIANA DEMATTEI To donate to Arianas campaign, click here. To learn more about how Crowdster can help your nonprofit grow, click here. Gensuite Mexico New Location Gensuite Mexico will be able to provide better services to its customers by having a completely different work space. Gensuite is pleased to announce that its Mexico team will be moving to a new location. Team Mexicos office move on July 1, 2016 will aid in integrating the companys growth strategy by increasing its global presence and support to Gensuite subscribers in Latin America. After experiencing significant growth within the past five years, the Mexico Gensuite team was looking to relocate to an office that better suited their growing needs. The new office space is situated in a prominent commercial business area of the city, which will increase company visibility and help to introduce the Gensuite brand to the local market. Gensuite Mexico will be able to provide better services to its customers by having a completely different work space, said Cyntia Padilla, Gensuite Mexicos Lead Operations Specialist. The team will now be able to continue hiring determined individuals who can focus on providing the best user experience possible for Gensuite subscribers. We are very excited for this new transition! The new office amenities include private rooms for customer meetings, small meeting rooms, and a large conference room. The new space will also provide the Mexico Gensuite team with a more secure location, ensuring employee and visitor safety. The new location is one example of how Gensuite will continue its outreach initiatives throughout 2016 to expand to new markets and subscribers in the region. Gensuite LLC is the exclusive world-wide licensee and service provider for Gensuite, a suite of award-winning, integrated Web applications enabling compliance, operational excellence and risk management. As a result of over 15 years of Six Sigma digitization innovation, Gensuite now consists of over 60 modules spanning the entire EHS spectrum. Gensuite provides program support for EHS, Sustainability, Quality, Security/Crisis Management, Responsible Sourcing, and Product Compliance. All modules are developed on the same innovative and patented architecture, providing an intuitive interface, real-time trending & analytics, and mobile capabilities. The mission of Gensuite LLC is to be the turnkey partner for compatible subscribers of the Gensuite platform, with services spanning hosting, maintenance, support, customization, implementation & strategy consulting and continuous product evolution. Kite Power Solutions Dumfries and Galloway-based renewable energy consultant Natural Power has been appointed by Kite Power Solutions (KPS) to support proposals for consenting a test and development site at RAF West Freugh (now operated by QinetiQ), near Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Founded in 2011, KPS was established to develop a deep water wind energy technology that can be deployed anywhere in the world at a cost that is able to compete with the lowest cost fossil fuel energy systems. KPS has already designed, built and demonstrated a 40kW proof of concept system, regularly flying at its current base, Bradwell-On-Sea Airfield in Essex. A 500kW pre-commercial demonstration system has also been designed. Once the company has secured the required 5.5m investment, the next phase of development will commence, and this includes relocation to the West Freugh site which already has controlled airspace status, and will enable testing of the kites at heights up to 500m. By 2021 KPS intends to have its 500kW system available for commercial sale, and will have deployed a floating 3MW system. The West Freugh location was selected after extensive consultation with the Civil Aviation Authority. A rolling five year lease for the demonstration test site was signed in February 2016, with first kite system flying on the site expected in April 2017. Oil major Royal Dutch Shell and the UKs Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have supported the 3m development so far. In February 2016, a KPS led consortium was awarded a 1M InnovateUK Energy Catalyst grant towards the West Freugh development. Euan Hutchison, Natural Powers Principal Consultant Planning and Development Services, said: This is an exciting and innovative technology, which has the potential to bring significant community benefits to the area, including employment and investment, should permission be granted. Our ecologists are already on the ground at West Freugh to determine a plan of action for mitigating any risks to local wildlife, and we are keen to engage with local stakeholders to help bring this exciting development to fruition. KPS currently employs a team of ten skilled professionals including experts in aeronautics, neural network software, mechanical engineers, atmospheric physics and sail makers, and this is expected to increase to 19 by the end of 2016, and further to 39 by 2018. David Ainsworth, Business Development Director, at KPS said: With Natural Powers extensive experience in the wind energy sector and its demonstrated ability to support other innovative renewable energy technologies, Natural Power was the obvious choice to support us with the West Freugh project. So far we have been overwhelmed by the warm reception we have received for our plans in Dumfries and Galloway. The whole team is looking forward to relocating to this beautiful area of Scotland and developing this world changing technology in this tremendous environment. KPS how it works The ambition is to harvest the strong, reliable winds found offshore by tethering two kites to each mooring to capture the wind. Each kite flies in a figure of eight, drawing out the tether and generating power at the winch. When it has reached its maximum height likely to be 450m the kite switches to a hover-like mode, where there is little stress on the tether and it can be winched back in ready for the next run, using just a fraction of the power already generated. Power is delivered continuously because one kite is generating as the other is winched in. Ultimately, the plan is to have scores of kites flying in formation, all automatically controlled using custom-made software. The kites at full-scale will be 40m wide with 2-3MW capacity, about the same as a 100m-tall conventional turbine. So far, KPS have tested prototypes of 7m span rated at 40kW. ENDS About Natural Power Established in the mid 1990s, Natural Power is a leading independent renewable energy consultancy and products provider. The company offers proactive and integrated consultancy, management and due diligence services, backed by an innovative product range, across the onshore wind, offshore wind, wave, tidal, renewable heat, solar pv and hydro sectors, whilst maintaining a strong outlook on other new and emerging renewable energy sectors. http://www.naturalpower.com https://twitter.com/Natural_Power https://www.linkedin.com/company/natural-power Contact details: Jane Maher PR and Media Natural Power T: 07887 995 589 E: janem(at)naturalpower.com http://www.naturalpower.com https://twitter.com/Natural_Power About Kite Power Solutions Kite Power Solutions Ltd, based in Burnham-in-Crouch (Essex), was founded in 2011. To date, the company has invested over 3m in technology development, with financial support from DECC, Royal Dutch Shells Gamechanger and Pathfinder programmes and private investors. KPS has a 40 kW twin kite development system operating in Essex. http://www.kitepowersolutions.com https://twitter.com/KitePowerLtd https://www.linkedin.com/company/kite-power-solutions-ltd Contact details: David Ainsworth Business Development Director Kite Power Solutions Ltd T: 07966 937146 E: dainswort(at)aol.com LegalWorks has been developed from the ground-up to meet the specific needs of lawyers and law firms. Uptime Legal, the leading provider of Cloud Services to small and mid-sized law firms, today announced significant enhancements to LegalWorks, its web-based Document and Email Management software. The enhancements included in the new release are far-reaching, and promise to help law firms practice better. Exclusively Legal LegalWorks is very different from other web-based Document & Email Management systems. The software has been developed specifically to meet the needs and challenges faced by lawyers and law firms. No more adapting to generic software design and LegalWorks is supported by a professional staff that understands the unique requirements of legal professionals. New in LegalWorks LegalWorks is filled with enhancements. New features include: 1. Microsoft Office Integration A new Microsoft Office add-in allows users to browse matters and save documents directly from Word without leaving the application. 2. Local Sync + Offline File Access Synchronize firm and matter documents with local computers, providing offline access to all of your firm's documents. 3. Enhanced Search The new advanced search allows users to search, filter, and sort documents by any field or tag across the entire LegalWorks database. 4. Enhanced Email Management Filter and search matters directly from Outlook with the new Outlook Add-In. 5. Personalized Document Management The new My Favorite Docs and My Relevant Docs allows each user to quickly access documents used most often, along with quick access to recently edited or checked out files. 6. New Simplified Interface Easy to navigate, LegalWorks is intuitive and uncluttered. LegalWorks also includes Exchange email, eliminating the need for outside services and coordination. Email accounts and management for every user in the firm are included, eliminating yet another service and support vendor. About Uptime Legal Systems Uptime Legal is the creator and leading provider of Law Practice as a Service (LPaaS) for small and mid-sized law firms. Named an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Company in 2014 and 2015, Uptime Legal is committed to helping lawyers practice better by providing unparalleled services and innovative cloud-based solutions that solve real-world challenges for law firms and legal professionals. Uptime Legal is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Learn more at uptimeLEGAL.com. Investors measure the quality of early-stage startups by the strength of their team and the Income& team is a real differentiator. Income&, a marketplace investment platform based in San Francisco, presented as finalists at the high-profile PitchIt @ LendIt USA 2016 that took place on April 11-12 in San Francisco, CA. After over 90 companies entered for the chance to present at the competition, Income& was one of just eight to be selected as a finalist. LendIt, the largest conference series in the industry, opened its doors to over 3,500 attendees including investors, businesses and service providers from over 20 countries to LendIt USA 2016 to meet, network and do business. PitchIt provides a stage for startups in the lending space to showcase their products and services in front of a live audience and an elite panel of judges on the conferences main stage. The 2016 panel included: Frank Rotman, QED Investors; David Weiden, Khosla Ventures; Nick Shalek, Ribbit Capital; and Chris Bishko, Omidyar Technology Ventures. Led by CEO Brad Walker and a team of accomplished financial services and technology veterans, Income& is the innovator behind the PRIMOTM or Prime-Rated Individual Mortgage-backed Obligation, a low-risk, superior-yielding fixed income product backed by high-quality, prime-rated mortgages. Unlike traditional fixed-income options, PRIMOs seek yields of 6% or better and a level of transparency and customization that has never before existed. Using Income&s next-generation platform, a portfolio of PRIMOs can be selected in one simple click or customized based on preferences for geography, risk, or desired yield. With the invention of the PRIMO, Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and accredited investors will have access to something previously available only to hedge funds and investment banks. In December 2015, Income& announced its success in raising $2.9 million in combined seed funding and capital committed to support company operations. In March 2016, Income& made the final round in SXSWs marquee startup competition in the Payment and FinTech category. Each PitchIt finalist was matched with a mentor to advise the company in preparing their presentation, refining their pitch and providing ongoing support. Michael Gilroy, an Early Stage Venture Investor at Canaan Partners, a prestigious global venture capital firm, chose to mentor Income&. Speaking at the conference, Michael Gilroy said, At Canaan Partners, we closely follow trends in marketplace lending and investing. Remarkably, the retail space is currently a massively untapped capital source. At LendIt, Income& presented an exciting fixed income product focused on this channel. I was excited to come on board as their mentor. Investors measure the quality of early-stage startups by the strength of their team and the Income& team is a real differentiator, Gilroy added. Income& CEO Brad Walker said, As an online investment marketplace, it is an honor for Income& to present at PitchIt @ LendIt, the highest-profile event for a startup in this space. With ten thousand baby boomers turning 65 every day, millions of Americans are desperate for the safety of a low-risk, fixed-income product with superior returns. By presenting at this extraordinary event, our solution to this growing need was recognized. We would like to thank LendIt for the incredible opportunity to present our breakthrough financial product and platform to the esteemed panel of judges, and all of our industry peers. Walker added. PitchIt @ LendIt was open to all high-growth startups developing lending-related innovation, founded between 2014 and 2016. Commenting on the competition, Chair of PitchIt @ LendIt 2016, Kiran Lingam said: This year we received over 90 really impressive applications, making it particularly challenging for the judges to narrow it down to the final eight. Income&s model immediately stood out. We were delighted to have them as a finalist at PitchIt 2016 and I am excited to watch the launch of their compelling product, Lingam added. ### Income& CEO Brad Walker is available for interview. Media Contact: David Wachsman // Wachsman PR 212-835-2511 // david(at)wachsmanpr(dot)com About Income&: Income& (http://www.incomeand.com) is a San Francisco-based financial technology company focused on redefining the fixed-income marketplace. Todays traditional fixed-income options feature either frustratingly low yields or exceedingly high risk. Thats why Income& invented the PRIMO, a new type of fixed-income investment that is simple, transparent, and soon available to everyone. With higher yields and lower risk, PRIMOs are revolutionizing the marketplace and raising the bar for fixed-income investing. For more information on Income&, visit http://www.incomeand.com or @incomeandtech on Twitter. About LendIt LendIt is the largest conference series dedicated to connecting the global online lending community. The conferences bring together the leading lending platforms, investors, and service providers in the industry for unparalleled educational, networking, and business development opportunities. LendIt hosts three conferences annually: the flagship conference in the United StatesLendIt USA, LendIt Europe in London, and LendIt China in Shanghai. For more information on PitchIt @ LendIt, visit http://www.lendit.com/usa/2016/pitchit The addition of support for Eddystone-EID to the BlueCats platform means that companies have more opportunities for creativity than ever before without concerns for security with a lower barrier to entry in order to see results now BlueCats, a spatial intelligence platform that bridges the physical and digital divide to reveal untapped business opportunities, today announced backwards compatible support for Eddystone, an open beacon format that supports Android and iOS devices. Working in collaboration with Google, BlueCats beacons and services will also take full advantage of the new privacy and security that Eddystone Ephemeral Identifiers (EIDs) provide. Eddystone-EIDs are designed for scenarios where businesses that deploy beacons want to manage access to the beacon signal for privacy- and security-sensitive applications. By now offering BlueCats customers beacons with support for Eddystone-EID, users can manage access to their beacons for use cases where security is paramount. For years, BlueCats has been singularly focused on enabling our enterprise clients to scale BLE Proximity networks securely, facilitating collaboration between forward-thinking companies so they can realize incredible mobile experiences for their users across these networks, said Kurt Nehrenz, Vice President of Technology at BlueCats. The addition of support for Eddystone-EID to the BlueCats platform means that companies have more opportunities for creativity than ever before without concerns for security with a lower barrier to entry in order to see results now, and greater flexibility in the future. Eddystone-EID uses rotating ephemeral identifiers to broadcast a more secure beacon signal, which helps prevent spoofing, malicious asset tracking, replay attacks, or any unpermitted access. Imagine a customer pushing their regular breakfast order to the kitchen as they approach their local cafe, pay for it with frequent flyer points via their preferred banking app, and access premium streaming content while they sit and enjoy the start to the day. Customers, merchants, banks, loyalty and content providers all benefit, and agree to collaborate to exchange information and items of tangible value because everyone trusts that the location is valid. Alternately, imagine a hospital patient wearing a beacon. With proper consent and opt-in, their location can be securely monitored from room to room within the facility, pressing a button on the beacon can signal distress, and an accelerometer can be used for fall detection. Facilities concerns about wandering patients are alleviated, and response time to an incident can be drastically reduced. These examples of seamless experiences involve organizations with sensitive data and systems that require absolute assurance of network security and stability, a consistent experience across all platforms, and the network flexibility to operate effectively within an ecosphere of existing systems. BlueCats is now taking pre-orders for its new beacons, shipping in May, with full support for Eddystone-EID. The addition of Eddystone-EID support enables customers to securely control access to their information while the beacon prevents against potential attacks by malicious external parties. All BlueCats beacons will continue to offer backwards compatible support for Eddystone-EID. To pre-order your Eddystone-EID compatible beacons and put BlueCats to work for you, please visit http://bluecats.com. About BlueCats: BlueCats is a spatial intelligence platform. We bridge the physical and digital divide to reveal untapped business opportunities. Using the worlds most advanced beacons and our innovative software, we make sense of the dynamics within physical spaces to help anyone optimize their business from operations to sales and marketing. Put BlueCats to work at http://bluecats.com. Example unisex bathroom trailer layout for transgender community and others. How do we allow transgender people to use public facilities, while maintaining a safe environment for women and children? To be honest, its a simple answer... unisex bathroom and shower trailer units. North Carolina is drawing national attention after passing House Bill 2 (HB2), which some are calling the Bathroom Bill. A direct response to block Charlotte, North Carolinas ordinance expanding antidiscrimination laws to places of public accommodation, the southern state is under fire from LGBT activists, celebrities, Fortune 500 companies, and more. Located in Charlotte, Portable Restroom Trailers, LLC aims to provide a sensible solution for both sides of the argument. They are expanding their inventory of unisex bathroom and shower trailer units and are embarking on a marketing campaign to educate customers on the individual privacy and safety these units provide. Its amazing to see how much controversy our state has sparked recently, says Portable Restroom Trailers, LLCs Operations Manager, Teri Pahon. While much of the media coverage has been focused on Charlottes local ordinance and North Carolinas response, this is a conversation thats occurring in cities around the country; we hear it every day from customers. How do we allow transgender people to use public facilities, while maintaining a safe environment for women and children? To be honest, its a simple answerand we want to make sure municipalities, venue locations, and other organizations know about the options available to them. We have a wide selection of unisex bathroom and shower trailer units that feature private stalls for men, women, or transgender persons. They can be used as a permanent solution or a temporary facility and they are truly the most cost effective way to appease both sides of the debate while offering clean, sanitary facilities to all. We are working hard to get the word out and foster a conversation that educates people there is already a solution available that bridges the gap. While many are referring to NC HB2 as the Bathroom Bill, the legislation affects more than just restroom facilities. In fact, its become such a big deal, a federal lawsuit has been filed challenging the constitutionality of the law. North Carolina is losing revenue fast as national corporations, musicians, and others pull out of the state in protest. PayPal made news on April 5, 2016 by halting plans to build a new global operations center in Charlotte that would have created 400 new jobs. Conferences are cancelling left and right, prompting the North Carolina Tourism Board to reach out to them personally. And most recently, Bruce Springsteen cancelled a concert in Greensboro on April 8, 2016. Things have gotten so bad, Governor McCory has tried to backtrack on the legislation-but refuses to budget on the transgender bathroom argument. Portable Restroom Trailers, LLC is responding to the debate with education. The national provider of portable restroom trailers and shower trailers is embarking on a new marketing campaign to raise awareness about unisex bathrooms and unisex shower trailers. These products offer a thoughtful solution to the problem by providing private stalls that are all inclusive to everyone. Unisex bathroom and shower trailer units are also an ideal option because they can be used as a temporary facility or a permanent solution. This is particularly important for municipalities or locations that need to move restrooms from place to place or those that just want something short-term until lawmakers can come to an agreement. Portable Restroom Trailers is planning to raise awareness of their unisex facilities and foster an open conversation about transgender bathrooms through social media, blogging, and other content development. For more information about Portable Restroom Trailers, LLC and unisex restrooms and shower trailers, please contact Portable Restroom Trailers Operations Manager, Teri Pahon at 877-600-8645 or Teri(at)PortableRestroomTrailers(dot)com. About North Carolina House Bill 2 and the Bathroom Bill History: The most recent conversation regarding transgender people and public restrooms started up after February 22, 2016, when Charlotte, North Carolina passed a city-wide ordinance expanding the states antidiscrimination laws so that LGBT people would also be granted protection in places of public accommodation. Set to go into effect on April 1, 2016, part of the ordinance would allow transgender people to use bathrooms of the gender they identify as. In direct response, North Carolinas General Assembly proposed and passed House Bill 2 (HB2) at a special session on March 23, 2015. Also known as the bathroom bill, Gov. Pat McCrory signed the bill into law the same day. Under North Carolina House Bill 2, Charlottes ordinance was repealed. In effect, HB2 made the state law on antidiscrimination the final word. This meant it only protected from discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, color, age, biological sex and handicaps. Cities and local governments were blocked from expanding employment or public accommodations protections to others. About Portable Restroom Trailers, LLC: Founded in 2007, Portable Restroom Trailers, LLC has offices nationwide. The company specializes in equipment and services related to portable restrooms. Offering the best in mobile bathroom solutions, Portable Restroom Trailers, LLC recently expanded from nationwide to international sales. A one-stop shop for portable restrooms of all shapes, sizes, designs, and functions, Portable Restroom Trailers, LLC is committed to exceptional customer service and the best restroom sanitation facilities available. The company carriers a variety of trailer lines to serve a wide range of price points, and they offer short term rentals, long term rentals, lease-to-own financing, and outright purchase of new or used trailers. Contact Portable Restroom Trailers, LLC today to secure the perfect portable restroom trailer for your event or location. For more information, visit http://www.PortableRestroomTrailers.com. Personalized Video Programming We built the IRIS.TV Video Programming Platform to enable publishers and marketers to succeed in three key areas: growing consumption, engagement, and retention. IRIS.TV, the global leader in video personalization, releases the worlds first Video Programming Platform. The platform utilizes a data-driven approach to digital distribution, allowing publishers to automate content programming while maximizing the value of their audience and video library across all devices and video player formats. Publishers using IRIS.TV have seen their monthly video views increase by an average of 54% alongside increased user engagement and retention. The cloud-based enterprise platform is made up of three core components that integrate with any publishers existing video technology infrastructure. Adaptive Stream, the platform's video personalization engine, plugs into the video player enabling real-time one-to-one streaming across all devices. In addition, programming can be customized with business and editorial rules. Asset IQ offers automated data structuring and asset optimization. This system builds standardized data sets, taxonomy, and data enhancements for video assets so that they may be surfaced to relevant viewers and promote virality. IRIS Vision offers business intelligence and programming management tools so that video teams can gain insight on content performance across a variety of parameters and take specific actions that drive ROI. Included in the IRIS.TV Video Programming platform are tools like Campaign Manager. This product allows IRIS.TV customers to manage programmatic placement of branded content mid-stream. With Campaign Manager, publishers will be able to distribute branded video natively to engaged audiences watching videos on their properties. Place branded video content in-stream on premium publisher sites Control distribution of branded video across a publisher network by programming frequencies and thresholds necessary to meet campaign guarantees Manage multiple campaigns across the network while maintaining brand safety and maximizing views and revenue The Internet is turning into TV in many ways. The only way to find the content you love is by searching for it, or having it programmed for you. We built the IRIS.TV Video Programming Platform to enable publishers and marketers to succeed in three key areas: growing consumption, engagement, and retention. To engage viewers in a content universe that is multi-device and multi-platform, you need to understand their behavior and preferences in a variety circumstances in real-time and at scale, said IRIS.TV CEO and co-Founder, Field Garthwaite. The infrastructure to stream video, to play an ad, and to validate those metrics through third-party analytics has been in place for years. These are essential to starting a video business. In order to grow web and mobile video into a profit center, publishers need to invest in programming and building an audience like they had with television. Until now, there wasnt a programming management platform to shine a light on opportunities on how to improve and validate what's working and what's not, added Garthwaite. Publishers currently using the IRIS.TV Video Programming Platform include: Time Inc, CBS, Hollywood Reporter, Tribune Publishing and Billboard among others. About IRIS.TV IRIS.TV is a cloud-based personalized video programming system that allows publishers and content owners to generate more video views and engage users across all devices. The companys product suite is designed to increase video consumption and simplify operations for web, mobile, and OTT video distribution. The software integrates with existing video player environments and automates streaming of personalized content based on audience preferences and user interactions. IRIS.TV has hundreds of customers across the world that rely on the companys video programming platform to keep their audience watching. For more information, please visit http://www.iris.tv and follow us on Twitter @IRIS_TV. Real Estate Fraud is on the rise across the country and in some parts has reached epidemic proportions. We have always been about helping the consumer and now we can reach even more people, to really make them aware of whats going on out there Today, one of the nations largest consumer complaint sites, Ripoffreport.com, visited by over eight billion people since 1998, launches a new weekly, investigative web series, "Ripoff Report Investigates (RRI), that features street and gritty journalism that goes below the surface to expose the scams and the scammers. RRI's initial focus is on a growing trend across the country - real estate identity fraud, swindlers who assume the identity of homeowners and steal their home or equity. With Ripoff Reports vast consumer presence and reach, founder Ed Magedson wanted to give his audience more, evolving his site and brand to not only inform but to present information in an entertaining way. Teaming up with an experienced team of network news veterans to launch the series, his goal was to not only expose fraud, but to make a difference. The series is poised to attract a wide audience tired of the same old news formula. "We have always been about helping the consumer and now we can reach even more people, to really make them aware of whats going on out there," Magedson said. Ripoff Report Investigates is what you can do with public records in the YouTube era, says series producer, co-creator and host Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy award winning investigative producer. We found fraudsters who ripped off hundreds of thousands of dollars but who also had the time to post daily videos of their exploits. In some cases, their aspirations of fame also led to their downfall. Deed Fraud is on the rise across the country and, in some parts, has reached epidemic proportions. In the first segments of the series, Cuda introduces you to The Rise and Fall of Nicholas Corky Bravo, a YouTube personality whose web performances led to his arrest and three year conviction for real estate fraud. (Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles case number BA433234 Nicholas Bravo) Cuda, working with co-creator and founder of 4siteVideo, Greg Montemurro, spent years together honing their craft in TV news in Los Angeles before branding their own gonzo style of post-mod journalism. In the case of Corky, while his recorded antics were often hilarious and entertaining, the fact is, he hurt people, says Montemurro. It was great to see the YouTube community step up and help put him behind bars. Ripoff Report Investigates delves deeper than most would dare, to expose shocking criminal behavior. The first season focuses on the growing underworld of real estate identity fraud. RRI exposes criminals who steal identities or forge documents, resulting in innocent homeowners getting ripped off and losing millions. Some of the hardest hit by these scammers are the elderly, who are often the most vulnerable, says Cuda, who co-authored multiple books on social justice issues. RRI exposes scammers in hard hit urban areas, including a pastor who allegedly stole a church; a leader of a large theft ring who even stole a home from behind bars; and it turns a spotlight on those who simply faked their way onto mortgage documents, resulting in the ability to take out loans on victims houses or even sell homes that dont belong to them. The Stories are provocative, sometimes disturbing, and always enlightening. The perpetrators are brash and often unforgivable. RRI uncovers how they did it, and explains to others how they can prevent this sort of thing from happening to them says Montemurro. About Ripoff Report: Ripoff Report has been helping consumers online since 1997. In that time the site has received over eight billion visitors, received over two million reports and more than 28 million rebuttals and comments to the reports. Ripoff Report has exposed the worst of the worst of those committing consumer fraud and saved consumers an estimated 15 billion dollars. The site is used as a regular reference by every branch of law enforcement from Attorneys General, US Postal Inspection Service, FBI, FTC, SEC, US Customers and Border Patrol, United States Secret Service, US Department of Justice, Local and Federal Prosecutors, the US Treasury, and law enforcement in more than 8 other countries. Ripoff Report has also assisted with the production of consumer stories nationwide for every major network, newspaper, and magazine to local TV news stations and more. Ripoff Report is a proven brand name with a loyal following uncommon among web properties and is the longest running consumer website online. AGNITY Global Inc. (AGNITY), the leading provider of mobile health solutions for health systems, hospitals and providers announced today the introduction of open API on APTUS Cloud Platform, a cloud based communications enablement solution. The APTUS Cloud Platform provides open API and Software Development Kit (SDK) that enables EMR vendors, Health Information Technology vendors, Independent Software vendors and System Integrators to communication enable their solutions targeted to healthcare service providers. Ken Epps, President of AGNITY Healthcare, said Healthcare solution providers can now have immediate access to secure clinical communication features to enrich the experience and value they deliver to healthcare providers via mobile and web clients. APTUS Cloud Platform is a high availability, high reliability, and rich communication enabler, built ground up with basic and advanced modules for rich communication and collaboration for enterprise applications. APTUS Cloud Platform provides API interface and SDKs to develop a range of new applications based on mobile, video and webRTC technologies. APTUS Cloud Platform capabilities available to solution providers through its open APIs include: Authentication and address book Secure text, voice and picture messaging to recipients, with delivery and read confirmation as well as detailed audit reporting Audio/video calls and conferencing, including calls to PSTN numbers An aggregate view of the patient for the provider team in the moment of care This includes patient demographics, assigned providers, clinical notes, labs, medication and radiology Clinician On-Call API to access real time On-Call data from hospitals scheduling system There is a huge demand for integrated communications and collaboration capabilities, embedded directly within business applications and workflows. But the specific requirements of particular industries for example, security, mobility and compliance in healthcare - demand optimized solutions to fully-enable that integration. This is driving the emergence of dedicated, vertical-focused APIs and platforms, that go beyond baseline voice or message transmission, specifically addressing the unique needs of a given sectors stakeholders, said Dean Bubley at Disruptive Analysis. The APTUS Cloud Platform Open API is available for Android mobile client, iOS mobile client, browser clients and server platform. It is deployed by leading health systems and system integrators globally to deliver clinical communications solutions. About AGNITY Global, Inc AGNITY Global is a leading global provider of intelligent business communication applications and infrastructure to organizations in the telecommunications and healthcare industry verticals. It is headquartered in the Silicon Valley, with Development and Support Operations in Richardson (Texas), and Noida (India). The Communications business of AGNITY Global is branded as AGNITY Communications and powers the networks of global Tier 1 Service providers. The Healthcare business of AGNITY Global is branded as AGNITY Healthcare and offers a comprehensive mobile contextual communication and collaboration solutions for health systems, hospitals and ambulatory providers. AGNITY Global Contact: Media Relations Team media_relations@agnity.com (510) 270-5412 http://www.agnity.com This past Saturday , the Tennessee Preservation Trust (TPT) in collaboration with Sewanee the University of the South in Monteagle celebrated the rich history of the Civil Rights Movement in Tennessee with tours of the historic Highlander Folk School site. These very special tours will continue through April as part of TPT's Preservation50 in Tennessee campaign celebrating the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) including its incorporation of the Civil Rights Initiative aimed at telling the story of the Civil Rights Movement. Through highlighting the story of the historic Highlander Folk School, Preservation50 shares how this quiet rural corner of Tennessee became a landmark on the international stage for the Civil Rights Movement. Preservation50 in Tennessee tells the story of the great value of preserving historic places all across the state.Through highlighting the story of the historic Highlander Folk School, Preservation50 shares how this quiet rural corner of Tennessee became a landmark on the international stage for the Civil Rights Movement. Highlander was a place where people of diverse origins came to learn together and from each other to organize against oppression, most notably labor unions and later efforts for civil rights. The folk school welcomed important figures of the Civil Rights Movement such as Rosa Parks, Septima Clark, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The music director at Highlander at the time, Zilphia Horton, is also attributed to turning a well-known spiritual into the movement's iconic anthem, "We Shall Overcome," while at the folk school. Speaking about Highlander, Rosa Parks once said, "It was quite enjoyable to be with the people at Highlander. We forgot about what color anybody was. I was 42 years old, and that was one of th few times in my life up to that point when I did not feel any hostility from white people." Tours are led by students enrolled in courses offered through the Collaborative for Southern Appalachian Studies at Sewanee, particularly Introduction to Public History and Place-Based Research Methods led by Margo Shea, a visiting fellow with the Collaborative. Shea has worked with students to conduct research and find creative ways to interpret the site. On each tour student guides share the history of the site, vision and ethos of its founders and staff, the incredible contributions made to U.S. labor, civil rights and social justice movements, and the efforts to preserve the historic property. On the importance of preserving the landmark, student Chris Murphree said, "The shape and stays of a landscape affects how we visualize and remember the past. When we make use of such a powerful property as this one, we invite the memories, the stories, and the experiences of the past to inform and guide us in our lives today." Purchased by the Tennessee Preservation Trust in 2014 after being placed on their annual "Ten in Tenn" most endangered list, this is the first time the non-profit has opened the historic site to the public. Tours will be offered every Saturday through the end of April at 1 and 3 p.m . Those interested in attending are asked to arrive 10 minutes early. Tours begin and end from the original site of the Highlander Folk School Library at 120 Old Highlander Lane in Monteagle, Tn. Writing X Tech Week on writing success for educators. Free webcasts April 18-22, 2016. Free webcasts on innovative and creative teaching strategies for writing instruction. Turnitin Writing X Tech ( #writingxtech ) kicks off April 18 with a five-day virtual conference featuring webcasts on The Writing Mindset and how thinking differently about writing can engage students and set them up for success. K-12 educators, college instructors and students can pick from nine different webcasts offered for free April 18-22, 2016. Turnitin hosts Writing X Tech each year to bring compelling, thought-provoking topics into the discourse about writing instruction. Speakers come from diverse backgrounds and often express refreshing and new ideas that teachers in K-12 and academic instructors from higher ed may not have considered before. These sessions and previous years are archived at Turnitin.com Topics for Writing X Tech 2016 | The Writing Mindset include: Connecting Great Reads to Great Writing - Acclaimed writer, journalist, and writing teacher, Roy Peter Clark, will share his X-ray reading approach to help teach writers at all levels how to read with an eye toward learningand improvingtheir writing with the help of great literature. How to Reach More Readers While Still Looking Smart - Professor Helen Sword, author of Stylish Academic Writing and The Writers Diet, debunks the myth that serious academic writing must be wooden, wordy, and dull. Beyond Integrity: Why We Cite - Go beyond demanding compliance with rules to reframe the conversation around the merits of ethical action, both in proactive teaching and in taking a developmental approach to sanctioning misconduct. Bronx High School English teacher, Michael Goodwin, leads the discussion. A Picture is Worth a MILLION Words! - Dr. Bernard Robin walks through how he created a digital story using just one picture: a family photograph taken in 1926. He shows how to use Internet search tools to deepen explorations that enhance student engagement with topics and ideas in subject areas such as history, economics, advertising, immigration, entertainment, and culture. Mimicry & Plagiarism - Join Anita Lundberg of James Cook University for a discussion about the importance of mimicry and modeling for supporting students move into unfamiliar discursive communities. Teaching the Writing Brain - Virginia Berninger and Todd Richards of the University of Washington discuss how neurology and psychology can have a practical, and significant, impact on how to prepare students for writing, how to teach writing in the classroom, and how to work with students with exceptional needs. Beyond Thumb Typing Beth Holland of Johns Hopkins University discusses how mobile devices are impacting tasks associated with writing, and learn about tools, apps, and approaches to transform what's possible when working with mobile students. What's the Story Behind Why We Write? Bronx High School English teacher Adam Tramantano traces the ways in which writers sometimes include the story of the writing within the writing and the ways to explore the story of the writing process with students. Original Insights. Better Writers. A sneak peek into whats new at Turnitin. The Turnitin product team discusses new product developments and the vision for technology tools to assist writing instruction. About Turnitin Turnitin is revolutionizing the experience of writing to learn. Turnitins formative feedback and originality checking services promote critical thinking, ensure academic integrity, and help students improve their writing. Turnitin provides instructors with the tools to engage students in the writing process, provide personalized feedback, and assess student progress over time. Turnitin is used by more than 30 million students at 15,000 institutions in 140 countries. Backed by Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Norwest Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital and Georgian Partners, Turnitin is headquartered in Oakland, Calif., with international offices in Newcastle, U.K., Utrecht, Netherlands, Seoul, South Korea, and Melbourne, Australia. @Turnitin Hitachi Solutions America not only understood our industry and our business objectives, but they were able to help us accelerate our implementation by starting with a pre-built Dynamics CRM-based solution that was geared towards our industry. Hitachi Solutions America, Ltd. Group, a leading provider of global industry solutions based on the Microsoft Cloud, and Microsofts 2015 US Financial Services Partner of the Year, today announced the latest release of Hitachi Solutions Americas Industry Cloud for Insurance. The Hitachi Solutions Americas Industry Cloud for Insurance is the next evolution of an industry-proven solution that has been helping insurers optimize their Microsoft CRM deployments for the last decade. Leveraging years of experience along with the power, scalability and flexibility of the Microsoft Cloud, the company is now delivering the Hitachi Solutions Americas Industry Cloud for Insurance as a ready-to-deploy Microsoft cloud-based offering. The Hitachi Solutions Americas Industry Cloud for Insurance offers the following benefits to customers: Insurance-specific CRM software built on Microsoft Dynamics technology Industry-experienced support personnel Secure Cloud hosting with the Microsoft Cloud Automatic updates to the solution as new release of Microsoft CRM are released Upgrade compatibility with future releases of Microsoft CRM We are proud to partner with Microsoft to offer what we believe to be the most robust insurance industry solution built on the Dynamics CRM platform and hosted in the Microsoft cloud, offering our customers the ideal technology solution for running their business, says Tap Haley, Industry Director, Insurance, Hitachi Solutions America. Our goal is to enable our customers to focus on what they do best while we provide them with the most cost effective technology solutions in the marketplace to support their strategic business objectives. Collectively Microsoft and Hitachi Solutions Group have partnered together with nearly one hundred insurers over the last decade to help optimize customer acquisition and customer retention through the application of targeted solutions built on Dynamics CRM. The Hitachi Solutions Americas Industry Cloud for Insurance is the culmination of this experience in that it leverages best practices across the insurance industry in order to be more easily deployed and adopted with the least amount of disruption to the client. Whereas traditional deployments of CRM solutions required extensive discovery and design efforts, a packaged solution enables customers to take advantage of pre-built functionality that can then be tailored to meet any unique requirements through standard configuration. The Hitachi Solutions Americas Industry Cloud for Insurance is built for health, life and property & casualty carriers, agents and brokers and is available by module-in order to be deployed with new customers as well as with current Dynamics CRM users. As an example of the power of Hitachi Solutions Americas pre-built Insurance Industry Solution the company is proud to recognize the success of one of its newest customers. GAINSCO Auto Insurance (Dallas, TX), a leading auto insurer, recently partnered with Hitachi Solutions America on an initiative to launch a digital agency through which they could begin offering their auto insurance policies directly to consumers through comparative raters like Compare.com. By utilizing the Hitachi Solutions Americas Insurance Solution, GAINSCO was able to launch the digital agency from initial start-up to selling new policies in six states in less than three months. According to GAINSCOs Phil West, SVP and CIO, Hitachi Solutions America not only understood our industry and our business objectives, but they were able to help us accelerate our implementation by starting with a pre-built Dynamics CRM-based solution that was geared towards our industry. Additionally, Hitachi Solutions Americas consulting resources demonstrated both industry knowledge and the attention to detail necessary to ensure our project was delivered on-time and within budget. To learn more about Hitachi Solutions global capabilities and regional offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, Japan, China, and South East Asia and our Industry Cloud for Insurance from Hitachi Solutions, contact NA.Marketing(at)hitachi-solutions(dot)com or call 1-888-254-7242, or visit http://us.hitachi-solutions.com. -3- About Hitachi Solutions America, Ltd. Hitachi Solutions America, Ltd. helps its customers to successfully compete with the largest global enterprises using powerful, easy-to-use, and affordable industry solutions built on Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft Dynamics CRM enhanced with world class Business Analytics, and Portals and Collaboration. Recognized as the Microsoft 2014 CRM Global Partner of the Year and the 2014 Dynamics Global Outstanding Reseller of the Year, Hitachi Solutions America provides global capabilities with regional offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, Japan, China, and Asia Pacific. For more information, call + 1 949.242.1300 or visit: http://us.hitachi-solutions.com. About Hitachi Solutions, Ltd. Hitachi Solutions, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a core member of IT business of Hitachi Group and a recognized leader in delivering proven business and IT strategies and solutions to companies across many industries. The company provides value-driven services throughout the IT life cycle from systems planning to systems integration, operation and maintenance. Hitachi Solutions delivers products and services of superior value to customers worldwide through key subsidiaries in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, China, and Asia Pacific. For more information on Hitachi Solutions, please visit: http://www.hitachi-solutions.com. About Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer societys challenges with our talented team and proven experience in global markets. The companys consolidated revenues for fiscal 2014 (ended March 31, 2015) totaled 9,761 billion yen ($81.3 billion). Hitachi is focusing more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes power & infrastructure systems, information & telecommunication systems, construction machinery, high functional materials & components, automotive systems, healthcare and others. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the companys website at http://www.hitachi.com. DoubleDutch, the global leading provider of mobile event apps and event performance analytics, today announced that Meeting Professionals International (MPI) will use its platform to power the mobile app for five editions of its signature conferences World Education Congress (WEC) and European Meetings and Events Conference (EMEC) over the next three years. Through the DoubleDutch platform, the MPI global community will have access to the full suite of mobile event capabilities. We couldnt be more excited about our collaboration with a renowned events association such as MPI, says Lawrence Coburn, CEO of DoubleDutch. We look forward to helping MPI deliver apps that provide a world-class event experience. Additionally, were excited about gaining exposure to and learning from MPIs vibrant global community of meeting and event professionals. The association will collaborate with DoubleDutch to provide its attendees with an interactive event experience while also delivering to exhibitors and sponsors a way to measure the impact MPI events have on their bottom line. MPI will leverage DoubleDutchs technology for WEC 2016 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, WEC 2017 in Las Vegas, and WEC 2018 in Indianapolis as well as for EMEC 2017 in Granada, Spain, and EMEC 2018. Two years ago, we decided to embrace mobile technology instead of producing a printed guide for our events and we havent looked back since. MPI conference attendees expect our event app to provide an intuitive, robust and seamless user experience and we believe the DoubleDutch platform has the functionality to do just that, said Matthew Marcial, senior director of events for MPI. By partnering with DoubleDutch, MPI will be able to provide easy-to-access content, personal scheduling and networking opportunities for a more valuable event experience. MPI event sponsors and exhibitors will also uncover new revenue streams in the process and also gain exposure through features including promoted posts, profiles, push notifications and more. About DoubleDutch DoubleDutch provides mobile applications and performance analytics for events, conferences, and trade shows for more than 1,500 customers including Forbes, Freeman, Novartis, Nationwide, SAP, UBM and Urban Land Institute. Founded in 2011, DoubleDutch was recently named to Deloitte's 500 fastest growing companies in North America, Inc. 5000's fastest growing private companies, AlwaysOn OnMedia 100 Top Private Companies, and Forbes' list of 10 hot companies to work for in San Francisco. DoubleDutch is based in San Francisco with additional U.S. offices in Phoenix and Portland and a global presence in Amsterdam, London and Hong Kong. About the Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is the largest and most vibrant global meeting and event industry association. The organization provides innovative and relevant education, networking opportunities and business exchanges, and acts as a prominent voice for the promotion and growth of the industry. MPI membership includes approximately 18,500 members belonging to more than 80 chapters and clubs in 22 countries. For additional information or to join, visit http://www.mpiweb.org. Press Contact: Christine Pai, Blanc & Otus doubledutchpr(at)blancandotus(dot)com Direct: +1-415-856-5114 Shaking up the securities regulatory scene, Sansome Strategies LLC has announced that it is spinning out into Greyline Solutions LLC (Greyline), under the management of compliance industry veteran, Matt Okolita. Greylines experienced team aids hedge fund managers, private equity and venture managers, and other clients in the alternative assets sector in designing and implementing their compliance programs. Okolita was most recently a Managing Director in the San Francisco office of Duff & Phelps, a best in class compliance consulting firm and a premier global valuation and corporate finance advisor. Okolita joined Duff & Phelps following the firms January acquisition of CounselWorks, LLC, another leading provider of compliance services. As the Head of CounselWorks office in San Francisco, Okolita was a key component to expanding the business and brand in California and Texas. Okolitas prior in-house experience includes a variety of legal, compliance, and operational roles including notable service as Chief Compliance Officer and Counsel to multi-billion dollar asset managers. Greyline Solutions comes to market with a compliance solution that is truly unique. Weve designed a services model, product offering, and approach to working with our managers that provides valuable enhancements to productivity, oversight, and consistency within managers of all shapes and sizes, says Okolita. Greylines team also includes Jennifer Dickinson, another compliance industry veteran, who has extensive experience in private fund and CPO compliance. Prior to joining Greyline, Dickinson was a Senior Compliance Consultant at Gordian Compliance Solutions, LLC. Dickinson has been a Chief Compliance Officer at several large investment managers. Sansome Strategies was originally backed by Karl Cole-Frieman and Bart Mallon, partners and founders of Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP, which has one of the largest hedge fund legal practices in California. According to Okolita, because of industry consolidation many firms are chasing only the largest asset managers, and the mid-tier mangers are largely ignored. Greyline is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the opportunities in the current market, says Karl Cole-Frieman, and can offer exceptional service at a reasonable price to clients. About Greyline Solutions LLC Headquartered in San Francisco, Greyline is a compliance consulting firm specializing in high-touch, compliance services for businesses in the alternative asset management industry. Serving investment advisers, hedge fund, private equity and venture capital fund managers, commodity pool operators, and other investment managers, and businesses ranging from entrepreneurial start-ups to multi-billion dollar international institutions. Greyline prides itself on its unique approach to compliance and offers tailored solutions that utilize high-touch consulting and technology platforms. Comprised of securities industry professionals with years of experience in the financial and regulatory industries, Greylines mission is to simplify the process, minimize risk, and lower costs, with the core goal of helping clients focus on building and enhancing their business. Marisa Nolan, Vice President of Sales at Apptentive Im thrilled to join such a forward-thinking team whose software empowers companies to give their customers a better mobile experience, said Marisa Nolan, Vice President of Sales at Apptentive. Apptentive, the mobile customer engagement software for enterprise apps, today announced that Marisa Nolan, former Director of Global Sales and Marketing for CMO Software, has joined as Vice President of Sales. Nolan brings over 13 years of international experience in building and developing sales teams for software organizations. She will lead Apptentives sales strategy to continue to accelerate the companys rapid growth. Apptentive recently announced it reached new milestones, reporting that its customers have surpassed 120 million conversations with their mobile consumers on over 550 million devices around the world. Marisa brings a proven ability to develop effective global sales strategies that will serve as an invaluable asset to our vision of giving every customer a voice, said Robi Ganguly, Co-founder and CEO of Apptentive. Were excited to welcome Marisa to help us attack the massive opportunity to better connect companies and their customers. Im thrilled to join such a forward-thinking team whose software empowers companies to give their customers a better mobile experience, said Marisa Nolan, Vice President of Sales at Apptentive. The customer experience and marketing industries are at an exciting point in time. Apptentives impressive growth is proving that mobile is reshaping customer communication and engagement. Im eager to accelerate our delivery of customer love to more enterprises. Before joining Apptentive, Nolan was Director of Global Sales and Marketing for CMO Software where she grew the sales team five fold, significantly increased revenue, created processes and implemented strategies to accelerate revenue growth, and remodeled their pricing strategy. Prior to that she was Sales Director at Navita Systems in London, England where she grew and developed sales teams in the EMEA. She also held the role of Business Development Manager at Allegro Development in London. She has a BA in Finance from Iowa State University. About Apptentive Apptentive is the leading enterprise SaaS platform for mobile customer communications. The company's in-app messages, surveys, and intelligent rating prompts empower brands to build meaningful relationships with their customers, wherever they may be. Integrated into mobile apps including Allrecipes, Concur, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Overstock, and Urbanspoon, Apptentive's software makes it easy for any company with a mobile app to grow retention, boost app store ratings, drive downloads, and earn customer loyalty. Apptentive powers millions of customer conversations every month. The company is based in Seattle, Washington. For more information, visit http://www.apptentive.com. The McIlveen Family Law Firm continuously strives to provide its employees with a compelling list of benefits, amenities and other perks to foster an environment of excellence. Gastonias McIlveen Family Law Firm celebrates its ranking 14th among the 2016 Best Employers in North Carolina. The statewide survey and awards program aims to identify, recognize, and honor places of employment in North Carolina that benefit the states economy, businesses, and workforce. The list of 2016 Best Employers in North Carolina, comprised of 45 companies, was created by Business North Carolina, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) NC State Council, and Best Companies Group. In order to be considered for this list, companies must first meet eligibility requirements such as being in business for at least one year, as well as having a facility and at least 15 employees in North Carolina. Companies must then enter a two-part survey process. Worth roughly 25 percent of the total evaluation, the first part of the process evaluates a nominated companys workplace philosophies, practices, policies, demographics and systems. The second part of the process, worth roughly 75 percent of the total evaluation, consists of an employee survey that measures the employee experience. The combined scores determine the top companies and their final rankings. The McIlveen Family Law Firm continuously strives to provide its employees with a compelling list of benefits, amenities and other perks to foster an environment of excellence. These include a 401K matching program, annual firm retreats, an onsite fitness center, company Uber accounts, free snacks, coffee and sodas, back-up child or pet care, housekeeping services, dry cleaning pickup, a rooftop desk, and a nap room with hammock. The law firms head office in downtown Gastonia also features an open space concept similar to Silicon Valley companies that promotes productivity through accessibility. Focused exclusively on North Carolina family law, the McIlveen Family Law Firm is fully committed to helping individuals and families resolve complex legal issues such as divorce, child custody and support, alimony, adoption, prenuptial agreements, domestic violence, grandparent rights and more. The firms expert legal team is composed of experienced attorneys who advocate tirelessly and aggressively for their clients, looking out for their best interests and ensuring that their rights are always protected. Co-founders Sean and Angela McIlveen also value giving back to the community, and make it a point to hire employees that possess values similar to theirs. Apart from providing quality legal services to their clients, the entire team also works on various charity projects throughout the year. The McIlveen Family Law Firm has also won other awards and recognitions apart from being among the 2016 Best Employers in North Carolina, such as being included in the Charlotte Business Journals Best Places to Work list for two consecutive years. The Best Places to Work list acknowledges companies for their overall ability to keep their employees engaged, happy, and healthy in the workplace. The law firm also ranked 13th in the Charlotte Business Journals 2015 Fast 50, an annual event that honors local companies for their outstanding growth, entrepreneurial excellence, and innovative leadership. To learn more about the McIlveen Family Law Firm (including employment opportunities) please visit http://www.mcilveenfamilylaw.com If its fast its Raima Raima is excited to release its new in-memory database platform, says Chief Executive Officer, Steinar Sande. Raima Database Manager (RDM) version 14.0 has the potential to transform and ensure business critical applications that are in need for real time responses to stay competitive. With Raimas brand new RDM 14.0 In Memory database enterprises will get real time answers with transactions 40x-100x faster than regular disk, while utilizing the most optimal storage media either through our hybrid or pure In Memory database support. Other RDM 14.0 benefits: Raima Database Manager will make it possible for application to be available on any platform. Our clients can develop on one platform and deploy on any platform. The developer using RDM will be independent of the software architecture, allowing databases to be directly copied between the different platforms being CPU/processor or OS platform. Raima Database Manager reduces the amount of application rebuilding or reinstallation by the platform independent file format that would otherwise be necessary. Raima Database Manager makes it possible to consolidate a legacy database, data processing, and application capabilities onto a common platform, this eliminates multiple points of failure. The new RDM has extended its SQL support and in this version supports SQL/PL. SQL are familiar access methods used by many developers in the industry to utilize business critical information to be used for e.g. business analytic purposes. RDM 14.0 supports compression that takes less disk space. RDM 14.0 support encryption through AES 128-bit 256-bit support. Raima database solutions are used throughout the world to solve data recording, formatting, storage and transmission challenges; be that big data at high speeds, remote data with low power availability, local storage issues where in-memory solutions are needed or cross platform requirements. This is a beta version and we want your feedback. Check it out here http://www.raima.com/beta Or request a download here http://raima.com/14_0_download/ The Atlanta local office of UNCF will host the Atlanta Governors Luncheon on April 19 at the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot. The event brings together Atlanta business, civic and education leaders who support UNCFs efforts in providing quality education for minority students. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal will deliver the keynote address and participate in an enlightening discussion centered on education. UNCFs president and CEO, Dr. Michael L. Lomax, will serve as moderator. Quality education is the most important resource a child needs in ensuring a successful life, Deal said. It is our responsibility to provide the necessary tools to the next generation of leaders that will become the anchors in our community. Since 2003, governors and other elected officials around the nation have hosted the UNCF Governors Luncheon in an effort to provide resources for students to get to and through college. The Atlanta event will benefit UNCFs five member institutions in Georgia: Clark Atlanta University, Interdenominational Theological Center, and Morehouse, Paine and Spelman colleges. College affordability is one of the defining issues of our time, and UNCF remains steadfast in our determination to make higher education obtainable, Lomax said. Governor Deals commitment to this cause is commendable as we work together to bring forth future Atlanta community leaders. Sponsors of the luncheon include Comcast, Northside Hospital and Southwest Airlines. To purchase tickets, which are $150, or for more information, please contact: Rhonda Ashison @ 404.302.8623 or Rhonda.ashison(at)uncf(dot)org ### About UNCF UNCF (United Negro College Fund) is the nations largest and most effective minority education organization. To serve youth, the community and the nation, UNCF supports students education and development through scholarships and other programs, strengthens its 37 member colleges and universities, and advocates for the importance of minority education and college readiness. UNCF institutions and other historically black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding nearly 20 percent of African American baccalaureate degrees. UNCF awards more than $100 million in scholarships annually and administers more than 400 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Its logo features the UNCF torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized motto, A mind is a terrible thing to waste, but a wonderful thing to invest in. Today, UNCF supports more than 60,000 students at more than 1,100 colleges and universities. Learn more at UNCF.org or for continuous news and updates, follow UNCF on Twitter @UNCF. Elizabeth Gitari of the High Court of Kenya spoke at Stetson law school. One of the things that I would advise young lawyers to do is No. 1 to be passionate and committed because the duty to ensure that Africa and the worlds endangered species endure forever is the duty of every global citizen. Stetson University College of Law hosted the 16th International Wildlife Law Conference on April 13-14 in Gulfport, Florida. Speakers, students, and attendees from around the world participated in this years conference and addressed topics including hunting, fishing and other impacts on wildlife, as well as connections and collaborations across multilateral environmental agreements. This years conference was held in conjunction with the international finals of the 20th Annual Stetson International Environmental Moot Court Competition, which brings international student teams to compete on Stetsons Gulfport campus. Featured conference speakers included: Marceil Yeater, former chief, legal affairs and trade policy, Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora; Elizabeth Gitari, advocate of the High Court of Kenya and legal affairs manager, WildlifeDirect; Dr. Lawrence E. Killmar, zoo director and senior vice president of animal science and conservation and chief zoological officer, Tampas Lowry Park Zoo; Ryan Tate, co-founder and president of Veterans Empowered to Protect African Wildlife. One of the things that I would advise young lawyers to do is No. 1 to be passionate and committed because the duty to ensure that Africa and the worlds endangered species endure forever is the duty of every global citizen, said Gitari. Gitari delivered the Edward and Bonnie Foreman Biodiversity Lecture on April 13 to an audience of law students from around the world. Trey Lauderdale, Voalte Founder & CEO Voalte has demonstrated success in replacing legacy phones, pagers and voice badges with smartphones inside and outside the hospital. Voalte, the leader in healthcare communication technology, today announced strong growth for fiscal year 2016, signing contracts with 125 hospitals to deploy Voalte Platform for care team communication. This increases the Voalte customer base to 275 hospitals and represents 83 percent growth in FY2016. The healthcare industrys trend toward consolidation and value-based care is prompting the move to a communication platform that can scale across the care continuum, said Voalte Founder and CEO Trey Lauderdale. Voalte has demonstrated success in replacing legacy phones, pagers and voice badges with smartphones inside and outside the hospital. The result is an enterprise-wide platform that connects clinicians seamlessly, no matter where they are. New Voalte customers include major healthcare organizations such as: Archbold Medical Center Avera Health Brigham and Womens Hospital Borgess Health Eastar Health System Greater Baltimore Medical Center Stanford Childrens Health Memorial Sloan Kettering ProMedica St. Agnes Hospital St. Vincent Healthcare Tampa General Hospital The University of Kansas Hospital From April 2015 through March 2016, Voalte contracts averaged 850 licenses, marking an industry shift toward standardized communication across multi-hospital systems instead of focusing on individual facilities. Seventy percent of new customers purchased both Voalte One and Voalte Me for clinical communication across the acute care and ambulatory care settings. This demonstrates the markets move away from basic text messaging to a strategic solution that integrates EMR, nurse call, patient monitoring and other systems, all on one device. Its vital for our customers to make systems from multiple vendors work together seamlessly, said Philip Fibiger, Vice President of Engineering at Voalte. Voalte Platform is vendor-neutral, and works across virtual or physical platforms. Our customers can integrate various systems with our communication technologies to make the most of their existing investments and prepare for the healthcare environment of the future. About Voalte Voalte develops smartphone solutions that simplify caregiver communication. As the only company to offer a comprehensive Mobile Communication Strategy, Voalte enables care teams inside and outside the hospital to access and exchange information securely. Voalte customers benefit from a solid smartphone infrastructure that supports their existing systems and expands to accommodate future technologies. Founded in 2008, Voalte is a privately held company based in Sarasota, Florida. Voalte solutions are now available to more than 132,000 caregivers throughout the United States. For more information, visit voalte.com or follow @Voalte on Twitter. Book Fiesta will be held Saturday from 1-4 p.m. at East Lake Park. Book Fiesta is powered by a team of moms under the name of Ella Chattanooga who want to help the East Lake Community connect, make, and learn. Book Fiesta is a literacy event celebrating Childrens Day/World Book Day, and is based on the picture book, Book Fiesta written by Pat Mora and illustrated by Rafael Lopez. In this book, children celebrate Childrens day by reading stories with their friends and families in a series of magical settings painted by Mr. Lopez. Ella Chattanooga wants kids to experience this book in tactile ways, so it has created larger than life decorations based on the books illustrations, having read alouds with some favorite picture books, and facilitating activities based on book selection. These activities are designed to engage whole families across various cultural backgrounds, and the hope is to see families all joining in to play and read together, getting to know their neighbors, and creating habits of play that bring their families together and help little ones learn and grow, said officials. Book Fiesta came to life out of the response to and grant awarded from Causeways Challenge III question of How can more opportunities to play make Chattanooga a stronger city? The community has rallied together to support Book Fiesta. More than 1,200 new English and Spanish books will be given away to the East Lake community at the event thanks to a donation from Read20. The books being read aloud at Book Fiesta as part of the literacy lineup will be donated to the East Lake Elementary library thanks to Chattanoogas local independent bookstore Star Line Books. Book Fiesta has only been possible thanks to Chattanoogas community with volunteers and donations from GreenSpaces, Orange Grove, and many other local organizations. For more information visit ellachattanooga.com or call Jazmine LeBlanc at 299-5299. Pearson today announced interactive and informative webinars hosted in celebration of the 2016 National Mathematics Awareness Month. In support of this national initiative, Pearson is celebrating the teaching and learning of Mathematics and Statistics and the relevance math provides in everyday life through a series of webinars and interviews with educational experts, authors and learners. Webinar topics include the essential role of mathematics in natural and social sciences, and improving achievement in technical mathematics to increase student success in vocational and technical fields of study through use of MyMathLab digital learning technology. Learners are also featured in compelling video testimonials discussing how their instructors inspire and motivate them to excel in mathematics. Below is additional information on the webinars. Register here to attend. Title: How Mathematics Transforms the World When: Tuesday, April 19, 2016, 3-4 pm ET Who: Gary Rockswold, Author/Professor Emeritus, Minnesota State University What: Mathematics is playing an essential role in not only the natural sciences, but also in the social sciences. But is this only the beginning of an even bigger and more powerful role that mathematics will assume in the future? This entertaining multimedia presentation explains why it is a great time to be a mathematician. Title: Math for the Really Real World When: Wednesday, April 20, 2016, 3-4 pm ET Who: Eric Gaze, Director of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) program, Bowdoin College What: Explore how proportional reasoning underlies the way individuals communicate with numbers, as well as why businesses utilize spreadsheets to model ill structured problems. Title: Contextualizing Technical Mathematics Using MyMathLab to Make the Concepts Relevant When: Thursday, April 28, 2016, 4-5 pm ET Who: Matthew Hudock, Professor of Mathematics, St. Philip's College What: In a technical math class, the goal is for the students to master the necessary math skills in order for them to be successful in their vocational and technical fields of study. When working with a wide variety of majors in the vocational and technical areas, the biggest challenge is getting students to see the relevance of the concepts theyre learning. This webinar will show how to design assignments that contextualize mathematics for students for a wide variety of fields using MyMathLab. Review Professor Hudocks case study. Additional mathematics resources from Pearson include the Teaching & Learning blog post, In Mathematics, Do Coincidences Just Happen? by Professor Diane Hollister, Reading Area Community College; and educator case studies demonstrating the measurable impact that teaching with MyMathLab and MyMathLab digital learning technologies has on improved learner outcomes in mathematics and statistics. About Pearson Pearson is the world's learning company, with 36,000 employees in more than 70 countries working to help people of all ages to make measurable progress in their lives through learning. For more information about Pearson, visit http://www.pearsoned.com. Media Contact: Scott Overland, scott(dot)overland(at)pearson(dot)com, 202-909-4520 (April 14, 2016) Howard University President, Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, announced today that United States President, Barack H. Obama, will deliver the keynote address during Howard Universitys 2016 commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 7, 2016. The President will address members of the Class of 2016 and their families, University trustees, officers, faculty, staff, and alumni. Howard University will confer upon the President an honorary degree, Doctor of Laws, the Universitys highest honor. It is an extraordinary honor and privilege for the Howard University community to welcome President Barack H. Obama to our campus to deliver the 2016 commencement address, said Howard University President, Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick. The Presidents commitment to education, especially for those who can least afford it, dovetails with Howards commitment to provide these same students with a rigorous, intellectually-stimulating, and academically-challenging educational experience. As we look into the not so distant future, Howard will commemorate its 150th Anniversary in March 2017, emboldened by a legacy of addressing disparities that are inextricably intertwined with this nations legacy of equality and inclusivity. President Obamas own legacy gives the Howard Community great expectations for the leadership footprint it will leave on America and the globe, added Frederick. President Obama is the sixth sitting U.S. President to deliver the keynote address at a Howard University commencement. Other distinguished leaders who will join the president in receiving honorary degrees this year include L.D. Britt, M.D., MPH; Ambassador Horace Greeley Dawson Jr.; and Ms. Cicely Tyson. The Howard University community offers its congratulations to all of the honorary degree recipients, who honor us with their acceptance of the awards. We are extremely pleased that President Obama has accepted our invitation to receive the honorary Doctor of Laws degree and address the class of 2016. His will be compelling words of encouragement for our students as they move forward with their commitment to truth and service, said Stacey J. Mobley, Esq., Chairman of the Howard University Board of Trustees. President Obama's world leader insights and his commitment to justice, equality, and inclusivity will make this year's commencement ceremony historic and uniquely special for everyone who has contributed to Howard Universitys legacy. On commencement day, Howard University will award more than 1,300 Bachelors Degrees, more than 300 Masters Degrees, and more than 100 Ph.Ds, with the top five areas of concentration in Psychology, History, Political Science, Social Work, and Mathematics. Additionally, more than 400 students will receive professional degrees in Law, Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry. Howard University has the only Dental and Pharmacy colleges in the District of Columbia. In 2015, the Princeton Review ranked Howard University School of Business #1 for the Greatest Opportunity for Minorities and #5 for Most Competitive Students. In the same year, Bloomberg BusinessWeek ranked the Business School 50 out of the top 177 MBA programs in the country. The Howard Law School was ranked by the National Law Journal among the top 50 law schools for students who accepted positions with the largest 250 law firms. The Law School also was ranked by the National Jurist among the top 20 law schools in the country for placing students in public interest jobs. As a further testament to its public service commitment, Howard is ranked by the Peace Corps as the top volunteer-producing HBCU (historically black colleges and universities). # # # About Howard University Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university that is comprised of 13 schools and colleges. Students pursue studies in more than 120 areas leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. Since 1998, the University has produced two Rhodes Scholars, three Truman Scholars, two Marshall Scholars, 30 Fulbright Scholars and 11 Pickering Fellows. Howard also produces more on campus African-American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States. For more information on Howard University, call 202-238-2330, or visit the University's Web site at http://www.howard.edu Nexcess is part of a rapidly-growing industry, with more opportunity on the horizon, and we strongly believe our business and our hometown should grow together. Nexcess.net, a global data center and managed hosting company, announced this week the upcoming opening of two new facilities that will double its footprint in Southfield, MI. Company leaders said the expansions position Nexcess to continue on a rapid growth track in the coming years. As a global company founded in Southfield, were proud to be dedicating two new facilities here and affirming our commitment to strong partnership with the Southfield community, said Chris Wells, CEO of Nexcess. Nexcess is well-positioned to create even more high-tech, well-paying jobs, bringing talent from across the nation to live, work and raise their families here. Our new facilities will allow us to keep growing well into the future. Founded in 2000 in Southfield, Nexcess has expanded from a small company to a global leader in data center and IT services operating data centers in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and the Netherlands. The company has more than doubled local employment in just six years, bringing high-tech jobs to the area and putting Southfield on the map as a destination for skilled IT workers. Nexcess currently operates major data center facilities in Southfield and Dearborn. The two new spaces currently in the final stages of construction on Melrose Avenue are each about 6,500 square feet. These are world-class facilities designed to attract and retain a world-class workforce, said Wells. Were proud of the modern design used for the buildings and the opportunity to incorporate outdoors spaces that create a great atmosphere for our employees. Wells noted that strong, proactive partnerships with community leaders will remain important as Nexcess looks to keep growing in Southfield. We want to form lasting partnerships as we continue to expand, he said. Nexcess is part of a rapidly-growing industry, with more opportunity on the horizon, and we strongly believe our business and our hometown should grow together. # # # About Nexcess Nexcess is a managed hosting company founded in 2000, with wholly-owned data centers located in Dearborn, Michigan and Southfield, Michigan, as well as several other locations worldwide. Nexcess offers a variety of managed applications hosting services for Magento, WordPress, ExpressionEngine, and OroCRM ranging from entry-level packages to custom clustered/complex hosting configurations, with an emphasis on achieving maximum performance for high-traffic sites. For more information, visit http://www.nexcess.net. Though more than half of pet parents say theyve done research about how to help a pet in distress, most dont have the supplies on hand to do so. A Petplan survey of nearly 10,000 people revealed that a staggering 68.99% of respondents have no pet first aid kit in their home. A first aid kit specifically for your pet is the first line of defense in an emergency, and I always recommend that my clients have one, says Petplan Veterinary Editorial Contributor Dr. Andy Roark. Whether a pet is poisoned, bleeding or seizing, just a few simple suppliesand the know-how to use themcan help keep them stable and comfortable while en route to the emergency vet. Dr. Roark may be an anomaly in discussing pet first aid with his clients; only 12.38% of survey respondents report that their veterinarian has discussed first aid with them, which could help explain why nearly half40.92%werent even aware there are first aid procedures that can be performed on pets. What should every pet parent pack in their pet first aid kit? Dr. Roark suggests the following: Vaseline gauze non-stick pet bandages clean cloth or towel medical tape antibiotic wash, wipes or ointment scissors tweezers chemical ice pack blanket For the full list of what to include in a pet first aid kit, download Petplans Safety Fur-st Survival Kit checklist at http://www.gopetplan.com/pdf/safety_fur-st_survival_guide.pdf. Pet parents need to familiarize themselves with basic pet first aid and should keep a pet-specific kit handy in their home and in the car, says Dr. Roark. Its also a good idea to download a pet first aid app, like the one available from the American Red Cross. An app can help pet parents do things like take vital signs, treat wounds or control bleeding until theyre able to get to the vet. Downloading a pet first aid app is a good idea; just 12.37% of survey respondents have taken a class about pet first aid, and more than half (64.23%) admit to not knowing how to take their pets vital signs! You never know when a little preparedness, knowledge and training can make all the difference in an emergency, says Dr. Roark. Just recently a fetch! reader wrote in to thank us for a piece we published about how to perform the Heimlich maneuver on a pet. Because of the article, she was able to act quickly when her French Bulldog, Churro, began chokingand wound up saving her dogs life. For more pet health tips, news and information, point your paws to http://www.petplan.com. ### ABOUT PETPLAN Petplan is more than a pet insurance provider. Were dedicated to giving pet parents the support, resources and tools they need to keep their pets not just survivingbut thrivinginto old age. Simply put, we aim to be the kind of company that will make our pets proud. For the third consecutive year, Petplan was listed among the top 50 of Forbes' annual ranking of Americas Most Promising Companies a list of 100 privately held, high-growth companies with bright futures. Petplan is the only pet insurance provider to have been included on Inc. Magazines list of 500 fastest-growing, privately held companies in America. Petplans fully customizable cat and dog insurance policies provide comprehensive coverage for all hereditary and chronic conditions for the life of the pet as standard. Petplan policies are underwritten by AGCS Marine Insurance Company in the U.S. and by Allianz Global Risks US Insurance Company in Canada. The Allianz Group was rated A+ by A.M. Best in 2015. For more information about Petplan pet insurance, visit http://www.petplan.com or call 1-866-467-3875. Hundreds of military veterans met with employers like Panasonic, as well as colleges and service providers, at the 8th annual GI Go Fund Newark Veterans Job Fair. More than 300 active duty personnel, veterans and their families filled the New Jersey Performing Arts Center to meet with employers and service providers at the 8th Annual GI Go Fund Newark Veterans Job Fair. More than 60 exhibitors representing employers, educators, and service providers participated in the event to meet with veterans in attendance. In addition, 105.5 WDHA was broadcasting live from the event, interviewing the former Deputy Commissioner of the NJ Department of Veterans Affairs and Director of Rutgers Veterans House Colonel Stephen Abel, as well as Stephen Walz of AXA Equitable, and Justin Stanley of the Kessler Foundation. Dozens of veterans who arrived at the job fair looking for work but lacked a quality resume utilized the Resume Generator kiosk from JobPath, the innovative new online job searching, training, and mentoring site exclusive to military veterans. Veterans developed their veteran profile on JobPath, inputting their military and civilian skills into the site, and their system developed a custom resume that they could show to employers at the event and future job interviews. The event was hosted by GI Go Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping military veterans and their families. The organization has enjoyed incredible success in helping veterans connect to the services and opportunities they need, and they are celebrating their ten-year anniversary of providing support to our current and former military personnel. We have been working hard over the past decade to give veterans the support they need and to prove to the business community that the men and women who have served in the armed forces make great employees, said Jack Fanous, Executive Director of the GI Go Fund. Nowhere else will you find such dedicated and hard-working or disciplined workers. Spreading this message has been our mission for the past 10 years, and we are so proud to see great companies like PSEG, Panasonic, AXA Equitable, and countless others show a true willingness and dedication to hire veterans. Sponsors and partners for the event included PSEG, Panasonic, Kessler Foundation, JobPath, and SoldierOn. About GI Go Fund GI Go Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization that provides assistance to all military veterans, with a focus on veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, by helping them find employment, access housing, and secure their educational and health benefits. GI Go Fund is celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2016, helping thousands of veterans and their families with all of their needs since its founding in 2006. Learn more at http://www.gigofund.org. By partnering with Operation Warm, we receive the unique privilege of providing jobs for people with disabilities by helping to manufacture winter coats for children who might not otherwise have a new, warm coat for the winter months. Operation Warm, a nonprofit organization providing brand new coats for children in need across 49 states and the District of Colombia since 1998, has been manufacturing coats through U.S. manufacturing companies for more than three years with significant success. The nonprofit organization has contributed to 450 jobs in 14 states. Their new partnership with SEKRI, a Kentucky-based nonprofit organization that employs people with disabilities in the manufacturing industry, will expand Operation Warms U.S. coat production. Recently serving their 2 millionth child, this new expansion is a double win for Operation Warm. It allows the organization to keep up with the demand for coats manufactured in the United States while adhering to its mission of helping the most vulnerable. Choosing to manufacture the coats in the U.S. is not the easiest route for the organization since it is challenging to find local manufacturing companies that are affordable and can keep up with the demand. It costs significantly more to manufacture in the United States, but the decision has been the most rewarding and mission-minded. There were challenges when we started our U.S. coat production three years ago as there was a learning curve for all of us about the manufacturing industry and process, says Richard D. Sanford, founder and chairman of Operation Warm. While there has been a decline in U.S. manufacturing positions especially in the apparel industry over the last several years, we believe through our U.S. coat production program, we are involved in the front-end of a revolution to reinstall these positions. Often asked why the organization chose to manufacture new coats at all instead of just holding coat drives for second-hand coats for children in need, Sanford explains that for him these children are not second-class citizens and that they deserve a brand new coat of their very own. And for many, the coats Operation Warm provides are the first new coats they have ever received. The coats are designed in the latest styles, in sizes for boys and girls, and come in various color selections (chosen by the child). During the last few years, Operation Warm has expanded from giving away 15,000 American-made coats a year to more than 100,000. The partnership with SEKRI will ensure that the organization can keep up with this growing demand. By partnering with Operation Warm, we receive the unique privilege of providing jobs for people with disabilities by helping to manufacture winter coats for children who might not otherwise have a new, warm coat for the winter months, says Norm Bradley with SEKRI, Inc. We have similar missions and are able to assist Operation Warm by manufacturing as many coats as possible here in the U.S. Partnershipslike the one with SEKRIhave been instrumental in Operation Warms success. Sanford knew when he founded the organization that this was not a mission he could accomplish alone. Using his extensive business and philanthropy experience, Sanford sought to make key partnerships like ones established with the International Association of Fire Fighters and Chicago Housing Authority. Firefighters in 200 locations across the country assist Operation Warm. They work to identify children most in need of new winter coats, take the orders for new coats, conduct fundraising for the organization and then distribute the coats. Chicago Housing Authority partnered with Operation Warm in 2008 after an introduction from the citys mayor. Distribution began with a small community service event that reached 4,000 children in need and their families. Since that time, it has grown into a large service fair hosting 40 organizations and distributing 10,000 coats each year. Operation Warms mission resonates with our organization because we both serve the same population and recognize the importance of investing in children in order to place them on a pathway to achievement and economic independence as an adult, says Kristen Hamer, director of corporate and external partnerships at Chicago Housing Authority. Our partnership has allowed us to leverage our residents interest in obtaining winter coats for their children while placing them in front of a large number of organizations providing a variety of valuable resources that can benefit their entire family. Operation Warm continues to focus on building partnerships both with manufacturing businesses as well as corporate sponsors interested in supporting the organizations mission. An example of this is the cause marketing partnership they have with Hollister Co., which last year raised funds for a holiday buy-a-coat, give-a-coat program. For more information and to contact the organization about manufacturing and sponsorship, visit OperationWarm.org/Partnerships. ABOUT OPERATION WARM Warming the hearts, minds and bodies of children, Operation Warm inspires hope and empowers communities by providing new winter coats to children in need throughout the U.S. Since the organization began in 1998, Operation Warm has provided a gift of warmth and self-esteem to 2 million children. The organization currently gives 300,000 coats annually to children in need across the United States. For more information or to support the work with a donation, visit OperationWarm.org. Regional Sales Specialist Mark Rangel Our expansion underscores the companys mission to remain at the forefront of website development services. Were excited by the possibilities of developing web solutions that will help these ecommerce companies realize their fullest potential. DotcomWeaversan award-winning New Jersey-based web design and development company, providing custom website solutions for ecommerce businessesis expanding with the opening of an Orlando office this spring. DotcomWeavers will officially announce its expansion at eMerge Americas, a two-day technology conference in Miami, that connects innovators, investors, and thought leaders like former US Secretary of State Colin Powell and legendary skateboarder and entrepreneur Tony Hawk. Statistically, Florida leads the nation in entrepreneurship, making it an ideal market for the continued growth of our business, said Amit Bhaiya, co-founder and co-owner of DotcomWeavers. Our expansion underscores the companys mission to remain at the forefront of website development services. Were excited by the possibilities of developing web solutions that will help these ecommerce companies realize their fullest potential. Cofounders Amit Bhaiya and Mayank Agrawal established DotcomWeavers in 2007 to meet the customized web solutions needs of the growing ecommerce market. Their primary focus was to deliver quality, performance, and value to its clients and their customers on-time and on-budget. In 2015, DotcomWeavers business grew nearly 60 percent. The expansion in Florida is supported by a growing and satisfied customer base in the region. We are a small, family-owned business in a niche market. After enduring years of inadequate website support, we invested in DotcomWeavers, said owner of AAE Glass in Cape Coral, Fla. They were able to give us an accurate timeline of when projects would be complete and trained us on every website feature. I would not recommend any other company for website needs. Business has never been better. Mark Rangel will lead the companys Florida division as the regional sales specialist. Rangel previously served as a systems analyst for an electronics company before moving into a client relations supervisor role for a high-profile language and transportation company. Desiring to marry his dedication to client satisfaction and passion for technology, Rangel joined the DotcomWeavers team in 2016. Rangel attended William Patterson University in New Jersey, where he majored in interpersonal communications with a focus on business administration. About DotcomWeavers DotcomWeavers is an award-winning ecommerce web development company specializing in custom website applications and search engine optimization (SEO). Our expert web designers, developers, and project managers harness the latest technologies to innovate customized solutions that meet the unique business needs of each client. Founded in 2007 by entrepreneurs Amit Bhaiya and Mayank Agrawal, DotcomWeavers serves an array of industries in the United States and abroad. DotcomWeavers is headquartered in Paramus, NJ with additional offices in Orlando, Fla. and Hyderabad, India. Explore DotcomWeavers results at http://www.dotcomweavers.com. Keith Omsberg is PayLease's New General Counsel PayLease, a leading payments, billing, and utility expense management provider for the property management and HOA industry, today announced that it has appointed Keith Omsberg as its General Counsel. Omsberg will manage all aspects of PayLeases legal affairs, and offer strategic guidance as the Company continues its high-growth trajectory. Omsberg brings over 20 years of corporate legal experience to PayLease including in the areas of corporate law, governance, compliance, payments, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, litigation, and employment law. Prior to joining PayLease, he served as General Counsel for several companies in the financial technology and software industries including A-T Solutions, Official Payments, and Tier Technologies. Omsberg also previously held senior legal positions at PeopleSoft and in private law firm practice. Omsberg attended law school at the University of San Diego, and received a B.A. from the University of Southern California. He is a member of the California and Virginia State Bar Associations. "Retaining in-house counsel is essential as PayLease rapidly expands its footprint in the payments, billing, and utility expense industry, said Dave Dutch, CEO of PayLease. Keiths personality, along with his extensive experience working with online payment and other leading technology companies is a great match for PayLease. I am pleased to have Keith on the executive leadership team, and I am confident our Clients will feel the same way. "PayLease is an impressive organization with industry-leading growth, and a solid suite of products and services that improve day-to-day operations for clients, said Omsberg. I am excited to be a part of a Company that will give me ample opportunity to contribute in both the legal and business arenas. About PayLease PayLease provides online payments, billing, and utility expense management tools to HOAs and property management companies. Property managers use PayLease to offer their residents convenient online payment options and to improve their business operational efficiencies. Our solutions are easy-to-use and are backed with the highest levels of security and customer support. Since our inception in 2003, PayLease has grown to serve thousands of property management companies nationwide and is among the fastest-growing technology companies in the United States. Vote C-Series for Most Innovative Digital Signage Product (Hardware). Matrox Graphics Inc. today announced the selection of Matrox C-Series multi-display graphics cards to the list of finalists for the 2016 SCN InfoComm Installation Products Award in the Most Innovative Digital Signage Product (Hardware) category. Matrox C-Series multi-display graphics cards deliver outstanding performance, stability and usability to power digital signage, video walls and operator workstations in control rooms. C900 is the worlds first single-slot graphics card to drive nine 1920x1200 displays for 3x3 and 9x1 configurations. C680 supports up to six 4K/UHD displays for high display density applications. C420 is the fastest quad card with passive cooling for increased reliability and silent operation. They come bundled with easy-to-use Matrox PowerDesk for Windows desktop management software to give users a comprehensive set of tools, including bezel management and EDID management, to easily configure and manage their multi-display setups. Innovation has always been a goal at Matrox and we are happy the judges shortlisted C-Series for this prestigious award, said Caroline Injoyan, business development manager, Matrox Graphics Inc. They no doubt recognized that our hardware and software enable OEMs and system integrators to easily target a wide range of small to mid-sized digital signage installations. Vote for C-Series today! Voting closes May 6 and the winners will be revealed at InfoComm 2016. See the complete Matrox video wall product line in action at InfoComm 2016 (Las Vegas, June 8-10) in booth N2407. About Matrox Graphics Inc. Matrox Graphics is a global manufacturer of reliable, high-quality ASICs, boards, appliances, and software. Backed by in-house design expertise and dedicated customer support, Matrox products deliver stellar capture, extension, distribution, and display. Engineering high-quality products since 1976, Matrox technology is trusted by professionals and partners worldwide. Matrox is a privately held company headquartered in Montreal, Canada. For more information, visit http://www.matrox.com/graphics. Media Contact: Janet Matey Media Relations Manager Tel: +1 (514) 822-6037 Members of the LIHTC Working Group last month sent a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) responding to its proposed rule on Enterprises Duty to Serve Underserved Markets. The proposed regulation implements the duty for the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), together known as the Enterprises, to support affordable housing preservation, rural housing and manufactured housing. In its response to the proposed regulation, the LIHTC Working Group discussed the potential of the Enterprises returning as investors in the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) marketplace. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provided about 35 to 40 percent of LIHTC annual investment before 2008. Because the Enterprises were not investment decisions influenced by Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) considerations they demonstrated a greater interest in investing in rural areas, which tend to be outside major bank CRA assessment areas. When Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into conservatorship, their authority to invest in the LIHTC market essentially ended. The distressing fact is that nearly 13 percent of the nations affordable housing stock is now gone because of demolition, obsolescence or conversion to market-rate housing, said Stacey Stewart, CPA, a partner in Novogradac & Company LLPs Dover, Ohio, office who leads the LIHTC Working Groups efforts. One way to help turn the tide is by allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to provide low-cost financing and innovative financial products that will help build and preserve affordable homes for low-income families. Among its recommendations, the LIHTC Working Group proposed that the FHFA should allow the Enterprises to re-enter the LIHTC market with limitations and allow them to guarantee LIHTC investments. At present, the LIHTC Working Group is not specifying a readily identifiable market need for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to serve through LIHTC equity investing. However, the group said that a qualitative assessment of the LIHTC investment market should be made and FHFA should allow the Enterprises to become equity investors when appropriate to serve identified needs. The LIHTC Working Group also recommended that the Duty to Serve credit should apply to Enterprise guaranteed LIHTC investment or LIHTC equity investment on the same terms that FHFA offers credit for mortgage finance-related investments. Furthermore, the group said that FHFA should not explicitly limit or exclude certain geographic areas or development types from being eligible for Enterprise LIHTC investment because it would undermine affordable housing preservation. Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, the low-income housing tax credit remains one of the most valuable tools for building and preserving affordable housing, said Michael Novogradac, CPA, and managing partner of Novogradac & Company LLP. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were significant tax credit equity players in the LIHTC program before the recession and the nations affordable housing leaders agree that its time for the FHFA to consider allowing them to once again play a role in leveraging this critical resource. For details and a copy of the letter, please go to http://www.lihtcworkinggroup.com. The LIHTC Working Group was established by Novogradac & Company LLP in 2008 to provide a platform for LIHTC industry participants to work together to resolve technical and administrative LIHTC program issues. Members meet monthly via conference call to provide input regarding pending action items as agreed to by the members of the group. Comments and suggestions generated during the group discussions are agreed to and submitted in writing directly to Treasury, Congress, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and/or various state agencies. For more information, visit http://www.lihtcworkinggroup.com or email lwg(at)novoco(dot)com. About Novogradac & Company Novogradac began operations in 1989 and has since grown to more than 500 employees and partners with offices in San Francisco, Walnut Creek and Long Beach, Calif.; Dover, Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; St. Louis; Boston; New York; Chicago; Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; Naples, Fla., Raleigh, N.C.; Iselin, N.J.; and the greater metropolitan areas of Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Detroit; Kansas City, Mo.; and Seattle. Specialty practice areas include tax, audit and consulting services for tax-credit-assisted affordable housing, community revitalization, rehabilitation of historic properties and renewable energy. Other areas of expertise include business valuation, preparation and analysis of market studies and appraisals of multifamily housing investments and renewable energy tax credits. A convicted child molestor was sentenced on Thursday to return to federal prison after failing to keep in contact with his probation officer and properly egister. Arnold C. Burk, after multiple child molestation convictions in Georgia, was found living unregistered in Apison. The failure to register landed him in federal prison for over two years. After finishing his sentence, however, Burk violated the conditions of his supervised release. He appeared before Judge Sandy Mattice. Judge Mattice explained the reasoning behind the registration of sex offenders and added, We don't really like to lock people up the rest of their lives. It's expensive. However, he made it clear that since Burk had forfeited registering, there was no option but a return to prison. Burk was sentenced to a term of 18 months. Long story short, I had nowhere to go, said Burk. If I can get back to Kentucky, you'll never see my face again. After serving this term, Burk will remain on supervised release for 15 years. Try to remember what I said about alternatives, said Judge Mattice. There are two ways to do it. In jail. Out of jail. You choose. House Doctors President and CEO Jim Hunter with House Doctors of Westfield Owner Ken Benedetto I think people appreciate what we do because we arent there to sell them something ... That attitude really sets us apart. When Ken Benedetto, the owner of House Doctors of Westfield, attended his first House Doctors convention last year, he walked away with a goal to win the Rookie of the Year Award the following year. After a year of climbing to the top, House Doctors is proud to announce that Benedetto has reached that goal and was recently named companys Rookie of the Year for 2015. Ken is committed to building his professional handyman and home improvement business and his positive approach is inspiring. Ken has built great relationships with fellow franchises, our vendors, the home office and his clients, House Doctors President and CEO Jim Hunter said. Ken was recognized as our Rookie of the Year because of the efforts hes making to grow the company in his community and strengthen the brand nationwide. House Doctors is different because the companys friendly and experienced craftsmen and technicians are committed to providing an excellent customer experience by being on time, doing the job right and guaranteeing the work for one year. Benedettos local franchise serves Union, Middlesex, Morris and Essex Counties of NJ, and the surrounding areas. I attended my first convention last year and I heard about the Rookie of the Year Award. I came home and said, Our goal is to win that award next year. We spent the last year focusing on building our team, promoting the business and creating revenue through excellent customer service, Benedetto said. We were consistently in the top 10 or 15 franchises from a revenue standpoint, but I didnt realize we were doing well enough to win the award. I was surprised and excited to meet that goal. House Doctors experienced, insured, background checked and uniformed technicians specialize in repairs for carpentry, sheetrock, windows, doors, floors, minor electrical and minor plumbing, as well as interior and exterior home maintenance services, and remodeling projects. In addition to being one of the fastest growing franchises in the House Doctors network, Benedettos business also has over a 90 percent customer satisfaction on public review and is an A rating on Angies List. I think people appreciate what we do because we arent there to sell them something. If you have a broken fence and you call a fence company, they ultimately want to sell you a new fence. I just want to fix the broken section so youre happy with your home and youre not breaking the bank to do it. That attitude really sets us apart, Benedetto said. Prior to opening House Doctors of Westfield, Benedetto spent 17 years working in a New York City power plant. During that time, he acquired multiple rental properties and flipped houses that needed work. That gave me a good understanding of the work that needs done on a house and the challenges you can have when working with contractors. Over the years I build up a list of great contractors and I got to a point where I thought, you know, I can help those contractors get more work and help the community by offering their services through House Doctors. Thats what led me to open the business, Benedetto said. Benedetto is a member of the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce as well as the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce. When hes not working, Benedetto can be found spending time with his family, creating new possibilities or having a big Italian Sunday dinner with his loved ones. To learn more about House Doctors of Westfield, call (908)490-1900, email hd529(at)housedoctors(dot)com or visit https://www.housedoctors.com/tricounty/handyman-services-westfield/. About House Doctors House Doctors Handyman Service has been helping homeowners across the United States with home repair and light remodeling projects for more than 20 years. Our friendly, insured and bonded craftsmen are scheduled to be there on time and are committed to complete customer satisfaction. Each of our technicians are experienced in home maintenance, product installations and a variety of home improvements. Were so confident in our team and products that every job we perform comes with a one-year guarantee. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) is welcomed by MOAA Chairman, Gen. Charles T. Robertson Jr., USAF (Ret). (Photo by Steve Barrett) You came at the right time; you give us the right information. It really [gives] us an ability to promote military families, which is what we want to do. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committees Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, recounted the scope of recent advocacy efforts led by MOAA council and chapter leaders during his keynote address at the Military Officers Association of America's (MOAA) Council Presidents Dinner April 13. Retired Air Force Gen. Charles T. Robertson Jr., chairman of MOAAs board of directors, said during his introduction Rep. Wilson has tremendous passion to serve his country as a member of the United States Armed Forces. and he and his wife, Roxanne, are the proud parents of four sons, all of whom serve in the U.S. military. Wilson retired in 2003 as a Colonel in the South Carolina Army National Guard. During his address, Wilson praised MOAAs Storming the Hill activities in Washington earlier that day, noting particularly the information you provided the inserts that you gave us with graphs and charts. He added, This is a Congress that needs to see things in print. Earlier Wednesday, approximately 160 MOAA members had taken to Capitol Hill to engage their congressional representatives on issues important to the entire military community. What a difference [MOAA] makes, he reflected. You made the difference in regard to my service as chairman on very important issues related to military health care. [People] came before our committee and [testified] that the military health care costs were eating the budget alive. MOAA brought it to my attention that [on the contrary,] military health care costs were flat. He then highlighted MOAAs efforts to preserve TRICARE benefits: On the TRICARE issues, you gave us information that well be able to work with, and well be able to fight. You came at the right time; you give us the right information. It really [gives] us an ability to promote military families, which is what we want to do. Wilson also expressed appreciation for MOAAs other legislative initiatives, such as repealing the Survivor Benefit Plan/Dependency and Indemnity Compensation widows tax, a massive financial penalty that burdens military survivors. Ive been working on this issue since I was elected 15 years ago, and I feel like Ive been spinning my wheels until today. He praised MOAA for the clearest explanation he had heard of the SBP/DIC issue. On the subject of keeping commissaries open for military members and their families around the globe, Wilson said, Its important to have a worldwide system. Its not just the ability to buy an American product at a remote location Its also an [employment] opportunity for spouses and children. Please keep fighting on that. Wilson concluded that it often may take years for what you do to be appreciated [but] I am confident [because] MOAA is making a difference supporting our military families. Following Wilsons remarks, Robertson thanked the congressman by presenting a $6,000 MOAA Scholarship Fund senior grant in Wilsons name. -End- About MOAA: Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) is the nations largest and most influential association of military officers. With more than 390,000 members active duty, former, retired, and National Guard and Reserve officers from all seven uniformed services and their spouses and surviving spouses it is a powerful force speaking for a strong national defense and represents the interests of military officers and their families at every stage of their careers. For those who are not eligible to join MOAA, Voices for Americas Troops is a nonprofit MOAA affiliate that supports a strong national defense. For more information, visit http://www.moaa.org. TDWI Accelerate An unrivaled learning experience delivered by leading analytics experts. TDWI, a division of 1105 Media, announces TDWI Accelerate: Analytics and Data Visualization, July 1820, 2016, in Boston. TDWI is the leading source of business intelligence and analytics education, research, and news about all things data. At TDWI Accelerate, data professionals will learn best practices and skills to help reach their analytics goals more quickly; including techniques for gaining insights from their data and democratizing analytics to drive business value, enhance operations, and enrich customer experiences. Accelerate focuses on these key areas of analytics: Self-service analytics and data visualizationthe language of images, data storytelling, democratization, and data preparation Advanced analytics and data sciencepredictive analytics, data mining, tool selection, Internet of Things, advanced algorithms, cognitive analytics, and more Analytical organization and leadershiporganizing and building teams for success, developing an analytics culture, and making it happen Participants will attend case study presentations, expert sessions, panel discussions, half-day courses, a broad range of structured and unstructured networking opportunities, and survey the latest analytics technologies. Three keynote speakers cover some of the most important topics in analytics today. Wayne Eckerson, director of research and principal consultant, Eckerson Group LLC, and author of Secrets of Analytical Leaders: Insights from Information Insiders, will speak on The BI Power Shift: Creating a Shared Organization. Kirk Borne, principal data scientist, Booz Allen Hamilton, will discuss Data Trek - The Expanding Universe of Data Science. Jennifer Shin, founder and chief data scientist, 8 Path Solutions LLC, will explore how to Empower Your Visualizations. To Register Visit the event website: tdwi.org/Accelerate. Conference attendees who register by May 27, 2016, are eligible for a special discount of up to $675. For the Media Members of the media are invited to cover the event. Interviews with TDWI spokespeople are available upon request. Media passes are reserved for press representatives and analysts who can verify that their publication or organization regularly covers data warehousing, business intelligence, or related topics. Please note: media passes will not be issued to publishing, sales, marketing, advertising, public relations, or technical support staff from any organization. To apply for a media pass, please send an email to bwoodbridge(at)tdwi(dot)org with the following information: name, title, company, email address, telephone number, dates of attendance, publication/website name (including website URL), and links to three articles/blogs/podcasts published in the last three months that cover business intelligence, data warehousing, or related topics. About TDWI For 20 years, TDWI has provided individuals and teams with a comprehensive portfolio of business and technical education and research about all things data. The in-depth, best-practices-based knowledge TDWI offers can be quickly applied to develop world-class talent across your organizations business and IT functions to enhance analytical, data-driven decision making and performance. TDWI advances the art and science of realizing business value from data by providing an objective forum where industry experts, solution providers, and practitioners can explore and enhance data competencies, practices, and technologies. TDWI offers five major conferences as well as topical seminars, onsite education, membership, certification, live webinars, resourceful publications, industry news, and in-depth research. See tdwi.org or follow us on Twitter @TDWI. About 1105 Media 1105 Media, Inc., is a leading provider of integrated information and media in targeted business-to-business markets, including specialized sectors of the information technology community; industrial health, safety, and compliance; security; environmental protection; and home healthcare. 1105's offerings span print and online magazines, journals, and newsletters; seminars, conferences, and trade shows; training courseware; and Web-based services. 1105 Media is based in Chatsworth, California, with offices throughout the United States. Alvernia University student Emily Reed 2016 Newman Civic Fellow Emily Reed, Akron, Pa., has been named a 2016 Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact. A junior studying social work at Alvernia University, Reed is highly involved in service through the university's Holleran Center for Community Engagement. Through service, research, and advocacy, Newman Civic Fellows are making the most of their college experiences to better understand themselves, the root causes of social issues, and effective mechanisms for creating lasting change. As these students tackle community challenges, they provide fresh energy and perspective, inspire and mobilize others, and develop their own skills and potential. Emilys kindness, her very strong leadership skills, and her empathy are clear to anyone who has the pleasure of working with her, but what really shines through is the positive nature of her personality, said Jay Worrall, director of the Holleran Center for Community Engagement at Alvernia. Reed is highly involved in a number of service-related initiatives both on campus and in the community, including travel projects as part of regular Alternative Breaks, serving the underprivileged in places like inner-city Camden, N.J., Cincinnati, Ohio, and rural Virginia. She is a regular participant in Alvernias annual Days of Service, and has helped peers navigate many different college milestones, such as their first tours, the full new student orientation process, and helping upperclassmen appreciate social justice issues though her role as a Catholic Relief Services Ambassador. As the President of Alvernias service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega (APO), Emily had to provide leadership for the APO regional conference, hosted for the first time at Alvernia this spring. Her ability to remain positive, even as things sometimes became difficult, is a testament to her character, said Worrall. Emily and her team pulled off a flawless event on their first try, including organizing an impactful service activity at Carsonia Park for 100 students from 22 different schools in the region. She is indeed well-deserving of this award! Newman Civic Fellowships are named for Dr. Frank Newman, a founder of Campus Compact who had a tremendous impact on American education and its role in the development of citizens prepared to make a difference. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to celebrate such an extraordinary group of students, said Campus Compact president Andrew Seligsohn. We are seeing a resurgence in student interest in acting to create lasting social change, and this years Newman Civic Fellows exemplify that commitment. Campus Compact is a national coalition of nearly 1,100 college and university presidents who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility. For more information about the organization and the award, visit http://www.compact.org. ALVERNIA is a thriving university that empowers students through real-world learning to discover their passion for life, while providing the education to turn what they love into lifetimes of career success and personal fulfillment, helping them make the world a better place. Situated on a scenic 121-acre suburban campus in historic Berks County, Pa., the university of more than 3,000 students is conveniently located near Philadelphia (60 miles) and within an easy drive of New York, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Brookhaven Retreat LLC, a unique residential treatment facility exclusively for women with emotional and mental health challenges, and/or substance abuse issues will increase client awareness of the link between child abuse and drug abuse during National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Child Abuse Prevention Month is a time to acknowledge how families and communities can join together to build awareness of how to promote the social and emotional well-being of children and families. During the month of April and throughout the year, everyone is encouraged to share child abuse and neglect prevention awareness strategies and activities and promote prevention across the country. For women enrolled in The Lily Program, a 90-day treatment offered exclusively at Brookhaven Retreat, who also happen to be victims of child abuse, will benefit from information about the link between child abuse and drug abuse. As stated in the 2015 Prevention Resource Guide published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Childrens Bureau, about 3.5 million reports were made to child protective services concerning the safety and well-being of approximately 6.4 million children in 2013. Research conducted by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) shows two-thirds of all people in treatment for drug abuse reported being physically, sexually, or emotionally abused during childhood. In a study funded by the NIDA, which documents that women rape victims are dramatically more likely to abuse drugs than are women who are not victims, also directly implicated the presence of child abuse. Research conducted at the Medical University of South Carolina found that more than 61 percent of rapes of the 4,008 women in his study occurred by age 17. About half of those occurred by age 11 and were considered obvious cases of child abuse. Additionally, the rape victims, compared to others who were not raped, were: more than three times as likely to have used marijuana six times more likely to have used cocaine more than 10 times as likely to have used drugs other than cocaine, including heroin and amphetamines Brookhaven Retreats mission is to guide clients through the aftermath of trauma with the goal of developing a well-rounded balance of the physical, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of a sustained recovery from mental health and addiction problems. We believe addiction is the symptom of more pervasive issues, says Jacqueline Dawes, founder of Brookhaven Retreat. For instance, a woman may turn to alcohol or drugs in an effort to numb the painful memories and negativity absorbed when she was abused as a child. While we treat the physical addiction, it is equally and perhaps even more important to tend to the emotions that came up all those years ago that were never appropriately addressed. We have a nurturing approach that helps women rebuild the foundation of their own self-worth. That is how one begins to emerge from a place of suffering and create a life worth living. In this way, we have changed many lives and continue to do soon a regular basis. About Brookhaven Retreat Brookhaven Retreat is a women's treatment center nestled on a naturally beautiful 48-acre site secluded in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. It has helped hundreds of women across the United States overcome depression, trauma, anxiety, substance use and a range of other behavioral health challenges. Brookhavens Founder, Jacqueline Dawes, has predicated its gender-specific treatment on healing emotional breakage for women. In this way, she has established a sanctuary and a place where women can feel safe, secure and cared for by a staff of highly trained professionals. Best Overall Service 2015 Champion Cleaners offers The Best Customer Experience. For the second time in two years Champion Cleaners of Birmingham, AL owned by David Whitehurst has earned the Best Overall Service Award. His three locations have received the highest overall mystery shopping scores again in 2015. Whitehurst says, We take customer service very seriously. Everyone in our organization has a laser focus on service at the counter and quality cleaning. And it shows! Whitehurst explained, they were very excited to win this award in 2014, and to be able to do it again for 2015 just reinforces the fact that Champion Cleaners offers The Best Customer Experience. Champion Cleaners had his stores mystery shopped 36 times throughout the year. Champion Cleaners was scored on customer service interaction at the counter during drop off and pick up, plus a consumer evaluation of the items cleaned. Dry cleaners from throughout the United States and Canada participate in the mystery shopping program. The program is administered by a DLI partner, MarketWise Consulting Group of Appleton, WI. According to Mary Scalco, DLI President and CEO, The emphasis of customer service at the counter is a key ingredient in the overall success of dry cleaners everywhere, Scalco continues, The competition for this award is intense. Not only (does Cision) monitor influence and media coverage for a product or brand, (Cision) help(s) you take action based on that info. Cision today announced three of its products were named as finalists for the 2016 Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) CODiE Awards in four separate categories. The Cision products included as finalists are Cision Public Relations Edition, Cision Social Edition and Visible Intelligence. The SIIA CODiE Awards are the premier awards for the software and information industries, and have been recognizing product excellence for over 30 years. Finalists represent the information industrys best products, technologies, and services in the software, content and business technology. Cisions products were honored as three of 215 finalists across the 62 business technology categories. Continuing to receive recognition from SIIA for Cisions products is a reflection of our commitment to continually meeting the needs of communications professionals in this evolving landscape, said Cision CEO Peter Granat. Our research, development, acquisitions and integrations place us at the intersection of content, social, marketing and PR - a junction where industry professionals find themselves today. Cision PR Edition is a finalist for the award of Best Business Information Solution and Best Content Analytics Solution. The Best Business Information Solution award recognizes the best information solution that helps business professionals with their daily job functions including strategy, business development, sales, marketing, research or other corporate functions. The Best Content Analytics Solution recognizes the best content and data analytics solution that helps providers understand content utilization and data. Feedback from the judges noted the software as an excellent product with a broad range of options and functionality that allows users to get the access and intel they need to be successful. Not only (does Cision) monitor influence and media coverage for a product or brand, (Cision) help(s) you take action based on that info. Last year, the PR product won the 2015 CODiE award for Best Media and Information Monitoring Solution. Cision Social Edition is a finalist for the award of Best Social Media Management & Enablement Solution, which recognizes the best solution for managing and monitoring social media campaigns across multiple social networks. It was found to have excellent analysis of data and that the reporting features are extensive and comprehensive, according to official judge feedback. Visible Intelligence is a finalist for the Best Business Intelligence Reporting & Analytics Solution award, which recognizes the best solution for reporting and analyzing data into useful information for business purposes. A previous SIIA CODiE award winner for Best Content Analytics Solution in 2015, feedback stated: Every company in the public eye should be using this product. See the full list of CODiE finalists and categories here. About Cision Cision is a leading global media intelligence company, serving the complete workflow of todays communications, social media and content marketing professionals. Offering the industrys most comprehensive PR and social software, rich analytics and a Global Insights team, Cision enables clients to improve their marketing and strengthen data-driven decision making. Cision also represents the Gorkana Group, PRWeb, Help a Reporter Out (HARO) and iContact brands. Headquartered in Chicago, Cision has over 100,000 customers worldwide and maintains offices in Canada, U.K., France, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Finland and China. For more information, visit http://www.cision.com or follow @Cision on Twitter. 'The Delight Conference is a special event with an incredible group of speakers and attendees every year,' said Jeff Cram, conference organizer and Connective DX co-founder. Early bird registration is now open for Delight 2016, an experience design conference taking place September 26-28, 2016 in Portland, Oregon. The event is organized for leaders working at the intersection of business, design and technology who care about creating experiences people love. Returning to Portland for the fifth year, Delight curates a unique lineup of inspiring keynote presentations, case study-driven talks and interactive breakout sessions. The 2016 event features David Rose, author of Enchanted Objects, as well as speakers from Facebook, Capital One, Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group, Society of Grownups, Ion Interactive, Connective DX and more. The conference attracts a diverse range of attendees from organizations including Fortune 1000 enterprises, B2B, healthcare, financial services, agencies and startups in an intimate forum that encourages big ideas, interactive discussions and lasting peer connections. The conference pass provides full access to the two-day event at the Portland Art Museum, with optional day three intensive workshops available as well. Super early bird pricing, available until May 31, offers up to $300 off with additional discounts available for groups of four or more from the same organization. Attendees are encouraged to register early, as space is limited and the 2015 event sold out with 400+ attendees. The Delight Conference is a special event with an incredible group of speakers and attendees every year, said Jeff Cram, conference organizer and Connective DX co-founder. Portland, Oregon is also the perfect backdrop for celebrating experiences people love. The event has grown to be bigger, better and more delightful every year. Visit the official Delight 2016 conference website at http://www.delight.us/conference for more information about the event. For media inquiries and registration questions, contact Laura Brown at Laura (at) delight (dot) us. For event sponsorship questions, contact Carmen Hill at Carmen (at) delight (dot) us. About the Delight Conference Delight 2016 is a unique gathering of designers, technologists and business leaders who are driven to create experiences people love. Held annually in Portland, Ore., the conference has featured leaders from beloved brands including Facebook, Disney, Uber, MailChimp, Intuit, Warby Parker, Simple and Adobe. The event is organized by Connective DX, a digital experience agency with offices in Portland, Ore. and Boston, Mass. http://www.delight.us/conference. About Connective DX Connective DX is a digital experience agency focused on helping organizations embrace the power of digital, align around the customer, and take control of their digital future. The agency serves clients globally with services that span digital experience strategy, experience design, technology, and digital enablement. Founded in 1997, Connective DX has offices in Portland, Ore., and Boston, Mass. Clients include Columbia Sportswear, Esri, KinderCare, OHSU, BMC Software and Banner Bank. https://www.connectivedx.com While any label-maker can design a label that simply conveys basic information about the item, Hi-Tech Labeling & Printing prides itself in its ability to produce custom made fabric labels. ...if clothing manufacturers and designers want to best promote their commitment to using ethically sourced materials and keep up with the international trend, one of the best ways to do so is to proudly emblazon this information on their fabric labels. According to an article published March 14th on Forbes, even as China represents the largest mass fashion market in the world and currently produces more than 50 percent of the worlds fabric, smaller design and apparel enterprises in the country are quickly embracing a more eco-friendly production model and gaining international attention. Los Angeles-based fabric label manufacturer Hi-Tech Printing & Labeling Inc. explains that, because the fashion industry is constantly shifting to appeal to consumers, interest in fabric and clothing which engenders environmental sustainability is currently in full swing around the world. They note that, if clothing manufacturers and designers want to best promote their commitment to using ethically sourced materials and keep up with the international trend, one of the best ways to do so is to proudly emblazon this information on their fabric labels. The firm additionally notes that, while the move toward sustainable and ethically sourced materials is typically motivated by ethical imperatives, rather than the urge to capture consumer attention, shoppers generally enjoy knowing that their dollars are going to a company concerned with the greater good. Hi-Tech Labeling & Printing explains that fabric labels serve a great many other needs. For starters, they note that, while any label-maker can design a label that simply conveys basic information about the item, Hi-Tech Labeling & Printing prides itself in its ability to produce custom made, immediately appealing designs that can add value to a brands image and character. They add that, because todays trends revolve around simpler, more low-key clothing, designers and manufacturers can display their brand name on a fabric label without drawing attention away from the style of the garment. Additionally, the firm explains that another beneficial application for fabric labels is to draw consumer attention to the garments country of origin. They note that many American shoppers enjoy knowing that their clothing was manufactured closer to home largely because it denotes that less energy was expended in the items transportation. Hi-Tech Labeling & Printing notes that they take pride in their 25 years of experience in printing labels for their clients around the world. Additionally, the firm notes that their eager and professional staff is ready to meet the needs of all types of clothing manufacturers. For more information about the products and fabric label printing services available at Hi-Tech Printing & Labeling or to request a quote, interested readers may call the label maker and manufacturer today at (213) 746-7772 or visit them online at http://www.FabricLabels.com. Keiser University (KU) campuses statewide, throughout the months of April and May 2016, will celebrate the pinnings of 3,000 Florida health care graduates from its associate, bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree programs. Pinning ceremonies are traditionally viewed as the rite of passage into health care professions, signifying that all clinical experience hours and rigorous academic requirements have been successfully completed. Degree graduates are eligible to sit for the professional certification exams and prepared to work in the health care field. The Florida Primary Care Office is the States liaison to the federal Shortage Designation Branch (SDB) of Health Resources and Services Administration. In concert, they work to identify shortages of health care professionals. For example, it was reported that Florida is facing a nursing shortage tsunami due to increased population and more insured patients. The number could be as high as nearly 13,000, according to the Tampa Bay Times. At Keiser University, we view educating Floridas future leaders in health care careers as a privilege and a responsibility, said Belinda Keiser, Vice Chancellor of Keiser University. Our students take their professionalism very seriously, balancing compassion, science, and critical thinking to ensusre quality patient care. We are proud of the contributions they continue to make in meeting the health care demands of Floridas residents and visitors, and our economy, she added. Keiser University offers degrees in a variety of health care fields including nursing, physicians assistant, nurse practitioner, histotechnology, occupational therapy assistant, physical therapy assistant, biotechnology, chiropractic, radiologic technology, diagnostic medical sonography, biomedical science, and many more. KU is annually ranked nationally and statewide by Community College Week for graduating students in Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences and Nursing. The full annual listing can be found at: http://ccweek.com/article-4729-chart-index_top-100-2015.html. As a doctoral level university, it is exciting that our undergraduate students are committed to careers and leadership in health care. We are pleased that many of our alumni will continue building on their educational foundation by pursuing bachelors, masters, and potentially, doctorate degrees, she added. About Keiser University: Keiser University (KU) is a private, not-for-profit university serving nearly 20,000 students pursuing doctoral through associate degrees on 18 Florida campuses, online and internationally, employing 3,800 staff and faculty. Keiser University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award certificates and degrees at the associate, baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral levels. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Keiser University. 9 Excellent Chicago Record Stores You Should Visit By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 14, 2016 5:00PM Photo by Maarten Van Damme I am no fan of Record Store Day but I love, love, love actual record stores. In an age when so much music is available at our fingertips, visiting a record store still fills an innate need, offering a sense of community and human contact spurred by a mutual love of music. And these shops can also be educational. Every store on this list employs folks who are more than happy to chat about music with you. They will learn about your likes and dislikes and do their best to turn you onto something new. In my mind, thats the best thing about record stores; they foster a sense of discovery. No matter how old or new the records in the bins you flip through may be, they all hold the promise of changing your life with sound. The list that follows are just nine of Chicagoist's favorites, but I must stress that I have yet to enter a bad record store in the city. So if your personal favorite isnt on this list, dont take it personally; I trust its just as awesome as the shops below. And for brevitys sake I excluded anything not strictly in the city limitsbut if you have a car or Ventra card I highly recommend hitting up Rolling Stones Music in Norridge or the legendary Val's Halla Records in Oak Park. Reckless Records in Wicker Park, photo by Jim Kopeny / Tankboy Reckless Records Reckless is the grandaddy of indie record stores in Chicago. The Broadway flagship store has stayed in the same spot, but the Wicker Park location keeps moving in order to open up more space and, presumably, stay ahead of rent increases as the neighborhood has grown in popularity. In the 90s Reckless was the epitome of indieyou were afraid to buy an uncool record for fear the staff would laugh in your facebut in later years the folks behind the counter have turned into trusted, and less judgmental, advisors and confidants. The selection of music, both used and new, is staggeringly deep, and affirms Reckless reputation as Chicagos premiere record store. Reckless Records is located at 3126 N. Broadway and 1379 N. Milwaukee Ave. Photo via the Gramaphone Records Facebook page Gramaphone Records Gramaphone specializes in electronic dance singles and LPsit's the center of the universe in Chicago when it comes to remixes from all over the globe. Are you looking for the latest Detroit techno? Gramaphone has it. How about a German remix of a Chicago house tune? Gramophone has it. The latest from Bon Jovi? Gramophone doesnt have it. basically, if you want to fill your house with the latest in cutting edge beats, or just relive last Saturday nights packed dance floor at Smart Bar, then Gramophone has what youre looking for. Gramaphone Records is located at 2843 N. Clark St. Photo via the Logan Hardware Facebook page Logan Hardware Logan Hardware started out as a small record store with a few arcade machines in the back room you could play for free if you bought $10 worth of merchandise. Since then, the arcade swallowed the records and the location added a bar, which meant the actual records had to move a few blocks west. Logan Hardware has a nice selection of CDs, alongside new and used musical gear, but it's their bargain priced records that I love. If youre looking to beef up your selection with vintage vinyl, the kind that feels like it might be a millimeter away from being transparent, then I urge you to dig through the selection at Logan Hardware. Logan Hardware is located at 2532 W. Fullerton Ave. Photo via the Laurie's Planet Of Sound Facebook page Lauries Planet Of Sound Fist of all, we know lots of people think that a woman named Laurie owns this joint, but dont go in looking for her. The owner is actually John Laurie, a suburban record clerk who decided to just open up his own shop in the late 90s. The selection at Lauries is vast, and it's the kind of shop you can lose an afternoon in. Laurie's Planet Of Sound also fosters a pretty devoted community of shoppers and employees, so theres definitely a family feel to the joint. This is also ground zero if your tastes are largely suited to the sounds of MTV's 120 Minutes or all thing underground in the '80s and '90s. Our one word of advice if youre looking to sell must there? Make sure you check out their do not buy list first! Lauries Planet Of Sound is located at 4639 N. Lincoln Ave. Photo via the Dusty Groove Facebook page Dusty Groove If youre looking to get your old school should on, or find exotic jams from all over the planet, then youll want to head to Dusty Groove. But the beat isnt the only thing powering this shop. Since the close of the Jazz Record Mart earlier this year, Dusty Groove is where we turn when were looking to further our adventures into the realm of jazz. Dusty Groove is also the kind of shop where the average patron will probably only recognize a smattering of the records in the bins, so theres a whole lot to discover in your explorations here. Dusty Groove is located at 1120 N. Ashland Ave. Photo via the Hyde Park Records Facebook page Hyde Park Records Looking to do some weekend crate digging? Then Hyde Park Records is where you want to head. This South Side spot caters to everyone, but if youre a DJor just like to play one at hometheir stacks are worth a careful comb-through. The store also hosts plenty of DJ events, so even if youre not in the mood to buy some vinyl you can still get your groove on. Hyde Park Records is located at 1377 E. 53rd St. Photo via the Dave's Records Facebook page Daves Records Dave sells records. Just records. Vinyl, vinyl, vinyl and nothing else. At all. Dave is as old school as you get. His most modern move in recent years was to start a blog. On MySpace. That he never updates. Daves Records rules. Daves Records is located at 2604 N. Clark St. Photo via the Permanent Records Facebook page Permanent Records Ive always viewed Permanent Records as the snotty younger sibling to the more established Reckless Records. They dont share ownership, but theres something in the vibe of the DNA of both shops that just feels familiar. But if Reckless is the cool dad, then the Permanent staff are the well meaning, if sometimes bratty, teenagers. The shop hosts in-store performances, has a wide and varied selection of music, and generally just maintains a kick-ass vibe. Occasionally you can find the folks behind the counter spinning records around town aswait for itthe Permanent Records DJs; practicing what they preach and spreading the good will of cool music. Permanent Records is located at 1914 W. Chicago Ave. Photo via the 606 Records website 606 Records 606 Records is definitely the newest record store on this list. Located in Pilsen across from Thalia Hall, and owned by Tim Unsell and Drew Mitchell, the shop specializes in delivering offerings from smaller and harder to find labels. No indie snob will be able to turn their nose up at this selection, and less experienced listeners can expect to stumble across new discoveries. Head on down and welcome the youngest addition to our list in person. 606 Records is located at 1808 S. Allport St. UPDATE: Unfortunately saki closed its doors at the end of 2016. Photo via the saki Records Facebook page saki Records saki is one of the newer stores on this list, and sprouted in response to the growing legions of hipsters in Logan Square right as that neighborhood started blowing up. Selection-wise they cater to pretty mainstream tastes, but to me their true value is in the community they foster, holding fairly frequent in-store performances from local groups. And while the selection is pretty standard the staff is always willing to bend your ear and suggest something a little further off the beaten path. Theyre like dealers; you get a taste of something standard and then they hook you on more challenging (often rewarding)stuff. saki is located at 3716 W. Fullerton Ave. We had presentations from three GM roster agencies, continued Heath. Flash Point was just more sophisticated. They measure everything. They deliver leads to dealers in real time. On so many levels, they just blew the other agencies away. Last year, we were pretty much in the middle of the pack, said Greg Heath, Chairman of the Southern California Buick dealers. Now SoCal is the second fastest growing region in the country for Buick. And our GMC dealers now rank number one in the U.S. for growth. Our digital marketing was a major contributor to our success, Heath continued. Flash Point doesnt just come in selling an ad network, website, pre-roll, impressions, or nebulous stuff like outcomes. They come in with a well-defined digital/social strategy for our LMA, as well as our individual Dealers, one complementing the other. Plus, they were the first vendor that started their presentation with an estimate of leads and sales theyd deliver, said Heath. That was a first. Bottom line was, they take responsibility for every marketing dollar they spend. The SoCal Buick GMC LMA actually went outside the roster of preferred GM agencies to select Flash Point. We had presentations from three GM roster agencies, continued Heath. Flash Point was just more sophisticated. They measure everything. They deliver leads to dealers in real time. On so many levels, they just blew the other agencies away. We made a big bet on a non-roster agency and it paid off big-time, concluded Heath. In related news, Flash Point Communications has just been named the digital/social media agency of record for the SoCal Cadillac LMA. For over fifteen years, Flash Point Communications has been a leading innovator in social media software, marketing, and retail network engagement. Based in Costa Mesa, California, Flash Point serves many of the globes most respected automotive brands from four offices nationwide. For more information, go to http://blog.flashpointcommunications.com. Stacey Valnes There are a lot of Realtors I know and respect on the top 1,000 list, so to rank among the best of the best is truly an honor. Every year, the Wall Street Journal publishes a list of the top 1,000 Realtors from rankings provided by Real Trends, a real estate industry professional organization. Only the top 0.05% of Realtors make the list, which is dependent on their closed sales volume. Santa Monica Realtor Stacey Valnes, founder and broker at Valnes Bell Realtors, notes that his current sales figures would rank him within the 100 top-selling Realtors in the nation. There are a lot of Realtors I know and respect on the top 1,000 list, so to rank among the best of the best is truly an honor, said Valnes. I look forward to continued strong relationships with my clients, who have allowed me to reach this pinnacle of success. In addition to real estate sales, Valnes specializes in income properties and home makeovers that help sellers achieve the most income from their properties. He recently completed a full restoration on a beach cottage property in Ocean Park that he then sold to a lucky buyer. I also enjoy taking the knowledge Ive gained from nearly 20 years in the real estate business to remodel and resell my own properties, Valnes said. I can spot a diamond in the rough and polish it into an outstanding Southern California home. Valnes real estate expertise allows him to serve clients all over the Los Angeles area, including Pacific Palisades, Venice, Brentwood and Malibu. This expanded reach is one factor in the outstanding sales volume that puts him among the nations top producers. I am devoted to serving the Westside of Los Angeles, Valnes said. Its an area I know and love, and I feel a kinship with the clients I am able to serve there. To learn more about Valnes Bell Realtors, visit the company website at ValnesBell.com. About Stacey Valnes Stacey Valnes has served clients in the real estate industry for 18 years. He is the founder and broker at Valnes Bell Realtors, a company that offers myriad services to clients in all aspects of real estate. Valnes provides top-notch expertise to home buyers, sellers and those considering entering the market. He lends his knowledge to sellers to help them reach a maximum selling price, and he also can advise clients on a realistic expectation for their home valuation. At home, Valnes spends time with his spouse and five children. About Real Trends The Thousand List Residential real estate industry authority Real Trends has released its national list of the top 0.05% of Realtors and Realtor teams for the past nine years. The 2016 list will mark the 10th anniversary of the publication, which is seen annually in the Wall Street Journal. Realtors and teams each are ranked according to top sales by sides and by volume. The Thousand list comes out in June of each year. ### Press Contact: Stacey Valnes Arise Virtual Solutions employees remove invasive plants from Miramar Pinelands Park in honor of National Volunteer Week. This week, fifty volunteers have pledged over 140 hours of community service. Not only is this a great team building experience for our employees, but it allows us to put our Corporate Values into action! - Emily Hofer In honor of National Volunteer Week, Arise Virtual Solutions Inc. has pledged to volunteer time and resources to local and national nonprofits. Employees based at Arise Headquarters are teaming up with Feeding South Florida, The Broward Partnership: The Road to Health, Jobs and Homes for the Homeless, and the Broward County Parks and Recreation at Miramar Pinelands Park. Arise employees who work remotely across the US are also getting involved in their local communities, volunteering their time at organizations like Feeding America and regional non-profits of their choice. On Monday, in partnership with Broward County Parks and Recreation, Arise volunteers joined together to remove exotic plants that are invasive to rare, native foliage and harmful to the natural ecosystem of Miramar Pinelands Park. Throughout the week, volunteers will collect food, organize donations, prepare and serve meals, and continue with park clean-up. Arise is dedicated to changing the way the world works, and through dedicated employee volunteer actions, changing the world for the better. At Arise, our culture embraces volunteerism to support our local communities, said Emily Hofer, Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of Arise Virtual Solutions. This week, fifty volunteers have pledged over 140 hours of community service. Not only is this a great team building experience for our employees, but it allows us to put our Corporate Values into action! We are proud to partner with truly impactful community organizations including Feeding South Florida, The Broward Partnership, The Road to Health, Jobs and Homes for the Homeless as well as Broward County Parks and Recreation. About Arise Virtual Solutions: Arise Virtual Solutions is changing the way companies think about call center services. Arise provides a virtual platform to connect work-at-home service professionals running small call center businesses to Fortune 500 and other large companies. For over a decade, Arises platform has enabled superior and extremely flexible customer contact, business processing and consulting solutions for numerous companies around the globe, uniquely blending crowdsourcing innovation, virtual technology and operational efficiencies to deliver an enhanced customer experience for a companys customers. To learn more about Arise Virtual Solutions Inc., please visit http://www.arise.com. 9 Big Takeaways From Report On Racism And Misconduct In Chicago's Police Department By Sophie Lucido Johnson in News on Apr 14, 2016 6:34PM By Aaron Cynic/Chicagoist A full 183-page report from the city's Police Accountability Task Force on recommendations for reform was released Wednesday, and it didn't sugarcoat anything. The report patently states that the public's mistrust in the Chicago Police Department is justified, and drastic changesincluding the abolition of the city's Independent Police Review Agencyare direly necessary and long overdue. Mayor Rahm Emanuel assembled the task force in December following the delayed release of video footage of Laquan McDonald's fatal shooting by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke. Establishing a task force may was a time-biding political move for Emanuel, whose administration nearly crumbled under the backlash garnered from the McDonald incident; but he may not have anticipated how searing and unforgiving the report would be. In a press conference Wednesday, Emanuel said that he was "open to look at everything" in the report. This response leaves community members skeptical: Black Youth Project 100 national director Charlene A. Carruthers told The New York Times, "I do not have confidence that the task force or the mayors office will take bold enough steps. The mayor can only tread water for so long: The task force provided a set of lengthy checklists of its overarching recommendations, which, if implemented, would mean a complete overhaul of the department. Based on the outrage of the citizens of Chicago, whose stories are outlined and quoted throughout the task force's report, an overhaul is probably the only thing that might restore the citizens' faith in the city. The report seems to leave no stone unturned in its coverageeverything from historical context to training practices to video policy to accountability (and plenty of other subjects) are exhaustively investigated. If you don't have time to read the whole thing, though, here are some of the most important points to take away: 1. Racial bias is not a question; it is pretty much a fact. Not only did the report say that the task force repeatedly heard community members say that some CPD officers are racist, it provided startling data to justify that idea. According to the report, 74 percent of the 404 police shootings between 2008 and 2015 struck African Americans. Of the 1,886 taser discharges between 2012 and 2015, African Americans were the target of 76 percent. For some context, Chicago is 31.7 percent white, 32.9 percent black, and 28.9 percent Hispanic. "Racism and maltreatment at the hands of the police have been consistent complaints from communities of color for decades," the report said. It mentioned the killing of Fred Hampton, the Metcalfe hearings, federal court findings of a practice of discriminatory hiring, the criminal ex-police commander Jon Burge, widespread disorderly conduct arrests, an unconstitutional gang loitering ordinance, investigatory stops and frisks, false arrests, and coerced confessions as just a few examples of the CPD's racial history. 2. The city's current contracts with police unions are doing more harm than good. The report called for immediate changes to clauses in the contract that ban anonymous citizen complaints, prevent the department from rewarding officers who turn in colleagues who break the rules, and "make it easy for officers to lie in official reports." Contracts with the union have allowed for what Emanuel has called "the code of silence" to become policy standard. "The code of silence is institutionalized and reinforced by CPD rules and policies that are also baked into the labor agreements between the various police unions and the City," the report said. 3. It's time to dissolve the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA). The IPRA, established under Mayor Richard M. Daley to replace another internal oversight committee, is tasked with overseeing the most serious claims of police conduct. There have been longstanding questions around whether the agency acts fairly. The IPRA has shown repeated failure to investigate some of the most critical police misconduct cases, and has also failed to carry out consequential discipline. The report found that the IPRA is widely perceived as favoring the police. "IPRA has lost the trust of the community, which it cannot function without," the report said. A civilian police investigative agency (with full transparency) was recommended as a replacement. 4. Police officers need to prioritize mental health training. There is a longstanding history of the mishandling of people who suffer from mental health crises. Police should be trained in de-escalation before they resort to the use of force. Due to the Department of Justice's ongoing investigation of the CPD, the task force was not able to conduct much analysis of the CPD's use-of-force practices, but they were able to track situations in which police officers were called upon to intervene with citizens experiencing extreme mental health problems or breakdowns; too often, officers were not trained in deescalation techniques, and resorted to force. "In the worst case scenario, officers, the person in crisis or bystanders may get hurt or killed. At best, unnecessary escalation results in a stressful interaction and often an arrest of the person in crisis for behavior that occurred as a result of the police encounters) and entry into the criminal justice system," the report said. To combat this problem, the task force recommended a unit specifically tasked with handling mental health issues. 5. There should be a Deputy Chief of Diversity and Inclusion in CPD. The fact that CPD does not have a specific job title for managing diversity and inclusion efforts is a downright embarrassment, according to the report. The task force recommended that the new deputy position be given sufficient support staff in order to work toward minority recruitment and promotion efforts. the Deputy Chief of Diversity and Inclusion would also oversee how the CPD has implemented the Task Force's recommendations around race, and would hold police accountable for the ways in which the actions of the CPD affect minority citizens. 6. Community awareness and engagement need to be central to policing. The Task Force pointed out that the national President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing states that policing should be infused throughout the culture and organizational structure of law enforcement agencies. Likewise, the Department of Justices Office of Community Orientated Policing Services advocates that police departments adopt community service as the overarching philosophy of the organization and make an institutional commitment to community policing that is internalized throughout the command structure. The task force recommended that 22 of the city's police districts be designated as "Community Empowerment and Engagement Districts (CEED)," which would require commanders and officers to engage with local stakeholders and collaborate on strategies for reducing crime. 7. Every officer needs a body camera. Body cameras are an effective preventative tool to impede police misconduct because they promote transparency and accountability. It has also been found that the presence of body cameras can de-escalate encounters on both ends. The report references a quote from Marc Buslik, the commander in charge of CPD's body camera pilot program: When they know they are being recorded, both sides, everything becomes less intense. The CPD is already using some body cameras, but given the great results body cameras have shown nationwide, total implementation should be prioritized. Body cameras are expensive, but as the report pointed out, "To the extent body cameras improve officer behavior, they also could help pay for themselves by reducing the more than $600 million the City has paid to resolve police misconduct cases since 2004." 8. Chicago needs a functional mediation program. The CPD has a history of misconduct, and many citizens are still suffering from the fallout of police officers behaving badly. Other cities have already implemented programs like this, and have seen a high rate of satisfaction among community members involved. Mediation methods involve face-to-face meetings between civilians who bring complaints and the police who are the subject of the complaints. People need to feel recognized and heard when they have been hurt. "Studies of complainants goals indicate that few want to see the officer punished, but many instead just want to report the incident, desire an apology or explanation from the officer or would like to meet in person and express themselves to the officer," the report said. 9. Empowerment needs prioritization. The citizens of the city of Chicago should not feel less safe when they see police officers; unfortunately, that is often the case, especially among people of color. The city owes its citizens a sincere apology, which names its own history of injustice and takes ownership over them, the report says. The task force said that the superintendent should publicly acknowledge CPD's history of racial disparity and discrimination. In addition to the community oversight board suggested to replace the IPRA and the establishment of CEEDs, citywide summits should be held to develop comprehensive criminal justice reform, the city should introduce a protocol allowing people who have been arrested to make phone calls to an attorney or family members within an hour of arrest, and youth should be provided with a citywide "Know Your Rights" training. As Pilsen Gentrifies, Latino Residents Are Leaving By The Thousands By Sophie Lucido Johnson in News on Apr 14, 2016 7:13PM Photo: Andre Van Vegten Long a subject of controversy and debate, the cost of living in Pilsen is definitely on the rise, and with it comes a change in demographics. A new study by University of Illinois at Chicago professor John Betancur and Youngjun Kim, a graduate student, found that white residents in the neighborhood grew by 22 percent between 2000 and 2013, and that Hispanic residents have been leaving by the thousands. Betancur wanted to update a similar report he did in 2005 that found that at that time, gentrification in Pilsen was largely contained in the east of the community, but that the community had a reputation for being more gentrified than it actually was. Betancur said that the implication that the neighborhood had already been gentrified raised the property value significantly, accelerating gentrification. In this new study, Betancur hoped to update his statistics, but also to understand the deeper and more complex ways the neighborhood was changing. "Pilsen is a neighborhood in which Latinos were able to build, when they were being displaced from everywhere in the city; it was a neighborhood where people were able to organize as a community and they used to stage their fights," Betancur told Chicagoist. "Pilsen was pretty much the political base of the Mexican community." Now that the neighborhood is seeing such an influx of white people moving in, that community is at risk of being fractured. Betancur said that until the 1990s, Pilsen was one of the neighborhoods in Chicago that was most successful at keeping gentrification at bay. In the '90s, though, the political leadership of Pilsen became a part of city hall, and that was when many of the organization in the neighborhood "pretty much gave up the fight to combat gentrification." The question now is how much of the Latino community-driven aspects of neighborhood can be saved. In this new study, Betancur found that many of Pilsen's first generation Latinos were no longer living in the area, leaving a community that is made up more of second generation citizens. Even though gentrification in Pilsen is inevitable at this point, "that doesn't mean the community is not fighting to survive," Betancur said. He added, "This is not a conversation about trying to avoid change. This is a conversation about neighborhoods that are very important to their residents because they provide critical forms of survival in the form of networks, neighbors helping neighbors, and people speaking the same language and being of the same culture." This recent study relied partially on data from U.S. Census reports and the IHS Housing Market Indicators Data Portal, but also from conversations, media, institutional representatives news and Betancur's own continuing projects in the community. This year marks 400 years since the passing of two famed dramatists, William Shakespeare and his Chinese contemporary Tang Xianzu. China International Publishing Group (CIPG) today released an English translation of Tang's "The Peony Pavilion" and Chinese editions of Shakespeare's tragedies. China International Publishing Group (CIPG) releases an English translation of Tang Xianzu's "The Peony Pavilion" and Chinese editions of William Shakespeare's tragedies. [Photo by Wang Zhiyong/ China.org.cn] "The Peony Pavilion" is a love story and classic example of Chinese opera. Tang was ahead of his time in showing a depth of human love, and also giving insight into the lives of women during pre-modern China, so much so that it has lately been analyzed by academics for the views of women that the story provides. Xu Yuanchong is the renowned writer who has translated "The Peony Pavilion" into English, and Shakespeare's tragedies into Chinese. At 95 years old, Xu was unable to attend the event but he did send a video message in which he explained how Shakespeare and Tang, as well as dying in the same year, also complement each other. "Shakespeare is the greatest dramatist in the world," Xu said. "The characters he creates are only second to god's [creations]." On the other hand, Tang is far better at writing romance. In this sense, if society "takes what's good in the West, and the West learns from the East," both cultures will better for it. Charge d'Affairs from the Chinese embassy, Ni Jing, noted that this year also marks the first year of "the Golden Era" of the China-UK relations, and of people-to-people contact between these two countries. "Human civilizations have become richer and more colorful thanks to exchanges and mutual learning. So has art," Ni said during his opening speech. "I firmly believe that first-class translations and seminars will make the 'Golden Era' of China-UK relations shine brighter." The London Book Fair 2016 will also be holding events at Shakespeare's Globe Theater to mark this commemorative year for Tang, Shakespeare, and Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, who also died in 1616. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. Cookies What are cookies ? How do we use cookies? How to control cookies? 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You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed.Most browsers allow you to:If you chose to delete cookies, you should be aware that any preferences will be lost. Also, if you block cookies completely many websites (including ours) will not work properly and webcasts will not work at all. For these reasons, we do not recommend turning cookies off when using our webcasting services. Growing up in Mexico City, Rafael Lopez developed a distinctive artistic style influenced by Mexican surrealism, proverbs, and myths. Today, his paintings can be found in spaces as small as a postage stamp and as expansive as the walls of city buildings. In 1997, the artist and his wife, Candice Lopez, masterminded the Urban Art Trail Project, an urban renewal effort that revitalized their bleak neighborhood, San Diegos East Village, with vibrant murals, sculptures, and art installations. That project, which empowered paintbrush-brandishing children and adults to brighten their home turf, is the inspiration for a new picture book, Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood, written by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell and illustrated by Lopez (HMH, Apr.). Howell, now a writer and independent editor, first connected with Lopez in 2003, when, as managing editor of Rising Moon and Luna Rising, she worked with the illustrator on a bilingual picture-book biography, My Name Is Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz/Me llamo Celia: la vida de Celia Cruz, written by Monica Brown. Rafaels bold, beautiful style was perfect for that book, Howell recalled. And when he told me about the mural projects that he, Candice, and their community had created in their neighborhood, I was so inspired I couldnt stop thinking about it. I knew this was a story that the world needed to hear and one that would inspire kids. Id heard Isabel speak at a conference, about art and transformation, and I loved her passion about the subject. I knew shed be an ideal person to work with on this book. When their paths crossed at a subsequent conference, Howell told Campoy (who has written scores of childrens books, many with Alma Flor Ada, as well as books on Latino art) about Lopezs San Diego murals and proposed the idea of writing a picture book based on them. As Theresa and I talked about a potential book, I realized that she and I had just the right combination of skills, perspective, experience, and devotion to the subject, Campoy explained. We also have strong mutual respect, which helped our collaboration work marvelously. Bringing Beauty to the Page Lopez was initially tentative about the idea of creating the book that became Maybe Something Beautiful. We artists tend to think very differently than other people, and I never saw the opportunity to tell this wonderful story in a book, since we were already telling the story in real life, with the murals that have positively affected so many people, he said. I never made the connection in my mind between the mural project and a childrens book, but when Theresa suggested it, I thought Here we go again! Since Theresa wont ever take no for answer, I knew the book would happen! The authors visited San Diego in 2008 and toured, with Lopez, the murals in the East Village and in other parts of the city. After seeing the incredible effects of this project, Isabel and I were very excited to begin writing the story, said Howell. Both authors realized that Maybe Something Beautiful needed a young protagonist, who they created in the fictional Mira, a child who makes colorful drawings to cheer up her downcast neighbors. After she tapes a picture of a glowing sun on a building, a friendly stranger with a pocketful of paintbrushes gazes at her drawing and sees, he says, Maybe something beautiful. He and Mira and soon the entire community together create murals that revamp their drab neighborhood. The word mira means look, and what Theresa and I hoped to do is help children transform the realities in their lives into something more beautiful and joyful, as Mira does, Campoy says. We want them to look at the world and see that they matter, and that they can make a difference even beginning with a small drawing of a sun on a wall that will lead to brighter horizons. Howell noted that she and Campoy were very happy that the book found a home with HMH, where it belongs everyone there has been so passionate about it from the start. That was underscored by Jeannette Larson, HMH senior executive editor, who acquired and edited the book. She reported that the project came to her as a wonderful package, complete with authors and illustrator. It was a great pleasure to work on this project. The book works on its own, and having the story grounded in real-life events gives it even more depth. Lopez, who has also galvanized community members of all ages to create murals in Seattle, Chicago, and Fort Collins, Colo., was pleased with the way Maybe Something Beautiful came together, despite his initial hesitation. I knew I didnt want to be the center of the story, and creating the character of Mira, and including all the other kids who help paint the murals, was a good way to find a balance that Im very comfortable with, he said. I think this is a very nice way to tell my story. Continuing his artistic saga, on April 30 Lopez will join Howell and Campoy at the new San Diego Cooperative Charter School 2 to collaborate with students, their families, and the rest of the school community to paint a mural that will be, without doubt, something beautiful. Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell, illus. by Rafael Lopez. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16.99 Apr. ISBN 978-0-544-39101-7 The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) has penned a response to Hachette CEO Arnaud Nourry, who, in his April 10 Address to the International Publishers Congress, suggested that vast exceptions to copyright law for libraries, for education, for fair use, proposed by the European Commission would have devastating consequences on European publishers" if passed. The full letter, available on the IFLA website, is below: Dear Sir, It was a great shame that Hachette Livre CEO Arnaud Nourry chose to target libraries at the International Publishers Congress this week, as reported in Publishers Weekly. In particular, we, the library community, reject entirely the argument that we are proxies for the commercial sector. If libraries are for profit, it is for the profit of human development. Libraries have a proud tradition of independence. We are there to protect and promote the interests of our users citizens, creators, students rather than shareholders. Moreover, libraries are specifically designated worldwide as institutions necessary for serving the global public interest for a non-commercial purpose, as we have already stated many times at WIPO and elsewhere. We go about our work for no direct or indirect economic gain. Libraries support a balanced copyright system where everyone has access to information and creativity, and authors are fairly rewarded. Authors themselves regularly underline their own support for libraries as places to research, raise awareness of their work, and build a reading culture. It goes without saying that publishers benefit from the vibrant creative economy that we nurture, as well as the billions spent by libraries every year on their output. Indeed, we have long argued that what holds libraries and their users back in this regard is rather the tangled and opaque web of laws, contracts and licenses that prevails today. Where exceptions and limitations exist, they are restricted and often overridden by contract terms or other means. And even when this does not happen, uneven application hinders access to information across borders. It is for that reason that we are calling for limited reforms which will strengthen the legal base on which libraries operate, both within our local communities and, increasingly, globally. Librarians are trained professionals and careful in respecting the law. To fulfil their missions at a national, European and international level, they need a core of basic enforceable exceptions and limitations, suited to the digital age and the opportunities this creates. This would hardly represent the vast exceptions Mr Nourry cites. We look forward to working further in partnership with publishers, the European Commission, WIPO and its member states to achieve this. If we do, as Mr Nourry himself hopes, the best may well still be yet to come. Yours faithfully, Donna Scheeder, President, IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) Jukka Relander, President, EBLIDA (European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations) Kristiina Hormia-Poutanen, President, LIBER (Association of European Research Libraries) Rima Kupryte, Director, EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) Naomi Korn, Chair, LACA (Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance) Ilona Kish, Public Libraries 2020 Programme Director, Reading & Writing Foundation April 14, 2016 WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Presidents Mitch Daniels of Purdue University and Michael McRobbie of Indiana University on Thursday (April 14) issued a joint statement regarding the management agreement between Purdue and IU for the governance of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. The current management agreement, which expires on June 30, provides that Purdue University is the responsible corporation for managing and operating IPFW. In January, a working group charged by the Indiana General Assembly, provided recommendations for a management model of the future. Daniels and McRobbie jointly provided the following statement: By its June 30 expiration, the Management Agreement between Indiana University and Purdue University, establishing the governance of IPFW must be renegotiated and renewed. The two schools will commence their discussions taking into account the recent recommendations of the Legislative Services Agency Working Group and the endorsement of that framework by the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, the IPFW Community Council, and various individuals and community leaders. The universities goal in crafting a renewed agreement will be to reverse the troubling decline in IPFW enrollments, improve the rate of student success, and strengthen the schools contribution to the long-term prosperity of Northeast Indiana. We are pleased that these important regional community organizations and leaders understand and share that goal. Over the next weeks, the presidents will appoint a small group of individuals to finalize a plan and create strategies for completing any transition that is agreed upon in order to reach a new governance agreement by the end of June. Trustees at each of the universities must approve any new agreement. Media contacts: Mark Land, Indiana University, mdland@iu.edu Julie Rosa, Purdue University, jrosa@purdue.edu Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Photo taken on Sept. 11, 2015 shows an aerial view of the highest building in Puxi, east China's Shanghai Municipality. [Photo/Xinhua] China's economy has stabilized, according to latest growth data for the first quarter, with an official at the National Development and Reform Commission hailing this as an "auspicious start". Although still at its lowest point for 25 years, the slowdown of the past two years has been arrested. Financial institutions are beginning to raise their forecasts for China made at the start of the year. The GDP growth rate in the first quarter will not fall noticeably lower than last year's 6.9 percent, officials and analysts said. "Almost all economic indicators improved in March," said an official from the National Bureau of Statistics. The average forecast by economists surveyed by Reuters is 6.7 percent. Zhao Chenxin, spokesman for the National Development and Reform Commission, said major economic indicators show that the economic fundamentals have improved, although it is too early to say that the economy has started to bottom out. In the first two months, fixed-asset investment increased by 10.2 percent year-on-year, up by 0.2 percentage points compared with the whole of last year. Investment in new planned projects increased by 41.1 percent in the same period year-on-year, the highest growth since 2010. "The trend has continued in March," Zhao said. Prices of major raw materials, such as steel, have risen significantly and the producer price index, which gauges factory-gate prices, rose for the first time since January 2014 on a month-on-month basis, he said. Corporate profits increased by 4.8 percent year-on-year in the first two months, reversing the trend of falling profit last year. It marked the first monthly increase since June, Zhao said. Home sales and fiscal revenues also picked up in the first two months, the spokesman said. China's exports rose by the most in a year and import declines narrowed, sending a clearer signal of stabilization in the nation's economy. Exports rose by 11.5 percent in dollar terms in March year-on-year, compared with a 25 percent fall in February, when business activities cooled due to the weeklong Spring Festival holiday. Imports continued to fall, by 7.6 percent from a year ago, customs data showed. Premier Li Keqiang said on Wednesday that China's economic growth is "still within an appropriate range and positive factors are increasing", according to a China Central Television report. But he also said that since the world economic recovery is fragile, China still faces challenges. Normura economists said in a research note that China's railway freight and electricity consumption growth improved considerably in the first quarter, which reflects stabilized industrial production growth. "These data are consistent with the improvement in trade data and point to a small improvement in real economy growth momentum, especially domestic demand, from stronger fiscal easing and increased property investment growth," the report said. Keun Lee, an economist at Seoul National University, said he is confident in China's stable growth. "A growth rate of 6 percent to 7 percent is suitable for China," he said on Wednesday on the sidelines of an economics forum organized by the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "So long as the decline is gradual, it will not be a problem for China." Tara Thompson is a new kid on the crowded country music block. But the brash, 28-year-old east Tennessee native has a tight connection with a famous old kid -- Ms. Thompson is a cousin of Loretta Lynn, the queen of country who turns 84 on Thursday. "It's just cool, so surreal to watch her do her thing, see everyone go wild over her," Ms. Thompson said recently, noting she's had the privilege of opening for Ms. Lynn in concert many times. She's seen her on stage (and backstage) since she was little. "She's been such a big influence," said Ms. Thompson, one of three "next women" in country music opening Friday for Jennifer Nettles at the Adler Theatre. "The best advice she ever gave me was, 'Be real, but be different.' It's definitely influenced my songwriting, my stories. I always write about real-life experiences." CMT launched its Next Women in Country Music campaign in 2013 to emphasize undiscovered female artists in the male-dominated format. Ms. Nettles -- best known as lead vocalist for Sugarland -- has amassed more than 22 million in worldwide record sales since 2004, and has eight No. 1 hits. "It's so amazing, she's such a big influence on me, and watching her energy on stage," Ms. Thompson said of the blonde headliner. "I learn a lot from her. The way she interacts with her fans, it's something else. When I used to sing in bars, I sang their (Sugarland's) stuff." Rolling Stone named Ms. Thompson one of its February "10 New Country Artists You Need to Know," adding to the fiery songstress list of accolades. She's been one of Spotifys Spotlight on 2016 Artists and among The Huffington Post's Top 20 Artists to Watch in 2016. "Tara brings a compelling voice and quirky tongue-in-cheek spin on her life experiences, penning all of her own tunes," according to CMT.com. It quotes Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta (who discovered and signed Taylor Swift) as saying: Tara has all the ingredients Ive been looking for in a modern traditional country artist. "A blood relative to the one and only Loretta Lynn, her tell-all and attitude-filled songwriting and feisty personality are going to crash through the stereotypes and knock down radio stations and beer joints coast to coast," Mr. Borchetta said. Last fall, Ms. Thompson was signed to Big Machine's Valory Music Co., and is putting the finishing touches on her debut album, which is expected later in the year and doesn't yet have a title, she said in the interview. Ms. Thompson has released her debut single (and video) Someone To Take Your Place," a tongue-in-cheek spin on her life experience, a defiant breakup song that's one of the nine (out of 11 total tunes) she co-wrote for her first disc. "You hear lots of steel guitar, banjo, big harmonies," she said of her style. "I don't man bash or do love songs; I don't got love in my life to sing about. Maybe the next album will be love songs." The single is about when you get dumped, "don't take it too seriously, I'll just find someone to take your place." I love reading all the 'new girl in town' and 'overnight sensation' comments, because it took a lot of years for this 'new girl' to find overnight success, Ms. Thompson said during Country Radio Seminars annual conference in Nashville. It only took me 10 years to get a record deal." In country music, I feel like the songs that tell stories are the ones that people relate to, and those are the ones that last forever and ever and ever, she said. "My songwriting is all based on true stories. Things that happened to me or to my family. And, I like poking fun at myself and being light-hearted. One on the forthcoming album Ms. Thompson didn't write is a Kellie Pickler-penned song called Loretta Lynn." "Every word she wrote was my story," she said, happy that Ms. Pickler actually has never recorded it. "Thank you for not doing it," Ms. Thompson said, noting when she was pitched the song, she brought it to Ms. Lynn, who loved it and said, "You're going to record that, right?" Other big country influences include some of the biggest names -- Tammy Wynette, Patsy Cline, Lee Ann Womack, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash, she said. At 18, Ms. Thompson left her tiny hometown of Sevierville (birthplace of Dolly Parton) for a brief stint at Middle Tennessee State University. She called herself "a party girl, and couldn't take it anymore," so without finishing a year in school, she set to Nashville to play the bars, including several years at the honky-tonk Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. On top of this nationwide tour, Ms. Thompson will make her Grand Ole Opry debut April 30, on a bill with Vince Gill. "It's been on the top of my bucket list for years," she said, noting one of the first CDs she ever got was Vince Gill. "It's awesome, another thing I can't even believe I get to do," she said of the Opry, where she's seen that famous cousin dominate for decades. "It's definitely women's time in country music," Ms. Thompson said of Friday's all-female lineup. "Today's women all bring something different to the table." She stole away from her Louisiana home, went on the lam with another teen runaway and committed a string of burglaries before she was captured in Davenport, police said. The case against Heidi M. Shipp, 15, of Fort Polk, La., ended earlier this month in a Scott County courtroom, when she pleaded guilty to second-degree theft, credit card fraud and carrying weapons. The teen, who has been in the county's custody, was released into the care of her mother and will be under supervised probation by Scott County's juvenile court services until she turns 18 or the court determines otherwise. Ms. Shipp struggled with anger issues and "decision-making," a probation order said, adding the teen needed "more positive friends to associate with." Ms. Shipp was arrested with Ashton Chance Armstrong, 17, of Benton, Ark., on March 17 after the pair was discovered in a room at the Hotel Davenport. The arrests came after a rash of car and garage burglaries were reported late March 16 and early March 17 in northeast Bettendorf. Police said one of the victims reported a credit card had been stolen and was used to rent a room at the hotel. Mr. Armstrong had left his Arkansas home, taking his grandmother's vehicle without permission, and picked up Ms. Shipp, authorities say. The teens were reported missing on March 3. Bettendorf Police Captain Keith Kimball said the teens drove through more than 10 states and are alleged to have committed burglaries along the way to "sustain" themselves. Per a probation order, Ms. Shipp is required to serve 40 hours of unpaid community service and pay or work off an amount of restitution determined by juvenile services. She will undergo counseling and has agreed to testify against Mr. Armstrong. She is not allowed to possess weapons, alcohol or nonprescription drugs and is expected to attend school regularly, follow school rules and "earn appropriate grades," court records said. A curfew requires her to be at home from 10 p.m. until dawn. A probation agreement said Ms. Shipp should be held accountable "as her case has cost Scott County taxpayers a great deal of money," including for services provided by police and court services. Prosecutors are seeking try Mr. Armstrong in adult court for charges that include second-degree and third degree burglary, carrying weapons and credit card fraud. Assistant County Attorney Noah Poppelreiter wrote in court records that Mr. Armstrong "convinced" Ms. Shipp to participate in a multistate crime spree, "preying" on victims from different states to support themselves. Prosecutors wrote that the teens stole two pistols, broke into "numerous" cars, garages and houses and used stolen credit cards to buy food and lodging "all while living a fantasy to be a modern day youthful Bonnie and Clyde.'" Rock Island County prosecutors have dropped a financial exploitation case after a judge blocked the use of a message recorded by the alleged victim before his death. Alice M. Hipes, 59, of East Moline, was accused of taking money from a 92-year-old man who employed her as a private in-home caregiver. The alleged victim gave a recorded statement to police but died in May 2015 before the case could go to trial. Without use of the video, "There really wasn't much we could do to prosecute the case," Rock Island County State's Attorney John McGehee said. The case was dismissed Friday and cannot be refiled. Ms. Hipes's attorney, Donovan S. Robertson, said his client was relieved to be done with a case that caused "terrible strain" on her life in the last year. "My client was not guilty," he said, adding Ms. Hipes had "steadfastly" maintained her innocence throughout the process. "At long last, I believe we have achieved justice." East Moline Police said they were notified in February 2015 that Alternatives for the Older Adult had learned an elderly man possibly was being financially defrauded. Mr. Robertson said investigators initially claimed $78,000 was missing, but later reduced it to closer to $45,000. He said no forensic accounting was done by investigators and, after learning from Ms. Hipes that the alleged victim paid his bills primarily in cash, he subpoenaed bills and other financial statements, which accounted for the "vast majority" of the money alleged to be missing. Following the man's death, prosecutors sought to use his recorded statement as evidence at trial. Mr. Robertson resisted, arguing the statements were made during a police investigation and not as sworn testimony in court. Playing the recording at trial would violate his client's 6th Amendment right to confront and cross-examine the alleged victim, Mr. Robertson wrote in court records. In December, Judge Frank Fuhr ruled in Mr. Robertson's favor. Mr. McGehee said state law allows for a hearsay exception in financial exploitation of the elderly if the alleged victim was disabled or unavailable to testify. Judges usually consider each case separately, Mr. McGehee said. In this case, he said, Judge Fuhr was concerned about the defense being unable to cross-examine the alleged victim. In January, Assistant Rock Island County State's Attorney John McCooley appealed the judge's decision. However, after multiple discussions with the appellate prosecutor's office, Mr. McGehee said his office was not confident they would win the appeal and chose to dismiss it. "These are very difficult cases to win," he said, adding the appellate court usually gives great discretion to the original judge's ruling. Prosecutors initially planned to dismiss the case, with leave to reinstate if further evidence was later uncovered, Mr. McGehee said. However, he said Judge Fuhr determined the case should be permanently dismissed. Mr. Robertson said he could not recall specific details of the alleged victim's statement to police, but he did not believe they implicated Ms. Hipes. He said he did not believe investigators were badly motivated. "It looked bad, and I think they smelled smoke and thought there was a fire," he said. "But there wasn't a fire." A man living at the home of Davenport Ald. Bill Boom, 3rd Ward, has pleaded not guilty to felony drug charges. Gage Allen Wenthe, 25, entered a plea of not guilty in Scott County District Court, where he faces two counts of felony possession with intent to deliver, felony conspiracy and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. The Scott County Sheriff's Office Special Operations Unit executed a search warrant April 6 at Ald. Boom's home, in the 400 block of West 7th Street. The warrant was in reference to Mr. Wenthe's "narcotics activities," specifically the sale of crystal methamphetamine, an arrest affidavit said. During their search of the home, authorities found and seized crystal methamphetamine, marijuana, an unknown white powder substance, suspected marijuana wax, drug paraphernalia, a digital scale, package materials and two rifles, it said. Mr. Wenthe's cellphone contained text message conversations conspiring with other people regarding the sales, purchase and use of illegal controlled substances, according to the affidavit. It said Mr. Wenthe also admitted to being a middle man for selling illegal drugs in the Quad-Cities. Ald. Boom, who was in Texas at the time the search warrant was executed, told the newspapers he learned about Mr. Wenthe's arrest from a neighbor. The alderman said he helped Mr. Wenthe, who has lived with him for six years, to obtain a GED and tried in the past to help the 25-year-old with mental health issues and to stay away from drugs. Ald. Boom said the rifles found on scene were hunting rifes he inherited from his father. Mr. Wenthe was in custody Wednesday at the Scott County Jail on a $50,000 bond. He is scheduled to return to court for an April 15 preliminary hearing and May 5 arraignment. GALVA -- A truck driver has died after a collision with an Amtrak train Thursday morning southwest of the city. The crash happened about 10 a.m. just off Hayes Road about a mile southwest of Galva, Henry County Sheriff Jim Padilla said at the scene. The driver, the truck's only occupant, was person found dead at the crash site, the sheriff said. The truck driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Henry County Coroner David Johnson did not release the identity of the truck driver Thursday, saying family members were still being notified. The route runs between Chicago and Quincy, according to Amtrak's website. The train was headed to Quincy when the collision occurred, according to Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman. There were 46 passengers and four crew members aboard the train, he said; one person was checked out as a precaution, but no other injuries were reported. The Amtrak passengers were taken from the scene by a commercial bus. The truck had turned west onto a private drive off of Hayes Road when the crash happened, Sheriff Padilla said. The truck was hauling an empty open-topped trailer at the time. There was no fire, Sheriff Padilla said, but there was fuel spilled. Debris was scattered on the tracks and embankment. Some was also on Hayes Road -- including a keg-shaped fuel tank -- and in an adjacent field. The train -- an engine and several cars -- was stopped a short distance from the point of contact. There were visible dents, cracks and tears to the surface of the engine's lower front end, and a substantial tear in the metal skin down the left side. There did not appear to be any significant damage to the passenger cars. Mr. Magliari said that, since the train did not reach Quincy, passengers from there and Macomb who wanted to go to Chicago Thursday would be taken by bus to Galesburg to continue their travel. Mr. Magliari said the train was being towed by a freight engine Thursday to Galesburg. A damage estimate on the train was not available. The train was equipped with cameras and other recording devices, Mr. Magliari said. Amtrak will assist local and railway authorities in the investigation. U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, a Democrat, said Wednesday that she was "deeply disturbed" by lead levels detected in Galesburg's water sampling last fall that were above the federal action-level. She said she was even more alarmed that 5 percent of Knox County children tested in 2014 had lead in their blood above the Illinois standard for public health intervention, a rate six times higher than the state average. "If this happened to one of my kids, I can tell you I would ask for immediate answers and immediate action. These families and these children deserve no less," Bustos said in a congressional floor speech. "To all responsible here, it is time, it is past time. No more excuses, no more delays. We need a long-term solution to a long-term problem." Bustos was responding to an investigation published last weekend by The Associated Press, which found that Galesburg had one of the nation's most enduring problems of lead in the drinking water. US. Environmental Protection Agency data analyzed by the AP show the city's water exceeded the federal lead-action level in 22 out of 30 sampling periods since 1992. Bustos said she was encouraging the city to seek a low-interest loan through a federal drinking water infrastructure program to replace underground lead service lines that deliver water from the city's mains to 4,700 homes. City officials have said that project would likely cost between $10 million and $15 million perhaps $2,500 per home and that they do not have a funding source. A complicating factor is that homeowners, not the city, own those lines. The city, which is about 200 miles southwest of Chicago and not far from the Iowa border, launched an online search tool allowing residents to see whether their homes have lead service lines after the AP investigation. City Manager Todd Thompson said Wednesday the city is considering several options to expedite replacement of the lead pipes. One would be to replace all of them immediately, but that likely will not be his recommendation given the cost. Instead, he said he will propose ways to help low-income residents pay to replace lines. At a minimum, he said the city probably will start replacing lines at homes where children have elevated lead levels. Lead poisoning can affect a child's development and have lifelong consequences. Bustos said she was alarmed that many local officials were "so quick to point to lead paint and lead dust" from the city's old homes as the cause of poisoning rather than studying the role of drinking water. Scientists say drinking water can contribute 20 percent of a person's lead exposure, and more than half for bottle-fed infants. The AP analysis of testing data for 75,000 water systems over the past 25 years comes amid the ongoing crisis in Flint, Michigan, where a state-ordered switch from Detroit drinking water to the local river exposed residents to high lead levels, creating concerns about the long-term health effects on children. The AP found nearly 1,400 water systems nationwide had lead levels above the federal safety limit at some point during the past three years. Galesburg's city manager said officials want to collaborate with the county health department when its inspectors assess homes of children with lead poisoning to try to pinpoint the cause of their exposure. That program has focused on lead paint and toys, but the city would like to be able to test the water in such cases and consider replacing the lines. The county's public health administrator, Michele Gabriel, said sharing the results of lead blood tests with city officials would require authorization from patients. She said she will discuss the issue this week with the board of health. National legislators from Heilongjiang province, which is China's principal producer of non-genetically-modified soybeans, are calling for a law to set up a special zone where the planting and processing of GM plants is prohibited. Deputies to the country's top legislature hope such a law would preserve ecological diversity, benefit farmers who plant non-GM soybeans and avoid "possible contamination" of the soybean crop by GM plants. The size of the proposed special zone would restore the province's soybean growing acreage to its 2010 level of 4.3 million hectares, said national lawmaker Tan Zhijuan. Tan said universities in Heilongjiang and beyond should have first call on the non-GM soybean products coming out of the special zone. "Heilongjiang, China's largest producer of non-GM soybeans, has seen its planting acreage downsized to a tipping point of 1.4 million hectares," said Tan, who is a veteran agricultural specialist. "This represents a drop of a staggering 66 percent in five years following the influx of much cheaper GM imports." Nationwide, China imported 81.7 million tons of soybeansmostly GM oneslast year, which meant more than 80 percent of its soybean consumption was met by imports, said Tan. "China has the world's most diversified wild soybean resources," Tan said. As a responsible country, China must protect living genetic material including seeds and tissue used for plant breeding, preservation and research, Tan said. Although the planting of GM soybeans has not been detected so far in Heilongjiang province, there are risks that GM seeds might find their way to the fields, for example, through leakage from road transportation, Tan warned. She said the key to establishing the non-GM soybean protection zone would be to build up an industrial chain that streamlines the planting, processing and sales of non-GM soybeans. This non-GM industrial chain will differentiate itself from that for GM products and improve the competitive edge of the domestic soybean industry to target its niche market, Tan said. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation temporarily suspended the medical license of Ann Kinnealey of Evanston last week. The state medical board hears the case April 21 in Chicago. Kinnealey is accused of purchasing nearly $1 million worth of drugs from Canada-based Quality Specialty Products, a company tied to counterfeit versions of Avastin. Investigators say she knew some of the drugs appeared to come from Eastern European countries. Phone messages left for Kinnealey and her attorney were not immediately returned. The action follows a criminal investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Kinnealey agreed to pay approximately $129,000 in restitution to defer prosecution in that case. The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports 24-year-old Nathan Sitter of Savoy said in court Wednesday that he is ashamed of his actions and is "very remorseful." Sitter says he "was not well." Sitter pleaded guilty in March to one count of animal torture. He admitted that in December he repeatedly dunked the cat, named Mocha, under cold water and struck it with a closed fist. Prosecutors say Sitter's girlfriend took the cat to a veterinarian, who documented numerous injuries before the animal died several hours later. Prosecutors asked for a four-year prison term, saying Sitter left the cat to suffer. Sitter's public defender argued he has been in counseling and had depression. Landlocked with nowhere to go, Moline has been looking at potential development south of the Rock River for nearly 30 years. New opportunities are emerging to the north. ROCK ISLAND -- A federal dog fighting investigation Thursday resulted in two arrests and more than 60 dogs being seized in the Quad-Cities. Rock Island Police Chief Jeffrey VenHuizen said 11 federal search warrants were executed Thursday in Rock Island and Davenport as part of an on-going investigation related to dog fighting, narcotics and a firearm. A news release from Rock Island Deputy Chief of Police Jason Foy said the investigation began about a year ago based on information developed by Rock Island Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Quad Cities Federal Gang Task Force. Two Rock Island men, Ryan M. Hickman, 41, 514 14th Ave., Rock Island, and Willie Earl Jackson, 34, 1514 9th St., Rock Island, were arrested Thursday in connection with the investigation. Mr. Hickman has been charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, a Class 1 felony, and possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. Mr. Jackson was charged with unlawful possession of cannabis, a Class 4 felony. Rock Island County State's Attorney John McGehee said there are a myriad of animal abuse charges -- felony and misdemeanor offenses -- that are possible under Illinois law. Starting at about 6 a.m. Thursday, 10 search warrants were executed in Rock Island and one in Davenport. According to the police news release, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is assisting with this operation and is transporting the animals to a temporary shelter where they will provide care for the animals until custody is determined. At least 14 ASPCA members were seen at the Rock Island Police Station Thursday afternoon, standing outside. A truck and trailer with dogs inside was parked on the street. ASPCA members outside the police station would not comment, but the group issued a news release Thursday afternoon saying it helped authorities remove 64 pit bulls from multiple properties. "Responders discovered dogs tethered on heavy chains and training devices consistent with dog fighting," the release stated. The dogs will receive "medical attention and behavioral enrichment" by ASPCA veterinarians, behaviorists and responders, the release stated. "The level of brutality we continue to see in organized dog fighting rings is profoundly troubling, said Tim Rickey, vice president of ASPCA Field Investigations and Response. Were relieved these animals have finally been removed from this cycle of violence." On its website, the ASPCA states fighting dogs may have their ears cropped and tails docked close to their bodies "to minimize the animal's normal body language cues and to limit areas that another dog can grab during a fight." Fighters usually perform the cropping/docking themselves "using crude and inhumane techniques," according to the site. Dog fighting is a felony in all 50 states but, according to the ASPCA, it occurs throughout the country "in every type of community." Multiple agencies are involved in the Quad-Cities dog fighting investigation. Along with Rock Island Police and the FBI, the investigation has included the U.S. Attorney's Office, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, Illinois State Police, the Rock Island County State's Attorney's and Sheriff's offices, the Quad City Metropolitan Enforcement Group, Moline Police, East Moline Police, Davenport Police and the Scott County Sheriff's Department. Rock Island Police said the investigation is ongoing. ROCK ISLAND The Rock Island Board of Zoning Appeals approved a series of variance requests Wednesday that paves the way for a 189,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter and a separate convenience store with gas pumps on the development site. The property, about 20 acres, is at the site of the former Watch Tower Plaza at approximately 3750 11th St. Robert Gamrath, a Chicago attorney representing Wal-Mart, made the variance requests on behalf of the retail giant to the ZBA Wednesday. Rock Island Mayor Dennis Pauley said afterwards the next step is to take the site plans back to Wal-Mart for final drawings. "I think everything is full bore ahead," Mayor Pauley said. The agreement with Wal-Mart sells the site to Price Properties, which will transfer it to Wal-Mart. However, the agreement also includes a 180-day feasibility period, during which Wal-Mart can cancel the deal for any reason. The feasibility study period ends May 9. Michelle Caraballo, Wal-Mart director of public affairs, said afterwards the retail giant is continuing to partner with the city and work through the due-diligence process. "Hopefully, we can make a decision soon," Ms. Caraballo said. As for the May 9 date, Ms. Caraballo said Wal-Mart does have provisions to extend that date if due diligence isn't completed. "If we get to that point, we will apply to extend that," Ms. Caraballo said. "We're really excited about this. We appreciate Rock Island, Mayor Pauley and the zoning board for the great work they've done. "It shows Rock Island has a business friendly environment." Those requests approved by the BZA board included: Allowing two principal buildings on one lot (convenience store with gas pumps in addition to the supercenter). Reducing parking spaces from five to 3.5 per 1,000 square feet. Wal-Mart said the reduced parking ratio (759 total parking spaces total) is necessary for a 1.5 acre stormwater detention basin, will reduce traffic congestion and provide sufficient space for the Supercenter. Cutting one foot from the 19-foot long parking space requirement. Wal-Mart officials plan wider drive aisles with a reduced parking stall length to make maneuvering in and out of parking spaces easier. Exceeding the 25-foot maximum for freestanding light poles. Wal-Mart received permission for 39-foot poles on top of a 3-foot concrete base throughout the parking lot. Wal-Mart said the taller light standards allow for fewer light poles, which will reduce the visual impact on surrounding properties. Exceeding the 500-square-foot maximum total sign area by 1,231 square feet. According to the city's community and economic development department, the Wal-Mart site also will include significant perimeter and interior landscaping. The city said the existing freestanding Blackhawk "statue" will remain at its current location near the site. Two members of the public spoke out against the project. Rock Island resident Terry Harper said there has been an ongoing problem with water main breaks for years in the area. Once the mains break, he said traffic in the area is narrowed down to one lane in each direction. "What is the city planning to do to alleviate this problem that doesn't seem to get fixed?" Mr. Harper asked. Ben Griffith, city planning and redevelopment administrator, said the city has made significant repairs in the area. Last October, the city council approved an agreement to sell the development site on 11th Street to Wal-Mart for $4.5 million. The project to bring Wal-Mart to the city began in 2012 and has cost the city about $15 million so far. The city is banking on Wal-Mart to bring in millions of dollars in sales tax revenue along with approximately 250 to 300 jobs. Rock Island city manager Thomas Thomas said the BZA's approval on the variance requests are final. Asked what happens next, Mr. Thomas said, "One step at a time." A dozen retired Teamsters from the Quad-Cities joined thousands of their comrades in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to protest against a plan to cut their pensions by as much as 60 percent. The group lobbied lawmakers and took part in a demonstration on the Capitol lawn to draw attention to the cutbacks that are due to take effect on July 1 for some 400,000 Teamsters who are part of the Central States Pension Fund. An estimated 1,100 retired Teamsters in the Quad-Cities would see big reductions in their pensions from July 1 unless the Central States plan is blocked. Steve Scranton, a retired Teamster who lives in Taylor Ridge, said he spent all day Wednesday meeting with members of Congress before heading to the demonstration outside the Capitol on Thursday. He said the Teamsters lobbied lawmakers to support bills that could overturn a 2014 law that allows cuts to be made to pensions and also to push for a forensic audit of the Central States fund. Representatives from Central States have said the fund will run out of money in 10 years without cutbacks and say much of the problem stems from a declining pool of contributors to the fund. But retired Teamsters say risky investments, including during a period that ended in 2010 when Goldman Sachs was involved with managing the fund, have contributed to the problem. The Teamsters anxiously are waiting for the first week of May, when mediator Kenneth Feinberg is expected to decide if the Central States plan submitted to the government is legal. Mr. Feinberg has been appointed to rule on the case by the U.S. Treasury Department and has been on a listening tour to hear from retirees on the plan. He previously has worked on the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund and on victim compensation for the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. U.S. Reps. Cheri Bustos, D-East Moline, and Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa City, are among those who have written to the Treasury Department asking that the Central States proposal be denied. Rep. Loebsack acknowledged the pension fund was in trouble but wrote that he was "deeply troubled by Central States' plan to solve this problem by breaking its promise to retirees." U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he spoke to some of the protesters in Washington, D.C., during Thursday's rally, and reiterated his call for an independent federal investigation of the Central States pension fund. "Transparency brings accountability," he said in a news conference with reporters. At a meeting of retired Teamsters in Rock Island in February, dozens of people spoke about the devastating impact the pension reductions would have if they're implemented. Another informational meeting for local retirees and their supporters is planned for 12 p.m., Saturday, April 23, at the Teamsters hall at 7909 W. 42nd St., Rock Island. Bob Amsden, a Wisconsin retiree and a coordinator of Thursday's rally in Wasington, D.C., is scheduled to speak at the meeting. I sympathize with Democrats who complain that Gov. Bruce Rauner and the state Legislature still can't settle on a budget. What's the point of being a Democrat if you don't have baskets of other people's money to toss into the wind? But why are Republicans also upset? The states inability to fund its own operations has created the conservatives dream, a government that cant possibly interfere with our lives. Last October, you may recall, the lack of budget prompted the Illinois Secretary of State's office to stop sending us reminders that it was time to renew our license plates. It was estimated that the plan would save almost half a million dollars per month in postage. It did. But the savings in stamps and envelopes was just the beginning. According to a recent Associated Press story, "Illinois motorists have paid nearly $5 million this year for failing to renew vehicle license plates on time, more than double the amount collected in the same three-month span last year." And the benefits are much greater than saving us a few million bucks. Without the Secretary of State nagging us, we are encouraged, in true conservative fashion, to take responsibility for ourselves. The less government does for us, the better off we are. I can think of a number of things our state government could stop doing: -- Stop fixing traffic lights. Our nanny-state government prohibits us from exercising our own best judgment at intersections; weve come to believe that some IDOT bureaucrat knows when its safe for us to accelerate. We can break this addiction and save money, too. The electric bill for traffic lights at just one intersection can be $600 per year. I look at the thousands of lights across Illinois and see annual savings of millions of dollars. I also see ambulances hauling millions of mangled bodies away from these intersections. Yes, this sounds harsh, but with more limited government services, we need to thin out the herd. -- Stop funding the Executive Ethics Commission. You've probably never heard of this organization--ethics are not something we discuss much in Illinois. The EECs webpage describes it as the Illinois agency that "ensures that the State's business is conducted with efficiency, transparency, fairness, and integrity." This is like sending a Springfield fox to guard a Rock Island hen house. If you call the office of the Executive Ethics Commission, youll get a recorded message telling you they're closed this week in honor of April. The last thing the Ethics Commission did was provide timekeepers for the Lincoln-Douglas debates. -- Stop printing tax forms. This would empower us to an unprecedented degree. Instead of getting tax bills, we, the people, would decide how much we owe the government. This would allow state policymakers to set a budget in a single afternoon. Right now, the governor and legislators are arguing about where to spend our millions of tax dollars. When the taxpayers give the government what it's worth, they'll only have to agree how to divide up three Buffalo nickels and a handful of scratch-off lottery tickets from the dumpster behind Caseys. Truly, Illinois state government is broken and we're much better off for it. Illinois voters can take much of the credit for this accomplishment. We elected to our highest office a rich businessman with absolutely no experience in government. Boy, has that wisdom paid off. And with a little luck, in November, all American voters will have the opportunity to duplicate this on a national scale. The Zambian government has put in place new guidelines on the hunting of big cats to regulate the hunting of the animals, a senior government official said on Wednesday. Minister of Tourism and Arts Jean Kapata told a meeting on big cats hunting that trophy hunting could contribute significantly to wildlife conservation and to the socio-economic wellbeing of people if properly regulated. She said the guidelines were meant to direct trophy hunters and regulate hunting of big cats. According to the guidelines, professional hunters will only be allowed to hunt lions of six years and above, and that no female lions will be hunted. Kapata said among the guidelines includes the setting of a cautionary quota to hunt old lions with diminished biological function. "It is critical that we continue to follow a cautionary quota until we are satisfied that the measures we have put in place will not harm the population," said the minister. According to the new guidelines, only 24 lions will be hunted this year. In May last year, the government lifted the suspension on hunting in big cats. The government had suspended the hunting of big cats in 2012 as there was no proper system in place to ensure that cat hunting was sustainable. According to estimates, Zambia has between 2,500 and 4,700 lions. What does it take to make it to the top of your game in news? What is it that makes that journo stand out from the rest? What is it that gets them hired above everyone else? Its something Ive been asked a lot lately and its had me thinking about what I would look for and what is of importance in the digital world. Despite a seismic shift in the industry over the past 18 months, there are still jobs to be had within radio newsrooms. There may not be as many as in the good old days but there are still opportunities available and the competition is fierce for that spot in the hot seat. As a news director, there were the obvious elements Id look for as I weeded through the applications and air-checks. a reasonably good or trainable voice an ability to write cleanly and concisely an interest in whats happening around you enthusiasm for the job social media savvy a broad general knowledge As to the last point, Im fairly certain I got my start at Triple M in Melbourne because I unknowingly shared an interest in the Kennedys with the then News Director. From memory, my interview focused mainly on the book Id brought along for the train trip from Geelong. The turn-offs were numerous, but in a nutshell: anyone who saw the gig as a stepping stone poorly written copy (that really does affect your read) poor attitude sloppy presentation arrogance poorly presented aircheck/demo But that was then and this is now. So much more is expected of any prospective candidate and of those already working within a newsroom. Radio journos need to bring a lot more to the table than ever before and with newsrooms downsized or closed all together, we all need to operate smarter and to a degree, sell ourselves. So what will set prospective candidates apart in the current climate? Having chatted with a few News Directors across the country, heres the general consensus: a greater understanding of social media a greater understanding of digital platforms adaptability; especially if required to provide content to more than one market an even broader general knowledge an understanding of target audience an ability to alter writing style to suit demographics be app friendly Theres no denying journalists these days have a tougher road to travel to attain their goals. Above all else, perseverance is paramount. Twenty One Pilots, the American duo behind Stressed Out, are set to perform live in Novas Red Room in Sydney on Thursday 21 April. The pair hit the music scene in 2009 with the release of their first self-titled album and have since put out three additional albums, including their current album Blurryface which hit stores in 2015 and has attracted over 10 million listeners on Spotify. Band members Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun are currently touring Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and the Groovin the Moo festivals with their Blurryface World Tour. Nova listeners can win their way to the invite-only event by registering their details at novafm.com.au. The 43.7m-long vehicles are being assembled by Cital, a joint venture of Alstom, Algiers Metro Company (EMA), Ferrovial, and Algerian National Railways (SNTF), at its facility in Annaba in eastern Algeria. The 70km/h seven-section vehicles run on four powered bogies and one trailer bogie and accommodate up to 302 passengers. The LRVs carry a golden-brown livery which is intended to epresent the colour of wheat fields, a symbol of the city. The initial $US 420m phase of the network comprises two lines totalling 17.8km with 26 stations. The project is being managed by EMA with Yapi Merkezi, Turkey carrying out civil works under a contract awarded in 2013. Commercial services are expected to begin at the end of this year. Global industrial company Harsco Corporation announced April 13, 2016 that its Harsco Rail track maintenance business has been awarded a multi-year contract in the UK valued at more than $40 million. The award from Network Rail continues a long-standing contracting service from Harsco Rail that began in 2004, under which Harsco operates and maintains a fleet of precision rail grinders on Network Rails behalf. The units re-profile railhead contours for extended rail life and smoother operation, thus reducing fuel consumption, operating costs and noise. Grinding also corrects surface damage that could lead to rail fractures. The program provides nationwide, 24/7 service, maintaining complex switch and crossing trackwork from the north of Scotland to the south of England. Network Rail is the owner and infrastructure manager of most of the rail network in the UK, currently the fastest-growing rail system in Europe. Announcing the latest award, Harsco Rails Managing Director for the UK, Mark Emmerson said, Our success in retaining these contracts is a testament to the efforts of our staff involved in delivering a safe and reliable service, evidenced by our excellent performance statistics in these areas. Rail grinding is one part of a comprehensive range of services and equipment that Harsco Rail provides to customers worldwide for the maintenance, repair and new construction of railway track. Welcome to Railway Gazette. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of these cookies. You can learn more about the cookies we use here. OK China-made subway trains for the 2016 Olympic Games, developed by China CNR Corporation Limited, were put in service in Rio de Janeiro on June 10, 2015. [Photo/CNS] China has recently emphasized a policy of international "industrial capacity cooperation." The specific feature of this, as Gu Dawei at China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) put it, is "capacity cooperation means more than export of finished products, but also the transfer of the whole industrial chain to help other countries beef up their manufacturing capability." This policy is not short term but economically rooted in China's increasing participation in the latest stage of globalization. It is particularly applicable in manufacturing and due to China's strength in global infrastructure industries such as power generation, transport and construction. In one form of what might be termed "international production cooperation" China's companies undertake production projects in a particular host nation either by themselves or in cooperation with that country's companies; current major examples are railway construction projects to prepare Brazil's 2016 Olympic Games or infrastructure in Kazakhstan. In an alternative and complementary variant, China's companies cooperate with another country's companies to operate in third countries. For example Chinese and French companies now cooperate in power generation projects in other markets. Why this form of international cooperation has developed, and its significance, can best be understood in terms of the overall forces driving globalization and China's position within it. Since World War II, the fundamental forces driving globalization mean that its economic forms keep deepening and changing. Initially, globalization was primarily in trade and then developed in foreign direct investment (FDI). Now, creation of integrated global supply chains is spilling over into international production cooperation with China playing an increasing role. The most fundamental force driving globalization is the enormous productive advantage of the division of labor operating not only domestically but also internationally. This is no new process. The opening sentence of the first chapter of the founding work of modern economics, Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations," already stated clearly, "The greatest improvement in the productive powers has been the effect of the division of labor." Modern economic statistics confirms Smith's analysis is as valid as when written more than two centuries ago. Every major factual study confirms the positive correlation between the openness of an economy to trade and the rapidity of its economic growth. Domestically increasing division of labor, reflected in what are termed "intermediate products," the inputs from one industry into another, is the most rapidly growing part of production. Smith would recognize the process but its scale has naturally been gigantically magnified. Breznitz & Murphree's excellent study of globalization, "Run of the Red Queen," accurately describes its latest stage, stating, "In the last few decades, the world has witnessed a vast and accelerating increase in the fragmentation (also called decomposition, unbundling, or modularization) of productive activities. This means that the production of goods and services is no longer organized in vertically integrated hierarchical companies located in one country. Corporations increasingly break their activities into smaller, discrete modules and outsource or offshore them. This process of fragmentation has changed the international economic system, leading different regions to specialize in specific stages of production for particular industries." China's emphasis on "industrial capacity cooperation" relates to this process. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. The Pardee RAND Graduate School (PardeeRAND.edu) is home to the only Ph.D. and M.Phil. programs offered at an independent public policy research organizationthe RAND Corporation. Although over 100 less than initially announced, the Orange-Jazztel merger in Spain has concluded with 435 lay-offs, around 15% of its telecoms workforce. After the merger legally concluded on 8 February, representatives of both the workers and the telco maintained negotiations which concluded in March with a route map for up to 496 voluntary dismissals. The unions and the telco agreed to reduce Oranges initial expectations by 54.As the deadline for the lay-off plan ended on 11 April, all 435 workers, based in the companys centres in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Valladolid, will immediately leave their jobs.According to the unions, Orange has committed to create 300 new jobs for its customers service centres. It has also announced an early-retirement plan to be carried out from 2017.The merged company has a workforce of over 7,000 employees in Spain, 3,000 of which work within the telecoms division. After absorbing Jazztel, Orange is to focus on converging its services, including IPTV, through an increasing fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network. US-based online animation platform Crunchyroll will become exclusive digital distributor of Kadokawa anime titles, following a deal with the Japanese publisher for all territories outside Asia. In addition, Crunchyroll will co-finance the production of Kadokawas future anime titles and help market Kadokawas printed publications and merchandise in North America.Crunchyroll, which provides anime and Japanese content on-demand , claims to now reach more than 20 million users around the world (excluding Asia), up from 300,000 subscribers two years ago.Crunchyroll has established its firm position as the largest digital distribution platform specialising in Japanese content. Meanwhile, visitors at anime and pop culture events held in North America continue to rise year by year, demonstrating the increased popularity of Japanese content in the market. Kadokawa considers the North American market as the most important international market for the company alongside the Greater China and Southeast Asian market where we have an existing business presence, said Masaki Matsubara, representative director and president, Kadokawa.Kun Gao, GM, Crunchyroll, added: The hunger for compelling anime , manga and light novel content is growing at an astounding rate throughout the world, and Kadokawa has always been at the forefront of creating that content. We look forward to working closely with Kadokawa to provide Crunchyroll fans with access to the anime, merchandise, and books that they have demonstrated they want time and again. Ukrainian Court dismisses Gazproms $3.4 bln fine appeal MOSCOW, April 14 (RAPSI) The Kiev Commercial Court has dismissed Gazproms appeal concerning a 86 billion hryvnia ($3.4 bln) fine issued by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU). The court rejected the compliant submitted by the energy giant without a hearing on the merits of the case, RBC news agency reports on Thursday. The complaint [submitted] by OAO Gazprom challenging the decision of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to fine [the company] is rejected without a hearing. The grounds for dismissal are irregularities in execution of the compliant, namely, the failure to present evidence confirming the powers of the signatory of the claim, press service of the Kiev Commercial Court has stated. The lawsuit against the Committee was filed by Gazprom on Tuesday. State-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz and its subsidiary Ukrtransgaz are listed as third parties in this case. Earlier, Gazprom had been fined by the Antimonopoly Committee for abuse of its dominant position on the gas transit market. At that time, the company was ordered to pay the fine until April, 12. According to Gazprom, this fine was unexpected since the firm was not engaged in business activity within the Ukrainian territory. Gazprom states that natural gas is being sold to Naftogaz on the Russian-Ukrainian border. Prominent Armenian businessman gets 4 years in prison for stealing $700k MOSCOW, April 14 (RAPSI) Moscows Zamoskvoretsky District Court on Thursday sentenced prominent Armenian businessman Levon Airapetyan to 4 years in prison for embezzlement of $700,000, RAPSI reports from the courtroom. Airapetyan was found guilty of stealing $700,000 from the mother of former Bashkortostan senator Igor Izmestyev sentenced to life for terrorism. According to investigators, the businessman has misled the woman by promising a reduced sentence for her son. In practice, he could not influence the judgment. A prosecutor earlier asked the court to sentence Airapetyan to 7 years in jail and to collect from him 20.8 million rubles ($316,000) in damages in favor of the victims. The businessman has pleaded not guilty. According to his lawyer, the case has been framed up. Airapetyan also stands charged with involvement in an embezzlement case under which Ural Rakhimov, son of the former head of Bashkortostan Murtaza Rakhimov, sold Bashneft, a midsized oil company he headed for three years, to the oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Sistema in 2009 at a huge discount of $500 million. Airapetyan holds dual citizenship, has assets abroad and was until recently living in Monaco. Prosecutors presented this information as grounds for arrest. In early October 2014, Airapetyan was placed under house arrest. His defense attorney asked the court to release him, citing health problems. Foreign lawyers could be prohibited from practicing in Russian courts MOSCOW, April 14 (RAPSI) - Denis Voronenkov, member of the State Duma Security and Anti-corruption Committee, has submitted a bill to the State Duma that would prohibit foreign lawyers and their firms from providing legal representation in Russian courts, according to the database of the lower house of parliament. The amendments are proposed to Russias Commercial Procedure Code and Civil Procedure Code. Under the bill, foreign lawyers would be banned from representing clients in commercial and civil disputes considered by Russian courts. Practicing of foreign legal firms as advisors and attorneys for Russian businessmen increases risk to inflict damage to the national economic security because access to a commercial secret and analytical data therefore becomes available to parties potentially affiliated with foreign intelligence organizations, the lawmaker said. Similar statutory bar has been adopted in China, India, Brazil, according to Voronenkov. Searches are conducted in organization belonging to billionaire Prokhorov -report MOSCOW, April 14 (RAPSI) Russian authorities are conducting searches in the headquarters of the ONEXIM Group which belongs to prominent Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, Mediazona reported on Thursday. According to Mediazonas source, ONEXIMs main building is blocked by the Federal Security Service (FSB) officers. The source told Mediazona that organizations employees are forbidden from using phones. RBC news agency reports searches at Renaissance-Capital, Renaissance-Credit, Soglasiye insurance company and Quadra energetic company. Searches are related to media activity surrounding ONEXIM, Mediazonas source said. Searches are connected to latest media reports, most prominently on REN-TV channel, concerning offshores and companies belonging to ONEXIM Group, the source said. In addition to the RBC holding the ONEXIM Group includes such companies as Uralkali, RUSAL, "Itergeo", "Snob", "Soglasiye", " Renaissance-Credit" and " Renessaince-Capital" . TOLOnews.com, April 13, 2016 By Aref Musavi An 18-year-old girl who was forced to marry a 60-year-old man at the age of 12 has said she wants a divorce. The Balkh teenager, from Zari district, said that six years ago her family forced her to marry the man. She said she no longer wants to live with him and instead wants a divorce. Samar Gul was 12-year-old when she was married to 60-year-old man. Samar Gul was a victim of the 'baad' practice where she paid for her brother's mistake by marrying someone from the victim's family, and settling the dispute. (Photo: TOLOnews.com) Samar Gul was 12-year-old when she was married to 60-year-old man. Samar Gul was a victim of the 'baad' practice where she paid for her brother's mistake by marrying someone from the victim's family, and settling the dispute. (Photo: TOLOnews.com) Samargul claims she is also a victim of domestic violence and has been beaten and tortured over the years. "I was ignorant, I didn't know what was good, or what was bad, but now I want a divorce," said Samargul. Samargul said that she is the victim of her brother's lust. Samargul is the third wife of Mullah Faiz Mohammad. Faiz Mohammad has ten children from his two other wives. Faiz Mohammad said his daughter had an affair with Samargul's brother and because of this, and based on local custom, Samargal was given to him. "It has been six years since we married. She [Samargul] was with me and we didn't have any problems," said Faiz Mohammad. He accused Samargul of having an affair with another person and said he will not divorce her. Fawzia Hamidi, Chief of the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) Unit at the Attorney General's Office (AGO) in Mazar-e Sharif, voiced concern over the high number of domestic violence cases. She said they have registered 20 cases of violence against women in less than a month. She added these acts of violence includes killing, beating, harassment, Baad (a traditional practice of settling disputes) and child marriages. She said that local armed people often prevent justice from being carried out in cases of violence against women. "In most of the cases of violence, local strongmen in districts and villages, who also have arms, interfere and don't let the cases be made official and don't let justice be carried out," Hamidi said. She said that with the support of police they are trying to bring perpetrators of violence against women to justice. Balkh Police Chief, General Sayed Kamal Sadat, however said that bringing those accused of acts of violence against women to justice will take time. Flash The United States continued to trample on human rights in other countries while being tight-lipped about its own terrible human rights record and showing not a bit of intention to reflect on it., according to a report on U.S. human rights released Thursday. The report, titled "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2015," was released by the Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, in response to "the 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" issued by the U.S. State Department on April 13 local time. In 2015, the United States saw no improvement in its existent human rights issues, but reported numerous new problems, according to the report. "Since the U.S. government refuses to hold up a mirror to look at itself, it has to be done with other people's help," it says. The report states money politics and family politics went from bad to worse in the United States where voters found it hard to express their real volition. Figures cited in the report show that civil rights were wantonly infringed upon in the United States in 2015 with rampant gun-related crimes and excessive use of force by police. There were a total of 51,675 gun violence incidents in the United States in 2015 as of December 28, leaving 13,136 killed and 26,493 injured. U.S. police shot dead 965 people last year as of December 24. No substantial progress concerning the economic and social rights of U.S. citizens were made, the report says. In 2015, more than 560,000 people nationwide were homeless, and there were still 33 million people in the United States with no healthcare insurance. It also quotes figures to show that the United States continued to trample on human rights in other countries, causing tremendous civilian casualties. From August 2014 to December 2015, the United States launched 3,965 air strikes in Iraq and 2,823 in Syria, causing an estimated number of civilian deaths between 1,695 and 2,239. The report says that the United States' overseas monitoring projects infringed on the privacy of citizens of other countries. The United States had bugged the phones of three French presidents and many other senior French officials, according to the report. Though the United States repeatedly vowed to defend "human rights," it still has not ratified core human rights conventions of the UN, and took an uncooperative attitude towards international human rights issues, says the report. , We're sorry, this article is not currently available The so-called Panama Papers had turned the world's attention recently to the London property market, which suddenly became the destination of enormous amounts of money. The Panama Papers leak contained files of over 11.5 million of encrypted internal information from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that had led to different reports revealing the foreign ownership of several prime properties from London. The leak had ignited worries that some multi-million dollar worth of deals were financed by money-laundered transactions. Following the Panama Papers leaks, the United Kingdom's Guardian newspaper had reported that 2,800 of Mossack Fonseca companies had appeared in the UK land registry overseas property owners list since 2014. Some reports also indicated that even Syrian president Bashar al-Assad had associates who purchased property in the capital. However, the said allegations were not confirmed, according to a feature by CNBC. The method of money laundering included processing of money from sanctioned sources or criminals and then transferring the amount from country to country, company to company, until the original source could no longer be tracked. The London property is a credible option for criminals who plan to make dirty money appear clean, as explained by law enforcement agencies. Aside from the system which could make it easy to hide which properties individuals own in the UK, the political stability of the country, including its lavish type of lifestyle can made the capital an appealing place to purchase trophy assets, according to a feature by the Forbes. In addition, the city has a broad and high competitive professional services industry that provides the advisory, legal and financial assistance required to purchase a house. These agents are responsible in raising the go signal if they sense some corrupt money being played, although the UN data only indicate that a small fraction of transactions dealing with laundered money are ever flagged. The Panama Papers have put an increased pressure to the demand for more tightened rules with the hope of stopping the illegal money from soaking up the London property market. The home design website Houzz recently brought its service to Singapore in a bid to capture a slice of the remodeling market. The company has launched a website and an app dedicated for Singapore. It is the company's third Asia-Pacific venture after Australia and Japan. Techcrunch reports that Houzz's CEO Adi Tatarko said that the company decided to bring its service to Singapore because it has been performing well there. There are reportedly 150,000 monthly users and 3,000 service providers from the country. "There are two main criteria we look at when evaluating new markets for Houzz: one is a strong local demand for the Houzz offering and the second is demand from the global Houzz community in a market's design aesthetic and expertise," Tatarko told TechCrunch in an email interview. "Both Japan and Singapore met this criteria." The site further reports that Houzz tried to localize its services for the Singapore market by adapting the country's language. Along with Sequoia Capital, Houzz "hopes to provide a discussion forum and online bazaar for Singaporeans looking to improve their homes," Straits Times reports. Houzz dates back to 2009 as a side project for Tatarko and her husband Alon Cohen. After struggling with the renovation of their house, the couple came up with the idea of setting up an online marketplace for remodeling. They started with only 20 projects initially. Now Houzz reportedly has over 40 million unique monthly users and more than a million home design experts from London to Australia. The company is said to be valued at $2.3 billion in September 2014. Its offices include London, Berlin, Sydney, Moscow and Tokyo. Techcrunch reports that Houzz's next target country is unknown, but India is said to be a "strong potential market." At the annual symposium hosted by the University of Georgias Center for Undergraduate Research, participation broke the previous record as hundreds of students have signed up to display research at The Classic Center on today and tomorrow, according to a UGA press release. Photo by Betsey Walton "Mary Poppins" opens at 7 p.m. Friday at the Cascade Theatre. SHARE By Jon Lewis Theres no disputing the fact that the restored Cascade Theatre is a jewel in downtown Redding. Theres also no getting around the fact that it was built as a movie palace and its stage is best suited to vaudeville acts, not full-blown musicals. Cramped quarters and the lack of wing space just adds to the fun, and challenge, of mounting a production like Mary Poppins, according to Jill Brown, the shows assistant producer. Its a huge show. We have a large cast with 42 cast members and its a huge set. Its kind of one of those situations of go big or go home, she said. Its always a challenge at the Cascade. Its a beautiful theater, but the wing space is very small, so its a challenge to create a large set that will engage the audience and fit in the space we have. It was a challenge set designer David Fraser met in his typically superlative fashion. There are just some amazing set designs, Brown said. Echoed Hillary Rogerson, the director: David Fraser is a treasure to this community. I adore him and his work. Jana Pulcini-Leard, the executive producer who doubles as the Cascades general manager, said she snapped up the rights to Mary Poppins as soon as they became available in the fall of 2014 and scheduled it for the Cascades annual spring musical. I love the story and Ive loved it since I was a little girl. The Cascade is always looking for that perfect family show and it was always on our wish list, Pulcini-Leard said. Rogerson, the director, said shes been moved by the script and how the musical, in contrast to the iconic Disney movie, delves deeper into Mary Poppins character. In the musical, Poppins (the perfect nanny) magically arrives to help the Banks family sort out its dysfunction, takes no credit for it, and then flies off. I hope they (audience members) are entertained, but I really hope they come away with a recognition of the depth of the story and Mary Poppins purpose, which isnt just to do magic. I hope the audience takes away the hope and validation that they feel represented in the story and are inspired to trust in themselves and move forward with a brighter outlook. Kim Acuna has been cast as Mary Poppins and said the role is a lifelong dream of hers. She, too, hopes the show delivers the message that family is more important than money. I love that Mary Poppins never makes people do what they dont want to do; she just opens the door for the family to let them see what they really need to see. go now What: Mary Poppins Where: Cascade Theatre When: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and April 22-23 with 2 p.m. matinees Saturday and Sunday and April 22-24. Tickets: $12 to $26; call 243-8877 or visit www.cascadetheatre.org Note: Cast members will be available on stage for photos after each matinee performance. In this March 17, 2016, photo, a K-9 handler with the Transportation Security Administration walks his dog through lines of travelers approaching a security screening checkpoint at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle. Fliers will likely face massive security lines at airports across the country this summer, with airlines already warning passengers to arrive at least two hours early or risk missing their flight. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) SHARE By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ, AP Airlines Writer NEW YORK (AP) An expedited screening program called PreCheck was supposed to be the answer to maddeningly long security lines at the airport. But four years after its launch, the Transportation Security Administration is far short of enrolling enough travelers to make a difference, spelling trouble for summer travel season. Fliers can expect massive security lines across the country, with airlines already warning passengers to arrive at least two hours early or risk missing their flight. The TSA cut its airport screener staff by 10 percent in the past three years, anticipating PreCheck would speed up the process. When not enough fliers enrolled, the agency tried to make up for that shortfall by randomly placing passengers into the express lanes. But it recently scaled back that effort for fear dangerous passengers were being let through. That's when the lines started growing, up to 90 minutes in some cases. The TSA is shifting some resources to tackle lines at the nation's biggest airports, but says there is no easy solution to the problem with a record number of fliers expected this summer. "We had unacceptable line waits at the majority of our hubs," says Robert Isom, chief operating officer of American Airlines. "Based on what the TSA is telling us, there is no relief in sight." Launched nationwide in 2012, PreCheck gives previously vetted passengers special screening. Shoes, belts and light jackets stay on. Laptops and liquids stay in bags. And these fliers go through standard metal detectors rather than the explosive-detecting full-body scanners most pass through. PreCheck lanes can screen 300 passengers an hour, twice that of standard lanes. The TSA offered Congress a lofty goal of having 25 million fliers enrolled in the program. Based on that and other increased efficiencies, the TSA's front-line screeners were cut from 47,147 three years ago to 42,525 currently. At the same time, the number of annual fliers passing through checkpoints has grown from 643 million to more than 700 million. As of March 1, only 9.3 million people were PreCheck members. Applicants must pay $85 to $100 every five years. They must also trek to the airport for an interview before being accepted. Getting once-a-year fliers to spend the time or the money to join has been a challenge. While 250,000 to 300,000 people are joining every month, it will take more than four years at that pace to reach the target. "It hasn't been a failure; it just isn't moving as quickly as it needs to move," says Sharon Pinkerton, senior vice president for legislative and regulatory policy at airline trade group Airlines for America. Without enough members, the TSA faced a problem: PreCheck lanes were nearly deserted while other lines snaked throughout terminals. Keeping empty PreCheck lanes open was a waste of staff. But without them, passengers who paid to join would be aggravated. So the agency created workarounds to allow passengers who hadn't been fully vetted to still get expedited screening. Those who flew 50,000 miles a year or more with an airline sometimes got the PreCheck designation on their boarding pass at check-in. Others would randomly get it based on demographic information. As a further step, the TSA in 2013 created a program called Managed Inclusion where it randomly pulls people out of the normal line when it grows too long. Fliers' behavior is monitored, they are screened for explosives and then allowed to use the faster PreCheck lane. The Associated Press has spent the last year fighting under the Freedom of Information Act for details on how many fliers are allowed into PreCheck through each method, but has been denied the information for unspecified security reasons. Lines did get shorter. By Thanksgiving 2014 nearly 50 percent of fliers were getting expedited screening. Then last year, two back-to-back embarrassing inspector general reports came out, highlighting TSA security lapses. One disclosed that the agency let a convicted domestic terrorist use PreCheck. The second revealed that in 67 out of 70 tests across the nation, screeners failed to find mock weapons and explosives. In response, TSA agents stopped pulling passengers out of line unless there was an explosive-detecting canine team present. That change went into effect in September, right after the Labor Day rush. The move forced about 10 percent of all passengers some 70 million fliers a year to go back to normal screening. Longer lines soon followed. By February, just 26 percent of passengers were screened through PreCheck, according to Associated Press calculations on TSA data obtained through a public records request. During the week of spring break in mid-March, 6,800 American Airlines passengers missed their flights because of long checkpoint lines, foreshadowing the headaches airlines fear during the peak summer travel months. "The TSA is more or less suggesting that we need to live with it," says Isom, American's chief operating officer. At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport waits have topped out at 90 minutes, with the typical morning rush averaging 45 minutes to an hour, says Wendy Reiter, the airport's director of security and emergency preparedness. In the first week of March, 50 Delta Air Lines passengers missed international flights the type of flight that only departs once a day. Last week, officials in Charlotte, North Carolina were warning passengers of waits exceeding 75 minutes, saying the lines were "extremely heavy." At the world's busiest airport, in Atlanta, general manager Miguel Southwell told the TSA last month that "things appear to be only getting worse." And in Minneapolis, executive director Jeffrey Hamiel told the TSA that "we are experiencing unacceptably long security wait times during peak periods." The TSA knows there is no quick fix. "The real answer to the volume growth is to ideally get a fully-vetted trusted traveler population," TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger told The Associated Press. For now though, the agency is relocating 28 of its 142 canine teams to the 20 busiest airports so it can randomly put more fliers into PreCheck. The TSA won't say which airports are losing the teams and could therefore have longer lines. An additional 200 screeners are being trained each week, but that is offset by the average 103 screeners the TSA loses weekly through attrition. The agency is asking airlines to enforce carry-on bags restrictions before checkpoints so it has fewer bags to screen. Airport and airline staff will also take over some non-security related tasks, such as returning empty bins to the start of the checkpoint. There has been one bright side: the TSA says there is a direct correlation between longer lines and a spike in PreCheck enrollments. Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight Tyler Schweizer, shown during an earlier Superior Court appearance, may learn Wednesday whether he'll be ordered to stand trial for second-degree murder. SHARE By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight A Redding man is going to have a long wait before finding out whether he will be ordered to stand trial for second-degree murder in a fatal 2015 traffic collision. As the prosecutor rested his case Wednesday in the two-day preliminary hearing for Tyler Christopher Schweizer, the judge placed the hearing in recess until June 10. That nearly two-month-long delay will allow, among other things, adequate time for Schweizer's defense attorney, Aaron Williams, to contact, interview and investigate claims from a potential defense witness who may provide testimony rebutting findings from the California Highway Patrol about how fast Schweizer was driving before the Feb. 11, 2015, crash. CHP officers said Schweizer was driving nearly 100 mph only a few seconds before his pickup broadsided a pickup on Highway 273 at the Thomas Road intersection. That wreck killed Wallace "Pete" Shelton, 77, of Anderson. Schweizer was initially charged with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in the fatal wreck. But prosecutors recently amended the criminal complaint against him to include the second-degree murder count. Shasta County Deputy District Attorney Brandon Storment said he amended the complaint because he believes Schweizer's "abysmal" driving history supports the second-degree murder charge. To bolster his stance, he called to the stand Wednesday four Redding police officers who testified about their run-ins with Schweizer over the years. Those included an August 2011 incident in which Schweizer led police on a high-speed chase and intentionally rammed a car reported stolen into a police patrol unit. Schweizer, who is prohibited from driving, also has 2009 and 2012 misdemeanor DUI convictions, according to electronic court records. SHARE Jacob Vargas Suspect vehicle UPDATE 2:45 p.m.: The missing boy has been found safe, the CHP reported. The Amber Alert has been canceled. ORIGINAL STORY: A statewide Amber Alert has been issued for a 2-year-old boy who was reported abducted today from the Soledad area. The suspect, who is reportedly unknown, was last seen driving a black 2015 Honda Accord with a California license plate of 7LIE244. Authorities say the car has tinted windows and damage to the left rear bumper. Authorities say the boy, Jacob Vargas, was abducted around 6:45 a.m. today. The boy is Hispanic with brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a beige beanie, a blue sweater, a white shirt with a yellow stripe and gray sleeves and blue jeans. If seen, call 911 or the Soledad Police Department at (831) 755-5111. The Americana Lodge has a long history of building, health and safety violations, many of which have generated complaints from their guests over the years, Redding officials say. SHARE By David Benda of the Redding Record Searchlight Richardson "Red" Griswold took possession of the troubled Americana Lodge in downtown Redding three weeks ago. He quickly launched a fact-finding mission in which he plans to meet with city officials, building contractors, the property's owner, the owner's attorney and the property's lender. Griswold, based in San Diego, visited the Americana Lodge since taking over March 22. He sent letters to the motel's remaining tenants that spell out where to send rent checks and how residents will be affected by the receivership. Griswold only answers to the court. "The appointment order lays out my marching orders," Griswold said Wednesday by phone. "I work for the judge. I don't work for the city, the owner or the bank." It's been nearly a year since city code enforcement officials conducted a sweep of the Americana Lodge in which they alleged more than 500 building and health and safety code violations. In October, the city asked the court to appoint a receiver to take possession and clean up the property. Griswold will report back to the judge at a court hearing April 25. "It's really my first opportunity to come back to the judge now that I've been the receiver for about a month," Griswold said. "So (that will be) my first big-picture outlook on what my options will be moving forward." Griswold is working on a receiver's report that he will distribute to the principals before the court hearing. The report also will be discussed at the hearing. He could not say Wednesday what still needs to be done to bring the motel up to code or when the work would start. "I can't move forward until I get a receiver's budget approved by the judge," he said. Griswold has done health and safety code receiverships for about eight years and taken possession of about 35 residential properties, including apartments, motels and single-family homes. The terms of the receivership grants Griswold the authority to put together a tenant relocation plan should residents at the Americana Lodge need to move during work. The letter tenants received said their lease and rental agreements are still valid. Residents will not be removed from the property unless there are serious health and safety risks. "If no such imminent threat is found, your agreement will be honored and you must continue to make your rental payments," the letter said. William Wollstonecraft, 54, moved into the Americana Lodge in October. He said Wednesday that crews have put in new paint, carpet and mattresses. "I'm not satisfied but I can say it's an improvement," Wollstonecraft said. Wollstonecraft said many residents have left the motel since he started living there in October. Also still living at Americana Lodge is Bob Thakor of Shree Shiva LLC, the motel's owner before Griswold took possession. The receivership appointment by the judge doesn't always equate to an eviction order of tenants or the property's owner. "My first phase is a fact-gathering mode. So there have been no orders for them to be removed or anything similar to that," Griswold said. While the city has no say on the work schedule, City Attorney Barry DeWalt said city officials can make their feelings known if they don't think work is progressing fast enough. "We have input on that but we can't make it so just because we want it to be so," DeWalt said. He emphasized that the city so far has been happy with Griswold. Andy Byrd, an attorney, explains the services offered by the Miami-Dade County Public Defender's Office to defendants awaiting arraignment at the courthouse in the South Dade Government Center. Public defenders there are on hand to make sure defendants in misdemeanor cases have access to an attorney if they need one. (Sarah Breitenbach/Stateline/TNS) By Sarah Breitenbach, Stateline.org MIAMI Cecelia Greene came into the South Dade courthouse on a recent Monday ready to go to trial. Accused of battery, a crime she denies committing, the South Florida woman, who is homeless, almost refused the help of public defenders who eventually might help prove her innocence. I thought they were telling me to pay more or something, Greene, 54, said. At this point, Im not able to pay anything. Had Greene arrived in court a year ago, Marissa Glatzer, an assistant public defender, would not have been there to explain that a public defender could help manage her case. Since August, public defenders in Miami-Dade County have been dispatched to courtrooms to work on misdemeanor criminal cases. Public defenders across the nation typically dont show up for the low-level cases, which include petty theft and marijuana possession. But Glatzer said putting lawyers in these courtrooms can prevent indigent defendants from taking disadvantageous plea deals that result in prohibitive fines and court costs. Convictions can also have long-term consequences: They can make it hard to get a job or get into public housing, she said. Miamis effort is rare at a time when many public defenders offices are struggling to provide adequate representation for people unable to pay for their own lawyer in more serious felony cases, a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The lack of funding for public defenders has gotten so bad in Louisiana that the states Public Defender Board has been sued for putting new clients on a waitlist because there are not enough attorneys to take their cases. In Missouri, lawyers reported only being able to do a fraction of the work needed to effectively represent their clients. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has called insufficient criminal defense for indigent people a national crisis, and the Justice Department has investigated constitutional violations in representation. There is a lack of funding for public defense in every state, according to Colette Tvedt of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; and people charged with low-level misdemeanors, often poor minorities, suffer the most. Im sitting in courtrooms and seeing mass amounts of men, women and children, often in poor, black communities, that are being shuffled through the system without any representation, Tvedt said. Without a lawyer to argue against what Tvedt calls exorbitant fees, fines and court costs, defendants are likely to end up in jail when they cannot pay. Public defenders offices across the country are struggling because state and local funding has been cut while legislatures have simultaneously elevated many infractions from civil to criminal penalties, Tvedt said. In many places, she said, crimes like driving on a suspended license, possessing alcohol underage or even sleeping in public have become arrest-worthy offenses, with severe outcomes like job loss or deportation for those convicted of such crimes. Only 27 percent of county-based and 21 percent of state-based public defenders offices have enough lawyers to appropriately handle their caseloads, the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) found in 2011. Theres discussion that theres no money for repairing the roads, for education; but public defense, for whatever reason, is on the lowest priority list, even though it impacts the communities probably the most, Tvedt said. In Missouri, the states public defenders spend an average of nine hours on certain felony cases that really need about 47 hours of work, a 2014 American Bar Association study found. Michael Barrett, director of the Missouri State Public Defender System, said the study proves he would need to add 254 more lawyers to a staff of 361 to adequately serve clients. Last year, his office handled about 74,000 cases, Barrett said, giving between 200 and 300 cases to each lawyer. If all those clients wanted to go to trial, thats impossible, Barrett said. If 10 of them wanted to go to trial, its impossible, and if one of them wants to go to trial, its near impossible. The U.S. Department of Justice also found defendants in St. Louis County, Mo., were experiencing an unconstitutional denial of due process because of the size of public defenders caseloads. There is no federal mandate for how states fund public defense, and though most public defenders offices rely on state money for most or all of their funding, 19 states shift that responsibility to the counties. Since 1992, Mark Stephens, the head of the public defenders office in Knox County, Tenn., has only been able to use state money to pay for four new lawyers on his 26-person legal staff. That sluggish growth has made it difficult to respond to the increasing size of police departments and changes in prosecution techniques like the advent of DNA testing, he said. Youve got a lot more officers who do what officers do and that is enforce the law and arrest people, Stephens said. But you dont see a corresponding increase in the funding for public defenders. For every dollar spent on public defense, taxpayers in the United States spend another $14 on correctional systems, according to JPI. Stephens has consistently received local funding an amount based on allocations to the county states attorney but expects a budget cut this year. In Missouri, Barrett hopes lawmakers will maintain the more than $4 million allocated in a state budget proposal, but even if they do, it doesnt mean he will be able to hire new lawyers. In addition, Missouri defendants are also charged a small fee that goes toward attorney training; and in Florida, people like Greene are assessed a one-time $50 fee for their defense. Of course were not thrilled about charging people for exercising their constitutional rights, Barrett said. But at the same time, its a drop in the bucket of what we need. In other states, defendants are on the hook for the entire cost of their court-appointed lawyer. South Dakota defendants are charged $92 per hour spent on their case, an impossible rate for most clients to pay, said Katie Dunn, an assistant public defender in Minnehaha County. Though judges are supposed to assess defendants ability to pay, their failure to do so, and to pay other court costs, often lands them back in jail, where it costs the state $94 a night to house them, Dunn said. Incarceration leads to time away from work, and soon South Dakota officials will also start suspending the drivers licenses of people who cannot pay. As of July, 31,638 people owed the state more than $16 million in judicial system fines and restitution. I am not operating under any illusion that any of them will be able to pay it back, Dunn said. Fees and fines levied against indigent defendants are compounded by the fact that in the majority of misdemeanor cases, defendants like Cecelia Greene take plea deals or go to trial without a lawyer and suffer the consequences, said Carlos Martinez, who heads the Miami-Dade County Public Defenders Office. People are getting convictions without an attorney and ruining their lives because they cant get jobs, Martinez said. Making his staff available to monitor misdemeanor cases is possible in part because funding for the department has stabilized in recent years and crime rates in the county of more than 2.6 million have dropped. Hes still studying the programs effectiveness, but already knows that judges are reluctant to appoint a defense attorney unless a prosecutor is pursuing jail time, and defendants are not quick to request the service. This month, Glatzer and another attorney picked up just three clients from a docket of 60 misdemeanor cases. We have not been able to yet change the culture in our courts, Martinez said. Changing it to a culture of knowing you have a right to an attorney. 2016 Stateline.org Visit Stateline.org at www.stateline.org Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. A woman runs along the Sacramento River Trail where someone cut down native trees without permission. SHARE By Jenny Espino of the Redding Record Searchlight This story has been updated to note the correct date of the cleanups on the stretch of the Sacramento River Trail and measurement of an Oregon ash. Someone cut down at least three gray pines, six live oaks and an Oregon ash along the Sacramento River Trail, and the city wants to find out who did it and why. The young, healthy trees grew behind a row of Lake Redding Drive homes whose backyards face the Sacramento River Trail. The native trees were on the forest grounds between the trail and Sacramento River, where volunteers removed underbrush and other non-native plants in 2014 and early 2015. Sometime this month, the 10 trees were toppled. Local conservationists discovered the debris last Friday. The discovery prompted a flurry of emails from conservationists and trail advocates questioning how this could happen on public property and whether a neighbor wanted to secure an unobstructed view to the river. "It shows contempt for what so many people worked to maintain," said Linda Masterson, a member of the Friends of the Redding Trail, who regularly walks the stretch of trail in Lake Redding. "To slash through it and leave the debris to turn brown and ugly, it's insulting and thoughtless." Word of the felled trees reached City Hall last week after officials received an email from Randy Smith, a community leader who shepherded the Community Creek Cleanups for a decade. City officials on Wednesday said the downed trees were not part of any city-sanctioned cleanup, made possible through a permit from the California Department Fish and Wildlife. They said they are trying to determine who did it and will take necessary action. Rules prohibit cutting trees on public property. "It's a pretty serious issue," City Attorney Barry DeWalt said. "In this particular case, I don't know that anybody should feel like they should cut down trees to secure a viewshed." He called it a disservice to the public, who also get to enjoy the area's natural scene. Depending on the outcome of an investigation, the city may decide to bring a case before the Administrative Hearings Board, file a civil lawsuit or refer a case to the Shasta County District Attorney's Office. Kim Niemer, community services director, did not immediately return a call for comment. Smith said he's hopeful city officials would use the incident to send a message. He said the Oregon ash had a breast height diameter of 14 inches. "It was healthy and it was causing nobody trouble. It deserved to live," he said. "There should be atonement bringing back native trees, maybe an ash or cottonwood and low shrubs so it does not resemble the nuclear winter which is there right now." Local conservationists are particularly concerned what will happen to the area in the months ahead. "Now that most of the canopy is gone, the blackberries that people have been eradicating literally for years have a perfect (condition) right in the sun to come back," Masterson said. "They just take over everything." Newsom, Dahle to meet in debate today. Here's where to listen Newsom and Dahle are scheduled to debate Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. The debate will be broadcast live on the radio by KQED News. SHARE We're here to help you, says the Obama administration as it often sacrifices one group to help another group that gets sacrificed, too. In these cases, scarcely hard to find, it sometimes acts autocratically and just about always relies less on common sense than on a bundle of progressive pretensions. Take, for instance, the bureaucratic effrontery of telling public high schools they must let certain anatomical guys into girls' locker rooms and showers or lose federal funding. The purpose, justified by a fantastical misreading of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, is to soothe the feelings of these fellows who think of themselves as girls while simultaneously disregarding the feelings of girls who fear embarrassment. Yes, let's have empathy for transgender people, treating them with sensitivity as many schools do, but let's have empathy for these equally important girls, too. When you throw out ages-old privacy norms, girls can easily come to see transgender teens more as menaces than anything else, no favor to them, and wonder what their own rights may be. What we have here is political correctness that is glaringly incorrect. Even more serious lately is the way President Barack Obama has embraced Black Lives Matter, a group that marches around with fury on its lips and T-shirts saying such things as "Murderous Cops." He seems in close agreement with the thesis that racist cops are out there killing innocent blacks but fairly few whites. With reference to extensive research by The Washington Post and others, Heather Mac Donald of Manhattan Institute points to some pertinent information. Blacks kill cops at more than twice the rate that cops kill blacks. Even the unarmed blacks who get killed are mostly attacking cops. Blacks also kill other blacks in numbers exceeding the total number of homicides of whites and Hispanics. While 26 percent of police killings are blacks constituting just 13 percent of the population, blacks also commit a disproportionate number of violent crimes, making cop confrontations more likely. None of this means that indefensible police shootings have never happened or that the vast majority of blacks are bad citizens never faced with demeaning racial attitudes. But policing has been made more difficult and less proactive in some neighborhoods because of the anger stirred up initially by misrepresentation of the Ferguson, Mo., shooting and all those cheering on Black Lives Matter. And, says Mac Donald, that in turn has helped propel a two-digit, one-year upsurge of homicides in our largest cities. In other words, many black people are getting killed in part because of this movement divisively encouraged by the president. Then we get to the president's gun control efforts, which have gun manufacturers down on their knees saying thank you, thank you, thank you. Let him give a speech on the subject, and people fearful this just might be their last chance rush out to make purchases. Because of his futile pursuit of laws that would likely have been futile themselves, the gun sales during his time in office have been the highest in history, something like 100 million as of calculations last year. One last topic: The Obama administration is getting tougher on companies that pay some of the highest taxes in the world on their operations in this country and then set up headquarters overseas so their operations there will not be so heavily taxed, too. Most European countries, despite their overblown welfare states, keep their domestic corporate taxes down and wisely do not tax anything made and taxed elsewhere, thus making their companies more competitive. Our president apparently thinks getting our economy growing more and creating more jobs is cheating, and stands firmly against this last step. Let's concede some good moves by this administration, but let's agree as well that one way of summing up the legacy will be the word "perverse." Jay Ambrose is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service. Readers may email him at speaktojay@aol.com. The Panama leaks do not demonstrate that countries have become smarter at detecting and prosecuting money laundering. The international financial system continues to be favourable to those who have the means to hide their money, rues Nigam Nuggehalli The Panama Papers leak is not representative of the fact that countries have become smarter at detecting money laundering. The global financial system continues to favour those with the means to hide their money After the Panama Papers story broke, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley spoke of it as part of a larger narrative concerning a new international financial order in which transparency in property ownership would be the norm rather than the exception. In the future, any person or company parking their illegitimate money anywhere in the world would be identifiable through publicly accessible records and therefore, vulnerable to criminal prosecution. Presumably, Jaitley based his remarks on the spate of multilateral and bilateral information exchange agreements signed between countries in the recent past and the steps taken by the major economies of the world (including India) to improve disclosure and transparency in the domestic financial system. Despite what Jaitley stated, there is little, if any connection, between the Panama Papers story and financial disclosure reforms in the international financial system. The reforms, despite the rhetoric, are at a nascent stage and there is every chance that any transparency-related improvements in the system will never come to fruition. Take the case of the exchange of tax information between India and Switzerland. At present, there is no automatic exchange of information between the two countries. If the Indian tax authorities want to obtain any information on any account held by Indians in Swiss banks, they have to provide a reason for their request. Therefore, if the Indian authorities do not have information on people holding money acquired illegitimately, they cannot even begin any information retrieval process with respect to Swiss bank accounts. Switzerland and India have agreed to abide by a multilateral agreement under which countries would be obliged to exchange tax information automatically with each other, without either country needing to provide concrete evidence of tax evasion. However, Switzerland will not have binding legal obligations under the multilateral treaty until a separate agreement is negotiated and completed with India. Therefore, Indias aspirations to acquire financial information from Switzerland are hostage to that countrys internal political process which might take a long time, if at all, to be completed. Further, an automatic information exchange system requires sophisticated technology-enabled information systems at financial institutions, which is not yet the case at many of Indias national banks. Switzerland might be able to argue that unless Indian financial institutions demonstrate reasonable rigour and credibility in their tax information systems, any reciprocal exchange of information would not take place. We are probably at least a few years away from a genuine global automatic exchange of information system. Until then, the only way in which tax information would come out of tax havens is through leaks and whistle-blowers. The Panama story has another intriguing feature that has not garnered adequate attention. The leaks have come from a law firm, not a financial institution. Financial institutions are the kind of places the world has focused on traditionally in its attack on international tax evasion. However, there are well-known problems with any efforts aimed at disclosure requirements for financial institutions. Many of the most egregious tax evasion transactions take place through financial institutions set up in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands where there are no rigorous legal requirements that a person depositing money has to provide his or her real identity. The depositor provides the money through a corporate entity or trust that might well be based in yet another tax haven that has few disclosure requirements. As scholars on money-laundering laws have pointed out, all that the banks in tax havens are interested in is whether the person putting in the money is the same person withdrawing it. The real identity of the person is not their concern nor do the tax havens insist on this requirement. The story changes with the lawyers working in these tax havens. The banks are happy not knowing the identity of their patrons because they are already in possession of the money deposited by them. When it comes to the lawyers working on behalf of the patrons, the identity of the latter is important, otherwise there is no proper recourse if the patrons do not pay for the lawyers services. Therefore, there would usually be a paper trail in the lawyers offices pointing to the real source of the money in the tax havens. Normally, this would be a problem for the lawyers clients, as almost no one deposits money into tax havens without appointing counsel. However, the automatic exchange of information systems do not impact any incriminating information with the lawyers, as such information would be protected under attorney-client privilege. It would be interesting to see how leaked, but privileged, information from a law firm holds up in a court of law in India. Certainly, any prosecutions based on the Panama leaks will run into more complications than the HSBC leaks a few years ago mainly because of the privileged source of the information. The Panama leaks are not a demonstration of the fact that countries have become smarter at detecting and prosecuting money laundering. The international financial system continues to be favourable to those who have the means to hide their money. Occasionally, a whistle-blower or a hacker releases sensitive financial data that creates a temporary illusion that the world is about to close in on tax dodgers. Lest it be forgotten, the Panama leaks are about information leaks from one law firm. Despite the ostensibly large number of names on the Panama list, there is no doubt that we are looking only at the tip of the money-laundering iceberg. Nigam Nuggehalli is associate professor of law, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru The image is used for representational purpose only The Duchess of Cambridge chose to recycle a coat dress from her favourite British fashion designer, Emilia Wickstead. Kate Middleton had previously worn the same outfit to the Thistle Ceremony in Scotland, way back in 2012. ALSO SEE: Kate blows us away once again! In Pics: Kate Middleton's wardrobe for India tour Kate makes a Rs 5,000 dress look like a million dollars This was not the first time during the Royal Tour to India and Bhutan that Kate turned to her favourite designer Emilia Wickstead. IMAGE: Kate looks radiant in this buttermilk coat dress by Emilia Wickstead. As for the shoes, she chose a pair of LK Bennett nude pointed pumps. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images Earlier, on Day Two, she had worn a Peter Pan collared white dress by the same designer. IMAGE: She accessorised the 1,200 dress with gold earrings. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images IMAGE: Kate added a yellow belt to the dress and teamed it with a Natalie straw clutch by LK Bennett (left). And this is how she wore it four years ago to the Thistle Ceremony in Scotland (right). Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images Here's what Kate wore when she visited the Pan Bari village in Kaziranga National Park, Assam, on Day Three of the India tour. IMAGE: For her visit to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation, Kate chose a pink 75 Topshop smock dress with floral prints, and a pair of black wedges from Pied-A-Terre. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters IMAGE: Kate wore gold danglers and looked stunning with her hair tied up in a low bun. Photograph: Biju Boro/Pool/Reuters IMAGE: The royal couple were presented with gamchas, traditional white scarfs with red embroidery. Kate's Boho dress had a tassel neck-tie and intricate black embroidery. Photograph: Biju Boro/Pool/Reuters IMAGE: The dress seemed perfect for her visit to Assam. The couple also enjoyed their visit to a tea garden in Assam. Photograph: Biju Boro/Pool/Reuters ALSO SEE Kate blows us away once again! In Pics: Kate Middleton's wardrobe for India tour Kate makes a Rs 5,000 dress look like a million dollars 'Its three primary effects are to send the alcohol economy underground (depriving the state of revenue), to criminalise the casual drinker and to criminalise the police.' In America in the 1920s prohibition produced big Mafia gang leaders like Al Capone, who corrupted the police in cities like Chicago. In Gujarat, which has prohibition for decades, alcohol is freely available because the police has been compromised at every level,' says Aakar Patel. The famous sociologist M N Srinivas said prohibition of alcohol was actually a Sanskritic act, like cow slaughter. What he meant was that whatever justification was given, the Indian instinct to ban and prohibit came from a Brahminical, upper caste, sensibility. It should therefore not surprise us that the makers of India's Constitution debated these two issues -- the beef ban and alcohol prohibition -- on the same day, November 24, 1948. I am writing this because another state in India, Bihar, has implemented a ban on all alcohol. Kerala is already going that route, joining Gujarat and a couple of states in the Northeast. Bihar is ruled by Nitish Kumar. He claims that his ideology is Lohiate, meaning that it comes from Rammanohar Lohia. I have Lohia's collected works in nine volumes and in them there is not much mention of prohibition, only casual references. Unlike Gandhi, Lohia does not offer us lectures on how terrible alcohol consumption is. In one place (Volume 6) Lohia attacks the President of India for being a patron of the Calcutta Club, a place, he writes, whose main activity centres around wine drinking. However, Lohia's point is hypocrisy, not moralism. He says 'the President of an alcohol-repressing Republic should be the patron of an alcohol drinking club is a measure of the fraud and perfidy which India's higher castes are practicing upon the country and themselves.' Elsewhere, he describes prohibition as a 'fringe detail' which interests Congress leaders. Perhaps Lohia knew that prohibition has not succeeded anywhere in the world. Its three primary effects are to send the alcohol economy underground (depriving the state of revenue), to criminalise the casual drinker and to criminalise the police. In America in the 1920s prohibition produced big Mafia gangleaders like Al Capone, who corrupted the police in cities like Chicago. In Gujarat, which has prohibition for decades, alcohol is freely available because the police has been compromised at every level. The state has desperately made exceptions because total prohibition is impossible. Middle class Gujaratis carry 'permits' which allow them to drink for 'health reasons'. This is, of course, mostly fraudulent. I was surprised to see that in Pakistan, there are government licensed liquor stores in Karachi. Today it is possible for the Indian tourist to drink legally in Pakistan, but not in Gujarat, which I find remarkable. If prohibition keeps failing, why do states keep trying to achieve it? Out of the belief that it produces a better and more moral society. This is also a bogus argument. Look around the world at the nations of Europe, which have no prohibition, and those of the Arab world, of which many do. Which are more moral and better societies? And which one of them does India want to emulate? In 1948, the argument against eating beef was two fold. First, there was the insistence (now proved to be wrong) from members like Professor Shibban Lal Saksena that cow slaughter should be banned for economic reasons. That cattle were an asset, the cow for milk and the bullock for tilling. Mechanisation and tractors has made that argument irrelevant. Only a handful of farmers till their land today with the bullock. Dr Raghu Vira of the Central Provinces and Berar produced the real argument. This was located in Hindu dharma and said 'Brahma hatya and go-hatya' were equal. Meaning that killing a learned man and scientist (a Brahmin) brought the same punishment as killing a cow. Hindutva kept creeping into that Constituent Assembly debate on prohibition also. Bombay's B G Kher said 'drinking of liquor is one of the five deadly sins which the Smritis have laid down.' The Smritis have also prohibited Patels from reading and writing. Should we accept that? We are fortunate that a good Constitution was produced despite such crude thinking. Two excellent speakers opposed prohibition. B H Khardekar of Kolhapur, making his first speech, said 'one argument put forth was that all communities want it. Parsis and Christians also were included in that list. Sir, I happpen to know Parsis and Christians a little bit and I think, Sir, definitely they are not in favour of prohibition.' Jaipal Singh of Bihar also opposed prohibition, speaking in favour of the Adivasi communities that traditionally brewed and consumed alcohol. He said, among other things, that 'Sir, I submit by the back door we are trying to interfere with the religious rights of the most ancient people of this country.' I would say that the same thing applies for those Hindus who follow Shaivism and consume cannabis as bhang, charas or ganja, which have become criminalised because of a sanskritic attitude. Prohibition will, of course, ultimately fail in Bihar as it has failed in Gujarat. It may remain as a law, but drinkers will find a way around that law, the police will become criminalised and the state will miss out on revenue. Everyone will lose, but at least the Lohiaites will feel they tried to do the right thing. Aakar Patel is Executive Director, Amnesty International India. The views expressed here are his own. You can read his earlier columns here. Lead image published only for representational purposes. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC. Photograph: MEAphotogallery/Flickr 'Pakistan has been successful in convincing the rest of the world that the Pakistani nuclear terrorists are meant to target only India. This is myopia at its worst,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd). The Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC was like a performance of Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. The absence of Russia, North Korea and the prime minister of Pakistan made it a gathering of 'like-minded' do-gooders without any progress on the issue of the terrorist nuclear threat, the ostensible agenda of the meeting. Russia is a country of concern due to the fact that since the demise of the Soviet Union a large number of nuclear weapons of Russian origin are unaccounted for, the so-called 'loose nukes.' North Korea has not only acquired nuclear weapons, but is also a country in a desperate economic situation whereby 'selling' nukes to a terrorist organisation is a real possibility. In the case of Pakistan, with the fastest growing nuclear arsenal, that country has plans to deploy small and tactical nuclear weapons. This makes the likelihood of these falling into the hands of numerous terrorist groups based there, either through theft or through a sympathetic military commander, a real possibility. India, as the likely target of a Pakistan origin nuclear terror threat, had a vital interest in the outcome of this meeting. However, the increasing global reach and ambition of the Pakistan-based terrorist groups leaves other countries as vulnerable. The outcome of the Nuclear Security Summit belies this reality and seems Pakistan has been successful in convincing the rest of the world that the Pakistani nuclear terrorists are meant to target only India. This is myopia at its worst. Graham T Allison, a Harvard University professor writing in October 2004, had claimed that Pakistan is a nuclear time bomb and posed the greatest threat to the security of the United States. The context then was Pakistani hobnobbing with Al Qaeda. In August 2001, even as the final planning for 9/11 was under way, Osama bin Laden met two former officials of Pakistan's atomic energy programme -- Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Abdul Majid -- near Kabul. Over the course of three days of intense conversation bin Laden and his second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, grilled Mahmood and Majid about how to make weapons of mass destruction. After the neutralisation of bin Laden on May 2, 2011 from a compound near a Pakistani military establishment in Abbotabad, Al Qaeda has been weakened beyond repair. However, Islamic State or Daesh, a more virulent mutation of Al Qaeda, has taken its place. Pakistan claims that it is opposed to IS. But given the past history of its dealing with Al Qaeda and sheltering bin Laden in Abbotabad, this Pakistani assertion needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. President Barack Obama's post conference comments equated India and Pakistan and cautioned the two countries against their increasing nuclear arsenals. Critics have pointed out that the summits have only focused on highly enriched uranium in civilian possession, which only accounts for 2 to 3 percent of the world's supply. That small percentage is used mostly by academics for research and medical isotope production. The remaining 97 to 98 percent is held in military stockpiles, which the security summits have largely ignored. Countries keep the safeguards on these stockpiles secret, and military material falls outside the scope of international security agreements. The 2014 summit acknowledged that military stockpiles receive far less attention and explained: 'Nuclear materials in weapons are not excluded from the (Nuclear Security Summit) discussions as such, but the emphasis is on nuclear materials in industry. Military stocks are a sensitive issue, and discussing them could be an obstacle to achieving results in dealing with civil nuclear materials.' The world has been grappling with the knotty issue of fissile material production control for several years now. The consensus on this vital issue has eluded the Geneva conference. Till such time as the countries of the world do not accept controls over production of fissile material, mainly for military purposes, the danger of these falling into the hands of terrorists is ever present. The conference totally ignored the new danger that the Pakistani decision to make small nuclear weapons posed to world peace. These are meant to use against Indian conventional retaliation to Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks. The simplest solution for this dilemma is for Pakistan to give up its support to terrorism. But it seems that Pakistan is still unwilling to cross that bridge yet. I have for long proposed a way out of this problem by making 'accounting' for every gram of fissile material compulsory. The idea is that every country must at all times account for the fissile material, both for civil and military purpose, at all times. If any diversion takes place, the world should hold the country responsible and a mandatory regime of UN sanctions must kick in. This is the second best alternative to fissile material production control. The one important takeaway for India, that is concerned at the Pakistani plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, is that we have to take care of this problem ourselves and should not expect any global help. If the AIADMK falls short of the 117-mark required to form a government in the 234-member assembly, will it strike a post-poll deal to form Tamil Nadu's first coalition government? N Sathiyamorthy analyses. In campaign mode ahead of her political rivals, like she does every time, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa seems to be giving less importance to what could be a unique selling proposition according to market mantras. In the public rallies she has addressed so far, there was no mention of her guts to go it alone, as if to ensure post-poll stability and putting a check against possible horse-trading of the kind that the state has not witnessed after 1952-54, when the late C Rajagopalachari became chief minister. Does it all imply that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leadership is not as confident as it claims to be on public platforms and TV debates, just as they made the trick work in the Lok Sabha elections two years ago? Not only Jayalalithaa, even lower-level party workers and campaigners of the AIADMK are not talking about coalition collapses if any of the opposition parties or alliances are voted to power. The alternative could be the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led alliance (with the Congress on board) and the Vijaykanth-led six-party Peoples Welfare Front striking a post-poll tie-up to form a coalition government. If the AIADMK falls short of the 117-mark required to form a government in the 234-member assembly, will it strike a post-poll deal with a party to form a coalition government? While the choice of an ally depends on the number of seats the AIADMK gets, it will have two options in case of not getting a majority: either form a minority government with outside support of some other party -- as the DMK did in 2006 with outside support of the Congress and the Pattali Makkal Katchi -- or form the first-ever coalition government in the state. However, there is a moral problem which the AIADMK might face while going with the outside support option. The DMKs M Karunanidhi might have become the first chief minister of a large state to run a minority government for a full term, but Jaya, then in the Opposition, did not lose any opportunity to ridicule the DMK for it. The question is if she would be willing to bear others doing the same to her. Yet, Jaya and the AIADMK have mastered the art of having their men embedded in other parties, more so within the assembly, whatever be their constitutional and legal identity. Thus, Tamil Nadu had a Congress-J faction in the assembly, with most of the members from the Congress-led P V Narasimha Rao regime at the Centre. More recently, close to 10 members of Vijaykanths Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam were sitting in a separate group in the assembly, for most of the past five years. Officially, they were not members of the AIADMK, nor had they given up their DMDK membership. Yet, they wore all the paraphernalia of a Jaya loyalist on their sleeves. They changed to dhotis/lungis with the AIADMKs tri-colour border, from that of the DMDK. More importantly, they also sported Jayas pictures in their translucent shirt pockets, displaying how close Amma was to their hearts and minds -- a Standard Operating Procedure for all party loyalists. Against the ruling AIADMK, the DMK is relatively open to pre-poll alliances, yet it is non-committal on post-election coalition. Party chief Karunanidhi had tried hard to persuade the DMDK to join the DMK-led alliance. His famous paazham nazhuvi paalil vizhum (the fruit has ripened and will fall into the milk) reference has since become the butt of many a political joke on social media, with constant references in Tamil TV talk-shows too. If Karunanidhi alluded to his hopes of the DMDK (fruit) falling into the DMK alliance (milk) in public, it was a once-bitten-twice-shy story. In 2011, the DMDK openly held alliance talks with the DMK almost till the end, but ditched the party to join the rival AIADMK at the last minute, embarrassing Karunanidhi, who was chief minister at the time. This time, therefore, all the invitations by the DMK to the DMDK for an alliance were public and not personalised. No direct political negotiations were held, though it was an open secret that they were talking through middlemen, close to the party leaderships. The DMK also has a history of pre-poll alliances and coalition governments. In every election that the DMK has contested, starting with the one in 1967, when it came to power in the state for the first time, it contested as the leader of an alliance, but managed to win a majority of its own -- with the exception of 2006. The party kept alliance partners out of the government, and some of them, like the Communists, did not even want any share in power. In 1980 and again in 2011, pre-poll seat-sharing with the Congress also contributed in no small way to the combines defeat, owing to cross-voting. The DMK would not want to depend on the Congress. In 1980, the dismissal of the three-year-old M G Ramachandran-led AIADMK government in the state, when Indira Gandhi returned to power at the Centre after the failure of the Janata experiment, created a sympathy wave in the formers favour. In 2011, the 2G scam and other corruption issues involving the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre, of which the DMK was a partner, was another factor which contributed to the combines loss. This time round, Karunanidhis son and party treasurer M K Stalin silenced all speculations about a post-poll alliance by ruling it out even before they had commenced alliance talks with prospective partners. As if to deflect voters attention from the possibility of a coalition government and the confusion among cadres and voters about who is the real party boss -- Karunanidhi or him -- Stalin has started projecting the DMK poll manifesto as the superhero of this election. Against the two Dravidian majors, the six-party alliance, which is projecting Vijayakanth as chief ministerial candidate, has no confusion about forming a post-poll coalition government. They are at it together, and would swim or sink together. Each of the six partners seems to be well aware of it. Just now, almost every member of the combine, particularly Vijayakanths DMDK and G K Vasans Tamil Maanila Congress -- the latest entrant after the AIADMK continued to ignore them despite their hopes and aspirations -- are faced with internal squabble. The problem with forming an alliance for the major parties is to get candidates who can win elections, and also ensure that their respective leaders themselves have safe seats to win from. Even if the Vijayakanth-led alliance does exceptionally well, they will not be able to form a government on their own. In such a situation, the Bharatiya Janata Party could well be their first choice for a post-poll alliance partner, whatever they could be saying about one another during the campaign. The BJP is not expected to do well, either, but they could still get a few seats, if at all, in traditional strongholds like southern Kanyakumari district, owing to religion-based vote divisions in a multi-cornered contest. The other option for the voter -- though limited to 100-odd constituencies -- is the PMK, which kickstarted its campaign with a chief ministerial nominee in former Union minister Anbumani Ramadoss. The PMK, like the PWF, is calling for a change, talking relatively less about corruption, given the pending Central Bureau of Investigation probe relating to Anbumanis term as the Union health minister. Like the BJP, the PMK may have a chance to win some seats in a multi-cornered contest, depending on a variety of factors. The question of a post-poll alliance, therefore, particularly concerns the two major Dravidian parties. They already have two chief ministerial aspirants in Vijayakanth and Anbumani, whose parties might not settle for anything less than a deputy chief ministers post, depending on the number of seats the larger party requires -- and not what they themselves have to offer. If the Vijayakanth-led front sticks together, it is possible that it doesnt support any of the two Dravidian majors. The DMDK might not want to partner with the AIADMK. The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam cannot tolerate the DMK and Thol Thirumavalavans Dalit-strong Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi may have problems working with the Vanniar-centric PMK. For its part, the BJP (if it won some seats) may have no problem working with the AIADMK. But in a party counting more on loyalty, whether the leadership would want to partner with a national party, that too the one in power at the Centre, is a big question. For the BJP, again, the DMK too might not be a problem. But the DMK will not be able to keep the Congress and the BJP within the same fold. Nor can the DMK ditch the Congress in favour of the BJP, particularly after aligning with the former before the polls. It is another matter, however, if the Congress would win some seats, even in the DMKs company, given the state partys notorious factionalism contributing, in no small measure, before and after the elections. N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and political analyst, is director, Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter. A former United States defence contractor was on Thursday sentenced to nearly five years in jail for illegally exporting to India military blueprints and technical drawings of parts used in some high-tech hardware like F-15 jets. Hannah Robert, 49, circumvented the US government and provided export-controlled technical data related to various types of military technology to an individual in India, said Assistant US Attorney General John P Carlin in a statement. Robert, a resident of New Jersey, was charged with illegally exporting to India the military blueprints and technical drawings of parts used in some of the high-tech and sensitive hardware like F-15. He was sentenced to 57 months of imprisonment for conspiring to send sensitive military technical data to India. We will vigorously prosecute and bring to justice those who abuse their access to sensitive defence information and violate the Arms Export Control Act, Carlin said. Currently under home detention pending trial, Robert was charged in a superseding indictment with one count of violating the Arms Export Control Act, one count of conspiracy to violate the act and four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to court documents, Robert, founder, owner, and president of One Source USA LLC, used the computer of a local church to transfer technical drawings of military hardware parts. The exported technical drawings include parts used in the torpedo systems for nuclear submarines, military attack helicopters, and F-15 fighter aircraft, the Department of Justice said. Robert transmitted export-controlled technical data to one PR in India so that they could submit bids to foreigners, including those in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to supply them or their foreign customers with defence hardware items and spare parts. Neither Robert nor PR obtained approval from the US Department of State for this conduct, the Justice Department said. A day after British royal couple Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton visited the Kaziranga National Park, a rhinoceros was killed and its horn taken away by poachers, a forest official said on Thursday. This has brought the total number of rhinos killed in KNP this year to seven. Just two days earlier, another rhino was poached from the park. A male adult rhino was killed and its horn taken away by armed poachers on Wednesday night, KNP Divisional Forest Officer Subhashis Das said. The carcass of the rhino was recovered from a place under Burhapahar range of the Park. Das said 88 empty cases of AK-47 cartridges were found from the spot. The poachers shot the rhino, sawed off its horn while it was still alive before fleeing, he said. William and Kate took a safari through the national park on Wednesday. They also went to the Dunga and RowmariForest camps mostly inhabitated by rhinos and tigers in the park. Ironically, William had enquired about the challenges the forest guards faced in their efforts to keep the animals safe from poachers and if they required superior weapons, and was informed about the anti-poaching measures adopted to reduce the killing of rhinos. Image: A one-horned Indian rhinoceros walks in the floodwaters of the KNP. The park, a World heritage Site, is the world largest refuge to the great Indian one-horned rhinoceros. Photograph: Kamal Kishore/reuters Defending putting up her statues beside Kanshi Rams at various memorials her government built, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Thursday said it was done to honour the wishes of her mentor and her party will concentrate on development now and not on building memorials if voted to power. Mayawati said all the memorials that needed to be built in honour of Dalit icons have been built. When I come to power, Ill not build memorials, because my work is over. Now Ill focus only on development, she said. She said the Opposition had criticised her government when she was erecting these memorials, museums, and parks in the memory of great people. They said the government money is being wasted. But now they are earning money from tickets on them. Now the criticism is that Mayawati had installed these statues so that she could put her own next to them, she said, She claimed her statues were installed next to Kanshi Rams because of his modern thinking, written will and verbal instructions My statue was installed next to his (Rams) as his successor and for dedicating my life to realising Ambedkars dreams and welfare of Dalits, she said. When this memorial was being built, Kanshi Ram said had Ambedkar been alive hed have been very happy, she claimed. On elephants installed at these memorials, she said they are a symbol of welcome and not her partys election symbol. She said she had been facing challenges and hurdles posed by her opponents while holding on to her views. Other Dalit and opportunistic leaders change their colour like a chameleon with change of government at the Centre and states...we faced good and bad times but (I) never changed myself, she said. Mayawati also said several functions being held by political parties to celebrate Ambedkars birth anniversary were not indicative of their respect to him but were politically motivated to garner the Dalit votes. Image: Workers erect a scaffolding to cover statues of Mayawati in Lucknow. Photograph: Pawan Kumar/Reuters Upping the ante against India, Pakistan has claimed that the spy agency Research and Analysis Wing is running a special cell to sabotage the multi-billion-dollar China-backed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project. Defence Secretary Lt Gen (retired) Alam Khattak told the Senate Standing Committee on Defence on Wednesday that RAW had set up a special cell to sabotage the ambitious CPEC. Khattak said this during an in-camera briefing to the committee on RAWs alleged involvement in subversive activities in Pakistan. His statement came a day after Pakistan Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif accused India of openly challenging the CPEC and blamed the country for destabilising Pakistan. A member of the committee said the defence secretary told the meeting that Indian consulates in Afghanistan were providing money, weapons, training and other logistic support to RAW agents for carrying out subversive activities in Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan and the tribal areas. The senate panel was also informed that RAW was closely coordinating with Afghan intelligence agency National Directorate of Security for anti-Pakistan activities. Sharif had said RAW was blatantly involved in destabilising the country adding that Pakistan will not allow hostile intelligence agencies to create unrest. Pakistan recently claimed to have arrested an Indian spy, Kulbhushan Yadav, in Balochistan near the border with Iran. Yadav, who is an Indian naval officer, confessed to have been working for RAW to create instability in Balochistan as well as in Karachi. New Delhi has said that Yadav was a former navy officer but insisted that he had no connection with the Indian government or RAW. Curfew-like restrictions continued for the second day in parts of Kashmir and mobile internet services were suspended on Thursday in some areas as tension prevailed in the Valley following killing of four persons in action by security forces during violent protests since Tuesday. Strict restrictions have been imposed in Kupwara town, Kralgund, Handwara, Magam and Langate areas in north Kashmir to maintain law and order, a police official said. He said the restrictions were imposed following the death of three persons during protests against alleged molestation of a girl by a soldier in Handwara town on Tuesday. Another youth was killed in Drugmulla area of Kupwara during protests against the Handwara incident on Wednesday. Restrictions also continue in six police station areas of Srinagar city where sporadic incidents of stone-pelting were reported through the day on Wednesday, the official said. He said the affected police station areas include Safakadal, Maharajgunj, Khanyar, Nowhatta, Rainawari and Maisuma. Normal life remained affected in the Valley due to a strike call by separatist groups. Markets remained closed while public transport was off the roads due to the strike. Authorities have suspended mobile internet services in north Kashmir areas to curb the menace of rumour mongering, the official said. Although the situation in most of the Valley has been peaceful so far, isolated cases of stone-pelting have been reported from some parts including south Kashmirs Kulgam town, he said. A cab driver was injured in a stone-pelting incident in Kulgam, the official said. Image: Curfew-like restrictions have been imposed and security has tightened in many areas after the killing of four persons in action by security forces. Photograph: Umar Ganie/Rediff.com Both the AIADMK and DMK are promising prohibition, but where is the road map? Jayalalithaa is not giving a blueprint for her phased prohibition and Karunanidhi is not talking about a draft bill for the same. This is nothing but empty election rhetoric. R Ramasubramanian reports from Chennai. All the political parties in Tamil Nadu are speaking in one loud voice against prohibition today. In the run-up to the assembly elections, due in the state on May 16, wiping out liquor has become the buzzword for all political parties. While the principle opposition, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, maintains that it will bring in a law to ensure prohibition, the ruling All India Anna DMK general secretary and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has assured that she will implement prohibition in a phased manner if voted back to power. The rest of the Opposition too has promised full-fledged prohibition if elected. The clamour for prohibition picked up momentum after the suicide of 59-year-old Gandhian, Sasiperumal, last July. Sasiperumal, who was fighting for prohibition throughout his life, climbed a cell phone tower near Kanyakumari district and jumped to his death. The sad development gave an immediate fillip to the prohibition demand and the state witnessed street protests and students rampaging liquor shops for a few weeks. The momentum picked up again after April 9. While launching her election campaign in Chennai on that day, Jayalalithaa spoke on prohibition for the first time. She said every party, especially the DMK, was demanding prohibition. Anyone can talk about prohibition, but certainly not the DMK. It was the DMK which was in power in 1971 when prohibition was lifted. But prohibition cannot be implemented in one go. After we are voted back to power in the state we will introduce prohibition in a phased manner, she announced. In fact, this announcement had become Jayalalithaas favourite issue in subsequent election rallies. On April 10 the DMK in its election manifesto promised a law to implement prohibition in the state but was silent on the modality, which is whether it will be implemented in one go or in a phased manner. The state has a long history of dilly-dallying with prohibition. Way back in 1937, while in power in Salem municipality, C Rajagopalachari introduced prohibition in his district which was later expanded throughout the state. In 1971 Chief Minister M Karunanidhi lifted prohibition, but re-introduced it in 1974. In 1981, prohibition was again lifted and ever since liquor sales have only moved upward in the state. Chief Minister M G Ramachandran not only opened up the Indian Made Foreign Liquor or IMFL retail sector but also introduced toddy and arrack shops. He shut down the toddy and arrack outlets in 1987 but opened two government-run liquor companies, the Tamil Nadu Spirit Corporation, and in 1983 the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation or Tasmac was created for procuring and selling of liquor. In its two-year tenure from 1989-91, the DMK government headed by Karunanidhi introduced cheap liquor for Rs 2 which was supplied in sachets. Jayalalithaa, after assuming office for the first time in June 1991, abolished liquor in sachets. It was in her second tenure, in 2003, that the Tamil Nadu government completely took over retail sales of liquor and Tasmac became the custodian of liquor. Tasmac earns revenue not only by selling alcohol but also from granting bar licences. Its revenue for 2014-15 stood at Rs 26,188 crores, which is expected to touch Rs 27,000 crores for 2015-16. This is almost one-fourth of the states total revenues. In fact, Tasmac registered a 20 per year on year revenue growth for the past 12 years. The state today has 6,800 retail liquor outlets, and Tasmac has over 30,000 employees. It is against this background that the clarion call for prohibition has to be seen and understood. While political parties are clamouring for prohibition, health experts warn of the bumpy road ahead. To implement full-fledged prohibition the state has to invest thousands of crores in health infrastructure, a theory that got further strengthened by a recent survey. According to the latest National Family Health Survey, nearly 47 pc of the men in Tamil Nadu consume alcohol. Though not all of them are alcoholics, surely a few lakhs will be addicts. Now to handle them in the post-prohibition period, the government should establish an adequate number of quality de-addiction centres and employ trained, qualified medical and paramedical professionals. For this several hundreds of crores have to be invested because rehabilitation centres have to be established across the state. Otherwise there will be several deaths, warns a senior physician handling de-addiction patients in a government hospital in Chennai. Moreover, the prevailing opinion among experienced medical professionals is that prohibition wont be successful. Liquor and prohibition are problems existing from time immemorial. Alcoholism is surely a problem, but prohibition is not the solution. For addicts you can advocate abstinence but certainly not for everyone. What the government should do is one, minimise the number of shops drastically; two, cut short the working hours of liquor shops; three, ensure the quality of alcohol content; and four, launch massive awareness campaigns about the ill-effects of alcohol. By all this you can handle the situation in a better way than prohibition which has failed all over the world, says Dr K Senthilvelan, a qualified clinical psychiatrist from Karur district in TN. The psychological aspects of the whole issue also needs to be understood in the right perspective, he adds. The issue of prohibition has to be understood from the angle of human psychology which is basically inquisitive in nature and always tempted into attempting more tasty things in life, always edging towards the bad rather than good. Observers feel that although there are loud voices for prohibition, there is no clear road map. Both the AIADMK and DMK are promising prohibition, but where is the road map? Jayalalithaa is not giving a blueprint for her phased prohibition and Karunanidhi is not talking about a draft bill which has to be done if he wants to introduce a law for the same. So both of them dont have a blueprint for prohibition, this is nothing but empty election rhetoric says M G Deivasahayam, retired chief secretary of Haryana. Another angle to the whole issue is the fate of the 30,000-plus Tasmac employees. We support prohibition because we too have concerns about societys health. But there are 30,000-plus employees employed in Tasmac, what alternative are you going to provide to us? After working for all these years you cant throw us on the streets. The government should make alternative arrangements for our future, but there are no clear words from either the DMK or AIADMK, laments K Thiruselvan, secretary of the Tasmac employees union affiliated with the CITU. Now comes the most important angle to the issue, which is implementation. Even if the state goes dry, whether at one go or in a staggered manner, how will it succeed is a million-dollar question because none of the adjoining states have prohibition. If prohibition is introduced, it is going to be a nightmare situation for the police because they will be in the first ring of the fire. Neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka dont have prohibition. In Kerala only 10 pc of the shops will be shut once a year. Then you have Puducherry which has had a robust liquor culture for ages. So all hell will break loose, warns a retired state director general of police who did not want to be named. But political parties are least bothered about these ground realities, and their shrill voices in favour of prohibition continue to reach a crescendo each passing day. IMAGE: Firefighters check a collapsed house after an earthquake in Mashiki town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, on Thursday. Photograph: Kyodo/ Reuters At least two people were killed and 45 injured by a magnitude-6.5 earthquake that knocked down houses and buckled roads in southern Japan on Thursday. The quake struck near Kumamoto city on the island of Kyushu at a depth of 11 kilometres, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, adding that there was no tsunami risk. The deceased were from the hardest-hit town of Mashiki, about 15 km east of Kumamoto city. The JapaneseRedCrossKumamotoHospital said it had admitted or treated 45 people, including five with serious injuries. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at least 19 houses collapsed, and hundreds of buildings have been damaged. He feared that there could have been more people buried under debris or trapped inside the damaged houses. Because of the night darkness, the extent of damage is still unclear, he said. One of the victims in Mashiki died after being pulled from the rubble, and the other was killed in a fire, officials said. A third person rescued from under a collapsed building is in a state of heart and lung failure. Dozens of people abandoned their homes and gathered outside Mashiki town hall, sitting on tarps well after midnight. Some wrapped blankets around their shoulders against the springtime chill. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that the government has mobilised police, firefighters and self-defense troops for the rescue operation. There were multiple aftershocks also, the largest one with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 shortly after midnight, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. China detains 41 Uyghurs who skipped a funeral of a local Communist functionary Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 24 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China detains 41 Uyghurs who skipped a funeral of a local Communist functionary, 24 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f4280c.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-24 Gulja is the capital of Ili prefecture in China's northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. RFA More than 40 Uyghurs were detained last week because they failed to show up for a prominent Communist Party member's funeral in northwestern China's Xinjiang region, RFA's Uyghur Service has learned. Included among the 41 people detained by authorities are local religious leaders from Oymanbaytoqay village of Ghulja (In Chinese, Yining) County including the Imam Enver Hesen and the Muezzin Ekber Nesirdin, local residents told RFA. While local law-enforcement officials acknowledged they detained the Uyghurs, they said it was because they are religious extremists. Tursun Bilal, a police officer of Araosteng Township who oversees Oymanbaytoqay village, told RFA that failure to show up at the funeral for a teacher a Chinese Communisst Party member surnamed Harun is a sure sign the 41 men are radicals. A 'clear sign' "They refused to attend the funeral ceremony of Mr. Harun despite being called and invited several times by Mr. Harun's family," Tursun Bilal told RFA. "That fact, obviously indicates their anger toward Mr. Harun and a lack of loyalty to the government. More importantly, it is a clear sign of religious extremism." Harun, 70, who died in the first week of February, was a retired teacher from Oymanbaytoqay Primary School, but he was known for his loyalty to the government and membership in the Chinese Communist Party. Abdushukur Abdurazaq, Chief of Police Station of Araosteng Township, said the group was transferred to the county's state security department. He told RFA "the investigation is still continuing," and cited Enver Hesen's education and background as reasons for suspicion. Enver Hesen was born and went to school in Kashgar (Kashi), the westernmost city in China that lies near the border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. "The government appointed him as Imam as our old Imam passed away, but we have closely watched his life because of his educational background," Abdushukur Abdurazaq said. Local support Locals defended the men, saying they didn't have anything against the late Harun. "I know that the Imam Enver Hesen didn't say anything bad about Mr. Harun," said Oymanbaytoqay Village Chief Niyaz Emet. "He just simply went about his business as he was invited to the funeral, but the absence of the other people, who are usually socially active members of our village community, was seen as result of Enver Hesen's provocation." Memet Eli, a veterinary surgeon in Araosteng Township, told RFA the men weren't known to be radical. "I know the 41 men as normal Muslim people," he said. "They just practiced their religious beliefs by praying five times a day, but I have not seen and don't believe they showed signs of extremism." Memet Eli said Enver Hesen called him several times about his sick cow. "He did the treatment of his cow by fully following my diagnosis," he explained. "I know that someone who is influenced by extremism is not calling a doctor about their cow." Village Chief Niyaz Emet said he doubts there's a link between the light turnout at the funeral and extremism. "I don't believe that there is link between participation at Mr. Harun's funeral ceremony and the advocacy of Imam Enver Hesen to the community," he said. "That was regular course for the relationship between the party members of Chinese Communist Party and our community." Reported and translated by Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur Service. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Myanmar's legislature approves list of nominees for cabinet ministries Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 24 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Myanmar's legislature approves list of nominees for cabinet ministries, 24 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f428125.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-24 Myanmar's president-elect Htin Kyaw (L) sends off Aung San Suu Kyi (R), chairwoman of the National League for Democracy, from the parliament building in Naypyidaw, March 15, 2016. AFP Myanmar's parliament unanimously approved on Thursday president-elect Htin Kyaw's list of nominees for members of his cabinet, including Aung San Suu Kyi who could run four ministries, ensuring that her voice will dominate the country's major policy decisions. The list includes the names of 18 people a mix of career bureaucrats, lawmakers and military officers who would take office in 21 leadership positions when the National League for Democracy (NLD) party formally takes power on April 1. The NLD, however, has not made it clear which post will go to which designated minister. NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi, who is prohibited from becoming president by a constitutional clause barring anyone with foreign relatives from assuming the nation's top office, has been put forward to lead the foreign affairs, education, electric power and energy, and President's Office ministries, according to local media reports. The NLD has not confirmed the reports. "I am announcing now the appointment of these nominees as Union ministers because there are no motions to reject them," said Mahn Win Khaing Than, speaker of the upper house. He also announced a list of nominees for the Constitutional Tribunal, a nine-member panel of legal experts who serve five-year terms. The list will be approved on March 28 as long as no rejections are submitted, he said. Kyaw Win, an NLD lawmaker who is an adviser to the party's economics committee, was approved for a ministry even after news broke on Wednesday that he holds a doctorate degree from a fake online university created by a Pakistani group that was exposed as a fraud in 2015. He has been earmarked for the highly important finance and planning ministry, according to local media. However, Nyo Nyo Thin, a former member of parliament, pointed out that lawmakers must submit their biographies with accurate and true facts or be subject to punishment under the law. "It is very important with regard to the appointment of a finance minister because this is very important for the country," he said. "We want a finance minister who is honest and reliable. [Lawmakers] should reconsider whether the candidates are suitable for these posts even though they may have made honest mistakes in their bios." Zaw That Htwe, a former political prisoner, editor and journalist, said the appointment of ministers with questionable backgrounds could hurt the NLD's credibility. "Although the nominees as union ministers are approved, the NLD would have difficulties gaining the people's trust because of questions surrounding the ministers' honesty and attitudes," he said. "If they did something wrong, the media and people would attack them based on this, so it could also harm the NLD government's dignity." Changes in store Some of the ministerial nominees have plans for major changes in store to move the country towards further development and democracy after more than five decades of military rule. Win Myat Aye, an upper house lawmaker who would likely take over as mister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, said: "We must be free of corruption and operate with great capability." Journalist Pe Myint, who has been nominated to lead the information ministry, told RFA that the NLD-led government will reform the media by changing the content of government-run newspapers and radio stations. "As we [journalists] are the ones who want media freedom very much and who have been working for media freedom, our attitude has not changed," he said. "I will work so that journalists do not get arrested and that the ones already in jail on charges can be released." His words came on the same day that rights group Amnesty International issued a report calling on the new government to immediately release all political detainees when it takes office on April 1, a reminder of the pressure the NLD government is under to make speedy progress with democratic change. The report, based on interviews with journalists, lawyers, rights activists, prisoners of conscience, students and labor organizers, documents how authorities in Myanmar have conducted a widespread crackdown on their opponents to silence dissent in the past two years. "This could be the start of a new dawn for human rights in Myanmar, but the task facing Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy is huge they have to ensure that their actions are not controlled by the repressive laws they will inherit," said Champa Patel, Amnesty International's South East Asia director, in a news release. "Despite their landslide election win, Myanmar's flawed constitution will also ensure that the military still wields considerable power," she said referring to the NLD's sweeping victory in general elections last November. Regional ministries The NLD, which reduced the overall number of national ministries to 21 from 36 to rein in the country's bloated bureaucracy, also is considering minimizing the size of regional governments, said party spokesman Zaw Myint Maung. "We believe that we can reduce the number of regional ministers if the [reduced number of] Union ministers can work effectively," he told RFA. "It's certain that we will have fewer ministers now that we have fewer ministries than we did before." In a related development, Aung San Suu Kyi met with 22 lawmakers from the Arakan National Party (ANP) on Thursday in the capital Naypyidaw to confirm that the new chief minister in western Myanmar's Rakhine state will be an NLD member, said Win Htein, a member of the NLD's Central Executive Committee. President-elect Htin Kyaw, who has the authority to nominate chief ministers and their cabinet members, has put forward Nyi Pu, an NLD lawmaker who represents Rakhine's Gwa township, as the state's chief minister. "We said that Nyi Pu of the NLD will become the chief minister of Rakhine State in accordance with the constitution," Win Htein told RFA. "We also clearly told them that there will be not only NLD members, but also people from the ANP and other academics in the Rakhine state government." Members of the ANP, the state's strongest local ethnic political party, and their supporters have demanded for months that they be allowed to choose their chief minister from within their own political ranks. The ANP, which represents the interests of the predominantly Buddhist, ethnic Rakhine majority living in the state and in the Yangon region, threatened in January to oppose the NLD if it did not get its way. About 500 people marched though the state capital Sittwe on Wednesday, calling for the right to select their chief minister. Aung San Suu Kyi agreed that three ANP leaders should hold meetings next week with three NLD representatives to discuss the formation of Rakhine's government, said ANP lawmaker Khin Saw Wai. "We will have a result that people want," he said. Aung San Suu Kyi and the Rakhine leaders with whom she met also agreed on how they will work together to foster development in the impoverished state and resolve its religious, social and business challenges, Win Htein said. Reported by Win Naung Toe, Win Ko Ko Latt, Tin Aung Khine, Thinn Thiri, Set Paing Toe and Wai Mar Tun. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China holds news site staff over letter to president Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 24 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China holds news site staff over letter to president, 24 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42816.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-24 Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the opening of the fourth session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Mar. 3, 2016. AFP Nine days after he went missing, presumed detained, the family of Chinese journalist Jia Jia has had no word of him, while several of his colleagues at a news website that published an open letter calling for President Xi Jinping's resignation are also now incommunicado. Jia, 41, failed to turn up to give a scheduled talk at Hong Kong's City University on Mar. 17. Now, the editor-in-chief of the Watching News website, Ouyang Hongliang, is also incommunicado after the site's editors said the March 4 open letter was posted as the result of a cyberattack, sources told RFA. Ouyang, Huang Zhijie, and technical employees of Watching News have been called in for questioning by police, an associate surnamed Huang said. A second source surnamed Chen confirmed Huang's account, saying that the letter's publication is being treated as a "political incident" by the ruling Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. "This affair has gone to an extremely high level [inside the party]," Chen said. "Things are appalling here in China, and we can't do anything to help because the people are being held, and we have to respect the wishes of the relatives." "I don't think the family are very keen on speaking out about this." Repeated calls to Ouyang's wife went unanswered in recent days, while employees who answered the phone at Watching News declined to give out information about Huang Zhijie's relatives. Meanwhile, Jia's lawyer Chen Jiangang said his family had heard nothing from police or officials about his whereabouts, nor the reason for his "disappearance." "The police told us that [Jia] was taken away by the police, but nobody from the police department will give us a response, and nobody will tell us where he is being held, or on what charges," Chen Jiangang said. "We are up against a brick wall here." Law 'no help here' He agreed that Jia's detention is highly political. "It is a Chinese characteristic that some cases have nothing to do with the law," Chen Jiangang said. "That's why the law is no help here." "Our profession has become useless. Our only weapon is the law, and when that doesn't work, all that is left is violence." An officer who answered the phone at the Beijing municipal police department said all cases were different, however. "We don't know all of the details of all cases here, and I am just the officer on duty," he said. "I am not familiar with the case you are talking about, so I can't give you a detailed response." Before his detention, Jia had reportedly told friends that he believed the police were looking for him in relation to the open letter. Jia also said that the police had gone to the homes of several of his relatives, asking them about his level of involvement with the letter, The open letter, signed by "loyal party members," accused Chinese President Xi Jinping of abandoning a decades-long consensus of collective leadership at the highest level, and concentrating power in his own hands. Sources told RFA that Jia was called in for questioning after the letter appeared on Watching News, but numerous reports have questioned whether he had a hand in writing it. Strife inside the party Hebei-based veteran journalist Zhu Xinxin said the case is clearly a highly political incident. "Of course this sort of thing is a political incident, to use official language," Zhu said. "It involves Xi Jinping, our highest-ranking leader." He said the letter is an rare glimpse into internal dissent to Xi's leadership within party ranks. "It shows us that there is a huge amount of dissatisfaction with him behind the scenes," Zhu said. "And I'd say it's not just a handful; it's a significant proportion of people, and an attitude which is shared by people at the highest level." Zhu said China's leadership is terrified that the general public will learn of internal strife in party ranks. "They are also afraid that any hint of a split in their ranks will encourage the general public to step up protest and opposition to the government," he said. "That's why they are taking this matter so seriously, so as to avoid everything becoming public knowledge." Jia wouldn't be the first in the media and publishing industry to run afoul of China's president. Last November, political cartoonist Jiang Yefei was repatriated from Thailand after he drew cartoons ridiculing Xi. Hong Kong bookseller and Swedish national Gui Minhai was detained in Thailand and brought back to make a "confession" on state television after he planned a book that claimed to reveal details of Xi's early love life. Four of his colleagues are currently "helping police with an investigation" after disappearing from Hong Kong in opaque circumstances. Reported by Lam Lok-tung for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Yang Fan for the Mandarin Service. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Politics keeps Cambodian opposition party prisoners in jail Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 24 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Politics keeps Cambodian opposition party prisoners in jail, 24 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f428312.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-24 Cambodian Senator Hong Sok Hour is taken into police custody in Phnom Penh, Aug. 15, 2015. RFA More than a dozen members of Cambodia's main opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party will have to wait for the political winds to shift before they can be freed from the notorious Prey Sar Prison, officials from both the CNRP and Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and the told RFA's Khmer Service. "Whether or not the activists get out of detention, will depend on the political environment," CPP spokesman Sok Eysan told RFA. "Their release depends on the political climate and their way out is according to the ruling party." CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann told RFA that the ruling party is holding 15 party activists as "political" prisoners on charges rights groups say are dubious. After Yim Sovann and a group of parliamentarians visited the prisoners on March 23, he told RFA that keeping them in jail makes it more difficult for the parties to reach some degree of rapprochement in a bitter feud that has been running since last year. "It just makes the situation even worse," he said. "We cannot talk about justice and solidarity and reconciliation when you persecute the opposition party." While the CNRP is wary of the CPP, he added: "The CNRP always shows a willingness to negotiate to end the political conflicts." The detentions have caught the attention of human rights groups and the international community, Am Sam Ath, Technical Coordinator for the Cambodian human rights organization LICADHO views their release with a sense of fatalism. "When there are no political negotiations that could lead to the reconciliation, I think the 15 detainees will not get out of jail," he told RFA. Sam Rainsy, who heads the CNRP, went into self-imposed exile last year after a warrant was issued for his arrest in a on a seven-year-old defamation charge and the CPP called for his removal from parliament. Hun Sen and his CPP have ruled the country for 31 years, but corruption, deforestation, land grabs and other social issues have become issues the opposition has seized on ahead of elections in 2017 and 2018. The CNRP is also pushing Hun Sen and the CPP over their relationship with neighboring Vietnam, which invaded the country in 1978 and set up a government after defeating the Khmer Rouge. While a settlement was agreed to in 1991, Cambodians still harbor suspicions about Vietnam's intentions. Senator held Among the 15 CNRP members imprisoned in Prey Sar is Hong Sok Hour, a member of the senate from the Sam Rainsy Party whose case is pending at the Phnom Penh Municipal court. Police arrested Hong Sok Hour in 2015 after he posted comments on social media that claimed an article of the 1979 Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Treaty was meant to dismantle, rather than define, the border between the two countries. He also posted online two copies of the three-decades-old border agreement containing the article's disputed wording. During a graduation speech in the capital Phnom Penh soon after the posts were published, Hun Sen accused Hong Sok Hour of posting a "fake" copy of the treaty and called for his arrest, ordering the city's international airport to block him from leaving the country. Hong Sok Hour holds both Cambodian and French citizenship Hong Sok Hour is just one of the notable prisoners among the 15 that also includes CNRP media director Meach Sovannara and 10 other activists who are serving prison terms for convictions on insurrection charges for participating in a 2014 protest that turned violent in Phnom Penh's Democracy Plaza. The indictment alleged that the CNRP plotted to violently storm Democracy Plaza, which is known locally as Freedom Park. The plaza is a legally designated site for demonstrations that had been used by the CNRP to protest election fraud and other irregularities since the July 2013 national elections. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry mentioned the issue of political prisoners when he visited Cambodia in January. "Democratic governments have a responsibility to ensure that all elected representatives are free to perform their responsibilities without fear of attack or arrest," he said. "That is a fundamental responsibility of a democratic government, so as Cambodians prepare for elections next year and again in 2018 it is very important to allow for vigorous but peaceful debate." Reported by Moniroth Morm for RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Pagnawath Khun. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Tibetans in Chinese provinces blocked from travel to Lhasa in March Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 24 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Tibetans in Chinese provinces blocked from travel to Lhasa in March, 24 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f4284c.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-24 Tourists walk around the Barkhor in the heart of Lhasa's old town in a file photo. PhotoNonstop Tibetan residents of western Chinese provinces are being blocked from travel to Tibet's regional capital Lhasa for the duration of March, a month of politically sensitive anniversaries, Tibetan sources say. Restrictions include bans on travel both by rail and by air, a Tibetan living in Australia told RFA's Tibetan Service, citing contacts in the region. "China is profiling Tibetans and denying them rail tickets from Xining and Lanzhou," RFA's source named Shelge said, referring to the capitals of Qinghai and Gansu provinces respectively. "Besides, no plane tickets are being sold to Tibetans traveling from Sichuan's capital Chengdu to Lhasa until the end of April," Shelge said. Tibetans hoping recently to travel by train from Lanzhou to Lhasa had been blocked by authorities, Shelge said. "They were asked by ticket officials to show their IDs, and after being identified as Tibetans they were told that no tickets would be sold to them." Tickets were freely sold to members of other ethnic nationality groups, though, Shelge said. Sonam, a Tibetan now living in Switzerland, told RFA that Tibetans in Qinghai wishing to travel by rail to Lhasa had been told to wait for a week to purchase tickets to go by rail. "But then they were told that no tickets would be sold to Tibetans for the rest of the month," Sonam said, citing local sources. "They all had to go back to their hometowns," Sonam said. Sensitive anniversaries China now regularly blocks travel to Lhasa by Tibetans living in western Chinese provinces each March, a month of politically sensitive anniversaries. On March 10, 1959, Tibetans in Lhasa rose up in protest of Beijing's tightening political and military control of the formerly self-governing Tibetan region, sparking a rebellion in which thousands were killed. And in March 2008, a riot in Lhasa followed the suppression by Chinese police of four days of peaceful Tibetan protests and led to the destruction of Han Chinese shops in the city and deadly attacks on Han Chinese residents. The riot then sparked a wave of mostly peaceful protests against Chinese rule that spread across Tibet and into Tibetan-populated regions of western Chinese provinces. Hundreds of Tibetans were detained, beaten, or shot as Chinese security forces quelled the protests, sources said in earlier reports. Reported by Sonam Wangdue for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. WeChat discussions prompt Chinese authorities to detain Mongolian herders Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 24 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, WeChat discussions prompt Chinese authorities to detain Mongolian herders, 24 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42859.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-24 Chinese authorities in the northern region of Inner Mongolia have detained at least five ethnic Mongolian herders for "instigating illegal gatherings, protests and demonstrations via the Internet" since March 21, local residents and a U.S.-based rights group said. Herders Burdee and Achilalt from Left Uzumchin Banner, a subdivision of Shilingol League in the west of the region, were taken away by police after they discussed recent protests and detentions of herders in Right Uzumchin Banner over mining activity on traditional grazing lands. Herder Engkhbat from Right Uzumchin Banner was detained at the same time. All three were placed under a 10-day administrative detention on Thursday for "instigating illegal gatherings via the Internet" after discussing the protests on the smartphone messaging app WeChat, the New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights and Information Center (SMHRIC) said in a statement on its website. According to ethnic Mongolian scholar Huubis, five herders have been detained in recent days for showing online support for the Right Uzumchin Banner herders. "After the [Uzumchin] herders were detained, there was a lot of discussion going back and forth about this on WeChat, about the issue of mining operations taking over grazing land and pollution," Huubis told RFA. "The [recent detainees] were detained for having a discussion about this, all of them on incitement charges," he said. "So far, five people have been detained that I know of." Meanwhile, herder and rights campaigner Odongerel was detained in Bayannur League's Urad Middle Banner, local residents said. Detention witnessed A resident of Urad Middle Banner said she had witnessed Odongerel's detention by local police. "They detained one of our number here in Urad Middle Banner, this morning," said the woman who discussed the incident on condition of anonymity. "I don't know what she wrote on WeChat. Her name is Odongerel." "They detained her alone today at about 9:10 a.m. for talking about the protests in [Right] Uzumchin Banner, for showing support for the herders' petition there," she said. "That's the reason she was detained." She added: "It's more than 1,000 kilometers from here to Shilingol League [the location of Uzumchin], but we are in touch with them via WeChat." Meanwhile, authorities in Shuluun-huh Banner arrested a herder surnamed Su on suspicion of "inciting and plotted illegal gatherings, protests and demonstrations via WeChat groups he is subscribed to," SMHRIC quoted the local police department as saying. Su is also being held under a 15-day administrative detention order. Attempts to contact the authorities were unsuccessful. Environmental damage Herders in the Right Uzumchin Banner have waged a petitioning and protest campaign against environmental pollution and the takeover of their traditional grazing lands in recent months. Herders in Bayanhuaa township's Sain-Undur district staged a blockade to call for an immediate halt to production in the industrial zone. SMHRIC said local water, soil and air is now heavily polluted with untreated toxic mining waste dumped on traditional grazing lands. At least six herders were detained last week for blocking the entrance to the Bayanhuaa No.1 Coal Field, the No.2 Coal Crushing Station and a logistics center belonging to a copper-zinc mine for more than two days, "causing a substantial loss to the corporations concerned," SMHRIC quoted a police statement as saying. Local officials promised to order a halt in production at the plants, but herders told RFA earlier this week that the shuttered plants had started up again in the middle of the night after the blockade ended. Video footage obtained by RFA from local residents showed red mining trucks plying back and forth along a bank of loose earth, hot water running in channels through rural areas, and a drill truck pumping out waste water into a pool on the ground. Further footage showed huge masses of heaped earth being moved around by mechanical excavators as herds of sheep grazed on grasslands near an apparently diminished river. Still photos showed clouds of grey-brown smoke issuing from the foot of a huge mound of earth. Huubis told RFA that the authorities fear a repeat of a 2011 incident in which Bayanhuaa herder Murgen was run over by a worker driving a coal truck while protesting the destruction of grazing lands by a mining company. The incident sparked weeks of protests across the region by herders and students. Authorities' fear "The authorities are afraid that these protests will spread and spark a protest movement like there was five years ago," Huubis said. "That's why they are keeping discussion under tight control." A police statement warned local residents that they must use the Internet "in a responsible way," SMHRIC said. "Acts of disturbing public order, obstructing social management, sabotaging public interest and violating the laws must be strictly investigated and harshly punished by the police authorities," the police statement said. There are signs that the unrest may continue, however. Odongerel's mother Deemjidmaa said she would refuse to cooperate with the authorities over her daughter's detention, and that resistance in the region would continue, SMHRIC said. "The more the coward police arrest us, the more we feel our strength," another herder named Oyuumchimeg said in a WeChat group monitored by SMHRIC. "Go ahead and arrest tens of us and hundreds of us. As long as we are not executed immediately, we will continue to fight for justice to the death." Intimidation attempts Ethnic Mongolian rights activist Xinna said the latest detentions are an attempt to terrorize herding communities. "They are clearly going after people posting things online, in an attempt to terrorize them," Xinna told RFA. "But it's self-defeating. I told the herders that Clause 35 of the constitution guarantees their right to freedom of expression." "Even Beijing is threatened by pollution, and it goes against their anti-pollution drive to pollute the environment in Inner Mongolia," she said. Police from Bayanhuaa township in Inner Mongolia's Right Uzumchin Banner (a county-level administrative district) detained Ganbaatar, Otgonbaatar, Munkhbaatar, Erdenbaatar, Tuvshin and Amarmend on Saturday. While Erdenbaatar has since been released, the remaining five detained herders are being held under a 10-day administrative sentence for "disrupting public order," local police officers told their families. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Lam Lok-tung for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Bedridden for years after torture in jail, Tibetan man dies at 85 Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 25 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Bedridden for years after torture in jail, Tibetan man dies at 85, 25 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42864.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-25 Gyaye Phuntsok, in an undated photo. Photo courtesy of an RFA listener An elderly Tibetan man abused more than 16 years ago by his Chinese jailers has died after being left bedridden and unable to walk ever since his release, sources say. Gyaye Phuntsok, 85, died on March 21 almost two decades after suffering crippling beatings and torture in prison, a Tibetan living in India told RFA's Tibetan Service. "He had long been ill-treated in prison," RFA's source Yeshe Tenzin said, citing sources in Chabcha (in Chinese, Gonghe) county in northwestern China's Qinghai province, where Phuntsok had been held. "He was severely tortured, leaving him unable to stand owing to serious injuries to his legs along with many other injuries on his body," Tenzin said. Phuntsok had been confined to his bed ever since his release in 2000 after serving a two-year prison sentence, he added. "He had suffered for a long time from serious health problems," Tenzin said. "His condition finally deteriorated, and he died at home." "He was 85 years old," Tenzin said. Met with Dalai Lama Phuntsok had come to the attention of Chinese police and security services after traveling to India in 1992 to meet with exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Tenzin said. "After returning home, he built a temple on an island in Qinghai Lake, but he was later arrested after police seized the religious scriptures he had brought back from India, together with personal messages written to him by His Holiness the Dalai Lama." Phuntsok was then sentenced in 1998 to a two-year term in prison, where the torture he suffered disabled both his legs, leaving him unable to stand, Tenzin said. The 80-year-old Dalai Lama, whose photos are banned by Chinese authorities in Tibetan areas, fled Tibet into exile in India in 1959 and is reviled by Chinese leaders as a dangerous separatist who seeks to split the formerly self-governing region from Beijing's rule. In what he calls a Middle Way Approach, though, the Dalai Lama himself says that he seeks only a "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet as a part of China, with protections for the region's language, religion, and culture. Written by Dan Zhen for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated by Ping Chen. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Doubts remain after missing Hong Kong bookseller briefly reappears Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 25 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Doubts remain after missing Hong Kong bookseller briefly reappears, 25 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f428729.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-25 A protester holds up a missing person notice for Lee Bo, manager of Causeway Bay Books, in Hong Kong, Jan. 3, 2016. AFP One of five missing Hong Kong booksellers has reappeared in the former British colony to ask police to drop his missing person status, but declined to detail exactly how he left the city and ended up in mainland China in the first place. Lee Bo "did not provide thorough information about his last departure," Hong Kong police said in a statement on their official website after Lee met with police and immigration officials on Thursday. It said Lee, who reappeared in mainland China to "assist Chinese police with an investigation" without showing up on immigration department computers, could still face further investigation over the manner in which he left Hong Kong. Lee has since returned to mainland China after spending less than 24 hours in Hong Kong, local media reports said. Causeway Bay Books store manager and British passport-holder Lee, 65, went missing from his workplace in Hong Kong on Dec. 30, while four of his associates, publisher Gui Minhai, general manager Lui Bo (also spelled Lui Por), and colleagues Cheung Chi-ping and Lam Wing-kei have all been detained under opaque circumstances. The U.K. government said in an official report that Lee had been "involuntarily removed" from the city, which has maintained a separate law enforcement jurisdiction and an internal immigration border since returning to Chinese rule in 1997. Earlier this month, Cheung, business manager of Causeway Bay Books, entered Hong Kong on March 6, two days after his colleague Lui Bo, the bookstore's general manager, but they also stayed only a few hours in the city before going back to China. Reason to fear Cai Yongmei, editor of the cutting-edge Hong Kong magazine Outlook, said Lee's reappearance hasn't allayed fears that he was detained by mainland Chinese law enforcement in Hong Kong. "Mainland police have no jurisdiction in Hong Kong, and the removal of Lee Bo to mainland China by Chinese law enforcement represents a huge threat to and a breach of Hong Kong's autonomy," Cai said. "What's more, the Hong Kong government is just going along with the mainland authorities," she said, adding that the booksellers' detentions have struck a huge blow to freedom of expression in the formerly freewheeling city. According to League of Social Democrats vice-chairman Raphael Wong, nobody will believe that Lee wasn't illegally abducted by Chinese police. "If anyone does believe it, then they will be people who already support Beijing," Wong said. "Nobody in the pan-democratic camp will believe it because we know better than that." Wong said televised "confessions" and claims by the Causeway Bay booksellers that there was nothing untoward about their sudden departure from their lives were nonsense. "None of it explains why Lee Bo's travel pass is still in Hong Kong and why he suddenly had to go to China to help with an investigation," he said. According to the Hong Kong Police, Lee repeated his claim that he is helping mainland police with their investigation into Causeway Bay books owner Gui Minhai, who disappeared, despite holding a Swedish passport, from his holiday home in Thailand. "Lee ... told police that ... he, with the assistance of his friends, returned to the mainland by his own means voluntarily and it was not an abduction," the police statement said. "He stated that he was free and safe while on the mainland. He restated his request for the cancellation of his missing person case and he ... refused to disclose other details," it said. Other questions unanswered Calls to Lee Bo's phone resulted in a switched-off message on Thursday, while calls to his wife Sophie Choi's phone rang unanswered. Lee's U.K.-based daughter, who gave only the name Angela, said she hadn't been in touch with her father and declined to comment. Lee's brief reappearance has left many other questions unanswered, according to Hong Kong activist Richard Choi of the Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China. "Why didn't he reveal exactly how he crossed the border when he came back to Hong Kong?" Choi said. "And why, when he didn't dare to visit the mainland after the detention of Gui Minhai, did he suddenly decide to do just that?" "I think that the likelihood he was operating of his own free will is very slim." Former Hong Kong lawmaker and League of Social Democrats member Tsang Kin-shing said the case of the missing booksellers shows the direction the city is heading under chief executive Leung Chun-ying. "He is deliberately causing social divisions so as to destabilize Hong Kong to make people lose all hope for the future," Tsang told RFA. "Young people no longer wish to be under Chinese rule, and so we are increasingly seeing ideas like Hong Kong independence expressed," he said. Reported by Chan Siu-po for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Xin Lin and Gao Shan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Chinese journalist said released after 10-day disappearance over Xi letter Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 25 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Chinese journalist said released after 10-day disappearance over Xi letter, 25 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42874.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-25 Chinese journalist Jia Jia, 41, in undated photo from his Twitter profile. Jia Jia A Chinese journalist whose disappearance on March 15 was believed linked to the publication of an open letter calling for President Xi Jinping's resignation, was released on Friday, his lawyer told RFA's Cantonese service. Lawyer Chen Jiangang said the wife of Jia Jia told him she was going to pick up the 41-year-old journalist in Beijing Friday evening, but that nearly all aspects of the case remained murky. It was unclear whether Jia was at a police station or in some kind of detention center. "It was really a big misunderstanding to hold Jia Jia for 10 days thinking he was somehow involved in some letter," Chen told RFA. "But in the case of China, a misunderstanding can embroil a whole clan," he said, using a Chinese phrase for guilt by association. Jia's twitter feed, which had been silent since he went missing, carried a brief note saying "thank you, everyone" for showing concern over his case. His last known phone call was made at around 8 p.m. on March 15 at Beijing International Airport shortly after he went through immigration and as he waited to board a flight to Hong Kong, where two days later he failed to show up at a scheduled talk at the Hong Kong City University. According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Jia told friends that he believed the police were looking for him in relation to a March 4 open letter by purported "loyal party members" published on the Watching News (in Chinese, Wujie) website calling on Xi "to resign from all Party and state leadership positions." "We make this request out of consideration for the Party cause, out of consideration for the nation and its people and also out of consideration for your personal safety and that of your family," said the letter, according to a translation by the China Digital Times, a California-based media analysis website. "We have no choice but to point out that, precisely due to your gathering of all power into your own hands and making decisions directly, we are now facing unprecedented problems and crises in all political, economic, ideological, and cultural spheres," the letter said. News of Jia's release came shortly after his friend Wen Yunchao, a New York-based blogger who writes under the name Bei Feng, said on his Twitter feed that that his parents and younger brother in Guangdong province in southern China were detained by authorities on March 22. Wen, who friends say had merely retweeted the report on Watching News about the letter to Xi, said he believed his family's disappearance was related to the case. Earlier this week, the editor-in-chief of the Watching News website, Ouyang Hongliang, was taken in for questioning along with other staff members in connection with the letter, associates told RFA. The BBC has reported that as many as 16 Watching News staff six from editorial and 10 from technical support have been taken away by Chinese authorities. A friend of Ouyang's told RFA that he has received no word on the fate of the editor and that information has become harder to obtain now that Watching News had been disbanded. Reported by Pan Jiaqing for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Paul Eckert. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. North Korean authorities step up probes of anti-Kim leaflets and graffiti Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 25 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, North Korean authorities step up probes of anti-Kim leaflets and graffiti, 25 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f428815.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-25 The map shows Samu county, Yanggang province, in northern North Korea. RFA graphic Judicial authorities in North Korea have increased their efforts to find the writers of leaflets and graffiti, whose words on the walls of train stations and other public places in major cities have denounced leader Kim Jong Un, sources inside the isolated country said. Instances of the writings have been growing, despite a months-long investigation by the law enforcement officials to find those responsible along with efforts by authorities to ramp up a propaganda campaign praising his leadership, they said. Graffiti demeaning Kim Jong Un have been discovered in the last three months in large cities, including the capital Pyongyang, Sariwon, Pyongsong, Hamhung and Chongjin. But the case that has received the most attention occurred at a train station in the town of Posong in Samsu county, Yanggang province, through which express trains to Pyongyang pass. Someone there posted a leaflet handwritten in Chinese ink on a wall vilifying Kim Jong Un, said a source from the province who requested anonymity. "The authorities are trying to hunt down suspects whose handwriting matches that of the writing," he told RFA's Korean Service. "The leaflet was reportedly plastered right below the portrait of [former leader] Kim Il Sung on a wall." Handle with care The source said he was hesitant to divulge the information because any negative incidents involving Kim Jong Un must be handled carefully lest authorities get wind of them and punish those who spread or disclose them. "The leaflet found last New Year's Day said, 'Kim Jong Un is a son of b**** in Chinese ink," the source said. "There were so many people from across the country mobilized at Posong station on Jan. 1st for the New Year's Day celebrations that the news may have spread nationwide." The train station began operating in 1991 when the Posong District for Laborers was built to develop mining activities in the area, he said. The district contains residential homes, health care and cultural facilities, a junior high school, hospital, and stores along the Samsu River. More than 1,000 district residents held a meeting at the Posong Cultural Center on Jan. 3 to discuss how they would accomplish the tasks that Kim Jong Un had outlined in his annual New Year's address in which he pledged to increase the country's political and military might, the source said. But the residents at the meeting were much more interested in talking about the leaflet which had been discovered on the same day that Kim Jong Un gave his speech, he said. "News of the incident spread like wildfire at the rally, which originally had been intended to heighten people's loyalty to the leadership," he said. Search for suspects During the last three months, law enforcement agencies have investigated more than 20,000 residents living on farms and in the district, hoping to find suspects by matching their handwriting to that on the leaflet, sources said. But so far, they have been unsuccessful. Another source from Yanggang province said news of the incident was spread across the country by college students who had returned to their hometowns during the winter break and by residents' out-of-town relatives who had visited the province from other regions for the New Year's holiday. "The idolization of Kim Jong Un seems to have been damped down by outrageous rumors about what the graffiti said," he said. In June 2011, authorities in Pyongyang effectively shut down the city for three days after they discovered graffiti denouncing Kim Jong Il as a "dictator who starved people to death" on the wall of Pyongyang Railroad College, so that they could search for the culprit among both visitors and residents. Authorities narrowed down the investigation to students from the college and blocked the movement of people between provinces to try to stop rumors about the incident from spreading, according to a report by the online Daily NK at the time. Their efforts were unsuccessful, however, because the news reached as far as North Hamgyong province in the country's northeast. Last October, people across the country defaced posters glorifying North Korea's ruling Korean Workers' Party to show their resentment against the burdens the government imposed upon them in preparation for celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the party's founding, RFA reported. Kim Jong Un threatened harsh punishment for those who committed the offenses, but the attacks continued. Written by Jieun Kim for RFA's Korean Service. Translated by Hee Jung Yang. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Status of released Christian rights lawyer still unknown Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 25 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Status of released Christian rights lawyer still unknown, 25 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f428915.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-25 Lawyer Zhang Kai (C) is shown with two assistants in Wenzhou, Aug. 25, 2015. Photo courtesy of an RFA listener. Beijing human rights lawyer Zhang Kai, detained last August after he gave legal advice to dozens of Protestant churches facing the demolition of their crosses, has been released from detention and sent back to his birthplace in the northern region of Inner Mongolia in what rights lawyers slammed as a "cover-up" bid by the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Zhang, who was initially detained on Aug. 25, 2015 ahead of a scheduled meeting with U.S. religious freedom ambassador David Saperstein, had been held for six months under "residential surveillance" in an unknown location on suspicion of "endangering state secrets" and "gathering a crowd to disrupt public order." In a Feb. 25 televised "confession," Zhang said he had confessed to his "crimes." Soon after his arrival in Inner Mongolia, Zhang, whose professional life is in Beijing, made a brief statement via the smartphone messaging app WeChat in a similar vein. "I have arrived home safely in Inner Mongolia," the message read. "I am very grateful to everyone who showed concern during this time, and who supported members of my family." Zhang was taken away from Xialing Church in the eastern province of Zhejiang, where he had been helping around 100 congregations oppose the province-wide demolition of "illegal" crosses on church roofs. Chinese media aired footage of Zhang on Feb. 25 "confessing" to the charges, and accused U.S.-based Christian rights group ChinaAid of supporting him. Conditional release While his release has been widely welcomed, there are concerns that Zhang's apparent freedom may not be all that it appears. Zhang's defense lawyer Li Guisheng said his client's release is unlikely to be unconditional. "His so-called confession was ridiculous, but if you confess and you say you don't want a lawyer, then you will be treated in a completely different way," Li said. "That is rather odd, given that this is supposed to be a country ruled by law." Li said he has yet to see any official documents linked to Zhang's case, but said it is likely he has been released on "bail," which often involves regular surveillance and other barriers to resuming a detainee's previous lifestyle. Bob Fu, who heads the U.S.-based Christian rights group ChinaAid, said further details about the conditions of Zhang's release have yet to emerge. "Zhang Kai is a bold human rights lawyer and a defender of the rule of law and religious freedom, and is completely innocent," Fu said in a statement on the group's website. He called on the Chinese government to release all other detained religious leaders, human rights lawyers, and activists, including rights attorneys Li Heping and Wang Yu, church leader Hu Shigen, and pastors Li Guozhi (Yang Hua), Bao Guohua, and Gu Yuese. Zhang's sister Zhang Yan said she had a brief phone conversation with him on Thursday. "He is OK, at least that's what he said," she said. "It was a brief phone chat." "There are probably more formalities to go through ... [but] I'm in Beijing, not with him, and ... I don't really know much about the details right now." Clampdown on protests Rights lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan, who has been following Zhang's case closely, said the lawyer was probably released from detention due to a lack of evidence. "I think it's to do with the fact that they don't have any evidence against him," Liu told RFA. "They detained him to clamp down on the cross demolition [protests]." "They could have converted his detention to a formal arrest, but ... from a legal point of view, I don't think they had enough to make those charges stand up," he said. "They have already achieved their goal. By holding him for so long, they have managed to suppress the whole affair, and he was probably released because of huge concern for his case, both here in China and internationally," Liu added. Zhang's formal detention came amid a province-wide crackdown on churches and an urban "improvement" campaign which has seen crosses removed from dozens of buildings around Zhejiang's Wenzhou city, known as China's Jerusalem for its high concentration of Christian believers. Earlier this year, Zhejiang Protestant pastors and married couple Bao Guohua and Xing Wenxiang of the Holy Love Christian church were sentenced to 14 and 12 years' imprisonment respectively by the Wucheng District People's Court in Zhejiang's Jinhua city. They were both found guilty of "encroachment," "running an illegal business," "disturbing public order," and "concealing financial records." The sentences came after the authorities detained at least 16 pastors and other church members in and around Wenzhou during confrontations with the authorities over the cross removal program. Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Hai Nan for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Vietnamese political prisoners end hunger strike after authorities relent Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 25 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Vietnamese political prisoners end hunger strike after authorities relent, 25 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f428a15.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-25 Democracy activist Tran Huynh Duy Thuc stands during his trial at the People's Courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City, Jan. 20, 2010. AFP Four political prisoners and another inmate in Vietnam's Xuyen Moc prison have ended a 13-day hunger strike after authorities agreed to meet their demands which included being able to share food and send email, the father of one inmate said Friday. Prisoners of conscience Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, 50, Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung, 35, Dinh Nguyen Kha, 28, and Lieu Ly (age unknown), and musician Tran Vu Anh Binh, 42, began a hunger strike on March 11 to protest human rights violations by the staff and administration at the prison in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. Thuc's father, Tran Van Huynh, told RFA's Vietnamese Service that his son, who is allowed to call home for five minutes every month, said the five ended their strike on Thursday after a prison official acknowledged that staff members had violated the rules. The detainees specifically protested against the actions of two men Colonel Le Van Tuat, assistant superintendent of the prison, and prison official Nguyen Van Bo for their disregard of the law and arbitrary treatment of inmates in violation of the constitution, according to The 88 Project, an online project that supports and encourages freedom of expression in Vietnam. The authorities did not let inmates share food with each other, Tran said. After his son had shared his food with jailed activist Dang Xuan Dieu, who is serving a 13-year sentence on subversion charges, Bo told Kha that he had to submit a request for permission to share meals. But Bo's action was a violation of prison rules, Tran said. Thuc was arrested in May 2009 and is serving a 16-year sentence on charges of plotting to overthrow the government under Article 79 of Vietnam's penal code. He was tried along with lawyer Le Cong Dinh, engineer Nguyen Tien Trung, and entrepreneur Le Thang Long. Thuc, who is allowed to send and receive mail, had sent more than 60 letters via post while in prison, all of which were checked by prison authorities beforehand, Tran said. But Thuc protested after he discovered that they had withheld letters to his family in violation of his rights, he said. In one letter, the democracy activist wrote about Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's statement on Vietnam's accession to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries that is backed by the United States, prior to the government leader's visit to the U.S. Thuc urged the Vietnamese people to support Dung's positive view of the TPP, but prison officials refused to send his letter, explaining that they were following orders from higher-ups, according to The 88 Project. Authorities also cut off Thuc's calls to his family whenever he discussed human rights, the group said. Solitary confinement As for the other prisoners, authorities had refused to give Hung a copy of the application for the appeal of his case that his family had sent to him, violating his right to be informed, Tran said. The labor activist was sentenced in Oct. 2010 to nine years in prison along with two other labor activists, Do Thi Minh Hanh and Doan Huy Chuong, on charges of disrupting public order to oppose the government under Article 89 of the penal code. Officials moved both Hung and Binh to solitary confinement cells after they had complained that the installation of cameras in their cells was an intrusion of their privacy, The 88 project said. Binh was tried on Oct. 30, 2012, for carrying out propaganda against the government along with fellow musician Vo Minh Tri (also known as Viet Khang), and was sentenced to six years in prison and two years of house arrest. Authorities had accused Binh of producing music that criticized police brutality against peaceful anti-China protesters in Vietnam, according to the Voice Project, a New York-based rights group that supports activist-artists worldwide. Kha, a computer technician, was sentenced in Aug. 2013 to four years behind bars for carrying out propaganda against the government under Article 88 of the penal code. Ly, an ethnic Khmer inmate who was recently transferred to Xuyen Moc prison from Soc Trang province in southern Vietnam, had joined the others in their hunger strike because of the way he was treated by prison authorities, according to The 88 Project. Articles 79, 88 and 89 of Vietnam's criminal code are routinely used by the communist regime to persecute innocent people, rights groups say. Reported by Gia Minh for RFA's Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Aung San Suu Kyi preps NLD lawmakers for handover of power in Myanmar Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 28 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Aung San Suu Kyi preps NLD lawmakers for handover of power in Myanmar, 28 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f428b15.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-28 Aung San Suu Kyi (R), chairwoman of the National League for Democracy, speaks to lower house speaker Win Myint (L) after a parliamentary session in Naypyidaw, March 28, 2016. AFP Aung San Suu Kyi reminded lawmakers from her party on Monday to carry out their responsibilities dutifully to meet the expectations of Myanmar's people when the new administration under the National League for Democracy (NLD) formally takes over the government, a party spokesman said. The NLD chairwoman made the comments during a meeting with lawmakers from her party, including lower house speaker Win Myint and upper house speaker Mahn Win Khaing Than, as they prepare to lead the first civilian-dominated government in more than 50 years when her proxy, president-elect Htin Kyaw, formally assumes power on Friday, said NLD spokesman Win Htein. Win Htein along with Zaw Myint Maung, chief minister of Mandalay region, Han Thar Myint, an NLD lawmaker who is a member of the NLD's Central Executive Committee' Nyan Win, Aung San Suu Kyi's personal attorney, and Myo Aung, another Central Executive Committee member, will lead the party in the future, said Aung San Suu Kyi, who is barred from becoming president under a provision in the military-drafted constitution that prevents anyone with foreign relatives from holding the nation's top office. "Aung San Suu Kyi said the NLD has been struggling for 30 years and is not in good condition financially yet, although there are some possibilities to become [wealthier]," NLD spokesman Win Htein told RFA's Myanmar Service. "She told the MPs to resist this situation. If they don't, then they cannot fulfill their promise to the people or work in the people's interest." Her words came a day after commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing underscored the need for the country's military to continue its involvement in national politics during the annually celebrated Armed Forces Day which commemorates Myanmar's armed resistance to the Japanese during World War II. In a speech, he defended the country's constitution, written in 2008 under a military junta, which gives the commander in-chief power to appoint the heads of three key security-related ministries, and army officers a quarter of the seats in parliament along with veto power over proposed constitutional changes. New Constitutional Tribunal In a related development, Myanmar's parliament on Monday rejected a military lawmaker's objection to the appointment of two of the nominees to the Constitutional Tribunal, and approved all nine members to the body of legal experts. Military MP Lieutenant Colonel Htun Lin Oo sought to have Khin Htay Kywe, a former political prisoner who is a Mon state parliamentarian, and legal expert Twar Kyin Paung, disqualified. The panel's members are elected proportionally by the president and both houses of parliament. But upper house speaker Mahn Win Khaing Than decided not to pursue the army officer's objection. "I am announcing here that we will have nothing to do with the objection by military MP Lt.-Col. Htun Lin Oo to members of the Constitutional Tribunal, Khin Htay Kywe and Twar Kyin Paung because parliament has decided not to pursue it," he said. Lower house speaker Win Myint said the move was unconstitutional without evidence that the candidates were unqualified for the body, and lawmakers from both houses voted not to discuss the proposal. Mahn Win Khaing Than announced parliament's approval of the remaining nine nominees for the tribunal, including Myo Nyunt, a judge in the Bago regional high court, as chairman. In the meantime, national lawmakers approved six of the country's 14 chief ministers of state and division governments, including Phyi Min Thein in Yangon, Win Thein in Bago, Mann Johnny in Ayeyarwady, Lei Lei Maw in Tanintharyi, Khin Htwe Myint in Karen state and Lin Htut in Shan state. The National Assembly will consider the others on Tuesday. The names of 13 of the 14 chief ministers all from the NLD were officially announced at respective state and division parliaments on Monday morning, the online journal The Irrawaddy reported. ANP members walk out Four members of the Arakan National Party (ANP), which represents the interests of the predominantly Buddhist, ethnic Rakhine majority living in the state and in Yangon region, walked out of the Rakhine state parliament in western Myanmar on Monday, when the body's speaker announced that NLD lawmaker Nyi Pu had been appointed as the state's chief minister. "The ANP won in most places in Rakhine state," said ANP lawmaker Aung Win of ANP. "The ANP should have the right to form a state government if we are operating according to a democratic system." "The appointment of an NLD MP as head of the Rakhine state government goes against the wishes of the people and democracy," he said. "It shows that the NLD can't fulfill people's wishes, and we are saddened by it. That's why we walked out of parliament today." ANP legislators wore black stickers on their jackets during Monday's parliamentary session to demonstrate their objection to Nyi Pu's appointment. "We are wearing black stickers today to show our sadness because we didn't get what we wanted although we asked for it," said ANP lawmaker Than Naing. People from the state capital Sittwe, Mrauk-U, Maungtaw and Buthidaung, also protested the move by demanding the right to form their own state government with an ANP chief minister. For months, members of the ANP, the state's strongest local ethnic political party, and their supporters have demanded that they be allowed to choose their chief minister from within their own political ranks. The ANP threatened in January to oppose the NLD if it did not get its way, and about 500 people marched in protest though Sittwe last week. The party won 22 seats in the country's National Assembly in general elections last November that swept the NLD to victory over the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. It also won 23 of 47 state parliament seats, but failed to gain a majority in the Rakhine state legislature because a quarter of seats automatically went to military representatives. Nevertheless, president-elect Htin Kyaw, who has the authority to nominate chief ministers and their cabinet members, put forward Nyi Pu, an NLD lawmaker who represents Rakhine's Gwa township, as the state's chief minister. San Hle Kyaw, chairman of the Rakhine state parliament, said lawmakers could submit proposals to object to his appointment only if they could prove that Nyi Pu failed to meet certain qualifications as chief minister, according to the country's constitution. "I believe that we all have a common willingness to work towards developing the state, but we might not agree on the same [methods]," said Nyi Pu. "If we at least have the common willingness with regard to the state, we might not have many problems. If even we have a problem, it can be resolved through discussion and negotiation." Reported by Win Naung Toe, Win Ko Ko Latt, and Min Thein Aung for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China launches all-out probe into letter calling on president to resign Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 28 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China launches all-out probe into letter calling on president to resign, 28 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f428c12.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-28 Exiled Chinese journalist Chang Ping (L) shown giving a speech in Hong Kong, October 2014. Chang Ping The ruling Chinese Communist Party under President Xi Jinping has launched a crackdown on the families of overseas dissidents as part of a nationwide probe into an open letter calling on him to resign. The authorities are already questioning a number of employees of the Watching News website after an open letter signed by "loyal party members" and accusing Xi of a major power grab that had damaged China's interests was published there, allegedly by hackers. Now, police have detained three relatives of Germany-based journalist Chang Ping, who lost his job at a state-run newspaper in 2011, apparently in connection with the same investigation. "My two brothers and my sister were kidnapped by police in China's Sichuan province on [Sunday]," Chang told RFA. "They were on their way back to our parental home to visit our ageing parents when they were detained." "They were held against their will with no legal process whatsoever," he said. Chang's relatives had been told by police to contact him and warn him off writing any more articles critical of the communist regime, he said. "If they didn't, they said they would find a way to frame them for some crime," he said. Chang said the threats seemed to be linked to the probe into the open letter to Xi. "The government is very concerned about this, and they have set up a special task force to investigate," he said. "But I have personally had nothing whatsoever to do with the drafting or publication of this letter." In a longer statement translated by the U.S.-based website China Change, Chang vowed to continue with his work as before, adding that he would support his family if they chose to cut ties with him. "The harassment and threats of the authorities allow me to see even more the value of my writings, and encourage me to work harder in future," wrote Chang, who has a regular column for Deutsche Welle. The detention and threatening of Chang's relatives comes after New York-based blogger Wen Yunchao said his relatives were also targeted. Wen, who writes under the pen-name Bei Feng, said on his Twitter feed that that his parents and younger brother were detained on March 22 in the southern province of Guangdong. 'Huge pressure' on family Wen, whose friends say had merely retweeted the report on Watching News about the letter to Xi, said he believed his family's disappearance was also related to the case. But Wen declined to give an interview when contacted by RFA on Monday. "It's not convenient to speak to you because my family are really under huge pressure," he said. Beijing-based rights activist Hu Jia said he was shocked at the lengths to which the authorities have gone in reaction to the letter. "If I'd known about it, I would have signed it, even put my name to it as a co-author," Hu said. "Xi Jinping has presided over a brutal regime in recent years, both by jailing people, and by means of an unprecedented level of control on freedom of speech." "He has done so many evil deeds, including the crackdown on lawyers and on citizens who supported [Hong Kong's pro-democracy] Umbrella movement, that he shouldn't just resign; he should stand trial," Hu said. Germany-based journalist Su Yutong said she, like Chang, had been forced to leave China because of growing restriction on freedom of expression. "I think that this open letter really shook them up in a big way, and that the situation looks really very frightening both for a lot of dissidents and for people who had nothing to do with it," Su said. She said Chang, who has been targeted via his family in the past, is unable to return to China, while his family are unable to leave. "The authorities will target the families of dissidents like us ... but we are doing these things out of personal choice, not because our parents told us to do them," Su said. Earlier this month, police also detained journalist Jia Jia in connection with the open letter, but have since released him, his lawyer Yan Xin told Deutsche Welle. Reported by Xin Lin for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Chinese 'woman of courage' faces eviction, travel ban ahead of award Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 28 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Chinese 'woman of courage' faces eviction, travel ban ahead of award, 28 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f428d15.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-28 Ni Yulan (C) and her husband Dong Jiqin (3L) pose with friends and supporters in Beijing, May 27, 2010. AFP Chinese housing rights lawyer Ni Yulan is unable to travel to the U.S. to receive her 2016 International Women of Courage award, she told RFA ahead of the ceremony. Wheelchair-bound Ni, 54, was informed of her award by the U.S. State Department last month and had made plans to travel to Tuesday's ceremony in Washington, she said on Monday. "The authorities froze my passport; they told me when I went to apply for one on Feb. 28," Ni said. "The U.S. State Department got in touch with the foreign ministry of China, asking them to issue me with a passport, but they replied on March 15 saying that it was out of their hands and that they weren't allowed to issue me with a passport." "The reason they gave was that I am under a travel ban because I have had contact with the lawyers who are currently detained in Tianjin," she said. Ni said she had been ordered to re-apply by Beijing police after she tried to apply for an exit permit to leave China on Monday. "When they checked it on their computer, it said that I'm not allowed to leave the country," she said. China has detained or questioned more than 300 human rights lawyers, law firm staff, activists and their family members in a nationwide police operation since the detention of Beijing-based rights lawyer Wang Yu and her colleagues at the Fengrui law firm on the night of July 9, 2015. Many are still held on subversion charges in Tianjin, while others have been slapped with travel bans or other police restrictions. Ni said police came round and beat up her husband Dong Jiqin on Saturday, as the couple's landlord say they must leave their rented home because of pressure from police, the latest in a string of evictions forced on them by the authorities. "A bunch of them beat up my husband, who is 65 years old, and who has high blood pressure," Ni said. "When they were done beating him, they dragged him outside and trampled on him." "Once more, we need to find somewhere else to rent, because ... the landlord has told us the police say we can't stay there," she said. Husband trampled and kicked Dong told RFA: "Around seven or eight of them dragged me out of the building and held me to the ground while the others stamped on my arms and legs." "There were six or seven people trampling me, kicking me in the belly and chest and injuring my left foot," he said. According to the State Department website, Ni is among those honored as a 2016 Woman of Courage because of her work helping to protect the legal rights of ordinary Chinese, and her promotion of the rule of law in China. "For her outspokenness, she has been arrested and imprisoned twice, sentenced to hard labor, and beaten to the point of paralysis," the statement said. "Despite continued threats and harassment by police, Ms. Ni remains undaunted in defending the rights of her fellow citizens, filing lawsuits against public security officials and connecting lawyers and activists across China to advance the cause of human rights and the rule of law," it said. Ni has been repeatedly targeted for her activism on behalf of the most vulnerable in Chinese society. In April 2012, she was sentenced to a two-year prison term following her conviction on charges of "fraud" and "causing a disturbance" by the Xicheng District People's Court in Beijing. The sentence was later reduced by two months. Dong, a former schoolteacher, was also convicted of creating a disturbance and was handed a two-year term. Ni, who was targeted by the authorities after she began petitioning over her own eviction and offering legal advice to fellow petitioners, was released on Oct. 7, 2013 after serving her full jail term in spite of repeated requests from her family for medical parole. Reported by Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Chinese authorities slap new constraints on Tibetan Buddhist monasteries Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 29 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Chinese authorities slap new constraints on Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, 29 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f428ee.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-29 A portrait of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama (L) sits on an alter inside Longwu monastery in Tongren, northwestern China's Qinghai province, May 16, 2013. AFP Chinese authorities in Tibet have imposed new restrictions on monasteries in a county in northwestern China's Qinghai province, intensifying an existing ban on displaying photos of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Tibetan sources in the region and in exile said. The restrictions pertain to Rongwo and other monasteries in Rebgong (in Chinese, Tongren) county, Malho (Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in northwestern China's Qinghai province, a native of Rebgong who lives in exile in Europe said. "During the month of March this year, the Chinese authorities imposed unprecedented restrictions on the display of the Dalai Lama's photo in Rebgong's Rongwo monastery and in other monasteries," he told RFA's Tibetan Service. Authorities issued four restrictions to be implemented at Rongwo monastery, which was founded in the 14th century and is located 124 kilometers (77 miles) from the provincial capital Xining, and other Tibetan Buddhist institutions in the county, he said. The first mandate requires monasteries to strictly follow the leadership of local management committees in implementing rules and regulations, he said. Chinese authorities set up the management committees in early 2012 in most Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, placing them under the direct control of government officials who are permanently installed in the lamaseries. The policy was enacted to ensure that monks and nuns do not participate in activities calling for an independent Tibet or disturb the social order through protests or self-immolations. "The permanent posting of government or party officials inside monasteries is unprecedented in Tibet, let alone at such a senior level," Human Rights Watch said in a March 2012 statement after the policy was established. Under a previous policy, Tibetan monasteries had been administered by so-called democratic management committees whose members were nominated and selected by government and local Communist Party officials, although the body itself was comprised of monks elected by their own communities. Other directives The second requirement specifies that the custodians of shrines and temples should sign off on the management committee instructions to hold them responsible for the policy, the source said. The third directive mandates that monks in charge of temples and shrines should oversee the safety of all statues and other property and prevent their fellow monks from participating in any activities that could bring disgrace to the monasteries, he said. Such activities include putting up posters against Chinese policy in Tibet and being involved in self-immolation protests. There have been 144 self-immolations by Tibetans living in China since a wave of fiery protests began in 2009. Most protests feature demands for Tibetan freedom and the return of the 14th Dalai Lama, although a handful of self-immolation protests have occurred over local land or property disputes. The last directive requires that all statues and photos of the Dalai Lama be removed from shrines and temples, the source said. If anyone is discovered violating this rule, he will be expelled from the monastery and could be handed over to authorities for prosecution. "Shrines and temples that refuse to follow the instructions could be closed," he said. "All these restrictions were imposed just this year, but they were planned more than a year ago." In monasteries in Rebgong, a local government staff member is assigned to one to two monks to educate them on official rules and policy on regular basis as detailed in a government-issued instruction booklet, he said. The officials are held responsible for the activities of the monks they instruct in the event that they commit an offense against Chinese rule and policy, a source from inside Tibet said. The 80-year-old Dalai Lama, whose photos are banned by Chinese authorities in Tibetan areas, fled Tibet into exile in India in 1959 and is reviled by Chinese leaders as a dangerous separatist who seeks to split the formerly self-governing region from Beijing's rule. The Dalai Lama, however, says he seeks only "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet as a part of China with protections for the region's language, religion, and culture. Reported by Sonam Wangdu and Dorjee Tso for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Chinese editor resigns amid growing pressure to toe the Party line Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 29 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Chinese editor resigns amid growing pressure to toe the Party line, 29 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f428fe.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-29 A screenshot of Yu Xiaolei's resignation letter to the Southern Metropolis Daily says: "I can't take the surname of the Communist Party any more." RFA A top editor at a cutting-edge newspaper in the southern Chinese Guangdong province resigned after the ruling Chinese Communist Party imposed new media controls, the journalist announced on social media. "It's time to end things without dragging them out any further," Yu Shaolei, 48, wrote on the popular Twitter-like Weibo service where he announced his decision to leave the Southern Metropolis Daily. He had been culture editor since 2000 "I'm old and my knees can't take it anymore," Yu wrote in the post, which went viral on China's tightly controlled Internet before censors deleted it.. "I want to see if I can change to a new position." His language in the post, sparked speculation that he was referring to the power Chinese censors have to force media outlets to kowtow to the government. In what looked like another shot, Yu scrawled on his resignation slip for the Southern Metropolis Daily writing: "I can't take the surname of the Communist Party anymore." It was an apparent reference to recent visits to state media by President Xi Jinping where the Chinese leader reminded journalists that they belong to the party. Censor "stress" Yu attached a scan of the resignation slip to his post and took a parting shot at government censors, saying that his online monitors will now get a well-deserved rest. "I'm sorry for giving you so much stress over the past few years," he wrote in a comment that some netizens took to be sarcastic. Repeated calls to Yu's cell phone went unanswered on Tuesday. However, two of Yu's colleagues at the Southern Metropolis Daily confirmed that he had resigned. "Yes, it's true that he has left his job," a reporter at the paper told RFA. "He couldn't stand the atmosphere around here anymore." "I don't feel that there's much interest [in the job] nowadays, either." A second colleague surnamed Liu agreed: "So many people have quit now that there are hardly any people I know who are still here." "Of course they're leaving," he said. "The industry is dying, and there's not much left of the Southern Group any more. You won't be able to use it as a platform to do things that are in keeping with your values. It's finished." Journalist's family targeted Yu's post came as exiled journalist Chang Ping hit back publicly at the harassment of his family back home, an increasingly common tactic used to put pressure on overseas dissidents. An outspoken journalist who began a new life in Germany after he lost his job at the Southern Weekend, a sister paper to the Southern Metropolis Daily, Chang attacked recent moves by police in the southwestern province of Sichuan to put heavy pressure on him via his family. Police summoned Chang's two brothers and a sister on Sunday, telling them to warn the journalist against writing articles critical of China or else his relatives might find criminal charges pinned on them by the authorities, Chang told RFA. He hit back in an online statement on Tuesday, revealing that state security police had demanded via his brother that he take down an article on the Deutsche Welle website describing the detention of his family members as a "kidnap." "After they were detained, the interrogation was mostly about me and my work," Chang told RFA on Tuesday, adding that no legal documentation was given by the authorities. "The police demanded that I change my job, but [my family] has no way of complying with their request." "They don't even have a direct method of contacting me," Chang told RFA, saying that the police also wanted to know if he was linked to an anonymous online letter calling for the resignation of President Xi. "The Chinese Communist Party should immediately stop its investigation into this open letter and the harassment, investigation, threats and kidnappings of media workers, commentators and their families," Chang said. He denied any involvement with the letter. "I'm not interested in such letters, nor would I get involved with writing one," he said. "The leadership is just spooked, but I don't think they are very effective." Firecracker interrogation Police threatened his family with prosecution over minor damage to vegetation that came after they set off firecrackers near a family tomb ahead of the annual tomb-sweeping festival of Qing Ming, he said. State security police are unlikely to concern themselves with such matters without a political reason to do so, he added. Before leaving China, Chang, whose official name is Zhang Ping, was dismissed from two previous editorial posts for his outspoken commentaries on Tibet and for refusing to make changes to articles in line with directives from China's powerful propaganda department. A second anonymous letter purportedly signed by 171 "loyal party members," also calling for Xi's resignation, was sent to the U.S.-based Mingjing News website on Tuesday. But the site's editor Ho Pin said he had been unable to confirm the source of the letter, which has different wording from the one that first appeared. "We don't know where this letter came from, so we have no way of confirming this," Ho said. "That's why we didn't post it on the site." Reported by Xin Lin and Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wong Siu-san, Pan Jiaqing and Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Chinese lawyers call for official transparency in vaccine scandal Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 29 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Chinese lawyers call for official transparency in vaccine scandal, 29 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f4290e.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-29 Arrest of a businesswoman surnamed Pang over the sale of tainted vaccines, in undated photo. Public domain A group of Chinese lawyers have penned an open letter to China's cabinet, the State Council, calling on the government to release a list of companies involved in a nationwide 570 million yuan (U.S.$87.6 million) tainted vaccine scandal, amid international calls for tighter safeguards. The letter, signed by 13 lawyers, calls for the release of a list of companies implicated in the scandal, which went public with the arrest of two businesswomen surnamed Pang in the eastern province of Shandong last week. It also demanded that new procedures be put in place for the monitoring of vaccine storage in the private sector. Letter signatory and Guangdong-based lawyer Wang Shengsheng said the lawyers had been moved to write the letter after reading stories of children who had been made sick or died after receiving tainted vaccines. "We are just a few lawyers who all have kids, and we feel the same as the average parent does," Wang said. "We don't know whether the vaccinations that our kids are receiving are going to be tainted or not." "Neither can we be certain that vaccines our kids have already received are effective." 130 detained in Shandong He cited the story of one parent whose child had been vaccinated six times for the viral disease hepatitis B, but still lacks immunity. Chinese police have detained more than 130 people since Shandong police announced on Mar. 19 that they had evidence linking some 300 suspects to illegal vaccine sales transactions in 24 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. The Pangs are currently being held on suspicion of selling vaccines that were past their expiry or that had been improperly refrigerated. But healthcare professionals have repeatedly called for a list of affected suppliers, so they can verify that their own stocks of vaccine are safe. The emerging scandal has also seen reports of deaths and health problems among recently vaccinated children across China. Top investigative journalist Wang Keqin, who has written ground-breaking exposes of tainted vaccine issues in the past, reported via his social media account that a 33-day-old infant in the northern city of Xi'an had died after receiving vaccinations on Mar. 3 at a local clinic run by the Chinese Red Cross. Sichuan-based rights lawyer Ran Tong, who also signed the letter, said parents across China are reeling from a string of public health scandals in recent years. "It seems that there are endless public safety disasters emerging in China, and every time the government promises to investigate, to punish people and make sure it never happens again," Ran said. "But it seems to me that this doesn't have much effect. That's why we, the people, have to speak out as loud as we can." "These issues must be exposed, for the safety of the next generation," he said. WHO urges stronger regulation Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for stronger regulation of private-sector vaccines in mainland China. "The same high standards used to distribute [WHO-backed] vaccines should be used in the distribution of privately purchased vaccines," China representative Bernhard Schwartlander said in a statement on the WHO China website posted shortly after Beijing announced it had set up a probe into the scandal. "Last week's exposure of a criminal ring re-selling vaccines across China has revealed problems in one part of this supply chain the distribution of vaccines available for purchase on the private market," he wrote. He said the quality of vaccines produced in China is high, meeting or exceeding international standards. "The issue is what happens once the vaccines leave the factory," Schwartlander wrote. "Distribution of vaccines for the private market do not follow the same high standards." He said WHO "is in close contact" with Chinese health officials. Earlier this month, a four-year-old boy in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong died after receiving a vaccination, sparking further public anger and fears for the safety of immunization programs. He died on March 8 in the Heyuan People's Hospital after being given a group A + C meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine and a live attenuated polio vaccine at the Zhongba Huanle Kindergarten on March 4, local media reported at the time. Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Chan Siu-po for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Myanmar ends state of emergency in western Rakhine state Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 29 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Myanmar ends state of emergency in western Rakhine state, 29 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f4291c.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-29 Ehnic Rohingya Muslim children roam around a camp set up outside the city of Sittwe in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, May 21, 2015. AFP Outgoing President Thein Sein lifted the nearly four-year state of emergency in western Myanmar's conflict-ridden Rakhine state on Tuesday, although a policy restricting the movement of ethnic Muslim Rohingya interned in displacement camps remains in place, a local government official said. The government imposed the state of emergency after communal violence between the Rohingya and ethnic Buddhists in Rakhine in 2012 left more than 200 dead and tens of thousands homeless, with the Rohingya bearing the brunt of the violence. "I don't think there will be problem with the lifting of the state of emergency because we don't plan to have further conflicts," said Hla Thein, a member of the Rakhine state government. "We have been deploying police security forces, and we don't have any plans to reduce the number of security personnel." The national military will step back from providing security in the region because there currently is no threat of danger to people's lives, according to a statement released by state media. Restrictions on travel for refugees in the camps, however, remain in place because the two communities are still not getting along, Hla Thein told RFA's Myanmar Service. "The Bengali Muslims are not allowed to go to Rakhine refugee camps, and the Rakhine refugees are not allowed to go to Muslim camps," he said, referring to the term that the Myanmar government calls the state's 1.1 million ethnic Rohingya whom it views as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although many have live there for generations. "Bengalis can travel within their area, and the [ethnic] Rakhine people can travel in their area," he said. Some 140,000 Rohingya were displaced during the 2012 unrest and placed in squalid camps in Rakhine state. About 120,000 of them remain in the camps, while thousands of others have fled persecution in the Buddhist-dominated country on rickety boats to other Southeast Asian countries in recent years. The government restricts the Rohingya's basic rights, denying them citizenship, restricting their movements, and disenfranchising them during national elections last November. Thein Sein's order removing the state of emergency comes just days before the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which swept the elections, assumes government leadership on Friday. ANP to levy hefty fine In the run-up to the transfer of power, president-elect Htin Kyaw of the NLD has appointed the chief ministers of Myanmar's 14 states and regions, including Rakhine state where the Arakan National Party (ANP) won 23 of 47 state parliament seats in the elections, but failed to gain a majority in the Rakhine state legislature because a quarter of seats automatically went to military representatives. Nyi Pu, an NLD lawmaker who represents Rakhine's Gwa township, was appointed as the state's chief minister on Monday, prompting ANP deputies in the state legislature to protest the move by wearing black stickers on their jackets. In response to Nyi Pu's appointment, the ANP, the state's strongest political party which represents ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, said Tuesday that it will purge and fine its lawmakers 50 million kyat (U.S. $41,340) if they accept cabinet minister posts in the incoming NLD-led government. "All party members have to follow the party's rules which are set by its Central Executive Committee," said ANP general secretary Tun Aung Kyaw. "If not, then we will take action against them according to party policy." NLD spokesman Zaw Myint Maung noted that the president-elect has the constitutional right to appoint chief ministers, and that those who object to Nyi Pu's selection must prove he is unqualified to serve. "ANP members didn't do this and walked out of parliament," he said. "We all have to work according to current laws or the constitution." But Kyaw Zaw Oo, an ANP lawmaker in the Rakhine state legislature, indicated that the move has raised questions in the party's mind about the NLD's intention to develop democracy in Myanmar. "We doubt whether we are moving forward towards a democratic country because the NLD says it nominated MP Nyi Pu according to the constitution, although it knows this constitution is not a good one," he said, referring to the 2008 charter drafted in 2008 when a military junta ruled the country. Reported by Min Thein Aung, Thinn Thiri and Khin Khin Ei for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: 'Strike hard' hits Uyghur family Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 29 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: 'Strike hard' hits Uyghur family, 29 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f429213.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-29 A map of Xinjiang showing the location of Aksu prefecture. RFA China's "strike hard" campaign designed to crack down on violent incidents has hit one Uyghur family particularly hard, as it sent two family members to prison and may have contributed to the death of two more, relatives and other sources told RFA's Uyghur Service. The one-year strike hard campaign started in June 2014 in restive Xinjiang region following a bombing at the morning market in Urumqi that killed 43 people. While Beijing has promoted the latest strike hard campaign as a way to battle terrorism, it is widely seen in the region as a way to tighten control of the Muslim Uyghur community with little regard for the human costs. Those costs are being born by people like Hasiyet Abliz, a grandmother in the Aykol Township of Aksu city (in Chinese, Akesu). The 46-year-old suddenly finds herself with a husband and son in prison, a dead daughter and a dead grandchild. "My husband Tursun Mamut and my son Ablikim Tursun were jailed after three or four months of the strike hard campaign," she told RFA. "My 27 year-old-daughter Ayshemgul died in child birth because no one was left at home to take her to hospital, and her two-year-old son also died from a sudden sickness because no one could take him to the hospital." Ayshemgul died in January 2015 and her son died in March 2015. Hasiyet Abliz said her husband was sentenced to a seven-year jail term for an illegal gathering outside a government-designated mosque where he went to pray. He was arrested at October 2014. Ablikim Tursun was charged with the same crime, but the family has yet to learn his fate. He was arrested on September 2014. "I visited him three months ago, at the teenager labor camp in Ulanbay district of Urumqi city," she said of her son. "He has no idea about his jail term either." The losses mean Hasiyet Abliz is now left to care for two of her own children and two of her daughter's, forcing her to work a restaurant at night and a farm during the day. The tragedy also forced her to keep a secret, as she refuses to give Tursun Mamut the news. "My husband doesn't know his daughter and grandchild are dead," she said. "He continuously asks about Ayshemgul and the grandchild in his letters from the jail, but I keep the situation from him and my son, because they cannot do anything for them at this point." Not uncommon Like others in the restive province, the Hasiyet Abliz's family tragedy is not uncommon. "It's almost normalized; the disappearing, the jailing without questions in Aksu," said a teacher from city, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "In some townships, like Aykol, where the violent incident occurred, people ask each other: 'How many of your children are in jail?' People are no longer surprised by the question." Like many in the region, the teacher thinks the Uyghurs are being targeted as a way for the Chinese to increase their control of the region. "The government is obviously bullying the Uyghurs, because no legal entity or organization exists to protect their rights," the teacher said. "We don't know what is going on about our rights in the international arena, because of the censorship. Most tragically, we don't know when the dark days will end." Local law enforcement officials also know of the Hasiyet Abliz family plight. "We know the tragedy in the family you talked about, but we have no idea and no right to speak about the reason or responsibility for the tragedy," police officer Husenjan Kerim said at the Aykol Police station. "If you want to investigate such a sensitive case you should call the higher police department in Aksu city." Jume Gayit , deputy security chief of Peyshenbebazar village of the Aykol township told RFA emergency services were not developed well enough to get people to hospital and that the government offered compensation to the family. "It is true the Ayshemgul died at home while she was in labor, because no man was left at home to take her to hospital," he said. "We have given them 300 yuan as welfare for each person in the family, but it is impossible to cover the basic expense of their family." "I am trying to find a job for her whenever I have a request from Han bosses in our village, but there are a lot of families like her family in our village because of the violent incidents that occurred in recent years," he added. Reported and Translated by Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur Service. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China draft rules would boost top-down control over websites Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 30 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China draft rules would boost top-down control over websites, 30 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42936.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-30 Police check the ID cards of netizens at an Internet cafe in Shandong province, July 31, 2013. ImagineChina In its latest move aimed at controlling its borders in cyberspace, the ruling Chinese Communist Party has announced draft plans to force companies to run their websites and portals from servers inside China. Draft regulations posted on the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology suggest the country is seeking further powers to censor content seen online by its citizens, in a move that looks set to affect both foreign and Chinese companies. The strategy is in keeping with President Xi Jinping's belief in the concept of "Internet sovereignty," whereby a country maintains its borders as much in cyberspace as it does on the ground. A new clause in an update to existing legislation says that any company providing services to Chinese users must register its domain, or Web address, with a Chinese service provider. Many of China's biggest Internet portals have domain names registered overseas, although their content is stored on domestic servers. According to Francis Fung, Beijing government adviser and president of Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, the move would make it easier for Chinese censors to control what its citizens see. "This seems to be targeting Internet users in mainland China, in particular those who like to browse websites outside China," Fung said. Many sites blocked China operates a complex system of blocks, keyword filters, and human censorship known collectively as the Great Firewall to control what its citizens can access online. Many key overseas sites and services are blocked, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google, according to searches on the anti-censorship site GreatFire.org on Wednesday. "This law is about whether Chinese netizens visit Chinese sites or overseas sites," Fung said. "If you don't have a server inside China, then you'll still have to register a domestic domain name." "But as to whether or not it will be enforced, I don't know. Chinese legislation often has grey areas in it," he said. He said the law will likely provide a legal justification for the inaccessibility of content. "The Chinese government has blocked websites whose content it doesn't like in the past, but it has given no explanation," Fung said. "When this law takes effect, [that will be the explanation.]" 'It will have an effect' Guangdong-based activist Jia Pin said the proposed rules could make it harder for Chinese citizens to see news from outside the country online. "Of course it'll have an effect; it will make it even harder to browse overseas content," Jia said. "I use Twitter a lot, to send out news on human rights activities in China." "This could make it much harder to get over the Great Firewall." He said the authorities are worried that a rapid growth in high-speed access will soon make it very hard to control Internet activity at all. "[Access] is getting more and more widespread and more and more convenient ... and it's going to be very hard to suppress," Jia said. "These new rules are definitely aimed at suppressing online freedom and freedom of expression in China." Faster response seen According to Shenzhen-based technology blogger Long Weilian, the shift of registration to a domestic provider under Chinese government control would allow censors to react more quickly in blocking access to certain sites. "Before, they had to contact the server, get the address, talk to the manager, and then ask them to censor something," Long told the Associated Press. "If the domains are all domestic, they can directly stop traffic going to your domain with a command." The move is in line with increasingly tighter controls on China's media under Xi's administration, according to Xie Jiaye, head of the New York-based Chinese Association of Science and Technology. "This is all of a piece with recent controls by Beijing over the media, under which the media must 'take the same surname' as the party," Xie said. "Now, websites will have to toe the party line as well ... except that they're hard to control, and that's what this law is intended for," he said. Reported by Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Gao Shan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Justice still elusive in Cambodian grenade attack Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 30 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Justice still elusive in Cambodian grenade attack, 30 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f429421.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-30 Sam Rainsy speaks with RFA in Washington, May 14, 2015. RFA Nearly two decades after a deadly grenade attack killed at least 16 and wounded more than 150 people during a pro-democracy rally at Phnom Penh's Wat Botum Park, victims of the attack and their families are still waiting for justice. The notorious March 30, 1997 attack came after opposition leader Sam Rainsy and his supporters gathered in a park across from the National Assembly in Phnom Penh to denounce the judiciary's lack of independence and judicial corruption. While Sam Rainsy is thought to have been the target of the attack, the assailants missed him, killing his bodyguard, as well as some protesters and bystanders. The blasts blew the limbs off nearby street vendors. According to eye-witness accounts, the people who threw the grenades ran toward Prime Minister Hun Sen's riot-gear clad bodyguards, who allowed them to escape. An FBI report declassified in 2009 indicated that Cambodian police possessed prior knowledge of the attack and that there was the possibility that the attackers colluded with Hun Sen's bodyguard unit. Despite the toll of death and dismemberment, no one has been arrested for the attack, leaving victims and family members still searching for justice. But that hasn't stopped pro-democracy advocates from remembering the attack. On Wednesday, about 100 people marked the anniversary at the spot of the attack. Pov Heng, who lost a daughter and a niece in the attacks, implored the government to take action. "Please find justice for my children," she told RFA's Khmer Service. "I am old, and I want to know what stage this case has reached." While people like Pov Heng want some closure, they hold out little hope that the government will actually take any action. Yim Sovann, spokesman for Sam Rainsy's Cambodian National Rescue Party, blamed the inaction on Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party. "Normally in such a serious crime that left many people dead like this, the government especially, the ministry of interior, ministry of justice, and courts have to find justice," he said. "But the Cambodian People's Party is still in power, so we don't know the reason for this delay." Attempts to contact government officials were unsuccessful. Chak Sopheap, Executive Director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, told RFA that the government has no desire to find out what really happened. "I think that there could be justice if all the relevant institutions perform their roles according to their authorized power," she told RFA. Reported by Tha Thai for RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Pagnawath Khun. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Hong Kong government issues warning to independence activists Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 30 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Hong Kong government issues warning to independence activists, 30 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42944.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-30 A woman distributes newspapers in Hong Kong, Feb. 13, 2014. AFP UPDATED at 4:30 P.M. EST on 2016-03-30 Three days after a new political party said it would campaign for independence for the former British colony, Hong Kong's government on Wednesday warned it would take action against "any suggestion" that the city should go it alone. In an unprecedented statement given the semi-autonomous city's traditional freedoms of speech and association, the Special Administrative Government issued a statement on its website warning against further discussion of the topic. "The Hong Kong SAR is an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China," the statement said. "Any suggestion that Hong Kong should be independent or any movement to advocate such 'independence' is against the Basic Law," it said, in a reference to the mini-constitution that has governed Hong Kong since the 1997 handover to China. Such suggestions would "undermine the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong and impair the interest of the general public," it said, warning: "The SAR Government will take action according to the law." Article 23 of the Basic Law requires the city to enact laws "to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government," but an attempt to bring in such legislation in 2002 sparked a massive demonstration on July 1, 2003, hastening the departure of then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa. The warning, which appeared to mimic exactly the wording used by Chinese officials, comes after activists announced the formation of the Hong Kong National Party on Sunday, setting out a pro-independence and anti-Basic Law agenda. "The Hong Kong National Party will take part in any form of effective disobedience, including in the legislature, on the streets, and in the court of public opinion," the party's convenor Chan Ho-tin told reporters. "We will also participate in labor strikes, as well as class and market boycotts," Chan said in video footage posted by government broadcaster RTHK. Legal basis of threat questioned The party said in response to the government's warning on Wednesday that the Basic Law was "a draconian law" drafted without any input from the people of Hong Kong. "Our party regards [the government's warning] as a legal absurdity," it said in a statement posted on its Facebook page. "In no civilized society in the 21st century with a constitutional government do people get charged with crimes like separatism or incitement to overthrow the government." "We will fight this draconian law all the way ... and campaign alongside the people of Hong Kong for independence," the statement said. Chan had earlier said the party plans to field candidates in forthcoming elections to the city's Legislative Council (LegCo). Democratic Party lawmaker James To said he knew of no legal basis for the government's apparent threat. "There is no mention of Hong Kong independence in any of Hong Kong's laws, and merely talking about it comes under freedom of expression, which is protected under international covenants and in the Basic Law," To told RFA. "However, it is a crime to use force or terrorism to coerce the government into doing something," he said. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights remained in force following the 1997 handover, after which the city was promised no change in its traditional freedoms for 50 years. The Basic Law also guarantees the right to freedom of speech, freedom of the press and of publication; freedom of association, freedom of assembly, freedom of procession, of demonstration, of communication, of movement, of conscience, of religious belief, and of marriage; and the right and freedom to form and join trade unions, and to strike. China's official media slammed Chan's party, calling it a purveyor of "illegal" and "extreme" ideas. "Extreme ideas are emerging in Hong Kong, but establishing a Hong Kong National Party is taking it too far," the Global Times newspaper, which is published by the ruling Chinese Communist Party, said in an editorial. "Hong Kong independence is a fake proposition without any possibility of realization," it said, questioning whether advocacy of independence should be protected by the city's traditional freedom of speech. It said "the consensus is that turning illegal ideas into action is not related to freedom of speech and therefore should result in legal consequences," the paper said. It called for steps to be taken "to prevent radicals from harming the normal functions of society." Reported by Ho Shan for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. What do people think of when they hear Oktoberfest? Thats the question that prompted Eau Claire resident Matt Pabichs submission for the 2016 Oktoberfest logo a contest he has always wanted to enter but in previous years missed the deadline. This year, he barely made it. He spent the weekend before the February 1 deadline making a list of Oktoberfest-related items lederhosen, pretzels, beer and incorporated all of them into his design, which ended up winning the contest. Pabich helped Val Coushman, chairperson of the Oktoberfest committee, unveil his design and the 2016 Oktoberfest logo Wednesday afternoon at the Northwestern Bank in downtown Chippewa Falls. It was really rewarding to finally see (the logo) blown up (in size), and to be the one unveiling it, Pabich said.I think its going to be really fun walking in (to the festival) and seeing it everywhere. Pabich invited his parents to the ceremony, and said they were excited for him and keep telling everyone they know about it. A graphic designer at the non-profit PESI in Eau Claire, Pabich said he considers himself an artist. This is the first time hes entered a contest like this and this is the first time his work will be known on a wide scale. I think as far as exposure goes and how many people will be immediately impacted by it in a collective space, this is really exciting, he said. Its definitely the first time Ill be walking somewhere and see it blasted everywhere. The logo is used on marketing materials as well as on the festival grounds itself. The committee looks for designs that emphasize the heritage and community as well as family, friends and having a good time. For winning, Pabich is awarded a $150 cash prize which he suspects he will spend on the festival grounds and a free three-day entry pass. His parents, who have never been to Oktoberfest, are very excited to join him this year. Pabich said he enjoyed the freedom he had with designing this logo. He doesnt know for sure but he would love to try entering the contest again in future years. Aside from the guidelines they set out, I didnt have anybody creatively directing me but myself, he said. It was fun. Coushman said they get around 100 submissions every year, but many of them dont signify Chippewa Falls in the way the committee would like. Of the 100 submissions, she said the committee is handed 8-12 of the best logos and has to choose from those. With Pabichs design, she said it was more contemporary but they agreed it had all the elements and was unique. It is very different from what we have chosen in the past, and this was really kind of a stand out logo, Coushman said. The colors are so different, its more vibrant. It just kind of popped. While many of the previous years winners have been Midwestners, Coushman said organizers get submissions from all over the country from people who used to live in the area or have relatives who do. Now that the logo is unveiled, they can begin planning for the festival, which she said is a very exciting time of year. The 14th Oktoberfest celebration, with more than 30 entertainers, will be Sept. 16-18 at the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds in Chippewa Falls. China: Mother of Uyghur who disappeared in 2009 faces charges over interview Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 30 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Mother of Uyghur who disappeared in 2009 faces charges over interview, 30 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f429515.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-30 Patigul Ghulam in an undated photo RFA The mother of a young Uyghur man believed to have been forcibly taken away after 2009 riots in Urumqi will go to court next month to face charges of leaking China state secrets for discussing her son's disappearance in an interview with Radio Free Asia, a source close to the family said. Widow Patigul Ghulam has been one of the most vocal Uyghurs who have been pressing authorities on the whereabouts of family members missing during the violence in Urumqi on July 5, 2009 between minority Muslim Uyghurs and Han Chinese that left 200 people dead. Her son, Imammemet Eli, who would now be 32, was taken by police on July 14, 2009 and she last heard about him nine months later, when fellow inmates said he was found severely tortured and taken to a hospital. Patigul Ghulam has been pressing local police in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, for information on her son ever since, but has not received any satisfactory answers. The son is among several thousand people, according to Uyghur exile groups, who were forcibly disappeared in the aftermath of the violence, the most deadly episode of ethnic unrest in China's recent history. Closed trial on April 7 Patigul Ghulam, who had been under house arrest and under heavy surveillance since September 2012, was detained in May 2014, a month after she gave an interview to RFA's Uyghur Service. At the time, she said that she met with Wang Mengshen, the Urumqi city police chief, and said that Wang told her the police were still looking for her son. Patigul Ghulam now faces a closed court session on April 7, a person close to her family told RFA. The source requested that her identity not be revealed for fear of retaliation from the government. "The court convenes on the 7th of April. None of her kids were given permission to attend. Right now they are waiting for the government's reply to their request to attend to the court session," the source told RFA. After their mother was detained, her other three children were put under surveillance and faced interrogation. They recently were granted the right to visit their mother once a month, on the precondition that they not speak to any foreign media, the source added. "Only one of them is working, in an invitation card publication shop. Their economic situation is not that good, either," said the source. A police officer at the Bahuliang police station in the Thenritagh (in Chinese, Tianshan) district of Urumqi declined to comment on the case when contacted by RFA. "I do not have permission to speak on this case," he said. A neighborhood committee worker in Bahuliang, location of the family home, also declined comment. "I do not know anything about her situation. There is special personal that is in charge of her case. You should ask him," she said. Reported by Gulchehra Ghoja for RFA's Uyghur Service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Paul Eckert. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Myanmar swears in first civilian president in more than 50 years Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 30 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Myanmar swears in first civilian president in more than 50 years, 30 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f429615.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-30 Myanmar's outgoing President Thein Sein (R) hands over the presidential seal to the country's new President Htin Kyaw (L) during the transfer-of-power ceremony in Naypyidaw, March 30, 2016. RFA Htin Kyaw was sworn in on Wednesday as Myanmar's first civilian president in more than a half-century, telling lawmakers that he will work for a democratic constitution based on a federal union in keeping with the ambition of his National League for Democracy (NLD) party. The new government will implement peace and national reconciliation, pursue "a constitution towards a federal union," and improve living standards for the people, he told lawmakers during his brief inauguration speech in the capital Naypyidaw. "I have something important to say on this occasion," said Htin Kyaw, who is serving as the proxy of NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi. "It is that I have a responsibility to always keep my solemn oath that I had made earlier and to pursue a constitution in accordance with democratic norms that will be suitable for our country." "I believe that I will have to be patient in implementing this political aim, which the people have wished to see for years," he said. First Vice President Lieutenant General Myint Swe, who served as chief minister of Yangon region, and Second Vice President Henry Van Thio, an ethnic Chin NLD deputy in parliament's upper house, also took their oaths of office before lawmakers. A thorn in the side The current constitution, drafted in 2008 by the military junta that ruled the country, has been a thorn in the side of the NLD for years. Before the party won its landslide victory in national elections last November, Aung San Suu Kyi spearheaded efforts to change a provision that bars her from the presidency because she has foreign-born relatives. She also sought to reduce the power of Myanmar's military, which under the constitution is entitled to a quarter of the seats in parliament, and oversees three key security-related ministries defense, border affairs, and home affairs, giving it jurisdiction over political prisoners. After the NLD won more than 80 percent of the vote in the election, Aung San Suu Kyi vowed to rule Myanmar through a hand-picked proxy. Parliament on Wednesday officially announced her appointment as head of the foreign affairs, education, electric power and energy, and the President's Office ministries. Her role as foreign affairs minister ensures her a seat on the 11-member National Defense and Security Council (NDSC), which formulates policy on military and security issues, although the body is dominated 6-5 by military officers. The BBC reported Wednesday that the NLD government will create a new post for Aung San Suu Kyi similar to that of a prime minister advisor to the state. The draft bill creating the position is expected to be submitted to parliament within the next few weeks. It would give her power to work on key issues of government and conduct meetings with whomever she wishes, the BBC said. So long, Thein Sein Htin Kyaw concluded his brief speech with a promise that the new government will always try to fulfill the people's hopes and desires, and that all citizens can live peaceful lives and achieve their goals without difficulties. But his comments about the constitution resonated the most with both lawmakers and citizens alike. "I welcome his speech because he said he will work on having the new constitution that people want and remedy the country's situation," said lawmaker Sai Win Hlaing Kham of the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP). "He pointed to what we need to do amend the constitution," said Phyo Maung Maung Win, a professor at the University of Medical Technology. Htin Kyaw replaces former President Thein Sein of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), who came to the helm in 2011 and introduced democratic reforms. Thein Sein will assume his former position as chairman of the USDP, said former information minister Ye Htut. When Thein Sein became president, he had transferred his power as USDP chairman to Shwe Mann, former speaker of the lower house of parliament. "We are proud of President Thein Sein's term because we passed through our [political] transition period peacefully without bloodshed," Ye Htut said. "But we are frustrated about not finishing the peace process that we had started, although we aimed to get it done during our government term." Last October, Thein Sein's government signed a nationwide peace agreement with eight of the country's armed ethnic group to end decades of civil wars. But other groups either refused to sign the pact or were excluded from it by the government because of ongoing hostilities with Myanmar's military. Working with the military Aung San Suu Kyi has made peace and national reconciliation one of the goals of the NLD's administration along with ethnic unity. "The president talked about amending the constitution, building a federal union and national reconciliation, which are all good; but in my opinion, the most important one is having peace in the country," said Thu Wai, chairman of the Democratic Party (Myanmar). "If we had peace, we could build a federal union and develop a democratic system and a better economy," he said. "After having all these, the rest of the problems would be easy to solve. That's why I want the new government to work on peace first." But for the NLD to achieve lasting and permanent peace in the country, it needs the cooperation of the country's powerful military. "The NLD and Daw [honorific] Aung San Suu Kyi said they will work on establishing peace, but it will be difficult to achieve if the military works against the peace process," said Naing Han Thar, vice chairman of New Mon State Party. "Having peace is still depends on the military." Ko Ko Gyi, a leader of Myanmar's 88 Generation Student democracy movement, called the peaceful transfer of power to a civilian-led government after more than 50 years of military-backed rule a victory for the Myanmar people. "I believe that we can overcome all difficulties and problems if all forces work together now that we have a civilian president and government," he said. Reported by Win Naung Toe, Win Ko Ko Latt, Wai Mar Tun, Khin Khin Ei, Thinn Thiri and Khet Mar. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Vietnam jails blogger, 3 land activists for 'anti-state propaganda' Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 30 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Vietnam jails blogger, 3 land activists for 'anti-state propaganda', 30 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f429712.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-30 Use of a South Vietnamese flag similar to this image in a protest landed three women in jail. Photo: RFA In what appears to be part of an ongoing crackdown on dissent in Vietnam, four people were given stiff prison sentences Wednesday for anti-government speech. The Ho Chi Minh City people's court sentenced blogger Nguyen Ngoc Gia to a four-year prison term with another three years on probation for carrying out "propaganda against the state" according to article 88 of the penal code, RFA's Vietnamese Service has learned. Also known as Nguyen Dinh Ngoc, he was arrested in December 2014 at his home in Ho Chi Minh City. He was a regular contributor to Radio Free Asia among other websites. According to state media, Ngoc posted essays critical of the government and the party on the Internet. The prosecutor's report claims he submitted 26 articles to various websites from February to December of 2014. Of those, 14 were published. Prosecutors say they found 22 articles defaming and discrediting party leaders and the state. Tuoi Tre Online quoted the jury as saying he was only given four years because his father is a 50-year party member while his grandmother is regarded as a hero mother who helped the communist revolution in Vietnam. Article 88 of Vietnam's criminal code carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment for the ill-defined offence of "anti-state propaganda." Human rights groups that claim Article 88 is used to imprison peaceful activists in the one-party communist nation. Flag sentence In a separate case, three women were also sentenced to prison terms under Article 88 for waving the flag of the defeated U.S.-backed South Vietnam in front of the U.S. consulate's office in Ho Chi Minh City. Ngo Thi Minh Uoc of Tien Giang province was handed a four-year prison sentence, while Nguyen Thi Tri of Binh Duong province and Nguyen Thi Be Hai of Giang province were sentenced to three year prison terms. They all also received two years of probation. The women admitted they joined a movement called "Vietnam movement for injustice victims' started by Tran Ngoc Anh in Vung Tau in April 2014, according to state media. The prosecutor's report said the women are land petitioners who decided to mount the protest because the government ignored their complaints over lost property. "Be Hai has been seeking justice for her case for more than 20 years, Minh Uoc's family has been pursuing justice for almost 10 years," Tran Ngoc Anh told RFA. "Uoc is very upset that her case has not been solved, and her family does not have a place to live anymore." Tran Ngoc Anh told RFA that she advised against making the protest because she feared the result. "When I heard that they would carry the flags I tried to stop them. I told them that they are only injustice victims and shouldn't go beyond that limit," she said. "But they said one person came to their houses telling them that if they hold the flags, the government would return them their land." The sentences came a week after a court in Hanoi sentenced a prominent blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh to five years in prison on Wednesday for posts on his Ba Sam blog site that were critical of the government. Reported by RFA's Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Chinese activists probe colleges over sexist job adverts Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 31 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Chinese activists probe colleges over sexist job adverts, 31 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f4298c.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-31 China's feminist five (clockwise from top left) Li Tingting, Wu Rongrong, Zheng Churan, Wei Tingting and Wang Man were released on April 14, 2015. EyePress News A group of women's rights activists in China have launched a campaign to probe sexist recruitment practices as prospective employers launched their spring graduate recruitment drive on campuses around the country. Nine women have banded together to send freedom of information requests to more than 100 higher education institutions asking for details of action taken against sexist job advertisements. While a 2013 government directive ordered universities and colleges to delete all gender-specific language from materials used in nationwide recruitment fairs, the activists say the practice is still ubiquitous. "Gender discrimination is still very common in employment recruitment literature," one of the activists, who gave only a nickname Xiao Xia, told RFA in a recent interview. "We often see recruitment advertisements on campus that say they are for men only, or that ask recruits about their plans for marriage, having children, or their age," she said. Rights lawyer Huang Yizhi, who follows gender discrimination issues, said women are protected in a number of Chinese laws against employment discrimination, but that the law is rarely properly implemented. "The ministry of education has ordered a clean-up of job recruitment adverts, but the necessary measures haven't been put into place, and the adverts are still there," Huang told RFA. "There are also ways in which gender discrimination isn't visible, but it's still there," she said. "People are still being told at interviews that they won't get the job because of their gender." "This is because the universities won't do anything to stop it, and it is linked to conditions in the labor market as a whole," Huang said. "Even if the universities got it right, it wouldn't mean that there would be no gender discrimination elsewhere in the labor market," she said. "The universities are just one area among many that needs looking at." Raising public awareness Xiao Xia said she and her fellow activists are hoping to raise public awareness of the issue at the same time. "There aren't many people who are concerned about university and job opportunities for women, so I hope that we'll raise awareness of the issue through this campaign," Xia said. "We hope that it will lead to the breaking of the glass ceiling and more opportunities for women," she said. Meanwhile, the feminist activist group Feminist Faction said on Thursday that its social media accounts had been frozen in recent days. While content searches for "women's rights" on the Twitter-like service Sina Weibo returned a normal-looking list of search results on Thursday, attempts to register an account containing the words "women's rights" were blocked. "Your account name contains sensitive words. Please select different words for your account name," the message read. Xiong Jing, social media editor of the website Gender in China, which contains the words "women's rights" in Chinese, said censors frequently have deleted her group's posts. "Our account may not have been deleted, but our posts are often deleted," Xiong told RFA on Thursday. "That's normal." Reality is very different The ruling Chinese Communist Party has promoted gender equality, at least in theory, since it came to power in 1949. But women's and rights campaigners say the reality is very different on the ground and that discrimination still presents major obstacles to equality. Last year, the authorities detained feminists Li Tingting, Wei Tingting, Wang Man, Zheng Churan and Wu Rongrong, holding them for five weeks on public order charges after they planned a public transport awareness campaign to combat sexual harassment. The five women, whose detention prompted an international outcry, are still not allowed to leave their hometowns without police approval, and still have the charges hanging over them although their lawyers say they broke no law. The Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing set out a challenging program of improvements to the rights and opportunities offered to women and girls around the world, as well as requiring governments to report back to the United Nations on progress in key areas. The Beijing Declaration produced by the conference included a pledge to "ensure equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all women and girls." Reported by Xin Lin and Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Myanmar army and rebel soldiers engage in new clashes in Rakhine state Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 31 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Myanmar army and rebel soldiers engage in new clashes in Rakhine state, 31 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f4299c.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-31 Ta'ang National Liberation Army soldiers march to mark the 51st anniversary of Ta'ang National Resistance Day in Homain, Nansan township, in northern Myanmar's Shan state, Jan. 12, 2014. AFP New clashes flared between government troops and an armed ethnic group in northern Myanmar's Shan state on Wednesday, the same day as a new civilian president was sworn into office, vowing to work towards peace and national reconciliation in the country. Major Mai Aik Kyaw, spokesman of the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), told RFA's Myanmar Service that his forces engaged in fresh hostilities with government troops in the early morning at Khokat village in Mantong township. There were casualties on both sides and two villagers were wounded, but no further details were known, he said. Nearly three hours later, a second clash occurred near Nangpar village in Kyaukme township. "We didn't suffer any casualties, but the Myanmar army had some wounded," he said. Later in the day, Htin Kyaw of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, took his oath of office and accepted the presidential seal from former President Thein Sein, pledging that the new government will pursue national reconciliation and peace to end Myanmar's decades of civil war. Thein Sein's administration signed a nationwide cease-fire agreement (NCA) with eight of the country's armed ethnic groups last October, but excluded the TNLA because it was engaged in hostilities with the Myanmar army. Fighting in the region since late last November has forced thousands of people in Kyaukme and Namkham townships to flee their homes. Sentencings in Rakhine In a related development, a court in Kyauktaw township in western Myanmar's Rakhine state handed down sentences to 11 men of three to five years in prison each for unlawful association with the rebel Arakan Army (AA) ethnic rebel group, said Maung Aye Saw, who has assisted the accused men from Mrauk-U, Minbya, Kyaukpyu and Rathedaung townships. Four of the men were arrested last April in connection with the clashes between government troops and AA forces in the Pichaung area of Kyauktaw, while the other seven were apprehended in December in connection with clashes in the Runchaung area, Maung Aye Saw said. On Wednesday, the same court sentenced 12 others to three to five years in jail for their involvement with the AA, local media reported. After the clashes, authorities arrested dozens of locals from various townships on charges of associating with unlawful groups such as the AA. More residents have been charged and are awaiting trial, according to the online journal The Irrawaddy. In January, Myanmar's government army vowed to eliminate the AA, accusing it of creating instability in the region. The AA did not sign the NCA. On Tuesday, Thein Sein lifted the state of emergency imposed on conflict-ridden Rakhine state in 2012 following violent clashes between Buddhists and ethnic Rohingya Muslims, as one of his last acts in office. Meeting in Chang Mai In the meantime, armed ethnic groups met Thursday in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to map out a strategy for mediating peace among various rebel armies and the government, "We are holding this workshop so we can brainstorm about how we can find a systematic strategy as a team," said Khoo Oo Reh, leader of the 13-member Delegation for Political Negotiations (DPN), which was set up to prepare for political talks with the NLD government. "We are just making preparations for this strategy," he said. Members of the workshop will build upon the experiences of the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), which represented more than a dozen armed ethnic rebel groups, and a senior delegation of armed ethnic group leaders who negotiated the NCA with Thein Sein's administration, he said. The DPN was formed to serve as a bridge between the government and the United Nationalities Federation Council (UNFC), an alliance that includes armed ethnic groups that did not sign the NCA. Reported by Min Thein Aung, Thiri Minzin and Aung Moe Myint. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. North Korea wants younger faces at Party convention in May Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 31 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, North Korea wants younger faces at Party convention in May, 31 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f429a9.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-31 The Monument to the Foundation of the Workers' Party in Pyongyang is shown in a file photo. PhotoNonstop Officials of North Korea's ruling Korean Workers' Party are "selecting out" party members aged over 60 as candidates to attend a national party convention scheduled for May, sources in the reclusive, nuclear-armed country say. The move, which is apparently aimed at presenting a more youthful face to North Korea's political leadership, has so far been observed only in one province bordering China, but may be part of a broader policy shift, a Japanese reporter with contacts in the region told RFA's Korean Service. One to two participants were chosen from party offices in North Hamgyong province in a first round of selections held March 29, with three recommended to attend from large working units, Ishimaru Jiro of Japan-based AsiaPress told RFA. "However, party members aged over 60 were excluded," Ishimaru said. "There is no age restriction to be a member of the party, but now there is a restriction on party members who can participate in the convention," Ishimaru said. "I get the impression this could reflect a nationwide generational change." Orders from the top The exclusions, which have so far been reported only in North Hamgyong, may have resulted from an order handed down by authorities in the capital Pyongyang, Ishimaru said. "I think there was an order from the central government. Local authorities in North Korea cannot make their own criteria for selecting participants, right?" To facilitate the initial selection process in North Hamgyong, local party members were first forbidden to move from the area after March 20, Ishimaru said, adding that candidates then chosen will visit Pyongyang in April to go through a second round of selections. "Those who successfully complete this second round will attend the party convention as representatives," Ishimaru said. About three thousand are expected to attend the national party convention, the seventh to be held since the founding after the Second World War of the isolated one-party state. Reported by Jung Min Noh for RFA's Korean Service. Translated by Ahreum Jung. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Political animosity pushes Cambodia near 'tipping point': UN envoy Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 31 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Political animosity pushes Cambodia near 'tipping point': UN envoy, 31 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f429b15.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-31 Rhona Smith (L), the United Nations' human rights envoy for Cambodia, speaks at a press conference in Phnom Penh, March 31, 2016. NurPhoto Cambodia's contentious and at times violent political situation has pushed it "close to a dangerous tipping point," the United Nations' special human rights envoy to the Southeast Asian country said on Thursday. Rhona Smith, the U.N.'s special rapporteur to Cambodia on human rights, said the tensions driven by the rivalry between Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) have grown worse since her last visit in September 2015. "I have indicated earlier my concern that Cambodia is dangerously close to a tipping point," she said in her statement. "The political situation, which includes renewed threats, judicial proceedings and even physical beatings of members of the opposition, is worrying," she said, in a reference to the CPP's crackdown on CNRP politicians and activists. Two CNRP lawmakers were dragged from their vehicles and beaten by protesters at a rally last October where more than 1,000 CPP supporters surrounded parliament, calling on CNRP deputy president Kem Sokha to resign as first vice president of the National Assembly. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who heads the CNRP, went into self-imposed exile last year after a warrant was issued for his arrest on a seven-year-old defamation charge and the CPP called for his removal from parliament. Other CNRP members and activists are serving lengthy prison terms for convictions on insurrection charges for participating in a 2014 protest that turned violent in Phnom Penh's Democracy Plaza. "All laws must be applied equally and fairly to all political parties and their members to ensure protection of the democratic space in the run-up to the election," Smith said, referring to general elections in 2018 that will determine whether strongman Hun Sen stays in power. Hun Sen has ruled the country with an iron hand for more than 30 years. 'Situation is good' Government spokesman Phay Siphan told RFA's Khmer Service that Smith's comments do not reflect what is really happening in the country. "If we look at the reports by all of U.N.'s representatives, they have never reflected reality," he said. "The human rights situation is good and better compared to what it was the past," he said. "Peace and stability exist, so to put it in terms of being on 'the brink of disaster' is going overboard. This cannot be used to describe the situation in Cambodia." During her second fact-finding mission to the country, Smith met with provincial authorities, local civil society organizations, members of indigenous communities, garment workers, and representatives from the private sectors in northern Cambodia's Stung Treng and Preah Vihear provinces. On Monday, Smith was blocked by plainclothes police when she tried to meet with ethnic Kuoy villagers in Preah Vihear's Treng Meanchey district to discuss their land dispute with a Chinese sugarcane plantation company, The Cambodia Daily reported. In a talk with Interior Minister Sar Kheng in the capital Phnom Penh on Wednesday, she discussed the incident as well as conditions at Prey Speu detention center which houses vagrants, drug addicts and sex workers, The Cambodia Daily said. Reported by Sothearin Yeang and Pagnawath Khun. Translated by Pagnawath Khun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Tibetan protester is freed from jail two years before sentence ends Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 31 March 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Tibetan protester is freed from jail two years before sentence ends, 31 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f429c15.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-03-31 Khedrup Gyatso is shown in an undated photo. Photo courtesy of Tibet Times Authorities in northwestern China's Qinghai province have granted early release to a Tibetan monk handed a 10-year term as a "key player" in protests that swept Tibetan areas of China in 2008, sources said. Khedrup Gyatso, 33 and a monk of Tsang monastery in Gepasumdo (in Chinese, Tongde) county in the Tsolho (Hainan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, was freed on March 8 in poor health, Gyatso's younger brother Busang Gyatso told RFA's Tibetan Service, speaking from exile in India. "Before he was sentenced, he was severely beaten in detention," Gyatso said. "And this disfigured his face and damaged his eyes." "He is being treated at present in the county hospital, but his complete recovery is doubtful," Gyatso said. "He wanted to return to his monastery, but this was forbidden by the authorities, and they have now ordered him to stay within the boundaries of his village," he said. Khedrup Gyatso was allowed to rest for a month before his release after serving eight years of his 10-year term, his brother told RFA. "When he was finally freed, he was forced to assure the local police chief that he would not let himself be photographed and that he would not allow his release to attract public attention." News of Gyatso's release from prison was briefly delayed in reaching outside contacts because of strict communications clampdowns imposed by Chinese authorities in the area. Accused as ringleader In 2008, the monks of Khedrup Gyatso's Tsang monastery staged a peaceful protest challenging Chinese rule in Tibetan areas, and over 80 Tibetans were detained, Busang Gyatso said. "Khedrup Gyatso and Choktrin Gyatso were accused of leading the protests and were given ten-year terms," Gyatso said, adding that another monk, Tsultrim Gyatso, was handed a nine-year term. Khedrup Gyatso served his term in a prison close to Qinghai's provincial capital Xining, he said. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing's rule and calling for the return of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008. Reported by Ugyen Tenzin for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Hong Kong government warns of 'limits' to free speech amid independence row Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 1 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Hong Kong government warns of 'limits' to free speech amid independence row, 1 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f429f13.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-01 Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen during a news conference in Hong Kong April 22, 2015. Eye Press Hong Kong's judicial chief said on Friday that free speech has its "limits" despite constitutional protections, and that the city's police would consider investigating members of a new political party advocating independence for the former British colony. A new political group, the Hong Kong National Party (HKNP), announced on Sunday it would campaign in the forthcoming legislative elections on a pro-independence platform and against the Basic Law The announcement sparked horrified responses from Chinese officials. Hong Kong's Special Administrative Region (SAR) government was quick to chime in with a vague warning of "action according to law" in a statement earlier this week. Basic Law limits speech "Freedom of expression is not without limits," Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen told reporters on Friday, when asked if the government will uphold the basic freedoms promised in the city's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, which has formed the basis for Hong Kong's legal system since the 1997 handover to China. "One cannot use freedom of speech as a shield to defend suggestions which are contrary to the fundamental principle expounded in the Basic Law," Yuen said. Speaking after the government's Companies Registry refused to register the HKNP, Yuen said: "People should not confuse freedom of expression with a suggestion which is quite blatantly contrary to the Basic Law." Yuen said he didn't rule out the possibility of a police investigation into the party and its founders. "Since someone has openly come out to suggest that they are going to act contrary to our Basic Law, therefore, I think ... the law enforcement agencies would decide whether or not to conduct an investigation," he said. "We would look at it," Yuen said. "My colleagues would consider the applicable law and the evidence and then will decide what to do." "As a responsible government ... I think we would have to closely monitor the situation." The HKNP has said it will campaign against the Basic Law, which it called "a draconian law" drafted without any input from the people of Hong Kong. "We will fight this draconian law all the way ... and campaign alongside the people of Hong Kong for independence," it said in a statement on its Facebook page this week. Independence promotion is wrong Hong Kong second-in-command Carrie Lam repeated the government line on Friday, saying that the city is "an inalienable part" of the People's Republic of China, and that calls for independence are against the Basic Law. "Any promotion of independence is wrong," she told reporters. While there are currently no laws forbidding the advocacy of independence on Hong Kong's statute books, Article 23 of the Basic Law requires the city to enact laws "to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government," which could be interpreted as a ban on such speech. An attempt to bring in such legislation in 2002 sparked a massive demonstration on July 1, 2003, hastening the departure of then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa and an embarrassing withdrawal of the proposed law. However, there are now concerns that Beijing may step up the pressure on Hong Kong. Beijing's chief envoy in Hong Kong, Zhang Xiaoming, said in a TV interview that there must be "a bottom line" which cannot be crossed. "We must stand firm on our principles ... we can't allow such boils to fester," he told Phoenix TV on Thursday. Hong Kong University law professor Eric Cheung said the emergence of the HKNP had likely rung loud alarm bells in Beijing. "There was no mention of forbidding advocacy of Hong Kong independence during the 2003 draft legislation under Article 23," he said. "But this has touched a nerve in Beijing, so it may still come to that." "It's even possible that they could enact Article 23 legislation into Chinese law," Cheung said. Chinese officials have warned that Beijing could enact laws governing subversion in Hong Kong, and extend them to cover the city by decree of the country's parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC). China's official media have already slammed the HKNP, with officials saying it threatens the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong, as well as China's national sovereignty and security. T-shirt democracy And there are signs that Beijing's views on the manner have been taken to heart at all levels of government in Hong Kong with the refusal of the HKNP's company registration bid. The head of the youth group Youngspiration, Baggio Leung, a prominent voice in the "localist" movement rejecting Beijing's influence in Hong Kong, said his group had also been denied permission to register as either a company or a community group. "I think it's highly unlikely [the HKNP] will be able to register as a community group if they can't even get registered as a company," Leung said. He said groups not approved by the government had to find ways around local laws governing fund-raising, however. "It's possible to get around illegal fund-raising rules in Hong Kong by selling T-shirts; you have to sell them quite dearly, and then that is your funding," he said. Reported by Lin Jing for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Myanmar's upper house passes bill to make Aung San Suu Kyi state counselor Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 1 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Myanmar's upper house passes bill to make Aung San Suu Kyi state counselor, 1 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42a0c.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-01 Aung San Suu Kyi (2nd L) talks with military assigned ministers during the presidential power handover ceremony in Naypyidaw, March 30, 2015. NurPhoto Myanmar's upper house of parliament on Friday passed a bill to create a special advisory role for Aung San Suu Kyi in the new democratically elected government run by her party, despite objections by military deputies who called the motion unconstitutional. The position would give Aung San Suu Kyi, who has vowed to rule Myanmar from a position above her proxy president Htin Kyaw, considerable influence over the president and parliament and authority to conduct meetings. The motion passed 137-70 in a secret ballot vote with two deputies abstaining, said upper house speaker Mahn Win Khaing Than. The lower house still needs to pass the bill, which like the upper house is dominated by National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmakers. Military lawmaker Brigadier-General Khin Maung Aye opposed the bill, arguing that it went against the constitution and would create conflicts of interest for Aung San Suu Kyi, who holds other positions in the new government, the online journal The Irrawaddy reported. Military deputies Colonel Myint Swe and Colonel Hla Win Aung objected to the bill because they said it would put the president on the same level as the state counselor and could disrupt the balance of power in the government, Agence France-Presse reported. NLD lawmaker Zaw Min, who chairs the upper house bill committee, dismissed objections that the bill is unconstitutional and said the matter was one for the Constitutional Tribunal to handle. Juggling her roles It remains unclear, however, how 70-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi, who is head of the foreign affairs, education, electric power and energy, and President's Office ministries, will juggle all her roles, along with her position as NLD chairwoman and the state counselor post, if the bill is approved. The NLD issued a statement on Friday citing provisions in the constitution that even though the president, vice presidents and cabinet ministers are prohibited from campaigning for the party, they need not relinquish their positions in the NLD. This would effectively let Aung San Suu Kyi retain her position as NLD chairwoman. "With regard to Aung San Suu Kyi, the president and the ministers, once they assume their positions they should not be involved in party activities," NLD Central Information Committee member Monywa Aung Shin told RFA's Myanmar Service. "This is the kind of question that was asked by the NLD during the first session of Pyithu Hluttaw [lower house of parliament], and it was answered in the same way no mention was made of resignation or retirement." Last week, jurist Than Maung told RFA that if Aung San Suu Kyi was appointed to one or more ministerial posts, she would have to forfeit her status as NLD chairwoman, according to the constitution. He also pointed out that the constitution forbids political party members who become government ministers from holding positions of responsibility in their party during their ministerial term. Contentious relationship Aung San Suu Kyi has had a contentious relationship with the military-backed opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) as well as the powerful military itself, which dominated Myanmar for more than a half-century and kept her under house arrest for 15 years over a 21-year period. When the military junta that formerly ruled the country drafted the constitution in 2008, it inserted a provision preventing anyone with foreign-born relatives from becoming president. This included Aung San Suu Kyi, whose two sons are British nationals, as was her late husband. Lawmakers under the previous USDP government rejected attempts last year by Aung San Suu Kyi to change the provision and to reduce the influence of the military, which controls a quarter of the seats in parliament by appointment and wields veto power over proposed constitutional changes. But after the NLD uprooted the USDP by winning a landslide victory in general elections last November, she vowed to lead the nation from a position above the president. She then picked as her proxy her close aide Htin Kyaw, who was sworn in Wednesday as Myanmar's first civilian president in more than a half-century. In a speech to lawmakers on Wednesday, Htin Kyaw said he would work for a democratic constitution based on a federal union in keeping with the ambition of the NLD an indication that the party-led government still intends to change the charter. Reported by Win Ko Ko Latt for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Nyein Shwe. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Tibetan kills himself to end torture in jail Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 1 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Tibetan kills himself to end torture in jail, 1 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42a18.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-01 Map showing location of Markham county in the Tibet Autonomous Region. RFA A Tibetan man detained by Chinese police on unknown charges has killed himself in custody to end brutal torture at the hands of his jailers, according to a source living in the region. Tashi, a member of the Deyang family aged in his 30s, died on March 11 in the Tsangshul detention center in Markham (in Chinese, Mangkang) county in the Chamdo (Changdu) prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region, a local source told RFA's Tibetan Service. He had been taken into custody by police shortly before the March 10 anniversary of a failed 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, RFA's source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He was severely beaten and tortured while in detention, and became so desperate that he ended his life," the source said. It was not clear how he took his life. Following Tashi's death, a group of local Tibetans staged a protest in front of the Chinese police station, and authorities later detained everyone whose images they had captured on video, the source said. "All Tibetan businessmen and women working outside Markham have now been ordered to return to their homes within 15 days," he added. Internet blocked News of Tashi's death was briefly delayed in reaching outside contacts because of a strict communications clampdown imposed by Chinese authorities in the area, and the reasons for Tashi's detention were not immediately clear. "The Internet has been blocked in Markham county for quite some time, and it has been difficult to get more information on why Tashi was detained by the police," the source said. The number of Tibetans taken into custody for protesting Tashi's death is also not clear, he said. "Members of government task forces assigned to different areas of Markham are now investigating and monitoring the activities of Tibetan families," he added. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing's rule and calling for the return of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008. Reported by Dawa Dolma for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Vietnamese face punishment for attempt to flee the country Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 1 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Vietnamese face punishment for attempt to flee the country, 1 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42a36.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-01 Boats in this undated file photo are shown in the South China Sea near Da Nang, Vietnam Alexander Vilf/RIA Novosti Four Vietnamese citizens are scheduled to be tried next month on charges that they masterminded an attempt to get their extended family to flee the country for Australia in 2015, RFA's Vietnamese service has learned. Tran Thi Lua, Nguyen Minh Quyet, Huynh Thi Kieu, Nguyen Dinh Quy, and Nguyen Minh Quyet are scheduled to be tried on April 5 on charges they violated article 275 of Vietnam's penal code, Tran Thi Lua, told RFA in March 29 telephone interview. The four face from two to seven years in jail for violating the law that makes "organizing and/or coercing other persons to flee abroad or to stay abroad" a crime. Article 275 is one of the laws the nation uses to combat human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation. According to the investigatory report, 46 people including 15 children, fled Vietnam by boat on July 1, 2015, and arrived in Australia's waters on July 21. They were interrogated by Australian authorities and were returned to Vietnam on July 25. Tran Thi Lua told RFA she expected to get a four-year sentence for organizing the attempt. "I was the one who initiated the trip so I will get four years," she said. "The others will get three years." Tran Thi Lua told RFA that she wasn't involved in human trafficking, but was searching for a better life for her family. "We are not traffickers," she said. "Our lives here are so difficult. It is so hard to make enough to raise our children. That was why we decided to leave." She said they split the 440 million Vietnamese dong (U.S. $17,600) needed for the boat, fuel, and food for the trip. "We chipped in," she said. "Those who had more contributed more, while those who had less contributed less." Broken promises Tran Thi Lua and the other three charged with a crime have been interrogated many times by the police since they returned, despite assurances when they came back to Vietnam that they wouldn't be punished, she said. "When we arrived at the airport, one policewoman told us that on behalf of the government of Vietnam, they had pardoned us," she said. "They said they would let us come back to live with our community and nobody would be jailed, but they detained us, and now they prosecute us." According to the prosecutor's report, the four were arrested in August. Lua was released in November for a health issue. Huynh Thi Kieu was not detained because she has three small children, but her husband, Quy is in detention, Lua told RFA. In April 2015 another boat carrying another group of 46 Vietnamese refugees was also returned by Australia to Vietnam. Doan Viet Trung, former chairman of a Vietnamese community organization in Australia, told RFA that a source in Vietnam told him at least two of those people are in detention awaiting a trial. "We think when Australia returned the Vietnamese refugees, they definitely forced some people to jail," Doan Viet Trung told RFA. "As an Australian, I think this is a wrong thing to do." While waiting for the trial, Lua told RFA she is very worried about her future and her children as there is no one to care for them while she is in jail. "The Australian government said that they would return us, and that they and the Vietnamese government had agreed not to jail us and let us live with our community, but now they treat us like this," she said. Reported and translated by Viet Ha for RFA's Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Worried Chinese parents flood Hong Kong clinics seeking safe vaccines Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 1 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Worried Chinese parents flood Hong Kong clinics seeking safe vaccines, 1 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42a46.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-01 A woman and baby enter a Maternal and Child Health Center in Hong Kong, Mar. 30, 2016. Photo courtesy of Hong Kong Information Services Department Worried parents from mainland China are flooding across the internal immigration border into Hong Kong in the wake of the country's latest tainted vaccine scandal, in a bid to get their children immunized safely, the government said on Friday. Hong Kong health officials hastily slapped a quota system on child vaccinations this week, in a bid to protect supplies for children resident in the city after reports of child deaths began to emerge linked to recent vaccinations. Now, the city's vaccination quota of 120 per month for non-resident children has already been filled for April at half of the city's 31 public health centers, officials said. The authorities have set up a hotline to handle bookings from non-Hong Kong residents, saying that service for local families will be unaffected by the scare, government broadcaster RTHK reported. China last week launched a nationwide probe of hundreds of people believed to be involved in an illegal vaccine-selling operation that was found to be peddling out-of-date or improperly stored vaccines, amid reports of child and infant deaths following immunizations. But medical professionals and parents across the country have said there isn't enough transparency around the investigation to enable them to make informed decisions, including weeding out tainted batches of vaccine from existing stocks. An all-time low Rights activist Yang Zhanqing, who has previously helped the families of children injured by tainted vaccines to pursue legal action, said public confidence in the safety of Chinese medicines is at an all-time low. "The authorities are being pretty useless, because there is a greater risk of harm to someone for every day that these vaccines remain in circulation," Yang told RFA. "The government very seldom admits that vaccines can cause harm ... There is a lot of fear among parents when it comes to vaccines now, because a lot of children have died or been crippled by them," he said. Yang said attempts by health officials to reassure the public that remaining supplies of vaccines are safe have largely failed. "The government has itself admitted that they were past their expiry date, which by definition means that they don't pass [quality controls]," he said. "And yet they are still saying they are harmless." Chongqing-based rights activist Zhang Qi, who is also a trained pharmacist, said problems with medicine safety are endemic in China's healthcare system. "China has had a problem with medicine safety for a very long time, and the vaccine scandal is just the tip of the iceberg," he said. "There are even more serious issues with other pharmaceuticals in China." "We can only guess at ... how many strange diseases in China were caused by the misuse of pharmaceuticals," he said. Demand for new procedures A group of Chinese lawyers penned an open letter to China's cabinet, the State Council, on Monday, calling on the government to release a list of companies involved in the 570 million yuan (U.S. $88,123) scam. The letter joined medical professionals in calling for the release of a list of companies implicated in the scandal, which went public with the arrest of two businesswomen surnamed Pang in the eastern province of Shandong last week. It also demanded that new procedures be put in place for the monitoring of vaccine storage in the private sector. The vaccine scare isn't the first time mainlanders have sought to tap higher public safety standards in the former British colony. Since 2008, mainland Chinese bulk traders have sought to buy up supplies of infant milk formula in the city following the melamine-tainted milk scandal that killed at least four infants and sickened hundreds more. Hong Kong authorities have imposed a two-tin limit on nonresidents buying infant formula in Hong Kong following growing public anger and fears that supplies would run out for local families. Reported by Xin Lin and Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Lin Jing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Chinese police detain dozens en route to revolutionary graves Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 4 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Chinese police detain dozens en route to revolutionary graves, 4 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42a52b.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-04 The grave of Hunan rights activist Li Wangyang, Apr. 5, 2015. Photo courtesy of a rights activist. Authorities in the Chinese capital have detained dozens of people as they headed to a Communist Party cemetery to mark a traditional grave-sweeping festival, as activists elsewhere were warned off visiting the tombs of politically 'sensitive' figures. "There were a lot of us [on Sunday]," participant Wang Shufen told RFA on Monday. "Some of us had already got as far as Babaoshan [cemetery], while others hadn't got there yet and were still at the southern railway station [in Beijing]." She said those detained were mostly petitioners, ordinary Chinese in Beijing to pursue complaints against their local governments, and that they were taken to the Jiujingshan detention center on the outskirts of the city. "There were people from right across China, and they are still being taken away from Babaoshan today, busload by busload," Wang said, estimating that each bus could carry at least 70 people. "We saw more than a dozen, maybe 20 buses leave there," she said. "They were being taken to Jiujingshan, where they were released." She said the petitioners had intended to walk through the cemetery, laying wreaths on the graves of well-known political figures. "We weren't going to cause trouble," she said. Tomb-sweeping permits The Sichuan-based Tianwang rights website said police are now demanding a grave-sweeping permit from anyone visiting Babaoshan during the Qingming festival, when graves are traditionally visited for cleaning and ancestral offerings. Fellow petitioner Wang Lijun said security is extremely tight in the capital ahead of the festival, which is often used by activists to honor key figures in the political mythology of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. The practice is often used to highlight ongoing grievances, however, and the Chinese leadership strongly discourages the use of former revolutionaries as a focus for protest. "There was an order from higher up, and security is now very tight on the ground," Wang Lijun said. "It seems as if central government is stepping up the pressure on local governments, who are stepping up security and stability maintenance activities." "But the local governments don't resolve complaints or grievances; they just suppress them," he said. "A lot of people have been heading to Babaoshan in the past few days, and ... they are getting taken to Jiujingshan." Security was also tight around the grave of President Xi Jinping's father, revolutionary elder Xi Zhongxun, where more than 100 people flocked with wreaths and flowers, participants said. "There were really a lot [of people], more than 100," participant Tian Qingrong said. "There were police there too, and they took some people away ... nobody I recognized." "They were buying them tickets and sending them back home, because they were petitioners, who have a different status," Tian said. "We weren't detained, but they told us to buy our own tickets to leave ... so we did." Li Wangyang grave off limits Meanwhile, authorities in the central province of Hunan ordered family members not to visit the grave of democracy activist Li Wangyang, whose death in June 2012 sparked a public outcry. Thousands of people signed an online petition calling for an independent probe into the death of the veteran 1989 pro-democracy activist after official claims that he killed himself while in police custody were disputed by activists and even a Hong Kong official. Li, 62, died at a hospital in Shaoyang city in the custody of local police in June 2012. When relatives arrived at the scene, his body was hanging by the neck from the ceiling near his hospital bed, but many believed his 'hanging' death was staged. Li's brother-in-law Zhao Baozhu said he and his wife Li Wangling are now under surveillance by state security police at their home in Hunan's Shaoyang city. "I had been planning to go and lay a wreath [on Monday] but we'll have to see what the authorities say," Zhao told RFA on Sunday. "They have sent people to keep watch outside our gates, and they are following me." "They also paid a call on us ... and we asked them on what basis [they were watching us] but they didn't reply," Zhao said. "There are some things I can't really say because this phone is also being monitored," he said. "If I told you, they'd come for me again." Around a dozen rights activists in Hunan were also approached by police ahead of Qingming, they told RFA. "I have been warned several times now; some people came to talk with me from the local police station," local activist Xie Zhou said. "They told me not to go [to Li Wangyang's grave]. They said they were trying to help me." "It's very clear that they are also covertly monitoring this phone line," Xie said. "I think that if I did try to go to Li's grave, I would probably be harassed." Another local activist said state security police are also watching Li's grave. "I think it would be OK if you just stopped for a very short time, but if you spend a longer time there, the local police and state security police show up and give you grief," activist Ou Biaofeng said. "We will have to avoid this sensitive time this year," said Ou, who said he typically visits Li's grave once a year, once surveillance stops after the Qingming festival. Repeated calls to the Hunan provincial police department rang unanswered on Sunday. Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wong Si-lam for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Censors delete internet posts on report of cash stash by prominent Chinese Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 4 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Censors delete internet posts on report of cash stash by prominent Chinese, 4 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42a56.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-04 A global investigation into a Panamanian law firm by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and other news organizations names prominent Chinese. ICIJ Chinese censors moved quickly on Monday to delete social media posts linked to a massive investigation that revealed the use of offshore tax havens that some high-ranking Chinese leaders and their families may have used to conceal their fortunes. At least eight current or former members of the all-powerful Politburo standing committee are among the more than 140 political figures worldwide who are linked to the offshore tax havens, according to a global investigation into the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other news organizations. Included in the names uncovered by the investigation are the brother-in-law of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Deng Jiagui, and the daughter of late former premier Li Peng, Li Xiaolin, the ICIJ reports. According to the examination of some 11.5 million documents, Deng set up two British Virgin Islands companies in 2009, while Li and her husband Liu Zhiyuan were the beneficiaries of "Foundation Silo," a Lichtenstein foundation that was the sole shareholder of "Cofic Investments Ltd.," a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands during Li Peng's tenure as premier. Geneva-based lawyer Charles-Andre Junod, who was a director of Cofic Investments, declined to comment when contacted by the ICIJ, but said he has always respected relevant laws. Li Xiaolin did not respond to repeated requests for comment, the report said. Chinese censors strike quickly Coming against a background of growing public anger at the huge fortunes and overseas passports accumulated by the country's ruling class, the ICIU revelations could embarrass China's ruling elite, if the Chinese people could see the reports. Chinese sensors took quick action to make that as difficult as possible as news articles and comments on the leaks were rapidly removed from China's tightly controlled Internet, despite being among the day's top search terms on the Twitter-like service Sina Weibo. While Beijing's censorship may have prevented most Chinese from seeing the reports, those who saw them weren't easily fooled. User @dabingzhanjiangci quipped: "By deleting posts at such speeds, they are admitting their guilt," while user @yikesaiting agreed. "All the posts have now been deleted. They really are showing their guilt," the user commented on one of the last remaining posts on the story on Monday. Others called for more information on offshore dealings linked to China's leaders. "Actually, I'd rather see reports about our own leaders in China," user @SFC-wule wrote, while user @dapianshoufa wrote: "Are there any from China? ... This must be fully investigated!" The post they were commenting on was deleted soon afterwards, however, returning the message: "Sorry, there is an error with the page you visited, or it cannot be found." Hebei-based veteran journalist Zhu Xinxin said the censorship of reports carrying the "Panama documents" hashtag on social media suggests a guilty conscience on the part of Chinese officials. "Reports of this nature are extremely embarrassing [for the government], and they are terrified by them," Zhu said. "The fact that they have been deleting them and closing down accounts is testament to the truthfulness of those reports, there's no doubt about it." While the ICIJ's report said it isn't illegal in itself to have an offshore company, the revelations are by no means the first to point to carefully hidden wealth linked to Chinese leaders and their families. Not the first time In 2012, China's Internet censors blocked access to the Bloomberg website after the news agency described in detail the multimillion-dollar assets of belonging to Xi's relatives while he was still vice-president. According to U.S.-based economist Qin Weiping, the leaks show that President Xi's long-running anti-corruption campaign is unlikely to have scratched the surface of official corruption in China. "All the anti-corruption campaign has done up till now is treat the symptoms, not the causes," Qin told RFA on Monday. "The entire political and financial elite have been robbing ordinary Chinese people of wealth, right from the Politburo standing committee all the way down to the village level of government," he said. "This is an elite that has been built up over the past few decades; they're hardly going to start investigating their own behavior or opposing it." Chinese authorities have jailed dozens of activists in recent years for publicly calling on the government to reveal details of officials' wealth. Several high-profile members of the New Citizens' Movement are currently serving jail terms on public order offenses for anti-graft activism. "They always do their utmost to cover up things like this," Zhu said. Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Myanmar's military MPs want more time to consider 'state counselor' bill Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 4 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Myanmar's military MPs want more time to consider 'state counselor' bill, 4 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42a615.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-04 Myanmar President Htin Kyaw (2nd R) and Aung San Suu Kyi (L), chairwoman of the National League for Democracy, attend a parliamentary session in Naypyidaw, March 30, 2016. NurPhoto Military deputies in Myanmar's parliament said Monday that they wanted more time to discuss a bill that will make Aung San Suu Kyi a state counselor, fearing that the position will give her power equal to that of the president and upset the balance of power among the three branches of government. The bill, which passed in the upper house last week, was submitted to the lower house where military deputies, who control a quarter of the seats in parliament, objected to the measure, saying it is unconstitutional. "We need more time to discuss this bill," said Brigadier General Maung Maung, a member of the lower house's Bill Committee. "If we rushed to approve a bill in such a short time, it could call into question democratic standards and the existence of transparency." "Our military representatives will discuss amending this bill, according to the constitution," he said. "If this bill is approved in accordance with the constitution, then military MPs [members of parliament] will support it." Lower house speaker Win Myint told lawmakers to submit any objections or proposed amendments to the bill for discussion on Tuesday. Tun Tun Hein, a National League for Democracy (NLD) party deputy who chairs the 15-member Bill Committee, submitted a report about the NLD's findings on the draft bill, with the committee's recommendation that the legislation be passed. The lower house, like the upper house, is dominated by NLD lawmakers, who won a majority of the votes in last November's general elections. Two new ministers In another development, President Htin Kyaw has nominated two bureaucrats to replace NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi as head of two of the four ministries to which he appointed her. He made the move after questions arose last week as to how the 70-year-old would manage to lead the foreign affairs, education, electric power and energy, and President's Office ministries to which she had been appointed, in addition to remaining NLD chairwoman and taking the state counselor post, if both houses of parliament approve the bill. Htin Kyaw has put forward Myo Thein Gyi, director general of the Department of Higher Education, as education minister, and Pe Zin Tun, permanent secretary of ministry of electric power and energy, as head of that ministry. "Regarding the president's nominees for both ministers, we will announce the appointments or the submission of proposals if someone wants to object to them during tomorrow's Union parliament session," said upper house speaker Mahn Win Khaing Than. "If there is no objection, the Union parliament will announce that the nominees are appointed," he said. Aung San Suu Kyi will remain minister of foreign affairs and the President's Office. Though she is barred from the presidency by a provision in the current constitution that forbids anyone with foreign-born relatives from occupying the nation's top office, she has vowed to rule from a position above Htin Kyaw, her longtime friend and aide. Htin Kyaw also sought parliament's approval for the appointments of Tun Tun Oo as attorney general and Maw Than as auditor general. Tun Tun Oo was deputy attorney general in the previous government under former President Thein Sein, and Maw Than is a retired rector of the Yangon Institute of Economics. Gifts for bureaucrats Aung San Suu Kyi, in her role as minister of the President's Office, issued a nine-point set of guidelines on Friday regarding the acceptance of gifts by government ministry employees and staff in state and divisional governments to improve government transparency and combat the bribery and corruption that have crippled Myanmar's development. The guidelines require public servants to report to their departmental heads any gifts they accept or decline. They also specify that bureaucrats cannot accept gifts valued at 25,000 kyat (U.S. $21) or more from individuals or organizations, and that the total value of gifts received annually should not exceed 100,000 kyat (U.S. $83). The 25,000-kyat limit is less than one-tenth the threshold set by the previous administration, according to a report in the online journal The Irrawaddy. In addition, bureaucrats must distribute flowers and fruit that they receive to staff members. However, civil servants are allowed to accept gifts valued at less than 100,000 kyat on religious holidays such as the Buddhist celebration Thadingyut or Christmas, when gift-giving is common. Officials also can accept gifts worth up to and including 400,000 kyat (U.S. $332) as well as travel, scholarships, and medical expenses from foreign governments, The Irrawaddy reported. Myanmar ranked number 147 of a total 167 countries on Berlin-based Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index in 2015. Reported by Win Naung Toe for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Tibetan land protesters go on trial in Sichuan Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 4 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Tibetan land protesters go on trial in Sichuan, 4 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42a712.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-04 Tibetans petition in southwest China's Chengdu for the return of land seized by local government, Jan. 28, 2015. 64TianWang Three Tibetans detained since last year for attempting to reclaim land seized by local authorities went on trial last week in western China's Sichuan province, joined by a fourth man who had earlier been released but was then taken back into custody, sources said. The four were part of a group of Tibetans who had briefly reoccupied confiscated community land in Thangkor town in Dzoege (in Chinese, Ruo'ergai) county in the Ngaba (Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, a local source told RFA's Tibetan Service. "On March 31, three Tibetans who were under detention and another person who had previously been released were put on trial by the Dzoege People's Court," the source said speaking on condition of anonymity and identifying the men as Jigje Kyab, Rinchen Dorje, Phurko, and Kurde Yeshe. "Four family members of each of the accused were allowed to attend the hearing, with no others permitted to witness the proceedings," RFA's source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They were also subjected to a thorough search before entering the courtroom," he said. During the trial, each defendant was asked who had been responsible for marking and fencing off the disputed land, which had been taken from them five years before for a government development project, though no developer had begun work on the land and local authorities were instead leasing it out to private individuals. "During the proceedings, Jigje Kyab asked the court to spare Rinchen Dorje, who is in poor health, and to send him to prison in his place, with Rinchen Dorje asking that he be sentenced instead of Jigje Kyab, "who is still young and has his whole future ahead of him," RFA's source said. Protest in Chengdu Entrusted by community members with documents supporting Tibetan claims to the confiscated property, Kyab had briefly gone into hiding last year so that he could present the community's case to higher provincial authorities, sources told RFA in earlier reports. He had also played a role in organizing a Jan. 28, 2015 protest by 20 Thangkor-area Tibetans in the Sichuan provincial capital Chengdu, sources said. In that incident, authorities quickly broke up the protest and detained 11 Tibetans after the group petitioned in front of government buildings during a meeting of the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress for the return of their land. Separately, a second Tibetan source confirmed to RFA that the men had gone on trial. "All four have been put on trial, and it is said that a verdict could come in about a week's time," the source, a Thangkor resident, said. The requisitioning of rural land for lucrative property deals by cash-hungry local governments triggers thousands of "mass incidents" across China every year. Many result in violent suppression, the detention of the protests' main organizers, and intense pressure on the local population to comply with the government's wishes. Reported by Lobe Socktsang for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Tibetan writer appeals prison term, calling writings 'protected by China's constitution' Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 4 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Tibetan writer appeals prison term, calling writings 'protected by China's constitution', 4 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42a813.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-04 Tibetan writer Shokjang in an undated photo. (Photo courtesy of an RFA listener) A Tibetan writer sentenced to three years in prison in February for writing material deemed politically sensitive by China's government has appealed his prison term, saying that China's constitution protects the right to express one's views in writing. Shokjang, also called Druklo, was jailed on Feb. 17 by the People's Intermediate Court in Rebgong (in Chinese, Tongren) county in the Malho (Huangnan) prefecture in northwestern China's Qinghai province, a local source told RFA's Tibetan Service. Now, Shokjang has protested his sentence to a higher court in Qinghai, arguing in a 17-page appeal, a copy of which has been obtained by RFA, that his writings are protected by Chinese law, RFA's source said. Writing in both Tibetan and Chinese, Shokjang said that China's constitution guarantees the freedom of expression, allowing one to express one's views in writing, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He offered an apology if anything he wrote had mistakenly violated specific provisions of the constitution without his knowledge," he said. "He also said that his wife and children are counting the minutes and seconds until his return, and therefore hopes for a speedy and positive decision by the appeals court," the source said. Shokjang's family have not been allowed to visit him since he was taken into custody, he added. Shokjang was secretly detained on March 19, 2015, around the same time that a friend of his was also taken away, a source in the region told RFA in an earlier report. "Before his detention, he had written about the increased presence of Chinese armed security forces in the Rebgong area and about crackdowns on Tibetans," the source said. Shokjang had also written an article that month about conditions in a school in Kangtsa (Gangcha) county in the Tsojang (Haibei) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai. Shokjang was among the 23 journalists and 83 bloggers that the ruling Chinese Communist Party put behind bars in 2015, according to an end-of-year report by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Reported by Lhuboom for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Violent clash underscores Cambodian vote on new labor law Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 4 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Violent clash underscores Cambodian vote on new labor law, 4 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42a9c.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-04 A member of a security force detail appears to hit a demonstrator during a labor protest, April 4, 2016. RFA As the Cambodian legislature began considering controversial legislation that seeks to regulate trade unions on Monday, security forces injured at least one union official as they violently broke up a labor demonstration by opponents of the measure. The clash took place after more than 50 union supporters gathered to protest outside of the national assembly complex in an effort to show lawmakers they are unhappy with the legislation. While Prime Minister Hun Sen contends that the law is aimed at regulating the country's 3,400 trade unions, labor leaders and human rights groups say it is an attempt to dilute the power of organized labor's power.. The legislation still needed approval by the Senate on Monday afternoon, but its final passage is likely a foregone conclusion as the upper house is dominated by lawmakers from Hun Sen's Cambodian Peoples' Party. Garment factory owners want to restrict the number of unions, blaming them for the poor labor relations they claim threatens to undermine a lucrative sector of the national economy. Around 700,000 factory workers form the bedrock of Cambodia's $7 billion textile industry, which supplies brands including Gap, Nike and H&M. Critics of the legislation have expressed concern over provisions that force unions to report their finances to the government and increase authorities' power to close down labor groups. The whistle blew Before the union supporters clashed with police, Daun Penh district authorities blew a whistle as a signal to chase the protesters away from the barricades authorities erected to block the road leading to the national assembly complex. Suddenly, the security forces pushed the protesters away, telling them to do their protests from the street. When protestors argued with police, security forces beat Sut Chet, a union official from the Collective Union of Movement of Workers. Sut Chet, whose left eye was injured, said he didn't provoke the attack by security forces. "I just went to see them, and they just beat me," he told RFA. "I didn't say anything, or curse them. They used both fists and walkie-talkies." Another union official, Yang Sophorn, who was also pushed hard by security forces, said the attack further erodes confidence in the Cambodian government. "We used to have a firm belief that we put our trust and our rights in them because we voted for them to protect us," she said. "But instead, they did not even protect the people's interests. That's because the union laws are laws that will make workers lose their rights, and when we come to protest for those rights back, they just used violence on us." Phnom Penh City Hall's spokesman blamed a group of female union protesters for starting the fracas by grabbing the collar of a security force officer. ""It was not without reason," he said, adding that the protest was illegal. "What is not allowed by law and what is allowed by law, we should think of those rationally. City Hall always states that a gathering to demonstrate or protest or any gathering for that matter must have permission first." Nai Vongda, vice president of the human rights watchdog Adhoc, appealed to the international community to pressure the Cambodian government. "We saw that the security forces of the Daun Penh district are still behaving violently towards the protesters who protest peacefully," he told RFA. "We would like to condemn and appeal to the international community to again review their relations and the aide they give to this government, because of their crackdowns on unions and threats to human rights." Labor Minister Sam Heng and Pen Panha, who chairs the Committee in Charge of Laws and Justice of the National Assembly, told the assembly that they changed 37 points of 22 articles in the draft law, but they failed to explain what was changed Lawmaker Ith Sam Heng defended the move, saying approval of the law "shows the close attention by the National Assembly and ensures freedom in vocational organizations and well-being in the trades, which are a core factor of stability in production and attract more investment in Cambodia." A senior official with the Licadho human rights organization told RFA the changes are just window dressing. "There are a number of articles that are contrary to international standards because the international standards call for openness for the workers to establish unions without restrictions," Am Sam Ath said in RFA's call-in show on Monday. Reported by Samnang Ramm for RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Pganawath Kuhn. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China goes on propaganda offensive against 'Western' Panama law firm leaks Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 5 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China goes on propaganda offensive against 'Western' Panama law firm leaks, 5 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42aa23.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-05 Chinese President Xi Jinping (3rd L, 2nd row from bottom) and members of the Politburo sing China's national anthem during the annual meeting of the government's political advisory body in Beijing, March 14, 2016. AFP China's powerful propaganda ministry has ordered all media outlets to delete any reports on the Panama Papers, a massive leak of confidential files that revealed widespread use of offshore tax havens by political leaders worldwide, including some relatives of high-ranking Chinese leaders. "Find and delete reprinted reports on the Panama Papers," a leaked provincial propaganda directive published and translated by the U.S.-based China Digital Times (CDT) website said. "Please act immediately." "Do not follow up on related content, no exceptions," the April 4 directive, delivered verbally to news editors across China, said. "If material from foreign media attacking China is found on any website, it will be dealt with severely," it said. A less stringent take-down order was issued targeting the reporting of Russian President Vladimir Putin's link to the documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, according to CDT, which runs an archive of such notices titled "Ministry of Truth." "Please withdraw the article 'Panama Papers Leaked, Putin in U.S. $200 Million Money Laundering Scandal' and related stories from [all] homepages and [social media], and move articles to the backend of the site," the notice, also dated April 4, said. Scant discussion But while the revelations have sent shock waves through the rest of the world's media, there was scant discussion of the leaks in China on Tuesday after censors removed all reference to the story across the Chinese Internet. A Chinese journalist who gave only his surname Wu said it's now not possible to view news reports on the Panama Papers without using circumvention tools to get around the system of blocks and filters known as the Great Firewall. "No, we can't see anything about this in China right now," Wu said. "It has all been deleted; it's all gone." He said posts on forums, QQ chat groups, Twitter-like Weibo services and the popular messaging app WeChat were all being deleted if they mentioned the Panama Papers. "Some people are still passing around screenshots of stories as images to their friends, however," Wu added. At least eight current or former members of the all-powerful Politburo standing committee are among the more than 140 political figures worldwide linked to the offshore tax havens, according to a global investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other news organizations. The ICIJ's website carrying details of the leaks was blocked in China on Tuesday, according to the anti-censorship website GreatFirewall.org. Included in the names uncovered by the investigation are the brother-in-law of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Deng Jiagui, and the daughter of late former premier Li Peng, Li Xiaolin. According to the examination of some 11.5 million documents, Deng set up two British Virgin Islands companies in 2009, while Li and her husband Liu Zhiyuan were the beneficiaries of "Foundation Silo," a Lichtenstein foundation that was the sole shareholder of "Cofic Investments Ltd.," a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands during Li Peng's tenure as premier. Highly sensitive Wu said the leaks are highly sensitive, as they potentially implicate some of the highest-ranking leaders of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. "This goes to the highest level ... A lot of people do know about this, but there are still many who don't know anything about it," he said. "Netease and Tencent both had stories about it, but they only spoke about the overseas aspects, because on the first day it was mostly about Putin," he said. "It wasn't until day two that reports started to emerge gradually about China's highest-ranking leaders, but ... now all reports about the Panama Papers have been banned," he said. A worker in the legal profession surnamed Zhang said there was now a nationwide silence on the topic. "These voices aren't being heard in China. Why? Because China has the Great Firewall," he said. "There was a directive that nobody was to post anything on this topic, and, it pains me to say it, but that's actually what happened," he said. Meanwhile, official Chinese media said the Mossack Fonseca leak was likely the work of "powerful forces" targeting "non-Western political elites." The tabloid Global Times, which has close ties to the ruling party, said "the power behind the leak" is engaging a campaign of disinformation with an ideological aim. "In the Internet era, disinformation ... will become a new means for the ideology-allied Western nations to strike a blow to non-Western political elites and key organizations," the paper said. "The Western media has taken control of the interpretation each time there has been such a document dump, and Washington has demonstrated particular influence in it," it said, adding that leaks of documents by former NSA [U.S. National Security Agency] contractor Edward Snowden appeared to be "the most credible." 'Groundless accusations' Asked on Tuesday if Beijing would launch an investigation into the tax affairs of those named by the ICIJ, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the ministry would not comment on "these groundless accusations." Freedom of speech activist Wu Bin said the government now has a stranglehold on information in China. "There is no freedom of expression in China, and the only news that gets widely disseminated is news that is in [the government's] interest," Wu Bin told RFA. "It's wall-to-wall trivia, like [President] Xi Jinping eating dumplings, tiny things like that which get huge articles written about them." "They believe that they can orchestrate the main theme tune and broadcast positive energy to the nation, and any news that isn't in their interest just becomes a wall of silence; it's not even mentioned," he said. Reported by Wong Siu-san and Chan Siu-po for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Yang Fan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Churches Across Nation to Stand with the Persecuted on Sunday, April 17th Contact: J.P. Duffy or Alice Chao, 866-FRC-NEWS, 866-372-6397; both with Family Research Council WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- As Christians around the world face unprecedented levels of persecution, Family Research Council is joining an effort to call upon churches across America to stand with the persecuted. Prominent Christian leaders such James Robison, JC Church of Victory in Truth Ministries (Bucyrus, OH), Pastor Scott Craig of Big Horn Christian Ministries (Rapid City, SD), Senior Pastor Denny Stahl of Calvary Chapel Grants Pass, OR, Senior Pastor Robert Hall of Calvary Chapel Rio Rancho, NM, Senior Pastor Chuck Vizthum of Whole Life Christian Fellowship (Sturgis, MI), Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Church (La Mesa, CA) and Associate Pastor Kris Mineau of Trinity Evangelical (North Redding, MA) will be participating in Stand with the Persecuted Sunday. The call is to devote just a small portion of their time in their weekend services to pray and act on behalf of those around the globe who have been targeted for no other reason than their faith in Jesus Christ. FRC is joining with seven leading international religious liberty groups: Open Doors, the Institute on Religion and Democracy, The Voice of the Martyrs, In Defense of Christians, Christian Solidarity Worldwide-USA, International Christian Concern, 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative in this call to American churches. Nearly 40,000 U.S. churches have been asked to participate in Stand with the Persecuted Sunday on April 17 by showing a brief video, distributing a special bulletin insert, and spending time in prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters internationally. The aims of Stand with the Persecuted Sunday are to: Pray for the persecuted, Participate in practical ministries that support them, and Promote policies that protect persecuted Christians throughout the world. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said: "This past Easter, as we joyfully celebrated the resurrection of Jesus in our churches here in America, Christians elsewhere, like in Pakistan were targeted for death because of their Christian faith. As Christians here in American we have an obligation to pray for and act on behalf of our brothers and sister in Christ who are being persecuted for their faith. The persecution of Christians is at an unprecedented level and we are even seeing it here in the United States, but the hostility that Christians here in America are facing pales in comparison to the mistreatment, displacement, violence, rape, crucifixions, and beheadings experienced by followers of Jesus in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Pakistan, and other parts of the Middle East and beyond. "We are honored to partner with ministries like Open Doors, the Institute on Religion and Democracy, The Voice of the Martyrs, In Defense of Christians, Christian Solidarity Worldwide-USA, International Christian Concern, and 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative which are highlighting the plight of the persecuted. Please urge your pastor and church to join us on Sunday, April 17 and Stand with the Persecuted," concluded Perkins. Please see frc.org/stand for more information. To request an interview with any of the listed pastors above to discuss Stand with the Persecuted Sunday, please email media@frc.org. Share Tweet Cambodia detains country's ambassador to South Korea on unspecified corruption charges Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 5 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Cambodia detains country's ambassador to South Korea on unspecified corruption charges, 5 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42aa6.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-05 Cambodian Anti-Corruption Unit chief Om Yentieng speaking to youth groups, March 24, 2016. RFA/Cheu Sideth Cambodia's Anti-Corruption Unit detained the nation's controversial ambassador to South Korea, Suth Dina, and is preparing to file corruption charges following a probe of his spending, complaints by Foreign Ministry staff and Cambodian migrant workers, the unit's chief said on Tuesday. While Suth Dina could face a pair of corruption charges, ACU chief Om Yentieng declined to specify what the charges will be. "We arrested him yesterday at 7p.m, so we have 48 hours until tomorrow at 7 p.m. to charge him," he told RFA's Khmer service. "After 48 hours, it means we must bring him and his case to the court." Om Yentieng refused to say what charges were, but he said the ones for which Suth Dina was arrested are relatively minor, hinting that he may face even more serious ones later. "We found so many faults, so we may choose just the two counts at first in order to send him to court before the 48 hours is up," he said. "As for other offences we'll work on them later." Suth Dina's response Regarding the allegations, Suth Dina in mid-March posted a request for a review from Prime Minister Hun Sen on his Facebook page. In the post he asked Hun Sen to look into the case and give him justice. In the post, he writes that he strived to fulfill his role and sacrificed everything to serve the government, the ruling Cambodian Peoples' Party as well as the people and students who are living, studying and working in South Korea. "If I do not have a firm stance, I could not have success in the hot battles of administrative work, diplomatic work, and politics," he wrote in the post, adding that he also has to "fight with those who are twisting my words ... and reporting to the upper levels in order for them to revoke trust in me or to remove me from my post." He added: "The officials who come after me have no conscience about their work, no sacrifice, no transparency as officials who have to serve the workers and the Cambodian people. They just conspire with each other, finding all means to complain about me, to accuse and defame me, to get rid of me from my post I hold to serve the people." Suth Dina was a former president of the Cambodian Democracy and Students Front who supported Prince Norodom Rannaridh's FUNCINPEC Party. He used to be a political activist who led demonstrations against the CPP. In 2009, however, he joined the CPP and soon after that he was nominated as undersecretary of state at the Foreign Affairs Ministry and was also a personal advisor to Hun Sen. In 2014, he was appointed as Cambodian Ambassador to South Korea, an important investor in Cambodia. Preap Kol, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia, welcomed the move by the ACU. "It is what the citizens in general want," he told RFA. "They want to see the ACU taking actions against corruption in all cases." This is the second time the ACU has taken actions against Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials for corruption. Last week, the ACU arrested a Foreign Ministry official named Hea a Sen for allegedly taking bribes from foreign companies in exchange for approving various documents. Reported by Chandara Yang for RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Pagnawath Khun. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi jumps into foreign minister role, meets Chinese counterpart Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 5 April 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi jumps into foreign minister role, meets Chinese counterpart, 5 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/570f42ab15.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-04-05 Myanmar Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi (R) shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) before their meeting in Naypyidaw, April 5, 2016. Myanmar News Agency/AFP Myanmar's Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi met with her visiting Chinese counterpart on Tuesday in Naypyidaw, diving straight into one of her new government cabinet roles under the National League for Democracy (NLD) government. "I assume that China's visit to Myanmar in the first week of new government is to build a good relationship between two countries," she told the media at a press conference following her meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is on his first official two-day visit during the new government's first week in office. On Monday, President Htin Kyaw, who also had originally appointed her to lead the electric power and energy and education ministries, named two bureaucrats to take on the positions, leaving her to focus on the foreign affairs and President's Office portfolios. Aung San Suu Kyi has also retained her political party position as NLD chairwoman. But Aung San Suu Kyi and Wang Yi did not broach the possible restart of a controversial hydropower dam project financed by the Chinese that former president Thein Sein put on hold in 2011. "We didn't discuss the Myitsone Dam project with the Chinese foreign minister because I haven't become familiar enough with the contract details," she said. He has just visited to honor our new government." Thein Sein stopped China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), one of China's largest state-owned electricity producers, from continuing to build the 6,000-megawatt, $3.6-billion Myitsone Dam project along the Irrawaddy River in northern Myanmar's Kachin State amid fervent opposition, mainly because of the environmental destruction it was predicted to cause. Aung San Suu Kyi has been one of the Myitsone Dam project's most vocal opponents. After the NLD won national elections last November, she assured Chinese leaders at the time that she sought continued friendly relations between the two countries and welcomed Chinese investment in Myanmar, as long as investors won the trust of the Myanmar people. Some political observers in Myanmar have said the decision about whether or not to continue the dam project will be one of the biggest challenges for the new government, given that Chinese-backed companies are the largest foreign investors in the country. Their heavy-handed tactics in exploiting natural resources, however, have sparked vehement public opposition. 'Above the president' The meeting came the same day as Myanmar's lower house of parliament approved a bill appointing Aung San Suu Kyi to the role of state counselor, a new position that some say will give her more power than the president. The position will allow her to direct the activities of both parliament and the executive branch. "As the separate chapters and articles were passed by the majority of lawmakers, the entire bill was approved," said lower house speaker Win Myint. Military deputies, who control a quarter of parliamentary seats, objected to the bill, which they said is unconstitutional. "I submitted my proposal yesterday and said that we will support this bill if it is in accordance with the constitution and try to amend it if we need to," said Brigadier General Maung Maung, a military deputy and member of the Bill Committee. "This bill has not been drafted according to the constitution," he said. "It is democratic bullying. That's why our military MPs [members of parliament] didn't vote in favor of this bill." Aung San Suu Kyi, who is barred from the presidency under a constitutional clause that forbids anyone with foreign-born relatives from holding the nation's top office, vowed to be "above the president" after the NLD won the November elections. Both houses of parliament on Tuesday also approved Htin Kyaw's new nominees for the ministries of electric power and energy and education, to which Aung San Suu Kyi was briefly appointed last week. Reported by Win Naung Toe for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Daleiden Files Motion to Dismiss Texas Charges NAPA, Calif., April 14, 2016 / Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson came under fire from Life Legal and other pro-life organizations in January after she failed to file charges against Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC). Videos released by David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress clearly show PPGC's director of research, Melissa Farrell, "District Attorneys have a great deal of latitude in how they conduct grand jury investigations and can readily obtain indictments in cases they want to prosecute," notes Life Legal Defense Foundation Executive Director Alexandra Snyder. "It is famously said that prosecutors have so much influence over grand juries that they can get them to 'indict a ham sandwich,' yet DA Anderson refused to connect the dots between paying for an aborted specimen and fetal tissue trafficking. We are hopeful that the judge reviewing today's motion will recognize the absurdity of charging David for the crime committed by Planned Parenthood." This is not the first time DA Anderson has elected not to prosecute abortion providers, even in the face of documented evidence of criminal activity. In 2013, Anderson's grand jury investigation into late-term abortionist Douglas Karpenwho has been called the Gosnell of Houstonfailed to return a single indictment, even though Karpen's former employees stated that babies were born alive and then murdered in his clinic on a daily basis. In 2014, Karpen's attorney donated over $25,000 to Anderson's campaign. Life Legal continues to coordinate Daleiden's defense, including preparing for possible charges in California after Attorney General Kamala Harris raided David's apartment and seized his personal property. Life Legal also heads up Daleiden's litigation team in three separate lawsuits filed against him by StemExpress, the National Abortion Federation, and Planned Parenthoodincluding PPGC. About Life Legal Defense Foundation Life Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit Share Tweet Contact: Alexandra Snyder, Life Legal Defense Foundation , 202-717-7371NAPA, Calif., April 14, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- A motion to quash David Daleiden's criminal indictment has been filed in Harris County, Texas today. The motion seeks to invalidate the charges filed against Daleiden after he was indicted by a grand jury for allegedly using a fake identification and violating a state statute prohibiting trafficking in fetal tissue.Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson came under fire from Life Legal and other pro-life organizations in January after she failed to file charges against Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC).Videos released by David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress clearly show PPGC's director of research, Melissa Farrell, discussing compensation for intact bodies and parts of aborted babies. In one video, Farrell says, "We had two levels of invoicing for [fetal specimens]. We had it worded as 'per consent,'" which she defined as "paying for the specimen itself." PPGC takes in over $24 million in annual revenue."District Attorneys have a great deal of latitude in how they conduct grand jury investigations and can readily obtain indictments in cases they want to prosecute," notes Life Legal Defense Foundation Executive Director Alexandra Snyder. "It is famously said that prosecutors have so much influence over grand juries that they can get them to 'indict a ham sandwich,' yet DA Anderson refused to connect the dots between paying for an aborted specimen and fetal tissue trafficking. We are hopeful that the judge reviewing today's motion will recognize the absurdity of charging David for the crime committed by Planned Parenthood."This is not the first time DA Anderson has elected not to prosecute abortion providers, even in the face of documented evidence of criminal activity.In 2013, Anderson's grand jury investigation into late-term abortionist Douglas Karpenwho has been called the Gosnell of Houstonfailed to return a single indictment, even though Karpen's former employees stated that babies were born alive and then murdered in his clinic on a daily basis. In 2014, Karpen's attorney donated over $25,000 to Anderson's campaign.Life Legal continues to coordinate Daleiden's defense, including preparing for possible charges in California after Attorney General Kamala Harris raided David's apartment and seized his personal property. Life Legal also heads up Daleiden's litigation team in three separate lawsuits filed against him by StemExpress, the National Abortion Federation, and Planned Parenthoodincluding PPGC.About Life Legal Defense FoundationLife Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit www.lldf.org Incident reports released Wednesday by the Abilene Police Department: Aggravated robbery, 5100 block of Highway 277 South, Tuesday A convenience store clerk reported being robbed of $45 at gunpoint. Theft of firearm, 800 block of Butternut Street, Tuesday A $200 .22-caliber revolver was reported stolen from a box in a drawer at a residence. Shoplifting, 4300 block of Buffalo Gap Road, Tuesday An estimated $425 worth of items were reported stolen from a store. Burglary, 1700 block of Holbron Street, Monday An estimated $300 worth of tools were reported stolen from the garage of a vacant house under renovation. Theft, 1700 block Lytle Trail, Monday About $1,500 worth of items were reported stolen. Theft, 800 block of South San Jose Drive, Monday An estimated $550 worth of tools were reported stolen from a shed. The Cisco Independent School District will receive up to $500,000 in grant funding and support over three years to help implement its blended learning initiatives, the district said Wednesday. Cisco ISD is part of a group including four Texas school districts and one public charter school to receive a grant totaling about $3 million sponsored by Raise Your Hand Texas, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that seeks to inspire innovative leadership and advocacy for public education, according to the nonprofit's website. "Cisco ISD will now stand as an implementation model from which districts across the state can learn," said Alison Badgett, interim executive director for Raise Your Hand Texas. "(The district's) leadership is committed to using blended learning to personalize instruction and drive improved performance. We look forward to supporting Cisco's efforts to enhance student achievement and sharing what we learn statewide." Other districts chosen as demonstration sites for the blended learning initiatives are Birdville ISD, the Knowledge Is Power Program: Houston, Pasadena ISD, and Point Isabel ISD. Each of the grant recipients will seek to apply blended learning strategies to remedy a specific challenge in their schools. Cisco ISD will work to improve Tier 3, or advanced achievement, in math and science for grades four through seven, the district said. Cisco consistently ranks among the best in the Big Country for standardized testing scores, but with its new program, called Elevate, the district will focus on raising students to their highest possible achievement levels. Blended learning is a blend of online learning and brick-and-mortar schooling that takes place when students learn at least in part online, with some student control over the time, place, path, and/or pace of their learning, the news release said. This is a departure from the broader trend of simply equipping classrooms with devices and software and different from full-time virtual education, which does not include peer engagement and in-person student-teacher interactions, according to the release. Cisco ISD administrators were pleased by the district's inclusion as a demonstration site. "We are honored by the Raise Your Hand Texas selection, and Cisco considers it a privilege to be involved with the blended learning initiative," Superintendent Kelly West said. "This selection represents the culmination of months of work and planning; it represents the classroom dreams of our teachers involved." The Abilene City Council agreed Thursday to proceed with a potential ordinance to ban texting while driving in the city, although some members said they would rather wait for the state to take action on the issue. Police Chief Stan Standridge presented a possible ordinance to the council at its regular meeting after several councilmen requested the item be placed on the agenda. No action was taken. The proposed ordinance would prohibit the use of any mobile device to read, write or send an electronic communication while operating a motor vehicle, with exceptions for law enforcement and utility employees who use a wireless device for work, according to the draft. Mayor Norm Archibald said he did not think the city could wait for the state to take action and should proceed with drafting the potential ordinance. 'I never cease to be amazed at the number of people driving while distracted,' Archibald said before relating a story about seeing a woman driving with her knees while holding a coffee cup in one hand and a cellphone in the other. The audience laughed. Councilmen Shane Price and Bruce Kreitler both said that regulating the use of mobile devices while driving is a state issue, something that ought to be applied uniformly across the state as opposed to city by city. But they were not opposed to going forward with considering an ordinance. Efforts to pass a statewide ban on texting while driving have failed in the past two sessions of the Texas Legislature. Standridge discussed what a potential ordinance would look like, including possible defenses to using mobile devices while driving and penalties. Using a mobile device while driving would be considered a moving violation, which wouldn't show on a driver's record, Standridge said. The most the fine could be is $500, based on state law, said Stanley Smith, interim city attorney. Standridge said possible defenses to using mobile devices while driving would include using a hands-free device, being stopped out of traffic lanes, using a navigation system and communicating with emergency responders. City staff examined ordinances in other municipalities, including San Angelo, Denton and Sweetwater, before bringing the item to the council. Channel 2 Television viewers in Abilene soon will see content other than city board meetings and NASA television on Channel 2, the public education and government channel. The City Council approved agreements with the Wylie and Abilene independent school districts to provide funds to the districts that will allow them to purchase audiovisual equipment to produce content for the public access channel. The funds come from the franchise tax fee paid on cable bills, said Cheryl Sawyers, city spokeswoman. Those funds may only be used to benefit the public access channel. Wylie Superintendent Joey Light said the programming will benefit family members who are out of town for school events. 'This will give folks who can't make the ballgame, whether they're deployed for the military, they might be shut-ins or grandparents who live hours away,' he said. 'This will give them a chance to see the things they would love to be able to see.' The agreements, which would last for five years, also must be approved by the school districts' boards. Abilene ISD Superintendent David Young said the agreement presents a smooth process for the city to provide funds to the school district for equipment that will benefit the public access channel. 'It's just a mechanism for us to partner to utilize these funds in the most efficient way possible,' Young said. 'We've already had the opportunity to receive some of these funds for some video equipment at our central administration building that helps us air school board meetings in (high definition).' The council also approved about $200,000 in funds to purchase new audiovisual equipment upgrades at Shotwell Stadium. Economic development program The city added another tool to its economic development toolbox Thursday by establishing a Chapter 380 economic development program. Such programs allow the city to reimburse businesses or developers the costs of improvements that go beyond city code requirements and benefit the public, said City Manager Robert Hanna. He said the intent is to use revenue generated by the improvements, not the city's funds. The council unanimously approved the program after a brief presentation by Hanna, who said he has used the program in other cities. 'This brings us flexibility we never had before,' Archibald said. Hanna said the program would be a 'tool in our toolbox with some of the initiative we're doing with (the Abilene Neighborhood Initiative) and some other economic development opportunities we've discussed in executive session.' 'The practice of the city ought to be to identify the public improvements the city is interested in, set a dollar amount that the public is prepared to contribute to the projects (and) create performance requirements,' he said. It would be up to the developer to meet the requirements of the agreement. Hanna would negotiate the agreements with Kent Sharp, chief executive officer of the Development Corporation of Abilene, and the council would determine whether the improvements meet a public purpose before authorizing them. Examples of improvements include repairs to streets, additional landscaping and sidewalks, Hanna said. The program drew praise from Councilman Anthony Williams. 'I love this as an opportunity not just to be business-friendly but just responsive in providing another opportunity or tool or resource that allows those who want to invest in Abilene an opportunity to do so that's more profitable,' Williams said. Twitter: BrookeCrum_ARN Halloween events, fall festivals pack October in Abilene, Big Country From family-friendly to frightful, there are plenty of opportunities to don the costumes and scare up some treats. The 2016 Outlaws & Legends Music Festival on April 1 and 2 grew in numbers from last year's event, but the growth expected in July may just shatter all previous records. Backporch Productions announced that Avon, Colorado, would be home to Outlaws & Legends Music Festival this summer. Outlaws & Legends Avon will happen July 29 and 30 in Harry A. Nottingham Park. Much like the Abilene version, the festival will feature multiple artists playing during the two-day event. Performers scheduled so far are Mark Powell & Lariat; Dean Dillon, who is partnering with Backporch Products for the festival; Robert Earl Keen; Ryan Bingham; Deana Carter; Cooder Graw; Trent Willmon; Sonia Leigh and Jesse Raub Jr. Tickets range from $62 for early-bird weekend passes, to one-day passes costing $72, plus fees, to VIP all-access passes for $364, plus fees. There are also two nights of Storytellers Unplugged, with tickets per night costing $52, plus fees. Tickets may be ordered at www.outlawsandlegends.com. That website also includes additional information. COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Louisiana's governor issued an executive order Wednesday banning discrimination in state government based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and transgender people in South Carolina told state senators that a bill requiring them to use a public bathroom corresponding to their "biological sex" puts them in danger of harassment. The overwhelming majority of people at the Senate hearing opposed the measure, which mimics part of a North Carolina law signed last month that has brought a national backlash. No vote was taken. In Tennessee, 60 business leaders including the CEOs of Williams-Sonoma, Airbnb, Alcoa, T-Mobile and Dow Chemical signed a letter asking lawmakers to kill similar legislation. The events seemed to unfold across the South almost simultaneously as the fight over LGBT rights raged on. The South Carolina bill introduced by Sen. Lee Bright would require multistall bathrooms on public property to be designated and used "based on biological sex." It specifically includes student bathrooms, locker rooms and showers in public schools. It would also bar local governments from requiring businesses to let transgender people use the bathroom of their choice. Bright said he's had enough of tolerance if that means "men who claim to be women" going into a bathroom with children. "I don't believe transgender people are pedophiles," the Republican said. "I think grown adult men would use this as protection to violate women in the restroom." U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles, who was invited to the hearing to discuss instances in South Carolina of transgender people verbally or physically assaulting someone, had a simple answer: "I can find none." He declined to give any position on the bill, but when asked whether current laws protect people from being victimized, he said, "the state of South Carolina has laws to address assault and battery." Dex Sexton, 17, of Blythewood, said people don't undress openly in women's restrooms, as stalls provide privacy. If the issue is fear of assault, he asked, then why are men who have abused little boys not forced to use a different bathroom? "It's protections against sexual assault that stop them, not because they can't use the men's bathroom," he said. In Louisiana, the LGBT protection order signed by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards prohibits state agencies, boards and contractors from harassment or discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, political affiliation, disability or age. State contracts will be required to include a similar anti-discrimination provision. Edwards, in office since January, also terminated a religious objections executive order issued by former Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal last year. That "Marriage and Conscience" order from Jindal prohibited state agencies under the governor's control from denying licenses, benefits, contracts or tax deductions to businesses and people that take actions because of a "religious belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman." At the South Carolina hearing, opponents said the proposal would do the opposite of its purported intention. "Look at me and tell me I belong in the men's restroom," said Capri Culpepper, who was wearing a blue, low-cut dress and fingernails with red polish. Last year, she settled a lawsuit against the state Department of Motor Vehicles after being told to remove her makeup for a driver's license photo. "Our community is already at risk for sexual assault and violence." Culpepper was among nine transgender people who stood in a show of support. Opponents also questioned how the bill would be enforced. "In everyday life, how do we determine whether someone we're with is male or female? We look at them. We don't inspect their genitalia," said University of South Carolina law professor Gregory Adams. "Are we going to start looking at their birth certificate?" The bill has little chance this year. House GOP leaders have said they won't deal with the issue and Republican Gov. Nikki Haley has called it unnecessary. ________ COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) The Latest on legislation that critics say discriminates against transgender people by limiting their bathroom choices. Supporters say it protects privacy and safety. 6:45 p.m. Students at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, have ended their occupation of an administration building after the chancellor issued a statement opposing a state law limiting protections for the LGBT community. Chancellor Sheri Everts issued a statement Tuesday saying she had met with group members. Everts writes that she opposes the new law but she's in a challenging position because campuses in the university system are subject to it. Multiple media outlets report dozens held a sit-in last Thursday and spent the night. A group of them remained until Wednesday. Protest organizer Rachel Clay said in an email the group left the administration building Wednesday morning after their demand for a public show of opposition to the bill was met. ___ 6 p.m. Democratic legislators opposed to the law limiting LGBT protections approved by Republicans are floating bills they'll file to repeal the law or scale it back. Rep. Billy Richardson said Wednesday he would introduce a bill that would give local governments the ability to set their anti-discrimination protections and would extend a new statewide non-discrimination policy to cover sexual orientation, gender identity and veterans. Richardson wrote a newspaper column this week in which he regrets supporting the legislation, saying he's been "haunted" by his hasty vote. Democratic Rep. Darren Jackson tweeted Wednesday an image of draft legislation he's sponsoring with other Democrats that would repeal the law all together. Republican legislative leaders support the law and say they have little appetite to alter it significantly. The next regular work session for the General Assembly begins April 25. ___ 5:30 p.m. Conservative groups in North Carolina are unhappy that Republican Gov. Pat McCrory has now extended LGBT protections to state employees. Leaders of the North Carolina Values Coalition, N.C. Family Policy Council and Christian Action League of North Carolina did, however, praise the governor for affirming the core content of last month's law in an executive order Tuesday. The law is wide-ranging and mandated that transgender people use the restroom that corresponds to their biological sex and limits local government discrimination rules. Opponents of the new law want a complete repeal. ___ 5:15 p.m. Ringo Starr has joined Bruce Springsteen in taking action over a North Carolina law that blocks anti-discrimination laws for the LGBT community. The rocker and former Beatle said in a statement Wednesday that he has cancelled his June 18 concert in Cary, North Carolina, in opposition to the passage of the bill. Starr said he was sorry to disappoint fans, "but we need to take a stand against this hatred. Spread peace and love." Several musicians and entertainers have protested laws and legislation in several states that opponents say is discriminatory toward gay, bisexual and transgender people. A joint statement on Wednesday from the Recording Industry Association of America, a trade group representing music labels, and the Music Business Association, representing music retailers and services, condemned similar legislation in Tennessee. ___ 2:30 p.m. Evangelist Franklin Graham brought his state capitol prayer rally tour to Mississippi in the wake of lawmakers passing a bill that would let churches and some private businesses deny services to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Graham said Wednesday he didn't come to Jackson to endorse or oppose any particular legislation, but he made it clear to reporters after the 40-minute rally that he supports legislation to allow Christians to live out their faith, and in his view that includes disapproval of same-sex marriages. The son of Billy Graham is telling people who attend the rallies that Christians need to get more involved in politics and bring Biblical principles to public office. He says Christians must push back against secularism, which he describes as the "enemy." ___ 1:45 p.m. Transgender people say a South Carolina bill requiring them to use a public bathroom corresponding to their "biological sex" puts them in danger of harassment and violence, while supporters contend it protects children's safety. The overwhelming majority of people attending a Senate hearing Wednesday opposed the measure that mimics part of a North Carolina law that has brought a national backlash. Sponsoring Sen. Lee Bright says he fears pedophiles will pretend to be transgender to gain access to potential victims. Opponents say existing laws already address such a crime. Several transgender people asked Bright whether it made sense to force them to use bathrooms that don't line up with their identity. Chase Glenn says women would not want him in their restroom, while Capri Culpepper says requiring her to go into a man's restroom puts her at risk. ___ 1:20 p.m. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has issued an executive order banning discrimination in state government based on sexual orientation or gender identity. He also rescinded his Republican predecessor's order offering protections to people who oppose same-sex marriage. Edwards, a Democrat, released the order Wednesday. It prohibits state agencies and contractors from harassment or discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, political affiliation disability, or age. The order includes an exemption for contractors that are religious organizations. The provision affecting contractors takes effect July 1. The rest starts immediately. In the non-discrimination order, Edwards also terminated an executive order from former Gov. Bobby Jindal. That order prohibited state agencies from denying licenses and contracts to businesses that take actions because of religious beliefs against same-sex marriage. ___ 12:05 p.m. Dozens of business leaders have signed a letter asking Tennessee lawmakers to kill a piece of legislation known as the transgender bathroom bill. The CEOs of Williams-Sonoma, Airbnb, Alcoa, T-Mobile and Dow Chemical were among the 60 business leaders who signed the letter and said the proposal has no place in Tennessee. A group of advocates for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people dropped off a letter to House Speaker Beth Harwell and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, both Republicans. Under the measure, students at public schools and universities would be required to use bathrooms and locker rooms assigned to their gender at birth. Supporters say it protects the privacy of students and the rights of everyone. Opponents call it discriminatory. ___ 5:10 a.m. A South Carolina bill limiting transgender people's bathroom choices is up for discussion a week after Republican Gov. Nikki Haley and state business leaders called the proposal unnecessary. People are expected to pack a Senate hearing on the bill Wednesday, though the subcommittee is unlikely to take any vote. Its chairman, Sen. Lee Bright, introduced the measure last week, saying he supports a North Carolina law that's led to companies ending expansion plans in the state and conventions going elsewhere. Bright said he's had enough of tolerance if that means "men who claim to be women" going into a bathroom with children. State Chamber of Commerce CEO Ted Pitts says Bright's creating a nonexistent political crisis to save his political career. Bright faces three GOP opponents in June. 30 States, 4 Countries Represented by Alpha Omega Academy Graduates ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa, April 14, 2016 / The 89 seniors registered to participate reside in 30 states, the U.S. territory of Guam, and four countries, including The Bahamas, Canada, Nigeria, and The Philippines. "Graduation is always an exciting time of year for our seniors," AOA Principal Joseph Bakker said. "For many students, the regional ceremonies are the first opportunity they have to meet their classmates in person. It's fun to watch them get acquainted and celebrate their years of hard work together." Each regional ceremony is a traditional cap and gown event that includes a special welcome, a challenging address to the graduates, the presentation of diplomas, and a reception for the class of 2016 and their guests following the ceremony. This spring, the regional ceremonies are scheduled to take place in the Dallas and Orlando areas on May 13 and June 3 respectively. To accommodate students who are unable to travel to the regional sites, AOA also hosts a virtual graduation ceremony that is broadcast live online from the campus of Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa. The 2016 virtual graduation ceremony is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. (CT) on Friday, May 27. About Alpha Omega Academy Accredited by NAC CASI, Alpha Omega Academy is the K-12 online school of Alpha Omega Publications. Founded in 1977, Alpha Omega Publications is the leading provider of award-winning PreK-12 Christian curriculum, educational resources, and services to Christian schools and homeschool families worldwide. Visit Share Tweet Contact: Teri Elgersma, Alpha Omega Academy , 800-682-7391ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa, April 14, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- As the end of the school year approaches, Alpha Omega Academy seniors from across the globe are preparing to participate in the online school's regional and virtual graduation ceremonies.The 89 seniors registered to participate reside in 30 states, the U.S. territory of Guam, and four countries, including The Bahamas, Canada, Nigeria, and The Philippines."Graduation is always an exciting time of year for our seniors," AOA Principal Joseph Bakker said. "For many students, the regional ceremonies are the first opportunity they have to meet their classmates in person. It's fun to watch them get acquainted and celebrate their years of hard work together."Each regional ceremony is a traditional cap and gown event that includes a special welcome, a challenging address to the graduates, the presentation of diplomas, and a reception for the class of 2016 and their guests following the ceremony. This spring, the regional ceremonies are scheduled to take place in the Dallas and Orlando areas on May 13 and June 3 respectively.To accommodate students who are unable to travel to the regional sites, AOA also hosts a virtual graduation ceremony that is broadcast live online from the campus of Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa. The 2016 virtual graduation ceremony is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. (CT) on Friday, May 27.About Alpha Omega AcademyAccredited by NAC CASI, Alpha Omega Academy is the K-12 online school of Alpha Omega Publications. Founded in 1977, Alpha Omega Publications is the leading provider of award-winning PreK-12 Christian curriculum, educational resources, and services to Christian schools and homeschool families worldwide. Visit Alpha Omega Academy online or call 800-682-7396. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below This just in... Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (L) posing with his son, Hun Manet (R), during a ceremony at a military base in Phnom Penh, Oct. 13, 2009. Hun Manets latest trip to America was supposed to look like a celebration, but it didnt work out that way. The scion of Cambodias first family and a lieutenant general in the army, Hun Manet was set to tour of areas in the U.S. with big Cambodian populations; receive an award with a depiction of U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.; and attend in a Khmer New Years parade in California. Instead of being the life of the party, however, Hun Manet is now a party to a novel lawsuit accusing the Cambodian government and its officials of falsely imprisoning Meach Sovannara, the media director of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party. Meach Sovannara was jailed last year for insurrection due to his presence at a 2014 protest that turned violent, and Hun Manet is named in the lawsuit because he oversees the military and security police. The son of Cambodian Prime Minister and chieftain of the Cambodian Peoples Party Hun Sen, Hun Manet may also face another lawsuit suit as his bodyguards are accused of attacking the process server in the Meach Sovannara lawsuit. Sovereign immunity exceptions While foreign government sovereignty usually protects foreign officials from facing trial in the U.S. just as U.S. leaders are protected from lawsuits abroad, the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act contains an exception for violent action against US citizens abroad, said Morton Sklar, a longtime lawyer for Cambodias opposition, who filed the suit. As a general rule, you cant file a case in U.S. courts against the foreign government, but there are exceptions to that rule that the U.S. Congress has adopted, and we are applying two of those exceptions in our case to allow us to directly file against the government of Cambodia itself, Sklar told RFA's Khmer Service. Sovannaras case is reportedly the first case to invoke the exceptions to hold officials of a foreign government accountable for human rights violations that affect US citizens. This is why the case is unique and very ground-breaking. We have found the way to actually make the government of Cambodia itself directly a defendant in the case, he told RFA. The suit claims that Hun Manet was responsible for the violence that took place at Freedom Park in July 2014, for the arrest of Meach Sovannara in November that year and for his continued imprisonment in Phnom Penh. State Department critique The U.S. State Department, in its annual report on global human rights conditions released on Wednesday, pointed out problems with Hun Sens treatment of opposition politicians. The most significant human rights problems included a politicized and ineffective judiciary; growing restrictions on freedoms of speech, assembly, and association; and the use of violence and threatened imprisonment to intimidate the opposition, said the report in its section on Cambodia. Government officials and members of their families who committed crimes often enjoyed impunity. While the lawsuit was a blow, it is not the only expression of disdain Cambodians in the U.S. had for Hun Manet. A post on the Cambodia-America Alliance (CAA) Facebook page said Hun Manets decision not to attend the parade next month is a victory for all Cambodians, at home or abroad. His public appearance would not be tolerated by any freedom loving Khmer, it added. Simply put, the people have spoken; Hun Manet, the ambassador of tyranny and oppression is not welcome in America. It also urges people to use a Never Manet hash tag on social media. Hun Manet was also confronted by protestors at nearly every venue where he was supposed to show up. Body guard altercation It was at a dinner reportedly at the La Lune restaurant in Long Beach on Saturday night where things turned violent. Online videos appear to show Long Beach police spraying tear gas at Hun Manets bodyguards and protesters after a process server named Paul Hayes was allegedly assaulted by the bodyguards while serving him with the subpoena in the Meach Sovannara lawsuit. He reached his arm out to give him the court documents including the summons to appear in a manila envelope and a bodyguard grabbed him from behind, threw him off his feet and lifted him up, and very seriously injured him by throwing him to the ground, Sklar said. Phnom Penh responds Press and Quick Reaction spokesman for the Council of Ministers Tith Sothea dismissed the lawsuit saying it was an attempt by a foreign lawyer to meddle in the countrys affairs. Lawyers based overseas should study the aspects of the law more clearly because this [Meach Sovanaras case] is a criminal charge, he said. It is not Prime Minister Hun Sen who orders the warrants or issues any court decision, so I think this lawsuit was done without proper procedures and is getting lost in the understanding of the independent court procedures in Cambodia. While Hun Manet may be facing new legal entanglements, he is not without supporters. At the end of the day, Spirit of Unity wins, he said in a message posted on his Facebook page with a smiley face emoticon. Despite the threat from about 100 plus protesters, we had over 400 people turn up to join our New Year dinner together in Long Beach, California, in order to celebrate our unity together. He added: I would like to thank and also apologize to those friends who came to the event, but could not attend because the venue could not hold any more people. Reported by Loeurm Im for RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Pagnawath Khun. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. A copy of the decision from the Beijing municipal bureau of justice ordering the cancellation of Pu Zhiqiang's lawyer's license, April 13, 2016. Authorities in the Chinese capital have stripped prominent rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang of his license to practice following his conviction over a series of tweets on social media, his lawyer said on Thursday. The Beijing municipal bureau of justice said in an April 13 decision seen by RFA that Pu's conviction by the city's No. 2 Intermediate People's Court on Dec. 22 for "incitement to ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination" and "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble" was the reason for the withdrawal of his license. "Pu Zhiqiang's conviction and custodial sentence is in breach of article 49, clause 2 of the Lawyers' Law of the People's Republic of China," the decision said. "It is appropriate that his lawyers' business license should be revoked." The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court issued the guilty verdict for Pu Zhiqiang on Dec. 22, along with a three-year suspended jail term that led to his release from a police-run detention after time already served was taken into account. Pu's defense lawyer Shang Baojun said his client didn't seem surprised by the decision when he announced it to friends via social media. "It was just a matter of time, following his sentencing," Shang said. "We don't feel good about it, but we had made some mental preparation." "Now we'll just have to get on with what we need to do. It doesn't mean that we will take particular care in future," he said. A warning to others Fellow defense lawyer Mo Shaoping said Pu has no plans to seek an administrative review of the decision. Pu will still be able to take on administrative tasks at his current law firm, he said. Hong Kong-based rights lawyer Albert Ho said Pu isn't the first lawyer to lose his business license in China. "The authorities do this as a warning to others, to create a chilling effect [for the legal profession]," Ho said. "But it doesn't seem to be working, because I have seen that there are a lot of younger lawyers coming up through the ranks in China now, who want to take on human rights cases," he said. "They're not going to shrink from fighting for progress in China, although they may need to be careful what they say in the short term," Ho said. According to Ho's Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group (CHRLCG), China has detained, questioned, held under house arrest or imposed travel bans on at least 317 lawyers, their colleagues and family members since launching a nationwide police operation targeting the profession last July. The annual review of lawyers' business licenses is often used to bar rights attorneys who take on politically sensitive cases involving the human rights of vulnerable or disadvantaged groups. Homegrown policies Fellow rights lawyer Cheng Hai said he was recently called in for questioning by police after protesting that the annual review process was unreasonable. "Law firms are supposed to conduct annual reviews of their own and send the results to the justice bureau, but now the justice bureau is making its own, homegrown policies and documents requiring lawyers to submit to it for review," Cheng said. "We have to pay them a fee and get their official seal, which we need for our lawyer's license to remain valid," he said. "This should be an internal matter for the law firms ... under the Lawyers' Law." The case against Pu rested on seven posts he admitted making to the popular social media platform Sina Weibo between 2012 and May 2014, but his lawyers say he had done nothing to break Chinese law. The "incitement to racial hatred" charge was based on a number of tweets he sent in the aftermath of the March 1, 2014, knife attack at Kunming railway station, which left 29 people dead and more than 140 injured. Pu's initial detention on May 6, 2014, came ahead of an event marking the anniversary of the military crackdown on the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement at Tiananmen Square, in which he played a prominent role. Reported by Wong Siu-san, Dai Weisen and Lin Jing for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Xin Lin for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. UPDATED at 12:32 P.M. EST on 2016-04-14 Authorities in China have sanctioned more than 350 local officials blamed for a recent tainted vaccines scandal, but parents of affected children said on Thursday the moves don't go far enough, amid calls for compensation. The government has dismissed or demoted 357 officials for "poor performance," as well as ordering tighter measures to ensure better storage and distribution methods for the vaccines, official media reported. The country's cabinet, the State Council, announced the sanctions, saying that criminal charges are being brought in 192 cases, with 202 detained so far in the nationwide investigation. But parents whose children have already fallen victim to tainted vaccines say far more needs to be done, including compensation payouts to the families affected by vaccine-related deaths or illness. "If I had caused the death of somebody's child, and I had money, I would pay them compensation," parent campaigner Liu Lijun told RFA on Thursday. "Of course I'm not satisfied with them sanctioning a few officials," Liu said. He said parents need further reassurance that a safe delivery system is in place for vaccines before they start immunizing their kids again. "Vaccines are a good thing, but we want to know whose job it is to handle our complaints now that there has been a problem," Liu said. "You can lock up the people responsible or execute them, he said. These things are your job as a government. But what are the child victims supposed to do now?" They wont sort it out China launched a nationwide probe of hundreds of people believed to be involved in an illegal vaccine-selling operation that was found last month to be peddling out-of-date or improperly stored vaccines, amid emerging reports of child and infant deaths and illnesses following immunizations. However, parents who have campaigned for compensation have already run afoul of the authorities. Parent campaigner Wang Liangqing said she had been escorted back to her hometown of Shenzhen after she traveled there in a bid to seek compensation. "They won't sort this out for us, and they have given us nothing except for stability maintenance [security measures]; that's all they care about," Wang said. "They spent nearly 100,000 yuan [U.S. $15,425] on the plane tickets bringing us home alone, but they have given nothing towards the medical fees my kid needs," she said. "The government should face up to the fact that these kids have been harmed by vaccines, but all they do is evade the issue and kick us around from department to department," Wang said. "The parents and children [affected by vaccines] have got to the point of desperation," she said. Wang said the sanctions handed down to officials meant nothing to those faced with complex medical problems following routine vaccinations. "How does [that] help us? My kid is still lying in the hospital, and we have no money to pay the medical bills," she said. Authorities tighten security Li Mingwei, a parent campaigner from the northern province of Shaanxi, said the authorities are tightening security around parents whose children were sickened by vaccines recently, all around the country. "Government officials and police have been to visit me twice in the past couple of days," Li said. "They want me not to go [to Beijing to complain]." "They are already putting security measures in place; they are prepared." Shenzhen-based parent activist Cai Xujuan said she has been petitioning in Beijing about vaccine damage to her child for six weeks now, but that police turned down an application for a permit to stage a demonstration by around 100 affected parents. "The health department and other officials are saying ... now I have applied and been turned down for a permit to demonstrate, that I should go back home," Cai said. "But if the authorities in Guangdong won't give my child a response, I will come back to Beijing." Vaccines to be tracked According to Xinhua news agency and other state media, drug wholesalers will also be banned from the sale of vaccines, which will now be tracked from production to point of use, including storage conditions like refrigeration and transport. Nine companies were reselling improperly stored or expired vaccines, according to China's Food and Drug Administration, warning of potential side effects and ordering out-of-date or improperly stored vaccines to be destroyed. Earlier this month, worried parents from mainland China flooded across the internal immigration border into Hong Kong in a bid to get their children immunized safely. Health officials in the former British colony hastily slapped a quota system on child vaccinations this week, in a bid to protect supplies for children resident in the city, but the monthly quota was filled at many health centers on the first day of the month. Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Ha Si-man and Pan Jiaqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. A man talks on a cellphone as he waits for dispatch at a customs port in Dandong, northeastern China's Liaoning province, April 11, 2013. Chinese authorities have recently increased customs inspections of cargo bound for North Korea, more strictly enforcing existing customs procedures against their neighbor and ally in the wake of severe sanctions imposed by the United Nations, sources from North Korea said. The U.N. Security Council, including China, unanimously adopted a resolution last month with its toughest sanctions to date against North Korea after the isolated, authoritarian nation conducted its fourth nuclear test in early January and a long-range rocket test in early February. The sanctions are aimed at reducing Pyongyangs ability to expand its nuclear and rocket programs. The new resolution also calls for mandatory inspections of all cargo leaving and entering North Korea. It has become impossible to send so-called apple rice to North Korea now, said a trader in Dandong, a border town in northeastern China, in a reference to rice that China sends to North Korea packed in apple boxes rather than regular rice sacks. But in this instance the source used apple rice to describe goods shipped between China and North Korea that are falsely identified on their outer packaging to conceal their true contents, such as materials used to manufacture narcotics in North Korea. The fact that Chinese traders are no longer able to send apple rice to North Korea means that Chinese customs authorities are performing more thorough inspections at the border, the source said. If such goods are discovered during the inspections, the traders will be fined, and all their freight will be confiscated, he said. The trading companies whose apple rice is found through random inspections will be in big trouble and have to pay a large fine, said the source, adding that the customs inspections process has become stricter for goods entering China from North Korea. China stepped up inspections of North Korean cargo passing through all three of its northeastern border provinces following the U.N.s adoption of fresh sanctions, South Koreas Yonhap news agency reported in March. Chinese customs officials in Dandong, however, are not inspecting all goods headed to North Korea, but randomly checking boxes on cargo trucks to compare the goods with lists of declared items, sources said. Official levy taxes A North Korean source from Haeju in South Hwanghae province who recently entered China said Chinese customers officials thoroughly inspected his hand-carried items at a checkpoint. I had to put my hand-carried items in an X-ray machine for them to be checked, but still had to open up the bags so a customs official could look inside, he said. The customs officials confiscated excessive amounts of particular items from various people at the checkpoint, he said. Chinese customs officials are also now levying taxes on even the smallest number of handicrafts or accessories from North Korea, although they never did so previously, the source said, suggesting that China is abiding to terms laid out under the latest U.N. sanctions. In the past, Chinese officials have been lenient about levying taxes on items from its poorer ally North Korea. Chinese authorities are also taking special measures to prevent chemical products used in narcotics production from entering North Korea, he said. Prior approval is required to take such products out of China and into North Korea, he said. Although China has agreed to implement the U.N.s latest round of sanctions, it has come under fire in the past for not enforcing previous ones, especially on luxury goods that go to North Koreas elite. Previously, when the U.N., United States, South Korea and Japan have imposed sanctions on North Korea to punish it for nuclear and long-range missile tests and other provocations, China filled the void by supplying the country with fuel, heavy machinery, grain, electronics and consumer goods. Written by Joonho Kim for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Hee Jung Yang. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. A Chinese banana plantation near a stream in Laos is shown in this undated file photo. For the people in the tiny Lao villages that dot the mountains in the land-locked countrys northwestern border, the banana looked like a savior. Demand for bananas in neighboring China was skyrocketing, and Chinese investors rushed to build banana plantations in Laos impoverished northern provinces. The plantations helped satisfy the demand for bananas in China, and even though the pay was low, it was better than no pay at all, so villagers flocked to the plantations looking for work. For a time, everything appeared to work the way it should: Lao laborers had work and the Chinese gained a new source for bananas and the profits they brought. While Laos isnt among the worlds top banana producers, banana production there has exploded. In 2002, Laos produced less than 90,000 tons of bananas, but by 2013 it was producing more than 400,000. Eventually, however, things began to go sour, and the Lao people began to wonder if the banana deal they made with their neighbors was a good one. Unlike in South and Central Laos where the bananas are easy to grow, Mother Nature needs help in the provinces of Bokeo, Luang Namtha, Phongsaly, and Sayaboury. The Kuay Nam vs. the Cavendish Instead of the native kuay nam, the Chinese plantations generally grow the world's top banana the Cavendish. The difference is that in the north, the Chinese invest in banana plantations with commercial types of bananas from foreign countries, and they require fertilizers and chemical substances due to the many diseases and pests, explained Vongpaphan Manivong, a researcher with the Lao National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute. In central and southern Laos there are native banana plantations that use almost no fertilizers and chemical substances, he added. To ward off the 28 diseases and 19 insects that attack banana plants in the north, plantation owners turned to a cornucopia of pesticides, herbicides, rodenticides and fertilizers to boost production. While the chemicals helped the banana plantations thrive, they didnt help the banana workers or the plantations' neighbors. The chemicals leached into the ground water and the thousands of plastic packages that the chemicals were packed in were strewn across the countryside, causing worry about contamination and, in one case, the pollution was blamed for a death. Chinese plantation owners throw the waste, including fertilizer and plastic bags, plastic bottles of pesticides and insecticides into the stream the villagers use for their livelihood, a resident of That and Phokham villages in Luang Namthan province told RFA. The plantation owners do not manage the waste, and villagers are not happy with it because during the rainy season the chemical substances will be swept into the stream so no one dares to take a bath in there, he said. In Simeuang-ngam village the runoff from a banana plantation was blamed for killing 900 kg of fish, and the Chinese investors backing the plantation found it cheaper to pay compensation than to prevent the contamination, according to local sources. The fish in the pond died, and the Chinese plantation owner paid the fish pond owner for compensation, a villager told RFA. Chinese investors in the banana plantations do not pay attention to preventing the environmental impact. Banana production in Laos 2002-2013 RFA graphic U.S. $62.50 for a dead man Banana plantation workers who got the most exposure to the chemicals began to get sick, villagers told RFA. Open sores formed on their arms and they began to get headaches and dizzy spells. A government official in the Pha Oudom district, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told RFA that one worker died from exposure to the chemicals. The official told RFA that the banana plantation owner gave the victim 500,000 kip (U.S. $62.50) when he was treated in the hospital, but when he died his family wasnt paid. Conditions for banana workers are so bad that plantation owners only allow them to work on a plantation for three years because they fear they will die there, sources tell RFA. In February armed Chinese guards forced Lao workers in the countrys Oudomxay province to labor in banana plantations, a local village chief told RFA. A chief of the Nongbouadeang village in the provinces Houn district told RFA that 50 Lao workers in a Chinese-owned banana plantation in the neighboring village of Nammieng were working under Chinese overseers armed with automatic rifles. The plantation owner uses the weapons because he is scared that Lao workers will resist his orders, but he does not have permission to have firearms," said the chief. In Laos the ownership of firearms is tightly regulated. While China and Laos have had an off-again, on-again relationship, Beijing has been pushing for closer ties. China has vied aggressively for influence in Laos through aid, loans, and infrastructure investment. China is now the biggest foreign investor in Laos, with Beijing claiming to have pumped nearly $6 billion into the country in 2015. China is also bankrolling a $7.2 billion high-speed railway project. While deepening ties included the banana plantations, the cavalier attitude about pollution has also deepened Lao concerns, at least locally. Concessions suspended In Bokeo province, Governor Khamphanh Pheuyavong suspended new land concessions for bananas, citing the pollution of the water supply and the health concerns of the workers, including the laborer who died. Khamphanh Pheuyavongs decision came after a government report found that the minuses of the banana industry in northern Laos might outweigh the pluses. Vongpaphan Manivong told RFA the problem doesnt lie so much with the chemicals used, but with the way they are regulated. I do not mean the banana plantations are not good, but provincial agriculture sectors cannot manage the waste, chemical substances and fertilizers, Vongpaphan Manivong. The provincial agriculture departments do not have any records of fertilizers and chemical substances that the plantation uses. In his research, Vongpaphan Manivong found that chemical counterfeiting was rampant as banned chemicals are imported with new labels slapped on them to fool Lao customs officers. Researchers found nearly 50 different chemicals bound for the plantations that were either banned or faked to look like they were approved. Vongpaphan Manivong told RFA the dearth of enforcement allows unscrupulous plantation owners to use banned chemicals. Some fertilizers and chemical substances that are banned from use in Laos as well as China, are still somehow imported, he said. The border checkpoints in the north cannot control the dangerous imports. Reported and translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh for RFA's Lao Service. Additional reporting by Brooks Boliek. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Taliban militants have killed a police commander and seven other people, including three women, in Afghanistan. Qahar Khurm Aabi, highway police commander in the northern provinces of Takhar and Kunduz, was killed on April 14 in a Taliban ambush along with four of his guards on his way to work, police said, adding that the three women killed were passersby. There was no immediate comment from the Taliban. On April 12, the Taliban said they had launched their spring offensive, dubbed Operation Omari, in honor of the late Taliban founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar. The Taliban insurgency has gained strength since the withdrawal of international forces from combat at the end of 2014 and the Taliban is stronger than at any point since the militants were driven from power by U.S.-backed forces in 2001. About 5,500 members of the Afghan security forces were killed last year and more than 14,000 were wounded. Based on reporting by Reuters home World EU High Court rules in favor of Iranian Christian convert seeking asylum in Sweden The European High Court has ruled in favor of an Iranian Christian convert seeking asylum in Sweden. The court's ruling in the case of F.G. v Sweden was based on the life-threatening situation that the man could and would face should he be deported back to his Islamic country. The Catholic News Agency quotes part of the ruling that states: "The applicant's conversion to Christianity is a criminal offence punishable by death in Iran. In addition to the risk of social persecution as a Christian, the applicant risks criminal prosecution for the crime of apostasy. "The order for the applicant's deportation to Iran, where he could be tried under the above-mentioned criminal and procedural law, equates to a violation of principles deeply enshrined in the universal legal conscience." In its ruling, the Grand Chamber said that deporting the man would be a violation of Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the statutes of which protect people's lives and safeguard them from inhumane treatment. In 2009, the man who was politically persecuted for opposing the regime in Iran sought asylum and residency in Sweden. In 2011, his requst was denied by the Swedish Migration Office. His appeal was denied in 2014 by the lower chamber, saying that the migration office's decision was just since his life was not really in danger. According to the CNA, the lower court said that he could keep his faith private since the Iranian government does not know that he has converted to Christianity. The Alliance Defending Freedom International disagreed. A brief filed by the organization to the European Human Court of Human Rights argued that Christian converts are at risk in Iran and that the lower court has violated the man's religious freedom. In an interview with the Catholic News Agency, Robert Clarke, director of European Advocacy for ADF International, said that "the lower chamber (of the court) underestimated the severe danger to this convert's life." He explained that the Islamic regime in Iran has ways of identifying Christian converts. "If a convert to Christianity is identified by the Iranian government, he or she is very likely to suffer substantial harm, deprivation of liberty, assaults and continual harassment. In the worst case the individual could face severe ill-treatment or death," he said. According to Clarke, the Grand Chamber was correct in noting that "Christian converts are one of the most persecuted religious minorities in Iran." The 2016 World WatchList by OpenDoors says that Iran ranks ninth in the list of countries where Christians are most severely persecuted. North Korea, Iraq, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Somalia, and Sudan make the top eight, while Libya is 10th in the list. RFE/RLs Belarus Service has published a one-of-a-kind collection of commentary by and about 2015 Nobel Prize for literature winner Svetlana Alexievich. Alexievich On Liberty is a compilation of her appearances on Radio Svaboda, as the service is known locally, including interviews with the author, transcripts of round table discussions in which she participated, and reviews of her work written by service journalists. The collected texts span from 1993 through coverage of reaction to her Nobel win in 2015. Her books are known for a literary method that combines oral histories from many eyewitnesses put down in elegant prose in order to chronicle some of the most tragic periods in Soviet and post-Soviet history. Among the best known are Voices From Chernobyl, in which she interviewed more than 500 witnesses to the 1986 nuclear disaster, and Zinky Boys, a collection of first-hand accounts of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. As a critic of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, she has been persona non grata on Belarusian state media since he came to power in 1994, but Radio Svaboda has closely followed her literary career, amassing the dozens of pieces that compose Alexievich On Liberty. Radio Svaboda Director Alexander Lukashuk compared Alexievichs body of work to Dantes Devine Comedy, explaining that both have to be understood as a whole, not just in terms of the individual books, in order to appreciate the genius of the structure. She took aspects of life in a totalitarian state and described them brick by brick to build a cathedral, he said. And when you focus on just one brick, you cant see the cathedral. Lukashuk says when he first approached Alexievich with the idea of publishing a collection of her comments on Radio Svaboda, she was reluctant, saying it would be too difficult to convey her spoken words effectively in writing. He respected her wishes about publishing, but went ahead with the collection and printed one copy to give her as a gift. After reading it, she wrote to Lukashuk: I looked at this book with a strange feeling that the words were said by a different person in a different country. I have finished reading the book and my opinion has changed. My friends also read it and liked it very much. A very good composition; the time is captured, and a lot of work has been done. Not because of me, but because its a document of our time that will be more and more interesting as time goes by in life after empire. Lets publish. The book was compiled and edited by Radio Svabodas Siarhej Navumchyk and will be officially launched with Alexievich in Minsk on April 14. In her Nobel acceptance lecture Alexievich referred to herself as a human ear, constantly absorbing the words spoken around her, said Lukashuk. But we believe she is also a voice, and a powerful voice--sometimes contradictory, sometimes angry, sometimes hard to agree with, but it is the voice of our time and in that way it is our own voice. --Emily Thompson One of former Russian Nationalities Minister Ramazan Abdulatipov's stated priorities following his appointment in January 2013 as acting president of the Republic of Daghestan was winning back the trust of a population alienated by cronyism, endemic corruption, and blatant violations of the law on the part of government officials. But many of his actions since then appear to have compounded the frustration and alienation of the republic's 2.9 million people. In late 2014, for example, representatives of the opposition A Just Russia party, backed by local NGOs, launched a hunger strike to demand Abdulatipov's resignation. They argued that the Daghestani public has been stripped of its constitutional and civil rights and been reduced to "a gray mass of slaves" who risk losing their identity if Abdulatipov remains in his post much longer. They further warned that "the authoritarian regime established in Daghestan is being smoothly transformed into a dictatorship, and this could lead to fascism." The perceived erosion of civic and constitutional rights that A Just Russia deplored was twofold. In May 2013, Daghestan's parliament voted against holding direct elections for the post of republic head. Then the following year it enacted a new law abolishing direct elections for the heads of municipalities, who instead are now elected from a short list of several candidates by the municipal council. That law has been central to a six-month standoff between the republican leadership and the population of the mountain town of Buynaksk, southwest of Makhachkala, a standoff that was finally resolved on April 4 with the installation as mayor of Abdulatipov's hand-picked candidate in disregard of the seemingly legitimate claims to the post of two other claimants. One of those two, former Mayor Guseyn Gamzatov, has declared his intention of challenging the election in court. At least seven (some reports say nine) of the 21 members of the municipal council have reportedly resigned their mandates, protesting that the vote was illegal. Gamzatov was first elected Buynaksk mayor in 2007; his second term in office was due to expire in late September 2015. Fearing he might not be confirmed for a further term by the new municipal council to be elected earlier that month, he engineered his reelection for a further term by outgoing council members loyal to him just days before the September 13 municipal elections. Abdulatipov reportedly gave his approval for Gamzatov's reelection, despite Gamzatov's failure over the previous two years to turn around the town's stagnating economy or improve local infrastructure. Buynaksk residents subsequently told journalists that during his tenure as mayor, Gamzatov focused primarily on dubious business deals and "did nothing for the town." Gamzatov's fears for his political future proved justified. In the early summer, Buynaksk residents had approached Osman Osmanov, a native of Buynaksk who had served as town mayor from 1997-2001, and urged him to participate in the municipal council elections with the aim of succeeding Gamzatov as mayor. Osmanov finally agreed to that proposal, even though he was in ill favor with Abdulatipov because of his earlier friendship and cordial working relationship with now-disgraced former Makhachkala Mayor Said Amirov. Amirov was removed just months after Abdulatipov's appointment as republic head in early 2013 and was sentenced last year to life imprisonment for his imputed role in two political contract killings. Osmanov ran in the September municipal election on the ticket of the Party of Veterans of Russia (PVR), which garnered an unprecedented 68.8 percent of the vote, or 17 of the 21 municipal council seats. The remaining four mandates went to Russia's ruling Unified Russia party, which placed second with 18.6 percent of the vote. Osmanov's supporters, understandably, demanded that Gamzatov resign so the new Party of Veterans-dominated council could elect Osmanov in his place. Gamzatov, however, refused to step down, and the outgoing council members refused to vacate their offices to allow the newly elected officials to set about discharging their duties. When the Party of Veterans council members tried in mid-October to convene a public meeting with residents on the town square, they were forcibly dispersed by the police. The Party of Veterans council members then sought a meeting with Abdulatipov, who had reportedly taken Unified Russia's resounding defeat in the Buynaksk ballot as a personal insult. Abdulatipov reportedly assured the Party of Veterans faction that Gamzatov would be removed, but he refused point-blank to condone Osmanov's election as mayor, proposing instead a choice of four candidates, including Zakarya Amirov (no relation to Said), a former senior Customs Service official who had once served as Buynaksk prosecutor. All four were Avars, as are Gamzatov, Osmanov, and Abdulatipov. This was not a dispute among the republic's 14 titular ethnic groups, but between rival Avar "clans" or interest groups. Addressing Daghestan's National Assembly in early November, Abdulatipov reportedly described Osmanov's election campaign as "a bid by bandits to return to power." Gamzatov was finally pressured into taking extended sick leave, and former Health Minister Ilyas Mamayev was swiftly named first deputy mayor and then acting mayor without the participation of the Party of Veterans council members, in violation of council statutes. Magomed Magomedov, a commentator for the independent weekly Chernovik, predicted that Mamayev was intended simply as an interim figure, which indeed proved to be the case. On December 30, members of Abdulatipov's administration, reportedly including first deputy administration head Aleksei Gasanov, traveled to Buynaksk, and at the third attempt succeeded in convening a session of the municipal council attended by 12 Party of Veterans representatives who had withdrawn their support for Osmanov. Those 12 deputies elected Zakarya Amirov as first deputy mayor, in violation of the council statues: only Gamzatov as mayor was empowered to nominate his first deputy. Mamayev then submitted his resignation and proposed Amirov as acting mayor. The Party of Veterans councilors who backed Amirov subsequently convened a press conference in Makhachkala at which they characterized him as "intelligent, savvy, courageous.... He's not afraid and he's nobody's stooge." Two Party of Veterans council members who refused to vote for Amirov subsequently said they were stripped of their mandates a few days later. In mid-January, it was announced that Gamzatov had finally submitted his resignation and proposed Amirov as acting mayor. The following day, however, first municipal council member Zairbek Valiyev and then Gamzatov himself both claimed that Gamzatov's purported letter of resignation and the signature appended to it were forged, and that Gamzatov had signed a different document announcing his resumption of his official duties. Daghestani media have published what appear to be scanned copies of those documents. Valiyev asked Daghestan's prosecutor-general and the Daghestan Directorate of the Federal Investigative Committee to investigate the alleged forgery. Gamzatov, for his part, explicitly requested that the evaluation of the forged document with his apparent signature be entrusted to experts located outside Daghestan. A Stavropol-based specialist subsequently confirmed in late March that both the resignation letter and Gamzatov's signature on it were counterfeit. Gamzatov also filed an appeal with the Buynaksk municipal court to designate invalid the decision by the municipal council to launch the procedure for formally electing Amirov mayor, to which the court acceded on February 18 pending a ruling on whether or not Gamzatov's letter of resignation was genuine. Meanwhile, some 1,500 Osmanov supporters gathered in early February to call for Amirov's resignation and demand that those Party of Veterans council members who had switched their support from Osmanov to Amirov be stripped of their mandates. They also adopted a one-line message to Republic head Abdulatipov: "Ramazan, you're in the wrong!" One of the participants was quoted by the news portal Caucasian Knot as saying, "We want to defend the rule of law and democracy that we've lost. They say we have democracy here, but we can't see it. If it does exist, then it's the people who should exercise power, and not selected representatives of the [republic's] leadership." On March 31, Daghestan's Supreme Court overruled the Buynaksk court decision to suspend the preparations for formally electing Amirov mayor, which the municipal council duly did four days later behind closed doors, from a short list of three candidates. That fait accompli leaves Gamzatov with no option but to contest the legality of Amirov's election in court. He claims municipal council members were pressured and blackmailed into voting for Amirov. Commenting on the denouement, Chernovik opined that the protracted maneuvering to install Amirov as mayor does not reflect well on Abdulatipov, who some observers believe has already forfeited Russian President Vladimir Putin's trust. It also leaves unanswered questions about the role played by parliament speaker Khizri Shikhsaidov, whom former Daghestan Nationalities Minister Eduard Urazayev identified as one of just a handful of associates capable of influencing Abdulatipov's decisions. Shikhsaidov is said to have considerable financial interests in Buynaksk. His son Daniyal served as district head there until his dismissal last August on suspicion of large-scale embezzlement. Urazayev in late February quoted unnamed bloggers and journalists as suspecting Shikhsaidov of having schemed to have elected as Buynaksk mayor a candidate who would do his bidding. Shikhsaidov's office issued a statement denying he had played any role in the mayoral election. KYIV -- Ukrainian officials said vile Russian missile strikes on civilian energy sites have caused power outages nationwide, leaving more than a million households without electricity, while Russian authorities ordered residents to leave Kherson "immediately" ahead of an expected effort by Kyivs forces to retake the crucial southern city. Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram on October 22 that Russia carried out a "massive attack" on Ukraine overnight and that "the aggressor continues to terrorize our country." "At night, the enemy launched a massive attack: 36 rockets, most of which were shot down...These are vile strikes on critical objects. Typical tactics of terrorists," he wrote. "The world can and must stop this terror." Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Zelenskiys office, said Ukrainian air defense forces had shot down 18 of the missiles. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a number of missiles had been shot down on the approach to the capital. "Several rockets flying toward Kyiv were shot down in the region by air defense forces. Thanks to our defenders!" Klitschko said. There was no immediate word on deaths related to the missile attacks, but officials said several people had been injured. It was not possible to verify the reports on either side. In the face of continued Russian strikes, Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba again urged Ukraine's Western allies to speed up the delivery of modern air defense systems. "We intercepted some, others hit the targets. Air defense saves lives. In [Western] capitals, there should not be a single minute of delay in the decision regarding air defense systems for Ukraine," Kuleba said. Local officials said power stations were hit in the regions of Odesa, Kirovohrad, and Lutsk, while other regions reported problems with electricity. "Another rocket attack from terrorists who are fighting against civilian infrastructure and people," the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on the Telegram app. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a government meeting that from October 10 to October 20, Russian strikes damaged more than 400 facilities in 16 regions of Ukraine, including dozens of energy facilities. "The Russian Army has identified our energy sector as one of the key targets for its attacks," Shmyhal said on October 21. "Russian propagandists and officials speak openly about the purpose of all these attacks: Ukraine, according to them, should be left without water, without light, without heat," he said. Meanwhile, Russian-appointed authorities in the occupied and illegally seized southern Kherson region on October 22 ordered the estimated 60,000 residents of the region's eponymous main city to leave "immediately" in the face of Kyiv's advancing counteroffensive. "Due to the tense situation on the front, the increased danger of mass shelling of the city and the threat of terrorist attacks, all civilians must immediately leave the city and cross to the left bank of the Dnieper River," the region's Russia-backed authorities said on social media. Russina-installed officials are moving people out of the strategic city in what they are calling an evacuation but which Ukrainian officials label as deportations. The order came in spite of a claim by Russia's Defense Ministry on October 22 that its forces had prevented an attempt by Ukraine to break through its line of control in Kherson. "All attacks were repulsed, the enemy was pushed back to their initial positions," the Defense Ministry said, adding that Ukraine's offensive was launched toward the settlements of Piatykhatky, Suhanove, Sablukivka and Bezvodne, on the west side of the Dnieper River. The ministry's statement said Russian forces had also repelled attacks in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Kherson city, which had a prewar population of 280,000, is one of the first urban areas occupied by Russia at the start of the invasion. Zelenskiys office said 88 settlements in the southern Kherson region and 551 settlements in the northeastern Kharkiv region have been de-occupied, while the Ukrainian forces' counteroffensive in the Kherson region moves ahead. Ukraine is trying to drive Russian forces in Kherson back east across the Dnieper. Russian soldiers on the western bank, where the city of Kherson is located, are reportedly close to being cut off from supply lines and reinforcements. Natalya Humenyuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraines southern operational command, said the Ukrainian military struck the Antonivskiy Bridge over the Dnieper in the city of Kherson during an overnight curfew Russia-installed officials put in place to avoid civilian casualties. We do not attack civilians and settlements," Humenyuk told Ukrainian television. Ukrainian strikes made the Antonivskiy Bridge inoperable, prompting Russian authorities to set up ferry crossings and pontoon bridges to relocate civilians and transport supplies. Russia has sent in thousands of recently mobilized troops to reinforce the defense of Kherson, the General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said on October 21. Zelenskiy again on October 21 urged the West to warn Russia not to blow up a dam at the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant on the Dnieper River as this could flood settlements toward Kherson. Zelenskiy said Russian forces had planted explosives inside the dam, which holds back an enormous reservoir, and were planning to blow it up. "Now everyone in the world must act powerfully and quickly to prevent a new Russian terrorist attack. Destroying the dam would mean a large-scale disaster," he said in his nightly address. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, and the BBC A year ago, construction workers building a cosmodrome in the Russian Far East appealed to Vladimir Putin during the Kremlin leader's annual call-in program to complain about unpaid wages. Putin, of course, promised to take care of the situation. The wages have still not been paid. One of those construction workers, Anton Tyurishyov, was planning a protest today -- to coincide with this year's call-in show. And guess what? According to the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, he's been arrested. Tyurishyov's fate is symbolic of the charade of Putin's annual spring ritual in which he pretends to care about the concerns of ordinary Russians. So here we are again. It's time for Russia's longest-running virtual-reality show. It's time for Vladimir Putin to play Vladimir Putin on television. By the time you watch this, the Putin Show will already be under way. In fact, by the time you watch this, it may already be over. But anyway, here's what I'm expecting. Putin will, no doubt, use some colorful language and get in a few pithy well-rehearsed one-liners that will grab headlines. He'll recite carefully prepared talking points that will give the impression that he is immersed in the details of policy. He'll promise to take care of some citizens' problems. And he'll surely take a "surprise" question from a carefully selected critic for which he'll have a ready-made response. But for all the hype and hoopla, this event almost never produces anything of substance. But every year, we all watch it anyway. Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page. Critics often charge Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with having a sultan's mentality due to his intolerance of criticism and frequent jailing of journalists. So perhaps it is appropriate that Erdogan asked Berlin to use an antiquated German law that forbids citizens from insulting foreign leaders to prosecute a German satirist who ridiculed him. Just days after TV comedian and satirist Jan Boehmermann read a poem on air on March 31 calling Erdogan a "professional idiot" and suggesting he engaged in bestiality, the Turkish leader demanded that the German Foreign Office take Boehmermann to court under the rarely applied Section 103 of the German penal code. The little-known section, which provides for imprisonment of up to five years, dates to an era when Europe's monarchs took a dim view of people attacking their personal dignity or that of other noble rulers. Erdogan's request to apply the provision in his case has now suddenly brought the law out of obscurity and onto center stage as the latest crisis -- after the Greek debt debacle, the migrant crisis, and the specter of a Brexit -- to face German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The law has its roots in the Prussian legal code of 1794, which expressly forbids attacks on the person or honor of foreign rulers, according to Holger Heinen, a lawyer who researched the law for his doctoral thesis. He notes that an article in the Prussian legal code stated that anyone who insults a foreign leader or ambassador should be treated as a criminal because such insults could become a pretext for a foreign power to launch reprisals against Prussia. The crime of questioning the majesty of a monarch, known as Lese Majeste, lost much of its utility as Europe developed parliamentary democracies. But the provision still found its way into the German legal code that entered into force in 1871. Since then, the law has had a curious history of occasionally being invoked but rarely being applied. In one case, the shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, asked West Germany to use Section 103 to punish protesters who demonstrated during his visit to West Berlin in 1967 -- protests in which one student was killed by police. But the shah later dropped his request after a conciliatory visit by the German interior minister to Tehran. More recently, the United States asked the German government in 2003 to prosecute a shop owner in the central city of Marburg who called then-President George W. Bush a "state terrorist" and otherwise criticized him at the time of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. However, the attorney general's office in Frankfurt decided the shop owner's statements did not constitute a criminal act. "Since its introduction in Germany, the section has never had great practical relevance," says Heinen. "Between 1997 and 2000, there were never more than two convictions annually, and they always resulted only in the offending person being fined." The question now is whether Erdogan's complaint could somehow become an exception to the rule that Section 103 is only lightly applied. Merkel, whose partnership with Erdogan on the migrant crisis has already come under political fire in Germany due to Ankara's poor human rights record, announced with reluctance on April 15 that her government would seek prosecution in the case. She noted that opinions varied within the governing coalition on the proper course to take. But she also pledged that the German government would eliminate Section 103 by 2018. With RFE/RL correspondent Pete Baumgartner in Prague and reporting by AFP, dpa, and Reuters Ask a foreigner for an adjective to describe Russians. Happy is unlikely to be a top choice. Far more frequently, in fact, you might hear dour or somber or serious. Looks like a job for the Ministry of Happiness. A leading Russian lawmaker and close ally of President Vladimir Putin has taken a shine to what might sound like something out of an Orwell novel but already exists in real life. Valentina Matviyenko, who heads the upper chamber of Russias parliament, floated the idea during a visit to the United Arab Emirates, which earlier this year announced it would be establishing a Ministry of Happiness. After meeting with Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum in Dubai, Matviyenko told Russian news agencies on April 13 that it was a concept worthy of studying for Russia. The idea is that you have to make each person happy, to build happy schools, to provide services to the population in order to make each person happy, she was quoted by TASS and Interfax as saying. Such a ministry, she said, would, before making any decision, have to considerwhether or not this would make people happy. The U.A.E. prime minister said that each happy person can then make happiness out of unhappiness, and that a happy person will not strive to become a terrorist, Interfax quoted Matviyenko as saying. It seems to me that such a ministry would be very useful for Russia." A longtime lawmaker who was governor of the St. Petersburg region until 2011, Matviyenko is considered a close associate of Putin and was among those hit with sanctions by the United States in 2014 for Russias forced annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula. Stereotypes aside, Russia is far from being considered an unhappy country. Last month, researchers in North America and Britain, working with the backing of the United Nations, released a ranking of 156 countries, using indications like gross domestic product, life expectancy, corruption, and freedom to make life choices. Russia placed 56th, just above Poland, but just below Moldova and Kazakhstan. Interestingly enough, the U.A.E. isnt the first country in the world to set up such a government agency. A Vice Ministry for the Supreme Social Happiness of the Venezuelan People has been in existence in that South American country since 2013. And the mountain kingdom of Bhutan has for years compiled a gross national happiness index, in an effort to track the well-being of its citizens. Given all the other issues Russia is facing these days, it seems unlikely that the Kremlin would back the creation of a U.A.E.-styled Ministry of Happiness. If it did, however, it would be at least the second thing that the two countries share in common, the first being something that many experts say is at the source of many of the countries modern-day economic unhappiness: oil. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry says one its soldiers was killed in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh on April 14, the first casualty in almost a week following the worst outbreak of violence there for decades. The ministry said in a statement that the army sergeant was killed while "preventing the enemy's next provocation along the line of contact" that effectively serves as a front line separating Azerbaijani forces from Armenian-backed separatists. The Armenian-backed Nagorno-Karabakh separatist forces dismissed the claim from Baku, saying it was "disinformation aimed at artificially worsening the situation." Scores of people were killed during three days of combat in early April in and around the breakaway region. A Moscow-mediated cease-fire went into effect on April 5, but clashes have continued with two people reportedly killed on April 8. On April 13, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev visited Istanbul, where he discussed the situation in Nagorno Karabakh with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- a key supporter of Azerbaijan. Based on reporting by AFP, Interfax, Reuters, and AP U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has condemned Russia's military for flying warplanes close to a U.S. guided missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea, saying the April 12 incident was a "dangerous" and "reckless" provocation. Kerry said on April 14 that the U.S. warship, which was in international waters, could have shot down the Russian SU-24 fighter jets under rules of engagement. He said he was communicating with officials in Moscow in the hope that such a close encounter will not be repeated. Earlier on April 14, Russia's Defense Ministry defended the actions of the Russian pilots, saying they had respected all safety rules. U.S. military officials said the Russian warplanes were not armed, but flew so close to the U.S.S. Donald Cook and at such a low altitude that they created a "wake in the water." Reducing the risk of deadly military confrontations is on the agenda of NATO and Russian diplomats due to meet in Brussels on April 20. The meeting will be the first of the NATO-Russia Council since June 2014 when NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Moscow over its forcible annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and its support for pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine. Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and TASS WASHINGTON -- A new book is warning of an authoritarian surge around the world led by China, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, who are using sophisticated methods to silence dissent and manipulate domestic media. The book, released April 14 by the National Endowment for Democracy and written by a number of prominent scholars, said the so-called "Big Five" are also increasingly trying project influence beyond their borders through media outlets such as Russias RT, Chinas CCTV and Irans English-language Press TV. "Each [country] enjoys a global reach and projects messages that seek to undermine Western and U.S. prestige while shaping attitudes toward democracy," said the book, titled Authoritarianism Goes Global: The Challenge to Democracy. "These regimes and their surrogates are increasingly seeking to insinuate themselves into the democratic political space with the goal of influencing whether openly or furtively the political dynamics of countries in one world region after another," the book said. Christopher Walker, a co-editor and author of one of its chapters, told RFE/RL said the trend has been on the rise since the mid-2000s, fueled by a "lack of confidence" among democracies and "emboldened" regimes. Walker, who is the endowment's vice president for studies and analysis, said democracies need to refresh their own approaches to counter the trend, which has also included the use of "gongos," or government-organized non-governmental organizations. "These countries are developing very significant media outlets. Theyre developing surrogates who operate as organizations around the [world], and so the democracies need to think about this challenge in a much clearer way as a way to defend their own values," Walker said. "This would include more meaningful support for civil society, for independent media, certainly investigative journalism, and for the defense of values that are so critical in the many of the rules-based organizations that also have come under extraordinary pressure," he added. NGOs Targeted At the April 14 news conference to launch the book, co-editor Marc Plattner, who is the founding co-editor of the Journal of Democracy, said that the "Big Five" have been united by "a desire to contain the global advance of democracy." "They're also countries that are big enough and rich enough to be able realistically to pursue influence on the global stage," Plattner said. William Dobson, chief international editor at the U.S. radio and media organization NPR and the author of The Dictator's Learning Curve, listed some of the measures used to crackdown on civil society groups. For example, he said more than 120 laws targeting independent nongovernment organizations have been proposed or enacted in more than 60 countries since 2012. "Some of the most pernicious and effective have been those that have been looking to target the connection between domestic NGOs and international funding," Dobson said. Its an effort, he said, "to pull up the drawbridge that connects democracies and dictatorships in an effort to isolate, marginalize and in some cases eliminate those NGOs." The book also pointed to the growing use of "zombie" election monitors as a means to consolidate power, where nominally independent observers of other nations' elections are in fact being controlled by a central government. The National Endowment for Democracy is an independent Washington-based NGO that itself receives funding from the U.S. government as well as grants from private foundations. Poland's deputy defense minister has urged NATO to speak to Moscow from a position of strength to counter its renewed assertiveness in Eastern Europe. Tomasz Szatkowski made the remark in an interview with the Reuters news agency on April 14. Poland, alarmed by Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and its backing of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine, has been one of Moscow's staunchest critics. "Russia's sees its relations with the West in Cold War terms, so to ensure the efficiency of deterrence we must link it to the way of thinking of the one we want to deter," Tomasz Szatkowski told Reuters. "Right now, we must speak to Russia from a position of strength, although obviously without excessive muscle-flexing." In July, Warsaw will host NATO heads of state at a summit, where it will push for an increased military presence on the alliance's eastern flank. Russia says deployment of significant NATO forces close to its borders would violate the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act. Based on reporting by Reuters For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser Pakistani police say six policemen have been killed and 24 people taken hostage in the midst of a nine-day operation against a criminal gang in eastern Punjab Province. Police said on April 14 that the hostages include some security forces. But they were uncertain how many civilians were among the hostages. The operation was continuing on April 14, including a search for the hostages, on a jungle island used as a base by the so-called Chotu Gang. Police said four leading members of the notorious Chotu Gang have been killed. Authorities said gang leader Ghulam Rasool, also known as Chotu, has organized criminal activities in the border areas of the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan. Earlier this month, Pakistani police launched an operation against militants and criminal gangs in Punjab, especially in remote areas of Rajanpur district, where militants and criminals have for years challenged the government. Based on reporting by Reuters and AP The Russian Defense Ministry has defended the actions of the crews of Russian warplanes that flew near a U.S. guided-missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea. Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on April 14 that the crews of the Su-24 jets had respected all safety rules. The U.S. military said that the warplanes had simulated attack passes near the USS Donald Cook, with one official describing them as one of the most aggressive interactions in recent memory. The U.S. official said the Russian SU-24 jets were not armed in the April 12 incident, but flew so close to the U.S. destroyer and at such a low altitude that they created a "wake in the water." The official also said a Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter flew seven circles around the U.S. destroyer and took pictures. According to the U.S. Navy's 6th Fleet website, the USS Donald Cook is now in the Baltic Sea after leaving the port of Gdynia, Poland, on April 11. The USS Donald Cook encountered similar close passes by a Russian fighter jet in the Black Sea in April 2014. Based on reporting by Reuters A new group of people is joining the ranks of the unemployed in Uzbekistan. And for those already out of work and seeking new jobs, the new arrivals are a very bad sign. The newcomers are from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the ministry tasked with helping create jobs. President Islam Karimov signed an order on February 22 to reorganize the ministry and redistribute some of its duties to the Health and Finance ministries. It appears there will be no need to transfer additional personnel to these two ministries. By some accounts, nearly half the workers from the former Ministry of Labor and Social Security are slated to be laid off. For these now-former employees of the ministry, the situation became even worse when they discovered they would not receive any severance pay. As some of them told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, known locally as Ozodlik, the bad news didn't stop there. It turns out many were not paid for their work in March, and it seems they won't ever be paid for that work. Apparently their employment at the Ministry of Labor and Social Security was officially terminated at the end of February and no one told them. There have been some questions about the health of Uzbekistan's economy despite the World Bank's rosy forecast of 7.5 percent GDP growth for the Central Asian country this year and the even rosier prediction by Karimov that GDP growth would hit 7.8 percent in 2016. These bright economic outlooks have come despite information from inside Uzbekistan that the situation is far from well. For more than a year, people inside the country have been telling Ozodlik that prices are rising, the real value of their salaries is decreasing, the black market rate for the national currency -- the som -- is more than twice the official rate, and that some people, including state employees, are not even receiving wages on time. A group of employees from the Customs Committee in Uzbekistans eastern Andijon Province told Ozodlik their wages were reduced by 15 percent starting in March and said that, generally, wages were not being paid on time. Ozodlik contacted Jamshid Rahmedov, an accountant at the Customs Committee. Rahmedov confirmed the reduction in pay but said employees had been receiving a 15 percent bonus every year for several years automatically but that that policy has now changed. Rahmedov said bonuses based on performance would continue to be paid. Rahmedov also admitted there are wage arrears. He blamed a shortage of cash in Uzbekistans banks for the delayed payments. There are long lines at petrol stations and chronic shortages of gas -- sometimes, a total suspension of supplies -- in homes around the country during winter. That despite the fact that Uzbekistan is a gas exporter. However, gas exports have dropped and the price of gas on world markets has dropped to less than half what it was a few years ago. Uzbekistan will sell some 3 billion to 4 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to Russia this year after selling about 1 bcm to Russia last year. In 2009, Uzbekistan shipped 15 bcm to Russia. Uzbekistan has an agreement to sell China 10 bcm annually. But the General Administration of Customs of the Peoples Republic of China said in March 2015 that China had not imported gas from Uzbekistan since early that year. In September, an official at Uzbekistans state oil and gas company, Uzbekneftegaz, told Ozodlik that between 2012 and 2015 China had purchased 6.5 bcm of gas in total. And although it's not officially part of the countrys GDP, remittances from Uzbekistans migrant workers in Russia amounted to some $6.633 billion for 2013 but dropped to $3.05 billion for 2015. RFE/RL's Uzbek Service contributed to this report Ernest Roberts, 91, an Army veteran and Earl Mann, 91, a Navy veteran, were two of a handful of local World War II veterans that were escorted to Washington, DC earlier this month as part of the Honor Flight program. West Warwick Fire Chief Joe Baris escorted Roberts, and Hopkins Hill Chief Frank Brown took Mann. PETERSBURG At the end of June, Marcus J. Newsome will leave his job as superintendent of Chesterfield County schools, one of the top-performing districts in the state. He will then start the same job in Petersburg, one of the states most challenged school divisions. At the end of the day, its all about my love and care for children and believing that children in Petersburg deserve a quality education. And that starts with experienced leadership, Newsome said Wednesday shortly before being introduced as the citys new superintendent. Newsomes hiring was announced by the citys School Board at a community event that included state Secretary of Education Anne Holton, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Steven R. Staples and numerous local officials. The event at J.E.B. Stuart Elementary on Wednesday afternoon was a celebration for a School Board and school system that sees Newsome, with his decades of experience, as a savior of sorts. In an interview before the announcement, Newsome said he met with Billy K. Cannaday Jr., president of the states Board of Education and a former Chesterfield superintendent, shortly after announcing his retirement to share ideas about what Petersburg should look for in a new leader. That led to conversations with other state leaders and then finally to his consideration for the job, which he was offered last week. Newsome, 62, acknowledged some second thoughts about taking the position, but said he felt called to finish his career by helping turn around the struggling school system. You are probably aware that I have a degree in ministry, and I said that I wanted this portion of my life to be about ministry. So I, in some ways, see this as part ministry, Newsome said, adding, I believe this is Gods work. Newsome succeeds Joseph C. Melvin, who resigned under pressure in October after less than three years in the position. Linda Shifflette has been acting superintendent. The School Board unanimously approved Newsomes hiring and his four-year contract Wednesday evening. His last day in Chesterfield is June 30, and he begins working for Petersburg on July 1. I told my wife that I am going to do something because I still have a lot left in the tank, Newsome said. And she said, Thats OK. But whatever you do make sure its something where I dont have to read about you in the newspaper. Obviously, It did not work out that way. *** While Newsomes hiring is a positive development for a troubled school district, it will be a test for the Chesterfield educator. Newsome is leaving a school system one of the largest and best in the state that he has overseen for a decade. He heads to a district where only one of seven schools is fully accredited and more than 50 top-level administrators including seven superintendents, six directors of special education, five directors of staff development and six finance directors have come and gone in the past 15 years. The School Board has made it clear to me that their expectation is for me to manage the school district and to provide leadership over all operations human resources, curriculum and instruction, and all other areas of operations, Newsome said. They have been very candid about what they perceive as the challenges and they have been very supportive about the role they want me to play. As Newsome tries to turn around the district, he will have the faith of state officials who helped recruit him for the job and have committed to support the school districts efforts. He says the state Board of Education, Cannaday and Staples, along with the governors office, are all working to provide a support system to give the school district the best chance possible to succeed, Newsome said. One significant piece of help is $350,000 in funding for each of the next two years that will go toward recruiting and then retaining top-level administrators and teachers, he said. Newsome said the money will help with achieving one of his priorities: building a strong team of administrators that can create a foundation in Petersburg to keep the school system on firm footing for years to come. Newsomes total annual compensation in Chesterfield, including salary, car allowance and deferred compensation, is $287,745. His annual salary in Petersburg will be $230,000, with $60,000 of that coming from the incentive fund set up by the General Assembly. Melvin was earning $169,932 at the time of his departure, according to court papers. Staples said state education officials have been working with Petersburg for several years to find ways to improve student performance. It came to a head this year, Staples said. When the School Board determined they were going to go in a new direction, they reached out to us and said, Were in a transition. We dont want to have a revolving door of superintendents. Will you help us? We were more than happy to partner with them. Basically we said, What do you want us to do? Staples said that while Newsome has to come up with his own policies, the state is hoping to see the district work out a strategic plan that addresses areas of underperformance and to make sure theres an environment for supporting educators and other employees trying to get better at their jobs. Theres not one magic person, no silver bullet, to fix schools, Holton said. So its not just Dr. Newsome. But his willingness to come here says volumes about the work the board and the community are already doing. *** If the relationship works and Newsome is able to put the school district on firm footing, it would be a win for all involved, particularly students. The citys School Board, acknowledging a reputation for meddling, has said publicly that it would give Newsome leeway to make any and all needed improvements. The board recognizes that, as elected officials, we represent and serve on behalf of the people of Petersburg city, Chairman Kenneth Pritchett said in February. Therefore we pledge to engage in a governing process that supports and allows staff, under the authority of the superintendent, the freedom and authority to do its work without interference. Newsome, who met with School Board members last week, said he feels confident. I was most impressed with their understanding of their role and their desire to continue the progress that has begun here in Petersburg, he said. Chesterfield hired Newsome in 2006 to succeed Cannaday. He guided the system through the economic downturn that started in 2007 and that sparked a nearly $250 million reduction in funding for the district. Newsome has spent 35 years working in education, beginning his career as an art and math teacher in Washington. Before coming to Chesterfield, Newsome was superintendent of Newport News Public Schools. He also worked in Prince Georges County, Md. Then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine named him vice chairman of Virginias education and policy transition team in 2006, and Gov. Terry McAuliffe appointed him to the Governors Task Force on Local Government Mandate Review in 2014. He announced his retirement from Chesterfield in October. In his resignation letter, Newsome said the school system is improving and that its approved five-year plan includes money for salary increases, smaller class sizes, professional development and the purchase of new school buses. Pritchett, who introduced Newsome at Wednesdays event, said that the board considered the three final candidates but that the moment he saw Newsome had applied, he knew whom he wanted. The others did not even come up against Dr. Newsome. Not with the experience, he said. Youre talking about a superintendent that is nationally known. A superintendent that has turned schools around and has been successful in the school districts that hes worked in. There was no way they could compare. CULPEPER The Islamic Center of Culpeper continues to pursue plans for a new mosque along Rixeyville Road despite the county Board of Supervisors denial of a permit last week to provide a bathroom at the site. Islamic Center representative Mohammad Nawabe said Wednesday that the application to install a pump-and-haul system on the property was intended to be only temporary. He said the center is willing to connect to public sewer once it is available to serve the site, which will not support a traditional septic field due to poor soil conditions. We promised them we would do whatever to make the place look good, he said. The town and county have no immediate plans to extend utilities, according to Culpeper County Administrator John Egertson. Such extensions normally occur when a developer requests to extend them and the cost is taken on by the developer, he said. The Islamic Center parcel is located just outside of the countys water and sewer service area, meaning if the towns utility was extended, it would be at the higher, out-of-town rate. The parcel for the planned mosque which would be Culpepers first is located less than a mile from town utilities. Nawabe said Wednesday that he had contacted a lawyer in Northern Virginia about the pump-and-haul permit rejection, which he views as religious discrimination. He added that he hoped a lawsuit could be avoided and that the matter could be settled amicably with the county. We dont want to be hard-headed. We want to be friendly with everybody, Nawabe said. The Islamic Center of Culpeper currently holds weekly prayer meetings in an old house on Brandy Road. The four of seven county supervisors who denied the permit said they turned it down because the application did not meet its policy for pump and haul operations, which are only granted when a unique, temporary situation exists which goes beyond simple hardship conditions. The supervisors who voted against the permit said their opposition was not for religious reasons, while the three who supported the Islamic Centers application said they thought the denial was motivated by religion. County staff had recommended approval of the application. The proposed mosque would be used about two times per week for prayer meetings by up to 15 people, according to the application, generating about 120 gallons of wastewater per week. Since 1995, Culpeper County has approved 18 of 19 applications for pump and haul systems, the most recent one being last year to serve four existing buildings and two future storage buildings owned by Joseph Troilo Jr., according to a county staff report. In 2011 and 2012, the county approved two applications for First Baptist Church off Brandy Road and to serve an adjacent commercially zoned parcel with an existing building. In the past 20 years, the only pump-and-haul application denied by the county not including the Islamic Centers request was to serve a house with no indoor plumbing that was inherited by the applicant. County staff recommended denial of that because it was for residential use and such situations had not previously been considered appropriate for pump-and-haul, according to the staff report. A pamphlet from a rape survivor in New York to a conservative Republican senator in Virginia was the catalyst for legislation Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed into law Thursday to ensure that physical evidence in sexual assaults is properly retained and tested. Natasha Alexenko beamed as McAuliffe signed legislation sponsored by Sen. Richard H. Black, R-Loudoun, as well as an identical bill carried by Del. Robert B. Bell, R-Albemarle, to ensure that rape kits are retained at least two years in cases when victims choose not to report the crime and tested within 60 days when they do. I was trying not to cry, she said after a bipartisan ceremony at the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance near Willow Lawn. Alexenko, now 43 and living in Long Island, N.Y., was living in Newport News and working at the Mariners Museum in 2003 when she learned that the physical evidence collected when she was raped at gunpoint 10 years earlier in New York City finally had been tested. The test ultimately resulted in a DNA match in 2007 and conviction of the rapist a year later. She founded Natashas Justice Project to push for testing of physical evidence recovery kits from sexual assault cases across the country. What this does is it begins to link cases together and by linking cases together you take the serial offenders off the street, said Black, a former military prosecutor who began pushing for an audit of rape kits in Virginia after receiving a handmade pamphlet from Alexenko two years ago. Black, known for his conservative positions on abortion and other social issues, enlisted the help of an unlikely ally, the National Organization for Women, to introduce a bill in the waning days of the 2014 legislative session to conduct an audit that as of December had identified more than 2,900 untested physical evidence kits from Virginia rape cases dating as far back as 1988. He also found common cause with McAuliffe and Attorney General Mark R. Herring, both Democrats, to begin clearing the backlog of untested kits and establish standards to ensure proper handling and testing of physical evidence from sexual assaults in the future. It is a long overdue overhaul of the way we conduct investigations and handle evidence, said Herring, whose office secured a $1.4 million grant to hire a private company, Bode Cellmark Forensics, to test the kits, beginning with evidence that had been kept in cases in Virginia Beach and Fairfax County. McAuliffe, whose wife, Dorothy, served on the task force formed in 2014 to investigate the problem, included $900,000 in his pending two-year budget to allow the Department of Forensic Science to hire six DNA analysts to promptly test evidence collected in the kits in the future. The survivors of these malicious crimes are trusting in us to provide a full accounting of these cases and to bring perpetrators to justice, the governor said before signing the bills. Dana G. Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said many of the kits in the backlog went untested because of budget cuts that limited the capacity of the Department of Forensic Science to handle them, not because of neglect by law enforcement. I know law enforcement is thrilled about this because they want this, Schrad said. They want the kits tested whether they have an open case or not. A report by the Department of Forensic Science last year suggested that the problem of untested kits is less severe in Virginia than other parts of the country. About 35 percent of law enforcement agencies in the state reported having untested kits 2,369 at 136 agencies. The total rose to 2,902 in an updated report in December. McAuliffe also signed a separate bill introduced by Black to allow a minor to consent to testing of physical evidence in a sexual assault, even if the parent or guardian does not. Black said the law is needed especially in cases in which the parent or guardian is a potential suspect. He also signed legislation sponsored Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, and Sen. Barbara A. Favola, D-Arlington, to require the state to develop curriculum and provide training for law enforcement officers in how to respond in sexual assault cases and treat the survivors of the assault. The bill was part of Herrings legislative package, which reflected the recommendations of the Governors Campus Sexual Violence Task Force, which he chaired. The Department of Criminal Justice Services will develop the curriculum and oversee the training of law officers, including campus police at colleges and universities, prosecutors, administrators responsible for enforcing federal laws to prevent discrimination against women in higher education, and others who respond to cases of sexual assault and violence. For Black, the pamphlet from Alexenko, dropped off at his office by a friend of hers from Virginia Beach, was a revelation. I never knew there was such a thing as an untested rape test kit, said Black, a Marine combat veteran who also served as a major in the Judge Advocate General Corps and later directed the Army criminal law division at the Pentagon. He introduced Alexenko at the ceremony and credited her for the legislation. There wouldnt have been one person in this room if it wouldnt have been for her, he said after the ceremony. We wouldnt have known about it. It was spring 1960. James Alton Pond had come home to Colonial Heights and was job-hunting after a four-year stint in the Air Force. When he returned home one day, his mother told him, The police chief was here. What kind of trouble are you in? Mr. Pond related in a 1992 Richmond Times-Dispatch interview. Relief washed over him when he discovered that the police chief had come to offer him a job as a police dispatcher. He accepted the $2,200-a-year post to tide me over until I could find other employment, Mr. Pond recalled. Instead, it led to a career in law enforcement. During his 18 years with the Colonial Heights Police Department, Mr. Pond worked his way through the ranks, serving as a patrolman, shift sergeant, detective sergeant, safety officer and the citys first juvenile officer. In 1971, he was among four officers who helped form the states first multijurisdictional drug task force, which covered Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Petersburg and Prince George County. They worked on the task force while simultaneously performing their regular police duties. That made for long hours, but Mr. Pond said they enjoyed the work because we felt like we were accomplishing something. In 1977, he won election as Colonial Heights second sheriff and took office in 1978. Perhaps his major professional achievement was leading an effort to get local law enforcement officials to come together to discuss building a regional jail. Mr. Pond served as first chairman of the Riverside Regional Jail Authority, which opened a jail in Prince George in 1997. Mr. Pond, who retired as sheriff in 1996, died Sunday at 77. A funeral will be Friday at 2 p.m. at Second Baptist Church, 3355 Johnson Road in Petersburg, the city where he was born. Burial will be in Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg. During Mr. Ponds tenure as sheriff, the duties of his office became complicated. In the early days, Colonial Heights was a small, quiet community where nobody locked their doors, Mr. Pond recalled in the interview. By 1992, the number of warrants and court orders had grown from 7,000 to about 10,000 annually over a three-year period. The Sheriffs Office, which consisted of Mr. Pond, three full-time and two part-time deputies, also became concerned with the difficulties involved with courtroom and courthouse security, the transfer of sometimes-unruly prisoners to jail and mental institutions before and after trials, and the possibilities for escape. Because Colonial Heights had no jail, Mr. Pond spent much time finding places to house his prisoners. Usually it was in the Dinwiddie County Jail, but sometimes he had to search as far away as Pulaski County for jail space. At retirement, Mr. Pond said that he was most proud of his service to the public. He said that being sheriff was more than fighting bad guys. I think catching the bad guy is secondary to public service. Mr. Pond enjoyed working with young people and helping them stay or get back on the right track. He counseled first-time offenders and their parents to keep young people out of the court system. Dedicated to civic activities, he was a former president of the Colonial Heights Kiwanis Club and a former Outstanding Kiwanian of the Year. He helped raise money to buy a specially equipped van for a police officer who had been partially paralyzed in an automobile crash while off duty. Mr. Pond led a similar fundraiser for his close friend, Circuit Judge William N. Humphries, who died of Lou Gehrigs disease. Mr. Pond was instrumental in setting up a scholarship in Humphries honor. The Petersburg High School graduate attended Richmond Bland College before his military service. At age 27, he was named Outstanding Young Man of the Year in January 1966 by the Colonial Heights Jaycees, who also honored him with a Distinguished Service Award. In 1970, the Military Order of the Stars and Bars honored him with the national Law and Order Medal in the second year the award was given. The first was given to former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Oliver R.H. Singleton was known by his numerous friends and professional associates in the Richmond area as a consummate networker, a straight shooter who didnt shy away from telling the truth as he saw it, a devoted father of three, and a tireless advocate for economic development in Richmond. As president and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Business League since 2003, he was a tenacious supporter of minority-owned and small businesses in the Richmond area. Mr. Singleton, 63, died Tuesday after suffering a sudden health setback following recent surgery, several of his friends and professional associates said Wednesday. Oliver Rodney Hunt Singleton served as president of the MBL for over 13 years, the Metropolitan Business League said in a statement. He was responsible for setting the strategic direction of the organization and overseeing the associations day-to-day activities, it said. He is credited with developing community-shaping events and activities including the Women Who Mean Business Summit, one of the largest conferences for professional and executive women in this region. Formed in 1968 and based in Richmonds Jackson Ward, the MBL is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to minority business development. Besides leading the MBL, Mr. Singleton was a longtime executive committee member of Venture Richmond, an organization that promotes downtown economic development. Oliver was a giant in this community, said Jack Berry, Venture Richmonds executive director and a friend of Mr. Singletons for 35 years. He helped so many people from all walks of life to reach their dreams. These were often small-business owners who needed help with a business plan, or needed help meeting a potential customer, Berry said. Oliver knew everybody in Richmond, from the corporate suites to the startup businesses, and he connected people throughout his career. Hardly a day went by when someone didnt walk into (Mr. Singletons) office off the street and ask for help, and he would refer them to business opportunities or to mentors, Berry said. Born in Norfolk in 1952 and the youngest of three brothers, Mr. Singleton was a 1974 graduate of the University of Virginia, where he studied philosophy and comparative government. He moved to the Richmond area in the mid-1970s and worked as assistant director of support services for the Medical College of Virginia before starting a career as a stockbroker. Mr. Singleton was the first African-American stockbroker at Merrill Lynch in Richmond, according to his longtime friend, George K. Martin, managing partner of the Richmond office of law firm McGuireWoods. Mr. Singleton worked for several financial services firms before turning his career toward government and nonprofit work, his friends said. Before joining the Metropolitan Business League, he served as deputy director of the Virginia Department of Minority Business Enterprise. Mr. Singleton served for several months as an interim member of the Richmond City Council in 1992. He was appointed to fill a vacated seat when council member Henry L. Marsh III was elected to the Virginia Senate. After initially saying he would not run to retain the seat, Mr. Singleton mounted a write-in campaign in the May 1992 election, but he did not win. He also served as chairman of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority from 1994 to 1999, during which time the city began serious efforts to redevelop the Manchester area. Oliver was one of the smartest individuals I have had a chance to come across in my professional career, said Ken Ampy, founder and chief executive officer of Richmond-based Astyra Corp. and a member of the Metropolitan Business Leagues board of directors. He had an incredible spirit and was very knowledgeable and passionate about the city of Richmond, even though he came from Norfolk, Ampy said. His impact didnt stop there. Although he was very well-known for his leadership in the community, there was no better friend you could find, Ampy said. Friends described Mr. Singleton as a devoted father to his three children, two of whom had special needs. His two youngest children are now in college. He was a role model for me and lots of others in terms of what an outstanding father he was, said Martin, who was friends with Mr. Singleton for 40 years. Mr. Singleton is survived by his wife, Rose, and three adult children: daughters Rachel and Christine, and son Oliver. It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search? Search for: Search RICHMOND A letter from a rape survivor in New York to a conservative Republican senator in Virginia was the catalyst for legislation Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed into law Thursday to ensure that physical evidence in sexual assaults is properly retained and tested. Natasha Alexenko beamed as McAuliffe signed legislation sponsored by Sen. Richard Black, R-Loudoun, as well as an identical bill carried by Del. Rob Bell, R-Charlottesville, to ensure that rape kits are retained at least two years in cases when victims choose not to report the crime and tested within 60 days when they do. I was trying not to cry, she said after a bipartisan ceremony at the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance near Willow Lawn. Alexenko, now 43 and living in Long Island, New York, was living in Newport News and working at the Mariners Museum in 2003 when she learned that the physical evidence collected when she was raped at gunpoint 10 years earlier in New York City finally had been tested. The test ultimately resulted in a DNA match in 2007 and conviction of the rapist a year later. She founded Natashas Justice Project to push for testing of physical evidence recovery kits from sexual assault cases around the country. What this does is it begins to link cases together and by linking cases together you take the serial offenders off the street, said Black, a former military prosecutor who began pushing for an audit of rape kits in Virginia after receiving a letter from Alexenko two years ago. Black, known for his conservative positions on abortion and other social issues, enlisted the help of an unlikely ally, the National Organization for Women, to introduce a bill in the waning days of the 2014 legislative session to conduct an audit that as of December had identified more than 2,900 untested physical evidence kits from Virginia rape cases dating as far back as 1988. He also found common cause with McAuliffe and Attorney General Mark Herring, both Democrats, to begin clearing the backlog of untested kits and establish standards to ensure proper handling and testing of physical evidence from sexual assaults in the future. It is a long overdue overhaul of the way we conduct investigations and handle evidence, said Herring, whose office secured a $1.4 million grant to hire a private company, Bode Cellmark Forensics, to test the kits, beginning with evidence that had been kept in cases in Virginia Beach and Fairfax County. McAuliffe, whose wife, Dorothy, served on the task force formed in 2014 to investigate the problem, included $900,000 in his pending two-year budget to allow the Department of Forensic Science to hire six DNA analysts to promptly test evidence collected in the kits in the future. The survivors of these malicious crimes are trusting in us to provide a full accounting of these cases and to bring perpetrators to justice, the governor said before signing the bills. Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said many of the kits in the backlog went untested because of budget cuts that limited the capacity of the Department of Forensic Science to handle them, not because of neglect by law enforcement. I know law enforcement is thrilled about this because they want this, Schrad said. They want the kits tested whether they have an open case or not. McAuliffe also signed a separate bill introduced by Black to allow a minor to consent to testing of physical evidence in a sexual assault, even if the parent or guardian does not. Black said the law is needed especially in cases in which the parent or guardian is a potential suspect. He also signed legislation sponsored by Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, and Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, to require the state to develop curriculum and provide training for law enforcement officers in how to respond in sexual assault cases and treat the survivors of the assault. The bill was part of Herrings legislative package, which reflected the recommendations of the Governors Campus Sexual Violence Task Force, which he chaired. The Department of Criminal Justice Services will develop the curriculum and oversee the training of law officers, including campus police at colleges and universities, prosecutors, administrators responsible for enforcing federal laws to prevent discrimination against women in higher education, and others who respond to cases of sexual assault and violence. For Black, the letter from Alexenko, dropped off at his office by a friend of hers from Virginia Beach, was a revelation. I never knew there was such a thing as an untested rape test kit, said Black, a Marine combat veteran who also served as a major in the Judge Advocate General Corps and later directed the Army criminal law division at the Pentagon. He introduced Alexenko at the ceremony and credited her for the legislation. There wouldnt have been one person in this room if it wouldnt have been for her, he said after the ceremony. We wouldnt have known about it. TATA Steel wants to end its UK operations within four months, the shadow business secretary told MPs. Speaking during an emergency debate on the steel crisis in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Angela Eagle said the company had told her it wanted to end its work in the country by August. The debate - which lasted around three-and-a-half hours - featured speeches from Ms Eagle, business minister Sajid Javid, business secretary Anna Soubry and other backbench MPs. But readers contacted the Advertiser to ask about the lack of input from the boroughs MPs to the debate. Rotherham MP Sarah Champion was present for the first half of the debate but said she had to leave to attend a child abuse meeting. Ms Champion said: The fact I was only able to attend the first half of the steel debate should not be seen as a reflection of my unwavering support for the industry. Unfortunately, as we were given less than 24 hours notice of the emergency debate on steel I was only able to attend the first half of the discussion and was unable to cancel the child abuse session I was hosting that had over 50 people attending. A spokeswoman for John Healey, MP for Wentworth and Dearne, said parliamentary rules mean he was not able to contribute to the debate as he is a member of the shadow cabinet. Kevin Barron, Rother Valley MP, was not able to attend the debate because he was at the launch of a report by Action on Smoking and Health about the impact of smoking on people with mental health problems, a spokesman said. He said Mr Barron had another meeting straight after the report launch. Don Valley MP Caroline Flint was present in parliament during the debate and did comment. Dominion Diamond announced the retirement of Robert Gannicott as the Companys Chairman, who was replaced by Jim Gowans, who assumed the position of a non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors with immediate effect. Robert Gannicott will remain as a director of the Company. Jim Gowans was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company on January 13, 2016. He has extensive operational experience in most aspects of the mining industry, including exploration, major projects, operations and human resources as well as extensive leadership experience both in Canada and internationally. Jim Gowans is currently President and Chief Executive Officer for Arizona Mining Inc. Prior to joining Arizona, he held several senior roles with Barrick Gold Corporation before retiring at the end of 2015. Jim Gowans has held leadership roles for a number of major mining companies including, Managing Director of the Debswana Diamond Company in Botswana and Chief Executive Officer of DeBeers Canada Inc. where he was instrumental in building the companys Canadian operations. He is a former Chair of the Mining Association of Canada (MAC), and is the Past-President of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM). Brendan Bell, Chief Executive Officer, commented: On behalf of the executive team, I welcome Jim to his role as Chairman and I look forward to working with him. Jims extensive knowledge of the global diamond industry and mining, coupled with his operating experience of working in Canadas North will complement the management team as we continue to realize the full potential of Dominions world-class diamond assets. Theodor Lisovoy, Rough&Polished, Moscow Petra Diamonds has come under attack from small businesses in Kimberley, South Africa for overlooking local suppliers and service providers. GroundUp reports that the diamond company was described by the business community as an "untransformed international mining bully". They called for mass action aimed at closing down Petras mines. A spokesperson for the business community Neo Modise said although Petra had responded to their memorandum, it was only to pay lip service to local black [small and medium sized businesses]. They haven't addressed our demands honestly," she said. "Only 1% of long-term capital tenders are awarded to local contractors. That's why we are mobilising the unemployed youth for rolling mass action to close down the mine." Petra spokesperson Gert Klopper said it remained a challenge for the company to source capital equipment from local suppliers due to availability issues with the suppliers and equipment. Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, 66 (currently head of the UNDP); Former Macedonian Foreign Minister Srgjan Kerim, 67; Montenegro Foreign Minister Igor Luksic; Former Slovenian President Danilo Turk, 64; Former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, 66 (Portugal). The candidates appear before the UN General Assembly this week and are making campaign-style pitches. Applications, letters of motivation and resumes have been published and can be viewed online. These are the first public hustings in the organisations 70-year history. It indicates an attempt to democratise the secretive nomination process controlled by the Security Councils five veto powers; namely the US, Russia, Britain, China and France. Having made its choice, the 15-member Security Council will formally recommend the candidate to the 193-member General Assembly at the start of its next session in October. Than the next UN chief will be revealed. The supply glut that led to collapsing crude oil prices will be alleviated by diminished output from non-OPEC nations, according to the International Energy Agency. The world surplus will drop to 200,000 barrels a day in the second half of the year from 1.5 million in the first half, the agency said in a report on Thursday. "There are signs that the much-anticipated slide in production of light, tight oil in the U.S. is gathering pace," the IEA wrote. However, the IEA also downplayed the potential impact of an imminent deal between Saudi Arabia and Russia to freeze supplies. The two producers are meeting along with other oil majors this weekend in Doha, Qatar. "If there is to be a production freeze, rather than a cut, the impact on physical oil supplies will be limited," the IEA said in its monthly report. "With Saudi Arabia and Russia already producing at or near record rates and very little upside seen apart from Iran any deal struck will not materially impact the global supply-demand balance during the first half of 2016," the IEA said. Crude oil prices plunged to a 13-year low near $26 in February, but have since clawed back above $40. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News . . 50% of Indian mobile users wish to upgrade to new device in 5G era About 50 per cent of smartphone users in India plan to buy a new device within the first year as 5G ... I give my consent to Sakshi Post to be in touch with me via email for the purpose of event marketing and corporate communications. Privacy Policy Here are the Halloween and fall events happening in Salina As people in Salina get ready for fall, there are several events happening on Halloween and the days before it. A school from North Sydney Australia called The Shore School donated rugby equipment and clothing to the Loto Taumafai School yesterday. The all-boys Christian school is known for rugby in the area. School representative, Penny Sutton, said the donation was made through the Mossman U15 rugby team, which visited Samoa for two weeks. One of the students made an announcement through the schools newsletter about giving back to the community and so everyone got together and brought everything that we have given to the Loto Taumafai today, she said. The captain of the Mossman rugby team and two other players are attending The Shore School and so today they are here to present all that they gathered together to donate to Loto Taumafai. This is the first time we have donated to a specific school but for the past years we just bring the gears and give them out to the villages. Ms. Sutton said their desire is to bless the students at Loto Taumafai. We chose Loto Taumafai with the help from our friend Uaea Apelu because this is where the things were needed the most, so this is to help those who are in need, she said. The shore school is a school with over a 1,000 boys and rugby is a very prominent sport. Its a Christian school and so its all about giving back to the community. We hope in future years we are able to donate back to this school. Chief Executive Officer of Loto Taumafai, Letaa Daniel Devoe, acknowledged the support from the parents and teachers and all the students of The Shore School. We thank you very much for all that you have given today, he said. The kids here will use these with grateful hearts and hope we get to see you again in the future. Three local officials and a Scientist have been given the chance to study the benefits of bamboo and rattan in China. Laolaoifale Solomona, Penisula Leala, Simaika Lio from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (M.N.R.E); and Philip Reti from the Scientific Research Organization of Samoa (S.R.O.S) along with over 200 participants from other countries will be attending a three-week training course at the International Centre for Bamboo and Rattan in China courtesy of the Chinese government. They will be taught by a group of senior experts in that target field; these trainings will hopefully introduce bamboo and rattan industry development in Samoa. The Chinese Ambassador, Wang Xuefeng was joined by the four lucky Samoans at his residence to discuss the trip before leaving the country. According to the Chinese Ambassador, this is only one of the ways they have helped Samoa over the past few weeks. This project is one part of all the programmes for training provided by the Chinese government, in the past several weeks we have invited some farmers from the Samoa Farm Association as well as some teachers from the village, and some journalists and technicians from different news rooms to travel to China for seminars, he said. We think it is helpful for our Samoan friends to visit China and learn through some technical experiences at these trainings. The Chinese Ambassador continued explaining the importance of this upcoming seminar. In China we have very rich bamboo resources which will be introduced to our friends who are going on the trip, he said. Aside from all the seminars, our friends will get the chance to visit 2 beautiful provinces where they will do observations on the growing of bamboo as well as the process technology. I also think it is a good opportunity for them to exchange their views with pacific island country colleagues because this seminar is designed for developing countries. These hands-on experiences will help give an understanding of how people in china make use of bamboos and rattan which could also help Samoa one day. According to Mr. Reti during the discussion, there are many uses for bamboo and rattan which Samoa has yet to take advantage of. Bamboos grow very well in the nutritious soils of Samoa, it would be a good factor to show the people of Samoa the many uses and benefits of bamboo and rattan, he said. It would also be another good source of income for people in Samoa through handicrafts, furniture and so on. Right now not many people are aware of the benefits of bamboos compared to other plants like coconut trees. Mr. Reti concluded with a word of thanks to the Ambassador. We would like to thank the Chinese embassy for this opportunity to travel to China, he said. We hope we will be able to learn all that we need so that one day we may be able to apply the benefits of these plants to Samoa." The spectacular backdrop of the Sheraton Samoa Aggie Greys Resort at Mulifanua provided the perfect ending for the Samoa Tourism Exchange (S.T.E) 2016 ending last night. The ceremony attended by the Minister of Tourism, Lautafi Fio Purcell and other Cabinet Ministers, was also used to launch the Samoa Tourism Authoritys (S.T.A) Communication Strategy. The evening of fine dining, food and plenty of dancing brought to an end a productive two days of networking and promoting Samoa as a tourism destination in Apia. This is the ninth S.T.E, bringing to Samoa global travel industry representatives to learn more about the destination. The Samoa Tourism Exchange empowers the leaders within the travel industry to sell Samoa with authority and conviction because once you experience the beauty of our islands and our people, you cant help but want to share that beautiful experience with your clients, said S.T.As Chief Executive Officer, Papalii Sonja Hunter. Its important for everyone to have a holistic experience while in Samoa in order to be able to do their work and effectively sell the destination to their clientele. This is the easy part for us the environment, mixed with our famous hospitality, we know how to show people a good time. The S.T.E was opened on Monday night at the Samoa Tourism Authority Cultural Village. Chiefs from Alataua West yesterday made an emotional plea to their former Member of Parliament, Lafaitele Patrick Leiataualesa, to withdraw his petition against their new M.P. I beg of you to reconsider this, said Taatiti Manoa, of Neiafu. Another Neiafu chief, Aliimalemanu Faleupolu, said desperation knows no shame. This is something that is done by any person who needs help, he said. He is not ashamed to stand up in humiliation. Let the seat stay with Aliimalemanu because this is not the end of the world. The plea was made in the Supreme Court during the hearing of a petition against Aliimalemanu Alofa Tuuau. Lafaitele is accusing her of bribery and treating during the General Election. The petition was scheduled for hearing yesterday before a panel of Judges chaired by the Chief Justice, His Honour Patu Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu. The other judge is Justice Lesatele Rapi Vaai. The courtroom was filled with villagers, women and elderly men from the villages that make up the Alataua West constituency. During the morning break, a matai from Neiafu, Taatiti Manoa stood inside the courtroom and asked Lafaitele to reconsider his decision. He said since the election,they had been looking for him at his home but he was nowhere to be found. I know you have a right to do this under the law, said Taatiti. But some matters (petitions) have been dealt with in a traditional way (faatamaliile filifiliga). You have had our support for ten years.Have you forgotten that? Taatiti said it was an embarrassment for their constituency to be dragged before the Court and urged Lafaitele to reconsider. Im begging you, he said. Aliimalemanu Faleupolualso appealed for mercy. Even though today is a matter against me, it does not stop me from asking, he said. This is something that is done by any person who needs help. He is not ashamed to stand up in humiliation. Let the seat stay with Aliimalemanu because this is not the end of the world. There will be another day, another chance. Let me remind you that the Court proceedings will come to an end but our covenant is for life. I pray that our covenant will not come to an end. I am in pain and I have suffered, please feel for us and your village. In response, Lafaitele said he had just arrived from Hawaii with his sister. He told the villagers that he did not bring the petition to Court but rather it was his sisters who had pushed for the hearing. You all know Lafaitele does not do things like this, said the former M.P. Leave it to me because you do not know how the matter ended up in here. It was my sisters and the lawyer but leave it to us we will discuss it. When the hearing resumed, lawyer for Aliimalemanu, Amelia Faasau made an application to have the matter referred to an urgent mediation, noting that there has been a change in the circumstances. But the lawyer for Lafaitele, Unasa Iuni Sapolu, said she wanted to make an application for a private hearing. Although the matter is of public interest, Unasa emphasised that it was also in the interest of her client not to be pressured into a decision. Chief JusticePatuthen adjourned the Court while the parties discuss the possibility of a mediation. Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of 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Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Belleville, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/14/2016 -- Ecuadorian Rainforest, LLC, a wholesale supplier of natural ingredients, will be exhibiting at Vitafoods Europe at the Palexpo in Geneva, Switzerland, at booth M52 on May 10-12. Attendees of the show will discover new ingredients from Ecuadorian Rainforest that are poised to take over 2016. Displayed will be a number of colorful fruit, vegetable, marine, spice, and herb powders. Company representatives will be on hand to discuss the ingredients and answer any technical questions. Ecuadorian Rainforest's new white paper, 4 Steps to Selecting an Ingredient Supplier, brings to the forefront many of the steps manufacturers must take in order to ensure they receive the ingredients they need. Attendees will get fresh new insight for selecting an ingredient supplier to fulfill their business's needs. Those who read this new white paper will learn how choosing the right supplier, quality control, logistics, and consistency all play vital roles in determining who to choose as an ingredient supplier and how that will affect the success of your product. Ecuadorian Rainforest will also speak about its newly upgraded website, IntoTheRainforest.com, and the features added to make the browsing experience easier and informative for the end-user. Show attendees can stop by booth M52 at Vitafoods Europe to learn more about the company's nutraceutical offerings and to speak about their needs with a company representative. About Ecuadorian Rainforest Ecuadorian Rainforest has provided natural ingredients from South America and beyond for over 16 years. Founded by Marlene Siegel in 1997, they now has over 1,000 fruit, herb, marine, spice, and vegetable ingredients all under one roof. Ecuadorian Rainforest puts its natural ingredients through rigorous quality-control processes to ensure they meet high-quality standards. For more information about Ecuadorian Rainforest, LLC, visit them at www.IntoTheRainforest.com. Media Contact: Ramon Luna - Marketing 25 Main St, Building 6 Belleville, NJ 07109 973-759-2002 Email: info@intotherainforest.com Url: http://www.intotherainforest.com/ Lewes, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/14/2016 -- "Bluetooth Smart Market" is a new report with a worldwide coverage as well as a segmentation by device type (Bluetooth smart device, Bluetooth smart ready device) by shipment (classic Bluetooth module shipment, Bluetooth smart module shipment, Bluetooth smart ready module shipment) by application (automotive, consumer electronics, healthcare, home automation, industrial automation, retail and wearables) and by geography (APAC, EMEA, Latin America, and North America). The market research report provides growth trends, analysis and forecasts for the period 2016 2021 and predicts the market to be worth close to US$ 3 billion by 2021. Industrial IoT is one of the largest end-markets for Bluetooth Smart. The market is expected to extend from personal area networks (PAN) to wider area networks (WAN). The Industrial Internet Consortium was founded in March 2014 to bring together the organizations and technologies necessary to accelerate the growth of Bluetooth smart within this sector. The organization is backed by companies such as AT&T, Cisco, Intel and IBM. APAC to contribute to more than 50 percent of the revenue in the Bluetooth Smart Market in 2021 The demand for Bluetooth smart modules in the APAC region is driven by the rapid growth of organized retail in the region. As the region's growth centres such as India, Indonesia, China and Thailand ease their FDI policies in multi-brand and E-commerce retailing, an influx of investments into the region's retail sector is expected to exceed $20 billion during the forecast period. The high adoption of wearables will also add to the growth for Bluetooth smart in the region especially in the fitness segment with an emphasis on healthcare. Healthcare sector expected to contribute to close to US$ 100 million of the Bluetooth Smart Market in 2021 The healthcare sector consists of devices such as hearing aids, blood pressure monitors, glucose monitors, smart drug delivery devices and thermometers. All of these are expected to contribute to the growth of the market. Continuous glucose monitors are a significant segment in healthcare sector owing to the growing prevalence of diabetes in the emerging economies of Latin America and Asia Pacific. Within the healthcare sector, North America is expected to contribute to the most of the Bluetooth smart market. Close to 4 billion Bluetooth Smart Ready Modules to be shipped in 2021 With the introduction and realization of Internet of Things (IoT) in every aspect of a consumer's life, ranging from health, fitness and wellness to retail and smart homes, Bluetooth Smart technology is turning out to be the de-facto standard for wireless connectivity. Bluetooth smart has also enabled the rise of several low cost pieces of hardware that eventually established new application segments itself. One such device, whose horizon of application is constantly expanding is beacons. Shipments of beacons, working on proximity sensing is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 50% between the period 2016-2021. Key Vendors in the Bluetooth Smart Market The Bluetooth Smart market has a number of large players that are playing a pivotal role in the market. These companies are Broadcom, Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR plc), Dialog Semiconductor, Nordic Semiconductor ASA, Silicon Labs and Texas Instruments (TI). Other vendors operating in the market include Apple, Bluegiga Technologies , Blueradios, Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, Lapis Semiconductor, Marvell Technology Group, Ltd, Mediatek, Inc, Microchip Technology, Murata, NXP Semiconductors, STMicroelectronics and Toshiba. For more information Visit at: http://www.marketresearchreports.com/beige-market-intelligence/strategic-assessment-worldwide-bluetooth-smart-market-%E2%80%93-forecast-till-2021 Find all Electrical Products Reports at: http://www.marketresearchreports.com/electrical-products About Market Research Reports, Inc. Market Research Reports, Inc. is the world's leading source for market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest market research reports on global markets, key industries, leading companies, new products and latest industry analysis & trends. Yearly/Quarterly Report Subscription: http://www.marketresearchreports.com/subscriptions New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/14/2016 -- Morocco Film Production has managed to create yet another amazing production. With a story-line that's based on ancient Greek prophecies, they are all set to get the audience glued to the TV screen. The production house is known for film shoot permits in Morocco, casting, equipment and a lot more. They are also known to get the perfect costumes for every shoot. All partners at the production house are certified under CCM which is the Moroccan Cinematographic Center and the sole governing agency of Moroccan film industry. When it comes to timely services with top notch service and equipment, there's no company that does it better.Moroccan Production Manager- Asma El Mouttaki - is proud of the team that works at Morocco Film Production and states that the current 4 episode project is an amazing project. He also believes that the crew played a huge role in helping them wrap up this shoot on time with their quality services and straight forward approach. The CEO of Morocco Film Production is not surprised, according to Abdelhay Elanbassi "we speak film-making", which is a clear statement about what they do. Any person who has associated with the Morocco Film Production will confirm that their services are the best in the country and their approach to work is positive and welcoming. The Morocco Film Production provides end to end solutions for companies looking to shoot in Morocco which makes it a one stop shop for all your casting, shooting and production needs under one roof. The services are hassle free and professional. Every project is given utmost importance to ensure they meet the schedule and deliver timely and quality results which match the expectations of the viewers. About Morocco Film Production Morocco is a beautiful destination, and when you shoot in this location with the right professionals you get some of the best pictures you could expect. Since Moroccan weather is pleasant all year around, shooting here is never a problem. Anytime is the ideal time to film something in Morocco. Media Contact Contact Email: info@morocco-film-production.com Phone: 646-634-1420 or 800-799-3080 Address: Morocco Film Production 157 west 79 street. Suite 12 CZip 10024, New York, NY Website: http://www.morocco-film-production.com Berlin, Germany -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/14/2016 -- Taleb Al Abdulmohsen is Saudi Arabian presently in Germany who has gone public with his views on Islam. Now an Ex-Muslim, Taleb has launched a reformist campaign starting with a book named "Creative Refutation of Islam." The Indigogo crowdfunding campaign has already been launched and supporters of his cause have started making contributions. While the initial reactions from his friends and colleague have not been favorable, Taleb has all intentions of going ahead with the campaign. Taleb has debated and discussed the fundamental concepts of Islam for long and has finally come out with a formula that he believes is sure to appeal to one out of 10 Muslims. As a result, someone has spoken of analyzing the geographic dimension of Arabic Islam perhaps for the first time. Supporting Kant, he has prescribed the "need for Arabs to go beyond laziness and cowardice and enter the lane of critical thinking." "Even after that you are not completely safe," adds the doctor. "Once in the reasoning lane, you will have to persistently avoid misleading arguments." Through his principles, reasoning and critical thinking, the doctor has finally got his stand right: "I am sincerely led to believe that Islam did not originate from a divine origin and its existence is subject to absolute reform or total shutdown." He has also expressed his concerns on the overall validity of Islam that is taught to students in classes and by parents. He says: "You will notice that most Muslims do not have a great range of critical arguments and become speechless by the end of such debates." Dr Al Abdulmohsen's efforts are also geared toward a greater cause of giving room to freethinkers in Islam. As he puts it himself: "I cannot afford to say what I am saying in Saudi Arabia. We have had too many executions already. Unless people are willing to give space to free thought and speech, Islam will continue to be a flawed doctrine. This is the basic change that I want to see." About Taleb Al Abdulmohsen Taleb Al Abdulmohsen is creating an academy of Ex-Muslims dedicated expressly toward the refutation of Islam. The academy is based on refuting Islam with Arabic-style arguments. Taleb's first book is titled "Creative Refutation of Islam." Dr Taleb Al Abdulmohsen can be contacted on Twitter The crowdfunding campaign can be supported at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/creative-refutation-of-islam--4#/ Ex-Muslims Academy can be supported at https://www.generosity.com/faith-religion-fundraising/ex-muslim-academy Contact: Contact Name: Taleb Al Abdulmohsen Email: taleb_jawad@yahoo.com Website URL: http://igg.me/at/exmuslim Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/14/2016 -- Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil extracted from the reddish pulp of the oil palms. Sustainable Palm oil is naturally reddish in color because it has the component of high beta carotene. Sustainable palm oil means the palm oil which is manufactured under the guidance and rule of the Roundtable on sustainable palm oil (RSPO). To produce certified sustainable palm oil, manufactures has to follow the environmental and social criteria set by RSPO. It can also be kept in the room temperature. Palm oil also contains very little cholesterol. It is also used in products where animal fats are not accepted for the religion issues. It has been noticed that the palm oil is used in several industries to make the ultimate product. Those industries are also growing. So the demand of the palm oil will be more. So the market will expand very fast in the stipulated period of time. Global Sustainable palm oil Market Dynamics:- The market of sustainable palm oil market is anticipated to be driven by the various used of the product in a different way. It has a great cooking properties, even it can be used in the high temperature. Its smooth and creamy texture and having no smell make it a perfect ingredient for many recipes like it is used in the bakery (specially for biscuits). It has a natural perspective effect which helps the longevity of the food byresisting the oxidation that spoils them. It is also the highest producing vegetable oil crop which makes it very efficient. It needs less land required by other oil crops to produce same quantity of oil. It makes this cheaper than the other oil in the market. Sustainable palm oil is also used in the cosmetic industry. Sustainable Palm oil ingredients are used in the skin care products, make up products. Due to have the rules and regulations of RSPO the producers are not able to destroy the environment and wild life. It keeps the social interest towards sustainable palm oil production and the conflict cannot be created between the communities and workers. Palm oil is available as an ingredients such as palm kernel oil, palm kernel stearin, palm kernel olein, partially hydrogenated palm oil, asorbyl palmitate, Palmate, Sodium Laureth Sulphate etc. Palm oil used as a frying fat for many food items, as a shortening in bakery products. Request Free Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1374 Global Sustainable Palm oil Market Segmentation: Sustainable palm oil market can be segmented on the basis of application of the palm oil such as food, soap and detergents, pet food and cosmetics. Then food also can be sub segmented such as bakery, ice cream & other frozen desserts, confectionery products and margarine. Palm oil market also can be segmented on the basis of types of the palm oil availability in the market such as palm kernel oil, red palm oil, fractional palm oil, white palm oil. Global Sustainable palm oil Market: Regional Outlook: Geographically, the global palm oil industry can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Middle East and Africa. Indonesia and Malaysia captured the highest market share in terms of the production of palm oil. Other production countries are Thailand, Columbia, Nigeria and Ecuador. China got the first position in terms of consumption of palm oil followed by EU, India, Indonesia and United States. Malaysia was the highest exporter of palm oil. Download TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1374 Global sustainable palm oil Market Players: The major players identified across the value chain of global sustainable palm oil market include New Britain palm oil limited, Golden agri resources limited, IOI corporation Berhad, Wilmer international limited, Cargill, SIPEF group Belgium, Kulim berhad, Sime Darby plantation sendirian Berhad, Hap seng Plantation Holdings Berhad, Kuala lampur kepong Berhad.and United Plantation Berhad Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/14/2016 -- Sprayers are devices that used to apply pesticides, insecticides on plants to control pastes and diseases. Sprayers are also use to apply herbicides to control weeds and micronutrients to promote growth of plants. The sprayers breaks the chemical solution into fine droplets and distribute the insecticides uniformly over the plant. A good sprayer should produce steady stream of liquid in desired droplet size so that plants to be treat get covered uniformly. The sprayer should convey adequate pressure so that sprayer should reach all foliage over the plant. The sprayer are operated manually as well as by power. Crop Sprayers Market: Drivers & Restraints Food drives the world. In addition to clean water, acquire sufficient food is major concern for majority of peoples in the world which makes the agriculture one of the biggest and important industry in the world. Agricultural productivity is not only the prime factor for countries economy but also for the health and security of its population. So importance of agricultural in countries economy is major driving factor for crop sprayer market. Population explosion, increasing incomes, declined natural sources and changing climate conditions affected food prices to rise and agricultural productivity once again become a major concern. Strategies to increase food productivity imparts the use of technology in agriculture. Such strategies will helps to drive crop sprayers market. Green revolution have changed the concept of traditional farming. Extensive efforts to modify farming methods assisted to increase the food production in Asia Pacific and Latin America. There are some regions in Middle East and Africa where many effort were taken to apply the green revolution approaches but failed. So there is need to help the farmers to use farming equipment in farming. Farmers in undeveloped countries does not have disposable income to use modern techniques in farming. So there is need of government initiatives to assist the farmers. Request Free Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1366 Crop Sprayers Market: Market Segmentation Crop sprayers market can be segmented on the basis of Capacity of Sprayers Ultra Low Volume Sprayers (less than 5liters/hectare) Low Volume Sprayers(5 to 400 liters/hectare) Manually Operated Knapsack Sprayers Rocker Sprayers Pedal Operated Sprayers Stirrup Sprayers Power Driven Sprayers Knapsack Power Sprayers High Volume Sprayers(More than 400 liters/ hectare) Self-Propelled Sprayers Mounted Sprayers Trailed Sprayers Crop Sprayers Market: Regional-Outlook The global Crop Sprayers market has been divided into seven key geographical regions which includes, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific will be dominating market for Crop Sprayers. Countries like India, China, and Indonesia are major agricultural promoting countries in Asia Pacific. There will be demand for Low volume sprayers in India as there is farming in small plots. Farming land in India is bisected. China and Indonesia will demand High volume sprayers. Asia Pacific is followed by North America. North America is major producer of wheat, corn and soybean. Latin America is also the lucrative market for crop sprayers market. Green revolution have lead the Latin America as prime agriculture region. Brazil and Mexico will be important countries for Crop sprayers market. Western Europe also contributes for Crop sprayers market. Germany and Netherlands. Netherlands is one of the prominent producer of vegetables and flowers. Eastern Europe also important market for Crop Sprayers. Middle East and Africa is lags behind in Agriculture. But countries like Israel, South Africa, and Nigeria have proved the development in Agriculture. So there is opportunity to expand the crop sprayers market in this region. Download TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1366 Crop Sprayers Market: Key players Some of the identified players in the global Crop Sprayers market are, Chafer Machinery Group Househam John Rhodes AS limited Boston Crop Sprayers Cleveland crop sprayers limited Avison Sprayers S & K sprayers Foggers India Pvt ltd. ASPEE India Crystal Crop Protection Pvt Ltd Taizhou Sunny Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Ousen Machinery Co., Ltd. Iraq is losing crucial knowledge about water management as marshland depletion is altering the lifestyle of local women, a paper has warned. The indigenous people of the Hammar Marshes, called Madan, hold a treasure trove of traditional knowledge and skills that help with water management, medicine and sustainable farming, a study found. In Madan tradition, women are the preservers of such knowledge and take an active role in trade, reed collection and animal husbandry. However, the depletion of the marshes through desiccation has drastically changed their lifestyle, researchers say. While none of the women interviewed for the study reported being primarily domestic before marshland desiccation, about 60 per cent of younger women are exclusively housewives, says Nadia Al-Mudaffar Fawzi, the author of the study. We dont have enough studies linking the environment to the socio-economic issue, with very limited studies on the desiccation impact on the community and women in particular, says Fawzi, a researcher at the Marine Science Centre at the University of Basrah in Iraq. Up to 90 per cent of the Hammar Marshes have been heavily damaged by draining, which began in the 1970s. As a result, the population of the region dropped from 500,000 in the 1950s to 20,000 by 2003, says the paper, which was published last month in Ecosystem Health and Sustainability. The resulting lack of marsh management through Madar women has exacerbated water shortages in the region, Al-Mudaffars study found. The remaining water supply and quality are adversely affected by dam construction, climate change, salt water intrusions, waste from the oil industry and over-irrigation, the study warns. It is substantial to maintain sufficient water in the marshes, especially since most of the water goes to agriculture , says Ali Al-Lami, the former deputy environment minister of Iraq. But providing stable water resources is almost impossible now due to hard conditions for finance and water resources. The changing lifestyle for women also means that important knowledge about local traditional medicines could be lost, says Al-Mudaffars study. The paper states that some of the damage to the marshes could be reversed, and that ecotourism could be developed to support the Madar communities. Id say that it is rare to find similar studies in Iraq, and Im confident that it will help confirm the marsh communitys need for support, especially for the women, says Lami. But Mahdi Thamad Al-Qaisi, Iraqs deputy minister of agriculture, says funding for such efforts must come from private companies or international bodies, as the Iraqi government is experiencing financial hardship. Extra reporting by Adel Fakhir in Baghdad. A technology that relies on trained African giant pouched rats named HeroRATS to sniff out tuberculosis (TB) and diagnose the disease faster than conventional diagnostic methods is helping save lives in Mozambique and Tanzania. Mozambique and Tanzania are among 22 high-burden nations suffering from TB, with 58,270 and 63,151 new cases of the disease detected, respectively in 2014, says the WHO. The rat technology is being used by Belgian non-governmental organisation, APOPO, for speedy and cost-effective testing of TB in the two countries prisons, allowing patients to receive prompt treatments. When the HeroRAT detects TB, it hovers over the sample for three to five seconds. Charlie Richter, APOPO According to APOPO information sent to SciDev.Net last month (23 March), the project is benefitting from a two-year US$80,000 funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded in 2015. Charlie Richter, US director of APOPO, says the pilot project is aiding a diagnostic accuracy study of the technology in high risk populations, such as prisons, adding rigorous scientific evidence towards WHO endorsement. The HeroRats are presented with a row of ten suspect TB sputum samples. When the HeroRAT detects TB, it hovers over the sample for three to five seconds, Richter says. All rat-indicated positive samples are then confirmed by LED microscopy or Xpert MTB/RIF, the WHO recommended technology for identifying suspected cases of TB. A single HeroRAT can check about 100 sputum samples in just 20 minutes, compared to conventional methods of microscopy, which would take a laboratory technician two days or more and still miss many of the true positives, Richter says. Early studies show that the rats are able to correctly identify 70 per cent of TB cases and 81 per cent of those without the disease . It takes about nine months to fully train a TB detection rat, but once trained they can screen thousands of sputum samples every month. We have trained 59 TB detection rats in our training and research centre in Morogoro, Tanzania, nine were then transported to Maputo, Mozambique, adds Richter. Of these, 30 are still active in Tanzania and 8 in Maputo. The others are either retired or died from natural causes. The project has screened over 300,000 TB samples, resulting in a 45 per cent increase in TB detection at partner clinics. Richter tells SciDev.Net that without HeroRATs, the clinics would have incorrectly diagnosed 50 per cent of symptomatic TB positive patients as TB negative. In the future, APOPO plans to test the rats abilities to detect other diseases such as cancer. APOPO hopes to roll out its TB programme in at least six countries by 2020 in Africa and Asia Bangladesh, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, India and Kenya, but cites funding and establishing partnerships as challenges. Jeremiah Chakaya, a physician and chest specialist with the Kenya Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, says work with rats to detect TB has been going on for a long time. The idea, he explains, was spurred by the superb sense of smell of these rats which had been used to detect land mines after the Mozambican civil war. The rats pick up in their smell a group of chemicals collectively called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), says says Chakaya, noting that the rats alert an observer that there are TB-associated VOCs in a sample. The same principle has been used to develop machines called electronic noses. My suspicion is, it is the electronic noses that will move forward to commercialisation, if the technologies prove their worth. Rats may be cumbersome to place in a clinical laboratory but not impossibly so. This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Sub-Saharan Africa English desk. The cost of insulin has risen by triple-digit percentage over the last five years. Its high cost is endangering people with diabetes, especially those who cannot afford pricey insulin costs. Costs can range from $25 to $600 per month, depending on insurance. Because of the high costs, low-income patients with diabetes are being forced to choose between paying their bills and treatment, BABW News reported. Endocrinologist Dr. Anne Camp who works at the Fair Haven Community Health Center stated via Washington News Wire that she has accommodated patients whose diabetes were out of control, simply because they cannot afford to buy or maintain their prescribed insulin. Several other patients who are prescribed insulin do not return for a follow-up because they are over embarrassed to tell others that they could not afford it. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) noted that there should be no diabetic patient that goes without insulin just because of high costs or accessibility issues. The association has stated that several parties involved in the path of medications, including pharmacy benefit managers, retailers and insurers should be transparent in their pricing policies so they can develop affordable and lasting solutions. Americans with low incomes are able to get their insulin through Medicaid. Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, one of the three manufacturers of insulin, offers one year free medicine to low-income patients through patient assistance programs, although they would have to qualify first. Eli Lilly spokeswoman Julie Williams said, "Additional solutions are needed so all patients have access to their medicine." Several patients of the Fair Haven clinic turn to discount retailers, like Wal-Mart, which offer cheaper but older insulin, according to Camp. Most doctors do not recommend this because this type of insulin is often not as effective in treating and managing diabetes. The average cost of a month's supply of insulin to treat Fair Haven clinic patients with Type 2 diabetes is around $600 to $800, said Camp. Aside from diabetes, most patients have other health conditions, including high cholesterol and high blood pressure which also require treatment and medication. For a New Jersey resident, using a fitness tracker benefited him in a big way. The doctors in the emergency room used the activity tracker to help identify the best method to treat his recent heart problem. The 42-year-old man went to the ER after he had a seizure. The doctors found out that his heart rate was irregular and rapid, which measured up to 190 beats per minute. Even if the man had experienced seizures previously, he said that he has never had a heart problem. To treat the patient, the doctors needed to know when his irregular heartbeat had started. If it was a recent problem, one that started in the last few days before his visit, the doctors said that they could use a procedure called cardioversion. In this specific treatment, shocks of low energy are given to bring back the patient's normal heart rate. However, if it had started weeks or months ago, then that specific treatment may not have any effect, USA Today reported. Generally, people cannot always tell if they have an irregular heart rate; hence, doctors cannot expect for a definite answer as to when it started, NPR reported. However in this case, the doctors noticed the man was wearing the Fitbit Charge HR, which included an accurate heart rate monitor, so they retrieved up the person's heart rate information on the app in his smartphone. They then saw that his heart rate was usually 70 to 80 beats per minute, but had jumped to 140 to 160 bpm about 3 hours before he arrived in the emergency room. "Using the patient's activity tracker - in this case, a Fitbit- we were able to pinpoint exactly when the patient's normal heart rate of 70 jumped up," study co-author Dr. Alfred Sacchetti, chief of emergency services at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in New Jersey, said in a statement. This gave doctors the information they needed to decide whether the man was a candidate for the cardioversion treatment or not. With the help of the Fitbit, the man's heart rate was brought back to its normal bpm range with the right shock treatment. The dawn of agriculture led to a gradual shift from polygamy to monogamy due to the impact of sexually transmitted infections in communities, according to a recent study based on computer simulations. Researchers, Chris Bauch and Richard McElreath from Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology created a computer model to study the impact of bacterial STIs like syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia on different sized populations. In their research, the scholars studied both small sized huntergatherer groups, usually comprising of 30 individuals, as well as large agricultural groups, comprising of populations up to 300 individuals. 2,000 simulations were run for each, covering the duration of 30,000 years. It was found that STI outbreaks were short lived in small polygynous communities, allowing the members to bounce back to health. Consequently, polygamy remained the approach of these small groups as polygamous associations led to more offspring than monogamous ones. Studying the effect of STIs on more populous polygynous societies led to a totally different observation. Diseases such as gonorrhea and chlamydia became endemic instead of clearing away, as seen in huntergatherer groups of 30. The spread of the infectious diseases led to a fall in the population of agricultural societies. Individuals who didn't have multiple partners became sought after. Furthermore, according to the research, monogamists who 'punished' polygamy may have gained a stronger hold on society. The researchers also speculated that social ostracization or fines may have been the punishments doled out on polygamists, to curb the practice. Therefore, on the basis of the study, the impact of STIs and the consequent condemnation may have played a part in the development of socially imposed monogamy that prevailed simultaneously with the rise of large agricultural communities. The theory has been debated by many. "I don't think it is necessarily wrong but I think the basis for their modeling may be," said Kit Opie of London's University College. "Looking at modern day hunter-gatherers who provide some sort of model for pre-agricultural societies, i.e. any human society prior to about 10,000 years ago, then polygyny is very rare. Hunter-gatherer marriage is a much looser affair than we are used to and polygyny may be allowed but very rarely is it actually practiced." Bauch, however, believes that the argument diminishes the importance of their finding because it concerns general trends. Congress recently approved a bill to provide financial incentives to companies that are developing treatments for the dreaded Zika virus, and it is now on its way to getting signed by President Barack Obama. The bill allows for the Food and Drug Administration to include Zika drug developers in their list in the priority review voucher program -- encouraging manufacturers to study treatments that might not be profitable by accelerating the review process of the more lucrative drugs they have on their pipeline. It was passed on a voice vote and without a roll call, just weeks after the senate did so. White House spokeswoman Katie Hill said that the president is expected to sign the bill -- a small step that could encourage private companies in helping tackle Zika. Among the drugmakers that are already working on the drugs, or considering to do such research, include Sanofi SA, Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. Reuters noted that developing new drugs can take years and cost companies millions of dollars. A standard FDA review will take at least 10 months to complete, or longer if there are additional information needed. Getting time shaved off the process to get a profitable drug on the market can be worth millions for a manufacturer as well. However, the bill did not allocate for funding and is insufficient on its own as it does not provide the $1.9 billion that public health experts say is needed to prepare the country for the virus's imminent arrival. Still, the democrats and administration officials are already urging the Congress to grant the research its necessary funding. For now, however, the White House is granting a temporary fix of $589 million in allocated funds. There have been 1,113 confirmed cases of microcephaly in Brazil, most of them considered to be related to Zika infections to the mother, and has already been declared by the World Health Organization as a global health emergency. Stanford University researchers have determined that the citizens' life expectancy and income differ from one place to another in the United States. Social Security and tax records show that low-income civilians have shorter lifespans than wealthy ones. The study has also revealed five cities with the worst life expectancy. The city with the lowest life expectancy age, that is 77.4 years, is Gary, Indiana. The other four cities which have results coming out to 77.6 years, are Las Vegas, Nevada; Indianapolis, Indiana; Oklahoma and Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, the reason behind the trend remains unclear to researchers because according to them, it is not easy to determine why the poor in these cities were more at risk than the poor in other cities. The study also revealed that pollution levels or access to medical care do not have an impact on life expectancy. Instead, they think that lower income residents of the other cities simply have more access to resources than those in the four cities. There are places where the poor are doing as well as the rich in terms of lifespan. The poor tends to do better in places with more government funding, said Healthcare Dive. However, in other places, the poor have shorter lives recently than in the past. Another emphasis of the study is that those places, which residents have shorter life expectancy, are the places with more cases of obesity, smoking and lower rates of exercise. The highest life expectancy age for low income residents, on the other hand, can be found in New York City with 81.8 years. Santa Barbara, San Jose, and Los Angeles, California residents have 81.7 years, 81.6 years and 81.1 years respectively. Miami, Florida comes fourth with 81.2 years. The life expectancy age of high-income residents spans from 84.1 years to 87.8 years. With the study, one can learn that the most impactful division in the U.S. is social class and not race, Global Research reported. DARLINGTON, S.C. Thanks to a generous donation from Carolinas Kids, students from the Darlington County Intervention School will again get to attend YMCA Camp Thunderbird this summer along the shores of Lake Wylie. Carolinas Kids donated $3,000 to DCIS to cover the full cost of attendance. The organization also donated toiletries for the students to take with them on the trip, including toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, deodorant and body wash. Andrea Pulling, director of Carolinas Kids, visited DCIS on Wednesday to deliver the items and funding. Carolina's Kids was honored to be able pay for 32 students from DCIS to attend Camp Thunderbird, Pulling said. Our board unanimously voted to fund the entire cost of the trip, and it gave me great joy to deliver the check to Dr. Zenobia Edwards. Edwards, the director of DCIS, thanked Carolinas Kids for allowing students to attend the camp for the third year in a row. We are so very grateful for Carolinas Kids as well as the community organizations and individuals who sacrifice their time and make contributions toward this effort, Edwards said. The purpose of this activity is to provide opportunities for our students to experience themselves, their peers and their teachers in a nontraditional setting. The DCIS students will attend a weekend event at YMCA Camp Thunderbird, which also hosts other types of camps and was founded in 1936, according to its website. During this three-day weekend, several positive behavioral tenets that have life application will be taught and learned as students participate in activities such as hiking, zip lining and even square dancing, Edwards said. Group activities that focus on teamwork and cooperation will also be a part of this experience. Each year, our group continues to grow as students anticipate attending, even students who have successfully matriculated back to their home schools. As for the funding and providing supplies, Pulling said its all thanks to the communitys support of the organization. Carolina's Kids is grateful for the support we get from the communities we serve, she said. That support enables us to not only provide basic necessities but also provide the funding for experiences like Camp Thunderbird. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for some of the students, so it is very special we were able to do this. For more information about YMCA Camp Thunderbird, please visit www.campthunderbird.org. For more information about Carolinas Kids, please visit www.carolinas-kids.org. We use cookies to ensure we provide you with the best user experience. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive cookies from our site. Learn more. The war risk mutual, which is strongly backed the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) was launched on 20 February. The SWRM Class will cover P&I war up to $550m and hull war coverage up to the insured value of the ship. Speaking at the SSA Chinese New Year reception on Tuesday evening Singapore Minister of Transport Lui Tuck Yew said: A working group of the SSA had collaborated with The Standard Club Asia to establish a Singapore War Risks Mutual. This war risk facility will bring about more competitively priced insurance for our ship-owners, and strengthen our standing as a leading IMC (International Maritime Centre). The SSA has fully supported the initiative, which was first made public at the associations annual dinner in September 2014. SSA president Patrick Phoon said: Having invested a lot of time and effort on this project, I am pleased to see its fruition Singapore now joins the ranks of other leading maritime nations to have its own dedicated war risk facility. David Roberts, managing director of Charles Taylor Mutual Management, the managers of Standard Asia commented: Shipowners will receive real time advice, service and claims handling. The Tok Bali Supply Base (TBSB) in Pasir Puteh, Kelantan, is meant to support oil and gas (O&G) activities off the northern Peninsula Malaysian states coast. Licences and certification from national oil company Petronas and relevant government agencies were obtained last month. With the approvals, TBSB would be in a position to develop the 328-acre site and attract providers of support services to the offshore O&G industry players. At present, over 100 companies have expressed interest to invest in Tok Bali. In the next two to three years, we expect MYR500m worth of investments, which can go up to MYR1bn, depending on how fast they build the facilities, International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed was quoted as saying. Employment opportunities are also expected to rise with a mix of 60% skilled and 40% unskilled workers, he added. Tok Bali will be Malaysia's third O&G supply base after the 30-year-old Kemaman and Labuan supply bases and will bring direct and indirect investments to Kelantan, which will spur economic activities in the state. It is aimed at servicing the needs of the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area, to which it is nearer than Kemaman further south. TB Supply Base (TB Supply) took over the Tok Bali port operations in July last year from ECT, and the company has invested about MYR90m in the first phase of the project, which is now completed with an all-weather jetty/quay/wharf with a total of 500m and 7m draft that provides berthing space for five supply boats. Mustapa said that with the Governments approval in facilitating the port, TB Supply was on track with its partners to spend an additional MYR100m this year on the project, which was conceived four years ago.Meanwhile, TB Supply chief operating officer Jim Iler said the MYR100m investment this year would encompass constructing six additional warehouses, new office buildings, a new customs and immigration building, security offices and a three-storey canteen to service O&G players, among others. The master plan for the three-phase project (Phase 1 & 2 O&G Supply) and commercial port (Phase 3) is expected to be ready in April, after which TBSB will be breaking ground during the same time, on its customs and immigration building, new offices, canteen and rigging loft (all of which cost approximately MYR30m), he said, adding that it expected to invest MYR200m in 2016 for O&G facilities. Iler said the present low oil price would help companies that were looking for alternatives to save cost, as they wanted to get to a closer facility where resources could be delivered to them at much cheaper rates.TBSB can complement the congestion and delay currently faced in the Kemaman Supply Base. We are currently in talks with 10 other O&G listed companies; we hope to see some results soon, he said, adding that TB Supply had invested MYR39m to construct a mud plant, which it would operate. Additionally, he said, TB Supply was in talks with a manufacturer to set up a MYR340m pipe-coating facility in TBSB that would require 80 acres.Last month, it had secured a MYR16m tank farm (fuel and water) deal with Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd. The United Nations is holding a new round of peace talks that aim to bring an end to Syria's five-year civil war. As representatives gathered in Geneva, voters in Syria turned out for parliamentary elections, which have been widely rejected both by Syrian opposition forces and world leaders. The UN hopes the talks will be successful and maintain the ceasefire that is in place. RELATED: What Is Life Really Like In Syria? The talks are being brokered by Staffan de Mistura, UN's envoy to Syria. There will be no direct negotiations between the sides, but Mistura has been busy traveling to meet with world leaders in the weeks leading up to the meeting in Geneva. Mistura went to Tehran and Moscow -- two major backers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad -- to rally support, The Wall Street Journal reported. Representatives from Assad's regime are set to arrive in Geneva on Friday. Meanwhile, today marked the latest round of Syria's parliamentary elections. Syrians living in regions still controlled by the government turned out to cast a vote to fill the 250-seat parliament. Syrian officials said such elections are mandated every four years by the country's constitution and will continue until a new one is drafted. The elections, though, were widely rejected. Asaad al Zoubi, who is leading the opposition delegation in the Geneva talks, called them a "farce." Western leaders from France, Germany, and the U.S. expressed similar sentiments. The UN has said it does not recognize the vote at all. RELATED: Syria's Feminist Utopia in the Middle of ISIS Country The main goal of the peace talks is to set a plan in place to form a new transitional government and set a date for a new general election. One of the major challenges is the political fate of Assad, who has refused to step down from his office. Zoubi is demanding that Assad be removed, calling him a "disease that has struck Syria," during a televised news conference. The peace talks come during a ceasefire that is precariously close to being broken. The ceasefire was set back in February, but these past weeks have seen a surge in deadly violence from both sides, particularly in the divided city of Aleppo. It's estimated that over 260,000 people have died as a result of the Syrian civil war. Top photo: A Syrian Army soldier carries election papers while wearing a Syrian national flag watch, outside a polling station during parliamentary elections in Damascus, Syria. Press Release April 14, 2016 Legarda: More Hotter Days Expected If We Don't Act on Climate Change Senator Loren Legarda today said that Filipinos should expect a rise in hotter days and consistently hotter years because of climate change. Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, made the statement following reports that the heat index in the past days has reached danger levels. Last April 11, the heat index in Nueva Ecija reached a dangerous level of 51 degrees Celsius, just three degrees below the extreme danger level of 54 degrees Celsius according to state weather bureau, PAGASA. Prior to that, San Jose, Occidental Mindoro registered a heat index of 49.4 degrees Celsius on April 2. "We have been experiencing hotter days in different parts of the country and every year surpasses the previous as the hottest year on record--2015 is the hottest year ever recorded, before that, 2014 was the hottest year on record, and so were the previous years. If this trend continues, it will not be too long when temperature will no longer be tolerable for humans," said Legarda. PAGASA warns that at a heat index of 41 degrees Celsius, people are more prone to experience heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heatstroke. Legarda said that while there are ways to avoid heat stroke or heat exhaustion, urgent action to limit global warming is crucial to ensure survival of humans and other species. "The average global temperature has risen by 0.8C since 1880. In fact, global warming has already breached the 1C level with unprecedented warming in the past months. We have already borne countless tragedies and losses from recurring impacts of extreme weather events under a 1C global warming. How much more with higher temperatures? We must take these events seriously because our own survival is at stake," she stressed. "This is why it is important that nations sign and immediately ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change. We all need to work together, developing and developed nations alike, to mitigate climate change," she added. On April 22, Earth Day, nations will converge in New York to sign the Paris Agreement, which was the result of the climate negotiations in Paris culminating last December. The main aim of the Paris Agreement is to limit global temperature rise within the century "well below 2 degrees Celsius and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels." In order to take effect, 55 countries representing 55% of global greenhouse gas (GHH) emissions must ratify or accede to the Agreement. Fiji, Palau and Marshall Islands have already become the first three countries to do so. "All persons have the right to life, and that includes the right to survive and thrive as human beings. The kind of climate we have right now, the intolerable temperature we are already experiencing today are proof of the urgent need to address the root cause of this global concern. We can no longer delay action because humanity's future, our very own children's future, depends on how much action we will take today," Legarda concluded. TEVES CLAN OF NEGROS ORIENTAL ENDORSES BONGBONG MARCOS AS VP The influential Teves family of Negros Oriental has endorsed the vice presidential candidacy of Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. giving his bid a "sweet" boost. Barnstorming Negros Oriental Wednesday, Marcos got the endorsement of Bais City Mayor Mercedes Teves Goni who introduced the senator to her constituents as "the future Vice President." Goni personally welcomed Marcos accompanied by city officials including Vice Mayor Miguel Real, Provincial Board Member Jed Goni and Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Joemarie Badoy. They then proceeded to the city hall where a huge crowd was waiting for them. Apart from Mayor Goni, Tanjay City Mayor Lawrence Teves, accompanied by his city officials, also arrived in Bais to welcome Marcos to the province of Negros Oriental. The Teveses belong to an influential and affluent sugar family in Negros Oriental. Bais is the province's largest sugar producer. Thanking the residents of Bais for their warm welcome, Marcos urged them to support his campaign for national unity saying it is the only way the country can surmount the many difficulties it faces. On his send-off, Goni told Marcos that she is hoping that when he goes back to Bais, he is already the country's vice president. Marcos responded by saying he will if it is God's will and the will of the people. After Bais, Marcos proceeded to Bayawan City where he was received by another family member, third district Rep. Henry "Pryde" Teves. Teves said he was supporting his candidacy. Local officials also hosted Marcos in Bayawan and vowed to help him win. Marcos also spoke to hundreds of Bayawan students who had gathered to welcome him. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Seat hogs who take up more than their fair share of space on crowded BART trains will soon be in for an expensive penalty after BART directors approved a new rule Thursday making it a ticket-able offense to use an empty seat for a backpack or luggage, or to stretch out. People who take up more than a single seat during commute hours will first be given a warning. After that, the first ticket will cost them $100. The penalty will increase to $200 for a second violation and to $500 after that. People whose size or medical condition requires them to occupy more than a single space will be exempt. The ordinance will be enforced from 6 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 7:30 p.m., the peak hours for BART commuters. The ordinance gives BART police the legal leverage to force greedy passengers to slide over or sit up, said BART Director Joel Keller, who proposed the measure, which the board approved by a 5-4 vote. Im not interested in seeing anyone get fined. Im interested in seeing people only occupy one seat, Keller said Thursday. People pay a lot of money for a seat. In those rare cases where we have some knucklehead who refuses to give up a seat, at least an officer has authority to write a ticket. Homeless concerns Officer Keith Garcia, president of the BART Police Officers Association, said Thursday hes fine with the ordinance but that it will result in heavy enforcement against homeless riders. Most of these complaints are going to be against the homeless, he said. That may cause a backlash. Keller said the ordinance will not be used to single out the homeless. I think its bigger than that, he said in an earlier interview. There are homeless people on our trains taking more than one seat, but there are also people with backpacks, with luggage, with other things occupying seats. This is not an effort to target or harass anyone, merely an effort to make seats available. If the ordinance is enforced unevenly against the homeless, Keller said, he will seek to have it reconsidered. Sonja Trauss, who was at the meeting on a separate issue as founder of the pro-development San Francisco Bay Area Renters Federation, said the ordinance is a bad idea because it takes responsibility out of the hands of regular people and gives it to law enforcement. I dont want to live in a society where people are giving others side-eyes and then calling police, Trauss said. Instead, she said, people should be able to respectfully request others move their things to free up seats because thats the way it should be. BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey said the rule is directed more at people using seats as footrests, rather than those weighed down with luggage, and he expected most to comply voluntarily. Its not the suitcases. Its the feet on the seats, he said. Its displaying rude and boorish behavior. Trying to stop the spreading Kellers regulation of BART manners isnt the first official foray into public transportation etiquette. New York Citys subway system has a series of Courtesy Counts posters that tell riders to take off their backpacks, avoid holding doors and playing on poles, eating and, most notably, spreading their legs. The anti-man-spreading poster Dude: Stop the spreading please attracted worldwide attention and produced a plethora of jokes and Internet memes. The new rules wont go into effect until after BART police develop an enforcement policy and the board reviews it. Board President Tom Radulovich voted against the measure, as did board members Nick Josefowitz, Robert Raburn and Rebecca Saltzman. Vice President Gail Murray voted for it, as did board members Thomas Blalock, John McPartland, Zakhary Mallett and Keller. Saltzman said she is concerned enforcement may exacerbate train delays. We havent done any auxiliary public education. Were jumping to making an etiquette violation a crime, she said. When trains are full, there are a lot of delays for police activity. Courteous traveler Art Monge, a BART rider from Chicago, said he sees why the ordinance was passed. He had just flown into San Francisco on Thursday and had his baggage with him on the train but it wasnt taking up another seat. I think if the train were busy, most people would have the decency to put their stuff down off the seat. If people wont move their stuff, I think it makes sense during peak periods, he said of the ordinance. Nancy Dooley, a rider taking BART back home to Pacifica, said the measure might be a useful tool but seems unnecessary. I know its rude, she said of seat hogging, but I think the BART police have better stuff to do. Chronicle staff writer Jenna Lyons contributed to this report. Evan Sernoffsky and Kale Williams are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com, kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky, @sfkale This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A bitter fight to develop the first phase of Concords former naval weapons station a barren stretch of land that the city hopes to transform into a vibrant community ended Wednesday. In a unanimous vote, the City Council agreed to negotiate with Lennar Urban, but asked the company to revise its terms, making them more favorable to the city. The powerful firm which over the past two decades has won contracts for San Franciscos Treasure Island, Vallejos decommissioned Mare Island Naval Station, Candlestick Point and the Hunters Point Shipyard was the only developer left at the table. Its chief rival, Catellus Development Corp., dropped out of the race in March, saying it had lost faith in the selection process. Catellus had accused Lennar of improper lobbying and said the city made backroom decisions that helped boost its competitor. An independent investigator corroborated some of those allegations in February, saying that associates of Lennar had violated an agreement both companies made with the city by funneling nearly $17,000 into former Mayor Tim Graysons campaign for state Assembly. The investigator also said that Concord officials had decided, in an illegal closed-door meeting, to suppress a city staff report recommending Catellus for the contract. The vote came over objections from some residents, who urged the city not to hand what could be a $6 billion contract to a company that had violated the citys trust. If Lennar treats Concord and its residents this way, how do you think they will behave if we give them a contract? asked Mike McDermott, who said that in 34 years of living in Concord, he had never spoken at a City Council meeting. But this issue was important enough to get me off my couch and away from the Warriors game, he said, urging the council to either invite Catellus back or put the project up for bid. Other speakers encouraged the council to keep Lennar but impose tough affordable housing and community benefits requirements that would eat into the companys profits. I believe redemption is possible, said a resident named Greg Colley of the spiritual group Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy. Responding to the outcry, Councilman Edi Birsan asked Lennar Urban President Kofi Bonner to address his original sin referring to the campaign donations to Grayson. I certainly understand the level of vitriol, Bonner said, calling the contribution a personal item. As a Contra Costa resident, and a somewhat political animal, I thought it would make some sense, he said. When Mayor Laura Hoffmeister asked Bonner how he planned to restore Lennars credibility, he promised to manage the development in an honest, open-book way. Most speakers pressed the council to sign a deal with Lennar, and many praised the companys plan for 500 acres of affordable and market-rate housing, parks, shops and community centers. Two council members recused themselves from all votes related to the project: Grayson, who returned the money, and Councilman Ron Leone, who lives near the naval base and stands to benefit if the development raises his home value. That leaves three council members to decide the fate of a 2,200-acre project that will transform the region. City staff is expected to negotiate new terms with Lennar and bring them back to the council in about a month. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Los Gatos man accused of sexually molesting his adopted son over a 10-year period appeared in court Wednesday but again delayed entering a plea in the case five months after his arrest. Ralph Flynn, looking gaunt in an oversize brown jail T-shirt, said nothing during the short hearing as Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Shelyne Brown continued the hearing until July. His wife, Carolyn Flynn, who also faces molestation charges, did not appear in court, but action in her case was also postponed until July. Their adopted son, Denis Flynn, was not there either. But three longtime neighbors did attend the hearing to show support for Denis. The neighbors declined to use their names given the sensitive nature of the case and the possibility they could testify at some point. As they walked into the courtroom, Ralph Flynn, shackled to another inmate, stared at his neighbors, his face emotionless. He then turned his gaze forward and never looked their way again. The neighbors said they knew the Flynns and socialized with them frequently. They said they believe Denis. Ralph Flynn has remained in jail since his November arrest, held on a $2.5 million bail. Carolyn Flynn was released on $525,000 bail. Because of a gag order in the case, attorneys for the couple said they were unable to comment on details in the case. Ralph Flynns attorney, Steven Nakano, said its not unusual for serious cases like this to take a significant amount of time before defendants enter pleas. The investigation including a search of the house and phone records and witness interviews continued after the Flynns arrest and has just wrapped up. Carolyn Flynns attorney, Wesley Schroeder, declined to comment on the case as well. According to allegations made by Denis, Ralph Flynn began molesting the then 9-year-old boy months after his adoption from a Russian orphanage in 2002. The abuse reportedly continued for 10 years. Denis said Carolyn Flynn began participating as well after he turned 15. The Flynns were arrested a few days after sheriffs investigators recorded a phone conversation between the couple and their son, according to Denis, who is 23 now. He filed a civil suit against his adoptive parents as well and has chosen to discuss the allegations publicly. Denis became an orphan after his biological mother died of cancer when he was 7. He was among several Russian children brought to the United States for a cultural immersion program in 2000, staying with the Flynns, who adopted him 18 months later. Last May, Denis shared his allegations of abuse in a letter sent to several friends as well as a former teacher and principal, he said, who later determined they were required to report it, telling authorities in August. Denis had continued to live alone in the family home after his parents arrest but recently moved out under pressure from his adoptive mother, who is readying the home for sale. She is under a restraining order to keep away from her son. Though he did not attend the hearing, Denis said he was eager for the legal process to move forward. Truth, although hard to go through, leads to a path of peace and understanding, he said via instant message Wednesday morning. No more hiding, no more lies. 19 percent Thats how much shares of GoPro rose Wednesday after the San Mateo action-camera maker announced that it had hired an Apple veteran to head its design efforts. Danny Coster, who has worked for Apple for more than 20 years and holds more than 500 design patents, will become GoPros vice president of design starting at the end of April, the company said. Coster will influence all aspects of design at GoPro in his new role, including hardware and software and services, lending his strategic vision and expertise to maximizing the GoPro users experience from end to end, the company said. Other number of the day $6 million Thats how much your net worth should be to be considered wealthy in the Bay Area, according to a Charles Schwab survey. The survey asked 1,000 Bay Area residents ages 21-75 what they considered enough money to be wealthy instead of merely comfortable. To feel comfortable here, they said, you still need more than $1 million in other words, about three months rent for a studio condo downtown. Lyft will get moving Ride-hailing service Lyft is moving its headquarters, but staying in San Francisco. Spokeswoman Alexandra LaManna said Lyft will move into the new home at 185 Berry St. over the next few months. The company isnt disclosing details on the lease, but said the site will have about 200,000 square feet three times as much as the current headquarters offering lots of room to grow. LaManna said Lyft this year has closed on a $1 billion round of funding, including $500 million from General Motors. The Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techbriefing WASHINGTON The World Bank on Wednesday pledged $2.5 billion to educate and empower adolescent girls in low-income countries as a way to improve their well-being and fight poverty. Speaking at the spring meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said that enabling girls to attend school helps them delay marriage; have fewer, healthier and better educated children; get better jobs and earn money. The funds will be allocated by 2020 and 75 percent of the money will go mostly to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Unleashing the full economic potentials of half the population can drive the growth and prosperity of nations, Kim said. Investing in girls and women is not only the right thing to do for them as individuals. Its also the smart thing to do for economies. First lady Michelle Obama praised the plan. When we invest in girls education, when we embrace women in our workforce, that just doesnt benefit them, it benefits all of us, she said at the event. If we are looking to promote development, then we need to educate and empower women. Obama is campaigning for educating girls as part of the Let Girls Learn initiative that she launched last year together with President Obama. Let Girls Learn seeks to encourage the leaders of other countries to provide opportunities for education to the estimated 62 million girls around the world who do not attend school. The first lady has traveled to several countries to promote the initiative. A 30-year-old Hercules man fatally shot his girlfriend, a 28-year-old Rodeo woman, before turning the gun on himself, authorities said. Calls poured into police about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. By the time Contra Costa County sheriffs deputies arrived to the 800 block of Sandy Cove Drive in Rodeo, the suspected gunman and his girlfriend were dead. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate COLUMBIA, S.C. Prosecutors in the Carolinas have charged at least five white officers recently with felonies after on-duty shootings of black men, but theyre finding that getting jurors to send them to prison can be a far more difficult challenge. Solicitor Donnie Myers still believes officer Justin Craven committed a felony when he ran up to Ernest Satterwhites car and fired repeatedly through his window as the 68-year-old drunken-driver sat in his driveway after leading officers on a 13-mile chase. But when he tried to indict Craven for voluntary manslaughter, the grand jury refused, returning a misdemeanor misconduct charge instead. Myers told the Associated Press that he decided then that the only way to get any justice for the dead driver was to offer a plea deal to this lesser charge. After all, if a grand jury, with its rules favoring prosecutors, couldnt be convinced of the seriousness of Cravens actions, getting a unanimous verdict from a regular jury would be even more difficult, Myers said. Weve got to convince all 12. All the defense has to do is convince one, Myers said. Craven was sentenced to three years probation and 80 hours of community service after pleading guilty on Monday. The indictment accused him of using excessive force and failing to follow and use proper procedures. Its a challenge for prosecutors as more police officers are charged with on-duty crimes: Unless there is evidence of obvious bad intentions, jurors are often wary of second-guessing an officers judgment call, said Tom Nolan, a professor of criminology at Merrimack College in Massachusetts. People have been conditioned by what they see on television to think that police officers face dangerous situations all the time, said Nolan, who was a Boston police officer for 27 years. They give leeway, thinking these extreme situations happen frequently. Cravens dashboard camera from February 2014 shows him charging up to Satterwhites open window, gun in hand, and reaching inside with both arms. A struggle ensues inside the car, beyond the cameras view. Craven said Satterwhite tried to grab his gun. The video shows him stepping back from the car before firing. The video has no audio to tell what was being said because the battery on Cravens body microphone had gone dead, State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry said. Craven is the third white officer in the past year to avoid any time behind bars after being accused of felonies for killing a black man in the Carolinas. Another officer, North Charlestons Michael Slager, is under house arrest waiting for his murder trial for fatally shooting a fleeing black motorist. And former state Trooper Sean Groubert is in jail facing up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in March to aggravated assault and battery for shooting a black man who was reaching for his drivers license at the officers request. Prosecutors charged former Eutawville Police Chief Richard Combs with murder for shooting a man trying to leave a police station, saying he escalated the confrontation. But after two hung juries, prosecutor David Pascoe agreed to a misdemeanor misconduct in office conviction and a year of home detention. Pascoe said he doubted he could ever get a unanimous verdict in that case, the most polarizing of his 20-year career. North Carolina prosecutors dropped a voluntary manslaughter charge against Charlotte police officer Randall Kerrick after a jury voted 8-4 to acquit him in the shooting of a black motorist who had knocked on a door seeking help after a car wreck. In Cravens case, the officers defense team rejected the plea offer for more than a year, even after Myers persuaded a different grand jury to indict him on the felony charge of firing into an occupied vehicle, carrying up to 10 years in prison. Craven finally took the deal as his trial loomed this week, and Myers said he couldnt rescind the offer at that point. I couldnt back up on that. It had been offered, Myers said. Besides: It would have been a tough trial. Based on the chase it would have been a tough matter. Satterwhites relatives accepted a nearly $1.2 million settlement from the city of North Augusta in April 2015 after suing the police department, and the criminal conviction could make it difficult for the 27-year-old Craven to serve again in law enforcement. He currently works as a building inspector for the city. Defense lawyer Jack Swerling said it was a mistake in judgment to rush up to the driver, but said Cravens concern was justified because the 13-minute chase, also captured on dashcam video, showed him swerving into oncoming traffic and off the side of the road, and hitting at least two other cars. State police later said Satterwhites blood-alcohol content was 0.15 percent, nearly twice the legal limit. Court records show the car mechanic had more than a dozen traffic violations, including at least three times when he refused to stop for police. The same records also showed that he was never violent toward officers. Elected prosecutors face pressure from voters who want them to be fair, but not too tough on the people protecting them, Nolan said. In Myers case, getting re-elected is no longer a concern. After 40 years as an elected prosecutor, he decided last month not to run again after his own arrest in February on a charge of driving under the influence. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr said Wednesday that two officers who shot and killed a homeless man in the Mission District reported that they had feared being stabbed to death, but he was met by activists and community leaders who challenged the account and called for greater reform of the city force. Suhr, speaking at a neighborhood meeting, referred to a series of witness statements as he told those who packed into a union hall on 18th Street that 45-year-old Luis Gongora had briefly put down a large knife before picking it up again and running at the officers last Thursday. One of the officers fired beanbag rounds at Gongora in an effort to disarm him, before both officers fired pistols in self-defense, said Suhr, who has made a practice of holding a town hall meeting after each fatal police shooting in the city despite the tension. But critics some of whom chanted at Suhr to resign during the meeting referred to surveillance video obtained by The Chronicle that showed the officers fired four beanbags and seven bullets at Gongora within 30 seconds of stepping out of their vehicles. Some community leaders said the officers appeared to make little effort to de-escalate the encounter. They gathered on the steps of City Hall shortly before the town hall meeting to call for an independent investigation of the police force in the wake of several recent shootings of black and Latino men including the video-recorded killing in December of Mario Woods, who police also said had a knife. Avoidable deaths These are avoidable deaths, John Crew, a retired attorney formerly with the American Civil Liberties Union, told Suhr at the meeting in the Mission. Noting Suhrs support for crisis-intervention policies that require officers to create time and distance, Crew said, Thats been on your books for three years. I beg of you to speak out about it and enforce it. The message that the officers are getting is if they create the imminent danger, they can shoot. After the meeting, Suhr said that as with every officer-involved shooting, the department would review the officers tactics. He acknowledged he did not think the officers engaged in de-escalation techniques. I dont think its been lost on anybody that Ive been talking time and distance and de-escalation, he said. That is pretty much all Ive been talking about for all of 2016. There will be a lot of questions on tactics as to why that didnt happen. Suhr said officers shot Gongora just after 10 a.m. near the homeless encampment where he lived on the 400 block of Shotwell Street after receiving a call for assistance from city homeless outreach workers. The workers had responded to reports of a crying baby at the encampment, Suhr said, and had seen Gongora forcefully kicking and bouncing a ball off parked cars. The workers described Gongora as appearing to be in an altered mental state, the chief said, and also noticed he was in possession of a large kitchen knife. Suhr said one worker described Gongora swinging the knife indiscriminately as he walked down the street, while another said he was swinging it around in a chopping motion. The workers decided to call police, Suhr said, prompting a sergeant as well as two officers trained in crisis intervention to arrive on the scene. Officers located Mr. Gongora seated on the sidewalk with a large knife in his hand with the blade pointed up, Suhr said. The verbal orders (to put the knife down) were given in English and Spanish, according to the officers. Gongora did put the knife down, but picked it up again and charged at the officers, Suhr said. Witnesses account differs Several witnesses have disputed that account, saying they saw Gongora sitting calmly and not acting aggressively. Matthew Castro, 40, a longtime friend of Gongora, did not witness the shooting, but on Wednesday called the police account a complete fallacy. Gongora was far from a threat, Castro said. He was 130 pounds, if that. He didnt have an aggressive bone in his body. I never saw him fight in the 13 years that I knew him. It was completely out of character for him ... that he would wave a knife in midair and charge at the police officers. Brot he r Damien Joseph, who works with the homeless, said he was very concerned when he saw a circumstance unfold in less than 30 seconds from contact to lethal force. He said homeless people often carry knives for protection, and that living on our streets and having a large knife is no more an act of aggression than it is for me to lock my door at night. He said he recently encountered a homeless man acting erratically on Haight Street, but did not alert police. I need to know that your officers are going to act rationally, slowly and in a measured manner, he told Suhr. If they wont, I would risk my safety rather than that of the person on the street. Police sweeps criticized Many of the community members at the meeting criticized police sweeps of the Shotwell Street homeless encampment that occurred in the days following the shooting, suspecting harassment of witnesses. Some homeless advocates, though, said it was common practice to try to get crime witnesses into stable housing. Officials said they were able to move nine residents of the encampment into the c itys Navigation Center for the homeless, and Mayor Ed Lee said it was a priority for his office to continue to clear the citys encampments. But Supervisor David Campos said at Wednesdays meeting that blaming the homeless for what happened by cracking down on the homeless is not a solution either. City leaders weigh in Campos was one of several city leaders who joined the gathering on the steps of City Hall to call for an independent review of the police force. Following the Dec. 2 shooting of Woods, the mayor called for reforms and the Police Commission opened discussions of the departments use-of-force policies. With support from Lee and Suhr, the U.S. Department of Justices community-policing division has agreed to conduct a collaborative review of the police force. But after Gongoras death and after four officers were recently implicated in exchanging racist and homophobic text messages some city officials say the collaborative review is not enough because it cannot mandate changes. District Attorney George Gascon and the ACLU called for the Department of Justices civil rights division to conduct an investigation, while Public Defender Jeff Adachi wrote a letter to California Attorney General Kamala Harris asking her office to step in. The reforms we have been seeking from the San Francisco Police Department will not happen on their own. Adachi said. If we are to have true reform, there has to be enforcement. Attorney generals take On Wednesday, Harris responded, saying her office would monitor whether local officials are cooperative in the federal review. If investigators face resistance and the implementation of reforms falls short, she said in a statement, I intend to launch a civil pattern and practice investigation. Little is yet known about Gongora. His friend, Castro, said the two met when they worked at Mels Diner in 2003, and that Gongora would often have Castro over for dinner at his home on Valencia and Market streets before he was evicted and became homeless in 2012. In recent months, Castro said, he had been trying to help Gongora to return to his home in Teabo, in the Mexican state of Yucatan, where his wife and three children live. I would love to see justice, but it just seems like that doesnt happen in this country, especially for black or brown people, Castro said after the meeting. I dont think anything is going to come of this. Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo The tenure laws that provide job security for 277,000 California schoolteachers, and a target for opponents who claim they shield incompetent instructors and victimize low-income and minority students, were upheld Thursday by a state appeals court. In a resounding victory for teachers unions, the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles overturned a judges June 2014 ruling that the states tenure and job-security rules violated the right of students to an equal education. The court said the plaintiffs nine students backed by a Silicon Valley entrepreneur had failed to show any connection between the laws they challenged and the harm that some students are suffering. Some teachers protected by tenure and seniority may turn out to be ineffective, but school officials not the laws challenged in the suit determine where those teachers are assigned and whom they teach, the court said. The challenged statutes do not inevitably lead to the assignment of more inexperienced teachers to schools serving poor and minority children, Presiding Justice Roger Boren said in the 3-0 ruling. Rather, assignments are made by administrators and are heavily influenced by teacher preference and collective bargaining agreements. As a consequence, he said, if some students are now being deprived of a decent education, they will still be deprived even if the laws are struck down. Opponents of the new ruling said they would appeal to the state Supreme Court. Every student deserves a great public education, yet Californias education laws make this impossible, said David Welch, whose nonprofit, Students Matter, filed the suit on behalf of the students. Teachers unions joined the state in defending the tenure laws. Eric Heins, a Pittsburg elementary school teacher who is president of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association, said the ruling continues to allow teachers to speak up for our students and advocate for our students without fear of reprisals. The laws allow schools to dismiss teachers for any reason in their first two years, but require good cause for dismissals after that. Supporters say the laws protect teachers from arbitrary dismissals, strengthen academic freedom, and attract high-quality candidates for high-stress, relatively low-paid work that is vital to the community. Nearly every state grants tenure to teachers, but California is one of only five that provide the protections after two years. School officials testifying in the case said that as a practical matter, they have to decide by March of a teachers second year whether to fire the teacher or approve tenure. The suit also challenged the last hired, first fired laws that require districts to follow seniority during layoffs and dismiss the least-senior teachers first, with exceptions for those with needed and specialized skills. In his 2014 ruling, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu said the tenure and seniority laws make it prohibitively time-consuming and expensive to remove incompetent teachers. He cited plaintiffs witnesses who testified during the eight-week trial that dismissal proceedings can take two years or more and cost $50,000 to $450,000. Treu said two years is not enough time to evaluate a teacher properly, and as a result, grossly ineffective teachers are assigned too often to schools with large numbers of poor and minority students. Likewise, Treu said, the seniority laws require schools to ignore teacher quality and base layoffs entirely on years of experience. The overall result, he said, is a violation of students constitutional right to equality of education. It was the first time a court had struck down a states tenure laws. Treus ruling drew praise from President Obamas secretary of education, Arne Duncan, and other critics of the tenure system. But the appeals court said neither Treus ruling nor the evidence at the trial had shown a link between tenure and substandard education. The challenged statutes do not inevitably lead to the assignment of more inexperienced teachers to schools serving poor and minority children, said Boren, who received his judicial appointments from Republican Govs. George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson. Boren said the trial revealed some deplorable staffing decisions by local administrators. But overturning the tenure and seniority laws, he said, would not prevent administrators from assigning the worst teachers to schools serving poor and minority students. Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the court had ignored the evidence. The mountain of evidence we put on at trial proved beyond any reasonable dispute that the irrational, arbitrary and abominable laws at issue in this case shackle school districts and impose severe and irreparable harm on students, he said, in a statement. Union leader Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, countered that the court had pinpointed the basic flaws in the lawsuit. The lesson of the case, she said, is that we need to solve the very real teacher-shortage problem not make matters worse by bashing and scapegoating the dedicated educators who teach our children. Bob Egelko is a Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko To see the ruling: Go to www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B258589.PDF 1 Dangerous flyby: A pair of Russian fighter jets and a Russian military helicopter repeatedly buzzed a U.S. Navy warship at close range earlier this week in the Baltic Sea, ignoring radio warnings and temporarily disrupting the ships flight operations. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said Wednesday that two Russian fighter jets flew dangerously close to the U.S. guided missile destroyer Donald Cook as it conducted a routine patrol on Monday and Tuesday. In footage released by the Pentagon, Russian warplanes zooming by the warship appear close enough to distinguish its weapons. They flew so low that a wake was created in the icy waters below. 2 Police condemned: Police in Chicago have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color and have alienated blacks and Latinos for decades by using excessive force and honoring a code of silence, a task force declared Wednesday in a report that seeks sweeping changes to the nations third-largest police force. The panel, established by Mayor Rahm Emanuel late last year in response to an outcry over police shootings, found that the department does little to weed out problem officers and that routine encounters unnecessarily turn deadly. The group cited data that show 74 percent of the hundreds of people shot by officers in recent years were African Americans. Gary and Angela Williams of Northwest England were on a leisurely beach stroll when a pungent rotting-fish smell drew them to a lump of ambergris about the size of an American football. The couple had read about the waxy excretion formed in the digestion system of sperm whales and often referred to as whale vomit. They knew the substance often used in perfume-making is rare and valuable, and wrapped it in a scarf and took it home. "It was down a section of the beach where no one really walks," Gary told the Mirror. "It smells too bad, though. It's a very distinctive smell, like a cross between squid and farmyard manure." It feels like a rock hard rubber ball. Its texture is like wax, like a candle. When you touch it you get wax sticking to your fingers." "If it is worth a lot of money, it will go a long way towards buying us a static caravan [mobile home]. It would be a dream come true." The Williams' are now negotiating with a buyer and hoping to make around $70,000. It's thought that sperm whales secrete the substance in their intestines to protect the whale from the sharp, indigestible beaks of giant squid they frequently feed on. The whales eventually expel the ambergris from their mouths and that's why it's often referred to as whale vomit. The lumps can float for years and those pieces that don't break into little pieces sometimes land on beaches. Even though harvesting ambergris doesn't require killing whales, many countries have banned the trade; the U.S. Endangered Species Act, for example, prohibits the possession and sale of it. But in the U.K. it's legal, and the Williams are allegedly negotiating with buyers in France and New Zealand, according to the Mirror. Relatives of 30-year-old Brian Bole, a scientist killed over the weekend near his Oakland home, are trying to make sense of the slaying. The motive and perpetrator are not known. Shortly after midnight Saturday, Bole was making his way home from a bar when he was fatally shot on the 3000 block of Richmond Boulevard near 30th Street, police said. His phone and wallet were still on him when detectives arrived, said Officer Marco Marquez, a police spokesman, but investigators are not ruling out a robbery attempt. He had moved to the city last year and was working as a health data scientist for Armus, a Silicon Valley software company, according to his father, Brad Bole. Its a shock and its a devastation and its difficult for us, Brad Bole said. Its something you never expect to have happened. The victims mother and sister had spoken with him for an hour on the phone Saturday evening. In addition to his Florida family, Bole is survived by his wife. He was really excited about his life and the work he was doing, his mother, Patricia Tezzas, recalled of their phone conversation. He was going to go camping next weekend. Bole got his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech before moving to California in 2011 for an internship with NASA, his family said. He was eventually hired as a contractor for NASAs Ames Research Center on the Peninsula, and within the last year started working at the Armus job. His family remembered him as an avid traveler, science fiction reader and biker. Bole was one of three people killed within a 24-hour period in Oakland shootings over the weekend. One of the victims, Oakland resident Lakeya Venson, was reportedly cleaning up after a birthday party when she was shot. Hayward resident Robert Hernandez, 34, was the third victim. No suspect has been arrested in any of the cases. The killings brought the citys homicide count up to 16, according to Marquez. And the violence left its mark on grieving family members near and far. We didnt see each other a lot, said Boles grandmother, Anna Bole, a Florida resident. I guess the only thing I can say is we were really proud of him. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Presidential candidate Ted Cruz knows he has an annoying habit, and his wife can't agree more. The Houstonians took questions from voters and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper during a town-hall meeting in New York on Wednesday, revealing tidbits about their courtship, marriage and the effect of the campaign on their family life. (Fun fact: Ted Cruz brought home about 100 cans of Campbell's soup after their honeymoon because Heidi Cruz doesn't like to cook.) A voter asked Mrs. Cruz what does her husband do that annoys her the most. Ted Cruz weighed in. DELEGATE BATTLE: High-stakes delegate game heats up in Texas "She hates my iPhone," he said, adding he's "addicted" to the games and social media. Heidi Cruz agreed. Despite a rigorous campaign schedule full of speeches, fundraisers and interviews, the Texas senator can't seem to let go of the device. During the telecast, the Cruz children joined their parents on stage, and gave Cooper a scoop. Caroline Cruz revealed her 8th birthday is Thursday. The talkative girl stole the show and said she's going to enjoy chocolate cake and a "Build a Bear" party during the celebrations. She also said she hopes to get an American Girl doll. Catherine Cruz, 5, had little to say as she sat on her mom's lap. The topics during the town hall did turn serious, as Ted Cruz attacked nemesis Donald Trump, who caused an uproar after re-tweeting an unflattering photo of business exec Heidi Cruz next to a glamour shot of Trump's model wife, Melania. Heidi Cruz said she was unbothered by the insult, and is focused on helping her husband get to the White House. TARGETING TRUMP: Cruz accuses Trump of threatening delegates Cruz's GOP rivals, Donald Trump and John Kasich, along with their families, participated in CNN town halls earlier in the week. The Republican New York primary will be held on April 19. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The biggest lakes in California, crowned by Lake Tahoe, joined dozens of smaller lakes in the north state this week by rising to their highest levels in years. It sets up a spectacular season for camping, boating, fishing and recreation-based vacations. After hitting a long-term low last winter, Lake Tahoe rose to its natural rim this week and is spilling into the Truckee River at Tahoe City. Roughly 60 billion gallons of water have entered the lake in the past four months, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of the agencies that tracks water flow into Tahoe. Clear Lake, Shasta, Oroville, Folsom and Bullards Bar Reservoir are other large lakes that have had massive infusions of water. Clear Lake, the biggest natural lake inside the states borders, has risen 7 feet since December and topped its historic rim last month. At Shasta, the water level is up 140 feet since December and the lake is 91 percent full. Snowmelt from Mount Shasta, projected at 123 percent of normal April 1, has not even started. At the start of winter, Folsom, at 15 percent full, was barren, but is now 78 percent full even though it receives most of its water from mid-April through Memorial Day weekend. Oroville (28 percent in December) is at 91 percent and Bullards Bar (37 in December) is at 89 percent. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Many smaller lakes filled in March, with others nearing the brim. They include Camp Far West, Jenkinson, Rollins, Scotts Flat, East Park, French, Independence, Antelope, Siskiyou, Britton, Lewiston, Whiskeytown and Keswick. In addition, Bowman, Pardee and Englebright are at 95 percent and could fill in a week if water managers choose to cut releases. About 200 small, natural lakes in the High Sierra, Cascade and Trinity-Divide ranges outside the influence of water managers will be full when the high-country summer recreation season begins in mid-June. The best examples are the dozens of lakes in the Trinity-Divide in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Lakes Basin in Plumas National Forest, Bowman Lakes in Tahoe National Forest and Carson Pass area in Eldorado National Forest. In the Bay Area, the Marin Municipal Water District showed how to keep lakes high. Water rationing minimized drawdowns, and in turn, a normal rainy season filled eight lakes completely: Lagunitas, Bon Tempe, Alpine, Kent, Phoenix, Soulajule and Nicasio (along with neighboring Stafford). This is in stunning contrast with reservoirs drained low for agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley and for urban use in Southern California, where according to calculations as the winter started, lakes needed 150 percent of normal precipitation to fill. Some still look like dust bowls, though most are expected to rise from snowmelt in the next seven weeks. That includes New Melones (26 percent) and Isabella (12). On the central coast, San Antonio Reservoir (7 percent) will be all but dry this summer. Across the scope of recreation lakes in Northern California, the scene is a stunning turnaround. In early winter, The Chronicle worked with more than 20 water districts and agencies to calculate the percentage-of-full for 125 lakes. Of those, 33 were less than 25 percent full, including 19 that were less than 10 percent full. Most people have their favorite lake. Find yours in this is region-by-region account: Sacramento Valley & foothills Lakes: Camp Far West (101 percent full), Rollins (100), Scotts Flat (98), East Park (97), Englebright (95), Pardee (95), Oroville (91), Stony Gorge (89), Tulloch (87), Nimbus (82), Folsom (77), Don Pedro (63), Black Butte (60), Modesto (53), Camanche (48), New Hogan (44), New Melones (26), Indian Valley (33), Turlock (27). Precipitation of note: 90.28 inches of precipitation at Four Trees at 5,150 feet in Feather River watershed. Central Sierra Lakes: French (101), Jenkinson (100), Bowman (95), Bullards Bar (89), Union Valley (87), Ice House (85), Union Valley (83), Beardsley (83), Jackson Meadows (80), Relief (76), Hetch Hetchy (75), Lower Bear (74), Hell Hole (67), Lower Bear River (62), Cherry (61), Salt Springs (55), Donnells (44), Spicer Meadows (33). Precipitation of note: 110 inches of snow, 115 percent of normal, on April 1 snow survey at New Grace Meadow at 8,900 feet in Tuolumne River watershed. Tahoe/High Sierra Lakes: Tahoe (100, rose to its natural rim this week), Independence (96), Loon (82), Spaulding (74), Davis (67), Caples (65), Donner (55), Boca (58), Frenchman (41), Stampede (32), Prosser Creek (27). Precipitation of note: 131 inches of snow, 131 percent of normal, on April 1 snow survey at Lake Lucille at 8,200 feet in Lake Tahoe Basin. Wine country Lakes: Clear Lake (7.6 feet on Rumsey Gauge, 7.56 feet is full), Hennessey (100), Pillsbury (90), Mendocino (71), Berryessa (65), Sonoma (64). Precipitation of note: 78 inches of rain at Zenia on Eel River watershed in Mendocino National Forest. North state Lakes: Antelope (105), Siskiyou (100), Britton (100), Lewiston (98), Whiskeytown (97), Keswick (97), Shasta (91), Almanor (84), Butt Valley (84), Shastina (71), Trinity (57). Precipitation of note: 60.48 inches of rain at Shasta Dam; 129-inch snowpack, 123 percent of normal, measured April 1 at 7,900 feet at Mount Shasta. Bay Area Marin: Stafford (101 percent full), Lagunitas (100), Bon Tempe (100), Alpine (100), Kent (100), Phoenix (100), Soulajule (100), Nicasio (100). Peninsula: San Andreas Lake (97), Crystal Spring (87). East Bay hills: Briones (98), Del Valle (95), Upper San Leandro (94), Lafayette (89), Chabot (88), San Pablo (81), Los Vaqueros (55 percent of new level). Santa Clara County: Uvas (100), Stevens Creek (96), Almaden (91), Vasona (78), Chesbro (75), Coyote (69), Lexington (68), Guadalupe (64), Anderson (61), Calero (41). Precipitation of note: 48.26 inches of rainfall at Lagunitas Lake near Fairfax. South Sierra/San Joaquin Lakes: Millerton (59), Hensley (53), San Luis (50), Success (50), Pine Flat (43), Kaweah (41), McClure (38), Eastman (34), Isabella (12). Precipitation of note: 81-inch snowpack, 101 percent of normal, measured April 1 at 8,600 feet at Panther Meadow on Kaweah watershed. Central Coast Lakes: Nacimiento (35), Gibralter (10), San Antonio (7). Precipitation of note: 13.27 inches of rain in Paso Robles. Tom Stienstras Outdoor Report can be heard at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 12:35 p.m. Saturdays on KCBS (740 and 106.9). Email: stienstra@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @StienstraTom How to calculate To determine the percentage of full for each lake, water managers use a calculation that is the standard for the state Department of Water Resources, federal Bureau of Reclamation, PG&E, and local water districts: Divide a reservoirs current storage of acre feet of water into the same lakes maximum storage volume of acre feet. The result is the percentage of full. For instance, one of Californias most famous lakes is Donner Lake along Interstate 80 near Truckee. According to the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, Donner has current storage of 5,370 acre feet of water, and at capacity, it holds 9,700 acre feet. If you divide 5,370 by 9,700, you find that Donner is 55 percent full. In addition, because lakes fill on their own timeline based on their locations and elevations, and percentage of rain they receive against percentage of snowmelt, by comparing the current storage volume and the long-term average, you can get percentage of full for the current date. That is important for summer projections. Loon Lake in the Crystal Basin, located on the high west flank of the central Sierra, is a good example. According to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Loon Lake is 82 percent full, yet 178 percent of average for this date. Tom Stienstra BRUSSELS A Belgian judge on Thursday ordered Mohamed Abrini and six other suspects arrested in connection with the attacks in Paris and Brussels kept behind bars for another month, prosecutors said. Abrini, 31, has acknowledged being the man in the hat seen leaving Brussels Airport the morning of March 22, when two suicide bombers detonated explosives-laden suitcases there, killing 16. 1 Kidnapped girls: A video appearing to show proof of life of some of Nigerias kidnapped Chibok girls is being aired along with images of tearful parents recognizing their daughters, unheard of since the mass abduction by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram two years ago. CNN on Wednesday showed video, believed made in December, of girls wearing the Islamic hijab covering and of one mother reaching out to a computer screen as she recognizes her daughter. On the night of April 14, 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Secondary School in the northeast town of Chibok. Dozens of girls later escaped, but 219 remain missing. While Boko Haram is thought to have abducted thousands of people over the years, the mass abduction brought the extremist group to the worlds attention. The campaign hashtag #BringBackOurGirls went as far as the White House, used by U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. 2 Brazil crisis: President Dilma Rousseffs chances of surviving impeachment appeared diminished Wednesday, with three parties decamping from her governing coalition in 24 hours as Brazilian legislators in Rio de Janeiro prepare for a crucial vote on the question expected this weekend. The pullouts of the midsize centrist parties sparked growing despondency among members of Rousseff left-leaning Workers Party ahead of the vote expected Sunday in the Chamber of Deputies. That vote will determine whether the impeachment process moves ahead based on allegations that Rousseffs administration violated fiscal rules. While the outcome is still too close to call, the pullouts by the majority of the 36 deputies for the Social Democratic Party, the Progressive Party with 47 deputies and the Brazilian Republican Party with 22 legislators made it that much harder for Rousseff to defeat the vote. DAMASCUS, Syria A top Syrian official urged the opposition to let go of its dream of easing President Bashar Assad out of power in a transitional government, complicating peace talks that resumed Wednesday in Geneva on ending the five-year civil war. As Syrians voted in parliamentary elections in government-held parts of the country balloting the opposition dismissed as a sham Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said that a transitional government amounts to a coup detat and will never be accepted. A transitional government is the centerpiece of the peace program that the United States, Russia and other world powers agreed on at a 2012 Geneva Conference. The terms have been left vague intentionally and are supposed to be worked out in the peace talks, but the presumption, at least in the oppositions mind, is that a transitional government means one without Assad. This will not happen, not now, nor tomorrow, nor ever, Mekdad said, speaking at his office in Damascus ahead of the resumption of the indirect talks in Geneva that the U.N. envoy says will focus on a political transition. Assad recently floated the idea of a national unity government, rejecting the oppositions demand for a transitional ruling body, and Mekdad echoed the rejection. We believe such an idea has failed, it is outdated, it will never be acceptable. This amounts in fact to a coup detat. People organize a certain rebellion and then they get power. This will never happen in Syria, he said. He said most of the world except Saudi Arabia and Turkey the two top backers of the rebellion have all but relinquished calls for Assad to step down, having realized after five years of war that the president is fighting terrorists in Syria. But in Geneva, U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told reporters that his recent visits to Iran, Russia and Syria led him to believe that those countries were supportive to what we are trying to do in terms of a political transition. Romeo Ranoco/AP MANILA In a military buildup certain to inflame tensions with China, the United States said Thursday that it will send troops and combat aircraft to the Philippines for regular, more frequent rotations, and will conduct more joint sea and air patrols with Philippine forces in the South China Sea. The announcement by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter in a news conference with Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin was the first time the U.S. disclosed that its ships had carried out sea patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, a somewhat rare move not done with many other partners in the region. New Zealand manufacturing activity slowed for a second month in March to the lowest level in five months although it remains above its longer term average. The BNZ-BusinessNZ performance of manufacturing index fell to a seasonally adjusted 54.7 last month, from 55.9 in February and a 15-month high of 57.9 in January. A reading of 50 separates expansion from contraction New Zealand's manufacturing sector has been expanding since October 2012. While the measure slid in the latest reading, it has returned to around the average set in 2015, and remains "comfortably above" the 53 longer term average for the index, BNZ said. "A slowdown for sure, but it would have to extend quite a bit further before it became a genuine growth worry," Bank of New Zealand senior economist Doug Steel said in his report. "After all, January set a fair blistering pace, so we should not necessarily be alarmed by a slowdown from there." Still, Steel said he is monitoring lower employment and relatively high inventory readings. The employment measure fell to 48.6 in March from 48.8 in February, the second month of contraction and in line with weaker manufacturers employment intentions in the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research's latest quarterly survey of business opinion. "This situation might reflect lower confidence to employ given, say, renewed concerns about trading partner growth, while satisfying demand from existing plant," Steel said. "If so, employment may well bounce back if demand growth remains strong." The PMI showed the measure of production slipped to 55 in March from 56.5 in February, while new orders sank to 58.2 from 60.7, finished stocks slid to 55.5 from 57.2, and deliveries fell to 52.6 from 56. Steel noted that New Zealand's PMI stands "head and shoulders" above similar indicators from major economies around the world. However he said Australia moved ahead of New Zealand in the latest period, following several years where New Zealand outpaced its larger rival. "The 3.4 index point gap in March is the largest in Australias favour since mid-2010," Steel said. "This is not necessarily a bad thing. Indeed, it might well be a good thing for New Zealand if it indicates a growth pickup in the Australian economy as a whole." Australia is New Zealand's second largest goods export market after China, taking $8.39 billion of products in the year through February, behind the $8.77 billion of goods sent to China. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct MCY - Quarterly Operational Update VCT - Operational performance for the 3 months ended 30 Sept 2022 NZL - Forestry Estate Acquisition October 21st Morning Report Air New Zealand Limited Retail Bond Offer Books Close Spark welcomes C-band spectrum allocation AIA - 2022 Annual Meeting Chair & Chief Executive Addresses MOVE Completes Purchase of Vessel for Trans-Tasman Service Bethunes Investments, which owns the Mowbray collectibles stamp dealership, says it has received an "informal" approach to buy the company as a listed shell. Bethunes chairman Christopher Swasbrook says nothing is expected to come from the approach which is "not consistent with their investment strategy". The company is currently looking for new businesses to invest in, with two opportunities in the preliminary stages of an investigation. It didn't immediately identify the party involved. Mowbray is listed on the NZX website as Bethunes' sole asset. In February, it completed the sale of its Peter Webb Galleries to Melbourne's Mossgreen auction house. As part of the deal of that sale, the purchase price of $800,000 is to be paid in installments across three years. Separately it has made a complaint to the New Zealand police about actions of two of Peter Webb's former staff over what it terms the "misuse of intellectual property". Bethunes said the matter does not involve Mossgreen, and while the police investigate, it is considering initiating Employment Relations Authority proceedings. Shares in Bethunes were unchanged at 1.7 cents and have fallen 80 percent in the past year. It listed on the NZX in 2000 at 50 cents a share in a $600,000 capital raising. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct MCY - Quarterly Operational Update VCT - Operational performance for the 3 months ended 30 Sept 2022 NZL - Forestry Estate Acquisition October 21st Morning Report Air New Zealand Limited Retail Bond Offer Books Close Spark welcomes C-band spectrum allocation AIA - 2022 Annual Meeting Chair & Chief Executive Addresses MOVE Completes Purchase of Vessel for Trans-Tasman Service Maori Affairs Minister Te Uruora Flavell has surprised political opponents by introducing a Te Ture Whenua Act reform bill to Parliament, arguing that drafting changes and consultation in recent months meets the concerns of last year's Waitangi Tribunal report criticising the reform process. The long-delayed bill seeks to improve the management and development of collectively owned Maori land, but has become a political lightning rod, with some sections of Maori opinion accusing the Maori Party of permitting a modern day land grab. Flavell tabled the bill shortly before Parliament was due to sit at 2pm today and announced the intention to proceed with legislative changes that he said had been long-sought by Maori landowners, with calls for further change dating back nearly two decades to shortly after the passage of reforms in Te Ture Whenua Act 1993. "The call for further reform has been absolutely consistent," he said. "Much of the (Waitangi Tribunal) is dedicated to that background." In the months since the report's publication, there had been some 22 additional hui nationwide and numerous other public events on top of engagement since 2013, when the reforms were first mooted, which Flavell said were "the most extensive of any other Bill in recent times." An exposure draft of the legislation had been released and as many as 300 drafting changes had been made to reflect feedback. The bill would now go to the Maori affairs select committee where it would gain further public scrutiny and could be further amended. The Cabinet had agreed to conduct further work on issues of ongoing concern, including landlocked property and paper roads. "I am confident there is general support from Maori for the bill to go into the House," he said. "Unlike most bills, people have had the opportunity to see it and make submissions on the exposure draft before it has been introduced into the House. The tribunal was also provided with a further revised draft." But the Labour MP for the Maori electorate of Ikaroa-Rawhiti, Meka Whaitiri accused Flavell of taking "a leaf out of this government's book: do everything in secrecy." "Part of (dealing with) anything as serious as Maori land reform means giving an official response for each and every one of these recommendations (from the tribunal)," she said. "Clearly he hasn't done that." BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct MCY - Quarterly Operational Update VCT - Operational performance for the 3 months ended 30 Sept 2022 NZL - Forestry Estate Acquisition October 21st Morning Report Air New Zealand Limited Retail Bond Offer Books Close Spark welcomes C-band spectrum allocation AIA - 2022 Annual Meeting Chair & Chief Executive Addresses MOVE Completes Purchase of Vessel for Trans-Tasman Service Di Humphries is returning to the helm of Hallenstein Glassons womens wear chain after a stint at the ailing children's clothing chain Pumpkin Patch. Humphries will start as chief executive of Glassons today, the Auckland-based retailer said in a statement. She was previously managing director of Glassons and executive director of parent company Hallenstein Glasson Holdings, before she left to join Pumpkin Patch in 2012, stepping up to the CEO role there in August 2013. Hallenstein Glasson last month posted a 21 percent drop in first-half profit, as its gross margin fell to 56.79 percent from to 60.42 percent. All the brands saw sales growth in the period apart from Glassons in New Zealand, and the company said there has been a "significant focus on improving the fashion offer" which should see better future performance. Chief executive Graeme Popplewell said today he was delighted to welcome Humphries back to the business. Di has an in-depth understanding of the Glassons business having built Glassons to its most successful period when she was with the company between 2000 and 2012," Popplewell said. The board and I are confident that Di will grow the business, improve profitability and strengthen our position in New Zealand and Australia as more global players enter these markets. Its a coup for us to get Di back and with the focus on improving the Glassons fashion offer, Dis expertise and leadership will be key." Humphries has more than 25 years' retail experience in New Zealand and Australia. She said time away from the business gave her a fresh perspective on its challenges and opportunities. Hallenstein Glasson shares last traded at $2.84, and have shed 15 percent this year. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct MCY - Quarterly Operational Update VCT - Operational performance for the 3 months ended 30 Sept 2022 NZL - Forestry Estate Acquisition October 21st Morning Report Air New Zealand Limited Retail Bond Offer Books Close Spark welcomes C-band spectrum allocation AIA - 2022 Annual Meeting Chair & Chief Executive Addresses MOVE Completes Purchase of Vessel for Trans-Tasman Service Augusta Capital, the listed property investor and fund manager, will post a revaluation gain of $3.7 million for the six months through March. The revaluation gain for property owned directly by Augusta represents a 4.4 percent increase, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. The increase in valuation combined with static rentals has seen the company's average rental yield decline to 7.06 percent from 7.34 percent. On an annual basis, the company's properties have increased by $7.5 million, its portfolio occupancy has risen to 97 percent from 94 percent and its average lease term increased to 6.3 years from 5.9 years, it said. Augusta will release its annual earnings for the year through March on May 19. Its shares increased 1.4 percent to $1.06, and have increased 4.5 percent this year. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct MCY - Quarterly Operational Update VCT - Operational performance for the 3 months ended 30 Sept 2022 NZL - Forestry Estate Acquisition October 21st Morning Report Air New Zealand Limited Retail Bond Offer Books Close Spark welcomes C-band spectrum allocation AIA - 2022 Annual Meeting Chair & Chief Executive Addresses MOVE Completes Purchase of Vessel for Trans-Tasman Service BENGALURU: For all the photography enthusiasts out there looking for a camera with stand out features, Sony has launched an A-mount camera with 4D focus capabilities. Priced at 55,990, the A68 will be available at Sony centers, dedicated Alpha Stores and most of the major stores across India, reports The Indian Express. The Sony A68 is fitted with a 24 mega pixel APS-C Exmor CMOS image sensor which can detect 79 Auto Focus (AF) capture with 15 cross points and a dedicated sensor point for low-light images. It also comes with a BIONZ X image processor with the ability to shoot full HD videos or movies. On the other hand, the camera is also equipped with an OLED Tru-Finder and 100 percent frame coverage. The A68 has a 2.7-type LCD monitor which tilts up to 135 degrees above and 55 degrees below. As far as the features are concerned, the device has a lot to offer- AF with predictive tracking that captures fast moving objects better. Also, the Translucent Mirror technology provides continuous AF tracking of up to 8 fpsii constant snapping. Moreover, the Sony A68 features a unique color tune up for weddings shoots and brings in an extra lens kit for the weddings. Additional optional accessories include flash, lights, microphones and remote commanders. Read Also: HTC's New Smartphone Launch: All the Details Lenovo's Affordable Laptop Ideapad 100S Launched at 14,999 NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give away awards to bureaucrats from both the Centre and states for excellence in implementing NDA government's priority programmes like 'Swachh Bharat Mission' and 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana'. Select bureaucrats will get the Prime Minister's awards on April 21, observed as Civil Services' Day, for their contribution to effective implementation of the government's key initiatives. The award, which carries a citation and cash prize, is to recognise and reward the extraordinary and innovative works done by officers of the central and state governments. This is for the first time a new category of "excellence in implementing a priority programme" has been added to the PM's awards. The theme of 10th Civil Services Day is "Transforming India--Reform to Transform". "Modi will confer awards to civil servants for excellence in implementation of priority programmes of the government of India namely Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), Swachh Vidyalaya and Soil Health Card Scheme," a press release issued today by Ministry of Personnel said. The Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) is to bring about an improvement in the general quality of life in the rural areas, by promoting cleanliness, hygiene and eliminating open defecation. Whereas, Swachh Vidyalaya mission is aimed at ensuring separate toilets in every school for boys and girls. The objective of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is to provide weaker sections and low income groups access to various financial services like savings bank account, need based credit, remittances facility, insurance and pension. The Soil Health Card scheme is meant to give each farmer the soil nutrient status of his holding and advise him on the dosage of fertilisers, besides information on soil modification for long-term improved soil health. A total of ten districts will be given the Prime Minister's awards under the four priority programmes. These awards will be given in three groups--the first group consists of eight north-eastern states and the three hill states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The remaining 18 states constitute the second group while the third group comprises seven Union Territories. Eight awards will be given to the first and second group under the four priority programmes, it said. The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) has conducted an exhaustive analysis and assessment for short listing the awards. Like the previous year, the Civil Services Day function will be an elaborate affair spread over two days. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu will be the Chief Guest at the inaugural function on April 20. Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh will preside over the function. Civil Services Day is organised on April 21 every year when civil servants rededicate themselves to the cause of the citizens and renew their commitment to public service. The day coincides with the date on which Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel had addressed the first batch of probationers at the All India Administrative Service Training School at Metcalfe House, New Delhi in 1947. The Prime Minister's awards for excellence in public administration are also given away on this day. Civil Services Day was organised for the first time in 2006. Since then every year the function is being organised by the DARPG, the release said. Read Also: U.S. Proposed Monitoring Of Indian Missions In Afghanistan: Book PM Modi Will Launch Online National Agricultural Market On 14th April NEW YORK: In some good news to Donald Trump and Hillary Clintonahead of the crucial primaries here, the two U.S. Presidential front-runners who suffered a string of losses recently were today declared the winners of the close Missouri primaries, nearly a month after the polls were held. Announcing the results of the Republican and Democratic primaries held on March 15, Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander tweeted: "I certified the presidential preference primary. @HillaryClinton and @realDonaldTrump have officially won Missouri." The votes in both parties were too close to call. In the Republican primary polls, Trump and rival Texas Senator Ted Cruz were neck-and-neck, as were Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic contest. In the final tally, Trump pipped Cruz by just 0.2 percentage points - 40.9 per cent to Cruz's 40.7. Trump will receive 37 delegates to Cruz's 15. Ohio Governor John Kasich will receive no delegates. On the Democratic side, the 68-year-old former secretary of state also led Sanders also by 0.2 percentage points - 49.6 per cent to his 49.4. She won the election by about 1,500 votes of the 630,000 cast in the Democratic primary. Each candidate will receive 34 delegates, but with superdelegates included, Clinton will have 46, CNN reported. 69-year-old Trump is looking to bounce back from a decisive loss in last week's Wisconsin primary, while Clinton has lost eight of the last nine Democratic contests. Reacting to the news of his victory, the real estate tycoon said, "Thank you to the great people of Missouri who voted for me and the state officials who worked to ensure the votes of the people mattered." "It is great to have yet another victory as we look forward to the upcoming primary in New York," Trump said in a statement ahead of the crucial primaries here on April 19. New York will award 95 Republican delegates while the two Democratic candidates are fighting over 247 delegates in the city. Read Also: Obama Appoints MasterCard CEO Banga To Key Administration Post Bernie Sanders Wins Time's Poll Of 100 Most Influential People Source: PTI STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Here it is at brand new Errigo's in Stapleton: Pappardelle Bolognese topped with a sprig of crisp-fried oregano. And, that bowl of steaming pasta could come to a table alongside a pleasantly singed, thin-crusted pizza topped with puckered pepperoni. "Our goal her is upscale Italian food," maintained consulting executive chef Sean Chudoba, who hails originally from Cleveland, Ohio. His mark on the restaurant should include a version of "sfincione," a Sicilian pie melded with breadcrumbs, onions and anchovy. He'll also present a dish made from blistered shishito peppers -- summertime food drizzled with balsamic glaze and perfect for the restaurant's soon-in-coming backyard patio. The al fresco space includes a firepit and the chef intends for that section to have its very own, breezy menu. More "upscale" Errigo's is affiliated with Paulie's Pizzeria, the next door venue noted for its thin-crusted pies. Although owner Phill Errigo (his late Dad Paul is the namesake of the pizza parlor) expects customers to order those signature creations while dining at Errigo's, he doesn't see the fancier digs as a place to cop a slice and soda. So, the very casual supping will happen at 500 Bay Street. Since Tuesday's inaugural day in business, the full bar includes wines by the glass and assorted glassware intended for martini creations and Bourbon-layered elixirs. Forty-four seat Errigo's is located at 502 Bay St., Stapleton and can be reached at 718-981-5111. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thrusday. Friday and Saturday until 10 p.m. Sunday the hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The phone number for the restaurant is not yet hooked up. Reservations aren't necessary. "Right now they're not necessary," offers Errigo. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 21-year-old man has died after being shot in West Brighton early on Thursday morning. Police responded at 2:34 a.m. to a 911 call of a man shot in front of the West Brighton Houses at 780 Henderson Ave., according to a statement from the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. Officers found the 21-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the upper right torso. EMS also responded and rushed the man to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton, where he was pronounced dead. He was assaulted by a group of males and one individual produced a firearm and shot him, according to a police spokeswoman. Part of Corporal Thompson Park has been cordoned off with crime scene tape. The NYPD Crime Scene Unit is investigating at the scene near PS 18. The shooting is under investigation and no arrests have been made. Police are unable to provide a description of the shooter. Police declined to identify the victim pending notification of relatives. Bill de Blasio Mayor Bill de Blasio, shown here in during his first traditional town hall meeting in October 2015, will host one on Staten Island on April 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) CITY HALL -- Mayor Bill de Blasio will answer to Staten Islanders at a town hall next week. The long-awaited forum will be held on April 20 at PS 48 in Concord, at 1050 Targee St., from 7 to 9 p.m., the mayor's office said on Thursday. "The mayor and his staff are very excited about bringing City Hall to Staten Island," de Blasio spokeswoman Karen Hinton said. "He is looking forward to the evening and talking to more Staten Islanders." Staten Islanders can RSVP by emailing communityaffairs@cityhall.nyc.gov. Seating begins at 6 p.m. and spots are first-come, first-served. The Mid-Island school has enough room for about 250 people to attend the town hall, with another 100 in an overflow area, officials said. Some of de Blasio's past town halls in the other boroughs were centered on specific issues -- like senior housing or education -- but next week's on Staten Island will be open to all local concerns. This will be a "Working for Our Neighborhoods" town hall, named after the mayor's third State of the City address in February. City commissioners have attended past forums with de Blasio to help answer questions and follow up on issues for locals. "Any time the Mayor of the city of New York comes to our borough for a town hall meeting it is obviously a big deal. It really is an opportunity for Staten Islanders to get their questions answered, and have a respectful conversation with their Mayor," Borough President James Oddo and Council Minority Leader Steven Matteo said in a joint statement. "We will be there, and encourage Staten Islanders to join us for what we expect will be a productive night." The forum will be held in Matteo's own Mid-Island district, where residents are much more conservative than the Democrat running City Hall. Many of de Blasio's Staten Island allies can be found in neighborhoods north of the Staten Island Expressway. Civic groups and elected officials friendly with the de Blasio administration invited many participants at past town halls in the other boroughs. But de Blasio's reception is likely to be less warm on Staten Island next week. Many locals harbor an almost notorious dislike of the mayor and his progressive policies, particularly on law enforcement issues and the city's "Vision Zero" push to eliminate traffic fatalities. Though the city significantly increased funding for road resurfacing and expanded Staten Island Ferry service last year, de Blasio has proposed virtually no new mass transit service for the borough. The administration has also been recently criticized by Oddo -- a Republican who is close with de Blasio -- for the the death of the Kroc Center project. The borough forum comes at an already difficult time for the mayor, who has been dogged by recent flubs and investigations into his campaign fundraising and the city's role in a Manhattan real estate deal. The Staten Island town hall had been pushed back at least twice in recent weeks because of scheduling issues. The last time de Blasio appeared publicly on Staten Island was Jan. 28, when he went to the St. George Ferry Terminal to announce one of three new boat names. That was back when there were eight Republicans running for president. police tape.jpeg A 20-year-old is unlikely to live after being shot in West Brighton Thursday morning, according to a spokesman for the NYPD. (Advance file photo) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A young man is unlikely to survive a shooting that took place in West Brighton Thursday morning, according to a spokesman for the NYPD. At approximately 3 a.m., police received a call to 780 Henderson Ave. that an unidentified individual fired a round into the 20-year-old victim's right shoulder, causing serious injury. The shooting victim was rushed to Richmond University Medical Center, listed in traumatic cardiac arrest, and unlikely to survive, according to the spokesman. Police are still searching for the shooting suspect, described as a light skin male; no clothing description was provided by authorities. Police were unable to determine what sparked the shooting at this point in the investigation. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders The next democratic presidential debate is Thursday, April 12. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) ORG XMIT: WX202 (Wilfredo Lee) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The next Democratic presidential debate between candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders is Thursday night in Brooklyn. The debate is intended to be more heated than prior debates, and is crucial for both candidates since New York's primary is just five days later -- on April 19. Brooklyn is the borough where Sanders was born and where Clinton has her campaign headquarters, inviting both candidates to prove themselves to native New Yorkers in time for the primary. Sanders visited Nathan's Famous hot dogs on Coney Island to make up for his mistake the week -- when the Daily News reported that he thought tokens were still used for the city's subway system. Using Sanders' mistake as an advantage, Clinton attempted to swipe at the subway station -- at least five times -- when traveling on a quick ride on the uptown 4 train outside Yankee Stadium. The candidates have not debated on stage since the Univision-Washington Post debate on March 9. The Democratic National Committee is sanctioning the debate. Here's what you need to know for Thursday's debate: What: CNN and NY1 Democratic Primary Debate Date: April 14, 2016 Time: 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern Watch on TV: CNN and NY1. Watch live stream online: Here at CNN.com or here at NY1 (Must be Time Warner Cable subscriber to sign in) Host: CNN and NY1. Location: Duggal Greenhouse on the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York Moderators: Wolf Blitzer Hashtag: #DemDebate CITY HALL -- The city examined two Staten Island properties to help replace Rikers Island as part of a theoretical exercise, but there's no plans for a new borough jail, officials said. "There is no plan to put a jail on Staten Island or anywhere else," City Hall spokeswoman Monica Klein said. DNAinfo New York reported on Thursday that public land along Arthur Kill Road in Rossville and at the Teleport in Bloomfield were included in a presentation made to First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris called "Alternatives for Rikers Island." The PowerPoint presentation, prepared by four city agencies, was given in October. Mayor Bill de Blasio said last week there's no effort to replace Rikers now. "There's no concerted effort to look for sites for an alternative to Rikers Island," he said. City Hall stressed that the presentation was given last year. "The administration has examined the feasibility of closure in the past and determined there were numerous, significant challenges associated with this notion, which the Mayor has publicly discussed," Klein said. 'COMPLICATED' IDEA While Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan/Bronx) supports completely shutting down Rikers, de Blasio called this "a very complicated idea" that could cost billions. An independent advisory commission, chaired by former chief judge Jonathan Lippman, is studying how to bring the jail's population down and assess if using more community courts and borough-based facilities is possible. Though this means there will be ongoing discussions at City Hall, the administration still thinks closing the jail would be too expensive. "While the City continues to examine whether Rikers Island's closure is feasible and to work with Lippman's Commission, our focus today remains on reform of the correctional system that will make our jails safer now," Klein said. The analysis obtained by DNAinfo focuses on building two 2,000-bed facilities, one next to the new NYPD academy in Queens and another in the Bronx near the city's jail barge. The new jails were part of two options explored to "Shut Down Rikers" that also included renovations or expansions of existing facilities in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. Both options would take seven years to complete and cost between $3.1 billion and $3.5 billion. The analysis also concluded the Department of Correction would save more than $500 million in operating costs with either. LOGISTICS AND OPPOSITION The two Staten Island properties were included in the presentation as other potential sites identified by the city's Economic Development Corporation. The Correction Department already owns the 32-acre Rossville property on Arthur Kill Road, while the 18-acre Teleport site is leased to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The presentation published by DNAinfo lists the location and elected officials that represent the areas, as well as options for public transportation. One of the arguments for replacing Rikers is that the jail is hard to access. The analysis notes getting to both borough sites would take at least 45 minutes by bus from the Staten Island Ferry terminal in St. George. The logistics are complicated further by significant opposition on the borough. Local elected officials and real estate developers have already come out against jails at both sites. PAST EFFORTS Given past resistance, de Blasio is unlikely to be the first mayor in three decades to successfully open a new jail on Staten Island. The de Blasio administration already reversed a plan from former Mayor Michael Bloomberg to put male offenders in juvenile justice facility in Willowbrook. The Rossville land, just up Arthur Kill Road from the correction facility closed by the state in 2011, is where former Mayor Ed Koch planned to open a 1,000-bed jail as part of a 1987 deal with former Borough President Ralph Lamberti. Staten Island would house the facility instead of taking on four new homeless shelters. The jail was never built. Former Mayor David Dinkins wouldn't acknowledge the jail-for-shelter swap and tried to open one or two homeless shelters on Staten Island. That attempt ultimately failed too, but still fueled the borough's resentment of City Hall and the secession movement. Ferry-clock.jpg "It's the 120-foot-in-diameter clock the architects who designed the otherwise spectacular new Whitehall ferry terminal in Lower Manhattan say is a wonderful touch of whimsy, but which most people say looks like King Kong's pocketwatch," read an Advance editorial in December 1993, referring to this proposed Whitehall Ferry Terminal model. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- This clock would've made the ferry look small. Yes, an enormous 120-foot-in-diameter clock almost became the welcoming sight for Manhattan-bound commuters aboard the Staten Island Ferry. We're not kidding. The monstrous Flava Flav-esque timepiece was the cornerstone of a proposal for the Whitehall Ferry Terminal following a fire that destroyed the site in 1991. Though the proposal included aspects of building design, traffic flow and comfort, it was the clock that garnered the most attention -- for the wrong reasons. In January 1993, two months after it was unveiled in a proposal, the Advance wrote: The design ... calls for an enormous, round 120-foot-high clock facing the harbor to greet incoming boats, taking a prominent position on the Manhattan skyline. As the most noticeable element of the proposal, the clock has seized the public imagination and angered some commuters, who think it is both unnecessary and silly. Regarding the clock, reactions from nearly a half-dozen Island architects ranged from ''whimsical'' and ''humorous'' to ''out of scale,'' ''gross'' and ''foolish.'' An editorial later that year referred to it as "King Kong's pocketwatch." Subsequent protests against the design from Islanders and the city fiscal crisis forced that design to be scrapped. A brand new Whitehall terminal (one with smaller, digital clocks) finally opened in February 2005, more than 13 years after the previous one burned down -- and after nearly six years of construction following almost a decade of no fully-functioning Manhattan terminal. But who's keeping time? We know many of you would rather forget this part of history, but do you remember the fuss over this plan? Did any of you actually like it? Share your recollections in the comment section below. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Seven passengers were injured after the school bus they were traveling on crashed into a divider on the Staten Island Expressway Wednesday afternoon, according to a spokesman for the FDNY. At approximately 5:21 p.m., firefighters and EMS responded to a call that a yellow school bus had veered into a concrete dividing wall while heading towards the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, said the spokesman. According to the spokesman, seven passengers suffered minor injuries; four were then transported to Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, in stable condition. A spokesman for the Jofaz Transportation company, located in Brooklyn, said the bus was transporting adult workers back to the borough, and that there were no minors in the vehicle during the wreck. Police are still investigating the cause of the crash, said an NYPD spokesman. Reckless lawbreakers driving banned recreation vehicles on Staten Island pose a real danger. It's more than just a noisy quality of life crime. You can see for yourself on SILive.com in an extraordinary video obtained by the Advance. It shows an ATV driver and two companions on dirt bikes popping wheelies and dodging through traffic last Sunday on Richmond Road in Dongan Hills. The use of All-Terrain Vehicles, dirt bikes and other recreation-type vehicles is strictly prohibited in New York City. It is against the law to drive them on streets, in parks, on beaches or in other open spaces. Yet the arrival of spring seems to have heralded the illegal return of ATV driving across the Island. For example, riders of dirt bikes and ATVs are reported to have been tearing up a city Parks Department playground in Graniteville: They have been spotted on Saturdays and Sundays in Jennifer's Playground, at Regis Drive, Jules Drive and Elson Court. So far, the response by police to the problem on Staten Island has not been effective, to say the least. Thus, it's ironic to see a posting on social media by the 122nd Precinct in New Dorp, saying, "Illegal moped confiscation in Great Kills," with a photo of a blue motor bike. Another comment on the precinct's Twitter feed said, "#122Pct getting illegal bikes off the street!" It will take so much more to stop wrongdoers. So far this year, police on Staten Island have confiscated seven ATVs and 12 dirt bikes from riders caught operating them illegally, according to the NYPD. The fact is, the NYPD has been at a loss when it comes to preventing the havoc (and the environmental damage) repeatedly caused every year by ATVs. Cops in patrol cars usually don't or can't chase after elusive off-road vehicles, mostly because that could create worse dangers for cars and pedestrians. Recently, at a press conference by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton, NYPD officials vowed a crackdown on off-road drivers. "They endanger our motorists, they endanger our bicyclists, they endanger our pedestrians, and they also endanger themselves," said Chief of Patrol Carlos Gomez, who denounced the annual springtime rite. By early April, the NYPD had removed 65 off-road vehicles and arrested a dozen riders in just two weeks. It had seized 312 bikes, more than double what was confiscated at the same point last year.. Now police are ready to use ground and aviation patrols to help catch off-roaders in the act here. The NYPD also has been scanning social media for planned events and rallies, and to gather intelligence about where bikes are stored. Perhaps stiffer fines and penalties are needed. Off-road vehicles are meant for rural use only. You can report ATVs and dirt bikes driven illegally in the city to 311 or to 911. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Accused parent-killer Eric Bellucci must now wait at least two more months before his murder case goes to trial. State Supreme Court Justice William E. Garnett on Thursday set a June 13 jury selection date for Bellucci, who's accused of slaying his mother and father nearly six years ago in their Annadale home. Jury selection had been scheduled for Wednesday, but that afternoon an appellate court stayed prosecution of the case pending a future hearing after prosecutors and defense lawyer Mario F. Gallucci jointly petitioned the higher court to order Garnett to hold another exam to determine Bellucci's trial fitness. The 36-year-old defendant has been examined multiple times over the past five and a half years with varying findings of fitness and unfitness for trial. Garnett has found Bellucci mentally capable of standing trial. The appellate court did not instruct Garnett to order the psychiatric exam; however, it could do so before next Wednesday. In the interim, Garnett scheduled a new trial date and said the parties could use the time between now and mid-June to develop expert evidence on an insanity defense. On Wednesday, the judge ordered Gallucci to present an insanity defense for Bellucci when the trial starts. A person can be found fit for trial - meaning he understands the charges against him and can aid in his defense - and still offer an insanity defense, which refers to his state of mind when the alleged crime occurred. A forensic psychologist testified at a pretrial hearing last fall that Bellucci, in his opinion, suffers from either schizophrenic paranoia or paranoid mania, conditions which distort the defendant's view of reality. The defendant is accused of brutally stabbing Arthur and Marian Bellucci to death in their Poillon Avenue home on Oct. 13, 2010. He then jetted to Israel where he was arrested and returned to the United States. Bellucci, who did not address the court at Thursday's brief proceeding, has said he wants to present a justification or "self-defense" defense, over Gallucci's recommendation to offer an insanity defense. Bellucci contends his parents had threatened to kill him in a dispute over four guns he owned which they had previously removed from their house. The judge said it was apparent, based on the evidence, that an insanity defense would be Bellucci's "strongest" defense. In their appellate application, prosecutors and Gallucci said Bellucci's trial competence is predicated on his being properly medicated with anti-psychotic drugs. However, they said Bellucci contends he's hasn't been medicated since the middle of last summer after being transferred from a secure psychiatric facility to Rikers Island. His behavior toward Gallucci since then has been "irrational and delusional," said the joint application. Bellucci's desire for a self-defense defense "is the direct result of his delusional condition," wrote Gallucci and prosecutors in their petition to the appellate court. The defendant contended his guns were "used by the Mafia," and his parents "threatened to have the Mafia kill him" when he confronted them over the weapons. In addition, prosecutors said they were troubled that Bellucci's due-process rights would be violated if the trial proceeded "in the face of such clear incompetency" without an additional psychiatric exam. At a conference on Wednesday, the judge said a jury would ultimately decide whether Bellucci is guilty of first-degree murder and other charges or not guilty by reason of insanity. "He has a right to have this case resolved," said Garnett. "This can can't be kicked down the road interminably." Open letter to the Wall Street Journal editor: a scientists response to Lomborg's misleading op-ed Posted on 14 April 2016 by Guest Author This letter was submitted to the editor of the Wall Street Journal who did not publish it. On April 6, 2016, the Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece by Bjorn Lomborg entitled An Overheated Climate Alarm following the publication by the US Global Change Research Program (US GCRP) of a comprehensive overview of the impact of climate change on American public health. Ten scientists from around the world who have expertise in climate change and its impacts on human health have completed an in-depth analysis of Lomborgs op-ed and conclude his account of the available evidence is misleading your readers. While the US GCRP report is based on thousands of scientific publications, Lomborg cherry-picked only a few to support his case that 1) cold kills many more people than heat and 2) climate change will reduce the number of cold days and that will cut the total number of cold-related deaths. To support his first point, Lomborg relied on a study published by Dr Antonio Gasparrini in The Lancet. Dr Gasparrini, Senior Lecturer in the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told Climate Feedback that Lomborgs account of his own work was misleading. He added that the aim of this study is to establish the association between non-optimal temperature and mortality in the recent past. The article clearly acknowledges that these results cannot be easily extrapolated to the future. Kristie Ebi, Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington, adds that Mr. Lomborg is confusing seasonal mortality with temperature-related mortality. It is true that mortality is higher during winter than summer. However, it does not follow that winter mortality is temperature-dependent. The fact that people are more likely to die in winter has more to do with incidence and virulence of influenza and similar diseases says Philip Staddon, Philip L Staddon, Associate Professor at Xi'an Jiaotong - Liverpool University. In response to Lomborgs second point, Dr Staddon commented: The assertion that warmer winters equals less mortality is a schoolboy error. Prof. Ebi concluded that there is very limited scientific support for the claim that reducing the number of cold days will reduce the number of cold-related deaths. Emmanuel Vincent, Scientist at the University of California, Merced Lead Scientist of ClimateFeedback.org By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. Agree Best Canadian Blog 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 About Kate Why this blog? Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked. This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio - "You don't speak for me." (goes to a private mailserver in Europe) I can't answer or use every tip, but all are appreciated! Katewerk Art Support SDA I am not a registered charity. I cannot issue tax receipts. Reconnaissance Man Economics for the Disinterested ...a fast-paced polar bear attack thriller! Want lies? Hire a regular consultant. Want truth? Hire an asshole. Weather Shop Click to inquire about rates. Dow Jones What They Say About SDA "Smalldeadanimals doesn't speak for the people of Saskatchewan" Former Sask Premier Lorne Calvert "I got so much traffic after your post my web host asked me to buy a larger traffic allowance." Dr.Ross McKitrick Holy hell, woman. When you send someone traffic, you send someone TRAFFIC. My hosting provider thought I was being DDoSed. - Sean McCormick "The New York Times link to me yesterday [...] generated one-fifth of the traffic I normally get from a link from Small Dead Animals." Kathy Shaidle "Thank you for your link. A wave of your Canadian readers came to my blog! Really impressive." Juan Giner - INNOVATION International Media Consulting Group I got links from the Weekly Standard, Hot Air and Instapundit yesterday - but SDA was running at least equal to those in visitors clicking through to my blog. Jeff Dobbs "You may be a nasty right winger, but you're not nasty all the time!" Warren Kinsella "Go back to collecting your welfare livelihood."Michael E. 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Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0229730)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f00940c8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0229730)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f00940c8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0250250)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f00940c8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f00940c8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ea8ffd68)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f00a19f8)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f00a19f8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948 /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f014d658)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0240050)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f014d658)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0240050)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f01fffe8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0240050)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0240050)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e51c7418)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f023f7e0)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f023f7e0)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948 /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f026d6e8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f03a05a0)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f026d6e8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f03a05a0)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f025e410)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f03a05a0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f03a05a0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e71e3940)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f03ea868)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f03ea868)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948 /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f021ac98)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f02f6f20)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f021ac98)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f02f6f20)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f01f0a90)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f02f6f20)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f02f6f20)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ea8ffd68)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f01c5b30)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f01c5b30)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948 /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f022c628)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f022c4a8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f022c628)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f022c4a8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0235f20)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f022c4a8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f022c4a8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e71e28c8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f013c9a8)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f013c9a8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948 /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f01539f0)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f020a178)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f01539f0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f020a178)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0153e88)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f020a178)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f020a178)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e71e3610)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f027d9b8)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f027d9b8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948 /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe48730)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e9efd2f8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe48730)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e9efd2f8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe490d8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e9efd2f8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e9efd2f8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e71e2c40)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612e71e4ac0)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612e71e4ac0)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 Rio Tinto is reneging on its move to double the length of payment terms on up to $24 billion of supply contracts from 45 days to 90 days, after an outcry from suppliers and heavy political pressure. Suppliers lobbied the Prime Minister directly, as well as key ministers, to push Rio to drop the changes. State and federal governments saw it as a political problem, particularly given elections are not far off. Telstra says the mining sector's drive to improve efficiency is an opportunity. Credit:Bloomberg Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg said he asked Rio to "re-examine" its decision. 'While in the Pilbara this week, a number of Australian companies raised with the Prime Minister and me Rio Tinto's decision to change its payment terms from 45 to 90 days for existing and future suppliers," Mr Frydenberg said. Anyone looking for examples of Australia punching above its weight on the global corporate scene need look no further than the collapse of US coal giant Peabody Energy. The US group acquired Australia's Macarthur Coal in December 2011 for $4.9 billion, largely debt financed, as the coal price hit its peak. The price of coal used in steel making has dropped about 75 per cent since then. Not even a multimillion-dollar donation from the famously stingy boganaire, Nathan Tinkler, could save Peabody. Shanghai: New "virtual tourism" technology for mobile devices, along with streamlined visa requirements, will greatly increase Chinese interest in visiting Australia, according to Malcolm Turnbull. Launching the technology in Shanghai, the Prime Minister, who was flanked by his wife, Lucy, said Chinese tourism was of immense importance to Australia, making an $8.3 billion contribution to the economy last year from more than 1 million visits. "China is Australia's most valuable tourism market; more than a million Chinese visited Australia last year," Mr Turnbull said at a function in Shanghai's sprawling Expo Centre. Rehabilitation bonds paid by the owners of Victoria's three enormous brown coal mines are inadequate and should be increased by tens of millions of dollars, an inquiry into the devastating 2014 Hazelwood mine fire has recommended. In its latest, and last, report the inquiry also outlined several technical concerns about the owners' plans to turn the mines into lakes when they are eventually closed, in particular uncertainty over where the water needed to fill the coal pits will come from. A giant dredging machine at work in the brown coal mine at Loy Yang in the Latrobe Valley. Credit:John Woudstra The final report from the Hazelwood fire inquiry board, which was released by the Andrews government on Thursday, focused on whether the state was properly preparing for the closure of the three brown coal mines in the Latrobe Valley. The open cut mines Hazelwood, Yallourn and Loy Yang are each several kilometres wide and have the similar footprints as nearby towns such as Traralgon and Morwell. They feed four large and greenhouse gas intensive power plants. Fort Worth: Ethan Couch, the teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a drunken-driving crash that killed four people and then violated probation by fleeing to Mexico with his mother, was sentenced Wednesday to nearly two years in jail. A district court judge, Wayne Salvant, ruled that Couch must spend 180 days in jail for each person killed, and then said the court would reconvene in two weeks to consider modifying the terms after each side submitted additional written arguments. "Nothing I do is in stone, so I might reconsider," Salvant said. Early in the hearing, Salvant indicated that he would not decide Wednesday how long Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, would stay in the county jail, but he later reconsidered and imposed the sentence. Winter is coming. The leaves have changed colour and the nights have become colder. Winnie, the wombat, snuggles up with a blanket or two under the watchful eye of senior wildlife keeper Renee Osterloh. Credit:Graham Tidy As Canberrans get their coats out of storage, the animals at the National Zoo and Aquarium have begun to change theirs. Getting winter-ready is just as important for them as it is for us, and the wide variety of species the zoo houses deal with it in different ways. The big issues for the upcoming federal and territory elections will be dissected by an expert panel convening in Canberra on Thursday. Political journalists, commentators and academics will examine the platforms of the parties contesting the 2016 elections and determine what the defining issues for the public will be during the first seminar in the latest Canberra Conversation series, 'The Elections'. Canberra Times columnist Jack Waterford and political journalist Kirsten Lawson will be among the panellists of the Canberra Conversations seminar on Thursday. The panel includes ABC News presenter Virginia Haussegger, Canberra Times political reporter Kirsten Lawson, City news editor Ian Meikle, ANU Emeritus Professor of Political Science John Warhurst and former editor-at-large of the Canberra Times, Jack Waterford. The Canberra Conversation series are free seminars run by the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis. The mandatory complaints employers and colleagues made about Canberra doctors, nurses and pharmacists last year related to potential public harm, intoxication and sexual misconduct. Mandatory complaints are those employers and health workers are legally required to make to prevent the public being placed at risk of harm. Complaints made: Seven ACT health workers had their registrations suspended as a result of misconduct in the year 2014-15. The majority of the 20 complaints - which was almost double those made the year before - were about risking public harm due to significantly failing to meet professional standards, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency reports. This includes a "serious" exit from accepted clinical care or other professional behaviour, of which a reasonable proportion of health workers would agree could potentially harm the public. The assistant Australian Federal Police commissioner was shot twice in the head at close range as he got out of his car on January 10, 1989. There were suggestions it was the work of the Calabrian mafia, or "Ndrangheta", who felt Mr Winchester had double-crossed them, and recent secret evidence appears to have strengthened such claims beyond mere speculation. After a lengthy investigation, police charged Eastman, a public servant disgruntled about a pending assault charge and the loss of his job. Eastman was convicted in 1995, and sentenced to life behind bars, but was eventually freed in 2014, after serving 19 years in prison. His release came in the wake of an explosive inquiry, headed by former Northern Territory Chief Justice Brian Martin, which found serious flaws with the gunshot residue analysis used to link Eastman to the crime scene. The inquiry found the prosecution's star forensic witness, Victorian Robert Barnes, had made fundamental errors, overstated his findings, was biased to the prosecution, and resistant to having his work peer-reviewed. It was still unclear on Thursday whether Eastman would appeal the decision to dismiss his stay application. Those avenues are available to him, and are likely being closely considered. For now, the decision means Eastman will face a jury for a second time. That would mean a second mammoth trial. A recent estimate put the length at between four to six months, which is likely to come at great cost to the ACT taxpayer. New figures show the cost of the Eastman case to the ACT Government has now climbed above $12 million since the beginning of the Martin inquiry. This year's stay application alone cost taxpayers $486,000. About $5.4 million has been provided to the DPP, the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, ACT Corrections and the Martin inquiry. A further $3.3 million was given to Legal Aid, who are representing Eastman, and roughly $3.2 million went to the AFP and ACT Policing. Legal assistance for witnesses has cost the government about $351,000. A spokesman for Attorney-General Simon Corbell, who released the figures after questions by Fairfax Media, said any more funding requests would be assessed as normal. "If the DPP, Legal Aid or the Courts require additional resources such as for the retrial this will be assessed by the normal process, to ensure necessary resources are available." Eastman launched the stay application upon learning that the DPP planned to push ahead with the retrial. He argued that the delay since the alleged crime, media coverage, the exorbitant cost associated with a retrial, and Eastman's age, time served, and mental health, all weighed against a retrial taking place. Eastman also argued that the prosecution would be presenting a partially "new case" at any retrial, and that their evidence was not strong enough to warrant it being put to another jury. He alleged prosecutors had engaged in misconduct at his original trial, by allegedly concealing weaknesses in their forensic case from him. Prosecutors disputed every ground put forward by Eastman in his stay application, and have argued there is still strong circumstantial evidence against Eastman. That evidence is alleged to suggest a motive, threats uttered by Eastman concerning Mr Winchester, access to firearms, identification, and the fact Eastman, who even the AFP have described as one of the most intelligent humans on Earth, could not explain his whereabouts when asked by police the next morning. Much of the stay application was suppressed, and parts were heard in closed court. Acting Justice Ashley's detailed reasons were handed to the parties, but they were given strict orders not to copy them, or provide them to anyone else, save Eastman himself, his legal representatives, and past counsel. To the public, the judge issued a short summary providing a basic recap of events so far, and outlining the general nature of the stay application. In 25 years' time, will Ruby Frawley's children ever see a scarlet robin in Canberra? That's what worries her father, Tuggeranong environmentalist Matthew Frawley, who says the ACT can either nurture rare robins along the banks of the Murrumbidgee River, or allow residential development. Tuggeranong environmentalist Matthew Frawley scopes for a scarlet robin as four-year-old daughter Ruby enjoys a paddle in the Murrumbidgee River. Credit:Jay Cronan Mr Frawley finds it odd that on one hand, the government is calling for community help in developing an action plan to save the vulnerable scarlet robin from extinction, while releasing plans for a 90-hectare subdivision, Thompson, at Tuggeranong. ACT conservator for flora and fauna Dr Annie Lane says the scarlet robin will be extinct in the region within 25 to 50 years unless action is taken now. Its main threat is loss of habitat. They forage from low perches, fence-posts, tree trunks, logs or the ground, pouncing on small insects and grubs. Taylah Smith, 20, doesn't fit the stereotypical image of an avionics engineer. But the second-year apprentice at Jetstar's Newcastle engineering facility says she loves her job. "It is such a unique and specialised field," she says. "Most people, when I tell them what I do, they have no idea and their jaw drops." Ms Smith, who has been interested in engineering since she was at school, is one of four female apprentices at the low-cost airline's engineering facility in Newcastle. She works 11-hour day or night shifts on a four day on/four day off basis to ensure the aircraft keep flying safely. Jetstar, which unusually for the aviation industry has a female chief executive, Jayne Hrdlicka, and a female chief pilot, Captain Georgina Sutton, has been working hard to recruit more women in traditionally male-dominated fields. The Australian Securities Exchange said its net profit rose 6.2 per cent rise in the past nine months as it searches for a new chief executive to succeed Elmer Funke Kupper after his abrupt departure. The sharemarket operator, which has a market valuation of $8 billion, reported a statutory profit of $317.4 million for nine months ended March 31 while operating revenue rose 7 per cent to $552.8 million. 'I am overseeing the business, with day-to-day operations managed by two members of ASX's skilled and experienced senior executive team reporting directly to me,' says ASX chairman Rick Holliday-Smith. Credit:Daniel Munoz Expenses rose 6.1 per cent during the period to $127.5 million as investments in post-trade services ticks up. The earnings update comes as the company is searching for a successor to Mr Funke Kupper, who quit his post last month over allegations he knew of a $200,000 payment to the family of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Australia's corporate watchdog lacks a strong culture of law enforcement and is "too cautious" when it comes to pursuing wrongdoing by companies, says former senior regulator Allan Fels. Professor Fels said the Australian Securities and Investments Commission [ASIC] needed to be more "courageous" in pursuing litigation and had relied too heavily on negotiated settlements known as enforceable undertakings [EUs] struck between ASIC and companies that have transgressed. Professor Fels, the former chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, said that if a parliament had passed legislation outlawing something, the job of the regulator was to ensure those laws were complied with not to strike EUs where there had been serious breaches of the law. "A law enforcement body needs to have an unconditional commitment to upholding the law without fear or favour," he told a Melbourne Press Club lunch on Thursday. To help assuage worried parents, these companies provide a level of safety and security that the Ubers of the world do not, including fingerprinting and extensive interviewing, and they use software that monitors the driver's speed and conduct. Many companies operating in California also rely on TrustLine certification, that state's official screening program for in-home caregivers. Female drivers Almost all the drivers for these services are women - often teachers, nannies, day-care workers and mothers. Most companies carry insurance that exceeds state requirements and covers liability related to driver (or baby sitter) conduct. These niche start-ups are also coming up at a time when there is industry skepticism about whether on-demand services can offer price and convenience competitively for the long term. To a certain extent, many of these start-ups still compete against Uber or Lyft because many drivers for those companies don't know about the unaccompanied minor policy or choose to look the other way once they have picked up an underage passenger. "I would say between 10-20 per cent of rides are minors and it's increasing," said Campbell, who corresponds with hundreds of drivers a day because of his blog. As parents try these services, they are becoming more comfortable with the idea of allowing a stranger to drive their children. Aluise, for instance, receives a photo of the car and driver ahead of time, which she places inside her daughter's lunchbox. The driver wears a HopSkipDrive shirt and uses a password that confirms her identity to Emma. Aluise receives a text message when her daughter gets in the car and when she arrives at her destination, and during that time Emma is never unsupervised. Last year Aluise spent $US150 a week for her baby sitter to pick up Emma twice a week from school. "I didn't know anything about her car either, so that was a little terrifying," she said. Word-of-mouth marketing and referrals are crucial. "Mom networks are very important for us," said Joanna McFarland, a co-founder and the chief executive of HopSkipDrive. "We have found that when you solve one parent's problem and make their life easier, they will tell other parents." Ride-hailing for children appears to have started in 2013 with Boost, a youth transportation service created by the business innovation group at Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America in Sunnyvale, California. Boost serves the Silicon Valley area and is still considered a pilot program, although it's growing 10 per cent annually. Children are transported in Mercedes-owned vans, drivers are certified bus drivers, and there is a concierge on board to accompany children and engage them during the ride. Driver will babysit Since then, entrepreneurs have offered additional services to consumers as they try to set themselves apart from the competition. Zum, which started in January in the San Francisco Bay Area, provides baby-sitting, if needed, in conjunction with rides for children ages 5 to 15. One of its drivers, for example, helps a single mother, who has a 9 am board meeting each week, by arriving 45 minutes early to baby-sit her 5-year-old daughter, give her breakfast and get her to school, walking her to class and ensuring she is settled before leaving. Like other start-ups, Zum allows parents to schedule rides ahead of time (even for the entire year) or call for an on-demand ride. All of Zum's drivers work either a morning or afternoon shift for five to six hours a day so they rarely drive for other services, said Ritu Narayan, a co-founder of the company while she was a group product manager at eBay. One company in this sector has already repositioned itself in response to customer feedback. Kango, which serves the San Francisco Bay Area, started as KangaDo, a platform for parents seeking car pools in their neighbourhoods. Although that function still exists, the company changed its model after parents said they wanted nonshared rides for their children and baby-sitting services. New customers can interview drivers or take a preliminary ride with them, which helps younger children get comfortable with a driver before taking a solo ride. Many of these companies have modest expansion plans, in large part, because of the need to hire well-vetted drivers. "It takes a lot of work to keep supply and demand in balance, to keep the driver pool matched to the customer pool and remain 100 per cent reliable, so we've taken very pragmatic views on growth," said Doug Aley, chief executive of Shuddle. "The demand is there, but it's not the same as in other industries. If you don't get your groceries delivered it's not the end of the world, but we're talking about someone's child.". They say war is 90 per cent boredom and 10 per cent sheer terror. But when we think of soldiers whiling away the hours not spent in the trenches, we probably don't imagine them sewing quilts. Historian Annette Gero with some of the wartime quilts on display at the Australasian Quilt Convention. Credit:Wayne Taylor The Australasian Quilt Convention at Carlton's Royal Exhibition Building incorporates Wartime Quilts, a collection of 10 quilts from the personal collection of Sydney historian Dr Annette Gero, all thought to be made by men in wartime. "I have probably the best collection known of military quilts," says Gero, who started collecting and documenting quilts in 1982 and is regarded as one of Australia's leading quilt experts. It wouldn't be the first marriage proposal aided along by a few drinks, but there's little else that's ordinary about the impending nuptials of comedians Rhys Nicholson and Zoe Coombs Marr. They will marry at the Comedy Festival club on Friday night, the day before the Barry Awards are held at the same venue. Both Coombs Marr and Nicholson are nominated for a Barry, awarded to the best show of Melbourne International Comedy Festival. "We'll be back at Max Watt's for our honeymoon," Nicholson says. They were engaged last August in Edinburgh when Nicholson came to Coombs Marr's dressing room, where she was still in character as her alter ego, Dave, complete with his trademark patchy beard. "I was in a nice suit and I think we looked at each other in the mirror and said we look like the most f---ed up gay wedding we've ever seen," Nicholson says. From Sean Penn to Jim Jarmusch, Pedro Almodovar, Nicolas Winding Refn, Ken Loach and the Dardenne brothers, an A-list of arthouse directors will be represented in the Cannes Film Festival competition next month. With slim pickings for Australians so far outside a handful of actors, the famous French festival will open with Allen's Cafe Society, a 1930s romance that stars Kristen Stewart, Bruce Willis and Jesse Eisenberg. In competition ... Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga in Loving. The competition for the Palme d'Or, as announced in Paris by festival head Thierry Fremaux and president Pierre Lescure, is notable for the number of well-known directors on the international festival circuit. Penn (Into The Wild, The Pledge) will head to the south of France with The Last Face, which has Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem as aid workers who fall in love in war-torn Liberia. The Life of Pi ran into trouble after its release for the treatment of the animal used to play Richard Parker, the Bengal Tiger stuck in a life raft with Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma). The Hollywood Reporter investigated the film and was shown emails in which an American Humane Association monitor claimed the tiger, whose name is King, nearly drowned filming scenes in a giant water tank, which were later called "an accident" by director Ang Lee. Michael Hackenberger, the Canadian zoo owner who supplied the tiger for the hit 2012 film The Life of Pi and also trained animals for James Franco's The Interview has been charged with five counts of animal cruelty by the Ontario SPCA, according to TMZ . Although Hackenberger supplied the tiger that played King, there is no suggestion he was responsible or even involved in that incident. Neither are the filmmakers connected with the chargers against Hackenberger. Those charges stem from an undercover operation by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which filmed Hackenberger beating a young Siberian tiger on the face and body with a whip. In the video used for evidence, Hackenberger allegedly tells the person filming him: "If we'd been running a videotape of the times I struck this animal PETA would burn this place to the ground." Ontario SPCA said in a press statement the charges against Hackenberger included: causing the animal distress by striking it with a whip handle, repeatedly striking it with a whip, and pushing his thumb into the animal's eye. "The videos of Mr Hackenberger interacting with Uno, the Siberian tiger, provides a basis on which to lay charges," Ontario SPCA Senior Inspector Jennifer Bluhm said. "Animal cruelty is a serious offence. Our investigative unit has spent significant time reviewing the facility and interviewing all involved. Our priority is always the health and welfare of the animals." Veteran Australian journalist Ray Martin has defended the actions of the 60 Minutes crew imprisoned in Lebanon, recalling how he was involved in filming a remarkably similar child recovery operation in Spain in 1980 while working for the same television program. In fact, Martin even drove the vehicle carrying the recovered one-year-old boy and his mother from Barcelona to the Spanish capital Madrid, before the mother and her son later boarded a boat to Gibraltar and fled the country. Martin said the story he filmed for 60 Minutes more than 35 years ago was "very much like" the one that the 60 Minutes crew - comprising Tara Brown, Benjamin Williamson, David Ballment and Stephen Rice - are now imprisoned for in Lebanon. Labor has committed much of the revenue it plans to raise from this tax increase, and from changes to superannuation, negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, to additional spending, prompting a fierce attack from the Coalition. Earlier this year the Federal Government opened a wide-ranging debate about tax measures that were necessary to address revenue shortfalls and increased spending. But the debate fizzled when most options were taken off the table, with the government ruling out major changes to negative gearing on residential property and an increase in capital gains taxes. The stark credit-rating warning from respected rating agency Moody's also predicted the government could struggle to reach its goal of a surplus by 2021. "Treasurer Scott Morrison announced that the budget to be released on 3 May would focus on curbing spending to lower the government's fiscal deficit. However, given previous difficulties in reducing welfare benefits, actual spending cuts may be modest," the note from Moody's senior vice-president Marie Diron stated. "Moreover, Mr Morrison's announcement excluded measures to raise revenues. Without such measures, limited spending cuts are unlikely to meaningfully advance the government's aim of balanced finances by the fiscal year ending June 2021 and government debt will likely continue to climb, a credit negative for Australia." In addition, the "fading prospects for tax reform" presented challenges and the government's "pledge to curb spending will be tested by significant spending commitments on welfare, education and health". A country's credit rating is a measure of its creditworthiness. A downgrade in the rating, even if it does does not drive up borrowing costs for government, can drive up those costs for private sector banks. The benefits of a AAA rating for government, in turn, flow through to ratings in the private sector and improve economic confidence. Holding a triple-A rating also helps a government sell its economic credentials. The note flies in the face of the government's warnings against higher taxes and was seized on by Labor shadow treasurer Chris Bowen. Mr Bowen said the note was a "clear and unmistakable warning to Scott Morrison - lift your game" and that the rating had to be protected. "Losing the AAA credit rating would mean that Australia pays more in interest. It will be a blow to confidence and would have flow-on effects to the ratings of major corporate entities in Australia," he said. Mr Morrison hit back, arguing that under Labor the overall tax burden would increase by $100 billion over 10 years, which was "not a plan for jobs and growth", he said. "Labor's higher taxes aren't intended to balance the budget, they are intended to fund higher spending. Even after increasing taxes, their spending is higher. "Labor has not passed our savings measures. If they are worried about the AAA credit rating they should pass our savings." The Fitch ratings agency, however, said its assessment of Australia's rating was stable and that the economy - and Australia's public finances - remained strong. The warning comes as figures released on Thursday showed unemployment fell in March by 0.1 per cent to 5.7 per cent, a change welcomed by the government. Moody's said changes to superannuation tax concessions in the May budget would be "insufficient" to achieve a balanced budget in the next five years. The firm goes on to note that Australia does have "favourable fiscal metrics relative to AAA-rated peers", but that a prolonged increase in government debt has taken place over the past decade. It said debt had risen to 35.1 per cent of GDP in 2015, up from 11.6 per cent 10 years earlier. Much of that growth in debt took place under the former Labor government. "The government's pledge to curb spending will be tested by significant spending commitments on welfare, education and health," the note stated. Mr Bowen said Labor had been arguing for some time that tough decisions on revenue and spending - code for tax rises in some areas - were necessary and "Labor's been leading the debate ... we have been setting the agenda". What is a AAA rating? This is a way of rating an entity, usually a government or a company, that wants to borrow money. It gives lenders an easy way of seeing how likely they are to get repaid. Ratings have several grades, with AAA being the highest, down to C. Anything below BB is deemed as junk. Australia is one of 12 governments with a triple-A rating worldwide. Why does it matter? The higher your rating, the lower your borrowing costs. This is because with a higher rating you are seen as a smaller risk by someone lending you money. When a government or company borrows money, usually through issuing bonds, that debt is then assigned a value based partly on the credit rating. This is important for people who trade bonds. Is it an assessment of the health of the economy? No. It is an assessment of the ability of a borrower to repay money. However, for a government in particular its ability to repay money is linked strongly to the performance of the economy. In a strong economy, income to the public purse is higher and expenses such as welfare are lower. So the rating can be a proxy measure of how strong a nation's economy is travelling. The credit rating is also an important benchmark for politicians about how prudently they are managing the government's finances. What would it cost Australia if it was downgraded? The cost of a credit rating downgrade is hard to quantify, especially for a government. In theory, a lower credit rating should lead to borrowers demanding a higher return for the risk they're taking. In the case of Australia, however, because all its debt is denominated in Australian dollars, which it is able to print, it can never technically default. This means Australia's borrowing costs are determined by expectations of where the Reserve Bank will set the cash rate. Other governments that have lost their AAA ratings, such as the US and Japan, have actually seen their borrowing costs fall because investors have assumed their central banks would hold official interest rates lower. Lawyers are calling for mandatory minimum sentences for 'one punch' homicides to be scrapped, arguing that they are not working to prevent violent crime and can have unjust outcomes. NSW and Victoria both introduced mandatory minimum prison terms for causing deaths with a single strike in 2014, following high-profile deaths in each state. In NSW, offenders who are intoxicated during such an attack must be sentenced to at least eight years in prison. There is no mandatory minimum sentence for those who were not intoxicated at the time. In Victoria, offenders convicted of manslaughter must be sentenced to at least 10 years if the court is satisfied the victim was not expecting to be hit. Fairfax has been told that no one has been sentenced under these laws since they were introduced, though there are four men in NSW who have been charged with assault causing death while intoxicated, and three men charged with assault causing death. Malcolm Turnbull has urged Chinese leaders not to slip back into old ways as Australia positions to take advantage of lucrative new opportunities in a services hungry economy set to be the world's largest within the year. Just hours before meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing, Mr Turnbull used a major speech in Shanghai to 1000 Australian and 800 Chinese business leaders to set the stage for those bilateral talks, and for Friday's meeting with President Xi Jinping. Amid widespread concerns that personal freedoms have been reduced under Mr Xi's leadership, and instances of trade barriers re-emerging in some product-lines in recent weeks, Mr Turnbull set out the broad basis of Australia's historic relationship with China, and stressed the need for a renewed commitment to the rule of law. Australia needs a Serious Fraud and Corruption Office to tackle corporate crime and building industry rorts, the nation's leading anti-corruption group has said. In a bid to resolve the political impasse over the Turnbull government's proposed building industry reforms, Transparency International Australia (TIA) is pushing for the creation of a new crime-fighting agency to take over the Australian Federal Police's responsibility for investigating fraud and corruption and do the work of the proposed Building and Construction Commission. Transparency International Australia chair Anthony Whealy, QC, wants a new crime-fighting agency established. TIA chair Anthony Whealy, QC, also said Federal Parliament needed to implement a national integrity commission and parliamentary integrity commissioner to police public-sector corruption. Federal politicians from both major parties have long resisted calls for a national public-sector anti-corruption agency, claiming state-based bodies such as the NSW ICAC were adequate and that federal MPs and public servants had traditionally had fewer corruption problems than their state-based counterparts. "Australia's economy is stuck in the Stone Age," more than 100 of the nation's leading scientists heard on Thursday. Matt Barrie, a start-up entrepreneur and campaigner against Sydney's lock-out laws, set his sights on the Australia's workforce at the Knowledge Nation Summit in Sydney, before an audience that included federal ministers Christopher Pyne and Simon Birmingham, Chief Scientist Alan Finkel and CSIRO chairman David Thodey. "There is a massive opportunity before us," he said. "We are in the grips of technological gold rush, but Australia is missing out. "In my company we hire as many good software developers as we can and we hire them by the metric tonne but we are lucky to get two job applications a day. Top bureaucrats are acting out of self-interest in their attack on the public's right to information on government activities, a former Canberra mandarin says. Former top public servant Bill Blick says there is no evidence that freedom of information laws inhibit "frank and fearless" advice from the bureaucracy to politicians and that he never lost any sleep over FoI laws when he was a senior public servant and nor should today's crop of mandarins. Mr Blick, a former Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, a former Inspector-General of Security and Intelligence and former Deputy Commonwealth Ombudsman, called on the critics of FoI to put up some "frank and fearless evidence" to support their call, or "shut up". Several departmental bosses, including Australia's most senior public servant Martin Parkinson, secretary of the Prime Minister's department, lined up in Canberra this week to attack FoI laws, claiming they frightened bureaucrats away from the traditional "frank and fearless" advice to ministers. The University of Sydney is investigating a string of social media comments racially vilifying international students allegedly posted by a head tutor at the university's School of Business. Corporate finance tutor Wu Wei has been accused of calling his Chinese students "international pigs" and "chinks" with low IQs in blog posts to the China-based social media sites Weibo and WeChat, first published by USyd news site Honi Soit. In other online posts obtained by the Sydney University Business Society, the Chinese-Australian PhD candidate, who recently became an Australian citizen, allegedly claims his local PhD students are "far more interesting than the Chinese students". "A Chinese international pig representative told me that I am a shame [sic] of the Australian-Chinese international community. It is such a pity because I am your tutor of you [sic] international student pigs," according to an English translation of a post written by Weibo user Pekojima. A teenager whose hair was cut off by another bus passenger in Sydney has made a statement to police, who have launched an investigation into the bizarre incident. The victim was left shaken and in tears following the incident on the route 339 bus, which was travelling from Clovelly towards the city on Wednesday morning. The woman's hair was cut on a route 339 bus at Moore Park. Credit:James Alcock Police are expected to examine CCTV footage from the bus in a bid to identify a man and a woman who were sitting behind the 19-year-old when a chunk of her long, dark hair was cut off near Moore Park. Health authorities are bracing for a "very busy winter period" as flu cases already hit more than double this time last year. Almost half of all cases in the country have been from Queensland, more than 2500 as of Thursday. The giant Department of Human Services has a serious sickie problem. Credit:Chepko Danil The 2015 season proved to be the worst flu season in recent memory but doctors stressed an early peak didn't necessarily mean 2016 would be worse. Prompted by the high number of cases, doctor, paramedic, pharmacy and hospital representatives came together on Thursday to urge Queenslanders to get vaccinated early and be prepared. The LNP's fears the resignation of Toowoomba South MP John McVeigh would lead to an unfair advantage for the government in the state's hung parliament are unlikely to come to pass. Mr McVeigh won pre-selection for the blue ribbon Coalition federal seat of Groom late last week, making his tilt for Canberra all but a certainty. Toowoomba South MP John McVeigh. Credit:Harrison Saragossi But it also means a by-election for the state parliament. Since Mr McVeigh's pre-selection, the Opposition has been at pains to ensure the government calls a by-election as soon as possible, to make certain the loss of a number in the deadlocked chamber does not disadvantage it. It announced on Wednesday that Mr McVeigh plans on resigning on April 29, aiming for a late May by-election. Fifty years since his first offending, a man has been jailed for 3 years for sexually abusing his three younger sisters. But any sense of justice came too late for one of the women, who died in the weeks after her brother last year pleaded guilty to sexual offending between 1966 and 1974. The County Court was told there was no alternative but to jail the man for his historic crimes given the breach of trust and the impact on his victims. Credit:Scott Barbour In addition to abusing his sisters, the man years later sexually assaulted a niece the daughter of the sister who died recently and had a prison term wholly suspended, the County Court heard on Thursday. But a judge said there was no alternative but to jail the man for his historical crimes given the breach of trust and the impact on his victims. The Victorian Liberals have criticised changes to the curriculum to combat domestic violence because Year 8 students will study ads that refer to "sexy freak outs". In a move that echoes recent attacks on the Safe Schools Coalition, shadow education spokesman Nick Wakeling accused the Andrews government of imposing a "social agenda" on children. But Education Minister James Merlino hit back, saying it would be naive to think students weren't already exposed to sexualised content when they started high school. The new program replaced special religious instruction in the curriculum at the start of the year and was developed in response to the Royal Commission into family violence. One page of a 208-page teaching guide outlining the program invites Year 8 students to write a personal ad for their perfect partner. They are also asked to analyse personal ads including one that reads "lustful, sexually generous funny...seeking sexy freak out with similarly intentioned woman". On a cold night in October 2014, Sergeant Rob Campbell received the call-out that would change his life. A man by the name of Martin Pilli, 42 at the time, was suicidal and armed with a knife in his room at the Sleep N Go hotel on Bell Street, Preston. Pilli was trying to hang himself on the door when Sergeant Campbell and his offsiders burst in. The public will have their chance to say goodbye to Sanaya Sahib this weekend, while the state government investigates whether enough was done to prevent the toddler's death. The Sahib family has confirmed Sanaya's funeral will be held at Bunurong Memorial Park in Dandenong South on Saturday at 11.15am, and will be open to the public to pay their respects. As the family deals with the shock of preparing to farewell Sanaya, Sheraz Sahib said his granddaughter would "always be remembered in our hearts". A veteran ambulance paramedic feared he would be killed when attacked on the job by two women and a boy, in an assault that could end his career, a court has heard. Paul Judd and a female colleague were attending to a drug-affected man in Reservoir about 6.30pm on March 31 when set upon by the trio who had called Triple 0, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Thursday. Caris Underwood, one of three people involved in the assault. Credit:Facebook Mother of four Amanda Warren, 30, Caris Underwood, 18, and a 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named, allegedly repeatedly punched and kicked Mr Judd after becoming aggressive at being told by the paramedics not to intervene in assisting the man. Detective Leading Senior Constable Trent Barker said the women were drunk when they kicked and punched Mr Judd to the head and body during an attack that lasted two or three minutes. Ms Warren stomped at least three times on Mr Judd's leg. A Colombian man, who sacked his lawyer and then re-hired him, has been jailed for importing four kilograms of methamphetamine into Australia from Mexico. Hector Munar Mayor, 32, was jailed for 14-and-a-half years after pleading not guilty to arranging delivery of two shipments of the drug ice to Perth, bound eventually for Sydney, in January 2014. He tried to recruit other foreign students to receive shipments. US officials intercepted the drugs with an estimated street value of $1.3 million to $8 million. As Justice Bruno Fiannaca was preparing to hand down the jail term, lawyer David Mackenzie said he had been sacked but the judge convinced Munar Mayor he would be better off with someone representing him. Baby Gammy's twin sister Pipah will be raised by Bunbury couple David and Wendy Farnell after a judge ruled on Thursday that she not be returned to Thailand to be raised by her birth mother. Family Court of WA Chief Judge Stephen Thackray ordered Pipah continue to live with her Bunbury parents, subject to strict conditions including regular visits by Department of Child Protection officers. Pipah's birth mother, Pattaramon Chanbua, 22, applied to the court in April 2015 to raise Pipah after learning Mr Farnell, 58, was a convicted paedophile who had previously served time in jail for molesting young girls in the 1990s. Pipah was born in Thailand in December 2013 by commercial surrogacy using Mr Farnell's sperm and an unidentified woman's egg after several failed attempts for Mr and Mrs Farnell, 50, to conceive using IVF. The peak local government body has slammed the new gift registry for mayors and councillors as a "farce" because members could be "unknowingly in breach of the regulations". Recent changes to the Local Government Act, as part of the City of Perth Bill, require mayors and councillors to disclose gifts or travel more than $200 within 10 days and publish them on the council websites. The investigation into Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi is likely to remain secret. Credit:Louise Kennerley Previously, the act only required disclosures of gifts and contributions to travel once a year. But the changes, on the back of the travel scandal involving Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi, have exposed a number of massive loopholes in the act of what constitutes a "gift". News West Australian students tackling complex mathematics will get ATAR bonuses support former WA chief scientist Lyn Beazley's statement that mathematics to Year 12 should be compulsory. From next year, students enrolled in the medium and high level maths subjects will get a 10 per cent bonus. Professor Lyn Beazley (former WA chief scientist, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and 2015 WA Australian of the Year) has recently called for greater diversity in STEM. Credit:Curtin University The four WA universities responsible for constructing ATAR scores were concerned that because rules did not scale for course difficulty, top students were choosing the easiest maths subject to get higher ATARs. Addressing a recent Curtin University productivity conference, Lyn Beazley, former WA chief scientist, said people needed to realise three-quarters of future jobs required science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills. Hundreds of protesters rallying over a lack of public housing in Perth have been forced off St Georges Terrace by mounted police. The protesters, who started out at council house on Thursday morning, chanted for "more public housing now" and carried signs emphasising the problem of homelessness in Perth. The group was forced off the road by mounted police as they march to Parliament House and set up tents. The group was also protesting against the removal of the tent embassy at Heirisson Island the previous week, where they were forcefully dismantled and homeless people sent away. An Australian pilot was among 12 people killed when a light plane crashed into a swamp while landing at an airport in Papua New Guinea, authorities have confirmed. Friends are paying tribute to former Sydney man Benjamin Picard, 31, who was flying the plane when it crashed about one kilometre short of the runway at Kiunga in Papua New Guinea's Western Province on Wednesday afternoon. "Such devastating news Benj. You will be greatly missed," one friend, Matt Smith, wrote on Facebook. Ottawa: The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced legislation on Thursday that will legalise physician-assisted death for Canadians with serious medical conditions. The Supreme Court of Canada overturned a criminal ban against assisted suicide in February 2015 and had given the previous government led by Stephen Harper one year to introduce a new law. But his Conservative Party strongly opposed assisted death and did little to deal with the looming legal void. After Trudeau and his Liberal Party came into power last year, the Supreme Court extended its deadline until June. Although criminal law is a federal matter in Canada, when it became apparent the Conservative government was not acting on the court's ruling, Quebec used its powers over health care to introduce a provincial assisted-dying system late last year. Since the Supreme Court ruling, judges in other parts of Canada have also given individual patients permission for assisted deaths. Washington: Teachers, it is said, have some of the hardest jobs in the world. The hours are long, and the rewards often intangible. In addition to designing and executing lesson plans, grading homework and coordinating extracurricular activities, teachers are expected to be surrogate parents, offering children personal comfort and protection over the course of a long school day. In recent years, teachers in the United States have also had to contend with a devastating reality: the increasing threat of school shootings. School districts in many US states now allow certain teachers to carry guns in schools. Credit:Bloomberg While gun violence in America has significantly declined since the 1990s, mass public shootings are on the rise, and schools are now viewed as vulnerable targets. One of the deadliest in history claimed 28 lives, including 20 children, after Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. Last October, a gunman fatally shot nine people at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. "He is an 86 year old man and has a number of ailments, I am not going to go into what they are because they may not become relevant," he said. The illnesses "may stay the same or deteriorate", he said. "We are going to be monitoring his health over a period of time." Mr Harris had previously indicated that he would plead not guilty. On Thursday he formally pleaded not guilty to seven indecent assaults in July 1971, some time in 1977, another in September 1977, a fourth in mid-1978, another on New year's Eve 1983, a sixth in 2002 and a seventh in April 2004. He also pleaded not guilty to sexual assault, as an alternative to the last indecent assault, of a woman without her consent when he didn't reasonably believe she had consented. Washington: Two Russian warplanes flew simulated attack passes near a US guided missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea, the US military said, with one official describing them as one of the most aggressive interactions in recent memory. The repeated flights by the Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes on Tuesday, which also flew near the ship a day earlier, were so close they created wake in the water, with 11 passes, the official said on Wednesday. The planes carried no visible weaponry, the official said. A Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter also made seven passes around the USS Donald Cook, taking pictures. The nearest Russian territory was about 70 nautical miles away in its enclave of Kaliningrad, which sits between Lithuania and Poland. Former Cold War adversaries the Philippines and Vietnam have agreed to deepen security ties in response to China's aggressive actions in the South China Sea. The countries have signalled joint war games and navy patrols amid a flurry of moves across Asia aimed at countering China amid high tensions over the flashpoint waters. Defence officials met in Manila on Thursday to discuss a six year "action plan" that is expected to lead to joint maritime exercises within 12 months. Seoul: Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo Sung is resigning as its chairman, following a surprise setback for President Park Geun Hye's ruling party in Wednesday's election. Ms Park's party has failed to win a majority in the legislature, undermining chances to enact her economic agenda in her final years in office. With almost all of the ballots counted, the Saenuri Party is projected to win 122 parliamentary seats, South Korean TV broadcaster KBS TV reports. The ruling party currently has 146 representatives in the 300-seat National Assembly, South Korea's unicameral legislature. Kim Moo-sung, centre, chief of the ruling Saenuri Party at a campaign rally this week, before the party's electoral defeat. Credit:AP Ms Park's hard-line stance on North Korea failed to sway voters while a slumping economy may have weighed more heavily on their minds. South Korea's youth unemployment rate hit a record in February and exports have fallen for 15 consecutive months. Park has sought to tackle the economic doldrums by boosting entrepreneurship under her "creative economy" policy. 'No Jobs' They argued the retailers did not show that "any alleged right associated with obscene devices is deeply rooted in the nation's history and tradition an essential element of the test for determining whether a right should be deemed fundamental". They defended the state's position as one that was based on "police-power interests in protecting public morals discouraging prurient interests in sexual gratification, combating the commercial sale of sex and protecting minors". The right of privacy, which extended to people's decision whether or not to have children, had been successfully invoked in cases such as the landmark Supreme Court Roe vs Wade decision which effectively legalised abortion, but Mr Cruz and his team argued it did not apply in this case because there was no "right to stimulate one's genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationships". The brief likened the ban on the selling of obscene devices to bans on prostitution and bigamy, arguing: "it is undoubtably true that some individuals and couples ... believe that hiring a willing prostitute or engaging in consensual bigamy would enhance their sexual experiences ... their prohibition is validly grounded in the state's legitimate interest in protecting public morals, as are the prohibitions contained in the statute challenged here". Despite this lengthy and passionate line of argument, the court of appeals sided with the retailers: Washington: Donald Trump is accidentally turning Megyn Kelly into a superstar. There's just no other way to interpret the result of his relentless and personal attacks on the Fox News Channel anchor. A report that Kelly had been spotted entering Trump Tower in New York on Wednesday for a private meeting with the Republican presidential front runner lit up the internet like a celebrity sighting. And, in a way, that's what it was. "Journalist meets with person she covers" wouldn't normally be much of a headline. But, of course, this was not your normal sit-down. It appeared that Kelly wanted to keep the visit quiet. But once word got out, Fox News used it to hype Wednesday's episode of The Kelly File. It turned out that Kelly didn't have much to reveal. She confirmed that she had requested the meeting and that the hour-long session included discussion of a future interview. PHILIPSBURG:--- The Police Chief Commissioner Carl John is publicly congratulating the entire police force for the tremendous job they are presently doing. In particular those officers who under these difficult circumstances have provided security for the Menam Case (Gamali Benjamin case) held at the Belair Community Center in Cay Hill on Wednesday April 13th. John said that the officers have shown a high level of professionalism, which is definitely a sign that the organization is on the right track in training its personnel with the limited resources it has. KPSM POLICE REPORT. Affordable Custody Divorce & Adoption Legal Document Preparation Site Launched Low Cost Legal, a legal document preparation company specializing in the preparation of divorce, custody and adoption documentation on behalf of its clients in 45 States, at affordable rates, has launched a new site providing details about its services. More information can be found on the website at: http://lowcostlegal.org. Low Cost Legals services can be described as something in between the free services of Legal Aid, which can be very difficult to access, and the highly expensive option of hiring an attorney. The company creates legal documents the individuals require to successfully file for a divorce or custody case. Whilst Low Cost Legal are not able to provide legal advice or represent clients, they do assist them with filing a case and can assist with the appointment of an attorney. The professionally prepared documents created by Low Cost Legal are beneficial in case a client should end up needing an attorney. On its new website, Low Cost Legal outlines all services its covers, such as: divorce, custody, custody modifications, child support, adoption and responses to summons. Divorce proceedings are quite lengthy, requiring the correct preparation and timely filing of the various documents, often more than 20 separate legal documents, necessary to complete the process. A video on the new website highlights the vast amounts of paperwork required and difficulties that can be faced by people going through a divorce settlement. Custody arrangements affect children born outside of marriage or as part of a divorce proceeding. Low Cost Legal works with the client to determine the best custody arrangement for them and their children, placing importance on the welfare of the children and a workable plan as the parents move on with separate lives. Its also possible to make amendments to custody arrangements, and as children get older its becoming a common requirement to modify the original order as their needs change. Properly prepared documentation is imperative to these processes and Low Cost Legal provides useful information and resources helpful to each case. The team of five, consisting of a president, two case managers, a document preparer and a trusted adviser, service the legal documentation needs of clients in 45 US States and are adept at dealing with sensitive issues during stressful times. The member responsible for document preparation is a Bankruptcy and Family Law attorney with over 18 years legal practice and the trusted advisor served as the Maine State Attorney General for six years, is the former President of the National Association of Attorneys General and has over 40 years law practice. NinthDecimals Industry-Leading LCI(TM) Offline Attribution Platform Accelerates Growth With 155 LCI(TM) Verified Partners and New Cross-Device Measurement Benchmarks SAN FRANCISCO, CA (Marketwired) 04/14/16 , the leading omni-channel audience and measurement company, today announced more than 155 top media publishers and ad networks have joined its Location Conversion Index partner network, including Amobee, Kargo, Opera Mediaworks and RocketFuel. Fueled by market adoption of LCI for cross-device measurement, LCI Verified Partners include eight of the 10 largest US digital media properties , and eight of the nine top demand-side platforms (DSPs) . Over 80 partners are certified for cross-device measurement. With this broad ecosystem, NinthDecimal gives agencies and brands unparalleled reach to measure campaigns with any of their preferred media partners. Hundreds of brands leveraged LCI over the past year to better measure incremental lift in store visits and understand the effectiveness of their marketing spend. Clients adopting LCI include Target, McDonalds, and FOCUS Brands properties Auntie Annes, Moes Southwest Grill and Sonnys BBQ. NinthDecimals measured audience also expanded to over 135 million consumers, generating over 1.5 trillion data points per month. Representing over two-thirds of all US smartphone owners, and 85 times larger than alternative panel-based approaches, this footprint provides marketers the largest measured audience for in-store attribution. As cross-device campaigns average seven times more impressions than mobile-only campaigns, that scale has become a requirement for accurate cross-device measurement. NinthDecimal also revealed new campaign results highlighting the continued evolution of its omni-channel attribution solution. Agencies partnering with NinthDecimal have driven a 24 percent incremental lift in store visits on behalf of their clients via both mobile and cross-device campaigns. With over four billion cross-device campaign impressions measured to date, NinthDecimal released initial benchmarks on overall performance. The insights revealed that desktop-only campaigns averaged a 15 percent incremental lift in store visits. By comparison, campaigns that combined mobile app, mobile web and desktop averaged a 24 percent incremental lift in store visits, reflecting a 60 percent greater performance for cross-device campaigns when it comes to in-store conversions. NinthDecimals LCI is built on the industrys most accurate and precise data signal, measuring actual store visits instead of foot traffic in the vicinity of a store. This precision unlocks the true power of omni-channel measurement, particularly with non-digital media. Top agencies, brands and television networks are now leveraging LCI to bring conversion metrics to TV and out-of-home advertising. By providing a common currency for measurement across all media, LCI enables marketers to understand which channel drives the greatest ROI. A global QSR brand recently deployed LCI to measure incremental store visits tied directly to a major TV sponsorship. The results revealed the TV campaign outperformed digital, delivering an incremental lift 2.9 percent higher than the QSR benchmark for mobile and desktop campaigns. Marketers are rapidly investing in cross-channel marketing, and as a result require new metrics that can be applied across all of their media, said NinthDecimal President David Staas. NinthDecimals scale of audience and partners, precision and cross-platform capabilities provide the leading measurement solution built to meet these new demands. NinthDecimal is the leading omni-channel audience and measurement company, operating at the intersection of the digital and physical worlds. Fortune 500 companies and marquee brands, including American Express, Comcast, Kraft, Microsoft, Starbucks, Target and Toyota, use NinthDecimals data to plan, activate and measure campaigns, while gaining deeper insights into their audience and overall business. By bridging online and offline data, NinthDecimals pioneering Location Graph platform offers the most precise audience solution in the market to understand todays consumer and how to engage them throughout the path-to-purchase. Its is the industrys first offline attribution solution that goes beyond the click to measure physical-world behavior at the point of purchase, and data partnerships with companies like Acxiom, BlueKai, Datalogix, Experian, LiveRamp, Neustar and more provide a comprehensive closed-loop solution. NinthDecimal is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York City, Chicago and Silicon Valley. Follow us on Twitter () and like us on . Learn more at . Brigit Valencia BOCA Communications 360-597-4516 Apcera Releases Production-Grade Community Edition Designed to Speed Deployment of Microservices and Container-Based Architectures SAN FRANCISCO, CA (Marketwired) 04/14/16 , the leader in trust-first computing, today released a free community version of its cloud platform. Apcera Platform Community Edition (CE) is the first platform that lets developers and IT teams build a working compute cluster in as little as 15 minutes on a laptop, or in a small cloud computing environment. Unlike other community editions, Apcera Platform CE provides a production-ready environment for deploying small-scale applications, microservices and even large scale processing engines for jobs that are not time sensitive. Apcera CE takes the hard work out of setting up compute clusters, said David Williams, co-founder and principal of cloud native platform specialists Williams Garcia. Not only is Apcera CE simple to use, but its also as fast and easy to build on AWS as it is locally on a developers machine. Workload and system mobility means that we can develop locally in CE then easily deploy to staging or production in Apcera Enterprise Edition on a public or private cloud. The ability to provision as many runtime nodes as we need to support our application workloads lets us run larger, more complex jobs, which is unheard of for a community edition. Apcera CE provides developers, DevOps teams and ITOps departments the following capabilities: Developers can click to deploy standard Docker images of widely used software packages, which are brought up with networking and security settings already pre-configured. Teams can effectively work from anywhere while creating a personal compute cluster to test and develop production-ready apps on their own terms, on a laptop or in a public or private cloud. Users have full access to the Apcera Policy Engine and all of the platforms security and governance capabilities to experiment with granular policy setups, such as resource control, network and service access, software versioning and control over workload placement and scheduling. Apcera CE was designed from inception as a trusted and secure container management platform for containers, including Docker images. CE automatically detects frameworks for simplified environment staging. It also automates the discovery of databases and external cloud APIs. Apceras Community Edition includes NFS-based, infrastructure independent storage by default, not just external connectivity. Persistent storage for jobs, including Docker jobs, enables users to move workloads within their own cluster or to other compute infrastructures and cloud platforms. CE supports major programming languages (Java, Node.js, Ruby and Python), the most popular web databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL and MongoDB), external services (S3), configuration tools (Chef, Puppet) and common compute platforms (AWS, Azure, OpenStack, VMware and VirtualBox). In contrast to other community edition platforms, which can take hours or even days to set up, Apcera CE users deploy in as little as 15 minutes (depending on network speeds). What I like the most about Apcera so far is how simple and smooth the installation was, said Eric Harper, lead software architect at ABB, a global leader in Power and Automation technologies. To evaluate other cloud platforms requires fairly large deployment footprints and may take months to set up. Apcera CE took just one afternoon and can run on 8 GB of RAM. Developers can immediately and securely set up databases and services within their cluster, connect to external services and build real applications without assistance from IT Operations or DevOps teams. In turn, DevOps and IT teams that want to give their developers a flexible environment still enjoy built-in audit trails, health monitoring and other capabilities that are traditionally delivered as separate services or only available in enterprise editions of software. With Apcera CE, we are giving developers and IT teams the fastest and easiest way to stand up a cluster, said Josh Ellithorpe, software architect, Apcera. It directly addresses the problems of todays cobbled-together, patchwork cloud by providing simple yet complete application and infrastructure lifecycle management designed for containers and the cloud. In parallel with Apcera CE, Apcera has also released , a set of open source libraries for provisioning workloads on different cloud and virtualization providers. Libretto powers Apceras own multi-cloud provisioning but can also be used as standalone software. This is the latest open source contribution by Apcera, which also supports the open source messaging system and the container management platform. For more information or to download Apcera Community Edition visit: The Apcera trusted cloud platform is a highly secure, policy-driven hybrid-cloud platform for cloud-native applications, containers, microservices and legacy applications. Apcera enables developers and DevOps teams to use any modern tool or software they want while giving IT and Operations teams the assurance that their infrastructure is safe and secure. Apcera enables key enterprise use cases including hybrid cloud workload and system mobility, modern application architecture development, legacy application modernization and policy-driven workload governance. With Apcera, companies can innovate at speed with full confidence and trust. Global 2000 companies use Apcera to securely deploy, orchestrate and govern diverse workloads across multiple cloud and infrastructure providers, resulting in lower cost, faster time to market, and mitigated risk. Apcera is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit , read the companys blog or follow on Twitter: . Bhava Communications for Apcera Brianna Galloway (510) 984-1528 It took time to dig that hole, it'll take time to get out. You can get out of it though, one day at a time. It starts with making the decision that you want to be sober more than you want to drink. The Drunk Who Fell in a Hole A drunk fell in a hole and couldn't get out. A businessman went by. The drunk called out for help. The businessman threw him some money and told him get yourself a ladder. But the drunk could not find a ladder in this hole he was in. A doctor walked by. The drunk said, "Help, I can't get out." The doctor gave him drugs and said, "Take this, it will relieve the pain." The drunk said thanks, but when the pills ran out, he was still in the hole. A renowned psychiatrist rode by and heard the drunks cries for help. He stopped and said, "How did you get there? Were you born there? Were you put there by your parents? Tell me about yourself, it will alleviate your sense of loneliness." So the drunk talked with him for an hour, then the psychiatrist had to leave, but he said he'd be back next week. The drunk thanked him, but he was still in his hole. A priest came by and the drunk called for help. The priest gave him a Bible and said I'll say a prayer for you. He got down on his knees and prayed for the drunk, then left. The drunk was very grateful, he read the Bible, but he was still stuck in that hole. A recovering alcoholic happened to be passing by. The drunk cried out, "Hey, help me, I'm stuck in this hole." Right away, the recovering alcoholic jumped in the hole with him. The drunk said, "What are you doing? Now we're both stuck here." But the recovering alcoholic said, "It's okay, I've been here before, I know how to get out." Solar Novus Today Has Been Integrated With Novus Light Technologies Today Visit Novus Light Technologies Today to see all the cutting-edge stories and products that you have come to enjoy on Solar Novus Today. In addition, you will find more information on related light-based technologies. Get the latest solar and renewable energy news delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for the Green Technologies newsletter CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR GREEN TECHNOLOGIES NEWSLETTER April 13, 2016 PHOENIX The Arizona Game and Fish Departments 2016 Outdoor Expo, presented by Shikar-Safari Club International, drew a record crowd of 41,100 people during the April 2-3 weekend at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix. Combined with 4,500 students, teachers and chaperones who turned out for the Friday, April 1 Youth Day, the 45,600 total was the second-highest three-day turnout in Expo history. Were thrilled with the publics interest in the Expo, said Game and Fish Recreation Chief Scott Lavin. We hold this annual event to introduce or re-engage the public with the many wildlife-related and other outdoor recreation opportunities available in Arizona. Business to Business AGAVE CREEK WINDOW CLEANING - Is a Clear Choice for Clean Windows. Agave Creek is offering 20% Off with this Ad. In & Out Entire Home. Hurry, this offer expires on 5/31/16. Agave Creek is professional, trustworthy, and punctual. They do Residential and Commercial and very affordable plus honor most credit cards. For Free Estimates call today 480-256-2565. BLACK MOUNTAIN COFFEE SHOP - Visit The Oldest Restaurant in Carefree with a New Look ! Black Mountain Coffee Shop has been remodeled for the comfort of their customers. Offering a great menu for Breakfast and Lunch. A few tasty Breakfast items, Angus Grub Steak & Home Fries, Eggs/Omelets made your way. Pancakes/Freench Toast, Homemade Cinnamon Rolls, Ask about our Daily Breakfast Specials. Great selection of Lunch options, Vienna Roast Beef Sandwiches & Vienna all Beef Hotdogs, Caesar, Kale, Creek Salads. Check out www.BlackMountainCoffeeShop.com for our complete Breakfast & Lunch Menu. Black Mountain Coffee Shop is located in ( Historic Spanish Village ) 7211 E. Ho Road #23 Carefree, Az. 480-488-9261. GALAXY CLEANING SERVICES - Our Service is Out of this World and a Step above the rest. Customer Satisfaction is our #1 Priority! No job is too BIG or too small. We service Mansions, Penthouses, Residential Homes, Motor Homes and Apartments. Affordable, Dependable & Owner Operated. Rates are Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly & Move In/Out. We serve Carefree, Cave Creek, Tramonto, Anthem, Desert Hills, Terravita, Troon, Scottsdale & more. 10% Off First Visit. Free quote call Jami 602-944-9000 or visit cleaningbygalaxy.com. PRO - DENTAL CARE - Restore your smile and Relax your Fears. Enhance your overall Health and Wellness. 2016 is here ! Benefits Renew ! Get the smile you deserve ! Pro - Dental is now offering these outstanding specials, $49 Complete Exam, X-Ray & Basic Cleaning for New Patients Only. $650 Same Day All Porcelain Crown new patients only. $1 Emergency Exam includes X-Rays new patients only. All offers expire on 3/31/16. Mikhail Y. Prokopets DDS offers Family Restorative, Root Canals, Implant Services, Orthodontics, Invisalign, All on Four & Same Day Crowns. Pro - Dental is located at 28260 N. Tatum Blvd., Ste A2, Cave Creek, Az. 85331. Call today 480-515-1464 or vist www.pro-dentalcare.com. DREAMING BY DESIGN - The Professiomal Landscaping Service thats family owned & operated for 20+ years that serves the valley and does EVERYTHING ! We have the experts with expertise in Tree Trimming, Pavers, Travertine, Flagstone, Water Features, Lighting, Artifical Grass, Putting Greens, Fire Pits, Out Door Kitchens, BBQs,Custom Gates, Block Fences, Maintenance & much more. You name it, we can do it. Check out Dreaming by Designs ads in the Business Directory of this paper. More info call Dreaming by Design today 602-413-4370 or visit www.dreamingbydesignllc.com. REVITAL AZ Laser & Med Spa - NOW OPEN Offering 25% off on Select Grand Opening Services. Save 25% on Picosure laser treatments, Vectus hair removal, Pelleve RF Skin Tightening & Rejuvapen Microneedling. Other services offered at Grand Opening. Prices are: RF-Skin Tightening, Wrinkle Reduction, Laser Skin Rejuvenation, Medical Aesthetics,Botox, Micro-Needling, Dermal Fillers, IV Vit./ Nutrient Therapy, Laser Tattoo Removal & Laser Hair Reduction. Call today 480-629-5776 or stop by 7401 Easy Street Suite D, Carefree, AZ. (Located in Copper Dome Building Carefree). FOUR SEASONS HOME SERVICES - is locally owned and operated by Kevin & Jessica Morriston, both Arizona Natives. They offer great service with 30+ years experience in Cooling, Heating and Plumbing Repair Services all at reasonable prices. For a limited time only offering a professional A/C Tune up for $59.95. Call today for an appointment, 480-489-3210, or visit www.fourseasonshs.com. OUT WEST FURNITURE & UPHOLSTERY just received a Large Gallery Style Leather shipment including Sofas, Chairs, Sectionals and Loveseats. Also in stock are Leather Headboards, Dining Tables, Cocktail and End Tables all Custom Handmade by local artists in the U.S.A. Out West will pickup, repair and refurbish your furniture. Offering designs by Beverly Sexton and Upholstering by Robert Sexton. Stop by their beautiful showroom at 38252 W. Jacqueline Drive in Cave Creek. Call 480-575-8000 or visit www.outwestinteriors.com. April 13, 2016 AZGFD to display world-record desert bighorn sheep Scrivens ram on loan from Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society PHOENIX The most magnificent desert bighorn sheep in the world now stands regal among the wildlife mounts on display at Arizona Game and Fish Department headquarters in Phoenix. On loan from the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society, the massive ram joins the bull elk, pronghorn, black bear, mountain lion and more, including small game and several sportfish, in the customer service area for all to see. This is the ideal place for this ram, said Pete Cimellaro, whose organization delivered and assembled the mount in advance of this weekends meeting of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. Its home. Its just the epitome of what a desert bighorn sheep looks like and a really, really big one. The backstory behind the Scrivens ram is almost as extraordinary as his immense horns that scored at 205-1/8 points when they were first measured unofficially in 1946 by the Boone and Crockett Club a world record that hasnt been challenged for 70 years. While on a hunting trip in 1942 on a remote ranch on Mexicos Baja Peninsula, Carl Scrivens and his brothers were taking a stroll around the ranch when they spotted the skull and horns in the back of a dilapidated wagon. According to vaqueros at the ranch, the ram had been killed a year or so earlier by a Native American who was hunting for meat and left the head. The brothers, knowledgeable about the size of desert bighorn rams, were not about to leave without the head and acquired it for a mere eight pesos -- and a wool sweater Scrivens was wearing at the time that caught the eye of a vaquero. That goes down with things like the Louisiana Purchase, Cimellaro said, laughing. The ram was bequeathed in 1992 to ADBSS, of which Scrivens had been a lifelong member. In fact, he and his wife, Anna, often would come from their home in Afton, Wyo., to help with water catchment projects. They loved the desert, Cimellaro said. They shared many campfires with members of the sheep society. That affinity is what gave Carl the idea to allow us to be custodians of the ram. He said, This is the perfect place because the sheep society is always going to care about sheep. After obtaining a suitable cape for the ram from Game and Fish, the restored mount was put on display in 1992 at the Boone and Crockett Clubs National Collection of Heads and Horns at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyo. In recent years, the mount had found its way to the headquarters of Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Mo. It was Cimellaro who recently made the trip back to Missouri, crated the world-record ram and brought it back to Arizona. Cimellaro still marvels at the size of its thick, heavy horns. Nothing really has approached it, Cimellaro said. That might change someday, who knows? At this time, its one of the longest-standing records out there. Game and Fish headquarters is located at 5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, 85086. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, except for holidays. For more information, visit www.azgfd.gov, or call 602-942-3000. April 13, 2016 Honor the fallen at Memorial Day Ceremony at the Anthem Veterans Memorial ANTHEM The Anthem Community Council, Anthem Veterans Memorial (AVM) Support Team and Daisy Mountain Veterans invite the public to attend the annual Memorial Day Ceremony at 10 a.m. Monday, May 30, at the Anthem Veterans Memorial. A Day of Remembrance honors the service and sacrifice of veterans who have fallen while serving our nation. This years ceremony will be a special occasion, as the presentation and raising of the Honor Flag opens the program. Since being placed on the fallen World Trade Center following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack in New York City, the Honor Flag has become a traveling national treasure. This will be its first visit to Anthem. Other highlights of the ceremony: U.S. Navy Commander Dr. William Krissoff will present the keynote address. After his son, U.S. Marine Staff Sergeant Nathan Krissoff, was killed in the line of duty in Iraq, the then-61-year-old orthopedic surgeon enlisted in the Navy as a means of honoring his son. Chris Heisler, a retired Army veteran who currently serves as president of the Honor Network, will present the Veterans Perspectives presentation. Heisler enlisted in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and suffered an injury while serving in Iraq. Anthems own U.S. Air Force Col. (Retired) Thomas Tom Kirk, a POW during the Vietnam War, will present the POW/MIA ceremony. ProMusica Arizona, under the direction of Dr. Adam Stich, will provide ceremony music. About the Anthem Veterans Memorial The award-winning Anthem Veterans Memorial (AVM), a project of the Anthem Community Council (ACC), is located in the Anthem Community Park. The Memorial was dedicated Nov. 11, 2011 and received Arizona Historic Landmark status six months later. Fundraising efforts and the sale pavers in the Circle of Honor continue as the Memorial approaches its fifth anniversary. To donate or to learn more about the Memorial, visit OnlineAtAnthem.com/AVM. The Anthem Veterans Memorial Support Team (AVMST), an affiliate group to the Anthem Community Council, is composed of volunteers who assist in fundraising, programming and community outreach specific to the AVM. The ceremony is expected to run about 45 minutes. Seating and parking are limited; attendees are encouraged to arrive early and bring lawn chairs. The Anthem Veterans Memorial is located at Anthem Community Park, 41703 N. Gavilan Peak Pkwy. Take I-17, exit 229. Turn east (right). Turn south (right) on Gavilan Peak Pkwy. The Memorial is on the left at the four-way stop signs and entrance to the park. For more information about the Memorial, visit OnlineAtAnthem.com/AVM. Road closures Since this Council, with the exception of Mark and I, have voted that the present Town Manager, in his sole discretion can continue to provide free parking for biker's on the Citizen's public streets so that Biker Bars can profit from subletting the required parking to out of Town concessionaires who have a notorious history of not reporting sales tax income to the Town, and since our Trenk/Glassman holdover Town Manager, in my experience, has evidenced no interest in engaging the solidarity, and volunteerism of resident citizens of this Town, but rather has adopted and is furthering at every turn a narrow "Biker Town" vision for Cave Creek; You, and the rest of this community, just need to accept the fact that it has been decided by a Majority of this Council that this issue is now a "non-council" matter. Specifically, it has been decided that this is not a policy decision that should be brought to Council. Yes Citizens continue to die on our streets, traffic jams are awful, but that is apparently viewed as necessary collateral damage that naturally occurs in furthering the "Biker Town" vision for Cave Creek that our Town Manager and the Majority of this Council apparently support. The only credible survey ever done on this issue confirms that 85% of Cave Creek residents think it is wrong to use our streets for long term parking for bikers, but Council and our Trenk/Glassman holdover Town Manager were and are aware of that survey, and apparently have decided that profit for a bar owner, in balance, is more important than the resident's right to efficient safe travel on our public streets. Simply put Mark and I were out voted, this Council has spoken loud and clear, not only that the situation is fine, but that it should not come back to Council as it is not a "Policy matter". As my vote reflects, I strongly disagree, but this is a democracy and the Majority rules. While I can express my thoughts on what is right, fair, and in the best interests of the Town, I must accept the decision of my colleagues who view this as an issue that they must leave to sole discretion of the Town Manager. I hope this helps explain why this will not be placed on a Council agenda given the Majority of this Council's vote interpreting the Manager/Council form of government. Steve LaMar Cave Creek Vice Mayor Mayor and Council Members Apparently the Cave Creek bars are the only thing that matter to you. Thanks to all of you except Vice Mayor LaMar and Councilman Lipsky, who voted against the road closures, Cave Creek was an absolute traffic disaster for us residents, an art show and many small businesses again this weekend. You dont seem to understand that the residents of Cave Creek matter as well. What makes Cave Creek special is the diversity, not just the bars. The residents are important, the small businesses are important, the art community is important, the open space is important, the horse community is important. We are all important. So why are the bars allowed to cause such horrific traffic congestion? Is it because you think they are special? Their parking lots are crowded with vender tents that do not pay for permits or taxes but simply pay big bucks to the bars. The town residents have shown strong support for the bars as witnessed by the outpouring of support for the Buffalo Chip after the fire. So shouldnt you cause the bars show equal support for the town residents? Perhaps a novel approach would be for the bars to use their parking lots for parking and find some other location for their vendors and overflow parking that do not cause road closures. I was told several years ago the largest sales tax comes from a gas station and not the bars. Now I can only assume that Walmart has probably changed that but my question is why are the bars not paying more sales tax if they are so busy and so important to the town? Have there ever been audits to answer that? Every other organization and business that plans a special event has been required to arrange for parking other than in the street. Why are the bars and motorcycles an exception? It is past time for this council and this town manager to manage things for all the citizens and not just for 3 or 4 bars. Melanie Williams Cave Creek Carefrees Future Matters Friends of Carefree, there was another Executive Session at 4 p.m., followed by the open/public Council meeting at 5 p.m. There was no mention of the earlier Executive Session, and the regular monthly Council meeting was another expeditious affair lasting just 40 minutes. Items 1 - 5, Consent Agenda: All items were related to routine town business (meeting minutes, bills, financial reports, event permits, etc.), approved 7 0. Item 6, Call to the Public: No one spoke. Item 7 Current Events: None noted. Item 8, Foothills Foodbank Presentation: Executive Director Pam DiPietro provided the council and audience with an overview of the Food Bank services. The organization was founded in 1988 by members of various community churches. Initially 90% of services supported Hispanics and only 10% for Caucasians. Today that reality has changed, currently with 20% Hispanics and 80% Caucasians being served by Food Bank services. The 400 volunteers serve 3,000 families (637 new in 2015) with over 41,000 individuals receiving food. 90% of the food is donated, predominantly by area supermarkets. Services go well beyond food distribution. They assist with the SNAP program (food stamps), health care, job search, one-time financial assistance, and vouchers for gas, pharmacies, and thrift stores. They partner with numerous other organizations and are planning a 2,000sf addition to their facility. Donations for that addition are still short by $100K. For a more comprehensive version of this presentation, feel free to listen to the Town recording when it becomes available. Item 9, Transaction Privilege Tax Ordinance: The Privilege Tax is probably better known as the Sales Tax. As a result of changes to the State Model City Tax Codes, Carefree 2012-2014 Tax Code amendments need to be adopted - this was the First Reading. Another reading is necessary before the Council can take action. A second part of this agenda item involved approval of a Resolution declaring the Carefree Tax Code Changes a public record. Approved 7 0. Item 10, Open House Signs: The Amendment of Town Code, Section 11-3-3 relating to permits for Open House signs was approved 7 0. Item A was amended and items B & C were removed. Essentially the permit fee for Open House signs was eliminated. Item 11, Elections: This Resolution authorizes the Town Clerk to conduct the Primary Election (08/30/16) and General Election (11/08/16) as Mail Ballot Elections. Approved, 7 - 0. Item 12, Town Council Updates: The Splash Pad is now open; Gateway footer construction will begin early May; Investigation into having the Sun Dial electrostatically painted is underway; Two new dedication plaques have been purchased for the Sun Dial acknowledging the contributions of K.T. Palmer and the Carefree Kiwanis Club; The Liberty/BMSC agreement is another step closer to final approval, with Scottsdale agreeing to process Carefree material - ACC is expected to provide their final approval soon; The slurry seal for some area roadways affected by the Bicycle lane project will commence in a few weeks. Council Chambers Update [Because the town-purchased building at 33 Easy Street (proposed future home of the Council Chambers) is being leased to Ed Lewis for 1 2 years, temporary space is needed when the town lease in the Post Office building expires in June. Last year the town declined to pursue a lease extension.] Gary Neiss provided an update. Previously he had stated that a deal was imminent with the Lutheran Retreat at low cost/no cost to the town. However, when it came to putting the deal in writing the Retreat backed out, citing schedule conflicts and prior commitments. Local churches, the Carefree Resort, and other facilities were then contacted. Mr. Neiss said that the churches would not be a good fit (no explanation given) and that discussions with the Resort were ongoing, as well as with the YMCA and PV Community College. Councilman Farrar pointed out that the Y and PVCC were not in the Town of Carefree. Mr. Neiss responded that they were not that far outside of Carefree. [They sure arent centrally located, especially from the east side of town, a mere 5 6 miles from my home] MCSO Lt. Ryan Baranyos, addressed the council to announce the MCSO Citizen Academy beginning this Saturday, and continuing every other Saturday for a total of 4 sessions. Only 26 seats remain available, so if you are interested you must visit http://www.mcso.org/Documents/Citizens%20Academy%20Authorization.pdf soon to sign up. You can view the MSCO Citizens Academy flyer in our Archives. Item 13, Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at approximately 5:40PM. Respectfully submitted by Jim Van Allen and John Traynor Giving south Scottsdale a bigger voice and a vote, a better way to govern all of Scottsdale Its been more than ten years since a resident of south Scottsdale served on the Scottsdale City Council. This isnt a criticism, but it is a reality. There is a way we can change that reality. I am proposing a hybrid district system. Under this scenario, residents in defined south, central, and north Scottsdale districts would each select their own council members. In addition three members will continue to serve at large. The mayor as always will serve at large. I really believe this gives us the best of both worlds. Three council members from three districts tasked with focusing on the issues impacting three distinct parts of the city. Meanwhile we will have the other three council members and the mayor focusing on the city as a whole. Since I proposed this idea the response has thus far been extremely positive. My goal is to give south Scottsdale, as well as central and north Scottsdale, a better, more distinct voice in city government. This is not a criticism of the current council, which has done a good job of serving these three distinct parts of the city. What we have here is an opportunity to go from good to great. While it is one thing to study and speculate on how to serve south Scottsdale, its another to have someone who lives in south Scottsdale at the table making the decisions. The same theory applies to north and central Scottsdale. I have always considered myself a reformer. I like to think we have helped transform city government into an entity that operates more efficiently and with greater transparency while at the same time being more responsive to the needs of our residents. This district system is a logical extension of that mindset. More importantly, its an effort to swing wide the doors of Scottsdale City Hall to residents who care deeply about their neighborhoods. There would be a lot of work to be done. A council appointed citizens committee would help us create the district boundaries. This is not a top down proposal. If this gets to the ballot and if voters approve, we could start seeing this change as soon as 2018. As I seek a third term as Mayor of Scottsdale, it would be easy to stay the course and hope for the best. But thats not my way of doing things. What motivates me is to make Scottsdale a better place, a special place; a place where all voices are heard. I refer to Scottsdale as the best city in America not because I hope it to be true, but because I know it to be true. I also know that if we can give south Scottsdale, and indeed all of Scottsdale, more of a role in governing our city we will move from better times to the best of times. Jim Lane Scottsdale Mayor Back When men are not gentlemen? What happens when men are not gentlemen? When the Republican race for the "Keys to the White House" started I was very impressed with the entire list of the 17 Conservative candidates. Although unfortunately my positive impression was short lived. Very soon into the campaign the "suicide" attacks started. Conservatives attacking other Conservatives. Week after week, I was stunned by what some of these politicians were saying about players on their own team. We must wonder, are they really this arrogant -or- is there something more sinister at work here? These men are NOT being smart, and clearly these men are not being Gentlemen! In recent days it has reached a new low, with disrespectful attacks on each others wives. Like bullies on the playground in a disgusting display of childish mudslinging. The painful lesson we may soon learn from these candidates is... When men are not Gentlemen, they are not only taking the "Keys to the White House" from each other, they are essentially giving the "Keys to the White House" to a woman who is no Lady. Shawn Murphy Scottsdale Back Fellow Christian, A group of atheists just filed a federal lawsuit claiming that our national motto, "In God We Trust," is unconstitutional. They claim that by including the Lord's name on currency, the U.S. Government is discriminating against them. Do you agree with the atheists who filed this lawsuit? This may seem like a silly question to you, but just ten years ago, asking people if it was constitutional to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman would have seemed silly as well. These atheists want do the same thing the "gay rights" movement did. They want to overturn hundreds of years of American tradition and impose their liberal ideology on our great nation. One of the plaintiffs in this case even argues our national motto hurts him "... because he is forced to bear on his person a religious statement that causes him to sense his government legitimizing, promoting and reinforcing negative and injurious attitudes not only against Atheists in general, but against him personally." In other words, these Atheists claim they are being discriminated against, so God has got to go! You see, the Atheists and their allies in this administration believe that if they can whip up enough fake public outrage over this "discrimination" they can convince a court to rule in their favor. They did it with marriage, and now they're trying to do it with our national motto. That's why we need to know how many Americans really believe printing "In God We Trust" on a dollar bill constitutes discrimination. We need to show the media, our government, and the courts where the American people really stand. In their lawsuit, the Atheist plaintiffs even refused to spell out GOD. They spell the Lord's name, "G-d." They actually claim that even seeing the word "God" on an official legal document is painful discrimination. Should we give in to this pressure from the Left? Should we let this precedent be set? Should the U.S. Government remove God from our money? Yes or No? Visit https://secure.giveworks.net/ccu/in_god_we_trust/DRA5575 to take the one question survey, and please urge everyone you know who is concerned about the future of our nation to do the same. Thank you, and God bless you. Sincerely, William Armstrong U.S. Senator (CO Retired) President, Colorado Christian University Back The Trump wrecking ball Trump could win the Republican nomination, but lose to Clinton in the general election. He might severely damage the Republican Party, and adversely impact Republicans in Congressional and state races. His un-American campaign of political violence and hooliganism is reminiscent of 20th century Nazi and Communist dictators. In the Republican primaries Trump is averaging 35 percent of the vote. If Trump was up against one other candidate, polls show he might get another 10 percent of the vote. History reveals primary candidates receiving less than 50 percent of the vote will lose the election for President. The U.S. electorate comprises 26 percent Republicans, 30 percent Democrats, and 44 percent Independents. Polls show Trump garnering 70 percent of the Republican vote, or 18 percent (30 percent voting other); 5 percent of the Democratic vote, or 1.5 percent; and 40 percent of the Independent vote, or 18 percent, giving him 37.5 percent of the total vote. Clinton will receive few Republican votes; 95 percent of the Democratic vote, or 28.5 percent; and 60 percent of the Independent vote, or 26 percent. This gives Clinton 54.5 percent of the total vote, Trump 37.5 percent, and the remaining 8 percent are write-ins or blank ballots. It is a Trump Wrecking Ball. The integrity of the Republican Party and the dignity of the Presidency is at stake. Donald Moskowitz Londonderry, New Hampshire Back Employees Matter TO: Don Sorchych, Editor, Sonoran News FROM: Rick Murray, Chief Executive Officer, Arizona Small Business Association DATE: March 31, 2016 RE: Letter to the Editor Arizonas economic success in recent years can be attributed to our pro-business environment, fiscal conservatism and common sense approach to government regulation. But it is Arizona employees that make and keep businesses strong, their skills and productivity are the foundation success is built upon. Despite Arizonas right to work laws and current low rate of unionization, Arizona employees and businesses are increasingly exposed to big labors stranglehold on the workplace and economic growth. For too long, federal statutes have equated employees with unions and ceded workers fundamental rights to the labor organizations claiming to represent them. Labor organizations are ramping up recruitment efforts in our state and fighting to maintain their influence in Washington, the interests of their members and potential members have fallen by the wayside. That is why Congress must pass the Employees Rights Act. This legislation would increase accountability by union leaders to members and allow employees to make the choice of whether to join, remain with, or leave a union by requiring a recertification vote whenever more than 50% of the workforce turns over. Federal statistics show a mere 7 percent of todays workforce actually voted for their own union because certification was achieved decades before they were employed. In addition, certifying unions using public card checks rather than a secret ballot vote leaves employees vulnerable to intimidation and threatens the integrity of the certification process. In surveys, union members by 81 percent approved of the requirement that unions receive prior approval from its members before spending their dues on politics. To be clear, this legislation does nothing to hinder the right to unionization, but sets some basic rules to ensure fairness. Employees will continue to have the right to benefit from collective bargaining and other union benefits if they so choose. The Employee Rights Act guarantees employees greater transparency, enhanced accountability and a strong democratic process which ensures employees are treated as the valuable asset they are within Arizonas economy. Arizona Senator John McCain, Congressmen Trent Franks, Paul Gosar and David Schweikert are a few of the prominent co-sponsors of S. 1874 / H.R. 3222 The Employee Rights Act and should be commended for their support and taking a stand to guarantee the citizens of Arizona and our county their right to work. Rick Murray, Chief Executive Officer, Arizona Small Business Association Back Ted Bundy had an IQ of 145 and was a presidential delegate for Nelson Rockefeller! Over and over we hear the media questioning the IQs of those who are supporting Donald Trump. Well in 1968 serial killer Ted Bundy,with an IQ of 145, was a delegate for the moderate presidential candidate Nelson Rockefeller. The media never questioned the average IQs of many who voted for Barack Obama. But now they are questioning the IQs of those who are supporting Donald Trump. Why is that important now? Is the media suggesting an IQ test to vote when they don't seem to care if illegal aliens are voting? Certain left leaning people with a "higher IQ" could not comprehend that when you let in un-vetted refugees from an ISIS infected region, it is suicidal. This "moral high" ground will ultimately lead to the deaths of innocent Americans of every IQ. This "higher IQ "group was incapable of observing the cause and effect of the total chaos in Europe from the recent influx of un-vetted Muslims. If Trump survives to get elected and finishes even one term, the party will be over for the leeches who have been profiting from the labors of all races of all IQs. When Trump releases the 28 pages of the 9/11 commission report and Hillary Clinton's emails, we will see the connection between Saudi Arabia and the take down of the World Trade Centers in NYC , a stand down of our air defenses, the attack that killed Ambassador Stevens in Benghazi, the civil unrest in Syria and money going to the Bush's and the Clintons. You will see the first audit of the Federal Reserve which is a private entity with NO oversight. You will find out why Goldman Sachs wants Ted Cruz's wife to be the first lady. If it takes people with IQ's at least as high that elected Obama to elect Trump I'm will be elated. This is our last opportunity to elect someone who was not hand picked by the Bilderberg Group. The Bilderberg Group usually select the ultimate two candidates you get to vote for president and they really don't care which one wins. That is the reason they have thrown everything including the kitchen sink at Trump. They can't afford to have him win. We can't afford to have him lose. Considering what happened to JFK, Trump must be considered to be the bravest man in the world! Sincerely, Joseph DuPont Towanda, Pennsylvania Back Energy Bill Would Strengthen U.S. Economy and Global Energy Security Let's be honest: The future of the U.S. economy is bleak. A new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicts that the U.S. economy will grow only 2 percent this year -- a downward revision of the already anemic 2.4 percent growth predicted late last year. Fortunately, some Washington lawmakers are trying to turn this dreary forecast around. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is working to pass an energy bill that would allow the country to export more natural gas. That would create thousands of jobs and generate billions in economic growth, while improving U.S. leverage in international energy markets. The United States is enjoying a historic energy boom. Domestic natural gas production has increased 42 percent since 2005 and is on pace to jump another 39 percent by 2040. According to one report by the U.S. Energy Information Association, the country has enough sources of natural gas to meet the country's needs for at least the next 80 years. With this ample supply, many companies have turned their attention to the export market. But before companies can begin new liquefied natural gas projects (gas is transported in liquid form), they must submit an application to the U.S. Department of Energy. Right now, though, the Energy Department isn't required to decide on liquefied natural gas applications in any specified time frame. Today, about 30 applications still awaiting approval. The Department has been slow walking some requests since 2012. That's downright ridiculous. Consider an application for one export facility in Texas that has been pending for 49 months. If accepted, the project would support nearly 45,000 new jobs and produce exports valued at up to $45 million every single day. A project in Georgia could create over 1,000 jobs and support exports valued at nearly $8 million per day. And one in Louisiana could employ 1,000 Americans and bring in $17 million daily. Overall, easing restrictions on natural gas exports could create nearly half a million jobs and add $73.6 billion to U.S. GDP over the next 20 years. Exporting LNG would also help ease geopolitical tensions. Take Russia, a big natural gas exporter, which has repeatedly shown its willingness to threaten supply disruptions to obtain political concessions from dependent neighbors. If the United States could sell more natural gas to European countries, we could limit Russia's grip on our allies in the area. Without knowing that LNG permit applications will be considered in a timely manner, companies won't invest in the jobs and facilities required to liquefy and export the gas. And other countries won't consider America a reliable sellers. Simply stated, they'll look for their gas elsewhere. Thankfully, for the first time in nine years, the Senate is serious about passing legislation that would expedite the process for LNG exports. It would require the Energy Department to make a final call on project applications within 45 days of the completion of an environmental review a reasonable standard by any measure. Now, Congress must get it passed. This legislation would open up thousands of jobs and billions in economic growth while improving international security. Congress must move forward on sensible energy policy right away in order to ensure a brighter economic future for the United States. Drew Johnson Taxpayers Protection Alliance Back My View BY DON SORCHYCH | APRIL 13, 2016 PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM by Sam Steiger The GOP is dead "Sam wrote this prescient article on April 29, 1998, 18 years ago. Although the names during that time are different than the names of today, Republican failures are timeless. They continue." There is no more Republican Parly in the United States. In a remarkable reversal of the 1994 congressional election message, the elected officials in the Republican Party at the state and national level have abandoned any semblance of Republican principles, or really any other sort of principles and are focused on proving that all the stereotypes of political infamy are true. The evidence is not only compelling, it is not refutable. The party has no defense. There is no cadre of principled people holding a fort of constitutional, meager government. There is only capitulation to election year politics all the time. The bill of particulars range from the minor to the major. It Is not important what comes first, but certainly the false clalm parroted by the entire Republican congressional chorus of a "balanced budget" looms as large as any. The budget ls not balanced. The computation that permits the patently false claim is made possible only by failing to compute the obligation to the social security trust fund, that continues to be looted annually and ignored annually, as an obllgation. You would think that there would be one voice raised in protest. If there is one it is not heard. The rush to bask ln the approval of the public for having seemed to appear to have balanced the budget is so comforting that none of these pathetic people are willlng to risk whatever it is they fear for the sake of the truth. The pushing and shoving by Republican congressional leaders and Republican presidential wannabes to out shout the Democrats in the "I hate tobacco companies" contest is pitiful. The Republicans, who used to talk of individual responsibility as a basic Republican precept, now insist that by penalizing smokers with the most regressive of truces, we will stop teenagers from smoking, cure the sick, punish the villainous tobacco executives, and most important, ralse a ton of money for new programs. There is not one responsible person outstde of Washington. D.C. who does not understand that the tobacco nonsense is not about health. Not about retribution for past sins of the tobacco Industry. Not about teenage smoking: It is about money. More money for government. More money, unbelievable sums of money, for the tobacco lawyers. There is not even a nod to a shred of Republican stands for less government, free markets, individual responsibilty - not a twitch. At the state level we have a Republlcan legislature that is supported by a Republican governor all of whom have forsaken reason in an effort to appear caring. We have a House member and a majority of his Republican peers, Mike Gardner by name, who is determined to undermine the right of Arizonans to referendum. We have a majority of people, Republicans, in a desperate attempt to be perceived as caring, telling people that they may not put children in the backs of their pickups. We have a governor who is trying to outdo her Republican legislators who will veto, she says at this writing, legislation that will permit the use of sparklers on the Fourth of July. She will do this so that she will seem more caring, and so much for individual responsibility. We have legislation pending, all by Republlcans, that will prescribe by law how low a low-top gown may be, what time establishments that specialize in sexual fantasies may stay open. We have Republican elected officials like Mayor Skip Rimsza who scream for more open space and then roll over for every single developer who requests higher density. In truth, there is no relief in sight. At one time, to be a Republican elected official meant standing for less government and individual freedom. Now we have a Congress that re-passed legislation that the Supreme Court had ruled unconstitutional wtth a rare nod to the 10th Amendment, legislation that prohibited guns within 300 yards of a school. The Supreme Court said this was a matter for local government to decide. The Republican Congress, determined to show they cared, re-passed it with specific nonsense aboul tlhe Commerce Clause of the Constitution that makes everything Congress' business. The Republican Congress not only could not shut down the Education Deparbnent and the Energy Department, they can't even control the number of White House lawyers on the pubic payroll. In tlhe early hunt for the Republican nomination, there should be some candidate saying these things - any candidate. There will not be because being elected is far more important than telling the truth. This one is a slam dunk. As easy as putting Republican Grant Woods in jail. April 13, 2016 Governor Ducey signs House Bill 2154 New law will enhance public safety for all Arizona citizens by closing gap in accurate criminal history records PHOENIX The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission (ACJC) applauded Governor Duceys signing of House Bill 2154 on March 7 which will enhance public safety by closing a critical gap in accurate criminal history records. With Governor Duceys signature of House Bill 2154, Arizona took an important step towards enhancing public safety by helping to ensure that everyone that is arrested and convicted has an accurate criminal history created for that offense, said ACJCs Executive Director John Blackburn, Jr. We would like to thank House Military Affairs & Public Safety Committee Chairman Sonny Borrelli for introducing and championing this important bill through the legislative process. House Bill 2154 continues the work that ACJC has undertaken to close the gap in accurate criminal history records that was identified when research found that some criminals were not being properly fingerprinted in order to create an accurate criminal history in the Arizona Computerized Criminal History (ACCH) system. In order to create an accurate criminal history it is necessary for a ten-print fingerprint to be taken for each crime. In some cases it was found that a person was arrested, booked, attended their court proceeding, and even served their sentence at a Department of Corrections facility without the ten-print fingerprint being taken. The result of this was that a criminal history record was never created and entered into the ACCH system and the potential for the person to be arrested again or applying for a job where a fingerprint clearance card was necessary without there being a record of their crime. House Bill 2154 will enhance public safety by cleaning up the definition of failure to appear by combining duplicative provisions in current statute; and, defining the county sheriff as the booking agency for all felonies and misdemeanor domestic violence, sexual assault, and DUI charges. Specifically it: Combines duplicative statutes and provides one definition for failure to appear in the second degree Defines the county sheriff as the booking agency which is required to collect the ten-print fingerprint in order to create a criminal history record in the ACCH system for all felonies and misdemeanor domestic violence, sexual assault, and DUI charges. April 13, 2016 Young Americans for Liberty launches fight for free speech across 340+ college campuses Early screening of Can We Take a Joke? and activist events ARLINGTON, VirginiaOn Freedom Day, April 13, Young Americans for Liberty launches the Fight for Free Speech campaign, a national movement committed to ending unconstitutional speech codes and combating threats to Free Speech on college and university campuses, by hosting more than 340 coordinated events nationwide. C.J. Sailor, YALs Director of Free Speech said of the program, College campuses are under threat from authoritarian voices that only look to stomp out ideas and viewpoints. Our Fight for Free Speech campaign is the largest coordinated attempt to combat these threats and encourage the healthy, free flow of ideas. The Fight for Free Speech campaign will run from April 13th through April 20th. During that time there will be more than 340 events in all 50 states. At these events, YAL chapters will host sneak-peek screenings of Can We Take a Joke?, starring comedians Adam Carolla, Lisa Lampanelli, Gilbert Gottfried, and Penn Jillette. The film is set to release later this year. Campuses include Clemson University, University of California Berkeley, Auburn University, Morehouse College, University of Georgia, Temple University, Ithaca College, American University, Rutgers University, University of Pennsylvania, and many more. The film gained distribution this month from Samuel Goldwyn Films, the production house behind The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and other recent hit productions. Recently news about the documentary has been featured in Reason Magazine, The Interrobang, Variety, and the Federalist. The Federalist titled their piece on the film, Go Watch Can We Take A Joke? and called it, Required viewing by everyone in this country. It premiered to a sold-out crowd in November at the IFC Center in New York and has since been featured at several film festivals including the Sun Valley Film Festival. Along with organizing screenings of Can We Take a Joke?, YAL chapters are strategically reforming campus policies across the country to respect Free Speech rights. Dozens of reforms are occurring right now in coordination with legal groups, like the Foundation for Individual Rights and Education (FIRE). YAL was founded in 2008 by former Ron Paul Youth Coordinator Jeff Frazee. It has grown from 96 chapters in 2009 to more than 650 chapters and 257,000 activists on American universities today. Their mission is to identify, educate, train, and mobilize youth activists committed to winning on principle. During an election season where more young people than ever are beginning to vote, YAL hopes to educate students about the vital principles of liberty so that we can elect leaders focused on principle over popularity. YAL hopes to continue their growth and bring their message of Free Speech to more students. YAL encourages education through its chapters and website. To start a chapter, request information kits for an event at your campus, or to learn more about YAL and its activism across the country, visit www.yaliberty.org. April 13, 2016 Former Town of Carefree Mayor David Schwan passes away after battle with ALS CAREFREE Former Mayor of the Town of Carefree, David Schwan, passed away on the evening of April 6, 2016, after a difficult battle with ALS (Lou Gehrigs Disease). After 12 years of serving the Town, Schwan resigned effective February 4, 2015 after immediately receiving the news of his diagnosis of the incurable disease. David Schwan was appointed mayor by the Town Council in 2009, and was the first citizen ever elected as Mayor in 2011. Before serving as Mayor he was appointed to the long range financial study group for the Town in 2003 and also served on the Planning and Zoning Commission. He proudly served the North Valley community in numerous volunteer roles over the years at the Foothills Caring Corps, Voices of Youth program at Cactus Shadows High School, and represented Carefree at the Northeast Valley Coalition against Methamphetamine and was also a member of the Presidents Circle of Paradise Valley Community College. In 2015, Mayor Schwans dedication and service to the community was recognized by the Town through the Spirit of Carefree Award and in 2016 the Foothills Caring Corps honored David as the Humanitarian of the Year. David was the ideal person to work with and served his community tirelessly and will surely be missed, said current Carefree Mayor Les Peterson. David had a way of detailing a situation and quietly inquiring about possible solutions. He was a great listener and together as a team, he could get us to agree on an approach which made the most financial sense and swiftly move forward. There was an outpouring of support from Carefree and surrounding communities upon hearing the news of Schwans health issues in the past year. Inspired by this outpouring, David and his wife Binka became huge supporters of The Arizona Chapter of the ALS Association helping to find a cure to the progressive neurodegenerative disease that effects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Davids Carefree Sole Mates team helped raise just over $34,000 for The Walk to Defeat ALS, which was the third highest earning team during the associations largest fundraising event. Funeral services will be held at Desert Hills Presbyterian Church located at 34605 N. Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85262 at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 16th, 2016. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests sending donations to the Arizona Chapter of the ALS Foundation, webaz.als.org or Foothills Caring Corps, Foothillscaringcorps.com. By Linda Bentley | April 13, 2016 Objectors file exceptions after New Jersey ALJ declares Cruz eligible Congress does not have the magical ability to convert Canadian-born Ted Cruz into an American-born Ted Cruz TRENTON, N.J. On Tuesday, New Jersey Administrative Law Judge Jeff Masin declared Sen. Ted Cruz, despite being born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, met the constitutional requirements to be president and could appear on the New Jersey presidential primary ballot. Victor Williams The challenge was brought by Catholic University of America law professor Victor Williams, who is running as a write-in candidate for president in nine states, including New Jersey, and the South Jersey Concerned Citizens Committee. After Masin issued his recommendation/initial decision, Attorney Mario Apuzzo filed exceptions of objectors Fernando Powers, Donna Ward and Bruce Stom to Masins initial decision with the New Jersey Department of State Elections Division. The objectors accepted the part of Masins decision in which he found they had standing and that their objection did not present a political question and is therefore justiciable. However, the objectors rejected the part of his decision dealing with the definition of an Article II natural born citizen and whether Cruz meets that definition. Attorney Mario Apuzzo In his brief, Apuzzo states, ALJ Masin has neither considered nor addressed the historical and legal evidence that objectors provided in their two briefs to the court. He does not address any of the arguments that they made in these briefs. Rather, ALJ Masin relies upon some law professors and commentators and their articles for his decision, without actually analyzing the relevant historical and legal sources cited within those articles. Apuzzo goes on to say the professors and commentators claim in their articles the meaning of natural born citizen isnt clear and therefore tell us what it ought mean. Arguing historical and legal sources tell us what the meaning was and if these writers want to change the meaning, Apuzzo stated, then they should advocate for a constitutional amendment rather than provide some revisionist definition of the clause which then they ask us to adopt as the meaning of the clause. Apuzzo said Masin rejected the original definition of an Article II natural born citizen and simply adopted their revisionist definition. Apuzzo cited various U.S. Supreme Court cases dating from 1875 (Minor v. Happersett) through 1998 (Miller v. Albright) explaining that children born out of the United States by inheritance of citizenship from U.S. citizen parents could be citizens of the United States only through a naturalization Act of Congress, and that without such Act, such children would be aliens. Apuzzo said those cases prove the common law that defined U.S. citizenship never did incorporate English naturalization statutes as providing some different meaning to that common law, a meaning to suggest that a person born out of the United States to one or two U.S. citizen parents could ever be a natural born citizen rather than a naturalized citizen of the United States. He accused Masin of totally ignoring those binding precedents of our U.S. Supreme Court and instead adopting a revisionist definition of natural born citizen. Despite the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court being binding upon Masin, Apuzzo said Masin doesnt feel as though hes bound by them. He also pointed out Masin confuses the fact that states may have adopted statutes from English common law with whether those same laws were adopted by the Framers as national laws. Pointing out numerous issues with how Masin came to his conclusions, such as providing mostly his own conjecture on what John Jay meant by his famous letter to George Washington dated July 1787, Apuzzo said he assigns to John Jay some corrupt motive, to make his own children born out of the United States natural born citizens, while glossing over the significant change made by the Naturalization Act of 1975 in removing the language from the Naturalization Act of 1790, shall be considered as natural citizens and replacing it with shall be considered as citizens of the United States. Apuzzo wrote, He dismissed this elephant in the room by simply saying that the Third Congress did not tell us why they made the change. He ignores that the Third Congress made the change knowing that Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 provides that after the adoption of the Constitution, only a natural born citizen (not sufficient to be a citizen of the United States) was eligible to be President. ALJ Masin ignores this critical fact which dooms Cruzs argument that he is a natural born citizen under the early naturalization Acts. In conclusion, Apuzzo stated, We have demonstrated that Congress naturalized Ted Cruz with a naturalization Act. Ted Cruz is at best a naturalized citizen of the United States at birth. He is not nor can he be a natural born citizen of the United States. The New Jersey Secretary of State should therefore accept ALJ decision on standing and political question and reject that part that defines a natural born citizen and which finds Ted Cruz a natural born citizen under that definition. Rather, she should find, based on all the historical and legal evidence provided by objectors in their briefs, that Ted Cruz is not a natural born citizen and keep his name off the New Jersey primary election ballot. Masin is the same administrative law judge who heard the 2012 challenge to Obamas eligibility to be on the New Jersey primary ballot. Apuzzo represented the plaintiffs in that case as well where oral arguments debated whether Mickey Mouse was eligible to appear on the New Jersey ballot and if Masin had a coffee mug containing an image of Obamas birth certificate. After all was said and done, Masin decided Obama had no obligation to prove his eligibility and ruled children born in the United States to aliens were natural born citizens. Now Masin is somehow stretching that definition to include children born in a foreign country to at least one parent that is not a U.S. citizen to be considered natural born citizens. New Jersey Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno has the final say as to whether Cruz will remain on the ballot and may accept, modify or reject Masins ruling. On Wednesday, April 13, Williams filed his own blistering exceptions to Masins recommendation/initial decision. First, he strongly protested the irregularity of the Office of Administrative Laws recall of Jeff Masin to conduct the hearing rather than following a regular order of a random assignment of the case to a neutral officer, and stated Masin began the hearing acknowledging that he had been recalled and appointed to the case because of his past experience with the natural-born citizen issue. Williams went on to say, To state, as some are doing, that Mr. Masin was cherry-picked for this case would not capture the ethical concern presented. Second, Williams stated, It was telling that Masin also stated at the beginnings of the hearings that he had not read the parties briefs (which had been due and submitted for several days before the hearing); rather Mr. Masin spend the days before the hearing reading a variety of secondary sources. Mr. Masins incredible accomplishment in producing a 26-page, quite detailed recommendation in a one-day time period deserves related note. Because Masin was irregularly recalled for this hearing, Williams stated it was more than just unfortunate in terms of fairness and the perception of objectivity, and said, No public confidence can be had in the resulting recommendation. However, he notes it is the ultimate duty of Guadango to protect the integrity of the New Jersey ballot and enforce the U.S. Constitutions clear and unambiguous eligibility requirements for candidates for the presidency. Third, Williams raised the fact that his request for an extension of time and delay of the ALJs recommendation to allow him adequate time to reply to Cruzs supplemental late-night filing of April 11 was never even addressed. Williams also stated his strong support for the reasoning and arguments filed by Apuzzo on behalf of his objectors while separately emphasizing in the Wong Kim Ark case, the U.S. Supreme Court was required to fully consider the differences between law of the soil vs. citizenship by parentage and the high court ruled that citizenship by place (by soil) was the governing precept in interpreting the Article II, Section I natural born citizen requirement. Again, Williams argued the term natural born citizen was deliberately drafted and knowingly included by the 1787 Federal Conventions final product, sent to the States for ratification, to require all Presidents must be born on the soil. It is a simple soil test just as is the requirement for a President to have been 14 years in residence on the soil. Williams pointed out the well-established interpretive norm that the Constitution does not have surplus words natural purposely modifies born citizen. Although Cruz didnt have to go through the complex naturalization process, if he actually ever went through any process, Cruz, at best, could only be a naturalized citizen, the same exact status as those 650,000 aliens a year who become citizens by more complex processes. Williams said it was clear Masin has not changed his views on these matters. However, he added, neither have the views of Chief Justice John Marshall changed regarding our Republics basic constitutional order. Since John Marshalls opinion in Marbury v. Madison, citizens, lawyers and judges have all known that the U.S. Congress may not alter, tweak, add to or subtract from the clear and unambiguous text of the U.S. Constitution, which may only be altered by the Article V amendment process. Williams asserted, Congress does not have the magical ability to convert Canadian-born Ted Cruz into an American-born Ted Cruz. Claiming to share Cruzs Evangelical born-again faith tradition, Williams stated, But beyond the spiritual, Ted Cruz now claims some type of born again experience that transformed him from Canadian-born to miraculously a natural born [American] citizen. He stated, The time-line for miracles is always important: this claimed miracle only happened after he decided to run for President and to renounce his Canadian citizenship in May 2014. Calling Cruz out as the very intelligent Princeton man, the Harvard trained lawyer, the Supreme Court advocate who preaches textualism, strict-constructionism, Williams said Cruz does not actually believe he is a natural born citizen. Thus, the patent falsity of his New Jersey Certificate of Eligibility and the fraud inherent in the procurement of his Signature Petitions. Making it clear that not only does he have standing, Williams said his standing to challenge Cruzs placement on the ballot is specially as a competitor candidate actively seeking the election in the state of New Jersey and in other states across the nation as a write-in candidate. Last, Williams stated Guadagno has the sworn duty to maintain New Jersey ballot integrity, and to protect, preserve and the defend the U.S. Constitution, by not allowing the ineligible Ted Cruz who has falsely filed a Certification of Eligibility and fraudulently procured signature petitions on the June 7, 2016 primary ballot. By Linda Bentley | April 13, 2016 CAVE CREEK In order to run for mayor or council, one must either file a statement of organization for a political action committee or a $500 threshold exemption form before they may circulate nomination petitions. To appear on the ballot, candidates must collect at least 56 valid signatures to be turned in anytime between May 2 and June 1. By Linda Bentley | April 13, 2016 Congress does not have the magical ability to convert Canadian-born Ted Cruz into an American-born Ted Cruz TRENTON, N.J. On Tuesday, New Jersey Administrative Law Judge Jeff Masin declared Sen. Ted Cruz, despite being born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, met the constitutional requirements to be president and could appear on the New Jersey presidential primary ballot. April 13, 2016 Immigration, fiscal issues dominate voter concerns PHOENIX Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu asserts a strong lead among Republicans in Arizonas 1st Congressional District according to a poll conducted by leading behavior research polling company, OH Predictive Insights. In a survey of 387 likely Republican primary voters, 35.7 percent said they would vote to nominate Babeu if the primary were held tomorrow. April 13, 2016 CAREFREE Former Mayor of the Town of Carefree, David Schwan, passed away on the evening of April 6, 2016, after a difficult battle with ALS (Lou Gehrigs Disease). After 12 years of serving the Town, Schwan resigned effective February 4, 2015 after immediately receiving the news of his diagnosis of the incurable disease. April 13, 2016 (Phoenix, Ariz., Mar. 30, 2016) Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas today completed the first virtual meeting as part of her 2016 statewide outreach campaign targeting parent input about Arizona education with the well-known Arizona parent advocacy group, the Mommy Lobby. April 13, 2016 New law will enhance public safety for all Arizona citizens by closing gap in accurate criminal history records PHOENIX The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission (ACJC) applauded Governor Duceys signing of House Bill 2154 on March 7 which will enhance public safety by closing a critical gap in accurate criminal history records. With Governor Duceys signature of House Bill 2154, Arizona took an important step towards enhancing public safety by helping to ensure that everyone that is arrested and convicted has an accurate criminal history created for that offense, said ACJCs Executive Director John Blackburn, Jr. We would like to thank House Military Affairs & Public Safety Committee Chairman Sonny Borrelli for introducing and championing this important bill through the legislative process. April 13, 2016 Carefree mayor and community leader Les Peterson has declared his candidacy to continue as the mayor of the Town. Les assumed the duties of Mayor in the early spring of 2015, when the previous mayor, David Schwan, resigned due to illness. We have made great progress in enhancing downtown Carefree for the enjoyment and utilization of our residents and visitors, Mayor Peterson said. We cant stop now, and the next few years are critical to the Towns future. Much remains to be accomplished. April 13, 2016 PCSO Recently, there have been inquiries made to the sheriffs office by members of the news media and public regarding whether or not Chief Deputy Steve Henry is required to resign as second in command of the Pinal County Sheriffs Office to run for Sheriff on the 2016 ballot. The answer to the question is that Steve Henry is allowed to keep his position as Chief Deputy and seek public office. Federal, State and County laws support his right to seek office, as do Pinal County policies and procedures. April 13, 2016 Washington, D.C. U.S. Term Limits (USTL), the leader in the national movement to limit terms for elected officials, today praised Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kelli Ward for signing its congressional term limits pledge. In November of last year, 14 new U.S. Term Limits pledge signers were elected to Congress including five new U.S. Senators. April 13, 2016 Early screening of Can We Take a Joke? and activist events ARLINGTON, VirginiaOn Freedom Day, April 13, Young Americans for Liberty launches the Fight for Free Speech campaign, a national movement committed to ending unconstitutional speech codes and combating threats to Free Speech on college and university campuses, by hosting more than 340 coordinated events nationwide. C.J. Sailor, YALs Director of Free Speech said of the program, College campuses are under threat from authoritarian voices that only look to stomp out ideas and viewpoints. Our Fight for Free Speech campaign is the largest coordinated attempt to combat these threats and encourage the healthy, free flow of ideas. Noie: End result all that matters for this one, for this Irish team Notre Dame needed this one, even against a program like UNLV, to keep moving forward toward exactly who knows what Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city. Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea At the Lockheed Martin facility in Littleton, Colorado, scientists and engineers are working on the software and computer hardware that will operate on NASA's Orion spacecraft. Here, the front end of a mock Orion capsule at the Lockheed Martin facility. The company is currently conducting tests for Orion's Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), when the spacecraft will fly (with no humans aboard) on a test flight around the moon. LITTLETON, CO. The Lockheed Martin facility in Littleton, Colorado, is overflowing with NASA projects, including the Orion space capsule, a possible lunar habitat and the Osirus Rex probe that will return a sample from an asteroid to Earth. I had the chance to visit the facility while I'm in Colorado for the National Space Symposium. Lockheed's Littleton, Colorado, campus is nestled between a small mountain range and a ridge of steep rock formations. Wildlife prowls the area, regularly sharing the space with employees. Inside the many buildings that dot the massive campus (one employee told me the company owns 4,600 acres in total), Lockheed Martin is working on lots of space missions. The company is building the software and computer hardware for Orion, which could one day help send astronauts to the moon and Mars. [More Photos: Inside Lockheed Martin's Space Projects Facility] In addition, Lockheed is doing some early work on a habitat that would orbit the moon, and provide a sort of way station for people going to the lunar surface or beyond. And the company is getting ready to launch a space probe that will capture a sample of material from the surface of a comet, then bring it back to Earth. Orion, NASA's next ship The front end of a mock Orion capsule at the Lockheed Martin facility in Littleton, Colorado. (Image credit: Lockheed Martin ) The Orion space capsule is NASA's next planned human spaceflight vehicle. The software that runs all the systems on Orion all the diagnostics for the ship and the life support is being designed and built at Lockheed Martin, along with the computer hardware for the spacecraft. Larry Price, Orion deputy program manager at Lockheed Martin, said there are over a million lines of code in the Orion software, and 250,000 pieces of the spacecraft that are monitored. The team at Lockheed has a mock-up of the spacecraft that they use to test the software and hardware, to work out bugs and to make sure the various pieces come together and function as a whole. Visitors to the site have to wear jackets that diffuse static electricity, which in the dry Colorado air can create quite a strong charge that could affect the electronics on the mock spacecraft. The setup at Lockheed Martin allows the people there to run the system as if it were actually operating during a mission to space. They're currently running real-time tests of Orion's unmanned Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) mission, scheduled for November 2018. For the first crewed missions, Lockheed will have astronauts come and potentially spend hours doing a run-through of the mission, once again to make sure bugs in the system get worked out. For Orion's Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1), in December 2014, Price said there were 600 contingency plans in place. If any part of the system had failed, the team had a plan in place to deal with the problem. Price said the only thing that went wrong was that an external camera shut down due to high radiation, so the Lockheed Martin team got to execute at least one of those contingency plans they had worked so hard to prepare. Living around the moon Inside the orbiting lunar habitat mock-up built by Lockheed Martin. The hatch on the left would lead into the Orion spacecraft cockpit. The blue thing on the right is a sleeping bag. Food and other supplies would line the walls of the habitat. (Image credit: Calla Cofield/Space.com) Another project Lockheed Martin is working on: an orbiting lunar habitat that would support four astronauts for 30 to 60 days. The company is in the early stages of researching such a habitat. Shown here, a mock up of the habitat. (Image credit: Calla Cofield/Space.com) As part of NASA's Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) program, Lockheed is starting to investigate technologies to be used in a space habitat that would be positioned in orbit around the moon. The habitat could launch with an Orion spacecraft and fly with it to the moon, and could support four astronauts for 30 to 60 days. A mock-up of the habitat at the Lockheed facilities seems like a fairly cramped space to spend a month or two with three friends, but of course this has always been one of the trials of traveling to space. Food and supplies are strategically packed around the outside of the habitat, and the packaging would actually serve as an additional layer of radiation protection, Lockheed Martin representatives said. Sleeping bags attached to tethers around the walls would create floating sleep spaces. Catching an asteroid The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, built at Lockheed Martin's Littleton, Colorado campus, will collect a sample from asteroid Bennu and return it to Earth. The spacecraft is kept in a clean room to reduce the risk of contaminating the asteroid sample with material from Earth. (Image credit: Calla Cofield/Space.com) The awesomely named OSIRIS-REx will fly to the asteroid Bennu, pick up a sample from the space rock's surface and then return the material to Earth. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in September and arrive at the asteroid in October 2019. OSIRIS-REx will study the asteroid for over 500 days before grabbing a sample. This is NASA's third robotic sample-return mission, and the other two (Stardust and Genesis) were both built at Lockheed Martin as well. The spacecraft is in a clean room, because keeping the probe free of contaminants is a very high priority. If the OSIRIS-REx were covered in Earth dust and microbes, there would be a risk of contaminating the sample the craft brings back from the asteroid. Tim Lynn, chief systems engineer for OSIRIS REx, said the asteroid mission will use a "pogo mechanism," Lynn said. The mechanism is a tube that will expel the air it contains after contacting the asteroid, causing the tube to suck up dust and dirt from the space rock. The mission will not return the entire spacecraft to Earth, just a small section of the probe containing the sample. Lynn said that, among other things, Osiris will study asteroid Bennu's trajectory and orbit with very high precision, which will add to an overall better understanding of the movement of near-Earth asteroids. That knowledge can then help scientists better predict which asteroids might come a little too close to the planet. Bennu has a "one in 2,000 chance" of hitting Earth in the 2060s, Lynn said. Between a rock and a hard spot The Lockheed Martin facility in Littleton, Colorado, is nestled up against a small mountain range. (Image credit: Calla Cofield/Space.com) The Lockheed facility is a sight to see all by itself. It's located in a gorgeous part of Colorado not quite into the Rocky Mountains, but the land is extremely hilly and rocky. It is nestled between a rocky ridge and a small mountain range. Employees say wildlife is common: rattlesnakes, mountain goats, deer, hawks and even the occasional black bear. The company's long history with NASA is evident throughout the facility; murals covering multiple walls celebrate past and current missions that the company built and managed. It's a place where spaceflight is celebrated. This artist's illustration shows one possible Boeing design for the U.S. military's XS-1 Experimental Spaceplane concept. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is now entering the second and third phases of its ambitious Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) program, which aims to make launching satellites a daily occurrence. "I can tell you officially now that we have been funded by the [Obama] Administration for the next phase of XS-1," DARPA's Jess Sponable told applauding attendees at the Space Access '16 Conference in Phoenix last week. "What I can tell you right now is that we have $146 million." DARPA launched the XS-1 program in 2014 with the goal of developing a reusable launch system capable of flying 10 times in 10 days with aircraftlike operability, at a cost of no more than $5 million per flight. [XS-1: A US Military Space Plane in Pictures (Gallery)] Over the past two years, DARPA has funded Phase 1 studies by three companies: Boeing, which partnered with Blue Origin; Masten Space Systems, which partnered with XCOR Aerospace; and Northrop Grumman, which partnered with Virgin Galactic. This artist's illustration shows one possible Boeing design for the U.S. military's XS-1 Experimental Spaceplane concept. (Image credit: Boeing) The goal of the next phases of the program is to take the program beyond studies to flight tests. The solicitation will be open to all companies, not just the ones that were funded in Phase 1. Sponable said that although he expects more than three bids, the level of detail required for the next phases will make it difficult for new entrants to compete with the companies that are already in the program. DARPA will kick off Phase 2 with a proposers' day on April 29 in Arlington, Virginia. The agency will send out a solicitation following the meeting, with the goal of selecting a single contractor early in fiscal year 2017. Flights of the vehicle would occur in the 2019 to 2020 time frame. Sponable said that the $146 million DARPA has received is sufficient to begin to support a single contractor. "That's enough to pick someone and go," he said. "It's probably not enough to fully fund what we have envisioned." Bidders will be required to bring their own funding to the table as part of a public-private partnership, Sponable said. The days of the federal government fully funding development programs is over, he added. The initial version of the launch vehicle must be capable of placing a 900-lb. (408 kilograms) payload into low Earth orbit. The contractor will need to show how the vehicle can be upgraded to carry 3,000-lb. (1,360 kg) payloads in commercial operations using an expendable upper stage. Sponable said that a number of companies are working on small-satellite launch vehicles, whose engines might be used as an upper stage on the XS-1. A low-cost, reusable launch vehicle capable of flying every day would have numerous military and commercial applications, he added. The military would be able to disaggregate its large satellites into smaller constellations and be able to rapidly and affordably replace spacecraft that failed or were taken out by enemy action. The emerging commercial small-satellite market is projected to require hundreds of XS-1-class launches annually, Sponable said. Artist's concept of the space plane being designed by Northrop Grumman, with help from Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic, for DARPA's XS-1 program. (Image credit: Northrop Grumman) He acknowledged that previous government efforts at producing low-cost launchers have fallen significantly short of the mark. "This is not new," he admitted. "We've been pursuing this low-cost, aircraftlike access to space literally since the 1960s, and seriously since the 1980s. And we've had failure after failure after failure." Past efforts have been handicapped by a combination of lofty goals and immature technology at low levels of development, Sponable said. Today, the various technologies needed for low-cost launch are much more mature, giving XS-1 a greater chance at success. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. Space.com teamed up with Dos Equis to offer a chance to win a spacesuit worn by the beer's "Most Interesting Man in the World." In an exclusive contest through Space.com, Dos Equis is giving away a spacesuit worn by the company's "Most Interesting Man," who "left for Mars" in one final commercial last month. The star of the long-running Most Interesting Man commercials, Jonathan Goldsmith, retired last month, and his character's send-off featured a one-way trip to the Red Planet on a NASA Space Launch System-like rocket. And luckily for his many followers, he left a spacesuit behind. In honor of the character's nine years of adventure and beer promotion, beer maker Heineken (which owns the Dos Equis brand) is auctioning off several items that the Most Interesting Man wore in his commercials. Prime among them is a spacesuit from a 2010 commercial in which he splashed down in an Apollo-like spacecraft. Space fans can enter to win the suit by taking a quiz here; the contest ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT on May 5. (Only residents of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia who are 21 and older are eligible.) "Giving our fans the opportunity to possess artifacts [that] the Most Interesting Man collected throughout his extraordinary experiences is a perfect way to toast and commemorate this cultural icon," Andrew Katz, vice president of marketing for Dos Equis, said in a statement. "This is just another way of reminding our loyal fans to live like the Most Interesting Man, seeking culture and adventures, with a 'stay thirsty' mind-set," Katz said. There are more than 25 other items up for auction on Dos Equis' website, including a Spanish guitar (complete with a matching mariachi suit) and a tuxedo that the Most Interesting Man wore to his last masquerade. One fan will also get an all-expenses-paid week-long trip for two to an hacienda in Mexico. To participate in that auction, fans must be at least 21 years old and must live in the United States. The auction runs through June 30 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Fans who visit the site daily for bids and other activities will have more chances to win. Some cities are also featuring the items in a Coveted Collection Estate Auction Tour. Starting April 18 and running through May 5 (or cinco de mayo), the tour has planned stops in Dallas; Austin, Texas; Houston; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Phoenix; and Los Angeles. All proceeds from the auction will go to two charitable projects from the Impact Plan one to rehabilitate endangered animals in East Africa and another to rebuild Himalayan villages that were damaged after an earthquake in Nepal in 2015. Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Original story on Space.com. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. Russia offered to fly Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos beyond the moon for a mere $200 million, but the billionaire entrepreneur said no. Of course, Bezos who is also CEO of the spaceflight company Blue Origin should be able to take a flight to suborbital space on Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle in the near future. Bezos mentioned the opportunity to fly on a Soyuz craft Tuesday (April 12) during a "fireside chat" with science journalist Alan Boyle at the 32nd National Space Symposium (NSS) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. NSS is one of the largest spaceflight industry meetings in the world. [Photos: Glimpses of Secretive Blue Origin's Private Spaceships] Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos leads Blue Origin, a commercial aerospace firm that hopes to send people on suborbital and orbital space trips. See how Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft works here (Image credit: by Karl Tate, Infographics Artist) Boyle asked Bezos whether he would go to space, and Bezos said he intended to fly on New Shepard, which Blue Origin representatives have said will start carrying humans by 2017. Bezos added that he established Blue Origin back in 2000 not out of a personal desire to go to space but rather because he wants to help make spaceflight cheaper, safer and more accessible to everyone. This line of questioning led to the revelation that Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, approached Bezos to take a ride on Russia's Soyuz capsule, which is the only vehicle that is regularly carrying humans into space. Roscosmos officials inquired about Bezos' desire to ride a Soyuz craft to the International Space Station (ISS), the capsule's usual destination. The Soyuz has flown a handful of wealthy space tourists to and from the ISS before, at about $20 million per seat. "I'm definitely in their target market," Bezos told Boyle. Roscosmos also offered Bezos the chance to do a flyby of the moon a capability that the Soyuz was built for but that has not been tested. The lunar mission would cost Bezos about $200 million, he said. The high price tag was an issue, as was the fact that the Soyuz hasn't yet been tested on a lunar flyby. Roscosmos responded by saying it would test the vehicle for him, for an additional $400 million. Bezos turned the Russian officials down. A spaceflight golden age The talk between Bezos and Boyle covered many aspects of Blue Origin's current goals, including getting its BE-4 engine into operation in the company's orbital vehicle, as well as in rockets built by United Launch Alliance. But Bezos' dreams go far beyond those goals. He reiterated his long-term vision of having "millions of people living and working in space," but went farther to say that Earth should eventually conduct most of its manufacturing in space and use the planet's surface primarily for habitation. [3D Printing in Space: 21st Century Space Manufacturing and Technology] Boyle first asked Bezos to compare the landscape for startups in the spaceflight industry today with the landscape for tech startups in the mid-1990s, when Bezos founded Amazon.com. Bezos said he thinks the massive growth of internet-based companies over the past two decades was possible largely because those companies could build upon pre-existing infrastructure. For example, phone companies had already built the international infrastructure to allow people to connect to the internet, even though that was not part of the original purpose of phone lines. Moreover, the existence of remote payment systems and the post office allowed Amazon.com to sell products over the internet and ship them all over the world, Bezos said. But a similar infrastructure is missing for the spaceflight industry, he noted. "If you want to see a kind of dynamic golden age where thousands of entrepreneurs can be doing amazing things in space the reason we haven't seen it is, the big, heavy-lifting pieces are not yet in place," Bezos said. "And there may be multiple things that have to happen before you can see that kind of giant leap, but I don't think so. I really think it's just one big piece: We need much lower-cost access to space." Blue Origin may help change that, Bezos said. One of the primary pillars that set Blue Origin apart from most (though not all) other spaceflight companies is its emphasis on reusable rockets, which would "make access to space much lower-cost, so entrepreneurs can do exciting things in space." On April 2, Blue Origin successfully launched and landed one of its New Shepard suborbital rockets. After separating from the company's space capsule (which is built to carry humans on suborbital flights), the rocket used its thrusters to land vertically on the ground. This same rocket had launched and landed twice before, so Blue Origin is making big strides in its quest for reusability. Jeff Bezos, CEO of the private spaceflight company Blue Origin, at the National Space Symposium on April 12, 2016. Bezos talked with science writer Alan Boyle. (Image credit: Space Foundation) Blue Origin has said that its suborbital vehicle will provide commercial trips to space for civilians. It will also serve as a place to do scientific experiments in microgravity, or test technologies that will eventually go into orbit. Into orbit Blue Origin is not the only company pursuing reusable rocket boosters: The private spaceflight company SpaceX recently made its second reusable rocket landing this time, on a robotic "drone ship" off the coast of Florida. (SpaceX's first such landing occurred on land, at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.) Whereas New Shepard touched down after missions to suborbital space, SpaceX's rocket landings occurred during launches that sent payloads to orbit. [See photos of SpaceX's recent rocket landing at sea] Blue Origin plans to get into the orbital spaceflight game as well. In the same way that Amazon.com began as an online bookseller and then expanded into selling a wide array of items, as well as other ventures, Bezos said "suborbital space tourism might be the 'books' equivalent for Blue Origin." Blue Origin is building an orbital vehicle that it has nicknamed "Very Big Brother," which is also being designed to be reusable. Bezos said the vertical landing approach that the company is using with New Shepard can be scaled up to bigger rockets. "In terms of that landing segment, which is the most challenging segment of this type of mission, that part just gets easier with scale," Bezos said. "In fact, in general, rockets want to be big. The bigger, the better, as far as vertical landing is concerned." Very Big Brother will be powered by the company's BE-4 engine, which Blue Origin has a contract to sell to United Launch Alliance (ULA), which currently builds its Atlas V rockets using refurbished Russian rocket engines. On this point, Bezos noted that ULA launches many national-security payloads and that the BE-4 engine will therefore help keep the United States strong and safe. "Me and all of us at Blue Origin find the fact that we will get to help with the national-security missions incredibly motivating," he said. Finally, Boyle asked Bezos to talk more about the distant future of humans in space. Bezos said he believes in increasing Earth's energy consumption because it allows people to live better lives. But he also emphasized his belief that humanity should expand into space in order to protect Earth from that growing energy appetite. In fact, Bezos said he thinks a majority of manufacturing facilities could eventually be moved into space, leaving the surface of the planet free for habitation. "I think we need to explore and utilize space in order to save the Earth," Bezos said. "So we are going to go into space, and we need to do so in order to continue to grow our civilization and to keep this jewel of a planet the way it is. And I think we will do that." Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. 1917 astronomical plate has first-ever evidence of exoplanetary system by Staff Writers Pasadena CA (SPX) Apr 14, 2016 The 1917 photographic plate spectrum of van Maanen's star from the Carnegie Observatories' archive. The pull-out box shows the strong lines of the element calcium, which are surprisingly easy to see in the century old spectrum. The spectrum is the thin, (mostly) dark line in the center of the image. The broad dark lanes above and below are from lamps used to calibrate wavelength, and are contrast-enhanced in the box to highlight the two "missing" absorption bands in the star. Image courtesy The Carnegie Institution for Science. For a larger version of this image please go here You can never predict what treasure might be hiding in your own basement. We didn't know it a year ago, but it turns out that a 1917 image on an astronomical glass plate from our Carnegie Observatories' collection shows the first-ever evidence of a planetary system beyond our own Sun. This unexpected find was recognized in the process of researching an article about planetary systems surrounding white dwarf stars in New Astronomy Reviews. Here's what happened: about a year ago, the review's author, Jay Farihi of University College London, contacted our Observatories' Director, John Mulchaey. He was looking for a plate in the Carnegie archive that contained a spectrum of van Maanen's star, a white dwarf discovered by Dutch-American astronomer Adriaan van Maanen in the very year our own plate was made. Stellar spectra are recordings of the light emitted by distant stars. Spectra spread out all of the component colors of light, like a rainbow from a prism, and they can teach astronomers about a star's chemical composition. They can also tell them how the light emitted by a star is affected by the chemistry of the things it passes through before reaching us on Earth. Stellar spectra images allowed 19th century astronomers to develop a system for classifying stars that is still used today. Modern astronomers use digital tools to image stars, but for decades, they would use glass photographic plates both to take images of the sky, and to record stellar spectra. As requested, the Observatories located the 1917 plate, made by former Observatories Director Walter Adams at Mount Wilson Observatory, which was then part of Carnegie. Other than a notation on the plate's sleeve indicating that the star looked a bit warmer than our own Sun, everything seemed very ordinary. However, when Farihi examined the spectrum, he found something quite extraordinary. The clue was in what's called an "absorption line" on the spectrum. Absorption lines indicate "missing pieces," areas where the light coming from a star passed through something and had a particular color of light absorbed by that substance. These lines indicate the chemical makeup of the interfering object. Carnegie's 1917 spectrum of van Maanen's star revealed the presence of heavier elements, such as calcium, magnesium, and iron, which should have long since disappeared into the star's interior due to their weight. Only within the last 12 years has it become clear to astronomers that van Maanen's star and other white dwarfs with heavy elements in their spectra represent a type of planetary system featuring vast rings of rocky planetary remnants that deposit debris into the stellar atmosphere. These recently discovered systems are called "polluted white dwarfs." They were a surprise to astronomers, because white dwarfs are stars like our own Sun at the end of their lifetimes, so it was not at all expected that they would have leftover planetary material around them at that stage. "The unexpected realization that this 1917 plate from our archive contains the earliest recorded evidence of a polluted white dwarf system is just incredible," Mulchaey said. "And the fact that it was made by such a prominent astronomer in our history as Walter Adams enhances the excitement." Planets themselves have not yet been detected orbiting van Maanen's star, nor around similar systems, but Farihi is confident it is only a matter of time. "The mechanism that creates the rings of planetary debris, and the deposition onto the stellar atmosphere, requires the gravitational influence of full-fledged planets," he explained. "The process couldn't occur unless there were planets there." "Carnegie has one of the world's largest collections of astronomical plates with an archive that includes about 250,000 plates from three different observatories--Mount Wilson, Palomar, and Las Campanas," concluded Mulchaey. "We have a ton of history sitting in our basement and who knows what other finds we might unearth in the future?" At a hearing on Wednesday, 14 experts were invited to speak to the Cultural and Media Affairs Committee in the German parliament, where divisions over the proposed legislation were aired. Some described it as being "good, necessary and overdue," but others warned the new due diligence requirements for dealers would be "untenable." Meanwhile, Dorothee Hansen of the Kunsthalle Bremen museum warned that "there is considerable uncertainty on the part of collectors. Many are no longer prepared to loan their works to us." Should it ultimately pass, the new law would make it illegal in Germany to trade in artifacts that do not have an export license from their country of origin. Restitutions are also to be made easier. Videos from the Syrian city of Palmyra, the home of ancient ruins that was occupied until recently by Islamic State, along with images from plundered archeological digs in Iraq, Afghanistan and Mali, have shifted public perception of the problem. It has now become clear to many that the issue is not merely one that affects the countries involved. Rather, the global market in stolen antiquities threatens the cultural heritage of humanity as a whole. Archeological art differs from more recent works of art on one decisive point: The expressiveness of an historical artifact can only fully be realized if it is known where and how it was found. Should that context be removed by way of illegal excavation, the object becomes little more than decoration. Such pieces may be nice to look at, but they have very little historical value. The illegal trade in antiquities is almost as lucrative as the illegal trade in drugs and arms, and almost as clandestine. It is currently a booming business in the war zones of the Middle East and North Africa, but almost nothing is known about the key figures involved. And even if they are identified, they don't talk. But regardless of whether the illegal object comes from Syria, China or Costa Rica, the business is largely the same everywhere. A Central America veteran like Leonardo Patterson operates according to similar market laws as does a Turkish dealer who trades in cuneiform writing tablets from Iraq. SPIEGEL spent recent months combing through German and Spanish court files and documents and interviewing investigators and art appraisers along with business partners, acquaintances and relatives of Patterson. We also sat down for several interviews with Patterson himself. The result is a detailed look into an astounding career. It clearly shows how Germany and other countries have thus far failed to block the trade in plundered cultural artifacts -- and why Patterson will likely be able to continue selling those objects that remain in his possession. THE RISE Patterson's golden age was in the 1990s. He lived at the time in Munich, where he was chauffeured around the city in a blue Rolls Royce. He even had his own polo team, including four players and 12 horses. "I was doing well at the time because I had good stuff," he says. "Good stuff" is Patterson's code for illegal objects. Breathing heavily, he is sitting in front of his venison goulash in a restaurant in Munich's Arabellapark -- an amicable older man in a tie, blazer and jogging shoes. He is an easy man to underestimate, which is part of his secret to success. How can you not trust a man who talks quietly, stutters and has trouble finding his words? Having never learned German, Patterson speaks the mumbled Rastafari English of his Caribbean home. In our first meeting, he was reserved, speaking vaguely of shamans, Mayan ghosts and toad poison. It was impossible to get a precise statement out of him. But on this winter day in Munich, he is transformed. His apparent naivete from our first meeting has vanished completely and he speaks clearly for three-and-a-half hours. For decades, Patterson's business worked as follows: His Mexican middlemen would travel to Munich on a regular basis. "They worked together with the illegal excavators," he says. "Their focus was on fresh goods, primarily because of the prices. They had to know where digging was currently going on. They always got it at the place where it was found. They knew the people in the villages." The Mexicans knew the kinds of things that Patterson liked. They would send him photos from the excavation sites and he would choose the objects he wanted. "My people brought me the stuff to wherever I wanted it," he says. "If I was in China, they found a way to bring it there. If I was in Paris, then they brought the stuff to Paris." Starting at the Bottom So the Mexicans took care of the smuggling? "Yes," says Patterson, "they knew how to do it. That was how they made money. They have contacts, friends." Did they also pay bribes? "That's how they do it." Patterson himself denies having been directly involved in smuggling. And what about the incident at the Frankfurt Airport in 2004 when, after receiving a tip, customs officials set their sights on an air freight delivery containing archeological artifacts from Mexico and simply waited until Patterson's daughter showed up? "Oh yeah," he says. "Frankfurt was an exception." Patterson's climb to become one of the most successful dealers in Central American antiquities began at the very bottom. The son of poor Jamaican immigrants, he was born in Costa Rica in 1942. By the time he was 12, he was already working as a cook in his aunt's restaurant. Later, he was hired by a jeweler in the capital of San Jose. Occasionally, plunderers would come by to melt down gold. At some point, they dragged him along into the jungle to take a look at the old graves. Patterson saw the business potential. "I wondered why I should be melting these old things down to make a terrible ring out of them," he says, and he found a dealer who would buy the original items for a higher price. It was the beginning of an astonishing career. He moved to Miami and, not long later, to New York. There, he was taken under the wing of Everett Rassiga, the legendary gallery owner who once had an airstrip cut into the jungles of Campeche in southeastern Mexico to fly out a plundered Mayan fresco. Rassiga invited his new protege to Mexico. "That's how I began trading in Mexican stuff," Patterson says. He started off by selling Rassiga's objects, but he soon had his own sources who would bring him fresh goods from the ancient burial plots of Central America. A High Profile In the 1970s, UNESCO passed a convention aimed at stopping the illegal trade of cultural artifacts, but many countries failed to immediately ratify the agreement. In the 1960s and '70s, hardly anyone in the rich countries where the collectors lived cared if huge numbers of archeological objects from illicit digs were making their way from the poor south to the prosperous north. Patterson profited from this lawlessness and he knew how to impress his clients. He needed a high profile and, as a black man who hung out with the most exclusive gallery owners in the city, he was able to easily establish one. He would wear elegantly tailored three-piece suits when visiting the exclusive Studio 54 club in New York. And he had a former racecar driver repair his red Ferrari -- and left the workshop with an old Rolls Royce Phantom II. Patterson had no gallery of his own, instead entertaining the rich and beautiful in the city's most expensive restaurants and showing them his pieces there. He sold some of them for a few thousand dollars, but asked millions for others. His competitors whispered that he also sold counterfeits, but Patterson responded by saying they were merely jealous of his excellent connections. Yet counterfeits are everywhere on the antiquities market. Experts estimate that fully half of the objects on offer are fakes. There is simply no way for the illegal diggers to loot enough pieces fast enough to satisfy the demand. And despite his denials -- which he repeats to this very day -- Patterson gained a reputation for trading in counterfeits. He moved to Los Angeles, and when he visited New York, he would stay at the luxurious St. Regis Hotel on Fifth Avenue. That's where he first met the surrealist painter Salvador Dali. The eccentric Spaniard spent winters together with his wife Gala and ocelot Babou in room 1610, two floors above Patterson. "There is a problem and it has to be condemned," says Tariq Ramadan, a Muslim intellectual leader in Europe about the tendency for many in the Arab world to respond to any provocation from the West with anti-Semitism. "We have to realize that double standards cannot be allowed. ... I do think that we have to oppose the Israeli policy of attacking the Palestinians, but it is in no way acceptable to confuse this political stance with something which accepts and normalizes an anti-Semitic discourse." But that's a fine line to walk. Israel is a favorite target of the Arab media and many in the region see the Jewish state as a thorn in the side of the Middle East. There is no shortage of cartoons depicting incapacitated Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with blood on his hands as he gleefully slaughters Palestinians -- a legitimate if graphic method of political protest. And there are a number of political cartoonists in the Arab world who refrain from any sort of anti-Semitism. But just as Germans open themselves up to charges of anti-Semitism as soon as they voice any critique of Israel, Arab cartoonists do the same when using the Star of David as shorthand for Israel. A November cartoon in the major Egyptian daily al-Ahram -- a paper which officially "does not commission or support anti-Semitic material in our newspaper" according to a spokeswoman for the English version -- provides a concise illustration. It depicts the United Nations, in human form, hunched under the crushing weight of a number of UN resolutions passed against various Middle Eastern countries. On top of the pile sits a Jew wearing a Star of David hat holding a bloody axe. Although the Jew is unobtrusively labelled "Sharon," it is clearly meant to indicate Jewish domination of the UN and by extension -- especially given the globe-shaped head of the UN figure -- the world. "I would agree" that a lot of cartoonists in the Arab world are anti-Semitic, Shujaat Ali, political cartoonist for Al-Jazeera.net said in an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE. "We should respect people from other religions . We should have a code of ethics among cartoonists, and we need to ask ourselves how far it is acceptable for us to go." Most of the children of Daesh, as Islamic State is called in Arabic, are no older than one-and-a-half. They are proof of the humiliation which took place, and they represent the further undermining of the foundations of Kurdish society. Finding Islamic State's children isn't easy, not least because their very survival is a taboo. They also raise a number of questions about the issue of sex slavery in the region. How, for example, are northern Iraqis dealing with these children. What issues do the mothers of these children face when they escape or are liberated? And what does IS do when it finds out a slave is pregnant? The search for the answers to these questions leads not only to Baden-Wurttemberg, but also to a doctor in Iraqi Kurdistan. It leads to a judge specializing in adoption law in Dohuk and to the edge of this city, where baby Nura can be found lying in a cradle. The resulting story is not one of good or bad, black or white. It is the story of a defeated society that, while deeply shaken, is also trying to maintain its dignity. It's a story of coping and also one of astounding, even surprising resilience. It's a bright, warm day in Baden-Wurttemberg. Inside the cafe, Khaula orders an apple spritzer and a schnitzel with beans that she won't eat. She wears heels and a black dress -- she's a refined and petit woman. It takes several hours for Khaula to share her story. She doesn't cry as she tells it; it sounds almost as though she's relating another person's fate. "I am telling it so that my captured family back in Iraq won't be forgotten," she says. The Slave Market On August 3, 2014, IS attacked Khaula's village and within a month, 5,000 people from the region had disappeared. Khaula was forced into a bus and taken to a jail full of hundreds of other women and girls. They were then forced to drink water that IS henchmen had spat into right in front of them. As they drank, preparations were made for their sale. Khaula fell into the hands of a tall, 45-year-old IS man wearing a white robe who called himself Abu Omar. He purchased her for 1.5 million Iraqi dinars, or around 1,500, and told her: "You belong to me." He then locked her inside a house in Mosul, Islamic State's stronghold in Iraq. It's there that he brutally deflowered her, pressing her into the ground, dragging her by the hair into bed, choking her, cursing her and forcing her to listen to the screams of other women who were being tortured in the same house. After four months, he took Khaula along to the home of his wife, who was pregnant. She was ordered to immediately start helping the wife with the household chores, the washing and the cooking. In a fit of jealousy, the woman struck her with a chair. Khaula then tried to hang herself from a fan. 'I Want You To Give Me a Son' The man had five daughters together with his first wife. He told Khaula: "I want you to bear me a son." During the several hours she takes to tell her story, Khaula will say at one point of her child: "Its life is meaningless to me." But also: "The child was very beautiful." Officially, IS does not want sex slaves like Khaula to get pregnant. Islamic State published a pamphlet about how to treat female slaves called "Questions and Answers on Taking Captives and Slaves," which began circulating on the Internet after the attack on Sinjar in 2014. It states that sex with slaves is permitted. The only mention of pregnancies in the pamphlet relates to the women's market value. It poses the question: "If a female prisoner is impregnated by her owner, can he then sell her?" The answer: "He cannot sell her if she has become the mother of a child." In other words, her value falls to zero the moment she gets pregnant. But her status improves: As a mother, she falls into a position somewhere between slave and free woman. She no longer fits into the concept of the slave trade or virgin bazaar IS perpetuates in order to recruit new fighters. There are rules in place from the times of the Prophet Mohammed which are also hinted at in the pamphlet: When a man purchases a sex slave, he has to abstain for a certain amount of time before having sex with her -- a menstrual cycle or two. Such abstinence is known in Islamic law as "Istibra" and is meant to ensure that the slave's stomach is "empty," so that no child sired by another man is foisted on the new owner. When Khaula realized that she had become pregnant, she went to the fighter's living room, picked up a television and carried it up and down the stairs for hours. Other women stacked stones on top of themselves or jumped from high buildings in order to force a miscarriage. "I tried everything, but I didn't lose the child," says Khaula. The fighter's wife soon became envious, a fortuitous turn for Khaula. "I don't want to see your belly any longer," she said one morning. She brought Khaula a telephone, which Khaula then used to dial her brother's number in Dohuk. The brother gave her the address of an acquaintance Khaula should go to. She left the house wearing a burqa and accepted the money offered by the wife for her escape. In the taxi, instead of using the word "shukran," or thanks in Arabic, she used the Daesh term "Jazaak Allaahu Khayran" -- out of fear. An Underground Network Her brother's acquaintance established contact with a Yazidi network operating in the IS region --intermediaries who had frequently been able to smuggle women out of captivity and into Kurdish-controlled territory. The network is led by a Dohuk-based man who goes by the name Abu Shuya. He is constantly juggling three mobile phones and has received multiple death threats from Islamic State. Khaula waited for 40 days. Abu Shuya then sent a helper who took her to an Arab family located near the front. They only moved forward at night, crawling for as long as five hours over the mountains. The helper had to carry Khaula on the final stretch to the Peshmerga, because only he knew where the mines were located in the stony ground. "I was finally free," Khaula says. Around 2,000 women are thought to have successfully fled from IS-controlled areas. The United Nations estimates that around 3,500 Yazidi women are still living in slavery there. Other sources place the figure as high as 7,000. Difficult Choices Dohuk, a city of half a million located 75 kilometers (46 miles) away from Mosul in northern Iraqi Kurdistan, is where survivors of IS terror go first. It is surrounded by dusty tent cities and okra-colored mountains. This is where the pregnant women arrive and where the abortions of IS babies take place. It is also where surviving babies are put up for adoption. Khaula was reunited with her brother in a camp in Dohuk. By then, she was in her sixth month of pregnancy. "I was so happy, I didn't know how to hug him," she says. That evening, she put on additional layers of clothing in an attempt to conceal her belly, but everyone still kept staring at her. One evening, her uncle took her aside and said, "Please, no Daesh child." She made the decision to have an abortion and found a doctor who gave her medication to induce labor. She spent two days in a hotel and then went to the hospital as a normal patient. "The child's father is fighting on the front," she told them. She gave birth to a girl with dark hair and a face like a baby bird. Earlier, she had imagined what it might be like to have a child, its tiny hands and its smell during the first few days of a fresh peach. Now the baby was lying next to her leg, dead. "The doctors didn't want her to die, but there were problems," she says. Khaula looked at it and briefly touched its foot with the tip of her finger. She then placed a blanket over the dead newborn. Her cousin arrived with the car and together they put the child in a plastic bag and drove outside the city to bury the child at the side of a road. Khaula stayed in the car. Her only thought, she says, was: "I murdered a child." After the burial, her uncle slaughtered a lamb in atonement. Khaula then went to the white spring in Lalish, a Yazidi sacred site, where she washed herself clean. There, she received a blessing from Baba Sheikh, the Yazidi spiritual leader who has taken hundreds of violated women back into the community since 2014. Finding Homes for the IS Babies If Khaula's baby had survived, it likely would have wound up in the care of two men in central Dohuk who are trying to help the IS babies and their mothers. One is Dr. Nezar Ismet Taib, the director of the health department in Dohuk who also runs a clinic for surviving women. The other is Mohammed Hasan, a civil court judge who handles adoptions of orphans in the region. Hasan helps place surviving IS babies with Kurdish parents who know nothing of the baby's parents. The two attempt to do what they can to make a terrible situation a little more bearable. It's a mild spring day in March when Dr. Taib receives us in a boxy building in Dohuk. "We're doing what we can, but are also overwhelmed," says Taib, a trained child psychiatrist. He's a quiet man with salt and pepper hair and seems to have endless patience. He works together with three female therapists and a gynecologist. Just before our visit, a woman had come to his office wanting to kill herself. "Of the more than 700 women who came for treatment last year, 5 percent had gotten pregnant during their captivity," he says. That's 35 women. He attributes the relatively low pregnancy rate to the use of contraceptives. "All those who became pregnant need to be granted the right to a safe abortion," Taib says. Together with his team, he appeared in court to request that a raped woman be allowed to have an abortion after her second month of pregnancy. Later-term abortions are illegal in the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq. "We still don't have a solution," Taib says. Anonymous Orphans This means that women who arrive in later stages of pregnancy are often forced to carry the babies to term. Taib's team provides them with a slot in the nursery, where the baby can stay until the court finds adoptive parents. There are no orphanages in Iraq, and Yazidi society is conservative. "Foreign blood, meaning a child from a Muslim, would never be accepted," says Taib. The fact that the children are also born out of wedlock makes them "unacceptable" to society, which explains why Dr. Taib registers them with the court as being anonymous orphans. Mohamed Hasan, a tall man with a sonorous voice, works at the civil court in Dohuk. He brings the children of the IS together with their new parents. Hasan is very hesitant to be interviewed given the taboo nature of what he is dealing with, but in the end, he agrees to a meeting in the sitting room of his home. Hasan loves children, even those born to IS fathers. "My department accepted 10 babies during the past year," says Hasan. He receives a form from Taib's hospital ward with information about the child and the notation, "parents unknown" -- a specification given in order to protect the identity of the baby and its mother. Internally, of course, workers know when it is an IS baby. Generally, there are around 20 applicants for each child, says Judge Hasan. "It is very important to have children in Kurdish society. We have plenty of potential adoptive parents who are waiting," he says. The couples must be affluent and able to ensure that the child will inherit at least one-third of their assets if the parents should die. They also have to be married and own a home. "We have to be sure that they can provide a good future for the child," he says. Hasan puts the names of those couples who meet the criteria into a jar, mixes them well and draws a winner. It's Better If the Child Never Learns the Truth Under normal circumstances, adoptive parents would be provided with all information about their child, Hasan says, but he makes an exception for the children of IS fighters because, as he puts it, "Who would take them?" He says it's also better for the child if it never learns the truth. And what happens if the child looks foreign because its father was a blond-haired IS fighter? "You get all possible hair colors in Kurdish society," says Hasan. He has a proverb at the ready: "The belly is like a garden -- anything can grow inside of it." Once an IS child has been adopted, its name is appended to the new parents' marriage certificate. Once its name is listed there, the child is firmly a part of the family. The neighbors don't ask questions. Tribal structures are the framework of Kurdish society. The indignity of being an IS child has been eliminated. The babies that wind up in the hands of Dr. Taib and Judge Hasan are the lucky ones. Not all women turn to aid organizations, which makes it harder for the two to help more people in need. And some women are so traumatized that they simply aren't capable. They create their own reality and relate an alternative narrative, in which their baby is the product of a loving relationship with their husband amid the terror afflicted by the IS. For some women, that's the only way they are able to cope with the truth. The Struggle of Life with a Daesh Child Sajedah, an 18-year-old Yazidi who lives in an unfinished building on the outskirts of Dohuk, is one of them. Her baby Nura is rocking in a cradle next to her. The child is around five months old, sleeps well, is often hungry and is currently a bit cranky because of a cough. Her cap has a teddy bear on it and she is sucking on a pink pacifier. Her brown eyes are alert. The neighbors say they are certain that Nura is a child of Daesh, there's no doubt. The cool air sinks from the mountains down into the impoverished neighborhood, where the streets are rutted and the buildings mere skeletons of stone. The family has gathered around the cradle -- the grandmother, grandfather, aunts, uncles and Sajedah, who is pale beneath the fluorescent lighting. She wears a skirt and a scarf, loosely flung around her head. She smiles shyly, before her face then becomes a mask again. Then the smile returns. It all happens so quickly that it's as if there's no boundary between inside and outside. No defenses. Sajedah sits a few meters away from the cradle. It's only after a half an hour that she says: "The child in the cradle is my child." She's been living in freedom for six months now. She had Nura after 14 months in captivity. In her ninth-month of pregnancy, she managed to escape her last owner in the city of Tall Afar. With the help of an intermediary with the Kurdish network inside the IS-held area, she was able to wedge herself into the inside of a water tanker that drove her out of hell. She is deeply traumatized and you can sense it in each of her movements, her looks, her voice and her facial expressions. It's not possible to verify her story. Its likely Sajedah would break down if she had to acknowledge that her baby is the child of an IS fighter. She gushes about her husband Misban, who disappeared during the war with IS. He's her hero and she even tattooed his name onto her arm using a needle and a paste made of grass. Yet even evoking Misban hasn't been sufficient to protect her from the accusations of her neighbors. When Islamic State attacked her village, Tall Asser, in August 2014, Sajedah was inside Misban's house and the two were kidnapped together. It was midnight and the fighters brought them to different collection points. Men and women were separated, but then Sajedah was returned to her husband. Some former IS prisoners have reported that this was standard practice for IS. The fighters transported the couple from place to place: Misban had to work loading trucks while Sajedah stayed in the house. "It continued like that for a year," Sajedah says. "It was during this time that we conceived the child." After several families managed to escape, IS fighters separated the couple. After nine months of imprisonment, Sajedah was sold for the first time. "I was already pregnant at the time," she says, "in the fourth month." She says the first fighter who bought her had an ultrasound performed, after which he returned her as though she were a defective product. The second fighter struck her brutally in the stomach in the hope she would have a miscarriage. The third kept her for five days. The fourth was an old man who also had an ultrasound done and saw that the child was going to be a girl. She says he told her, "I will kill it and then sell you again." At that point, there were only 10 days left to go until birth. When the fourth man went away on a trip, Sajedah used his computer to log into Facebook, which she used to contact the network that ultimately freed and rescued her. After she was liberated, she fasted for six days in gratitude to God. Nura was born in a Dohuk hospital. She says everything went so quickly that she can no longer remember the first days after her release. "I'm certain that Nura is my husband's child," she says quietly. "The problem is that nobody besides my parents believes me." 'It Would Be Better If You Killed Your Daesh Baby' A few days before she gave birth, a few neighbors stopped by her house. They went into her living room and said, "Your baby is from Daesh. Why didn't you have an abortion?" At the market, someone told her sister, "It would be better if you killed your Daesh baby." When Sajedah heard about it, she ran with Nura to the shower. She wanted to strangle her with a scarf and then kill herself, but her mother ran in behind her. Sajedah is now trying to ignore what the neighbors are saying. She takes Nura out of the cradle, pulls her pants down and shows a bruise on her buttocks. She says an IS man hit her so hard that it also injured Nura, adding that the spot had been black at birth. In medical terms, the story she tells is far-fetched. It's hardly conceivable that a bruise would still be visible after such a long period of time. Then she adds: "I too hit Nura when she screams. Then I quickly give her to my mother." She says that every time the child is sad, she also feels sad and angry. Sajedah is making considerable effort to be a mother to Nura. She smiles at her, even if it's forced. She rocks her cradle, but then sits down far away from it. Sajedah's father launches into a discussion about identification papers for Nura, which the family hasn't been able to obtain because Misban is officially unknown as a husband and there is no marriage certificate. The conversation prompts Sajedah to leap up and rampage through the room like a wounded animal. She hardly goes to the door anymore. Sajedah has gone from one prison to the next with her baby. A few weeks ago, an NGO invited her to Erbil to take a language class. For 10 days, she learned English vocabulary together with other women who had managed to survive Islamic State terror. They washed each other's feet, watched videos on their mobile phones, took walks along the streets and drank pomegranate juice -- just as they had done in earlier times. Sajedah felt happy, free. Her baby Nura remained back at home in the cradle. Sajedah is a proud woman who once dreamed of becoming a lawyer. She can still remember all the injustices inflicted on her and her friends at her school as a child. But as she got back on the bus in Erbil to head back home, she had only one thought: That she would very much like to be a mother to Nura. But she knows it's going to be difficult. A mid the current furore over corporate tax affairs, City Spy notes a handy little rebate to the tune of 125 million on Tescos corporation tax bill thanks to outsized losses run up by the old regime. Of course, this is all proper and above board. Still, every little helps Also buried deep in the Tesco figures: a Brussels clampdown on prices charged by credit-card companies to their corporate customers is costing Tesco Bank dear in commissions. Tesco Bank saw its operating profits fall 14% to 162 million largely as a result of the impact the new rules imposed in December had on Mastercard. Thats 26 million in pure profit going from Tesco Bank to businesses taking card payments, and as Tesco says, thats only the start of it; the full impact wont be felt until the next financial year. Hopefully, those shops and services will be passing these savings on to customers. Thatll do nicely. Daycation comes with a helping of French sauce If you thought Airbnb was pushing it, get ready for dayuse.com. This service allows you to book hotel rooms for a few hours during the day at reduced rates and has just started in the UK. According to the company you can drop off your bags, have a nap, freshen up or simply relax in a luxurious hotel bed reading magazines or watching films. Dayuse dubs this new pursuit as the daycation. Spy can think of earthier ways to describe it. But then dayuse is a French start-up and they probably dont blink at such daytime recreation on the other side of the Channel. Divine intervention gives Helical help from on high Property can have its ups and downs so its always good to have the Almighty onside. An attentive employee of developer Helical Bar noticed BBC Radio 4s Sunday Worship was broadcast the Sunday before last from Wesleys Chapel, immediately adjacent to C-Space, one of the firms major London refurbishments on City Road. Then, praise be, he was further surprised when last weeks Sunday Worship was broadcast from the Tabernacle Welsh Baptist Church in Cardiff again right next door to Helicals Morgan Arcades Shopping Centre. The entire congregation of Helical will be tuning in to see whether this Sundays broadcast will be from another of the firms schemes perhaps St Bartholomew the Great, the church which is right next door to its Barts Square scheme in the City of London? Amen. High times for Spy Spy is feeling smug today after the Evening Standard team triumphed at the annual TSB pub quiz last night, two years on from its last victory. Knowledge of Asian flags and pop music came in handy but an understanding of fracking or hydraulic fracturing as Spy correctly answered set the team apart from the competition. Funnily enough, the team was rather useful in the brands picture round despite falling out over whether it was Tetley or PG Tips (it was Tetley) A S the Prime Minister faces continued attacks by Corbyn & Co over his investments offshore, I wondered whether his Opposition snipers are themselves whiter than white. Surprise, surprise, the answer was no. The Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund presumably the biggest investment many MPs have squirrels away plenty of their cash in low-tax jurisdictions. Just look at the Blairmore-style pooled investment vehicles it backs. OK, none of them are based in Panama but, as of last year, MPs pensions were invested in two Blackrock funds based in Ireland, one in Jersey and a Morgan Stanley one in Luxembourg. It has since pulled out of the last two but recently put money into the M&G European Loan Fund, based in Dublin. As for where these funds themselves invest, it would be extremely surprising if they did not include numerous other assets in tax-haven destinations. So, what to make of all this? A fund spokesman points out that its under a fiduciary duty to invest in its members best financial interests. That has to include tax haven-based businesses because, they inherently offer better returns. Its a fair point. You cant blame the pension fund. You also cant blame the Cameron-baiting MPs for finding themselves in this situation. All major pension schemes invest in offshore funds whether you like it or not, and probably wont tell you unless you ask. No, what MPs pensions illustrate clearly is that offshore tax havens are utterly embedded in the financial world. If MPs really want to close them down, the disruption for all our investment schemes would be immense. The costs of investing would rise, and returns on pension funds including those of MPs would fall. A price worth paying for transparency, perhaps. But politicians should think it through before they rush into any hasty actions. P earson has come under attack from disgruntled shareholders who are drumming up support for an overhaul of the under-pressure education company before its AGM. The rebellion has the support of several trade unions, including London-based Unison. It is being led by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which claims the former Financial Times owner has poisoned its brand in the US, where it generates two thirds of sales. They are calling for Pearson to re-evaluate its controversial standardised testing in the US and abandon its support for privatised schools in the developing world. They also claim the current restructuring does not address the underlying structural problems including reputational damage. Pearsons high-stakes testing has drawn criticism across the Atlantic including from comedians Louis C.K. and John Oliver (pictured), who has attacked the companys shocking amount of influence over Americas schools. On Tuesday, the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund sent a letter to the FTSE 100 education groups investors urging them to back the proposals at the AGM on April 29. AFT president Randi Weingarten said: For the last two years, we have tried, to no avail, to make Pearson understand its business practices were damaging both public education and its bottom line. This year, as Pearson shareholders, we have joined with other labour unions, pension funds and individuals to tell the board and other shareholders that Pearsons managements hyper-fixation on high-stakes testing in the Global North and its privatizing of public education in the Global South have been bad for business, bad for students and bad for the community. Pearson said the proposal will not promote the success of, and is not in the best interests of, the company and argued that US testing makes up less than 10% of its revenues. It said it had already carried out an overhaul of the business, arguing that the subsequent share price rise suggested investors had reacted positively to the plans. A spokesman for Pearson said: We recognise that there are opportunities in the US for fewer and better tests. We would welcome AFT into this conversation. Together, the unions and pension funds involved own around 1.6 million worth of Pearson shares only a tiny chunk of the 6.7 billion company but they hope more investors will join them in the revolt. Pearsons house broker Citi said: We are not convinced the trade unions' calls have particular merit. Indeed, this looks to us like an out and out PR exercise. Another broker Macquarie echoed these views: We view this as a misplaced gripe about Common Core testing. The resolution requires 75% approval for it to be passed. O ne of the biggest waste-management companies in the South-East has been given a record fine over illegal treatment of hazardous material including asbestos at its huge Willesden depot. Powerday, run by London Irish rugby club co-owner Mick Crossan, disposes of waste for major clients including Barratt Homes, Berkeley Homes and Carillion. The firm was ordered to pay more than 1.2 million at Harrow Crown Court for offences related to two separate cases which, combined, saw more than 17,000 tonnes of waste deposited and stored illegally. The record fine came under tough new sentencing guidelines for environmental crimes. The first case saw Powerday storing more than 10 tonnes of hazardous waste for disposal at the Willesden site in breach of its licence. The Environment Agency said this included asbestos, contaminated concrete and treated wood which had been taken to the Willesden centre from building sites across London and a power station in Nottinghamshire. The company was fined for charges including treating, keeping or disposing of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution or harm to human health. In the second case, Powerday admitted its part in a scheme that saw approximately 3000 tonnes of contaminated material, known in the industry as trommel fines, trucked off from its huge Old Oak Sidings depot in Willesden to be used in compost at a mushroom farm in Oxfordshire. The fine part of which reflected the 350,000 extra profit Powerday made from its offences at Willesden is thought to be the biggest of its kind. Powerday pleaded guilty to the offences last year, but sentencing was only handed down this week. The Environment Agency takes tough action against illegal activity and will not hesitate to investigate and prosecute those involved in waste crime, the agency said. Illegal waste activity undermines nesses and puts the public and environment at risk. The agency was alerted to the mushroom farm dumping after receiving reports from the public of lorries apparently containing waste entering the farms gate. Powerdays managing director Mark Bensted wrote to the court along with other directors to express remorse and state they had cleaned up the contaminated land. Owner Crossan said he was frustrated that the case got to this point, acknowledging there was a breach arising out of what he described as an ambiguity in the licence at Old Oak Siding. He added that Powerday had since introduced improved governance and management systems. B ritain is a country of extraordinary creativity, ingenuity and opportunity backed by a long-standing legal tradition of fairness and stability. The referendum on June 23 is a critical moment in determining, perhaps for a generation or more, the path we want to take. We can choose a confident democratic path of self-determination, decision-making much closer to the people and an open global approach by voting to leave or we can continue down the remote, highly regulated and economically destabilising grip of the EU as it continues to centralise in an attempt to double the bet on the failed single currency. Do we wish to develop what is best about the UK, notably stable democratic government, tolerance, an open, dynamic and lightly regulated economy, while embracing the wider world? Or do we wish to increasingly lose our ability to hold our politicians to account and shackle ourselves to the slowest-growing and most-underperforming region of the planet? If we vote to remain, that will be the green light for further EU federation with only a fig leaf of democratic accountability. What is certain is if we remain, the EU will continue its inexorable motor towards fiscal union, increasing powers over welfare, spending, migration, justice, security and the like. David Camerons renegotiation did not bring back one single directive and only by leaving can the UK regain its self-confidence and self-respect. I dont recall voting for President Jean-Claude Juncker, did you? What is more, the EUs record of delivery in almost every area it touches is one of abject failure. The euro has caused massive social upheaval, migration away from depressed regions and youth unemployment in excess of 40% of the population in many areas. Regulation, inefficient energy procurement and ineffective trade policies directed by the EU have harmed our industry and directly undermined trade with some of the poorest nations on earth through the tariffs of the Common Agricultural Policy. Further, the dismantlement of EU borders from Athens to Antwerp greatly harms security in the EU, as pointed out by the former heads of MI6 and the CIA, Sir Richard Dearlove and General Michael Hayden. The EU is sometimes supported by big business as its regulations put up prices and drive smaller competitors out of business. They have a vested interest in perpetuating a corporatist and declining model which drives down wages and puts pressure on housing, education and the NHS. But it is small business that creates the jobs and it is usually small business that is far more dynamic and creative than the slow-moving and technocratic bigger companies. London thrives on the competition and diversity of ideas that is under threat from the EU, which has spread dull uniformity, high costs and poor regulations. The capital has benefited from a degree of migration. However, the sheer scale of flows in recent years has been one of the main factors behind creaking services. Directly as a result of this school places are now as rare as hens teeth as Londons population swells and pressure on medical services is acute. Unfettered EU migration has impacted the young particularly hard. The chairman of the Remain campaign, Lord Rose, has confirmed open borders have depressed wages. You do not need a degree in economics to understand if the supply of labour greatly increases wages fall, particularly for those starting out and the less well paid. Housing is an area where the loss of our ability to control migration has perhaps been most severely felt. Uncontrolled EU migration has increased pressure on a relatively fixed housing stock. It is not the only factor driving up rents and house prices but it is a very significant one. Free movement sounds all very well but the unintended consequences are to drive down wages while increasing pressure on housing, schools and hospitals. The EUs insistence on unfettered free movement is greatly negatively impacting the living standards of the next generation and the less well off in particular. I have been struck by just how negative the pro-EU side are. The claims of doom and despair become more extravagant by the day. Take just one example they make, that the age of cheap travel will be over. A cursory look at easyJets website shows a flight to Agadir, Morocco costs just 31.99 one way, slightly less than the shorter trip to EU member city Rome. Cheap air fares are down to innovation, not the EU. It is a global phenomenon. The Government undermines its position by making unsubstantiated claims. The UK will prosper outside the EU. We will continue to offer friendship, cultural exchange and trade freely with our European neighbours. However, regaining our independence will also allow us to regain our confidence, adopt laws that are far more dynamic and more suited to local needs than the remote and stale approach of the EU. It will encourage us to explore wider global opportunities. Britains assets are world class. We possess the worlds first global capital, London; unrivalled artistic, musical and cultural assets, leading universities, the worlds financial capital together with New York and hugely creative design, engineering, media and business services companies. This country is considered the worlds greatest soft power. We are a member of the UN Security Council, NATO, the World Bank, the IMF, the Commonwealth and 96 other global organisations. We will regain our vote on the World Trade Organisation. Leaving the EU will re-energise this great country of ours. We will not be isolated; on the contrary we will be fully globally engaged. The EU has failed in almost every aspect of its reach and yet it continues to amass more and more power. This is perhaps the only opportunity many of us will get in our lives to say enough is enough. Richard Tice is co-chair of Leave.EU and CEO of Quidnet Capital Partners A NEW advertising campaign for Lynx which ditched male stereotypes has paid off for owner Unilever after higher sales of the mens grooming range propped up the groups performance. Lynx, known as Axe in the rest of the world, dropped its old laddish advertising campaigns featuring boisterous blokes after it lost relevance for the millennial generation. The new ad campaign, which features nerdish blokes and a man dancing in high heels, has hit a chord with shoppers. Personal care sales, which include sales of brands like Tresemme, surged ahead of other divisions in the first quarter with underlying sales up by 5.8% to 4.8 billion led by higher sales of the deodorant brand. Other divisions of the conglomerate, which sells everything from Hellmann's mayonnaise to Cif bathroom spray, also did well. Food sales rose 1.9% to 3.1 billion and home care sales rose 7% to 2.4 billion. Overall underlying sales rose 4.7% to 12.5 billion. Currency headwinds took the shine of the sales growth by contributing to a 2% fall in turnover. The first quarter demonstrates a strong volume-driven performance, following on from a good delivery in 2015, chief executive Paul Polman said. Emerging markets also continued to be a bright spot for the Anglo-Dutch group, with sales up 8.3%. T HOUSANDS of Caffe Neros UK staff have been learning one of the oldest lessons in economics this week as their pay packets rose but their free 4 paninis went up in smoke: theres no such thing as a free lunch. The idea that good things a pay rise to 7.20 an hour as a result of the National Living Wage have to be paid for from elsewhere isnt new but the experience of the coffee chains 4500 UK staff and the performance of the business over the next year or so is likely to prove fertile ground for behavioural economists, particularly if employees are less motivated as a consequence. I should point out that this isnt a complete bonfire of the perks for beleaguered baristas. They still get a 65% discount on a wider range of foodstuffs, as well as free teas and coffees while they deliver the nations caffeine fix. The company admits there was some internal opposition but says the vast majority of staff were in favour of the changes. My extremely unscientific survey in the local branch found opinion split. One barista said hed prefer the money while another said why not have both?. His point was that the rise in the minimum wage is a legal requirement so why should he lose his perk? Putting aside the companys understandable counter-argument about higher costs, that employee raises an interesting point: he didnt sound too happy, and unhappy people tend to be less productive. That at least was the finding of academics at the University of Warwick a couple of years ago. They conducted a range of experiments setting volunteers the same task under different conditions. Some were shown comedy clips before being set the task; others were given fruit and chocolates (the academic paper meticulously lists Cadburys Heroes and Celebrations); the rest got nothing. The experiments found that the treated individuals were 12% more productive in the completion of the task, with the chocolates in particular delivering a 20% boost to performance. The volunteers were also questioned over recent life events, and those who had suffered a recent tragedy were noticeably less productive. The paper concluded that economists and other social scientists may need to pay more attention to emotional well-being as a causal force. So should worried employers shell out for chocolates all round? Not so fast: the study pointed out that the cost of the chocolates was an average $1.40 a head, but it could not make definite claims that the observed boost in productivity was big enough for the extra happiness to be seen as paying for itself. The Warwick academics added: It is not possible here to be sure how long such productivity boosts would persist in a real-world setting. That was certainly found by a pair of University of Chicago researchers who asked two unwitting groups to carry out door-to-door fundraising. One group was paid $10 an hour; the other the gift group was at first told it would be paid $10 a hour, and then told just before the task began that the pay would be $20 an hour. The higher wage group put in greater effort early in the task but this higher effort level was not persistent: after a few hours, effort levels in the gift treatment mirrored those in the non-gift treatment. The potential issue for companies like Caffe Nero, also reflected in our baristas comments, is in the human instinct for loss aversion at the heart of behavioural economics: essentially feeling losses more than recognising gains. A big wage rise is prima facie a good thing for lower-paid workers, setting aside the job losses and cost-cutting that might result. But it swiftly becomes treated as an entitlement in our minds, which are more predisposed to dwell on (for example) lost paninis. And if workers think they are no longer being treated fairly getting both the panini and the higher wages they might take their foot off the pedal. That was argued by economist George Akerlof and his wife Janet Yellen now US Federal Reserve chairman in their fair wage-effort hypothesis, under which workers proportionately withdraw effort as their actual wage falls short of their fair wage. Divining the actual impact of Caffe Neros move from other powerful forces on the business such as the price of coffee beans, competitors and the wider economy will admittedly be difficult, if not impossible. But even if the majority of staff say theyre happy with the changes, I cant help but think theyre taking a slight risk. Well know in a year or so if staff get their free paninis back. H ome is Chicago. Its New York without the arseholes. Best meal youve had in London? Le Mercury on Upper Street. You dont pay above the odds and they do a great roast chicken. Where do you stay in London? The Ace Hotel in Shoreditch. I like the informality of it. Its a luxurious boutique hotel but feels like it might serve a decent school dinner. Biggest extravagance? Travel, and Ill treat myself to a decent ticket. I just got back from Jamaica and thats still pulsing in my head. Earliest London memory? Repairing my Auntie Jessies greenhouse in Southall one summer when I was six or seven. I had a massive crush on this lassie next door. Most romantic thing someones done for you in London? To celebrate a book deal, my wife Elizabeth once brought champagne and paper cups on to the Tube. We shared it with people on the Bakerloo Line. Who do you call when you want to have fun? The writers Andrew OHagan and John Niven. Both are always a cracking hoot. Last show you saw? We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre. Its like Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure (below) set to music. Best thing a cabbie has said to you? I had a drunk pal, and the cabbie said, If youre sick in here itll only be an improvement. Favourite London discoveries? The secret to life in London is avoiding the public transport system. You can walk everywhere, so dont be a slave to the Tube. Best place for a nightcap? Blacks. I drank beer there in the 1980s, spirits in the 1990s and these days prefer wine. Ive tried to stop mixing drinks its not good for you. First thing you do when you arrive back in London? Head to Upton Park to watch West Ham. Best piece of advice youve given? Never trust or engage with anybody over 30. Were leaving you a financial time bomb, a population time bomb and an ecology time bomb. You dont want to listen to old f***ers. Last album you downloaded? Black Star by Bowie. I bought it the day it came out my tradition with all his albums since Ziggy Stardust. Favourite pub? The Red Lion in Islington. Who are your heroes? A triumvirate of Iggy Pop, David Bowie and Lou Reed. Shops you most rely on? Foyles, which has had a sympathetic modernisation; Islington market, because Elizabeth likes to pick up wool for knitting and I follow her around; John Lewis, a one-stop shop; and Reckless Records, where Id often see Nick Hornby in the 1990s. What are you up to at the moment? Executive-producing Trainspotting 2, working on a book and going to the gym rather than the pub. Irvine Welshs new book The Blade Artist is out now T he scented slopes of southeastern France hold a special allure in spring, when the boundless blue skies, wildflower meadows and picturesque villages form the perfect antidote to the long London winter. There are few more idyllic destinations than the chic hilltop retreat of Crillon-le-Brave and with three weekly Eurostars direct from St Pancras International to nearby Avignon and Marseille, its never been so easy to get a taste of la vie en rose. Or rather, la vie en rose youll want to wash it all down with the matchless local wine, naturellement. Where to stay The five-star Hotel Crillon-Le-Brave offers breathtaking 360-degree panoramas over the surrounding valleys. The rooms combine chic minimalism and rustic charm, and many have open fires and balconies. It all feels deliciously secluded but very much part of its surroundings. (crillonlebrave.com) What to eat Provencal cooking is heady with olive oils, herbs and cheeses. Truffles, asparagus and artichokes are now in season, so tuck in. Restaurant Jerome Blanchet is Hotel Crillon-le-Braves gastronomic offering. In nearby Carpentras, Chez Serge comes highly recommended (chez-serge.fr) and while youre there do pay a visit to Claudine Vigiers miraculous cheese shop, La Fromagerie du Comtat. Restaurant Jerome Blanchet Where to visit LIsle-sur-la-Sorgue, known as the Venice of Provence on account of its canals, is famous for antiques. Sunday is market day: enjoy a morning potter followed by lunch in one of the bustling bistros. A little further west is Chateauneuf-du-Pape, whose rich spicy reds (and whites) form the grandest appellation of the Northern Rhone. The Domaine du Banneret vineyard is worth a visit (domaine-banneret.fr). Aix-en-Provence is a town with a leisurely, cultured vibe, best appreciated on a pavement table outside the famous Brasserie Les Deux Garcons on the ever-buzzing Cours Mirabeau (les2garconsrestaurant.com). What to do If youre there for a long weekend, you can chill out by Hotel Crillon-le-Braves beautiful aqua-green tiled pool, play boules or try the 90-minute massage at the spa. There are numerous walking trails and picnic spots among the surrounding olive groves and vineyards. But the best way to explore is on two wheels. Borrow the hotels bicycles for a leisurely pootle over to nearby Bedoin or pit yourself against Mont Ventoux, one of the most gruelling ascents on the Tour de France. What to drink Drinking comes with the territory or rather, le terroir. Gigondas and Vacqueyras are complex, spicy reds that are a little more affordable than Chateauneuf-du-Pape, while you can rarely go wrong with Provencal rose. Cocktaileurs will appreciate the array of interesting liqueurs Rinquinquin is a peach-scented aperitif, while the local lavender liqueur is heavenly. Oh, and there are fresh juniper berries everywhere, like little gin sweeties. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @EsMagOfficial W e are heading back to the kubba family to cook up one of the most popular dishes; Kubba Haleb. Traditionally an Iraqi dish, however, the name haleb is from the ancient city in Syria. It is made from rice, stuffed with lamb and fried to perfection. Crunchy on the outside, with a soft, spiced mixture on the inside, this dish really plays with all of your senses and is a taste sensation that you will never forget! Ingredients (makes 30 kubba) 2 cups basmati rice 1 tsp tumeric 2 cups lamb mince (with fat) I small bunch of parsley, finely chopped. 1 small onion, finely chopped. 2 heaped tsp JUMA baharat spice (cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, black pepper, nutmeg, cloves) Salt Sunflower oil for frying Method For the shell: Soak the rice for 30 minutes. Rinse thoroughly and drain. Place the rice in a saucepan and pour enough water that it comes up to just less than covering it. Season with salt and the turmeric. Stir gently so all the grains are covered. Bring to a gentle simmer and keep the lid on. Do not touch it for 20-25 minutes. The rice should have absorbed all of the water and take on a yellow colour. Dont be frightened to over-cook the rice - that's a good thing. Once the liquid is absorbed, turn the heat off. Keep the rice covered. Leave to cool. Once cool, put the cooked rice through a potato-ricer. (Alternatively you can kneed it with your hands or place on a food processor). You are looking to make a dough-like mix, however, dont over kneed it so it turns to a thick puree. You still want some texture in your rice shell. For the stuffing: In a separate pan, finely chop the onion and fry in a splash of olive oil. Sweat for 5 minutes, and then add the lamb mince. Season with salt. After 5 minutes, add the JUMA baharat. Once all combined, and the lamb mince is not too wet (from the fat), add your finely chopped parsley. Stir and take off the heat. Set to cool. To make the kubba: With damp hands, create a disc from the rice blend in the palm of your hands. Add the lamb mince. Encase within the rice shell. To follow tradition, you want to shape it like a torpedo. Set aside on greaseproof paper. Allow for the dumplings to air dry for an hour. You should prep at least 30 kubba. (Freeze any kubba that you dont want to fry immediately). Heat the oil to 170C. Fry until golden brown. Drain on greaseproof paper. Enjoy! Philip Juma is the founder of Juma Kitchen. Follow him on Twitter @PhilipJuma and @JumaKitchen. Find more of his recipes for the Evening Standard here. I was circumcised when I was 10 and I have never forgiven my parents. I cant forget that day, says 27-year-old Egyptian graduate Amna Mohamed. I suffered severe bleeding. We need to stop FGM. It has never been in our religion so why are we continuing with it? We need to eliminate it. Ms Mohameds story is far from rare in Egypt. The country has the unenviable reputation as one of the worst for inflicting female genital mutilation figures from the UN childrens organisation Unicef have shown a rate above 90 per cent among those aged 15 or over. Religion plays a part, although Ms Mohamed, who campaigns against FGM as a community volunteer in the Upper Egypt city of Assiut, insists that this motivation is similarly misconceived. FGM is against Islam which has prohibited it since very old years, but it continues because of tradition. There are many negative consequences: women cant enjoy sexual intercourse and it can lead to divorce. It also causes pain and psychological damage. Girls suffer trauma. They find someone holding them and cutting an important part of their body. The genital part of a girl should not be cut: it is exactly the same as a man, he would not be enjoying it and it would be violating his rights. It is the same for girls. Another misconception, she explains, is that FGM or circumcision as it is often labelled can control a girls sexual desire and prevent promiscuity and pre-marital intercourse Think of prostitutes. There are many prostitutes who have been circumcised. So how you behave doesnt have anything to do with whether you are circumcised it is about how you bring up your daughter. FGM is haram, it is forbidden. Apart from the notion that mutilation makes a girl polite, rather than badly behaved, further false claims prevalent in Egypt include a belief that cutting improves fertility. Others think FGM aids growth or is needed to stop a girls genitals looking male. Ms Mohameds determination is clear and shared by others in Assiut who work with her on a project funded by British donations to the Girls Fund of the charity Plan UK. It uses community development associations to promote girls rights and includes the elimination of FGM among its objectives. Methods include awareness-raising sessions to which doctors and religious leaders are invited to set out the facts about the harm caused by cutting and other traditions such as early marriage. Volunteers also conduct home visits to families where parents or grandparents support cutting to lobby against the practice. Overall, 6,500 people including girls, boys, teachers, social workers and clerics are due to receive training on equality and childrens rights over the next three years. Progress remains mixed, however, as the experiences of girls participating in the scheme show. Many have been cut in recent years, despite Egypts government passing a law to ban FGM in 2008. Doctors, rather than the untrained midwives who traditionally carried out the procedure, are often responsible. Hala, 14 Mervat, 14, is among those cut since mutilation became illegal. She gives a disturbing account, which illustrates some of the continuing problems. I was circumcised when I was nine, she says. I was at home and the midwife arrived. I knew who she was so I rushed to hide. I was crying. My father said it would be okay, that it was not hard, then he pulled me into a room with the midwife. I bit him and ran back to my room. Then my father and mother came and held me down so the midwife could circumcise me. I was bleeding heavily, crying and shivering. It was like a car running over my body. I made a vow that I will never circumcise my daughters. She says her friends are divided over FGM, with some still in favour, and adds: I try to convince them by telling them about my aunt, who is in her twenties and has not been circumcised. She is successful, in good health and enjoys life. I pray to God that FGM will come to an end. Hala, 14, was also cut at nine, a common age for FGM to take place in Egypt, and campaigns against it because of what she has learned about its impact. She says her cousin died, aged five, after being cut. I tell my classmates and friends not to get circumcised because FGM is harmful. I bled a lot. I was taken by surprise. I was told I was going to the dentist. When I went in the doctor asked me to lie down. She gave me an injection but I could feel everything. I was full of pain. It was like death. When I asked my mother she said I had been circumcised and that all girls get circumcised. She adds: I suffered, but my cousin died. My uncle took her to Cairo to be circumcised but she bled to death. She was five and she died because of FGM. My goal is to share information about what happened because I dont want any girl to suffer as I did and she did. Mervat, 14 Mona, 13, was circumcised two years ago and, after attending the educational sessions run by Plan UK, is seeking to persuade her parents not to cut her younger sister. She has yet to succeed. My mother told me that she was going to circumcise me so that when I got married I would be able to give birth, she says. At the time I accepted it because I didnt know what it was. I started to bleed and was in hospital for four days. My mother has said she wont circumcise my sister, who is five, but my father keeps saying it is a must. Their graphic stories demonstrate how the noble intent of Egypts FGM law has still to convert to reality. Meanwhile, work to alter attitudes among other Egyptians, both male and female, continues. One tactic is to use education sessions to contrast the successful lives of women who have not been mutilated with the negative experiences of others whose sex lives and marriages have suffered from the physical and psychological consequences of FGM. The teams funded by Plan UK also counter the threat to girls at risk of imminent mutilation by identifying the family decision-maker and the reason that they still favour FGM. A visit to the home follows with a doctor or religious leader often invited to challenge any misconceptions which the parent or grandparent holds. Despite such efforts, false beliefs remain rife, even among some girls who have escaped FGM. Shaimaa, 12, thinks, for example, that mutilation is safe if performed by a doctor, rather than a midwife, and adds that many of her friends still view FGM as necessary to avoid infertility. She says: After my sister bled my mother said she would never circumcise me or my other sisters. My father insisted and all my aunts kept pushing my mother too, but she has said no. I am happy. I dont want to get circumcised. Such confusion and division abounds and will take years to address but Amna Mohamed is positive about the future. She is convinced that facts about the harm done by cutting are registering with parents. Most mothers dont want their girls to repeat their experiences. I also tell them that if you have FGM you dont have happy sexual relations and theres a risk of divorce. Parents are afraid of that. They are listening to our arguments and realising the truth about FGM. Follow Martin Bentham on Twitter: @martinbentham Anyone wishing to support work against FGM can find out more at plan-uk.org/girlsfund or by calling 0300 777 9779. A girl aged 13 was injured when a gunman fired an apparent random shot at the car she was travelling in near Brick Lane. The terrified driver sped from the scene of the attack and pulled up outside Bethnal Green police street where he and the teenager dashed inside to safety. The 13-year-old was given first aid before being taken to hospital by ambulance. She was not seriously hurt and did not suffer a gunshot injury. The 23-year-old driver was unhurt. Detectives are today examining CCTV in Dunbridge Street and appealed for witnesses to contact them. Forensics: Officers examine the car / Nigel Howard Witnesses described seeing a Mitsubishi Colt car pulling up outside the police station at around 5.50pm yesterday. One told the Standard: He drove up the one-way street the wrong way, they jumped out and ran into the police station. Seconds later there were about a dozen police surrounding the car and the whole area was taped off. Charity worker Sarah Woolley, 28, said: A man was speaking with officers outside the station pointing to a car and then down the road. Then there was a big rush of police and armed officers. Shooting: Armed police were sent to the scene / Toby Brown Forensic experts could be seen marking an apparent bullet hole in the back of the car last night. Police say they are trying to establish a motive for the attack. Residents and businesses described the scene of the shooting in Dunbridge Street - about 100m from Brick Lane - as road rage central. The street, lined with businesses housed in railway arches, is a cut-through and the scene of numerous clashes between drivers, they claimed. Transport worker Terry Simmonds, 67, said: There have been a lot of fights and arguments at the junction of the road, its road rage central really. Artist Kitty Valentine said: I cycle around here and things are very volatile on the road. People are always arguing and and it is chaos. It is extremely dangerous and people are very aggressive. A garage worker said: This road is terrible but a shooting is something else. We are all very perplexed - no one round here seems to have seen anything. A Met spokesman said: At approximately 5.50pm last night a man attended Bethnal Green police station to report that a firearm had been discharged in the direction of his car. Detectives from the Trident and Area Crime Command are investigating the incident and there have been no arrests. The shooting came as Scotland Yard announced it had launched a new operation to target armed criminals in London. So far this week police have made 30 arrests and seized 14 firearms, including eight handguns and three AK-47s in connection with Opereation Kestrel 2. Those arrested have been held for offences ranging from attempted murder to assault and drug offences. A n east London man who threatened to post revenge porn online unless a female friend paid him 700 has been jailed for 21 months. Eugene Maynard sent a series of texts to the woman saying he would upload the explicit footage of her to social media unless he was given the cash. Maynard, of Chatham Place, Hackney, was arrested for the 2014 blackmail attempt after his victim went to police for help. Maynard was jailed for 18 months at Snaresbrook Crown Court after admitting the charges against him. The 32-year-old, who did not turn up at a previous court hearing, was also given a further three-month sentence for failure to surrender. Speaking afterwards, Detective Inspector Jane Topping, from the Mets Community Safety Unit in Hackney, said: "I would like to commend the victim for her courage in reporting this matter to police and supporting this prosecution through the court process to its conclusion." P olice are hunting for a man after a 17-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted on a bus in south London. The teenager was attacked on a route 208 bus travelling from Bromley South station to Orpington at around 8pm on September 26 last year, police said. The suspect, described as a 45-year-old white man, with a shaved head and stubble, boarded the bus a few stops after the victim and stood next to her. He tried to strike up a conversation with her but she ignored him and as she tried to move away, he grabbed her thigh, officers said. The suspect, who wore a high-vis waistcoat and dark blue trousers, got off the bus at Southborough Lane outside the Budgens convenience store. Police want to speak to this man in connection with the incident / Metropolitan Police Police have released CCTV images of a man they want to speak to in connection with the incident. Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 quoting reference 3318962/15 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111. F ormer television entertainer Rolf Harris has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of molesting women and young girls. The disgraced children's entertainer, 86, appeared at Southwark Crown Court to face allegations of historical sex attacks on Thursday morning, including one on a disabled woman. The Australian-born artist is also accused of molesting a girl under the age of 14 at the BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane in west London over the Christmas period in 1983. The offences were allegedly carried out against young girls and women from 1971 to 2004. A female police officer is seriously injured after being attacked during an arrest by a man reportedly armed with an axe. Four male officers were also hurt in the domestic incident in Sheffield on Wednesday evening, South Yorkshire Police said. A man in his 30s was arrested inside a Co-op store on suspicion of attempted murder. A spokesman said: "The Sheffield PC suffered multiple serious injuries while responding to a domestic incident in Plowright Close at around 7.50pm last night where a man was reportedly armed with an axe. "The PC and a second male officer were injured as they made attempts to arrest the man. Attack: A man said to be carrying an axe was arrested in a branch of the Co-op supermarket / PA "Then, three other officers, all men, were also injured as they arrested the man, in his 30s, inside the Co-op store, in Blackstock Road, on suspicion of attempted murder. He remains in custody." People living in the area reported the arrival of large numbers of police vehicles as the area was cordoned off. The spokesman said: "There was a significant police presence in the area overnight and cordons are still in place at the scene. We'd like to thank residents in the street and close by for their patience. Contact the force on 101 with any information. O ffice workers in London are facing an epidemic of eye problems from being glued to computer screens, a leading NHS specialist warned today. Increasing numbers are seeking NHS treatment at Moorfields Eye Hospital after the pain and redness caused by hours of computer use becomes so bad they have trouble seeing. Large numbers of patients arriving at clinics complain of dryness, tiredness, swelling or a gritty feeling in their eyes from staring at illuminated screens. But some people carry on going at work, despite their eyes being uncomfortable and even red-raw, said Daniel Ezra, consultant ophthalmologist and oculoplastic surgeon at Moorfields, near the Silicon Roundabout UK tech hub. According to a recent study, between 60 and 90 per cent of office workers using computers could suffer from some form of computer vision syndrome, which includes headaches and blurred vision. Dr Ezra estimated up to 15 per cent of Londoners particularly those who use screens a lot suffer from blepharitis, a common condition where the edges of the eyelids become red and swollen. Ive got lots of patients who come in and say they cant do their job properly because the dryness and discomfort has worsened to the degree that their vision has deteriorated, he said. I think its probably the tip of an iceberg and theres a huge epidemic of this problem. Research has shown that high screen illumination can decrease blink rate, which is a critical function because the eyelids need to swipe over the eyes to spread tears over the ocular surface. Looking at a computer screen, a smartphone or a tablet can decrease the blink rate by up to 60 per cent. If blinking stops then the tear film evaporates and causes stress to the cells lining the cornea, which leads to inflammation and discomfort. Dr Ezra said e-readers such as Kindles are kinder to the eyes because the blink rate can be retained due to lower screen illumination. But eye problems in offices are being worsened when combined with air conditioning, which encourages tear evaporation. Dr Ezra said: We see a huge amount of people complaining of problems with their eyes due to computers, symptoms which include dryness, pain, burning and tiredness. If you look at how people used to work before the advent of computers, work patterns were more varied as they would read, write and move around. If youre just sat in front of one screen for hours and hours every single day its going to really take its toll. While most cases settle with appropriate lubrication, some will need anti-inflammatory agents or a procedure to plug the natural tear drainage channels to increase the tear film volume. It doesnt tend to cause significant irreversible long-term problems, but it can significantly impact on a persons quality of life. The solution for many office workers could be simple blink more to increase tear lubrication over the eyeballs surface, and take regular screen breaks, but seek treatment if the symptoms persist. Dr Ezra also advises trying artificial teardrops, available over the counter, which can help reduce soreness. A Foxtons employee encouraged a landlord to choose private tenants ahead of those on housing benefit, a leaked email has revealed. In an email sent by Hampstead Lettings Manager James Grunshaw, and seen by the Evening Standard, the landlord is asked to cancel his agreement with City West Homes and to let his property, in Mallory Street, Marylebone, with Foxtons instead. In the email Mr Grunshaw says: We have received a very good offer on the above property. The tenants are young professional tenants City West Homes will most likely rent your property out to a tenant that is on House Benefits (sic). Id imagine children will also be residing in the property too. This will create lots (sic) more wear and tear on the property than professional tenants in my opinion, creating greater costs when you come to rent the property out again in the future. If you only signed last night will City West Homes, and you would prefer this offer above, I would contact them and cancel the agreement you have signed. Id imagine you would have a cooling off period when signing an agreement. Leaked: the text of the email Westminster Councillor and Labour group leader Adam Hug, who was made aware of the email, said he was angered by lazy prejudice and discrimination shown towards people on housing benefit in the private rental sector. Mr Hug has written to Foxtons, the Association of Residential Lettings Agents, and the Department of Communities and Local Government to complain about Foxtons practices. He told the Standard: This lazy prejudice against housing benefit claimants and their families in the private rented sector has got to stop. While the Conservative Government has been increasingly been trying to push more housing cases into the private rented sector, it has become increasingly common for landlords to refuse to accept tenants who might be receiving housing benefit, even when families are not impacted by any welfare caps. Foxtons and the wider Letting Agents Industry needs to urgently address such underhand and discriminatory tactics. A Foxtons spokesperson said: We pride ourselves on the professionalism of our agents and were very disappointed to learn of this isolated incident which does not in any way reflect Foxtons position. This is not the standard of behaviour we expect and will be taking up this matter with the individual concerned to ensure nothing similar happens again. Foxtons has numerous tenants who are in receipt of housing benefits and we welcome all tenants looking for a home to rent. A spokesperson for CityWest Homes said: We ensure that all applicants, tenants and landlords are treated with the highest levels of service. CityWest Homes pride themselves on improving standards within the private rented market. A man is suing his ex-girlfriend for 60,000 after their dreams of a Homes Under The Hammer-style flat renovation turned into a nightmare, a court heard. Self-employed builder Gareth Powell, 31, and advertising executive Chloe Thomas, 28, planned to do up a flat off Wandsworth Common, sell it for a profit and buy their own home. Ms Thomas had enough money for the 315,000 purchase in late 2012, and Mr Powell, who had little cash, agreed to do the work needed to make the uninhabitable flat ready for sale. The flat, in Trinity Road, was in Ms Thomass name and when the couple broke up in 2014 she kept the property, Central London county court heard. Mr Powell is demanding 60,000 from his ex-girlfriend, who he claims went back on an agreement that he would get a third of the profits if they split. Gareth Powell is suing his ex-girlfriend (Paul Keogh ) / Paul Keogh Ms Thomas argues that he has no claim over the property, and she never agreed to a contract signed by Mr Powell in February 2013 which had been drawn up by her mother. Mr Powell told the court: The discussions we had were that we would embark on this venture together. We were going to do up this property and sell it to acquire another one. He said the couple, who had been together for eight years, suffered a freezing winter when they moved into the flat because there was no heating. He added that his parents lent him 14,000 to buy materials, install a new kitchen, and convert a bathroom into a wet room. The couple planned to do up this flat in Wandsworth He told the court when Ms Thomass mother, Heather, produced a contract, he discussed it with his girlfriend and they both agreed to sign. But Ms Thomas disputes this, saying she had been furious with her mother. I was angry that he would get any share, because it was entirely my property, she told Judge Heather Baucher. She claimed she had not signed the contract, adding: I didnt see the need for it. I didnt think Gareth would ever claim any part of the property. Her mother gave evidence that the contract was an option if things went bad, and said she tore it up a year before the split. Judge Baucher reserved judgment to be delivered at a later date. S adiq Khan today vowed to put London on a war footing to deal with terrorist threats and warned Tube chiefs of slashing the live monitoring of security cameras. In an exclusive interview, Labours candidate for Mayor said he would hold a major review of the capitals safeguards and resilience on day one. The root and branch rethink would call together Scotland Yard, transport chiefs, the River Thames authorities and the emergency services to re-plan how to respond to a major Paris-style attack. On day one I am going to put us on a war footing with these terrorists, said the Tooting MP. That will mean having a major review of our capabilities to deal with this. Mr Khan said he was seriously concerned to have been informed that CCTV cameras on the London Underground are no longer being automatically monitored in real time. Mr Khan said he would review London's safeguards in the event of a terror attack / Jeremy Selwyn / Evening Standard That worries me, he said, saying that full-time monitoring meant that personnel had a chance to spot a terrorist arming a suicide vest or pulling out a gun. There could be a good economic reason to make those cuts, but at a time when we know that we are a target, my job as Mayor will be to make sure we can respond. In the interview, Mr Khan also: Rejected Zac Goldsmiths campaign highlighting past links with extremists, saying: I will never apologise for being a human rights lawyer. Pointed out he is the only candidate for mayor with security top-level security-clearance to serve on the Queens Privy Council and attend counter-terror meetings. He said: Do you think Id have been invited to weekly security meetings where there were MI5 and MI6, representatives from the police service and chaired by the Home Secretary if there were any concerns about me? Distanced himself from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and said that if he wins City Hall he wanted the lessons for Labour to be: To change peoples lives for the better, you have got to win elections. Theres no point speaking to the same tribe that voted Labour last time. Ruled out ever seeking the office of Prime Minister, adding: If you think about the mayoralty as a stepping stone to be Prime Minister, you will always be distracted. Confirmed the Garden Bridge will be built if he is mayor, although procurement issues will be reviewed, saying: Its going ahead, its got the green light. The money is spent. Cancelling would mean we lose that money and have nothing. With the Mayoral election now just three weeks away, the frontrunner and bookies favourite declared himself eager to take the reins at City Hall. I get emotional, said the bus drivers son who grew up on a south London council estate. It feels like my entire life has been training to be the Mayor of London. And he joked: I may still be 5ft 6in but Ive grown a lot during this campaign. Mr Khan said security would be his first priority and argued that his ministerial experience made him best qualified to take over from Boris Johnson. Sadiq on the Garden Bridge: "The money has been spent" But for the grace of God it could have been my wife on the Tube on 7/7, or members of my family, said the father of two teenage daughters. He said a toxic combination of issues made him doubt Londons readiness was 100 per cent, including cuts in neighbourhood policing which helps gather intelligence, the closure of 10 fire stations and concerns that the citys armed response capacity was still too small, despite the announcement after the Paris attacks of 600 extra officers. Despite the brave and dedicated work of emergency services staff, there are serious concerns about our readiness to deal with a London-wide terrorist incident, he said, pointing out that half of the capitals fire service personnel live outside the capital and could struggle to get to work during a major incident. I want to the Mayor who keeps us safe. Ive spent the last few weeks having briefings with police experts in the Met service and others. Transport for London confirmed this morning that it had changed camera monitoring as part of its modernisation programme, but stressed that security and safety were its first concerns. London Mayor Election 2016: Sadiq Khan According to Mr Khans sources, until April 3 this year there were 243 control room staff on London Underground dedicated to monitoring banks of video screens beaming images from tens of thousands of CCTV cameras across the Tube network. Now, according to Khans sources, only stations within Zone 1 have retained mandatory monitoring but this can be stopped at the discretion of local management. Outside Zone 1, full-time monitoring is no longer mandatory and some outer stations are claimed to have lost dedicated control rooms or supervisors. Steve Griffiths, chief operating officer for London Underground, said: The safety and security of our customers and staff is our top priority. "We have removed staff from underused ticket offices and back rooms of stations so they are now out in ticket halls and on gate lines, with record numbers on platforms, helping our customers make their journeys and keeping them safe. We still have staff responsible for monitoring CCTV in control rooms at stations. We have worked closely with the British Transport Police while these changes were introduced to ensure the Tubes outstanding safety and security record is maintained. London Underground said that the modernisation had alerady caused an increase in customer satisfaction and its 5,000 station staff represented one of the highest staffing levels for metros in Western Europe and North America. J eremy Corbyn told today of his 40-year journey from campaigning against being part of the European Union to backing our staying in today. The Labour leader, who opposed UK membership in 1975, argued that on balance remaining part of the EU could now benefit millions of British people. Mr Corbyn made clear his decision to support In was a party position and that he did not recant from previous comments including reportedly describing some EU policies as crazy and immoral. With the perception that he had had to have his arm twisted to support In, he added: There is nothing half-hearted about what we are doing. In his first major intervention in the referendum debate, he added: In contrast to four decades ago, the EU of today brings together most of the countries of Europe and has developed important employment, environmental and consumer protections. Amid fears that the steel crisis is draining In campaign support among Labour voters, Mr Corbyn used his speech to blame it on the Tory government, claiming Germany, Italy, France and Spain had all done so much better in protecting their industries. He rejected claims that too many economic migrants from other EU countries had come to Britain but accused the Government of failing to ensure there was a level playing field for workers already here to compete for jobs. Mr Corbyn went on the attack against the Leave campaign. Left to themselves, it is clear what the main Vote Leave vision is for Britain, to be the safe haven of choice for the ill-gotten gains of every dodgy oligarch, dictator or rogue corporation, he said. He warned of a Tory government, quite possibly led by Boris Johnson and backed by Nigel Farage, that would negotiate the worst of all worlds: a free market free-for-all shorn of rights and protections. He added: Theyd dump rights on equal pay, working time, annual leave, for agency workers, and on maternity pay as fast as they could get away with it, it would be a bonfire of rights that Labour governments secured within the EU. Remaining In, he argued, would make it easier for Britain to tackle terrorism, climate change, air pollution, cyber crime, and tax-avoiding multinational companies, while protecting jobs, workers rights, trade and investment. S uperbugs resistant to antibiotics are on course to kill more people than cancer, Chancellor George Osborne warned today. In a global call to arms, Mr Osborne was to demand world leaders and drug companies face up to the problem or risk a human catastrophe. The major speech in Washington aims to highlight evidence suggesting superbugs will kill 10 million people by 2050 more than will die from cancer. He also planned to warn there would be an enormous economic cost, with the problem slashing global GDP by up to 3.5 per cent, or 71 trillion. Mr Osborne was to say: Unless we take global action, antimicrobial resistance will become an even greater threat to mankind than cancer currently is. It is not just a health problem but an economic one too. The cost of doing nothing, both in terms of lives lost and money wasted, is too great, and the world needs to come together to agree a common approach. He was to tell the meeting of leaders at the International Monetary Fund that they must dramatically shift incentives for pharmaceutical companies to tackle the problem. In particular, the Chancellor was to champion globally funded rewards to support firms who are working on new antibiotics and to ensure they reach the developing world. Dr Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation, and ex-US Treasury secretary Larry Summers will be present for Mr Osbornes speech, which was also to call for faster diagnostic systems and the slashing of unnecessary antibiotic use. Among those calling for action has been Tory candidate for Mayor Zac Goldsmith, who says the world faces a truly frightening post-antibiotic age. In 2014, David Cameron asked economist Lord ONeill to come up with solutions. The UK has implemented two of his initial recommendations increasing funding for early-stage research and bolstering capabilities in low-income areas of the world. Lord ONeill and his team are expected to publish a final set of recommendations next month. B ritish families of victims killed in the Germanwings Alps crash have begun a legal fight against the flight school where killer in the cockpit Andreas Lubitz trained. They allege the co-pilots academy missed red flags which should have pointed to his unsuitability to fly and played a role in the tragedy which claimed 150 lives including three Britons. Student Paul Bramley, 28, Martyn Matthews, 50, and seven-month-old Julian Pracz-Bandres died in the disaster. All their families are named in papers backing the legal action. In the crash last year, Lubitz shut the Airbus A320 planes pilot out of the cockpit before overriding controls to send the passenger jet on an eight-minute dive into the side of a mountain in the French Alps. After the disaster on March 24 2015, investigators found evidence the 27-year-old German had been declared unfit to work but failed to tell his employer. Victim: Briton Paul Bramley was killed in the Germanwings Airbus A320 crash in France (Picture: Reuters) It later emerged Lubitz had a history of mental illness and had researched ways of taking his own life. Now lawyers acting on behalf of victims families claim warning signs were missed during his training from April 2008 at the Airline Training Center Arizona. Wreckage at the Alpine crash site / Francis Pellier/EPA On Wednesday a federal wrongful death civil lawsuit was filed in the US. It alleges a range of failings on the part of ATCA including that it was negligent, reckless and careless in admitting Lubitz to its flight school without more stringent screening standards. Family portrait: Victim Martyn Matthews with daughter Jade, wife Sharon and son Nathan. The family are one of 80 bringing legal action Aviation lawyer Jim Morris, from London-based Irwin Mitchell, said: Our clients understandably remain incredibly upset and angry about what happened on and before 24 March 2015. He added: The complaint now filed in the USA on behalf of victims families alleges that ATCA missed several readily-apparent red flags, including that Lubitzs German medical certificate contained details of his mental health history and should have been a clear warning. The lawsuit alleges ACTA breached its duty of care to the passengers of Germanwings Flight 4U9525 in failing to properly screen Lubitz when he applied for admission to its commercial airline training centre because, among other things, proper screening would have revealed his history of severe depression. The action is being brought by 80 families of victims on board the Barcelona-Dusseldorf flight. No defence has yet been filed. ATCA has been approached for comment. But a Lufthansa spokeswoman told Bloomberg that she saw no prospects of success for this course of action. A Labour MP today called on a Tory to publicly apologise after he was named as the man who allegedly called a female journalist totty. London MP Rupa Huq said the language Conservative Bob Stewart allegedly used to address the assistant editor of the Spectator Isabel Hardman was unacceptable. A shadow minister also said the comment amounted to casual sexism. Ealing Central and Acton MP Ms Huq said: This kind of language has no place in a 21st century workplace, let alone in Westminster which should set standards for the country. He should now seek to set a standard, apologise publicly and say what he said was wrong. The row was sparked when Mr Stewart allegedly approached Ms Hardman at a Westminster drinks bash and said he wanted to talk to the totty. Ms Hardman revealed the exchange on Twitter saying sexists should not be allowed to make such remarks to female journalists. But she refused to name the politician, saying instead she would complain to the whips. A private apology was later issued. Shadow Equalities Minister Kate Green said: We cannot accept casual sexism in Parliament. Comments like this do nothing to help change the culture in Parliament that has historically been male dominated and alienating for many women. His comments were clearly inappropriate and he needs to understand why. Beckenham MP Mr Stewart has so far failed to make a public apology, only telling The Sun: My comment is no comment. I dont give a sod of what people say about me. I am never rude about anyone. Mr Stewart did not respond for requests for a comment today. Earlier this year, a black Labour MP revealed she had suffered racism in Parliament after another MP mistook her for a cleaner. Labours Brent South MP Dawn Butler said: There was a time when I was in the lift. It was a Members lift that Members of Parliament use specially in cases (where) we have get to places quickly. I was in the lift and some other MP said, this lift really isnt for cleaners. A Toy Story fan who changed his name to Buzz Lightyear has won a year-long battle to have the moniker put on his driving licence. Sam Stephens, 27, named himself after the hero from his favourite childhood film by deed poll last year as part of a money-raising stunt for cancer charity CLIC Sargent. But Mr Lightyear, from Bideford in Devon, was shocked when the DVLA said he could not get a licence because he was named after a fictional character. After a successful appeal, he was finally given a licence with the name two weeks ago. Mr Lightyear, an assistant manager for an electrical wholesaler, said: The official reason given by the DVLA was that because it was a fictional character it would bring the company into disrepute if I went abroad. "I said it wasn't their decision, it is my name by deed poll, it is not up to them to accept or reject that. There are plenty of Harry Potters in the world so they had no right to tell me I couldn't have a driving licence in this name." A spokesman for the DVLA said: "We recognise people may choose to change their name for many reasons. The driving licence is an important official document which is used both here and abroad. "That is why we look for a range of evidence to support the application before we update our records." T he Duke and Duchess of Cambridge gamely had a go at Bhutans versions of archery and darts today but missed the target even though they were spared traditional tactics used to put off competitors. William and Kate had witnessed a group of women chanting obscenely about the appearance of one group of male archers to put them off. But their hosts retained a sense of decorum when the guests from the land of Robin Hood and Henry Vs longbowmen bravely had a go. Laughter: Kate reacts to her effort (Dominic Giddens/PA ) / Dominic Giddens/PA They were given their own traditional bamboo bows and arrows to take home as a souvenir and then took up the chance to have a go at archery, Bhutans national sport. But, firing from about 50 yards away, Williams two arrows overshot the target, heading for the road behind a grassy bank at Changlingmethang National Archery Ground in the Bhutanese capital, Thimphu. Did that clear the bank? Because it looked like it did. I dont want to cause a crash, William said after his first effort. His second proved no more successful. I hope I havent killed a driver or that man on the bridge, he added. The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge: Bhutanese Archery 1 /17 The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge: Bhutanese Archery Prince William, Duke of Cambridge looks on as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge fires an arrow during an Bhutanese archery demonstration on the first day of a two day visit to Bhutan on the 14th April 2016 in Paro, Bhutan Chris Jackson/Getty Images Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge throws a dart while taking part in the traditional game of Khuru at Changlimithang Archery Ground in Thimphu, Bhutan Cathal McNaughton/Reuters Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge throws a dart while taking part in the traditional game of Khuru at Changlimithang Archery Ground in Thimphu, Bhutan Cathal McNaughton/Reuters Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge reacts after shooting an arrow at Changlimithang Archery Ground in Thimphu, Bhutan Cathal McNaughton/Reuters Britain's Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge reacts as she stands alongside Prince William, Duke of Cambridge after firing an arrow at The Changlingmethang National Archery ground in Thimphu AFP/Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge reacts as she stands alongside Prince William, Duke of Cambridge after firing an arrow at The Changlingmethang National Archery ground in Thimphu Rex Prince William, Duke of Cambridge looks on as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge fires an arrow during an Bhutanese archery demonstration on the first day of a two day visit to Bhutan on the 14th April 2016 in Paro, Bhutan Chris Jackson/Getty Images Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge looks on as she watches Prince William, Duke of Cambridge prepare to fire an arrow at The Changlingmethang National Archery ground in Thimphu AFP/Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge reacts as she watches Prince William, Duke of Cambridge prepare to fire an arrow at The Changlingmethang National Archery ground in Thimphu AFP/Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge prepare to fire an arrow at The Changlingmethang National Archery ground in Thimphu Rex Britain's Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge reacts as she stands alongside Prince William, Duke of Cambridge after firing an arrow at The Changlingmethang National Archery ground in Thimphu AFP/Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William get involed in Archery - Bhutan's national sport, and see young people playing traditional sports Rex Archery is hugely popular in Bhutan but injuries from competitors hitting spectators are one of the most common reasons for people being admitted to hospital. Kate too had a go with her bow. Youll be fine. You should try to shoot up in the air, William told her. But her first effort only went about 20 yards. Sorry, she said, giggling. Despite her first effort, she agreed to have a second go but that missed too. She decided not to have a third go. She and William were no more successful when they tried out Khuru, the nations second most popular sport which was developed by cow herders who would fashion large darts out of tree branches and bird feathers. They watched women competitors throwing the darts at a target, hoping to score a Karey a hit. But when Kate had a go she nearly scored a direct hit on a group of women players. Her dart fell just short of one of them and a second attempt went wide. So sorry, she said again. Williams efforts fell short but at least were heading towards the target. The royal couple, who passed up the chance to try out another Bhutanese sport dae-gor, a version of boules played with rocks - were welcomed to the archery ground by the Kings half-brother and national heartthrob, Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck. After a cup of tea and snacks, he explained the rudiments of Bhutanese archery to the couple: the archers compete in teams based at either end of a 450ft long field, firing at wooden targets. The men sing songs to celebrate hitting the target and are cheered on by women supporters who sing songs of support for their own men and obscene chants to try to distract their rivals. William and Kate stood and watched as the archers showed off their skills, hitting the target from 450ft away, as a group of women sang soothing songs of support. Thats amazing. Thats the furthest Ive ever seen anyone fire a bow and arrow, he said. When another archer stepped up, the women began singing short, louder verses, sounding more like football fans. Very good distraction songs, William said, laughing. But it was only after he had moved away that Sonam Karma, a Bhutanese Olympic Committee official who works closely with Pirince Jigyel explained just how rude some of the songs were about the competitors. They are singing obscenities, he said. Asked to translate them, he said: Youre bald. Youre a baldy. Your nose is really big. We hope your private parts are as big. Many archers and their fans join in the traditional taunts but, as alcohol is also heavily consumed at archery competitions across Bhutan, it can lead to drunken brawls and archery hooliganism. T he Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived in the remote Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan to cheers after their pilot successfully completed one of the most difficult airport approaches in the world. William and Kate flew into the tiny country on a Drukair Royal Bhutan AirBus 319. Spontaneous applause broke out on board the plane when it touched down after a bumpy approach at the airport, which is nestled among the steep mountains of the Himalayas. The approach to the airport is said to be the most dangerous in the world. The royal couple disembark the plane in Bhutan / Joe Giddens/PA Before the plane took off the pilot said the approach "will be unique and spectacular so "please don't be alarmed." Paro Airport in Bhutan is 1.5 miles above sea level and surrounded by sharp peaks of up to 18,000ft. So treacherous is the landing that only eight pilots in the world are qualified to land there. Until July 2011, just one airline, Druk Air, was allowed to use the facility. Kate and Wills were greeted by Princess Chhimi Yang Zom, the King of Bhutan's sister / Dominic Lipinski/PA The runway is just 6,500 feet long - one of the few in the world shorter than their elevation above sea level. Planes have to weave through the dozens of houses that are scattered across the mountainside - coming within feet of clipping the roofs. As they stepped off the plane they were greeted by Princess Chhimi Yang Zom, the King of Bhutan's sister. William and Kate were given a ceremonial scarf called Khadar - offered to symbolise friendship, purity and sincerity before departing for a scenic drive to the capital city of Thimphu. In the afternoon, they will travel to the beautiful Thimphu Dzong where they will take part in a Chipdrel, a traditional welcome procession, complete with music, ceremonial dress, and plenty of colour. Inside the Dzong, they will have a private audience with The "Dragon King" Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema. Their Majesties will then lead The Duke and Duchess across the Dzongs vast courtyard, which will be beautifully decorated, across to a temple where they will receive a brief blessing and will light butter lamps. The Duke and Duchess then left the King and Queen for the afternoon before heading to Thimphus open-air archery venue, located in the heart of the small city. They will see first-hand Bhutans awe-inspiring national sport, where archers must aim at very small, brightly decorated wooden targets positioned 145 metres away from where they are standing. The Duke and Duchess will also meet young people from local schools and NGOs and see other traditional games. Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in India and Bhutan 1 /54 Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in India and Bhutan The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their hike to the Tiger's Nest Monastery, near Paro, Bhutan, during day six of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan Joe Giddens/PA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge overlook the Tiger's Nest Monastery, near Paro, Bhutan, during day six of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan Joe Giddens/PA Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge pose next to a prayer wheel on the trek up to Tiger's Nest during a visit to Bhutan Chris Jackson/Getty Images Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge pose next to a prayer wheel on the trek up to Tiger's Nest during a visit to Bhutan Chris Jackson/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during a trek to the Tiger's Nest Monastery, near Paro, Bhutan, during day six of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan Dominic Lipinski/PA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge leave the Taj Tashi hotel, in Thimphu, Bhutan, to attend a dinner with King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema on day five of the royal tour to India and Bhutan Dominic Lipinski/PA The Duchess of Cambridge reacts after firing an arrow at an archery event in Thimphu, Bhutan, during day five of the royal tour to India and Bhutan Joe Giddens/PA Prince William, Duke of Cambridge looks on as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge fires an arrow during an Bhutanese archery demonstration on the first day of a two day visit to Bhutan in Paro, Bhutan Splash News Prince William, Duke of Cambridge looks on as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge fires an arrow during an Bhutanese archery demonstration on the first day of a two day visit to Bhutan in Paro, Bhutan Chris Jackson/Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge and The Queen of Bhutan Jetsun Pema (right) at Tashichho Dzong in Thimphu, Bhutan, during day five of the royal tour to India and Bhutan Joe Giddens/PA The Duchess of Cambridge and The Queen of Bhutan Jetsun Pema (right) at Tashichho Dzong in Thimphu, Bhutan, during day five of the royal tour to India and Bhutan Joe Giddens/PA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge pose for a photo with the sister of the King of Bhutan Chhimi Yangzom and her husband at Paro International Airport, Bhutan, during day five of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan Dominic Lipinski/PA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive at Paro International Airport, Bhutan, during day five of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan Dominic Lipinski/PA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive at Paro International Airport in Bhutan, during day five of the royal tour to India and Bhutan. Joe Giddens/PA The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Paro International Airport in Bhutan, during day five of the royal tour to India and Bhutan Joe Giddens/PA Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, feeds a baby rhino at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Panbari reserve forest in Kaziranga in the northeastern state of Assam AFP/Getty Images Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge ride a car during a Game drive at Kaziranga National Park at Kaziranga National Park Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, pets a rhino calf at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Panbari reserve forest in Kaziranga in the northeastern state of Assam AFP/Getty Images Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, feeds a baby rhino at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Panbari reserve forest in Kaziranga in the northeastern state of Assam AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meet Rangers in Kaziranga National park in Assam, India, on day four of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan Heathcliff O'Malley/Daily Telegraph/PA Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (C) and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (R) speak with an Indian forest official before leaving for a jeep safari through Kaziranga National Park on the fourth day of the royal visit to India and Bhutan AFP/Getty Images Kate during an art class run by Salaam Baalak, which provides emergency help to homeless children at New Delhi station The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arriving for a visit to a children's centre Dominic Lipinski/PA The couple met some of India's most vulnerable children at New Delhi station The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meet Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on the third day of their royal tour Dominic Lipinski/PA The Duchess of Cambridge next to the Indian Prime Minister at Hyderabad House Dominic Lipinski/PA The Duchess of Cambridge visited a charity that provides emergency support to homeless children Dominic Lipinski/PA Kate and her husband played games with children and helped them with their art Dominic Lipinski/PA Kate attended a garden party to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday on Monday in New Dehli, India Mark Large/Getty Images The couple laid a wreath at the Taj Hotel, scene of Mumbai terror attacks, on Sunday Mark Cuthbert/Getty Images They visited the Old Birla House museum on Monday Ian Vogler/Getty Images A wreath was laid to honour soldiers from Indian regiments who served in the First World War Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images Respects were also paid to Mahatma Gandhi at the spot where he was assassinated Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images The Duchess had a so-called "Marilyn moment" when her dress was caught in the wind Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images Kate showed off her big-hitting skills in a game of cricket with Indian children Rafiq Maqbool/AFP/Getty Images She met children from three non-governmental organisations and watched cricket at Mumbai's iconic recreation ground Chris Jackson/Getty Images) The game was played at the Oval Maidan during the royal tour Chris Jackson/Getty Images Indian cricket hero Sachin Tendulkar was the bowler as Kate dispatches him off one delivery Chris Jackson/Getty Images The royals arrived at a Bollywood inspired charity gala at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel on Sunday Chris Jackson/Getty Images Earlier Prince William met young entrepreneurs during a visit to Mumbai Heathcliff O'Malley/Getty Images He was joined by his wife as they discussed business with the country's emerging talents Heathcliff O'Malley/Getty Images That evening The Duke and Duchess will have a private dinner with The King and Queen at Lingkana Palace. It is a mystical kingdom where spirits are appeased, the mountains are sacred and there is only one major road. For centuries Bhutan remained isolated from the rest of the world - indeed tourists were forbidden to enter the country until 1974. Gradually it is opening up - though it still has fewer visitors annually than Peru's Machu Pichu has in one week. Initially Bonism was the dominant religion in the region that would come to be known as Bhutan. Buddhism was introduced in the 7th century by the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo and further strengthened by the arrival of Guru Rimpoche, a Buddhist Master that is widely considered to be the Second Buddha. The country was first unified in 17th century by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel. After arriving in Bhutan from Tibet he consolidated his power, defeated three Tibetan invasions and established a comprehensive system of law and governance. King Ugyen Wangchuck became the first Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King) and set up the Wangchuck Dynasty that still rules today. In 2008 Bhutan enacted its Constitution and converted to a democracy in order to better safeguard the rights of its citizens. Later in November of the same year, the currently reigning 5th Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck was crowned. H alf of all people, including straight men and women, could have "gay genes" that are passed on through the generations, a study claims. Giorgi Chaladze, from the Ilia State University in Georgia, claimed this is what maintained homosexuality throughout human history, despite the fact gay men were less likely to have children. Mr Chaladze, whose research was published in the Archives of Sexual Behviour journal, used a computer model to examine the impact of genes and heredity on homosexuality. He claimed the possibility that large numbers of straight men carry the genes could explain why estimates for hetereosexuals who have reported a same sex attraction are so high. He also looked at previous research which found that sisters of gay men tend to have more children than average, perhaps helping to explain why the genes continue to get passed on. He concluded male homosexuality is maintained at low and stable frequencies if around half of the men and just over half the women carry genes which predispose men towards being gay. Mr Chaldze said: "The trend of female family members of homosexual men to have more offspring can help explain the persistence of homosexuality, if we also consider that those males who have such genes are not always homosexuals." R ising star Alden Ehrenreich is being touted as the frontrunner to play the young Han Solo. The US star, who recently appeared in Coen Brothers comedy Hail, Caesar! is rumoured to be in late-stage talks to take on the sought-after role. According to Deadline, the 26-year-old is being lined up to play the iconic character after screen tests for Disney. While a number of young, rising stars are thought to have been in the running - including Taron Egerton and Jack Reynor - sources suggest that the producers have decided on Ehrenreich. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Trailer The Star Wars spin-off, which is slated for release in May 2018, has been shrouded in secrecy since it was announced last year. The Lego Movie filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are on board to direct while Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy is producing. Star Wars: The Force Awakens European Premiere 1 /38 Star Wars: The Force Awakens European Premiere Star of the show Daisy Ridley at 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' eurpoean film premiere, London David Fisher/Rex John Boyega attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Justin Tallis/AFP/gETTY iMAGES Director's Cut J.J. Abrams attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Solo has landed Harrison Ford attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Make way for the original Princess Carrie Fisher at 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' film european premiere David Fisher/Rex The real 3P0 Anthony Daniels attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Lupita Nyong'o at 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' film premiere David Fisher/Rex Beckham United Jnr Romeo Beckham (L) and Brooklyn Beckham attend the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Skywalker sqaud Mark Hamill with daugher Chelsea Hamill and wife Marilou York attend the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Glittering star Daisy Ridley at 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' eurpoean film premiere, London David Fisher/ Rex Gwendoline Christie attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Meet the new bad guy Adam Driver (R) and Joanne Tucker attend the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Rolling with it Droid character BB-8 at the European Premiere of Star Wars, The Force Awakens in Leicester Square, London Paul Hackett/Reuters Aliens on the red carpets Jawa's and Sand People attending the Star Wars: The Force Awakens European Premiere Ian West/PA Darth Vader and company Darth Vader and Chewbacca pose with stormtroopers at the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Double droids C-3PO and R2-D2 attend the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Dave Benett Oscar Isaac attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Hello Wicket Warwick Davis attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett The real Chewbacca Peter Mayhew attending the Star Wars: The Force Awakens European Premiere Ian West/PA Sophie Hunter and Benedict Cumberbatch attend the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett George Lucas (L) and Mellody Hobson attend the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens Dave Benett Big fan Simon Pegg attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Diego Luna attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Chewie and friends ans dressed up as Star Wars character pose ahead of the European Premiere of "Star Wars The Force Awakens" Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images Lightsabers at the ready ans receive light sabres before the start of the European Premiere of "Star Wars The Force Awakens" Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images This way to the Dagobar system Fans wait ahead of the European Premiere of "Star Wars The Force Awakens" Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images The force is strong Fans gather in Leicester Square for hte Star Wars:The Force Awakens European Premiere Jeremy Selwyn Myleene Klass attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett According to reports, the film will focus on Han Solos early days before he became involved with the rebel alliance. While Ehrenreich isnt exactly a household name just yet, he has appeared in films including Woody Allens Blue Jasmine and Francis Ford Coppolas Tetro. The actor has also been cast in Warren Beattys untitled Howard Hughes project. J ulia Roberts enjoyed a mini Pretty Woman reunion at the premiere for her latest film, Mothers Day. Roberts, 48, walked the red carpet alongside Hector Elizondo, who played hotelier Barney Thompson in the 1990 film, and Garry Marshall who directed. Recalling what it was like to work with Roberts, Elizondo told reporters: "Well, first of all, I knew she had a great smile when I saw the dailies. Now shes grown in to quite a citizen which impresses me even more." The actress looked flawless in white shorts which she teamed with a matching jacket and black heels as she posed for photographers. She mingled with fans and signed autographs for those who had queued to meet her at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX in Hollywood, California. Roberts was also joined by her co-star Jennifer Aniston who looked stunning in a black dress which she teamed with strappy heels. Other attendees included Britt Robertson, Ashley Tisdale and Jon Lovitz who was accompanied by his pet dog. Mother's Day - trailer Mothers Day is set for UK cinema release on June 10. Follow @StandardShowbiz for more entertainment news. S tephen Fry has apologised unreservedly after he appeared to suggest abuse survivors should stop pitying themselves and grow-up. Fry, 58, made the comments during an interview on US programme The Rubin Report while speaking about political correctness and free speech. He was met with a fierce backlash on social media after he accused those who avoid "trigger" words as too sensitive. Speaking to Dave Rubin he said: Its a great shame and were all very sorry that your uncle touched you in that nasty place you get some of my sympathy but your self pity gets none of my sympathy because self pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity. Get rid of it, because no ones going to like you if you feel sorry for yourself. The irony is well feel sorry for you, if you stop feeling sorry for yourself. Just grow up. Piers Morgan concerned for Stephen Fry after controversial comments on abuse victims Fry who is the president of mental health charity MIND has since apologised for the comments and said he failed to articulate his point. It distresses me greatly to think that I have upset anyone in the course of the TV interview I had with David Rubin the other week, he said in a statement. I of course apologise unreservedly for hurting feelings the way I did . That was never my purpose. There are few experiences more terrible, traumatic and horrifying than rape and abuse and if I gave the impression that I belittled those crimes and the effects they have on their victims then I am so so sorry. It seems I must have utterly failed to get across what I was actually trying to say and instead offended and upset people who didnt deserve to be offended or upset. Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan expressed his concern for the former QI presenter after he made the comments but said Fry would not have intended them to be inflammatory or hurtful. Follow @StandardShowbiz for more news. W ith Captain America: Civil War just a matter of weeks away, the latest instalment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to come roaring into cinemas. While the franchise is now a huge hit, it began as a gamble in 2008 with Jon Favreaus Iron Man, seeing Robert Downey Jr take his most iconic screen role a choice that proved imperative in the series' subsequent success. Appearing on Alan Carr: Chatty Man, Favreau spoke about having to convince the studio that Downey Jr was the right choice. He is a wonderful actor, nobody doubted his talent, but he hadnt carried a big Hollywood film so it was a bit of a risk. It took some convincing, he explained. He had already done the second half of his career where he was showing that he was serious about the work, and he had done a few really good films, like Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, so he auditioned and he did such a fantastic job that Marvel decided that he was worth taking a shot with, and now they have built the Marvel universe around his wonderful performances. Captain America: Civil War Los Angeles Premiere 1 /16 Captain America: Civil War Los Angeles Premiere Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie at the 'Captain America: Civil War' film premiere Rex Chris Evans arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Captain America: Civil War" at the Dolby Theatre Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Chris Hardwick and Lydia Hearst arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of "Captain America: Civil War" at the Dolby Theatre Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Robert Downey Jr arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Captain America: Civil War" at the Dolby Theatre Rex Tom Holland arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Captain America: Civil War" at the Dolby Theatre Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Chloe Bennet arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Captain America: Civil War" at the Dolby Theatre Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Maria Menounos arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Captain America: Civil War" at the Dolby Theatre Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Marisa Tomei arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Captain America: Civil War" at the Dolby Theatre Matt Sayles/Invision/AP Lydia Hearst arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Captain America: Civil War" at the Dolby Theatre Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Paul Bettany arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Captain America: Civil War" at the Dolby Theatre Matt Sayles/Invision/AP Chris Evans, left, and Stan Lee arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of "Captain America: Civil War" at the Dolby Theatre Matt Sayles/Invision/AP Emily VanCamp and Chris Evans arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of "Captain America: Civil War" at the Dolby Theatre Matt Sayles/Invision/AP Downey Jr reprises his role as Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) in Civil War, while Favreau is currently enjoying positive reviews for his live-action take on Disney classic The Jungle Book. Channel 4, 10pm There was a time when religious groups sought to ban obscene books from public libraries, but these days it is militant secularists who are seeking to ban the Bible. Here are four examples. What makes this special is that they all occurred this week. A host of activist groups contacted the Department of Veterans Affairs asking it to put an end to the practice of banning the Bible at Veterans' medical clinics, and on military installations An Ohio congressman registered his objections to the removal of the Bible from a POW display at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base The American Library Association reported that (for the first time) the Bible made the "Top Ten" list of books that citizens sought to ban from libraries The Governor of Idaho, Butch Otter, vetoed a bill permitting the Bible to be used as a Reference book in the public schools In some cases, malicious intent was operative; in others, ignorance was at work. Take the last example. Gov. Otter said that allowing the Bible as a Reference book in a public school violated the Idaho Constitution. He offered the following quotes: "No sectarian or religious tenets or doctrines shall ever be taught in the public schools," and, "No books, papers, tracts or documents of a political, sectarian or denominational character shall be used...." This is patently false. It has been legal to teach about religion, using religious texts, since the beginning of the republic. It is the teaching of religion that is unconstitutional. Gov. Otter looks even more enfeebled when he relies on the Idaho Constitution to make his point. Is it not a decidedly political document? Does he think it is a comic book? Moreover, don't they teach the U.S. Constitution in Idaho schools? Has any teacher ever been arrested for distributing the Declaration of Independence? This is worse than madnessit is anti-American. LINCOLN Nebraska lawmakers passed bills Wednesday to give $20 million worth of property tax reduction to farm and ranch land owners, and to create of an independent commission of citizens to redraw the states political maps. Legislative Bill 958 represents the second part of Gov. Pete Ricketts property tax package. Lawmakers sent it to the governors desk on a 47-1 vote. The measure would add $20 million annually to the states Property Tax Credit Fund. The new money would go to owners of agricultural land, boosting their property tax credit to about $108 per $100,000 of valuation, starting in 2017. Under the bill, the amount allocated for tax credits to residential and commercial property owners would remain at the current level. Ricketts named property tax relief as one of his top priorities for the session. His initial proposals would have tightened budget and levy limits on local governments. LB 580, the redistricting bill, overcame a final-round stalling tactic and passed on a 29-15 vote. The compromise between State Sens. John Murante of Gretna and Heath Mello of Omaha now heads to Ricketts desk. The bill would create an independent commission of citizens to redraw the states maps for six elective bodies to account for population shifts: U.S. House, the Legislature, Public Service Commission, University of Nebraska Board of Regents, State Board of Education and Nebraska Supreme Court. No more than five of the new commissions members could be from a single political party. Supporters say the bill will help take partisanship out of the redistricting process. Opponents, such as Papillion Sen. Bill Kintner, who led the filibuster, say the current process, which is handled by state lawmakers, isnt broken. I think this bills a stinker, Kintner said. Sen. Dave Bloomfield of Hoskins unsuccessfully offered an amendment that would have revived Nebraskas winner-take-all method of choosing presidential electors. Murante said that although he favored the amendments intent, he couldnt support it because its passage at this stage of the legislative process would have sunk the redistricting bill. On Tuesday, a separate bill died amid a final-round filibuster that would have returned Nebraska to its winner-take-all system. Nebraska remains one of only two states that allow their Electoral College votes to be split during a presidential election. Among other bills passed Wednesday: Wind power. Developers seeking to build wind farms in Nebraska would no longer have to reach power purchase agreements to sell electricity out of state under LB 824, which senators passed 34-5. Supporters said dropping the requirement and other regulations will help speed wind energy development in Nebraska, which ranks high in wind resources but lower in generating capacity than nearly all surrounding states. Critics, who tried unsuccessfully to filibuster the bill, said wind power relies too heavily on federal subsidies and is not reliable enough to meet the states electrical demand. School testing. High school juniors would take a college admissions test, such as the ACT, instead of a state assessment under LB 930, passed 46-1. Backers say the change could encourage students to take the tests, opening the door for more to attend college. Money now used for state assessment tests would pay for the new exams. The switch could happen as early as next school year. Arena financing. The Omaha, Lincoln and Ralston arenas and a sports complex planned for La Vista could get more state sales tax support under LB 884, passed 43-4. The bill would make it easier for the projects to collect more money in any given year through a mechanism called a turnback tax. It also would make it easier for La Vistas proposed Nebraska Multisport Complex to qualify for the turnback tax but would require that at least 50 percent of that projects funding come from sources other than state sales taxes. Forfeiture changes. State and local law enforcement agencies could seize money or property only from people who have been convicted of a crime under LB 1106, passed 38-8. The bill would end seizures from people who have not been charged or convicted. However, it would allow agencies to continue participating in a federal program that allows local agencies to keep up to 80 percent of assets seized as part of a federal prosecution. Such federal seizures must be more than $25,000 and be done by a federal agent. World-Herald staff writer Joe Duggan contributed to this report. * * * Additional information on the Legislature DENVER (AP) A bank robbery suspect wasn't armed when he was fatally shot in a parked car by an officer on a downtown street during the busy lunchtime rush, police said Wednesday. The veteran officer fired at least seven shots after the suspect made a "threatening-type maneuver" and refused to show his hands as police moved in to arrest him, Major Crimes Cmdr. Ron Saunier said. The Tuesday shooting happened near the state Capitol and just steps from City Hall. A task force had been following the suspect, who was wanted in a March 17 bank robbery in which victims were ordered to the ground at gunpoint. The medical examiner's office identified the man killed as 40-year-old Dion Damon. Officers chose to arrest Damon downtown because he had a lengthy criminal past and they wanted to get him off the street as soon as possible, Saunier said. Police waited for a woman and child who had been traveling with him to leave the car before boxing him in with their vehicles, he said. Damon's silver sedan had heavily tinted windows, so the officer who fired, Jeff Motz, moved to the windshield to get a better view inside. Motz, a 22-year-veteran of the SWAT team, believed the man had a gun and shot into the windshield after he refused to get out of the car, Saunier said. Investigators did not find a gun on Damon or inside his car. The American Library Association (ALA) has released its list of most challenged books for 2015 and it serves as a reminder of why we need to continue to protect free speech in all its forms. The list is released during National Library Week in April. According to the ALA, their goal is to educate the masses that attempts to ban books is happening within our country, and the themes that are suggested by those challenges. As citizens, librarians, parents, we all should safeguard the right to read freely and to choose for ourselves and allow others to do the same. Fifty Shades of Grey is on the list. One of the reasons it was challenged is that it is poorly written. Seriously. People think thats a good enough reason to have a book banned. The Bible is on the list, too. Deborah Caldwell Stone, deputy director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom told NPR, it was challenged for religious viewpoints, based mainly on the mistaken perception that separation of church and state means publicly funded institutions are not allowed to spend funds on religious information. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was challenged for religious viewpoints and atheism. Nasreens Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan was challenged for religious viewpoints because the protagonist prays to Allah. Why is anyone upset about a book based in a predominantly Muslim country has someone praying to Allah? Lets get out the pitchforks because we dont want anyone reading about a religion that isnt ours. There is nothing wrong with reading about other religions. When I was in college, I wore a lot of T-shirts with Bible phrases on them. My classmates tried to shun me into not wearing them in class because they were offensive to our devout Jewish professor. So, I spoke with him directly. He told me, If your T-shirt causes me to question my faith, the problem is with me, not the T-shirt. Not with you. I often think of him and our conversations when I read about people challenging books. Its your perception, your offense. Chicago Tribune Columnist Clarence Page recently spoke with author Salman Rushdie about Emory University students who demanded protection from being put in pain by slogans chalked on campus sidewalks in favor of presidential candidate Donald Trump. There are no safe spaces against offensive ideas, he said, nor should we want there to be especially in places that are intended to expose us to the world, not to hide from it. Rushdie has always defended freedom of expression. Page explained, he campaigned successfully to prevent the British government from banning a libelous Pakistani film about him because a ban would have made it the hottest video in town. Instead, the film went virtually unnoticed outside of Pakistan. Every year, this list makes me angry. Why do others think they can dictate what I can and cannot read? Who appointed them as my mother? Actually, my mother encouraged me to read and learn and educate myself about the world. My teachers did likewise. The only time I ever got into trouble for reading a book was because I joined my fellow sixth-graders in pointing out salacious sections of Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret. You know what happened? My teacher told us to put the book away. No parents were called. No one tried to ban the book. No one made a big deal about sixth-graders on the cusp of puberty being interested in a book that directly related to them. No one has the right to tell others what they are allowed to read. You can tell me you dont like a book and why, but dont ever presume you have authority over me. In an ideal world we would have more tolerance for the idea that people have different ideas, different beliefs and live in different cultures, Stone told NPR. Books are a way of exploring these different worlds and can help us appreciate the differences between us. In 1986, at the Virginia Beach Library Banned Books Week lecture, Stephen King said, Do not walk, run to your nearest public library or bookseller and find out what your elders dont want you to know because thats what you need to know...dont let them guide your mind, because once that starts, it never, it never stops. Books, films and chalk scrawlings are expressions of who we are. They help us learn, grow and understand the world around us. Shunning any of them diminishes us all. This page may have been moved, deleted, or is otherwise unavailable. To help you find what you are looking for: Enter Search Term(s): Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL. Thank you for visiting state.gov. Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe Thursday, 14 April 2016 13:29:27 (GMT+3) | Istanbul Australia s Antidumping Commission has announced that it has decided to impose definitive antidumping (AD) duty on rebar imports from China Accordingly, the AD duties are 15.3 percent for Shandong Shiheng Special Steel Group, 16.4 percent for Shandong Iron and Steel Company Limited, Laiwu Company, 11.7 percent for Jiangsu Yonggang Group Co. Ltd., 15.2 percent for Hunan Valin Xiangtan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd, and 30 percent for uncooperative and all other exporters. The commission has increased the duties from the preliminary duties which ranged between 5.8 percent and 17.8 percent. The goods subject to antidumping duty currently fall under Customs Tariff Statistics Position Numbers 7214.20.00, 7228.30.90, 7213.10.00, 7227.90.10, 7227.90.90, 7228.30.10 and 7228.60.10. Thursday, 14 April 2016 23:19:54 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo Brazil exported 11,000 mt of Galvalume to the US in March, 5.9 percent more than in February, at an average FOB price of $571/mt, price deal probably closed in January, down 26 percent from the price of February. All exports were from the CSN plant in the southern state of Parana, one of the two plants licensed by BIEC to produce Galvalume in Brazil The most recent deals for the export of Galvalume to the US were reportedly closed at $750/mt, FOB conditions, a Brazilian exporter told SteelOrbis, adding that marketing efforts to US clients has had positive results so far this year: We are exporting more than 10,000 mt per month this year, against 5,000 mt per month in average last year, he said. Meanwhile, Brazil imported in March 9,600 mt of Galvalume from China at $481/mt, FOB conditions, so far the higher volume in the year, but far from the average of more than 17,000 mt imported per month in 2015. Thursday, 14 April 2016 12:20:23 (GMT+3) | Istanbul During the past week, demand for Turkish merchant bar in the export markets has remained slack. In parallel with the ongoing rises seen in global scrap and billet quotations in the same period, Turkish merchant bar export prices have increased by $50/mt week on week to the following levels: Product Price ($/mt) Angle 500-510 IPN-UPN 510-520 Flat bar 520-530 IPE 510-520 All prices are on FOB basis and for May shipment. Updated at 1:30 p.m. WASHINGTON China has agreed to scrap export subsidies on a range of products from metals to agriculture and textiles, the United States said Thursday. China will end a program known as its demonstration bases-common service platform, which provides export subsidies to Chinese companies in seven economic sectors, the U.S. trade representatives office said. The move is seen as a step toward easing trade friction with Washington, where concern has grown about the impact of Chinese goods, including steel, on U.S. jobs. Low-cost Chinese imports have been cited as a factor in the idling of a number of steel plants, including United States Steels Granite City Works, where 2,000 workers have been laid off. The victory that the United States secured will help level the playing field for everyone from medical device makers in California, to textile workers in North Carolina, to those in the shrimp industry along the Gulf Coast, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. But some industry figures were skeptical Thursday about the deals impact. One source knowledgeable about the agreement said it was not comprehensive enough to do much to help the U.S. steel industry, given that its focus was on only specialty products. The United States had filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization about the Chinese subsidy program, alleging unfair practices by China. The Chinese industries that have received the subsidies under the program include textiles, light industry, specialty chemicals, medical products, hardware, agriculture and advanced materials and metals, including specialty steel and aluminum products, the trade representatives office said. Its a good thing in moving China in the right direction, but it wont make a big difference in the trade balance, said James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Since China joined the WTO in 2001, the nation has frequently drawn complaints that its exports are being dumped, or sold at unfairly cheap prices on foreign markets. STEEL INDUSTRY The U.S. steel industry is under huge pressure this year from cheap imports, a strong dollar and falling oil prices, which have slashed demand for steel tubes used by the oil and gas industry. U.S. Steel President and Chief Executive Mario Longhi said he was cautious about the latest Chinese move. People can say whatever they want, and I think China has been saying a lot of things for the past couple of decades, Longhi said in Washington. You need to ask yourself what, from a practical perspective, is really happening. We need to see the proof in actions, not just in verbiage. Last year, the U.S. trade office estimated that suppliers of subsidized services to Chinese exporters received more than $1 billion from their government over three years. Though China is ending some subsidies, critics point to other forms of support for industry still in place. These include relatively cheap and easy credit from state banks, state-regulated power prices that tend to favor industry, and low prices for other inputs such as water. While it is clearly an important result, it is only one feature in a universe of other measures that China foresees for its steel sector, said Karl Tachelet, trade director at European steel industry body EUROFER. These include direct subsidies, soft loans from state banks, VAT (value-added tax) rebates on some product categories, energy and input subsidies, and occasionally direct grants, among others, he said. Wall Street shrugged off news of the agreement, with stocks in related sectors showing a mixed bag of results. International Monetary Fund Director Christine Lagarde, in Washington for meetings of the IMF and World Bank, said the lifting of the export subsidies was a positive sign that Chinese leaders appear committed to pursuing economic reforms. The Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. Some of St. Louis largest builders and construction unions have launched a program to boost homeownership in the St. Louis area. The promotion, called "The Neighborhoods Built by Your Neighbors Program," provides cash to assist buyers in purchasing a new home. This program is a testament to the relationship between St. Louis leading home builders and its Union trade partners, John F. Eilermann Jr., chairman and CEO of McBride & Son Companies, said in a statement. And most importantly its the best way to kick off the 2016 selling season. Organizers say they believe the program, which runs only during the month of April, is the only of its kind in the United States. Our local unions are truly putting their money where there mouth is when it comes to keeping people working, Ken Kruse, president of Payne Family Homes, said in a statement. They have committed nearly $1 million in cash for use at closing to homebuyers. That really says a lot. Its real cash for use at closing and its in addition to St. Louis Union Homebuilding Partnership Builders best deal, Jim Brennan, owner of McKelvey Homes, said in a statement. Its really an amazing deal for buyers. Six local unions are contributing to the fund with cash amounts that range from $2,000 to $10,000 based on the sales price of the home. This program is about neighbors coming together to make a difference, said John Fischer of Fischer & Frichtel Custom Homes. That fact is when union trades people are working they are buying other goods and services and the economy grows. Certificates will be distributed on a first come basis. The union contributions are based upon man hours by trade on an average St. Louis home. It is a great testament to the can do spirit in St. Louis homebuilding," said Barry Simon of Simon Homes. "We are excited to be a part of it. The Neighborhoods Built by Your Neighbors Program is exclusive to partnership members, limited to Missouri communities and runs only during April 2016. We are proud to be a part of this program; and giving an unprecedented deal for buyers, said Tim Miller, Bridgewater Communities president. To learn more about the program, go to STLunionhomebuilders.com for details. The world's biggest hamburger chain got a wake up call from protesters Thursday morning who are rallying for pay of $15 an hour and a union. Protesters planned to be at McDonald's around the country and overseas Thursday as part of an ongoing push. Before sunrise Thursday in St. Louis, protesters were bused in to the McDonald's at Natural Bridge Avenue and Kingshighway. Several dozen protesters were there, chanting and holding signs. A banner read, "McJobs Cost Us All." The crowd never went inside the restaurant, as they have done in previous protests. Since the December 2014 protest when chanting crowds overtook a dining room at a Hardee's, restaurants have been closing their dining areas when they know protesters are coming. Police monitored the crowd, making sure most didn't walk in the street. One St. Louis police officer stationed inside the restaurant peered out the window at them. They crossed Kingshighway and did the same in front of a Burger King. They planned to hold several protests in St. Louis, culminating with a 4:30 p.m. rally near a McDonald's at Hampton Avenue. Those in the crowd included fast-food employees but also other workers from other fast-food chains, nursing homes and at least one university, organizers said. McDonald's officials, meanwhile, say the company invests in the future of its employees with programs that help them earn high school and college degrees. The "Fight for $15" campaign began in late 2012 with fast-food workers in New York City. Organizers said they hoped Thursday's effort would be the largest yet. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Alexander Sokurovs Francofonia occupies a sparsely populated middle ground between documentary and narrative feature; its the story of a real place, and two real men, told in a circular, meandering fashion with lashings of cinematic imagination. That place is the Louvre, Paris glorious palace of art; the men are Jacques Jaujard, deputy head of the Louvre during World War II, and Count Franziskus Wolff-Metternich (Benjamin Utzerath), the Nazi-appointed overseer who arrived at the Louvre in 1940 to find it empty: Jaujard, with his staff, had acted swiftly to whisk the museums contents into hiding. You can find a more straightforward telling of this story in the 2009 documentary The Rape of Europa (and, presumably, in the recent French television documentary about Jaujard, Illustrious Yet Unknown). But Sokurov, who so beautifully plumbed the depths of Russias State Hermitage Museum in one glorious, 96-minute tracking shot in Russian Ark, has something more ambitious in mind. Blending archival footage, actor re-creation and special effects (sometimes all in the same shot), he creates a sense of specific place and time and, in doing so, crafts a sort of cinematic ode to art. Scenes with actors playing Jaujard and Metternich are introduced with a narrators voice Sokurovs? saying, Were we to imagine how this took place, might it look like this? But much of the film is quiet. Cameras float along the museums walls and hallways, lingering on empty frames leaning against the wall; a woman dances, weightlessly, through an exhibition room. A question is asked, early on: Who would we be without museums? Its an answer too terrible to contemplate; luckily and thanks in part to Jaujard we dont have to. When HBO ordered Confirmation, a docudrama that revisits the contentious hearings over the 1991 appointment of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, the premium cable network couldnt have anticipated just how timely the movie would turn out to be. Since filming started last June, the death of Justice Antonin Scalia has opened a seat on the high court, with immediate controversy over his possible replacement. At the same time, FXs riveting The People v. O.J. Simpson proved that a rehash of recent history can grab TV viewers, even if we know the end of the story, as long as that story is told well. Confirmation, premiering Saturday, is neither as juicy nor as satisfyingly told as the FX miniseries. With a running time of under two hours, it has no room for the detail or nuance, let alone the humor, that made The People v. O.J. so addictive. But Confirmation succeeds in making us re-examine attitudes from the vantage point of a quarter century, and also in reminding us that politics is an ugly business. Kerry Washington (Scandal) is an executive producer and stars as Hill, a professor at the University of Oklahoma who had worked with Thomas (Wendell Pierce) 10 years earlier. When called to testify, she recalled instances of alleged sexual harassment, including (in possibly the most famous) that he had once pointed out a pubic hair on his Coke can. The hearings put the issue of sexual harassment front and center on the map, HBOs Len Amato says. There were many dynamics at work during those judiciary hearings, but the end result was empowerment for all, male or female, who would never again feel the burden of negative consequences of sexual harassment. Thats clearly overstating how much change the hearings wrought. But Washington, who was 14 years old at the time, believes the hearings started an important cultural shift in ideas about appropriate language and workplace behavior as well as victims rights. Im really inspired by the difference that a person can make in Washington, she said when HBO introduced the movie to TV critics meeting in Los Angeles, adding that the hearings also changed how we think about women, how we think about race, how we think about power. With their 50 million viewers, the hearings really transformed even the way we consume news, Washington said. A movie built on controversy is certain to be controversial itself, especially in todays wildly divided political landscape. Months ago, after seeing a script, former Missouri Sen. John C. Danforth (played by Bill Irwin) and Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson (Peter McRobbie) protested in advance, with Simpson calling the movie seriously distorted. Danforth complained to Post-Dispatch metro columnist Tony Messenger that the movie mixed fact and fiction and portrayed him unfairly. Im OK being the villain, if the reason is truthful, Danforth was quoted as saying. The script that they sent me is just totally wrong. Danforth, who championed his friend Thomas to the extent of bashing Hill to the media, wont feel alone in being portrayed as a villain. Confirmation paints the entire Senate Judiciary Committee, headed by then-Sen. Joe Biden (Greg Kinnear), in negative ways ranging from deliberately mean-spirited to merely inept. Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich), who wrote the script for Confirmation, says the hearings were a very painful and traumatic experience for almost everyone involved, so everybody wrote about it. I have a massive shelf of books about it. I did a ton of research, and there is definitely a Rashomon element to that, which has just made it more fascinating. Director Rick Famuyiwa (Talk to Me, Dope) adds that context is important. The weight of the confirmation process, it brings out emotion. It brings out humanity. It brings out all sorts of things in people, especially when it was as hotly contested as this one was. Did Hill tell the truth? Did Thomas? The question is as undetermined at the end of Confirmation as it was in 1991. One of the things that we learned that was most exciting was when you start to tell this story and you pull back the curtain, the story is way more complicated than just he said, she said, Washington believes. A goal in making the movie was to continue the conversation, she says. Some of those issues have evolved enormously, are still rearing their head in terms of gender and in terms of race. What Confirmation Three stars out of four When 7 p.m. April 16 Where HBO More info hbo.com/movies/confirmation Out of accident and necessity in a remote town in eastern Uganda, a U.S. neurosurgeon developed a revolutionary procedure to treat hydrocephalus in children that does not require having to live with a shunt. Because of the countrys high numbers of children with hydrocephalus, doctors, including Dr. David Limbrick of St. Louis Childrens Hospital, traveled to Uganda so they could learn the technique. Two years ago, Limbrick traveled 8,000 miles to the East African country for more than a week of intensive training. Limbrick and fellow Children's neurologist Dr. Matthew Smyth are among about 20 surgeons in the U.S. performing the minimally invasive surgery known as endoscopic third ventriculostomy-choroid plexus cauterization. Its a mouthful, but any parent of a child diagnosed with hydrocephalus the buildup of excess spinal fluid in the brain knows about it. The first word I hear out of a parents mouth is, Is my child a candidate for ETV-CPC? he said. In the U.S., more than half hydrocephalus cases are congenital, where babies are born with abnormalities in the brains ventricles that dont allow the fluid to flow out and around the brain and spine properly. One out of every 500 births results in hydrocephalus, and 6,000 more children annually develop hydrocephalus during the first two years of life. Hydrocephalus can also occur as the result of a brain injury or infection. Children born with spina bifida can develop the dangerous condition. Without treatment, most dont survive or they suffer significant disabilities. The shunt system developed in the 1950s saved children from what was a near-certain death sentence. The intervention involves making an incision through the skull and running a thin tube from the brain to the abdominal cavity, where it is easily absorbed. A valve regulates the draining. Shunts, however, must be replaced as a child grows and are prone to failure because of a blockage, scarring or infection. Statistics show that within two years after surgery to implant a shunt, half will break and require another surgery. Nearly all will fail sometime in the first 10 years. Its not uncommon for someone who has lived with a shunt to have had hundreds of CT scans and 30 operations to fix problems, Limbrick said. Every time a patient gets a headache, they worry it could be life-threatening because their shunt is failing. Its problematic to live with this sort of ticking time bomb, he said. When doctors finally discovered the reasons behind her headaches and fatigue, Sarah Buffa, of Chesterfield, had her first shunt placed when she was 4 years old. Buffa is now 35 and has had a total of 32 surgeries, including seven in one year when she was in the second grade. When she woke from a surgery at the age of 14, a complication left her unable to move the right side of her body. After nearly a decade of intense physical therapy, Buffa regained most of her strength, but she still talks haltingly. It took her eight years to earn a college degree in accounting. Interviews never led to a job. So, she went back to school to earn her masters degree in social work, which she will receive next month. Buffa said she wants to work as an advocate for people with disabilities. My catch phrase is Keep on keeping on, she said. CRAZY REVERSAL The new ETV-CPC procedure is a one-time low-cost surgery, completely avoiding the stress and misery that can come with living with a shunt.Not having to put people in that situation is really a revolution in the way we treat hydrocephalus, Limbrick said. The procedure was developed by Dr. Ben Warf, now the director of the congenital anomaly neurosurgery program at Boston Childrens Hospital. He traveled to Uganda in 2000 to become the chief of surgery at the newly established CURE Childrens Hospital. Many babies in Third World countries like Uganda are born with hydrocephalus because of high rates of infection and other health problems. The lack of infrastructure makes it practically impossible to treat them with shunts and safely monitor and fix their inevitable failures. For a small number of hydrocephalus cases, a tiny hole can be made at the bottom of one of the brains ventricles, allowing fluid to flow properly. A surgical tool mistakenly delivered to Warf gave him the idea of combining this procedure with a new one navigating the brains ventricles and cauterizing (burning) tissue to reduce the amount of fluid produced. The procedure turned out to be as safe and effective as a shunt for children under the age of 2, without the longtime maintenance. For the breakthrough, Warf won a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2012. Its a crazy reversal of the normal pattern of developing a procedure in a First World country and taking it to a Third World country, Limbrick said. This was created out of necessity in Uganda and transferred in reverse to the U.S. St. Louis Childrens Hospital is one of nine institutions that make up the Hydrocephalus Clinical Research Network, which will continually study long-term outcomes of the surgery compared to shunts. Limbrick said people contact the hospital daily about having the procedure done. One of his patients is Cloe Simpson, of Red Bud, Ill., who had the surgery when she was 3 months old. She is now a funny and clever 18-month-old who loves riding toy cars, playing with dolls and cuddling with the puppies her family raises at their country home. She has two older siblings, ages 7 and 4. After stressing over frightening ultrasounds that discovered problems in utero, her parents said watching Cloe develop normally into an active toddler has been a relief. It couldve been extremely hard on us as parents, said Luke Simpson, 29, and we got very fortunate that things went as well as they did. WASHINGTON Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander said he raised $1.31 million in the first three months of 2016, slightly outpacing incumbent Sen. Roy Blunt in a U.S. Senate race in Missouri that is drawing increased national attention. Blunt, a Republican, announced Thursday he had raised about $1.254 million and had more than $5.4 million in his campaign coffers at the end of March. Kander, a Democrat, had about $2.8 million, his campaign said Thursday. Kanders robust fundraising in the first quarter of 2016 against a sitting senator bolsters his claim that the Missouri race is becoming an important battleground in the war for control of the Senate. Missouris Senate fundraising pace could put it in the top tier of the nations most expensive by November. In more populated Illinois, incumbent Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., often described as the most vulnerable Republican senator up for re-election in 2016, raised $1.2 million in the first three months of the year, and had $3.3 million in the bank as of April 1. His Democratic opponent, Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Schaumburg, raised $2.1 million and had more than $4 million in her campaign accounts. Both survived rather easily in March primaries, which Blunt and Kander have avoided. Kander communications director Chris Hayden released a memo with the fundraising results drawing attention to his differences with the incumbent Blunt, and attempting to portray Blunt as a Washington insider trapped in an anti-insider year. Blunts campaign said the memo rehashed decade-old issues from past campaigns and was an attempt to divert from Kanders positions on issues that are unpopular in Missouri. Haydens memo cites news reports predicting that the Senate race in Missouri will become one of the top in the country by November. Since entering the race last February, Kander has been trying for months to make that case, and in this memo, Hayden quotes the Washington Post recently describing the Kander-Blunt race as a sleeping giant. Blunt is a one-term senator who has been elected statewide three times, serving previously as secretary of state. He served in the House of Representatives for 14 years before winning the Senate seat. The veteran legislator is a member of Senate GOP leadership. He has had one of the most conservative voting records in the Senate in the latter stretch of his term, and he has opposed many of President Barack Obamas nominations to Cabinet positions, including current Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Kanders campaign memo says he supports a living wage and is in favor of campaign finance reform. Hayden criticizes Blunts support of Senate Republicans refusal to hold hearings or votes on Obamas Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland. Blunt has joined with other Republican senators who say the president elected in November should have the choice to replace Antonin Scalia, a position that has brought charges of obstruction and failure to perform a constitutional advise and consent duty. Blunts campaign spokeswoman, Burson Snyder, said the Kander memo was nothing more than a desperate attempt to divert voters attention from the fact that their candidate is so out of touch with mainstream Missourians views and values that he cannot talk about policy or real issues facing Missourians. Kanders memo attempts to portray Blunt as an ethically challenged Washington insider. It recounts previous stories on Andy Blunt, Roy Blunts campaign manager and one of the top lobbyists in Missouri. Andy Blunt told the Post-Dispatch in December that he saw no conflict in running his fathers campaign while lobbying in Missouri, and that he does not talk about his lobbying work with his father. The Kander campaign memo also criticizes Roy Blunt for not returning campaign donations from disgraced former Republican politicians, including former Speaker Dennis Hastert, who pleaded guilty to lying about financial transactions over hush money payments to students he allegedly sexually abused 40 years ago. Hastert has been in the news lately as his lawyers are trying to avoid federal prison time during the sentencing phase of his prosecution. Snyder called those claims a diversion. Their decade-old, reheated attack strategy has been rejected by Missourians time and time again, but they will stick with it because they cant talk about Jason Kanders stance on the issues, Snyder said. Kanders memo also argues that Blunt could be hurt by association with either of the Republican front-runners, Donald Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, at the top of the ticket. In the memo, Hayden argues that the enthusiasm behind both Donald Trump and Ted Cruzs support is largely fueled by anger against Washington insiders like Sen. Blunt. Missouri Republicans say that Kander will suffer from the unpopularity of either Democratic presidential front-runner, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, or Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Blunts campaign in Missouri this week said Kander, as secretary of state, should take responsibility for voting problems during recent presidential primary and municipal elections. Democrats said Thursday that Blunt took the opposite position in 1991, quoting news reports of Blunt saying that a St. Louis School Board election dispute then was properly being handled by a local board of elections. WASHINGTON Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri met Wednesday with stalled Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, and the Missouri senator said she believed President Barack Obamas choice for the high court would not be an activist judge in any sense. McCaskills 15-minute private meeting with Garland was the federal judges fifth of the day with senators who may never get to question his judicial philosophy in public. Republicans have blocked hearings for Garland, preferring to leave the choice to replace the late Antonin Scalia, and potentially tip the ideological balance on the court, to the next president elected in November. Before meeting with McCasill, a Democrat, Garland met with Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., one of only a few Republicans who have met with the nominee. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill,, was the first. Earlier this week, Garland met with Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, after which Grassley again said he had no plans to hold hearings. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., has said he has no plans to meet with Garland. As he approached her private Senate office, McCaskill showed Garland a frame that included a signed photograph of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and former Justice Sandra Day OConnor, as well as a Ginsburg-signed brief from a court case involving a prosecutors office in Kansas City and a case that McCaskill, Ginsburg and Garland had been involved in. After those small-world niceties, McCaskill asked Garland if he had tired of reading or seeing himself in the media. Garland said he hadnt had time to see much of it. The two then met behind closed doors. McCaskill said they talked about Missourian Harry S Truman, whose pictures adorn the walls of McCaskills Senate office. McCaskiill said she learned that Garlands wifes grandfather had served as Trumans presidential counsel. Then they got into the judicial philosophy of Garland, currently the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia. What really comes through is what respect he has for the limited job that a Supreme Court Justice has, McCaskill said. He kept reiterating, You just apply the law, McCaskill told the Post-Dispatch. It is pretty clear to me that this is not some wild-eyed going to go off and take cases that are on the edges (nominee). I think he is somebody who really understands that this is just about calling balls and strikes in terms of applying existing law. I dont think he would be somebody who would be an activist judge in any sense. Some Republican activist groups have tried to portray Garland as a potential liberal, anti-business activist if he were approved to the high court. McCaskill said the White House would have trouble getting Garland approved by a Republican-controlled Senate if it ever came to a vote, but she said Garland deserves at least a committee hearing and vote. She said that she believes that Garland is being treated terribly unfairly and regretted this notion that the public is never going to hear the answers to the questions senators have about Garlands suitability for the lifetime appointment. JEFFERSON CITY Gov. Jay Nixon signed legislation Thursday barring statewide elected officials and lawmakers from serving as paid political consultants. The law is part of a package of legislation moving through the General Assembly designed to bolster public trust in state government, which has seen numerous scandals in recent years, including the resignation of two lawmakers last year amid allegations they had inappropriate dealings with college interns. The new law, which goes into effect Aug. 28, prevents elected officials from profiting from their positions by getting paid by other lawmakers for their political advice. It is the first ethics-related bill to become law this session. Members of the General Assembly are here to represent their taxpaying constituents, not cash in on their political connections, Nixon told reporters during a signing ceremony in his Capitol office. He was flanked by the sponsors of House Bill 1983, Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, and Sen. Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown. Nixon warned that the new measure was just a first step in addressing the ethical shortcomings of Missouri government, where the cozy relationship between lawmakers and lobbyists includes members of the House and Senate renting rooms from the people who are attempting to influence public policy. Missouri is the only state in the nation with no campaign contribution limits, no limits on lobbyists gifts to lawmakers and no waiting period before a legislator can become a lobbyist. Missouris ethics laws remain the weakest in the nation, Nixon said. There is more work to do, and I have been very clear about the measures that are necessary to restore the publics trust. Nixon wants lawmakers to impose limits on campaign contributions, ban gifts to lawmakers from lobbyists and impose a cooling off period for lawmakers wanting to become lobbyists. Republicans who control the Legislature are not actively considering capping campaign contributions, but a ban on gifts is still alive as the House and Senate enter the final month of the legislative session. The House also has signed off on a six-month cooling off period for lawmakers looking to cash in as lobbyists. The proposal would bar a lawmaker from becoming a lobbyist for six months after he or she leaves office. Rep. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, said House Bill 1979 is designed to give lawmakers an incentive to stay in office through the end of their terms. Shortening the waiting period to six months from a year was key to winning support. It passed the House on a 131-19 vote and moves to the Senate for final approval. That was something we felt like we had to do to be able to get it through the Senate, Rowden said. Nixon and Democrats said they had hoped for a longer waiting period. I think at the end of the day we all said wed rather get something done than nothing done, so we kind of agreed to the six months and are hopeful that that would get through the Senate, said Rep. Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City. Nixon said six months is better than zero. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster announced that Bridgeton Landfill owner Republic Services lost an appeal challenging a state order to install new cooling equipment in the long-burning dump. Republic Services appealed a December order from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources directing it to install equipment to keep a low-temperature underground fire from spreading to the north of the Bridgeton Landfill. DNR last summer directed the company to develop more safeguards to prevent the fires spread, and in December it added a few conditions to Republics plan, one being that the company begin installing the cooling loop barrier within two weeks. The company and regulators are trying to prevent the fires spread to the northern quarry of Bridgeton Landfill, which contains radioactive contamination from the adjacent West Lake Landfill. There is no need for further heat extraction in the neck area, given that the reaction is not in or spreading through the neck and an existing heat extraction system is successfully operating in this area, Republic wrote in its appeal to the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission dated Dec. 31. The commission, which handles regulatory appeals, said it had no jurisdiction over the claims and dismissed the companys appeal. With the dismissal of this appeal, Republic is out of excuses, Koster said in a statement. It should begin the installation of the cooling loops immediately. Republic Services, in a statement, said it has been working with DNR and the Environmental Protection Agency on a comprehensive solution to separate the Bridgeton Landfill from the West Lake site. EPA has said it is trying to reach an an agreement with Republic Services to install a barrier between the two sites that could include similar cooling equipment. Republic said Kosters office knows that the cooling loops may ultimately fall under the jurisdiction of EPA, not MDNR. The statement from the AGs office appears, unfortunately, to be more about litigation posturing than about moving swiftly to an effective solution, the company said in a news release. It is not clear when the order will take effect. We will continue to work this out with the EPA, Republic said in a separate statement. Former Missouri state Rep. Juanita Alberta Head Walton died Tuesday (April 12, 2016) at a rehabilitation center in Portland, Ore., after a battle with cancer. She was 61. Ms. Head Walton represented parts of north St. Louis County from 2000 to 2008. She chaired the business and finance committee for the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, served as president of the National Order of Women Legislators, and was Democratic committeewoman of Ferguson Township. She was also a founding member of the Black Womens Political Action Coalition, an organization aimed at increasing the political influence of women at all levels of elected office. In a varied career outside politics, Ms. Head Walton was a licensed real estate agent, and worked as a flight attendant for TWA, a trainer for St. Louis Community College, and an instructor at Alabama State University. She was the former director of the Grace Hill Womens Business Center in St. Louis, and was president of the Sisters Network, an African-American breast cancer organization in Portland, Ore. Ms. Head Walton was born May 19, 1954, at St. Louis County Hospital in Clayton, to John W. and Delores Head. Her father, John, preceded her in death. She was the fifth of their eight children. She was a graduate of Kinloch High School, Lincoln University and Lindenwood University, and she attended Washington University. She was divorced from Elbert Walton, an attorney. She was a member of Coleman-Wright CME Church before moving and joining Highland Christian Church in Portland. Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Coleman-Wright CME. Church, 9777 New Halls Ferry Road in Jennings. Her survivors include her husband, Roy Jay of Portland; her mother, Delores Head; her sons, Elbert Walton III of St. Louis and Capt. Johnathan Walton of the Army National Guard; and seven siblings, Evelyn Head, Joyce Martin, John Head, Charles Head and Sharon Gill, all of St. Louis County, Patricia Johnson of Texas, and Willie Head of Oregon. LONDON MARKET CLOSE: FTSE 100 ends higher; Mordaunt makes UK PM tilt Friday, October 21, 2022 - 17:22 The pound regained some poise on Friday afternoon but remained in precarious territory, after falling below the $1.11 mark in afternoon trade. The pound was quoted at $1.1203 at the close on Friday, down versus $1.1294 at the London equities close on Thursday. It hit an intraday low of $1.1063 not long after midday. Sterling was hurt by continued political uncertainty. Speculation about who will join Penny Mordaunt in throwing their hats in the ring in the race for Number 10 continues. Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, one-time neighbours at Number 10 and 11 Downing Street - but now bitter rivals - have pockets of support from Tory MPs. Adding to the pressure on sterling, disappointing UK retail sales data showed a bigger-than-expected decline in September, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. Retail sales fell 6.9% annually in September, with the decline accelerating from a 5.6% fall in August. It also was worse than FXStreet-cited market consensus, which had expected a fall of just 5%. The pound had initially found some support on Thursday after Liz Truss called an end to her disastrous tenure as prime minister - poking above $1.13 - but has since been dragged lower. The FTSE 100 index closed up 25.82 points, or 0.4%, at 6,969.73 - closing out the week up 1.6%. The FTSE 250 lost 182.38 points, or 1.1%, at 17,206.55, but still managed to gain 1.0% this week, and the AIM All-Share ended down 1.04 points, or 0.1% at 785.40 - but advanced 0.8% over the past five days. The Cboe UK 100 closed up 0.4% at 696.31, the Cboe UK 250 ended down 1.0% at 14,694.15, and the Cboe Small Companies lost 0.3% at 12,240.46. In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.9%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt gave back 0.3%. The Tories have begun to declare their allegiances in the party's second leadership contest of the year as speculation mounts over who will seek to replace Truss at the helm of the party. Supporters of Johnson are backing the former prime minister to make an extraordinary political comeback, while ex-chancellor Sunak and Commons Leader Mordaunt also have the public support of several MPs. Mordaunt become the first to declare her candidacy, with a pledge to re-unite the bitterly divided party. The leader of the House who finished third in the last leadership election said she had been encouraged by the support she had received from fellow Conservative MPs. There has also been no declaration yet from Sunak, who did not answer questions from reporters as he left his home on Friday morning. Whoever does win will face an immediate test, choosing whether to go ahead with the planned Halloween statement setting out how the government intends to get the public finances back on track, Downing Street has said. Work is continuing in Whitehall, led by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, in preparation for the medium-term fiscal plan to be announced on October 31 along with an updated set of economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility. However, a Number 10 spokeswoman said it would be up to Liz Truss's successor to decide whether to proceed with that approach and with the same timetable. In London, blue chip miners helped push FTSE 100 higher. Glencore gained 3.6%, Anglo American 3.1%, Antofagasta 2.7%, and Rio Tinto added 1.6%. Retailers, however, were showing weakness after the disappointing UK retail sales data. A profit warning from Adidas did nothing to help the mood either. JD Sports closed down 6.1%, Frasers 4.0%, Burberry 2.2%, and Next shed 2.9%. On Thursday, Adidas lowered annual guidance as it struggles with "deteriorating traffic" in China and high inventory levels. The sports apparel maker said it has needed to turn to "higher clearance activity" to try and shift stock. It lost 9.0% in Frankfurt. Deliveroo gained 3.6%. The London-based online food delivery service said gross transaction values rose 8.3% annually in the third quarter to 1.70 billion from 1.57 billion, though orders fell by 1.1% to 72.8 million from 73.6 million. Deliveroo said the decline in orders was due to a difficult consumer environment. With economic data on Friday showing that UK consumer confidence remains near record lows, this seems unlikely to change anytime soon. InterContinental Hotels gave back 2.2% but reported strong revenue growth in the third quarter to September 30, saying that high global employment levels are boosting occupancy levels. Revenue per available room, or RevPAR, rose 28% year-on-year and now exceeds its pre-pandemic level, being up 2.7% on the third quarter of 2019. In the third quarter of 2022, the average daily rate increased by 13% compared to a year ago and was up 11% on 2019. Chief Financial Officer & Head of Strategy Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson will leave the company in six months time to become CFO of Flutter Entertainment in the first half of 2023. IHG has started the process of finding a new CFO. The euro stood at $0.9802 Friday evening, down against $0.9822 at the close on Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP148.03, compared to JP149.77 late Thursday. The yen was staging a fightback after the open on Wall Street, after nearly hitting JP152 during the Asia session. Stocks in New York opened higher on Friday, with the DJIA up 1.1%, the S&P 500 index up 0.9%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.6% higher. Brent oil was quoted at $92.84 a barrel late Friday, down from $93.29 late Thursday. Gold was quoted at $1,643.70 an ounce Friday, up against $1,641.90 from Thursday. In the international economics events calendar next week, Monday will be dominated by a slew of composite PMIs, with Japan overnight followed by Germany, eurozone and the UK in the morning then the US in the afternoon. A quiet Tuesday will be headlined by a US house price index. On Wednesday, there is Chinese GDP, retail sales and industrial production overnight, then on Thursday attention will be on the European Central Bank interest rate decision at 1315 BST. Friday will be headlined by a Bank of Japan rate decision. In the local corporate calendar on Monday, there are half-year results from Dr Martens, while education publishing firm Pearson will issue a third quarter update. Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Sir Ian McKellen. Photo: Sarah Dunn. SCHOOLCHILDREN from around the world are to be given a virtual tour of Shakespeare's birthplace, school, and other historic locations in his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon by a former Blue Peter presenter and one of this country's finest Shakespearean actors. Diane Louise Jordan will present Shakespeare 400 next Friday, 22nd April, which will include an interview with Sir Ian McKellen. It will be streamed online by Discovery Education, one of the UKs leading providers of digital content to schools, as part of the 400 anniversary commemorations of the death of William Shakespeare. The programme - aimed at pupils in Key Stages 2 and 3 - will be presented from Shakespeares Schoolroom and Guildhall at King Edward VI School, offering an exclusive glimpse of the classroom where the young Shakespeare spent his formative years and shaped his future as the worlds greatest English language playwright. Shakespeare's Birthplace in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon. Photo: Mark Williamson. Pupils will watch a re-enacted Tudor lesson, and be among the first to step inside the newly-renovated 600 year old building, described by historian Michael Wood as one of the most atmospheric, magical and important in the whole of Britain. Described by producers as a virtual field trip, the programme will then move to London to explore Shakespeares life in the Tudor capital, with a tour of some of the citys hidden Shakespeare locations, ending at the famous Globe Theatre. Actor Ian McKellen, one of the worlds leading performers of Shakespeare, will also talk enthusiastically about his passion for pupils experiencing the power of Shakespeare through seeing his plays performed on stage as they were intended to be. Lewis Bronze MBE, founder and Director of Content at Discovery Education, said: "The Shakespeare 400 broadcast gives pupils everywhere the opportunity to be involved in the global anniversary celebrations. "The programme will shine a light on Shakespeares relevance in the 21 century, helping teachers to bring his writing and historical context to life in a way which will engage todays learners. The Schoolmaster's chair in the refurbished Shakespeare's Schoolroom in the Guildhall, Stratford-upon-Avon. Photo: mark Williamson (G9/3/16/10) During his interview, Sir Ian will say: When Shakespeare was writing his plays 37 of them 400 years ago, he didnt publish the scripts, they were for the actors. "He wanted you to come to hear the words spoken and see the play. Although the plays are 400 years old, they go on being more than relevant, they go on being entertaining, illuminating, and for me thats what makes Shakespeare the best writer of them all. The Shakespeare 400 virtual field trip is available free to all schools, and teachers are encouraged to register online here to access the 25-minute broadcast at www.shakespeare-400.eventbrite.co.uk. An on-demand version will be available on the Discovery Education website after the event. Works With Wowza Program Expands to Include Panasonics Professional-Grade, 4K Integrated PTZ Camera Partnership with Wowza Media System Enables Customers to Stream 4K Content Directly from the Panasonic AW-UE70 Camera to Any Device Golden, Colo. ( ) Wowza Media Systems, the leading software and cloud-based services provider that continuously simplifies the complexities of high-quality video and audio streaming for organizations worldwide, today announced that Panasonic Corporation joined its Works With Wowza partner program, expanding camera choices to include Panasonics 4K PTZ camera, the first 4K camera to be included in the program. Now customers can seamlessly integrate Panasonics AW-UE70 4K PTZ camera and Wowza Streaming Engine server software, to deliver best-in-class 4K streaming for sporting events, conferences, concerts and scenarios where ultra-high resolution video is crucial. 4K video streaming is not only the hottest trend in video production, but a trend that has lasting power. We are excited to work together with Wowza to make capturing and streaming 4K video easy, straightforward and effective for customers using Panasonics newest 4K integrated camera and Wowza Streaming Engine software, said Delix Alex, Product Manager, Panasonic. The AW-UE70 4K PTZ camera offers best-in-class 4K IP streaming and in-camera 4K recording and delivers flexibility, future-proofing and post-production advantages. With our Wowza partnership, customers can focus more on the benefits of streaming events and less on production challenges and complex workflows. This technology partnership combines top-notch video quality with ease of use to meet the growing demand to incorporate 4K content into live event streaming. Now joint customers can experience easy integration from their Panasonic 4K PTZ camera to Wowza Streaming Engine software, resulting in a seamless, high-quality live production workflow. Panasonic is a leader in camera technology and 4K content, and were thrilled to expand our partner ecosystem and together further transform live event streaming, said David Stubenvoll, CEO and co-founder of Wowza Media Systems. The demand for streaming 4K video crosses industries as more and more people expect the benefits of ultra-high quality video. Now customers can deliver on these demands with a seamless live video streaming workflow. The Works With Wowza program simplifies streaming by providing customers with tested, integrated, and supported end-to-end streaming components. Works With Wowza partners provide industry-leading technology needed for robust, flexible and scalable streaming to any device. Panasonics current integrated PTZ line-up (AW-HE40, AW-UE70, and AW-HE130) andAVC-Ultra (AJ-PX270/380/800/5000, AJ-PG50, and AJ-PD500) streaming camcorders/recorders will be supported in the Wowza Streaming Engine server software as part of the Works With Wowza program. To see the Panasonic and Wowza Media Systems partnership in action at the 2016 NAB Show, stop by Wowza booth SU5324 or schedule a meeting. Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) has reached an agreement with Macquarie Infrastructure Partners III (MIP III), a fund managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA), to sell Maher Terminals USA, LLC, a 454-acre multi-user container terminal in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey. Under the transaction, MIP III has agreed to acquire 100% of Maher Terminals USA, LLC. This is subject to Port Authority and other regulatory approvals. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but are not expected to have a material impact on Deutsche Banks financials. Maher Terminals in New Jersey currently moves more than 2 million twenty-foot-equivalent containers per year and provides a vital transport link between land and water for the global marketplace. Since acquiring the asset in 2007, Deutsche Bank has managed this vital transport link through the financial crisis and recovery. This is a legacy asset held within the Banks Non-Core Operations Unit (NCOU). In 2015, Deutsche Bank sold Maher Terminals Canadian operations Fairview Container Terminal in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, to DP World. This sale marks another important step in Deutsche Banks commitment to the reduction of legacy assets, said Pius Sprenger, Deutsche Banks Head of the NCOU. Praxair, Inc. (NYSE: PX) announced that its subsidiary, Praxair Canada Inc., has received approval for the sale of its Noxivent brand of inhaled nitric oxide in Canada. Additionally, earlier this year Praxair announced the acquisition of NOxBOX Ltd, a company that specializes in the manufacture of inhaled gas delivery and monitoring instruments for the medical market. With this approval from Health Canada, we will pair the Noxivent product with the NOxBOXi delivery system, enabling us to provide our Canadian hospital customers with a comprehensive respiratory offering in a cost-effective manner, said Sean Durbin, president Praxair Canada. Our customers have been looking for choices in the marketplace and we are pleased to be able to deliver. Praxair Canadas Noxivent inhaled nitric oxide, in conjunction with ventilatory support and other appropriate agents, is indicated for the treatment of term and late pre-term (34 weeks) neonates with hypoxic respiratory failure associated with clinical or echocardiographic evidence of pulmonary hypertension, where it improves oxygenation and reduces the need for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Noxivent gas will be available for sale and use in Canada in 800 ppm and 100 ppm concentrations. More information about Noxivent inhaled nitric oxide and Praxairs NOxBOXi delivery system can be found on the Praxair Canada website at www.Praxair.ca/Noxivent. BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) reported Q1 EPS of $4.25, $0.04 worse than the analyst estimate of $4.29. Revenue for the quarter came in at $2.62 billion versus the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. Cash management AUM decreased 3% to $292.0 billion. Advisory AUM ended the first quarter at $10.6 billion. BlackRock performed well in a challenging market environment and our first quarter 2016 results demonstrate our ongoing ability to help clients achieve their investment goals, commented Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock. BlackRock generated long-term net inflows of $36 billion in the quarter, driven by positive global flows across both active and index products. Over the last twelve months, we saw $118 billion of long-term net inflows, muting the impact of $148 billion of market and FX headwinds over the same period. Strong organic asset growth and positive mix shift largely offset equity market headwinds, as a 1% year-over-year decline in base fees outpaced a 9% average fall in the MSCI World Index over the same period. While we of course were not immune to the effects of market movements, which impacted both base fees and performance fees this quarter, the magnitude and diversification of our inflows speak to the differentiation of BlackRocks platform and our ability to serve our clients. iShares were once again a critical tool for investors to manage their portfolios in a period of heightened volatility. During the quarter, iShares saw more than $24 billion of total net inflows, capturing the #1 market share of net inflows globally, in the US and in Europe. iShares flows were led by fixed income, with record quarterly net inflows of more than $27 billion, as investors utilized bond ETFs to efficiently access liquidity and diversify exposure. Across our Institutional business, first quarter net inflows of $12 billion were driven by strong active fixed income and multi-asset flows. The investments weve made to deepen relationships with our clients are generating results, and over 50% of our largest institutional clients have five or more products managed by BlackRock. BlackRocks US Retail business generated long-term net inflows of $1 billion, primarily driven by strong long-term investment performance across our active fixed income platform. As the US active mutual fund industry experienced first quarter outflows for the first time since the financial crisis, BlackRocks client-centric, solutions-oriented approach continued to deliver inflows. BlackRock Solutions revenue grew 16% year-over-year, led by Aladdin, our unifying technology platform. In the evolving regulatory environment, we are seeing growing demand from clients, as asset owners and managers focus on risk management and adapt to change. We are also seeing increasing opportunities in the retail marketplace to provide our distribution partners with institutional-quality asset allocation, risk management and digital advice capabilities. BlackRock remains committed to constantly evolving our organization to meet the long-term needs of our clients. We continue to invest in our business to capture the opportunities ahead of us and drive growth despite current market volatility. Doing so requires making smart and difficult decisions about allocating resources, and led to our decision to initiate a restructuring during the quarter that will streamline and simplify our organization, driving efficiencies across our platform to better serve our clients and deliver returns for our shareholders. I want to thank our employees for their unwavering focus on creating better financial futures for our clients. We are confident that our unique and differentiated business model remains well positioned for growth in the current environment. For earnings history and earnings-related data on BlackRock (BLK) click here. (Reuters) - A lawsuit can proceed against the maker of the gun used in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children and 6 adults dead, a Connecticut judge ruled on Thursday. Bushmaster, manufacturer of the AR-15 assault weapon used in the attack in Newtown, Connecticut, had asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit, saying it was protected by a 2005 federal law blocking lawsuits against gunmakers when their products were used in the commission of crimes. The lawsuit was filed in 2014 by the families of nine of the people who were killed. Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis declined to dismiss it, saying the gunmaker, a unit of Madison, North Carolina-based Freedom Group Inc, had not proven that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act stopped her from hearing the case. "The Superior Court has subject matter jurisdiction over a wrongful death action where the injury arose out of conduct by the defendants," Bellis wrote. "Any immunity that PLCAA may provide does not implicate this court's subject matter jurisdiction." The lawsuit seeks unspecified financial damages. It argues that the legally purchased AR-15 used by Adam Lanza in the attack should never have been sold because it had no reasonable civilian purpose. Attorney Josh Koskoff, representing the families, welcomed the judge's decision and said in a statement, "The families look forward to continuing their fight in court." An attorney for Bushmaster could not be reached for comment. Lanza, 20, ended his attack by turning his gun on himself. Before going to the school, he fatally shot his mother, Nancy, who had bought the gun. After the shooting, Connecticut's Democratic governor, Dannel Malloy, pushed through one of the strictest gun laws in the United States, banning more than 100 types of military-style rifles and limiting ammunition magazines to 10 bullets. "We've passed the toughest gun laws in the nation for a reason," Malloy said in a statement. "These families deserve this, the ruling is the right one. The gun industry should not have protections that no other industry in America sees." Modified versions of the AR-15 are legal in Connecticut. (Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Toni Reinhold) SAN MATEO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Guavus, Inc., a leading provider of big data analytics applications for operational intelligence, today announced that it has joined the RDK Community as a licensee. Guavus' suite of operational analytics applications make it easy to draw together data collected from RDK set-top boxes, gateways and other devices, together with the operator's own network data and customer interaction data, to provide real-time analytics that improve network operations, service assurance and customer care. Real-time data is one of the critical tools necessary for operators to leverage in order to deliver the best customer experience possible. By correlating and contextualizing data from across the organization, operators can anticipate, address and prevent problems that impact the customer experience through the deployment of self-healing networks. Some of these insights may include: context around KPIs, mapping the toll of outages to different customer populations to gauge the impact on customers, and predicting the impact of introducing new CPE or services into the network. "One of the key benefits of RDK is the volume of CPE performance data that can be gathered from the field," said Steve Heeb, President and General Manager of RDK Management, LLC. "By collecting and analyzing this data, operators can quicken the pace for targeted product releases. We are very pleased to welcome Guavus to the RDK Community." "Customer experience is fast becoming the most important end product for operators," said Gabriele Di Piazza, SVP Products and Marketing for Guavus. "The role of collaborative and cross functional decision making enabled by real-time analytics aligns with the fundamental goal in the RDK community, which is to deliver an agile infrastructure for delivering next-gen products at web speed." The Reference Design Kit (RDK) is a pre-integrated software bundle that provides a common framework for powering customer-premises equipment (CPE) from network operators. It enables network operators to standardize certain elements of these devices, but also to easily customize the applications and user experiences that ride on top. The RDK is supported by more than 250 companies including CE manufacturers, SOCs vendors, software developers, system integrators, and network operators. It is administered by the RDK Management LLC, a joint venture between Comcast Cable, Time Warner Cable, and Liberty Global. Beyond video-centric set-top boxes (RDK-V), the RDK community is now focused on providing similar software commonality and standardization across data gateways, a software initiative called RDK-B (broadband). About Guavus Guavus solves the world's most complex data problems. Proven across Tier 1 service providers, Guavus provides a new generation of analytically powered big data applications to address specific business problems for next-generation service assurance, next-generation customer experience management and the Internet of Things. The Company uniquely breaks down the barriers between Operational Support Systems and Business Support Systems to enable customers to deliver a better customer experience, improve service operations and more efficiently plan network capacity. Guavus' operational intelligence applications correlate and analyze massive amounts of streaming and stored business, operational and sensor data from multiple, disparate source systems in real time. Guavus products currently process more than two trillion transactions per day. Source: Guavus Inc. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- HDI, the first membership association and certification body created for the technical support industry, announced the winners of the 2016 HDI Industry Awards. Each year, these awards are given to the individuals, teams, and organizations that have enhanced the image of the technical service and support industry through exceptional leadership, vision, innovation, and achieving the highest standards of quality and customer satisfaction. Recipients were announced during the HDI 2016 Conference & Expo in Orlando. To learn more about the HDI Industry Awards, visit: www.ThinkHDI.com/Awards. Judging panels reviewed more than 350 submissions for twelve award categories. Judging panels were comprised of distinguished and expert judges tasked with selecting the industry's top volunteers, industry luminary, team, manager, analyst, desktop support technician, and local HDI chapter officer. .and the recipients are: HDI Hall of Fame New in 2016 Cay Robertson, Tampa Electric Company Chris Farver Eddie Vidal, Consultant Kirk Weisler, Team Dynamics Tatsumi Yamashita, HDI-Japan HDI Ron Muns Lifetime Achievement Award Ken Wendle HDI Team Excellence Award* TECO Energy, Inc. HDI Manager of the Year* Marie DiRuzza, Worcester Polytechnic Institute HDI Analyst of the Year* Siobhan Tate, Charles Schwab - Central Region, HDI Austin Local Chapter HDI Desktop Support Technician of the Year* Nicole Sladick, The Hartford - Northeast Region, HDI Connecticut Local Chapter HDI Local Chapter Officer of the Year Jane Leahy, HDI Nebraska *Award sponsored by Robert Half Technology. HDI CSAT Elite 50 #1 Top Ranked Support Center Ameritas IT, GTS Support Center The HDI CSAT Elite 50 is a program that celebrates top performing support centers around the world. These support centers are ranked based on customer satisfaction survey responses gathered by the HDI Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) Service, an independent, third-party tool that tracks and trends customer satisfaction. For more information on each award recipient, visit: http://www.thinkhdi.com/landing/2016-award-winners "It is such a thrill for HDI and Robert Half Technology, our premier awards sponsor, to recognize our finalists and honor our recipients each year," says Leslie Cook, HDI's director of membership. "Always a highlight of an already amazing conference experience, the 2016 award presentations honored twelve truly deserving recipients. The value they each bring to their organization and to our community is incalculable and we wish them continued success as they strive to advance the mission of the tech support industry." For additional highlights from the 2016 HDI Conference & Expo, visit hdiconference.com/photos. About HDIFounded in 1989, HDI is the first membership association and certification body created for the technical support industry. Since then, HDI has remained the source for professional development by offering the resources needed to promote organization-wide success through exceptional customer service. In other words, we help professionals in service management better serve customers. We do this by facilitating collaboration and networking, hosting acclaimed conferences and events, producing renowned publications and research, certifying and training thousands of professionals each year, and connecting solution providers with practitioners. Learn more at www.ThinkHDI.com. HDI is organized by UBM Americas, a part of UBM plc (UBM.L), an Events First marketing and communications services business. For more information, visit ubmamericas.com. About Robert Half Technology With more than 100 locations in North America and Europe, Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of technology professionals for initiatives ranging from web development and multiplatform systems integration to network security and technical support. Robert Half Technology offers online job-search services at www.rht.com. Contact: Kimberly Samra HDI PR [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130109/SF38988LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hdi-delivers-12-industry-awards-honoring-top-technical-support-professionals-and-teams-300251801.html SOURCE HDI WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Augusto Russell, CIC, of Farmington, Connecticut, has been named the 2016 Professional Agent of the Year by the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA). Russell is a partner with May, Bonne & Walsh Inc. in Glastonbury, Connecticut. "This award is PIA's highest honor," said PIA National President Robert W. Hansen, Jr. "It recognizes the achievements of one Professional Insurance Agent who is an outstanding member of PIA." The PIA National Professional Agent of the Year award is the association's highest national award of distinction. It is presented annually to one outstanding professional insurance agent who is a member of PIA. Nominations for this award are made by PIA state and regional affiliate associations. "Augusto Russell's life and his career path have both been characterized by caring," Hansen said. "After entering the insurance industry in Boston in 1986, he left the industry in 1999 to work as director of development for HOPE Worldwidea charity that works to deliver community-based services to the poor and needy. He resumed his insurance career in 2003, when he and his family moved to Connecticut." Russell has been an active member of PIA of Connecticut since 2005, serving as its President in 2013-14. He has served with distinction on many PIA committees and was honored as the PIA of Connecticut Professional Agent of the Year in 2015. In addition, Russell participates in efforts to give back to his community, which he believes is a necessary ingredient to being a good agent. He is President of the Board of The Arc of the Farmington Valley (Favarh), and chair of its $2,000,000 capital campaign which is nearing completion. Favarh serves a large client population with intellectual disabilities. Russell is also Chair of the Economic Development Commission for his home town of Farmington, Connecticut and past President of the Farmington Rotary Club. "In my opinion, which is not just that of a Governor but as someone raised in a family of insurance brokersI recognize the value of a committed professional who cares deeply for both his customers and his community. Mr. Russell exemplifies that in every regard," wrote Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy in support of Russell's nomination for the PIA award. Former Insurance Commissioner of Connecticut Thomas Leonardi said that while there is much discussion about the need to attract bright young people into the industry, "Augusto has actually done something about it!" He was referring to how Russell initiated a program with Goodwin College to create a course curriculum to allow students a pathway into an insurance career. Board members of PIA of Connecticut collaborated in the effort. "I believe he is one of the finest human beings I have come across in my career," Leonardi added. "He genuinely cares about people, his community, and his profession." The PIA National Professional Agent of the Year award was presented during a gala luncheon ceremony on April 8, 2016, in Arlington, Virginia, held during the national PIA meetings, which followed the 2016 PIA Federal Legislative Summit (FLS). Founded in 1931, PIA is a national trade association that represents member insurance agents and their employees who sell and service all kinds of insurance, but specialize in coverage of automobiles, homes and businesses. PIA members are Local Agents Serving Main Street America SM. PIA's web address is www.pianet.com. This press release is online at: http://pianet.com/news/press-releases/2016/pianamesprofessionalagentoftheyear2016041316 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pia-national-names-augusto-russell-2016-professional-agent-of-the-year-300251741.html SOURCE National Association of Professional Insurance Agents CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Prime Security Services Borrower, LLC (together with its subsidiaries, Protection 1), a portfolio company of certain funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO) (together with its consolidated subsidiaries and affiliates, Apollo), announced today that The ADT Corporation (NYSE: ADT) (ADT) has extended the Consent Time in connection with its consent solicitation from holders of its 6.250% Senior Notes due 2021 (the 2021 Notes) to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on April 22, 2016. As of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on April 13, 2016, ADT has been advised by D.F. King & Co., Inc. that consents with respect to 49.9% of the outstanding 2021 Notes were obtained. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413006714/en/ As previously announced, ADT received the requisite consents to amend certain terms of each of its 5.250% Senior Notes due 2020 (the 2020 Notes), 3.500% Notes due 2022 (the 2022 Notes), 4.125% Senior Notes due 2023 (the 2023 Notes) and 4.875% Notes due 2042 (the 2042 Notes and, together with the 2020 Notes, the 2022 Notes and the 2023 Notes, the Successful Consent Notes and, collectively with the 2021 Notes, the Consent Notes). The consent solicitations in respect of the Successful Consent Notes (the Successful Consent Solicitations) and the 2021 Notes (the 2021 Notes Consent Solicitation and, collectively with the Successful Consent Solicitations, the Consent Solicitations) have been conducted in connection with the previously announced merger agreement, pursuant to which ADT has agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of certain funds managed by Apollo and merged with Protection 1, with ADT surviving the merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of Prime Security Services Borrower, LLC (the Acquisition). As previously announced, on April 1, 2016, ADT commenced the Consent Solicitations from holders of the Consent Notes with respect to (i) a waiver (with respect to each series of Consent Notes, the Waiver and, collectively, the Waivers) of any potential Change of Control Triggering Event, including any potential obligation of ADT to make a Change of Control Offer (each as defined in the indentures governing the Consent Notes), and (ii) certain amendments to the indentures governing each series of Consent Notes, which would (a) amend the definition of Change of Control and (b) limit any required grant of capital stock as collateral with respect to the Consent Notes to the extent necessary not to be subject to any requirement pursuant to Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) rules to file separate financial statements with the SEC or any other governmental agency (clauses (a) and (b) together, with respect to each series of Consent Notes, the Proposed Amendments), in each case in connection with the Acquisition. The Consent Solicitations are subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Consent Solicitation Statement, dated as of April 1, 2016, as amended by Amendment No. 1 to the Consent Solicitation Statement, dated as of April 5, 2016, as previously extended by the press release dated April 11, 2016 and the press release dated April 12, 2016 and as further extended hereby. This announcement does not constitute a solicitation of any consent in respect of, or an offer to purchase, or a solicitation of an offer to sell, any securities. The Consent Solicitations are being made only pursuant to the applicable offering documents. The applicable offering documents for the Consent Solicitations will be distributed to all holders of the Consent Notes. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. is acting as solicitation agent for the Consent Solicitations. Barclays Capital Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and RBC Capital Markets, LLC are acting as co-solicitation agents for the Consent Solicitations. D.F. King & Co. Inc. is acting as the information and tabulation agent for the Consent Solicitations. Requests for the offering documents may be directed to D.F. King & Co. Inc. at (212) 269-5550 (for brokers and banks), (866) 416-0576 (for all others) or e-mail at [email protected]. About Protection 1 Protection 1 was acquired by certain funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO) on July 1,2015 as the flagship for Apollos entrance into the alarm monitoring services industry, with a simultaneous acquisition of ASG Security, which has been effectively integrated into Protection 1. Protection 1 is a premier full-service business and home security company in the U.S. that provides installation, maintenance, and monitoring of single-family home security systems, business security systems and multi-family security systems. Protection 1 serves over 2 million customers and employs over 4,000 people in more than 90 office locations and five UL Certified monitoring centers across the country. For more information about Protection 1, visit http://www.protection1.com/corporate/news/. About ADT The ADT Corporation (NYSE: ADT) is a leading provider of security and automation solutions for homes and businesses in the United States and Canada. ADTs broad and pioneering set of products and services, including ADT Pulse interactive home and business solutions, and health services, meet a range of customer needs for todays active and increasingly mobile lifestyles. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, ADT helps provide peace of mind to over 6.5 million customers and employs approximately 17,000 people at 200 locations. More information is available at www.adt.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable federal securities laws. The forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements concerning the Consent Solicitations. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to economic, competitive, and technological factors outside Protection 1s control that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Protection 1 expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in expectations or events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413006714/en/ Media For Protection 1: Coltrin & Associates Jennifer Webb, 212-221-1616 [email protected] or For Apollo Global Management: Apollo Global Management, LLC Gary M. Stein, 212-822-0467 Head of Corporate Communications [email protected] or Rubenstein Associates, Inc. for Apollo Global Management, LLC Charles Zehren, 212-843-8590 [email protected] Source: Protection 1 Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks with residents Laura (C) and Bridget McAlpine after launching the party's local election campaign in Harlow, Britain April 5, 2016. REUTERS/Darren Staples By Kylie MacLellan and Elizabeth Piper LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party urged voters on Thursday to back a campaign to remain in the European Union "warts and all", but his appeal did little to conceal his lingering euroscepticism. Underlining the challenges for a referendum that is blurring Britain's traditional political divisions, Jeremy Corbyn spent more time attacking Prime Minister David Cameron, who is leading efforts to remain in the EU, than praising the bloc. Corbyn used his first official speech on the EU to call on voters to participate in the referendum on June 23, trying to spur enthusiasm among pro-EU, left-leaning young people who may hold the key for the "In" campaign. "You cannot build a better world unless you engage with the world, build allies and deliver change. The EU, warts and all, has proved itself to be a crucial international framework to do that," he said. But the veteran left-wing lawmaker gave only scarce evidence that he had truly converted to the European cause, saying he was still critical of its shortcomings. These included a lack of democratic accountability and pressure to privatize public services, he said. "Many people are still weighing up how they will vote in this referendum. And I appeal to everyone, especially young people...to make sure you are registered to vote. And vote to keep Britain in Europe this June," he told Labour members. He said he had voted against membership of the then European Economic Community, the forerunner to the EU, in a 1975 referendum, but had been swayed by members of his party and the trade unions to now support staying in the bloc. But it must do more to protect workers' rights, he said. "Overwhelmingly the Labour Party and trade unions have come to the view that they want to campaign for a social, just Europe...That's the party that I lead and that's the position I'm putting forward." EVENLY BALANCED While more than half of Labour voters favor "In", opinion polls suggest that Britain as a whole is evenly divided over whether it should stay in the European Union. With older voters, who largely support leaving the bloc, more likely to turn out, the "In" campaign wants to spur enthusiasm among younger Britons, many of whom backed Corbyn as Labour leader last year on a groundswell of desire for change. With Cameron's popularity suffering as he struggles with questions over his personal wealth, a steel industry crisis and divisions in his ruling Conservative Party, Corbyn is for the first time in weeks seen as a safer pair of hands. The YouGov poll published on Thursday found that public trust in Cameron had fallen 8 percentage points to 21 percent since February, while Corbyn's rating had risen 2 percentage points to 28 percent. Corbyn attacked the prime minister's failure to save the ailing steel industry and to bring tax dodgers to justice. "We also need to make the case for reform in Europe -- the reform David Cameron's government has no interest in, but plenty of others across Europe do," Corbyn said, underlining the differences with Cameron in his approach to the EU. Nevertheless, Cameron welcomed Corbyn's speech, saying the referendum overcame traditional political differences. "The truth is this there are lots of things we disagree about between Labour, Liberals, Greens and others but the fact is we all come together to support the idea of Britain staying in a reformed European Union," he said at an "In" campaign office. "Britain stronger in Europe," the campaign group to remain in the bloc, said Corbyn had made "a compelling case for our continued membership of the EU". Corbyn initially refused to rule out campaigning to leave the bloc when he was elected leader last year. On Thursday, though, he denied he would be half-hearted in his push to remain in the bloc. "You'll hear plenty from us on this. There's nothing half hearted about anything I do," he said. (Additional reporting by William James and Estelle Shirbon, writing by Elizabeth Piper, Editing by Angus MacSwan) By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The leader of Western Sahara's Polisario Front separatist movement on Thursday wrote to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him and the Security Council to pressure Morocco to stop interfering with U.N. peacekeepers. Last month, Ban used the word "occupation" to describe Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara in 1975, when Rabat took it over from colonial power Spain. Infuriated by what it saw as a shift away from a neutral position, Morocco expelled dozens of U.N. staff working for the mission there known as MINURSO. "We warn that the absence of real and direct pressure on the occupation state of Morocco ... will be considered a green light to a military aggression by the Kingdom of Morocco against the Sahrawi people," Polisario President Mohamed Abdelaziz wrote to Ban in a letter seen by Reuters. Morocco has said its decisions were irreversible but it was still committed to peace. Abdelaziz said the 15-nation Security Council should pressure Morocco to enable "the return of MINURSO to resume its work and mandate regarding organizing a referendum on self determination to the Sahrawi people." If that does not happen, Abdelaziz wrote, the Sahrawi people "will find itself, again, obliged to defend its rights by all legitimate means, including armed struggle." The letter was sent as Ban's office prepares its annual report for the Security Council on Western Sahara before a council vote this month to renew MINURSO's mandate. The report, which was due last week, has been delayed because of the dispute over Ban's remarks in March, council diplomats said. Polisario says Morocco is putting the ceasefire at risk by expelling MINURSO staff and trying to scuttle the plan for a referendum on independence. Morocco has offered an autonomy plan as the only way forward. Several diplomatic sources familiar with the issue said that Morocco wants the council to change the mandate of MINURSO so that it will no longer include the goal of organizing a referendum. The majority of council members are opposed, the sources said, though they added that Morocco has some diplomatic support from veto power France, Rabat's traditional ally, and African council member Senegal. The controversy over Ban's comment during a visit to refugee camps for Sahrawi people is Morocco's worst dispute with the United Nations since 1991, when the U.N. brokered a ceasefire to end a war over Western Sahara and established MINURSO. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; editing by Grant McCool) South Korea's new finance minister Yoo Il-ho answers questions from reporters during his visit to a port in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, January 15, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's government has no current plans for a supplementary budget, a spokesman at the finance ministry told Reuters on Thursday, reiterating its previously stated stance. The comments came after Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said in a media interview on the sidelines of international meetings in the U.S. that the government could draw up a supplementary budget if the economic situation changes. Another senior finance ministry official told Reuters the current economic situation does not meet the legal conditions needed to draw up an additional budget. (Reporting by Shinhyung Lee; Writing by Christine Kim; Editing by Shri Navaratnam) STOCKHOLM/BERLIN (Reuters) - Swedish police on Wednesday arrested a Turkish man who is wanted by Germany on suspicion of being a senior member of the PKK Kurdish militant group, officials said. The man was arrested around 0630 GMT at Arlanda airport, the country's largest, near Stockholm. "The person in question is accused of being a member of a foreign terrorist group, namely the PKK," a spokeswoman for Germany's Chief Federal Prosecutor told Reuters. She added the suspect was a Turkish citizen, suspected of being one of the PKK's so-called regional heads in Germany between July 2012 and July 2014. Swedish prosecutors are handling an extradition request. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. Thousands of militants and hundreds of civilians and soldiers have been killed since the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) resumed its fight for greater autonomy last summer, wrecking a 2-1/2-year ceasefire and peace process. Germany is home to about 3 million people of Turkish origin. Roughly one in four are ethnic Kurds who came to Germany to work in the 1960s and 70s, or as refugees fleeing violence in the 1980s and 90s. As Germany scrambles to contain a diplomatic row with Turkey over a comedian's mocking of President Tayyip Erdogan, officials are growing worried about another byproduct of their migrant pact with Ankara: an upsurge in violence between nationalist Turks and militant Kurds on German soil. (Reporting by Daniel Dickson in Stockholm and Michael Nienaber in Berlin; Editing by Alison Williams) KIEV (Reuters) - A coalition of Ukraine's two largest parties has agreed to back Volodymyr Groysman for prime minister and reshuffle the cabinet, lawmakers said on Wednesday, paving the way for the biggest shake-up since a 2014 uprising brought in a pro-Western leadership. Months of coalition infighting came to a head this week, after the resignation of Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk forced a government reboot that will likely see the departure of Western-backed reformists and tighten President Petro Poroshenko's grip on key policy areas. "The coalition has put forward Groysman as a candidate for prime minister and is making the corresponding proposal to the president," the deputy head of Poroshenko's BPP faction, Oleksiy Honcharenko, said in a post on Twitter. The nomination could spell the end of political deadlock that has stalled efforts to root out corruption, delaying the disbursement of $5.4 billion in foreign loans from the International Monetary Fund and others. Poroshenko is expected to propose the nomination of Groysman, a close ally, to parliament on Thursday. The coalition is believed to have just enough votes to install him as prime minister and usher in a new government. "The coalition has showed that it is capable of reaching constructive agreements and taking decisions. I hope that tomorrow we can prove this also with the vote," Viktoria Syumar, a lawmaker in the People's Front party told journalists. The new cabinet is not expected to include any of the foreign technocrats brought in late in 2014, including Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko, who is set to be replaced by Poroshenko ally Oleksandr Danylyuk. Poroshenko and Groysman have publicly supported the IMF economic reform program and vowed to fight graft. But the slow pace of reform of the president-appointed prosecutor's office have prompted some to question Poroshenko's will to change the status quo. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; editing by Ralph Boulton) Members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) picket in front of Verizon Communications Inc. corporate offices during a strike in New York City, April 13, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid NEW YORK (Reuters) - A one-day-old strike by nearly 40,000 Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) employees is causing equipment installation delays for new Internet and TV customers, a Verizon executive acknowledged on Thursday. Workers of Verizon's Fios Internet, telephone and TV services from network technicians to customer service representatives walked off the job on Wednesday in one of the largest U.S. strikes in recent years after contract talks between unions representing them and the company hit an impasse. The company, which is focusing on repairs and service for its existing customers, said networks were running well. "We do have a bit of a delay," said Tami Erwin, Verizon's Group President - Consumer and Mass Business Sales and Service, said. "We're working hard with customers to prioritize repair above activations and provisioning because we owe that to our existing customers." In a week or two the company should be able to do new installations, she said. It normally has about 30,000 to 35,000 of them each week, with over 30 percent of customers opting to do a self-installation. The strike affects service across several U.S. East Coast states, including New York, Massachusetts and Virginia, but does not extend to the company's wireless operation. Union representatives and Verizon said on Thursday no talks were scheduled so far. Verizon has said it had trained thousands of non-union employees over the past year to ensure no disruption in services. The unions, however, say that replacement workers do not have the necessary expertise, especially in highly technical jobs such as equipment installations. The company has deployed about 20,000 non-union workers to fill in for union workers, said Bob Mudge, president of Verizons wireline network operations. "We'll continue to ramp from that," Mudge added. "We're going to work seven days a week." Verizon and the unions have been in contract talks since last June; the sticking points include healthcare, temporary job relocations, pensions and offshoring call center jobs. A day after the strike started, there were a handful of customer complaints on Verizon's customer service website related to Internet outages and a no-show after a scheduled installation appointment. (Reporting by Malathi Nayak; Editing by Phil Berlowitz) An application to reopen the Pukeatua quarry at Maungatautari has been declined by the regional council. A resource consent applicant is stunned his proposal to reopen a historic quarry was rejected on the strength of oral history. Palmerston North's Dr Don Stewart was scathing regarding the decision by independent commissioners for the Waikato Regional Council to decline his proposal to mine for blue metal aggregate at the Pukeatua quarry south of Cambridge. "I am stunned and shattered that it was made on that basis . . . that in spite of archeological and other evidence that we've gathered from experts and some documentary evidence, oral history from Maori with mana must take precedence over any other evidence," Stewart said. But oral history is an important part of Maori knowledge transmission, said Ngati Koroki Kahukura spokesman Rahui Papa. READ MORE: *Ruakura inland port gets crucial resource consents *Waikato neighbours clash over sand quarry plan *Retrospective resource consent declined for Hokio Stream ongoing effects He said they are pleased by the decision. "We're very happy we are able to maintain a piece of our history," Papa said. The quarry straddles private and Crown land and dates to the 1920s. The resource consent application to reopen was made by Stewart and his wife, Margaret Stewart, and Carolyn Smith, who lives in Australia. Raukawa Charitable Trust, Parawera Marae, Ngati Koroki Kahukura and Ngati Haua all gave evidence at the resource consent hearing that the site of the quarry was the same as Hangahanga Pa. On April 7, commissioners Peter Crawford and Shane Solomon found, on balance of probability, the location of the pa is likely to be the quarry site. Stewart disputed the location and said the decision appears to be a forgone conclusion. "Their oral history says that our quarry site was Hangahanga Pa and there was no way to get around that, to overrule that. It is a requirement that must be given priority," he said. Evidence collected by the applicant was "strongly in favour" of the pa site's being 7 kilometres away from the Pukeatua quarry. "That site, by name and by geography, is far closer to the description of Hangahanga Pa," Stewart said. He will go to his lawyer for advice but said it may be a lost cause. "We don't know what can happen with that land if it is not a quarry. "We will have to make some decisions because we can't just walk away and leave that land." In 1997, Waipa District Council granted a resource consent that recognised the pa site and that it required archeological protection; however, no investigation or protection work was done. As a result, quarrying appears to have destroyed a significant portion of what was thought to be the pa remains, commissioners said. "The remnant hill site, despite approved and illegal quarrying activity, remains an outstanding physical feature," they said. Granting consent would give rise to "significant adverse archaeological and cultural effects". Ngati Koroki Kahukura maintain word of mouth evidence presented to the hearing is accurate. "Very much. That's how the transmission of knowledge was passed down from generation to generation prior to writing coming into being," Papa said. "That is still the case in a lot of ways, in our songs, in our haka, in a lot of our cultural aspects." CJ Solutions Ltd (trading as Shilton & Brown Demolition) director and company shareholder Jim Shilton is devastated after his company was placed into liquidation. A Christchurch demolition company with big ticket contracts across New Zealand has gone bust owing more than $4.5 million. CJ Solutions Ltd, trading as Shilton & Brown Demolition, was placed into voluntary liquidation on April 8. The company, directed and owned by James Louis Shilton, better known as Jim, has been involved in major demolition projects in post-earthquake Christchurch, including the Vero building in Hereford St. The business was doing work at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch's The Crossing development, the Rydges hotel in Queenstown and projects in Auckland and Wellington when it faltered, liquidator Gordon Hansen said. Hansen, of PKF Goldsmith Fox, said the debt to creditors would exceed $4.5 million. That would be offset by the sale of plant and equipment and recovery from debtors. The company debt included $535,000 to the Inland Revenue Department, about $3.4 million to unsecured creditors and small amounts owing to employees. The secured debt to the bank was about $700,000. It is understood unsecured creditors are unlikely to see any of the money recouped. "There's probably three or four [other companies] which have security over things, in terms of specific securities over equipment and vehicles, then the bank has a general security as well," Hansen said. Affected unsecured creditors include scaffold, cranage, landfill businesses, and other general contractors, Hansen said. "They were clearly in an insolvent situation, and they decided there was no sensible way to trade out of it, so to stop the matter from getting worse they put the company into liquidation." Hansen, who blamed the company failure on "uneconomic contracts and a poor control over cash outflows", said Shilton was devastated by the collapse. Some 35 staff had lost their jobs, but several were rehired by firms that picked up Shilton & Brown Demolition's contracts, Hansen said. "We are not undertaking any further work. On each site there's generally quite considerable time constraints in order to get the demolition work done so the head contracts are moving quickly to install new contractors, and in a number of situations they are able to take on the staff." Smith Crane and Construction managing director Tim Smith would not disclose how much was owed to the company, but said it was more than $100,000. "We're a pretty big company, we turn over $60 million a year, we can absorb it." "It's not much fun, Jim's a mate of mine and a bloody nice guy, but he just got caught up in it I suppose like many have and many will." Shilton did not respond to a request for comment. The Monte Stello was being used by KiwiRail when it hit rocks. It had previously been used by Bluebridge. An investigation into a Cook Strait ferry's grounding has found a crewing error to blame - with a report finding the crash could have been "serious". The Monte Stello ferry - leased to KiwiRail - made a wrong turn enroute to Picton and bounced off a rock in the Tory Channel on May 4, 2011. The rock dented its hull without penetrating it and damaged its starboard propeller- striking hard enough that the crew on the bridge felt the impact. No one was hurt in the incident and the ferry was able to complete its sailing. READ MORE: * Interislander ferry lost a passenger *Interisland ferry Aramoana has unlucky start to strait career - 150 years of news * Overseas buyer snaps up ex-Interislander ferry Arahura The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) noted in its report released Thursday that the grounding of any passenger and freight vessel was "a serious accident with potentially high consequences." "If the Monte Stello had collided with the rock a few metres further into the turn then it could have resulted in the hull being penetrated." KiwiRail has since begun training its bridge crews using a simulator in response to the incident. REPORT RELEASED - 5 YEARS ON The Commission released the findings five years after the crash, because later in 2011 the container ship Rena ran aground a reef near Tauranga. The TAIC prioritised its inquiry into that maritime disaster over the Monte Stello incident for the following three years. At the time of its crash the Monte Stello was contracted to perform the Cook Strait charter service for KiwiRail, which operates the competing Interislander ferries. The ferry had been making a left hand turn into the Tory Channel when at about 6am the crew inadvertently turned its rudder in the wrong direction, the TAIC report said. "The error was soon realised and corrective action taken, but not soon enough to prevent the ship glancing off a rock on the northern side of the channel." The investigation found the procedures for cross-checking every action during critical points of navigation were "not being followed strictly," the report said. The bridge team comprised the master acting as pilot, the third mate acting as co-pilot, the helmsman, and the lookout. The report noted the voyage was the first time that bridge team had worked together, and that human error was an "ubiquitous and inevitable" feature of navigation. The TAIC recommended KiwiRail address the safety issue, adding: "A key lesson arising from the inquiry was that bridge resource management is not something that can be trained for and then left to chance... It only takes one bridge team failure to result in a serious accident." "KiwiRail has reviewed bridge resource management training and practices on its ships, including completing an extensive series of independent audits," Interislander operations general manager Mark Thompson said. The audits found KiwiRail's practices were "generally acceptable" but had room for improvements. KiwiRail consequently invested in developing ship and port models for a "state-of-the-art" Smartship simulator in Brisbane as part of its bridge crew training programme, Thompson said. The Monte Stello has since been sold. Bluebridge has also been approached for comment. Mike King spoke to students about suicide at Taihape School this week. Talking about mental health is proving beneficial for Taihape people following the death of a teenager in the Rangitikei community. Taihape schoolboy James Hamilton, 16, died after being hit by a train last month. His death is being investigated by the coroner. Comedian and television personality Mike King visited the rural area on Monday and Tuesday to give a talk on the topic of mental health, including anxiety, depression and suicide prevention. About 60 community members, including ambulance staff and firefighters, attended Monday night's talk. READ MORE: *Taihape schoolboy hit by a train 'friendly and outgoing' *Teen hit and killed by train in Taihape He also gave a two-hour-long talk to about 200 students from year 7-13 and teachers at Taihape School on Tuesday morning. King said there was an "epidemic" of low self esteem among young people today. The point of his talk was to encourage and empower young people to find solutions for their problems by making it okay to ask for help, he said. "If you start talking about a small problem with someone, you stop it from becoming a big problem, you stop it from becoming depression, you stop it from becoming a suicidal thought. "So depression and anxiety - they won't kill you. They won't hurt you. Holding onto those things and battling through them by yourself, that's where the major problems start to happen." Taihape School principal Richard McMillan said the Monday session was an "eye opener" for parents as King discussed how to listen to children, talk to them, make time for them and support them. He said the Tuesday session for the students was great to create conversation about mental health. "He had these kids spellbound for almost two hours. He told his life story and some of our kids admired that." McMillan said the workshops were an emotionally draining experience, but hugely beneficial for people in the community. "It's just to make them aware that there is always support available - we've all got friends, so look out for them, look out for your friends and be available for them when you think they need some extra support. "It's essential for people to be open and be honest and talk to others about how they are feeling." Taihape was a small place so a tragedy such as this impacted everyone in the community, he said. McMillan said King would be returning to the school again next term. Three separate suicide support workshops were held in the Taihape and Bulls areas this week as part of a series of suicide prevention workshops occurring across the country. The workshops are sponsored by the Rural Health Alliance New Zealand and the Ministry of Health, were planned last year, and began in November. Whanganui DHB associate director of nursing Jeff Hammond attended the Rural Health Alliance workshop. He said the training was focused on the Safe Talk Suicide Prevention Programme designed to help clinicians recognise the signs that someone is feeling suicidal, how to interact with those people and how to assist them to get help. Where to get help The Mental Health Foundation's free Resource and Information Service (09 623 4812) will refer callers to some of the helplines below: Lifeline (open 24/7) - 0800 543 354 Depression Helpline (open 24/7) - 0800 111 757 Healthline (open 24/7) - 0800 611 116 Samaritans (open 24/7) - 0800 726 666 Suicide Crisis Helpline (open 24/7) - 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO). This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends. Youthline (open 24/7) - 0800 376 633. You can also text 234 for free between 8am and midnight, or email talk@youthline.co.nz 0800 WHATSUP children's helpline - phone 0800 9428 787 between 1pm and 10pm on weekdays and from 3pm to 10pm on weekends. Online chat is available from 7pm to 10pm every day at www.whatsup.co.nz. Kidsline (open 24/7) - 0800 543 754. This service is for children aged 5 to 18. Those who ring between 4pm and 9pm on weekdays will speak to a Kidsline buddy. These are specially trained teenage telephone counsellors. Your local Rural Support Trust - 0800 787 254 (0800 RURAL HELP) Alcohol Drug Helpline (open 24/7) - 0800 787 797. You can also text 8691 for free. GRAPHIC WARNING: Izaiah Parry was pelting down a gully when he felt the dog's teeth puncture his skin. "It was pretty freaky. I was sprinting, trying to save myself. I wasn't really thinking. I was kinda in shock, thinking, oh, sh.., I just got mauled by a dog. "It felt like someone was punching me." The three-year-old dog has been impounded and will be destroyed on Friday. The dog's owner stayed behind the fence the dog had just leapt over and watched, Izaiah said, only yelling, "Come here, Boss." READ MORE: * Pregnant woman left with bloody wounds after dog attack * Attacked toddler's mum says no dog can be trusted * Dog attacks elderly woman cycling near home, biting her legs multiple times * Christchurch toddler hospitalised after American pit bull attack * Council to discuss dog control solutions after brutal mauling of 7-year-old South Waikato police are investigating whether the owner deliberately set the dog on the 16-year-old and his three mates. Will the new dog laws work? Share your stories, photos and videos. Contribute The four were walking home about lunchtime on Wednesday from watersports in Tokoroa when they found two wandering dogs on the railway tracks, Izaiah said. After taking them to the SPCA, they took a shortcut back to school through the gully on Kelso St. "This big brown dog climbed over and started chasing us. We sprinted down the gully ... we saw the dog come up to us and was acting all friendly. Then it ran at Shakur and started biting at his bag and jacket." In a matter of seconds, Izaiah found himself running down the gully with the dog biting at his heels. It came at him four times. "The dog just started biting me. I tried grabbing it by the collar, but it bit my arm - my arm went dead." Izaiah tried to stay upright to stop the dog from getting at his face. "I was looking down at my bleeding leg and arm. I could hardly walk." His mate Rangiora Marino grabbed the back legs of the dog while another of the boys took hold of the neck. Together they pulled the dog off Izaiah and held it down until the owner arrived. "His leg was ripped up," Rangiora said. "It looked pretty bad - he had to be bandaged up. It's pretty sad." "It was pretty mean," Izaiah said. "I would have got eaten up, otherwise - it's cool they had the guts to go down to that level and grab it. "The owner was yelling at us, telling us we shouldn't tease it, but was standing there watching," Izaiah said. He suffered puncture wounds to his ankles, leg and arm. A nearby resident came to the group's aid and drove the 16-year-old and his three friends to Tokoroa Hospital. It was one of two dog attacks in the Waikato on Wednesday. A 10-year-old was taken to Thames Hospital after being bitten in Waihi. The dog involved in the Tokoroa incident was believed to be a pitbull-boxer cross and was neither registered nor micro-chipped, South Waikato District Council compliance officer Kerry Beckett said. The three-year-old dog was impounded and it will be destroyed on Friday. "We got a call about a group of high school age kids that were hanging around a dilapidated house at lunchtime," Beckett said. "They got into an altercation with a person across the road, who owned the dog." The dog's owner told the teens to leave the abandoned property, but they refused, she said. That's when the dog leapt over a pallet resting against the side of a fence and chased the four, Beckett said. It launched first at one of the teens, who claimed to be petting it, then turned on his friend. "There is some thought the owner set the dog on to them. We are still ascertaining it. He [the owner] certainly didn't go after the dog quick enough. "If he did set it on to them, that is a serious matter. Dogs can be used as weapons." Some of the boy's wounds. Izaiah was still finding it difficult to walk on Thursday. He was unable to have stitches on the wounds due to the risk of infection. "I have a wide cut on the left ankle, heaps of puncture wounds, a few holes on my arm and scratches. "I am still pretty sore. I'm trying to keep my weight on my right side when walking." When animal control officers seized the dog, the owner told them to "f...... take it and kill it", but Beckett said he will be facing heftier penalties than the loss of a dog. "You can't just hand over the dog and think that will be it. It is a serious dog attack and we will be dealing with it appropriately." Under section 58 of the Dog Control Act, the dog's owner could face a sentence of up to three years jail and fine of $20,000. Izaiah's parents laid a complaint with police and Beckett said police are now looking at criminal charges. Two dog attacks in a day The incident was the second dog attack in the Waikato on Wednesday. Police were also investigating the attack on a 10-year-old boy in Waihi. Waikato Senior Sergeant Ray Malcolmson said the boy was taken to Thames Hospital with wounds from a dog. The incident was reported by a resident on Gladstone Rd, but Malcolmson was unsure of the exact location of the attack. Earlier this week, a 30-week pregnant woman was mauled in a dog attack in Christchurch. And on Saturday, seven-year-old Darnell Mikaere Minarapa-Brown was taken to hospital with facial wounds after a dog attacked him at a Takanini, South Auckland, property. A 10 month old boy is in Waikato Hospital after a domestic incident. Police are investigating how a 10-month-old boy sustained head injuries in Hamilton. The boy was admitted at the emergency department at Waikato Hospital overnight on Wednesday. Detective Senior Sergeant Darryl Smith said the boy was taken to the hospital by his grandmother who had concerns about his health after an altercation the night before. "There was a domestic violence matter on the Tuesday but they didn't do anything until last night. "We are looking into the circumstances and background of how the mother and child were injured." Exactly what happened to the child was unclear, he said, and police needed to speak with the baby's mother, who was also believed to have been injured. "We have been told of an address but whether or not that is where it has occurred we don't know." He said the child was "doing well" and remained in hospital as a precaution. Hamilton's Child Protection Team and CIB was investigating. The victim of a home invasion in Hamilton has been charged with possession of methamphetamine. Bohyun An, 24, appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Thursday facing two charges - possession of methamphetamine and possession of a glass pipe for smoking methamphetamine. She was remanded on bail without plea to next appear on April 28. Her bail conditions include a requirement not to consume drugs, and to surrender her passport to police. READ MORE: Police lock down Hamilton home following serious assault An had her right arm in a cast and her counsel Louis Wilkins said she had recently been the victim on an assault. She had been attacked in her Edgecumbe St home with a metal bar at 11.30pm on Sunday, March 20 and subsequently had to undergo surgery at Waikato Hospital. A man in a black hoodie attacked her with a 1.2m metal pole with a hook at the end. Although her screams were heard by at least three neighbours, only one made a call to the police and went to assist. The attacker was wearing a black balaclava and a white-face skull pattern on the back of his black hoodie. One of the neighbours went to help the victim and the man ran away, down a bank at the back of the houses and into a neighbouring park. Detective Terry Wilson, of Hamilton CIB, said police had since identified two suspects connected with the home invasion. "We are wishing to speak to them but as yet we have not been able to locate them." Both suspects had fled Hamilton and were now believed to be in the purposely avoiding police in the Wellington area, Wilson said. "They are known to police and are aware that police want to speak to them. So far they are proving to be elusive." Wilson would not comment on any motive for the attack except to say that residents in the area should not be concerned for their safety. "We believe we know who they are and are making an effort to locate them. We would like anyone with any further information to make contact with Waikato police." Anyone with information can contact Hamilton police on 07 858 6200. Information can also be left anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Nelson College for Girls principal Cathy Ewing says the attack was planned. A "premeditated" fight at Nelson College for Girls has seen eight students removed from the school after one girl had her ear ripped. School principal Cathy Ewing said Monday's fight, which directly involved around eight year 10 students, "had some degree of planning behind it". The fight occurred during lunch time and was witnessed by a large number of college students. It ended when a staff member intervened. Speak out against bullying in NZ Share your stories, photos and videos. Contribute The incident is now the subject of a detailed investigation by the college and police. Three students have been stood down for two days and a further five are suspended pending a school board hearing into the incident. All those students were "involved in actual physical action" and four of them had a part in planning the brawl, Ewing said. Martin de Ruyter A 'premeditated' fight at Nelson College for Girls has seen one student injured, three stood down and five suspended. The fight "originated from comments on social media" but she was not able to comment further. "There's still a process of suspension hearings that I must ensure can be held in a fair and appropriate manner." The mother of one of the suspended girls said her daughter had been injured trying to defend another girl who was the target of a "horrifying premeditated attack". Her child would be off school for the rest of the week - both because of the battering and suspension she received, she said. "She was hit eight to ten times in the head and her ear ripped. I took her to the doctor the next morning because her ear was black and blue. "They pulled her hair like a see-saw." The mother said a group of students planned through a Facebook chat to target one girl after she made disparaging comments about another student. The targeted girl was "stalked from table to table" by several students who were trying to incite the fight, she said. "[A student] said she was going to put her braces through her mouth." The incident is still under investigation. Schools can stand down students for up to five days. A suspension is the formal removal of a student from a school until a school Board of Trustees holds a special suspension meeting and decides an outcome. Helen Pollock talks about her piece Victory Medal when it was on exhibition at Nelson Provincial Museum last year. When Dunedin artist Helen Pollock lost her father at the age of nine, his past was put away in a box. Bill Young of Dunedin was a tailor, a mountaineer and a WWI soldier. Pollock's mother wondered if the foul trench conditions were the cause of his early death. MARION VAN DIJK/FAIRFAX NZ Helen Pollock with her sculptural installation Victory Medal at Nelson Provincial Museum, to commemorate the centenary of WWI. But nobody talked about it. "We just tucked it in a box and got on with things," Pollock said. Then, about 15-years-ago Pollock found a box of photos. She opened it to reveal pictures of a military man who was training to go to war. Pollock realised she knew nothing of her father's time at war. She became hooked on a need to uncover his story and build a new connection with her father. That's when the idea of the Victory Medal sculpture began to take shape. The instillation is the size of a small WWI platoon. The rusted, steel quadrant which makes up a medal is mounted with 36 sets of moulded feet standing at attention. What Pollock didn't realise was her sculpture would travel the path of WWI soldiers, like her father, from New Zealand and stop at battlefield towns across France and Germany. On Friday night the travelling exhibition will open at Nelson Provincial Museum where it will stay until June 12 to commemorate the centenary of WWI. Pollock never believed by unpacking her own family's story she would help others do the same. "With the centenary it's like a giant nation-wide unpacking of what happened. I can't believe how much interest there is," Pollock said. "This particular work is about heroism. Anyone who goes through that sort of suffering is a hero." The installation questions the idea of victory, said Pollock. Each set of moulded feet is the same to represent a fighting force moulded into military structure. "Gradually it has become a story in itself." It's the second commemorative sculpture Pollock has done, following on from "Falls the Shadow" which was created using a fusion of Coromandel and Passchendaele clay. It's now permanently on display in Belgium. "Everyone has got their story." Of the photos Pollock uncovered in that box, she keeps one in her workshop. That way she says hello to her father every day. Victory Medal is open to the public from Saturday April 16 to Sunday June 12. Brownie Mane as pictured after his arrest for the 1996 murder of New Plymouth man Christopher Crean. A decision which allows a convicted killer to return to Taranaki for family funerals has been slammed by a victims rights group. In February, Brownie Mane's compliance with his parole was reviewed by the board and a previous ban on him returning to the region was amended to allow the 45-year-old to attend tangi. However, any request made by Mane to enter the region still had to be approved by the Department of Corrections, who were responsible for monitoring him. Mane was one of four Black Power members convicted of the 1996 murder of New Plymouth man Christopher Crean, who was shot at his Marfell home. Mane received a life sentence for the crime. Crean was due to give evidence against the gang for its involvement in an attack on a rival group at the time of his killing. READ MORE: * Gang killer Brownie Mane to be released from prison * Sad legacy of gang's execution * Second Crean killer gets parole after 20 years behind bars The decision by the parole board to give Mane the opportunity to come back to Taranaki has been heavily criticised by the Sensible Sentencing Trust (SST). SST Manawatu spokesman Scott Guthrie said the decision was "totally out of touch" with victims and their rights. "The current parole system is extremely unbalanced and offender friendly, it is discriminating and inconsiderate to victims," he said. Mane was released on parole in July 2015 after spending 19 years behind bars for his role in Crean's murder. The decision to release him was met with shock by the victim's mother Liz Crean, who had campaigned to keep Mane and the other men involved in the crime - Symon Manihera, Robert Maru and Dennis Luke - in jail for as long as possible. Liz Crean accused the parole board of going "soft" when she was interviewed by One News on Wednesday about its agreement to amend Mane's conditions. Guthrie said the change completely disregarded the Crean family's ongoing request to keep those responsible for the murder out of the Taranaki. "To add insult to injury the Crean family were notified by way of a letter informing them that this had happened and told to basically suck it up," he said. Guthrie said crime victims should have more of an input into the release conditions imposed on offenders. Corrections' operations director Lynette Cave said if Mane did make an approach to the department about a visit to Taranaki, a full risk assessment would be completed before a decision was made about whether it could happen or not. She acknowledged how "distressing" the change was for Crean's family but said they would be informed in advance if Mane was given permission to come to the region. According to the February 23 review report, Mane's compliance with his conditions was described by the parole board as "excellent." He was also continuing with psychological treatment and was in employment. A New Plymouth man has pleaded guilty to assaulting the mother of his two children. A man who bashed and throttled his partner while she held their youngest child wants to "reignite" their relationship. Daniel Arthur Davis Fraser pleaded guilty to the assault in the New Plymouth District Court on Thursday. On February 3, Fraser was at home with his partner and two children, aged 16 months and four years old, when an argument broke out about 6.45pm, Sergeant Lewis Sutton said. Fraser began to yell at the victim, who was carrying their youngest child, and elbowed her in the head. The blow glanced off the child. He then placed both of his hands around the victim's throat and attempted to lift her off the ground. He continued to yell abuse at the victim, standing over her and the toddler with clenched fists. Fraser then punched the victim in the head, causing her to fall to the ground, before he delivered another blow, Sutton said. A struggle continued on the ground between the pair before Fraser eventually stood up and the victim managed to get away to call police. Although Fraser pleaded guilty to the charge of male assaults female, a second of assaulting a child was withdrawn by police. Lawyer Patrick Mooney asked for a referral to be made to restorative justice and said Fraser was open to counselling. "The defendant is hopeful the relationship can be reignited," he told the court. Judge Chris Sygrove convicted Fraser and remanded him on bail to reappear for sentencing on July 15. Aimee Niwa pleaded guilty to two charges of theft and two of burglary. A woman deported from Australia because of her criminal history has been convicted only months after her return to New Zealand. When Amiee Niwa appeared in the New Plymouth District Court on Thursday it was revealed she was being monitored by the Department of Corrections under a returned offenders order after she was deported in January. The order was imposed on people who returned to New Zealand having served more than a year in prison in another country. Niwa was subject to this order until July. During her court appearance, she pleaded guilty to two charges of burglary and another two of theft. READ MORE: * 30pc of Kiwis deported from Australia have reoffended - some of them sexually * Kiwi man deported after Australian murder allegedly kills again * New Zealand deports almost 500 'Kiwi' crims * Australia deported criminally insane Kiwis without telling New Zealand authorities * Kiwi deported from Australia objects against release conditions On March 19, Niwa stole $40 worth of petrol from the Mobil service station in Otaki and then another $40 of gas from BP in Whanganui. She then broke into a Belt Rd property on March 23 and went on to commit another burglary on April 13 at Icons Bar, where she stole $3680.90 in cash. Duty lawyer Jo Woodcock asked Judge Chris Sygrove to consider a sentence of community work for the offending. Woodcock said Niwa had limited support and contacts in New Zealand and her father, who she hoped would help her, recently went in prison. "In her words, she was dropped in New Zealand with $200 and expected to fend for herself in some respect," Woodcock said. Sygrove said Niwa had a "substantial" criminal history in Australia, including convictions for robbery, fraud and drug charges. A probation officer told the court Niwa had initially started out well in terms of her compliance with the order but had since disengaged and was now transient and no longer reporting. Sygrove said it was a concern Niwa had resorted to offending only months after she came back to the country. Sergeant Lewis Sutton agreed and asked the judge to consider a more "intensive" form of monitoring given the Niwa's situation. "If she's lacking funds and then commits burglary and thefts to survive, the implications of that is that she may be involved in further offending," Sutton said. Sygrove sentenced Niwa to nine months' supervision and 200 hours of community work. The judge also ordered the $3680.90 recovered from Niwa be returned to Icons Bar. Rebels Motorcycle Club members and associates outside the gang's Christchurch headquarters on Thursday. Police have found methamphetamine, cannabis, cash and a loaded pistol during a raid at the Rebels Motorcycle Club's Christchurch headquarters. It comes amid simmering tensions between the gang and one of its rivals in the city, the Head Hunters. Police have searched the property on Vagues Rd, Northcote, three times in recent weeks and found five guns. FAIRFAX NZ Police search the Rebels Motorcycle Club's Christchurch headquarters on Thursday. Thursday's raid, which unfolded about 1pm, involved the use of the armed offenders squad. Sergeant Daniel Isherwood said police found stolen property, a loaded pistol, cash and "reasonable" quantities of methamphetamine and cannabis. "At the moment we are interviewing persons of interest." A search at the property would continue until Thursday evening. Isherwood confirmed there had been recent tensions between the Rebels and another gang in Christchurch, but would not say who. Stuff understood it was the Head Hunters, who took over the old Epitaph Riders' headquarters on Vickerys Rd, Sockburn, in October. "Police won't tolerate gang crime," Isherwood said. "This sort of action will continue until gang crime is abated." A senior figure from the Rebels declined to comment. In 2011, it was announced the Rebels, which is one of Australia's largest gangs, had moved into New Zealand. The bikie gang quickly spread throughout the country. Members previously frequented a pad on Racecourse Rd, Christchurch, but were forced out because of insurance issues. It was understood the Rebels' two Christchurch-based chapters merged last year and there was a change of leadership. In September, police raided the Vagues Rd pad after $1 million of methamphetamine was found in a car leaving the Picton ferry terminal. Anyone with information about gang activity in Christchurch was asked to contact police on 03 363 7400 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Former Christchurch mayor Garry Moore believes there could not have been a worse entity to run the rebuild than Cera. Christchurch's former mayor Garry Moore says there could not have been a worse entity than Cera to run the rebuild, but Minister Gerry Brownlee says he is "out of date". Moore, who was mayor from 1998 to 2007, has been a staunch critic of ministerial involvement in the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera). He hopes new entities set to take over the rebuild adopt a "servant attitude" to the people. Regenerate Christchurch is the new council-Crown agency that will take over from the Cera, which ceases to exist on Monday. DAVID WALKER/FAIRFAX NZ Regeneration Minister Gerry Brownlee says former Christchurch mayor Garry Moore is "very tired and quite out of date". It will be supported by Otakaro Ltd, the new Crown company overseeing the Government's anchor projects, and Development Christchurch Ltd, the council's one-stop shop for investors. The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) has established the Greater Christchurch Group to monitor the recovery and give policy advice. READ MORE: * John Key praises, but won't endorse, Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel * Christchurch's new recovery leaders to be announced * Arts Centre boss Andre Lovatt to lead Regenerate Christchurch Moore said Cera's set-up was wrong from the outset. He believed it resulted in millions of overspent dollars. Cera should have been accountable to an independent board instead of Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee. "Accountability to a minister is not accountability, it is not democracy and a lot of people who could have contributed hugely were blocked out of the process. "They made recommendations to a minister, that was only to a minster, and should have been a board that was able to assess those ideas properly from a societal and a commercial perspective and that didn't happen. There's been probably hundred of millions of dollars overspent." Moore said several overseas models could have been copied to run the rebuild, but they were ignored. "You could not have set up a worse structure than Cera," he said. Moore said it was vital the new organisations established to take over the rebuild learned from "five years of continuous mistakes". The new organisations needed to take on the attitude they were serving the people, which would help get people behind them. "They need to be accountable to us and will need to actively participate in the process." He had confidence in Andre Lovatt, Regenerate Christchurch's newly appointed chairman, who he believed had a proven track record. Moore remained dubious of the Greater Christchurch Group, which has moved into the DPMC, and what it would add, and Otakaro Ltd. "[Otakaro Ltd] has to prove to us it is open to new ideas and new ways of going about it's projects, It should not be a ramrod to shove projects on to us which many of us know have not been thought through properly and costed properly." Moore also told RNZ News that Cera was "a lesson on how not to handle a disaster". Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration Gerry Brownlee told media on Thursday that Moore was "out of date". "Garry's very tired and quite out of date and has no idea of the way in which [Mayor Lianne Dalziel] and I have worked over the last couple of years," he said. Meanwhile, it is understood the Christchurch City Council and the Government will announce the new board of Regenerate Christchurch on Friday. While a chief executive has yet to be appointed, an update on the recruitment process is also expected. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Racist City Employees Are on Notice, and 9 Other Greater Cincinnati News Stories You May Have Missed This Week Catch up on local government, politics, sports, celeb sightings and Halloween fun. Corrections Minister Judith Collins welcomed 37 new Corrections Officers and Offender Employment Instructors who graduated today from their 12 month Corrections Officer Development Pathway programme. The role of a Corrections Officer is challenging. Being a role model and shaping the lives of some of societys most difficult members is not one to be taken lightly, says Ms Collins. The new staff will be based at prisons in Northland, Hawkes Bay, Whanganui, Manawatu, Christchurch and Otago. Among the new recruits was 33 year old Dale Clark, of Christchurch Mens Prison, who was presented the Ministers Excellence Award, established by Minister Collins seven years ago. The Minister congratulated Dale, saying he had been singled out for this honour because he stood out from day one. Dale won the praise of his managers who said he had a maturity beyond his years and an easy confidence when dealing with prisoners and staff. His leadership, professionalism and excellence were recognised today. Dale said he wanted to; keep the community safer, make a positive change in peoples lives, be a role model, be challenged every day and have a job his kids could be proud of. We are fortunate that Corrections ticked all the boxes on his list and very pleased he chose a career at Corrections, says Ms Collins. Source: Office of Judith Collins. Ngati Ranginui, an iwi of Tauranga Moana, has had the first reading of its settlement legislation. The Iwi signed off a Deed of Settlement with the Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Christopher Finlayson on June 21, 2012, at a ceremony at Te Ranga. Liquor Square Photo_2.JPG A new discount furniture retailer plans to move into the space formerly occupied by Liquor Square. (Provided photo) SYRACUSE, NY- An Atlanta,Ga.-based discount furniture retailer plans to open a location in Syracuse in the former Liquor Square space in the plaza at 3020 Erie Blvd. E. Home Decor Outlets plans to open April 29 in the approximate 13,000-square-foot storefront. The retailer sells discounted mattresses and furniture acquired through closeouts, special buyouts, discontinued lines and liquidations. The Syracuse location will be the company's 16th store. Home Decor Outlets has a store in Buffalo, and after opening the Syracuse site plans to open another location in New York in Niagara, said Bryan Lang, a spokesman for the company. Liquor Square occupied the space for nearly 40 years, and was then purchased in 2000 by the Pascale family and Brian Hughes and renamed Pascale's Liquor Square. It relocated to its current spot in Empire Plaza on Erie Boulevard East in 2010. Home Decor Outlets is a family-owned business run by 91-year-old Hilbert Margol and his son, Jerry; and Chris Prescott, Lang said. The family previously owned Nationwide Furniture, but later sold it. "They had success in Syracuse before, so they wanted to open a store here again,'' Lang said. Syracuse, NY -- A suicidal Syracuse man holed up in an apartment with several knives, pelting officers with glass bottles and other items from a balcony, according to Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick. Jeffrey Kelley then burst out of 1006 Ivy Ridge Road holding a knife, leading Officer William LaShomb to fire his service gun, a grand jury determined. Kelley was indicted today for the March 22 incident, and LaShomb was cleared by the same grand jury for shooting Kelley, the DA announced. Police first responded around 10:20 p.m. after calls about a suicidal man who also threatened to harm others. Kelley refused orders to open the door, so officers surrounded the residence. The standoff ensued for about an hour, the DA said, before Kelley came out of the residence without warning. Fitzpatrick described how the confrontation ended. "As soon as he saw a knife in Kelley's hand, Officer LaShomb discharged his weapon once at Kelley," Fitzpatrick said in a news release. "The bullet grazed Kelley's hand and leg, who still refused officer commands to lie on the ground." Eventually, Kelley was subdued and handcuffed. But he continued to struggle and was subdued again. Officers found a knife in the door entry. Four other knives were found in the area where Kelley had barricaded himself, Fitzpatrick said. Kelley was treated at a local hospital and sent to the Onondaga County jail. Kelley faces charges of felony weapon possession and menacing a police officer, as well as misdemeanor resisting arrest. He has since been turned over to federal custody after being charged in connection with a high-speed chase at an immigration checkpoint near the Canadian border in December. ROME, N.Y. -- Authorities are seeking help from the public in finding a missing 15-year-old girl. Ariana Blevins was last seen around 11 p.m. Tuesday in Rome. Rome police did not say if Blevins had a history of running away or what they believe might have happened to her. Police did say that she is in need of medication. Blevins is described as a 5-foot-2-inch white girl. She weighs 110 pounds. Blevins was last seen wearing a zip-up jacket, black shirt and black boots. Police asked anyone with information on her whereabouts to contact them at 315-339-7780. Evan Lieberman 1.JPG Evan Lieberman, a 19-year-old who died in 2011 following a car crash in Orange County, N.Y., is shown in a family photo with his father, Ben Lieberman. Evan Lieberman was a passenger in a car. An administrative law judge suspended the license of driver Michael Fiddle after ruling that he had violated traffic laws by texting while driving prior to the crash. (Provided photo) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- New York lawmakers are considering allowing police to use new "Textalyzer" technology to check if a motorist involved in an accident had been illegally using their cell phone to talk, text, email or surf the web while driving. A bill called Evan's Law, named after a 19-year-old who died following a 2011 crash, was introduced in the state Assembly and Senate earlier this year. If passed, it would automatically allow police to use technology to check if a driver's cell phone or portable electronic device was being used while they were driving. Motorists involved in crashes who refuse to surrender their phones to police would have their licenses immediately suspended, and could face a one-year revocation of their license and a $500 fine, under the bill. The bill prohibits police from using technology to review the content of a person's cell phone - read texts, social media postings, emails. It would only allow officers to check if the phone was illegally used while driving. It is already illegal in New York for motorists operating a vehicle to hold a cell phone by their ear and talk, text, read or send email, or browse the web. But even after bad crashes, police agencies rarely check to see if a motorists was using their phones, said Ben Lieberman, the father of the teenager who died following a 2011 crash in Orange County. Evan Lieberman had just completed his freshman year at the University of Connecticut and was home on summer break when he died. The crash occurred when he and two other teens were car-pooling to their summer construction job. Lieberman was a back-seat passenger. "The driver said he fell asleep at the wheel. The story didn't make sense," said his father. Even though Lieberman's son died, police investigating that crash did not obtain the cell phone or phone records of the motorist who was driving the car, Lieberman said. Currently, police typically have to apply for warrants to inspect a phone or phone records, and that takes paperwork and time, he said. So Lieberman sued the driver, Michael Fiddle, and obtained Fiddle's phone and phone records himself. He said the records showed Fiddle had been texting while driving about 10 minutes before the crash. Because the accident occurred in cellular service dead zone, it was impossible to determine if the driver had been using his phone when the crash occurred, Lieberman said. Fiddle was never charged with a crime, but a Department of Motor Vehicles administrative law judge ruled he had been using his cell phone while driving, based on the cell phone records that Lieberman obtained. The judge revoked Fiddle's driver's license for one year. Lieberman said he hopes Evan's Law would help other family's avoid his frustrating experience and would persuade some motorists to stop using their phones while driving. In this marketing photo provided by Cellebrite, an officer uses software in his laptop to access the content of a suspect's cell phone. Cellebrite is developing technology that will also allow police investigating a motor vehicle accident to see if the driver had been using their cell phone immediately prior to the crash. A bill pending before the New York State Legislature called "Evan's Law" would automatically allow police investigating crashes to check motorists' phones for usage. Cellebrite, an Israeli company, is already selling software that enables police to do more than what Evan's Law would. Their product allows police in the field to check if phones they seize from suspects have been used and also to extract and decode content from those phones. "With it, officers, investigators and lab examiners can quickly and effectively bypass device user locks, decrypt encrypted data from rapidly changing device operating systems and recover texts, deleted emails, location information and account profile data - and take appropriate action," Cellebrite says on its website. Jim Grady, the CEO of Cellebrite, said his company looks forward to working with Lieberman and law enforcement to curb distracted driving, too. Evan's Law envisions police officers being equipped with less-powerful equipment that would allow them following a crash to just check if a driver's phone was being used, without accessing content. Lieberman said the bill was intentionally drafted that way to try to avoid concerns and potential legal challenges based on privacy rights or claims of unlawful search and seizures. The bill is sponsored in the Democratic-controlled Assembly by Assistant Speaker Felix Ortiz, a powerful Democrat from Brooklyn. Ortiz was the sponsor of the 2001 bill that made it illegal for motorists in New York to talk on a cell phone without using a hands-free device. Ortiz said he reached out to Ben Lieberman after hearing about his son's death on the radio. Then Lieberman persuaded state Sen. Terrance Murphy, a Republican from Yorktown, to sponsor the bill in the Republican-controlled Senate. Ortiz said he's optimistic that the Legislature will pass the law this year, but he noted that it took five years to convince his fellow lawmakers to make it illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving. He said this bill should pass quicker because the public is more aware of the danger. People shouldn't have to sue, or wait six or eight months for police to obtain a motorists cell phone records, to learn if their loved one died or was injured because a motorist was texting on his phone, Ortiz said. New York would be the first state to pass a distracted driving policy solution that enables police to examine phones at an accident scene in a way that protects drivers' personal data, he said. Lieberman said he hasn't talked with Gov. Andrew Cuomo about Evan's Law, but Cuomo did recognize him during the governor's 2014 State of the State speech for Lieberman's efforts to educate the public about the dangers of distracted driving. He said he's appeared with the governor at several news conferences in the past. "The governor's office knows about Evan's Law. I would hope he would support it," Lieberman said. Contact Mike McAndrew anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-3016 2012-08-24-gw-hoyt0001.JPG Outdoor patio of The Empire Room at the New York State fairgrounds. (Gary Walts) In 2014, the New York State Fair awarded a 5-year contract to a national food services company to run the Empire Room and several other food operations on the fairgrounds. A change at the New York State Fair will move the $1 Potato Booth -- typically the scene of some the fair's longest lines -- inside the restaurant space in the Horticulture Building. The multi-year deal to run the various "permanent" food venues was a first for the fair. It was intended to bring stability to a part of the fair operation that had been beset by turnover and turmoil in recent years. But this winter, the contractor -- Ovations Food Services (since renamed Spectra) -- pulled out of the contract. That means the Empire Room, which can be used year-round as well as during the 12-day fair, is once again without someone to run it. It's the third time since 2011 that the Empire Room has lost its vendor, but the first that was not the result of state investigations. Acting State Fair Director Troy Waffner called the split with Ovations/Spectra "mutual" and "amicable." "I don't think for either one of us this was probably a perfect situation," Waffner said. Ovations/Spectra, a Florida-based subsidiary of media giant Comcast, had the contract to run The Empire Room, next to the Art & Home Center at the far southeast corner of the fairgrounds, along with the restaurant in the Center of Progress building, a restaurant in the Horticulture Building and a mobile food cart that could be used in buildings like the Toyota Coliseum and the Dairy Cattle Building. The cancellation of Ovations/Spectra contract offers the fair another chance to rethink the operation of the Empire Room and the other venues, Waffner said. Going forward, he said, the contracts for the restaurants will likely call for a flat rate payment to the fair by the vendor, rather than a percentage. And the fair is splitting the restaurant contracts up, rather than combining them as they did with the 2014 contract. The future of the contract for Empire Room itself has not yet been determined, Waffner said. He said it is likely it will remain a full-service restaurant during the fair, and a banquet facillity the rest of the year. For now, customers can still rent the space for events, but must hire their own caterer (who must bring in its own restaurant equipment). That has cut down the number of events held there, although Waffner said there have been a few recent corporate events that have been privately catered. It is likely the fair will soon put out a request for proposal (a process related to bidding), for a vendor for to run the space just for the 2016 fair. That contract should pay the fair $9,000 to $10,000 for the run of the fair, roughly the same as it has made from the recent contract, Waffner said. Then, a new RFP will be issued for the longer term. In the meantime, the Empire Room is getting some new carpeting and paint. It underwent a fairly major renovation in 2012 that replaced its front window and added an outdoor patio. "We're going to give the Empire Room a big hug and spruce it up," Waffner said. Other decisions related to the fair's permanent restaurants have been made: The fair has put out a request for proposals for a vendors to run the restaurant attached to the Center of Progress building, formerly know as Heroes and Legends and more recently the Grand Central Cafe. The contract will be for 5 years. That request includes a provision that the winning bidder should already operate a restaurant within 50 miles of Syracuse. (The fair had come under criticism for the Ovations contract, because the company is based in Tampa, Fla.,) "The idea is get a local vendor, with a branded restaurant," Waffner said. The Center of Progress restaurant can be operated outside the regular run of the fair, especially when there are shows and events on the fairgrounds. The fairgrounds hosts about 150 non-fair events a year, and many use the Center of Progress. The restaurant at the Horticulture Building will be converted to the permanent home of the $1 Potato Booth. The potato booth is among the more popular food venues at the fair, while the restaurant, operating recently as the New York Cafe, has not performed well, Waffner said. "This allows to make better use of that space," Waffner said, with the added benefit of containing the long potato booth lines inside the restaurant. The potato lines have often created one of the biggest bottlenecks at the fair, despite efforts to reduce the congestion. Ovations/Spectra was awarded the Empire Room and permanent restaurant contract just before the 2014 Fair. Figures for its revenues and payments to the fair were not immediately available. But the request for vendors at the Center of Progress gives some figures for that spot -- and shows a drop in revenue in recent years. The RFP document shows that the fair's revenues at the Center of Progress for the calendar year 2013 -- before the Ovations contract -- were $48,000 during the fair and $63,000 outside the fair. That was based on the fair receiving 22 percent of food sales and 25 percent of alcohol ales. In 2015, when Ovations had the contract, the fair's revenues were $22,000 during the fair and $39,500 outside the fair. The percentage paid to the fair had dropped to 17.47 percent for both food and alcohol. According to the request for proposals issued in April 2014 (for the contract won by Ovations/Spectra) , the combined permanent restaurants earned $1.8 million in gross sales in 2012 and 2013. Of that, $646,000 came during the run of the 2012 and 2013 fairs. The fair earned $382,000 from its percentage of sales during those two years. Ovations, now Spectra, also runs the food concessions at NBT Stadium, home of the Syracuse Chiefs. The restaurant vendor situation at the fair, and the Empire Room in particular, has been unsettled and complicated in recent years. The contract with one long-time Empire Room vendor was thrown out as part of a state Inspector General's investigation that led to charges against former fair director Peter Cappucilli. A second investigation led to the tossing of a second contract, the forced resignation of a top state official, followed by a lawsuit from the would-be vendor. Don Cazentre writes about food, beverages, restaurants and bars for syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact him by email, on Twitter, at Google+ or via Facebook. Bernie Sanders Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. smiles while speaking at the Kansas City Convention Center during a campaign event in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. (Jacquelyn Martin / AP) Eric Kingson is a candidate for the House of Representatives in New York's 24th Congressional District, a professor of social work at Syracuse University, and co-founder of Social Security Works. By Eric Kingson All eyes are on New York State's April 19th presidential primaries. We Democrats have a choice between two eminently qualified people -- Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Both have contributed greatly to our nation. Both can do the job. Both can lead by appealing to our "better angels." And both reject the politics of fear, divisiveness, and disregard for working families and the poor. My Republican friends aren't so fortunate. Most are appalled that the extremist right wing has captured the Republican Party. Most do not want to be associated with the mean-spirited, disrespectful and racist messages of Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz. And most yearn for the Republican Party of President Eisenhower, Everett Dirksen, Bob Dole, Jacob Javits, Nelson Rockefeller and even Barry Goldwater - because these Republicans respected our democratic institutions and did not try to lead by tearing down everything and everyone with whom they disagreed. When I go to the polls on April 19, I will cast my vote for Sanders. Here's why. He is igniting the interest and energies of millions of Americans, especially the young, many of whom have not previously been involved. We need this at a time when our nation's political institutions are at risk; when our economic institutions seem to work well only for the rich and powerful. Sanders, by word and deed, opposes the corporate and billionaire domination of our politics and the coordinated efforts of the Republican Party to suppress voting, especially of minority, young, and low-wage citizens. He is not accepting campaign contributions from Wall Street and other corporate donors. He's no new-comer to campaign finance reform and voting rights. Wall Street doesn't like him. And they shouldn't because he's the real thing. When he talks about breaking up "too big to fail" banks, Wall Street worries. Wall Street bankers who virtually crashed our economy don't like the sunshine being cast on their dishonesty and undeserved huge bonuses. Too bad. The public knows that Sanders will walk the talk; that a Sanders Administration will not be under the control of Wall Street "banksters." Simply put, that's called integrity. From campaign finance to voting rights, from economic inequality to requiring the rich to pay their fair share, from infrastructure to sustainable environment, from corporate regulation to choking off corporate loopholes, Sanders has the right ideas. And he has real follow-through-- outstanding constituent service, and respectful treatment of everyone regardless of party. As co-founder of Social Security Works and the Strengthen Social Security Coalition, I've seen how effective Sanders is. In 2010, only a handful of Senators and Representatives who would say "do not cut our Social Security"-- Bernie Sanders was most prominent among them. It may not seem so now, but this took political courage in the first few months of 2010. The press, the talking heads, party leaders, White House advisers, and many others were caught in their own echo chamber. Nearly all believed Social Security cuts were needed and would soon happen. Concerned that the fiscal crisis drumbeat would stampede Congress into cutting Social Security, Sanders organized the Senate Defend Social Security Caucus, initially bringing five other senators along. Later, in the context of budget and deficit negotiations, when it looked like cuts would be enacted, Sanders played a pivotal and strategic role in derailing cuts. In a call that six or seven of us where on, I recall him saying, "Look, we can stop this; but we have to act fast and get the voices of the American people into Washington." A meeting followed, chaired by Sen. Sanders in a Senate hearing room packed with 200 advocates, seniors and journalists. We got the message out that the American people did not want their benefits cut. Careful messaging, speeches, and one million signatures stopped the cuts-- much to the credit of the senator. Today, the two Democratic candidates for president are now firmly on record for expanding, not cutting, Social Security. This would not have happened without Sanders. When I go to Washington as a new member of Congress representing New York's 24th congressional district, I want to see a Democrat in the White House. I believe our nation will be best served if that Democrat is Bernie Sanders. GOP 2016 Debate In an interview with a Buffalo radio station Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump did not dismiss the possibility of running with his rival, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in the fall. Here Trump, left, speaks as Cruz speaks during the Fox Business Network Republican presidential debate at the North Charleston Coliseum, Jan. 14, 2016, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt) Syracuse, NY - Could there be a Trump-Cruz Republican ticket in the fall presidential election? Billionaire Donald Trump calling in to the Tom Bauerle's show on WBEN 930 AM Wednesday afternoon for a 20-minute interview, did not dismiss the possibility of his rival U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas joining him on the Republican ticket. "I just think it's too early to talk about that aspect of it," Trump said as reported in The Buffalo News. Bauerle pressed Trump on Cruz joining the ticket as vice president. "You guys would be a very complementary team. I think he would put you in the White House if you ran with him," the radio host said. What about his other opponent for the Republican nomination, Ohio Gov. John R. Kasich? When asked, Trump dismissed the possibility of Kasich as vice president. Kasich has only won one primary, his home state. "The problem that he's got is he's 1 for 32," Trump said. Cruz will hold a campaign rally on Friday at Driver's Village in Cicero. Trump is scheduled to speak at noon Saturday in the Oncenter in Syracuse. Syracuse, NY - U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders Thursday morning repudiated remarks made by a health care activist who called Hillary Clinton a "corporate Democratic whore" in a speech revving up more than 20,000 at a New York campaign rally. Dr. Song's comment was inappropriate and insensitive. There's no room for language like that in our political discourse. Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 14, 2016 Clinton and Sanders are battling for the Democratic nomination for president. She leads in him polls running up to New York's April 19 primary. Dr. Paul Y. Song told the crowd awaiting the Sanders in Washington Square Park on Wednesday that "While I agree with Secretary Clinton that Medicare for all will never happen if we have a president who never aspires for something greater than the status quo, Medicare for all will never happen if we continue to elect corporate Democratic whores who are beholden to Big Pharma." He immediately apologized for his remarks. Clinton's communication director earlier Thursday had called on Sanders to disavow the doctor's remarks. Ted Cruz Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the Colorado Republican State Convention, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Saturday, April 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) Syracuse, NY - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz laid to rest any possibility that he would run with Donald Trump on a Republican ticket in the fall. Cruz, who was at the University at Buffalo to tape an MSNBC town tall Thursday morning responded this way when asked by host Chuck Todd if he would run with Trump. "Chuck, it ain't going to happen." Well, that's a no then. For his part, Trump didn't dismiss the possibility of running with Cruz when he spoke Wednesday on Tom Bauerle's show on WBEN 930 AM in Buffalo. Cruz trails in the New York polls behind Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The state primary is Tuesday. The first question put to Cruz at the town hall attended by about 300 also showed that the candidate stands behind his statement on New York values at a CNN debate in January. "Everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage - focused around money and the media," he said at the time. Cruz told Todd he didn't regret the comment, The Buffalo News reported. "New Yorkers understood what it meant," Cruz said. After the event, Cruz stopped at Charlie the Butcher to try beef on weck and Loganberry. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will meet face-to-face in Brooklyn tonight, Thursday, April 14, for the first Democratic primary debate in over a month. The debate comes ahead of the crucial New York State primary contests on April 19. It will air live on CNN at 9 p.m. ET. In Syracuse, CNN is: Time Warner Cable: Channel 22 Verizon FiOS: Channels 100, 600 (HD) DirecTV: Channel 202 Dish Network: Channel 200 New Visions: Channel 172 CNN International and CNN en Espanol will also simulcast the debate The debate will also be live-streamed for free (no cable subscription required) on CNN.com and on CNN's mobile apps (Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, iPad). Sirius XM satellite radio users can tune in to a live broadcast on channel 116. The hashtag #DemDebate will be used for people following along on social media. The debate will be held at The Duggal Greenhouse at The Brooklyn Navy Yard. It will be moderated by CNN's Wolf Blitzer, with additional questions provided by CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash and NY1 host Errol Louis. The latest polls show Clinton ahead by double digits in New York. Sanders grew up in Brooklyn and Clinton houses her campaign headquarters there. A CNN primer on the debate predicts it could be "the feistiest yet," with issues from Wall Street and fossil fuels to Israel and gun control on the table. The candidates have been campaigning aggressively in New York for the past few weeks, trading barbs on presidential qualifications and other hot button issues. Clinton spoke at the F-Shed in Syracuse on April 1, and Sanders held a rally at the Oncenter on April 12. Andrew Cuomo Gov. Andrew Cuomo, seen in a file photo. (The Associated Press) Albany, N.Y. A big national trucking firm is suing Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Tax Department over a pair of highway taxes, according to the Albany Times Union. Prime, a $1 billion trucking company based in Missouri, wants a refund of previous payments made under the taxes, which were eliminated in state budget talks this year. The Times Union estimates the refund would be about $479,000. The taxes, a certificate of registration and a highway use tax decal, totaled about $19. All trucks operating in New York had to pay the fees, according to the Times Union. Eliminating the taxes will cost the state about $50 million, according to the paper. Prime is one of the largest trucking companies in the country. It has 6,300 trucks and is operated by Missouri businessman Robert Low. Low could not be reached for comment, the Times Union said. A spokesman for the tax department declined to discuss the case, the paper said. Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112 SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich talked Thursday afternoon about the differences between himself and other Republican presidential candidates, plus health care, Planned Parenthood, minimum wage, foreign affairs and other issues during a phone interview with the syracuse.com editorial board. Kasich is running for the Republican nomination against businessman Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. The New York presidential primary is Tuesday, April 19. In the race for delegates, Kasich is in fourth place, behind Trump, Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who has suspended his campaign. There's certainly a lot of personality differences between you and Mr. Trump and Sen. Cruz. What in your opinion are the policy issues that separate you from the other two guys? "I'm not going to surveil Muslim neighborhoods. I'm not going to have a religious test for who comes in. I'm not going to deport 11.5 million people who are here. I'm not going to use nuclear weapons in Europe or in the Middle East. I'm not going to let Russia take over control of Europe. I'm not going to propose a value added tax. The differences couldn't be more stark...I have practical solutions. I'm not in favor of the Supreme Court having extraordinary powers to investigate former public officials. Come on, where's the differences? It's like day and night." Here's some of the other highlights of the 37-minute interview: How he'd change health care "The only thing I would keep is I don't want to let anyone be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. Secondly, I would repeal Obamacare. But I would also take federal resources, combine it with freed up Medicaid money, the states could create their own exchanges. We want to make sure the working poor don't lose their health insurance." "I'd like to implement nationally what we're doing in Ohio. That is to get complete transparency on hospitals, physicians. And I would like to have them in a position where we know what their quality and costs are. For those that give high quality at costs that are below the average, we would give them a financial reward. We would know how to shop. I like to tell people it's easier to interpret the Dead Sea Scrolls than a hospital bill." On his signing bills to defund Planned Parenthood "On Planned Parenthood, I think there's a pretty good consensus that a lot of their behavior has not been acceptable. Now that doesn't mean we are not big on women's health. We don't reduce women's health. It's critical. I expanded Medicaid and we now have well over 300,000 women in Ohio who get health care who never got it before. It's because we expanded Medicaid. Which Reagan did 5 times. You don't need to have Obamacare to expand Medicaid. I expanded it because our Medicaid budget when from a 10.5 percent growth to a 2.5 percent growth. We did it not by kicking people off the rolls, but we did it with technology competition, and then we broke the nursing home lobby and allowed mom and dad to stay in their own home rather than being sent into an expensive nursing home that got reimbursements at one of the highest levels in the country." On gun control "I think the biggest problems we have on guns right now, or one of the problems, is that the states are not uploading the data they should on keeping guns out of the hands of people who are unstable, mentally ill. I think we need to do that. And we need to enforce the laws that we have on the books." On raising the minimum wage "In my state, and I think it ought to go state by state, we raised the minimum wage every year. And it's not political. I don't think anyone favors raising the minimum wage where more people are put out of work than are helped. So I'm for a raised minimum wage. I just want to make sure we are not in a position where we're unemploying people." "I'd love to raise the minimum wage even more. In Ohio it's automatically adjusted. Imposing a $15 an hour minimum wage. My wife said to me the other day did you see in New York they're going to raise the minimum wage to $15. People are going to lose their jobs because of that. I know it doesn't work right away, I know it gets phased in. I don't know all the details. If you mandate certain increases and that without being aware of the employment situation you could hurt a lot of people while you help others." On his immigration policy "Protect the border, have a guest worker program, and for the 11.5 million who are here, who have not committed a crime since they've been here, they pay some back taxes and a fine and you get a path to legalization, but not a path to citizenship. I think we could pass that through Congress. I think we could." On foreign policy "I think countries around the world understand what our limits are and what are expectations are. Putin has to understand we're going to defend Ukraine. Putin has to understand you invade NATO under any flimsy excuse and you're attacking us. I don't want to go to war with Russia but they have to understand where we stand. The same is true with the Chinese. I'm very frustrated as a citizen and as a leader without our inability to get the Chinese to deal with North Korea. It's a horrific situation. They're the key." "In the Middle East we have to destroy ISIS. Both in the air and on the ground. We have to do it in a coalition that also includes the Muslim Arab countries. But I don't want to be meddling in civil wars." "I would have immediately armed the Ukrainians (when Russia invaded their country). They need lethal defensive weapons. We should have made it clear to Putin this was not acceptable. We got the Ukrainians to dispose of their nuclear weapons. We supposedly had a deal to protect them. Then we walked away from them. It was a very bad approach." On trade agreements "I try to look for a simple way to explain things. I ask people what happened when Japanese cars came into the United States. How did it affect U.S. autos. Everyone says our cars got better. It did. The competition forced them to improve. Trade can be a good thing because it involves innovation and change." "One of the problems we have is countries figure out how to cheat us, and they do it in a clever way. The way for an industry to actually be able to say we're being cheated takes a long period of time. You have to document all this crap. By the time you do it, all the jobs are gone. We need to have a short circuit process whereby we move quicker when we see trade violations. And we need to impose countervailing duties on these people." Contact Mike McAndrew anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-3016 Georgia state Representative Tom Taylor was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol with four kids and a gun in his vehicle last week, according to the AJC. Taylor blew a .225, which is nearly three times Georgia's legal limit of .08. According to the AJC, Taylor was stopped on April 7 for driving 72 mph in a 45 mph zone with four juveniles in his SUV as well as a licensed firearm on his hip. The police report says that officers found an empty water bottle that smelled of alcohol. Taylor was then arrested when he refused orders for the field sobriety test. He has been charged with DUI, speeding, and possession of an open container of alcohol, according to the police report obtained by the AJC. Taylor is a Republican from Dunwoody and District 79. He's currently a member of five different committees and is the chair of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Overview Committee. Taylor, 54, will seek reelection in the May 24 Republican primary for House District 79, according to the AJC. According to the House of Representatives website, Taylor was elected to the House of Representatives in 2010 and was named "Rookie Legislator of the Year" in 2011 by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce for "his support of pro-business, pro-free market principles." Follow @ByBen_ Lonina, Gates Marina Lonina, left, and Raymond Gates, right. (Franklin Co. Sheriff's Office) An Ohio woman and her boyfriend have been arrested after they allegedly live-streamed the rape of a minor on the social media app Periscope. Fox News reported that Marina Lonina, 18, broadcast Raymond Gates, 29, raping a 17-year-old girl who was a friend of Lonina's in February. The indictment, handed down this week, said alcohol was a factor in the crime. The victim, Gates and Lonina were at a home in Columbus Ohio when the rape occurred and Lonina live-streamed it. Authorities were notified of the crime by a friend in another state who saw the broadcast and reported it, according to WCMH-TV. Periscope is a smartphone app that allows users to live-stream events to followers around the world. Lonina was arrested at New Albany High School, where she is a student, on Wednesday, WBNS-TV reported. Lonina is also accused of taking nude photos of the victim the night before the rape, WTTE-TV reported. Gates and Lonina were both charged with rape, kidnapping, sexual battery and pandering sexually-oriented matter involving a minor. The charge of rape was not related to the victim's age, according to Fox News. The age of consent in Ohio is 16. Lonina was further charged with illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material or performance related to use of the Periscope app. "People need to know and understand that the use of a smartphone to video events can constitute serious felony crimes," Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien told WTTE. "They should think twice before they use their smartphones to either photograph or video anything that's of a sexual nature." Lonina's attorney Josh Bedtelyon said they "categorically deny these charges." Both Gates and Lonina face up to 40 years in prison if convicted. Watch the WCMH-TV video report below. A new campus carry rule proposed Wednesday would allow guns in dorms and classrooms at the Texas A&M system of schools, according to The Dallas Morning News. The new rule proposal states that "No rule proposed by any Texas A&M System member prohibits a licensed holder from carrying a concealed handgun in classrooms or residential facilities owned and operated, or leased and operated, by the institution." The new rules will go into effect Aug. 1. The Dallas Morning News notes that these changes are only preliminary and that the board of regents will have to adopt or amend the rule recommendation. The campus carry proposal falls in line with a new state law that will allow those with a licence to carry a firearm to bring it into most college buildings. Previously those with licences to carry could only carry in public spaces. The Dallas Morning News has an extensive chart of where the law applies on campus, with sporting events being the only area weapons aren't allowed in most cases. According to The Dallas Morning News, the state law does give the universities leeway to ban guns in certain areas "on a temporary basis as necessary for institutional safety." Texas A&M President Michael K. Young released a statement Wednesday, saying "My position on these issues is a matter of public record from the time I served as President of the University of Utah, but, as President of Texas A&M, I am committed to ensuring Texas A&M University is in compliance with the law and intend to implement this law and related university rules as efficiently and smoothly as possible." The University of Texas at Austin had previously proposed a rule allowing guns in classrooms but not dorms. according to ABC 13: This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? Target's newest designer collaboration Marimekko for Target launches online early Sunday and at 8 a.m. when stores open. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY TARGET) SHARE Has your car had a recall on air bags? The Bargainista would like to hear about your experience. (FILE PHOTO) Monday is McDonald's Tax Relief Day, and when you buy one an Egg McMuffin, Big Mac or Quarter Pounder with Cheese at regular price, get a second sandwich for a penny. (FILE PHOTO) By Kelly Tyko of TCPalm UPDATE: While McDonald's provided Treasure Coast Newspapers with an image that included Egg McMuffins in the Tax Day promotion along with Big Macs and Quarter Pounders, the Egg McMuffin may not be available at all locations. The end of tax season used to be marked by an abundance of freebies and specials. In recent years the deals have dwindled and this year's Tax Day list is puny. The only real Tax Day freebie is a great way to eliminate the stress of filing at the last minute. The best part is the deal is available for five days. Starting Monday and continuing through April 22, HydroMassage locations nationwide, including two on the Treasure Coast, are giving away free massages on their user-controlled massage beds in the eighth annual Tax Week promotion. Energy Spa & Salon at 1555 U.S. 1 in Vero Beach requires an appointment for the complimentary massage and a coupon you can print at Hydromassage.com/taxday. For more information and to make an appointment, call 772-562-3826. Planet Fitness at 3225 S.W. Port St. Lucie Blvd. doesn't require an appointment, but you still need the coupon. Other Tax Day specials include: Boston Market: Just for Tax Day, get a half-chicken individual meal that includes two sides, cornbread, drink and cookie for only $10.40. No coupon is needed. Chili's: Get a Presidente Margarita for $5 on April 18. IHOP: While not specifically a Tax Day deal, now through May 6 from 4 to 10 p.m., kids 12 and younger get one free kids meal with the purchase of an adult entree. McDonald's: Monday is McDonald's Tax Relief Day, and when you buy one an Egg McMuffin, Big Mac or Quarter Pounder with Cheese at regular price, get a second sandwich for a penny. This offer is valid at most South Florida and Treasure Coast McDonald's. No coupon is needed. (Update: Egg McMuffin might not be offered locally.) Office Depot/OfficeMax: Shred up to five pounds of documents, including tax records, for free through April 23 with a printable coupon, which you can find here. Sonic Drive-In: Single-patty cheeseburgers are half-off only on April 18 at participating locations. Learn more here. Sonny's BBQ: In honor of Tax Day, Sonny's has an IRS Irresistible Ribs Special with half-price Sweet & Smokey or House Dry-Rubbed Rib Dinners for dine-in and takeout. Staples: All Staples stores nationwide are offering free document shredding for the first five pounds of paper each person brings in on April 18. NEW TARGET LINE We might have another Lilly Pulitzer situation on our hands. Target's newest designer collaboration Marimekko for Target launches online early Sunday and at 8 a.m. when stores open. The collection features more than 200 items ranging in price from $7.99 to $499.99 will be available at all Target stores and Target.com through May 8 or while supplies last. Most items are under $50. Go here to see items in the collection. I wasn't expecting the Pulitzer collection released last April to cause such chaos and sell out within minutes of the launch both online and stores across the nation and Treasure Coast. Since then, Target's other design collections haven't generated a similar reaction. Items in last summer's Eddie Borgo for Target line lingered in the store for several weeks before going on clearance. But I think Marimekko, a Finnish design house, will be different. The collection features the brand's bold prints and cheerful colors on items including outdoor decor items, furnishings and housewares. It also will include swimwear for girls and women. If you really want a piece from the Marimekko collection, I suggest getting to Target early Sunday or logging online. If the collection sells out quickly, check later for returns. Target's return policy for designer collections is typically two weeks from date of purchase. CAR RECALL If you've been affected by the recent air bag car recalls, I'd like to hear about your experiences for future a story. Have you gotten a loaner or rental car from the dealership? How long are you expected to be without your car? Or are you still driving your car? The recall, the largest in U.S. history, affects about 24 million vehicles. To see if your car is affected, visit safercar.gov. Write me at kelly.tyko@tcpalm.com or call me at 772-409-1324 to share your good or bad experiences. People came, they ate and enjoyed the evening at the 20th annual Big Taste of Martin County food festival Tuesday at Flagler Park in downtown Stuart. (JEREMIAH WILSON/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS) By Karen Lennon, Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers Big Brothers Big Sisters could not have ordered a more perfect evening Tuesday to showcase the culinary talent of our local chefs during Big Taste of Martin County in Flagler Park. Foodies sampled some of the county's best cuisine and voted on the best in six categories. The Gafford was honored for the best entree and Sneaki Tiki was recognized for the best dessert. Cabo Flats was picked for the best drink, Ian's Tropical Grill for the best appetizer, Chef's Table for best salad and Ellie's Deli for best soup. But one of the best things about the event was getting to talk to the chefs and try new dishes. Chef Taylor Wilson of The Gafford said what he likes best about these events is the atmosphere and the water view. I understand why Chef Mark Muller's lobster bisque was a crowd favorite. He had me at Old Bay. His coconut curry noodle bowl also was one of my favorites of the night. Dinallo's homemade meatball appetizer was definitely a crowd pleaser and several people at the event said it was among their top choices of the night. Owner Bobby Dinallo has been delighting his New Jersey customers for years and just recently began serving up some of his traditional Italian favorites here in Stuart. Chef Eric Grutka, who is possibly one of our most famous local chefs, was serving his winning Crack Wings with the skin expertly fried to a crispy thin layer to seal all of the magical flavors into the juices of the meat. Spoto's gave Sneaky Tiki a good run for the top dessert spot with its bourbon-salted pecan tart with smoked whipped cream. This smoky pillow of cream provided the perfect cradle to the crumbled candied bacon that was tossed on top. I am proud to say I tried almost everything. I was extremely disappointed that I did not get to sample Chef Ron Kerr's miso glazed pork belly ramen with quail egg before the crowd devoured al the samples. Big Taste of Martin County Winners Best drink: El Cabo Margarita, Cabo Flats Best soup: Lobster Bisque, Chef Mark Muller, Ellie's Deli Best salad: Peachy Corn Salad, Chef Adam Fatigate, Chef's Table Best appetizer: Crack Wings, Chef Eric Grutka, Ian's Tropical Grill Best entree: Shrimp and Grits, Chef Taylor Wilson, The Gafford Best dessert: Key Lime Pie, Chef Brian Slimm, Sneaki Tiki SHARE VERO BEACH Vero Beach again named a 'Tree City USA' Vero Beach was named a 2015 Tree City USA community by the Arbor Day Foundation in honor of its commitment to effective urban forest management. This is the 35th year Vero Beach has earned the national designation. Vero Beach achieved Tree City USA recognition by meeting the program's four requirements: a tree board, a tree-care ordinance, an annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita, and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation. City officials and the Vero Beach Tree and Beautification Commission will plant a tree at 9:15 a.m. April 29 at Leisure Square, 3705 16th St., Vero Beach, to commemorate Arbor Day. The Vero Beach City Council and Rosewood Magnet students have been invited to participate. Aerial view of homes on Macarthur Boulevard between the Indian River Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean on Hutchinson Island in Stuart. (LEAH VOSS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS) By Lidia Dinkova of TCPalm Acres of grass and drainage areas at Witham Field airport in Martin County could flood after 2060 because of sea-level rise. Just over a mile of Jungle Trail in Indian River County could flood if sea-level rise projections for 2060 and beyond pan out. MORE | Scroll down to see map These are just two examples of how sea-level rise could cause partial flooding of critical infrastructure on the Treasure Coast, according to studies. The global ocean level has been rising since at least the beginning of the 20th century, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and studies project an acceleration in the rate of the rise. Projecting sea-level rise is an inexact science. Calculations vary based on factors such as historical data, estimates for ice melt and different rates of ocean warming, which prompts the water to expand. Sea levels along the Treasure Coast could rise about 4 inches on the low end or about 28 inches on the high end by 2060, according to NOAA. In a worst-case scenario, by the end of the century sea level here could rise by as much as 75 inches, NOAA calculates. Despite this looming environmental crisis, Treasure Coast governments have done little brick-and-mortar work to prepare for a rise in sea level. Instead, they said, existing building requirements and other measures to prevent floods from storm surges, as well as ongoing drainage improvements and other infrastructure maintenance,would protect the region from sea-level rise. BUILDING REGULATIONS Throughout the Treasure Coast, local building requirements follow Federal Emergency Management Agency guidelines, and require that some new construction be elevated and even outright ban building in some areas. In Vero Beach, for example, duplexes on Royal Palm Pointe are being built at an elevation of 7 feet, higher than the previous requirement of 5.3 feet, according to Tim McGarry, city director of planning and development. FEMA elevations consider current sea levels but don't factor projections for sea-level rise, the agency said. Are these elevations enough to buffer property from sea-level rise? "That is what our hope is," said Jim O'Connor, Vero Beach city manager. Jason Evans, assistant professor of environmental science at Stetson University in DeLand, said the answer is "kind of a yes and no." The yes is when governments impose a foot or more of elevation, known as a freeboard, on top of FEMA elevations. "This is vastly oversimplifying it, but if you have a 1-foot freeboard ordinance on a zone on the coast, then that's giving you a safety margin of 1 foot of sea-level rise," Evans said. Some local governments, including Martin and Indian River counties, have a freeboard. Vero Beach might consider one, McGarry said. Simply adopting FEMA elevations, Evans said, "is not a sea-level-rise adaptation strategy in it of itself." Some existing structures in the region, built before the latest FEMA elevations, won't be elevated unless they receive significant improvements. "There is concern, but there is nothing we can do," O'Connor said. "Those are privately owned buildings. That sort of falls into the lap of the owners." NEIGHBORHOODS David Moellering in 2012 built a home on Nettles Island, the gated community in St. Lucie County that protrudes into the Indian River Lagoon. He didn't give a thought to sea-level rise. "It's so far out," said the 63 year old. But a 2005 report on sea-level rise on the Treasure Coast noted Nettles Island "seems very vulnerable to sea-level rise." "It is not clear how or if this area will be protected," according to the report. Yet, according to the report, the community's protection from sea-level rise is almost certain because of the investments property owners already have made. MORE | How many could be impacted by sea-level rise in 2100? FEMA building elevations for the island have been updated over time, making for a range in heights between newer and older homes, said Leslie Olson, St. Lucie County director of planning and development services. "Nettles is kind of an interesting, illustrative community to demonstrate how these elevations impact the community over time," she said. Moellering, whose home is at about 8.3 feet elevation, said he plans to leave his home to his children. Sea-level rise is a concern, he said, "would only impact maybe at the very end of their life span and maybe their kids' only." WATER PLANTS Existing infrastructure, too, could be at risk. The Stuart water-treatment plant and the city's water-reclamation facility both could have some flooding if sea level rises by 36 inches, projected to happen after 2075, according to a county report. But Stuart isn't addressing this. "We're not concerned and scrambling now, but down the line, and as we observe it and see other sea-level-rise changes that are continuous, then we can plan for some modifications to the site," said Public Works Director Sam Amerson, adding the treatment process wouldn't be impacted. Just east of the plants, on Hutchinson Island, parts of Martin County Fire Rescue Station 14 could flood with more than an acre being vulnerable after 2075. The facility has not been buffered against sea-level rise since the report was released, according to County Administrator Taryn Kryzda. As for Jungle Trail, 1,000 feet was stabilized against erosion in 2005, according to Indian River County staff. STANDING WATER The intersection of Indian River Boulevard and Royal Palm Pointe in Vero Beach already floods during high tides. Water comes up the stormwater drains, said O'Connor, the city manager. MORE | Sea-level rise Q&A Evans the Stetson University assistant professor, who works with local governments on sea-level-rise mitigation strategies said the first thing that would be vulnerable to sea-level rise would be drainage in areas developed in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. One reason could be because since then, sea levels have risen, flooding the pipes and reducing drainage capacity, Evans said, though not speaking specifically about Vero Beach. "In terms of sea-level rise, that's (drainage) the first thing that's going to fail," he said. There are no plans yet to address the problematic intersection, O'Connor said. "Whenever we start doing any type of street construction or elevation in that area, we would take sea-level rise into consideration," he added. INTERACTIVE MAP | Click on points or open menu in top left corner to learn more. DRINKING WATER Sea-level rise could mean more than just worse flooding. Saltwater could contaminate the coastal wells that draw water from the surficial aquifer, a freshwater supply for some Treasure Coast local governments, said Jayantha Obeysekera, chief engineer with the South Florida Water Management District. "The saltwater may touch the well," he said. "If untreated, it's (the water) not suitable to drink." The surficial aquifer is "like a bubble of freshwater" that's underground and sits atop the much-denser saltwater, said Amerson, the Stuart public works director. Pumping too much freshwater means the seawater could come in and occupy that bubble, he said. "With a combination of the sea-level rise, the saltwater (could) just move in from underneath," Amerson said. The city regulates how much freshwater it pumps from the surficial aquifer so that it can keep the freshwater bubble; Martin County restricts withdrawals from wells that are within saltwater-intrusion areas and has significantly but not entirely shifted its reliance to the Floridan Aquifer. This much-deeper aquifer isn't endangered, Obeysekera said. SAND Local governments on the Treasure Coast periodically resupply sand, and some say that's a way to alleviate beach erosion caused by sea-level rise. Indian River County, for example, considers historical erosion trends to project future ones, factoring sea-level rise. It estimates it would need more sand if future sea levels continue to rise and the rate of the rise accelerates. It could need an additional 3,600 cubic yards per year over the next 30 years under lower sea-level-rise scenarios, but it could need 13,500 cubic yards per year for higher scenario, according to the county's 2015 beach-preservation plan "Everyone who is doing a beach (renourishment) project is essentially countering sea-level rise," said James Gray, Indian River County coastal engineer. In the long run, though, sand resupply won't be sustainable, said David Enfield, a University of Miami climate researcher who works at a NOAA lab on Virginia Key in Miami. "Without SLR (sea-level rise), a large storm may erode the beaches by X amount. With sea-level rise we can now see the same amount of erosion with weaker and more frequent storms. Eventually, the erosion becomes so severe and commonplace that replenishment becomes too costly and unsustainable," he said. "So, no beaches, 'Ciao, tourists.' " There will be a point, Gray said, when the easily accessible sand source would be depleted. "That's why it's important to stabilize the beaches as much as you can now," he said. PROTECT OR GIVE UP Perhaps there's another question aside from whether, and how, the region would be protected. "Should we let the rising sea take over some land that is currently developed today?" asked Jim Titus, lead investigator of the federally funded Environmental Research Letters, a national sea-level-rise study. Coastal regions, for example, could build dikes, with some cities possibly ending up below sea level in the distant future, Titus said. "Anytime you have a city below sea level, protected by a dike, you have a potential problem. If the dike fails, possibly the whole (city) is underwater," he said. Another way would be to elevate property, streets and other infrastructure. "Where is that dirt going to come from? You can get it somewhere, but because that can only be done for so long, the cost of dirt would be greater," Titus said. So, he said, a reasonable question arises. "Do we really want to protect every bit of land that has ever been developed from the rising sea, or might we decide that's not a good idea?" MORE | See NOAA's interactive sea-level rise map BY THE NUMBERS Sea-level-rise impact on the Treasure Coast $7.5 billion: Value of structures located on land that could flood with a sea-level rise of 24 inches. Thats the worst-case scenario projected after 2060 by a 2011 Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact study. $2.3 billion: Value of structures on parcels that could flood in Indian River County $2.6 billion: Value of structures on parcels that could flood in St. Lucie County $2.6 billion: Value of structures on parcels that could flood in Martin County Source: Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council vulnerability analysis, 2012 Some residents of Nettles Island are concerned about how sea-level rise could affect their properties. (MOLLY BARTELS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS) By Lidia Dinkova of TCPalm The global scientific consensus is that the Earth's climate is warming. Last year was the warmest since 1880, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That measurement takes into consideration the globally averaged temperature over land and oceans. INVESTIGATION | What is the Treasure Coast doing to prepare for sea-level rise? Regardless of what's causing global warming, studies show that one of its impacts is sea-level rise. How much have seas risen? Sea levels have risen by about 8 inches since reliable record keeping began in 1880, according to the federally initiated National Climate Assessment. That's much greater than at any time at least in the past 2,000 years. More specifically, the global mean sea level has been rising at rate of about 0.07 inches annually since 1900, accelerating to a rate of about 0.12 inches since the early 1990s, according to NOAA. How much could seas rise in the future? The rate of sea-level rise is expected to accelerate. But how much cannot be calculated with specificity. Instead, federal, local government and academic agencies routinely release projections that give scenarios showing low, medium and high estimates for the future. A range is provided to account for different factors that contribute to sea-level rise. Most often, there are different sea-level-rise scenarios for the same point in the future because scientists and engineers are accounting, among other things, for different rates of greenhouse-gas emissions, said to contribute to global warming, ocean warming and sea and land ice melt. (Ocean warming, known as thermal expansion, prompts the water to expand, contributing to sea-level rise.) Here are some projections: The ocean is expected to rise by 3 feet or more by the end of this century, according to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The 2014 National Climate Assessment report, released as part of the federal U.S. Global Change Research Program, gives a range: Sea level is expected to rise between 1 and 4 feet by 2100, using 2000 sea level as baseline. But a wider range could be used: Sea level could rise between 8 inches and 6.6 feet by 2100. How much could sea levels rise on the Treasure Coast? There's a difference between global sea-level rise and local sea-level rise, according to scientific literature. Sea-level-rise rate along the Treasure Coast, for example, would be different from along Louisiana's Gulf Coast. That's because regional conditions influence sea-level-rise rates. They include currents and vertical land movement. (Land along Florida's Atlantic coast is relatively static, generally moving neither up nor down.) Treasure Coast Newspapers used three sources for sea-level rise projections along the Treasure Coast: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gauges along Florida's Atlantic coast. There are no gauges along the Treasure Coast, but gauges north and south of here could be a reference. According to the Daytona Beach Shores gauges, NOAA's low sea-level projection is 7.7 inches by 2100; 19.6, 45.7 or 75.6 inches of sea-level rise by 2100 are the intermediate low, intermediate-high and high projections. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also uses NOAA gauges, but comes up with its own projections. The Southeast Florida Climate Compact comprising Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties released a report in 2015 projecting 27.9, 56.3 and 75.4 inches of sea-level rise by 2100. These calculations are applicable to the Treasure Coast, said study contributors. The group took global projections by other sources and adapted them for regional conditions. Because the same regional conditions apply to the Treasure Coast as to counties south of here, these projections could be applied to the Treasure Coast, too, said Leonard Berry, a contributor to the report and a Florida Atlantic University professor emeritus of geoscience. Create line charts SeaLevelRise3Sources How big of a threat is sea-level rise? It depends from place to place. Just remember, there's a difference between how many inches the ocean would rise and how high the water would come. There could be a uniform sea-level rise across South Florida but different areas would be impacted differently, depending on factors such as land elevation, ground permeability, protections taken by authorities and property owners. Regions at higher elevations, for example, would fare better that very low-lying areas. Nevertheless, here's are some of the possible impacts: The short-term threat isn't so much that the water level is rising, but that a higher water level would exacerbate storm surges from hurricanes. When there's a storm surge from a hurricane, coupled with a higher sea level, the surge would be intensified, said Jayantha Obeysekera, chief engineer with the South Florida Water Management District. "If the same storm happens with higher sea level, then the highest water level in a storm surge now would be even higher. Let's say there's a storm surge of 3 feet, and if the sea level is (1 foot) higher ... then the maximum water level now is 4 feet," Obeysekera said. Flooding of low-lying coastal areas, caused either by higher sea level or by storm surges and high tides exacerbated by a higher sea level. Reduced drainage capacity, especially in coastal areas developed decades ago and where stormwater pipes drain into a nearby water body that's connected to the ocean. Sand erosion. Saltwater intrusion into the surficial aquifer, a shallow aquifer from which some Treasure Coast governments draw fresh water. What are local governments doing to address sea-level rise? Sea-level rise on the Treasure Coast has been studied. (Each county did a vulnerability study in 2013, the regional planning council addressed sea-level rise in its 2012 hazards vulnerability analysis and the EPA funded a regional study released in 2005.) But local governments have done little brick-and-mortar work aimed at protecting property and infrastructure from sea-level-rise impacts specifically. But, officials said, existing policies and work would help protect from sea-level rise, too. Counties do ongoing drainage improvements increasing system capacity, enforce building elevations in flood zones, renourish beaches to mitigate erosion, require building setbacks in coastal areas, and monitor and restrict use of the sea-level-rise vulnerable surficial aquifer. This also would help abate the impacts of sea-level rise, officials said. Some also have addressed sea-level rise in their comprehensive plans, a growth-and-development guide. Haven't sea levels fluctuated throughout geological history? Why should I be worried now? Yes, sea level has risen and fallen over billions of years. What makes this different is that we are in an interglacial geologic period, or a period of tens of thousands of years of relative geologic stability allowing for civilization to develop, according to David Enfield, a University of Miami climate researcher with a Ph.D. in physical oceanography who works at a NOAA lab on Virginia Key in Miami. But scientists say, they are seeing a rise in global temperatures and a parallel rise in sea levels that's unlikely for an interglacial period, he said. Are some areas in Florida worse off than others? Indeed. Experts interviewed for this story said the Treasure Coast would fare better than the four South Florida counties directly south of here mainly because it's on higher land elevation. One way to see the extent of impact on different regions in the state is to use the NOAA sea-level-rise tracker. PHOTO PROVIDED Retired nurses talk about their careers and experiences at a recent luncheon. SHARE PHOTO PROVIDED Attendees waited for their delicious lunch of fruit, quiche and an ice cream parfait. PHOTO PROVIDED New friendships were made as Miles Grant commnuity residents met each tother during the event. By Sarah Ryan, YourNews contributor STUART An afternoon event of comaraderie and friendshipw with a divers group of retired nurses at Miles Grant Country Club developed quickly at their first luncheon on April 1. The opening presentor, Sarah, Ryan, RN, MS, a newcomer to the Miles Grant Country Club's community, created the idea for the gathering with one of her neighbors, Patricia Stephens, RN. When the two met, they realized what a good idea it might turn out to be since there so many snowbirds, as well as fulltime residents, who were retired nurses living in their community. The event generated multiple ideas for mobilizing the community's retired nurses. Following a delicious lunch of fruit, quiche and an ice cream parfait, the group convened in a circle and for the next 2 1/2 hours each described their nursing career, their chosen educational path, and their diverse roles and experiences as a nurse. The 14 in attendance included registered nurses in obstetrics, the operating room, schools, outpatient clinics, hospitals, a doctor's office, an insurance company., community educators for prevention of social issues as well as communicable diseases, private practice nurse practitioners, a holistic healer, a clinical nurse specialist in child and adolescent health and college educators. Based on the participation of the group and the enthusiasm and scholastic energy of these retired nurses, a future formal agenda is anticipated for the second annual event targeted for February 2017. The group responded positively to the idea of mobilizing as valuable resources for high school students considering a nursing career, as well as for college nursing students. All agreed that the sharing of information by retired nurses about the diverse opportunities in nursing, as well as the mentoring of students, could possibly help to ease the tremendous nursing shortage in our country. Ryan shared that by the year 2018, 580,000 new nurses will need to be educated and hired, and another 280,000 will be needed by 2025. Retired nurses interested in presenting an educational lecture, preventive information, or sharing their knowledge of health resources on the community at future events may email Ryan at sarahanneryan@yahoo.com. Tushar Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Mumbai Posts: 1,148 Thanked: 8,557 Times Bangalore: Hyundai Genesis luxury sedan spotted Moderator Vid6639 for sharing these images with other enthusiasts! Hyundai launched its global luxury sub-brand 'Genesis' in November last year ( The Hyundai Genesis displayed at the 2016 Auto Expo was powered by the 3.8-litre, V6 GDI petrol engine that makes 311 BHP @ 6,000 rpm and 397 Nm of torque @ 5,000 rpm. Length x width x height x wheelbase dimensions come in at 4,990 mm x 1,890 mm x 1,480 mm x 3,010 mm. The feature list on the car includes a power tilt-and-slide panoramic sunroof, a rake and reach adjustable steering wheel, auto-dimming wing mirrors, a Lexicon 14-speaker (optional 17-speaker) sound system, ventilated front seats, power rear sunshade and manual rear side shades, LED fog lights and a full-colour heads-up display. Driver assistance / safety features include blind spot detection / rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, automatic emergency braking and high-beam assist. If launched in India the car will rival the Audi A6, BMW 5-Series and Mercedes E-Class, though an official launch confirmation has yet to come through. Thank you tofor sharing these images with other enthusiasts!Hyundai launched its global luxury sub-brand 'Genesis' in November last year ( link to news article ). While the Genesis G90 and G80 luxury sedans are on their way to target markets like Korea, China, North America and the Middle-East, Hyundai India has been showcasing the Hyundai Genesis (predecessor to the G80) at many events all over the country. Following showcases at events like the 2014 Autocar Performance Show and 2016 Delhi Auto Expo , the Hyundai Genesis has been spotted in Bangalore.The Hyundai Genesis displayed at the 2016 Auto Expo was powered by the 3.8-litre, V6 GDI petrol engine that makes 311 BHP @ 6,000 rpm and 397 Nm of torque @ 5,000 rpm. Length x width x height x wheelbase dimensions come in at 4,990 mm x 1,890 mm x 1,480 mm x 3,010 mm. The feature list on the car includes a power tilt-and-slide panoramic sunroof, a rake and reach adjustable steering wheel, auto-dimming wing mirrors, a Lexicon 14-speaker (optional 17-speaker) sound system, ventilated front seats, power rear sunshade and manual rear side shades, LED fog lights and a full-colour heads-up display.Driver assistance / safety features include blind spot detection / rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, automatic emergency braking and high-beam assist.If launched in India the car will rival the Audi A6, BMW 5-Series and Mercedes E-Class, though an official launch confirmation has yet to come through. Last edited by Aditya : 13th April 2016 at 13:20 . Adobe last week issued an emergency security patch to fix a vulnerability in Flash that could leave users vulnerable to a ransomware attack. The vulnerability exists in Adobe Flash Player 21.0.0.197 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Chrome operating systems. It can cause a crash and leave the computer vulnerable to attackers, the company said. Its aware of reports that CVE 2016-1019 has been exploited on systems running Windows 10 and earlier with Flash version 20.0.0.306 and earlier, Adobe said. A patch introduced in Flash Player 21.0.0.182, however, prevents exploitation. Targets Older Versions Researchers atProofpoint discovered the vulnerability earlier this month, when they realized the Magnitude exploit kit was successfully exploiting Adobe Flash version 20.0.0.306. The attack was found in what is called an exploit kit, which is a cybercrime tool typically sold on underground forums. Exploit kits are malicious software packages that hide on websites and take advantage of vulnerabilities in Web browsers and plug-ins in order to deliver malware, in this case ransomware, said Ryan Kalember, senior VP of cybersecurity strategy at ProofPoint. Since the Magnitude EK was not affecting Flash 21.0.0.182, the researchers initially thought the target was CVE-2016-1001 as in Angler, the combination exploit CVE-2016-0998/CVE-2016-0984 or CVE-2016-1010. If a victim lands on a webpage and has Flash, the malware would be quietly installed, even without the user clicking on anything, Kalember told the E-Commerce Times. Researchers shared their findings with other companies, and a colleague atFireEye figured out that it was a previously unknown vulnerability, according to Proofpoint. The companies contacted Adobe, which, working with the researchers, determined that the mitigation that was integrated into 21.0.0.182 caused the exploit to fail. The problem was a previously unreported vulnerability and assigned the number CVE-2016-1019. Adobe released the emergency patch last week. Adobe is a big target simply because Flash is so widely used Adobe has said it is on over a billion devices, Kalember noted. Working Together A Proofpoint researcher named Kafeine shared the vulnerability with FireEye, which did analysis and testing to determine the status of the previously unknown vulnerability, a FireEye spokesperson confirmed. The companies worked together to help Adobe send out a quick release of a fix. Given the rise in ransomware attacks in recent months, it is most important to note that unlike most exploit kits using known vulnerabilities, this zero-day vulnerability was being used to distribute ransomware at the time of analysis, FireEye said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by company rep Kyrk Storer. Magnitude seemed to be used by only one actor in recent months, spreading Cryptowall crypt 1001 until the middle of March, Proofpoint researchers noted. However, the actor then switched to Teslacrypt ID=39 and later to Cerber. The Cerber ransomware encrypts documents, photos, databases and other common file types, Proofpoints Kalember said. Victims see a ransom demand directly on their PCs. Ransomwares Reach Symantec last year published a broad overview of ransomware, a relatively new form of malware that is akin to cyberextortion, in which attackers take control of the victims computer and often demand payment or some other form of compensation in order to release the exploited system. The U.S. led the countries victimized by ransomware attacks in 2015, followed by Japan, the U.K., Italy, Germany and Russia, according to Symantec. The average payment demanded was US$300. Organizations of all sizes are being targeted, with broad-based email campaigns sometimes over 10 million messages in a day malicious Web advertisements, and even malicious mobile apps, Kalember said. In general, ransomware targets Windows more often than other operating systems, but recent examples of ransomware have been found up for Mac OS X, which was taken down immediately, and Android, he said. Defense in Depth Researchers atTrend Micro saw a zero-day attack being included in the code of Magnitude Exploit Kit through its protection network feedback, they said. That type of activity leads to Locky ransomware, a form of crypto ransomware that abuses macros in document files to hide the malicious code. What weve seen in this particular attack is that Adobe has made changes to ensure this did not impact those who are using the most up-to-date version of their product, said Christopher Budd, global threat communications manager at Trend Micro. This underscores how defense-in-depth security measures are a good thing and can be very helpful in mitigating the impact of such attacks, he told TechNewsWorld. Ransomware is on a major upswing over the past four to six months, Proofpoints Kalember said, so were likely right in the middle of the cybercrime cycle. Microsoft on Tuesday announced plans to release a version of its enterprise database product SQL Server 2016 for Linux. Bringing SQL Server to Linux is another way we are making our products and new innovations more accessible to a broader set of users and meeting them where they are, said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president for Microsofts cloud and enterprise group. With a Linux version, SQL Server will be able to deliver a consistent data platform across Windows Server and Linux, in the cloud and on-premises, he noted. SQL Server for Linux also will bring to Linux users features such as mission-critical performance, industry-leading total cost of ownership, security, and hybrid cloud innovations such as Stretch Database, which lets customers access their data on-premises and in the cloud whenever they want, Guthrie said. Microsoft has made a preview of SQL Server for Linux available. The final product is expected to ship in mid-2017. Delivering on Hybrid Cloud Microsoft believes that creating a Linux version of SQL Server will have a number of benefits for the product. Customers will be able to build and deploy more of their applications on a single data management and business analytics platform, Microsoft said in a statement provided to LinuxInsider by spokesperson Jennifer Reynolds. Customers also will be able to leverage existing tools, talent and resources for more of their applications, the company noted. Whats more, partners with applications built on SQL Server will be able to serve more of their customers environments, expanding their addressable market, Microsoft said. With Microsoft bringing SQL Server to Linux, enterprises will be able to further integrate disparate platforms to deliver on the promise of the hybrid cloud, while increasing the choice that developers, customers and partners have as open source continues to form the foundation of the platforms of the future, said Mike Ferris,Red Hats director of business architecture. Expanding SQL Server Market Offering a Linux version of SQL Server is all about expanding market opportunities for Microsoft, noted IDC analyst Al Gillen. Its about capturing opportunities on Linux servers that Microsoft today doesnt have any offerings for, he told LinuxInsider. Thats an important piece of the market, Gillen continued, but its not huge. Its not going to double Microsofts volume or anything like that. The move is also about garnering mindshare with customers, he added, so that customers moving to a Linux platform will continue to think of Microsoft as a provider of the services and software that they need to run their businesses. If those customers choose to use SQL Server in their on-premises Linux deployments, then when they move to the cloud, Microsoft hopes it can sell them on using Azure, the companys cloud offering, Gillen said. If they get the customers to use SQL Server, they have the opportunity to keep these guys as customers going forward, he said. Brave New World for Microsoft SQL Server for Linux is an expansion play by Microsoft, according to Jack E. Gold, principal atJ.Gold Associates. Theres a pretty substantial Linux community out there that Microsoft would love to sell its database to, he told LinuxInsider. The move is also a recognition that the company is competing in a mixed vendor world. A fair number of Microsoft shops arent pure Microsoft anymore, so increasingly companies that are deploying Linux in their infrastructure have had to look for a mixed database environment. Microsoft is trying to solve that for them, Gold said. In addition, Microsoft is going to start running Linux on Azure, so it wants SQL Server to run there too, he said. The bottom line to all of this, Gold said, is that with [Microsoft CEO Satya] Nadella in charge, Microsoft is starting to listen to their customers, rather than telling customers what they should deploy. Coup for Linux Microsofts embrace of Linux is part of a larger trend at the company, noted Jim McGregor, principal analyst atTirias Research. There was a large internal battle over whether applications should be decoupled from Windows. Now they realize they have to be more flexible in a changing environment, he told LinuxInsider. Not everything in todays infrastructure is running Microsofts operating system, McGregor said. By being more flexible, it opens up the market for them. In addition to benefiting Microsoft, SQL Server for Linux has some benefits for the open source operating systems community, too. Microsofts announcement that they plan to bring SQL Server to Linux is further validation of the power and acceptance of open source in enterprise environments, Red Hats Ferris told LinuxInsider. It gives Linux even more credibility than it already has, IDCs Gillen noted. If Microsoft is convinced that Linux is a platform that needs to be supported, what does that say about Linux? It says its a respected and powerful platform. Facebook apparently has been working on mobile pay and secret chat features for its Messenger app, according to a report published this week byThe Information, based on clues found in extracted software code on Messenger for iPhone. Commands embedded in the software hint at secret conversations, similar to whats found in WhatsApp, the voice and messaging service owned by Facebook, according to the report. Other references reportedly found in the code include commands to pay in person and pay in Messenger when picking up an item. Since Facebook has long said it would continue to develop and support its own message app, it makes sense that it would adopt specific WhatsApp features into its own solutions, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. Mobile Piggyback The mobile pay feature is credible as well, King told TechNewsWorld. However, it remains unclear whether Facebook would compete with Android Pay and Apple Pay directly, or if it would piggyback on one of those services. That would require a far lower initial investment and less risk than starting its own service, and eliminate the complexities of negotiating partnerships with banks and financial services, King said. Facebook does not intend to get into the payments business directly, but would consider partnering with other companies, CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated during a conference call with analysts earlier this year. On payments, the basic strategy that we have is to make it especially in a product like Messenger that, where the business interaction may be a bit more transactional, to take all the friction out of making the transactions that you need, he said. So we dont view ourselves as a payments business. Thats not the type of company that we are. Well partner with everyone who does payments, Zuckerberg added. Other possible additions to Messenger include shopping and delivery features, and the ability to synchronize calendars so users can update to-do lists, share articles and update their status. Digital Assist? The rumored features have the potential to turn Messenger into a virtual digital assistant, according to Susan Schreiner, an analyst at C4 Trends. Potentially, it could learn our likes and dislikes, make suggestions about articles to read or e-books to purchase, she told TechNewsWorld. The Messenger app already enables you to send money to friends, so the next logical step would be using the app for in-store purchases. Facebook would have to overcome a couple of hurdles, said Paul Teich, principal analyst at Tirias Research. Facebook is an advertising distribution channel, he told TechNewsWorld. Mobile pay will give them more insight into personal transactions. It will be a crowded market, but they have mindshare and are on a huge number of smartphones in good buying demographics. If the company really wants to turn the secret chat feature into a confidential experience like WhatApps, it will have to be willing to give up certain information, Teich said. Secret chat would presumably keep no record at all of messages sent, he said. That means metadata too otherwise throwing away the message payload, but keeping data such as time and length of messages, sender and receiver. The parent company of British tabloid the Daily Mail apparently has entered whats shaping up as frenzied round robin bidding war for Yahoo, a firm that long has worn the mantle of a technology relic incapable of exciting interest. The Daily Mail & General Trust on Monday confirmed a report that it has approached private equity companies on a possible joint bid for the firm. Given the success of DailyMail.com and Elite Daily we have been in discussions with a number of parties who are potential bidders, a Daily Mail spokesperson said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by company rep Sean Walsh. Discussions are at a very early stage and there is no certainty that any transaction will take place. We have no further comment at this time. Further updates will be provided as appropriate. Yahoo reportedly has held discussions with Verizon, IAC/Interactive Corp. and CBS Corp., according to the WSJ, but has not yet sat down with Daily Mail executives. Verizon, whose CEO confirmed interest in acquiring Yahoos core Web business several weeks ago, is widely seen as the leading candidate to pull off a deal. Yahoo has extended the deadline for receipt of first-round bids from April 11 to April 18, according to reports. The Daily Mail is the latest surprise entrant in the contest. Its bid could take the form of one or two potential deals, the WSJ noted. In one scenario, the private equity partner would take over Yahoos entire U.S. operation and fold the news and media properties into the Daily Mail. The second scenario would have the private equity partner take control of Yahoo and fold its news and media companies into a new firm, which would include DailyMail.com and Elite Daily. The Daily Mail has been in talks with a half-dozen private equity firms on making a bid, including General Atlantic, according to the WSJ. Plenty to Offer Despite Yahoos difficulties as a legacy company, there remains a strong core of Web traffic that might attract traditional media company like the Daily Mail, observed Rick Edmonds, media business analyst at Poynter. Say what you will about Yahoo,they remain a leader in basic traffic, he told the E-Commerce Times. The rap on the company is that they cannot come up with a growth strategy or carve out a distinctive journalistic role. The Daily Mail claims about 62 million unique visitors per month in the U.S., citing Comscore data from July 2015. Yahoo reaches nearly 78 million people per month, making it the ninth biggest website in the country, according to Quantcast. Yahoo has beefed up its content business over the years, luring major media figures like former CBS anchor Katie Couric, who is global anchor at Yahoo, and former Newsweek investigative reporter Michael Isikoff, who is now the companys chief investigative correspondent. The news and financial features are good and what makes Yahoo attractive to media companies, said Michael Jude, consumer communication services research manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan. Yahoos once-leading search engine probably would be folded into another entity, as it is not what it used to be before Google emerged as a leading search provider, he added. However, the likely scenario is that whichever company acquires Yahoo, it will wind up with the company largely intact, Jude suggested, because the individual parts by themselves are not as attractive. Identity Crisis What exactly is Yahoo these days? A media company, a personal destination page, a news source, a 22-year-old startup? asked Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research. A case can be made for all of these and none of these, he told the E-Commerce Times. Defining what Yahoos mission actually is has stymied its management since the leadership of cofounder Jerry Yang, and therefore made the company both malleable and cast hard, Krewell said. Each potential buyer can see it in their own light, but whichever company does get Yahoo will try to mold it to a new owners whims, he predicted. It will be hard, and some things will break, and some parts will be sold off. Yahoo will have no comment on the deal process, spokesperson Rebecca Neufeld told the E-Commerce Times either regarding the Daily Mail specifically or in general. Stephen Hawking and billionaire Yuri Milner on Tuesday unveiled Breakthrough Starship, an ambitious US$100 million effort to send miniature spacecraft to another solar system, but the program might not be quite ready to fly. It calls for a team of engineering and astrophysics experts to develop nanocrafts with sails propelled by a light beam that would allow the devices to zoom to the Alpha Centauri star system at 20 percent the speed of light. The Alpha Centauri star system is 4.37 light years, or 25 trillion miles, from Earth. It would take 30,000 years to get there using current space travel technology. However, Breakthrough Starship would be able to scale up laser beams to a level that could propel a nanocraft to historic speeds that would allow it to complete the journey in only 20 years. Hello, Neighbor The limit that confronts us now is the great void between us and the stars, Hawking said at a press conference announcing the project, but now we can transcend it. With light beams, light sails and the lightest spacecraft ever built, we can launch a mission to Alpha Centauri within a generation. Pete Worden, former director of the Ames Research Center at NASA, will lead the project. A team of experts on engineering, science and space exploration will advise its board, which includes Hawking, Milner and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg. Avi Loeb, chair of the Harvard University Astronomy Department, will chair the group of advisors, which includes a stellar list of veteran astronauts, scientists and others. Among them are Mason Peck, former chief technologist at NASA; former astronaut Mae Jemison; and Lou Friedman, an author and engineer who cofounded the Planetary Society with Carl Sagan. The ultimate cost of the plan would be in the billions of dollars, lining up with some of the most expensive space exploration projects ever developed. The reason for targeting Alpha Centauri is evidence that a number of potentially Earth-like planets exist in the habitable zone of the three-star system. A Dash of Cold Water Based on current technology, we may be about 50 years away from pulling off a mission this ambitious, suggested Haym Benaroya, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Rutgers University. There has been progress on many of the technologies, but some are still difficult from an engineering perspective for example the laser system, he told TechNewsWorld. Also, it would take many years to send the information the nanocraft might find back to Earth, Benaroya pointed out. I think it may not be as fulfilling a space adventure as some would wish, he said. The Nanocraft Concept The idea of a nanocraft is based on Moores Law, which predicts steady progress in placing larger and more sophisticated devices on microelectronic components. The nanocraft would be gram-scale wafer sized chips, and they would include a number of sophisticated devices, such as cameras, photon thrusters, power supplies, navigation and communication equipment. A lightsail measuring no more than a few atoms thick would rest on each nanocraft and be accelerated by an array of laser beams to thrust it toward the Alpha Centauri system. The use of nanotechnology in space exploration is not entirely new. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program selected a study on directed energy propulsion by Philip Lubin, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which later was approved for external funding, confirmed Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorate. The study examined directed energy propulsion for exploring other worlds by using space probes to explore deep space in a way that supplements the long-range remote sensing of current orbital telescopes. mCarbon has opened its new office in Dubai as the most recent expansion of its presence in the MENA region. Sabri Amireh, who joins mCarbon with over 25 years of extensive experience, is leading the companys efforts to support customers in the region and develop new opportunities. The new presence comes in response to the ongoing demand from the telecom operators in the Middle East and African region to help fast rack supporting them in launching innovative offerings. The opening of UAE office is a reinforcement of the strong mCarbons customer and partner base in Middle East and African region, said Rajesh Razdan, Founder and CEO , mCarbon Under Sabris leadership, we are most certain to grow our impact in the region by supporting our telco customers strategic initiatives. mCarbon, UAE is a further testament to our commitment of building a lasting presence in the MENA region and to invest in long-term customer relationships. I am excited to lead the expansion of mCarbon through a strong regional presence, based in Dubai, said Sabri Amireh, Executive Vice President, mcarbon. It will be great to work with the team and strengthen the services, offerings and commitment to the clients eventually boosting the companys presence in this region. Sabri has extensive experience of over 25 years in the telecom industry wherein he covered diverse senior management responsibilities in Business Development and Sales. He has a proven track record of delivering solutions for GSM Operators through inspiring leadership in Middle East and Africa. He has previously worked with Orascom in Egypt, Cable & Wireless in Qatar, Jordan & Yemen. His last stint was with Mahindra Comviva where he spearheaded and managed their business for MENA. @ Technuter.com News Service It's hard to go anywhere these days without seeing people staring at their smartphones, but one place that still asks you turn them off is the cinema. But even this may be about to change. In an interview with Variety, Adam Aron, CEO of one the biggest cinema chains in the world, AMC, said the company is considering allowing phones to be used in its US theaters. Aron said the plan was to draw more Millenials into cinemas as a way of improving the industry's dwindling audience. "When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, don't ruin the movie, they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow. You can't tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That's not how they live their life," he said. "We need to reshape our product in some concrete ways so that millennials go to movie theatres with the same degree of intensity as baby boomers went to movie theatres throughout their lives." Aron admits that while the idea may appeal to some people, not everyone is going to appreciate having the glare of multiple smartphone screens disturbing their cinema experience. "We're going to have to figure out a way to do it that doesn't disturb today's audiences. There's a reason there are ads up there saying turn off your phone, because today's moviegoer doesn't want somebody sitting next to them texting or having their phone on." Aron did offer one possible solution that could potentially benefit everyone. He suggested designating certain auditoriums as 'texting friendly,' which would hopefully mean that those who can't bear to go without checking their phone every few minutes can watch a movie in one screening room while everyone else can use another. Whether we do ever see 'texting screens' appearing in any of AMC's cinemas remains to be seen. So far, the idea isn't being very well received, with most people saying, rightly, that keeping a phone turned off during a movie isn't a difficult task. Image credit: wavebreakmedia / shutterstock Microsoft has filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department in Seattle's district court, setting the stage for what's likely to become yet another high-profile confrontation between the US government and a technology giant. In the suit, Microsoft said it received 5,624 legal demands for user information over the past 18 months. The problem, as Microsoft sees it, is that nearly half of those requests - 2,576, to be exact - were accompanied by gag orders that prevent them from telling users that the government is looking at their personal data. What's more, 1,752 data requests had no time limit meaning Microsoft would seemingly need to hand over user data indefinitely without ever informing the user. In a post on Microsoft's blog, Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer, said they believe that with rare exceptions, consumers and businesses have a right to know when the government accesses their e-mails or records. To clarify, Smith said, Microsoft appreciates that there are times when secrecy around a government warrant is needed. For example, such is the case when disclosure would create a real risk of harm to another individual or when disclosure would give someone time to destroy evidence to thwart an investigation. Given the sheer number of orders Microsoft has fielded, however, Smith said they question whether they are grounded in specific facts that truly demand secrecy or if the issuance of secrecy orders has simply become too routine. Image courtesy AP Two senior members of the U.S. Senate are pushing for the adoption of a new bill that would to compel tech companies to provide law enforcement agencies access to encrypted information during matters of national security. U.S. Senators Richard Burr from North Carolina and Dianne Feinstein from California on Wednesday released a draft bill dubbed "Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016," which is aimed at fostering better cooperation between government investigators and tech companies particularly in handling encrypted data. The new bill is considered a response to the current legal squabble between the federal government and Apple over the tech giant's refusal to help authorities in unlocking an iPhone believed to be owned by one of the gunmen in the San Bernardino shootings last year. If such legislation were in place at the time, Apple would have been compelled to hand over intelligible information to the government in a timely and responsive manner, or provide technical assistance that would have helped authorities obtain such information through a court order. One key aspect to the bill is its definition of the term "intelligible information," which pertains to data or information that has not been encrypted, or has been initially encrypted but was decrypted for the benefit of investigators. The data encryption bill does not include any reference to specific methodologies or limitations on how to collect data. This means tech companies will be the ones responsible for developing ways on how to bypass built-in security features, extracting the required data and decrypting it if needed. Unlike an earlier version of the bill that was leaked to The Hill last week, this recent version features a narrower scope and now applies to cases that involved criminal acts that caused serious injury or death, terrorist acts, espionage and foreign intelligence. The legislation can also be applied to various federal crimes committed against minors, federal drug cases and serious felonies. "No entity or individual is above the law," Feinstein said. "We need strong encryption to protect personal data, but we also need to know when terrorists are plotting to kill Americans." The data encryption bill has been the subject of much controversy ever since news about its creation was made public back in February. Security experts blasted a leaked version of the legislation, calling it both "ludicrous" and "dangerous." Photo: Phil Roeder | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Doctors have successfully separated conjoined twins Ximena and Scarlett Torres from Texas, the babies' father confirmed. The operation was performed at the Driscoll Children's Hospital where the twins were transferred hours after birth. The hospital staff have been in charge of the twins' care since then. By 11:46 a.m. on April 12, doctors were able to complete the separation of the babies. The next step was to perform individual surgeries, which have also been completed already. As these babies grow, they will be needing additional surgeries. "Babies are out of surgery and doing great; they are asleep. Thank you all for your support and prayers, it really means a lot to us and our babies," reads the status update on the twins' Facebook page after their surgery. Morning Breaks When the morning of the surgery day broke, the team began what was expected to be an 18-hour operation on the twins. Prior to that, the family surrounded the girls and prayed together with the doctors and staff of the hospital. Smooth Surgery Ximena and Scarlett, conjoined at the pelvis, were born on May 16, 2015. Doctors were able to determine that they share a colon, bladders and rectum. Part of the operation is to reconstruct these shared organs after separating the sisters. By 11:10 a.m., the doctors were able to separate the girls' kidneys. From there, the family members expected that the complete separation of Ximena and Scarlett will take place in about 60 or 90 minutes. The girls' father Raul said his daughters did not lose tremendous amounts of blood during the process and that everything ran smoothly. However, Ximena had to go back to surgery some hours later after the separation procedure to address a problem with her kidneys. She is now doing well, recovering with Scarlett. Preparations For The Surgery Dr. Haroon Patel from Driscoll said the surgical and medical team responsible for Ximena and Scarlett's care prepared months before the surgery. Preparations were not only centered on the medical aspects of care. The family also took the time to prepare the girls spiritually. On April 9, the babies were baptized as a way to prepare them for the risky surgery that entails various potential complications. Raul said they did this so that in case something happens, the girls' souls can already be with God. Ximena and Scarlett were born with another sister, their identical triplet Catalina. Unlike the conjoined twins, Catalina was born without any medical issues. This is not the first time that doctors in Texas were able to separate conjoined twins. In 2015, a team of doctors from Texas Children's Hospital were able to separate Knatalye Hope Mata and Adeline Faith Mata, who shared major body organs including liver, lungs, colon and intestines. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Next-generation spacecraft sailing to interstellar space may soon rely on harnessing solar wind to produce momentum, as scientists from NASA begin experimentations in Alabama for an advanced propulsion system. Designed for very long distance missions, NASA's HERTS E-sail technology (Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System Electric Sail) can potentially halve the time it takes for spacecraft to go into interstellar space. It could send spacecraft even to the "edge" of our solar system, known as the Heliopause, at a speed faster than ever. After initial trials are over, the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) will use computer models to examine NASA's results. How the E-sail Technology Works The E-sail propulsion system is expected to consist of at least 10 electrically charged, bare aluminum wires that radiate from the inside of the spacecraft to make a circular "E-sail." Lead E-sail engineer Bruce Wiegmann said the sun ejects electrons and protons into the solar wind at very high speeds of up to 750 kilometers per second (approx. 1.6 million miles per hour), and they will take advantage of this solar power. The E-sail's special wires are capable of electrostatically repelling rapid-moving protons of the solar wind, with the momentum acting as the spacecraft's thrust. Each tether would only be one millimeter (0.039 inch) thick but 20 kilometers (12.42 miles) in length. "The E-Sail would use these protons to propel the spacecraft," said Wiegmann. Spacecraft with the E-sail would be able to rotate at one revolution per hour, with centrifugal forces expanding the special wires into position. It would then be navigated by controlling each wire's voltage, changing the force applied to different portions of the propulsion. The tests at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville will try to discover the rate of electron and proton collisions with a positively charged wire. Implications for the Future NASA's Voyager mission is currently exploring the interstellar medium. The use of the E-sail technology could become a breakthrough for these kinds of "ambitious missions," said UAH scientist Gary Zank. Astronomers expect the new propulsion system to be expeditious. Voyager 1 took 35 years to reach the Heliopause, but HERTS E-sail could do it in a shorter amount of time. Wiegmann said their investigations reveal that spacecraft with E-sail could travel to the Heliopause in just 10 years. "This could revolutionize the scientific returns of these types of missions," said Wiegmann. What's more impressive is that the propulsion system could be used for shorter missions, too. Wiegmann said the design is extremely flexible and adaptable. It could be used for missions in the Heliopause, within the inner interplanetary system, as well as on the outer interplanetary, he added. The HERTS study was funded in 2015 by the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). It was one of the Phase II NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) projects. Watch the video below. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Rats, a common pest, are a constant source of worry for many households around the world. Now, researchers have used the animals own sex pheromones to trap and get rid of these rodents. The brown rat is the most common worldwide, with a growing population partly due to their ability to avoid traps placed in their natural habitat. Scientists from the Simon Fraser University in Canada then identified and synthetically replicated the male brown rats sex pheromone to lure female brown rats into traps. In their laboratory and field experiments, target female rats willingly entered trap boxes laced with the powerful chemical from their male peers. "We're beginning to understand their pheromones (chemical attractants), we understand their sound communication and can reproduce it, and we understand their food preferences," reported lead researcher and biologist Gerhard Gries. The team is employing a three-part rat control program that harnesses the creatures own communication system. They have built an electronic device with a special algorithm to randomly and sporadically replicate the pups vocalizations, and then developed a food bait that induces feeding and triggers the rats capture. The combination of the sex pheromones, sounds, and food bait are expected to remove the rats resistance to and disgust for trap boxes, promising a tenfold increase in capture rates. This technique also does away with poisons that could kill not just rats but also their predators. Rats could spread allergens and disease, seriously wound crop yields in agriculture, and threaten endangered seabirds and other species. This pest control research comes a year after the team announced their bedbug trap project, which is currently being mass-produced. The findings were published in the journal Angewandte Chemie. A study in Baltimore, Maryland, in March showed that residents in low-income neighborhoods who considered rats a big problem in their area were more likely to suffer from depression and symptoms such as anxiety and sadness. These same communities plagued by rodents were also hit hard by urban issues such as drugs, vacant housing, and robbery threats, yet the findings on rats presence emerged as independent of these factors. An Instagram video, on the other hand, made rounds on the internet earlier this month when it showed a giant rat crawling on a sleeping New York subway commuters neck, nudging him awake. The video raised fresh concerns on sanitation and rat infestation. Photo: Sonja Pauen | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Publishers can now increase their online traffic through Facebook's Instant Articles, released just this April 12. The feature, announced in an earlier report, had been under beta phase for quite some time and had limited partners involved in the project. Only sites such as BBC News, Buzzfeed, National Geographic, The New York Times, and a select few hundred publications had access to the feature to test it out before its official release. In its initial phase, Facebook saw "clear evidence" that Instant Articles provided a better means for publishers to share their content with the public. The feature enabled news publishers to reach niches in the market that could not be easily accessed due to slow Internet bandwidth from the user end. Previously, readers clicked on an article and would be redirected to an outside link wherein its contents would take time to load. Through Instant Articles, users can now access a publisher's news content without ever worrying about bandwidth limitations. Facebook analyzed that users with slower connections in countries like the Philippines, Brazil, and India could access articles 20 - 40 percent more through Instant Articles. This was achieved by specifically optimizing the feature for Android devices "with the goal of providing the best mobile reading experience for people everywhere, no matter where they are in the world or what connection or device they're on." Development on Instant Articles does not stop with its official launch, though, as Facebook plans to continue working with "third-party developers" to further "build tools that help publishers create, manage, and monitor performance of their Instant Articles." Currently, available third-party options include publishing tools such as Medium, WordPress, Atavist, Drupal, RebelMouse, Perk Distributed, Tempest, ShareThis, Steller, and Sovrn, while analytic tools include SimpleReach, Chartbeat, Adobe Analytics, comScore, Parsely and Nielsen. Aside from Instant Article's worldwide release, Facebook has also enabled publishers to create Branded Content through the feature and share these branded posts on the social media platform "with a tag indicating the sponsor of the story." Options included in Branded Content are: distinguishing editorial content from branded content via styling tools; indicate content sponsors in the byline and kicker through customized texts; and a planned feature to "include a sponsor logo on the first screen through a native toolset." For publishers who haven't taken advantage of Facebook's Instant Article, they can sign their content up. Interested developers and third-party tool creators can learn more about Instant Article's API and SDK. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Remember when we revealed that Ben Affleck has a really cool idea for a Batman film early this April? Well it is not just an idea anymore because Warner Brothers gave Affleck the go signal to make it happen. Warner Brothers Chief Operating Officer (CEO) Kevin Tsujihara went on stage at the Las Vegas CinemaCon on April 12 to confirm that Affleck will be starring and directing a stand-alone Batman film, as the rumors say. Tsujihara went up on stage to acknowledge the contribution of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in its DC slate and followed it up with a pleasant surprise. "It set up a great foundation for our DC slate, which includes at least 10 movies through 2020... I'm also excited to know that we will be working with Ben Affleck on a stand-alone Batman movie," the Warner Bros. CEO reportedly announced. Affleck took up the stage afterwards with his Batman v Superman co-star Amy Adams, though he neither elaborated nor touched up on the stand-alone film that Tsujihara mentioned. Instead, Affleck focused his attention to both Dawn of Justice and the two-part Justice League film where his Batman will search for Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, Henry Cavill's Superman and a still unnamed seventh member with Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman- and, yes, we are sure there are seven of them because Aquaman says so. "It's been tremendously exciting for us to be a part of the DC Universe, and we're looking forward to working on Justice League," Affleck said. Perhaps it is just Affleck's way of focusing at one thing at a time, but he did mention in a March interview that he was working on something with DC Comic's Geoff Johns. "Geoff Johns is a brilliant guy... I consider him to be the most valued resource on all things comic book [...] He and I are working together on something and I really am excited about it and I love him. He's the best," he said. Perhaps his stand-alone Batman film may finally explain what happened to the Batman we all know that pushed the Dark Knight take extreme measures in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Boko Haram has not only displaced children but also transformed them into suicide bombers, says a new report by the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). Between April 14 and 15, 2014, hundreds of schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram, one of the deadliest Islamic terrorists and extremists, from a school in Chibok, Nigeria while they were preparing for an exam. While some girls managed to escape, most remained missing. Since then, at least 1.3 million children, mostly females, are either displaced or kidnapped, according to "Beyond Chibok," making it one of the worst humanitarian crises in Africa. The report also highlighted [PDF] the rapidly growing trend of using children for suicide attacks in countries like Chad, Cameroon, and Nigeria. While there are four young suicide bombers in 2014, the number grew to more than ten times in 2015, which means 1 in every 5 suicide bombing attacks was carried out by a child as young as 8 years old. Cameroon had the highest incidence of child suicide bombers at 21 followed by Nigeria at 17, and about 75 percent of these attacks were done by young girls. Using children as suicide bombers has made it more difficult for the young ones as "some communities are starting to see children as threats to their safety," said UNICEF regional director for West and Central Africa Manuel Fontaine. They are easily discriminated against, ostracized, and feared by their own villages and even their respective families. Females also face bigger challenges. Aside from coping with the physical and mental trauma brought about by being kidnapped by Boko Haram, they also have to deal with the stigma that comes along with being victims of sexual assault even if some of these women didn't experience it. "Women and girls are often shunned by their communities, either because they are carrying children after being raped by Boko Haram fighters or because their family believe they may have been radicalized while in captivity," said UNICEF. UNICEF and other relevant organizations have been making huge strides in giving more comprehensive access to basic services and education to families and children displaced by the war including 152,322 children who have participated in learning programs or attended schools. However, millions still require help, and UNICEF has received only $11 million of the $97 million required funding. If you wish to help, join their #Bringbackourchildhood campaign and donate. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Commercial space exploration, if the price is right and used in relation to Internet commerce, can become the norm in the near future, Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said. Bezos compared the success of his venture into space exploration with how he started his online retail business. The retail magnate shared that he is seeing the trend with his investments in Blue Origin LLC, which dabbles in space exploration. Amazon became successful because the necessary infrastructure needed to run the business, such as Internet access, credit card, and postal services, are already available. For space exploration to become truly successful, it should be affordable for millions of people. Bezos said that reduced cost can be achieved through development of reusable rockets. "What's important to me is lowering the cost of getting to space," Bezos said as he addressed the audience during the 32nd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. "I want to see millions of people living and working in space." It seems that the e-commerce pioneer upped his confidence in reusable rockets when Blue Origin was able to impressively launch and land New Shepard last week despite being used three times. During the symposium, Bezos highlighted the accomplishments and plans of Blue Origin to more than just a space tourism firm. The April 2 relaunch of the reusable rocket was the company's first suborbital attempt and a move that seeks to dare Musk's SpaceX, which seems to downplay Bezos' achievements in space exploration, fueling rivalry between the two companies. Many billionaires are now expressing interest in investing in space exploration. Russian millionaire Yuri Milner, known to have numerous ventures in space exploration, announced in a New York event that he would provide financial support of $100 million to Breakthrough Starshot, which is planning to develop small, unmanned spaceships to explore the universe and look for intelligent life. Both Bezos and Elon Musk's SpaceX are working on reducing the cost of space travel. SpaceX offers bigger rockets that can transport people, equipment, and supplies, while Blue Origin's smaller rockets can transport tourists at the space edge for a few minutes of space weightlessness. Bezos is planning to have passengers on board a New Shepard by 2018, but the ticket price is not yet available. Bigelow Aerospace is also working on a B330 module that plans to offer space habitats on a timeshare basis. So far, only millionaires like Charles Simonyi were able to afford space flights to the International Space Station aboard Russian Soyuz capsules. If this would become a trend, it looks like Bezos' vision of people living and working in space could happen sooner than later. Would you be one of the million people who would live and work in space, if the price is right? 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Toyota and Clemson University has joined forces in creating uBox, a concept car ideal aimed at Generation Z, the next generation of auto buyers. This new concept is a result of the partnership between the graduate students at the International Center for Automotive Research at the Clemson University and engineers at Toyota Motor North America. Deemed Deep Orange, the collaboration between Clemson University and Toyota aims to immerse students into the step-by-step process of developing vehicles. The students are taught how to carry out market research, design studies, engineering design plus manufacturing. "Deep Orange gives students' hands-on experience with the entire vehicle development process, from identifying the market opportunity through the vehicle build," said Johnell Brooks, an associate professor at the graduate engineering program in Clemson University in a press release. Brooks went on to say that Deep Orange serves as "automotive boot camp" to students. This project is not possible if Clemson has not partnered with Toyota. This vehicle is specifically designed for young entrepreneurs who need a car that can offer recreation and that can be transformed as an office space. Features To Expect Here's the run-through of the key features to expect from the uBox. 1. To align it with the personality of the generation Z, the car's exterior design is described as youthful, bold and unique. 2. The car's interior is deemed flexible as it can be reconfigured for different activities, such as hauling a cargo and operating a business. It boasts removable seats for more storage. 3. It comes with dashboard display bezels, vents along with customized door trim that is created by means of 3-D printing technology. 4. It comes packed with a dual-purpose and all-electric powertrain that bestows great performance plus emission-free stationary energy used in powering power tools, consumer electrics and more devices via its 110-volt sockets that are found in the car's exterior and interior. 5. The vehicle is likewise fitted with composite carbon fiber rails bonded with aluminum so as to support a curved glass roof, thanks to a distinctive technique employed by the Clemson University students, dubbed pultrusion. uBox is not the only concept car Toyota has showed off to the public. Toyota also showcased its Scion concepts during the New York Auto Show last month in spite of ending its line of the car variant. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Despite the FBI already achieving success in unlocking the encryption-protected iPhone 5c used by one of the perpetrators in the San Bernardino shooting in 2015, the bureau has not yet stopped in pushing Apple to unlock iPhones. The Justice Department has said that it is now prodding Apple to unlock an iPhone 5s related to a drug case in New York reported in March. The iPhone encryption debacle continues, with the latest on the issue reported by the Washington Post. According to the report, the FBI was able to breach the encryption on the iPhone 5c recovered from one of the San Bernardino terrorists by paying professional hackers. The gray hat hackers were able to take advantage of a previously unknown flaw in iOS 9, according to sources familiar with the matter. The flaw was used by the hackers to create hardware that helped the FBI in cracking the four-digit PIN that was protecting the iPhone 5c in question. The device was successfully unlocked without activating the security feature that would have wiped out all the data contained in the smartphone. The researchers, which were paid a one-time fee for their efforts, were said to be low-profile hackers who focus on seeking out software vulnerabilities. In certain cases, they sold some of their discoveries to the United States government, a move that has earned them the tag of being gray hat hackers. White hat hackers report vulnerabilities that they find in software to the companies that own them, while black hat hackers take advantage of flaws to steal sensitive information and breach networks. Gray hat hackers, on the other hand, sell the vulnerabilities that they discover to parties such as the government and surveillance companies. Their controversial actions could lead to bad things such as undisclosed government surveillance measures, but they could also lead to good things such as systems that can track terrorist activities. The report confirms previous news that the FBI was able to break through the iPhone 5c's encryption without the help of Israel-based Cellebrite Mobile Synchronization, despite the firm receiving its biggest FBI contract worth $218,000 on the same day that the FBI said a solution has been found for the iPhone's security wall. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. It's been a week since Apple released its latest smartphone the iPhone SE in India. However, a lukewarm response from consumers towards Apple's budget phone has prompted the company to rethink its sales strategy in the region. In a bid to boost the sales of the iPhone SE in India, Apple is trying to woo corporates by offering lease and financing plans. The marketing ploy is similar to the one Apple adopted to lure business customers into purchasing iPads. Consumers in India have not taken an immediate shine to the iPhone SE largely owing to the smartphone's lofty pricing it is priced at Rs. 39,000 (approximately $587), as well as its smaller screen size. As part of the corporate leasing program from Apple, the 16 GB iPhone SE will cost customers Rs. 999 (approximately $15) per month for 24 months according to the company's newspaper advertisement which was published on Tuesday. The program also lists plans for the 16 GB variants of the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6s, which will cost consumers Rs. 1,199 (approximately $18) and Rs. 1,399 (approximately $21) per month, respectively for a 24-month lease period. The program directed at corporate users aims to propel bulk sales. Apple is optimistic that this strategy will make the iPhone SE more viable for consumers in India. Apple vendors in India have revealed that they have been briefed that the iPhone SE needs to come across as more affordable. The strategy from Apple will hopefully, be successful in pushing sales volumes in the country. The iPhone SE is Apple's gamble at conquering emerging markets such as India. However, the smartphone's steep pricing has come under severe criticism from market experts. While the 16 GB variant of the smartphone sells for $399 in the U.S., it is $188 more expensive in the price sensitive Indian market. It is believed Apple is looking to decrease the price of the iPhone SE once it has gotten rid of the existing inventory of the older iPhone 5s, which was imported in Q4 2015. While Apple may be hoping to lock-in Indian consumers for over two years within its ecosystem, the trend that Indian consumers upgrade or change their handsets every eight months may be a hurdle. Analysts, too, are skeptical whether the corporate leasing program for the iPhone SE will help boost sales for the company. "We have seen similar exciting offers on iPhone 6, 6s, iPad but it hasn't helped to drive sales in millions. India is a market where more than $500 smartphone contributes only 2 percent of sales, moreover buyers are also price conscious. People look at overall cost not just monthly cost," notes Anshul Gupta, Director at Gartner Inc. The leasing program for the iPhone SE is restricted only to corporates. To avail the offer, corporates need to get in touch with the company by emailing Apple at iphonecorporate@icloud.com. Once the corporate signs the agreement with Apple, its employees will be able to take advantage of the lease program. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Police authorities and prosecutors raided the headquarters of the Panama law firm that is currently embroiled in the biggest financial data leak in history, reported Associated Press (AP). At least six police officers cordoned the office of Mossack Fonseca in Panama City on April 12, a day after representatives from the Intellectual Property Office dropped by to follow up on the firm's complaint of security breach. More than 11 million documents or 2.6 terabytes of data were provided to a Dutch publication by an anonymous source. Over the course of a year, multiple journalists joined together to investigate the contents and were able to trace the documents to Mossack Fonseca, the fourth biggest company that offers offshore services. The attorney general explained that the purpose of the raid is "to obtain documentation linked to the information published in news articles that establish the use of the firm in illicit activities," reported AP. However, the law firm has already denied committing any wrongdoing and accused [PDF] the media of providing "an inaccurate view of the services that we provide and, despite our efforts to correct the record, misrepresented the nature of our work and its role in global financial markets." Nevertheless, it promises to cooperate and feels quite relieved that the "real criminals" are not under investigation. Aside from its Panama headquarters, the home of one of the firm's representaives in Peru has also been raided and documents seized while the investigators are planning to expand their search to the company's subsidiaries and a computer support center to trace the leak's origin. Wide-Ranging Impact The impact of the scandal is widespread. First, it sheds more light on how individuals and companies avoid paying exorbitant taxes and increase their wealth through creating anonymous and shell companies, particularly in different tax havens or places that offer favorable tax conditions such as lower income tax rates and lenient regulations on taxation. Although creating shell companies is legitimate, it has been abused and used to funnel "dirty money." However, while the law firm helps create and sell these offshore companies, it's been described as doing only the grunt work, and the biggest players are the banks, which have the means and manpower to fully control financial assets of their clients, including how they're moved across different accounts overseas. The paper's leak has also crossed over politics. Iceland prime minister Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson has already resigned after he and his wife were showed to have a company in British Virgin Islands. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Clothing and accessories firm American Apparel is laying off about 500 of its workers in downtown Los Angeles, where the company has more than 4,000 employees. The company has notified the workers to be laid off, said Nativo Lopez, a longtime activist who described himself as the unofficial adviser to the General Brotherhood of Workers of American Apparel. The first notices of layoffs started on April 6, with CEO Paula Schneider sending out letters to employees, Lopez said. The layoffs come as American Apparel, which just emerged from bankruptcy in February, is looking to implement an overhaul of its production process. The pending changes could include outsourcing a part of the company's production to another manufacturer within the United States, in addition to making fewer items per year to reduce inventory. The items that could be outsourced are the ones that are more difficult to manufacture, such as jeans. Schneider, however, stressed that the pieces will be still be made in the United States, and that outsourcing will only cover a fraction of its products. American Apparel was once known for its sexy advertising campaigns and its devotion to having its products made in the United States. However, since the firing of former CEO Dov Charney in 2014 amid sexual misconduct allegations, the company has been toning down its edgy billboards and rethinking its core principle of how and where it makes its products. With the sexy campaigns and the devotion to United States manufacturing being siphoned out of the company, analysts believe that the layoffs are the first step of the company to leave Los Angeles for its manufacturing process. It is only a matter of time before American Apparel decides to outsource all of its products, and that the company is only gradually making moves leading to the outsourcing to gauge the opinion of the public and to prevent any massive revolts from its workers, according to Greif & Co. CEO Lloyd Grief. The employees that were laid off were given two months' pay as a severance package, along with an additional $800 if they waive the right to file claims against the company. Boeing is another major American company that is struggling at the moment, with the airplane manufacturer said to be laying off as many as 8,000 workers in Washington. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The annual Google I/O, where the company takes the wraps off new software, is set to take place in May. However, Samsung may have plausibly taken some sheen off Google's next major Android update announcement. The South Korean OEM has unintentionally revealed the version number of Android N. Samsung's release notes for its MultiWindow feature's software development kit (SDK) has accidentally confirmed the version number of Android N to be 7.0. The change history for Samsung MultiWindow SDK 1.3.1 reads: "This version has been released with Android N(7.0) compatibility." Speculations have been rife that the Android N update would have the version number 7.0, especially considering that the preceding OSes Android Marshmallow and Android Lollipop carry the version numbers 6.0 and 5.0, respectively. Earlier in March, Tech Times reported that Google had unexpectedly pushed out a "work-in-progress" developer preview for Android N. However, Google did not divulge what the version number would be and what the OS iteration would be called. "By releasing the first preview and asking for your feedback now (in March!), we'll be able to act on that feedback while still being able to hand off the final N release to device makers this summer, so they can get their hands on the latest version of Android earlier than ever," noted Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google's SVP for Android, Chrome OS and Chromecast at the time. The accidental reveal of the 7.0 version number for Android N from Samsung could be the real deal. The company is one of the most important partners of Google and is likely aware of the latter's future plans. Android N's version number is not the only mystery confounding pundits. The likely name for the impending Android update has also been creating quite a stir, with rumors hinting to everything from Nutella, Nougat, to Nanaimo. Poised to debut at the Google I/O in May, the Android N software update is slated to bring a gamut of novel features. These include an improved Doze mode, enhancements to the UI and MultiWindow mode (already available on Samsung smartphones), a new notifications panel, the ability to respond to messages directly from the notifications bar and more. Photo: Tsahi Levent-Levi | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. (Photo : Baidu) Renders of the alleged Xperia C6 smartphone from Sony have surfaced online, revealing that the device could sport a front-facing flash. (Photo : Baidu) Renders of the alleged Xperia C6 smartphone from Sony have surfaced online, revealing that the device could sport a front-facing flash. (Photo : Baidu) Renders of the alleged Xperia C6 smartphone from Sony have surfaced online, revealing that the device could sport a front-facing flash. (Photo : Baidu) Renders of the alleged Xperia C6 smartphone from Sony have surfaced online, revealing that the device could sport a front-facing flash. (Photo : Baidu) Renders of the alleged Xperia C6 smartphone from Sony have surfaced online, revealing that the device could sport a front-facing flash. Sony reportedly has a new Xperia C smartphone in the works, which will allegedly house a front-facing flash. The mysterious smartphone could possibly be the Xperia C6, and leaked images of the handset point to a 6-inch screen and a massive front-facing camera and flash. The leaked photographs are courtesy of Baidu, an Asian publication. However, it is not known if the images of the Xperia C prototype are authentic. Apart from the massive display on the Sony handset, the leaked renders do not disclose any other details about the device. The leaked images show a design that is an amalgamation of the Xperia C5 Ultra (2015) and the impending Xperia XA smartphones. In January, rumors were rife that Sony was set to launch the successor of the Xperia C5 Ultra potentially dubbed Xperia C6 at the MWC 2016. However, while a slew of smartphones were announced by Sony at the event, including the Xperia X handsets, there was no mention of the Xperia C6. This is not the first time the renders of the alleged Xperia C6 smartphone have leaked online. Earlier in January, Tech Times reported that @OnLeaks managed to lay its hands on the handset and shared the images of the purported Xperia C6 on Twitter. The current leaked renders and the older ones of the Xperia C6 match, suggesting that this could be the real deal. While little is known about the specifications of the smartphone, it clearly has a huge camera sensor in the front of the device, along with the LED flash. Interestingly, previous Xperia C smartphones did not sport the flash in the front. Rumors have pointed to the Xperia C6 housing a MediaTek chipset and sporting a bezel-free FHD screen. The purported smartphone from Sony is also believed to offer support for dual SIM. However, it is not known yet when Sony will announce the Xperia C6 smartphone. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. An environmental group has identified 10 of the most endangered rivers in the United States as of 2016, most of which are threatened not by pollution. American Rivers, an organization that spearheads America's Most Endangered Rivers campaign, has released a list of rivers whose threats may lead to significant depletion of clean water source, poor agricultural yield, and ecological imbalance, among others. Three of the rivers, namely Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania and Maryland (No. 3), Green-Duwamish River in Washington (No. 5), and Merrimack River in New Hampshire and Massachusetts (No. 8) are damaged by pollution, which may have begun as early as 10 years ago. However, many rivers are endangered not because of pollution-related concerns. The problem with Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin (No. 1), which serves Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, is its decades-long water dispute where the three states cannot agree completely on the allocation of the water resource. The water war may cause "lasting economic and irreversible environmental damage," explained American Rivers, unless the conflicting states agree and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers create a more practical method of managing the waters. Further, "instead of continuing conflict, we need a new era of water cooperation that strikes a balance among all users," said Bob Irvin, the group's president. As the biggest river in Central California, San Joaquin River (No. 2) suffers from poor water management as overtapping continues, causing severely decreased populations of salmons and steelheads and sinking of some lands. The Smith River in Montana (No. 4) and Russell Fork River in Virginia and Kentucky (No. 7) are considered two of the most beautiful natural destinations in their respective states, but possible mining operations near the rivers may endanger wildlife and perhaps human communities where their tributaries run. Mining has always been associated with the increased risk of discharging harmful chemicals and metals into the bodies of water such as rivers. The leak of more than 200 Colorado mines, for example, contaminated 1,645 miles (2,647 kilometers) of streams and rivers with cadmium, copper, arsenic, and lead. Two rivers, Pee Dee (No. 6) and St. Lawrence River (No. 9), are threatened by harmful dam operations while Pascagoula River in Mississippi and Alabama (No. 10) is challenged by the possible construction of dams in their tributaries. Photo: Lori L. Stalteri | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. If you swear by Disney and are in love with Mickey Mouse then the next time you make a trip to the happiest place on Earth you may be in for a bit of a surprise. Disney World in Orlando, Florida, has launched a new solar farm which is shaped like Mickey! The solar farm dubbed Walt Disney World Solar Facility has a 5 megawatt capacity and is the brainchild of Duke Energy, in tandem with Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) and Walt Disney World Resort. On Tuesday, representatives of RCID, Duke Energy and Walt Disney World Resort commemorated the facility's opening by switching on a massive light switch. Five-megawatt solar facility from the ground. Hidden Mickey from the sky @WaltDisneyWorld. https://t.co/WMXjdW9Ngr pic.twitter.com/zvuFPZSx1x Duke Energy (@DukeEnergy) April 12, 2016 The solar facility is near Epcot and can be espied from the air as a massive Mickey Mouse shape. Designed in the shape of a "not-so-hidden-Mickey" the solar facility is the latest endeavor by Duke Energy to increase access to renewable energy in Florida. "We're committed to providing our customers with greater access to renewable energy, and the Walt Disney World Solar Facility is one example of how we're doing that. We appreciate this unique opportunity to collaborate with Reedy Creek Improvement District and Walt Disney World Resort to expand the use of solar energy generation in Florida," said Alex Glenn, Duke Energy state president - Florida. The 22-acre Walt Disney World Solar Facility is located west of Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resort and is composed of 48,000 solar panels. The solar facility is equal to nearly 1,000 solar rooftop systems for residences. Duke Energy will be able build, operate and own the farm on Disney's land as part of the 15-year agreement. Duke Energy will be selling the alternative energy to RCID. This will aid in meeting the power requirements of not only Walt Disney World Resort, but also its other clients such as the Four Seasons Resort. The Mickey Mouse-shaped solar farm at Walt Disney World is one of the many solar projects which Duke Energy is developing. The company intends to add nearly 500 megawatts of additional solar energy in Florida in the next 8 years. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Inky the octopus has escaped his aquarium and made an eight-legged run (swim?) for the ocean. Although the breakout occurred a few months ago, the story is just now reaching the attention of much of the world. The cepholapod was housed at the National Aquarium of New Zealand, from which workers were shocked to find he made an escape prior to heading to open waters. Inky apparently broke out of his enclosure and walked across the floor of the facility to a drainpipe. A worker at the aquarium discovered a wet trail leading to the makeshift exit. The animal apparently squeezed through the tiny hole and followed the pipe to wild waters. "Octopus are very intelligent, very inquisitive, and like to push the boundaries. This particular one was very friendly and intelligent and obviously found a weak spot in the top of his tank," said Rob Yarrell, manager of the National Aquarium of New Zealand. After Inky followed the 20-inch-diameter pipe normally meant to drain runoff of seawater, the animal likely landed in Hawke's Bay, where he rejoined the natural world. The creature was originally brought to the aquarium in 2014 by fishermen who accidentally caught him off the coast of Napier. Octopus are extremely intelligent animals, able to make use of simple tools. They are also able to squeeze through small cracks and holes when they wish to leave their surroundings. When entering a small area, octopus are limited only by the size of their beaks, the only rigid segment of their bodies. Because of these abilities, the animals commonly escape artificial enclosures. The pipe that provided the octopus with his escape route was roughly eight feet away from the aquarium. Aquarium officials believe the animal may have heard water rushing through the pipe, leading him to carry out his escape. Inky was not in perfect health at the time of his breakout, suffering some injury to two of his limbs, and the absconding octopus also showed some scarring on his body, caretakers told the press. Officials at the aquarium have told reporters there will be no attempt to recover the animal from the open ocean, and Inky is, once again, a free octopus. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes should be banned from holding a diagnostic business, federal regulators propose. Following a series of controversies over faulty and erratic blood test results, Holmes or Sunny Balwani, Theranos's chief operating officer, will be prohibited from owning or running a laboratory for two years, a letter dated March 18 from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said. Federal health regulators proposed the sanctions after concluding that the company failed to address the major problems seen in a Theranos laboratory in California. These deficiencies may pose serious threats to patient health and safety. The company's certification will also be revoked which covers its California-based lab, all its operations and suspension from receiving payments from insurance under Medicare. Holmes, the 31-year-old founder of a biotech blood testing firm, Theranos, once promised to revolutionize the diagnostic industry with her finger-prick tests. Now, her career may be going down the drain as she may be banned from the industry completely. CMS, however, will reconsider the sanctions if the company heads can provide good evidence on why they should not be closed or banned from the industry. A 10-day leeway was given to the company to provide its response. Though the company has responded, a final decision hasn't been made. "The whole thing is hypothetical; if sanctions are imposed, we could appeal and the process could take months," said Brooke Buchanan, a Theranos spokeswoman. "The fact is we have not received sanctions," she added. Most of the concerns were brought into attention after an inspection report of the laboratory was released in March. The report detailed the company's shortcomings, which included failure to meet quality-control standards that the company itself has established. For instance, the company failed to keep freezers at the required temperatures by manufacturers, failure to document properly, missing documentary signatures and hiring unqualified personnel. Buchanan said that the company was in daily contact with the regulators and described the continued questions as part of the ordinary process. The spokeswoman, however, said that they do not expect the process to be over in three months, especially now that the company already made changes in order to address the concerns raised by the regulators. "We've taken comprehensive corrective measures over the past several months," she said. Photo: Steve Jurvetson | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Exxon Mobil Corp. has been the target of numerous government agencies and conservation groups due to various climate change issues. Now, the company responds to investigations that aim to bring it down by taking matters to court. On Wednesday, April 13, Exxon filed court papers in Texas to cancel out the subpoena issued against the company in March. The documents argue that the subpoena is an unjustified move that seeks to phish information into the company's internal records a violation of its constitutional rights. "The chilling effect of this inquiry, which discriminates based on viewpoint to target one side of an ongoing policy debate, strikes at protected speech at the core of the First Amendment," the court paper reads. The Subpoena The subpoena, filed by U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Earl Walker, says Exxon could be defying two state rules by allegedly collecting money deceitfully and conniving to do so. For Exxon, the said subpoena was released without law-mandated justifiable conjecture. To add to that, the company believes that the court paper was derived from a hidden motive to keep down those who give out opinions on climate change, with which they contradict. Legal Strategy To Halt Exxon In a closed-door meeting in January, environmentalists gathered and established new goals including instilling into the public's mind that Exxon is a corrupt firm that has led humans to climate disaster and serious hazards. The people in that meeting hope to push the judicial sector to start investigations and file lawsuits that will turn things around for Exxon once and for all. The main end result is to modify Exxon's behavior, make it pay large damages and encourage the public to pay attention to climate change. Lee Wasserman from Rockefeller Family Fund says it is not just about Exxon. The meeting is about raising public awareness about the urgencies of looking for climate change solutions. The meeting appears to bear fruit as the California Public Employees' Retirement System has joined the bandwagon in calling on Exxon and other companies to reveal the financial risks of climate change and its policies. The proposals requested the companies to include evaluations and disclosures of possible financial letdowns or recent international deals to maintain the rise of climate temperatures to less than two degrees Celsius. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has also recently ordered Exxon to include climate change resolution to uphold shareholder vote. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also started an initial review. Exxon Responds The lawyers of Exxon said in the Wednesday filing that the firm has affirmed for more than 10 years that it does observe the risks of climate change. In fact, it has advocated the implementation of carbon tax to regulate emissions. About four attorney generals have prompted investigations against Exxon. The court papers filed on Wednesday is just the first of what looks like a long and gruesome battle. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A paralyzed man from Ohio who got into an accident five years ago has now regained functional control over his right hand, all thanks to a brain implant that may soon restore movement to those with spinal cord injuries. Dublin-resident Ian Burkhart was 19 when he broke his neck after plunging head first into the ocean. Since then, he was paralyzed from mid-torso but can move his shoulders and his elbows, with effort. Burkhart then discovered that scientists at Ohio State University were creating a reanimation technology in partnership with nonprofit science company Batelle, and so he decided to volunteer. In 2014, researchers implanted a pea-sized, Batelle-developed microchip known as NeuroLife in Burkhart's brain. This incredible neural bypass technology allows the reanimation of Burkhart's right hand, fingers and wrist as it intercepts the man's brain signals and sends them to a computer that decodes them. The decoding software is routed to a sleeve on Burkhart's hand, stimulating several muscles on his hand and arm. With the microchip implanted, Burkhart went through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans while simultaneously trying to copy videos of hand movements. This helped lead scientist Chad Bouton and his colleagues pinpoint the precise area of the brain that controls movement, which is called motor cortex. They performed surgery to transplant a chip that senses the pattern of rising electrical activity when Burkhart thinks about moving his right hand. "The first day we hooked it up I was able to get movement, and open and close my hand," said Burkhart. The 24-year-old Burkhart had been attending training sessions thrice a week. As a result, he can now hold a phone to his ear, stir coffee, pick up a spoon, and even play a guitar-based video game. Nicholas Annetta, electrical engineering lead for the project, said most quadriplegics are looking for the kind of independence that Burkhart now has on his right hand. "We've talked to a lot of patients in his condition," Annetta told ABC News. "Of all the things they want back, most say it's not necessarily to be able to walk again but actually to use their hands again." Incidentally, a bionic spine developed in Australia has helped quadriplegics to walk again via an implantable device. Meanwhile, despite the remarkable breakthrough of NeuroLife, Annetta said it might take a while before it gets approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a product for people with spinal cord injuries. Annetta said that since the neural device has yet to be developed, Burkhart can only use it at the clinic for a few hours. Still, despite the limitation, Burkhart wanted to participate in the study because he felt that it was his obligation to society. He said participating boosted his hope for the future. "I always did have a certain level of hope," said Burkhart, "but now I know, first-hand, that there are going to be improvements in science and technology that will make my life better." Burkhart's case is described in a study published in the journal Nature. Watch a video of Burkhart's journey below.   2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Ancient humans, who migrated from Africa, may have infected Neanderthals with Herpes, a new study has found. Many theories about the demise of Neanderthals have surfaced. In the new study, researchers think that infections carried by humans from Africa may have contributed to that downfall. Researchers identified numerous types of infections that may have possibly sickened the species of hominins. These include tuberculosis, stomach ulcers, tapeworm infection and the particularly striking disease that is herpes. "Humans migrating out of Africa would have been a significant reservoir of tropical diseases," says study author Charlotte Houldcroft. Focus On Herpes Somewhere in the genome of the disease lies a proof that herpes simplex 2, the virus that can cause genital herpes, was transferred to humans residing in Africa some 1.6 million years ago. The virus originated from another unidentified species of hominin that in turn got it from chimpanzees. Houldcroft further explains that since humans bred with Neanderthals and that the former carry about two to five percent of the latter's DNA, it is but sensical to assume that maybe the herpes virus was transmitted between the species. Effects Of Herpes, Other Diseases To Neanderthals The chronic diseases associated with the migration of humans from Africa most likely decreased the different living capabilities of the Neanderthals. The diseases may have weakened the species in terms of their hunter-gatherer abilities, causing them to fail in finding food for survival. This possibility may have boosted the eventual demise of the Neanderthals. Genital herpes may cause one to experience painful genital sores. The extent of severity may be more heightened in people with suppressed immune systems. The herpes virus may be transferred from one person to another via direct contact with the sores or its fluids. It is also possible to transfer the virus within a person by touching an unaffected body part, say the eyes, after getting in contact with a herpes-contaminated area. In today's time, people with herpes are not only worried about the physical implications of the disease. They are also concerned about the disease's impacts on their social, sexual and overall life. After all, it is not a curable disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. In the end, the researchers said that there are variety of factors that may have caused the extinction of the Neanderthals. These factors are so diverse that it ranges from climate change to human-animal alliances. This body of study grows more as the emergence of diseases during that time now appears to have a significant role as well. The study was published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology on April 10. Photo: Paul Hudson | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Nearly two-thirds of consumers in the United Kingdom want to ban microbeads, a new Greenpeace survey has found. Too small to be filtered, these tiny plastic pieces end up in the oceans polluting not just the marine life but also human food sources. In a Greenpeace survey conducted by Censuswide, researchers talked to 1,000 consumers and found that 68 percent were initially not aware what microbeads are. When researchers told them about the microbeads ban in the United States, 61 percent of British female and 53 percent of male consumers said they agree to a similar ban. Only about 9 percent said there shouldn't be a microbeads ban in the United Kingdom. "Ocean plastic does not disappear by itself, so for every bit that ends up in the ocean, means more cleaning up to be done - with much of it impossible to tackle at all," wrote Greenpeace in its blog. The Dangers Microbeads found in toothpaste, facial wash, cleaners and other consumer products are typically smaller than 5 millimeters. They are so small that they pass through water filtration systems and end up in oceans where marine life can eat them, enter the food chain and end up in our dinner table. The dangers are not just exclusive to marine life. A 2015 study found that nine out of ten of seabirds around the world are likely to have tiny plastic pieces in their stomachs. The Petition The United States and Canada already banned the inclusion of microbeads in consumer products. Several companies such as The Bodyshop, Avon and L'Oreal also pledge to stay microbeads-free. In the United Kingdom, Greenpeace has an ongoing petition to ban microbeads in the country. The petition already has over 260,000 signatures. "It's incredible how many everyday products contain micro plastic beads. These find their way through our sewers and into our seas where they are easily eaten by all sorts of marine animals," said Dr. Sue Kinsey, the Litter Policy Officer of the Marine Conservation Society that also has its own microbeads ban petition. Microbeads are often marketed for exfoliation. Natural alternatives include grounded nut shells, oats and salt. Other natural exfoliation techniques include kernels, sugar and even a simple wash cloth. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Sexually confusing moths has emerged as a way to force the pests out of the wardrobe. In a new pest control treatment, experts lured male moths and covered them in a perfume of artificial pheromones, which sends the message that they are female. The female moths, in turn, lose interest in copulation once they get a whiff of the scent. This effectively renders the female ones unable to lay eggs, preventing another batch of hungry larvae that would feed on fabrics and other items in the closet. [This allows us to] naturally and humanely curtail moth populations without the use of potentially harmful chemicals, says David Cross, the study researcher from Rentokil pest control, of the method dubbed Moth Population Control Assist. The treatment, which employs a synthetic scent attracting and then confusing the male moths, targeted the moths reproduction cycle and disrupted their life cycle enough to wipe out their population by 90 percent in all the trials conducted. According to Rentokil, mild and wet winters in the United Kingdom serve as a better breeding ground for clothes moths, which could also damage furniture. Inquiries to their pest control services from December to March, for instance, rose 20 percent compared to the same period last year. Once left untreated, these moths can significantly damage naturally made fabrics. Their larvae typically munch on feathers, hair, wool, and fur, and often reside in areas for clothes storage and around furniture. Some signs of a moth infestation include fabric holes as well as crawlers near or surrounding upholstered furniture, advises Cross. Sex pheromones play an increasingly crucial role in pest control. Researchers from Simon Fraser University in Canada, for instance, used pheromones from male brown rats to lure and trap female rats. The three-pronged rat control program involves the rodents own communication system their sound signals, pheromones, and some food bait to trigger the rats capture. Infestation could spread allergens and disease, seriously damage agricultural crop yields, and threaten endangered seabirds and other species. Photo: David Short | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The reticulated python, which could have been the longest snake in the world, has died. Just like other animals that had died under human care, mishandling could have caused the snake's demise. The 26-foot-long snake died three days after laying an egg and being captured by Malaysian officials. Its mysterious death has spurred controversy, especially among animal lovers, who are asking if the snake was handled improperly of if it had a mysterious ailment? Lost Battle The snake apparently lost both its chances to be awarded the title and its life. The sudden death of the animal has been deemed to be caused by humans' excitement over discovering a one-of-a-kind animal. This adds up to other recent animal deaths, including a dolphin that died after tourists snapped selfies with it by the shore. Malaysia's Civil Defense Force public relations officer, Shazree Mustapha, said the snake died on its own, adding that the snake may have committed suicide or felt threatened so it killed itself. Snakes Don't Kill Themselves Experts, however, dropped the claim that the snake died on its own, especially after seeing photos and videos of the snake. The construction workers had their share of the snake's fame after they posed for a photo with a noose around its neck. It was also kept in an office for hours where it was fed and was given water. In a video posted online, a person who was part of the team that captured the python was seen kicking it. The snake was carried by several men to showcase its length, but this may have caused stress to the animal, too. Snakes do not kill themselves and a python that size could have died due to internal injuries, Raymond Hoser, who is an expert snake handler, and the one who gave reticulated pythons their scientific name, Broghammerus reticulatus, explained. "Snakes don't just drop dead. If they die there is a reason," Hoser said. All Points To Mishandling The injuries obtained by the snake may have been sustained during the capture or after being caught since snakes are delicate and vulnerable animals. Nooses cause injuries to snakes because this can cause the reptiles to struggle resulting in broken bones and even internal bleeding. Another reason that might have caused the snake's death is a blockage caused by a lodged egg. It's a little weird that the python had laid just one egg since a snake that size can easily lay 75 eggs at one time. The snake could have one egg lodged inside the body during capture. Snakes have two oviducts or where the eggs pass, but when one egg is lodged, it might block the other eggs. This results to various health problems including death, in some cases. An animal autopsy could provide the answer to these questions and would shed light on the real cause of its death. Photo: Mohammed Alnaser | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Two Russian jets and one Russian military helicopter buzzed the U.S. Navy Destroyer for two days in the uncontested waters of Baltic Sea. The U.S. officials aboard the warship faced run-ins that stretched to two days. The jets, identified as Su-24 striker jets, were said to circle "as close as 30 feet" at one point in time. The officers claim that despite repeated radio warnings in both English and Russian, the jet pilots continued to circle the Donald Cook, severely disrupting the warship's flight routine. The first occurrence took place about 3 p.m. on April 11, when the ship was engaged in refuelling the allied Polish military helicopter on its deck, says the U.S. Statement. As a safety precaution, the activities were suspended till the jets departed, after making several passes. This was followed by the arrival of a Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter a couple of hours later that circled the liner at a low altitude in what the officers deem as a simulated attack profile. It was joined by the two jets 40 minutes later, and eventually departed after appearing to have clicked some photos. "We have deep concerns about the unsafe and unprofessional Russian flight maneuvers," the European Command said. "These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries, and could result in a miscalculation or accident that could cause serious injury or death." However, Captain Rick Hoffman, a retired Navy commanding officer dismissed the run-ins as mere "showboating" than real threats. "If you have visual identification of the jet, [you] can see it isn't carrying weapons, and don't detect any electronic emissions suggesting there was a missile lock on the ship, there's nothing to be done," said a report. The retired CO also said saying that the U.S. is not at war with Russia to trigger such threats. "You don't get to kill people just because they're being annoying," he added. The Navy is currently reviewing the incidents and the U.S. officials plan to address this issue with the Russians via the diplomatic channels. However, it is more likely that this little stunt may end up being the Russian President Putin's public relations tool than a real matter of concern. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Daniel Coster, one of the core members of the secretive industrial design team of Apple, is leaving the company to become the vice president of design for action camera manufacturer GoPro. Coster, who had worked alongside Apple's chief design officer Jony Ive for 20 years, will join GoPro at the end of the month and will report directly to GoPro founder and CEO Nick Woodman. In a press release announcing the hiring, GoPro said that Coster will be involved in all aspects of design for GoPro, covering software, hardware and services. "Ironically, Danny and I first met in December 2001, on the beach in Sayulita, Mexico at the very start of the five-month surfing trip where I developed and tested the first GoPro prototype," Woodman said, expressing his and the company's excitement to have Coster on board. Coster was involved in the design of several Apple products, including the iPhone 4 and the wireless keyboard of the iPad. He also has More than 500 design patents to his name, along with several utility patents, and has received recognition from international design organizations. Coster also expressed his excitement for his move to GoPro, stating that he is looking forward to work with the company's team. It would seem that it is not only GoPro and Coster that are excited about the hiring, as investors have also shown their support for the move. After reports of Coster's hiring were published, the stock of GoPro surged throughout the trading session of April 13, rising by 19 percent to $13.90. GoPro shares were trading at a rate that was almost three times that of its average over the past three months. The surge was much needed for GoPro, which has seen its stock plummet by 35 percent this year through April 12. The stock price of the company decreased by 72 percent in 2015, because demand for the company's action cameras have sunk. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The sound of laughter can reveal a relationship status, a new research has suggested. Laughter has been known to have many health benefits, such as improving short term memory in older adults by delaying cognitive decline, but its social significance in relation to human cooperation is a topic rarely touched upon. A study conducted by researchers from University of California, Los Angeles revealed that the sound of laughter varies depending on the existing relationship a person has with another individual, which means that your laughter will sound differently if you are with your friends compared to when you are with a stranger. Laughter has social implications that may define how humans have evolved. Laughter between friends has minor pitch fluctuations and they tend to be longer, louder, and faster, according to Greg Bryant, lead researcher and professor of communication studies at the university. In the study, 966 volunteers from 24 varying cultural backgrounds were asked to listen to 48 short audio clips of two people laughing. The recordings included laughter from two people who are either friends or newly acquainted. They also included laughter from either two males or two females, as well as from a male and a female. After listening to the said recordings, the volunteers were asked to identify if the two individuals in the recording are friends or not. The study findings showed that participants were able to correctly identify the sets 61 percent of the time. Researchers also noted that study participants have an 83 percent accuracy rate when the recording is of two female friends compared to 44 percent when they listened to two strangers. "People from around the world assume that when two females are laughing together, they are friends," Bryant observed. Since the study involved participants with different cultural backgrounds, Bryant said their study showed that vocal emotions can be universally understood. Hence, laughter allows us to socially communicate. Bryant and his team concluded that the study findings also provide an insight as to how laughter has contributed to the concept of cooperation. He said social alliances are important for humans. "If laughter helps people accomplish that, it has likely played a role in social communication leading to cooperative interactions," Bryant explained. Robert R. Provine, a neuroscientist from University of Maryland who was not involved in the study, commented that laughter is indeed a powerful tool. "Laughter may be a simple behavior, but it's also a powerful tool that provides insight into more complicated and difficult vocalizations, like speech and language," Provine said. The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. You can try to listen to the recordings below: Photo: Joshua Kehn | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. In an effort to make snacks more readily available, a new app called Foodida has been launched to bring together the best of on-demand community and food delivery industry. Foodida, which can be downloaded for free in the Apple App Store, is headed by Pacific Palisades CEO Stefan Fraas. In an interview, Fraas claims that his app is designed to foster a community that allows users to order food or profit through delivery. In short, Foodida is an app that provides delivery from local fast food restaurants. Individuals can easily register to join the community with their name, address, phone number, and credit card information. From here, they can either choose to be a delivery driver (with a valid license and vehicle registration), or order some grub. The restaurants seen on Foodida are based on local search results. Participating fast food restaurants are featured on the app, and users can create a virtual cart full of items they want to be delivered. If individuals choose to participate in Driver Mode, they can make some spare cash by picking up and delivering items to other Foodida users. However, they need to meet a few requirements in order to qualify as valid drivers, such as the minimum age of 18. At the moment, Foodida is operating in the Los Angeles metro area, as well as the West San Fernando Valley area. Some of the participating restaurants include McDonalds, Taco Bell, Wendy's, KFC and Burger King. To make the experience a bit more interesting, Foodida also has a points program. Individuals can earn points through orders or delivery. Once they rack up enough points, they can redeem them in the Foodida Rewards Center for free food. "Every time you use the app to order food or make a delivery we will give you points. When you order food we give you a point for every minute from the time you submit an order to the time it arrives," Foodida writes on its website. "When you make a delivery we give you points based on how much effort was needed to deliver the food." The word is out on whether Foodida will become a nationwide sensation, but it's worth noting that there are 50,000 fast food chainss across the country, according to the Sutter Health Palo Alto Medical Foundation. In the least, the potential is existent for Foodida. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Emojis have become a part of our everyday smartphone existence. Now, the emojis in our smartphones will soon become the latest stars of Hollywood when Sony's movie hits theaters. Wait, what? Yes, there really is a movie about emojis in the works, and after learning more details about it, it doesn't really sound that bad. Feel free to insert the grinning face with smiling eyes here. Dubbed The Emoji Movie, the animated feature will take place within a smartphone, Sony revealed at the 2016 CinemaCon in Las Vegas. "Inside your phone, there's a secret world and we enter through the text app where we discover Emoji Valley, where the industrious Emoji live and work," Sony Pictures Animation President Kristine Belson said. The plot will revolve around the main characters that want to leave their home to explore the rest of the phone. That means the emojis' home isn't the only application to be featured. According to a report from The Wrap, Spotify has signed on to be the first official app featured in The Emoji Movie. The emojis will be traveling on boats on a stream to represent music streaming as they journey to the other areas of the phone. When they reach the home screen, they will see that each app features its own world that can be explored. The film has plans to feature more real-world apps that will be used to help tell the story. This may also include other apps like Facebook based on the concept art shown but no other official deals have been announced. While some may think a movie about emojis will flop, reading about its plot description has us thinking that it sounds a lot like Wreck It-Ralph, which made more than $49 million domestically in its opening weekend back in November 2012. The film has a domestic lifetime gross of over $189 million. Not to mention, it really was a cute film. Also, there is great potential of the movie appealing to both kids and adults of all ages, because who doesn't love emojis? The yellow characters may also bring in the green for Sony, following the footsteps of Warner Bros.' The Lego Movie and Universal Studios' Minions. Sony previously won the rights in the battle against Warner Bros. with its seven-figure bid back in July. The Emoji Movie is being written by Eric Siegel and Anthony Leondis, with Leondis (Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters) also serving as director. The Emoji Movie will not be its final title. Check out The Emoji Movie when it hits theaters on Aug. 11, 2017. Photo: The All-Nite Images | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Godzilla's role in various films over the past six decades have been numerous. Sometimes, he's the hero. Sometimes, he's the villain. Sometimes, he's a mixture of both, simultaneously saving the planet from alien invaders while on his way to destroy Tokyo. However, while we've seen Godzilla as a destructive force of nature before, this newly-released trailer for Godzilla: Resurgence (or Shin-Gojira, as it's known in Japan) makes the character look like something else entirely. In short: a god. Unlike American Godzilla films, Toho isn't trying to hide what Godzilla looks like here. He's front and center from the first moments of the trailer, and he looks nightmarish, as if he's been nuked, dropped in lava and then pieced back together. He's the largest Godzilla to ever appear on screen, with his tail alone dwarfing some previous incarnations of the character. His beady eyes, wicked teeth and red and black color makes him appear more like a demon than a giant monster. Much of the minute-and-a-half-long trailer is spent giving a look at the film's cast (which includes a few familiar faces from previous Godzilla films). It certainly looks intense, thanks in no small part to the trailer's haunting score, as citizens flee in terror while the government struggles to find a solution to its Godzilla problem. In terms of story, we still don't know much. Early plot details seemed to boil down to the movie as being a battle between humanity and Godzilla, and that seems to match up with what we see here. Tanks, helicopters, fighter jets and warships all assemble to fight off the creature, but nothing seems to phase the King of Monsters. It looks like Godzilla doesn't even notice the army of tanks shooting at him, which is spooky in and of itself. It's entirely possible there might not be another monster for Godzilla to go toe-to-toe with this time around. While that would be rare for the franchise, it has happened a few times before, most notably in the original 1954 film and in The Return of Godzilla (aka Godzilla 1985). You can check out the full trailer below. Shin-Gojira premieres in Japan on July 29. There aren't yet any official details on a western release on the film, but considering how the movie already has an English title, expect to eventually hear something. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Matthew Keys handed 2 years prison sentence for helping Anonymous in hacking Los Angeles Times Ex-Reuters employee and social media journalist, Matthew Keys was found guilty of conspiring with hacking group Anonymous to break into the Los Angeles Times website. Keys was convicted of giving login credentials to the online hacktivist group to further their hacking objectives. He was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday in a case that has sparked national debate about how the US prosecutes hacking offenses. Keys, who was found guilty of three criminal counts in October, was convicted of giving Anonymous login credentials to the computer system of the Tribune Company, which owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun and other media companies. According to the prosecutors, Keys provided the login credentials to Anonymous for facilitating the hack and also egged them to carry out the hack attack. Keys got hold of the login details from his time as a web producer for KTXL FOX40, a radio station which is owned by Tribune Company which also owns LA Times. The prosecutors said that Anonymous wouldnt have hacked LA Times if Keys had not supplied them with login credentials. Prosecution said that Keys was a former employee of KTXL-TV, a Tribune-owned Fox affiliate in Sacramento and his firing was the primary reason why Keys helped Anonymous. The US attorneys office asserted that the incident was payback by a disgruntled former employee. Soon after a judge announced the sentence in federal court in Sacramento on Wednesday, Keys tweeted that he was pushing forward with an appeal. He also added : [W]ere not only going to work to reverse the conviction but try to change this absurd computer law, as best we can. 2 years. We plan on filing a motion to stay the sentence. Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) April 13, 2016 In a Medium blog post this morning, Keys wrote of the impending hearing calling the charges against him baseless, absurd and entirely wrong. After thanking his supporters Keys said he wasnt sure what to expect from a verdict, noting today is the most-important day of my life so far. He further argued that prosecutors have overly broad discretion to bring excessively punitive terrorism charges against people for minor offenses online. Until the law catches up with the times, theres no doubt that prosecutors will do it again, he wrote. Keys, now 29, was fired from his job as a social media editor at Reuters news agency when prosecutors first filed charges in 2013. He has used his own website for continued reporting as his case has moved forward. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an nonprofit defending civil liberties in the digital world, has argued that Keys case was an example of prosecutorial discretion run amok, criticizing the controversial federal anti-hacking statute known as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This case underscores how computer crimes are prosecuted much more harshly than analogous crimes in the physical world, the EFF wrote after he was convicted. At the time of the hearing proceedings, US Judge had said that Wearing An Anonymous Mask In America Can Get You Arrested A man wearing the signature Anonymous Guy Fawkes mask was arrested in Arizona while attending a hearing in Maricopa County over suspected election fraud. The Guy Fawkes mask has long been associated with the Anonymous movement. Guy Fawkes is the best-known member of the Gunpowder Plot. The plot was an attempt to blow up the House of Lords in London on 5 November 1605, in order to restore a Catholic head of state. The use of a mask on an effigy, has long roots as part of Guy Fawkes Night celebrations. The mask became a well-known symbol for the online hacktivist group Anonymous, used in Project Chanology, the Occupy movement, and other anti-government and anti-establishment protests around the world. A man from Arizona sitting in an Anonymous mask was harangued by police and arrested. The entire arrest saga was captured on camera even as bystanders protested that he did nothing wrong or illegal. The incident took place in the House Gallery, during the Maricopa County hearing over the suspected election fraud. Two police officers did not pay heed to the protesters and went on to arrest the man. The man later revealed as Jonathan McRae was peacefully attending the hearing when two officers hustled him to the floor from behind. Bystanders further noted that although the man in question didnt have his face concealed by the maskthe mask had been resting on the top of his head. As the incident took place during a hearing proceeding, many bystanders started filming the event. Many of them stated that he was arrested for wearing an Anonymous mask. In the video, another bystander accuses the police of choking the man as the officers unduly restrained him while he was quietly sitting between the chairs. Chants of shame and the whole world is watching were cried as the man was forced to his feet and escorted away. At the end of the video, one official agreed that the man with the mask did nothing wrong. Janet Higgens, who uploaded one of the videos, stated: We were at the point of chaos. All brought on by the police. For a man sitting quietly. With dreadlocks. His name is Jonathan S. McRae. He is currently in jail, charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. I disagree. He was harassed, held to the floor for over 5 minutes, and kidnapped. I dont know if he was injured in the attack. We the people of the United States are tired of this stuff, another witness stated. McRae was later charged with trespassing, resisting arrest, and aggravated assault of a police officer. You can view the long version of the video here. A 40 anos de Malvinas "Revisar el pasado es pensar el futuro". La frase de la presidenta de Telam, Bernarda Llorente, resume el espiritu del documental coproducido entre la agencia de noticias y el canal publico de TV sobre la cobertura que los medios de comunicacion hicieron del conflicto, plagada de censura y mentiras. Una autocritica necesaria para mirar hacia adelante en un (ya viejo) contexto de fake news y negocio informativo. In addition to Xi, the new Standing Committee is composed of Wang Huning, director of the Political Research Office of the CCP Central Committee, and Zhao Leji, secretary for the... | Read More KTR reviews Metro Rail works Hyderabad, April 14 (INN): Municipal Administration & Urban Development Minister K. Tarakarama Rao held a review meeting on the progress of Hyderabad Metro Rail works at Metro Rail Bhavan here on Thursday. The Minister recollected recent mishap that occurred in Kolkata and emphasised on the need of safety standards to be adhered to in order to avoid such accidents, injuries and loss of human life. While appreciating the quality of construction of L&TMRHL, KTR said that safety should be given top priority and instructed L&TMRHL engineers to take additional precautionary measures to ensure safety of the denizens. He added that Hyderabad Metro Rail project is being watched world over and hence every aspect in the project becomes important and will be under scrutiny. He advised HMRL MD NVS Reddy to personally monitor the safety measures taken up by L&T MRHL. While reviewing the RoB works at Malakpet, the Minister advised NVS Reddy to conduct a joint inspection along with the Commissioner of Police (Hyderabad) and plan for a free traffic flow during the construction period. He said that L&T MRHL and HMRL should jointly ensure that the project is completed as per the schedule and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is keen on extending all required help in this direction. Spl Chief Secretary (MA&UD) MG Gopal; CEO & MD L&T MRHL V.B. Gadgil; Chief General Manager & Chief Engineer, HMRL Md. Ziauddin; Chief Engineer (GHMC) Imtiaz Ahmed; senior engineers and officials from HMRL and L&TMRHL have attended the meeting. News Posted: 14 April, 2016 KCR's sins against Dalits taller than 125-feet: Uttam Hyderabad, April 14 (INN): Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee paid rich tributes to Architect of Indian Constitution Babasaheb Dr. Bheem Rao Ambedkar on his 125th birth anniversary on Thursday. TPCC President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and other senior leaders of Telangana Congress paid floral tributes to Dr. Ambedkar's portrait at Gandhi Bhavan. Speaking to media persons later, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that Dr. Ambedkar was in favour of smaller States and Telangana State became a reality due to the Constitution drafted by him. "Dr. Ambedkar provided so much flexibility in the Constitution that it empowered people to make amendments as and when needed. Congress party followed the same Constitutional route created by Dr. Ambedkar to carve out Telangana by passing Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill in the Parliament," he said. However, Uttam Kumar Reddy expressed regret that Dalits failed to get deserved benefits and justice in the new State. He said Telangana Rashtra Samithi cheated the Dalits by promising to make a Dalit the first Chief Minister of Telangana. "TRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao became the Chief Minister by openly cheating the Dalit community and the entire State. Further, KCR adopted anti-Dalit policies by subjecting them to humiliation, torture and injustice," he alleged. Reacting on the foundation stone laid by KCR for the construction of 125-feet statue of Dr. Ambedkar, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Congress wholeheartedly welcomes any memorial of Dr. Ambedkar. However, he said that the TRS Government should give a commitment that the memorial would be ready within the promised time of one year. "KCR had laid a foundation stone for the construction of Babu Jagjeevan Ram Bhavan with much fanfare on December 12, 2014, and the proposal has hit a roadblock due to legal complications on the proposed site. The same thing should not recur with Dr. Ambedkar's statue," he said. The TPCC Chief said real tributes to Dr. Ambedkar could be paid by providing equal growth opportunities to Dalits in the State. He slammed the TRS Government for not fulfilling the promises of spending Rs. 50,000 crore on their welfare, providing three acres of land to each Dalit family and effectively implementation of SC Sub-Plan. He said KCR had humiliated Dalits on multiple occasions. He sacked a Dalit Deputy CM (Dr. T. Rajaiah) from his cabinet unceremoniously, failed to act on gang-rape of a Dalit girl and adopted questionable silence on the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula. He even failed to ensure dismissal or transfer of Hyderabad Central University's Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao despite giving an assurance in Assembly that he would get this done by speaking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi within two-three days time. "KCR is now trying to act innocent and hopes to cover up his sins by laying foundation stone for 125-feet statue of Dr. Ambedkar. His sins against Dalits are taller than the proposed statue," he said. Later, Uttam Kumar Reddy distributed books among poor Dalit students at a programme held in Pardhiwada of Puranapul. He, along with other senior Congress leaders, also had lunch with the Dalit families. GHCC Minorities Department Chairman Shaik Abdullah Sohail, Telangana Youth Congress president Anil Kumar Yadav, GHCC General Secretary Syed Nizamuddin, ex-Corporator Mohammed Ghouse and other leaders were also present. News Posted: 14 April, 2016 Jana Reddy stresses on strong legislation Hyderabad, April 14 (INN): Congress Legislature Party leader K. Jana Reddy has stressed on strong legislation in Parliament to prevent defections by elected representatives. Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan here, Jana Reddy has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring necessary amendments in Anti-Defection Law for disqualification of defected legislators. He said all States should be directed to strictly implement the law. He said that the Central leadership of Congress party would also make representations with the Centre in this regard. Jana Reddy strongly condemned Makhtal MLA C. Rammohan Reddy for joining TRS from Congress party. He described the move as immortal and unconstitutional. He also slammed Speaker S. Madhusudan Chary for not taking any action on the disqualification petitions submitted by the Congress party in the past against four MLAs and other MLCs. He said that the Congress party would continue its legal battle against these defections. News Posted: 14 April, 2016 Kavitha asks Centre to pass Women's Reservation Bill Hyderabad, April 14 (INN): Nizamabad MP and Telangana Jagruthi president K. Kavitha on Thursday demanded that the Central Government pass the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament. Speaking to media persons after paying floral tributes to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's statue at Tank Bund, Kavitha said passing of Women's Reservation Bill which provides 33% quota for women in legislative bodies would be a real tribute to Dr. Ambedkar. She said that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi would support the Centre if it introduces the Bill in Parliament. Kavitha also announced that Telangana Jagruthi would conduct yearlong celebrations of Dr. Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary. She said a major programme would be conducted in each district every month and it would be focussed on Dalits' welfare and women empowerment. News Posted: 14 April, 2016 23 May 2022 - Understand the French healthcare system, how you access it and how you are reimbursed - Useful if you are new to the French healthcare system or want a more in-depth understanding - Reader question and answer section Aimed at non-French nationals living here, the guide gives an overview of what you are (and are not) covered for. There is also information for second-home owners and regular visitors. BANGKOK, 12 April 2016: Thai Airways International is selling a Hello New Zealand promotion to mark the 60th anniversary of Thailand-New Zealand diplomatic relations, linked to visa fast-track services. A key element of the promotion is visa application privileges offered to the airlines Royal Orchid Plus members. Through the campaign, Immigration New Zealand offers Royal Orchid Plus Platinum, Gold and Silver members, who have more than 12 months membership remaining, a fast-track New Zealand visa application until 31 March 2017. It decreases approval time and waives the need to present a bank statement record. There are three packages on offer in the promotion. Auckland Stayover: Roundtrip tickets and one nights accommodation, starting at THB25,715. Fly and Drive, North Island: Four days/ three nights package: Roundtrip tickets and three nights accommodation and rental car, starting at THB39,600. Fly and Drive, North Island and South Island: 10 days/ nine nights: Roundtrip tickets and nine nights accommodation and rental car, starting at THB66,100. Customers who purchase Royal Orchid Holidays package tours with a KTC credit card, for four or more people, gain a visa application fee waiver for one person. In addition, customers who purchase airline tickets, or Royal Orchid Holidays package tours, with a KTC or Citibank credit card will receive additional privileges, such as hotel accommodation and limousine service. THAI recently increased flights from Bangkok to Auckland from four flights weekly to five. Boeing 777-200ER aircraft fly the route with 30 Police in the central city of Da Nang have arrested four people after busting a ring that allegedly faked diplomas and academic transcripts. Dang Tuan Anh, 56, Nguyen Xuan Hoang, 54, Nguyen Hang Minh, 34, and Tran Ngoc Anh, 60, were taken into custody for three months Wednesday for faking the seals and documents of official agencies, according to the police. Senior Lieutenant-colonel Mai Chien Thang, deputy chief of the city police, said the ring, the largest ever broken up in Da Nang, was led by Ngoc Anh and had been operating since 2000. They sold fake documents to job seekers for VND5-10 million (US$240-480), he said. On December 1 the police caught Tuan Anh and Hoang red-handed handing over fake diplomas at a cafe. Questioning them led police to Minh and Ngoc Anh. They said they found nearly 1,000 copies of diplomas and academic transcripts of universities, colleges, high schools, and vocational schools in the suspects' houses. They also confiscated 20 fake seals of various schools as well as those of their presidents and leaders of local people's committees among others. The police started investigating the ring on October 21 following a tipoff about fake diplomas purportedly issued by Duy Tan University. In October and November police in Lien Chieu District smashed two other rings forging diplomas, including degree certificates, issued by Phuong Dong College, and arrested seven people. Also in October police apprehended two others for faking 11 land deeds to cheat people out of money. Heads up to prevent injury from falls Morning walks in my neighborhood are one of the most enjoyable parts of my day. I love the coolness of daybreak and the special sightings of the stag and two does that frequent our open space. I also enjoy my walk because each day at... Signs that point to the best time for retirement Ive been thinking a lot about retirement lately. One of our amazing staff members, who has been with Senior Concerns for the last 13 years, retired last month. It just doesnt seem real. I always thought of Dana as young. Certainly not the person to... Rethinking the mandatory retirement age How old is too old for working at a job? Last week a news story hit my inbox and it really got me to thinking about age and retirement. The article noted that Target Corp. abandoned its mandatory retirement age of 65 for its CEO,... Tips to promoting a healthy nights sleep for children Question: Help, please. My daughter is almost 2 years old and has been an easy child to put into her own bed. Yet in the past few weeks she is purposefully stretching out the bedtime routine longer and longer. She wants more: more stories, more... One of the market's top banking analysts, Jonathan Mott from UBS, is pointing to a "substantial" increase in provisions and "material rise" in charges for bad debts during bank earnings season in the first week of May due to their exposures to the recent spate of high-profile corporate collapses. Shareholders expect the banks to conservatively provide for potential losses upfront, Mr Mott told UBS clients in a note on Thursday. "Banks which are perceived to have inadequately provided for these exposures are unlikely to be rewarded by the market," he warned. All of the big four banks have exposures to collapsed steel maker Arrium, the Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal, whose owners are struggling to remain profitable due to lower income from falling coal prices, and coal giant Peabody, which has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US. Target is abandoning Geelong and cutting staff as the underperforming discount department store relocates to new headquarters west of Melbourne. Less than one week after announcing the exit of outgoing Target managing director Stuart Machin over the use of rebates to boost the retailer's first-half earnings, Wesfarmers managing director Richard Goyder was on Thursday forced to confirm plans to slash staff and move Target's headquarters to Melbourne. Mr Goyder would not comment on the exact size of the redundancies however he said a voluntary redundancy process would be put in place. Sources close to the retailer suggest up to 25 per cent of Target's 900 staff could be cut and Mr Goyder confirmed seven senior staff had already left in the wake of the rebate scandal. Science, innovation and a move to boost start-ups have been pushed to the fore of the Australia-China relationship with a $100 million joint research and science precinct to be built at Sydney's University of New South Wales, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced. The precinct is being touted as a "global first" by the university and places Mr Turnbull's promise to advance Australia's innovation, scientific and research capabilities at the heart of his foreign policy agenda. Mr Turnbull is on his first official visit to China since taking office in September. He revealed the collaboration in a signing ceremony with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull listens to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Credit:AP Earlier in Shanghai, he said Australia and China "have to work much harder" to expand business links as their economies and mutual interests shift. And he said China would find transitioning to open markets and the rule of law "well worth the challenges." "In the post-resource construction boom, we come to China with similar skills and endowments as those early Australian investors; innovation, a global mindset and the long investment horizons which come from transparent markets and the rule of law," he said. Australia's largest telco, Telstra, says it has abandoned its public campaign for marriage equality to allow clear air during the proposed plebiscite - not because of pressure from the Catholic church. However, when asked directly about the influence of the church on Telstra's decision, a spokesman declined to say whether pressure behind the scenes had persuaded the telco to back down. Telstra gave its support to Australian Marriage Equality in full-page advertisements published in newspapers last year. The company's logo appeared alongside those of dozens of other big Australian corporations. But the telco's decision to pull out of the public debate followed concerted pressure from the Catholic church's powerful Sydney archdiocese, including a written warning and a meeting between former Telstra chair Catherine Livingstone and Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher. Australian children have poorer health and education outcomes than Latvia, Slovenia and Croatia, a new report from UNICEF has revealed. The Fairness for Children report, released on Thursday, shows Australia ranks 27th out of 35 in health equality outcomes among OECD countries and 24th out of 37 in education equality results. National Children's Commissioner Megan Mitchell said Australia was failing to give all children the best start in life. "UNICEF's report highlights the widening gap between children at the bottom and those in the middle," Ms Mitchell said. "The report asks challenging questions for Australia's policymakers on how to address the needs of our most vulnerable children." Police evidence said that Casey consistently ranked among the highest areas for police calls for alcohol-related offences. "Over the seven year period from 2006 to 2013 Casey has had the highest number of recorded family violence incidences, and the highest number of reported family violence offences with the presence of alcohol," their submission said. "In a locality which experiences high levels of alcohol-related behaviour (including family violence), the Chief Commissioner submits that it can be inferred that the negative effect of additional availability of alcohol will be more significant, and will detrimentally affect the amenity of the relevant area." Sergeant Ian Lane, a local officer with 37 years experience, said alcohol was likely to be a factor in one in four family violence reports for June 2015. Mr Lane said that where alcohol was involved in a family violence incident there were "very few instances" where that alcohol was consumed outside the home. "Rather people are typically drinking alcohol at home and then an incident of family violence occurs," he said. A social impact statement from consultants Beverley Kliger and Associates said the proposed site on Linsell Boulevard, Cranbourne East, was an "alcohol-related family violence hot spot". Nearby neighbourhoods had "high incidences of family violence and some are within the top one per cent of small areas with family violence for metropolitan Melbourne". The Casey council argued that "big box" liquor outlets such as Dan Murphy's would affect the "amenity" of the area and fuel alcohol harm and misuse. But current laws only allow typical planning complaints such as excessive noise to be considered. In its ruling the commission said it considered "matters of family violence to be of critical importance to the community," and "there may be some benefit" to changing the legal definition of amenity. Casey has been working with six other councils, police and welfare groups in Melbourne's south-east to take on the big box booze retailers. The alliance has called on the Andrews government to change licensing laws so that the social impact of alcohol can be considered in planning applications. Casey Senior Planning Policy Officer Gavin Wilson said the decision was very disappointing given the amount of time and effort council put into the objection. "The bar has been set very high for councils to pursue action, even in areas where evidence suggests it would be detrimental," he said. Minister for Gaming and Liquor Regulation Jane Garrett said the Andrews government would look at how to implement the recommendation around liquor licensing. Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has slammed the government, saying it was "absolute rubbish" for the Andrews government to claim it did not have powers to intervene. Ms Garrett said the government did not have the power to overturn a decision of the liquor commission. She said the planning permit was granted under the previous government. "There is not going to be a magic bullet for this, we have lawful sale of alcohol in our community. That is not going to change," Ms Garrett said. Matthew Guy, who was planning minister in the previous Coalition government, said any government had the power to put a limit on the number of venues in a locality. "I did this with alcohol venues in Chapel St, why the hell didn't this government do that when asked by the police, why didn't they do that in Casey?" Mr Guy said. The $50-million project would see the construction of almost 442 residential units, 87 serviced apartments, more than 2000 square metres of leasable retail space and a supermarket. Trenerry Property Group is proposing five apartment buildings on a site bounded by Rosslyn, Dudley and Adderley streets, a short walk from Spencer Street and Festival Hall. "Monolithic" is how Melbourne City Council planners have described an enormous apartment development planned for a pocket of West Melbourne still largely dominated by warehouses. The precinct is being touted as having "resort-style living", with apartment owners getting access to hotel-style services such as room cleaning, laundry and in-room dining through their body corporate fees. The developer is also in advanced discussions with supermarket chain ALDI, Adina hotels and Tesla, about a car charging station. The council's planning department has recommended Planning Minister Richard Wynne reject the application for the strategic redevelopment site, arguing it did not provide an acceptable net community benefit to justify the density sought and, at up to13 storeys, was too tall. The local planning scheme dictates the maximum height for the site should be about four storeys or 14 metres, according to the council. "In this instance, the proposed 13 storey height [is] not supported for the reason that the development appears as a monolithic 'singular' form which provides no visual interest to the skyline and results in an overdevelopment of the site," the council report said. Victoria Police uniforms and a machinegun were seized in a raid against outlaw motorcycle gang members on Thursday, police say. Investigators searched four houses in Melbourne's east and south-east from 5am and arrested three men and a woman, a Victoria Police spokeswoman said. Investigators don't know how bikies got hold of several police uniforms. Credit:Paul Rovere She said the operation was to disrupt criminal activities conducted by the Mongols Outlaw Motorcycle Gang. Investigators were yet to determine how the alleged gang members came into possession of the genuine police uniforms, the spokeswoman said. Victoria will go it alone on the $5.5 billion Western Distributor project, with no funding from the Turnbull government. Premier Daniel Andrews has revealed this month's state budget will set aside $1.46 billion over four years to complete the project, which will connect the West Gate Freeway with Citylink. "Although it is unheard of for the Commonwealth government not to invest in a project of such national significance, the Labor government is providing certainty to the community by allocating the $1.46 billion required over the forward estimates," Mr Andrews said. Paris: A revolt over proposed labour-law reforms in France has set off an uprising among French youth, fed up, they say, over their government's failure to tackle a host of problems and thus robbing them of their future. Calling itself Nuit Debout - roughly translatable as "Standing Up at Night" - the movement recalls Spain's 2011 anti-austerity Indignados movement and the Occupy movement in the United States. But there are also echoes of France's own history of popular revolt, including the student-led protests of May 1968. It all began on March 31 after upward of 390,000 students and labour union members marched in several cities to protest a plan by President Francois Hollande's government to change protective labour laws to make it easier and less costly for employers to lay off workers. The idea, the government argues, is to open up jobs for younger people and reduce a seemingly intractable unemployment rate of 10 per cent (nearly 26 per cent among the young). Mr Hollande has said he will not seek re-election if he cannot deliver on that promise. But the attempt to weaken worker protections - whatever its intended benefits - is, in the eyes of many on the French left, a betrayal by a Socialist government they did not elect to enact business-friendly policies long advocated by the right. This move has crystallised more general frustration with the Hollande government. On March 30, Mr Hollande was forced to abandon a constitutional amendment that would have allowed citizens found guilty of terrorism charges to be stripped of their citizenship, a proposal that provoked mutiny in the ranks of the Socialist party. On Monday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced measures aimed at mollifying the students, including a government subsidy for graduates seeking work. Student leaders vowed to continue their protests. After the March 31 demonstration in Paris, a handful of protesters decided not to go home and headed for the Place de la Republique, where they spent the night. Every night since then, between several hundred and several thousand people have gathered there to call for nothing less than the invention of an entirely new political and economic order. Supabarn at Wanniassa has closed, just a month after the competition watchdog cleared the way for three Supabarn stores in the ACT to be sold to Coles. The Kaleen and Canberra Civic Supabarns are due to close next month. Hoardings have gone up at the entrance to Wanniassa Supabarn which won't reopen until May 11 as it is transformed into a Coles supermarket. Coles confirmed to The Canberra Times on Thursday that the Kaleen Supabarn would close on May 10 and re-open as a Coles on June 1. Canberra Civic Supabarn will close on May 17 and re-open as a Coles "in June". A banking royal commission would be a "drain on the economy" and a "waste of taxpayers money", said Mike Hirst, the chief executive of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. Instead, the beleaguered banking sector could reduce the potential for future misconduct by shifting bankers' pay to salaries rather than incentive-based models linked to how much revenue they brought ring in, he said. Bendigo CEO Mike Hirst says a royal commission into banking had the potential to damage the sector. Credit:Pat Scala In a strategy briefing in Sydney on Thursday morning, Mr Hirst predicted bank management would be increasingly tied up with improving culture for the next 12 to 18 months. "Culture and conduct will be the biggest drain on bank management as we move forward," he said. "It is something on everybody's lips. The more these conduct cases come out, the more effort and time will be required to address that." The federal government will intervene in the administration of Queensland Nickel to bring forward $70 million in entitlement payments owed to workers and to chase parliamentarian Clive Palmer for the bill. The payments will be made under the fair entitlements guarantee (FEG) and the figure is double the largest payout under FEG. The government will also apply to the courts to appoint a special purpose liquidator, top insolvency practitioner Stephen Parbery from PPB Advisory, to recoup the $70 million on behalf of taxpayers. A government source said "we won't let this guy drive off into the sunset in a Bentley and leave taxpayers on the hook". Collins Square also attracted numerous expressions of interest for individual towers. Over a multi-decade career, the Sydney-based property tycoon has built an enviable reputation for picking peak times to sell assets. However, this time, he decided to sit tight. "I now believe Collins Square is an asset which we should continue to hold for the long term," Mr Walker said. No potential buyers were revealed during the sale process. However, market speculation centred on Chinese insurance companies and offshore wealth managers like Singapore-Malaysia CIMB Capital Trust. Similar players may be helping to fund Walker Corp's equally ambitious plans for residential and commercial towers in Parramatta. However, Mr Walker would not drawn on equity sources for the project. Parramatta funded "The company has now sourced equity funding for the Parramatta Square project, obviating the need for additional capital from the proposed sale of Collins Square," he confirmed. "There have been a number of people who have expressed interest . . . coming from two sources, one [with] residential interest . . . and also a separate organisation in the commercial space," he said. Walker Corp secured the rights to build Parramatta Square after beating off fund manager Charter Hall. Design plans had firmed enough in the past fortnight to allow the funding to fall into place, Mr Walker said. Walker Corp is more than halfway through the development of Collins Square. Two large towers have been completed and leased and another two high-rises are expected to be finished this year. Completion due in 2017 The final tower is due for completion in 2017 but work is under way on the underground car parking, podium and central lift core. "All the hard work is done. It's out of the ground," Mr Walker said. When finished, the cluster of towers at the bottom end of Batman's Hill will have more than 250,000 square metres of lettable space and about 45,000 people visiting and working every day. Current tenants include Marsh Mercer, Transurban, KPMG, CBA, Penguin Random House and Pearson, Maddocks, Link Group, Mott MacDonald and AECOM. UBS AG was appointed to oversee the Collins Square sale process last November. UBS managing director of real estate, Australia, Tim Church said the process was on track to close with a successful outcome. Being prime minister is an advantage all its own in a close two-horse race. As Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten might well pace the country making speeches, but only a prime minister can "officially" lead the nation internationally. For Turnbull, the television images of him in China alone are valuable, constructing a positive, if simplified, image that no election campaign advertising can buy. It works, too. Even the unpopular Tony Abbott got a boost in the polls when he travelled abroad. Abbott's critics said it was simply because he was less "unpopular" when he was out of the country, but more likely it was the opportunity it allowed Abbott to display a different skill set. He was seen talking thoughtfully with world leaders such as Indonesia's Joko Widodo, Japan's Shinzo Abe and China's Xi Jinping, and when he was heard or quoted it was saying something other than parroting tedious slogans about stopping boats and scrapping carbon taxes. Striding the red carpets invariably laid out for his arrivals, his deportment lent him a faintly menacing and occasionally comical air, neither of which one would seek to project to a foreign ally. Yet Abbott turned out to be strangely effective at times, winning friends, and elusive trade deals, that had proved beyond silkier types. Counterparts welcomed his straight-to-the point style, viewing it as refreshing against the mealy-mouthed norms of diplomacy. Still, nuance and tact must also be in the toolkit. Governments around the country and the world are looking for innovative ways to drive infrastructure development and service delivery with the goal of cost-effective, quality outcomes that generate the highest return for the community. Often the best ideas come from the private sector, where businesses' very survival depends on them being adaptable, inventive and up to date with the latest technology. Canberra CBD: It's time for governments to look to businesses for the answers to infrastructure development. In most jurisdictions in Australia, a private company is able to approach government with a concept it believes will provide substantial benefits to the local economy through a process known as "unsolicited proposals". Unsolicited proposals can be poorly understood and are often subject to criticism. As an unsolicited proposal, at least in the first instance, consists of a single provider in discussion with government regarding a project, it can be decried as a backroom deal. When Clive Palmer hosted an extravagant party in New York three years ago to promote his fantastical plans for building a replica of the Titanic, he scoffed at those who suggested his business idea, and possibly the ship, might end under water. "Anything will sink if you put a hole in it," he said at the time. Well, there is no ship and Mr Palmer has been busy drilling holes into quite a few things. Take Queensland Nickel, the Townsville-based refinery that administrators say funded the Titanic frolic, bankrolled the political careers of Mr Palmer and some sidekicks, and deposited tens of millions of dollars into his businesses. There are so many holes in this company that it is a wonder it lasted so long. It leaked money like a sieve. The administrators allege Mr Palmer tapped Queensland Nickel for more than $200 million funds that ended up with Mr Palmer, his other businesses or his associates. The allegations depict shockingly devious, woefully negligent and stunningly self-aggrandising corporate behaviour on the part of Mr Palmer, who may face civil and criminal charges over his reckless management of Queensland Nickel. Mr Palmer's chaotic personal manner was well known. Evidence of his problematic business dealings comes as no surprise. The scale of it and the brazen nature of his conduct is reason to ask why no one intervened earlier. We urge the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to investigate immediately, to leave no stone unturned (for once) and, as appropriate, to prosecute with the full force of the law. Banks are considering an advertising campaign against the Labor Party's push for a royal commission into them. This illustrates the extent to which large corporations, and high-income individuals, use their "strength" to distort democratic processes. In the US, two brothers have promised to spend hundreds of millions on politicians supporting their views. Lobby groups in Australia pressure politicians while representing organisations that are known contributors to party funds. Functions at $1000-a-head with the promise that the payment will result in getting close to the ears of our leaders and their teams is seen as normal. While all this is progressing "nicely", our system ensures that contributions to political parties are hidden. We are moving into an era of government for the powerful rather than for the wider electorate. Malcolm Ellenport, Brighton East The inherent struggle Greg Barns writes with some heart and compassion and longing for some real leadership and debate and decency in the life of this nation. It is hard to find fault with such yearning. His only misstep is his parting words, "Australia is missing an opportunity to reignite faith in democracy" I thought that it was democracy that has led us into this situation. Greg Mansell, West Ulverstone, Tasmania Pointless suffering I applaud Jill Tomlinson in her stance against the unnecessary use of animals in medical research ("Surgeon pleads for end to use of animals in training", 14/4). I find it astonishing, in this day and age and with all the technological advancements at our fingertips, that society continues to condone the use of animals in medical research. When did vivisection become accepted without question, let alone serious examination? Animals are sentient beings. We know this. Yet animals in laboratories worldwide have been handed diseases they have never had, used for surgical operations and given medications they never cared for, never needed, bled some, transfused a bit and infused at will, bruised, scratched, starved and mutilated for what? Vivisection not only represents a perpetuation of bad science, it is also sadistically cruel and unnecessary. Keep speaking up against the silent atrocity of animal testing, Dr Tomlinson. Olga Veselovskaya, Albert Park Where's the cruelty? The argument against the use of live animals for surgical training is dominated by emotive statements (it's "extremely cruel") but little in the way of truth. Cruelty always involves suffering and/or pain. Can someone from PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animals) please explain how an animal that is anaesthetised for the surgical procedure and euthanased immediately after, before they wake up, suffers or feels pain? Members of PETA may dislike the use of animals for such purposes, but to claim that it is "extremely cruel" is untrue. Chris Andrews, Kangaroo Ground Privilege to behold I, too, was delighted to read Surendra Verma's article ("The beauty of science lies in the unexpected moment", Comment, 12/4), and to see John Willis' (Letters, 14/4) reminiscence on the early days of atomic absorption spectroscopy and Sir Alan Walsh. As a (very) young patent attorney, in the 1960s, it was my great pleasure and privilege to work with Alan (and John) in obtaining patent protection for the many inventions which arose out of the work. To be this close to the "pointy end" of important scientific research was something I shall always treasure. Terry Corbett, Balwyn Prepare for demise The dire plight of the global coal industry conjures up images of the Monty Python knight who proclaims it is just a flesh wound as he haemorrhages to death having lost several limbs ("Coal giant Peabody files for bankruptcy", 14/4). Things are unravelling fast now as the structural decline of the industry steepens, but industry advocates and many Australian governments remain in a state of denial and shock. We should be developing plans to ensure that coal workers and communities are able to make a just and orderly transition out of the dying industry before we see wholesale chaotic and unplanned closures in Australia. At present, however, there are few signs of such plans being developed. This will lead to much unnecessary dislocation and pain as the iron laws of economics consign coal to the history books. Andrew Laird, Malvern East The real Clive Michael Beacom (Letters, 14/4) may have seen the reporting of Four Corners on Clive Palmer as "unbalanced", but most opinion would see it another way the expose of the machinations behind a way of doing business that existed in the days of Joh et al. If one steps back and balances the "contrarian views" with the facts, Mr Palmer could only be described by The Age (editorial 14/4) as someone who "must be held to account". Peter Lilly, Bendigo Why the ridicule? Thank you, Josh Gordon ("Population is swelling, but how big is too big?", 14/4). At last, a reasoned argument for real debate about Australia's population growth. For decades, major political parties have treated population growth as good economics. Those who questioned this were treated as mavericks, idiots, or, if they suggested reducing or, heaven forbid, stopping, immigration, racists. While in no way sympathetic to political stuntmen such as Donald Trump or Clive Palmer, I understand why the "voiceless" turn to them when mainstream politicians will not listen. Pam Cupper, Dimboola End growth worship Spot on, Josh Gordon. We've all lived during a time of population growth and our society has come to think of it as the normal state of affairs. Our leaders at all levels of government breathlessly trumpet the growth in our numbers think Robert Doyle, Dan Andrews and Scott "jobs and growth" Morrison. Even the ABC news broadcasts the latest Commsec state report as a contest where the state growing the most in people is the winner. The natural world tells us that growth is a temporary phenomenon something growing is always consuming more resources and at the expense of other organisms and will come to an end. Yet our political and business leaders are happy to forget their science education and defer the pain of this inevitability to future generations. Our descendants will look back on this time of growth worship from their impoverished world with dismay. Ralph Judd, Blackburn North Left out of picture One of the most obvious side effects of population growth is homelessness. Anyone visiting Melbourne's CBD in recent years can't help but notice the growing numbers of people sleeping rough in the streets. And welfare agencies will tell you that the rates of hidden homelessness women and children sleeping in cars, and shared houses occupied by 15 people instead of three or four have also risen dramatically. The recent protests in Bendigo Street, Collingwood, also show that homelessness has grown so much that there is an organised movement to take whatever action necessary to bring this to public attention. Until the state government makes a serious attempt to match population growth with an affordable housing strategy, there is nothing to celebrate for those already doing it tough in Victoria. Homelessness can literally happen to anyone. Chris Black, Byron Bay, NSW Deal with disadvantage The map of locations of family violence and concentration of alcohol outlets certainly points to one significant factor exacerbating violence ("'Stop booze-violence mix"'), 14/4). However, equally significant is the fact that these locations are in economically depressed areas. This is not to say family violence does not occur in economically secure areas, but that its prevalence seems greater in areas where economic insecurity looms large. It is this insecurity, and the hopelessness that accompanies it, that must often function as a trigger point for violence. Despite the"trickle-down" thesis of the neoliberals, there has been over the past two decades a strategy to take wealth and opportunity from the poor and transfer it to the wealthy. The effect has been to further ghettoise depressed areas. A proper and equitable redistribution of income and opportunity in these areas would not stop family violence, but it would assuredly remove one of the conditions that increases it. Greg Bailey, St Andrews All about equality Sorry, Jeremy Bell, "autonomy and equality" are precisely what the marriage debate is about ( "The marriage debate is not about autonomy or equality", Comment, 13/4). Like all opponents of same-sex marriage who base their argument on the indispensability of procreation as the raison d'etre of marriage, he fails to answer the simplest question: why should infertile heterosexuals be granted societal recognition and privilege through marriage that is denied their fellow gay citizens? He argues that infertile opposite-sex couples should be able to marry because "sexual intercourse which cannot, in fact, lead to pregnancy, is still the kind of act that is naturally apt to lead to pregnancy". What utter sophistry. But Dr Bell gets one thing right: the government must ultimately decide "to side with the traditionalists or non-traditionalists". Marriage equality in no way impacts traditionalists and their practices, whereas their continued determination to impose discrimination is unacceptable in a viable democracy. Or, as the pediment on the US Supreme Court states: equal justice under law. Lawrence Sheehan, Brunswick The folding stuff Why all the criticism re the new "fiver" (Letters, 15/4)? It could feature red ochre and azure Barrier Reef blue, the Queen at the races, fruitbats and flocks of cockatoos with a sprig of pink grevillea, as far as the rest of us are concerned. We see money. Margaret Skeen, Point Lonsdale AND ANOTHER THING ... Money The more the banks complain about a royal commission, the more you have to wonder what they have to hide. Andrew Mason, Highett If company tax is reduced, where will the savings go? Shareholders' pockets and a great little place I know in Central America. Ruth Ryan, Oakleigh South Even if "perfectly legal", a Panama hat is not a good look, Malcolm. Jane Kenway, Elwood It might be your money, Clive Palmer, but I think going into politics has made you believe your "entitlements" are more important than those of the average person. Mark Brooks, Benalla Our new $5 note is reminiscent of our ex-PM knighting Prince Philip. Unnecessary and cringeworthy. Debora Mendelson, Toorak To include the Queen's portrait surely reflects the designer's optimism, considering the age of our monarch and strength of the republican movement. Vikki O'Neill, Ashburton Why waste a fortune printing dodgy new banknotes when there's nothing wrong with the well-designed existing ones? Jenifer Nicholls, Armadale Politics It isn't the ideas boom, it's Malcolm Turnbull's thought-bubbles boom. Geoff Charles, Mount Waverley Barnaby Joyce is in charge. Head for the hills. Alan Williams, Port Melbourne WorkChoices is back, but so far it's only for truck drivers. Tim Durbridge, Brunswick The state However, Turnbull has other triggers for a DD - weak ones, admittedly, but they exist - so surely he'd want to pull them? Sure, he'd have to find a way to justify going back on his word, but that's got to be easier than dealing with the troublesome likes of David Leyonhjelm, Jacqui Lambie, Glenn Lazarus, Scott Ludlam and Sarah Hanson-Young for another three years, surely? In other words: there's a decent chance that even if Malc gets his own way on the ABCC, he'll still find an excuse to give the Governor -General a call. But what if he doesn't get his way? Option 2: the ABCC legislation doesn't get passed This seems the more likely scenario, given the current opposition to the legislation in the Senate. And the Prime Minister has promised that he'll use that unpassed legislation as a trigger for a double dissolution - and it's hard to imagine a way he could not call the election under these circumstances, even knowing the likely outcome. If that happens, it'll presumably be on May 11 (which is the absolute latest Turnbull can call it, for constitutional reasons), following the budget on May 3 and the passage of as many supply bills as possible through Parliament. That means an election most likely on July 2 - the earliest Saturday that the new Senate ballot would come into play, keeping in mind that July 16 is the absolute latest an election could legally be held. But is an election now a great idea? The likely aftermath of an election, aka whoever wins also loses Assuming that Labor don't implode and Scott Morrison's first budget isn't a work of staggering economic insight and genius - which are both possible, but don't seem likely - then this doesn't look like a sane time for any government to be thinking of sending the nation to an early election. At the moment the government and opposition are polling neck and neck, and while any swing is unlikely to be uniform across the country the chances of Turnbull somehow winning by a landslide of historic proportions is basically zilch. And that's a problem, because a) even under the new rules, it's still really unlikely that anyone's going to get an outright majority in the Senate (especially in a DD), and b) a hung parliament is a distinct possibility. Julia Gillard showed that Labor is pretty great at negotiating (let's once again cite the fact that the Gillard government passed more legislation each day in power than any Australian government before or since, despite having a majority in neither house) while the current barely-could-be-called negotiations with the crossbench indicate the Coalition is either terrible at consultation, doesn't care about it, or both. Also, the Coalition MPs with the safest seats are people like Tony Abbott, Kevin Andrews and sacked chief whip Scott Bucholz: people who are not necessarily Turnbull's most ardent fans, in other words. So Malc's very likely to face pressure from one or both houses of Parliament to compromise, and pressure from within his own party demanding he maintain an even harder conservative line than he's currently being forced to - with Abbott casually mentioning how much greater his parliamentary victory was in 2013, and speculating that it would have been even greater in 2016 if only the party had kept faith - and probably even suggesting that he might be persuaded to return, under the right circumstances Scozzanomics! The aforementioned thing about Morrison pulling off a budgetary miracle seems even less likely with Moodys reporting that Australia's triple-A rating will be under threat if the government doesn't cut spending - which Scott's totes down with - and also raise taxes, which Scott is continuing to pretend isn't an option. The Liberals love arguing that Australia needs to live within its means, which is code for "we are scared of raising taxes, since we've made it such a bogeyman for reasons of political expediency". The desire to ignore reality for political advantage is what's leading Morrison and his party to invent a whimsical alternative reality where phrases like "we have a spending problem, not a revenue problem" sound like plausible basis for tax policy and not the crazy talk of ideological cowards. Moody's senior vice-president Marie Diron wrote a note to the effect that "Treasurer Scott Morrison announced that the budget to be released on May 3 would focus on curbing spending However, given previous difficulties in reducing welfare benefits, actual spending cuts may be modest Moreover, Mr Morrison's announcement excluded measures to raise revenues. Without such measures, limited spending cuts are unlikely to meaningfully advance the government's aim of balanced finances by the fiscal year ending June 2021." In other words: cuts won't cut it. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen leapt on the report as sending a message to Morrison: "lift your game." Mozza, meanwhile, argued that it made a mockery of Labor's plan which includes increasing revenue but also increasing spending. And sure, the correct answer appears to be something along the lines of "reduce spending relative to revenue, through a process of balancing possible cuts with necessary spending funded by closure of already-identified tax loopholes and other revenue raising options, including possible taxation increases", but hey: let's just have Morrison and Bowen yelling "cuts!" and "revenue!" at each other until the next election, at which point whoever wins will inevitably blame the previous party's time in office as being the cause of their current malaise. So yeah. It's going to be an interesting election, isn't it? Birch's Ghost River was celebrated among six finalists for the $40,000 Christina Stead Prize for Fiction and in a shortlist for a first-time prize of $30,000 created by the NSW government to recognise the value of indigenous writing. "Whoever wins it I'm going to be overjoyed," Birch says. Tony Birch has been many times a bridesmaid, but there is one literary prize he wouldn't mind losing the new standalone prize for indigenous writers announced as part of the 2016 NSW Premier's Literary Awards' shortlist on Thursday. Not a community known to "pump our own tyres", as Birch puts it, the author-academic is comfortable to share shortlist honours with fellow writers and poets including Queensland short-story writer Ellen van Neerven and Melbourne's Bruce Pascoe, whose non-fiction work, Dark Emu, challenges the long-held view of a pre-colonial Aboriginal hunter-gatherer society. Tony Birch's Ghost River is on a shortlist for a prize of $30,000 created by the NSW government to recognise the value of indigenous writing. "I know all the works, I've read them all, and they show great diversity in genre, age and topic. I wouldn't mind losing to any one of them," Birch says. A record 500-plus entries were received across the 10 award categories of this year's NSW Premier's Literary Awards. The winners will be announced on the eve of the Sydney Writers' Festival in May. Long lists for the Kibble and Dobbie Literary Awards were announced at the same time as the traditional literary awards season gets under way. Birch's nostalgic if unsettling tale of two teenage boys who spend their days on the banks of the Yarra River is joined in the fiction category by two distinctive tales of near-future environmental decline and extreme weather: James Bradley's Clade and Mireille Juchau's The World Without Us. WEDNESDAY, April 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Zika virus is a definite and direct cause of microcephaly and other brain-related birth defects, U.S. health officials announced Wednesday. "It is now clear," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a midday media briefing. "The CDC has concluded that Zika does cause microcephaly." "There is still a lot that we don't know, but there is no longer any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly," Frieden added. What's more, it appears that the mosquito-borne Zika virus causes a particularly severe form of microcephaly that does terrible damage to infants' brains, said Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, director of the CDC's Division of Public Health Information and Dissemination. The CDC made its announcement following what it described as a painstaking evidence review led by Rasmussen that was published on an expedited basis on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, Frieden said. "This study marks a turning point in the Zika outbreak," he said. Until now, the CDC had said Zika appeared to be associated with microcephaly, which results in an unusually small head and brain, but had been careful not to draw a direct causal link between the virus and the birth defect. That's because "this is an unprecedented association" between a mosquito-born virus and a horrifying birth defect, Frieden explained, and the agency wanted to proceed with caution. "Never before in history has there been the situation where a bite from a mosquito could result in a devastating malformation," Frieden said. However, there's still much that needs to be learned about Zika's effect on fetal development, said Rasmussen, who's also editor-in-chief of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. For example, no one knows the exact risk of brain-related birth defects to the baby of a mother infected with Zika, she said, because some Zika-infected women have given birth to apparently healthy babies. "We don't know if the risk is somewhere in the range of 1 percent or in the range of 30 percent," she said. "That's one of the key questions we really want to answer." Researchers also don't know if Zika will wind up causing learning disabilities to these apparently healthy children later in life, or if Zika also causes birth defects beyond those that are brain-related, Rasmussen added. The CDC completed its work on the evidence review days ago, and as recently as Sunday was still working with the NEJM on revisions that would incorporate the latest scientific evidence, Rasmussen said. Rasmussen said the CDC concluded that Zika causes microcephaly based on a checklist of specific criteria that included: Women who deliver babies with microcephaly were infected with Zika during the first and second trimester of gestation. A consistent pattern has developed where pregnant women infected with Zika have given birth to children with microcephaly and other brain-related defects. The link makes sense biologically, with autopsies revealing the presence of Zika in the brains of babies with severe microcephaly who died. The agency submitted its research to the NEJM for peer review because "we didn't want this to just be something that was coming from the CDC," Rasmussen said. "We wanted this to be something that was representing the public health community." The CDC's declaration of a direct link is a stronger stance than that taken by the World Health Organization, which in its latest report cited a "scientific consensus that Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly." Nevertheless, Rasmussen said the CDC's conclusion is consistent with the WHO's approach to Zika. "I think we are on the same page with them," she said. The CDC hopes that its findings will prompt pregnant women and women of child-bearing age to be even more careful regarding Zika, Rasmussen said. Pregnant women should not travel to areas where Zika is being actively transmitted by mosquitoes, she said. To date, most of the infections have occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean. Women living in an active Zika region should protect themselves by wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants, staying indoors with window and door screens to keep mosquitoes out, and using insect repellants. People also can help cut down on mosquitoes in their neighborhoods by policing their properties and getting rid of any sources of standing water, she said. "Mosquitoes breed in standing water, especially these mosquitoes," Rasmussen said. "Even small amounts of standing water." As of April 6, there were 700 confirmed cases of Zika in U.S. states and territories, according to the CDC. However, none of the cases in the continental United States have occurred due to local transmission of the virus via mosquito bite. Nearly all these infections were acquired while traveling outside the country. Public health officials expect Zika to become active in the United States with the onset of mosquito season in the spring and early summer. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is expected to be the primary carrier in the United States. Florida, Texas and Hawaii are the states most at risk for local transmission of Zika, CDC officials have said. However, the A. aegypti mosquito ranges as far north as San Francisco, Kansas City and New York City, although health officials have said infections that far north are unlikely. More information For more on Zika virus, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To see the CDC list of sites where Zika virus is active and may pose a threat to pregnant women, click here. Blood Links. Written and presented by William Yang. Directed and edited by Martin Fox. Courtyard Studio. Performing Lines and Canberra Theatre Centre. Until April 23. Still faces, captured in time, gaze out from the gallery of family photos as William Yang guides us through his personal world of ancestry, family and a search for identity throughout the story of his Chinese heritage. Alone on the intimate Courtyard Studio stage, with a microphone in front of him and two large screens behind, Yang unveils a mesmerising tale of his great grandparents' migration from China in the 1880s to the northern Australian goldfields and eventually to his sister's home and today's family seat in Orange County, California. William Yang's Blood Links. Photo: Heidrun Lohr Credit:Photo: Heidrun Lohr Yang's slide show Blood Links, accompanied by his captivating, gentle and alluring narrative transcends geography, traverses continents, transforms families and transports Yang's audience in beguilement not only to one man's personal story, but to all humanity's experience. True art moves our universal consciousness. Such is the power of Yang's unpretentious, honest and moving account of the lives of the descendants of Ang See and Chun Wing. His is an engrossing story of adventure, murder, love, marriage, family rivalry, prejudice and acceptance. Every photo tells a story, described by Yang in nostalgic tone, devoid of indulgence, voiced in empathy and tinged with irony and humour. It is impossible not to be swept along by the people, places and events that have shaped this master storyteller's life. The illegality of euthanasia in Australia is "absurd" and politicians are too cowardly to fix it, former prime minister Bob Hawke says, while also revealing an "arrangement" with wife Blanche d'Alpuget should he lose his mind. With a federal election campaign possibly weeks away, the vexed issue of assisted suicide has been lobbed back into the national consciousness courtesy of a podcast by broadcaster Andrew Denton and the strong support of Labor's longest-serving prime minister. "It's just an unarguable case," Mr Hawke told ABC Radio National on Thursday. He said there were no ethical grounds for forcing people in terrible pain to "suffer and suffer and suffer" on quasi-religious moral grounds. "I can see no logical or moral basis for such an absurd position." BEIJING: Malcolm Turnbull has been received in the capital of the world's dominant communist power with military honours in a colourful ceremony to mark the official start of his two-day visit to the Asian superpower. Accompanied by wife Lucy, the Australian Prime Minister was met by his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang to inspect the troops on the edge of Tiananmen Square on a balmy Beijing evening, before talks in the Great Hall of the People. At the start of the talks, media were allowed to witness the opening remarks, with Mr Turnbull expressing his delight at being the first Australian prime minister to visit Beijing since the enactment of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement - a deal sealed by Mr Turnbull's predecessor, Tony Abbott. The talks were expected to range over a series of topics, taking in the global economic situation, the extensive trade links between Australia and China, and difficult strategic matters such as China's territorial ambitions in the South China Sea. The young African refugee known only as S99 was in the midst of a violent epileptic seizure when she was set upon and raped on Nauru. She was semi-conscious during the rape and is unable to identify her attacker. Now, she is nine weeks pregnant and desperate to have an abortion. Since her rape, the young woman has attempted suicide. She continues to suffer from anxiety and post-traumatic symptoms. She can't sleep, and she has received no ongoing psychological care. The mystery of how a woman came to be lying unconscious on a footpath in Sydney's north-west has been solved, after she emerged from a coma to reveal that she had simply fallen over. The 67-year-old woman was found lying on Marsden Road, near the intersection with Stewart Street, in West Ryde just before 7.30pm on Sunday. Police feared she was the victim of a vicious assault or had been hit by a car. Paramedics treated her for severe swelling to her face and head injuries, and took her to Westmead Hospital, where she remained on Friday morning. When she was found, police made a public appeal for information about how she had been injured, saying they were "not ruling anything out" in their investigation. Queensland has thrown down the gauntlet to Melbourne when it comes to claiming Australia's best cafe culture. Five sunshine state venues feature in review site Beanhunter's Top Cafes in Australia awards, with Brisbane's Coffee Anthology taking out the No.1 position. Brisbane's Coffee Anthology has topped a national list which also included four other local cafes. Beanhunter founder James Crawford said although Melbourne was known as the country's coffee capital, Brisbane was not far behind. "Brisbane is a hidden gem when it comes to great coffee," he said. Not only did the Labor Party let a poof run for a seat, now the conservatives have done it too? How did it all go wrong? Queensland is no longer the most redneck homophobic state in the country. But it is hardly the most progressive. This is the state where loud-mouth Wendy Francis tried to get an ad for condoms removed because THINK OF THE CHILDREN. This is the state where Bob Katter said he would walk backwards from somewhere to somewhere (who cares where, he is bonkers) if the gays represented more than 0.001 per cent of his electorate. This is the state where the gay panic defence is still a thing, so it's totally legitimate to knock off a homo if you reckon they were having a crack. Now it's also the state where the electorate that covers most of the capital has a candidate from both the Labor Party and the LNP identifying as same-sex attracted. Getting your kids to brush their teeth is a common problem for parents but not many turn it into a business that sells worldwide and turns over $8 million a year Melbourne couple Justin and Rachel Bernhaut were working as photographers in New York when they started searching for a toothpaste suitable for kids. Justin and Rachel Bernhaut, owners of Jack N' Jill. "When we had kids we had the same epiphanies that all parents have," Rachel says. "They weren't interested in brushing their teeth because they couldn't stand the taste." Justin's background is a pharmacist so further investigation revealed the reason the toothpaste "tasted like crap" was "nasty chemicals" that went into the toothpaste. Another five babies have been found to have died in potentially avoidable circumstances at Bacchus Marsh Hospital, taking the overall death toll at the service to 12 since 2001. A second review of Djerriwarrh Health Service by Professor Euan Wallace has found five infant deaths could have been prevented at the hospital between 2001 and 2013. Officials are now meeting with parents whose babies died up to 15 years ago to tell them their loss may have been the result of the hospital's failings. Last year, the Victorian government revealed Professor Wallace had found that seven stillbirth and infant deaths were likely preventable at the hospital in 2013 and 2014. A former school friend of James Russouw has been charged with his 2008 murder and will be extradited from Cairns on Thursday afternoon. Mr Russouw, 24, was stabbed to death at the Burwood East Reserve on March 7, 2008. His body was left in his father's four-wheel drive and the car was torched. Geelong council has been sacked, but the Andrews government was forced to back down on its plan to put it the hands of administrators for four years. Instead, the axed council will have fresh elections in 2017, after the Opposition and the Greens forced the government to reduce the amount of time administrators run it. The government reserves the right to reassess the situation in 2017. Sacked mayor Darryn Lyons - removed over accusations of bullying and poor behaviour - hinted on Thursday he may seek to run for mayor of Geelong again when elections are held in October next year. A Supreme Court judge wants authorities to investigate a Melbourne family of "crooks" involved in a bitter dispute over properties in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany worth more than $30 million. Justice Jack Forrest also ordered Melbourne lawyer Michael Witt, a partner at Findlay Arthur Phillips, pay a $25,000 fine for contempt of court over his dealings with Jan Emil Talacko, who is deceased, and Mr Talako's sons, David and Paul. Some of the properties in dispute were in Dresden. Credit:Alamy The properties in dispute included historic buildings in Prague and Dresden, rural land, forests and apartments belonging to Jan Emil Talacko's parents, Alois and Helena, which were seized after 1948 by communist governments in Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Justice Forrest said Jan Emil Talacko became the owner or part owner of the overseas properties in the early 1990s after restitution laws were passed in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany. A woman is fighting for her life in hospital after being thrown from her car in a horror crash in Melbourne's north. It took ambulance paramedics 15 minutes to find the woman, who was thrown from her green Mazda sedan as it rolled a number of times on the Hume Freeway at Thomastown about 2.30am on Thursday. The 28-year-old Craigieburn woman was eventually found lying severely injured on the Western Ring Road, quite a distance away from the wreckage, police said. She was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with critical head injuries. It appeared the woman, who was the sole occupant of the car, lost control of the sedan before it rolled, police said. "He's a New Yorker, you know?" says Frank Manzo, 51, who works for a commercial moving company. "He's bold in some ways, and he's honest." New York is Trump's city, and these are his people. Credit:AP Manzo says he worries about terrorism. It's everywhere, he says: "Everybody rolls all over us because we're not tough. They take our hostages and torture us. If somebody's going to come in here and bomb this ferry, there should be consequences. Trump will stop it." That's what Margaret Power believes, too. "Trump is very tough, real hard, and that's what we need," she says. "It's time to stop pussy-footing around." New Yorkers say they like that Trump is big, brash and unafraid. Credit:Keith Srakocic Power is 52 and works in construction. She's currently building the set for a fashion exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She says she trusts Trump because he's not like the other politicians, beholden to their donors. "He's steering himself," she says. "He's done a lot for New York City," Power adds. "He's involved in great projects. He's a stand-up guy. Great quality. He's done more than most mayors, and it shows." Chris Landcastle of Westmoreland, New York, walks through a hangar before a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Credit:Mike Groll Joe Berardi envisions Trump as a jobs president. "He'll be good for guys like me," the 33-year-old construction worker says as he finishes off a slice of pizza. Berardi wakes up at 3am, arrives at his work site by 7 and rides the 5pm ferry home to Staten Island, day in and day out, six days a week. He usually works on skyscrapers, but these days he's helping build a Niketown on Broadway. "Donald Trump is a real estate genius, you know?" he says. "It's not that a billionaire is going to care about me, but as a group, he knows he needs us guys. If he gets rid of all that cheap illegal immigrant labour, who's left to do the jobs? Guys like me." Josh Shimoni, 65, has the same hope. "Trump! Trump! Trump! He's talking my language," says Shimoni, a tow-truck driver who immigrated to the United States from Hungary at age 22. "He understands our frustration in business, and I think he can help. Business is very, very bad. There's no work. And he'll make the system work again." There are plenty of Trump haters in New York, no doubt millions of them. Scores are on this ferry - women, blacks, Latinos, millennials. Some laugh when asked whether they plan to vote for Trump. "I don't like him," says Chris Topherbollinger, a middle-aged white man decked out in Yankees garb. "Actually, I despise him." But others think Trump is just what America needs, what Staten Island needs. Of New York City's five boroughs, this is the forgotten one. It's cut off from the subway system and accessible only by boat or bridge. It's the least populous borough - home to just fewer than 500,000 people - but also the whitest and most Republican. Trump is scheduled to campaign there Sunday. As in so many other places across the country, an influx of immigrants on Staten Island has stoked tensions. Debbie Padovano, 59, voted for President Obama but is on the Trump train now. She lives in Manhattan but commutes to Staten Island to work at a food pantry for the homeless. She says she encounters the immigration problem every day at her work. "They don't have the right credentials," she says. "We take them in - and some of them, I'm glad. But there are just so many of them. They're taking people's jobs. ... I think Donald Trump will fix it." Padovano says she recoils from Trump's inflammatory rhetoric and hopes he will "curb his discrimination." Nevertheless, she has been persuaded that he's up to the task. "Once he has it in his hands, he'll know exactly what to do," Padovano says. "I know he can handle the job. I really do. There's only one I listen to. ... Donald - excuse me, Mr. Trump - would diminish Congress and take control." Taking control is what Michael O'Brian, 52, wants the next president to do, and he thinks Trump is the one to do it. "When [Islamic State terrorists] bombed France, his first reaction was, 'I'm going to bomb the shit out of them.' I like the way he thinks. He's got courage," O'Brian says. O'Brian lives a hard life. He says he used to build scenery at the Metropolitan Opera but fell off a ladder a few years back, knocked out his teeth and broke his back in three places. He says he can't work anymore. He walks with a cane and, on this evening, stands in the windy doorway of the ferry looking out at the Statue of Liberty as it passes by. O'Brian is not one of those Trump backers who applauds everything that comes out of the candidate's mouth. When Trump recently said women who have abortions should be punished, "I wanted to punch him in the face," O'Brian says. But, he adds, "he's a New Yorker. He speaks his mind." This is the kind of attitude that drew Chris Szymanski to support Trump. A Polish immigrant, Szymanski, 62, lives on Staten Island and sells diamonds in mid-town Manhattan. He says he wants a strong, almost authoritarian leader. Riding home on the ferry in a suit and tie, flipping through a newspaper, Szymanski compares Trump to Russia's president. "There are two men I respect in this world: Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump," he says. "They are strong leaders with big follow-up. They solve problems. They have a strong mind, resolution, character." Szymanski explains what he considers New York values: "Strong, dynamic, confident and patriotic." He says Trump embodies them all and is the solution to what ails the country. "He will fix it all," he says. "Look at what he did in his life. Look at his kids, his empire. Don't you see a pattern? Quality. Honesty. Resolution. Success." Langley, Virginia: US President Barack Obama has said the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq had put the militant group on the defensive, shrinking its territory and striking key leaders. "We have momentum and we intend to keep that momentum," Mr Obama told reporters after meeting with his national security advisers at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency, in Langley, Virginia, on Wednesday. The campaign has cut supply lines and financing for Islamic State and reduced the territory it holds. But Mr Obama said more work needed to be done to help communities recover. The Brazilian Health Ministry confirmed the zika-microcephaly link in December. Brazilian doctors who first detected the brain defect in babies issued further confirmation in February . Scientists at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a careful review of existing research and agreed that the evidence was conclusive, director Thomas Frieden said. It is the first time the CDC confirms a mosquito-borne virus has been linked to congenital brain defects. US federal health officials confirmed on Wednesday that the Zika virus causes a rare birth defect and other severe fetal abnormalities, marking a turning point in an epidemic that has spread to nearly 40 countries and territories in the Americas and elsewhere. "It is now clear, and CDC has concluded, that the virus causes microcephaly," Mr Frieden said. CDC is launching more studies to determine whether children with that rare condition, which is characterised at birth by an abnormally small head, represent the "tip of the iceberg of what we could see in damaging effects on the brain and other developmental problems." A municipal health worker on Tuesday draws blood from three-month-old Shayde Henrique, who was born with microcephaly, in Joao Pessoa, Brazil. Credit:AP The outcome validates the growing research of past months that strongly implicated Zika as the culprit behind a broad set of complications in pregnancy. The pathogen is also increasingly linked to neurological problems in adults. The CDC report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, focused only on reviewing the evidence linking Zika and fetal anomalies. Global health officials had already assumed the virus was to blame for the problems being seen in various countries. Since January, many have advised women who were pregnant or hoping to become so to avoid travel to Zika-affected areas or to take steps to avoid Zika infection. That medical advice expanded over time to include women's partners, especially as it became clear sexual transmission of the virus was more common than had been known. The research released on Wednesday won't change that advice, officials said. But they are hoping it will help educate the public about the virus and its potential for harm -- particularly in the United States. Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier The board earmarked $1.54 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for the dredge, designed to keep channels open and supply sand to nourish eroding beaches up and down the York County coast and beyond. Depending on whether you're a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty kind of person, you may walk away from Nathan the Wise with a renewed sense of hope or a rush Sisyphean despair. Written by 18th-century German philosopher Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, the play examines the volatile yet intimate relationship between the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is now receiving a rare revival at Classic Stage Company. This excellent and earnest production highlights just how radical the play's message of religious tolerance was for its time and sadly, still is today. The Enlightenment Era drama was so revolutionary, in fact, that it was never produced during Lessing's lifetime, and he expressed doubts that it ever would be. While its themes are considerably less controversial for contemporary Western audiences, Nathan the Wise is still seldom produced due to its unwieldy nature (unedited, it can run over five hours). Using a zippy two-hour adaptation by Edward Kemp, Classic Stage Company makes a good argument for the play's continuing relevance, especially since religious bigotry still stubbornly persists. The story takes place in 1192 Jerusalem, during the Third Crusade. Nathan (F. Murray Abraham) is a wealthy Jewish merchant living with his daughter, Rachel (Erin Neufer), and her Christian attendant, Daya (Caroline Lagerfelt). When a Templar knight (an angry and intense Stark Sands) saves Rachel from a fire, Nathan looks for some way to thank him. The knight is a prisoner of the Muslim Sultan Saladin (the jolly Austin Durant), who spared his life because of his striking resemblance to his late brother. Despite his affinity for the Christian soldier, Saladin continues to wage an expressive war against the crusaders and is in desperate need of funds. His sister, Sittah (Shiva Kalaiselvan), suggests that Nathan might be good for a loan, especially due to his relationship to the court treasurer, Al-Hafi (the very funny George Abud). Austin Durant plays Saladin and Shiva Kalaiselvan plays Sittah in Nathan the Wise. ( Richard Termine) The Sultan summons Nathan to his palace and asks him a delicate question which faith is the most enlightening: Islam, Christianity, or Judaism? He hopes that Nathan's discomfort will lead him to offer the loan just to change the subject. Instead, Nathan tells him a tale about a father who, rather than choosing just one of his three sons to give his favorite ring, makes two copies and mixes them up until they are indistinguishable. It's a beautiful story, but it doesn't consider that the sons might spend the rest of their lives getting the jewelry reappraised. Defiantly proving that the controversy surrounding his troubled Africa-themed production of Mother Courage did nothing to shake his resolve to relate classic plays to modern situations, director Brian Kulick stages Nathan the Wise in front of a giant photograph of what appears to be a Gaza street scene following an Israeli missile strike. In typical Brechtian fashion, Kulick first introduces us to the actors out of character, an overture that devolves into a shouting match in Hebrew and Arabic, suggesting that this performance actually takes place in the Holy Land of 2016. While somewhat heavy-handed, this approach actually complements Lessing's parabolic drama, a story seemingly contrived only to express the moral observation that Jews, Christians, and Muslims are actually more closely related than they first appear. This is not just fanciful deist hokum on Lessing's part: Mixed-faith ancestry is not uncommon in older sabra families, and intermarriage is a tradition at least as old as Esther (the Jewish queen to the Zoroastrian king of Persia). With a thick air of political tension pervading a complicated web of personal relationship between members of different tribes, Nathan the Wise is as germane to the Jerusalem of 2016 as it is to the one of 1192. Scenic designer Tony Straiges suggests both eras with his minimalist yet effective scenic design, which employs both Middle Eastern rugs and rehearsal studio chairs. Anita Yavich costumes the actors in white robes and tunics bearing text that corresponds to the faith of the wearer (Arabic for the Sultan, Hebrew for Nathan, Latin for the Templar). There are differences between the various outfits, but much of it amounts to just words. The Templar (Stark Sands) pleads with Nathan (F. Murray Abraham) in Nathan the Wise. ( Richard Termine) Leading the cast as Nathan, F. Murray Abraham (who starred in an acclaimed production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice at Theater for a New Audience) turns out to be the perfect choice to embody this magnanimous anti-Shylock. "I've all this money in the house," he says to the Sultan, "maybe you could put it to good use." The line garners laughs and would turn the play into self-satire, was it not delivered by so believable a performer. Abraham's Nathan remains unfailingly wise throughout, an idyllic patriarch of multicultural children. While Nathan the Wise skirts around some of the more troubling aspects shared by all three Abrahamic religions (notice how Nathan's allegorical father bestows his rings on three sons, not three daughters), one can nonetheless appreciate Lessing's assertion that these faiths (which account for over 4 billion total followers) have more in common than not. Of course, the ever-present devastation on the upstage wall serves as a reminder that a huge proportion of that 4 billion still haven't gotten the message. CHICAGO, April 14, 2016 -- DivvyRide is a Chicago-based rideshare startup that is addressing the need for better earnings and higher job satisfaction for rideshare drivers. Our major point of differentiation is that we focus on the 3 million plus drivers in the United States as our primary customers. Our business model makes us unique when compared to all other rideshare companies because we are the first to tackle the rideshare industry using a franchise model. The advantage of using the franchise model is that it recognizes each individual rideshare driver as their own rideshare entity allowing for the 3 million plus rideshare drivers to compete directly with Uber and Lyft. DivvyRide offers more value to our users through a technology platform (iOS/android apps and web) that gives the users more options and a greater ease of use. Some of these new options include: elimination of surge pricing, advanced reservations, fixed fare quotes, and the ability to schedule rides using the web. Through our innovative technology, premium quality of service and highly satisfied drivers; for our users, DivvyRide is just a better overall experience. About DivvyRide DivvyRide was founded in 2015 by George Ibekie to address the needs of rideshare drivers as well as eliminate the inefficiencies that currently exist in the market. DivvyRide is solving the problem of cost structure and inefficiencies in the current rideshare space; by using our business model and technology platform to enable rideshare drivers to individually grow their own network of users. DivvyRide drivers have the ability to accept rides up to 30 days in advance; they also have the ability to earn additional income through the DivvyRide Partner Referral Program. DivvyRide offers more convenience to our users through a new technology platform that gives users more options and a greater ease of use. Current options available to DivvyRide users include: elimination of surge pricing, advanced reservations, fixed fare quotes prior to booking and frequent rider rewards. DivvyRide's business model is uniquely positioned to address the needs of both the driver and rider not only as it relates to the current rideshare industry but also the people mobility industry of the future. 150 jobs created as car parts business relocates A CAR parts manufacturer has signed a deal which will see it move into a new 224,966 sq ft distribution centre at Henry Boot Developments Markham Vale scheme, creating 150 jobs. FBUKs new distribution facility will be located on a 14.5 acre plot at Markham Vale North and is the first building to be developed on this part of the 200 acre site. FBUK is a family run company that originates from Ennepetal near Dusseldorf, Germany. The company is a leader in the production, marketing and distribution of high quality parts for cars and commercial vehicles. Following its acquisition of Kent based Automotive Distributors (ADL) in 2011, FBUK will be consolidating its other UK sites into the new facility at Markham Vale, which will become the base for FBUKs distribution network. The deal will initially generate around 150 jobs with the potential for a further 250 jobs in the future. Paul Dodgson, operations director at FBUK, said: We made the decision to move to Markham Vale as the development offers excellent transport links to the main motorway network, which was our key requirement. We also required a bespoke and high quality building to fit with the company brand and ethos, and we are confident that Henry Boot Developments can deliver this. Ben Ward, director at Henry Boot Developments, added: We are extremely pleased that a deal has been agreed with Ferdinand Bilstein UK. The company has a fantastic track record and is a world leader in the automotive parts industry. This is the first deal we have agreed on Markham Vale North, which has a further 55 acres of land available for immediate development. We also have remaining plots available on the West and East sites. Leader of Derbyshire County Council and cabinet member for strategic policy, economic development and budget, councillor Anne Western, said: This is more fantastic news for Markham Vale especially following the announcement of Great Bear Distributions move to the site which is also set to create up to 400 new jobs. FBUKs move will bring more business into Derbyshire which is great for the local economy. Markham Vale is one of the reasons why we are proud of Derbyshire and we are very pleased to see how all of the businesses are growing and developing on the site. Construction is due to commence on site this month with practical completion expected by the end of the year. US manufacturer moves into 500m logistics hub MANUFACTURER Fellowes, a US business, has moved into Verdions 500m iPort development. The logistics development in Doncaster has welcomed Fellowes, a company that manufactures air purification machines as well as other business supplies. It will take up the speculatively built IP2b site, a 144,373 sq ft site consisting of 123,215 sq ft and 21,158 sq ft of office space. Fellowes is relocating from its existing site at the West Moor Park nearby. It is due to move in by November 2016. Michel van Beek, president Fellowes EMEA and Asia, comments: We are excited to move to this state of the art premises and A Grade business park. One that amplifies and aligns with our progressive development and will support our hunger to continuously improve our ability to deliver best in class services to our customer community whilst offering our employees a compelling and motivating working environment. This move will offer many advantages including excellent links to the UK rail and road network. It will offer Fellowes the opportunity to create a more modern and efficient workplace supportive to our future business needs and aspirations. John Clements, European development director of Verdion, comments: We are delighted to have secured Fellowes at iPort. Our confidence to commence the speculative development programme has been endorsed by this letting to such a highly regarded, international operator. Interest in the rest of the scheme is strong and we expect to be able to announce further significant lettings during the course of 2016. Verdion started the speculative development of the first two units, totalling 350,000 sq ft in August 2015 with completion due in May 2016. iPort is a Strategic Rail Freight Interchange which will deliver over 6 million sq ft (570,000 sq m) of Grade A logistics warehousing. Gent Visick, CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield are letting agents for iPort. Something unprecedented is happening at the Supreme Court. Short-staffed, and perhaps fearful of another 4-4 deadlock, the Court has taken on the role of mediator, putting forth its own compromise proposal in a crucial case regarding Obamacare and religious freedom. And based on the briefs filed this week by the government and a consortium of conservative religious nonprofits, it just might work. Lets start by noting that this almost never happens. The Supreme Court is not an arbitration body; it doesnt put forth its own ideas and ask the parties what they think about them. The last time it asked for supplemental briefs of this type was in 1953s landmark desegregation case, Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka. Something about this case, Zubik v. Burwell, is different. Probably its the shorthanded court afraid of deadlocking again. Possibly its the nature of the questions presented. Whatever the reason, the Courtafter receiving not just the briefs from the two sides but dozens of amicus briefs as wellasked the parties to comment on a compromise solution that the Court itself had put together. Once again, this almost never happens. At issue in the caseas in numerous battles across the countryis the conflict between civil rights and conservatives redefinition of religious freedom. In 2012, as the Affordable Care Act was being implemented, a conservative coalition led by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops objected to an obscure provision of the ACA which required all insurance plans to include coverage for contraception. In fact, this was not a new requirement: Courts had already interpreted the Pregnancy Disability Act and the Constitution as requiring that comprehensive health insurance plans include coverage for contraception. But this was the first time that all employers over a certain size were being required to provide insuranceand that included churches, religious organizations, and religiously affiliated organizations, as well as for-profit businesses. So, in a compromise, the Obama administration carved out a religious exemption for these groups. All they had to do was fill out a form, submit it to their insurance company, and they wouldnt have to provide contraception coverage. Instead, the government would. That compromise has worked well for dozens of organizations over the last few years, but some conservative religious groups objected that by signing the form, they were enabling someone else to provide the insurance coverage, and thus they were complicit in it themselves. In other words, no means yes. Now, are these, in fact, faith-based organizationsone of whom is an order of nuns called the Little Sisters of the Poorsincerely troubled by the possibility that one of their employees might someday use insurance to obtain contraception? Or are these organizations simply the latest way for their hard-right funders (not coincidentally, the nonprofits lawyers include The Becket Fund and the Alliance Defending Freedom) to chip away at Obamacare? We dont know, and the Court wont ask. When conservative religious people say their religious practice is burdened, the Court almost always defers to them. Now is where it gets weird. In fact, the nonprofits argument was that the government is hijacking their health plans, using them for the religiously offensive purpose. As noted by Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSBlog, an amicus brief filed by 50 Catholic ethicists explainedwith reference to centuries of Catholic teachingthat this made them morally complicit. And that, it seems, is what moved the Court to propose its alternative solution. Under the Courts proposed plan (the very phrase is almost without precedent), religious organizations would obtain a contraception-free insurance plan, and the insurance provider would provide a supplemental plan for contraception, as required by law. The end result is the sameemployees get their health coveragebut technically, the coverage is delivered by the insurance company, not by the employer. No hijacking, no guiltright? On Tuesday, the nonprofits enthusiastically endorsed the compromise, while the government grudgingly did so. The conservative organizations brief cheered it as a way to doom the governments ongoing effort to use the threat of massive penalties to compel petitioners to forsake their sincerely held religious beliefs. Arguing it was not just a matter of semantics, the brief argued that these organizations never had any problem with people getting contraceptionthey just didnt want to be involved in the process in any way. So, all done? Well, not quite. As the governments brief points out, cracking the door open now will surely encourage these same activist lawyers to push it open further. Having rightly claimed victory, they will be back with further cases, all premised on the notion that simply stating I certify the organization is an eligible organization that has a religious objection to providing coverage for some or all of any contraceptive services that would otherwise be required to be covered is, itself, a substantial burden on religious freedom. That will be a huge shift, akin to the Hobby Lobby case, which held that corporations have religious beliefs. Moreover, theres something disturbing about the Supreme Court apparently taking a cue from a group of Catholic theologians and crafting a remedy designed to accommodate Catholic moral theology. Even were the Court not, itself, made up of five Catholics and three Jews, there would be something unseemly about tailoring administrative programs to suit sectarian theological purposes. (The Becket Fund, a lead counsel here and in Hobby Lobby, is nominally independent, but its board and staff are overwhelmingly conservative Catholic.) And then, of course, theres the entire matter of the Court crafting a regulatory solution that no one proposed and that, until this week, no one had endorsed. Maybe unusual times call for unusual actions, and this is the Court working hard not to be deadlocked, after a majority of senators have violated their oaths of office that require them to provide advice and consent on a Supreme Court nominee. Maybe this is the first of many such contortions of history, precedent, and law. But with both sides having signed onto it, the Courts Solomonic compromise is likely to become the law of the land. Strange days indeed. ISIS and certain American conservatives have something in common: They both hate the same Muslim Americans. This became apparent Wednesday when the new issue of ISISs magazine, Dabiq, was released. (I downloaded it on my home computerwhich likely means hello no-fly list.) In this issue of Dabiq, ISIS identifies Muslim Americans they believe should be targeted for death because they have become apostates per ISISs own made up version of Islam. Did any of these Muslims actually leave the faith? No, but ISIS claims that if a Muslim American is involved in American society, and especially in U.S. politics, he or she has become an apostateeven if that person is an imam who has dedicated his life to Islam. Not that this matters to ISIS, but theres no death penalty called for in the Quran for a person leaving the faith. But ISIS would never let the principles of Islam get in the way of its political goals. And ISIS targeting Muslims for death is nothing new. As I have pointed out time and time again, ISISs mantra is submit to ISIS or die. They dont care if you are the most devout Muslim in the world, they will kill you if you dont do exactly what ISIS demands. Thats why experts note that 90 percent plus of the victims of ISIS are Muslims. Now heres the interesting part. Every person ISIS wants targeted, without exception, has already been targeted by American conservatives. Granted, not for death; things arent that bad yet. But they have been the targets of sustained political attacks. It appears that ISIS and many on the right in American politics both view the same Muslim Americans as a threat, but for different reasons. ISIS has marked a diverse group of Muslim Americans for death, from white converts who are now leading imams to an African-American member of Congress to leaders of Muslim American organizations. These people are all very visible Muslim Americans who have also trashed ISIS countless times in the media. I will only list the names of the people targeted by ISIS if the person has agreed to my including their name or issued a public statement. (I dont want to help ISIS terrorize people.) So here they are and heres also a taste of the right-wing attacks waged against these very same people. 1. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) has been targeted for death by ISIS because as one of the two Muslims in Congress, hes a visible role model for Muslims, inspiring them to become active in American politics and serve in our government. Oddly enough, Ellison is also hated by the right for the same reason ISIS hates him, namely because hes both very visible and effective. Just a few of the attacks include Former Rep. Michelle Bachmann, who claimed Ellison was part of the Muslim Brotherhood. Glenn Beck infamously questioned Ellisons patriotism, demanding of Ellison on national television, Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies. And the bottom-feeding website Breitbart.com (Trumps biggest cheerleader) has attacked Ellison numerous times, alleging that he has nefarious (but fabricated) ties to terrorism. Ellison issued a defiant statement in response to ISISs threat that truly sums up how Muslims view this murderous cult. Referring to ISIS as Daesh, Ellison called it a collection of liars, murderers, torturers, and rapists. No Muslim I know recognizes what they preach as Al-Islam. Ellison added that he was in essence proud that Daesh targeted him because it means I am fighting for things like justice, tolerance, and a more inclusive world. 2. Imam Suhaib Webb. ISIS has attacked him as being the All-American imam who connects with young Muslim Americans by using thug life vocabulary and the latest pop culture references. And they blast Imam Webb for publicly praising President Obama after he offered blessings on the Muslim Eid holiday. ISIS hates any Muslim leader who, like Webb, is encouraging American Muslims to become part of the fabric of our nation. The guys in ISIS are in great company because both Fox News and Breitbart.com have also attacked Webb, making unsubstantiated claims that the imam has a history of ties to radicalism. And many in the anti-Muslim circle of hate from Robert Spencer to Front Page.com have led a campaign to smear Webb as a radical linked to terrorism. Webb responded in a phone conversation that ISIS targeting this group of visible Muslim Americans is proof that they are having an impact in both countering ISISs efforts to recruit Muslims and ISISs lies. No one can ever say again that Muslim Americans arent speaking out against ISIS after this because theres now proof with these threats that we are and that its both effective and angering ISIS, Webb explained. 3. Mohamed Elibiary. ISIS claimed that Elibiary was an apostate because he had worked in the Department of Homeland Security. Well, guess who else has attacked Elibiary? Ted Cruzs new national security adviser, Frank Gaffney, who claimed Elibiary was part of The Muslim Brotherhoods infiltration of the Obama administration. And Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) waged a jihad on Elibiary while he worked in DHS, apparently at the urging of people like Pam Geller. Elibiarys response to ISIS via Twitter was also defiant, noting proudly that ISIS targeted him for his service enforcing American laws 2 protect all Americans, Muslims included. 4. Nihad Awad. The executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Awad was pictured at the top of the article in the ISIS magazine in the crosshairs of a gun sight. ISIS wants him dead for his work in defending the civil rights of American Muslims to ensure they have the same rights as all other Americans and feel welcomed in America. (ISIS wants Muslim Americans to be alienated to make it easier to recruit them.) Yet, as most are likely aware, CAIR and Awad has long been attacked by people on the right, from GOP politicians like Ben Carson, who just a few months claimed CAIR is a supporter of terrorism to Fox News, to of course Cruzs adviser Gaffney, who has smeared Awad as a Hamas lover. Awad responded to being on ISISs hit list with a statement that read in part, The best response to such threats is to continue challenging extremism, whether it is espoused by organizations like ISIS or by Islamophobes who seek to demonize Islam based on that group's brutality. The big takeaway is that ISIS and the right in America have much in common on this subject. They both attack American Muslims who serve in our government and want to encourage other Muslims to do the same. They both ridicule those working to defend the rights of American Muslims to ensure that Muslims feel welcomed in our country. And they both fear that the more visible American Muslims become in contributing to our nation, the more it will undermine the vision they both share for how Islam should be defined. Of course, theres one big difference. ISIS wants these Muslims killed. The right in America only wants these Muslim Americans to be demonized, scorned, and marginalized. Lets hope that neither group will succeed in achieving their despicable goals. Dozens of innocents were killed. But no one in the U.S. military is expected to face court-martial for the Oct. 3 bombing of a Afghan hospital that ended the lives of doctors, patients. and support staff, a defense official told The Daily Beast. The military has concluded that the mistaken attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz was the result of a series of errors and not willful misconduct, and therefore should not lead to charges, the official said. Instead, fewer than 20 military personnel have received a letter of reprimand, which indicates wrongdoing but stops short of calling for formal charges. Such letters, even if they dont lead to charges, often are career-ending, as they are forever a part of a service members record. For some in the military, the decision not to charge someone is a baffling result. The attack is considered one of the most egregious mistakes by the U.S. military in recent years. According to Doctors Without Borders, the attack is believed to have killed 42 people; at least another 30 were injured. The military has repeatedly delayed releasing its report on the attack, known as a 15-6, though the document could offer detailed insights on how the attack unfolded. One defense official told The Daily Beast the 15-6 will not be released for at least three more weeks. The 15-6 now sits with Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the newly minted commander of U.S. Central Command, and with Army Gen. Raymond Thomas, the new Special Operations commander. There is a slim, but unlikely, chance that someone could face court-martial should Votel or Thomas push for military charges but, so far, there is no indication of that. In fact, there are indications in the other direction. Central Command officials told The Daily Beast the report on the Kunduz hospital bombing currently is being redacted where needed for eventual public release. Why release a report if charges are coming? The individuals most closely associated with the incident have been suspended from their duties and were referred for administrative action. Some individuals were removed from theater, Navy Cmdr. Kyle Raines said in a statement provided to The Daily Beast. In meantime, the investigation and subsequent report have been completed and the report is in the process of undergoing a security review and redaction for eventual public release. The decision not to explain, six months later, how a series of errors led its forces to mistakenly attack a hospital adds to speculation that the military is purposely keeping facts from the public. The militarys initial investigation concluded that the attack was the result of a perfect storm of mistakes, including the loss of electronic communication systems on aircraft, the nature of the planning and approval process employed during operations at Kunduz city and the lack of a single system to vet proposed targets against a no-strike list. In November, Gen. John Campbell, then commander of the U.S. effort in Afghanistan, released those findings, which also said the attack was the direct result of avoidable human error, compounded by process and equipment failures. Regardless, Doctors Without Borders has repeatedly pushed for the 15-6 so it can draw its conclusions about what happened. The organization has even attempted to conduct its own investigation, but the U.S. military so far has not formally responded to its request. Sandra Murillo, media relations manager for Doctors Without Borders, told The Daily Beast on Wednesday that her organization has not been told when the report will be released. The military has provided the organization with a summary of its findings but not the full report. Regardless of what new information the report may contain, we need clear reassurances from all parties to the conflict that our staff, patients and medical facilities will be safe from attack in the future, Murillo said in a statement. The assault began when Afghan forces told their American counterparts that they were under Taliban attack from a facility that turned out to be a hospital, which had operated in Afghanistan for years. Until the hospital bombing, U.S. officials insisted they only deployed air power when U.S. troops were endangered or to stop a terrorist attack. Yet neither threat appeared to apply in the assault in Kunduz. American officials said they did not know the site was a hospitaleven though military mapping systems should have identified the site as such. Moreover, such air assaults usually dont take place unless an American service member can see the attacks target; in this case, U.S. Special Forces were half a mile away, officials have said. And as The Daily Beast reported, in the run-up to the assault, even some of the pilots on the AC-130 gunship that hit the hospital wondered if the attack was appropriate, according to an audio recording recovered from the aircraft. Doctors Without Borders said the air assault on its facility continued 30 minutes after it alerted American military officials based at headquarters in Kabul that the hospital was wrongly under attack. Campbell implied during his Senate testimony days after the attack that the American rules of engagement were at least part of the problem. Moreover, U.S. forces were not completely familiar with Kunduz; they had entered the city only a week prior after much of Kunduz fell under the Talibans control. In its preliminary investigation, the military conceded many of those mistakes and added that fatigue and high operation tempo were also factors. But the department has stopped short of explaining how so many mistakes could happen in the 14th year of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan. In the initial hours after the attack, U.S. officials called the hospital collateral damage, setting a tense tone between Doctors Without Borders, the Afghans affected, and the U.S. military. The aftershocks of the attack reverberate today. As recently as last week, Afghan forces were making changes to the rules of engagement because of lessons learned during the September fall of Kunduz to Taliban forces. And while the U.S. military said it has made changes as well, it has not specified the extent of them. It has, however, repeatedly asserted that it is confident such a mistake will not be repeated. This was a tragic mistake, Campbell said in November. U.S. forces would never intentionally strike a hospital or other protected facilities. Pity the poor crawfish. Of all the creatures that humans devour, the crawfish may have the worst road to death and what comes next. Dont get me wrong. Im as carnivorous as the next guy, and will gladly line up for any crawfish boil available. And this isnt some weird PETA rant. All animals that end up as our food have it rough in one way or another. Thats what they get for being lower on the food chain. But were glad to not have to witness the start-to-finish process for other animals. Crawfish and to a lesser extent, crabs, shrimp and lobster are pretty high up on the sucks-to-be-you list. First, the dead crawfish dont usually get cooked, because the meat gets mushy. Theyre the lucky ones. Their still-wriggling pals get to be boiled alive. Meanwhile, the dominant species celebrates: Come on over, everyone, and watch a mini-massacre! Raise a glass to their mortality! Throw Cajun salt in their wounds! And dont forget the corn and potatoes! Once theyve sufficiently been boiled to death, there is the actual act of eating crawfish. It could easily be classified as barbaric. 1. Tear off the abdomen end. You know, just rip off half its body. 2. Break off the exoskeleton around the tail, like its version of skin and bones. 3. Yank out the sliver of tail meat. 4. Eat it. 5. Grab the detached head, the torn-off end, and give it a good suck. Its like a horror movie for the crawfish community. We play the villain, a combination of the Kraken, Hannibal Lecter, brain-munching zombies and the trolls from The Hobbit. Now, some villains dont go for step No. 5. I asked Chad Hanks, owner of The Crawfish Hole, which distributes crawfish all over town (see here), what the appeal is there. Its seasoned fat, he says. Better than unseasoned fat, I suppose. Keep in mind this whole act of near-annihilation is happening while the crawfish still has eyes. Sure, theyre no longer working eyes, and its not like crawfish have basset hound eyes to begin with, but still. EYES. So to recap: Youve boiled it alive, dismembered it beyond recognition, chomped on its tail and treated its head like a juice box. All for what amounts to a slight nibble of food. The payoff for those who are willing is the taste. The spiciness of the Cajun boil mix, the sweetness of the tail meat its hard to beat. So repeat the previous steps of devastation, 20 to 40 more times. Plenty of people have zero tolerance for all this. A recent Google search of crawfish is returned these five suggested words: bugs, disgusting, fish, gross and nasty. Its an acquired taste. And its good to know not all crawfish meet this dreadful ending. Some get a reprieve, like the absurd-but-fun presidential pardon of a Thanksgiving turkey. Hanks says when he was a kid, hed grab a couple crawfish before a boil and let them go in a creek by his grandparents house. His son has carried on the tradition, he says. Good for him. As long as his father still has plenty left to distribute around town. Im in the mood for a little species domination. The city of College Station recently reached a settlement agreement in a case against Embrace Brazos Valley related to the misuse of more than $180,000 in federal grant money for housing for low-income residents. The city began seeking repayment from the nonprofit in 2014 after Embrace Brazos Valley was found to be in violation of federal requirements related to funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The City Council voted unanimously March 31 to approve and ratify the terms of the settlement agreement "for the proceeds from the sale of 4205 Cedar Creek Court." A city spokesman said the city cannot discuss the details of the case nor specifics of the settlement agreement, but both parties settled on "mutually agreeable terms." In 2012, the City Council approved a funding agreement with the nonprofit to provide $198,608 in federal HOME Investment Partnership Funds to construct two new single-family homes for income-eligible homebuyers. Embrace Brazos Valley was reimbursed $180,974 for lot acquisition and construction costs. However, city staff identified a misuse of funds when the nonprofit used a reimbursement on another project outside of the city limits instead of repaying a line of credit at the bank, according to a July 24 city blog post. The government entity that distributes the grant money is required to return the funds if federal requirements aren't met, which is why College Station paid HUD back the sum. According to documents obtained by The Eagle in 2014, city staff began working with the organization in 2013 once the breach of contract was discovered. Emails between officials detail how an agreement to pay the funding back to the city was never reached. Attendees of the MSC Wiley Lecture Series "In Pursuit of Peace: An Israeli Palestinian Dialogue" event Wednesday were treated to a thoughtful, complex and occasionally playful conversation, despite an air of tension that permeated the room at times. Headlining the event, held in the Rudder Auditorium, were former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Legislative Council executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi, each of whom offered their own perspectives on the matters of history, context and the road forward for the two cultures. Moderating the discussion was a visiting lecturer from Stanford University and former Jerusalem Bureau Chief for the Washington Post Janine Zacharia. Though there were many points on which the two disagreed, both Barak and Ashrawi were able to strike the delicate balance of remaining true to their own perspectives while also maintaining an air of respect toward each other and often turning to humor as a way to diffuse building tensions. As both groups will "always be there" in the region, Barak said it is vitally important for Israel and Palestine to "find a way to respect each other" and live together in peace. Ashrawi, who made clear she does not believe there is any military solution that would be able to resolve this issue, agreed with Barak that some form of unity must be found, but emphasized the solution will necessitate the unbiased participation of the international community to facilitate that process. She specifically noted the strength of the U.S. relationship to Israel -- and the difficult nature that it inherently brings to negotiations -- as well as the disparity in power between Israel and Palestine as the "occupier and the occupied," respectively. While they may have disagreed on the circumstances, attitudes and actions that led to the current conflict, both speakers strongly agreed on the importance of continually striving for some form of peace and resolution for the conflict, noting that the stakes involved extend beyond the Israeli and Palestinian borders and into the broader context of the region as a whole. Ashrawi called peace between Israel and Palestine the "key to stability in the region" and an "antidote" to the destructive and radical trends that have emerged. Despite "old memories," Barak said Israelis and Palestinians will have to work together to find a path forward. Looking out across the packed auditorium and noting that several of the attendees in the crowd had affiliations to one of the two sides themselves, Barak suggested with a smile that the students should get together and discuss the complex issues themselves on Texas A&M's campus. "They can start to negotiate and when they come to a solution, they can propose it to Dr. Ashrawi and myself and we'll decide how to push it from there." AUSTIN, Texas (AP) The Texas agriculture commissioner spent at least $1,120 in taxpayer money to travel to Oklahoma last year. Sid Miller says he made the trip to meet with elected officials, but the Houston Chronicle reported that while there he may have received a "Jesus shot" that supposedly offers long-term relief from pain. Here's a look at the procedure: ___ Q: WHAT IS A "JESUS SHOT?" A: An anti-inflammatory injection that is supposed to reduce chronic pain. It is available only through its developer, Dr. John Michael Lonergan in Oklahoma, and reportedly costs $300. ___ Q: WHO IS LONERGAN? A: In 2004, Lonergan was convicted in Ohio of eight felonies, including health care and mail fraud and tax evasion. His medical license was revoked by that state, and he was sentenced to two years in prison. Lonergan is now licensed to practice medicine in Oklahoma. A 1976 graduate of the University of the Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio, his specialties are pediatrics, anesthesiology and emergency medicine. His medical license lists Lonergan's practice at the Oklahoma Health and Wellness Center in Weatherford, west of Oklahoma City. Calls there were referred to a cellphone belonging to Lonergan's secretary. She did not return messages Tuesday. ___ Q: WHAT'S IN THE SHOT? A: Lonergan has not said. But Mary Schrick, owner of Full Circle Health in Edmond, Oklahoma, which once housed Lonergan's practice, has written that it contains Dexamethasone, Kenalog and vitamin B12. Dexamethasone is a hormone used to treat disorders including arthritis. Kenalog is a brand name for a synthetic anti-inflammatory medication. A B12 deficiency can cause joint pain. Schrick wrote about the procedure in a 2014 issue of Thrive Magazine, a health and wellness periodical where she serves on the board of directors. She reported that the dosage "differs depending on the patient's general health, age, weight, medical history and so on." The administering doctor, she said, performs a "thorough one-hour review" with each patient to rule out allergies and interactions with other medications. ___ Q: WHY IS IT CALLED A "JESUS SHOT"? A: An ordained minister, Schrick wrote that "Jesus shot" is a "term of endearment coined by Dr. Lonergan. He credits Jesus with the idea to combine the ingredients in one injection." She said that her clinic did not use the term and instead referred to the procedure as "inflammation protocol." ___ Q: WHAT DOES IT DO? A: Schrick wrote that the shot has been mischaracterized in the media, saying: "There is no claim that the injection cures pain for life." ___ Q: DOES IT WORK? A: Miller, 60, says he suffers from chronic pain exacerbated by his side career as a rodeo cowboy. He confirmed to the Chronicle that he received the shot but would not say if it came during last year's trip. Asked if it worked, Miller told the newspaper: "I'm not going to share that with you. But it's worked out good." Lyle Kelsey, executive director of the Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision, said in 2014 that the board was working with the state health department and attorney general's office to learn more about the shot. But Reji Varghese, deputy director of the medical board, said Tuesday that no disciplinary action had been taken against Lonergan and that he could not comment beyond that. What was the BBC Trust's response to this absence of evidence for the programme's claims? Its report says, "Cornell University is a highly credible source and it was not necessary to also state that the data had not yet been peer-reviewed or published in order to achieve due accuracy ... the extent to which the audience would either expect, or need to hear about, other factors which might affect the viability of Bt brinjal was limited." This appears to mean that Cornell can say what it likes, the BBC is willing to repeat it as fact, and no scientific or other documented evidence is required. The hapless viewers, with their apparently "limited" expectations, are expected to take it on trust. BBC Trust redefines 'success' The BBC Trust's judgment hinges on a remarkable logical failure: In considering whether BBC Panorama was at fault in not clarifying what was meant by a 90% success, it states that the programme intended the statistic to refer only to the GM crop's ability to resist the fruit and shoot borer caterpillar - "rather than to the success of the crop overall." The BBC is in effect saying that even if the crop as a whole failed due to bacterial wilt or other causes, that's irrelevant to its 'success', as the trial was only to test its resistance to the fruit and shoot borer. In my view this is an extraordinary and indefensible interpretation of the word! Then, in a significant admission, the Trust says it "considered that it would have been preferable had the programme explicitly stated this when it cited the statistic." But then the Trust quickly decides the audience would not have been misled because "the aim of the farm trials was to test the ability of Bt brinjal to resist the fruit and shoot boring caterpillar and thus to reduce the use of harmful pesticides". The Trust adds that even if Panorama's audience had taken the claim of 90% success to refer to the success of the crop overall, BARI had stated that failure for other reasons, such as bacterial wilt, amounted to no more than 10% of the crop. Yet BARI has published no data documenting this claim, which is contradicted by a detailed report by the Bangladeshi research platform UBINIG. UBINIG collected data from 79 - 72% - of the farmers growing Bt brinjal in the second year of cultivation, the same year reported on by Panorama. UBINIG found: "Out of 79 farmers in different districts, 58 (74%) declared that due to the losses they had incurred, they would not cultivate Bt brinjal again in the future. Sixteen (20%) of the farmers said they would do so only if the BARI or the Bangladesh Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) provided all the support. Only one farmer showed an interest in growing Bt brinjal again." Did Bt brinjal require less pesticides? The BBC Trust takes on faith claims that the Bt brinjal crop reduces the use of "harmful pesticides". Lynas goes even further. He features on his blog a picture of a farmer growing Bt brinjal for the third year running - maybe the single farmer identified by UBINIG who was willing to try to the crop for the third year? The photo is captioned, "Farmer Afzal Hossain, of Bangladesh's Rangpur district, is on his third year of successfully cultivating pesticide-free Bt brinjal." (my emphasis). Even the Panorama programme admitted that Bt brinjal farmers used pesticides against pests other than the fruit and shoot borer. But Lynas has airbrushed them out of his caption, with its airy claim of "pesticide-free". Lynas goes on to dig an even deeper hole for himself, effectively accusing me of dishonesty: "It's important also to note that in its complaint GMWatch did not seek to contradict the finding - repeated by Panorama - that applications of potentially toxic pesticides have been dramatically reduced by the cultivation of Bt brinjal. "So let's be clear - anti-GMO activists must know and accept that Bt brinjal reduces insecticides by 80-90% or more, yet they continue to oppose it for ideological reasons despite these clear health, environmental and farmer livelihood benefits demonstrated in Bangladesh. In this case anti-GMO really does equal pro-pesticide." But the evidence backing claims that Bt brinjal has reduced pesticide use at all, let alone by Lynas's figure of 80-90%, is precisely zero. In contrast, UBINIG reports that large amounts of pesticides were used on the crop: "The farmers had to use huge amounts of pesticides recommended by the supervising authorities of BARI and DAE. These included Comfidor, Ektara, Admasar, Dithen M-45, Bavistin, Thiovit, Basudin, Furadan, Borax, Demsa granular, Vim powder, Admire, 200sl (Bayer CropScience), bleach powder, Heckel, Salclox, Diazinon, etc. "There were many other insecticides and fungicides sprayed, as provided by DAE. In the booklet of BARI, organic pesticides such as Neem seeds, Neem oil, powder soap, Trix, and the chemical pesticides Malathion, Omite, and Baviston were suggested for different pest/disease attacks." UBINIG adds that 35 different pesticides, including five banned pesticides, were "sprayed several times in the Bt brinjal fields" on the direction of the supervising officials. UBINIG says that the chemical arsenal was needed to combat a number of pests and diseases that the farmers said plagued Bt brinjal - not just bacterial wilt, which even BARI admitted to, but viruses, fungal infections, insect pests, and mites. The amounts of pesticides sprayed were not recorded by UBINIG. Lynas is correct that I did not include any evidence about pesticides sprayed in my complaint to the BBC. But that was because UBINIG's report hadn't been published at the time I submitted the complaint. I did try to submit UBINIG's pesticides evidence later in the complaints process, but the BBC told me it was too late to add new information. How convenient! As for Lynas's claims that there have been "clear health, environmental and farmer livelihood benefits demonstrated in Bangladesh", again, the evidence for that is non-existent. Toxicity of Bt brinjal The BBC Trust dismissed the findings of the environmental epidemiologist and risk assessment expert Dr Lou Gallagher that Bt brinjal was toxic, based on Monsanto-Mahyco's own data, which Dr Gallagher was able to examine and analyze. The Trust's reason? Dr Gallagher's paper had not been "peer-reviewed or ... published in a recognised scientific journal". Yet, as I made clear to the Trust during the complaints process, the Monsanto-Mahyco safety data that Dr Gallagher analyzed were also not peer-reviewed and published in a journal, and neither are most industry safety data on most commercialized GMOs, at least at the time of commercialization. Neither were any of the claims made for Bt brinjal's success in Bangladesh - repeated in the Panorama programme and during the complaints process - peer-reviewed and published in a journal. In a clear example of unscientific double standards, the BBC Trust chose to disregard the lack of peer-reviewed and published status for all promotional claims in support of Bt brinjal, yet used the lack of such status as an excuse to dismiss a report that cast doubt on the GM crop's safety. Peer-reviewed paper in the works? The BBC Trust notes that their Adviser during the complaints process "had been given access to a draft of the scientific paper which is being prepared by BARI for publication in a scientific journal on condition that its detailed content remained confidential." The Trust continues: "The Committee noted the guidance from the Adviser that whilst the draft paper did not include data analysing overall crop failure or concerning the performance of Bt brinjal in the marketplace, it did include detail about overall profit. "The Committee was given to understand that the draft paper recorded significant cost advantage to farmers resulting from the reduction in the use of pesticides, and labour to apply them, which would usually account for 30 per cent of the overall cost of production." This is an intriguing detail. This unpublished and non-peer-reviewed paper, which apparently was sufficient to lay to rest any remaining doubts in the BBC Trust's collective mind about the success of Bt brinjal, doesn't look at overall crop failure or attractiveness in the marketplace - arguably the key points for any farmer considering growing it. However it does allege reduction in pesticide use. So will the paper address the evidence uncovered by UBINIG about the long list of pesticides supplied to spray on the crop in "huge amounts" under the direction of the supervising officials? And does the claim in the draft paper of "reduction in the use of pesticides, and labour to apply them" have anything to do with the situation as reported by UBINIG: "According to the farmers, most of the time, the [BARI and government] officials took care of the plants themselves as they had to show a good performance"? This supervision, according to UBINIG, even included replacing dead plants with live ones - actions that would preclude acceptance of any data on Bt brinjal's performance by any reputable scientific journal. And if the farmers did enjoy reduced costs for pesticides, as claimed by the draft paper, was this because BARI and government officials provided the pesticides free of charge to the farmers, as well as fertilizers, which, according to UBINIG, were applied indiscriminately to the Bt brinjal fields? Whom to believe? The reader could be forgiven for concluding that when it comes to judging the success or otherwise of Bt brinjal in Bangladesh, it's just the word of a United News of Bangladesh journalist and UBINIG against the BBC Panorama team and its chosen sources. How do we know whom to believe? For myself, I have found the Bangladeshi reports more convincing than the accounts of the BBC and its allies, for the following reasons: They emanate from within Bangladesh, rather than British and US interests; Their reports are far more detailed, often naming individual farmers so that claims can be checked; In many cases, photographs and direct quotes have been supplied as supporting evidence; The reports' authors would have nothing to gain and a great deal to lose from making false statements about the Bt brinjal venture, which enjoys support at the highest political level in Bangladesh and the US. However, even the most skeptical observer would surely agree that the very existence of such contradictory reports begs for rigorous and independent scientific investigation, not the propaganda wash that is being served up by the BBC and Lynas. Unfortunately it seems that no such investigation has been conducted and now it is too late, since the second year crops have long been removed from the fields. BBC Trust: 'both cheerleader and regulator' In its investigation into the BBC Panorama programme on GM crops, the BBC Trust decided that BBC programme makers have done nothing wrong. There's no surprise there, especially as an independent review of the governance and regulation of the BBC published earlier this year concluded, "The BBC Trust model is flawed". The report's author, former deputy governor of the Bank of England Sir David Clementi, explained the fatal conflict of interest at the heart of the BBC Trust: "The BBC Trust ... brings together in the Trust Board both governance responsibilities for the BBC and regulatory responsibilities. They do not sit comfortably together. It is for this reason that the Trust is both cheerleader and regulator ... Not surprisingly, best practice requires regulator and regulatee to be in different legal entities." [my emphasis] Even the BBC Trust chair Rona Fairhead agreed with this proposal: "Sir David Clementi proposes a strong BBC board and a strong external regulator - a change we have argued for." I couldn't have put it better myself. How reliable is Mark Lynas? When it comes to matters GMO, Lynas has been repeatedly exposed as having a troubled relationship with the truth. His statements on GMO safety were termed "unscientific, illogical and absurd" by genetic engineer Dr Belinda Martineau. And his inflated claims about his former role in the anti-GMO movement have been denounced as "not true" by leaders of the environmental movement. So why are we treated to his effusions on GMOs on a regular basis, as if he is some sort of expert? As Dr Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist for the Center for Food Safety, commented, "It's amazing to me how much credibility that guy has been able to develop just by carrying water for the industry." Courtesy of the world's richest man, Bill Gates, Lynas now has a position at Cornell, as part of the controversial Cornell Alliance for Science. This allows Lynas to do paid promotion of GMOs "to the exclusion of almost everything else". So was I - and my Bangladeshi sources - wrong on Bt brinjal? And are the BBC and Mark Lynas trusted authorities on the topic? You decide. Claire Robinson is an editor at GMWatch. This article is co-published on GMWatch. Also on The Ecologist: There is supposedly a 'consensus' that GMOs are safe: but even if such 'consensus' were real, there is a risk-asymmetry: 80% consensus that a plane is safe is entirely insufficient for us to let it fly. Indeed the FAA standard is > 99.999 %. On the other hand, a mere 20% consensus that human-triggered climate change is real would be plenty for us to really worry about. For science, against risky technologies We allegedly know enough about genetics to know that GMOs are safe. But Rule 101 of complex systems is that one cannot understand a macroscopic system by appeal to its components in isolation. Without careful controlled and independent long-term study at (e.g.) the organismal and ecological scales, it is incorrect to claim the GMOs have in general been shown to be safe. We allegedly need GM agriculture to feed the world: But, in spite of much-trumpeted claims, no clear difference in yield has been established; to the contrary, if one takes into account weed resistance treadmill effects. There is no logical necessity for G agriculture as problem-solver: GMOs are not a 'science' but the products of a technology; and upward of 99% of technologies fail. It is thus logically erroneous to claim that if one takes climate change science seriously then one must take genetic engineering seriously: genetic engineering is to the science of genetics as geo-engineering is to the science of climate change. Taking the latter seriously obviously does not commit one to favouring the widespread actual introduction (let alone the heavy funding and promotion) of the former. Hunger is largely caused by limitations in distribution, not in production. Other agricultural research can and should be done that generates less risk and bring us closer to sustainable solutions: agroecology, for example. If you are skeptical about GMOs you are (said to be) 'anti-science'. But the truth is that the GMO problem hinges on rigorous risk-analysis - a topic out of the standard job definition of most scientists. In any case, as indicated above, GM is properly a technology, a form of engineering, not a science itself. It must be up to society to decide which technologies to adopt: cries of "Anti-science!" are designed to terminate that project of decision-making prematurely, and to impose technocratic unwisdom from above instead. Precautionary thinking - because the outcomes matter! Transgenic techniques are allegedly a 'more precise' extension of other breeding techniques: but transgenic synthesis is qualitatively distinct from mutation and breeding processes. They map to completely different statistical mechanisms and generate different risk profiles. And moreover, it is a false opposition to paint opponents of GM as necessarily supporters of (e.g.) mutation by radiation. What the Precautionary Principle - as presented by Read, Taleb et al, and as adopted now by the Philippines Supreme Court - enjoins is the requirement to search for a solution that is not potentially ruinous. Such solutions are available (e.g. agroecology; seed-saving and the using of the immensity of already-available-varieties; etc). GE Crops have been around almost 20 years. That's a long time, some might say. But moving from 0% to nearly 100% GE in major cultivars such as corn in a 15-20 years' time period is much too rapid an adoption rate to be able to rigorously assess the impact of adoption. And to claim that 'GMOs are safe' based on lack of evidence of harm in some GMOs is a generalization similar to saying 'all drugs are safe because aspirin is safe' - itself a highly arguable proposition. It took much, much longer than this to discover the dangers of cigarettes and transfats, risks that are local and much more visible than those of GMOs. On the scale of nature and ecology, 20 years is a pitifully short time. Now is the moment in human history to raise our gaze to include much much longer time-spans. Human beings tend to be hopelessly short-termist, especially when pressed by institutional factors such as quarterly profit reports. The GM issue calls upon us all to become genuinely long-termist, and to think precautiously - if we care enough to want to stick around for the genuinely long term, that is. It is encouraging to see a Supreme Court recognising this, and leading the way toward a newer less reckless attitude toward our common future. Perhaps their example will be picked up: especially once the realisation spreads of how there is solid philosophy undermining the claim that the evidence which purports to show that GM is safe is statistically significant. For that claim is precisely what our precautionary reasoning undermines. Rupert Read is Reader in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia, and Chair of Green House. Author's note: Thanks to Nassim Taleb for material which has greatly helped in the construction of this article. Eco Oro's original plan was for an open-pit mine, which was denied by the environmental ministry thanks to an organized campaign by environmentalists. Denied a permit, Eco Oro then began plans for an underground mine, and received $16.8 million in financing from the World Bank to fund a new study. The environmental ministry subsequently declared the area a protected region, rendering illegal any mine. The final chance to open a mine was ended when the Constitutional Court ruled in February 2016. The mining company has declared Colombia "in breach" of its obligations and notified Bogota of its intention to sue if a negotiated settlement can't be reached. Eco Oro issued a public statement that said, in part: "The dispute has arisen out of the Government's measures and omissions, which have directly impacted the rights granted to Eco Oro to explore and exploit its Angostura Project. The measures and omissions that have affected Eco Oro include (without limitation) the Government's unreasonable delay in clarifying the limits of the Santurban Paramo and whether it overlapped with the Angostura Project and its persistent failure to provide clarity as to Eco Oro's right to continue developing its mining project in light of further undefined requirements and later as a consequence of the Constitutional Court's decision of February 8, 2016, which has broadened the prohibition of mining activities in paramo areas." To use more direct language, the company declares it should be allowed to destroy environments for unlimited profit-making. Colombia's high-altitude wetlands provide 70% of the country's fresh water, so protecting them is hardly unreasonable. But 'free trade' agreements elevate corporations to the level of a national government (or, arguably, above national governments because only corporations have the right to sue) and elevate private profits above all other human concerns. Giving with one hand, taking with the other A commentary in Naked Capitalism notes the irony of the World Bank funding destructive projects at the same time Western governments are encouraging environmental measures to mitigate global warming. The commentator, Don Quijones, writes: "[W]hile vast sums of Western taxpayer funds are pouring into Colombia to encourage it to protect its environment, Western corporations - with full backing from the World Bank - are doing all they can to prevent the government from safeguarding its environment, including the water supply its people depend on." Earlier this month, the World Bank declared it would make a "fundamental shift" by now diverting money to projects that will ameliorate global warming, and claiming that all its future investments would take climate change into account. Disbelief would be justified here, considering the World Bank's record of financing massive projects that pollute and contribute greatly to global warming, and that the bank, in 2012, issued a report sounding an alarm against global warming to no noticeable effect. But that World Bank report was a feat of monumental hypocrisy, and not simply because it called for shifting of money toward 'green capitalism' initiatives - in other words, the same runaway train that has brought the world to the brink of catastrophic global warming is supposed to now magically save the world. The World Bank has provided billions of dollars to finance new coal plants around the world in the recent years and repeatedly has provided capital to make possible dams and energy projects that have displaced large numbers of people and disrupted ecosystems. Mining company says national park is 'fraudulent' The other case filed against Colombia, by the US mining company Tobie Mining and Energy, claims that the country's government has "expropriated" its investment and that the creating a national park is "fraudulent". Tobie claims that the Colombian government (then headed by hard-right authoritarian Alvaro Uribe, whom the company extravagantly praises on its web site) granted approval for its proposed mine in 2008, but before a final agreement could be reached, a national park was created, blocking the mine. Tobie demands $16.5 billion or to be allowed to go ahead with its gold mine, but does not explain how it calculates what it claims to be the "fair value" of the mining concession. The entire value of all gold exported from Colombia in 2014 (latest figures available) was $1.4 billion, according to the World Bank - considerably less than the value of coffee exported. The value of Eco Oro's disallowed mine is also subject to question, as a Canadian Parliament report on trade estimates the value of Colombian "energy and other" products imported to Canada to be C$280 million. The World Bank secret tribunal that will hear Eco Oro's suit against Colombia (formally known as the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID) has a long history of one-sided, pro-corporate rulings. The latest of these, on April 4, was a decision that Venezuela must pay the Canadian mining company Crystallex International US$1.4 billion for denying a permit on environmental grounds. The area Crystallex wanted to mine is one of only four pristine forests in Venezuela and home to several Indigenous peoples. Among other decisions handed down, Canada was forced to reverse its ban of the gasoline additive MMT and pay compensation to a US chemical company; Mexico was forced to grant a permit to a US metal company that wanted to site an environmentally dangerous waste dump and pay compensation; and Canada was required to reverse a transport ban on PCBs that had conformed to environmental treaties. In this last case, for good measure, the secret tribunal ruled that, when formulating an environmental rule, a government "is obliged to adopt the alternative that is most consistent with open trade." That last ruling provides the essence of 'free trade' agreements - the accumulation of corporate power to override all democratic controls over health, safety, environmental or labor safeguards. And as awful as these decisions are, worse is what would await us should the Trans-Pacific or Transatlantic partnerships go through as those agreements promise even more draconian rules than the ones already in place. Petition: 'Keep this US mining company out of Colombia's Amazon!' by SumOfUs. Pete Dolack is an activist, writer, poet and photographer, and writes on Systemic Disorder. His forthcoming book 'It's Not Over: Lessons from the Socialist Experiment', a study of attempts to create societies on a basis other than capitalism, has just been published by Zero Books. This article was originally published on Systemic Disorder. FRANKFORT, Ky. House and Senate negotiators finally reached agreement Thursday morning on a 2016-18 state budget that will infuse the states troubled pension funds with more than a billion new dollars but slash funding for state universities by 4.5 percent. The agreement capped three weeks of bumpy on-again, off-again bargaining sessions and came barely in time to allow the House and Senate to vote on the budget bill on Friday - which will be the last day of the 2016 legislative session. The deal was announced by House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, and Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, at about 2:45 a.m. Thursday. Each predicted the agreement will pass the House and Senate on Friday. "It is an adequate and effective blend, I believe, of the priorities contained in both the governor's recommendation, the House budget and the Senate budget," Stumbo said. Stivers said, "I would agree with that. We have a strong contribution to the pension systems, a healthy budget reserve trust fund, and it sets forth the priorities of both chambers with some input from the executive branch." Gov. Matt Bevin thanked Stivers, Stumbo, and other legislators on the conference committee for hammering out a deal. "For the first time in decades we can say that Kentucky is investing in our pension system in a meaningful way," Bevin said in a statement. The budget is state government's $22 billion spending plan for the two-year period beginning July 1. Bevin framed the budget debate in January by proposing a budget that called major outlays of new money to pension systems but cut funding to universities and most state agencies by 9 percent to help come up with the money for pensions. The House, controlled by a Democratic majority, rejected the cuts to universities and restored that funding. SHARE By Bruce Schreiner, Associated Press Prepaid cellphone customers in Kentucky will pay an extra fee to support local 911 emergency services under a bill signed into law on Wednesday by Gov. Matt Bevin. Another measure gaining the governor's signature will sweeten economic incentives aimed at swaying AK Steel to rejuvenate idled operations at its Ashland steel mill. Bevin had a Wednesday deadline to take action on stacks of legislation passed by the General Assembly before lawmakers took their extended veto-period break. The Republican governor has signed dozens of measures in recent days. Several bills drew gubernatorial vetoes. They included a revenue measure that contained language aimed at returning coal-severance-tax revenues to coal-producing counties. Lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene for the final day of this year's regular session on Friday, when they have the option of trying to override any vetoes. The bill supporting 911 systems means that prepaid cellphone customers will pay an extra fee of 93 cents every time they purchase minutes. Retailers would collect the fee at the point of sale beginning Jan. 1, 2017, and remit the money to the state. Bevin spokeswoman Jessica Ditto said Wednesday that the measure represents "an important step toward protecting public safety access across the commonwealth." "Going forward, we will continue to look for other ways to enhance 911 operations, including encouraging consolidation and other methods of improving public safety in a cost-effective manner," she said in a statement. Local governments pay for 911 services with a fee imposed on landline phones. The state imposes a fee on cellphones. But because of a problem with the formula, prepaid phone customers have not been paying the full fee. State officials say the problem has cost local governments about $2 million a year. Meanwhile, northeastern Kentucky lawmakers championed the bill sweetening the economic development offer to AK Steel. It's a response to the company temporarily idling its blast furnace at the Ashland mill putting hundreds out of work because of competition from imported steel. The measure will extend existing economic development incentives and offer new incentives that AK Steel could draw upon if it met investment and employment benchmarks in resuming the mill operations at Ashland. "We hope that's incentive enough," Rep. Lew Nicholls, D-Greenup, said Wednesday. Bevin expressed a commitment to work with AK Steel executives and regional leaders to "navigate the current economic challenges" with the goal of resuming mill operations. Other bills signed by Bevin in recent days will authorize use of public-private partnerships for mega-dollar transportation work and other projects; set timelines to speed up testing of rape kits; establish a statewide definition of school bullying; and allow visitors to sip cocktails and purchase more whiskey during distillery tours. The revenue bill vetoed recently by Bevin would have cost the state tens of millions in annual tax receipts. Besides the coal severance tax provision, it also included tax breaks for livestock producers and parents contributing to college savings funds for their children. "Given the overall financial condition of the commonwealth and its massive unfunded pension liabilities, now is not the time to pass additional tax expenditures, however meritorious each provision may be," Bevin wrote in his veto message. Another vetoed bill sought to update guidelines for judges when ordering child support. Bevin's veto message said he agreed that higher-earning parents should face increased payments, but he objected to another section providing "an option for parents to have zero financial responsibility for the raising of their children." "This is completely unacceptable," he said. SHARE By Erin Schmitt of The Gleaner Xakhary Abercrombie was born without irises. The 14-year-old with Union County ties needs prosthetic irises to preserve and regain functional sight. Last fall, the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Morganfield successfully established the Million Pennies Campaign to raise funds for him. So far, they have raised about $13,000. Brainstorming ways to raise more money, the group kicked around the idea of an indoor corn hole tournament. That idea grew into the Tri-State Spring Fling Xakhary's Fight for Sight, which will be held Saturday at the Union County Fairgrounds in Sturgis and feature multiple family-friendly events. "Xakhary's a great kid," said his event co-organizer David Russell, who is also the teen's cousin. "He's quite, polite and just a great kid all around. His mom and dad raised him right." Xakhary attends the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville, as did his parents, Roger and Heather Abercrombie, both of whom also were born without irises. The prosthetics he needs are not cheap. It will cost about $30,000 for the irises to be made in Cincinnati. Two separate surgeries will be needed and each procedure will span eight to nine months. "We more or less wanted to keep it a kid-friendly event so parents could bring their kids and kids would have something fun to do," said Russell. The event is billed as the Tri-State Spring Fling because the Fraternal Order of Eagles wants to continue the event every year, but for different children in need. "This year it is Xakhary's Fight for Sight, next year it might be a fight for another kid in Evansville or Henderson," said Russell. "We want to help other kids throughout the Tri-State. We want to get the word out so we can help out other kids. We want the whole Tri-State to participate in what we are doing." The gates will open at 7 a.m. Here's a look at the activities and start times: 5K: Registration for the 5K Fun Run sponsored by The Living Room on Main Street will begin at 8 a.m. with the race to begin at 9 a.m. The cost is $15 for timed runners. Sign-up forms are also available at The Living Room at the corner of Main and Court streets in downtown Morganfield. Cruise 'N Car Show: The show includes trucks, motorcycles and big trucks. Registration begins at 9 a.m. and costs $15. The show will be from noon to 3 p.m., with prizes given away at the end. Tri-State Corn Hole Tournament: The tournament starts at 10 a.m. Registration ended Sunday. The FOE will pay out 50 percent of the money raised for corn hole to the top four finishers. Poker Run: Wicked Webbs Riding Club is sponsoring the poker run. Registration starts at 10 a.m. and includes a meal. The event starts at 11 a.m. The fee is $15 for single and $20 for double riders. Call Dustin "Froggy" Webb at 270-952-2088 or David "Bonez" Webb at 270-823-7172 for more information. Craft and Direct Sales Vendor Show: Vendors will have booths open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Silent Auction: A four-day, three-night cruise to the Bahamas will be auctioned off. The silent auction will be held throughout the day, with the winner announced at 3 p.m. Raffle: Several items will be raffled off. All the participating vendors were asked to donate one item for the raffle. The drawing will be at 3 p.m. Half pot: There will be a half pot throughout the day. Tickets are $1 a piece, $5 for six or $20 for 32. Live Music: The band Glastone will begin playing at 3:30 p.m. Event T-shirts: T-shirts will be for sale on Saturday. The shirts will be sold for $15 for short sleeve, $20 for long sleeve and $25 for hoodies. Kids activities: There will be two bounce houses, face painting and a petting zoo for children. There will also be carnival games. Food: Drinks and food will be sold at concessions throughout the day. SHARE In a recent visit to Eastern Kentucky University, Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton voiced a central tenet of the tea party wing of the Republican Party, best summed up as: I've got mine; you're on your own. Like so many who espouse an anti-government form of rugged individualism, Hampton seems blissfully unaware of how much she has benefited from opportunities provided by others, mainly taxpayers. And now that she's climbed the ladder of opportunity, she seems to want to pull it up behind her. In defending Gov. Matt Bevin's cuts to higher education during an interview with The Eastern Progress, Hampton said: "But if you say college is a right, what you're saying is somebody must provide that. The taxpayers must provide that. Those of us who go to work must give part of their earnings to put you through college, and I disagree with that. It is not a right, it is a privilege." In the same interview, Hampton, without a hint of self irony, recounted how she worked her way through college with help from "grants and scholarships and later the GI Bill." Hampton, 57, earned her undergraduate degree at Wayne State University, a public university that voters brought into Michigan's system of taxpayer-supported higher education in 1959, the year after Hampton was born. She served seven years in the Air Force also supported by taxpayers becoming a computer systems officer and gaining experience that boosted her later career in the corrugated packaging industry. She earned an MBA with help from the taxpayer-supported GI Bill. Her advice to students' worried about spiraling tuition: "There are other schools. You know, let's inject some competition in there. If you guys decided, 'hey you know what I think the tuition is too high here,' and if enough people decided tuition was too high and started actually shopping your dollars, what do you think will happen? Tuition comes down." The students explained that Kentucky has no four-year colleges with lower costs than Eastern. Hampton, who ran unsuccessfully for the legislature in 2014, also seems uninformed about Kentucky's education status, saying "not only are we low on the totem poll in education but when we are ... getting standardized testing on a national level we're not making par. And so, those scholarships and stuff are out of reach for some students in rural areas, because they are not able to make the grades that they need because of the history of education." In fact, Kentucky's fourth- and eighth-graders outperform their peers nationally in reading and science on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Kentucky teens are graduating from high school at above the national rate and going on to college at almost the national rate though too many leave before graduating. A little over a generation ago, Kentucky was at the bottom educationally. But the legislature enacted ambitious reforms and a penny increase in the sales tax that propelled young Kentuckians into the nation's mainstream a gain that's at risk of being lost because Kentucky keeps cutting education. Hampton advised students to seek a degree in an area where graduates are in demand, saying, " I would not be studying history." If she did study history, she would learn that this country's middle class and many of the 20th century's great scientific and technological breakthroughs were built on taxpayer support for higher education. This editorial was written by the Lexington Herald-Leader. SHARE Bernie Sanders can still win the Democratic presidential nomination but it's going to take a miracle. Actually, several miracles. He'll need to win the primary next week in New York, where polls show him running well behind Hillary Clinton. Then he'll need to win most of the mid-Atlantic states, including Pennsylvania. And he'll need to win big in California and New Jersey in June; small margins of victory won't give him the number of delegates he needs to overtake Clinton's substantial lead. That's not a conspiracy; it's just arithmetic. And that's OK. This is a case where coming close will still count for something. From the beginning of his improbable run, Sanders has had two goals in mind. One was to become the Democratic nominee; the other was to build a grass-roots movement that could bring about a "political revolution" from the left. Sanders and his supporters haven't given up on the first goal. But they're also running his campaign with that second, longer-term goal firmly in mind. Last week, a voter in New York asked the Vermont senator what he would do if he doesn't win. Most candidates would have batted the query away. Sanders said: "That is a wonderful question." "Obviously, our hope and expectation is that we are going to win," he said on NBC's "Today" show. "But that's a fair question. We have brought out and seen so much excitement from young people who want to make our country a better place." If the nomination is lost, he said, "we will continue that revolution." The first step in the event of a loss is using the convention as an organizing event for progressives. Some supporters have talked of an "inside-outside" strategy at the Philadelphia convention, with Sanders delegates pressing their case inside the hall while pro-Sanders demonstrators march outside. They hope to get some of Sanders' positions included in the Democratic Party platform, including planks on banning corporate donations to super PACs, renegotiating existing free trade agreements and breaking up the country's biggest banks. Clinton has already responded to the energy on her party's left by tacking in Sanders' direction on several issues. She now opposes President Obama's proposed trade agreement with Asian countries, a pact she initially promoted. She also changed course to oppose the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas, although she was never firmly in favor. And she has proposed stricter regulations on big banks and other financial institutions, a plan she argues is tougher than Sanders' proposal to break up the nation's largest banks. (Sanders disagrees.) If Clinton wins the nomination, Sanders has said he will endorse her and urge his supporters to vote for the Democratic ticket. But he will also try to turn his campaign into a more durable movement to move the Democratic Party to the left. "This campaign is changing people's lives and changing everyone's idea of what's possible," Sanders's top technologist, Zack Exley, told The Nation magazine. "No matter what happens, people are going to keep fighting for the political revolution that Bernie helped all of us start. What's more, these organizing teams, structures, and processes won't have to be reinvented. They will live on. This revolution is only just getting started." We've heard that song before. In 2004, insurgent candidate Howard Dean tried to turn his campaign into a progressive movement, Democracy for America, with negligible results. In 2008, President Obama's campaign staff tried to remake their grass-roots network into something called Organizing for America, but that effort failed completely. Could this time be different? Progressive organizers, an eternally optimistic cadre, say they think so. "This movement is here to stay," argues Ben Wikler of MoveOn.org. "Sanders could turn out to be, for progressives, what [Barry] Goldwater was for conservatives in 1964. Goldwater lost, but he paved the way for Ronald Reagan 16 years later. We don't want to wait that long." Harold Meyerson, editor of the American Prospect, thinks they may be right, mainly because the economy's failure to increase middle-class incomes has pushed so many voters especially young voters to look for new answers. He noted that a 2012 Gallup Poll found that 53 percent of Democrats said they had a positive view of socialism and that was before Sanders ran for president. "Bernie Sanders' campaign didn't create a new America left," Meyerson wrote recently. "It revealed it." Even if their candidate falls short in the next few primaries, Sanders voters shouldn't give up in despair. Their votes will still count, because the final score will matter not only for this presidential campaign, but the next one. McVey family expands by hosting Burlington Bees baseball players McVey says hosting Burlington Bees players has been an enriching experience for his family Faster loading time (lower bounce rates from) A faster loading ensures that your site visitors don't leave your site when it starts to load for too long. Guaranteed dedicated resources Bandwidth, memory, CPU power, storage of up to 200 GB SSD Storage, NVMe. 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Another reason might be a lack of technical knowledge, making VPS servers harder to set up, manage, and secure. But thats why managed VPS hosting is such a good choice. NORWALK -- With an unveiling ceremony this Sunday, the name "Pastor Sadie Miles Way" will be given to the stretch of Berkeley Street between Elm Street and West Avenue. Beloved by her congregation, Pastor Miles is the founder of House of Prophecies and Prayer, a Pentecostal church that moved to Berkeley Street in 1992 after twenty years in a Stamford storefront. She is also the founder of another parish in her native Williamston, N.C. Between the two parishes Miles ministers to about a thousand people. "I am so humbled and elated. Just thinking about it brings tears," Miles said of the upcoming ceremony in her honor. "It's overpowering for me." The honorary renaming of the street is the result of two and a half years of work on the part of Miles' parishioners. "We're so excited," said Jackie Linton, a Bridgeport resident who has been a member of Miles' congregation for 23 years. "She has contributed and helped so many people. At 84 years old, you think she might want to slow down, but no. Pastor Miles is just so active in her community." Three decades ago, Miles moved north from Williamston to become a live-in nanny in Port Chester, N.Y. "When I was a little girl, always a force would talk to me and say, 'You have to leave here. Don't stay in this town. And I thank God I didn't, because it's a very poor town. Everything is going down, people are so sad, they're dying," said Miles, who now lives in Cranbury. "God sent me here to meet the right people." After a stint as a caretaker in the home of '60 Minutes' creator Don Hewitt, Miles went to school for nursing and discovered she had a gift for healing. "People have come out of comas," Miles told The Hour. "People go into a deep coma, and they call me, and God tells me, 'Go to their ear and call them.' I say, 'Do you want to come out? Do you hear me? Open your eyes.'" "Love is a powerful gift," Miles added. "Love is when you go to a hospital and visit someone, and they don't have to be your relative, but you cry for them." "That was my speed, because I love people," Miles said of her work caring for the sick and elderly. "Then God showed me how to get established in Him." Miles founded House of Prophecies and Prayer in her Stamford living room. Her original congregation consisted of a friend, a sister and a niece. Through the tireless work of Miles and her followers, the parish grew to its present size of around 500 active members of all ages. Some members travel from as far away as Patterson, N.Y., to attend. "They come here every Sunday," Miles said. "You know you don't come all those miles for nothing!" The Williamston, N.C. parish of House of Prophecies and Prayer was founded by a reluctant Miles after spotting a building for sale in her hometown during a trip to visit her mother. "I didn't want a parish there, but God led me to do that," Miles told The Hour. "I was riding by, and there was a big store. It said, 'For Sale.'" Donations poured in, the building was purchased and the Williamston parish continues to thrive. "It's a beautiful church, and now I understand why God wanted me to have it there," Miles said. Once or twice a year, the Norwalk congregation visits the North Carolina congregation, traveling by double-decker bus. "We fill the hotels up," Miles said, laughing. "People get so excited, eating country food." By petitioning the Common Council, Miles' congregation won the right to add honorary signs at either end of the Berkeley Street block where the church is located. Previous ordinances had only allowed streets to be renamed for deceased people. "We had thousands of people in Norwalk that signed petitions," Jackie Linton told The Hour. "It was our application that brought up the vote that changed the ordinance." Linton is overjoyed that Miles will be able to attend the April 17 unveiling ceremony, which will take place at the church at 2 Berkeley St., followed by a ceremony and dinner at the Inn at Longshore in Westport. "That's what makes this so emotional for us all, that we can share this with her, at 84 years old," Linton said. "People are so passionate about her, and she did so much for people in Norwalk." Linton has experienced firsthand the power of Miles' teachings. Before a friend introduced her to Miles, Linton said, she was "suicidal." "I didn't know what to do with my own life," Linton told The Hour. "Twenty three years later, I'm a totally different person." "She helped change my life, so since then I was able to purchase my own home and get a good job," Linton added. "(Pastor Miles) helped me to put away the things that were happening with me, because someone believed in me. She was a person who helped me to develop instead of, you know, going another way." Miles' daughter, Jessie Pirro of Norwalk, said her mother helped nurture her lifelong faith. Growing up in Miles' household "was wonderful, because she instilled values in us and taught us how to love God with all our heart," Pirro said. "In her life, the way she carried herself, it really taught me how to serve God with all my heart." At 84, Miles remains energetically involved in life at her church. "I love it. God gives me the energy," Miles told The Hour. "They can't keep up with me, see? It's only because I love God's people. I go in prayer when he tells me to go." "I am a person that loves everybody," Miles added. "Love is something that one has to feel, not hear." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WILTON -- Many Wilton residents were left to wonder what the latest cuts to the state's budget meant for their hometown after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy released his second budget proposal Tuesday. With questions abounding and answers hard to come by, state Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, took to the town to grab coffee with her constituents and respond to some of their concerns. "We've hit the point that, for years, we've been saying that we would hit as a state. The point where we can no longer ignore the financial realities, and so now we're at the point where things are just getting slashed all over the place, which was inevitable," Lavielle said to the dozen locals who attended the meeting at Orem's Diner early Wednesday morning. For these concerned voters, one of the most alarming aspects of Malloy's revised budget was the proposed cuts to state services -- particularly its funding of Connecticut public schools. Under Malloy's proposed budget, the state would slash its contributions to a number of local school districts via the Education Cost Sharing grant. While this doesn't spell doom for all of the state's towns and cities, municipalities like Wilton, Westport, New Canaan, Weston and Ridgefield would no longer receive any ECS funds. This is especially difficult for towns because many are already well underway in preparing their own budgets, most of which were constructed under the auspice that the state's ECS funds would continue to flow. "This is definitely putting towns and cities in a bad spot. Towns like Wilton and Westport are already very, very far along in the budget process, so it's unfair to spring this on them with such short notice, because all the calculations, all the assumptions, all the public hearing and all the everything, was done without this in mind," said Lavielle, whose position as the House ranking member of the General Assembly's Education Committee gives her a unique perspective on the matter. While Wilton had expected funding to be tight since Malloy's original budget proposed a reduction of $603,000 for Wilton, many residents were surprised when his second proposal slashed the ECS funding for the town in its entirety. "Realistically, why should wealthy towns engage in any sharing at all? It's just taking from us to give back to us, and it just seems very inefficient," said Wilton resident James Andersen. Since the program was established in 1989, ECS grants have been the largest source state aid for Connecticut elementary and secondary schools. According to the state Department of Education's Division of Finance and Internal Operations, ECS funds accounted for well over 50 percent of the state's total contribution to public schools. For Wilton, which is projecting a Board of Education budget of nearly $81 million for the upcoming fiscal year, this cut would result in the loss of about $1.5 million in state funds. While the budget cuts aren't drastic relative to the rest of the budget, the attending Wilton residents recognize that every cent matters. "Over the last budget deliberations in Wilton, it's the outsized education budget that many people have been taking a long, hard look at, and these latest developments certainly don't help," said Frank Wong, a member of the town's Planning and Zoning Commission. Although Lavielle said on an optimistic note that Malloy's latest proposal is unlikely to resemble anything close to the finished tproduct, she also admited that anything canhappen before now and the close of the state legislative session on May 4. Gelato, smoothies, pizza and more: Check out the newest in Bucks' eats These new Bucks County dining spots are serving up everything from gelato, pastries and pizza to green smoothies, cold-pressed juices and acai bowls. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Interim Chancellor Stephen Hansen has appointed Rich Walker as interim vice chancellor for administration. The appointment is contingent upon SIU Board of Trustees approval. Walker steps into the role as Vice Chancellor for Administration (VCA) Kenn Neher has announced his intention to retire at the end of May 2016. Walker currently serves as the assistant vice chancellor for administration for planning and budgeting, a position to which he was appointed in 2001. Rich will serve as interim vice chancellor through the 2016-17 academic year and until the new chancellor concludes a successful search for a permanent replacement, Hansen said. Rich has worked at SIUE since 1986 and is an active member of the Edwardsville community. He will provide critical leadership for the University during this important time of transition. Within his current responsibilities, Walker provides leadership to the SIUE community and to the VCA directors in matters related to long-range facility planning and budget development. He has been responsible for the development of the Universitys annual capital RAMP budget and the development, submission and implementation of the VCA functional area budget. My wife, Missy, and I came to SIUE expecting to stay five years and move on that was 30 years ago, Walker said. I enjoy our University atmosphere and have developed an excellent rapport with colleagues and friends throughout the campus, the SIU system and the community. I look forward to continuing to work with many talented people to provide the best services and facilities to support our students, faculty and staff. Among his many responsibilities during his career, Walker served as the coordinator of the Arts & Issues Series. A variety of additional roles included serving on the Alumni Association Jazz East Festival advisory committee; campus programming council; Olympic Festival public affairs committee; housing strike force; distance learning facilities evaluation team; peace and justice committee; and logistics section chief for the National Incident Management System at SIUE. Walker has served in many leadership roles in academic and professional organizations, including the SIUE Chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Leadership St. Louis and the Scott Air Force Base Military Affairs Committee for Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois. In addition, he was recognized with the Carol Kimmel Community Service Award for Faculty and Staff in 2005. In the Edwardsville community, Walker served on the City Council for 16 years and was chair of the finance committee, public services committee, the administrative services committee, task force on technology, Wildey Theatre development committee and represented SIUE on the Citys public safety facilities planning committee. Walker earned a masters from SIUE and a bachelors from Indiana State University. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville provides students with a high quality, affordable education that prepares them for successful careers and lives of purpose. Built on the foundation of a broad-based liberal education, and enhanced by hands-on research and real-world experiences, the academic preparation SIUE students receive equips them to thrive in the global marketplace and make our communities better places to live. Situated on 2,660 acres of beautiful woodland atop the bluffs overlooking the natural beauty of the Mississippi Rivers rich bottomland and only a short drive from downtown St. Louis, the SIUE campus is home to a diverse student body of more than 14,000. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hendro Fujiono and Matt Shepherd (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 14, 2016 Since independence, Indonesia has focused on the non-renewable resource sectors to build its economy. However, as the global economic landscape shifts, Indonesias ability to rely on low-cost, non-renewable resources for sustained growth has ended. Tourism is one of the new sectors that needs to contribute more to economic growth for Indonesia to establish itself as an influential regional player. Indonesian tourism is set to explode over the remainder of the decade with annual foreign tourist arrivals hoped to double to 20 million in 2019, up from 9.4 million in 2014. This year, Indonesia expects 12 million foreign tourist arrivals, with estimated foreign exchange earnings of US$13 billion. The amount equals approximately $1,100 per tourist. This poses opportunities for both Indonesia and travel-friendly countries like Australia. Australian residents love to travel. According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian citizens made 9.2 million short-term trips (defined as less than one year) to foreign countries in 2014 and 2015 with 5.4 million of those trips taken for vacations. To summarize, four out of 10 Australian residents traveled to foreign countries in those years and at least two of them traveled for holiday purposes. A conservative estimate of the foreign exchange impact on countries visited by Australians amounts to about $3.5 billion. Not only do they love to travel, Aussies are also considered big spenders during their overseas vacations. Based on the Visa Global Travel Intentions Study 2015, Australia is ranked fifth in the top spenders with a median travel budget of $3,603. This number is well above the average foreign exchange impact per arrival we noted earlier (US$1,100). In 2014 and 2015, Indonesia was the second main destination for the short-term visits by Australia residents (1.1 million), after New Zealand (1.23 million). We estimate those visits generated at least $500 million in foreign money entering Indonesia. Understanding the current demographic trends in Australia provides guidance on where Indonesia should be looking for potential tourists. One example is retirees. The 2013 to 2014 Australian household income and wealth data (Australia Bureau of Statistics, 2015) reveals that older households, with heads of households older than 65, held more wealth ($1.38 million) than the average Australian household ($809,900). A significant proportion of their wealth is coming from home ownership, which means they dont have to pay a large mortgage. This reduces their living costs so they can maintain their standards of living despite having a gross weekly income lower than other households. The data on wealth distribution is aligned with what we see in the five-year comparison (2014 to 2015 and 2009 to 2010) of international short-term trips made by Australians. The increase in the number of those older than 65 traveling overseas is significantly higher (a 77 percent increase) compared to other age groups (mostly below a 40 percent increase). How can Indonesia tourism build a stronger presence in the Australian market? The world is disrupted by extreme automation and connectivity. Most travelers nowadays can access information to plan, book and find travel information through mobile or web devices. A positive digital presence is a must for promoting tourism in Indonesia. Indonesias presence in Australia needs to go beyond Bali. In the last two years, the majority of direct international tourist arrivals (at least 900,000) from Australia are through Bali. This poses a challenge for Indonesia which just introduced 10 priorities for tourist destination development (Borobudur, Mandalika, Labuan Bajo, Bromo-Tengger-Semeru, Kepulauan Seribu, Toba, Wakatobi, Tanjung Lesung, Morotai and Tanjung Kelayang). Indonesians living abroad can also support building up the presence in Australia. We can introduce more tourist destinations effectively in our local community when we are given with the right level of information. In the case of Western Australia, we can also leverage existing government-to-government relationships. The sister province relationship between East Java and Western Australia is one of the examples. Perth, the capital of Western Australia, is only four hours away from Jakarta and Bali. This state also has the highest likelihood of traveling overseas for holiday (about 40 percent). Traveling time to Indonesia (via Jakarta and Bali) from Western Australia is at least the same as traveling time to eastern states in Australia. We should translate this relationship into tangible activities that promote tourist destinations in both states. Some ideas that we discussed with our colleagues involve bi-annual sporting events held in both states and a yacht rally from Western Australia to East Java. A tailored approach is necessary. Setting a clear goal for tourism and introducing the 10 priority tourist destinations are the right moves for Indonesia. Now it is more about understanding the identified potential markets to align the development and promotional activities. Always develop the why and the what before the how. A tailored approach for each potential market is necessary and a cross-border strategic partnership could be one of the keys. *** Hendro Fujiono and Matt Shepherd are respectively management consultant/chairman and management consultant of IA-ITB Western Australia. --------------- We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Shiskha Prabawaningtyas (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 14, 2016 Indonesias recent diplomatic protest to China over the resumption of alleged illegal trans-border fishing near the waters of the Natuna Islands marks a new episode of conflict management in the South China Sea. The scholar Ann Marie Murphy in 2014 predicted the unavoidable game changer in the South China Sea after Indonesia officially protested Chinas nine-dash line map at the UN in 2010 and requested Chinas clarification. Up until the recent incident, China never replied to this request. China unilaterally declared their map in 2009. Our Defense Ministry alerted everyone to the potential conflict near Natuna waters by making the area a priority for naval patrol. Following the incident of March 19, Jakarta is clearly unable to maintain its neutral position as a non-claimant; neither can it aspire further to be an independent mediator in the conflict over the South China Sea. On March 19, a Chinese coast guard vessel was reported to have intentionally hit the Chinese fishing boat Kway Fey to stop it from being pulled by the Indonesian authoritys vessel to Indonesian shores. The KM Kway Fey was towed and its crew was transferred to Indonesias KP Hiu 11 by a patrol from the Indonesian Navy; the Chinese boats crew was apprehended for illegal fishing in Indonesias exclusive economic zone, according to the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry. Similar incidents occurred in 2013 and in 2010 when a Chinese coast guard boat, the Yuzheng 311, reportedly pointed a machine gun at an Indonesian patrol boat to make it release a Chinese fishing boat apprehended for illegal fishing. In response to Jakartas protest the Chinese Foreign Ministry reaffirmed official recognition of Indonesian sovereignty over the Natuna Islands but insisted its fishermen were conducting normal operations in their traditional fishing grounds. The current firm position of Indonesia should not be a surprise. The maritime axis doctrine introduced by President Joko Jokowi Widodo has signaled the focus of Indonesian foreign policy on maritime issues, especially regarding illegal and unreported trans-border fishing. Minister Susi Pudjiastutis policy of burning boats found to be guilty of such practices within Indonesian waters is strongly supported by the Navy, following the increased military budget as promised by Jokowis administration. Keyuan Zou, an expert in international law, wrote that Chinas maritime vision developed especially after the Declaration of its Territorial Sea on Sept. 4, 1958 and Chinas participation at the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1971. Zou mentions ocean exploration was once undertaken during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and is remembered in the well-known stories of Commander Zheng He. His maritime journeys were frequently cited by the Chinese as historical justification for their traditional fishing grounds in the South China Sea, including near Natuna waters. Zhou concludes that only after 1978, following its economic reform and its open-door policy, did Beijing start to shape its ocean policies. Chinas Ocean Policy and Working Outlines were issued in 1991 and the Blue Book on Marine Technology Policy in 1993. Following its economic growth, including its military modernization project, China grew more confident and capable of further pursuing its oceanic policy aggressively. Despite Chinas territorial claims over the Paracel and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, which still puts it in conflict with Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia, China unilaterally and rigorously pursues its oceanic policy through affirming territorial control of the sea surrounding those islands by both legal and de facto practices, citing historic justification. This strategy was once adopted by Indonesia when Jakarta declared its concept of archipelagic states unilaterally under the Djuanda Declaration in 1957. China reproduced the map of the nine-dash line and ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Meanwhile China continues to strengthen its presence in the areas through military deployment, economic and facility development. The last incident over fishing with Indonesia signals its constant presence and surveillance to establish its sovereignty at sea. Some believe that the US absence at UNCLOS forums on the South China Sea due its non-ratified status, contributes to strengthening Chinas position in the area. While Jakarta cites traditional fishing rights to protect access of Indonesian fishermen in the northern coast of Australia, China uses traditional fishing grounds to justify fishermens activities in the South China Sea, including near Natuna waters. Chinas language diplomacy invites prejudice over Chinese expansionist territorial claims in the South China Sea. Its economic and military power seems adequate for China to contest current regulations on traditional fishing. Moreover, the repeated engagement of the Chinese coast guard in intercepting apprehended Chinese vessels accused of illegal fishing affirms a strong Chinese gesture over territorial claims in our EEZ near the Natuna Islands. Traditional Indonesian fishing rights in Australian waters were recognized under the 1974 agreement between Indonesia and Australia. In 1976, Jakarta also signed an agreement with Malaysia to recognize traditional Malaysian fishing rights within Indonesian waters near the Natuna Islands. Actually, both agreements over traditional fishing rights are limited to traditional boats and fishing gear. Most reports I could access mention that Chinese fishing fleets largely operate with modern equipment rather than traditional boat and gear. Later in 1982, the concept was accommodated within UNCLOS along with the concept of archipelagic states. Since then, Indonesia was granted status as an archipelagic state including the recognition of traditional fishing rights. The Indonesian expert Hasjim Djalal has said traditional fishing rights should be granted when the fishermen are descended from the original ones, the traditional fishing gear is used, the same grounds are fished and they are fishing for the same traditional catches. Yet determining illegal trespassing of trans-border fishing requires the high technology of a global positioning system (GPS). Indonesian fishermen apprehended by Australian patrols, for example, frequently contest the exact borders by questioning the thickness of the coordinates in the GPS as well as blaming the wind and fish for dragging their boats into Australian waters. De-escalation of the conflict and opportunities to reach a settlement through a peaceful means are still widely open if the parties can restrain themselves from exploiting nationalistic symbols of territorial sovereignty and if they can accommodate diverse solutions. For instance, Indonesia could initiate an open and comprehensive dialogue for further discourse on traditional fishing practices. Joint historical and social and anthropological research of traditional trans-border fishing practices near the Natuna Islands between Indonesia and China could be a start to find a common platform to de-escalate tension and de-politicize the incident. *** The writer is a lecturer at the Department of International Relations of the Paramadina Graduate School, Paramadina University. --------------- We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jake Coyle (Associated Press) New York Thu, April 14, 2016 The downtown Tribeca Film Festival kicked off with a bit of uptown style. The 15th annual festival was to open Wednesday with the premiere of Andrew Rossi's "The First Monday in May," a behind-the-scenes documentary about the mounting of an ambitious fashion exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the museum's annual star-studded Met Gala. The film is an intimate and lively look at the highest aspirations of fashion, revealing everything from Anna Wintour fretting over seat assignments (Where to put Anne Hathaway?) to Rihanna's eye-popping budget for performing at the ball. Rossi, a filmmaker who has profiled other New York institutions including The New York Times ("Page One") and Le Cirque restaurant, said Tribeca was a fitting place to unveil "The First Monday in May." "The Metropolitan Museum and Vogue are tremendous powerhouses in the creative life of New York City, certainly occupying more of the uptown world," Rossi said in an interview. "So Tribeca, which is a festival founded to celebrate the arts in New York, for them to embrace the film and present it as opening night is a great honor." This year's Tribeca bows amid a controversy. When Tribeca programmed a screening of an anti-vaccination documentary, "Vaxxed," by the discredited British doctor Andrew Wakefield, it prompted an uproar from science researchers and filmmakers. Festival co-founder Robert De Niro, who has an 18-year-old autistic son, said including the film was his decision. The festival quickly retracted "Vaxxed" from its program, but on Wednesday De Niro said he partially regrets that decision. "I think the movie is something that people should see," he told the "Today" show in an unusually passionate interview. De Niro expressed bitter disappointment in filmmakers who threatened to pull out from the festival over the film, and he promised to find out who had. Considerable scientific research has found no connection between vaccinations and autism, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has emphatically stated that "vaccines do not cause autism." But De Niro insisted on "Today": "There's something there that people aren't addressing." The ordeal has threatened to overshadow one of Tribeca's more ambitious editions. Over the next 12 days, the festival has some 100 films to unveil, a robust multimedia program including numerous virtual reality exhibits, a host of television show premieres and numerous staged celebrity conversations. "At Tribeca we keep an eye on tomorrow," festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal at a press luncheon Wednesday. "We love stories in just about any form, from a Harold Lloyd silent film captured on a 35 millimeter hand-cranked camera to a virtual reality adventure shot with multiple GoPros to a video game in which the viewer is in the driver seat determining how the narrative unfolds." "The First Monday in May" is a fitting opener. It mostly follows Met Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton as he frantically puts together what would be a blockbuster exhibit, "China: Through the Looking Glass," and strives for equal standing amid the Met's more traditional art forms. But for many, the film will be most sought out for its rare look inside Wintour's annual Met ball, one of the biggest nights in fashion. The Hollywood Reporter called it "catnip for fashionistas." Rossi said he viewed his film, shot with what he called "a crackling cinema verite approach," a kind of hybrid between the 2009 Vogue documentary "The September Issue" and Frederick Wiseman's 2014 portrait of the exalted London museum "National Gallery." The biggest challenge, Rossi said, wasn't getting access to the many personalities of "The First Monday in May," including Baz Luhrmann, Wong Kar Wai and Wintour. More difficult, he said, was getting the Met to allow him and his cameramen freedom to follow their subjects in the museum's hallowed halls. "It was absolutely necessary to say, 'We can't be on a tripod the whole time,'" Rossi said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin David Bauder (Associated Press) New York, United States Thu, April 14, 2016 Fox News Channel's Megyn Kelly said she met privately with Donald Trump on Wednesday to "clear the air" following the Republican candidate's repeated attacks on social media. Kelly said the two met for about an hour at Trump Tower in Manhattan. Speaking on her show Wednesday night, she gave no details of the conversation, other than to say they discussed a potential interview and that "we hope to have news on that soon." "Yes, the doormen appeared stunned when I walked in," Kelly said. Trump confirmed the meeting during an hourlong interview on Fox's Sean Hannity show, where a gathered audience at a Pittsburgh auditorium booed at the mention of her name. "She was very, very nice," Trump said, noting that Fox had requested the meeting. He offered no details of what was discussed. "I give her a lot of credit for doing what she did," he said. "Let's see what happens." Trump began criticizing Kelly on Twitter last August following the first Republican debate on Fox, when he was angered by a Kelly question about statements he had made about women. In an interview with CNN, Trump said that "you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever." In the intervening months, Trump boycotted another debate when Fox refused to remove Kelly as a moderator, then appeared at another debate with her. He brings her up periodically on his Twitter feed, calling her a "lightweight reporter" and "second-rate" and suggesting people boycott her show. Fox, in turn, criticized Trump for having a "sick obsession" about Kelly and engaging in conduct unbecoming of a presidential candidate. While Kelly recently criticized both CNN and her Fox colleague Bill O'Reilly for not being more supportive after Trump pulled out of the debate, she said Trump is welcome on her show. Fox said that its chief executive, Roger Ailes, has been trying to get Trump to appear on a prime-time special Kelly is hosting on the Fox broadcasting network on May 23. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Malcolm Ritter (Associated Press) New York, United States Thu, April 14, 2016 A paralyzed 24-year-old man has regained some use of his right hand, controlling it with signals relayed from electronic sensors in his brain. Ian Burkhart of Dublin, Ohio, can grasp a bottle, pour its contents into a jar, pick up a stick and stir the liquid. He can grab a credit card and swipe it through a reader. He can move individual fingers and hold a toothbrush. But he can do these things only for a few hours a week, in a laboratory where he is hooked up to an experimental device that interprets his brain signals and stimulates his muscles with electrodes on his forearm. With improvements, researchers hope the system will eventually aid the everyday lives of people like Burkhart with spinal cord injuries, and perhaps others with stroke or traumatic brain injury. If and when the device can be used at home, "it will really increase my quality of life and independence," said Burkhart, who is paralyzed over most of his body. Burkhart's case is described in a paper released Wednesday by the journal Nature. It's the latest report from research that has let paralyzed people operate robotic arms, computers and other devices with signals picked up by brain implants, or regain use of paralyzed muscles by sending signals from other muscles they still control. In contrast, the new report demonstrates that a patient can use a brain implant to stimulate his own paralyzed muscles. Burkhart was a college freshman when he broke his neck about six years ago. He dove into an ocean wave and was slammed into a sand bar. As a result, he is paralyzed from the middle of his chest down, with no use of his arms below the elbow. For the experimental treatment, surgeons in 2014 placed a tiny device on his brain that includes 96 electrodes that penetrate just below the surface. It monitors a relatively small population of brain cells in the region that controls movement of his right hand, sampling the activity 3 million times a second. "We're really just eavesdropping on a few conversations between those neurons and we're trying to figure out what they're talking about," said Chad Bouton, an author of the Nature paper who worked on the project while at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio. He is now at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York. When Burkhart is in the lab, a cable is attached to a small projection from his skull to carry signals from the sensor to a computer, which interprets what movement he is trying to accomplish. Then it sends commands to an array of up to 160 electrodes strapped to his forearm. Electrical stimulation from those electrodes activates his hand and finger muscles. In this March 2016 photo provided by Ohio State University, Ian Burkhart plays a guitar video game as part of a study with neural bypass technology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. (Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center via AP/Clark Powell) "This is taking one's thoughts and, within milliseconds, linking it to concrete movements," said Dr. Ali Rezai, a study author and neurosurgeon at Ohio State University. Burkhart said the stimulation feels like a slight tingle or buzz, noting that he has only a little sensation in his arm because of his injury. He also said his muscles tire after a while. During the first few months, he became mentally worn out from concentrating on exactly what muscles he needed to move, he said. Now "it's gotten much easier," he said in an interview. But if he faces a new task or one he has not done for a while, "I kind of have to think about it a little bit beforehand, and really think through what I'm trying to accomplish." Rezai said Burkhart is getting faster and more fluid in his movements as he and the computer system learn from each other. Burkhart said he'd like to participate someday in testing a next-generation version of the system that could be used outside the lab. Researchers said they hope to improve the technology by such steps as making the connections wireless, perhaps placing electrodes on or beneath the scalp rather than in the brain, and replacing the strapped-on forearm electrodes with implanted ones. Experts who weren't involved in the project said the results hold promise. Lee Miller of Northwestern University, who has done similar research in monkeys, called the results "an important step" toward developing a tool for helping patients. He agreed that the forearm electrodes would probably have to be implanted, but he said the current approach is "clearly a good starting point." Chet Moritz of the University of Washington called the findings exciting. Direct stimulation of muscles can quickly lead to fatigue, he noted, but that might be avoided by stimulating the spinal cord to move the muscles instead. P. Hunter Peckham, a professor of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said the work is valuable in showing that a brain implant can be used to control several muscles at a time. Peckham said many paralysis patients are already doing "impressively well" at home with a system that lets them stimulate hand movements with signals generated by other muscles. But the brain implant approach could be useful for people with more severe injuries who can't control those other muscles, or who need a more complex signal to make particular movements, he said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Agus Maryono (The Jakarta Post) Cilacap, Central Java Thu, April 14, 2016 Terrorist convict Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was moved to an isolation cell on Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap regency, Central Java, in February and can only receive a few select visitors. He is also banned from conducting his regular activities. Prison authorities locked the firebrand Muslim cleric in an isolation cell measuring 3 by 4 meters in the Pasir Putih maximum security prison on Nusakambangan, Ba'asyir's personal assistant Hasim Abdullah said on Wednesday. "Nobody can visit him anymore on Nusakambangan," Hasim told thejakartapost.com, but added that his family, lawyers and medical team were still allowed to visit him in prison. His confinement to an isolation cell began in February after he attended a hearing on his case review at the Cilacap District Court. The Muslim Lawyers Team (TPM) slammed the Law and Human Rights Ministry for confining him in an isolation cell and questioned the legal base of his relocation. "We will advise the President. This is a vile act. As an inmate [Ba'asyir] has always displayed good behavior. And no ruling was made but suddenly he is put in isolation," said TPM member Ahmad Michdan. Moreover, Ba'asyir's activities outside of the cell are limited, Michdan said, adding that it would make the deteriorating health of the 76-year-old worse. Ba'asyir, the spiritual leader of Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) radical organization, was imprisoned after the South Jakarta District Court found him guilty of funding a terrorist training camp in Aceh and sentenced him to 15 years in 2011. He is awaiting the ruling by the Supreme Court on his case review after the Cilacap District Court forwarded the case to it in February. Meanwhile, Nusakambangan warden Molyanto confirmed that Ba'asyir had been placed in isolation. The order came directly from Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan for security reasons. "We only obeyed the instructions of the coordinating minister. We don't know until when as it also depends on instructions," Molyanto told thejakartapost.com. Security for Ba'asyir and other terrorist convicts was tightened after a terrorist attack in Jakarta in January. Luhut previously said the government had moved Ba'asyir to a special cell in Pasir Putih prison on Nusakambangan for Ba'asyir's own safety and comfort. Putting him in isolation is also aimed at limiting his communication with the outside world. "We want to make him feel more comfortable considering his age. He is not being isolated; we are treating him humanely" Luhut said on April 5. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 14, 2016 The National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) requested an over-50 percent increase in its 2017 budget to Rp 826.38 billion (US$62.5 million) on the back of intensifying deradicalization and additional counterterrorism programs. The proposed increase from the 2016 budget of Rp 531.91 billion, was announced by BNPT chief Comr. Gen. Tito Karnavian during a working meeting with the House of Representatives' Commission III overseeing legal affairs. The additional budget is to maximize the agency's efforts in a number of programs such as counter-ideology programs, deradicalization, intelligence monitoring, as well as terrorism mitigation program for the Indonesian Military (TNI), police and other related institutions, he said. Moreover, the BNPT also planned to operate a working committee to counter foreign terrorist fighters, protect citizens from radicalism, tackle terrorism from abroad and strengthen law enforcement. Commission III members agreed to find a way to increase the BNPT budget in order to improve the agency's capabilities in countering terrorism. Countering radicalism Both the House and the BNPT also discussed the development of maximum security prisons aimed to stem the spread of radical ideology, as well as the planning of attacks from cells. The BNPT proposed special treatment for high risk terrorist convicts to prevent the aforementioned risks, such as optimizing security and limiting their number of visitors, Tito said in the meeting. He cited the example of the terrorist attack in Jakarta, in January, as the plot was allegedly initiated by convicted terrorist Amman Abdurahman, who had previously been incarcerated on the Nusakambangan prison island in Central Java. "I want [the prisoners] to be separated. We are still deciding where the place will be as there are a number of options," Tito said adding that he believed the prison should be located in a secluded island with limited access. Moreover, the BNPT would also develop a cyber patrol to monitor the dissemination of radical teachings through the internet as part of the prevention programs. Radicalism spreading through the internet and social media has the potential to create lone wolf terrorists, as well as support the growth of terrorist networks. The BNPT was currently working on online-based programs to counter the propaganda and curb the spread of radicalism. Herman Herry, a Commission III lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), urged for the cyber monitoring to be applied immediately since existing intelligence measures could not effectively tackle internet-based radicalization. "Build a reliable cyber system so that the technology can help the BNPT, which currently lacks human resources," Herry said. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Mike Stobbe (Associated Press) New York Thu, April 14, 2016 Confirming the worst fears of many pregnant women in the United States and Latin America, US health officials said Wednesday there is no longer any doubt the Zika virus causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and other severe brain defects. Since last year, doctors in Brazil have been linking Zika infections in pregnant women to a rise in newborns with microcephaly, or an unusually small skull. Most outside experts were cautious about drawing such a connection. But now the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says enough evidence is in. "There is no longer any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said. The CDC said it also is clear Zika causes other serious defects, including damaging calcium buildups in the developing brain. Among the evidence that clinched the case: Signs of the Zika virus, which is spread primarily through mosquito bites and can also be transmitted through sex, have been found in the brain tissue, spinal fluid and amniotic fluid of microcephaly babies. The CDC and other health agencies have been operating for months on the assumption that Zika causes brain defects, and they have been warning pregnant women to use mosquito repellent, cover up, avoid travel to Zika-stricken regions and either abstain from sex or rely on condoms. Those guidelines will not change. But the new finding should help officials make a more convincing case to the public for taking precautions. Some experts hope it will change public thinking about Zika the way the 1964 surgeon general's report convinced many Americans that smoking causes lung cancer. "We've been very careful over the last few months to say, 'It's linked to, it's associated with.' We've been careful to say it's not the cause of," said the CDC's Dr. Sonja A. Rasmussen. "I think our messages will now be more direct." The World Health Organization has made similar statements recently. A WHO official applauded the CDC report. "We feel it's time to move from precautionary language to more forceful language to get people to take action," said Dr. Bruce Aylward, who is leading WHO's Zika response. The CDC announced its conclusion in a report published online by the New England Journal of Medicine. Zika has been sweeping through Latin America and the Caribbean in recent months, and the fear is that it will only get worse there and arrive in the U.S. with the onset of mosquito season this spring and summer. Public health authorities are calling for aggressive mosquito surveillance and eradication, including campaigns to eliminate the sources of standing water in which mosquitoes breed. Those can include flower pots, swimming pool covers, discarded tires and pet water bowls. The virus causes only a mild and brief illness, at worst, in most people. But in the last year, infections in pregnant women have been strongly linked to fetal deaths and devastating birth defects, mostly in Brazil, where the Health Ministry said Tuesday that 1,113 cases of microcephaly have been confirmed since October. So far, there have been no documented Zika infections in the US caught from mosquitoes. Nearly 350 illnesses in the 50 states were reported as of last week, all linked to travel to Zika outbreak regions. Thirty-two of the infected women were pregnant. The CDC report comes at a time when health officials have been begging Congress to approve an emergency $1.9 billion in supplemental funding to fight Zika internationally and prepare for its spread in the US Earlier Wednesday, top House Republicans said they will probably grant a portion of that, but probably not until September. As the microcephaly cases rose in Latin America, a number of theories circulated through the public. Some claimed the cause was a vaccine given to pregnant women. Some suspected a mosquito-killing larvicide, and others wondered whether genetically modified mosquitoes were to blame. Investigators gradually cast those theories aside and found more and more circumstantial evidence implicating Zika. CDC officials relied on a checklist developed by a retired University of Washington professor, Dr. Thomas Shepard, who listed seven criteria for establishing if something can be called a cause of birth defects. Among other things, researchers found that the spike in microcephaly in Brazil involved women who were infected with Zika during the first or early second trimester of pregnancy. They also discovered more direct evidence in the form of the virus or its genetic traces. "In the case of Zika, if you get live virus from spinal fluid from microcephalic kids, that's pretty damn good evidence," Shepard said in an interview. Researchers still don't have some of the evidence they would like. For example, there are no published studies demonstrating Zika causes such birth defects in lab animals. There is also a scarcity of high-quality studies that have systematically examined large numbers of women and babies in a Zika outbreak area. "The purist will say that all the evidence isn't in yet, and they're right," the WHO's Aylward said, "but this is public health and we need to act." The hope is that the public will start paying closer attention. A poll released last week found that about 4 in 10 Americans have heard little to nothing about the Zika threat. Even among people who have been following the story at least a little, many aren't sure whether there is a vaccine or treatment not yet or if the virus can be spread through means other than mosquito bites, according to the poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng contributed to this story from London. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 14, 2016 Nine female protestors from Mount Kendeng in Rembang regency, Central Java, cemented their feet in the aim of not only to protest against cement plant developments in their hometown but also to remind younger generations to respect nature. The women protested in front of the State Palace on Wednesday, following their first protest on Tuesday demanding to meet with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to voice their frustration against the development of cement plants by state-owned PT Semen Indonesia that would harm the environment and threaten their livelihood as farmers. We want to give a message for the younger generation, to show that nature is not only seen as a source of wealth, but also something that has to be preserved , said Sukinah, one of the protesters participating in Wednesdays rally. They had cemented their feet since Tuesday, where to move around they had the help of other residents. The nine women came from Kendeng's mountainous area, including Rembang, Pati and Grobogan, where the plants would be built. Besides Sukinah, the protestors include Supini, Murtini, Surani, Kiyem, Ngadinah, Karsupi, Deni and Rimabarwati. The women are often dubbed the "Kartinis of Kendeng", referring to the national heroine praised for her fight for women's rights. Mt. Kendeng Society Network (JMPPK) coordinator Joko Prianto said the idea of cementing the feet came from the women to represent how they had been "shackled" by cement. The protest in Rembang began on June 16, 2014, when PT Semen Indonesia started the construction of its plant located on the Watuputih groundwater basin area. Around 50 female farmers had protested against the firm demanding to halt the construction as it would impact water resources and, therefore directly impact their livelihoods. Local farmers, since, have staged a series of rallies, including camping in front of the said plant. Potentially, 51 million liters of waters could be lost because of the plant's construction, according to data from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi). Moreover, a 2011 Rembang regional regulation on spatial planning also categorized the Watuputih groundwater basin as a geological area, which has to be preserved, Joko said. "These women will keep fighting until they can bring justice for the people and the environment of their hometown," he said. Meanwhile, other cement firms such as PT Sahabat Mulia Sakti, a subsidiary of the big cement company PT Indocement, PT Vanda Prima Listri and PT Imasco Tambang had also announced plans to build cement plants in Pati, Grobogan and Blora, according to Joko. In November 2015, Semarang State Administrative Court (PTUN) had annulled the cement plant construction in Pati as it violated the regional regulation on spatial planning. However, other development plans are still in process. The cement protest was not a reckless act by the women, explained Alexandra Herlina, a Surabaya-based doctor who accompanied the protestors. The farmers had performed a simulation before going to Jakarta. The protestors also wore plastic casts on their feet to prevent irritation from the direct contact between the skin and cement. Alexandra had recommended the protestors only cement their feet for a maximum of three days or they would suffer lumps on their feet. Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki told the representatives of the protestors that President Jokowi had acknowledged the protest and wanted to meet with them. However, because of the President's busy schedule, no date for the meeting has been set, Teten said on Wednesday. (vps/rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 14, 2016 The government has agreed to expand the function of the National Development Agency (Bappenas), from merely planning development projects to devising budgets to allow better coordination of state expenditure allocation. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo urged all ministries and institutions to increase their quality of planning and budgeting into a more detailed and integrated process. It has to integrate the development among sectors, among regions and between central and local government, according to Jokowi. "There will be no more of the so-called sectoral ego. Focus on programs that benefit people and the extent it could encourage a multiplier effect," he said in a limited cabinet meeting at the State Palace on Wednesday. Therefore, Jokowi will issue a presidential decree (Inpres) that essentially expands Bappenas' function to budget allocation. According to Bappenas head Sofyan Jalil, the decree on the synchronization of planning and budgeting consist of revising two presidential regulations (PP), namely the 2006 regulation on national planning systems and the 2010 regulation on state finance. "We expect development to be more effective and efficient," he said, adding that the decree would be released this month for its implementation in the 2017 state budget's planning. Previously, Sofyan continued, Bappenas had no authority over budgeting. Now, we can control a wide range of proposals and we can decide which ones are of most priority," he said. Aside from planning, budgeting and implementation, Bappenas would also evaluate the programs in terms of performance. "So there is synchronization to make budgeting well-targeted," he added. (ags) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 14, 2016 The Indonesian government has expressed concern over an earthquake in Myanmar registering 6.9 on the Richter scale and centered 396 kilometers north of the capital Naypyidaw, on Wednesday. The Indonesian Embassy in Yangon would continue to monitor and update information and coordinate with local authorities after the quake, said the Foreign Ministrys director for Indonesian national protection and legal aid, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal. No fatalities have been reported so far, he said on Thursday. The government has called on all Indonesian citizens currently in Myanmar to keep themselves informed about the earthquake. Furthermore, all Indonesians are reminded to follow the directives of local authorities. Based on Foreign Ministry data, 609 Indonesians live in Myanmar but there are not believed to be many Indonesians in the area where the earthquake occurred. (sha/bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 14, 2016 Experiencing a 67 percent plunge in its 2015 profit, Matahari Putra Prima (MPP) has decided to give almost all of its profits as dividends to Lippo Groups Multipolar and Singapore based Temasek, its major shareholders. Corporate secretary Danny Kojongian said Rp 177.5 billion (US$13.5 million) or 96.98 percent of its net income was to be distributed as dividends, leaving the remainder Rp 3.5 billion as retained earnings. "This is our commitment to the shareholder. In the past, the dividend [ratio] was never this big. Last year the dividend payout ratio was just 30 percent," he told thejakartapost.com in Jakarta on Wednesday. However, in terms of value, the dividend that distributed this year is actually lower. Last year, the company distributed a dividend of Rp 193.9 billion. Currently, Multipolar holds a 50.2 percent share in Matahari, allowing the Lippo group to receive Rp88.75 billion of the dividends. Temasek Holding will get Rp46.3 billion of dividends as it owns 26.1 percent share in Matahari. The public, owning 23.7 percent, gets the rest. Matahari experienced a bad year in 2015 with a drop in net income by 67 percent to Rp 183 billion. Its sales rose by only 2.5 percent to Rp 13.9 trillion. "This is because of the weaker market compared to 2014. Customer traffic is relatively stable but purchasing has declined. There are also situations like haze in Kalimantan which hampered our costumers from shopping," he said. The company is pessimistic about its sales in the first half of 2016 despite a decreasing prices due to the lower price of oil. "We may hope for a single digit growth in sales around 2.5 percent to 9 percent this year. We are more optimistic for the second semester performance," Danny said. The year of 2015 was a disaster for local retailers as many of them recorded a plunge in net profit. Hero Supermarket recorded an Rp 62 billion losses and sold its convenience store chain Starmart to Japan's Family Mart. However, Matahari remains optimistic given that Indonesia has a low hypermarket penetration to its 141 million middle class population. The hypermarket penetration ratio in Philippines is 1.4. Singapore and Thailand has a ratio of 2.6, and 4.1 respectively. Malaysia scores 5.6, the highest in Southeast Asia. Currently the hypermarket penetration is still below that in our neighboring countries with only one hypermarket per one million people," said Danny, adding that the company would add 45 new outlets. (ags) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan and Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Medan/Jakarta Thu, April 14 2016 Parada Toga Fransriano, 30, a tax collector who was murdered on duty allegedly by a negligent taxpayer, was laid to rest at his home in Medan, North Sumatra, on Tuesday. Tears broke through as Paradas body entered the home, over a hundred miles from Nias, an island west of Sumatra, where the tax collector was allegedly killed by a rubber trader named Agusman Lahagu. Agusman, reportedly disgruntled by repeated tax collection efforts, allegedly stabbed and killed Parada and Soza Nolo Lase, 35, an outsourced staffer for the Gunungsitoli Tax Service Office (KPP) in Nias, with a knife after the tax officers tried to collect the perpetrators tax bills. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Edith M. Lederer (Associated Press) United Nations Thu, April 14, 2016 Russia and China introduced a draft UN resolution Wednesday aimed at preventing extremist groups like the Islamic State and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front from developing or using chemical weapons in Syria. Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the proposed Security Council resolution will fill the "missing link" in current resolutions and could serve as a deterrent because "if terrorists plan to use chemical weapons, in our experience, sometimes they try to blame the Syrian government." "Our hope is that if they know that we are monitoring their activities, the incentive to use chemical weapons in the hope that the responsibility for that can be shifted elsewhere ... will diminish," Churkin said. Churkin said there have been numerous reports recently "of terrorist groups in Syria and neighboring Iraq using chemical weapons." He cited a report just a few days ago from Deir el-Zour, where government-held areas are blockaded by Islamic State militants, and a recent report from Aleppo "where terrorists used chemical weapons and actually admitted to their use." There are also numerous reports that extremists may be preparing chemical weapons, he said. Churkin said suspicions of possible chemical weapons use by Syria are already under investigation by the chemical weapons watchdog and international weapons inspectors, but there has been no reporting on alleged used of these deadly weapons by "terrorist" groups, he said. The draft resolution would require countries especially Syria's neighbors Turkey and Iraq to immediately report any actions by extremist groups to transfer, develop or acquire chemical weapons to the Security Council and to a recently established international body comprising the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. It is called the Joint Investigative Mechanism or JIM and is charged with establishing who is responsible for chemical attacks in Syria, he said. The draft would also require the JIM to monitor any alleged activities and report monthly to the Security Council, he said. Churkin said that in Wednesday's closed-door discussion of the draft resolution some members said there should be a broader resolution. But he said that will take time and "we think we cannot wait." A Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussion was private, said there is a gap in reporting on extremists seeking chemical weapons but seriously questioned any monitoring by the JIM, which has a very small staff. The diplomat suggested Russia might be trying to divert the JIM from determining responsibility for seven alleged chemical attacks by a September deadline, noting that the Syrian government, Moscow's close ally, has been accused in several cases. While there is certainly a threat of "terrorist" groups using chemical weapons in Europe, the United States or elsewhere, Churkin stressed that "the greatest threat is ISIL in Syria and Iraq where they have acquired very serious territorial footholds." He cited reports of chemical weapon precursors being delivered to extremists from Turkey. Earlier this month, Russia said $1.9 million worth of explosives and industrial chemicals were smuggled across Turkey's border to extremist groups. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 14, 2016 The Transportation Ministry has launched an online licensing application system for pilots, flight attendants and flight operations officers to anticipate the increasing demand for human resources in the aviation industry. Transportation Minister Igantius Jonan said the online system would save aviation personnel time in getting their applications processed, as well as helping organize the flights system. The air crew no longer need to come here [to the Ministrys office] to register because the new system allows them to do it anywhere at any time, he said after the launch in Jakarta on Wednesday. The ministrys air transportation director general, Suprasetyo, said flight personnel could obtain their first license two days after applications were submitted and in one day for renewals. The previous service drew complaints as it took weeks, even months, to process the licenses. Suprasetyo said that in the past, officials had to sort through mountains of documents just to find the right ones. He promised convenience and easier ways for flight personnel to check how far their applications had been processed. Tiara Whitforb, 19, a Garuda flight attendant who has been waiting two months for her application for a license, hailed the new online system hoping that it would improve the ministrys service. An online system is always better than old conventional ones because its more time efficient, she said. The ministrys statistics show Indonesia currently has 7,400 pilots, 8,400 cabin crew, 1,800 flight operation officers and 1,062 aircraft. (sha/ags) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 14 2016 Indonesia and China reaffirmed their commitment to continue improving cooperation, particularly in economic areas, in a meeting between President Joko Jokowi Widodo and Song Tao, a visiting executive of the Chinese Communist Party, on Wednesday. Song, the head of the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party, visited the palace on Wednesday, conveying what Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung called warm greetings from Chinese President Xi Jinping. Pramono said the commitment was not only in relation to ongoing infrastructure projects, but also aimed to tap into other potential areas of cooperation, particularly in energy and natural resources. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Associated Press) New York Thu, April 14, 2016 The Latest on Campaign 2016 ahead of the Democratic presidential debate on Thursday and the New York State primaries April 19. 8:40 p.m. Bernie Sanders is staging a large rally with thousands of supporters in New York City's Washington Square Park in a show of force before the state's presidential primary. Sanders says looking at his "unbelievable crowd" makes him believe "we're going to win here in New York." Celebrities at the event near the campus of New York University include actor Tim Robbins and director Spike Lee. Sanders says his campaign is about the notion that real change can only come from the bottom up, not the top down. He notes that rival Hillary Clinton has the support of several super PACs, drawing boos at the mention of her name. New York holds its primary next Tuesday. 8:30 p.m. Hillary Clinton is keeping her eye on the general election despite a heated primary race, taking shots at Republicans Donald Trump and Ted Cruz at a rally in the Bronx Wednesday night. Clinton did not mention Democratic rival Bernie Sanders during an appearance before about 1,300 cheering supporters packed into a community center. Instead, she said Trump "wants us to build walls, I want us to build bridges." She also referenced Cruz's criticism of "New York values," saying, "I think New York values are at the core of American values." Clinton spoke for roughly 15 minutes, stressing her support for the Bronx and her commitment to improving education, boosting wages and creating jobs. She repeated her promise to fight for tougher gun laws and offered support for Puerto Rico. 6:31 p.m. A handful of former contestants on Donald Trump's reality show "The Apprentice" say he's not worthy of becoming president. Half-a-dozen of the show's past contestants, including Season 4 winner Randal Pinkett and Season 1 runner-up Kwame Jackson are planning a press conference Friday in New York to denounce the GOP front-runner's bid ahead of the state's April 19 primary. In statements, the contestants slam Trump's rhetoric as divisive and filled with hate. Pinkett says that after having the opportunity to work with Trump and observing the campaign, "we do not believe he is worthy of becoming President of the United States." 5:54 p.m. Striking communications workers are getting a lot of attention from Democratic presidential candidates ahead of the critical New York State primary. Hours after Bernie Sanders joined a picket line of Verizon workers in Brooklyn, Hillary Clinton met striking communications workers outside a Verizon store in midtown Manhattan Wednesday. Clinton told a reporter from a local cable news channel that Verizon needs to "engage in real negotiation" and must "come to the table and reach an agreement." Verizon workers walked off the job across the east coast earlier in the day after contract negotiations broke down. About 100 workers chanted slogans like "what's disgusting, union busting" and held signs that read "CWA on Strike." Communications Workers of America has endorsed Sanders. Dennis Trainor, vice president of the union's district that includes New York, says that if Sanders doesn't win, "We're going to be with Hillary. 5:21 p.m. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz likes to talk in his stump speech about how the campaign has been a roller coaster. For Cruz on Wednesday the analogy became reality. Cruz and some campaign aides took a ride on the Ravine Flyer II, a hybrid wooden roller coaster located at an amusement park in Erie, Pennsylvania. Cruz posted video of his ride on Twitter, and then referred to it during his rally in the park in the shadow of the roller coaster. He says the ride was "awesome" and that seeing Lake Erie was the top of one hill was "breathtaking." Cruz says, "My travel aide, I thought he was going to scream like a girl, but he didn't." Cruz jokes that if that had happened, the video would have been on every computer screen in America. 5:08 p.m. Republican Donald Trump is further professionalizing his campaign operation with another new hire as he works to try to lock down his party's nomination. Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski confirms that strategist Rick Wiley will serve as the campaign's new national political director. The campaign last week announced another experienced hand, Paul Manafort, would be serving as convention manager. Wiley previously served as campaign manager for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and has held top positions with the Republican National Committee, with which Trump has been sparring. Trump says in a statement that Wiley brings decades of experience and deep ties to political leaders. 2:44 p.m. Bernie Sanders is defending his decision to leave the campaign trail to attend a Vatican conference on the economy days before next Tuesday's New York presidential primary. He says the chance to speak at the Rome event was the opportunity of a lifetime and he'd be kicking himself later if he refused. Sanders has a 10-minute speaking slot Friday at the event organized by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. The academy is like a think-tank for the Vatican. The chancellor for the academy has said he invited the Democratic Vermont senator because he has invoked Pope Francis' teaching on the campaign trail when other candidates hadn't. Sanders says he will speak at the conference about how greed is destroying people and the environment. The pope is not expected to attend the event. 12:38 p.m. Hillary Clinton says she's disappointed that negotiations have broken down between Verizon and 39,000 workers on the East Coast who walked off the job Wednesday over job security and pensions. Deep in competition with Sanders for support from labor, Clinton is siding with the employees and slamming Verizon for trying to "outsource more and more jobs." That, she says in a statement, would mean "walking away from... the workers who install and repair our phone and cable service, and who respond to customer needs day and night." She added that Verizon should return to negotiations. Sanders walked the picket line on Wednesday. 12:00 p.m. In Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders joined striking union workers on a picket line outside a Verizon office. He was showing solidarity with 39,000 workers on the East Coast who walked off the job earlier Wednesday. Sanders said the workers were displaying courage for standing up against the telecommunications giant. "I know your families are going to pay a price," he bellowed into a microphone at a raucous gathering. The Vermont senator thanked the workers "on behalf of every worker in America who is facing the same kind of pressure." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 14, 2016 The National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) has intensified de-radicalization efforts in Central Sulawesis Poso regency in a bid to tackle terrorism in the area, which the agency believes is rooted in past communal conflicts that inspired the militant network of terror fugitive Santoso. Santoso was a symbol of rebellion against the government and thus had to be captured, BNPT chief Comr. Gen. Tito Karnavian said on Wednesday. "Santoso should be apprehended, since he is the symbol. However, capturing him will not immediately tackle the problem in Poso," Tito said at the House of Representatives. Santoso aka Abu Wardah was not an intellectual or a religious figure in Poso; however his notorious actions had attracted radical militants across Indonesia, Tito explained during a meeting with House Commission III, which oversees legal affairs. The BNPT believed Santoso was unable to invite a wide range of militants to join his fight. Still, his network had grown, as militants from Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, Java and even Chinese nationals of the Uighur ethnicity had joined the group in Poso, Tito said. Radicalization had taken place for a long time in Poso following communal conflicts between Muslims and Christians in 1998 and the following years that left hundreds of citizens dead. By his followers, Santoso was seen as a warrior who rose in Posos inter-religious conflict, Tito said. For its de-radicalization program, the BNPT would approach Poso residents to assist them in moving on, since Poso and its surrounding were no longer a conflict area. The agency would also invite all stakeholders, especially the central and local governments, to accelerate the economic development in Poso to help local people set the past conflict aside. "If we can heal them, the spread of radical ideology will not affect them," Tito said. The National Police and Indonesian Military (TNI) launched Operation Tinombala in January to capture Santoso and his guerilla group, who have believed to be hiding in the forests of Poso's mountainous area. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 14, 2016 The wide publicity on the sinking of vessels involved in illegal fishing is aimed at sending a strong message in that Indonesia has a stern stance against this unlawful action, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said on Wednesday. The government wanted to create a deterrent effect whereas if illegal fishing was handled softly, it would not have the desired effect, she said. "Why publicize the sinking of vessels? Illegal fishing, right now, almost seems like the norm. I want to work together with all the relevant authorities and the ministry to eradicate this problem. And, to deliver a shocking and frightening impression," Susi said during a working meeting at the House of Representatives' Commission IV overseeing forestry, agriculture, plantations and fisheries, as quoted by Antara news agency. By sinking the vessels involved in illegal fishing in Indonesian waters, the government wants to imprint a shocking message. "It can be seen how the ships are set alight, so that fear is created. Hopefully in future there will be no more [illegal fishing]," she said. Citing data from the ministry, Susi said 176 ships have already been sunk, meanwhile budget expenditures have remained under Rp 2 billion. The expenditure was necessary to prevent the sinking of the vessels causing pollution, Susi added. Since her inauguration as minister in 2014, Susi has consistently taken a tough stance on maritime policies. At the meeting on Wednesday, a number of family members of imprisoned fishermen were present at the House. The wives and children of the imprisoned fishermen who were punished under the 2015 Maritime Ministerial Regulation on the prohibition of the use of fishing trawls and seine nets, brought with them written requests for the freedom of their husbands. The family members claim the fishermen were left no choice but to break the law in order to provide for their families. Commission IV vice chairman Herman Khaeron said he received many similar complaints from fishermen urging the government to find a way to resolving the issue. (liz/rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 14, 2016 The National Tax Office has expressed regret in miscalculating the risks in a Sibolga tax collection case that took the life of two of its officers, especially for not requesting police assistance beforehand. The two officers, Toga Parada Fransriano Siahaan, 30, and Sozanolo Lase, 35, were in argument with Agusman Lahagu Als Ama Tety, 45, who owed tax, before the deadly incident occurred. "We miscalculated and thought it would be safe. There was overconfidence in the field as one of the officers, Sozanolo, was a Nias native," Tax Office General Director Ken Dwijugiasteadi said on Wednesday in Jakarta. Nias is an island off the coast of Sibolga. Usually when the tax case is severe and considered not safe, tax officers can ask police for security. A tax officer can be guarded by up to five policemen if the situation is expected to be dangerous. "There are frequent requests from tax officers for our assistance in their tasks because they usually face obstacles," Police Chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti told thejakartapost.com. The police, he continued, would examine the case. Currently, 10 people have been called, consisting of one suspect and nine witnesses. Agusman became furious after the officers requested him to pay an enormous tax bill of 2.5 year arrears totaling Rp 14 billion (US$1 million). The tax bill combined Agusmans personal tax with his business as a collector and trader of coconuts and rubber. "When he trades with other parties, the data recorded in the tax office and it is used to validate the tax bill," tax director Mekar Satria Utama said. Ken explained the two tax officers would be given special recognition, and their wives and children would be compensated. (ags) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ary Hermawan (The Jakarta Post) Tucson, Arizona Thu, April 14 2016 The sinister circumstances surrounding the death of suspected terrorist Siyono and the blatant cover-up attempts by the police are no trifles. They reflect a serious loophole in the national strategy to combat terrorism that, if not immediately addressed, would only jeopardize our freedom and put us at a greater risk of terrorist attacks. The war on terrorism is neither quick nor cheap. It is folly if we decide to prolong and exacerbate it further by allowing the polices counterterrorism squad, the Special Detachment, or Densus 88, to casually use heavy-handed tactics or, worse, totally illegal and unconstitutional approaches to clamp down on local terrorist cells. Not only does it risk radicalizing more Muslims, it gravely compromises our civil liberties. The police, therefore, must adequately answer the lingering questions that arose following an independent autopsy initiated by the countrys prominent Muslim organization Muhammadiyah and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on Siyono. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh (The Straits Times/ANN) Singapore Thu, April 14, 2016 Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim on Thursday announced a slew of plans, from mentorship schemes to coding programs for the young, to help the Malay/Muslim community better seize the opportunities offered by the changing economy. Last year, self-help group Mendaki formed a Future Ready unit to promote the national SkillsFuture initiative to the community. This year, the unit is picking up speed. Among its plans for the year are the NextStop Sessions, which aim to help students from secondary schools, ITEs and polytechnics better understand the diverse academic and career pathways open to them. It is also introducing a mentorship scheme for secondary level and ITE students. "Some of our students may not be well-informed of the available opportunities, or they may lack the confidence to pursue their aspirations," noted Yaacob. Mentors can then give them the boost they require. Meanwhile, Mendaki Sense will hold fairs to help those seeking advice make better sense of SkillsFuture, and will offer free courses that support lifelong learning. Later this month, Mendaki will launch CM-Tech@Heartlands, a coding and robotics program targeted at younger students. The program aims to reach out to 450 students by 2017. On the education front, Mendaki is training its pool of tutors and looking at ways to make its programs, like its flagship Mendaki Tuition Scheme (MTS), more accessible. The MTS@Mosques program will be expanded to include Al-Mutaqin Mosque in Ang Mo Kio and Al-Mawaddah Mosque in Sengkang, given the high demand in these areas. And six new community partners - including Chongzheng Primary School and the Braddell Heights Community Club - will host Mendaki Homework Cafes to help students with their schoolwork. This brings the total number of centers to 18, with spaces for 300 students at any point in time. Turning to the family, Yaacob had good news to share. There has been a dip in minor marriages and remarriages. In 2014, 1.3 percent of Muslim grooms and 4 percent of brides were below 21 years old, down from 3.9 per cent and 13.8 per cent respectively in 2004. Divorce rates, meanwhile, have remained stable, averaging at 1,600 a year over the last five years. However, Muslim couples with younger grooms aged 20 to 24 were more likely to split up: the divorce rate was 1.5 times higher than couples with older grooms. So the community will work on strengthening the marriages of young couples, in addition to minor couples. From the second half of this year, Inspirasi Hubs - dedicated centers for marriage preparation and enrichment for young Muslim couples - will extend their services to couples with grooms aged 21 to 24. The Syariah Court will work with Muis Academy to develop a new certification program on the practice of Muslim law in Singapore, aimed at helping practitioners understand marriages, divorces and inheritance as practised in Singapore. Since 2005, the Syariah Court's marriage counseling program has helped over 30,000 couples facing issues. About 45 percent of them reconciled. The next set of Singapore Syariah Appeals Reports - a source of reference when it comes to Muslim family law - will also be produced in the second half of the year. The first edition was published in 2012. "Our strength as a community depends on strong families and how we look after those in need," said Yaacob. And community support through zakat collection has been robust: In 2015, the sum was US$35.3 million (unaudited), up from $22.7 in 2010. Muis disburses zakat to an average of 5,300 beneficiaries annually. But with tweaks to the eligibility criteria and the increase in disbursement quantum, it was able to offer $17.2 million in assistance to the poor last year - almost half of the total zakat collected. "We should be proud of what we have achieved. Indeed, we are in a better position than we were 50 years ago and cannot afford to be reckless or to assume that we have arrived," said Yaacob. "But we must remain humble for the journey is never over. What lies ahead is uncertain. Just as our pioneers struggled to make a nation out of disparate communities, struggle hard we must as we move into the future. So let us not wait for others to find the solutions to the challenges that trouble and pain us." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Associated Press) Washington Thu, April 14, 2016 The US State Department said Wednesday that forced labor on Thai fishing vessels has continued in the past year despite legal reforms and arrests following an Associated Press investigation into the country's seafood industry. The department made the assessment in its annual global review of human rights practices, released in Washington by Secretary of State John Kerry. The report covers the 2015 calendar year. The report finds that the Thai government has reaffirmed its "zero tolerance" policy for human trafficking and updated many laws that enhance regulatory powers and increase punishment for violations. An amended anti-trafficking law provides protection to whistleblowers and gives authorities the power to halt operations temporarily or suspend licenses of businesses and vehicles involved in human trafficking. But the report says, "the lack of clarity in law and practice on what constitutes forced labor or debt bondage undermined the government's efforts to identify labor trafficking victims and prosecute forced labor." Reports of abusive work environments, including forced labor, continued in many sectors, including Thai-flagged seagoing trawlers and labor-intensive industries such as food and seafood processing facilities, according to the department. Up to 90 percent of workers in the seafood processing industry were migrant workers, it says. The department cites the AP investigative series on slavery in the seafood industry that resulted in the rescue of 2,000 men, a dozen arrests, millions of dollars' worth of seizures, closure of some shrimp-peeling sheds, and proposals for new national laws. The men, mostly from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, were recruited in Thailand and brought to Indonesia using fake travel documents where they were subjected to brutal labor abuses. Some had been enslaved for years or decades. Later in the year, the department will issue a separate report that focuses on human trafficking and exploitative labor and ranks governments on their performance in combating those abuses. Thailand, along with Iran, Syria and Zimbabwe, was last year among 23 countries receiving the lowest ranking in the annual US assessment. There are early signs of success at the Metrograph Theater on Ludlow Street. Founder Alexander Olch says, We thought it would take a while to build an audience, but the independent cinema is already meeting audience goals that werent expected for six months. [Indiewire] More hints regarding the U.S. Attorneys interest in the Rivington House debacle: A person with knowledge of the matter said the federal prosecutors were monitoring the inquiry, but that it remained unclear whether the deals rose to the level of criminal conduct. [New York Times] Council member Margaret Chin and other proponents of a plastic bag fee rallied at City Hall. [Daily News] University Settlement celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the Houston Street Center. [Wall Street Journal] Hungry City columnist Nigaya Mishan says the steamed whole fish at Bite of Hong Kong on Chrystie Street is a reminder of how satisfying dining in Chinatown can be when you know where to go. [New York Times] 25-year-old entrpreneur Carolyn Weaver is turning a profit selling pencils on Forsyth Street. [Bloomberg] Were continuing our interviews with candidates on the ballot in next weeks special election to replace Assemblyman Sheldon Silver. The former speaker was forced from office after being convicted on federal corruption charges last November. Today its Republican Lester Changs turn to answer questions about the unusual campaign in the 65th Assembly District. Chang lives in Nolita and grew up on Eldridge Street. Hes an international shipping consultant and has served in the U.S. Navy Reserves for 18 years, working in military intelligence. He served in Washington D.C. after 9/11 and did a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Earlier in his life, Chang worked in accounting and finance and did a stint with the U.S. Census Bureau. During our candidate forum last week, Chang talked about his family struggles early in life. His dad died of lung cancer when Chang was just 8 years old. His mom ran a Chinese restaurant to keep the family together. We began by talking about what motivated him to jump into politics at the age of 55: Do you see the homelessness out on the street? (The) slashings (of innocent bystanders)? All these things built up, built up, built up, and then of course the conviction of (Sheldon) Silver. And I said, there has to be someone honest in government I was angry. The New York Republican Party is salivating at the prospect of sending one of their own to Albany to replace Silver, the former speaker who they loathed for so long. The former mayor, Rudy Giuliani was the star attraction at a March fundraiser for Chang in Chinatown. Giuliani said of the GOP candidate in Lower Manhattan, He will erase the stain of corruption from this district. On the ballot, Chang is appearing on the Republican line, as well as on the Independence, Reform and the Clean Up the Mess Party lines. The later organization is his own creation. Chang said he became a Republican about 10 years ago: I had been a Democrat for a long time I didnt like the messages with the Democratic Party. On the Republican side, I am fiscally conservative better management of government, of public resources and thats why I got disgusted with the Democrats, fiscally, giving away money. Thats the only thing, but everything else, Im right down the middle. The ideological makeup of the 65th Assembly District obviously does not favor the Republican Party. There are around 7,000 Republicans compared with 45,000 Democrats. The Democratic nominee, Alice Cancel, has a huge built-in advantage. Another Democrat, Yuh-Line Niou, is running on the Working Families Party line, and has collected endorsements from many leading Democratic office-holders. But in our interview, held in Changs campaign office near Chatham Square in Chinatown, he and Republican operative Rob Ryan explained how they plan to pull off the unlikeliest of victories. Referencing Changs local ties and Yuh-Line Nious status as a relative newcomer to Lower Manhattan, Ryan said, Lesters roots are a helluva lot deeper in the district. You have someone here (in Chang) who has a real resume. Hes actually done a bunch of stuff with his life. Chinatown has long been fertile ground for Republicans (just ask Rudy Giuliani). Down the street, said Chang, there are a lot of disenfranchised Democrats. A Lot! Ryan also thinks the presidential primary, taking place on the same day next week, will influence the special election. He assumes that many downtown voters will be coming out for Bernie Sanders, and that theyll likely support fellow-Working Families Party candidate Niou, or Green Party candidate Dennis Levy. The Republican Party hopes the progressive vote is divided among the three liberal candidates, giving Chang an opening. The GOP is spending heavily on direct mail to influence more than 15,000 registered voters who havent declared any party affiliation. On some issues, Chang doesnt sound much like a Republican. Hes a resident of rent stabilized housing and has called for a new version of the Mitchell Lama affordable housing program in Manhattan. Chang supports a stronger rent regulation law in Albany. While hes personally sympathetic to ending vacancy decontrol, the candidate said its probably not realistic politically: The easiest fix is to raise the cap (at which apartments enter the free market). If you keep raising the cap, vacancy (decontrol) becomes mute. To overturn (vacancy decontrol) is going to be very hard The cap should be easier to move I (also) want stronger laws (to prevent displacement) We need to have stronger teeth for landlords who are stretching the rules Right now, lets change the tone. Instead of luxury (housing) luxury buildings destroy neighborhoods, (New York should emphasize affordability) You have people making over $100,000-200,000 a year (moving into previously low-income neighborhoods). They expect goods and services to be at that level, not necessarily 99 cent stores or bodegas. When you start to change (communities), you change the character right away. (Mayor) Bloomberg was giving away so much luxury lets slow down. Lets pause. Lets give the other side a chance to develop the real affordable, lower- to middle-income, stabilize it and maybe give them, the non-profit developers, a chance to develop those neighborhoods, to counter-balance the luxury. On other issues, Chang is more in line with his partys mainstream. He opposes the new statewide $15 minimum wage thats going to be phased in over the next several years. Chang believes it will hurt mom-and-pop businesses and low-income residents who cant afford to pay higher prices in local shops and restaurants. Hes skeptical about a proposal being advanced by the #SaveNYC group to give commercial tenants lease renegotiation rights. Its a free market. What we can do is give incentives. My proposal is for landlords to give tenants longer leases and they get a significant (property) tax break for that I suspect some of the stores are being warehoused, as well If you dont rent a storefront in a certain amount of time, there a penalty. You dont want empty storefronts because it also affects real estate values. Maybe there should be a penalty against an owner if you dont rent your space in a year or 16 months. Chang is a strong proponent of charter schools. I believe in choice, he explained. Parents should make the choice. If they feel a charter school is a good fit for their kids, let them make that choice. Thats how I feel. The candidate understands that co-locating charters in existing school buildings is a contentious issue. Chang thinks the city has an obligation to find space for charter schools if theres no room in traditional schoolhouses. He also supports tuition tax credits and mayoral control of the public schools, but believes parents should be given a stronger voice in their kids educations. Chang is adamantly opposed to changing admissions tests for specialized high schools, which have come under fire for being culturally biased. Chang said he would fight for increased anti-terrorism funding in Lower Manhattan. I will be the biggest squeaky wheel, he asserted, to make sure we get our money here. New York is still number one bulls eye. He believes the National Guard should be mobilized to help protect the city and that there should be more surveillance cameras in key locations. On an issue that has long frustrated people in Chinatown, Chang believes the police department should loosen automobile restrictions through Park Row. The route was closed following 9/11 for security reasons and continues to hobble local businesses. Why cant we just (open Park Row) at limited times, during the weekends or during the daytime? Theres a balance in there. If we cant have a balance, lets provide free shuttle buses. You gotta give. Its choking our businesses and community here. To help Chinatown businesses dependent on tourism, Chang said he has a suggestion: Ive thought about this. You know theres (shuttle bus) between Battery Park and South Street Seaport. Extend that from South Street Seaport to Chinatown Cut across Canal Street and stop by Little Italy, because they would like that, too. Go up two blocks north at Centre Street, to Museum of Chinese in America. Help them out a little bit. Then go down south to Battery Park. It will benefit not only tourism but the residents of (these neighborhoods). Why not put some New York State tourism funding in there? Its basically the Downtown Alliance running it. Chinatown doesnt have that kind of money Were not talking about a billion dollar project. Maybe a couple million. It makes sense. Another transportation issue of interest to a lot of people in the neighborhood is the regulation of intercity buses. A state law meant to tame the burgeoning industry has proved ineffective due to scant enforcement by the NYPD. Several years ago, the city investigated the idea of creating a downtown bus depot, but concluded that there are no suitable locations in Lower Manhattan. Chang said its time to try again. We need a depot somewhere in Lower Manhattan, he argued, not above ground, but deep underground, perhaps under the Manhattan Bridge. Chang believes it would deliver a powerful message to state legislators if voters sent him to Albany in the aftermath of Sheldon Silvers conviction. The message, he said, would be, You failed. Its very simple. Chang is in favor of term limits for committee chairs. While supportive of term limits for all lawmakers, he doesnt see that as a realistic proposal in the short term. Summing up, he explained, Im so damn angry about whats happening. If I can be that spark for other, regular people, hey, we can make a difference People need to know, he said, that a regular Joe can be a public official. This is a decent job if youre true to yourself. The Vaults underneath Waterloo Station have opened themselves up again this week, taking on a whole new guise to host a theatrical interpretation of childhood spook-fest Goosebumps. The immersive production is taken from RL Stines original series, that spawned an impressive 60+ novels between 1992 and 1997. The books were the stuff of delicious horror for kids of the 1990s, and the opening of Goosebumps Alive is likely to bring around whole load of nostalgia for those currently in their early 20s. (As a side, who doesnt remember skipping more than a couple of heart beats during series opener Welcome to Dead House? Yes... I too used to live in your house. Shudders.) This Goosebumps, though, is definitely not for children*. Its a dark, twisted, adult version of RL Stines world, where we are transported from creepy 90s America to creepy 2016 Britain and thrown into a League of Gentleman-esque world that displays the darkest side of deranged humanity. With a bit of supernatural horror thrown in, of course. So Goosebumps has grown up, but happily despite the stories shifting the focus into a contemporary adult world the themes at play reference heavily the original stories. Plants that come to life? Check. Antique shops full of darkly mysterious objects? Check. Children whose childish pranks might point to something more sinister lurking beneath? Check. Basements, haunted masks, the notion that we shouldnt wish for things because they might just come true? Well, of course. The reinterpretation of these childhood scares reminds us that stories can grow up with us, and be as memorable and relevant (not to mention scary) now as they were in 1997. Like those interactive Goosebumps novels that gave you a moral decision by which to lead your story at the end of every page (shout to the sadly now out of print Give Yourself Goosebumps series yes, we had to Google it), not everyone who experiences Goosebumps Alive follows the same path. Instead, on entry youre handed a card that signifies whether youre a crow, a rat, a snake or a spider. After a brief introduction in which youre allowed to wait in the bar drinking cocktails out of syringes, the production sees each group wind a different pathway through the underground tunnels, each led by a KKK-esque hooded figure. Yes, its as eerie as it sounds. No group sees the same scenes in the same order; no group, I was told afterwards, sees every scene that is being performed. The genius of this is that a second visit is likely to render an entirely different experience. Its an intriguing prospect. The acting is just the right side of creepy, with black humour used to the right extent to keep the whole experience (at least relatively) light-hearted. The set too, from towering cornfields reminiscent of the Middle America of the original series to the impressive finale (no spoilers here), deserve a shout out. Heres a tip: definitely go and see Goosebumps Alive. The Vaults are a suitably eerie location and youll be just as momentarily disturbed as you were when you were seven years old. Also, get there half an hour before the production starts so you can take advantage of the ghoulish cocktails and large selection of burgers/toasties on offer. here . *In case you want to take your small siblings/family members/kids you babysit for along, there is actually a kids version of Goosebumps Alive. You can find info on that Goosebumps Alive is playing now at The Vaults, Leake Street, SE1. Tickets start at 32.50. 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But it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to me at the time in my life because I started to understand what it meant to work as part of a team, to trust somebody else and depend on them to have my back. It was the best thing that happened to me because I was headed down the wrong way. I took advanced training at Fort Leonard Wood to be a carpenter. When I finished they told me I was going to Vietnam. Again I didnt know what I was in for. I landed at Cam Rahm Bay. They gave me gear but no weapons, and handed me a piece of paper and told me to find my way from there to Engineer Hill. Getting to his post was an adventure in itself. Im jumpy as can be because Im walking the streets, all these Vietnamese people around, I had no weapon, and I didnt know if these people were friendly or not. I dont know what the hell was going on. I get over to Engineer Hill and they give me paperwork to go right back and catch a flight to get to a place called Da Lat in the Central Highlands. It turned out to be a little place with an airstrip. As we flew in I could see a little plane like a Piper Cub sitting in a tree all shot to hell and I thought What am I in for? I got to HQ, said I was looking for Charlie Company, 87th Engineers. They sent me down the airstrip, and I found the company right where that airplane was sitting in the tree. And that was my introduction to Vietnam. It wasnt long before Rod would see battle. I arrived in time for the Tet Offensive, so about the second or third week I was there, we got hit pretty bad. Our unit was split, we took 45 percent casualties that night we got hit. No officers, no NCOs, they were dead or hit. For five days they had airdrops coming in, nobody could land. They (the Viet Cong) pounded the hell out of us with mortars. If the VC knew how bad they had us theyd have come on in and took care of us. We lost most of our clothes when the Cobras and the gunships fired right overhead. The brass from the miniguns came down hot and burned through the tents and burned up our clothes, they were that low. If it hit you, it burned you. I was really impressed with the F-4s. Theyd come in right over you, dropping napalm. And when they hit, the ground would lift up about 15 feet, then drop into a crater, then the fire would shoot out. The heat was tremendous, but we loved it, it was saving our hides. We were told Hold no matter what. You couldnt land a plane so we were going nowhere. I spent five days talking to my dead. Cover them up during the daytime, uncover them at night and talk to them. What else are you going to do? We finally got them out. We spent about 30 days in the bunkers because it took that long to get control of the area. That was my initiation in Vietnam, and that answered my question: if I could do what I had to do. After that it was hunting season as far as I was concerned, and I got very proficient at what I did. Ordnance disposal Afterwards we started cleaning up, digging up bombs and rockets that hadnt gone off. Id worked at a stone quarry as a demolition assistant, I had one hour of training in the Army, they looked at that and said Well, youre EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), youve got knowledge, nobody else here does. Rod learned to clear mines and ordnance in time honored Army tradition: by doing it. I learned from what I found and I learned from what I saw others do. I got pretty good at it. I liked it, it was like Christmas because I never knew what I was going to find. Part of Rods job included clearing the roads of mines. He worked with vehicles called Gun Trucks, five-ton trucks with armor and heavy weapons designed to provide security for convoys and work parties. Gun trucks are strictly volunteer, he explained. We built these trucks out of what we could acquire. Being an engineer, I had access to special equipment. Special Forces, they like nice bunkers. They dont like digging. Id show up with a bulldozer and a few other guys, wed make the hole and make the bunker, in turn theyd give us weaponry and ammunition. We had guns we werent supposed to have. Anything that went bang, we had. During the night, the enemy would use the cover of darkness to plant mines and explosives along the roads. Wed go out in the morning to do minesweeping, to open up the road, the truck went with us. Id be using a minesweeper, which didnt pick up squat. Ninety percent of what we found we found with our eyes, looking for a disturbance of the soil, and indentation. Rod and his fellow Soldiers hid their loses from the enemy. Every time they blew up a truck wed get a new truck, put the same numbers on it, the same name, make it better and go out. The trucks went everywhere we went. We came in the truck would be repaired, cleaned, refueled, anything it needed, before we showered or ate or anything. Rods job was critical to the safety of the troops, and he understood the price of failure. If I didnt do my job right, somebody died. I had to live with that. And believe me, we didnt find them all. I did the best I could do. We cleared the road, came back in, and brought the company out to work. We provided cover for them (with the gun trucks) while they put culverts in, build bridges. Sometimes he used the enemies own devices against them. I would find their box mines, full of plastic explosives. I would bring them in and put them in our perimeter as booby traps for them to find. When asked what it was like to be in a tight unit, Rod said, We had no hesitation. The red, white, and blue, yeah. But once you get in a combat zone, the minute you get your first taste, the first shot fired, the first bomb goes off, the red, white, and blue goes out the window. The only thing I care about is you, him, those with me. I care about them, seeing that they get out of there, and I dont think about anything else. I have no hesitation, I go right in and do what I know works. And I dont worry about whats behind me because I know this guys got my back, cause I got this guys back here. And thats just the way it is. Rod also talked about the things he brought back with him from the war. I liked the adrenaline rush. Being that scared, its strange to say but the crazier it got, the calmer I got, the more relaxed I was. But you put me in a room with 30 people, I cant sit there, I get paranoid. But if they were fighting, Id be comfortable. Looking back on his service, Rod expressed no regrets. I got some of my medals now, and the only reason I got them is because my wife wanted them. I dont really care. I dont care what you put on a uniform, that doesnt make a soldier. You can respect the uniform for what it stands for, but whats in it makes the uniform. I got to serve with some truly great men, some really great men. I had the honor to serve with them, I had the honor to call them brother, and I knew them by name. I was just an average soldier, nothing special, never was, never will be. But I get to tell their stories. Maharashtra becomes first state to pass law against social boycott Published: April 14, 2016 The Maharashtra legislature has unanimously passed the Maharashtra Prohibition of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2016 to end the menace social boycott practiced by extra-judicial institutions like caste and community panchayats. With this Maharashtra became first state in the country to adopt a comprehensive law to root out oppression carried out by parallel justice delivery system (kangaroo court) in the name of age old traditions, caste and religion. Key Features of Bill The Bill terms social boycott as a crime and says anybody indulging in it would face imprisonment maximum upto three years and a fine of 1 lakh rupees or both. It disallows social boycott of any individual or groups by caste panchayats or groups of individuals or gavki or by its members or by social or economically influential persons. Persons involved in practice of social boycott for reasons like rituals of worship, inter-caste marriage, any connection to lifestyle, dress or vocation will face stringent punishment. The offence registered under the act will be congnizable and bailable. It will be tried by a judicial magistrate of the first class. The victim of social boycott or any member of the victims family can file a complaint either to police or directly to the magistrate. The bill has indicated speedy trial within six months of filing chargesheet in such cases in order to ensure time-bound results. Government will recruit social boycott prohibition officers to ensure monitoring and to detect offences and assist the magistrate and police officers in tackling such cases. Background In recent times, Maharashtra had witnessed an increasing number of incidents of social boycott and violence at the orders of caste panchayats. However, existing laws were found to be inadequate in dealing with such practices. For years, number of activists and academicians in the state were demanding stringent law to root out menace of social boycotts from the state. Month: Current Affairs - April, 2016 Topics: Bills and Acts Maharashtra Social Issues States UPSC Latest E-Books British tourist found dead in Phuket hotel pool PHUKET: A British tourist has died after his daughter found him floating unconscious at their Phuket hotel swimming pool in Karon yesterday (Apr 13). culturehealthpolice By Darawan Naknakhon Thursday 14 April 2016, 01:16PM Mr Anning, from Bognor Regis in West Sussex, was pulled unconscious from the resort swimming pool. Photo: Darawan Naknakhon The man was identified as Brian Anning, 72, from Bognor Regis in West Sussex. Mr Annings daughter, Ms Janet Stroud, told police that she and her father arrived on Phuket on Tuesday (Apr 12) and were set to depart on April 26. Ms Stroud said they came back to hotel together, and Mr Anning went swimming in the pool at about 6:20pm, said Capt Chatree Chuwichien of the Karon Police. Ms Stroud said she returned to the pool to find her father floating in the water. She called for hotel staff to help pull him out of the pool, but he was unconscious, not breathing and unresponsive, Capt Chatree said. Emergency services were called, but were unable to revive Mr Anning, who was pronounced dead on arrival at Vachira Phuket Hospital. The pool is only 1.5 meters deep, Capt Chatree said. There were no signs of a struggle on Mr Annings body, and we believe he died about an hour before we arrived. Ms Stroud said that her father had several health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension and heart complications, he added. Apparently he had been using insulin for a long time, Capt Chatree said. He may have suffered a diabetic shock while in the pool, which may have caused or contributed to his death, Capt Chatree suggested. We are waiting for doctors to conclude their appraisal and determine the actual cause of death. Hero neighbours praised for dousing Phuket Town condo fire PHUKET: Hero neighbours have been praised for preventing a small fire from spreading throughout Supalai Condominium Park building in Phuket Town last night (Apr 13). accidents By Darawan Naknakhon Thursday 14 April 2016, 04:46PM Ms Wilasinees said she forgot to put out a joss stick before going out for dinner with friends. Photo: Darawan Naknakhon More than 100 people fled the building after the alarm was raised. Photo: Darawan Naknakhon More than 100 people fled the building after the alarm was raised. Photo: Darawan Naknakhon More than 100 people fled the building after the alarm was raised. Photo: Darawan Naknakhon The fire was in a condo unit on the 10th floor of the people. Photo: Darawan Naknakhon Two fire trucks were dispatched to the condo block, but the fire had been put out by they time they had arrived. Photo: Darawan Naknakhon More than 100 people fled the 15-story condominium block on Montri Rd after black smoke was seen billowing out of a window on the 10th floor at about 10:30pm. Lt Chatree Wetcharangsri, at Phuket City Police Station was informed of the fire and quickly called the Phuket Town fire brigade, which dispatched two fire trucks to the scene. However, quick action by neighbours had already seen the fire safely put out. The neighbours said they smelled something burning and broke open the door to find on a small altar mounted high on a wall in the living room on fire, said Lt Chatree. They quickly got the hose from the nearest fire box on that level and put the fire out within minutes, he said. Wilasinee Songrak, 30, who lives in the unit that caught fire, told police that she lit incense on the altar and went out for dinner with friends. But she forgot to put out the incense before she left, Lt Chatree said. Ms Wilasinee praised her neighbours. I was very lucky that my neighbours noticed the smell and broke open the door to put the fire out, she said. Police have marked the incident as fire caused by recklessness. Sushila Karki: First female Chief Justice of Nepal's Supreme Court Published: April 14, 2016 The Constitutional Council of Nepal has selected Justice Sushila Karki (63) for the post of Chief Justice (CJ) of the Supreme Court of the country. With this selection she will become 26th chief justice of the apex court and the first female CJ in Nepals history. However, her nomination is expected to be confirmed by a Parliamentary Hearings Committee which endorses the recommendation. She will succeed Kalyan Shrestha who retired from the top post. She shall have tenure of 1 year and retire in June 2017 upon reaching the age limit. About Sushila Karki Born on June 7, 1952 in Biratnagar. She had completed a bachelors degree in law from Tribhuvan University in 1978. She has also done her post graduate in political science from Banaras Hindu University. Currently she is seniormost judge in the Supreme Court of Nepal. Since 2010, she is member of the International Association of Women Judges. She was appointed ad-hoc justice (judge) at the Supreme Court in January 2009 and as permanent justice on November 18, 2010. Prior to her appointment as judge of Supreme Court in 2009, she had served as a senior advocate. She was accorded the title of senior advocate in 2004. She also had served as President of the Appelate Court Bar Association Biratnagar for a term until 2004. She is known as human rights activist until her appointment to the Supreme Court and was associated with the Human Rights Organization and Amnesty International Nepal. Appointment Process As per Nepals new Constitution, the president of the country appoints the Chief Justice on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council if the Parliamentary Hearings Committee endorses the recommendation. Month: Current Affairs - April, 2016 Topics: appointments Nepal Persons in News Supreme court Sushila Karki Latest E-Books Our Divisions Copyright 2022-23 DB Corp ltd., All Rights Reserved This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics. How to watch and what to know about South Dakota State at North Dakota A cheese lover on Twitter expressed less than complete satisfaction with the Quesalupa, Taco Bells newest and cheesiest menu item. The companys social media team was on it. Dear @tacobell, Why cant the quesalupa be as cheesy as your commercials? Sincerely, A customer who would marry cheese, the tweet read. The tweet popped up on one of the dozen wall-hung screens that employees monitor in the Fishbowl at Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine, California. Matt Prince swooped in. As head of the 15-person newsroom team, its his job to defend and protect what Taco Bell calls The Cheese Pull the taffylike web of pepper jack created by pulling apart a Quesalupa. A snag like the one described in the tweet might trigger an email to one of the 6,500 Taco Bell restaurants, reminding staff not to overcook the tortilla or allow the shells to lie around too long after theyve been fried in canola oil. Taco Bell spent two years perfecting the technique after a decade of noodling with the cheese-pully thing, said Liz Matthews, chief food innovation and beverage officer, and its betting its future on plenty of cheesy elasticity for maximum customer goo. Be Amazing Its got to have an amazing, delicious cheese pull in every bite, Matthews said in an interview in the companys international test kitchen this month. Its hard to overstate the importance of The Cheese Pull to Taco Bell and its parent company, Yum! Brands Inc., which has a $33 billion (U.S.) market value and more than $13 billion in revenue last year. With Yum planning to spin off its China unit and growth otherwise slowing at Taco Bells siblings, KFC and Pizza Hut, its come down to this: The near-term performance of Yum depends on Taco Bell, and the performance of Taco Bell rests on The Cheese Pull. The strongest brand in the portfolio is clearly Taco Bell, Yum chief executive officer Greg Creed said last month. Yum plans to open the first Taco Bell this year in China, where KFC growth slowed after a supplier scandal in 2014. Theres talk of taking Taco Bell to Australia, too. Sales at established Taco Bell locations jumped 5 per cent last year, compared with growth of 1 per cent at Pizza Hut and 3 per cent for KFC. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.s recent sales troubles, caused by E. coli and norovirus outbreaks, give the brand an opportunity to attract more fast-foodies. Quesalupa Debut The Quesalupa rolled out with accompanying fanfare on Feb. 8 after a 36-store test in Toledo, Ohio. The company said it persuaded Americans to order 71,000 of the $2.99 tacos with cheese-filled shells without even disclosing what they were they called it a blind preorder. The advertising campaign was Taco Bells most expensive ever, and it included a 30-second TV spot that ran during the Feb. 7 Super Bowl, claiming the Quesalupa would be bigger than man-buns, drones, aliens and James Hardens beard, among other things. The commercial, airing during the priciest TV time of the year, cost an estimated $5 million just to broadcast, according to Andrew Alvarez, an analyst at research firm IBISWorld. The star of the ad was The Cheese Pull. Americans ate about 34.2 pounds (15.5 kilograms) per person in 2014, 9.4 per cent more than a decade earlier, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Ironically, Taco Bell said its close to fulfilling its goal for a healthier menu by removing preservatives and fake flavours from 95 per cent of its menu. Its also quietly pushing its lower-calorie Fresco menu, which substitutes pico de gallo for guacamole, sour cream, cheese and any mayonnaise-based sauces. SHARE: David Cameron is rich. That should not come as a surprise. He has been rich his entire life. He was born into a wealthy family, went to the best schools in Britain, worked in several well-paying jobs, married a woman from an even wealthier family, became the leader of a political party that historically favours the established elite and then became probably the wealthiest prime minister of Britain in a generation. These facts have never changed, and its hard to argue that Cameron ever portrayed himself as anything else. Regardless, over the past two weeks, his privileged background has been scrutinized by the British press and public with a sometimes-brutal fervour. A huge leak of financial data had revealed that Camerons stockbroker father had run a trust based in Panama, a popular tax haven. In several media appearances, Cameron tried to defend his father, claiming that the fund was a personal matter, but he was soon forced to admit that he himself had profited from it. In an attempt to show transparency, Cameron released his tax returns between 2009 and 2015 this weekenda first in British politics. However, contained in the returns was a worrying surprise. A year after inheriting more than $400,000 from his late father, Cameron received two gifts of more than $140,000 from his mother, a move labelled a tax bill dodge by the Mail on Sunday (though some experts disagreed). Camerons flustered response to the issue has elicited sympathy from some quarters columnist Charles Moore wrote in the conservative-leaning Telegraph newspaper that, just as some people were trapped in poverty, Cameron was trapped in wealth. Though the prime minister has not been linked to any illegal activity, many Brits see Cameron as an out-of-touch member of their countrys upper-class elite. (Another recent scandal of dubious provenance and lewd content, revolving around the youthful activities of Cameron and a pigs head, had perhaps helped this reputation take root). On Monday, Cameron attempted to defend himself in Parliament, telling colleagues that aspiration and wealth creation are not dirty words. Not everyone agreed: One opposition politician was ejected from Parliament for calling the prime minister dodgy Dave. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told Cameron that he had lost the trust of ordinary citizens. Does he realize why people are so angry? Corbyn said. MORE ON THESTAR.COM British PM says he sold stake in fathers offshore fund in 2010 Who uses offshore tax shelters? Panama Papers expose offshore dealings of the rich and famous Inside the Panama Papers leak: Handling an historic data leak Class anger is hardly something new in Britain. However, in the 1990s, class warfare began to get more complicated, with a distinctly unposh John Major leading the Conservative Party and a new crop of upper-middle-class centrists taking over the left-wing Labour Party. Over the past few years, the privileged backgrounds of Cameron and a number of other high-ranking Conservative luminariesincluding London Mayor Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osbornehave been controversial, but not the biggest story of the day. What changed? There are two distinct yet intertwined factors that have turned class and privilege into a hot topic in British politics once more. The first of these is austerity. Under Cameron and Osborne, Britain has undertaken a serious path of economic cost-cutting in the past six years. These cuts to public spending have grown increasingly controversial, with one Conservative cabinet member recently resigning and stating that he felt benefits cuts for disabled people were a compromise too far. In public appearances, Cameron had attempted to deflect claims that the well-off were getting off without paying their share. In now-notorious comments, he took aim at offshore bank accounts in 2012, criticizing comedian Jimmy Carr for putting his money in very dodgy tax-avoiding schemes that were morally wrong. In the wake of the Panama Papers, those comments can easily be read as duplicitous. And to make matters worse, Cameron is now facing off against Corbyn, a leader far to Camerons left who has benefited from a populist anger against the wealthy. During the prime ministers question time on Wednesday, the Labour leader who had recently released his tax returns and was found to have over-declared said he had personally paid more taxes than some companies owned by people that he might know quite well. The second factor is the referendum on Brexit, to be held in June. Those who support the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union are generally not the same people protesting austerity; it seems that many are also motivated by anger toward the political elite. The Remain campaign has been portrayed as reflecting the wishes of a cosmopolitan class that lives above the economic realities of European integration, which have arguably hit the poorer hardest. Writing in the New Statesman, Helen Lewis went so far as to say that the row over Camerons taxes was really about Brexit. Lewis noted that there is clearly a political motive for discrediting Cameron, who has become the figurehead of the campaign to stay in Europe. By doing so, they dent his ability to present himself as an honest broker, above partisan bickering, who is nonetheless wholeheartedly recommending a Remain vote to the British people, she argued. For Cameron, this must all be pretty frustrating. He has never claimed he wasnt wealthy. Many of the allegations contained in the Panama Papers were already revealed in 2012 by the Guardian, and they didnt gain much traction. His confused response to the new controversy might well be a reflection of an inarguable fact: International finance is confusing. And while Cameron is rich, so are many of his critics. Johnson, a major voice in the Conservative Party and a Brexit supporter, also comes from a wealthy background. He was a contemporary of Camerons at Oxfordthey were both members of an exclusive dining club known for its traditions of extreme drinking and restaurant trashing. Meanwhile, Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-E.U. U.K. Independence Party, is a former stock broker who has refused to publish his tax returns. Camerons personal wealth also pales on the international stage. In 2009, before he became prime minister, his net worth was estimated at 10 million pounds ($14 million) by the Sunday Times Rich List. For comparison, the net worth of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has been estimated at as high as $50 million. Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romneys net worth was reported to be $250 million, while current GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump claims to be worth billions, and both received substantial inheritances. There are plenty of billionaires in London, an international financial mecca, who would look down upon Camerons wealth. Unfortunately for him, Cameron is stuck in the middle of both the Brexit fight and the fight to succeed him as prime minister. And as hes learning, in Britain, class still matters. Read more about: SHARE: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his federal Liberals are turning their backs on three Canadians who were tortured overseas. When they were in opposition, the Liberals advocated for Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati, and Muayyed Nureddin, who were captured in Syria with the help of Canadian security officials, detained, and tortured. Trudeau and nine of his current ministers voted that the men receive apologies and compensation. Now the governing Liberals have changed their minds they are actively fighting the victims claims for reparations and protecting the government officials who helped expose them to harm. We might have seen this coming. Trudeaus promise of sunny ways as the new government never extended to issues of so-called national security. Trudeau is in sync with former PM Stephen Harper on the governments right to spy on its own citizens, and to share what it learns, true or false, with officials in the United States and around the world. Men of Arab heritage like Almalki, El Maati and Nureddin, all of whom are Canadian citizens, are as vulnerable to racist state surveillance and criminalization under Trudeaus watch as they ever have been. The Liberal hypocrisy on justice for Almalki, El Maati and Nureddin is deep. In 2008, a secretive government inquiry revealed that Canadian officials had indirectly contributed to the torture of the three men. During a debate in Parliament the following year regarding compensation and apologies to the three torture victims, Liberal MP Mark Holland said, there is no matter that could be more important to debate in the House than one pertaining to innocent Canadians who suffered torture. Holland added of the victims, perhaps not quite as bad as that torture they would have faced in those terrible dungeons in Syria is for the cloud of suspicion to continue to hang over them today. What they ask for more than anything else is the right to have their name cleared, a right that should be afforded to them immediately. Today the Liberals are not only delaying compensation and apologies through the courts, they are also attempting to hide the identities of the Canadian officials who contributed to the abuses. The suffering inflicted upon the three men is unimaginable. El Maati was tortured with an electric rod, sometimes for hours. Almalki was whipped, beaten, and detained for 22 months, mostly in a dark cell. Nureddin reported that his Syrian captors would whip his feet until they were numb, then douse them with cold water so the feeling and pain returned. In each case, CSIS or the RCMP helped the mens torturers by sending them interrogation questions. Almalki, El Maati and Nureddin were all tortured in the same facility as Maher Arar, another Canadian citizen who eventually received $10.5 million in compensation and an apology from the government. Security officials described all of the men as potential terrorists, but their information was bogus. These men were victims of the Islamophobic panic that followed the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. The Liberals seemed to understand all this in opposition. In delaying the justice they once demanded, they now seem to be banking on the notion that the public does not know what happened to Almalki, El Maati and Nureddin, or does not care. The government is continuing the post-9/11 tradition of shrugging at clear human rights abuses committed against Canadian citizens of Arab ancestry. Kerry Pither, author of Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror, told me in a phone interview that the government still has an opportunity to do the right thing. I can only hope that whats happening here is that the minster has not been briefed by all sides on this issue, Pither said of Minister Ralph Goodale, who is responsible for this file. She told me the governments decision not to help the men would fly in the face everything this government says it stands for on human rights. Pither said she and other human rights advocates see a direct link between these recent cases of torture, and the governments review of Bill C-51, a new set of so-called anti-terror laws that may further encourage spy and police agencies to target civilians without proper evidence, oversight, or review. Everything that is wrong with that piece of legislation is illustrated by these cases, Pither said. If the Liberals have learned anything from the horrific security mistakes of their predecessors, they need to make amends now, starting with justice for Almalki, El Maati and Nureddin. Desmond Cole is a Toronto-based journalist. His column appears every Thursday. SHARE: I intend get every bit of happiness I can wring from what is left of my life, Gloria Taylor, who suffered from the debilitating disease ALS, told British Columbias Supreme Court. But, she said, there will come a point when I will know that enough is enough. At that point, she said, she wanted to be able to die peacefully, at the time of my own choosing, in the embrace of my family and friends. Last year, the Supreme Court, convinced by the arguments of Taylor and other plaintiffs, ruled that Canadas Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the right of people with a grievous and irremediable condition that causes them enduring and intolerable suffering to seek assistance from a physician to end their lives. In the next few weeks, the Trudeau government is expected to introduce legislation in Parliament to comply with the Supreme Courts decision. But there is a disturbing possibility that people who would prefer to live out their lives and die a natural death may end up seeking physician-assisted death because they cant get hospice and palliative care to relieve pain and others symptoms. To allow them to live the final stretches of their lives with dignity, they need adequate health and social services to support them in their last months, weeks and days. In the coming years, Canadians with life-limiting health conditions, such as Taylor had, will consider making use of the newly recognized right to physician-assisted death. They will be able to decide when life is no longer worth living and make arrangements to die on their own terms. If a similar provision in the U.S. state of Oregon is any indication, though, only a very small percentage of people may ultimately make this decision. Oregon introduced physician-assisted death in 1998, yet last year only 132 out of about 34,000 Oregonians who died, or about 0.4 percent, did so with the assistance of a physician. So we can assume the vast majority of Canadians who die each year, including those with grievous and irremediable conditions, will most likely die of natural causes. Many will require hospice and palliative care, to effectively address pain and other symptoms that are common in people with life-limiting illnesses. They should be able to get these services not just in hospitals and residential hospices but also in their communities and in long-term care facilities. While health insurance in Canada covers hospice palliative care, significant gaps in its actual availability mean many patients may not be able to get it in the place of their choice or at all. A 2011 Canadian Institute for Health Information report, for example, found that in Atlantic Canada, just over 50 percent of 9,507 end-of-life patients who died in hospitals in acute care had received palliative care. In Prince Edward Island, the rate was as low as 27 percent. The situation is potentially even worse for patients who are at home, in other places in their communities, or in long-term care facilities. Nationwide data simply does not exist. The lack of adequate care could create the very scenario that the Supreme Court sought to avoid in its physician-assisted death decision. Considering the possibility that people like Taylor might feel little choice but to take their own lives to avoid a drawn-out decline, the court held: . . . the prohibition [of physician-assisted death]. . . has the effect of forcing some individuals to take their own lives prematurely, for fear that they would be incapable of doing so when they reached the point where suffering was intolerable. It concluded that this would violate the right to life. But surely it would equally violate the right to life if someone chooses to die prematurely with the help of a physician because the hospice and palliative care they need is not available. In Oregon, the government made a clear commitment to providing universal access to hospice and palliative care as well as physician-assisted death. So when the Trudeau government introduces legislation to regulate physician assisted-death, it should also take steps to ensure that Canadians will have adequate access to end-of-life care. It should develop and fund a national strategy to ensure that hospice-level palliative care is available throughout Canada and in all settings where people nearing the end of their lives may be getting care. A decision to opt for physician assisted death should not be driven by the fact a patient lacks other options. Diederik Lohman is the interim health director at Human Rights Watch SHARE: Country Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Canada Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African 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Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Search Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" trading recommendations using our exclusive "Mad Money" Stock Screener. Good investing is all about recognizing patterns, Jim Cramer told his Mad Money viewers Wednesday. Cramer said the pattern he's seeing now is a rolling bear market getting replaced by something new, a revolving bull market. Case in point, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) , a bank where everyone expected the worst this quarter. But despite the skeptics, JP Morgan posted strong results with a fantastic March, sending shares up 4.2% and taking Goldman Sachs (GS) and Wells Fargo (WFC) , a stock Cramer owns for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS, along for the ride. Then there are the rails, where CSX (CSX) saw declines in many of its businesses but still ended up closing the day up 4.1%. The bull reared its head in technology as well, where downtrodden names including Tableau Software (DATA) and LinkedIn (LNKD) were able to rally 8.7% and 3.2%. Cramer said there is still a lot of negativity in the market, with many hedge funds still betting against the whole market. But the fact remains the U.S. economy doesn't appear to be declining, the Federal Reserve is on hold and the prospects for a stronger Europe and China are getting stronger by the day. Build on Illinois Tool Shares of Illinois Tool Works (ITW) have been on fire of late, but have investors missed the move? Cramer thinks not. After falling to a low of $81 a share in late January, Illinois Tool has come roaring back to a new all-time high over $105 today. Cramer said this manufacturer of specialty products has its hands in everything from autos to restaurant equipment to wind turbines and is dominating its competition, raking in over $13 billion in sales. Illinois Tool is not just a recent phenomenon; shares are up 320% since the lows of 2009. After an in-depth strategic review of its business in 2012, the company doubled down on increasing organic growth and increasing margins and is now a leaner, meaner company that focuses on its most profitable products and clients. Trading at a slight premium to its peers, Cramer said Illinois Tool is still a bargain given its 17% earnings growth. He advised waiting for earnings next week, then buying into any weakness. Cramer Loves Expedia On last night's "Off the Charts" segment, Cramer checked in with colleague Suz Smith to discuss the stock of Expedia (EXPE) , among others. Smith concluded that if Expedia could close above its 50-day moving average, it would be a buy. Today the stock closed up 2.2%, above that crucial $105 level. But Cramer said there's more to love about Expedia than just its chart. He likes the recent acquisition of HomeAway for $3.9 billion in cash and stock. He said HomeAway makes booking a vacation rental as easy as a hotel and the synergies with Expedia make the company only more valuable. While Expedia expects the HomeAway deal to be dilutive to earnings during the first year, it expects a big boost to earnings and profitability thereafter. Cramer said the company is making HomeAway even better and investing in increased advertising to help spread the word. Expedia's last earnings were disappointing, Cramer admitted, but the company offered a positive outlook going forward. Trading at just 15 times earnings, Cramer said the charts have already told us that now is a good time to buy. Executive Decision: Dan DiMicco With the 2016 election cycle bringing the issue of free trade front and center, Cramer spoke with Dan DiMicco, former CEO of Nucor (NUE) , to find out what's really been going on in the steel industry. DiMicco said simply that "we've been had" by our free trade policies over the past 20 years and free trade has become "a complete failure" in practice. He said what our country needs is rules-based trade with accountability for entities that don't play by the rules. DiMicco said that the U.S. doesn't enforce the rules and lets the interests of the few outweigh the interests of the American worker. Lightning Round In the Lightning Round, Cramer was bullish on Cypress Semiconductor (CY) and WebMD Health (WBMD) . Cramer was bearish on Prospect Capital (PSEC) , Insys Therapeutics (INSY) and Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) . No Huddle Offense In his "No Huddle Offense" segment, Cramer pondered how a stock goes up when the company only has bad news to share. That was certainly the case with CSX (CSX) , which was able to rally off its downbeat earnings and guidance. Cramer said despite the 31% decline in coal shipments, CSX management has been preparing for the future and made a lot more money on fewer sales than anyone thought possible, even with a 13% reduction in its headcount. The consensus is that a year from now, CSX will look mighty cheap with its 3% yield and stock buyback program, given how well the company is likely to do when the economy really gets moving. To watch replays of Cramer's video segments, visit the Mad Money page on CNBC. To sign up for Jim Cramer's free Booyah! newsletter with all of his latest articles and videos please click here. At the time of publication, Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS had a position in WFC. Updated from original story on March 30 with information from McDonald's Worldwide Convention this week. Ordering McDonald's (MCD) hamburgers at almost half of its 7,900 restaurants in Europe has quietly gotten very easy -- and the U.S. may soon be next. "We have in-store kiosks in about 45% of our restaurants in Europe," McDonald's chief digital officer, Atif Rafiq, told TheStreet in an interview on Friday. Part of McDonald's "Create Your Taste" initiative launched several years ago, the giant tablet-like devices allows customers to skip the counter and customize everything for a burger order. That includes the type of bun to the variety of cheese to the litany of toppings and sauces that the Golden Arches has available. Over 90% of McDonald's restaurants in France now boast the ordering kiosks, said execs on a call with analysts Oct. 22. McDonald's continues to be mum on its kiosk roll-out plans, but it's believed that Australia and the U.K. -- which often serve as testing grounds for new initiatives -- also have many restaurants with the Create Your Taste layout. Judging by the tweet below, the kiosks have also landed in China. McDonald's spokeswoman Becca Hary declined to share any additional specifics on the overseas roll-out plans. But she did highlight one of several benefits for McDonald's. "McDonald's has used kiosks to streamline the customer experience in various geographies including Europe and Asia," said Hary. Additionally, McDonald's may get better at managing employee and food costs due to customers skipping the counter and choosing precisely what they want to eat. On a July 23 call with analysts, McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook said that kiosk ordering "takes the stress away from the front counter, and therefore you divide some of the pressure during the busiest times." He added, "from a commercial perspective, we see higher average checks because customers can browse the menu for a little bit longer, feel a little less pressure and they just tend to spend more." McDonald's hasn't said too much about its kiosk plans in the U.S., its largest market at over 14,000 restaurants. According to a source attending the annual McDonald's Worldwide Convention this week, the company now has kiosks in 600 U.S. restaurants. By year's end, it plans to have them in 1,000 locations. In addition, the kiosks have a much sleeker look than earlier iterations (photo below). New @McDonalds (slim) front counter kiosks but it's frustrating...you can touch but you can't buy!!! #McDWW16pic.twitter.com/qU5eXXHmRb But should the majority of McDonald's in the U.S. get self-order kiosks, it could help franchisees reduce labor costs -- and boost profits -- just as state minimum wages are on an uptrend. Ordering burgers and fries on tablet-like devices would also assist in adding some cool factor back into the McDonald's brand just as it prepares to launch its first-ever loyalty program and likely, mobile ordering. "We are testing them [kiosks] in the United States, and haven't announced any additional specifics," says Hary. McDonald's began testing ordering kiosks in four Southern California restaurants in 2014, and then expanded that to 30 locations in five more states in early 2015. The five additional states were Illinois, Wisconsin, Georgia, Missouri and Pennsylvania. The kiosks installed so far in McDonald's U.S. locations may be having a positive effect on business. "I do not have the kiosks yet, but I have friends who have them -- they are seeing very positive results, with a higher average check and a high percentage of customers using them," a McDonald's franchisee with several locations in New York City told TheStreet. It does look like our friends north of the border in Canada have recently scored McDonald's kiosks, too. "I use the kiosks almost all the time up here in Canada -- at times maybe I spend more on them, unless there is a combo deal that makes it a better purchase," said Walter Tychnowicz who lives in Edmonton, Canada. Tychnowicz added one other succinct benefit of tablet ordering at McDonald's. "There is also no language barrier," he said. Chiasma (CHMA) is expecting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make an approval decision Friday on a new oral treatment for acromegaly, a rare disease of the pituitary gland. One of my most reliable (and bearish) investor sources believes the FDA will reject the Chiasma capsules, known as Mycapssa, because data from the company's pivotal, single-arm study failed to demonstrate a clinically meaningful benefit for acromegaly patients. The disease is treatable today with long-acting injectable drugs, meaning there is no unmet medical need which might have persuaded the FDA to approve Mycapssa on subpar study results. For these reasons, my investor source is shorting Chiasma's stock, which closed Wednesday at $10.90 a share. The company's market cap is $260 million. Reached via email, Chiasma executives chose not to comment on the Mycapssa bear thesis, citing a self-imposed quiet period ahead of Friday's FDA decision. Cowen biotech analyst Ritu Baral is telling her investor clients to expect a Mycapssa approval. She has a buy rating on Chiasma with a $32 price target. My investor source asked not to be identified by name due to his fund's compliance rules which prohibit appearing in media stories. Acromegaly is a rare disease which occurs when a benign tumor grows on the pituitary gland. The tumor causes excess levels of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) to be released into the body. High levels of these hormones, in turn, can cause bones in the hands, feet and face to grow abnormally large. Untreated, acromegaly can lead to serious illness and premature death. Surgical removal of the pituitary gland usually normalizes GH and IGF-1 levels in most acromegaly patients. When surgery doesn't reduce hormone levels, patients are treated with monthly injections of drugs derived from somatostatin, the body's naturally occurring, GH-inhibitory hormone. Chiasma's Mycapssa is a capsule containing octreotide, one of these somatostatin analogs, combined with a "penetration enhancer" to allow for oral delivery. Essentially, Chiasma is trying to turn a currently approved, injectable drug for acromegaly into one that patients can swallow. Turning shots into pills has long been a technological challenge, and Chiasma hasn't figured out the solution with Mycapssa, said my investor source. For evidence, he turned to Chiasma's published Mycapssa data. In its pivotal study, Chiasma said 65% of enrolled acromegaly patients responded to Mycapssa. Response was defined as patients achieving IGF-1 levels less than 1.3 times the upper limit of normal and GH levels less than 2.5 ng/ml after seven months of treatment. A response rate of at least 50% would be considered clinically meaningful for an oral treatment, according to endocrinologists cited by Chiasma. Based on the 65% response rate coupled with decreases in acromegaly symptoms, Chiasma believes Mycapssa should secure FDA approval. My source believes the FDA will reject Mycapssa because Chiasma's threshold for IGF-1 response -- 1.3 times the upper limit of normal -- was set arbitrarily only to make the efficacy of the drug look better than it really is. In Europe, for example, the efficacy standard for acromegaly used historically is to normalize IGF-1 levels to less than 1 times the upper limit of normal. No one but Chiasma uses the 1.3 times the upper limit of normal standard. Using the more common and stricter definition of response, only 30% to 40% of acromegaly patients responded to Mycapssa treatment, according to Chiasma's published study data. That's below the 50% response threshold needed to demonstrate clinically meaningful efficacy. There were other problems with the study analysis, including a large number of patient dropouts, due in part to difficulties with Mycapssa dosing. There was no fixed dose of Mycapssa. Instead multiple doses, some higher, some lower, were used during the study to get acromegaly patients under control. Response didn't correlate with dose -- evidence that Chiasma's technology does a poor job turning injectable drugs into something that is reliably available by mouth. Chiasma might have overcome these issues if its registration study contained a control arm to compare against the efficacy and safety of Mycapssa. The company chose, instead, a single-arm study with all patients treated with the drug. This leaves the company little room for error. FDA tends to take a very conservative stance with single-arm studies. The FDA advised Chiasma a controlled study was preferable over a single-arm study, and that data from a single-arm study might be difficult to interpret, according to the company's annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. European regulators are requiring Chiasma to conduct another, controlled phase III study before submitting Mycapssa for approval there. Lastly, Swiss pharma giant Roche once had a license from Chiasma to develop Mycapssa. Roche returned the drug to Chiasma after reviewing the same data the FDA is currently considering. My investor source has a good track record of predicting negative clinical trials and FDA rejections. In this case, he believes FDA rejects Mycapssa on Friday. If that happens, Chiasma's stock price should fall and his short sale will make money. He's not always right, so if he's wrong and the FDA approves Mycapssa, his short-sale bet on Chiasma will be a loser. Adam Feuerstein writes regularly for TheStreet. In keeping with company editorial policy, he doesn't own or short individual stocks, although he owns stock in TheStreet. He also doesn't invest in hedge funds or other private investment partnerships. Feuerstein appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email. Dave Kassirer, 27, a student at the University of New York at New Paultz says he'll vote for Bernie Sanders on Tuesday in New York's Democratic primary, and that's a good sign for the Vermont senator. Sanders, who trails former New York senator Hillary Clinton in polls for the state's primary, needs lots of young people to come out to vote in the contest, something they historically haven't done in the state outside of November presidential elections. And even then, the voter turnout rate among people 18-to-24-year olds often trails those 65-and-older, a group that has consistently voted for Clinton throughout the primaries. The crowd of thousands that gathered to hear Sanders speak Wednesday evening under the glow of the Washington Square Arch alongside the campus of New York University, were largely young and certainly enthusiastic. True to form, Sanders denounced large U.S. corporations for moving jobs overseas and a political process dominated by wealthy donors. But the question for the Sanders campaign is whether the young people in attendance are properly registered, and will turn out to vote next week. Through the primaries, young people have overwhelmingly voted for Sanders over Clinton, regardless of gender. "I'll be voting for Sanders," Kassirer said, standing at a guard rail near the speakers' podium. "There's no one else who's running who takes his stands and has always taken his stands rather than changing his position depending on the times. He just doesn't change." Less consistent are voting patterns for 18-to 24-year olds. National voter turnout among young people fell to 41.2% in 2012 from 48.5% in 2008, according to the Pew Research Center. Even more concerning for Sanders is that just 19.9% of 18-to-29-year olds cast ballots in the 2014 mid-term elections, said a survey conducted by Tufts University's Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Yet the 2016 election cycle has been different for many reasons, most notably the so-called outsider campaigns of both Sanders and Donald Trump. In Wisconsin earlier this month, one-in-three young voters, ages 18 to 29, voted in either the Democratic or Republican Party, surpassing the 25% turnout reach in 2008 for the state's primary, according to the Tufts Center. Youth turnout in the Republican primary more than doubled from 2008. Sanders' surprise victory in Michigan last month was due in no small part to voter turnout among young people, according to exit polls compiled by CNN. Among Democratic voters 18-to-29-years-old, an overwhelming 81% cast their vote for Sanders. Though trailing in polls for New York's primary, Sanders told the crowd of thousands gathered on a chilly evening in the downtown park, that his campaign has won won seven of the eight most recent primaries and caucuses. He was also quick to note that two recent national polls have him leading Clinton. "I don't think there is any doubt that our campaign has the momentum," he said, standing with his back to the Washington Square Park Arch, the heart of surrounding New York University campus. "And when I look at an unbelievable crowd like this, I believe we're going to win here in New York next Tuesday." But defeating Clinton in New York and cutting into her formidable delegate lead will require a large and unexpected voter turnout next week. A Monmouth University Poll published on Monday, gave Clinton a 12 percentage point lead over Sanders. Delivering his well-honed attack on corporate America, Sanders called for an end to trade deals that he said have incentivized companies to invest abroad and a reordering of the country's tax code to force corporations and wealthy individuals to pay more. The rally, one of many Sanders has held in the city over the past week, was typically colorful, punctuated with introductions from a line of New York celebrities including the actress Rosario Dawson and filmmakers Spike Lee and Tim Robbins as well as the music acts Vampire Weekend and Dirty Projectors. Also in the crowd were a hundred or so members of the Communications Workers of America, the union representing some 36,000 Verizon (VZ) employees that went on strike this week. Sanders spent part of Wednesday walking a Verizon picket line in Brooklyn to underscore his endorsement from the union earlier this month. Additionally, the Transport Workers Union Local 100, representing 42,000 workers in the New York region, also backed Sanders this week, a move that the New York Daily News called "more than a token endorsement." "Bernie is standing with the people when he supports the Verizon workers, the same people he's looking to for support, and he's standing with them," said Nick Patel, 24, who lives in New York and works for H-P. "The really resonates with average people." For Sanders, whose path to the nomination remains challenging, a big turnout from young people and union members will be essential if he's to accomplish the unexpected on Tuesday. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Fast food giant McDonald's (MCD) is seeking out private equity firms and China's state-backed conglomerate China Resources for its planned sale of 2,800 restaurants in North Asia, sources told Reuters. The company is embracing a new business model in Asia, which Reuters describes as "the most intense battleground" for restaurant chains around the world. McDonald's is planning to bring in partners that will own the restaurants within a franchise operation. McDonald's long term goal is to be 95% franchised. The company has hired Morgan Stanley to handle the sale of the restaurants in China and South Korea, the sources added. It will about three to four weeks before a formal sales process begins. "This will attract a lot of sponsor interest," a senior Hong Kong-based M&A banker knowledgeable about the McDonald's process told Reuters. "For one, it's an established business and second such assets rarely come to market in Asia." Shares of McDonald's closed lower by 0.56% to $126.89 on Wednesday. Separately, TheStreet Ratings has set a "buy" rating and a score of B on McDonald's stock. This is driven by some important positives, which TheStreet Ratings believes should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks it covers. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, increase in net income, notable return on equity, expanding profit margins and growth in earnings per share. TheStreet Ratings feels its strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow. TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. You can view the full analysis from the report here: MCD Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have been trading increasingly sharp barbs on the campaign trail in recent weeks, and Thursday, we'll see how that antagonism plays out when they're face-to-face. Clinton and Sanders will take part in a presidential debate this evening hosted by CNN and NY1. Set to take place in Brooklyn, New York, the event will mark the first time the pair have crossed paths on the national stage in over a month. (Their last showdown was on March 9 in Miami.) Thursday's event comes just five days ahead of the New York primary, which is set for Tuesday, April 19. According to a RealClearPolitics average of polls, Clinton appears well-positioned to come out with a win in the state she represented as senator for eight years: she leads Sanders with 52.6% support compared to his 39.3%. Getting the Democrat duo to even agree to a debate was a feat for organizers. The Sanders campaign originally proposed four dates, April 10-13, in accordance with his availability; Clinton agreed to debate on April 14, which the Vermont senator originally rejected, saying he had a park permit for a rally that day. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is backing Clinton, even got involved in the back-and-forth, sending a tweet to Sanders encouraging him to agree to the debate date and promising to help him get rally permits: The mayor's push paid off. The ninth Democratic presidential debate will start at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday evening. Held at the Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, it will be hosted by CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Dana Bash, chief political correspondent at CNN, and Errol Louis, host of NY1's "Inside City Hall," will also participate. TheStreet will be covering the event live via Twitter at @TSTPolitics. Here are three things to watch out for. Things Could Get Nasty At the outset of his bid, Vermont Senator Sanders appeared to be running a nicer, gentler campaign, boasting that he had never run a negative political ad and famously declaring, "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!" with regard to continued questions of Clinton's use of a private server as secretary of state. How things have changed. Sanders has sharpened his attacks on Clinton in recent days and weeks, going as far as to question whether the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state is even "qualified" to be president (he later reversed course on the assertion). The Clinton campaign cited the senator's "tone" as reasoning for initially resisting the debate. To be sure, Clinton hasn't been nice to Sanders, either. Her camp has gone after the senator hard on gun control in recent days, specifically in relation to his belief that gun crime victims should not be able to sue gun manufacturers. "That he would place gun manufacturers' rights and immunity from liability against the parents of the children killed at Sandy Hook is just unimaginable to me," Clinton said during an appearance on MSNBC last week, referencing a wrongful death lawsuit against rifle maker Remington over the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The Local Backdrop Perhaps more than any other time during this election cycle, the local backdrop will play an enormous role in tonight's debate. Both Sanders and Clinton are on home turf in New York: he grew up in Brooklyn, she represented the state for eight years in the U.S. Senate. According to a recent Monmouth University poll, 58% of likely Democratic primary voters in the state say they consider Sanders either somewhat or definitely a New Yorker; 61% say the same about Clinton. But it won't all be warm and fuzzy feelings for the Big Apple on Thursday. For one thing, New York is home to Wall Street, about which both Clinton and Sanders have been extremely critical this election season. The Vermont senator consistently rails against the banking and finance industry on the campaign trail, and at the base of his campaign is a movement to dismantle the big banks and take down what he calls the "billionaire class." The former secretary of state has also pledged to take on Wall Street interests and tighten financial regulations, though Sanders' presence in the race has certainly pushed her more to the left on the issue. New York is also the home of the headquarters of Goldman Sachs, which has become a major flash point in the Democratic race. Sanders released an ad just this week slamming the finance giant over a $5 billion legal settlement reached with the Justice Department related to the 2008 financial crisis. This evening, he's sure to bring up Goldman, and Clinton's paid speeches to the firm, yet again. That Pesky New York Daily News Interview Depending who you talk to, Sanders' April 1 interview with the New York Daily News editorial board could have gone better. The senator's somewhat vague answers on how he would break up the big banks, indict Wall Street wrongdoers and deal with conflict in the Middle East rubbed some the wrong way. Clinton has refrained from attacking Sanders directly on his remarks, though she has alluded to it, saying in a recent interview, "I have noticed that under the bright spotlight and scrutiny here in New York, Senator Sanders has had trouble answering questions." The Daily Newsendorsed Clinton on Tuesday. "The former First Lady, senator and secretary of state promises to be a true Democratic champion," the publication declared. The publication's interviews with both candidates, and its endorsement, may come up at Thursday's debate, but even if they don't, they'll be in the background. Sanders will have an opportunity to provide some more detail on his bank-breaking plans. He might also address ongoing dust-ups over his comments about certain corporations while chatting with the Daily News. Editors' pick: Originally published April 14. Facebook (FB) highlighted messaging and video as the social media giant's key areas of long-term focus at its annual developer conference this week, underscoring just how well Mark Zuckerberg's ambitious M&A plans are faring. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based Internet company kicked off its two-day F8 Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday with Zuckerberg, its CEO, unveiling Facebook's long-term strategy to concentrate on messaging, video and instant articles. While Facebook's Messenger messaging and texting business was developed in-house, the root of the 12-year-old social media giant's vision has been an ambitious and somewhat aggressive dealmaking strategy that is starting to paying off. Facebook paid $2 billion for virtual reality headset producer Oculus VR in July 2014 and purchased messaging application maker WhatsApp for $21.8 billion in October 2014, about two years after acquiring Instagram Inc. for $1 billion in September 2012. "It's finally coming together," said Ivan Feinseth chief investment officer at brokerage Tigress Financial. "You look at acquisitions that Facebook and Google have made -- everything was laughed at and looked at with skepticism. But they turned out to be brilliant." The perception was that Facebook overpaid for many of its acquisitions, but technology is always expensive in the beginning, Feinseth said. "Facebook is a platform for connecting people, and they're leveraging technology to do that," he said. "Overall, the ability to automate communication and connection processes will have a huge impact as businesses migrate to social media." Facebook has made big-picture acquisitions to move ahead while some tech giants have pursued M&A merely to catch up, Feinseth added. "As the company continues to learn from its lessons in expanding Instagram, it will be armed with more information to apply to the rollouts of Messenger and WhatsApp monetization," said Jim Cramer, founder of TheStreet and manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio, which owns Facebook. "While some may have been skeptical when Facebook originally acquired Instagram and WhatsApp, the early success in monetization efforts highlights this management team's ability to execute on their vision, and we see a very promising future." When it comes to M&A, Facebook is unlikely to make major, needle-moving acquisitions moving forward, Feinseth said. He explained that the media company has always looked at potential acquisition targets and whether or not their valuations are justified. Facebook's deals will mostly be smaller, tuck-in acquisitions, according to Feinseth. For example, virtual reality headset maker Oculus VR has purchased Pebbles Interfaces, among others, since joining the Facebook umbrella. Michael Pachter, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities Inc., agreed, adding that, while he doesn't expect Facebook to seal a needle-moving transaction, it could take a look at Twitter (TWTR) and LinkedIn (LNKD) for their respective offerings. He said it's unlikely Facebook will build real-time news or professional networking products in-house. "Monetizing Messenger makes sense to me," Pachter added. "But monetizing WhatsApp will be difficult." He further said that, while there have been concerns among social media companies about advertising rates slowing down, such issues are applicable to the Western world. "[Facebook] will continue to follow its proven playbook of building great products, achieving scale and then building ecosystems around those products/apps in order to monetize," wrote Cowen & Co. analyst John Blackledge in a Wednesday note. Blackledge further noted that Facebook's 10-year road map will be primarily focused on connecting users, having a better understanding of what content users want to experience and utilizing virtual and augmented reality as a platform. Facebook shares were rising 0.9% Thursday morning to $111.49, giving the company a market cap of about $327 billion. Elsewhere in the sector, Groupon (GRPN) received in April $250 million from Atairos Management after Alibaba Group (BABA) bought a stake in the e-commerce marketplace company. Officials with Facebook and LinkedIn didn't return requests for comment while those at Twitter declined to comment Wednesday. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Seagate Technology (STX) stock is retreating by 18.13% to $27.78 on heavy trading volume on Thursday morning, after the Dublin-based company warned its investors that revenue and gross margin will be lower than anticipated for the fiscal 2016 third quarter. After Wednesday's market close, the data storage manufacturer said revenue is expected to total about $2.6 billion, below guidance of $2.7 billion and analysts' estimates of $2.69 billion for the quarter ended April 1. Non-GAAP gross margin is expected to be approximately 23% for the quarter, compared with the company's guidance of 25.6%. Seagate Technology attributed the weak results to lower demand for mission critical hard disk drive enterprise products, systems and silicon products, and desktop client products. "We are disappointed that we did not anticipate the weaker demand in the March quarter," CEO Steve Luczo said in a statement. "There are many complex issues impacting the traditional go to market channels in our market, which are reducing our forecast visibility." The company will release its full quarterly report before the market open on April 29. So far today, 30.22 million shares of Seagate Technology have been traded, more than five times the average trading volume of 5.55 million shares. Separately, Seagate Technology has a "hold" rating and a letter grade of C at TheStreet Ratings because of the company's strengths, such as solid financial position based on certain debt and liquidity measures, and its weaknesses, including disappointing stock performance, deteriorating net income and poor profit margins. You can view the full analysis from the report here: STX TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this article's author. The Zika virus did not slow down Carnival (CCL) in the first quarter and TheStreet's Jim Cramer does not think it will hold back his top pick in the sector NorwegianCruise Line Holdings (NCLH) , either. "Carnival cruise line just increased their dividend big time and I was listening to the president of the World Bank being interviewed by (CNBC's) Sara Eisen and he was very worried about the Zika virus and I am not as concerned as I was after the quarter of Carnival," said Cramer. Carnival announced today that it has declared a dividend of $0.35 per share, an increase of 17%. Shares of the cruise line company were trading flat late in the session. Last month, Carnival announced that Cuba has agreed to let the company begin cruises to the country starting May 1, the first time in more than 50 years an ocean liner from the U.S. has been allowed there. Cramer's favorite cruise line company, Norwegian, is also heading to Cuba. And to say Norwegian Cruise Line's CEO Frank del Rio is bullish on Cuba is an understatement. "God put that body of land (Cuba) in the right place for the cruise industry given its proximity to Florida," Del Rio told TheStreetlast year, adding, "Cuba is exciting for other reasons, too -- it's the pent-up demand, it has history, it has culture, it has multiple ports, too." Norwegian also recently announced a deal with Fincantieri of Italy to construct a sister ship to its Seven Seas Explorer for its Regent Seven Seas Cruises brand for delivery in 2020. Seven Seas Explorer is currently under construction and is scheduled to make its debut in July 2016. Shares of Norwegian are trading down less than 1%. Shares of Seagate Technology (STX) are sliding after the company issued a revenue warning for the third quarter. Several analysts, including at ones at Deutsche Bank, Citi and UBS, predicted that its results would disappoint ahead of the pre-announcement, citing HDD weakness. The Fly published summaries of those notes on the days they were disseminated. WHAT HAPPENED: After the market close yesterday, Seagate cut its Q3 revenue view to approximately $2.6B from approximately $2.7B, and lowered its non-GAAP gross margin forecast to approximately 23% from approximately 25.6%. The company attributed the weaker third quarter guidance to reduced demand for traditional mission critical hard disk drive enterprise products, reduced demand for the company's systems and silicon products, reduced demand for desktop client products primarily in China, and the company's decision to not aggressively participate in the low capacity notebook market. BEARISH FORECASTS: Yesterday morning, Deutsche Bank analyst Sherri Scribner downgraded Seagate to Hold from Buy. Although the analyst believes the company is well positioned for longer term positive HDD industry trends, Scribner said she expected near-term HDD sales declines to limit earnings per share upside. The HDD industry is transitioning from a unit-driven industry to a capacity-driven market, which creates near-term challenges, with the market to remain challenged through 2020, Scribner told investors yesterday. Scribner said she viewed the stock as fairly valued at then-current levels. On January 27, Citi analyst Stanley Kovler started Seagate with a Sell rating, saying that actions the company has taken to cope with the decline of the sector "may only help so much." Kovler said he believes the sector has begun a decline that should last for quite some time. On September 10, UBS analyst John Roy also started the company's stock with a Sell rating. Cloud and enterprise will continue to buy HDDs, but growth will shift to new solid-state devices over time, the analyst predicted, adding that he expected Seagate to struggle with the transition and likely face secular declines. REACTION: Following Seagate's negative pre-announcement, UBS' Roy lowered his price on the shares to $22 from $24, saying the second miss in three quarters highlights HDD weakness. Investors had been expecting 2016 to be weak, but 2017 estimates are now starting to get impacted, the analyst told investors. Roy also said the read-across from Seagate's report is negative for enterprise HDD storage, particularly for NetApp (NTAP) , which is most exposed. EMC's (EMC) fundamentals could "be hit some" and weakness in the enterprise could slow Nimble Storage's (NMBL) progress in that "new-for-them" market, Roy added. Brean Capital analyst Ananda Baruah also lowered his price target on the shares to $50 from $65, but remains a buyer of Seagate. The analyst was positive on its longer term outlook, as he believes the company will be compelled to address its cost structure after seeing how the softer PC business has impacted gross margins. Seagate's dividend yield provides a cushion, Baruah told investors. PRICE ACTION: In afternoon trading, Seagate's shares are down more than 19% to $27.39. Since UBS' sell call on September 10, the stock has fallen about 45%. OTHERS TO WATCH: Seagate's competitor also potentially impacted by the HDD trends, Western Digital (WDC) , is down 7%, while NetApp is down 4%. Reporting by Jessica de Sa-Mota. The Fly is a leading digital publisher of real-time financial news. Our financial market experts understand that news impacting stock prices can originate from anywhere, at any time. The Fly team scours all sources of company news, from mainstream to cutting-edge, then filters out the noise to deliver short-form stories consisting of only market moving content. Follow @theflynews on Twitter. For a free trial, click here. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. In this March 24, 2016, file photo, people protest outside the North Carolina Executive Mansion in Raleigh, N.C. A South Carolina proposal to forbid transgender people from using restrooms that correspond to their gender identity is part of a backlash by lawmakers across the historically conservative South. North Carolina passed a law that bans cities and counties from passing anti-discrimination ordinances. (AP Photo/Emery P. Dalesio, File ) In this frame from video provided by KTRK, an officer walks on the the scene after a late Wednesday, April 13, 2016, shooting in Houston. A deputy constable was rushed to a hospital after a suspect shot him from behind multiple times, authorities said. (KTRK via AP) Judy Stabile of Oakmont, Pa., left, confronts anti-Trump protesters as she waits in line to enter the David L. Lawrence Convention Center for a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (Rebecca Droke/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP) MAGS OUT; MONESSEN OUT; KITTANNING OUT; CONNELLSVILLE OUT; GREENSBURG OUT; TARENTUM OUT; NORTH HILLS NEWS RECORD OUT; BUTLER OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT In this image released by the U.S. Navy, a Russian SU-24 jet makes a close-range and low altitude pass near the USS Donald Cook on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, in the Baltic Sea. The Russian attack planes buzzed the U.S. Navy destroyer multiple times on Monday and Tuesday, at one point coming so close, an estimated 30 feet, that they created wakes in the water around the ship, a U.S. official said Wednesday, April 13. (U.S. Navy via AP) U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, left, gestures as he talks with his Philippine counterpart Voltaire Gazmin during their joint press conference at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines on Thursday, April 14, 2016. The United States on Thursday revealed for the first time that American ships have started conducting joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, a somewhat rare move not done with many other partners in the region. (Romeo Ranoco/Pool Photo via AP) Recover your password. A password will be e-mailed to you. [COMMUNICATED CONTENT] Todays recession has put thousands of families in an untenable position. Not poor enough to qualify for real aid, but unable to make ends meet. Without intervention, their fall into poverty is inevitable. Where conventional charity cannot help, Carmei Hair steps in. By virtue of its devoted volunteer crew, Carmei Hair is distinguished by a restaurant atmosphere rather than a traditional soup kitchen, making its constituents feel dignified instead of ashamed. This open restaurant feeds thousands of the poor and hungry of Jerusalem daily. and for Pesach they need so much more! CLICK HERE FOR INFO Together we can help our fellow struggling Jews give their families a memorablePesach. But we need YOUR HELP! Three generous philanthropists have pledged to quadruple your donation, for TODAY only! For every dollar that you give, Carmei Hair will get $4, and be able to provide Yom Tov food for thousands of more Jews! Heres the catch its all or nothing! If we dont reach our goal, we will lose everything! DONATE NOW! Charidy.com/CarmeiHair Carmei Hair is advocated by renowned rabbanim, including Rabbi Eli Mansour, who said that this extraordinary organization fulfills this mission [of feeding the needy daily and on Pesach] impeccably. Stand with us to enhance the beauty of Pesach 5776, and allow us to bring the geula that much sooner! In a rural stretch of Kentucky, voters picked up the phone in March to hear President Barack Obama on the line, urging them to vote for a little-known Democrat named Jeff Taylor. That an obscure special election for a Kentucky House seat had caught the presidents attention seemed odd. Yet Taylor won, joining two other victorious Democrats to deny Republicans the chance to take over the last Democratic-run legislative chamber in the South. Though hes staying neutral in the Democratic presidential race, Obama is wading deep into Democratic primaries for Congress, state legislature and even mayoral races, cherry-picking candidates he sees as stronger while preparing to campaign in person for Democrats in the fall. Democratic officials said Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are in high demand this year a sharp reversal from just two years ago, when Obama was politically toxic. Most Democratic candidates in 2014 practically begged Obama and his sagging poll numbers to stay away, relegating the president to a few Democrat-friendly states like Michigan. This year, upbeat economic news and rising approval ratings have increased his value to Democrats in the last election cycle before he leaves office. Youre going to see ever-increasing requests for Obama and Biden to campaign for candidates this year, said Amy Dacey, the CEO of the Democratic National Committee. So far this year, Obama has endorsed candidates in nine races, in addition to four he endorsed last year. Hes backed former Gov. Ted Strickland for Senate in Ohio over Cincinnati councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, and he came to the aid of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who faces a surprisingly strong primary challenge despite being the chairwoman of the Democratic Party. Obama and Biden also endorsed Katie McGinty in Pennsylvania, who faces an uphill battle to defeat former Rep. Joe Sestak in the Democratic primary for Senate. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which works to elect Senate Democrats, touted the endorsements in a television ad released Tuesday as part of a $1.1 million campaign. In Florida, Obama sided with Rep. Patrick Murphy over Rep. Alan Grayson, a favorite of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party who is under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee. The two Democrats are running for outgoing GOP Sen. Marco Rubios seat. All the Senate candidates Obama has endorsed have also been endorsed by the DSCC, a wing of the Democratic Party. Its mirroring whats going on with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, where the establishment Democrats are backing different candidates than their liberal, progressive base wants, said Andrea Bozek, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Bozek called it a sign of desperation that Democrats felt they needed to bring in Obama to secure their preferred candidates. Even Democrats denied Obamas endorsement are reluctant to complain about favoritism, wary of turning off loyal Obama supporters. Tim Canova, the law school professor challenging Wasserman Schultz, said the attention actually helped because it really put us on the map. It seemed like a sign that Wasserman Schultz is worried about our campaign, that she would have gone running to the White House for an endorsement, Canova said. Two years ago, Democrats fought their toughest Senate races in conservative-leaning states where Obama has always been deeply unpopular. The map shifted this year to states Obama won twice, including New Hampshire, Nevada and Colorado also critical states for winning the White House. The president right now is the most popular elected official in the country among Democrats and independents, said David Simas, the White House political director. When you start looking at what these battleground states will be at the presidential, Senate and House level, the map is pretty wide open for the president to engage and be helpful. Though Obama wont be on Novembers ballot, the stakes for his legacy are just as high. A return of the White House to GOP control would augur the likely rollback of many of his policies on health care, immigration and the environment. Yet Democrats say the chaos in the GOP presidential race has created an opening to take back the Senate and maybe even the House, preserving Obamas policies for years to come. Obamas involvement in lower-tier races stands in contrast to his lower profile in the presidential race, where Obama is avoiding publicly choosing sides between Clinton and Sanders. White House officials said Obama will campaign full-force for the eventual nominee, but in the meantime his main role has been to attack Donald Trump. Biden, huddling with House Democratic candidates over the weekend in New Mexico, told them having Trump or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on the ballot would benefit Democrats in lower-tier races, said a Democratic aide who requested anonymity to discuss the private meeting. Biden has already campaigned for Senate candidates in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada. (AP) In case you had any doubt about the shallowness of Donald Trumps complaints about how he got beat in Colorado because of the Republican party, lets isolate two moments from Tuesday nights town hall on CNN, where he appeared with his children. You talk about the RNC, host Anderson Cooper said to Trump after the businessman had complained about the process being stacked against him. Reince Priebus, head of the RNC, tweeted yesterday, said, quote, the rules were set last year. Nothing mysterious. Nothing new. The rules have not changed. The rules are the same, nothing different. Anderson, they changed the rules a number of months ago, Trump replied. About eight months ago, Cooper replied. Well, thats not very long ago! Trump countered. Just to draw a line through this, Trump is saying that eight months is not enough time for his team to have gotten up to speed on rule changes delineating how the nomination process works. Lets now jump forward a bit in the conversation, to the point at which Ivanka, Trumps daughter, is responding to having failed to register as a Republican in time to vote for her father in next weeks New York primary. Im an independent and Ive always voted based on the candidate as opposed to based on the party, Ivanka said. Were not a family of politicians. We havent been in politics very long. New York has one of the most onerous rules in terms of registration, and it required us to register a long time ago, almost close to a year ago. And we . . . we didnt do that. The year ago line was used by Trump when the topic was first broached earlier this week. But the rules dont mandate registering a year in advance. The deadline was actually in October, about six months ago. Which, per Donald Trump, is not very long ago at all when he wants it not to be. Trump is right when he says that the way the process is set up to reward candidates embraced by the Republican Party. Theres not much of a secret to this; there was a book called The Party Decides, which details how the party establishment has guided eventual nominee picks. Thats different than saying the party is cheating. Priebus is right that the rules were set well in advance, and critics of Trump are right in saying he simply got outworked by Cruzs campaign in Colorado. As was the case after he did surprisingly poorly in Iowa, Trump is blaming others for his campaigns failure to do much more than hold rallies and cross their fingers. The nomination process is less NASCARs Sprint Cup than it is a decathlon. Trump did well at the 100 meters and the 400 meters the straight-up votes-lead-to-delegates contests. But in the long jump and the high jump contests, different sorts of competition, hes getting beaten. He got beat in Colorado and hes losing fights over unbound delegates in other places. Trumps argument, in essence, is that he also ran very quickly down the runway toward the long jump and thats what should count. But thats not how a decathlon works. His excuses to Anderson Cooper make that obvious. The rules were changed practically yesterday when he needs to demonstrate that he couldnt possibly have been prepared for them. The deadline was so long ago when he needs to explain away his familys failure to get geared up for the campaign. A better and likely more accurate explanation derives from Ivanka Trumps note that they are not a family of politicians. Hes new to this, to the process of figuring out how to cobble together a delegate total and how to organize a campaign in a number of states at once. The process is clunky and complex, which is not entirely unintentional. Its a series of different events testing a different range of skills. Trumps a good sprinter. That may not be enough to win the gold at the decathlon. (c) 2016, The Washington Post Philip Bump Three people detained in the investigation into the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris in November were freed Wednesday after extensive interrogation, Belgian prosecutors said. None of the three were charged, the Belgian Federal Prosecutors Office said in a statement. The people questioned were taken into custody following a police search in the Brussels district of Uccle on Tuesday. Belgian authorities have not said what they were looking for or may have found. Brussels was home to many of the attackers who struck the French capital Nov. 13 with suicide bombings and volleys of assault weapons fire. According to Belgian and French investigators, the same cell was behind the suicide bombings that killed 32 people at Brussels Airport and in the Brussels subway on March 22. Responsibility for the carnage in the two European capitals was claimed by the Islamic State, and the extremists groups online magazine on Wednesday praised the Brussels plotters, and said two brothers who were suicide bombers in that attack had been key actors in the bloodbath in Paris as well. All preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels started with Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 30, and his brother Khalid, 27, Dabiq magazine said. These two brothers gathered the weapons and the explosives. It is firstly due to the El Bakraouis that the attacks in the French capital occurred, Dabiq said. Subsequently, it said, Khalid El Bakraoui had a dream which motivated him to carry out another istishhadi (martyrdom) operation. The younger El Bakraoui blew himself up in a rush-hour Brussels subway train, killing 16 victims. That same morning, his older brother was one of two suicide bombers who detonated explosives-laden suitcases at Brussels Airport, killing another 16. Dabiq also confirmed Belgian and French police findings that Najim Laachraoui, the second Brussels Airport suicide bomber, manufactured the explosives used in both the Paris and Brussels attacks. (AP) A top Syrian official urged the opposition to let go of its dream of easing President Bashar Assad out of power in a transitional government, complicating peace talks that resumed Wednesday in Geneva on ending the five-year civil war. As Syrians voted in parliamentary elections in government-held parts of the country balloting the opposition dismissed as a sham Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told The Associated Press that a transitional government amounts to a coup detat and will never be accepted. A transitional government is the centerpiece of the peace program that the United States, Russia and other world powers agreed on at a 2012 Geneva Conference. The terms have been left vague intentionally and are supposed to be worked out in the peace talks, but the presumption, at least in the oppositions mind, is that a transitional government means one without Assad. This will not happen, not now, nor tomorrow nor ever, Mekdad said, speaking at his office in Damascus ahead of the resumption of the indirect talks in Geneva that the U.N. envoy says will focus on a political transition. Assad recently floated the idea of a national unity government, rejecting the oppositions demand for a transitional ruling body, and Mekdad echoed the rejection. We believe such an idea has failed, it is outdated, it will never be acceptable. This amounts in fact to a coup detat. People organize a certain rebellion and then they get power. This will never happen in Syria, he said. He said most of the world except Saudi Arabia and Turkey the two top backers of the rebellion have all but relinquished calls for Assad to step down, having realized after five years of war that the president is fighting terrorists in Syria. We believe that if we have to proceed, then we need to forget or we need others to forget the dreams they had for the last five years and to come with factual, actual solutions to the problem, he said. This includes the possibility of establishing a national unity government or a broad government that includes members of the opposition. Aided by Russian air power, the Syrian army and allied militiamen have reversed the tide of the war in recent months, making rapid advances against its opponents. Syria also has benefited from a U.S.- and Russian-engineered partial cease-fire, which has allowed it to focus on fighting extremists like the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front, which are excluded from the truce agreement. However, a recent surge of fighting in northern Syria is making that truce increasingly shaky. The new 250-member parliament being chosen Wednesday is expected to serve as a rubber stamp for Assad. Western leaders and members of Syrias opposition have denounced the election as illegitimate and a provocation that undermines the peace talks. After casting his vote with his wife, Asma, Assad said the election was one way to defy the terrorists the term he uses to describe Syrias armed opposition. Parliamentary elections in Syria are held every four years, and Damascus says the vote is constitutional and separate from the Geneva talks. But the opposition says the voting contributes to an unfavorable climate for negotiations. Britain said Damascus decision to go ahead with the elections in the war-torn nation, where hundreds of thousands cannot take part, shows how divorced (the government) is from reality. Germany said it would not accept the results of the vote. Assads main ally, Russia, welcomed the vote, calling it necessary to prevent a power vacuum in Syria until a new constitution and elections are agreed upon in the peace talks. In the tightly-controlled Syrian capital, voters said they fully supported holding the elections. My vote is like a bullet to our enemies. I am here to continue the ongoing resistance since five years. I am here to support the Syrian Arab Army, said 18-year high school student Yazan Fahes, holding up an ink-stained finger. Most voters said they were mostly concerned about skyrocketing prices rather than security, which has become less of a concern in the capital since the cease-fire. Marah Hammoud, a 21-year-old journalism student from the central city of Homs, said it was important at this moment in Syria for people to choose their representatives. We want elected officials who care about the people, who can help end this war and control prices, she said. We live on this hope. The balloting, in which soldiers are being allowed to vote for the first time, was carried out only in areas under government control. Voting stations were set up in 12 of Syrias 14 provinces. The northern province of Raqqa is controlled by the Islamic State group, and the northwestern province of Idlib is controlled by its rival, the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, as well as other insurgents. The government has no presence in either province. While some parts of Damascus had sizable turnout, other less-secure areas on the outskirts of the capital and on the edge of rebel-held suburbs saw fewer people vote. In Tadamon, outside the Palestinian refugee camps of Yarmouk, which is largely under IS control, people were hesitant to vote, and polling centers were nearly empty for most of the morning despite the military presence. Polls were to close at midnight, after they were extended for five hours because of high turnout, according to state TV. Results were expected Thursday. The peace talks resumed in Geneva with U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura hosting a delegation from the main opposition group, the High Negotiations Committee. A delegation from Assads government is expected to arrive later this week. The two sides do not negotiate directly in the proximity talks; instead, de Mistura meets with each side separately and shuttles between them. In Turkey, a local news agency said shells fired from Syria hit a southern Turkish area Wednesday, the fourth such cross-border incident in less than a week. The private Dogan news agency said the shells struck two areas of the city center of Kilis, causing panic despite hitting vacant land and causing no casualties. Turkey routinely retaliates after rockets or shells land on its territory. (AP) According to a joint study by Haaretz and Yisrael Chofsheet (Be Free Israel), NIS 8.7 billion [representing 2.3% of the 2016 state budget] was allocated to religious services and needs. The report adds the sum is also thirteen times higher than the budget for the Ministry of Religious Services. The report explains the additional funding is spread via a number of government ministries including Agriculture, Culture & Sports, Justice and Education. For example, it reports that 36% of the Agriculture Ministry budget, which amounts to NIS 1.6 billion of NIS 4.46 billion, is used exclusively to compensate former Gaza residents for the loss of shul equipment in the 2005 expulsion. This and other such payments the report states are included in all state budgets, representing the hidden expenses that are not reported to the general public. The Be Free Israel organization, which promotes religious pluralism and freedom from religion, worked with Haaretz and the two have gone through the budget with a fine-tooth comb in an effort to locate money going to religious institutions and causes. This would include mikvaos, NGOs, Jewish identity programs and more. Other examples would include; NIS million to assist people like the one million shekels the Justice Ministry grants to researchers of Jewish religious law, or the millions of shekels given to organizations that provide housing assistance in the heart of Tel Aviv for people becoming religious or NIS one million to the Justice Ministry for research of religious law. Much of the funding for yeshivos is also allocated outside of the official state budget. So how does it work? Since the budget for many things including religious services are not fixed, they can change pending approval of the Knesset Finance Committee. The powerful Knesset committee has the authority to increase or cut the budget of organizations. The authors of the report admit that due to this, it is difficult to obtain accurate information and therefore, the authors admit the information in the report may be outdated since the Knesset Finance Committee can change budgeting realities or organizations all the time. The committee basically controls the national check book. Seeking to paint unfavorable picture pertaining to high state-spending on religious services, the report adds the state does not collect data in all areas, and this includes how much revenue is lost by the fact shuls are exempt from municipal taxes, estimating the figure being NIS 8.7 billion. Its astounding to see how many millions are allocated by the state to strengthen the religious foothold in secular space, said Mickey Gitzin, executive director of Israel Chofsheet. From Gitzins perspective, this explains how the religious parties maintain control of Judaism in the state. He feels that today, the Education Ministry is simply a political mechanism for they Bayit Yehudi party which controls it. Adding to the concern of the authors of the report, the chareidim are also funneling money to public schools to forcibly place a yarmulke on it as well, documenting that NIS 50.8 billion, which represents 7.1% of the ministry budget, is devoted to religious purposes. Of this sum, NIS 1 billion is allocated to religious institutions with the largest recipient being Mir Yeshiva NIS 22 million. In second place with NIS 519 million is the Mayan Chinuch system run by Shas, which is for all the schools in that system. Other budgetary allocations from the Education cited in the report include: NIS 170 million for religious programing in schools NIS 142 million for Jewish culture NIS 100 million for stipends for yeshiva students NIS 16 million for religious youth groups The report adds that the Education Ministry responded, explaining funding for religious purposes comprises a mere 0.3% of its total budget. School enrichment activities are the full responsibility of the school principal, based on the spirit of the school and the community. The Education Ministry trusts the principals and is certain they operate based on the needs of their schools. Other allocations deemed objectionable by the report include: The Ministry of Sport & Culture Ministry: NIS 8.6 million for religious cultural institutions The Ministry of Negev & Galil Development: NIS 10 million towards development of religious tourism sites including kevarim of rabbonim. The report estimated that here, lost tax revenue from religious services to be in the area of NIS 500 million. Vice President of Research & Information at Hiddush Shahar Illan adds that the generous funding for yeshivos is contrary to ongoing efforts to bring more chareidim into the workplace. He adds that making things worse is the reality that in the chareidi school system, the children are not taught core subjects and therefore, in another 10-15 years, they will lack the basic skills to enter the workforce as is the nations goal today. He laments that this will feed and sharply increase the level of poverty in this tzibur. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Military police in Israel use bein hazmanim as an opportunity to apprehend talmidei yeshivos who failed to report for military service. This past Monday (3 Nissan), military police arrived in Raanana in the hope of apprehending a Grodna Ashdod talmid who failed to report to military authorities. The news of the arrival of military police spread quickly and many talmidim and avreichim responded and succeeded in preventing the arrest. Military police left empty-handed. The young talmid and his family were surprised that later that night the Mashgiach of Yeshivas Knesses Yitzchak Hadera, HaGaon HaRav Tuvia Novik Shlita arrived at the home to give the talmid and his parents a chizuk. Rav Novik heard of the attempted arrest after leaving a chasenah and decided to pay the family a visit to give them support. Rav Novik is quoted telling the talmid Not reporting [for military service] is a Jewish and not a political duty. One must not cooperate with the state regarding induction since their goal is to destroy Torah. By not reporting for this chezkas isur one is being MeKadesh Shem Shomayim. This is a genuine obligation to exhibit ones true commitment to Torah and this is the essence of Kiddush Hashem. The rav adds Some believe that by not reporting in line with the will of the rulers of the nation it is a Chilul Hashem but this is not so. The concept Kiddush and chilul Hashem are proof of ones commitment to Torah and HKBH. This is the difference between Kiddush and Chilul Hashem if we have proven our commitment to Torah or chas vsholom the opposite. Hence, when a bochur yeshiva does not report to an induction center he is proving his commitment to Torah and HKBH; and therefore this is our obligation. Rav Novik added sitting in prison is praiseworthy as the Holy Tana Rabbi Akiva sat in prison as did Avraham Avinu. G-d willing you will not sit in prison but if so, one neednt be alarmed that we are loyal to the Torah and this is our base as Jews. The rav then closed with a bracha: May HKBH assist you in becoming a talmid chacham and you the parents will realize much nachas from all the children in good health and tranquility and this home should merit much bracha with Siyata Dishmaya. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) [AUDIO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] Will the media that never hesitates to slam the Kiryas Joel community, Orthodox Jews, and which takes glee in reporting anything to do with Orthodox Jews report THIS STORY?! A Kiryas Joel Resident by the name of Mr. Joseph Waldman cashed a small check At Sterling National Bank in Monroe, NY in the amount of $25.00, Wednesday morning, but when arriving home noticed he had extra cash in his pocket. ALOT of extra cash. Apparently, Mr. Waldman was given a whopping $2,500.00 instead of $25.00! Many people would have pocketed the extra money, and the bank would have never even known. But this G-d fearing man did the right thing, and instead made a tremendous Kiddush Hashem! As can be heard on the attached audio clips, the man called the bank and told them what had happened. They had no idea that an extra $2475 in cash was given to the customer. Mr Waldman tells the bank manager that he will be right back at the bank to return their money but before hanging up made sure to stress that the teller is a very nice person, and that she should please not lose her job over this. Dont hold your breath until this appears in the local media. After all, it would make a Jew look like he didnt steal money, and as far as the media is concerned all Jews are crooks. (Charles Gross YWN) [PHOTOS BY JDN IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] In preparation for the upcoming Yom Tov of Pesach, a new center of the Yad leYad organization in Moscow opened its doors in a small yet impressive Chanukas HaBayis ceremony. The center includes a spacious supermarket with furniture, and thousands of second hand items of clothing and shoes for the benefit of large families and the needy. Every item sold was either donated by individuals, or was surplus received from various stores and clothing factories. This project, the first, and only one of its kind in Russia, was started and run by the devoted Mrs. Perry Deitch. The mezuzah at the main entrance was affixed by the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar, who personally supports and encourages the promotion of Chesed organizations in Russia in general, and in Moscow in particular under the umbrella of the Shaarey Tzedek Jewish Charity Center which runs organizations like Yad leYad. An additional mezuzah was affixed by Rabbi Mordechai Weisberg, Executive Director of the Marina Roscha Jewish Community Center. After an extensive tour of the clothing supermarket, and its onsite cleaning and alterations workshop, Rabbi Lazar expressed how impressed he is by the beauty and spaciousness of it all. He noted that the new center will allow those who unfortunately do not have the means to purchase furniture and clothing at regular stores, to shop with dignity and without feeling needy. The Chief Rabbi quoted the Rambam in his speech, about the greatness of giving Tzedaka which can be used immediately. He blessed all those involved in this holy work, and wished them great success in their far-reaching assistance. Special gifts were presented to the distinguished supporters, thanks to which the special center for the needy was established. President of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia, Rabbi Alexander Boroda, and Mr. Nathan Lichtenfeld, each received a unique, luxurious set of the four cups of redemption and the cup of Eliyahun HaNavi. A special exhibition of spectacular photos graced the entrance to the center. The pictures depict Jewish children in Israel performing various mitzvahs connected with the Jewish calendar. The inauguration event, held at the Shaarei Tzedek Charity Center took place while the Passover provision distribution there was in full force, assisting the needy of Moscow, and bringing them festive joy for the Pesach holiday. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) [By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times] Dad, we know this already. Ta, you said that vort last year. Uncle Ira asks the same questions every year. Another Hagaddah? Last year you bought two and you didnt use the second one. Many of us have heard these quotes before. And it seems that these quotes are not a recent innovation, but they have been with us for numerous centuries as well. Indeed, Rav Elazar Fleckeles, the premier student of Rav Yechezkel Landau, addresses this very issue in his Olas Chodesh (Sapir Vol. I , Nissan Drasha 6). But first, lets get to the custom of reading the Hagaddah on Shabbos HaGadol. READING THE HAGADDAH ON SHABBOS HAGADOL The Ramah (Siman 430) writes that it is the custom after Mincha time on Shabbos HaGadol to start reading a portion of the Hagaddah from Avadim Hayinu to lchaper al kol avonosainu. In his Darchei Moshe he identifies the source of the custom as from the Sefer HaMinhagim (Minhagei Rosh Chodesh Nissan). The Raavyah explains that it started with children so that they could do the Mitzvah better on Pesach. It is clear, however, that the custom has spread to adults. The question is why do we read it then? The Maharshal (responsum #85) writes that it is in order to make sure that they have the hagaddah down pat previously. Many meforshim explain that since there is a Mitzvah of relating the information to the next generation, it is important to have it down well and completely review it previously. ATTACK OF THE VILNA GAON AND YAAVETZ The Vilna Gaon and the Yaavetz both attack the custom of the Ramah. They both derive from the drasha on the verse, Yachol mRosh Chodesh I would have thought that it could be performed from Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the verse therefore comes to teach us bayom hahu only on that day when you have Matzah and maror in front of you. The Vilna Gaon derives from here that there is no Mitzvah to recite the Hagaddah previously. Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman, in the new Hagaddah just published by Rav Lipa Israelson, grandson of Rav Elyashiv ztl, states that the Vilna Gaon understands this drasha as saying the Hagaddah beforehand is tantamount to saying it in the middle of the year like on Chanukah. He learns that this drasha is teaching us that there is no basis for it. RESPONSE OF RAV FLECKELES Rav Fleckeles, however, gives us an entirely different answer as to why we recite the Hagaddah on Shabbos haGadol. His answer will also answer the Vilna gaons point too. He explains that the purpose of going over the Hagaddah on Shabbos is precisely so that the Hagaddah will not be boring. He states that if no new information is conveyed from the father to the children, it will be the matter of ridicule. The Minhag of reviewing the Hagaddah on Shabbos HaGadol is to explore new explanations and ideas that were unknown to his family members beforehand. This is not only an answer for why there is a custom to read the Hagaddah on Shabbos before Pesach, but is a blueprint for making Torah and Mitzvos exciting and relevant for the next generation. Rav Fleckeles was one of the Rabbonim who stood at the forefront of the assimilationist movement that copied the enlightenment of a century earlier. His ideas as explained here were a wonderful antidote that kept Torah vibrant in the face of the challenge of the Haskallah. With this approach in mind, we can now go on to a different aspect of Shabbos HaGadol. Why is it celebrated on Shabbos in the first place, instead of the date of the month like all other holidays. To get some context, July 4th, 1776, was on a Thursday. Imagine, lhavdil, if the founding fathers of the United States were to declare Independence Day as the first Thursday of every July rather than on the fourth. Everyone would ask the question as to why it was done this way why on the day of the week rather than the day of the month? But, lhavdil, this is what we do on the forthcoming Shabbos. WHY NO DATE? A great miracle happened on Shabbos HaGadol. Yetzias Mitzrayim, the Gemorah tells us, happened on a Thursday (Shabbos 87b). Therefore, the miracle that occurred on Shabbos happened on the tenth of Nissan. Most of the commentaries (Tur 430) tell us that Shabbos HaGadol is celebrated and called with this name on account of that great miracle that transpired on that day. If so, why was it established on the Shabbos before Pesach rather than on the tenth of Nissan? THE ACTUAL MIRACLE To understand the answer to this question we must first go back and understand what the miracle was exactly, in the first place. The Tur explains that there was a great miracle in that sheeps were worshipped as a deity in Egypt. The very fact that all of Israel took thousands of sheeps and tied them to their beds in preparation for a shechita and the Mitzrim said nothing to them is a remarkable miracle. This is Rashis understanding cited in Sefer HaPardes (page 343) and is also cited in Shibolei HaLeket (305). Tosfos (Shabbos 87b vosos hayom), however, bring down a different miracle. The firstborn of Mitzrayim asked the Bnei Yisroel while they were taking the paschal lambs why they were doing so. They responded that it was an offering in appreciation for the fact that the firstborn of Mitzrayim were to be destroyed. Frightened, the firstborn of Mitzrayim returned to their fathers and to Paro to let the Jews go. When they did not, there was a civil war in Mitzrayim erupted, decimating Mitzrayim. WHY SHABBOS? Both the Levush and the Prisha (Siman 430) explain that the miracle happened on account of Shabbos observance. How so? The Mitzrim only asked the Jews about the paschal lambs because of their observance of Shabbos. The Prisha explains that the Mitzrim did not know that Jews are allowed to tie a temporary knot on Shabbos and thus posed their question. The Maharal MiPrague explains that it was Shabbos itself which had caused the miracle. Shabbos is a testament to the Oneness of Hashem and that He had created the world. Shabbos is the great antidote to Avodah Zara and in her zchus the Mitzrim were unable to do anything to the Jewish people. The Mogain Avrohom writes that the day that Miriam was to pass away was on the tenth of Nissan (See SA OC 580:2) therefore that date was not chosen. A BLUEPRINT Rav Fleckeles approach should be the blueprint and prototype for how we present Torah and iMitzvos to each new generation. We should look to make it mew, relevant and exciting. At the same time we must be careful to strictly adhere to the great Mesorah of our parents and grandparents. The author can be reached at [email protected] [By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times] Everyone grew up with it and it signifies the end of the Pesach Seder. Father bought the kid (a sheep or goat) for two zuzim. But the bobcat came and ate the kid. The dog came and bit the bobcat. The stick hit the dog. The fire burned the stick. The water extinguished the fire. The ox drank the water. The slaughterer shechted the ox. The Malach HaMaves slaughtered him. And the Holy One came and slaughtered the Malach HaMaves. We are all familiar with it, but what does it really mean? The standard explanation that most of us grew up with was that the nation of Israel was the Gadya, the little sheep and the rest of the stanza refers to the vicissitudes of the exiles that we had experienced. They may be hard to identify but each stanza would refer to one of the great world powers either the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans and more. But there are other explanations too. Indeed, the Chasan Sofer quotes the Tashbatz who says that the reason this was written so enigmatically is so that we would spend time providing explanations to it and we would thus fulfill the Mitzvah of Sipur Yetzias Mitzrayim. RAV BONDIS EXPLANATION Rabbi Yonah Tevlei Bondi of Frankfurt Germany in his Beer Minyan Hagaddah, a good friend of the Chsam Sofer, however, provides a different explanation of this piut. He identifies it with the Midrash Rabbah in Parshas Noach which relates a conversation between Nimrod and Avrohom Avinu. Nimrod suggests to worship fire. Avrohom responds that water is more powerful. Nimrod acquiesces but them Avrohom comes back a suggestion to worship clouds which carry the water. After Nimrod acquiesces, Avrohom changes it to wind which disperses the clouds. Then to man who can withstand the clouds. The Chad Gadya revisits the same conversation between the Jews and the Mitzrim. In essence, it pokes fun at the idol-worship of the Mitzrim. THE VILNA GAONS EXPLANATION The Vilna Gaon (explained in Sefer Lail Shimurim) has the Chad Gadya, Chad Gadya as really two goats the goats that Yaakov Avinu to Yitchok Avinue, one for the Korban Pesach and one for the Korban Chagiga. Dzabin Abba refers to the blessings that Yaakov obtained, which were given to Yoseph. The bobcat refers to the brothers who were jealous of Yoseph, as it is the nature of cats to be jealous. Ate the bobcat means that they sold him to the Ishmaelites. The dog is Paroh who bit the brothers of Yoseph he enslaved them. Then came the stick Moshe Rabbeinus stick which punished Paroh. The fire is the yetzer harah for Avodah Zara. It destroyed the stick at the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash which was felled by Avodah Zarah. The water is prayers of Knesses Yisroel which overcame the desire for Avodah Zarah. But the ox was Rome that put the nation of Israel into exile. The Shochet is Moshiach Ben Yoseph. But then he will die. But Hashem will ultimately destroy the Malach HaMaves. RABBI TZVI HIRSCH OF HORODNAS EXPLANATION Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch, the Av Beis Din of Horodna (died 1830) in his Zera Gad explanation of the Hagaddah explain that the Chad Gadya is a depiction of the battle between the forces of holiness and those of Tumah. The Gadya depicts the nation of Israel. The father is Hashem. The two zuzim are the two tablets. The bobcat is Mitzrayim. The stick is Moshe who killed the Mitzri. The fire refers to Dosson and Aviram the evildoers who follow the Yetzer Harah. The water is the angel Gavriel (See Avos DRav Nosson chapter 2 where he is referred to as such), who saved Moshe Rabbeinu from the Mitzrim by appearing in his form, allowing Moshe to escape Egypt (see Talmud Yerusalmi, Brachos 9:1 for the narrative, but the name of the Malach is not identified there). The ox refers to the destructive angels that pursued Moshe Rabbeinu to kill him undoing the power of the water (See Nedarim 32a). The Schochet refers to Tzipporah, Moshe Rabbeinus wife who performed the Bris Milah on her son thus negating the power of the destructive angels. The Malach HaMaves tried undoing that by acting as a prosecutor against Moshe Rabbeinu in that he delayed doing the Milah until the angels Michoel and Gavriel came to give testimony on his behalf. And finally, Hashem will undo the power of the Malach HaMaves. YAAVETZS EXPLANATION The Yaavetz explains that the entire piut refers to the travails of the Neshama- the soul here on earth and has nothing to do with the exodus from Mitzrayim. The Gadya is the soul. The bobcat is days of youth, where we entertain all sorts of desires, like a bobcat. The dog is the Yetzer Harah which bites the soul in addition to the bobcat. The stick refers to the bad character traits (Midos) that come later as one grows which further afflict the Neshama. The fire refers to purposeful evil intent which further afflicts the Neshama. The water is hergel or habit which extinguishes the soul. The ox is the Satan which further complains against the soul. The Shochet refers to the destructive angels caused by all of his sins. The Malach haMaves separates the soul from the body. And ultimately, Hashem will punish the Neshama further for all of its sins. This is all, of course, if the person does not follow the path of Hashem and does good and His Will. A wise person once explained that the Chad Gadya was written on many levels. On the one hand it is written in a form that the child would enjoy and be encouraged to stay up until the very end of the Seder, with its remarkable phrases and the tune in which it is sung. On the other hand, it was also written with remarkable insights into the travails of Klal Yisroel, the history of the world unfolding, and the plight of the Neshama. The author can be reached at [email protected] Gamal Hakroosh, 59, has become the highest-ranking Muslim officer in Israel Polices history after being appointed Deputy Commissioner this week. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan addressed the ceremony, explaining to date the Israeli Arab community did not receive equal services and this is all changing. In addition to Hakrooshs promotion, Israel is planning to build news stations in many Arab cities and municipalities as well as refurbishing others. Additional manpower is also being hired to bring additional minorities into the department to better serve the various populations in the country including Arabs, chareidim, and Druse. The newly-appointed deputy commissioner will be in charge of Israel Police activities in Arab municipalities. Hakroosh is a resident of the northern community of Kfar Kana. He joined the police force in 1978. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem / Photo: Israel Police spokesman) According to reports from Brussels regarding the suicide bombing attack there last month, the terrorists originally planned to target the El Al check-in line at the local airport. According to information being released, a terrorist told authorities during interrogation that they had planned to target the check-in line to a flight departing for Tel Aviv, French TV reports. Military correspondent Kobi Finkler told Kol Chai Radio on Thursday morning 6 Nissan that often El Al will change a gate, check-in location or flight departure time without explaining why. In this case, the intelligence community BH received information of something suspicious that prompted such a change. Rarely are we to understand why these annoying changes occur but in this case we are told the decision was security related. As a result, the terrorist blew themselves up elsewhere, still with devastating results as over 25 people were killed. In his report Finkler added at present it remains uncertain if the intelligence data was gathered by Israel and passed to relevant officials in Brussels or if they became alerted based on local information. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Car and home owners are being told the date they switch insurance providers may affect their premiums as average quotes can often soar in the days running up to their renewal date. Quotes cost around 234 less on average three weeks ahead of drivers' renewal date in comparison to the week before, new figures from Compare the Market suggest. The price comparison website looked at average quotes offered to home and car insurance customers searching on its site in the four weeks up to a renewal date. It found that as the deadline moved closer, the average quote for users searching across the website rose. Put the brakes on premium rises: Buying car insurance a month before your renewal date could be cheaper The average car insurance policy quote was 366 three weeks before renewal date, while the average price on the day before renewal was 600, according to the price comparison website's findings. However the Association of British Insurers suggested there may be other factors at play. For example riskier drivers who are likely to receive higher quotes may wait until closer towards renewal date to shop around. Similarly there may be other variables at play, such as higher numbers of drivers searching towards the deadline, which may affect the numbers. Around 15 per cent of drivers wait until the last day to shop around for a new policy, according to Compare the Market. Home insurance policies were also cheapest on average 28 days before the renewal date. However prices started to drop off again in the final week before the previous policy expired. At its peak, home insurance costs 120 on average, while its lowest level is 114. Once again, most consumers wait until the day before their existing policy expires to renew. Deadline rush: Most people tend to renew their car insurance right before their renewal date - but can end up paying for leaving it until the last minute Simon McCulloch, director of insurance at Comparethemarket.com, said: 'Only 41 per cent of all consumers switch car insurance and 29 per cent switch home insurance, so although some savvy switchers are missing out on an additional saving, the vast majority of consumers are still renewing their existing policies and paying way over the odds costing them 6billion in lost savings.' The cost of all types of insurance could rise in the coming months thanks to the increase in the insurance premium tax announced by the Chancellor George Osborne last year. Early bird wins: Buying home insurance a month before the renewal date is generally cheaper than leaving it any later, research from Compare the Market suggests The IPT is a tax paid each time an insurance policy is purchased in the UK. It increased from six per cent to 9.5 per cent in November, as announced in the summer Budget and will rise by another 0.5 per cent this October following another announcement in this year's Budget. Households with a car, pet and home insurance could see their policies rise by more than 100 as a result, the Association of British Insurers has warned. The IPT was a little-known tax and had not been changed for years until it was hiked by the Chancellor last year. Critics suggested raising the tax was a way of boosting the Treasury coffers without having to increase income tax, National Insurance or VAT levels three headline taxes that the Chancellor has promised to leave untouched. Even by the standards of Britains increasingly muddled taxes, inheritance tax is a mess. So it should perhaps come as little surprise that the Prime Minister managed to find himself lambasted for doing nothing wrong this week. His mum gave him 200,000 after his dad died and if she lives for seven years after that date there will be no inheritance tax to pay. On the tax avoidance scale this is broadly level with saving into an Isa it is simply playing by the rules on IHT. Still there was an almighty fuss. Why? Family fortunes: Prime Minister David Cameron found himself and his inheritance under scrutiny One reason is because inheritance tax has become so divisive. It is astonishing how controversial and disliked it is, when you consider how few people pay it. Poll Is inheritance tax fair? Yes No Is inheritance tax fair? Yes 206 votes No 1838 votes Now share your opinion Just one in 20 estates pay inheritance tax now, but the Office of Budget Responsibility expects that to become one in ten by 2019. Yet, various polls show overwhelming opposition to the concept of inheritance tax. The most cited is an ageing figure from a 2004 Ipsos Mori poll, showing 69 per cent of people thought IHT unfair. In contrast with popular opinion, a vocal cohort often on the left of the political spectrum - want to see inheritance taxed more heavily, arguing that it entrenches privilege and inequality. I can see the argument here. Youd dont need to be a Thomas Piketty disciple to see that a problem of the haves and have nots exists. Inheritance tax in the UK is both a social and geographical issue, its about prosperity but also where your house is. The great rise of IHT has come largely due to rising property prices mainly in the South and London. Jeremy Corbyn's home-owning North London constituents may find themselves as worried about IHT as those in the leafy shires Those who argue for more inheritance tax point out that this is unearned wealth, so why not tax it hard? But there is a flipside to this - that wealth being passed to them is increasingly the only way the younger generation can have any hope of living in a similar property to their family home where they grew up in. Ive lived in two quite different places that highlight this. My home town of Harpenden and my home area for the past decade in North London. Long-term home-owning families in both those places will share the same concern about their children being able to afford to grow up and live there and the desire to give them what they can to help. This is how inheritance tax manages to unite the constituents of Peter Lilley, in leafy Harpenden, and Jeremy Corbyn, in Islington North. People work hard to provide for their families now and in the future, its not hard to see how they are so averse to the very idea of that lifetime wealth being taxed at 40 per cent even if such a charge is unlikely to affect them. But as the Tories found out when they couldnt deliver on their promise to raise the IHT threshold to 1million when in coalition with the Lib Dems, lifting people out of the IHT net means accusations of handing money to the wealthy. This conundrum has led to IHT becoming increasingly complicated, as chancellors seek to raise the limit without provoking accusations of helping the rich. The culmination is George Osbornes bizarre family home allowance, which will eventually take a married couples overall threshold to 1m (including an extra 175,000 each on their main residence). One way to avoid all this is to give your wealth away, but thats not so simple. Poll What would you do to IHT? Cut it Raise it Leave it the same What would you do to IHT? Cut it 1730 votes Raise it 366 votes Leave it the same 105 votes Now share your opinion The seven-year rule exists to stop people escaping the tax net anywhere near their death bed and that time period is deliberately heavily weighted in the taxmans favour (albeit the tax tapers down during it). Furthermore, most peoples wealth is tied up in their home and it's almost completely impractical to give that away for IHT purposes and continue to live in it. (Believe me we get a lot of readers asking if they can - the answer is you'd need to pay full market rent). So how do we solve a problem like inheritance tax? We could keep making it more complicated, tinkering with limits on gifts, time periods and things like special family home exemptions. We could cook up an equally convoluted personal inheritance allowance and tax everything above it as income. Or we could look at it the other way and instead of arguing about the threshold, cut the tax itself. One of the reasons IHT is so unpopular is its level 40 per cent is a very big chunk. That translates in peoples heads into the Government takes nearly half. Cut it to 20 per cent and the figure becomes much more palatable. Less people worry about it, theres less incentive to avoid it, and youd probably find the genuinely rich ended up paying more, as they became much more relaxed about a smaller percentage charge. The Government taking 40 per cent of your wealth on death sounds like something to be avoided at all costs, the Government taking 20 per cent doesnt sound that bad. Colourful Ryanair boss Michael OLeary, whose flagrant disregard for customer service once included plans to charge passengers for using on-board lavatories, appears to be mellowing. The outspoken Hibernian launched a new range of initiatives this week to improve his airlines rapacious image, such as slashing its rip-off baggage charges. Just weeks ago he was spotted shedding hot tears after his horse Don Cossack won the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Emotional: Ryanair boss Michael OLeary launched a new range of initiatives this week to improve his airlines rapacious image Whats going on? With his contract up in 2019, colleagues suspect that father-of -four OLeary, 55, is getting concerned about his legacy after 21 years at the helm, hence a toning down of his erstwhile boisterous image. A pity. I much preferred the rascally OLoudmouth. The Bank of Englands governor Mark Carney has opened a Twitter account. I join Twitter, he announced in his inaugural tweet yesterday. Judging by his grammar, monotone Carney, 51, should fit right in on the moron-infested social media site. Tescos silver-haired head honcho Dave Lewis (now sans revolting whiskers, thank goodness) yesterday welcomed his firms return into the black, after posting a 162million pre-tax profit. The ex-Unilever boss categorically ruled out taking a pay cut despite the recent example set by his Co-Op counterpart, studious Richard Pennycook, who took a 60 per cent salary cut last week when he announced the group was back on track. Drastic Dave pocketed 4.1million last year. But he regards George Osbornes 7.20-an-hour living wage as a greater threat to Tescos prospects. Re Tescos results, BBC business editor, and former investment banker, Simon Jack tweets: Very positive statement from Tesco. Shares should rocket on open. Cue Tescos share price plummeting 5 per cent. Stockmarket punters are advised to give Jonah Jack, 44, a wide swerve. US bank Citigroup has given a sum significantly in excess of 100,000 in the last few days to a campaign to keep Britain inside the EU. Money well spent, Im sure. Though I wonder what the 70-odd traders its rumoured are about to be handed their P45s at Citis Canary Wharf offices will make of it all? Faced with billions in scandal-related fines and penalties, embattled car maker Volkswagens owners, the Porsche family, are amazingly planning to pay shareholders a dividend this year. Slump: Tata is losing 1m a day from its troubled Port Talbot plant Tata Steel is thought to have privately set a deadline of the end of May to find a buyer for its UK steel operations. Up to 40,000 jobs connected to the industry are at risk along with the generous British Steel pension scheme, which has 134,000 members. The Indian-owned conglomerate had committed to running a meaningful process to find a buyer which could take months, but it is losing 1million a day from its troubled Port Talbot plant. It had wanted to close all of its UK operations immediately, it was reported, but politicians persuaded Tata to spend time searching for a buyer. The sale of its Scunthorpe-based operation to Greybull Capital took nine months but it is hoped that if a serious bidder is found over the next few weeks the Government will step in with financial help as an interim measure. Tata denied it has set a timetable. Around 1,700 former steel workers are set to receive 90 days pay following the collapse of SSI UK, the owner of the Redcar plant, in October. An employment tribunal ruled in favour of the protective award because the firm did not consult staff. Discount retailer Poundland promised investors that annual pretax profits will be 'broadly' in line with expectations despite a fall in its like-for-like sales which sent its shares 4 per cent lower today. The company cited 'difficult market conditions' on the high street as the reason behind a 4.9 per cent decline in like-for-like sales during the second half of the year, which culminated in full year sales being dragged down by 3.9 per cent. The group also said that management's focus on integrating its acquisition of 99p Stores had sucked up a lot of resources and attention, damaging sales at established stores. In line: Poundland chief executive Jim McCarthy confirmed that the retailer will still meet City underlying profit forecasts of between 35.6million and 41.5million despite its like-for-like sales falling Like many UK retailers, Poundland has been hit hard by stiff competition on the high street and a move away by shoppers to buying online. However, chief executive Jim McCarthy confirmed that the retailer will still meet City underlying profit forecasts of between 35.6million and 41.5million, adding that he was confident growth would return once all 250 of the 99p Stores have been converted to Poundland shops this year. McCarthy said: 'Against a tough retail background, this has been a transformative year for Poundland, strengthening further our position as Europes biggest single-price discounter. 'We have added over 300 shops to our portfolio in the UK & Ireland, in particular in the South of England, substantially increasing our geographical reach and scale. 'The 99p Stores' conversion programme will complete by the end of April, at which point we expect to see the significant benefits of over 900 stores trading as one cohesive retail operation begin to materialise.' In afternoon trading, Poundland shares on the FTSE 250 index were down 4.1 per cent, or 6.0p at 141.5p. The discount retailer, which sells everything from toothpaste to batteries, has been tackling the integration of 99p Stores following completion of the 55million takeover of its rival earlier this year. The deal was delayed by nine months following a lengthy review by the UK's competition watchdog. Analysts at Peel Hunt said: 'Management has clearly been trying to do too much too quickly: it will have refitted over 200 99p Stores to Poundlands in the first four months of this year and it is not surprising that this has caused some pressure on best practice in the core chain.' Despite the like-for-like sales fall, Poundland's total sales jumped 17.9 per cent to 1.3billion on the back of 331 new store openings in the UK and Ireland, which includes the 99p Stores purchases. McCarthy said that Poundland would 'pause for breath' and planned to open 'just 40' more stores in the next year. He continued: 'Against a tough retail background, this has been a transformative year for Poundland, strengthening further our position as Europe's biggest single-price discounter.' Debenhams boss Michael Sharp today unveiled rising profits and strong UK sales growth in what could be his last set of results as he confirmed he is to leave the firm when a successor is appointed. Sharp, who joined the department stores group in 2011 and announced in October that he plans to leave this year, said he had handed in his resignation but will stay in his post until a new chief executive is appointed, which could happen as soon as in a couple of weeks. The firm said the appointment process for his successor was well advanced and that details will be communicated in due course. The comments came as Debenhams posted a 5 per cent rise in pretax profits to 93.8million in the half year to the end of February, although sales growth at its stores open for over a year slowed compared to the Christmas period. Rising profits: Debenhams said they were on track to deliver full year results in line with market expectations The firm, which operates 253 stores in 27 countries, of which 165 are in the UK, said group like-for-like sales rose 1.1 per cent in the period, down from 1.9 per cent growth over Christmas. In the UK, Debenhams overall sales rose 2.9 per cent, offsetting a 3.7 per cent fall at its international arm which was hit by foreign exchange rate factors. Online sales continued to increase, up 10 per cent to 246million in the six months, and they now account for 15 per cent of total sales, up from 14 per cent in the previous year. Shares in Debenhams rose 3 per cent following the results but were 1 per cent, or 0.80p higher, at 78.15p in late morning trading. The strong half-year results come after Chinese-owned rival House of Fraser yesterday revealed its fifth straight annual loss, while privately-owned BHS also recently revealed struggles with competition on the high street and a heavy pension burden. Meanwhile, FTSE 100-listed high street bellwether Next last month warned 2016 could be as bad as the financial crisis of 2008 and Marks & Spencer last week posted another hefty sales fall in its clothing division. However, the Debenhams boss said: A strong operational performance resulted in a record Christmas, and further growth in first half profits against a good performance in the prior year.' And he added: 'Although there is plenty more to do, we are on track to deliver full year results in line with market expectations. When I leave the business later this year I am confident that it will be in a good position to deliver continued sustainable growth under a strong and capable management team. Departing: Michael Sharp will stay at the helm until a new chief executive is appointed Among the possible successors to Sharp are Debenhams trading director Suzanne Harlow, Mothercares boss Mark Newton-Jones, Mike Shearwood, the former head of the Karen Millen womenswear chain, and Stuart Machin, managing director of Australian retailer Target. Sir Ian Cheshire - who formally succeeded Nigel Northridge as the retailer's chairman last week - said he had been helping with the search for a successor to Sharp since mid-January. NO JOY FOR MOTHERCARE AS DROP IN INTERNATIONAL SALES OFFSETS SOLID UK PERFORMANCE FROM MOTHER AND BABY PRODUCTS RETAILER Mothercare saw its shares plunge 18 per cent today after the mother and baby products retailer revealed that although it saw a further improvement in trading in the UK in the 11 weeks to March 26, its international sales remained under pressure. Mothercare said its UK like-for-like sales grew 2.1 per cent year-on-year in the period, boosted by 5.6 per cent growth in online sales. But the firms International retail sales dropped 9.7 per cent on a constant currency basis, and were down 10.8 per cent at actual exchange rates. Mothercare said Middle East sales were hit by consumer sentiment taking a knock from the fall in the oil price, while weakening consumer confidence also sapped sales in China. However, Mark Newton-Jones, Mothercare's chief executive, said overall underlying profit for the year to March 26 was in line with market expectations. In lunchtime trading, Mothercare shares were down 34.5p to 154.0p. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: Michael Sharps successor as the FTSE 250 firms chief executive will have a big job on his or her hands if they are to return the firm to past profit glories and fully repair the damage done to margins by a reliance on blue-cross sales days.' He added: Sharp has worked hard to wean the company off heavy discounting, emphasising full-price sales and better stock control, while also looking to enhance Debenhams online service. Mould said Debenhams results were positive but that the long-term trend in profits and operating margin remains discouraging despite the strategic review announced five years ago. Debenhams has released a string of profit warnings over the past couple of years, after being unable to stem declining sales. The retailer has been trying to introduce more brands, improve its online service, revamp stores and rein in promotions. Debenhams profits: The long-term trend in profits and operating margin remains discouraging, said AJ Bell Some big shareholders in Debenhams, including fund manager Schroders, have been unhappy with the group's performance and strategy, and have been actively engaging with the company to force a change. Cenkos Securities has also been one of a handful of city brokers angling for a shake-up. Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald said today that they still have concerns with the companys capital intensive bricks and mortar infrastructure. However, short term, from a trading perspective we see some upside to the stock price for the following reasons, they added. The boards of some of Britains biggest companies are braced for a wave of investor anger following the staggering revolt over executive pay at oil giant BP. Nearly 60 per cent of investors voted against BP chief executive Bob Dudleys 13.9million pay and perks package making the FTSE 100 energy firm the first swallow of a new shareholder spring. And the move against pay and management decisions seemed to be growing. Mining titan Anglo American and Stock Spirits yesterday became the latest to face unrest. Polish vodka maker Stock Spirits Group is facing a plan from shareholders to oust chief executive Chris Heath, and major shareholder Templeton Emerging Markets Group has now supported the move. Undeserving: Nearly 60 per cent of investors voted against BP chief executive Bob Dudley's 13.9m pay and perks package The row revolves around the way the company has lost market share in Poland and how the general poor performance of the firm. Shareholder group The UK Individual Shareholders Society (ShareSoc) then announced its opposition to executive pay at Anglo American. Roger Lawson, deputy chairman at ShareSoc, said it considers the 3.4million pay of chief executive Mark Cutifani as too high particularly in a year when the company suffered a loss of 4billion in 2015 and dividends were suspended. He said: The market cap of Anglo has shrunk from 50billion in 2008 to 8billion. However, chief executive remuneration has not been reduced to reflect the smaller simpler company that Anglo now is. The chief executive is still anticipated to receive 6.3million for target performance and 8.8million for above target performance. Yesterday, builder Persimmon Homes became another victim of shareholder ire as investors questioned the independence of a new non-executive director at its annual general meeting in York. The firm had wanted to appoint Nigel Mills, a senior advisor at Citigroup, a bank which is also the housebuilders broker. Mills scraped through with just 52.3 per cent of shareholder votes. In response, Persimmon said it would engage with investors and explain its reasoning. Bosses said they strongly believed he was independent, adding that he had not worked on the companys business in the previous three years. Chief executive Jeff Fairburns 2million package was waved through with just 8.6 per cent of votes cast against, although Mark Bentley of campaigning investor ShareSoc said there was more to his remuneration than met the eye. Its research suggested Fairburn could be in line for 50million of shares under the firms long-term incentive plan, he said. Bentley said: This pay package isnt fair and it isnt really in shareholders interest either. Nurofen maker Reckitt Benckiser, drugs group Astra Zeneca and media giant WPP are all expected to be confronted by angry investors at meetings over the coming weeks. The public shaming of fat cat pay in the City is regarded as a new shareholder spring, a nickname first used for the pay revolts in 2012. A series of shareholder rebellions claimed the scalps of chief executives including Avivas Andrew Moss. Simon Walker, the director-general of the Institute of Directors, said: The shareholders have spoken, and BP cannot shrug off this significant expression of disapproval with the pay package. Graduates who studied medicine at university rake in bigger salaries than students of any other subject, new research reveals. Medical students were easily the highest earners ten years after graduation, earning an average of almost 50,000, a ground-breaking study found. Those who studied creative arts were found to have the lowest salaries on average, at 17,900 for men and 14,500 for women. Academics at the Nuffield Foundation and the Institute for Fiscal Studies studied the link between earnings, students' background, degree subject and university attended. Varying earnings prospects: Choice of degree subject can have a significant impact on your earnings potential, the IFS study confirmed It used tax data and student loan records for 260,000 students up to ten years after graduation. The study followed the earnings of graduates who started university between 1998 and 2011. This is the first time such a far-reaching study and using access to tax data has been carried out. It also found that graduates from richer backgrounds earn significantly more than poorer ones, even after completing the same degrees from the same universities. Meanwhile there were some universities where the average graduate earnings were less than those of the average non-graduate ten years on. However researchers pointed out that some very locally-focused institutions may struggle to produce graduates whose wages were higher than England-wide earnings, especially if they are in areas where wages are low in general. For example wages of men working full-time in London are around 50 per cent higher than for some regions such as Northern Ireland, and this would likely skew the England-wide average. LSE graduates were most likely to have the highest earnings, followed by Oxford and Cambridge. AVERAGE GRADUATE EARNINGS BY DEGREE SUBJECT Degree Women's salaries () Men's salaries () Medicine 45400 55300 Economics 38200 42000 Engineering and technology 23200 31200 Law 26200 30100 Physical Sciences 24800 29800 Education 24400 29600 Architecture 22500 28600 Maths and Computer science 22000 26800 Business 22000 26500 History and philosophy 23200 26500 Social sciences 20500 26200 Biological sciences 23800 25200 European languages and literature 26400 25000 Linguistics and classics 23200 24100 Veterinary and agriculture 18900 21400 Mass communication 18100 19300 Creative arts 14500 17900 Source: IFS Although the study had access to earnings figures for many universities, not all gave permission for these to be shared. After ten years, ten per cent of male graduates from the LSE, Oxford and Cambridge were found to be earning over 100,000 a year. The LSE was the only university where the same could be said about female graduates as well. While there was significant variation by subject, graduates were more likely to be in work than those who didn't go on the university and were higher earners. Of those with earnings above 8,000 a year, average earnings for male graduates ten years after leaving higher education were 30,000, compared to 22,000 for non-graduates of the same age. The equivalent figures for women were 27,000 and 18,000 respectively. Graduates from high income households are far more likely to be among the top earners than those from low income households, the study found However these figures for non-graduates are higher than the average for creative arts graduates. Although many students will choose their subject based on many factors other than salary expectations, the researchers suggested students should be aware of the correlation between subject and earnings. Students have had to take on higher and higher levels of fees and therefore graduate debts in recent years in order to go to university. The survey will raise further questions about whether thousands of students on the lowest salaries will ever realistically be able to pay off their debts and the impact this could have on their future life and financial decisions. Some graduates of creative arts are less likely to be high earners than others who skipped university, the survey found Anna Vignoles of the University of Cambridge, and an author of the paper, said: 'The research illustrates strongly that for most graduates, higher education leads to much better earnings than those earned by non-graduates, although students need to realise that their subject choice is important in determining how much of an earnings advantage they will have.' The researchers also added the findings raise questions about the role of university in social mobility. Professor Les Ebdon (pictured), said poorer graduates may not have access to the informal and formal networks' about the news that they earn ten per cent less than privileged students The report found those with wealthy parents earn on average 10 per cent more a year than their peers by the age of 30, translating to a premium of 8,000 a year for privileged men and 5,300 a year for privileged women. The difference was most pronounced when comparing the highest-earning tenth of graduates from rich backgrounds with the highest-earning tenth of graduates from less-wealthy backgrounds. In this group, privileged men earned about 20 per cent more, while privileged women earned 14 per cent more. Professor Les Ebdon, director of Fair Access to Higher Education, said talented graduates from poorer backgrounds 'may not have access to the informal and formal networks which help propel others to higher incomes'. Jack Britton, a research economist at the IFS and an author of the paper, said: 'This work shows that the advantages of coming from a high-income family persist for graduates right into the labour market at age 30. While this finding doesn't necessarily implicate either universities or firms, it is of crucial importance for policymakers trying to tackle social immobility.' Universities minister Jo Johnson said: 'This latest analysis reveals the worrying gaps that still exist in graduate outcomes.' Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Mark Hallum The legacy of Frank Skala is still a powerful force in Bayside despite his death in August 2015. As a teacher of 33 years and the founder of the East Bayside Homeowners Association, Skala had a reputation as an outspoken defender of the neighborhoods conscience. Protecting the value of Bayside homes was at the forefront of his activism, a voice which his daughter, Bonnie Skala Kiladitis, is keeping alive. Bayside is my home and Id like to preserve it like my dad wanted, she told the TimesLedger. She has no intention of selling the house where her father lived on 40th Avenue for seven decades, and the signs out front reinforce her belief that certain aspects of the neighborhood need to be preserved. Five signs outside the Skalas brick house warn: Buyers & Prospective Redners: Be Aware that the Home Owners Association Will Legally Enforce One Family zoning and Single Family occupancy. Signed: East Bayside Homeowners Assoc. Inc. The signs are directed at the house just across the street formerly owned by federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis and now under major renovation by a new owner. The top floor has been taken off and the inside is entirely gutted, a disconcerting sight to homeowners in the area. The signs were left over from when Skala was still with us. His daughter understands that neighborhoods evolve and that identities tend to shift, but she insisted that the most important thing to her is to keep Bayside a good area to live and raise a family away from the population density of the city. Its a shame when old houses are knocked down, she said, referring to the large white house formerly inhabited by Garaufis. Not only was the house very old, it was beautiful. The stately home was purchased for $1.5 million by a real estate agent who identified herself as Lisa and said it will be occupied only by her family. Theres a lot of new construction in Bayside. I dont why theres concern over our house, she said, referring to other projects in her neighborhood. The new owner felt lucky to have acquired the home since her family had been looking to relocate from New Jersey for quite some time. The property has been divided, but she said there are no plans as to whether the land will be used to build a new structure, sold or kept for family use. She said any apprehension about her intentions is misplaced. But there is still concern over the historical value of the house itself. Paul Graziano is the treasurer of the Bayside Historical Society, an activist and historical preservation consultant. According to the building permit and Graziano, the construction at the property was granted an ALT-1 permit by the city Department of Buildings. Under this permit, any alterations to the building must retain 50 percent or more of the original structure. The approved zoning plan and diagram only show that the front of the building has been approved for add-ons. However, the entire house, which was three stories, is now reduced to the ground level. Graziano said the extent of the work on the house is a classic example of architects self-certifying their work, and a systemic lack of oversight on behalf of the DOB. Significance of the house is the significance of the entire neighborhood, he said. The house had a distict historic value. The property is part of what was known as the Lawrence Estate, and the house is believed to have been just one residence of the family who owned much of what is now Lawrence Manor until a century ago. This would date the building to 1890 at the earliest. The neighborhood was placed on the National and State Register of Historic Places after Graziano submitted a petition a decade ago, but this designation does not offer any protections against demolitions or alterations to any sites. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Tammy Scileppi Back in 1953, the borough was culturally deprived when David Katz founded the Queens Symphony Orchestra, which he served as its first conductor. Now in its 63rd season, the boroughs only professional orchestra and Queens oldest and largest professional arts organization has been presenting 35 to 40 concerts per year. Patrons come from every age, income level and race to experience QSOs enriching and educational programs free of charge. Local families and individuals can appreciate the universal value and necessity of orchestral music, thanks to QSOs live performances, educational programs and free access to instruments and instruction. In 1980, the Queens Symphony made its Carnegie Hall debut under Katzs direction. The father of Queens Borough President Melinda Katz conducted his last concert with his beloved orchestra on April 26, 1987. That May, he died of cancer at age 62 at his home in Forest Hills. But this coming Sunday, he will likely be present in spirit at a star-studded, sold-out concert and tribute performance honoring his lasting memory. Classical music lovers can get their fix and will have the opportunity to hear their borough president sing, when she makes a special guest appearance. Melinda Katzs mother Jeanne, who served as QSOs executive director until her death in 1969, created the Queens Council on the Arts in 1966 with the help of the Queens Symphony and the boroughs other leading organizations. David Katz and his wife were movers and shakers on a mission: to bring the arts to Queens. Their contributions transformed the borough into a cultural hub. My parents were such unwavering believers in the potential of this great borough we get to call home, Melinda Katz said. Perhaps its because they both lived and breathed the international language: music and the arts. They were both able to see that even with all of our boroughs trademark diversity, we still have that much more in common than we do different. Under the direction of guest Maestro Elli Jaffe, the music director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the tribute performance will include the world premiere by two-time Pulitzer Prize-nominated composer Avrohom Leichtling. Also on the bill are Mozarts Sinfonia concertante, for violin and viola performed by Alexander Mishnaevski and Mark Peskanov. Arias from Mozart, Rossini and Verdi, including selections from Rigoletto, will also be presented. These will be performed by former local celebrity cantor Avi Albrecht. Other performers include Cantor Yoni Rose and Bill Riley. Made up of professional, union musicians, who also perform on Broadway with the New York City Ballet and other freelance orchestras, Queens Symphony is the second largest orchestra in New York City. My father firmly believed that one should not have to cross a bridge or a tunnel to access a world class orchestra, the finest concerts and classical education, Melinda Katz said. Thank you to the Queens Symphony Orchestra and board member Elsie Levy for spearheading the effort to honor my fathers dream and legacy. Former QSO Executive Director Andrew Frank helped organize the concert on behalf of Levy. The QSO preceded the New York Philharmonic, which is amazing, he said. It is really a symbol of how deep the Katz familys commitment to culture in Queens is, which is rare and special. After a 1965 concert at Carnegie Hall, a reviewer for The New York Times praised Katzs conducting for its warmth and naturalness. And when he died, an obituary quoted then-Borough President Claire Shulman. David Katz contributed greatly to the cultural life and vitality of the borough, Shulman. We will miss him dearly. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Bill Parry The Pepsi-Cola sign that stands on the East River waterfront at the north end of Gantry Plaza State Park is now a city landmark. The sign had been under consideration by the Landmarks Preservation Commission since 1988 years and Tuesday it was designated by a unanimous vote. The LPC called the sign one of the most iconic features of the New York City waterfront, and an irreplaceable piece of the urban landscape, representing commercial advertising and American industry. The decision had been expected since February when the LPC held hearings on 100 properties citywide that had been calendared for decades. Its one of the most notable icons in Queens, and although it enjoys many protections, it is really most appropriate that it also becomes a New York City Landmark, LPC Commissioner Diana Chapin said. This will celebrate its presence as an important piece, not only of New York City, but of national, corporate and individual history. Changes in the zoning code in the latter half of the 20th century and early 21st century have contributed to a reduction in the number of large, illuminated signs, which once crowned the factories and warehouses of many of Long Island Citys most prominent companies. Im pleased and proud that the LPC has listened to our communitys requests and recognized the Pepsi-Cola sign as the New York City landmark that it is, City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) said. The Pepsi-Cola sign has been an iconic part of the Long Island City landscape since 1936. This staggering piece of pop art brings character to our neighborhood and reminds residents of Queens history as an industrial powerhouse. Built in 1936, the 80-year-old neon sign, which stands 60 feet tall and 120-feet-long, is a nod to Long Island Citys industrial past having stood atop a massive Pepsi bottling plant since 1940. The plant was closed in 1999 and demolished to make way for the 21-acre Queens West Development Corporation. When TF Cornerstone bought the site from Pepsico, it agreed to display the sign on the property and when the developer constructed the last of six luxury high rises, it had architect firm Aquitectonica design the building to wrap around the sign. The facade facing the sign is set back for the first eight floors and juts out from the ninth floor up to frame the sign. During its public hearing there was widespread support for the designation of the Pepsi sign, LPC Chair Meenakshi Srinivassan said. Its prominent siting and its frequent appearances in pop culture have made it one of our most endearing and recognizable icons on the Queens waterfront. The sign came up for landmarking in the 1980s but was calendered in 1988. By 1993 it had experienced significant deterioration accelerated by damage from a winter storm. The original creator, Artkraftat Strauss Sign Corporation, was brought in to restore and replicate the sign. That sign is our glowing beacon to Manhattan and to everyone coming to Long Island City, Hunters Point Parks Conservancy President Rob Basch said. Its great news that this iconic structure isnt going anywhere. Besides, we just planted a whole lot of tulip and daffodil bulbs around the base of the sign. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Mark Hallum When the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee held its first cleanup on Earth Day in 1970, the area was cleared of massive amounts of garbage such as abandoned automobiles, appliances, everyday garbage, and floatablesrefuse that washes ashore from boats and storm drains. Now, the committee is planning to hold its 47th annual meeting and cleanup Saturday. As one of Queens oldest conservation groups, the UCPC has committed itself to improving the mile-long park located between Douglaston and Little Neck. Cleanup efforts will be centered on the areas of Udalls Cove Park and Preserve known as the Ravine, Aurora Pond, Virginia Point and the Osprey Landing. The meeting will report on three major improvement projects funded in part by a $20,000 New York state grant secured in 2014 by state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside). The improvement projects are a gravel footpath installed along the east and north side of Sandhill Road, known locally as the Back Road; a guardrail erected along the Osprey Landing section; and an effort still underway to remove debris from a commercial boatyard. The debris, which has littered the area for almost half a century, consists of two derelict boats partially buried in mud, an empty metal tank and the steel frame of a boat carrier. At the meeting, there will also be a report on several restoration projects undertaken by local Boy Scout troops in the past year. Among the participants in those projects are Max Lacoma from Scout Troop 10, and Mike Campese and Clifford Lew from Troop 153. Udalls Cove Park has long been an important symbol for the community. Aurora Pond is named for the late Aurora Gareiss, one of Queens most respected conservationists. The Osprey Landing provides bird-watching opportunities and is a sanctuary for the migratory birds that return seasonally to nests they left behind the year before. Virginia Point, at the eastern edge of Little Neck Bay, is also a haven for a great variety of birds, amphibians, and mammals. Everyone is invited to attend the meeting and participate in the cleanup, which the UCPC said will give people the chance to Think Globaly, Act Locally. Avella, state Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside) and senior representatives of the city Parks Department are expected to attend the meeting taking place Saturday at 10 a.m. on Sandhill Road between Douglaston and Little Neck, west of the Little Neck railroad station, on the north side of the tracks. Gloves and trash collection bags will be supplied and sturdy shoes and long pants are recommended. Participants are also invited to a picnic at Memorial Field in Douglaston shortly past noon. For more information, contact Walter Mugdan, president of the UCPC, at 718-224-7256. Airport development adding to economy, jobs in the region Pittsburgh may always be known as the Steel City, but a wave of new industries are popping up near its airport to redefine business in the region. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Dr. Scott Manley addresses the audience of the 2016 i.d.e.a. WF awards luncheon Wednesday at the Comanche Suites at Midwestern State University. The event promotes business development and entrepreneurship. SHARE TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Winners for the 2016 i.d.e.a. WF awards include Tommy Ayers of LED Energy Architects, Nichole Kirk of Dear Heart Designs and Dennis Stewart of Tempfilter.com, LLC. The annual event is presented by America's Small Business Development Center, the Lalani Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise and the Dillard College of Business at Midwestern State University. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., was the guest speaker at the 7th Annual 2016 i.d.e.a. WF awards luncheon Wednesday at Midwestern State University. The annual event promotes economic development through entrepreneurs starting and expanding businesses. By John Ingle of the Times Record News Winners of this year's i.d.e.a. WF competition at Midwestern State University were unveiled Wednesday during the annual event that promotes and encourages the spirit of entrepreneurship. The business competition put on by the Munir Lalani Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise is in its seventh year of drawing in business-minded people with vast arrays of ideas and putting them through a process of developing a business plan to map out venture. Economic development is the central purpose of the contest, and competing businesses must show that the majority of their revenue will come from outside Wichita, Clay and Archer counties and hire three new employees within the first three years of business. Nichole Kirk, owner of online jewelry and apparel company Dear Heart Designs, was selected as the category winner for Expansion GROW. The young entrepreneur said she has had her online business for three years now, and is on track to clear $240,000 in sales this year. Expectations continue to grow with a goal of $500,000 next year. "I kind of flew by the seat of my pants before this. I didn't really understand financials, essentially, how much I'm supposed to profit or how much it's going to take to move to the next step," she said. "I didn't have a business plan, and now that I do, I know what I'm supposed to be looking forward to." Kirk said she should have seven employees by the end of year three including a full-time manager and assistant. Dennis Stewart's concept of Tempfilter.com LLC was selected by judges as the Startup Go category winner. He said he didn't really think he'd be in the running for one of the three awards because his idea of creating a product that accumulates dust in heating and air conditioning ducts during final stages of construction seemed too simple to succeed, but advice from a mentor reminded him that simplicity is the most important aspect of a good design. The business competition, he said, sped up the process because of the benchmarks that had to be met throughout. "It probably would've taken me another six to eight months, but this competition really pushed me, you know," he said. "You had to have certain things done every few weeks and that really pushed me because a lot of times you're running your other business and everything." Tommy Ayers and LED Energy Architects were selected as the Judge's Choice winner. The company evaluates and provides energy efficient lighting solutions for commercial, residential and industrial customers. Category winners received $27,500 in cash and in-kind services including accounting, legal, marketing, human resources and information technology. The judge's choice winner received $14,500 in cash and in-kind services. Ayers, whose family also owns Lantern House in Wichita Falls, said he was humbled to be selected and he felt he didn't necessarily belong in the competition. After submitting his initial rough business plan and soon after received critiques from the judges, he got to work to improve the plan and take the judge's comments to heart. "It helped us hone in our direction on where we need to go and what need to do to be successful. I think that's one of the main things that the Small Business Development Center has done for us is to give us that direction," he said. "So, anyone wanting to start up a business, this is a great place to start." Scott Manley, director of the competition at MSU, said he is proud of all six of the finalists and any of them could have been category winners. But, he said, the judges were tasked to select three, which was a difficult decision to make. "The three who were selected were outstanding, but what I don't want to overlook is just how outstanding the other three were," he said. "All of the finalists have their pros and cons. All of them have great opportunities, great ideas and great businesses, and there truly are no losers." Judges for this year's competition were Texas Rep. James Frank, owner of Sharp Iron and California-based Transland; Curtis Knoblock, CEO of Tellspire; Marie Beth Leach, Wichita Falls Chick-fil-A franchise owner; Dave Lilley, CEO of Trinity Hughes Construction; and Dottie Murphy, attorney and managing partner of Murphy Family Partnership. SHARE Violent political Islamists intentionally target irreplaceable archeological and historical sites for sensational obliteration. Internet videos record the ISIS's calculated destruction of Syria's city of Palmyra. Prior to Palmyra, Nimrud (northern Iraq) was bulldozed before cameras. Jonah's Tomb (Jonah and the Whale), located in a mosque in the ISIS occupied city of Mosul, was blown to bits. ISIS radicals said Jonah's presence in the mosque was an apostasy. Like beheading Arab Christians, raping Yazidi women, murdering captured Iraqi soldiers and burning alive a Sunni Muslim Jordanian Air Force officer all acts of heinous, premeditated cruelty violent Islamists see destroying prized non-Islamic and pre-Islamic cultural sites and art work is a theological-political commandment and a form of apocalyptic propaganda. In a video recording the systematic vandalism of Hatra (Iraq), an ISIS terrorist explains his actions: "We were ordered by our prophet to take down idols and destroy them, and the companions of the Prophet did this after this time, when they conquered countries." ISIS's destruction of art and architecture does not fall to the evil depth of its mass rape, mass torture and mass murder of human beings. However, obliterating precious sculptures, mosaics and venerated tombs is also a crime against humanity. Artists, archeologists and historians worldwide were appalled when ISIS commanders announced they would raze Palmyra. Despite the sincere and passionate appeals of said artists, archeologists and historians to spare the city, ISIS commanders proceeded to devastate it. Artists, archeologists, historians? So what. ISIS commanders have no respect for their expertise and opinions, unless, of course, the artist is that very rare sort who also happens to be an air force pilot dropping a smart bomb. Still, it isn't his opinion they respect, it's his appearance on the battlefield aiming a high explosive warhead at their headquarters bunker. Palmyra and Nimrud were not the first time violent Islamists have targeted pre- and non-Islamic sites and shrines. In March 2001 the Taliban vandalized Afghanistan's 6th Century AD Bamiyan Buddas. The two giant Buddhas, composites of stucco and sandstone in a mountain cliff, were a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The UNESCO declaration gave the Taliban and their leader, Mullah Omar, absolutely no pause. The Islamist thugs declared the Buddhas idols, then dynamited and machine gunned the figures. Taliban theologian-vandals were not only destroying idols, they were cleansing their domain of its "pagan" past. Pulverizing the Bamiyan Buddhas was a Taliban twofer, for the figures were both pre- Islamic and non-Islamic. Violent Islamists are practicing what 19th century anarchists called propaganda by deed. "Civilizational cleansing" and "ethnic cleansing" (mass murder) connect violent Islamism with other totalitarian revolutionary movements, particularly Communist "progressive" movements. The Soviet Union's Josef Stalin, Cambodia's Pol Pot and China's Mao Zedong murdered by the millions in order to start anew so they might create the Communist Man. To secure Workers Paradise, all is justified. The Islamist version sends this message: relevant history begins with Islam's revelation of God. It may also end there. Destroying the pre-Islamic and non-Islamic past helps clear historical and theological obstructions to securing a radical Islamic present and the Islamic future. ISIS Islamists, like corrupt Communist apparatchiks, aren't above making a few dinars or dollars or euros. Three art and antiquity preservationists, in a N.Y. Times op-ed (Sept 2, 2014), accused ISIS of profiting from the illegal sale of antiquities. Apostasy? Nay. The Islamists justified their gain as an "Islamic khums tax, according to which Muslims are required to pay a percentage of the value of any goods or treasure recovered from the ground." To secure the Caliphate, all is justified. Austin Bay is a commentator on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition," covering foreign affairs but often addressing issues in Texas that have a national interest. SHARE Saldivar Tarin By Times Record News A Wichita Falls man was convicted Monday in federal court of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Hector Saldivar, 33, faces five to 40 years in prison. A Dallas-area resident, Cleto Tarin, 52, was also convicted. Sentencing is set for August. "With these two convictions yesterday, all 14 defendants charged in an indictment with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine that was returned by a federal grand jury in Fort Worth on Feb. 10, 2016, have been convicted," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release. Tarin is also connected to several money laundering cases in Wichita Falls involving Tracy Lynn Hernandez, 49. According to Hernandez's arrest affidavits, she "was willfully blind and with conscious purpose avoided learning the origins of Cleto Tarin's income," which was believed to come from methamphetamine distributions. The three vehicles a total value of $28,860 her put in Hernandez's name, despite her not having sufficient legitimate income to make the purchases herself. Tarin explained to detectives that he purposefully avoided reporting his vehicles, believed to be purchased with drug proceeds, to the government by plcing the title of the vehicles in the name of third parties, such as Hernandez. Hernandez is charged with tampering with a government document and two counts of money laundering. On Feb. 26, Tarin was among Crime Stoppers Texoma's Most Wanted for money laundering. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Wichita Falls Police Department conducted the investigation. This frame grab taken from video provided by StormChasingVideo.com shows two tornados approaching Pilger, Neb., Monday June 16, 2014. (AP Photo/StormChasingVideo.com) By Lynn Walker of the Times Record News An article in Tuesday's Times Record News has caused a storm among storm chasers, the severe weather enthusiasts who chase thunderstorms in hopes of photographing tornadoes or other weather phenomenon. Sunday night, the Wichita County Amateur Radio Emergency Service, ARES, a group of HAM radio operators who observe weather dangers for local emergency managers, had to shoo at least two chasers from the group's radio frequency repeater. Audio of the exchange is found here. Your browser does not support the audio element. In the article, Charlie Byars, a veteran storm spotter and coordinator for a nine-county region of ARES, also complained of the traffic congestion caused by large gatherings of storm chasers during severe weather. His remarks were directed at some HAM operators who chase, but Byars said some of the chasers who add to the problem are not radio operators. Some members of the storm chase community were quick to respond. "The claims come from select few law enforcement and emergency management and are overblown," said Dan Robinson in an email. He is a storm chaser from the Saint Louis area. "The fact that this area won't allow other trained spotters on the local Skywarn frequency is absurd," another chaser complained on a Facebook post. "I also know that there are many bad apples in the chase community who do stupid things and have no 'chaser etiquette' as I like to call it, but really there are more good then (sic) bad IMO." "Anytime somebody is trying to report severe weather, which would be to save lives it should be appreciated not condoned (sic). Somebody just wants to boohoo and cry cause there's plenty others besides his guys out there," another poster said. Byars agrees there are some trained and experienced chasers who cause no problems and can provide valuable information. Among them are seasoned chasers who agree the adrenaline-driven storm chasing frenzy has gotten out of control. Bryce Kintigh, a veteran chaser with extensive training, told KAKE-TV in Wichita, Kansas, in a 2013 interview that too many amateurs were on the chase. "There's probably 200-300 chasers on a storm sometimes. When you start adding all the people who shouldn't be there, the number can go to 500-600 people on one chase alone. So that can clog up the roads and make for a dangerous situation." Media coverage critical of chasers in Kansas and suggestion of regulations has incensed many in the storm chasing community. Tuesday's TRN story sparked a similar response. "The storm chasing community is mobilizing to respond to this article," Robinson wrote in a later email. "Times record news should of never published this especially when they don't know what their (sic) talking about, another chaser posted on Facebook. But Warren Faidley, a 27-year-veteran chaser who has been featured on National Geographic programs and quoted in national publications, wrote, "Your report covers the immediate problems, but trust me, the issues go much deeper." Faidley criticizes what he calls "fakes," who "make a very successful career out of irresponsible chasing by claiming it's for some form of 'research'." Some comments claimed the local spotter group could not by law close their radio frequency to others, but the Federal Communications Commission has ruled otherwise. "When a net (network) is active on a repeater, the repeater is closed to other activity," the FCC said in an advisory addressing weather spotting and other public service events. Byars said the network frequency used by the local ARES is open to use by all HAMs usually, but is closed when spotters are in SKYWARN operations. The group may also close the net for special operations, such as when it helps with the annual Hotter 'N' Hell bicycle race. The public can always listen to the channel, but cannot participate in the discussion when it closed. Wichita County Sheriff David Duke says his deputies have responded when ARES members complained of dangerous congestion. Duke, a trained spotter himself, recalled an incident in 2009 when he came across 40 or 50 vehicles stopped on a road while funnel clouds were descending. "There were meteorology students who came out of vans like a swarm of bees. We told them they were in danger, but they said they were meteorology students and would be OK," Duke said. "Well, that van is not going to outrun that storm." Duke said his deputies will advise storm watchers to leave a dangerous situation and issue citations if they refuse to leave. He said deputies would take more forceful measures if needed, but that hasn't happened yet. Spotter networks and chasers may be active this weekend. The National Weather Service forecasts showers and thunderstorms for the region beginning Friday and extending through the weekend. As of Wednesday, the greatest threat of severe weather appeared to be in the Panhandle. Albany Grabbing a page from presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' campaign book, union leaders blasted Verizon Wednesday as hundreds took to the picket line on State Street in downtown Albany amid an East Coast strike involving 39,000 unionized workers. "If we stay strong, we can win this strike," Gil Casey, president of CWA Local 1118, told members through a megaphone as he stood near the bottom of the Capitol steps, just across the street from Verizon's regional headquarters. "I think the mood of the nation right now is definitely against someone like a Verizon. Corporate greed is out there. Everyone is aware of corporate greed. No one likes corporate greed." Casey and others from Verizon's two largest unions, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, have been using Verizon's profits as a centerpiece of their public campaign during contract negotiations, noting Verizon had $39 billion in profits over the past three years. The previous contract expired last summer, but talks have not yet produced a new one. The unions officially announced Monday they would go ahead with a strike, although union members were told in recent months to save up their money and avoid large purchases in preparation. Striking workers can claim unemployment for seven weeks. In the meantime, Verizon has non-union workers trained in call center and technician roles that will be empty during the strike. Verizon has about 800 local union workers. "We remain fully prepared to handle any work stoppage so that our products and services will be available where and when our customers need them," said Bob Mudge, president of Verizon's land-line network operations. While Verizon has offered a two percent wage hike, union officials have said the company's other demands related to sharing health care costs and additional work schedule flexibility are too much. The union wants a five percent wage increase and has been fighting Verizon's request that the company be allowed to send technicians out of town to jobs in other states. The union wants Verizon to also commit to expanding its fiber optic system known as FiOS, which delivers TV, Internet and phone service. After years of deploying FiOS, including to parts of the Capital Region, Verizon has said it will no longer spend money on expanding the system except in communities where it has cable TV franchise agreements. During the last contract talks in 2011, Verizon's union also went on strike, a walkout that lasted a couple of weeks. This time around, the strike could last much longer. "We're so far apart on the major issues," Casey told the Times Union after speaking with Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan about FiOS, which is not offered in the city. "We're struggling to try and convince Verizon to put high-speed Internet in upstate New York. That product could guarantee us job security. Guarantee us work. It would keep jobs here in the Capital Region." Sheehan, who has spoken out against Verizon's decision not to bring FiOS to the city, said she supports the union's efforts, arguing that competition for high-speed Internet is critical. "We have so many cities in upstate New York," Sheehan said. "We cannot have a digital divide. These places are going to be left behind, and we can't have that." Meanwhile, Sanders was in New York City on Wednesday marching in solidarity with striking Verizon workers there, drawing the attention of Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, who called Democratic presidential candidate's views on Verizon "uninformed" and "contemptible." Starting Thursday, CWA Local 1118 members are also going to picket outside of Verizon Wireless stores throughout the Capital Region. Verizon's unions have said the company has favored the wireless division over FiOS and the so-called wireline division because its workers are not unionized. Andrew Testa, a Verizon Wireless spokesman, said that the local wireless stores are prepared for the unions to show up later this week. "We've seen the same thing in 2011, and we expected it again this year," Testa said. "We have no issues with our striking employees picketing in public places. Our request is that they do not disrupt our business operations or hassle our customers or employees. If that happens, we will have to take appropriate action." lrulison@timesunion.com 518-454-5504 @larryrulison Washington President Barack Obama made a rare visit Wednesday to CIA headquarters for briefings on the war against Islamic State as the administration steps up air attacks along a patch of Syria's northern border in a renewed push to block the flow of fighters and supplies to the extremist group. Obama, who recently asked the Pentagon and CIA for proposals to increase pressure in Syria, is considering sending 200 more members of U.S. special operations forces to advise and assist Kurdish and Arab militias seeking to close the so-called Manbij Gap, a porous 60-mile stretch that long has served as a cross-border corridor for the militants. Islamic State forces holding the corridor have come under more coalition airstrikes in the last two weeks than any other target in Syria, according to U.S. officials. The Turkish military also has increased its artillery barrages against militants across its southern border. Obama is considering giving more advanced artillery to Sunni Arab militias, increasing assistance to Syrian Kurdish forces, as well as making efforts to recruit more Sunni Arabs to fight alongside Kurds, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing ongoing planning. The president who visited the CIA with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John F. Kerry and more than two dozen senior national security officials also may seek to resolve a simmering dispute between the CIA and the Pentagon over which Syrian rebel forces are best positioned to act as proxies and allies in the maelstrom of a multisided war. Obama did not disclose his decisions after the nearly two-hour meeting, but he told several dozen agency employees in the CIA entrance hall that "we have momentum and we intend to keep that momentum." He said that the ranks of Islamic State fighters have fallen to the lowest level in two years, that the group has not had a successful offensive in nearly a year, and that "we continue to take out their leaders, their commanders and those plotting terrorist attacks." In recent months, the Pentagon has armed and helped advise Kurdish militias in northeastern Syria after an ambitious effort to train and arm a Sunni Arab rebel force collapsed last year. About 50 U.S. special operations personnel are based in the Kurdish-held zone. Russia is known to support Kurdish militias arrayed in northwestern Syria. The Manbij Gap, which stretches from the outskirts of Aleppo to the Euphrates River, lies between the two Kurdish forces. Although Syrian Kurdish militias are considered capable fighters, they are reluctant to push farther south into territory held by Islamic State where few ethnic Kurds live. U.S. intelligence officials have warned for months that funneling too much military and intelligence support to Syrian Kurds risks alienating the Sunni Arab militias that compete for territory with the Kurds, an ethnic minority. It also could anger the government in Turkey, which hosts a major U.S. air base and is a crucial U.S. partner in the war. Turkish Kurds have fought for greater autonomy for more than three decades. The government in Ankara fears that building Kurdish militias even in Syria into a stronger fighting force could lead to the formation of a breakaway state along the border. During a visit to Washington this month for a nuclear summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Obama that he does not want U.S.-backed Kurdish forces to control new territory along the border, including within the Manbij Gap, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing the private meeting. Turkey increased its shelling of Islamic State positions south of the border after a spate of terrorist attacks by the group, including a March suicide bombing on a high-end shopping street in Istanbul. Last week, U.S. airstrikes and Turkish artillery provided cover for rebel forces to assault the Syrian town of Rai, a border crossing at the western edge of the Manbij Gap. Col. Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the coalition, said Wednesday that over the last two weeks U.S.-backed rebel forces have pushed Islamic State from more than a dozen small villages near the gap. New York Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders held dueling rallies for support from union members and black voters Wednesday ahead of New York's Democratic presidential primary, with Sanders preparing to leave the political battleground briefly to address a Vatican conference in Rome. Both candidates courted organized labor, with the Vermont senator picking up support from the local transit workers union and walking the picket line at one point with striking Verizon workers a small army of backers who could pass out leaflets in subways in the days ahead. Clinton, meanwhile, issued a statement supporting the Verizon workers and calling for the company to come back to the bargaining table. The former New York senator also campaigned in New York City and addressed the National Action Network, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton giving her a visible platform for the city's black community. As Clinton dug into campaigning in her adopted home state, Sanders prepared to hop to Rome for a 10-minute speaking slot on Friday at a Vatican conference on social and economic trends. He's expected to head overseas just after the pair debate Thursday night. His comments there would dovetail with his campaign push for economic equality and comes ahead of critical primaries in states with large Roman Catholic populations: New York on Tuesday and a week later in Rhode Island and Connecticut. "What I'm planning to say is that it is not acceptable from a moral perspective, from an economic perspective or from an environmental perspective that so few have so much and that greed is running as rampant as it is throughout the entire planet," Sanders said in a phone interview with the Associated Press. Clinton was heading to California on a fund raising swing for the weekend. New York City offers by far the largest bloc of votes in next Tuesday's primary and campaign officials estimate it could account for about 70 percent of the vote. In 2008, when Clinton dueled with then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the state's primary, more than half of the vote came from the city's five boroughs. Polls have shown Clinton with a lead against Sanders, putting pressure on the self-described democratic socialist to overcome the former secretary of state's edge. Clinton holds a lead of about 250 pledged delegates in the chase for the nomination, an advantage that Sanders is trying to chip away in upcoming primaries in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and beyond. Sanders announced the first endorsement from a Senate colleague, Oregon's Jeff Merkley. Clinton has captured the endorsements of most of the chamber's Democrats. More Information Frugal green-living tips: Friday, April 22 is Earth Day. Here are some great tips, courtesy of Julia Scott, founder of the money-saving lifestyle blog, Bargain Babe (bargainbabe.com): Considering composting: Compost food scraps and kitchen waste. Your soil will absorb the nutrients, plus you'll save money on fertilizer and reduce the amount of waste you put to the curb, which could potentially save you money if you pay for trash disposal. Swear off the sponge: "One thing I like to do is use those quick-dry cloths instead of sponges," says Scott, who gave up on smelly sponges a long time ago. "You can throw them in the washer and dryer, and they are brand new once again." Fill the freezer: Don't let your freezer run half-empty, says Scott. "It's more expensive to run it while empty," she says. "Fill an old milk container with water if you have to. That will make your machine a little more efficient." Control the temp: During warmer months, create drafts by opening strategic windows to create a cross breeze. In the winter, seal window seams with tape. You can forgo the shrinking plastic kits. They produce quite a bit of waste and tape works just as well, says Scott. Bulb swap: If every American home replaced just one conventional light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes a year, says the Environmental Protection Agency. Do dishes right: Run your dishwasher only when it's full. Tests show pre-rinsing doesn't improve dishwasher cleaning, and you'll save as much as 20 gallons of water per load, according to the EPA. Laundry tip: The average washing machine uses 40.9 gallons of water per load. If you buy a new washer, shop for a high-efficiency washer that needs less than 28 gallons of water per load. Make sure to use cold water to conserve energy, and wash only full loads. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A model struts through the crowd, clad in a black cocktail dress, expertly adorned with equally dark feathers. Not long after, another model works the crowd in a sleek white gown covered by shimmery silver lace. Among the ornate white pillars, sparkling chandeliers and stereos blasting Madonna's "Vogue" inside the Renaissance Hotel Albany's DeWitt Ballroom, the vibrant colors, sexy cuts and sequin, tulle and feather decorations of the dresses look particularly elegant. Surrounded by the well-dressed guests and flashing cameras, Albany-based designer Daniel Mozzes presented his spring/summer collection with the same boldness he applies to the rest of his life. Since a young age, fashion, and its connection to color, light and movement fascinated Mozzes. He does most of his work at his North Pearl Street studio, but he has also traveled the globe and lived and studied in Holland, Buenos Aires and Santiago. Through his travels and interest in art and color, he finds inspiration for his eclectic designs. "Spring was my starting point. And in previous years, spring usually implies florals," said Mozzes of his most recent collection, which debuted on Friday, April 8, in Albany."But this year, I took another look and decided not to compete with the flowers blooming all over town. I chose to focus on some color combinations, but not floral." "I just saw his show last year! He's a different, amazing talent, from one designer to the next," said Sylvia Jordan, another local fashion designer, who attended Mozzes's show. "I love his whole aura!" "His designs are indicative of the 1940s and '50s," said Natalie Sillery, owner of Saratoga Trunk, who has been selling Mozzes's clothes for several years now. At the show, she announced her store will be implementing a "lease the look" option for Daniel Mozzes Designs, allowing customers to rent his glamourous clothes for special occasions. As a designer, Mozzes admires the work of Coco Chanel and Alexander McQueen, and is inspired by the styles of actresses Lauren Bacall and Sarah Jessica Parker. Those inspirations are apparent in his clothes, which evoke both the classic elegance of Chanel and Bacall, as well as the avant-garde creativity of McQueen and Parker; equal parts old Hollywood glamour and Carrie Bradshaw eclectic. While known best for his creations, Mozzes is also known for his philanthropy and use of fashion to better the world. Proceeds from his shows have gone to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Albany Damien Center, a resource center for people living with HIV/AIDS. "I do try to stay involved with charities, because the need is so great," he said. "One way I try to help on an ongoing basis is to contribute a dress to special events, where it can be part of the silent auction fundraising effort." His shows, including the most recent one, also feature more than just the thin, young women that dominate mainstream runways. His spring/summer collection was modeled by a diverse group of beautiful women, and one man, of all ages and body types. WNYT anchor Benita Zahn, a close friend of Mozzes, was one of the models, walking the runway in a sleek silver number. "I want to be able to feel that I can create fashion for every woman, not just one specific type," said Mozzes. "So while tall, thin models are not left out, neither is the range of ages, and shapes and body types that reflect all." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. "You can look at it and say, 'I could wear that,' " said Judi Harris, whose daughter, Destiny, modeled in Mozzes' show. With his broad appeal, many think someone like Mozzes belongs in a fashion capital, like New York or Paris, instead of Albany. But there's a growing market for fashion in the Capital Region, and people like Mozzes are the proof. "A lot of people say there isn't a lot of fashion in this area, but you have to look for people who are interested," said Lorena Nazario, owner of Bella V Mobile Boutique. She and her friend, stylist Melissa Convertino, who also attended the show, met through their mutual love of fashion. Niamh Molumby is a student in the New Visions Multimedia & Digital Communications class. Agadez, Niger It's Monday and that means it's moving day in Agadez, the northern Niger desert crossroad that is the main launching pad for migrants out of West Africa. Fleeing devastated agriculture, overpopulation and unemployment, migrants from a dozen countries gather here in caravans every Monday night and make a mad dash through the Sahara to Libya, hoping to eventually hop across the Mediterranean to Europe. This caravan's assembly is quite a scene to witness. Although it is evening, it's still 105 degrees, and there is little more than a crescent moon to illuminate the night. Then, all of a sudden, the desert comes alive. Using the WhatsApp messaging service on their cellphones, the local smugglers, who are tied in with networks of traffickers extending across West Africa, start coordinating the surreptitious loading of migrants from safe houses and basements across the city. They've been gathering all week from Senegal, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Chad, Guinea, Cameroon, Mali and other towns in Niger. With 15 to 20 men no women crammed together into the back of each Toyota pickup, their arms and legs spilling over the sides, the vehicles pop out of alleyways and follow scout cars that have zoomed ahead to make sure there are no pesky police officers or border guards lurking who have not been paid off. It's like watching a symphony, but you have no idea where the conductor is. Eventually, they all converge at a gathering point north of the city, forming a giant caravan of 100 to 200 vehicles the strength in numbers needed to ward off desert bandits. Poor Niger. Agadez, with its warrens of ornate mud-walled buildings, is a remarkable UNESCO World Heritage site, but the city has been abandoned by tourists after attacks nearby by Boko Haram and other jihadis. So, as one smuggler explains to me, the cars and buses of the tourist industry have now been repurposed into a migration industry. There are now wildcat recruiters, linked to smugglers, all across West Africa who appeal to the mothers of boys to put up the $400 to $500 to send them to seek out jobs in Libya or Europe. Few make it, but others keep coming. I am standing at the Agadez highway control station watching this parade. As the Toyotas whisk by me, kicking up dust, they paint the desert road with stunning moonlit silhouettes of young men, silently standing in the back of each vehicle. The thought that their Promised Land is war-ravaged Libya tells you how desperate are the conditions they're leaving. Between 9,000 and 10,000 men make this journey every month. Just as Syria's revolution was set off in part by the worst four-year drought in the country's modern history plus overpopulation, climate stresses and the Internet the same is true of this African migration wave. That's why I'm here filming an episode for the "Years of Living Dangerously" series on climate change across the planet, which will appear on National Geographic Channel next fall. I'm traveling with Monique Barbut, who heads the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, and Adamou Chaifou, Niger's minister of environment. Chaifou explains that West Africa has experienced two decades of on-again-off-again drought. The dry periods prompt desperate people to deforest hillsides for wood for cooking or to sell, but they are now followed by increasingly violent rains, which wash away the topsoil barren of trees. Meanwhile, the population explodes mothers in Niger average seven children as parents continue to have lots of kids for social security, and each year more fertile land gets eaten by desertification. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. "We now lose 100,000 hectares of arable land every year to desertification," says Chaifou. "And we lose between 60,000 and 80,000 hectares of forest every year." The U.N.'s Barbut shows me three maps of Africa with an oblong outline around a bunch of dots clustered in the middle of the continent. Map No. 1: the most vulnerable regions of desertification in Africa in 2008. Map No. 2: conflicts and food riots in Africa 2007-2008. Map No. 3: terrorist attacks in Africa in 2012. All three outlines cover the same territory. Thomas L. Friedman writes for The New York Times. While you may not instantly know the name, you will certainly recognise the artwork of Killea based artist Lynn Kirkham whose specially commissioned public pieces grace many of the country's best known roadways. Born in Lancashire England in 1965 it became clear from a young age that the outdoors-loving Lynn would pursue a career somewhere in the art world. And at 25 years of age, she accepted a place at London Guildhall University to study basket-weaving. Some early exhibitions and artists residencies followed before Lynn decided to take the plunge and relocate to Ireland establishing Greenmantle Arts Studio outside Killea near Templemore. A brief relocation to Bear Island followed suit before Lynn returned once again to her studio at Greenmantle, most recently taking up an artists residency as part of the Artist in the classroom scheme operated by North Tipperary County Council. Lynn specialises in basket making and sculpture using natural materials like willow and wood, as seen in her fantastic creations on Kildare's motorways and at the Teagasc Research Centre in Moorepark Co. Cork, as well as working in metalwork. While Lynn has been very successful in producing these public pieces of artwork she says that the competition in the country is very high due to only a small amount of projects opening up each year many of which are subject to tender. Now the Tipp based artist is calling on locals to support local artists. We don't want people to assume that we are expensive or elitist. We can bring fresh ideas and outlooks to projects and can provide unique work made especially for you, at a price that is fair to everyone. We are just ordinary people trying to make a living doing what we are good at and meeting all the same daily struggles and costs as everyone else, she says. Greenmantle Arts Studio runs regular art courses suitable to adults and children. Greenmantle Studios are also available to book a special workshop for your group or Lynn will travel to work with you on your own site. For more information visit www.lynnkirkham.net or see Greenmantle Arts on Facebook. Two Tipperary food businesses, Blanco Nino and Tipperary Kitchen, have been chosen to join the first FoodService Academy, a new programme run by Bord Bia and Musgrave MarketPlace. The FoodService Academy seeks to help ten small Irish food and drink companies develop their business in the foodservice market (commonly referred to as out of home food market). The programme also aims to help the companies achieve growth within Musgrave MarketPlaces foodservice business, which works with over 6,000 customers each week ranging from hotels and restaurants to pubs and nursing homes. Blanco Nino, which was established in 2014 in Clonmel and is Irelands only producer of authentic corn tortillas, has already been set up as suppliers in advance of the programme which starts this month. Tipperary Kitchen is a family run artisan bakery in Holycross producing a range of handcrafted meringues, dessert sauces and chocolate biscuit cake and has been operating since 2010. According to Maureen Gahan, Bord Bias Foodservice Specialist, Bord Bia is delighted to work with Musgrave MarketPlace for the first time on the inaugural FoodService Academy, looking to grow the sales of small businesses in the market. The foodservice market is delivering real growth and value for Irish food and drink companies, as is evidenced in our recent industry report. The out of home market is now worth 6.37bn and this is forecasted to grow to almost 6.9bn by 2018 so this is an area we are encouraging companies to develop. Sheena Forde, Trading Director, Musgrave MarketPlace added that, Following on from the success of Musgraves SuperValu Food Academy programme with Bord Bia and the Local Enterprise Offices, we are now looking forward to bringing a similar programme to Irish foodservice producers through MarketPlace. A number of the participating companies are Food Academy graduates so we are proud to be in a position to introduce their products to our foodservice customer base. As the largest and fastest growing wholesaler in Ireland, we are ideally placed to understand the needs of the foodservice market and, as an Irish family business, we are delighted to work with small Irish manufacturers, many of which are family owned, to give them a head start in the market. The FoodService Academy programme offers a combination of commercial and marketing expertise and will provide invaluable consumer insight for the companies involved. We would like to acknowledge the excellent support of Bord Bia throughout the development of this programme, their shared passion for supporting Irish food business has been evident throughout. Programme Overview The programme, coordinated by Bord Bia, will take place over four months and comprise of workshops and mentoring. Representatives from Musgrave MarketPlace will participate in the workshops, sharing practical insights and experience to help the companies understand areas such as supplier set-up, food safety requirements and distribution model as well as sales and the marketing support. The remaining eight companies that have been chosen to participate include: Atlantis Seafood (Wexford); Coffee House Lane (Waterford); Lilys Tea House, (Louth); Nobo (Dublin); Maria Lucia Bakes (Dubline); Kildares Outdoor Oinks; Secret Recipe (Cork); Wildberry Bakery (Cork). Cahir filmmaker Risteard O Domhnaill's powerful documentary 'Atlantic' on will go on general release from April 29th - this new film from the maker of 2010s 'The Pipe' explores the murky world of ocean resource mismanagement. Emmy Award-winning actor Brendan Gleeson narrates the feature-length film which was shot in Ireland, Norway and Newfoundland (Canada) by Scannain Inbhear (Inver Films) - 'Atlantic' was awarded best Irish documentary at the recent Dublin International Film Festival. Indeed, Brendan Gleeson described 'Atlantic' as an engrossing piece of truth-seeking, visually stunning and crafted with clarity and insight. It was an honour to be involved. After previously taking a behind-the-scenes look at Irelands Corrib Gas controversy, O Domhnaill realised that a wider story of resource mismanagement was emerging - one that needed to be told for the sake of coastal communities everywhere. 'Atlantic' started as an ambitious crowdfunding project, but was subsequently backed by Bord Scannan na hEireann (Irish Film Board), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Newfoundland and Labrador Film Development Corporation and Nordnorsk Filmsenter (the North Norwegian Film Centre). 'Atlantic' follows the fortunes of three small fishing communities as they struggle to maintain their way of life in the face of mounting economic and ecological challenges. As the oil majors drive deeper into their fragile seas and the worlds largest fishing companies push fish stocks to the brink, coastal people and the species they rely on may be reaching a point of no return. In Norway, fishermen and their resource have historically been aggressively protected by national authorities, but as oil fields dwindle and the country now looks to add to its reserves Arctic cod fisherman Bjornar Nicolaisen is campaigning against seismic testing by the oil explorers criss-crossing his fishing grounds. On the outer edges of Norways five-star economy, seismic blasting is threatening to blow Bjornars livelihood out of the water. Across the ocean in Newfoundland, where an oil boom has hit, fisherman Charlie Kane will likely be the last of his generation to work the sea, after a cod fishing ban in the 1990s brought a world-renowned industry to a halt overnight. Yet Charlie is thankful his sons can now make a good living on the oil rigs and wont need to toil in small boats on Newfoundlands perilous Grand Banks. But now, as oil prices plummet, their village is once more taking on water as the the quick money of the black gold rush begins to run dry. Meanwhile on the west coast of Ireland, Jerry Early has seen the heart ripped out of his island after a ban on drift netting for wild salmon. As he fights to regain his fishing rights, hes up against a government which takes orders only from the European Union. As foreign super-trawlers operate with impunity just offshore, Jerry feels like a criminal on his own boat. The circumstances could be dire if he defies the new order of the ocean, but as the unofficial mayor of a dying island, Jerry feels he has to face up to powerful interests before its too late. Filmed in some of the most remote and breathtaking locations in the North Atlantic, and at close quarters with some of the seas most captivating characters, 'Atlantic' brings these very personal stories in a vital resource debate to the fore and explore how three modern day communities must learn from the past in order to secure a brighter future. My last documentary, 'The Pipe', told the story of a small coastal community as they faced down one of the worlds most powerful oil companies, which was forcing a high-pressure raw gas pipeline through their farms and fishing grounds, Risteard O Domhnaill explained. The story raised more questions for me than it answered, leading me to look at the politics of our oil and gas prospects off the Irish coast. What has since unfolded is an incredible story of resource mismanagement and the capture of our offshore riches - oil, gas and fishing - whilst our gaze is elsewhere. Unfortunately, what I found when I looked across the Atlantic is that Irelands tale is not unique. However, in both Norway and Newfoundland, the lessons learned by similarly affected communities can help us to chart a different course, before our most renewable resources are damaged beyond recognition, or sold to the highest bidders, Risteard O Domhnaill added. 'Atlantic' will go on general release from April 29th while a screening will feature in the Cahir House Hotel on May 5th, the Nenagh Arts Centre on May 11th and in The Source Arts Centre on May 18th. For more details on this fascinating project visit theatlanticstream.com, find Atlantic Stream on Facebook or follow @AtlanticStream on Twitter. April 14, 2016 Consumers can generally agree that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, more commonly known as the TCPA, has somewhat impacted unwanted calls, or at least provides redress for those who think they get called too much, or didnt know they were being recorded. Naturally, businesses might not agree with this assessment, and one company found out in a big way that not following all the rules has a price. According to online legal site JD Supra Business Advisors, Wells Fargo (News - Alert) Bank has agreed to an $8.5 million settlement over the alleged failure to provide call recording announcements to California consumers. The complaint alleged violations of Sections 632 and 632.7 of Californias Penal Code, including the purported failure of Wells Fargos employees to timely and adequately disclose the recording of communications with members of the public, JD Supra said. These laws form part of Californias Invasion of Privacy Act. Section 632 makes it illegal to eavesdrop (monitor) or record a confidential communication without the consent of all parties. Thats why most businesses will tell you right up front, This call is being recorded for quality assurance purposes, or messaging to that effect. As part of the settlement, Wells Fargo agreed to make a clear, conspicuous, and accurate disclosure to any consumer in California of the fact that Wells Fargo is recording the call, JD Supra reported. The settlement requires that this disclosure occur immediately at the beginning of the call, but allows Wells Fargo to precede the disclosure with an introductory greeting identifying the customer service representative and the entity on whose behalf the call is made. And for those in California who still havent gotten the message, JD Supra reiterated a few of the more important points for those making outbound calls to the state: The announcement requirement applies to inbound and outbound calls, including requested return calls. Recording announcements apply to all types of calls not just sales calls. Maintain proof of the announcement. Implement a short, written call recording policy. Train customer service representatives to understand the call recording policies. Periodically test call recording procedures. Promptly investigate any call recording complaints and take appropriate corrective action. Have customer service representatives sign an acknowledgment that they understand they are being monitored and/or recorded. Its not certain that posting such a list as the one above will have much impact. But its a good bet at least one bank got the message. Edited by Stefania Viscusi Volunteer walks in honor of her husband Thousand Oaks resident Joan Hull will be among those participating in this years Conejo Valley Walk to End Alzheimers at 9 a.m. Sat., Oct. 22 at the Westlake Promenade. Hull... Overpass could get protective fencing A substantial safety upgrade for the areas most notorious overpass is finally getting some Caltrans considerationbut dont expect changes any time soon. At the Sept. 21 Moorpark City Council meeting,... Early detection is the best way to survive breast cancer Every October, we celebrate those men and women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. But what is breast cancer and how can it be diagnosed and managed? There are... iPad Pro 2022 3 reasons to buy and 2 reasons to skip The iPad Pro 2022 seems like the best iPad yet. But should you consider purchasing it? Here are 3 reasons you should buy it, and 2 reasons you shouldn't. Microsoft filed a lawsuit (opens in new tab) in a federal court against the U.S. government over its expanding use of gag orders for data requests. The company said that almost half of the data requests are secret, with more than two thirds of the gag orders having no time limit for expiration, meaning the users would never be notified about them. Microsoft, which is now a major cloud services provider, has become increasingly worried at how many of the data requests from the U.S. government are accompanied by gag orders. Once a gag order is served, the company can no longer notify its users about the warrants it received for their data. The company believes that the U.S. government is using the increasing popularity of cloud services as a way to skirt around the Fourth Amendment, which gives people the right to know when the government searches or seizes their property. Microsoft also believes that these gag orders violate the First Amendment, which guarantees the company the right to talk to its customers. Evolution Of Data Storage (And The Degradation Of Privacy Rights) In the past, individuals and businesses would keep their information in documents stored in file cabinets and desk drawers on local premises. That data then transitioned to being stored on local computers and servers, but it remained within a users physical possession and control. In both of those eras, the government had to notify the user or the company when it needed access to that data, and then it would serve them a warrant. Now, more and more personal data is stored in the cloud, or on other companies servers, because thats how the world evolved to allow people access to their data from wherever they may be. However, Microsoft believes that people still have the same expectations of privacy, even if the government can technically now take that data whenever it wishes, without notifying its customers. Microsoft also said that businesses that are its cloud customers routinely tell it that they want to be notified about government requests so that their own lawyers can take a look at the legal requests and then decide whether or not they have to turn over the data. Microsoft has argued before that law enforcement everywhere, including in the European Union, should go directly to its enterprise customers to obtain their data. However, the company is only now making the argument that individuals should be notified, as well. As discussed in a previous post about the new Email Privacy Act (EPA), it shouldnt matter that its now easier for governments to avoid telling individuals when their data is requested, just because that data is stored somewhere else. That data is theirs and therefore they should be notified when the government has access to it. However, the Email Privacy Act has so far made the compromise to remove the initial rule that wouldve required the government to give notice to users. That may still change if Microsoft wins this lawsuit by the time the bill reaches the Senate, where it could be amended. Microsofts Solution Microsoft hopes that regardless of how the lawsuit continues, the Department of Justice should immediately issue a new policy that restricts these out-of-control gag orders from law enforcement. If that doesnt happen, then the company wishes Congress would amend the Electronic Communications Protection Act (likely through the new EPA reform) to require government notice for warrants. Microsoft also said that the current ECPA allows the government to issue more secret orders than it would be able to serve under other laws. If Congress amends the law, then the company hopes it follows three principles: -Transparency: People have the right to know when the company storing their information has been sent a legal request for their data. The companies themselves should also have the right to tell their customers when a request was served. -Digital neutrality: Customers should benefit from the same type of privacy protections in the online world as they do in the offline world. -Necessity: Secrecy orders should be adapted to only whats necessary for an investigation. If theres a good reason for the secrecy to continue, then that order could be extended based on necessity. Microsofts Lawsuits Against U.S. Government Microsoft also noted that although this is the fourth lawsuit it has filed against the U.S. government to protect its customers privacy, it hasnt taken this action lightly, and it has only done so when it considered the government's requests to be out-of-bounds. In the first lawsuit, Microsoft settled with the U.S. government, allowing the company to disclose how many data requests it receives. The second one was because of a government-issued National Security Letter, which the government ended up withdrawing. The U.S. government has a tendency to withdraw its NSLs when challenged, likely there's a potential issue of unconstitutionality. It would prefer to lose a case by withdrawing an NSL, but continue to issue NSLs to other companies or individuals unwilling to challenge them in Court. The third lawsuit is the one where Microsoft challenged a U.S. search warrant for an email of a customer from Ireland. This lawsuit is still pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Microsoft filed this fourth one in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Lucian Armasu is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware. You can follow him at @lucian_armasu. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube. The Hope Six Demolition Project is PJ Harveys 9th studio album, released five years after her widely acclaimed and Mercury Prize Winning Let England Shake. The album was written, lyrically at least, between 2011 and 2014, when Harvey and photographer/filmmaker Seamus Murphy made trips to Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington DC. Whilst Murphy took photos, Harvey kept a journal of the places, stories, and people they encountered. The end result is not only a new album, but also a companion book of poetry and photography, entitled Hollow of the Land. Recorded over a month in Somerset House in London, the studio was a converted basement that once contained the gymnasium and rifle range for Inland Revenue Staff. The recording sessions were part of an exhibition entitled Recording in Progress, which invited the public to observe, via a one-way window, the album being made. Harvey, along with her band and long time producer Flood, recorded the album under the watchful eye of the public, a process surely out of the comfort zone of the notoriously reserved Polly Jean. The album title is a reference to the Hope VI projects in Washington DC, a run down public housing area with notoriously high crime rates. When the area was demolished to make way for better quality housing, the current residents were effectively evicted, no longer being able to afford to live there, leading to accusations of social cleansing. Washington Post journalist Paul Schwartzman gave Harvey and Murphy a tour of the area, with much of his observations and words the basis for album opener Community of Hope. The first single, and album highlight, The Wheel is joyous and upbeat. The percussion, handclaps and catchy horn line make a musically engaging backing for the vocal answer and response. The upbeat nature of the music contradicts the darker subject matter, a story which Harvey wrote during her time in Kosovo. The backing vocals repeat I heard it was 28,000, a reference to either the number of NATO troops sent in to try and restore peace, or the number of children thought to have been lost during the Kosovo conflict. The outro line suggests it is the latter, repeating over and over and watch them fade out. The Ministry of Social Affairs begins with an old blues sample, one of a number of tracks that use samples and ambient recordings to create atmosphere. The slow shuffling drums provide constant momentum, whilst the rest of the song rhythmically devolves behind a wild and manic saxophone solo. The chorus line sings thats what they want, oh yeah, money honey, building a level of tension which never really gets released. A line in the Sand finds Harveys high and somewhat timid falsetto singing enough is enough, a line in the sand, seven or eight thousand people killed by hand, the vocal delivery contrasting the subject matter. The Ministry of Defence is musically abrasive and angry, the melody once again provided by the backing vocals, singing such striking lines as Theyve sprayed graffiti, in Arabic, and balanced sticks, in human shit. The Hope Six Demolition Project is musically sparse, repetitive, full of low end percussion and layered deep register backing vocals. Intentionally focused around the lyrics, the voice is always the main focus. The album is really effective at putting the listener alongside Harvey as she wanders through the slums of Washington DC, or the war torn streets of Afghanistan. The stories are concerning, tragic, and yet told with an air of detachment. There is not effort to make comment, or put forth an opinion, on the story being told. Whilst the album may not contain the subtle beauty of Let England Shake, it is still a fantastic album. Musically varied and interesting, it is at times beautiful, at times abrasive, and always done in a way that enhances the story being told. The contrasting texture of Harveys voice against the layered male backing vocals is used frequently and to great effect. Is it enough, though, to allow fans to establish a deeper emotional connection with the stories therein? Or will they inevitably drift back to Let England Shake, or more likely still, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. When youre sad and down in the dumps, totally lachrymose, lugubrious, and despondent, whats the one thing that can lift you up from the muck and mire and cheer you up? Thats right, donuts! As we recently reported, Matt Corby fans can relate to a few of the adjectives we just listed. The songwriter has been forced to cancel two Sydney concerts after falling ill, including one canceled at the eleventh hour. But the amazing folks at Krispy Kreme have stepped in to cheer up the despondent Corby fans of Australia. As WSFM reports, theyre offering everyone with a ticket to Corbys cancelled shows a free donut to cheer them up. We know Matt Corby has a huge love for doughnuts so can only hope our small gesture for fans will bring some joy to an otherwise grey and rainy Sydney day! said Krispy Kreme CEO and all-round great guy Andrew McGuigan in a statement. We are wishing Matt a huge get well soon from the whole team at Krispy Kreme and have also sent him some American Classics to hopefully aid recovery. Yes, its all just corporate machinations, but at least theres free donuts involved. To launch the American Classics weve been working with songwriters and Spotify to make sure its not only the taste buds which are in for a treatbut the ears too. [include_post id=476646] When recovered, we would love Matt to cover one of the original doughnut tunes who knows, we could have a future hit on our hands! According to WSFM, the first ten in a given store with their ticket will get a donut from Krispy Kremes new American Classics range and everyone else will score an original glazed (which, weve gotta say, you cant beat). The offer is only redeemable in NSW and does not include 7-Eleven stores, so head on over to the Krispy Kreme website and find your nearest store. The offer ends at midnight tonight (Wednesday, 13th April) and you will need to provide a print-out of your ticket. DOES KANSAS CITY WANT A NEW AIRPORT THAT MIGHT SUCK OR RENOVATION FOR OLD SCHOOL MCI??? THE RENOVATION ADVOCATES ARE TAKING THEIR CASE TO THE PUBLIC AND LOOKING FOR COMMENT WHILST ADVOCATES OF THE NEW SINGLE-TERMINAL AIRPORT SEEMINGLY WANT TO PUSH THE PROJECT THROUGH WITHOUT A VOTE!!! Do we want the new airport or not? Tonight there was a somewhat important gathering and presentation at the Plaza Library featuring Crawford Architects making their pitch for MCI renovation rather than the expensive and most likely inconvenient single-terminal plan pushed by Mayor Sly and company.We didn't go because . . .Now all of this is just posturing and talking points that's keeping us for the real question . . .Remember that Mayor Sly and consultants making hefty fees have already tried to kill the idea of a rehab . . .However, deeper behind the scenes and among people who really make the rules in this town, we've talked to some of the money people who are responsible for placing Sly in office and they make a convincing case about jobs and opportunities the new airport will provide.The real question is . . .Here's our. . .The fundamental difference between methodologies here should inform voters and no amount of Dead Tree Media hack spin bought and paid for with tax breaks will change these facts.So, now we put it our reader community for those up late tonight . . . (Nullus) . . .You decide . . . TUIs Robinson Club has lost one of its properties. The owner of the five-star Kalimera Kriti on Crete has cancelled his contract with the German group at short notice just before the planned summer season opening on April 24 following a legal dispute. The hotel owner, the Maho Group, claimed it had not been informed properly about the insolvency of the clubs management company last July and only learned on April 8 that the hotel would not operate as a Robinson this year. But Robinson claimed it had made all legal payments connected to the insolvency and had assumed the club could operate normally this summer. The hotel will operate this summer as a Helios Hotel instead. Some 3,500 bookings for the popular 408-room resort, which had been a Robinson Club resort since 2012, will need to be cancelled or re-booked to alternative hotels. The loss of the Kalimera Kriti leaves TUIs club brand with two properties in Greece, one on Kos and one on the mainland Peloponnese peninsula. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Tourexpi, turizm haberleri, Reiseburos, tourism news, noticias de turismo, Tourismus Nachrichten, , travel tourism news, international tourism news, Urlaub, urlaub in der turkei, , holidays in Turkey, , global tourism news, dunya turizm, dunya turizm haberleri, Seyahat Acentas, This site is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+, at a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768. Oman Power and Water Procurement (OPWP), has signed RO100-million ($259 million) agreement with a consortium of Valoriza Agua-Spain, Oman Brunei Investment Company and Sogex Oman (under the flagship of Myah Gulf Oman Desalination Company) to build a desalination plant in Sohar, a report said. The project is likely to meet about 80 per cent of water demand in Al Batinah North, added the Times of Oman report. Expected to start commercial operation in 2018, the independent water project will produce 250,000 cu m of water per day using reserve osmosis as the water purification technology, according to the report. As per the terms of the agreement, OPWP will have the right to buy the desalinated water produced by the plant during a concession period of 20 years. The consortium comprises Muscat-based Oman Brunei Investment Company; Sogex Oman, a subsidiary of Suhail Bahwan Group; and Valoriza Agua, a Spanish company. "The project will have a role in supporting water security in Oman, in general, and in Al Batinah North, in particular, and will contribute to reducing the cost of water procurement, thanks to the enhanced efficiency of the new plant, Ahmad bin Saleh Al Jahdhami, CEO of Oman Power and Water Procurement, was quoted as saying in the report. The project is totally financed by local banks and this comes in line with the banking sector's vision of supporting the local enterprises that contribute to the welfare of the Omani people, said Qais Al Kharusi, chief executive officer of Oman Brunei Investment Company. According to the agreements, the investing company shall provide the required technical expertise for the Omani employees and workers recruited at the project. This, in turn, will open new windows for the small and medium enterprises sector to have a hand and make profits, Al Kharusi added. Iran and Germany have agreed to enhance cooperation in the transportation sector, said a senior official in a report. Irans Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi revealed that the decision was made during 'very constructive talks' with German Economic Minister Sigmar Gabriel in Berlin on Tuesday, added the Iran Daily News report. Akhoundi said that his visit to Germany follows the invitation of the German economic minister during his previous trip in July last year to Iran. He noted that the meeting discussed various projects such as transportation, housing, railway, aviation and roads, in which the Germany could play a role. Akhoundi added that the talks were further continued during his current visit to Berlin, and important issues regarding discussions on financing of the projects. He hoped that some of the projects could be finalised by the time Gabriel visits Iran on May 2, added the report. Rosatom, the atomic energy corporation in Russia, acted as a partner, co-organiser and also held a seminar dedicated to leading Russian nuclear technologies, at the recently concluded Nuclear Energy Week, held at Alexandria University in Egypt. Alexandria University is one of the oldest and most respected universities in the country, and the event was held on the grounds of the Faculty of Engineering and is one of the key industry events in Egypt. The event was organised by the Nuclear Power Plant Authority of Egypt (NPPA), Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (ENRRA), Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA) and Nuclear Materials Authority of Egypt (NMA), said a statement from the company. Additionally, Rosatom presented an exhibition dedicated to key facts on the company and its unique advantages on the global nuclear technologies market, it added. The opening ceremony of the event was attended by executive director of the NPPA Dr Khalil Yasso and the dean of the faculty of Engineering of Alexandria University, Dr Abdul Alziz Hassanein Mohammed Saad Qansuh. The head of the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Egypt Alexey Tevanian made a keynote speech on behalf of the Russian party. In his speech, he stressed that Russia and Egypt are long-standing strategic partners, including in the nuclear field. Tevanian added: Back in the day, a number of Egyptian experts went through the Soviet scientific and research nuclear schools. Russian-Egyptian relations in the field of technological cooperation are experiencing a new stage of development, key to which is the construction of the El Dabaa nuclear power plant. He further noted that the construction of Egypts first NPP will not only mark an important milestone in the development of Egypts energy sector, but will also give an impetus to other sectors of the economy, accelerate socio-economic and technological progress and create new jobs. Tevanian said: In order to implement such an ambitious task, the country needs highly qualified cadre. It is quite symbolic that Rosatom is holding the first seminar on Russian nuclear technologies in Egypt within the walls of the oldest university in the country. You are the future of nuclear energy and engineering in Egypt. During the seminar, the audience comprising teachers and students of the university, representatives of the nuclear regulator, professional associations and industry-leading companies was given presentations on Rosatoms pioneering technologies and many years of experience in the design and construction of NPPs in Russia and abroad; competencies required for the successful construction and operation of NPPs and nuclear power plant safety systems, including Rosatom's experience in the field of environmental management. The presentations were delivered representatives of Rosatom enterprises that included Atomstroyexport (JSC ASE), Rosenergoatom Concern OJSC, Rusatom International Network and so on. The participants expressed a high level of interest in the presentation delivered by a representative of JSC Rusatom Overseas on nuclear education in Russia, in which the audience received information on opportunities for Egyptian students for studying at Russias leading nuclear universities. Additionally, a contest, "Nuclear Education in Russia", will be held online on April 14, and its winners will have the opportunity to study at one of the leading nuclear universities in Russia under the programme of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, implemented jointly with Rosatom, it added. TradeArabia News Service Italy has become the first European country to take steps to help its fashion industry build a stronger presence in Iran following the lifting of Western sanctions. The two countries signed an agreement during a two-day visit by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi with a delegation of business leaders to increase trade between Italy and Iran and reinforce industrial cooperation. The deal was signed by the National Textiles and Fashion Association Sistema Moda Italia (SMI), which represents a sector worth more than 52 billion euros ($59 billion) in revenues, and its Iranian counterpart the Tehran Garment Union (TGU). It aims to cut red tape and make it easier for Italian companies to obtain the TGU licence required to operate in Iran. Some analysts estimate the oil-rich Islamic Republic of nearly 80 million people has more than 3 million high net worth individuals who are major and regular buyers of luxury goods. "Iran could be an interesting expansion market, probably worth about 2 per cent of the global luxury market, once developed," Exane BNP Paribas analyst Luca Solca said. Renzi was accompanied by some 60 business leaders from sectors including energy, railways and defence. They pledged billions of euros in credit lines and guarantees, in a broader effort to establish a strong foothold in Iran. "Iran represents a market with great opportunities and I am certain that Italian companies will be able to grasp them," SMI Chairman Claudio Marenzi said. The sanctions on Iran over the past decade did not apply to cosmetics and many other consumer goods, but they made it difficult for European companies to own stores in Iran. IRAN CHALLENGES Setting up businesses in Iran is also no easy task, executives and consultants say, due to a lack of appropriate retail infrastructure, high tariffs and banking restrictions. A lack of enforcement of international trademark protection agreements also means Iran is flooded with counterfeits. Italian firms appear to have adopted a more proactive attitude than their French luxury and fashion rivals. In February, Florence-based fashion house Roberto Cavalli opened its first shop in Iran, in the footsteps of leather goods maker Piquadro and men's shirt company Camicissima. Versace is due to open a flagship boutique in Tehran soon, in franchise with a local commercial partner. Several French groups, however, including Chanel, Gucci owner Kering and LVMH's, have been adopting a "wait and see" attitude until the evolution of Iran's international relations became clearer. Some French brands such as the family-controlled handbag maker Longchamp and crystal maker Lalique, are looking for distribution partners but have no plans to open boutiques. "For us Iran is a new region to conquer," said Lalique Chief Executive and controlling shareholder Silvio Denz, who has been opening new markets for the brand's crystal jewellery and home wear items over the past decade. One of the first big French companies to invest directly in Iran is LVMH's cosmetics retailer Sephora. It is in talks to open two to three shops in Teheran by the autumn, in partnership with an Iranian partner and the Middle Eastern luxury goods distributor Chalhoub, a source close to LVMH told Reuters. LVMH and Chalhoub have declined to comment. Reuters Iran's government plans to shift part of its borrowing from local corporate investors to the capital markets, a move that could stimulate trading in debt securities and help the economy recover from years of economic sanctions. The sanctions, imposed over Iran's disputed nuclear programme, hurt the government's finances and prompted it to borrow heavily from local firms and debt-laden banks, many of which are linked to the state through shareholdings and managerial influence. In the wake of the lifting of sanctions in January, the government is laying plans to offer a range of debt instruments in the markets, where they could be bought by institutional and individual investors, rather than placing debt directly with banks and corporations. At present, Iran's banking sector provides around 95 per cent of all financing, with only a tiny portion sourced from the debt capital markets, said Navid Kalhor, equity research analyst at Agah Group, a Tehran-based investment firm. "The banking sector is out of money and out of capital, so the government is looking to reduce its reliance on the sector. It now needs to seek the capital markets." Several efforts are under way: the Securities and Exchange Organisation (SEO) has approved the use by the government of lease-based Islamic bonds, known as ijara sukuk, which can be underpinned by creditor assets to help settle state debts owed to local firms. "This is aimed at diversification of available instruments for the government and introduction of new tools for investors," said Majid Pireh, senior expert in Islamic finance at the SEO's research department. A draft budget being discussed by parliament calls for issuance of 150 trillion rials ($4.4 billion at the free market exchange rate) of ijara sukuk, part of a proposed 275 trillion rials of debt issuance for the financial year which started in March. The draft budget also includes issuance of 75 trillion rials of Islamic treasury bills and 50 trillion rials of musharaka sukuk, a form of investment partnership which until now has been the main sukuk structure used in Iran. The treasury bills and ijara sukuk could spur activity in Iran's dormant debt markets because they will be tradeable in the country's over-the-counter securities market, known as Fara Bourse. "You will be hearing a lot more of these issuances, especially the ijara sukuk type," said Payam Afzali, vice-president at Kardan Investment Bank, which is advising several local companies on their sukuk issuance plans. "The mechanism is that the papers are issued and the ownership is transferred to the creditors - the secondary market is simultaneously created." NEW DEBT TOOLS The government is barred by law from transferring sovereign assets to the private sector, a common practice in sukuk issues by governments elsewhere in the world. One way around this is to use private sector creditors' assets to underpin sovereign sukuk; the creditors accept this arrangement because the government guarantees it will pay the principal and returns on the instruments. The government is also exploring additional debt tools. The SEO is working with the government to introduce a new format known as manfa'a, or usufruct sukuk, which is based on the rights or future benefits of an asset, said Pireh. For example, while the state would be unable to transfer assets of a highway project for use in ijara sukuk, it could securitise future toll revenue with manfa'a sukuk. "Within two to three months, the structure could be finalised," said Pireh. As government issuance expands, it will deepen the debt market and create pricing benchmarks, making it easier for Iranian companies to issue their own sukuk. Larger firms in the oil and mining sectors could be the first to benefit but smaller ones may be left out as the issuance process remains costly and time-consuming, said Kalhor. The market also needs to develop a wider range of maturities, since few debt sales exceed six-month tenors, said Kalhor, whose firm is advising a local company on plans to raise the equivalent of $50 million through five-year ijara sukuk. Fara Bourse is studying the creation of a debt market specifically for use by the country's 700,000 small and medium-sized businesses, he added, although there is no timeframe for the initiative. Reuters You can opt out of certain types of cookies (e.g. those used in social media sharing) by choosing "I do not accept". The website will still largely function well, but with slightly less functionality in places. To manage your cookie preferences in future, visit the "Cookie Statement" link at the bottom of any page. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also underlined the need for early conclusion of Totalisation Agreement which would benefit Indians working in America. Washington: India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley expressed concern over the hike in visa fee by the US, saying it is "discriminatory" and largely affects Indian IT professionals. During a bilateral meeting with US Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also underlined the need for early conclusion of Totalisation Agreement which would benefit Indians working in America. Referring to the visa issue, he spoke about "India's concern over the hike in the H-1B and L1 visa fee, which is discriminatory and in effect is largely targeted at Indian IT companies". Read: US visa fee hike to hit Indian IT industry, says Nasscom Last year, the US Congress imposed a special fee of up to USD 4,500 on H-1B and L-1 visas -- popular among Indian IT companies -- to fund a 9/11 healthcare Act and biometric tracking system. While agreeing on the USD 1.1 trillion spending Bill, Congressional leaders decided to impose a special fee of USD 4,000 on certain categories of H-1B visas and USD 4,500 on L-1 visas. Jaitley expressed India's keenness in early conclusion of a Totalization Agreement with the United States, a finance ministry statement quoting him said. As per Industry estimates, Indian professionals contributed more than USD 25 billion to the US Social Security during the last decade, without being able to retrieve their contributions. The US has entered into agreements called 'Totalization Agreements' with several nations for the purpose of avoiding double taxation of income with respect to social security taxes. Under these, professionals of both the countries would be exempted from social security taxes when they go to work for a short period in the other country. The two countries are also engaged in negotiations for a Bilateral Investment Treaty to protect investments. The finance minister emphasised on sustained engagement and a rapidly increasing trade and investment partnership between India and the US as key elements, saying India looks forward to strengthening and deepening this economic engagement. Jaitley is currently on an official trip to Washington DC to attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and other sessions. He is accompanied by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian and other officials. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who is eassying the role of Dalbir Kaur in the Sarbjit biopic feels it's a hard hitting story so she chose to do this script. The actress requested everyone to keep a minute silence before starting the event at the trailer launch. When asked the actress about her challenges of playing this d-glam role, she said, "How can we not tell such stories. So much reportage has been done. It was important to share this narrative. This story should not to be missed. I thank Omung and the entire team to come up with this script to me." "It is one of the fastest film I have ever shot. The subject is so nice. I really thank my DOP for capturing emotions so well. It was disturbing each day to shoot but as an actor i feel honoured to be part of this film. It's some kind of divine calling. A petition has come to me from Dalbir Kaur many years back for the release of Sarbjit that I just said yes to do this film," she added. This is by far the most different role played by Aishwarya. When asked her about this she said, "As actors we wait for such opportunities. It is so important for me to play Dalbir with such reality. I sat with omung to create the role. Though I didn't see each and every physicality of Dalbir. I feel my make up and costume played a big role in my character." Randeep Hooda, who is playing the role of Sarabjit has actually left his fans amazed with his drastic transformation. When asked the talented actor, he said, "It was the hardest part to do weight loss. Not much has been come out about the real facts. I am proud to be the part of this film. I read an article long back which said Dalbir Kaur wants me to play the role of Sarabjit. I have lived that struggle of those 23 years. I used to chain myself for long hours in the bathroom and write letters to Omung. This is my one of the most prepared role so far. I thank my make up artist Renuka Pillai for making me what I am looking in the film. I used to have mood swings since I was starving." Richa Chadha, who is portraying the role of Sarbjit's wife is really moved with the real life story. She said, "I read the script in 2 days. I feel our politicians have no such potential so through such films we are able to show the human side behind the statistics. This thing interested me. You all should read the letters of Sarbjit which he wrote to his wife from the prison. They are so romantic and poetic with all those Rajesh Khanna songs. One line which you all see in the trailer has some context the film." Towards the end of the launch, when we tried asking Aishwarya on the controversial issue of Panama files, she smiled and said, "The statement has been released before. Please refer to them. Thank you." New Delhi: B-town's desi girl Priyanka Chopra, who was in the capital to receive the Padma Shri award, dished out some details about her Hollywood debut. The 'Quantico' star will be seen in Hollywood film 'Baywatch' alongside Zac Efron and Dwayne Johnson. Seeing Priyanka sizzling in white sun dress in the inside pictures from the film's set, it made us wonder whether we'll get to see the actress donning a red swimsuit, which is 'Baywatch's trademark. Clearing off the speculations of wearing a red swimsuit in the film, Priyanka said, "I'm not a lifeguard, I'm the interruption in their slow motion." We all know that Priyanka Chopra is not someone to shy away from flaunting her perfect curves. We have seen Priyanka in a bikini before in Dostana and even in her songs music video. Earlier in an interview, the actress has spoken about her role, "It is so much fun to play a negative character because you have the liberty to go out of your comfort zone and do anything. Victoria is a very mean character." Directed by Seth Gordon, it will hit screens in 2017. Mumbai: Hours after popular television actress Pratyusha Banerjee committed suicide on April 1, Friday, several shocking speculations started making rounds in B-town. Not only was Pratyushas boyfriend Rahul Raj Singhs name all over tabloids and news channels but so was his former girlfriend, Saloni Sharmas. The whirlwind of debate that Pratyushas suicide caused, took Saloni Sharma along with it. Rahul Raj Singhs former girlfriend Saloni Sharma got broadly accused for causing a rift between Rahul and Pratyusha. Now after a long time, Saloni has broken her silence over the issue. In her interview to a daily, Saloni Sharma admits that she did assault Pratyusha and Rahul Raj Singh in February but it was a reaction from her side after the two physically assaulted her. In her account, Saloni mentions visiting Rahul at his Kandivli flat on 11th February, where he was living with Pratyusha, to ask for her pending money. Upon arriving at the appartment, Pratyusha and Rahul assaulted Saloni before kicking her out of the flat. This led to another episode of outburst below Rahuls flat, where Saloni humiliated the two before lodging a complaint of assault and cheating against Rahul and Pratyusha with the Bangur Nagar police station. Read: Pratyusha Banerjee suicide: Cops shocked to find actress house in complete mess However, later Rahul and Pratyusha requested Saloni to withdraw the charges against them. To avoid media attention, she was also advised by the Bangur Nagar police officers, who are currently handling Pratyushas suicide case, to take her complaint back, upon which, Saloni withdrew her complaint. In 2011, Saloni came to Mumbai from Kolkata and met Rahul, who had an event management company and wanted Saloni to come on board. Later, the two also launched another company. The two who started out as business partners, later started dating each other. Over the years, Saloni invested over Rs 30 lakh in the business, which included her own earnings and her fathers. After coming face front about Rahuls relationship with Pratyusha, Saloni and he had a fall out after which she quit the company. Saloni also claims that Rahul hasn't yet paid her the money he owes her. Saloni also reveals how she called up the police the very next day of Pratyushas death to record her statement and provide all kind of help from her side. Rahuls former girlfriend states that the reason why she kept quiet for so long is because she didnt want to take advantage of someones death to seek publicity. But since people who dont even know her or have never met her are making absurd comments about her by calling her that woman", Saloni says she was forced to break her silence on the issue. Saloni is also in her very right mind to fight back the baseless allegations and file defamation cause against those who accused her of driving a rift between Rahul and Pratyusha and leading the latter to her death. Also read: Emotional Rahul Raj Singh asks 'can you bring Pratyusha back' Saloni also claims that Rahul, who was in a relationship with her for 5 years, started dating Pratyusha Banerjee without her knowledge. She was also unaware about his previous marriage. Pratyusha Banerjee, better known as Anandi for her role in popular TV serial Balika Vadhu, was found dead in her suburban home on April 1, Friday at around 5 pm. Her body was found hanging from the fan with a dupatta by Pratyushas boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh and their cook. Rahul informed the police and her uncle in Borivali about the death at around 6.30 pm. She was declared dead at Kokilaben Hospital in Andheri (west) late on Friday evening. Rahul, who was booked by the Bangur Nagar Police for abetting Pratyusha's suicide, got some relief from Bombay High Court on April 12. The High Court, which heard Rahul's pre-arrest bail plea, retrained the police from arresting him on a surety of Rs. 30,000 and directed him to attend the police station everyday till April 18. After the 24-year-old 'Balika Vadhu' actress allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself in her flat in suburban Goregaon on April 1, a case under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 504, 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC was registered against Rahul on April 3 following a complaint lodged by the actress' parents. Mumbai: After releasing film's second poster which featured Randeep Hooda and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the makers have now released the films first official trailer. The intense trailer follows the turn of events that took place in Sarabjit Singh's life and the gripping story will surely leave you speechless. Randeep, Aishwarya and Richa's performance in the film's trailer is commendable. Directed by Omung Kumar, the film is narrated through the perspective of Sarabjit Singhs sister Dalbir Kaur, played by Aishwarya. The actress, who is known for his phenomenal acting skills and extremes of dedication, can be seen fighting for justice in the new stills. Randeep plays the role of Sarabjit in the biopic. The film revolves around an Indian farmer who was convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan after he inadvertently crossed the border. It also stars Richa Chadha, who will essay the role of his wife, Sukhpreet Kaur. The actress will essay the role of Dalbir Kaur, who fought to have her brother Sarbjit Singh freed from the Pakistani jail where he was arrested on charges of spying. The biopic directed by Omung Kumar stars Randeep Hooda and Richa Chadha in lead role. At an event recently, Aishwarya, who was last seen in 2015's Jazbaa, had thanked the makers for giving her the chance to portray such a strong character. She had said, "It is a subject which we are all very familiar with. And we, as a team, were very keen to share the story with those who don't know about it in detail. It's very important for us, as a nation, to understand, respect and recognise the struggle. I would like to say thank you for giving me this opportunity to play the part of a lady I immensely respect. It's an absolute honour." Watch the trailer below: Kajal Agarwal talks about working with Telugu superstar Pawan Kalyan, her Bollywood plans and more. Excerpts from an interview: How was it working with Pawan Kalyan? Pawan Kalyan is a fabulous actor. He is so focused on his scenes especially during his stunts. It was amazing working with him. With only two films in Bollywood so far, it seems like a conscious effort to focus on south projects My next Bollywood film Do Lafzon Ki Kahani with Randeep Hooda is releasing in May. It is an intense love story where I play a visually impaired girl. It is purely out of choice that I do several films down south since I learned a lot from there but my mother-tongue is Hindi so I am making the best of both worlds. Do you have any offers from Bollywood post Do Lafzon Ki Kahani? I am in talks for a couple of films but I will only be able to talk after a month or so. If given an option, which one will you pick between Bollywood and South film industries? It is impossible to choose, but my loyalty stays lies with Southern films since I debuted there and made my mark as an actor over there. How difficult is it for you to juggle the two industries? Not that difficult. I have been juggling them for nine years. I stay in Mumbai and travel for work whenever required. What is your take on southern remakes being explored in Bollywood? Its great because southern films are highly creative and rich in content. From technicians to co-stars, everyone is amazing. It is a beautiful amalgamation. Would you like any of your own South movies to be remade in Bollywood? Mr Perfect has a huge potential to be remade and I think Hrithik Roshan will be the best choice. Recently, she participated in a promotional event for her Telugu film Policesodu and the next day she attended the audio function for 24. The actress directly travels from the sets of Brahmotsavam for these functions. Currently, she is shooting a song for A Aa... and once thats done, she will join the unit of the NTR Jr-starrer Janata Garage. In between all this, she will have to shoot a song for Brahmotsavam too. Samantha always promotes her films and thats one reason she is a favourite of filmmakers. The research was published in the journal Nature Communications. Paris: Why did humans become monogamous, apparently rejecting the promiscuity that is natural to most animals? Was it morality? Religion? Maybe love? The answer is germs, researchers said Tuesday, arguing that the havoc caused by sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) convinced our ancestors it would be better to mate for life. A research duo from Canada and Germany observed that STIs flourished among large groups of people living in the villages, towns and cities that arose after prehistoric hunter-gatherers settled down to farm. Left unchecked, spreading diseases can affect individual fertility and a group's overall reproduction rate. Falling population numbers would force a rethink of sexual behaviour -- which in turn gives rise to social mores. The researchers developed a mathematical model of hunter-gatherer demographics and likely STI spread among them. They used it "to show how growing STI disease burden in larger residential group sizes can foster the emergence of socially imposed monogamy in human mating." In small groups of no more than 30 individuals, with no chance for epidemic spread, STI outbreaks are generally short-lived, the team said. The reduced risk may explain why small groups, both among early humans and today, are often polygynous (when men have more than one partner). 'Evolutionary Puzzle' Socially-imposed human monogamy has long been considered an "evolutionary puzzle", according to the research duo. It requires societies to put in place checks and structures a police and court system, for example to uphold societal mores. "Yet, many larger human societies transitioned from polygyny to socially imposed monogamy beginning with the advent of agriculture and larger residential groups," said the paper. That riddle may now be solved. The research showed that our natural environment, with factors such as disease spread, "can strongly influence the development of social norms, and in particular our group-oriented judgements," study author Chris Bauch of the University of Waterloo in Canada said. But this did not necessarily mean that humans would become wildly promiscuous if drugs were to make STIs a thing of the past, he added. "Modern societies are more complicated... and there is probably more than one reason that explains socially imposed monogamy," Bauch said by email. "I think it is premature to speculate that marriage will disappear, or that polygyny will return, if we solve the problem of STIs." The research was published in the journal Nature Communications. Paris: Six years after being paralysed from the chest down, an American man can use his right hand to stir coffee and swipe a credit card, a groundbreaking study reported today. The unprecedented feat was made possible by computer software replacing the damaged spinal cord as the communication highway between Ian Burkhart's brain and his hand muscles. "This is the first time a completely paralysed person has regained movement just by using their own thoughts," said researcher Chad Bouton of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York. Burkhart, a 24-year-old from Ohio, has a pea-sized chip in his head to read his brain signals, which are then deciphered by a computer and rerouted to the hand, wrist and finger muscles. The muscles receive their instructions from an electrode sleeve worn on the right forearm -- with which Burkhart can now also swipe a credit card, pick up a spoon, hold a phone to his ear and play the cords of a guitar video game. The US-based researchers hope their work, still in an early phase, will one day allow paralysed people to feed and dress themselves. Their device, called NeuroLife, reroutes messages from the brain to the muscles, bypassing the spinal cord. Two years ago, they reported a major breakthrough when Burkhart was able to open and close his hand. With a lot more training, he has since refined his skills and can now grip a "stir stick" with his fingertips, and use it. Burkhart broke his neck in a holiday diving accident aged 19 and was left quadriplegic -- meaning his arms and legs are paralysed. "Doctors told me I'd broken my neck and that most likely I'd be able to move my shoulders around, but nothing else for the rest of my life," he told journalists in a teleconference ahead of the report's release. He volunteered for the trial, Burkhart said, because he wanted to help people like himself regain their independence. "Just not being able to use your hands does limit you quite a bit," he said. "I have to rely on other people for things." Burkhart underwent surgery to have the chip implanted in the brain's motor cortex area, which controls movement. The chip was attached on top of the skull to a "connector" linking it to a computer which Burkhart "trained" to read his mind and decode which movements he wanted to execute. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. There was a time when TreeHugger was peppered with posts about aquaponicsthe process of raising fish and growing produce in a mutually symbiotic relationship where the fish poop feeds the plants and the plants filter the water. From backyard tinkerers to would-be urban farming entrepreneurs, it seemed like everyone was talking about how this concept could revolutionize farming and help the food system circumnavigate the impending doom of peak oil. And then we waited. As with all new concepts, I am sure that many of those projects we featured in the early days have fallen by the wayside. But even though the $200 barrel of oil has yet to come to pass, aquaponics enthusiasts have been hard at work and may be beginning to bring their efforts to scale. Cara Eisenpress over at Crain's New York Business has a fascinating overview of the various aquaponics start-ups that now pepper New York, discussing not just the technical aspects of making this concept work, but the commercial aspects too. After all, while growing food near to where it is consumed may make sense from an ecological perspective, we can't ignore the sky-high cost of real estate in New York, combined with the ridiculously low price of oil. There are signs of progress, says Crain's. Edenworks, for example, a start-up based out of East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, has just secured a commitment to supply Whole Foods stores across New York with microgreens and baby greens. This commitment will, apparently, allow the team to expand to an 8,000 to 10,000 square foot warehouse where it intends to grow 120,000 pounds of greens and 50,000 pounds of fish each year. They expect to turn an operating profit in year one. From the freshness of the produce to the quick turnaround times (greens can be planted and harvested in a matter of weeksmeaning chefs can order specific mixes to complement their menus), there are many reasons why Edenworks and similar projects can charge a premium. But budgets aren't unlimited. Still, Eisenpress notes that sustainable pricing is hardly a problem of aquaponics aloneland is expensive in and around New York, so all local food suppliers have to find a way to charge more than the Californian and Mexican competition. There are still many challenges to overcome. And doubtless, many of these pioneers won't make it. But it seems likely that one day, somebody is going to crack the code for long-term, sustainable aquaponics. Edenworks sound like they are closer than many to make it work. ISTRANA Una bottiglia piena d'alcool gettata contro una delle pareti esterne del bar Due colonne di Istrana, tra via Capitello e via San Pio X. La molotov, lanciata da un uomo che si e subito dileguato a piedi, non ha prodotto gli effetti sperati. L'ordigno infatti non e esploso: troppo debole l'innesco di carta. L'episodio e avvenuto sabato scorso, verso le 21, quando all'interno del locale gli avventori stavano seguendo la partita Milan-Juventus. Ad avvertire il gestore di quanto era successo sono stati alcuni giovani che si trovavano fuori dal bar e sono stati richiamati dal rumore causato dalla bottiglia rotta. Sul posto sono giunti i carabinieri che hanno repertato la molotov. Si indaga per capire chi possa essere stato l'autore del gesto. Il titolare nega di aver avuto screzi con clienti e altre persone. The temple is the only Lord Rama temple without Hanuman. Hyderabad: As Sri Rama Navami is celebrated on Friday, an ancient 11th century Sri Kalyana Ramachandra Swamy temple in remote Gummadidala village in Medak district stands out. The unique temple, in a state of neglect, is hoping for help. The temple is the only Lord Rama temple without Hanuman. It is also the only one in the country having idols of Lord Rama and wife Sita, brothers Laxman and Urmila, Bharata and Mandavi and Shatrughna and Shrutakeerthi on one platform and normally clean shaven Lord Rama here dons a moustache! Located about 40 kms from Hyderabad in Jinnaram mandal, the temple dates back to 11th/12th century AD and is very popular. Normally every Sri Rama temple has Hanuman, but not in this one. As per folklore, this temple is dedicated to Lord Ramas marriage. Lord Hanuman met Lord Rama in the forest hence he doesnt find place here, Vijayaraman, hereditary priest and founder of temple told Deccan Chronicle. He added, Another story is since Hanuman is considered incarnation of Lord Shiva. Followers of Veera Vaishnavism cult of Sri Ramanuja Charyulu did not install Hanuman idol in the temple. Sri Rama is seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu, a Vaishnava sect who prefer Jambavanth. The temple is housed on a 10 acre land. It doesnt come under endowments due to lack of income. If developed, the place would become a pilgrimage centre, he said. Tight Security in place for Rama Navami yatra Hyderabad city police has put in place an elaborate security ring for Fridays Sri Rama Navami Shobha Yatra that will begin at Seetharambagh and conclude at the Gowliguda Ram Mandir after winding its way through Mangalhat, Shahiyanathgunj, Afzal-gunj and Sultan Bazaar. Police wil have 250 CCTV installed along the 6.5-km yatra route. Police will also deploy camera-mounted vehicles, to be used for the first time last year. Senior officials including police commissioner P. Mahendar Reddy will monitor the yatra at the command and control centre through CCTV coverage. Mr Mahender Reddy has deployed 45 additional police platoons. Nearly, 3,500 police personnel will provide security. The yatra route has been divided into 15 segments. Each will be monitored by an ACP-rank official. DCPs will monitor the situation along the route. Senior officials will be dep-loyed at the beginning and end points of the yatra. Traffic diversions at Puranapul, Dhoolpet, Begum Bazaar, Nampal-ly, Afzalgunj, Sultan Bazaar and Gowliguda has been ordered. Ishfaq Tantry & Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, April 13 The Army today released a video of the girl who is at the centre of the controversy involving the alleged molestation bid by an Army man in Handwara town which triggered violent protests on Tuesday. In the video, the girl is seen speaking to local mediapersons. The Army has verified the authenticity of the video and identity of the girl. The video is being released after obscuring the face to protect the identity of the girl keeping in view the sensitivities involved, Srinagar-based defence spokesman Col NN Joshi said in the statement, which accompanied the video. (In the video) the girl says that she went to the nearby washroom along with her friend and suddenly a youth appeared before her and took her bag away. As per her statement in the video, the boy resisted her to come to a nearby police station. In the meanwhile, the other youth shouted slogans and instigated violence, Col Joshi said in the statement. Col Joshi said the video clearly shows that the Army was not involved in any molestation. However, before the video was officially circulated by the Army, it had already been circulated on social media sites across Kashmir on Tuesday evening, just hours after the killing of two youths in Handwara. The police said they were looking into the authenticity of the video. We dont know where the video was shot, but we are looking into it, said Deputy Inspector General of Police, north Kashmir, Uttam Chand. We have our own agencies and after verification we found the video genuine and released it, Col Joshi said. Mehbooba meets Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in New Delhi, seeks time-bound inquiry Jammu: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in New Delhi on Wednesday morning and called for a time-bound inquiry into the firing incident in Handwara on Tuesday, which led to the killing of four civilians, including a woman. Describing the incident as unfortunate, the Chief Minister said the persons responsible for the deaths should be given exemplary punishment. She said it would act as a deterrent against such incidents in future. Mehbooba said such incidents shook the confidence of people and had an adverse impact on efforts of the state government to consolidate peace dividend. She said the loss of innocent civilian lives could not be compensated by whatsoever means. She urged the Defence Minister to announce adequate compensation to the families of the victims who had suffered an irreparable loss. The Defence Minister assured the Chief Minister of a detailed time-bound probe to fix responsibility for the firing incident in Handwara. TNS Major Amit Deswal of 21 Para, from Jhajjar district in Haryana, died after being evacuated from the encounter site. (Photo: ANI Twitter) New Delhi: A Major of the Special Forces of the Army was killed in an encounter with terrorists in Manipur's Tamenglong district on Wednesday. Army officials said one ZUF terrorist was also killed in the encounter which started during a combing operation undertaken by Rashtriya Rifles and Special Forces personnel. While the terrorist was killed in an earlier encounter, Major Amit Deswal of 21 Para, from Jhajjar district in Haryana, lost his life during an exchange later in the same area. Security forces have called off the combing operation in Tamenglong district and are trying to bring back the officer's body from the remote area. Army officials said Nungba area in Tamenglong district is densely forested and they have not been able to bring the body of Major Amit Deswal. "We are trying to secure the area first and build an approach route so that our choppers can go there safely to recover the body. Due to dense vegetation it is not possible to go there on foot," an official said. Islamabad, April 14 China will oppose Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) despite US support, a former Pakistan diplomat has claimed. The Dawn quoted Zamir Akram, Pakistan's former permanent representative at the UN in Geneva and envoy at the Conference on Disarmament, said at a seminar on the International Nuclear Order jointly organised by the Strategic Vision Institute (SVI) and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung as saying: "Chances of India gaining entry into NSG are virtually nil". He claimed China would not allow India to join the 48-nation NSG because it would affect its nuclear cooperation with Pakistan and that the Asian giant is committed to ensuring that both India and Pakistan get membership at the same time. He also said some other countries were also upset by what he dubbed "double standards" shown in India's case and claimed they have been calling for an approach based on criteria. This is the second time in a month that a senior official involved in the country's nuclear affairs has dismissed India's chances of NSG membership. Last month, advisor to the National Command Authority, retired Lt Gen Khalid Kidwai, said at a conference that "We also have friends in NSG who would not let it happen", referring to India's bid. SVI also called for maintaining credible deterrence capability against India, and advised against compromising security for mainstreaming in the nuclear order. PTI The officers from the two armies held ceremonial border personal meetings (BPMs) on the occasion of Harvest Festival at Indian BPM hut in Chushul and another one at Indian meeting point hut at Daulat Beg Oldi. (Photo: DC) Srinagar: Indian Army officials held meetings with their counterparts in Chinas PLA at Daulat Beg Oldi and Chushul along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh on Thursday and took pledge to maintain the sanctity of the borderline to ensure peace and tranquility in the region. The area particularly Depsang valley of Ladakh has in the recent years witnessed incidents of incursion by the Chinese troops, mainly due to different and conflicting perceptions about the LAC. The officers from the two armies held ceremonial border personal meetings (BPMs) on the occasion of Harvest Festival at Indian BPM hut in Chushul and another one at Indian meeting point hut at Daulat Beg Oldi. The Indian delegations were led by Brigadier Rajender Rai in Chushul and by Colonel BS Uppal in Daulat Beg Oldi whereas those of the neighbouring country by senior Col. Wang Jun Xian and Lt. Col. Duan Yu Gangin at the two places, respectively. Defence spokesman at Udhampur, the headquarters of the Northern Command, Colonel S.D. Goswami said that the ceremonial border personal meetings were marked by saluting the National flags of the two countries and were followed by the ceremonial address by both delegation leaders. These were composed of exchange of greetings and wishes and reflected the mutual desire of maintaining and improving relations at functional level at the border, he said. Later a culture programme showcasing Indian culture and traditional grandeur was organized. The spokesman said, Both the delegations interacted in a free, congenial and cordial environment and committed themselves to enhancing the existing cordial relations and maintaining peace along the LAC . He added, Both sides also sought to build on the mutual feeling to uphold the treaties and agreement signed between the governments of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquility along the LAC. Members of the Tulsa County Area School Administrators (TCASA) are voicing frustration with the Oklahoma legislatures failure to fully approve an education budget by April 1 as required by the Fund Education First law passed in 2003. The law requires the lawmakers to present legislation to the governor that fully funds common education no later than April 1 each year. TCASA members have joined together to urge the legislature to act immediately. We cant wait until the end of the legislative session for a budget because we need answers in order to know what to expect moving forward into the next school year, said Jenks Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Stacey Butterfield, who also serves as president of TCASA. As we try to make difficult decisions about personnel and programs, we need to have as much information as possible. The missed deadline is further complicated by the states revenue failure. Based on revenue projections, educators anticipate a decreased funding commitment from the state which could result in a reduction in force for many school districts. Districts are required by law to institute reduction in force proceedings for teachers prior to the first Monday in June. Decisions regarding support employees must occur prior to June 1. TCASA members agree that in order for superintendents and boards of education to have enough time to make informed decisions, the education budget must be passed at the earliest possible date, but certainly no later than April 30. Even if we wont be fully funded, we call on lawmakers to comply with Fund Education First and provide a budget for common education as soon as possible. Otherwise, districts will be forced to make cuts without clear direction in order to remain solvent and in legal compliance ourselves, which may result in cutting more positions than necessary, said Broken Arrow Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Jarod Mendenhall. Resolving this issue is completely within the control of our state leaders. We strongly urge them to do what is best for Oklahoma school children by fulfilling their oath of office to follow the law and provide funding for education first. Educators were encouraged by the recent announcements from legislative leaders such as Speaker Jeff Hickman and Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman that education will suffer no more than a five percent cut for the 2017 fiscal year. However, other legislators have expressed skepticism that such limited cuts would be possible. We believe where there is will from our lawmakers, there is a way. TCASA is very appreciative of the direction Speaker Hickman and Senate Pro Tem Bingman are taking, said Bixby Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kyle Wood. However, because of the lingering uncertainty, districts need action on the education budget sooner rather than later. TCASA members also expressed concerns at a recent meeting that the situation will further exacerbate Oklahomas teacher shortage. Our state is already facing a severe teacher crisis and this level of uncertainty will only drive more educators from Oklahoma as they seek employment in states where the public education systems offer better pay, more security, and better opportunities, said Union Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kirt Hartzler. This failure to act only further harms Oklahomas education system by not only depleting common education of financial resources, but also of quality teachers. We must know what we are dealing with by April 30, so we can make difficult decisions. Rural hospitals across Oklahoma are in crisis. Each year, Oklahoma hospitals absorb more than $560 million in unreimbursed care for their uninsured and underinsured patients. Wagoner Community Hospital provided $4.3 million in free care to our local residents last year. Oklahoma has rejected federal matching funds for Medicaid, which makes the problem worse. Instead of our federal dollars paying for health care in Oklahoma, we are paying for health care in other states. Many of our excellent doctors and nurses are leaving the state and not coming back. With the state of Oklahoma facing a $1.3 billion budget hole, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority has proposed a 25 percent cut in provider reimbursement rates beginning June 1. These cuts could deliver a devastating blow to dozens of hospitals and nursing homes across Oklahoma and the patients they serve. With the state facing this imminent health care disaster, the Oklahoma Hospital Association is urging lawmakers to support a plan proposed by the OHCA to fix health care. Its a reasonable solution that would rebalance coverage under Medicaid in Oklahoma. The plan would require lawmakers to pass a $1.50 per pack increase in the cigarette tax. Raising the cigarette tax would generate an additional $182 million in state funds that would allow Oklahoma to receive a nine to one federal match. The plan would reduce the number of uninsured in Oklahoma by 30 percent. If the state does nothing, up to four out of five Oklahoma hospitals will not deliver babies and more than a dozen Oklahoma hospitals could face closure within a year. Also, nine out of 10 nursing homes would be at risk of closing, dumping more than 16,000 disabled and elderly out on the streets. If we are to live by the Oklahoma Standard, our legislators must be courageous and make sure we look after our most vulnerable babies and the elderly. Oklahoma can prevent this catastrophe by raising the cigarette tax and rebalancing Medicaid. Contact your legislators and tell them to act NOW to save health care. You can also join the movement to make Oklahoma better for everyone at makeOKbetter.org. Jimmy Leopard is CEO at WagonerCommunityHospital and chairman of the OklahomaHospital Association board of trustees. Rural hospitals across Oklahoma are in crisis. Each year, Oklahoma hospitals absorb more than $560 million in unreimbursed care for their uninsured and underinsured patients. Wagoner Community Hospital provided $4.3 million in free care to our local residents last year. Oklahoma has rejected federal matching funds for Medicaid, which makes the problem worse. Instead of our federal dollars paying for health care in Oklahoma, we are paying for health care in other states. Many of our excellent doctors and nurses are leaving the state and not coming back. With the state of Oklahoma facing a $1.3 billion budget hole, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) has proposed a 25 percent cut in provider reimbursement rates beginning June 1. These cuts could deliver a devastating blow to dozens of hospitals and nursing homes across Oklahoma and the patients they serve. With the state facing this imminent health care disaster, the Oklahoma Hospital Association is urging lawmakers to support a plan proposed by the OHCA to fix health care. Its a reasonable solution that would rebalance coverage under Medicaid in Oklahoma. The plan would require lawmakers to pass a $1.50 per pack increase in the cigarette tax. Raising the cigarette tax would generate an additional $182 million in state funds that would allow Oklahoma to receive a nine to one federal match. The plan would reduce the number of uninsured in Oklahoma by 30 percent. If the state does nothing, up to four out of five Oklahoma hospitals will not deliver babies and more than a dozen Oklahoma hospitals could face closure within a year. Also, nine out of 10 nursing homes would be at risk of closing, dumping more than 16,000 disabled and elderly out on the streets. If we are to live by the Oklahoma Standard, our legislators must be courageous and make sure we look after our most vulnerable babies and the elderly. Oklahoma can prevent this catastrophe by raising the cigarette tax and rebalancing Medicaid. Contact your legislators and tell them to act NOW to save health care. You can also join the movement to make Oklahoma better for everyone at makeOKbetter.org. Jimmy Leopard CEO at Wagoner Community Hospital and chairman of the Oklahoma Hospital Association board of trustees. OKLAHOMA CITY Longtime educator Jean Oliver has retired, but she is not about to quit working. Instead, she has decided to run for the state Senate to champion the plight of Oklahoma teachers. Oliver joined hundreds of others who showed up at the state Capitol on Wednesday to register as candidates for state legislative offices. A teacher of Spanish for four years at Holland Hall, Oliver is married to Dr. Robert Oliver, a longtime Bartlesville physician who is also retiring. Education and health services are key interests for both. So we can devote all of our energy to this, said Jean Oliver, a candidate in Senate District 29. It is time to pay back. We just feel we have to do that. The candidate said she knows a first-grade teacher in the Oklahoma Union school district who is receiving food stamps to help feed her three children at home. Melissa Tilley, a teachers assistant at Comanche Elementary School in southern Oklahoma, is concerned that her daughter has a hard time taking so many required tests. It is really stressful for her. I hate it, said Tilley, who filed for House District 50. Tilley, whose mother is a teacher, said that too much time is being spent in the classroom teaching students to take these tests. Tilley said she realizes that if she is elected it would mean she would not be able to continue as a teachers assistant, but she is ready to do so, if necessary. Shawn Sheehan, a special education teacher at Norman High School and Oklahomas teacher of the year for 2016, said he decided to run as an independent because he wants to be a bipartisan candidate. I dont align close enough with either party, said Sheehan, who is seeking election to House District 59. As teacher of the year, he spent nearly all of his time visiting school districts throughout the state. Maybe Im as smart as a fourth-grader. Not even an advanced fourth-grader. Just a regular kid. After further investigation, perhaps not. Third-grade math throws me slightly. I knew that from attempts at helping with homework, but it could be self-doubt. Second grade. Yes, those tests I can totally pass. This realization came after completing sample questions from the elementary and junior high Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests. Some I failed miserably, others I aced. On the sample exams with only a few questions for each grade, it was a big curve when missing one. Granted, the kindergarten was picking out the red versus yellow colors in the rainbow. Maybe that just proves Im not colorblind. This week is test-taking time for Oklahoma public schools. Are you smarter than a fifth-grader? Scoring better than Mom: I dread this time in the school year and am trying to hide it from my kids. To me, its a one-time snapshot of how students do on a test made by a billion-dollar corporation. The scores are often misused by everyone to judge, and even punish, an entire school. These were meant to inform educators and parents on the strengths and weakness of individual students. That part is still valid. I want to know how my kids are doing, and testing is the best way to do that. To be fair, I wanted to see how I performed on these tests. Scarily, my 8-year-old was the one to remind me what OCCT stood for Oklahoma Core Curriculum Test when looking it up online. The state education department has sample tests for each grade, and those take some time to finish. A short, interactive sample test that includes questions from all grade levels is on tests.com. Math is my Achilles heel. I failed to reach even 70 percent correct on any of them. Thats a bit cliche for a writer. Like I can remember energy principles or measurement conversions. History and reading I aced and can keep my bragging rights. However, it depends on the era of history being quizzed. The one I took for eighth grade focused on the American Revolutionary period, of which I have a fascination. Any other era may not have been so great. None of the reading passages were interesting, and I quibbled with a couple struck as incorrect. The Tulsa World pulled 10 questions from the fifth-grade test for an online quiz. I got 7 out of 10, missing two in math and one in science. That is the same score for my husband and third-grade daughter. My sixth-grader finished with 8 out of 10, giving him title of Genius of the House. So much for that masters degree in my desk. Standardized stress: Schools transform during this time. Some dim hallway lights to give that calm, yoga-like feel. They have motivational pep rallies days before. Classrooms must cover every single word or number visible, making the room look completely foreign. At my daughters school, the second-graders made encouraging cards for the third-graders, who are taking the reading assessment for the first time. That sweet little note has stayed with my girl this week. Teachers provide mints and gum because some studies show peppermint boosts brain power. Water for hydration is often allowed, and some schools make sure everyone gets breakfast. Notes are sent to parents as a reminder for early bedtimes. The daily student and teacher schedules are all messed up. Students react differently. This stresses some out, and it boosts the competition and drive in others. Timing of the tests is not always great for kids, either. We know a family who lost their 43-year-old father to cancer last week. The children will not be at their best for tests for a while. A student in my daughters class broke his arm the day before the test. That has to be distracting. There are stories like that at every school. Its why tests alone arent completely indicative of academic performance. True measurements involve other factors such as daily grades, projects, classroom work and progress. Not everything can be broken into a multiple choice test on a single day. Backlash: Public backlash at the tests has been ongoing for years now. There is still too much time, emphasis and money put into these assessments. The subjective nature and mystery identity of the scorers of the writing tests continue to pose problems. Completely opting out is not a reality, but adopting reasonable testing can be. Cut down on the number of tests, and use the results as an motivator not a punishment. Then again, testing shows Im not as smart as my sixth-grader. State test sample questions Sixth grade 1. Abbey bought a 45-yard roll of painter's tape. She used 324 inches of the tape. How many yards of painter's tape are left on the roll? A. 9 yards B. 18 yards C. 27 yards D. 36 yards 2. If p=7, what is the value of the following expression? 3(p+4) A. 14 B. 25 C. 33 D. 48 3. A recipe uses 2 cups of beans to make 9 cups of soup. How many gallons of this soup can be made using 6 quarts of beans? (4 cups=1 quart, 4 quarts=1 gallon) A. 1 1/3 gallons B. 6 3/4 gallons C. 27 gallons D. 108 gallons 4. A city map is on a coordinate grid. The playground is located at (-5, 4). The zoo is located at (-5, -2). If each grid line represents 1 mile, what is the distance between the playground and the zoo? A. 2 miles B. 3 miles C. 5 miles D. 6 miles Answers: 1. D, 2. C, 3. B, 4. D Seventh grade 1. What religion originated in East Asia? A. Islam B. Daoism C. Hinduism D. Buddhism 2. What description can be an effect of a natural disaster? A. A lack of goods B. Higher birth rates C. Lower umemployment D. An increase in literacy 3. Which two countries share the same colonial influence? A. Morocco and Tunisia B. Bangladesh and Cambodia C. Australia and Philippines D. Madagascar and South Africa 4. Which statement about primary economic activities is accurate? A. They require contact with the environment. B. They use raw materials in the manufacture of goods. C. They include academic and information technologies. D. They provide services and deliver manufactured goods. Answers: 1. B, 2. A, 3. A, 4. A Eighth grade 1. Paul sold ice cream bars to earn $64 for a new CD player. He paid $0.27 for each bar and sold each bar for $0.52. Which equation could be used to find x, the number of ice cream bars Paul sold to earn $64? A. 0.52x - 0.27x = 64 B. (0.27-0.52)x = 64 C. 0.52x +0 .27x = 64 C. 0.52x = 64 2. The mean, median, mode and range of this entire data set are equal: 26, 17, 9, 17, ___ What completes this data set? A. 10 B. 16 C. 17 D. 25 3. What is the solution to the equation? 8-5(x-4) = 2x-6 A. 10/7 B. 2 C. 34/7 D. 6 4. The Dred Scott decision directly resulted in: A. strengthening the abolition movement in the North. B. weakening the secession movement in the South. C. electing Abraham Lincoln as president. D. overturning the Fugitive Slave Law. 5. Before 1776, few American colonists believe that independence from Great Britain was a good idea. What happened in 1776 to cause more people to support the idea of a revolution? A. George III became king of England. B. Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense. C. The Federalist Papers were published in New York. D. Parliament banned colonial trade with the West Indies. 6. Why was the Battle of Saratoga a turning point in the American Revolution? A. The Hessian fighters would no longer fight for Great Britain. B. The British military was forced to surrender the city of Boston. C. Shipments of food could now reach Americans at Valley Forge. D. France was persuaded to give military assistance to the Americans. 7. Read this sentence: I took a few steps, admiring my feet, which looked like bloated water balloons, and went outside to do cartwheels on the front lawn. What does the simile in this sentence mean? A. The narrator's feet were sweaty. B. The narrator's feet were bulging. C. The narrator's feet were colorful. D. The narrator's feet were slippery. 8. Which phrase from the passage is a metaphor? A. A gentle mist was a blanket rising from the little creek ... B. He was a gruff man and lived alone ... C. They sat in companionable silence ... D. And he smiled into the water ... Answers: 1. A, 2. B, 3. C, 4. A, 5. B, 6. D, 7. A Not many people get invited to the White House or have the opportunity to meet the president of the United States. Fewer still get the chance more than once. On Wednesday, nine students from eastern Oklahoma got that opportunity. Five of those students from Tulsa Girl Scouts Troop 411 the Supergirls, as theyre known made a repeat appearance in Washington. It was all part of the White House Science Fair, which became an annual event in 2010 under President Barack Obama. Another group of Oklahoma students, the Woodall Cybercats Robotics Team from Cherokee County, made the trip to the nations capital for the first time to show off their projects. For 7-year-old Karissa Cheng, a Holland Hall second-grader with Troop 411, the second time in Washington was extra special. She took part in a panel discussion with five students much older than she college- and high school-age to catch up with alumni of the science fair. Each student on the panel represented a specific years fair. Karissa donned her Supergirl outfit and spoke on behalf of the 2015 class. By her side was Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to the commander in chief. Karissa maintained her cool. I want to become a doctor when I grow up, and my piece of advice is be patient with yourself and dont give up, she said during the panel discussion. The room erupted in applause. Victor Cheng said he and his wife, Yoon-Hee Cha, are tremendously proud that their daughter didnt shy away from the opportunity to speak at the White House. A lot of things had to happen to make it possible, but Karissas experimental nature and love of science was a driving force, he said. Some of that, we hope, is our doing in trying to foster her to be creative and to work hard, Victor Cheng said. But, I think she really derived a lot of that because of factors outside our control. Troop leaders who emphasize STEM science, technology, engineering and mathematics are among those factors, he said. Karissa politely declined an interview with the Tulsa World she was already at the airport by Wednesday evening and was pretty exhausted. The other members of the troop included Emery Dodson, Alicia Cutter, Emily Bergenroth and Addy Oneal, all 7 years old. Although the five Supergirls didnt showcase any projects on Wednesday last year they brought a LEGO robot that could turn pages in a book they still got a shout-out from Obama. Ive learned about prototypes from 6-year-old Girl Scouts who built a page-turning machine out of LEGOs for people who might be disabled. There they are, Obama said, looking at the girls during a speech after touring this years projects. Good to see you guys. Melissa Benoist, who plays the lead role in the CBS show Supergirl, tweeted at the troop: You girls just keep getting more amazing. Real life heroes. The four members Benjamin Woolen, 13; Anthony Maldonado, 13; Ty Brant, 13; and Taylor Wingo, 12 of the robotics team from Woodall, near Tahlequah, got a chance to shake the presidents hand and took a photo with him. They had two robots on display and garnered the attention of some notable figures Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame and Bill Nye the Science Guy among them. I think thats, like, the best experience, 13-year-old Anthony Moldonado said. Their teacher, Geary Crofford, also was a little awestruck from the experience. From my perspective, the entire trip has been one of the highlights of my career and will benefit these students in uncountable ways to a tremendous degree, he said. Mumbai: Former Maharashtra Advocate General Srihari Aney, who quit the post recently over his remarks supporting separate statehood for Marathwada, has courted a fresh controversy after photographs emerged of him cutting into four pieces a birthday cake featuring a map of the state. The photographs were taken at his 66th birthday celebrations at Bhandara in Vidarbha on Tuesday midnight. Aney, an eminent lawyer, has long been a strong proponent of a separate Vidarbha state. Reacting to the matter, MNS chief Raj Thackeray said Aney "will remember this birthday for a long time". Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said "nothing better" can be expected from someone like Aney. Aney, known to be close to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, stepped down as the AG after his remarks that Marathwada, too, should become a separate state created a furore. As we confront threats of terrorism all over the word, national security and Middle East stability are more important than ever for Americans. In addition to border security, strong defense and capable intelligence services, any homeland security strategy must address nuclear threats and accountability measures for Iran and its nuclear program. Many of my colleagues in the Senate and I were exceedingly skeptical last July when the Obama administration signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, more commonly known as the Iran Nuclear Deal. The deals proponents argued that it would curb Irans bad behavior and prevent, or at least postpone, Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Quite optimistically, they argued that bringing Iran back into the international fold would set the country on a path away from supporting terrorism, toward a cooling of tensions with Israel, and away from further development of conventional weapons, such as ballistic missiles. In reality, much of the deals language is ambiguous and open to misinterpretation, and the administrations commitment to the so-called snap-back sanctions remain in serious question. I repeatedly spoke out against the deal last summer, and I voted against it when it was presented to the Senate last September in the form of a resolution of disapproval. Unfortunately, that vote failed to meet the needed 60-vote threshold by two votes. Looking back at the events of the past seven months, our skepticism clearly was justified. Iran remains the worlds largest state sponsor of terrorism. In March, Iran conducted multiple test flights of ballistic missiles. Several of them were capable of reaching Israel and were emblazoned with a slogan in Hebrew: Israel must be wiped off the Earth, according to an Iranian-government controlled news outlet. On Tuesday, Russia announced it would ship S-300 air-defense missile systems to Iran an advanced capability that will provide extensive protection for nuclear and military facilities. In February, I questioned Director of National Intelligence James Clapper during an Intelligence Committee hearing. I asked the Clapper about Irans behavior since the signing of the nuclear deal. He confirmed that Iran was still the worlds largest state-sponsor of terrorism and that it continues to behave provocatively. I asked him if he had seen any change in Irans testing of ballistic missiles, and the directors answer was a firm no. In fact, he confirmed that there had been about 140 missiles launched by Iran in violation of U.N. agreements, half of which were launched during the Obama administrations negotiations with Iran. My concern is not just Iran in possession of a nuclear bomb; the leadership of Iran continues to threaten the stability of its neighbors, such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, and Lebanon. Meanwhile, it is propping up the deplorable regime of Bashar al-Asad in Syria. If Tehran builds nuclear weapons, their reign of terror would only increase. A nuclear-armed Iran is an unacceptable scenario. Renewed focus and leadership on this issue is vital. On Wednesday, I continued to fight the Obama administrations appeasement strategy with Iran by introducing a Senate resolution to hold Iran accountable and ensure President Obama follows through on his commitment to reimpose sanctions if Iran violates the nuclear deal. This resolution is an important step to clarify our expectations and set in stone the Senates view of U.S. actions if specific terms of the deal are breached. My resolution says that, if Iran violates the nuclear deal, the United States must immediately reapply our nuclear-related sanctions, push for the U.N. Security Council to reinstate Iran sanctions resolutions, work with our European partners to limit their financial ties to Iran, and seek a U.N. Security Council resolution that limits exports of defensive weapons to Iran. Additionally, my resolution makes clear the Senates expectation that Iran make public its uranium enrichment plans, research and development plans, and procurement requests. It is imperative that we show fortitude in efforts to curb Irans irresponsible behavior, even if those in the administration would prefer to declare victory and pivot to other issues. If Iran violates the nuclear agreement, our response should be swift and severe. Until Iran proves it can act like a peaceful nation, we must remain vigilant and steadfast against its global terror agenda. These are the prepared remarks of U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe at the opening of a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on "Examining the Role of Environmental Policies on Access to Energy and Economic Opportunity." Inhofe is the chairman of the committee: "Today we have a very distinguished panel to discuss the real impacts of the Presidents climate policies are already having on the American people. In particular, Id like to welcome Father Sirico, General Scales, and Alex Epstein for joining us. "During the State of the Union, the President said, 'No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.' Hes wrong. The far greater threat is what the Obama administration is implementing in the name of climate change. This administration has spent significant time and taxpayer dollars promoting a sense of fear and urgency around climate change, exploiting any recent, catastrophic event to justify Obamas economically devastating policies. For example, his statements tying terrorism to climate change are not only dangerous but demean the men and women who have pledged their lives to keep this country safe. His climate change policies arent protecting this country theyre killing the coal industry, undermining our global competitiveness, putting thousands of Americans out of work while shipping their jobs overseas, and costing hardworking taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars that will take generations to pay down. "Rhetoric aside, President Obamas climate policies have nothing to do with the environment. The EPA did not even bother to assess whether the so-called Clean Power Plan the centerpiece of the Presidents entire climate agenda would have any impact on the environment. In fact, it will cost hundreds of billions of dollars each year and have miniscule benefits that will be completely undone by a few months of economic activity in China. "The Presidents claims that his efforts are about protecting the health of this country or national security are equally disingenuous. In fact, they stand to undermine our economic well-being, which is the foundation of this countrys domestic success and global respect. A Childrens HealthWatch study from May 2013 found that high energy costs can cause families to go without needed medical care and increase the risk of eviction and homelessness. "Recently there has been a fad to demonize fossil fuels. But fossil fuel development has been a game changer for economic opportunity around the world and also is integral from a strategic military perspective. Fossil fuels help lift communities out of abject poverty. The aggressive regulating by the Obama Administration to promote his climate change agenda, such as the Climate Action Plan and the Paris Agreement, will do more harm than good to vulnerable communities. Even the Pope has tried to turn climate action into an international moral imperative. "But whether you believe in climate change or not, it is in our best interest from any perspective to continue to use fossil fuels, because they are important to our economy, our military, and our quality of life. "But the existence of abundant, fossil fuel resources in this country alongside American ingenuity and innovation have fueled our path to becoming the global powerhouse we are today. The American people understand the value of fossil fuels, which is why they have consistently rejected costly climate policies, and Congress has acted accordingly. "Clearly, the true purpose of the Presidents climate polices have nothing to do with protecting the interests of the America people. Instead, they are meant to line the pocketbooks of his political patrons while promoting his self-proclaimed climate legacy. "I thank our witnesses for being here today and look forward to their testimony." Mhow: Hitting back at Congress which has accused him of trying to appropriate the legacy of national icons, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the party that ruled the country for decades should repent for undermining the legacy of the architect of the Constitution. Addressing a rally on the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar at his birthplace here, Modi asked why Congress was getting perturbed when his government was working ardently for fulfilling the vision of the dalit icon and said he would have felt proud to work at "the feet of Baba Saheb". Modi, who had faced attack from Congress for trying to "approporiate" national icons, asked why the successive Congress governments did not develop the five places "panch teerth" associated with Ambedkar during their tenure. Prime Minister Narendra Modi paying tributes to Babasaheb B R Ambedkar. The Prime Minister, who chose the occasion to launch the 'Gram Uday se Bharat Uday Abhiyan' (village self governance campaign), said it was inspired by Amdedkar, who was a farsighted votary of social harmony and modern technology. Listing a number of measures that his government is taking to carry forward the vision of Ambedkar including those for empowering the weaker sections, Modi said, "For so many years, the vision of Ambedkar was undermined." "Some people are distressed why Modi is doing all this. This is a matter of our dedication and conviction. We believe that social harmony can be achieved only by following the path shown by Baba Saheb. I feel proud to work at the feet of Baba Saheb." I salute Mhow, the land where Dr. Ambedkar was born. Extremely honoured to visit his birth place. pic.twitter.com/eJbMbcXF7z Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 14, 2016 Referring once again to his humble origins, Modi said if the son of a woman, who used to fetch water in others' houses could become Prime Minister, the credit for it goes to Ambedkar. On his government's decision to construct a memorial at 26 Alipur Road in Delhi, which was the last home of Ambedkar, he asked the Congress why did it not do so in the last six decades. Read: Will work with India to realise Ambedkar's vision: UN "Why did you not do it in the last 60 years? When we are doing it, you are getting uneasy. You should repent over why you did not do this all these years," the Prime Minister said stepping up his offensive against the Congress. "Those engaged in vote bank politics thought of nothing else than dividing the society," he said. Making a pro-poor pitch, the Prime Minister accused the Congress of doing nothing on this count. Seeking to blunt BJP's efforts to 'appropriate' the legacy of Ambedkar, Congress president Sonia said at a rally in Nagpur earlier this week that "Congress had given Dr Ambedkar his due by appointing him as chairman of the Drafting Committee of Constitution". Tearing into the BJP and its ideological mentor RSS, she said "The right-wing outfit is bent upon destroying the democratic values, disturb secular fabric and alter Indian Constitution authored by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. It's Divali time so at TV6 over the next few days, we bring you some of the interesting aspe On 60 Minutes this Sunday Nine talks again to Beaconsfield mine survivors Todd Russell and Brant Webb. When they first spoke to Nine in 2006 they scored a massive cheque from Eddie McGuire, which he gloated was $2.6m. As CEO he then cut staff numbers by 22%. 10 years on its unlikely Nine has paid a shred of that amount to speak to the duo for this story. But then Nine doesnt comment on payment for stories. Beaconsfield: The Whole Story There are few stories of survival more incredible than that of Todd Russell and Brant Webb. When disaster struck at the Beaconsfield mine in Tasmania ten years ago this month, the pair dug deep to defy the odds. A massive rock fall had claimed the life of workmate Larry Knight, and Todd and Brant knew their number could be up at any moment. For two nerve-wracking weeks they lay entombed deep underground as the nation held its collective breath. And when it finally came, their rescue was an extraordinary moment of elation. But it didnt end there. Reporter: Allison Langdon Producer: Nick Greenaway Desperate Measures When George Pickering visited his sons deathbed last year he had plans to do more than just say goodbye. His beloved boy Georgie had been declared brain dead after suffering a stroke and medical staff were about to switch off life support. Wracked by grief, the 59-year-old father was determined that wouldnt happen. He stormed the ward with a loaded gun and threatened to kill everyone. A SWAT team surrounded the hospital as the standoff dragged on for three terrifying hours. But what happened next took everyone by surprise. Reporter: Michael Usher Producer: Phil Goyen 8:15pm Sunday on Nine. A Married at First Sight participant has taken to social media, speaking out against the highly edited show. Clare Verrall, who simulated a marriage to Jono Pitman, featured in an episode this week in which he walked out on her. A HUGE thank you to all my wonderful friends, family & even the extraordinarily large number of amazing strangers who have offered me kind words of support this week. Watching last nights episode was certainly difficult & very confronting, she wrote on Instagram. Im looking forward to my contract being up in three months time so I can share all that went on, rather than the highly edited versions that are shown during the experiment! Luckily I had some of my closest friends & Dutchy there for support. Earlier this month she told friends on Facebook she believed the show would include a same-sex couple and highlight marriage inequality. Firstly, the weddings on MAFS are not legally binding marriages, she wrote. However, the reason I ended up accepting (to) do the show was I was told they were very keen to have a gay couple on our season which I was elated by & was what got me across the line agreeing to go ahead with the show. If this was a legal wedding there is NO WAY I would have done it. Nines third season later this year features a gay couple who have already filmed a simulated wedding in New Zealand. Via: News Corp A day after scheduling a special on Donald Trump and the series Worlds Worst Prisons Channel Nine has had a change of heart. The show features a journalist spending time behind bars in a UK doco. President Trump: Can He Win? is also out. Instead it will now replay the Beaconsfield telemovie at 9:15pm, which will follow a 60 Minutes interview with survivors Todd Russell and Brant Webb. The rescheduling is a better fit given the dire situation facing Nines own 60 Minutes crew in Lebanon. But Worlds Worst Prisons is still expected to screensoon. Indigenous actor Uncle Jack Charles has spoken out after being refused a cab fare -twice- in Melbourne yesterday. Charles, 72, was turned away by two drivers at Flinders Street station yesterday afternoon, before a third driver agreed to take him. (My friend) jumped in the front and I went to jump in the back, he said. Well, I couldnt jump in the back because he started to drive off, said he had knocked off. I knew what it was, immediately what it was, because you get to know what it is to be racially vilified. Jack Charles, whose credits include Cleverman, The Gods of Wheat Street, Black Comedy, Q&A and The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, was refused a taxi twice last October, including after leaving the Victorian branch of the Australian of the Year awards ceremony, where he was named Victorias Senior Australian of the Year. Charles now is petitioning for a roundtable meeting with police, senior taxi officials, drivers and union representatives to discuss this chronic behaviour of racial profiling by taxi drivers. He no longer tried to hail cabs himself, instead asking a complete stranger, a whitefella, to flag a taxi down for me and then say its for me. Source: Guardian They refer to each other by surname. They answer questions on behalf of the other. And they have two comedies coming your way in April and May thanks to ABC. Kate McLennan (left) and Kate McCartney (right) will feature in their own sitcom pilot Bleak in May with a second season of their online comedy The Katering Show on iview from today. The Katering Show has been quite the hit on YouTube, with additional playouts on iview. But be warned, its not your typical foodie show. McCartney: I do genuinely hate cooking. Straight up! Its a complete waste of time, for me. McLennan: I quite like cooking. McCartney: You used to like it a lot more. But now youve tired. Let me speak on your behalf. The series sees both Kates, using their own names, in a kitchen that could easily be mistaken for a certain TV cooking show, but with storylines that tackle everything from marriage equality to Yummy Mummies, climate change and Ramen. As creators, writers and performers, this love project blurs the lines between the real and fictional Kates. What we explore a little bit more in this series is my ego. In the world of the show McCartney doesnt want to be there and McLennan doesnt have anything else, says McClennan. The first series was us but heightened. In the second series my character has become a bit more malleable. Invariably I inhabit our viewpoint a lot more, on topics, McCartney suggests. Sometimes McLennan will be on board with that. Her character might speak from our point of view but occasionally shell provide a popular voice that we take issue with. A side of an argument that we dont necessarily agree with. Theres a natural inclination when you have 2 people on screen together that they should be disagreeing. But we fond writing the first series that if we took opposing views on things that were untrue to how we actually felt, it just didnt work., McLennan adds. The duo met through having the same agent, when both were also working on a terrible animation. Eventually when I got onto Twitter she started following me and became obsessed with me, says McCartney. I did and I made a fool of myself on several occasions! McLennan recalls. We had an idea for a show that was effectively similar. So rather than try to compete we should just join forces. That project was the comedy Bleak, which will debut in ABCs Comedy Showroom next month. It took longer to be realised so in between they whipped up The Katering Show TV development can really stretch out so we just wanted to do something quickly, McCartney explains. Were too impatient to wait. So it seemed easier to do it ourselves, McLennan agrees. When the ABC said they wanted to help make the (Katering) series, McCartney was 9 months pregnant. I was 3 months pregnant. Bleak had been greenlit as a pilot and we knew they would put it on air somewhere around April, May. So we knew that in order to get more eyeballs it would be better to make Katering and put it on before. We set ourselves this ridiculous task of popping out 2 kids, writing 8 scripts to make it happen. It was a very intense period. We produced a lot! Both human and otherwise, McCartney adds. In the upcoming Bleak, Kate McLennan plays self-obsessed screw-up Anna OBrien, who loses her boyfriend, house and dead-end job in one day. With no friends, no money and nowhere to go, she crawls back to the warm embrace of her well to-do family, (with parents Jean Kittson and Shane Bourne) only to be given a drink and then shown the door. The humour in Bleak is far more absurdist than their cooking venture. The shows that we really respond to are those stark Danish dramas. Murder with nice furniture. But we just got really silly. We might have been tired when we wrote it!, McCartney suggests. When we first started writing it we thought it would be quite realistic: a lot of locked-off shots, a lot of atmosphere, a lot of story. And then we write a pilot that goes like the clappers and ends in a very strange place. With the shows stark title and Anna crafted as an anti-hero , the duo are unforgiving about straying from traditional comedic paths. Weve been expressly told by people to make her more likeable, McCartney notes. Which we directly rail against! McLennan insists. Screen Australia and FilmVic are pushing to have more female voices in TV and film. I think we qualify as female voices now! Im sure we have a direct line to just ring them up and say weve got another idea and just get it made. Is that what happens now? Bleak will feature amongst 5 other new comedies with ABC inviting audience feedback for at least one to proceed to a full series. The two Kates are alert but not alarmed what might happen if they get the good news. If we get the pilot we get to write it in 24 hours. If we dont we get banished! The Katering Show is now available on iview. Bleak premieres 9pm Wednesday May 25 on ABC. Nine CEO Hugh Marks has emailled staff to boost morale following the ordeal of the 60 Minutes crew in Lebanon. The Australian has published excerpts regarding an internal investigation. I know there are lots of questions about how this happened questions we will get to the bottom of when everyone gets back. It is essential that we do whatever we can to help facilitate our crews fastest possible return to Australia. And I know its a testing and frustrating time for us all, especially for those who are close to the 60 crew, colleagues and friends. My priority is to get our crew home and every decision is made through that prism, while providing whatever support we can give to those who are impacted by these events. The Daily Telegraph has also noted emotive scenes with crew families at Nine in its story, Child stealing, is that what we do now? following media articles yesterday that heads will roll over the incident. Nine has since denied the exchange was uttered in its board room. Former 60 Minutes presenter Ray Martin told ABC radio he was part of a child recovery for a Tasmanian mother in the 1980s, in Spain. I guess if youre in the situation of the mother or the family and a child is taken, never to be seen again, that is a huge story that I would find a valid story for a journalist to do, he said. But no payment was made to the private investigator enlisted by the mother. We certainly didnt pay any money to them, Martin said. Updated. EXCLUSIVE: Nine has halted production on upcoming reality series Celebrity Come Dine with Me just 9 days before filming was due to commence. The ITV Australia series, which has previously had seasons on Pay TV, is based on a UK format of the same name with celebrities hosting dinner parties and scoring one another. A Nine spokesperson told TV Tonight it has delayed the series due to production issues. Sources indicate Nine was happy with the casting. Nines slate is also rumoured to be undergoing change since execs returned from MIPTV in Cannes including under Adrian Swift, a long term friend of CEO Hugh Marks, as Head of Content and Creative Development. Nine announced Celebrity Come Dine With Me after confirming The Hotplate would not return. Villagers fill their pots of drinking water in drought hit areas due to scarcity of water at giddenahalli near Chikmagalur in Karnataka. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: With some states reeling under severe drought, Union Minister Birender Singh on Wednesday rued that over Rs 1,500 crore central funds are lying unspent in states which could have been used to mitigate the drinking water crisis in the parched areas. "Till yesterday Rs 1,720 crore released by the Rural Development Ministry (to meet the drinking water needs) was not spent by the states. Today, Rajasthan has sent a report saying it has spent the sum of Rs 225 crore it had got. Even after this almost Rs 1,500 crore are lying unspent with the states," the Rural Development Minister said. Noting that there have been drought-like situation in 13 states, he said out of these, 10 states have declared drought in some of their areas. "In these drought-affected states, the funds lie idle at district level. The money is lying there as either the projects were not taken up or they got slowed down," Singh said, when asked about the criticism of the Centre for not doing enough to mitigate the water crisis. Responding to questions about demands for declaring drought situation in states a national calamity, Singh said this can only be decided by the Home Ministry, which can give up to Rs 5,000 crore to states depending upon the intensity of the calamity. "Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, who hails from Telangana has demanded that his state should be given Rs 550 crore. It is for the Home Ministry to decide on this. But a sum of Rs 350 crore given to Telangana by the rural development ministry is lying unspent. "Centre is ready to help but states should spend the funds. Water is a state subject and moreover money is already lying with them," Singh said. He said he has already asked the states to utilise 10 per cent of the flexi funds lying with them for mitigating the problems like natural calamity even as the Centre was extending support to them. "10 per cent of this Rs 1720 crore is flexi fund, which the states can spend as per their discretion. So at least they can spend this 170 crore flexi fund, for fighting the natural calamity like this," Singh said. The flexi funds are earmarked for rural development programmes designed by the states according to their needs. The Centre and states share 70:30 per cent ratio of this fund. Availability of flexi-fund is aimed to ensure better targeting and focused projects on state-specific priorities. This fund is available as an additional amount that can be spent either on existing centrally-sponsored schemes of the Union ministry. Singh said his ministry has also released Rs 823 crore for the month of April-May to the states for making available the potable water in parched areas. As the 60 Minutes crew awaits its fate in Lebanon, there is a further report today that Nine management are investigating its staff actions, behind the scenes. The Australian today reports some executives were unlikely to last in the firestorm and speculates on sign-off where payment of stories is involved. Nine has not confirmed it paid for the story. It suggests those who organised the trip to Lebanon have been asked to provide a paper trail. Earlier this year 60 Minutes underwent a change in Executive Producer from Tom Malone, who moved to head up Nines Sport, to former Chief of Staff Kirsty Thomson. Its not clear when preparations on the story commenced. Nine is also reportedly considering arranging flights to Beirut and accommodation for family members and partners. The article also notes Seven passed on the same story late last year and that Nine chairman Peter Costello phoned Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to get an update and offer assistance. Gov. Jack Markell asks Claire Bolarinwa to explain some of her scientific process to the audience. Jeremy Morton from the Delaware School for the Deaf and his interpreter discuss the science in the classroom with Tonyea Mead from the Department of Education. Kelvin Lee, director of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, welcomes everyone to the event. The students talk about their science projects with each other. 9:51 a.m., April 14, 2016--Gov. Jack Markell joined Kelvin Lee, director of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute (DBI), to recognize Delaware students who did exceptional life science research and honor the teachers who have positively influenced their students to strive for great achievements in the sciences on Wednesday, April 6. During the event, awards were presented to the DBI Celebration of Science middle school winners and the Delaware BioGENEius Challenge finalists, honorable mention recipients, and the 2016 state winner. The DBI Celebration of Science award is given to middle school students who did extraordinary research in the field of life sciences and the Delaware BioGENEius Challenge is a competition for high school students throughout the state who demonstrate an exemplary understanding of biotechnology through science research. Awardees were chosen from students who participated in the three Delaware county science fairs in Sussex, New Castle and Kent. At the competitions, students are evaluated on the quality of their research and posters, as well as on their responses to questions relating to their scientific knowledge. The awardees included Claire Bolarinwa, Adithya Dattatri, Meghan Hale, Janae Hartman, Ben Koly, Anna Morrione, Tessa McDonough, Connor Sweeney, Sebastian Turman, and Catherine Yu. The students represented Charter School of Wilmington, Mariner Middle School, Millsboro Middle School, Springer Middle School and Ursuline Academy. After encouraging each student to share an impromptu overview of their project, Markell said, This is one of my favorite events to come to every year because I get an opportunity to meet some of Delawares brightest rising stars who might one day discover the cure to cancer, solve our energy crisis or even alleviate hunger. Markell continued by thanking the teachers and parents for being supportive of these young adults, saying, It is because of your time and encouragement these students are able to rise to the top." The Delaware BioGENEius Challenge winner Connor Sweeney will go on to compete and represent the state at the International BioGENEius Challenge, held in conjunction with the 2016 BIO International Convention, June 5-8 in San Francisco. Along with the students, three teachers were recognized for their outstanding contribution in bringing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education to their classroom. The teachers, nominated by the students, were Chris Havrilla, Woodbridge High School; Glenn Heffner, Charter School of Wilmington; and Jeremy Morton, Delaware School for the Deaf. They will each receive an all-expense paid trip to the 2017 National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) conference on science education. The Delaware BioGENEius Challenge is sponsored by the AstraZeneca, DuPont, Fraunhofer USA, W.L. Gore and Associates and We Work For Health. For more information on the Delaware Biotechnology Institute or the Delaware BioGENEius Challenge, see the DBI website. About Delaware BioGENEius The BioGENEius Challenges is an opportunity for high school students to compete on an international stage with some of the brightest scientific minds in the world. It is hosted by The Biotechnology Institute, headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Delaware BioGENEius Challenge is coordinated by the Delaware Biotechnology Institute. Local Delaware students in grades 9-12 can compete in the Delaware BioGENEius Challenge, which is held in conjunction with three local science fairs the New Castle County Science Expo, the Kent County Science Fair, and the Sussex County Science Fair. About Delaware Biotechnology Institute: The Delaware Biotechnology Institute is a partnership among government, academia and industry to help establish the First State as a center of excellence in biotechnology and the life sciences. DBI promotes research, education and technology transfer for biotechnology applications to the benefit of the environment, agriculture and human health. Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson 7:13 a.m., April 14, 2016--Students and faculty running to catch the shuttle bus is not a rare spectacle at the University of Delaware campus, where the buses run continuously throughout the day. This convenient resource is now even easier to use, with the advent of HenScan, an app that combines QR-code scanning technology with the UD transportation system to create a fast and efficient way to use the shuttle buses. HenScan, a student-built app, arrived quietly at the University last month, marked only by a few explanatory signs at selected bus stops. The HenScan team is now beginning its public promotion of the app. Download data will tell the team what impact its promotions have on usage. Students worked on the project through the Office of Economic Innovation and Partnership, where a program called Spin In pairs interdisciplinary teams of undergraduates with entrepreneurs from early-stage companies. In the program, students work with the entrepreneur to develop knowledge of the commercial potential for their products. This gives entrepreneurs practical knowledge for the advancement of their product, while giving students the opportunity to develop professional skills. The goal for OEIP and Spin In at the University of Delaware is to provide students with an experiential learning opportunity that will develop skills necessary for the 21st century workforce, said Cyndi McLaughlin, assistant director at OEIP. Spin In takes on a diverse array of entrepreneurial projects, and recruits students across all academic disciplines. The students that created the HenScan app have skills ranging from app creation to promotions. Those cross functions are critical, said Ross Lefkowitz, leader of the HenScan team that also included Eli Munda, Abhijeet Srivastava, Cassy Galon, Katie Wall and Shannon Poulsen. Eli was able to identify a pilot program that adds utility, Abhijeet built a fully functional app extremely quickly, all of the branding and posters were designed beautifully by Cassy, and Katie and Shannon developed a killer marketing campaign, Lefkowitz said. The team dynamic is an integral part of the Spin In program, as it gives students the opportunity to experience a collaborative work environment while also maximizing perspectives for the product. In the case of this team, that product is a visually appealing QR code technology, brought to OEIP by entrepreneur Sean Wang. Wangs product allows for the QR code, often seen as a square of black and white figures, to have a more practical and aesthetic presence. Wangs technology can embed any image onto the QR code. This allows the potential for eye-catching and identifiable QR codes. For Wangs QR code technology to succeed, it must overcome the general lack of interest for QR codes in the United States. Though QR codes are very popular in many countries, especially those in Asia such as China, Japan and South Korea, they have not caught on as well in the U.S. Therefore, the goal of the Spin In team working with Wangs technology was to encourage the integration of QR codes at UD. Our objective is to understand how college students interact with QR codes to understand possible commercial potential, Lefkowitz said. Our strategy was to integrate QR codes in an area at the University that everyone has access to, said Munda, a junior economics major. The University shuttle bus system was chosen by Munda and the team as a practical avenue to promote QR code integration. The HenScan code has the image of a shuttle bus that, when scanned, takes users to the bus schedule. The objective is to encourage students to download and become comfortable with QR code technology. In order to track the QR code usage, HenScan was created with the ability to track when and where codes are scanned. The HenScan app was launched on March 14, with signs placed strategically around campus. Usage data was collected. This week, the team launched its "media blast" intended to encourage the use of HenScan and QR code technology through a variety of promotions. Social media including a Twitter and Instagram presence, a Twitter giveaway contest, and a promotional video are among the team's strategies. Poulsen, team member and senior communications major, said: The goals are twofold -- one is to increase the awareness and use of the HenScan app on campus. The other goal of our media blast is to see how effective such a blast can be at increasing application use. Data collected after the publicity launch will be used by the team to analyze the effect of promotional materials in QR code integration. The app is available for free in the iTunes app store, and will soon be available to Android devices. Article by Katie Wall Photo by Doug Baker 10:06 a.m., April 14, 2016--The Colored Conventions Project (CCP), hosted at the University of Delaware, has been awarded a highly coveted grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Office of Digital Humanities. CCP is an interdisciplinary public humanities project that brings decades of early African American organizing for legal, educational and labor justice to digital life at ColoredConventions.org. This $75,000 grant will support CCP as it expands its collaborative model, creating digital exhibits with scholars, national teaching partners and repositories across the country to display the extraordinary history of black conventions attended by thousands of African Americans from 1830 through the 1890s. The University of Delaware is delighted to host a national project used by so many Americans and citizens of the world, UD Provost Domenico Grasso said. We are equally proud that it engages students and scholars from varied fields of study fusing teaching, learning, research and scholarship for such wide audiences. The NEH provides awards to outstanding proposals examined by independent reviewers drawn from across the nation. In its last five competitions, the Digital Humanities Start-up Grants program has funded only 14 percent of the applicants. This prestigious award opens up exciting new possibilities for the Colored Conventions Project, said faculty director P. Gabrielle Foreman, the Ned B. Allen Professor of English and professor of history and black American studies at UD. It will allow us to work collectively to link the buried history of black-led organizing to ongoing struggles for access and justice while adding to the diversity of those who create public histories in digital spaces. CCP identifies and transcribes hundreds of proceedings from the Colored Convention movement, making these rare documents available in one place for the first time. The UD Library has been CCPs key partner. Scholars, library professionals and students use the site regularly. More than 1,000 university students from across the country have engaged in original research based on the CCPs curriculum, and students in Ohio and California are creating exhibits that will soon be featured on the site. The Colored Conventions Project is proud that the broader public has been active in the projects growth, Foreman said. Members of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, which hosted the first convention in 1830, have transcribed hundreds of pages to make them fully searchable. One-of-a-kind and previously unknown proceedings arrive from curators and independent researchers in the United States and abroad. The College of Arts and Sciences is pleased that the NEH has chosen to recognize this important project, George Watson, dean of the college, said. Thanks to Prof. Foremans leadership, the Colored Conventions Project is a wonderful example of the transformative scholarship that can occur when students, staff, faculty and an engaged public work together to tell an important story. NEH Chairman William D. Adams has said that the organization provides support for projects across America that preserve our heritage, promote scholarly discoveries and make the best of Americas humanities ideas available to all. The CCPs goal, Foreman said, is to include a wide and diverse group in preserving and critically engaging our buried histories -- and to recover a movement for racial, economic and educational justice that resonates in our own time. Photo by Lane McLaughlin 9:58 a.m., April 14, 2016--Look through a microscope in developmental biologist Jia Songs lab at the University of Delaware, and shell show you a transparent sea urchin egg thats just been fertilized. Now, she says, imagine what will happen next, as that single cell divides over and over again, quickly becoming a multicellular embryo and eventually a full-size adult just like the spiny purple creatures clinging to the glass walls of the aquariums in her lab. As any embryo develops, its cells differentiate to form various body parts, such as its heart, skeleton, gut and nervous system. How does that embryo know how to form certain structures? Song asks. Thats what I focus on how cells integrate signals to know how to develop and what to become. Song, assistant professor of biological sciences, has received a five-year, $559,500 National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Award to support her research. The highly competitive award is one of the most prestigious available to young scientists, designated for what the NSF says are those teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization. Songs research examines the question of how genes are regulated in the very early stages of development. The key element she studies is microRNAs, or very small RNA (ribonucleic acid) molecules, which modulate the expression of hundreds of genes that are involved in a broad range of biological processes including cell differentiation. MicroRNAs are fine-tuners, Song says. In most cases, they modulate many, many processes to make sure that the embryo develops properly. In her lab at UD, she investigates how microRNAs that are found in many species, including humans as well as sea urchins, regulate developmental pathways. After injecting microRNA inhibitors into a newly fertilized sea urchin egg, Song and her team then track the embryos response. The effects of microRNAs are important, she says. The sea urchin has one of the best described gene regulatory networks, so Im making use of that to find out how microRNAs regulate this network to power development. Sea urchins also have only a few cell types, so researchers can more easily study the different developmental pathways. The spiny invertebrates are particularly useful for Songs research because each one can provide millions of eggs or sperm. Song obtains the sea urchins from divers who collect them off the California coast, and they live in saltwater tanks in her lab. Song says her focus is on fundamental processes involved in animal development, but her work on the regulation of genes is a key to better understanding many human conditions including birth defects and diseases such as cancer. Some of the fundamental processes of development Im looking at contribute to our understanding of what happens when human embryonic normal development goes wrong, she says. Outreach to children, teachers, parents The project supported by the NSF Career Award also includes an educational outreach component to develop inexpensive, handheld microscopes that young children can use. The microscopes can be made by teachers or parents using clear plastic platforms, similar to the kind of stand on which shoes might be displayed in a store, with a magnifying lens glued onto the stand. Then, by placing a cell phone camera over the lens, the device lets children take a magnified look at drops of rainwater, leaves, soil or whatever piques their curiosity. The goal, Song said, is to place inexpensive microscopes in the hands of parents and future teachers to foster their use in homes and classrooms. Song and her students will participate in public outreach activities at the Delaware Childrens Museum. Song will also work with Jennifer Gallo-Fox, assistant professor of human development and family studies. Gallo-Foxs students, who are future teachers, will use the project as a way to add more hands-on activities for young students in their elementary science classes. Its a fantastic collaboration because it also helps build confidence in future teachers about teaching science, Song says. These microscopes are mobile and easy to use, and if they break, they break theyre not expensive. Once teachers and parents have them in their hands, theyre much more likely to have their children use them. Because she relies on microscopes in her own research, the idea of bringing a simple form of the instrument to youngsters is a natural fit, Song says. Her goal is to inspire them to continue an interest in science. This is what happens when you magnify things, she tells children. It shows you a world youve never seen. Article by Ann Manser Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson 8:14 a.m., April 14, 2016--The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is working with state action coalitions across the United States to transform health care through nursing. On Thursday, April 21, Susan Hassmiller, senior adviser for nursing at the foundation, will visit the University of Delaware to discuss a transformation plan led by the organization. She will discuss the Institute of Medicines Future of Nursing initiative and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundations Building a Culture of Health program, and how these enterprises are integral to health care in Delaware. Held in the Health Sciences Complex atrium on UDs Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus, the event will begin with Hassmillers presentation from 1:30-2:30 p.m. followed by a meet and greet from 2:30-3:15 p.m. The event is open to the public. Free parking is available. Registration is requested. In addition to her visit to UD, Hassmiller will explore opportunities for population health with school nurses, host a town hall in Middletown focusing on emergency preparedness, and initiate discussions about an action coalition with health care leaders. The action coalition will meet with the School of Nursings Emily Hauenstein, senior associate dean, to discuss implementation of these initiatives in the state. Our health and wellbeing are due primarily to social and environmental factors which many people have little control over, explains Hauenstein, whose research interests include health disparities. Nurses are a profession that can have a tremendous impact on our culture of health. Tactics will include providing more community based education for nurses and then providing opportunities for them to practice in our most vulnerable communities. A state of Delaware historical marker that was dedicated following the symposium at the Annie Jump Cannon House on the Wesley College campus. UD chemical engineering major Elaine Stewart, who received Delaware Space Grant funding for her 2015 summer internship at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, presented a poster and gave a talk during the symposium. Students who received Delaware Space Grant Consortium support for 2015 summer research are (from left, back row) Christopher Tran (Delaware State University), Arthur Newell (Delaware State University), Ryan Caulfield (UD), William Hopkins (UD), Deval Mehta (UD), and Dylan Spence (UD), and (front row) Khalil Wynn (UD) and Achyuth Madabhushi (UD). 7:58 a.m., April 14, 2016--The Delaware Space Grant Consortium, of which the University of Delaware is the lead institution, held its annual research symposium on April 8 at Wesley College in Dover to highlight research work that is being done by Delaware students with funding support from NASA. Each year at the symposium, students present results, either orally or by poster, of the work they have performed under Space Grant auspices during the past year. This year there were approximately 50 attendees, including the newly appointed resident of Wesley College, Robert E. Clark, and faculty representatives from several affiliate institutions. Research talks were presented by graduate students from UDs departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Physics and Astronomy, and by a graduate student from Delaware State Universitys optics department. Additional talks were given by an undergraduate researcher from UDs Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and by two Wesley faculty members, one a recipient of a NASA EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Development grant. In addition, B. Chad Starks, a Delaware Space Grant Consortium associate director, gave a talk on diversity issues. After the symposium, attendees were invited to attend a dedication of a state historical marker at the Annie Jump Cannon House on the Wesley campus, to honor this pioneering woman astronomer who was instrumental in development of the contemporary classification of stars. In UDs Sharp Laboratory is the Annie Jump Cannon conference room and Harry Shipman, an associate director of the consortium, is the Annie Jump Cannon Professor of Physics and Astronomy. The research symposium is one of numerous activities sponsored by the consortium, of which the University of Delaware is the lead institution. The interim director of the consortium is William Matthaeus, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UD, and the Space Grant office is housed on the second floor of Sharp Lab. About NASAs Space Grant program NASAs Space Grant program was started by congressional mandate in 1989 in order to ensure that NASA would continue to have access to a well-trained workforce of US citizens in the areas of interest to the agencys missions. These areas include science, technology, engineering and mathematics the so-called STEM fields and geography. Each year since 1989, Congress has appropriated up to $40 million per year to NASA to administer the national Space Grant program. Within each state, a consortium of colleges, universities and industrial partners collaborate to award fellowships, scholarships and internships to deserving graduate and undergraduate students in the STEM areas. Space Grant funds are also used for in-service training of pre-college STEM teachers. In Delaware, the consortium includes the following academic affiliates: University of Delaware, Delaware State University, all four campuses of Delaware Technical Community College, Wesley College, and Wilmington University. U.S. citizens at any of these institutions are eligible to apply once every year for three types of funding: graduate fellowships (including a stipend of $27,600 per year), undergraduate tuition scholarships (up to $3,000 per year), and summer research internships (up to $4,000 on campus, and up to $6,000 at one of the 10 NASA Field Centers which are spread across the country). During the current year, consortium funds are supporting five graduate fellows, 12 undergraduate tuition scholars, 10 undergraduate summer researchers, and seven workshop participants. Announcements of opportunities for fellowships, scholarships, and internships are circulated to all affiliates of the consortium in December-March each year. Information about Space Grant opportunities is available at the website and Facebook page, and informational flyers circulated throughout the state via an affiliate representative on each campus. On the UD campus, information can be obtained from members of the Delaware Space Grant Consortium Advisory Group, including faculty members in the colleges of Engineering (Bingqing Wei, professor, mechanical engineering); Earth, Ocean, and Environment (Xiao-Hai Yan, Mary A.S. Lighthipe Professor of Marine Studies); and Arts and Sciences (Tracy DeLiberty, associate professor, geography, and James MacDonald, Michael A. Shay, and Harry L. Shipman, professors, physics and astronomy). For further information about NASAs Space Grant program in the state of Delaware, contact Cathy Cathell in the consortium office, Room 212 Sharp Laboratory on the UD campus in Newark, by email desgc@bartol.udel.edu or telephone 302-831-1094. Photos of grant recipients by Kacy Cassat of Wesley College 7:06 a.m., April 14, 2016--Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Delaware will host a speaking tour organized by the American Friends Service Committee in cooperation with the Refuser Solidarity Network, which works within the U.S. to raise support for conscientious objectors in Israel, at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 20, in 104 Gore Hall. The tour will feature two speakers who have refused service in the Israeli military, Khaled Farrag and Yasmin Yablonko. Farrag is a 34 year-old Palestinian Druze conscientious objector from Rama village in the Upper Galilee. In 1999, after moving to Jerusalem, Farrag refused to serve in the army and was sentenced to two months in military prison. Farrag was one of the founders of Urfod, a movement that calls for ending compulsory military service imposed on Druze men at the age of 18, and reconnecting Druze with their Palestinian and Arab identity as it was throughout the history. He studied law at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, established and runs a preparatory school for university admission in East Jerusalem and co-found Grassroots Jerusalem, a Palestinian NGO working on empowering communities in East Jerusalem. Farrag will talk about the Druze history, and how internal politics in Israel impact his community as well as his reasons for refusing military service. Yablonko is a 23-year-old Israeli contentious objector from Jaffa who is active in the Jewish Israeli community. Today she is the coordinator of Mesarvot, a newly established network of Israeli organizations supporting refusal and opposing the occupation. The network helps elevate the voices of young people refusing military service, offering them capacity building, assisting with media work and helping them organize. Yablonko currently studies humanities and arts in the Tel Aviv University. She will talk about the refusal movement in Israel both past and present, and about the effects of militarism and mandatory military service on Israeli society. She will also share from her work with Mesarvot, which is supported by both the American Friends Service Committee and the Refuser Solidarity Network. Russia has failed to destabilize Europe and to establish zones of influence by aggression in Ukraine. NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow said this in an interview with Ukrinform. "I do not think that Moscow has reached its goal. It is clear what the goal was - to establish new lines of division in Europe, to represent Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova as the Russian spheres of influence and not allow these countries to be fully sovereign. They have not reached this goal," he stressed. Vershbow noted that NATO should increase its defensive capacity not to allow Russia to fulfill its intentions in the future. "So, one of the tasks of my visit [to Kyiv] is to assist Ukraine in the conduct of the defense sector reform," Vershbow said. ol Police detain a Bajrang Dal activist who hurled shoe at JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar (R) during a lecture session in Nagpur on Thursday. (Photo: PTI) Nagpur: A slipper was hurled on Thursday at JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar when he was delivering a speech at an auditorium in Congress Nagar, in Nagpur while some Bajrang Dal workers earlier threw stones at a car carrying him. Haridas Shende, an ABVP activist, missed the target, and was beaten up by some people present at the venue and handed over to the police. Kumar, who is out on bail after arrest on sedition charges by the Delhi police, on Thursday paid tributes to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar at the Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur on the occasion of the iconic leaders 125th birth anniversary. He later spoke at a program organised by Rashtrawadi Youth Congress and others. Police detain Bajrang Dal acitivists who hurled shoe at JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar. As soon as he entered the auditorium, there was commotion and slogan-shouting. The police rounded up 19 youths for trying to disrupt the speech. Shende then hurled a slipper at Kanhaiya, but missed. Earlier in the day, when Kanhaiya who was received by Rashtrawadi Youth Congress leader Salil Deshmukh and NCP MLC Prakash Gajbhiye, a group of Bajrang Dal activists pelted stones at his car near the airport. In his speech, Kanhaiya said such undemocratic and intolerant incidents did not deter him. You cant scare me off by throwing stones and shoes at me, he said. The Netherlands wants to discuss the possible amendments to the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement with the European partners. This was announced by Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte during the debate over the negative results of the referendum in the Dutch Parliament, NOS news agency reports. "If we withdraw the act of ratification now, we will lose our ticket for discussion of the significant changes in the agreement with Ukraine," the Dutch Prime Minister said during the debate on Wednesday evening. According to Rutte, the Dutch government faced three options after the referendum - to cancel its results, to refuse to ratify the agreement, or to try to "do something with the negative results." He noted that the Dutch government rejected the first two options. Rutte addressed the Parliament of the Netherlands requesting to give the government some time to resolve this issue. The coalition parties supported his request. ol The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the draft resolution accepting the resignation of Arseniy Yatsenyuk and appointing Volodymyr Groysman as new Prime Minister of Ukraine. The corresponding decision was supported by 257 lawmakers. The resolution also cancels the decision of the Parliament on recognition of the activity of the government led by Yatsenyuk as unsatisfactory. As reported, April 10, Yatsenyuk announced the resignation from the post of Prime Minister. April 13, the coalition reached the consensus on the candidacy of Volodymyr Groysman for the post of the Prime Minister and the composition of the new government. ol The European Union has welcomed the formation of a new government in Ukraine and urged carrying out fundamental reforms in this extremely important for the state time. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and European Commissioner Johannes Hahn said this in a joint statement, which was released on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "Today's appointment of a new government in Ukraine, headed by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, is a crucial development at a time when new momentum in the country is badly needed," Mogherini and Hahn said. They also noted continuous efforts in implementing reforms in Ukraine, starting from 2014. "The momentum offered with the appointment of the new prime minister and government must be seized now," they said. According to the officials, EU will continue to support Ukraine, in particular by rendering financial and technical assistance on Ukraines way of carrying out key reforms, modernization and the fight against corruption. The officials also said that the EU expects the new Ukrainian government will ensure the full implementation of the Minsk agreements. iy Nigerian youngster Paul, who was abducted by Boko Haram militants at age 14, stands against a wall. UNHCR/H.Caux FAR NORTH REGION, Cameroon, April 14 (UNHCR) - Paul and his younger brother Adam resisted with all their strength when several armed men from the Boko Haram sect burst into their house in their village, located in Nigeria's Borno State, and dragged them outside. "They ended up lifting us up and threw us in a car. They handcuffed us, and we remained like that for a day," remembers Paul from the Minawao camp, in Cameroon's Far North region, where he is now a refugee with his brother and mother. "Our abduction happened almost three years ago but it feels as if it happened yesterday," he added. With the two boys handcuffed on the back seat, the car drove towards the Sambisa forest, one of Boko Haram's strongholds bordering Cameroon. The abductors quickly asked the family for a ransom of 20 million nairas (or US$100,000) for the release of Adam and Paul, then 12 and 14, or they would be killed. In the forest, the brothers, who are Christians, were forced to convert to Islam. Paul remembers that his kidnappers kept screaming: "We will cut your throat if you don't convert." On the second day of their captivity, the boys were forced to stand against a mud wall. Boko Haram militants trained their Kalashnikovs on their backs and threatened again to kill them. "Then they dragged us to a well and I thought they would throw us in, but they just wanted to scare us They finally brought us back under the tree where we had been sleeping the past night," Paul recalls. With no blankets to keep warm at night, little food to eat for several days and the constant threats of execution, the two boys kept thinking they would die. "We were often crying. We were cold. We were thinking how much we missed home and our mother," Paul said. The two boys were told they would be trained to become fighters - a fate that they would in fact escape. Unknown to them, negotiations were underway between the boys' uncle and one of the leaders of Boko Haram in Borno State, and they were finally released after seven terrifying days. Hundreds and possibly thousands of children have been abducted in Nigeria since 2013, when Boko Haram stepped up their insurgency. The spectacular kidnapping of 276 girls in Chibok, in Borno State, on April 14 two years ago made headlines all over the world and generated unprecedented social media engagement (see #BringBackOurGirls). Some 50 of the girls managed to escape in the following hours and days of the brutal kidnapping, although the fate of the others remains unknown. Abductions of girls and boys had been happening long before that high-profile incident and still occur on a regular basis. Schools and dormitories have been raided regularly in north-eastern Nigeria by armed men. Boys are kidnapped for recruitment into the sect's ranks while abducted girls will be exposed to forced marriage, sexual exploitation and abuse. Some families have escaped to neighbouring countries for more safety and as a preventive measure, although kidnappings of children have also been reported in Cameroon, Chad and Niger. In the past year, girls have also been used more and more to carry out suicide bombing attacks. "Being kidnapped or being a victim of violence are life-threatening events that trigger huge anxiety and distress. It will impact enormously on the emotional world of any child," says Caroline Schmidt, UNHCR Regional Education Officer for West Africa and the Nigeria situation, based in Dakar. In refugee camps in West and Central Africa, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and its partners have implemented activities that support boys and girls who have experienced violence or abuse, and have suffered during their flight or have been separated from their families. They receive special assistance, including psycho-social support and access to child-friendly spaces. UNHCR also trains and supports teachers to ensure that schools are safe and protective spaces where they can regain a sense of normalcy. It is hoped that a safe environment such as the ones provided through schools in refugee camps and host communities will enable children and youths to have a positive outlook on the future. "We are refugees now in Cameroon, and we feel safer. I miss my home in Nigeria, my village and my friends," Paul said, noting the ongoing insecurity in his homeland. "But I am still afraid of going back there and possibly meet with the men who abducted me." Helene Caux in the Far North Region of Cameroon The TMC is a party of the common people and still it is targeted, says Mamata Banerjee. (Photo: PTI) Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that she also wanted an investigation into the Narada sting operation so that those had masterminded the conspiracy could be identified. We also want answer to several questions. Whose money was used for the sting operation and who brought the money from abroad? Who is the mastermind and whose idea was it to release it at the time of election? she said while addressing a rally at Nadias Gayeshpur. She claimed that the sting operation was a pre-planned move to damage her partys electoral prospects in the crucial Assembly elections. The BJP possesses thousands of crores but there had been no probe into their wealth. The TMC is a party of the common people and still it is targeted, she complained. The chief minister alleged that she had received information that only a few days ago plans were made in the office of a leading media house to harm her partys interests. Even the alliance between the Congress and the CPI(M) was forged on the advice of the media house which also decided how many seats will be allotted to the Congress and who will be the candidates of the CPI(M), Ms Banerjee alleged. Upping her ante, she said she would never buckle under pressure. Apparently playing on the name of CPI(M)s state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra who is leading the Left secular democratic coalition front, she said: The CPI(M)s sun set five years ago and it will never rise in Bengal. Hyderabad: Stating that the proposed 125-foot tall statue of B.R. Ambedkar will be a landmark of Hyderabad, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday said people of Telangana were indebted to the architect of the Constitution since he had the foresight to include Article 3 which gives the Centre the power to carve out new states. If Ambedkar was not there, we would not have got Telangana. When the Constituent Assembly discussed who should have powers to bifurcate a state or form new states in the country, some suggested states should have powers but Ambedkar opposed it and said the Centre should have the powers, Mr Rao said. He said that Ambedkar opined some states might have weak regions and dominant region may not allow division of the state. In such a scenario, weaker regions could approach the Centre. Thanks to the legislation prepared by Ambedkar, Telangana was achieved, he said. No tribute is enough to honour the great leader, Mr Rao said. The CM laid the foundation stone and conducted bhoomi puja for the 125-foot tall Ambedkar Statue which he said should kiss the skies near NTR Ghat. A 15-storeyed Ambedkar Towers abutting the Tank Bund and a Centre for Dalit Studies will be built at Borabanda at a cost of Rs 8 - Rs 10 crore as part of year-long celebrations. Where should the Ambedkar statue should be located? We pondered over it. Since Ambedkar was a follower of Buddha, Buddha (statue) should in front and Ambedkar behind. Behind Ambedkar should be Telangana Secretariat. This is the ideal sequence, he explained. The CM announced that from the academic year starting June, 100 social welfare residential schools will be started in the state, 25 residential hostels for Dalit girls who pass Intermediate, five residential degree colleges for boys, 50 residential schools for Girijan children. For Dalit, Girijan and minority students, 250 institutions will be started this year. For Dalit and Girijan students going for higher studies to the US or UK, the scholarship amount has been enhanced from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. Dalit and Girijan graduates should not search for jobs but become job providers. The government has started TS pride in this regard, Mr Rao said. Meanwhile, the 125th Ambedkar jayanti was celebrated with fervour by TRS, Congress, BJP, TD, YSRC, CPI, CPM and other organisations across the state. Follow Ambedkar, say judges Judges of the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday appealed to the legal fraternity to propagate Ambedkars ideology and to take his message and writings to the masses, especially the downtrodden. Justices G. Chandraiah, Ramesh Ranganathan and A.V. Sesha Sai, addressing the legal fraternity at a function organised by AP Bar Council and High Court Advocates Associations of Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh to mark the 125th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar, said that it was essential for everyone, particularly advocates, to read the biography of Ambedkar. The judges recalled the late leaders services as a Constitution maker, lawyer and a social activist. Later, the judges felicitated senior counsel D. Prakash Reddy. ROGBONKO, Sierra Leone, 13 April 2016 Its eight oclock on a Saturday morning, and the Rogbonko village centre fills with cheerful song and laughter as women gather around a simple picture book. This is the weekly meeting of the Rogbonko mothers support group, where pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and mothers with young children from the community come together to learn about nutrition. We are here to talk about how we should take care of our children in the best way so that the children can grow up well, says Rugiatu Kamara, chairwoman of the group. The danger of child malnutrition Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of child mortality in the world with more than 120 children per thousand dying before they reach their fifth birthdays. Poverty and a lack of food can play a part, but most of these deaths are preventable with simple interventions such as proper nutrition. Worldwide, malnutrition is an underlying factor in close to half of under-five deaths, and in Sierra Leone, nearly one third of children under the age of 5 are chronically malnourished. The main reason for malnutrition in the community is because some people do not know what kind of food they should give to their children - when and how, and the frequency with which they should be fed, said Fatou Tarawalie, a nutritionist with the NGO World Hope International (WHI). With UNICEF support, WHI is managing the mothers support group nutrition programme in the Bombali District. Colourful solutions One of the greatest challenges in eliminating malnutrition is disseminating life-saving knowledge in a simple way that can be used in communities throughout Sierra Leone, which has a literacy rate of just 48 per cent for the over-15 population. Hyderabad: Telangana governments decision to inspect all professional educational institutions has not gone down well with managements. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao recently directed officials to inspect colleges and cancel affiliations of those that are found violating guidelines. Mr M. Goutham Rao, chairman, Telangana Professional Colleges Managements Association, said the AICTE and the JNTU-Hyderabad had already inspected the institutions and fresh round of checks would affect the atmosphere in the colleges. These inspections are creating a headache for the managements. What is the use if one agency after the other conducts the same process every year, he asked. Meanwhile, Mr S. Prabhakar Reddy, president, B.Ed and D.Ed College Managements Association, warned of graft dominating the inspection process. He urged the government to solve problems in universities first. All varsities, including Osmania and Kakatiya, are facing a staff crunch with no permanent recruitment for over a decade. How can you expect varsities to keep a tab on all institutions under it? These are interlinked, he said. Asked about the concerns, Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari, who handles the education portfolio, said the governments intention was to improve the standard of education. There are colleges with excellent facilities and some that are not up to the mark. Our focus is to identify those that are duping students, he said. The University of Southampton has created a digital data storage that will last billions of years from now. Scientists at the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) initially developed 5D optical data in 2013. It was an unprecedented step until they're completely sure of the creation. Claiming that digital storage could survive the human race, the study was the first successful one to store a 300 kb file. The 5D optical data is constructed in nano glass and can archive up to hundreds of terabytes per disc. Scientists developed the optical data because of the limited and conventional storage systems available such as flash and hard disks. These systems do not store a large amount of data and, after a few decades, could be damaged. However, the 5D optical data is a DNA-based storage that has been lab-tested for its excellent durability. Using femtosecond laser writing process, its database can be recorded and retrieved anytime. The international society for optics and photonics published an abstract of the submitted paper. Quoting the description, the storage has "virtually unlimited lifetime at room temperature' making it as 'new era of eternal data archiving." The idea of this data storage process uses a system found in Polaroid sunglasses. Combining polarizer and optical microscope, the copies are recorded using intense pulse light that writes nanostructured dots in three layers. The encoded data uses 5D because it consists of height, depth, width, size and orientation. The first document to be saved in the optical data is The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was demonstrated in Mexico in front of UNESCO at the International Year of Light closing ceremony. Following the important copy, Magna Carta, Newton Opticks and King James Bible have also entered the digital space. The nanostructured glass has been said to resemble the Superman "memory crystal" as the superhero often uses hologram memories of his beloved from the previous planet. Passion and belief, Dr. German L. Murias is a dentist behind fpur patents of dentistry tools, one of which is called the Drill Driver. For a doctor who's devoted to enhancing teeth structure, Murias understands the issues commonly happening in dental clinics. "I needed an instrument that would fit a very small space and could not find one," Murias said via KEYC. He then created a handy instrument that would be useful in a surgical site. The Drill Driver is an effective tool for implant placement. Dr. Robert Buksch, DMD from Miami, reviewed Murias' invention, stating that it is helpful when dealing with narrow spaces or the root of a tooth. As a Florida National University alumni, Murias has dedicated his time in dentistry for 28 years. However, it was not hauling for him and even described it as "love at first sight." Dr. Jose Reguiero introduced him to the dental lab, where he's been working most of the time as to this day. Working as a successful and passionate dentist, the father of three is a clinical professor at the University of Florida. He shares his dentist mastery to foreign doctors who will start dental practice in the U.S. The FNU alumni has passed down his legacy to his second son, Eric, a New York University graduate majoring in Dentistry, as well as his youngest son, Frank Joseph, who is studying at Barry University. Murias and his wife claim that they're both keen on their children's education as kids grow up watching his work of art in the dental lab most of the time. The doctor is constantly learning new techniques in dentistry and this has caught his children's eye as they follow his lead. When reached out for a comment on his useful inventions, Murias gave a simple advice for students. "Love it and never stop learning," he said. A new law in North Carolina now requires people to use public bathrooms according to the gender they were born with. This prompted massive protests from LGBT activists for discrimination. State universities and colleges have no choice but to implement the law. The new bill called "Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act" was approved by North Carolina's lawmakers, Washington Post reports. The bill prohibits non-discrimination protections against gay and transgender people, which earned the ire of LGBT activists. However, supporters say that it is intended to maximize privacy. "As a state institution, the university has an obligation to comply with laws passed by our state's general assembly," university spokeswoman Joni Worthington said. However, she added that they will not go to extreme measures to strictly oversee bathrooms. University of North Carolina President Margaret Spellings announced that all 17 campuses will follow the bathroom bill. Fox News reports that all campus bathrooms must be labeled for single-sex use only. However, schools may have gender-neutral changing rooms and restrooms. Furthermore, the bill states that campuses can keep their gay and transgender nondiscrimination policies. Spelling has been criticized by the North Carolina chapter of ACLU and filed a lawsuit that challenges the bill. "By requiring people to use restrooms that do not correspond to their gender identity, this policy not only endangers and discriminates against transgender people, it also violates federal law," they wrote in a statement. Hundreds of students in North Carolina gathered in Chapel Hill last week to protest the new law, as per News & Observer. University of North Carolina faculty staff also joined the opposition protests. Bruce Springsteen opposed the new law by canceling his performance in the state. The Guardian reports that all tickets sold for the North Carolina show will be refunded. We invite you to join us in San Diego! May 6 - 10, 2016 San Diego, CA For more than a century, the AUA has stood at the forefront in developing innovative, evidence-based quality education for urologists and urologic health care professionals worldwide. Through the Annual Meetingand other year-round educational offeringsthe AUA sets the highest standards for urologic education worldwide. The American Urological Association (AUA) extends a special invitation to urology professionals around the world to join us in San Diego, CA for the 2016 AUA Annual Meeting. Now in its 111th year, the AUA Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of urologists in the world, providing unparalleled access to groundbreaking research, new guidelines and the latest advances in urologic medicine. With all the AUA has to offer, it's no wonder Annual Meeting attendees unanimously report that the knowledge they take from the meeting positively impacts their practices. He also demanded that film-makers use the TS Police logo. Hyderabad, April 14 Usually film titles are registered with the AP Film Chamber to avoid duplication. The Censor Board takes a final call on whether to allow them. Polisodu was cleared by TN board and dubbed into Telugu. However, CBFC Hyderabad didnt object as it was cleared by the TN board. Following objections and a legal notice from the TS Police Officers Association, the films title was changed. Earlier too, the Censor Board rejected the title I Love You Teacher, and the film was subsequently named Sorry Teacher, Film-makers also changed the title, Women in Brahminism. TS Police Officers Association president Y. Gopi Reddy warned film-makers that if the police was abused, they would be punishable. He also demanded that film-makers use the TS Police logo. It is unfortunate that film titles are abusing the police. Many cops have laid down their lives. The title Polisodu was disrespectful. Regarding Mental Police we have served notice to director Babji and the producer. There is no reply from them, Mr Gopi Reddy said. We are happy that there are producers who show the police as heroes but we will stop their films if they show police as comedians, said Mr Gopi Reddy. Modern treatment planning systems provide accurate dosimetry in heterogeneous media (such as a patient' body) with the help of tissue characterization based on computed tomography (CT) number. However, CT number depends on the type of scanner, tube voltage, field of view (FOV), reconstruction algorithm including artifact reduction and processing filters. The impact of these parameters on CT to electron density (ED) conversion had been subject of investigation for treatment planning in various clinical situations. This is usually performed with a tissue characterization phantom with various density plugs acquired with different tube voltages (kilovoltage peak), FOV reconstruction and different scanners to generate CT number to ED tables. This article provides an overview of inhomogeneity correction in the context of CT scanning and a new evaluation tool, difference volume dose-volume histogram (DVH), dV-DVH. It has been concluded that scanner and CT parameters are important for tissue characterizations, but changes in ED are minimal and only pronounced for higher density materials. For lungs, changes in CT number are minimal among scanners and CT parameters. Dosimetric differences for lung and prostate cases are usually insignificant (<2%) in three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy and < 5% for intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with CT parameters. It could be concluded that CT number variability is dependent on acquisition parameters, but its dosimetric impact is pronounced only in high-density media and possibly in IMRT. In view of such small dosimetric changes in low-density medium, the acquisition of additional CT data for financially difficult clinics and countries may not be warranted. Journal of medical physics / Association of Medical Physicists of India. 0000 [Epub] Indra J Das, Chee-Wai Cheng, Minsong Cao, Peter A S Johnstone Department of Radiation Oncology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA., Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, OH 44255, USA., Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California- Los Angeles School of Medicine, CA 90095, USA., Department of Radiation Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL 33612, USA. PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27051164 Full Text Article This Site Is Under Construction and Coming Soon. This Domain Is Registered with Network Solutions Hyderabad: The Telangana state government has advanced the summer vacation for schools by a week due to heat wave conditions. The summer vacation for schools will now begin from April 16 instead of April 24, as announced earlier. Director of school education Dr G. Kishan, issued orders to this effect on Thursday. The order stated, The department has reviewed the advisories issued by the disaster management agency on prevailing heat wave conditions in the state. Due to high day temperatures being recorded in the state and after taking feedback from district collectors and also considering the demand of parents, it has been decided to declare holidays for all schools functioning under government/ local bodies/ private managements from April 16. Accordingly, the summer vacation has been rescheduled from April 16 to June 12 as against April 24 to June 12 announced earlier. The new academic year will commence from June 13. A photo of St Marys church from the 1920s, on Alexander Road now known as Sarojini Devi road, in Secunderabad Photo from the archives of writer Ronald James Deshmukh. Hyderabad: Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption, known as St. Marys Church, Secunderabad, is turning 175. The building was used as a shelter during World War II. Its foundation was laid in 1840. It is the only Basilica in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and one of the 10 in the country. Writer Ronald James Deskmukh, whose book on St Mary's church will be open to public during the 175th year celebrations, said it was originally named the Cathedral of St. Marys, in 1850. It later became known as the Church of Our Lady of Assumption in the 1960s. It was permanently rechristened by Pope Benedict XVI as St Marys Basilica since 2012. The Adoration Hall under construction Mr James said that in 1840, Rev. Daniel Murphy, the first Vicar Apolistic of Hyderabad, started building the church. He dedicated it as the Cathedral of St. Marys which was completed in 1850. It is believed that the local British Regiment, comprising Anglicans, dismantled the roof of the church at least thrice under some pretext or the other, thereby delaying its construction. Fr Murphy left Hyderabad in 1864 apparently on grounds of ill health. With his sudden departure, the Vicarate remained vacant for almost two years, until Fr. Barbero Dominico (1855-82) who was working with Fr Murphy at the Cathedral of St. Mary's, Secunderabad and related missions, was appointed Vicar Apostolic in 1866, Mr James said. The decree designating it as a basilica was issued on November 7, 2008. The church was formerly called the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Hyderabad. In 1886, it ceased to be a cathedral. In 1871, nuns from St. Anne at Turin opened a school that became popular as St. Ann's School. Pope Benedict the XVI elevated the church to a Minor Basilica. A church is declared as a Basilica when it has a longstanding history and architectural value and draws a large number of devotees. The church, presently has approximately 15,000 registered Catholic families and thousands more who come from elsewhere. The Basilica conducts various religious programmes and services throughout the week. Mr Sajjad Shahid, secretary for the Centre for Deccan Studies, who was awarded for his citation on St. Marys Church, said, The church was constructed when there was a large presence of Irish Catholics in the British Army that was stationed at Secunderabad. Celebrations on May 1 A representative of Pope Benedict, Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal Rev. Salvatore Pennacchio, will attend the celebrations to mark the 175 years of St. Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption, on May 1 in the city. Father Swarna Bernard, Vicar General of Hyderabad, said the Basilica will be formally dedicated by the representative of the Vatican. Archbishop of Hyderabad Thumma Bala and Bishops of both Telugu states have also been invited to take part in celebrating the Holy Mass. The newly constructed adoration chapel and Museum of the Church will be inaugurated on the occasion. At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, there will be a brief felicitation programme that will be followed by the release of a book, Endearing Journey' The museum has been constructed within the Church campus, along with a prayer hall and a few rooms for the pilgrims. The museum will feature the churchs history and feature pictures. In indian gothic style The Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption is a typical example of the Indian Gothic style, with curved arches and pointed buttresses. As with other Catholic churches, it has several side altars dedicated to saints. It has four bells. Mr Sajjad Shahid, secretary for Center for Deccan Studies said, The church has an interesting facade composed of domineering tall towers formed of soaring spires. There is no elaborate embellishment on the facade and the imposing scale lends grandeur to the building. Located on a small hillock then, it dominated the skyline of Secunderabad when it was constructed. The heritage expert added, St. Marys Church is an excellent example of early use of gothic architecture and is described as English perpendicular gothic, it was constructed at a time when the trend was shifting from pattern book architect, which basically was a result of replicating well-documented existing structures in Europe to a more lively style. Yapral church was for army personnel St. Francis Xavier Church at Yapral was constructed by Father Daniel Murphy in 1842, along with the Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption. Fr Murphy personally looked after churches in Trimulgherry, Bolarum and Hyderabad. The Yapral church, located in the Cantonment area, catered mostly to the needs of the Army personnel while missionary work took a back seat. The church was initially maintained by Capuchin priests and later by Redemptorists. The Redemptorists served the longest though in two phases (1957-1961 and 1965-1982). According to writer Ronald James Deshmukh, The changing demographics of the place required a school for local children. Fr. Joseph Vadaka thus pioneered the Valerian Grammar School. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday hoped that the Muslims would be able to derive huge benefits from the welfare schemes initiated by his government, like the crop insurance scheme and Mudra scheme. He conveyed these views to a delegation of eminent Muslims who called on him. The delegation included noted Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad, expert on international Islamic affairs Kamar Agha and Shahid Siddiqui among others. The members of the delegation congratulated the Prime Minister on his recent successful visit to Saudi Arabia, a statement by the Prime Minster Office said. They told the Prime Minister that people in West Asia, Central Asia and North Africa, especially the youth, are extremely impressed with his development agenda and want good relations with India, the statement added. "Members of the delegation also praised Narendra Modi's development agenda, and his successful implementation record," it said. Modi thanked the delegation, and reiterated his commitment to development, laying special stress on education, and especially girl child education. "He expressed hope that the Muslim community in India shall be able to derive huge benefit from the welfare schemes initiated by the NDA government, such as the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, and Mudra Yojana," the statement said. Hyderabad: A court acquitted Mohammed Bin Omer Yafai alias Mohammed Pahelwan on Wednesday in one of the criminal cases against him filed by MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi. The 3rd Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate acquitted him in a criminal intimidation case. Pahelwan will have to remain in jail as there are other serious criminal cases against him like trying to murder the legislator. The MIM floor leader had filed a complaint against Pahelwan in 2012 after a local web channel 'Barq News' aired a purported interview with Mohammed Pahelwan, in which he allegedly threatened the legislator. Banjara Hills police booked a case under Section 506 (Criminal Intimidation). The police later arrested Pahelwan by remanding him under the prisoners transit warrant as he was already lodged at the Cherlapally jail in an attack case. Sources said that during the trial, the judge while pronouncing his order, acquitted the accused under Section 248 (1) of CrPC. During the trial the reporter of the web channel Mohammed Mujtaba was also subjected to cross examination. Pahelwan was charge sheeted earlier in this case and the trial commenced in August 2015. New Delhi: Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday said would never leave India and was capable of withstanding pressures both political and otherwise because of the strong support of his family. " I am born and brought up here, would never leave my country, even if I am humiliated. No matter what the government says, I have the ability to sustain and to absorb. I have a very strong and good family which gives me strength," he said. Vadra who has often played a secondary role to his wife in the social and political life said, "I didn't need my wife Priyanka to enhance my life, I have enough, I have always had enough. My father gave me enough. I have been educated enough to sustain myself in all kinds of situations." Read: Robert Vadra asks government to remove him from 'no-frisking' list Asserting that the people of the nation are wise enough to comprehend the veracity of the present circumstances enveloping the country, Robert said Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government "will witness a major revolt" in the near future. "I wish the government all the best, but I think people will revolt against it as they know what is right and what is wrong," he said. He further said, "We are a diverse nation and have to be neutral in all the spheres and treat people equally regardless of their religion. We have to learn to accept all sorts of opinions." Speaking about freedom to express opinions in campuses and elsewhere, Vadra said, " I don't say go against the nation. I am a proud Indian and I will abide by the norms but at the same time I have thoughts, I have an ideology. I have the right to decide (what is) wrong and right. We can't dictate the youth. They are our future. We have to listen to them, understand them but we cannot threaten them or intimidate them." When asked whether he would take the plunge into active politics, Vadra said, "I would not say never, let's see what future has in store for me." Robert Vadra has campaigned for his brother-in-law Rahul Gandhi and his mother-in-law Sonia Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh in the past but has never made campaign speeches or taken part in political meetings. When asked whether he planned to change that strategy, Vadra replied, "When people will call for me, when they think I can make some change, then only will I think of joining politics. I understand my responsibilities. I know with which family I am associated, what they have done for generations. I have to make sure that I respect it." Government Accountability Office (GAO) published its report on Tuesday. The agency said large banks in the US do not have sufficient information how US financial regulators evaluate their crisis plan. Therefore, GAO suggested regulators to publish more information. Reuters reported that as the nonpartisan agency that audits federal programs and offices, GAO suggest regulators to disclose their frameworks. In its report released on Tuesday, GAO said that US Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) have not disclosed the framework to determine which plan is credible. In the Dodd-Frank Act, its section 165 imposes large bank holding company to submit resolution plan, known as living wills. This resolution plan consist of how the banks can wind down their operations during a crisis without bailout from public money. However, the banks have limited information of the framework that financial regulators use to evaluate their plan. "Without greater disclosure, companies lack information they could use to assess and enhance their plans," GAO report said. "The regulators view such information as confidential, but a federal directive on open government recognizes that transparency promotes accountability by providing more information on government activities." As a result of insufficient information, five largest US banks have failed to provide their resolution plan. On Wednesday, Federal Reserve and FDIC said JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and State Street Corp. must resubmit their resolution plan by the Oct. 1 deadline. CNBC reported that none of eight largest US banks fared well in the evaluations, as plan from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were also deemed not credible and Citigroup passed but with shortcomings. In the statement FDIC said that the agency and Federal Reserve are committed to carry statutory mandate to protect taxpayers money used to bailout large banks. Nevertheless, all resolution plan from those banks have certain inadequacies. "Each plan has shortcomings or deficiencies," FDIC Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig said. "No firm yet shows itself capable of being resolved in an orderly fashion through bankruptcy. Thus, the goal to end too big to fail and protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts remains just that: only a goal." In a conference call on Wednesday, JPMorgan Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon told Bloomberg, "We're going to do everything possible to fix this issue." While chief financial officer Marianne Lake said the bank is disappointed, but it only require a modest expense to fix the plan. GAO suggested financial regulators to disclose more information on their policy. While five large US banks do not have enough plan to manage their operation during crisis. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned risks of a new financial crisis. In its latest half-yearly global financial stability report, the IMF calls for urgent action to address the current problems in the global economic landscape. In the report, IMF revealed that risks for global financial stability have risen since October 2015, the last time IMF global economic health check. Heightened uncertainty and setbacks to growth has deteriorated the economic outlook until now. Other factors, including declines in oil and other commodity prices also contributed to the widespread instability. The IMF also noted the immediate impact of the factors that in turn threaten global financial stability. "These developments have tightened financial conditions, reduced risk appetite, raised credit risks, and stymied balance sheet repair," the report says. The Guardian noted the warning that said over the next five years, global output could be cut by 4 percent. IMF specifically highlighted the euro area as one of the main sources of market pressures in recent years. The report elaborated that the hardest hit banking systems within the eurozone have been those of Greece, Italy, and also Portugal, although to a lesser extent. Other banks, especially some large German banks have also been reported have "structural problems of excess bank capacity, high levels of NPLs and poorly adapted business models." Along with the report and warnings, IMF also calls for action to address existing market problems. According to This Is Money, IMF is calling on leading central banks to take proactive steps. The IMF also noted that to help address the risks, an ambitious policy agenda is required to secure financial stability. Regulators are warned to take economic developments into account in its approach. Public Finance International noted how the IMF sums up global economic challenges into main categories, including legacy issues in advanced markets and vulnerabilities in emerging markets. The report explained how both advanced and emerging markets are called to do their part in dealing with the financial stagnancy risks. Advance markets are called to deal with crisis legacy issues while emerging markets are called to strengthen resilience to global risks. Economic problems in advanced and emerging markets could lead to a new financial crisis and economic stagnancy, warned the IMF in its new financial stability report. The IMF call forimmediate action to address economic problems in both advanced and emerging markets, particularly in the euro zone, where a solution for banks cannot be further postponed. Cellcom Israel Ltd on Tuesday announced that its plan to acquire Golan Telecom is opposed by regulators. Ministry of Communications along with Israeli Antitrust commissioner have said their disapproval of the deal. Cellcom, the largest telecommunication company in Israel, stated last November to acquire rival company Golan Telecom for for 1.17 billion shekels ($305 million). In fear of reduced competition, the acquisition deal has faced opposition from politicians and regulatory barrier as well as the combined company would control 40% of market. Analyst at Psagot Investment Ilanit Sherf told Jerusalem Post that Antitrust Authority cannot approve the deal in its current format. The merger will harm the competition in the telecommunication sector. Therefore Cellcom must provide necessary changes to ensure current market structure stay intact. "In the longer term we find it difficult to see the continued existence of the current market structure," Sherf said. "Imbalances and prices currently in the market will not remain with us forever." On the other hand, Golan Telecom said the authority;s decision to block the deal is a breach to international standard. As regulators in many countries have allowed the merger that reduce the players in a certain sector. "A decision against approving the deal would signal to foreign investors that Israel does not respect the rules of conduct and OECD standards," Golan Telecom said. Citi analyst Michael Klahr as quoted by Reuters also noted that Israel regulators and politicians have already stated to keep the telecommunication sector to remain a five player market. The fair scenario he said is Golan to sell the company to a third party that will invest in building network. Another possible option to maintain five-player market in Israeli telecommunication sector is to allow Golan and Cellcom forming partnership, just like what Partner Communication and Hot Mobile did. Such partnership should be forged based on the conditions set by the Ministry of Communications. "We continue to see high levels of competitive intensity in Israeli mobile for the foreseeable future," said Klahr. Currently the mobile network operators in Israel telecommunication sector are Cellcom, Partner Communication, Pelephone, Golan Telecom and Hot Mobile. Cellcom is the largest provider with 2.835 million subscribers or around 35% as December 2015. Its close rival is Partner with 32% market share and Pelephone with around 28% market share. Arutz Sheva reported that merger plan between Cellcom and Golan Telecom raised competitive concern with regards to the cellular phone industry. However, Antitrust Authority will invite representatives from both companies in a hearing with the possibility to approve the merger. While final decision regarding the deal will be made next week. Antitrust Authority and Ministry of Communication have stated their stance to opppose the merger between Cellcom and Golan Telecom. Still, Antitrust Authority will invite the company's representative in the hearing to discuss the deal before making final decision. Chinese food delivery service Ele.me has received a new investment from Alibaba Group Holding, along with its finance payment unit Ant Financial. In total, the new fund reached the amount $1.25 billion to support the food delivery service establish its existence and profile in China. The $1.25 billion fund consists of $900 million from Alibaba, while Alibaba's payment company Ant Financial contributed $350 million to the investment. Upon receiving the fund, Alibaba executive vice chairman Joseph Tsai gained the right to be appointed as Ele.me's board. The online food delivery service company will continue to operate independently. According to Reuters, the new investment will help boost Ele.me's profile in the competitive market of online food delivery in China. Its rivals in the market include Baidu Inc., Meituan-Dianping, and Alibaba's Koubei. Ele.me itself is one of the top key player in Chinese online food delivery market controlling about a third of the market per reports of November 2015. Ele.me is facing deep-pocketed rivals in China, where the startup scene is heating up. Its rival Meituan-Dianping had recently secured $3.3 billion of investment. The financing round is considered one of the largest private tech funding rounds. Ele.me itself has already raised billions in previous funding rounds. In November, the company raised funding from Chinese ride-hailing service company Didi Kuaidi, as reported by Forbes. Last August, the company also raised fund from a group of investors at a $3 billion valuation. Alibaba's move in investing in the online food delivery service is part of the bigger trend where China's big tech companies are showing interests in O2O or "online to offline" commerce. Last year, Alibaba and Ant Financial has already announced that they were investing nearly $1 billion in similar service, Koubei.com, Alizila noted. The O2O market is booming in China as more people in the country are embracing the digital economy and use smartphones to do their daily lives. A survey conducted by McKinsey revealed that most Chinese consumers, at 71 percent, were already using O2O services. Following the investment deal, neither Ele.me nor Alibaba revealed further details on what stakes the tech giant received. However, a previous report said last December that Alibaba had agreed to invest $1.25 billion for 27.7 percent stake. Alibaba and its payment business unit Ant Financial invested in their second online food delivery service company, Ele.me. Totaling in $1.25 billion, the food delivery startup is boosting its profile in the competitive O2O market of China, where tech companies are investing in such businesses more than ever. Demand for steel across the globe is expected to decline 0.8% to 1,488 million tonnes in 2016, according to the World Steel Association. But, the demand is anticipated to bounce back to growth at 0.4% to reach 1,494 million tonnes in 2017. The association expects steel demand in China, the largest consumer, to fall 4% in 2016 tailed by a 3% decline in 2017, reaching 626.1 million tonnes in 2017. Business Standard quoted the chairman of World steel Economics board T V Narendran, who said that the steel industry has been facing many economic challenges including the slowdown in China, which impacted the global financial markets, along with weak commodity prices. The association noted that the sluggish economy in China has negatively impacted construction and manufacturing sectors, particularly in automotive and metal units. In addition, weak oil prices, leading to poor investments in oil industry along with a decline in government expenditure has impacted steel demand in nations depending on energy oriented revenues. On the other side, oil importing nations have benefited from the price slump, easing their monetary policies to improve their economic growth. Meanwhile, few analysts hope that the weak demand in China might affect the buoyant steel prices. The median steel products price through China rushed more than Rmb2,700 a tonne in the previous week, Financial Times reported. Demand for steel in developing markets still remains below estimation, hurt by external factors like poor prices of the commodity, currency deflation, cash outflows and poor exports. Meanwhile, steel demand in Russia and Brazil is anticipated to shrink sharply in the coming period amid internal and external issues. The association expects steel demand in the US to grow by 3.2% in 2016 after a decline of 10.6% in the previous year. Japan's contribution to steel demand will increase by 2.3% in 2016 after a 7% decline in the prior year. South Korea will continue to contribute an increase of 0.6% to the global demand for steel. In Germany, demand for the metal is anticipated to increase by 1.2% in 2016. The country's steel demand in 2015 dropped by 1.5%, as reported by THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS. In Brazil, where demand declined 16.7% in 2015, demand is anticipated to shrink 8.8% in 2016 with a reclamation of 3.1% in 2017. However, in India, steel demand is anticipated to rise by 5.4% in 2016 and 2017, accomplishing 88.3 million tonnes in 2017. In Turkey, demand is estimated to increase 3.3% and 3.2% in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Steel requirements in Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia is anticipated to rise at a rate of about 6% to reach 74.6 million tonnes in 2017. Demand in emerged nations is estimated to increase 1.7% and 1.1% in 2016 and 2017 respectively. European shares jumped to reach record high on Wednesday after Chinese export rebound. Mining and financial stocks led the charge to lift FTSE 100 and European shares. The Telegraph reported that FTSE 100 charged to reach the highest level since December 3 following surge of Chinese export. Investors also took risk to collected riskier assets after China's robust trade data. China reported a 11% increase of its export which trigger a rally in the mining stocks. China, the world-largest metal consumers showed a recovery as zinc reach its eight-month high, increasing 3% to reach $1,888 a tonne. Investors also started to incline toward commodities, However, an IG analyst Joshua Mahony alerted the current condition has not represented the full recovery of the second largest economy in the world. "While it may be too soon to conclude that the worst is over for China, this revival in exports helps restore confidence as investors pile into commodity stocks once more," he said. Nevertheless, positive data from China has driven European stock market to continue to rally on Wednesday. CNBC reported that FTSE 100 index climbed above the 6,300 level for the first time in 2016, while Stoxx Europe 600 rose around 2%. Other index also followed suit, as Pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index surged 2% and the Eurozone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index was also up 2.5%. Financial and mining company are the best performers in the Wednesday rally, with Anglo American climbed 7.2% while Rio Tinto rose 4.3%. Rising of European stock market on Wednesday marked a a two-week high. Earlier this week, European stock has also continued last week's gain. On Monday, Stoxx Europe 600 continue last week's rally which triggered by financial and commodity sectors. Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo SpA and Spain's Banco Santander SA led the Monday's rally in financial sector. While in the commodity sector Anglo American Plc and ArcelorMittal led the rally advancing at least 2.9%. Economist at Cassa Lombarda Marco Vailati told Reuters to be cautious of the positive impact on the sentiment which may be short lived. As the strong figure of Chinese headline was also distorted by calendar effects. "Investors may be rushing to cover short position with volatile markets creating profit opportunities, such as in the case of Italian banks which have gone through wild price swings," Vailati said. As financial sector also improved along with mining, Italian banks also enjoyed the positive sentiment. Shares of Italian banks increased 6.4% enable them to recover from previous sesssion sell-off. FTSE 100 rose on Wednesday to reach record high since December. While European shares continued to rally following China positive report. The rally in European stock markets on Wednesday was led by financial and mining sectors. China's internet regulator revealed that the country's top tech companies have pledged to combat online terror activities. The announcement was made on Tuesday, a few months after China passed a new anti-terrorism law. The Cyberspace Administration of China said that the pledge involved 25 tech companies in the country. The companies have agreed to counter images, videos, and other information that may promote terrorism activities from being distributed on the internet. Among the 25 tech companies that have signed the pledge are Baidu Inc, Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings Ltd, JD.com, and others. So far this year, as much as 25,000 posts, 4,000 videos, and 200 accounts have been removed from the internet due to terror-related content, according to the regulator. Considering the heavy terror-related activities across the internet, China's new anti-terrorism law requires tech companies in the country to cooperate with the government, as reported by Reuters. Under the new anti-terrorism law passed in December last year, tech companies in China, including companies owned by foreign investors, are required to help decrypt information to the government. The new law stressed a particular emphasize in the internet world so that tech companies are the firms required to closely work with the regulators on the matter. However, the new anti-terror law is also facing criticism partly because of its emphasis on the internet aspect. According to China Topix, the law might hinder freedom of speech. The U.S. State Department also expressed its concerns, arguing that the new anti-terror law will likely do more harm than good. Some even connect the new policy with President Xi Jinping's practices of tight internet control and censorship, and that the anti-terror law is just a way to justify the internet control by the government. However, China has rejected such criticism, claiming that it's doing what other Western countries already do, working closely with tech firms to help fight terrorism across the internet. According to Yibada, China said that the country is indeed faced with threats from terror groups, such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). The group is actively operating in the Xinjiang region and is causing violent incidents in recent years. Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are among 25 major tech companies in China that have signed a pledge to help combat terrorism activities across the internet as a response to the country's new anti-terror law. Critics have accused the government of using the law to justify its own agenda, a claim that is rebuffed by the country's officials. Chennai: Setting up direct fight with the AIADMK in 169 constituencies, the DMK on Wednesday released its list of candidates for 173 seats. About half the constituencies have gone to new faces indicating the rise of party treasurer M.K. Stalins brigade. As expected, Stalin fights for his Kolathur seat, while his dad Karunanidhi contests from Tiruvarur again. The DMK has given seats to 19 women, just 10 per cent of the total candidates. With six of the partys allies including the dissident DMDK MLAs contesting under the DMK symbol rising sun, the number of seats candidates under that symbol will be in the fray for 179 seats. This is the highest number of seats the DMK is contesting after the 2001 Assembly elections when it fought in 183 constituencies. In the 2006 Assembly polls, it fielded nominees in 132 seats, while it fielded 124 candidates in the 2011 Assembly elections. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Wednesday said Takata needs to recall its defective airbags, unless the company prove them to be safe. Otherwise Takata must recall all 85 millions airbags in US cars and trucks. The economic pressure has led Takata to mishandle its airbag defect. New York Times reported to have examined hundreds of pages of internal Takata documents and emails. Based on the $100 cost of each airbag, it means a millions of dollars in expense for the auto parts supplier. New York Times also several lawsuit against Takata over its defective airbags. One plaintiff is Patricia Mincey who was paralyzed from the neck down after, accident in June 2014 died this week from complication. Her lawyer Theodore Leopold announced the death on Wednesday, "Takata's conduct went from tragic to catastrophic by causing Ms. Mincey's untimely death." Takata offer condolences in the company's statement to ms. Mincey death, "We are saddened by the news of Patricia Mincey's death and offer our condolences to the Mincey family." Defective airbags manufactured by Takata have linked to at least 11 deaths around the world with more than 100 injuries, including recent case in United States. CBS News reported that a teenage driver was killed two weeks ago in Richmond, Texas. The 17-year old was killed after Takata airbag in her Honda Civic ruptured in a crash. The source of problem is ammonium nitrate propellant which Takata uses in its airbag inflaters. Ammonium nitrate is a compound which easily destabilized, and in extreme cases can lead to explosion and sending metal fragments and shrapnel into the vehicle. Airbags division is the major part of Takata's business, generating about 40% of the company's sales. On Wednesday, according to Reuters, NHTSA made the first public accounting by the US government of the total number of unrecalled Takata air bag inflators. NHTSA announced that there are remaining 85 million airbags which needs to be recalled, unless Takata is able to prove their safety. So far fourteen carmakers have recalled 28.8 million of Takata airbags installed in 24 million cars. The recall of remaining airbags will bring a total recall of 113 million airbags which could cost Takata billions of dollars. Honda is the automaker which affected the most by the defective airbags. The company has recalled the largest number of vehicles over the issue. Honda had announced to drop Takata as its airbag suppliers, followed by Toyota and Nissan last November. Three of them are the largest car manufacturers in Japan. Takata still needs to improve safety of its product, as NHTSA warned that Takata eventually will have to recall its remaining airbags. The safety regulators said Wednesday that Takata must prove the remaining 85 million airbags in US cars are safe to prevent total recall. China Securities Finance Corp (CSF), usually called by its nickname King, has disclosed trading secrets. King's tactics remained a puzzle for many copycat shareholders and short term sellers since then the agency was equipped with over $480 billion by the authorities in 2015 summer. The king has at last revealed its trading policies as it has become mandatory for all companies in China to expose shareholder details in their annual reports. The filings noted that the CSF's moniker is more than mere publicity. CSF has invested in over 600 firms, ranking among the top 10 shareholders. The agency supports government-run companies and consumer enterprises but avoided small-cap shares with poor market effect. The agency targeted companies with productivity more than the average level while at the same time restricting its position to nearly 3% of outstanding shares in any one firm. However, the tactics disclosure does not expose the agency's forthcoming plans, according to Pauline Dan, chief of Greater China stocks at Pictet asset Management. Meanwhile, bearish stock traders are avoiding to bet against CSF that changed into a government device for backing share prices after the nation's $5 trillion market crash in 2015 summer. The Shanghai Composite has increased 16% from a year decline in January. Bloomberg quoted Ronald Wan, chief executive officer of Partners Capital International, who said that investors are closely monitoring the changes in CSF and gauging the agency's trading tactics. He added that the state agency is trying to make gains at the same time backing the stock market. The government fund's largest shareholdings are in financial firms with hefty scores in China's benchmark indexes. Agricultural Bank of China and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China occupied the eighth position among the agency's ten biggest position as of December end. Government-owned firms like CRRC Corp comprised over 80% of the agency's 100 largest positions. The state fund maintained 2.6% of Kweichow Moutai and 3.1% of Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group as of December end. According to Sandy Mehta, CEO of Value Investment Principles, the filings "might give insight into which shares may get targeted going forward." On an average, CSF's top 100 positions have a return on shares of 15%, which is double that of the entire market. The agency doubled up its revenue and profits in 2015. For most researchers, the agency is too big to ignore. According to Reuters, stocks in China increased to a three-month peak ahead of first quarter economic growth report. The CSI300 index increased 0.4% to 3,275.83 points and the Shanghai Composite Index grew 0.5% to 3,082.36 points. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL reported that the economy in China provides relief to investors after struggling a heavy global financial crisis. Exports in china shore up in March, however, continued weak when examined in the US dollar. On the other hand, imports continue to slide hurt by poor commodity prices. China has been struggling with many serious challenges across the globe. The country is trying to recover its economic position by applying various strategies. Peabody Energy Corp., the largest US coal miner has declared bankruptcy on Wednesday marking end of large publicly traded company. The chapter 11 filing with the federal court in its hometown St. Louis represents as the biggest US corporate bankruptcy by liabilities. The large publicly traded company has fueled American industry for more than a century. The recent filing appears following similar by Arch Coal Inc., Alpha Natural Resources Inc., Patriot Coal Corp. and Walter Energy Inc. These bankrupt companies have lost a total of $30 billion in stock market value since 2010. Meanwhile, the coal sector has shed 31,000 jobs since 2009, reports The Wall Street Journal quoting Mine Safety and Health Administration. The coal mining company is seeking to reorganize its US operations reducing an estimated $10.1 billion debt under court intervention. The outcome of the case may turn on prevailing trajectory of coal price over the period of reorganization. During this period, the coal mining giant requires combating with environmental obligations and complicated matters related to the non-bankrupt Australian operations, according to a report published in Bloomberg. Deutsche Bank AG has agreed on Wednesday settling a US lawsuit over accusations of manipulating silver futures prices in collaboration with Nova Scotia and HSBC Holdings Plc. The banking trio has allegedly conspired in fixing silver prices at the expenses of investors, suggests the lawsuit filed. Details on the terms for settlement haven't been disclosed. However, it is evident from a letter filed in Manhattan federal court by lawyers for the investors that the German bank commits for a monetary payment, reports Reuters. Deutsche bank has signed a binding settlement term sheet and has been negotiating for a formal settlement agreed. Once agreed, the settlement proposal will be submitted for approval to the US District Judge, Valerie Caproni, who tries such litigations, according to a report published in Yahoo Finance. LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Leticia and Ruben Salinas share a laugh while posing in the dining room at Los Caporales Restaurant & Tequila Bar in Ojai. They plan to throw a farewell party for the restaurant on Saturday before closing the doors on April 24. SHARE LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Los Caporales Restaurant moved to the Ojai Valley Paseo near Libbey Park in 1998. A farewell party for the restaurant will take place on April 16. It is scheduled to close on April 24. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Leticia and Ruben Salinas, seated, pose with their children in a photo taken when Los Caporales Restaurant opened at the Ojai Valley Paseo in 1998. Also pictured from left are Laura Salinas, Liz Salinas and Ruben Salinas Jr. LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Dishes at Los Caporales Restaurant & Tequila Bar in Ojai include Nectar de los Dioses, a bowl of pinto beans with beef, chicken or pork, topped with cilantro, queso fresco and tomatoes and served with corn or flour tortillas. It is one of the dishes that will be available during the restaurant's farewell party on April 16. Los Caporales will close on April 24. LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Ruben Salinas chats with wife Leticia Salinas through the kitchen window at their Ojai business, Los Caporales Restaurant & Tequila Bar, moments before opening the doors on a recent weekday. By Lisa McKinnon of the Ventura County Star More than 20 years after accidentally opening what is now known as Los Caporales Restaurant & Tequila Bar in Ojai, owners Leticia and Ruben Salinas are "kind of happy, and kind of sad" to be closing its doors this month. "When you are as used to working as we are, retiring doesn't seem good," said Leticia. The couple said this week that the restaurant located near Libbey Park in the Ojai Valley Paseo center will close on April 24. A farewell party from noon to 11 p.m. Saturday will include food and drink specials and an afternoon-long lineup of live-music acts. Mariachi Los Aguilas de Mexico will play from 2 to 4 p.m. Noble Creatures, the Latin alternative pop/soul-funk band that features the couple's son also one of the restaurant's chief mixologists on saxophone, will perform from 8 to 10 p.m. "This is to say 'Thank you' to our customers," said Ruben. "Some have been with us from the beginning." The Salinases say they are retiring. But they also would consider reopening the restaurant if they found the right location. Such a spot would have to be in or around Ojai, said Ruben, a past president of the Ojai Valley Mexican Fiesta. Another business may be waiting in the wings to take the restaurant's place. Ron Polito, who represents the building's owner, said more would be known after the end of April. Ruben Salinas was a veterinarian in his native Zacatecas, Mexico, before coming to the United States. Leticia Salinas grew up in the Mexican state of Jalisco, the source of many of the family recipes featured at Los Caporales, she said. After landing in Ojai, the Salinases opened La Hacienda Market in the late 1980s at what is now a newly constructed office building at 1314 E. Ojai Ave. Legend has it that a family traveling through Ojai on Thanksgiving Day in 1995 inspired the accidental launch of the restaurant. Finding everything else in town closed for the holiday, the family stopped at the Mexican market in search of something to eat. Prepared foods weren't part of the store's offerings, so Leticia whipped up some sandwiches for the visitors. From those sandwiches grew the idea to start serving menudo every Sunday. The menu grew to include burritos and soft tacos served daily at just a few tables. Joined by son Ruben Jr. and daughters Liz and Laura, the Salinases opened what is now known as Los Caporales at the Ojai Valley Paseo in 1998. The restaurant's name came from Ruben Sr.'s childhood nickname, caporalito, or "little ranch hand," he said. "He is the boss," Leticia said with a laugh one recent morning as she stood stirring pots in the kitchen. Ruben had just stopped by the window between the kitchen and the multicolored dining room to place a to-go order for their first customer of the day. The Salinases took over a small storefront next to the restaurant in 2002, turning it into a full bar with an emphasis on tequila. It now features more than 160 versions of the distilled spirit, available in shots, in taster flights and in margaritas like the Ojai Orange and the Blue Iguana. On Saturday, special pricing on margaritas and tequila shots will be in place. "I have inventory I need to get rid of before we leave," Ruben said, smiling. Los Caporales is at 307 E. Ojai Ave., Suites 104 and 105. Call 805-646-5452. Lisa McKinnon is a staff writer for The Star. Her Cafe Society column appears in the Sunday Life section and Fridays in the Time Out section. For between-column updates, follow 805foodie on Twitter and Instagram and "like" the Facebook page VCS Eats. Please send email to lisa.mckinnon@vcstar.com. SHARE By Maryann Ridini Spencer After a busy day at the office or filming on location, when I get home, Im always looking for quick, easy and great tasting recipes that I can whip up in 30 minutes or less. Heres a recipe thats one of my favorites Herb Chicken with tomato, spinach & basil Ingredients: 4 breasts chicken 6 cloves garlic, diced 1 c. onion, diced 1 c. basil, chopped 4 c. spinach, chopped 2 Roma tomatoes, diced 1 tsp. fresh rosemary sprigs 1 tsp. Herbs de Provence dash sea salt splash Chardonnay extra virgin olive oil extra virgin olive oil spray Preparation: Drizzle olive oil in a skillet on the stovetop over low heat. Add in onions and garlic and saute. While the onions and garlic are cooking, in another skillet on the stovetop over low heat, spray a bit of olive oil spray over the pan and add in chicken. When the onions and garlic are slightly golden, add in spinach and fresh basil leaves and fresh rosemary. Sprinkle Herbs e Provence over the chicken. When chicken breasts are done on one side, turn them over and sprinkle more Herbs de Provence over the top. When the chicken is slightly golden, squeeze some fresh lemon and/or limejuice over the top of the chicken breasts. Add in diced tomatoes, Chardonnay and a dash of salt (to taste) to spinach mixture. Plate chicken and top and surround with spinach and tomato mixture. Serve this dish with potato, pasta ad/or rice. Visit: http://simplydeliciousliving.com and search "potato" "pasta" or "rice" for recipe side ideas! 2016, Maryann Ridini Spencer/SimplyDeliciousLiving.com WATCH "Simply Delicious Living with Maryann" on PBS-TV & Syndication. For more info, great recipes & living inspirations, Visit: http://SimplyDeliciousLiving.com Maryann Ridini Spencer hosts the award-winning series, Simply Delicious Living with Maryann (SimplyDeliciousLiving.TV) seen on PBS Television and in First Run TV Syndication. Maryann produces video stories about environmentally friendly and healthy living in Ventura County. Visit Maryanns popular blog: http://SimplyDeliciousLiving.com and VC Style: http://vcstyle.blogs.vcstar.com/ KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR Berne Medina (center) imitates how an alligator eats as Matteo Vasquez watches Wednesday. The boys are students at a Sespe/Santa Clara Valley Neighborhood for Learning preschool class in Fillmore. The Fillmore Unified School District has received a $2.6 million grant for preschool education. SHARE KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR (From left) Alessandra Valdez, Alejandra Robles, Kaylee Magana and Aliyah Cancino read Wednesday morning during a preschool class at Sespe/Santa Clara Valley Neighborhood for Learning in Fillmore. The Fillmore Unified School District has received a $2.6 million grant for preschool education. KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR Kaylee Magana and Alejandra Robles play with letters Wednesday during a preschool class at Sespe/Santa Clara Valley Neighborhood for Learning in Fillmore. The Fillmore Unified School District has received a $2.6 million grant for preschool education. KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR Ximmenna Garcia (left) and Alynna Perez peer into the mirror while playing dress-up Wednesday morning during a preschool class. The Fillmore Unified School District has received a $2.6 million grant for preschool education. By Tony Biasotti, Special to The Star Fillmore will have free, all-day, year-round preschool at its public schools starting in the fall, funded by a $2.6 million state grant. The Fillmore Unified School District was told of the award April 1, the district announced last week. It will pay for a preschool class in each of Fillmore's four elementary schools, and two at the district headquarters. There will be room for 144 children ages 3 to 5, and jobs for 18 teachers and a handful of other employees. The grant will pay to launch the program and run it for two years. Martha Hernandez, Fillmore Unified's assistant superintendent for educational services, said she's optimistic that more money will be available to keep it going after the first two years. "We consider this a startup grant," she said. "We would be hopeful that we could get a continuation of funds, which I think we can, depending on the state budget." The $2.6 million to Fillmore is part of $68.7 million in preschool grants in this year's state budget, according to Peter Tira, a spokesman with the California Department of Education. Fillmore was identified for the grant because it is a "high priority district in terms of unmet needs for child care," Hernandez said. Last year, 77.9 percent of the district's students qualified for free or discounted school lunches, based on their family incomes, and 33.6 percent were classified as "English language learners," both well above the county and state averages. It is rare for children in Fillmore to attend a preschool with a focus on learning and development. First 5 Ventura County has a free preschool in town, and Fillmore Unified has two half-day preschool classes at its district headquarters, but the demand far outstrips that supply. One recent study found that the city has enough preschool spaces for just 17 percent of its preschool-age children, Hernandez said. "We announced this at our kindergarten orientation, and parents were just absolutely thrilled," she said. "They really need this." Research has consistently shown that attending preschool has both short-term and long-term benefits for children, but those benefits are highly dependent on the quality of the school. Fillmore Unified's preschool curriculum will be based on the Sobrato Early Academic Language Model, a program developed by an educational nonprofit in Silicon Valley that the district already uses in kindergarten and first grade. Hernandez said it has been proven successful and is geared toward language development and vocabulary, something that will be particularly valuable for students who may not speak English at home. "We have a high percentage of English learners and students who live in poverty, and language acquisition is very important for them," Hernandez said. The result should be noticeable improvement in student performance in Fillmore's schools, once the first preschool students have moved into elementary school, she said. Spots in the preschool will be awarded to the first families to apply. After the first 144 are filled, the district will start a waiting list. The program is open to children who have turned 3 or 4 by Sept. 1. As befits a program for young children, there will be plenty of time for play, and for naps and meals. The preschools will open at 7 a.m. and close at 6 p.m., and Hernandez expects plenty of working parents to take full advantage of the hours. The schools will serve three meals a day. District-wide free preschool is something new to Ventura County, and with 18 full-time teaching jobs, Fillmore will become a hub for preschool teachers once this program is up and running. Hernandez said the district is working with education programs at CSU Channel Islands, Ventura College and Moorpark College to find qualified preschool teachers. ROB VARELA/THE STAR Thousand Oaks police were investigating a report of a robbery and a shooting at a local jewelry store Tuesday. SHARE By Cindy Von Quednow of the Ventura County Star As authorities continue to investigate an attempted robbery and shooting at a jewelry store in Thousand Oaks, they said the men involved in the incident remain at large. The Ventura County Sheriff's Office has not released any new information on the incident, which was reported shortly after 1:15 p.m. Tuesday at Albert's Jewelry Design store in the Oakbrook shopping center on the southwest corner of Erbes Road and East Avenida de Los Arboles. A vehicle possibly used in the incident was described as a newer-model, dark-colored luxury vehicle, possibly a Jaguar. At least two men fled by car but left empty-handed, authorities said. Law enforcement agencies, however, have not released a description of the people involved. Officers responded to reports of gunshots during what appeared to be an attempted robbery at the store. It is believed one man stayed in the car, which was parked in front of the store, while the other went inside the business. There was an exchange of gunfire between a store employee and the man who went inside, but it was not known whether the man was actually firing the gun at the employee, authorities said. It was not known how badly the man may be injured, but there was evidence at the scene, most notably blood, that indicated the gunman had been hurt. No other injuries were reported during the incident. Investigators were checking surveillance footage from inside the business, but it was not known how much of the incident, if any, the camera caught. They also were checking for surveillance footage from around the shopping center, authorities said. No customers were in the store at the time of the incident, authorities said. Residents who think they have seen a vehicle matching the description are asked to call the sheriff's dispatch center at 654-9511. The vehicle may still be in the area. Residents should not approach the vehicle because the men are considered armed and dangerous, authorities said. STAR FILE PHOTO Hank Lacayo and his wife Leah attend a forum in Camarillo earlier this year. Lacayo will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the United Way in August. SHARE By Staff Reports Hank Lacayo will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in August when the United Way of Ventura County gives out it 2016 Community Partnership Spirit Awards. Lacayo, a United Way board member, will also be celebrating his 85th birthday when the awards are given out Aug. 25 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. Lacayo, of Newbury Park, spent more than 45 years as a union representative for the United Auto Workers. He has served in numerous presidential administrations, including as adviser to the U.S. Department of Labor under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, as a member of President Jimmy Carter's presidential transition team, and as President Bill Clinton's California deputy campaign director during his presidential run. As the first Hispanic political director of a national union, Lacayo is considered a pioneer for Latinos in the American labor movement and politics. In August of 1963, Lacayo led a delegation from the Los Angeles area to join Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at a Washington, D.C., civil rights march. He also showed his support of Cesar Chavez by serving as a key individual in encouraging the UAW to financially aid farm workers. For sponsorship opportunities or tickets to the United Way event in August, call 485-6288, ext. 229, or visit http://vcunitedway.org/spirit-award-2016/. FILE PHOTO SHARE By Tom Kisken of the Ventura County Star The law swung into effect Friday but women and girls will likely have to wait longer to obtain birth control pills without a prescription. Part of a bill passed more than two years ago, the new state law is aimed at increasing access to contraceptives and reducing unwanted pregnancies. It enables pharmacists to dispense hormonal contraceptives such as pills, patches and vaginal rings directly to consumers of any age. Several pharmacies in Ventura County said Wednesday they're not ready because they were not given enough lead time from state regulators on protocols for the new law. Jon Roth, chief executive officer of the California Pharmacists Association, said he doesn't know of any pharmacies in the state that have started providing the contraceptives directly to women. The association works with more than 6,500 pharmacies. "What we've heard from our members is they're still ramping up," he said, citing the needs related to the questionnaires women will need to complete and finding private space where pharmacists can consult with people about birth control. Most pharmacists also have to complete a one-hour online training session. That became available through the pharmacists association on Monday. The law expanding the responsibilities of pharmacists was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in October 2013. Roth said pharmacists learned of the final protocols from the California State Board of Pharmacy on Friday. "We were sort of in limbo not knowing what the regulations would say," he said, acknowledging consumer frustration over delays. "We're equally frustrated that it took three years to get the regulations finished," he said, noting the process was led by the pharmacy board. How it works Heres how pharmacists will dispense birth control without prescriptions: Women and girls will fill out a questionnaire on their health history. In some instances, their blood pressure will be taken. They can ask for a specific contraceptive or a pharmacist will make a recommendation during a consultation. They will provide information on dosage, side effects and other issues. The law covers hormonal birth control, including pills, patches, vaginal rings and hormone injections. The persons doctor will be notified of medication or devices dispensed. If insurance covered birth control in the past, that should not change. Pharmacists can charge a fee for the consultation but its unclear if they will. Sources: California Pharmacists Association and California State Board of Pharmacy. Virginia Herold, executive officer of the board, said the law was turned over to the board in January 2014. That began a complicated process of dealing not only with birth control but the law's changes in pharmacists' responsibilities for smoking cessation devices, travel medications and other issues. The birth control protocols had to be approved by the pharmacy board and the Medical Board of California. Issues like a rule requiring pharmacists take a person's blood pressure in certain situations received special attention. All the meetings were held in public. Decisions were posted on the board's website as they were made. Time was allotted for public comments. "It takes too long," she said. "I don't disagree but it's to prevent agencies from just implementing requirements without people having the opportunity to say 'This is not a good thing.' " Herold noted she was told of one instance in Los Angeles where a pharmacist has already dispensed birth control through the new law. It's unclear when other pharmacists will be ready. Roth said it could take between one week and a month. Pharmacies can opt out of the law but Roth predicted very few will. An official for Kaiser Permanente said the health care system hopes to implement the new law by the end of the year. "My only comment is the sooner it's available the better," said Dr. Fred Kelley, associate director of obstetrics and gynecology at Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital. He praised the change. "It makes access potentially easier for a group of people who have difficulty getting access," he said. "We know that improving access to contraception decreases the rate for unwanted pregnancies and decreases abortion rates." Others worry about bypassing conversations with doctors about issues such as cardiovascular risks for older women who smoke, though medical history is covered in a questionnaire people will fill out at the pharmacy. Blanca Ramirez, 41, of Santa Paula, didn't know of the new law until Wednesday. She worried young people might not have conversations with doctors about sexually transmitted diseases. "I don't think it's a good thing," she said of the law. "They need to be informed." But teenagers sometimes bypass birth control because they want to hide that part of their lives from their parents, said Elizabeth Torres, studying at Ventura College to be a medical assistant. She's 22 and has two children. "Maybe this will help," she said of the new law. During the recent visit of US defence secretary Ashton Carter, the Modi government has agreed in principle to sign the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA). This is causing serious concern even in quarters that seek a close collaborative relationship with the United States as a democratic force and the worlds most advanced repository of technology, knowledge and finance that has the greatest military, political and diplomatic clout in the world in spite of intimations of the putative decline in US authority internationally. This concern flows from the conceptual understanding that signing such an agreement, expected in coming weeks or months, willynilly dovetails the Indian military into the Pentagons operations which is going on in practically every theatre of the world since the end of World War II. Under LEMOA, we will be offering the US Navy and Air Force refuelling, repair and rest bases, and get reciprocal favours on the basis of payments all in an umbrella framework, and not on a case-by-case basis. But what is wrong with the latter? In anti-piracy operations off the Horn of Africa, Indias naval ships have already used US refuelling facilities on payment basis. Indian security specialists and the Navy and Air Force establishment have long been uneasy about having to cede sovereignty in the military sphere through a permanent logistics deal. Many think of Pakistans Jacobabad airbase in Sind which has almost been under American control since years. It is useful to consider that even in the heyday of nonalignment under Nehru and Indira Gandhi, India did not get into this sort of a military relationship with the Soviet Union, with which we had a close political understanding which yielded us the incalculable advantage of the Soviet veto in our favour in the UN Security Council on the vital Kashmir issue in the face of the US-led Western bloc being on a rampage against us. Such a military embrace of USSR did not ensue even from the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Cooperation and Mutual Assistance signed when the US sent a flotilla to the Bay of Bengal to threaten us over Bangladeshs liberation. LEMOA is a part of a garland of three agreements, along with CISMOA and BECA, which deal with interchangeable communications, sensors and satellite coordination, deemed by the US to be foundational if defence and security relations are to be enhanced. How much have times changed exactly with the USSR gone and China the new kid on the block to warrant a mutually inter-penetrative pact with the worlds most definitive global power? Lets not duck a national debate on this. STAR FILE PHOTO The Ventura City Council will host a workshop on homelessness Monday night from 5:30-9 p.m. at the Derby Club at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. SHARE Agoura Hills Rescue shares how to help horses Agoura Shelter and Animal Guardians Horse Rescue will celebrate ASPCA National Help a Horse Day from noon to 4 p.m. April 24 at the Agoura Shelter's new horse barn, 29525 Agoura Road. Families can learn about the joys of owning a horse and learn how to rescue a horse among other things. For more information, call 818-991-0071. Simi Valley Professor to discuss Syrian refugee crisis The CSU Channel Islands lecture series will continue from 2-3 p.m. Sunday at Simi Valley Public Library, 2969 Tapo Canyon Road. Reha Kadakal, an associate professor of sociology, will discuss the Syrian refugee crisis based on his observations across Turkey. For more information, call 526-1735. Thousand Oaks Company celebrates Bard anniversary The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Bard of Avon's death and the 20th season of its own annual festival with a free Bard-day bash starting at 4 p.m. April 23 and continuing April 24 at California Lutheran University, 60 W. Olsen Road. The events feature a game at 6:30 p.m. April 23, a panel discussion on setting plays in traditional and alternative settings at 7 p.m., and an interactive Shakespeare slam at 8 p.m. "Macbeth" will be read by candlelight at 9:30 p.m. and musical works inspired by the Bard will be played starting at midnight. April 24 activities include yoga, sonnet brunch and more. For more information, visit www.KingsmenShakespeare.org/400-years or email Jason Rennie at shakespeare20-400@kingsmenshakespeare.org. Ventura Seminar will address diabetes There will be a pre-diabetes and diabetes management seminar from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday in Nichols Auditorium at Community Memorial Hospital, 147 N. Brent St. For more information, email heartaware@cmhshealth.org or call 667-2818. Workshop focuses on homelessness The city of Ventura City Council will have a community workshop on homelessness from 5:30-9 p.m. Monday at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in the Island View Room of the Derby Club. For more information, visit www.cityofventura.net/homelessservices. Westlake Village Church hosts 'Joy Unleased' Prom The Special Needs Ministry at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village will host its first "Joy Unleashed" Prom for young adults affected by disabilities who attend Westlake High, Thousand Oaks High and Newbury Park High. The event will go from 6:30-9 p.m. April 23 at 5495 Via Rocas. For questions about attending or volunteering, contact Gina Spivey, special needs director, at ginaa@calvarycc.org or 818-577-8732. STAR FILE PHOTO The Casitas Municipal Water District has made an offer to buy Golden State Water Companys Ojai system. SHARE By Tony Biasotti, Special to The Star The Casitas Municipal Water District moved forward Wednesday on a takeover of the Ojai water system from the company that owns and runs it, Golden State Water. The Casitas board voted unanimously to adopt a "resolution of necessity," which is required under California law before a public agency can begin an eminent domain proceeding. Golden State Water has refused to sell its Ojai operation to Casitas, so the district is attempting to take it by eminent domain, the process by which a government agency can acquire property from an unwilling seller. Property taken by eminent domain must be used for a public purpose, and the government agency must pay a fair price. The matter is far from settled. Golden State Water has promised to fight the eminent domain action, and a court battle could take months or years. Ojai residents have been trying for more than five years to replace Golden State as their water utility, citing problems with service and bills that are higher than those of other water providers in the Ojai Valley. Golden State charges more than twice as much for water in Ojai as Casitas does for water just outside the city. A group called Ojai FLOW, or Friends of Locally Owned Water, is leading the charge. In 2011, it asked for help from Casitas, a public agency that owns Lake Casitas and provides water in much of the Ojai Valley, but not in the city of Ojai. City residents in 2013 approved the Casitas takeover plan, with 87 percent voting in favor. The plan calls for Casitas to form a new community facilities district for Ojai. The district then would issue up to $60 million in bonds to buy Golden State Water's system. Ojai residents would pay back the bonds through their property taxes. Casitas and Ojai FLOW believe the public district can offer water at prices low enough that Ojai customers will come out ahead, even when factoring in the cost of paying off the bonds. If Casitas takes over water service in Ojai, the sources of the city's water would stay the same: Lake Casitas and groundwater wells in the Ojai Valley. Nine Ojai residents spoke Wednesday before the Casitas board, and all nine urged the board to move forward with eminent domain. I have far more faith in this elected body to spend money wisely than I do in Golden State, which is not responsive to the people of Ojai. ... We're talking about an enormous multistate corporation over which we have no say, except to pay the bills that they send us," said Ojai resident Leonard Klaif. Golden State Water is owned by American States Water Co. Other speakers made reference to the Ojai Playhouse, Ojai's only movie theater, which has been closed since it was flooded by a water main break in 2014. American States Water, its insurance carrier and the theater's owners have not been able to reach an agreement on paying for the repairs. "The symbol of the situation is the fact that we have a blighted building and a cultural icon ripped out of our community's heart ... directly as a result of Golden State Water's operations," Ojai Mayor William Weirick said. An attorney for American States Water attended the beginning of the meeting and reiterated the company's opposition to eminent domain. He left after making his statement. The attorney, David Moran, said the Casitas board had "predetermined the outcome of this hearing and has not engaged in a good-faith discussion." In what may be a preview of Golden State Water's legal strategy, Moran said Casitas didn't provide adequate legal notice of Wednesday's hearing, did not provide an adequate description of the Golden State property it seeks to acquire and did not properly appraise Golden State's property when it made a $23.7 million offer to buy earlier this year. Moran also said Casitas should undertake a study of the environmental impacts of taking over the Ojai water system and is overstepping its legal authority by "supplanting the California Public Utilities Commission in the setting of water rates." Golden State Water already fought Casitas' authority to issue bonds for the takeover. A state appeals court sided with Casitas last year, and the Supreme Court of California declined to hear Golden State's appeal. STOCK PHOTO Gavel. SHARE By Staff Reports A 23-year-old Oxnard woman pleaded not guilty Wednesday to stealing from two senior citizens while working as their caregiver, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. Rachelle Farala was charged with three felonies: theft from an elder adult, identity theft and forgery. She also was charged with misdemeanor theft from an elder adult and misdemeanor forgery, prosecutors said. The thefts allegedly occurred from Oct. 23, 2015 to Nov. 22, 2015. Farala faces a special allegation that she stole from the second victim while released on bail for crimes committed against the first victim, prosecutors said. Farala's bail was raised to $500,000 after the judge was advised of her alleged ongoing theft-related activity and she was remanded back into sheriff's custody, the District Attorney's Office said. If convicted she faces up to seven years and four months in county jail. She is due in court for a preliminary hearing at 8:15 a.m. on May 3, prosecutors said. MIKE HARRIS/THE STAR Simi Valley Mayor Bob Huber speaks at Wednesday's annual State of the City luncheon. SHARE By Mike Harris of the Ventura County Star Simi Valley Mayor Bob Huber cited some familiar rankings at the annual State of the City luncheon Wednesday to make the case that the city is one of the best places in the country to live and do business. "Like all of you in this room, I am proud to call Simi Valley home, and as I thought about why, obviously I came up with more reasons than I can list here," Huber said to a packed banquet room at the Grand Vista Hotel. "Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that over the past few years, Simi Valley has been ranked the third safest city in California and the seventh safest city in the United States." Those rankings were based on the FBI's 2012 Uniform Crime Reporting Data. Simi Valley has also been ranked the fourth most pleasant city in the country based on the number of days a year of pleasant weather it has 156, Huber said. That is according to a 2014 study by Kellegous, a software designer's website. Finally, Huber said, Simi has been ranked the eighth happiest city in the country based on the frequency of tweets by residents using such words or expressions as "LOL," "ha-ha" and "good." Those rankings were compiled in 2013 by University of Vermont researchers. "But even if you didn't know about the rankings, I can guarantee that you know that Simi Valley is a special place," Huber said at the luncheon co-hosted by the city and the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce. Crime in Simi Valley is at historically low rates, Police Chief Mitch McCann told the audience, which included Simi Valley City Councilmen Steve Sojka and Mike Judge, county Supervisor Peter Foy, school and parks districts officials and members of the business community. Last year saw the lowest per capita crime rate since the city was incorporated in 1969, 13.4 percent, McCann said. That compares very favorably with some other neighboring communities, he said. "We have a protective bubble here in Simi Valley," he said. The city's finances are solid, earning a AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's for the third consecutive year, one of about 27 cities in the state to hold the highest rating, Huber said. "The specific factors identified by the credit rating company were our strong economy, our very strong budgetary flexibility, our budgetary performance, our very strong liquidity, strong management practices, and our strong debt and contingent liabilities profile," he said. Economic development is steady, with the city attracting about 600 new jobs over the last 18 months, the mayor said. "What do all these things add up to?" Huber asked. "Safety plus business plus financial stability equals quality of life. When you think of the community that you want to start a business in, buy a home in, and raise you children in it's Simi Valley." STAR FILE PHOTO Ranger Iliana Espinoza leads Henry Burch (center) and Will Burch in a pledge to earn their junior ranger badges in 2014. SHARE By Arlene Martinez, amartinez@vcstar.com 1. BE A JUNIOR RANGER: Earn a badge as a Channel Islands National Park Junior Ranger, an Underwater Explorer, a Centennial Junior Ranger or a Junior Paleontologist this weekend in Ventura. The Channel Islands National Park is hosting the Junior Ranger event Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Ventura Harbor Village, 1583 Spinnaker Drive. Enjoy tide pool programs at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., and hear a ranger discuss seals and sea lions at 1 p.m. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/chis/forkids/beajuniorranger.htm 2. CELEBRATE TREES AND YOUR PLANET: On Saturday, head to Thousand Oaks Community Park for the city's 2016 Arbor/Earth Day Celebration. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., enjoy live music from The Coveralls rock 'n' roll band and Urban Dread reggae group, two environmental vaudeville shows by Earthcapades and animal shows courtesy of the Moorpark College Teaching Zoo and the Nature of Wildworks. Go to toaks.org/GoGreen or call 381-7358 for a full schedule of events. 3. CAST A LURE: Grab a lucky fishing rod and finest bait and head to Cachuma Lake this weekend for the 21st annual Neal Taylor Nature Center Fish Derby. Last year, organizers stocked the lake with 10,000 pounds of trout. More than 400 participants competed for $5,200 in prize money and more than $15,000 in prizes. The events starts at 6 a.m. Saturday and ends at noon Sunday. Fish from boat or shore but don't forget a valid state fishing license. Also, enjoy children's activities and wildlife cruises. Entering costs $40 per person, but children ages 4 to 15 are $10. For more information, including details on the impact of quagga mussels, go to troutderby.org. 4. PARTY IN THE STREETS: Stroll the streets of downtown Ventura while enjoying local artisans, vendors, nonprofit booths and live music. The free Spring Street Fair goes from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday and runs along the 300, 400 and 500 blocks of Main Street. But before you head home 5. GIVE A TOAST, RAISE A GLASS: The Champagne on Main/Wine Walk takes place from 3-6 p.m. in the same general area as the festival. So get your wristband and enjoy Champagne, sparking wines and craft beers while visiting shops downtown. A map, provided by organizers, will be your guide. The rain-or-shine event is almost sold out so go on over to http://champagneonmain.com for tickets and more information. SHARE Most of us who live, work, worship, play or do business in Ventura would agree that addressing the needs of those experiencing homelessness would benefit us all, not just those struggling to survive. To do this, we must build more housing, provide appropriate services and create places where people can be sheltered and receive assistance until housing can be located. Current research shows the best way to get people out of homelessness is to move them directly into permanent housing where they can receive on-site services. This approach, "Housing First," is a national best practice. It only works, however, if there is sufficient affordable housing. U.S. Census Bureau 2014 statistics reveal about 112,000 of our county's population live below the federal poverty level (income of below $11,670 for a family of one) and thus cannot afford the overall average rental rate of $1,536 a month. This is compounded by a rental vacancy rate that continues to run around 2 percent. Temporary supportive (crisis and bridge) housing with services provided on site could bridge this gap in affordable permanent housing and allow our municipal leaders to develop long-term strategies to increase permanent supportive housing in Ventura County. In 2007, California passed Senate Bill 2, which required communities to designate zones for the development of crisis and bridge housing, such as emergency shelters, sufficient to meet identified needs. Nine years have elapsed and no new permanent, year-round shelter has been built in any area of Ventura County. Zoning remains part of the problem. In the city of Ventura, for example, there is no area where people can be sheltered and receive services in the same location. With no coordinated plan in the city of Ventura to address the needs of those experiencing homelessness, they continue to populate our parks and street corners their de facto homes and the complaints from business owners, visitors and residents continue to increase. The Ventura Social Services Task Force estimates faith communities, social service agencies, businesses and government agencies in Ventura spent more than $7 million in 2015 to "deal with" homelessness. Expenditures of this amount without appreciable results call for serious reconsideration of current practices. Many communities have found that the Housing First model is a much less expensive solution when compared with the costs of law enforcement, incarceration, hospitalization, homeless camp cleanups and emergency response. Once housed, residents participate in mental health and drug and alcohol addiction treatment programs at a higher rate. The Ventura City Council is seeking community input on solutions to homelessness, and all are invited to a workshop from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Monday at the Island View Room of the Derby Club at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, 10 W. Harbor Blvd. The Ventura Social Services Task Force encourages you to participate, and encourages other municipalities to duplicate Ventura's efforts. Judy Alexandre is chairwoman of the Ventura Social Services Task Force. SHARE Marcie Leeds, M.D. child actress trades Hollywood for Surgery By Annetteleeds During one of her last acting jobs in Hollywood, Marcie Leeds claims she gave Leonardo DiCaprio his first on screen kiss in the television show Parenthood. "Not a horrible way to end an acting career," said her father Steve Leeds. Her manager father, Steve, was asked how his daughter could give up an amazing acting career to become a surgeon. "She is very focused and committed to any choices she makes in life," he said. From her part in Beaches to her time with Ted Danson on the movie set, Marcie Leeds has a stockpile of good stories to tell about her nearly 10-year acting career. It has been a journey, Leeds states. She quit acting when she was about 14 and realized she wanted to become a surgeon. She concentrated on her education. In her last year while attending college at California Lutheran University she applied to medical school. Leeds earned her medical degree at Ross University School of Medicine in New Jersey. "Being able to memorize scripts as a kid was beneficial," said Leeds. "It really helped me with my studies going through medical school." Leeds went on to do her first year of surgical residency at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ. When the opportunity arose for her to further her career she chose to go to the University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson to complete her surgical residency. Which she believes was meant to be as she walks through the halls of the amazing place she works. "The attending surgeons I work with are amazing," said Leeds. "Their level of talent and knowledge is something to look up to." As she thinks back on all her experiences as an actress nothing compares to the many new experiences she has had as a surgeon. Her experiences now impact the lives of people and their amazing journey through the recovery process. Last year Leeds was one of the first trauma surgeons to assess and treat Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords in the Arizona shooting rampage in January 2011. The event affected the entire country as they watched in horror as the scene of mass casualties was revealed. Leeds, a 4th year surgical resident at University of Arizona in Tucson was right there treating and handling the care of many of the victims that arrived at the University Hospital. Recently, Elizabeth Saab, from The Daily in New York City, interviewed Leeds for a television feature story. The feature interview was played on Fox News Sunday and in its entirety at http://www.youtube.com/savinggabriell.... Leeds, 34, is settling into her career choice now. She lives close to her brother in Phoenix, who is also a surgical resident. She's working about 80 hours a week, and getting paid considerably less than she would have in Hollywood. But Leeds loves to learn and save lives. To her it is better than a red carpet premiere. " Everyday I still experience something new." She says. Leeds said she owes much of her success and parallel happiness to the support she received through the years from her parents. When she told them she wanted to pursue medicine, all of their efforts went toward making that happen. When she called home and complained about how difficult medical school was, her parents propped her up and pushed her forward. "They just never let me falter," she said. "From time to time someone recognizes my face from my acting days, but I don't let on," Leeds says. "I am a surgeon now." Acknowledging its worldwide reputation as one of Las Vegas most photogenic venues, the Neon Museum offers Photo Tours, special one-hour-long photo shoots in the Neon Boneyard. These sessions, timed to coincide with the golden hour of sunset or after dark, allow up to 12 individuals to have access to the Neon Boneyard for one hour. During that time, participants may shoot photographs for personal use from anywhere in the Boneyard, as long as they stay on the designated rock-lined paths. The next Photo Tour is scheduled for Thursday, April 21, at 6:30 p.m. Future dates include: April 21: 6:30 p.m. May 5: 6:30 p.m. May 31: 10 p.m. June 3: 6:30 p.m. June 28 10 p.m. Examples of personal use include social media, personal (not commercial) websites, home decor, custom stationery and holiday cards. Photos taken during these photo tours may not be used to promote any business, for publication by media or sold to a third party. TREVI Italian Restaurant inside The Forum Shops at Caesars will honor Cinco de Mayo with a specialty tequila cocktail exclusively on Thursday, May 5. TREVI will toast to Mexico with the sweet and spicy Mariachi Mule, made with Sweet Heat Tequila, Crabbies Ginger Beer and lime, priced at $12. In addition, guests joining TREVI for an Italian twist on the Cinco de Mayo celebration may enjoy happy hour specials from 2 to 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. to close, including fried calamari, eggplant crisps, homemade meatballs, and more, all for $6, as well as additional drink specials at the bar. Seven priceless artifacts recovered from the wreck site of RMS Titanic will be retired from public view and returned to its conservation facility after a 3-month special engagement at Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition at Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas (Pictured: Declaration of Intention Form Photo credit: Premier Exhibitions). Beginning April 15, 2016, 104 years after Titanic hit an iceberg in the Atlantic and sank, taking the lives of 1,523 passengers and crew, and nearly 30 years after the Company first brought artifacts from its wreck site to the surface, these priceless treasures will be displayed for a final time. Photo credit: Premier Exhibitions. The Titanic disaster is one of the most remarkably heartbreaking moments in our collective history, said Alexandra Klingelhofer, Vice President of Collections for Premier Exhibitions, Inc. As Salvor-in-Possession of Titanics wreck site, we are keenly aware that our first obligation is to preserve its precious remains to ensure that its legacy can live on for generations. That duty requires us to remove seven of these historical treasures from our travelling artifact collection and return them to long term monitored conservation. The artifacts, which include textiles, personal goods and paper documents, have previously been on display around the world as part of Premiers Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition. They will be shown for a limited engagement at the largest permanent exhibition of Titanic artifacts at Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas through July 18, 2016. They will then be returned to the Premier Exhibitions conservation facility and put in long term monitored conservation, remaining available to historians, archaeologists and other qualified researchers. While many glass, metal and ceramic items remained relatively intact when the wreck site was found in 1985, textiles and paper products are incredibly rare, as they usually deteriorate in the marine environment. In Titanics situation, although fragile artifacts were exposed to the harsh undersea environment that exists 2.5-miles below the surface of the Atlantic, textiles and paper documents were recovered and conserved, continued Klingelhofer. Textiles and paper goods that were recovered survived because they had been contained within tanned leather luggage, bags or wallets at a generally stable temperature. After 20 years of rotating display we have determined these seven fragile pieces of history must be returned to the collections storage so they can be preserved for future research and interested generations to come. It is an honor to serve as the Salvor-in-Possession of the Titanic wreck site, and owner and trustee of the vast and impressive collection of its recovered artifacts, said Daoping Bao, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Premier Exhibitions, Inc. Preserving these seven artifacts for future generations so that we can continue to tell Titanics story is of the utmost importance and something we are passionately dedicated to. July 18, 2016 will be the final opportunity to see: Declaration of Intention Form: 2 nd class passenger Franz Pulbaum, a machinist originally from Germany, clearly intended to become a U.S. citizen upon his return to New York City. He had been on a business trip to Luna Park amusement park in Paris. The form would have been used to allow him a smooth disembarkation. Pulbaums signature and personal information is still legible on the naturalization form. Pulbaum never became a U.S. citizen, he went down with Titanic. 2 class passenger Franz Pulbaum, a machinist originally from Germany, clearly intended to become a U.S. citizen upon his return to New York City. He had been on a business trip to Luna Park amusement park in Paris. The form would have been used to allow him a smooth disembarkation. Pulbaums signature and personal information is still legible on the naturalization form. Pulbaum never became a U.S. citizen, he went down with Titanic. White Star Line Receipt for One canary in Cage: Recovered from Marion Meanwells alligator purse, this small receipt fragment appears to confirm that 3 rd class passenger, Mrs. Meanwell (nee Mary Ann Ogden), a milliner from Eastbourne Sussex, England agreed to transport a relatives canary from Southampton to Cherbourg. Additional information suggests that Chief Purser Hugh Walter McElroy took responsibility for the bird, while transport payment was provided by Mrs. Meanwell. Recovered from Marion Meanwells alligator purse, this small receipt fragment appears to confirm that 3 class passenger, Mrs. Meanwell (nee Mary Ann Ogden), a milliner from Eastbourne Sussex, England agreed to transport a relatives canary from Southampton to Cherbourg. Additional information suggests that Chief Purser Hugh Walter McElroy took responsibility for the bird, while transport payment was provided by Mrs. Meanwell. Cotton Pajamas: This pair of mens pajamas is made of white cotton with blue stripes. No maker marks were found, they are a size medium with button shirt and drawstring bottoms. The deterioration around the neck and body appear to reflect normal wear and tear. This pair of mens pajamas is made of white cotton with blue stripes. No maker marks were found, they are a size medium with button shirt and drawstring bottoms. The deterioration around the neck and body appear to reflect normal wear and tear. Pair of Gloves: This degraded pair of cotton gloves was originally white and probably belonged to a gentleman. They are still attached at the cuff, so they had not yet been worn. The gloves were recovered from a suitcase containing unmarked pajamas, jackets, and other clothing. This degraded pair of cotton gloves was originally white and probably belonged to a gentleman. They are still attached at the cuff, so they had not yet been worn. The gloves were recovered from a suitcase containing unmarked pajamas, jackets, and other clothing. Waiters Pad Blank Page: Waiters from the exclusive a la carte restaurant on board would jot down lunch and dinner orders on pads such as this for the chefs to prepare in the galley. Unlike the First Class Dining Saloon, which cooked in larger quantities, the a la carte restaurant prepared each individual meal to order. Waiters from the exclusive a la carte restaurant on board would jot down lunch and dinner orders on pads such as this for the chefs to prepare in the galley. Unlike the First Class Dining Saloon, which cooked in larger quantities, the a la carte restaurant prepared each individual meal to order. Pair of Socks: This is one of three pairs of cotton and silk socks recovered from a single suitcase. These were neatly folded by the owner for his Titanic journey. While the clothing in this passengers suitcase was of good quality, these socks have been darned in several places, showing a thrifty character as well. This is one of three pairs of cotton and silk socks recovered from a single suitcase. These were neatly folded by the owner for his Titanic journey. While the clothing in this passengers suitcase was of good quality, these socks have been darned in several places, showing a thrifty character as well. Left Shoe: This mens leather shoe fragment consists of the welt, top cap and partial quarter with the insole. Attesting to the meticulous care under which all artifacts are conserved, this shoe has never been previously exhibited due to its fragile condition. This will be its first and only time on public display. All seven soon-to-be retired artifacts will be put on display at Luxor Las Vegas on April 15, 2016, the 104th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic. They will be housed in a special conservation case where visitors to Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition can view them until their retirement this summer. Dedicated to preserving Titanics legacy, Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition takes guests on an emotional journey through the life of the legendary ship. Along the way, visitors learn countless stories of heroism and humanity, paying tribute to the indomitable force of the human spirit in the face of tragedy. Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition at Luxor Hotel & Casino is open daily from 10 a.m. 10 p.m. with the last admission at 9 p.m. In addition to Las Vegas, Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition is open in Orlando, Florida; Buena Park, CA; Jersey City, NJ; Prague (Czech Republic) and Linz (Austria) It is a morality play: Total prohibition is a step that needs to be welcomed in the land where Lord Buddha attained enlightenment. But, at the same time, the state government also needs to come up with some creative measures for people living in rural areas so that they adopt it willingly and voluntarily. Roughly two per cent of the total population of the state is tribals. The Nitish Kumar government has imposed a ban on liquor in Bihar, completely ignoring the tribals for whom consumption of liquor is part of their culture. For example, during Sarhul festival, tribals living in different parts of Bihar and Jharkhand consume liquor as part of their ritual. I as well as other social scientists believe that a complete ban on liquor never works. Keralas efforts to introduce prohibition is a clear example. The Kerala government imposed graded prohibition, arguing for a liquor-free state eventually. It did so by restricting the sale and consumption of liquor to five-star hotels. Yet it is unclear whether consumption of liquor was the reason for some of Keralas social problems or a symptom of a wider social breakdown brought about by change. On December 30, 2015, the apex court upheld the Kerala governments decision, while contending that introducing prohibition was a different task. The court also observed how Kerala had in the past forayed into prohibition and found it unimplementable. In fact, governments and politicians from South India presented it like the new myth of Sisyphus where prohibition was introduced with much fanfare only to be quietly withdrawn once it started to impact state revenue. Prohibition, in fact, has an electoral sensibility. Politicians, like eager scouts, make the promise only to abandon it later. Prohibition has become a governmental morality play. But the government cannot play populist games without revenue that the sale and consumption of alcohol provides. The general trend should be to move from prohibition to regulation as it may prove to be a more flexible game where piety and populism can play out their respective parts in parallel silos. Data from surveys done by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies shows that Nitish Kumars political support base comprised largely of women. They were in the forefront of the protest against the consumption of alcohol as it is women who usually experience first-hand consequences, such as domestic violence. Therefore, Mr Kumars wish to consolidate this group is understandable. But there are problems of governance especially in the state not known for law and order control. There is also the danger that imposing prohibition will lead to a crime wave which consolidates itself around prohibition as it happened previously around mining. Prohibition then becomes a sham, especially as far as bootleggers are concerned. The rhetoric of prohibition is clear. The silence is about how to moderate or minimise the consequences of alcoholism, and the requirements of revenue that are equally demanding. Civil society and state must start a new conversation to try and understand the impact of knee-jerk moralism on social life. Prof. S. Narayan is an anthropologist and emeritus professor at the Institute of Social Studies, New Delhi Liquor ban empowers women: Article 47 of the Constitution clearly says that the state shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of intoxicating drinks and drugs which are injurious to health. In spite of the views of Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bhimrao Ambedkar against alcohol consumption, which are echoed in the Consitution, the lack of intent towards prohibiting alcohol is a cause for concern. The state of Bihar, which is facing economic challenges, has, by prohibiting alcohol, carved a milestone of sorts. Even though Bihar generated maximum revenue from liquor, chief minister Nitish Kumars government has taken the decision to ban liquor in the state. Liquor ban was earlier imposed in the year 1977-78 but it didnt hold for lack of proper enforcement. But this time both circumstances and implementation have changed. Earlier, administrative orders were issued for ban of liquor without an eye on its social impact. However, under Mr Kumar the ban has been imposed considering it to be the need of the hour and as a result of a poll promise to those whose lives were most affected by liquor, i.e. women. This is a strong move and follows Mr Kumars earlier steps to strengthen womens position in the state so that he could harness their support in implementing the liquor ban. Legislations centred around education for girls, providing scholarship, dresses and cycles as well as self-help groups, strengthen womens position and promise a progressive future. Under the same goal, womens empowerment was assured through reservation of 50 per cent seats in panchayats. Since November 2005, under the guidance of Mr Kumar, Bihar has reformed itself to provide a voice to the marginalised and work for their empowerment. This leads to the obvious question as to why political parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party have not come up with comprehensive welfare schemes that seek change in the ideological and moral sense. Unanimous approach against the evil of liquor consumption has been taken for the first time by identifying it as a link to the prosperity of the people. Bihar, which is always perceived as state where people dont cast their vote, they vote their caste, has engineered a caste-neutral constituency of women, providing them social security and empowerment through various schemes. Certainly, Mr Kumars decision will invite opposition from the liquor mafia, which will require tough regulation of the prohibition. All 243 MLAs of the Bihar Assembly, including the Speaker, chief minister and Leader of the Opposition, rose from their seats and vowed they will not consume alcohol, adding that they would also discourage others from doing so. This has prompted members of Janata Dal (United) to take a similar oath. Similar initiatives have also started picking pace in Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Jharkhand where women have urged political parties, both ruling and contesting, to include prohibition in their agenda. Its instances and decisions like these which highlight the persona of Mr Kumar not just as a political leader but as a social reformer. He is willing to take up arms against all those who are not motivated by social welfare but by spreading misrule and dividing the people. Neeraj Kumar is a Bihar MLC and JD(U) spokesperson Pakistan has an appalling road safety record due to poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving. (Photo: AFP/Farooq Naeem) MULTAN: At least 19 people including two children were killed in a collision between a passenger bus and a truck in Pakistan early on Wednesday (Apr 13), officials said. The accident took place near the town of Theekriwala in Punjab province due to "speeding and reckless driving", senior police official Afzaal Ahmed Khosa told AFP. "Nineteen passengers including two women and two children were killed," Khosa said. Dr Naeem Hashmi, who works at the Allied Hospital in nearby Faisalabad city, said 15 injured people were being treated in the emergency department. Two of them were in a serious condition. Pakistan has an appalling road safety record due to poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving. More than 4,600 people were killed in road traffic accidents in 2013, the last year the government released official data. In a recent document sent to the Ministry of Information and Communications, Le Chi Cong, general director of VSTV, which owns the brand K+, said when comparing among three case scenarios, namely having the EPL, having the non-exclusive rights to broadcast the EPL and not having the EPL at all, the company concluded that without the EPL, VSTV would have more severe losses, because its other contents cannot compete with those of other companies which have been operating for more than 20 years and other telecom companies with strong finance and a big user base. The document was sent in the context that K+ has just announced its breaking away from an agreement signed with the Vietnam Pay Television Association (VNPayTV) that prevented it from individually negotiating to buy the rights to broadcast the EPL. At the end of 2015, the Ministry of Information and Communications asked all Vietnamese companies not to buy the rights to broadcast the EPL at all cost because that would be a waste. They have to cooperate to buy and then share instead of individually negotiating. 10 companies including K+ then signed the agreement to not negotiate alone and to not buy if the price exceeds that of the last three seasons by more than 20 per cent, and to create a negotiation committee represented by VNPayTV. VNPayTV then told MP&Silva, the owner of the rights, that it would not buy if the price exceeds that of the last three seasons by more than 20 per cent, and that it would buy all games, and the rights will be shared among all the Vietnamese broadcasters. It also asked MP&Silva to reply by April 15 this year or else the EPL will not be broadcasted in Vietnam. MP&Silva in turn said the organisers of the league did not accept this kind of collective buying. There has never been a case like this in world history. Canal+ earlier spent $40 million so that K+ had the exclusive rights to broadcast the EPL in the 2013-2016 period. Cong said that K+ only had the exclusive broadcasting rights for 100 of the 380 games. The rights to exclusively broadcast the EPL is considered the biggest competitive edge of K+ compared to other pay TV operators in Vietnam. Established in May 2009, VSTV is a joint venture between state-owned broadcaster VTV and CANAL/Canal+ Overseas, the foreign distribution arm of Canal+ Group. Last June, the company reported that it finally broke even after six years of operating in Vietnam. DASAN Networks and Zhone Technologies announced that they have agreed to merge subsidiary companies, DASAN Network Solutions, Inc. and DA corp. By merging the two subsidiary companies, DASAN Networks will be acquiring 58 per cent of Zhone Technologies shares, incorporating Zhone Technologies as one of its major subsidiary companies. After this merger and acquisition (M&A), DASAN Networks will become the seventh largest provider of broadband access equipment, while jumping to the sixth largest provider of GPON equipment, only trailing major global conglomerates such as Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei and ZTE. Zhone Technologies, located in California, currently has the top eighth position in global FTTH market. By the time the M&A is complete (approximately June-July 2016), Zhone Technologies will change its company name to DASAN Zhone Solutions and will try to take place as one of the top five network solution providers in the global market. DASAN Zhone Solutions aims to maximise revenue and market share by merging the strengths of both companies. While DASAN Networks has a strong foothold throughout Asia, Zhone Technologies has a strong foothold in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. DASAN Zhone Solutions will thus be able to promote products and solutions that previously belonged to two separate companies to expand its product portfolio and customer base. The current target is to reach 2 per cent market share in the global broadband access, mobile backhaul, and enterprise markets which add up to a $40 billion market. DASAN Networks is expected to gain momentum for market expansion in North America. Zhone Technologies, having existing clients, along with production and logistics centres in America, will provide a concrete foundation for DASAN Networks to compete with other network equipment providers already existing in North America. Zhone Technologies three customer support centres will also become a major upside in DASAN Zhone Solutions expansion plan for North America. DASAN Zhone Solutions will provide total solution portfolio after integrating the products of both companies. Zhone Technologies next-generation multiple service access platform (MSAP), and terabit access concentrator combined with DASAN Networks product line-up produces an end-to-end fiber network solution that will meet expectations from various clients and customers. MinWoo Nam, chief executive officer (CEO) of DASAN Networks, said that this decision was made as a global expansion plan for both DASAN Networks, and Zhone Technologies. Now, by combining forces, DASAN Zhone Solutions had a strong foothold in every continent, and could reach customers all around the globe. The M&A between the two companies will become a major turning point, and the North American market will become the main market for DASAN Zhone Solutions , he said, adding that By combining the strengths of both companies, DASAN Zhone Solutions will become one of the top five network solution providers. The merger of Zhone and DASAN will immediately position our company as a leading provider of Broadband Access, Mobile Backhaul, Ethernet Switching and Passive Optical LAN solutions, said Jim Norrod, CEO of Zhone Technologies. We will expand our customer base around the world and take advantage of greater economies of scale in manufacturing, support and engineering. Hai Duong city, 60 km east of Hanoi, has been well-known for its rich culture, long history, and learning tradition. In the past, the province had 472 scholars including 11 first-ranking doctoral laureates. Mo Trach village in Binh Giang is honored as the Doctor Village because it produced 39 holders of doctorate degrees during feudal times. The province set up a Temple of Literature to honor the local learning tradition. Famous scholars from Hai Duong include Nguyen Trai, Tue Tinh, Mac Dinh Chi, Pham Su Manh and Nguyen Phi Khanh. Hai Duong has great tourist potential thanks to its numerous festivals, cultural and tourist sites. The province has 2,000 historical and cultural relics, 125 which are ranked as national relic sites. Tran Lieu temple, Tran Hung Dao monument, An Phu pagoda, Kinh Chu hi cave, the Temple of Literature, and Con Son-Kiep Bac relic are the most famous sites in the region. Covering an area of more than 8 hectares in Chi Linh town, the Con Son-Kiep Bac historical site is closely associated with the lives and careers of outstanding national hero Tran Hung Dao, the great writer Nguyen Trai, and the great teacher Chu Van An. Le Duy Manh is Deputy Head of the Con Son - Kiep Bac Relic Site Management Board. The Con Son- Kiep Bac is a religious center in the northeastern region. It is on the pilgrimage path from Thang Long citadel to the Yen Tu Buddhist Holy Land. Con Son pagoda worships Huyen Quang Ton Gia, the third progenitor of Truc Lam Zen Buddhism. Five kilometre from Con Son pagoda is Kiep Bac temple, which worships military leader Tran Hung Dao. Next to Kiep Bac temple is a temple dedicated to the Confucianism teacher Chu Van An. Hai Duong is famous for not only its historical and relic sites but also its numerous traditional festivals. The bell ringing festival in Dong Ngo pagoda, Thanh Ha district, is the first festival of the year. But the biggest festival is the Kiep Bac Temple festival which is held during the 8th lunar month. Traditional festivals in Hai Duong often feature processions, folk games, swimming contests, and stick fighting, which maintain the cultural characteristics of the Red River Delta. More than 500 local traditional festivals have been restored so far. Hai Duong province preserves several traditional theater and art genres like Cheo traditional theater, Tuong opera, Ca Tru singing, duet singing, lullabies, and water puppetry. There are three water puppet troupes in Hai Duong. Pham Van Tong, Head of the Water Puppetry Troup of Hong Phong commune said the art-form first appeared in Hong Phong commune during the 17th century and all the puppets are handled by strings. Local people perform water puppetry after a hard working day. The performances feature local peoples daily activities. These performances entertain and celebrate the peoples lives. Hai Duong is also famous for local specialties such as glutinous rice, lychees, green bean cakes, and gai cakes or thorn leaf black cakes. Local craft villages like Kinh Chu stone carving village, Dong Giao wood carving village, Chau Khe jewelry village, and Cay and Chu Dao ceramic village also preserve their traditional crafts. Photo : nasa.gov The US space agency had already pushed back the launch by a day to Tuesday. If technicians are able to finish their repairs as planned, Discovery and its six American astronauts will now launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center at 3:52 pm (1952 GMT) Wednesday, NASA test director Jeff Spaulding said. The flight to the orbiting International Space Station is the fourth and final shuttle flight of the year, and the last scheduled for Discovery, the oldest in the three-shuttle fleet that is being retired in 2011. Toronto: Canada's new assisted suicide law to be announced on Thursday will exclude non-Canadians, which means Americans won't be able to travel to Canada to die. A senior government official told The Associated Press late Wednesday the new law will exclude non-Canadians, precluding the prospect of suicide tourism from the US and elsewhere. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details ahead of the Thursday morning announcement. The law will also will exclude those who experience mental illness or psychiatric conditions. It will also ban advance consent. That is, it won't allow requests to end one's life in the future. The Supreme Court last year struck down laws that bar doctors from helping someone die, but put the ruling on hold while the government came up with a new law. New Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government asked for a four month extension to come up with the new law. Canada's justice minister is due to announce details on Thursday. Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, Germany, Albania, Colombia, Japan and in the US states of Washington, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico and Montana. The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg allow doctors, under strict conditions, to euthanize patients whose medical conditions have been judged hopeless and who are in great pain. Canada's Supreme Court declared last year that outlawing that option deprives dying people of their dignity and autonomy. It had been illegal in Canada to counsel, aid or abet a suicide, an offense carrying a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. Last year's ruling immediately triggered emotional responses from both sides of the debate. The decision was spurred by cases brought by the families of two British Columbia women, who have since died. The decision reversed a Canadian Supreme Court ruling in 1993. At the time, the justices were primarily concerned that vulnerable people could not be properly protected under physician-assisted suicide. But the top court said last year that doctors are capable of assessing the competence of patients to consent, and found there is no evidence that the elderly or people with disabilities are vulnerable to being talked into ending their lives. It has been more than 20 years since the case of another patient with Lou Gehrig's disease, Sue Rodriguez, gripped Canada as she fought for the right to assisted suicide. She lost her appeal but took her own life with the help of an anonymous doctor in 1994, at the age of 44. In Thailand, Songkran is celebrated as the kingdoms most important public holiday from April 12 to 15 every year. Songkran, well-known as a Buddhist festival and water festival, marks the end of the dry season, April which is Thailands hottest month, and the beginning of the annual rains in the fifth month of the Thai lunar year. On this festival, many Thais visit their local temples to pray and to wash their Buddha icons. Buddhist statues on house shrines are also cleaned. This cleansing ritual is to bring luck and prosperity for the coming year. Especially this year, Thai Airways hosts the celebration at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi for their passengers who enjoy the flight from Hanoi to Bangkok today. All passengers are very surprising, curious and happy to receive the greetings and gifts from the airline. This is the first time Thai Airways co-ordinates with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to celebrate this meaningful event in Vietnam. By Michael Sieburg Michael Sieburg is an associate partner at Solidiance Vietnam and the author of the Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Boost for Vietnams Manufacturing Growth white paper. Solidiance is a corporate strategy consulting firm focused on Asia. The firm advises CEOs on deals, define new business models, and accelerate growth in Asia. Solidiances expertise is focused on industrial applications, green technology, and the healthcare and technology sectors, with offices in 12 different Asian countries, including Vietnam. Driven by already growing trade volumes, a competitive manufacturing environment, and tariff cuts to key products, such as electronics, textiles and garments, trade growth is expected to accelerate further by at least 11 and 13 per cent year-over-year for exports and imports, respectively. A recent study by Solidiance highlights that while China remains Vietnams largest trade partner, the TPPs ratification will lead to higher manufacturing-driven trade volumes with the US and Japan, potentially resulting in an additional export value of $68 billion by 2025. As a result, Vietnams logistics infrastructure will benefit from the TPP as investments targeting its upgrade will be needed to accommodate the rising flow of goods. Current state of Vietnams logistics infrastructure Spanning more than 3,200 kilometres along the coastline, Vietnam is the among the smallest TPP members geographically, only surpassing Brunei (161km of coastline), Singapore (193km), and Peru (2,414km). Vietnam hosts approximately 115 seaports, including Saigon, Haiphong, and Danang, which are among the largest. Of the three, Saigon Port has the highest storage capacity, Haiphong has the longest birth capacity, and Danang has the highest maximum vessel size. Despite being the largest, Saigon Ports volume in 2013 was only 5.96 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEUs), which was roughly half of Malaysian Port Kelangs volume, 10 per cent less than Malaysian Tanjung Ports volume, and around 18 per cent of Singapores overall port volume. This suggests a demand for higher capacity alone, relative to other member states, especially since maritime transport is the predominant mode of facilitating trade between Vietnam and other countries. Once containers set anchor in Vietnamese ports, road transport is the primary medium for carrying freight, where goods are transported mainly from north to south, from ports to factories and warehouses, and vice versa. A shortage of smartly-designed road capacity and road access to ports remain the key barriers for improved efficiency, leading to higher logistics costs and decreasing global competitiveness - not just in transportation infrastructure, but ultimately in manufacturing, as well. Although air freight accounts for a relatively small amount of Vietnamese trade volume, a quarter of the domestic trade value is shipped by air and Vietnam is expected to be among the worlds fastest-growing air cargo markets in the years ahead, expanding at 6.6 per cent per annum, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Rail transport, on the other hand, is currently underdeveloped and will need upgrading. At present, cargo handling facilities, such as logistics centres, are run by the private sector, with standalone warehouses located near ports, airports or industrial zones to promote business efficiency. The Vietnamese government recently approved a development plan for logistics centres, where each region will have one dedicated centre serving local airports and ports. As logistics competitiveness is highly dependent on a countrys transportation infrastructure, Vietnam will move to upgrade itself in order to maximise benefits from the trade agreement. Key investments will likely target the port networks limited capacity, including the minimum vessel size allowed and storage capacity, underdeveloped road and rail infrastructure, and limited forwarding centres and supply services, which ultimately drive logistics costs higher as more vehicles carry less cargo to further distances. Opportunities for multinational logistics companies through the TPP ratification Accounting for about 40 per cent of Vietnam GDP, the trade industry has been the main driver for investments as well as international transport and logistics services, even prior to the TPP. The further opening of Vietnam as a market translates to a greater need for transporting, supplying, and warehousing at international standards, thereby leading to the development of logistics services and investments in warehouses, especially at large ports. Road infrastructure improvements are already underway and links are being created between manufacturing regions and product destinations. However, to accelerate upgrades, the government announced in January 2016 that it would turn to the private sector for additional infrastructural funding, due to constraints on the state budget. This is a result of an estimated $48 billion infrastructure budget requirement from 2016 through 2020 that has been identified to support and sustain the countrys economic growth, which has been among the highest in Asia in the recent years. This governmental move will create a more conducive investment environment, aimed at encouraging private and foreign investment in infrastructure projects. Following Vietnams 2007 accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), many global logistics companies have strengthened their presence in the country, as the sector shifted towards a more liberal market. The expansion of multinational companies in Vietnam to create a more competitive market is driving growing demand for supply-chain management facilities, particularly in relation to handling more complex sourcing issues, production requirements, and servicing sales networks. In order to successfully access the Vietnamese logistics market, the best move forward would be to develop the industry from the inside as well, rather than simply relying on external drivers. Foreign logistics companies, for example, may collaborate with local partners in training and technology transfer to likewise maximise their operations through increased localisation. They may also facilitate freight forwarding and third-party logistics service-providers (3PLs) to boost business competitiveness and they can make good use of geopolitical advantages in developing a logistics infrastructure in deep-water ports, international airports, trans-Asia railway, as well as logistics centres to accommodate the trade demands of the TPP. Hence, while improvements are still needed to facilitate growing trade volumes, Vietnams logistics infrastructure will inevitably benefit from the TPP as a result of the aim to boost Vietnams competitiveness. This will increase the countrys attractiveness as an investment hub, developing both the manufacturing and logistics sectors hand-in-hand. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close The main floor includes a large bust of Dr Ambedkar, a selection of black and white photographs depicting his life and work, his famous quotes painted on the walls and a room dedicated to bound copies of his writings as well as a large wall painting of the preamble of the Indian Constitution. (Representational Image) London: Floral tributes were paid to the Dalit icon and architect of the Indian Constitution Babasaheb B R Ambedkar on Thursday in London where a new memorial for him was the focal point of his 125th birth anniversary celebrations. India's Deputy High Commissioner to the UK Dr Virander Paul paid floral tributes to a bust of Dr Ambedkar at 10 King Henrys Road, where the Indian leader lived in 1921-22 during his student days at London School of Economics (LSE). "This home holds a very special place in the life and legacy of Dr Ambedkar and therefore in the hearts and minds of Indians. It is for the first time ever, we have gathered to observe Dr Ambedkar Jayanti, a great son of India," Dr Paul said at a special ceremony, which opened with the chants of a Buddhist prayer. The event was attended by representatives of the London-based Federation of Ambedkarites and Buddhist Organisation (FABO) UK, which had launched a campaign a few years ago to urge the Indian government to purchase the property as a historically relevant monument. The sale was completed by the Maharashtra government last year resulting in the creation of the Dr Ambedkar Memorial for Social Justice, which was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the UK last year. The six-room three-storey Victorian home is to soon open to the public as a memorial. The main floor includes a large bust of Dr Ambedkar, a selection of black and white photographs depicting his life and work, his famous quotes painted on the walls and a room dedicated to bound copies of his writings as well as a large wall painting of the preamble of the Indian Constitution. "This memorial is dedicated to the sheer hard-work and dedication of Dr Ambedkar, who walked here from LSE every day because he didnt have the money for public transport. He is a true inspiration," said Councillor Larraine Revah, the Mayor of Camden the London council which houses the memorial. The details of the shape and form of the new memorial are in the process of being finalised after consultations between the Maharashtra government and the Ministry of External Affairs in India. Among some of the proposals under consideration for the memorial-cum-museum is a plan to use one of the floors as a transitory residence for Indian students who arrive in the UK to study. The U.S. accused authoritarian regimes around the world Wednesday of suppressing their people with "increasing vigor and viciousness" to control any activities that might threaten their power. "Governments that deny political liberty forfeit public trust, thereby opening the door to civic unrest of all kinds, including I might add, violent extremism," said Secretary of State John Kerry during a news conference unveiling the 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Tom Malinowski, an assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor affairs, told VOA that information published in the report can be used as a basis to make decisions on security assistance to foreign militaries. "You can be certain that whenever we have credible evidence that a unit or an individual member of a foreign security force has committed gross violations of human rights, we do not and we will not provide assistance to those units and individuals," Malinowski said in a separate interview. In its 40th annual human rights report, the U.S. State Department said, "In 2015, this global crackdown by authoritarian states on civil society deepened, silencing independent voices, impoverishing political discourse, and closing avenues for peaceful change." At a time when technology is increasingly connecting people and making it easier to communicate and organize, the report said, authoritarian governments are making new efforts to stifle civil society "because they fear public scrutiny, and feel threatened by people coming together in ways they cannot control." The State Department singled out numerous governments for criticism, including what it described as "historically authoritarian regimes" in North Korea, Cuba, China, Iran, Sudan and Uzbekistan. The report also denounced Islamic State terrorists for their brutal attacks on civilians. "The most widespread and dramatic violations in 2015 were those in the Middle East, where the confluence of terrorism and the Syrian conflict caused enormous suffering," Kerry said. Cuba, Russia, China under scrutiny Even as the U.S. has normalized diplomatic relations with Cuba and President Barack Obama recently visited the island nation off the U.S. southern coast, the State Department said Havana "continued its practice of arbitrary, short-term detentions to impede the exercise of freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly. The government also re-arrested several political prisoners it had released in January 2015 who had continued their activism during the year." In China, the report said, "repression and coercion markedly increased during the year against organizations and individuals involved in civil and political rights advocacy. The crackdown on the legal community was particularly severe." The State Department said Russia "instituted a range of measures to suppress dissent. The government passed new repressive laws and selectively employed existing ones systematically to harass, discredit, prosecute, imprison, detain, fine, and suppress individuals and organizations engaged in activities critical of the government." The report said in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow seized in 2014, Russia has engaged in "systematic harassment and discrimination" against Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars by curbing their ability to speak out against the occupation. The State Department said Malaysia, Tajikistan and Turkey, a NATO ally of the U.S., stifled civil society activity through "overly broad counterterrorism or national security laws," or stiff interpretation of the laws. The report said governments in Iran, Egypt, Kenya, Cambodia, Uganda, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Ecuador all "deployed burdensome administrative and bureaucratic procedures as a means to restrict freedom of association." Report enforcement? The annual State Department report provides a benchmark for rights groups and organizations around the world tracking government abuses. Malinowski said it also helps inform Washington's police on foreign assistance. "We enforce the Leahy Law in every country in the world," Malinowski said, referring to the law authored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), which stipulates a process through which the U.S. government vets U.S. assistance to foreign security forces to ensure that recipients have not committed gross human rights abuses. But some critics say the State Department could do more to follow up on what it details in the report. Sarah Margon, Washington Director of Human Rights Watch, said, "even though this document is so accurate and so clear-eyed about what's going on in many of these countries, it isn't often used in the way that it should be." Margon added that this year's report highlighted not only non-state actor abuses, but also violations by governments that are "friends or allies" of the U.S. Criticisms for U.S. politicians Kerry also took time Wednesday to push back on one particular U.S. foreign policy topic that became an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign. "I want to remove even a scintilla of doubt or confusion that has been caused by statements that others have made in recent weeks and months, Kerry said. The United States is opposed to the use of torture, in any form, at any time by any government or non-state actor." Republican front-runner Donald Trump had suggested that the United States would be more effective at interrogating terrorists and preventing future attacks by torturing terrorist suspects or killing their families. He later appeared to walk back the statement when it was pointed out that ordering such actions would violate U.S. treaties and military codes of conduct. War destroys people, infrastructure and economies, but activists say we still dont have a clear idea of its long-term impact on the environment and civilian health -- much less, who should be responsible for the clean-up. Five years into the Syrian conflict, about half of all urban areas are in ruin, says Wim Zwijnenburg, project leader for PAX, a humanitarian disarmament group based in the Netherlands. Left behind are millions of tons of conflict rubble a mix of crushed cement, mangled metal, industrial and medical waste, asbestos and explosives residues that have to be removed, transported and either disposed of or stored. And its not yet clear to what extent that could be an environmental health issue, Zwijnenburg said, but looking for example at September 11th, when first responders were cleaning up the rubble from the World Trade Towers, years after, they face a lot of health problems because of being exposed to all the dust. "The debris pile acted like a chemical factory," said atmospheric scientist Thomas Cahill, who conducted a study of air quality at Ground Zero. It cooked together the components of the buildings and their contents, including enormous numbers of computers, and gave off gases of toxic metals, acids and organics for at least six weeks." Prior to the war, Syria had invested billions of dollars in creating four industrial zones to attract international investors. The largest, Sheikh Najjar, once housed hundreds of factories, primarily pharmaceutical, textiles and plastics. They have been severely damaged during the war, and the question is, what kind of toxins or hazards are being released, said Zwijnenburg. Across Syria, cement plants, quarries, power stations, oil refineries and hospitals have been destroyed, likely releasing waste products and contaminants into the air, soil and water. Ordnance, too, leaves a footprint that could also pose a long-term threat to health and the environment. Explosives contain substances like RDX, TNT and PBX, said Zwijnenburg. A lot of times there are residues left over after detonating, or if it didnt fully detonate, explosives can start leaking and end up in the groundwater. Syrians environmental governance, poor enough prior to the war, has collapsed, resulting in a buildup of household, industrial and medical waste which is either burned or left to rot either way, a health hazard. Assessing damage The U.N. Environmental Program (UNEP) was created in 1972 as the leading global environmental authority. It has conducted ecological studies in a number of post-conflict zones. But they need to be invited in by a country and they need sufficient free rein to go around taking samples and measurements, said Douglas Weir, manager of the Toxic Remnants of War Project, a network of environmental and humanitarian NGO's pushing for greater protection of the environment in conflict. If requested, the UNEP would send in teams with expertise in waste management, water quality, asbestos and soil/land contamination to take samples of water, soil, ash, dust and more. The U.N. would also compare its findings with baseline data on Syrias environment prior to the conflict, something that could be problematic. All this is assuming that world governments contribute to the effort. Germany, Switzerland and Norway, for example, funded UNEP's assessment in Lebanon after the 2006 war with Israel. Syria was an up-and-coming industrial state, Zwijnenburg said, but there were hardly any regulations in place, nor a sufficient, capable government able to deal with all the complexities of industrialization. The Syrian government, he added, also did a poor job of collecting environmental data. Determining liability So who will ultimately pay the price for cleaning up Syria? That is probably one of the least popular conversations among governments involved in armed conflicts, said Weir. Environmental law in peacetime has blossomed since the 1960's and 1970's, but the only place law hasnt been developed is in relation to conflict. Only once has a state been forced to be liable for damage, said Weir. In the 1991 Gulf War, after Iraq bombed all the Kuwaiti oil wells and you had these huge fires and oil spills, he said, the fires burned for months, sending off toxic soot, smoke and ash and causing widespread ecological damage. The U.N. Compensation Commission evaluated millions of claims of loss and damage in Kuwait and neighboring countries and awarded more than $52 billion for damages, which were paid out from Iraqs oil-for-food program. Assessing culpability in Syria will be challenging, if not impossible, given the many players involved. And even in cases where liability is established, it is not easily enforced. During its 2006 war with Lebanon, Israel bombed a power stations oil storage depot. Fifteen thousand tons of heating oil formed a 150-kilometer oil slick along the coast of Lebanon and Syria. The U.N. General Assembly subsequently adopted nine non-binding resolutions calling on Israel to compensate Lebanon more than $850 million in cleanup costs. Israel has refused to do so, citing lost lives and environmental damage of its own and pointing out that Hezbollah started the war. In announcing the findings of the 2006 assessment of Lebanon, UNEP director Achim Steiner noted that the international community could be of great help in providing dollars and technical support with cleanup efforts. In the end, more than a dozen countries helped clean up Lebanon. The refugee problem , however, has strained budgets and tempers across Europe and the Middle East. It is too soon to tell how generous these economies can afford to be when it comes to mopping up and rebuilding Syria. Opposition politicians in Chad have claimed fraud during Sunday's presidential election, but African Union (AU) observers say the poll, while flawed, was fair. Former Malian president and head of the AU observer mission to Chad, Diouncounda Traore, said issues included the late opening of polling stations in hard-to-access areas and poorly trained polling officers. He said he doesnt know what will happen after the proclamation of the results, but the AU is urging all candidates and their followers to accept the verdict. He said those who are not satisfied with the results should contest them in the courts. Kamalloh Salifou Tourabi, leader of the Pan African Institute for Election Assistance observer mission, said that despite irregularities, voter participation was estimated at 85 percent. The opposition said there was fraud, including ballot stuffing. Chadian president Idris Deby is widely expected to win a fifth term in office. The country faces continued threats from the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram. Social issues like the high cost of living sparked unprecedented protests in the run up to the poll. Five rights activists have been in jail for the last three weeks. Chad has cracked down on the media, in particular the foreign press, since the vote. The French broadcaster, TV5 Monde, said its crew was forbidden from filming. Mahamat Abdoulaye Issa, Chad's official in charge of press accreditation, said journalists were not authorized to report as the country waits for results. Issa said journalists wishing to report on non-election related issues must apply for new accreditation to remain in Chad. He said that does not infringe on press freedom. The electoral commission has two weeks from the April 10 vote to declare results. Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull hailed trade ties but has avoided sensitive political topics in China this week, addressing business audiences in Shanghai before meeting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing. Turnbull is expected to meet with President Xi Jinping Friday. Turnbull praised the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement that will eventually eliminate tariffs on most Australian products sold to China. Looking to boost visits to his country, which received more than 1 million Chinese tourists last year, Turnbull also said Australia will grant 10-year visas to Chinese nationals. For the first time, the country will offer visa applications in Chinese and online, Turnbull said Thursday in Shanghai. Trade surplus Bilateral trade between China and Australia was valued at $115 billion last year, down 6.3 percent from the previous year because of China's decreasing demands for iron ore, coal and other resources. Australia is one of the few developed economies to run a trade surplus with the world's second-largest economy. "It is with these objectives in mind that we embrace all of the extraordinary opportunities presented by China's own economic transition toward a more consumption-drive economy," Turnbull said in prepared remarks. Despite its strong financial relations with China, Australia is a political ally of the United States, which has confronted China about its controversial activity in the disputed South China Sea. Chinese community leaders in Australia warned the prime minister to stay away from the sensitive topic during his talks in China. He has not yet mentioned it in any of his speeches, although he is expected to touch on the subject during his meetings with Li and Xi. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff pledged Wednesday to form a government of national unity if she survives an impeachment vote in Congress this weekend, but the odds against her lengthened as even remaining allies wavered in their support. Rousseff is scrambling to shore up votes against impeachment as a stream of defections from her coalition make it increasingly likely she will lose Sunday's ballot in the lower house of Congress on whether she should face trial in the Senate over accusations she broke budget laws. Politicians have begun to flock this week to the residence of the man who would replace Rousseff if she is convicted, Vice President Michel Temer, to declare their support for him, his aides said. Business leaders have come out in support of Temer, who promises market-friendly policies and less government intervention to try to boost the world's seventh-largest economy, which has been hit by its worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Temer said Tuesday that he was ready to form a transitional government with other parties to lead Brazil out of the political crisis, raising speculation he was already forming a shadow government. "Obviously, he will start thinking about a cabinet on Monday if the vote is for impeachment on Sunday," Temer press spokesman Marcio de Freitas said. Largest ally defects Rousseff's chances of surviving impeachment suffered a big blow Tuesday with the defection of the largest ally remaining in her coalition besides her own Workers' Party. The centrist Progressive Party, or PP, with 49 members of the lower house, left her government and pulled its one minister in her cabinet. On Wednesday, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) gathered its caucus to inform its leader, Gilberto Kassab, Rousseff's minister for cities, that a majority of its 36 lower house members would vote for her impeachment. The Republican Party and the smaller National Labor Party (PTN) were due to meet later in the day, but members said most of their fellow lawmakers would vote against Rousseff even as their leaders negotiated jobs offered by her government. "They are running away from all parties except her own Workers' Party and the Communist Party of Brazil. It's a herd mentality," a leader of Temer's Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) close to the vice president told Reuters. He said the PMDB, which quit Rousseff's coalition two weeks ago, projects impeachment will clear the lower house with 380 votes Sunday. Battling for her political survival, Rousseff handed negotiations over to her mentor and predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's most influential politician despite a corruption investigation that hampered his efforts to save her government. "My first act after the vote in the lower house will be to propose a new pact among all the political forces, without winners or losers," Rousseff told the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper in a group interview with local media. She voiced confidence that her supporters would deny the opposition the 342 votes, equivalent to two-thirds of the lower house, needed to send her impeachment to the Senate. Impeachment odds Political risk consultancy Eurasia said Rousseff could still try to cobble together support from centrist parties, but it will be hard for her to stop the momentum for impeachment, with defections raising the odds of her removal to 70 percent from a previous estimate of 60 percent. Rousseff's opponents are 18 votes short of victory in the lower house, with 324 lawmakers backing impeachment and 124 opposed, with 65 undecided or declining to respond, according to a survey by the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper. The rift between Rousseff and her vice president reached a breaking point Monday over an audio message Temer sent his supporters calling for a government of national unity. Rousseff accused him of leading a conspiracy to overthrow her. In an interview with Globo News on Tuesday, Temer denied he was plotting to become president, calmly stating: "If destiny takes me to that position ... I will be ready." Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index soared for a second consecutive day, rising 3 percent on investor hopes that a Rousseff impeachment would improve the prospects of an economic recovery. The CNT transport sector lobby Wednesday declared its support for impeachment, saying Rousseff's government was incapable of drawing investment needed to restore growth and lacked the political support to pass needed reforms. In a letter to lawmakers, Brazil's most powerful industry lobby, the CNI, described the country's situation as "catastrophic" and blamed Rousseff's policies. "It's time for change," the letter seen by Reuters said. Erdogan has also been accused of seeking to muzzle the press, NGOs and academics. (Photo: AP) Istanbul: Five men were jailed in Turkey for "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports have said, one of several such cases that have intensified alarm over the country's slide towards authoritarianism. The five from the southern province of Sanliurfa were accused of damaging the president on social media, according to the Dogan news agency. A sixth person was arrested but later released. Almost 2,000 people have been prosecuted for "insulting" Erdogan since the former premier became president in August 2014, Turkey's justice minister said in March. The court cases have raised concerns over freedom of expression in Turkey and Erdogan has also been accused of seeking to muzzle the press, NGOs and academics. Erdogan has repeatedly denied that there had been any crackdown on free expression in his country. A German comedian has become the centre of a diplomatic spat between Turkey and Germany over a satirical poem that accused Erdogan of paedophilia and bestiality. Turkey has demanded that Berlin prosecutes the TV satirist, Jan Bohmermann, for slander. The government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proposed an assisted-suicide law Thursday, more than a year after the country's Supreme Court struck down measures that banned euthanasia, declaring that outlawing it deprives people of the ability to die with dignity. The legislation, announced by Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, establishes who is eligible for physician-assisted suicide and under what circumstances. The legislation would apply to adults who suffer from conditions where death is reasonably foreseeable. Those who are mentally competent, over the age of 18 and in a state of health that is advanced and in irreversible decline are eligible. The measure will exclude mentally ill and psychiatric patients and those who present advance requests. The government has proposed that the government study those issues. If it becomes law, assisted-suicide would only apply to Canadians, meaning non-Canadians cannot travel to Canada for the purpose of being euthanized. Prime Minister Trudeau applauded those responsible for drafting the bill, saying This will have a positive, significant impact on the lives of Canadians. After striking down an assisted-suicide law 14 months ago, the high court delayed enacting its ruling to give lawmakers time to craft new legislation. The decision to strike down the law was prompted by cases related to two British Columbia women who have since died. The ruling reversed a 1993 Supreme Court decision. At that time, justices were concerned that vulnerable people could not be adequately protected. Doctors may legally help people die in a few other countries including Albania, Colombia, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and in five U.S. states. Assisted suicide is also legal under certain strict conditions in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. China has increased taxes on purchases made through cross-border e-commerce platforms in a bid to recover revenue losses. The new plan is expected to tighten control over the loosely-regulated market, while ensuring a much fairer tax base and competition between brick-and-mortar importers and cross-border online trade. But a last-minute revision of the e-commerce product import list late last week caught many operators off guard, leaving them at a loss over how to manage the delivery of goods that are no longer permitted. No way out Some products, which were previously allowed for cross-border online trade are no longer on the list. [Because of that], lots of goods are now stuck in bonded warehouses and cant be delivered, said Nick Zhong, head of Guangdong Cross-border E-commerce Industry Associations member service department. Once excluded by the list, neither goods in transit or on board will be admitted into bonded warehouses. Thats another major impact, he added, conveying concerns expressed by many of the associations 2,000 e-commerce business members. Imports such as liquid milk, baby formula, fresh fruits and aquatic food are not covered by the list, which details the scope of 1,142 commodities allowed under the new cross-border e-commerce model. Liquid milk, which has an expiration date, may be hit the hardest as the association estimated that stockpiles worth more than $15.5 million may be left in limbo if the regulator wont revise the list soon or come up with a solution to fast-track its delivery, according to Zhong. On Friday, the finance ministry added 151 more products to the commodity list after taking into suggestions from the private sector. According to the ministry's press release, a grace period will be extended until early 2018 for the delivery of baby formula without registration certificates. However, it is not clear if liquid milk is included on the government's latest list. The associations Zhong, nevertheless, is optimistic that authorities will soon address the $15.5 million liquid milk situation or e-commerce operators can always resort to the channel of normal imports to clear their goods though they have to pay due taxes. Complicated clearance In addition, the e-commerce sector is already feeling pained from complying with the new clearance system, although Zhong said that its just a matter of time for businesses to get used to the new model. For the first week, it is still too early to tell how the new taxation plan will impact the industry or its overall sales, although competition is sure to get tougher along with price fluctuations triggered by hiked taxes, he said. Most operators, he added, will watch and wait because big companies have the upper hand with supply-chain logistics and clearance advantages, while small outfits are looking to maintain a profitable niche. On the consumer side, many still believe that cross-border shopping remains a powerful draw. There is still demand for cross-border products. And our survey showed that [the sectors] consumers are not that price sensitive, Zhong said. Hiked taxes Under the new plan, most cross-border online purchases will be levied a combined consumption and import value-added tax (VAT) at a 30 percent discount, or 11.9 percent. That compares to such deals old postage tax of 10 percent with a waiver if the tax was less than 50 yuan ($7.70). In other words, online cross-border deals, retailed at below 499 yuan ($77.20), used to be duty-free, but are now levied with a VAT of 59.4 yuan. However, there are also rate cuts for certain products. For example, cosmetic imports, whose tax rate was 50 percent if the value of purchases exceeded 100 yuan, will now be levied a lower 32.9 percent tax. A tariff-free cap of 2,000 yuan per transaction and 20,000 yuan for yearly transactions is also set. Those [less competitive] individual shopping agents abroad will likely meet a setback by the new business model. But, in the long run, the new policies help ensure the quality of imports and the tractability of their origins with arrangements to facilitate a [sound market] entry system, said Tomson Tang, vice chairman of Chinese Electronic Commerce Association. Tang said he expects the new policies to help push forward the sectors healthy development and curtail logistics and environmental costs as buyers make small purchases to take advantage of tax waivers. The new plan, moreover, is expected to provide a pricing catalyst, encouraging local producer to improve the quality of their products to compete with slightly pricier imports, said Hu Xingdou, an economics professor at Beijing Institute of Technology. With the cost of online shopping climbing, sales of local brick-and-mortar stores may see a boost, the professor added. Nevertheless, the tax hike adds a burden on local consumers, which could adversely affect the countrys slowing economy. Chinese consumers have long been shouldering a pretty heavy tax burden. Estimates show that locals here pay a [macro] tax bill of 60 to 65 yuan out of every 100 yuan transaction, Hu said. That is higher than the averaged 30 percent tax burden in other countries, the professor added. According to McKinsey & Co, China's cross-border consumer e-commerce amounted to an estimated 259 billion yuan ($40 billion) in 2015, more than six percent of its total consumer e-commerce, and its growing at a rate of more than 50 percent annually. Pakistan's newly-built cargo port of Gwadar sits on a remote, unspoiled coastline in the country's far southwest. Just beyond the port's two semi-circular bays, the Arabian Sea meets the Persian Gulf, and local fishermen ply the crystal blue waters as they have for generations. Officials hope the multi-million-dollar deep water port will soon transform the idyllic seaside retreat into an economic engine for Pakistan, acting as a key regional hub for oil, gas, and goods. Important intersection Gwadar, jointly developed by Chinese and Pakistani engineers, lies at the convergence of three of the most commercially important regions of the world, the oil-rich Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia. The port will be in full operation by end of this year, said Zhang Baozhong, chairman of China Overseas Ports Holding Company Ltd., who is in charge of development and operation at Gwadar. The deep water shipping port, built with Chinese financial and technical assistance, is central to the recently launched grand cooperation agreement between the two close allies. Trading zone expected in the future The so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, known as CPEC, is a package of building railroads, highways, pipelines, power plants and industrial zones with an investment of $46 billion. It will also give Beijing greater access through Pakistan to global markets, including Africa and Europe. Baozhong told a conference of officials, politicians and foreign diplomats in Gwadar, that almost no trading activity is taking place at Gwadar right now but that is expected in a year. We are expecting that roughly one million tons of material will go in and out, he said. Initially, most of the cargo will be construction material worth billions of dollars for ongoing and proposed projects such as building roads, schools, hospitals, a free trade zone at the port, and the citys international airport, which is expected to be started by the end of this year, explained Baozhong. Gwadar is located in Baluchistan province where separatist groups have, for decades, waged guerrilla attacks against key government facilities, officials and security forces. Security measures Pakistani authorities in recent months have stepped up what they say are targeted operations against the insurgents and have also raised a special force within the past year for the protection of CPEC-related projects in and beyond the province. I assure you that security of CPEC is our national undertaking and we will not leave any stone unturned. We will continue to keep a close watch at its every step.To this effect, a 15,000-strong, dedicated force is already in place under the ambit of Special Security Division, said the Pakistan military chief, General Raheel Sharif, while addressing the conference in Gwadar. Chinese officials also said that Pakistans counter-militancy efforts have addressed safety concerns to a great extent and sped up on all the projects in the last year. The improved environment in Pakistan has created favorable conditions for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.A remarkable progress has been made in CPEC projects, said acting Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Zhao Lijian, in his speech to the conference. Chinese operators of Gwadar's port say they are also developing a mechanism to improve quantity and quality of the local fishing industry to help boost the regions economy. A 923-hectare free trade zone outside the port, expected to be in place by the end of next year, will have a large processing plant, a large refrigeration house, and other facilities to improve seafood exports, said Baozhong. A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer says his law license has been revoked, due to his conviction last year over a series of online postings critical of the Beijing government. Pu Zhiqiang was given a three-year suspended prison sentence last December when he was found guilty in a Beijing court of "inciting ethnic hatred" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble." His posts included criticism of Beijing's policies in Tibet and the remote northwestern region of Xinjiang, where the mostly Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uighurs have long complained of cultural and religious persecution by Chinese authorities. The 50-year-old lawyer has represented a number of dissidents, including labor camp victims and outspoken artist Ai Weiwei. He was arrested in May 2014 after attending a meeting to discuss the 25th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre of hundreds of pro-democracy protesters by Chinese security forces. Pu's arrest and trial is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's crackdown on government critics and civil rights activists since coming to power in 2013. China says human rights in the United States have worsened due to police brutality, rampant gun violence and the corrupting influence of money in politics. Beijing made the allegations Thursday in an annual report issued by the State Council in response to the U.S. State Department's release of its annual report of human rights violations in China and other countries around the world the day before. In addition to domestic abuses, the Chinese report also accuses the U.S. of human rights abuses abroad, including countless civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria, drone strikes, and government eavesdropping of foreign nationals. Much of the information in the report was taken from various U.S. news outlets. If the United States refuses to "hold up a mirror to look at itself" in terms of human rights, the report said, other nations must do so. Human rights tensions A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry accused Washington of using human rights "to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries." In its annual human rights report 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices Washington said in China, "repression and coercion markedly increased during the year against organizations and individuals involved in civil and political rights advocacy," and was "especially severe" among the legal community. Human rights have been a source of tensions between the two nations for decades, especially after the United States imposed economic sanctions on China after the deadly crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Beijing says it has lifted millions of its people out of poverty due to its rapid economic development. WATCH: Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski Speaks to VOA U.S. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are debating late Thursday in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, just days before next week's key party nominating contest in New York state. Pre-election surveys show Clinton, who was U.S. secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, with a lead of 10 percentage points or more in New York over Sanders, a senator from Vermont. But the self-described democratic socialist has won seven of the last eight state contests against her and is hoping for an upset win Tuesday. Clinton, looking to become the first female U.S. president, holds a large lead over Sanders in the race to win a majority of delegates to July's Democratic National Convention, which will select the party's nominee to run in November's national election. That's when voters will pick the successor to President Barack Obama, who leaves office next January. Clinton has not amassed a majority of convention delegates yet, but would move closer to claiming the nomination with a decisive win in New York, her adopted home and the state where voters twice elected her to the Senate. A victory for Sanders, who grew up in the state, would give him even further momentum as the contest heads to more state-by-state party elections through early June. Delegates at stake With a large cache of 291 Democratic convention delegates at stake in New York, Clinton and Sanders have campaigned extensively in the state for days, trading barbs at each other with increasingly intense rhetoric. Clinton now has 1,786 of the 2,383 delegates needed to secure the nomination, compared with 1,107 for Sanders. Sanders has focused his campaign against the clout of U.S. corporate chieftains and the yawning U.S. income gap between the wealthy and average wage earners. He drew what his campaign said was a crowd of 27,000 people to a rally Wednesday night in New York City, telling them he could win the state primary if there is a large voter turnout, rather than a smaller one that might favor Clinton. He criticized Clinton for her ties to Wall Street, her support for trade deals and her vote to support the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, a vote she has long since said was a mistake. Clinton has accused Sanders of being unable to give details of how he would undermine the power of corporate America and enact broad reforms in Washington, including providing free college tuition for students. The two quarreled in recent days, with each questioning the other's qualifications to be president, but they later softened their remarks. Sanders acknowledged that Clinton, the wife of former President Bill Clinton, does indeed have the experience to become the 45th U.S. president, while Clinton said Sanders was clearly preferable to either of the top two Republican presidential candidates, billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump or Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a conservative firebrand in the halls of Congress in Washington. Sizable Trump lead Pre-election polls show Trump, who lives in a luxury high-rise building in New York, far ahead of Cruz and a third candidate, Ohio Governor John Kasich, ahead of Tuesday's New York Republican primary. Trump leads the Republican convention delegate race by a significant margin over Cruz. It remains uncertain, however, whether Trump, a political novice who has never held elective office, can win a majority of delegates before the party's July convention. Cruz and Kasich are hoping to block a first-ballot Trump victory in the hopes convention delegates will turn to them as the party's nominee on subsequent ballots. Some analysts say many Trump delegates could desert him on the second ballot and support Cruz, possibly enough to hand the senator the nomination. Republicans have not had a contested national convention since 1976, but most U.S. political analysts are predicting a contentious fight extending beyond the first ballot at this year's convention in the Midwestern city of Cleveland, Ohio. For their part, Trump aides are still predicting the onetime television reality show host will amass a majority of Republican convention delegates ahead of the quadrennial gathering 1,265, compared with the bare majority of 1,237 of the 2,472 convention delegates needed to claim the nomination. French, Spanish, and British ambassadors are in Tripoli in support of the new U.N.-mediated Libyan government. It is the ambassadors' first visit to the Libyan capital in two years, after most embassies closed in 2014 due to fighting between rival militias. Libya later became engulfed in war that split it between two rival governments and parliaments. The diplomats will meet with deputies of new Prime Minister Fayez Serraj. Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni visited Tripoli last week and announced plans to reopen embassies. Italy, France, and other Western nations are increasingly concerned about a powerful Islamic State force in Libya that controls the city of Sirte and has perpetrated attacks across the country. These nations have offered to train security forces in Libya to fight this growing threat. Libya has been in a state of chaos since leader Moammar Gadhafi was toppled and killed in 2011. Rows of soldiers in camouflage uniforms stood at attention Thursday, chanting war songs in a dusty field at Jebel Makor, 45 minutes from South Sudan's capital, Juba. The troops are some of the thousands that South Sudan's army is supposed to move out of Juba before the arrival Monday of rebel leader Riek Machar. The idea is that limiting troops in Juba will reduce the chance of clashes. The two sides agreed that nearly 5,000 government soldiers and police can remain in town, while the rebels can bring in 3,000. But the rebels accuse the government of failing to withdraw its soldiers, and of secretly bringing in extra troops. The army did not disclose how many troops it had in the city prior to demilitarization, nor allow international cease-fire monitors to verify the process. Thursday, the army took journalists to Jebel Makor to offer proof that they are upholding the peace deal. Army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said Jebel Makor is one of nine sites where soldiers have been redeployed. "We are complying. We have been complying, Ruai said. We keep on complying until what is required of us is met, and that is why these soldiers are here." Seven hundred troops stay at Jebel Makor, according to Ruai, who said the soldiers' presence proved the army is upholding the agreement. But Voice of America counted less than 300 soldiers at Jebel Makor. Ruai claimed the rest of the soldiers were cooking, patrolling or on sick leave. The spokesman could not say how many soldiers have moved out of Juba. He also did not know how many were in Juba before the process began. But Ruai insisted that the government is following the agreement, and invited international monitors to verify the number of soldiers in and outside the city. Despite the uncertainty, Machar's office says he will return Monday as planned and immediately be sworn in as vice president. The Greek army launched an unscheduled military exercise Thursday along its border with Macedonia and a cluster of islands near Turkey, with fighter jets passing over a tent city in Idomeni near the border. Sources within the Greek army confirmed that emergency maneuvers had been ordered in the northern city of Kilkis and in Oinousses, a chain of Greek islands off the coast of Turkey. The drills involved an airborne special forces unit backed up by aircraft, and air defense units along the island chain. The military exercise comes at a time of increased tensions among Greece and the two neighboring countries over the refugee crisis. On Wednesday, for the second time in three days, clashes erupted at the tent city between Macedonian police and refugees protesting the border closings that left more than 11,000 of them stranded in the camp. On Sunday, around 300 migrants were injured in Idomeni when they tried to break through a border fence and Macedonian riot police used rubber bullets and tear gas to push them back. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras condemned the Macedonian police after the clash with protesters, saying their use of rubber bullets and tear gas against unarmed migrants was shaming Europe. Macedonia denied using rubber bullets and said the migrants were throwing rocks at police officers. Greece has accused Turkish warplanes of repeatedly entering Greek airspace, flying over the Oinousses islands, though Turkey disputes whether the area should, in fact, be controlled by Greece. According to a source in the Greek air force, the two sites were chosen for the unscheduled war games because they were high-profile and had been in the news in recent days. Religious leaders representing a mosaic of faiths gathered on Thursday at a news conference to urge the U.S. Republican and Democratic parties to add into their party platforms a rejection of anti-Muslim bigotry. During the conference, hosted by the Islamic Society of North America at the National Press Club in Washington, leaders said a formal letter was sent to both parties asking them to stand against all discrimination and anti-Muslim bigotry by adding explicit language to their platforms in the upcoming nominating conventions. The initiative is part of Shoulder-to-Shoulder, an interfaith coalition of more than 32 faith groups that speaks out against hate. As Americans, we are deeply concerned by the prominence of anti-Muslim rhetoric and bigotry on the campaign trail. Such rhetoric does real harm to Muslim communities and other religious minorities throughout our nation, said Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) President Azhar Azeez. This election season has been filled with controversial comments directed at Muslims. Republican front-runner Donald Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. Trump also said he would consider shutting down some U.S. mosques. Dont talk this way. This is not America ... This is not human. This is not the recognition that we are one family here, said former archbishop of Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. McCarrick added that the attack on Muslim-Americans is a stupidity and the worst politics that they can do. Campaign trail rhetoric Others have personally experienced the anti-Muslim rhetoric shared on campaign trails. Fatima Salman, who calls herself a proud Muslim resident of Michigan in the north-central U.S., said she was always comforted by the fact that her state was well-integrated, with people standing side-by-side. Salman is a social worker in a Detroit suburb, helping local residents in some of the poorest neighborhoods build leadership capacity because I firmly believe in the potential of people to create change. She said all it took was one city council meeting she recently attended to shatter these feelings of peace. The town where she lives, West Bloomfield, was going to vote on becoming a designated welcoming city. I walked into a nightmare that day 125 people in opposition of welcoming immigrants into our city met me with cold icy stares of hate and anger towards me and my Muslim community," she said. People got up to the microphone, she added, using the same hateful words they had heard on the presidential campaign trail and mainstream media. The town voted to maintain the city as a welcoming designation. Salman left the meeting shaken. I had two police officers tell me I needed to walk to my car with an escort that day, she added. Hatred of that level, she added, is usually driven by fear. She said people going after the highest office in the nation must be held accountable for stoking such feelings in the American people. As an American and as a Muslim," Salman said, "I will stand against hate that targets Muslims, hate that targets blacks, hate that targets Mexicans, Jews or women ... Love and goodness win." Faith leaders also reinforced their stand against terrorism. Terrorists are a representation of barbaric criminals around the world, said Azeez, adding that ISNA condemns all acts of violence and extremism. Muslims around the world do not recognize them or their ideology as a religion authority or a representation of their religion, Azeez said. Rescue workers work on debris of the Germanwings jet at the crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France. (Photo: AP) New York: Relatives whose loved ones died last year when a Germanwings pilot deliberately crashed a plane in the French Alps filed a wrongful death suit on Wednesday against the US flight school that trained him. "Andreas Lubitz, the suicidal pilot, should never have been allowed to enter" the training program at Airline Training Center Arizona, Inc. (ATCA), said Brian Alexander, an attorney who filed the suit in federal court in Phoenix, Arizona. It was filed on behalf of 80 people whose relatives perished in the March 24, 2015 crash of a Germanwings' Flight A320. Alexander's firm, Kreindler and Kreindler, was joined in the suit by attorneys in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands. The crash took 150 lives, including that of Lubitz, a troubled pilot who had struggled for years with mental health problems. The 28-year-old locked the pilot out of the cockpit and while alone at the controls, steered the jetliner into the side of a mountain, killing all 144 passengers and six crew. The pilot, Captain Patrick Sondenheimer, can be heard on the "black box" recording retrieved from the crash site, banging on the cockpit door in the minutes before the crash, pleading with his young co-pilot to open it up. Lubitz had received pilot training at ATCA between November 2010 and March 2011. ATCA, like the budget air carrier Germanwings, is owned by the German airline Lufthansa. A spokeswoman for Lufthansa said the suit had "no chance of success," but declined further comment. History of depression Alexander said ATCA was "not just negligent, but also careless, and even reckless, in failing to apply its own well-advertised 'stringent' standards to discover the history of Lubitz's severe mental illness that should have kept Lubitz from admission to ATCA's flight school." Investigators determined after the crash that Lubitz, 27, had a history of depression and suicidal tendencies and the case has raised questions about medical checks faced by pilots as well as doctor-patient confidentiality. But the plaintiffs' lawyers said numerous red flags should have made it clear that Lubitz -- with a history of serious mental illness that included suicidal tendencies -- was unfit to be a pilot. His struggle with depression and other mental illnesses before entering ATCA's program was sufficiently serious to require that he break off his pilot's training for 10 months and receive treatment in hospital, the lawyers said in their suit. Lubitz had filed false documentation with the US Federal Aviation Administration, deliberately concealing "his true medical history, past medical diagnoses and lengthy treatment, including hospitalization, for multiple psychotic and mental disorders," the lawsuit said. Still, the German medical certificate Lubitz presented to ATCA bore a notation that indicated the certificate would be invalidated if there were a relapse or recurrence of his depression, according to the lawsuit. And while Lubitz's FAA medical certificate carried no notation, it was issued with a warning about his history of "reactive depression" that would bar him from flying if it recurred, the suit said. Negligence claimed If not for their negligence, officials at ATCA could have known, and should have been able to disclose to US aviation authorities, the disqualifying details of Lubitz's medical history, the suit maintains. "ATCA failed to use reasonable care to determine whether Lubitz's medical history of a severe mental disorder, including suicidal ideation, indicated a continuing lack of mental fitness and presented a risk of a recurrence or relapse which made him unqualified to be a commercial airline pilot," the text of the lawsuit said. The plaintiffs are not seeking a specific dollar amount, but are asking for "just, full and fair compensation" for the "pain, mental suffering, grief, sorrow, stress, shock they each sustained by reason of their loved one's murder," the text of the suit said. Iraqi lawmakers are meeting again Thursday, in a tumultuous week that saw a three-day sit-in by dozens of lawmakers from across the nation's political continuum. Parliamentary speaker Salim al-Jibouri called for the session to be dissolved Wednesday, after the conflict over a delayed vote on a new cabinet led to blows and hurled water bottles between opposing members. The lawmakers who participated in the sit-in in the parliament building have called for the resignation of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his new cabinet nominees. The clashes and sit-in began Tuesday after the vote on the cabinet was delayed. Abadi originally handed a list of his proposed nominees to lawmakers last month, but he faced major resistance as different political blocs wanted to make their own nominations. That feedback process then resulted in the current list of names being distributed throughout parliament. Experts in government Abadi has called for the government to be run by experts, rather than politically affiliated ministers, but the political parties pushed back in order to maintain the patronage system they rely on to stay in power. Iraq's new government will be tasked with shepherding the nation through an economic crisis and confronting deeply entrenched corruption, as well as riding out the current volatile political situation. In February, Abadi called for fundamental change to the government and called for the inclusion of academic and professional figures in the Cabinet. Since then he has proposed several reform measures that have been delayed or otherwise undermined by parties and politicians with vested interests in keeping the current system running. Islamic State militants across Iraq have proven to be a formidable force: experts in a hybrid of traditional and guerrilla warfare against their enemies, while terrorizing civilian populations under their control. But a combination of economic sanctions, relentless coalition airstrikes and Iraqi army attacks are cracking IS's armor. Families escaping through the chinks describe how IS wages war. Ahmed Saleh Mohammed sat on a thin foam mattress in the concrete room he calls home in this refugee camp. Looking at his mother, brother and children, he gestured at the walls as he described the night the war against IS arrived in his village. "Imagine the situation: a room this size with 60 people, my family, my brother's family, my cousin's family, and there is bombing, and we are ducking down because there are bullets coming through the windows and through the walls," he said. U.S.-led coalition fighter jets have been bombing IS areas for 20 months, and recently turned their firepower to the area around Mosul as the Iraqi army launched a now-stalled offensive to retake the city from IS in March. Some villagers were caught in the crossfire. "IS has an execution brigade for anyone who abandons their post," Saleh Mohammed said. It acts as powerful incentive for IS foot soldiers to stand their ground even in the face of coalition bombs. The airstrikes did give cover for some of these refugees to escape; others were freed by the Iraqi army. In all, about 6,000 most of them women and children have fled the recent fighting. But some of them said IS has a series of fallback plans for when Iraqi ground forces advance. Suicide bombers as bait Saleh Mohammed said the group is using female suicide bombers as bait. "When the army started liberating the city, they sent these women toward the Iraqi army to call for help, saying, Free us from IS.' Then, when they are near the army, they blow themselves up," he said. "They are IS wives, and not from my village, but sent by IS to blow up the village." Other male refugees said they, too, had seen suicide bombers dressed in the head-to-toe black covering used by women, but could not confirm they were women. These men were part of a cluster of sunburned refugees standing outside the camp mosque. Most refused to be photographed, fearful of what IS would do to relatives left behind. But they were eager to talk about what they had seen. Each village, they said, has an IS presence. Sometimes they take over a house in the middle of a village and use it as a hub, well aware that any bomb attack would kill nearby families. At other times, they move in with a family. "You cannot refuse IS. If they want to get into your house, they get in," said one student who would only give his name as Ahmed. "At one point, they were shooting next to my house and I went outside and asked them to stop and they started shooting at me. My mother pulled me back in the house and saved my life." Network of tunnels IS militants have also created an inter-connected network of tunnels under every village, giving them a place to hide when the area is bombed, and a fast way to move between houses. So even if the Iraqi army takes a village, the refugees said, the soldiers will have a hard time holding it. "The night the army came to liberate us, some IS went back to their tunnels," said one man, as others called out in agreement. "IS would then come out of the tunnels at night and start attacking the army." Arif, a former Iraqi military commander who also escaped, said the tunnels were built by IS prison labor or those desperate for money. That way, he said, if the tunnel-diggers were bombed, IS did not lose any fighters. "Only Iraqis were forced to dig the tunnels," Arif said, adding that the foreigners he saw were confined to the leadership of Islamic State. Others joined in, adding that the foreigners came from countries such as France, Russia, Algeria, Morocco and Afghanistan. The refugees also said that even prior to the Iraqi army moving in, IS started to lay bombs. "They booby-trap houses. They booby-trap even the streets, even the fields," said one man. All agreed that what IS hated the most were the airstrikes, which they said overall were "usually very accurate" in targeting the militants. For those trapped in the villages, the worst sound was not the fighter jets, but the silence. "When we don't hear planes, we get nervous," Arif said. "As soon as we don't hear planes, immediately IS starts reinforcing supplies, weapons, food and bombs. It's a strange battle and we are caught in the middle with no escape." Blame games An older teacher with white stubble on his chin, clasping a lined children's notebook in his right hand, waded into the crowd. At first Yassim's message seemed to be one of hope that life eventually could return to normal in Iraq. "There is a blessing from God that is forgetfulness, and we have faith in our future. It will always be a black memory in the back of our heads, but we will forget it," he said. But then he added, "This was all caused by the Iraqi government." It was a reminder of the deep sectarian hatred and blame games that still exist in Iraq. Iraq's majority Shi'ite government became increasingly repressive after U.S. forces left in 2011. IS exploited that oppression, marketing itself as a defender of the Sunni population. And even though this latest wave of refugees from IS acknowledged that IS militants were hiding in their houses and shooting Iraqi forces from their villages, they had little good to say about the army that liberated them, accusing them of torturing villagers and destroying their property. All sides in the Iraqi conflict have been accused of human rights abuses, although none have rivaled IS for sheer brutality. PHOTOS: Iraqi Families Flee From IS as Army Moves In More than a year after their liberation from the Islamic State (IS) group, residents in the Syrian town of Kobani are suffering from the deadly fallout of a four-month occupation. Since IS was expelled from Kobani in January 2015, at least 100 civilians have been killed and 200 wounded by landmines that IS planted throughout the town and surrounding villages, according to local officials. The trail of IS mines runs through towns and cities across Iraq and Syria. Mines and projectiles left behind make it difficult for liberating military forces to enter and bring stability. Tens of thousands of refugees remain in camps in Turkey, Jordan and elsewhere. They are too afraid to return home because of the mines. Since IS was driven out of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra in late March, Russian engineers have defused approximately 3,000 bombs that IS planted, Russia's ministry of defense said Tuesday in a statement. In the Iraqi cities of Sinjar and Ramadi, Kurdish and Iraqi authorities have reported that thousands of mines and booby traps were set by IS fighters. Efforts are underway to clear the areas in order to allow civilians to return to their homes. A U.S. de-mining company has been hired to clear Ramadi and train Iraqi troops to dismantle the mines, U.S. officials said this week. Norway will allocate $5 million for de-mining, a U.S. official told Reuters news agency. And the United Nations says it is working on a program to help clear mines from areas formerly held by IS. "We are still in the early-implementation phase and do not presently have comprehensive information to share," said Lee Woodyear, an official at the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS). Extensive and deadly Analysts say the mines left behind by IS are different from those found in war-torn lands such as Afghanistan and the Balkans. "What makes mine cleanup difficult in this case is that IS is very sophisticated in developing many types of IEDs, booby traps and mines," said Bastian Winkler, a German de-mining expert. "They put bombs almost everywhere after they leave. So it's very dangerous to detect them in the old, traditional way." Winkler told VOA that mines are so numerous and their paths so extensive that residents will be dealing with the fallout for many years. "The best thing to do in areas that were formerly held by IS is to start a mine risk-awareness program among locals," he said. Riddled with explosives But the deaths in the streets of Kobani show how daunting the task is. In the past week alone, at least five residents lost their lives in two areas of the city where mines and bombs exploded. "Two cousins of mine were killed by bombs after they went back to their village outside of Kobani," said Mustafa Rashid, a Kobani resident who remains at a refugee camp in Turkey, afraid to return home. Rashid said IS militants hid explosives inside sacks of barley stored in the family house. Kobani officials say de-mining efforts have been slow. "Soon after the liberation [of Kobani], a number of expert groups came to help us remove mines," said Khaled Berkel, an official with the local administration in Kobani. "But they only worked in the city. They didn't do anything in the countryside where the majority of bombs have been planted." Berkel told VOA that with inadequate expertise and limited financial resources, the local government can't do much to continue the removal process. As many as 20 members of a local mine-detecting team died as they were trying to remove mines, he told VOA from Kobani. Until the mine threat eases, many refugees say they will not return to Kobani despite harsh conditions in the refugee camps. "Fighting is over and people want to go back, but the more they hear about such mine incidents, the harder it becomes for them to make a decision," Rashid told VOA from Turkey. Islamic State (IS) appears to be losing its grip in Afghanistan, due in part to a steady aerial bombardment from U.S. and NATO forces and the terror group's failure to win over Afghans themselves. "Nobody really wants Daesh [Islamic State] in the neighborhood," Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, a spokesman for the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission, told Pentagon reporters Thursday via a video link from Afghanistan. "We think we have significantly decreased the footprint that they have in Afghanistan," he said. The U.S. military estimates there are between 1,000 and 3,000 IS fighters left in Afghanistan, though Cleveland said the actual number is "probably on the lower end of that." Shrinking territory Three months ago, IS held between six and eight districts, he said. Now it holds just two to three. IS fighters have been seen fleeing to the Kunar and Nuristan provinces along Afghanistan's western border with Pakistan, where they are just "trying to survive," Cleveland said. Though precise numbers are hard to come by, US and Afghan military commanders in Afghanistan are also beginning to see members of IS defect to the Afghan government or to the Taliban. Cleveland said IS forces left in Afghanistan are mostly "disaffected" Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, or remnants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Threat remains Through the first three months of 2016, NATO has hit IS fighters with between 70 and 80 airstrikes. But while it has taken a toll, Cleveland cautioned that the militants still "present the potential to be an enormous threat." "They've got the ability to really catch fire," he said. Despite setbacks, the Afghan military is also successfully putting pressure on IS and working to bolster its ranks. The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces lost about 5,500 troops last year, but held together; and Cleveland said he is expecting them to go on the offensive against both the Taliban and IS this year. "The [Afghan] military did not collapse, Cleveland said. While they certainly took some hits, they were able to keep themselves together. So we don't have a Mosul here in Afghanistan. We don't have a Ramadi or a Fallujah or anything like that." The Israeli military punished two soldiers for burning a Palestinian flag taken Wednesday from a car in the West Bank. The army said one of the soldiers was sentenced to 20 days in a military jail while the other was ordered confined to his base for 28 days. Palestinian witnesses said the soldiers were stopping cars at a checkpoint near the West Bank town of Nablus when they pulled a flag from one of the vehicles, dropped it to the ground and set in on fire with a lighter. An Israeli military spokesman called the incident "an unusual one in which the forces acted against what was expected of them, against the orders of their commanders." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is urging governments and industries to create enabling environments that spur connectivity, while promoting a U.S. plan to bring 1.5 billion people who lack Internet access online by 2020. Out of every five people in the world, there remain three without Internet access in 2016. It is unacceptable, Kerry said Thursday at a World Bank event. He said the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation is providing up to $171 million for a low cost and rapidly scalable wireless broadband network in India. He added, "We are announcing more than a billion dollars in U.S. government financing and loans with our development agency partners. Last September, during the U.N. General Assembly, the State Department launched the Global Connect Initiative, aimed to bring an additional 1.5 billion people online by 2020. Kerry said Washington plans to work with international development banks to help funding infrastructure in poor countries. The United States plans to designate digital economy officers to 275 American embassies and diplomatic posts in the globe to identify and break down barriers to help people become connected, according to the State Department. A World Bank report said for every 10 percent increase in broadband access, a developing country can see up to two percent rise in GDP. The Indian film industry is changing, and films no longer have to have a song-and-dance sequence to be successful, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan said Wednesday. Khan, who was in London to promote his latest film, told Reuters in an interview that while "Fan" had a theme song, it did not actually feature in the movie and had been used purely for trailers. Younger filmmakers know that "we don't need to just shove in a song anymore," he said. " ... It'll take a lot of time to take the songs out of us, but every film will have a different requirement." Bollywood films traditionally have had complex musical scores, and filmmakers have rarely resisted the temptation to insert a song-and-dance sequence into a film. Some films' success rates have been dependent more on the music than the plot. Khan's latest film, which is being released globally Friday, sees the actor playing a double role in which a look-alike fan is obsessed with a film star. On Wednesday, Khan revealed a waxwork model dressed as the look-alike fan, Gaurav, at Madame Tussauds museum in central London. When asked whether he had ever met his look-alike in person, he said many fans often dressed like him. "They all wear dark glasses so they're kind of similar, and they speak like me, in Kolkata," he said. The 50-year-old actor said he enjoyed using social media platforms to engage with his admirers. Khan has 19 million followers on Twitter and said he reads 90 percent of the content directed at him. However, the actor said he had shied away from using other platforms after his daughter criticized his pictures on Instagram, saying he was using too many color filters on his images. Khan, who has been acting for more than two decades, is regarded as a pioneer in the Indian film industry for experimenting with using graphics and special effects in his films. The makeup for his character Gaurav was done by the same artist who created Brad Pitt's look in the 2008 film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." But when asked about making animated movies, Khan said Bollywood was at least another five to 10 years away from embracing the genre. "It requires special writing. I think we haven't perfected that art in India. So we need writers and screenplay writers for an animation, I think, from the West," he said. "Animation in India so far has not done very well. I think we still need to crack the code." U.S. federal prosecutors have charged a Liberian immigrant living in suburban Philadelphia of lying about his past to enter the United States. Officials said Wednesday that Mohammed Jabbateh, known as "Jungle Jabbah," has been charged with concealing his past as a commander of a rebel group during Liberia's first civil war. The indictment says Jabbateh committed or ordered others to commit war crimes including the murder of civilians, sexual enslavement of women, conscription of child soldiers, rape, torture and corpse abuse. Officials say Jabbateh lied when applying for political asylum in 1998 and legal residency four years later. Jabbateh's bail hearing is set for Monday. German Chancellor Angela Merkels coalition government agreed on a measure Thursday that would require migrants to learn the German language and attempt to find work or risk losing their benefits. The proposed law is a compromise between Merkels Christian Democrats (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party after months of disagreement about the best way to handle the integration of more than one million migrants who arrived in Germany last year. According to Merkel, the agreement contains an offer for everyone, but also duties for everyone. She said the country faces two challenges in dealing with the refugee crisis. The first would be to coordinate the logistics of resettling refugees with other countries in Europe, an issue where she said progress has been made. The second, which she hopes will be addressed with the new law, is to register and integrate the large number of migrants pouring into Germany. "We will have a German national law on integration - this is the first time in post-war Germany that this has happened, it is an important, qualitative step, Merkel told reporters. The chancellor and her coalition partners agreed on the law after a seven hour meeting that stretched into early Thursday. The measure will be formally voted on by the Cabinet during a closed-door session on May 24. The draft law also focuses on putting migrants into work programs and job-training courses. Federal funds would be used to create 100,000 new jobs for migrants receiving benefits, but any migrant who quit the program would lose those benefits. Only those refugees who work toward their own integration will receive a permanent residence permit, Merkel said. Tensions within Merkel's coalition mounted towards the end of last year with all three parties espousing different priorities for coping with the migrant crisis. Since then, the flow of migrants, many from Syria and other war-torn parts of the Middle East and Africa, has slowed. The EU has also done a deal with Turkey to enlist its help in stemming the influx. The coalition also worked out a few new measures aimed at combating terrorism that include allowing federal police to deploy undercover officers and giving German intelligence agencies the ability to exchange information with foreign partners. Nigeria will crack down on groups responsible for recent pipeline attacks in the oil-producing Delta region, President Muhammadu Buhari said Wednesday. Pipeline attacks and violence have been on the rise in the southern swampland since authorities issued an arrest warrant in January for a former militant leader on corruption charges. "We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram," Buhari said during a visit to China, referring to jihadists who have been waging an insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north. The army has recaptured much of the territory Boko Haram had held since Buhari took office in May 2015, though the group still stages suicide bombings. "I hope this message will reach the vandals and saboteurs who are blowing up pipelines and installations," he said. Last month, gunmen blew up an oil pipeline belonging to Italy's ENI in the Delta, a region that provides much of Nigeria's oil production. Three workers died, officials said. In February, militants staged a sophisticated underwater attack on a Shell pipeline, shutting down the 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal. Buhari has extended a multimillion-dollar amnesty signed with militants in 2009, but he has upset them by ending generous pipeline protection contracts. The militants, like other Delta residents, demand a greater share of oil revenues. Request for patience Addressing Nigerians living in China, Buhari also asked for patience for his plans to end endemic graft and to diversify the oil economy. The former military ruler was elected last year on a ticket to "fix" a country stricken by mismanagement. His government has come under fire for fuel shortages and a lack of action as the 2016 budget has been held up by wrangling with parliament. "We hear proposals for short cuts or quick wins," he said. "However, all we need to do is look at our history to know that there are no quick wins or short cuts in fixing Nigeria." A slump in oil revenues has whacked public finances in Africa's biggest economy. Buhari has also faced criticism for rejecting a devaluation of the naira, which analysts have said deters investment. "Clearly, our vision of a diversified and inclusive economy will not be achieved overnight," he said. "It will be a long and, in some cases, painful journey." Dempsey also discovered that his wife had transferred money from her account to a neighbour with whom she had gone on a road trip in 2013. (Photo: MET Police Department) Hoxton, London: Hoxton police arrested a man for allegedly murdering his wife, beheading her and later flushing her head down the toilet, according to a report in The Telegraph. Dempsey Nibbs, 69, was booked for killing his wife Judith Nibbs, 60, after a rift in their relationship. Dempsey was 'jealous' as Judith dated other men. Dempsey told the police that he did not mean to kill Judith but only intended to slap her for betraying him. But when he hit her, she died and in a fit of rage, he decapitated her. On April 10, 2014, Dempsey attacked his wife with an iron rod at their house in Hoxton, east London. He then cut off her head with a mallet, smashed it and later flushed down the pieces in the water closet. He then wrote a letter to his 30-year-old son and immediately dialled the emergency number 999 to inform about the incident. He told the police that they would find two bodies at his home. When police reached the crime scene, they found Judith's headless body near the mail box at the entrance. As they barged into the house, they were shocked to find Dempsey in the bathroom attempting to stab himself. After being detained, Dempsey told investigators that he killed his wife because he thought she was a 'snake'. He also told them that his wife was cheating on him and he suspected her of having affairs. He also said that upon checking their computer, he found out videos of his wife blowing kisses to other men, saying 'I love you.' Dempsey also discovered that his wife had transferred money from her account to a neighbour with whom she had gone on a road trip in 2013. Investigators said that Dempsey carried out the murder in pure hatred for his wife. The anti-poverty group Oxfam on Thursday accused the 50 biggest U.S. companies of holding about $1.4 trillion in assets in offshore accounts to avoid paying billions of dollars in U.S. taxes. In a wide-ranging report, Oxfam said some of the best known American corporations, including drug maker Pfizer, investment banker Goldman Sachs, retailer Walmart, technology giant Apple, the General Electric consumer products company, software manufacturer Microsoft and others, keep cash reserves overseas. The practice is legal, although the subject of occasional debate in the United States. Politically divided Washington, however, has been unable to rein in the use of the offshore accounts. Oxfam said that from 2008 to 2014, the 50 largest U.S. companies collectively received $27 in federal loans, loan guarantees and bailouts for every dollar they paid in U.S. taxes. The London-based group said 45 of the 50 companies used a network of 1,600 offshore accounts to effectively cut their U.S. tax rate to 26.5 percent, with only five paying the full 35 percent U.S. corporate rate. "As Americans rush to finalize tax returns, multinational corporations that benefit from trillions in taxpayer-funded support are dodging billions in taxes," said Oxfam America's president, Raymond Offenheiser. "The vast sums large companies stash in tax havens should be fighting poverty and rebuilding America's infrastructure, not hidden offshore in Panama, Bahamas, or the Cayman Islands." The Oxfam attack against U.S. companies comes in the aftermath of disclosures by investigative journalists, based on a massive leak of information from a Panamanian law firm, that the world's wealthy, powerful and famous have over decades created hundreds of offshore companies to hide their assets and often evade taxes. As an international arbitration ruling draws near on the Philippines' case against Chinas claim to almost the entire South China Sea, Manila is relying on international support to bolster its cause. When the Group of Seven (G-7) nations, without naming China, officially expressed concern Monday over activities that it said raised tensions in the South and East China Seas, the Philippines welcomed the move, saying it once again upholds the principles of international law. It also highlighted the G-7s stated support for the use of legal dispute settlement mechanisms such as arbitration. Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Cuisia said the statement gave a boost to Manilas arbitration case against Beijing. 'Abide by decision' It is important for us precisely for the international community to keep saying that they would like to see the parties, both parties, abide by the decision of the arbitral tribunal, Cuisia said. But China took exception to the statement and on Wednesday Beijing announced it had summoned top diplomats from the G-7 member states and solemnly clarified its stance. The Philippines filed a case with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in 2013 questioning what it called Chinas excessive claims to practically the entire sea. It also sought clarification on whether certain disputed outcroppings in the sea were rocks or islands. China opted out of arbitration when it signed onto the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and said it rejects the case, which Philippine officials expect will be decided in weeks, if not the coming month. In the past two years, China has turned seven outcroppings, most of which are listed in the Philippine case, into artificial islands. Some of these islands have docks and airstrips capable of supporting military craft. 'Militarization' of disputed waters A growing number of nations, led by the United States, have become more vocal about alleged militarization of the disputed waters, which are heavily traversed and rich in natural resources. Emphasizing this vocal global support of the Philippines call for upholding the rule of law has been a tactic of the island nation, whose military budget is minuscule compared to China. During an academic talk at Philippine military headquarters last month, Philippine Supreme Court Justice and South China Sea historian Antonio Carpio pointed out recent statements of support from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), along with the United States at in a recent summit in California. Weve been trying to convince our friends abroad to support us in the arbitration case and the European Union declared a few days ago the EU, through its high representative, called on all parties to abide by the legally binding ruling of the tribunal. This is the mantra that we want the world to say, Carpio said. Analysts have said they expect the five-member panel to render a partial decision in favor of the Philippines. Although the decision is binding, there is no international enforcement mechanism. International support Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Washington-based Center of Strategic and International Studies, said the growing international support will have an impact on China. When you add reputational damage to China, when you name and shame, of course it does not have an immediate effect upon Chinese behavior necessarily but it does undermine Chinas long term interests, Poling said. Other nations do not want to work with you if youre seen as a bad player in the international system. Maritime law professor Jay Batongbacal of the University of the Philippines Institute of International Law Studies said having other countries backing is an effective way to put pressure on China. But no one should expect China to suddenly start changing its statements and do an about face. At minimum we hope that its subsequent behavior will be moderated because it will have some kind of standard to contend with as far as law and the international community is concerned, with respect to what actions it can legitimately take in pursuit of its claim, he said. But analysts said such changes in behavior could take years, if not decades. Iraqi lawmakers broke into fistfights Thursday as Baghdad plunged deep into a political crisis over how the fractured country should be governed. The first victim of the scrum appears to have been the outspoken Sunni Speaker of Parliament Salim al Jabouri. But several lawmakers also have been calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Haider al Abadi and even President Mohammed Fuad Masum. The three are still holding onto their posts, but lawmaker and former national security advisor Muwaffak al Rubaie told VOA their positions are untenable. Either we have general elections or we go back to parliament and choose a new president, a new speaker and prime minister, al Rubaie said, adding, I dont think new elections are practical now. The political eruption comes after months of street protests calling for Prime Minister Abadi to make good on his promises to reform what many see as an elitist system of political cronyism. This is the most significant period in Iraqi politics since 2003, Toby Dodge, consulting Senior Fellow for the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. Finally, you have the population of Iraq saying to their politicians, You have completely betrayed us, you have let us down, Dodge said. Some politicians are putting forward multiple solutions to avoid an even greater political meltdown. Veteran statesman and former prime minister Ayad Allawi weighed in, calling onpopulist Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr and those inside parliament to agree on what he calls a "political road map" to gradually lead the way out of the crisis. Allawi said Prime Minister Abadi is going in circles without presenting proper reforms. The only way out of the paralysis, Allawi told VOA, was to start reforms gradually, focus on defeating Islamic State, work on political reconciliation and make the parliament fully democratic. The key for this road map is to have the legislature operating without any pressures and to empower the Council of Representatives, he said. Once the parliament is empowered to do what it should do, to legislate, then all the political players will be satisfied. Dodge was skeptical. Protesters galvanized by Sadr last summer to demand change at the pinnacle of the Iraqi state might not be so easily satisfied. They have flung a gauntlet down at the seat of the post-2003 political elite, and its a challenge that the political elite cant meet without removing themselves from office and taking away their power and finances, Dodge explained. Senior politicians in the Green Zone talking about something as vacuous and meaningless as a road map to empowering parliament wont deliver meaningful reforms. Dodge added the core of the fight is about much more than cleaning up a vastly corrupt government. It was the start of the post-Islamic State struggle for power in Baghdad between the various ruling Shiite factions, he said. But Kenneth Katzman, an Iraq expert at the Congressional Research Service in Washington, D.C., believed the bedrock of the current crisis is the dramatic fall in oil prices that has left the Baghdad government without any real resources. Although the average Iraqi is suffering, Katzman said, the political class in Baghdad has been living a parallel life of tremendous privileges, good salaries, and protection that they do not want to give up. The politics flows from that. Abadi has been weakened politically because of these demonstrations that show his government to be ineffective, and then various Shia politicians are using his weakness to bolster their own fortunes, Katzman told VOA. The result, Katzman said, could be very destabilizing. Abadi has already pulled some military units back from the front lines against Islamic State into Baghdad to shore up his government. You could get a petition in parliament for elections or an extra-constitutional putsch by a Shia commander or by Sadr. You could get the Sunnis pulling out entirely, he said. But Baghdads leadership has pulled back from the brink before. And Iran, which wields a strong influence over Baghdad, is unlikely to support any move that would lead to outright instability. The chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee threatened Wednesday to reduce funding to the United Nations over peacekeeper misconduct. "What is wrong with the secretary-general of the U.N.?" Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, asked a hearing on ending sexual abuse in U.N. peacekeeping. "I think the U.N. is in great jeopardy of building enough critical mass around here where severe penalties should be taken against them with withholding of funds from them because of their ineptness." Corker and other senators are angry over the string of sexual abuse and misconduct allegations against both U.N. and non-U.N. military and police personnel, mostly in Africa. The United States contributes about a quarter of the $8 billion annual U.N. peacekeeping budget. Several senators expressed their disapproval of continuing to send taxpayer dollars at that level if sexual abuse cases do not dramatically decrease. Protectors as perpetrators In a report last month, the U.N. acknowledged that allegations of sexual abuse rose in 2015, despite the institution's "zero tolerance" policy. Peacekeepers were implicated in 69 cases, while there were 30 allegations against civilian staff members. Many of their victims were children. More than half the peacekeeper-related allegations were made against just two U.N. missions in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. "If I knew right now that a U.N. peacekeeping mission was going to go into North Chattanooga today, which is where my wife is," Corker said referring to his Tennessee neighborhood, "I would be on the first plane out of here to go home and protect her from the U.N. peacekeepers especially if they came from certain countries." New allegations The U.N. has been implementing new tougher measures against accused peacekeepers, including sending at least two entire contingents of troops back home. Countries of implicated troops are now publicly "named and shamed," and the salaries of accused troops are withheld, in some cases to be added to a trust fund to support victims and the babies that often result from the rapes. But despite these efforts, new allegations continue to surface. On Wednesday, advocacy group AIDS-Free World, which has been instrumental in bringing abuse allegations to light, said it had information about 41 additional cases of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric would not confirm that number, but said that he "would not be surprised" if the current reported number of cases "goes up a bit." He said the U.N. takes such allegations "very seriously" and is being "as meticulous as possible" in interviewing alleged victims. The U.N. has more than 100,000 troops and police from 122 countries, working in 16 operations, most in very difficult and dangerous environments. Members of the Bring Back Our Girls movement gathered Thursday at Unity Fountain in Nigeria's capital of Abuja amid a heavy police presence. It has been two years since Boko Haram grabbed 219 schoolgirls from their dormitory in the northeastern Nigerian town of Chibok and herded them away into the night. A new video released Wednesday, on the eve of the anniversary, purports to show 15 of the girls alive as recently as December and has raised hopes that they can be rescued. Esther Yakubu is the mother of one of those missing girls. "It is only God. He is seeing me through and he will see me through, she said, visibly holding back tears. And one day I know that with him on that throne, they will be back. It is real. They are the ones in that video. They have changed. Two years ago, they were not like this. But today, they are two years older. I know them. They have changed." About 300 marchers headed to the State House, chanting Bring Back Our Girls! Now and Alive! Its the same call to action they have issued since they began these demonstrations almost two years ago. Police blocked the gates to the State House. President Muhammadu Buhari is in China on an official visit, and the group was not able to speak to a representative of his government. Obiageli Ezekwesili, the founder of Bring Back Our Girls, is confident the girls will be found. "I am certain that our girls will be back, Ezekwesili said. Our girls will be back. There is no evidence to the contrary." Chibok community leader Hosea Sambidda said if the girls had been the daughters of rich, influential Nigerians, the government would have done more. "We are here today to strive for the open nerves of humanity, to prick our conscience, to escalate our voices, to speak for the voiceless Chibok girls and many like them still in captivity. For as long as they remain captive, humanity is in captivity," Sambidda said. Outrage, stagnation Activists say the previous administration mishandled the kidnapping. The former first lady even questioned publicly whether the kidnapping had actually happened. But online, the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls trended globally, sparking international outrage. World leaders met in Paris a month after the girls were kidnapped to rally international resources to defeat Boko Haram. Two years later, Boko Haram's now seven-year insurgency has killed 20,000 people and spread into three neighboring countries. When Buhari took office in 2015, he vowed to do everything in his power to find the girls, but said he could make no promises. Repeated attempts to negotiate with Boko Haram have failed. Nigerian and regional troops now say they have Boko Haram on the run, but none of the missing Chibok girls have been found. Amanda Bennett, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author, has been chosen as the new director of the Voice of America, the U.S. governments largest international broadcaster. Bennett will be sworn in on Monday April 18 at VOA headquarters, according to a statement from the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees VOA and four other U.S. broadcasting entities. Bennett served as the executive editor of Bloomberg News, where she created and ran a global team of investigative reporters and editors until 2013. Previously, she was editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer. She also spent two decades as an editor and reporter for The Wall Street Journal, where she and her colleagues shared a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting on how public health officials misrepresented the AIDS epidemic in order to secure more public funding and financial support. I am confident that Amanda is the best person to lead VOA through the vast media challenges of the 21st century, said BBG CEO John Lansing Bennett is the author of six books including In Memoriam (1998), co-authored with Terence B. Foley; The Man Who Stayed Behind (1993), co-authored with Sidney Rittenberg; Death of the Organization Man (1991) and The Quiet Room (1996), co-authored with Lori Schiller. "The Cost of Hope," Bennetts memoir of the battle she and Foley, her late husband, fought against his kidney cancer, was published in 2012. More recently, she has been a contributing columnist for The Washington Post. With her husband, Donald Graham, she co-founded The Dream.US, which provides college scholarships to the children of undocumented immigrants. "I am happy and excited to be part of such a vital news organization," said Bennett. "We are the only source of reliable, objective, credible news and information for a large part of the world. Whats more, our mission of covering the fascinating complexity of our country and its people is a beat like no other. Russian President Vladimir has accused the United States of having "imperial ambitions.' Speaking Thursday during his annual television call-in show, Putin was asked which U.S. presidential hopeful was "worse for Russia" Democrat Hillary Clinton or Republican Donald Trump. The Russian president responded that it was not a question of "particular people," but whether the United States proceeds "from the false premise of its exclusivity," which, he said, will mean it will always claim "special status and special rights." "It is necessary to look at the root of the problem and act not from a position of force and dictate, not from the perspective of imperial ambitions, but to act respectfully with all partners, and. of course, with Russia," Putin said. Syria Commenting on the Syrian conflict, he said the Syrian people must engage in talks to agree on a new constitution for their country, and that the solution to Syria's problems is not to be found in military action. Putin also said the so-called Panama Papers report on offshore accounts allegedly held by international public figures, including world leaders and their friends and relatives, were a "provocation." Some of the accounts detailed in the report allegedly belonged to close Putin associates. The Russian leader blamed U.S. officials for leaking the Panama Papers information to the media. At the same time, he characterized that information as "reliable." Russian economy Putin blamed rising food prices in Russia on Western sanctions for its intervention in Ukraine. But he said a solution to the country's faltering economy lies in changing the nation's economic structure. Kremlin officials say the television show provides a way for Putin to assess the country's mood, listen to direct appeals and explain policies. The hours-long broadcast has been an annual tradition since 2001. Russian state media say Putin's 13 Q&A sessions since that time total more than 45 hours. In 2013, Putin stayed on the air for nearly five hours. During the show Putin said Russia considers Turkey a friendly nation, despite the current strain in their relations. But when asked which of his foes he would rather save from drowning, the president of Turkey or the president of Ukraine, he quipped, "If someone wants to drown, you can not save them." Putin's love life Putin, who is divorced, dodged a question about his love life, saying it is "not important." And proving that some problems are universal, the first question Putin took was from a woman in Siberia who asked about getting some local potholes repaired. . Alexa Olesen of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) covered China affairs as Associated Press' Beijing correspondent for eight years. Her latest piece, "Leaked Files Offer Many Clues to Offshore Dealings by Top Chinese," is part of the first series of ICIJ's Panama Papers. She tells VOA Mandarin service reporter Yinan Wang the leaked documents could provide insights about Chinese President Xi Jinping's domestically focused anti-corruption campaign. VOA: What kind of organization is the International Consortium of International Journalists? Olesen: ICIJ is based in Washington, D.C. Its an independent organization that gets funding from places like the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundation, some independent donors. It is a network of 200 investigative journalists who are based in more than 65 countries. VOA: In countries like Russia and China, some people tend to believe that the documents leaked to ICIJ are really tactics by the U.S. to humiliate these two countries. What is your response to this opinion? Olesen: In response to your question about the conspiracy theory, I think that came about because when the reports first started coming out, people noticed that there werent many American names being reported. But theres a reason for that, which is that Mossack Fonseca [the law firm at the center of the Panama Papers case] itself has said they tend not to take American clients. So the companys own business model is to focus more on Europe, Latin America, and also increasingly Asia. So the reason why there werent many American customers to write about is because MF didnt take that many. And of course, theres no conspiracy. There was a news leak or a cache of documents that first came to the German paper Suddeutsche, and then they were shared with ICIJ, and we thought this information was of great public value to everyone. So thats why we reported on that. VOA: Chinas state-backed Global Times ran an April 5 editorial accusing Western intelligence agencies of leaking the Panama Papers in order to target non-Western leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin, and to shore up Western ideologies. What is your reaction to these allegations? Olesen: It's ridiculous, because if you look at the findings of our reports, you find it is actually very equitable. Its embarrassing not just to Russia or China, it is embarrassing to the U.K., it's embarrassing to Iceland, its embarrassing to the United States. Its embarrassing to many governments, individuals and politicians around the world. So to say this report is targeting Russia and China is not borne out by the facts. VOA: Does ICIJ receive funds from the U.S. government? Olesen: No, we dont. Like I said, we are an independent organization. We get funding from groups like the Open Society Foundation, and also the Ford Foundation. There is a list of our supporters on our website. So if you want to go and look at that, its transparent to everybody where our funding comes from. VOA: There were rumors saying ICIJ had invited a mainland Chinese publication as a partner in excavating the papers. Did ICIJ send out such invitation to Chinese media? Olesen: The background on that is we did a similar project called offshore leaks in 2013. That dealt with much smaller leak of documents offshore corporation documents. And we did have a mainland Chinese partner on that project in the beginning, and they had to drop out because the findings were too sensitive. The second time around, when we started to work on this project ... we decided we didnt want to put another Chinese publication in that position, where they would have materials either too sensitive to report on, or too sensitive to publish. So this time around, no, we did not have mainland Chinese partner. VOA: Do you have the name of that Chinese publication? Olesen: Yeah, I do. But we are not releasing that, because they didnt want to be named. VOA: Do you think Chinese authorities are afraid of document leaks disclosed by the Panama Papers? Olesen: The fact that they have been censoring all of the revelations coming out of the Panama Papers does suggest that they are afraid of this information being made public. On Tuesday [April 5], at the Foreign Ministry press briefing, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei was asked about the revelation of the Panama Papers. He didnt respond, or he said he had no comment. But even that question and that answer were deleted or not included in the transcript on the Foreign Ministrys website. Thats one example. Also, they have been blocking out television broadcasts in China. When BBC queues up the Panama Papers, they just blocked it out. That suggests they are very nervous about it. VOA: On April 7, one of the red nobles named in your report, Mr. Hu Dehua, son of the late general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Hu Yaobang, answered questions from a Hong Kong newspaper. Basically, he said that it is legitimate to register an offshore company. Do you think it is OK for these elites to establish offshore companies? Olesen: There are many reasons why you would want to set up an offshore company. So in and of itself, its not a sign of anything illegal. But what we did in each of these cases that we reported on is we sent requests for confirmation, and also information to all the people we named, saying, "What is your company used for? Did you declare it to the Chinese authorities? Did you pay tax on whatever profit you earned from it?" So our question wasnt, "Why did you do this legal thing?" but really, "What is your company used for? We found out you had it what was the purpose?" I am very glad that Hu Dehua has made some public comments about that company to help clarify. Ideally, everybody else in the article would do the same thing. In some cases, I think theres nothing shady going on. But in other cases for example, in the case of Gu Kailai, we know her company was set up to avoid taxes and so she could own a villa in the south of France. All these details came out when she and her husband went on trial. VOA: Do you think the wealthy Chinese being named in the leaked Panama Papers will eventually become targets of Chinas anti-corruption campaign? Olesen: I would imagine that this database would be of great use to Wang Qishan [secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection] and other anti-corruption officials in China, that we gave them hints of people they should look at. If you are in the database, it doesnt mean that you are automatically corrupt, but it does mean that you have some reason to want to have an offshore company. Thats something you would probably want to look into. ... Li Xiaolin is an executive of a state-owned power company, and we found that she had a foundation in Liechtenstein. We wondered why she needed to have it. The documents told us that the companys profit came from export business heavy machinery export from Europe to China. So the question is: Does that income relate somehow to her job as a power executive, or is this another source of income that she hasnt declared? We dont know, but these are questions. And I think she should be required to answer them, because she is a public official. Syrian government delegates are due to attend peace talks with opposition representatives Friday in Geneva to try to bring an end to five years of fighting that has killed more than half a million people. However, there are growing fears that the cease-fire which has underpinned the negotiations is about to break. There's been an upsurge in fighting in Aleppo and Homs, where opposition supporters accuse the government of carrying out airstrikes on civilians. The United Nations' Special Envoy to Syria who is overseeing the talks said humanitarian relief is struggling to get through to besieged towns. "Everyone in the meeting was disappointed, Staffan De Mistura told reporters Thursday. Indeed, many of them are actually frustrated by the lack of new convoys reaching some areas." Those difficulties suggest the cease-fire is becoming increasingly shaky, says Ben Barry of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "The less the tension is on the frontlines, the easier it is for humanitarian aid convoys to pass through, he said. And as tension rises, it becomes more and more difficult. And put that together with evidence that the Syrian government appears to be gearing up for another major offensive around Aleppo." No veto for opposition The Syrian opposition represented at the talks by umbrella group the High Negotiations Committee said Thursday it would accept a transitional government that includes current government figures. "We will have no veto, as long as they don't send us criminals, as long as they don't send us people who are involved in the killing of Syrians," said the HNC's Salim Al-Muslat. The opposition insists Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cannot be part of the country's future. But government negotiators, who will join the talks Friday, said the opposition is dreaming. "Others need to forget the dreams they had for the last five years and to come with factual, actual solutions to the problem," said Faisal Mekdad, Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister. But it's unclear exactly who is directing the Syrian government delegation, according to Barry. "There has been evidence of different political factions jockeying for influence. And who exactly is writing what instructions for the Syrian delegate to the peace talks, I think is an important question," he said. Meanwhile, the United States' ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, voiced her fears that the renewed fighting in Aleppo could derail the peace talks, and urged Assad's key ally, Russia, to "get the Syrian regime back with the program." Russia and China want countries neighboring Syria to inform the U.N. if they find any extremist group trying to get chemical weapons, warning that they may be used in Europe. Both countries sent a draft resolution through the Security Council Wednesday, saying terrorists are a "clear and present threat" to the continent. "We know that there is a strong concern, with reports that thousands of them have moved to Europe," Russias U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters in New York. "Could some of them have brought with them the components of chemical weapons? Could some of them have brought to a European city or European country their knowledge of how to build chemical weapons?" he asked. The resolution would call on such countries as Turkey and Iraq to monitor extremists for any moves toward building or acquiring chemical weapons. Some Western diplomats call the resolution a distraction from a U.N. investigation into the use of chemical weapons on civilians outside Damascus in 2013. Hundreds of people died as a result of the attack, even though an exact casualty number has never been established. Both the Assad government - a major Russian ally - and the opposition blame each other for the attack which violated international law. The United States has said chemical weapons were released from helicopters and stresses that only the Syrian army has such aircraft, not the opposition. Areas around Aleppo have seen a spike in violence on several fronts in recent days, sparking concern over a fragile six-week truce as a new round of peace talks gets under way in Geneva. Beirut: Islamic State group jihadists have seized a string of opposition-held villages in Syria's Aleppo province near the Turkish border, a monitoring group said on Thursday. Areas around Aleppo have seen a spike in violence on several fronts in recent days, sparking concern over a fragile six-week truce as a new round of peace talks gets under way in Geneva. "Fierce clashes are raging between rebels and IS after the jihadists secured an advance and seized control of six villages near the Turkish border," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The most important village to come under IS control was Hiwar Kallis, about one kilometre (less than one mile) south of the Turkish border, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said. Warplanes meanwhile raided ISIS positions in the area, he said, adding that they were likely from the US-led coalition. In recent weeks, battles have been intensifying between IS and rebels over the border strip, which both sides use to transport fighters and weapons. Rebels had secured significant gains against IS before the jihadists pushed them back, like in the strategic town of Al-Rai, which is on an IS supply route to Turkey. Meanwhile, rebels and their allies from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front fought fresh clashes against regime troops and militia in southern Aleppo, the Observatory said. Over 100 fighters from both sides have been killed in fighting there since Sunday, the Britain-based monitor said. Neither Al-Nusra nor IS are included in the truce that began on February 27, but the fact that rebels are fighting alongside Al-Nusra while regime forces push back has sparked concerns over its durability. Washington voiced concern Monday that a regime assault on Al-Nusra in Aleppo could spread to areas controlled by moderate rebel factions, and cause the truce to collapse and derail peace efforts. Syria's conflict began in 2011 as a peaceful revolt seeking democratic change, but has since escalated into a multi-front civil war that has left over 270,000 people dead and forced millions to flee their homes. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he was alarmed at a video of Russian war planes flying dangerously close to a U.S. warship and will raise the matter directly with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Thursday Kerry found the Russian maneuvers "unprofessional, needlessly provocative, and, indeed, dangerous." Russia says its pilots observed all international rules when they flew over the USS Donald Cook in international waters in the Baltic Sea this week, near the coast of Kaliningrad. The crew aboard the warship was dumbfounded to see the apparently unarmed SU-24 planes fly within 1,000 meters of the deck at an altitude of just 30 meters close enough to create a wake in the water. The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday the planes were conducting test flights and only observed the Donald Cook before turning away, "in observance of all safety measures." It said the U.S. ship was in "operational proximity of the Russian navy's Baltic fleet base." The Russian news agency Tass reported the ship was about 70 kilometers from the Russian naval base. WATCH: Russian Jets 'Unsafe and Unprofessional' Flybys near US Ship A U.S. State Department official said Thursday it is not unusual for Russia and other foreign aircraft to fly by U.S. ships to observe and says U.S. planes do it too. "But it is highly unprofessional of what these two Russian pilots did - extremely low, extremely fast. I was personally stunned when I saw that video. I have not seen a pass like that in a very long time," the official told reporters. A Pentagon official described the Russian flights as simulated attack passes. He said sailors on the Donald Cook attempted to reach the Russian planes by radio, but got no response. Some military analysts say they believe the Russian maneuver may have come out of the Kremlin's resentment of a U.S. warship being so close to Russian territory. NATO has bolstered its military presence in Eastern Europe as a response to the Russian annexation of Crimea in Ukraine in 2014. How does a Somali radio reporter become a spy and collaborator with al-Shabab? Former journalist Hassan Hanafi Haji was executed by a Mogadishu firing squad Monday for his role in the murders of five colleagues as part of an al-Shabab campaign to control local media coverage of the Islamist extremist group. One of Hanafis first targets was the popular private radio station Horn Afrik. He was a risk living among us, said reporter Falastin Iman, who woke to gunfire one August morning in 2007 to find Horn Afrik colleague Mahad Mohamed Elmi shot dead outside her door. When they took Elmis body to the hospital, Hanafi was waiting there. He was there to make sure the situation of Mahad, if he died or if he is alive, Iman said. He was very dangerous for the journalists because he knew us. He was not like the other al-Shabab members. Hanafi went to Elmis burial later that day. In a televised confession that he later said had been obtained through torture, Hanafi said he was at the funeral to identify the car used by Iman and Horn Afrik director Ali Iman Sharmarke. Roadside blast Leaving the ceremony, their car was hit by a roadside bomb. Sharmarke was killed. Iman took shrapnel to her head. When my superiors are not happy with a journalist, they would call me and ask me about that particular journalist, Hanafi told Somali state television. I would provide the information. Sometimes they would inform me who is the next journalist to target and sometimes not. Tracing Hanafis path from radio reporter to al-Shabab agent, VOA spoke with many of his former colleagues, including Liban Abdi Ali, who first worked with Hanafi at Radio Voice of the Quran. The man I knew was very social who liked taking good times with his friends, Ali recalled. The changes began, he said, when Hanafi started covering Sharia courts and became a different man, violent, full of hatred and libelous statements against journalists, especially his former friends. Some of his colleagues tried to deradicalize him, Ali said, but he was a hard-liner and went too far into the ideology. He believed to die for it. Reporter Abdirahman Yusuf al-Adala was Hanafis roommate. As his colleague became more radical, al-Adala said, Hanafi was always calling me, either threatening me or telling me about how they executed other journalists." Al-Adala said Hanafi sought "to terrorize me with sarcastic words over the death of colleagues. When Hanafi invited reporters to a February 2009 news conference, al-Shabab gunmen killed then-Horn Afrik director Said Tahlil Ahmed en route. We watched him die in front of us, al-Adala said. Hanafi knew about the assassination and facilitated it. That was the day I realized that my former colleague was ruthless with inhuman intentions. Sarcastic calls Even after al-Adala joined government-run Radio Mogadishu because it was protected by African Union peacekeepers, he said Hanafi was always calling me minutes after the killing of a journalist in Mogadishu, sarcastically saying, So-and-so has tasted the punishment of the mujahedeen. Now the director of Somalias government news agency, al-Adala said Hanafi was the biggest threat to my life, while I was unaware of it. Ahmed Abdirahman Jaakat stepped in to lead Horn Afrik programming after the deaths of the stations two previous directors. He said Hanafi ordered him to play an al-Shabab cassette. When Jaakat refused, the cellphone death threats began. They said, If you do not give up what you are doing, you will follow the steps of your friends,' which apparently meant my colleagues whom they murdered and I buried with my hands, Jaakat said. He fled Mogadishu for Minnesota. Al-Shababs campaign of intimidation resulted in considerable self-censorship among Somali reporters, especially when it came to reporting the groups military setbacks, said Nairobi-based political analyst Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad. He said targeting journalists was a tactic to reinforce al-Shabab's aura of unstoppability. He said their messages usually made a point along the lines of: "We are relevant. We can come to any corner of the town. We can target any individual in the town and we can inflict any casualty on society. Double trouble For Falastin Iman, the message was twofold: I am a female journalist, so I am a threat twice, she said. Iman, who now reports for VOAs Somali service, said Hanafi and al-Shabab worked to intimidate journalists to show the other journalists that, We will do the same to you as we did to this group, so you have to follow our orders. They wanted to control our daily editorial events, our news, our programs. After his capture in Kenya in 2014, Hanafi was one of the few al-Shabab suspects to face prosecution by the Somali government following years of criticism by human rights groups that authorities needed to do more. The Committee to Protect Journalists said Somalia is one of the worlds most dangerous countries for reporters. The group has recorded 59 killings of journalists in the Horn of Africa country since 1992, the vast majority in the past 10 years. Hanafis execution came days after two other al-Shabab militants were executed for killing a journalist with a car bomb last year. That reporter was the widow of another journalist killed in Mogadishu in 2012. For the first time in 16 years, a South Korean ruling party has failed to win a majority in a legislative election. The surprise losses suffered by President Park Geun-hyes Saenuri Party Wednesday revealed widespread public discontent with her conservative economic policies and growing division over her get tough approach to the North Korean nuclear threat. Saenuri won only 122 out of 300 seats in the South Korean National Assembly according to the National Election Commission. Going into the election, the ruling party was projected to win a clear majority. In addition to the stronger than expected opposition, Saenuri was also hurt when a number of its candidates defected from the party because the leadership did not back them during the nomination process and they ran as independents. Taking responsibility for the partys electoral defeat, Saenuri Party leader Rep. Kim Moo-sung announced his resignation on Thursday. We have shown arrogant and shameful acts from the nomination process and could not collect the power of our party and disappointed many people, he said. Opposition gains The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea won 123 seats in the unicameral parliament. Kim Jong-in, Minjoos interim leader, said the vote was a rebuke of Parks economic policies that produced slow growth of 2.6 percent last year and youth unemployment that reached 12.5 percent in February. The Park Geun-hye government and Saenuri party must now realize that the problem was the economy, he said. The Peoples Party, which split off from Minjoo before the election, won 38 seats, confounding critics who said the division among liberal groups would give conservative candidates a higher percentage of the fragmented field. The legislative election is also a victory for labor groups that last year organized mass demonstrations to oppose a labor reform bill backed by Park to make it easier for employers to fire workers. Park was criticized by opponents and human rights groups for denying permits to hold these protest rallies. The police were also accused of using excessive force to break up the demonstrations, and for arresting protest leaders for inciting violence and holding illegal demonstrations. We will change the framework of our economy through economic democratization and by embracing growth, said Minjoo party leader Kim Jong-in. The Minjoo Party promised to focus on job creation, increasing the minimum wage, increasing pension funds for retirees, and building more affordable housing for younger people. But it is not clear how they propose to pay for these programs. North Korea In comparison to the economy, national security concerns seemed to have played a less prominent role in this South Korean election than they did in the past. In 2012, public anxiety over a North Korean long range missile launch helped the ruling conservative Grand National Party, which later became the Saenuri Party, win a majority in parliament. During this years campaign, the opposition played down their differences with Parks polices following North Koreas fourth nuclear test and another long rang rocket launch this year. Park has been closely aligned with Washington in supporting increased international and unilateral sanctions to pressure the Kim Jong Un government to halt its nuclear program. Public opinion polls had shown strong public support for the government on national security issues. But the opposition did criticize Park for not being more open to inter-Korean talks and for closing the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Complex, which was the last remnant of South Koreas Sunshine Policy of engagement with the North. Some voters voiced concern that Parks punitive approach has contributed to the heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula and made it more difficult to reach a peaceful resolution. Pending missile test Meanwhile, North Korea continues to respond defiantly to international sanctions and pressure by moving forward with developing its nuclear capabilities. North Korea is reportedly preparing to test, as early as Friday, one or two Musudan mid-range ballistic missiles that could potentially reach U.S. military bases in Guam and Okinawa. South Koreas Defense Ministry on Thursday would not confirm if such a missile test is pending, but noted that Friday is the birthday of North Koreas first leader, Kim Il Sung, and that in the past Pyongyang has marked this day with a demonstration of military might. Kim Jong Un has claimed to have developed miniaturized nuclear warhead capability and has vowed to conduct further tests of nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles. California's high-tech center of Silicon Valley has expanded through the San Francisco Bay Area, bringing high-paying jobs and soaring rents. The companies headquartered there range from Apple, Google and Twitter to the ride-sharing service Uber and online business-services firm Salesforce.com. Right or wrong, they are collectively being blamed for the region's housing crisis. Yet San Francisco's historic Chinatown neighborhood has been coping with high housing costs for decades, and activists say the neighborhood demonstrates how cities can protect their communities through zoning regulations that maintain affordable housing. San Francisco has the nation's highest median rental price for a one-bedroom apartment, according to the website Zumper, which tracks U.S. rental markets. The average rent in San Francisco is nearly $3,600 a month, more than 10 percent higher than the next highest market, New York City. The soaring housing costs are the result of a booming economy and a growing technology industry. Those exorbitant prices extend through the San Francisco Bay Area, to cities like San Jose in the heart of Silicon Valley, and Oakland across the bay, where speculators have bought some of the last of the region's affordable housing in industrial neighborhoods. The tech workers live and work in the entire area, unlike decades ago when most worked in the Valley and lived in the urban centers. There are people with families who prefer living in the suburbs, and younger people who gravitate to the downtown area. They say the commute works both ways, since companies are housed in the city and suburbs, and that it's all considered Silicon Valley these days. There are people on commuter trains heading in both directions. Volunteers from the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project gathered in Oakland on a recent evening to discuss the displacement of low-income and senior residents caught in the middle of powerful economic trends. They track and share the data, and the stories of those evicted, on a website. Cofounder Erin McElroy says renters often are evicted on the flimsiest of pretexts in favor of tech workers in search of apartments. Landlords know that people can pay $3,000 or $4,000 a month who work in these [high-tech] industries. Affordable housing is being neglected and lost, she said. The activists include students, teachers and high-tech workers who share their concerns over gentrification and evictions. They say the technology industry is not the only culprit. San Francisco tourism is at record levels, and demand also is increasing for hotel and office space. Chinatown fights back This battle has been fought before, as residents of Chinatown resisted encroachment by the city's financial district in the 1970s. The International Hotel, home to hundreds of Philippine and Chinese American residents, was slated to make way for a high-rise development. Residents refused to leave and were forcibly evicted by the local sheriff's department. The hotel was torn down, but the Catholic archdiocese worked with community groups to create affordable housing on the site. Activists worked with city hall to create a plan, according to Malcolm Leung, deputy director of the Chinatown Community Development (CDC) Center, which owns and manages 26 properties in San Francisco, providing affordable housing to 3,000 low-income families and seniors. He stands on the roof of the 15-story complex, pointing to the densely packed buildings of Chinatown, and the towering financial services buildings around them. Chinatown exists to this day because that 1986 plan in essence protected Chinatown, restricted heights in the neighborhood. It restricted the kinds of uses in the neighborhood, and that's really what made sure that developers were disincentivized from buying these buildings up, he said. On April 6, Oakland halted for three months residential rent hikes on its older housing stock. San Francisco activists want a similar moratorium to help vulnerable renters. Sasha Magee, an IT specialist for the U.S. government and a housing activist in his spare time, says measures like these will help residents with low incomes who live in older housing. Those are the folks who are getting most hurt by the crisis right now, he said. Activists say there are no easy solutions to the pressures of expansion, and Chinatown itself faces continuing pressures as land prices and rents soar in and around San Francisco. Thailand's decade-long campaign to increase tiger populations has lifted tiger numbers in a wildlife sanctuary by more than 50 percent and provided a vital contribution to conservation efforts in South East Asia, scientists said Thursday. But researchers said consolidating the gains will require strong surveillance and patrols to keep poachers at bay. The focus of recent efforts to boost tiger populations in Thailand has centered on the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in western Thailand, bordering Myanmar. The Sanctuary supports the largest source population of wild tigers outside the Indian subcontinent, which conservationists say highlights the regions strategic importance for range-wide tiger recovery. But the region is the only sanctuary in all of Southeast Asia where tiger populations have been growing, according to researchers. In an article published in the Journal of Conservation Biology in late 2015, Thai scientists from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife Conservation Society and academics reported a 50 percent increase in tiger numbers in the sanctuary to 90 distinct individuals since 2006. Anak Pattanavibool, a co-author of the paper, said intensified patrolling was a key factor in the improved tiger survival rate. So we have done intensive camera trapping to monitor population trends for 10 years in a row. Then we got the numbers increase by 50 percent already. So this is a hopeful sign, he said. Now we have the records of tigers dispersing out from this core area to restore the population in other national parks in that big [western] forest [complex], Anak told VOA. Ranger patrols Anak said intensive patrolling is necessary. In the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary there was at least one ranger per 10 square kilometers. Elsewhere in Thailand, the ratios are weaker -- one ranger per 20 square kilometers or worse, as few as one ranger per 60 square kilometers. In India, where tiger populations have improved, the ratio is as high as one ranger per two square kilometers. If you add enough park rangers in the system and also you have to have some populations of tigers remaining to be able to recover them. So thats the problem with many national parks in Thailand at the moment, Anak said. Even though they have numbers of park rangers most of them have been deployed to take care of tourism. So thats a big problem in national parks system in Thailand, he said. Tiger populations globally have contracted by more than 90 percent to around 3,000 to 4,000 animals in less than 200 years. Southeast Asia contains about 50 percent of the remaining tiger habitat. Total numbers in Southeast Asia range up to 1,000 animals. Anak said overall tiger populations in Thailand have remained mostly static in the past decade at 200 to 250, despite Thailand launching a 12 year Tiger Action Plan in 2010 to boost tiger numbers. The 2010 report noted central challenges, included sustaining current protection and monitoring systems, and expanding protection to cover the Tennasserim and Dong Phayaen-Khao Yai forest complex and regions near the Cambodian border. Cambodian plans Cambodia recently launched talks with Thailand, India and Malaysia on a $50 million program to reintroduce wild tigers to the Mondulkiri protected forests in Cambodias far east. Tiger populations in Cambodia have been poached and killed to near extinction. Cambodian officials say under the program, the region will be protected against poachers by strong law enforcement. But Anak said while such protection will be critical for the project to succeed, he has reservations about the outlook for the program. The key issue for these areas in Cambodia and for the national parks in Thailand they need to strengthen their protection first, otherwise what you reintroduce, they will be killed. Thats why the main thing that Cambodia [has to do]; they still have big forests but no tigers anymore. Thats a key issue, he said. Anak added the main hope for tiger populations in South East Asia lies in cooperation between Thailand and Myanmar, covering the transboundary forest area in western Thailand where tiger populations have risen. But he said Thailand can also support Laos and Cambodia to improve their networks of sanctuaries to develop improved protection for wildlife in forested areas especially for tigers. The progress report appears exemplary: from 3,200 in 2010, the wild tiger population numbers have jumped to 3,890. It marks an increase of more than 20 percent in six years in the 13 countries where the big cats still roam the jungles. Those countries are working to meet an ambitious goal set in 2010 of doubling the tigers numbers by 2022. Officials from tiger-range countries, however, say that despite the improving statistics, the battle to save the animal is far from over. They issued the warning as they wrapped up a three-day conference in New Delhi. There is never a dull moment, you know, the dynamics of the tiger is very complicated; it changes. We are proceeding towards the goal, but in between you will have more challenges, so we need to be prepared to face those challenges, says Secretary-General of Global Tiger Forum Rajesh Gopal, who headed Indias tiger conservation efforts for more than a decade. India will remain the epicenter of the gigantic effort. India is home to 70 percent of the worlds tiger population. Other countries playing a key role are Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, while Russia has emerged on the front lines of tiger conservation, reporting a steady rise in numbers. Conservation vs. development needs Experts say the major challenges are Asias massive development needs, particularly in crowded countries like India and Bangladesh, where the tigers habitat is under increasing pressure from the need to build roads and set up industries. At the conference, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi played down such concerns, saying the conservation of nature need not be a drag on development. This is a difficult task, but can be achieved. Our genius lies in smartly integrating the tiger and wildlife safeguards in various infrastructures, he said. Those words did little to allay the concerns of many conservationists. They cite the latest worry - plans for four-lane highways that could cut through tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan states. The message that is going out now if we have to have a mine here or a mine there or a national highway or a dam, we will just eat into tiger reserves. So what? That is the wrong message, said Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India. Conservationists like Gopal say wildlife agencies are working to resolve the conflict between the goals of development and the tiger because both are important to Asian countries. In the case of highways also, the ministry in consultation with other experts, we have come out with some safeguards, overpasses and underpasses - such structures which would help the animal to cross over from one side of the habitat to the other, he says. Poaching challenge The other challenge remains the multi-million-dollar illegal trade that continues to thrive despite increased surveillance and better technology to satiate Chinas huge appetite for tiger parts. Wright warns there is a desperate need to up the ante against sophisticated gangs of poachers which she says are running rings around enforcement authorities in all the tiger-range countries. Just in the first three months, till 31 March, 25 tigers were poached or their skins and bones seized. That is the highest figure since 2001. That is pretty shocking, says Wright. Conservationists have long called for a ban on tiger products in China to curb the poaching, but the countrys growing affluence has only led to a surge in demand. Conference participants discussed ways to step up protection by greater use of technology and enhanced cooperation among enforcement agencies in the tiger-range countries. Experts say that the fact the tigers numbers are at their highest in over a century is no cause for celebration the mighty beast is still very much an endangered species. The 15th annual Tribeca Film Festival kicked off fashionably with the premiere of Andrew Rossi's "The First Monday in May,'' a behind-the-scenes documentary about the mounting of an ambitious fashion exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the museum's annual star-studded Met Gala. The film is an intimate and lively look at the highest aspirations of fashion, revealing everything from Anna Wintour fretting over seat assignments (Where to put Anne Hathaway?) to Rihanna's eye-popping budget for performing at the ball. The opening night, held Wednesday at the festival's customary Westside outpost at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, drew an especially well-heeled crowd eager for a documentary antidote to "The Devil Wears Prada.'' Among the fashion luminaries in attendance were Wintour, Vogue's Grace Coddington and designer Zac Posen. Rossi, a filmmaker who has profiled other New York institutions including The New York Times ("Page One'') and Le Cirque restaurant, said Tribeca was a fitting place to unveil "The First Monday in May.'' "The Metropolitan Museum and Vogue are tremendous powerhouses in the creative life of New York City, certainly occupying more of the uptown world,'' Rossi said. "So Tribeca, which is a festival founded to celebrate the arts in New York, for them to embrace the film and present it as opening night is a great honor.'' This year's Tribeca bows amid a controversy. When Tribeca programmed a screening of an anti-vaccination documentary, "Vaxxed,'' by the discredited British doctor Andrew Wakefield, it prompted an uproar from science researchers and filmmakers. Festival co-founder Robert De Niro, who has an 18-year-old autistic son, said including the film was his decision. The festival quickly retracted "Vaxxed'' from its program, but on Wednesday De Niro said he partially regrets that decision. "I think the movie is something that people should see,'' he told the "Today'' show in an unusually passionate interview. De Niro expressed bitter disappointment in filmmakers who threatened to pull out from the festival over the film, and he promised to find out who had. Considerable scientific research has found no connection between vaccinations and autism, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has emphatically stated that "vaccines do not cause autism.'' But De Niro insisted on "Today'': "There's something there that people aren't addressing.'' The ordeal has threatened to overshadow one of Tribeca's more ambitious editions. Over the next 12 days, the festival has some 100 films to unveil, a robust multimedia program including numerous virtual reality exhibits, a host of television show premieres and numerous staged celebrity conversations. "At Tribeca we keep an eye on tomorrow,'' festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal at a press luncheon Wednesday. "We love stories in just about any form, from a Harold Lloyd silent film captured on a 35 millimeter hand-cranked camera to a virtual reality adventure shot with multiple GoPros to a video game in which the viewer is in the driver seat determining how the narrative unfolds.'' "The First Monday in May'' is a fitting opener. It mostly follows Met Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton as he frantically puts together what would be a blockbuster exhibit, "China: Through the Looking Glass,'' and strives for equal standing amid the Met's more traditional art forms. But for many, the film will be most sought out for its rare look inside Wintour's annual Met ball, one of the biggest nights in fashion. The Hollywood Reporter called it "catnip for fashionistas.'' Rossi said he viewed his film, shot with what he called "a crackling cinema verite approach,'' a kind of hybrid between the 2009 Vogue documentary "The September Issue'' and Frederick Wiseman's 2014 portrait of the exalted London museum "National Gallery.'' The biggest challenge, Rossi said, wasn't getting access to the many personalities of "The First Monday in May,'' including Baz Luhrmann, Wong Kar Wai and Wintour. More difficult, he said, was getting the Met to allow him and his cameramen freedom to follow their subjects in the museum's hallowed halls. "It was absolutely necessary to say, 'We can't be on a tripod the whole time,''' Rossi said. The two front-runners in the race for the White House, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, expect to win big in next Tuesdays New York primary. Both contenders have deep roots in New York and victories would give their campaigns a boost after recent setbacks. Public opinion polls give Trump a huge lead in New York, topping 50 percent of the vote in some surveys. That would give him the lions share of the 95 delegates at stake in New York on the Republican side on Tuesday. At this point, Trump needs to collect all the delegates he can, given the success that rival Ted Cruz has had in picking up the support of so-called unbound Republican delegates around the country and in local and state conventions where delegates are chosen. Trump complains - Cruz says its whining Trump was upset after Cruz lined up the support of delegates in Colorado and fired off a new round of salvos at the Republican establishment over rules governing delegate selection that Trump believes are unfair. Im millions of votes ahead, which they dont even talk about, Trump told a rally in the New York state capital of Albany. They never even mention it. They talk about delegates. And Im hundreds of delegates ahead; but, the system, folks, is rigged. Its a rigged, disgusting, dirty system. Its a dirty system. Cruz fired back at Trump at a rally in Irvine, California, saying the New York billionaire is whining and is trying to bully the party and intimidate delegates. Nominating Donald Trump would be a train wreck and that if Donald Trump is the nominee, Hillary Clinton wins and she wins by double digits, Cruz said to cheers. Kasich seeks to be relevant Cruz is running well behind Trump in New York as is Ohio Governor John Kasich, who has cast himself as an optimistic alternative to his two rivals. Some who feed off of the fears and the anger that is felt by some of us and exploit it feed their own insatiable desires for fame or attention, Kasich told a Republican womens group in Manhattan. That could drive America down into a ditch and not make us great again. Kasich apparently hopes to hang in the race until the national convention in Cleveland in July and be available as an alternative candidate should Trump stumble and not win the nomination outright on the first ballot. Anti-Trump forces within the Republican Party are bracing for a big Trump victory in New York on Tuesday and the possibility of more Trump triumphs April 26 when primaries are held in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. One key Republican who apparently will not be part of blocking Trump is House Speaker Paul Ryan. Ryan sought to quell speculation this week that he might be available as a compromise candidate if the Republican convention in July becomes deadlocked. If no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, I believe that you should only choose from a person who has actually participated in the primary. Count me out, Ryan told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference. Clinton leads testy Democratic race The Democratic race in New York is a battle between two contenders with deep roots there. Front-runner Hillary Clinton represented the Empire State in the Senate, while rival Bernie Sanders was born and brought up in Brooklyn. Public opinion polls show Clinton holding a steady lead in New York and in several surveys, it is a double-digit edge. Clinton hopes to reverse Sanders recent momentum and build her lead in the delegate count. The New York campaign has intensified the competition between the two Democrats and both contenders have been more aggressive in calling out the other. I have noticed that under the bright spotlight and scrutiny here in New York that Senator Sanders has had trouble answering questions, questions about his core issue, namely dealing with the banks, Clinton told reporters during a campaign swing through the New York City borough of Queens. Sanders was vague on how he would rein in the big banks in an interview with the New York Daily News. He also had to walk back comments that Clinton was not qualified to be president because of some of the corporate campaign contributions she has received. Sanders still draws crowds and money Sanders drew a crowd of more than 20,000 Wednesday night in Manhattans Washington Square Park, the latest indication that while he continues to trail in the delegate count, he still draws large crowds and lots of money to his campaign. We have won seven out of the last eight caucuses and primaries, he told enthusiastic supporters. And when I look at an unbelievable crowd like this, I believe we are going to win here in New York next Tuesday! Coming into the New York campaign, a lot of the focus was on the rough-and-tumble Republican nomination battle. Analysts, however, note that the Democratic campaign has also reached a new level of acrimony. Its getting nastier and nastier, not just on the Republican side but on the Democratic side where youve got the two contenders, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, accusing each other of being unqualified to be president, which is just ludicrous on its face, Tom DeFrank told VOAs Issues in the News. DeFrank is a veteran journalist with the National Journal and has covered every presidential campaign since 1968. If Clinton can pull off a convincing win in New York on Tuesday and follow up with victories in the five northeastern primaries set for April 26, she will no doubt increase the pressure on the Sanders campaign to move toward the prospect of uniting behind Clinton as the nominee and begin to focus more seriously on the Republicans for the general election campaign. Ankara is demanding German satirist Jan Boehmermann be jailed for a poem it alleges insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish leader's lawyers have petitioned German prosecutors to jail the comedian under a German law that criminalizes insulting foreign leaders. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus made clear he expects Berlin to act, saying Turkey's government will not accept the insult made to the elected president of Turkey. In Turkey, more than 1,800 people including schoolchildren have been prosecuted for comments posted on social media that insult Erdogan. The president's move to prosecute Boehmermann is seen as an escalation of the Turkish leader's legal campaign. In Istanbul, opinions are divided on the move against the comedian. "The president has his own rights, said one man. When someone insults the German president they put him into the prison, also the American president. They have to be law to protect their president because they have own rights." Another man strongly disagreed, seeing the issue as part of a worrying trend. "Actually we get used it, it is always happening, he said. It is like normal for us, his [Erdogan's] behavior. And from now on, I do not think that it will change. It is his habit, kind of. He is doing it here, also in other countries. But I am always supporting freedom, democracy; but at the moment in Turkey, it's not available." Emboldened Turkish leader Analysts point out that the future of the European Union, and in particular German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is in part tied to the success of a recent deal the EU struck with Ankara to stem the flood of migrants and refugees seeking sanctuary in Europe. Political scientist Cengiz Aktar of Istanbul's Suleyman Sah University says Erdogan's decision to pursue the German satirist is evidence of how emboldened he has become in his dealings with Europe. "It tells a lot about the scope of his power, and he and his entourage see this limitless power that he has got, Aktar said. The problem is not with what he is doing. The problem is with those who are responding positively to his requests and, to start with, the German government. The German government is literally afraid of Mr. Erdogan." Erdogans spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, gave a thinly veiled threat, saying he hoped the controversy over the satirist did not undermine Turkeys newly found cooperation with Europe and, in particular, Berlin. Observers warn that Europe should prepare itself for an increasingly assertive Turkish president who is well aware of Turkey's importance to its partners. The Turkish parliament has begun the process of lifting the immunity of leading parliamentary deputies of the pro-Kurdish party. Parliament is considering a motion by the ruling AKP to amend the constitution to ease immunity for parliamentary deputies. The move is widely seen as aimed at the pro-Kurdish HDP, with its leading members facing charges of supporting terrorism. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said opposition parties have an obligation to support the move in the battle against terrorism. The reform is expected to easily pass in parliament, with the main opposition Republican People's Party supporting it. Political scientist Cengiz Aktar of Istanbuls Suleyman Sah University says it is widely expected the leading members of the Kurdish Party are likely to be prosecuted and jailed, a move he warns will have far-reaching consequences. "Those who continue to call for peace, those who continue to call for dialogue, will again be sidelined and marginalized in Turkish politics; this will be the result. If, in the meantime, the remaining HDP parliamentarians leave the parliament, then it will be a major, major crisis," said Aktar. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the driving force for the prosecution of the pro-Kurdish deputies. He insists the deputies are no different than the PKK rebels the Turkish military is fighting in the country's predominantly Kurdish southeast. Large parts of many towns and cities in the region have been destroyed in the crackdown, which observers say has alienated much of the population from the Turkish state. That process will accelerate with the prosecution of the deputies, warns Kadri Gursel, a columnist for Al Monitor website and expert on the Kurdish conflict. Gursel says such a move comes at a time when it has never been more favorable for the PKK in its 30-year conflict with the Turkish state. "As long as Turkey is at odds with other actors in the region, this creates favorable conditions for PKK to have foreign support. And PKK has unprecedented strategic depth in the region, stretching towards Iraq, Iran and Syria. And in Istanbul live 1.5 million Kurds; [Kurds] are spread all over Turkey. So it is an unmanageable situation," said Gursel. In 1994, four Kurdish deputes were jailed on terrorism charges. Experts say the imprisonment resulted in a surge in support for the PKK and its armed struggle. Their imprisonment also saw Turkey being internationally isolated. This latest move to prosecute pro-Kurdish deputies comes as the U.S. State Department and the European Parliament each expressed concern this week over the deteriorating human rights situation in Turkey. Last month, Barack Obama vowed to wipe out Islamic State and put an end to the war situation in Iraq and parts of the Middle East. After targeting European countries with deadly bombings, the Islamic State group has now threatened to attack India and wipe out Hindus in the country with the help of local mujahidin, according to reports. In a recent interview carried out by ISIS mouthpiece Dabiq Magazine, Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif, the head of Islamic State in Bangladesh said that the group plans to use its fighters in the neighbouring countries to carry out guerilla attacks in India. The terror group said that it aims to implement Sharia law in the country. They also plan to create a rift between believers and dis-believers, thus making it easy for their fighters to take over the country. Read: IS claims it will take over Kashmir from 'cow-worshipping Hindus' In order to spread their terror in India, ISIS may use their fighters in Bangladesh. Bangladesh, which is often referred to as Bengal by ISIS, is used by the terror group as their caliphate to carry out attacks in neighbouring countries. They plan to send their fighters from Pakistan and Bangladesh to India. Cover of the 13th issue of ISIS' mouthpiece magazine Dabiq. (Photo: Screen grab) Read: India faces ISIS threat: UAE Al-Hanif said that Bangladesh is a good place for the terror group's caliphate due to its geographical location. ISIS aims to create Tawahhush (fear and chaos) in India with the help of local mujahidin, said al-Hanif. Read: India puts 150 people under scanner for ISIS links Al-Hanif also claimed that there is an ongoing war against Muslims and specially Islam in India and Bangladesh. In the 13th issue of its propaganda magazine, Dabiq, Islamic State has claimed that it won't be long before Kashmir is run over by the organisation. The claims were made by the emir of Khorasan, Hafiz Saeed Khan in an interview to the magazine. When asked if IS was capable fighting 'cow-worshiping Hindus' and apostate factions such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Khan said that there are specific arrangements in those regions and Muslims will soon hear pleasant news about the caliphates expansion to those lands. While the biggest threat India faces is the attacks that may be carried out by radicalised ISIS fighters, a major concern also remains that ISIS sympathisers have multiplied over months within the country, and the figure is only swelling. Last month, Barack Obama vowed to wipe out Islamic State and put an end to the war situation in Iraq and parts of the Middle East. A Belgian judge is to decide Thursday whether to keep Brussels attacks suspects Mohamed Abrini and Osama Krayem in preventive custody. Both are said to have ties to the Brussels-based terrorist cell that is believed to be behind both the November 13 terror attacks on Paris, in which 130 died, and the March 22 Brussels attacks, which killed 32 people. Abrini is the alleged man in the hat, who was captured on closed-circuit security footage walking alongside the two Brussels airport bombers shortly before their suicide attacks. On Wednesday Belgian prosecutors said they released three people detained this week in the investigation of the Paris attacks. The Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday that none of the individuals were charged. They were taken into custody on Tuesday during a police search in the Brussels district of Uccle. On Tuesday, two other men, identified as Smail F. and Ibrahim F., were charged with terrorist activities and murders in connection with last months Brussels bombings, Belgian federal prosecutors announced. Local media said the two are brothers. Belgian authorities have faced sharp criticism over intelligence and security lapses linked to both the Brussels and Paris attacks, including the four months it took to capture top Paris terrorist suspect Salah Abdeslam. Belgian police have made a series of arrests before and after the Brussels attacks, sometimes working alongside their French counterparts. Abdeslam was nabbed near his childhood home in Molenbeek days before the bombings at the Brussels airport and metro station. He is now being detained at a high-security prison in the town of Bruges. The Ukrainian parliament elected a new prime minister Thursday, after accepting Arseniy Yatsenyuk's resignation. Lawmakers voted 250-57 in favor of President Petro Poroshenkos nominee, Volodymyr Groysman, who had been the speaker of parliament. Andriy Parubiy replaced Groysman as speaker. Addressing the chamber, the 38-year-old Groysman, a close ally of Poroshenko said there was a need to address problems in the country and to stay the course on European integration. "We need to stop crises, we need to pursue a steady course on European integration and renew economic growth. We need to intensify reforms and to make responsible decisions together. I want to emphasize that as a prime minister of Ukraine, I'll do all my best for this government to be oriented on results and to make real achievements," Groysman said. Analysts have expressed concern that the appointment of Groysman could result in Ukraine's political power being concentrated with Poroshenko and his inner circle. The 41-year-old Yatsenyuk announced Sunday that he was quitting to end the country's political stalemate. The government reshuffling gives Ukraine a chance to adopt new electoral, constitutional and judicial reforms, and to move toward joining the European Union and potentially NATO. Yatsenyuk's Cabinet survived a no confidence vote in February, but two parties left the governing coalition. He has been blamed for Ukraine's worsening economy and the slow pace of reforms. A U.N. childrens fund study has found a widening gap between poor and richer children in the worlds wealthiest countries. The UNICEF report ranking the well-being of children in 41 high income countries analyzes the consequences of this growing inequality. The gap between rich and poor in most wealthy countries is at its highest level in three decades. The new UNICEF study uses four indicators - income, education, health and life satisfaction - to measure the growing inequality between children at the bottom and those in the middle in high income countries. UNICEF social policy economic specialist Yekaterina Chzhen says the 41-country rankings are based on how far children at the bottom of the distribution fall below their peers in the middle. Countries like Denmark, Finland, Norway, Austria and Switzerland do best overall, while countries like the United Kingdom and the United States are right in the middle. At the same time, at the bottom of the overall ranking, we have countries like Turkey, Israel, Bulgaria and Italy, said Chzhen. The report shows income inequality has increased substantially in one-third of the countries studied between 2008 and 2013. It finds inequality gaps in educational achievement have narrowed. At the same time, inequality in childrens health has increased in almost all countries. It notes some improvements also have been made in physical activity and healthier eating among poor children in a majority of the countries. Chzhen told VOA some of the richest countries are letting their most disadvantaged children fall far behind all others; but, she says the report presents a mixed picture in that some nations that do badly overall do quite well on other indicators. So, a country like the United States that is known for its high levels of income inequality overall, quite unsurprisingly, does quite badly on the measure of bottom-end inequality among children; but, at the same time, it ranks quite highly on the measure of inequality in education, said Chzhen. Chzhen said poor children do better in countries that have well-established welfare systems and redistribution of income between the richest and poorest. The Nordic countries tend to fall into this category. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Thursday that preparations were underway in his country to set up a regional center for the fight against radicalism. In comments made immediately following a meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House, Rama said his government had the backing of the United States and the European Union in this undertaking. He said Albania was also striving to promote religious coexistence among youth. Young people, he said, should not take religious coexistence for granted; they need to invest in it. Rama said he was also meeting with FBI officials to ask for technical support in improving Albanias justice system. The changes include the creation of an anti-corruption court and a prosecutor's office as well as a national investigative body similar to the FBI. The United States has provided $20 million in assistance to support the reforms, and $5 million more is budgeted this year. During his visit, Rama praised the United States for its strong support of Albania since the collapse of communism in the early 1990s. Albania, a NATO member since 2009, enjoys a strategic partnership with the United States. The Balkan nation has been helping relocate thousands of members of the exiled Iranian Mujahedeen-e-Khalq opposition group. Over the past year and a half, Albania has taken in about 1,000 members of the group and has committed to taking 2,000 more. During his weeklong visit, the Albanian prime minister has drawn attention with comments strongly critical of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying Americans should not vote for him. The U.S. military has been conducting joint patrols in the South China Sea with the Philippines and is increasing its presence on the archipelago with rotational forces and equipment, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter revealed Thursday. Speaking at a news conference in Manila with his Filipino counterpart, Carter said the first South China Sea joint patrol was carried out in March. Defense officials said a second joint patrol was completed in early April. The Philippines is now the second country, after Japan, with which U.S. forces have conducted joint patrols in the sea, a defense official said. Our planners are examining ways on how to make such patrols part of our regular activities, Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said at the news conference. WATCH: VOA's Carla Babb reports on the scene: The announcement comes amid concerns by the U.S. and others about China's aggressive actions over disputed territories in the South China Sea. China claims almost the entire waterway and has created some 1,200 hectares of artificial islands there. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the waters. Carter said maritime security concerns in the region are being caused by "Chinese behavior, not America." Were trying to tamp down tensions here, Carter said. That isnt in order to provoke anything." WATCH: What is the South China Sea dispute? Rotational forces Carter said hundreds of U.S. troops and about 10 aircraft will remain in the Philippines immediately after annual joint Balikatan exercises conclude on Friday. About 200 U.S. airmen from multiple Pacific Air Forces units are being deployed with three HH-60G Pave Hawks, five A-10C Thunderbolt IIs and an MC-130H Combat Talon II to Clark Air Base on Luzon island through the end of the month. The airmen "will continue joint training, conduct flight operations in the area, including the South China Sea, and lay the foundation for joint air patrols to complement ongoing maritime patrols, Carter said. Camp Aguinaldo In addition, up to 75 U.S. military personnel will stay at Camp Aguinaldo, just east of Manila, to work on interoperability between the two militaries and enhance joint command and control capabilities. A defense official said the forces at Camp Aguinaldo would be primarily Marines. These rotational forces will have routine follow-ons by other U.S. troops, according to a senior defense official. Carter described the U.S. presence as regular" and periodic." With a presence here, it will deter uncalled for actions by the Chinese, Gazmin added. Other types of aircraft also could be deployed for a rotation in the archipelago in the future, another defense official said. Carter announced several U.S. military investments as part of the Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative that are focusing on maritime domain awareness and intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance. The United States will provide the Philippines with an aerostat reconnaissance blimp and outfit a Philippine Navy patrol vessel with upgraded sensors to survey surrounding waters. Modernize It also will help modernize the Philippines National Coast Watch Center and enhance a joint information network to allow the sharing of classified communications between the U.S. Pacific command, based in Hawaii, and key Philippines maritime command centers. This will be an important boost for Philippine maritime domain awareness and their ability to see whats happening out there past their coasts, a senior defense official said. The Philippines is receiving about 80 percent of the $50 million allotted for the Maritime Security Initiative's first year, according to a senior defense official. The five-year, $425 million program is aimed at assisting Southeast Asian nations in improving their naval and coast guard capabilities. Representative Frederica Wilson of Florida is easy to spot in a crowd. Dressed all in red from her cowboy hat to her boots, she stood on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to mark the somber two-year anniversary of the abduction of more than 200 girls from the northern Nigerian village of Chibok by the militant group Boko Haram. Wilson leads a weekly gathering of members of Congress to call for the release of the girls. The attending lawmakers dress in red, too, just as demonstrators in Nigeria do. The Chibok girls represent hundreds or thousands of girls and women who have been kidnapped and raped by Boko Haram, and hundreds of men and boys who have been hurt or killed, Wilson said Thursday. More than 2.6 million people have been displaced by the group's violence. Wilson said she has visited Nigeria, and heard shocking firsthand accounts of the group's unspeakable atrocities, including beheadings. She and other members of Congress strongly condemned the fact that Boko Haram is forcing girls as young as eight years old to act as suicide bombers in terrorist attacks. Wilson was joined on the Capitol steps by Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi, a number of other lawmakers and some Nigerian girls who escaped from Boko Haram and now have safe haven in the United States. Bipartisan fight Republican Representative Chris Smith made clear that Congress' efforts to keep the issue alive is a bipartisan one. Smith pointed out that Boko Haram wages war on girls and women, often singling out Christians, but that most of its victims are fellow Muslims. Democratic Representative Barbara Lee agreed that the terrible ordeal of the Chibok girls is a symbol of a much broader war on women by Boko Haram, saying that what their fighters are doing amounts to modern-day slavery. Some terrorism experts believe that the Chibok girls, and other Nigerian girls kidnapped later, are alive and that they are being held as a potentially valuable ransom tool. A video that has emerged recently shows some 15 girls, alleged to be Chibok girls, dressed in black. Terrorism expert Malcolm Nance told VOA that he believes the video is legitimate, and he believes Boko Haram is trying to extort money from the Nigerian government. He also said the girls may be forced to cook, clean and bear children for Boko Haram fighters. Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson Lee is calling for Congress to allocate funds for the families of victims who were abducted, and also vowed to keep advocating for the girls release. Wilson is ready to "hop on a plane" at a moment's notice to welcome the Chibok girls upon their release, and promised to keep pushing for it until it happens. WATCH: Lawmakers Speak Out at Rally U.S. President Barack Obama says the U.S.-led coalition has momentum and plans to keep that momentum in the fight against the Islamic State militant group. "Today on the ground in Syria and in Iraq, ISIL is on the defensive," Obama said Wednesday, using an acronym for Islamic State. "Our 66-member coalition, including Arab partners, is on the offensive." Flanked by top U.S. military and intelligence leaders, the president noted progress in the fight, including more than 11,500 strikes that have taken out the Sunni militant group's top leaders and thousands of fighters. "The ISIL core in Syria and Iraq continues to shrink. The ranks of fighters are estimated to be at the lowest levels in about two years, and more and more of them are realizing that their cause is lost," Obama said. The president spoke after talks with his national security team at the headquarters of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Virginia, the third such meeting in recent months, following similar discussions at the Pentagon and State Department. In his statement to the press Wednesday, Obama said IS's leadership has had a "bad few months," citing the capture of Abu Dawud the leader of the IS chemical weapons program and the killing of Abu Salah Islamic State financier in Iraq. "In the days and weeks ahead, we intend to take out more. Every day, ISIL leaders wake up and understand it could be their last," Obama said. With the help of U.S.-led coalition forces, the president said Iraqi forces have consolidated gains in Ramadi and pushed up the Euphrates River valley, retaking several villages that were held by Islamic State militants. In Syria, the president noted local forces have pushed the group out of al-Shadadi, severing what Obama called a critical supply line between IS strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul. Obama also outlined how the U.S.-led coalition has disrupted Islamic State's command and control, its communications and its financial infrastructure, including the group's oil wells, refineries and supply lines. Syrias civil war The president repeated that the only way to defeat the Islamic State group is by ending the civil war in Syria. As U.N.-led talks on the conflict resume in Geneva, the U.S. noted the six-week cessation of hostilities so far has reduced violence in the country, but not eliminated it. "The cessation has saved lives, but as we are seeing around Aleppo and other areas, the cessation is tenuous and under strain. We have seen repeated violations by the Assad regime, continued attacks by al-Qaida's al-Nusra affiliate," Obama said. The Syrian civil war will be a focus of talks next week when Obama travels to Saudi Arabia to meet with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, before heading to Britain and Germany. Obama began his remarks Wednesday referencing the recent IS attacks in Brussels, Istanbul and Baghdad. He also had a message for both Americans and the greater international community. "With attacks like these, ISIL hopes to weaken our collective resolve. And once again, they have failed. Their barbarism only stiffens our unity and determination to wipe this vile terrorist organization off the face of the earth." The top prosecutors from 11 U.S. states are launching a campaign to counter more frequent anti-Muslim threats. The U.S. Attorneys will plan to hold meetings with local law enforcement and community leaders for a series of events around the country to address backlash against Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian Americans following the tragic terrorist attacks in Brussels, Paris and San Bernardino, California. The U.S. Justice Department said since September 11th, it has investigated more than 1,000 incidents involving acts of violence, threats, assaults, vandalism and arsons targeting Arab, Muslim, Sikh and South Asians, and those perceived to be members of these groups. "There is no place for intolerance in our country," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said. The meetings in various communities in the coming months are aimed at working with local leaders and law enforcement to address discrimination, violence and harassment targeting people because of what they look like, which country they come from or where they worship. A U.N. body set up to monitor the delivery of humanitarian assistance to besieged and hard-to-reach areas in Syria accuses the government of Bashar al-Assad of continuing to hamper the delivery of desperately needed aid. U.N. Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, says all members of the U.N. Humanitarian Access Task Force are disappointed and frustrated by the lack of improvement in the delivery of aid to hundreds of thousands of Syrians. Airdrops He considers it unacceptable aid is not reaching people deprived of food and other relief for many months. He says the one bright spot is that air drops of food supplies into the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor are occurring smoothly. He says the World Food Program has successfully conducted three technically difficult operations this week. The last one Thursday, when 26 pallets of food were air-dropped into the Islamic State stronghold, a region that remains off-limits by road. The next airdrops are also likely to include, not only food items, but medical items, which are very much needed in the area. So far, 55 tons have been airdropped by the World Food Program airplane. This is quite encouraging, he said. Vaccination campaign De Mistura says he believes an important national vaccination campaign will go ahead on April 24. He says he raised this issue with the Syrian authorities he met in Damascus, urging them not to delay this operation. That would have been very bad because the Syrian people need to see for their own children, wherever they are the possibility of having this campaign of vaccination in view of the reduction of the coverage and on the fact that, regardless of what we have been hearing in terms of tense moments in some parts of the country, the cessation of hostilities is still holding and, therefore, should be allowing vaccination and, therefore, no excuse for not doing it, he said. A third round of indirect Intra-Syrian peace talks began Wednesday. U.N. envoy de Mistura says he plans to hold substantive discussions with government and opposition delegations aiming at a political transition. The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that the United States was "deeply concerned" about Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov's decision to pardon 56 people, including several high-ranking politicians, allegedly involved in a wiretapping scandal. "This decision will protect corrupt officials and deny justice to the people of Macedonia," spokesman John Kirby said. He also said it undermined the integrity of Macedonia's judicial system and its leaders' commitment to the basic values of NATO and the European Union, both of which Macedonia is striving to join. Thousands of protesters marched Wednesday through central Skopje to protest the president's decision. Some threw stones and eggs at government buildings. Reuters said one group of demonstrators broke into an office sometimes used by Ivanov, breaking windows and smashing furniture. 'Tangled' situation Ivanov said Tuesday that he was pardoning 56 officials allegedly involved in the wiretapping scandal, including former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski an Ivanov political ally and opposition leader Zoran Zaev. He said the multiple criminal investigations were paralyzing the country and had created a situation "so tangled that nobody can untangle it." Zaev revealed last year that the former Gruevski government had secretly recorded more than 20,000 people. The recordings uncovered evidence of government control over journalists, judges, and what were supposed to be free and fair elections. Gruevski denied the charges and accused Zaev of trying to bring down the government. Even though he was pardoned on charges of trying to overthrow the government, Zaev blasted Ivanov's decision as a coup attempt. Activists of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (N) raising slogans against India in a protest march in Quetta on march 27. (Photo: AFP) Islamabad: Dialogue is the best option between Pakistan and India and the two sides should not think in terms "foreclosing any options", a top Pakistani official said on Thursday. "During Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi's visit to Pakistan in December last, it was decided that the two Foreign Secretaries should meet soon. It is hoped that both sides would work out modalities for the Foreign Secretary-level talks," Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said when asked if the word "suspended" correctly defines the current state of the bilateral peace process. "We need to look ahead and not think in terms foreclosing any options. Both sides are in contact with each other. Once the modalities are worked out Secretary-level talks would take place," he said. "Dialogue is the best option! Diplomacy is for interaction and engagement between countries," he said. Zakaria's comments came days after Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said the bilateral peace process stands "suspended". When asked if the position in Islamabad is similar to Pakistan's High Commissioner to New Delhi, he said, "There is a difference between comments on day to day ground situation as compared to broader policy and future vision and prospects. At our level in the Ministry, we do not give a day to day running commentary on official policy." He said Pakistan was committed to resolving all outstanding issues with India through a sustainable, uninterrupted and meaningful dialogue without any preconditions, in order to address each other's concerns, and establish lasting peace. On a question regarding the death Indian prisoner Kirpal Singh in a Pakistani jail, Zakaria said he died due to heart attack and preparation were underway to send his body to India. He said Singh was convicted by an anti-terrorism court for spying. "It is not appropriate to see everything through the prism of suspicion and conspiracy. He was kept in intensive care at the hospital but he could not survive," he said. "We have communicated this information to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. We are in contact with the Ministry of Interior and the India High Commission with regard to transportation of dead body to India," he said. India had raised the issue of Singh's mysterious death with Pakistan authorities and sought a probe into the matter. On Pathankot investigation, Zakaria said that the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) after visiting India was "evaluating the information shared by the Indian side" which is part of the ongoing investigation into the Pathankot attack. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said Thursday he is "extremely concerned" about the widespread creation of offshore companies by wealthy people around the world to evade taxes, saying it takes large sums away from governments who need the money to fight poverty. Kim told a news conference in Washington he was distressed by the scope of the offshore accounts as disclosed in the Panama Papers, a recent report by investigative journalists based on a massive leak of documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that for decades has helped create the companies across the globe. "If you're taking assets out of a country, it's very damaging to fighting poverty," Kim said. "We want to track down these illicit assets." Kim added, "Everyone of us has to tackle this issue." He called for more transparent tax systems around the world, because, he said, "There are systems where the rich don't pay and the poor do." Kim touched on several other global issues. World Bank Concerned About Weak Global Growth, Low Oil Prices and Tax Evasion He decried the push in Europe to curb migration to the continent and the proposals by U.S. Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz to erect barriers along the U.S. southern border with Mexico to halt the flow of illegal migration, although he did not specifically name the candidates. Noting that he was a migrant, from South Korea in 1964, Kim said, "Many, many countries are going to need to encourage migration" to supply their labor markets, especially in cases where their own workers do not want to do the jobs that need to be filled. "Smart leaders are going to need migrants, not only because it's the right thing to do, but because they're going to need workers," he said. Kim said he is very worried about the recession in Russia, whose economy has been hobbled by declining oil revenues and Western sanctions aimed at Moscow for its 2014 takeover of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. He said negative growth in Russia is "one of the major drags on growth in the developing world," as Russia's investments diminish. Kim estimated that it will cost from $150 billion to $180 billion to rebuild war-torn Syria. He said the World Bank needs "to play a major role in rebuilding" the conflict zones there and in other Middle East countries that have seen years of war. In an unusual development, people from war-torn Yemen are fleeing to a region whose own citizens have been scattered over the world by decades of conflict. In the past year, nearly half of the 176,000 people who have fled Yemens conflict have gone to the Horn of Africa, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Many are Africans returning to their countries of origin, but about 26,000 are Yemenis with nowhere else to turn. Wasiim Said Mohamed arrived in Somaliland in February with his wife and two sons. They fled Yemen after Houthi militants attacked their home in Aden. Luckily, the family was not home, but Mohamed decided to move to Somaliland, which he knew was not under siege, and one of the few places that would accept Yemeni passports. This is the only country where the cost of living is cheap and there is good security and I can live with the people, Mohamed said. And he is one of the lucky ones with a job. Bakery owner Mohamed works at a bakery owned by his uncles Syrian friend, Abdulrahman Darwish. Darwish had been living in Yemen since the 1980s, when he fled Syria due to violence during the time when Syrian President Bashar al-Assads father was president. Darwish was working as a teacher in Yemen, but brought his family to Hargeisa last year to escape the conflict. And now hes trying to make a living from his bakery. The situation here is very good, but Im lacking some materials and support, Darwish said. I want to leave and go to another country but its very difficult. I cannot take that risk at sea with my wife and two daughters. If I can get some legal way to Europe or elsewhere, Ill be willing to do that. Safe, but stuck Options for Yemeni refugees are limited. Most dont have the money to pay smugglers or attempt the long, dangerous route to Europe, which involves crossing the Gulf of Aden, then going by land through Egypt to access the Mediterranean. And even then, many cant get visas in Europe or even Turkey. Somaliland may be safe and welcoming but it is poor. Unemployment is high. The UNCHR says that of the 10,000 people who have arrived here from Yemen, about 1,900 are Yemeni nationals. There is no refugee camp in Somaliland. The government says it is open to the idea, but the U.N. said refugee camps are not cost-effective and there are constant challenges with security. Additionally, the U.N. said the numbers dont justify it at this time, since the number of arrivals has significantly decreased since July of 2015. Refugee experience Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 after a three-year war, so many of the people here know the refugee experience first-hand, when they were living in countries like Yemen and Ethiopia. Still, resources are limited, Somalilands Resettlement Minister Ali Saed Raygal said. The refugees are in the same situation as Somalilanders because the Somalilanders also dont have enough jobs, Raygal said. So anyone who had skills, working in Yemen, he can do the same here. But we are trying to help them. Upon arrival, refugees are given food, medical care and cash about $100 per person from the U.N. They can also get transport within Somalia if they wish. But its not enough for some, like Jihan Ali Abdullah, a recent Yemeni arrival to Hargeisa by way of the United Arab Emirates. Thirty years old now, Abdullah said she moved to the UAE from Yemen when she was two. Earn a living One day, she said her employer in the UAE was unable to renew her work visa and she was given only days to leave the country. Somaliland or Yemen were her only options, Abdullah said. She lives with her fathers friend in Hargeisa, who is helping her for now, but she says she has no way to earn a living. I want to go to a civilized country, I want to live, said Abdullah. I want to be stable financially. I want to go back to school, do something, make a life. Here is not life. But until Abdullah and the other Yemeni refugees can find that better life, they must make the best of things here in Somaliland. PHOTO GALLERY: Refugees in Somaliland The Movement for Democratic Change formation led by Morgan Tsvangirai stages street protests over poverty, missing diamond proceeds worth $15 billion and other issues. Some parents and relatives of women and girls lured to Kuwait by suspected conmen are worried over their so-called agents refusal to disclose their location in that nation. War veteran Bernard Manyadza claims that Zimbabwes one-person-one-vote thrust has over the years been thwarted by President Robert Mugabes ruling Zanu PF party. Zimbabweans say the current harsh economic situation in the country has almost eroded most gains of independence as some of them now appear to be worse off than before the nation was liberated from British rule. We will also take a closer look at todays street protests staged by the MDC formation led by Morgan Tvangirai. Stay tuned for these stories and more coming up on Studio 7 at 7:30 pm on 9-0-9 Medium Wave and on the 4-9-3-0, 5-9-4-0 and 1-5-4-6-0 shortwave frequencies. We also broadcast on www.channelzim.net. Please check us out on Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. This evening on Livetalk our hosts of the Round Table will be talking with listeners and experts about the role played by women in Zimbabwes liberation struggle of the 1970s. Participate by sending your messages on our WhatsApp number 001 202 465 0318. The number again 001 202 465 0318. Stay tuned!!!!!! To mark Zimbabwes 36th independence anniversary, Studio 7 will be giving out solar-powered radios for our lucky winners. Simply invite 10 friends to join our VOA Studio 7 Facebook page. Ask them to like our page. Keep their names so we can verify your claim. We are also running a daily competition for lucky winners. You only need to answer a simple question about Zimbabwes independence. The question today is: When was the Unity Accord signed? The draw will be conducted April 18th. Dont be left out!! Former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday led thousands of his Movement for Democratic Change supporters in street protests demanding an explanation to the missing $15 billion diamond proceeds and an end to rising poverty and unemployment. Thousands of MDC-T supporters gathered at an open space near Zanu PF headquarters that the opposition has dubbed Freedom Square before Tsvangirai, his wife Elizabeth, and the top MDC brass led them through the central business district to Africa Unity Square adjacent to parliament. The placard-carrying protestors sang revolutionary songs as they marched through Robert Mugabe Way turning into Julius Nyerere before making another turn into Nelson Mandela, going past their partys headquarters and headed to Africa Unity Square where Tsvangirai addressed them. While at Africa Unity Square, their final destination, Tsvangirai urged President Mugabe to step down immediately to allow for a new crop of what he described as able leaders to take over the running of the countrys affairs. Tsvangirai noted though that he was not calling for the overthrow of the sitting government. Tsvangirai told his supporters that he was worried by the ruling partys failure to create the 2.2 million jobs that the president promised in the run-up to the 2013 national elections, adding that poverty was now rife in the country. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions says close to 1,000 companies have shut down following the polls that the opposition says were fundamentally flawed. MDC-T secretary general Douglas Mwonzora said his party was demanding an explanation to the missing $15 billion in diamond proceeds, noting that the protests would spread to other provinces in the next few days before a national mass action is announced. The MDCTs Harare provincial organizing secretary Rhino Mashaya said the only solution to the economic and political crises in Zimbabwe was for Mr. Mugabe to leave office. Mr. Mugabe stunned the nation recently when he claimed that his government could not account for more $15 billion in diamond sales generated from Manicaland province. As the opposition supporters marched in the streets of Harare, heavily armed police patrolled the streets and barricaded the road when protestors intended to march on parliament. The march proceeded after the High Court on Wednesday ordered the police not to stop the opposition from protesting. Zimbabweans say the current harsh economic situation in the country has almost eroded most gains of independence as some of them now appear to be worse off than before the nation was liberated from British rule. As the country prepares to mark its 36th independence anniversary, they say black majority rule has become a curse to most citizens that are struggling to make ends meet while facing a hostile social and political environment. Some Zimbabweans have suffered to the extent that they now believe that colonial ruler Ian Douglas Smith was far much better than the current ruling Zanu PF party led by President Robert Mugabe. But others dismiss this as baseless, noting that the Smith regime was racist as it treated blacks like second class citizens. Backers of this school of thought further argue that independence from colonial rule liberated them from one of the most oppressive systems in the world - racism. Alice Mukonoweshuro is convinced that the current black government is worse than the racist Smith regime. As a result, he believes that Zimbabweans are worse off today than when they were under the colonial rulers. Independence to us means nothing. It is meaningless. We do not have jobs and the children we sent to school are not working. We are struggling for food every day. Almost everything is depressing. We have nothing to celebrate for otherwise things have gone worse than before. So independence is nothing to us, completely nothing because we are suffering more than before. STRUGGLING TO MAKE ENDS MEET Thirty-six year-old Kudakwashe Maisiri, a general dealer who sells all sorts of goods in Zimbabwes capital city despite having a diploma in nursing, shares the same sentiments. Maisiri says, Looking at my father, what he managed to achieve when he was my age and what I have achieved it is totally different. I cannot say I am living the life I wanted to live. Independence is really of no significance. Andrison Kufakunesu, another Harare resident, adds that the country has not recorded any meaning social and economic development since independence in 1980. Kufakusenu says, For me there is no independence in Zimbabwe. People are forced to do what they do not want like companies forced to remit 51% to local people, that is not independence. We have Zim Asset which does not benefit everyone but only those who hold Zanu PF cards. MDC people do not have independence, even when they want to do their political activism they have to apply to the police and most of the times the police do not allow them. ECONOMIC PROBLEMS/JOBS The Zimbabwe Agenda for Social and Economic Transformation or ZimAsset is the countrys economic blue-print mooted by the ruling Zanu PF party before the 2013 general election, which it won though the results have been disputed by opposition parties. They claim that the elections were rigged by the ruling party. Zanu PF promised to create 2 million jobs under this economic blue print. For Svorai Chimuriwo, independence without a sound economy is just as bad as not having independence. It is useless to celebrate on the 18th of April because with the current situation we are in right now independence is meaningless. If you look at the economy, it is not good. Independence is a day we were freed but the situation we are facing, the suffering really there is no independence. Harare Central Member of Parliament Murisi Zwizwai of the MDC-T formation agrees, stressing that the countrys independence has just become a meaningless calendar day. Zwizwai says, Independence has just remained as a calendar date. It has changed from that very much celebrated day when people would celebrate their freedom, good life, happiness, democracy, good education and medicine in hospitals but now that is all gone. It is Independence that comes coincidentally like now where people cannot even access their money in banks, unemployment is rampant. It has just become a calendar year date which has lost its significance, importance . INDEPENDENCE WORTH CELEBRATING But Emilia Machacha disagrees, arguing that though the economy is almost on its knees and people are struggling to make ends meet, it is still worth celebrating Independence Day. Independence is of much importance. It is a day that should be considered by everyone as we celebrate the freedom that we have. The peace and joy that we enjoy today is because some people had to sacrifice their lives, so it is of much importance. Zimbabweans had high hopes of achieving a lot of social, economic and political goals before and after independence. Some people now think that the future is bleak under the Zanu PF government though others believe that Mr. Mugabes government will normalize the situation in the near future. Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) founding president Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday led his party supporters in street marches against poverty, the deteriorating economic situation in the country and missing diamond funds estimated at least $15 billion. Some opposition parties did not join the march though they were invited to take part in the protests by the MDC-T. Despite this, representatives of some of the parties believe that they will work together with the MDC-T in the near future in staging such street protests. Zanu PF spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo was not reachable for comment on the protest as his mobile phone was not reachable. For perspective, Studio 7 reached Jacob Mafume, spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Tendai Biti, and Sydney Chisi of the Youth Initiative for Democracy in Zimbabwe. Mafume said the PDP was not invited to attend the event. It (the march) had MDC colors and it was led by the leadership of the MDC-T. And even when they sought the permission (for staging the public event) they did not make any excuses about it. It was for the MDC to make a point in terms of national issues they wanted to make and I think we respect that. He noted that they are open to future collaborations with the MDC-T, various political formations and related groups on such national issues. We know that in this assembly, in this gathering for fighting for democracy there is a time for everything as it is being said in the book of Ecclesiastes there is a time to join, there is a time to watch and there is a time to act and so there is a need to be organized in that manner. He further said there is no need for just meeting but for political groups to mobilize and fight for democracy in Zimbabwe. Chisi said all organizations that have been participating in the National Electoral Agenda got the invitation and there are high hopes that the PDP would take part in such events in the near future. Initial surveys suggested the damage was limited in Myanmar, according to an official from Sagaing province, around 100 kilometres from the epicentre. (Photo: AFP) Yangon: Myanmar appeared to have escaped with only minor damage to buildings including pagodas after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that rattled its remote north, police said on Thursday, as early reports said there not had been any casualties. The quake, which struck late Wednesday more than 130 kilometres below the surface, was felt from China to Bangladesh, where scores of people were injured in stampedes as panic spread. But initial surveys suggested the damage was limited in Myanmar, according to an official from Sagaing province, around 100 kilometres from the epicentre. "We have no casualties although there was some small damage to pagodas in villages," a police official said requesting anonymity. "People are now enjoying the water festival," he added, referencing the Buddhist new year celebrated across the region. The Relief and Resettlement Department posted on its Facebook page that "there were no casualties, injuries or major damage to buildings because of (the) earthquake." A second, unnamed policeman in the capital Naypyidaw, said emergency checks on the quake-rattled zone had so far revealed only minor damage to buildings. "It seems like there was not so much damage from the quake," the officer told AFP. "But we are releasing instructions of 'dos and don'ts' if earthquakes occur in the future." Wednesday's quake rippled out to Bangladesh, which shares a border with Myanmar. More than 80 people in the country were injured, mostly in stampedes as panicked residents fled their homes and offices, local television reported. In neighbouring India, tremors were felt in several northeastern cities, while Chinese state media said some residents in the Tibetan city of Lhasa ran out into the streets in panic. Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, but the country has not seen a major quake since November 2012, when a powerful 6.8 magnitude tremor struck the centre of the country, killing 26 people and injuring hundreds. Crumbling infrastructure and poor urban planning in Myanmar has made the country's most populous areas vulnerable to earthquakes and other disasters, experts say. The Turkish government being the world record holder for imprisonment of senior officers, lawyers and journalists, much was expected of the speech that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would deliver on April 5, 2016 at the White Palace on the occasion of the Law Day. Erdogan blew hot and cold before an audience of silent jurists. According to him, yes, professional structures must be pluralistic. However, this goal cannot be achieved without first cleaning the Bar of the influence of partisan groups, that is to say political opponents. The current problems of the country are the result of the decline of "Islamic values" and foreign oppression, he said. Mocking the Tribunal which ruled the illegality of the construction of the White Palace in a protected national park, President Erdogan denounced foreign forces who organized the events of Taksim Gezi Park, in 2013, on the pretext of saving trees that had to be felled to build a shopping center. Ridiculing his opponents, he was keen to remind his dumbfounded audience that during his term as mayor of Istanbul, "he had not planted millions of trees" in the city, "but billions" (sic) and, therefore, had no lessons to learn from anyone. The President then observed that the enemies of the Turkish nation do not disarm. They have now taken control of a political party linked to terrorists. Therefore, a procedure will be launched to remove the elected representatives of the unworthy party from office. However, excluding them from Parliament will not be enough to raise the Turkish Nation. This will be possible only by depriving of their nationality all those who support this party and therefore "terrorism", he concluded coldly. To stay in power, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan grossly rigged the November 2015 elections. However, many smaller political parties had come together within the HDP and obtained more than 5 million votes (10%). They intend to promote equal rights for all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. The removal of elected officials and the deprivation of citizenship of 5 million citizens violates international norms and treaties. Yet no international personality has reacted to the "Presidents" proposals designed in practice to deprive Kurds and Christians of their nationality. Its that the European Union, obsessed by its hatred for the Syrian Arab Republic, has concluded an agreement with Ankara to both fund the war and to control the flow of refugees it causes. Two days later, on April 7th, President Erdogan received the leaders of the National Police. After singing the praises of the Forces of order and denouncing the evil done to them by "parallel institutions" [that is to say, the followers of his former ally Fethullah Gulen], he recalled that only his definition of "terrorism" is just and acceptable; a definition that he carefully avoided to explain, but that designates all those who refuse the domination of ethnic Turks. "All those involved in this nonsense, refusing to call a terrorist a terrorist, are responsible for every drop of blood," he said. And remember that if he had not launched a vigorous anti-terrorism policy after the attack in Suruc July 20, 2015, terrorism would have spread around the country. Most importantly, how can one not recognize the greatness and generosity of Turkey, a nation like no other, that hosts 3 million refugees? And what right has the European Union to demand that Ankara apply the agreement concluded on March 18th while Brussels still has not fulfilled its part of the contract, the Schengen visa exemption for Turkish nationals? This time the audience was his own. No one dared point out that the attack in Suruc not only was not the doing of the HDP, but it was the target. No one dared to point out that 3 billion Euros paid for 200 migrants received in return is not exactly an imbalance to the detriment of Turkey. When Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, recently paid a visit to Washington, he gave Americans a taste of the kinds of policies he employs at home. His guards reportedly roughed up reporters outside a think tank while an LED-lit van that said "Truth + Peace = Erdogan" drove around the United States capital. Many American policy makers are horrified by Mr. Erdogans efforts to kill off what is left of free speech in Turkey. Even President Obama admitted that he was "troubled" by the direction of the country, a NATO ally. While the American public is right to be concerned about Mr. Erdogans efforts to stifle free speech and imprison journalists, as a Kurd I am saddened that the criticism ends there. There has been hardly any real mention of the governments abuses in the fight against the Kurdistan Workers Party, or P.K.K., the deportations of civilians, the destruction of Kurdish towns and the imprisonment of Kurdish politicians in Turkey. Both Europe and the United States have turned a blind eye to the human rights violations in Turkeys Kurdish towns over the past year. Europeans did so because they were desperate to strike a deal with Mr. Erdogan to get Turkey to contain Syrian refugees. Washington, for its part, feels that Turkey is indispensable in the fight against the Islamic State. But let me tell you what this pragmatic approach is hiding: Ever since peace talks between the Turkish government and the P.K.K. broke down last summer, the country has been in havoc. Last August, Kurdish youth groups close to the P.K.K. began an insurgency in some Kurdish towns. The government responded first with tear gas and plastic bullets, later with 24-hour curfews that lasted for weeks and finally with tanks and artillery. Photos from some of the besieged towns look like early pictures from the Syrian civil war. More than 300,000 people had to evacuate their homes. The death toll is over 1,000, hundreds of whom are civilians, according to the Turkish Human Rights Foundation. Large parts of the Kurdish towns of Cizre, Silopi and the historic Sur are now heaps of rubble. While the government and the P.K.K. have different views on why peace talks collapsed, there is no doubt about what motivates Mr. Erdogans continuing military campaign. He is stoking nationalist sentiment with an eye to a possible referendum this summer that would expand his constitutional powers. Perhaps a little background is necessary here: Kurdish people living in Turkey have been waging a struggle for greater freedoms for decades. Generations have perished in prisons and torture chambers as Turkey has gone through successive military coups. When I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, we were not allowed to speak Kurdish, speak about speaking Kurdish or even sing in Kurdish. I became a human rights lawyer in part because my older brother went to jail for trying to do grass-roots activism just organizing peaceful demonstrations under a political party was enough to get him labeled a terrorist. We have come a long way in terms of Kurdish cultural rights, but Turkey is still far behind the rest of the world in basic democratic freedoms. True, the peace talks with the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan over the past few years did bring us a much-needed cease-fire and a breathing space to celebrate our political views. But since then, the negotiations have fallen apart and the Turkish government has sought to reverse those gains. The Turkish government is meanwhile trying to expand its draconian antiterrorism laws to censor speech and other political activities. Mr. Erdogan became even more intransigent about the peace process after my party, the Peoples Democratic Party, or H.D.P., which advocates for Kurdish rights, cleared for the first time a 10 percent threshold in parliamentary elections in June 2015 and gained entry to the Parliament. This has impeded the presidents ability to change the Constitution to expand his powers. Since last summer, hundreds of our party members have been arrested and dozens of our elected mayors have been dismissed or detained. Meanwhile, Turkey has been shelling Syrian Kurds who are fighting the Islamic State across the border in Syria. Mr. Erdogan is targeting our party precisely because we stand in the way of the authoritarian order he is trying to establish. The H.D.P. is a progressive coalition of Turks, Kurds, socialists, democratic Islamists, liberals and minorities dedicated to democratic reforms, gender equality, diversity and Kurdish rights. We ran on a party list that included people from Turkeys many ethnic groups, including Kurds, Turks, Armenians, Assyrians and Yazidis from all walks of life. I am a co-chairman of the party because every possible political unit, from municipal governments to local chapters, is led by a one man-one woman partnership. Our party was founded to provide common ground for all of the people of Turkey who want to see more democracy. All of this is anathema to the despotic, male-dominated nationalism fueled by Mr. Erdogan. In Washington, Mr. Erdogan presented himself as "fighting terrorism" and complained that the United States hasnt supported his campaign against the Kurds in Syria and Turkey. Someone should tell him that he is actually turning into a source of instability for the Middle East. By ending the peace process with the P.K.K., by creating a repressive security state, by shelving the rule of law and by cracking down on free speech, he is drowning what is left of Turkeys democracy making this country more susceptible to radicalism and internal conflict than ever. Distilled to its bare bones, Broad City is a show about two young women trying to get from point A to point B without money, connections, or know-how. This is true of their personal lives, their work lives, and their literal journeys. Getting Abbi and Ilana from one place to another is almost the entire thrust of the show: Its basically a serialized, gender-swapped version of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. As of late, though, the show has inched into new territory. Last weeks terrific episode, Burning Bridges, drove a major wedge between Abbi and Ilana as both struggled through relationship issues. After their teary-eyed sidewalk reunion, Getting There can seem like a bit of an emotional letdown, even as it manages to put a fun spin on the shows typical formula. Abbi and Ilana are going on a mysterious trip somewhere, and theyve packed accordingly. Or Abbi has, at least, thanks to a special suitcase recommended by Drew Barrymore. Ilana hasnt done anything, so when Abbi calls to check in on her progress, she enlists Jaime to help her throw a bunch of random stuff into one of Lincolns old suitcases. Meanwhile, Bevers quizzes Abbi with a flurry of sweet, misguided questions about her now-defunct relationship with Trey, who has been switching shifts at Soulstice to avoid her. Ilana runs to the train where shes supposed to meet Abbi, jumping a turnstile and just barely escaping an MTA security guards clutches. Once on board, theyre barely out of the station before the train stops. Luckily, Abbi left them lots of time to get to the airport until Ilana realizes that she forgot her passport. Now running late, they play a round of Marry, Fuck, Eat to pass the time, and both agree that babies would be the best options for eating. Eventually, while theyre fed up waiting for a body to be cleared from the subway tracks, Ilana makes a wish on Abbis butt. The train miraculously starts up again. Worth noting at this point: We still have no idea where Abbi and Ilana are going. Its safe to assume its another country whey else would they need passports? but Getting There leaves the rest of the trip a mystery. The plan is to get off at the next stop, take an Uber to Ilanas apartment, grab her passport, and then race to the airport. Of course, there are no Ubers to be had in residential Queens at surge hour. Abbi spots a cab in a nearby driveway and the girls knock on his door to see if they can get a ride. As the cabbie says, though, he couldnt be more off-duty. Luckily, his 15-year-old son is also home, and he inexpertly drives Abbi and Ilana to the airport, slowing down along the way to let a rollerblading Jaime drop Ilanas passport through the cab window. Once at the airport, the teen cabbie asks the girls to prom. They turn him down and Ilana takes the opportunity to educate him on polyamory and then its a race through security to the gate. Ilana is hiding weed in natures pocket, which would normally be a serious travel no-go except she wore jeans stained with old period blood. When a drug-sniffing dog comes her way, she cries, This drug is sexually harassing me! Its a brilliant plan, and it works like a charm. After Abbis suitcase is broken and nearly stolen, theyve still got just enough time to make it on board their flight. The gate is changed last minute, so they rush to the opposite end of JFK and sprint past Ilanas creepy ex, Dale where a bitchy flight attendant nearly bars them from the plane because Ilana threw a flip-flop at her. Luckily, all of the other flight attendants hate this woman, so the girls are allowed through the gate. Once at the plane door, Abbi is forced to check her suitcase. (Even though its broken, its still Drew Barrymore-approved.) As they walk to their seats, they face the indignity of seeing a poodle in first class, ordering orange juice over champagne. And then, its time for the great reveal: Abbi and Ilana are headed to Birthmark, a Birthright knockoff lead by Seth Green. (Hes got a ponytail!) I had been wondering about all the secrecy leading up to this reveal, and it totally pays off. Not only are they off on a free trip to Israel thats little more than a supervised excuse to drink and have sex with other young Jews, they will also be forced to make new friends. For Abbi and Ilana, thats a worst-case scenario. Theyre already off to a rough start, too. After discovering that their seats are separated, Ilana sits next to a guy who seems great but isnt Abbi, and Abbi sits next to a guy who actually introduces himself by saying, Enchante. As they grimace at each other and whisper, I miss you, the episode drops its final surprise: Its a two-part story arc. With Broad Citys third season set to end next week, Getting There is further proof that Glazer and Jacobson are still experimenting, still trying to figure out what else this show might become. Ill admit: This episode isnt world-changing. It isnt even show-changing. Its a funny 22 minutes of television, during which I was able to set aside everything else and just laugh, which is all any sitcom is meant to do. Of course, it was impossible to watch this episode without thinking of season ones Destination Wedding, which is a better executed version of the same concept. And after an episode like Burning Bridges, it wouldve been nice to see the emotional fallout of Abbi and Ilanas respective breakups. Still, Getting There sets the stage for what promises to be a hilarious season finale. It got Abbi and Ilana from point A to point B. Bring on the next destination. Other Thoughts: Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone. Today, BuzzFeed published a feature detailing the many, many reasons that Nina, the Nina Simone biopic starring Zoe Saldana, is a disaster. The film has gotten backlash over the casting of Saldana, who wears dark makeup and a prosthetic nose in the film, as Simone. Kate Aurthur talked to Ninas writerdirector Cynthia Mort, who became very disillusioned with the movie industry while making the film, saying that producers still wield too much power over writers and directors and all that anyone cares about is money. The article also points out that the media and the public are much more concerned with the racial politics of filmmaking than they were in 2005, when Mort, who is white, began working on the film. As Aurthur writes, in 2005, The two perceived favorites for Best Picture at the Academy Awards for that year were Brokeback Mountain, a tragic gay love story directed by Ang Lee, a straight man, and the winner, Crash, which directly engaged with racial antagonism in Los Angeles and was directed, produced, and co-written by Paul Haggis, a white man. At the end of the article, Ta-Nehisi Coates and pop-culture writer Luvvie Ajayi agree that in the future, those in the film industry should think twice about whether an idea is actually a good movie idea. Both imply that the film probably never should have been made. The next time they try to do this with somebodys story, they will think hard, Coates said. People will think real, real hard about whether to do that. Because its a new era. Ajayi called it a learning moment for a lot of filmmakers. I hope theyre listening to the reactions people have had to this, Ajayi said. Im at a point where I really want people of color to tell the stories of people of color. Read the full article on BuzzFeed and let it inform your decision whether to hate-watch the movie as a learning moment or avoid it like the plague. Photo: Marvel Less than a month after the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a new movie about superheroes fighting each other has critics talking. The only difference? This time, they actually have good things to say. After its early screenings, Captain America: Civil War has received almost uniformly positive reviews, with many critics saying that the longest Marvel movie ever is also one of the best. (Those Disney checks are paying off!) When it comes to Captain America films, it seems the third time really is a charm. Civil War hits theaters May 6. Given the relative dullness of the Marvel supervillains, the studio has resorted to making its colorful superheroes fight one another in Captain America: Civil War, a combination jamboree and ethical colloquium. Theres a lot of bloat, but the fanboy in us all will have a hard time not grinning when Spider-Man be-webs Captain Americas shield while Ant-Man scoots around pulling out wires in Iron Mans suit. David Edelstein, Vulture Not every globe-trotting action movie is self-critical enough to acknowledge the many lives that are presumably lost when buildings blow up and cars flip over. And while the idea of collateral damage was certainly central to the conflict in Batman v Superman, that film ultimately banished any sense of ethical responsibility and any lingering audience goodwill with its bombastic and incoherent end-of-the-world climax. Whatever apocalyptic associations its title may generate, Captain America: Civil War turns out to be an infinitely smarter piece of multiplex mythmaking, blessed as it is with a new villain (played with unnerving subtlety by Daniel Bruhl) who has more on his mind than blowing human civilization to smithereens. And the sides-taking showdown between Team Captain America and Team Iron Man, far from numbing the viewer with still more callous acts of destruction, is likely to leave you admiring its creativity. Justin Chang, Variety The film tangles itself up with fears of endless war and the annihilation of innocent humanity, and in doing so it continues to validate the ongoing series. Its a fact of movie history that films are created as both a response to, and a product of, the larger world. And superhero movies, which are the current cinemas site of obsession over anxiety-making issues of global safety, must continue to address the unthinkable if theyre to be more valuable to culture than mere moneymaking products on an assembly line, or retreats into childhood nostalgia that only pretend to be making sense of the environment that produces them. Civil War strikes that admirable balance: serious-minded action that never forgets to indulge in serious fun. Davie White, The Wrap If you were disappointed by Avengers: Age of Ultron weve got good news for you. Marvels big summer release Captain America: Civil War is the Avengers movie you were hoping to get last year even if it still suffers from some of the studios continuing problem to include every superhero in sight Overall there are certainly too many heroes to make this a true Captain America movie, but Civil War benefits greatly from the participation of Paul Rudd as Ant-Man. Rudd is simply the funniest performer on the screen, stealing scenes left and right and often opposite a befuddled Downey, Jr. (no easy task). Gregory Elwood, The Telegraph Its incredible how watchable Captain America: Civil War is and how dull Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice turned out to be when you consider that both movies have pretty similar core plots: Superheroes fighting against each other, a mysterious figure behind the scenes pulling the strings and, remarkably, a superheros mother plays a large role in both films. Yet Marvel has this down. Marvel knows how to move the story along and keep us entertained. Marvel knows how to trick us into liking these characters and caring about what happens to them. (That trick is by making them likable.) Mike Ryan, Uproxx Under the direction of Winter Soldiers Anthony and Joe Russo, Civil War is the most epic Avengers movie so far, even though its not an Avengers movie. The divided team allows many character moments for the android Vision (Paul Bettany), newer heroes Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and mainstays Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and War Machine (Don Cheadle). The movie also features the impressive introductions of Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), a Wakandan prince bearing claws and a grudge, and a new Spider-Man (Tom Holland). Previous movies have had issues balancing the youthful banter and scientific confidence of the comic-book wallcrawler, but Holland nails the role in every aspect. Brian Truitt, USA Today Reflecting the materials comic-book roots, the Russos keep the films action heavy on physics- and biology-defying thwacks and slams, with almost no blood, although there is a crucial injury late in the proceedings. Amid the mayhem, the movie doesnt necessarily feel overloaded with Avengers, but some personalities get to shine more than others. Jeremy Renners Hawkeye barely registers, while Paul Rudds Ant-Man has comedy and wow-factor f/x at his disposal to make more of an impression. But for all their kickass moves and fretting close-ups, such charismatic actors as Cheadle and Johansson feel sidelined through much of the story. Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter Captain America: Civil War is a good movie, one worth enjoying on the biggest screen you can find, and one that will entertain the hell out of lots of people even as it goes against the grain in some surprising ways. But the film is periodically an exercise in long-form frustration, one which flirts with The Idiot Plot more often than it should. Im not sure if this counts as a major problem, but I was shocked at how often I found myself siding with Tony Stark over Steve Rogers.Scott Mendelson, Forbes Its even bolder that the conflict at the films heart doesnt pander to genre convention and become sidetracked by a grandstanding supervillain plot. And this is the second way Civil War earns our Greatest Marvel Yet accolade: by rising above the series greatest weakness. Too often, the snappy writing and slick action in these films is undermined by flimsy big bads and formulaic final acts. Yet there is no Loki or Ultron (or, for that matter, Lex Luthor) equivalent this time. Not a whiff of Thanos, or any more of those forgettable Marvel sub-baddies with The for a middle name. There is a meddling manipulator of course there is but, interestingly, their agenda is as blurred as Steves and Tonys. Arguably just as sympathetic, too. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo dont just want to rocket your heart into your mouth with their action sequences, which have the tight choreography of a Greengrass Bourne, and the brutal flair of a Gareth Evans rumble; they want to keep your brain firmly engaged, too. Dan Jolin, Empire Magazine Captain America: Civil War isnt just a great Marvel movie, its a great movie. And that greatness which is dependent in part on the groundwork laid by 12 previous movies is the final proof of the concept that Marvel Studios first tried out in Iron Man back in 2008. Its the film that proves the shared universe concept isnt just cool, and isnt just a great marketing idea but that when used right it creates a kind of gripping, resonant longform storytelling that no one else has ever accomplished on this scale. Its also great because of the combination of Joe and Anthony Russo, directors, and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, screenwriters, who have put together a movie that just works, a movie whose epic plot has a stunning sweep, whose thematics are built on solid (and fertile) ground and whose tone is perfectly controlled from scene to scene, allowing the movie to contain some of the most joyous big screen spectacle that youll see this year but also feature some absolutely heartbreaking scenes that are emotionally harrowing. Devin Faraci, Birth. Movies. Death. Lahore High Court Justice Shahid Wahid also ordered to add the "proof" of two off-shore companies of Sharif part of the petition at the next hearing. Lahore: A Pakistani court on Thursday directed the federal government to file a reply on a petition demanding disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for alleged money laundering and wilfully concealing his wealth from the public. Lahore High Court Justice Shahid Wahid also ordered to add the "proof" of two off-shore companies of Sharif part of the petition at the next hearing. Petitioner Gohar Nawaz Sindhu on Thursday submitted "evidence" about two off-shore companies owned by Sharif. "This is irrefutable evidence proving Prime Minister Sharif has been running the off-shore companies for decades," he said. Justice Wahid directed the federal government to submit a reply in next hearing. The court office will fix the date for next hearing. The petitioner said the prime minister had lost "moral ground" to hold his office in the wake of the 'Panama Papers' leak that allegedly showed his sons were involved in money laundering and having off-shore companies in the UK. "After the Prime Minister's son Hussain Nawaz's admission about the existence of their companies outside Pakistan, the Premier should be disqualified. Hussain was a minor when the offshore companies were purchased outside Pakistan in 1993 and 1994 but PM Sharif did not declare these assets before the Election Commission of Pakistan," the petitioner alleged. "The Premier was also involved in money laundering and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's confessional statement and the confession of the Premier's sons about transfer of money abroad are enough evidence in this regard. Prime Minister Sharif has wilfully concealed his wealth from the public thus he cannot hold a public office," he argued. The petitioner also requested the court to order the National Accountability Bureau to carry out an inquiry into the 'Panama Papers' and fix responsibility. "The ECP should also be directed to start an inquiry against the Prime Minister for concealing the facts from the public while submitting his nomination papers," the petitioner demanded. Amid mounting pressure in the wake of the Panama Leaks, Sharif left for London along with his family members on Wednesday for a "medical check-up". However, Pakistan People's Party Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said Sharif has gone to London to seek former President Asif Ali Zardaris advice on the Panama Papers. "The Premier also has to sort out internal disputes that have arisen within the Sharif family regarding inheritance," he said. Sharif cancelled scheduled visits to Turkey while his relative Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also cancelled a scheduled visit to Washington for IMF and World Bank meetings to take care of "government affairs" in the absence of Sharif. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Can American dudes ever measure up to British gentlemen? The Kingsman: The Secret Service sequel seems to be a stress test of that age-old debate in the guise of an action movie. The contenders: American hunk Channing Tatum, who announced on Twitter that he is joining the project, and returning champion, the (Saville) suited up Taron Egerton. Pedro Pascal is also in the film, which is known as Kingman: The Golden Circle, while Julianne Moore and Halle Berry are in talks to play the villain and head of the CIA respectively. Colin Firth, who died in the first film, may return, and as if that werent enough, Elton John is also in talks for a role. Directed by Matthew Vaughn, The Golden Circle is set for release next June. I'm about to get all up in that Golden Circle. #Kingsman pic.twitter.com/LqCPJ6monO Channing Tatum (@channingtatum) April 14, 2016 Tatums part hasnt been specified, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, he was offered roles that ranged from supporting to cameos. He could even end up playing himself. Excerpt from Patience. Photo: Daniel Clowes/Fantagraphics As the writer and artist behind Ghost World and The Death-Ray, Daniel Clowes is the rare cartoonist whose graphic novels become cultural events. His new book, Patience, is no exception. Since its release in March, Clowess tale of time travel and romantic obsession has been selling well and drawing raves. As of the first week of April, Patience was No. 2 on the New York Times Hardcover Graphic Books best-seller list, wedged between two Batman collections. And along with the strong reviews from newspapers and magazines, the novel has a base of celebrity fans like Pans Labyrinth and Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro, who tweeted: Clowes is an auteur. Period. Patience is the rare time travel tale that fully delivers. Patience is Clowess first non-serialized graphic novel since 2010s Wilson, and writing and drawing it has been his primary occupation for the past five years. Patience took so long that its present day is 2012, which Clowes tells me reflected my optimism at how quickly I would get the book done. At the end I thought I could change it, but there was something poignant about that misjudgment. Its almost what the book is about. To learn what else the book is about, we connected with Clowes, who discussed his thoughts on aging, time travel, and his career. Patience is time-travel sci-fi that eschews formulaic devices. The book is an intricately plotted piece of fantasy fiction, with some of the freakiest art Clowes has ever drawn. It starts with an ordinary, unemployed young married man named Jack Barlow, whos about to become a father with his wife, Patience. Then something unexpected happens, which shouldnt be revealed, since much of the pleasure of Clowess story is tied to its sudden twists and turns. (Even the back of the book avoids any kind of plot description, beyond the line A cosmic timewarp deathtrip to the primordial infinite of everlasting love.) The narrative eventually picks back up with a much-older Jack in the year 2029, where he meets someone who can help him travel back in time to before he met Patience, in order to fix his past mistakes. Inevitably, complications ensue, causing Jack to rethink what his mission really is. While planning the book, Clowes avoided watching any films with similar premises, like Primer or Looper. The last time-travel movie I saw was probably The Terminator, he admits. I didnt want to see something that was similar to an idea I had and then be scared away. He did, however, follow in the footsteps of other science-fiction writers and used index cards to keep the story straight. I knew that in order for this to be successful in the way that I wanted it to be as a work of interior fiction, looking into this characters motivations then it had to work as it was purporting. Everything had to add up. There was endless amounts of refinement. Which is the main reason it took five years, really. Cover of Patience. Photo: Daniel Clowes/Fantagraphics The future of Patience is no dystopia. The 2029 of the book is intentionally a lot like our own, with just a few curious fashion trends, such as people dying their skins blue. Theres also a Donald Trumplike politician who pops up throughout the story, although when Clowes started back in 2010, Trump wasnt on his mind; the character was more inspired by cable-news hosts like Glenn Beck. I wanted the future to seem okay, he says. To seem non-apocalyptic. He was far more interested in Jack and Patiences everyday lives than in trying to be a prophet. This really isnt science fiction, he adds. Theres no science whatsoever. I didnt do any research into ways time travel would possibly work, or study the physics of it or anything like that. My son is very interested in that stuff. Hell certainly lecture me when hes finally allowed to read this book. Being a parent altered Clowess understanding of characters. Clowes started Patience when his son was barely out of preschool, and now he finds himself the father of an 11-year-old which is itself a weird kind of time travel. Parenthood changed the way I view characters, Clowes says. And the way I view humanity. I wouldve thought that you have a lot more input into raising a child, into how they turn out, then you actually do. The best you can do is sort of help them realize who they are, and not dissuade them. Its not as interesting in a way to be a writer when you come to grips with that. You want to believe characters are controlled by the events in their lives, but that happens so much less than youd think. Getting older makes us all cynical about younger generations. Patiences Jack Barlow has a gruff exterior and drips with contempt for all the dopes in his past who have no idea what lies ahead and although Clowes has a reputation for being helpful to his younger colleagues, he still sees a lot of himself in Jack. I think as you get older, you have a sense when youre talking to young people that they dont see who they really are, he says. But we know, because weve seen how our friends developed from people like them. You have a much better sense of the true nature of people and how theyll turn out. Then, he adds with a laugh: Its often like we dont want to tell them the sad truth. Clowess own future is bright. The movie version of Wilson is due out later this year, directed by The Skeleton Twins Craig Johnson from Clowess own script. But despite his past success in Hollywood, he has no plans to make movies his top priority. Right now Im really focused back on comics, Clowes says. Ive gotten a major lift from working on this book. That was the first time in my life where something this long never got soul-crushing. I wasnt at all happy to be done with it. Im anxious to get back and do something else. David Oyelowo. Photo: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic David Oyelowo will star in and produce Another Day in the Death of America, a film based on the upcoming nonfiction book by Guardian journalist Gary Younge about gun violence in America. Younge investigated ten children, ages 919, all of whom were shot dead on the same day in 2013. The writer selected the date at random, and then searched for the victims families to tell their stories. The Allegiance Theater and Double E Pictures acquired film and life rights to the book, which addresses youth and gun violence in America. Have we learned nothing? Photo: Disney Just when you thought Hollywood had hit peak stunted growth, theyve gone and allowed Peter Pan to fly another day. Yep, now Disney wants to make a live-action Peter Pan, too, which makes the most sense, considering theyre responsible for its greatest adaptation yet. David Lowery (Petes Dragon) will direct and co-write the film, with Toby Halbrooks. In the 63 years since Disneys animated version, a live-action iteration of the boy who never grows up has happened both on film and TV no less than five times most famously with the 1991 Robin Williams-starring Hook (the best of the bunch); 2003s Peter Pan; NBCs Peter Pan Live! starring Allison Williams as Pan (feel free to reprise!); and, of course, last years universally panned Pan. But if you think Pans gradual decline in popularity with the kids is going to keep Disney from rescuing the franchise, think again. The studios on a live-action kick, with Jon Favreaus The Jungle Book up next along with a live-action Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson; Cruella de Vil, possibly with Emma Stone; Tim Burtons Dumbo; and that weird Snow White sister spinoff all in the pipeline. So yes, like Peter Pan, this live-action trend is never growing old. Dont be muffled, its Ioan Gruffudd! Photo: Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images Gruffudd siren! According to Variety, hunky Welshman Ioan Gruffudd has joined the cast of Lifetimes unREAL in its second season, filling the hot Brit slot abandoned by Freddie Stroma, whos gone on to a show with slightly more emotional violence. Gruffudd will play John Booth, who in this show is not an actor who wants to assassinate Abraham Lincoln but is instead a billionaire who wants to romance Constance Zimmers Quinn. Sounds perfectly pleasant! First stop, love; next stop, manipulation and blackmail. Michael Keaton. Photo: VALERIE MACON/Getty Images The anti-superhero-movie propaganda of Birdman apparently didnt convince Michael Keaton to totally abandon the genre, because hes reportedly in talks for a role in 2017s Spider-Man reboot Spider-Man: Homecoming. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter are both saying hes being targeted for a villain role, terrorizing Tom Hollands newly minted Peter Parker. If he ends up in the flick, hell also be working alongside Marisa Tomei (whos playing Aunt May) and Zendaya (whos playing uh somebody). No word on what Spidey menace hell be playing, but we can only hope its Big Wheel. Elvis, 1935 - ??? Photo: Hulton Archive/2005 Getty Images In defiance of the typical Hollywood development formula, the creators of the Sharknado franchise (which is now adding a fourth film!) came up with the wackiest idea possible and then added sharks. Now, theyre at it again except without the sharks. Sharknado production company the Asylum is teaming up with Sharknado 3 guest star, shark enthusiast, and head of the AXS TV network Mark Cuban to produce Elvis Lives! Per Deadline, the film asks, What if Elvis never really left the building? A plot summary further clarifies that Elvis is still alive in the film, and that he simply suffers crippling agoraphobia: Plagued by drug addiction and a failing voice, the King is desperate to make things right with himself, his deceased brother and God. His attempts to get back on track are thwarted, however, after he helps the cops bring down a powerful crime syndicate putting his family in danger and sending him on a journey that will change his life forever. Cuban added to Deadline, We intend to do for the life of Elvis Presley what Sharknado did for flying sharks, seemingly unaware of Elvis & Nixon, which intends to what Sharknado did to sharks and Michael Shannons wig. We eagerly await Elvis Lives Again! 3lvis Liv3s! and the inevitable Elvis Versus the Sharknado. The Coalition Support Fund is going to end on September 30 this year with the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Photo: AP) Islamabad: Pakistan received at least USD 13 billion from the US since the September 11, 2001 attacks for logistic and other support in the war against terrorism, the country's parliament was told. This was stated by defence secretary Alam Khattak while briefing the Senate committee on defence on Wednesday. Khattak said that his country got "USD 13 billion under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) since 9/11", while another USD 200 million is due to be reimbursed by the US. He said that 40 per cent of the amount received was allocated to civil government while 60 per cent was given to the armed forces. The CSF is going to end on September 30 this year with the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Waco-based economist Ray Perryman, who frequently weighs in on issues affecting the local, state and national economies, has been named as a recipient of the 2016 Cesar E. Chavez Conscience Builder Award by the Cesar E. Chavez Legacy and Educational Foundation. The award was presented during the foundations annual scholarship gala in San Antonio. The citation called Perryman a champion and guardian of the conscience and human dignity and noted that his life is a testimony centered on these core values. Foundation president Jaime Martinez, a friend and contemporary of Chavez, who was a labor and civil rights leader who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, said Perrymans life has been defined by respect for human dignity and centered on the unifying principles of God, family and serving others. The citation discussed Perrymans career and impact as an influential economist, with emphasis on work he has provided free of charge related to hunger, child maltreatment, cultural awareness, indigent health care, immigration reform, educational opportunity, drug abuse and homelessness. Those who like tidy solutions with clear-cut distinctions between truth and half-truth may want to take a closer look at the title of McLennan Theatres season-closer: Doubt: A Parable. The 2004 John Patrick Shanley drama plays truth close to the vest or perhaps clerical vestment in its account of a New York priest accused of impropriety with a young student, and thats the point, said director Kelly Parker: Just what is the truth where theres no hard proof to confirm one side or the other? Given the global scandal of the Catholic Church covering up for sexually abusive priests, one most recently touched on in the Oscar-winning film Spotlight, audiences may think the Pulitzer Prize-winning Doubt revisits the same territory. The question of Doubt, and for its audiences, isnt how something that happened was handled, but whether something has happened at all. Were not trying to solve the Catholic priest problem with this play, he said. Its more like what should you do with gossip, where theres the idea of something, but theres no proof of anything. The something in Doubt, set in 1964 New York, is an accusation by Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Lauren Hill), principal of St. Nicholas Church School, that Father Brendan Flynn (Joshua Purvis), a popular instructor at St. Nicholas, has done something improper with a student. Her charge stems from a report from nun Sister James (Kaitlin Riley) that Flynn had met privately, and suspiciously, with Muller in his office. Flynn insists the meeting was a matter of disciplining the student for a minor infraction without embarrassing him before the school, but Sister Aloysius doesnt believe him. The incident soon expands to include the boys mother (Jayla Lane) and questions of Flynns past as the principal refuses to let the matter drop. The plays dramatic revelations, however, dont shed light on what the truth is, but raise even more questions. Shanleys script keeps audiences guessing. Its a great script so tight and to the point, Parker said. Its complex and bold, yet subtle and nuanced at the same time. The trick for Parkers cast is to keep from influencing viewers perception of guilt or innocence by shading, intentionally or not, their performances. How we portray these characters is going to play a part in influencing the audience, the director said. What were trying to do is leave that for the audience to determine. In contrast with McLennan Theatres relatively large-scale musical Once Upon a Mattress, Doubt goes small with a four-member cast, staging in the more intimate Music and Theatre Arts Theater and a running time of less than 90 minutes. skews13 said: Executives at these companies claim the top statutory corporate tax rate in the U.S. of 35 percent is so high relative to other countries, that they have little choice but to move overseas in order to remain competitive. But the GAO study provides new support for the arguments of fair taxation advocates, who have long noted that effective corporate tax rates are much lower than the statutory rates. Ireland, one of the most popular destinations for corporate inversions, has a corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent. That is not much lower than the 14-percent rate paid on average by profitable U.S. corporations in recent years. This Study Shows How Low Corporate America's Taxes Really Are The GAO said those corporations in the black that still did not pay federal taxes benefitted from loopholes and tax incentives, such as the practice of rolling over losses from previous years. That enables companies to deduct those losses from their tax burden.Executives at these companies claim the top statutory corporate tax rate in the U.S. of 35 percent is so high relative to other countries, that they have little choice but to move overseas in order to remain competitive.But the GAO study provides new support for the arguments of fair taxation advocates, who have long noted that effective corporate tax rates are much lower than the statutory rates.Ireland, one of the most popular destinations for corporate inversions, has a corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent. That is not much lower than the 14-percent rate paid on average by profitable U.S. corporations in recent years. Click to expand... Choose an available business name that complies with your state's corporation rules. Appoint the initial directors of your corporation. File formal paperwork, usually called "articles of incorporation," and pay a filing fee that ranges from $100 to $800, depending on the state where you incorporate. Click to expand... Trouble with averages is that they are just averages. I love your bent articles. This article implies that ALL corporations only pay 14% real tax rate. Of course what it does not say is what is a corporation?Well hells bells look at that. Huh no wonder most family farms are organized as corporations. Yeah good old averages, they never tell the whole story. You know what I like. I like facts. I really do. Check out who else pays no tax and benefits from cash payments.Well look at that. The bottom 1/5 get back more than they pay in! Hell they are not even a corporation. Who the hell would have thought that. Yeah, it is only 14% says your article, in regards to the AVERAGE. I dont get it. You are against a flat tax that would not allow deductions and loopholes, but then you use a one size fits all argument to support your narrative. Funny **** A McLennan County grand jury indicted a 35-year-old Waco woman Wednesday in connection with a February shooting that seriously wounded a 19-year-old man in East Waco. Tyjuana Chante Curry was indicted on a felony charge of aggravated assault, stemming from the Feb. 7 shooting of Demarcus Tremayne Simon. The indictment comes after police alleged that Simon was shot in the face near the intersection of Lenox and Dallas streets after an altercation between Simon and at least one other person. Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton previously told the Tribune-Herald that a silver or gray car pulled beside Simons car and someone inside the vehicle fired several shots. Simon was hit in the face before he crashed into a telephone pole. He then fled to an apartment complex in the 1700 block of Dallas Street, where police found him. Swanton said Simon was taken by ambulance to Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center before he was flown to Temple for surgery. He survived the incident. Swanton said officers did not think the shooting was random. As the investigation continued, Curry was identified as a suspect and was arrested on aggravated assault charges Feb. 11. She was released after posting a $10,000 surety bond Feb. 12. The indictment states that Curry shot Simon with a firearm on or about Feb. 11. If convicted, Curry faces two to 20 years in prison. Hewitt Mayor Ed Passalugo said the only word to properly describe the new joint City Hall and library is Wow. The $4.5 million structure with a distinctive arched roof opens its doors to the public Thursday, and lighting repairs, furniture placement and landscaping work went down to the wire Wednesday. City leaders will host a grand opening and ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. Thursday at 200 Patriot Court before opening the doors for the public to walk in under the mosaic stained glass. The 26,500-square-foot building allows for direct flow between multipurpose rooms, the library, municipal court and council chambers. Most of the furniture in the gut of the building is movable, creating flexible work areas, and the floors are primarily stained concrete. Hints of blues, oranges, greens, purples and yellows flow through the lobby, conference room and council chambers, while the colors dominate the library flushed in natural light pouring in from large windows. Passalugo said the city finally has a City Hall and library residents can be proud of. What the city had served its purpose a decade ago, but as the area continues to grow, the city of Hewitt needed something to meet its future needs as well, he said. This is a facility built for the next 50 years, Passalugo said. We spent some money, but it was spent for a good purpose. Passalugo said city leaders took some flack issuing the certificates of obligation for the new building, but the money was well spent. I just see so many positive things happening from the new city hall and everything were doing, Passalugo said. The first city council meeting in the council chambers is scheduled for April 18. Passalugo said the difference between the old and new chambers is like going from an IKEA structure to a Cadillac Escalade. Tucked in a corner of a reading room sit two chairs purchased by Passalugo, who dubbed that corner the Mayors Reading Corner. Passalugo purchased the chairs out of his own pocket and refurbished an antique wooden table that had sat in his garage 15 years and now sits between the two chairs. I want to leave to something that will be around for a long time, he said. Passalugo joked about City Manager Adam Miles initial stress about the bold colors highlighting the library. Miles said the almost 13,000-square-foot library was originally painted white, and then the purple paint went up, followed by green and orange. He was certain a giant mistake had been made until the whole design finally came together, Miles said with a laugh. Designed by RBDR Architects and built by K4 Construction, the new structure sits adjacent to the Hewitt Public Safety Facility. Lessons learned Miles said the city applied some lessons learned from construction of the public safety building to the new City Hall, which has come together smoothly. For instance, the doors have a metal finish at the new facility, because the painted doors at the public safety building have started to chip where uniforms have scratched against them, he said. A partially covered courtyard faces the Hewitt Public Safety building and features a butterfly-shaped area for flowers. Miles said residents will be proud of the new facility. Its not over the top, but its not second-rate either, Miles said. Library director Waynette Ditto said the new library is a place where everyone belongs. There will be programs for toddlers, children, teens, adults and the senior population. Once people come in and see what we have in store for them, theyre just going to be blown away, Ditto said. The amount of technology in the library has increased, including the availability of a 3-D printer. We even have a piano that is digitized so people can bring their own laptops in and hook into our piano and they can write music and record music, she said. The library also has partnered with the Texas Fine Arts Association, which will feature Texas artists in the library on a rotating basis. With ever-growing numbers coming in and out of the library, she said, with the new opening they are expanding their hours and will now open their doors to the public on Sundays. We have a lot of very talented minds that live not only in Hewitt but in the Waco community, and theyre excited, Ditto said. It really is phenomenal. Miles said the city likely will close on a sale of the old City Hall in the next 30 days. The Truth About the Panama Papers Chris Campbell By Chris Campbell Apr 6, 2016 --In case youre not caught up: 11 million documents have been leaked, via an anonymous source, out of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. These documents reveal nearly a half a century of offshore tax evasions committed by a den of capitalist thieves, out to rob the public of their hard-earned plunder. Kidding. Really, the shadiest of the revelations come from actors of the State, those who siphon off tax money and stuff it away in Central America not greedy capitalists trying to hoard all the milk from the imaginary public teet. (Which, if taxed, would eventually end up in the hands of the politicians who, of course, would siphon it back to Panama. But thats neither here nor there.) The first to lay eyeballs on these leaks were reporters from Germanys largest national newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung. Random fact: A few months after WWII, SZ was the first to receive a license for press from the U.S. military administration of Bavaria. Been running strong ever since. The Munich daily, an article on Moon of Alabama reads, discussing the German rag, is politically on the center right and staunchly pro NATO. It cooperates with the Guardian, the BBC, Le Monde, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and some other news organization who are all known supporters of the establishment. More on that factoid in a moment First, brass tacks: The simple truth is, based on what weve seen so far of the leaks (or, rather, what theyve let us see), were underwhelmed. And we smell fish. First, youve probably noticed, all the leaks, thus far, appear to be a tad too cherry-picked to maintain any semblance of balance. (David Camerons dad is a reasonable, but feather-fisted, counter to this statement.) And theres nothing really incredibly explosive Whoa! Russian oligarchs use tax havens! What a revelation! not nearly as bombshell as you would expect from the largest leak in history. Historian Bill Carrigan knows the power of photographs when it comes to the subject of lynchings. He was a University of Texas at Austin student in the 1990s when he saw the grisly ones from the May 15, 1916, lynching of black teenager Jesse Washington in downtown Waco, and it set him on a research path that has occupied much of his academic career. The 45-year-old Chalk Bluff native comes to Waco on Thursday to talk about lynchings what allowed them to happen, the individuals who managed to stop some and what lessons can be learned from a shameful part of the past. His talk, Why Ordinary People Supported Lynching and How Some Extraordinary People Prevented It, is part of a community dinner and lecture from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at St. Albans Episcopal Church parish hall, 305 N. 30th St. Admission to the event, sponsored by the Community Race Relations Coalition, is free, but reservations are recommended. People interested in attending should call 836-4599. Carrigans doctoral dissertation became the 2004 book The Making of a Lynching Culture, which he has since followed with Forgotten Dead: Mob Violence Against Mexicans in the United States, 1848-1928, published in 2013 and co-written by Clive Webb. A graduate of Vanguard College Preparatory School, Carrigan started studies at UT as an engineering major, following in the footsteps of several family members. History professor George Wright, now president of Prairie View A&M University, introduced Carrigan to the history of lynching, particularly in Texas and including the infamous one of Jesse Washington, whose hanging and burning was watched by thousands of Waco citizens crowding downtown streets. Carrigan soon found himself gravitating away from engineering and toward history, graduating in 1993 with a history degree, later a doctorate at Emory University, and focusing on the culture of lynching as a research subject. What made the 1916 Waco lynching photographs so compelling, then and now, is that they captured a lynching in progress, viewed at every horrific step by thousands of spectators as many as 15,000 by some estimates, he said. Washington, a 17-year-old black farmhand, was found guilty of murdering Lucy Fryer, the white wife of a Robinson farmer, by a McLennan County jury. Before he could be sentenced, he was seized, chained and dragged to a tree outside the courthouse, hanged, then burned and mutilated before a massive crowd that had gathered for the trial. No one was prosecuted for Washingtons torture or death. Carrigan, chair of the history department of Rowan University in Glassboro and Camden, New Jersey, found in his extensive research that a continual history of violence created a culture in which lynching was tacitly approved if not overtly sanctioned. Making a difference Still, individual stands against it made a difference, either in foiling lynching attempts or dampening response to a call to violence, he said. Carrigan points to a period from the 1890s to 1905 when lynchings were largely absent in McLennan County, at a time that they were on the rise nationally. The reason? A 54th District Court judge named Samuel R. Scott pushed to prosecute the men involved in a 1896 lynching. A grand jury indicted the men, but the cases were later dismissed. Still, Scotts action and his stand for fair representation for black defendants in a criminal trial chilled a local tendency to pursue extra-judicial violence against accused blacks and Mexicans, Carrigan said. Sheriffs and law officers had the most influence in defusing lynching, followed by family members of potential victims, judges and public prosecutors. It proves that individuals can matter, he said. That lynch-free period ended in 1905 with the hanging of Sank Majors from a downtown bridge, an act that went unpunished, Carrigan said. The absence of criminal consequences for lynchers soon returned the practice to McLennan County, leading ultimately, Carrigan said, to the Jesse Washington case. Reporting the Washington lynching to a national audience and its call for anti-lynching laws proved a pivotal moment to legitimize the then-fledgling National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. A national sense of disgust at the Washington lynching eventually led to the practice largely dying out in McLennan County by the 1930s. All the attention on Waco led the white elites in Central Texas and Waco to work hard to prevent future lynchings, Carrigan said. The history professor said he is still criticized for his work in detailing and describing lynching history, often from those who feel the horrors of the past should be left there and not revisited in the present. The trouble with that attitude is that there is often no consensus on interpreting that past. Its a real problem. Whites and blacks see and remember the past differently. Theres a segregation of memory of sorts, Carrigan said. In my work, I try to find a way to see what actually happened so two sides can see and come together for a more productive dialogue. That is the reason the Community Race Relations Coalition invited Carrigan to speak in one of a series of events marking the 100th anniversary of the Washington public lynching, CRRC board chairman Jo Welter said. While whites sought to bury attention to the lynching, seeing it as a blight on their citys reputation, many blacks remembered it as an event that broke their families, with husbands, sons and uncles moving out of a Waco where their lives were at risk, Welter said. Events earlier this year that remembered the public lynching of 1916 included a talk by Patricia Bernstein, author of The First Waco Horror: The Lynching of Jesse Washington and the Rise of the NAACP; a pilgrimage from Robinson to the McLennan County courthouse; and a screening of the film Shadows of the Lynching Tree, featuring its producer, Carvin Eison. More commemorations are planned leading up to a May 15 memorial service at Bledsoe Miller Recreation Center on the lynchings centennial. Its not to memorialize Jesse Washington but to acknowledge and apologize for a lynching culture, as well as share statements on who we are now, Welter said. A Harris County jury awarded $17.72 million Thursday to the family of a construction worker who drowned in 2014 while working on the pedestrian bridge to Baylor Universitys McLane Stadium. Jurors in 151st State District Court in Houston deliberated about six hours over two days before placing 100 percent of the blame for Jose Dario Suarezs death on Austin Bridge and Road Co., the general contractor hired to build the bridge. I hope this verdict will send a message to all companies, not only construction companies, to properly train their workers and supervisors and not prioritize speed and profits over safety of workers and people, said Houston attorney Vuk Vujasinovic, who represents Suarezs wife, two daughters, son and mother in the lawsuit. The jury awarded $5 million in damages for Suarezs pre-death pain and suffering as he drowned; $1 million for each of his three children; about $8 million for his wife; and $2 million in punitive damages. Vujasinovic said he asked the jury for $27 million in damages. Austin attorney Larry G. Black, who represents Austin Bridge and Road, did not return a phone message seeking comment. Baylor was named as a defendant in the original pleadings, but 151st State District Judge Mike Engelhart dismissed the school from the lawsuit in June. The remaining defendants included Flexifloat Construction Systems; Austin Commercial Inc.; Austin Bridge and Road; Derr and Isbell Construction Inc.; Flintco; Genie Industries Inc.; Terex Corp.; Robishaw Engineering; and Core Safety. Suarez, 55, of Manor, drowned Jan. 28, 2014, after a hydraulic lift he and another worker, Terry Watson, were strapped to rolled from a modular barge into the Brazos River as the men worked on the bridge. Watson was able to free himself and swam to the surface, where he was pulled from the cold river. In jury summations Wednesday morning, Vujasinovic asked the jury to place 100 percent of the blame on Austin Bridge and Road and to find no liability with the other defendants. That is what the jury did. Pointing fingers As evidence in the three-week trial played out, most of the companies tried to blame other defendants for the tragic death, Vujasinovic said. Lots of times people wonder why there are so many companies named as defendants in these type of cases, Vujasinovic said. As it turned out, everybody was pointing the finger at each other and sometimes it takes a trial like this to expose the bad actor. Vujasinovic had alleged that work crews made no attempt to rescue the two workers after the barge they were tethered to rolled into the river. Not only did no one try to rescue the men, crews continued working while Suarezs body lay on the bottom of the river because the $266 million project was four months behind schedule and time was of the essence, Vujasinovic alleged. Suarez and Watson worked for Derr and Isbell Construction. Watson testified in a deposition that the water was freezing cold and the deeper you went, the darker it got. According to court documents, Watson was under water for almost two minutes before he was able to free himself. Waco police Officer Francisco Reyes testified at the trial that workers continued constructing the bridge as Suarezs body lay on the river bottom. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Derr and Isbell $7,000 for failing to secure the lift to the barge on which it was sitting. Watson testified in a deposition that he moved the boom lift from the center of the barge to the corner to give them better access to a work area. The lift was not chained down, as regulations require, according to court documents. Police say a man who fled from authorities across Interstate 35 and through drainage tunnels Monday afternoon gave them a fake name and date-of-birth, and they believe they have determined his true identity. Ronnie Earl Rhodes, 47, of Waco, was initially pulled over after he ran a red light near Baylor University on Monday afternoon, McLennan County Precinct 1 Constable Walt Strickland said. During the traffic stop, Rhodes told an officer that his name was Jahnaran Goode, 24, before running on foot. He gave us a fake name and date of birth of a person who was wanted on a felony warrant out of Houston, Strickland said. If he wouldnt have ran and given us a false identification, he would have just gotten a citation for failing to yield at a red light. Rhodes reportedly ran from the traffic stop in the 1000 block of South Fifth Street, across interstate traffic and over the medians. Waco, Hewitt and Baylor police, deputies with the McLennan County Sheriffs Office attempted to track the fleeing man before he jumped into a creek near the Clay Pot Restaurant. We tracked him into a 24-inch tunnel, but it was small and we couldnt get down into it, Strickland said. We got city maps and were able to later find where he came out at, near 16th Street and Jack Kultgen (Freeway). Officers were able to determine Rhodes identity through additional investigation. Arrest warrants were issued for Rhodes Wednesday as officers continued to search for him. Rhodes is described as a muscular man, between 5-foot-9-inches and 5-foot-10-inches tall, weighing about 165 pounds. Strickland said he is clean shaven and advertises himself as a personal trainer, working at Waco-area gyms. Anyone with information on Rhodes location is asked to contact Waco Crime Stoppers at 753-4357. The Senate should have a hearing and take a vote on naming Merrick Garland to fill Antonin Scalias vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, Baylor University President Ken Starr said Wednesday. Good government calls for us to have a hearing and vote up or down, Starr said while commenting on the vacant Supreme Court seat. Starr spoke at the Baylor Law School on Wednesday with Baylor law professors David Guinn and Rory Ryan. The panel was moderated by Brian Serr, another Baylor law professor. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the Senate should allow the next president to make an appointment before confirmation hearings are held. McConnell has maintained this view as President Barack Obama nominated Garland to fill the vacancy last month. Garland is the chief judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and he was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1997. The panel spent much time praising Scalia, who died in February. He was so much fun, even though he was the smartest kid on the block, Starr said. Starr said Scalia was deeply human and had a wide range of interests, including the New York Yankees, even though Scalias wife, Maureen, is an avid Boston Red Sox fan. Whether you agree or profoundly disagree with the thrust of his jurisprudence, he honestly tried to be intellectually honest, Starr said. Guinn said Scalia wrote our most definitive Supreme Court opinion on the Second Amendment, and although Scalia was viewed as a conservative, he was a champion of the First Amendment rights to free speech. Guinn and Starr spoke of Scalias vote supporting the rights of people who burned the American flag. He was a devout disciple of the Constitution and its original meaning, Guinn said. The panelists also agreed on Garlands qualifications. Hes superbly qualified, Starr said of Garland. I had the privilege of knowing the chief judge for many years. Unfortunately, I never served with him, but we have rubbed shoulders professionally for several decades and he is, again, superbly qualified. As Garland remains without a hearing, the Supreme Court sits with eight justices. In 4-4 decisions, cases are remanded to appeals courts. Starr said calling 4-4 decisions unfortunate would be an understatement. The court needs to have an odd number to get its work done, Starr said. Any historian taking stock of state officials now in the spotlight for obvious ethical failings might be tempted to place them under the category of Politicians Behaving Badly. We file them under the category of Voters Behaving Badly. While weve already focused on legal and ethical problems dogging state Attorney General Ken Paxton, favored by Republican voters over two far more upstanding Republican candidates in the 2014 Republican primary election despite a state securities violation, questions also are mounting around state Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, another Republican whose behavior ought to raise howls of outrage from the tea-party vanguard and state Republican leadership. Instead . . . silence. The diligent Houston Chronicle furnished evidence indicating Miller, arguably the most colorful of our elected state officials, purchased flights to and from Mississippi with an agriculture department credit card so that he could compete in a rodeo. He explained that while he intended to vie in rodeo competition, he also sought to set up meetings with agricultural officials while there. The meetings never happened, but he reportedly won $880 roping calves. Another Chronicle investigation indicates Miller charged taxpayers more than $1,120 so he could fly to Oklahoma and meet with agricultural officials except again no meeting occurred. The evidence suggests Miller was there to receive a Jesus shot from a convicted felon for pain relief incurred by rodeo injuries. In case its not apparent, the Miller MO seems to involve traveling to events for personal gain and setting up official meetings so he can claim he was on business and soak state taxpayers. This is the same guy who after campaigning as a fiscal hawk in 2014 gave out $413,700 in bonuses to his staff in 2015. Ironically, he was handing out bonuses while trying to increase state fees for farmers. Nice guy. This is yet another example of Republican voters not doing their homework. During the 2014 primary, the Trib met at least two far more qualified Republican candidates J Allen Carnes, an actual farmer (imagine that!) and Eric Opiela, whose vast knowledge of water issues could have been useful given that, whatever the cause, our climate is getting hotter by the year. Yet here in McLennan County, home of the Texas Farm Bureau, voters overwhelmingly cast ballots for Miller, whose agricultural experience alongside Opiela and Carnes is meager. In a five-way race, Miller, a former state lawmaker who campaigned as a world champion cowboy, garnered 40 percent of the vote locally, 35 percent statewide and then won a runoff election. The Texas Rangers are now investigating Millers travels, but ultimately, many of us have only ourselves to blame for this latest state fiasco. LINCOLN A new online class offered by the Lancaster County 4-H Club is starting off strong. The 4-H Online Cat Club kicked off two weeks ago, welcoming curious cat owners from across the state to learn the best tips and tricks when it comes to caring for their four-legged friends. The analog class takes place within the brick-and-mortar confines of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln East Campus Animal Science Complex, said instructor and campaigning animal specialist Lisa Karr-Lilienthal. But the lessons reach some of the outermost areas of the state. Her most distant student logged in from Sheridan County, a sprawling rectangle that marks the beginning of the states panhandle. With all that distance to cover, one might think some technical hiccups wouldve reared their head. But thats not the case. It went really well, Karr-Lilienthal said. Thats the nice part about advantages in technology. Interested children from eight to 18 years old are encouraged to attend the free club any way they can, Karr-Lilienthal said. Local students in Lancaster County can attend the classes in person. The club offers a crash course in cat care, beginning with a history lesson. At their first session, students learned about the path to domestication cats took. They took particular interest in how ancient Egyptian society held the animals in high esteem. One factoid especially had the kids grinning. When a cat died, the family members would all shave their eyebrows in remembrance. The students didnt think they would go that far. None wanted to shave their eyebrows when their cat died, Karr-Lilienthal said. The kids have since moved from history to anatomy and care tips, which Karr-Lilienthal is more than qualified to handle. She holds a Phd in dog and cat nutrition and also teaches courses at the university. There are a lot of children with cats, but not many with expertise in caring for the animals teaching classes, she said. This course changes that. Its an opportunity for me to teach kids with cats, she said. Shes also a bit of a cat person herself, though that wasnt until she got some of her own. I used to think I was a dog person, she said. Im much more a cat person than I used to think I was. The class isnt just for show cats or fancy breeds, Karr-Lilienthal said. In fact, its aimed more at everyday housecat owners. Those cats can still be shown at county fairs, though. It doesnt have to be a fancy cat to show at the county fair, she said. Its more about providing the best care for their own cat. Overall, the kids have responded to the class well, jumping into worksheets and exercises with energy. Everybody seemed to enjoy it, Karr-Lilienthal said. I got good feedback. If the class continues to see success, it could prompt the expansion of other 4-H clubs into online territory. Thats a good thing for kids in the less densely populated portions of the state who may not have access to as many programs. Theyre definitely in a position where they dont have as many opportunities as kids in eastern part of the state, Karr-Lilienthal said. This is kind of a new thing. If it takes off and does well, it sounds like theyll expand it. SWEET HOME Members of the Sweet Home School Board received an update Monday on plans to begin drug-testing student athletes this fall. Superintendent Keith Winslow told board members he plans to bring the policy and the administrative regulations to go with it to the boards next meeting, May 9. The idea is to have formal approval before athlete code of conduct forms are made available later this summer. The policy has been in the works for nearly a year. It will affect students involved in athletics or activities with competitions sponsored by the Oregon School Activities Association, including dance and choir. Supreme Court cases have indicated its unconstitutional to test an entire student body for drugs, but have held that athletes and club members can be tested because those students dont have the same expectation of privacy. Winslow said Sweet Home will test all members of a team before that teams season starts, then do random testing afterward. Testing for groups that dont have a specific season, such as choir, likely will be done just before any OSAA competitions. The tests will look for six of the most common illegal substances, including marijuana and opiates, Winslow said. The district will do its own testing at an expected cost of about $3,000 per year. Sanctions havent been made final, Winslow said, but athletes who test positive likely would face a team suspension of two weeks. The Oregon School Boards Association has estimated about 20 Oregon school districts, charter schools or education service districts have student drug-testing policies. In the mid-valley, districts with drug-testing policies include Central Linn, Scio and Junction City. Lebanon has also considered drug-testing its OSAA participants, but the district hasnt made any formal proposals and the idea has not been discussed publicly since late 2015. Winslow said hes not expecting to catch many offenders. The policy is meant at least partly to help students withstand peer pressure. I think it will be very, very minimal, he said. Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools: Portfolio Monitoring Top Stock Lists Premium Reports Stock Screeners Live News Feed Premium Support Free for your first month. IMAGINING Arts was about all we could do over the last 18 months or so, but now we need imagine no more. Celebrating its 20th... The team at Waterford Walls has hardly been able to contain its excitement this week as it brings another exciting artwork to the city.... 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The 24th of July is a special day for Samaritans. 24/7 is a day we use each year to highlight that we are available... ... but you will need to show proof of jab get into bars STUDENTS heading to college in September will not have to be vaccinated... Waterford Fine Gael Senator John Cummins has described the progress which has been made on the purchase of the former Waterford Crystal site for... Victoria's economic pie may be getting bigger, but don't think that means you are getting a larger slice. There's a common denominator to the various political debates raging around the country over infrastructure, health, education, housing and the economy: population growth. It underpins the infrastructure debate because cities like Melbourne - swelling by an average of about 200 people a day for the past decade - are becoming ever more clogged with people. Federal and state governments now face enormous pressure to expand road and rail access so that people can get to work and home to their families within a reasonable time frame. Illustration: John Spooner It underpins the health debate because our hospitals, particularly in growth areas to the west, are struggling to cope with booming demand and spiralling costs. Late last month, for example, The Age reported claims from nurses that women are giving birth in unsafe rooms and at least one infant has been resuscitated in a corridor at the Mercy Hospital in Werribee because of a lack of resources. Or in November last year, Victoria's Auditor-General warned that Victoria's 87 public hospitals face annual deficits of more than $700 million, with some unable to pay their bills. It underpins the education debate, with state schools struggling to cope with run down facilities and expanding class sizes. As research prepared by the Grattan Institute for Fairfax Media found, up to 220 new schools need to be built in Victoria in the next decade to absorb and 190,000 extra students. Even as a young boy, Mr Foster, who is now an ambassador for Just Reinvest NSW, would run from the police if he was in trouble rather than running to them for help as most white Australian children are taught. Indigenous children are 24 times more likely to be locked up than non-Indigenous children. There are children as young as 10 and 11 in detention. It is 25 years on Friday since the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody warned of disastrous repercussions if nothing was done to stop the problem of "too many Aboriginal people ending up in custody too often." Aboriginal activists and researchers say the problems have only got worse: since the report, there have been 341 Indigenous deaths in custody, and the number of Aboriginal people in prison has doubled to 27 per cent. Indigenous children account for 6 per cent of Australia's total youth population, but amount for more than half of those children across Australia who are locked up. In the Northern Territory, they represent more than 90 per cent of those children in detention. "Our kids are less likely to be cautioned, more likely to end up in detention, and more likely to get caught up in a cycle of reoffending," said Roxanne Moore, an Indigenous rights campaigner with Amnesty International. Very young children were being detained in police lock ups for no reason, often in breach of the international convention on the rights of the child. She cited the case of a 10 year-old boy arrested in the Northern Territory for sneaking into a movie whose case went to court. "He could barely see over the bar table (in the courtroom) and he was terrified. This sort of situation doesn't need to be resolved in the justice system," said Ms Moore. In WA in 2009, a 12 year-old boy who had been given a 70 cent Freddo Frog from his friends, which turned out to be stolen, was charged with receiving stolen goods and faced court. "The charges were ultimately dropped. But he ended up spending a few hours in custody," said Ms Moore. Early interaction with the law usually foreshadowed problems in adult life. "If someone enters a juvenile detention centre, they are more likely to enter an adult prison than if they are diverted at an early stage," said Thalia Anthony, an associate professor of law with the University of Technology Sydney, told a public forum, UTSpeaks: Fatal Injustice, held to mark the anniversary. Young people sentenced to juvenile detention were 74 per cent more likely to end up in prisons than those who were diverted, said Dr Anthony. Often a long history of prejudice and misunderstanding - on both sides - sets the tone for interactions between police and the local indigenous community. Youth leader Keenan Mundine, 29, had a troubled youth but has turned his life around. "Police, I had seen them every day, all day, stopping my people, searching my brothers, my uncles, chasing people, kicking doors in," he said of his youth in Redfern. He spent most of his twenties in prison, including three years on remand while fighting a breaking and entry charge before his case was heard. "That's three years not knowing when this door will open, not knowing when this gate is going to open, not knowing when I am coming home, fighting a breaking and enter charge from behind bars." A new father, he now studies and works on the Kool Kids Club, a program which helped Beau Foster. "I am proof that you can turn your life around, it is possible," said Mr Mundine. Ms Bryson said Weave's programs like Kool Kids had a proven track record, and saved taxpayers money. Of the children in the program, 40 per cent of children had an immediate family member in jail, and another 40 per cent had a parent or carer who had a drug or alcohol problem. Indigenous children account for 50% of juveniles in detention in NSW. Yet not one of the hundreds of children who had attended the Kool Kids Club - since it started in 2001 - had contributed to this statistic. Her name is Standard Motor Launch For Torpedo Boat Destroyer. But David Glasson calls her Matilda. "She waltzes all over the place," he says, moving his hand like a boat bobbing about the water. He knows every one of her nail holes. She came to him a rusted wreck 10 years ago and now her fresh grey hull is wet with rain, as she's loaded on a barge and carried above the wash of Sydney Harbour. "It's too important to go back in the water," Mr Glasson says. He likes sailing boats but is no sailor. "I like tug boats. I like work boats. The sad bit is I have only got an interest in the boats no one notices, no one sees. They're invisible. They come and do the essential jobs and then they're gone." Mr Glasson, 49, has thick square glasses, a slight stoop and lopsided smile. He has a licence to drive boats but not a car. Each day before dawn, he chugs his own century-old wooden dog boat about the harbour, looking for lost and forgotten things. Washington: Inside the hallowed halls of Harvard University, one of the most exclusive colleges in the world, there are ever more hallow, exclusive halls: those of the university's "final clubs" or undergraduate social clubs known for their selectivity and secrecy. But now, in the age of raging debates about sexual assault on campus, one final club under fire for its all-male membership feels compelled for the first time in its 225-year history to speak out in its own defence. Harvard University, one of United States' oldest universities, was founded in 1636. Credit:Getty Images In what appears to be an unprecedented move inspired by a Harvard report that linked final clubs with "non-consensual sexual contact" last month, the Porcellian Club featured in The Social Network movie and which counted US President Theodore Roosevelt and Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes among its members has gone public. "To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time an officer of the [Porcellian Club] has granted an on-the-record statement to a newspaper since our founding in 1791," Charles Storey, class of 1982, wrote in an email to the Harvard Crimson, which broke the story. Tokyo: At least nine people were killed and more than 950 injured after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, authorities said Friday. Thousands of searchers intensified rescue operations in the early hours after dawn in Mashiki town in Kumamoto prefecture, where the quake struck at 9.26pm local time on Thursday at a depth of about 10.9 km, collapsing walls and a number of houses, local officials said. TV footage showed flattened houses and stranded vehicles in sagging roads. The quake prompted about 23,000 people to evacuate their homes in the region, about 1046 km southwest of Tokyo, Kyodo News agency reported. Patrick Norman Pat Chapman is a 34-year-old, Caucasian male who was last known to be in Piedmont which is near the area of Greenville, Missouri on May 10, 2020. Pat had stayed the night with a friend and his wife at their home. In the early morning when the friend woke to go to work. Pat was gone in his own Burgundy color 1995 Ford Escort. That is the last anyone was known to have seen him. The vehicle was later recovered on May 29, 2020 in Mill Spring, Missouri. Windhoek, Namibia, 6-7 April 2016 At the invitation of Mr. Alpheus G! Naruseb, Minister of Works and Transport of Namibia, WCO Deputy Secretary General Sergio Mujica attended the Ministerial Conference on Aviation Security and Facilitation jointly organized by the Government of Namibia and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC) through the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC). The Conference was attended by various African Ministers for Transport and representatives of several international organizations, including the WCO. The Conference was opened by Ms. Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, Prime Minister of Namibia, who stressed the importance of providing good quality infrastructure, harmonized standards and an adequate level of security to achieve social and economic development. In his speech, Deputy Secretary General Mujica emphasized that the WCO is fully committed to working with the ICAO both on technical issues and at the political level, to enhance civil aviation security and facilitation, including the full implementation of the AFI SECFAL Plan. The Conference adopted a Ministerial Declaration and targets on air cargo security and facilitation for Africa. In the margins of the Conference, Mr. Mujica had a bilateral meeting with Dr. Bernard Aliu, President of ICAO, to review the agenda that the WCO and ICAO are developing together, as well as the various projects under implementation. During his visit to Windhoek, Mr. Mujica also held working meetings with Mr. Natangue Ithete, Deputy Minister of Finance, and the management team of Namibia Customs, to review the main projects they are working on to further enhance their reform and modernization efforts. -------- Photo: WCO Deputy Secretary General Sergio Mujica and ICAO President Bernard Aliu at a bilateral meeting. Da Nang might be dubbed "Vietnam's most livable city"with a strong reputation for investment friendliness, but it faces a paradox with just 0.2 percent of the nations FDI finding its way to the city last year. The city's party chief, Nguyen Xuan Anh, voiced his concerns over the decline in FDI at a recent People's Committee meeting, given the country attracted $24 billion in 2015 but the most competitive city received only $44.3 million, ranking 33 out of 53 provinces and cities. The head of Da Nang said: "Why are foreign investors not in interested in a city famous for its friendly investment environment and high competitiveness index? Are our investment policies not supportive or favorable?" According to the People Committees, the first quarter of 2016 also witnessed a fall in FDI in terms of both project numbers and capital, and shows the signs of continuing to fall. FDI in Da Nang is falling despite the city's streamlined investment environment. Photo by VnExpress In the first three months, Da Nang issued only nine new investment certificates worth $2.53 million, a decrease of $5.75 million compared to the same period last year. Additional capital for existing FDI projects also tumbled in Q1 as just four added capital worth a total of $407,500, down $6.29 million compared to the same period last year. The report also showed that one FDI project reduced its investment capital by a remarkable $14.36 million. Standing Deputy Secretary Vo Cong Tri said that one of the reasons could be uncompetitive tax and rental fee preference policies. He added that Hoa Khanh Industrial Zone in Da Nang has average annual rental fees of $1 per square meter while the adjacent Dien Nam Dien Ngoc Industrial Zone in Quang Nam is only $0.8 per square meter. Tri added that another reason might be because Da Nang has not issued specific plans to entice investment to support workers, schools, healthcare or logistics, followed by a lack of transparency and prolonged investment license procedures. Secretary Nguyen Xuan Anh called for an urgent review of Da Nang's investment environment and the completion of Q2 targets to improve human resources, open the Da Nang High Tech Park and revoke licenses from delayed FDI projects. Da Nang is famous for topping the Provincial Competitiveness Index and Information and Communication Technology Index for the past three years. Vietnam exported 128,721 tons of natural rubber to the world's second-largest economy in the first three months of 206, rising 50 percent from a year earlier, latest Vietnamese customs data show. The export volume to China in Q1 accounted for 54.2 percent of Vietnams total exports of 237,418 tons in the period. Other key markets for Vietnamese natural rubber over January-March comprised Malaysia with 18,125 tons, down 42 percent year on year and India with 17,674 tons, rising 5.9 percent from the same period in 2015. Vietnam will continue to keep the export duty of natural rubber at zero percent in 2016. The government removed the tax in October 2014, from one percent previously, to assist exporters as prices had been falling since then, Vietnam Rubber Association said in January. In March, Vietnam exported 91,167 tons of natural rubber, surging 54.1% from 62,847 tons in the same month in 2015, mainly to China, Malaysia and India, according to the data. Tax rates levied on luxury cars will rise sharply following the National Assembly's decision to change the Law on Special Consumption Tax. The new tax rates will come into effect on July 1. Taxes imposed on under-nine-seat cars were adjusted on the reverse trends. The government will raise tax rates on luxury cars by up to 90 percent while the rates for other cars will remain the same or fall by five percent. Dang Nhu Quynh, a car trader, told VnExpress that the price of a Rolls-Royce Phantom in Vietnam is about VND50 billion ($2.25 million). After the tax rate jumps to 150 percent, people will have to pay as much as VND70 billion to own a Phantom. Other car importers said that the prices for a Lexus LX570 could reach VND7.3 billion rather than VND5.6 billion, while the price for a Lexus RX350 will be VND3.9 billion, up VND600 million due to tax changes. Representatives from Ford and Mercedes said at a conference organized by the Institute for Economic Management Central in December 2015 that Vietnams tax policy is always changing so their companies are unlikely to make long-term plans or adapt to the new rules. In addition, rising road tolls are making it difficult to sell cars. At the start of 2016, the Ministry of Finance applied a new formula for luxury taxes imposed on cars. The tax is calculated based on a cars wholesale price, which is at least five percent higher than its cost price (including import price, import tax and luxury tax). Updated details of luxury tax rates on cars. Soldiers are buying clean water and traveling 10km each day to donate it to people in the Mekong Delta, who are going through the worst drought in almost a century. Due to the El Nino weather pattern, the Mekong Delta has been hardest hit by the crippling drought. More than 140,000 hectares of rice fields have been razed and about 150,000 families are lacking clean water at present, according to calculations by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The Mekong Delta province of Binh Thuan has more than 96,000 people lacking clean water. Soldiers from the 681 Brigade, Region 2 of the Vietnamese Peoples Navy, are helping locals by buying up clean water and delivering it for free. The brigade has ten soldiers and two water trucks to supply water for about 500 households in Binh Thuan province. The brigade provides 56 cubic meters of water per day on avarage for local people . Nguyen Thi Thang from Vinh Son commune said: "Thanks to the naval forces, I don't have to travel a long way to fetch water any more." Nguyen Thi Thuan, another Vinh Son local: "My family can save money as we dont have to buy water from other families." Soldiers run plastic pipes to transfer water to every single tank. Hoang Sy Hoa, leader of the team, checks the tanks himself to make sure people have enought water. By WestKyStar & MSU Staff Apr. 14, 2016 | 06:44 AM | MURRAY, KY Eleven Murray State University students have received scholarships through the American Society of Safety Engineers. A total of 106 student were awarded scholarships, with Murray State having the highest number of recipients among all colleges and universities. Murray State recipients include Clint Combs (Gilbertsville, Ky.), Braden Cook (Elizabethtown, Ill.), Brice Griesemer (Shelbyville, Ill.), Alec Jackson (Dexter, Mo.), James McIntyre (Gilbertsville, Ky.), Kelly Mehner (Waterloo, Ill.), Tanner Neese (Greenville, Ill.), Rachel Ragovin (Murray, Ky.), Josh Reed (Harrisburg, Ill.), Eric Sapp (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) and Luke Whitmore The eleven students are all working towards a degree in the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) through the Jesse D. Jones College of Science, Engineering and Technology. The Department of Occupational Safety and Health at Murray State University is proud of its students accomplishments. We are very appreciative of the annual commitment made by the professional membership of the American Society of Safety Engineers in providing our students support in the form of scholarships, said OSH interim Department Chair Dr. Tracey Wortham. In addition, the ASSE Foundation also awarded an OSH department lecturer a significant scholarship to pursue doctoral studies. The OSH Department is grateful that the ASSE Foundation endeavors to ensure the future of the safety profession by supporting advancements in our students education and careers. The OSH degree program is a source of pride to Murray State University, and we are pleased and proud to see that our students majoring in this program are being recognized with these scholarships, said Jesse D. Jones College of Science, Engineering and Technology Dean Dr. Stephen Cobb. We thank ASSE for their generosity and support in educating the next generation of OSH professionals. We are thrilled to be able to award these scholarships and grants through the generous contributions of our donors, said ASSE Foundation Board Chair Michael Murray. We are committed to strengthening the OSH profession by helping these groups advance their education and careers. About the Department of Occupational Safety and Health: Murray State University offers a variety of curriculum options through the Department of Occupational Safety and Health. The degree programs are designed to provide the technical and professional knowledge required by individuals pursuing careers in safety management, occupational health, industrial hygiene, loss/risk control management, ergonomics, emergency planning and response, and environmental safety and health. For more information, call 270-809-2488, e-mail msu.osh@murraystate.edu or visit www.murraystate.edu/osh. By Matt McClain, West Kentucky Star Staff Reporter Apr. 14, 2016 | 06:38 AM | PADUCAH, KY Peabody Energy and certain of its affiliates filed for protection under the Federal Bankruptcy Code on Wednesday, and that could have an impact on the Prairie State Coal Plant that Paducah Power partially owns and gets its power from.According to a news release from Prairie State, Peabody is the parent company of Lively Grove Energy Partners, LLC, which owns an approximate 5% share of the Prairie State Energy Campus, and that percentage was included in the filing.The plant and mining operations are managed and operated by the Prairie State Generating Company under the ownership of the Prairie State Energy Campus Management, which is controlled by the owners like Paducah Power, with weighted votes in proportion to their ownership share.In January of this year, Peabody announced an agreement to sell Lively Grove Energy Partners interest in Prairie State to Wabash Valley Power Association based in Indianapolis, Indiana. That sale was not finalized, however, before the recent bankruptcy filing, and now must be approved by the Bankruptcy Court.Pending that and other relevant determinations pursuant to the Bankruptcy Code, Lively Grove Energy Partners (Peabody) remains subject to the Participation Agreement executed by Prairie State's owners.To date, Prairie State says Lively Grove has met the obligations of the Participation Agreement, but the bankrupcty filing just took place on Wednesday, so it is uknown what the longer term effects will be at this time.Prairie State says the financial challenges being experienced by Peabody Energy have had no material impact on the other Prairie State owners to date, and is not expected to in the future.According to the news release, the remaining owners of Prairie State are working with legal counsel to understand all options and obligations as the bankruptcy proceedings move forward.Paducah Power owns nearly 8% of Prairie State through the Kentucky Munincipal Power Agency that it formed along with Princeton Electric. Prairie State is Paducah Power's main supplier of electricity.Multiple municipal joint action agencies maintain ownership in Prairie State, according to Moody's Credit Rating Agency:American Municipal Power 23.3%Illinois Municipal Electric Agency 15.2%Indiana Municipal Power Agency 12.6%Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission 12.3%Prairie State Power Inc. 8.22%Southern Illinois Power Cooperative 7.9%Kentucky Municipal Power Agency 7.8% (Paducah Power and Princeton Electric)Northern Illinois Municipal Power Agency 7.6%Peabody Energy 5.06%The cost overruns at Prairie State while it was being constructed, is also the reason Paducah Power had to dramatically increase their electric rates to among the most expensive in Kentucky, leading to customer outrage. Those rate increases cost then General Manager Dave Clark his job after he resigned in October 2014.Paducah City Commissioners also essentially fired then Chairman of Paducah Power's Board, Ray McLennan, when they asked him to resign from the board in October, 2014.Peabody has been under a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation since 2013 regarding the Prairie State Campus. As of November 30, 2015, the SEC investigation was still ongoing according to Probes Reporter, an independent investment research firm that focuses on public companies' interactions with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is not known if the SEC investigation was completed when Peabody attempted to sell it's remaining 5% interest in Prairie State to Wabash Valley Power Association, before it got caught up in the bankruptcy fiiling. On the Net: Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 14, 2016 | LEXINGTON, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 14, 2016 | 12:17 PM | LEXINGTON, KY The Department of Energy recently awarded a grant to the University of Kentucky to develop publicly available information related to the environmental cleanup of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site in western Kentucky. The five-year, $2.5-million-dollar grant will also continue public outreach initiated under a previous DOE grant, including informing stakeholders on cleanup activities and future use of the DOE site. This work involves UK's Kentucky Research Consortium for Energy and the Environment. "The Department of Energy values this university partnership that provides important research and outreach supporting the cleanup of our gaseous diffusion plants," said Robert Edwards, Acting Manager of DOE's Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office. "This institution of higher learning plays an important role in helping DOE and the community address challenges and identify opportunities associated with these historic sites." The grant also supports educational outreach programs, including work with students at high schools in western Kentucky. The high school students prepare summaries of DOE's Annual Site Environmental Reports for the Paducah Site to communicate complex cleanup information to the public. A recent addition to the KRCEE program, which is continued under the recently awarded grant, is the Virtual Symposium, a portal featuring presentations covering recent activities completed by both UK and Ohio University, which received a similar grant related to the cleanup of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site. UK is also continuing the development of a virtual museum for the Paducah site. A Portsmouth virtual museum launched in 2012. Rodney Andrews, director of UK's Center for Applied Energy Research, says the funding allows CAER to continue partnering with UK's College of Design to envision potential cleanup strategies for the Paducah Site. "This new DOE grant to support KRCEE is a great example of how CAER is working to improve education, research, and outreach in Paducah," Andrews said. Lam Thieu Quan, an independent candidate in Ho Chi Minh City who got 100 percent confidence in his residential community. Photo by A.Q Self-nominees account for 154 of the 1,146 candidates seeking election to Vietnams upcoming 14th National Assembly after the second consultation round in March. There are 154 self-nominees, or 13.4 percent, out of all 1,146 candidates seeking election to Vietnams upcoming 14th National Assembly (NA) after the second consultation round in March, Nguyen Hanh Phuc, Chief of Office of the National Election Council (NEC) said Wednesday. The Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee and Fatherland Front committees in provinces and cities nationwide put all the candidates on a preliminary list after the round, Nguyen Hanh Phuc, chief of office of the National Election Council, said in a meeting on Wednesday. Phuc is also secretary general of the current NA. NEC held the fourth meeting on April 13 in Hanoi, which was chaired by its Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. Ngan is also chairwoman of the 13th NA. The Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee (VFFCC) and the Fatherland Front Committees in the provinces and cities nationwide have put all the candidates on a preliminary list after the round. 197 candidates out of the total 1,146 candidates come from centrally-run agencies and organizations with the remaining 949 from provinces and cities, according to Phuc, who is also secretary general of the current NA. In Hanoi, self-nominated candidates include persons known for their contributions to the country like journalist Tran Dang Tuan and Vietnam Intellectual Cooperation Center Director Nguyen Canh Binh but there are also seven nominees with no specific occupation, Dao Van Binh, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi Fatherland Front Committee said on March 17. Settlement of Denunciations and Complaints NECs Sub-Committee for Personnel and Settlement of Denunciations and Complaints received 149 denunciations and complaints as of April 10. After initial check, the sub-committee said 142 out of 149 denunciations and complaints were about candidates and election management. In particular, 17 denunciations and complaints were targeted at candidates who are under the management of the Politburo and Secretariat. Tran Thanh Man, Vice Chairman of the VFFCC, asked NEC to respond to the denunciations and complaints against candidates so that VFFCC could report it to the third consultation round. NEC was also urged to send representatives to attend the third round to explain relevant regulations and clarify matters involving candidates, especially denunciations and complaints. Chairwoman Ngan agreed with VFFCCs requests, saying some NEC members should take part in the third consultation conference on Thursday to answer questions on laws, denunciations and complaints. If denunciations and complaints are not addressed well, people would keep sending them. Government Inspectorate, Central Inspection Commission and Ministry of Public Security are responsible for clarifying all received denunciations and complaints, Ngan said. Tong Thi Phong, Vice Chairwoman of NEC added that NECs Sub-Committee for Personnel and Settlement of Denunciations and Complaints should process denunciations and complaints against candidates based on their files. Reviewing candidate qualification should be done carefully and in accordance with laws. Vietnam is in the process of selecting 500 members for its NA for the 2016 2021 term. The final list of official candidates is expected to be announced later this month and general election is scheduled to be held on May 22. Results of the election are expected to be released on June 11. In addition, after the second round, VFFCC has sent biographies of 197 candidates nominated by government agencies and organizations to provinces and cities for comments. As of April 12, VFFCC has received all 197 conference minutes regarding voters opinion about candidates and meeting time requirements set by laws, Vice Chairman Man said. Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world Each year, ahead of the Birmingham European Festival in June, three of the shows that people loved the most in last year's line up are toured around the UK. Best of BE Festival is therefore a snippet of the sort of thing you can expect over the four days of the festival, which brings work from across Europe to Birmingham. And judging by the three on offer this year, I'd say a trip up to Brum may be on the cards in June. The night begins with #sobrejulietta from Spain, by company Grumelot. It's a playful (all the shows are) look at love, death and passion, performed by one woman, Carlota Gavino. In front of a huge filmic collage of on-screen kisses - think all the classics: The Graduate, Titanic, Dirty Dancing - she declares that she will be having an encounter. With us. "I'm going to fall in love with you, vehemently," she says. Facts flash up on the back wall about the biology of love - the science: endorphins, adrenaline, how kissing burns 1-2 calories a minute - but Gavino herself is all about the impulse of it. She is sensual, reckless, mad with worry as she runs about on stage - and off - in an ill-fitting party dress. Lines from Romeo and Juliet are projected onto the back wall and Gavino plays out the two lovers' meetings with us. Darragh McLoughlin in The Whistle Alex Brenner The second piece is more physical and relies upon some audience interaction. The Whistle is performed by Darragh McLoughlin from Ireland, who tells us to shut our eyes when we hear a whistle and open them when we hear it a second time. Through this he creates a kind of stop-motion animation on stage. One moment he stands in one corner and when we open our eyes again he has been transported to another. McLoughlin is a juggler, dancer, acrobat and clown all rolled into one. His brightly white juggling balls are the focus for most of his routine, which is low-key physical comedy and is charming. The final piece - the winner of last year's bunch - is the best of the three. Quintetto is performed by Marco Chenevier from Italy and he explains that, due to funding cuts and budget restrictions, the full cast and crew of his show can't be here. So he'll need a little help. Commandeering an army of volunteers from the audience he pieces together what was a dance tribute to one of Italy's most revered scientists. He shouts directions at the poor souls put in charge of the lighting and music, and his new cast are instructed to dance and cavort around the stage. There's a quick fire run through before the real thing happens and it is gloriously funny, makeshift and disastrous. Spotlights flash in the wrong places, music starts then abruptly stops and the dancers cock up their exits only to crawl self-consciously off stage. It's a brilliantly witty tribute to the haphazard, DIY nature of theatre, but it also parodies a world in which arts funding doesn't exist: a world of botched jobs, no wages, missed cues and chaos. It's entirely refreshing to get a glimpse of theatre being made in Europe and the evening sets up this year's BE Festival beautifully. Best of BE Festival runs at the Barbican until 16 April and then tours. BE Festival runs at Birmingham Rep between 21 and 25 June. The Royal Exchange, Manchester has today announced details for B!rth, an international theatre festival to provoke global debate on inequality in healthcare across the world. In association with The Oglesby Charitable Trust, the venue has commissioned seven leading female playwrights from around the world; Brazil, China, India, Kenya, Syria, UK and the USA to explore the issue and their country's approach to childbirth. The festival forms part of Manchester's year as European City of Science 2016 and will run from 19 - 22 October. On his vision for the project - which will include a series of theatrical events and debates with leading voices from the world of science, art, academia, politics and charities - chairman of The Oglesby Charitable Trust Michael Oglesby CBE said: "B!rth is an innovative collaboration bringing together theatre and science to stimulate a debate on women's health in a global setting... We believe this has the potential to have a very real impact on health inequalities, worldwide." Some of the productions include: Marcia Zanelatto will consider the fact that 66% of all births in Brazil are by caesarean section the highest rate in the world. Xu Nuo looks at the gender imbalance in China - for every one woman in China, there are 37 men. Swati Simha explores the presence of sterilisation camps inspired by the fact that a third of women in India have been sterilised, and a third of those were sterilised without their consent. Kenyan playwright Mumbi Kaigwa looks at the migration of medical professionals in a country that has one doctor for every 10,000 people. Sarah Frankcom, artistic director at the Royal Exchange Theatre, said: "B!rth is very exciting - simultaneously we're commissioning seven international writers to create seven new plays to be seen over four days here at the Exchange. "Playwrights are uniquely placed to capture what is happening right now, and quickly and creatively reflect that back, making the plays exceptionally relevant to society today and able to act as a catalyst for debate and change." B!rth runs at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester from 19 - 22 October. PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued job descriptions for his top cabinet members yesterday. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. According to the decision, PM Phuc will lead and directly manage all activities within the functions, duties and power of the government. The areas that Phuc will directly oversee include: strategy and planning for socio-economic development at national and regional level; financial strategy and policy; credit and currency; budget spending; reserve funds; finance; foreign exchange and other state funds; government bonds; annual money supply. The Prime Minister will also direct strategies on climate change; strategic defense and security; foreign affairs; construction of the institution, organization apparatus and personnel work; state administrative boundaries; development of agriculture and rural development; general issues on ethnic and religion affairs, emulation and commendation; coordinating relations between the government, the party and the national assembly. Phuc supervises and directs a number of ministries and agencies, including: national defense, public security, agriculture and rural development, Vietnam News Agency, Vietnam Television, Voice of Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. He will also serve as chairman of a number of State Steering Committees. The five deputy prime ministers will assist the PM in monitoring and handling all sectors under government management. They will help the PM to fulfill these assigned tasks and consult him on important issues. Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, given his experience in the judicial sector, will manage the following fields: administrative reform; smuggling and trade fraud; anti-corruption; inspection and settlement of complaints and denunciations; ensuring traffic order and safety; crime prevention; special amnesty; judicial reform; handling general issues of ethnic affairs and religion; issuing emulation and commendation; coordination between the government and the Supreme Peoples Court and the Supreme Peoples Procuracy. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh will assist the PM with: foreign affairs and external affairs; Official Development Assistance (ODA) and non-governmental aid; international integration; monitoring and directing negotiations and implementation of international commitments, both bilateral and multilateral; relations with international organizations and regional non-governmental organizations abroad; border affairs and East Sea issues; Vietnamese people overseas; human rights issues. Minh is also chair of the intergovernmental committees for Vietnam and Laos and Vietnam and Cambodia, head of the state steering committee on border demarcation and head of the state steering committee on human rights. Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue will help supervise and direct economic blocks, including: planning; financing and pricing; banking currency, stock market, main sources of financial investment; forecasting and operating macroeconomic policies; sorting and restructuring state enterprises; international economic integration; monitoring and directing negotiations and implementation of bilateral and multilateral economic agreements; wage policy and social insurance; poverty reduction; business development; economic cooperation. Vietnam's new cabinet led by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam will assist the PM in the following areas: education and training; science and technology; labor, jobs and social issues; information and communications; culture and tourism; sports; health, population, family and children. Dam will serve as chair of a national council on sustainable development and competitiveness enhancement; head of the state steering committee on tourism; chair of the National Committee for AIDS and Prevention of Drug Addiction and Prostitution; head of the central steering interdisciplinary committee on food safety. Deputy Minister Trinh Dinh Dungs tasks are to assist the PM with: industry and commerce, import-export, construction, transport, natural resources and environment; foreign direct investment (FDI); directing energy security and energy saving; key national projects; the construction of investment projects as assigned by the Law on Investment; economic zones, industrial complexes and export processing zones; flood prevention and control; search and rescue. Textiles Alive has announced the arrival of New Zealands first 3.2 metre textiles-dedicated printer that will change the landscape of printing across New Zealand from May 2016. The MTEX Solutions 5032 Pro printer enables brilliant and vivid colours in wide format fabrics up to 3.2 meters for applications such as lightboxes and framing and display systems. The new printer strengthens our commitment to our customers by helping their clients move their brands, products and services, says John Heyworth, Director of Textiles Alive. Were a people-focused company and the new machine aligns with our vision to become New Zealands preferred supplier of printed textile solutions. The new machine arrives in New Zealand from Europe in late April and well be in full-production for our customers from mid-May. Textiles Alive is a progressive and established wholesale-only print supplier across New Zealand. It uses high definition digital print processes only and modern techniques that result in stunning print quality for small and large quantity production. It prides itself on being a green alternative for printing and adopts a dye sublimation process that uses water-based dyes and recycled paper in the production process. Textiles Alive is a member of the Sustainable Business Network, Buy NZ Made and the NZ Sign and Display Association. Its customers are sign writers, print companies and resellers of indoor and outdoor display systems. The MTEX Solutions 5032 Pro printer Textiles Alive www.textilesalive.co.nz Hanoi formally requested Beijing to stop sending military fighter jets to Vietnam's Paracel Islands at a press conference held today. China is thought to have sent 16 J-11 fighter jets to Phu Lam Island. Photo: Star and Stripes Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeperson Le Hai Binh said that China's decision to send 16 J-11 fighter jets to Phu Lam Island in the Paracel Archipelago was a serious encroachment on Vietnam's sovereignty that threatened peace and stability in the region. Vietnam resolutely objects and strongly requests China to cease its infringement of Vietnams sovereignty on the Paracel Islands by withdrawing its military fighters from the area and not repeating the act, Binh said. U.S. officials recently stated that China had sent 16 J-11 fighters to Phu Lam Island in the Paracel Archipelago, and declared that the number of fighters was unprecedented. In November last year, Beijing also sent the same type of fighter to Phu Lam Island, while the most recent squadron was in February though the number of planes was low. Binh reiterated that China, permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a country with important role in the region, must act constructively and responsibly to preserve peace and stability in the region on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC). Satellite photos released by the U.S. media showed that China has installed a radar system on Phu Lam Island designed to launch HQ-9 anti-air missiles that were positioned there in February. China invaded Vietnam's Paracel Islands in 1974 and illegally built the so-called "Sansha city" in 2012. Many countries around the world has expressed concerns over the military bases being built by Bejing. The G7 Summit held in Japan recently issued a statement showing objection to unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the region in the South China Sea (Vietnam's East Sea), calling on all parties to comply with international law. April 14, 2016 | 04:16 am PT China on Thursday urged U.N. Security Council members to back a draft resolution demanding states report when militants are developing chemical weapons in Syria. Some diplomats have dismissed the proposed resolution as a bid to distract from accusations the Syrian government uses such weapons. Russia and China circulated a draft resolution to the 15-member body on Wednesday, which Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said could serve as a deterrent to "terrorist" groups such as Islamic State from using chemical weapons. Islamic State militants are believed to be responsible for sulfur mustard gas attacks in Syria and Iraq last year, the United States has said. Russia has also said it sees a high probability that Islamic State is using chemical weapons. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang called on "all relevant parties to strengthen coordination, cooperate and jointly oppose and punish any party's move to use chemical weapons". "We also hope all parties on the Security Council can support this Russia-China draft resolution," Lu told reporters at a regular press briefing. "We resolutely oppose anyone, for whatever purpose, under any circumstances, using chemical weapons," Lu said. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) concluded in a confidential report that at least two people were exposed to sulfur mustard in Marea, north of Aleppo, in August. The draft resolution, seen by Reuters, would demand that states, particularly those neighbouring Syria, "immediately report any actions by non-State actors to develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer, or use chemical weapons and their means of delivery to the Security Council". Some council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the draft resolution was a ploy by Russia to divert attention from allegations that the Syrian government continued to use chemical weapons. Churkin denied it was a distraction. Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013 under a deal broker by Moscow and Washington, but the OPCW has since found chlorine has been "systematically and repeatedly" used as a weapon. Government and opposition forces have denied using chlorine. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. For several days now, access has been denied to the website of the Global Crop Symposium that was taking place this week in Winnipeg. If you tried to open the site, the only thing you would see was a pop-up message reading in part, The web page is on the list of websites with potentially dangerous content. This is a conference organized by the Canada Grains Council that included technical and policy presentations by the likes of the Flax Council of Canada, Pulse Canada and some of the largest agri-food companies in North America. BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Monsantos Jesus Madrazo at the crop symposium. As one conference organizer said of the contents of the website, It couldnt be more benign. One rumour was the site had been hacked or disrupted by mischief-makers looking to poke Monsanto in the eye. After all, Monsanto is the most obvious and easiest target for anyone dissatisfied with the industrialization of food production and the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into mainstream crop production. Monsanto is the leader of the frankenfood sector. It is probably the corporate entity that most often gets the adjective evil attached to it. Its also a corporate entity with US$15 billion in revenue last year and US$2.3 billion in profits, which was down from the year before. Jesus Madrazo, a Monsanto executive based at its St. Louis headquarters, was at the conference. His title with the company is global corporate engagement lead. For the past 2 1/2 years, his job has been to show the world Monsanto is not evil and to help effect a shift in corporate culture at the company. Two and a half years ago we realized we needed to do things differently at Monsanto, Madrazo said in an interview. We spend a lot of time talking to the same people at the same tables, and we realized we missed recognizing a growing interest from consumers at large about food and how the food is produced and how it gets to the table. Madrazo peppers his conversation with references to technology and innovation as the driving force behind the work the company does. He regularly makes the point demographers predict the worlds population will increase by 2.5 billion people by 2050, and Monsanto is working to create the means by which to feed that growing cohort by then. He didnt make reference to it, but a couple of years ago a former Google executive, David Friedberg, who founded a precision farming business Monsanto bought for $1 billion, penned a love letter of sorts to the company as a response to the emotional backlash he received from his family, friends and associates for selling to Monsanto. Calling a company evil is easy. And if you do it enough times it can become the reality because reality is just the most common perception, he wrote. Perhaps Monsanto should have adopted the mantra introduced at Google in 2000 dont be evil. Just saying that was their mantra has helped Google countless times avoid the evil designation that so many people have tried to hurl their way over the years. It has worked Google sues more of its customers each year than Monsanto does? Google spends three times as much as Monsanto on federal lobbying? Thats not necessarily a proof against evilness, but it does underline an interesting dynamic. Among other things, Madrazo told the conference the company is committed to becoming carbon-neutral by 2021, and this year, Winnipeg-based Monsanto Canada was named one of the countrys best diversity employers. Madrazo said the company is acknowledging its evil reputation and getting out there and facing it head-on. It is not about to forsake its profit motive, but considering the manner in which its products are used to produce food it has the material available to create a pretty strong narrative. Of course it will be seen by some as self-serving when he references the companys foray into precision farming and the kind of role it will eventually play in the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions. (Madrazo said by achieving carbon-neutral corn production in the U.S. Midwest alone, it is estimated it will save about 230 million barrels of oil per year, equivalent to about two weeks consumption of oil in the U.S.) This year marks the 20th anniversary of the introduction of Monsantos first GMO, a herbicide-resistant soybean seed. The debate about the relative safety of GMOs will likely carry on for many years to come. But time is likely on Monsantos side, because the more time that passes without conclusive evidence it is harmful, the less evil Monsanto will become. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Canada has the same responsibility to Metis and non-status Indians as it does to registered Indians under the Constitution, the Supreme Court declared Thursday in a decision even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling a landmark ruling. The decision affects more than 400,000 Metis and about 200,000 non-status Indians who now have certainty about what level of government to turn to when negotiating funding for programs such as health care and education services as well as land claims and other negotiations. There are about 80,000 Metis and about 10,000 non-status Indians in Manitoba, based on population projections from the last census. It is the federal government to whom they can turn, wrote Justice Rosalie Abella in the unanimous 9-0 ruling of the court. Abella wrote until now Metis and non-status Indians have been in a jurisdictional wasteland as provincial governments decreed them the responsibility of Ottawa, and Ottawa often turned them back to the provinces. Declaring them Indians under the Constitution has the undeniably salutary benefit of ending a jurisdictional tug-of-war, Abella wrote. The result of the tug-of-war has been that Metis and non-status Indians have been denied funding for programs, services and other benefits. Asked about the decision at an event in London, Ont., Trudeau said it was a landmark ruling that will have broad consequences and impacts. But I can guarantee you one thing, the path forward will be together as we move forward, he said. Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand clutched the 38-page decision in his hand and threw his arms in the air in victory as he descended the steps into the grand entrance hall of the Supreme Court building following the courts ruling this morning. I feel very emotional, he told the Free Press, in between autographing copies of the decision for onlookers. Weve been preparing for this day. Weve been waiting a long time. This day for me is a resounding big sigh of great relief. Metis fiddlers and indigenous drummers filled the grand hall with music as dozens of people who turned out to hear the decision celebrated together. Chartrand said he expects Harry Daniels and Louis Riel were both smiling down on Canada today. Daniels was the Metis leader who first launched this case in 1999 when he was the head of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. He died in 2004 and the case was carried on by others, including his son, Gabriel Daniels. Gabriel Daniels said his father would have been ecstatic and maybe even would have danced a jig. The original case sought to have Metis and non-status Indians declared as Indians under the Constitution Act of 1867, that Ottawa has a fiduciary duty to them and that they have the right to be consulted and negotiated with by the federal government. The Supreme Court agreed with the first but said the second two have previously been settled and as such, do not need to be restated. It was already well established in Canadian law that the federal government was in a fiduciary relationship with Canadas Aboriginal Peoples and that the federal government had a duty to consult and negotiate with them when their rights were engaged, said Justice Rosalie Abella, writing for the court. Restating this in declarations would be of no practical utility. The decision, says Chartrand, should mean Ottawa now has to provide funding for health care, education and social services in Metis communities. It could also lead to negotiations for land claims, natural resource revenues and other benefits. SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS Metis National Council President Clement Chartier, left, and David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Metis Federation, middle, celebrate following a decision at the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa on Thursday. We dont want handouts, he said. We just want our fair share. Chartrand wants Trudeau to write a letter to all his ministers instructing them all that Metis people are no longer to be excluded. Those days are over. There are no more excuses. Saint Boniface-Saint Vital Liberal MP Dan Vandal said the next step is for the government and Metis leaders to sit down and start talking about what the implementation of this decision should look like. The two are already in negotiations related to the 2013 land claim decision decided by the Supreme Court, so this can build from those discussions, said Vandal. Abella said Thursdays ruling was another chapter in the pursuit of reconciliation and redress in the long history between Canada and its Indigenous People. The constitutional changes, the apologies for historic wrongs, a growing appreciation that aboriginal and non-aboriginal people are partners in Confederation all indicate that reconciliation with all of Canadas Aboriginal Peoples is Parliaments goal, Abella wrote. Abella cited the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The government considered Metis to be Indians as far back as 1818 and the notion was upheld after Confederation, Abella wrote in a ruling that offered a sweeping review of government inquiries and studies of aboriginal relations dating back decades. Status Indians are those who are registered under the Indian Act. There are about 700,000 of them in Canada as of the 2011 census. Non-status Indians can be either those who no longer are registered under the act or mixed-race individuals who were never recognized as status Indians. They are not members of any specific band. with files from The Canadian Press mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. HALLANDALE, Fla. Florida police say a new type of genetic profiling has brought them one step closer to identifying a woman believed to be involved in the death of a Canadian couple. David Pichosky and Rochelle Wise were found asphyxiated and bound in January 2013 inside their winter home in Hallandale Beach, Fla. Local police chief Dwayne Flournoy says officers have found DNA evidence from two females at the crime scene and say both women are believed to be involved in the deaths. He says DNA phenotyping has allowed them to develop a composite sketch of one of the two women. Flournoy says one woman is confidently believed to be light to olive skinned with brown or hazel eyes and dark hair. He says there is no such detailed profile of the second suspect, but DNA evidence says the two women are not related either to each other or to the victims. Flournoy said both profiles have been run through databases in both the U.S. and Canada, but have failed to generate any matches. While no leads have come in for well over a year, Flournoy said he believes information from the public will be the key to solving the crime. We have a great deal of information and evidence, were just missing one tip, Flournoy said at a news conference. Were just one lead away from solving this case. Flournoy said the killings were likely motivated by robbery as Wises one-of-a-kind wedding band previously valued at $16,000 was the only item taken from the couples home. The ring was designed with a special clasp to accommodate Wises arthritis, he said, adding searches of local pawn shops and jewellers have been fruitless. He said police have evidence suggesting the fatal confrontation began at the couples front door, adding the suspects brought items into the home that have helped produce the DNA evidence. Flournoy said previously released video footage shot around the couples home showing a woman feeding nearby ducks is still believed to be central to solving the case. He said the woman in the video bears similar characteristics to the profile produced by the DNA phenotyping, a process that allows experts to make predictions about physical traits based on genetic information. The way it was explained to me this morning is that its like a weather prediction. If I tell you theres a 10 per cent chance of rain today, theres a great confidence that its probably not going to rain, he said. You got good confidence in the information that were not looking for an African-American female, were looking at someone with light to olive fair skin. Flournoy said the investigation has taken local police as far afield as Toronto, New York and Georgia in pursuit of leads that ultimately did not yield results. Pichosky and Wises families have previously said that the couples marriage represented a second chance at love for them both. They were loved by each other and members of their Toronto and Florida communities, the family said, adding that 1,500 people attended their funeral. Pichosky made weekly visits to the elderly and the sick in Toronto and would telephone them weekly from Florida, his daughter said. In Florida, Wise volunteered once a week at a Hebrew academy teaching children who needed remedial help. Flournoy said a US$3,000 award remains in place for anyone with information about Pichosky and Wises deaths. By Michelle McQuigge in Toronto Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A Stony Mountain Institution corrections officer found it bizarre that inmates leaving the prisons recreation hall were wearing jackets over their bare chests. But it didnt take long for Vincent Larouche to realize what happened when he found inmate David Tavares lying on the ground after following a blood trail. His head was in a pool of blood, Larouche told an inquest on Thursday looking into Tavares death. David Tavares was killed by blunt-force trauma in prison. We started CPR I had noticed a lot of (the other inmates) had no shirts on under their jackets. I thought it was bizarre. I guess a lot of them used their personal shirts to to mop up the blood. Tavares, 40, of Thunder Bay, Ont., died March 20, 2005. The cause was later determined to be blunt force trauma and four inmates were later charged in his death with three being convicted. A later criminal trial determined Tavares was attacked because fellow gang members in the Native Syndicate were upset he was vocal about people owing him money. The inquest is also looking into the death of Sheldon Anthony McKay. McKay was 30 years old and a high ranking member of the Indian Posse gang when he was found dead in his bed in a cell on May 3, 2006, at Stony Mountain Institution. The cause of death was determined to be asphyxia due to neck and chest compression. Four people were later charged and convicted in McKays death. Larouche said before Tavares was attacked, he had seen him breaking up a fight between two inmates a half hour before. He got between them and said thats enough, the guard said. But when Larouche and a fellow guard checked the recreation hall half an hour later to make sure all the inmates had left, he noticed one part of the floor wasnt as shiny as the rest. Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press files Arial photos of Stony Mountain Institution. Thats when they discovered the signs of somebody being dragged across the floor before finding Traverse. Larouche told the judge it would be better if all guards were issued their own radios because currently there arent enough to go around. But later, Christopher McLachlan, one of the prisons current security intelligence officers, disagreed, saying two radios wouldnt work if they were close together and there is always someone with a radio or a telephone nearby. McLachlan told the judge Stonys prison population has the highest number of gang members of any prison in the country. He said currently members of the Indian Posse and the Hells Angels are incarcerated in a separate wing while members of the Manitoba Warriors are held in another. During their concluding statements, Crown attorneys Katherine Basarab and Omar Siddiqui recommended the judge advise the prison to have more inmate counts where they have to come forward and stand the prison only had one of four daily counts like that when McKay was slain and now has since added another and prisoners should not be able to obstruct the lighting in their cells with blankets or pieces of paper. Provincial court Judge Brent Stewart concluded the inquest by saying he expected to release his recommendations on how to prevent future deaths at the prison in a month or so. kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A move to kill off organic-waste collection in Winnipeg has been kicked to the curb itself. City councils water and waste, riverbank management and environment committee voted Thursday to amend a motion by Couns. Ross Eadie (Mynarski) and Russ Wyatt (Transcona) to suspend plans to create an organic-waste collection program and cancel community consultations about it until the city reviews all of its garbage and recycling programs. The committee instead voted to give curbside organics collection a chance by asking Winnipegs water and waste department to conduct broader public consultations about the options available for collecting kitchen scraps. MELISSA TAIT / FREE PRESS FILES The City of Winnipeg's Brady Road Landfill is the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the province Eadie, a member of the committee, wound up voting against his own motion. Couns. Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry), Shawn Dobson (St. Charles) and committee chairman Brian Mayes (St. Vital) voted in favour in a 3-1 decision. Mayes said it was important to him that Winnipeggers be given as many options as possible. Lets have a real public consultation. It took us a long time to get there but I think we got to the right end point, he said. Eadie and Wyatt launched their motion after councillors were told in January about three potential organic waste collection options facing the city: just fruit and vegetable scraps, all kitchen waste, or kitchen scraps and pet waste. The additional annual cost per household was pegged at $55 to $100 a flat fee several city councillors oppose, for reasons ranging from the burden it would place on low-income homeowners to the fact most other city services are financed through property taxes, not user fees. Eadie and Wyatts motion came to council in March and was referred automatically to the water-and-waste committee. That led to a sometimes acrimonious, eight-hour committee meeting where Eadie argued with some of the delegates who spoke in favour of an organics collection. No fewer than 26 delegates, including Couns. Wyatt, Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre), Matt Allard (St. Boniface) and Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan), registered to speak to the committee. Gilroy and Allard spoke in favour of organics collection, while Wyatt and Browaty opposed it. During the morning, tempers flared between Eadie and delegate Curt Belton after the Mynarksi councillor demanded evidence that landfills produce greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Eadie also questioned the science presented by a pair of Grade 9 students and told Green Action Centre composting director Jennifer Feschuk he did not believe Statistics Canada data about greenhouse-gas emissions. Im just learning about science and so on, but Im trying to understand, Eadie said. The City of Winnipegs Brady Road Landfill, which handles most of the citys household waste, is the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the province. This is the main impetus behind the push for curbside organic-waste collection in Winnipeg, one of the last large cities in Canada that doesnt ask its residents to separate their vegetable peels, coffee grounds and steak bones from the rest of their trash. When organic waste breaks down aerobically that is, in the presence of oxygen the decomposition process generates carbon dioxide. That is what happens in a properly maintained backyard composter. But when organic waste breaks down anaerobically below the ground, where theres no oxygen the decomposition generates methane, which is 21 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas. Feschuk responded diplomatically when asked to comment on Eadies familiarity with the relationship between landfills and greenhouse gases. I think the councillors have to know a lot about a lot of things, so thats not easy, she said. I would like to think that if theyre going to have a position on something that they know what theyre talking about and I assume that they do. Committee chairman Mayes, meanwhile, accused Feschuk of questioning his integrity by suggesting he was using a diversionary tactic in delaying organic-waste collection. If someone says Im misleading the public, I have right to challenge them, he told reporters during a lunch-hour break. Gerbasi said she was dismayed by the tone during the morning portion of the meeting, stating delegates who come to council should expect to be treated with respect. Mayes said he did not believe he failed to maintain decorum. The motion moves on to executive policy committee, which has the power to amend it or reverse it before it proceeds to council on April 27. bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A 64-year-old Winnipeg man is headed to prison after admitting to repeatedly molesting his three young grandchildren. The accused, who cant be named to protect the identity of the victims, was given a 30-month sentence Thursday under a joint-recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers. The victims, a girl and two boys, were all between the ages of four and nine when they were abused. Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press The Mental Health Court is a weekly gathering of those living on the fringe of society who are clearly struggling to find their way. Its meant to address what many see as an epidemic of mental health related-issues which are clogging the justice system.a weekly gathering of those living on the fringe of society who are clearly struggling to find their way. Its meant to address what many see as an epidemic of mental health related-issues which are clogging the justice system. The shame I feel for what hes done. How could I have ever loved him, the accuseds ex-wife told court in a victim impact statement. She described the horror of learning her grandchildren had been abused by someone who should have been their fiercest protector. Trust has been shattered for us all, she said. The attacks happened on several separate occasions when the children would be staying over alone with the accused. The most serious incidents involved the girl, who was between the age of eight and nine, court was told. Your grandchildren came to you for love and affection. And you abused them, said provincial court Judge Lindy Choy. The man has no prior criminal record but has expressed limited insight into what hes done, according to a pre-sentence report. He betrayed their trust in the most horrible way, said Crown attorney Sharyl Thomas. He clearly has no idea what hes done to these children in the long term. Defence lawyer Mike Cook said his client is an otherwise exemplary citizen who has been described by friends and co-workers as kind, loving, caring and hardworking. Ive sat with him for several hours trying to figure out why hed do this to his grandchildren. They were his pride and joy, said Cook. He isnt quite sure why he did what he did. The accused is suffering from numerous health issues including the effects of a stroke and heart attack, lung disease and depression. He should be enjoying his retirement years. Instead hes going to be getting on a bus headed to Stony Mountain, said Cook. His client apologized to his victims while reading from a written statement Thursday. I know Ill never be forgiven. I dont expect to be. I wish I could go back in time and change what Ive done, he said. Im doing everything in my power to understand how this could happen. www.mikeoncrime.com Armed Belgian police apprehend a suspect, in this still image taken from video, in Molenbeek, near Brussels, Belgium, March 18, 2016. Belgian-born Salah Abdeslam, one of the main suspects from November's Paris attacks, was arrested after a shootout with police in Brussels on Friday, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said. REUTERS Salah Abdeslam, a prime suspect in the Paris attacks, had documents about the German nuclear research centre Juelich in his apartment in the Molenbeek area of Brussels, a group of German newspapers reported on Thursday. Juelich is near the Belgian border and atomic waste is stored there. The center said in a statement there was no indication of any danger and that it was in contact with security authorities and nuclear supervisors. The Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) group cited sources within the parliamentary control committee, whose meetings are confidential, as saying Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV), had told the nine-person committee at the end of March that Abdeslam had the documents. It said Maassen had told the committee, which is in charge of monitoring the work of German intelligence agencies, that printouts of articles from the internet and photos of Juelich chairman Wolfgang Marquardt had been found in Abdeslam's apartment. RND said it was unclear whether Maassen had passed this information on to the chancellery or the interior ministry. It said several members of the Bundestag lower house of parliament and a terrorism expert at the BfV said they knew of this information and Maassen had confidentially informed them. Neither the BfV nor the BND foreign intelligence agency were immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters. Abdeslam, who born and raised in Belgium to Moroccan-born parents, was arrested on March 18 in the Belgian capital and four days later, suicide bombers killed 32 people in Brussels airport and a rush-hour metro train. Concerns that Islamist militants are turning their attention to the nuclear industry's weak spots have risen since the Brussels attack. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Pop quiz: is the following statement true or false? Canada is the birthplace of a transformative technology set to disrupt countless industries and potentially lead the next wave of global economic growth. Most Canadians arent aware of it, but artificial intelligence (more specifically its subset, deep learning) the inspiration for scores of dystopian science-fiction movies is a made-in-Canada technology that will become profoundly important over the next few years. A24 FILMS Artificial intelligence, such as the brains within the android Ava of the movie Ex Machina, is a made-in-Canada technology. Deep learning was the name given to a group of complex mathematical models that came out of the University of Toronto in 2006. In a nutshell, the technology mimics the neural networks of a human brain, giving machines the capacity to learn on their own and discover previously undetectable patterns within massive data sets. This event put Canada in a leadership position in a hugely important field and has given the nation a window of opportunity to diversify its economy. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in January at a world forum in Davos, Switzerland: it is time the world knew us for our resourcefulness in addition to our natural resources. At Sightline Innovation, our chief science officer recently discovered the artificial intelligence (AI) technology we created to vastly improve the quality-control process for manufacturers could be applied at the nano-scale to inspect microbiological processes. We sought out the worlds best place to evolve this concept, and within a year, we moved operations to Winnipeg from Toronto in order to be near the National Microbiology Laboratory, a world leader in halting the global spread of infectious disease. Over the next few years, Manitoba is set to lead the way in innovation as Canadas technology industry booms. But relative performance over other provinces on the current trajectory is not enough. Canadas economy is at a crossroads. As commodities continue to suffer due to cyclical weakness, it is increasingly left out of evolving global supply chains, and other countries overtake it in the global information and innovation economy. However, Canada can capitalize on the current commodity downdraft if it uses it as an opportunity to lock in AI leadership and pivot toward an economic model that is not only more sustainable but one that will put Canada on the map as a global innovator and a leader in the commercialization of innovations. A friend of mine recently spoke with undergrads from one of Canadas top engineering programs (something he does regularly). When he asked who among them was planning to start a business to try and commercialize their ideas, for the first time, the answer was no one. They all had jobs lined up in Silicon Valley. While many Americans recognize Canada as a great place to invest, U.S. tech companies know Canada and Manitoba in particular is a great place to poach talent. So Canada is investing in educating its top minds who then flock to Silicon Valley and have U.S.-based investors reap the rewards. How do we fix this? We need to capture the opportunity in AI in a way that offers labour-market participation at all levels. We need to modernize existing sectors such as agriculture, medical, transportation and resources. We need to take the investments the Canadian taxpayer has made in academia and incubators, and we need to add a third key ingredient of commercialization investment to make the next billion-dollar company and then make 10 more billion-dollar companies behind it. On a per capita basis, we should have 10 per cent of the innovation economy market capitalization of the U.S. markets based on relative population (a simplistic, but fair target). Manitoba is the perfect place for it. The local community is forming the Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative to chase the commercialization mission around AI in a way that can include all sectors from entry-level labour to top global researchers and indigenous peoples. In its 2016 Manitoba Bold document, the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and other community leaders have added their support, recognizing the transformative power of the initiative. I encourage my fellow Manitobans to do everything they can to support it. We need this initiative, not just for the local economy but for Canada. As the sun slowly sets on the carbon economy, we need new blood in the fight to keep Canada a leader in AI the technology that is going to drive more wealth creation in the next 20 years than any other innovation. We cant drill, mine, cut or extract our way out of this situation; we need to innovate our way out of it. Wally Trenholm is CEO and founder of Sightline Innovation, a tech company specializing in machine learning. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Marking your X on a ballot wont just be for those age 18 and over in the upcoming provincial election. Through the efforts of CIVIX, a national, non-profit civic education organization, over 20,000 elementary and high school students are participating in Student Vote Manitoba on Mon., April 18 a day before Manitobas actual election day. Oak Bluff Community School, La Salle School and St. Francois Xavier Community School are among the 287 schools signed up for the Student Vote Manitoba exercise. CIVIX spokesman Dan Allan said a teacher from each school signs up and receives an election package complete with ballot boxes, ballots, activity resource guide and worksheets. The names of the candidates running in the schools riding are printed on the ballots, which are virtually the same as those used by Elections Manitoba. Students take the role of election officials to coordinate their schools votes. Part of the process is making things as realistic as possible, Allan said. Oak Bluff principal Pamela Lee said students in Grades 1 to 3 and 7 and 8 are participating in Student Vote. As well as casting their ballots, they are involved in discussions and activities focused on social responsibility. The goals of students participation are to provide information to students on how government works and create critical thinkers with a skill set to interpret media, Lee wrote in an email message. This is the seventh election in Manitoba in which CIVIX has offered the student vote program, he said. Local candidates are notified about any schools taking part that are located within their ridings, and sometimes candidates will arrange to meet with the young voters before they cast their ballots. Allan said the students will go to the polls on April 18 and their votes will be tabulated and results sent in to CIVIX. After receiving all the results, CIVIX will send back the voting results for each riding after the real polls close on April 19. The teachers and students can then compare their results with what actually happened in their riding. The schools are interested in seeing how things line up, Allan said. More information on Student Vote Manitoba is available at http://studentvote.ca/mb2016/ Facebook.com/TheHeadlinerWPG Twitter: @CanstarHeadline Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/04/2016 (2384 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Mental health issues dominated parts of a candidates election debate in Fort Rouge Wednesday night. Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari, who is running in Fort Rouge, and NDP candidate Wab Kinew expressed their support for people struggling with mental health issues. I dont think we should be looking at people on the street with fear, we should be looking at them with compassion, Kinew said. We have services but often you cant access them until the police show up to arrest you or youre going to do self harm. PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Left to right; Audrey Gordon (PC), Matthew Ostrove (Manitoba Party), Wab Kinew (NDP), Grant Sharp (Green) faced off in front of Fort Rouge / Osborne Village residents who packed Buccacino's Fresca Italiana in Osborne Village Wednesday afternoon. Bokhari said the NDP hasnt done enough while in power to reduce waiting times for people seeking treatment. The government pretends to be the benefiter of everyone who is low income but its the little guys who have suffered the most here, she said. PC candidate Audrey Gordon said she would revisit some of the decisions made by the NDP, which she said reduced support systems in the area. Ive spoken to several homeless people and they say they need the opportunity for affordable housing and jobs, she said. The other participating candidates Wednesday were Grant Sharp from the Green Party and Matthew Ostrove from the Manitoba Party. Stephanie Meilleur, executive director of the Osborne BIZ (Business Improvement Zone), said the five candidates in attendance didnt adequately address homelessness in the neighbhourhood, particularly in and around Osborne Village. We have an abundance of it. Now that spring is here, its way worse. Its in our faces. Its people with shopping carts all over the streets. That doesnt portray a very safe neighbourhood, she said. I think some of the answers were a little more vague than we were hoping for. The debate was held at Buccacinos restaurant on Osborne Street. The Fort Rouge riding was formerly held by ex-NDP cabinet minister Jennifer Howard, who was one of the five dissident NDP cabinet ministers who called for Greg Selinger to resign as premier. She has moved to Ottawa. The provincial election is April 19. As Minnesotans, we take pride in our states bountiful rivers, lakes and streams. Our state flag prominently features the Mississippi River, our cars sport license plates touting our 10,000 lakes (real Minnesotans know the actual number is closer to 12,000, but we dont like to brag), and even the name Minnesota is derived from a Dakota Sioux word meaning clear blue water. Those of us lucky enough to live here recognize the valuable role Minnesotas waters play in the states economy and quality of life. However, as mayor of Albert Lea, I know that clean water doesnt come cheap. As the state imposes new regulations aimed at improving water quality, cities across Minnesota will need to spend millions of dollars to upgrade their wastewater treatment facilities costs that are then transferred to the businesses and homeowners in our communities. Cities cannot shoulder this burden alone. That is why I urge the Legislature to support Governor Mark Daytons plan to include $167 million in the bonding bill for clean water infrastructure grant and loan programs for cities. Wastewater facilities are the kind of core infrastructure that government has the responsibility to provide, a necessity that should not be overlooked. Republicans and Democrats alike should have no qualms about supporting the Governors proposal. They should seize this opportunity to use it as a solid foundation of a fair and balanced bonding bill that would benefit the entire state. According to reports from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency, Minnesota is facing an estimated $11 billion in water infrastructure costs over the next 20 years. Gov. Daytons proposal is a signal that the state is willing to partner with local governments in the effort to achieve clean water for all Minnesotans. I encourage other lawmakers to follow his lead and support state funding for clean water infrastructure. The need to update old wastewater systems and meet new water quality standards is particularly prevalent in Greater Minnesota. As I talk with fellow mayors across the state, this topic often comes up as one of the biggest concerns facing their cities. While metro-area communities are able to pool their resources into the Metropolitan Council for water services, most rural cities must maintain their own individual facilities. In Albert Lea, we have estimated that it will cost between $8 million and $30 million to do the renovations necessary to comply with new regulations. Water and sewer rates would have to double or even triple in order for our city to foot this bill. In addition to impacting homeowners, many of whom are on fixed incomes, hefty rate increases will have a negative effect on the states economic growth. In Albert Lea, we have several food-based businesses that use large amounts of water and therefore pay a majority of the costs to run our wastewater facility. However, if rates continue to rise it will be difficult to attract new or expanding businesses that could easily bring their operations and jobs to nearby Iowa, Wisconsin or North Dakota. I dont want outrageously high utility costs to become a barrier to economic growth in my community or others in Greater Minnesota. Minnesotas waters are a benefit to our entire state, so everyone must work together to keep them clean. Cities like Albert Lea are more than willing to do our part in protecting the states lakes and rivers, but we will not be successful without the state as a strong partner. Gov. Dayton should be commended for taking the lead on this issue and making clean water infrastructure one of his top bonding priorities. His proposal is a positive sign that the state and local governments can work together to improve water quality without bankrupting the communities on the front lines of providing water services. Students at Fall River Schools will soon be exploring North America in a big way with one of the worlds largest maps of the continent. The map, measuring 35 feet by 26 feet, gives student explorers an interactive experience through rich content and exciting activities that make geography fun. It will be at Fall River Schools from April 18 to April 29 as part of National Geographics Giant Traveling Maps program. The brightly colored map accurately illustrates North Americas oceans, seas, rivers, mountains, countries and capitals. The map, designed for grades K-8, comes with a trunk full of accessories, including interactive games, geography adventures, atlases and books that teach students about the physical characteristics of the continent as well as its rich history and varied cultures. One of the activities is A Tale of Twenty Cities, in which students explore the physical and economic reasons behind the locations of North American cities. Experiencing a map of this size can really awaken a student to the power of maps and the limitless depth of geography, said Dan Beaupre, vice president of National Geographics Education and Childrens Media group. Whether they are using the map to learn place names or to compare state-to-state CO2 emissions, students are physically involved in a hands- and feet-on way that makes geography into an event. Last year we hosted a Giant Map of Europe, and students were excited to get on the map and explore the places and concepts. They were very engaged in the challenging activities, and it is a delight to be a part of that. Later, I heard of kids who took some of their new knowledge and understanding home to share with their parents, commented Fall Rivers map coordinator Nancy Esveld. National Geographics Giant Traveling Maps program was introduced in 2006 with a map of Africa and has since expanded to include giant maps of North America, Asia, South America, Europe and the Pacific Ocean. In the 2015-2016 school year, hundreds of thousands of students will interact with these maps. In addition to school venues, the maps appear at museums, festivals, fairs and corporate and educational conferences. The maps reinforce National Geographics commitment to increasing geography education through teacher professional development, K-12 curriculum, live events and academic competitions like the National Geographic Bee. A delicious, family-oriented fundraiser,A Taste of North America, is being held on April 27, from 5:30 to 7:30 at Fall River School. The map will be available to explore, students and staff will be on hand to facilitate activities, student projects and pictures will be on display, and many different examples of North Americas various cuisines will be available for tasting. Come and enjoy unusual dishes, desserts and drinks from around the continent, from Canada to the Caribbean, Greenland to Panama! Pre-ordered tickets cost $5 for adults and $3 for kids ages 4 to 11. Children ages 3 and under do not need tickets. Tickets at the door will be $6 and $4. Contact nancyesveld@fallriver.k12.wi.us or call Fall River Schools at 484-3333 to secure pre-order tickets. To learn more about the Giant Traveling Map project, for borrowing information, or to download map activities, visit www.nationalgeographic.com/giantmaps. A member of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Air Force soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint. Photo: REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco The Philippines has dismissed as "purely propaganda" Islamic State's claim that its militants killed scores of government troops in ambushes and said there was no evidence directly linking southern Muslim rebels to the group. The Philippines has reported 46 people killed in battles this week between troops and rebels from a group known as Abu Sayyaf on the island of Basilan. Fighting raged for a sixth day on Thursday. SITE Intelligence, a U.S.-based group that tracks online activity of jihadi organisations, reported Islamic State had claimed responsibility for killing nearly 100 Philippine soldiers and had blown up seven trucks transporting them. Philippine military spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said the Islamic State claim was propaganda and its statement had "many gaps and inconsistencies". "We lost only 18 soldiers but killed 28 Abu Sayyaf members since fighting began on Saturday. Our troops continued to pursue them and we will not stop until we achieve a decisive victory," Padilla said. Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent group known for extortion, kidnappings, beheadings and bombings, has posted videos on social media pledging allegiance to Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. The Philippine group has attracted foreign fighters from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa to the troubled south of the Philippines, home to a Muslim minority and several Muslim rebel groups in the predominantly Christian country. But Padilla said there was still no evidence that Islamic State had ties with the Abu Sayyaf. "We are still looking for proof to make a link," he said. "There is no direct link as far as we know and based on our assessment." Citing an April 13 statement carried by Islamic State's Amaq news agency, SITE said the group reported only three of its fighters were killed and government forces suffered much heavier casualties. "With the grace of god we were able to detonate seven trucks carrying soldiers," Islamic State was quoted saying. The Philippines has pulled out the army unit that engaged the Abu Sayyaf on Saturday, replacing them fresh troops, backed by artillery, tanks and aircraft, in pursuit operations. The army said it had attacked a rebel stronghold on Basilan led by an insurgent for whom the U.S. State Department has offered a bounty of up to $5 million. Security experts and some media have criticised the handling of Saturday's initial encounter with the Abu Sayyaf, saying the military has repeatedly underestimated the rebels. W&M senior named Carnegie Junior Fellow D.C. Bound: Becca Brown '16 will spend a year in Washington, D.C., beginning in August as a Carnegie Junior Fellow. She is one of just 14 recent graduates around the country to be awarded this opportunity. Photo by Steve Salpukas Photo - of - Hide Caption Becca Brown 16 spent her childhood in landlocked Fort Wayne, Indiana, but she always had big dreams of experiencing the world. I liked travel and learning about different cultures, she said. When I was 16, I asked my parents if I could go abroad for the first time. So I spent a month in Spain. That worldly ethos, coupled with a track record of stellar achievements as an international relations and economics double major at William & Mary, is perhaps what attracted the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an esteemed global affairs think tank, to her resume. Brown is one of just 14 students nationwide (from a pool of almost 200 applicants) to have recently been awarded Carnegies Junior Fellowship, a one-year program in which recent graduates spend a year in Washington D.C. researching international aid, security and development within a specific region or policy. Browns focus will be on security and development in South Asia. The Carnegie Fellowship is perfect because it allows me to spend one year focusing intensively on one region, which I havent had much experience doing, said Brown. I think having a deeper knowledge of one area of the world is something thatll help me in my career later on. Brown is the fifth W&M student to be awarded this opportunity in the programs 25 years of record-keeping. Lukas Haynes 93 was the first W&M student to receive the fellowship. Today, Haynes is the executive director of the David Rockefeller Fund, a philanthropic grantmaking organization, and he credits the Carnegie Junior Fellowship with solidifying his path to graduate studies at Oxford University, and subsequently, a career in philanthropy. I would tell Becca to not be shy about making connections and taking advantage of the opportunities created by her supervisors or colleagues, he said. Among others, I met the current U.S. Ambassador to the UN a fellow intern and those relationships have endured. During her time at W&M, Brown has already taken many opportunities to advance her knowledge of global affairs. As a research assistant at W&Ms TRIP (Teaching, Research, and International Policy) project (a position shes held since her sophomore year), Brown has spent much of her time researching journal articles and conducting surveys among international relations professors nationwide. Were trying to measure the gap between international relations research and practice, she said. So were looking at what is actually being researched versus whats being taught and what policy makers actually care about. Brown also spent a summer as an intern with the State Department, where she learned about international aid, and a year as a PIPS (Project for International Peace and Security) fellow, where she was tasked with finding and researching an emerging international security challenge and composing a white paper with original policy recommendations. Brown chose to focus on political unrest resulting from an influx of Bangladeshi immigrants fleeing to India a foreshadowing of her Carnegie placement later on. Because India is such a huge strategic partner to us, anything that messes with their national security is a worry to us, she said. This migration was causing growing violence in the country, so my whole paper was about using foreign aid to solve that problem. Im drawn to projects where issues of security and aid overlap. When Brown begins her fellowship August 1, she will be working closely as a research assistant to Carnegie senior associates Ashley J. Tellis and Milan Vaishnov, both experts in issues such as international security, defense, corruption and politics in South Asia. Her responsibilities could include everything from research for books and journal articles to attending meetings and seminars with high-ranking officials. Im genuinely surprised and excited to have been given this opportunity, she said. I hope the fellowship helps me decide where I want to focus my career long-termwhether its on security, development or within a specific region. Current and rising seniors who are interested in applying for the Carnegie Fellowship next year should contact Lisa Grimes, director of fellowships in the Charles Center. China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page Dear Mr. President: I am writing to strongly urge you to abandon any national monument designation under the Antiquities Act in the State of Nevada that you may be considering before you leave office. I recognize that often times at the end of a Presidential term, there are various outstanding issues that are addressed in an expedited manner. As someone who strongly believes in working in a collaborative nature with both my colleagues within the Nevada Congressional Delegation, as well as the local communities impacted by public land policies, I remain strongly concerned about any unilateral action that significantly changes how our lands are managed. As you may know, the Nevada Delegation has a strong tradition of advancing public lands-related legislation in a bipartisan matter that protects ecologically sensitive areas while facilitating economic development in our communities. Just last Congress, three long-standing bills of this nature the Lyon County Economic Development and Conservation Act, the Las Vegas Valley Public Land and Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument Act, and the Pine Forest Range Recreation Enhancement Act were enacted into law as part of the Carl Levin and Howard P. Buck McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (P.L.113-291). The Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument was established as a result of that law in the manner monuments should come about: in an open, grassroots-driven, and transparent Congressionally-approved process. Accordingly, the Nevada Congressional Delegation unanimously supported each of those initiatives and worked together to enact them into law. In recent weeks, some advocates have urged you to designate a new national monument south of the City of Mesquite in Clark County, NV, referred to as Gold Butte, before you leave office. I want to take this opportunity to underscore that while nearly everyone agrees Gold Butte is a natural treasure, there are strong differences of opinion among Nevadans on the conservation policies best suited to ensure future generations can camp, hike, hunt, and enjoy the cultural resources in that region. In fact, unlike the aforementioned conservation successes, our delegation is deeply divided on this issue. It is also important to note that there would be significant opposition to a Presidential proclamation establishing a national monument from many of the local governments, businesses, residents, and visitors of the region. The establishment of any new national monument in the State of Nevada, regardless of location, ought to be considered in the public Congressional process. Only through this type of process, not unilateral action by the executive, can we ensure all parties, including those who support and oppose a given measure, have an equal opportunity to voice their opinions. That is the manner in which our delegation has traditionally pursued conservation initiatives and the manner in which I remain committed to advancing conservation priorities as one of Nevadas United States Senators. Thank you for your attention on this important Nevada issue. Please do not hesitate to contact my office with questions. Sincerely, DEAN HELLER U.S. Senator Flamanville EPR vessel tests extended 14 April 2016 Share Areva and EDF's program for testing the mechanical properties of Flamanville 3's reactor pressure vessel has been extended. Previously the tests were to be carried out on samples from two forged parts but will now be conducted on three. The French nuclear regulator - the Autorite de Surete Nucleaire (ASN) - released information in April 2015 about the discovery of anomalies in the composition of the steel in certain parts of the reactor vessel of the EPR under construction at Flamanville. Chemical and mechanical tests were conducted by Areva in late 2014 on a vessel head similar to that of the Flamanville EPR. These test results "revealed the presence of a zone in which there was a high carbon concentration, leading to lower than expected mechanical toughness values". Both affected components - the vessel head and the vessel bottom - were manufactured at Areva's Chalon/Saint-Marcel plant in France. A cutaway of an EPR reactor vessel (Image: ASN) Initial analyses conducted on two parts similar to those at Flamanville 3 showed the "carbon segregation phenomena extend beyond mid-thickness on one of them". Last December, the ASN said it considered Areva's proposed testing program for the Flamanville 3 vessel to be "acceptable in principle" and had no objections to the start of the new series of mechanical and chemical tests. Under those tests, material sampling and related tests were extended to three-quarters of the thickness of each of the two parts. In a joint statement, Areva and EDF yesterday said they proposed to the ASN that the testing program be extended to include a third part "to strengthen the robustness of the demonstration". The ASN had approved this addition to the testing program, they said. The companies noted that the changes will double the number of samples to be analysed in the tests. A total of 1200 material samples will now be taken to "consolidate the representative nature of the three forged parts tested", they said. The testing program will run until the end of 2016, when a final report will be submitted by Areva and EDF to ASN. The results of the testing program will be an essential consideration for ASN in its decision-making about the fitness for service of the affected components, the regulator said earlier. Construction work began on the 1650 MWe unit at the Flamanville site in Normandy in December 2007. EDF is architect-engineer of the project, while Areva is contributing the nuclear steam supply system and Bouygues Construction is leading the civil engineering consortium. The dome of the reactor building was put in place in mid-July 2013 and the reactor vessel was installed in January 2014. The reactor was originally expected to start commercial operation in 2013, but due to delays is now expected to start up in late 2018. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Mahbub Chowdhury By: Feng Qian A restaurant owner was charged with breaching food and hygiene regulations after being accused of using his hands to wipe his bottom while using the toilet, police in the United Kingdom said. Swindon police said that 46-year-old Mahbub Chowdhury, the owner of the Yeahya Flavour of Asia, has been charged with 10 counts of breaching food and hygiene regulations after items at his restaurant was found to be covered in feces. According to the police, health inspectors visited the restaurant and found that the hygiene and cleanliness were very poor. In the kitchen under the double sinks, inspectors found an empty bottle of milk that was extremely dirty and covered with brown fingerprints. When asked for an explanation, Chowdhury explained that he filled the bottle with water from the kitchen sink and used it to clean his bottom after going to the toilet. He did not use toilet paper for cultural reasons. The inspectors concluded that the traces of brown was feces. In court, Chowdhury pleaded guilty to all ten counts. ATM (illustration) By: Wayne Morin (Scroll down for video) A man was arrested on a charge of theft after withdrawing more than $15,000 from a broken ATM to spend on alcoholic beverages, police in Ireland said. Now, 58-year-old Peter Anthony Young of County Down, has been sentenced to serve 4 months in prison after pleading guilty to theft. According to the police investigation, Young became an alcoholic after his mother died when he was 31 years old. About four years ago, Young took advantage of a broken ATM and withdrew $15,500 from his checking account despite the fact that his account did not have the money. Ulster Bank said that its computers allowed customers to withdraw cash without affecting the credit balance. After a check, Ulster Bank discovered that Young withdrew the $15,500 in a single day. He then spent all the money on alcoholic beverages. The bank asked Young numerous times to repay the money, but he ignored their requests. The bank then notified the police who arrested Young. Spanish High Court Judge Santiago Pedraz decided on Wednesday to send disgraced ex-bank chief Mario Conde to prison while an investigation into allegations that he laundered millions of euros back into Spain from accounts held abroad continues. The former chairman of Banestos children, Alejandra and Mario, as well as his lawyer, are also under suspicion for supposedly creating a network of companies in Spain and other countries that were used for moving the money that Conde embezzled from the Spanish lender in the 1990s. Conde will be held in custody with no chance of bail. All of the suspects in the probe, which the Civil Guard has named Operation Phoenix, are accused of money laundering, criminal organization, and other fiscal crimes. Conde, who has already served jail time for his offenses committed at Banesto, will see the inside of a cell for the first time since 2008, when he completed a 20-year sentence for stealing money from the lender. The ex-bankers lawyer, Francisco Javier de la Vega, who was the architect of the maze of companies set up by Conde, will also be held in custody. Condes daughter, meanwhile, will be held under house arrest. The remainder of the accused will be released but will have to make a weekly appearance at a police station. The investigation has revealed that Conde may have laundered as much as 13 million back into Spain from eight different countries since 1999, despite having declared himself insolvent in order to avoid paying the compensation ordered by the courts when he was sentenced for his offenses at Banesto. At one point he tried to borrow money in order to pay the bail he needed to get out of jail. The investigation was put in motion after the Spanish Tax Agency alerted the anti-corruption prosecutor of the arrival of funds from abroad. The tax authorities in turn were alerted to what was happening thanks to a tip-off. The arrest of Conde on Monday came 23 years after the Banesto case first broke, when the Bank of Spain discovered a 3.8 billion hole in the accounts of the lender. He served time in prison for his role in the affair, but always maintained his innocence. According to sources from the investigation, Conde took years to bring the money back to Spain, starting with small sums around 3,000 and later increasing the amounts each year. Between 2010 and 2011 he repatriated 2 million, the same sources say. English version by Simon Hunter. Fears Wrexhams 34 Community Councils Could Be Cut To 2 But Invite Issue Means No Real Debate This article is old - Published: Thursday, Apr 14th, 2016 Community Councillors and other interested parties met last night to discuss the impact proposed authority mergers could have on Community Councils across Wrexham An invite to the event had been sent to Wrexham candidates for the Assembly Elections, along with all Clerks and Community Councillors and Wrexham Council Leader Mark Pritchard and Councillor Hugh Jones. Apologies were sent from Lesley Griffiths, Ken Skates and Aled Roberts although it was noted that Mr Skates only had the formal invite this morning, with other invites including our own not turning up before the meeting. Welsh Labour Councillor Dana Davies, who was attending with her Ruabon Community Council hat on, provided the opposing view to the general tearing apart of the proposals that have emanated from the current Labour controlled Welsh Government. The draft bill (viewable on this dull PDF) contains the more famous plans over merging Councils, possibly such as Wrexham and Flintshire together. The bill also contains elements on Community Councils and potential changes to how they are run, and some fear it could mean mergers in Wrexham to leave only a handful at best. The sign in list at the meeting showed the strength of interest with representatives of many Community Councils across the Wrexham area attending. An introduction to the draft bill was made, which includes proposals for mergers of Local Authorities (Such as the Flintshire/Wrexham mergers) but could also include a reduction in the number of town and Community Councils. The bill goes further to increase the workload and possible cost base on Community Councils, with a new competency concept that includes (non qualified) opinion of accounts plus employment of a clerk with a relevant professional qualification. The meeting was also told of other proposed requirements including the production of annual reports, and a requirement to introduce recording of Town and Community Council meetings. The meeting was dominated by Wrexham Council Leader Mark Pritchard, who was at the meeting as a representative of Wrexham Council but also spoke in terms of his role as a Community Councillor. Cllr Pritchard talked at length over the wider Council merger issues as well as the agenda items on the proposed Community Council changes, stating: The draft bill raises more questions than answers. It reverses the effect of localism and moves things more centralised. We need a clear picture and plan from the Welsh Government. We have opposed this, as Wrexham Council we have a mandate from all councillors who voted not to merge at this time. We understand we are times of austerity and have to make savings, what we dont want to do in Wrexham is lose the identity of a town. We certainly do not want to merge, and I wont speak on behalf of Flintshire. Cardiff want to micromanage us. Heading back towards the agenda, he added to light applause: If this (bill) goes through we will have a reduction of Community Councils across Wrexham to two inside Wrexham. The bill will be the death of local Community Councils. Cllr Davies interjected asking Cllr Pritchard for specific references over his criticism of the bill noting the strengthened financial governance and other new beneficial elements proposed. She said: What part of the bill gives you that idea there will be only two Community Councils in Wrexham, as I have read the bill and it is about strengthening Community Councils to make them competent and safer. Cllr Pritchard was unable to give a specific section in answer however told the meeting that Lesley Griffiths, Ken Skates, Susan Elan Jones, Ian Lucas, they all support one authority in North Wales, saying specifically, They made it clear they wanted to reduce Community Councils. He added: There are no figures in the bill, I wanted AMs to come (to this meeting) so they could answer this. They are not here. Cllr Davies fired back saying she hoped we could focus on the content of the bill, explaining other elements of the bill including suggestions that two thirds of Community Councillors are elected rather than some being made up of mainly co-opted members. This triggered a wider debate from the floor over if forcing elections would create problems as some struggle to get people to come forward as volunteers, let alone go through a election process- with representatives from Chirk and Ruabon noting that 99% of councils struggle to get members. The debate swung back to the numbers of Community Councils left if the proposals went through, with Cllr Pritchard again taking the opportunity to slam the Welsh Government, What are they proposing on the number of Community Councils in Wales? No Assembly Member has told us the figures. Again Cllr Davies was the respondent, telling the meeting that the numbers are unknown as the processes are incomplete and once a local democracy and Boundary Commission review completes the actual numbers would be known, It is the very small ones, that are not generating the certain amount of turnover that they are looking to merge with a second community council. Explanation was given to the range of the precepts in the 34 community councils, which indicate the turnovers to a degree, with some in Wrexham as low as 1185 with others 280,000. It was noted by some that merging several smaller ones would still not weigh up to one single larger one, thus the logic expressed by a few at the meeting that Wrexham could end up with a handful at most. As Cllr Davies appeared to be the only one speaking to defend the plans she took some direct questions, including one asking her: Who is going to pay for the reorganisation and redundancies which will number many thousands due to council mergers? At this point a line appeared to be drawn over the amount and topic of responses she was prepared to give, with Cllr Davies saying: Im here as vice chair of Ruabon Community Council. I think the (attendance) issue with the local Labour AMs is the timing of the invitation that went out to them. I have come here to discuss the Draft Local Government Bill in terms of Community Councils. It is not right for me to respond to questions. A query was raised over the invitation system, with the Chair noting it was legitimate to say it could have been difficult for candidates to rearrange diaries. The meeting restarted with a bout of politicking, kicked off with Cllr Pritchard taking umbrage at the presumption the proposed bill is certain to happen, You said will, however in May there is fortunately an election. If Labour get back in they will drive this through. I am told only Labour support this white paper. I still believe there is a way forward rather than being bulldozed. Mabon ap Gwynfor, Plaid Cymrus candidate for Clwyd South, said: Wrexham Council are criticised for cuts that are carried through from Welsh Government, and there will be more cuts and you will be blamed for that too. We have to be clear this is a Welsh Government issue, a Welsh Labour creation. We would not support Labour in this. We can work closer with Flintshire and Denbighshire but there is no need for mass changing of our boundaries. Speaking of the scale of local authorities, he added: Wrexham Council is one of the largest employers, what will happen to the staff and pensions? We cant go ahead with it. Simon Baynes, Welsh Conservative candidate for Clwyd South said: I echo Mabons point. Community Councils fulfil an important role. The way to oppose this is via the elections. Clustering can be used to bring Community Councils together and bring services together. In my experience it is very very complicated, what is being proposed is extremely difficult and expensive to carry out it will not save money it will cost more. Later in the meeting Andrew Atkinson, Conservative candidate for Wrexham also spoke saying how in his experience in Herefordshire, a referendum was used on a Community Council merger and it worked well. He said: The most political I will get is to say our view is we would put it to a referendum. Cllr Davies noted to the chair that potentially we could be bordering on electoral issues and we need to be mindful of that. Further feedback on the plans came from the floor with one questioning if it was a reversion to Clwyd and what was any difference in the plans compared to the old system. Cllr Pritchard responded: I dont believe there is and I have spent a lot of time on various drafts. I like to work on facts figures and numbers. This does not give facts and figures. Do any of us know how many Community Councils will be left if this goes forward? No Minster can tell me and that worries me. Questions were also raised over the definitions of qualification over clerks, competency and annual reports all appearing to sit uneasy with some at the meeting as being extra layers of bureaucracy. One element of the proposals, that would see meetings recorded was debated as though it would be publicly accessible records or even webcast. Concerns were raised that there could be large costs incurred, however one Community Council representative noted he thought it would be very straightforward and cheap to do as they have a simple system in place to aide the creation of minutes. Other concerns over the data protection act and possible reprisals over publication of meeting recordings were raised, although it was explained what we say at Community Council level is fact, but could offend. Again along with the common theme, Cllr Davies was the person defending the proposals pointing out that the bill had no mentioned of a requirement to broadcast meetings. She said: It says recording in the bill, I read that to support the clerk. Broadcasting would concern me, everybody knows everybody in the community and the data protection element would concern me. Broadcasting online would not create a problem for those in Minera as it was pointed out that a fair number struggle to get online at enough speed to stream anything. The geographical issues over Community Council mergers was raised by representatives from the Ceiriog Valley who explained their area was completely different to possible merger areas of Ruabon and Chirk, They dont know our area and its completely different, as our area is rural. One speaker encouraged the opposite of the interpretation of the proposals, Most of us are volunteers, who is going to take care of the small stuff that makes life worth living? Lets have more community councils! The representative for Gwersyllt spoke of his recent trip to Llandudno (which we assume was the Welsh Local Government Association event) and deja vu over the comments shared at the evening meeting. He said: Most of the concerns were shared from north and mid Wales clerks. The most sensible thing I heard was from a man from Newtown who said if it aint broke, why are you trying to fix it? The Newtonian Mans view was echoed by many who explained views similar to Is there not a really good accountable structure at the moment? People stop me in the street, or turn up to meetings, we dont need these plans. We have the structure that really works formalising it is counter to democracy. The Chair wound up the meeting saying We will wait and see what happens on election day and take it from there. Results of Wrexhams Second Poppy Bid Will Be Announced in June This article is old - Published: Thursday, Apr 14th, 2016 The results of Wrexhams second bid to host an iconic poppy display in the town centre is expected to be made by June 2016. In February Wrexham.com reported that Wrexham Council had submitted their second bid for the town to host 4-18 NOW WW1 Centenary Art Commissions. The special poppy sculptures, which had been previously installed at the Tower of London as part of the commemorations to mark the centenary of the beginning of the First World War. Two parts of the original Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, which attracted millions of visitors during its time at the Tower of London, will be displayed at locations across the UK in 2015 and 2016. The Wave and Weeping Window have been saved for the nation by the Backstage Trust and the Clore Duffield Foundation, and gifted to 14-18 NOW and Imperial War Museums. Wrexham Council initially put forward a bid last year to host the Poppy Wave sculpture on Llwyn Isaf however were unsuccessful in their attempt. Due to the high volume of applications across the country, feedback on why Wrexham Councils previous bid was unsuccessful has not been possible. Following on from the previous bid, in February Wrexham Council submitted two bids the first was to again host the Wave on Llwyn Isaf and the second was for the Weeping Window to be displayed at St Giles. Speaking at Tuesdays Executive Board meeting, Armed Forces Champion Cllr David Griffiths said: I hope you will recall that we applied as part of 2016 exhibition, but were unfortunately unsuccessful but congratulations to those who were successful. If successful we will only be able to host one of the sculptures. We will know by June 2016. Welcoming the bid to host the displays, Council Leader Mark Pritchard said: Id like to thank Cllr Griffiths for all the hard work and effort put into this. I must say in the past we were disappointed that we werent successful. Going into the future I hope Wrexham is successful as it will be a fantastic opportunity for Wrexham. We have a military history in Wrexham which is second to not. I hope we are successful, but if not we will continue to try. Questioning why Wrexham had opted to apply for two separate locations to host the displays, Cllr Brian Cameron said: We spoke of the sensitivity of memorials, I think Wrexham has paid a high price in all wars and I think its only right we try our very best to commemorate this people. Why have we chosen to go for the two options? Cllr Griffiths said: We failed in the Poppy Wave and we dont know why, but obviously people who were successful had a better application. Feel if we for the Weeping Window, St Giles fits into that category. I hope we get either one. We have asked for feedback but due to the volume of requests we have to move on. I echo what youre saying about Wrexham and what we have done for the Armed Forces. Cllr Pritchard added: We put two bids in for obvious reasons, we have two opportunities. Whether its in St Giles, which would be wonderful or Llwyn Isaf, which would be wonderful it is important we bring it for the people of Wrexham. Warning After Suspicious Male Seen Looking Through House Windows This article is old - Published: Thursday, Apr 14th, 2016 Residents are being urged to remain vigilant following reports of a male acting suspiciously outside homes in Wrexham. As a result of the incident an appeal for information has been launched following a report that a male acting suspiciously in the Crescent Close area. He was seen looking through windows of properties in the area. If you saw anything suspicious, or have any information relating to this incident please contact North Wales Police by dialling 101 quoting the reference number U052506. Alternatively, you can provide information anonymously by calling Crimestoppers Wales telephone 0800 555 111. Matrera castle following its controversial restoration. EFE A controversial castle restoration in southern Spain has earned an award from a New York architecture organization. Work carried out on Matrera Castle, in Villamartin (Cadiz province), won the Architizer A+ Popular Choice Award after being shortlisted by a panel of jurors in the A+ Preservation category, for projects that preserve and enhance the existing built environment. Now I suppose there will be another commotion, but from the other point of view Carlos Quevedo, architect Were very happy, said Carlos Quevedo, the architect in charge of a project that had been derided by Spanish heritage preservation groups. After all the criticism, this is an acknowledgment of all the work that was done over the course of five years. Quevedo will be traveling to New York on May 12 to pick up the prize. Last year there were more than 200,000 votes cast in the Popular Choice Awards, according to organizers. The restoration had been the subject of controversy and reported in the international media. Built in the ninth century, the castle bears the designation of an Asset of Cultural Interest. Scholars were particularly critical of the restoration work on the tower, which has been raised back to its original height by adding a smooth, white, modern-looking wall. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition is launching a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here. It was even humorously compared with the botched restoration of a religious painting by a local woman from Borja (Zaragoza). It brings shame to Spain. The international press has called it the worst restoration in the world, stated Carlos Morenes, vice-president of Hispania Nostra, a non-profit that works to defend Spains natural and cultural heritage. Quevedo says he submitted the project to the Architizer A+ awards in January, before the controversy erupted. A jury of 300 specialists selected five finalists from New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Cortrique (Belgium) and Villamartin. Quevedo sought to play down the dispute, and said he feels rewarded for his work. We believe that all opinions are respectable and that all debates are enriching, he said. Now I suppose there will be another commotion, but from the other point of view. Its a reward. English version by Susana Urra. Air traffic controllers at Brussels Airport, Belgiums main aviation hub, struck in unofficial wildcat action for a second day on Wednesday. They are protesting plans of air traffic agency Belgocontrol to raise their pension age from 55 to 58. The strike, involving around 80 controllers, began 5pm Tuesday and led to the delay and cancellation of dozens of flights. For about an hour Tuesday evening, all take-offs and landings were cancelled. Hundreds of flights were cancelled on Wednesday. At one point, just 15 planes per hour were able to take off. The strike also affected operations at Ryanairs Belgian base south of Brussels in Charleroi Airport. The strike began after representatives of a number of trade unions came to an agreement with management to ensure that the increase in retirement age is phased in. Negotiations had been taking place since mid-March. In response to the agreement, anger mounted among members of one of the Guild of Air Traffic Controllers (BGATC), with many reporting in sick. The move by workers to defend their pension rights has been met with furious denunciations from the employers, government and the media. The strike began just nine days after Brussels Airport, one of Europes busiest, reopened on April 3 under conditions of a security lockdown. The airport was closed on March 22 after bombs detonated by two terrorists destroyed the departure hall, killing 10 people About an hour later, a suicide bomber attacked the Brussels subway at the end of rush hour, bringing the death toll to 31. Large parts of the Brussels metropolitan area have been under a security clampdown since last November 13, with the authorities utilising the terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) members in Paris to implement anti-democratic measures. This included the raising of the Belgian states threat level to its highest, four. Speaking on behalf of his pro-austerity government, Prime Minister Charles Michel said Wednesday, Its a wildcat strike. It is totally unacceptable. This is an irresponsible strike. I do not accept that a handful [of people] decides to take the country hostage, to put our image and our economic situation in danger." Michel described the Brussels airport as the vital economic lungs of the countrys economy and said the government will not be blackmailed. He also threatened doctors who issued sickness certificates to air traffic controllers with reprisals. According to me, they ought to be punished, this is a clear message for doctors, he warned. Michel cited the March terrorist attacks to demonise the strikers, stating that the country had lived through difficult times We have worked with a lot of effort to try to put the airport back into full working order again. I would like that one stops from sawing the branch on which we all are sitting. The two government ministers who have been involved in the negotiations, Kris Peeters (deputy prime minister and minister for employment, economy and consumers) and Jacqueline Galant (minister of transport, responsible for Belgocontrol) said that there was no change in the governments stance on the workers pensions. They demanded the end of the strike to enable resumption of full traffic flow. These attacks gave the signal for savage denunciations of the strikers by employers organisations and the media. Belgiums main French-language daily Le Soir denounced the workers as akin to terrorists, writing, This country no longer needs terrorists to blow it up. Its doing it all on its own, with its absurdities, its lack of responsibility, its going off in all directions, its pantomimes. Have we lost our sense of reality? Tony Tyler, the CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), representing the global airline industry, said the strike is a kick in the teeth for all the airline and airport staff who have worked so hard to reconnect Brussels to the world after the appalling terrorist attack just three weeks ago. It is the height of irresponsibility to cut a vital service and doing so without warning can only be seen as malicious. Tyler all but called for a strike-breaking operation to end not only the present dispute but also any future action, stating, If we cannot count on simple human decency from such highly-compensated professionals then its time for governments to find ways to guarantee the availability of air traffic control services. The president of the Brussels airport, Marc Descheemaeker, said Wednesday, This action calls for revenge and threatened that measures could be taken against striking controllers. Irish budget airline Ryanair announced Wednesday that it would seek to sue strikers for damages. The unofficial action by the air traffic controllers is a rebellion by workers against the trade unions as much as it is a defiant and determined stance against the employers attacks on their pension rights. The Belgian state has been reliant on the trade unions to head off large-scale protests against austerity, which forced the staging of a December 2014 general strike. Michel publically thanked the other airline unions such as the SFLP for not backing the air traffic controllers. The Guild of Air Traffic Controllers has not lifted a finger in defence of its members. Rather, it is doing all it can to end the dispute and has called on the air traffic controllers to return to work. The Guild denied reports that it instigated workers calling in sick on Tuesday and announced, As a professional, and not as a trade union organisation, the Guild is not a trade union partner of Belgocontrol and cannot participate in the negotiations. In no case has the guild organised, mobilised or called on its members to start this strike action. The strike proves that workers are determined to fight and will not be intimidated by the attacks on their conditions and democratic rights. It follows strikes by controllers in Greece last week (also over attacks on pension rights) and by French controllers who staged a 36-hour strike beginning March 31 to protest job losses and the attacks by the Socialist Party government of Francois Hollande. The movement against the Socialist Party government has escalated in recent weeks, leading to last weeks massive nationwide demonstrations against its anti-worker labour law proposals. The protests on March 31 involved more than a million people nationally. It is imperative that the working class throughout Belgium and Europe come to the defense of the striking air traffic controllers, who will be subject to an intensifying campaign of vilification and threats from the combined forces of the state, the media and the trade unions. Their courageous action in defense of pensions and retirement must be connected to a struggle to unite the entire working class against social inequality and police-state methods of rule. The author also recommends: The working class in France mobilizes against austerity [4 April 2016] Officials stoke anti-Muslim hatred following Brussels attack [29 March 2016] General strike against austerity hits Belgian government [16 December 2014] The debate on the restructuring of the public schools in Detroit, the poorest big city in America, resumed this week in the Michigan state legislature. No final deal has been reached to determine the organization of the new district, the extent of school privatization involved and the role, if any, of an elected school board. Underscoring the deplorable conditions in the cash-starved schools, it was announced Monday, April 11 that 12 Detroit Public Schools (DPS) schools were found to have lead or copper contamination. Bow Elementary has now shut down its water fountains and begun supplying bottled water. Indicative of the tension surrounding the DPS legislation, the Detroit News ran a commentary over the weekend by State Representative Tim Kelly, Republican-Saginaw Township, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on School Aid, claiming the state would be better off if DPS simply went away. As part of this intense political jockeying, last Thursday the DPS school boardwhose powers have been taken over by the state-appointed emergency managerfiled a class action civil rights lawsuit. The suit demands compensatory and punitive damages for the states failure to provide a minimally adequate education as required by the Michigan and US Constitutions. It named as defendants Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, two Republican state legislators, three former DPS emergency managers (EMs), as well as a series of principals and vendors recently indicted on kickback and bribery charges. Plaintiffs are the publicly elected school board, several DPS students and their representatives. They seek to represent all 58,000 students in the DPS and the state-run Educational Achievement Authority (EAA) in Detroit. With the lawsuit, the Democrats on the school board are posturing as defenders of the citys school children and hope to pressure state legislators to restore their powers in the new school district. This has nothing to do with restoring democracy or protecting the rights of city residents. Long before the Republican governor usurped elected school boards in order to accelerate the attack on public education, Democratic-controlled school boards backed budget cuts, teacher layoffs and the funneling of contracts to politically connected contractors. Announcing the suit, attorney Tom Bleakley told a press conference last week that he agreed to represent children in Detroit schools pro bono, comparing the educational crisis in Detroit to Flints water crisis on steroids. Snyder and former DPS emergency manager Darnell Earley were, just one day prior, also named in a Flint lead poisoning class-action suit under federal racketeering statutes. Although the political motives of the legal action by the school board in exile are self-serving, the lengthy brief provides a graphic picture of the wrecking operation directed by a series of state-imposed emergency managers. The suit begins by tracing the precipitous falloff that has taken place in DPS student performance under emergency management since 2011, charging that typical students in Detroit face overcrowded classrooms, are exposed to non-certified teachers, are not college- or career-ready at graduation, do not read at grade level at any point in their K-12 experience, do not learn basic numeracy and are overall seriously undereducated. Additionally it cites the now well-documented fact that the physical facilities and buildings of the DPS are in a widespread state of degradation, filth, and unsanitary conditions placing the health of DPS children at high risk. It concludes, All defendants caused permanent injury to Detroits children by creating and pursuing policies that drove down academic performances such that the children are permanently damaged in their abilities to pursue a successful adulthood. In particular, the suit highlights the role of emergency managers in the destruction of Detroits facilities for special education over the course of the last five years. Nearly 20 percent of the districts school population are special needs students. This is in large part due to the toxic urban environment created by the auto and related businesses over decades. Two out of three of the citys centralized locations for disabled student-parent activities were closed under defendant EM Roy Roberts. In 2013 Oakman Elementary/Orthopedic School was closed as part of his community schools initiative. The suit states that, Oakman was in the 90th percentile of capacity. The school had all of the required ADA accommodations for students and special accommodations unique to the school. Oakman allowed siblings of disabled students to attend together creating a vibrant community. It had received multiple awards. One of the lawsuits plaintiffs is Jason Pauling, whose school, the Detroit Day School for the Deaf, was also closed by EM Roy Roberts. The school, opened in 1893, provided classes from pre-K through Grade 8 in American Sign Language. Not only was Pauling moved from school to school, but as a result of the closure, Pauling ended up at the Michigan School for the Deaf in Flint and now is undergoing testing for lead exposure. Throughout Detroit, special education students are being forced into charter schools, often lacking qualified staff to meet their special needs, the brief states. Also during Roberts tenure, the award-winning DPS school for pregnant girls and young mothers, Catherine Ferguson Academy, was shut down. The facility was handed over to a for-profit charter company run by Democratic Party crony Blair Evans, the brother of Warren Evans, presently the Wayne County Executive. The event was celebrated at the time by entire Democratic Party establishment. The school was closed for good in 2014. As these school closures and budget cuts were implemented, the brief points out, there was a growth of outsourcing resulting in millions of dollars changing hands, often with very little oversight. The suit traces the state of Michigans use of emergency manager laws to violate both the civil rights of students and to degrade the electorates right to vote. It details the state conspiracy to impose emergency manager law Public Act 436, after Michigan voters defeated the near-identical Public Act 4 by a margin of 5347 percent just weeks before, calling the maneuver stunning in its evisceration of voting rights. At the same time as it makes these points, the school board gives Democrats who imposed these laws a complete pass, despite the fact that the conspiracy to impose emergency managers on school districts and cities in Michigan couldnt have taken the first step without a widespread bipartisan conspiracy. For example, the suit fails to name Robert Bobb, the DPSs first emergency manager (2009-11) appointed by Democrat Jennifer Granholm, as a defendant. Bobb was responsible for draconian cuts to school workers jobs and benefits and the shuttering of dozens of schools. Nor does the suit indict Democratic State Treasurer Andrew Dillon, who played a major role in drafting PA 4. Moreover, the lawsuit seeks to conceal the class character of the attack on publication education in Detroit by claiming it is driven by racism. This is aimed at boosting the call for the return to local control to local Detroit Democrats and presenting the conflict as one of white Republicans usurping the democratic rights of a majority African American city. School board member Elena Herradawho has long been associated with various pseudo-left organizations that promote identity politicsdeclared at the press conference This would never happen in a white district. Such claims, which are patently untrue, are aimed at dividing the working class and preventing a common struggle against the attack on democratic rights. Moreover, they are designed to politically subordinate workers in Detroit to the black officials who make up the majority of the citys long-reigning Democratic Party political establishment. Far from defending education, various African American Democratsfrom the emergency managers themselves to former mayors, city council members and school board officialshave attacked public education for decades, while reaping the benefits of kickbacks and other business opportunities. In an effort to conceal their plans to further destroy public education, Governor Snyder, Detroit Mayor Michael Duggan, transition manager Steven Rhodes, and the trade unions, including the Detroit Federation of Teachers, are planning to restore an elected school board. That such a move will mean a restoration of democracy is belied by the fact that the school boards decisions would be overseen by an unelected Financial Review Commission made of up the direct representatives of the banks and major corporations. The author also recommends: Legislative attack on Detroit Public Schools taking shape [24 March 2016] Whats behind the Detroit Federation of Teachers lawsuit? [3 February 2016] Detroits Catherine Ferguson Academy to become for-profit charter school [20 June 2011] Since 2011, the prices of four of the top 10 drugs in the United States have risen by over 100 percent, while the prices of the six remaining drugs increased by more than 50 percent, according to a recent analysis by Reuters. The price of Humira, AbbVies anti-inflammatory drug, rose by 126.4 percent, from $1,677 to $3,797. Amgens anti-inflammatory medication, Enbrel, saw its price increase by 118.2 percent, from $427 to $932. The multiple sclerosis treatment, Copaxone, marketed by Teva, increased by 118 percent, from $3,025 to $6,593. AstraZenecas cholesterol drug, Crestor, saw its price go up by 113 percent, from $350 to $745. Reuters research, which used 2014 sales figures to compile the list, is based on proprietary pricing data from Truven Health Analytics and looked at the average wholesale price of the drug. Reuters shared its method and findings with the eight companies that sell the top 10 drugs, notes the news outlet, none disputed the findings. The Reuters report coincided with the April 5 publication of a research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), which found that between 2002 and 2013 the cost of insulin, the most widely used treatment for diabetes, rose nearly 200 percentincreasing from $4.34 per milliliter to $12.92. Annual spending on insulin by patients more than tripled, increasing from $231 to $736. I can tell you from seeing patients myself that there are many who cant afford their insulin and dont take it or take less of it and theyre worse off for it, Dr. Robert Gabbay, chief medical officer of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, told Reuters. Gabbay was not involved with the research published in the JAMA. The researchers noted that the cost increases were largely due to the introduction of insulin analogsinsulin modified to be rapid or long actingsuch as Lantus, Levemir, and Humalog. A report by Bloomberg last year found evidence of shadow pricing among diabetes medication manufacturers, where competitors followed each others price increases. For example, when Sanofi increased the price of Lantus by 16.1 percent on May 30, 2014, Novo Nordisk increased the price of its competing drug, Levemir, the following day by the exact same amount. The two companies have increased the U.S. prices of their respective drugs 13 times in tandem since 2009. Similar shadow pricing was seen for Eli Lillys Humalog and Novo Nordisks Novolog. Insulin has been available for over 90 years, yet there is still no generic alternative. A study published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine described how pharmaceutical companies made a series of patented improvements to the druglonger-acting versions in the 1930s and 1940s, improved purity in the 1970s and 1980s, and synthetic analogs in subsequent decadesthat they characterized as an example of patent evergreening. Since doctors are hesitant to prescribe medicines considered obsolete, there has been no incentive to develop generic versions. Diabetes is a chronic disease characterized by high levels of blood sugar as a result of the pancreas not producing enough insulin or the body being unable to effectively use the insulin produced. The disease caused 1.5 million deaths worldwide in 2012, and complications from the disease can lead to heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, and lower limb amputation. According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) released on April 6, the prevalence of diabetes among the worlds population has increased from 108 million (4.7 percent of the population) in 1980 to 422 million (8.5 percent) in 2014. Around 100 years after the insulin hormone was discovered, the Global report on diabetes shows that essential diabetes medicines and technologies, including insulin, needed for treatment are generally available in only 1 in 3 of the worlds poorest countries, said Dr. Etienne Krug, Director of WHOs Department for the Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention. The drug companies contacted by journalists for the stories on the price hikes provided the standard excuses: the prices do not take into account the discounts and rebates offered by the drugmakers, and reflect the costs of producing new drugs, including lost income from drug failures. Neither excuse holds up to scrutiny. It is true that the average wholesale price (AWP) of drugs is generally not the actual cost of the drug. The methods by which drugs are priced in the U.S. are complex and shrouded in secrecy. The Reuters report notes that data on discounts and rebates is information [drugmakers] closely guard. In this way, the drug industry attempts to deflect attention from its significant price hikesallowing it to claim that patients and insurers pay less than the sticker price, but refusing to reveal the extent of the discounts. Even after discounts, the Reuters article points out, pharmacy benefit managers told Reuters they pay annual price increases on top medications of up to 10 percent. By comparison, the U.S. consumer price index rose an average of 2 percent annually over the last five years. One reason for the discrepancy between the AWP and the actual drug price paid by pharmacies is so that drug companies can market the spread to pharmacies. That is, insurers, including Medicare and Medicaid, generally reimburse pharmacies based on the AWP. Pharmacies stand to make more money if the price they pay for the drug is lower than the insurance reimbursement. Drug companies enable this practice by inflating the AWP and concealing the level of discounts and rebates. In return, pharmacies are more likely to prescribe their drugsoften in lieu of lower-cost alternatives. These practices occasionally come to light in court cases brought by whistleblowers under Federal and State False Claims Acts. For example, in 2009 a jury found that Pharmacia violated Wisconsins Medicaid fraud statute 1,440,000 times by inflating the AWP to enable overpayment by Medicaid, although a circuit court later lowered the number to 4,758 violations. The pharmaceutical industry also justifies the high prices based on the research and development costs of producing new drugs, including the cost of failures. Our industry invests on average 20 percent of our revenues into research and development. Its a fundamentally different business model, Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for the industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), told Reuters. According to the Tufts University Center for the Study of Drug Development, which was formed in the mid-1980s with financing from the drug industry, the average cost of producing a new drug in 2014 was $2.6 billion. However, the findings of the study, which are endlessly touted by the industry, are based on assumptions that inevitably inflate the price. For example, the study arrived at a figure of $1.4 billion for average out of-pocket costs, including failures. It then added $1.2 billion in time costs, or returns that investors forgo while the drug is under development. Thus, in addition to other methodological limitations, the figure completely eliminates any risk for the drug company. And while the pharmaceutical industry may invest 20 percent of its revenues on average in research and development (although this figure, too, is questionable), this is generally lower than the amount it spends on SG&A (sales, general, and administrative, which includes marketing). A recent investigation by CBS Money Watch looked at the 2014 financial data for 16 publicly held pharmaceutical companies. In all cases but one, corporate overhead was higher than R&D, and often significantly so. In half, after-tax profits were higher than the research-and-development expenses the industry typically points to as the major reason for high costs, the article found. In fact, pharmaceutical companies spent $5.4 billion in 2015 on advertising, an increase of 19 percent over the 2014 figure and tying the previous industry record established in 2006, according to data from Kantar Media that was shared with FiercePharmaMarketing. The costs associated with drug development, however, have not prevented the pharmaceutical industry from making a respectable return. Between 2003 and 2012, the eleven largest drugmakers made $711.4 billion in profits, according to an analysis of corporate filings by the lobbying group Health Care for America Now (HCAN). In 2014, the worlds ten largest publicly held pharmaceutical companies had an average profit margin of 19 percent, according to an analysis by Forbes. While drugmakers have attempted to cast the widely publicized price hikes by Turing Pharmaceuticals and Valeant Pharmaceuticals as exceptions to the rule, their activities are merely the most extreme examples of what is a common and widely shared practice in the pharmaceutical industry. This was underscored by the price hikes at the start of the year by Pfizer and a number of other pharmaceutical companies. Last month, the pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts published a report that found that U.S. drug prices had nearly doubled since 2011. The author also recommends: US Congressional memos highlight price-gouging strategies of drug companies [5 February 2016] US drug prices doubled since 2011 [18 March 2016] At a Tuesday news conference Professor Marc Edwards and the Flint Water Study team at Virginia Tech announced that four months after a federal state of emergency was declared over high levels of lead, Flints water remains unsafe to drink. The report followed the groups second round of lead testing. It came two years after the city switched its water supply to the corrosive Flint River, without adding orthophosphate, leading to lead leaching from pipes into the citys water supply, poisoning the citys residents. The study utilized water samples collected from 187 Flint homes and focused on the 174 homes that participated in both the first and second rounds of testing (the first round was conducted in August 2015). The study found that, while the number of homes with elevated lead levels has decreased, 15 percent of homes still had lead levels above 15 parts per billion (ppb), the federal action level established by the EPA. Ten percent of homes had levels above 23 ppb. Several homes saw their lead levels increase from the first round of testing, in some cases dramatically. The highest concentration of lead discovered was a staggering 2,253 ppb in a home that had tested at 17 ppb in 2015. The average lead concentration across all sampling actually increased between the two sampling rounds, driven largely by homes that had super concentrated lead levels. The study found no strong correlation between residents lead levels from one year to the next. This is due to the nature of the pipe corrosion, since chunks of lead piping or solder can break off at any time and cause severe water contamination, even in homes that tested clean for lead in the past. Edwards compared the situation to Russian roulette, stating that at any point a glass of water could contain extremely high lead concentration, and there is no way for residents to be sure that their water is safe. The issue of showering and bathing in the water remains controversial. State and federal officials have repeatedly assured residents that the water is safe for showering and bathing, while residents have continued to report experiencing lesions, rashes and hair loss after coming into contact with the water. In the news conference, Edwards also presented the water as being safe for bathing, while admitting that the relationship between water exposure and rashes is one of the most understudied issues, scientifically, in the water treatment field. The nonprofit organization Water Defense, founded by Academy Award nominated actor Mark Ruffalo, has challenged the official line, telling the Detroit News, It is irresponsible and incomprehensible for anyone to declare bathing and showering is safe based on testing sinks and using drinking water standards to declare bath/shower water safelet alone not even testing bath/shower water for the full spectrum of chemical. The action plan presented by Edwards at the news conference for repairing the water system focused almost entirely on the need to move more corrosion-controlled water through the system in order to rebuild the protective coating around the lead pipes that had been destroyed by the corrosive Flint River water. The replacement of the lead pipes or the overhaul of the water mains, the only measure that would completely eliminate the threat of lead from the water system, was not seriously addressed. Even the half-measure of corrosion control is proving to be difficult to implement, since Flint residents have been reluctant to use the water in large quantities. In homes with the highest lead concentration, the study found that the residents were using water at a fraction of the rate of the national average, due largely to the inability to pay water bills and the fear of contamination. Although state officials have discussed making $30 million available for residents water bills over the past months, and this would only involve drinking water as opposed to water for sewerage, so far nothing has been done. It was disclosed that last year even though 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and the water was poisoned, residents had the highest water bills in the US. Edwards noted that, even with normal levels of water use, it still took a year and a half before corrosion control was able to repair the water system in Washington, DC, which suffered a similar lead-in-water crisis in 2004. The Flint system has been receiving this treatment for six months and has still not been able to meet federal standards. Many Flint residents are voicing opposition to using Flint tap water for bathing. Melissa Mays, a Flint resident and member of the community action group Water You Fighting For, voiced her anger and opposition in this video taken April 13, 2016 one day after the Virginia Tech news conference. Water Defense tested her water, which is burning her familys eyes, skin and causing hair loss. The testing found many carcinogenic byproducts including diochlorine benzene and chloroform. While Flint families are angry that next to nothing has been done to resolve the water crisis, the tone of the news conference was generally optimistic, in line with anxious official attempts to present the water system as being on a path to recovery. Dr. Edwards attitude toward government officials expressed at Tuesdays press conference softened from that shown in earlier interviews and his Congressional testimony last month. After earlier denouncing the role of the EPA in covering up the lead levels and conspiring to silence those who sought to raise the alarm about Flint, Edwards gave a shout out to the great work being done by EPA in distributing lead filters to Flint residents, a stopgap measure that can only provide temporary help. Edwards has been brought onto various committees involving the EPA and the state of Michigan in an effort to provide them with an aura of legitimacy. Edwards has stated that he is prepared to work with anyone whom he feels will help Flint get back on its feet. While his concerns may be genuine, the aims of the EPA and the state are not. The federal EPA and the state of Michigan are in desperate need of a cover following the exposure of their criminal role in allowing the poisoning of an entire city with lead-tainted water. After the press conference Edwards reportedly told the Roanoke Times that his team is facing major financial struggles. Edwards said that work in Flint cost his lab $250,000, plus the equivalence of five years worth of work hours. The lab requires $850,000 annually to operate, but has raised a little less than $100,000 on a GoFundMe page and gotten a National Science Foundation Grant worth $33,000. Edwards ended the session by stating that Flint needed money and that the water system in Flint was in very poor condition. Edwards said he believed the lead pipes needed to be replaced and the water mains upgraded. [T]he water mains in Flint are also in very, very bad shape. And until they are rehabilitated in a proactive way, I dont think the system is really financially sustainable. I really feel that the federal government as well as the state government owes it to Flint to help upgrade the water main system so that the system can become financially sustainable. However, the state of Michigan and the US federal government have demonstrated again and again that they have no intention of providing the financial resources needed to provide safe water to Flint residents, let alone the hundreds of communities across the country facing a similar danger of lead and water. Now ten months into a state budget impasse, social services in Illinois are crumbling through attrition. The shrinking of services has placed the states most vulnerable populations, including a growing number of homeless adults and children, in serious danger. Republican Governor Bruce Rauners recently proposed state budget includes a $1.4 billion cut to the State Medicaid program, including services for children; an $88 million cut to mental health services; a $35 million cut to community substance abuse programs; and elimination of Homeless Youth Services and Supportive Housing Services. Each of these programs directly benefit workers who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. These cuts come in addition to the de facto cuts that have been made over the last year to services that prevent homelessness, such as affordable housing and health care services, due to the budget impasse. Without a budget to allocate funding, state-run social programs have had to significantly cut their spending, resulting in the diminished provision of services. Moreover, the social crisis created by the breakdown of the global capitalist system in 2008, which state policymakers are pushing onto the backs of working people, is developing in a context of three decades of wage and industry decline in the region. Even in the wealthier areas outside of Chicago homelessness is on the rise. The suburban counties of Dupage, Lake, and McHenry have a relatively high median household income of approximately $76,000 per year. However, the lack of affordable housing, high unemployment figures, and stagnant wages all point to a crisis that is expressed not in the least by the increasing figures of homelessness, especially in families with young children. Waukegan, an industrial town north of Chicago in Lake County, where more than 13 percent of the population lives below the federal poverty line, has seen a significant rise in the number of people living in homeless shelters. After local business owners complained to the Waukegan city council about panhandling by homeless in the city, Waukegan Mayor Wayne Motley suspended the operating license of a shelter on April 4, forcing all residents of the shelter, including an 80-year-old woman, onto the street in frigid temperatures. Motley, a former cop, revoked the shelters license after visiting in person. According to reports, he gave no indication during his time there that the shelters license was in jeopardy. The shelter was later reopened on appeal. The shelter was operated by PADS, Public Action to Deliver Shelter, which operates shelters and services for the homeless in the Chicagoland area. In late 2015 a PADS homeless shelter at St. Anastasia Church in Waukegan was closed at a time when need had reached an all-time high. According to the PADS Lake County organization, the overall demand for shelter in October 2015 had increased by about 40 percent in comparison to recent years. In January 2016 homelessness in the county was reported to be at an all-time high since 2010, based on PADS statistics and a count conducted by Lake County Board members. McHenry County, which borders Lake County to the west, has reported a 51 percent increase in demands for shelter services since 2009, according to that countys PADS shelter. Dupage County, west of Chicago, has reported similarly rising rates of homelessness over the past few years. The number of families who sought shelter in 2015 increased by 38 percent, and the number rose by 13 percent for individuals. An appalling number of children are homeless in the counties surrounding Chicago with children comprising the majority of the homeless population, according to the most recently available reports. Point-in-time counts of the homeless in Lake County last year revealed that 66 percent of those counted as homeless on a given night are under the age of 18, and the same count in Dupage County showed that 62 percent of the homeless population was below the age of 18. Moreover the average age of a homeless person in Dupage County was 8 years, according to Bridge Communities, a local organization that serves the homeless. The National Center on Family Homelessness has tracked a sharp increase in homeless children in Illinois. In 2015, 98,212 statewide were counted compared with 75,443 in 2010. This number coincides with the rising number of students reporting homelessness in these counties in the years since 2008. Students who reported homelessness in the 2012-2013 school year increased by more than 35 percent in Dupage and Lake Counties and more than 20 percent in McHenry County, when compared to the 2010-2011 school year. In the years since 2010, the Democratic-controlled state government defunded mental health services by $113.7 million, and closed two major residential treatment facilities and tens of regional outpatient clinics, leaving those with mental health crises to hospital emergency rooms and to the police. Only two other statesCalifornia and New Yorkhave cut more from mental health services in the same time period, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The pain and suffering caused by mental illness makes it difficult for individuals to hold down a job and find stable housing. Mentally ill people that cannot get the treatment needed for their conditions are at a high risk of becoming homeless. McHenry County reported a 33 percent increase of homeless individuals diagnosed with mental illnesses since 2009. Rising rents and cost of living, as well as high rates of unemployment, are also contributing to the climbing homeless rates in the region. The fair-market rent for the area, a figure calculated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban development, is set at $922 per month for a one bedroom apartment and $1,093 per month for a two-bedroom apartment. This would require an individual or a family to work anywhere from 75 to 89 hours per week at the Illinois State minimum wage of $8.25 per hour in order to be able to afford housing. While the fair-market rent figures have increased every year, on average, since 2008, wages have remained stagnant. Twenty-five percent of Illinois households spend more than half their income on rent. The unemployment rate in this area is higher than the official national average of 4.9 percent, with counties reporting rates of anywhere from 5.5 to 6.9 percent. The reality of the disintegration of living standards for the working class in the suburbs stands in stark contrast to the fact that it is home to a number of major corporations and Fortune 500 company headquarters that report significant profits year after year, such as McDonalds Corporation (Dupage), AbbVie (Lake), and Abbott Laboratories (Lake). The initiative of Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron to create his own movement, Forward March, on April 6 in Amiens comes amid a series of similar initiatives from politicians in and around Frances ruling Socialist Party (PS). They come amid rising concerns in ruling circles that the PS could disintegrate after the 2017 presidential elections. Macron did not build a new political party, and his movement has no observable political differences with the PS government, in which Macron remains as a key minister imposing austerity measures on the workers. He denied that he planned to run against PS President Francois Hollande in 2017, adding that he was definitely thinking about the post-2017 period. His main declaration was to stress that his movement was neither right nor left, which definitely places him on the political right and, though he is not associated with the far right, in the traditions of those forces who seek to violently suppress the class struggle. The Forward March association is headquartered in the apartment of the director of the Institut Montaigne, a think tank close to the Medef business confederation. Macron, 37, stresses his young entrepreneur style to give a veneer of modernity to the PS brutal attacks on social and democratic rights. His citizens appeal, whose principal qualities are supposedly sincerity and youth, relies on all the cliches and stereotypes of French bourgeois politics. He informs the public that he wants a dynamic France and will stay clear of political politics and bureaucracies. The right-wing Le Figaro sees in him a future presidential candidate. Leaders of the right-wing The Republicans (LR) party, including former prime ministers Francois Fillon and Jean-Pierre Raffarin, have stressed that they feel close to Macrons ideas. Medef leader Pierre Gattaz enthusiastically praised Macrons initiative. Macron, who has never won an election, has reportedly been in discussion with numerous elected officials, suggesting that he is looking for an official position to fall back on after 2017. The PS is in deep crisis that emerged openly after Hollande abandoned an amendment to inscribe the state of emergency and a deprivation of nationality policy in the constitution. This stunned broad sections of the media, who responded by predicting an electoral disaster for the PS in 2017. It is not, however, only a matter of the current crisis produced by Hollandes unpopularity and opposition to his agenda of war, austerity, and police-state measures. In line with growing economic crisis and social opposition, the political mechanisms that underlay the construction of the PS after the May-June 1968 general strike, as a left bourgeois party defending capitalism, are collapsing. Macron is only the latest of a series of PS politicians who decided to create movements that are nominally independent from it. After the eruption of the 2008 economic crisis, the first person to take such an initiative was former PS minister Jean-Luc Melenchon. He launched his Left Party, which he rapidly attached to the political and trade union apparatus of the Stalinist French Communist Party (PCF) to strengthen his electoral position. Then in November 2015, Pouria Amirshahi, a rebel PS deputy in the National Assembly, built his Common Movement, a citizens platform appealing to identity and gender politics and making no reference to socialism. The proposal for a presidential primary of the left presented in January and backed by forces like Green politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit was also a reaction to the PS crisis. It aimed to provide political cover for the PS, calling for a reconquest of the institutions by the citizens. In February, Cohn-Bendit signed an editorial with leading PS member Martine Aubry, the mayor of Lille, which attacked Hollande for weakening the country by exposing too crassly his support for far-right measures. The movements emerging from the PS are anticipating its upcoming demise. They seek to position themselves not to challenge the PS, but to best pick up whatever pieces may fall their way when the PS disintegratesthat is, the parliamentary groups or seats, official functions, networks, influence, and resources accumulated over decades as a party of government. But they will inherit above all its reactionary politics as a party of the financial aristocracy. It is important to note that none of these movements emerging from the PS make any reference to socialism. If Macron is more explicit in his hostility to the working class and his promotion of the interests of the financial aristocracy, Melenchon proclaimed in 2014 the death of the left and of socialism, and the political irrelevance of the working class. Manuel Valls, the current prime minister, has repeatedly called for renaming the PS to avoid referring to socialism. With Macrons open sympathies for the Medef and his anti-worker opinionshe recently made the provocative statement that a CEOs life is harder than a workersMacron no doubt calculates that he will find a lot of support inside the PS. According to certain newspapers, his initiative provoked gnashing of teeth inside the government and the PS, because Macron is making all too clear the class character of the PS. One minister complained, We tried to set up a government that dealt with reality, but that had values. And Macron is sending mixed messages again. In fact, Macrons initiative makes clear that the PS is a big-business party that, despite its name, is hostile to socialism and to the working class. The exposure of its true character, and of pseudo-left organizations like the New Anti-capitalist Party that have promoted it for decades, is driving fears in ruling circles that the struggle for socialismthat is, revolutionary struggle by the international working classwill soon return in force. The strike by 39,000 workers against the US telecom giant Verizon is a powerful expression of the growing mood of militancy and opposition to the corporate and political establishment among workers throughout the United States and internationally. It coincides with a wildcat strike by air traffic controllers in Belgium and mass protests by workers and youth in France against austerity and attacks on job security, as well as growing strikes and working class protests across Asia, Africa and Latin America. It follows the strike by US oil refinery workers last year and the massive resistance of auto workers to the sellout contracts imposed by the United Auto Workers at General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, which included the first rejection by the rank-and-file of a Big Three auto contract in more than 30 years. After working for eight months without a contract, the installers, customer service employees, technicians and repairmen in Verizons landline division are determined to oppose the companys demands for new concessions that will further slash jobs, reduce pension and health benefits, and enable the company to transfer workers to distant locations for months at a time. The company, which is taking in $1.8 billion in profits per month, is demanding a cap on pensions for older workers, further shifting of health costs to employees and more expansive outsourcing of jobs. Verizon is prepared to proceed ruthlessly against the strikers. On the eve of the walkout, the president of the companys wireline network division noted that management had trained thousands of non-union workers as strikebreakers and moved staff to other locations to maintain operations. Lets make it clear, he said, we are ready for a strike. Earlier this week, Verizon sent a threatening email to all employees saying, It is important that everyone understand what conduct the Company and the unions agreed would constitute just cause for discharge. In the four-month strike in 1989 against Verizons predecessor company, NYNEX, striker Gerry Horgan was killed when a scab truck driver ran him over on the picket line. Workers can place no confidence in the Communications Workers of America (CWA) or the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) to counter the attacks of management and carry through a serious struggle. They have collaborated with the company for decades in imposing job cuts and concessions, including the establishment of a two-tier system in which newly hired workers receive no pension and have no job protection. Since their betrayal of the strike in 2000, in which the unions sent the majority of strikers back to work while the walkout was still in progress, the workforce has been slashed by 40 percent. In 2011, the unions called off a strike after only two weeks without obtaining a new contract or any agreement by the company to withdraw its $1 billion in concessions demands or any amnesty for workers victimized by management in the course of the walkout. More than a year later, they pushed through a sellout deal that imposed most of the take-aways demanded by Verizon. The Obama administrations Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) intervened to help impose that pro-company agreement on the workers. On Tuesday, Verizon said the FMCS had offered to intervene once again. The preoccupation of the unions is to gain access to the companys expanding wireless division, which is largely non-union, and pressure the company to expand its optic fiber cable operations. To obtain a new source of dues revenue, they are prepared to offer up the wages, benefits and working conditions of their members. A press release posted on the CWA web site Tuesday makes no mention of the companys demands for new concessions on pensions and health benefits. The unions combine corporatist collusion with the company and the promotion of economic nationalism and protectionism. The CWA and IBEW focus their anti-Verizon rhetoric on its outsourcing of jobs to the Philippines, Mexico and other low-wage countries. This serves to divide the working class and pit Verizon workers against their class brothers and sisters in other countries. At the same time, it provides the framework for the imposition of ever more draconian concessions, carried out in the name of boosting corporate competitiveness. The logic of this reactionary policy is a fratricidal race to the bottom between different sections of workers. Verizon is a massive corporation that operates on a global scale. Its Enterprise Solutions division supports services in 75 countries and has a global IP network that reaches more than 150 countries. The notion that American workers can fight the company in isolation from and in opposition to workers in other countries is utterly bankrupt. Instead of turning to the Obama administration and Democratic politicians such as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, as pushed by the unions, Verizon workers need to turn out broadly to the working class and youth across the US and to their fellow workers in Mexico, the Philippines and internationally. The unions enforce the subordination of the workers to the profiteering and cost-cutting of the corporations through their political alliance with the big business Democratic Party. The CWA, which has endorsed the campaign of Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination, timed the strike for the run-up to next Tuesdays critical New York primary. It coordinated the walkout with the Sanders campaign, allowing the self-described democratic socialist to make an appearance on a Brooklyn picket line and promote his anti-Wall Street credentials. The CWA further instructed picketers to attend a Sanders rally Wednesday night in Manhattan. In the Democratic primary campaign, Sanders is the most vociferous advocate of protectionist and trade war policies, echoing the America-first nationalism of the trade union bureaucracy. The Verizon unions are seeking, by means of his campaign, to corral the seething anger and militancy of the workers back into the dead-end of the Democratic Party, which has worked, no less than the Republicans, to destroy the living standards of US workers and further enrich the corporate and financial elite. While they make noises in opposition to the companys demand for further cutbacks in workers health benefits, the unions say nothing about the fact that the basis for Verizons demands is the need to conform to the 40 percent Cadillac tax on supposedly overly generous health insurance plans included in Obamas misnamed Affordable Care Act. Hillary Clintons statement of support for the Verizon strikers on Tuesday is completely cynical and hypocritical. She and her husband have taken tens of millions in bribes from Wall Street and the corporate elite since leaving the White House, parlaying their years in power to gain access to the financial aristocracy. While in power, moreover, Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that paved the way for the wave of mergers and consolidations out of which Verizon emerged as a telecom colossus. Verizon workers need to reject the policies of the unions and break their organizational control of the strike. They should elect rank-and-file committees of action to organize a turn out to broader sections of the working class and youth and to telecom workers internationally. This must be combined with a new political strategythe building of an independent political movement of the working class armed with a genuine socialist program, including the nationalization of the banks and major corporations and their transformation into public utilities under the democratic control of working people. Soria pictured on Wednesday in Madrid. JAIME VILLANUEVA Acting Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria was the administrator of Mechanical Trading Limited, a company registered in Jersey, according to documents seen by EL PAIS in the companies register on the British Channel Island. The company was the main shareholder in Oceanic Lines, of which Soria has admitted he was chairman. Until now, Soria has denied having companies registered in tax havens. The document, signed by Soria on December 27, 2002, show that he and his brother, Luis Alberto Soria Lopez, ran the company until that day, when they dissolved it. The letter to the Jersey Financial Services Commission, revealed by Spanish daily El Mundo, describes the two signatories as the directors of Mechanical Trading Limited. At the time, Soria was mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a post he occupied from 1995 to 2003. Receipt of the document is dated in Jersey for December 2, 2002. The signature of Soria on the document. Sorias name appeared amid the millions of documents released as part of the leaked Panama Papers earlier this month. He has so far denied being the owner of an offshore company based in Panama, as reported by the Spanish TV channel La Sexta and online news outlet El Confidencial. The acting minister said it was a mistake that briefly saw his name appear on the list of directors of UK Lines Ltd., which was incorporated in the Bahamas in the 1990s. I want to know why my name is there, Soria said on Tuesday. I dont know why that mistake was made. Photo of the registered address in Jersey of Sorias company. Google Maps He explained that he will appear before the house industry committee, which could meet on Tuesday of next week. It is completely false that I had a relationship with any company, business or function based in Panama, in the Bahamas or in any other tax haven, he insisted. A day earlier, Soria had suggested that he would not be appearing before any congressional committees, based on the acting governments attitude that it is not beholden to the control of the current lower house. The Panama Papers so far show that 500 banks, their subsidiaries and branches registered 15,600 shell companies with Mossack Fonseca, the Panama-based law firm at the center of the leaks, and that three of the biggest on that list were based in the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey. English version by Nick Lyne. In the statement Socialism and the Fight Against War, published on February 18, the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) devotes considerable attention to the reason why pseudo-left organizations have rushed to define Russia and China as imperialist powers. [1] This definition has been plucked from midair, with barely any attempt to explain the historical process through which Russia and China, within the space of just 25 years, changed from bureaucratically degenerated and deformed workers states into imperialist powers. Were it merely a matter of expressing political opposition to the regimes in Beijing and Moscow, it would not be necessary to employ the epithet imperialist. The International Committee of the Fourth International calls for the overthrow of the capitalist states in Russia and China by the working class as an essential component of the world socialist revolution. ... What political purpose, it must be asked, is served by adding the word imperialist to descriptions of China and Russia? In practical political terms, it serves very definite functions. First, it relativizes, and therefore diminishes, the central and decisive global counterrevolutionary role of American, European and Japanese imperialism. This facilitates the pseudo-lefts active collaboration with the United States in regime-change operations such as in Syria, where the Assad regime has been backed by Russia. Second, and even more significantly, the designation of China and Russia as imperialistand thus, by implication, as colonial powers suppressing ethnic, national, linguistic and religious minoritiessanctions the pseudo-lefts support for imperialist-backed national liberation uprisings and color revolutions within the boundaries of the existing states. This assessment is confirmed by the politics of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), a split-off from the League for the Fifth International (LIFI). Both the RCIT and the LIFI, which emerged from a 1970s split in the International Socialist Tendency (IST), have a long record of anti-Trotskyism. Characteristic of their petty-bourgeois representatives is radical-sounding phrase-mongering to mask their practical support for right-wing bourgeois forces. The RCIT and its sections take this type of politics to the limit. The documents written by its international secretary and leading theoretician Michael Probstingnotwithstanding references to Marx, Lenin and Trotsky, buttressed by radical-sounding rhetoricread like strategy papers authored in the foreign and defense ministries and think tanks of the imperialist powers. A pamphlet written by Probsting, Russia as a Great Imperialist Power, was published in Germany just weeks after the right-wing coup in Ukraine orchestrated by the United States and the European Union. In the opening lines of the document, Probsting declares Russia and China to be imperialist aggressors, thus implicitly making the struggle against them the central issue in international politics. He writes: The political crisis in the Ukraine and the civil war in Syria have recently shown once again the significance of Russia as an imperialist power. In fact, Russias and Chinas rise as great imperialist powers has been one of the most important developments in world politics of the recent decade. It has substantially increased the inner-imperialist rivalry and hence forms the background for the intensification of various regional conflicts and civil wars. We specifically point to the Georgia war in 2008, the conflict in the East China Sea between China, Japan and the US, the Syrian civil war, and now the events in the Ukraine. [2] Thus, according to Probsting, American and European imperialism are not the driving forces behind the aggression of recent years and the growing danger of a war between the major powers. Rather, the main responsibility lies with Russia and China, the imperialist colonial powers. Probsting declares: We think that ignoring the imperialist character of Russia (and China) is a serious mistake which unavoidably leads to confusion in assessing major world political events and even taking the wrong side of the barricades in the class struggle. [3] As we shall see, the positions advanced by Probsting lead him to explicitly justify alliances with forces working on the wrong side of the barricades. In section III of this document, entitled Rebuilding the Empire: Putins Drive to Expand the Grip of Russian Imperialism, Probsting states: Russia oppresses and exploits other nations both inside and outside its state. Nearly one fifth of Russias population, 19.1%, belong to ethnic and national minorities. The most important ones are the Tatars (3.9%), Ukrainians (1.2%), Bashkirs (1.1%), Chuvashes (1.1%), Chechens (1%), the Armenians (0.9%) and other, smaller peoples. All told, there are over 185 ethnic groups living in Russia. [4] The RCIT endorses armed struggle to implement programs of national and ethnic separation from Russia. Probsting declares: The RCITs position in the Chechen wars and in all similar conflicts is to unconditionally defend the right of national self-determination for oppressed nationalities. If a national or ethnic group wishes to separate and form its own state, socialists must support this desire and defend them against any repression by the oppressor state. [5] To lend weight to this program, Probstings document includes maps of Russias Ethnic and National Minorities, Autonomous Areas in Russia, and the Natural Resources in Russia. Regarding the latter he writes: As the following figures show, a substantial share of Russias raw materialsof which oil and gas are the most prominent but are by no means the only onesare located in regions with a significant proportion of national minorities. [6] The perspective of carving up Russia as well as China into smaller, more easily digestible morsels, which have control over the countries valuable natural resources, has long been discussed by leading imperialist geo-strategists. One example can be found in the current edition of Foreign Affairs, where Robert D. Kaplan, one of the leading US strategists and planners behind the Iraq invasion, predicts in an article entitled Eurasias Coming Anarchy that the economic crisis in Russia and China will provoke deep-going internal tensions. Consequently, demands for national autonomy from various ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities will intensify. [7] Russia, according to Kaplan, will be plunged into turmoil and could fragment yet again. He points to the heavily Muslim North Caucasus, along with areas of Russias Siberian and Far Eastern districts, distant from the center and burdened by bloody politics, which may begin loosening their ties to Moscow in the event of instability inside the Kremlin itself. With reference to China, Kaplan warns of the growing ethnic tensions in this vast country. He adds: To some degree, the Han-dominated state of China is a prison of various nations, including the Mongols, the Tibetans, and the Uighurs, all of whom have in various degrees resisted central control. Kaplan concludes, Today, Uighur militants represent the most immediate separatist threat. There are indications that the determination of US imperialism and its allies to press ahead energetically with their cooperation with Islamist forces in Syria is aimed at providing military training for secessionist movements in Russia and China. In an article in the London Review of Books from last December, well-connected US journalist Seymour Hersh cited an official from Washington as saying that Turkey has been bringing Uigurs to Syria by special transport, while the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been agitating in favour of their struggle in China. The US official cited by Hersh also declared that more than 800 Uighur fighters had been brought to Syria via the so-called rat line. [8] The historically reactionary implications of this policy are especially pronounced in the case of China. The national movement that developed in China at the beginning of the 20th century was objectively confronted with the historically progressive taskwhich, however, could not be resolved under the leadership of the bourgeoisieof uniting various linguistic and ethnic groups to overcome the feudal divisions sustained by the imperialist powers in the interests of their Open Door program of plunder. If Probsting and the RCIT encourage nationalist and ethno-centric movements to divide up Russia and China, they are not standing in the internationalist socialist tradition of Lenin and the Marxist movement, as Probsting falsely asserts, but rather in the tradition of imperialism. Lenins work on the national question, written more than a century agoi.e., at an incomparably lower level of global capitalist developmentis occasionally invoked by petty-bourgeois pseudo-left reactionaries to legitimize their support for imperialist-backed separatist movements. They invariably ignore that Lenins approach to the national question was always critical. Writing in 1913, when large portions of Africa, the Middle East and Asia were only in the first stages of democratic struggle against the remnants of feudalism and imperialist-colonialist domination, Lenin acknowledged the legitimacy of the struggle against national oppression. But he placed strict limits on support for self-determination. The task of endorsing the self-determination demand is largely a negative one. But this is the limit the proletariat can go in supporting nationalism, for beyond that begins the positive activity of the bourgeoisie striving to fortify nationalism But to go beyond these strictly limited and definite historical limits in helping bourgeois nationalism means betraying the proletariat and siding with the bourgeoisie. There is a border-line here, which is often very slight and which the Bundists and the Ukrainian nationalist-socialists completely lose sight of. [9] Even in 1913, Lenin rejected support for the formation of innumerable small states under the banner of national separatism. He emphasized the economic significance of centralization, arguing that the class-conscious proletariat will always stand for the larger state. [10] This was written 103 years ago, at a far lower level of development of capitalist globalization, before the October Revolution, and before the promotion of national and ethnic separatism became the most potent weapon of the capitalist-imperialist war against the socialist and internationalist aspirations of the class conscious sections of working class. Combining historical ignorance with theoretical charlatanry, Probsting employs the slogan of national self-determination to divide the working class and give unconditional support to all national and ethnic separatist movements, even if they are built up and financed by imperialism. The RCIT explicitly calls for Unconditional support for the liberation struggleincluding in its armed form! This applies for example for a socialist Tamil Eelam, a united Ireland, a united Kashmir, an independent Kurdistan, Chechnya, Tibet, etc. The RCIT extends this separatist program to the Uyghur in China, the Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, the Chechens and other Caucasian peoples in Russia. [11] Probsting and the RCIT toss together highly diverse issues without even trying to come to grips with the historical experiences and political lessons of the past several decades. It is not the task of this article to subject these complex processes to a detailed analysis, but the reactionary character of the RCITs politics should at least be indicated by referring to two examples. The more than thirty-year civil war in Sri Lanka has proven that Tamil separatism is a dead end for the working class and that the struggle for a socialist Tamil Eelam can be achieved only in alliance with Sinhalese and Muslim workers in a fight for socialism throughout Sri Lanka. The same applies to Kashmir. Without a socialist perspective and a joint struggle of the masses on the entire Indian sub-continent against the 1947-imposed partition of India along religious lines, the demand for an independent Kashmir is deeply reactionary. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union by the Stalinist bureaucracy, the imperialist powers have repeatedly encouraged conflicts and played national and ethnic minorities off against each other so as to pursue their own geostrategic and economic interests. A bloody example of this was the violent partition of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, with hundreds of thousands of casualties and millions of refugees. Germany and the US played the leading role in inciting Serbs, Muslims and Croats to slaughter each other, only then to intervene militarily themselves. Many pseudo-left organizations cooperated closely with the imperialist powers to spread the poison of bourgeois nationalism. The RCIT continues to boast to this day that it supported the struggle of the Bosnians in 1992-95 and that of the Kosovo Albanians in 1999. In the context of the imperialist powers current war policies, the RCIT also has blood on its hands and is playing exactly the same role described by the ICFI in its statement. In Syria, they propagandize for the CIA-backed war for regime-change in the name of a defense of the Syrian revolution. A leaflet from March 8 on the fifth anniversary of the Syrian revolution states, among other things, Today, with the help of the Russian blitzkrieg and thousands of Iranian-led troops, the Assad regime threatens to liquidate Free Aleppo. [12] In an Open letter to All Revolutionary Organisations and Activists from last December, they write, In Syria the revolutionary liberation struggle is continuing but is facing huge threats. The murderous dictatorship of Bashar al-Assadwith the wholesale support of Russian imperialism as well as that of Iranis continuing its war of destruction against its own people. [13] At the same time, the RCIT denounces sectarian anti-imperialists who oppose the carve-up and re-colonization of the Middle East by the imperialist powers. In a programmatic articlebearing the pretentious title Liberation Struggles and Imperialist Interference. The failure of sectarian anti-imperialism in the West: Some general considerations from the Marxist point of view and the example of the democratic revolution in Libya in 2011 Probsting attacks all of those who refused to greet the NATO war in Libya in 2011 as a revolution and a victory for the working class. Probsting writes: We, on the other hand, contend that the Libyan Revolution ended in a partial victory for the working class and the oppressed because it defeated the bourgeois-bonapartist Gaddafi regime Another positive consequence of the Libyan revolution is the progress of the national liberation struggle of the Tuareg people in Mali who founded the Azawad Republic Again, in our opinion, this demonstrates that the partial victory of the democratic revolution in Libya has been advantageous for oppressed people. [14] This assessment is as cynical as it is absurd. The Gaddafi regime was not overthrown by an independent political movement of Libyan workers, but with NATO bombs from the air and Islamist proxy forces backed by the West on the ground. The outcome of this partial victory is a devastated society, tens of thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of refugees, and the renewed threat of an intervention by the imperialist powers. This development was also anything but advantageous for Mali. It was a catastrophe. The country, rich in natural resources, was thrown into crisis and destabilized by the Libyan war and the destruction of its neighbor. The rebellion of Tuareg fighters and Islamists in the north led not to liberation, but to conditions similar to civil war, a military coup in Bamako, and military intervention by the former colonial power France and its imperialist allies, including the US. While most pseudo-left tendencies adopting similar positions to the RCIT seek to conceal their adaptation to politically reactionary forces, the RCIT justifies collaboration with counter-revolutionary tendencies as a strategic imperative. In its Revolutionary Communist Manifesto, the RCIT proclaims: We are of course aware that such a new national party or a Fifth International, under present conditions would have a contradictory class character, since it would involve not only revolutionary, but reformist and centrist forces. This would be an International, whose leaders would fail in a series of class struggles, or even stand on the other side of the barricades against the workers. [15] This incredible formulation is rooted in the practice of the RCIT. Wherever the RCIT has sections and is politically active, it supports bourgeois forces and in fact stands on the other side of the barricades. During the last national elections in Austria in 2013, RKO Liberation (RKOB) called for a vote for the Social Democrats (SPO), which currently forms a coalition at the federal level in Vienna with the conservative Austrian Peoples Party (OVP), and in the state of Burgenland is in a coalition with the far-right, xenophobic Freedom Party of Austria (FPO). In Africa and Asia, their supporters cooperate with extreme right-wing nationalist forces. In the previously cited Open Letter, the RCIT advocates a mass united front of workers and popular organizations which should include those under the influence of the reformists and populists. This right-wing, bourgeois and pro-imperialist orientation has attracted support from other pseudo-left tendencies. Probsting is a welcome guest at many pseudo-left discussion events, having spoken, for example, at the Third Euro-Mediterranean Conference in July 2015 in Athens, which was organized by the Coordinating Committee for the Refoundation of the Fourth International (CRFI). The CRFIs members include the Argentinian Workers Party (PO) and Greeces Workers Revolutionary Party (EEK) led by Savas Michael-Matsas, who broke with the ICFI, and any socialist perspective for the international working class, in 1985. [16] In its report on the conference, the RCIT criticized the contributions from the Russian and Ukrainian representatives because they often expressed softness in their opposition to Russian imperialism. There were also important political differences with the comrades of the CRFI. The RCIT wrote: While the RCIT characterizes Russia and China as imperialist powers, these comrades do not. Furthermore, while the RCIT continues to support the Syrian Revolution despite its petty-bourgeois Islamist leadership, the RedMed comrades [the RedMed network is an online platform of the CRFI] have stopped their support and take now a defeatist position. [17] Despite these differences, the RCIT found the conference useful. ** Footnotes [1] See http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/02/18/icfi-f18.html/ [2] Russia as a Great Imperialist Power, Revolutionary Communism, No. 21, March 2014, p. 3. The entire statement can be accessed at http://www.thecommunists.net/theory/imperialist-russia/ [3] Ibid [4] Ibid, p. 16 [5] Ibid [6] Ibid [7] https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2016-02-15/eurasias-coming-anarchy [8] http://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n01/seymour-m-hersh/military-to-military [9] Critical Remarks on the National Question, Lenin Collected Works, Volume 20 [Moscow, 1964], pp. 34-35 [10] Ibid, p. 46 [11] The Revolutionary Communist Manifesto, Programme of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), pp. 48-49 [12] http://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/rcit-als-syria/ [13] http://www.thecommunists.net/rcit/open-letter-revolutionary-unity/ [14] http://www.thecommunists.net/theory/liberation-struggle-and-imperialism/ [15] http://www.thecommunists.net/rcit-manifesto/the-leadership-we-have-and-the-leadership-we-need/ [16] A new political ally of Probsting is Alex Steiner, who quit the Fourth International nearly 40 years ago and has since then developed into a virulent anti-Trotskyist. Driven by a malignant interaction of uncontrollable political opportunism and a pathologically subjective hatred of his former comrades in the leadership of the Trotskyist movement, Steiners principal criterion in the selection of allies is their opposition to the International Committee of the Fourth International. He attended the Euro-Mediterranean Conference in search of potential allies against the ICFI, where he met Probsting. Endorsing the latters definition of Russia and China as imperialist, Steiner posts Probstings documents on his own blog site permanent-revolution.org. A detailed review of Steiner's political history is contained in David Norths The Frankfurt School, Postmodernism and the Politics of the Pseudo-Left: A Marxist Critique [Available at https://mehring.com/frankfurt-school-postmodernism.html] [17] http://www.thecommunists.net/rcit/euro-mediterranean-conference-2015/ Billionaire Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, blasted the Republican National Committee and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus during campaign appearances in New York and Pennsylvania this week. Trump called the process for selecting delegates to the July 18-21 Republican National Convention a scam and a dirty tricks operation. In an interview Tuesday with the Hill, Trump said, Its a disgrace for the party. And Reince Priebus should be ashamed of himself. He should be ashamed of himself because he knows whats going on. The outburst was in response to a series of setbacks for the Trump campaign at the hands of his main rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, at state and congressional district conventions of the party in a half a dozen states, most of them held last weekend. The most notable was the Colorado state convention on April 9, where Cruz won all 34 delegates and both Trump and the third remaining candidate, Ohio Governor John Kasich, won none. Colorado is one of six states or territories that has neither a primary nor a caucus, but chooses national convention delegates at a state convention. The Cruz campaign, which has much closer ties to local Republican organizations, has been able to win additional delegates in several states where Trump won the primary vote, including Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana. In some cases, these delegates are still pledged to vote for Trump on the first ballot, but can switch their votes to Cruz on subsequent ballots if Trump fails to obtain the 1,237 delegates needed to gain a majority and secure the nomination. The Washington Post reported Wednesday, based on its canvassing of delegates selected at the congressional district and state level, that between 130 and 170 delegates were poised to switch from Trump to Cruz on a second ballot, making it essential for Trump to win a first-ballot victory. Spokesmen for the Trump campaign outdid even the candidate himself in incendiary language and hints of violence if the Republican convention fails to nominate him. Speaking on the NBC program Meet the Press Sunday, Trumps newly hired convention manager, Paul Manafort, accused the Cruz campaign of Gestapo tactics in pushing through its delegate choices at local and state conventions. A longtime Trump associate and Republican operative, Roger Stone, went further, threatening to post the room numbers of any convention delegates who were pledged to Trump but sought to support Cruz, Kasich or another nominee. Social media was filled with statements from Trump supporters threatening violence against such delegates. Trump continues to lead the contest for the Republican nomination and could still prevail on the first ballot, according to numerous media tallies, depending on the outcome of the remaining primary contests. The current estimate is 755 delegates pledged to Trump, with 545 for Cruz and only 143 for Kasich. Another 172 delegates remain pledged to Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who has suspended his campaign, and there are about 200 delegates unpledged to any candidate. Trump would need to win just over 60 percent of the 854 delegates who remain to be selected in 16 primaries on three main dates: New York on April 19; five East Coast states on April 26; and the last five states, including California and New Jersey, on June 7. Opinion polls in the six states voting April 19 and April 26 show Trump well ahead, but not by enough to assure the proportion of delegates he needs for the nomination. Kasich, who has not won a single delegate since he won his home state of Ohio on March 15, is running second in the polls in most of these states, with Cruz a poor third. Kasich is the last remaining hope of the Republican Party establishment, which sees both Trump and Cruz as erratic and extremist candidates likely to be defeated in the general election. His dismal delegate total, barely 10 percent of the total needed for nomination, is an accurate reflection of the isolation and unpopularity of the Republican leadership, even within its own party. A further sign of the disarray among congressional Republicans came with Tuesdays declaration by House Speaker Paul Ryan that he would not under any circumstances become a candidate for the presidency, even in the event of a contested or deadlocked convention. Ryan called an afternoon news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, where he declared, Let me be clear. I do not want, nor will I accept, the nomination for our party. In the event that no candidate wins a first-ballot majority, he said, delegates should limit their alternatives to other candidates who ran in the primaries and caucuses. While the wrangling over delegate selection and possible convention outcomes has dominated media coverage of the Republican contest, the two leading candidates continue to move further and further to the right. Cruz has based his campaign on appealing to Christian fundamentalists and other extreme-right voters, and has consistently criticized the Trump campaign from the right, seeking to outdo the billionaire demagogue in attacking immigrants and targeting American Muslims for repressive policing. Trump has in turn escalated his own ultra-right rhetoric, raising again the demand that the US government reinstate waterboarding as a method of interrogation against captured members of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. That the Republican nomination campaign has boiled down to a contest between a fascistic demagogue calling for torture and an advocate of theocracy and militarism only demonstrates how far to the right the official US two-party system has moved. Amid a worsening confrontation with China over the South China Sea, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter declared yesterday that American forces would get access to a greater number of military bases in the Philippines under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the two countries. On his flight yesterday from New Delhi to Manila, Carter told journalists that the current five bases were just the initial sites for rotational presence of the US military. The agreement provides for more sites in the future, he said. This is an evolving thing. We agreed to these five with an understanding that they could be more and would be more, as we see what else and where else is significant. EDCA gives virtual carte blanche to the US military to access agreed locations throughout the former American colony. Once the Philippine administration signs off on agreed locations, US forces can operate in those bases with scant oversight by local authorities. The agreement authorises the deployment of unlimited US military personnel for a wide range of activities, including training, the refuelling and maintenance of aircraft and warships and the prepositioning of military equipment and supplies. Carter explained that rotations were our favourite way of having a presence, for US forces to operate in and out of the Philippines. The Pentagons use of rotations in the Philippines, Australia and other countries is part of a long-term restructuring of its basing arrangements in Asia to provide greater flexibility and reduce the costs associated with large, fixed bases. The US military can move its forces into Philippine bases for indefinite periods of time. The use of the term rotational presence is also to maintain the fiction that the US has no bases in the Philippines. Even though EDCA is in blatant violation of the Philippine constitution, which bans the presence of foreign troops and bases, the Supreme Court ruled in January against legal challenges to the agreement. Carter is due to visit two of the five agreed locations including one directly adjacent to the South China Sea. The five bases include four airfields and the armys largest training camp. The Antonio Bautista air base on the western island of Palawan is just 300 kilometres from the Chinese-administered islet of Mischief Reef while the Basa military airfield is about 330 kilometres from the Scarborough Shoal currently occupied by Chinese vessels. Both island features are contested by the Philippines. A lengthy New York Times article on Tuesday entitled US and Philippines, united by China, ramp up military alliance explained the rationale behind the Pentagons initial focus on airfields, rather than naval bases. [S]hips can operate from long distances and the United States has naval bases not far away, in Japan and Guam, and can use ports in Subic Bay and Manila to resupply. Airfields, on the other hand, need to be nearby in order to allow rapid response in the South China Sea, it stated. The heavy presence of US military forces directly adjacent to the South China Sea makes a mockery of incessant American propaganda critical of Chinas land reclamation on a handful of islets. On the eve of Carters arrival in the Philippines, Fox News published an exclusive citing the presence of two Chinese fighter aircraft on Woody Island, Chinas regional administrative centre, as further evidence of Chinas militarisation of the South China Sea. US access to Philippine military bases dwarfs Chinas limited military presence on islets under its control. Carter is due to observe the annual joint Balikatan military exercises currently underway, involving thousands of US and Philippine troops as well as US warships and aircraft. In a pointed message to China, he will also reportedly spend time at sea on US navy ships in the South China Sea. Carters trip to the Philippines amid the Balikatan war games is part of the Obama administrations ramping up of pressure on China. At Washingtons instigation, the G-7 foreign ministers meeting on Monday adopted a joint statement on maritime security, which, while not explicitly naming China, was clearly aimed against its activities in the South China Sea. Parroting the US line, it voiced strong opposition to any intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions. In an unusually strong response, Beijing summonsed senior diplomats from each of the G-7 countries on Tuesday to register a formal protest over the statement. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told the media on Wednesday that China had solemnly clarified its position on the South China Sea to each of the diplomatic representatives. In comments the previous day, Lu had accused the G-7 of hyping up maritime issues and fuelling tensions in the region. China was undoubtedly concerned by the support given by the European members of the G-7Britain, France, Germany and Italyto Washingtons confrontational stance on the South China Sea. Beijing has sought over the past year to use economic inducements to cultivate relations with Europe as a counterbalance to the United States. At the same time, Lu welcomed the remarks of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday calling for mutually acceptable political and diplomatic solutions to territorial disputes in the South China Sea. In remarks directed against Washingtons aggressive intervention, Lavrov declared that it was necessary to stop any interference in the talks between the parties directly involved and attempts to internationalise these disputes. As part of its pivot to Asia, the US has transformed what were longstanding, but relatively minor, regional territorial disputes in the South China Sea between China and its South East Asian neighbours into a dangerous flashpoint for war, involving all of the major powers. The US navy has twice sent warships within the 12-nautical mile territorial limit around Chinese-administered islets and is currently preparing a third freedom of navigation provocation. Washingtons claim to be defending freedom of navigation is both a pretext for the Pentagons massive military build-up throughout the Indo-Pacific region as well as a potential casus belli for war with China. Speaking last week at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, Carter emphasised the necessity of a naval expansion to grow both the number of ships and, importantly, above all, their capacities to deter and, if deterrence fails, defeat even the most advanced potential naval adversaries. Carters remark leaves no doubt that the US preparing for war against its most advanced adversaries with China at the top of the list. The CIA, working in conjunction with Washingtons principal allies in the Middle East, including the governments in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, is preparing a so-called Plan B involving a dramatic escalation in the arming of Western-backed rebels fighting the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad. Citing senior US officials, the Wall Street Journal reported that the plan was directed at providing vetted rebel units with weapons systems that would help them in directing attacks against Syrian regime aircraft and artillery positions. Clearly, the same weapons could be used to shoot down Russian aircraft, which have proven decisive in providing air support for Syrian government forces in taking back territory from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Al Nusra Front and other Western-backed Islamist militias. The plan being hatched by the White House and the CIA dramatically escalates the threat of a military confrontation between the US and Russia, the worlds two largest nuclear powers. Plan B is supposed to go into effect once Washington reaches the conclusion that its Plan A has failed. Plan A being the current effort to secure the collaboration of the United Nations, Russia, Iran and elements within the Assad government itself to achieve by means of a negotiated settlement what it has proven unable to secure on the battlefield over the last five years: regime change in Damascus. If the cease-fire collapses, if the negotiations dont go anywhere, and were back to full throttle civil war, all bets will be off, an Obama administration official told the Journal. The outside patrons will double and triple down, throwing everything they can into Syria, including much more lethal weaponry. The leaking of the CIA plan, which had all the earmarks of a deliberate trial balloon for a US military escalation, came as US officials charged that the Assad government is threatening to disrupt peace talks set to resume in Geneva this week by pursuing a fresh military offensive around the Syrian city of Aleppo. A cessation of hostilities agreement that went into effect at the end of February does not cover either ISIS or the Nusra Front, which are both defined by both Washington and the UN as terrorist organizations. US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power led the administrations charge on this issue. Referring to reports of a planned Syrian army offensive, she stated, That would be devastating, for the people of Aleppo of course, but also to this intricate process where the cessation of hostilities, humanitarian access and political negotiations are all related to one another. Power and other administration officials are essentially indicting the Syrian government for going after the Nusra Front, Al Qaedas Syrian affiliate, on the grounds that it works in close proximity, and close collaboration, with other Islamist militias that the US and its allies have armed and supported. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Monday that the problem was that the groups backed by Washington are not far apart and theyre not clearly delineated from the Nusra Front forces in Aleppo and elsewhere. The reality is that these forces operate in alliance with the Syrian Al Qaeda branch, which, together with ISIS, constitutes the main armed forces fighting the Syrian government. Washington is determined to maintain these forces as a proxy army in its bid for regime change. Russia has responded by blaming the uptick in fighting on a buildup by the Islamist militias aimed at encircling and blockading Aleppo. This operation has been facilitated by the flow of thousands of foreign fighters and large amounts of weaponry across the border from Turkey, Washingtons NATO ally. The message sent by the leaked report on the CIA preparations for Plan B is clear. If the Islamist militias are able to sufficiently disrupt the cessation of hostilities and upend the negotiations in Geneva, they will be rewarded with powerful new weaponry from the US and its allies. According to the Journal report, the Obama White House is still deliberating on a list of specific Plan B weapons systems. Saudi Arabia and Turkey have reportedly both pressed for the provision of Manpads, man-portable air-defense systems. These weapons, such as US Stinger shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, can be used to bring down low flying warplanes and helicopters. They can just as easily be turned against civilian passenger planes as military aircraft, and, given the so-called overlap between the Syrian Al Qaeda forces and the Islamist militias backed by Washington and its allies, this is a strong probability. In the past, weapons funneled to so-called CIA-vetted moderates have quickly fallen into the hands of the Al Nusra Front. The CIA is supposedly looking at the possibility of providing less mobile antiaircraft weapons, the Journal reports. The provision of such weapons to the Islamist rebels would be a flagrant violation of international law. It will likewise serve to prolong and intensify the bloodbath inflicted upon the Syrian people as a result of the US-backed regime change operation, which has already claimed well over a quarter of a million lives and driven roughly half the population from their homes. The criminal US policy being elaborated under the guise of Plan B poses the direct threat of a far more dangerous military clash between the US and Russia. The Obama administrations willingness to risk such a confrontation was already demonstrated last November with Turkeys deliberate ambush of a Russian SU-24 fighter bomber near the Syrian-Turkish border. US imperialism is not prepared to accept Russias military intervention in Syria consolidating a pro-Moscow regime in Damascus, with or without Assad. US geopolitical and military strategy is aimed at preventing Russia from posing a challenge to Washingtons drive to impose American hegemony in the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. To that end, it is preparing an escalation of the Syrian conflict that could ignite a third world war between nuclear-armed powers. US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and his Indian counterpart, Manohar Parrikar, announced Tuesday that Washington and New Delhi have agreed in principle on a logistics exchange agreement under which the US military will be able to routinely use Indian bases and ports for resupply, repair, and rest. A longstanding US objective, the logistics agreement has far reaching military and strategic implications for India and the world. Behind the backs of the Indian people, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and the Indian military-security establishment are transforming India into a frontline state in Washingtons drive to strategically encircle, subjugate, and if need be wage war on China. A joint Indo-US statement summarizing the outcome of Carters three-day visit to India lauded the robust and deepening bilateral military-security ties between the two countries. Carter began his visit at the Karavar naval base near Goa on Indias west coast. There he joined Parrikar in a joint inspection of the aircraft carrier INS Vikramadithya and the US Pacific fleets USS Blue Ridge warship, which was making a routine call. The US and Indian Defense Secretaries then flew to New Delhi for further talks and a meeting between Carter and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At his Tuesday press conference with Carter, Parrikar said that the expansion of Indo-US military ties meant new practical mechanisms were needed. The two, Parrikar said, had agreed to finalize a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in the coming months, with a draft agreement to be ready in a month, if not weeks. Carter, Parrikar, and their officials were anxious to downplay and distort the significance of the LEMOA. This is because they recognize that there is no support among Indias workers and toilers for harnessing India to US imperialisms predatory strategic agenda. Indian officials said the LEMOA will differ from the Logistics Support Agreements (LSA) that the Pentagon has with other countries. They claimed it will operate on a case-by-case basis, with India always having the right to refuse a US request for assistance, and that if Washington were to go to war, India would be under no obligation to allow the US military to continue using its bases for refuelling and other logistical support. For his part, Carter emphasized that the agreement is not about basing US troops in India, but about making it more routine and automatic for us to operate together, including in paying for supplies. Significantly, Carter did suggest that US troops could be deployed in India, but only for a specific missiona mission that he was careful to cast as humanitarian. Nobody, said the US Defense Secretary, is talking of stationing troops on Indian soil. As and when a situation arises, like an earthquake or natural disaster, that is when it is directed at. It will be applicable on a case-to-case basis but under the agreement. To understand the true import of LEMOA it is necessary to situate it within the broader context of the rapid expansion of Indian-US military-strategic ties and New Delhis support for the aggressive stance the US has adopted in the South China Sea. The joint statement issued by Carter and Parrikar, reaffirmed the importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight throughout the (Indo-Pacific) region, including in the South China Sea. It went on to say that the Defense Secretaries had vowed their support for a rule-based order and regional security conducive to peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean. All of this parrots Washingtons line. It depicts China as the aggressor, when it is the US that has encouraged Chinas neighbours to press their maritime claims against Beijing, and portrays the US as motivated by concern for ensuring that sea lanes remain open for trade, when its real aim is to ensure its warships have ready access to Chinas coastal waters and control over the sea lanes upon which its economy depends. Washington has been anxious to implicate India its strategic competition with China in south-east Asia and the South China Sea and to encourage India in its ambitions to become an Indian Ocean power. The LEMOA would actually facilitate this, as, under its reciprocal provisions, Indian war ships will be able to make use of US bases at Diego Garcia, Bahrain, and elsewhere for resupply. During his India trip, Carter reiterated Washingtons offer to assist India in developing economic and military-strategic ties with South-East Asia and touted the strategic convergence between the USs anti-China Pivot to Asia and Indias Act East policy. Carter also proclaimed the USs support for Indias plans to expand its fleet of warships from 130 to 166, including the addition of a third aircraft carrier, saying Washington believes that India should be a net exporter of security to the region. As a result of Carters visit, India and the US have now agreed to launch a bilateral Maritime Security Dialogue led by high-level Defense and foreign affairs officials; to commence navy-to-navy discussions on anti-submarine warfare; and continue talks on a joint aircraft-carrier design project and the transfer to India of US catapult take-off aircraft-carrier technology. Indias previous Congress Party-led government abandoned in all but name Indias traditional posture of non-alignment, forging a global strategic partnership with Washington. During its decade in power from 2004-14, the Indian military became the Pentagons most frequent partner in military exercises and the US emerged as a major weapons supplier to New Delhithe biggest in terms of new weapons deals. However, Washington became increasingly impatient with New Delhis reputed strategic dithering, especially after it launched the pivot or rebalance in 2011. Since coming to power in 2014, Modi and his Hindu supremacist BJP have moved aggressively to integrate India ever-more deeply into the USs military-strategic offensive against China in the hopes of bolstering Indias own great power ambitions and boosting investment from the US and Japan. This has included: signing on to a US-India Joint Strategic Vision Agreement for Asia Pacific Region and Indian Ocean that includes US-scripted language on the South China Sea; assisting the US in its regime change operation in the 2015 Sri Lankan presidential election; making Japan a partner of the annual US-Indian Malabar naval exercise; and otherwise expanding bi-lateral and trilateral with the USs principal allies in the region, Japan and Australia. The Modi government has also pressed forward with the implementation of a US-Indo Defense Technology and Trade Initiative, although not as fast as Washington would like. Through deals to co-produce and co-develop advanced weapon systems, the Pentagon and Obama administration are trying to secure huge arms contracts for US big business. Even more importantly, they are seeking to harness the Indian military to the US, by making it dependent on US technology and support. During his India trip, Carter promoted deals to both sell and produce in India the Lockheed Martin-made F-16 fighter jet and Boeings F/A 18, an aircraft designed to be launched from an aircraft carrier using catapult technology. At his press conference, Carter was asked how India could trust Washington when it is selling F-16s to Indias arch-rival Pakistan. In his response, the US Defense Secretary insisted that while Islamabad is an important ally of Washington in fighting terrorism, i.e. waging war in Afghanistan, the US views its relations with India radically differently. India is a global US partner, claimed Carter. Pakistan has repeatedly warned that the USs strategic partnership with India has overturned the balance of power between two nuclear-armed South Asian states. On Tuesday, as Carter was wrapping up his India trip, the head of Pakistans military, General Raheel Sharif, accused India of covertly aiding the separatist insurgency in Baluchistan so as to prevent the realization of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Chinas initial response to the impending India-US logistics support agreement and Carters visit has been cautious. A Foreign Ministry official merely noted that India has been upholding (an) independent diplomatic policy and added that Parrikar will soon be visiting China. Some press reports suggested this was a veiled way of saying Beijing intends to use Parrikars visit to make its apprehensions known. Indias big business media has been very supportive of the Modi governments pronounced pro-US shift in Indias foreign policy. India bases to open door to US warships, planes trumpeted the headline of a laudatory report in the Times of India. In an editorial published on the eve of Carters visit the Business Standard declared, Though it is true that the US sees India as one bulwark against Chinas rising power, reciprocity here can only be mutually beneficial in the light of Chinas overt tilt towards Pakistan and aggressive infrastructure expansion into Indias neighbourhood. This author also recommends: US moves to harness India to anti-China pivot [8 March 2016] Some 39,000 Verizon workers on the US East Coast are in their second day of strike after working more than 10 months without a contract. The workers are battling takeaway demands including attacks on pensions, increased health care costs, outsourcing and demands by management to be able to transfer workers across wide geographic areas with little or no advance notice. The walkout, the largest in years, is an expression of the pent up anger of workers all across the United States after years of declining or stagnating wages and eroding living standards in the face of massive corporate profits. Telecommunications giant Verizon rakes in some $1.8 billion in profit a month from its operations. The companys stock has been one the hottest in the market this year, up 12 percent. The company said it would use nonunion personnel to maintain its operations during the walkout. On the first day of the strike a vehicle crossing the picket line struck a striking worker in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The picket was reportedly hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. In the face of the determination of Verizon workers to fight, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) is attempting to channel workers anger behind the Democratic Party. On Wednesday, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders attended a mid-day rally called by the CWA in Brooklyn, New York. The union, which has officially endorsed Sanders, then told workers to attend a rally in lower Manhattan for the Democratic candidate. While professing support for striking workers, the Vermont Senator is a steadfast defender of the policies of the Obama administration, which has overseen the development of a low-wage economy in the United States and is moving to shift health care costs onto the backs of workers through the Affordable Care Act. Sanders promoted the economic nationalism of the unions, claiming that Verizons outsourcing of telecom jobs to Mexico, the Philippines and other countries is the essential problem and not the global capitalist system that exploits workers of all countries. Hillary Clinton also feigned support for the strikers. Her husbands 1996 Telecommunications Act deregulated the industry, paving the way for a series of mergers that wiped out a half-million telecom jobs. In advance of the strike, Verizon said it was open to the intervention of the Obama administration through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Verizon workers struck for two weeks in 2011 before the CWA ordered them back without a contract. The CWA later signed a concession-ridden deal that included major cuts to health care. World Socialist Web Site reporting teams spoke to striking workers on picket lines in several states Wednesday. They received a warm welcome from strikers who expressed a strong determination to fight after years of attacks on their living standards and working conditions. New York On the morning the strike was called, about 30 outside technicians based at a midtown Manhattan garage picketed in front of the Verizon store on busy 42nd Street. After a few hours police came to set up a fence to contain their line but the strikers were leaving anyway to join in a rally at another location. Gabe Castillo, a technician, explained that he felt job security was a key issue. They are trying to contract out our work. They want to send our jobs overseas, especially like call center customer service, which do some remote fixes that can be carried out over the phone. In a country as rich as ours, we should be able to support our families. Verizon is making billions a year. So how are they telling us there is no money? And what about the tax breaks they get? Is it fair that the executives are paid $18-20 million a year? They should cut costs there. Dino Fratto, an outside technician with 21 years service who works out of 36th Street in Manhattan told the WSWS, The strike is about being treated fairly and sharing the wealth of the company. They have had record profits of $1.8 billion per month for the last couple of months, but we arent being treated fairly. They want to be able to transfer people anywhere they want for two months anytime they want. We live in New York and work in New York. They want to be able to send us to Virginia for two months and totally disrupt our families. They want to make Sunday into a regular workday. They want to cap our pensions at 30 years. Some of us already have 30 years service, and we would be forced to retire or work with no pension increase while the company gets richer. I think the company pushed us to the point of this strike. We were thinking the company would bargain fairly, but we were insulted. This goes back to 2011 when we struck for two weeks, and then went back because the union said the company would bargain fairly. It didnt. The company is the one being greedy. Not us. John, another tech from 36th Street, explained, The strike was a long time coming. Im not sure we will get what we really want. I just hope we get something we can deal with. I know many companies are having economic problems, but Verizon is making record profits. We are not asking for too much. We want job security. We saw the 9,000 layoffs of management and wireless people in November, and they are trying to hit people who came in before 2003. I think this just reached a boiling point, and the strike had to happen. The company was disciplining workers, suspending and firing us, they have kept adding onto the amount of equipment we have to carry. Pittsburgh Several hundred workers rallied outside the Verizon building in downtown Pittsburgh early Wednesday morning. Kate McTighe is retired after working for Verizon for 43 years. She came to the rally to show her support. We have been trying to negotiate a contract since last June. The company wants us paying more for health care, they want to be able to shut call centers and move jobs anywhere. In 2012 we gave a lot of concessions, the company said they were doing bad and we agreed to help. But now the company is making billions. They are making huge profits and it is time they share it with the workers. Michael with five years said, They want to be able to close down the call centers and move them out of state. All of these people rely upon these jobs to be able to take care of themselves and their families. This is about corporate greed, they dont care about the people that keep everything working, they just want more money for themselves. Jackie Barnard, with 16 years said, We are here because [Verizon CEO] Lowell McAdams is being selfish. All we want to do is serve our customers and they are doing everything they can to stop us. Job security, pension benefits and health carethat is why we are here. The company wants to cut back and make us pay more for our health care. We want to work for our customers, help our customers and the company is doing everything they can to prevent us from doing that. We want people to have good service, copper or fiber. Jackies friend Marcia Beate, with 21 years added, Verizon wants to close down all the call centers and move them out of state. They want to take away the jobs from good working people. They also want to force people to move. They want to take a technician and say they have to go to New York for three months. Or you got to go to Virginia for two months at a moment's notice. You will be away from your family and your location without any notice. The company wants to freeze our pensions after so many years. So you dont put anything more into it. What you have got is what you get. If you work for 10 more years you dont get any more pension. Nothing is going to grow. They dont want to pay any more into it. Ken Richards with 12 years service said, We are standing up for our jobs. They are trying to outsource our jobs, the call centers and everything. They can now tell people that they can be transferred for 50 miles. They want to increase that to 100 miles and send you anywhere for two or three months. The main issue is job outsourcing. If it goes the way they want it to go, none of us will have jobs in a year. I am a technician. I can move around, but it is very hard to get a job with a good career path. Norfolk, Virginia A WSWS reporter spoke with striking workers at the Verizon maintenance center in Norfolk, Virginia. Several dozen workers and supporters attended a rally organized by CWA Local 2201. Cars, trucks, ambulances and other vehicles honked their horns in support of the striking workers. Carol, a maintenance administrator, explained that healthcare was an important aspect of the current contract dispute. Verizon wants to increase our benefits contributions and health care costs. People really cant afford health insurance. This company should be able to provide health care and a retirement to the workers. Weve already given cutbacks to the company. Theyre supposed to be adults and negotiate a fair deal with us. Jeannie, who works in the engineering department, also expressed concern about health care. We are facing higher deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses. These will hurt current workers, but they will also hurt retired workers drastically. I think retirees should be grandfathered into the old contract that they worked under. Verizon should not be able to take back what they promised them. This reporter asked Jeannie if she was familiar with the slashing of retiree benefits for autoworkers represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW). They should not be allowed to do that, legally. The money that these corporations spend on lobbying should be spent on the employees. America is starting to look like a third world country, with no middle class, just poor and rich. Who will be able to buy things that the corporations make? The CEO of Verizon makes too much money, something like 200 percent more than his best paid subordinate. In reference to CEO pay and rising social inequality, she added, The whole system is broken by corporate greed. I am not greedy. I tell Verizon leave me alone and leave me with the contract I already have. SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Google Ad Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully Google Ad The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) -- Agents have arrested a woman who they say has been stealing from the Suwannee County Sheriffs Office evidence vault for 20 years. Alzada Jenkins, 64, was the evidence custodian in the late 1980's. Jenkins is charged with stealing more than $60,000 from the evidence vault between the mid-1990s and 2011, said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. FDLE began its investigation in March at the request of Suwannee County Sheriff Tony Cameron after deputies discovered money was missing from some cases. At that time Jenkins was place on administrative suspension without pay. Jenkins is charged with grand theft, official misconduct, and tampering with evidence. She turned herself over to the Suwannee County Jail Wednesday and has since been released. Armenian must present demands to the Minsk Group (video) Stepan Grigoryan, Chairman of the Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation, is surprised why the forensic-medical examination of the bodies of Armenian soldiers handed over by the Azerbaijani side is carried out only by the experts from the Armenian side. Mr Grigoryan spoke about it today during the press conference, noting that the experts of the international organizations must also take part in it. I call on our authorities to immediately invite the experts from the relevant bodies of the co-chair countries. Those actions must be carried out together with them. Tomorrow Azerbaijan may question everything, he noted, adding that Azerbaijans violence against our soldiers and civilians must be conveyed to the international community by presenting at the UNO and other international organizations. As for the resumption of the negotiations, Mr Grigoryan says that Armenia must demand from the Minsk Group so that they ensure their offers- removal of snipers from the border and installation of monitoring equipment. Only after that Armenia must sit at the table of negotiations. Before that it is meaningless, he said. Touching upon the deployment of peacekeepers, Stepan Grigoryan noted that it arouses many questions, The deployment of peacekeepers is the last point of Madrid principles. Why do we start from the end? It arouses many questions- where they must be deployed and peacekeepers of which country they must be. If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month. V. Sislyan: There is a great gap between the authorities and people Vazgen Sislyan, Commander of Van operation, wasnt taken aback by the recent military operations in Artsakh, Azerbaijan has always tried to bring back the territories, which they consider to be theirs, he said. He says that anti-Armenian propaganda is carried out in Azerbaijan, which must be a signal for us, As long as Azerbaijan has the same logic, every Armenian must be ready. Each person, who can move his handa and feet, must know how to use arms. Vazgen Sislyan is delighted with the situation in Artsakh and Armenia during the days of war, No one spoke about politics, superfluities; everybody was ready to leave for the border. Mr Sislyan is sure that without the agreement of great powers- Russia, the USA, England, Azerbaijan wouldnt start the military operations, We must address the world to recognize the independence of Artsakh. Doesnt he think that in order to fill the gap of arms in the army, the people, who have collected wealth for 22 years, must be dispossessed, There is a great gap between the authorities and the people, one is here and the other is there, as the trenches are far away. It is dangerous, Mr Sislyan added. Statement of EU EaP CSF Armenian National Platform EU EaP CSF ARMENIAN NATIONAL PLATFORM STATEMENT On the Military Actions in Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Zone Military action initiated by Azerbaijan on the border of Nagorno-Karabakh, which started on April 2, 2016 and continued for four days, was a flagrant violation of the cease-fire agreement signed on May 12, 1994. Subversive operations, provocations and the sniper war over the line of contact were taking place during previous years, and dramatically intensified since August, 2014. However, very recent events left no doubt that official Baku deliberately neglects efforts of the international community towards peaceful resolution of the NK conflict. Recent military actions resulted in numerous human losses among military and civilians from both sides, destructions and dramatic growth of hostilities. The events also posed new challenges for security and stability in the South Caucasus region as a whole. Meanwhile, out of the sides of the conflict only Azerbaijan rejects OSCE Minsk Group recommendation to withdraw snipers from the line of contact. Azerbaijani statements, insisting that their actions were provoked by and became a response to Armenian aggression, are not more than another act of demagoguery, which can be refuted with several counterarguments. Particularly, for years along the world witnessed the intensifying bellicose rhetoric of Baku aimed at blackmailing the international mediators with the threat of resolving the conflict with the use of force in case if the offered solution will not be preferable for Azerbaijani side only. It was Azerbaijan that rejected all proposals of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group to carry out a border monitoring mission and identify the perpetrators. The proposal to investigate the events of April 2-5, 2016 was also declined by Azerbaijan. The vast majority of international independent experts unequivocally define Azerbaijan as an initiator of recent military clashes. And finally, the statement articulated by Ambassador of Azerbaijani Republic to Russia Mr. Polad Byul-Byul Ogly is a direct confirmation of Azerbaijani aggression. It is worth mentioning, that Azerbaijani aggression, actually, was a result of change in military balance in the region, highly provoked by Russia through its continuous supply of modern armament to Azerbaijan in massive scale. Battles on the frontline were accompanied by serious war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani military. Those crimes are gross violations of the Geneve Convention of 1949 and the Hague Convention of 1954. For instance, on April 2nd, 2016 a 12-year-old child was killed and two others wounded as a result of MM-21 (Grad) missile systems firing at the local school in Martuni city. On the same day, after temporary capturing of Talish village, Azerbaijani military have brutally killed senior citizens Valera and Razmella Khalapyans, and cut off their ears. They have also killed Marusya Khalapyan, the 92-year-old mother of Valera Khalapyan. Moreover, Azerbaijani military beheaded three soldiers of the NK Defense Army. Both Azerbaijani military and civilians were mocking the head of the killed soldier, ethnically Yezidi Kyaram Sloyan. They were taking pictures with it and sharing photos in the social media. The head of Kyaram Sloyan was taken from village to village and presented as a war trophy. Such manifestations of inhumane atrocities are identical to the barbaric actions taken by ISIL terrorists against Yezidi population. A bus carrying civilians was destroyed by Unmanned Arial Vehicle (UAV) aka drone, and left seven dead and a dozen wounded. On April 10, 2016 through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office, exchange of bodies of the deceased was carried out between the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan near the Bash Karvend settlement. The bodies of 18 servicemen of the NK Defense Army, fallen as a result of the large scale military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan in April 2-5, were transferred to the NK side during the exchange. At the presence of the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the NK State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons registered that all bodies of the deceased transferred by the Azerbaijani side had signs of torture and mutilation. These unconcealed manifestations of hatred and cruelty should leave no doubt that in case of Nagorno-Karabakh appearing under Azerbaijani control, the most inhumane ethnic cleansing of Armenian population will be unavoidable. Thus, it became once again evident that self-determination of the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh has no alternative. Unfortunately, Azerbaijans bellicosity and deliberate hindering of the peaceful resolution of the NK conflict does not get an adequate response, on the contrary it is triggered by some countries, including few members of the OSCE Minsk Group. Hence, Turkish leaders expressed their full solidarity and readiness to offer military support in response to the aggressive actions by Azerbaijan. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin during his visit to Baku just after four-day war added fuel to the fire by stating that Russia will continue contract-based arms supplies to Azerbaijan. Such attitude expressed by the countries of huge influence in the South Caucasus region leave no choice for Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh other than exercising all possible and available means in the areas of defense and foreign policy aimed at finding out ways of resilience to the threats which hinder mere existence of Armenia and NK. The refusal of the Eurasian Union partner countries (which are also members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization together with Armenia) to visit Yerevan on April 7th, 2016 in order to participate in pre-planned session of the EaEU Intergovernmental Council as well as their hypocritical reasoning that it could be perceived as a support to the Armenian side in the conflict with Azerbaijan, puts high in the agenda the expediency of participation of our country in such integration processes which do not correspond to Armenias vital interests. The recent events do indicate that this becomes a matter of national security. Taking into consideration points articulated above we call on the international community To compliment the Agreement on Enhancement of Ceasefire Regime, signed by defense ministers of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and entered into force in February, 1995 with additional legally binding provisions addressing changed realities. To guarantee their practical application and foresee responsibility for the party that violates the principle of non-use of force. and entered into force in February, 1995 with additional legally binding provisions addressing changed realities. To guarantee their practical application and foresee responsibility for the party that violates the principle of non-use of force. To grant a mandate to OSCE respective structures to investigate into incidents taking place in the zone of NK conflict and on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan, regardless of the consent of the sides. To start that mission with meticulous investigation of circumstances of the large scale military actions that took place on April 2-5 2016. Identify, on official level, those responsible for instigating the war and committing war crimes. The refusal of any of the parties to cooperate with the investigation should be considered as intent of aggression threatening the regional security. This should be reflected in the documents of respective international organizations. To return the status of the negotiating party to Nagorno-Karabakh. To ensure that the governments of the conflicting parties do restore the necessary conditions for the cooperation of the civil society and media in order to overcome the mutual distrust, xenophobia and propaganda of hostility. To encourage the initiatives promoting the informal direct dialogue. To initiate a broad debate- which will stipulate political and legal implications- weather Armenias membership in EaEU, participation in other formats of international cooperation do correspond to the goal of countrys security and development. To take practical measures for the efficient use of national potential for strengthening of the defense capabilities of the country. To consider corruption, vicious methods of governance, monopolization and protectionism in the economy, factitious obstacles for investment and development of small and medium-sized enterprises, restraining civic activism and inertia in diplomacy as imminent threats to countrys security. To investigate all cases of human rights violations in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in unbiased and responsible way, regardless of the parties that committed them. To contribute to the efforts to hold responsible individuals who violated the universal norms of humanitarian law. To cooperate with representatives of all parties to the conflict and relevant international organizations in all above mentioned directions. We express our full support to the Joint Appeal of the Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian Non-Governmental organizations, Mass-Media and National Minorities Representatives to the European Parliament signed by more than 500 organizations We stood above Wadi Gilo, the bottom of which was too deep for us to see, and we futilely tried to enjoy the view. Not much is left of the original natural landscape. The tunnel highway crosses the valley south of the bridge, with Beit Jala perched above it. Opposite Beit Jala is Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Yaron Rosenthal, principal of the Kfar Etzion Field School, lamented the destroyed terraces and the smashed rocks on Mount Gilo. Aviv Tatarsky, a left-wing activist and researcher at Ir Amim, opposed the Israeli appropriation of the ridge: "We know the place's original name was Walaja Ridge." Three heavy drills bore into the slope. A jeep with security guards stopped next to us to find out what we were doing at the separation barrier construction site. A settler and two left-wing activists meet on a rocky hilltop in front of a settlement and Palestinian village. It sounds like the beginning of a confrontation, but this time it was a rare case of agreement between settlers, left-wing activists and Palestinians. Everyone here was against the barrier. Its construction was recently resumed on the prime minister's order to immediately complete the fence around Jerusalem following a wave of attacks in recent months. Aviv Tatarsky and Dolev Sheleff tried unsuccessfully to help the Walaja residents in their struggle against the separation fence that is supposed to surround their village. Rosenthal, a settler, also opposed the fence, since it harms the environment and the rights of the Palestinian residents. Later he was joined by another opponent, Oded Revivi, who is the head of the Efrat Municipal Council. (L-R:) Dolev Sheleff, Aviv Tatarsky, Yaron Rosenthal and Oded Revivi, (Photo: Amit Shabi) From the hill, we continued to Yasser Khalifa's, a Walaja resident, who was waiting for us on an ancient terrace above the Refaim River, on land that his family worked for generations. All of us wanted to go to his, but he asked us not to bring the settlers. "It's not a good time," he said. "The atmosphere is bad right now. The last thing that I need is to be photographed with settlers, even if there is a subject that we agreed on." Kids hugging trees We spent an entire day walking the fence's route in the Gush Etzion region, located in the south of the Jerusalem area. As in many stories in the territories, the security concern is mixed here with political concerns, and Palestinian interests are not even considered. Rosenthal, 39, of Kfar Etzion, said that the settlement's opposition to the separation fence's route began more than a decade ago. "The route that was initially proposed was to include the region's western settlements (Kfar Etzion, Alon Shvut, Bat Ayin, Beitar Illit and Givot) inside the fence, but we decided to do without it, because it would deal a fatal blow to the environment and landscape that we so love. As early as the 80s, they understood the landscape qualities of this region; that's why the tunnel road was built. They could have bypassed Gilo, destroying the valley and the scenery, but they chose an expensive and complicated solution to avoid harming nature. "Another reason for our opposition is that we have no interest in harming the quality of life of our Arab neighbors. The foundation for a good life here is that it should be good for both sides, not just for one. If it's good for us, then it should be good for them. It's our duty as human beings and our concern as those who live here." Palestinians and settlers filed petitions to the High Court of Justice against the barrier's planned route in Gush Etzion, each for their own reasons. An appeal to the High Court by the Kfar Etzion Field School was submitted in December 2005, claiming that the barrier would pass through a unique pine grove in the Abu Suda forest. "The construction was supposed to cut through the whole forest," Rosenthal said. "We held a demonstration and brought children who hugged the trees. The High Court of Justice accepted the petition and ordered the construction to stop there. In other locations in the region, the High Court ordered the construction to stop and asked the defense establishment to plan a new route. We understood that we had succeeded in the struggle, and, for several years, it was quiet." In 2008, the new route's plan was completed. It was a snaking, twisted and tangled route, which goes down from Checkpoint 300 on the outskirts of Bethlehem heading southwest and cuts off many Palestinian villages from their land. Residents of the affected villages petitioned the High Court of Justice, and construction was delayed again. In 2012, the court completed its deliberations. Most Palestinian demands to change the route were not accepted. Yassar Khalifa at his fields (Photo: Amit Shabi) Rosenthal said that he completely understood his Palestinian neighbors' resistance: "In the village of Batir, for example, the fence cuts off farmers from their land." Plans are underway to construct gates to enable the holders of special agricultural permits to pass. "Gates are a fiction. The nature of agricultural work is not based on regular working hours. Anyway, not everyone receives permits and there's always a mess and delays. In short, to tell you the truth: it doesn't work." Not only petitions delayed the start of the construction. Opposition to the construction of a fence that would cut off Gush Etzion from Jerusalem, or turn parts of it into areas imprisoned in a tangle of fences, is shared by all right-wing parties, including parts of Likud. Even when the route was approved by the court, everyone was fine not building the barrier and rationalizing it with budget issues. This continued until public pressure and a feeling of insecurity in the streets following a wave of terror attacks took their toll. About two weeks ago, following Netanyahu's announcement, Rosenthal organized a special discussion at the field school on the resumption of the barrier's construction. He also invited Aviv Tatarsky from Ir Amim to present the Palestinians' position. "I invited him because a rare coalition was developing here between groups that don't agree on almost anything on a daily basis. But we all agree on the fence." And yet, you're trying to cooperate with someone who essentially opposes your residing in the territories. "The Middle East is in such crazy chaos around us, it seems to me that talking with an Israeli who doesn't agree with me it is the least bad thing I could do. I have no desire to discount people just because of their opinions. If Aviv is worried about the human rights of the Palestinians, I'm with him. On the subject of human rights, I am totally with him." We then went to Walaja and met with Tatarsky and Sheleff at the entrance to the village, which lies opposite the entrance to the settlement of Har Gilo. Rosenthal discovered that Tatarsky's brother was the commander of his paratrooper reconnaissance squad. Sheleff's brother, it turned out, was the squad commander of Tatarsky's brother. Tatarsky said he likes Rosenthal, "even though we don't agree ideologically." Rosenthal laughed and replied, "Hold on, Aviv, we don't agree yet, but in the end, we'll reach an agreement. More and more left-wing people realize that there is no chance left for two states. At the end we'll meet in the middle." We observed the large, white wave intruding on nature, which was prepared as the land on which the fence will be built. "Regardless of who owns this land, Arabs or Jews," said Rosenthal, "there is terrible damage here." "Although the legal battle has ended," Tatarsky said, "each of us can act in our own manner to explain why this fence is bad. It seems that it's too late to stop it." A discussion began while we stood at the Palestinian village's entrance. Rosenthal: "In principle, the Right needs to understand that, if they want to govern this place, they need to accept the fact that the Palestinians also live here. The Right needs to separate national rights from human rights. Residents who live here should get as many human rights as possible. " Tatarsky: "The distinction between national rights and human rights doesn't hold water. It's impossible to separate them. Israel doesn't allow the residents of Walaja to build as part of the political question of who owns this place. So, as part of the national issue, the people's basic right to shelter here is also affected. Palestinians build, and Israel destroys their buildings." Rosenthal: "I want to change this reality." Tatarsky: "Yaron's position is logical and moral, but the debate is between us, over the heads of the Palestinians, and that's very problematic." The route where the fence is to be erected (Photo: Amit Shabi) It all began with meditation We left Rosenthal and went to Yasser Khalifa, 46, a Prisoner Affairs Ministry clerk in Bethlehem and a farmer. Tatarsky and Sheleff met him through at a "social engagement dharma," a group of meditation practitioners that integrates spiritual practice with social action. "The connection with Walaja," Sheleff said, "is due to its proximity to Jerusalem. We are a Jerusalemite group, and there have always been good relationships between the peoples of Jerusalem and Walaja. Those ties faded away because of the intifadas, but we reconnected to them because of their fight against the fence. As the legal proceedings dragged on and construction was stopped, all the peace activists from Ta'ayush and Combatants for Peace left. Only we were left with the residents here." The Khalifa family has 40 dunams of agricultural land on which they grow olives, almonds, apricots, tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini. "I earn NIS 2,000 a month from my work for the (Palestinian) Authority," said Khalifa, "and from the land, we got a good profit last summer of NIS 12,000. We ate from thatme and the children and my mother, the whole familyand we also distributed the produce, and we were happy. For us, it's very significant, this land. This is an important way for me to make a living. The fence they've begun to build now will disconnect me from the land that I farm. "I've seen what happens elsewhere in the West Bank when they put in a fence. It's opened at difficult times, and it's opened very little. The seeds are like babies; you can't leave them alone. I show up early in the morning, 4:30, I work until eight, I go to work in an office in Bethlehem, and I come back to my land in the afternoon to water it. If there's a fence, what would we do? How would we take care of the soil that stays on your side? It only causes anger and suffering for people. "Here, they began working on the fence, and then they stopped because there were court orders; the hearings ended, but they didn't return to work because they said there was no money. What happened nowsuddenly they have money? Did terror attacks ever come from here? No terror attacks originated here." This barrier's planned route passes just below the village's houses and disconnects it from the land. "The petition that the residents filed didn't ask for the fence not to be built, just not to build it adjacent to homes," Tatarsky said. "They should build it down on the highway, which is already on land that was confiscated from them. Nothing helped." We asked Khalifa why he would not agree to Rosenthal's coming to meet him, since they both agreed about the barrier. "You tell me: Is he ready to live in a Palestinian state, or would he like to be a Jew living on Palestinian land? Because the situation is worse now, I would prefer not to see him. He is on the stronger side. "Maybe I'm wrong, and he has a good heart, but, in the end, he lives in a settlement with a gun. I have no problem with Jews coming to visit me and hiking there, but that land will be mine. This is our country here, and there," he pointed to the opposite mountain, "is your country. Want a fence? No problem, that's your prerogative; just build it on your land, not on mine." Later, Efrat Municipal Council's head, Oded Revivi, told us that the fence will only cause damage. "We have a great relationship with the villages of Wadi Rahal, Wadi Nis, and Abdullah Ibrahim. They're considered residents of the Palestinian Authority, but we give them water from our water tower. They come to us for urgent care; if they can't reach us, we come to them with doctors. The medical treatment is free. This is how you build coexistence. "Efrat is not surrounded by a fence, because its founders didn't want one. There is no barrier that prevents the neighboring villagers from coming to us, and we're good neighbors. When they wanted to erect the separation barrier a decade ago, this was the first place that Jews and Arabs united against its construction. The resistance was conceptual; we didn't want a fence to separate us." He pointed to an agricultural area in front of his council office window. "This is the land of a Palestinian who tills it daily, routinely." Meanwhile, construction on the separation barrier has not yet begun in Efrat's area, but who knows? Maybe it will start soon. Revivi, who was one of the candidates for attorney general instead of the appointed Avihay Mandelblitt, argued that the step is unnecessary: "As soon as there's a bit of pressure, suddenly decisions are made without evaluating if they're worthwhile. They didn't refrain from building the fence in Gush Etzion for nothing, although the route's plan has been around for years. After all, it hasn't been proven that the fence is effective against terror attacks. They are continuing its construction now to create a sense of security, rather than providing a real security response." So resuming construction on the fence is only for public appearancethey'll build just a small section and stop? "It's very possible; I wouldn't rule it out. If a fence is built here, it would cut Efrat off from the three neighboring Palestinian villages. It would spoil the relationships. We wouldn't be able to continue supplying them with water and providing medical care. "On Friday, for example, a race will be held in Efrat. The starting line is on Givat Haitim, and the route goes through Wadi Nis and Abdullah Ibrahim. It's part of our relationship with the neighbors. A fence would just ruin it." Before we left, we asked them what else could be done if the whole affair has already been authorized by the High Court of Justice. "It's true that, legally, the story is done," Rosenthal answered, "but, in the end, this is a political decision. If the defense minister would understand that there's no benefit to the fence, he could order the construction's cessation. We'll turn the road that they've paved for the fence into a scenic route for Arabs and Jews." Health Minister Yaakov Litzman called on Israelis not to eat at McDonald's during a conference on Tuesday in Tel Aviv, where he promoted the Health Ministry's healthy eating campaign. "We need to educate our children not to eat junk food," he said. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "I know that they will criticize me behind my back," he said. "We must not consume so much candy. That's true for diabetes and true for heart health. We are going to focus on prevention (of illness) this year." He emphasized that some groups may be angered by his statements, saying, "I know that there are people and large companies who do not like (these statements). I have a secret for all of you. I have no primaries. I chose the Health Ministry because I think it is the place where it is possible to save people." Minister Litzman at the Tel Aviv conference. (Photo: Chen Damari) McDonald's responded to Litzman's statements, saying, "It is troubling for us that Health Minister Litzman and other ministerial leaders are seeking headlines and have not internalized the health revolution that McDonalds Israel has underwent, which won the acclaim of nutritionists and health professionals. McDonalds Israel is the healthiest chain of fast food restaurants in Israel." The fast food giant's spokespeople questioned the Health Minister's motives for singling it out, speculating that the ultra-Orthodox leader of the United Torah Judaism party may have his eye on McDonald's due to the fact that some of the chain's stores are open on the Sabbath and serve non-kosher food. Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad, the director of policy and political-military affairs at the Defense Ministry, warned on Wednesday that Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas's military wing, "doesn't care about the political bureau's policies, and does whatever he wants." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Deif, who commands the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has survived several Israeli assassination attempts, the latest of which was during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014. However, Gilad said that Israel's deterrence works on both the military and political wings of Hamas. "Our deterrence is still very effective and Hamas won't attack us as it is worried about its own skin," he said. Fighters from Hamas's Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (Photo: AFP) Hamas, he said, has been unsuccessful in its efforts to further escalate the violence between Israel and the Palestinians. "We have the upper hand in this secret war thanks to our security services, but this won't stop them from trying, and they won't stop until they're successful," Gilad noted. The real risk that Hamas poses, he said, "is their central ideology according to which there is no place for agreements with Israel. Contrary to delusions by some, Hamas had never changed its policies and remains true to its path. They're also patient, and they're willing to wait. Hamas won't adopt any principle that recognizes true coexistence." Gilad also warned that the electricity Israel provides the Gaza Strip "is being used for the production of rockets that are later aimed at Israel. This is absurd. No other country would allow this, but we do." Destruction in Gaza following Operation Protective Edge (Photo: AFP) Despite this, he said, Israel will continue aiding the Palestinians. "I'm hoping to have a water desalination project, and over 3 million construction aggregate were allowed into the Strip to rebuild houses," Gilad noted. "The situation in Gaza is hard, but Israel will aid with a series of economic measures that share a common policy - not to allow Gaza to collapse. I hope Hamas will not be there for long, so the Palestinians could have some sort of a future. Under Hamas's rule, they won't." The soldier who shot and killed a neutralized terrorist in Hebron three weeks ago will be charged with manslaughter, as per an official prosecutors statement issued to the military court in Jaffa on Thursday. A group of ten people, equipped with a sound system, demonstrated outside the courtroom in support of soldier. Whoever kills terrorists is an Israeli hero, they shouted. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Hebron soldier. (Photo: Yuval Hen) The soldiers attorney, Eyal Baserglick, said during the court session that there was no cause for keeping the soldier under detention. The court ruled unambiguously that the investigative evidence shows another investigative way of examining the defendants actions, and the defenses video shows this with a string of many testimonies. The court is rules that, at the very least, there is an honest mistake here, he said, continuing, The prosecutions evidence pieces are collapsing one after the other like a house of cards. He claimed that the trial can go on with the soldier not detained. The prosecutor, Lt. Col. Adoram Rigler, said the soldier should be kept in detention due to new evidence strengthens the prosecutions case. According to Rigler, the forensic pathologists report states that the terrorists death was caused by the soldiers headshot, and that none of the other shots could have caused his death. The court decided to extend the soldier's remand by another five days. Military prosecutors were initially investigated the Hebron incident as a murder, but have now apparently decided to downgrade the charge. The soldier is currently out of military jail, but being kept in open detention at an IDF base in central Israel. Yisrael Beytenu leader MK Avigdor Lieberman claimed Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding secret negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Lieberman, who is not currently a member of the government, told Ynet that Netanyahu has been concealing these negotiations from the security cabinet. "There are several strange signs, which I interpret as an attempt by the prime minister to hide the negotiations with Abbas from the cabinet, Lieberman said in an interview at Ynet's studio. We suddenly saw two weeks ago that the prime minister is willing to clear his entire schedule for a meeting with Abbas. We see that, in magical fashion, the dispute between the Israel Electric Corporation and the Palestinian Authority over debts has been resolved, and all of the power outages have suddenly stopped. Netanyahu and Abbas in 2010. (Photo: Getty Images) Lieberman claims that the Palestinians main demand in these alleged secret negotiations is the halting of all IDF activity in Area A that, according to the Oslo Accords, is supposed to be under full Palestinian civil and military control. There are negotiations over the whether the actual meeting will take place. I estimate that Netanyahu and Abbas have been exchanging papers, which on one hand contain Palestinian demands, and on the other contain all sorts of Israeli promises, he alleged. Lieberman also asserted there is a connection between the supposed negotiations and rumors about a possible alliance between the Zionist Union and the Likud parties, which would significantly expand the coalition government. Neyanyahu was counting on (Zionist Union leader Isaac) Herzog bringing it with him as a dowry, and into the coalition, he said, The coalition expansion project has ended for now, and so its unclear how Netanyahu will maneuver in the coming days," the Yisrael Beytenu leader said. Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman. The former foreign minister said that more information may come to light after Abbass visit to New York. Then we will be able to know if they reached any sort of understanding, or if Netanyahu, due to an inability to expand the coalition, has dropped all of the promises and diplomatic negotiations, he said. Lieberman also attacked the prime minister, saying, Its not good for Israels message. On one hand, Netnayahu blames Abbas for being the chief inciter, and on the other hes willing to clear his schedule to meet with him. This is a confusing and contradictory message and you cant convince anyone with it, not the international community and not the citizens of Israel. Besides, were talking, as always, about Israeli concessions first. We havent seen demands that Abbas, for instance, condemns terror attacks against Israeli civilians. Abbas has backed all terror attacks up to now so its hard for me to see something positive for us about those negotiations - that are probably taking place at the moment. Following IDF officials expression of concerns about an escalation in violence leading up to Passover, Lieberman called for public officials to avoid provocations. I certainly hope that all political actors behave responsibly. We have no interest in an escalation, we have no interest in provocation, its unnecessary, and we all hope that the holidays pass quietly and the peple of Israel will be able to celebrate safely, he said. BEIJING - China on Thursday urged UN Security Council members to back a draft resolution demanding states report when militants are developing chemical weapons in Syria. Some diplomats have dismissed the proposed resolution as a bid to distract from accusations the Syrian government uses such weapons. Russia and China circulated a draft resolution to the 15-member body on Wednesday, which Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said could serve as a deterrent to "terrorist" groups such as Islamic State from using chemical weapons. Islamic State militants are believed to be responsible for sulfur mustard gas attacks in Syria and Iraq last year, the United States has said. Russia has also said it sees a high probability that Islamic State is using chemical weapons. Two attempted terrorist attacks were thwarted in the Gush Etzion region and in Jerusalem on Thursday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The first occurred when an ax-wielding terrorist suddenly emerged from behind a bush near an IDF security pillbox opposite the Al-Arroub refugee camp in Gush Etzion and charged at a nearby group of IDF soldiers from the Kfir Brigade. The ax carried by the attacker near Al-Arroub. The soldiers, none of whom were wounded, immediately responded with fire and killed the attacker, who has been identified as Ibrahim Baradiya, a Hamas operative who was released from an Israeli prison. In a separate incident in Jerusalem near the Chain Gate adjacent to the Temple Mount, two 12-year-old Palestinians aroused the suspicion of the police and Border Police and were stopped and searched. During the search the police discovered three knives inside the jacket of one of the suspects and a farewell letter to his parents. Knives carried by two minors in Jerusalem Both suspects were apprehended and brought in for questioning during which they confessed their intention to carry out an attack. One of the would-be attackers was from Qalandiya, located between Jerusalem and Ramallah, while the other was from Kafr Aqab in the municipality of Jerusalem beyond the separation fence. The police later released a statement on the incidents emphasizing the alertness of the security forces. We are continuing our military assessments in the field. The police stationed in the field are trained to be increasingly alert and their military and professional training brings about increased security for the residents and tourists in the capital, the statement read. The latest attempted ax attack on the Judea and Samaria Division took place in Hebron three weeks ago, a day after an IDF soldier shot and killed an attacker who had been disarmed and neutralized. Since the State of Israel's establishment in 1948, some NIS 400 million earmarked for Holocuast survivors never made it to the survivors, Welfare Minister Haim Katz said at a press conference on Thursday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter According to the Welfare Ministry, there are 20,000 Holocaust survivors in Israel who haven't exercised their full rights, losing out on over NIS 100 million in benefits. The Welfare Ministry received some of the data from the Authority for Holocaust Survivors' Rights after a long legal battle against the Finance Ministry. In an interview with Ynet in January, Katz claimed that the Finance Ministry is jealously guarding the information it has about Holocaust survivors and would not disclose it to anyone else. Meaning, the welfare minister knows there are roughly 190,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel, but he can't evaluate their economic situation. Welfare Minister Haim Katz, center (Photo: Motti Kimchi) "This lack of information is one of the factors leading to this tragedy. It's likely that at least 50 percent of survivors are under the poverty line," the minister said. The Welfare Ministry recently obtained the data and set out to formulate a new plan that, among other things, will help survivors exercise their full rights. According to the data, there are currently 194,468 Holocaust survivors, with 65,134 of them receiving long term care benefits from the National Insurance Institute. According to the Welfare Ministry's plan, 4,193 of the survivors who are 90 or over and have yet to receive any long term care benefits will automatically be eligible for these benefits; 3,281 survivors, who so far haven't received additional care hours from the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel - even though they are eligible for it - will receive an additional nine hours of care. In addition, 5,963 Holocaust survivors who so far received medium level nursing care will automatically be switched high level nursing assistance, which comes to an additional NIS 438 a month in benefits. Furthermore, 14,063 survivors, who so far haven't received benefits from the Israel Electric Corporation, will receive a benefit of NIS 112 a month. "I'm the son of Auschwitz survivors. In 1953, my father founded the Organization for the Victims of Nazi Persecution, and worked to help the survivors to exercise their rights. He did this without remuneration till his final day," Katz said. "Immediately after I entered the Welfare Ministry, I sought information about the situation of Holocaust survivors in Israel. I was amazed to learn that the Welfare Ministry did not even have an ounce of information on the topic. Unfortunately, the Authority for Holocaust Survivors' Rights refused to share the information with the Welfare Ministry and the National Insurance Institute, making the ridiculous claim that it is because of the right to privacy," he said, noting it took him eight months to receive acess to the information - even though he is the welfare minister. Katz harshly attacked the Authority for Holocaust Survivors' Rights, and called for its closure. "I expect an investigation that will lead to the closure of the Authority for Holocaust Survivors' Rights, following which the issue will be handled by the National Insurance Institute and the Welfare Ministry," Katz said. The Authority for Holocaust Survivors' Rights, which is part of the Finance Ministry, said in response, "The Authority for Holocaust Survivors' Rights provides data to any public body that seeks to aid survivors. Any claim to the contrary is simply not true. The authority provides information to different organizations, including the National Insurance Institute, the HMOs and others, on a regular basis." MINNEAPOLIS - One of five men due for trial next month for conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group has pleaded guilty. Adnan Abdihamid Farah pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Minneapolis to providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Three other counts were dropped. Farah faces up to 15 years in prison but avoided a possible life sentence. The 20-year-old Farah allegedly communicated with an Islamic State member in Syria. Limitation on number of journalists and observers at polling stations removed Davit Harutyunyan, Minister - Chief of RA Government Staff today presented the results and the stance of the authorities in the 4+4+4 meeting held with the opposition and the civil society. Vice President of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) Levon Zurabyan and Chairman of Europe in Law Association NGO Tigran Yegoryan are also taking part in the meeting. Davit Harutyunyan presented the model, which the authorities want to present to the National Assembly and also alternative versions, as well as those offers by the opposition, which have been accepted or not during the 4+4+4 meetings. He notes that the authorities refused colorful ballots, Let me start from the end, there will be an envelope with a cut corner, self-adhesive stamps- specific for each polling station. It will be stuck on a ballot, which can be seen from the cut corner of the envelope. Which is its appeal? Member of the committee, who is responsible for the ballot box, must return stamps and the coupons of the ballot paper in a relevant number at the end of the day. Davit Harutyunyan announced that they had partially accepted the oppositions offer to have two lists of those, who are in Armenia or absent, Representative of each party can form such lists for himself and there may be also an electronic version, and during the voting the device can give an additional signal if that person is allegedly absent from the republic. He noted that the authorities didnt accept the electoral ink, But we have a counter-offer; each voter will leave its fingerprint in the device, and on the next day those fingerprints will be collected and it must be implemented in the presence of representatives from all the parties. They will be combined and will be put into the central server and we will be able to know whether there are voters, whose fingerprints are repeated. As for the soldiery, I can say, that its true, their list is secret, but in order to dispel the doubts about the electoral fraud, the soldiery will also leave their fingerprints and at the end it will be clear whether there are coincidences or not. Davit Harutyunyan said that they didnt accept the publication of signed voter lists unequivocally. As for the participation of observer organizations, he thinks, that they must have at least five years experience in a relevant activity, As for the limitation on the number of media representatives at polling stations, I can say, that the limitation of eight has been removed, but if there is such a large crowd at a polling station, which can hinder the normal course of elections, the chairman of the commission can limit the number of media representatives by 2/3, though, the minimum number of media representatives at a polling station must be 15. To add, the number of trustees has been increased- each party can have two trustees hereafter. This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company. As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism. We hope you are equally as excited as us. This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers. Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited. In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy. Happy shootin' my friends! Buying Guides: Firearms Firearm Accessories Ammunition Gun Safes Scopes & Optics Hunting Air Rifles Best AR-15 Best AR 15 Scope Best Hunting Rifle Best Gun Safe Best AK 47 Best AR 10 Best Glock Triggers Best Glock Best Home Defense Shotgun Opposition makes a compromise During the meeting with the participation of the representatives from the National Platform of Democracy and the authorities today the Vice President of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) Levon Zurabyan noted that they had been in the Nagorno Karabakh for two days together with the RA NA and had had meeting with the NKR National Assembly as well as president Bako Sahakyan, had been in the army posts. As for 4+4+4 format meetings, Levon Zurabyan noted that those meetings were very transparent. In terms of talks with the authorities we have a concern; the authorities presented a counter-offer; electronic registration, which allegedly must solve all the issues, which we have put forward with our five proposals. We consider it to be a disguised method to refuse our proposals. In general, we have a distrust of any electronic device. The programmers warn us that no system can be formed reliably in a year. In addition, if the authorities have years experience in vote rigging, the electronic system will multiply it and will carry out it more delicately and few people will be included making the possibility to check more difficult. Levon Zurabyan announced that now they are making a compromise, Let it be an electronic version, but there also must be documentation, which will be an additional guarantee. Serzh Sargsyan received newly appointed Head of OSCE Office in Yerevan Serzh Sargsyan received today the newly appointed Head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office in Yerevan Ambassador Argo Avakov. President congratulated Argo Avakov on assuming this position and expressed confidence that his years-long experience will help in fulfilling efficiently his mission in our country. Serzh Sargsyan noted that continued cooperation between the Armenian authorities and OSCE Office have formed the atmosphere of mutual trust and expressed hope that the newly appointed Head of the Office will promote further expansion and strengthening of the relations in the framework of the OSCE. The newly appointed Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan assured that during his tenure he would do his best to further develop and deepen the already existing high level cooperation. According to Argo Avakov, the OSCE Office in Yerevan will continue to work with the Armenian authorities, public and political organizations for the benefit of the reforms carried out in Armenia. The parties exchanged views on the process going on in the framework of the constitutional changes in Armenia. They spoke in particular about the works related to the adoption of the Electoral Code and cooperation in the process with the OSCE Office in Yerevan. At the meeting discussed were also programs carried out by the OSCE in three different dimensions. JLLs report found that suburbs within 10 kilometres of the Sydney CBD, including Rosebery, Potts Point and the CBD itself, suffered significant price falls in the second half of 2015. Such a fall in prices can be regarded as proof of an excess of apartment supply in relation to demand. Prices for new and re-sold apartments in Rosebery in particular fell by up to 19%, with the CBD falling by 12% and Potts Point by 9%. Sydneys inner south is particularly vulnerable to oversupply in the wake of the $13 billion Green Square town centre, where 45,800 new units could be built by 2020, potentially leading to further oversupply. In addition, a slowing down in the sale of off-the-plan apartments is another sign of oversupply, with merely 50% of off-the-plan projects marketed in 2015 sold within a month significantly down on the 87.7% of 2014. However, Jeremy Fisher of Sydney-based 1st Street Home Loans is not fazed by the gloomy outlook, so long as brokers remain cautious. Any negative media is bound to scare Sydney buyers, especially if they are considering off-the-plan purchases. We have always taken a cautious approach with any clients purchasing off-the-plan, to ensure they were aware of the potential risks of such a purchase, which is predominantly a shortfall in the valuation or potential lender policy changes at the time of formal approval," Fisher told Your Investment Property Magazine's sister publication Australian Broker. As an additional safeguard, we ensure our clients are financially capable of covering any shortfall up to 20% of the purchase price, which up till now has not been required. I am not expecting a significant downturn in enquiry for off-the-plan purchases. The only change could be the value of the property. Alarm bells similarly went off in Melbourne in March when sales data showed that some apartments in the CBD are being sold off at up to 30% less than their off-the-plan purchase price. As a homeowner, you probably already know that you should be working to maintain your home. But, chances are, you Read More There are hostilities, here- ceasefire (video) Beginning from 1994 to 1998, Karabakh was a full party of the conflict settlement talks. The Vice President of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) Levon Zurabyan replies to the statement of the former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, that the NKR was left out of the negotiation process in 1997, when Levon Ter-Petrosyan was still the president of the RA, Ask Mr Oskanian, whether in 1998 the proposal of the united state was sent to three negotiating parties or not. The only answer to all these questions is yes. Promising to open the brackets more in the future, Mr Zurabyan simply highlighted that as a result of Key West process in 2001, when Robert Kocharyan was the president of the RA and Vartan Oskanian was the Foreign Minister, the official proposals were sent only to Yerevan and Baku, Just due to the Key West talks Karabakh was left out of the process. It is the process, which buried the participation of the NKR in the negotiation process. Touching upon the meeting of Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Serzh Sargsyan, Levon Zurabyan noted that it isnt support to Serzh Sargsyan but to the national unity, Our speeches were printed and sent to soldiers, as it was taken into account, that it has great positive impact on the soldiers. He reminds, Levon Ter-Petrosyan knows very well how to act during hostilities, There are hostilities, here is ceasefire, there is a peaceful situation, the ceasefire ends here. In reply to the question why Robert Kocharyan had a negative attitude toward the meeting, Levon Zurabyan has one answer, Maybe he hasnt read history. He doesnt know how powers of state thinking behave in such situations. The Global and United States Hydrobike Market Report has been published by QY Research recently. Hydrobike Market Analysis and Insights This report focuses on... Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. New Delhi: To prevent private schools from arbitrarily deciding fee structure, the Delhi government today set up a complaint centre to address parents' grievances. The Arvind Kejriwal government has already announced that private schools which are housed on its land cannot increase their fees without seeking prior approval from it. "The government has set up 'Private School Complaint Centre' where parents can complain against arbitrariness by private schools. The centre has been set up at office of New Delhi district (education) in Jhandewalan," said a senior government official. The official further said that apart from this, the Education Department, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, has also issued an email id - doe.Pvt@gmail.Com - through which parents can also register their complaints pertaining to fee hike and others. Yesterday, a delegation of parents met Chief Minister Kejriwal and Sisodia and complained about a private school over increase in its fees. "The government is serious about preventing arbitrariness by private schools and is ready to take strict steps," Sisodia had said. Earlier this week, the government had issued show-cause notices to two branches of Maxfort School (Pitampura and Rohini) asking why it should not take over their management after finding these to be "guilty of financial irregularities and other malpractices". New Delhi: Three days after he suffered a mysterious death in a Pakistani jail, Indian prisoner Kirpal Singh's anguished sister met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking his help to get his body back at the earliest. A day after she made a similar plea to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Jagir Kaur called on Kejriwal at his residence and urged the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief's help in seeking a probe into the death of her brother who was in the Kot Lakhpat Jail of Lahore for the last nearly 25 years. She said she suspected foul play and cast doubts over Pakistani claims that her brother died of cardiac arrest, a Delhi government official said. The official said Kejriwal expressed sympathies with Jagir Kaur's family and assured "all possible support in securing justice" and an early repatriation of his body. Jagir Kaur was accompanied by Dalbir Kaur, the elder sister of another Indian, Sarabjit Singh, who also died in the same Pakistani jail in 2013, allegedly after being beaten up by some Pakistani prisoners. Kirpal Singh, 54, a resident of Gurdaspur in Punjab, was reported to have died on Monday. His body was shifted to the Jinnah Hospital a day later for autopsy. But it was still lying in the morgue on Thursday. The delay in the post-mortem examination has raised doubts in India whether the prisoner indeed died of heart failure. Kirpal Singh was arrested in 1992. Pakistan claimed he was caught spying for India, an allegation New Delhi denies. India has been insisting that Kirpal Singh had strayed across the border between the two countries. India has already sought more details on how the prisoner died suddenly. "Our acting high commissioner met the director-general (South Asia) in (Pakistan's) ministry of foreign affairs and asked for the earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains (of Kirpal Singh)," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Wednesday. "We await further details." On Wednesday evening, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met Kirpal Singh's family and informed them that the government was making efforts to get his mortal remains back as early as possible. "Comforting a family in grief," Swarup tweeted, regarding the minister's meeting with Kirpal Singh's kin. Kirpal Singh's family earlier staged a protest demonstration at the Attari-Wagah border, raising anti-Pakistan slogans and demanding his body be returned for his last rites and cremation in his homeland. New Delhi: Sister of Kirpal Singh, who died recently in a Pakistani jail under mysterious circumstances, on Thursday met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and sought his support in bringing back her brother's body from the neighbouring country. "We want Kirpal's body to be brought back here from Pakistan...His body should be brought back for final rites so that we can get a sense of relief. "In the meeting, the Chief Minister said he will help in bringing back the body here from Pakistan. He (Kejriwal) said that he would help us in whatever way he can," Jagir Kaur said after meeting Kejriwal at his residence here. Delhi government sources said she sought a probe into her brother's death. 50-year-old Kirpal was languishing in a Lahore jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges. Jagir was accompanied by Dalbir Kaur, sister of another Indian, Sarabjit Singh who had also died in the Pakistani jail in May 2013. Dalbir said during the meeting, Kejriwal expressed his condolence and said he might attend a prayer meeting to be held for Kirpal. Dalbir said she also urged Kejriwal to make movie 'Sarbjit', based on life of her brother, tax-free in the national capital. "In meeting with the Chief Minister, I sought help to put pressure on Pakistan to free Indian prisoners who are lodged in jail there. Kejriwal knew that Kirpal's family members are in Delhi and in view of this, he called them," she said. Pakistan has said Kirpal had died of a heart attack at a jail in Lahore on April 11. Kirpal had allegedly crossed over to Pakistan through Wagah border in 1992 and was arrested. He was sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province. Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of charges related to bomb blasts by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons. Vadodara: The bodies of two Indian fishermen hailing from Gujarat who died in a Pakistani jail arrived in Mumbai on Thursday and will be handed over to their families tomorrow. The mortal remains of Vaaga Bijal Chauhan and Ratandas Makwana were brought to Mumbai by a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight, officials said. A team of four officials of Fisheries Department of the Gujarat Government was sent to Mumbai yesterday to take possession of the bodies. The arrangement was made after the Gujarat Government received a message from Indian High Commissioner's office in Islamabad on Tuesday, said Mohammed A Narmavala, Commissioner (Fisheries). "The coffins carrying the bodies were brought in a PIA flight which arrived at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai at around 11:30 this morning," G K Rathod, a member of the Government-deputed team, told PTI by phone. "We spent about three hours at the airport completing the required formalities and left Mumbai at 14:30 pm," he said, adding two ambulances carrying the coffins are on their way to Gujarat. Chauhan was a resident of Dandi village, while Makwana hailed from Nanavada village, both in Gir Somnath district. The bodies will be handed over to the families of Chauhan and Makwana tomorrow for performing the last rites, Rathod said. Chauhan died in a Karachi jail on December 22, 2015, while Makwana passed away on February 8, 2016. Both were held in April last year when their boats allegedly entered territorial waters of Pakistan while fishing in Sir Creek area in the Arabian Sea. The exact cause of their death is not known, but their families suspect they died due to ill-treatment in jail. Islamabad: Pakistan is banking on good friend China to block India's chances of making it to the coveted Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a former Pakistani diplomat has said, adding that "chances of India gaining entry into NSG are virtually nil". Zamir Akram, Pakistan's former permanent representative at the United Nations in Geneva and envoy at the Conference on Disarmament, said on Wednesday that China would not allow India to enter the NSG because this would affect its nuclear cooperation with Pakistan, according to Dawn online. Akram said China is committed to ensuring that both India and Pakistan gain membership to the 48-nation NSG at the same time. Besides China, there are some countries that are upset by the "double standards" being shown in India's case, and are calling for an approach based on criteria, he added. Akram was speaking at a conference on the International Nuclear Order, organised by the Strategic Vision Institute (SVI) and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. According to Dawn, this is the second time in a month that a senior official involved in Pakistan's nuclear affairs has dismissed India's chances. At a conference late last month, adviser to the National Command Authority Lt. Gen. (retd) Khalid Kidwai had said: "We also have friends in NSG who would not let it happen." Discussing the global nuclear order, Akram said it had been destabilised by a number of factors, including the world powers' double standards and discriminatory exemptions granted to India. Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Ehsanul Haq, criticised the world nuclear order for being "highly discriminatory and obstructive". He said Pakistan's nuclear programme would continue, "no matter how adverse the environment, to provide us the credible deterrence against the existential threats we confront". SVI president Zafar Iqbal Cheema said the world powers were using the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Non-Proliferation Regime (NPR) for their political, strategic and foreign policy objectives, thereby diminishing their credibility. He said Pakistan was a victim of the West's discriminatory attitude. The Indo-US nuclear deal provides India with fissile material for 50 additional warheads every year by sparing local resources. SVI also called for maintaining credible deterrence capability against India, and advised against compromising security for mainstreaming in the nuclear order. New Delhi: Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, fondly called Babasaheb, is no doubt one of the tallest Indian personalities. He is regarded as the architect of the Indian Constitution. Of late, there has literally been a fight among various political parties to claim his legacy. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has gone on to even label Ambedkar as a Hindu nationalist. But, Dr Ambedkar has on a number of occasions spoken against extreme form of Hindutva. The same is evident in five quotes by Dr Ambedkar: Slavery will not be tolerated in the name of religion. This Manusmriti, in the very first chapter says that Brahmans are created from Brahmas (creators) head, Kshatriya from his hands, Vaishyas from his thighs and Shudras from his feet. By burning this Manusmriti, we launch a mission to uproot casteism from its roots. But getting rid of caste alone is not our goal, this is the beginning of social revolution which would end Brahman hegemony. A bitter thing cannot be made sweet. The taste of anything can be changed. But poison cannot be changed into nectar. (in response to Mahatma Gandhi's efforts to reclaim Dalits back into the Hindu fold.) no one can doubt that there was a time when Hindus, both Brahmins and non-Brahmins, ate not only flesh but also beef. Though, I was born a Hindu, I solemnly assure you that I will not die as a Hindu. I will not believe in Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. Neither would I worship them. New Delhi: The Islamic State is planning to launch attacks in India with the help of local terror groups based in Bangladesh and Pakistan, a report said on Thursday. In an interview to IS' online magazine Dabiq, amir of the terror group fighters in Bangladesh, Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif made the revelations. According to al-Hanif, Bangladesh, which is referred to as 'Bengal' by ISIS, is considered to be strategically important for the deadly terror group, a Hindustan Times report said. Hanif said with the help of of Wilayat Khurasan (branch of the militant Islamist group active in Afghanistan and Pakistan), and 'Bengal', ISIS could easily carry out strike across India with the help of local mujahideens. Last month, the US had expressed concern over the presence of dreaded Islamic State terror group in Bangladesh after the militant group claimed responsibility for several terror attacks in the country. US President Barack Obama has said that destroying the Islamic State group remains his "top priority" at a time when the jihadist group continues to lose ground in Iraq and Syria. Washington has led an international coalition staging airstrikes against the IS group in Syria and Iraq since September 2014, parallel to operations by the Syrian government and its ally Russia. Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has come under fire over his younger son being permitted to set up lab and diagnostic facility at government-run hospitals in alleged violation code of conduct for Ministers. The lab will be run in partnership with Matrix Imaging Solutions India Private Limited, in which Siddaramiahs son Yathindra Siddaramaiah is a director. Unfazed by the criticism, the Chief minister today denied any wrongdoing, saying, "He (his son) is a doctor by profession. His friend is having a company. He is one of the directors. They had participated in the tender. They are the lowest bidder. It is for service to the people, there is no money involved from the government." The issue snowballed into a controversy as Leader of Opposition BJP in the Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa talking to reporters in Udupi demanded a probe into the matter. "Just because he is Chief Ministers son there is nothing that he should not work. But, whoever it is, the tender has to be as per law and rules," Eshwarappa said. "Chief Minister has already said that it is as per rules. So let there be investigation on this", he said, in an apparent poser why the government should shy away from probe. Chirthahalli Mudlagiriyappa Rajeshgowda and Yathindra are directors of Matrix Imaging Solutions India Private Limited registered in 2009. The code of conduct for Ministers (both Union and state) says that "after taking office, and so long as he remains in office, the Minister shall ensure that the members of his family do not start, or participate in, business concerns, engaged in supplying goods or services to that government (excepting in the usual course of trade or business and at standard or market rates) or dependent primarily on grant of licenses, permits, quotas, leases, etc from that government." The code, posted on government website, also states that the Minister shall report the matter to the Prime Minister, or the Chief Minister as the case may be, if any member of his family sets up, or joins in the conduct and management of, any other business. The lab will have biochemistry, pathology, CT scan, MRI scans, X-ray and ultrasound facilities for patients. A post on the Facebook page that updates about the state government programmes, dated April 7 said "The lab is being run in partnership with a private lab, Matrix Solutions. Being run under public-private partnership, the private company will provide the equipment, while the government would give space in the hospital to run the service." It also claims the services provided at the centre will be cheaper. Patna: Launching a blistering attack at certain gurus and babas, RJD President Lalu Prasad on Thursday sought a probe into assets of these "high profile saints". "Assets of all these 'hi-fi' saints should be probed," Prasad said addressing a function to mark 125th anniversary of dalit icon B R Ambedkar here. Describing Baba Ramdev as a "capitalist and industrialist of the country", he said, "Earlier he used to praise Mulayam Singh Yadav but now he has gone to Narendra Modi and BJP." He also castigated Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravishankar for his recent comment that those who do not love the country should go out of it. "On what basis he assessed that somebody does not love his country?" he asked. "All these saints and Babas are making fool of people in the garb of religion," he said. Attacking BJP and RSS, Prasad charged them with being "anti-dalit and anti-minorities". On Prime Minister launching "Gram Uday se Bharat Uday" on birth Anniversary of B R Ambedkar, the RJD chief said "It is aimed at the coming Uttar Pradesh election and an attempt to break into vote bank of BSP chief Mayawati." Hailing dalit icon B R Ambedkar, Prasad said "had he not been there, downtrodden people like us could not have got chair of power." He described decision taken by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar government as "revolutionary" to impose total ban on liquor. His party colleague and former Union minister Raghubansh Prasad Singh said RJD has been in favour of prohibition from the beginning. New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging he encourages those who harass women on social media. At an event at Talkatora Stadium to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the Dalit icon Dr BR Ambedkar, Kejriwal said, It's very disappointing that those who abuse women and others on social media are followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. How are these people daring to abuse eminent personalities on social media. They are getting encouraged because PM Modi is following such people on social media, he is inviting them at PM's official residence and clicking pictures with them. I feel that if Babasaheb Ambedkar was alive today, he would have requested them to not garland his portrait with flowers, but learn to respect women, he added. EXCLUSIVE WATCH Delhi CM ArvindKejriwal attacks PM Modi, says its sad that he follows Abusive handles on Twitterhttps://t.co/wBTwWM6Mqu Shefali Yadav (@IShefali7) April 14, 2016 "Babasaheb gave three words liberty, equality and fraternity...They say don't chant Bharat Mata ki Jai in Kashmir and beat them up who don't say it in the rest of the country. There's no freedom of speech in the country. There's no equality. There's no fraternity. They say one is a patriot and the other anti-national, Kashmiri and non-Kashmiri, JNU wallah and non-JNU wallah," he also said. Those who are making a mockery of the Constitution should not "pretend" that they respect Ambedkar by garlanding him at his birthplace. They are dividing the country, Kejriwal said in an apparent reference to Modi. "I just want to say, Modi is not country, RSS is not Parliament and Manusmriti is not the Constitution," Kejriwal said to a rapturous applause at an event at Talkatora Stadium to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the Dalit icon. RSS calls for a review of the quota system while the Prime Minister says he is "in favour of reservation", the Delhi Chief Minister said and wondered whom the BJP was "fooling". Projecting AAP as a party of the poor and Dalits, Kejriwal said, the Centre was planning to include "Savarkar" in school curriculum while the Delhi government plans to "teach" Ambedkar. (With PTI inputs) Mhow: PM Narendra Modi on Thursday addressed a gathering in Madhya Pradesh's Mhow (Babasaheb's birthplace) on the ocassion of Dr BR Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary. Here are top 10 quotes from the PM's speech:- 1- "I am fortunate that I am here to salute the place where the great Dr Ambedkar was born." 'Babasaheb synonymous to determination' 2- "Babasaheb Ambedkar ek vyakti nahi the, vo ek sankalp ka naam the. (He was not just a person; Babasaheb was synonymous to determination). Babasaheb Ambedkar fought against injustice in society; his fight was for equality and respect." 'I became PM because of Babasaheb' 3- "Ek aisa vyakti jiski maa mein bartan saaf karti ho, wo beta agar pradhaan mantri ban paaya toh uska credit Babasaheb ko jaata hai." (If a person, whose mother my mother used to clean dishes, can become Prime Minister, then the entire credit goes to Babasaheb) Attack on Mamata Banerjee govt 4- "Saradha type chit fund scams loot a lot of poor people, it's because our banks did not open doors for the poor. Now we have Jan Dhan Yojana." Attack on Congress 5 - "6 dashakon se hamesha gareeb-gareeb karne waalon ne gareebon ke liye kya kiya?" (People who always claim themselves to be pro-poor, what did they do in the past 6 decades?) 'Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday' 6- "As far as developing our villages is concerned, a lot has to be done. Economic growth can't only happen in few cities. From 14 to 24 April 'Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday' movement is being held." 'Farmers can do wonders' 7- "Give our farmers adequate water and see the wonders our farmer can do. We want farmer incomes to double. Purchasing power of people in rural India has to increase and this will power India's economy." 'Digital connectivity for villages' 8- "Digital connectivity is essential in our villages. This is difficult to do, yes, but we need to make a start somewhere. Garv App 9 - "Our efforts towards rural electrification is being done very transparently. Garv App gives you real time progress." Vote bank politics 10- "Vote bank ki politics karne walon ne samaaj ko tukdo mein baantne ke alava kuch socha nahin." (People, who are indulged in vote-bank politics, do nothing except dividing the society.) Mumbai: The mother and brother of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide at Hyderabad Central University in January, converted to Buddhism on Thursday. Today is the 125th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar, the Dalit icon and the principal architect of the Indian Constitution. Rohith's mother Radhika and brother Naga Chaitanya Vemula, also known as Raja Vemula, were given 'deeksha' at a function in Dadar here in the presence of Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar. Ambedkar, Dalit icon and architect of the Indian Constitution, converted to Buddhism at a grand ceremony in Nagpur in 1956 as he was strongly opposed to the caste system in Hindusim. At the venue of the deeksha ceremony, the mother-son duo paid tributes to Dr Ambedkar and bowed before his portrait. Raja Vemula said, "My brother Rohith was a Buddhist at heart although he did not convert. He took his own life as he was discriminated because he was a Dalit. We performed his last rites according to Buddhist traditions, honouring his love for Buddhism." "Rohith used to talk of Buddhism a lot. He had also written a letter to the Vice Chancellor about how Dalits are discriminated against on the campus. My mother feels that we should honour Rohith by embracing Buddhism," he said. "We are against the caste system in Hinduism and have, therefore, decided to embrace Buddhism which does not have such an oppressive system of castes," Rohith's brother said. Raja and Radhika Vemula, along with Rohith's childhood friend Riyaz Shaikh and Hyderabad university student Charbad Raju, had left for Mumbai from Hyderabad yesterday. Rohith's elder sister, who is married, has not converted to Buddhism. Rohith Vemula's suicide on January 17 in a hostel room had created firestorm across the country. In a statement released today, and published by The Indian Express, Raja said he sought sacking and arrest of HCU vice-chancellor Appa Rao. Here is the full text of Raja Vemulas statement: Jai Bheem If my brother Rohith Vemula were alive, he would have been proud of the step we have taken today. From today, my mother, Radhika Vemula and I are going to start the kind of life that Rohith always dreamt of. The kind of life that Babasaheb Ambedkar wanted us to lead. A life without blind belief. A life based on faith in humanity and not faith in some unknown God. A life based on compassion and respect for fellow human beings. A life of dignity and self respect. A life outside the Hindu caste system. From today, my mother and I will be truly free. Free from shame. Free from daily humiliation. Free from the guilt of praying to the same God in whose name our people have been tortured for centuries. From today, my mother and I will always remember the birthday of Babasaheb as the day we got our azaadi from the cains of the caste system. My brother was extremely keen that our family should follow the path of Buddha. Last November, when he came home to Guntur to attend his best friend Riyazs wedding, Rohith anna was dressed in white clothes. When my mother asked him, he said that he had been deeply impressed with the teachings of the Buddha. He said he was wearing clothes that are Buddhist. He also spoke to us a lot about why Ambedkar had chosen to convert to Buddhism in 1956. He tried to explain what Babasaheb meant when he said that the might have been born as a Hindu but will not die as a Hindu. At that time we were unable to see the value of what my brother was trying to say. But his death has opened our eyes to the reality of the world around us. Im a very simple man, I am here in front of you today because of the ultimate sacrifice made by my brother Rohith Vemula. But now that I am here, I want to caution the people responsible for my brothers death that I will continue his fight till my last breath. And I am not alone. An entire generation and nation has stood up to continue Rohiths fight. Together, all the people fighting for justice for my brother are asking just one simple question. Why doesnt Prime Minister Narendra Modi say a single word about the HCU Vice Chancellor Appa Rao? When he can shed tears from my brother, why cant be make a single proper statement about the people responsible for his death. Our demands are simple. We want Appa Rao to be sacked and arrested. We want a proper investigation into my brothers death by a Special Investigation Team of the Telangana government. We have no faith in the single-man commission of enquiry appointed by the Modi government. We are hopeful that Telangana Chief Minister KCR might join the search for the truth behind Rohiths death. The real political culprites however are the BJP leaders Venkaiah Naidu, Smriti Irani and the Prime Minister himself. We know the fight is going to be long and hard but we feel strong and hopeful because the spirit of Ambedkar, Buddha and my brother Rohith Vemula is with us. Jai Bheem Raja Vemula Delhi: In the wake of protests in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), Kiren Rijiju, MoS Home, said on Thursday that situation there was disturbing. "Situation in Pak occupied J&K region is always disturbing. Pak has never given any value to maintaining human rights," he said. He added, "Not first time that human rights violation is visible in PoK specially by Pakistan Army and their security people," as per ANI. Rijiju also said, "We've raised this concern, international community should also see and this matter should got to international human rights commission." Protesters owing allegiance to Jammu and Kashmir National Students Federation (JKNSF), along with some members of Jammu and Kashmir National Awami Party (JKNAP), reportedly carried out a demonstration rally in Muzaffarabad area of PoK, condemning the "oppressive rule" by Pakistani authorities and the PoK government. The protesters raised the issue of job vacancies, which are rare in the area, only being given to Pakistani youth, marginalising Kashmiri youth of the area. Meanwhile, a top Pak official said today that dialogue was the best option between Pakistan and India and the two sides should not think in terms 'foreclosing any options'. "During Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi's visit to Pakistan in December last, it was decided that the two Foreign Secretaries should meet soon. It is hoped that both sides would work out modalities for the Foreign Secretary-level talks," Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said when asked if the word 'suspended' correctly defines the current state of the bilateral peace process, as per PTI. "We need to look ahead and not think in terms foreclosing any options. Both sides are in contact with each other. Once the modalities are worked out Secretary-level talks would take place," he said. "Dialogue is the best option! Diplomacy is for interaction and engagement between countries," he said. Zakaria's comments came days after Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said the bilateral peace process stands 'suspended'. When asked if the position in Islamabad is similar to Pakistan's High Commissioner to New Delhi, he said, "There is a difference between comments on day to day ground situation as compared to broader policy and future vision and prospects. At our level here in the Ministry, we do not give a day to day running commentary on official policy." He said Pakistan was committed to resolving all outstanding issues with India through a sustainable, uninterrupted and meaningful dialogue without any preconditions, in order to address each other's concerns, and establish lasting peace. (With Agency inputs) Srinagar: Sporadic incidents of clashes between stone-pelting mobs and security forces were reported from a number of places in Kashmir today even as curfew-like restrictions continued for the second day and mobile internet services were suspended in some areas in view of tension. A policeman and two civilians were injured in violence and clashes in different parts of the Valley. As tension prevailed in Kashmir which saw death of four civilians since Tuesday in clashes with security forces, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti held a meeting with top police and intelligence officials of the state here to review the situation and directed that no harm should come to civilians while dealing with law and order issues. Mehbooba, who arrived here from Delhi after a three-day visit, will be camping in the Summer capital of the state to monitor the law and order situation "as long as necessary", official sources said. In fresh clashes today, a Constable Bilal Ahmad was injured after being hit in the face by a stone hurled by protestors in Magam area of Handwara town, which is about 70 kms from here, a police official said. The cop was shifted to a hospital here for treatment. A civilian was also injured earlier at the same place when he was hit by a teargas shell in the left leg, the official said, adding he was admitted to a local hospital where his condition is stated to be stable. Handwara in Kupwara district is the epicentre of the ongoing unrest that was triggered following allegations of molestation of a college girl on Tuesday. A cab driver was injured in a stone-pelting incident in Kulgam, the official said. Reports of stone-pelting were also received from various areas of Srinagar city but no casualties were reported in these incidents, the official added. The incidents occurred even though curfew-like restrictions continued for the second day in Kupwara town, Kralgund, Handwara, Magam and Langate areas in north Kashmir. Four civilians, including a woman, died on Tuesday and yesterday in clashes between protesters and security forces in Kupwara district where Handwara falls. Restrictions also continued in six police station areas of Srinagar city, the official said. Mobile internet services were also suspended in north Kashmir areas to curb the menace of rumour mongering, the official said. Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday allowed low-decibel fireworks display during the ongoing Pooram festival in Thrissur. The court exempted it from the ban imposed in the wake of Kollam Puttingal temple tragedy. No unauthorised chemicals should be used in the fireworks and the sound level should not exceed 125 decibel, a division bench comprising Justices Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and Justice Anu Sivaraman said in the order. The bench was hearing a plea by the private Paramekkavu and Thirvambadi Devaswoms, which fund the annual Pooram festival in the premises of the famous Vadakkunnathan Temple in Thrissur, for permission to hold fireworks display. The festival is currently on and will culminate on April 18. While sustained exposure to decibel level below 125 may result in hearing loss, after 125 it may cause pain. The High Court on Tuesday had banned high-decibel fireworks after sunset in places of worship across Kerala after the Puttingal tragedy. The division bench's order came after the organising committee of the Pooram festival cited a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that gave exemption to holding of fireworks display as part of its culture and traditions. Meanwhile, with a 40-year-old man succumbing to injuries at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram today, the toll in the temple firework tragedy in Kollam rose to 114. Sthayan, who was undergoing treatment at the hospital after suffering 50 per cent burns, died this morning, hospital sources said, as per PTI. He belonged to Edayad at Paravoor in Kollam. More then 300 persons were still undergoing treatment at hospitals in Thiruvananhpuram and Kollam for the injuries they sustained in the April 10 tragedy, the sources said. Over 100 people were killed in the fireworks mishap at the Puttingal temple on Sunday. (With PTI inputs) Nagpur: Sedition-charged Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students union leader Kanhaiya Kumar was on Thursday allegedly attacked by Bajrang Dal activists shortly after he arrived here to address a public gathering. According to media reports, the members of Bajrang Dal hurled a shoe at the JNUSU leader while he was addressing a public gathering here. Several members of Bajrang Dal had stormed the event and started shouting ''Kanhaiya Kumar Murdabad''. The JNUSU leader, however, escaped unhurt. The incident triggered panic among the crowd after which police had to shield the controversial JNUSU leader. Kumar was earlier attacked by a group of Bajrang Dal activists who pelted stones at his car and smashed its side windows. The police also detained five persons in this connection. Kumar's arrival in Nagpur had potentially brought him in direct confrontation with right-wing organisations in the Maharashtra city which houses the RSS headquarters. Several organisations led by the Bajrang Dal had earlier vowed to foil the meeting by Kumar whom they accuse of spreading anti-national sentiments. The JNUSU leader had come to the city to address a meeting to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar, a Dalit icon whom Kumar considers his role-model. It is Kumars first visit to the city after he was charged with sedition over a JNU event in February where anti-national slogans were allegedly shouted by a section of students. The incident had sparked a nationwide debate on nationalism and led to a face-off between student groups and the BJP-led government at the Centre. The meeting had been reportedly organised by the Progressive Students Youth Action Committee. Washington: Pakistan's notorious spy agency ISI paid a whopping USD 200,000 to the dreaded Haqqani Network for a suicide attack on a CIA camp in Afghanistan in 2009 that killed seven American agents and contractors and three others, according to a just declassified State Department cable. The explosive information is contained in a series of State Department cables from January 11, 2010 and February 6, 2010 which has been obtained by the National Security Archive of the George Washington University under the Freedom of Information Act. Significant portions of these cables have been redacted. "During discussions at an unknown date between Haqqani, Salar and an unidentified ISI-D officer or Officers, Haqqani and Salar were provided USD 200,000 to enable the attack on Chapman," says the cable dated February 6, 2010. The cable shows Haqqani attacks are still provided by the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate, including USD 200,000 for the December 30, 2009, attack on the CIA facility at Camp Chapman, NSA said in a blog post. "Haqqani provided the money to Salar who then communicated the planning details to Mullawi (Sakh). Sakh then contacted (Arghawan), Afghan Border Commander of the Khost Provincial Force. Arghawan was promised USD 100,000 by Salar for his assistance to enable a suicide mission by an unarmed Jordanian National," the cable says. "Following the attack, Salar was believed to have kept the 100,000 promised to Arghawan because Arghawan died during the suicide attack," the cable said. According to another cable of January 2010, "as of late December 2009, at the end of every month, senior Haqqani network leadership met with the ISI-D in Islamabad. The meetings were attended by Siraj Haqqani and Badruddin (Haqqani). ISI-D Col (Nasib) chaired the meetings. ISI-D Major (Daqud) and Sobedar (Zarim) were also in attendance." An unknown amount of funding was provided to the Haqqanis for use in unspecified operations during these meetings. "There were two meetings between the ISI-D and the Haqqani network leadership in December 2009. The first discussed funding for operations in Khost province. These funds were later provided to tribal elders in Khost province for their support of the Haqqani network," the cable said. "The second meeting involved ISI-D direction to the Haqqani networks to expedite attack preparations and lethality in Afghanistan," the cable said. The Embassy of Pakistan in the US did not respond to a question on the allegations made against ISI in the US cable. The Haqqani Network has carried out a number of kidnappings and attacks against US interests in Afghanistan, as well as Afghan government and civilian targets. The group is also blamed for several deadly attacks against Indian interests in Afghanistan including the 2008 bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul that killed 58 people. Lahore: A Pakistani court on Wednesday directed the federal government to file a reply on a petition demanding disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for alleged money laundering and willfully concealing his wealth from the public. Lahore High Court Justice Shahid Wahid also ordered to add the "proof" of two off-shore companies of Sharif part of the petition at the next hearing. Petitioner Gohar Nawaz Sindhu today submitted "evidence" about two off-shore companies owned by Sharif. "This is irrefutable evidence proving Prime Minister Sharif has been running the off-shore companies for decades," he said. Justice Wahid directed the federal government to submit a reply in next hearing. The court office will fix the date for next hearing. The petitioner said the prime minister had lost "moral ground" to hold his office in the wake of the 'Panama Papers' leak that allegedly showed his sons were involved in money laundering and having off-shore companies in the UK. "After the Prime Minister's son Hussain Nawaz's admission about the existence of their companies outside Pakistan, the Premier should be disqualified. Hussain was a minor when the offshore companies were purchased outside Pakistan in 1993 and 1994 but PM Sharif did not declare these assets before the Election Commission of Pakistan," the petitioner alleged. "The Premier was also involved in money laundering and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's confessional statement and the confession of the Premier's sons about transfer of money abroad are enough evidence in this regard. Prime Minister Sharif has willfully concealed his wealth from the public thus he cannot hold a public office," he argued. The petitioner also requested the court to order the National Accountability Bureau to carry out an inquiry into the 'Panama Papers' and fix responsibility. "The ECP should also be directed to start an inquiry against the Prime Minister for concealing the facts from the public while submitting his nomination papers," the petitioner demanded. Amid mounting pressure in the wake of the Panama Leaks, Sharif left for London along with his family members yesterday for a "medical check-up". However,?Pakistan People's Party Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said Sharif has gone to London to seek former President Asif Ali Zardari?s advice on the Panama Papers. "The Premier also has to sort out internal disputes that have arisen within the Sharif family regarding inheritance," he said. Sharif cancelled scheduled visits to Turkey while his relative Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also cancelled a scheduled visit to Washington for IMF and World Bank meetings to take care of "government affairs" in the absence of Sharif. Islamabad: Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is in the midst of unrest these days. As per a report in ANI, anti-Pakistan protests have erupted in PoK's capital Muzaffarabad. People have been protesting in Muzaffarabad over discrimination of youths from PoK in Islamabad who were seeking employment there. The protesters also raised their voice against oppressive rule by Pakistan in PoK. Pictures showed police roughing up people during the protests. Anti-Pakistan protest erupts in Muzaffarabad (PoK) (13/04/16) pic.twitter.com/eExK7iEu8e ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 Anti Pak protests were over employment discrimination of local youth in Islamabad, in Muzaffarabad (PoK) (13/04/16) pic.twitter.com/l7XfdngKcy ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 Puducherry: Even as most political parties in this Union Territory have announced their strategy for the May 16 assembly polls, the ruling AINRC is keeping everyone guessing as it is yet to spell out its plans. The Congress-DMK combine has already reached a seat-sharing pact and AIADMK has announced candidates for all 30 seats, while the five-party People's Welfare Alliance has also finalised the number of seats to be contested by them. But Chief Minister N Rangasamy is yet to announce the strategy of his All India N R Congress and is on a pilgrimage for the last two weeks visiting various shrines in Tamil Nadu seeking divine blessings. He has also visited a temple dedicated to his spiritual guru Appa Pythiasamy in Salem district as he always does before taking crucial decisions. AINRC stormed to power in 2011 Assembly polls in alliance with AIADMK months after it was founded by Rangasamy, who broke away from Congress. However, the alliance did not last long as Rangasamy ditched the AIADMK and?formed the government with the outside support of the lone Independent member V M C Sivakumar. AIADMK has now announced its candidates for all the 30 constituencies virtually shutting its doors on AINRC. Incidentally, AIADMK had won the recent Rajya Sabha election from the Union Territory with the support of AINRC, as Rangasamy agreed for the understanding facing a rebellion in his party then. BJP which contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election in alliance with AINRC is likely to contest the poll on its own. Congress, eyeing to capture power, is contesting in 21 seats leaving the remaining nine to DMK. The run-up to the polls also witnessed some key personalities switching their loyalties to other parties. Former Home Minister P Kannan, who had contested the polls in the past on Congress ticket, has joined the AIADMK. He has been fielded in Raj Bhavan constituency, where Congress veteran and former union minister V Narayanasamy or senior leader K Lakshmi Narayanan is likely to contest. Sivakumar, who annexed the T R Pattinam seat in Karaikal as an Independent in the 2011 polls, has also joined the AIADMK and seeks re-election from the same segment. Lucknow: Observing 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar, BJP on Thursday launched 'Gram Swaraj Abhiyaan', an outreach campaign covering 52,000 village panchayats, ahead of 2017 assembly election. "The party observes Ambedkar's anniversary as 'Samrasta Diwas' every year and with this it has launched a massive outreach campaign covering 52,000 village panchayats from today," BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said. The Gram Swaraj Abhiyan campaign would continue till April 24, the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech will be broadcast live in all 52,000 gram panchayats," he said. BJP has already sent a message by appointing OBC leader Keshav Prasad Maurya as the state unit president. Maurya today unveiled a statue of Ambedkar at Jhusi in Allahabad district and has started an extensive tour of the state. During the campaign, achievements of Modi government would be highlighted along with the salient features of the Union budget. 'Samrasta' programme would be held upto April 16. Pathak said a list of senior functionaries would be drawn to ensure that they visit at least 10 gram panchayats each. Ahead of the campaign, the party plans to hold district-level meetings. During April 17-24, gram sabhas would be organised by district president and party incharges. Special emphasis would be on gram panchayats where the party has not performed well in last Assembly elections, Pathak said. BJP had won 73 seats, including two by its ally, out of 80 seats in the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. WASHINGTON: U.S. President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Ash Carter will talk next week with leaders in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Gulf region about agreements on counterterrorism and bolstering ballistic missile defense systems, a White House official said on Thursday. Obama will travel to Saudi Arabia to meet with King Salman on Wednesday and then attend a summit with other leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council on Thursday. Carter will meet his counterparts just before the summit, on Wednesday, the White House said. "As youll hear more coming out of the summit, theres been agreements reached to increase our cooperation on counterterrorism, streamlining the transfer of critical defense capabilities to our GCC partners, bolstering GCC ballistic defense ... systems, and defending against the cyber threat," said Rob Malley, a senior adviser to Obama on the Middle East. "On all of those, I think youll see progress has been made, there`s been much deeper cooperation between us and the GCC," Malley told reporters on a conference call. Obama plans to discuss the fight against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq with the leaders, the Saudi-led conflict in Yemen, and Iran and regional stability issues, said Ben Rhodes, Obama`s deputy national security adviser. The president also wants to hear about ideas from King Salman and other leaders for dealing with economic issues, given the drop in oil prices, Malley said. Obama then will travel to London to meet British Prime Minister David Cameron and to Hanover for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, where Islamic State and counterterrorism cooperation also will be on the agenda, the White House said. Obama plans to also discuss Afghanistan and Russian aggression in Ukraine with Cameron and Merkel, the White House officials said. Washington: US President Barack Obama will head to London next week to join the international chorus of leaders imploring Britain not to leave the European Union. The White House said yesterday the president will arrive in Britain on April 21 for a three-day visit, just two months before the country votes in an referendum on the issue. "He will make very clear that this is decision for the people of the United Kingdom to make," Obama's close foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters. "But we have no closer friend in the world and if we are asked our view as a friend, we'll offer it." Rhodes said Obama would be "very straightforward and candid as a friend as to why the US believes that it is good for the UK to remain in the EU." Opinion polls suggest the June 23 vote will be a close one, but large numbers of voters remain undecided and Britain's allies are keen for Europe's second largest economy to stay in the bloc. Aside from meeting British officials, Obama will have lunch with Queen Elizabeth II on April 22, one day after the long-serving monarch's 90th birthday. He will also stage a joint news conference with Prime Minister David Cameron, who is campaigning for a vote to remain in Europe despite broad support for "Brexit" within his Conservative Party. On Sunday, after his stay in Britain, Obama will head on to a major industrial fair in Hannover, Germany, where he will give a more general speech on the challenges facing Europe. Washington: Republican front-runner Donald Trump took fresh steps to reset his campaign on Wednesday, hiring a top Republican operative and scheduling a meeting between aides and US lawmakers as he girds for a new phase in his White House bid. Trump is under pressure to professionalise his campaign beyond a close-knit group of advisers and expand the appeal of his anti-establishment candidacy in the face of fierce opposition from rival US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and a well-funded anti-Trump operation run by establishment Republicans. Trump announced he had hired Rick Wiley as his national political director. Wiley, a long-time Republican strategist, had been campaign manager for Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor who dropped out of the presidential race last autumn. "He brings decades of experience, and his deep ties to political leaders and activists across the country will be a tremendous asset as we enter the final phase of securing the nomination," Trump said in a statement. In addition, Trump`s campaign arranged a meeting in Washington of about a dozen US legislators as the fierce anti-establishment candidate tries to build more relationships inside Washington and broaden his appeal. The meeting with the lawmakers and senior Trump adviser Ed Brookover is planned for Thursday morning on Capitol Hill, congressional aides said. About a dozen lawmakers are expected to attend, some of whom have endorsed Trump and some of whom have not but who are interested in his message. Trump will not be there. A series of policy speeches Trump plans to begin delivering soon could be among the topics discussed, one source said. "They`re definitely planning several policy speeches ... and they are looking for input on those," a Republican source familiar with the situation said. Paris: The eldest daughter of former French president Jacques Chirac has died aged 58, her family said on Thursday. Laurence Chirac, whose long battle with anorexia was described by her father as "the drama of her life", had been in hospital since Sunday, her family told AFP by phone. They declined to provide more details. She was taken to hospital following a heart attack, according to the weekly news magazine Le Point. Born on March 4, 1958, Laurence Chirac had suffered with the eating disorder anorexia since 1974 and had attempted suicide on several occasions. The former president`s wife, Bernadette Chirac, described Laurence Chirac`s "suffering" and the "loneliness suffered by families" affected by the disorder during a television appearance in 2004. Bernadette Chirac was involved in the founding of the "Maison de Solenn" in Paris, a centre designed to help tackle challenges faced by adolescents. Laurence Chirac rarely appeared in the many photographs published of the Chirac family while her father was president. Jacques Chirac admitted in his memoirs in 2009 that Laurence`s fragile health was the reason he was forced to overlook her when he gave her younger sister Claude a prominent role in his communications team. The former president himself, now 83, has suffered from ill health in recent years. He suffered a small stroke while in office in 2005, and he is now rarely seen in public and is reportedly confined to a wheelchair. He reportedly began to suffer from a degenerative neurological disorder during his final years in office, leading prosecutors to spare him the humiliation of appearing in court in a corruption trial in 2011. Washington: A former US defence contractor was today sentenced to nearly five years in jail for illegally exporting to India military blueprints and technical drawings of parts used in some high-tech hardware like F-15 jets. Hannah Robert, 49, circumvented the US government and provided export-controlled technical data related to various types of military technology to an individual in India, said Assistant US Attorney General John P Carlin in a statement. Robert, a resident of New Jersey, was charged with illegally exporting to India the military blueprints and technical drawings of parts used in some of the high-tech and sensitive hardware like F-15. He was sentenced to 57 months of imprisonment for conspiring to send sensitive military technical data to India. "We will vigorously prosecute and bring to justice those who abuse their access to sensitive defence information and violate the Arms Export Control Act," Carlin said. Currently under home detention pending trial, Robert was charged in a superseding indictment with one count of violating the Arms Export Control Act, one count of conspiracy to violate the act and four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to court documents, Robert, founder, owner, and president of One Source USA LLC, used the computer of a local church to transfer technical drawings of military hardware parts. The exported technical drawings include parts used in the torpedo systems for nuclear?submarines, military attack helicopters, and F-15 fighter aircraft, the Department of Justice said. Robert transmitted export-controlled technical data to one PR in India so that they could submit bids to foreigners, including those in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to supply them or their foreign customers with defence hardware items and spare parts. Neither Robert nor PR obtained approval from the US Department of State for this conduct, the Justice Department said. Istanbul: Five men were jailed in Turkey for "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports have said, one of several such cases that have intensified alarm over the country's slide towards authoritarianism. The five from the southern province of Sanliurfa were accused of damaging the president on social media, according to the Dogan news agency. A sixth person was arrested but later released. Almost 2,000 people have been prosecuted for "insulting" Erdogan since the former premier became president in August 2014, Turkey's justice minister said in March. The court cases have raised concerns over freedom of expression in Turkey and Erdogan has also been accused of seeking to muzzle the press, NGOs and academics. Erdogan has repeatedly denied that there had been any crackdown on free expression in his country. A German comedian has become the centre of a diplomatic spat between Turkey and Germany over a satirical poem that accused Erdogan of paedophilia and bestiality. Turkey has demanded that Berlin prosecutes the TV satirist, Jan Bohmermann, for slander. Paris: French President Francois Hollande is standing firm on labour reforms which have angered his left-wing base, saying in a nationally-televised appearance that the government won't withdraw a bill on the issue. The bill to relax the rules governing France's 35-hour work week and layoffs has sparked weeks of protests and pushed ministers to repeatedly tinker with the proposal in an effort to make it more palatable. And while Hollande acknowledged that he was "trying to find the right balance," he said the bill wasn't going anywhere. "It won't be withdrawn," he said yesterday. Hollande made the comments during an exchange with journalists during a round of question-and-answer sessions with three journalists and four citizen panelists brought at Paris' Museum of Man. The nearly two-hour-long event was widely seen as an attempt to revive his flagging approval ratings as leaders from across the political spectrum begin jockeying for position before next year's elections. But Hollande's labour reforms are angering young left-wingers, notably spawning an Occupy Wall Street-style sit-in at Paris' Place de la Republique. Although the sit-in and other demonstrations have been mostly peaceful, there have been routine bouts of violence, including earlier yesterday, when several school administrators were injured by young protesters in Paris. A march across the capital also turned violent, with riot police using tear gas to disperse masked demonstrators throwing rocks and glass bottles near the Stalingrad metro station. Police wielding batons also charged protesters who entered the Gare du Nord train station, a hub used for Eurostar trains to London and other international routes. The SNPDEN school administrators' union said that school officials have repeatedly been subjected to violence, including one school principal who suffered three fractured ribs when a protester jumped on her. Berlin: Germany`s domestic intelligence agency denied on Thursday its head had told German lawmakers a prime suspect in the Paris attacks had documents about the Juelich German nuclear research centre. The Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) media group had cited sources in a parliamentary committee as saying BfV intelligence agency chief Hans-Georg Maassen had told the committee in March about the documents on Juelich. "This is not right," a BfV spokeswoman said."We have no information about this. Our president Maassen never talked to any members of parliament." The media group had reported that printouts of articles from the internet and photos of Juelich chairman Wolfgang Marquardt had been found in the apartment of Salah Abdeslam in the Molenbeek area of Brussels. Abdeslam, who born and raised in Belgium to Moroccan-born parents, was arrested on March 18 in the Belgian capital and four days later, suicide bombers killed 32 people in Brussels airport and a metro train. The 26-year-old is now in Bruges prison awaiting extradition to France over his suspected involvement in the Nov. 13 shooting attacks in Paris. Concerns that Islamist militants are turning their attention to the nuclear industry`s weak spots have risen since the Brussels attack. Juelich is near the Belgian border and atomic waste is stored there. The centre said in a statement there was no indication of any danger and that it was in contact with security authorities and nuclear supervisors. RND reported that Maassen had informed the committee in charge of monitoring German intelligence agencies whose meetings are confidential. Two committee members also told Reuters that they had not been informed about the matter. The BND foreign intelligence agency declined to comment. Beijing: Twenty-two Chinese 'tomb raiders' were on Thursday handed down prison terms by a court in northeast China, with the gang leader sentenced to death. When members of the gang, led by Yao Yuzhong, were arrested last year it was one of the biggest busts of its kind supervised by the Ministry of Public Security since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949. Today's ruling given by Chaoyang City Intermediate People's Court in Liaoning Province sentenced 22 members of the gang. Yao was found guilty of several offences including tomb raiding, looting and selling stolen antiques and was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve while other major gang members were given prison terms. The court heard that Yao's gang was highly organised, and would source fund, explore, loot and trade relics. Among 32 artifacts retrieved by police, 16 were under grade-one state cultural protection. The court ordered that 77 relics still in the possession of the gang members must be returned. Yao's gang was among 12 organised gangs implicated in illegal excavations at Niuheliang, a Neolithic site in northeastern Liaoning. Police apprehended 225 people and retrieved a total of 2,063 artifacts, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Washington: A cable declassified by the United States' National Security Archive has revealed that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, had financed the 2009 terror attack at a camp of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Afghanistan. The CIA facility was located at Camp Chapman forward post on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border - seven American agents and contractors and three others were killed in that attack. As per a report in The Times of India, the cable that was edited before being declassified categorically states "some funding for Haqqani attacks are still provided by the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, including $200,000 for the December 30, 2009, attack on the CIA facility at Camp Chapman." Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian doctor and double agent, had attacked the CIA facility - the man was being used by the US agency to infiltrate al Qaeda in Pakistan at a time when the US was searching for Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri. The report said the Haqqani group managed to turn Al-Balawi anti-US and attack its facility. The Haqqani group is widely believed to be a terror front of the ISI. Mexico City: Two Mexican federal police officers allegedly participated in the disappearance of 43 students, the National Human Rights Commission said today, implicating national agents in the 2014 case for the first time. The announcement adds a new twist to an investigation that has come under fire from international human rights groups and independent investigators. The attorney general's office has charged municipal police officers in connection with the mass abduction in the southern city of Iguala on September 26-27, 2014. But the governmental rights commission said that an eyewitness saw two federal agents near Iguala's courthouse, where municipal officers had stopped a bus carrying 15 to 20 students. The commission also said another local police department, from the town of Huitzuco, had a previously unknown role in the disappearance. The bus was one of five that around 100 students had seized that night in order to use them for a future protest. Jose Larrieta Carrasco, a commission official investigating the Iguala case, said authorities should look into a "new route in the disappearance" of the students. The attorney general's office declared last year that Iguala and Cocula police officers abducted the students and delivered them to a drug cartel. The gang then killed the students, incinerated their bodies at a garbage dump in Cocula, and dropped the remains in a nearby river. But experts from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights who conducted an independent investigation said that there was no scientific evidence that the 43 students were incinerated at the dump. Beirut: Syrian troops exchanged fire with rebels in the contested northern city of Aleppo today in a renewed bout of fighting that could further mar peace talks underway in Geneva. Government warplanes, helicopter gunships and artillery were bombarding rebel-held parts of the city and its suburbs, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Aleppo-based activist Bahaa al-Halaby. The pro-government Addounia TV said one person was killed and five people were wounded by mortar rounds fired by insurgents into the predominantly Kurdish Sheikh Maqsoud district of the city. The fighting came a day after Syrians in government-held parts of the country voted for a new parliament balloting that the opposition has dismissed as a sham and that could further undermine the peace talks. Those negotiations resumed yesterday in Geneva, with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura meeting Syrian opposition representatives. The government is expected to join the talks on Friday, a delay that was explained by the elections. Aleppo has seen sporadic clashes despite a US-Russia-engineered truce that went into effect in late February. Government forces and their allies have rebel-held parts of Aleppo almost surrounded from all sides, except for a corridor from the northwestern edge of the city. "Areas close to the front lines are tense," said al-Halaby, the activist, speaking via Skype as explosions were heard in the background. He said several shells are falling every minute on the city and its suburbs. The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, another opposition monitoring group, reported violence in other parts of the country, including the central province of Homs and the northwestern region of Idlib. Meanwhile, the US-led coalition struck areas controlled by the Islamic State group near Syria's border with Turkey, according to a Turkish news agency. The militant IS group and al-Qaida's Syria branch known as Nusra Front are not part of the cease-fire in Syria. Coalition jets struck Islamic State militants in the villages of Souran, Hawar Kilis and Kafra, reported the private Dogan news agency. The report said smoke rose from the strikes and that sounds of explosion and gunfire were heard from across the border. The Observatory also reported the airstrikes, saying they came amid clashes between IS fighters and rival groups in the area. It said IS fighters captured on Thursday the village of Hawar Kilis and the area around it. LANGLEY: President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq had put the militant group on the defensive, shrinking its territory and striking key leaders. "We have momentum and we intend to keep that momentum," Obama told reporters after meeting with his national security advisers at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency. The campaign has cut supply lines and financing for the group and shrunk its territory. But Obama said more work needed to be done to help communities recover. "We will continue to assist Iraq and so must the entire world as it works to stabilise liberated areas and promote governance and development that is inclusive of all Iraqi communities," he said. He noted an "uptick" in Islamic State fighters heading to Libya and pledged to help the country`s "new and nascent" government. There have been more than 11,500 air strikes so far against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and the coalition has killed or captured several key leaders in the group. "In the days and weeks ahead, we intend to take out more," Obama said. Obama said the United States would do what it could to help advance U.N.-led peace talks in Geneva on Syria`s political future, noting an accord between President Bashar al-Assad`s government and his opponents had held for about six weeks, but remained tenuous and under strain. He said the future of Syria would be on the agenda for the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council meeting next week in Riyadh, which he plans to attend. Arona: At least one person died and nine others were missing Thursday after a five-storey building collapsed on Tenerife, local officials said. Rescuers with dogs were still at the scene late Thursday searching the debris for survivors. Three people, including a 28-year-old Italian man who suffered a broken arm, were rescued from the rubble, with two requiring hospital treatment. "The building had 28 occupants of which nine still have not been found," Arona mayor Julian Mena told a news conference. The building, located in the beach area of Los Cristianos in the south of Tenerife, collapsed at around 9:30 am (0830 GMT). The cause was not immediately clear. A spokeswoman for local firefighters said families had tried and failed to contact missing relatives. "These are people who are not answering the telephone, we can`t say that they are in the building, but the truth is that right now their families have not been able to contact them," she said. Tenerife, the largest of Spain`s Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa, are a popular destination for British holidaymakers and retirees. Naypyidaw: Myanmar appeared to have escaped with only minor damage to buildings including pagodas after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that rattled its remote north, police said Thursday, as early reports said there not had been any casualties. The quake, which struck late Wednesday more than 130 kilometres (80 miles) below the surface, was felt from China to Bangladesh, where scores of people were injured in stampedes as panic spread. But initial surveys suggested the damage was limited in Myanmar, according to an official from Sagaing province, around 100 kilometres from the epicentre. "We have no casualties although there was some small damage to pagodas in villages," a police official told AFP, requesting anonymity. "People are now enjoying the water festival," he added, referencing the Buddhist new year celebrated across the region. The Relief and Resettlement Department posted on its Facebook page that "there were no casualties, injuries or major damage to buildings because of (the) earthquake." A second, unnamed policeman in the capital Naypyidaw, said emergency checks on the quake-rattled zone had so far revealed only minor damage to buildings. "It seems like there was not so much damage from the quake," the officer told AFP. "But we are releasing instructions of `dos and don`ts` if earthquakes occur in the future." Wednesday`s quake rippled out to Bangladesh, which shares a border with Myanmar. More than 80 people in the country were injured, mostly in stampedes as panicked residents fled their homes and offices, local television reported. In neighbouring India, tremors were felt in several northeastern cities, while Chinese state media said some residents in the Tibetan city of Lhasa ran out into the streets in panic. Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, but the country has not seen a major quake since November 2012, when a powerful 6.8 magnitude tremor struck the centre of the country, killing 26 people and injuring hundreds. Crumbling infrastructure and poor urban planning in Myanmar has made the country`s most populous areas vulnerable to earthquakes and other disasters, experts say. Warsaw: Poland this week marks 1,050 years since its `baptism`, considered its founding event, at a time when the state is closer than ever to the powerful Catholic Church which helped the conservatives return to power and is now reaping the benefits. Close church-state ties date back to when the ruler Prince Mieszko I adopted Christianity on April 14, 966, a moment that has always been considered the founding event of the Polish state. But the alliance between religion and politics has taken on new life under the PiS government, whose President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Beata Szydlo frequently mention their faith at public appearances. "Without the help of country priests, the Law and Justice (PiS) party would not have won the general election" last October, according to Zbigniew Mikolejko, a religion expert at the Polish Academy of Sciences. The conservatives are also funnelling their belief into political action in the devout country of 38 million people, where 90 percent of residents identify themselves as Roman Catholic -- even at the risk of courting problems. PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski recently followed the example of the episcopate and backed a citizen`s bill tabled by anti-abortion activists to tighten the already restrictive law on the procedure. He opted to endorse the proposal even though there is a high likelihood that the hot button issue will divide the public, including those in his own party, and serve to unite the government`s critics even more. "On these kinds of issues, as a Catholic I follow the teaching of the bishops," Kaczynski has said. That comment received a scathing reply from Danuta Walesa, the wife of ex-president and Nobel Peace laureate Lech Walesa. "I urge you to come to your senses. You don`t have children, you don`t have a wife," she said in an interview with private Radio Zet on Tuesday. "What do you know about the life of bees, given that you don`t live in a beehive?" Local media speculated that Kaczynski had sought to convince the archbishop to accept the current anti-abortion law -- which was considered a church-state compromise when passed in 1993 -- to avoid backlash over the issue. But the church remained faithful to its doctrine and threw its weight behind the proposed abortion ban, and the PiS could only follow suit. The citizen`s bill has not yet been taken up by parliament, but there is no shortage of other signs of the cosy relationship between church and state in Poland, namely that many official events end with a Catholic mass. The government recently cut state funding for in vitro fertilisation (IVF), which the previous liberal administration had introduced despite staunch opposition from the church. There is also a draft law in the works that would ban the sale of arable land to anyone who is not already a farmer -- a move meant to stymie foreigners -- but churches and religious associations would enjoy an exception. But Mikolejko told AFP he does not believe the relationship is symbiotic: "The PiS treats Catholicism like an instrument" and "practices its own religion, the religion of Smolensk, with pagan elements." He was referring to the movement generated by the 2010 death of then president Lech Kaczynski -- Jaroslaw Kaczynski`s twin brother -- in a presidential jet crash in Smolensk, Russia that also killed 95 others. Thousands show up to annual gatherings on the anniversary of the event that some Poles, and many PiS members, believe was a political assassination even though investigators blamed pilot error, poor weather and mistakes by air traffic control. Poland will hold ceremonies marking its baptism anniversary in Wielkopolska, the west-central region that is the historical cradle of the Slavic nation. The episcopate will meet for a plenary session on Thursday in Gniezno -- Poland`s first capital -- while on Saturday believers will gather at a stadium in Poznan for a performance of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. Even though ever fewer Poles are heading for the pews on Sunday, piety remains strong in the homeland of Saint John Paul II, who was the pontiff from 1978 until his death in 2005. The nature-loving pope`s old kayak went on display at the Museum of Sport and Tourism in Warsaw on Monday. The so-called "Fat Bumblebee" boat is considered a relic. Vatican City: Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken out about the refugee crisis that has overwhelmed and divided Europe, urging Europeans to welcome and not reject people who are fleeing war and poverty. Here are some of his main quotes, ahead of his upcoming trip to the Greek island of Lesbos, on the frontline of Europe`s migrant crisis: - On July 8, 2013, during his first trip outside Rome since being elected, to the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, he says: "The culture of well-being makes us think about ourselves, renders us insensitive to the cries of others. Lampedusa is a major landing point for asylum-seekers entering the European Union, with many fleeing impoverished and war-torn countries of Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. - On September 24, 2013 he says that "migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity." - On October 4, 2013, after 300 African asylum-seekers are feared dead off Lampedusa, Pope Francis calls for "a day of tears" for a "savage world" that ignored the plight of refugees. - In April, 2015 after 700 migrants are feared drowned in the deadliest migrant shipwreck yet in the Mediterranean he urges Europe`s leaders to "act decisively and quickly to stop these tragedies from recurring." Urging the faithful in St Peter`s square to pray for the victims, the pope adds : "(They are) hungry, persecuted, injured, exploited, victims of war. They are seeking a better life, they are seeking happiness." "Dear migrants and refugees, each of you carries a story, a culture and precious values," Francis says in January, 2016, when welcoming 5,000 migrant worshippers at a special mass at St Peter`s in Rome. "Alas, many of you have experienced misery, oppression and fear" he says. - "O Cross of Christ, today we see you in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas which have become insatiable cemeteries, reflections of our indifferent and anaesthetised conscience," he says at Good Friday prayers on March 25, 2016. Two days later, on Easter Sunday, he says: "The Easter message of the risen Christ... invites us not to forget those men and women seeking a better future, an ever more numerous throng of migrants and refugees... fleeing from war, hunger, poverty and social injustice... All too often, these brothers and sisters of ours meet along the way with death or, in any event, rejection by those who could offer them welcome and assistance." - The pope has repeatedly spoken out about human trafficking, railing January 2014 against "the merchants of human meat who want to enslave migrants". - In September 2013: he calls for disused Catholic convents to be used to house asylum-seekers instead of being converted into luxury hotels, speaking during a visit to a refugee centre. "The Church does not need to turn empty convents into hotels to earn money. Empty convents are not ours, they are for the flesh of Christ, for refugees," the pope tells refugees and staff. Marib: At least 13 pro-government fighters were killed in a rebel attack on their positions near the Yemeni capital despite a UN-brokered ceasefire taking effect this week, military sources said Thursday. The rebels attacked positions of Gulf-backed loyalist fighters in Nihm, northeast of Sanaa, where clashes have occurred for two weeks despite warring parties promising to abide by a ceasefire that took effect on Sunday at midnight. A number of Iran-backed rebels were also killed in fighting that erupted after the Wednesday attack, loyalist military sources said. The fragile truce is meant to pave the way for peace talks next Monday in Kuwait. Military sources said Wednesday that rebels had killed a senior loyalist officer and wounded six troops in Nihm. Two pro-government fighters and a rebel were also killed in other clashes east of Sanaa. In the southern loyalist-held province of Shabwa, rebels fired a mortar round on a village, killing three children aged between six and 10, according to a provincial official. Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-dominated Arab allies are backing the Yemeni government in the conflict while Shiite Iran supports the rebel Huthis, who have seized the capital Sanaa and other parts of the country. The war has left more than 6,300 people dead since March 2015 and worsened living conditions, with more than 80 percent of the population now on the brink of famine. Washington: Two Russian warplanes flew simulated attack passes near a US guided missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, the US military said, with one official describing them as one of the most aggressive interactions in recent memory. The repeated flights by the Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes, which also flew near the ship a day earlier, were so close they created wake in the water, with 11 passes, the official said on Wednesday. The planes carried no visible weaponry, the official said. A Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter also made seven passes around the USS Donald Cook, taking pictures. The nearest Russian territory was about 70 nautical miles away in its enclave of Kaliningrad, which sits between Lithuania and Poland. "They tried to raise them (the Russian aircraft) on the radio but they did not answer," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding the U.S. ship was in international waters. The U.S. military on Wednesday released photos and videos of the incidents. In one photograph, an SU-24 appears to pass at extremely low altitude over the Donald Cook`s bow. The events were reminiscent of the Cold War, when a series of close calls led to a bilateral agreement aimed at avoiding dangerous interactions at sea that was signed in 1972 by then-Secretary of the Navy John Warner and Soviet Admiral Sergei Gorshkov. The agreement prohibited "simulated attacks against aircraft or ships, performing aerobatics over ships, or dropping hazardous objects near them." The accord can be seen here: http://www.state.gov/t/isn/4791.htm White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, "This incident ... is entirely inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries operating in proximity to each other in international water and international airspace." The incident came as NATO plans its biggest build-up in eastern Europe since the Cold War to counter what the alliance, and in particular the three Baltic states and Poland, consider to be a more aggressive Russia. The Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which joined both NATO and the European Union in 2004, have asked NATO for a permanent presence of battalion-sized deployments of allied troops in each of their territories. A NATO battalion typically consists of 300 to 800 troops. Moscow denies any intention to attack the Baltic states. "We cannot treat this as anything else than provocation, yet another example of aggressive intentions towards NATO, towards the United States, towards Poland," Poland`s Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz told private radio RMF. The USS Donald Cook had just wrapped up a port visit in the Polish city of Gdynia on April 11 and proceeded out to sea with a Polish helicopter on board. The first incident took place on April 11, when two SU-24 jets flew about 20 passes near the Donald Cook, coming within 1,000 yards (meters) of the ship, at about 100 feet (30 meters) in altitude. That was followed by even closer passes by the SU-24s the following day and the passes by the Russian helicopter. The U.S. defence official said the commanding officer of the Donald Cook believed that Tuesday`s incident was "unsafe and unprofessional." The U.S. military`s European Command said in a statement that "U.S. officials are using existing diplomatic channels to address the interactions, while the incidents are also being reviewed through U.S. Navy channels." "These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries, and could result in a miscalculation or accident that could cause serious injury or death," it said. U.S. Representative J. Randy Forbes, who chairs the House Armed Services subcommittee on seapower, said in a statement that "U.S. naval activity in Europe must be expanded accordingly to address the threat posed by Russia`s international behaviour." Lahore: At least six Pakistani policemen have been killed and 15 others taken hostage by a notorious gang during a police raid to clear their island hideout in Punjab province, forcing the government to use aerial strikes on the gangsters. The operation codenamed 'Zarb-e-Aahan' have been launched to flush out the gangsters from the province. The operation entered its ninth day with 1,600 security officials, including police officials and paramilitary Rangers, battling for control of the island of Punjab. Police officals have confirmed the casualties and hostage-taking situation. "The SHO (station house officer) of Bangla Acha police station, Hanif Ghouri, is among those abducted by the gang of Ghulam Rasool, alias Chottu," officials said. Chottu, who carries a huge bounty on his head, radioed a message to the police to call off the operation, release his arrested gang members and vacate the area or else the hostages would be killed one by one. Police commandos moved into the thickly forested hideouts of the Chottu gang in the Kacha Jamal area on Tuesday night. The heavily-armed gangsters fired indiscriminately at the advancing police party, killing six and forcing the rest to retreat. "Yesterday, police commandos mounted another operation to recover the bodies but the gangsters put up a fierce fight and abducted 15 of the policemen," officials were quoted as saying by the Express Tribune. The police has not been able to achieve any significant success so far, forcing officials to use aerial attack on the hideouts of the gangsters. Now, the police have decided to use air power to soften the target before mounting a ground operation. The Punjab government has requested the Pakistan Army to deploy two helicopter gunships for air raids ? and two helipads have been set up in the Kacha Sounmiani area for this purpose, said District Police Officer Ghulam Mubashir Maikan. Over 100 gangsters with the Chottu gang have 54 cases of murders, dacoities and kidnapping registered against it in police stations across South Punjab, Maikan said. He added that the next 24 hours were important as Operation Zarb-e-Aahan has entered the final phase. "So far, we have arrested 110 facilitators of the gangsters, and soon the Kacha area will be purged of them," he claimed. Paris: Seven Somali pirates were sentenced to between six and 15 years in prison by a French court on Wednesday for the hijacking of a French yacht and killing of its owner in the Gulf of Aden in 2011. Christian and Evelyne Colombo were on a round-the-world trip when their "Tribal Kat" catamaran was hijacked by pirates in the Arabian Sea. Christian was killed and his body dumped in the water, while his wife was held hostage for 48 hours before being rescued by the Spanish military. Two members of the gang identified as the "recruiters", Farhan Abdisalamn Hassan and Ahmed Abdullahi Akid, were handed 15-year sentences. Farhan Mohamoud Abchir, a minor at the time of the hijacking who has developed schizophrenia while in prison, according to his lawyer, was given the lightest six-year jail term. The prosecutor had sought terms of up to 22 years for the seven. "It`s hard to understand the range of the penalties, the motivations of the court. Fifteen years is a very heavy sentence," said Augustin d`Ollone, lawyer for Akid Abdullahi. The Colombo family cried as the sentence was read out. "It has been four years that we have sought life sentences. This verdict does not satisfy us," the family said in a statement posted on social media. Before the sentence was read out, the Somalis asked for "forgiveness" for a crime they said haunted them "every day".The Colombos had sold everything before embarking on a dream round-the-world trip. They left the Yemen port of Aden in early September 2011 and were heading for Oman -- a journey that took them through notoriously pirate-infested waters -- when naval authorities received a distress signal from their "Tribal Kat" catamaran. A German frigate found the boat several hours later. There were bullet holes in the deck and a pair of glasses lying in a pool of blood. No one was onboard. Two days later, a Spanish warship located the skiff believed to belong to the pirates. They tried to approach but turned away when the attackers dragged Evelyne Colombo into view, a gun to her head. The Spanish military prepared a raid and attacked a few hours later, leaving two pirates dead and the remaining seven under arrest. Evelyne Colombo told her rescuers that her husband`s body had been dumped into the sea. It was never found. She had spent a nightmarish 48 hours with the pirates, kept under a tarpaulin, drenched by waves and in constant fear of death. The defence team sought to present the seven Somalis as unwilling criminals forced into piracy by the hardships of life in Somalia. "War... hunger... for these men to be properly judged, the court must understand the hell from which they have come," one of their lawyers, Martin Reynaud, previously told AFP, saying this could only explain rather than excuse their actions. The dramatic decline in piracy off the Somali coast means the trial could be the last in Europe for some time. The European Union`s military counter-piracy mission "Atalante" saw zero vessels pirated over the past three years, compared with a peak of 47 in 2010. Capas: Glowing projectiles lit up the Philippine sky from an advanced US long-range missile system on Thursday, in war games aimed at boosting their military alliance in the face of an increasingly assertive China. The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) was the star of a simulated assault exercise by 5,500 US and Philippine soldiers, unleashing six missiles at distant targets from a dry riverbed three hours' drive from Manila. US Marine Cobra attack helicopters and Philippine S211 jets also buzzed over the Crow Valley training range as Filipino and US troops acted out the capture of imaginary enemy-held territory. The exercises were staged in the shadow of a festering dispute between the poorly equipped US ally and regional giant China over islands, reefs and waters in the resource-rich South China Sea. "The truth of the matter is we are allies and as allies, we need to work together," Lieutenant-General John Toolan, the US Marine Corps Pacific commander told reporters, referring to the missile system. "I think we will be more than happy to share," he said when asked if the US would deploy HIMARS to the Philippines in the case of armed conflict over the South China Sea. The system's range is 300 kilometres, Toolan said, meaning it could hit vessels far from the Philippine landmass. China claims most of the South China Sea, even waters and rocks close to the coasts of several neighbours that overlap with their claims. Beijing has reclaimed several reefs claimed by Manila and built structures on them that the Philippines alleges were designed for military use -- a charge China denies. Although, the US has not taken a stand on the conflicting claims to the South China Sea, it has opposed China's efforts to claim the waters and has stressed freedom of navigation in the vital sealane. "We have seen the capability. It is highly mobile, lethal. So I think it is one of the capabilities we want to have," Philippine Navy Vice-Admiral Alexander Lopez said as he watched the missile firing. Lopez, the commander of Filipino forces in the South China Sea, told reporters this would "raise the skill and the respect for your armed forces, not only for the Filipinos but also in our region". Toolan said the two-week manoeuvres displayed the capability of both armies to deploy rapidly across the Asian archipelago. The truck-mounted missile system had been flown aboard a giant military transport plane to an airport near the Crow Valley firing range earlier in the day from the western Philippine island of Palawan. BERLIN (Reuters) - A year after the Germanwings plane crash, Germany's lower house of parliament has passed a package of measures to tighten up reporting of pilot medical assessments and requiring tougher alcohol and drugs checks on pilots. Germanwings pilot Andreas Lubitz killed 150 passengers and crew when he locked his captain out of the cockpit and deliberately steered his jet into the French Alps on March 24, 2015. Investigations showed he had a history of mental illness and had concealed this from his employer in the months leading up to the crash. Lubitz was taking anti-depressants and sleeping medication at the time of the crash, investigators said. Alongside random spot checks on pilots for drugs and alcohol, the new law will involve a medical database being set up to allow for easier reference for aeromedical specialists of pilot medical assessments. The law was passed a day after families of around 80 of those killed in the crash filed a suit against Lufthansa's flight training school in the United States, alleging the school was negligent in its screening of Lubitz. (Reporting by Markus Wacket and Victoria Bryan; Editing by Gareth Jones) Two teenage boys are facing weapons charges after RCMP say they seized a rifle from an Annapolis Valley house Wednesday and officers put a nearby high school in hold-and-secure mode. Around 12:50 p.m. Wednesday, RCMP say they received a call alleging people near West Kings District High School had a firearm. Nobody was allowed to enter the school without permission as a precaution during that time. RCMP later seized a .22 calibre rifle and ammunition from a home near the school, Cpl. Jennifer Clarke said in a news release Thursday. A 17-year-old from Kingston now faces two charges of careless use of a firearm and one count of unauthorized possession of a firearm. A 15-year-old from Auburn also faces the same charges, plus two more for allegedly pointing a firearm and failing to comply with previously imposed court conditions. Two males arrested and released Three male youths and one male adult were arrested Wednesday, but one teen and the adult were released after the investigation, Clarke said in the release. The charged teens were released from custody late Wednesday night, RCMP said. They are scheduled to appear in Kentville provincial court April 28. Brian Pallister spends nearly 1 in 5 days of his time in Costa Rica, travel logs show Since his election as a Manitoba MLA in September 2012, Brian Pallister has travelled to Costa Rica 15 times, spending 18.2 per cent of his total time in the Central American country. Public records show Pallister spent about 240 days either en route to or in Costa Rica. His latest trip there was from Jan. 31 to Feb. 10 of this year. "Mr. Pallister, like all members of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly, works incredibly hard for the people of Manitoba," said PC spokesperson Olivia Billson in an emailed statement. "Mr. Pallister's working vacations took place outside of legislative assembly sessions." NDP Leader Greg Selinger spent an estimated 50 days at the cottage with his family in northwestern Ontario during that same time period, according to party spokesperson Andrew Tod, who added the days away were primarily on weekends. Liberal party spokesperson Mike Brown said Liberal leader Rana Bokhari went to Barbados on a trip for nine days, and spent 18 more days attending Liberal party functions out of province since she became leader in October 2013. MLAs are not required to report when they take vacations and have no specific vacation day allotment or sick leave, according to a Manitoba Legislative Assembly spokesperson. But when the House is sitting, they must report any absences to the Speaker. None of Pallister's Costa Rica trips occurred when the legislature was sitting. CBC News asked for public records from Costa Rica after a news conference Monday, where Pallister proactively disclosed he owns a vacation property in Costa Rica and the balance of his bank account in that country was roughly $2,300 Cdn, that morning. "The account in Costa Rica and the property have always been reported on my tax return, which is confidential," Pallister said to reporters after both Selinger and Bokhari disclosed information from their income tax returns. Pallister in Costa Rica when Manitoba declares state of emergency Story continues Pallister was away during the height of the 2014 flood. In early July of that year, the premier declared a state of emergency, and the military was called in to help shore up dikes. Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to tour the disaster zone on July 6. Between June 29 and July 12, 2014, Pallister was on a 14-day stay in the Central American country. Later that year, when asked by the Winnipeg Free Press about where he was during the flood, Pallister responded, "I was at a family wedding in Alberta in July; the first week of July was when the unprecedented rainfall occurred one day in parts of western Manitoba." When asked today, Pallister's spokesperson said the wedding actually took place June 28. "During the 2014 flood, Mr. Pallister visited threatened regions throughout south-western Manitoba, meeting with affected Manitobans, community leaders and emergency measures officials as they fought the flood waters. When unprecedented and unpredicted flash flooding occurred in July 2014, Mr. Pallister was already out of the province. While he publicly supported the presence of then-premier Selinger and local officials on the front lines, Mr. Pallister has repeatedly stated that he does not believe times of crises should be politicised," wrote Billson. "Immediately upon returning to Manitoba, Mr. Pallister once again visited impacted communities, doing so without fanfare or media attention," she added. The PC Party declined to tell CBC News whether Pallister spent any additional days away, beyond his Costa Rica trips. Pallister reports 'lapse in memory' In a story on April 2, the Winnipeg Free Press asked the party leaders, "Where did you go the last time you left Canada?" Pallister replied, "The former site of Jack's Bar in Maida, N.D., ... I used to make at least a semi-annual drive down there. It was the drive as much as the steak at the end. It's one of my major lamentations that it's closed now. [I went] back last fall." But travel records from Costa Rica show he was in that country for 25 days over this past Christmas and New Year's and another 11 days at the end of January and into February this year. "This was an oversight, an unfortunate lapse in memory," wrote Billson to explain why Pallister answered Maida, N.D. Issue could impact popularity, professor says Paul Thomas, professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba, said being outside the country a lot doesn't break any rules of the legislature. He noted there are not many sitting days in the house, but he said the issue could impact Pallister's personal popularity with voters. "That's a much bigger worry for him, and it goes beyond simply where he chooses to take vacations and how often he goes. It's about appearances and the belief that politicians are paid to be full time, that they're not expected to take extensive periods off from performing in their public roles," said Thomas. "There were events, floods and other things like that where he was not available for comment." Royce Koop, the head of the political studies at the University of Manitoba, agreed. "This is a classic issue where there is probably no formal rules, but it is a matter where the voters decide if it is something they actually care about when they decide to vote, " said Koop. "MLAs, they are big girls and boys," said Todd MacKay, prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. "I don't need to make a star chart to track where they are all the time. That said, my boss likes to know where I am. I think for most Manitobans, their bosses like to know where they're at." The issue of disclosing foreign holdings arose on the weekend when Selinger pointed to the Panama Papers and issues of secret corporations as a reason for politicians to be more transparent. CBC News, which has access to the Panama Papers database, has confirmed neither Pallister nor Selinger nor Bokhari are named as clients with offshore accounts in the records. Pallister's travel records were released by the Costa Rican General Migrations and Foreign Citizens Bureau. By Jack Kim and David Brunnstrom SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ahead of a rare ruling party Congress next month, secretive North Korea is revealing details of its weapons development program for the first time, showcasing its push to develop long-range nuclear missiles despite international sanctions. Until recently, information on the North's weapons program was hard to come by, with foreign governments and experts relying on satellite imagery, tiny samples of atomic particles collected after nuclear tests and mangled parts and materials recovered from long-range rocket launches. No longer. In just over a month, the North has published articles with technicolor photographic detail on a range of tests and other activities that point to fast-paced efforts to build a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The reason for the revelations, many analysts say, is that Pyongyang believes convincing the world, and its own people, of its nuclear prowess is as important as the prowess itself. Nevertheless, isolated North Korea's true capabilities and intentions remain unknown. "Close-up pictures of ground test activities are almost unprecedented from the DPRK," John Schilling, an aerospace engineer specializing in satellite and launch vehicle propulsion systems, told Reuters. DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name. The reclusive state has conducted four nuclear tests in the past 10 years, the last in January. "The openness suggests that the underlying strategy is as much diplomatic as military: it is important to Pyongyang not only that they have these capabilities, but that we believe they have these capabilities," Schilling said. In its latest revelations, North Korean state media reported on Saturday that the country had carried out a successful test of a new ICBM engine. Pictures showed what experts said were the engines of two Soviet-designed R-27 missiles clustered together, ejecting two exhaust plumes. The claims indicate the North has no intention of slowing down, despite last month's United Nations sanctions and stern warnings from Washington and elsewhere, said Michael Elleman, a U.S.-based rocket expert with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "The revelations, pronouncements and 'tests' appear to be part of a campaign to establish the narrative that Pyongyang has, or will soon have, a nuclear-armed, long-range missile that could threaten the U.S. mainland," he said. "Each unveiling, if real, would be part of a structured program aimed at developing the capability. The open question is: How real are these tests?" The activities are likely to be watched closely by U.N. experts assigned to enforce sanctions prohibiting the North from engaging in work that involves ballistic missile technology. CONVINCING THE DOUBTERS? There is an increasing feeling among international arms experts that North Korea's capability may be more advanced than previously thought. It could have a primitive but operable ICBM "later this decade," said a U.S. government source with intelligence on the North's weapons program. Overcoming such scepticism, and fuelling alarm for its neighbors and the United States, may be the intended effect, with significant domestic propaganda value ahead of the May ruling party congress, said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. "To a normal military, arms development is supposed to be classified," he said. "But Kim Jong Un had years of the South and the U.S. putting his military down, so now he wants to maximize the perceived threat of what he's trying to develop." The recent ICBM engine test followed the March test of a solid-fuel rocket engine and a simulated test of atmospheric re-entry of a missile warhead. Kim has vowed another nuclear warhead test soon, which would be the country's fifth. Some analysts say it could be timed to take place just before the congress, at which Kim is likely to unveil an official policy of twinning economic development with nuclear capability. Kim also claimed in March that his country has miniaturized a nuclear warhead to be mounted on a ballistic missile. Media reports displayed a spherical object and a jubilant Kim standing before a large rocket-shaped object similar to the KN-08 ICBM. The choreographed manner in which the weapons tests appear to be taking place also points to political posturing rather than rigorous technical examination, some analysts have said. Given the North's secrecy, penchant for bombastic propaganda and history of manipulating photographic and video images, its claims are still met with plenty of scepticism. "I am still not convinced that everything really is what they want us to believe it is," said German aerospace engineer Markus Schiller, who has closely followed the North's missile development program. (Editing by Tony Munroe and Raju Gopalakrishnan) By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Muslim countries have agreed to work together more closely to fight terrorism and other crimes and will establish an Istanbul-based center for greater police cooperation, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday. Leaders from the Muslim world are attending a summit in Istanbul this week of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss issues facing the grouping's 57 member states, including the humanitarian fall-out from Syria's civil war. "It would be appropriate to create a structure among OIC countries which would strengthen and institutionalize cooperation against terror and other crimes," Erdogan said in his opening address at the summit. "With this in mind, our proposal for the establishment of an OIC police cooperation and coordination center based in Istanbul found acceptance." Erdogan, whose country is set to take over the three-year rotating presidency of the OIC, gave no details about the new police center or say when it might start work. Turkey has long pressed for closer regional cooperation in tackling terrorism as its army and security forces battle Kurdish militants that Ankara and its Western allies classify as terrorists. Turkey is part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in neighboring Syria and is also a vocal opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a stance that has put it at odds with Assad's ally, Iran. On Thursday Erdogan called for greater unity among Muslim countries. "The more that we as Muslims, as Muslim countries, fall out with each other, the more the innocents who have put their hopes in us will be exposed to strife," he said. Also speaking at the summit, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke out against divisions among Muslims. Shi'ite Iran is at loggerheads with Sunni Muslim powers including Saudi Arabia in Yemen as well as in Syria. "No message which would fuel division in the Islamic community should come out of the conference," Rouhani told the conference, according to Iranian state television. (Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Gareth Jones; Writing by David Dolan) Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam had documents about a nuclear research base in his Brussels flat, according to reports. German newspapers - citing high-level political sources - claim he had printed out information about the Juelich research centre from the internet. Printouts of articles about Juelich from the internet, along with photos of its chairman Wolfgang Marquardt, were apparently found at Abdeslam's Molenbeek address. A spokesman for Juelich said there was no indication that the centre was compromised or in danger at any point, and said bosses had been in touch with the security authorities and nuclear regulators. The base, near the Belgian border, has atomic waste stored there. Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, reportedly informed a confidential parliamentary panel of the discovery. But the agency said Mr Maassen had ever spoken about this with "any members of parliament". "This is not right," a spokeswoman said. "We have no information about this." Abdeslam, 26, was captured in Brussels in March, four months after November's terror in the French capital that left 130 people dead. Days later more than 30 people were killed and 270 injured in suicide bomb attacks at Zaventem Airport and Maalbeek station. Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who blew themselves up at the airport and metro station, had reportedly secretly filmed the home of the head of Belgium's nuclear research and development programme . The footage recorded the nuclear chief's routine and caused investigators to conclude the terrorists "could have put national security in danger like never before", according to Belgian media. It has been suggested the Brussels attacks had been due to be carried out over Easter - and could have targeted the a nuclear plant as well - but were brought forward in case Abdeslam revealed details following his arrest. But the chief suspect in the Paris attacks has claimed he "didn't know" about the Brussels terror plot, according to his lawyer. Secretary of State John Kerry has condemned "reckless" Russian fighter jets for buzzing a US Navy warship in the Baltic Sea this week. Russia says it is surprised by America's "sore reaction" to the incident in international waters and denies engaging in provocative behaviour. The US military says two unarmed Russian Su-24 jets simulated attacks as they passed just metres from the USS Donald Cook, creating a wake in the water. Mr Kerry told the Miami Herald: "It is provocative. It is dangerous. And under the rules of engagement that could have been a shoot-down." "People need to understand that this is serious business and the United States is not going to be intimidated on the high seas. "We are communicating to the Russians how dangerous this is and our hope is that this will never be repeated." The US military released video showing warplanes zooming by at close range. A US sailor is heard saying one aircraft is flying lower than the highest point of the guided missile destroyer. Two Russian Ka-27 Helix anti-submarine helicopters are also said to have circled the USS Donald Cook seven times, taking photos. The destroyer's commanding officer, Charles Hampton, told journalists in Lithuania the "very low, very fast" fly-bys were "inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries in international waters". But the Russian Defence Ministry said on Thursday the jets were on test flights, and that "having observed the ship, turned away in observance of all safety measures". Spokesman Igor Konashenkov added: "Frankly speaking, we don't understand such a sore reaction from our US colleagues." He also claimed that the USS Donald Cook was in "operational proximity of the Russian navy's Baltic fleet base". NATO deputy secretary general Alexander Vershbow said the low-altitude passes were "irresponsible". The incident comes as diplomatic tensions simmer between Moscow and Washington over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. NATO is currently planning its biggest Eastern European build-up since the Cold War to counter what the alliance says is a more aggressive Russia. By Megan Cassella WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders won his first endorsement from a fellow U.S. senator on Wednesday, and he and rival Hillary Clinton both announced backing from New York City labor unions as they battled to win next week's state primary. The Transport Workers Union Local 100, representing 42,000 workers in the New York region, backed Sanders as he struggled to dent Clinton's lead in a state each has called home. Deriding "fierce attacks" against unions over the last several decades, Sanders called organized labor the last line of defense against corporate greed in America. "We've got to stand together, take on the big-money interests and make it clear that our government works for all of us, not just the 1 percent," the U.S. senator from Vermont said. Following his endorsement announcement, Sanders joined a picket line of Verizon Communications Inc workers, who went on strike on Wednesday after contract talks hit an impasse. He thanked the workers for fighting corporate greed and told them: "Today you are standing up not just for justice for Verizon workers. You're standing up for millions of Americans." Clinton, a former two-term senator from New York, scored her own union endorsement from Local 3 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, representing more than 27,000 area workers. Sanders trails Clinton in the number of delegates won in primaries and caucuses. The former U.S. secretary of state has 1,758 delegates to Sanders' 1,069, according to the Associated Press. A candidate needs 2,383 delegates to win the nomination to be the party's candidate in the Nov. 8 election. Clinton on Wednesday also won backing from New York's Daily News, which called her a "superprepared warrior realist" who understands the economic toll the country has faced, while labeling Sanders "utterly unprepared" with "politically impossible" goals. The newspaper's editorial board interview with Clinton's Brooklyn-born rival this month prompted criticism of Sanders as lacking detailed understanding of some of his main policy initiatives. U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, announced his endorsement of Sanders in a New York Times column, saying he supports Sanders for his work battling economic inequality, opposing trade deals and fighting for the middle class. "It is time to recommit ourselves to that vision of a country that measures our nation's success not at the boardroom table, but at kitchen tables across America," wrote Merkley, the junior U.S. senator from Oregon. Merkley's announcement precedes Oregon's May 17 primary. (Reporting by Megan Cassella and Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Brian Snyder and Jonathan Allen; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Bill Trott and Jonathan Oatis) BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia accused Croatia on Friday of obstructing its negotiations on European Union membership and said it would not submit to blackmail by its neighbor. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said his government was "stunned by Croatia's decision not to support Serbia's European path" after Croatian officials in Brussels refused to give their assent to Serbia opening talks on a new chapter or policy area in the negotiations. "Serbia will not allow itself to be blackmailed, humiliated or disrespected by anyone," Vucic said in a statement. "Serbia will never be anyone's punching bag." A row has been brewing since Croatia said this week that Serbia must change its law on prosecuting crimes committed during the 1990s Balkan wars as a condition for completing its EU membership negotiations. Croatia, which fought a 1991-95 war against Belgrade-backed Serb rebels to forge its independence from Yugoslavia, says it is unacceptable for Serbia to claim jurisdiction for war crimes committed on the entire territory of the former Yugoslavia. With Serbian elections set for April 24, the dispute could give ammunition to ultra-nationalists who loathe Vucic's policies of integration with the EU and instead favor close ties with Russia. Croatia joined the EU in 2013 whereas Serbia only opened negotiations in December. Since all 28 EU governments must agree to the opening and closing of new chapters in negotiations with prospective members, that effectively gives Croatia a veto over Serbia's membership. Officials in Serbia said Croatia was not saying "no" to opening talks on the judiciary and fundamental rights but was delaying taking a decision on the issue. Croatia wants the European Commission to accept its concerns over the war crimes law and several other issues as conditions for a successful outcome to Serbia's EU negotiations, officials there say. "Croatia is now waiting for Brussels to voice how it plans to incorporate criteria that Serbia needs to meet into the negotiation benchmarks," Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovac said in Zagreb on Friday. "We want to have good neighborly relations with Serbia and for that, healthy foundations are needed, which includes resolving war legacy issues," he said. Other conditions Croatia wants the EU to set for Serbia include full compliance with a bilateral agreement on protecting minorities and full cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Serbia, which hopes to wrap up its EU membership talks by 2019, says it already cooperates with the U.N. tribunal. (Reporting by Ivana Sekularac and Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade and Igor Ilic in Zagreb; editing by Adrian Croft and Andrew Roche) By Angus McDowall and Tom Miles BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - Syria's army backed by Russian warplanes launched an assault north of Aleppo on Thursday, threatening to block a vital rebel route into the city in fighting that has cast new clouds over Geneva peace talks. Syria's recent upsurge in fighting, particularly around the northern city of Aleppo, has proven the most acute challenge yet to a cessation of hostilities deal agreed in February and soured an already bleak mood as opposing sides gather in Geneva. Outlining its bargaining position, the opposition High Negotiating Council (HNC) told Reuters it would be willing to share equally in a transitional council with the government, but repeated its rejection of a role for President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian government, buoyed by Russian and Iranian military support, has ruled out any discussion of the presidency. Moscow and Tehran have also rejected what they see as Western efforts to predetermine Assad's future. The warring sides have sought to portray the fighting as the fault of the other, pushing towards breaking point a ceasefire that was designed to improve the political climate ahead of the Geneva talks. In addition to the Aleppo assault, heavy government air strikes were reported north of Homs, where a doctor described the most intense government bombardment since the cessation of hostilities agreement took effect. In Aleppo, government forces and their allies were focused on the area around Handarat Camp, overlooking an important access point held by rebels into the city, which is split into zones held by the government and opposition. "The escalation started at night. The area is of great importance. If the regime advances, this will tighten the grip on Aleppo," said Abdullah Othman, head of the politburo of the Levant Front rebel group. "VERY FIERCE" RUSSIAN BOMBING Speaking to Reuters, he described the battle as "to-and-fro" and said: "the bombing is Russian, and very fierce". His account was echoed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group that monitors the war. Separately, the monitor said it had received information that Islamic State hit and may have brought down a Syrian jet near the southern city of Sweida although the pilot had apparently been rescued. Amaq, a news agency close to the militants, also said IS had downed a Syrian army plane. Syrian state TV reported that the army had seized control of the northern part of Handarat camp, to the north of Aleppo, after fierce battles with armed groups. A number of militants had been killed, it said. Handarat camp is important because it is perched on a hilltop above a main road leading to opposition-held districts of the city. The government and its allies have launched several major offensives in the Aleppo area, cutting the rebels' shortest supply line to Turkey in February. Yet rebels still control territory around the city, including its western approaches. Fighting near Aleppo has been escalating for two weeks, mostly to the south of the city where government forces backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah and other militias have been waging fierce battles with rebels including Nusra Front fighters. The al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and Islamic State groups are not included in the cessation of hostilities agreement. Speaking in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the rebels of breaching the truce to reconquer lost ground. "The opposition is trying to recover what they lost," he said. Putin, who last month decided to withdraw some of the Russian forces deployed to Syria, said Moscow had left Damascus in a position to launch major offensives. The air strikes in Homs hit five towns and villages, killing one person and wounding a number of others in Talbiseh, said Doctor Mohamad al-Shamsi, speaking from the area. "Warplanes were flying at low altitudes for nearly an hour. A number of raids were launched on Talbiseh and al-Houla," he said. Rebels north of Aleppo are also facing a separate attack by the Islamic State group, which is trying to retake territory at the Turkish frontier lost in recent days to other insurgent groups backed by Turkey. OPPOSITION WANTS TO HEAR GOVERNMENT IDEAS ON ASSAD The Geneva talks aim to end a war that has killed more than 250,000 people, created the world's worst refugee crisis, and allowed for the rise of the Islamic State group. U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura has said he wants the resumed talks to focus on a political transition, one of the most contentious issues, with the opposition and its allies insisting Assad must be removed at the start of the process. HNC spokesman Salim al-Muslat said in an interview there were "many people on the other side who we can really deal with". "We will have no veto, as long as they don't send us criminals, as long as they don't send us people involved in the killing of Syrians," he said. The opposition wants the transition to be run by a governing authority that has full executive powers. Damascus has, however, signaled that the most it is willing to offer is a "unity government" with opposition participation, and a new constitution. Assad's supporters, including Iran, say he should be able to run in a future presidential election. Putin said: "It is necessary to accept - for all to agree and sit down at the negotiating table - to accept the constitution and on the basis of the constitution to hold elections. That is the way to get out of the crisis." Muslat said there was room for negotiation on how to handle Assad's departure: "For a solution, to really help Syria to get relief, then let them suggest what they want for Assad and we discuss it." (Additional reporting by Tom Perry in Beirut, Alexander Winning and Andrew Osborn in Moscow; Editing by Tom Perry and Catherine Evans) (Reuters) - UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has expressed serious concerns about the proposed merger between Hutchison 3G UK and Telefonica UK and called for the European Commission to prevent "long-term damage" to the UK mobile telecoms market. The proposed merger is likely to lead to increased prices and/or a reduction in the quality offered to UK consumers, CMA Chief Executive Alex Chisholm told the European Commission's Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. (http://bit.ly/1SYPxji) European Union antitrust regulators launched a full in-depth investigation in October into Hutchison Whampoa's 10.3 billion-pound bid for British mobile operator O2 on Friday, concerned that the deal may push up prices. The potential deal would make Li Ka-shing's Hutchison, which operates the Three UK mobile network, the top mobile operator in Britain. "It is clear that the remedies offered fall well short of what would be required to meet the relevant legal standard, as detailed in our case submissions," the CMA said, adding that the only available option for the EU was a prohibition if the suggested remedies are not enacted. On Monday the CMA suggested that the companies divest either the Three Mobile or O2 mobile network business completely or allow for carve-outs from the divested business. Hutchison said it was "very disappointed" the CMA had intervened, adding that it could have "no legitimate" status in the process. "It is of no surprise that the CMA opposes the merger," it said in a statement. "It always has, and so has (British regulator) Ofcom. But it is for the Commission to assess any competition concerns, on the basis of the facts and proposed remedies." Hutchison said the remedies it had proposed -- including striking deals for other operators to rent more than 40 percent of the combined network capacity -- went far beyond remedies accepted in previous deals in the sector in Europe. It said the CMA's suggestion that either the Three Mobile or the O2 network should be divested was a "red herring" that would undermine the whole rationale behind the merger. "There is no taker for such a remedy," it said. Spain's Telefonica said in March 2015 that it had finalised a deal to sell its British mobile business O2 to Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa. (Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru and Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Ed Osmond) By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations has closed its military liaison office in the disputed territory of Western Sahara as demanded by Morocco amid an escalating dispute over remarks by the U.N. chief, a U.N. spokesman said on Tuesday. Dozens of U.N. international staffers pulled out of the Western Sahara mission, known as MINURSO, after Morocco demanded they leave because Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon used the term "occupation" during a recent visit. U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said Morocco demanded the closure of the U.N. Dakhla military liaison office. It was Rabat's latest retaliatory step. "This was completed yesterday," Haq said. "The three military observers based there were relocated to the Asward team site, on the western part of the territory, controlled by Morocco. Morocco's request to close the liaison office in Dakhla is the first request directly targeting the military component." He said the liaison office was the U.N.'s "face-to-face counterpart to the Royal Moroccan Army" and handled all discussions on the ceasefire. Haq said the relocation made direct dialogue with the army "more difficult." U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric chided the Security Council on Friday for not issuing a strong statement of support for him and MINURSO in the dispute, something council diplomats blamed on Morocco's traditional ally France, along with Spain, Egypt and Senegal. Ban and the 15-nation council had their monthly lunch meeting on Monday. Several diplomats told Reuters that Ban left with the impression that a statement of support for him was imminent. But no such statement was issued. Haq repeated Ban's desire for a statement of support from the council. "In enough time, a lack of a statement can indeed be interpreted as a statement of its very own," he said. The controversy over Ban's comments is Morocco's worst dispute with the U.N. since 1991, when the U.N. brokered a ceasefire to end a war over the Western Sahara and established the mission. Rabat accused Ban earlier this month of no longer being neutral in the Western Sahara dispute when he used the word "occupation" to describe its 1975 annexation of the region, when Morocco took over from colonial power Spain. Ban had visited refugee camps in southern Algeria for the Sahrawi people, who say Western Sahara belongs to them. They fought a war against Morocco until the 1991 ceasefire. The Polisario Front wants a referendum on independence, but Morocco says it will only grant autonomy. Polisario says Rabat's moves against the U.N. jeopardize the ceasefire. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Dan Grebler) Distance Learning U Nevada Reno Taps Private Partner To Provide Services for Online Master's of Social Work The University of Nevada, Reno's School of Social Work is teaming with a private partner to expand access to its online Master of Social Work (MSW) program, which is launching foundational and concentration tracks in the fall. The school has tapped Pearson to provide marketing, recruiting, retention support, course development and a helpdesk, among other services for the program, which is expected to enroll approximately 500 students. "Nevada students now have access to one of the least expensive MSW online degree programs in the country and will have all of our full-time faculty expertise in their online classrooms," said Goutham Menon, director and professor in the School of Social Work, in a prepared statement. "Our program will extend to other states, with a particular focus on rural and hard-to-reach areas to create opportunities of access for students to higher education. This is also a critical development for our University, in producing more graduate degrees in key areas of health care, which speaks to our University as a quality, high-impact research institution." As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ NIOSH Finds Bering Sea/Aleutian Island Crab Fleet's Safety Much Improved During the 1990s, it was the most hazardous commerical fishery in the United States, with 73 crew members killed on the job. A new NIOSH report shows that safety in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Island crab fleet has greatly improved since the 1990s, when it was far from safe for the crews working that fishery. It was the most hazardous commercial fishery in the United States at that time, with 73 crew members killed on the job from vessel disasters, falls overboard, or on-board injuries. The report prepared by Devin Lucas, Ph.D., Samantha Case, MPH, Theodore Teske, MA, Alexis DeLeon, BS, and Dimitreus Kloczko, BFA ("Assessment of Safety in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Island Crab Fleet," DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2016-112) shows that between 2005/06 and 2012/13, 65 injuries in the fleet were reported to the Coast Guard, one of which one was fatal. The other 64 injuries ranged from minor to severe, but most were minor or moderate. Twelve injuries were classified as serious and one as a severe injury, but no critical injuries were reported during the study period, according to their report. The report's authors write that several factors contributed to the improvement. "Although safety regulations in place at that time required vessels to carry lifesaving equipment, such as immersion suits and life rafts, the regulations did not address the problem of overloading vessels with crab pots, a major cause of vessel disasters and deaths," they report. "This gap in safety regulations was partially corrected by the Coast Guard in 1999 with the introduction of the 'At-the-Dock Stability and Safety Compliance Check' program, in which Coast Guard personnel checked crab vessels in Dutch Harbor prior to departure to ensure that each was loaded in compliance with their stability instructions." This caused fatalities to drop. In addition, the fleet changed in 2005 from a derby-style race for fish to a quota-based (rationalized) system, bringing about an extended fishing season and smaller pot loads and also allowing for a more experienced and potentially less fatigued crew, they found. And consolidation of the fishing fleet, from an average of 243 vessels during 2001-2004 to 78 vessels during 2005-2010 (according to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council) also played a role. Panamas national police raided the Panama City headquarters of law firm Mossack Fonseca late Tuesday, looking for evidence that would establish the possible use of the firm for illicit activities, as they said in a statement. The police, under the direction of prosecutor Javier Caravallo, who specializes in organized crime and money laundering, surrounded the headquarters building and raided other branches as well. According to the Financial Times, the operation was still underway eight hours after it began. The action was part of the continuing fallout from publication of the Panama Papers, an investigation into 11.5 million documents spanning 40 years of operations by the firm, one of the worlds largest wholesalers of shell companies. Usually set up in a manner that makes it hard to know who controls them and existing almost only on paper, shell companies may be used for lawful purposes but have also figured frequently in money laundering, tax evasion, bribery, drug dealing and other crimes. Were the ones against whom a crime has been committed, the law firm said in a statement published on its website. It added that the company is ready, willing and eager to cooperate with authorities. The raids came at a time when Panamas President Juan Carlos Varela has taken several actions in response to the revelations about the firm, whose co-founder Ramon Mossack was one of his top advisers until his recent resignation. Earlier in April, Varela announced the creation of an international panel to improve transparency in Panamas economically important offshore financial industry. He also published an op-ed piece in the New York Times, decrying the emphasis on Panama which he said does not deserve to be singled out on an issue that plagues many countries, adding that Panama is willing to accept the responsibility for fixing it, in part because greater transparency is ultimately a continuation of reforms we have recently undertaken. On Tuesday before the raids, Panama warned France that it would take unspecified diplomatic measures if Panama is not removed from a blacklist of tax havens. The Panama raid followed several other police actions related to investigations in other countries: French prosecutors disclosed they had searched the offices of Societe Generale last week in an attempt to identify holders of offshore companies set up by the bank through Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Peruvian authorities seized documents from the Lima office of Mossack Fonseca on Monday in case they were needed in possible investigations. A team of 20 officers carried out the operation in the Panama law firms offices in the exclusive San Isidro neighborhood on behalf of the National Tax Administration. El Salvadors top prosecutor oversaw a raid on the Mossack Fonseca & Co. offices in that country after noticing that the sign over the office had been removed, said attorney general Douglas Melendez. Computers were seized and employees interviewed, but no one was detained. In other countries, though, journalists, not Mossack Fonseca, were the focus of authorities' gaze. Some of ICIJ's Ecuadoran partner journalists were threatened and insulted by Ecuadors president. President Rafael Correa took to Twitter to argue for a complete release of the Panama Papers. The selective fight against corruption is only more corruption!, he tweeted. ICIJ has declined to allow wholesale access to its database because it contains information about private individuals for whom there is no public interest argument for exposure. Correa also tweeted the names and Twitter accounts of six Ecuadorian journalists who were part of the project, triggering a wave of threats and insults via Twitter. The Ecuadorian Council of Citizen Participation and Social Control, an arm of the Ecuadoran government, also said that it has identified the journalists who were part of the Panama Papers and will demand all the information in order to conduct their own investigations. ICIJ published an FAQ about the project explaining that ICIJ doesnt share documents with governments. Fundamedios, a local non-government organization that defends free press in Ecuador, has demanded the Ecuadorian government stop its campaign of intimaidation against journalists who investigated the Panama Papers. Correa also tweeted that journalists spent almost a year looking for something against the Ecuadorian government and didn't find anything. Panama papers. Casi un ano se pasaron buscando algo contra el gobierno ecuatoriano y no encontraron nada. Ahora le toca a los Rafael Correa (@MashiRafael) April 11, 2016 Galo Chiriboga, Ecuadors General Attorney who has a company connected to Mossack Fonseca said to El Universo that his office will follow the Panama Papers leads and that revelations could help with existing investigations as well as open new ones. He said he declared the shares of the Panamanian company created in 1999 Madrigal Finance Corp., when he became General Attorney in 2011. The offices of a consulting firm that served in Ecuador as intermediary between Mossack Fonseca and a Chinese company to evade taxes, revealed as part of the Panama Papers Ecuadorian stories by ICIJ partners, were raided on Tuesday by the General Attorneys office. Ecuadorian Parliament also announced that they were going to open an investigation based on the Panama Papers. In Venezuela journalists who investigated the Panama Papers have also been targeted by state-owned media, which accused them of selectively reporting on revelations connected to the administration of the late President Hugo Chavez. Reporter Ahiana Figueroa, who wrote a story about an ex-banker who used Mossack Fonseca to register companies in offshore jurisdictions while he was under investigation in Venezuela, was fired by her news organization Grupo Ultimas Noticias for being part of the Panama Papers Venezuelan team. Her story was published in a microsite created by a group of Venezuelan journalists, some who work for other media outlets and others who are freelancers. Many of them resigned from traditional media outlets when ownership changed and their independence was threatened, and went on to create their own media outlets which came together for the Panama Papers investigation. The Press and Society Institute of Venezuela (IPYS Venezuela) a local non-governmental organization that promotes press freedom in the country generated an alert about the threats received by Venezuelan journalists after the publication of the Panama Papers and denounced the Venezuelan Ministry of Communications and Information for sending an email to media outlets about how to cover the Panama Papers that included phrases disparaaging the investigation, the journalists and the media that were part of it. IPYS Venezuela said these incidents violate the right of free press and information. The Venezuelan attorney general and parliament have announced that they will investigate Panama Paper revelations connected to Venezuela. In Tunisia, suspected hackers brought down the website of ICIJs partner, Inkyfada, shortly after the publication of a story that claimed to detail an offshore company of Moshen Marzouk, a former political advisor to Tunisias president and the founder of a political party. Reporters Without Borders condemned the cyber-attack on Inkyfada, noting that Tunisia is ranked 126 out of 180 in terms of freedom of the press. Marzouk has since threatened to sue Inkyfada for defamation despite Inkyfadas claims that it sought repeated comment from the politician. Although Marzouk was reported in Huffington Post Maghreb as having confirmed from two sources within ICIJ that his name was not among the 11.5 million documents, ICIJ has had no such contact. Contributors to this story: Will Fitzgibbon The mobility of terror groups operating in the south has been constrained and government troops would continue to run them down, Malacanang said yesterday. The bandits have been driven to the remote areas by the significant improvements in infrastructure, aside from the impact of the governments social development projects. Their capacity to instill fear and to commit crimes has been greatly diminished. Hence, they are constrained to operate within a greatly reduced area where they are now being engaged by government troops, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement. The military said government troops were closing in on more than 60 Abu Sayyaf gunmen in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan following last weekends bloody clashes that left 18 soldiers dead and 56 wounded. Troops killed three suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen yesterday as sporadic firefights resumed as government forces closed in on the extremists in Tipo-Tipo. The military said a total of 27 bandits were killed in the clashes with government troops since the fighting erupted Saturday. Maj. Filemon Tan Jr., designated ground operation spokesman, said the troops are under orders to cautiously advance to the bandit groups known defensive positions. The operation has been ongoing and there is no letup. We are always careful in our advance because these remnants are already in defensive positions, Tan said. About five battalions and additional companies of strike forces have been dedicated in the offensive operation against the bandit group led by Isnilon Hapilon and Furuji Indama, who was reportedly wounded. We are facing a war President Aquino, on the other hand, flew to Zamboanga City yesterday to condole with the families of the 18 fallen soldiers. Aquino also visited 36 wounded at the Camp Navarro General Hospital and had a brief chat with each of the soldiers. Story continues The President assured the families of full government assistances and benefits. He said there would be an investigation into the incident, according to a military official. However, the President asked the families to allow the military to continue its operations against the Abu Sayyaf before an investigation. A wife of a soldier who was among those killed in Basilan told Aquino that she is volunteering her son to replace his slain father in the service. Aquino appreciated the widows offer and said he salutes such good mindset. One of them asked why many were killed and wounded, according to information provided to the media. AFP chief Gen. Hernando Irriberi said this would be investigated. He then explained to the families that soldiers are still in the battlefield and thus could not be interviwed or questioned at the moment. Maj. Gen. Gerardo Barrientos Jr., commander of the Armys 1st Infantry Division, said that despite the various speculations surrounding the April 9 attack in Basilan, their efforts were also appreciated by the families of those wounded and killed. Barrientos said the President told the families that the military is at war with the Abu Sayyaf and their atrocities must end. We are facing a war, Department of National Defense spokesman Peter Galvez also quoted the President as telling the families of the slain soldiers during their meeting. This has been a problem for so long. A lot of lives have been destroyed. I want to finish this, Aquino said. Barrientos also said the war would continue in hunting the bandits who were also holding hostages. Barrientos stressed the policy remains that they would not negotiate with these hostage takers. Barrientos said the families were emotional but managed to recover and were appeased by the fact the military leadership were attending to their needs. Galvez, for his part, said the President opened and ended the dialogue with the soldiers families with an expression of sympathy for their loss and said he felt for them. Galvez said Aquino also cited their bravery and gallantry and their mission was a major step in curbing terrorism. Aquino also detailed the benefits for them and other assistance that could be provided by the government. Galvez said the President personally handed checks to some of the family members. Barrientos added an investigation would come but they would have to focus first on the operations against Abu Sayyaf and the welfare of the families left behind by the soldiers killed last Saturday. He said the investigation was standard operating procedure and every incident was being looked into by the militarys Board of Inquiry. Coloma earlier said it would be inappropriate to conduct an investigation into the killing of the 18 soldiers amid the ongoing military operations against the bandit group. Rebel integrees AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said the military has coordinated its operations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) whose camp is located near the scene of fighting. Padilla gave assurance that no MILF fighters were involved in the operation, saying the Muslim rebel group withdrew their forces to allow the military to pursue the Abu Sayyaf. Government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel Ferrer lauded the military and the MILF for coordinating efforts against the Abu Sayyaf under the ceasefire agreement mechanisms. With Jaime Laude, Roel Pareno, Jose Rodel Clapano SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea accused South Korea on Tuesday of abducting its citizens in China, four days after South Korea said 13 workers at restaurant run by the North had defected. North Korea said the abduction of its citizens was an unacceptable provocation and it demanded their return. "We sternly denounce the group abduction of the citizens of the DPRK as a hideous crime against its dignity and social system and the life and security of its citizens," the North's KCNA news agency quoted a spokesman of its Red Cross Society as saying. DPRK stand for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name. South Korea said on Friday that 13 workers at a restaurant run by the North in an unidentified country had defected, a case it described as unprecedented, adding that the 13 had arrived in the South a day earlier. South Korea did not say where the 13 had worked. China said on Monday that 13 North Koreans had been there and had left lawfully. It did not say if they were the same group. The North's Red Cross Society said the group was employed at a restaurant in the Chinese city of Ningbo, and they were taken to a Southeast Asian country before being flown to South Korea. It did not say how many people were in the group. News of the defections came during a period of tension on the Korean peninsula following the North's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the next month. The two Koreas have been fierce rivals since the 1950-53 Korean War and about 29,000 people had fled from North Korea and arrived in the South, since then, including 1,276 last year. (Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Robert Birsel) Student Information Systems Duncanville ISD Deploys New SIS Duncanville Independent School District in Texas has implemented a new student information system (SIS) that is fully integrated with its business management suite. The district had been using another student information system for 15 years, but product issues, lack of support and frequent software updates were creating problems for district operations. The district's legacy SIS also charged separate fees for features such as mobile app access or administrative applications for staff members. "Over time, as with many products, we had to make internal adaptations to issues within the software," said Kyle Berger, CTO of Duncanville ISD, in a prepared statement. "As we started to look to the future in regards to more robust offerings and interoperability, we began to see issues emerge." A committee of more than 60 staff members and parents evaluated options for a replacement SIS before the district selected the Student Management Suite from Skyward, a provider of K-12 school administrative software. The district had previously implemented Skyward's School Business Suite in January 2015. Staff at Duncanville ISD were happy with the project management, communication and training they received from the company with that deployment. During the SIS evaluation process, district administrators said they were impressed that Skyward's core package contained all of the features they wanted in a single package, rather than separate fees for add-on features, and that Skyward's SIS could integrate fully with the School Business Suite. The district completed its implementation of Skyward Student Management Suite in January 2016. The suite includes a wide variety of tools for office and administration, classroom management, family engagement and student services, including resource tracking, scheduling, report cards, curriculum management, enrollment and fee management, lesson planning, attendance and behavior tracking, messaging, response to intervention and a variety of other tools. The former spokesman for Somali terror group al Shabaab has been publicly executed by a government firing squad. Hassan Hanafi, who was responsible for arranging news conferences for the al Qaeda-linked group, personally killed one journalist in Somalia and ordered the deaths of others. He was extradited from Kenya last year, and executed on Monday at the police academy in Somali capital Mogadishu. "Today, the court fulfils the execution of Hassan Hanafi who had killed journalists," Abdullahi Hassan, deputy judge of the court, told reporters at the scene. Hanafi, 30, was led out of a police van in front of witnesses, tied to a pole in a sandy area of scrubland, and blindfolded. The order was then given to shoot him. Firing squad is the only execution method in Somalia. Hanafi was feared by local journalists when he was the media liaison for the Islamist group. He required journalists to report according to al Shabaabs media rules, which included avoiding stories about the groups military setbacks. Hanafi also gave tours of battlefields and invited journalists to news conferences. Al Shabaab wants to impose its strict version of sharia law in Somalia, where it frequently attacks government targets, hotels, and restaurants. It was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 although it still controls many rural areas in southern Somalia. By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - The rate of carbon emissions is higher than at any time in fossil records stretching back 66 million years to the age of the dinosaurs, according to a study on Monday that sounds an alarm about risks to nature from man-made global warming. Scientists wrote that the pace of emissions even eclipses the onset of the biggest-known natural surge in fossil records, 56 million years ago, that was perhaps driven by a release of frozen stores of greenhouse gases beneath the seabed. That ancient release, which drove temperatures up by an estimated 5 degrees Celsius (9 Fahrenheit) and damaged marine life by making the oceans acidic, is often seen as a parallel to the risks from the current build-up of carbon in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels. "Given currently available records, the present anthropogenic carbon release rate is unprecedented during the past 66 million years," the scientists wrote in the journal Nature Geoscience. The dinosaurs went extinct about 66 million years ago, perhaps after a giant asteroid struck the Earth. Lead author Richard Zeebe of the University of Hawaii said geological records were vague and "it's not well known if/how much carbon was released" in that cataclysm. Current carbon emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, are about 10 billion tonnes a year, against 1.1 billion a year spread over 4,000 years at the onset of the fast warming 56 million years ago, the study found. The scientists examined the chemical makeup of fossils of tiny marine organisms in the seabed off the New Jersey in the United States to gauge that ancient warming, known as the Paleoeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). U.N. studies project that temperatures could rise by up to 4.8C this century, causing floods, droughts and more powerful storms, if emissions rise unchecked. Carbon dioxide forms a weak acid in seawater, threatening the ability of creatures such as lobsters or oysters to build protective shells. "Our results suggest that future ocean acidification and possible effects on marine calcifying organisms will be more severe than during the PETM," Zeebe said. "Future ecosystem disruptions are likely to exceed the relatively limited extinctions observed at the PETM," he said. During the PETM, fish and other creatures may have had longer time to adapt to warming waters through evolution. Peter Stassen, of the University of Leuven who was not involved in the study, said the study was a step to unravel what happened in the PETM. The PETM "is a crucial part of our understanding of how the climate system can react to carbon dioxide increases," he told Reuters. (Reporting by Alister Doyle; Editing by Catherine Evans) By Kate Holton HEREFORD, England (Reuters) - Above a factory floor of machines carving metal to within a millionth of a meter, Stephen Cheetham is preparing his company for the unknown: a British exit from the European Union. Since the government announced a referendum on Britain's future in Europe, Cheetham has deferred investment decisions, put off expensive hiring and even bought equipment with his own money to avoid straining the balance sheet. The aim is to prepare his company, which makes parts for first-class airline seats and intricate scientific equipment, for what he fears will be a slump in business if Britain votes to leave the world's biggest trading bloc. "It is extremely difficult to prepare for and it worries me witless," said the owner of PK Engineering. "But our disaster plan is very clear: if all the kit is paid for, we hang on to it and we ditch everybody apart from the core." Britain's big listed companies have appointed lawyers and strategists to identify the risks of a British exit, or Brexit. Wary of meddling in politics, however, they have largely not detailed their plans for the June 23 vote. But smaller companies in the manufacturing heartlands, crucial to the economy and often inextricably linked to continental Europe, are formulating contingency plans that illustrate the risks facing businesses across the country and the steps being taken to mitigate them. At the start of 2015, almost half of Britain's private-sector turnover came from firms that employed fewer than 249 people, according to the Department for Business. For Cheetham his "disaster plan" involves jettisoning nearly half of his 30 employees if a Brexit compounds the drag from an already slowing global economy at his firm in the English rural town of Hereford. Across the nearby Welsh border, Gareth Jenkins, who runs a toolmaking firm, has identified which major customers in Europe are likely to abandon him should they have to accept higher costs or slower delivery times that might come from new border controls with EU countries if Britain leaves the bloc. Story continues He has calculated the financial impact and says in a worst-case scenario he could lose 25 percent of his turnover. He plans to tell his 91 employees in the next couple of weeks that a vote to leave could force him to lay off a quarter of staff. POOR VISIBILITY Very little is clear ahead of the referendum called by Prime Minister David Cameron, with British voters divided on membership and both sides in the debate arguing Britain would be financially better off if their cause succeeds. The fears of business owners like Cheetham and Jenkins are driven by what most Britons - on either side of the debate - accept is unchartered economic territory should Britain vote to leave the group it joined 43 years ago. The terms of any divorce would be subject to two years of negotiations with the EU, with no guarantees of how the new order would look. At present British companies trading with other EU nations do not face customs tariffs, costly paperwork such as certificates of origin or VAT - sales tax - on imports. Should it opt to leave, Britain may negotiate continued tariff-free access but additional administrative burdens will almost certainly apply, making exporting to and importing from the EU more costly, say business owners and lawyers. They also fear any restrictions on European workers and a prolonged period of a volatile pound, while the effect on the EU of losing its second-largest economy is unclear. Adam Shuter, head of haulier Exact Logistics, is investigating whether he should set up a German office, which he thinks could cost less than the additional taxes and paperwork of serving EU customers from outside the bloc. "For a small business, it's quite a bit of investment," he said. "It just adds a layer of administration." He is also gauging the extra customs costs his British customers might incur outside the EU, using non-members Norway and Switzerland as guides, and looking at how much it would cost to set up expensive software to handle border clearances. He charges an additional 50 to 60 pounds ($70-85) per consignment for customs clearance into those two countries, on top of a typical European delivery cost of 40 to 50 pounds. A spokesman for Vote Leave, one of the groups campaigning for Britain to leave the EU, said the concerns were unfounded. The group argues companies would benefit from fewer regulations imposed by Brussels, while the government could be more nimble in agreeing trade deals with the likes of India, China and the United States. "The UK is the EU's largest market so every incentive exists for the UK to strike a free trade deal with the EU while using its new-found control to also strike free trade deals across the world," it said. GLOBAL TIES Cheetham's focus is closer to home. He bought PK Engineering in Hereford, close to England's border with Wales, four years ago after a career in the automotive and finance industry. With its 1.5 million pound ($2.2 million) turnover and 10,000 square ft factory, he says he is too small to employ consultants or lawyers ahead of the vote. Like many of Britain's high-precision manufacturers, most of PK's goods - 90 percent - are exported to global supply chains, ending up at the likes of Boeing's factory in Seattle or Airbus's base in Toulouse. "You think we're a rural business?" asks Cheetham of his 27-year-old firm based on a small industrial park nestled in rolling countryside 190 km (120 miles) west of London. "If we screw up, Boeing in Seattle stops or Airbus in Toulouse stops ... it's all interconnected." Clutching a component of an airline seat in his right hand, the 58-year-old details how the aluminum came from Finland and the fittings from Germany to meet an order from a French customer in Wales who will send it on to Toulouse or Seattle. To his left is a large folder detailing the certification process the firm went through to allow it to win work in the aerospace sector. Known as the Aerospace Quality Certification AS9100C, the six-month process cost about 20,000 pounds. The EU contributed to that cost in its bid to improve productivity and competitiveness in the bloc and Cheetham said it would have taken much longer to complete had he needed to stump up all the cash. Leaving the bloc, Cheetham worries that his firm could miss out on this kind of advantage and become less competitive. "Our ability to increase prices is very limited - whenever we try, we lose work," he said. He has pushed back the hiring of a new senior engineer until after the vote. "If we do vote for Brexit we will have a prolonged period of uncertainty and everything will grind to a halt, he said. "And we don't want to be caught holding the debt." 'MAPPED OUT IN MY MIND' Any move that led to British manufacturing firms losing their place in global supply chains would deal a major blow to the British economy; the sector accounts for a tenth of its output and employs 2.65 million people, the vast majority in small and medium-sized firms. Just over one hour's drive from Hereford through country lanes decked with daffodils stands Jenkins' 55,000 square ft toolmaking factory, a Welsh firm entwined in similar networks. Like Cheetham, 59-year-old Jenkins has been studying contracts and trying to work out whether three of his biggest clients, all based in Germany, would be able to cope if they had to accept higher costs or slower delivery times. He estimates that one if not two would stop using his FSG Tool and Die, Europe's largest privately owned design and build toolmaking firm. "I have mapped this out in my mind," he says, in a room off the spotless factory where tools are being built to make everything from yoghurt pots to replacement hips and car parts. "The minute we vote to leave customers will say there's a risk here and we need to mitigate it. We ship tools from here on Monday that they'll be using by Thursday. What happens if that is disrupted?" he said, fearing that they will look elsewhere. Jenkins fears losing the close links he has developed with other EU firms should a vote to leave exclude it from the free movement and trade that has made the alliances work. Up against the might of low-cost centers such as China, he teamed up with firms in Germany, Sweden and elsewhere to train one another's apprentices, refer sales, bid for emerging market work and hire a rep in Singapore to cover all their needs. "It's a bit like a life raft," he said. CUSTOMS CONUNDRUM The customs issues are perhaps most crucial for hauliers such as Shuter's Exact Logistics, which delivers across Europe from its base in Rugby, central England. While lawyers and business owners say any new tariffs could be low, they worry that deliveries could be delayed by customs clearance and additional paperwork, including certificates of origin and export tax declaration documents. Shuter and one of his clients, Pete Churchill from Robert Welch Designs, estimate that the additional paperwork could mean the cost of a consignment jumps to between 150 to 200 pounds from the current 50 pounds. That compares with the value of the consignment which can sometimes be as little as 500 pounds. Sitting in an office crammed with filing cabinets and maps of Europe, Shuter is investigating how much it would cost to buy a new software system that could clear consignments with European tax and border authorities if Britain were to operate under different rules. "You're probably talking in the region of 10-20,000 pounds, so it's relatively significant," he said. British importers also fear they will have to pay VAT sales tax when they take delivery of goods from the EU - rather than at the point of sale - making cashflow harder to manage. Facing so many unknowns, business owners such as Cheetham are struggling to plan for the future. Back in Hereford he lets his frustration show. Normally a supporter of Cameron's Conservatives, he says he is furious at the position the government has put business owners in. "They are playing roulette with the economic future of the country," he says, hands gripping the table. "We're just hoping for the best. I'm almost in denial." ($1 = 0.6933 pounds) (Additional reporting by Tom Bergin and Paul Sandle; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Pravin Char) It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the avengers civil war Disney/Marvel "Captain America: Civil War" is out in theaters May 6. The first reactions to the movie have been extremely positive, with some calling it Marvel's best superhero movie yet. If you can't wait a few more weeks, Marvel has been dropping a few new clips from the upcoming film as cast members start making the late-night rounds. The three that have been released so far are mostly centered around Captain America. Let's get started! This first clip shows many of the Avengers ranging from Team Cap and Team Iron Man. RAW Embed We have to pause for a moment to appreciate the fact that Vision, an AI, looks like he's actually just dressed as his actor counterpart, Paul Bettany. black widow jarvis captain america civil war Disney/Marvel Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Steve Rogers (Captain America) are arguing over the Sokovia Accords, documents put in place by the United Nations after the events of "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and a subsequent incident which put a regulation on superheroes. Rogers is wary of trusting UN saying that the regulations are being put in place by people who have an agenda. He says if the heroes decide to agree to the document then they'll resign their superhero powers and abilities over to government control. Stark doesn't see it like that. He rather prevent something like Ultron, a sentient AI hellbent on taking over the world, from gaining power again. captain america civil war Disney/Marvel "We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own," argues Rogers. Stark posits that if they don't agree to this now, they'll be forced into it by the government and police, perhaps by force, eventually. The second clip is much more light-hearted and features Paul Rudd's Ant-Man front and center as he meets Captain America for the first time. RAW Embed It looks like this takes place after the first clip. Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) appears to have kidnapped a slightly confused Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) to bring him onto Team Captain America. Any concern fades quickly as he becomes starstruck in the presence of the Captain America. He's so delightfully goofy that he can't stop shaking his hand. It's pretty great because this is essentially how any normal fan would react if they met Chris Evans. Story continues paul rudd civil war Disney/Marvel Lang also has a brief reunion with Falcon who he took down in "Ant-Man." Falcon's not laughing. That brings us to the third clip. With Team Cap assembled, the three are seen fighting alongside one another in an action sequence. This clip debuted on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Monday evening. RAW Embed Captain America, Falcon, and Scarlet Witch are working together to break in to a military building run by the IFID, thought to stand for the Institute for Infectious Diseases. The payoff in this sequence is seeing how effortlessly the three combine their powers and gadgets to work effectively and efficiently together. wanda captain america civil war Disney/Marvel "Captain America: Civil War" is out in theaters May 6. If more clips are released throughout the week, we'll continue to update this post. NOW WATCH: People are struggling to count how many girls are in this photo A man who hijacked an EgyptAir plane on a domestic flight and forced it to divert to Cyprus is claiming political asylum there, authorities have revealed. The claim, being handled by lawyers on behalf of 59-year-old Seif Eddin Mustafa, will be considered before Cyprus considers a request for extradition from Egypt, Cyprus' interior minister Socrates Hasikos said. Mustafa was arrested last month after a six-hour standoff in which the Airbus A320 carrying 72 passengers and crew was forced to land at Larnaca airport. The Egyptian - described by Cypriot authorities as "psychologically unstable" - had told the plane's crew he was wearing a suicide belt and would blow up the plane unless they agreed to his demands. The belt was discovered to be fake - and 26-year-old British man Ben Innes hit headlines back in the UK when he posed with his captor for a photograph taken by a member of the crew. Mr Innes, whose mother later called his behaviour "stupid", explained his impulsive action by saying he "just threw caution to the wind while trying to stay cheerful in the face of adversity". Mustafa's Cypriot former wife, Marina Paraschou, described him as a dangerous drug addict who had beaten her and terrorised their four children during their marriage. He had been deported and banned from the island in 1990 and had said he wanted to see his family after 24 years. Ms Paraschou told a local paper: "This man never cared for his children for one minute, either when he lived here or when he went away," Ms Paraschou is quoted as saying. "He only offered pain, misery and terror. And even now when he's in police custody, my children and I are afraid." She also said separately that the hijack was an excuse for Mustafa to seek asylum in Cyprus. By Madeline Chambers BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany said on Wednesday it needs more time to decide on a request from Turkey to prosecute a comedian who has caused a diplomatic row by reciting a sexually crude poem about Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on German television. The request by Turkey has created a political dilemma for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has just pushed through a European Union agreement with Ankara to help curb the influx of migrants. Critics had already accused her of getting too cosy with Turkey and relying on Erdogan's help to ease the pressure over her handling of the crisis, which saw over a million migrants arrive in Germany last year. In a deliberately provocative poem about Erdogan, Jan Boehmermann referred to bestiality and the suppression of Kurdish and Christian minorities in Turkey. The programme was aired on ZDF public television on March 31. Erdogan himself has filed a legal complaint against Boehmermann for insulting him. But in an even more politically charged move, the Turkish embassy has sent the German foreign ministry a cable requesting Boehmermann's prosecution on suspicion of offending a foreign head of state. Erdogan is known for his intolerance of criticism and readiness to take legal action. Turkish prosecutors have opened nearly 2,000 cases against people for insulting him since he became president in 2014, the justice minister said last month. "The assessment of the Turkish cable and of further action resulting from it is still going on," Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters, reiterating comments from Monday when he said it would take a few days. "We ask for patience." Seibert also reiterated Merkel's commitment to freedom of speech, but tried to separate that from the immediate political reality. "It is important that the migrant deal with Turkey is implemented," he said. "We, Germany, and Turkey have a mutual interest in this succeeding ... but totally separate from that, we clearly acknowledge Article 5 of our constitution, which guarantees freedom of opinion, of science and of art." Critics argue that Merkel partly brought the problem on herself, by telling Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on a phone call that the poem was deliberately offensive. It would be legally possible under German law to prosecute Boehmermann. But as practical matter, such prosecutions are very rare. Only a handful of investigations have been conducted under the relevant laws over the past 15 years, say officials. Under the relevant section of Germany's criminal codes, the government has to authorize prosecutors to pursue a case against Boehmermann. Requiring such political intervention in a judicial matter is antiquated and should be abolished, critics say. A spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry said there were no immediate plans to abolish it but that the ministry was aware of a discussion taking place within some political parties. (Additional reporting by Michael Nienaber, editing by Larry King) By Katie Paul, Marwa Rashad and Andrew Torchia RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) - In late February, several hundred Saudi officials, company executives and foreign consultants gathered in a luxury Riyadh hotel to discuss how Saudi Arabia's economy could survive an era of cheap oil. One company manager at the event told Reuters that officials from about 30 Saudi government bodies manned booths in which they described their challenges. Corporate bosses were encouraged to "figure out ways to do partnerships to address those needs, to offer feedback, to complain, and to plan future ventures or even just future meetings," the manager said. "It was like a private sector version of a national parliament." The workshop was part of Saudi government attempts to work out how to restructure the economy so it no longer relies on oil. The National Transformation Plan (NTP), as Riyadh has dubbed the changes, is expected to be unveiled in the next few weeks. Much is still secret. Ministries have refused to discuss plans in detail and Western consultancies contacted by Reuters declined to confirm their involvement, let alone policy details. Officials, consultants and executives, though, say the five-year programme is both ambitious and risky. It includes asset sales, tax increases, spending cuts, changes to the way the state manages its financial reserves, an efficiency drive, and a much bigger role for the private sector. Such changes have been talked about for years but never put into action. One reason to think this time could be different is that policy-making has in the past year shifted away from conservative bodies such as the finance ministry and central bank. Power is now concentrated in a new 22-member Council of Economic and Development Affairs, formed after King Salman took the throne in January 2015. The Council is chaired by his son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is about 30. In his role as defence minister, Prince Mohammed launched Saudi Arabia's military intervention in Yemen in March 2015. Now, he wants to shake up economic policy. "Since the foundation of the kingdom there has been no government-led programme that innovates in this way," said Mohamed al-Afif, a veteran banker who now runs Cash Solutions, a boutique financial services firm. CONSULTANTS AND WHATSAPP People familiar with the NTP said it was born late last year in discussions between Prince Mohammed and a few other top officials. At the time, oil was sinking below $30 (21.1) a barrel, about half the low point that had been expected. That saddled the kingdom with an annual budget deficit near $100 billion and strengthened the case for radical changes. While Prince Mohammed is the ultimate decider, he has chosen Economy and Planning Minister Adel al-Fakieh, a former food industry executive and mayor of Jeddah, to help with the detail. As labour minister between 2010 and 2015, Fakieh overcame opposition from business to policies that pushed companies to hire more Saudis. People involved in the NTP say Fakieh, 57, uses WhatsApp on his mobile phone obsessively, conducting chats with dozens of groups until the small hours. Riyadh is spending tens of millions of dollars on foreign consultants for the NTP. London-based Source Global Research estimated in March that total Saudi spending on consultancies mostly by the government or state-linked bodies grew over 10 percent in 2015, from $1.06 billion in 2014. Consultants and ministry officials, many of them young Saudis with Western degrees, work at the Khozama office building in Riyadh, thrashing out policy in as many as 40 groups known as "delivery labs". The plans are heavy on jargon-labelled targets requiring ministries to hit rigid budget and reform goals, according to documents seen by Reuters. MODELS One model is neighbouring United Arab Emirates, which began radical reforms by cutting gasoline subsidies last year, people familiar with the Saudi plan said. Another model is Malaysia, which in 2010 moved to diversify beyond commodity exports and attract more foreign investment. Consultancy McKinsey & Co played a major role in the Malaysian plan and is now at the centre of the Saudi effort. The NTP echoes Malaysia's programme in three ways. It puts a single body in charge of implementation to force better cooperation between ministries. It seeks feedback from the private sector early, even during planning. And it aims to boost the private sector's share of investment, something Saudi planners consider vital as oil revenues sag. Riyadh wants private firms to develop tourism facilities on some of its islands, plans to create "free zones" with minimal red tape near airports, and even wants private investment in some schools. New infrastructure such as roads and port facilities will be constructed under build-operate-transfer contracts, in which private firms finance the projects and then operate them to recoup their investments. "The government will take no risk anymore, it will only provide opportunities," said a Saudi economist who attended a recent workshop. The NTP will also speed up Saudi Arabia's long-running but slow-paced privatisation programme. Up to 5 percent of national oil giant Saudi Aramco will be sold to the public, Prince Mohammed says, possibly raising tens of billions of dollars. Also on the block: chunks of other companies in up to 18 sectors, including healthcare, mining and transport. Management of the country's financial reserves will become more aggressive, according to officials and consultants. The central bank, which acts as the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, holds $584 billion of foreign assets, mostly in conservative investments such as bank deposits and U.S. Treasuries. In the future, privatisation proceeds will be invested in corporate assets around the world, generating income and obtaining access to technology and expertise. Saudi officials have been visiting the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority which has over $700 billion invested in developed and emerging market equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate and infrastructure to see how it works, sources said. Prince Mohammed told Bloomberg last month that one fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), would be expanded to control over $2 trillion eventually. The fund is now believed to have about $100 billion of assets. DEADLINE Top officials are reviewing proposals which all the ministries involved were required to submit by March 31, two sources said. "Everyone is waiting for the NTP announcement for a clue about how things will operate going forward," said a Western diplomat who monitors the economy. There are many sceptics. Some say the NTP is too late. Local capital markets are too small to absorb a privatisation programme so attracting foreign money will be vital. But investors are wary of Saudi Arabia's prospects given the low oil price. Eliminating the budget deficit by 2020 will require an additional $100 billion in spending cuts and tax increases equivalent to about 16 percent of gross domestic product. That could stifle growth and deter the investment the NTP seeks. Some plans are headline-grabbing but may involve little real change. For example, the PIF will take over assets such as Saudi Aramco but won't be able to reinvest that wealth unless it sells big pieces of the firm, which would be tough for financial and political reasons. And then there's the mixed fortunes of some of the models Saudi Arabia has looked at. "Most of the economic transformation programmes in various countries didn't succeed or diverged immensely from the original plans," said prominent Saudi economist Ihsan Bu Hulaiga. Malaysia, for instance, has increased the private sector's share of investment modestly, to 64 percent in 2014 from 52 percent in 2009. But the country's currency has plunged along with commodity prices, something Riyadh wants to avoid. Many question the role of highly paid consultants. "You have people in their 30s with laptops helping to determine the direction of the country," said one foreign consultant. "The potential for change has certainly gone up, but so has the risk." Some Saudis think an economic shake-up could lead to the kind of social changes many foreign business executives believe are needed to modernise Saudi's economy: allowing women to drive, for instance, or opening up the legal system. The planning itself suggests some openness to change. Senior officials, normally given to opulent robes, regularly come to workshops in simple clothes, say some attendees. And unusually, female consultants are working closely with men. (Additional reporting by Angus McDowall in Riyadh, Tom Arnold and Hadeel Al Sayegh in Dubai, and Joseph Sipalan in Kuala Lumpur; Edited by Simon Robinson) Human remains, estimated to be about 2,500 years old, were unearthed at the Plain of Jars site in Laos. (ANU) An ancient burial site, including an oddly shaped quartz stone covering the face of one of the newly uncovered human skeletons, has been discovered at the mysterious Plain of Jars, an archaeological site in remote central Laos littered with thousands of stone vessels. The new findings could help researchers solve the long-standing puzzle of why the stone jars were scattered across this part of Laos. When it was found, the skull beneath the quartz adornment appeared to be looking through a large hole in the stone, said Dougald OReilly, an archaeologist at the Australian National University (ANU), who led a team of scientists on a joint Laos-Australian expedition to the Plain of Jars in February. [In Photos: Exploring the Mysterious Plain of Jars Site] "When we excavated it, the skull was actually looking out through that perforation. It was quite interesting, but whether it was done purposefully is difficult to know," OReilly told Live Science. Ancient burials The burial site is estimated to be 2,500 years old, and was found when researchers from ANU, Monash University in Australia and the Laos Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism, spent four weeks mapping and excavating the ground around a group of the massive carved stone jars that dot the landscape. More than 90 jar sites some with up to 400 stone jars measuring as tall as 10 feet (3 meters) high are spread across foothills, forests and upland valleys of this remote region. The members of the Laos-Australian expedition worked at the most accessible site, known as Jar Site 1, located a few miles outside the city of Phonsavan, in Xiangkhoang province in central Laos. The researchers plan to explore a second, more remote jar site next year. The Laos government hopes to develop Jar Site 1 as an archaeological center and UNESCO World Heritage site, to protect the unique Plain of Jars landscape and to stimulate scholarship and cultural tourism in the area. Story continues Mysterious jars OReilly said the latest expedition was the first major effort by archaeologists since the 1930s to visit the site, in an effort to understand the purpose of the jars and who created them. Since that time, however, some archaeologists have undertaken important work at the Plain of Jars, mainly on their own. [The 7 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth] The latest team of around 11 researchers worked together to compile the first comprehensive scientific study of one of the jar sites, including a GIS (geographic information system) map recording the precise location of each of the jars, stone disks and quartz stone markers scattered over the site. The largest jars weigh more than 10 tons (9,000 kilograms), and a big part of their mystery is how they got there. "There are a few well-known quarry sites where the jars were sourced and then brought across the landscape, about 8 to 10 kilometers [5 to 6 miles] to the jar sites," O'Reilly said. "So there's a huge amount of effort involved in moving them one would have to speculate that elephants must have been involved, given the incredible weight of the jars." And carving the massive jars would have been no easy task for primitive peoples with iron tools, he added. "Some of the jars are over 2 meters [6.5 feet] or perhaps even 3 meters [10 feet] in height, and in girth you couldn't get your arms around most of them," O'Reilly said. "And there are variations in the design of the jars: some have larger or smaller openings, some are rectangular, some circular or oval in some cases you wonder how did they even carve these things?" The variety of sizes and shapes of the jars has prompted many researchers to theorize about their purpose over the years. "Its probably likely that they do represent a memorial of some kind, and the variations in the sizes of the jars may indicate that there were differences in status and perhaps a hierarchy in the society that created the jars," O'Reilly said. "You could spend a lot of time theorizing." Unearthing new mysteries The burial site with the oddly shaped quartz stone was one of three distinct types of burial sites found at Jar Site 1, the researchers said. [Top 10 Weird Ways We Deal With the Dead] "This is the first time that this type of interment has been uncovered at the Plain of Jars, but if there is one, there will probably be others," O'Reilly said. "And this burial is also quite interesting because it contained the remains of not one but two individuals: the cranial bones of what's estimated to be an 8-year-old child were found in that burial as well [as an adult skeleton]." The expedition also uncovered 11 ceramic jars, which are expected to contain "secondary" burials of human bones from which the flesh was removed. A pit filled with bones from several secondary burials and covered with a large limestone block was also found, and the marker stones and stone disks on the ground around the stone jars seemed to correspond to the location of secondary burials, O'Reilly said. Scientific study of samples and remains from the Plain of Jars site will continue in the laboratory. OReilly said the expedition recovered some human teeth that could provide DNA for testing and clues to the origins of the ancient peoples buried there. But, DNA tends to degrade heavily in the climate conditions of Southeast Asia, so a proper analysis might not be possible, he added. The contents of the ceramic jars excavated from the site will also be carefully examined to confirm if, as the researchers suspect, they hold human remains. But the Plain of Jars is not giving up all its secrets just yet. Although some archaeologists have proposed that the stone jars were used to decompose bodies before the bones were cleaned for secondary burials, it may be impossible to know for sure. "This is something you find in various religious practices in different parts of the world, but it's something that needs to be investigated a little further at the Plain of Jars," OReilly said. One of the biggest problems at the site is that the jars have been exposed to the harsh Southeast Asian climate for more than 2,000 years, making it very difficult for scientists to study and run test on the artifacts. "Possibly we could look at trying to extract lipids from the stone jars to see if there is any evidence for decomposition of human remains, but the jars have been exposed for so long that it's a bit of a long shot," he said. "So, I fear we probably will never know the true purpose of the large stone jars." Follow Tom Metcalfe on Twitter @globalbabel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - Many nations are pushing for swift ratification of a Paris agreement to slow climate change and lock it in place for four years before a change in the White House next year that might bring a weakening of Washington's long-term commitment. More than 130 nations with 60 leaders including French President Francois Hollande are due to sign December's pact at a U.N. ceremony in New York on April 22, the most ever for a U.N. agreement on an opening day, the United Nations said. Both China and the United States, the world's top emitters accounting together for 38 percent of emissions, have promised to sign then. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to attend. But signing is only a step in a tortuous U.N. process for the deal to enter into force, which requires formal approval by at least 55 nations representing 55 percent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. In many countries, that needs a parliamentary vote. Some experts predict the 55 percent thresholds can be reached this year, before President Barack Obama leaves office in January 2017. But many developing nations want the Paris agreement to move forward as rapidly as possible on ratification, partly to lock in the United States if Republican candidates Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, who do not think that climate change is man-made, win the U.S. presidency. Once the Paris accord enters into force, a little-noted Article 28 says any nation wanting to withdraw will first have to wait four years - the length of a U.S. presidential term. "I would expect non-compliance, but not necessarily a formal withdrawal," under a Republican president, said Oliver Geden, of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. And many nations see self-interest in signing up. "Moving to clean energy is in every country's interest and I am confident that climate action is an historic inevitability," Maldives Environment Minister Thoriq Ibrahim, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, told Reuters. NICARAGUA All 195 nations in Paris agreed the deal except Nicaragua, which objected that it demanded too little of the rich. Some were reluctant such as OPEC oil producers led by Saudi Arabia. Still, the agreement could reach 55 percent of emissions with support from just a handful of countries, for instance China, the United States, Russia, India, Japan and Brazil. The European Union, with a 12 percent share, is likely to lag because it first has to share out promised curbs among member states. Many nations want to avoid a repeat of the U.N.'s previous climate deal, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which only entered into force in 2005 after years of disputes between Washington and its main allies. Kyoto dictated cuts in greenhouse gas emissions only for developed nations, unlike the Paris Agreement which involves both rich and poor but lets all countries set national targets. U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration signed Kyoto but never submitted it to a hostile Senate for ratification. His successor, Republican President George. W. Bush, stayed out, saying Kyoto would threaten U.S. jobs. Obama says his administration can now join the Paris agreement without getting approval from the Senate. "A lot has changed" since Kyoto, Christiana Figueres, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told Reuters, noting that prices of wind and solar energy have tumbled and scientists are ever more certain that burning fossil fuels causes global warming. "Much is made by some of the politics in the United States but it seems unthinkable that, whatever political complexion is in the White House ... (they) cannot see the self-evident economic and social benefits" of reducing emissions, she said. And more countries say they are suffering heatwaves, desertification, downpours and rising sea levels. Several vulnerable nations have already ratified the Paris agreement, even before the signing ceremony, led by Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Maldives. "My sense is that it (ratification) will move fairly quickly, possibly this year," said Alden Meyer, of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Any Republican president might seek to undo Obama's domestic plans to cut emissions by 26-28 percent by 2025 below 2005 levels, he said. And Obama's plans to cut emissions from power plants also face legal challenges. (Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington, David Stanway in Beijing; Editing by Richard Balmforth) By David Brunnstrom and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence believes North Korea's ability to reach the United States with an intercontinental ballistic missile is low, but its capabilities will increase, making continued investment in missile defence essential, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. North Korea has publicised a series of tests of its weapons technology since detonating its fourth nuclear bomb on Jan. 6, showcasing its push to develop long-range nuclear missiles despite international sanctions. Brian McKeon, U.S. principal deputy undersecretary of defence for policy, told a U.S. Senate hearing that North Korea's nuclear and missile programme posed a growing threat to the United States and its allies in East Asia. He said North Korea was seeking to develop longer-range nuclear ballistic missiles capable of hitting the United States and was working to make its KN-08 road-mobile ICBM operational. "Although the reliability of an untested North Korean ICBM is likely to be very low, North Korea has used its Taepodong-2 launch vehicle to put a satellite into orbit, thus demonstrating technologies applicable to a long-range missile," he said, referring to a North Korean rocket launch last month. Admiral Bill Gortney, the officer responsible for defending U.S. air space, told the same hearing that while U.S. intelligence assessments were that North Korea's ability to hit the United States was low, it was prudent to assume it had the capability. "We don't base our readiness levels on that low probability ... We are prepared to engage that particular threat," he said. "Eventually, we assess that this low probability will increase, that's why the investment to have us outpace that technology is absolutely critical." Gortney said he agreed with a South Korean assessment that North Korea was capable of putting a nuclear warhead on a medium-range missile that would reach all of South Korea and most of Japan. He also said he thought it "safe to say" that North Korea's neighbour and traditional ally, China, no longer exerted the level of potential controlling influence it once had now that current North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was in power. Gortney said the U.S. ICBM assessment was based on the fact that no tests had been observed of such a missile. "However ... the (Taepodong-2) shows that they have the capability and so you put that capability with the road-mobile capability, with the right engines, with a design of a re-entry vehicle, with a nuclear weapon, and a miniaturization; it's only a matter of time before they put it together." On Saturday, North Korea said it had carried out a successful test of a new ICBM engine and there is an increasing feeling among international arms experts that the country's missile technology may be more advanced than previously thought. A U.S. government source told Reuters this week North Korea could have a primitive but operable ICBM "later this decade." (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by James Dalgleish) By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia and China want the U.N. Security Council to demand states report when militants are developing chemical weapons in Syria, but some diplomats dismissed the move on Wednesday as a bid to distract from accusations the Syrian government uses such arms. Russia and China circulated a draft resolution to the 15-member body which Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said could serve as a deterrent to "terrorist" groups such as Islamic State from using chemical weapons. "We do not do any work on the possibility of terrorists actually preparing to build a chemical weapon," Churkin told reporters. "The draft resolution ... is a fairly simple one, it is filling this gap which we have detected." "Recently we have had numerous reports of terrorist groups in Syria and neighbouring Iraq using chemical weapons," he said. Islamic State militants are believed to be responsible for sulphur mustard gas attacks in Syria and Iraq last year, the United States has said. Russia has also said it sees a high probability that Islamic State is using chemical weapons. A confidential report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) concluded that at least two people were exposed to sulphur mustard in Marea, north of Aleppo, in August. The draft resolution, seen by Reuters, would demand that states, particularly those neighbouring Syria, "shall immediately report any actions by non-State actors to develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer, or use chemical weapons and their means of delivery to the Security Council." Some council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the draft resolution was a ploy by Russia to divert attention from allegations that the Syrian government continued to use chemical weapons. Churkin denied it was a distraction. Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013 under a deal broker by Moscow and Washington but the OPCW has since found chlorine has been "systematically and repeatedly" used as a weapon. Government and opposition forces have denied using chlorine. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by James Dalgleish) By Andrew Osborn TUZLA SPIT, Russia (Reuters) - Russia has pushed back the completion date of a showcase multi-billion dollar bridge to link the Russian mainland with annexed Crimea by one year, saying the original plan had to be adjusted to take account of the weight of the trains that will cross it. The Kremlin sees the bridge, which will span the Kerch Strait, as vital to integrating Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014. President Vladimir Putin has called the project an historic mission. Extending 19 km (11.8 miles), the project, which will be two separate parallel structures - one for road and another for train traffic - will be the longest bridge Russia has ever built and the longest such dual-purpose span in Europe. Construction of the road part is on schedule, but Reuters has learned that the rail segment deadline has been put back by a year, giving the contractor - a firm controlled by Putin's former judo partner with no experience of building bridges - more time to complete the 212-billion-rouble (2.25 billion pound) project. The delay underscores the huge logistical, financial and political challenges the Kremlin faces trying to breathe life into the economically deprived Black Sea peninsula at a time when it cannot draw on Western expertise due to sanctions imposed on Russia. A Russian government order from last year said the bridge had to be operational by Dec. 18, 2018 - a deadline Putin has repeatedly emphasised given the importance of the project to the struggling Russian economy and to Crimea, which Moscow can only supply by sea and air because of a Ukrainian land blockade. But Rosavtodor, Russia's federal road agency, said in answer to questions from Reuters that the deadline had now been refined and that the rail segment would not be operational until the end of 2019, a year later than initially planned. "In the process of government experts reviewing the project to build a bridge across the Kerch Strait the deadlines were worked out in detail," a spokesman for the agency said in a statement, calling the original deadline "preliminary". Building the railway bridge was more time-consuming and technically complex than the road one, he said, because it would have to bear more weight and would need signalling and special communications equipment. He did not explain why those factors were not taken into account in the original plan. "Because of this the bridge builders will need a little more time to do the rail part of the bridge and plan to start train traffic before the end of 2019," the spokesman said. The rail element was independent of the road component, he said. That part is on track to open on time at the end of 2018. Minutes of a meeting Putin held with ministers last month during a visit to the construction site for the bridge - dubbed "Putin's bridge" by some Russians - show the president was informed about the delay at the time and was initially unhappy with what he heard. The mention of a delay at the meeting near Tuzla Spit - a wind-lashed body of sand that juts into the Kerch Strait towards Crimea - went unnoticed by the media at the time. The minutes, available on the Kremlin's website, show Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov gave Putin a different explanation to the one supplied by Rosavtodor to Reuters, telling him the railway part was being built later because there was only light rail traffic in Crimea in winter, an excuse that appeared to irritate Putin. "Railway traffic is light for as long as there is no railway (bridge)," Putin shot back. "If there will be one (a railway bridge) then ports will start to work differently and then there will be traffic." PUTIN'S JUDO PARTNER The contract to build the bridge was last year handed to a firm controlled by Arkady Rotenberg, a close ally of Putin's and his former judo partner. He owns 51 percent of Stroygazmontazh (SGM), the lead contractor. Rotenberg is under Western sanctions because of Crimea's annexation and Russia's support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. He cannot raise capital in the West or hire Western sub-contractors to help his firm complete the project. SGM's primary expertise is in building gas pipelines and related infrastructure. It has not built a bridge before and has been forced to hire Russian sub-contractors who have. A spokeswoman for SGM-Most, the SGM unit handling the project, referred questions about the deadline to Rosavtodor. Ivan Bedelev, the head of the local administration in Taman, the nearest town to the bridge on the Russian mainland side, said he thought the builders had not realised what they were taking on. "The original plan was to deliver the road and rail elements all together," Bedelev told Reuters. "But I guess they sized it up and assessed their own strength and decided to change the plan." The bridge will require major road improvements on both sides of the Kerch Strait. There too problems have arisen. Construction of a planned four-lane 300-km (186-mile) highway meant to link the Crimean end of the bridge with the contested peninsula's capital has not yet begun after a dispute between the project's designers and the Crimean authorities. The details are unclear. Putin, who has a penchant for publicly dressing down ministers, complained at the meeting last month about what he said was the failure of any ministry or individual to take responsibility for overseeing the stalled project to build a highway to the bridge, saying the current setup was "a road to nowhere." The president, known for his flashes of dark humour, said: "There should be a specific person who can be hanged if it's not done." (Additional reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Pravin Char) By Polina Devitt and Kira Zavyalova MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian law enforcement officials, some wearing ski masks, searched the offices on Thursday of Mikhail Prokhorov, a tycoon whose newspaper has published revelations about people with ties to President Vladimir Putin. Several sources close to Prokhorov's businesses said officials from the Federal Security Service and tax inspectors conducted the searches at Onexim Group, which manages Prokhorov's assets. According to Forbes magazine, the 50-year-old is Russia's 14th richest person with $7.6 billion of wealth. He is also the owner of N.B.A franchise the Brooklyn Nets, previously known as the New Jersey Nets. Two of the sources told Reuters they believed the searches were linked to Prokhorov's RBC Media holding, although an RBC Media spokesman said its offices, which are in a different location to Onexim's, had not been searched. The media group's flagship newspaper, RBC, has in recent months published detailed reports into the "Panama papers" leaks and offshore assets of Putin associates, and reported on the business interests of Putin's son-in-law. A Reuters reporter outside the Onexim office building, on a leafy boulevard in an upscale part of Moscow, said the main entrance had been locked. A man in a ski mask briefly emerged and then went back inside. A worker who came outside to smoke said some "serious guys" had arrived in the building and were restricting access to some areas of the office. The Federal Security Service could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesman for the tax service said he did not yet have any information. Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed law enforcement source as saying that the searches were linked to suspected tax evasion and moving funds offshore. The news agency later reported that the search had been completed. An Onexim spokesman told Reuters the tax authorities were conducting investigative activities at the company. He said Onexim operates in full compliance with the law and is ready to cooperate with the authorities. BUSINESS EMPIRE The searches happened as Putin was taking part in a televised phone-in, an annual event where he fields questions and requests for help from ordinary Russians. Tim Ash, emerging markets analyst at bank Nomura, said he believed the raids were a "clear warning to other oligarchs to stop capital flight, bring money on-shore". Two of the sources said that searches were also being conducted in Prokhorov's investment firm Renaissance Capital. A spokesman for the firm was not available for comment. A representative of power generating company Quadra , also controlled by Prokhorov, said there were some checks underway in his office, probably with the Tax Service involved. Prokhorov also owns stakes in potash producer Uralkali and aluminum producer Rusal <0486.HK>. Uralkali and Rusal were not affected by the searches, their representatives said. Prokhorov, who is 6 feet 8 inches tall and was once described as Russia's most eligible bachelor, launched his businesses out of the privatization in the 1990s of a huge Arctic mining operation. He later entered politics, setting up a party aimed at Russia's liberal urban intelligentsia, and he said he would run against Putin for the presidency in 2012. He finished third with less than 8 percent of the vote, and his party -- which some observers allege has been used by the Kremlin as a lightning rod for anti-Putin feelings -- has failed to make an impression. Prokhorov has always been measured in his criticism of the government. His media interests -- which also include a magazine and a TV station -- are among the most forthright in Russia's mainstream media, however, publishing revelations that are viewed by many as taboo. Russia has a history of law enforcement raids on tycoons who irritate the Kremlin. In 2000, men in masks raided the offices of media mogul Vladimir Gusinsky as part of a fraud investigation. In 2004, tax officials raided the offices of oil firm YUKOS, which was suspected of tax evasion. Yukos co-owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Putin critic, was later jailed. In 2014, billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov spent several months under house arrest on suspicion of money laundering. The charges were dropped after an oil company he controlled was transferred to the state. In those cases, the Russian authorities denied their actions were politically motivated. (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, Andrey Kuzmin, Anastasia Lyrchikova, Alexander Winning, Darya Korsunskaya and Oksana Kobzeva; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Jason Bush and Catherine Evans) By John Davison and Laila Bassam DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrians voted in a parliamentary election in government-held areas of the country on Wednesday in what they called a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad, while his opponents and Western powers denounced the poll as illegitimate. The election went ahead independently of a U.N.-led peace process aimed at ending the five-year-long war. A second round of talks began in Geneva on Wednesday but an upsurge in fighting has darkened the already bleak outlook for diplomacy. The government said the vote was held to comply with the constitution, a view echoed by its Russian allies. The opposition, which wants the new peace talks to focus on a political transition, said the election was meaningless, while Britain and France called it a "flimsy facade" and a "sham". Voters were electing 250 MPs to parliament, which has no real power in Syria's presidential system. The state rallied them with the slogan "Your vote strengthens your steadfastness". "Assad is already strong but these elections show that the people support him and bolster him," said Hadi Jumaa, a 19-year-old student, as he cast his ballot at his university halls of residence in Damascus. Dozens queued to vote at one polling station where a portrait of Assad hung on the wall. Outside, some danced. With his wife Asma at his side as he went to vote in Damascus, a smiling Assad told state TV that terrorism had been able to destroy much of Syria's infrastructure but not Syria's "social structure, the national identity". Asaad al-Zoubi, chief negotiator for the main opposition body, the High Negotiations Council. dismissed the polls: "They are illegitimate - theatre for the sake of procrastination." The conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and created millions of refugees, splintering Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by the government, an array of rebels, a powerful Kurdish militia, and the Islamic State group. The government views all the groups fighting it as terrorists. CEASEFIRE PLEAS The Damascus government controls around one third of Syria, including the main cities in the west, home to the bulk of Syrians who have not fled the country. The United Nations puts the number of Syrian refugees abroad at 5.8 million. With parliament elected every four years, it is the second parliamentary election held by the government in wartime. Assad was re-elected head of state in a presidential election in 2014. The government said it would not take part in peace talks until after the election. It is expected to participate from Friday while the opposition delegation met U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura on Wednesday. De Mistura said senior officials in Moscow, Damascus, Tehran and Amman backed the idea of discussing a political transition but that he wanted to see a renewed pledge to uphold a truce he said had seen serious incidents, but "not a bushfire". U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged all sides to adhere to what the U.N. describes as a "cessation of hostilities". Agreed in February, the partial truce, which does not include Islamic State or al-Qaeda-linked groups, had helped bring the sides to Geneva. But fighting south of Aleppo has strained it to breaking point and Damascus had ruled out discussing the presidency ahead of the first round of talks last month. Each side has blamed the other for ceasefire violations. The head of the opposition delegation said the government had dropped 420 barrel bombs - oil drums packed with explosives - last month alone. The government has denied using such weapons. Foreign states opposed to Assad said the election was out of line with a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for elections at the end of an 18-month transition. His allies, notably Russia, said it is in line with the constitution. "The decision of the regime to hold elections is a measure of how divorced it is from reality. They cannot buy back legitimacy by putting up a flimsy facade of democracy," said a spokesperson for the British government. France said the elections were a "sham" organised by "an oppressive regime". Russia, one of Assad's main foreign allies, said however that the election was necessary to avoid a power vacuum. "There is understanding already that a new constitution should emerge as a result of this political process, on the basis of which new, early elections are to be held," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news briefing. "But before this happens, one should avoid any legal vacuum or any vacuum in the sphere of executive power." Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said the election showed that "the Syrian people is the one that decides its fate". Syrians living in opposition-held areas dismissed the vote. "We used to be forced to cast our vote in sham elections," said Yousef Doumani, speaking from the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus. "Now, we are no longer obliged to." Shereen Sirmani, who fled to Damascus from the Islamic State-besieged city of Deir al-Zor four months ago, said the election was good for Syria. "We hope they bring people together," she said. "We support Assad and these elections are a boost for him." (Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Tom Perry and Angus McDowall in Beirut, Tom Miles in Geneva and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Writing by Tom Perry and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Giles Elgood and Mark Heinrich) By Ercan Gurses and Akin Aytekin ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's military struck Islamic State targets in northern Syria in response to rockets that hit the southeastern Turkish border town of Kilis for the third straight day on Wednesday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. More than 20 people have been wounded this week alone as multiple rockets struck Kilis, home to an estimated 110,000 Syrian refugees, which has been frequently hit by shells from across the border, a region controlled by Islamic State. Four rockets struck Kilis on Wednesday but they landed in an empty field and there were no casualties, mayor Hasan Kara told Reuters. Davutoglu said measures would be taken to ensure the safety of citizens. "Daesh targets have been struck within the rules of engagement," he said, using an Arabic acronym for the Sunni hardline group. "We are conducting a decisive battle to protect our citizens from this circle of fire," he said. Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz, Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar and the head of the national intelligence agency Hakan Fidan were visiting Kilis to inspect the area and discuss border security, Davutoglu said. "We go to sleep to the sounds of rockets and we wake up to the sound of rockets," Kara told Reuters by telephone, adding that the death tally from Tuesday's rocket attack had risen to two after another person died in hospital overnight. The military has now hit 146 Islamic State targets across the border from Kilis since January 9, Yilmaz said at a news conference in Kilis. "Based on our information, we think they have suffered 362 casualties and 123 injuries," he said. Turkey is facing several security threats. As part of a U.S.-led coalition, it is fighting Islamic State in neighbouring Syria and Iraq. It is also battling Kurdish militants in its southeast, where a 2-1/2-year ceasefire collapsed last July, triggering the worst violence since the 1990s. The Turkish armed forces often respond to such attacks by firing at targets in Syria. In March, two people, including a young child, were killed by rocket fire into Kilis. (Additional reporting by Seda Sezer; Writing by David Dolan and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Ralph Boulton) The Independent Tories must not return to soap opera of Partygate under Boris Johnson, warns Dominic RaabBoris Johnsons former deputy Dominic Raab has warned Conservative MPs that bringing the ex-PM back into No 10 would risk another episode of Partygate which he likened to Groundhog Day and a soap opera.Claiming to believe that Mr Johnson can eventually make a return to frontline politics, Mr Raab said: I just cant see in practice how a new prime minister ... could give the country the attention, the focus, that it needs while also giving testimony to the Commons privileges committee inquiry over Partygate.Mr Raab continued: Whether youre an arch-Boris fan, or an arch-Boris critic, I dont see how you can reconcile returning to frontline politics with that committee looming and hanging over him and oral testimony being heard.He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: We cannot go backwards. We cant have another episode of the Groundhog Day, of the soap opera, of Partygate. We must get the country and the government moving forward.BBC Radio 4 Hundreds of Vietnamese drug addicts are on the run after escaping from a rehabilitation centre where many were held for compulsory treatment. Detainees attacked guards, broke down the main gate and scaled walls at the centre in the country's southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau. "We have brought 150 patients back, while search efforts are under way for nearly 300 others," said Le Thi Trang Dai, director of the provincial labour department. The escapees have been begging for clothes from local residents and trying to hitchhike out of the area, the state-run VN Express newspaper said. "Others have escaped into (a) nearby deep forest," the report added. There are 140,000 estimated drug addicts in Vietnam, where the communist government enforces a compulsory treatment programme for them. Addicts can also voluntarily enter the centres for treatment. The escapees were a mix of compulsory and volunteer admissions, Ms Dai said. She added that local authorities are urging families to bring back runaway patients so they can complete their treatment. "Police are also investigating the reasons behind the escape, trying to understand if there is a leader behind the incident," she said. Conditions in Vietnam's rehab centres have been condemned by the US-based Human Rights Watch group, and a UN expert has recommended they be closed. HRW says the treatment centres are "forced labour camps" where inmates do not receive proper health care and are often subjected to physical violence. Addicts are mostly forced to report to the centres by their family or local authorities, but they are not treated as criminals. By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - Top Zika investigators now believe that the birth defect microcephaly and the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome may be just the most obvious maladies caused by the mosquito-borne virus. Fueling that suspicion are recent discoveries of serious brain and spinal cord infections - including encephalitis, meningitis and myelitis - in people exposed to Zika. Evidence that Zika's damage may be more varied and widespread than initially believed adds pressure on affected countries to control mosquitoes and prepare to provide intensive - and, in some cases, lifelong - care to more patients. The newly suspected disorders can cause paralysis and permanent disability - a clinical outlook that adds urgency to vaccine development efforts. Scientists are of two minds about why these new maladies have come into view. The first is that, as the virus is spreading through such large populations, it is revealing aspects of Zika that went unnoticed in earlier outbreaks in remote and sparsely populated areas. The second is that the newly detected disorders are more evidence that the virus has evolved. "What we're seeing are the consequences of this virus turning from the African strain to a pandemic strain," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. The Zika outbreak was first detected in Brazil last year and is spreading through the Americas. It has been linked to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly, a typically rare birth defect marked by unusually small head size, signaling a problem with brain development. Evidence linking Zika to microcephaly prompted the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency in February. The suspicion that Zika acts directly on nerve cells began with autopsies on aborted and stillborn fetuses showing the virus replicating in brain tissues. In addition to microcephaly, researchers reported finding other abnormalities linked with Zika including fetal deaths, placental insufficiency, fetal growth retardation and injury to the central nervous system. Doctors also are worried that Zika exposure in utero may have hidden effects, such as behavioral problems or learning disabilities, that are not apparent at birth. "If you have a virus that is toxic enough to produce microcephaly in someone, you could be sure that it will produce a whole series of conditions that we haven't even begun to understand," said Dr. Alberto de la Vega, an obstetrician at San Juan's University Hospital in Puerto Rico. First discovered in the Zika forest of Uganda in 1947, the virus circulated quietly in Africa and Asia, causing rare infections and producing mild symptoms. A 2013 outbreak in French Polynesia, the largest at that time, led researchers to make the Guillain-Barre link. Other neurological effects were noted but scientists made little of them at the time. A rare and poorly understood condition, Guillain-Barre can weaken muscles and cause temporary paralysis, often requiring patients to need respirators to breathe. An estimated 32,000 people in the French Polynesia Zika outbreak were infected, and 42 patients were confirmed to have Guillain-Barre, a 20-fold increase in incidence over the previous four years, the WHO reported. Another 32 patients had other neurological disorders, including encephalitis, meningoencephalitis, myelitis and facial paralysis. Guillain-Barre is an autoimmune disorder, in which the body attacks itself in the aftermath of an infection. But the newly discovered brain and spinal cord infections are known to be caused by a different mechanism - a direct attack on nerve cells. That has prompted scientists to consider whether the Zika virus also may infect nerves directly in adults, as they already have suspected in fetuses. In medical journals published last month, doctors described neurological syndromes in two patients that they attributed to Zika. Doctors in Paris diagnosed meningoencephalitis, an infection of both the brain and spinal cord, in an 81-year-old man who was hospitalized after being exposed to Zika on a cruise. Another French team reported acute myelitis, a paralyzing infection of the spinal cord, in a 15-year-old girl who had been infected with Zika on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. In its latest surveillance report, the WHO said the two cases "highlight the need to better understand the range of neurological disorders associated with Zika-virus infection." Other mosquito-borne viruses - including dengue, Japanese encephalitis and West Nile - are known to directly infect nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. But such viruses are seldom associated with Guillain-Barre, and never with microcephaly, said Baylor's Hotez. POSSIBLE EVOLUTION In a recent paper, WHO researcher Mary Kay Kindhauser wrote that Zika "appears to have changed in character," noting its transition from a mild infection to one causing "large outbreaks linked with neurological disorders." Scientists studying Zika in Brazil now are reporting the same neurological disorders seen in French Polynesia. From April through July 2015, doctors in Brazil identified a spike in Guillain-Barre cases. In Salvador, there were roughly 50 reported cases of Guillain-Barre in July alone, far more than would typically be expected, Dr. Albert Ko, a tropical disease expert from Yale University who is studying Zika in the coastal city of Salvador, recently told a research symposium. "Throughout Brazil, doctors have seen strange, atypical, neurological manifestations," Ko said told the symposium. Zika exposed patients have had other neurological problems as well, including acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, which causes inflammation of the myelin, the protective sheath covering nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. Other patients experienced tingling, prickling or burning sensations, which are often markers of peripheral nerve damage. In addition to Brazil and French Polynesia, at least 11 more countries and territories have reported hundreds of cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome linked to Zika. In Brazil, Guillain-Barre cases jumped 19 percent to 1,708 last year. El Salvador, a country that has an annual average of 196 cases of Guillain-Barre, reported 118 cases in six weeks in December and January. Zika's arrival in Colombia in October 2015 was associated with another increase in Guillain-Barre cases. The country typically reports 242 cases of the syndrome a year, or about five a week. But in the five weeks starting in mid-December, Colombia reported 86 cases of Guillain-Barre, or about 17 a week. Dr. Carlos Pardo-Villamizar, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is studying Zika complications with colleagues in five Colombian research centers. They have seen cases of encephalitis, myelitis and facial paralysis associated with Zika and want to understand what is triggering these complications. They also want to study whether prior infection with dengue or chikungunya - two related viruses - are contributing to neurological disorders seen in patients with Zika. Scientists are turning their attention next to Puerto Rico, where Zika is expected to infect hundreds of thousands of residents by year-end. More cases hold the potential for "a better sense of the full spectrum of disease that Zika is capable of causing," said Dr. Amesh Adalja of the Center for Health Security at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; additional reporting by Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, Brazil; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Lisa Girion) KKR has agreed to buy into seeds provider Advanta Enterprises in a deal which values the business at about $2.25bn. Florida-based real estate investment firm Adler Kawa has collected $72.6m out of the $150m it is seeking for its third Modified On Apr 14, 2016 08:54 PM By Abhijeet for Skoda Superb 2016-2020 Who in the world of car fanatics doesnt know the BMW 5-Series and the Skoda Superb? The cars lie in a different price bracket and are, therefore, from separate segments. The Superb is available for almost half the money of a 5-Series. So, one usually doesn't compare the Skoda with the Bimmer, right? Well, you just might be wrong. A Skoda dealer in Ireland has kept the 5-Series at their dealership, to encourage prospective buyers to take it for a spin. They certainly believe that the Superb has what it takes to beat the 5-Series. Especially, when the 5-Series has been acclaimed for its brilliant ride and handling dynamics for long. This clearly indicates the level of confidence Skoda has in its flagship car. However, putting the Superb against a car that has been a benchmark of handling is a rather bold move and is sure to grab plenty of attention. After all, its all about sending a message! In India, the base variant of the BMW 5-Series is available at a price tag of INR 48.9 lakh, while the Superbs base trim can be bought for a humble sum of INR 23.8 lakh (both the prices are ex-showroom, New Delhi). More often than not, the buyers from these segment prefer to be chauffeured around rather than drive the car themselves. For this reason alone, Superb has worked well in the past and is continuing with the same streak today as well. The question remains , will somebody with the money and inclination to buy the 5-Series consider the Superb? Speaking of the common features, the Superb gets almost as many safety features as the a 5-Series or the Audi A6 or a Mercedes from the same category. To name a few, electronically locking differential (something that restricts the wheel from over-spinning and in turn making the car more driveable around corners), Electronic Stability Control (ESC), eight airbags and tyre pressure monitoring. Then there are other similar features such as those fancy all-LED headlamps and tail lamps, the panoramic sunroof, independent temperature controls for the two front seats as well as for the rear passenger compartment. The electronic driver seat adjustments, a couple of umbrellas (just can't forget that!), and 360-degree parking sensors add a bit more value to the Superb. Find more details in the Skoda Superbs road test. I believe these features enabled Skoda to end its latest Superb advertisement on a great note, by calling it the Best-In-Next-Class. However, a dealership pitting it against the 5-Series? No, bad idea. See the launch story: New Skoda Superb Launched at Rs. 22.68 lakh Read More on : Skoda Superb price Shopping for car insurance, like many other types of shopping, has largely moved online, a new J.D. Power study finds, but it adds that while consumers shop for insurance online, many still make the actual purchase through an agent. The study found that 74% of shoppers use insurer websites or aggregators for obtaining quotes and researching information. While nearly half of customers obtain a quote via insurer websites, only 25% actually purchase their policy online; 50% close through an agent and 22% phone a call center. While many customers want to shop online, they often still want to talk to someone when they buy their insurance to make sure they are getting the right coverage or have questions about their policy answered, said Hoeg. Insurers need to focus on the delicate balance of providing an easy shopping experience while providing product differentiation and professional service. Rankings Erie Insurance and Liberty Mutual tied for first place in providing a satisfying purchase experience, each with a score of 853. This marks the fourth consecutive year Erie Insurance has ranked highest in the study. The Hartford ranks third (850); American Family fourth (845); and Automobile Club Group fifth (840). Now in its 10th year, the J.D. Power U.S. Insurance Shopping Study measures auto insurance shopping, purchase behavior, and purchase experience satisfaction among customers who recently purchased insurance. The study found that direct premiums written increased by approximately 4.7% to $199 billion in 2015, with much of that growth coming from new business generated by direct writers. Direct writers have invested heavily in digital channels to increase the functionality and ease of using their websites, which has clearly created an advantage for direct distribution relative to traditional agency distribution in some respects and has supported agency distribution in others, said Greg Hoeg, vice president of U.S. insurance operations at J.D. Power. Fewer shoppers Hoeg said the challenge for insurance companies is that there are fewer consumers shopping around for insurance at the moment. Many companies have kept premiums flat or even lowered them, giving consumers fewer reasons to look for cheaper policies. In addition, customers who do switch are saving an average of $356 on their annual premiums, less than the $388 in savings for those who switched in 2015. With more price competition and smaller savings, there simply is not as much motivation for most customers to switch, said Hoeg. Many policyholders see insurance as a price-differentiated commodity, and shoppers are opting to remain with their incumbent insurer as they find the savings offered by competitors is not as great as they had expected, or as much as they saved the last time they switched. The 2016 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study is based on responses from more than 17,000 shoppers who requested an auto insurance price quote from at least one competitive insurer in the past 9 months and includes more than 50,000 unique customer evaluations of insurers. Spring is officially upon us, so naturally Ive been doing some seasonal cleaning around my house. Its refreshing to open the windows and let the spring air in. Its also nice to spend some time after work, or on an otherwise lazy Saturday, doing a deep clean. Beyond the normal picking up, Ive scrubbed the refrigerator, cleaned out cabinets and dusted everything. It may also be a good time for some spring cleaning at your credit union. Im not suggesting you spend your already limited time scrubbing the break room refrigerator. But what about cleaning and organizing your documents, disclosures, folders and files? Has a little winter dust gathered? Using risk as a method for prioritizing, the first thing I would suggest you dust off are the forms employees have at their desks. People tend to find little tricks that make their jobs easier. One of those is pre-printing a stack of standard documents so they are at-the-ready when members need them. This isnt necessarily an issue, as long as all employees are providing members with the most current copies. But, when forms are updated, are your efficient colleagues reprinting that handy stack? This may be a great time to speak with employees to ensure that they are providing only the most current version of documents. The next area I would focus on would be lobby signage. There havent been many significant regulatory updates in this particular area, so unless youve changed your Funds Availability policy or another process, theres unlikely to be much updating required. However, it would be a good idea to check the addresses on any signage that lists a regulatory contact. Check that Share Insurance logos are posted in all locations where deposits are accepted and that Patriot Act notices are easily visible to anyone opening an account. Another area of regulatory significance that may benefit from a good scrub is your credit unions record retention and destruction processes. Ive found many credit unions do an excellent job of retaining required documentation per regulatory requirements.If there is an opportunity for improvement, it is typically in record destruction. Thats because credit unions are often apprehensive about destroying a document that might prove valuable somewhere down the road. I understand that thought process to a point. However, this may be a good time to ensure the record retention process at your credit union is appropriate on both ends of the spectrum. Now for the biggest spring cleaning job of them all cleaning and organizing the folders on your computer. If youve been saving information that should be in a members file, make sure a copy has been saved in the correct location. Delete the duplicate that is taking up space on your hard drive. While youre at it, Id suggest organizing your email and deleting unnecessary information. If there is important member information in your inbox, save it in the appropriate file and delete it from your computer. Youll be surprised how efficient youll feel when you can quickly locate important emails by reducing the number of irrelevant or outdated messages. Best of all, youre helping to keep member information safe and secure, should your computer be damaged or stolen. Completing these tasks doesnt have to happen in a day. After all, its called spring cleaning and spring constitutes several months on the calendar. But, once youve completed them, youll feel much more comfortable transitioning into summer. I cant promise it will feel as good as climbing into bed with clean sheets, but it may make your 8 to 5 a little smoother. It began with a simple question: What if CO-OP could change up its annual shareholders conference to not just report on what happenedbut to begin looking forward, with an ambitious eye to the ever-changing future? Just how big could the impact be? We had this idea that if we did something completely different, we could not only inspire new thinking, but also motivate people to action, says Samantha Paxson, CO-OPs chief marketing officer and the creator of THINK. We could not have predicted how far THINK would go. Nine years in, the THINK Conference has become the industrys flashpoint for new ideas, creative growth and expansive thinking. Next month May 3 to 6 credit union innovators from across the country will convene in San Diego for THINK 16. With a speaker lineup that includes Upworthys Sara Critchfield, Fast Companys Polly LaBarre and returning provocateur Gary Vaynerchuk of VaynerMedia, THINK 16 will once again challenge this industry to innovate beyond all previous boundaries. Make no mistake, its going to be big. But THINKs impact extends far beyond the annual conference. And in fact, the history of THINK itself illustrates the exponential power of innovation. THINK has become a true laboratory for change and growth, Paxson says. Weve gone from presenting innovation as a possibility to advocating for it and now helping to activate the ideas and innovative spirit of our participants throughout the year. Let the THINKing Commence THINK 08 did something no credit union conference had done before. Not only did it invite an all-keynote speaker line-up from outside of the credit union industry; it brought in Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and a squad of breakthrough brands Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Harley-Davidson, Pixar. If credit unions were going to learn, why not learn from the bestthose who had broken all the rules in pursuit of serving their customers better, and reaping the rewards as result? THINK 08 broke attendance records, and it also set a new standard. That standard wasnt to match the power of the first THINK conference. The standard was to innovate beyond it. And so THINK has become synonymous with the brightest ideas from brands like Nike, Zappos, Disney, Target, Virgin America and Facebook. Some of the sharpest minds from Sir Ken Robinson to Margaret Heffernan and Debbie Millman have found their way to the THINK stage. Yet, THINK has evolved into more than a showcase. Its also become a laboratory of sorts: For a few years in a row, we heard people asking why credit unions couldnt do a Got Milk style industry campaign. So at THINK 11 we brought in Jeff Manning, one of the creators of Got Milk, to talk about how we might do just that, Paxson recalls. Weve always been up for opening the box. If we can test a hypothesis or find out how to build something, thats a great challenge for THINK. THINK pushes the boundaries of what a conference can be, with a long list of firsts that include: THINK It Outs the first on-stage discussion segments to connect headline speakers with credit union leaders. Iconic example: acclaimed creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson and skateboarding champion Tony Hawk in conversation with CO-OP CEO Stan Hollen and then CUNA CEO Bill Cheney. Journalists as hosts to analyze credit union initiatives and problem solve with credit union attendees, including Valerie Coleman Morris and public radios Tess Vigeland. One of this years co-hosts is Upworthys founding editorial director Sara Critchfield. Original Research THINK put a live consumer focus group on stage to reveal what people think and know about credit unions. THINK also produced a research documentary on the money habits of Millennials. Collaboration and Consulting in THINK labs, participants have learned how to generate collaborative ideas and, most recently, how to implement innovative strategy. Last years THINK workshop included follow-up reviews of individual credit union marketing plans by consultant Jeanette Thebeau and strategic consultant Ivan Askwith. Ongoing, multi-year collaborations with contributors including Gary Vaynerchuk, Tess Vigland, Sara Critchfield, Ivan Askwith, Daria Musk, Kate Feather, and IDEO. Taking the Prize for Collaborative Innovation THINK recognizes great ideas and rewards them. The THINK Prize launched in 2011, when Matt Wiedler of Christian Community Credit Union won $10,000 for his idea to enable cardless ATM transactions using a mobile phone. Later THINK Prize winners include Paul Yangs proposal for real-time P2P payments and Chris Whalens idea for Mobile One, an integrated mobile banking solution. Weve been overwhelmed by the number of serious entries and the great ideas that have bubbled up from credit union employees across the country, Paxson says. It certainly proves theres no shortage of inspiration out there. But were equally inspired by the fact that every THINK-Prize-winning idea has informed our product development at CO-OP, so that today real-time P2P payments, integrated mobile banking and ATM-mobile interoperability are all part of the vision CO-OP is working on every day. Last year, the THINK Prize itself underwent some innovative changes. THINK partnered with OpenIDEO, the open innovation arm of human-centered design consultancy IDEO, to host an online Financial Empowerment challenge. Over a three month period, the Financial Empowerment Challenge attracted close to 15,000 visitors to OpenIDEOs collaborative platform, where more than 500 active participants made nearly 2,500 online comments and contributions to team efforts. In the end, five prizewinners shared the THINK Prize with news about how they are activating their ideas to come at THINK 16. Turning Inspiration into Action THINKs partnership with OpenIDEO continues this year. A cohort of credit union fellows is working with CO-OP and OpenIDEO to explore collaborative innovation and human-centered design in the workplace. THINK 16 will also feature opportunities for participants to try human-centered design themselves and apply it in their work at credit unions. Driven by the notion that Innovation + Purpose = Opportunity, THINK 16 will explore the many ways that the credit union mission of people helping people has evolved in recent years, and how innovating around those changes is not only possible but critical. New voices including Moneythink co-founder Ted Gonder and Zappos Insights co-creator Robert Richman will help puzzle out the needs of a changing consumer marketplace. At THINK 16, look for a full slate of new initiatives to get credit unions involved and exercising their innovative muscles. But also, expect the unexpected. One of the greatest outcomes for THINK has been the magic that happens within and between our participants, says Paxson. Case in point: After a few board members reported great experiences at past THINK conferences, the entire board of directors at Firefighters First Credit Union came to Colorado Springs to attend THINK 15. The conference led directly into their planning meeting, kicking it off with a heavy dose of trend information, inspiration and strategic workshops. Weve been on a mission of discovery, says Firefighters First CEO Mike Mastro. We think about innovation a great deal. We think about strategy a great deal. Were doing things differently and more innovatively than ever before. Credit union strategy consultant Brandi Stankovic shared the stage with bestselling author Mark Thompson at THINK 14. The conversation about leadership they began onstage continued after the conference and eventually resulted in a book, The Strategic MVP: 52 Growth & Leadership Exercises from the Worlds Top Executives. It took 18 months, a little blood, lots of sweat, and multiple discussions with some of the worlds top CEOs, including Warren Buffett, Charles Schwab, Sir Richard Branson, Alan Mullaly and our credit unions own Cutler Dawson, says Stankovic. Co-authoring a book with one of Americas top leadership experts wasnt on the agenda when Stankovic arrived at THINK 14. But you never know where innovation and purpose will lead. Thank you to THINK for the opportunity. What opportunities will you find at THINK 16? See for yourself. For more information and to register, click here. Talking Points AUD/USD gains after Australias employment report crossed the wires The country added 26.1k employees in March versus 17.0k estimated Australian government bond yields climb as RBA rate cut bets decline Find key turning points for the Australian Dollar with DailyFX SSI. The Australian Dollar gained against its major counterparts after the countrys employment report crossed the wires. The data reported 26,100 jobs were added in March, which was better than the 17,000 gain expected. The prior figures were revised lower from a 300 position increase to a 700 loss. This marks the biggest increase in payrolls thus far into 2016. Most of the jobs gained were in part-time roles adding 34,900 positions. This is the highest number since May 2015. Meanwhile, full-time jobs contracted by 8,800 workers. The unemployment rate beat the 5.9 percent forecast, declining to 5.7 percent marking the lowest level since September 2013. The labor force participation rate remained unchanged from February holding steady at 64.9 percent, better than the 64.0 percent expectations. Overnight index swaps are pricing in a 92 percent probability of at least 1 rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia over the next year. Australian 2-year government bond yields rallied more than 1.5 percent after the data crossed the wires. This means that the markets likely interpreted the data to push back against expectations of near-term RBA easing. The Reserve Bank of Australia maintained a data-dependent approach in regards to monetary policy in April. This puts domestic economic data in the spotlight as members interpret the health and vigor of the Australian economy. Despite the jobs report being better than expected, the AUD/USD erased most of its gains within half an hour of the news while bond yields remained elevated. The team discovered Hamilton had sustained gearbox damage in the aftermath of the last race in Bahrain, where the world champion and Williams' Valtteri Bottas collided at the first corner. Mercedes explained that the subsequent decision to replace the gearbox took into account the fact that Shanghai is a better circuit for overtaking than the next few venues on the calendar. "The gearbox of [Hamilton's] F1 W07 Hybrid sustained damage in Bahrain which required a physical inspection for full assessment," the Silver Arrows confirmed on Twitter. "Having done so, the decision has been taken to change the gearbox rather than carry any risk moving forwards. Of the next 4 tracks in the normal cycle, Shanghai is the best place to make the change and take the resulting grid penalty." The milestone must read $34.5 billion lawsuit exposing the US-Zionist theft of Palestinian land is at http://www.martinmcmahonlaw.com/Tamimi_Complaint.pdf on the website of the plaintiffs' attorney, Martin McMahon and Associates, and may be found with the use of PACER at the site of the US District Court, District of Columbia, Case 1:16-cv-00445, Tamimi v Adelson.A description of this outstanding, comprehensive lawsuit may be found at:Palestinian Activists File $34.5 Billion Lawsuit against US Corporations and Wealthy Americans Which Support West Bank Settlements, 4/13/16 atand atMiddle East Monitor, 4/12/16 atand as follows:A group of Palestinians affected by Israels activities have filed a $34.5 billion lawsuit against US and Israeli entities supporting West Bank settlements. The lawsuit was filed in the Federal District Court of Columbia in the United States.Ayman Nejm, media spokesman for Martin McMahon and Associates, the law firm that filed the law suit, told Safa news agency on Monday that the case is the first of its kind where Palestinian and Palestinian-American plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit against wealthy US citizens and tax-exempt entities that have provided massive financial assistance to settlements across the Occupied Palestinian Territories.According to the statement, the lawsuit has been filed against construction companies, security firms, real estate agencies and private banks involved in supporting the growth of Israeli settlements.The case will also include Palestinians subjected to Israeli attacks which resulted in the loss of life, property and agricultural land in Palestinian Authority controlled areas.The statement said the plaintiffs include Susan Abulhawa, a prominent Palestinian writer, and activist Bassim Tamimi who has been incarcerated and tortured numerous times for staging peaceful weekly protests.The statement read:Plaintiff Doaa Abu-Amar lost fourteen family members when the Israeli army bombed a day-care centre they had taken shelter in during the 2009 Gaza invasion. Plaintiff Ahmed al-Zeer is permanently disabled today because he was severely beaten by settlers who attacked him on his own property outside the settlement of Ofra.It added:Many of the plaintiffs have had loved ones murdered, children assaulted and murdered on their way home from school, businesses destroyed, land stolen, water wells and livestock poisoned, olive groves destroyed and suffered various physical injuries, including the loss of eyesight, legs amputated and various permanent physical injuries.The defendants include prominent pro-settlement billionaires such as Sheldon Adelson, Irving Moskowitz, and John Hagee, and American tax-exempt entities like Christian Friends of Israeli Communities and Friends of the Israeli Army.The defendants have committed war crimes because they have collaborated with violent settlers, G4S personnel, and Israeli soldiers in maiming and murdering thousands of Palestinian civilians, hoping such activity would hasten their departure from the OPT. The defendants have also committed money laundering because they purposely sent funds overseas to promote criminal activities like ethnic cleansing, arms trafficking, and wholesale violence it added.The U.S. corporations named in the suit, along with Israeli banks Bank Leumi and Bank Hapoalim, international construction companies Africa Israel Investments, Veolia, and Volvo, and the British security protection services firm G4S, have all engaged in war crimes and money laundering.****************************************************************The defendants include Sheldon Adelson, Norman Braman, Lawrence Ellison, Daniel Gilbert, John Hagee, Lev Leviev, Irving Moskowitz, Haim Saban, Elliott Abrams, American Friends of Ariel, Friends of Israel Defense Forces, Gush Etzion Foundation, The Hebron Fund, G4S PLC, RE/MAX, LLC, Readymix Industries, Veolia North America, Volvo Group, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co, Motorola Solutions, Inc, and Nordstrom, Inc.The Complaint is for 1. Civil Conspiracy, 2. War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide, 3. Aggravated and Ongoing Trespass, 4. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) Violations under 18 USC 1962(c), 5. War Crime of Pillage.In addition to citing the Nuremberg Principles, the UN Charter and the like, the Complaint refers to the Lieber Code which was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, and prohibits murder, arson, and wanton violence during a military occupation under penalty of death. The Republicans are scheming to cut off phone service to millions of the poor, elderly, and disabled by attacking the Universal Lifeline Program with H.R.4884. GOP attack on Lifeline budget will hurt Oaklands poor & millions moreLynda Carson - April 13, 2016Oakland - Just when you think that things are so bad that you want to start a revolution to stop the attack on the poor by the ruling elite, now comes H.R.4884.H.R.4884 is a Republican attack on the budget of the Universal Lifeline Program , a federally subsidized phone program for the poor. The attack by Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) and his bill known as H.R. 4884, will harm thousands of low-income households in Oakland, and millions of poor, elderly and disabled persons across the nation.Oakland and the northern Alameda County cities have the largest population of low income residents that need the assistance of the Lifeline program . Nearly one-half (46%) of County renter households that earn $25,000 per year or less, are located in Oakland. According to census data sixty percent (60%) percent of Alameda County's residents living in poverty reside in Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, and Albany. Thousands of these residents including the disabled have the greatest need for services such as the Lifeline program to assist them in paying their phone bills, and they will all be placed in jeopardy if H.R. 4884 is passed into law.The low-income renters of Oakland are in a housing crisis, and cutting off their phone service with H.R. 4884, would be cruel, and inhumane.Civil rights groups across the nation including the NAACP, ACLU, National Disability Rights Network and other organizations are all united against H.R. 4884, a resolution that would literally take phone service away from millions of elderly, disabled and low-income persons across the nation.If passed, H.R.4884 would impose a hard cap of $1.5 billion annually on the Lifeline program which helps the poor to pay their phone bills, and would end support for voice-only mobile phone services.As recent as March 31, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which provides funding for the Lifeline program, passed a new rule change to expand the program to include additional funding of $9.25 per month to cover the costs of broadband internet services If passed, H.R. 4884 would pretty much kill the plans of the FCC to provide a subsidy to help the poor, elderly and disabled get broadband internet service, in addition to ending phone service for millions of persons who already depend on the Lifeline program to assist in paying the costs of their phone service.According to the Leadership Conference , We believe that it is essential to ensure that people of color, low-income people, and other vulnerable populations have access to broadband. Without Internet access, students of color cannot do their homework, working single mothers cannot earn degrees online at night, and seniors and people with disabilities cannot utilize the most modern and accessible health care. Accordingly, The Leadership Conference was a strong supporter of the Federal Communications Commission's proposed modernization of Lifeline to include broadband, to address the persistent digital divide between those who have a broadband Internet connection and those who do not.Additionally, according to the FCC , 64 million Americans cannot afford to pay for internet access.The biggest reason these Americans dont sign up for broadband is cost. Only half of the nations households in the lowest income tier subscribe to broadband. And 43 percent of all people who dont subscribe to broadband at home say that affordability is the reason. Of the low income consumers who have subscribed to mobile broadband, 44% have to had cancel or suspend their service due to financial constraints and for those whose only access to the Internet is their smart phone, 48% have had to cancel or shut off service for a period of time due to financial hardship.""We can recite statistics all we want, but we must never lose sight of the fact that what were really talking about is people unemployed workers who miss out on jobs that are only listed online, students who go to fast-food restaurants to use the Wi-Fi hotspots to do homework, veterans who are unable to apply for their hard-earned benefits, seniors who cant look up health information when they get sick.Internet access has become a pre-requisite for full participation in our economy and our society, but nearly one in five Americans is still not benefitting from the opportunities made possible by the most powerful and pervasive platform in history.We can do better. We must do better. Indeed, Congress told us to do better. By modernizing the FCCs Lifeline program, we will do better.Lifeline was established in 1985 to help low-income Americans afford access to vital communications, and the program has allowed tens of millions of Americans to afford basic phone service. But at a time when our economy and lives are increasingly moving online and millions of Americans remain offline, it doesnt make sense for Lifeline to remain focused only on 20th century voice service.Everyone interested in sending an email to Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) to tell him what you think about his scheme to cut off phone service to the poor, elderly and disabled, are free to do so.Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com >>>>>>> This story highlights the increasing terror that is being utilized to remove long term residents, or below market rate tenants from their homes. The drive for profits are creating traumas that have larger implications in the health and well being of society as a whole. In a time of societal break down, this may be an indication of the down fall of the United States of America, as there are many similar parallels to the Roman Empire. Great populist movements are sprouting up across the US to combat corruption. On June, 10th of 2014 Lake Park Apartments was acquired by an owner investment company named, First Class Lodi llc, and a property management group called The Apartment Group Inc. The new investors would quickly rushed through a plethora of major renovations, in order to be grandfathered into the old Oakland Rent Adjustment Program rental law, that allowed 100 percent pass through of capital improvements onto tenants without restrictions. The deadline to beat for passes through under the old law August, 1st of 2014. Capital improvements are a category of justifiable rent increases permitted for pass through if it exceeds the BLS and regional urban CPI published in early spring and effectively being adopted as annual default rent increase for Landlords in July by the Rent Adjustment Program, until June, 29th of the next year.In April of 2014 First Class Lodi llc would initiate the process of escrow, to ultimately purchase the 1965 covered under the Oakland Rent Adjustment Program. Lake Park apartments at the time were populated by many educated professionals and organizers that quickly organized and established a tenants Union for the entire building. The first order of business was to dispute and challenge the 60 day notice, which was the property investors attempted to pass on the full amount of the renovation cost onto tenants. Oakland has what is known as Rent Arbitration program, which allows Landlords to pass through rent increases through a 60 day notice through the Rent Adjustment Program. The tenant has to submit a petition disputing the rent increase, while being given the task to disprove the validity of an attempted rent increase.The tenants would successfully dispute half of the capital improvement pass throughs, and force the pass throughs to be subjected to the restrictions under the August 1st 2014 rent changes. This would not go without anger from the property owners, who are currently appealing the hearing officers judgment to the rent appeals board or its technical name, " The Housing Residential, Rent, and Relocation Board " HRRRB. One young man has been the property owners focal point of an accelerating adversarial relationship, primarily initiated and derived from the property owners, from where he rents his apartment.Lake Park Apartments is a centrally located building in a desired location of Oakland that is undergoing tremendous revitalization. The revitalization has allowed for historic unforeseen land valuation increases transforming Oakland from an old industrial hub, toa tech startup and biotech industry oriented city. These conformational changes along with the California state law Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act, permitting vacant units to be rented at market rate; this state law is what is known as vacancy decontrol. The definitions of market rate rents are vague and generally correspond to maximum rent increases, the local prospective tenants can absorb. The Oakland city council is in the process of declaring a housing state of emergency and has declared a homeless emergency. Los Angeles has already declared a housing emergency, with the pursuit of seeking a bond measure to combat the growing issue draining resources and presenting health and safety issues across the city of Oakland.Charles Brooks III has been a resident at Lake Park apartments for 20 years as of June,2016. Charles and his father would maintain the building, and renovate vacant apartments under the oversight of 3 property owners. Charles Brooks III is a college graduate of Health Sciences and business; he is actively involved in multiple organizations, where he helps to improve his community. Charles is a diligent hard worker person, who has a registered business in Oakland, CA and is pursuing many dreams and aspirations.In July of 2014, Charles would become involved in the newly formed tenants association, formed to protect the tenant's interest, and maintain fair and balanced engagement between the two parties. The owner investors would see this as a threat, and after petitions were submitted to the Oakland Rental adjustment Program, harassment and retaliation would commence. Charles Brooks III and Charles Brooks II would work for First Class Lodi llc, during the escrow period and would soon be supplanted after the point of sale.In the first wave of abuses by management, means of communication were restricted, and many of the abilities to request minor repairs within his apartment were denied. Some of these repairs included a request to weld the hinges of the apartments emergency iron exit fire gate, along with an ongoing leak above the ceiling of his shower. The hostility and harassment by management would become so overwhelming that Charles would enter the side exits to avoid passing by managements office, which are adjacent to the main entrances of the building. Charles wrote a public Yelp comment in article format, to itemize the factual incidents of misconduct and dereliction, bringing awareness to the circumstances imposed upon tenants at Lake Park apartments.In response to the growing harassment Charles Brooks III would take a preemptive measure by initiating a Landlord tenant mediation through the national renown authority called the RPA, short for the Rental Protection Agency. The Landlords refused to respond to the issues of harassment or agree to mediation, Charles even extended the time the case was open in order to give First Class Lodi llc the maximum benefit of the doubt. In a rare executive decision the RPA had no choice under their authority of penalty to generate a full online public negative report of the company. This report was generated, as a result of First Class Lodi llc refused to respond or cooperate, which in their words is a bad omen.Incidents of harassment would decelerate after the RPA attempted mediation, but the tactics would remain persistent. In the month of January 2016 the property owners along with their new property management group, Bay Apartment Advisors, and their new legal counsel the notorious law firm named, " The Law Offices of Bornstein & Bornstein", would deploy a barrage of assaults in the direction of Charles Brooks III.The first deployed attack would include a misconstrued and erroneous justification of the California state law, Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act to temporarily exempt the unit and raise the rent of Charles's apartment from 847.27 to 2065 dollar. He would receive a 60 day notice of changes of terms of tenancy, with fictitious names and parties attached, to alleged tenant term changes promoted by property owners speculative claims. Charles has filed against the pragmatic justification to the Oakland Rental Adjustment Program, and has been given a hearing date set for June 29th, 2016.The next tactic to remove Charles from his apartment was his rent was held for 7 1/2 weeks, to send an email with photo copies of his check by the agents for the owner indicating this was to emit cashing of the checks did not waive the rights of the landlords to pursue Costa Hawkins. The rent increase would have taken effect April 1st of 2016, ifno petition was submitted to dispute the claims.During the seven week period Charles's parking spot was removed without any oral or written notification, and he discovered the lost of his parking lot through the word of mouth of other tenants, confirming such a malicious act occurred. Next the agents for the owner would mail photo copies of Charles's January and February rent checks to his residential address, but then it was sent to his personal business mailing address. The secondary mailing address is shared by multiple business partners. The problem of the act derives, because the partners must know of such mail in advance to notify other parties as to what mail is restricted and should remain within the P.O Box unless otherwise directed. This incident caused Charles to experience identity theft, which he is currently working diligently to resolve through his banking provider. The monetary loses were a little over 9,000.00 dollars. The amount Charles is requesting is cash he needed to utilize from secondary sources to prevent damage to his checking account and credit score. This amount would total to 4,734.00 dollars.Charles sent a cease and desist order to the agent owners declaring that they never send mail to his private mailing address; In addition a Police incident report was filed to record the incident. He has recently filed a small claim suit to recover the monetary damages incurred from the negligence by the agents for the owners. A week after the agent owners agreed to resolve the issues and workout the circumstances, they instead pulled a 180 degree turn and submitted a 3 day notice to pay rent or quit on 2/26/2016, aware of the dire circumstances they placed Charles under.The owners would in turn once again agree to negotiate only to file for an unlawful detainer on 3/14/2016, which Charles Brooks III has answered and signed under duress, as the fictitious names and materially different tenant agreement is pragmatic. Charles cannot attest to or abide by the contrived alterations under perjury of penalty. The fictitious paper tenancy acts as a straw man argument that is fraudulent for him to agree to. All of the documents sent have insidiously addressed nonexistent occupants claiming possession of a apartment, without there ever being communication by the owners to Charles Brooks III. This is after Charles has communicated to management on multiple occasions about the legal tender discrepancies.In additions Charles has been dealing with increased threats and harassment, while he is defending his name. At this point Charles has no choice but defend his honor and hold his ground, as this has become a never ending battle. Charles is a victim of a Bay Area crisis where tenants rights are being abused and are the collateral damage in some Landlords pursuits for increased profit margins. He is not sitting passive, and is offensively and defensively preserving his own individual interest. Charles is in fear for his wellbeing but he is optimistic that he will be the victor in the long run.Charles Brooks III has created a gofundme page @Cited Source_________________________________________________________________________________________________ Christopher Snowden highlights a bad trend in Australia: The Royal Australasian College of Physicians has called for all women of reproductive age who consume more than two standard drinks a day to be subject to interventions on the basis that they might be pregnant, in a remarkable submission to a Senate inquiry. I know a lot of women who need an intervention then! Childrens toys should be subject to plain-packaging laws similar to cigarettes, an international womens group says. Crazy. Alcohol packaging should carry warning labels, akin to cigarettes, under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code Yes every bottle of wine should carry a photo of a corpse on it. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr Cupid Draws Wide for Arkansas Derby: Rebel Stakes (GII) winner Cupid returns for the $1 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday at Oaklawn Park. He comes into this race as the favorite, although a few minor obstacles may test the son of Tapit. Trained by Bob Baffert, Cupid currently owns two wins and one second-place finish out of four starts. A familiar group of names owns the colt, including Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith. Cupid jumped into the Kentucky Derby Point Standings with an authoritative win in the Rebel. Like many popular and talented Baffert-trained horses before him, he went to the lead and stayed there, pulling away towards the end after Whitmore attempted to challenge at the top of the stretch. Visually, the run seemed impressive. Yet, some handicappers poked holes in Cupids win. While his opening quarter of 22.96 seconds according to Equibase appears fast, after the four-furlong marker he got away with a leisurely 25 seconds on an uncontested lead. The trip looked reminiscent of how the famous Game On Dude won most of his races for Baffert. Before the Rebel, Cupid proved his ability to rate at Santa Anita Park when breaking his maiden on Feb. 7. Jockey Martin Garcia settled him in fourth early, two lengths off the pace, before Cupid made his move around the turn and pulled away by over five lengths. This race demonstrates Cupid can rate, which gives Garcia some options. In fact, the only true weakness might be the slow-breaking habit, which might hurt from the tenth post position. Garcia really had to ask Cupid from the moment the gate opened in the Rebel in order to establish position. At Santa Anita, Cupid bobbled at the start. If anyone can fix this small flaw, it is a Triple Crown-winning trainer. Baffert commented on Cupids tardiness for the Oaklawn press release. We really got lucky last time. He cant be doing that this time, Baffert said. He has to leave there with the field. He needs to get away from there a little bit better. Hes never really broken really good for some reason. Otherwise, Baffert sounds enthusiastic about the race this weekend and stretching out his horse. Hes definitely shown that hes not a sprinter. Hes come around quickly since January and matured a lot, he explained. Any contender looking to win this race must hope Cupid misfires. If an upset occurs, Creator might be the one to pull off the victory from behind. Also a son of Tapit, this runner closed all the way from 10 lengths back in the Rebel to finish third. Steve Asmussen trains Creator for WinStar. From the fifth post position, American Pioneer will also establish a good position early with his tactical speed for trainer Wayne Catalano, and Gary and Mary West. The upside is there, as he makes only his third career start. Next to him, Unbridled Outlaw goes into the Arkansas Derby off a second-place finish in an optional claimer. Last year, he showed a bit of promise in the Iroquois (GIII) by placing third after a troubled trip. In post seven, Dazzling Gem also offers bettors a bit of intrigue after running third in the Louisiana Derby. For underneath slots, bettors need to consider Whitmore too, as he ran second in the Southwest and Rebel Stakes. He still searches for his first victory at a route distance, but turned in decent efforts both times. Baffert rarely loses at Oaklawn Park with three-year-old horses preparing for the Kentucky Derby (GI). As long as Cupid breaks cleanly and secures a good spot around the first turn, the gray colt will continue Bafferts good fortunes in Arkansas and make even more fans fall in love with him heading into Churchill Downs on May 7. Arkansas Derby 2016 Post Positions & Odds Race 11 6:28 PM CT 1 Discreetness 20-1 Court/Fires 2 Cutacorner 50-1 Birzer/Van Berg 3 Creator 10-1 Santana, Jr./Asmussen 4 Suddenbreakingnews 5-1 Quinonez/Von Hemel 5 American Pioneer 8-1 Bejarano/Catalano 6 Unbridled Outlaw 10-1 Lanerie/Romans 7 Dazzling Gem 12-1 Talamo/Cox 8 Whitmore 9-2 Ortiz, Jr./Moquett 9 Luna de Loco 30-1 Bravo/Asmussen 10 Cupid 2-1 Garcia/Baffert 11 Gray Sky 30-1 Vazquez/Lukas 12 Gettysburg 6-1 Velazquez/Pletcher Baton Rouge, LA The disability insurance industry has long suffered from a reputation that suggests routine denials of legitimate disability claims and The disability insurance industry has long suffered from a reputation that suggests routine denials of legitimate disability claims and bad faith insurance dealings, in spite of plaintiffs and policyholders having paid their premiums faithfully and having maintained their policies in good standing. Some disgruntled consumers turn immediately to the courts through a Long term denied disability lawsuit. Others take the advocacy route, by blogging about their issues to a like-minded audience. Looking at ConsumerAffairs.com, it becomes quickly apparent that the vast majority of bloggers riffing about their experiences with insurance provider MetLife are dissatisfied with their treatment.Jeffrey, from Oklahoma, blogged on March 20 that when he was suddenly impacted with the need for surgery, his wife was on top of things and submitted all the necessary forms to MetLife - the insurer that provided disability coverage through his employer - the day after surgery. Jeffrey indicated that it appeared MetLife was processing his claim with due diligence, when in reality, various delays were creeping in.Jeffrey and his wife had to resubmit their paperwork a second time, and when the claim continued to be delayed, a call to the HR department at Jeffreys place of employ was the only thing that succeeded in getting the claim processed with any degree of expediency.Then there is Frans story. Fran is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She writes that her husband was covered for disability through MetLife. When he was declared permanently and totally disabled in 2012, the insurer insisted upon updated statements every four to six weeks from the mans doctors. Paperwork, duly submitted, would become chronically lost and would need to be submitted again.Payments sometimes arrived on time, sometimes late or missing for a few months at a time, followed by payments for back amounts owed. Fran and her husband found that such hiccups in payment frequency proved difficult in planning finances.When it came time for long-term disability payments to kick in, Fran writes that LTD was less problematic than STD overall, but that there were still issues. For example, disability payments expected for November and December 2015 were never deposited into their checking account. There was no advance notice from MetLife that they would be doing this. In January of this year - the following month - they received a letter from MetLife indicating an overpayment, without specifics, from the years 2013 and 2014 and that [MetLife] had recovered the overage. Fran and her husband were left to assume that the missing payments for the previous two months had been used to cover the overpayment. There was no specific notification from MetLife that this had been the case.Then, in late January, a representative from MetLife called to report that the insurer had overpaid, according to its records, $67,000 and would be looking to have the overpayment recouped. MetLife would not provide any additional details to the couple on the phone. When Fran and her husband asked for corrected tax forms for 2013 and 2014 so that they could amend their tax returns to compensate for the alleged extra income of $67,000, they were told instead that corrected tax forms would not be issued, but rather a letter of credit which, in MetLifes view, would placate the Internal Revenue Service.Other respondents on the blog had similar complaints of Wrongly Denied Disability Claims, stonewalling, delays and other examples of bad faith insurance.Little wonder honest consumers having submitted a legitimate claim supported by expert medical opinion, and a claim made against a policy in good standing, turn to the courts and file a bad faith insurance lawsuit. You must have JavaScript enabled for this form to work correctly. By submitting this form I agree to the Terms of Service First name:Last name:Email address:Phone number(s):Zip/Postal Code:Defendant:Describe your complaint:There is no cost to submit this form.I would like to be interviewed by a journalist.Receive our weekly newsletter with the latest lawsuit news and legal information. - The body of Five Fulani herdsmen was discovered in Abia state - The DSS accused IPOB is being responsible for the killing - Ohaneze Ndigbo tells DSS to provide evidence The Igbo apex group, Ohaneze Ndigbo has reacted to the allegation by the Department of State Services (DSS) that the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) was responsible for the death of 5 Fulani herdsmen. The DSS claimed that it discovered a mass grave in the Isikwuato local government area of Abia and that five of the bodies were Fulani herdsmen. The identity of the over fifty other bodies had not been ascertained. Dr Okezie Ikpeazu who is the governor of Abia state however denied the claim that the they were killed by IPOB but suggested miscreants were responsible for the crime. READ ALSO: Group to drag IPOB to ICC over killing of northerners Vanguard reports that Ohaneze challenged the DSS to provide evidence to back-up the claim that IPOB was responsible for the killing of the herdsmen. Chief Gary Enwo-Igariwey who is the president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo said proper investigation should be carried out. Ohanaeze is curious and very suspicious of the reasons behind the DSS statement which indicted the IPOB as responsible for the dastardly act. READ ALSO: Northern youths accuse Abia state of shielding criminals Ndigbo demand proper investigation to ascertain those behind the heinous act. They did not act on behalf of Ndigbo and should be brought to book. Ndigbo commiserate with the families of the deceased and have conveyed same to the leadership of Arewa Consultative Forum. Ndigbo condemn the act of taking human life in any form anywhere in the country. As travellers to other places, Ndigbo are friendly to visitors. All Nigerians are therefore assured of their safety anywhere in Igboland. Meanwhile, Alhaji Ibrahim Abubakar, the national president is of AYIF, in a statement warned the Abia state government not to shield IPOB members from facing justice. The group urged that all those involved must face prosecution and blamed IPOB for trying to cause social unrest. Source: Legit.ng When the Goodluck Jonathan administration was in power, certain prominent Nigerians were very vocal. Some of them carried on as if they were official spokespersons of the government, while others were always on hand to issue threats to those who oppose the government or its policies. A number of them threw caution to the wind in their utterances and carried on as if they were untouchable because of their closeness to the then government. The moment the Muhammadu Buhari administration came on board last year, these individuals recoiled back to their shells and have practically kept mute ever since. READ ALSO: Your aide is embarrassing the presidency Akwa Ibom elders tell Buhari Legit.ng lists five prominent Nigerians who have gone kept their calm since President Buhari came on board. Read below: 1. Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor The chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) was very vocal during the Jonathan era. A former national president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Oritsejafor was always in the news, adding his voice to public discourse, engaging in public policy debates and most notably defending the then president. The cleric has since gone quiet since Buhari became the number one occupant of Aso Rock. Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor 2. Asari Dokubo Known as Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo in his inner circles, the former Ijaw Youth Council president and former militant leader, was so vocal that his comments always made headlines in major newspapers. Dokubo was always quick to come to the defence of the Jonathan administration on any issue. He also went as far as threatening those opposed to the government and at some point vowed to initiate the break-up of Nigeria. He has been initiate the break-up of Nigeria. He has been Missing in Action since Buhari came to power. Asari Dokubo 3. Chief Edwin Clark He always referred to the former president as his son. Chief Clark was so relevant that those who needed direct access to Jonathan went through him. He was also very vocal at the time, with his penchant for playing the ethnic card whenever public opinion swayed against the former president. Interestingly, Clark retired from partisan politics few months after Jonathan left office and in what many say was a betrayal of trust, the Ijaw chief publicly ridiculed Jonathan. Chief Edwin Clark 4. Chief Tony Anenih After Jonathan fell out with his political god-father and former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, the Bayelsa born lecturer-turned-politician practically adopted Chief Anenih as his god-father. Anenih on his part, repaid the trust bestowed on him by always shielding the president from political arrows thrown at him by the opposition. At different times, he came to the defence of Jonathan at different public fora. The former minister of works also showed his love for Jonathan by resigning as the Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees chairman for the former president to head the position after the elections. He has since gone underground since Buhari replaced Jonathan. Chief Tony Anenih 5. Mike Omeri The former boss of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) is the perfect example of how not to behave in public office. Omeri was carried away in his quest for relevance and practically became the unofficial spokesman of the Jonathan administration. He abandoned his duties as the head of NOA and was clearly partisan, hobnobbing with the powers that be. He has since been sacked and has gone out of circulation. Mike Omeri 6. Marilyn Ogar The controversial former spokesperson of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) has gone into hiding after she was compulsorily retired from service following investigation into allegations of bribery and professional misconducts against her. Ogar was known for her careless statements which portrayed the DSS as a partisan organisation. Nothing has been heard from her since she left public service. Marlyn Ogar Source: Legit.ng - Governor Adams Oshiomhole received the new resident electoral commissioner, Sam Olumekun, at the state's government house in Benin city - The governor reiterated that he has been a believer and preacher of one man, one vote and gave directive to the new REC - The REC announced the date for party primaries, commencement of campaign and the actual date for the election Governor Adams Oshiomhole directed INEC to flush out corrupt officials before election. Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state has reportedly given strict directives to the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead the governorship election in the state. READ ALSO: APC women present female governorship aspirant in Edo Leadership reports that the governor, who spoke at a meeting with the new resident electoral commissioner (REC), Sam Olumekun, who paid him a courtesy visit at the government house, Benin city, directed him to flush out corrupt officials, who were fingered for aiding electoral fraud in the last general election. Allow me, on behalf of the government and the good people of Edo State, across all the party divide to welcome you to Edo State and to pray the God almighty to protect you as He has protected your predecessors, guide you, give you wisdom, courage and robust energy to superintend over the preparations and the conduct of the forthcoming election and beyond. I am a believer as some of your officers on ground may have briefed you. I am a believer and a preacher of one man, one vote because for too long, the promise of democracy was compromised in our country and my campaign matra was that you must fight election fraud, not because of me but because of our country. It was clear to me that unless you have an accountable government, poverty will remain endemic and society will remain unsafe. But I am happy that several years down we have practiced it, Oshiomhole said. Meanwhile, the electoral commission on April 13 listed the guidelines and timetable for the gubernatorial election scheduled to hold in the state on September 10. The electoral umpire announced that party primaries will hold from June 2 to the July 4, 2016; while campaigns will kick off on Sunday June 10, 2016. The commission also announced that official register of voters for the election will be published on August 11, while the election proper will take place on September 10. Meanwhile, the governor has been at logger head with some of his party leaders in the state over choice of gubernatorial candidate because he wants Godwin Obaseki to be his successor. Charles Idahosa, a special adviser on politics to Oshiomhole reveled to newsmen in Benin city, that the governor is in need of someone who has what it takes to look inwards for the needed funds to develop the state. The governor's aide said the present economic reality requires a professional economist, not a politician who gives political considerations before carrying out programmes even when those consideration are not realistic. READ ALSO: Edo govt warns Fulani herdsmen, farmers On perceived backlash should Obaseki be fielded as candidate of APC, Idahosa said people should not be deceived by what happened in the last National Assembly election where PDP defeated APC to judge what will happen in the 2016 governorship election, adding that the Benins cannot be fooled because they will never forget what Oshiomhole has done to develop the state. He assured that there would be free and fair party primaries, stressing that whoever APC picks as candidate would beat the candidate of the PDP hands down, saying: the beating of 2012 governorship election will be a childs play. Source: Legit.ng - Over 200 girls were abducted by Boko Haram terrorists in 2014 - The Chibok community has faulted Goodluck Jonathan for not acting quickly - The community also criticised the destruction of the school by government on the pretense that it will be rebuilt Members of the Chibok community whose daughters were abducted by Boko Haram terrorists have accused former president, Goodluck Jonathan and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for deceiving them and also destroying the future of their children. Some of the over 200 secondary school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists over a year ago. The terrorists abducted more than 200 girls from their secondary school in April, 2014 and the Jonathan administration was criticized for failing to act quickly to secure the release of the girls. READ ALSO: Odumakin says rescuing Chibok girls remain priority In March, 2015, the then minister of finance visited Chibok community after the government had destroyed the school and laid the foundation for the rebuilding of the school. Amidst tight security, Okonjo-Iweala said the reconstruction of the school was part of the federal governments Safe School Initiative. Amos Chiroma who is the father of one of the abducted girls said the school shouldnt have been destroyed because since the laying of the school foundation, it has been abandoned. The Boko Haram destroyed only a fraction of the school where our daughters were taken away, but, sadly, the then federal government pretentiously leveled the remaining structures, on the grounds that the whole school would be rebuiltNow, here we are, our daughters are gone, and our only school have been destroyed, meaning no future for our remaining children. Esther Musa whose daughter was also abducted said the planned rebuilding of the school was done in the name of politics and that the Jonathan administration had no concrete plan to carry out the project. We know the foundation laying was an outright deception. And the deception ended after Jonathan lost the presidential location. We wish they left the school the way it was, after the Boko Haram miscreants left. Our surviving children wouldve returned to school, but they (government) destroyed everything in the name of politics. Bitrus Pogu who is the national chairman of the Kibaku area development association which is the umbrella body of the Chibok community said it was saddening that no school activity was taking place in Chibok. READ ALSO: Parents identify 7 Chibok daughters in new Boko Haram video He said: We are particularly saddened by the fact that no school activities are taking place in Chibok; even the school that was destroyed has not been rebuilt. We had hoped that these past two years would bring back Chibok to the fore with school and other activities but regrettably no activity is taking place in the whole of Borno State. Even the preliminary work that had commenced on the molding of blocks for rebuilding the school had stopped. All other areas where Boko Haram had taken over have become deserted without activities. There is no support for rebuilding the schools and even assisting the victims of the crisis. Pogu however expressed displeasure at comments made by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo that the Chibok girls will not be found. We were hoping that the current government would come to our aid by rescuing the abducted schoolgirls but we are despaired by comments coming from the government and other prominent Nigerians like former President Olusegun Obasanjo. We believe he (Buhari) has the capacity as a retired military leader to bring succor to Chibok and Borno State. We are urging him, therefore, to do whatever he can to restore joy and happiness to the distressed parents, Pogu said. Meanwhile, an international news channel, CNN, has obtained the video that shows 15 of the Chibok girls abducted two years ago who are alive and looking well taken care of. The recording was reportedly sent by kidnappers to negotiators as a proof of life. The report said it had been seen by negotiators and some members of the Federal government, but has now been shown to the parents of the missing girls. Source: Legit.ng - The recent video has brought hope to the parents of the Chibok girls, some of whom recognized their children - One of the Boko Haram survivors claimed that the Nigerian army killed five Chibok girls during the clearance operation The parents of the Chibok girls, some of whom recognized their children The deadly Boko Haram sect has taken thousands of women and girls to rape, force them into marriage, convert into Islam with little attention paid to them. However, a mass kidnapping of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls attracted a lot of attention from the globe community. Apart from the recent video that appeared on April 13 a shocking lack of concrete information exists about what has occurred to the Chibok girls since they were taken, though rumors prosper. Vice News spoke with a woman in her 30s, who escaped the insurgents six weeks ago. READ ALSO: Would President Buhari save his own daughter, Zahra? Hawwa, claimed that she had met the Chibok girls in Gwoza, the former center of Boko Haram's self-declared caliphate. She was kidnapped from Madagali, a town in Adamawa state, and held by the terrorists for a year. The woman stated that she was forced to work as a cook for the Boko Haram sect, and was kept in a complex with a lot of other women and children, where conditions were poor. According to her, the Chibok girls were kept alone and treated much better than the other women, "like VIPs." The girls were attended the Islamic education classes together, where they quoted passages of the Quran. From the classes Hawwa learned about who they were and how they were kidnapped. Hawwa said some of the abducted girls had been "initiated" into Boko Haram, by converting to Islam and marrying terrorists, with many now having children. Meanwhile, others remained "stubborn." She added: "There were some that did not convert to Islam, now they are living for when they will die because they are not practicing any religion there." The escaped woman also claimed that while Gwoza was under Boko Haram's control, five of the Chibok girls were killed by the Nigerian army jets that flew overhead and opened fire on a crowd of women as they sat together in a camp. "The military... didn't know they were the Chibok girls," she said. "They would have seen a group of women in a compound and just fired... When it started we ran." READ ALSO: Heartbreaking: 14 of Chibok girls parents died of trauma as rescue hopes weaken Hawwa said she thought the army "would have thought they were the family of the insurgents." Since President Muhammadu Buhari came to power the army launched a strong offensive against the deadly sect, including an aggressive aerial campaign. Legit.ng has obtained the video of the bombardment of the Sambisa forest, where the group is thought to be hiding out. However, we are not able to verify Hawwa's story with any other source. This week, Bring Back Our Girls activists who have worked tirelessly over the past two years to keep the Chibok abduction in the public eye are holding another series of events. While the Nigerian army has now regained much of the territory that was held by Boko Haram in its northeastern heartland, kidnappings continue. Just last month, 14 women were taken as they went to collect water, according to people occupying displacement camps in northern Nigeria. Source: Legit.ng Hotels in Berlin recorded a 13.0% increase in profit per room this month as Messe Berlin hosted the IT conference, Cisco Live! for the first time following its move from Milano Congressi, according to the latest HotStats data. The 13,000-strong delegation helped fuel a 10.3% increase in RevPAR (Reve... [] Javascript Error Javascript is deactivated in your browser. To use all functions on this portal, for example the login, Javascript must be activated. Please activate Javascript in your browser settings. Despite dire predictions that the Zika virus could affect much of the United States including large cities this summer, two public health law experts warn that the country is unprepared, and the financial and moral consequences could be significant. Writing in a JAMA Viewpoint published online, Lawrence O. Gostin of Georgetown University and James G. Hodge Jr., of Arizona State University, say much of the blame for the "failure to act decisively" lies with the U.S. Congress. The Zika virus is known to spread primarily by mosquitoes. Currently, the active transmission of the virus is occurring in more than 40 countries in the Americas, Pacific Islands/Oceania and the Caribbean including the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Scientific consensus is emerging linking the Zika virus to severe birth abnormalities, including microcephaly, and neurologic disorders in adults including Guillain-Barre syndrome. The mosquito that carries Zika is expected to embed in much of the United States this summer. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell has warned that Zika has a "significant potential to affect national security or the health of Americans." "With Zika spinning out of control in the Americas and Caribbean, it is only a matter of time before we see outbreaks in the continental United States," says Gostin. Earlier this year, President Obama requested $1.86 billion for surveillance, mosquito control, research and health services, but Congress has not approved the funding. advertisement "We know that Zika is coming, and yet Congress stubbornly refuses to appropriate funding to ensure we are ready," Gostin says. "That is shameful and there will be a political price to pay." In the absence of Congressional action, the President reallocated $589 million of designated Ebola funds to Zika preparedness, research and the creation of response teams. "This is like robbing Peter to pay Paul," Gostin says. "The United States made a pledge to West African countries to help rebuild their health systems and to detect and respond to emerging threats. Yet just when new cases are arising in West Africa, the United States is welching on its commitment to fight Ebola. It is morally wrong and short sighted for Congress to force the President's hand. In order to protect the homeland from Zika, he has had to shortchange some of the world's poorest countries." In their JAMA article, Gostin and Hodge explain that a huge gap in funding that remains leaves the country's health agencies without the resources for surveillance, mosquito control and health care services, and they point out that development of a preventive vaccine could be delayed. They also warn of the cost of care for Zika-related health impacts, especially among newborns. "Beyond cost, Zika has deep moral dimensions, with impoverished women and their newborns at greatest risk," Gostin and Hodge write. Gostin adds, "Imagine if nine months after clusters of Zika cases emerge in the United States, babies are born with abnormalities. It will cause a moral outrage." Gostin and Hodge say with proper funding, research could be conducted that would help answer serious questions including how long the body harbors the virus, the duration that patients remain immune, or when it becomes safe for women to become pregnant. And they say full funding is critical to mosquito abatement. Gostin and Hodge warn that the "failure to fund Zika preparedness would be a serious public health and political mistake" and they remind us that "Ebola demonstrated that even advanced health systems can fail to eliminate the risks of novel infections," referring to the cases of Ebola transmitted to health care workers in Dallas in the fall of 2014. They conclude, "The nation's state of preparedness is compromised by Congress's inaction on supplemental funding and the weak capacities and powers of states and localities. If preventable cases of Zika-related infant abnormalities emerge, there will be a high political price for the failure to act decisively." A team of marine scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Victoria have returned from nearly a month of scuba diving on coral reefs in the middle of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. What they saw will haunt them for a long time. "It's as if someone has thrown a fuzzy red/brown blanket over the reef, turning it all one color," says Kim Cobb, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. "Right now it looks okay from afar, with all the coral structure still in place. But when you get up close, you see that it's all dead, as far as the eye can see. It's very eerie." Cobb and the Georgia Tech team worked with biologist Julia Baum and her team of UVic researchers on Kiritimati Island (also known as Christmas Island), the world's largest coral atoll. Christmas Island is about 150 miles north of the equator and 1,340 miles south of Hawaii. The current El Nino is the strongest ever recorded, and it has hit this area harder than anywhere else on the planet. When the Georgia Tech team visited the reefs last November, 50 to 90 percent of corals they saw were bleached and as many as 30 percent were already dead. This time, after months of warm waters powered by the El Nino, the numbers were more stark. After extensive underwater surveys around the atoll, Baum's team estimates that 80 percent of the corals are dead and 15 percent are bleached. Only 5 percent are still alive and healthy. "To see the reefs change this dramatically in just a few months is shocking," says Baum. "We were bracing ourselves for the worst, but seeing it with our own eyes was surreal. Christmas Island's coral reefs are like ghost towns now. The structures are all still there, but no one is home." Corals are communities of animals that have tiny photosynthetic algae living inside them in a mutually beneficial relationship. The algae provide corals with their vibrant corals, along with a vital source of food via photosynthesis. Corals, in turn, provide the structure that shelters their tiny algal symbionts. advertisement Corals are very temperature-sensitive. A rise of just 1-1.5 degrees Celsius can stress coral enough to evict the algae until the heat stress subsides. This leaves a ghostly white coral skeleton and is known as "bleaching." During protracted warm water events, such as the current El Nino, bleached corals aren't able to bring their symbiotic plants back in, and they can die of starvation. Temperatures on Christmas Island have been between 1.5 to 3 degrees Celsius higher than normal for the past 10months straight. "This intense heat stress has transformed some of the world's healthiest coral reefs into graveyards," says Baum. "To our knowledge, this is the greatest coral mass mortality event at a single location on record." Many other areas in the world's oceans are also showing extensive bleaching this year, including Australia's Great Barrier Reef, but the Christmas Island corals were pushed far beyond bleaching. Cobb and Baum think it may take a decade or more for the Christmas Island reefs to recover, but they might never look the same because of warmer-than-average temperatures and lower ocean acidity. Both are the consequences of rising greenhouse gases. "Aside from their sheer beauty and appeal, coral reefs provide a host of ecosystem services that are critical to a healthy ocean," says Cobb. "When remote reefs like Christmas Island succumb to acute temperature stress, it's a wake-up call for the rest of the world's reefs, which will come under increasing stress from climate change." "Christmas Island's people rely on the reefs for their food and their livelihoods, so they'll be profoundly affected by this event," says Baum. She and her team will be studying the reefs carefully over the coming years to assess the recovery and learn more about how some corals are managing to resist heat damage. At the same time, Cobb and her students will work to determine whether the record-breaking 2015/2016 El Nino event is a portent of future El Nino events under continued climate change. "Our research will provide important new insights into how corals may be able to survive more frequent temperature extremes over the next century," says Baum. "In the meantime, this event is a vivid reminder that the effects of climate change are happening now, and that the choices we make about greenhouse gas emissions in the next decades will have long-term effects." Safe levels of electrical stimulation can enhance your capacity to think more creatively, according to a new study by Georgetown researchers. Georgetown psychology professor Adam Green and Dr. Peter Turkeltaub of Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) and MedStar National Rehabilitation Network, and a team of colleagues published the study yesterday online in Cerebral Cortex. The team used Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to stimulate an area of the brain known to be associated with creativity in combination with giving test subjects verbal cues to think more creatively. "We found that the individuals who were most able to ramp up activity in a region at the far front of the brain, called the frontopolar cortex, were the ones most able to ramp up the creativity of the connections they formed," Green explains. "Since ramping up activity in frontopolar cortex appeared to support a natural boost in creative thinking, we predicted that stimulating activity in this brain region would facilitate this boost, allowing people to reach higher creative heights." Use of tDCS targeting frontopolar cortex in two creativity tasks allowed the test subjects to form more creative analogical connections between sets of words, and to generate more creative associations between words. "This work is a departure from traditional research that treats creativity as a static trait," Green says. "Instead, we focused on creativity as a dynamic state that can change quickly within an individual when they 'put their thinking cap on.' " "The findings of this study offer the new suggestion that giving individuals a "zap" of electrical stimulation can enhance the brain's natural thinking cap boost in creativity," he adds. advertisement The researchers wrote that their results provide "novel evidence" that tDCS enhances the "conscious augmentation of creativity elicited by cognitive intervention, and extends the known boundaries of tDCS enhancement to analogical reasoning, a form of creative intelligence that is a powerful engine for innovation." Turkletaub, a GUMC cognitive neurologist, hopes that one day doctors may be able to improve creative analogical reasoning using both cueing and tDCS to help people with brain disorders. "People with speech and language difficulties often can't find or produce the words they need," he explains. "Enhancing creative analogical reasoning might allow them to find alternate ways of expressing their ideas using different words, gestures, or other approaches to convey a similar meaning." Green and Turkeltaub say that although their results are promising, "it is important to be cautious about applications of tDCS." They say that much remains unknown about exactly how tDCS affects brain function, and early reports of tDCS effects need further replication before researchers can further gauge how substantive these effects are. "Any effort to use electric current for stimulating the brain outside the laboratory or clinic could be dangerous and should be strongly discouraged," Green cautioned. This work was supported by awards from the National Science Foundation, The John Templeton Foundation, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences via Georgetown Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science (KL2 TR000102) and Pymetrics. A dying star ends its life in a cataclysmic explosion, shooting the majority of the star's material, primarily new chemical elements created during the explosion, out into space. One or more such supernovae appear to have occurred close to our solar system approximately two million years ago. Evidence of the fact has been found on Earth in the form of increased concentrations of the iron isotope 60Fe detected in Pacific ocean deep-sea crusts and in ocean-floor sediment samples. This evidence is highly compelling: The radioactive 60Fe isotope is created almost exclusively in supernova explosions. And with a half-life of 2.62 million years, relatively short compared to the age of our solar system, any radioactive 60Fe originating from the time of the solar system's birth should have long ago decayed into stable elements and thus should no longer be found on Earth. Lunar samples from the Apollo missions This supernova hypothesis was first put forth in 1999 by researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) who had found initial evidence in a deep-sea crust. Now their claim has received further substantiation: Physicists at the TUM and their colleagues from the USA have succeeded in demonstrating an unusually high concentration of 60Fe in lunar ground samples as well. The samples were gathered between 1969 and 1972 during Apollo lunar missions 12, 15 and 16, which brought the lunar material back to earth. It's also conceivable that 60Fe can occur on the moon as the result of bombardment with cosmic particles, since these particles do not break up when colliding with air molecules, as is the case with Earth's atmosphere. Instead they directly impact the lunar surface and can thus result in transmutation of elements. "But this can only account for a very small portion of the 60Fe found," explains Dr. Gunther Korschinek, physicist at TUM and scientist of the Cluster of Excellence Structure and Origin of the Universe. Deposits of newly produced stellar matter "We therefore assume that the 60Fe found in both terrestrial and lunar samples has the same source: These deposits are newly created stellar matter, produced in one or more supernovae," says Dr. Korschinek. Since the moon generally provides a better cosmic record than Earth, the scientists were also able to specify for the first time an upper limit for the flow of 60Fe that must have reached the moon. Among other things this also makes it possible for the researchers to infer the distance to the supernova event: "The measured 60Fe-flow corresponds to a supernova at a distance of about 300 light years," says Korschinek. "This value is in good agreement with a recently theoretical estimation published in nature." The lunar samples were investigated using the high-sensitivity accelerator mass spectrometer of the Maier-Leibnitz Laboratory near Munich. Suppose you were trying to design a vaccine to combat next season's influenza virus. Having a detailed map that tells you exactly how various strains of the flu bug will evolve would be extremely helpful. Creating just that sort of map is the goal of evolutionary biologists who study a conceptual tool called the fitness landscape, which provides a way to visualize and predict evolution. The idea of the fitness landscape has been around since the 1930s, when it was proposed by population geneticist Sewall Wright. But mapping a detailed fitness landscape is a daunting challenge, and the landscapes created to date are fairly crude. Now, a team of University of Michigan researchers is reporting the first comprehensive in vivo fitness landscape of a gene--roughly 100 times larger than any previous effort. The findings are expected to be of interest to evolutionary biologists, geneticists and molecular biologists, said team leader Jianzhi "George" Zhang, a professor in the U-M Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. A paper summarizing the team's findings, which are based on the manipulation of a single gene in baker's yeast, is scheduled for online publication in the journal Science on April 14. "The concept of the fitness landscape is critically important and underlies many evolutionary theories. But until now, we were simply not able to measure it," Zhang said. "We still have a long way to go, but this is a big step toward measuring fitness landscapes." Think of a fitness landscape as a 3-D map that allows researchers to visualize the relationship between an organism's genetic makeup and its ability to produce offspring, which biologists call fitness. Reproductive rate is the ultimate measure of evolutionary success--really the only metric that matters. advertisement Darwinian fitness is determined by the interplay between an organism's genes and its environment. In any given environment, an organism's genetic makeup, or genotype, can either help or hurt it in the competition against other individuals of the same species. The fitness landscape is a way of visualizing the relationship between genotypes and reproductive success. But moving the study of fitness landscapes from a theoretical pursuit to an experimental science has been challenging for several reasons. First off, the genotype space is immense, consisting of vast numbers of genetic possibilities for any single organism. The human genome, for example, is a sequence of about 3 billion letters built from the four-letter genetic alphabet of A, T, G and C. At each position in the genetic sequence there are four letters to choose from, which means there are billions and billions and billions of possibilities in a complete human genotype. To make this problem more manageable, Zhang and his colleagues focused on one small gene from baker's yeast, a single-celled organism with about 6,000 genes. Yeast is commonly used by scientists to provide insights about genetics and cell biology. The researchers selected a gene that holds the genetic instructions for making transfer RNA, or tRNA, which is part of the cellular machinery used to assemble proteins from amino acids. The gene they selected contains just 72 letters known as nucleotide bases. advertisement To map a fitness landscape for this tRNA gene, the researchers needed to assess the reproductive success associated with every possible combination of A, T, C and G at each of the 72 locations in that gene sequence. So they constructed more than 65,000 yeast strains, each carrying a unique variant of the gene with one or more misspellings of the sequence. Each misspelling is called a point mutation. The 65,000-plus yeast strains were then placed together in a test tube and allowed to grow for one day through asexual cell division. At the end of the 24-hour competition period, the growth rate of each strain--essentially a measure of its Darwinian fitness--was determined. The result was a fitness landscape for a tRNA gene, the first relatively comprehensive, in vivo fitness landscape of any gene in any eukaryotic organism, according to Zhang. The researchers showed that about 1 percent of the point mutations were beneficial to the organism, while 42 percent were harmful. And when two harmful mutations interacted, the outcome was usually more harmful to the organism than if the two mutations had acted independently. The U-M team also found that fitness is broadly correlated with the predicted fraction of correctly folded tRNA molecules, revealing a biophysical basis for the fitness landscape. "The experimental method we developed for measuring fitness landscapes can also be applied to other genes, including protein-coding genes," Zhang said. "So we expect that our paper will be of broad and immediate interest." A young bear cub and a cat have turned heads at a sanctuary after the two formed an unlikely bond - but even the bear cub's birth was a surprising event. Her mother, Gallamair, and father, Kaka, both came to the sanctuary as cubs about six years ago. The Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) rescue center usually rehabilitates and releases animals back into the wild, but these two became permanent residents since they were unable to live on their own in the wild. During their time together, they found a bit of romance. Since WFFT takes a strong stance against the breeding of captive wildlife, the group decided to perform a vasectomy on Kaka. As WFFT wrote in a recent post to Facebook, "Unfortunately, it appears that the operation was not successful." The cub's name is Ka Wao. Here she is with her mother. Kaka has been separated from Ka Wao and Gallamair in order to replicate the mother-child bond that forms naturally among sun bears in the wild, independent of the father. In the short time she's been alive, Ka Wao has already displayed a sense of curiosity and playfulness. She's even made a new friend in George, one of the resident pet cats at WFFT. Dodo Shows Wild Hearts Guy And Wild Shark Have Been Best Friends For Decades "She is a confident little cub and loves to explore her enclosure mostly followed closely by her ever devoted mother," WFFT wrote in a Facebook post. It may seem unusual, but the bear is following in her mother's footsteps. "Gallamair often befriends cats, so her cub is copying this," a representative of WFFT told The Dodo. "They seem to get along very well and spend lots of time together. All three of them often sit down and eat together." George must appreciate the occasional bear hug. Although Ka Wao's birth surprised the caretakers at WFFT, it was a happy accident, and with the illegal wildlife trade as rampant as it is in Thailand, the sanctuary will be able to protect her from the same threats which placed her parents in its hands six years ago. But Ka Wao doesn't think about any of that. To her, life is still a barrel of laughs and filled with new days to explore, and that's just the way it should be for a young cub. "I've never seen two dogs doing what these two did," Eldad Hagar, cofounder of Hope For Paws in Beverly Hills, California, told The Dodo. Miley and Frankie met each other in recovery after being rescued by Hagar, but before they became each other's source of comfort and support, they both lived in similarly tragic situations, miles apart from each other. Miley's story started when a college student called Hagar with information about a dog living on top of a pile of garbage. When Hagar arrived, Miley didn't take long to warm up to him. Without much effort, he was able to leash her and lead her away from the trash. This browser does not support the video tag. Hope For Paws Resting her head, Miley made herself at home in the car ride to the veterinarian. "She slept for three days," Eldad says in a video of the rescue. "It's not just the physical healing, but it's also the mental healing." Below is a photo of Miley on her first day of healing. Covered in mange and several infections, she had a long way to go. That's where Frankie came into Miley's life. "These two creatures just bonded," Hagar told The Dodo. Dodo Shows Odd Couples Kitten Isn't Sure About His Pittie Brother At First This browser does not support the video tag. Hope For Paws Like Miley, Frankie was living alone on a pile of trash when Eldad came to rescue him - except this little Chihuahua's home was in a tunnel under the Interstate 5, one of the country's largest highways. He hid behind his garbage home when Eldad crawled into the tunnel to rescue him, but eventually Hagar was able to capture him and bring him to the rescue where Miley was already busy healing. "Initially he didn't want anything to do with humans," Hagar explained, but he wasn't afraid of Miley. "I can try to talk to Frankie and Miley and try to calm them down," Hagar said, "but when they have another creature with them, it's their [own] language." After being cut off from humans and, likely, other dogs for the time that they were homeless, Miley and Frankie understood each other. While under the care of Hope For Paws, Miley helped Frankie grow into a playful little dog. This browser does not support the video tag. Hope For Paws They even took naps together. This browser does not support the video tag. Hope For Paws That all took place about two years ago. "Now, Miley just has an incredible home and she just has the best life," Hagar said. As you can see below, all Miley's fur grew back - and so did her love for life and all things energetic. This browser does not support the video tag. Hope For Paws While many have expressed to Hagar that they wish the two dogs found forever homes together, he explained that, taking into account the size difference between the two dogs, it made much more sense to find them homes that suited each dog's individual needs. "He lives happily with a bunch of other little Chihuahuas," Hagar said of Frankie. Learning to trust comes more easily for some dogs than it does for others. Luckily for Frankie, Miley helped create a bridge for him to shed his fear and open himself up to humans. Their friendship goes to show that, when the world seems to have turned against you, sometimes you just need one person to help you see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Sheilah Graham

When it comes to fugitive dogs, Murphy took the cake. Literally. He was nearly untrappable thanks to his uncanny knack for squeezing just enough of his body into a trap to snatch the bait - while keeping the rest of him outside of it. Sheilah Graham Every time animal control officers in West Warwick, Rhode Island, set the trap for him, Murphy got fed. Then he got away. Sheilah Graham But if animal control couldn't catch Murphy, winter's wrath just might. Back in February 2015, Rhode Island was in the throes of a cold, brutal snowstorm. Murphy had already been on the lam since November after running away from his owner. Animal control officers decided to call for in for some extra help. They called Sheilah Graham. A staffer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security by day, the Rhode Island woman moonlights as a "pet detective." Basically, she finds lost animals in her spare time. She doesn't get paid for it. And she's tallied a sterling record, solving more than 70 cases - on one occasion, even driving a dog 2,000 miles to be reunited with his owner. Dodo Shows Faith = Restored Rescued Animals Melt Into This Woman's Arms When She Sings To Them Sheilah Graham The 49-year-old remembers the Case of the Missing Murphy all too well. She and a friend set up cameras to study his movements, collecting around 2,000 photographs of her target. Murphy was trap-savvy, having thwarted animal control officers for days. Graham's team attached two traps to each other, forcing the dog to go deeper inside for the bait. Then they strung a wire all the way to the porch of a nearby home that would trip the trap door. And finally, they set up a live video feed to monitor the double-trap from that porch. Sheilah Graham But Graham knew that, without patience, even the most elaborate schemes are quickly unraveled. Murphy had to be, as Graham says, "reconditioned" to the trap. She spent days letting him go in and out of it. Until, at last, Graham was ready for checkmate. Sheilah Graham "Friday arrived, we already did our talk throughs, with all scenarios and hiccups which could catch us by surprise," Graham wrote in a Facebook journal detailing the case. "If anything failed we did have the Saturday to fall back on. We were very confident about our success that day. This was going to work and we knew it. We only needed Murphy to be hungry and cooperative." Murphy was indeed hungry. But he knew this game. He went into the trap three times, keeping his posterior - his safety net - outside every time. The fourth time he went in all the way. The line was cut. The door clanked shut. "Murphy was finally safe," Graham noted. "Though he was not happy." Sheilah Graham Not at least until his microchip was traced to an owner who had been missing the dog - actually named Phillip - since the fall of 2014. "I'm happy with each reunion," Graham says. "Each one brings the release of adrenaline that kept the search going. Once that door closes and the pup is safe, usually the tears fall." Sheilah Graham Graham's calm, calculated approach to her craft has has made her a specialist in catching the seemingly uncatchable. Sheilah Graham There's Belle, who was visiting Rhode Island from West Virginia. She wandered off and spent 35 days at large until Graham found her. And Brynn, who got lost in a wide tract that stretches across three townships. "The hardest part is keeping the owners focused," she says. "I keep them busy, I keep them motivated. Their world is collapsing all around them. "If you haven't lost a pup, there is no understanding just what they're going through." To keep the owner from becoming unhinged, she often recruits them in the case, spending hours on the phone with them, discussing their dog's personality, habits, what makes them tick. Then there was Bean, who wandered off in Providence. The search for her led Graham to another lost dog named Hank, who had been missing for nearly five months. Sheilah Graham Graham trapped both dogs within four days of each other. Sheilah Graham Her methods include painstaking interviews with owners - "Every detail, regardless how minor it seems to you or anyone, could be the critical one I need." Then there are surveillance cameras and maps and, of course, those trusty traps. Because when it comes to a missing pet, the last thing you want to do is chase. Sheilah Graham "Sadly, a lost dog rarely recognizes his owner's voice," she says. "When they're in survival mode, they are fight or flight and most just take off." "And with four paws on the ground and a lower center of gravity, they are a hell of a lot more agile than anyone trying to get them." No solo gumshoe, Graham relies on a vast network - after someone calls in a sighting, flyers are posted, supplied are donated, phone calls are fielded, social media scanned. Sheilah Graham In Philadelphia, there won't be any more questions about how much that puppy in the window costs. Because there won't be any more puppies in the window. The city passed legislation on Thursday banning the sale of commercially bred puppies and kittens at pet stores, as well as at outdoor venues such as flea markets and roadsides - a decision that could have a major impact on the puppy mill industry. Introduced as a bill in January, the ordinance aims to stem the tide of puppies being churned out of mills and sold at stores in the city. "Not only does this cut off a huge market of puppy mills, but it is also significant that the largest city in Pennsylvania, which is a huge puppy mill state, has taken such a strong stand against puppy mill cruelty," John Goodwin of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) said in a statement sent to The Dodo. About 10,000 puppy mills in the U.S. supply more than 2 million animals a year to pet stores across the country, according to HSUS. And for every puppy, there's a mother who spends her life being bred for profit. Dodo Shows Soulmates Dog Goes Everywhere In His Dad's Kangaroo Pouch FAIRFIELD AREA HUMANE SOCIETY Thanks to abysmally low standards outlined in the Animal Welfare Act, many of these breeding pits remain legal. The law, for example, doesn't limit the number of animals allowed at a breeding site, leading to overcrowding and poor conditions. In addition, breeders can stack cages of animals, and wire flooring (which is uncomfortable and unsanitary) is somehow considered perfectly all right. Increasingly, the fight against puppy mills is being taken up at the consumer end of the spectrum. Philadelphia joins a host of other municipalities who've banned the sale of puppy mill dogs, including Boston, where a ban was enacted in March, and Phoenix, Arizona, where pet store puppies were banned last August. "We applaud the Philadelphia city council for passing this important animal welfare and consumer protection bill," Kristen Tullo, Pennsylvania state director for HSUS, said in a statement. "Another major American city has taken a stand against cruel puppy mills, getting us one step closer to the day when puppy mills have nowhere left to sell." Is your city on the list of places that have banned puppy mill dogs? If not, join the fight and contact your elected representative at every level of government, from city to state to federal.

Trish Favela

When Trish Favela was dragged over to a storm drain by her dog Willow, she had no idea why until she saw three little faces peeking out from beneath the grate. "I saw a mom and two babies, meowing and hissing, who were angry that a dog was looking at them," she told The Dodo. Willow, a rescued female chow and yellow lab mix, was obviously concerned. "Her mother instinct came out," Favela said. "She looked up at me as if to say, 'Get them out of there.'" Favela tried in vain to lift the grate but it was too heavy. She began making phone calls to some animal rescues that said they didn't have the capabilities or resources to help. Peaches Sloan Because she lives in a private, gated community, it is difficult to get the fire department to come out unless it's an emergency, and calls to other groups ended the same way: Either they couldn't help or they said the cats were not at risk. However, Favela was concerned because of a storm threat in the Phoenix, Arizona, area where she lives, and if that happened, the mother and kittens surely would drown. She called her daughter and told her how worried she was about not being able to find help for the cats. Dodo Shows Wild Hearts Guy And Wild Shark Have Been Best Friends For Decades Peaches Sloan When Favela's daughter got home that night, she tweeted the information and posted on Instagram about the cats being in danger. A flood of phone calls started pouring in with suggestions and people offering to help. "That's how I found Peaches," Favela said. Peaches Sloan is an independent rescuer who just started working with Echo Canyon Equine Foundation in Phoenix. Somehow Favela's plea for help reached Claudia Pape Schalk, founder of Echo Canyon Equine, who posted it on Facebook. Someone tagged Sloan, who then sprang into action. Peaches Sloan Sloan arrived at the site the next day, and with help from the superintendent of construction for the gated community, they lifted the storm drain grate. Peaches set up a Tru Catch humane trap and lowered it into the storm drain. They waited for hours without luck. With permission from the superintendent, they left the trap inside the drain, the grate slightly ajar and a towel draped down into the retention area so the cats could get up the side of the towel if it rained or flooded. Sloan returned the next day, set the trap and, within 10 minutes, she had the mother cat. "Then I knew I had to use the mother as bait to set a trap for the kittens, but I didn't have space for another trap to fit there," Sloan told The Dodo. "I had to flip her trap up sitting on end, but I had a nice towel in there for her." Peaches Sloan Lisa Bogart, another independent rescuer, showed up Saturday to help. Sloan placed a baby monitor down in the drain. "We had the other end of the baby monitor in Lisa's vehicle observing and listening," Sloan said. They stayed until 3 a.m. while the mother cat was still in the trap. Sloan took the mother cat home with her and planned to come back the next day to try again to get the kittens. "I knew we were going to have to get in that storm drain," she added. The next morning, Sloan received a frantic call from Favela that it was pouring rain and the storm drain was flooding. Sloan immediately headed back to the site, about 30 miles from her home. She texted another rescue friend and asked for more backup. She also called the Arizona Humane Society (AHS) to dispatch a rescue truck. Trish Favela "I was the first person to get there and the storm drain that we suspected the kittens were still in was not raging water yet, but the other drains were," Sloan said. "Trish and her husband had pulled the metal grate off, and we couldn't see the kittens but we could hear them." They had no idea where the end of the storm drain was and were trying to find it. "You could see light at the end of the tunnel, we just didn't know where that was," Sloan said. That led them to remove the manhole cover to see if they could spot the kittens from the other side. Peaches Sloan When they removed the cover, Mark Smith, an emergency animal medical technician with AHS, said he could see the kittens who were about 15 feet away. However, he couldn't fit into the drain. But Peaches could. She went in wearing welding gloves and carried a net with a handle. "So I went into the manhole, and [Smith] shined a flashlight to guide me so I could see, and I saw [the kittens] were actually about 50 feet away," Sloan said. "I couldn't even crawl. There wasn't enough space, so I had to worm my way like a Slinky in the manhole cover area, and then eventually I started doing a cobra pose, just pushing my way getting closer and closer." Peaches Sloan When Sloan reached the kittens, she realized she couldn't grab both. She grabbed the orange kitten, who tried to bite her. Sloan realized the net wouldn't work in that situation. She just had to get the kitten out and come back for the other. "I put the first kitten between me and the end of tunnel and, on my back, I scooted this kitten inch by inch with my feet because the kitten would not budge. He froze!" Sloan said. By the time she was toward the end of the tunnel, she heard someone say it was pouring. She knew she had to hurry so she could go back for the second kitten. However, it was difficult to breathe because the silt was making the air dusty. She forged ahead with kitten in hand, placed the kitten in the net and then passed him over to Mark. Trish Favela Then the water started to come in. She got out, and they rushed back to the storm drain where it had not yet started to flood. They took the first kitten and placed him in a small cage in the retention area. "I lowered a net to be ready to grab the next kitten in case we could lure him to the sibling, and it worked!" Sloan said. "So I literally dove in to throw the net over this little kitten. I scooped him up and lifted him out with the net. At that point I looked like an upside down jack in the box, and somebody had to pull me out. I didn't have the strength to back out at that point." Sloan was drenched and cold but was happy about the outcome. "It was a pretty exciting rescue," she said. Trish Favela She took the kittens to reunite them with their mother at her home, where they are safe and healthy. The mother is about 10 months old and the kittens are about 6 weeks old. Everyone will eventually be assessed, and spayed and neutered. Throughout the rescue, Sloan told herself to breathe and be calm in order to get through it to save the kittens. "Mark was straight behind me shining the flashlight at the entrance to the storm drain and was my emotional support," Sloan said. "He kept saying not to worry and that he'd stay with me." Favela stood by through the entire rescue that day and was surprised and amazed by the dedication of those involved. Trish Favela SeaWorld's orcas are still getting beat up. Earlier this week, The Dodo reported that a young orca named Sakari had been injured in a fight with another orca at SeaWorld San Antonio, leaving her with a bleeding gash on her chin. Now, a new video shows that the violence is just as rampant at the company's California location. A video taken last week at SeaWorld San Diego shows an orca, believed to be 14-year-old Nakai, with severe rake marks caused by other orcas' teeth running the length of his body. "[The video] doesn't even give it justice, for how deep and long some of those gashes were," Chelsy Sutton, the college student who recorded the video, told The Dodo. "I've seen some pretty bad rake marks ... [but] it was literally from his rostrum [nose] to the tip of his tail fluke." "It was bad," she said. "I'm not a marine biologist, but those marks, those were different whales. It looked like he was tag teamed." While SeaWorld announced last month that it would stop breeding its orcas - a welcome move that could mean an eventual end to orcas in captivity in the U.S. - the decision raised questions about what would happen to the park's current generation of orcas, who could be living in their tanks for decades to come despite ongoing concerns about welfare and violence issues. In-fighting is a particular problem, as SeaWorld's orcas are much more crowded than they would be in the wild, leading whales to attack each other due to stress from captivity - and preventing bullied whales from escaping their attackers. Dr. Heather Rally, a marine veterinarian currently currently affiliated with PETA, has previously reported seeing orcas at the San Antonio and Orlando parks with an "alarming" number of rake marks. One former diver told The Dodo last year that she would routinely find strips of skin the orcas had ripped off each other at the bottom of the tanks. Dodo Shows Wild Hearts Guy And Wild Shark Have Been Best Friends For Decades Chelsy Sutton And the violence can go far beyond bite marks. Nakai was also previously injured 2012 when a large portion of his chin was ripped off in a fight with another whale. In 1989, a female named Kandu died when she broke her jaw during a fight, severing an artery and filling the tank with blood in front of her young calf. "This level of aggressive interaction's never been observed in the wild," Dr. Naomi Rose, Ph.D., an orca expert with the Animal Welfare Institute who studies wild cetaceans, told The Dodo last year about the violence seen in SeaWorld's captive orca population. Yet Sutton said that, when an audience member asked a nearby trainer about the marks, he downplayed the incident as normal and said that Nakai's mother, Kastaka, had done it to keep him in check. Chelsy Sutton Elizabeth Hand writes stories so disturbing, you almost wish you hadnt read them. Her novels fall into different genres sci-fi, horror, fantasy, mystery but they all clot at the darker end of the literary spectrum. It has been more than 20 years since I read Waking the Moon, Hands much-celebrated pagan fantasy tale set in Washington, but scenes from that uncanny novel haunt me still. And Hands supernaturally inflected Cass Neary crime novels make mincemeat out of the assumption still held by many an unwary reader that mysteries are mere diversions, designed to pass an empty hour and then be forgotten. No way thats true of Hard Light: This third novel in the Cass Neary series fades away as stubbornly as a bloodstain. A stolen passport will only get you so far, Cass comments in the snap-to-attention opening line. Brazenly flashing the passport of another lanky woman of a certain age with substance abuse issues, Cass has turned up at Heathrow in flight from a nasty time (a sudden volcanic eruption and a pileup of murdered corpses) in Iceland. The plan is that shell rendezvous with Quinn her sometime lover and a seasoned contract killer at a pub in Brixton. Easier said than done. [Best mystery books and thrillers of 2015] Cass, a photographer who has lived most of her outlaw life in a rent-stabilized apartment on New Yorks Lower East Side, is disoriented by her maiden arrival in London during a torrential rain-and-sleet storm. (An overhead TV in Paddington Station displays scenes of devastation and a news crawl that declares: No end in sight to worst rains in 500 years.) Clasping her travel satchel close, with its precious contents of her old-school Konica and canisters of black-and-white film, Cass makes her way through twisting streets flooded not only with water but also with drunk businessmen, junkies and homeless kids. The elusive Quinn briefly surfaces and then disappears. Adrift, Cass gets caught up in the dark undertow of a cult film called Thanatrope, which was immediately pulled on its initial release in the 1970s. As Cass learns the hard way, the controversial film retains the power to destroy lives. Although the fictional Thanatrope is decidedly malevolent, whenever Hand describes its lingering eeriness, she may as well be describing the power of her own writing. As Cass says after watching a few scenes: The images were so weirdly oneiric more nightmarish than dreamlike . . . . They reminded me of the night terrors Id experienced in the last few months, the fear of some black arachnid nesting in my skull, unraveling the neural web that was my own consciousness. The author Elizabeth Hand (Norman Walters ) Hands tale, too, burrows in deep. Part of its power derives from the sheer exuberant strangeness of Hands storytelling. This odyssey takes Cass from London where shes forced by a criminal kingpin to work as a courier for a stolen-antiquities ring to a ramshackle cottage in the wilds of Cornwall, where survivors and descendants of the original Thanatrope cast and crew still carve out an existence, of sorts. Hand is also unflinching in her depiction of her bad-girl antiheroine. Cass has much in common with Stieg Larssons Lisbeth Salander, but Cass is older and more grimly set in her antisocial ways and black-stovepipe-jean wardrobe; she seems even more fringe than Lisbeth, who still has time left for therapy and second chances. Coming back to consciousness after being poisoned (for snooping around into some curious deaths associated with Thanatrope), Cass tells us: I hastily sat up and splashed water on my face. Id been living so long on speed and alcohol that the bones in my hands stood up like the tines of a rake. Cass is someone youd probably choose not to sit next to on Amtrak, but who youd want nearby when things get really weird. As they do here. The spooky finale of Hard Light leads readers deep into a macabre murder scene courtesy of Edgar Allan Poe that holds clues to the beginning of the art of photography itself. Its a bravura ending that both lays some questions to rest and exhumes even more freshly disturbing images to trouble a readers peace of mind. Maureen Corrigan is the book critic for the NPR program Fresh Air and teaches literature at Georgetown University. Goodbye. . . . Hola! That was the scene Wednesday night at the Library of Congress where lovers of literature gathered for the final lecture by U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera. But then came the happy news that Herrera, the first Hispanic poet to serve in the position, has been reappointed for a second year. In his first term as laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera traveled the country championing poetry, Acting Librarian of Congress David Mao announced. We know he will continue to inspire and educate with his warmth, enthusiasm and creative genius. For Herrera, the award-winning author of more than two dozen poetry collections and books for young people, the second term will provide an opportunity to build on the success of several ongoing projects, including his La Casa de Colores, an epic poem composed of online submissions from people around the world. Asked what hes most proud of from his first year, Herrera laughs and says, That I survived! [U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera made a fantastic debut in DC] Poets laureate define the job however theyd like; for Herrera that has meant lots of travel and doing what he loves most: listening to people tell their stories. Every place I go, I meet people and gain new insights, he said in an interview. I just notice everybody loving poetry and writing new ideas and tender hearts, radically different points of view about writing that I really havent thought about. He recalls meeting two young people, in particular, while giving talks around the country. One was 11-year-old Sarita Sol Gonzalez, whom he met in Albuquerque. The other was 12-year old Elena Medina, in Chula Vista, Calif., who said she was worried that she wasnt learning enough to get ready for college. When Herrera asked her if she ever wrote poetry, she recited one shed written about her grandfather. Elenas poem, Herrera said, contained a philosophical reflection about how all of us are impermanent. It was just a solid poem where she really touched base with wisdom. [The Earth is Ours - and it asks us many things by Juan Felipe Herrera, Sarita Sol Gonzalez and Elena Mediana] Working with the Library of Congress, Herrera made arrangements to bring both girls and members of their families to Washington so that they could participate in his lecture Wednesday night. Thats a groundbreaking move for a poet laureate, but a typical gesture for Herrera. [Mentors by Sarita Sol Gonzalez] Looking to his second term, Herrera said hes considering launching a superhero story for children that they could help write chapter by chapter online. Hes also determined to find some way to reach out to young people with special needs. I know that we dont hear from everyone, he said. I definitely want to get people who are not usually called in or mentioned. [One Day by Elena Medina] Thats essentially the theme of Herreras life and work. The poet laureate typically serves one year in the honorary position, which carries a stipend of $35,000. But several popular poets have served multiyear terms, including Natasha Trethewey, Kay Ryan, Ted Kooser and Billy Collins. "O say can you see" rhymes with "TP": This week's contest is for "tailgaters" for songs. (Bob Staake for The Washington Post) (Click here to skip down to the results of Week 1167, our perennial compare-and-contrast contest) O say can you see, by the dawns early light, (Francis Scott Key) That some kids put TP in our front yard last night? (Duncan Stevens, Vienna, Va.) Where have all the flowers gone? And whys there crabgrass in my lawn? (Pete Seeger/Duncan) Invite cartoonist Bob Staake examines Jeffs ear during a book-plugging appearance in D.C. in 2013. Which was handy, because he then did a cartoon of Jeff in conjunction with Week 1021. (Courtesy of Jeff Contompasis) Baby, youre a firework (Katy Perry) That went off prematurely jerk. (Katy Perry/Duncan) Theyre called tailgaters: You quote a line from a poem and follow it with a line of your own. We had a tailgater contest four years ago, but this time well have a musical twist, suggested by Loser Duncan Stevens, who happened to get his first blot of Invitational ink in that contest: Take a line from any song and pair it with your own second line to make a humorous rhyming couplet; the second line should match the rhythm of the first, rather than the second line of the song itself, as in Duncans examples above. Be sure to include the title of the song youre quoting. (And please dont add your name at the end of each entry, like the ones above; the Empress tries to judge the contest without seeing whos written what. Shell put your name or someone elses name there when she prints the entry.) Winner gets the Inkin Memorial, the Lincoln statue bobblehead that is the official Style Invitational trophy. Second place appropriately receives a kit called How to Kazoo: Users Guide & Practitioners Manual, complete with professional quality kazoo and tips on playing songs of all genres. Best thing about a kazoo: The player cant sing at the same time. Other runners-up win their choice of a yearned-for Loser Mug, the older-model This Is Your Brain on Mugs mug or a vintage Loser T-shirt. Honorable mentions get one of our lusted-over Loser magnets, Magnet Dum Laude or Falling Jest Short. First Offenders receive a smelly tree-shaped air freshener (FirStink for their first ink). Email entries to losers@washpost.com. Deadline is Monday night, April 25; results published May 15 (online May 12). You may submit up to 25 entries per contest. Include Week 1171 in your email subject line or it might be ignored as spam. Include your real name, postal address and phone number with your entry. See contest rules and guidelines at wapo.st/InvRules. The headline for this weeks results is by Jesse Frankovich; the honorable-mentions subhead is by Beverley Sharp. Join the lively Style Invitational Devotees group on Facebook at on.fb.me/invdev. Like the Style Invitational Ink of the Day on Facebook at bit.ly/inkofday; follow @StyleInvite on Twitter. The Style Conversational: The Empresss weekly online column, published late Thursday afternoon, discusses each new contest and set of results. Especially if you plan to enter, check it out at wapo.st/styleconv. DINGDINGDING! IMPORTANT LOSER ANNOUNCEMENT! It escaped the Empresss notice three weeks ago that Jeff Contompasiss joke about camel urine in the Week 1164 results was his 500th blot of ink thereby admitting JefCon to the den of iniquity that is the Style Invitational Hall of Fame, as its 11th member in the Invites 23-year existence. Jeff, whos renowned for making fun of his own nerdiness Is it just me who interprets the restroom sign Wet Floor as a command? tells a bit about himself, and about his weekly process of entering the Invite, in this weeks Style Conversational at bit.ly/conv1171. It was Jeffs idea for the ScrabbleGrams contest weve gone on to do every year and Bob Staake immortalized him in Week 1021. (Jeffs words for those letters: biolust, subtoil and slutbio.) (Bob Staake for The Washington Post) And the results of the Style Invitational contest announced four weeks ago . . . LAUGH-LONG RELATIONSHIPS: REPORT FROM WEEK 1167 Week 1167 was one of our perennial compare-and-contrast contests in which the Empress listed 18 random items and you had to explain how any two were similar, different or otherwise linked. 4th place: The Cat in the Hat and Hillarys emails: In both situations you wonder where all the grownups are. (Danielle Nowlin, Fairfax Station, Va.) 3rd place: The Apple Store Employee of the Month works hard to sell iPhones; tiny hands work hard to manufacture them. (Kristen Rahman, Silver Spring, Md.) 2nd place and the winner of the Back to the Future manure car: An all-you-can-eat buffet and leftover Valentines candy: Oh, you Match.com Casanova, you! (Kathy El-Assal, Middleton, Wis.) AND THE WINNER OF THE INKIN MEMORIAL Hillarys emails are just like three inches of snow: not enough to keep you from running for the office, but danged if they dont make the route hell. (Mike Ostapiej, Mount Pleasant, S.C.) THEY BEGGED TO DIFFER: HONORABLE MENTIONS Both tiny hands and Hillarys emails: The American people are sick and tired of hearing about yer damn . . . (Ellen Ryan, Rockville, Md.) Both the Cat in the Hat and seventh-grade boys have an optimistic view of what your mother wont mind at all if you do. (Dudley Thompson, Cary, N.C., and father of two sons) Hillarys emails vs. an all-you-can-eat buffet: The feeding frenzy brought on by the latter is somewhat more dignified. (Duncan Stevens, Vienna, Va.) President Tafts bathtub: ring; Leftover Valentines candy: no ring. (Jonathan Hardis, Gaithersburg, Md.) Seventh-grade boys will find it hilarious if you tell them tiny hands are a bad thing for a pianist. (Pam Sweeney, Burlington, Mass.) The Pentagon: Think eyes on Iraq. Scrabble tiles: Think Is on a rack. 7th-grade boys: Think eyes on a rack. (Chris Doyle, Denton, Tex.; yeah, the contest said to compare two items, but its just too good) An all-you-can-eat buffet vs. Hillarys emails: Its unlikely that anyone will end up eating crow at the buffet. (Kevin Dopart, Washington) An all-you-can-eat buffet and three inches of snow: Each can lead to a run on toilet paper. (Kevin Dopart) An all-you-can-eat buffet and three inches of snow: In D.C., theres a good chance that either will clog vital arteries. (Mike Gips, Bethesda, Md.) At the Pentagon: rank on their shoulders; with 7th-grade boys: rank in their armpits. (Dudley Thompson) The windchill factors in when going out in three inches of snow. A winchll factor in when getting out of President Tafts bathtub. (Chris Doyle) The Apple Store Employee of the Month might get free Nats tickets. Walmart mulch might come with free gnats, ticks, etc. (Danielle Nowlin) The last Cheeto in the bag vs. Tiny Hands: One is an unnatural orange mess that leaves a bad taste in your mouth; the other one isnt a nickname of someone running for president. (Paul Totman, Edmonton, Alberta, a First Offender) The Pentagon vs. Scrabble tiles: You can usually get a comprehensible word out of Scrabble tiles. (Andy Bassett, New Plymouth, New Zealand) For three inches of snow its not worth firing up the big plow, but with your tiny hands you probably dont have a big plow anyway. (Gary Crockett, Chevy Chase, Md.) Bunions: Unwanted trait of the feet. Leftover Valentines candy: Fate of the unwanted treat. (Jesse Frankovich, Lansing, Mich.) Seventh-grade boys vs. the Cat in the Hat: The cat doesnt leave your house both destroyed and smelling of Axe body spray. (John Hutchins, Silver Spring, Md.) An all-you-can-eat buffet and embalming fluid: You belly up to get one; youre belly up when you get the other. (Kevin Dopart) An all-you-can-eat buffet and Hillarys emails: In both cases, using an official server might have kept things from getting out of hand. (Hildy Zampella, Falls Church, Va.) An octagon vs. three inches of snow: Metrobuses run through a stop sign once in a while. (Kevin Dopart) Whats the difference between Scrabble tiles and seventh-grade boys? It takes at least a bit of skill for teenage girls to successfully manipulate Scrabble tiles. (John Hutchins) With an octagon, youve got a figure that has eight sides. With an all-you-can-eat buffet, you lost your figure when you ate the sides. (Mark Raffman, Reston, Va.) The last Cheeto in the bag and bunions: Both are crunchy, zesty, delicious snacks! Oh, wait, thats Funyuns. (Bill Dorner, Indianapolis) With seventh-grade boys, theres no such thing as leftover Valentines candy. (George Smith, Frederick, Md.) Still running deadline Monday, April 18: Our famous foal name breeding contest. See bit.ly/invite1170. Wendell Pierce as Judge Clarence Thomas in HBO's Confirmation. (Frank Masi/HBO) Its Confirmations bad luck to arrive just as The People v. O.J. Simpson has ended. The bar was already set pretty high for boutique cable adaptations of media-age history, but post-O.J., that bar is now so high that it will be quite a feat if FX can match it with a different iteration of its American Crime Story anthology series next year. Confirmation, premiering Saturday on HBO, is a movie rather than a series (sensibly so), taking us back to the queasy and infuriating few days of October 1991, when Senate confirmation hearings on Clarence Thomass nomination to the Supreme Court veered into an investigation of claims from University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill that Thomas had sexually harassed her a decade earlier, when they both worked at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In our mental compartmentalizing of fairly recent landmark events, it is tempting to file the Thomas hearings and the O.J. trial in the same drawer. Not only do both stories rekindle a 90s je ne sais quoi, they also represent the sort of unfinished business that everyone can only wish was finished. And both are still exhausting to talk about, suggesting as they do that the wheels of justice can easily catch a flat in the face of gender and race concerns. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldmans killer is never brought to justice, nor, on a much subtler scale, can we ever know what went on between Thomas and Hill, aside from her determinedly serious account of it and his rush to defend himself as a martyr of concerted discrimination. The moral of these stories is that there is no moral of the story, which leaves us without a true, teachable moment unless, of course, a movie dramatization might like to step in a couple of decades later and make things a little more clear. (Confirmation resolutely refuses this role; so did The People v. O.J. Simpson for that matter.) Instead, such stories serve as nostalgic nuggets of ignominious history, which makes them irresistible to TV producers who have realized that todays young adults missed all the excitement the first time around. So we ramp up the drama and present O.J. Simpson and Anita Hill to a Twitterized culture that thrives, in part, on fresh outrage. Kerry Washington as Anita Hill in HBO's Confirmation. (Frank Masi/HBO) Yet despite its tantalizing subject matter, Confirmation is surprisingly flat and uninspired, in every way that it shouldnt be in 2016. The cast, headed by Wendell Pierce (as Thomas), Kerry Washington (as Hill) and Greg Kinnear (as then-Sen. Joe Biden), is a top-notch ensemble that is clearly invested in the seriousness and solemnity of the project, even if some of the choices seem a little much, such as Eric Stonestreet as an anxious and foulmouthed Ken Duberstein an extra slice of ham that causes one to imagine Modern Familys Cam has won some terrible raffle prize where he is forced to play a Bush White House operative in a TV movie. The screenplay, by Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich), touches on every aspect of the confirmation hearing, finding some of the personal in the political while fearlessly mining the storys ugliest details. In ways that matter, Confirmation is precise and illuminating, particularly for those viewers who didnt pay attention when all this occurred. (Older viewers might once again wish to review the math: Todays 35-year-old has little, if any, memory of the hearings; Hill was 35 when she testified.) The elements are there for Confirmation to resonate like similar HBO efforts (2008s Recount and 2012s Game Change come to mind) but much of the film, as directed by Rick Famuyiwa, feels like lavishly and unnecessarily re-created newsreel especially because it relies too much on actual network news footage that acts as a narrative shortcut. Instead of concentrating on Confirmations name-brand performances (Jeffrey Wright as Charles Ogletree; Jennifer Hudson as Angela Wright, the second accuser who never got to testify; Treat Williams as Sen. Ted Kennedy), a viewer winds up marveling at the relatively youthful 1991 conditions of Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, Bernard Shaw, Andrea Mitchell, Barbara Walters and others (as well as the reappearances of the late Peter Jennings and Tim Russert), all of them surrounded by outdated screen graphics and washed-out videotape pastels. The newsy nostalgia trip draws attention away from the actors efforts, as if someone is unpacking a time capsule in the middle of a stage play. But the real absence in Confirmation is that almost ineffable combination of contextual fact and communal imagination that made The People v. O.J. Simpson seem utterly new and addictive while still adhering almost entirely to reported details. Greg Kinnear as then-Sen. Joe Biden in HBO's "Confirmation. (Frank Masi/HBO) Confirmation works so hard to play things straight down the middle that it forgets to become a movie. Only in rare moments when Thomas first reacts to news of Hills accusations or when Hill tells her ad-hoc legal team that theres no point in further testimony does Confirmation achieve the sort of transcendence where you stop Google-checking its facts and simply let the story pull you in. (Or pull you under, as the case may be.) Confirmation is filled with scenes of everyday Americans watching the hearings, but it struggles to convey the weirdness of it (the pubic hair on the Coke can, Long Dong Silver) with the dawning that society especially the American workplace was being pulled toward a new awareness of untoward behaviors. Dutifully, after the Senate confirms Thomas, the movie offers a glimpse at some positive outcomes, especially the election of more women to Congress in the 1992 elections. The People v. O.J. Simpson also played its story down the middle, for the most part; only in the final episode did it reveal anything remotely like an editorial viewpoint, when a freshly acquitted Simpson (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.) realizes with increasing horror that his celebrity status has been hollowed out a faint indication of a life sentence in the court of public opinion. Likewise, in its last few minutes, Confirmation shows something of a preference for Hills account, as the professor returns to her office at OU to find it filled with buckets of supportive mail from all over the country, telling her that she had set a courageous example. (Thomas, of course, goes on to the Supreme Court bench, where he is seldom heard from again.) Only in this scene Hill softly crying among her heaps of letters does Confirmation seem to grasp the power of omniscience that comes from turning a set of facts and a list of disputes into something effectively more true. Confirmation (110 minutes) airs Saturday at 8 p.m. on HBO, with encores. Florian Gallenbergers 2009 film John Rabe dramatized a neglected corner of history, in which a German citizen working abroad businessman and Nazi party member John Rabe (1882-1950) managed to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Chinese during the Nanjing Massacre of 1937. With the German filmmakers latest work, Colonia, he again turns his attention to a little-known intersection of German and world history: the Colonia Dignidad, a compound established by German emigre Paul Schafer in southern Chile in 1961, ostensibly as a charitable mission. Unlike Rabe, however, Schafer (1921-2010) was no hero. The Colonia whose Spanish name translates, perversely, as Colony of Dignity was actually a cultlike sect overseen by an evangelical megalomaniac who sexually abused dozens of boys while colluding with General Augusto Pinochet to torture prisoners of the Chilean dictators repressive regime. As played by Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Schafer is an unctuous devil, a little of whom goes a long way. Gallenberger first merely suggests Schafers predatory nature by showing us a crying boy exiting his office; he doesnt also need to show us the man padding into a boys shower in his bare feet in a later scene. We get the message, thank you. Fortunately, Colonia does not center on Schafer or his pedophilia, but on two of his adult victims: Daniel (Daniel Bruhl), an expatriate German political activist, and his girlfriend, Lena (Emma Watson), a Lufthansa stewardess who infiltrates the prisonlike Colonia after her boyfriend is arrested and sent there for interrogation by Pinochets goons. As the film implies, Pinochet, who came to power in 1973, was a novice at the torture game. He needed the expertise of Schafer, a former member of the Hitler Youth who fled his homeland after he was charged with sexual molestation of children in 1959. The action of the film is, by necessity, extreme. Bruhl and Watson lend it some needed subtlety, even when the script calls for Bruhl to pretend to be brain-damaged (after being hooked up to a car battery and beaten senseless). Although genuinely gripping at times, uncomfortably so the tale of Lena and Daniels efforts to escape from Colonia and expose its abuses suffers from a heavy-handed telling. One character in particular, the overseer of the female workers (Richenda Carey), is a tad too Nurse Ratched. And its hard to believe that Daniel would have ever been able to surreptitiously steal a camera and then photograph, develop and make prints of pictures of the torture chambers without being detected. The Gestapolike security implemented by Schafer included attack dogs, electrified fences, barbed wire, searchlights and tripwire guns. In real life, only five people ever did escape from the Colonia, and Schafer continued to operate, with impunity, for decades. Its horrors are well worth hearing about, even if Colonia at times overdramatizes them. Mowgli (Neel Sethi) and Bagheera (voiced by Ben Kingsley) in The Jungle Book. (Walt Disney Pictures) 10 and older The Jungle Book A dazzling piece of technical filmmaking, this new take on Rudyard Kiplings books has less success with its stark shifts in tone. Some bits are so visually intense, thanks to the blend of 3-D animation, live-action and motion-capture, that one cannot really recommend the movie for kids younger than 10. Yet other moments deep in the middle of the film lighten into a cheerful nod to the comic and musical gems of Disneys 1967 animated version. With the voices of Bill Murray as Baloo the carefree bear and Christopher Walken as King Louie, the menacing ape, we hear snatches of The Bare Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You. But poor little Mowgli (Neel Sethi) the orphaned human man cub rescued by the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and raised by a loving wolf mother, Raksha (Lupita Nyongo) has a tough time of it. A vengeful tiger, Shere Khan (Idris Elba), has a grudge against the boy and aims to kill him, first dispatching his adoptive wolf father, Akela. Bagheera sees that Mowgli, for all his human cleverness, will only be safe in the man village. But trying to get him there proves a perilous journey, fighting off Shere Khan, a hungry python, King Louie and his monkey army, and the distractions of lazing down the river with Baloo. (105 minutes) THE BOTTOM LINE: Parents will need to decide what their own children can handle, whether in 3-D or not perhaps by pre-screening the film. When the tiger Shere Khan or the python Kaa who both want to kill and/or eat Mowgli go after the little boy, the encounters are quite scary. Mowgli survives in triumph, but its a rough go. April and the Extraordinary World takes place in a steampunk Paris. (Gkids) April and the Extraordinary World (PG) With its gorgeous steampunk aesthetic and its complex, science-inspired storyline, April and the Extraordinary World is one French animated film that is not for kids younger than 10 or even 12. Parents will have to make a judgment about their kids intellectual maturity and assume theyll have to do some explaining afterwards. That doesnt mean April wont hold kids interest. It is visually ravishing, and the characters are fun and kind of spiky, although their faces could use more expression. The film takes place in a sooty version of mid-20th-century Paris. This alternate world hasnt evolved past coal power, and Napoleons descendants still rule the French Empire. A family of scientists at work on an anti-death serum are whisked away by mysterious government forces, who already have the likes of Einstein in their grip. Only the grandfather, Pops, and his granddaughter, April, escape. Years later, April, now a young woman in hiding, works on her parents formula with her beloved talking cat, Darwin, who is dying. Julius, a policemans snitch, tracks her, but finds he wants to protect her. The secret of her parents disappearance unfolds in much sci-fi and ethical complexity. The movie will be offered in French with English subtitles and in versions dubbed into English. (105 minutes) THE BOTTOM LINE: The steampunk tone is dark, with battles and deaths, looming structures, clouds of pollution, thuggish policemen, abductions, threats and talking dragons. A black cloud emitting electrical charges is especially scary. Julius and April have a couple of romantic kisses. PG-13 Ice Cube and Jazsmin Lewis-Kelley in Barbershop: The Next Cut. (Chuck Zlotnick/Warner Bros. Pictures) Barbershop: The Next Cut Ice Cube & Co. have reunited to update the 2002 comedy Barbershop with considerable success, mixing comedy and topicality. The new film is fine for high-schoolers but too full of semi-raunchy sexual innuendo for many middle-schoolers. It frames a smart and affecting conversation about street violence specifically, on Chicagos South Side in a style designed to appeal to the broadest possible audience with humor, poignancy and no on-screen violence. Calvin (Ice Cube) still runs his barbershop on the South Side with business partner Angie (Regina Hall). His trash-talking old barber Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer) is still there, plus a flirty, scantily clad new stylist, Draya (Nicki Minaj), and her target, the married barber Rashad (Common). Calvin worries about his 14-year-old son, Jalen (Michael Rainey Jr.), who was once a great student but is now showing signs of being lured into a gang. After another local kid dies accidentally in a shootout (not shown) and city hall makes noises about isolating the neighborhood in an enclosure, Calvin invokes a cease-fire and offers his shop as a place to discuss the issue. His little idea goes big. (112 minutes) THE BOTTOM LINE: The dialogue features lots of sexual innuendo couched in mildly raunchy/comical euphemisms, along with frequent use of the S-word, N-word and B-word, plus one use of the F-word. There are verbal jokes about drugs. Gang violence and street shootings are strongly implied and even heard, but not shown just threatened. Henry Cavill as Superman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Director Zack Snyder yanks this superhero saga from its comic-book roots and infuses it with thick dollops of existential, post-9/11 angst. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is long, sometimes hard to follow and overstuffed with plot and digital effects, but it is nearly always gripping. High-schoolers who prefer superheroes with moral and intellectual grit can revel in this film. That noted, its very dark mood and intense violence make it a decidedly iffy choice for timid or nightmare-prone middle-schoolers. The story opens with flashbacks of a Superman (Henry Cavill) skirmish that nearly levels Metropolis, then cuts to his recent bloody rescue of his love, reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams), from possible terrorists. A Senate subcommittee and even Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) over in Gotham City, question whether Supermans efforts are worth the collateral damage. As for Superman, he views Batman as an out-of-control vigilante. Enter addled young tech billionaire Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), who gets ahold of the mineral kryptonite, so dangerous to Superman. Batman and Superman continue on a rather anti-climactic collision course until Luthors evil plans erupt. (151 minutes) THE BOTTOM LINE: The mood, tone and violence are all very dark. The superheroes begin to wonder if humankind even deserves their help. The gunplay, aerial dogfights, impalements and chases, while not graphic with blood and gore, have a lethal intensity that implies much loss of life. The script includes one S-word. R The Dark Horse Thoughtful teens chess fans, especially cant help but find inspiration in this gritty, emotional and vividly told tale. Based on a true story, its set in modern New Zealand among impoverished native Maori people, so the accents might be occasionally thick for American ears. Still, the narrative comes through loud and clear. Cliff Curtis, in a searing, heartfelt acting turn, stars as real-life chess teacher and speed chess champ, Genesis Gen Potini. In the speed chess world, Gen, who died in 2011, earned the nickname Dark Horse. A Maori who grew up in rough circumstances, Gen was plagued by severe bipolar disorder. As the film opens, we see him in a manic episode, then carted off to a hospital. Hes later released into the care of his tough-guy brother, Ariki, an aging member of a criminal gang. Eager to find something stable and far from Arikis world, Gen contacts a friend who runs a chess club for at-risk Maori kids. He vows to teach them speed chess and hone them for a championship match. The kids warm up to Gen and to the game, which alters their lives. Gen also rescues his teen nephew from being forced to join Arikis gang. (124 minutes) THE BOTTOM LINE: The sporadic moments of violence are non-lethal, but very unsettling, as when the menacing gang members take after Gen and his nephew with iron bars. It is strongly implied that the Gens nephew is beaten by the gang to toughen him up, though we only glimpse it. The F-word gets a lot of use. The gang members drink and do unspecified drugs. The spring/summer 2016 cover of Metropolitan Home magazine features a room by Summer Thornton Design in Chicago. (Annie Schlecter) Back in the 1980s, when those photo-filled home publications that came in the mail were called shelter magazines, hip, urban baby boomers relied on Metropolitan Home for their design intelligence. From slouchy sofas to rusty finishes, Met Home, as the insiders called it, had a good run, starting in the 1970s as Apartment Life and renamed in 1981. But the magazine ceased publication in December 2009 after the real estate market crashed, furniture sales tanked and money for decorating dried up. But this week, Metropolitan Home is back, retooled for the city-dwelling children of the boomers who are coming into their nesting and spending years. Hearst Magazines created a spring/summer pilot issue that became available this week in 14 cities nationwide (Washington included) at places such as Whole Foods and Barnes & Noble; issues are being sent to 45,000 selected consumers between the ages of 28 and 40 from Hearst databases. The new magazine is targeting millennials. It was time for a contemporary, urban magazine, since so many magazines have kind of passed away and there is a lot on the Internet and not in print, says Newell Turner, editorial director of the Hearst Design Group, which publishes Elle Decor, House Beautiful and Veranda. We think print readership is still very strong. Turner, who is also editor of the Met Home pilot, says the magazines website will be rich in content. But editors are convinced that people still want to read a printed magazine with glossy layouts. The first-wave millennials and younger Generation Xers who have been spending on dining out, clothes and entertaining have now begun to invest in apartments and condos. People are reaching the age of late 30s and early 40s and its time to make a place called home. We felt this was an opportunity to start building a relationship with the next generation of homeowners, says Turner, who worked at the original Met Home from 1985 to 1996. [A designer of hip homes and eateries cooks up a surprise in his own Baltimore kitchen] Patricia Dane Rogers was the city scout for Metropolitan Home in the Washington area from 1982 to 1985, feeding them all the hot tips on the best architects, designers and shops that were bubbling up in the formerly sleepy capital. In New York, they didnt know much about Washington, but I told them it was a hot spot, says Rogers, who was later a Washington Post reporter and lives in Alexandria. They were looking for great design and had people in key cities. It was modern and fresh and different from the other magazines. It was not the English country look that was sweeping the nation. There was no chintz. It was Italian furniture and sleek restaurants spare, pretty and avant-garde. A spread from The New Urban Tribe feature in the spring/summer 2016 issue of Metropolitan Home magazine. (Metropolitan Home magazine ) The pilot Met Home issue ($9.99) includes a roundup of urban loft rentals around the country (see what $3,000 will get you in Arlington) and favorite white paints from 14 cities, including Bancroft White by Benjamin Moore selected by Washingtonian Darryl Carter. There are the small and beautiful homes of tastemakers such as a cookbook author who lives in a London baby flat and a design editors art-filled one-bedroom condo in a Philip Johnson building on Manhattans Upper East Side. A feature called The New Urban Tribe identifies visionaries and makers including the designer of Gwyneth Paltrows Chicago pop-up shop and the Los Angeles hat maker to Pharrell. Although not its target audience, boomers who love design, are downsizing to smaller urban spaces, or who want to get a window into what their offsprings design aspirations might be would enjoy the new Met Home as much as they did the original. Turner says things are already looking good for a second issue, and he is hoping Met Home might become a quarterly publication. I think of this as a lifestyle magazine, not a shelter magazine, Turner says. It captures the initial spirit of Met Home, which was always a bit of a rebel in the decorating world. The Washington Post's Aaron Davis explains why D.C. is fighting Congress to control its own budget, and why Congress says that is a violation of the Constitution. (Ashleigh Joplin/The Washington Post) When the District sends its $13 billion budget to Congress this year, it might as well affix a sticky note that reads Dare you. For the first time since the Founding Fathers carved out the nations capital from swampland, the District will not ask the federal government for permission to spend its money. Instead, it will use local tax dollars as it sees fit, just as 50 states do. There is one problem Congress treats the District as a federal agency, no different from the way it funds the Department of Labor or the Interior. And Congress has warned that an insurrection by the city would violate the Constitution. So the citys spending plan will serve a second purpose a declaration of independence by the District of Columbia. The six-inch-thick city budget will be a clear challenge to the absolute supremacy that Congress has wielded over the District since it was created in 1790. Unlike previous years when the District has been forced to wait for Congress to approve its spending as part of the federal budget, the city will begin spending its money unless federal lawmakers act to stop it. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) is leading the fight, casting it as a monumental step toward making the District the 51st state. Her effort has been bolstered by a diversifying local economy that is less dependent on federal aid, as well as waves of new, young residents who bristle at second-class citizenship. A record number of D.C. residents want to see the District become a state, according to a Washington Post poll taken in November. [Support for D.C. statehood at a record high] The cause has seeped into popular culture comedians Stephen Colbert and John Oliver seized on the obscure issue and laid bare its most absurd aspects before millions of TV and YouTube viewers nationwide. John Oliver spent 17 minutes talking D.C. and its lack of statehood rights on his HBO show, "Last Week Tonight." Heres a snippet. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post) On Friday, the annual D.C. holiday of Emancipation Day to mark the end of slavery, the mayor will convene a gathering of leading civil rights figures to highlight what she calls the countrys biggest ongoing voting rights violation: 672,000 U.S. citizens many of them African Americans without representation in Congress. One hundred and fifty-four years after President Lincoln abolished slavery in the District of Columbia, we remain at the mercy of those we did not elect to office, Bowser said in a recent citywide address. It is just not right, and we must stand together until our rights are recognized. Bowser, 43, a fifth-generation Washingtonian, said she did not fully realize her home towns quandary until she reached the mayors office. She pointed to a closed-door meeting Wednesday on Capitol Hill between the new head of Metro and senators from Maryland and Virginia. The first thing I said to myself is, This is just disgusting the District cant be in that room, Bowser said. When we talk about the fact that were not a state, its just not us whining or groaning. . . . Its a matter of us having our full rights as American citizens, certainly. But its also about the very practical effects of not having two senators in those meetings. In the push for D.C. independence, proponents generally discuss two levels: budget and legislative autonomy, and voting rights in Congress. If the city were to achieve statehood, it would get both. A spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Republican leaders are concerned by the citys attempt to declare fiscal independence and are considering legislative options. Last week, House leadership also filed a brief in U.S. District Court attempting to keep alive a separate legal challenge to District budget autonomy, attacking it as a naked and unabashed effort to strip Congress of its constitutional powers. An unwinnable fight? Roger Pilon, vice president for legal affairs at the libertarian Cato Institute, said that District leaders attempt to assert budget autonomy will probably backfire if the ultimate goal is statehood. It sounds like a prescription for getting nothing, Pilon said, adding that it will only intensify the sour relationship between Republicans on Capitol Hill and D.C. officials. This is one the District is almost certainly to lose. Like many Republicans, Pilon believes in individual liberty and limited government. Still, he said the Districts quest for statehood faces not only insurmountable legal hurdles but also a major political impediment. Statehood would give the District two seats in the Senate something Republicans are loath to grant to the citys overwhelmingly Democratic electorate. D.C. statehood Voting is closed on this poll User Poll Results: Should the District of Columbia become the 51st state? Yes. No. Pardon the interruption! We need to verify that you are an actual person. Yes. No. View Results This is a non-scientific user poll. Results are not statistically valid and cannot be assumed to reflect the views of Washington Post users as a group or the general population. Statehood remains a nonstarter, said former congressman Tom Davis (R-Va.), who tried to pass a measure seven years ago to give the District one voting member in the House. D.C. has never been a two-party city, he said, so youre not going to find Republicans willing to just give Democrats two Senate seats. [Latest D.C. statehood bill languishes in Senate] Residents of the District, which has a larger population than Vermont or Wyoming, lack the most basic American rights: They pay federal taxes and fight and die in foreign conflicts but have no voice in Congress over how that money is spent or whether the country goes to war. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), the Districts longtime voice in Congress, can vote only in committee and not on final passage of legislation. The closest the District recently came to voting rights in Congress was in 2009, when Democrats controlled both chambers as well as the White House. A bill was introduced to grant the District one voting member in the House while adding another representative in more conservative Utah. But the effort collapsed after Republicans added amendments to curtail the citys gun laws. The Districts dysfunctional relationship with its federal overseers reaches beyond budgets. Conservative members of Congress have routinely overturned laws passed by liberal D.C. lawmakers to score points with constituents at home. They have frozen funding for abortion coverage for low-income women, blocked money for a needle-exchange program and even kept the city from counting ballots cast by residents who voted to legalize medical marijuana. Congressional interference has fractured the Districts judicial system and short-circuited the ability of residents to participate in their city government, city officials say. In the process, Congress has essentially marooned the city and its many African American residents as if on an island, with few rights beyond those in faraway federal territories such as Puerto Rico or Guam. The looming budget battle suggests that frustration in the District with the status quo has reached a level unseen since the civil rights era of the 1960s. Were sick and tired of the way weve been treated, and weve come to a critical point where we need to stand up for ourselves, said Josh Burch, a 38-year-old D.C. resident who became an activist for statehood five years ago when his daughter was born. He has helped organize a protest march to the Capitol, also planned for Friday. Congressional intervention in the Districts budgeting process explains a large part of why life in the capital is different from that in the 50 states. The new economics of D.C. When Congress carved out the District from Maryland and Virginia, it created a neutral zone where one state could not exert undue influence on federal lawmakers. Even as the population quickly grew, Congress repeatedly defended its control over the city, saying that the federal government was the citys economic engine. Congress voted in 1973 to allow the District to elect its own mayor and council but retained ultimate control over the local budget and legislation. That interference continues today, even though the D.C. economy has dramatically evolved. It has a larger share of jobs in high tech than anywhere except San Francisco or Seattle. The Districts economy is bigger, per capita, than those of 16 states. District real estate prices are soaring, the city reserves have swelled to the billions of dollars, and 1,000 residents move to the city each month. Meanwhile, its reliance on federal spending is shrinking, accounting for about 40 percent of the citys total economic activity. Then-D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and members of the D.C. Council are arrested on Capitol Hill in 2011 as they protested measures affecting the District in a federal spending bill. (Bill OLeary/The Washington Post) Supporters attend a statehood rally for Washington on the West Lawn of the Capitol in 2009. (Richard A. Lipski/The Washington Post) Ranked another way, the share of federal funds that the District relies on to balance its budget is smaller than that of 30 states. That places the District among Massachusetts, New York and California donor states that pay more in federal taxes each year than they receive in services. In Congress, representatives from states that contribute far less per person to the federal government decide not only how the District can spend the $4 billion it pays in federal income taxes but the more than $7 billion that the city raises through local property, sales and other taxes. Here is how it works: In the 50 states, governors draft budget proposals and, after debate, state legislatures vote the spending plans into law. End of story. The Districts process begins the same way but ends differently. The Districts mayor proposes a budget, and its 13-member D.C. Council amends and votes on it. But from there, the District must forward its budget plan to the White House for inclusion in the federal budget, like a proposal for military spending or environmental protection. And when the plan goes to Congress, members can and do add restrictions. Interference is often most intense when Republicans control both chambers. This year, for example, Congress has again barred the city from spending its own money for District-run insurance programs that help offset the cost of abortions for low-income residents. Last year, the House also voted to block the city from enforcing a new provision of its human rights law, although the Senate did not take up the measure. That law bars employers from firing women for personal reproductive decisions, which some religiously affiliated employers say is their prerogative. Congress has also prohibited the District from carrying out a ballot measure that voters approved overwhelmingly in 2014 to legalize recreational use of marijuana. That ban prevents the District from spending money to write rules governing the sale of the drug, as Colorado and Washington state do. Pot is legal in the District, but there is no legal way to buy it, robbing the city of millions of dollars in tax revenue and fueling a black market for sales. Marijuana plants at a home in the Districts Columbia Heights area. Its legal to grow and possess the drug in the District but not to sell it. (Charles Ommanney/The Washington Post) The mere requirement that the District submit to a gridlocked federal legislature has made it challenging to keep the city running. Because the federal budget year begins Oct. 1, the city must often borrow money and pay interest for schools to open when the academic year starts in August. And when Congress reaches a budget stalemate, the District must switch to the equivalent of austerity spending, funding agencies only at the level of the previous year. Last year, that contributed to delays in hiring social workers to help homeless families and in finalizing contracts for affordable-housing projects. The risk of having to shutter like any other federal agency during a government shutdown has weighed down the Districts bond ratings, increasing borrowing costs for major projects such as new schools and libraries. Before the last major federal government shutdown, in 2013, city officials began working on a bold plan to financially sever the District from the federal government. They struck a requirement from the city charter that the District must submit its budget to the House and Senate for appropriation, and the D.C. Council unanimously adopted a budget autonomy amendment. The council brought it to D.C. voters, who overwhelmingly ratified it in April 2012. President Obama agreed with them, urging federal lawmakers to respect the citys self-declared financial independence. The amendment says the District no longer must wait for Congress to pass the federal budget to spend its own money. Instead, the city can treat its spending plan the way it handles local legislation by submitting it to Congress for approval or rejection within 30 days. Rejection is relatively difficult to accomplish; both chambers must vote it down, and the president must sign off. It has been accomplished only three times in the past 40 years. D.C. residents gather for a 2013 statehood rally before the 50th-anniversary commemorative march along the historic 1963 route of the March on Washington. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post) D.C. residents rally for statehood on 2013. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post) The budget autonomy amendment has been challenged in the courts, with mixed results. A U.S. District Court judge ruled that the charter amendment was invalid and could not change the citys relationship with Congress. But last month, D.C. Superior Court Judge Brian F. Holeman ruled in favor of the District, saying that the city had the right to control dollars raised by local taxes and fees. Holemans decision is key to the Districts renewed push for independence. How Congress will react to the citys budget insurrection is uncertain. It could take actions that would throw the District into a financial tailspin or prosecute city officials for violating laws against spending government funds without authorization. Or Congress could quietly allow some of the financial independence the District seeks. Davis, the former congressman, calls it a quandary for Congress but sees no harm in allowing the District to spend its own money as long as the District remains a federal territory and not a state. If they do something that Congress finds offensive, they can always step in later, he said. But Bowser and others said that budget autonomy is a first step and that they will not be satisfied until a 51st star is added to the U.S. flag. Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), who introduced a bill last year to grant statehood to the District, said the country needs to confront the injustice in the nations capital. When it comes to having a vote in Congress, these men and women really do not count, at least not in the same way. And in truth, they never have, he said in 2014 in the first congressional hearing on D.C. statehood in 20 years. Its not fair, its not consistent with our values as a country, and most importantly, it violates the golden rule, he said. No American should be treated like this, and my hope is we restart the conversation about ending this injustice. The nations schools have focused so intently on improving students math and reading skills that, in many cases, they have squeezed out other important subjects, such as social studies, science and the arts. Thats the message that U.S. Education Secretary John King Jr. plans to deliver during a speech Thursday at an arts-focused school in Las Vegas, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks. King plans to say that No Child Left Behind -- the main federal education law that was signed in 2002 and required schools to show progress in math and reading test scores -- had the unintentional consequence of narrowing the curriculum for too many children. For so many students, a wide range of possible subjects in school, powerfully and creatively taught, can be exactly what it takes to make the difference between disengagement and a lifelong passion for learning. But today, thats not happening enough, King plans to say. But now, No Child Left Behinds successor the Every Student Succeeds Act, passed in December offers an opportunity for states and districts to create for themselves a more comprehensive definition for an excellent education, he plans to say. Instead of measuring progress solely by math and reading test scores, for example, states will be able to include other indicators such as students performance in other subjects, and whether students have access to advanced coursework. Its a great chance to right the balance in places where the learning focus has become too narrow and to do so in ways that expand, not dilute, civil rights, King plans to say. Many teachers and parents have been complaining for years about the narrowing of the curriculum in the No Child Left Behind era. Some have blamed the Obama administration for intensifying, not alleviating, the focus on math and reading test scores especially by pushing for teacher evaluations tied to those test scores. In a meeting with reporters on Wednesday, King objected to that criticism, saying that the administrations efforts always emphasized a more holistic approach to teacher evaluations than the political rhetoric suggested. Below are excerpts from Kings prepared remarks, provided by the Education Department: When I was a high school social studies teacher in Boston, I had a student named Ricardo. I guarantee you every teacher has had a student like him brilliant, fascinating, but disengaged and just barely skating by. In my 11th-grade class, he was passing by the thinnest margin possible. But when we did a unit on the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance, he got excited about the topic. He came to care deeply about a paper he was writing about Marcus Garvey because he had his own ideas to share. He must have written six or seven drafts of the paper, but he was not going to stop until it captured his thoughts exactly. He said that paper changed his perspective about academics, and made him wish he had known as a 9th-grader what he now understood about what it took to succeed in school. Thats a huge insight, and finding his passion changed his whole approach to being a student. For other students, it was a meaningful service and research project that put them at the center of their own learning and deepened their relationships with school. My seniors did extended projects tied to actual challenges our city was facing. One group of kids got involved with an organization called the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, supporting their work to stop garbage dumping in their neighborhood, developing an urban agriculture project, and building affordable housing. Those experiences did so much to show them what their knowledge and skills could accomplish in the real world. The power of a wide variety of offerings and engaging curricula changed my life too. ... For me, for so many students, a wide range of possible subjects in school, powerfully and creatively taught, can be exactly what it takes to make the difference between disengagement and a lifelong passion for learning. But today, thats not happening enough. I hear frequently and passionately from educators and families who feel that key elements of what makes up a well-rounded education have been neglected in favor of too tight a focus on math and reading. Sometimes, thats because of constraints on resources, time, and money. Often, teachers and administrators have told me, its because math and English Language Arts were focused on so intensely by some districts and schools under No Child Left Behind that other subjects were under-attended to or even ignored. The consequence for teachers in some places became daily choices between the well-rounded education their students needed and deserved, and too narrow a definition of accountability. Ive been clear, as have the president and my predecessor Arne Duncan, that in many places in this country, testing became excessive, redundant, and overemphasized, and our Department is serious about helping states and districts to change that. Thats why Im headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma, tomorrow, to see the good work folks there are doing to clear away unneeded assessments and focus on the most useful ones. Done well and thoughtfully, assessments provide vital information to educators and families, and identify the gaps that must be addressed to ensure equity. But, in some places, an exclusive emphasis on the tested subjects drove a narrowing of what was taught and learned and, worse, test prep and narrowly defined time on task sometimes came to replace a diversity of classes. I want to be really clear that I do not believe the situation that created such painful choices was intended by the architects of No Child Left Behind. Theres pretty wide agreement that too many kids in this country are left out of the kind of success we all want for our kids and for many of them, struggles with fundamental literacy and numeracy create challenges everywhere in their education. Ideals of justice and civil rights underlie the expectation that every kid in this country will have those crucial skills, and that we as adults will hold ourselves accountable for that expectation. I believe in that. The evidence doesnt show a vast, nationwide abandonment of subjects outside of math and English Language Arts, but there is a lot of reason to believe that students are not getting the instruction in science, social studies, the arts, and world languages that they need. For example, one survey found that in the elementary school years, students are spending 21 minutes a day or less on social studies and not much more on science. I count myself among those who worry that the balance has shifted too much away from subjects outside of math and English that can be the spark to a childs interest and excitement, are actually essential to success in reading, and are critical to a childs future. Strong literacy and math skills are surely necessary for success in college, careers, and life but they just as surely are not sufficient. Being a well-educated person and passionate about learning isnt just about reading and computing well. Its about being skilled and knowledgeable about a wide range of subjects, expert and passionate about a few, and confident in the quest for more knowledge. The good news here is that, with the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act the welcome replacement for the No Child Left Behind law the opportunity to widen how we understand educational excellence is suddenly ripe. Its a great chance to right the balance in places where the learning focus has become too narrow and to do so in ways that expand, not dilute, civil rights. Because the simple fact is, every kid in this country needs and deserves access to the subjects that go into being a well-educated person. Music and art; world languages; physics, chemistry, and biology; social studies, civics, geography, and government; physical education and health; coding and computer science these arent luxuries that are nice to have. Theyre what it means to be ready for todays world. ... And the research is clear that a well-rounded education matters. You understand a reading or a lesson better when it touches on knowledge or experiences youve encountered before which is why students with wider knowledge read and learn more easily. Its the same idea as the 30-million word gap -- the difference in the number of words kids from affluent and poor families have encountered by the time they enter preschool, and how differently that sets them up for success. Decades of research from folks like Daniel Willingham at the University of Virginia illustrate that students with broad knowledge are actually stronger readers. We see the same principle playing out in the STEM subjects. Science achievement gaps show up as early as kindergarten, and if they arent addressed, they stick around, at least to the end of eighth grade. Kindergartners who have been exposed to concepts and vocabulary about the natural world in their early years have an inherent advantage. And theres evidence that kids get better at math when theyve taken classes that make the connection between STEM and the arts and that when theyve had certain courses in the arts, kids can grow in self-confidence, and in linguistic skills, as well as in creativity. And the benefits of bilingualism for brain development show up as early as seven months old! The implications for educational justice are profound. Because too often, its kids from low-income families, and kids of color, who start out on the wrong side of those word gaps. Frequently, they are the ones who may miss out on a wide range of experiences, from museum visits to travel. And too often, they are the ones who lack access to a wide range of challenging courses once they get to school. The same is true for gender gaps which, in math, show up in the early grades, and get wider later. The bottom line is clear: a rich range of course offerings isnt a nicety. Its a vital part of a thorough education and a crucial element of social justice. ... The good news here is that the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act makes the work to provide a well-rounded education to all students easier. Under the new law, states now have the opportunity to broaden their definition of educational excellence, to include providing students strong learning experiences in science, social studies, world languages, and the arts, as well as AP and International Baccalaureate classes and even supporting students socio-emotional development. Thats a huge and welcome change. And, when students in some schools are falling behind, states now have wider options for the kind of interventions they can put in place including options like the Turnaround Arts Initiative funded by the Department. Ive had the opportunity to see struggling schools make real change by infusing the arts into their school models, or launching new high-quality career and technical education programs, or taking a dual language approach. I take our part of this commitment to change seriously, and were putting in place new supports for efforts ranging from social and emotional skill development, to American history programs, to educational technology. Weve made STEM learning a priority across several of our competitive grant programs, including Investing in Innovation, or i3, which supports great new ideas from educators with more than 4,000 applications for 157 grants so far. The president has supported this direction with priorities in his 2017 budget, which would significantly increase the funding available for the arts, STEM, education technology, and safe and supportive school climates which are such an important part of promoting students socio-emotional development. Among the presidents proposals is a huge boost for STEM education: $4 billion over three years for his Computer Science for All initiative, which focuses particularly on student groups historically underrepresented in STEM fields. And the budget proposes new efforts that would help prepare educators to teach a wider range of offerings, including a new STEM Master Teacher Corps. I became a teacher and a principal because I wanted to try to do for other kids what my teachers at P.S. 276 and Mark Twain Junior High School in Brooklyn had done for me. I remain focused on that goal as we at the Department seek to advance equity and excellence for the nations children. I also have the opportunity now to see schools through the lens my daughters experience, in public schools in Maryland. I feel truly blessed that my daughters attend the kind of schools that should be the norm for every child in America schools with good resources, schools that pull together kids whose families differ in race and income, and who enjoy an education thats stronger, not despite that diversity but because of it. Through their eyes, I see the importance each day of a well-rounded education and the excitement it brings. My younger daughters fourth-grade science class recently explored various ecosystems. They created a terrarium and aquarium, and tracked data to see how they changed over time their temperature, plant growth, the pH of the water. And thanks to that hands-on study, she came home with a new interest in how the world works and an enduring curiosity about nature. ... The same is true for my older daughter. Shes pretty excited about her 7th-grade social studies class, which of course makes me happy. They have been studying the Middle Ages by conducting simulations where they experience events from the perspective of a person who lived in that time. My wife, a former elementary school teacher and developmental psychologist, talks about that kind of perspective-taking as one of the most sophisticated things you can do in a classroom helping students see the world through someone elses eyes. It not only develops an understanding of social studies, it also helps to develop empathy and an appreciation for diversity. Their education will shape the people they will become, not just what they will achieve academically. Both of them have studied music, dance, and theater. I dont know if either of them will become a concert pianist or a famous guitarist or a professional ballerina. But I do know that they are developing a kind of aesthetic appreciation that will bring them joy and widen their world for the rest of their lives. And really, thats what this is about: that inextricable intersection between what our kids learn and who they become. I am who I am because a teacher and a school believed it was worth the time and effort to widen my horizons. Thats what every student in this country deserves. Lets work together to make it possible. As most states have moved to new standardized tests based on the Common Core during the past two years, many also have switched from administering those tests the old-fashioned way with paper and No. 2 pencils to delivering them online using computers, laptops and tablets. The transition aims to harness the power of technology to move beyond simplistic multiple-choice questions, using interactive questions and adaptive techniques to measure students critical thinking and problem-solving skills. But the shift to computer-based testing has been riddled with technical glitches that have spanned many testing companies and states, including those that have adopted Common Core and those using other new academic standards. Stressed-out students have found they sometimes cant log on to their exams or are left to panic when their answers suddenly disappear. Frustrated teachers have had to come up with last-minute lesson plans when testing fails. Some school systems and even entire states have had to abandon testing altogether because of Internet hiccups thousands of miles away. Some states including California, with the nations largest student enrollment have been pleased, calling their shift to online testing surprisingly smooth and effective. But the balky tests in numerous other states raise a broader question: Can the exams which are supposed to offer an objective view of student achievement produce the kind of valid, reliable results that are necessary for a fair judgment of the performance of schools, teachers and students? When the testing administration system is dysfunctional, the results are suspect, if not useless, said Bob Schaeffer, the public education director at FairTest, a nonprofit organization that serves as a national watchdog on and frequent critic of K-12 testing. Malfunctions have disrupted computerized testing in more than 30 states since 2013, according to media reports compiled by FairTest including more than a dozen states last year and three this spring, during a testing season that is still underway. The theory of standardized testing is that students are given equivalent questions in the same format and the same way, Schaeffer said. When you have some kids having a smooth testing experience and others having repeated disruptions, its no longer standardized. Tennessee scrapped its computerized exams in February, returning to the paper-and-pencil version when schools recorded a number of problems on the first day of testing. Then in March, the state education chief in Texas called that states testing experience simply unacceptable after technical hiccups appeared to erase students answers on more than 14,000 exams. And Alaska officials this month canceled all K-12 standardized testing for the year, citing chaos in schools because of repeated testing disruptions. The state was the victim of a freak accident: Someone operating a backhoe inadvertently severed a fiber-optic cable in Kansas, cutting the Last Frontiers connection to its test vendor, the Achievement and Assessment Institute at the University of Kansas. [Alaska cancels all K-12 standardized testing for the year, citing technical problems] The same backhoe incident interrupted testing for students across Kansas and for students with disabilities in more than a dozen other states. Marianne Perie, director of the Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation at the University of Kansas, said the test vendor is working on plans for backup servers that could function in the case of another emergency such as a tornado. Frederick M. Hess, a resident scholar and the director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, blamed the widespread testing problems in part on federal pressure to quickly introduce new assessments based on the Common Core State Standards in many states, and other new college and career-ready standards in others. He likened the technical failures to the disastrous rollout of online health-insurance enrollment for President Obamas Affordable Care Act. There were all these existing challenges, but the Common Core assessments were set to be rolled out on a political timetable, Hess said. The consequence is kind of predictable. U.S. Education Secretary John B. King Jr. acknowledged the widespread problems with computerized tests and attributed them to many causes that he said states are working to address. Those causes, he said, include limited bandwidth, particularly in rural schools; aging computers with inconsistent technical support; and even electrical problems in old school buildings that limit the number of computers that can be plugged in at the same time. Companies that provide the tests also bear some of the blame, King said. I think certainly some of the vendors underestimated what it would take to execute on the scale required, he said in a meeting with reporters Wednesday. In Nevada last year, officials accused test vendor Measured Progress of breach of contract after a massive meltdown in the states new computer-based test. Students had trouble logging on and were repeatedly booted off the system; state officials allowed districts to stop testing via computer after two sincere attempts, and ultimately, just 30 percent of students completed their exams. Steve Canavero, Nevadas superintendent of public instruction, said he does not know exactly what went wrong, saying the cause of the problem could have been a problematic piece of code, a lack of server capacity or something else. But the problem came from Measured Progress, he said, not from schools or districts, which had been testing IT infrastructure for months. Were not smart enough to know what failed where, but we know our test experience was not what we paid for, Canavero said. Two other clients of New Hampshire-based Measured Progress, North Dakota and Montana, also experienced widespread technical problems last year. A spokesman for Measured Progress declined to comment. Nevada ultimately reached a $1.3 million settlement with Measured Progress and this year chose a new vendor, Data Recognition Corp. Testing has been smooth so far in Nevada this spring, Canavero said. But last years problems mean that the state was not able to measure student performance in a meaningful way. Canavero said it is puzzling that hundreds of thousands, or millions, of people could purchase something from an online store and have no problem, yet we cant produce a testing experience in K-12 thats efficient and productive for our teachers, our students and our schools. Testing for students in Virginia was disrupted last year because a server reached its storage capacity, according to Pearson, the multinational publishing company that is Virginias test vendor. Minnesota, another client of Pearsons, saw widespread delays and problems last year because of what Pearson said was a denial-of-service attack, a deliberate action by hackers seeking to overload servers and slow their performance. Spokeswoman Laura Howe said Pearson administered 50 million tests last year, the vast majority of which were completed with no disruptions. But the company has made changes and upgrades to defend against hacker attacks and to forestall server problems. We understand the frustration around this issue and continue to work proactively to make sure students have a good testing experience, Howe said. Test vendors and officials in some states said the real story is not one of disruption but of remarkable success, given the magnitude of manys states rapid switch to online assessments. And defenders of the Common Core say that technical issues with the tests are unrelated to the strength of the standards themselves. Regardless of whether a test is aligned to Common Core, technical issues are just that; they are not issues with the content or implementation of the Common Core State Standards in the classroom, said Blair Mann, spokeswoman for the Collaborative for Student Success, a pro-Common Core advocacy group. Whats important is that students take assessments aligned to their state standards so that parents and teachers received valuable and honest information about their academic performance. Officials with the American Institutes of Research said their clients last year included more than a dozen states where testing went smoothly. California was one state where officials said they were happy with the results of last years switch to online testing. More than 3 million students were tested online, most of them without notable problems. Thats not to say there werent some glitches but they were relatively minor compared to other states, especially given our size and the fact that our system was never actually down, said Peter Tira of the California Department of Education. Officials in many states that have had technical problems still think the shift to computer-based testing is and should be inevitable: The technology allows for adaptive tests that can more accurately home in on students academic abilities by presenting more difficult problems to students who are answering questions correctly, and serving up easier problems to those who are struggling. Supporters say online testing also allows for interactive questions and for quicker results than paper tests, which can take months to score. Even in Nevada, where the testing system failed so spectacularly last year, the state education chief is bullish. We are a state that believes in the new forms of assessment, Canavero said. We think its the right direction to go. But not everyone is so optimistic. Tennessee officials have not decided whether they will try online testing again next year. Candice McQueen, Tennessees commissioner of education, was in a classroom on the morning that testing began in February. She saw problem after problem crop up on students screens nothing was working, she said and she watched the teacher scramble to come up with a backup activity. She said she did not want to risk wasting students and teachers time on faltering online tests: We couldnt have kids just continuing to go into and out of a computer lab and hoping this thing actually works. This article has been updated. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Elizabeth Embry, DeRay Mckesson, Armand F. Girard and Catherine E. Pugh were among the Baltimore mayoral candidates who told stories about their first jobs. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) Laura Wexler stood on the steps of the Baltimore War Memorial auditorium, searching the street for her citys mayors race. It was late arriving. The campaign for Baltimores top job had been crisscrossing the city for months, and now the enormous field of 15 candidates was due on Wexlers stage for her popular local storytelling series, The Stoop. Thirteen days before the April 26 primary, the candidates had agreed to pause their politicking in favor of telling a story, a five-minute personal story about their first jobs. NOT POLITICAL, Wexler had hectored the campaigns in more than one email. This is not a speech. But the audience of nearly 800 was taking its seats, and fewer than a third of the candidates had arrived. Wexler and Stoop co-founder Jessica Henkin were learning how hard it is to wrangle a pack of overscheduled pols. Originally, they had asked all the candidates to arrive half an hour early and to stay for the entire two-hour show on Wednesday night. Jessica Henkin, left, and Laura Wexler organized The Stoop storytelling event on April 13 that brought many of the Baltimore mayoral candidates together to recount their first jobs. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) There was a universal scoff at that, Wexler says. So we changed it to Just try to let us know when youll be here. Henkin found Wexler at the top of the steps. I just misidentified our first candidate, she said, mortified. I gave her some pizza. You cant give the candidates pizza, Wexler said in alarm. Does that count as graft? They are not political people. They are story people. Henkin works for the Baltimore school system, and Wexler writes for film and television. They started The Stoop 10 years ago to draw stories from a storied city. The series and its podcasts have a sizable following. So two months ago, the pair decided to spend some of what Wexler calls their cultural capital on the mayors race. A year after Baltimore was rocked by riots following the death of Freddie Gray, they think voters are hungry for a more authentic look at the mayoral contenders. The candidates agreed. [Fear and fury in Freddie Grays Baltimore neighborhood] Everybody said yes right away, but Im still not sure the message that this is about storytelling and not campaigning came through loud and clear, Wexler said. The audience at the Baltimore War Memorial auditorium stands as Green Party candidate Emanuel McCray leads a call and response about his Army days. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) The fringier candidates arrived the earliest. With audience members still in line at the Union Craft Brewing tent and the Crossroads Bistro food truck, Green Party candidate Emanuel McCray, 36, mounted the steps. McCray, a big man wearing a Straight Outta Baltimore T-shirt who grew up in West Baltimore, said that his first job was at a Burger King but that he might talk about his Army days instead. Im just going to wing it, he declared, walking into the echoing hollows of the marble auditorium. Wexlers phone vibrated with the news that former mayor Sheila Dixon (D), who had been in and out of the lineup all day, would arrive by 8 p.m., an hour into the program. Still a question mark (in fact, five questions marks on Wexlers much-folded master schedule) was the Democratic front-runner, state Sen. Catherine E. Pugh. I dont even know whos texting me half the time, candidates, campaign managers, press people, Wexler said. At 7:20, Wexler and Henkin took the stage with a half-filled row of candidates off to the side and called on Patrick Gutierrez to lead off, although he was one of the last Democrats to declare. He told of getting a high school job as a Bank of America teller. The story was personal, not soul-baring (Hardest truth: His brother was once caught shoplifting at Disneyland). But the theme that hed had the audacity to hold out for $8 an hour and went on to career as a problem solver for the bank could have been printed on a campaign flier. A little political, but he showed moxie, Wexler whispered. Moxie is good. Next retired math teacher and Republican hopeful Armand F. Girard told of making 50 cents a day at a diner in Rehoboth Beach, Del. (in 1951 quarters, worth two movies and two rounds of pinball). A few minutes later, Cindy Walsh, a Democratic candidate, was pacing the stage as she described becoming one of UPSs first female drivers. Its really better to stand still, Wexler murmured as her iPhone stopwatch counted down Walshs five minutes. You hold the space more powerfully. McCray, the Green Party candidate, went next. He mentioned his Burger King job but only to say that he had been fired the first week. Then he asked the audience to stand to learn about the Army. Whatever I do, repeat it: I used to wear Tommy jeans; Now I wear Army green. McCray chanted in a singsong. The crowd matched the marching cadence gamely for several rounds. I used to date a beauty queen; now I weigh my M16. Henkin and Wexler looked on wide-eyed. Well, that was unexpected, Wexler said. Henkin, walking out to introduce the next speaker, gave McCray a hug. Wexler chastised her when she sat back down. Dude, you cant hug some candidates and not others, she whispered fiercely. Dude, its my hug, Henkin answered. Meanwhile, the top Democratic candidates had arrived. Pugh, who has a clear lead in recent polls, walked in with her campaign manager. Dixon, seeking electoral redemption after being felled in a gift-card graft case in 2010 and running in second place, sat down as two aides hovered nearby. Im not worried about telling a personal story, Dixon said, but I am worried about getting out of here by 8:30. Wexler and Henkin feverishly went over their lineup, now badly wrinkled, trying to determine the order of speakers. There were big egos at play. DeRay wants to go more in the middle, Henkin said, referring to DeRay Mckesson, who rose to national prominence as a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement. [DeRay Mckesson launches bid to become mayor of Baltimore ] At the mic, Alan Walden, a former anchor at WBAL radio, was artfully working the crowd with his practiced baritone and a story about trying to read commercials through his bosss in-booth flatulence. Waldens voice was perfect, but his ears seemed to miss one, two, three raps on the bell DING signaling that his time was up. The audience laughed louder each time he plowed on. Pugh wants to go last, Henkin said during the intermission. Pugh wants to go last? Dixon wants to go last, Wexler said. Pugh and Dixon had both bolted to other events, promising to rush back. Mckesson, after a polished reminiscence of his early days in the classroom, had left. Im deferring to you, Henkin said. No, youre deciding about Dixon and Pugh, Wexler said. In the end, the protocol puzzle solved itself when Dixon never returned. Pugh did and sat quietly as the last candidates told their tales. She hadnt written anything. Im still trying to figure out what Im going to talk about, she said. Ive had so many jobs. Community organizer Joshua Harris was up, describing his first job as a janitor. Investor David Warnock told of getting fired as an event bartender at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington, Del. (and parlaying it into an internship with DuPont). City Council member Carl Stokes delivered a rambling monologue that included a joke about missing pants. Finally, Pugh took the stage and described her teenaged self walking into Bonwit Teller in Philadelphia and getting hired as a stock girl. Within days, she was dispatched to the sales floor as a living mannequin. I got to walk around the store every day for four hours dressed in clothes I wished I could buy, she said. And then her overnight shift in a nursing home and her mile-and-a-half walk to work to pay for college. And then, with no obvious segue, she was stump speeching. I tell you that story because this is the city that I love, she said, revving up. This is the city that has prepared me to do the dream that I would love to dream . . . of bringing this city together . . . of being the next mayor of Baltimore . . . Wexler applauded. She was campaigning, she said. But she did tell a good story. VIRGINIA Remembrance day for Virginia Tech victims Bells will toll in Virginia this weekend to mark the ninth anniversary of the shooting at Virginia Tech. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) has declared April 16 Virginia Tech Remembrance Day. A student killed 32 people at the school on that day in 2007 before killing himself. McAuliffe says that at 9:43 a.m., the bell at the Capital Square Bell Tower will ring 32 times, once for each of the victims, before a moment of silence. The Virginia flag will be flown at half-staff on all local, state and federal buildings in the state. There will also be a blood drive in remembrance of the victims from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday at the Virginia Tech Richmond Center. Associated Press Man faces charges in Old Town killing A Maryland man has been arrested and charged in the killing of a Virginia man who died after a robbery in the Old Town area of Alexandria, authorities said. Alexandria police said George McGee II, 22, of Capitol Heights was charged with murder and robbery in connection with the death of Melaku Abraha. Abraha, 69, suffered a head injury during a robbery March 28 and died April 1. He lived near the site of the robbery. McGee was being held in Prince Georges County, Alexandria police said. Martin Weil THE DISTRICT No charges against police in 14 shooting The U.S. Attorneys Office on Thursday said it will not file charges against four D.C. police officers involved in the 2014 fatal shooting of a robbery suspect. After a nearly two-year investigation into the Christmas Eve shooting of Gregory Gray, 33, prosecutors determined that no charges should be filed, citing witnesses who said Gray pulled a handgun on the officers after they chased him into a courtyard following the robbery of two men in Southeast Washington. Witnesses said Gray did not obey commands to stop and wound up positioned between the officers and an iron fence that ran the length of a courtyard in the 2800 block of Naylor Road SE. Gray then reportedly pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the officers. The officers fired at Gray, fatally wounding him. A handgun was recovered at the scene, and Grays DNA was found on the weapon, authorities said. Keith L. Alexander Police identify man found dead in canal A man found dead in the C&O Canal in Georgetown on Tuesday has been identified as a 51-year-old from Arlington, Va., D.C. police said. Osbaldo Lemus Bernal was pronounced dead at the scene near the 1000 block of 31st Street NW, near Georgetown Waterfront Park and the Whitehurst Freeway. Police said in a statement that the death remains under investigation but that preliminary information suggests it does not appear to be suspicious. Peter Hermann Democratic candidate Kathleen Matthews spent 30 years as a reporter and anchor for WJLA and nine years as a top executive at Marriott International. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post) Maryland congressional candidate Kathleen Matthews took exception Thursday to her description as a local media celebrity in a newspaper ad purchased by one of her Democratic primary opponents, wine retailer David Trone. You can run as many ads as you would like, but when you do, Id appreciate it if you clean up your act when referring to me, Matthews said at the end of an indignant open letter to Trone released by her campaign. Trone bought a full-page ad, running this week in The Washington Post, to explain, among other things, why hes spent $9.1 million of his own money on the District 8 primary race so far. Trone said he needed to spend heavily to get his message out because he was an unknown running against three candidates whove served 56 years in public office and another one whos been a local media celebrity for almost four decades. The first reference is to the three lawmakers among the eight other candidates in the field: state Sen. Jamie B. Raskin and Dels. Kumar P. Barve and Ana Sol Gutierrez. The second reference is to Matthews, and she said didnt care for it. [In 8th District, support from women will be key] The insinuation is that I am a talking head, she said in the open letter to Trone that was released Thursday. I find this offensive. Matthewss umbrage also makes tactical sense. She is pitching much of her campaign message to women, who constitute the majority of the Democratic primary electorate in District 8, so anything that depicts Trone as insensitive or disrespectful might work to her advantage. In the letter, Matthews recounted her 30 years as a reporter and anchor for WJLA, covering education, gun violence, the Air Florida crash and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I have moderated congressional debates, interviewed Presidents, presidential candidates, experts on terrorism and the economy, and yes, politicians like you running for local office, she wrote. She also described her nine years as a top executive at Marriott International. I am proud of my work all while raising three children with my husband of 35 years and being deeply involved in community service. . . . That doesnt make me special, but it certainly doesnt make me a media celebrity. It is a derogatory term and, as a working mom, I find it offensive and uncalled for. The Trone campaign did not immediately comment. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) came to the defense of one of her top allies Thursday morning, calling an ad attacking Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in Marylands Democratic Senate primary a total misrepresentation. The ad, from a super PAC supporting Van Hollens rival, Rep. Donna Edwards, has already been condemned by the White House. The super PAC, Working for Us, said that in response to the White House complaint, a clip of President Obama would be removed from the ad. The spot criticizes Van Hollen for exempting the National Rifle Association from legislation he put forward in 2010 that would have required groups engaging in political advocacy to disclose their donors. [White House intervenes in Maryland Senate primary] Pelosi said the bill was a crucial piece of legislation House Democrats had to pass to respond to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision in 2010. A super PAC supporting Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) for Senate released an ad that features President Obama and accuses opponent Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) of helping the NRA. After the White House complained, the super PAC agreed to remove Obama from the ad. (Working for Us PAC) To see it used in the way that it is is really quite disappointing, she said. But Pelosi stopped well short of criticizing Edwards, who has run her own ads with a similar message and has lambasted Van Hollen over the NRA carve-out in forums and debates. Candidates will do what candidates will do, but I am addressing the PAC, she said. As of Thursday afternoon the unedited ad was still running. In it, Obama is shown wiping away tears as he recalls the 2012 mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. The moment occurred during a speech the president gave in January on gun control. A top adviser to the president reached out to Working for Us on Tuesday to say that it was misleading to use Obamas words in the context of the ad. Joshua Henne, a spokesman for the PAC, said a new version of the ad was filmed Wednesday that does not include the president. However, like Edwards, his group stands by the charge Pelosi condemned. Chris Van Hollen is a D.C. insider who not once but twice met with the NRA and then carved out a special loophole for the gun lobby, Henne said. Pelosi, who has been careful not to take sides in the race between two House colleagues, repeatedly noted that both Edwards and Van Hollen have F ratings from the NRA. Im close to both of them, she said in March. I think they are excellent. I boo-hoo the fact that they are leaving the House of Representatives because theyre both very valued members. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) released an ad on April 15 using President Obama to denounce his rival in Maryland's Democratic Senate primary, Rep. Donna Edwards. (Van Hollen for Senate) Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) released an ad on April 15 using President Obama to denounce his rival in Maryland's Democratic Senate primary, Rep. Donna Edwards. (Van Hollen for Senate) Rep. Chris Van Hollen is out with a new ad using President Obama to denounce Rep. Donna Edwards. Edwards and Van Hollen, both House members, are butting heads in a close and increasingly nasty Democratic primary for Senate in Maryland. Early voting began Thursday; the election is on April 26. The White House intervened in the race this week in response to a super-PAC ad that used Obamas image while attacking Van Hollen for agreeing to exempt the National Rifle Association from donor-disclosure legislation in 2010. The Obama administration, which supported Van Hollens compromise, asked for the ad to be taken down. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) criticized the ad, as well. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who has endorsed Van Hollen, said both the super PACs ad and Edwardss own ad should be taken down. Congresswoman Edwards and the Super PAC supporting her are engaging in politics at its very worst, he said in a statement. Van Hollens new ad also uses Obama to attack Edwards. The narrator calls the super-PAC spot an attack ad from the campaign for Donna Edwards so untrue, so outrageous that President Obama said: Pull it down. She later says, The Obama White House . . . condemned the Edwards ads. Super PACs are barred from coordinating with campaigns, and the on-screen text does identify the ad as coming from an Edwards Super PAC. But the ad ends with the question, Will she say anything to win an election? A spokeswoman for Van Hollens campaign said that the super PAC that aired the ad, Working for Us, is not supporting any candidates besides Edwards and thus is a campaign for Donna Edwards. The deal Van Hollen made with the NRA in 2010 was an effort to win over enough conservative Democrats and Republicans to put new campaign donor-disclosure rules into law. The bill passed the House but was killed by Republicans in the Senate. Edwards has aired ads on the same subject. But her advertising did not include any reference to Obama, and the White House complained only about the use of the presidents image and words. Pelosi explicitly declined to denounce Edwardss campaign when she spoke against the super-PAC ad. I agree with the White House that no one should use the presidents image in an ad without his permission, Edwards said in a statement. I am disappointed that my opponent is now using the presidents image in his own ad, putting words in the presidents mouth that he did not say, with misleading language that attacks my character, about a mistake that was not made by my campaign. Working for Us, meanwhile, has promised to take Obama out of the ad. But the group has been slow to do so. While the White House asked the group on Tuesday to take the ad down immediately, the super PAC has instead kept the offending spot on the air while filming a new version. As of Thursday afternoon, the ad with footage of Obama was still running on television. The group has spent close to a million dollars supporting Edwards. According to a federal report filed Thursday, all of that money has come from only two sources: The super PAC Women Vote, run by the pro-Edwards Democratic womens group Emilys List, and S. Donald Sussman, a major Emilys List contributor. A spokeswoman for Emilys List said the groups funds were for canvassing, not advertising. Van Hollens new ad is running in Washington and Baltimore. Ronald Moten, left, chief operating officer of Peaceoholics and Jauhar Abraham, its chief executive, plan their appointments in their Anacostia office, on Dec. 18, 2006. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post) The Districts Office of the Attorney General on Thursday announced a $10,000 settlement with Ronald L. Moten, co-founder of the anti-violence youth group Peaceoholics, ending an investigation into allegations of improper use of city funds by the organization. The settlement resolves a 2013 lawsuit filed by the attorney general against Peaceoholics and its founders, Moten and Jauhar Abraham. The city claimed that the group won grants based on false tax returns and misappropriated city grant money for personal use in 2009 and 2010. In 2014, a D.C. Superior Court judge ruled that Abraham diverted city funds to buy two SUVs and entered a default judgement against the organization, ordering Abraham to pay $639,000. Moten, 46, has said he did not manage the groups finances and that none of the grant funds went to his personal use. [Read about the 2014 court decision against Peaceoholics ] As part of the settlement with the city, Moten agreed to pay $200 a month until he reaches $10,000. Under the terms of the agreement, he does not admit any liability or wrongdoing. Moten is prohibited from serving in any financial management role of any nonprofit organization in the District. Mr. Moten has been a great asset in empowering our communitys youth, and should be able to utilize those skills, especially at a time when our citys young people could use his talents, Attorney General Karl A. Racine said in a statement. We believe we have put sufficient mechanisms in place to ensure what happened at Peaceoholics does not happen again. Its time for Mr. Moten to be cleared to do what he does best: mentor, guide, advocate and inspire our youth. Peaceoholics disbanded in 2011. But for nearly 20 years, Moten and the group were on the forefront of efforts to quash violence, meeting with residents and gang members. In an interview Thursday, Moten called the settlement with the city a relief and said he will now be able to focus on working with the citys youths. He said the past few years have been challenging because of the legal troubles. I lost my house, my car, but I kept doing the work hoping that my name would be cleared, he said. If you look at any nonprofit, you will find mistakes. I did the work. But I didnt manage the money, said Moten, who was also the organizations chief operating officer. I just want to do what Ive been doing to uplift the people in the community that needs me the most. In recent months, Moten has worked on anti-gang-violence initiatives with the Jack Kemp Foundation and the Contemporary Family Services, he said. Most recently, Moten was active in the response to separate killings of two 15-year-olds at the Deanwood Metro station in Northeast. Moten helped organize a candlelight vigil on behalf of Davonte Washington, the teen who was fatally shot on March 26. Earlier this week, Moten met with teens to squash any retaliation following the fatal stabbing of John Rufus Evans III on Monday. [Details of two teens killed in separate incidents at Deanwood Metro station] Our youth have lost a whole lot by us not being there. The magnitude of us not being out there is missed, Moten said. There was the infant who died after going to an unlicensed daycare. The man who punched his girlfriends 2-year-old because he thought the boy was disrespecting him. And the numerous babies who died over the last two years at the hands of their mothers boyfriend while the women were at work. After a string of high-profile abuse and homicide cases involving young victims in Prince Georges in recent years, the county Thursday launched a child safety awareness campaign urging parents to ask: Do you know whos watching your children? The campaign aims to connect families with information about child care resources in the county and what to keep in mind when screening adults potentially caring for their children. [Oxon Hill day-care provider charged with murder in baby girls death] Gloria Brown, director of the Prince Georges County Department of Social Services, said she understands the pressures of juggling parenthood along with the concerns of daily life, but urged adults to think through who will be watching their children. Please have an alternative plan so that you dont have to make bad decisions on the fly, Brown said. We want to be on the front end of it. We dont want to be on the investigative end of it. The county also encouraged parents to use a hotline -- 1-877-261-0060 -- that would connect them with a list of licensed childcare providers through the Maryland Family Network, which can work with families who may need subsidized childcare. While leaving children with unlicensed caregivers is not ideal, authorities said they understand it is sometimes necessary. Prince Georges County States Attorney Angela Alsobrooks urged parents to take the time to look into the backgrounds of people in whose care they leave their children. We can no longer afford to mind our business, said Alsobrooks, who said the county is currently investigating four cases in which children died and a caregiver has been charged in the homicide. County officials warned parents should be wary of leaving children alone with a person who: displays anger issues; has been physically or emotionally abusive; wants their needs placed ahead of a childs; is known to you for less than six months; has disciplined your child without your permission; makes your child feel scared; competes with your child for attention; or was mistreated or abused as a child. Officials also warned parents to be concerned of they find marks or bruises on their child after leaving them alone with an adult and encouraged parents to background caregivers to find out if they have criminal backgrounds or prior sex offenses. When it comes to children and the people taking care of them, be nosy, Prince Georges Police Chief Hank Stawinski said, ask questions and call with concerns. Luis Reluzco, the drunk driver who fatally struck Montgomery County police officer Noah Leotta, has agreed to plead guilty in the case, according to court records. Reluzco, 47, could face the maximum 10 years in prison for vehicular manslaughter. Prosecutors have made no agreements to seek less prison time, according to records filed Thursday in Montgomery County Circuit Court. From the onset, he has admitted his guilt, said John Roth, Reluzcos attorney. Roth and prosecutors drew up plea-agreement papers this week. On Thursday, a plea hearing was set for May 18, according to court records. Sentencing is expected to take place at a later date. Reluzco, an Olney resident, is likely to continue to be held in the county jail, where he has been since his arrest. Hes trying to do the right thing, Roth said. Hes never run away from accepting responsibility for his actions. Rich Leotta and Marcia Goldman, parents of Noah Leotta, listen to speakers at a news conference calling for stronger drunken-driving laws. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) Prosecutors declined to comment. The death of Leotta, 24, an energetic, well-liked officer, captured national attention. The night of Dec. 3, as he was out trying to find drunk drivers as part of a holiday task force, Leotta pulled over an SUV on Rockville Pike and got out of his cruiser. At the same time, Reluzco pulled out of a Hooters restaurant one mile away, having been there for more than four hours drinking beer and whiskey, police records show. Reluzcos blood alcohol concentration was later tested at 0.22, or nearly three times the legal limit, and he had smoked marijuana and taken the prescription drug Xanax, according to police records. Letting Noah go: Officers family channels grief to fight drunken driving Despite seeing the flashing lights of Leottas police car in front of him, Reluzco didnt veer away, rammed the rear-left corner of the police car and then struck the officer. Leotta suffered massive head injuries and died a week later. The incident propelled Maryland lawmakers to toughen drunken-driving laws. This week they approved legislation known as Noahs Law to expand the use of breath-testing ignition locks for convicted drunk drivers. Leottas parents and sister had appeared in Annapolis in recent months to urge passage of the law. At this stage in a proceeding, a defendant can still back out of a plea agreement. Reluzcos guilty plea would not be official until a judge accepts it at the hearing next month. The hearing is scheduled before Circuit Court Judge Ann S. Harrington, according to court records. Maryland sentencing guidelines, which are not binding, suggest a term of six months to five years in the case, according to court records and Roth. Officer Noah Leotta (Courtesy of the Leotta family) No matter what sentence Reluzco receives, he probably will not serve the full term. The charge of vehicular manslaughter is considered a nonviolent offense under Maryland parole rules, a category in which offenders become eligible for parole consideration after serving 25 percent of their sentence. By agreeing to plead this week, Reluzco is doing so more than six weeks ahead of his scheduled trial. Had that trial proceeded, prosecutors probably would have displayed crash photos, spoken at length about Leottas injuries and asked witnesses to the crash to provide jurors with detailed accounts. What is the sense of putting his family through four days of excruciating agony? Roth said. Earlier this month, Montgomery police released a collision reconstruction report, the details of which underscored the case against Reluzco. Among the reports findings: There were seven witnesses to the crash; Reluzco admitted to police that before the crash he smoked marijuana, took Xanax and drank at Hooters; the roadway showed no skid marks prior to impact. No brakes. No swerving. There was just hitting. Witnesses recall crash. Additionally, three court filings over the past two months in which prosecutors describe the evidence they were turning over to Roth help explain what Reluzco would have faced at a trial. The evidence includes 318 photographs, a video of Reluzcos 45-minute interview with investigators, a written statement Reluzco provided, a credit card receipt from Reluzcos drinking at Hooters, and a lab report showing marijuana residue on a pipe found in Reluzcos car. Roth said Reluzco spoke candidly to police after the wreck. He answered every question they asked and elaborated, Roth said. Reluzco was indicted Feb. 11 on two charges vehicular manslaughter and failure to avoid a stopped emergency vehicle, commonly known as the move-over law. As part of Reluzcos agreement to plead guilty to vehicular manslaughter, Roth said, prosecutors have agreed to drop the move-over violation. That violation, Roth said, carries a fine but no jail time. A Maryland state trooper was in critical condition Thursday night after a car crashed into his parked cruiser along the Capital Beltway and trapped him inside. The force of the crash was so violent that it mangled the troopers vehicle, and rescue workers needed nearly an hour to free him from the wreck. The crash, involving several cars, left one of the regions major traffic arteries shut down for hours and caused backups for miles as crews attempted to rescue the trooper and police investigated the scene. Maryland State Police identified the trooper, who was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, as Ezra N. Ganeshananda, 26. Later, state police identified the cars driver as Prasad Yadavalli, 60, of Galloway Township, N.J. Authorities said in a Twitter message that charges were pending. The incident occurred about 2 p.m. on the outer loop between Route 450 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, state police and the Prince Georges County Fire/EMS Department said. Ganeshananda was investigating an earlier collision and was sitting in his patrol car parked on the shoulder of the outer loop, police said. A damaged vehicle was in front of him, and a tow truck had pulled in front of that vehicle when a crash occurred nearby. A vehicle from that second crash struck the patrol car, trapping him inside, according to a statement from state police. The trooper was freed from the patrol car and flown to the hospital, authorities said. The crash involving at least three vehicles and a tow truck shut the Beltway in both directions near Lanham so that a helicopter could land in the area, fire officials said. Prince Georges Fire/EMS spokesman Mark Brady said the crash was so serious that it took nearly an hour to remove the trooper from the wreckage. It usually takes about 15 minutes to remove someone trapped inside a car after a typical crash, Brady said. The cruiser was hit with such force it was very challenging to extricate him from the vehicle, Brady said. There was so much damage to his car. Brady said another man in his 60s in another vehicle involved in the incident was taken to a hospital with injures that didnt appear life-threatening. The Beltway reopened at about 6:30 p.m., according to a tweet from the Maryland State Highway Administration. Gov. Larry Hogan posted on social media Thursday night that he was headed to Maryland Shock Trauma Center to visit Ganeshanandas family and other troopers. Hogan asked Marylanders to pray for the trooper and his family. Ganeshananda, who is the brother of a Maryland state trooper, is assigned to road patrol out of the College Park Barrack. He graduated from the academy in July 2015. As the first Latina immigrants to run for Congress in Maryland, Democrats Ana Sol Gutierrez and Joseline Pena-Melnyk are making history. But they also are struggling to mobilize Latino voters and donors in communities that have little experience with political campaigns at this level. Both candidates are trying to leap from comfortable, longtime perches in the state legislature into larger and higher-stakes contests that white and African American voters historically have decided. They know they must broaden their electoral appeal to do well, and they have discovered they cant automatically count on Latino support. We are no longer a sleeping giant, said Nestor Alvarenga, Latino outreach director for Montgomery County. At the same time, we cant take the Latino vote for granted, and we cant just stay in a bubble. We have to reach out to all communities and work to be treated as part of something bigger. [Mainstream response to Trump affirms Latino political power] Jessica Hernandez, reflected in a computer screen, and Carol Sanchez, left, work with others at a makeshift phone bank set up in a computer lab at the Casa of Maryland headquarters in Hyattsville, Md. (Allison Shelley/For The Washington Post) One recent evening in Hyattsville, Md., recruits from Casa in Action, the political arm of a nonprofit agency for Latino immigrants, spent several hours calling Latino registered voters and asking them in Spanish to support Pena-Melnyk and Gutierrez. Some people hung up. Some recruits stumbled over Pena-Melnyks hyphenated last name. Some voters said they had never heard of Gutierrez. Weve got to get our community involved in this election, said David Montesinos, 73, a Bolivian immigrant and retired academic who was participating in his third political phone bank. Weve got to get more people voting, more people running. It just takes patience. The number of potential Latino voters is too small to be decisive in either of the crowded April 26 primary contests. According to an analysis by the firm GNP Van based on State Board of Elections data and additional indicators, slightly more than 31,000 Latino voters are registered in the 8th Congressional District, 19,000 of whom are Democrats, and 21,000 in the 4th Congressional District, including 13,000 Democrats (Gutierrez is running in the 8th Congressional District, Pena-Melnyk in the 4th). But Latino leaders hope each campaign will serve as a model of what is possible for relatively new immigrant populations with limited electoral rights and experience. Gutierrez and Pena-Melnyk are often described in similar shorthand: liberal Democrats who came to the United States as children, built careers and entered politics. But there are many differences between them, reflecting the enormous diversity that exists among Marylands half-million Hispanics. [Gutierrez wants to reflect the changing demographics of her district] Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez is a candidate for Congress in Maryland's 8th District. (Courtesy of Ana Sol Gutierrez) Gutierrez, 74, a state delegate from Montgomery County, was born in El Salvador, the privileged daughter of diplomats. Her family immigrated to the United States in the 1940s, and she grew up in Chevy Chase, Md., far from the violence and civil war that later engulfed her homeland. She earned degrees in chemistry and technology management, worked in the Clinton administration and served for eight years on the Montgomery school board. Her political base is the flood of Salvadorans who fled the war as refugees and illegal immigrants and settled in suburban Maryland. On their behalf, she has pushed for drivers licenses and deportation relief for undocumented immigrants as well as better-quality public education. The 8th Congressional District, which includes parts of rural Frederick and Carroll counties, is only 18 percent Latino, and Gutierrez is trailing her better-funded rivals, according to the few polls that have been done in the nine-person race to fill the seat being vacated by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D). But she believes the anti-immigrant rhetoric of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will galvanize her supporters. Salvadoran Americans are coming of age, she said. I cant have ads on every station and channel. But I am banking on the Latino vote. Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk, right, talks with voters after a candidates forum held at Bowie State University. (Mark Gail/For The Washington Post) Pena-Melnyk, 49, a Dominican-born state delegate from Prince Georges County, has made a stronger showing in the six-way race to succeed outgoing Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D) in the 4th Congressional District, which also includes parts of Anne Arundel County. Overall, African Americans constitute the districts largest voter group, and Pena-Melnyks campaign has stressed her Caribbean heritage as well as her record on broader-interest issues. [Pena-Melnyk: Trying to bring a personal touch to federal politics] Pena-Melnyk was raised by a single mother who worked in garment factories in New York City. She was the first member of her family to go to college. She met her husband, Markian Melnyk, in law school. He is of Ukrainian descent. To become a state delegate in Prince Georges, Pena-Melnyk said, she had to win over her districts dominant African American voting population as well as whites, while not neglecting Latino voters. She supported the Dream Act, which would grant in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants, and was a co-founder of the Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus. But she also championed gun control and a higher minimum wage. In the congressional race, Pena-Melnyk has courted Latino voters with Spanish-language radio appearances and a YouTube video. At the same time, she has cast a wide campaign net, from Muslim American teas in Bowie to African American churches in Fort Washington. When asked about her ethnicity, she politely insists on the description Afro Latina. Latinos are only a tiny percent of my district, and I won with the black and white vote, Pena-Melnyk said, referring to her three delegate races. I look black, because I am, and some people didnt think I was Latina enough, she said with a laugh. I want to relate to everyone, because we all have the same needs. Another Latina Severna Park lawyer Yuripzy Morgan, 32, a U.S.-born woman with Salvadoran roots is one of five Republicans vying for the nomination to challenge Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger in the 2nd Congressional District, which includes parts of Baltimore City and four counties. Morgan, the daughter of a war refugee and a graduate of the University of Maryland law school in 2014, has no political experience.) A script and call log sit on a desk in a makeshift phone bank set up in a computer lab at the Casa of Maryland headquarters in Hyattsville, Md. (Allison Shelley/For The Washington Post) Gutierrez and Pena-Melnyk have been endorsed by numerous Latino groups and leaders, including Casa, but rejected by others, an issue that has caused some resentment. Pena-Melnyk has strong ties with Dominican American groups and an enthusiastic fan club of younger Latina politicians. She is the embodiment of the legislator I aspire to be every day, said Del. Marice I. Morales (D), 28, a first-term lawmaker who was born in Peru. Her identity as an attorney and an immigrant just oozes out. The Latino Democratic Club of Montgomery County endorsed state Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D), another progressive, instead of Gutierrez, after what club members described as a difficult but sincere debate. Several said they admired Gutierrez but thought Raskin was better qualified for Congress. An election is not about making history. It is about voting for the person who you think will do the best job, said Julio Ceron, a club officer. I commend Ana Sol for her tireless efforts on behalf of Latinos, but Raskin is my state senator, and he has a wealth of experience. We need someone with a proven track record who can continue that in a deadlocked Congress that is in Republican hands. Gutierrezs highest-profile supporter is Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), a leading member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who drew an enthusiastic crowd at a fundraiser for her at a Rockville restaurant in March. In an interview later, he said Latinos in Maryland know her and respect her and are really excited about the possibility of her coming to Congress and so am I. But even that well-attended event did not raise more than a few thousand dollars, and the hosts said they were disappointed by the poor response from the areas thriving Central American business community, which includes insurance agencies, supermarkets, cleaning services, restaurants and real estate firms. Abel Nunez, executive director of the Central American Resource Center in the District, said many Latino immigrants are still unsure where they fit in political life. Our community is young, and our generation is the first to exercise its political rights, Nunez said. But just to have two Latinas running for office in areas with multiple constituencies bodes well for the future. It lays the groundwork. It educates the community. It is amazing. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed several bills on Thursday that change the rules for how law enforcement processes rape kits. (Bob Brown/RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS) Months after Virginia discovered thousands of untested rape kits languishing across the state, Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Thursday signed into law new rules for the collection, storage and analysis of the critical evidence. A state agency last year identified 2,902 untested Physical Evidence Recovery Kits, some going back three decades. Police departments with the most untested kits were Virginia Beachs, with 455; Fairfax Countys, with 347; and Richmonds, with 257, according to the December report. Its our responsibility to provide certainty and ease the pain for women who are haunted by the fear their attackers could still be out there, said McAuliffe (D), who signed the bill at the Richmond offices of the Virginia Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Action Alliance. The event brought together unlikely partners in the crusade against sexual violence. Sen. Richard H. Black (R-Loudoun), one of the most conservative members of the General Assembly who is frequently at odds with McAuliffe, sponsored the bill. The bill will save lives, said Black, who added that he prosecuted rape cases as a military lawyer. And it will protect many, many women from sexual assault, because what this does is it begins to link cases together. By linking cases together, you take the serial offenders off the street. Experts say rape kits containing DNA evidence are critical because they frequently help solve multiple crimes. [Why rape kits go untested in Virginia] Black has often tangled on womens health issues with the same advocates who offered tepid applause for him during the bill-signing event. They sighed audibly when he called first lady Dorothy McAuliffe lovely while praising her leadership on the issue. It is very difficult for a woman to go through this test after shes been raped, he said. Its the last thing she wants to do. To have her go through that trauma and then to turn around and have it sit is really a terrible thing. Black first raised the issue in the General Assembly a few years ago after discovering a pamphlet from Natasha Alexenko, founder of the Rape Kit Action Project, in a pile of papers on his desk. She flew in from New York to attend Thursdays signing. The law is intended to streamline the hodgepodge of policies followed by police departments, sheriffs and other law enforcement agencies, some of which have stored untested kits for decades. Under the law, if a victim visits a medical professional to collect evidence for the rape kit but ultimately decides not to press charges, the kit will still be stored for at least two years. For cases that are reported, the evidence must be sent for analysis within 60 days. McAuliffe said that he legislation will double the number of tests performed each year and that his two-year budget includes $900,000 to hire six additional DNA examiners, he said. The governor also signed two related pieces of legislation. Another bill sponsored by Black allows minors to consent to be tested over the objections of a parent, a critical option when the adult could be the perpetrator. And Del. Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) sponsored a bill that requires law enforcement to be trained in trauma-informed responses to people who report sexual violence. The measure was a recommendation of a task force, formed by McAuliffe, to combat sexual violence on college campuses. It was chaired by Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D). Herring helped secure a $1.4 million grant last year to test Virginias accumulated kits. Virginia was one of more than 20 states awarded money through Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.s $38 million initiative to reduce the national inventory of untested kits. Virginia is one of about two dozen states that have performed statewide audits in recent years, according to Rebecca OConnor, vice president for public policy at the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. The total number of untested kits is difficult to track, but national estimates exceed 100,000. Once we get the backlog cleared out, this new bill should ensure that Virginia never finds itself in that situation again, Herring said. Kristine Hall, public policy director at the Virginia Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, said the bills are a significant first step. The certainty that evidence is going to be sent to a lab and analyzed is huge and helps to begin the process of restoring faith in a system that quite frankly has not worked really well for victims of sexual assault, she said. With 605 patents to his name, Jerome Lemelson (1923-1997) was one of the most prolific and enthusiastic inventors in U.S. history. (He and his bride spent part of their honeymoon at the U.S. Patent Office.) His high-tech mechanisms contributed significantly to the invention of industrial robots, fax machines, cordless telephones and camcorders. But it was his invention of a machine vision device the bar-code scanner that made him rich and enabled him to endow the annual $500,000 Lemelson-MIT prize for outstanding inventors. Theres also a student version, with prizes in various categories, worth $15,000 for graduate students and $10,000 for undergraduates. Those prizes were awarded this month, and Scientific American has posted a slide show of the young inventors and their work on the magazines website, Scientificamerican.com. Some of the winners: Catalin Voss, a graduate student at Stanford, is developing the Autism Glass Project an application involving face-tracking and expression-recognition software that could be used with Google Glass or a similar product. The idea is that a child with autism could wear the glasses, be cued to recognize and respond to nonverbal communication in other people, and learn behavioral skills. When health-care workers wash a contaminated surface with disinfectant, its crucial to know theyve cleaned it all. Enter Jason Kang, Katherine Jin and Kevin Tyan of Columbia University, who invented Highlight a powdered additive that can be mixed into disinfectants to color them so workers can see whats been washed and what still might have germs. At the University of Washington, Thomas Pryor and Navid Azodi created a pair of gloves that turn American Sign Language into oral language. SignAloud gloves are equipped with sensors that recognize hand position and movement, transmit data wirelessly to a computer and pronounce the words being signed through a speaker. The full list of winners past and present is at lemelson.mit.edu/studentprize. Feeling inventive? The site also describes all the categories and application guidelines. The $500,000 prize, for mid-career inventors, will be awarded in the fall. Nancy Szokan NEW YORK Ex-officers conviction in gun death stands A manslaughter conviction against a former police officer who accidentally shot an unarmed man in a stairwell in a public housing project will stand, a judge decided Thursday, ruling that a juror did not intentionally withhold information during jury selection. Peter Liang was convicted in February in the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Akai Gurley in the darkened stairwell in 2014. Gurley was walking down to the lobby and Liang was patrolling inside the building. Liang opened a door to the stairwell and fired his weapon once accidentally. The bullet ricocheted and struck Gurley. Liangs attorneys argued that Juror No. 9 initially said no one in his family had been accused of a crime. But the juror told a local newspaper later that his father was sent to prison for accidentally shooting a friend to death. Judge Danny Chun said Thursday he was satisfied that the juror, Michael Vargas, did not knowingly withhold the information during jury selection. He said Vargas had rambled on during questioning when being selected as a juror. Vargas had testified at the post-trial hearing that he had been raised in group homes and had not been close to his father, who died more than a decade ago. Liang is to be sentenced April 19. Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson has recommended that Liang serve no prison time, in part because of the uniqueness of the case. Associated Press COLORADO Illegal marijuana operations raided Police and federal agents seized piles of pot plants and elaborate growing equipment Thursday during raids of about 30 homes and warehouses throughout the Denver area, part of a multi-state investigation into the illegal distribution of marijuana outside Colorado. Authorities described the case as the latest example of drug traffickers seeking a haven in the states flourishing marijuana industry to ship the drug out of state, where it can be sold for more than double the prices in Colorado. Several raids in recent weeks have taken aim at out-of-state drug rings; one sweep last month focused on unlicensed pot grows of varying sizes. The year-long investigation that led to Thursdays raids began when residents living near the grows complained about the smell of weed, a law enforcement official said. The official said the case involves people who moved to Colorado from Texas specifically to grow marijuana that would be illegally transported out of the state. Dozens of people were arrested during the raids, which spanned from the Denver area south to Colorado Springs. Associated Press TEXAS Deputy shot 4 times in back is expected to recover A deputy constable in Harris County who was shot four times late Wednesday in what police described as an apparent ambush is expected to recover, police said. Deputy Alden Clopton had stopped to help another deputy with a traffic stop in the Midtown part of Houston when he was shot, said May Walker, constable for Harris Countys Precinct 7. Walker said Clopton was leaning into the other deputys car when he was shot in the back. It was virtually an ambush, is what it was, Walker said during a briefing with reporters Thursday morning. Authorities are speaking with a person of interest, she said but added that she was unable to provide information about a possible motive. Clopton, who has 11 years service in Precinct 7, underwent hours of surgery early Thursday. Police said that one bullet had lodged near his heart and that others had injured his abdomen. Clopton was wearing a bulletproof vest when he was shot, which may have saved his life, Walker said. Kese Smith, a spokesman for Houston police, said during a briefing after the shooting that a man matching the description of the assailant later turned up at a fire station in Houston. The man was detained and was speaking with authorities Thursday. Mark Berman Brussels airline employees wait for passengers at a temporary check-in area at Brussels airport in Zaventem. E.U. approved a scheme to share airline passenger data that nations hope to use to track foreign fighters who might pose a danger in Europe. (Benoit Doppagne/AFP/Getty Images) EUROPEAN UNION Plan to share data on air travelers approved European Union lawmakers approved on Thursday a scheme to share airline passenger information that nations hope to use to track foreign fighters traveling to and from conflict areas such as Syria and who might pose a danger in Europe. The move ends years of wrangling over how to balance security needs and privacy rights. Lawmakers came under great pressure to adopt the scheme in the wake of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and last months suicide bombings in Brussels, which left 32 dead. The Passenger Name Record law was approved at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, by 461 votes to 179, with nine abstentions. Critics of the scheme say that many of those linked to the attacks were already known to authorities, that the scheme will needlessly collect private information about ordinary citizens, and that it is costly and cumbersome to operate. They say the 28 E.U. countries are simply not sharing the information they already have. Under the scheme, law enforcement agencies in all E.U. nations would have access to traveler details gathered by airlines, including names, travel dates and itineraries . Rescuers work at the smashed plank houses after a gantry crane collapsed on a construction site in south China's Guangdong province. Eighteen workers were killed in the accident, with another 18 hospitalized. (Str/EPA) At least 5,000 Europeans are suspected to have trained or fought in Syria and Iraq. Also Thursday, a Belgian judge ordered Mohamed Abrini and six other suspects in the Paris and Brussels attacks kept behind bars for another month. Associated Press ISRAEL Soldier to be charged in death of Palestinian The Israeli military said Thursday that prosecutors intend to file a manslaughter charge against a soldier caught on video shooting a wounded Palestinian attacker in the head. The shooting occurred last month in Hebron, a West Bank city that has been a focal point of a months-long wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence. The military said at the time that two Palestinians stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier before troops fatally shot the pair. But in a video released by an Israeli human rights group, one of the attackers was shown alive after the initial shooting. The video shows the wounded attacker lying on the ground, slowly moving his head before a soldier raises his rifle and fires. An autopsy concluded that the bullet to the head was the cause of death. The incident triggered an uproar in Israel, with the defense minister, military officials and many Israelis calling it contrary to the armys values. That has led to widespread support for the soldier, with many calling his actions appropriate amid months of Palestinian attacks. In the latest violence, the military said a Palestinian man attacked a soldier with an ax in the West Bank before being fatally shot. The army said the soldier was slightly wounded. Associated Press Irish lawmakers 3rd bid to pick prime minister fails: Irelands lawmakers failed for a third time to select a prime minister, leaving the country in political limbo for a record 48 days after an inconclusive election. As in the previous two attempts, a majority of lawmakers failed to back either caretaker prime minister Enda Kenny or his sole remaining challenger, Fianna Fail party leader Micheal Martin. Kenny received 52 votes; Martin received 43. Kenny needs at least 79 votes to regain a governing majority in Parliament. The legislature will convene next week for a fourth attempt to elect a premier. 16 dead as heavy rains lash Yemen: Heavy rainfall in several parts of Yemen caused widespread flooding that killed at least 16 people and led to the collapse of small dams, including two in Hajjah and Amran provinces, security officials and the Interior Ministry said. Damage to property was particularly heavy, according to the officials. Unusually heavy rainfall also hit Sanaa, the capital, and the southern port of Aden. The officials, meanwhile, said that at least 40 people were killed in the past two days across Yemen, straining a cease-fire that started this week. Quake kills 9, injures hudreds in Japan: At least nine people were killed and more than 800 injured by a magnitude-6.5 earthquake that knocked down houses and buckled roads in southern Japan. Both of those killed were from the hardest-hit town of Mashiki, on the island of Kyushu, a disaster management official said. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at least 19 houses collapsed, and hundreds of calls came in reporting building damage and people buried under debris or trapped inside. There were multiple aftershocks, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. From news services On the day that Paul Ryan said he really, truly, honestly did not want to be the Republicans presidential savior, John Kasich did his best to channel the House speaker. Both undertakings underscored how much trouble the old pro-business, pro-tax-cut conservatism faces. A cynic might theorize that because absence makes the heart grow fonder, Ryans reticence would only make his party hope and pray harder that he would deliver it from catastrophe. But the 46-year-old speaker knows that the 2016 GOP is unlikely to be the vehicle for the neo-Reaganite revival he seeks. Hes much better off waiting until 2020. Kasich, in the meantime, did what he should have done long ago, casting Donald Trump and Ted Cruz (without naming them) as taking the party down the path to darkness. If you like what Sarah Palin once mocked as that hopey-changey stuff (and I do), the Ohio governors New York speech was a magnificent relief from the horror movie motifs and exclusionary rhetoric that have become the staples of this years Republican contest. A political strategy based on exploiting Americans instead of lifting them up inevitably leads to divisions, paranoia, isolation and promises that can never, ever be fulfilled, Kasich declared. We have heard proposals to create a religious test for immigration, to target neighborhoods for surveillance. . . . We have been promised that unpopular laws shall be repealed simply through the will of a strongman in the White House. Lest there be any doubt that Kasich had a certain very loud real estate developer in his sights, he offered this: Some who feed off of the fears and anger that is felt by some of us and exploit it feed their own insatiable desire for fame or attention. That could drive America down into a ditch, not make us great again. Kasich urged us toward that most old-fashioned of ideas, national unity. Fear turns to hope, he said, because we remember to take strength from each other. All this is lovely, and you can imagine Hillary Clinton, assuming she wins the Democratic nomination, deploying Kasich quotations this fall. One of her new campaign commercials is called Stronger Together. Its a good overall theme for her. Were stronger when we rise together economically and when we dont reject each other for reasons of race, ethnicity or religion. The problem for Kasich involves his solutions. In his speech Tuesday, he proposed a balanced budget; a freeze on most federal regulations; tax cuts for individuals and businesses; sending welfare, education, Medicaid, highway infrastructure and job training programs back to the states; a guest worker program; and fixes to Social Security that would certainly involve some cuts. In other words, he reprises the same agenda conservatives were offering in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Its an approach that even many in the GOP particularly working-class Trump supporters see as inadequate. It also happens to be a variation on Ryanism. If these policy retreads no longer unify the GOP, they also have little to say about the challenges facing the country in our era. If you wonder why Republicans have not been able to unite against Trump (or, really, at all), it is because they are divided into increasingly irreconcilable factions. You can count at least five of them. There are two kinds of social conservatives: those who respond to the religious rights central concerns, notably opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage; and those who take a hard line on immigration, race, national identity and, increasingly, free trade. Libertarian Republicans take a consistently small-government view, which often leads them to favor social tolerance and oppose foreign intervention. The neoconservatives are defined primarily by their support for aggressive American engagement in the world, often of a military sort. And the business-oriented Republicans for whom Kasich and Ryan speak make low taxes and less regulation their highest priority. While their personal attitudes are often similar to those of libertarians thus the warm openness of Kasichs oratory corporate Republicans have been willing in the past to make concessions to social conservatives to win support for their core goals. Holding all these groups together amiably is now beyond the capacity of even the most gifted GOP politicians. Ryan knows this, which is why he is sticking to his current job and hoping his party can regroup intellectually. Kasich, bless him, wants Republicans to sound a whole lot nicer. But in the clamor of factionalism that plagues the party, the political base for niceness just isnt big enough. Read more from E.J. Dionnes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. There is a consensus that aggression by one nation against another is a serious matter, but there is no comparable consensus about what constitutes aggression. Waging aggressive war was one charge against Nazi leaders at the 1946 Nuremberg war crimes trials, but 70 years later it is unclear that aggression, properly understood, must involve war, as commonly understood. Or that war, in todays context of novel destructive capabilities, must involve the use of armed force, which the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court says is constitutive of an act of aggression. Cyberskills can serve espionage the surreptitious acquisition of information which is older than nations and not an act of war. Relatively elementary cyberattacks against an enemys command-and-control capabilities during war were a facet of U.S. efforts in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, in the Balkans in 1999 and against insurgents hacking their emails during the surge in Iraq. In 2007, Israels cyberwarfare unit disrupted Syrian radar as Israeli jets destroyed an unfinished nuclear reactor in Syria. But how should we categorize cyberskills employed not to acquire information, and not to supplement military force, but to damage another nations physical infrastructure? In World War II, the United States and its allies sent fleets of bombers over Germany to destroy important elements of its physical infrastructure steel mills, ball-bearing plants, etc. Bombers were, however, unnecessary when the United States and Israel wanted to destroy some centrifuges crucial to Irans nuclear weapons program. They used the Stuxnet computer worm to accelerate or slow processes at Irans Natanz uranium-enrichment facility, damaging or even fragmenting centrifuges necessary for producing weapons-grade material. According to Slate columnist Fred Kaplan, by early 2010, approximately 2,000 of 8,700 were damaged beyond repair, and even after the Iranians later learned what was happening, another 1,000 of the then-remaining 5,000 were taken out of commission. For fascinating details on the episodes mentioned above, and to understand how deeply we have drifted into legally and politically uncharted waters, read Kaplans new book, Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War. Three of its lessons are that cyberwar resembles war, much of it is very secret and everything essential to the functioning of modern society is vulnerable. The things controlled by or through computers include not just military assets (command-and-control systems, the guidance mechanisms of smart munitions, etc.) but also hospitals, electric power grids, water works, the valves of dams and the financial transactions of banks. And, Kaplan notes, unlike nuclear weapons or the ballistic missiles to deliver them, cyberweapons do not require large-scale industrial projects or concentrations of scientists with scarce skills. All that is needed to paralyze a complex society and panic its population is a roomful of computers and a small corps of people trained to use them. Clearly the United States needs a cyberdeterrent capacity the ability to do unto adversaries anything they might try to do unto us. One problem, however, is that it can be difficult to prove the source of a cyberattack, such as that which Vladimir Putin did not acknowledge launching, but almost certainly did launch, in 2007 to punish Estonia for annoying Russia. To appreciate how computer keystrokes can do damage comparable to a sustained air campaign using high explosives, consider what happened in 1995 in the private sector. Barings, founded in 1762, was Britains oldest merchant bank, having weathered the Napoleonic wars and two world wars, and its clients included Queen Elizabeth II. One of its young traders, Nick Leeson, in the banks Singapore office, was so skillful at navigating the derivatives markets that at one point he produced 10 percent of the banks profits. Inadequately supervised, he created a secret Barings account from which he made risky bets, including a huge one on Japans stock market rising. He did not, however, anticipate the Kobe earthquake. Japans stock market plunged, causing enormous losses in Leesons account that Barings could not cover. The bank quickly collapsed and was bought by a Dutch company for one British pound. If one rogue traders recklessness, motivated by mere avarice, can quietly and quickly annihilate a venerable institution, imagine what havoc can be wrought by battalions of militarized cyberwarriors implacably implementing a nations destructive agenda. It is long past time for urgent public discussion of the many new meanings that can be given to Shakespeares Cry Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war. Read more from George F. Wills archive or follow him on Facebook. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is taking two days off from campaigning to attend Pope Francis's conference on social, economic and environmental issues in Vatican City. Here are five things those men share. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is taking two days off from campaigning to attend Pope Francis's conference on social, economic and environmental issues in Vatican City. Here are five things those men share. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) Democratic socialist presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will depart soon for the Vatican, where hell speak at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, a previously obscure body whose ideological leanings are implied by the invitations it extended to Sanders and two other headliners, the left-wing populist presidents of Bolivia and Ecuador. In keeping with Pope Franciss call for a moral economy, Sanders has said hell discuss how we address the massive levels of wealth and income inequality that exist around the world, how we deal with unemployment, how we deal with poverty and how we create an economy that works for all people rather than the few. Its a long flight from New York to Italy, so lets hope Sanders uses some of that time to review the relevant data. What hell discover is a vast reduction in poverty and income inequality worldwide over the past quarter-century. Specifically, the worlds Gini coefficient the most commonly used measure of income distribution has fallen from 0.69 in 1988 to 0.63 in 2011. (A higher Gini coefficient connotes greater inequality, up to a maximum of 1.0.) That may seem modest until you consider that the estimates author, former World Bank economist Branko Milanovic, thinks we may be witnessing the first period of declining global inequality since the Industrial Revolution. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. (Brian Snyder/Reuters) Note that this hopeful figure applies to the worlds population as though every individual lived in one big country. When Milanovic assessed the distribution of income between nations, adjusted for population, the improvement was even more striking: a decline in the Gini coefficient from 0.60 in 1988 to 0.48 in 2014. The global middle class expanded, as real income went up between 70 percent and 80 percent for those around the world who were already earning at or near the global median, including some 200 million Chinese, 90 million Indians and 30 million people each in Indonesia, Egypt and Brazil. Those in the bottom third of the global income distribution registered real income gains between 40 percent and 70 percent, Milanovic reports. The share of the worlds population living on $1.25 or less per day what the World Bank defines as absolute poverty fell from 44 percent to 23 percent. Did this historic progress, with its overwhelmingly beneficial consequences for millions of the worlds humblest inhabitants, occur because everyone finally adopted democratic socialism? Was it due to a conscious, organized effort to construct a moral economy as per Vatican standards? To the contrary: The big story after 1988 is the collapse of communism and the spread of market institutions, albeit imperfect ones, to India, China and Latin America. This was a process mightily abetted by freer flows of international trade and private capital, which were, in turn, promoted by a bipartisan succession of U.S. presidents and Congresses. The extension of capitalism fueled economic growth, which Milanovic correctly calls the most powerful tool for reducing global poverty and inequality. And hes no supply-sider, but instead a left-leaning critic of modern economic orthodoxy as his new book, Global Inequality, makes clear. Like any complex economic process, globalization was not all upside for everyone and produced only limited benefits, or none at all, for many people including lower-middle-class Americans in manufacturing towns whose understandable frustration has now curdled into the voter anger that fuels both Sanderss campaign and Donald Trumps. The fact that a small number of globalizations biggest winners Milanovic calls them the global 1 percent got a 60 percent boost in their real income over the past quarter-century certainly doesnt help matters, politically. Obviously, the spectacular 2008 financial crisis that led to the Great Recession also badly damaged capitalisms legitimacy. Here, then, is the real challenge facing the worlds leaders, be they bishops of Rome or senators from Vermont: how to preserve free-market institutions that have done so much good for the world, including the poorest, while pragmatically reforming them and curbing their excesses. Perhaps Sanders will, at long last, articulate a plausible plan for meeting that challenge in his Vatican speech. So far what hes done is crudely but crowd-pleasingly attack the market, echoing the popes denunciations of money worship and launching a simplistic attack on free trade, including the promising Trans-Pacific Partnership that President Obama negotiated with 11 other countries. In the latter respect, Sanders echoes Trump, a fact that should give The Berns supporters more pause than it apparently does. If Sanders got into the White House because of his protectionist promises, and kept them, it would threaten the very engines of global growth and prosperity that helped lift hundreds of millions from a poverty more grinding and miserable than anything even the worst-off Americans have experienced in recent years. When you think about it that way, theres a certain selfishness about this socialist. Read more from Charles Lanes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. PRESENTED WITH legislation that would expand use of the electric chair in Virginia, Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) has offered an alternative that he called a reasonable middle ground. In fact, the governors proposal would replace a barbaric practice (the electric chair) with a constitutionally suspect one (a veil of secrecy over executions). Mr. McAuliffe opposes capital punishment in principle but has enforced it as governor. The states most recent execution, just its third this decade, took place on his watch in the fall; the condemned man was killed by lethal injection. Mr. McAuliffes reluctance to sign a measure approved by lawmakers to require the use of the electric chair when the state cant obtain lethal drugs is admirable. His suggested amendment is not. If accepted by lawmakers, it would empower state officials to order the necessary drugs from compounding pharmacies, whose identities would be kept secret to shield them from the possibility of adverse publicity, even in the event of botched executions. The effect would be to drape a shroud of secrecy over such pharmacies, exempting them from the states Freedom of Information Act or even the normal process of fact-finding and evidence-gathering in civil suits, unless plaintiffs could show good cause. Its hard to think of a good reason that these particular government contractors suppliers of a drug that might otherwise be unavailable owing to an embargo imposed on European drugmakers deserve what amounts to a gag order. The secrecy would muzzle public debate over capital punishment and negate government transparency. Virginia has long offered condemned inmates the choice of death by lethal injection or the electric chair. In practice, just six of 38 convicts put to death in the state since 2000 chose electrocution. The increasing scarcity of lethal injection drugs prompted lawmakers to pass a bill this year that would make electrocution the default means of execution, even when prisoners opted for lethal injections. Its a bad call. As a court in Georgia noted in affirming that the electric chair violates the states ban on cruel and unusual punishment, the chair is an instrument of needless mutilation that results in excruciating pain and [the] certainty of cooked brains and blistered bodies. The electric chairs inhumane violence is the reason lethal injection has become the only widely accepted method for the dwindling number of executions in this country. If states cannot arrange for lethal injection executions to be carried out according to the normal strictures of democratic procedure, then the decent alternative is not to abandon those strictures; it is to seek an alternative method or scrap the death penalty. Mr. McAuliffe insists he will veto the legislation unless his amendment is adopted. If it comes to that, the effect will be a de facto moratorium on capital punishment in Virginia. That sounds like a fine outcome until a better alternative is available. Young Tunisian graduates block the road with burning tires in the southeastern town of Ben Guerdane on Jan. 21, in solidarity with protests in the central Tunisian town of Kasserine. Protests over unemployment and poverty in central Tunisia have raised fears of growing social unrest. (Fathi Nasri/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) William J. Burns is president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former deputy U.S. secretary of state. Marwan Muasher is Carnegies vice president for studies and a former deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Jordan. In a region full of upheaval and bloodshed, Tunisia, with its relatively peaceful transition, progressive constitution, inclusive politics, and free and fair elections, has stood as a lone shining example. Five years after igniting the Arab Awakening and inspiring the world, the bloom has come off the Jasmine Revolution. A combination of internal headwinds and regional whirlwinds are extinguishing Tunisian hopes for a consolidated new social contract. Each of us here is a time bomb, warned one protest organizer in the town of Kasserine. With each passing day, disillusionment among Tunisians continues to grow, and with it grows the risk that the consensual fabric that has distinguished Tunisia from other countries in the region may tear. Even before the recent spate of terrorist attacks and violent protests, four out of five Tunisians said their country was headed in the wrong direction. The tourism sector a vital lifeline for the Tunisian economy is down 50 percent. Unemployment is high. Infrastructure is failing. And capital is streaming to the informal economy, depriving the state of much-needed revenue while depleting its legitimacy. Although it has only about 11 million people and an economic output less than that of Rhode Island, Tunisia matters to regional order, to the fate of reform and democracy in the Arab world and to the United States. Tunisias failure would not only dispirit all those who yearn and sacrifice for more pluralism in the Arab world. It would also send thousands more Tunisians into the arms of extremist groups and human traffickers, dealing a body blow to the fight against the Islamic State and Europes efforts to deal with the refugee crisis and its profound political and geopolitical consequences. The good news is that its not too late to reverse Tunisias troubling recent trajectory. The first step is acknowledging where Tunisians and their international partners have fallen short. The hard truth is that admiration for Tunisia has yet to translate into coherent and effective international support. Deauville, the French city that hosted a major pledging conference in 2011, has become shorthand for the international communitys overpromising and grand gestures. The real issue is not the overall amount of support, which while falling short of the mark has not been insignificant. The real issue is the mismatch between the support Tunisia has received and its real needs. Although the revolution upgraded Tunisias regime hardware from an authoritarian to a democratic government, its operating system its state institutions, laws, bureaucracies, courts and police remained largely unchanged. These continued to serve their original function: to capture, not disperse, state resources. As a result, despite the best intentions of Tunisias new leadership, billions of dollars and dozens of projects never got off the ground, sending Tunisians back to the streets. This made it much more difficult for Tunisias leaders to get public support for necessary, if painful, economic reforms. And it shook international confidence in Tunisia and undermined efforts to generate international support. Tunisians themselves hold significant responsibility, as well. Too little was done to uproot corruption, rebuild the brittle machinery of the state, secure gender equity, reach out to traditionally marginalized regions and groups, and make progress on a long list of critical legislative reforms. Unless Tunisians are willing to tackle these head-on, no level of international support and no amount of reassuring gestures will make a lasting difference. The second step is to acknowledge that while Tunisia and its partners largely know and share a sense of the diagnoses and prescriptions for the countrys ills, they lack a mechanism for helping to turn their common agenda into results. This is why there is an urgent need to establish a new framework for partnership a compact that couples Tunisian-led policy and bureaucratic reforms with more coordinated and concrete international assistance. Rather than mutual cynicism and recriminations, the defining elements of this new effort should be mutual responsibility and mutual accountability, as well as pragmatism and prioritization. International partners should be prepared to implement projects and fund outstanding ones if Tunisia demonstrates a seriousness of purpose, for example by establishing a fast-track mechanism to expedite social development programs while beginning long-term bureaucratic restructuring. If Tunisia is prepared to advance public administration, investment and customs reforms, its partners should provide the necessary advice and expertise, as well as the support to cushion the inevitable dislocations this would produce. Smartly sequenced and mutually reinforcing steps can break through the bottlenecks that have inhibited progress and generate new momentum for Tunisia and, in time, for the region. As finance and development ministers gather in Washington this week for the spring World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings, they will undoubtedly focus their sights on the biggest global crises. They should also be sure to focus on the biggest opportunities of which Tunisia still presents an important one. Looking ahead to the May Group of Seven summit in Japan, the U.N. General Assembly in September and a major investment conference in Tunis later in the fall, there is a real opportunity to be seized. Precisely because Tunisia can still succeed, we cant afford to fail. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders reunited in Brooklyn, N.Y. on April 14 for a contentious CNN debate ahead of the New York primary. Here are the most contentious moments from that debate. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders reunited in Brooklyn, N.Y. on April 14 for a contentious CNN debate ahead of the New York primary. Here are the most contentious moments from that debate. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton had a new line to sum up the differences between herself and Sen. Bernie Sanders: Describing the problem is a lot easier than trying to solve it. That line, which Clinton used at least twice in Thursday nights Democratic presidential debate on CNN, was meant to crystallize something that Clinton has been talking about for weeks now trying to cast herself as the realist in the Democratic race, and Sanders as an idealist whose sweeping ideas would fall flat. Clinton returned to that theme again and again in the debate. She embraced the legacy of President Obama, describing how much Obama had accomplished despite Republican opposition, and criticized Sanders for saying Obama should have done more. She blasted Sanders for an interview with the New York Daily News, in which he struggled to explain the details of implementing his own plan to break up big banks. I absolutely agree with the diagnosis. The diagnoses that weve got to do much more to finish the work, of expanding health-care coverage and having the government pay for tuition at public colleges, Clinton said. When you make proposals, and youre running for president, you should be held accountable for whether the numbers add up. That was met with cheers. Sanders, when pressed about the logistics of these proposals, returned as he has before -- to moral first principles. Public colleges and universities tuition-free? Damn right. That is exactly what we should be doing, Sanders said. [The latest on the New York primary] This debate carried a heavy New York inflection in its liberal, urban politics, and in its participants habit of interrupting each other, while shouting at the volume of a passing subway train. In addition, both candidates used their ties to New York as a way of grounding themselves. In his closing statement, Sanders talked about growing up in Brooklyn, the son of an immigrant. In Clintons closing, she referred to her years as a New York senator a rare moment when the longtime Washington insider could cast herself as a Washington outsider, sent to the capital from somewhere else. Im asking for our support again, Clinton said. To take what we did in New York, and to take those New York values to the White House. Later in the debate, Sanders said that, if he were elected president, he would ask President Obama to withdraw the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court because Sanders did not want Garland to be confirmed before he could take over. I think we need a Supreme Court justice who would make it crystal clearand this nominee has not done this that he or she would vote to overturn Citizens United, to make sure that American democracy is not undermined, Sanders said. He was referring to the Citizens United decision, which allowed corporations and labor unions to spend unlimited funds on direct advocacy for or against candidates. Clinton declined to answer the question. I am going to support the president. When I am president, I am going to take stock of where we are and move from there, Clinton said. During an exchange on foreign policy, Sanders criticized the Israeli militarys conduct in a 2014 military campaign in Gaza, saying it had been an over-reaction to attacks by the Palestinian group Hamas. The Washington Post's Dan Balz asks what Brooklyn means to the people on the campaign trail ahead of CNN's Democratic presidential debate on April 14. (Dan Balz/The Washington Post) Was that a disproportionate attack? The answer is, I think it was, Sanders said during the debate in Brooklyn, describing a military campaign that came in response to rocket attacks aimed at Israel from Gaza. The United Nations estimated that more than 2,100 people were killed in the Palestinian territories, and said that more than half of those killed were civilians. Sanders had suspended his Jewish outreach coordinator earlier Thursday, after the revelation that she had criticized Israels prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who oversaw that 2014 conflict. Clinton, in her response at the debate, offered a more pro-Israeli outlook, saying that Hamas had contributed to the casualties by using civilians as cover for its fighters. Of course, there have to be precautions taken. But even the most independent analysts will say that the way that Hamas places its weapons.it is terrible, Clinton said. Earlier in the debate, Clinton struggled with questions about the U.S. intervention in Libya an intervention she supported, but which ultimately created a power vacuum that has allowed militias and the Islamic State to thrive. We did try, without success, because of the Libyans obstructions to our efforts, Clinton said. If she were elected president, Clinton said, she would continue trying to restore order and government. Sanders cast the intervention which Clinton supported within the White House as an example of her poor judgment, and linked it to Clintons vote for the Iraq war. This is the same type of mentality that supported the war in Iraq, Sanders said. We didnt think thoroughly about what happens the day after you get rid of these dictators. Throughout the debate Clinton tied herself closely to President Obama and accused Sanders of criticizing him, closely embracing the president she ran so hard against in 2008. Im getting a little bit concerned here. Because I really believe that the president has done an incredible job against great odds, Clinton said, during a back-and-forth about climate change. She said that Sanders had been unnecessarily critical of Obama for the landmark deal signed in Paris a few months ago, in which more than 190 countries agreed to tackle the problem. Weve got to get beyond paper right now. We have got to lead the world in transforming our energy system. Not tomorrow, but yesterday, Sanders said. On this subject, their argument was not as much about climate change a subject both have called a worldwide crisis but rather about tactics, and their approach to politics. Sanders, as before, called for sweeping steps: a tax on carbon-dioxide emissions, an end to fracking to extract natural gas, and other measures that would sharply change the U.S. energy system. He criticized Clinton for incrementalism. Those little steps are not enough, Sanders said. But Clinton replied that Sanders ideas were not politically or logistically feasible and that trying to implement them would waste time. Her references to Obama were another way of making this argument: Clinton stressed what Obama had done, in spite of fierce Republican opposition in Congress. I dont take a back seat to your legislation that youve introduced, that you havent been able to get passed, she said, in reference to a bill that Sanders had proposed to set up a carbon tax. Earlier, Sanders said Clinton, had used a racist term when she spoke of criminal super-predators in the 1990s, during the push for higher jail sentences. It was a racist term, and everybody knew it was a racist term, Sanders said. Clinton apologized for the unintended consequences of that push for tougher sentences, which has been blamed for an increase in the incarceration of African Americans. Im sorry for the consequences that are unintended, and have had a very unfortunate impact on peoples lives. Ive seen the results, Clinton said. I want to focus the attention of our country, and to make the changes we need to make. I want white people to recognize that there is systemic racism. Its also in employment, its in housing, but it is in the criminal justice system. In the run-up to the New York primary, both Democratic candidates have focused on issues important to black voters and urban Democrats. Earlier in the debate, Clinton had blasted Sanders again for being too friendly to gun manufacturers and the gun lobby, taking control of the debate in its second half-hour. At one point, Sanders laughed at a mention of an attack line from Clinton, which is that Vermont is the largest per-capita source of guns used in crimes in New York. The actual number of guns traced to Vermont is relatively small, but the states small population makes the per-capita number high. Sanders seemed to be chuckling at the argument, but Clinton interjected. Its not a laughing matter, she said, dodging the question about whether the per-capita statistic had been fair. I take it really serious. Because I have spent more time than I care remember being with people who have lost loved ones to gun violence. Sanders struggled, again, to explain how his views on guns had been shaped by the fact that he represented a state with a large percentage of gun owners and a low rate of gun crime. What we need to do is to do everything we can to make sure that guns do not fall into the hands of people who do not have them, Sanders said at last. The two candidates also had a sustained argument about the national minimum wage, which indicated how Sanders has changed the terms of their race. When Clinton advocated raising the wage by 67 percent, she was booed for not going far enough. We will set a national level of $12 [per hour] and then urge anybody who wants to go above it, to go above it, Clinton said, defending herself from boos from supporters of Sanders, who has called for a $15-per-hour national wage. I want to get something done, and I think setting the goal to get to 12 is the way to go. Sanders attacked her for not calling for a $15-per-hour wage, and the two argued so loudly that CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer had to intervene. If youre both screaming at each other, the viewers wont be able to hear either of you, Blitzer said. The Vermont senator earlier pledged to release his full 2014 tax returns on Friday, which he said will make clear what he and his wife donated to charity, among other details. Last year, Sanders released several pages of his tax returns, but not the specifics of his donations and other deductions. We have very boring tax returns. No big money from speeches. No major investments. Unfortunately, I remain one of the poorer members of the United States Senate, Sanders said. The details that Sanders released last year showed that the majority of his familys $200,000 income came from his own salary as a senator. Blitzer asked Sanders if he would release prior years, but Sanders demurred for the moment. Jane does em, Sanders said, meaning his wife Jane. He said that his wife had been busy on the campaign trail. We will get em out very shortly. The debate turned sharply and quickly negative, as Clinton and Sanders attacked each others judgment in its first minutes. I do question her judgment. I question her judgment, which voted for the war in Iraq, the worst foreign-policy blunder in the history of this country, Sanders said in response to the first question from Blitzer. It was a repeat of language Sanders had used on the campaign trail, repeated now to Clintons face. I dont believe that that is the kind of judgment we need, to be the kind of president we need. Clinton, in turn, repeated her own campaign-trail barb: that Sanders had showed himself unprepared for the job of president, by struggling to explain even his own policies. Talk about judgment, and talk about the kinds of problems he had answering questions about even his core issues, breaking up the banksHe could not explain how that was to be done, Clinton said, referring to a difficult interview Sanders had done with the New York Daily News editorial board. I think you need to have the judgment on day one to be both president and commander in chief. In the past, both Clinton and Sanders had tried to cast their race as a friendly competition between allies arguing about tactics, but agreeing that either of them would be better at the job than a Republican. That era seems to be over. The two later jabbed each other about Clintons speeches to Wall Street firms, with Sanders intimating that she had grown too cozy with those firms, and Clinton saying there was no proof of that. Its always important to get your facts straight, Clinton said. She talked, as she had before, about scolding Wall Street banks before the financial crisis. Secretary Clinton called them out. Oh my goodness, they must have been really crushed by this. And was that before or after you received huge sums of money by speaking engagements, Sanders said, mocking her. In the early going, Clinton was clearly better at one thing: playing to the home-state audience. She mentioned New York in her opening statement, and then returned to the subject a few minutes later, as a sly reference to the rough-and-tumble reputation of the borough she was in. Clinton said, with a sly tone in her voice, that she loved being in Brooklyn. The debate the fifth one-on-one meeting between Sanders and Clinton -- comes at a bitter time in the Democratic race: Clinton has taken a commanding lead in the battle for convention delegates, but Sanders has won a string of state contests, and has begun criticizing the front-runner in ever-stronger terms. Earlier Thursday evening, the Sanders campaign suspended its newly hired coordinator for Jewish outreach, after reports that she had criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Facebook. The suspension of Simone Zimmerman, hired just two days before, was first reported by the New York Times. The cause of the suspension was a report in the Washington Free Beacon, which had found postings in which Zimmerman called Netanyahu arrogant, deceptive, cynical, manipulative, and used a vulgarity to refer to him. She is suspended while we take a look at this internally, said Symone Sanders, a campaign spokeswoman, told The Washington Post Thursday evening. On Thursday, new polls highlighted the state of the race in which Clinton has accumulated a commanding lead in delegates, while still failing to build the kind of enthusiasm that usually swells behind the front-runner. In fact, as Sanders has railed against Clintons ties to Wall Street, and criticized her cautious, incremental approach to governing, she has become less popular, even while she wins. A Gallup poll released Thursday showed that, while 66 percent of Democrats viewed her favorably, 30 percent did not. The gap between those two numbers, which Gallup calls Clintons net favorability, was smaller than it had been at any time since last July. When the race began, Clintons net favorability was 63 percent. But the only race Clinton needs to win now is the one for Democratic delegates. In that race, she is leading, and poised to increase her lead in the New York primary: a new NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist College poll showed her with a 17-point advantage over Sanders in the state. In the days leading up to the debate, Sanders has been unusually critical of the front-runner, questioning whether she was truly qualified to be president. Sanders cited Clintons acceptance of Wall Street money, her past support of big trade deals, and her vote in favor of the Iraq War as evidence of her poor judgment. Sanders later backed off that comment, saying that of course Clinton was qualified. On Thursday, the Vermont senator condemned remarks by a warm-up speaker at a huge Sanders rally in Manhattan the day before. Paul Song, the executive chairman of the progressive Courage Campaign, had labeled establishment Democrats in Congress as corporate Democratic whores, who ought to be defeated and replaced by Berniecrats. Theres no room for language like that in our political discourse, Sanders wrote on Twitter. Wagner reported from New York. The Democratic Party and the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will sue the state of Arizona over voter access to the polls after the states presidential primary last month left thousands of residents waiting as long as five hours to vote. The lawsuit, which will be filed on Friday, focuses on Maricopa County, the states most populous county, where voters faced the longest lines on March 22 during the Democratic and Republican primaries after the county cut the number of polling places by 85 percent since 2008. Arizonas alarmingly inadequate number of voting centers resulted in severe, inexcusable burdens on voters county-wide, as well as the ultimate disenfranchisement of untold numbers of voters who were unable or unwilling to wait in intolerably long lines, the lawsuit says. The lack of voting places was particularly burdensome on Maricopa Countys black, Hispanic and Native American communities, which had fewer polling locations than white communities and in some cases no places to vote at all, the lawsuit alleges. [My Arizona voting disaster: Four-hour lines, no ballots and overflowing toilets] The lawsuit is calling on the U.S. District Court of Phoenix to review the polling location plan for the November election. It also wants to stop state policies that have a dramatic and disparate impact on minorities, who are more likely to vote Democratic, the lawsuit says. For instance, the filing cites a recently enacted law that makes it a felony for someone to turn in a sealed absentee ballot on behalf of another voter, unless the person is a caregiver or family member. Arizona has a history of problems with guaranteeing the rights of their citizens to vote, and with this lawsuit we hope to stop it now in time for the 2016 general election, said Marc E. Elias, the elections lawyer for Clintons presidential campaign. Elias is bringing the lawsuit on behalf of the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Arizona Democratic Party and several Arizonans. The Clinton campaign will join the lawsuit after it is filed on Friday, according to Democratic officials. Sanders, the senator from Vermont who is running against Clinton for the partys presidential nomination, is also joining the lawsuit, according to one of his senior aides. Clinton defeated Sanders by 20 points in the Arizona primary. Many Sanders supporters complained soon after that the long lines especially hurt support for the Vermont senator among young, new voters. For Democrats, there is more at stake than the presidential race. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will probably face Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.), who has launched the most serious challenge to the longtime senator in years. The Kirkpatrick for Senate campaign will also be party to the lawsuit. Arizona will be the fifth state that Elias is suing over voting issues following cases in Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin and North Carolina. [Arizonas primary was an utter disaster. But was it just a big mistake, or something more nefarious?] Increasingly, what weve seen over the last few years has been a wide-scale effort by Republicans in state after state to make voting harder, said Elias, a veteran voting rights lawyer with the Washington office of law firm Perkins Coie. View Graphic Tracking the race to the Democratic nomination This presidential race will be the first since a divided Supreme Court invalidated a key provision of the Voting Rights Act and triggered a number of states to pass stiffer requirements for voting. More-restrictive voting laws will be in effect in 17 states for the first time in a race for the White House. During the Arizona Republican and Democratic primaries last month, Maricopa County cut the number of polling places from 400 in the contested primary of 2008 to 60 this year for about 1.2 million voters, or one polling place per every 21,000 voters. All day, Arizonans waited for hours in long lines, some that stretched around the block. It was truly shameful, said Leslie Feldman, 34, a plaintiff in the lawsuit who waited in an extraordinarily long line snaking in, out and around a Phoenix church for 4 1/ 2 hours with her 3 1/ 2 -year-old daughter and 12-week-old infant. When she finally got inside the church, she said, there were no Democratic ballots and she had to wait another 25 minutes for more to be delivered. The day after the primary, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey called the long lines unacceptable. Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton wrote a letter to Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch asking the Justice Department to investigate the fiasco. Throughout the county, but especially in Phoenix, thousands of citizens waited in line for three, four and even five hours to vote, Stanton wrote. Many more simply could not afford to wait that long, and went home. This is unacceptable anywhere in the United States, and I am angry that county elections officials allowed it to happen in my city. Earlier this week, senior Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, along with top congressional leaders representing minority groups, also wrote to Lynch, urging the Justice Department to review the impact of voting restrictions across the country, specifically highlighting Arizona. On April 1, Justice officials opened an investigation into the debacle in Maricopa County. In a request for information about the polling places and elections procedures, Chris Herren, chief of the civil rights divisions voting section, noted the allegations of disproportionate burden in waiting times to vote on election days in some areas with substantial racial or language minority populations. A Justice Department investigation could drag on for many months and not be completed by the time of the Nov. 8 election. It is also unclear whether the department has the evidence to file a lawsuit under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color or membership in a language minority group. Some Arizona officials said the primary problems were a miscalculation and an effort to save money. We made some horrendous mistakes, and I apologize for that, Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell said during a contentious hearing in Arizona after the primary. Purcell, a Republican, said she made her decision based on numbers from the 2008 presidential primary and thought many people would mail in ballots rather than vote in person. She also said it was a cost- saving measure because the legislature had not given her county enough money to administer the election. Arizonas election laws and practices were once overseen by the Justice Department, which had to approve any changes made by the state under the Voting Rights Act because of Arizonas history of discrimination against minorities. That requirement was lifted in 2013 in a landmark Supreme Court ruling that in essence took away the power of the Justice Department to challenge potentially unfair voting laws in 15 states before they are enacted. The court said Congress must come up with a new formula based on current data to determine which states should be subject to that requirement. Congress has not yet acted. [Want to vote in this state? You have to have a passport or dig up a birth certificate.] Since that ruling, Arizona and Maricopa County specifically have engaged in consistent activity that has created a culture of voter disenfranchisement, the lawsuit says. Arizona has been a flash point for voting rights for a while, said Wendy R. Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. She said Arizona was the first state to require documentary proof of citizenship from its voters, a practice that has also been adopted by Kansas, Georgia and Alabama. The lawsuit being filed this week also contests a rule that does not count ballots cast in a precinct other than the one to which the voter is assigned. With the election seven months away, the Democrats face a tight timeline for their lawsuits across the country to be resolved. Two trials have been held before a federal judge on North Carolinas law, which included a voter ID requirement. It also reduced the number of days of early voting, prohibited people from registering and voting on the same day, stopped ballots cast in the wrong precinct from being counted, and ended the practice of preregistering teenagers before they turned 18. A decision could come any day, and the case could be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. In the Ohio voting rights case, a trial was held in November, and appeals in that case also are likely when a ruling is made. A decision is expected in mid-May in the Virginia voter ID challenge, with possible appeals. And a trial is scheduled in May for the Wisconsin lawsuit, which challenges reductions in early voting, restrictions on voter registration and the voter ID requirement. The Arizona case faces the tightest deadline, especially in light of what is known as the Purcell doctrine from a Supreme Court case. It states that courts should not issue an opinion in an election case too close to Election Day if it will cause voter confusion. While it is April before a major election, the fact is that courts know how to expedite cases such as this to ensure that the people of Arizona receive the relief necessary to ensure that all their votes count, Elias said. Read more: More than half a million registered Texans didnt have the right ID to vote on Super Tuesday The Voting Rights Act is on trial in North Carolina Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz loosens his tie while speaking to supporters after a townhall at Mekeel Christian Academy in Scotia, N.Y., on April 7. (Cassi Alexandra/For The Washington Post) Eight days before Republican voters in the state of New York would award a massive trove of 95 delegates, Ted Cruz was nowhere near the Empire State. Instead, he was three time zones away in a California ballroom, where supporters applauded as a list of local officials backing Cruz was read to the crowd. We give the names and we give them one clap, and if you also want to say Cruz at the same time I will not object, Michael Schroeder, a Republican dignitary from the area, told the audience. Cruzs decision to lavish attention on parochial power brokers 3,000 miles away from the next big contest underscored his novel approach to the final three months of the Republican presidential race: He is effectively creating his own primary calendar, map and electorate in hopes of cobbling together enough support to prevent front-runner Donald Trump from clinching the nomination outright. It is a strategy born of necessity for the senator from Texas, who now acknowledges that his best path to the nomination is through a contested convention decided by thousands of little-known activists. With polls showing Cruz running well behind Trump in New York and five other northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states voting in the next two weeks, the pressure for him to make gains elsewhere is intensifying. You've probably heard the term "Republican establishment" thrown around. What does that actually mean? (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) Cruz is largely looking ahead to May and June contests in California, Indiana and Nebraska, states where his strategists believe the delegate rules and natural political tilts are favorable. His campaign has beefed up a team dedicated to bird-dogging the arcane state-by-state process of selecting delegates which Trump is struggling to navigate assigning each delegate to a dedicated campaign staffer for support. Cruz is also wooing new donors to ease the financial strains of a lengthy campaign with significant travel costs. [Cruz likely to block Trump on a second ballot at the GOP convention] At the heart of his mission is one goal: keeping Trump from getting to 1,237 delegates, which would seal up the nomination before the GOP convention in Cleveland in late July. Let me tell you, in that scenario, I think we will go in with an overwhelming advantage, Cruz said in a recent speech. I believe the first ballot will be the highest vote total Donald Trump receives. And on a subsequent ballot, were going to win the nomination and earn the majority. Trumps strategy is essentially the mirror of Cruzs: to clinch the nomination by racking up a majority in pledged delegates by the time the last states vote in June. The Manhattan billionaire is also moving to beef up his ground operation by bringing more seasoned professionals into his inner circle. Trump would have to perform better than he has up to now to guarantee a win, but his aides insist he can do so especially with the favorable contests coming for him this month. Senior adviser Ed Brookover told reporters in Washington Thursday that Trump was on a glide path to the nomination, with the possibility of amassing 1,265 delegates by the convention. 1 of 53 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz on the campaign trail View Photos The Texas Republican was the first major presidential candidate to formally declare a bid. Caption Looking back at the Texas senators presidential bid. May 3, 2016 Sen. Ted Cruz speaks with his wife, Heidi, by his side during a primary night campaign event in Indianapolis. Cruz ended his presidential campaign, eliminating the biggest impediment to Donald Trumps march to the Republican nomination. Darron Cummings/AP Wait 1 second to continue. For Cruz, California where 172 delegates are at stake on June 7 is central to his plan. The state GOP awards three delegates to the winner of each congressional district as well as 10 to the statewide winner. California, Cruz told the boisterous crowd in Irvine, is going to determine the Republican nomination. The Cruz campaign believes it can energize a Republican base in a state that hasnt had a leading voice in the GOP presidential primary in decades. It plans to hire additional paid staffers here, and it rolled out dozens of endorsements from local and state officials this week. The campaign has targeted Orange County, San Diego County, the San Fernando Valley, the rural, agricultural Central Valley, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo the home town of Cruzs wife, Heidi as potential reservoirs of support. His team and supporters are much less optimistic about New York, Trumps home state. Cruz campaigned there last week and is returning this week for televised town halls. But he is in danger of finishing third behind Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Because of the way the New York GOP allocates delegates, however, Cruz could still add to his total even as a distant loser statewide. With that in mind, a pro-Cruz super PAC called Trusted Leadership began airing TV and radio ads in upstate New York on Thursday that attack Kasich and praise Cruz. The anti-Kasich TV ad ties him to President Obama through his support for expanding Medicaid in Ohio. [With an Orthodox focus, Ted Cruz reaches out to Jewish donors and voters] Kellyanne Conway, president of Trusted Leadership, said the group plans to air the ads in the Albany, Binghamton, Elmira, Olean, Poughkeepsie, Syracuse, Rochester, Utica-Rome and Watertown areas. In addition, Conway said the group will be organizing on the ground in those areas as well as in the 7th, 9th and 15th Congressional Districts, which are heavily Democratic areas in New York City. The group believes that the few GOP voters in those districts could be persuaded to support Cruzs ideological conservatism over Trumps emotional pitch. They are so rarely targeted, you can snap people into attention by speaking to them, Conway said. If youre a Republican in a nearly absolutely Democratic district, you really mean it, she said. Between New York on Tuesday and Indiana on May 3, there are few obvious targets for Cruz, whose staunchly conservative pitch appeals primarily to evangelical Christians and tea party activists. One exception is Pennsylvania, which will send most of its delegates to Cleveland unbound to any candidate. Cruz has also said he intends to compete hard in Maryland, but polls there show him trailing Trump badly. Even as Cruz eyes upcoming contests, his team is deep in the process of influencing who gets to be delegates in states that already have voted. Cruzs Houston-based delegate team, led by former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli II, has largely left the process up to activists at the state level who are well-versed in local rules. If no candidate gets to 1,237 votes on the first ballot in Cleveland, more and more delegates will be freed up to support whomever they like on subsequent ballots. According to a Washington Post analysis, Cruz is already poised to pick up as many as 170 delegates on the second ballot a number that could make it impossible for Trump to win. [Cruz derided New York values, but now he must face New Yorkers] Cruzs Virginia co-chair Shak Hill said local supporters recognized last fall that there was a chance of a contested convention and prepared accordingly, helping identify and elevate staunch Cruz supporters over the hurdles they needed to clear to eventually become delegates. Now, he is making bullish forecasts in a state where Trump won the primary. My prediction is that we will come out with 60 to 70 percent voting for Cruz on the second ballot, Hill said. One challenge facing Cruz is financial: He has yet to unite top Republican donors opposed to Trump and is burning through cash quickly. But his team has had some success targeting mid-level donors and fundraisers who raked in cash for former candidates such as Jeb Bush, who has introduced Cruz to his former supporters. Anthony Gioia, a top fundraiser in Buffalo who supported Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida before he suspended his campaign, said Cruzs team recently won him over at an intimate lunch in New York. The gathering, attended by Cruz national finance chair Willie Langston, included other former Rubio backers, Gioia said. Look at what he is doing in terms of focusing on the delegates, said Gioia, explaining his decision to support Cruz. George Seay, a Dallas-based investment manager who supported Rubio, said he has also been approached by Cruz. Seay said he is happily ensconced on the sidelines, but was impressed by Cruzs organization, which he described as a very tightly run, well-oiled campaign machine. Charles Foster, a close friend of the Bush family who supported Jeb Bush, has been contacting people in his network to back Cruz. Many had been reluctant, Foster said, but their views shifted in the past few weeks. At some point there was a tipping point, now it is pretty stark, the choices, Foster said. There does seem to be a consensus now that Ted is the only real alternative to Trump and people that had reservations about that, its now pretty black and white. Cruz is also rhetorically pivoting to the general election, brushing off Trump as a sore loser and a whiner and painting himself as the only candidate in the race who can prevail in a battle against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. His campaign is also starting to talk about a center-right coalition to broaden his appeal. At a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas last weekend, Cruz who opposes abortion and same-sex marriage suggested he could work with those opposed to him on those and other hot-button issues. Nobody wants to elect a hectoring scold, he said. I am not running here to be pastor in chief, I am running to be commander in chief, which is a very, very different job. Sullivan reported from Washington. Low inventory and competition for homes in popular areas near the city and Metro stations are impacting Northern Virginia this spring along with the rest of the Washington-area market. As in Maryland and the District, buyers came out earlier this year and started the spring buying season as early as February. Sellers who put their homes on the market in late January and in February went under contract almost immediately because buyers were out looking early to get ahead of the competition, says Reggie Copeland, an associate broker with Long & Foster Real Estate in Great Falls. Now that were settling into spring, homes are still selling quickly, but not quite as quickly as earlier in the year. Northern Virginias neighborhoods vary widely in price range and types of homes, which means that looking at the area as a whole can be difficult. Nela Richardson, chief economist for Redfin in Washington, puts it this way: Northern Virginia is a mixed bag. In Alexandria theres about a two-month supply of homes and prices are up. But in Arlington, sales, new listings and inventory are all down because that area is really struggling to get any new inventory. [Where home prices in the D.C. region are likely headed in the coming months] February statistics from the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors (NVAR) showed disparities from one location to the next, with year-over-year median prices up 21.4 percent in Falls Church City, 9.38 percent in Fairfax City and 5.06 percent in Alexandria, but down 1.57 percent in Arlington County. The 1,748-square-foot two-bedroom, three-bathroom condo at 1450 Emerson Ave., No. 312 in McLean is listed for $899,000. (By DS Creative Group) In general, homes are selling fastest and with multiple offers in Reston, Arlington and Alexandria, where there is less than a two-month supply of homes to meet current demand. In Great Falls, however, theres a nine-month supply of homes, according to NVAR. Unless new listings turn up in these tight markets this spring, the lack of inventory will push prices up in May and June, says Jonathan Hill, vice president of marketing and communications for multiple-listing service MRIS in Rockville. June is always the peak month for sales in all the D.C.-area jurisdictions. According to MRIS, Northern Virginias inventory was up 0.6 percent in March 2016 from the year before, with a total of 7,700 properties on the market. Median sales prices were up 1.1 percent, from $415,500 in March 2015 to $420,000 in March 2016. With the slight increase in inventory, homes in Northern Virginia are selling more slowly than they were last year, with the average number of days a home stays on the market increasing by 1.5 percent, to 68 in March 2016. In Northern Virginia, condos sell in just about the same number of days, 67, while detached homes and townhouses sell the quickest, in an average of 53 days. [Want to snag a home in Maryland? The hunt is fierce.] Luxury market slower to sell Copeland says that homes in the upper price brackets are taking longer to sell, with most in the $1 million-plus price range staying on the market for at least 200 days. He says homes priced at $2 million and up take even longer to sell. There are so many different markets in Northern Virginia, says Copeland. For instance, today there are only three homes listed for sale in Chantilly priced from $700,000 to $900,000, and there are only five in that price range under contract right now. In Great Falls, there are about 175 active listings right now but there were 275 last year. About half of those just got taken off the market for the [Christmas] holidays because they didnt sell. The shortage of homes hits particularly hard in different price ranges, Copeland says. The 2,420-square-foot four-bedroom, four-bathroom townhouse at 112 E. Glebe Rd. in Alexandria is listed for $699,000. (By HD Brothers) If youre looking under $500,000, youll find the market is hot everywhere, with lots of competition, he says. Last month, there were six townhomes priced around $350,000 in a Centreville community that went under contract within six days all with multiple offers. Now there are none available in that development. Copeland says that besides homes under $500,000, another price category where buyers face tough competition is for homes priced from $600,000 to $1 million, particularly in Arlington County. In Arlington County today there are 500 homes listed for sale, and 400 of them are under contract, says Copeland. The competition is also fierce in popular communities such as Franklin Glen in Fairfax, where four single-family homes went under contract within less than 30 days in February after receiving multiple offers, according to Copeland. Well continue to see more homes coming on the market this spring, but there are plenty of buyers out there, too, Copeland says. Lots of first-time buyers who have been on the fence the last couple of years are looking now, especially now that there are more low-down-payment loans available to them and their rents have gone up so much that buying just makes more sense. [Spring started early for the D.C. housing market] New construction could ease inventory woes First-time buyers, move-up buyers and downsizing buyers can find homes under construction in Northern Virginia that may meet their needs. Developers are really responding to buyers and going full-force into designing homes in walkable communities, says Dan Fulton, senior vice president of John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Reston. Theyre adding roof decks to four-level townhomes to satisfy buyer desire for outdoor space. For example, Knutson Communities and Ryan Homes are building upscale condos and townhouses at Crescent Place in Leesburg within walking distance of shops and restaurants. Fulton says these residences appeal to professional couples and empty-nesters who often like the option of adding an elevator. The residences are priced from the upper $300,000s to the $500,000s. Knutson will be building similar residences at Brambleton Town Center within walking distance of shops, services and restaurants. Condos and townhouses will be available soon from Stanley Martin Homes at One Loudoun, another walkable community. Wormald Homes is designing crescent-shaped residences with large decks built directly above shops, priced from the $400,000s at Cascades View in Sterling. First-time buyers can find townhomes priced in the $300,000s at Brambleton and single-family homes on small lots at Stone Ridge in Loudoun County, both from Van Metre, says Fulton. Brambleton has a wide range of suburban townhomes, not walkable to the Town Center, with prices from the $300,000s into the $600,000s. Buyers willing to spend $500,000 to $600,000 for a townhouse often see them as an alternative to a single-family house, such as the 22- and 24-foot wide townhouses at Discovery Square in Herndon. The houses have a fourth level that adds living space and are within a relatively close commuting distance to Reston and Tysons Corner, says Fulton. Some builders have expanded their development to western Loudoun County to areas such as Purcellville and Waterford, Fulton says, because land prices in eastern Loudoun County have risen so high. In addition, Stafford County, particularly at Embrey Mill in North Stafford, has become the new frontier for most of the larger regional builders in Northern Virginia, he says. Buyers can save $100,000 on a home if theyre willing to move from Prince William County to Stafford County, says Fulton. The homes are more affordable, but you have to be willing to fight the traffic past Quantico. A U.S. Marine MV-22 Osprey maneuvers over military tanks during joint military exercises at Crow Valley in Capas, Philippines, on Thursday. (Francis R. Malasig/European Pressphoto Agency) The United States announced Thursday it has started joint patrols with the Philippines in the disputed waters of the South China Sea and is ramping up its military presence in the area, a move that China immediately denounced as Cold War thinking. In Manila, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said the first two patrols took place in March and April and that missions would continue on a regular basis. [Possible tensions below the waves as well] The deployment comes amid growing concerns about Chinese reach in the strategically and economically important waters of the South China Sea, which borders the Philippines, Vietnam and several other nations. Beijing has built artificial islands and runways on seven disputed reefs, raising fears that China could seek new military outposts in the region. The latest U.S. moves are certain to boost tensions. China has laid claim to a number of islands in the South China Sea, building airbases on tiny spits of land while installing powerful radar and missile launchers. Here's why. (Jason Aldag,Julie Vitkovskaya/The Washington Post / Satellite photos courtesy of CSIS) Countries across the Asia-Pacific are voicing concern with Chinas land reclamation, which stands out in size and scope, as well as its militarization in the South China Sea, Carter told reporters, according to Reuters news agency. Carter said he will be visiting the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis in the South China Sea on Friday. About 300 U.S. troops, including Air Force crews with combat aircraft and helicopters, will stay in the Philippines through the end of the month. They are among a contingent already taking part in 11 days of combat exercises, the Associated Press reported. Troops and military equipment will also be sent on regular rotations to the Philippines. [Pentagon chief puts off China visit] China, in turn, accuses the United States of militarizing the region as part of President Obamas strategic rebalance to Asia. It has also pointed to a 2011 deal to station Marines in Darwin, Australia, and a recent announcement allowing U.S. troops access to five bases in the Philippines. Reinforcing a military alliance is a sign of Cold War thinking, and it runs against the trend of this era peace, development, cooperation and win-win, the Ministry of National Defense told China Daily in response to the latest news. 1 of 14 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Chinas nautical offensive View Photos The country is using its large fishing fleet to press its claims in the South China Sea. Caption The country is using its large fishing fleet to press its claims in the South China Sea. April 8, 2016 Fishermen unload the catch they obtained near Hainan in the South China Sea. Overfishing of areas around Hainan and the Chinese coast has encouraged fisherman to go further afield into contested waters. Adam Dean/For The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Tensions between China and the Philippines have been steadily building ahead of a ruling expected soon from an international tribunal in The Hague on the South China Sea dispute. The government in Manila initiated proceedings after China seized control of Scarborough Shoal in the Spratly Islands in 2012. China says that it will not recognize the tribunals decision and that all disputes must be settled bilaterally. [The covert war led by Chinese fishermen] The Philippine government worries that China could begin a new program of land reclamation and building on the shoal, which lies 145 miles west of the Philippines and 620 miles from the Chinese coast. The Philippines ambassador to Washington, Jose L. Cuisia Jr., recently appealed for U.S. help to block any Chinese expansion. While the United States insists its growing support for allies in the Asia-Pacific region is not aimed at any one nation, officials have openly expressed concerns over Beijings actions in the area. Adm. Harry Harris Jr. told Congress in February that China aimed to achieve regional hegemony. Last week, the Pentagon announced $40 million in military assistance to the Philippines to beef up intelligence sharing, surveillance and naval patrols. China has built airstrips and appears to be building a sophisticated military radar system in the Spratlys. It also stationed surface-to-air missiles and fighter jets in the Paracel Islands a separate chain over which China has enjoyed full control since a 1974 naval battle with Vietnam but whose sovereignty Hanoi still bitterly contests. [Satellite images reveal possible Chinese radar sites] China says those deployments are only for defensive purposes on its sovereign territory. It also argues that the United States did not complain when the Philippines and Vietnam reclaimed land or built airstrips in the South China Sea in the past. Beijing reacted furiously this week to reports that the Philippines was upgrading its own airstrip in the Spratlys, accusing it of hypocrisy and trying to extend its illegal occupation. In a testy exchange with reporters in Washington on Tuesday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner appeared reluctant to criticize Manila for its actions, pleading that he did not have details. China also asserts that U.S. interference is destabilizing the region and warns that U.S. cooperation with the Philippines should not target a third party. I also want to mention that the U.S. military has kept talking about the so-called militarization in the South China Sea, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a typical comment last month. Maybe they can explain whether their increased military deployment in the South China Sea and nearby areas is an action of militarization or not? Chen Xiangmiao, a researcher at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies on Chinas southern island of Hainan, said the latest U.S. move was expected but could inflame tensions if the patrols and the increased military presence are viewed as pressuring China. The United States should not just do things on impulse, which will cause strong resistance from the public in China and distrust among decision-makers here, he said. The distrust between the two may get deeper, and the conflicts will rise in a spiral. Gu Jinglu contributed to this report. Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world Howard Marks, a Welsh-born, Oxford-trained drug smuggler who for years ran a globe-spanning marijuana ring, enraging officials and entertaining the public on both sides of the Atlantic as a countercultural scofflaw, died April 10. He was 70. Mr. Marks revealed last year that he had inoperable bowel cancer, and his death was announced by Pan Macmillan, the publisher of his most recent book, Mr. Smiley: My Last Pill and Testament (2015). Other details were not immediately available. Once described as sounding like Richard Burton and looking like a Rolling Stone, Mr. Marks achieved celebrity and notoriety in a life that took him from a mining village to the University of Oxford, to prison, and finally to bestsellerdom with the release of his memoir Mr. Nice (1996). He was a product of the 1960s, a proletarian boy who shot into the heart of the British establishment and proceeded to laugh at it, David Leigh, a former investigations editor at the London Guardian and a biographer of Mr. Marks, said in an interview. He had this kind of anarchic spirit and this beguiling smile and this recklessness that appealed to a lot of people. It makes some people in Britain very indignant when you say that. An official with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration labeled Mr. Marks the Marco Polo of the dope world others dubbed him Narco Polo and he served seven years at a federal penitentiary after pleading guilty to racketeering charges in a Florida court in 1990. Mr. Marks died April 10 at 70. (Ursula Dueren/European Pressphoto Agency) According to the indictment, Mr. Marks and his associates had smuggled thousands of tons of marijuana and hashish into the United States and Canada through a criminal organization that had operated since 1970, reaching into Britain, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Singapore, Australia, West Germany, the Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan and Hong Kong. Years earlier, he was acquitted on drug charges in England after claiming he was in the service of the British intelligence agency MI6 and Mexican authorities pursuing drug dealers. At least once during the proceedings, his lawyer reportedly struggled to muffle his own laughter. The courtroom coup helped burnish Mr. Markss image in some circles as a folk hero, a reputation he established in the 1970s after he was arrested in Amsterdam and went on the lam. He lived under a reported 43 aliases, among them Donald Nice. Britons delighted in Howard Marks sightings. I was a fugitive for six and a half years and I smuggled as much cannabis as I could, he once boasted, according to his obituary in the Guardian. I felt that this was my destiny, this was my karma. I suppose I felt like a prizefighter. One day ones going to get knocked out on the canvas. You have to carry on until youre beaten. By his account, Mr. Marks availed himself abundantly of the products he sold: He claimed that he had smoked hashish every day for 22 years, according to the Daily Telegraph. He did not engage in the traffic of harder drugs, a decision attributed to his grief over the loss of Joshua Macmillan, a friend at Oxford and grandson of former British prime minister Harold Macmillan who died after becoming addicted to heroin and cocaine. After his release from U.S. prison, Mr. Marks published his autobiography the title, Mr. Nice, referred to his alias which became a juggernaut around the world. He detailed the trade that he said touched on the CIA, the Irish Republican Army and the mafia. Reviewing the volume in the London Independent, the British writer Duncan Fallowell observed that Mr. Markss memoir, which became a movie starring Rhys Ifans, existed in a conspiratorial society, that is, in the realm of flexi-truth. In such societies nobody knows whats really going on most of the time, and very often the more you investigate, the less certain you become, Fallowell wrote. In other words, Mr. Markss version is as true as anyone elses. Mr. Marks wrote several other books, among them a sequel to his memoir, Senor Nice: Straight Life from Wales to South America, and a novel. He also appeared in a one-man show and wrote for British newspapers, advocating greater acceptance of marijuana. Of course the legalizing of marijuana for medical purposes is to be welcomed, he told the Observer after his cancer was diagnosed, but personally I never wanted to have to wait until I had cancer before I could legally smoke. Dennis Howard Marks was born in Kenfig Hill, a working-class community in South Wales, on Aug. 13 1945. His father was a merchant sailor, and his mother was a teacher. A scholarship allowed Mr. Marks to study physics at Balliol College, where he graduated in 1967, and where he learned that he could make money selling cannabis. He ran a boutique, Annabelinda, which ostensibly sold clothing but in fact peddled marijuana. He said that he came into contact with smugglers, and from there I became a smuggler myself. His marriages to Ilze Kadegis and to Judy Lane, who was imprisoned for a period with Mr. Marks, ended in divorce. His survivors, according to the Guardian, include three children from his second marriage, Amber, Francesca and Patrick, and a daughter, Myfanwy, from an earlier relationship with Rosie Lewis. Most of Mr. Markss considerable wealth was consumed by his expensive tastes and legal fees or confiscated by authorities. In the late 1990s, with his extensive background in the relevant subject matter, he applied for the position of drug czar under Prime Minister Tony Blair. I am sorry to inform you that we were unable to include you in the candidates invited for interview, he was told in a reply. I hope that your disappointment will not prevent you from applying for other positions we may advertise in the future. Fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaedas branch in Syria, have provoked a backlash among some residents with their heavy-handed tactics. (Al-Nusra Front /AP) Al-Qaedas affiliate in Syria is a menacing force, overpowering moderate rebels even as it battles government troops. But in recent weeks, Jabhat al-Nusra has provoked a backlash that appears to be undermining its formidable power. Residents of opposition-held Idlib province in northwestern Syria have protested the groups heavy-handed tactics. Its fighters have been forced to withdraw from a town in the area because of mounting anger over their attack on a popular U.S.-supported rebel group and attempts to disrupt anti-government rallies. Syrias messy civil war has empowered Jabhat al-Nusra and other radicals, but analysts say the unusual outburst of frustration against the Islamist group signals that moderate voices have not been silenced. [How the Syrian revolt went so horribly, tragically wrong] Moreover, the analysts note, a string of battlefield defeats suffered by the Islamic State Jabhat al-Nusras rival further demonstrates that the religious hard-liners are hardly invincible. We are seeing the beginning of unprecedented public expressions of protest, anger and resistance to Nusra, and this could easily climax into a popular revolt, said Fawaz Gerges, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at the London School of Economics and an expert on Islamist movements. In its quest to replace the Syrian government with an Islamist regime, Jabhat al-Nusra has overcome grave setbacks in the past. A number of its members defected to the Islamic State, which eventually overshadowed its al-Qaeda-linked predecessor by declaring a caliphate in 2014 in territory it captured in Iraq and Syria. Jabhat al-Nusra militants have faced intense airstrikes from a U.S.-led military coalition and from Russia, which intervened in the conflict on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And yet, Jabhat al-Nusra has grown in power, winning grudging respect among many Syrians as effective fighters against Assads forces. Careful not to anger people, the groups Syrian and foreign-born militants have avoided the brutality meted out by the Islamic State. They have a reputation for honesty. And with ample arms and cash, the group has smashed opposition rivals seen as corrupt and weak, including rebels who have received U.S. antitank weapons. [In Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State is in retreat on multiple fronts] Few rebels would dare provoke clashes with Jabhat al-Nusra, analysts say. Groups battling the Assad government regularly find themselves fighting on the same side as the al-Qaeda franchise, and they probably want to avoid confrontation with its militants because that would likely prove very costly to the wider rebellion, said Aymenn al-Tamimi, a fellow at the Middle East Forum who studies Syrias extremist groups. But now, Jabhat al-Nusra is losing support in Idlib, where its fighters and allied Islamist militants hold considerable influence. Abu Firas al-Suri, a prominent leader of Nusra Front. (Reuters Tv/Reuters) Residents accuse the group of applying increasingly rigid interpretations of Islam, such as strict gender segregation in public places, executions of adulterers and seizures of the property of non-Muslims. Last summer, the militants reportedly shot dead more than a dozen members of Syrias Druze religious minority. That incident drew rebukes even from other Islamist rebel fighters allied with the group. Were all feeling like were suffocating now because of Nusra, which is acting like ISIS, said a prominent activist based in Idlib, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of security concerns. ISIS is another name for the Islamic State. A catalyst for the recent rallies against the group appears to be rooted in the cease-fire agreement brokered by Russia and the United States to foster peace talks in Geneva. A second round of those talks began Wednesday. [Weeks after pullout from Syria, Russian military is as busy as ever] The cease-fire agreement excludes Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State, an attempt to drive a wedge between the extremists and other Syrians. And it may be working, said Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Studies. The moderate opposition and Nusra have common goals in that they want to fight Assad, but with this cessation of hostilities coming in effect, the differences between them are showing, he said. Attacks by government warplanes declined after the cease-fire took hold, though the truce now looks on the verge of collapse. Residents in several opposition-held areas across the country have taken advantage of the lull to stage anti-government demonstrations. On March 11, scores of people in Maarat al-Numan held a nationalist rally, with people waving the flags of Syrias opposition and chanting the revolutionary slogans of the countrys initially nonviolent uprising of 2011. [Rebels said to down warplane in northern Syria as truce frays] Jabhat al-Nusra Islamists responded by storming the protest on motorcycles, attempting to break up the rally, which espoused nationalist principles at odds with the groups rigid Islamist beliefs. The following day, the militants targeted a popular rebel faction involved in the demonstration, a Free Syrian Army group known as Division 13, arresting its members and seizing weapons. Then the situation escalated dramatically. Division 13 rebels fought back but lost, with a number of them arrested or killed by Jabhat al-Nusra militants. Then hundreds of residents from the village, including children, came to Division 13s defense. They held large rallies, stormed buildings used by Jabhat al-Nusra and defaced the groups symbols. The protesters, who were shown in footage posted on social media setting fire to the militants facilities, eventually forced the group to leave town. In a snub to Jabhat al-Nusra, even allied Islamist rebels took part in the demonstrations. Its all-powerful image shaken, Jabhat al-Nusra agreed to arbitration from an Islamic court to resolve the dispute with Division 13. Under pressure from Nusra, the people have become angry. It intervenes in their lives, forcing their own agenda on people. So when the problems with Division 13 happened, all the people exploded in anger against Nusra and in support of us, said Zakaria Quitaz, a spokesman for Division 13. Jabhat al-Nusra has since released the detained Division 13 fighters, the rebel force has confirmed. But more public outbursts against the al-Qaeda wing seem possible, if not probable, especially if Syrias partial truce manages to hold. Nusra is pretending not to be like ISIS, which it is. This makes them hypocrites, said a lawyer in Maarat al-Numan who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of safety concerns. At least with ISIS, theyre honest about what they do. Zakaria Zakaria in Istanbul contributed to this report. Read more: Syrian refugees are pawns in a wider war Is it too late to solve the mess in the Middle East? Europe begins sending people back across the sea, defying human rights outcry Spring could bring a fresh surge of refugees. But Europe isnt ready for them. A damaged mosque is pictured in the rebel-controlled area of Nashabyia town in Eastern Ghouta, Syria, April 13, 2016. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh (Bassam Khabieh/Reuters) A surge in fighting across Syria on Thursday signaled the apparent collapse of a landmark cease-fire that has been under mounting stress in recent days because of intensifying assaults by government forces and rebels. The partial truce, which took effect in late February, represented a rare moment of agreement over the Syrian conflict between its most powerful outside players: Russia and the United States. Although Moscow backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Washington supports his opposition, the powers cajoled their Syrian allies into an agreement to cease hostilities to promote peace talks in Geneva that resumed Wednesday. The burst of fighting will almost certainly complicate those talks now in their second round and prolong a civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced millions. The more breaches of the truce we see, the more it shows that Assad does not want a political solution, said the head of the opposition delegation in Geneva, Mohammed Alloush. The opposition insists that a political solution requires Assads exit from power, but the Syrian leader and his allies have firmly rejected this. A Russian soldier stands guard in the ancient city of Palmyra in the central Homs province, Syria, Thursday, April 14, 2016. Russian combat engineers are in Syria on a mission to clear mines in Palmyra, which has been recaptured from Islamic State militants. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) (Hassan Ammar/AP) The United States has noted its concern in the jointly chaired U.S.-Russian task force that monitors the cease-fire, a State Department official said. In our conversations with Russian officials, we have proposed a series of measures to de-escalate the situation, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the subject publicly. He did not provide details. In Syria, rebel fighters reported heavy air raids in multiple areas including the northwestern province of Latakia and the central of province of Homs. The Islamic State, meanwhile, claimed that it shot down a warplane Thursday in the southern province of Suwayda. On Twitter, the group said in a statement that its air defense system downed an aircraft as it took off from a military air base in the area. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said the government pilot survived the crash and eluded capture by Islamic State militants, who are known for summarily executing captives. Rebel groups have long demanded heavier firepower from the West, including surface-to-air missiles, to counter the Syrian governments air superiority. U.S. officials have declined to supply the weapons, fearing they could fall into the hands of extremists. In the northern city of Aleppo, an assault by pro-government forces threatened to cut off the only supply road to rebel forces in the city. The capture of the Castello Road would deal a blow to the rebels in Aleppo, Syrias largest city before the war, and to the wider rebellion against Assad. According to Ameen al-Halabi, a pro-opposition media figure in the city, however, rebel fighters eventually drove government forces away from the Castello Road. The clashes are continuing, but we regained positions that we briefly lost to the government, he said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy airstrikes against rebel positions in Aleppo. It was unclear whether Russia carried out the air raids. A government offensive in February led by Russian airstrikes and thousands of Shiite militiamen from Iran, Lebanon and Iraq nearly encircled Aleppo. If completely surrounded, the rebels in the city would likely face a prolonged and brutal siege. Underscoring the complexity of fighting near the city, Islamic State militants mounted heavy assaults Thursday on rebels farther north, capturing several villages near the border with Turkey. In recent weeks, the rebels have been driving the militants out of the area under the cover of Turkish artillery and airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition that is combating the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is not a party to the cease-fire. Rebels, the U.S.-led coalition and pro-government forces including Russia have continued to target the group. The ISIS fighters attacked early in the morning, and they stormed into these villages by surprise, said Jarrah, a rebel fighter in the area who asked that his full name not be used because of concerns for his safety. The fighting appears to have aggravated an already dire humanitarian situation in the area. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people from the affected villages were fleeing westward toward the rebel-held city of Azaz and makeshift refugee camps on the border with Turkey, aid workers said. We are seeing thousands of people arrive at the border, and more than a thousand families supported by the IRC at a displacement camp in Aleppo province have fled to Azaz and nearby villages, Frank McManus, Turkey country director for the International Rescue Committee, said in a statement. The rebel assaults on Islamic State positions near Syrias northern border appear to be part of a new push by Turkey against the group. Analysts say Turkey also views the rebel forces as a buffer against Syrian Kurdish forces that have been capturing swaths of territory in the area. Turkey claims that there are links between its own Kurdish separatists and Syrias Kurdish militants. Syrian Kurds unilaterally declared the creation of a federal region in northeastern Syria last month, despite warnings from Turkey and the United States. The issue has raised fears of a disintegration of Syria along ethnic and sectarian lines, an eventuality that would complicate efforts to end the fighting. Read more Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world Microsoft wants a federal judge in Seattle to strike down a law that allows courts to prohibit a tech company from telling customers that the government has sought their data. In a civil suit filed Thursday against the Justice Department, the tech giant revealed that, in the past 18 months alone, federal courts have issued almost 2,600 orders preventing Microsoft from alerting customers that their data has been obtained in criminal probes. Notably, more than two-thirds about 1,750 orders had no fixed end date. This means that we are forever barred from speaking, and our customers are forever barred from hearing that the government has accessed their email or other content, said Brad Smith, Microsofts president and chief legal officer. So this matters to people and the rights that all of us are entitled to enjoy under the Constitution. With people storing their emails and other sensitive data on tech companies servers, the government is increasingly serving search warrants on companies for suspects data rather than on the individuals themselves. So the only way the targets know their data is being searched is if either the government or the tech company tells them. [Read: Microsoft challenges constitutionality of gag order law] More and more, Microsoft said, these warrants are accompanied by gag orders of indefinite duration. And in these cases, the firm said, the government is not required to notify the target. The secrecy orders issued under the law in question, which is part of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, violate customers Fourth Amendment right that a search be reasonable, the firm alleged. The law also violates Microsofts First Amendment right, the company alleged, to talk to its customers and discuss how the government conducts investigations. The Justice Department said it is reviewing the complaint. Not only is Microsoft right that an indefinite gag order creates a First Amendment problem, but, of even greater concern, there is a possibility that the target may never get notice that the government is looking through his or her emails, said Jennifer Daskal, a law professor at American University and former Justice Department official. But, she said, the orders with a time-limited gag pose less of an issue. So long as there is a valid basis for delay, and the customer ultimately gets notice, there does not seem to be a constitutional problem, she said. Jamil N. Jaffer, an adjunct law professor at George Mason University and former Justice Department official, said the company may have an uphill battle bringing a Fourth Amendment claim on behalf of its customers. As a general matter, the courts have held that Fourth Amendment rights are personal rights that cant be raised vicariously, he said. The lawsuit comes as the spotlight has begun to turn away from a major legal battle involving a different tech giant Apple over encryption and privacy. It continues a trend of tech companies publicly resisting certain government requests for data and demands for secrecy after revelations in 2013 of widespread National Security Agency surveillance by former agency contractor Edward Snowden. In 2013, Google and four other tech firms sued the government to be able to publish more information about national security orders for customers data, and reached a settlement that allowed some measure of greater transparency. In 2014, Twitter took it further, suing to be able to disclose the exact number and type of national-security-related orders it received including zero, if that were the case. In 2015, Twitter amended its suit to challenge the gag-order provisions in another law that authorizes foreign intelligence-gathering inside the United States, saying they were unconstitutional because they were of unlimited duration. There is a healthy competition among the tech companies to show that they are privacy-protective and to be privacy-protective, said Gregory Nojeim, senior counsel for the Center for Democracy & Technology, a civil liberties group. Smith, in an interview, said the complaint was prompted by the companys review of the data and by concerns raised by client firms that want to know when the government is investigating them. If people or businesses dont know that the government is accessing their content, they can never act to defend their rights, he said. He added that an indefinite secrecy order would mean a suspect would not be notified even after an investigation has ended. Congress is considering a change in the law that would impose a maximum six-month delay in notifying a customer ending the indefinite gag order. But even if it passes, which is not expected to happen this year, six months is still too long, Smith said. Microsoft also is challenging the statutes standard for obtaining a secrecy order, which is that the court must find there is reason to believe that notice will jeopardize an investigation. I think both the very vague standard with which the government can gag a company and the indefinite duration of the gag raise serious questions under the First and Fourth amendments, said Paul Ohm, a law professor at Georgetown University and former federal prosecutor. But Daskal said that the problem was not the standard itself, although it might be applied too broadly in specific cases. The key, she said, is that notice should not be delayed indefinitely. At some point, the justification for delay no longer exists, and at that point either the government or company needs to let the target know that his or her data has been searched. Read more: After 11 years, a curtain is lifted on a secret FBI demand for a targets data Tech firms reporting receipt of zero national security orders in breach of DOJ guidance Russian President Vladimir Putin displayed a rare bit of leader-to-leader empathy Thursday, calling President Obama a decent man for describing the U.S. military intervention in Libya as possibly his greatest mistake in office. The backhanded praise follows years of Russian anger over Western airstrikes in Libya, which helped lead to the downfall of dictator Moammar Gaddafi in 2011 and the countrys descent into civil war. Moscow regularly cites the intervention as a cautionary tale against armed intervention against sovereign governments, particularly in the case of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an important Russian ally. [Could another Western intervention loom for Libya?] In a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, Obama said his greatest mistake in office was probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya. For Putin and other Russian officials, it was a satisfying mea culpa. First of all, this yet again confirms that the acting U.S. president is a decent man, Putin said in some of his first remarks during a nationally televised call-in show. Its correct. Its very good that my colleague has the courage to make those kinds of statements. Not everyone can do that. Almost the same mistake has been made in Syria and its not clear how it will end, added Putin, who last year ordered the Russian military into Syria to help prop up Assads government. Obamas remarks, Putin said, could open him to political attacks. He was being bitten from all sides, Putin said. Russia abstained from a 2011 U.N. Security Council vote that established a no-fly zone over Libya. But Putin, then prime minister, was vocal in his opposition to the French- and British-led airstrikes that followed. At the time, Putin said it resembled medieval calls for crusades. Relations between Russia and the United States have cooled considerably over Moscows 2014 annexation of Crimea and Russian support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. But there have been moments of modest cooperation, including the Iran nuclear deal and discussions over a resolution to the five-year-old war in Syria. In a recent interview with the Atlantic magazine, Obama offered some measured praise of his own, saying that Putin was constantly interested in being seen as our peer and as working with us, because hes not completely stupid. On Thursday, Putin recalled Obamas criticism of the Iraq War as a member of the U.S. Senate but said Obama had committed the very mistakes he had spoken about in Libya. After months of political gridlock over stalled reforms and accusations of corruption, Ukraines parliament on Thursday approved a new government led by a close ally of President Petro Poroshenko. Vladimir Groysman, a member of Poroshenkos parliamentary bloc and the chairman of Ukraines parliament since 2014, was voted in as prime minister in a 257-to-50 vote that simultaneously approved the resignation of the outgoing prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk. [In Netherlands, discord over European trade pact with Ukraine] Yatsenyuks government was plagued by an exodus of reformist ministers over accusations of graft and delays in sorely needed disbursements from a $17.5 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund. Yatsenyuk barely survived a confidence vote in February after Poroshenko said that surgery was needed to fix government disorder and urged him to step down. Business circles close to both Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk have been accused of corrupt dealings even as the country has deepened trade and political ties with the European Union. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian prosecutor generals office confirmed to the Interfax news service that it was investigating an allegation of a $3 million bribe given to Yatsenyuk to appoint the head of the countrys broadcasting agency. [What the Panama Papers say about Ukraines president] Meanwhile, documents leaked from a prominent Panamanian law firm suggested that Poroshenko had opened an offshore tax haven as some of the worst fighting against pro-Moscow rebels was raging in east Ukraine in 2014. Poroshenko has denied wrongdoing. But this weeks political intrigue in Kiev is seen as more a product of the long-standing political crisis, not the revelations from the Panama Papers reports. Groysman has called reinstating IMF support a priority, but critics, including members of his own party, have said that his election will further consolidate power under Poroshenko and do little to prevent corruption. Serhiy Leshchenko, a member of Groysmans party who opposed his election as prime minister, claimed the new prime minister had been supported by members of parliament loyal to wealthy businessmen, suggesting backroom deals. In remarks before Thursdays vote, Groysman attempted to bolster his credentials as a reformer and allay concerns from international creditors. In particular, he targeted the criticism that Ukrainian politicians had allowed the crisis in east Ukraine to overshadow the need for political reform in Kiev. I understand the threats facing us, Groysman told lawmakers. In particular, I would like to highlight three threats: corruption, ineffective governance and populism, which do not pose less of a threat than the enemy in eastern Ukraine." Protesters are planning to demonstrate against Donald Trumps presidential campaign in Manhattan on Thursday, and it could be yuuuge. Organizers told Yahoo News they expect at least 10,000 people to show up for the protest. It is being held in front of the annual New York State Republican Party gala, where Trump and the other GOP primary candidates are scheduled to speak. The demonstration is being organized by many of the same groups that were involved in a protest against Trump in Chicago that drew thousands and led the candidate to cancel one of his planned appearances. Political consultant Aaron Black, a veteran of the original Occupy Wall Street protest, told Yahoo News he is working with grassroots activists and over 30 progressive groups to organize the protest in Midtown Manhattan. Its going to be way bigger than Chicago, Black said. SLIDESHOW The battle for New York >>> The protest will begin at approximately 5:30 p.m. in front of the black-tie fundraiser at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Manhattan where Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich are scheduled to speak. The event will start at around the same time as media will be arriving across the East River in Brooklyn at a debate between the Democratic presidential candidates. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump smiles as protesters hold up a sign during a campaign rally in Portland, Maine, on March 3. (Photo: Joel Page/Reuters) Black said the protest initially began on a Facebook page where over 1,000 people indicated they plan to attend. It spread to other social media pages and now has the backing of a variety of progressive organizations. The demonstration is also expected to include a substantial labor contingent. Prior to the protest, several unions will be holding strikes and a rally of their own calling for a $15 minimum wage. Black said many of the union workers will be heading to the Trump protest following their rallies. According to Black, the protest will be focused on declaring that Trump doesnt speak for New York. He said there will be thousands of people carrying signs based on the I Love New York logo that instead declare love for various minority groups, including Muslims, immigrants, refugees, African-Americans, gays and Jews. Correction: An earlier version of this story linked to an article published by the Washington Examiner that claimed MoveOn was among the organizations sponsoring the protest. The Examiner article was incorrect and the reference to it was removed from this story. Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Chris Evans, and Sebastian Stan in Captain America: Civil War (Photo: Marvel) By Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter Call it civil war or call it brand extension; call it a cinematic universe or a corporate behemoth the latest Marvel extravaganza furthers the studios cross-pollination of action franchises in a way thats sure to satisfy devotees. Posing serious questions about violence and vigilantism while reveling in both, Captain America: Civil War is overlong but surprisingly light on its feet. It builds upon the plotlines of previous Avengers outings, bringing together known marquee quantities and introducing the Black Panther and a new Spidey in winning fashion. Like the previous Captain America feature, 2014s The Winter Soldier, the film was scripted by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, with Anthony and Joe Russo at the helm. Within genre requirements, they achieve an overall balance between super-kinetic or numbing, depending on your point of view action sequences and character detail, although more of the latter would have been welcome. And while the chance to see old-school Steve Rogers and modern guy Tony Stark, aka Captain America and Iron Man, go mano a mano is inherently thrilling only to diehard fans, even nonbelievers who make it to that climactic moment will feel that something is at stake when the two face off. As the third Captain America film jump-starts the summer movie season, and something called Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, its box-office muscle is beyond question. Related: All 44 Marvel Movies Ranked Worst to Best After a brief prologue set in 1991, the film dives headlong into action overkill on the streets of Lagos, where the Avengers chase down a group of murderous mercenaries. But overkill turns out to be the heart of the matter, or at least a key plot engine. The heroes foil the criminals, but not before the energy-projecting Wanda Scarlet Witch Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) inadvertently sets a high-rise on fire, resulting in many civilian casualties. Story continues The variously enhanced individuals who make up the Avengers have been operating as an independent group, no longer under the aegis of the spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and the nations of the world have taken notice of their collateral damage. The U.S. secretary of state (William Hurt) warns them that the UN is about to ratify the Sokovia Accords, named after a fictional country that figured in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and where things didnt go so well for the citizenry. The agreement would put the group under the supervision of a UN panel, and the superheroics of anyone who doesnt sign on will no longer be sanctioned. Captain America: Civil War: Watch the trailer: Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), shaken by a confrontation with the mother of someone killed in Sokovia (a sharp cameo by Alfre Woodard), is ready to be put in check. But Rogers (Chris Evans), who is, after all, a frozen and revivified member of the Greatest Generation, still in his youthful prime, sees giving in to the demands as giving up. And so the lines are drawn, with charmer Sam The Falcon Wilson (Anthony Mackie) the first to join Team Cap. Natasha Black Widow Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), War Machine (Don Cheadle), and the nonhuman, purple-visaged Vision (Paul Bettany) side with Iron Man, which soon puts them in the position of policing their former colleagues. In many ways the movies red-blue divide (the color distinctions are based on Judianna Makovskys stellar superhero outfits) is far more nuanced than the split in U.S. electoral politics. But the screenplays angsting over the ethics of being a crime-stopper is also, finally, an excuse for more pummeling clashes. Theres the complicating matter of a ruthless villain Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) and the race to stop him. And, not least, theres the necessity of world-colliding skirmishes between Team Cap and Team Iron Man, their superpowers on showstopping display in a spectacular sequence at the Leipzig airport that benefits from flashes of humor and self-awareness, as well as Trent Opalochs dynamic camerawork. Reflecting the materials comic-book roots, the Russos keep the films action heavy on physics- and biology-defying thwacks and slams, with almost no blood, although there is a crucial injury late in the proceedings. Amid the mayhem, the movie doesnt necessarily feel overloaded with Avengers, but some personalities get to shine more than others. Jeremy Renners Hawkeye barely registers, while Paul Rudds Ant-Man has comedy and wow-factor f/x at his disposal to make more of an impression. But for all their kickass moves and fretting close-ups, such charismatic actors as Cheadle and Johansson feel sidelined through much of the story. Related: CinemaCon: Spider-Man Homecoming Set as Official Title by Sony The movies center does hold, though, in the well-played contrast between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. Rogers anachronistic aspects are no longer the source of punchlines, and Evans persuasively conveys his decency without overstating the matter. Through their contained performances, he and Sebastian Stan, as Bucky Barnes (aka the Winter Soldier), give emotional heft to their characters friendship, a crucial element of the story. Just as crucial, Evans leaves room for doubt about whether Rogers is right to resist outside rules, even as the film clearly sides with him. Downey, whose ace timing and effortless snark make him the movies chief comic relief, also provides pivotal emotional chords. In a well-earned twist that revolves around Stark, past and present converge in wrenching ways. The revelation adds extra oomph to a striking early scene reportedly one of the most CGI-labor-intensive pieces of the film in which billionaire Stark uses technology to revisit a traumatic moment. In addition to cameos by John Slattery and Hope Davis, the segment features a digitally de-aged Downey playing Starks younger self. Matters of friendship, family, and loyalty course through the action. Theyre essential to the story of the newest Avenger, Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman). Hes a prince named TChalla from the fictional Wakanda, and his transformation is fueled by hunger for revenge after a devastating personal loss. Boseman inhabits the part with typical intensity, piquing fans anticipation of the Ryan Coogler-directed Black Panther, on the Marvel calendar for 2018. Yet another cross-brand introduction, however transparent, takes shape as a comic set piece in Civil War. The terrific sequence involves Starks recruitment of a certain New Yorker named Peter Parker, and Tom Hollands agile performance bodes well for next years Spider-Man reboot. That scene is tipped by the appearance of the screen title Queens itself a nice joke after the films succession of globe-hopping locales. From that Forest Hills apartment to Tony Starks modernist lair to the cold metallic grunge of a floating prison, Owen Patersons assured production design, enhanced by the effects teams polished work, gives vivid form to the Avengers world, whether theyre saving it or leaving it in a bit of a mess. Captain America: Civil War directors Anthony and Joe Russo talk Spider-Man: Reuters Moscow provided no details on the conversation with Austin, which came after the two men spoke on Friday for the first time since May. Its readouts on the other calls said Shoigu had said the situation in Ukraine was worsening. "They discussed the situation in Ukraine which is rapidly deteriorating," the Russian defence ministry said of Shoigu's call with French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu. By Ben Gruber Cambridge, MASS (Reuters) - A new study points to the risk that China and India will be facing severe water shortages due to a perfect storm of economic growth, climate change, and demands of fast growing populations by mid century. Within 35 years, the countries where roughly half the world's population lives may be facing what scientists are calling a "high risk of severe water stress". That translates into billions of people having access to a lot less water than they do today, according to a new study from MIT. "There is about a one in three chance that if we take no action to mitigate climate or to do anything to curtail any of the factors that go into this water stress metric, there is a one in three chance that you will reach this unsustainable situation by the middle of the century," said Adam Schlosser, a senior research scientist who co-authored the paper published in the journal PLOS ONE. "It's very important to show that all things being equal, all things not changing, if we continue with what we are doing now we are running along a very dangerous pathway," he added. The scientists simulated hundreds of scenarios looking into the future and found that on average, the water basins that feed economic growth in China and India will have less water than they do today. At the same time, they say pressure on water resources will continue to grow as populations increase, creating an unsustainable scenario where supply loses out to demand. "We are looking at a region where nations are really at a very rapid developing stage or they are at the precipice of a very rapid development stage and so you really can't ignore the growth effect, you just can't, particularly when it comes to resources," said Schlosser. But overshadowing everything else, they say, is climate change. While some models show that the effects of climate change could potentially benefit water resources in Asia, the majority point in the opposite direction. Schlosser and his colleagues believe it will only exacerbate an already gloomy outlook for the future. LONDON (Reuters) - From a dress worn by Vivien Leigh as Lady Macbeth to a "Hamlet" script owned by famous stage actors, a new exhibition explores how William Shakespeare became "the Bard" 400 years after his death. "Shakespeare in Ten Acts" looks at 10 key performances of the playwright's works, from the first showing of "Hamlet" at the Globe theatre around 1600 to a contemporary version of that play in the digital age. The exhibition opens at London's British Library as theatre fans prepare to mark the anniversary of Shakespeare's death on April 23, 1616. "It's really difficult to do full justice to Shakespeare's legacy over the last 400 years," exhibition lead curator Zoe Wilcox said in a British Library video handout. "We're not just looking at Shakespeare the man or his most famous plays, we're focusing in on 10 significant performances of his work that tell us something about the way that his plays have been constantly reinvented through the ages." Highlights include the only surviving play-script in Shakespeare's handwriting, in which he describes the plight of refugees. Also on show is a human skull inscribed with poetry given by French writer Victor Hugo to actress Sarah Bernhardt, which she used when playing Hamlet in 1899. Visitors will also be able to see a "Hamlet" script owned by the likes of Michael Redgrave, Peter O'Toole and now Kenneth Branagh and theatre playbills showing the career highs and lows of Ira Aldridge, the first black actor to play "Othello" on the English stage in 1825, organisers said. "We are using the full range of things we have at our disposal to bring them (the acts) to life," Wilcox said. "So sound, video, costumes, props, paintings, everything we can to give people a sense of what those performances would have felt like had you been attending them." "Shakespeare in Ten Acts" runs until September. (Reporting By Reuters Television; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian, editing by Pritha Sarkar) If you're planning to head to Acadia National Park, the Great Smoky Mountains or any of America's inspiring national parks in 2016, you're in luck. With the National Park Service's centennial fast approaching this August, this is the year to embrace quality time in the great outdoors without paying an entrance fee. Best of all, you don't have to wait until August 25 to 28 to enjoy pass-free visits or take advantage of fun recreational activities and ranger-led programs. In honor of this year's milestone, visitors can enjoy fee-free entry to all 58 national parks April 16 to 24. With that said, there are some caveats. For one thing, while the centennial isn't until August, "the tourism crush has already started," says Jason Cochran, editor-in-chief of Frommers.com. "The vendors who manage lodging options within park boundaries, particularly in the American West in parks such as Yosemite and Yellowstone, are reporting sold-out rooms through the summer peak travel season," Cochran says. "If you want to stay inside a park and you haven't booked it now, you'd better look as soon as possible, although you're probably already out of luck for this summer," he adds. And beyond the demand for accommodations, you'll contend with high crowds given the uptick in demand this year. But never fret: To help you navigate these enchanting parks like a pro, we caught up with national park experts to bring you top hacks for planning a hassle-free trip. [See: Best Adventure Vacations in the USA.] If You've Procrastinated, Rely on a Reputable Outfitter "Reservations are absolutely essential," says Everett Potter, a columnist for USA Today and author of "Everett Potter's Travel Report," emphasizing that often hotels in popular destinations like Yellowstone are booked up to a year in advance. Even mom-and-pop motels and smaller inns are going to be very busy this summer, so it's best to make your plans as soon as possible to ensure availability, he cautions. If you haven't locked in your plans, another great option is a biking or hiking trip with a trusted tour company, which will have access to rooms. Potter points to the travel company Backroads as an ideal choice for multisport trips to popular parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite. The outfitter offers multisport hiking and mountain biking adventures in major parks across the country, including Zion National Park, geared toward a variety of traveler types and activity levels. "If you don't feel comfortable hiking or camping, there are tour operators you can use," says Salwa Jabado, senior editor, Countryside and Adventure Travel, at Fodor's Travel, pointing to Backroads and REI Adventures, which will "set you up with camping gear and the whole nine yards," she adds. REI Adventures, which offers three- to 12-day trips with expert-led tours everywhere from the Grand Canyon to Death Valley National Park, has varied activity options to cater to diverse age groups and preferred activities, from climbing to backpacking. Stay in Off-the-Beaten-Path Spots and Pick Off-Peak Travel Times Whether you want to plan a family-friendly adventure, discover a tucked away national treasure or explore on your own, there are plenty of parks to pique your interest. But it's important to remember that if your sights are set on a family camping trip this summer, all lodging options -- even campsites -- are filling up quickly. "Look instead at the shoulder seasons, which are spring and fall when the kids are in school," Cochran says. And if you have less flexibility in your schedule, consider lesser-visited spots near park entrances, he adds, such as Jackson Hole, Wyoming, near Yellowstone and Mariposa, California, near Yosemite. "You'll find overflow motels and hotels there, and the prices tend to be much lower than at the major in-park resorts, anyway," he says. "Don't be put off by the drive into the park because the land is nearly as beautiful outside the park as it is inside, and you'll also have more options for food if you stay outside the boundaries," he adds. The only drawback to staying outside a park is finding parking, Cochran cautions. He advises checking out the NPS.gov website in advance of your trip, since regulations vary depending on the park. "More parks, such as Muir Woods National Monument north of San Francisco, where you'll find those gorgeous redwood trees, recently instituted parking restrictions that force many guests to park far away and take a shuttle into the forest," he explains. And this trend is sweeping across the country, he adds. Beyond heavy parking restrictions, securing an ideal spot near the park entrance during the peak season can be tricky. [See: 6 Family-Friendly Adventure Trips You Can Afford.] Pack Prudently to Ensure Safety and Comfort "You always want to protect yourself from the sun and the cold," Jabado says. She advises bringing along a daypack with essential items such as a sunhat, sunscreen, a reusable water bottle and high-energy bars. And since national parks urge visitors to bring their own food, it's a smart idea to bring a picnic, with food to grill and a cooler, she adds. While many parks do offer food services, transportation and shops (there are 500 NPS concession services across 120 different parks), it's a great idea to pack along items such as nuts, dried fruit, protein bars or sandwiches in a cooler that will not spoil or draw attention from animals. And when it comes to luggage, she suggests carrying a backpack or duffel and leaving the clamshell suitcase at home. "Carry twice as much water as you think you'll need," Cochran says, emphasizing that it's easy to lose moisture while hiking. And if you decide to go off the beaten path, sign in at a ranger's office, he says. That way, they'll know if you don't return on schedule. "And don't touch anything -- you don't want to be like Vanessa Hudgens, who's in trouble for posting an Instagram of what looks like carved graffiti on a rock in Sedona [Arizona]," he adds. Also keep in mind that some high-demand and challenging trails can require registration in advance for safety purposes, so check NPS.gov ahead of your visit, Cochran says. Consider All Options Since popular national parks such as Yosemite and Yellowstone fill up six to 12 months ahead of the peak summer season, it's also advantageous to look for lodging outside of major parks and map out day trips, Jabado says. "If you can be flexible, you're certainly going to have more opportunity to stay at an RV or a camping spot," she says, highlighting that the majority of camp sites are available online through Reserve America, a company that handles reservations for the Park Service. And if you have some flexibility, along with searching for campgrounds nearby the park you're interested in, consider a midweek trip to optimize availably, Jabado adds, pointing out that "you don't have to spend 100 percent of your time at the park." First, scope out the park visitors center to learn about ranger-led hikes, talks and other happenings, then enjoy a few memorable experiences outside the park. For example, if you want to check out Utah's pristine parks, like Zion or Bryce Canyon, you could carve out a day to enjoy white water rafting in Moab, she says. Go Early to Beat the Crowds and Capture Great Shots If you want to dodge crowds this summer, your best bet is arriving early before thousands of visitors descend upon popular areas. "Try to go during the golden hours," Jabado says. Around sunrise and sunset, the "photos are just going to be magnificent," she adds. As for photo composition, for the best shots, remember the rule of thirds, and ensure top elements are along the imaginary grid lines when you split your picture into thirds, Jabado says. It's also better to avoid using zoom features on your smartphone for clearer, crisper shots, she adds. And if you decide to bring your camera, don't forget to pack along a small tripod for getting sharply focused, steady shots, Jabado says. [See: 15 Must-Visit National Park Attractions.] Explore Lesser-Known Parks If you don't want to battle crowds this summer, go to off-the-grid national parks that everyone in your group will enjoy. "There aren't many national parks in the continental U.S. that I wouldn't recommend for families," Cochran says. Thanks to versatile trails, which are ideal for easy, moderate and advanced levels, as well as the parks' interpretive centers and expert-led tours, it's easy to find a park that's right for you and your companions. "Do yourself a favor and research," Potter says, pointing out that there are plenty of quieter parks that don't get nearly as many visitors at top-visited destinations like Yellowstone and Acadia National Park. He suggests considering parks in remote destinations like Alaska, as well as under-the-radar but nonetheless scenic and exciting outdoor destinations such as Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado and Isle Royale National Park in Michigan. "There are a ton of places that are underrated," Jabado says, recalling a visit to Dry Tortugas National Park, just 70 miles west of Key West, that offers a historic fort, snorkeling opportunities thanks to its striking coral reefs and ranger-led tours. To help you narrow down your options, Fodor's has put together a National Parks Finder that allows users to pinpoint a park that meets their ideal activities, region and season. Liz Weiss is the Travel editor for Consumer Advice at U.S. News & World Report. You can follow her on Twitter, connect with her on LinkedIn, circle her on Google+ or email her at eweiss@usnews.com. Investing in rental property has long been a popular option for people who want to diversify their investments beyond stocks and mutual funds. But, unlike those more mainstream investments, rental properties can require significant hands-on work, including dealing with tenants and keeping up with maintenance. You have to be smart to make rental investment pay. "The idea of investing in real estate being easy money is nonsense," says Casey Fleming, author of "The Loan Guide: How to Get the Best Possible Mortgage" and a mortgage professional in the San Francisco Bay Area who owns rental properties. While investing in real estate is often referred to as "passive income," there is nothing passive about it. You should expect to put in plenty of effort if you hope to bring in a return. "I think the key question is do you want to be a landlord," says Tiffany Alexy, a broker with Lucky Penny Realty Team in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the owner of several rental properties. "Yes, it's passive income, but if you're managing the property yourself, you're potentially giving yourself a second job." [See: The 20 Most Desirable Places to Live in the U.S.] Mutual funds don't call when the toilet is stopped up, they don't write on the walls and they don't refuse to pay rent, all issues you're likely to face with tenants. "People need to do some deep soul searching before they walk into this," says Ray Rodriguez, regional mortgage sales manager for TD Bank. "Being a landlord is hard work." The other myth you need to dispel before starting out is that you can invest in real estate with no money. "That's not going to happen," Rodriguez says. "If you're struggling just to get by ... it's probably not a good idea right now." In most cases, not only will you seed a sizeable down payment, you'll need to show additional savings and enough income to make payments. Story continues If you invest in a duplex, triplex or quadraplex -- and you're going to live in one of the units -- you can get a conventional mortgage with a down payment as low as 5 percent if you show enough income to make the payments. You can get a conventional loan on properties of four or fewer units with 20 percent down with solid credit. But, says Fleming, lenders will want to see at least three months of reserves, plus proof that you can afford all your current expenses as well as the mortgage on the new property. Investing in properties with more than four units requires commercial financing, which is usually more expensive. If you don't have experience as a landlord, demonstrated by a Schedule E filed with your recent tax returns, the lender usually will not let you count income from the rentals toward your mortgage qualification. If you do have experience, the lender will use the appraiser's estimate of the rent (taking 75 percent of that) and subtract mortgage costs, property tax and insurance to get the net income that will be counted. [See: Here Are the 20 Best Places to Live in the U.S.] Even after you surmount all those financial hurdles, you still need to make sure the specific rental property will provide a positive cash flow once all the expenses are paid. Sellers and real estate agents will often provide figures that show the property is profitable, but it's up to you to make sure those figures truly reflect all the expenses and take into account maintenance costs, home repairs and vacancies. "You have to do some very good due diligence," Rodriguez says. Fleming suggests you ask to see the current owner's Schedule E from the last few years or make an offer on the property that is subject to review of those documents. "A negative cash flow is not an asset," he says. "It's a liability." Finding rental property that yields a positive cash flow may take some searching. Fleming recommends looking for a building that's a little rundown but in a good neighborhood, provided you have the money to improve the property. "If you get a great deal, you could probably find something for 25 percent down that cash flows," he says. Here are six things to do before you buy rental property: Gather as much information as you can. Talk to other investors, mortgage brokers and real estate agents who have worked with income property about what owning a rental property is really like, in addition to reading books and articles on the topic. "It's all about obtaining knowledge," Rodriguez says. Decide if you're ready to be a landlord. Buying and managing property yourself provides the greatest return but also the greatest headaches. "Do you have the stomach for being a landlord?" Fleming says. "Stuff's going to happen that just really ticks you off." Other, less active options include becoming a partner in a limited liability company that owns properties or buying into a real estate investment trust. Crunch the numbers carefully. A rental property is only a worthwhile investment if it makes money. Yes, the property may rise in value and yield a profit when you sell, but it also may lose value depending on which way the market goes. "If you're banking on just appreciation, it's really hit or miss," Alexy says. Make sure you have enough cash. Getting rich on real estate with no money down is a great dream, but it's almost impossible to accomplish. Expect to need a sizeable down payment, reserves to pay for repairs and maintenance and a good income before you start investing. Consider a live-in property. If you're buying a home for yourself, buying one with up to three additional units can be a good way to get started with investing. "We see a lot of younger people going this route," Rodriguez says. "I think it's a good way for a first-time homeowner to begin homeownership." [See: 8 Strategies for Investing in Real Estate.] Plan for hands-on management. In the long run, you may decide to pay someone to do the day-to-day management of your property, including dealing with tenants and arranging for repairs. Costs vary, but you should estimate paying about 10 percent of the rents collected for this sort of service. But you will still need to be there at the beginning to make sure the building is in tiptop shape and the tenants are dependable. Teresa Mears writes about personal finance, real estate and retirement for U.S. News and other publications. She's also written for MSN Money, The Miami Herald, The New York Times and The Boston Globe. She publishes Living on the Cheap and Miami on the Cheap. Follow her on Twitter @TeresaMears. Stella Pavlides was admiring her new ruby ring under the black lights of a New York City bar when she noticed something else glowing: "I had white spots on my knuckles," remembers Pavlides, a 70-year-old in Clearwater, Florida, who was 22 at the time. But when she stepped outside, the spots were gone. "I didn't think much of anything," she says. Within a few years, however, the bleached-looking patches became more prominent against her Greek skin, and spread to the tops of her hands, her elbows, back, knees, armpits and genitals, and around her eyes and mouth. Dermatologists told her it was vitiligo, an autoimmune disease that causes the skin to lose the melanin that colors it -- sometimes in small patches, other times across most of the body. While the condition -- which affects about 1 percent of the world's population and can be more noticeable in people with darker skin -- is relatively physically harmless, it can be emotionally devastating and socially isolating. No big deal, it's only vitiligo, it won't kill you,'" Pavlides recalls doctors telling her. But to people with the condition, it is a big deal. "I got inhibited," says Pavlides, an otherwise confident, straight-shooting native New Yorker who remembers turning down trips to the beach with her friends, wearing long sleeves that she'd pull down to cover her knuckles no matter how high the temperature and feeling degraded when people dropped -- rather than placed -- change in her hands. Since founding the American Vitiligo Research Foundation more than 20 years ago, she's heard from countless kids who've been bullied or beaten up due to the condition, and even from a parent whose son with vitiligo committed suicide. "It's a very, very difficult disease," says Pavlides, who runs the foundation full time. [See: 10 Lessons From Empowered Patients.] While there's no cure for vitiligo, which typically first appears between ages 10 and 30, there are treatments -- ranging from makeup and steroids to light therapies and skin grafts -- that can help stop the disease progression, restore color or at least mask the lack of it. "Do we have an optimal treatment? The answer is no," says Dr. Pearl Grimes, director of the Vitiligo and Pigmentation Institute of Southern California who also prescribes vitamin D and antioxidants to patients with vitiligo to support their immune function. "But there is hope." Story continues For Pavlides, who says she's "tried everything" with not enough success to make the side effects or expense of treatment worth it (insurance companies don't always cover therapies because they deem them cosmetic or experimental), she feels the best medicine is support. "Don't give up," she tells parents of kids with the condition. "Tell your kids they're beautiful. Tell them everybody's different." Still, it's important to seek care for any skin pigmentation changes, dermatologists say, since some can signal more serious problems and many influence quality of life. Here are some reasons your skin might be losing, gaining or otherwise changing color -- and what to do about it: 1. You Have Vitiligo If Pavlides' symptoms sound like yours -- or if you have a loss of pigmentation elsewhere, such as in the hair on your body or head or inside your mouth -- find a dermatologist who specializes in treating vitiligo, Grimes suggests, since many physicians wrongly believe there are no treatments and don't understand the condition's psychological impact. Vitiligo also shouldn't be ignored, experts add, since the condition -- which Michael Jackson had but treated by removing the pigment from the rest of his skin rather than trying to restore color to the vititigo patches -- often coincides with other autoimmune problems like thyroid disorders and can make people's skin more vulnerable to sun damage. 2. You're Pregnant While vitiligo causes a loss of pigmentation in the skin, melasma -- sometimes called "the mask of pregnancy" -- seems to cause some skin cells to produce more pigment, which usually appears as brown or gray-brown patches on the face, according to the American Academy of Dermatology "It's just so prominent and concerning to people," says Dr. Bruce Robinson, a dermatologist in New York City and spokesman for the American Academy of Dermatology, noting that the vast majority (some 90 percent) of patients with the condition are women, since it seems to have a hormonal component. "Pregnancy makes it worse, birth control makes it worse and sunlight makes it worse," he says. While having the baby, stopping the birth control or protecting yourself from the sun can clear up the condition, it often recurs, experts say. "For a lot of people, it's a constant battle," says Dr. Marie Jhin, a dermatologist in San Francisco. But, with expert supervision, chemical peels, bleaching creams and laser therapies can help mask flare-ups. 3. You Mixed Limes and Sunshine When patients come to Jhin panicked about mysterious dark marks on their hands or around their mouth, she asks, "Did you just go on vacation?" If the answer is yes, everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Chances are, the diagnosis is phytophotodermatitis, a skin reaction to sunlight and a chemical in limes and other citrus fruits such as lemon and oranges. While the first reaction -- blisters or burning -- is often dismissed as sunburn or allergies, if noticed at all, the lingering pigment changes usually fade in a few months. It's common in the spring and summer months, Robinson says, since people make mixed drinks with lime, get some juice on their skin and then go out in the sun. That's why the condition is often nicknamed "Club Med Dermatitis" and "Mexican Beer Dermatitis." 4. You Have a Form of Eczema Another condition that tends to bring patients -- typically children -- to dermatologists during warm-weather months is pityriasis alba, which first causes red, scaly patches before leaving lighter patches on the skin, according to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology. "It gets moms really nervous that their kid has vitiligo," Robinson has found. But in fact, the condition seems to be a feature of eczema that's simply more apparent on tanned skin, Jhin says. Treatment is usually simple sunscreen or, if more severe, a topical steroid, she says. As Robinson puts it: "You stop the eczema and the pigmentation comes back." [See: 9 Surprising Facts About Sunscreen.] 5. It's a Remnant of Past Skin Damage The technical term is "post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation." To the layperson, it simply means darker skin in places you once had acne, allergic reactions, an injury or any other type of skin inflammation, perhaps from another condition like psoriasis. Here, too, the first-line defense is treating the underlying inflammation. 6. It's Fungus Before you say "ew," keep in mind this possibility is pretty much harmless -- and sometimes not even noticeable. Tinea versicolor, a common fungal infection when the natural yeast on our skin overgrows, tends to pop up in the hot, humid summer months -- or among people who've visited those climates. "Most of the time it's brown or red or white and it's ... in the areas where people sweat," Jhin explains. The solution? An anti-fungal treatment. 7. You Have Addison's Disease If you thought John F. Kennedy was just a tan guy, you are mistaken: He had Addison's disease, which is actually an adrenal -- not skin -- problem in which the adrenal glands don't produce enough of some hormones, Jhin says. "Someone who says, 'I'm a lot darker but I didn't get any sun,'" might have the condition, Jhin says, and should visit his or her primary care doctor, who might prescribe oral medications to help replace the lacking hormones. 8. You Have Acanthosis Nigricans Here's another mouthful of a name; this one describing the darkening and thickening of skin folds, such as those in your neck or under your breasts. "It could just be because you're a little overweight," Jhin says, noting, however, that it could also be a sign of diabetes. If blood and other tests come up normal, though, the common condition can be treated with creams or other products that help soften the skin, she says. 9. You Have Cancer Cancer is, of course, the worst-case scenario for oddly-colored skin. Fortunately, it's also among the rarest of pigmentation issues, Robinson says. "People with melanoma -- we talk about their skin turning 'slate blue,'" he says. "That's a really bad sign" because it signals that the melanoma is cancerous and has traveled throughout the body. If you have moles that change color, size or shape, too, see a dermatologist pronto. [See: 7 Ways to Prevent Skin Cancer.] Bottom line? If you notice any changes in your skin color, see a board-certified dermatologist, who can properly diagnose and treat you. Hopefully, it was the margarita. By Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries DUBLIN (Reuters) - Acting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny failed for the third time to be re-elected in a parliamentary vote on Thursday but made some progress towards breaking the political deadlock created by an inconclusive Feb. 26 election. Ireland joined a growing group of euro zone countries with deeply fractured parliaments when voters angry at not feeling the effects of a much vaunted economic recovery ousted Kenny's coalition but failed to provide a clear alternative. Ineffective attempts to break the impasse have left a weak minority government as the only realistic option to avoid a fresh election. But Kenny has failed to secure the two things he needs to form one: the support of at least 58 deputies and the consent of the second-largest party, its historic rival Fianna Fail, to abstain in key votes. Fianna Fail, which is open to facilitating a minority administration if Kenny can attract enough additional support, removed one hurdle when it abandoned hopes of forming a minority government of its own. The two main parties still have to decide how a minority government would work after the 14 independent lawmakers undecided over whether to support Kenny said they would not take sides until the two main parties agree a detailed plan. Kenny urged the parties to resume talks after the vote. "We're now nearly seven weeks on from the election," Kenny told parliament. "It's time really to focus with a sense of urgency and I sincerely hope that in the short time ahead that this matter can be progressed to conclusion." Kenny was backed by 52 members of parliament in the 157-seat lower house, one more than a similar vote last week. That meant he won the support of just two outside his own party and one of the 15 independents he wants to return to power alongside. The independents on Thursday laid down a new demand, saying any deal would have to last long enough to implement at least three annual budgets. The deadlock has so far had little effect on the fastest- growing economy in Europe. Ireland sold 750 million euros of 10-year bonds at a record-low yield of 0.817 percent at an auction earlier on Thursday. However, the country's central bank has warned that more protracted uncertainty could have adverse consequences for economic growth, particularly with Britain, a key trading partner, voting in June on whether to leave the European Union. (Editing by Larry King) By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has carried out 70 to 80 air strikes against Islamic State in Afghanistan in the three months since U.S. forces were given broader authority to target the militants, a U.S. military spokesman said on Thursday. Before January, the U.S. military could only strike Islamic State in Afghanistan under narrow circumstances, such as for protection of troops. Military spokesman Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said the air strikes had decreased the capacity of the group in Afghanistan, where fighters loyal to Islamic State have emerged to challenge the larger Afghan Taliban in pockets of the country. Cleveland said about 70 to 80 percent of the air strikes between January and the end of March were in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar. "The capacity of Daesh, we believe has been lessened and their overall footprint in Nangarhar, we do believe, has been lessened as well," Cleveland said. Daesh is an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The U.S. military has previously said there are between 1,000 and 3,000 Islamic State members in Afghanistan. Cleveland said that number was now probably closer to the lower estimate. He said the group controlled about six to eight districts a few months ago, but that number was now closer to two to three districts. "We do think that they still pose a potential real threat and again just based on their past performance, they have got the ability to catch fire very quickly," Cleveland said. He also said that the southern province of Helmand was not on the verge of falling into the hands of the Taliban, but it was a "difficult, contested area." In February, Afghan forces pulled out of some parts of the province after months of heavy fighting with Taliban insurgents. Helmand, a mainly desert region bordering Pakistan, is of strategic and symbolic importance as a heartland of the Taliban. The province sits along major smuggling routes for drugs and weapons. It accounts for the biggest share of opium cultivation, a principal source of revenue for the Taliban. American troops have fought in Afghanistan since a U.S. invasion in 2001 that toppled the Taliban government that harbored the al Qaeda network responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed about 3,000 people. Cleveland added that there were still between 100 and 300 al Qaeda members in Afghanistan. In October, the United States conducted more than 60 air strikes on an al Qaeda training camp and another site near Kandahar, the presence of which alarmed some analysts. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Grant McCool and Meredith Mazzilli) Amazon Studios and Lionsgate TV are developing a series based on Bob Dylan's song catalog, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The series will be written and directed by Josh Wakely, an Australian filmmaker who received permission from Dylan to use his songs for the development of a project based on the character found within them. Called Time Out of Mind after Dylan's 1997 album, the project is being conceived as an hourlong drama. Few additional details are available on the effort, which has not yet been given a pilot or series pickup at Amazon. The project will be produced by Lionsgate and Wakely's production company, Grace: A Storytelling Company. Wakely previously licensed worldwide rights to The Beatles' catalog for his upcoming Netflix animated series Beat Bugs, which features new renditions of the classic songs. Time Out of Mind is the latest in a string of music-themed projects for Amazon, which include a limited series about The Grateful Dead. The Wall Street Journal first reported about Time Out of Mind. LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola's state oil company Sonangol said it has found oil and gas reserves in the Kwanza basin that could total 2.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, including in a block it jointly owns with BP. Block 24, operated by BP, holds an estimated 280 million barrels of condensate and 8 trillion cubic feet of gas, totalling 1.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent, Sonangol said in a statement seen by Reuters on Thursday. Sonangol said that Block 20, which it operates, is also commercially viable and contains an estimated 139 million barrels of condensate and 2.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, totalling 570 million barrels of oil equivalent. (Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by James Macharia) Anne Jackson, the esteemed actress who worked often alongside her husband, the late Eli Wallach, died Tuesday at her home in Manhattan, their daughter Katherine Wallach told The New York Times. She was 90. Jackson and Wallach appeared together 13 times on Broadway and seven times off-Broadway, the newspaper noted, and they shared the screen in such movies as The Tiger Makes Out (1967), How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968), Zig Zag (1970) and Nasty Habits (1977). Among their prominent stage collaborations was three-time Tony winner Luv (1964), directed by Mike Nichols. The caustic comedy, which had the couple playing husband and wife opposite Alan Arkin, ran for more than two years and 900-plus performances. Jackson was nominated for a Tony for her performance as Edward G. Robinson's daughter in Middle of the Night (1956), written by Paddy Chayefsky. She played five women, ranging from middle age to a grandmother, in Promenade, All! (1972) and stood out as a housewife losing her mind in Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends (1977). She made her debut on Broadway in 1944 in New Moon. Also on the big screen, Jackson played the doctor who treats the youngster Danny after he has a horrible premonition while brushing his teeth in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980). She and Wallach married in 1948, and he died in June 2014 at age 98. See More: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2016 Jackson was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Millvale, Pa. She and her family moved to Brooklyn, and when she was 14, her mother suffered a breakdown and lived the rest of her years in mental institutions. After high school, Jackson studied drama at the New School in Manhattan. She met Wallach in 1946 when they were cast in Tennessee Williams' This Property Is Condemned, and they studied under Lee Strasberg, founder of the Actors Studio. They appeared together on Broadway in King Henry VIII (1946), A Pound on Demand/Androcles and the Lion (1946) and What Every Woman Knows (1946). They went on to take the big stage in Major Barbara (1957), The Glass Menagerie (1959), Rhinoceros (1961), The Waltz of the Toreadors (1973) and Twice Around the Park (1982). Story continues They each won a Obie Award in 1963 for their performances in The Typists/The Tiger, and in 2000, they starred in the off-Broadway production of the comedy Down the Garden Paths, written by Anne Meara. In addition to Katherine, an actress (Goodfellas, Pollock), survivors include their daughter and actress Roberta Wallach (The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, Rabbit Hole) and son Peter Wallach (a producer and special effects animator). At the 2010 Governors Awards, Jackson toasted her husband, who was there to receive an Honorary Oscar. "One of the things I really love about Eli is that he's still learning," she said, "and this leads me to the truth of the matter. I taught him everything he knows." Los Angeles (AFP) - Top prosecutors from 11 US states including California and Colorado, are increasingly concerned by more frequent anti-Muslim threats, the Justice Department said. The department said that local authorities and community members across the United States would hold town meeting-style discussions "to address backlash against Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian Americans following the tragic terrorist attacks in Brussels, Paris and San Bernardino." "There is no place for intolerance in our country," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said. "In the weeks and months ahead, the Department of Justice will continue to work with local law enforcement partners and community leaders to defend the safety and the dignity of all our people." The incidents have included a man who pleaded guilty to opening fire outside a mosque in Connecticut, and another man who threatened to bomb two mosques and shoot worshipers, among many others. Since the September 11 attacks, the Justice Department has investigated more than 1,000 cases of threats or violence against people from or believed to be from certain communities. "These events underscore our ongoing commitment to safeguard the civil rights of every American -- including Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian Americans, who are so often the targets of threats on the basis of their appearance or religion," Lynch said. By Dustin Volz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Apple Inc and the FBI will return to Congress next week to testify before lawmakers about their heated disagreement over law enforcement access to encrypted devices, a congressional committee announced on Thursday. Apple's general counsel, Bruce Sewell, and Amy Hess, executive assistant director for science and technology at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, will testify on separate panels before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Tuesday, in addition to other law enforcement officials and technology experts. FBI Director James Comey appeared before a separate congressional committee last month to defend his agency's pursuit of a court order to compel Apple's assistance in unlocking an iPhone linked to one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters. Sewell also testified at that hearing. The FBI has since abandoned the San Bernardino case, a surprising development that came after a still-secret third party helped the government hack into the iPhone. But the U.S. Justice Department redoubled its efforts last week to use the courts to force Apple's cooperation in cracking encrypted iPhones by announcing plans to continue with an appeal in an unrelated New York drug case. Other witnesses appearing include Thomas Galati, chief of the New York Police Department's intelligence bureau; Charles Cohen, commander of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force; and Matthew Blaze, a professor and computer security expert at the University of Pennsylvania. Earlier this week, two U.S. senators released draft legislation that would empower courts to order technology companies to hand over data "in an intelligible format," even if encryption has rendered that data inaccessible to anyone other than the owner. Security researchers and civil liberties advocates say the bill amounts to a ban on strong encryption, which is necessary to keep malicious hackers at bay and protect the overall security of the Internet. (Reporting by Dustin Volz and Eric Beech; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) By Joseph Menn and Mark Hosenball SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The company that helped the FBI unlock a San Bernardino shooter's iPhone to get data has sole legal ownership of the method, making it highly unlikely the technique will be disclosed by the government to Apple or any other entity, Obama administration sources said this week. The White House has a procedure for reviewing technology security flaws and deciding which ones should be made public. But it is not set up to handle or reveal flaws that are discovered and owned by private companies, the sources said, raising questions about the effectiveness of the so-called Vulnerabilities Equities Process. The secretive process was created to let various government interests debate about what should be done with a given technology flaw, rather than leaving it to agencies like the National Security Agency, which generally prefers to keep vulnerabilities secret so they can use them. The government's efforts to force Apple to help it unlock the San Bernardino iPhone have reignited a national debate about encryption, security and privacy that continues to rage two weeks after the Justice Department said it broke into the phone without Apple's help. The sources said the technology used to get into the phone was supplied by a non-U.S. company that they declined to identify. Without cooperation from the company, the FBI would not be able to submit the method to the Vulnerabilities Equities Process even if it wanted to, the sources said on condition they not be named. The FBI itself probably does not know the details of the technique - just enough to determine that it worked, according to government sources and Rob Knake, who managed the White House process before leaving last year. The FBI said in February that it was unable to get into the iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook without help from Apple, and it won a court order compelling the Silicon Valley icon to break into the device. Apple, backed by much of the tech industry, complained that the order would in effect make businesses arms of the state. The Justice Department dropped the matter the day before a crucial court hearing, saying it had found a way to get into the phone. At the time, Apple said it hoped the maneuver would be disclosed so that it could fix the flaw before it is discovered and exploited by criminals. In a separate New York case, the Justice Department is trying to force Apples help in extracting data from a drug dealers iPhone 5s. For technical reasons, that would be easier for Apple to do, though it would be much harder for the FBI or a contractor, said phone security expert Dan Guido. The two battles spotlight a long-running but seldom aired conflict over whether information about software security lapses should be kept secret by law enforcement or intelligence agencies, who want the knowledge to snoop, or disclosed to the technology companies so they can patch the holes. After questions were raised about the Vulnerabilities Equities Process in 2013, White House cybersecurity policy coordinator Michael Daniel said it was "reinvigorated," though information as basic as which departments are involved remained undisclosed. Daniel has written that the factors to be weighed include how easy a flaw would be for outsiders to find and how much danger would be posed to society. But Knake said the procedure had been created in 2010 to handle situations like an FBI technologist in a lab inventing a method for circumventing security. It was not set up for a world of commoditized exploitation, where major defense contractors buy and sell flaws for millions of dollars. (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyberweapons-specialreport-idUSBRE9490EL20130510) There is no way the government could force companies to share the methods that they are trying to sell, or any way to stop government agencies from buying from those companies, he said. Knake said the process could be improved if it were revamped again to deal with the reality of the exploit marketplace. The White House referred questions to the FBI, which did not respond to emails seeking comment. (Reporting by Joseph Menn in San Francisco and Mark Hosenball in Washington. Additional reporting by Dustin Volz. Editing by Jonathan Weber and Bernard Orr) BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's biggest city vowed to punish Uber Technologies Inc on Thursday for defying a ban and President Mauricio Macri showed solidarity with cab drivers as the ride-hailing company opened a new front in its battle with the taxi industry. Uber's launch in Buenos Aires this week met with widespread protests by drivers of the city's black and yellow cabs, along with threats from officials, echoing resistance the U.S. company has faced in many of the more than 400 cities where it operates worldwide. "We have already ordered the service to shut down," said the city's Transportation Secretary Juan Jose Mendez. "If they keep operating it becomes a criminal issue." Cab drivers and city officials accuse Uber of violating local regulations and risking passengers' safety by offering rides with drivers who lack a taxi license. Uber said it was permitted under Argentine law. "Uber continues to operate normally ... It has not been prohibited, suspended or shut down," the company said in a statement on Thursday. Macri, who was mayor of Buenos Aires before assuming the presidency in December, threw his weight behind the cab drivers. "I support the city government's position defending taxi drivers. They are a symbol of the city and of Argentina," Macri told journalists. ($1 = 14.33 Argentine pesos) (Reporting by Walter Bianchi; writing and additional reporting by Brad Haynes; editing by Andrew Hay) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will offer his view as a "friend" that the United Kingdom would be better off economically as a member of the European Union if he is asked about the "Brexit" during a visit in London next week, White House officials told reporters on Thursday. But Obama will make it clear that it is up to Britons to decide how to vote in the June 23 referendum on whether Britain should exit from the EU, said Ben Rhodes, his deputy national security adviser. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Timothy Gardner; Editing by Chris Reese) (Reuters) - Atlantic County, home to New Jersey's fiscally distressed gambling hub Atlantic City, had the highest foreclosure rate of any major U.S. metropolitan area in the first quarter of 2016, according to RealtyTrac data released on Thursday. One in every 106 housing units in Atlantic County had a foreclosure filing in the first quarter, compared to a nationwide rate of one filing per 459 homes. The area has been hit hard by the closure of four Atlantic City casinos in 2014, which remain shuttered. It also had the highest metro foreclosure rate for all of 2015. Trenton, New Jersey's capital city, had the second-highest metro foreclosure rate in the nation in the first quarter and Baltimore, Maryland, came in third. As a state, New Jersey had one foreclosure filing for every 216 housing units, the second-worst rate of all U.S. states, behind only Maryland, where one in every 194 units had a filing, the RealtyTrac data showed. Nationally, foreclosure activity bumped higher seasonally in March, but most markets continue to improve to more stable levels, said RealtyTrac senior vice president Daren Blomquist in a statement. More than a third of the 216 local markets examined were below their pre-recession foreclosure averages in the first quarter. "We would expect a growing number of markets to move below that milestone the rest of this year, while the number of markets with a lingering low-grade fever of foreclosure activity continues to shrink," he said. Despite the overall improvement, other weak spots include several New York state areas. Syracuse, Utica-Rome and Binghamton were among a half dozen metro areas that reached new foreclosure activity peak levels, according to the data. (Reporting by Hilary Russ in New York; Editing by James Dalgleish) A Bangladeshi rights group has cancelled a planned "rainbow rally" to mark the Bengali New Year, which had been threatened by Islamists who said the secular festival was un-Islamic, organisers said Wednesday. The street parade, planned for Thursday, was scrapped over permit issues, according to organisers from the Roopbaan group which promotes freedom of love and gender equality in the Muslim-majority nation. "We've decided to scrap the Rainbow Rally this year as we did not have official permission from the authorities," an organiser told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. There was no immediate comment from officials. The group had earlier vowed to press ahead with the colourful New Year event despite online posts by Islamists against the rally, with calls to beat up parade participants posted on Facebook. The threats come after hardline clerics branded the Bengali new year celebrations, in which people carry masks of animals and colourful garlands, as "un-Islamic and Haram (forbidden)". It's been two years since Roopbaan first launched the parade, which it says celebrates "diversity and friendship". Authorities have banned outdoor evening concerts and masks, commonly worn during the new year parades, as part of increased security. Police have also stepped up their hunt for Islamic militants as Bangladesh reels from a series of deadly attacks on religious minorities and foreigners in recent months. In 2001 a new year bomb blast in Dhaka's Ramna Park killed 10 people. Eight Islamist militants were sentenced to death for the attack. Roopbaan is also a platform for promoting the rights of LGBT Bangladeshis, seeking to spread awareness and tolerance in a nation where same-sex love is a punishable offence. By Stephen Jewkes MILAN (Reuters) - It is people like 58-year-old bank clerk Silvio Doria who may save Italy's oil industry. Referring to a referendum on Sunday that will decide whether oil companies can continue to drill within 12 miles (20 km) of Italy's coastline, Doria said: "I'm not going to vote because I just don't know the issues well enough." For the referendum to succeed, more than 50 percent of Italians must cast a ballot. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi says a "yes" vote against drilling would hurt jobs at a time when the economy is struggling to grow and has called on people to shun the ballot. An opinion poll last month suggests three-quarters of Italians have scant knowledge of the referendum, which concerns a little-known industry mostly located off the east coast of Italy far from the major population centers. The ballot was proposed by a number of regional assemblies which object to drilling platforms because of worries about seismic stability and the environment, as well as the impact on their tourist industries. Italy imports around 90 percent of its energy needs and has been trying for years to get around grassroots opposition to boost domestic energy production and so reduce dependence on foreign suppliers such as Russia's Gazprom . But if the referendum succeeds, fields run by the likes of Eni and Edison within 12 miles of the coast will be shut down when their concessions expire. Should it fail, energy companies will be able to ask for further extensions until wells are depleted. Opponents of the vote say closing a subsea well with oil and gas still in it is a risky and costly business because of high pressure conditions. "What worries me are the 11,000 jobs at risk," Renzi said earlier this month when inviting Italians not to vote. Renzi has asked Italians to abstain, claiming the vote is pointless since the law has already been substantially changed. Asking people to vote no might also risk upsetting people inside his party where the issue is a sensitive one. There are 69 exploration concessions in Italian waters, most of them gas, according to the industry ministry. Of these 44 could be affected by the referendum with 12 expiring in 2016. Earlier this year Shell gave up on a 2-billion-euro project in the Gulf of Taranto after the 12-mile limitation, previously lifted, was reintroduced by the government for all new projects in an failed effort to head off the referendum. Dublin-based oil explorer Proceltic International recently gave up on an exploration permit it was chasing while British-based Rockhopper Exploration is considering suing Italy for damages after it was told a concession it has permits for would not be granted. TIGHTEST REGULATIONS "Italy has the tightest regulations in Europe that don't exist elsewhere and they're frightening off investors," says Davide Tabarelli, head of energy think tank Nomisma Energia. "With so much uncertainty, who will have the courage to invest even outside the 12 mile line?" he adds. Environmental watchdog Legambiente and other green groups say domestic oil and gas production is minimal and that continued focus on fossil fuels takes Italy further away from its renewable energy and carbon targets. Gas production from offshore fields inside the 12-mile area currently accounts for around 3 percent of Italian consumption while oil output in the area just 1 percent. According to Mediobanca Securities, the short-term impact of a "Yes" vote would be minimal since only 5,000 barrels per day comes from concessions inside the 12-mile limit. But it will certainly have long-term implications as by 2027, 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day could be shut-in, which accounts for over 20 percent of Italys oil and gas production, says analyst Alessandro Pozzi. The referendum comes at an awkward time for the prime minister. An influence-peddling case centered on the country's main landlocked oil producing area, where Total and Shell operate, triggered the resignation of the industry minister two weeks ago. Political opponents are seeking to use the scandal to bring voters out on Sunday to test the government's mettle as it gears up for a referendum on constitutional reform in October on which Renzi has staked the future of his government. Former Prime Minister Bettino Craxi encouraged Italians to "go to the beach" instead of vote in a referendum in 1991 that then reached a quorum promoting a change to the electoral system, a miscalculation that hurt him politically. Renzi is also taking a risk over Sunday's vote. The head of Italy's constitutional court says citizens have a duty to cast a ballot, and President Sergio Mattarella has made clear he will vote, putting the premier at odds with institutional leaders. For those tempted to answer Renzi's call, Sunday's weather forecast is mostly sunny, favoring perhaps a seaside outing. (Additional reporting by Massimiliano Di Giorgio; editing by Steve Scherer and Giles Elgood) Yahoo Finance is tracking the stocks youre following, based on your Yahoo Finance ticker searches. Bank of America (BAC) The bank reported first-quarter earnings that were largely in line with lackluster expectations as weak trading weighed on results. Shares turned higher in early trading following the banks earnings call. Wells Fargo (WFC) The banks first-quarter profit fell 5.9% as low oil prices hurt its results. Wells Fargo reported a profit of $0.99 per share on revenue of $22.2 billion. 3D Systems (DDD) Bank of America turned bearish on 3D Systems, pushing shares to the highest level in nine months following an upgrade and price target boost. The firms about-face on 3D Systems is largely due to the companys new CEO, Vyomesh Joshi. Chipotle (CMG) JPMorgan turned positive on the fast-casual chain. The investment firm upgraded the stock to overweight and raised its price target to $510 per share from $465 per share. Delta Air Lines (DAL) The company is leading airline stocks higher after reporting a 27% jump in first-quarter earnings to $946 million. Delta reported it spent 33% less on fuel compared to one year ago, thanks to lower energy prices. Although the critical reaction to Batman v Superman has been largely negative (still hasn't cracked 30% on Rotten Tomatoes), plenty of filmgoers and reviewers alike had positive things to say about the look of the film. DON'T MISS: Now we know why C-3PO had a red arm in The Force Awakens Yes, BvS was incredibly dark and violent, and early reviews of Captain America: Civil War claim that Marvel's next blockbuster will feature the best superhero fight scene ever filmed, but DC seems to have held its own this time around. But what did the movie look like before the studio added special effects? The community at CGMeetup put together a slideshow showcasing some of the film's most memorable shots before and after computer generated effects were added in. No one was under the impression that Batman v Superman would be filled with practical sets and stunts, but it's interesting to see just how much the movie relied on green screen during pivotal scenes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta9To-tNEPo Even before the movie hit theaters, many people were wondering how Batman was supposed to compete with an invincible alien from another planet. One snarky commenter thinks he has the answer: Screen Shot 2016-04-14 at 11.36.02 AM Another commenter preempted any Marvel fans coming in to talk smack about the movie with this incredibly clever defense: Screen Shot 2016-04-14 at 11.37.17 AM Anyway, here's to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice taking home the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at next year's Oscars. Related stories Ben Affleck has written a script for a standalone 'Batman' movie Even Kevin Smith has trouble finding anything positive to say about Batman v Superman Deleted 'Batman v Superman' scene could've made the movie's ending much better More from BGR: HTC 10 review: An exciting new flagship phone thats better in every way This article was originally published on BGR.com By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian scientists say they have developed the world's first WHO-approved "gluten-free" barley, a breakthrough for global beer manufacturers which have had to use alternatives to barley such as rice and sorghum to brew gluten-free beer. Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) said on Friday it had sold 70 tonnes of the new Kebari barley to Germany's largest brewer Radeberger, which has produced a beer to be sold in local supermarkets. "Gluten-free barley will be highly sought after, with European brewers particularly interested," said John O'Brien, a brewer of gluten-free beer in Melbourne. Gluten-free is one of the world's fastest growing consumer trends with the market expected to grow more than 10 percent a year until 2020 to be worth $7.59 billion, a 2015 report by MarketsandMarket estimated. European drinkers, already among the world's largest consumers of beer per capita, have embraced gluten-free more than other regions, brewers said, with several large manufacturers releasing gluten-free brands.One of the problems brewers have faced in making gluten-free beer without barley, or barley with the gluten stripped out, is that beer drinkers often complain it doesn't taste like traditionally brewed beer. "A true gluten-free barley variety is a true game changer, there is going to be a massive market for the product," said Phin Ziebell, an agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank. While the new "gluten-free" Kebari barley actually contains minute amounts of gluten, the CSIRO said it had 10,000 times less gluten than traditional strains, or about 5 parts of gluten per million, well below the World Health Organization's (WHO) 20 parts per million for classification as a gluten-free grain. Barley is primarily used for animal feed and alcohol production and the development of a "gluten-free" barley is expected to boost Australia's ability to capitalize on the growing global gluten-free market. "As it expands, certainly some growers will benefit, this will be a premium grain," said Phil Larkin, research manager for healthy cereals at CSIRO. The new "gluten-free" barley is part of Australia's push to become Asia's delicatessen, supplying premium agricultural products like finger limes, olive oil, honey, wagyu beef and organic baby food to the region's growing middle class. While the diagnosis of gluten-related disorders such as coeliac disease has increased, the majority of consumer growth in the sector has come from non suffers. However, gluten-free beer has seen only small gains, curbed by differing global standards of what is considered gluten-free. The United States plans to tighten requirements on manufacturers of gluten-free beer to prove their claims. Kebari barley is not a product of genetically modified farming, but a decades program of breeding out the gluten by cross-breeding low gluten barley varieties, said the CSIRO. Production of the new strain of barley, which has been patented by CSIRO, will be strictly controlled within Australia, limiting farmer access to seeds, in order to prevent cross contamination, said the government-funded scientific body. (Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Michael Perry) Brussels (AFP) - A Belgian appeals court on Thursday increased top jihadist recruiter Khalid Zerkani's sentence to 15 years in prison for enlisting dozens of people, including key suspects in the Brussels and Paris attacks. He is "the biggest recruiter of jihadists Belgium has ever known," federal prosecutor Bernard Michel had said during a court hearing in February. Moroccan-born Zerkani, 42, who has denied all charges, was originally sentenced in July 2015 to 12 years behind bars, but appealed. The higher court however chose to increase his sentence to the maximum 15-year term. His "attitude of obvious denial" showed that he had not changed his stance in the least, the appeal court said. Zerkani, also known under the nom de guerre Abu Riad, wasn't present to hear the appeal court decision. Emerging as a central figure in the jihadist super-cell behind the attacks in both Brussels and Paris, the bearded, balding and pot-bellied jihad recruiter's influence was crucial to a vast terror network. "Zerkani perverted a whole generation", particularly in the troubled Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek, prosecutor Michel told a courtroom in February, when Zerkani and 31 others were sentenced for their ties to terrorism inspired by the Islamic State group. "He was active in recruiting, logistics, financial help and even in prison, he encouraged other inmates to take up the jihad banner," Michel had said. Zerkani's original conviction happened before the IS bombings last month at Brussels airport and a metro station in the city, in which 32 people were killed, and the attacks in Paris last November when a total of 130 people died. He was arrested by police in 2014 after he defied authorities for years with his off-the-radar recruitment of jihadists for Syria in the gritty Molenbeek district. His recruits included Najim Laachraoui, who blew himself up at Brussels airport on March 22, and who had prepared the explosives for the attacks in both Brussels and Paris. Story continues Another Zerkani recruit was Paris attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, one of the suspected gunmen in the attacks in the French capital, court documents showed. Abaaoud was killed in a raid by French police days after the November carnage. Zerkani was "the emir, the leader", a suspect identified as Yacine E. told investigators in a deposition leaked to Belgian daily La Derniere Heure. With his long beard, he was nicknamed the jihadist "Father Christmas" on the streets of Molenbeek by his young followers whom he provided with the money to travel to Syria. Belgium is Europe's per capita biggest supplier of foreign jihadists, with some 500 leaving for Syria and Iraq from a population of 11 million. By Allegresse Sasse COTONOU (Reuters) - Voters in Benin cast ballots on Sunday in a run-off election that pitted outgoing President Thomas Boni Yayi's hand-picked successor against his former ally turned political rival in a highly competitive race. By relinquishing power after serving two terms in office, Boni Yayi stands in contrast to leaders in other African nations, including Burundi, Rwanda and Congo Republic, who have altered their constitutions in order to extend their rule. Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou, a former economist and investment banker backed by both Boni Yayi and the main opposition Democratic Renewal Party, won a March 6 first round of voting. However, he has had to overcome the perception that having spent the bulk of his career abroad he is an outsider in his own country. "Elections are really something that bring us all together. It's a day of peace and hope," he said after casting his ballot. Zinsou faces Patrice Talon, a businessman and once a powerful figure in the West African nation's cornerstone cotton sector, who finished just over 3 percentage points behind the prime minister in the first round. Talon was a staunch supporter of Boni Yayi before falling out of favour with the president, who later accused him of involvement in a plot to poison him. Mediation efforts led to a presidential pardon however, and Talon returned from exile in France in October. "I have the impression that our country's renaissance is already under way. The renaissance will come, and I am going to win," Talon said after voting on Sunday. Early turnout for the polls was light as many voters were in church for Palm Sunday services. Security forces were deployed near polling stations and few problems were reported early on. "I am happy that everything is calm in Benin. I'm confident everything will be fine. Democracy is working," said Paul Abjibi, shortly after voting in Abomey-Calavi, a town just outside the commercial capital Cotonou. There was no clear front-runner in the poll, and campaigning centred largely on how to best revive the economy, which is flagging in part due to falling oil prices that have hit its neighbour and largest trading partner Nigeria. Civil society groups denounced both candidates' campaigns on Friday for allegedly distributing cash in an attempt to buy votes. On Sunday, the principal donor-funded civil society observation platform claimed that ballot box stuffing had been reported in the Collines administrative district in the centre of Benin as well as in Atacora in the north. The election is nonetheless expected to reinforce the democratic credentials of tiny Benin, which became the first nation in West Africa to move from dictatorship and single-party rule to multi-party democracy when it held elections in 1991. (Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Hugh Lawson) By Allegresse Sasse COTONOU (Reuters) - Benin wrapped up voting on Sunday in a run-off election that pitted outgoing President Thomas Boni Yayi's hand-picked successor against his former ally turned political rival in a highly competitive race. By relinquishing power after serving two terms in office, Boni Yayi stands in contrast to leaders in other African nations, including Burundi, Rwanda and Congo Republic, who have altered their constitutions in order to extend their rule. Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou, a former economist and investment banker backed by both Boni Yayi and the main opposition Democratic Renewal Party, won a March 6 first round of voting. However, he has had to overcome the perception that having spent the bulk of his career abroad he is an outsider in his own country. "Elections are really something that bring us all together. It's a day of peace and hope," he said after casting his ballot. Zinsou faces Patrice Talon, a businessman and once a powerful figure in the West African nation's cornerstone cotton sector, who finished just over 3 percentage points behind the prime minister in the first round. Talon was a staunch supporter of Boni Yayi before falling out of favour with the president, who later accused him of involvement in a plot to poison him. Mediation efforts led to a presidential pardon however, and Talon returned from exile in France in October. "I have the impression that our country's renaissance is already under way. The renaissance will come, and I am going to win," Talon said after voting on Sunday. Early turnout for the polls was light as many voters were in church for Palm Sunday services. And while more cast their ballots later in the day, observers said they believed overall participation levels were lower than in the first round when turnout was around 64 percent. Poll worker immediately began counting ballots after voting ended in the late afternoon. Provisional results were expected to be announced by the elections commission as early as Monday. "I am happy that everything is calm in Benin. I'm confident everything will be fine. Democracy is working," said Paul Abjibi, shortly after voting in Abomey-Calavi, a town just outside the commercial capital Cotonou. There was no clear front-runner in the poll, and campaigning centred largely on how to best revive the economy, which is flagging in part due to falling oil prices that have hit its neighbour and largest trading partner Nigeria. Civil society groups denounced both candidates' campaigns on Friday for allegedly distributing cash in an attempt to buy votes. On Sunday, the principal donor-funded civil society observation platform claimed that ballot box stuffing had been reported in the Collines administrative district in the centre of Benin as well as in Atacora in the north. The election is nonetheless expected to reinforce the democratic credentials of tiny Benin, which became the first nation in West Africa to move from dictatorship and single-party rule to multi-party democracy when it held elections in 1991. (Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Raissa Kasolowsky) Paris (AFP) - One of the world's top television series festivals -- Series Mania -- opens in Paris Friday with "The Sopranos" creator David Chase chairing a jury that will choose the best of the new small-screen epics from across the globe. The official competition, the first of its type for a festival aimed at the public as well as the TV industry, has eight new series including US crime writer Harlan Coben's "The Five" competing for the Grand Prix. The two-week-long festival -- which first brought the Israeli series "Hatufim" on which "Homeland" is based to international attention -- has grown into one of the most popular and influential in the world, attracting 22,000 people last year. Director Laurence Herszberg she has been taken aback by the public hunger to see high-quality series, and plans a major expansion next year. "We have become a reference for foreign and French producers and distributors including now the Americans, who are beginning to arrive in numbers," she said. "We are a bit taken back by our own success and we have had to turn away people who have wanted to come," she admitted. - Undercover cop - The Argentinian series "El Marginal" about a cop who goes undercover in a prison effectively run by its inmates is one of the hottest tickets this year, with equally good word-of-mouth for the Belgian series "Beau Sejour", which is also being premiered in the main competition. More than 60 other series from Japan to Australia and Scandinavia are also being shown with Herszberg saying the festival's global reach is what sets it apart. "That is one of biggest differences now. Before everyone watched US series and maybe British ones which have always been excellent." But now, thanks partly to the success of the Danish political series "Borgen", she said, "people are much more willing to watch series from all over the world whether with subtitles or not". Story continues The Israeli series "False Flag" is emblematic of that change, she told AFP. It won the audience award at Series Mania last year and has since been snapped up by Fox, the first foreign language series that the US distributors intend to roll out globally. Critic Pierre Langlais of Telerama magazine said another key to the festival's success was the quality of its masterclasses with Chase to be joined on stage by Cuba Gooding Jr., "Dexter" showrunner Clyde Phllips, director Matthew Penn and the acclaimed British writers Stephen Poliakoff and Tony Grisoni of "Southcliffe" fame. "The quality of the debates and the selection make it a unique forum," he said. "It is an enormous success, and has an undeniable impact at a European level... and there are more and more people coming." Langlais said the industry section of the festival, now run over three days, is on also on the up, with 16 series in development being presented to some 300 potential backers. Herszberg said it was already becoming a "major forum for co-production and work in progress and we would like to continue to develop that." Americans dont want just speed and convenience at their favorite fast-food restaurants. Increasingly, they are demanding some of the same features associated with more elegant dining options, including higher food quality and menu variety. Some fast-food chains are meeting these demands better than others, according to an annual ranking from industry analyst Nations Restaurant News. The magazine surveyed 37,339 fast-food customers and ranked the chains on ten qualities: atmosphere, cleanliness, craveability, food quality, likely to recommend, likely to return, menu variety, reputation, service and value. Among the highlights is Smashburger, which moved up 40 places this year from 2015 and was the second-highest-ranking burger joint after the longstanding favorite In-N-Out Burger. Part of Smashburgers success comes from its increased marketing to Millennials using Instagram and Snapchat. The chain also runs popular promotional menu items such as the Sin City Burger, which features bacon, cheese, onions and a fried egg. (The company slyly suggests the burger can cure anything, even a hangover.) Slideshow: The 25 Best Fast-Food Restaurants in 2016 Slideshow: The 25 Worst Fast-Food Restaurants in 2016 In the last year, California-based Rubios has been remaking its image, moving away from its Mexican roots and focusing more on seafood. The chain is transitioning its name from Rubios Fresh Mexican Grill to Rubios Coastal Grill and rolling out a new restaurant design. It is also promoting a more health-conscious menu featuring all-natural chicken with no antibiotics and bacon with no nitrites or nitrates. The moves have helped the chain improve ranking this year. The same cant be said for Chipotle Mexican Grill, which endured a PR nightmare after two E. coli outbreaks infected dozens of diners across the country. The CDC announced in February that the outbreak is over, but the damage to the chains reputation had been done. Same-store sales at the restaurant company plunged 36.4 percent in January. Its ranking among fast-food chains plummeted 38 spots from last year. Story continues Click here to find the best fast-food restaurants this year and the worst. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Despite efforts by Congress and the Obama administration, the federal government is still hemorrhaging tens of billions dollars every year on duplicative programs. The Government Accountability Office sixth annual report detailing fragmentation, overlap and duplication in the federal government pinpoints 37 areas where a host of agencies offered 92 fresh suggestions on how they could generate billions of dollars in savings over the next five years. Related: Audit Uncovers $124.7 B of Overpayments and Fraud in Medicare and Medicaid Between 2011 and 2015, GAO made 544 cost-saving recommendations to Congress and the executive branch. Forty-one percent of those have been implemented, which has saved taxpayers approximately $56 billion; another $69 billion could be saved in the next decade. The Internal Revenue Service and the Defense and Health and Human Services departments are the biggest offenders identified in the new study. For instance, the Pentagon could save tens of millions annually if the agency would centralize and enforce the existing acquisition policies in terms of purchasing commercial satellite communications (SATCOM) services. Related: Why Social Securitys Crackdown on Disability Fraud Is Coming Up Short As for the IRS, the agency could potentially collect billions in tax underpayments and help close the annual $385 billion tax gap if it better coordinated its nine public referral programs, efforts that allow whistleblowers to report scofflaws. The IRS currently doesnt have any way for those nine disparate programs to communicate with one another and to make matters worse, the efforts involve largely manual processes. Until IRS takes these actions, it may be missing opportunities to assist the public, collect billions in uncollected taxes owed, and leverage resources to streamline processes, which could help it to better coordinate and identify possible efficiencies, as well as better manage fragmentation and overlap, according to GAO. Story continues Meanwhile, there is also redundant federal spending on health insurance coverage for individuals transitioning between Medicaid and federally subsidized state exchanges set up via Obamacare. Related: Democratic Senators Demand Investigation of $3 Billion in Wasted Bio-Drugs Testifying about the report on Wednesday, U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro told House lawmakers that the government could save more money through a host of actions, such as: eliminating overpayments by the Social Security Administration; granting federal agencies use of excess Pentagon facilities and ammunition so we dont have to buy it twice; and raising fees, some of which have not been increased in 20 years, to deal with things like deferred maintenance at national parks. Members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hailed the report and the work of the GAO, but nonetheless used the hearing to gripe about the glacial pace of implementing cost-saving measures. Why do we need to come back year after year to discuss the same actions? asked chair Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). Taking action at just three agencies -- the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Internal Revenue Service -- if we did just those three, we would save literally billions upon billions of dollars. New York (AFP) - Garage rockers The Black Keys have voiced regret over inducting Steve Miller into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, calling the experimental bluesman thoroughly unpleasant. Miller, one of five acts honored by the Hall of Fame on Friday, jolted the New York ceremony by lashing out at the institution, calling it a boys' club that unethically tries to cash in on artists. In the tradition of the three-decade-old Hall of Fame, fellow artists, often younger stars inspired by the inductees, introduce them with praise at the ceremony. But in a highly unusual admission, Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach said that he and bandmate Pat Carney regret their speech for Miller. "We were so disappointed that as soon as we got offstage, we left while he was playing," Auerbach told Rolling Stone in an interview published Wednesday. Auerbach said that Miller did not know who The Black Keys were and, in his sole attempt at conversation, told them of his problems with the Hall of Fame. "He said, 'The whole process was unpleasant.' And for Pat and I, honestly, the most unpleasant part was being around him," he said. "It was just a real eye-opener for us. Because as we get older, I hope that when I'm in my twilight years, I can look back and be grateful to the people who have appreciated me and to be able to give back," he said. Auerbach voiced particular regret that Miller's comments overshadowed the "message of positivity" by critically acclaimed hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar as he inducted gangsta rap pioneers N.W.A., who Lamar said offered hope to residents of their rough hometown of Compton, California. Miller, best known for his 1973 hit "The Joker," emerged from the dynamic cultural mix of 1960s San Francisco as he brought blues, jazz and Americana roots music together into a psychedelic mix. Miller, in remarks to reporters after his induction, said the Hall of Fame tried to "steal" the rights to footage and had hard-pressed his band members to pay $10,000 a ticket to attend. By Serena Chaudhry LONDON (Reuters) - The Indian film industry is changing and films no longer have to have a song and dance sequence to be successful, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan said on Wednesday. Khan, who was in London on a brief visit to promote his latest film, told Reuters in an interview that while "Fan" had a theme song, it did not actually feature in the movie and had been used purely for trailers. "The younger filmmakers and everyone, they know that, you know, we dont need to just shove in a song anymore," he said. "I dont think its going to take away. Itll take a lot of time to take the songs out of us, but every film will have a different requirement, he said. Bollywood films traditionally have had complex musical scores and film makers have rarely resisted the temptation to insert a song and dance sequence into a film. Some films' success rates have been dependent more on the music than the plot. Khans latest film, which is being released globally on Friday, sees the actor playing a double role in which a lookalike fan is obsessed with a film star. On Wednesday, Khan revealed a waxwork model dressed as the lookalike fan, Gaurav, at Madame Tussauds museum in central London. When asked if he had ever met his lookalike in person, he said many fans often dressed like him. "I'm a very common looking guy. I have a person who dresses up like me and they all wear dark glasses so they're kind of similar and they speak like me, in Kolkata. I have a boy called Prashant in Mumbai. I meet lots of lookalikes. Even on Twitter if you go, there's people who dress up. Before my eye surgery, I would confuse lots of them for my own pictures." The 50-year-old actor said he enjoyed using social media platforms to engage with his admirers. Khan has 19 million followers on Twitter and said he reads 90 percent of the content directed at him. However, the actor said he had shied away from using other platforms after his daughter criticized his pictures on Instagram, saying he was using too many color filters on his images. Khan, who has been acting for more than two decades, is regarded as a pioneer in the Indian film industry for experimenting with using graphics and special effects in his films. The makeup for his character Gaurav was done by the same artist who created Brad Pitts look in the 2008 film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". But when asked about making animation movies, Khan said Bollywood was at least another five to 10 years away from embracing the genre. "It requires special writing. I think we haven't perfected that art in India. So we need writers and screenplay writers for an animation, I think from the West," he said. "Animation in India so far has not done very well. I think we still need to crack the code. (Editing by Hugh Lawson) By Alonso Soto BRASILIA (Reuters) - President Dilma Rousseff's fate in an impeachment vote in Brazil's Congress on Sunday is being decided in deals struck at lunch tables and behind the mirrored windows of luxury hotels in Brasilia, where the tide has turned decisively against her. Rousseff's survival hinges on winning over a dwindling number of undecided lawmakers who are also being courted by the man poised to take over if she is ousted, Vice President Michel Temer. Frenzied horse trading by both camps is taking place not only in their offices and official residences but inside congressional cafes and corridors, and in the glossy eateries of the futuristic capital. At the luxurious Royal Tulip hotel - a marble-floored red crescent on the outskirts of Brasilia that is home-from-home for Brazil's political elite - former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has set up camp with the aim of saving Rousseff, his protege and successor. Rousseff faces impeachment on charges of breaking budget laws to support her re-election in 2014, and her position has been weakened by a deep recession and a massive corruption scandal centered on state oil company Petrobras. A former Marxist guerilla and now Brazil's first female leader, Rousseff denies any wrongdoing and has branded the process a "coup" to strip power from her leftist Workers' Party, which has won four straight presidential elections. The situation remains fluid, legislators said, but there is a growing sense that even Lula's storied negotiating skills - which helped him rise from a union leader to Brazil's first working class president - cannot secure the one-third of votes in the lower house of Congress needed to save Rousseff. "Lula is a superb negotiator but it's too late," said a senior senator from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) led by Temer. "These smaller parties ... want to be on the winning side." The biggest force in Congress, the PMDB broke with the unpopular Rousseff last month after spending a decade in the ruling coalition. It has been followed in recent days by a series of smaller parties that have thrown their weight behind impeaching her. If the lower house votes on Sunday to send Rousseff for impeachment in the Senate, the upper house could agree as early as May to hold the trial. At that point, Rousseff would be suspended for up to six months and Temer would take over. She has branded him a traitor. Aides to Rousseff insist Lula could yet save her, despite corruption charges hanging over him. A hero to many poor Brazilians thanks to anti-poverty programs launched by his government, Lula would be the front-runner for the 2018 presidential election should he choose to run, polls say. "People trust him and we are betting on that to win on Sunday," said one aide on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak to the media. Another Rousseff confidant said Lula has been tasked with leading negotiations over senior government jobs and ministries in a new coalition. "It's a tough negotiation because Temer's group is negotiating in parallel with the same people," he said. With poppy Bossa Nova echoing amid the curved walls of its jasmine-scented lobby, the Royal Tulip hotel seems an unlikely setting for Brazil's bitter political warfare. Yet insiders say it is here that Lula is waging his campaign to convince PMDB lawmakers to defy Temer and vote against impeaching Rousseff. CARROTS AND STICKS The government's principal weapon is the ability to offer up positions in ministries with enormous budgets to lawmakers in exchange for their loyalty, along with ramped up pork barrel spending for their pet projects. But those enticements only work if lawmakers have faith that Rousseff will actually survive, and they increasingly do not. Temer and the ardent pro-impeachment factions have growing momentum among lawmakers ahead of Sunday's vote, making it easier for them to convince lawmakers that siding with Rousseff is pointless if she will soon no longer be the president. "What can Lula offer? Any promises have a short time span," said a senior PMDB official close to Temer and involved in the negotiations. "Politicians have a big sense of survival. We can offer them governability." The shift in Congress toward impeachment allows Temer's camp to simply offer up the same rewards of government jobs and pork spending to legislators who vote against Rousseff. It has also happened just as polls show the public's appetite for impeachment has slightly diminished. The Datafolha polling group's latest survey taken on April 7-8 showed that 61 percent of Brazilians favor impeachment - down from 68 percent three weeks earlier. As part of the negotiations, Ricardo Barros, a lawmaker with the Progressive Party (PP), was recently floated as top candidate to take over as Rousseff's next health minister, the ministry with the largest budget. But the PP broke away from the Rousseff coalition on Tuesday and Barros told Reuters he would vote now for her impeachment. Denouncing "this delivery of government jobs" in return for votes, Barros said that what should matter is whether or not lawmakers think Rousseff committed an impeachable offense. Whoever is in Brasilia's modernist Planalto presidential palace in the wake of the impeachment process will have accrued a large number of political debts. That means a future government will have to share power and policy-making more widely -- something the Workers' Party has been criticized for failing to do during 13 years in power. For Jose Cardoso, 70, a retiree who lives in Brasilias blue collar commuter suburb of Taguatinga, the round of frenzied political negotiations is another disappointment "These negotiations are just another means of putting money in the pockets of the politicians," he said. "I don't believe in politicians but something has to change. They cannot stay like they are. I think she needs to leave the presidency." (Additional reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello and Brad Brooks in Brasilia; Writing by Brad Brooks; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Kieran Murray) By Anthony Boadle and Lisandra Paraguassu BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff resorted to the Supreme Court on Thursday in a last ditch attempt to avert a critical impeachment vote in Congress that could lead to her removal from office. Rousseff's attorney general, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, asked the top court for an injunction to suspend Sunday's lower house vote until the full court can rule on what he called procedural flaws in the impeachment process. The Supreme Court has called an extraordinary meeting for 5:30 p.m. (2030 GMT) to discuss a complaint by a party allied to Rousseff over the impeachment procedure. Rousseff, an unpopular leader already struggling with Brazil's worst economic crisis in decades and a historic corruption scandal, has lost support within her governing coalition. She faces the growing likelihood of defeat in the lower house vote, which would send her impeachment to the Senate for trial on charges of breaking budget laws. If the Senate accepts her impeachment, Rousseff would be suspended and replaced by Vice President Michel Temer as soon as early May pending a trial that could last six months. Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla, had not been expected to resort to the Supreme Court until after Sunday's vote. Cardozo's request to the court was seen as a sign her government now expects defeat. Rousseff's opponents are just nine votes short of victory in the lower house, with 333 lawmakers backing impeachment, 124 opposed and 56 undecided or declining to respond, according to a survey by the Estado de S.Paulo newspaper. An injunction by the Supreme Court suspending Sunday's vote is possible but unlikely, because several of its justices have recently said they do not think the court should interfere with the legislature's jurisdiction in the impeachment battle. The injunction request will be decided by Justice Edson Fachin. He is the most recent appointee to the court by Rousseff, though his rulings have not always favored her government. Brazil's largest political party, Rousseff's main coalition partner until it broke away two weeks ago, said most of its members in the lower house will back deposing her. Leonardo Picciani, the lower chamber leader for the party, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB, told reporters that 90 percent of the 68 members of his caucus would vote for impeachment. The move could push Brazil from political paralysis into a chaotic power vacuum by ending the 13-year rule of Rousseffs leftist Workers' Party, which has lifted millions of Brazilians out of poverty and is overwhelmingly supported by the countrys poor. Rousseff is not a being investigated in the massive graft scandal surrounding state-run oil company Petrobras that has reached into her inner circle. She denies she broke budget laws, but opponents allege that accounting tricks helped her win re-election in 2014 by boosting public spending. Temer, who would serve out Rousseff's term until 2018 if she is ousted by the Senate, has little popular support. He would face a daunting task restoring confidence in a country where dozens of political leaders, including close associates of his, are under investigation for corruption. Vowing to fight to the end, Rousseff met with her political advisers as her government scrambled for votes to block impeachment, but defections by several centrist allies in her crumbling coalition have seriously compromised that effort. Cardozo, Rousseff's former justice minister and the government's main legal adviser, has said previously that the impeachment process was unconstitutional. In his appeal to the Supreme Court on Thursday, he asked it to annul the report to the lower house by a congressional committee that recommended impeachment on Monday. He told a news conference Rousseff's defense had been obstructed in the committee and that testimony from a former of the president, Senator Delcidio Amaral, was obtained as part of a plea bargain deal and should have been considered inadmissible. (Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello, Lisandra Paraguassu and Anthony Boadle,; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Tom Brown) By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Britain should stay in the EU "warts and all", the opposition Labour leader will say on Thursday, making his first big intervention in the referendum campaign as he seeks to counter criticism he is not doing enough to persuade his voters to back the "In" campaign. While Labour's official position is that Britain should remain in the bloc, Jeremy Corbyn has long been eurosceptic and initially refused to rule out campaigning to leave the bloc when he was elected leader last year. Although he has since said he backs "In", some in his party feel he has not been a vocal enough opponent of Brexit. With opinion polls showing the contest remains tight ahead of the June 23 vote and Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives deeply divided over Europe, securing Labour voters' support is seen as vital to the 'In' camp winning. "Labour is convinced that a vote to remain is in the best interests of the people of this country," Corbyn will say in a speech in London, according to extracts released by his office. "You cannot build a better world unless you engage with the world, build allies and deliver change. The EU, warts and all, has proved itself to be a crucial international framework to do that." Corbyn will say the EU has brought protections for workers and consumers and improved environmental standards, but insist more must be done to reform the bloc to make it more accountable to voters and boost jobs and economic growth. Seeking to address the attention on his past views and the fact he voted "No" to Britain's membership of the forerunner to the EU in a 1975 referendum, Corbyn will say the bloc was a smaller, purely market-driven arrangement at that point. "Over the years I have continued to be critical of many decisions taken by the EU and I remain critical of its shortcomings," he will say. "Europe needs to change. But that change can only come from working with our allies in the EU. It's perfectly possible to be critical and still be convinced we need to remain a member". But "Out" campaign group Leave.EU accused the Labour leader's team of "attempting to whitewash his eurosceptic past." (Editing by Stephen Addison) By Emma Batha LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Hibo Wardere's childhood ended abruptly at six years old when she was led to a hut outside her Mogadishu home, pinned to the floor and subjected to the most brutal form of female genital mutilation (FGM). As a wizened old woman hacked between her legs with a rusty blade, the little girl screamed out repeatedly for her "mummy" - the person she loved and trusted most in the world. But her mother turned away. From that day on she never called her "mummy" again. Like all girls in Somalia who undergo FGM, Wardere was told never to speak about what had happened. But 40 years on, she is determined to break the secrecy that she said perpetuates this "barbaric and medieval abuse". This week sees the publication of her memoir "Cut", the first book about FGM in Britain where Wardere has lived since fleeing civil war in Somalia as a teenager. "I felt as if someone had dropped me into bright orange molten lava," she wrote, recalling the day she was cut. "From head to toe the pain burned ... exploding in my brain ... every nerve ending screaming in agony." But worse was the complete sense of betrayal by her mother. "My life changed forever," Wardere told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "It severed the closeness, the bond, the trust - everything was gone." Wardere, a mother of seven from northeast London, is part of a growing anti-FGM campaign in Britain, where an estimated 137,000 women and girls are believed to have been cut and 60,000 girls are thought to be at risk. She works for a new government-led FGM prevention program, talking to teachers, school children, medical staff and the police. Her message is simple: FGM is child abuse and everyone has a duty to end it. PURITY RITE FGM nearly cost Wardere her life and she remembers many girls who never reappeared from their huts. Yet the practice remains almost universal in Somalia where parents see it as an important purification rite designed to protect a girl's virginity. Many also believe the ritual, called gudnin in Somalia, is a religious duty even though it predates Islam and is not mentioned in the Koran. In most cases the cutter removes the girls' external genitalia and then sews up the opening, sometimes with a thorn. "What remains ... can only be described as looking like what's between the legs of a Barbie doll. It is ... a complete denial of womanhood," she wrote. FGM often causes a lifetime of physical, psychological and sexual problems. Urination can take 15 minutes, menstruation is agonizing, chronic infections are common. Later in life, FGM can lead to serious and even fatal childbirth injuries. The book relates how Wardere's cousin was cut open on her wedding night to consummate the marriage. Many young women begin married life in hospital, she said. FLASHBACKS Wardere has suffered nightmares and flashbacks throughout her life. As she gave birth to her first son, the images in her mind were not of her baby about to be born, but of the cutter and her bag of rusty razors. "I was an absolute emotional wreck. I was crying non-stop. My husband kept saying: 'Look at the baby, hug the baby'. But every part of me was in pain and remembering my mutilation," she said. "You feel like you are being ripped apart again. You don't associate anything good with that part of your body. It was horrific." Wardere met her husband soon after arriving in London and she said they have a strong and devoted marriage, but intimacy has been fraught with difficulties. She said it is not uncommon for men to cheat on or divorce their wives because they do not have a fulfilling sex life. It is a cruel irony, she said, that girls are cut to "preserve" them for their husbands yet the damage done may cause their husbands to abandon them. Shortly before her death, Wardere's mother asked her daughter to forgive her. But her belief in FGM was so entrenched that she still did not understand why Wardere would never cut her own daughters. GIRLS CUT IN UK In Britain, FGM is practised by communities originating from countries including Somalia, Nigeria, Eritrea, Sudan and Sierra Leone. Among Somalis, Wardere believes 60 percent of women of her generation are still cutting their daughters because of pressure from their families and wider community. Wardere said FGM often happens during the summer holidays "the cutting season" so that girls have time to recover before school starts again. Many are taken abroad to their parents' home countries, but it is widely believed that cutters are also flown into Britain. FGM has been illegal in Britain since 1985 but for decades the authorities turned a blind eye. However, Wardere said there has been a massive change in attitude. In the last few years the government has introduced initiatives to identify and protect girls at risk, help women already living with FGM and improve specialist maternity care. It is also funding program to eradicate FGM in Africa. "I think the world is waking up now," Wardere said. (Editing by Alex Whiting; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.) By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Swedish man held in Belgium on suspicion of taking part in last month's Islamic State attacks on Brussels is talking to investigators, his lawyer said on Thursday, after Osama Krayem's detention was extended by a month. Krayem, who was charged with terrorist murder after his arrest in Brussels last Friday, is accused of being the man seen with suicide bomber Khalid El Bakraoui minutes before he blew himself up on a metro train. Police are still searching for a rucksack Krayem was carrying that may have contained a bomb. "He walked away. He turned back," defense counsel Vincent Lurquin told reporters. "We must ask ourselves why?" "He's talking. That means the investigation is progressing," Lurquin added, saying his client's cooperation could help understand what motivated the attackers and who gave the orders. Among five other suspects whose detention was extended by a month was Mohamed Abrini. He is accused of having accompanied two suicide bombers to Brussels Airport before leaving behind a bomb in a bag and walking back into the city. Belgian media group Sudpresse quoted an unidentified source as saying Abrini had told a magistrate he had been forced to go to the airport but had not detonated his device: "I was never in Syria. I wouldn't hurt a fly," it quoted Abrini, 31, as saying. On the run since November's Paris attacks, Abrini was dubbed the "man in the hat" after he was seen on CCTV on March 22 with airport bombers Najim Laachraoui and Brahim El Bakraoui, elder brother of the metro bomber El Bakraoui. Sudpresse said Abrini blamed the Bakraouis for forcing him. Their plan, he said, was to hit three check-in lines - for flights to the United States, Russia and Israel. On Wednesday, Islamic State hailed the Bakraouis for a role in preparing attacks in both Paris and Brussels. Abrini is accused of helping organize the Nov. 13 attacks that killed 130 in Paris with Salah Abdeslam, another Brussels man. According to an earlier statement by Abrini, Abdeslam's arrest on March 18 prompted the conspirators to push forward plans for a follow-up attack in Brussels and to carry it out four days later. Krayem, using a fake Syrian passport, was registered by German police in a car rented by Abdeslam the month before the Paris attacks. Investigators believe he returned to Europe from Islamic State's Syrian base among refugees reaching Greece. Separately on Thursday, a Brussels appeal court increased to 15 years from 12 the sentence handed down last July to Khalid Zerkani for recruiting young Belgians to fight in Syria. Dubbed the "Santa Claus" of jihad by Arab youths in the Brussels borough of Molenbeek, Zerkani was accused of recruiting among others Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is believed to have been a key local organizer of the Paris attacks. Abaaoud died in a gun battle with French police five days after the bloodshed. (Additional reporting by Reuters Television, editing by Larry King) By Nate Raymond and Lawrence Delevingne NEW YORK (Reuters) - A businessman at the center of a federal corruption probe involving New York police officers and Mayor Bill de Blasio's fundraising helped arrange an investment by the correction officers' union in a hedge fund, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Jona Rechnitz, who heads a New York real estate firm, referred the president of the city's Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, Norman Seabrook, to Platinum Partners, which received an investment of at least $10 million, the source said. The probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office is examining whether police officers received gifts and travel from businessmen in exchange for favors, said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly. The investigation continues to make headlines in New York and has already resulted in the reassignment of five high-ranking members of the New York Police Department. The connection of Platinum Partners to the probe, which is examining Rechnitz and Seabrook, was first reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier on Thursday. Reuters on Wednesday was first to report the union invested in Platinum Partners. Marc Harris, Rechnitz's lawyer, and a spokesman for the union declined to comment. A spokesman for Platinum, a New York-based midsized hedge fund led by Mark Nordlicht, declined to comment. The probe has centered on two businessmen, Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, both of whom have ties to de Blasio, whose 2013 campaign committee has hired a criminal defense lawyer amid reports its fundraising efforts are being scrutinized. Rechnitz and Reichberg served on de Blasio's inaugural committee in 2013. Rechnitz contributed to his campaign, while Reichberg helped raise money for a nonprofit controlled by de Blasio advisers to support the mayor's goals. The investigation has also included former Chief of Department Phillip Banks, once the police department's highest-ranking uniformed officer, and Seabrook, head of the correction officers union, the source said. Story continues Banks earned $250,000 to $500,000 from unspecified investments from JSR Capital Inc, Rechnitz's real estate firm, according to a financial disclosure report Banks filed in 2014. A lawyer for Banks has previously denied wrongdoing. De Blasio has said that he was confident his campaign and administration had not committed any improprieties. On Tuesday, de Blasio told reporters that a lawyer for his campaign, Barry Berke, had reached out to prosecutors to say "we would like to be helpful in any way we can." (Additional reporting by Joseph Ax in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis) SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California university has paid consultants at least $175,000 to counteract the effects of negative Internet posts about the school and its chancellor after campus police sparked outrage in 2011 by pepper-spraying student protesters, the Sacramento Bee reported on Wednesday. The incident led the University of California, Davis, to replace its police chief and briefly thrust the campus near the state capital, Sacramento, to the forefront of national anti-Wall Street demonstrations. UC Davis released the documents to the newspaper in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The Bee published the contracts - awarded to Nevins & Associates and IDMLOCO - online. The campaigns aimed to "expedite the eradication of references to the pepper spray incident in search results on Google" and "achieve a reasonable balance of positive natural search results" for the school and Chancellor Linda Katehi, the documents showed. Representatives for the school could not be immediately reached for comment. UC Davis spokeswoman Dana Topousis told the Bee: "We have worked to ensure that the reputation of the university, which the chancellor leads, is fairly portrayed." The two consulting firms could not be immediately reached. Video of the confrontation, which showed seated student protesters being pepper-sprayed by campus police, was replayed widely on television and on the Internet and angered faculty and activists. The incident came to symbolize law enforcement aggression against anti-Wall Street protesters, and school officials agreed in September 2012 to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed over the actions. A former campus policeman, Lieutenant John Pike, was awarded $38,000 in 2013 after filing a worker's compensation claim citing unspecified psychiatric and nervous system damage he said he suffered from the incident. A report on the incident found that university officials and UC Davis police used poor judgment and excessive force in the confrontation. Story continues The Sacramento Bee reported the school signed a six-month contract with Nevins in 2013 at $15,000 a month, and awarded IDMLOCO an $82,500 contract in June 2014. IDMLOCO won two more contracts in 2015, the newspaper said. The newspaper also said the budget for the school's strategic communications office nearly doubled to $5.47 million by 2015 after Katehi became chancellor in 2009. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Cooney) SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California lawmaker on Thursday joined at least three of his colleagues in seeking the resignation of University of California, Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi a day after reports surfaced that the school spent $175,000 to quash negative Internet posts. Democratic Assemblyman Mike Gatto, whose district is in the Los Angeles area, cited the image campaign and a recent controversy over Katehi's acceptance of paid seats on the boards of a for-profit education group and a textbook company. Those issues combined suggested "the best interests of the students weren't being served," Gatto said in a statement. Democratic Assemblymen Kevin McCarty, Luis Alejo and Evan Low all asked for Katehi to step down last month, following reports Katehi had accepted paid seats on the boards of DeVry Education Group and textbook publisher John Wiley & Sons. Katehi apologized last month in a letter to students for her role at DeVry, saying it violated UC policy and that she had resigned the seat. She said her time between 2011 and 2014 on the board of John Wiley & Sons, however, did comply with university policy. On Wednesday, the Sacramento Bee newspaper published documents online showing the university had paid consultants at least $175,000 to quash negative Internet posts about the school and its chancellor after campus police sparked outrage in 2011 by pepper-spraying student protesters. University spokeswoman Dana Topousis defended the school's communications spending, saying in a statement on Thursday that news of the work being done by dedicated students and faculty at the university should not be lost in a tidal wave of posts that can follow negative incidents. "Increased investment in social media and communications strategy has heightened the profile of the university to good effect," Topousis said in the statement. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Chris Reese and Dan Grebler) By Leah Schnurr OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Liberal government on Thursday unveiled draft legislation on doctor-assisted suicide which would apply to adults suffering incurable illness or disability but stopped short of extending it to minors or the mentally ill for now. Legislators will vote on the draft law, which applies only to Canadians and residents in the country, in the next few weeks. The law is expected to pass because Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals have a majority in Parliament. The Supreme Court of Canada overturned a ban on physician-assisted suicide last year but gave the new government extra time to pass legislation, adding Canada to the handful of Western countries that allow the practice. Trudeau, whose father declined treatment for cancer before his 2000 death, said Canadians were "extremely seized with this issue." "It's a deeply personal issue that affects all of us and our families and all of us individually as we approach the end of our lives," he told reporters. "The plan we have put forward is one that respects Canadians' choices while putting in place the kinds of safeguards needed." Polls show physician-assisted suicide has broad support in Canada but the issue has divided politicians in Parliament as they grapple with how to protect vulnerable Canadians while respecting their rights and choices at the end of life. Under the law, patients would have to make a written request for medical assistance in dying or have a designated person do so if they are unable. There would be a mandatory waiting period of at least 15 days in many cases, and patients would be able to withdraw a request at any time. Patients would also have to be experiencing "enduring and intolerable suffering" and death would have to be "reasonably foreseeable". Only those eligible for Canadian health services are eligible, eliminating the prospect of "suicide tourism". The government did not adopt suggestions from a parliamentary committee which had suggested the law should also apply to those who suffer only from mental illness, allow for advance requests and eventually be extended to minors who are able to make their medical decisions. The government said those issues needed more study. Advocacy group Dying With Dignity Canada criticized the law for excluding people with debilitating diseases such as dementia, saying it was not in compliance with the Supreme Court's 2015 decision. The government said it would not requires its legislators to back the law and Health Minister Jane Philpott said no doctor will be required to provide assisted suicide. "We also heard loud and clear the importance of recognising conscience rights of healthcare providers, providers who may choose to refuse to provide medical assistance in dying for personal reasons or personal convictions," Philpott said. (Additional reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by James Dalgleish) Ottawa (AFP) - Canada took a significant step towards allowing dying people to seek medical help to end their lives after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government unveiled a bill Thursday to legalize assisted suicide. Some Canadians have expressed reservations based on deeply held religious beliefs but recent polling shows an overwhelming majority -- 85 percent -- support the right to die. "The plan we put forward is one that respects Canadians' choices while putting into place the kinds of safeguards needed," said Trudeau. The proposed law would not compel doctors or nurses to provide help to die and the option would not be available to foreigners. Some form of physician-assisted dying is legal in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and in a handful of US states. The proposed amendment to the Criminal Code comes one year after Canada's Supreme Court struck down a prohibition against doctor-assisted suicide. The government was given until June 6 -- including an extension -- to draft new legislation that would permit consenting adults with serious health problems to end their suffering. However, the protocols are much less comprehensive than proposals put forward by a parliamentary special committee formed to study the hugely controversial issue. "Personally, I believe we need to provide the most comfort to people when they are nearing the end of their lives, whatever form that takes," Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould told a press conference. "The proposed legislation would allow competent adult patients who are suffering intolerably from serious medical conditions to apply for a peaceful death instead of prolonged, frightening, painful or undignified deaths that they may otherwise face." The Supreme Court's ruling declaring unconstitutional the denial of an assisted death option reversed its own 1993 decision. At that time, the court expressed concern about protecting vulnerable persons, but in its February 2015 ruling pointed to changed Canadian social values. Story continues "We know that some groups will say that we have not gone far enough with this legislation and we know that some groups will say we have gone too far," Health Minister Jane Philpott said. "To me this underscores just how personal and sensitive an issue like this is for Canadians. "As minister of health I believe this is the right approach for Canada." The government said it would also boost funding for palliative care and further study the parliamentary special committee's other recommendations. - Conflicting opinion - Among those 21 recommendations was a proposal urging that physician-assisted suicide be available to competent minors and people with mental illness. A person diagnosed with a serious health problem could also make arrangements in advance to die, in situations where dementia or other illness could prevent them from making the decision later, the panel suggested. Opposition Conservatives on the committee challenged the recommendations, saying they went far beyond what the court had ordered. But the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association -- a plaintiff in the Supreme Court case -- said the government's bill falls short. "It leaves out entire categories of suffering Canadians who should have a right to choose a safe and dignified assisted death," the group said in a statement. It remains unclear whether the draft legislation in its current form will pass before the court's June deadline. After much back and forth, political parties have said members of parliament will be free to vote their conscience for or against the bill. Canada took a significant step towards allowing dying people to seek medical help to end their lives after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government unveiled a bill Thursday to legalize assisted suicide. Some Canadians have expressed reservations based on deeply held religious beliefs but recent polling shows an overwhelming majority -- 85 percent -- support the right to die. "The plan we put forward is one that respects Canadians' choices while putting into place the kinds of safeguards needed," said Trudeau. The proposed law would not compel doctors or nurses to provide help to die and the option would not be available to foreigners. Some form of physician-assisted dying is legal in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and in a handful of US states. The proposed amendment to the Criminal Code comes one year after Canada's Supreme Court struck down a prohibition against doctor-assisted suicide. The government was given until June 6 -- including an extension -- to draft new legislation that would permit consenting adults with serious health problems to end their suffering. However, the protocols are much less comprehensive than proposals put forward by a parliamentary special committee formed to study the hugely controversial issue. "Personally, I believe we need to provide the most comfort to people when they are nearing the end of their lives, whatever form that takes," Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould told a press conference. "The proposed legislation would allow competent adult patients who are suffering intolerably from serious medical conditions to apply for a peaceful death instead of prolonged, frightening, painful or undignified deaths that they may otherwise face." The Supreme Court's ruling declaring unconstitutional the denial of an assisted death option reversed its own 1993 decision. At that time, the court expressed concern about protecting vulnerable persons, but in its February 2015 ruling pointed to changed Canadian social values. "We know that some groups will say that we have not gone far enough with this legislation and we know that some groups will say we have gone too far," Health Minister Jane Philpott said. "To me this underscores just how personal and sensitive an issue like this is for Canadians. "As minister of health I believe this is the right approach for Canada." The government said it would also boost funding for palliative care and further study the parliamentary special committee's other recommendations. - Conflicting opinion - Among those 21 recommendations was a proposal urging that physician-assisted suicide be available to competent minors and people with mental illness. A person diagnosed with a serious health problem could also make arrangements in advance to die, in situations where dementia or other illness could prevent them from making the decision later, the panel suggested. Opposition Conservatives on the committee challenged the recommendations, saying they went far beyond what the court had ordered. But the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association -- a plaintiff in the Supreme Court case -- said the government's bill falls short. "It leaves out entire categories of suffering Canadians who should have a right to choose a safe and dignified assisted death," the group said in a statement. It remains unclear whether the draft legislation in its current form will pass before the court's June deadline. After much back and forth, political parties have said members of parliament will be free to vote their conscience for or against the bill. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's Liberal government will allow its members of parliament to vote for or against the physician-assisted suicide bill it will introduce on Thursday rather than require them to back it, the Globe and Mail reported on Wednesday. The report cited an official with the prime ministers office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The article said the bill will take a narrow approach to the issue of physician-assisted suicide, excluding those who only experience mental suffering. It will also not allow for so-called mature minors or for advance consent a request to end ones life in the future. The Supreme Court of Canada overturned a ban on physician-assisted suicide last year, unanimously reversing a decision it made in 1993 and putting Canada in the company of a handful of Western countries to make it legal. In December, a Quebec court ruled the province can implement Canada's first law permitting physician-assisted suicide while the federal government decides on a framework for how to handle the issue. (Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson; Editing by Andrew Hay) So much for Cannes being the last holdout against the scourge of online viewing. The world's biggest, most prestigious film festival on Thursday announced the official lineup for its 69th edition, and five - count 'em, five - titles come courtesy of Amazon. Woody Allen's Cafe Society, which kicks off the fest on May 11, will be released by Amazon in the U.S., as will three films vying for this year's Palme d'Or: Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon, Jim Jarmusch's Paterson and The Handmaiden from Korean genre-film master Park Chan-wook. Jarmusch's Iggy Pop music documentary Gimme Danger also will receive a Midnight Screening slot and an Amazon release. The trend is nothing new. Amazon and Netflix have been pumping money into film production over the past few years and have been snatching up indie films at a record pace. Between them, the two SVOD giants acquired a dozen films at Sundance this year, with Amazon dropping $10 million for Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea and Netflix laying out $7 million for Paul Rudd's road trip movie The Fundamentals of Caring. Other big festivals have also embraced the streamers. Venice put Cary Joji Fukunaga's Beasts of No Nation, a Netflix original starring Idris Elba, in competition last year, and Berlin gave Spike Lee's experimental Chi-Raq, made for Amazon, an out-of-competition slot at this year's festival. Read More: Sundance Wrap: Why Netflix and Amazon Dominance Matters But Cannes, as so often, remained apart, refusing to screen movies made for a screen other than one in the cinema. Until now. Aside from Amazon's backing, the five films are classic Cannes titles. If Allen has a movie ready for Cannes, the festival takes it (often - as with Midnight in Paris in 2011 and Hollywood Ending in 2002 - as the opening-night film). Refn's last two movies, Only God Forgives and Drive, were Cannes competition films (the latter winning best director honors). And Jarmusch won the grand jury prize in 2005 for Broken Flowers, as did Park for Oldboy in 2003. As these auteurs move online, drawn by more lucrative deals, and the promise of creative freedom, the fests have followed. Story continues Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Cannes festival director Thierry Fremaux was quick to point out that while "Amazon bought the rights of these films, they will be released in theaters first." And he proclaimed that "Amazon and the people in charge of cinema in Amazon, the people who bought Woody Allen and Nicholas Winding Refn, they are movie buffs." Indeed, Ted Hope, who took over original film production at Amazon Studios last year, has an unimpeachable indie film CV that includes producing Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, Todd Solondz's Happiness and Alejandro G. Inarritu's 21 Grams. "It's good to have a new partner for financing movies and [who is willing] to pay a lot of money that will buy auteur films. I'm happy," said Fremaux. With five titles in Cannes this year, Amazon and Hope should be smiling, too. It's taken a while, but Europe's most austere film festival has finally joined the digital revolution. Read More: 'Money Monster,' 'The BFG,' 'The Nice Guys' Among Cannes 2016 Lineup Correction: An earlier version of this story neglected to mention Jim Jarmusch's Gimme Danger, another Amazon Studios title. The Hollywood Reporter regrets the error. Nicholas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon, a feature made for Amazon, will screen in competition in Cannes this year. It will go up against Family Photos from Palme d'Or winnerCristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), Sieranevada from fellow Romanian director Cristi Puiu, Paul Verhoven's Elle and Aquarius from Filipino filmmaker Kleber Mendonca Filho. Jeff Nichols' racial drama Loving will compete in Cannes this year, alongside Park Chan Wook's The Handmaid, Sean Penn's latest The Last Face and Daniel Blake, the latest, maybe last, feature from British veteran Ken Loach. Xavier Dolan's It's Only the End of the World, starring Lea Seydoux and Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel will screen in Cannes competition. Jim Jarmusch, another Cannes regular, returns to competition this year with his latest, Paterson, featuring Adam Driver. Pedro Almodovar's Julieta, Andrea Arnold's American Honey, The Unknown Girl from Belgium's Dardenne Brothers and Olivier Assayas' Personal Shopper will all be in competition in Cannes this year. As will Slack Bay from French director Bruno Dumond, Staying Vertical from Alain Guiraudie and Nicole Garcia's From the Land of the Moon. The first German film in many years will compete in Cannes, with Marie Ade's Toni Erdmann picked for the official selection. The Cannes festival's Un Certain Regard sidebar will include the Iranian drama Inversion, the film The Dancer from French director Stephanie Di Giusto starring Johnny Depp's daughter Lily Rose Melody Depp and Her actress Soko. Mohammed Diab's Clash, the animated feature The Red Turtle, Japanese drama Personal Affairs, Hirokazu Koreeda's After the Storm, Argentine film The Long Night from director Francisco Marquez, Dogdan Mirica's Dogs, Russian drama The Disciple and Viggo Mortensen-directed Captain Fantastic complete the Un Certain Regard section. Stephen Spielberg's BFG, featuring Mark Rylance as the voice of the titular Big Friendly Giant, will screen out of competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Story continues Jodie Foster's Money Monster starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney and Shane Black's The Nice Guys with Ryan Gosling and Matt Bomer will also get out of competition slots this year. Iggy Pop could make the trip to the Croisette this year, as the documentary Gimme Danger has also made the selection, out of competition. Also getting a gala, out of competition screening will be French period drama The Death of Louis XIV from director Albert Serra. With Woody Allen's star-studded Cafe Society already announced as the opening film for the 69th edition of the Cannes film festival, its head Thierry Fremaux and president Pierre Lescure on Thursday unveiled the fest's full lineup at a press conference in Paris. There will be 20 films in competition. Fremaux kicked off the announcement at a theater on the French capital's famous Champs Elysees just after 11 a.m. local time. The press conference was delayed by a silent protest by film theater workers and students against proposed reforms to France's labor laws. Before starting the press conference, Fremaux and Lescure expressed their support for the protestors. As previously announced, Mad Max director George Miller will serve as president of the jury, and jury prize winner Naomi Kawase is set to head the short film and student competition jury. The full competition jury is expected to be announced next week, with the Un Certain Regard jury set to be revealed during the first week of May. The poster for this year's edition takes inspiration from Jean-Luc Godard's film about the film business, Contempt. The Cannes festival runs May 11-22. Read More: George Miller Named Cannes Jury President More to come... (Reuters) - Carlyle Group LP has entered the auction for assets that oilfield service providers Halliburton Co and Baker Hughes Inc aim to divest to secure antitrust approval for their merger, a person familiar with the matter said. Carlyle, a Washington-based private equity firm, is competing against General Electric Co , which was already in discussions to buy many of the assets, the person said on Thursday, asking not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. Halliburton and Carlyle declined to comment, while Baker Hughes and General Electric did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Earlier on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal, citing sources, reported that Carlyle was in serious talks to buy assets worth more than $7 billion from Halliburton and Baker Hughes. Baker Hughes shares were up 5.5 percent on the news to $43.55, while Halliburton shares were down slightly in Thursday afternoon trading in New York at $38.19. Halliburton and Baker Hughes are under new pressure to divest assets after the U.S. government filed a lawsuit last week to stop their deal, arguing the combination of the world's No. 2 and No. 3 oil services companies would lead to higher prices in the sector. The two companies had initially announced they would divest their drill bits and directional drilling businesses as part of their merger. Last September, the two added several businesses to the list, which in total would amount to $5.2 billion of 2013 revenue. The additional divestitures included Halliburton's expandable line hangers business, Baker Hughes' core completions business, Baker Hughes' sand control business in the Gulf of Mexico, and Baker Hughes' offshore cementing business in Australia, Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, Norway and the UK. (Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Mike Stone in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Public Prosecutor Ahmed Sadeq said on Thursday he had referred the case of the Russian airplane that crashed in Sinai last year to State Security prosecutors to look into suspicions that criminal activity brought it down. The Egyptian-led committee investigating the crash, in which all 224 people aboard were killed, said last month it had sent the case to the public prosecution after a Russian investigation raised suspicion of criminal activity. Moscow stopped all civilian flights to Egypt, a popular destination for Russian tourists, after the airplane crashed in Sinai on Oct. 31. Russia has long said a bomb destroyed the airliner. Islamic State, whose Egyptian affiliate is waging an insurgency in the Sinai, immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and later said it smuggled the explosive aboard in a soft drink can. But Egyptian officials did not acknowledge evidence of foul play until February, when President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in a televised speech that terrorists had brought down the plane to hurt tourism and relations with Russia. An official Egyptian confirmation that a bomb brought down the Airbus A-321 jet could expose Egypt to compensation payments to the families of the victims, most of them holiday-makers in search of winter sun. The crash has called into question Egypt's campaign to eradicate Islamist militancy and damaged its tourism sector, a cornerstone of the economy. Islamist militants have stepped up attacks on Egyptian soldiers and police since Sisi, as army chief, toppled freely elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. Islamic State's online magazine carried a photo of a pineapple-flavored Schweppes soft drink it said was used to make an improvised bomb that blew the airliner out of the sky. An EgyptAir mechanic whose cousin joined Islamic State in Syria is suspected of planting the bomb, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in January. A senior security official at the airline denied that any of its employees had been arrested or were under suspicion, and an Interior Ministry official also said there had been no arrests. (Reporting by Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Michael Georgy) CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Public Prosecutor Ahmed Sadeq said on Thursday he had referred the case of the Russian airplane that crashed in Sinai last year to State Security prosecutors to look into suspicions that criminal activity brought it down. The Egyptian-led committee investigating the crash, in which all 224 people aboard were killed, said last month it had sent the case to the public prosecution after a Russian investigation raised suspicion of criminal activity. Moscow stopped all civilian flights to Egypt, a popular destination for Russian tourists, after the airplane crashed in Sinai on Oct. 31. Russia has long said a bomb destroyed the airliner. Islamic State, whose Egyptian affiliate is waging an insurgency in the Sinai, immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and later said it smuggled the explosive aboard in a soft drink can. But Egyptian officials did not acknowledge evidence of foul play until February, when President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in a televised speech that terrorists had brought down the plane to hurt tourism and relations with Russia. An official Egyptian confirmation that a bomb brought down the Airbus A-321 jet could expose Egypt to compensation payments to the families of the victims, most of them holiday-makers in search of winter sun. The crash has called into question Egypt's campaign to eradicate Islamist militancy and damaged its tourism sector, a cornerstone of the economy. Islamist militants have stepped up attacks on Egyptian soldiers and police since Sisi, as army chief, toppled freely elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. Islamic State's online magazine carried a photo of a pineapple-flavoured Schweppes soft drink it said was used to make an improvised bomb that blew the airliner out of the sky. An EgyptAir mechanic whose cousin joined Islamic State in Syria is suspected of planting the bomb, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in January. A senior security official at the airline denied that any of its employees had been arrested or were under suspicion, and an Interior Ministry official also said there had been no arrests. (Reporting by Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Michael Georgy) By Sebastien Malo NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A Southern California couple accused of forcing an Indonesian woman to work as an unpaid live-in maid are victims of "cultural confusion," their attorney said on Wednesday. The case against Firas Majeed and Shatha Abbas, who are originally from Iraq, stems from misunderstandings due to money and language differences among the immigrants, defence attorney Douglas Brown told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Majeed, 44, and Abbas, 38, were arrested this month on charges they forced their housekeeper to work up to 18 hours a day without pay in their San Diego-area apartment. "All the people involved are poor, there are least three languages involved - Bahasa Indonesian, Arabic and English - and there are cultural differences among the parties," Brown said. "So it's a confusing scenario for all of them," he said. The housekeeper was removed from the couple's home by agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after she slipped a hand-written note to a visiting nurse in March, according to court documents. The note said she was being abused, and it asked for help, according to the documents. Majeed and Abbas, who face federal charges of forced labour, trafficking and document servitude, entered pleas of not guilty last week in U.S. District Court in San Diego. The housekeeper told authorities that since arriving in the United States in November, she had been forbidden to leave the apartment on her own except to take out the trash. Although doors were not locked, she said she did not run away because she did not speak English and did not know where to go. Her alleged captors took away her passport, she said. The woman said she came to the United States from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, where she also was a victim of forced labour, according to documents. In the Middle East, she said she worked 20-hour days, seven days a week, as an unpaid housekeeper, under lock and key for five years. Her alleged captors in Dubai and the United States were members of the same family, she told authorities. She had been recruited by an employment agency in Indonesia in 2010, she said. Majeed and Abbas, who live with their two children and extended family, could be indicted this week or next, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Tenorio said. If convicted, they each face the possibility of up to 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines, the prosecutor said. U.S. authorities "will not tolerate any form of human exploitation," said Dave Shaw, special agent with Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego. "Forced labour, which often involves individuals who are held in isolation, degraded, and most alarming, stripped of their basic human freedom, has no place in a modern society," he said in a statement. (Reporting by Sebastien Malo, Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) Washington (AFP) - An artificial intelligence "chatbot" from Taco Bell now lets you order a meal in a smartphone text exchange that might look something like this: TacoBot: Hello there, I'm your TacoBot, I can help you order a meal for you or your team. You: Can I order one soft taco with beef? TacoBot: Sounds good... do you want to keep adding stuff? Maybe some bacon? Brands like Taco Bell and tech companies large and small are betting that more and more people will start using this "conversational" way of interacting online instead of clicking through on-screen menus. If the trend catches on -- as firms like Facebook and Microsoft expect -- it could transform the digital landscape by allowing smartphone users to find information or make purchases with simple text messages, bypassing apps and search engines. Among the companies already developing or launching chatbots are the Wall Street Journal, CNN and retail giants Sephora and H&M. "I believe we are headed to a shift where this becomes one of the primary means we interact with the digital world," says Mark Beccue of Mark Beccue Consulting, who follows trends in the messaging market. "The chat user interface is what makes sense for a mobile-first world. You can be more specific and be quicker." - 'Bots the new apps' - Chatbots are already popular in China, where a system powered by Microsoft offers a variety of services for users of the popular messaging app WeChat. Messaging services have become a natural place for chatbots to reside, since their usage is growing: at least 1.4 billion people used a messaging app last year, says research firm eMarketer. According to Business Insider Intelligence, the "big four" messaging apps have overtaken the largest four social networks. Facebook this week also made a major push in this area, opening up its Messenger application -- and its 900 million users -- to "bot" developers. Story continues "We think you should be able to text message a business like you would a friend, and get a quick response," Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg said. The idea is to create a seamless experience for end users, who can access services directly via a messaging app by chatting with a "bot," which appears alongside their regular contacts. Microsoft unveiled a similar effort last month, as CEO Satya Nadella described a push into "conversations as a platform." "Bots are the new apps," Nadella told developers. The messaging service Kik meanwhile launched its own "bot shop," with partners including retailers, game developers and services such the Weather Channel. Kik said the move was a response to the trend of people using fewer apps and spending more time on chat platforms. "There's nothing to download, no new registration required, and you can use an interface you're already familiar with: chat," Kik said in a statement. - Simple or smart - Chatbots can be simple programs that provide answers to predetermined questions, or more complex ones powered by artificial intelligence. "It's a more natural extension of how consumers are used to doing things," said Julie Ask at Forrester Research. The intelligent chatbot movement suffered an embarrassing setback recently when Microsoft had to ground its "Tay" bot just a day after letting it loose on Twitter. Internet users gamed the artificial intelligence -- designed to improve the conversations -- to cause Tay to spew out hateful and racist comments. "'Tay' went from 'humans are super cool' to full nazi in <24 hrs and I'm not at all concerned about the future of AI," quipped one user, @geraldmellor. Analyst Mark Beccue said the Microsoft case was more of a science experiment "testing the boundaries of what artificial intelligence can do." "It was a case study they will learn from," he said. - Future path - Some analysts remain skeptical however on chatbots as the wave of the future. Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research said the movement is largely driven by Microsoft and Facebook, two firms which would like a greater presence in mobile even though they don't control the biggest smartphone operating systems. For Facebook, which has invested heavily in AI, the "bot" movement -- crucially -- opens a door to monetizing its popular Messenger platform. "There's a lot of hype around chatbots but the reality is there are few interactions where a chat with artificial intelligence is going to be more efficient than using an app," Dawson said. Artificial intelligence has come a long way with systems like Apple's Siri, Google Now, Amazon's Alexa and Microsoft Cortana, but still cannot deal with all possible situations, says Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies Associates. "There's a kind of hubris that someone could expand the one-to-many communication method to every human interaction," Kay said. "Humans want to remain human and not a cog in someone's machine." What do you get when you cross legendary Michelin-starred Spanish chef Ferran Adria with fictional and animated Disney characters? Recipes like chickpeas and spinach, fit for a Jedi, eggplant padawan, and The Jungle Book juice. It's an unlikely and surprising partnership. Kind of like a storyline about a Paris rat cooking at a fancy, gastronomic restaurant. But in an unexpected move proving that, despite his reputation for rigor and his highly cerebral approach to food Adria can also be playful, the chef has partnered with Disney to produce a multimedia series aimed at teaching kids and families how to cook healthy meals in Spain. Called Te cuento en la cocina, (I tell you in the kitchen) the project involves video segments, a cookbook and app, with recipes inspired by popular Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars films and characters. Remy from Ratatouille, for instance, teaches kids and parents alike how to make the perfect scrambled eggs. (Hint: Adding a little cream to the eggs at the beginning will yield fluffier eggs.) Arlo broccoli appetizers make the vegetable more palatable for kids when they're roasted in the oven with pine nuts, currants and a drizzle of olive oil. And a Jungle Book-inspired cocktail is made with cantaloupe, orange juice and lime juice. Overall, Adria has created 60 new healthy, kid-friendly recipes for the project which is executed in Spanish. Though this may be his first recipe collection for kids, it's not the first cookbook Adria has penned for families. In 2011, Adria released The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adria featuring 100 recipes inspired by staff meals at his legendary elBulli restaurant which before shuttering was named the World's Best Restaurant five times. Imagine if you could put sticky notes on your household products to denote each potentially hazardous chemical lurking in your home, in the personal care items you put on your skin and the foods or drinks you consume. If that were all worked out and known, how many individual reminders of harmful ingredients would there be? Would it be nothing to sneeze at or would a light breeze turn your abode into a flutter of paper? "We are being exposed, if not bombarded, by chemicals every day. Our chemical regulatory system is such that a lot of the chemicals on the market haven't been assessed for safety, or they've been grandfathered into our products or the things that we bring into our homes every day," says Nneka Leiba, deputy director of research at the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental research organization based in Washington. "So while many may assume that if a product is on the market, it has been assessed for safety and it's perfectly good for us to use, or eat or slather on our skin -- a lot of times that is not true." Not all chemicals are hazardous, of course. The wellspring of life -- water -- is a chemical compound made of hydrogen and oxygen; and though gorging oneself on water can drive the level of sodium concentrated in the blood dangerously low, causing a condition called hyponatremia, which can kill in extreme instances, we need H 2 O to survive and thrive. [See: 7 Things You Didn't Know About Lung Cancer.] However, the ubiquity of some other chemicals in common products can present real dangers -- known and unknown -- experts say. "We live in a soup of chemicals, and chemicals may act even additively or synergistically at times," says Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, one of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Toxicology Program. "We're trying to understand all that, trying to help educate not only communities, but also we work with our stakeholders across the spectrum ... the regulatory agencies -- EPA, FDA, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Department of Labor, you name it -- and we work with our industry partners as well, so that they have the information to make better public health decisions." The aim is to increase understanding of what chemicals may present hazards and to give consumers something, experts say, we don't have now: a firm grasp of the potentially dangerous substances we're putting on or in our bodies or to which we're otherwise exposed. "We need more transparency in chemical use in consumer products," says Heather Stapleton, an associate professor of environmental chemistry at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Despite long-standing governmental regulation aimed at providing that, as well as Congressional efforts to reform those regulations, Stapleton notes, there's disagreement on how to improve transparency. "There are a lot of chemicals out there that are not associated with any sort of health harms whatsoever," Leiba says. "But the vast majority of the chemicals on our market have not been assessed for safety, and that's where the concern lies." While there's no way to prevent exposure to all potentially hazardous chemicals, experts say there are resources and simple steps consumers can take to reduce risk. Pick over your personal care products. The average woman uses 12 personal care products that contain 168 unique ingredients every day. "Men, on the other hand, use six products daily with 85 unique ingredients, on average," she adds, noting that governmental regulation requires product makers to list all ingredients on packaging -- though much about those ingredients remains unknown. In one particularly high-profile court case, Johnson & Johnson was recently sentenced to pay $72 million and the company admitted some of its products contain ingredients that cause cancer. It did so after Jackie Fox of Birmingham, Alabama, filed a suit claiming she developed ovarian cancer as a result of using a Johnson & Johnson baby powder containing talcum. Nor is full transparency a gaurantee in areas ranging from feminine products to fragrances. Consumer pressure, including over worries about products possibly contributing to cancer risk and causing allergic reactions, have led some companies to be more forthcoming about, for example, ingredients in tampons and pads. But experts still say much remains unknown. To help consumers evaluate what's in their personal care products, EWG compiled chemical profiles of tens of thousands of these products in its Skin Deep Cosmetics Database, where products can be searched to return a color-coded rating from green to red, alerting consumers to hazard levels as well as how much is known about product ingredients. Beware of regrettable chemical substitutions. "One of the problems that we're all dealing with is we identify a chemical of some concern, and so the marketplace responds, and then industry responds to the marketplace and gives us a substitute," Birnbaum says. "But often we move from something we know something about to something that we know nothing about, and I think that's an issue." Stapleton's own research, in concert with EWG, found a higher level of triphenyl phosphate in the bodies of women who applied some popular nail polishes marketed as "eco-friendly" that contained the chemical. Triphenyl phosphate is also used in flame retardants in place of a chemical called dibutyl phthalate, because of health concerns associated with the latter; the Environmental Protection Agency notes on its website that animal studies have reported developmental and reproductive effects resulting from oral exposure to the chemical, but that its effects in humans aren't clear. "But in the flame retardant research world, there's a lot of concerns about health effects now from triphenyl phosphate, because it also is an endocrine disruptor," Stapleton notes. Not familiar with a chemical of concern? Learn more about it through the U.S. National Library of Medicine Toxicology Data Network, TOXNET. [Read: From DDT to BPA: How Do Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Affect Our Health?] Clean up your cleaning solutions. "Regulation of cleaning products does not require the manufacturer to list all the ingredients," Neika says. "They notoriously also have chemicals of concern -- some preservatives, like methylisothiazolinone, and some of those complicated ones that, again, only a chemist would know what it is, that have been linked to severe dermatitis and allergic reactions, and are especially concerning for babies." EWG rates many cleaning products in its Guide to Healthy Cleaning on an A to F scale based not only on ingredients listed, but how much manufacturers tell consumers about what's in the products. Wash your hands frequently. The same happy birthday song-and-clean routine that reduces the spread of germs can help protect against unsafe chemical exposures, including the likelihood you'll ingest something hazardous. "People put their hands in their mouth all the time -- it's not only infants and toddlers," Birnbaum says. "Washing your hands and not putting your hands in your mouth is a good way to lessen some of your exposures." You are the chemicals you eat. On Tuesday, EWG released its latest annual report detailing produce that have the highest rates of detectable pesticide residues; strawberries grown with conventional farming methods topped the latest list, knocking off the perennial list-topper, apples, which came in second. "Some of the chemicals detected on strawberries are relatively benign," according to EWG. "But others are linked to cancer, reproductive and developmental damage, hormone disruption and neurological problems." Nectarines, peaches, celery, grapes, cherries, spinach, tomatoes, bell peppers and cherry tomatoes rounded out EWG's so-called Dirty Dozen for 2016, while on the "clean" side, less than 1 percent of samples of certain produce, such as avocados, corn, pineapples, cabbage and onions, showed any detectable pesticides. To reduce exposure to pesticides, buy organic, particularly for produce with higher rates of detectable pesticides, Neika says. Also, thoroughly wash all fruits or veggies before eating them. Pesticides are just the beginning, too, experts say, as chemicals are found in all types of modern foods from fresh to stored, canned to boxed. EWG scores food, based on nutrition, ingredient and processing concerns, on its website and through its Healthy Living app, which also contains the personal care products ratings. Health and governmental organizations like the Food and Drug Administration provide information on known threats in the food system -- chemical and otherwise -- and experts recommend keeping up on the latest guidance. [See: Fresh Fish Shouldn't Stink, and Other Rules of Thumb.] Clean to reduce dust. "More frequent vacuuming can reduce the accumulation of dust in the home, and thus one's exposure to chemical contaminants in dust," Stapleton says. "Wet mopping techniques are ideal because they can trap particles and prevent them from moving into the air." Though much remains unknown, experts say it's important to take action, where possible, to minimize potential harmful chemical exposures, including if it might be carcinogenic. "If you have the options, or you are able to minimize your ingestion, or your inhalation, or just your exposure to a certain potentially cancer-causing ingredient, then you take that opportunity as much as you can, because there are other cases where you will not have that opportunity," Leiba says. She adds that consumers should choose products with the same discretion, taking into account any potential associated ills. "Don't get overwhelmed, educate yourself and then vote with your wallet." Michael Schroeder is a health editor at U.S. News. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at mschroeder@usnews.com. As Dick Wolf's Chicago franchise eyes another expansion, Universal Television is continuing its relationship with the two men that started it all. Chicago Fire creators Michael Brandt and Derek Haas have signed a multiyear overall deal with the studio behind the NBC trilogy, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Under the pact, Brandt and Haas will continue to executive produce Chicago Fire, as well as spinoffs Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. They also are attached as executive producers on the forthcoming Chicago Justice back-door pilot, which will air as episode 21 of Chicago P.D.'s third season in May. Read More: NBC Renews 'Law & Order: SVU,' 'Chicago Med'; Re-ups Dick Wolf's Deal Through 2020 Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med have all been renewed for the 2016-17 season, the last of which was picked up as part of Wolf's massive overall deal with Universal TV, which runs through 2020. The deal is no surprise, given the importance of the Chicago franchise to Universal TV, and more notably NBC. The series has expanded at a breakneck pace - Chicago Fire is going into its fifth season in the fall - and has become a crucial cornerstone of the network's lineup, particularly the heavily promoted crossover events between the various series and Wolf's other NBC drama, Law & Order: SVU. Prior to teaming with Wolf on Chicago Fire, longtime writing partners Brandt and Haas mainly worked as feature scribes. Their film credits include 3:10 to Yuma, Wanted and 2 Fast 2 Furious. They are also writers and producers on the upcoming Scott Eastwood vehicle Overdrive, which is currently filming. Brandt and Haas are repped by WME and Hansen Jacobson. BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. rights policies have gone from bad to worse, China said on Thursday, in its annual rebuttal of a State Department report on human rights around the world that criticized China's "severe" crackdown on lawyers. The U.S. "wantonly infringed upon" civil rights and faced "rampant gun-related crime", said the lengthy report, issued by China's State Council, or cabinet, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Human rights have long been a source of tension between the world's two largest economies, especially since 1989, when the United States imposed sanctions on China after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing's Tiananmen Square. China's report follows Wednesday's release of the U.S. report, which criticized Beijing's "severe" crackdown on Chinese lawyers and law firms handling cases China considers politically sensitive. The U.S. report described human rights policies in 199 countries, and also focused on rights abuses in the Middle East. China's report, citing American news sources, criticized the United States for inflicting civilian casualties in Syria and Iraq, excessive use of force by police, and U.S. eavesdropping on foreign nationals, including French politicians. Asked about the U.S. human rights report on Thursday, China's Foreign Ministry said the politicization of human rights was a "futile" effort to interfere in China's stability and development. "The United States' so-called annual human rights report uses the issue of human rights to make irresponsible remarks about other countries' internal politics," ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular briefing. China has long rejected criticism of its rights' record and has pointed to its success at lifting millions out of poverty. Chinese leaders periodically promise citizens democracy and human rights, but President Xi Jinping's administration has launched a sweeping crackdown on dissidents and activists. On Thursday, Chinese legal authorities formally disbarred a prominent rights lawyer, ending his career. Pu Zhiqiang was handed a three-year suspended sentence last year for writing internet posts the government said would incite ethnic hatred. (Reporting by Megha Rajagopalan and Michael Martina; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) BEIJING (Reuters) - A former senior Chinese provincial official overseeing graft busting efforts will himself be prosecuted for suspected corruption after an investigation found he took more than $200,000 in bribes and gifts, state media said on Thursday. Fang Keyou had been a deputy head in the eastern province of Anhui of the graft inspection teams Beijing has sent out across the country as part of President Xi Jinping's war on deep-seated corruption, the official Xinhua news agency said. But an investigation found he himself had been engaging in corrupt practices, including covering up the corruption of others, fraud, extortion and taking more than 1.4 million yuan ($215,900) in bribes and gifts, Xinhua said. Fang has been expelled from the ruling Communist Party and his case handed over the legal authorities, the report added, meaning he will be prosecuted. It was not possible to reach Fang for comment and unclear if he has retained a lawyer. The party, which controls the country's legal system, has repeatedly insisted it can tackle China's corruption problem internally, ruling out establishing any sort of independent graft-fighting body. China has jailed dozens of senior officials since Xi launched a sweeping campaign against graft after assuming office more than three years ago, vowing to go after powerful "tigers" as well as lowly "flies". (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) Authorities have revoked the licence of one of China's most celebrated human rights lawyers, he confirmed Thursday, in the latest move to suppress critics of the ruling Communist Party. Pu Zhiqiang posted a Beijing government statement on social media declaring his licence to practise law was withdrawn due to a December conviction over online comments that criticised the Party. Pu, who has represented labour camp victims and dissident artist Ai Weiwei, was handed a three-year suspended prison term for "inciting ethnic hatred," and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," in case which drew international condemnation. "I was a lawyer for 19 years, and from today I am one no longer," he wrote in a post on the WeChat messaging service. "I believe in the future, and I believe that in the future there will be change." The revocation of his license was the latest episode in a widening crackdown on civil society under President Xi Jinping that has seen more than 200 lawyers and legal activists detained or called in for questioning since last summer. Pu, who is under surveillance in Beijing, told AFP he received the notice on Thursday. The lawyer spent more than a year and a half in police custody before he was convicted. Rights groups, the US and the EU condemned his sentence. In the comments for which he was tried, Pu said China did not need Communist rule, writing: "Other than secrecy, cheating, passing the buck, delay, the hammer and sickle, what kinds of secrets of governance does this party have?" He also condemned government policy in the mainly Muslim far-western region of Xinjiang as "absurd". For the next three years Pu will be subject to police monitoring and will need permission to leave the capital, his lawyers have said. If he breaks the law, or any conditions of his release, he will be sent to prison. Vanilla Ice, the '80s white rapper, proved Thursday morning he's far from extinct as he kicked off Twentieth Century Fox's presentation at CinemaCon, the annual gathering of theater owners in Las Vegas. Vanilla Ice took the stage inside the cavernous Colosseum at Caesars Palace to perform his hit "Ice Ice Baby" along with a slew of backup dancers as a tribute to the studio's $2.8 billion Ice Age franchise. The razzle-dazzle provided by the performer drew one of the most enthusiastic responses of the entire convention, and that's saying something considered the parade of stars Hollywood studios brought on stage this week, hoping to wow theater owners. Vanilla Ice drew repeated applause. Once he was done singing "Ice Ice Baby," Vanilla Ice introduced Chris Aronson, Fox's president of domestic distribution. Keeping in the spirit of the moment, Aronson wore a sequined blue and silver outfit as well as a wig in an attempt to emulate the rapper's own 'do. After Vanilla Ice departed, Aronson danced in step with the ladies across the stage before they stripped away his outfit, revealing a more traditional suit. Once taking the podium, Aronson also lost the wig. "Talk about a cold opening," he quipped. Read More: CinemaCon: 'Deadpool 2' Moving Forward With Tim Miller, Ryan Reynolds Bogota (AFP) - Colombian health authorities on Thursday reported the country's first two cases of microcephaly associated with Zika, the day after US scientists concluded the virus can cause babies to be born with abnormally small heads. Colombia has the second largest number of Zika cases in Latin America after Brazil, putting it on the leading edge of a mosquito-borne epidemic that has spread as far north as the United States. "Colombia confirmed the two first cases of microcephaly associated with Zika," Colombia's public health ministry said in a statement. They were from a group of 33 microcephaly cases reported in Colombia. The ministry said 16 cases have been ruled out as associated with Zika, but 15 others are still under review. Fernando Ruiz, the deputy health minister, told a news conference that more cases of microcephaly were expected in babies born between May and September. Some 70,000 clinical cases of Zika have been reported to date in Colombia, and as many as 200,000 cases are expected before the epidemic peaks. Health authorities project Colombia could see between 95 and 300 cases of microcephaly, and 380 of Guillain-Barre, another Zika-linked disorder that causes the immune system to attack parts of the nervous system that controls muscle strength. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday announced that its scientists have now concluded that Zika "is a cause of microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects." Microcephaly is a rare but irreversible condition in which babies are born with small heads and damaged brains. Brazil, where the Zika virus was first detected in Latin America in early 2015, has had a surge in cases of microcephaly coinciding with the Zika outbreak. "It is now clear that the virus causes microcephaly," CDC chief Tom Frieden said. BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's health ministry said on Thursday it had confirmed two cases of the rare birth defect microcephaly are connected to the mosquito-borne Zika virus, after the disease was linked to more than a thousand confirmed cases of microcephaly in Brazil. According to the World Health Organization, there is a strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause microcephaly as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis, though conclusive proof may take months or years. U.S. health officials said on Wednesday that infection with the Zika virus during pregnancy causes microcephaly, a finding experts hope will refocus attention on prevention efforts. (Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Candidate Ted Cruz has won three recent court challenges about his Canadian birthplace and his ability to run for President. But not everyone is agreeing with those courts findings. On Wednesday, another challenge failed in Texas when U.S. District Judge Gray Miller dismissed a lawsuit from attorney Newton Schwartz, noting that Schwartz lacked standing. Other suits have failed in New York, Illinois and Florida when faced with similar procedural problems. And Tuesday, an administrative law judge in New Jersey ruled against a law professor who sued the Cruz campaign, claiming the professors own write-in presidential campaign had been harmed by Cruzs candidacy. Victor Williams, a Catholic University professor, and three New Jersey voters challenged the presence of Cruz on the June GOP primary ballot. During arguments, Judge Jeff Masin agreed the questions about the constitutional status of Cruzs candidacy werent far-fetched. This is a serious constitutional issue, meaning it has been debated heavily (by legal scholars), Masin said at the hearing. This is not a frivolous issue. In fact, Masin found that the question had standing for a court to decide on its merits. But in the end, Masin ruled that the best prevailing argument was that Cruz, born in Canada to an American mother and Cuban-born father, could appear on New Jerseys primary ballot. The more persuasive legal analysis is that such a child, born of a citizen-father, citizen-mother, or both, is indeed a natural born citizen within the contemplation of the Constitution, Masin said. Absolute certainty as to this issue is only available to those who actually sat in Philadelphia and themselves thought on the issue, Masin added. The issue can never entirely be free of doubt, at least barring a definitive ruling of the United States Supreme Court. Masin referenced an opinion in Pennsylvania in March that came to a similar conclusion, where Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Dan Pellegrini rejected a challenge to Cruzs eligibility from a Pittsburgh resident. Story continues Having extensively reviewed all articles cited in this opinion, as well as many others, this Court holds, consistent with the common law precedent and statutory history, that a natural born citizen includes any person who is a United States citizen from birth. Accordingly, because he was a citizen of the United States from birth, Ted Cruz is eligible to serve as President of the United States, Pellegrini wrote. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court later upheld Pellegrinis ruling. The cases were the first of recent challenges to the Cruz campaign to get public merit opinions from judges But everyone is siding with the judges. Williams, for example, plans to mount challenges in as many as nine states, including California, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin. Williams believes he has a better chance than other challengers because he can prove standing as a presidential candidate who would be harmed by Cruzs presence on those ballots. At issue in the debate is the Constitutions Natural Born Citizenship Clause, which states that no person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President. One interpretation is that the 1790 Naturalization Act provided that children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond the sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural-born citizens. However, several scholars, such as Harvards Laurence Tribe, believe the Supreme Court has never addressed the situation. Legislative attorney Jack Maskell, writing for the Congressional Research Service in 2011, found that the weight of more recent federal cases, as well as the majority of scholarship on the subject, also indicates that the term natural born citizen would most likely include, as well as native born citizens, those born abroad to U.S. citizen-parents, at least one of whom had previously resided in the United States, or those born abroad to one U.S. citizen parent who, prior to the birth, had met the requirements of federal law for physical presence in the country. To be sure, the debate over Natural Born Citizenship Clause will continue through the 2016 primary cycle, and possibly further. A definitive answer may not come until a lawsuit made its way to the Supreme Court (if the Court decided someone had standing to sue) or a constitutional amendment clarified the issue. Recent Stories on Constitution Daily Constitution Check: Could Obama bypass the Senate on Garland nomination? Constitution Check: What does one-person, one-vote mean now? Podcast: Does the Senate have a duty to hold hearings for Supreme Court nominees? Paso Canoas (Panama) (AFP) - Thousands of Cubans stranded in Panama, many increasingly desperate and penniless, demanded Thursday that borders closed to them in Central America be reopened to allow them to reach the United States. A growing mass of around 3,000 Cubans on the Panama-Costa Rica border risk triggering another regional migration crisis, weeks after 8,000 compatriots were cleared out of Costa Rica on special flights to El Salvador or Mexico in what officials insisted was a one-off operation. Nicaragua and Costa Rica have since late last year closed their frontiers to any more Cubans. But citizens of the Communist island keep coming, lured by America's Cold War-era policy of guaranteeing them easy entry and a fast-track to residency. On Wednesday, about 1,200 migrants -- most of them Cubans, but also some from Africa and Asia -- stormed the border, overwhelming officials and entering into Costa Rica. Within hours though, all but 120 of them were convinced to go back into Panama to await a new solution for them. Panama and Costa Rica are both exasperated with the US policy which they say acts as a magnet. Costa Rica accused Washington of maintaining a "perverse" stance in welcoming only Cubans. President Luis Guillermo Solis wrote a letter to his US counterpart Barack Obama complaining about the situation. Panama's security minister, Rodolfo Aguilera, said: "This isn't a problem we've caused ourselves... We're only a transit country." In Paso Canoas, a town on the Panama-Costa Rica border, the Cubans are sleeping in improvised shelters in shops and old buildings with no electricity or water. Some of them walked in suffocating tropical heat to the border to press their demand to be allowed through. "We want to keep going," they yelled as around 20 Costa Rican police prevented them from passing through. Security has been tightened along the border since Wednesday's violent scenes. Story continues One of the Cubans, a 60-year-old doctor named Ileana Bordonado, told AFP that "we cannot continue in these inhuman conditions." She said she had been in Panama for two months following a harrowing journey through Ecuador, and then through Colombia, where police systematically extorted their money until none was left. "We left all we had on the trip. We don't have anything. It is urgent for us to reach our destination," she said, adding she was aiming to reunite with her son in Tampa, Florida. Another Cuban, Alen de Jesus Chavez, a 35-year-old physical education teacher, apologized to Costa Rica for the border incident on Wednesday. "We are not trying to disturb the peace, we are just standing up for our rights and we will stand united until the governments find a solution for us to be on our way," he said. He said he had left his wife with their two children in Cuba while he made the gruelling overland trip to the US, where he intended to apply for family reunification permission. - Migrants from DR Congo - Some of the Cubans noted that Costa Rica had organized frequent flights between January and March this year to transport around 8,000 of their compatriots who had become blocked by Nicaragua's border closure to them. While Costa Rica has stressed that it would not make such arrangements again, the migrants suggested alternatives. "The governments should look at an air bridge to Puerto Rico," said one, Leonel Sanchez Lazo. "Each Central American country should give us a 24-hour transit authorization to pass through. None of us want to stay in any of these countries," said another, who declined to be identified. The Cubans' plight is being deepened by a small but growing presence of Africans also wanting to cross through. Most are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and they often started their cross-continental trek in Brazil, with the US also their desired destination. Around 40 of them were arrested by Costa Rican police in the border scuffles on Wednesday, including some children and women. "We are hungry and we have no money," said one of the Congolese, who identified himself as Chaiden, 34. "We need help to get to the United States," he said, speaking in a mix of Spanish and Portuguese. By Laurie Goering OXFORD, England (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Meeting the goals of a new global agreement to tackle climate change will require social change on an almost unprecedented scale, sustainable investment experts said on Thursday. That includes shifting trillions of dollars each year into renewable energy up from $345 billion last year and making everything from transport to agriculture and consumer products much greener very quickly. "This is about scale. It is about timing. It is about scope. We cannot move 500 companies and 200 investors in a few countries. We need to move everything," said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres, a U.S.-based business sustainability group. Failure to make big shifts fast would amount to putting our children and grandchildren in the path of a speeding bus, she told the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford. "We would each throw ourselves in front of a bus if it was coming at our child, regardless of our politics," she said. "We have got to change this debate so people understand... climate change is that bus." COAL'S DAYS NUMBERED? Some of that transformation is already underway, said David Blood, a senior partner at Generation Investment Management. Much of the clean energy technology needed is already available, and a surging divestment campaign is persuading investors that keeping money in fossil fuel companies is a growing financial risk. But while experts predicted the U.S. coal industry is on its way out of business, large-scale investment in coal one of the biggest drivers of climate change is still happening in parts of Africa and South Asia, particularly India. Reversing that by ensuring India and other countries have access to clean technology should be a priority for efforts to hold climate change to manageable levels, they said. "It's in the interests of the whole world that India gets (to clean energy) faster, said Mary Robinson, a former Irish president who runs a climate justice foundation. But large institutional investors are wary of risk and want clear returns, which can make them hesitant to invest in emerging economies like India, the experts said. Creating investment tools that work for both those with the cash and those that need it is crucial to drive money to the right places to address climate change, Lubber said. That must be done in a way that persuades investors who "don't recognize the urgency of the problem", said Blood, whose company is one of the world's largest sustainable investment firms. If the investment picture has not changed hugely in four years, "we're in significant trouble", he predicted. The U.N.-brokered Paris climate agreement, backed by 195 countries in December, aims to hold the rise in global average temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius, with an aspirational limit of 1.5 degrees. To achieve that, the world needs to be emitting no more carbon pollution than can be absorbed by forests and other planetary systems in the second half of the century. The Paris deal sends a signal to investors, sends a signal to consumers, sends a signal to everyone in the world... that fossil fuels have a very limited lifespan now, said Thom Woodroofe, a climate policy advisor for Independent Diplomat. UNBURNABLE RESERVES But switching away from dirty fuels will require some key changes to shift investment, experts said, among them putting a realistic price on carbon pollution and the damage it is causing from worsening storms to agricultural losses. Setting a workable carbon price is one of the single most important things that needs to be done, Lubber said. Another is to shut down fossil fuel exploration, given that two-thirds of the reserves already discovered can never be burned under the new Paris agreement, the experts said. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who spoke at the Oxford forum this week, put the value of unburnable fossil fuels at $22 trillion. Investment in fossil fuel exploration is already down over the last five years, from $650 billion a year to $400 billion, Lubber said. But some of that decline is the result of dramatically lower oil prices and companies are still seeking oil in places from the Arctic to Canadas tar sands. Still, the fossil fuel divestment campaign has forced the question of what is a profitable company, Lubber said. Five years ago you didnt see analyst reports on the financial strength of the fossil fuel industry. Now there are hundreds of those. The debate has changed, she added. Equally important will be helping many more people understand that climate change is something that needs action at home, in politics and on the streets, experts said. When 400,000 people marched to call for stronger policies on climate change in New York last September, with thousands more on the streets of other cities, it changed the debate, it changed the news media. We need to see that times a thousand around the world, Lubber said. From today, everyone has to take this personally, Robinson said. We need a movement that says, 'This is too important to be left to the government and the United Nations and business.'" (Reporting by Laurie Goering; editing by Megan Rowling; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate) By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Constant cyber attacks on the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and its key weapons programs pose as great a threat as development of intercontinental ballistic missiles by Iran and North Korea, the admiral who heads the agency said on Thursday. Vice Admiral James Syring told a House Armed Services subcommittee that the agency had taken "inordinate" measures to defend its own networks, but he remained concerned about potential vulnerabilities among defense contractors. The U.S. Missile Defense Agency develops and runs a multilayered system of defenses against ballistic missile attacks by potential enemies. The system includes ground-based interceptor missiles in Alaska and California as well as high-end radar equipment to detect attacks. Syring said the agency carried out continuous monitoring of its classified and unclassified networks, but said cyber attacks were increasingly directed against private contractors and unclassified, controlled technical information that they housed on their networks. "What weve got to do is get them up to where we are in terms of our protection levels, and I view it as a very near-term, very real requirement across the (Ballistic Missile Defense System)," he said. U.S. defense officials have been increasingly vocal about escalating and constant cyber attacks originating from China, Russia and other countries. Syring did not answer directly when asked about his knowledge of attacks on the agency's networks by China or the Chinese military, telling lawmakers he would provide fuller answers during a classified hearing. Syring told a similar Senate hearing on Wednesday that the agency was working "hand-in-glove" with private contractors to ensure that future contracts contained the necessary cyber security requirements, protections and standards. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work told Reuters this week that the Pentagon's Cyber Investment Management Board had prepared a list of top-priority weapons programs that required cyber security updates and investments. He said the details were classified, but said some of those programs were launched years ago before cyber attacks became commonplace. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) By Mike Stone (Reuters) - A Donald Trump presidency would be bad for corporate dealmaking, according to a global survey of people who advise companies on mergers and acquisitions, or M&A. Nearly two-thirds of 1,500 respondents - including investment bankers, lawyers and people who work for private equity firms - said a Trump presidency would create uncertainty that would deter executives from launching bids. The survey was conducted in April by Intralinks Holdings Inc , which provides confidential meeting rooms used by companies when they allow would-be bidders to look through their accounts. "The real story is that dealmakers crave less disruption, and Trump has been a polarizing figure on a global scale," Matt Porzio, vice president of strategy at Intralinks, said in a phone interview on Wednesday. Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination for the Nov. 8 election. His unpredictable style and fiery rhetoric have some investors worried that as president he could trigger trade wars, hurt the economy and add a lot of volatility to financial markets. The New York real estate developer prides himself on his ability to make good deals, and M&A professionals in the United States were less concerned about his impact on business than their peers elsewhere. According to the survey, 46 percent of U.S. dealmakers said they believed Trump would have a negative impact on M&A activity, compared with 83 percent of dealmakers in Latin America. Trump has sparked controversy with his call for building a wall along the Mexican border and for deporting 11 million illegal immigrants from the United States. Some 71 percent of dealmakers based in Europe and 75 percent in Asia thought Trump would be bad for business. Globally, only 45 percent of respondents thought that U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a self-described socialist who is competing with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, would be bad for M&A activity. But the same proportion - 45 percent - thought Clinton would have a positive impact on mergers and acquisitions, making her the candidate viewed to have the highest positive impact on corporate tie-ups. (Reporting by Mike Stone; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Jonathan Oatis) By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Pakistani intelligence officer paid $200,000 to an extremist network to facilitate a deadly suicide bomb attack on CIA operatives at a base in Afghanistan in 2009, according to a declassified U.S. government document obtained by an independent research group. The heavily redacted document obtained by the National Security Archive, a nongovernmental research institute at George Washington University, suggests that Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, and the Haqqani network were involved in facilitating the attack. The Dec. 30, 2009 attack on Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost in eastern Afghanistan, carried out by a Jordanian doctor who was working as a double agent for al Qaeda and the Taliban, was one of the most devastating in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency, killing seven and wounding six. The document, dated February 2010, said an unidentified Pakistani ISI officer provided $200,000 to Haqqani and another man "to enable the attack on Chapman." An Afghan border commander in Khost was promised $100,000 of the money to facilitate the attack but died in the bombing, it said. A spokesman for Pakistan's embassy in Washington did not have any immediate comment. Because the document is heavily censored, it is not clear whether it represents an intelligence agency consensus or fragmentary reporting. One line, which has been crossed out, says: "This is an information report, not finally evaluated intelligence." The document is almost entirely redacted - except for two passages discussing the ISI's alleged involvement in the attack at Forward Operating Base Chapman. The United States in 2012 designated the Pakistan-based Haqqani network as a terrorist organization. The year before, U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top U.S. military officer, caused a stir when he told Congress that the Haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of the ISI. The declassified U.S. government document can be found here: (https://nsarchive.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/hqn9.pdf) The National Security Archive, which works to challenge government secrecy, obtained the document under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Lauren Harper, who reported on the documents for the organization, said the initial FOIA request had gone to the U.S. State Department. The State Department forwarded the request to the Defense Intelligence Agency, which released the redacted papers. (Editing by Warren Strobel and Jonathan Oatis) New Delhi (AFP) - As one of New Delhi's thousands of street children, Jyoti Kumari knows more than most about the goings on in the Indian capital's desperate and sometimes brutal underbelly. Now the 16-year-old, who has never stepped foot in a regular classroom, is putting her knowledge into print, reporting for a tabloid run by street kids and tackling tough issues facing the city's homeless. At a meeting around a table strewn with drafts of stories and diaries, Kumari and other children as young as 13 are busy planning their next edition. "We have 70 reporters now," a beaming Kumari said of her colleagues at Balaknama newspaper, meaning voice of the children in Hindi. "We collect all the reports, verify them and then one of us types it out. After finalising which news will go on which page, we send it for printing." The newspaper draws its stories from the mass of families and others living under flyovers and on footpaths, and delves into issues of child marriage, sex and drug abuse and police brutality. Kumari hopes it is quietly making a difference. "Like when the drunkard neighbourhood uncle mended his ways once his misbehaviour with his wife and children made it to the paper," said Kumari, giggling at the memory. One of their biggest stories exposed how policemen used street children to carry bodies from railways tracks after a deadly accident or a suicide, forcing authorities to halt the practice. - Picking rubbish - Growing up with an alcoholic and sick father, Kumari and her five siblings spent long hours picking through rubbish to find recyclables, and sometimes begging, to scrape together enough money for food. A chance visit in 2010 by a voluntary teacher from a nonprofit called Chetna to her family's shack on a busy roadside in south Delhi gave her hope. "I was very impressed when she told me the value of education and the opportunities for even desperately poor children like me," said Kumari who moves, along with teems of others, to a homeless shelter at night to sleep. Story continues Chetna, which works with Delhi's estimated 10,000 street children, enrolled her in a distance learning programme run at the NGO and showed her Balaknama which the charity oversees on its premises. She was enrolled in a journalism workshop and within weeks was heading out on reporting assignments and conducting interviews, in between her new schooling. "We can change the way people think about us by voicing our feelings and concerns in our paper," said Shanno, the newspaper's consulting editor who uses one name. She quit her factory job of sewing hooks on trousers to work with Chetna and is now pursuing a degree in social work. - 'Issues that matter' - The newspaper, which started in 2002 as an eight-page quarterly, has slowly increased its readership to about 10,000 copies and is now published monthly. But Sanjay Gupta, director of Chetna (Childhood Enhancement through Training and Action), said finding funds to keep the paper going is a major challenge. "We are selling the newspapers for two rupees (about US 30 cents) as of now. Still not many people are buying it," Gupta told AFP, arranging old editions on a rickety shelf in the newsroom. "It is about mindsets, people need to understand that our paper is a very serious attempt by these children to get themselves heard. This is really a perfect tool for their empowerment. "Our dream is to see our paper in the main stands five years down the line." Balaknama readers are mostly homeless children and their parents, and since most of them can't read or write, reporters like Kumari read out the news to them. "They listen with a lot of interest. They feel very happy and proud about our work," she said. Kumari, who receives money from Chetna to pay for her expenses in the job, wants to finish her schooling and then keep working with non-profit organisations, helping those on the street without a voice. "We know that none of the big newspapers will bother to write about issues that matter to us," she said. "Just to be able to have an opportunity to express ourselves is a huge thing for us." International Investment Bank (IIB, Kyiv) is boosting its charter capital by UAH 25.3 million or 18.6%, to UAH 161.626 million via sending a part of profit to the charter capital. The bank said on its website that the decision was made by its shareholders at a general meeting on April 12. According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), as of January 1, 2016, the main shareholder in the bank is Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko who totally holds 60% of shares in the bank. Poroshenko's business partners, First Deputy Head of Petro Poroshenko Bloc Ihor Kononenko (14.94%), First Deputy Head of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleh Hladkovsky (9.9008%) and Head of Dnipropetrovsk Energoavtomatyka plant Oleh Zimin (9.9008%) also hold shares in the financial institution. Poroshenko has hired Rothschild investment company in consortium with Investment Capital Ukraine group to assist in the sales of his assets. However, due to the lack of potential buyers on January 14, 2016, the president said he signed contract under which he transferred his stake in Roshen Corporation to an independent 'blind trust'. He said that International Investment Bank will be transferred to the 'blind trust'. International Investment Bank was founded in 2008. The bank ranked 31st among 123 operating banks as of October 1, 2015, in terms of total assets worth UAH 4.74 billion, according to the NBU. By Megan Rowling BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The World Bank and other major development banks are investing far too little in getting electric power to poor people around the globe, and should allocate at least half their energy budgets to such projects, environmental groups said on Thursday. Some 1.1 billion people, one in seven of the world's population, still lack access to electricity. New global goals agreed this year set a target for everybody to have access to "affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy" by 2030. In a report issued as the World Bank spring meetings began in Washington DC, the Sierra Club and Oil Change International said top development banks had made little progress in their overall contribution to achieving that goal in the past two years. "For far too long, massive centralized power plants and expanding the grid have been the default approach in addressing energy poverty - a strategy which has clearly failed to reach the world's poorest," said Alex Doukas of Oil Change International. The African Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank dedicated the highest proportion of their energy portfolios to energy access, at just over a quarter each in the three fiscal years 2012 to 2014, according to the report. The World Bank allocated 10 percent of its energy investment to access over that period, while the Inter-American Development Bank's share was just under 6 percent, the report showed. "There's still time to reach the worlds goal of eliminating energy poverty by 2030 if these institutions act fast to rebalance their budgets toward what's needed," said Vrinda Manglik of the Sierra Clubs International Climate and Energy Campaign. As well as putting at least half of their energy funding into boosting access for the poor, they should ensure two-thirds of that money goes towards "distributed" clean energy projects, including mini-grids and off-grid power from renewable sources such as solar, wind or hydro, the groups said. A World Bank spokesman said an additional $40 billion per year would be needed to achieve universal energy access by 2030, but multilateral development banks (MDBs) could not provide this alone, and private-sector investment would be vital. The report also said fossil fuels "are not serving the poor". From fiscal 2012 to 2014, only around 5 percent of funding for fossil fuel energy projects backed by the four development banks included provisions that would increase access for the poor, it said. Centralized power production and grid expansion also overlook the poor because the grid has yet to reach many rural areas - home to 84 percent of those who lack access to electricity. In addition, grid power is often unreliable and unaffordable for poor households, the report said. CHEAPER AND FASTER Power for All, a global campaign bringing together business and civil society leaders, urged the development banks to speed up efforts to end energy poverty by creating dedicated funds for access to decentralized renewable energy and fast-tracking projects to implement it. "The disproportionate MDB financial support for slow, expensive centralized power projects over fast, cost-effective decentralized renewables is perhaps one of the greatest missed opportunities in development today," said campaign director Kristina Skierka. An independent evaluation of the World Bank Groups support for electricity access from 2000 to 2014 showed that the median implementation time of its investment projects was nine years. In comparison, decentralized systems such as solar mini-grids and solar panels on the rooftops of homes can be rolled out in just a few months at a fraction of the cost of centralized power generation, reaching far more people within a decade, according to Power for All. The report from the Sierra Club and Oil Change International noted that, of the four MDBs, the Inter-American Development Bank spent the largest share of its energy access portfolio on off-grid and mini-grid power, at 25 percent over the three years assessed. But the World Bank said 57 percent of its investment in new connections in 2015 went to off-grid solutions, and it was working to increase investment in distributed energy. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has estimated that to achieve energy access for all by 2030, 64 percent of new investments should be allocated to mini-grids and off-grid power, the report noted. "Energy access at its core is about enabling countries to develop. Without it, countries cannot grow, create jobs, children cannot study at night," the World Bank spokesman said. "Thats why we have to look at the full array of energy solutions on-grid and off-grid." (Reporting by Megan Rowling, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has toughened control over currency transactions of authorized banks under orders of their clients. NBU issued resolution No. 247 on April 7 and it takes effect from April 15. According to the document, banks authorized to settle currency transactions are to place information on purchase of foreign currency, sending it abroad and to nonresidents via correspondent accounts of nonresident banks in hryvnias opened in authorized banks to ad hoc registers. Banks are also obliged to include transactions on sending funds to nonresidents via branches of authorized banks opened in other countries into the register. The central bank said that the requirements on drawing up registers earlier prescribed in the NBU letter were moved to the resolution. The NBU also introduced a right to impose sanctions on banks that made mistakes in forming the register. The central bank can block the transfer of suspicious financial transactions to prevent outflow of capital abroad. The NBU made relevant amendments to NBU resolution No. 140 dated March 3, 2016 that is in effect until June 8, 2016. Today in One Paragraph Bernie Sanders received his first endorsement from a U.S. senator. Ethan Couch, known as the affluenza teen, was sentenced to nearly two years in jail in his first appearance in adult court. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards signed an executive order to protect LGBT state employees from discrimination in the workplace. And Hillary Clinton committed to working for African Americans at the annual conference of the National Action Network. Top News Endorsement From a Senator: Check. Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley announced that hes backing Bernie Sanders in a New York Times op-ed. Merkley said in an interview that Sanders has been a continuous, clear voice fighting for ordinary people, adding, I think we need to fundamentally change the system that has been so deeply moving towards consolidation of power by the very few. Sanders also picked up the endorsement of the Transport Workers Union in New York ahead of the states primary on April 19. (The Atlantic; Reuters) Recommended: Ohio State Turns the Concept of 'Safe Space' Against Student Protesters Affluenza Teen Sentenced. A Texas judge ordered that Ethan Couch, the Texas teenager who killed four people in a 2013 drunk-driving accident, will serve nearly two years in jail180 days for each of the victims. The prosecution and defense attorneys have two weeks to review the ruling, and argue for or against the sentence. (Casey Stegall, Fox News) Louisiana Governor Signs Order Against Discrimination. John Bel Edwards issued an executive order that protects against LGBT discrimination for state employees and provides employment protections on the basis of race and religion, among others. Edwards also rescinded an order from former governor Bobby Jindal, saying it was discriminatory. (Nick Gass and Nolan D. McCaskill, Politico) Clinton at the National Action Network. The Democratic front-runner pitched herself as the candidate most committed to issues affecting African Americans during a speech at Reverend Al Sharptons National Action Network in New York. We cant just show up at election time and say the right things and think that thats enough. We cant start building relationships a few weeks before a vote. she said. Bernie Sanders will speak at the convention on Thursday. (Sam Frizell, Time) Story continues Tomorrow in One Paragraph. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will meet for a Democratic debate in Brooklyn, New York, at 9 p.m. ET, airing on CNN and Time Warner Cable's NY1. John Kasich, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump will be campaigning in New York. Recommended: The Obama Doctrine Follow stories throughout the day with our new Politics & Policy page. And keep on top of the campaign with our 2016 Distilled election dashboard. Top Read Bundya rancher's son who was very much at ease around armed militantswas the perfect man to unite hard-line patriot militia groups, cowboys, and country folk who saw their way of life disappearing and blamed the federal government for it. Wes, like many of them, had been casting about for a cause. Vices James Pogue on the right-wing crusaders united against the federal government. Top Lines GOP Women for Hillary. Recent polls show nearly half of Republican female primary voters said they would rather vote for Hillary Clinton than for Donald Trump, if the two went head-to-head in a general election. Heres why. (Rebecca Nelson, Elle) What Does Chuck Grassley Fear? Democrats are trying to pressure the Iowa Republican to confirm President Obamas Supreme Court nominee, but Grassley seems more afraid of blowback from the Republican side. (Elaine Godfrey, The Atlantic) Top Views How Does Your State Stack Up? April 18 is tax day in the United States. Check out these interactive charts to see how varied each state is when it comes to income taxes. (Alex McIntyre, Jennifer Prince, and Christopher Cannon, Bloomberg) We want to hear from you! Were reimagining what The Edge can be, and would love to receive your complaints, compliments, and suggestions. Tell us what youd like to find in your inbox by sending a message to newsletters@theatlantic.com. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's interior ministry said on Thursday it would take legal action against people who participate in demonstrations called by activists to protest Egypt's unexpected decision to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. The ministry urged Egyptians "not to get carried away by tendentious calls for protests and it warns against any attempts to break the law," adding in a statement that it would take "all decisive legal measures" to maintain security. Egypt's media has been in uproar since the government announced on Saturday the signing of a maritime demarcation accord that puts two islands at the southern entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba in Saudi waters. Saudi and Egyptian officials say Tiran and Sanafir belong to the kingdom and were only under Egyptian control because Saudi Arabia asked Egypt in 1950 to protect them. On Wednesday President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi tried to calm the furor, reiterating the government's assertion that the islands had always been Saudi and that Egypt had only been looking after them. Calls for protest have gathered thousands of supporters on Facebook, including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Eleven people protested against the transfer of the islands earlier this week and five of them were briefly detained. (Reporting by Ali Abdelatti writing by Amina Ismail; Editing by Dominic Evans) Ukraine's State Property Fund opposes the change of the type of companies DTEK Dniproenergo, DTEK Zakhidenergo, DTEK Donetskoblenergo, DTEK Dniprooblenergo, Kyivenergo and DTEK Krymenergo from public joint-stock companies (PJSC) to private joint-stock companies (PrJSC) proposed by DTEK, the fund's press service reported. "The negotiations on the change of the type of the above-mentioned companies were not held with the fund as a shareholder in them. The fund did not receive any official notifications [which are obligatory] on adding the issues to the agenda of general meetings of shareholders If the agenda of any public joint-stock company from DTEK Group would have the issue of changing the type of the companies to private ones, representatives of the fund will vote against this decision or would not vote at all [if there were no the agreed order of the government]," the fund said. This change is not beneficial for the state. It would be more difficult to control the operation of private joint-stock companies. The fund said that at least three quarters of shareholders must agree to change the type of the companies. "If representatives of the state will vote against the change of the type of the companies, the decision would not be passed at all," the press service said. Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday urged dozens of Muslim leaders gathered for a summit in Istanbul to end sectarian divisions in the Islamic world and join forces to fight terror. Turkey is seeking to showcase its influence among the world's estimated 1.7 billion Muslims, particularly in lands once controlled by the Ottoman Empire, at the two-day summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which it will chair for the next two years. But the meeting bringing together over 30 heads of state and government has been shadowed by sectarian-tinged conflicts in Syria and Yemen that have pitted Shia Muslims -- led by regional power Iran -- against Sunni Muslim powers like Saudi Arabia. Key guests at the summit included Saudi King Salman and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in a rare public encounter although there were reports the two men had exchanged words. "I believe the greatest challenge we need to surmount is sectarianism. My religion is not that of Sunnis, of Shiites. My religion is Islam," Erdogan said in his opening speech. "We should be uniting. Out of the conflicts, the tyranny, only the Muslims suffer," he said, adding the summit meeting could be a "turning point" for the whole Islamic world. Erdogan lashed out at Islamic State (IS) jihadists who seized swathes of Syria and Boko Haram Islamist extremists in Nigeria as two "terrorist organisations that are serving the same evil purpose." He said that the OIC had accepted a Turkish proposal to set up a multinational police coordination centre for Islamic states to fight militants, to be based in Istanbul. "We need to establish an organisation to further strengthen cooperation in the fight against terror," he said. - Turkey-Egypt friction - A security lockdown has been thrown around the summit venue in Istanbul, the former capital of the Ottoman Empire from where the Sultans for centuries ruled Muslims from the Balkans to Arabia. Story continues Some 5,000 extra police have been deployed in Istanbul to ensure the event passes smoothly after two deadly suicide attacks blamed on jihadists in Istanbul this year alone. But Turkey's own policies in the Middle East have been controversial, with several Muslim states objecting to the Islamic-rooted government's backing of rebels in Syria. While the summit marks one of the most significant gatherings of heads of state for years in Istanbul, some high profile leaders like Jordan's King Abdullah and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are notable by their absence. Turkey's relations with Cairo have still not recovered from the 2013 ousting of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a close ally of Ankara, while ties with Amman are being tested by differences over Syria. Turkey took over the chairmanship of the OIC from Egypt, whose Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry read a brief message from Sisi emphasising Cairo's commitment to the group. Shoukry conspicuously made no reference to the Turkish president in his speech but Erdogan also pointedly thanked Cairo for its efforts. - Salman exposes Iran split - The run-up to the summit saw a landmark visit by King Salman to the Turkish capital Ankara which highlighted the dramatic improvement in ties between Turkey and Saudi since he came to the throne in 2015. Overseen by Erdogan and Salman, the two countries' foreign ministers on Thursday signed a memorandum on creating a Saudi-Turkish Coordination Council to further deepen bilateral relations. Addressing the summit, Salman said "we are obliged today, more than ever, to fight terrorism" and appeared to lash out at Tehran, without naming the Islamic Republic. He denounced "flagrant interference in the affairs of several Islamic countries... instigating sedition and divisions, inciting sectarianism and using armed militia to undermine our security," according to the official SPA agency. Saudi Arabia and Turkey both believe the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad is the key to solving the Syrian conflict and back rebel groups fighting his regime. Analysts have warned however that Turkey needs to tread carefully in its alliance with Saudi Arabia, which is also overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, so it is not seen as a sectarian union aimed at Shiite Iran. In a sign of Ankara's desire to maintain a delicate balance, Rouhani is due to begin a bilateral visit to Turkey after the summit. AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas county jail inmate who escaped custody while receiving treatment in a hospital was found in the dishwasher of his girlfriend's apartment in boxer shorts and wearing handcuffs with the chain severed, a sheriff's department said on Thursday. "He took out the racks and made himself a nice cubby hole," said Chief Deputy Glenn Blank of the Jasper County Sheriff's office in East Texas. The inmate, Wesley Evans, 20, was captured on Wednesday morning and was taken back into custody after an escape that lasted about 24 hours. He is expected to face charges for the escape attempt. Evans has been in jail since March 8 on charges of aggravated robbery, auto theft and arson. He was taken to the hospital for treatment of a swollen hand. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Leslie Adler) Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - The European Parliament votes Thursday on whether airlines can share names of passengers with EU states to help trace returning jihadists, culminating five years of debate that intensified after the Paris and Brussels attacks. One of the two Brussels airport suicide bombers, Ibrahim El Bakraoui, was deported by plane from Turkey to Europe without detection despite being a wanted man in Belgium. The vote by MEPs in Strasbourg, France comes after interior ministers from the 28 EU nations in December finally settled privacy concerns that had hobbled negotiations with the legislature since 2011. The United States has long urged the European Union to establish a Passenger Name Record (PNR) system where officials can detect patterns of suspicious behaviour through the sharing of passenger data. "I'm hoping for a positive vote," Timothy Kirkhope, the British conservative MEP who is steering the legislation through parliament, told a press conference Wednesday in Strasbourg. "We've taken a long time to come to this point. But I hope we finally may be able to put in place a PNR system that delivers both for saving lives and also for protecting our vital liberties," Kirkhope said. The PNR is designed to track not only potential jihadists but also criminals, including those who smuggle people, drugs or weapons. Kirkhope has said the choice is not between a European Union PNR system and no such system, but one between a bloc-wide approach and 28 national systems that would leave gaps. PNR can "identify the routes used by criminals and terrorists and prevent individuals from reaching their intended destinations or targets," he said Wednesday. France spearheaded the drive for the PNR in the wake of the November 13 Islamic State group attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead. It made another push following the March 22 attacks in Brussels that left 32 people and were linked to those in the French capital. Story continues - 'Extra means' - The draft legislation would require airline firms to share passenger data -- such as travel dates, itineraries, passport details and phone numbers -- with authorities in EU destination countries. The goal is to detect, for example, individuals who have not been flagged by authorities as presenting a threat but whose travel patterns raise suspicions. It would then be up to one country to alert another or send a specific request for data from another country as part of an investigation. It would apply to flights to and from destinations outside the EU, but member states could also apply them to flights within the bloc. The data would be held for five years, though after six months key information would be "masked" and no longer be accessible, barring a specific request. France had originally wanted the information to remain unmasked for at least one year but EU members settled in December for the six months that parliament wanted. The vote will occur along with a separate ballot on rules over how the police and the courts use personal information. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls visited Strasbourg on Tuesday to lobby various parliamentary groups, including fellow socialists, urging MEPs to show "responsibility" in the wake of the Brussels attacks. "The European PNR is an extra means we will have to be effective in the fight against terrorism," Valls said. If adopted, EU countries will have two years to turn it into national law. Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - The European Parliament on Thursday adopted for the first time a single set of rules for the 28-nation EU to protect the privacy of people using the Internet. The reform replaces a patchwork of rules introduced two decades ago at the dawn of the Internet age and boosts efforts by the European Commission, the EU executive, to build a single digital market for 500 million people. Under the rules, national watchdogs will be empowered to fine firms up to four percent of their total worldwide annual turnover if they are found to have broken EU-wide data protection rules. "These new laws will ensure that the fundamental right to personal data protection is upheld for all European citizens," the commission's First Vice President Frans Timmermans said after the vote in Strasbourg, France. "And they will help stimulate the digital single market in the EU by fostering trust in online services by consumers and certainty for businesses," Timmermans added. The new rules, which took four years to hammer out, include guarantees on the so-called "right to be forgotten." Google and Brussels have previously clashed over this right, which allows citizens to require search engines to erase results involving them after a period of time. The new rules also give citizens the right to transfer their data to another service provider and to know when their information has been hacked while privacy policies must be explained to them clearly. They are also designed to smoothen cooperation among law enforcement authorities, a measure made more urgent with the recent attacks by jihadists in Brussels and Paris. They set minimum standards for police to handle data within each member state as well as regulate police transfers of data across borders. "This (reform) is a great success for the European Parliament and a fierce European 'yes' to strong consumer rights and competition in the digital age," said Jan Philipp Albrecht, a Greens MEP who steered the legislation through parliament. Story continues "Citizens will be able to decide for themselves which personal information they want to share," Albrecht added. "The regulation will also create clarity for businesses by establishing a single law across the EU. The new law creates confidence, legal certainty and fairer competition." Brussels is seeking to extend the EU single market to the digital era. Europe as a bloc is the world's biggest economy, but despite its 500 million potential consumers it largely remains a divided continent of 28 distinct economies, especially when it comes to media and the Internet. Member states will have two years to turn the reform's provisions into law. By Balazs Koranyi and Lindsay Dunsmuir WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Europe's biggest nations launched a joint scheme on Thursday to clamp down on tax evasion and corruption, responding to revelations of the rich and powerful stashing money in far-away tax havens in the so-called Panama Papers. "In the future, nobody should be able to hide behind complex legal structures," German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said as he unveiled the initiative. "Fighting tax evasion requires a global response." The leak of thousands of confidential documents from a Panamanian law firm earlier this month has had political repercussions in many countries, forcing Iceland's prime minister to quit and putting British Prime Minister David Cameron under pressure over his family's financial affairs. Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain agreed to share detailed data on the ownership of companies, trusts and foundations, making it more difficult for actual owners to hide their wealth and income from tax authorities. "Britain will work with our major European partners to find out who really owns the secretive shell companies and the trusts that have been used as conduits for evading tax and laundering money and benefiting from corruption," British finance minister George Osborne said. Unveiling their proposals alongside IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and OECD chief Jose Angel Gurria, the five nations committed to establishing a register to detail the beneficial owners of companies, trusts, foundations, and shell companies, making it available for tax administration and law enforcement authorities. French finance minister Michel Sapin said the joint effort should be followed by even tougher measures against countries that will not comply. "We have to speed up and we have to implement and we have to have the proper sanctions against those countries that would not join the international consensus," he said. The OECD has for years criticised Panama for its refusal to join the global push for transparency but its government appears to have taken heed of the backlash, announcing on Thursday that its commitment to financial transparency was "irreversible". "We need much stronger international tax cooperation. A lot of things have gone global, and it's unlikely to recede," Lagarde said. In their first step, the five European nationals will launch a pilot initiative for automatic exchange of information on beneficial ownership and hope to broaden the scheme to include other nations. Urging a global exchange of beneficial ownership information in order to remove 'the veil of secrecy under which criminals operate', the ministers acknowledged cracks in the current framework and called on others to apply enhanced standards of transparency. (Additional reporting by Gernot Heller; Editing by Andrea Ricci) Paris (AFP) - The eldest daughter of former French president Jacques Chirac has died aged 58, her family said on Thursday. Laurence Chirac, whose long battle with anorexia was described by her father as "the drama of her life", had been in hospital since Sunday, her family told AFP by phone. They declined to provide more details. She was taken to hospital following a heart attack, according to the weekly news magazine Le Point. Born on March 4, 1958, Laurence Chirac had suffered with the eating disorder anorexia since 1974 and had attempted suicide on several occasions. The former president's wife, Bernadette Chirac, described Laurence Chirac's "suffering" and the "loneliness suffered by families" affected by the disorder during a television appearance in 2004. Bernadette Chirac was involved in the founding of the "Maison de Solenn" in Paris, a centre designed to help tackle challenges faced by adolescents. Laurence Chirac rarely appeared in the many photographs published of the Chirac family while her father was president. Jacques Chirac admitted in his memoirs in 2009 that Laurence's fragile health was the reason he was forced to overlook her when he gave her younger sister Claude a prominent role in his communications team. The former president himself, now 83, has suffered from ill health in recent years. He suffered a small stroke while in office in 2005, and he is now rarely seen in public and is reportedly confined to a wheelchair. He reportedly began to suffer from a degenerative neurological disorder during his final years in office, leading prosecutors to spare him the humiliation of appearing in court in a corruption trial in 2011. Kernel to form register of shareholders to pay dividends on April 22 Kernel Holding S.A. (Luxembourg), the holding company of Kernel Group, plans to form a register of shareholders to pay dividends for FY 2015 (July-June) on April 22. According to the report on the issuer's website, dividends will be paid on April 29, 2016. Shareholders in Kernel Holding S.A. at a general meeting on December 10 approved a dividend of $0.25 per share for FY 2015 (July 2014-June 2015). Taking into account the total number of outstanding shares (79.683 million), the total dividends will be $19.92 million. Kernel is a vertically integrated company which has been operating in the Ukrainian agribusiness sector since 1994. The group produces sugar and sunflower oil, distributes bottled oil under the brand names Schedry Dar, Stozhar and Chumak Zolota, exports oil and grain, and provides elevator storage services for grain and oilseeds. By Olivia Oran and Carl O'Donnell (Reuters) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc has brought in investment banks to review its options amid interest from buyout firms and other companies in a number of its businesses, according to people familiar with the matter. While Valeant has not decided to sell any major business thus far, the move represents the clearest indication yet that the Canadian drug maker needs to divest assets to bolster its finances, the people said this week. Valeant has turned to investment banks that include Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Centerview Partners Holdings LLC as it reviews strategic options and seeks advice on dealing with its creditors, the people added. The sources asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. Valeant did not respond to requests for comment. Goldman Sachs and Centerview declined to comment. Both Valeant Chief Executive Officer Michael Pearson and board member William Ackman, who is also the CEO of activist hedge fund Pershing Square, have said that the company was considering selling "noncore assets" to help trim its $30 billion debt pile. Since announcing its openness to asset sales, Valeant has received a flurry of inquiries from interested buyers, according to the sources. One coveted asset is Xifaxin, the largest product in Valeant's gastrointestinal division, which it acquired last year as part of its $11 billion acquisition of Salix Pharmaceuticals, the sources said. Other assets that have attracted interest from potential bidders include its aesthetics products, Obagi and Solta, and its skin care product, CeraVe, some of the sources added. Valeant has been under pressure to reduce its debt burden after its stock plunged more than 80 percent since August due to increased political criticism of high drug prices and controversy around its relationship with a specialty pharmacy. Ratings agencies S&P and Moody's have downgraded the company's credit rating, and lenders have demanded higher coupon payments after the company violated certain debt agreements pertaining to the timing of the filing of its 10-K. Valeant has undergone changes in recent months such as adding several new board seats, including a spot for Ackman, and asking Pearson to step down. A search for a new CEO is under way while Pearson remains in his post. (Reporting by Olivia Oran and Carl O'Donnell in New York; Additional reporting by Lauren Hirsch in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis) By Andrew M. Seaman (Reuters Health) - Sending a mobile optometrist to preschools is not as cost-effective as telling kids and their parents to follow up with their own eye doctors, according to a new study from San Francisco. Bringing a mobile optometrist to preschools also didn't increase the number of children who ended up receiving follow-up eye exams, researchers found. Dr. Eugene Lowry of the University of California, San Francisco and colleagues write in JAMA Ophthalmology that vision screening in three- to five-year-olds allows early correction of eye problems. Ensuring follow-up exams with eye doctors after a school-based eye screening has been challenging, however. One possible solution is to bring optometrists to preschools for follow-up appointments. Those programs haven't been evaluated before now. For the new study, the researchers used data from a vision screening program. Between 2009 and 2012, the parents of 175 children were told to take the child to an eye doctor for a follow-up exam. In 2012 and 2013, however, a mobile vision unit came to the schools for follow-up exams; during this period, 204 children were eligible for the exams. About 60 percent of kids ended up getting follow-up exams between 2009 and 2012, while only about 55 percent got them between 2012 and 2013. And, the researchers found, telling children and their parents to follow up with their own doctors was more cost effective than the mobile eye exams in 88 percent of cases. On average, it cost $664 to diagnose one case of lazy eye between 2009 and 2012, compared to $776 per case from 2012 to 2013. Lowry told Reuters Health about three quarters of students would need to complete their follow-up eye exams for the mobile method to break even in terms of costs. "I think there are programmatic changes that could happen to increase follow up and make it cost effective," he said. In an editorial, Eric Ross and Dr. Joshua Stein of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor suggest changes to the mobile program. "With a few modifications to its implementation, the mobile follow-up could prove to be an effective and economically efficient solution to the problem of suboptimal follow-up," they write. Specifically, they suggest schools wait until they've received a certain number of permission slips back from parents before inviting the mobile unit. Additionally, the mobile examinations still required parents to be present, which may have been a barrier to increasing follow-up rates. Lowry said absenteeism may also play a role in low examination rates. "I think this study highlights some changes that would be beneficial to make the program cost effective," he said. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1Nb7ZG2 and http://bit.ly/1Nb80dj JAMA Ophthalmology, online April 14, 2016. At Facebooks F8 developer conference this week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg made it clear that the social network is going all in on artificial intelligence. Using A.I., Zuckerberg said, We can all make faster progress together. The most prominent new way Facebook is applying this: interactive bots inside Facebook Messenger that will answer your questions and offer goods and services. In separate talks, Zuckerberg and Facebooks VP of Messenger, David Marcus, raved about using Messenger to get CNN news updates from a bot, shopping deals from a bot, and weather reports from a bot. They painted the addition of interactive chat bots as a bold new frontier. But if you ask the folks at weather app Poncho, which was one of Facebooks launch partners for the new Messenger Platform and was lucky enough to be used as a prime example on stage, there is a way of looking at Facebooks bot bonanza simply as an embrace of behavior that users already exhibit. Bots have been around for a long time, and usually with a negative cloud around them, says Sam Mandel, CEO of Poncho. But a bot is just a way to interact on a platform, and we think its the way most people already want to interact with services. Conversational interface is the classic, human way of finding information, and in a way, were just now bringing that to mobile devices. And mobile is the only format that really matters now, its clear. Mandel makes a good point: For all the buzz around Facebooks push into bots, the technology isnt new, and Facebook isnt the first to use it. In February, to name one example, the Atlantic Media-owned news site Quartz launched a news app that earned plaudits for its interface. The app greets users (good afternoon) and offers up a news story; you can either tap an emoji (or sometimes a word-prompt like tell me more) to continue reading it, or, anything else? to get a different story. The experience makes getting the news interactive, and even a little amusing. And its an example of how chat bots can be personalized to feel like theyre really responding to you. Story continues That has been the idea of Poncho since its inception two years agoit sends you weather updates via email or text message, from Poncho the Weather Cat, a bot in the guise of a friendly feline character. But Facebook Messenger may be the very best use for the service yet, so the company is going all in. Ask Poncho for the weather, and hell tell you the temperature and conditions in your areasimple enough. But he can get chattier: Are you sensitive to pollen? Do you have fancy hair? Should I send you pollen or frizz alerts? he asked me in our first interaction. When I tapped yes to the pollen alerts (spring allergies) he pushed again on the hair: And hows your hair? Shall I send you frizz alerts? Hes really interested in my hair. (I declined the frizz alerts, thanks.) When I wanted to know specifically if Ill need an umbrella later today, Poncho needed a few nudges to understand the question. But he will eventually get better at answering questions asked in a colloquial manner, Mandel says. Mandel tells Yahoo Finance he expects Facebook Messenger to quickly become the primary use case for Poncho. Were not giving up on other platforms, he says, but my expectation is that certainly over the next year or so the conversation option will become the most important. I think the right way to see what Facebook is doing is that users have already moved to these messaging platforms, and so we need to go there too. And I think eventually brands all have to figure out how to get their message across on these platforms. Ron Gutman, CEO of HealthTap, another launch partner that already has an active bot in Facebook Messenger, echoes a similar notion. Text is the primary way everyone communicates now. You do almost everything through messages. He doesnt just mean services that are overtly for messaging, like iMessage or WhatsApp, but any platform on which communication happens through instantaneous text, which is almost every social tech tool nowadays. Its Twitter, Snapchat, WeChat, Weibo, Path, Peach, and others. Its also traditional search, like Google and Yahoo. Users type a message and expect an instant reply. Hence the HealthTap bot, which answers medical questions live inside Messenger, and can connect you with a doctor on live video, if you need it. Of course, Facebook is now offering sponsored messages, too, which means that while brands rush to build bots for the platform, advertisers are also drooling. Its all an effort to come to consumers where they already are, behaviorallythat is, living in instant textrather than make them come to a new app or platform. Right now, 900 million people use the Messenger app regularly; Facebook wants that figure to approach the 1.5 billion that use Facebook itself each month. Its embrace of bots isnt prescient or predictiveits a reaction to whats already happening. But make no mistake: its a big deal, and could herald a new normal in social tech. We think the transition to conversational interfaces will be the biggest transition weve seen since the transition from static web pages to streams, like Twitter, says Mandel. The goal is to take the content to where users are, seamlessly. -- Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering sports business and technology. Read more: Facebooks live video plan should scare Twitter, Periscope and Snapchat Why it makes perfect sense for Twitter to stream NFL games Did Facebook copy its new basketball game from Peach? Facebooks new sports feature is bad news for Twitter A few weeks ago, a photo that supposedly showed Apple's upcoming iPhone 7 Plus case suggested the upcoming phablet will indeed have a dual camera setup on the back, along with redesigned antennas and a Smart Connector that would let you connect the phone to a keyboard. The most annoying detail about that leak concerned the dual camera, which had a protruding configuration that might be even uglier than the one on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s. A second leak in mid-March also showed an iPhone 7 design render, supposedly originating from Apple supplier Catcher. Now, a new report seems to corroborate parts of these leaks and point to a pretty significant redesign but maybe not the big one we've been waiting for. DONT MISS: First photo samples show why the HTC 10 is the best new camera in town While no new imagery is available to highlight the iPhone 7 design, Japanese Apple blog Macotakara has a decent track record and says that the possibility is great that both those leaks show the real thing both images follow below. iphone-7-leaked-bastille-1 The iPhone 7 Plus is expected to feature a dual camera and a Smart Connector on the back. The iPhone 7 should be similar to the iPhone 6s when it comes to overall design, and there will be little difference in size between this year and last years iPhones, according to the report. The headphone jack is going away from both iPhone 7 models, but Apple wont replace it with a second speaker, as some people have speculated. Furthermore, the iPhone will ship with Bluetooth-enabled EarPods that connect to the iPhone to charge just like the Apple Pencil. Since the headphone jack is going away, this could be an awesome new feature. iphone 7 case Finally, the iPhone 7 supposedly packs two new sensors at the top of the device. Their functionality is unknown, but they could be used to improve the display performance in a manner suggested by DisplayMate recently the iPhone 7 could get the same True Tone display as the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. Story continues Related stories Apple's iPhone engineers consider hackers a more pressing threat than the government How long Apple expects all of its most popular devices to last Think you know what people look for in a new smartphone? Think again More from BGR: Now we know why C-3PO had a red arm in The Force Awakens This article was originally published on BGR.com By Nate Raymond and Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - A fifth high-ranking New York City police officer has been reassigned in an unfolding federal investigation into whether officers accepted gifts from businessmen with ties to Mayor Bill de Blasio. The New York City Police Department said that Andrew Capul, a deputy chief, had been transferred to an administrative post in connection with the ongoing investigation. Roy Richter, president of the union that represents high-ranking officers, said he was confident that Capul was not a target in the probe and had cooperated with investigators. Four other commanders were transferred last Thursday, based on what Police Commissioner William Bratton said was information developed in the investigation. The probe is examining whether police officers received gifts and travel from businessmen in exchange for unspecified favors, and has centered on two businessmen, Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, according to a source familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly. Rechnitz contributed to de Blasio's 2013 campaign, while Reichberg helped raise money for a nonprofit organization controlled by de Blasio advisers to support the mayor's agenda. The investigation has also included former Chief of Department Phillip Banks, once the police department's highest-ranking uniformed officer, and Norman Seabrook, head of the correction officers union, the source said. Banks earned $250,000 to $500,000 from unspecified investments from JSR Capital Inc, Rechnitz's real estate firm, according to a financial disclosure report Banks filed in 2014. Rechnitz's lawyer has declined to comment. Reichberg could not be reached for comment. Banks' lawyer has denied any wrongdoing, while Seabrook has declined to comment. De Blasio told reporters on Monday he was confident his campaign and administration had not committed any improprieties. "I hold myself and my administration to the highest standard of integrity," he said. Story continues The 2013 campaign committee has hired Barry Berke, a high-profile defense lawyer, to represent it during the probe, a spokesman for the campaign confirmed on Wednesday. The campaign is also returning 2013 contributions made by Rechnitz. De Blasio said on Monday he had not conferred with legal counsel because he had not had any contact with federal authorities. "I assume they have my phone number if they want to talk to me," he said. The investigation led on Friday to the arrest of a former restaurant owner, Hamlet Peralta, for running a $12 million Ponzi scheme. The source said the case was linked to the probe, though court documents do not specify how. (Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis) The intensity in the shelling of the Ukrainian positions in the area of Ukraine's special operation in the eastern part of the country remained high, as some thirty instances of ceasefire violation have been recorded since the day began on Wednesday, the press service of the Ukrainian military headquarters said. "In the ATO [special operation] zone, 32 instances of violation of the silence regime were recorded," the press center said in the evening information bulletin (as of 06:00 p.m.) which was published on its Facebook page. The Donbas militants committed 15 shellings of the Ukrainian positions around Avdiyivka, using mortars and weapons of smaller calibers, it said. Ukrainian defenders of Mayorsk and Vodyane saw explosions of 120mm and 82mm mortar shells, while their position near Zaitseve was subjected to a simultaneous fire from mortars, and 152mm artillery pieces, according to the bulletin. Moreover, the units of the Ukrainian army in Pisky were fired on by grenade launchers, machineguns, and small arms, and some adversary snipers were, once again, exposed in Maryinka, it said. "During the aforementioned period, the Ukrainian Armed forces opened fire three times in the directions of the adversary's close approaches to the forward defense line," the headquarters said On Thursday, Paramount and DreamWorks Pictures released the first image from Rupert Sanders' upcoming anime-based live-action thriller Ghost in the Shell. The film is based on a Japanese comic book series of the same name, written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. Scarlett Johansson stars as the Major, a "special ops, one-of-a-kind human cyborg hybrid" leading an elite task force called Section 9, which fights criminals and extremists. Boardwalk Empire alum Michael Pitt is playing the villain, Kuze, known as the Laughing Man in the manga. The antagonist is a bitter and vengeful man with a body that is part robot. He has a unique sense of style and has been described as a bad guy filtered through the lens of a street artist. Top Japanese film talent Beat Takeshi Kitano is playing Section 9's chief of public security, Daisuke Aramaki. Ghost in the Shell is his first Hollywood role since 1995, when he starred opposite Keanu Reeves in Johnny Mnemonic. Other castmembers include Kaori Momoi, Juliette Binoche as Dr. Ouelet and Pilou Asbaek as Batou. Section 9 task force members are played by Chin Han, Danusia Samal, Lasarus Ratuere, Yutaka Izumihara and Tuwanda Manyimo. The movie is filming in Wellington, New Zealand, and is expected to hit theaters on March 31, 2017. Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul are producing the film, with executive producers Michael Costigan, Tetsuya Fujimura, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and Jeffrey Silver. "We are so pleased to be in Wellington to shoot 'Ghost in the Shell,'" Avi Arad, Ari Arad, Michael Costigan and Jeffrey Silver said in a joint statement. "The city boasts state-of-the-art production facilities and a rich urban landscape that make it an ideal setting for a sci-fi action film. The crew base in New Zealand working on the film is first-class, and working with Sir Richard Taylor and the team at Weta Workshop is inspirational on every level. The people of New Zealand have been terrific partners in helping us bring this story and its beloved characters to audiences around the world, and we are thankful for their continued hospitality." Read more: Takeshi Kitano Joins Scarlett Johansson in 'Ghost in the Shell' Istanbul (AFP) - Five men have been jailed in Turkey for "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports, one of several such cases that have intensified alarm over the country's slide towards authoritarianism. The five from the southern province of Sanliurfa were accused of damaging the president on social media, according to the Dogan news agency. A sixth person was arrested but later released. Almost 2,000 people have been prosecuted for "insulting" Erdogan since the former premier became president in August 2014, Turkey's justice minister said in March. The court cases have raised concerns over freedom of expression in Turkey and Erdogan has also been accused of seeking to muzzle the press, NGOs and academics. Erdogan has repeatedly denied any crackdown on free expression in his country. A German comedian has become the centre of a diplomatic spat between Turkey and Germany over a satirical poem that accused Erdogan of paedophilia and bestiality. Turkey has demanded that Berlin prosecute the TV satirist, Jan Bohmermann, for slander. Madrid (AFP) - A Madrid court on Wednesday ordered that disgraced former top banker Mario Conde be held without bail pending investigations into alleged money laundering. Conde, 67, who was previously jailed for embezzlement committed when he was chairman of the Banesto bank, was arrested on Monday along with his son and daughter, and four other people. Conde, who became a symbol of the "get-rich-quick" culture in Spain in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was chairman of Banesto when it was taken over in 1993 after an audit revealed a shortfall of 3.6 billion euros ($4.1 billion). He was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2002 for embezzlement and fraud but was released on parole in 2005. Conde's arrest on Monday was ordered by the National Court which is investigating whether he and his children set up a network of companies to help channel 13 million euros stashed away in offshore accounts in Switzerland and other financial centres that he had embezzled from Banesto back to Spain. The National Court, Spain's top criminal court, ordered Conde and his former lawyer Francisco Javier de la Vega to be held in jail without bail while the investigation continues, after brief questioning on Wednesday. The court placed his daughter Alejandra Conde, who is suspected of playing a key role in the alleged money laundering under house arrest. His son, Mario Conde junior and the three other people arrested were released but banned from leaving Spain. Conde's lawyer Ignacio Palaez called the court's decision to jail his client "excessive". Banesto was eventually sold at auction to Spain's Santander bank, which is now the eurozone's largest lender. Former Tribeca Film Institute head Beth Janson is returning to Canada to lead the organizer of the country's film and TV awards. Janson was executive director of the TFI, the year-round nonprofit founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, from 2009-15. She left Tribeca last year to become the founding director of the Rent the Runway foundation, helping women become entrepreneurs and build successful companies. Janson will now become CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television on June 1, succeeding Helga Stephenson, who resigned in February and will step down on May 31. "It is particularly gratifying for us at the Academy to be reversing the brain drain to the U.S. and bringing [Janson] home as our new CEO," chair Martin Katz said Wednesday in a statement. Janson first joined Tribeca in 2003 and helped develop its signature programs, including the TFI New Media Fund and Tribeca All Access, a grant and networking program for minority filmmakers. Read More: Nicholas Apps Named Tribeca Film Institute Deputy Executive Director By Marcus E. Howard NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former Warner Music Group executive accused of embezzling more than $1 million pleaded guilty this week as part of a plea deal, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office confirmed Thursday. Danielle Smith, who worked with artists for Warner Music's Atlantic Records division in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree grand larceny for using a corporate credit card for personal expenses over a four-year period. She was originally charged with first-degree grand larceny. In 2014, a New York grand jury indicted her on the charge that said the property she stole from the New York-based record label was valued at more than $1 million. The theft was said to have taken place between Sept. 26, 2007 and Sept. 29, 2011 in New York and elsewhere. Her attorney was not immediately available for comment. In 2012, Smith was named among Hollywood's "power women" by Variety magazine for raising between $200,000 and $500,000 for President Barack Obama's re-election. Smith's sentence is likely to involve paying $500,000 in restitution and five years of probation, according to those familiar with the plea deal. She is scheduled to appear in court on June 15. (Reporting by Marcus E. Howard; Editing by James Dalgleish) Pentagon says missile defense shield in Europe will not be used to deploy offensive weapons Facilities of the U.S. missile defense shield in Europe are unable to launch offensive-type missiles, and this has been explained to the Russian side, the Pentagon has said. "The Aegis Ashore system is only capable of launching air and missile defense interceptor missiles, such as the SM-3, which are not missiles subject to the INF Treaty [treaty banning intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles]," U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson Linda Rojas told Interfax. According to her, "the system is not capable of launching any offensive type missile such as the Tomahawk cruise missile." "Therefore, it is fully consistent with U.S. obligations under the INF Treaty," Rojas said. "We have explained this to the Russian Federation," he added. - A British university study claims to have uncovered the greatest Formula One driver of all time. The University of Sheffield's Methods Institute has produced a drivers' Top 100 chart with Argentina's five-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio on top of the all-time podium. The study claims to remove the variable of the driver's team and car, concentrating instead on driving talent, explained the Institute's Andrew Bell. Using this approach Fangio was followed in the list by France's four-time world champion Alain Prost with Spain's double champion Fernando Alonso in third. Few would argue with the man at the top but the standing of other drivers may prove more controversial. Seven-time champion Michael Schumacher only comes in ninth and Austrian great Niki Lauda doesn't make the top 100. Bell said: "There are some surprising results." AFP The lawsuit over an aborted Fox Business reality series about estate sales continues to grow more and more contentious with the latest dispute between the warring parties involving whether Fox News chairman Roger Ailes has to submit to a deposition. To quickly review, Leftfield Pictures, the producer of History Channel's Pawn Stars, sued Fox News Network (parent company of Fox Business) for $4.5 million last July with the claim that it was in the middle of producing episodes when the cable network walked away from a deal. What made the lawsuit extra notable was that Leftfield's general counsel Chris Silvestri previously spent 16 years at Fox News. So Fox filed a counterclaim alleging fraud on Leftfield's part. Fox says it learned that one of its main gay castmembers didn't have a legal relationship with supposedly adopted children, that another character was caught up with molestation accusations and that Leftfield was faking a show about a family-owned business. In reply, Leftfield discussed the internal dynamics at Fox News Network, talked about how executives didn't want to break it to Ailes they were canceling a show they had previously hyped and then "fabricated" an excuse to kill it. The producer also slammed Fox for outing a man's sexuality. Now, as the parties are in the discovery phase, Leftfield is pushing to put Ailes under oath, calling him an "essential witness." The plaintiff also looks to depose Judy Laterza, his longtime assistant. According to Leftfield's letter to the judge, "documents produced in this action confirm Mr. Ailes' personal participation in the events at issue. The documents show that he was not only a participant, but the key decision-maker at Fox News with respect to the purchase of the Show from Leftfield." Leftfield goes on to say that it doesn't "seek Mr. Ailes' deposition because he is the CEO, we are entitled to his deposition because of his obvious personal involvement in matters that Fox News itself itself has put at issue." Story continues Fox News has responded that emails referencing potential Ailes meetings, a memo addressing another executive's views concerning Fox Business programming, an email recounting how Ailes laughed at the suggested name of the show, another indicating that director of special programming Brian Gaffney had talked to Ailes plus some word that Ailes had asked to see a promo reel don't show his personal participation or that he was a "key decision-maker" on the aborted program. Leftfield has also put forward various press clippings in support of the deposition. One is a Fortune interview from January where Rupert Murdoch said Ailes "is micromanaging the place just as much as ever." Fox News says such submission belies Leftfield's protest that it is not seeking the deposition merely because he is the chief executive. New York state judge Barry Ostrager will soon decide whether to issue a protective order that precludes a deposition. If Leftfield gets to question Ailes, the depth of his involvement on Fox News shows could be a focus. Paris (AFP) - France's richest man, LVMH boss Bernard Arnault, broke his silence Thursday on a hit documentary in which the little guys take him on -- and end up laughing all the way to the bank. "For 20 years we have been the object of criticism by groups from the extreme left. We are used to this kind of criticism," Arnault told a shareholders meeting of the world's biggest luxury goods company. "Merci Patron!" (Thanks boss!), a film about an unemployed middle-aged couple in one of France's poorest towns who get their own back on their former boss has been playing to packed cinemas. Its theme song has also become a rallying cry for people protesting against French labour reforms. In the film, former textile workers Jocelyne and Serge Klur not only take on Arnault for "ruining their lives" by moving their jobs to Poland -- they also make him pay. Asked by a shareholder Thursday to gives his opinion on the film, Arnault said he had yet to see it. But he said that "LVMH is... the worst incarnation, according to these extreme-leftist observers, of what the market economy produces". Switching to irony, he added: "We have it all wrong. First of all we are a big company in the CAC 40 (stock market index), we have strong results and we're making things worse for ourselves by hiring people. When I took over at the company we (had) 20,000 (employees) and now we are 120,000." Arnault said. - Life imitates art - In a case of life imitating art, LVMH's annual shareholders meeting (AGM) also features in the film when the jobless couple warn that it will be disrupted by a "crack squad" of trade union militants if Arnault didn't pay off their debts and give Serge Klur a minimum wage job in a supermarket. The film's director Francois Ruffin attempted to disrupt the AGM in 2014 to bring attention to the couple's plight when there were on the point of losing their home. Story continues Shareholders complained to Arnault at last year's meeting of the heavy police presence at the meeting, with riot police searching them at the entrance. Protestors who have taken to the streets against reforms of France's labour laws have taken up the film's title as a slogan on marches, and sung its "Merci Patron!" theme song -- a 1970s comic skit urging bosses and workers to swap places. Until Thursday the billionaire himself had remained tightlipped about the affair, with nobody at LVMH -- which owns such fabled brands as Dior, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton -- willing to comment to AFP. Arnault sparked the wrath of the French left in 2012 when he applied for Belgian nationality after the government proposed higher taxes on the rich, prompting the Liberation newspaper to run the front page headline, "Clear off, rich loser!" Like its protagonists, the film faced an against-the-odds battle to get made, losing half of its tiny budget when state funding was withdrawn "without explanation" at the last minute. Journalists working at France's highest selling national newspaper, Le Parisien -- which is owned by Arnault -- claimed they were banned from writing about it. Some 230,000 people have seen the film, which cost 40,000 euros ($45,000) to make, since it hit cinemas in February. French culture magazine Telerama said this put it on course to become the most profitable French film of the year. Some cinema goers felt that Arnault did not actually come over too badly in the film. "Arnault is the bad guy of course -- and the sting is at his expense -- but he doesn't come out of it all bad. He clearly has some kind of a conscience," said John Baxter, an American who saw the film in Paris. "Most American business leaders would not give these people the time of day." Skopje (AFP) - Thousands took to the streets of the Macedonian capital for a third consecutive evening Thursday to protest against the president's shock decision to halt probes into more than 50 public figures embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal. The demonstrators, many of them supporters of the main opposition SDSM party, whistled and chanted "Resignation!" and "No justice, no peace!" an AFP reporter at the scene said. Similar anti-government protests in the capital had turned violent on Wednesday, when demonstrators ransacked the offices used by President Gjorge Ivanov's team and set fire to the furniture. "We will not give up," 53-year old protester Jasmina Stojkovska Simonovic told AFP, adding that she wanted the president "to reverse his decision (on the probe) or resign." SDSM leader Zoran Zaev, who joined the latest protests, had earlier called for calm and AFP reporters late Thursday said the demos appeared to pass off without any serious incidents. Fresh protests have been called for Friday. The tensions in Macedonia come after the president on Tuesday said he had ended a judicial inquiry into the wiretapping controversy, granting a mass amnesty to dozens of people implicated who were facing corruption allegations. The move sparked condemnation at home and abroad, with the United States and the European Union warning it raised questions about the rule of law in Macedonia and could hurt the nation's aspirations to join the 28-member EU. - President remains defiant - Ivanov remained defiant and said in an interview Thursday, broadcast live on national television, that his main motive was to put an end to the political crisis. "As president, it is my responsibility to end the crisis that has lasted for too long," he said. Macedonia's political woes began last year when the SDSM accused then prime minister Nikola Gruevski of wiretapping some 20,000 people, including politicians and journalists, and said the recordings revealed high-level corruption. Story continues The government denied the accusations and in return filed charges against Zaev, accusing him of "spying" and attempting to "destabilise" the Balkan country. The original scandal triggered protests in Skopje, eventually prompting the EU to step in and mediate. Gruevski stepped down as premier in January, paving the way for early elections on June 5 -- but the opposition has announced a boycott, saying it fears electoral fraud. Ivanov's decision to end the corruption inquiry against 56 people, including top politicians, businessmen, judges, prosecutors and mayors, came into effect Wednesday when his decree was published in the official gazette. The list includes Gruevski -- an ally of the president and still Macedonia's most influential political figure -- as well as former interior minister Gordana Jankulovska and ex-intelligence chief Sasho Mijalkov. Zaev and former SDSM leader and ex-president Branko Crvenkovski were also on the list of those amnestied by the president's move, although both have said they would rather see the probe go ahead. A special prosecutor had been probing the allegations but her office was caught by surprise by Ivanov's decision to shelve the inquiry. - 'Mass pardon = impunity' - EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini's spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic expressed "serious concerns" with the amnesty. "This decision risks producing a climate of impunity, undermines the rule of law and years of efforts within the country and by the international community, as well as exacerbating the existing political crisis," she said Thursday. The US State Department voiced similar objections on Wednesday, with spokesman John Kirby saying Ivanov's decision would "protect corrupt officials and deny justice to the people of Macedonia". In Macedonia itself, the amnesty was denounced by all political parties -- including Ivanov's own VMRO-DPMNE. "No one in VMRO-DPMNE feels guilty and this is why no one among us wanted to have a halt to proceedings," party leader Gruevski told a press conference. EU and US representatives met the president for talks on Thursday, but gave no details of what was discussed. "Mass pardon = impunity = obstacle to credible elections, Euro-Atlantic path," US ambassador Jess Baily tweeted after the meeting. By John Irish GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. envoy for Syria said on Thursday he was frustrated that there was little improvement in aid deliveries to besieged areas, saying it was a "wake-up call" that had to be heeded. The United Nations, which is mediating peace talks in Geneva, has been banking on an improvement in the humanitarian situation across Syria after a partial truce brokered by Russia and the United States in late February. But with the "cessation of hostilities" increasingly shaky, aid access is beginning to drop off. "(There is) disappointment, frustration indeed, particularly in this period when we are expecting incremental improvements in reaching places which are besieged," Staffan de Mistura told reporters after meeting envoys from countries which form part of the humanitarian taskforce. He said the taskforce should take it as a "wake-up call to make sure we don't just sit passively during these meetings to acknowledge the fact that there are no improvements. We need improvements." A document released to reporters from the U.N. Inter-Agency Humanitarian Operations showed that so far in April there had only been four aid operations and only 0.8 percent of people in besieged areas had been reached. In comparison, during March some 19 operations reached about 21 percent of people in those areas. De Mistura said there continued to be no access to Douma, Daraya and east Harasta - all near the capital Damascus. Last week the U.N. said there was a plan to evacuate up to 500 sick and wounded people and their families from the towns of Madaya and Zabadani, close to the Lebanese border, and Foua and Kefreya, further north near Turkey. However, de Mistura said he regretted that it had not happened because both sides were insisting only on exchanging a sick person if the other side also had a sick person. "(My) proposal is that if you do have a case of medical emergency allow that (person) to be evacuated and when there is one on the other side then it can be equivalent," he said. "If this is all blocked by reciprocity, then let's have a more creative reciprocity." The U.N. is also concerned that surgical equipment is being removed from convoys, mainly by government forces, but de Mistura said he had received promises from the government. "They assured me they were going to henceforth allow all medical items, except surgical items, atropine and anti-anxiety pills, but would allow on request caesarean surgery items and all other medical items. "I hope what I got as a promise will materialize." (Editing by Dominic Evans) The Verkhovna Rada has rejected a bill on amending some Ukrainian laws regarding the restoration of trust between borrowers and creditors (No. 2286-a). The document provided measures to settle flaws in earlier legislation used by debtors to avoid the fulfillment of their liabilities under credits. The bill is intended to improve the legal regulation of bankruptcy procedures and reinforce the protection of rights of creditors in these procedures, as well as to minimize risks of using managed bankruptcy schemes and targeted sales of property of bankrupt companies to concrete persons at low prices. The document also aimed at protecting ownership rights of creditors under security agreements and regulations on inheritance. Adoption of the measure is included in the memorandum on the economic and financial policy signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). By Thorsten Severin and Holger Hansen BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government agreed on Thursday to require migrants granted residence rights to show willingness to integrate by learning German and seeking work or see their benefits cut. Ending months of disagreement, Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), their conservative Bavarian CSU allies and the Social Democrats (SPD) hammered out a deal in the early morning hours for post-war Germany's first law on integrating immigrants. They also worked out new counter-terrorism measures and agreed to relax rules giving European Union citizens priority in employment so migrants can enter the job market more easily. The deal capped months of disagreement about how to handle over a million migrants and refugees who poured into Germany last year. Those fleeing war in Syria and Iraq have the best chances of staying while economic migrants may be sent home. Merkel said the agreement, to be approved by her cabinet on May 24, contained "an offer for everyone, but also duties for everyone". Along with language learning, it says that migrants who break off job training courses will also lose benefits. The chancellor said Germany faced two challenges with Europe's migrant crisis. The first was to coordinate the influx of refugees with European partners and progress had been made on that, she said. "The other challenge is to register and achieve the integration of the large number of people who have arrived here," she told reporters. "We will have a German national law on integration - this is the first time in post-war Germany that this has happened, it is an important, qualitative step." Tensions within Merkel's coalition mounted towards the end of last year with all three parties espousing different priorities for coping with the migrant crisis. Since then, the flow of migrants, many from Syria and other war-torn parts of the Middle East and Africa, has slowed and the pressure has eased. The EU has also done a deal with Turkey to enlist its help in stemming the influx. The security measures, a response to recent attacks in France and Brussels, include increasing police powers to deploy undercover agents and empowering Germany's intelligence agencies to exchange information with foreign partners, under clear conditions. Last month, German authorities stepped up security measures at airports, train stations and the country's borders with Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. While the three parties welcomed the immigration agreement, a closely-watched decision on incentives for electric cars was delayed. Merkel said support for electric cars was in the pipeline. Auto sector leaders have pressed the government to bring in incentives to boost demand for electric cars, arguing support is needed if the sector is to retain its leading edge as an automotive market. (Writing by Paul Carrel and Madeline Chambers; Editing by Tom Heneghan) By Thorsten Severin and Holger Hansen BERLIN (Reuters) - The leaders of Germany's ruling coalition parties agreed on Thursday on a package of counter-terrorism measures and an integration law for migrants, but delayed a decision on incentives for electric cars, coalition sources said. The anti-terrorism measures include increasing police powers to deploy undercover agents and empowering Germany's intelligence agencies to exchange information with foreign partners, under clear conditions, according to a document on the meeting's conclusions seen by Reuters. The ruling parties - Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, their Bavarian allies and the Social Democrats - also agreed on details of a planned integration law for refugees to be passed on May 24, a coalition source said, giving no further details. Around 1 million migrants arrived in Germany last year, many fleeing conflict in the Middle East. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has been planning a new law that will require refugees to learn German and integrate into society. Last month, German authorities stepped up security measures at airports, train stations and the country's borders with Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg following attacks in Brussels. Social Democrat (SPD) leader Sigmar Gabriel told other senior members of his party on a conference call that no agreement was reached on supporting electric cars, one participant in the call said. German auto sector leaders have pressed the government to introduce incentives to boost demand for electric cars, arguing support is needed if the sector is to retain its leading edge as an automotive market. The German coalition leaders planned to hold a news conference later on Thursday to give more details on the new counter-terrorism measures, coalition sources said. (Writing by Paul Carrel and Madeline Chambers; Editing by Alison Williams) By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - Mothers of premature infants may still be able to feed their babies breast milk if they can establish a good routine to express milk using a hospital-grade pump, a recent U.K. study suggests. Pediatricians recommend that mothers exclusively breastfeed infants until at least 6 months of age because it can reduce babies risk of ear and respiratory infections, sudden infant death syndrome, allergies, childhood obesity and diabetes. But preemies often cant breastfeed because theyre too tiny and lack the muscle strength and coordination to nurse, so they need pumped milk. Even with the right equipment, making this happen takes a lot of time and hard work, particularly if women are recovering from cesarean deliveries or traveling a great distance to visit babies that remain hospitalized after their mothers are discharged, said lead study author Mary Fewtrell of the UCL Institute of Child Health in London. They will have to persevere with milk expression for a long time before the infant can be fully breast fed, and this requires a lot of effort, Fewtrell added by email. Pregnancy typically lasts about 40 weeks, and infants born after 37 weeks are considered full term. In the weeks immediately after birth, premature infants often have difficulty breathing and digesting food. They can also encounter longer-term challenges such as impaired vision, hearing and cognitive skills as well as social and behavioral problems. The study focused on some of the most vulnerable preemies: those born before 34 weeks gestation. To see what factors might influence how easy it is for mothers to feed these preemies breast milk, Fewtrell and colleagues analyzed data on 62 mothers who participated in a study of different types of breast pumps. As part of this experiment, the women completed 10-day diaries detailing the amount of milk they pumped as well as their opinions about the experience of pumping. Women expressed more milk when they used whats known as a double pump that extracts milk from both breasts at once, rather than a single pump that only attaches to one breast at a time, the study found. Over 10 days, half of the women using double pumps typically expressed about 109 grams (about 4 ounces) more per day than the mothers using single pumps, the study found. More frequent pumping sessions also helped increase the total amount of breast milk the mothers could provide their babies. Beyond its small size, another limitation of the study is its reliance on women to visually estimate the amount of milk they expressed when they pumped, the authors note in the Archives of Disease in Childhood Fetal and Neonatal Edition. Even so, the findings add to a growing body of evidence showing the benefits of double-pumping frequently to help establish a milk supply and produce enough to feed an infant, said JoAnne Flagg, a lactation specialist at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in Baltimore who wasnt involved in the study. No pump is as efficient as a baby as they use the suction of their mouth and mechanical extraction with their tongue, Flagg noted. But pumping both breasts increases levels of prolactin, a hormone involved in milk production, and increases mammary gland stimulation. Supplementing with hand expression can also help increase the volume of milk produced, as can making sure the flanges on the pump the parts that go against the breast are the right size for the nipple, Flagg added. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/23IggFF Archives of Disease in Childhood Fetal and Neonatal Edition, online March 2, 2016. San Francisco (AFP) - Google has made it tougher for people to hide behind excuses when it comes to finding time to hit the gym or learn new languages. Google added "Goals" tools to free calendar applications tailored for smartphones powered by Apple or Android software, using artificial intelligence to let software figure out when one could fit in workouts or lessons. "Whether its reading more books, learning a new language or working out regularly, achieving your goals can be really hard," Google product manager Jyoti Ramnath said in a blog post. "That's why starting today, we're introducing Goals in Google Calendar." People can add personal goals such as going for runs or getting to gyms, and then Google calendar software analyzes schedules for optimal times to squeeze in activities, according to Ramnath. Calendar will automatically reschedule time for personal goals if conflicts arise, and is programmed to automatically reschedule activities if users simply prefer to put them off. The more people use the Goals feature in Calendar, the better the software gets at picking times for personal objectives, according to Google. "Calendars should help you make the most of your time, not just be tools to track events," Ramnath said. The coral bleaching events currently plaguing the Great Barrier Reef will worsen in the future as the reef loses its ability to bounce back from traumatic events, new research published today in the journal Science has found. The key here is stressor more specifically, what researchers call pre-stress. Historically, warming waters that trigger coral bleaching events have stepped up gradually. That gives the coral time to adapt and increases their ability to recover. When corals are exposed to a pre-stress period in the weeks before bleaching, as temperatures start to climb, this acts like a practice run and prepares the coral, lead author Tracy Ainsworth of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies said in a statement. Corals that are exposed to this pattern are then less stressed and more tolerant when bleaching does occur. The researchers examined nearly three decades worth of satellite data and found that these pre-stress conditions occurred before all previous Great Barrier Reef bleaching events. Unfortunately, climate change threatens to eliminate that pre-stress period. It wont take much: just an increase of seawater temperatures of 0.5 degrees Celsiuswell within the scope of climate models for the next few decades. RELATED: Australia Commits to Saving the Great Barrier Reefbut Still Plans to Mine More Coal So what happens without this pre-stress practice run? The researchers conducted studies on Acropora aspera, one of many staghorn coral species that make up the Great Barrier Reef. In lab tests, they exposed the coral to different temperature increases0.5 degrees, 1 degree, and 2 degrees Celsiusand different rates at which those temperature increases happened. The testing showed that slow increases in temperature allowed the coral to build up thermal tolerance that reduced both bleaching and coral cell death. The corals were able to bounce back from this stressful period. But when tested under a quick increase in temperatureas expected in climate-change modelsthe coral showed more bleaching and greater levels of cell death. Overall, the corals had more trouble recovering. Story continues The researchers warn that without this pre-stress practice run, coral reefs will occur more often and be more severe. So far, according to the paper, most of the Great Barrier Reef has only experienced temperature increases that allow it to maintain its protected thermal tolerance. Thats expected to change as the climate warms. Not only will the reefs degrade faster, they will stay degraded, unlike most coral bleaching events of the past few decades. But this is not all about the future. Although the paper doesnt cover the current bleaching event affecting the Great Barrier Reef, early data suggests that some parts of the 1,200-mile-long reef did not experience a pre-stress period this year. That could make this years damage even greater than predicted and spells trouble for the hundreds of marine species that depend on the reef for food and shelter. So what can be done? The study authors wrote that finding out which parts of the reef are most susceptible to these temperature stress events could allow management authorities to take steps to reduce other threats to the reefs, such as pollution, and give the corals more of a chance to bounce back. Take the Pledge: Pledge to Take Personal Action on Climate Change Related stories on TakePart: How Your Sunscreen Could Be Killing Coral Reefs Fishing With Bombs and Cyanide Is Taking a Devastating Toll on Coral Reefs Moviegoers Protect 35,000 Acres of Coral Reef in the Bahamas Through OCEANS Program Original article from TakePart Paris (AFP) - The growth of genetically-modified crops has dipped for the first time following two decades of steady increases, according to a study released Wednesday. Twenty years after the first genetically-modified plant was marketed, the worldwide acreage of GM crops reached 181.5 million hectares in 2014. But after 19 years of annual increases, the area planted with biotech seeds fell by one percent last year, according to the pro-GM International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). The group blamed the slowdown on the collapse of commodity prices including corn and cotton. "ISAAA anticipates that total crop hectarage will increase when crop prices improve," the organisation said in a press release. The United States, the world's leader in GM foods, saw a 2.2 million hectare decline in farmland given over to genetically modified crops in 2015. In South Africa, severe drought reduced acreage of GM corn from three million hectares to 2.3 million hectares last year. And last week Burkina Faso abandoned its genetically modified cotton crop altogether, saying the project was not profitable. The ISAAA said that despite challenges, the area devoted to GM crops has "increased 100 times" in the past 20 years and now involves 18 million farmers in 28 countries. From 1996 to 2014, biotech crops have successfully been grown on a cumulative area of 1.8 billion hectares. Five developing countries -- Brazil, Argentina, India, China and South Africa -- grew almost half of all GM crops in 2015. GM remains hugely controversial in many countries, stirring sharp debate over the crops' use and impact. The ISAAA said opponents of GM were "opposed to science/evidence-based regulation" and that demands for "onerous" regulation would hurt poor farmers in developing countries. Investors are expecting the new government of Volodymyr Groysman a further judicial reform, privatization, and harmonization of deregulation policy priorities with business needs, as well as maintaining cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, reads a statement by the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. "We expect the new leadership to focus on the continuation and successful implementation of judicial reform, which ultimately will ensure proper investors' rights protection, as well as establishment of the rule of law throughout the country," reads the report citing President of the American Chamber of Commerce Andy Hunder. "Important is the need to cut excessive red tape by wider usage of the electronic services in permits issuing and public procurements, as well as harmonizing deregulation priorities with business needs," he said. He believes that "clear and transparent privatization of state-owned enterprises which, if conducted in a fair and open way, may bring in billions of dollars of new investments, stimulate creation of new jobs, as well as make loss-making state enterprises modern and profitable." "The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine considers today's appointment of a new prime minister and government of Ukraine to be not only a challenge but also an opportunity for Ukraine to reboot the reforms process and reach a qualitatively new level of transformation," reads a statement on the chamber's website. London (AFP) - Former Newcastle United midfielder Jonas Gutierrez has won his disability discrimination claim against his former club, it was announced on Thursday. The Argentinian had alleged he was excluded from the Premier League side's first team because of his diagnosis with testicular cancer in 2013. Newcastle rejected the claim, saying the midfielder had simply been left out by several managers because they opted to pick other players. Gutierrez, 32, brought an employment tribunal claim against north-east side Newcastle for disability discrimination, having accused the club of making sure he didn't complete enough appearances to trigger a lucrative one-year contract extension worth up to A2 million ($2.83 million, 2.51 million euros). The tribunal panel, which delivered its findings in a 64-page document on Thursday, said: "We concluded that the reason why the respondent (Newcastle) managed the claimant's (Gutierrez's) selection was because they no longer wanted him at the club because of his cancer." They added Newcastle "made a very rapid decision" after Gutierrez came back following treatment at the end of 2013, "that they no longer wanted him, because of his cancer". Gutierrez, currently with Spanish side Deportivo La Coruna, spent seven seasons playing for Newcastle after joining the club in 2008, and underwent an operation to remove a tumour in his left testicle in October 2013. Then-manager Alan Pardew told the hearing in Birmingham, central England, last month that Gutierrez's time with the club was coming to an end because he "didn't really fit into the mould I wanted to make". However, Gutierrez said no such discussion took place and the tribunal agreed with him, calling the version of events given by Pardew, now the manager of Premier League rivals Crystal Palace, "inconsistent". The panel said: "This inconsistency to an extent undermined his (Pardew's) credibility. The claimant we found to be credible. Story continues "Ultimately, on the balance of probabilities and taking into account our assessment of the respective credibility of the claimant and Mr Pardew, we preferred the evidence of the claimant." A further claim by Gutierrez that the club failed to make reasonable adjustments succeeded, but two other claims of unfavourable treatment and harassment brought by the player failed. Gutierrez, a popular figure with Newcastle supporters, thanked fans for their backing and said he hoped the Magpies, currently in the bottom three, avoided relegation from the Premier League. "I am a geordie thanks newcastle fans for your support," he wrote on Twitter. "I love The city. I hope WE stay up. Come on The toon. Once a geordie always a geordie." He added: "I am a geordie i love newcastle .thanks to The fans. Board you understand what it means that?" Newcastle responded to Thursday's announcement in a statement saying: "The tribunal has now given its decision in the case brought against the club by Jonas Gutierrez. It found for him on two of the four heads of claim. "We recognise that the task facing the tribunal was a difficult one, but we are dismayed by its decision. We will now take time to consider the judgement in full and consult with our legal team to understand the options available to us." A separate remedy hearing has now been scheduled to determine the extent of Gutierrez's compensation. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Hamas began deploying additional forces on the Gaza border with Egypt on Thursday, the interior ministry said, in an apparent effort to ease Cairo's concerns about security. "National security forces started today to increase the number of its troops and double the security bases along all the southern border with Egypt to be able to control the border better," spokesman Iyad al-Bazm told AFP. He said they had established three new bases immediately. "This is a message that we are concerned with border security and stability," Bazm said, adding nobody would be allowed "to touch the security of Egypt." Security forces were seen setting up about 10 temporary buildings along the border. Bulldozers flattened the land near the frontier in apparent preparation for more temporary structures. A Palestinian security officer called the measures "important new security arrangements to reassure the brothers in Egypt the border is secure". A delegation headed by Hamas political bureau member Mousa Abu Marzook held talks in Egypt last month aimed at normalising relations that have been strained since the overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in 2013. Morsi had good relations with Hamas, the Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip, but his replacement President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has cracked down on his Muslim Brotherhood movement. Cairo regularly accuses Hamas of supporting attacks in Egypt and has largely kept its border with Gaza closed since 2013. It has also destroyed hundreds of Palestinian tunnels used to smuggle commercial goods, cash, people and, allegedly, weapons. The Hamas interior ministry said 2015 was the worst year for the Rafah border crossing in recent years, saying it was open for just 21 days in total. Two Tajik farmers turn the earth with help of an oxen-pulled plow. The apricot flowering season is busy farming time for Tajiks living on the Pamir Plateau in Xinjiang. [Photo/Xinhua] Spring is returning to Pamir Plateau in the southwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region: apricot trees are blooming, winter crops are turning green and Tajik farmers are preparing to plow their fields. While snow still covers the mountain tops on the plateau straddling China, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, pink and white apricot flowers have turned the valleys of Datong township in Tashi Kuergan Tajik autonomous county into a sea of flowers. Taxkorgan, the only county in China with Pakistan as neighbor, is on the highest part of the Pamir Plateau. Qogir Peak, the second-highest peak in the world at 8,611 meters above sea level, stands to the south. In the north, the snowcapped Muztagata Mountain is found at an altitude of 7,546 meters and numerous glaciers surround its base. Enterprising Tajiks have built productive farms in the flatlands of the river valleys. Datong township, with an average altitude of about 2,800 meters, enjoy a moderate climate throughout the year. Spring is a popular season to visit as blossoming apricots, green highland barley and tinkling rivers transform area villages into an earthly paradise. By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - A heat surge from global warming would overwhelm the natural ability of coral in Australia's Great Barrier Reef to survive seasonal temperature changes, in much the way sun bathers would burn if they did not build their tan slowly. A study released on Thursday examined 27 years of temperature data along the world's biggest reef. It found that corals were able to cope with gains in water temperatures when the heat built up step-by-step, rather than abruptly. In three-quarters of 372 cases studied along the reef, water temperatures gained and then dipped for about 10 days before rising to a peak high enough to kill corals, the study found. That 10-day respite apparently let the corals build up resistance and survive warm shocks. But corals suffered far more damage in the quarter of cases when temperatures rose sharply, to above local temperature thresholds for damage along the 1,600 mile (2,575 km) reef, researchers wrote in the journal Science. The safer pattern was like a human sun-worshipper lying in the sun for short periods to build a tan and avoid sunburn, said co-author Scott Heron, of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Global warming would eliminate the natural resistance to heat shocks, the study said, because direct rises to harmful temperatures would become more frequent, they wrote. "Near-future increases in local temperature of as little as 0.5 degree Celsius (0.9 Fahrenheit) result in this protective mechanism being lost, which may increase the rate of degradation of the Great Barrier Reef," they wrote. Corals, tiny animals with stony skeletons, suffer bleaching when temperatures rise because the colourful algae that live with them and provide food die off. Reefs can sometimes recover from short-term bleachings but die if they persist. Worldwide, last year was the warmest since records began in the 19th century, boosted by man-made activities and an El Nino event in the Pacific. A U.N. report in 2014 said there were already early warning signs that warm water corals and the Arctic, where ice is melting, were already experiencing irreversible changes. Lead author Tracy Ainsworth, of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, said it was unclear if the same heat resistance applied to other reefs from Indonesia to Belize. The study suggested more efforts to reduce other threats to the reef, such as industrial pollution. (Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - A heat surge from global warming would overwhelm the natural ability of coral in Australia's Great Barrier Reef to survive seasonal temperature changes, in much the way sun bathers would burn if they did not build their tan slowly. A study released on Thursday examined 27 years of temperature data along the world's biggest reef. It found that corals were able to cope with gains in water temperatures when the heat built up step-by-step, rather than abruptly. In three-quarters of 372 cases studied along the reef, water temperatures gained and then dipped for about 10 days before rising to a peak high enough to kill corals, the study found. That 10-day respite apparently let the corals build up resistance and survive warm shocks. But corals suffered far more damage in the quarter of cases when temperatures rose sharply, to above local temperature thresholds for damage along the 1,600 mile (2,575 km) reef, researchers wrote in the journal Science. The safer pattern was like a human sun-worshipper lying in the sun for short periods to build a tan and avoid sunburn, said co-author Scott Heron, of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Global warming would eliminate the natural resistance to heat shocks, the study said, because direct rises to harmful temperatures would become more frequent, they wrote. "Near-future increases in local temperature of as little as 0.5 degree Celsius (0.9 Fahrenheit) result in this protective mechanism being lost, which may increase the rate of degradation of the Great Barrier Reef," they wrote. Corals, tiny animals with stony skeletons, suffer bleaching when temperatures rise because the colorful algae that live with them and provide food die off. Reefs can sometimes recover from short-term bleachings but die if they persist. Worldwide, last year was the warmest since records began in the 19th century, boosted by man-made activities and an El Nino event in the Pacific. A U.N. report in 2014 said there were already early warning signs that warm water corals and the Arctic, where ice is melting, were already experiencing irreversible changes. Lead author Tracy Ainsworth, of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, said it was unclear if the same heat resistance applied to other reefs from Indonesia to Belize. The study suggested more efforts to reduce other threats to the reef, such as industrial pollution. (Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) Rome (AFP) - Italian researchers said Thursday they have discovered living relatives of the Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci, despite the loss of his body centuries ago. Historians Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato told a press conference in Florence they had uncovered modern-day relatives of the 15th-century painter, engineer and mathematician -- among them a star on Italy's contemporary art scene. Their research, which began in 1973, led them to track down some 35 indirect descendants of the man behind the world-famous Mona Lisa portrait, including Italian film, opera and television Academy-award nominee Franco Zeffirelli, according to media reports. Vezzosi, director of the Leonardo da Vinci museum and Sabato, president of the international da Vinci association, told journalists they made the discovery after studying documents in Italy, France and Spain. There was no DNA to test as da Vinci's remains were lost in the 16th century during religious wars following his death in 1519, but the pair painstakingly trawled through church, council and estate papers to draw up a family tree. Da Vinci himself never had any children but he had many siblings and it is their descendants who have been traced. Previous attempts to trace da Vinci's line had left out crucial documents on female relatives, they said. The news of blood-ties to the Italian polymath, often credited with such inventions as the parachute and helicopter, came as a shock to locals in the town of Vinci in Tuscany, many of whom learnt of their connection just days before the press conference. "My mother Dina was right, she told us about documents and letters written backwards that you could only read in the mirror," Giovanni Calosi, one of the descendants, told La Stampa daily, in an apparent reference to da Vinci's penchant for writing in mirrored script. "We never gave any importance to those documents, which were lost and sold. What we thought was a legend passed down through generations turns out to be the truth," said Calosi, who began collaborating on the project with Vezzosi nine years ago. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday expressed confidence that lawmakers would ultimately be able to move on a legislative fix to address Puerto Rico's debt crisis. "I think we are going to get there," he told reporters at a weekly press briefing, adding that an oversight board would be the best possible way to prevent taxpayers from bailing out the U.S. commonwealth. (Reporting by Richard Cowan and Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) I reviewed the HTC 10 this morning and when I did, I noted that it is one of the most surprising phones the world has ever seen. Sure we knew all about the phone's design and specs leading up to the announcement, but leaks never seem to be able to paint a complete picture. They gave us no indication that the HTC 10 would feature class-leading battery life that lasts up to two days on a single charge, they couldn't foresee that the phone's camera would be as impressive as it is, and there was no mention at all that the HTC 10 would offer a touch experience that is faster and smoother than anything else on the market. But most interestingly, perhaps, is the power HTC managed to get out of the HTC 10 despite specs that are in line with other top Android phones on paper. Leaks thoroughly detailed the phone's specs ahead of its announcement, of course, but we had no idea they would come together quite like this. MUST SEE: The stupidest thing Sprint has done in a long, long time In the early days, Android vendors focused on specs and power as a means of setting themselves apart. Most handsets looked about the same and included roughly the same feature set, but each new model was more powerful than the last and that was one if its only big selling points. Thankfully, the market has evolved quite a bit since then. Vendors still put a tremendous amount of time and energy into making speed and performance improvements, but most leading handsets are roughly on par with each other in terms of power. So instead of flexing muscles, companies highlight new features and key improvements to important things like cameras and battery life. Power is still important to many users though, and there's a new sheriff in town that no one saw coming. When Android fans think of "power," HTC certainly isn't the first name that comes to mind. The name might not even come to mind at all. But all that changes this year because beyond the stunning all metal and glass design, beyond the dramatically improved camera, beyond the fresh new software and beyond the terrific battery life, HTC has also managed to build the most powerful smartphone the world has ever seen... by a surprisingly big margin. Story continues As I noted in my HTC 10 review, the phone managed an average score of 145,595 in the Antutu benchmark tests I performed. A recent leaked benchmark from a couple of days ago even ran all the way up into the 156,000 range, though the phone being tested may not have been running final software. Even using my results which feature the lower of the two scores, the HTC 10 is the most powerful phone the world has ever seen. Antutu recently released brand new figures and the phone that comes closest to the HTC 10 is the Xiaomi Mi 5, which scored in the 136,000 range. Apple's iPhone 6s and Samsung's new Galaxy S7 both come in beneath that figure in the 133,000 to 136,000 range. Related stories HTC 10 review: An exciting new flagship phone that's better in every way First photo samples show why the HTC 10 is the best new camera in town It looks like HTC finally fixed its phones' biggest weakness More from BGR: HTC 10 review: An exciting new flagship phone thats better in every way This article was originally published on BGR.com By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Idaho State University's president said on Thursday he had been in talks with Saudi and Kuwaiti education officials seeking to allay concerns about students from those countries facing anti-Muslim harassment in the college town of Pocatello. The discussions with officials from the two Gulf states, which together account for about 1,000 of the foreign students enrolled at Idaho State, were disclosed as school officials sought to determine the origin of anti-Muslim propaganda being distributed anonymously via DVDs on campus. Separately, police in Pocatello have opened a hate-crime investigation into an attack on a man of Middle Eastern descent who was stabbed in the arm earlier this week for no other apparent reason than his appearance, Police Chief Scott Marchand said. The off-campus assault was reported to police by the hospital where the man, who was not a university student, was taken for treatment, Marchand said. Idaho State President Arthur Vailas said he was unaware of any individual complaints of anti-Muslim discrimination or harassment other than those cited in recent media accounts, such as a New York Times story last month about campus tensions faced by Saudi and Kuwaiti students. I expect all students to bring forth their concerns. The only way we can help is for people to come forward and we can look into the cases, Vailas told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. But Vailas said the university was consulting with higher education officials from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, whose students account for nearly 10 percent of the school's 11,000 undergraduates, to address concerns about Islamaphobia. The Arabic-language Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al Qabas and English-language outlet Gulf News reported on Thursday that the two Gulf nations were suspending scholarships earmarked for Idaho State and transferring their respective students at that school to other universities. Kuwait's higher education minister was quoted as saying some 400 students were facing racial discrimination at the Pocatello campus Story continues Vailas said he had no indication that the 535 Kuwaiti students or 481 Saudi students were being transferred elsewhere. The U.S. attorney for Idaho planned to meet publicly with international students from predominantly Islamic countries as part of a push announced this week by the U.S. Justice Department to stem discrimination against Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian Americans following militant attacks in Brussels, Paris and San Bernardino, California. (Additional reporting by Sylvia Westall in Dubai; Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Cooney) A video titled street cleaner in Zhengzhou beaten up by men has gone viral on Chinese social media since April 12, 2016. The video started with two men physically attacking a woman in street cleaner's uniform, followed by the intervention of passersby. However, instead of stopping the violence, the passersby punched the two young men. And the scene quickly turned into a street fight. One of the two men was then forced to kneel down and beg for forgiveness, while the others face was covered with blood. The 90-seconds video got hundreds of thousands of views after it was uploaded online, with commentators mostly praising for the onlookers actions. The video was taken near a bus stop in Zhengzhou, city in central Chinas Henan province. The reason of the violence remained unclear, but local police said they have started an investigation on the case, according to Zhengzhou Evening Daily, a local newspaper. Belgrade (AFP) - Ikea started building its first store in Serbia on Thursday, the Tanjug news agency reported, a quarter of a century after the Swedish furniture giant pulled out of Belgrade during the breakup of Yugoslavia. The store, planned to be opened in the summer of 2017, will be located some 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Belgrade on some 30,000 square meters (323,000 square feet) and employ 300 people, the report said. The investment totals 70 million euros ($78 million). Ikea, which employs 150,000 people throughout the world, and has an annual turnover of more than 30 billion euros, has announced it wants to open in total five stores in Serbia, a country of 7.2 million people. Ikea had opened its first store in Belgrade on the eve of the break up of the former Yugoslavia, but closed it and withdrew from the market at the beginning of the Balkans wars in early 1990s. The Swedish company only returned to the region in 2011, opening a store in neighbouring Croatia. Washington (AFP) - International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde urged Britain and the European Union Thursday to keep communications open to avoid the failure of an "long marriage" with the Brexit vote. "It's been a long marriage between members of the European Union," she said. "It's really my personal hope that it doesn't break. Like all marriages, good talks can actually help and I hope that the dialogue can continue." Speaking at the opening of the spring meetings of the World bank and IMF, she called the risk that Britain would decide to pull out of the 28-nation European Union -- "Brexit" -- a "serious concern" to the global economy. She warned of continuing market fragility as the June 23 referendum on pulling out nears. "Whatever happens, I think that all parties should rise above the domestic circle and should have a broader view of what lays ahead in terms of collective endeavor." "Because keeping Europe together after what it has gone through over the last century, and what the risks are on the horizon.... is actually a huge asset which is vastly underrated in my view." In its assessment of the state of the world economy released earlier this week, the IMF called Brexit a leading risk to growth and warned that it "could do severe regional and global damage by disrupting established trading relationships." By Lewis Krauskopf NEW YORK (Reuters) - After lagging a six-year healthcare sector run fueled by fast-growing biotech companies, Johnson & Johnson shares have beaten the group in 2016 as investors turn to safety in rocky equity markets. But with the stock price now hovering near its $110.35 record high, that strategy may be in doubt. J&J shares already have risen to the level that the average analyst has targeted for them, and sell at a healthy premium to large pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Merck . Relative to their own future earnings, the shares are more expensive than they have been in more than a year. "What I am more concerned at this juncture is, do we see more follow-through or do we see profit taking?" said Arthur Henderson, portfolio manager of the global healthcare equity fund at the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, where he has recently sold some J&J shares so they account for a smaller part of the fund's holdings. J&J shares could build on their gains if investors rekindle worries about the broader economy or continue to hide from concerns facing the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, and some analysts are optimistic about the companys pipeline of experimental medicines. But, ultimately, the company will have to produce enough earnings growth to justify the higher prices. On that front, the company faces a fresh competitive threat to its biggest drug franchise. U.S. regulators earlier this month approved a rival version of the company's Remicade treatment for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. J&J's first-quarter report, due on April 19, is expected to show earnings up 6 percent over the same quarter a year ago, on a 0.6 percent increase in sales, according to Thomson Reuters data. Wall Street analysts are predicting fairly consistent annual earnings growth between 5 percent to 6 percent over the next few years. Story continues In January, the company projected that its calendar year 2016 profits would ultimately be up 5 percent to 8 percent over 2015 and it would aim to significantly increase its operating margins. "Most pharmaceutical companies have cut fat over the past years and my sense is what it implies is they can cut some extra fat," said Tony Butler, analyst at Guggenheim Securities. J&J's product diversity makes it more immune than other drug stocks to political pressures on the cost of medicines. The company's pharmaceutical unit accounted for 45 percent of its $70 billion in sales last year, with medical devices totaling more than a third and over-the-counter medicines and other consumer products making up the rest. The shares are up 7 percent in 2016 against a 3-percent decline for the S&P healthcare sector <.SPXHC>. The company's shares had underperformed the sector every year dating back to 2009 as J&J also grappled with a slew of product recalls and manufacturing setbacks for its consumer division. At 16.6 times estimated earnings over the next 12 months, the stock is still slightly cheaper than the valuation for the overall S&P 500 <.SPX>. Investors also are drawn to J&J's 2.7-percent dividend yield, which nonetheless lags Merck and Pfizer, which both yield more than 3 percent. "People right now are paying up quite a bit for that safety piece of it," said Morningstar analyst Damien Conover, who puts fair value for the shares at $102. "I think its overvalued, but I do think there are characteristics in the economy and political landscape that bode well for J&J." (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; editing by Linda Stern and Nick Zieminski) If you order a new iPhone today, it might already reach your home by tomorrow. It takes even less time to activate it and use it after you take it out of the box. But that iPhone traveled some 500,000 miles before reaching your doorstep and becoming the most important computer in your life. No, your delivery company did not mess up your order. But a new report explains why and how an iPhone travels that much before becoming operational. DONT MISS: The stupidest thing Sprint has done in a long, long time Looking at the massive logistics operations behind the iPhone, Wired concluded that the necessary parts to build an iPhone travel some half a million miles. There are many components sourced from a wide variety of part makers that are eager to become an Apple supplier and keep Apples business. According to Wired, there are at least two dozen primary suppliers of iPhone parts, based on three continents and two islands (Japan and Taiwan), that build components for the iPhone. The transportation complexity is magnified further because many components do not move in a simple path from supplier to final assembly, Wired writes. Some go on a hopscotching world tour from one country to the next and back again as one piece is joined to another to create an assembly, which is then moved elsewhere in the world for another part to be inserted or attached. This is how the components of the iPhone end up travelling more than 12 times around Earth before you get to power on the handset. Looking at the home button, a critical component of the iPhone that packs a variety of functionalities, the tech site explains that the buttons journey begins in China, where the sapphire cover is made. The cover gets a metal ring cover that travels 550 miles from a different part of China, and then the resulting assembly is shipped 1,000 miles to Taiwan. From there, the sapphire-metal combo is combined with a driver chip imported from Shanghai after a 600-mile journey. The Touch ID sensor thats embedded in the home button came 5,000 miles all the way from Europe to meet the other components. A button switch from Japan and a springlike plastic component arrive from Japan (1,500 miles) and China (600 miles). A flex circuit is also added in Taiwan. Story continues All these parts are then sent 1,500 miles to Japan, where a Sharp plant laser-welds them into a sealed Touch ID module. After 1,300 more miles, the assembly reaches Foxconn, where itll be installed on an iPhone chassis. In total, the home button alone traveled some 12,000 miles to get to the place where the iPhone is assembled. Similarly, all other sub-assemblies of the iPhone are built before Foxconn installs them into an iPhone unit. Wired's impressive look at this side of the iPhone business is available at the source link. Meanwhile, the following graphic from Business Insider shows where the main iPhone components come from. iphone-components-infographic Related stories What will the Apple Car look like? Motor Trend teases that it may know the answer Update your iPhone now or a new Wi-Fi bug could brick your phone The 10 best paid iPhone apps on sale for free today More from BGR: The MacBook Air might be dying, but thats a good thing This article was originally published on BGR.com Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will attend parliament on Thursday for a vote on a new cabinet lineup, after two previous sessions ended in chaos, the speaker's office said. Abadi has called for the current cabinet of party-affiliated ministers to be replaced by a government of technocrats, but has faced significant resistance from the powerful parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds. The political row comes at a critical time for Iraq, which is battling to regain more ground from the Islamic State jihadist group, while also facing a major financial crisis. An emergency session on Wednesday ended with lawmakers shouting, shoving and throwing punches in the parliament hall, leading speaker Salim al-Juburi to call a recess. Juburi, political bloc leaders and Abadi agreed "on the prime minister's attendance of the scheduled parliament session (Thursday) to present final adjustments to the ministerial cabinet and put the candidates to a vote," the speaker's office said in a statement. Abadi only occasionally attends parliament sessions. He presented a first list of cabinet nominees at the end of March, but the political blocs put forward their own candidates, and most of the premier's original list was replaced on a second presented to MPs on Tuesday. Some MPs demanded the opportunity to vote on Abadi's original list -- from which at least two candidates had already withdrawn -- but the session was adjourned Tuesday without a vote. Dozens of lawmakers then began a sit-in and spent the night at parliament. MP Iskander Witwit said the sit-in was still ongoing as of Thursday, but that could not be independently confirmed. "Undermining, further discrediting Abadi, and Juburi for working with him, was the goal," said Kirk Sowell, a Jordan-based political risk analyst who is the publisher of Inside Iraqi Politics. "And in that regard, they've had some success," he said. Dublin (AFP) - Ireland's parliament failed for a third time to elect a prime minister Thursday, prolonging the apparently insoluble stalemate that has left the country without a new government for almost seven weeks. Neither of the leaders of the two main parties managed to attract enough support to win the contest. Fine Gael's Enda Kenny, the outgoing prime minister, received 52 votes with 77 against, only one more than at last week's failed attempt, while Fianna Fail's Micheal Martin took 43 votes (the same number as previously), with 91 against. The outgoing coalition has remained in place in a caretaker capacity since an inconclusive election on February 26, in which neither party attracted enough votes to form a government without at least some form of support from the other. Although both parties are considered centre-right, their relationship is riven by mistrust and historical enmities. Both are searching for the 80 seats needed to form the slimmest of majority governments in the 158-seat chamber, something only possible by forming a coalition pact with each other or by winning the support of a disparate group of independents and smaller parties. After last week's second vote to elect a prime minister, or Taoiseach, Fianna Fail rejected the offer of becoming a full partner in a coalition. In a statement issued only hours before the vote, a bloc of independents said it would not be voting for either candidate, effectively scuppering any prospect that a new prime minister would be elected. "We require that they (main parties) agree to a minimum of three budgets in order to give stability to the Irish people," the statement said. - Looming problems - Sinn Fein, the third biggest party with 23 seats, says it would be willing to talk to either of the bigger parties but so far there had been no contact. Political analysts highlighted the serious ideological differences between Sinn Fein and the main parties. The left-leaning party also has an avowed policy of non-participation in any government as a minority partner. Story continues Following Thursday's vote, Kenny invited Martin for further exploratory talks in a bid to form a partnership government based on "parity of esteem", and to tackle looming problems. "There are clearly a number of major challenges facing the country internally and from abroad," he said, adding he was particularly concerned about Britain's referendum on its EU membership in ten weeks' time. "This decision may have far-reaching consequences for Europe, for Ireland, for Northern Ireland in particular," he said. Martin replied that the electorate had not given his party a mandate to go into coalition with Fine Gael and reiterated his intention to form a minority government. "Fianna Fail believes that a minority government is the only credible and legitimate outcome," he said. The house will meet again next Wednesday. File photo of Su Zhi (Photo/CNR) BEIJING, April 14 -- A former senior legislator in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has been indicted for accepting bribes. Prosecutors in Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, have informed Li Zhi, former deputy head of the standing committee of the regional People's Congress, of his litigation rights and questioned him, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said in a statement on Thursday. The indictment said Li took advantage of his posts to seek benefits for others, asking for and accepting a huge amount in bribes. The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced in March 2015 that Li was under investigation for violating the law and Party codes of conduct. He was expelled from the CPC in July 2015. "The horror. The horror." Or maybe not. The "Urban Sombrero" featured in a classic episode of Seinfeld is now going to actually exist. This week, the real J. Peterman company announced the hat would go into production and be offered through the company's catalog, or as he calls it, the Owner's Manual. On the show, the hat is thought up by Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), but the fashion statement does not go over well with the fictional J. Peterman who exclaims, "The horror. The horror" -- a famous line from Apocalypse Now. The hat will be offered as an exclusive reward through the company's recently launched Kickstarter campaign. Read More: 'Seinfeld' Star Reveals the Wild J. Peterman Monologue the Show Cut "I have resisted the many demands to offer [the hat] in the Owner's Manual catalog because it wasn't an authentic item," says the real Peterman on the Kickstarter page. "But after 20 years, maybe the Urban Sombrero has served enough time in purgatory. Maybe it has earned its authenticity. More importantly, I'm looking forward to wearing mine at our next board meeting." Actor John O'Hurley, who portrayed J. Peterman on the show and now co-owns the actual company, told the Boston Globe he loves the idea. "It's a replica of a really, really good sight gag," he added. The actual Urban Sombrero will be produced in a limited order of 500, available to those backers who pledge $275 or more to the company's fundraising campaign. Read More: Earl Schuman, Actor on a Memorable 'Seinfeld' Episode, Dies at 100 British action hero Jason Statham may have found a role he can sink his teeth into, or quite possibly a role that will sink its teeth into him. Following a number of high-profile supporting roles, according to Variety he has signed on to play the lead role in "Meg" a big-budget Warner Brothers film about a big shark of prehistoric proportions terrorising a coastal community. Based on the novel "Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror" by Steve Alten, the screen adaptation keeps the shark (Meg' is short for Megaladon the name of an extinct shark species that could reach 20m in length) but moves the action. Originally the story unfolds in California but the film will instead be set in China. Jon Turteltaub is expected to direct the feature. A tiny clue hidden in the bizarre eyes of the 300-million-year-old remains of a "Tully monster" has helped scientists determine that the curious creature is a vertebrate, a new study finds. Researchers analyzed the so-called monster's eyes, and found that they held two different kinds of pigment cells. Some of these cells looked like microscopic sausages, and the others looked like tiny meatballs, the researchers said. Only vertebrates have these pigment cells that resemble sausages and meatballs, indicating that Tully (Tullimonstrum gregarium) wasn't an invertebrate, but rather had a backbone, they said. [Photos: Ancient Tully Monster's Identity Revealed] "This is an exciting study because not [only] have we discovered the oldest fossil pigment, but the structures seen in Tullimonstrum's eyes suggest it had good vision," the study's lead researcher Thomas Clements, a doctoral student in the Department of Geology at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. "The large tail and teeth suggest that the Tully Monster is, in fact, a type of very weird fish." The Tully monster has a storied history. Amateur fossil collector Francis Tully discovered the first fossil of the monster in 1958. Since then, so many Tully monster fossils have been uncovered in Illinois' coal quarries, that the state made it the official state fossil. Even so, scientists couldn't figure out what type of creature the fossils represented. Since the Tully monster's discovery over 60 years ago, "scientists have suggested it is a whole parade of completely different creatures, ranging from mollusks to worms," said study senior researcher Sarah Gabbott, a professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Leicester. "But there was no conclusive evidence, and so speculation continued." In the new study, the researchers focused on the creature's blobby eyes round balls that sat at the ends of hammerhead-like eyestalks. These dark blobs were composed of hundreds of thousands of microscopic dark granules, they found. Each granule was tiny, about 50 times smaller than the width of a human hair, they said. Story continues The granules' shape and chemical makeup suggested that they were organelles found within melanosomes, cells that create and store the pigment melanin, the researchers said. "We used a new technique called Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) to identify the chemical signature of the fossil granules, and compared it to known modern melanin from crows," said study co-researcher Jakob Vinther, a senior lecturer of macroevolution at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. "This proved that we had discovered the oldest fossil pigment currently known." Most animals produce the pigment melanin, which gives people their skin and hair color. "Melanin is also found in the eyes of many animal groups, where it stops light from bouncing around inside the eyeball and allows the formation of a clear visual image," Clements said. "This is the first unequivocal evidence that Tullimonstrum is a member of the same group of animals as us, the vertebrates." [Photos: Ancient Fish Had Well-Developed Lung] This is the second Tully monster study published this spring. The first study, detailed in the journal Nature by a different group of researchers, characterized the monster as an ancient jawless fish. Before reaching that conclusion, they examined more than 1,200 Tully monster fossils before describing it as a weird, Dr. Seuss-like creature. The new study reaches many of the same conclusions. "Perhaps even weirder fossil vertebrates remain to be dug up," Shigeru Kuratani and Tatsuya Hirasawa, researchers at the Evolutionary Morphology Laboratory at RIKEN, one of Japan's largest research institutions, wrote in a commentary, also published in the journal Nature. The study was published online today (April 13) in the journal Nature. Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Just days after missing the chance to acquire Virgin America (VA), JetBlue (JBLU) announced that its expanding its Mint service to four new cities -- a clear attempt to poach some Virgin loyalists. Alaska Airlines (ALK) announced this month it was buying Richard Bransons airline for $2.6 billion -- a price too steep for JetBlue. Mint is JetBlues version of business class, and is available on select transcontinental flights from New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. But starting in the first quarter of 2017, the following flights will be available: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Los Angeles (LAX) Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and San Francisco New York (JFK) and Las Vegas New York (JFK) and San Diego Boston and San Diego New York (JFK) and Seattle Boston and Seattle The flights to Seattle are especially notable because that's Alaska Airlines home base. The Mint service is available on A321 aircraft and the ticket comes with a flat bed seat, 15-inch flat-screen TV with 100 channels, complimentary food and drinks, and an amenity kit featuring beauty products from Birch Box. New York-based JetBlue is planning to add nine new A321s to its fleet in 2017 to accommodate the increased Mint service. Neither Alaska Airlines nor Virgin America offer a cabin with comparable luxury amenities, and JetBlue -- typically known as a budget airline -- hopes that by providing the premium service to new cities, it will attract business travelers who were once loyal to Virgin America. Our plan has long called for strategic growth of Mint on these valuable transcontinental routes, and now is the right time for us to capture this opportunity to bring much needed competition where customers are facing dwindling choices, Robin Hayes, JetBlues president and chief executive said in a statement. Judging from some business flier chatter, the new Mint routes are welcome. Fantastic news, wrote one user on FlyerTalk, an online forum for travelers, who apparently dislikes flying on American Airlines. The expansion of Mint to [Ft. Lauderdale] means I'll rarely (if ever) need to set foot on AA to California again. Another user also approved of Ft. Lauderdales inclusion in Mints new routes: Nice to see Mint coming to FLL as well. Makes the overnight flight from LAX/SFO much more bearable to either do a weekend trip or to connect to the Caribbean and Latin America. Story continues For customers interested in flying Mint, be prepared to pay more. An average JetBlue one-way ticket from New York (JFK) airport to Los Angeles (LAX) costs between $150 and $307. A Mint ticket for the same flight costs between $599 and $1,254. Mint is still cheaper than premium cabins on other legacy carriers. A one-way business-class ticket on Delta (DAL) can cost up to $2,197, and the same ticket will cost you up to $1,533 on American Airlines (AAL). Do you have a question about JetBlue Mint? Email us at yfmoneymailbag@yahoo.com. On the 226th birthday of John Tyler, Constitution Daily looks back at the legacy of a most unusual President who established the concept of presidential succession and eventually was elected to the Confederate Congress. johntyler Perhaps Tylers greatest contribution to the Constitution and history in general were his actions after the death of newly inaugurated President William Henry Harrison in April 1841. Vice President Tyler quickly settled a debate about who replaced the President in what capacity. But soon after assuming his role in the White House, Tyler so offended his own party members that he was outcast from the Whig Party while still in office. In general, historians dont hold Tyler in high regard as a President. In surveys since World War II, Tyler isnt ranked as the worst President, but he is always in the bottom 10 of historians rankings. Born on March 29, 1790 in Virginia, Tyler served as a member of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and as Virginias governor. He was also a Southern states-rights advocate who became attracted to the Whig Party that opposed Andrew Jackson. Tyler seemed an afterthought on the 1840 Whig ticket that featured the slogan, The slogan Tippecanoe and Tyler Too. But on April 4, 1841, President Harrison died just 30 days after taking the office. What happened next was a constitutional crisis that ended with a bold move taken by Tyler. Tyler didnt take the oath then as President because no one in Washington knew what to do next. The Constitution was very unclear about the concept of presidential succession- a fact that party leaders like Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and Tyler soon realized. When Tyler met with Harrisons cabinet soon after the event, many members called him the Vice President acting as President. He was also informed by Webster that the cabinet decided administration issues by a vote, with the President only having one vote in the process Tyler quickly ended that practice and established the Tyler Precedent that made it clear that a Vice President assuming office had the full powers and title of the President. Story continues Tylers decision in 1841 to assume the full role of President upon the death of his predecessor was used eight times to assure that the office of President was held legally, until the 25th Amendment made the practice officially part of the Constitution. Tylers reluctance to be a caretaker President soon led to criticisms and a new popular nickname, His Accidency. For the rest of his presidency, Tyler battled with the rest of the Whigs (the party that got him elected), was kicked out of the party, and used the veto 10 times. In 1842, after Tyler vetoed a tariff bill, the first impeachment resolution against a President was introduced in the House, but the resolution failed. Tyler was also the first President to have a veto overridden. Despite being outcast from the Whigs and the Democrats, Tyler sought re-election in 1844 against overwhelming odds. He pushed for the annexation of Texas to help his chances, but dropped from the campaign after an appeal from Jackson. Late in his life, Tyler tried to broker a solution to Southern secession, but when that failed, Tyler was named to the Confederate Congress in 1861 as a delegate from Virginia. Tyler died in 1862 before assuming his seat and he received a state funeral from Confederate president Jefferson Davis. President Abraham Lincoln and the federal government didnt acknowledge his death. The Brooklyn (N.Y.) Daily Eagle did report Tylers death, noting that Union troops now occupied his former estate and Virginia was ravaged by war. John Tyler did perhaps as little as any man to prevent these evils, the newspaper said. Presidential Stories on Constitution Daily Forgotten facts about George Washingtons private life 10 facts about Presidents who were also Veterans 50 interesting facts about Abraham Lincolns life 10 little-known facts about President Theodore Roosevelt Amman (AFP) - Jordanian security services on Thursday pressed ahead with closures of offices of the Muslim Brotherhood, the kingdom's main opposition force, which vowed to fight the measure in the courts. Brotherhood spokesman Badi al-Rafaia said its offices were sealed off with red wax in the towns of Mafraq, 70 kilometres (45 miles) northeast of Amman, and Madaba, 30 kilometres (30 miles) to the south of the capital. Its offices in Al-Ramtha and Irbid, both in northern Jordan, and Karak in the south were also closed, raising to seven the number shut down since Wednesday, the movement said on its Facebook page. The latest moves came one day after the movement's Amman headquarters were closed along with an office in Jerash to the north. Previously tolerated for decades in Jordan, the Brotherhood has had tense relations with the authorities since the Arab Spring uprisings that shook the region in 2011. The movement, in a statement published Thursday, said the closures "take us back to the days of martial law when order and justice are not respected", and pledged "to take judicial and political measures against these illegal pressures". Jordanian authorities view the Brotherhood as an illegal organisation because its licence was not renewed in accordance with a political parties law adopted in 2014. The Jordanian branch of the movement, which was formed in Egypt in 1928 and has affiliates across the region, has wide grassroots support in the kingdom. Other governments in the region, particularly the Gulf monarchies, are also deeply suspicious of the Brotherhood, fearing that its brand of grass-roots activism and political Islam could undermine their authority. The Brotherhood's second-in-command in Jordan, Zaki Bani Rsheid, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in February 2015 for criticising a decision by the United Arab Emirates to blacklist the organisation. In Egypt, it has been blacklisted as a "terrorist group" and the authorities have cracked down hard on its members, including ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi who has been sentenced to death. The Jordanian branch of the Brotherhood accuses the authorities of trying to exploit divisions within the organisation. Last year, the government in Amman authorised the formation of a breakaway group known as the Muslim Brotherhood Association. By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California judge declined to order a deposition of Sumner Redstone after lawyers for the 92-year-old media mogul said on Thursday they do not plan to call him to testify at a trial over his mental competence. Attorneys for Redstone's former girlfriend, Manuela Herzer, had argued in court filings that they should be allowed to take the deposition because he had planned to testify at a trial scheduled to start on May 6. At a hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, lawyers for Redstone said they do not plan to call Redstone as a witness. Redstone has a severe speech impediment that becomes more pronounced in stressful situations, attorney Robert Klieger said. We cant responsibly put him through that. Judge David Cowan said he saw no need to order a deposition if Redstone would not testify at the trial. Herzer has filed a lawsuit arguing that the multi-billionaire was not mentally competent last October when he removed her as the person designated to make his health care decisions if he is not able. A trial could cause further embarrassment for the ailing Redstone and his family, and act as a continued distraction for media company Viacom Inc, which is majority-owned by Redstone. He is also the controlling shareholder of CBS Corp. The deposition of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman in the case is scheduled for April 29, according to a lawyer for Herzer. Redstones daughter, Shari Redstone, will be deposed on April 19. Settlement talks between lawyers representing Redstone and Herzer have broken down, according to Herzers court filing on Wednesday. Wed like to resolve this, Pierce ODonnell, an attorney for Herzer, told reporters after the court hearing on Thursday. We hit some snags. Maybe after today things will be different. O'Donnell said the defense hurt its case by declining to produce Redstone as a witness. "Without Redstone testifying, they cannot demonstrate his mental competency in the face of distinguished expert psychiatric reports and a mountain of evidence that Redstone is tragically incapacitated," O'Donnell said in a statement. Story continues Gabrielle Vidal, an attorney for Redstone, said his team was deeply gratified that the court continues to protect Mr. Redstones privacy and dignity. "Ms. Herzers eagerness to subject a 92-year old man with a severe speech impairment to these intrusive proceedings is offensive," Vidal added. (Reporting By Lisa Richwine and Jessica Toonkel; Editing by Bill Rigby, Bernard Orr) A Chinese woman has been criticized on social media after posing for nude photographs at one of Tibets sacred lakes. Some internet users said the woman had disrespected the Tibetan culture and broken religious taboos. Local police refutes media reports that the photographer has been detained for ten days. Police did not disclose the woman's identity or punishment. A web user indentified as "YouchumDolkar" on Weibo, posted the series of photographs on Monday night. Alongside the pictures, the woman posted a message: "A good photographer and a good model have broken cultural and ethnic boundaries." Some of the pictures show a woman posing totally naked, with her face turned away from the camera. In other pictures, she can be seen wearing a red dress while floating in the lake, or sitting and standing on the shore.(Photo/Weibo) In contrast to some of the critical comments, some Internet users said the womans photographs constituted art, and they supported her decision to stage a photo shoot next to the sacred lake. The photographer wrote on his Wechat: "The young woman said that her visit to Tibet was probably the best time of her life and she wanted to have a keepsake of herself in this holy land." (Screenshot/ Photographer's Wechat) Yamdrok Lake, one of Tibets three sacred lakes, is located less than 100 kilometers from the capital, Lhasa. Will the woman be put on the government's blacklist for her controversial behavior? Tibet Autonomous Region Tourism Development Committee said in a statement that they will "publish the relevant results after investigation." Media mogul Sumner Redstone won't be deposed as part of the legal battle over control of his healthcare, a California judge ruled in a Thursday afternoon hearing. Judge David J. Cowan waited to decide on the issue until the sides laid out specifically how Redstone would be testifying at trial. Redstone's attorney Robert Klieger said his intention is the mogul would not provide "verbal testimony" but rather written testimony "of some sort." "Mr. Redstone has a very, very severe speech impediment," said Klieger, and under stressful situations it becomes more pronounced. Cowan indicated he won't let Redstone testify by way of declaration because of concerns about hearsay, but left the issue open for further discussion. Redstone's ex-companion Manuela Herzer's attorney Pierce O'Donnell said Redstone's ability to communicate intelligibly is part of the issue at hand and he wants the court to see Redstone, but not to the extent it would create a public spectacle. O'Donnell indicated he would not call Redstone as a witness at trial as long as Klieger's camp agreed not to call him - to which they conceded. On Wednesday, attorneys for Herzer filed an ex parte application to depose the 92-year-old mogul, claiming his own attorneys intend to put him on the stand during trial and they deserve a chance to question him as well. "In this case, Sumner M. Redstone ('Redstone') is more than just the nominal 'opponent' of Petitioner's Petition, and more than just a witness," states the request. "Redstone, his condition, and his testimony are 'Exhibit A' in this trial." Herzer sued last fall after she was kicked out of Redstone's Beverly Park mansion in an attempt to regain control over his healthcare. She alleges Redstone is not mentally competent to make decisions regarding himself and his companies. Redstone's attorneys have painted the litigation as an unnecessary invasion of privacy and claimed Herzer is only concerned about the millions she was set to receive before this all happened. Story continues But in February, Cowan made it clear he does think further examination of the situation is necessary when he declined to dismiss the case. "In summary, if the motion [to dismiss] is correct, Herzer has no business looking after Redstone," he wrote in his decision. "If the motion is wrong, Redstone will be free of the alleged undue influence of his daughter. Necessarily, the Court cannot determine the validity of these competing claims of motive without seeing the witnesses and hearing testimony." This move to depose Redstone came just a day after O'Donnell said the parties hit a "snag" in settlement discussions. After the hearing, O'Donnell said he didn't want to subject Redstone to a media frenzy but he also didn't want to be disadvantaged at trial if Redstone's attorneys had used his testimony. "This is a good thing for Mr. Redstone," said O'Donnell. "When he doesn't appear, it dooms their case." While the mogul himself won't be deposed, Herzer's camp will depose his daughter Shari on April 19 and has rescheduled a deposition of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, who is currently in control of Redstone's care, for April 29. Redstone's attorney Gabrielle Vidal issued a statement Thursday afternoon. "We are deeply gratified that the Court continues to protect Mr. Redstone's privacy and dignity," Vidal said. "Ms. Herzer's eagerness to subject a 92-year old man with a severe speech impairment to these intrusive proceedings is offensive. We also find it telling that while Ms. Herzer claims to be acting for Mr. Redstone's benefit, she refers to him in Court as her 'opponent'." April 13, 3:30 p.m. Updated with a comment from Redstone's attorney. MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday condemned as dangerous and provocative a military encounter in the Baltic Sea that the United States has described as a simulated attack on a U.S. destroyer by two Russian warplanes. We condemn this kind of behavior. It is reckless. It is provocative. It is dangerous. And under the rules of engagement that could have been a shoot-down, Kerry said in an interview with CNN Espanol and the Miami Herald. People need to understand that this is serious business and the United States is not going to be intimidated on the high seas. We are communicating to the Russians how dangerous this is and our hope is that this will never be repeated. The repeated flights by the Sukhoi SU-24 bombers on Tuesday, which also flew near the ship, the USS Donald Cook, a day earlier, were so close they created wake in the water, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. It was one of the most aggressive interactions between the two former Cold War foes in recent memory, the official said, although the planes carried no visible weaponry. A Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter also made passes around the vessel, taking pictures. The nearest Russian territory was about 70 nautical miles away in its enclave of Kaliningrad, which sits between Lithuania and Poland. In Moscow, Interfax news agency quoted Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying on Thursday that the crews of the Russian bombers that flew near the U.S. destroyer respected all safety rules. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Kerry will raise the incident with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a daily press briefing that Washington had raised its concerns with Russian officials. I can tell you that that communication has occurred, and well seek to resolve our differences through well-established military channels, he said. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Additional reporting by David Alexander and Jeff Mason in Washington and Polina Devitt in Moscow; Editing by James Dalgleish) By Patricia Zengerle MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemned Carnival Corp on Thursday for barring Cuban-Americans from its planned cruises to Cuba and called on the Cuban government to change its policies to allow them. "Carnival needs to not discriminate," Kerry said in an interview with CNN Espanol and the Miami Herald. Cuban-born Americans cannot visit the island by sea, due to a Cuban law that dates to the Cold War era, and therefore are barred from joining in Carnival's sailings to the island, the Miami Herald has reported. People born in Cuba can, however, travel to the island on an airplane. "We call on the government of Cuba to change that policy and to recognize that if they want a full relationship and normal relationship with the United States, they have to live by international law," Kerry said during a trip to the Florida city. Carnival officials could not immediately be reached for comment. But the company has told the Miami Herald it had no choice but to enforce the rule when booking tickets for its new Miami-to-Havana route. It said it has asked the Cuban government to waive the rule before the first ship sails on May 1. Miami is the center of the U.S. Cuban-American community, and many of its residents from the island nation, who fled Cuba after its Communist revolution, are vehemently opposed to moves by President Barack Obama's administration toward more normal relations with Havana. Critics of the policy say Washington should not ease a half century of restrictions on travel and trade with Cuba until the island has free elections and its human rights record improves. Kerry, who gave two interviews to local media, met with business leaders and addressed college students, said Cuba could move more quickly to improve its rights record. But he said he was sure a more open relationship with the United States would yield positive changes. "I think more could happen faster. More should happen faster. But I'm not surprised. Nobody expected that. This has been 50-plus years of the status quo ... but there are changes that are in place for the positive," Kerry said. "If you look at our engagement with other authoritarian regimes around the world through history, have they changed overnight?" Kerry asked. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Dan Grebler) War-torn Angola and Naples are among the settings for the six books shortlisted for the Man International Prize for literature on Thursday. The panel of five judges selected works from Angolan, Italian, South Korean, Turkish, Austrian and Chinese authors for the 50,000 prize ($71,000, 63,000 euros), honouring the best foreign book published in English translation by UK publishers in 2015. Five of the authors appear for the first time, with Chinese author Yan Lianke appearing for the second time with "The Four Books". However, there was no place for Eka Kurniawan, who became the first Indonesian author to make the longlist with "Man Tiger". "This exhilarating shortlist will take readers both around the globe and to every frontier of fiction," said Boyd Tonkin, chair of the judging panel. "These six books tell unforgettable stories from China and Angola, Austria and Turkey, Italy and South Korea. In setting, they range from a Mao-era re-education camp and a remote Alpine valley to the modern tumult and transformation of cities such as Naples and Istanbul." The winner of the 2016 Prize will be announced on May 16 at a dinner at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. The 2016 Man Booker International Shortlist: "A General Theory of Oblivion" by Jose Eduardo Agualusa "The Story of the Lost Child" by Elena Ferrante "The Vegetarian" by Han Kang "A Strangeness in My Mind" by Orhan Pamuk "A Whole Life" by Robert Seethaler "The Four Books" by Yan Lianke Washington (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund will not abandon Greece as it struggles with the EU over its bailout program, fund chief Christine Lagarde said Thursday. But Lagarde would not spell out just how the IMF would remain engaged, as Greece and the European Union continue to spar over the issues of economic reforms demanded of Athens and the need for debt relief from official EU lenders. "We will not walk away. Our form of participation may vary, depending on the commitments of Greece and the undertaking of the European partners. But we will not walk away." Greece needs more financial support and relief to avoid failing again to meet its debt obligations under its third financial rescue program this decade. The IMF has worked with the EU on two previous bailouts but said it would not participate in the latest plan without credible reforms and an EU agreement to ease Greece's debt burden. But she urged quick movement on both issues. "The last thing Greece needs at this point in time is delay," she said. "There is one point on which I completely agree with the greek authorities, which is that we need and they need to move fast." To reach the bailout program objectives of economic stability and sustainability, she said, "there has to be real and realistic numbers and sustainable measures." Ottawa (AFP) - More than 600,000 Metis and non-status Indians are "aboriginal" under Canadian law, the Supreme Court said Thursday in a landmark decision hailed as righting a historical wrong. The Metis are descendants of French fur traders and North American Indian women who settled in western Canadian provinces in the early days of European colonization, including a large community in Manitoba province's Red River Valley. Long referred to as "half-breeds" by the British Crown and later by the Canadian government, their status as indigenous people had never been fully recognized. There's a total of 1.4 million indigenous people in Canada, representing 4.3 percent of the population, based on a 2011 survey by the government statistical agency. The court ruling -- which ends a 17-year legal saga started by former Metis leader Harry Daniels, who died in 2004 before the case went to trial -- means the Metis can now collectively negotiate treaties and rights with the government, including access to federal health, education, language and cultural programs. It also paves the way for Metis land claims and self-governance. "When you're 'non,'" said chief Dwight Dorey of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, referring to non-status Indians or natives living off reservations, "you don't exist." "That term should be gone forever from the English language in Canada. We are all status now," he said. "We've been fighting for so long to get justice for our people in this country," added Gerald Morin of the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan, speaking outside the courthouse. "Today our people are a landless people living in poverty in the margins of society... And now, for the first time in our history, we're hopeful." - 'Righting a wrong' - Metis suffered discrimination under the colonial system just like their "Indian" peers and at times were lumped in with them if it was convenient or expedient for Ottawa, for example, in negotiations to ensure that natives did not block the construction of a pan-Canadian railway in the late 1800s. Story continues Consecutive federal and provincial governments steadfastly refused to officially acknowledge jurisdiction over the Metis, leaving "no one to hold accountable for (their) inadequate status quo," the court said. "The historical, philosophical and linguistic contexts establish that 'Indians' includes all aboriginal peoples, including non-status Indians and Metis," the Supreme Court justices concluded in their unanimous decision. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made reconciliation with Canada's indigenous peoples a key policy of his administration. "We'll be engaging with indigenous leadership to figure out the path forward, but I can guarantee you one thing: the path forward will be together," he said in reaction to the decision. Jacqueline Romanow, a professor at the University of Winnipeg who is coincidentally also Metis, told AFP the decision "is part of Canada coming to terms with its indigenous identity and giving recognition and respect to First Peoples of this country." "For the longest time, Metis struggled to fit in in both Indian or mainstream societies, so this is recognition of some of the wrongs against the Metis people, and a step toward addressing those wrongs," she said. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers spoke at the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday, warning against austerity measures amid a tepid economy. Yahoo Finance sat down with him to get little more color on the economy and to find out what keeps him up most at night. I think the prospect of Donald Trump being President would be the gravest threat to our prosperity, our security, and our freedom in my adult lifetime, Summers said. That's the thing I would worry most about. Summers believes the rise of populist candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders can be tied to the less-than-stellar economy. I think people are frustrated because the economy's grown slowly...because their wages have increased slowly...because they have a sense that there's a small group in the society who's done remarkably well, while most others haven't really made great progress, Summers said. He added that this fueled people's fears for the future. People see a rising China," Summers said. "They see rising emerging markets. They see tremendous new capacities coming from technology, and they worry about what the role is for them." The former president of Harvard University also warned against what he calls the recent revolt against global integration. Trumps proposals to wall off Mexico, abrogate trade agreements and persecute Muslims are far more popular than he is, he wrote in a recent column. Summers told Yahoo Finance that Trump has misunderstood the impacts of global trade. What a wage of $10 or $8 or $15 means depends completely on how much it costs to buy things. And he neglects completely that we get much cheaper goods because we have a relatively open market, he said. For decades the United States had relatively low trade barriers...Most of what these agreements are doing is opening up other countries' markets for US exports. He added that globalization shouldnt be thwarted because of its effects on industries like manufacturing. Story continues I don't think the answer is to so much wall it off, any more than the answer is to stop the development of technology. But the answer is to make necessary investments and supporting these sectors, and to supporting transitions, just as the United States has been actively involved for many years in supporting the agricultural sector, he said. I think if there was a sense that we had a fair tax system that was... assuring that the government was raising its money in a way that reflected people's ability to pay, I think that would be an important contribution. Meanwhile, he thinks that the move by the U.S. Treasury to block tax inversions, where American companies shifted their headquarters overseas to avoid U.S. taxes, was the best alternative given lack of willingness to make reforms in Congress. On the termination of what would have been the largest pharmaceutical merger in history between Pfizer (PFE) and Allergan (AGN), Summers said there was a major problem with these inversions as they were tax-motivated, putting the Treasury at a big disadvantage. The right thing to have done would have been to have reformed the corporate tax code in a quite broad way...In the absence of that preferred solution, I think it's understandable that there was a decision made to act on a more ad hoc basis, he said .It seems from what I've read to have had more collateral consequences than I would've preferred. But that may be inevitable in stopping a kind of abuse that's very serious. For now, Summers said the economic uncertainty driven by policy, global risks, and economic stats--which makes the Feds data dependence message appropriate in his view-- is likely to persist. Passengers have their bags checked while entering a subway station in Nanjing, east Chinas Jiangsu Province on August 1, 2013. [Photo: Xinhua] Authorities in the city of Nanjing have decided to ban women from carrying self-protection devices on the city's subway system. Local authorities say pepper spray, alarms and powerful flashlights are not being allowed on the trains. Zhang Yuting with Nanjing's subway police force says the devices pose a potential threat to public safety. "While these things can be used by female passengers for self-defence, the devices might also hurt other people on board. These are also items that could be used to attack people." However, the devices are not on the subway's list of prohibited items. Its becoming more common for Chinese women to carry these small devices in their handbags, particularly during the summer, to avoid sexual harassment. Police suggest instead women in Nanjing should remain vigilant and shield themselves with their bags to reduce the risk of sexual harassment. DJIBOUTI, April 14 -- The port of Djibouti and China's Qingdao port have signed a partnership agreement in the Djibouti capital. The agreement, which was signed on Wednesday by Djibouti port's director general Saad Omar Guelleh and the vice-president of Qingdao port Cheng Xinnong, aims to reinforce Djibouti port's human resource capacities and logistical means. It also aims at increasing exchanges between the Djibouti port and Qingdao port in China. "The partnership will boost operations at the Djibouti port and it will offer it new prospects in various domains, given that Qingdao port has a much development port sector. We therefore intend to benefit from its expertise and its logistical as well as technological prowess," the director general of Djibouti port said. The vice president of Qingdao port hailed the "important" role played by Djibouti port in facilitating international trade at regional level. "China and Djibouti enjoy excellent relationship and the partnership we have sealed today will reinforce the friendship between our two nations. Qingado port will offer all the necessary skills and will support efforts to develop Djibouti port," Cheng said. Situated on the Yellow Sea, Qingdao port is one of the most frequently visited ports in the world. It is today the third in China and seventh in the world with capacity to hold 15 million containers on transit each year. Athens (AFP) - The Greek tourist island of Lesbos was once known to Greeks mainly for its potent ouzo, and to the rest of world as the homeland of Sappho, the seventh century poet who immortalised love for women. But in its new role as the main gateway into Europe for hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants since last year, Lesbos has also become a base for dozens of aid groups and an obligatory destination for European leaders, prominent artists and now Pope Francis, who is visiting on Saturday. Here are some high-profile visitors to the island in recent months. Sarandon and the Nobel Peace Prize US actress Susan Sarandon was the first global celebrity to go to Lesbos for a first-hand look at the crisis. The 69-year-old actress, who is known for her support of humanitarian causes and is a goodwill ambassador for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), later said she was trying to raise awareness on the crisis to honour her grandparents, who were Italian immigrants. "I hope that I can make it possible for them (the refugees) to have a voice so we can understand," she wrote in one posting. Greek intellectuals subsequently nominated Sarandon for the Nobel Peace Prize along with a Lesbos fisherman who saved the lives of migrants and an 80-year-old local grandmother who becomes a national celebrity after she was photographed bottle-feeding a Syrian infant. Actor Mandy Patinkin, who played CIA operative Saul Berenson on the hit television series "Homeland" also visited and urged the world to "open up our arms and our hearts to refugees that are fleeing a horrifying situation." Ai Weiwei, Aylan and lifejackets Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei takes a close interest in the refugees' plight after visiting the island in late 2015. He causes a stir in February after posing for India Today magazine on a Lesbos beach as Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose tiny body was found lying face down on a Turkish beach in September, an image that reverberated around the world. Story continues The 58-year-old then wrapped a collection of some 14,000 life jackets discarded by migrants around the facade of Berlin's Konzerthaus theatre. Now a regular visitor to Lesbos, Ai has set up a studio and plans to create a refugee memorial on the island. Angelina Jolie Hollywood star and UN refugee agency envoy Angelina Jolie visited Lesbos in March and was allowed in the Moria camp, Greece's largest registration camp for incoming refugees and migrants at the time. Before leaving, she pledged to return with her family in the summer but said: "I don't think (the refugee crisis) is going to be over soon." Monrovia (AFP) - Liberia's teachers have threatened to strike over plans to privatise the country's crumbling primary schools, as criticism grows louder over a multi-million-dollar project to outsource education in one of the world's poorest nations. The president of the National Teacher's association of Liberia (NTAL) said on Thursday teachers were ready to strike to express their discontent over the subcontracting of education to a private firm, Bridge International Academies. The so-called public-private partnership (PPP) is being rolled out across 120 schools as part of a pilot project, with what is believed to be the aim of incorporating all primary schools. "We have decided to go on strike nationwide very soon if the government of Liberia does not listen," NTAL head Mary Mulbah told AFP. "This new system called PPP is not the solution to an improved education system in Liberia," she said. "All the education system needs, is proper funding from government, and a strong monitoring mechanism." Recommendations to the government had fallen on deaf ears, she said, accusing the administration of President Ellen Sirleaf of squandering $148 million on the project. The government has previously told AFP only that it would spend $65 million in the first year of the rollout. In a sign of the union's hardening attitude, the NTAL replaced previous head Reverend Ellen Fatou Barclay, who was seen as too sympathetic to the government plan, with the more militant Mulbah. The privatisation scheme has also been condemned by the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Kishore Singh, who called it "completely unacceptable" and in violation of "Liberia's legal and moral obligations". Liberia's deputy education minister however told AFP earlier this month that the PPP system would be free, would improve standards and had its base in US-style Charter Schools, independent establishments that seek to raise educational standards in poor areas. Story continues "The parents will not pay a dime... The new system is going to use teachers that are on government payroll, and they are going to be monitored," Aagon Tingba said. The dire state of education in the country, where children receive on average four years of schooling, according to the UN, and where 40 percent of the population is illiterate, had led the government to consider more radical solutions, Tingba said. "The education's system we have now is on a serious challenge. Research has revealed that most of our high school graduates today are equivalent to fourth graders. Can we continue the same old thing and expect a different result? I say no." One of summer's most magical sights is an otherwise ordinary field or backyard illuminated by tiny, pulsing points of living light, as fireflies emerge at dusk. And now, a handheld gadget called the Firefly Communicator will allow people to take part in fireflies' light-coded "conversations." With the device, which resembles the insect it was built to mimic, users can communicate with fireflies by pushing a single button to emit stored patterns of light pulses that copy actual firefly signals, issuing a "come hither" message that attracts fireflies and lets users observe them up close. Fireflies send their coded messages using a chemical process called bioluminescence, which takes place in a specialized structure in their abdomens. The insect controls its own "light switch," triggering when the light goes on and off by regulating the amount of oxygen introduced into its light organ. [Gallery: Eye-Catching Bioluminescent Wonders] Scientists have found that firefly species generate unique light patterns to communicate with their own kind and to attract mates. Some species also use light flashes to lure other fireflies as prey, with females imitating the coded messages of other firefly species to trick males into coming closer so they can eat them. Inventor Joey Stein the Firefly Communicator's creator and the owner and lead interactive designer for Genus Ideas Inc. in New York City told Live Science that he collaborated with entomologists specializing in fireflies in order to identify known firefly communication codes for the device, and to test it in the field. He launched a Kickstarter campaign for the Firefly Communicator on March 14, and the project reached its $10,000 funding goal after only two weeks. The campaign has raised more than $14,000 to date. Joining the firefly conversation Learning how to "speak firefly" is simple users download firefly communication codes into the device from Stein's Speak Firefly website or app (still in development) which transmit patterns that the communicator's light sensor reads when it is placed on a monitor or mobile screen. Stein explained that the signal patterns of North American species are already well documented, while scientists are still working to decode the patterns of fireflies on other continents. He added that the code database will be updated with user input as new light patterns are tested and identified. Story continues It was Stein's own youthful interest in the natural world that inspired him to design interactive experiences that could spark a similar appreciation of nature among others. He told Live Science that he hopes the Firefly Communicator will serve as an "adventure tool," encouraging people of all ages to spend more time outside and to look a little more closely at the glowing insects that can often be found right in their own backyards. "What's wonderful about this is that the fireflies come to you in a natural way," Stein said. "They'll flash if you catch them in a jar, but it probably won't be 'L-O-V-E' they're spelling out it might be another four-letter word." The Kickstarter campaign for the Firefly Communicator which offers backers first access to the device runs through May 14. Follow Mindy Weisberger on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Corsier-sur-Vevey (Switzerland) (AFP) - Imagine moving along the cogs within giant machinery like Charlie Chaplin in "Modern Times", or tumbling inside a cabin teetering on the edge of a cliff as he did in "Gold Rush". That will be possible when an ambitious, immersive museum showcasing the life and works of the groundbreaking filmmaker opens in Switzerland on Sunday. Chaplin's World, 15 years in the planning, will premiere in the picturesque village of Corsier-sur-Vevey on Lake Geneva one day after what would have been the British screen legend's 127th birthday. "He wanted people to remember him. That's why he did the films and he did it in such a perfectionist way," Chaplin's 62-year-old son Eugene told AFP, adding: "I think he would be pleased." The museum is set on the vast estate of Manoir de Ban, about 26 kilometres (16 miles) from Lausanne, where Chaplin spent the last 25 years of his life until his death in 1977 at age 88. He had moved to Switzerland after being barred from the United States in the 1950s over suspicions that he had communist sympathies, at the height of paranoia about Soviet infiltration. On the Swiss Riviera overlooking the lake with a view of the Alps in the distance, the large manor where Chaplin lived with his wife Oona and their eight children forms half of the museum, retracing the filmmaker's private life. - 'Like Downton Abbey' - Chaplin's 70-year-old son Michael recalled what it was like living in the mansion, with around a dozen servants. "It was like Downton Abbey, on a reduced level. For a child it was wonderful," he told AFP, recalling all the great hiding places. A separate building has been built nearby as a large mock-up of a Hollywood studio dedicated to Chaplin's on-screen work which began around 1914. Visitors can also catch a glimpse of the artist's humble beginnings in London and his spectacular rise to become one of the biggest, most influential movie legends in Hollywood history. Story continues With clips from his iconic films flickering from a multitude of screens, visitors can walk down "Easy Street", visit the barber shop from "The Great Dictator" and the restaurant where he ate his shoe in "The Immigrant". "What really touched me is how they managed to make his films come alive again by inserting clips into decors," Michael Chaplin said, recalling how his father "was always in movement, and that part of the museum is in total movement, which is beautiful." Chaplin's World is also dotted with more than 30 wax figures created by the Grevin wax museum in Paris. The lifelike figures portray Chaplin as different characters, his wife Oona, actors and actresses from his films, friends and people who mattered to him like Albert Einstein, as well as artists inspired by his work like Michael Jackson and Woody Allen. "We worked very hard to make a museum that would be as true as possible," curator Yves Durand said ahead of the opening. "We are there to tell a story about a real life that was Charlie Chaplin's life, and about a fictional life that was his work," he said. - Bowler hat and cane - In a narrow room resembling a Swiss bank vault, one can find some of the iconic objects associated with Chaplin's work, including his bowler hat and cane of his Little Tramp persona, and the ripped trousers and patched shoes he wore in "The Kid". "This is the first time I've seen the costume, or the cane or the hat or the shoes," Michael Chaplin said as he helped unpack the items before the museum opening. "I've never actually really seen an original one before, so it's quite moving to see that," he said. In one glass showcase there is the certificate signed by Queen Elizabeth II when Chaplin was knighted in 1975. And in another is the Oscar he won for the score of his film "Limelight". However, he didn't win the Oscar until 1973, since the film was barred for release in the United States when it first came out in 1952. The museum project has faced numerous stumbling blocks over more than 15 years of drawn-out negotiations. It took seven years to get a building permit, and before that organisers had to wait five years to settle a lawsuit brought by a neighbour worried about the implications of the project. Eugene Chaplin admitted the transformation of Manoir de Ban, where he was born in 1953 and lived until 2008, was difficult and said he had stayed away while the work was being done. "I didn't want to see the bulldozers digging into the grass. It's a lot of memories," he said. But he was thrilled with the final result. "This is the perfect place to show my father's films, to remember his work, and his life, in a place where he was so happy," he said. GUANGZHOU, April 14 -- One person who was injured in a gantry collapse in south China's Guangdong Province Wednesday morning has been discharged from hospital as of Thursday afternoon, local authorities said. The gantry in a factory in Mayong Township, Dongguan City, fell on a two-story temporary building made from containers. The incident occurred during a thunderstorm, which brought with it winds of up to 100 km per hour, between 5:40 a.m. and 7 a.m. Wednesday. There were 139 workers in the building at the time, 18 died and 33 were injured. Eighteen of the injured were hospitalized. The remaining 17 injured workers are still being treated at the People's Hospital of Dongguan City. They sustained fractures, crush injuries and bruises, but are in a stable condition, according to the information office of the Dongguan Municipal Government. The factory, which belongs to the Fourth Harbor Engineering Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Co. Ltd., mainly produced prefabricated parts. As of Thursday noon, the relatives of 16 of the deceased had arrived in Dongguan. The local government sent working teams to offer support and help them cope with the aftermath. By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Katy Perry will get her chance to live in a former Roman Catholic convent after a judge on Wednesday invalidated the property's sale by five nuns to a restaurateur. The case had pitted Perry, daughter of Protestant pastors and one of the top-selling pop stars in the world, and the archdiocese against the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The nuns, all aged between late 70s and late 80s, once lived in the convent and two of them wanted to sell it to Los Angeles restaurateur Dana Hollister. The archdiocese filed a lawsuit last June, arguing that the two nuns did not have the authority to sell the property to Hollister. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick approved the archdiocese's motion to block the sale to Hollister, voiding the purchase documents and deed. She said the nuns did not have the authority to sell the property and that even if they had, they did not properly validate the transaction. Representatives for Hollister did not reply to requests for comment. The archdiocese said it was "gratified" by Bowick's ruling in a statement, and added that it was still under contract to sell the convent to Perry. "The Archdiocese was forced to take legal action to protect all the five sisters from being taken advantage of by the Dana Hollister transaction," it said, adding that it will continue to provide care for the nuns. Perry, who rose to fame with the hit song "I Kissed a Girl," offered to buy the 8-acre (3-hectare) Roman Villa-style property for $14.5 million. The nuns had rebuffed the 31-year-old performer, accepting a competing $15.5 million bid from Hollister, who wanted to convert the former convent into a hotel. Attorney John Scholnick, who represents two of the five nuns, told Reuters he was "disappointed," but emphasized that the ruling only invalidated the sale to Hollister and did not authorize the sale to Perry. He said there could be an option for an appeal. (Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Chris Reese and Sara Catania) A civilian oversight board ruled on Tuesday that a Los Angeles Police officer was not justified in the fatal shooting of a homeless man near the Venice boardwalk last year. The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners agreed with a report written by Police Chief Charlie Beck that said when officer Clifford Proctor shot Brendon Glenn last May, the choice to use lethal force was not objectively reasonable, and was out of line with LAPD policy. The board voted unanimously in a closed session to deem the 2015 shooting unjustified, which is not legally binding, but places pressure on the L.A. County District Attorney to file criminal charges against the officer, a rare occurrence in a department with a history of police abuse. If the district attorney decides to prosecute, Proctor would be the first Los Angeles police officer to be charged in an on-duty shooting in 15 years. Recommended: Woe Is the Washington Metro Hours after Glenn died, Beck told reporters he was very concerned about the events of the shooting, a comment the local police union has described as unfair to Proctor, and even selling out to critics. Police reports say Glenn, who was black, had shouted racial epithets at Proctor, who is also black, and repeatedly ignored the officers orders. But Beck concluded Glenns actions did not require the use of deadly force. Proctor said he shot Glenn twice when the officer saw Glenn reach for his partners holster. Both officers at the scene wore body cameras, but it was security footage from a nearby bar that seemed to trouble Beck. That footage has not been made public, but from a LAPD report published by The Los Angeles Times, the security video doesnt seem to jibe with Proctors story. Beck wrote that at no time during the struggle can Glenns hand be observed on or near any portion of the second officers holster. Story continues On May 5, Proctor and his partnerwho has not been publicly identifiedresponded to a call reporting that an unarmed homeless man and his dog were bothering customers near the busy boardwalk. When they arrived, they found Glenn, a 29-year-old skateboarder often found in Venices bohemian, drifter scene, in front of a restaurant and seemingly intoxicated. Glenn shouted at the officers, threatening to release his dog, a pitbull labrador mix, if they approached, according to the chiefs report. Proctor responded by saying, Dont come over here with your dog. I will shoot your dog. Recommended: Ohio State Turns the Concept of 'Safe Space' Against Student Protesters In his report, Beck wrote that the officers should have deescalated the situation because operational success is based on the ability of the officers to effectively plan and approach each incident in a safe manner. The lack of discussion between the officers about handling Glenn, or calling for backup when Glenn later pushed a bar bouncer at the scene, was a substantial deviation, without justification, from approved Department tactical training, Beck wrote. After Glenn and the bouncer began shoving each other, one of the officers grabbed Glenns arm and Glenn tried to break free, according to the report. The officer grabbed Glenns hair and forced him to the ground, and both officers dug their knees into Glenns back. Glenn struggled, reaching his hand around. Proctor said everything was happening so fast and everybodys hands were flailing around when I realized I didnt have control . proper control because he had spun us around and I saw . his hand on my partners holster, thats when I drew [the gun]. Proctor said his first shot didnt faze Glenn, so he fired again. After Beck watched security footage, he concluded that another officer with similar training wouldnt agree there was a substantial risk that the situation may escalate to the point where deadly force may be justified. The other officer with Proctor would later say Glenns hand didnt near the holster, and the security footage, based on Becks report, appears to support this claim. Recommended: The Hell After ISIS After Glenns death, protestors in Venice demanded Proctor be charged for the killing, and the LAPD held a contentious town hall meeting. In January, Beck recommended charges against the officer. Video footage of police shootingsfrom cellphones, body cameras, or security camerashave highlighted the potential for discrepancies between officers reports and actual events. And more and more, video evidence unsubstantiated what officers have said was a necessary escalation of forceoften lethal force. Footage of the 2015 shooting of Walter Scott by South Carolina officer Michael Slager. showed Scott was shot running away, and at a greater distance than the officer had reported. The first police reports filed after the death of Eric Garner in 2015 didnt mention that officer Daniel Pantaleo used a chokeholda move prohibited by the New York Police Departmentto take Garner down. But cellphone footage captured by a bystander made it pretty clear Pantaleo had choked Garner. In the case of Laquan McDonald, Chicago officer Jason Van Dyke said the 17-year-old charged police with a knifea story corroborated by five other officersbut dash camera footage that a judge ordered released 13 months after the 2014 shooting discredited that story. Van Dyke was charged with murder after the footage was made public. V. James DeSimone, the lawyer representing Glenns family in a wrongful-death lawsuits against the city and police chief, told The Los Angeles Times Tuesday that simply put, without the video there would most likely be no call for this officers prosecution or for a finding that this officer was out of policy. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. By Kole Casule SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia's special prosecutor said on Thursday she would continue investigating a wiretapping scandal, including alleged large-scale misappropriation of government funds, despite 56 officials being granted a presidential amnesty. Prosecutors said they had not been consulted about President Gjorge Ivanov's decision, first announced on Tuesday, to pardon prominent politicians alleged to be involved in the affair, including former prime minister Nikola Gruevski and opposition leader Zoran Zaev. "I am firmly convinced that justice will prevail. We will continue to work according to the law by which this office was established," said special prosecutor Katica Janeva, who was appointed last year to investigate the scandal. Janeva, speaking at a news conference attended by ambassadors from European Union countries, said her office had information that a large amount of money from the state budget had ended up in private pockets between 2008 and 2015. Although the pardons prevent her from bringing charges against any of the 56 officials, Janeva said she would keep investigating whether wealth had been taken illegally and, if so, seek to confiscate it. Ivanov's decision to pardon the government and opposition figures drew protests at home and abroad, with the United States warning it could protect "corrupt politicians". Demonstrators held a third night of protests in the capital Skopje on Thursday night. Thousands of government and opposition supporters held separate rallies to protest at the pardoning of officials from the other side. Buses brought people in from other towns to join them. Pro-opposition protesters, holding signs saying "No justice, no peace", briefly jostled police who blocked their way and threw stones at them but it was calmer than on Wednesday night when one of Ivanov's offices was ransacked. Britain's Europe Minister David Lidington said on Thursday that Ivanov's pardon was a "matter of considerable concern" and he urged him "to find a way to reverse the decision". Macedonia, a poor Balkan country of two million people on the front line of Europe's refugee crisis, has been in turmoil since Zaev accused Gruevski and his counter-intelligence chief, Saso Mijalkov, in February last year of orchestrating the wiretapping of more than 20,000 people. The opposition said the phone-taps exposed government control over journalists, judges, public sector recruitment and the manipulation of elections in Macedonia, which aspires to join both the EU and NATO. Under an EU-brokered deal reached last year to try to end the crisis, a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate the wiretap revelations and Gruevski agreed to an early election, expected in June. Gruevski distanced himself on Thursday from Ivanov's amnesty. "It is against what we stand for. Those who have done something criminal should answer for it," he said. (Writing by Adrian Croft; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Toby Chopra) BEIJING, April 13, 2016 -- Chinese telecom fraud suspects deported from Kenya get off a plane after arriving at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, April 13, 2016. Kenyan police deported 77 Chinese telecom fraud suspects, including 45 Taiwanese, to the Chinese mainland. The first group of 10 people had been repatriated on Saturday and the remaining 67 were sent back by a chartered plane on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Yin Gang) BEIJING, April 14 -- Kenya's deportation of Taiwanese telecom fraud suspects to the Chinese mainland within the past week was lawful and reasonable, according to legal observers on the mainland. There were 45 Taiwanese among 77 Chinese alleged fraud syndicate members who arrived in the mainland on Saturday and Wednesday. It is the first time that China has such a large group of telecom fraud suspects repatriated from Africa. "As all victims are from the mainland, judicial organs on the mainland have legal rights of jurisdiction over the repatriated Taiwanese suspects, according to the principle of territorial jurisdiction required in international criminal litigation," said Lin Wei, vice president of China Youth University of Political Studies. The deportations have sparked debate in Taiwan about the mainland's jurisdiction in the case. Mainland authorities said Taiwan has been too lenient in its handling telecom fraudsters in the past. In many of the cases handled by Taiwan's judicial organs, suspects were not brought to justice and victims on the mainland were unable to retrieve their lost money, according to the Ministry of Public Security. Quite a few Taiwanese suspects were released as soon as they were returned to Taiwan and some resumed their wrongdoing soon after, said Liu Huawen, assistant director of the Institute of International Law under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "They have caused a tremendous loss to people on the Chinese mainland," said Liu. "Telecom fraud has been regarded as quite a petty act of swindling in Taiwan, with short prison sentences and light financial penalties," said Fan Chongyi, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law. Taiwanese authorities should be tougher on such criminals, Fan said. Paris (AFP) - The Euro-Russian spacecraft ExoMars, launched towards the Red Planet last month, has sent home its first pictures from space and is in "excellent health", the European Space Agency said Thursday. Launched on March 14 on a Russian Proton rocket, the craft is designed to "smell" Mars' atmosphere for gassy evidence that life once existed on Earth's neighbour, or may do so still. The probe's high-resolution camera was switched on for the first time on April 7, and took its first grainy, black and white snapshots of space. "These first images are very reassuring. Everything points to us being able to get good data at Mars," said Nicolas Thomas from the University of Bern in Switzerland, camera principal investigator. With its suite of high-tech instruments, the probe should arrive at the Red Planet on October 19 after a journey of 496 million kilometres (308 million miles). "All systems have been activated and checked out, including power, communications, startrackers, guidance and navigation, all payloads and Schiaparelli," ESA spacecraft operations manager Peter Schmitz said. Its main mission is to photograph the Red Planet and analyse its air. The spacecraft is also piggybacking a lander dubbed Schiaparelli, which it will release onto Mars for a few days in October. Schiaparelli will test heat shields and parachutes in preparation for a subsequent rover landing on Mars, a feat the ESA said "remains a significant challenge". ExoMars is a two-part collaboration between the ESA and Russia's Roscosmos space agency. This first part is dubbed ExoMars 2016. The second, the Mars rover phase, was originally scheduled for launch in 2018, but the ESA has said it will likely be delayed over money worries. There are high expectations, though, from the first phase -- basically to determine whether Mars is "alive". The probe will seek to analyse methane, a gas which on Earth is created in large part by living microbes, and traces of which were observed on previous Mars missions. Story continues Methane is normally destroyed by ultraviolet radiation within a few hundred years, which the ESA has said implies that in Mars' case "it must still be produced today". But by what? The probe will analyse Mars' methane in more detail than any previous mission, according to the ESA, to try and determine its likely origin. By Denny Thomas HONG KONG (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp is targeting private equity firms, including Bain Capital, MBK Partners, TPG Capital Management and Chinese state-backed conglomerate China Resources (Holdings) for its planned sale of 2,800 restaurants in North Asia, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The U.S. fast food giant is adopting a new business model in Asia, which is now the most intense battleground for global restaurant chains, by planning to bring in partners to own the restaurants within a franchise operation. Several other global restaurant operators have switched to the so-called franchise model and McDonald's has also set a long-term aim of being 95 percent franchised, the company said in a statement on March 31. Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's has hired Morgan Stanley to run the sale of the restaurants in China, Hong Kong and South Korea, the people said. A formal sales process is expected to kick-off in about three to four weeks, one of the people said. Ahead of that, McDonald's and its advisor are drawing up a list of likely partners who will be approached to participate in the auction, the person added. The franchise partners would likely end up owning a majority stake in the restaurants in each market, or even as much as 100 percent, and be responsible for future capital spending. The precise structure of the deal is still to be decided, the sources said. In return, McDonald's will get a one-time franchise payment and ongoing royalty fees, which usually range between 3-5 percent of annual turnover. Asia-focused Baring Private Equity Asia is the other buyouts firm likely to be invited to the auction process, banking sources familiar with the process said. McDonald's declined to add to the March 31 statement. China Resources, MBK, Bain, TPG and Baring all declined to comment. Morgan Stanley didn't respond to an email seeking comment. McDonald's does not break out country-by-country revenue details. It is China's No. 2 fast food chain behind YUM Brands Inc , which operates the KFC and Pizza Hut chains. McDonald's is leaning towards finding separate partners in all the three markets and would likely offer a majority stake to make the deal appealing to buyers, the people added. The private equity firms are attracted to the rapid growth opportunity available in the so-called quick-service restaurants' (QSR) business in Asia. "In recent years, even though formal dining may have been impacted by the austerity measures, QSR as a format is growing pretty rapidly," said Kiki Yang, a Greater China partner at consulting firm Bain & Co. "QSR has the format that a lot of investors like because of the growth of the segment, standardized procedures and it's easy to expand." China Resources (Holdings), which is the parent of brewing company China Resources Beer Holdings <0291.HK>, and operates Pacific Coffee chains in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Macau, has previously expressed interest in expanding its retail footprint. "This will attract a lot of sponsor interest," said one senior Hong Kong-based M&A banker familiar with the McDonald's process. "For one, it's an established business and second such assets rarely come to market in Asia." Buyout firms from KKR & Co to Carlyle Group and others have raised billions of dollars in new funds in Asia to benefit from the region's growth potential. But the lack of opportunities to gain control of businesses and stiff asking prices have left the Asia private equity industry sitting on about $140 billion of "dry powder" or unemployed capital, according to data provider Preqin. Apart from the proceeds from a sale, a deal would lower McDonald's capital spending needs, which totaled $2.6 billion last year. McDonald also plans to open 1,500 more restaurants in China and Hong Kong over the next five years, to tap the region's rapid growth. However, McDonald's and Yum, have been facing increasing competition from cheaper local rivals, particularly in China, where they are both trying to recover from food safety scares. Yum is also in the process of spinning off its 6,900 China restaurants, and is in talks with buyouts firms, including KKR and Hopu Investments to sell up to a 20 percent stake after battling sliding sales over the past few quarters. Bruised by food safety scandals and changing tastes, McDonald's is also selling a big stake in its Japanese arm. Buyout firms, including Bain Capital, Permira [PERM.UL] and MBK, were among those who submitted bids for the McDonald's Japan stake earlier this year, though it was unclear if a deal is close. All three buyout firms declined comment. McDonald's has struggled in Japan over the past two years, closing more than 150 restaurants last year, remodeling almost 3,000 and posting a $310 million net loss in 2015. McDonald's owns 49.99 percent of its Japanese arm McDonald's Holdings <2702.T>, according to the company's website, and intends to cut that to about 20 percent. (Reporting by Denny Thomas; Additinal reproting by Gaurav Dogra in Bangalore, Elzio Barreto in Hong Kong, Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Junko Fujita in Tokyo; Editing by Martin Howell in Singapore) By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A prominent media advocacy group on Wednesday called on Turkish authorities to protect journalists after a Syrian reporter was gunned down in broad daylight by Islamic State militants in southeastern Turkey - the fourth such attack in six months. Zaher al-Shurqat, an online broadcaster for Aleppo Today who regularly traveled to Syria to report from the front-line in the fight against Islamic State, was shot in the neck on Sunday by a masked attacker in Gaziantep near the Syria border. He died in hospital two days later, Turkey's Dogan News agency reported. Islamic State's Amaq news agency, in a statement from the group claiming responsibility for Shurqat's killing, said his journalistic work had been "antagonistic" to Islamic State. "Turkish authorities must urgently demonstrate that killing journalists on the streets of Turkey is unacceptable and will not go unpunished," Nina Ognianova, a senior representative of the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement. In a statement in Washington, the U.S. State Department condemned the "vicious murder" and said it stood "ready to support Turkey as it works to bring to justice those responsible for attacks on the media." NATO-member Turkey has increasingly become a target for Islamic State which is blamed for two of four suicide bombings this year that have targeted its capital Ankara and its biggest city Istanbul. Gaziantep, where Shurqat was based, is a hub for Syrian activists and journalists documenting the war. It is also home to one of the largest Syrian refugee populations in Turkey, and lies just across the frontier from the IS-controlled Syrian town of Jarablus. Police frequently target Islamic State networks in the city. Shurqat's killing comes three months after Naji Jerf, a Syrian activist and documentary maker who made a film about Islamic State, was gunned down on the street in Gaziantep. Previous to that, two Syrian activists who worked for Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, a campaign group against Islamic State, were shot in the head and beheaded in the nearby city of Sanliurfa. Jerf and the two activists had appealed to the Turkish police after they received death threats, their friends and fellow activists in Istanbul and Gaziantep told Reuters earlier this year. The Islamic State statement said: "A group of militants belonging to Islamic State shot down yesterday the media personality Zaher al-Shurqat, who had been presenting a show antagonistic to IS." CPJ's Ognianova said: "We call on security officials to hunt down Zaher al-Shurqat's killers, bring them to justice, and ensure journalists can work safely throughout the country." A member of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, Turkey has been accused by its Western partners of lax border controls that have let foreign fighters cross into Syria to join the Sunni hardline group. Ankara denies any negligence. (Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy in Cairo and Washington Newsroom; Editing by David Dolan, Richard Balmforth and Bernard Orr) SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Leslie Van Houten, a follower of murderous cult leader Charles Manson, planned to seek parole for the 21st time on Thursday for her role in the group's infamous 1969 killing spree, state records show. Van Houten, 66, has been serving a life sentence for the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, who were stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home on Aug. 9, 1969. The killers used the victims' blood to write "Rise," "Death to Pigs" and "Healter-Skelter", a misspelled reference to a Beatles song, on the walls and a refrigerator door. The hearing for Van Houten, whose previous requests for parole have been denied, was set for 8:30 a.m. Thursday. The parole board's decisions are generally made the same day as the hearing, said Jeffrey Callison, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Van Houten was found guilty of the LaBianca murders in 1971 and sentenced to death but that conviction and sentence were overturned on appeal. She was retried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1978. Manson became one of the 20th century's most infamous criminals in the summer of 1969, when he directed his mostly young, female followers to murder seven people in what prosecutors said was part of a plan to incite a race war between whites and blacks. Among the victims was actress Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski. She was stabbed 16 times by members of the cult in the early-morning hours of Aug. 9, 1969. Four other people were killed at Tate's home that night by the Manson followers but Van Houten was not involved in the Tate murders. Manson, now 81, is serving a life sentence at Corcoran State Prison in California for the seven Tate-LaBianca killings and the murder of another man, Gary Hinman, in July 1969. He repeatedly has been denied parole. (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Bill Trott) Mexico City (AFP) - Two Mexican federal police officers possibly participated in the disappearance of 43 students, the National Human Rights Commission said Thursday, implicating national agents in the 2014 case for the first time. The announcement adds a new twist to a probe that has come under fire from international human rights groups and independent investigators. Jose Larrieta Carrasco, a commission official investigating the case, said the authorities should now look into a "new route in the disappearance" of the students. The attorney general's office said it would "deepen" this "line of investigation" following the commission's announcement. A federal police statement said the allegations were not new and that all officers present in the region that night gave statements, but that "for the moment" no wrongdoing was found against any agents. Prosecutors have already charged municipal police officers in connection with the mass abduction in the southern city of Iguala on September 26-27, 2014. But the governmental rights commission said it found an eyewitness who saw two federal agents near Iguala's courthouse, where municipal officers had stopped a bus with 15 to 20 students on board. The commission also said another local police department, from the town of Huitzuco, had a previously unknown role in the disappearance. The bus was one of five that around 100 students had seized that night to use for a future protest. Iguala police officers opened fire on the buses before the students disappeared. The commission said the police fired on the tires of the bus that stopped near the courthouse, prompting the students to toss rocks at the police. The officers bundled the students into several patrol vehicles, including three from Huitzuco. When the federal officers arrived, they asked what was going on. An Iguala officer said the students would be sent to Huitzuco, where "the boss" -- possibly a drug cartel member -- would "decide what to do with them," the commission said. Story continues The federal officers responded, "Ah, ok, that's good," and allowed the local police to take the students away. Huitzuco would be a new location in the twisting saga, as authorities have maintained that suspects told investigators that the students were killed in the nearby town of Cocula. The commission said there was enough evidence to "presume the participation of members of the Huitzuco municipal police and two federal police officers" in the disappearance, adding that it has the name of one of the two federal agents, which it gave to prosecutors. The commission also said a soldier on a motorcycle took pictures of the incident and then left. Families of the victims have called for an investigation into whether the military had a role in the case, but the army denies any wrongdoing. - Investigation questioned - The attorney general's office said it was providing protection to the eyewitness cited by the commission as well as the person's family. Prosecutors declared last year that police officers from Iguala and the neighboring town of Cocula abducted the students and delivered them to the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel. The gang then killed the students, incinerated their bodies at a garbage dump in Cocula and dropped the remains in a nearby river. But experts from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights who conducted an independent investigation said there was no scientific evidence the 43 students were incinerated at the dump. The case is considered the biggest challenge faced by President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration, prompting protests and causing his approval rating to drop. Fox News reported Tuesday that an exclusive satellite image it acquired shows the Chinese military has deployed new fighter jets to Yongxing Island in the South China Sea and has reinforced its advanced surface-to-air missile system on the island. According to the report, the image that has been authenticated by the Pentagon showed two J-11 fighter jets stationed on the island. The J-11 jet, which entered service in 1998, is comparable to the US Airforce's F-15 or Navy F/A-18 Hornet. Xisha Island has been China's territory since ancient times and is under China's administration now. Yongxing Island is where the Sansha city government is located. Unlike Nansha Island, Xisha has a much simpler situation as China applies its sovereignty effectively there, although Vietnam is making noise with little international impact. Washington often deliberately confuses Xisha with Nansha Island, trying to paint Xisha as a disputed area. In February, the US pointed fingers at China deploying its HQ-9 missiles on Yongxing Island, blaming China for militarizing the South China Sea. It's an excessive intervention for Washington to blame China's justified defense deployments on Xisha Island. We would like to ask whether Washington will mind China's action on Hainan Island next? Washington has demonstrated the real standard of militarizing islands. In the Pacific alone, it has built large-scale military bases in Hawaii, Guam and Okinawa. Washington might want to tell Beijing "Don't have a race with us." However, it is instigating the smaller nations of the South China Sea to compete with China. Washington has remained silent over both Manila's and Hanoi's construction projects on the Nansha islands, but launches strong protests against Beijing, arguing that China is engaging in a much larger-scale land reclamation in the region. China's military facilities on Yongxing Island pose no strategic deterrence to the US. If it wants, China is capable of deterring the Philippines and Vietnam without deploying such facilities. China has reiterated that its constructions on the Nansha islands are for civilian purposes, which is China's true intention. However, we feel pressured to strengthen our military presence in Xisha and even Nansha. Such pressure comes from the intensifying intervention from the US, rather than the disputes in the region. If the images of the missiles and jets prove real, the deployment would have been in response to Washington's high-key provocations. China has no intention to enter into a race with Washington in the South China Sea, let alone a confrontation. The Chinese government will keep its promise not to militarize the Nansha islands. However, the more frequently the US military flexes its muscle here, the more Chinese military facilities will be deployed on the islands. It has nothing to do with China's commitment to peaceful development. Stocks (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC, ^RUT) are choppy into the close, with crude oil slightly lower. Catch The Final Round at 4 p.m. with Jen Rogers and Rick Newman. Microsoft sues DOJ Microsoft is suing the government over the DOJ's authority to bar tech companies from telling customers when their data has been searched. Will we finally get clarity on the constitutionality of these searches? Winners and losers Stocks trading lower include Pier 1 Imports on a lowered profit guidance, Valeant as S&P lowered its credit rating to B from B+, and Seagate. Shares of the memory storage maker are down after it cut its outlook for the most recent quarter. Stocks pulling higher today include Bank of America after earnings, Chipotle on a JPMorgan upgrade, and 3D Systems. The 3D printer company got a nice boost today as Bank of America/Merrill Lynch upgraded shares to buy from underperform and set a $26 price target. Tesla across America One of the biggest factors holding customers back from buying all-electric vehicles is range anxiety, or the fear that the car will run out of charge. Gianni Kovacevic, author of the book "My Electrician Drives a Porsche?," set out to prove range anxiety fears wrong by driving a Tesla across the U.S. Yahoo Finance's Nicole Sinclair sat down with him to discuss. Looking ahead By Sarah McBride SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) has sued the U.S. government for the right to tell its customers when a federal agency is looking at their emails, the latest in a series of clashes over privacy between the technology industry and Washington. The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in federal court in Seattle, argues that the government is violating the U.S. Constitution by preventing Microsoft from notifying thousands of customers about government requests for their emails and other documents. The governments actions contravene the Fourth Amendment, which establishes the right for people and businesses to know if the government searches or seizes their property, the suit argues, and Microsoft's First Amendment right to free speech. The Department of Justice is reviewing the filing, spokeswoman Emily Pierce said. Microsofts suit focuses on the storage of data on remote servers, rather than locally on people's computers, which Microsoft says has provided a new opening for the government to access electronic data. Using the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the government is increasingly directing investigations at the parties that store data in the so-called cloud, Microsoft says in the lawsuit. The 30-year-old law has long drawn scrutiny from technology companies and privacy advocates who say it was written before the rise of the commercial Internet and is therefore outdated. People do not give up their rights when they move their private information from physical storage to the cloud, Microsoft says in the lawsuit. It adds that the government has exploited the transition to cloud computing as a means of expanding its power to conduct secret investigations. SURVEILLANCE BATTLE The lawsuit represents the newest front in the battle between technology companies and the U.S. government over how much private businesses should assist government surveillance. By filing the suit, Microsoft is taking a more prominent role in that battle, dominated by Apple Inc (AAPL.O) in recent months due to the governments efforts to get the company to write software to unlock an iPhone used by one of the shooters in a December massacre in San Bernardino, California. Story continues Apple, backed by big technology companies including Microsoft, had complained that cooperating would turn businesses into arms of the state. "Just as Apple was the company in the last case and we stood with Apple, we expect other tech companies to stand with us," Microsoft's Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said in a phone interview after the suit was filed. One security expert questioned Microsoft's motivation and timing. Its lawsuit was one hundred percent motivated by business interests and timed to capitalize on new interest in customer privacy issues spurred in part by Apples dispute, said D.J. Rosenthal, a former White House cyber security official in the Obama administration. As Microsoft's Windows and other legacy software products are losing some traction in an increasingly mobile and Internet-centric computing environment, the company's cloud-based business is taking on more importance. Chief Executive Satya Nadella's describes Microsoft's efforts as "mobile first, cloud first." Its customers have been asking the company about government surveillance, Smith said, suggesting that the issue could hurt Microsoft's ability to win or keep cloud customers. In its complaint, Microsoft says over the past 18 months it has received 5,624 legal orders under the ECPA, of which 2,576 prevented Microsoft from disclosing that the government is seeking customer data through warrants, subpoenas and other requests. Most of the ECPA requests apply to individuals, not companies, and provide no fixed end date to the secrecy provision, Microsoft said. Microsoft and other companies won the right two years ago to disclose the number of government demands for data they receive. This case goes farther, requesting that it be allowed to notify individual businesses and people that the government is seeking information about them. Increasingly, U.S. companies are under pressure to prove they are helping protect consumer privacy. The campaign gained momentum in the wake of revelations by former government contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 that the government routinely conducted extensive phone and Internet surveillance to a much greater degree than believed. Late last year, after Reuters reported that Microsoft had not alerted customers, including leaders of China's Tibetan and Uigher minorities, that their email was compromised by hackers operating from China, Microsoft said publicly it would adopt a policy of telling email customers when it believed their email had been hacked by a government. The company's lawsuit on Thursday comes a day after a U.S. congressional panel voted unanimously to advance a package of reforms to the ECPA. Last-minute changes to the legislation removed an obligation for the government to notify a targeted user whose communications are being sought. Instead, the bill would require disclosure of a warrant only to a service provider, which retains the right to voluntarily notify users, unless a court grants a gag order. It is unclear if the bill will advance through the Senate and become law this year. Separately, Microsoft is fighting a U.S. government warrant to turn over data held in a server in Ireland, which the government argues is lawful under another part of the ECPA. Microsoft argues the government needs to go through a procedure outlined in a legal-assistance treaty between the U.S. and Ireland. Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) is fighting a separate battle in federal court in Northern California over public disclosure of government requests for information on users. The case is Microsoft Corp v United States Department of Justice et al in the United States District Court, Western District of Washington, No. 2:16-cv-00537. (Reporting by Sarah McBride in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Dustin Volz in Washington; Editing by Bill Rigby) By Mark Weinraub (Reuters) - A Somali-American man from Minnesota pleaded guilty on Thursday to trying to join the Islamic State and fight for the militant group in Syria, prosecutors said. Adnan Farah, 20, plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office said. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. A sentencing date has not been set yet. More than 80 people have been charged since 2014 in U.S. federal cases related to Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the Brussels bombings in March that killed 31 people and the Paris attacks in November that killed 130. Islamic State is also known as ISIS or ISIL and controls territory in Iraq and Syria. Farah was arrested with five other men in April 2015. The government claimed that the group worked for 10 months to join the Islamic State. All six men are friends or relatives with connections to other men who have tried or succeeded in going overseas to join Islamic State or al Shabaab, a militant group based in Somalia. Farah's lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (Reporting by Mark Weinraub; Editing by Alan Crosby) (Global Times) 08:47, April 14, 2016 Illustration: Liu Rui/GT We interviewed Yukio Hatoyama, former Japanese prime minister, on the afternoon of the very day that we arrived in Japan. Hatoyama is known as a "pro-China" politician. In 2009 after he was elected as prime minister, he pledged not to visit the Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines Japanese war criminals responsible for atrocities during WWII. In 2013, he said the Japanese government should admit that there is a substantial territorial dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands, known as Diaoyu Islands in China. I asked Hatoyama two questions: Why can't his point of view about Japan's aggressive history be more widely accepted in Japan? And how to deliver an accurate view of history to the Japanese? Hatoyama said historical events such as the Diaoyu Islands problem and the Nanjing Massacre haven't been fully and accurately elaborated on in Japanese textbooks. He added that the deficiency of education in postwar Japan over the past several decades has led to erroneous views of history held by one generation or two. Hatoyama visited the memorial hall of the victims in Nanjing massacre by Japanese invaders in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing in 2013. He told me the purpose of his visit was to apologize for Japan's wartime crimes. He said it's not important whether the number of the victims totals 300,000 as China says, as even killing one person is a crime. He will keep apologizing until the Chinese say "it's enough." Hatoyama added that no matter how much pressure he gets from the Japanese media and government, he will be persistent in telling the truth to the Japanese public, since only facing up to history correctly can lead to a rapprochement among China, Japan and South Korea. Nonetheless, although he once took the helm of the country, Hatoyama is in the minority in Japan. He is even often verbally abused by extreme nationalists online. At one reception, some Japanese attendants purposely turned their heads away from Hatoyama when he arrived. It reminds me of the exclusiveness in Japanese culture. Japan is a collectivist society. People who do not act the same with others will be isolated. Like in a village, everyone must stick together with each other. If one person breaks the rule, he or she will be banished from the community. This is the most severe punishment. Nowadays, the nation is suffering from high student suicide rates, because teenagers cannot stand isolation from others. Hatoyama sticking to his guns despite his isolation is admirable. But his islation reflects the severity of Japan's swing to the right. Hatoyama also mentioned another reason. Given the fact that China's GDP has outrun Japan, while the Japanese economy remains sluggish, some people's attitude toward China has turned from admiration to jealousy and then anxiety. This has caused the right-wing shift in the country. Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua likes describing Japanese people's changing attitudes toward China with a metaphor. He said that the Japanese used to consider China as a tiny little hill in their backyard, yet the hill has somehow turned into a huge mountain overnight. It made it hard for Japanese to adapt to the new situation. The change of the Abe administration's China policy mirrored the change in Japan's public discourse. In 2006, Abe announced he would visit China as soon as he assumed the office. But, when he won the re-election to a second term as prime minister in 2012, he changed his attitude toward Beijing immediately, and for that, the change in public opinion is a crucial reason. Most Japanese journalists we talked to support Abe. They believe that the public agree with Abe's China policy, because people believe that only siding with the US to contain China can they feel secure, and ensure that the current order in Asia won't be upset by the rise of China. The constant change of public opinion in Japan is not the only case around Asia. It is happening in other countries as Washington is rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific under the banner of human rights, democracy, and international law. This new dynamic warrants particular attention. The author is a senior editor with People's Daily, and currently a senior fellow with the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of [email protected], Follow him on Twitter at @dinggangchina Rome (AFP) - One of Tuscany's most famous villas is up for sale with its owners hoping to be smiling all the way to the bank thanks to its links to the Mona Lisa. The Villa Antinori was once owned by the family of silk merchant Francesco Del Giocondo, whose wife Lisa Gherardini is widely believed to have sat for Leonardo da Vinci's world-famous portrait. Located in the hills outside Florence, "the villa is priced at over 10 million euros ($11.3 million)," but may well go for much more, a press officer for the Lionard Luxury Real Estate company told AFP. Villa Antinori, which boasts a chapel, extensive grounds and a vast lemon grove, lies some five kilometres (three miles) from the Tuscan capital and was owned by the Del Giocondos from 1498 to 1517. At the end of the 19th century it was sold to Tuscan wine masters Antinori, and it was Nicolo Antinori who decided to put a drawing of the property on the family's Villa Antinori wines. The move was a challenge to wine rivals in France, with Antinori reportedly saying: "they have their chateaux, we our villas". Most historians believe Lisa Gherardini, who was born in 1479 and died in 1542, modelled for the Mona Lisa, which was painted between 1503 and 1506, when the Del Giocondos owned the villa. Some art sleuths think, however, that da Vinci might have used a male model for the Mona Lisa -- or that the sly grin is because the painting is a self-portrait. In September last year, Italian archaeologists trying to solve the mystery of the model's identity said they had found bits of bone which could have belonged to the 'real' Mona Lisa -- but had failed to find the DNA to test it against. Los Angeles (AFP) - A collection of Marilyn Monroe film costumes valued in the millions of dollars goes under the hammer later this year, a California auction house announced on Thursday. Julien's Auctions said a private collector, David Gainsborough-Roberts, is auctioning the haul -- including the iconic cocktail dress worn by the film legend in "Some Like It Hot." The collection includes Monroe's costumes, personal gowns and clothing and jewelry, and is valued at some $3 million. The Los Angeles-based auction house described it as "undoubtedly the most important Marilyn Monroe archive of combined professional and personal property to hit the collecting market in decades." "Marilyn Monroe is one of the biggest and most endearing screen icons of our time," said Darren Julien, the company's founder and CEO. "We are so honored to be working with David Gainsborough-Roberts with his incredible collection of Marilyn Monroe artifacts. He has meticulously archived so many important aspects of Marilyn's career and personal life." Highlights include the sheer beaded cocktail dress Monroe wore as she sung "I'm Through With Love" atop a grand piano in "Some Like it Hot," expected to sell for up to $400,000. Released in 1959 and considered one of the greatest comedies ever, the film won Monroe a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Sugar Kane, one of her most famous roles. The collection also features the elaborate costume she wore as she sang "After You Get What You Want, You Don't Want It" in the 1953 comedy "There's No Business Like Show Business." It is expected to sell for up to $200,000. Monroe, one of the world's most bankable stars before her death aged just 36 in Los Angeles in 1962, remains at the top of the list for collectors of celebrity memorabilia. Five years ago, the billowing frock she wore on a subway grate in "The Seven Year Itch" that turned her into a screen icon sold for a record $5.5m. Story continues "More than half a century after her death, the world remains fascinated by Marilyn Monroe's beauty and talent," said Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien's Auctions. There are also costumes from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," "Let's Make Love," and "The Misfits," as well as a pair of rhinestone earrings worn by Monroe in "How To Marry A Millionaire." Additional highlights include evening gloves, jewelry, shoes, household items, and Monroe's Detroit Free Press "New Faces Award" from 1952. The collection will be exhibited on a worldwide tour prior to the November 19 auction in Los Angeles. By Olivia Oran (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley is creating a team to educate its financial advisers about a new U.S. rule intended to protect retirement savers, a bank spokesman confirmed on Thursday. The bank has formed a so-called Fiduciary Standard Help Desk made up of more than 10 employees who will answer calls and questions that its financial advisers may have about the rule, according to a job posting on the bank's website. The rule, announced last week by the Department of Labor, sets a standard for brokers who sell retirement products and requires them to put clients' best interests ahead of their own bottom line. A spokesman for Morgan Stanley said the bank is gearing up to comply with the new regulations. Some U.S. wealth managers have been cutting fees, relying more on technology and reducing the minimum amounts clients can hold in their brokerage accounts in preparation for the rule. On Thursday, Bank of America Corp Chief Financial Officer Paul Donofrio said during the bank's first-quarter earnings call that the rule would affect less than 10 percent of client assets for its Merrill Lynch brokerage unit. The rule will be fully implemented by 2018. (Reporting by Olivia Oran in New York) MONTE CARLO (Reuters) - Andy Murray avoided following Novak Djokovic out of the Monte Carlo Masters exit door after surviving a scare against local favorite Benoit Paire to reach the quarter-finals with a 2-6 7-5 7-5 victory on Thursday. A day after world number one Djokovic suffered a stunning defeat by 55th-ranked Czech Jiri Vesely, Murray looked in trouble against Paire before subduing his opponent to set up a meeting with Canadian Milos Raonic. World number two Murray was 5-4 down in the third set when Paire cracked under pressure and lost the remaining three games to hand victory to the Briton. "I panicked. It's the biggest disappointment of my career," said Paire, who won the first set easily and was two breaks up in the second before Murray fought back. Eight-times Monte Carlo champion Rafa Nadal was made to work hard by Dominic Thiem before advancing to the last eight 7-5 6-3 after the Austrian wasted 15 of 16 break points in the opening set. The Spaniard will next face Stan Wawrinka after the Swiss, who won the claycourt Masters in 2014, demolished Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-1 6-2. "From the start I was very strict with myself. I had to keep my tactics, be patient, attack him whenever I had the opportunity," said fourth seed Wawrinka. "My concentration was very good. This is important against Gilles. From the start I needed to dominate and be very present on the court. I succeeded in doing that." Third seed Roger Federer, back in action after a 10-week layoff, eased past Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2 6-4. The Swiss will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after he beat fellow Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6-4 6-4. France's Gael Monfils, the 13th seed, ended the run of Djokovic's conqueror Vesely with a 6-1 6-2 win. (Writing by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ed Osmond) Doha (AFP) - A leading Islamic scholar has claimed Muslims are "annoyed" by the level of support among Americans for US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Ali Qara Daghi, Secretary-General of the Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), told AFP late Wednesday that Trump was also using "attacks on Islam" to try and secure his bid for the White House. "This is really annoying us so much that he has these levels of support," he said. "We do not want this for the American people or America, which was founded on democracy, freedom and pluralism. "His remarks are not consistent with common sense or moral values because he is not honest and exploits attacks on Islam in order to gain access to power," Qara Daghi added. The IUMS is an influential but controversial organisation based in Doha. It is headed by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, considered a spiritual guide to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, who were ousted from power in the North African country in 2013 and later blacklisted. During his campaign, Trump notably called for Muslims to be banned from entering the US amid concerns over security. He initially made the proposal following the San Bernardino attack last December, when Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people in California before they died in a shootout with police. Despite widespread condemnation, Trump's contentious proposal has not impacted on his electoral chances. He leads the Republican race with the backing of 743 delegates, some 200 ahead of his closest rival Ted Cruz. A total of 1,237 delegate votes are needed to secure the Republican nomination. The next primary takes place on April 19 in Trump's native New York. The US presidential vote takes place on November 8. ROME (Reuters) - For the first time, the Man Booker International prize could go to an anonymous writer this year, if a story of lifelong friendship in southern Italy beats the other five contestants in a short list announced this week. "The Story of the Lost Child", the fourth and final instalment in a tale of friendship, family and power centered on noisy Naples, is up against rivals that include Turkish Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk. The true identity of its writer, who has published this series and three other books under the pen name Elena Ferrante, is one of the best-kept artistic secrets in modern Italy. "Elena Ferrante was born in Naples. This is all we know about her," the Booker Prize Foundation said on its website. A spokeswoman for the prize said no anonymous writer had ever won the Man Booker Prize or the Man Booker International Prize. Before publishing her first novel, Ferrante is widely quoted as having said in a letter to her publishers, "Books, once they are written, have no need of their authors." Even as the "Neapolitan Novels", the first of which came out in Italy in 2011, drew worldwide acclaim and sales reportedly exceeded 1 million copies, she did not identify herself. Speculation about her identity reached its zenith in March when literature scholar Marco Santagata posited that her real identity was that of a Naples university professor who lived for a time in the Tuscan town of Pisa, like the Elena of the novels. The professor, Marcella Marmo, said she was not a writer. Suggestions on social media that she might be a man were received with scepticism because of the sensitivity of her portrayals of female adolescence, friendship and the sometimes fraught relationships between mothers and daughters. Ferrante's publishers know her true identity, but even her co-nominee for the 50,000-pound ($70,770) Booker International prize, New York-based translator Ann Goldstein, is in the dark. "I've translated a lot of dead writers so I'm kind of used to not having contact with the writer," Goldstein told Reuters by telephone, with a chuckle. "I think it's admirable that she's made this decision to have nothing to do with her books once she's written them." (Reporting by Isla Binnie, editing by Larry King) NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former New York City police officer on Thursday lost a bid to set aside his manslaughter conviction for killing an unarmed black man in a darkened public housing stairwell. State Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun in Brooklyn rejected arguments from former Officer Peter Liang's lawyers that a juror with anti-police bias had lied in order to get onto the case. The decision not to order a new trial clears the way for Liang's sentencing on Tuesday, two months after he was found guilty in connection with the shooting of Akai Gurley. Gurley, 28, died when a bullet fired from Liang's gun on Nov. 20, 2014, ricocheted off a wall and into his chest as he walked in an unlit stairwell in a Brooklyn housing project. The shooting added to nationwide protests in cities like Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, over the use of police force against minorities, though Liang, a Chinese-American, was not accused of intentionally killing Gurley. Liang's conviction, meanwhile, sparked outcry among Chinese-American activists who said he was a scapegoat for police misconduct. Following Thursday's hearing, Liang's supporters were confronted outside the courthouse by protesters who screamed that the former officer was a murderer. Liang faces up to 15 years in prison, though prosecutors have recommended no prison time, drawing criticism from Gurley's family. The request for a new trial centered on juror No. 9, Michael Vargas, who failed to disclose that his estranged father had been convicted of manslaughter when he was asked during jury selection whether any "close relatives" had been accused of a crime. In testimony on Wednesday and Thursday, Vargas said he did not consider his father a member of his family and thus did not think of him when asked during jury selection. Liang's lawyer, Paul Shechtman, emphasized that Vargas had disclosed his father's conviction during jury selection earlier that day in a separate case for which he was not selected. Shechtman also pointed to Facebook messages in which Vargas criticized police brutality. But Chun said Vargas may have given different answers due to the way each judge worded the question. He also said the defense had not shown Vargas' actions had violated Liang's right to a fair trial. Liang will likely appeal the decision after he is sentenced. The rookie officer testified at trial that a sudden noise startled him, causing his finger to slip onto the trigger and fire. It was only after descending the stairs, Liang said, that he realized someone had been hit. Prosecutors argued Liang deliberately fired toward the sound recklessly. (Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Leslie Adler) 357 officials implicated in cases concerning the illegal sale of improperly stored vaccines will face penalties including losing jobs or demotion. The decision follows an executive meeting of the State Council, China's Cabinet, held on Wednesday. So far 192 criminal cases have been filed nationwide and 202 people detained over the scandal. Meanwhile, a decision to amend a regulation on the management of vaccine circulation and use has also been approved during the meeting. It required that B-class vaccines should be procured in the same way as their A-class counterparts, which are covered by the national compulsory immunization body, and procured under the organization of provincial-level disease control organs. A system to track the entire process from manufacturing, storage, transportation to use, will also be set up, and institutes or hospitals must request storage temperature records upon receiving vaccine products. Zhou Zijun, a professor from the School of Public Health of Peking University, says the system is important because it minimises possible damage, and allows for the recall of poor quality products. "With the help of the tracking system, we could know the vaccines' storage and transportation temperature, as well as its fluctuation situation during the processes. Once bad effects occur, we would know the vaccines' manufacturers and whereabouts." Fines for those illegally selling or improperly storing and transporting vaccines will be increased, while government officials will also be required to resign from their jobs if they fail to perform their supervision duties well. LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria has arrested six people alleged to have attacked oil pipelines and has also destroyed two illegal refineries in the oil-producing southern Delta region, the country's navy said on Thursday. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to crack down on groups attacking pipelines or other oil facilities in the Delta region, which produces much of Nigeria's oil. The militants, like other Delta residents, demand a greater share of oil revenues. The six people, alleged to have been running a warehouse to store illegally refined products, were arrested in Rivers state, the navy said in a statement. The navy also said it had destroyed two illegal refineries and a boat used to smuggle stolen crude in Delta state. Buhari has sent army reinforcements to the Delta to stop pipeline attacks, which have been on the rise since authorities issued an arrest warrant in January for a former militant leader on corruption charges. Last month, gunmen blew up an oil pipeline belonging to Italy's ENI in the Delta, killing three workers, according to officials. In February, militants staged an underwater attack on a Shell pipeline, shutting down the 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal. Buhari has extended a multi-million dollar amnesty signed with militants in 2009, but he has upset them by ending generous pipeline protection contracts. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Jane Merriman) By Camillus Eboh ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian lawmakers said on Wednesday they planned to hold talks with the presidency over the 2016 budget bill, which has yet to be signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari after being passed by parliament last month. The announcement suggests further delays before the legislation takes effect in Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer, which is going through its worst crisis in years brought on by the slump in global crude prices. Buhari withdrew his original budget bill in January because of an unrealistic oil price assumption and flaws in the draft. Lawmakers approved an amended proposal last month but only submitted headline figures rather than the whole document to the president's office. That prompted Buhari, who is currently in China, to say he would only sign the bill after checking it thoroughly. Following closed-session talks by lawmakers in the lower house of parliament, a spokesman for politicians in that chamber said media reports about the contents of the budget submitted to the president last week had caused concern. "We agreed as a chamber, as a House delegated the Speaker to please go ahead and engage the executive to identify the areas of concern," said House of Representatives spokesman Abdulrazak Namdas. He said there was particular concern about media reports that a proposed rail project linking the southwestern commercial capital, Lagos, with the eastern city of Calabar had been removed by parliament as part of their amendments. Namdas said it "was not among the projects submitted by the President to the National Assembly". "Our own area of concern is that people say this thing was in the budget and we removed it. That is why we asked our speaker to liaise with the executive," he said. Last month Lai Mohammed, the information minister, said there was no rift between the executive and legislature over details of the budget. (Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Hugh Lawson) By Felix Onuah BEIJING (Reuters) - Nigeria will crack down on groups responsible for recent pipeline attacks in the oil-producing Delta region, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday. Pipeline attacks and violence have been on the rise in the southern swampland since authorities issued an arrest warrant in January for a former militant leader on corruption charges. "We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram," Buhari said during a visit to China, referring to jihadists who have been waging an insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north. The army has recaptured much of the territory Boko Haram had held since Buhari took office in May 2015, though the group still stages suicide bombings. "I hope this message will reach the vandals and saboteurs who are blowing up pipelines and installations," he said. Last month gunmen blew up an oil pipeline belonging to Italy's ENI in the Delta, a region which provides much of Nigeria's oil production, killing three workers, according to officials. In February militants staged a sophisticated underwater attack on a Shell pipeline, shutting down the 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal. Buhari has extended a multi-million dollar amnesty signed with militants in 2009, but he has upset them by ending generous pipeline protection contracts. The militants, like other Delta residents, demand a greater share of oil revenues. PATIENCE Addressing Nigerians living in China, Buhari also asked for patience for his plans to end endemic graft and to diversify the oil economy. The former military ruler was elected last year on a ticket to "fix" a country stricken by mismanagement. His government has come under fire for fuel shortages and a lack of action as the 2016 budget has been held up by wrangling with parliament. "We hear proposals for short cuts or quick wins," he said. "However, all we need to do is look at our history to know that there are no quick wins or short cuts in fixing Nigeria." A slump in oil revenues has whacked public finances in Africa's biggest economy. Buhari has also faced criticism for rejecting a devaluation of the naira, which analysts have said deters investment. "Clearly, our vision of a diversified and inclusive economy will not be achieved overnight," he said. "It will be a long, and in some cases, painful journey." (Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Toni Reinhold) Panama City (AFP) - Panama's public prosecutor against organized crime said there was no evidence so far to take action against the law firm at the center of the Panama Papers scandal, following a raid lasting 27 hours on its offices. "Right now we don't have any strong evidence allowing us to take any sort of decision" against the firm Mossack Fonseca, the prosecutor, Javier Caraballo, told reporters. He said the swoop on its law offices, located in Panama's banking district, had begun on Tuesday on the basis of the news reports about the offshore businesses it created and in some cases ran for wealthy clients around the world. "The information we have collected is what will permit us to have evidence to take a decision later on," Caraballo said. He said the investigation was complicated by the fact that the firm kept most of its records in digital form, on more than 100 computer servers, and not on paper. But he added that the firm had "cooperated" with his investigators. Nearly 40 years' worth of archives from Mossack Fonseca have been pored over by hundreds of journalists around the world since being given to a German reporter a year ago. They have resulted in the so-called Panama Papers: a series of reports exposing politicians, celebrities and some criminals who used Mossack Fonseca's services to stash assets in offshore companies. Mossack Fonseca's founders, lawyers Ramon Fonseca and Juergen Mossack, insist they did nothing illegal. They stress that offshore companies in themselves are not illicit -- and they were not responsible for any activities their clients did with the entities. Fonseca is a friend of Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela and, until March, served as a senior advisor in his cabinet. The Panama Papers revelations have triggered a multitude of probes around the world as authorities look for evidence people named in them might have committed tax fraud, money laundering or other criminal acts. Story continues Varela's government is currently fighting to prevent other countries responding to the scandal by putting Panama back on international blacklists of nations that facilitate money laundering or tax evasion. Panama's chief state prosecutor, Kenia Porcell, earlier Wednesday gave a news conference in which he noted that "in Panama, tax evasion does not constitute a crime." He said, however, that the country was extending "all necessary cooperation" to address the scandal. Porcell said he had been contacted by counterparts from Peru, Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica, but did not elaborate. SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has deployed one or two intermediate-range ballistic missiles on its east coast, possibly preparing for launch on or around Friday, the anniversary of the birth of the country's founder, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. A mobile launcher was spotted carrying up to two Musudan missiles, Yonhap said on Thursday, citing multiple South Korean government sources, following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the next month, which led to fresh U.N. sanctions. The Musudan missile, with a design range of more than 3,000 km (1,800 miles), is not known to have been flight-tested, according to South Korean defence ministry and experts. Some experts said North Korea may choose to test-fire the Musudan in the near future as it tries to build an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to put the mainland United States within range. U.S. intelligence believes North Korea's ability to reach the United States is low, but its capabilities will increase, making continued investment in missile defence essential.. South Korea's Defence Ministry spokesman, Moon Sang-gyun, declined to confirm the Yonhap report but said the military had been on high alert for any North Korean missile launch since its leader Kim Jong Un's vow to conduct more tests. Kim said in March his country would soon test a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The United States, which has 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea, said it was aware of reports that North Korea was preparing to test intermediate-range missiles and was closely monitoring the Korean Peninsula "We call again on North Korea to refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region," said Pooja Jhunjhunwala, a State Department spokeswoman. Admiral Bill Gortney, the officer responsible for defending American airspace, told a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday that he agreed with a South Korean assessment that North Korea was capable of putting a nuclear warhead on a medium-range missile that would reach all of South Korea and most of Japan. The United States and South Korea began talks on possible deployment of a new missile-defence system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), after the latest North Korea nuclear and rocket tests. North Korea, which regularly threatens to destroy South Korea and the United States, often fires missiles during periods of tension in the region or when it comes under pressure to curb its defiance and abandon its weapons programmes. South Korean experts have said North Korea may choose to display a show of force ahead of a major ruling party congress in May where it is expected to declare itself a nuclear power or around the April 15 anniversary of the birth of Kim's grandfather, Kim Il Sung. (Reporting by Ju-min Park in Seoul and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Jack Kim, Nick Macfie and Jonathan Oatis) SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has deployed one or two intermediate-range ballistic missiles on the east coast, possibly preparing for launch on or around Friday, the anniversary of the birth of the country's founder, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. A mobile launcher was spotted carrying up to two Musudan missiles, Yonhap said on Thursday, citing multiple South Korean government sources, following the North's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the next month, which led to fresh U.N. sanctions. The Musudan missile, with a design range of more than 3,000 km (1,800 miles), is not known to have been flight-tested, according to South Korean defense ministry and experts. Some experts said the North may choose to test-fire the Musudan in the near future as it tries to build an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to put the mainland United States within range. U.S. intelligence believes North Korea's ability to reach the United States is low, but its capabilities will increase, making continued investment in missile defense essential.. South Korea's Defence Ministry spokesman, Moon Sang-gyun, declined to confirm the Yonhap report but said the military had been on high alert for any missile launch by the North since its leader Kim Jong Un's vow to conduct more tests. Kim said in March his country would soon test a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. North Korea, which regularly threatens to destroy the South and the United States, often fires missiles during periods of tension in the region or when it comes under pressure to curb its defiance and abandon its weapons programs. South Korean experts have said the North may choose to display a show of force ahead of a major ruling party congress in May where it is expected to declare itself a nuclear power or around the April 15 anniversary of the birth of Kim's grandfather, Kim Il Sung. Isolated North Korea and the rich, democratic South are still technically at war after the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. North Korea accused South Korea on Tuesday of abducting its citizens in China, four days after South Korea said 13 workers at a restaurant run by the North had defected. (Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Jack Kim and Nick Macfie) In an exclusive Fox News interview that aired on Sunday local time, U.S. President Barack Obama said that the worst mistake he made during his presidency was failing to plan for the aftermath of the 2011 toppling of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Blaming the current situation in Libya on its allies being absent-minded, Obama does not consider the military intervention in Libya itself as a mistake. On the contrary, he is pleased that the U.S. has overthrown the Gadhafi regime at a very low cost, with its allies taking the lead. This selective and limited intervention is no doubt an important characteristic of "Obama-ism." Obama was elected as the U.S. president under his banner of "change," promising to adjust the previous foreign policy of the Bush administration, and in particular to put an end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He didn't mean to follow the steps of his predecessor; however, he is still part of the administration that started the war in Libya. Obamas policy of "selective intervention" has often been less successful than it was intended to be. Sanctions placed by the U.S. on Syria and its allies have cost the Bashar al-Assad government control over its territory, throwing the country into total chaos. So far, millions of people in Syria have lost their homes and even their lives, and the Syrian refugee crisis has swept across Europe. Such intervention by Western countries has opened a Pandora's Box and brought serious consequences to both Libya and Syria. More cautious when it comes to military matters, Obama's diplomacy has in fact differed from that of Bush. Soon after he sworn in, Obama paid a visit to the Middle East in the hope of fulfilling his campaign promises. However, the situation in the Middle East has not been improved since Obama came into office, and it actually worsened after the Arab Spring revolutionary wave at the end of 2010. Islamic State has gained more power by taking advantage of the chaos. Meanwhile, the U.S.-Russia relationship, which Obama promised to reboot, has sunk to a new low due to the crisis in Ukraine. All of this happened during Obamas presidency. "Security" and "democracy" are the mostly commonly cited reasons for the U.S. to get involved in another countrys affairs. When the U.S. believes that a given country endangers U.S. or global security, or that a country is going against the democratic values of the Western world, the U.S. has historically been quick to intervene. It's easy for the U.S. to topple the government of a small country given its powerful military and international status. However, the post-war reconstruction does not always get factored into the equation. From Bill Clinton's "new interventionism" to George W. Bush's "new conservatism" to Barack Obama's "selective intervention," the methods of U.S. intervention did change after the Cold War. Their essence, however, remains the same, as does the fact that they are rarely followed by peace and stability. There are many problems with the basic principles of U.S. diplomacy, which are not only reflected in the countrys Middle East policies, but also have an impact on China-U.S. ties. Obama made active overtures toward China early in his presidency, which were closely tied to late Bush policies and meant to foster a smooth transition. However, the U.S. has not corrected its mistakes on Taiwan, Tibet and other issues, which has led to some turbulence in bilateral relations. The interference of the U.S. in the South China Sea issue has also complicated regional tensions and China-U.S. relations. China and the U.S. are two major powers, both with huge worldwide influence. For that reason, diplomatic missteps cannot be taken lightly. Obama has failed to acknowledge his mistaken policies in the Middle East, and he has not been sufficiently careful or reflective when it comes to the Asia-Pacific Rebalance Strategy. Either American diplomacy must undergo a major shift, or the same mistakes will happen again and again. (The author is an expert on international studies.) Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama will visit King Salman and the Saudi royal court in Riyadh next week in a bid to mend increasingly frayed ties between the allies. Before his election, Obama famously dismissed Saudi Arabia as America's "so-called ally" and relations have remained tense through both his two terms. Although Wednesday's visit will be his fourth to the kingdom, the Saudis were dismayed by his outreach to Iran and support for some Arab Spring revolts. The countries work together in the fight against the Islamic State group but the kingdom feels Obama could have been tougher on Syria's Bashar al-Assad. And eyebrows were raised last year when King Salman decided not to join a summit of Gulf leaders hosted by Obama at his Camp David country residence. But senior Obama adviser Rob Malley said that since then, there has been real progress in the relationship. "On the security front, over the last 12 months, there have been countless meetings at all levels," he said. After Wednesday's royal audience, Obama and Salman will meet leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the powerful Saudi-dominated regional grouping. "There has been much deeper cooperation between us and the GCC," Malley argued, citing efforts to stabilize regional conflicts in Libya and Yemen. "There is still much more work to be done. But in Yemen, the situation is far better than it was a year ago," he said, citing a ceasefire that began Sunday. "Likewise in Syria, there is a fragile cessation of hostilities but it has held so far for seven weeks," he said, admitting: "Much more needs to be done." Obama will leave Riyadh on Thursday night and fly on to Britain and then to Germany. Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama will head to London next week to join the international chorus of leaders imploring Britain not to leave the European Union. The White House said Thursday the president will arrive in Britain on April 21 for a three-day visit, just two months before the country votes in an referendum on the issue. "He will make very clear that this is decision for the people of the United Kingdom to make," Obama's close foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters. "But we have no closer friend in the world and if we are asked our view as a friend, we'll offer it." Rhodes said Obama would be "very straightforward and candid as a friend as to why the US believes that it is good for the UK to remain in the EU." Opinion polls suggest the June 23 vote will be a close one, but large numbers of voters remain undecided and Britain's allies are keen for Europe's second largest economy to stay in the bloc. Aside from meeting British officials, Obama will have lunch with Queen Elizabeth II on April 22, one day after the long-serving monarch's 90th birthday. He will also stage a joint news conference with Prime Minister David Cameron, who is campaigning for a vote to remain in Europe despite broad support for "Brexit" within his Conservative Party. On Sunday, after his stay in Britain, Obama will head on to a major industrial fair in Hannover, Germany, where he will give a more general speech on the challenges facing Europe. Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashes while landing at San Francisco's airport, killing three teenage girls and injuring 187 more on July 6, 2013. (People's Daily Online/Han Shasha) San Francisco, April 13, ---- Asiana Airlines may pay 3.45 million U.S. Dollars to settle San Francisco's claims against the company for the crash in 2013 that killed three and injured about 200. Dennis Herrera, San Francisco City Attorney said in a statement "This proposed settlement represents the final chapter in the sad tragedy Asiana caused, and were grateful to reach a resolution on our claims without the need for litigation. The proposed settlement is subject to approval by the Board of Supervisors. About 1.2 million of the settlement will cover the city's legal costs and another 1.6 million will go to the San Francisco International Airport. The proposed settlement is scheduled to go before the supervisors Government Audit and Oversight Committee before returning to the full board for a vote. U.S. National Transportation Safety Board determined that the crash was caused by errors on the part of the pilots. Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed while landing at San Francisco's airport, killing three teenage girls and injuring 187 more after it hit a seawall and burst into flames on the runway in July 2013. The crash marked the first time that the new Boeing 777, one of the most sophisticated airliners, was involved in a fatal crash. The transportation authority also faulted the complexity of the Boeing 777's auto-throttle. After the accident, Asiana handled the lead negotiations for the settlement, which also included the airplanes manufacturer, Boeing, and the maker of the emergency evacuation slides, Air Cruisers Co. In 2015, 72 passengers settled their personal injury claims that stemmed from the crash. The terms of the settlement are confidential. By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil markets closed lower after a choppy session on Thursday as the market processed a mixed report from the International Energy Agency and skepticism that an upcoming meeting of major producers would do much to tighten the supply demand balance. Activity in the market had been muted with no clear players, traders said, due to the uncertainty ahead of a keenly anticipated producers' meeting on Sunday in Doha, Qatar, of the world's biggest oil exporters, including Saudi Arabia and Russia. They are set to finalize a deal reached in February to freeze oil output at January levels, aiming to bolster oil prices. Brent crude futures settled down 34 cents at $43.84 a barrel while U.S. crude ended the session down 26 cents at $41.50. "No real ax to grind today. I do believe tomorrow can be busy ahead of the weekend," one trader said. The IEA, which coordinates the energy policies of industrialized nations, trimmed its estimate for 2016 global demand growth from last month to 1.16 million barrels per day (bpd), but said a much-anticipated slide in production in the United States was gathering pace. In its monthly report, the EIA said if there is a production freeze, rather than a cut, the impact on physical oil supplies will be limited. Many analysts concur and think traders could be disappointed after the meeting. "I think the market is really looking ahead to Doha," said Michael Tran, director of energy strategy at RBC Capital Markets in New York. "An agreement to freeze production does little to change physical balances, but constructive rhetoric could serve as a sentiment changer at a minimum, helping to legitimize the current rally and have the market hold the $40 a barrel level as the new psychological floor." Oil found some support after U.S. economic data pushed the dollar to session lows. A weaker dollar is a plus for oil, making it more affordable to holders of other currencies. In the previous session, oil fell after Russian oil minister Alexander Novak told a closed-door briefing of energy analysts in Moscow that a deal in Doha would be loosely framed with few detailed commitments. "The agreement will not be very rigidly formulated, it is more of a gentlemen's agreement," one of those present said, paraphrasing Novak's words at the briefing. "There is no plan to sign binding documents," another person at the briefing said. Barclays said in a research note, however, that some bullish outcome was likely "simply because" the market has very low expectations from the meeting. (Additional reporting by Simon Falush in London and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; editing by Nick Zieminski and Chizu Nomiyama) AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - One person died and at least 11 were injured in a release of poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas at an apartment building near the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday, fire officials said. Austin firefighters responded to a hazardous materials call from an apartment at the complex and found a man believed to be in his 20s dead at the scene, said Austin Fire Department Lieutenant Kevin Haas. Haas said the initial investigation determined that the release of the chemical was deemed "an intentional act," and was being investigated as a suicide. It was unclear where the gas came from, although Haas said the victim likely released it from a container brought into the apartment. Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless gas that smells of rotten eggs. Six people were taken with non-life-threatening injuries to a hospital, and five others refused care, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services spokesman Captain Darren Noak said. The Austin Fire Department responded around 2:30 p.m. to a call reporting a cardiac arrest. Fire department personnel found a handwritten note on a closet door inside the apartment where the deceased victim was found that warned of danger, and to "get out," and of the presence of hydrogen sulfide, Haas said. The emergency responders decontaminated the building and evacuated residents. Photos on social media showed emergency workers and vehicles including a fire truck on a street that had been blocked off from traffic. Noak said residents were later cleared to return to the building. It was unclear whether the man who died or the people injured were students, a University of Texas at Austin spokeswoman said. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Additional reporting by Eric Beech in Washington and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Peter Cooney) Arona (Spain) (AFP) - At least one person died and nine others were missing Thursday after a five-storey building collapsed on Tenerife, local officials said. Rescuers with dogs were still at the scene late Thursday searching the debris for survivors. Three people, including a 28-year-old Italian man who suffered a broken arm, were rescued from the rubble, with two requiring hospital treatment. "The building had 28 occupants of which nine still have not been found," Arona mayor Julian Mena told a news conference. The building, located in the beach area of Los Cristianos in the south of Tenerife, collapsed at around 9:30 am (0830 GMT). The cause was not immediately clear. A spokeswoman for local firefighters said families had tried and failed to contact missing relatives. "These are people who are not answering the telephone, we can't say that they are in the building, but the truth is that right now their families have not been able to contact them," she said. Tenerife, the largest of Spain's Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa, are a popular destination for British holidaymakers and retirees. Conakry (AFP) - A dedicated Ebola clinic was treating Guinea's only known case of the virus on Thursday after the recovery of a girl diagnosed with the disease, the charity running the facility said. The Alliance For International Medical Action (ALIMA) runs the country's sole treatment centre in the southern city of Nzerekore, where it has handled six of the 10 confirmed cases recorded since the outbreak was officially declared over in December. "(Of) six confirmed cases, four have died, one was discharged after recovery and the sixth is still here," said ALIMA emergency co-ordinator Solenne Barbe. Barbe attributed the high mortality rate to the fact that the recent patients arrived too late to be treated with a good chance of survival. The newest confirmed case is an elderly man from Macenta prefecture to the north of Nzerekore, she said, thought to be a healer visited by one of the dead while still alive and infected with the virus. According to health authorities, that deceased man's wife and her children crossed the border into Liberia before she too succumbed to the virus. One son also died while another remains under treatment in Monrovia. In a rare piece of good news since Ebola's reappearance, an 11-year-old girl left the centre on April 8 after a successful recovery, according to ALIMA. The World Health Organization was first alerted to the reappearance of Ebola symptoms in a Guinean village near the Liberian border on March 16, the same day it declared a similar flare-up over in Sierra Leone. Since then eight people have died, all in the same area, while the country's Ebola response unit confirmed Thursday that more than 1,700 people have been vaccinated against the virus. The WHO has said Ebola no longer constitutes an international emergency, but the announcement of new cases in west Africa has demonstrated the difficulty of managing its aftermath. The deadliest period in the history of the feared tropical virus wrecked the economies and health systems of the three worst-hit west African nations -- Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia -- after it emerged in December 2013. The virus has since claimed 11,300 lives. By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's leading human rights organization said on Thursday that Crimea's indigenous Muslim Tatars and other opponents of the region's annexation by Russia face persecution including police intimidation and brutality. The Council of Europe counts both Ukraine and Russia among its 47 member states and was the first international rights body allowed into Crimea since Moscow annexed the Black Sea peninsula from Kiev in 2014, sharply aggravating tensions with the West. The organization said in a report based on a January field trip that people in Crimea complained of unwarranted house searches, excessive use of force by law enforcers, threats of abduction and disappearances of critics. The minority Tatar community, which overwhelmingly opposed Russia's annexation, has found itself in a most vulnerable spot as Moscow moved to assert its rule over Crimea despite it not being internationally recognized. The CoE report said Tatars are "particularly exposed to violations and restrictions of their rights and freedoms". It said new regulations on preventing extremism are applied mainly to Tatars "as they are considered... the biggest threat of extremism and dissent towards the present order". But the CoE said repression was wider-ranging in Crimea. "The repression seems more targeted towards those perceived as opponents and/or those close to them, rather than reflecting a systematic policy against the Crimean Tatars as a minority, which does not exclude cases of discriminations as reported." Moscow refers to Crimea's "reunification" with Russia, pointing to deep historical ties and saying residents of the Russian-majority region voted to split from Ukraine in 2014. Ukraine, its Western backers and monitoring groups denounced the ad hoc referendum, saying it was a sham carried out at gunpoint. The Council of Europe report also suggested Russia's divide-and-rule policy toward the Tatars had proven successful. Since the annexation, while restricting Tatars professing loyalty to Ukraine, Russia has sought to defuse opposition from the community as a whole with gestures such as granting legal rehabilitation to Tatars for their suffering under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, and official status to their language. "Today some members of the Mejlis are sitting in senior local positions, while others are in exile or in prison a clear indication of a split within the Crimean Tatar leadership," the report said. Other complaints recorded by the CoE mission included alleged widespread corruption and trade and travel restrictions. The Council of Europe, founded in 1949, is a regional intergovernmental organization promoting human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in member states, covering 820 million citizens. (Editing by Mark Heinrich) Washington (AFP) - US corporate giants like Apple and General Electric have stashed nearly $1.4 trillion in dozens of offshore tax havens, denying the US and other governments needed tax income, Oxfam America said Thursday. A new report by the US arm of the global anti-poverty group Oxfam said that the funds amassed by 50 top US companies offshore between 2008 and 2014 demonstrate the extent to which tax havens allow firms to avoid taxes. Between them the companies made use of more than 1,600 subsidiaries in tax havens to store and move money around outside the reach of fiscal authorities. At the same time, the companies continue to benefit from government support in their home countries, with individual citizen taxpayers bearing the cost. The report came out less than two weeks after the publication of leaked documents from a Panamanian law office showed how it had created thousands of anonymous shell companies, many for wealthy and powerful public figures around the world, in countries where they can be used to avoid taxes. "Multinational corporations that benefit from trillions in taxpayer-funded support are dodging billions in taxes," said Oxfam American president Raymond Offenheiser in a statement. "The vast sums large companies stash in tax havens should be fighting poverty and rebuilding America's infrastructure, not hidden offshore in Panama, Bahamas, or the Cayman Islands." The report counted up the huge profits that major companies have reported they are holding offshore, in part because of the high taxes they say they would have to pay for repatriating the profits into the United States. General Electric has $119 billion, Microsoft $108 billion, Pfizer $74 billion, and Google parent Alphabet $47 billion, for example. "When corporations don't pay their fair share of taxes, governments - rich and poor - are forced to cut services or make up the shortfall from working families and small businesses. Neither is acceptable," Offenheiser said. Story continues The report was released on the opening day of the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, where the Panama Papers and the issue of tax havens were in focus. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said tax evasion and other illicit transfers of money through tax havens undermine the fight against global poverty. "When taxes are evaded, when state assets are taken and put into these havens, all of these things can have a tremendous negative effect on our mission to end poverty and boost prosperity," he said. San Francisco, April 13 Air China plans to launch its nonstop flight between Chinas Shanghai and San Jose on June 16 this year, said Du Bolun, general manager of Air China in San Francisco. Air China received approval from from the U.S. Department of Transportation on April 12 and released the news of opening new flight today. After the new route is announced, Silicon Valley's airport could add another highly demanded international destination to its roster. Air China is going to fly new routes from Mineta San Jose International Airport to Shanghai three times a week. The San Jose-bound flight CA829 will depart Shanghai at 1:00 p.m., arriving at 10:10 a.m. the next day. The return flight CA830 will depart San Jose at 12:00 p.m., and arrive in Shanghai at 4:40a.m. the same day. The flights will operate by using Airbus A 330 aircraft. The Shanghai service will be the San Jose airports fifth newly launched direct international route. And Air China is the second Chinese airlines provide nonstop services from China to San Jose following Hainan Airlines. Sam Liccardo, mayor of San Jose showed his welcome for the new flight. He said that Shanghai is a popular destination of business and tourism for people in Silicon Valley. The nonstop services will bring more positive impact to the city and local areas. Du said that the airlines will introduce special roundtrip fares for first customers to celebrate the new flight. Besides, Air China will add its nonstop flight services from Beijing to San Francisco starting from August 3, 2016 to further facilitate the business exchanges between China and the United States. Panama City (AFP) - Panama on Thursday stressed it is committed to bringing transparency to its financial sector damaged by the Panama Papers revelations, but urged dialogue with the OECD instead of being hit with curbs. "Panama's path to financial transparency is irreversible," Isabel De Saint Malo, Panama's vice president and foreign minister, said in a statement. "To that end, we willingly and actively support diplomatic dialogue and domestic reform to address this global challenge," she said. The statement was posted the same day as Europe's five biggest economies -- Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain -- proposed a blacklist of tax havens such as Panama, and urged the G20 group to end the secrecy of shell companies. France, in particular, is pushing the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to take a tougher stand on Panama, pressuring it to adopt OECD reporting standards on the sharing of tax information. Before the Panama Papers scandal burst on the scene, Panama had been resisting those OECD standards, fearing that they could erode the competitiveness of its financial sector. But since the revelations, and the moves by countries to blacklist it as a tax haven, Panama has shown greater willingness to fall into line. "As Panama has reiterated on multiple occasions to members of the OECD, we are fully and immediately committed to the implementation of bilateral automatic exchange of information consistent with the goals of the Common Reporting Standards," De Saint Malo said. "We are open and willing to engage in ongoing international dialogue with relevant technical teams to evaluate the specific multilateral mechanisms needed to implement these standards." Separately, Panama's government said Thursday it would increase oversight on law firms, one of which -- Mossack Fonseca -- is at the heart of the scandal after what it said was a hack of its digital archives. Story continues "Since the (Panama Papers) publications, what is being brought in is a special supervision and this is on top of what we are already doing in the lawyer sector," said Carlamara Sanchez, head of the government's supervisory agency for non-financial companies. "We will start new supervision of the law firm sector in the coming days," she said, adding: "Mossack Fonseca is among the law firms to be supervised." Sanchez said "the law prevents me from giving specific information about what the supervision entails." The body she is in charge of was created last year to help curb money laundering and tax evasion activities. Prosecutors from the organized crime unit conducted a 27-hour raid on Mossack Fonseca on Tuesday and Wednesday, but said that "right now" there was no evidence to take any sort of action against the firm. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said U.S. ships had already conducted patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, which China claims almost in its entirety. And, he added, U.S. troops and military equipment would be sent on regular rotations to the Philippines. Stars and Stripes reported that the two countries have twice conducted joint patrols in the South China Sea, in March and in April; regular joint patrols will continue in the future, it reported. Reuters adds: The initiatives are designed so that the United States does not increase its permanent footprint in its former colony, but they demonstrate that the two countries are increasing security cooperation amid joint concerns over China's actions in the region's disputed waterways. About 5,000 U.S. troops are in the Philippines as part of the annual Balikatan exercise, which ends Friday; 275 will remain until the end of the month when they will be replaced by follow-on personnel. In his comments to The Atlantics Jeffrey Goldberg, published last month, President Obama said the U.S. policy in the South China Sea had surprised China, frankly, and have very much served our interest in strengthening our alliances. Still, Carter insisted the U.S. actions werent targeted at China, but Voltaire Gazmin, his Filipino counterpart, said the presence of U.S. forces will deter uncalled-for actions by the Chinese. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican and Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday expressed optimism over prospects for a bill helping Puerto Rico out of its debt crisis, but they indicated that a legislative fix could still be weeks away at least. Democratic and Republican lawmakers are working in "good faith" to finalize legislation addressing Puerto Rico's debt crisis by May 1, Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader said. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said, "I think we are going to get there." Pelosi said at her weekly news conference that Democrats still have some concerns about the bill and are working with Republicans to address them. Republicans who control Congress outlined a plan this week to help Puerto Rico write off billions of dollars in debt if an agreement with creditors is out of reach. That plan would create a forum for investors to negotiate with Puerto Rico officials while the island's government tries to curb deficit spending that has created $70 billion in debt. Ryan told reporters at a separate press conference on Thursday that there were not enough Democratic votes in the House Natural Resources Committee to help get the measure approved. But House Republican aides acknowledge that they also have work to do on their side of the aisle, especially in convincing some of their more conservative members that a Puerto Rico aid bill is needed. Underscoring that, Ryan is calling together his 246 Republican members for a closed meeting on Friday to review the legislation that is taking shape and to urge support. One aide characterized the message Friday as being aimed at helping Republicans understand that if they do not support a Puerto Rico bill now, much more costly bailout measures likely would be necessary down the road. Ryan said his priority on Puerto Rico is twofold: "To protect the American taxpayer and to help bring order to the chaos that will befall Puerto Rico if the status quo continues going in the direction its going." Pelosi said Democrats' main concern with the Republicans' first draft of the legislation was the part of the bill on restructuring. Negotiators were moving forward on the makeup of a proposed oversight board, Pelosi said, but a "new wrinkle" has emerged over the role of creditors in the U.S. commonwealth's debt restructuring decisions. Ryan said an oversight board would be the best possible way to prevent taxpayers from bailing out Puerto Rico. (Reporting by Richard Cowan; Writing by Susan Heavey; editing by Grant McCool) Texting and driving might become a thing of the past if new legislation passes in New York City. The proposed law would allow police to use a special device to determine instantly whether a driver involved in a car accident was using a mobile device for any purpose at the time of the accident. DONT MISS: Watch the first teaser trailer for Marvels 'Doctor Strange' The device, dubbed "Textalyzer" and similar in concept to a Breathalyzer used to determine whether a person is driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, might be developed by Cellebrite. The company, which was suspected until recently to have worked with the FBI to unlock the San Bernardino iPhone, already has a device capable of telling investigators whether a phone was in use at a certain time. A new version of the new device used by police officers would have to be stripped of some functionality in order to protect the privacy of the driver. The law is currently before the New York Senate Transportation Committee, Ars Technica reports, and would recast the current motor-vehicle driving law so that drivers would give implied consent. The motorists would agree that police determines whether the operator of a motor vehicle was using a mobile telephone or portable electronic device at or near the time of the accident or collision, which provides the grounds for such testing. No such electronic scan shall include the content or origin of any communication, game conducted, image or electronic data viewed on a mobile telephone or a portable electronic device." Failure to agree to the Textalyzer would result in immediate suspension of your driver's license. The new law proposal comes after intense lobbying from the DORCs group, which is short for Distracted Operators Risk Casualties, and its dubbed Evans Law. Evan, who was killed in 2011 by a distracted driver in New York, was the son of DORCs co-founder, Ben Lieberman. The Liebermans only found out the cause of the accident that killed their 19-year-old son after they subpoenaed the mobile phone records of the driver involved in the crash. Story continues Related stories Samsung's Smart Windshield is a clever way to keep motorcycle riders safe Online game shows how risky driving and texting truly is 'Hands-free' texting found to be more dangerous than making phone calls while driving More from BGR: First photo samples show why the HTC 10 is the best new camera in town This article was originally published on BGR.com Principal behind Chinas Largest Grave Robbery since 1949 Sentenced to Death Penalty with Reprieve Yao Yuzhong, the principal behind Chinas largest grave robbery case since 1949, was sentenced to death penalty with a two-year reprieve in a court in northeast Chinas Liaoning province on April 14, 2016. Three tomb raider accomplices got life sentence, and several others got 3 to 15 years of imprisonment. The criminals were involved in the largest grave robbery case since the founding of Peoples Republic of China in 1949. A total of 225 suspects were caught in the case, and 2,063 historical relics were retrieved since the end of 2014. Pixar is the pioneer of computer graphics animation, but the company's roots are still firmly planted in the tradition of putting pencil to paper. "A rough sketch means a lot around here. I would rather have a rough sketch with 50 images than five finished images with a lot of detail," said Ralph Eggleston, who has been with Pixar from the beginning, after starting there on Toy Story as an art director. Eggleston has worked on numerous other films for the Disney-owned studio, including Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc. and Wall-E. He also directed the 2001 animated short For the Birds, which earned him an Oscar. Most recently he acted as the production designer on 2015's Inside Out. "Our trade is pen and paper," explained Eggleston. Many Pixar greats - from Inside Out director Pete Docter to Finding Nemo's Andrew Stanton to the chief himself, John Lasseter - all started with classic pen-and-paper animation. Read More: CinemaCon: Disney Surprises by Screening 27 Minutes of Pixar's 'Finding Dory' "Right now I am working on a future project, and I am surrounded by newsprint. I really have taken to drawing with those super big, fat Sharpie pens because it forces me to not worry about detail. It forces me to work on the big broad values and shapes and ideas that I am trying to get across," Eggleston said. Pixar and Moleskine have teamed up for a collaboration, pairing beloved Toy Story characters such as Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the Little Green Men with their classic notebooks. (This isn't the first cinematic partnership for the notebook manufacturer, having also had a line of Batman, The Hobbit and Star Wars-inspired collections.) Buzz, Woody, Mike Wazowski, Mr. Incredible, Dory, Wall-E - all the greatest Pixar characters first sprung to life on the page, each starting as a simple thought or a quick doodle. Eggleston surmised: "The detail is easy. The idea is hard." See the Moleskine Toy Story collection below. Twelve people, including an Australian, were killed when a light aircraft crashed just short of a landing strip in remote Papua New Guinea, reports said on Thursday. The aircraft was flying in the rugged west of the Pacific nation on Wednesday afternoon when its engine failed mid-air, sending it into a nose-dive, the PNG Broadcasting Corporation said. It crashed into a swamp close to Kiunga airstrip. "Yesterday we encountered a tragedy, a plane crash," Kiunga's police commander Joe Puri told local media. "A small plane that arrived from Oksapmin just before landing crashed into the swamp, with all the passengers, including the pilot, dead." The broadcaster said three children were among those killed while Australian media said the Australian on board was the pilot. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed one of its nationals was on the Sunbird Aviation flight and that it crashed on approach to Kiunga. "We continue to work closely with Papua New Guinea authorities," a department spokesman told AFP, without confirming whether or not he was the pilot. "Our thoughts are with the passengers and crew of the aircraft and their families. Due to privacy obligations, we are unable to provide further information." The Supreme Court The Supreme Court We the People commemorates the second annual Freedom Day with a look at the future of free speech at the Supreme Court. Freedom Day, celebrated on April 13, is a day of appreciation for the freedoms accorded to us as Americans. In 2016, the focus of events in Philadelphia and across the country was how the freedoms of speech and expression are exercised, threatened, and protected. In the last decade, those freedoms have emerged as flashpoints in public debate about the Constitution. Narrow Supreme Court decisions about campaign finance, unions, and commercial speech have raised questions about the meaning and purpose of the First Amendment. After the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, whats next? Two leading experts on the First Amendment and the Supreme Courtand returning guests on We the Peopleweigh in. Adam Liptak is the Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times. Geoffrey Stone is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Law School. Download this episode (right click and save) This show was engineered by Jason Gregory and produced by Nicandro Iannacci. Research was provided by Josh Waimberg, Lana Ulrich and Danieli Evans. The host of We the People is Jeffrey Rosen. Get the latest constitutional news, and continue the conversation, on our Facebook page and Twitter feed. Please subscribe to We the People on iTunes. While youre in the iTunes Store, leave us a rating and reviewit helps other people discover what we do. Please also subscribe to Live at Americas Town Hall, featuring conversations and debates presented at the Center, across from Independence Hall in beautiful Philadelphia. We the People is a member of Slates Panoply network. Check out all of our sibling podcasts at iTunes.com/Panoply. Despite our congressional charter, the National Constitution Center is a private nonprofitwe receive little government support, and we rely on the generosity of people around the country who are inspired by our nonpartisan mission of constitutional debate and education. Please consider becoming a member to support our work, including this podcast. Visit constitutioncenter.org to learn more. Story continues Recent Stories on Constitution Daily Cruz winning eligibility challenges but critics remain Video Replay: Freedom Day 2016 Podcast: Does the Senate have a duty to hold hearings for Supreme Court nominees? WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's Foreign Ministry summoned Russia's ambassador over the incident in the Baltic Sea earlier this week when two Russian warplanes flew simulated attack passes near a U.S. guided missile destroyer, the ministry said on Thursday. During his meeting with ambassador Sergey Andreyev on Thursday, Poland's deputy foreign minister Marek Ziolkowski expressed his concern about the incident, the ministry said in a statement. "But first of all he (the minister) stressed that Poland is trying to promote a dialogue to counteract such incidents," the ministry said. In comments made to Reuters prior to the incident and published on Thursday, Poland's deputy defense minister said that NATO should return to Cold War ways of thinking in its relations with Russia, and speak to Moscow from a position of strength to counter its renewed assertiveness in eastern Europe. (Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko; Editing by Toby Chopra) Two Men Arrested after Hunting and Cooking Wild Python in SW China Two brothers surnamed Guan were arrested for hunting the wild python under the first-level state protection in Bobai County, southwest Chinas Guangxi province. The brothers captured and killed a 3-meter-long snake that weighs 15 kilograms when they went tomb-sweeping during the Qingming festival on April 5, 2016. They brought the snake home, cooked its meat, and took photos of the process to show off on the Internet. Forest police of Bobai spotted these photos and shortly afterwards arrested the two for illegal hunting of endangered animals. By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The leader of Western Sahara's Polisario Front separatist movement on Thursday wrote to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him and the Security Council to pressure Morocco to stop interfering with U.N. peacekeepers. Last month, Ban used the word "occupation" to describe Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara in 1975, when Rabat took it over from colonial power Spain. Infuriated by what it saw as a shift away from a neutral position, Morocco expelled dozens of U.N. staff working for the mission there known as MINURSO. "We warn that the absence of real and direct pressure on the occupation state of Morocco ... will be considered a green light to a military aggression by the Kingdom of Morocco against the Sahrawi people," Polisario President Mohamed Abdelaziz wrote to Ban in a letter seen by Reuters. Morocco has said its decisions were irreversible but it was still committed to peace. Abdelaziz said the 15-nation Security Council should pressure Morocco to enable "the return of MINURSO to resume its work and mandate regarding organizing a referendum on self determination to the Sahrawi people." If that does not happen, Abdelaziz wrote, the Sahrawi people "will find itself, again, obliged to defend its rights by all legitimate means, including armed struggle." The letter was sent as Ban's office prepares its annual report for the Security Council on Western Sahara before a council vote this month to renew MINURSO's mandate. The report, which was due last week, has been delayed because of the dispute over Ban's remarks in March, council diplomats said. Polisario says Morocco is putting the ceasefire at risk by expelling MINURSO staff and trying to scuttle the plan for a referendum on independence. Morocco has offered an autonomy plan as the only way forward. Several diplomatic sources familiar with the issue said that Morocco wants the council to change the mandate of MINURSO so that it will no longer include the goal of organizing a referendum. The majority of council members are opposed, the sources said, though they added that Morocco has some diplomatic support from veto power France, Rabat's traditional ally, and African council member Senegal. The controversy over Ban's comment during a visit to refugee camps for Sahrawi people is Morocco's worst dispute with the United Nations since 1991, when the U.N. brokered a ceasefire to end a war over Western Sahara and established MINURSO. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; editing by Grant McCool) Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis was urged Thursday to speak out against the European Union's deal to send migrants back to Turkey when he visits Lesbos, the Greek island on the frontline of the crisis. Francis is due on the island on Saturday to see for himself how it is coping with a mass influx of asylum seekers arriving by boat from Turkey. His five-hour stay will include a visit to a centre for processing asylum seekers which rights groups says has become a detention facility under the terms of a controversial EU-Turkey accord that came into force last month. Brussels hopes the deal will stem the flood of people seeking entry to Europe via the Greek islands, many of whom are fleeing the five-year conflict in Syria. Amnesty International said the papal visit was an opportunity to highlight the plight of those "arbitrarily detained" in the Moria centre, which is currently housing around 2,500 people. "He must also speak out about the violations, fear and uncertainty suffered by thousands of refugees and migrants trapped in limbo on Lesbos and elsewhere in Greece," said Amnesty's Gauri van Gulik. "The pope should make clear that failure to change course would be Europe's shame." - 'Humanitarian not political' - A Vatican spokesman would not be drawn on whether the timing of the pope's visit was designed to highlight concern over EU policy. "It is not for me to make interpretations. If the pope has something to say he will say it," Father Federico Lombardi told reporters, while stressing the purpose of the trip was "strictly humanitarian and ecumenical not political". Francis, who has made the plight of people fleeing poverty and conflict one of the central themes of his papacy, is flying to Lesbos on the invitation of Orthodox patriarch Bartholomew I. During his visit to Moria, he will meet with and have lunch with a handful of asylum seekers in one of the adapted containers used to accommodate them. That will be followed with a larger meeting with around 250 migrants, Lombardi said. Story continues The pontiff will also meet Greek coastguards and local residents before heading back to Rome. - 'A symbol of hope' - The trip to Lesbos follows an equally symbolic 2013 trip by the Argentinian pontiff to Lampedusa, the Italian island which has witnessed several deadly sinkings of migrant boats off its shores. There, Francis made one of his most famous speeches, railing against the "globalisation of indifference" which has allowed thousands to perish at sea in their pursuit of a better life for themselves and their families. It is a theme he has returned to repeatedly, notably by urging every Catholic parish in Europe to find accommodation for at least one migrant family. The Vatican is currently hosting two families seeking asylum in Italy. Over one million people crossed clandestinely from Turkey to Greece in 2015 and some 150,000 have made the trip since the start of this year. Around half them land on Lesbos first, the majority women and children. Despite the difficult conditions there is excitement among the migrants about the prospect of a papal visit, according to staff of Catholic charity Caritas. "They're making bouquets of flowers and they want to meet him," said Tonia Patrikiadou, who is in charge of a Caritas-run hotel that caters for the most vulnerable refugees on the island, notably pregnant women. "The pope's visit is a symbol of hope and solidarity for the refugees. It's a sign that the world has not forgotten them and help is a possibility," she said. Caritas has been working closely with Apostoli, the charitable arm of the Greek Orthodox Church and Francis will be accompanied in Lesbos by Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians. During his weekly audience at St Peter's on Wednesday, Francis urged Catholics worldwide to pray for the success of his awareness-raising trip. His intention, he said, was "to show closeness and solidarity with the refugees as well as the citizens of Lesbos and to all the Greek people who have been so generous in their welcome." PARIS (Reuters) - Protesters attacked shop windows and cash dispensers in the east of Paris on Thursday, a Paris police spokeswoman said. "There are 300 people currently causing very important damage," the spokeswoman said, adding that a police operation was under way but no arrests had been made yet. Several unauthorized marches have been taking place in Paris over the past two weeks on the sidelines of the occupation by left-wing and anarchist young people of the city's 'Place de la Republique', a vast square in the east of the French capital. Earlier on Thursday, dozens were arrested after clashing with police at the margins of a rally protesting controversial labor reform plans. The "Nuit Debout" or "Up all Night" movement began on March. 31 when a group of activists decided not to go home after a march against a proposed labor reform. (Reporting by Matthias Blamont; Editing by Ingrid Melander and Jonathan Oatis) Paris (AFP) - Racing 92 wing Marc Andreu was suspended for eight weeks by the French Rugby League on Wednesday for stepping on Toulon flanker Virgile Bruni's face. French international Andreu, 30, will miss Racing's European Champions Cup semi-final against England's Leicester Tigers on April 24. In fact, he won't be available again this season for the Parisians unless they reach the latter stages of the French Top 14 play-offs. Andreu admitted guilt for the ugly assault on Bruni during the Top 14 clash between Racing and Toulon on March 26. Bruni required surgery on his eye after the incident. Washington (AFP) - Chicago's police department is plagued by racism and riven by institutional failures and must work to restore trust among the African-American community, a scathing official report out Wednesday said. The police force of America's third-largest city is also under a federal investigation launched in December following the fatal shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer, prompting protests and Mayor Rahm Emanuel to appoint a police task force. "The communitys lack of trust in CPD (Chicago Police Department) is justified," the study by the task force said, making more than 100 recommendations. "There is substantial evidence that people of color, particularly African Americans, have had disproportionately negative experiences with the police over an extended period of time." "There is also substantial evidence that these experiences continue today through significant disparate impacts associated with the use of force, foot and traffic stops and bias in the police oversight system itself," the report added. "CPD is not doing enough to combat racial bias," concluded the report, whose release coincidentally fell on the same day authorities approved a new police chief for Chicago. The study confirms the magnitude of the task ahead for Eddie Johnson, an African-American veteran of the Chicago police who faces curbing a surge in gun-related deaths in addition to restoring trust among the African-American community. The belated release of a video showing teenager Laquan McDonald's death triggered the previous police superintendent's dismissal and protests, just the latest in the US against perceived police brutality, particularly in dealing with black men and youths. By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican White House hopeful Ted Cruz said on Wednesday he is looking at who he might select as his vice presidential running mate should he become the party's presidential nominee, and that he thinks highly of former rival Marco Rubio. Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, appeared on a CNN town hall with his wife, Heidi, and two daughters and showed a more personal side. He trails front-runner Donald Trump in the race to get 1,237 delegates to seal the nomination, but he expressed confidence he can emerge as the winner if he can chip away at Trump's lead and force Republicans to pick their nominee at a contested convention in July. Cruz said he and his team are looking at possible vice presidential running mates. "We're in the process now of looking at a number of different options," said Cruz without mentioning names. Asked about Rubio, Cruz called him an "amazing communicator" who inspired millions across the country in his presidential campaign. "I consider Marco a friend," said Cruz, adding that "anyone would naturally look at Marco" for the No. 2 position on the Republican ticket. Cruz and Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, engaged in bitter fights over illegal immigration during the campaign. Rubio was forced from the race after losing the Florida Republican primary on March 15. Cruz said they have now put those differences behind them. The town hall included some exchanges that were aimed at showing what Cruz is like at home. Heidi Cruz said that shortly after they were married, her husband once brought home 100 cans of soup, a haul that was so big she took them back. Asked if he had ever not followed his wife's advice, Cruz said he could not remember any examples, but Heidi Cruz had a ready response for him. "Sometimes you dont take out the trash when I ask you to," she said. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Nick Macfie) I object somewhat to Gioia's conflation of feedback concerning taste and feedback concerning facts. As you note, the digital age seems to have trouble accepting "elite" consensus regarding complex topics such as climate change (and I would add gun control, evolution and tax policy, among many other subjects where the vast majority of scientists, economists, etc., accept certain basic facts that are rejected by large swaths of the public). This is clearly problematic. Less so, however, are the trends Gioia cites: The reliance on Yelp or Amazon over a professional critic's advice on where to eat or what to buy. These are matters of taste, and in that case, it makes perfect sense for someone to rely on the opinions of those they consider will lead them to an enjoyable experience which may be the New York Times food critic recommending an excellent place for fine dining, or it may be Yelp reviews leading you to a great greasy dive. If I like trashy horror movies, relying on the LA Times' movie critic is probably not going to help me find my next favorite flick, but perusing the IMDb reviews or checking my Facebook feed, or asking my brother-in-law might. Khartoum (AFP) - Selam hoped that escaping from Eritrea into Sudan would be the first step towards a better life for her unborn child, away from military service and dire economic prospects. But after traffickers seized her in Sudan, the dream quickly became a nightmare. Selam -- not her real name -- was beaten, raped and shot in captivity. Despite her ordeal, two years later she set out again, joining thousands of migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia willing to risk anything to reach Europe. "I suffered every kind of abuse a woman can face," the 32-year-old said, speaking in the Khartoum office of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Nearly 30,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians crossed the Mediterranean from North Africa to Italy last year, as did smaller numbers of Somalis and Sudanese. Almost all travelled via Sudan, the UN says. "Everyone comes, whether there are risks or not," Selam said, her three-year-old son clutching her side. Crossing Sudan's porous eastern borders, most migrants go to Khartoum where they pay smugglers to take them thousands of kilometres (miles) to the Libyan coast to chance a perilous sea crossing. Last year the journey cost some 3,800 migrants their lives. Selam never reached Libya, and her experiences traumatised her deeply. In April 2012, she was entering her seventh year as a conscript -- military service can last indefinitely in Eritrea -- when she found she was three months pregnant. She made up her mind to flee to Sudan immediately and decide where she could then go to raise her child. On leave that month, she took the bus to the border and walked unchallenged into eastern Sudan. - Raped, beaten and shot - As she traipsed through arid scrub outside the city of Kassala, two pick-ups armed with machine guns appeared and pulled up besides her. She was forced to get in. The men in the trucks -- Selam says they were Arab tribesmen from eastern Sudan -- were people traffickers. She was taken first to a safe house and then to Egypt's Sinai, an arduous two-week drive in searing desert heat. Story continues "On the way there was a lot of abuse. We were badly treated," she said. Far worse was to come, as she and 22 other Eritreans were sold to a Bedouin gang. For seven months, her captors raped and beat her, keeping her in squalid conditions as they called Selam's family and members of the diaspora in Europe to demand $30,000 for her release. "To bring them money, we were beaten every time we made the calls," she said. Months before she gave birth that September, she tried to escape but was caught and shot in the ankle. Lifting the hem of her robes, she pointed to a raised, shiny scar on her ankle. Walking still causes her pain. Only when members of the Eritrean diaspora raised $15,000 was she dumped near Egypt's border with Israel, where troops detained her. She was deported to Asmara three months later and jailed for six months for leaving Eritrea illegally. Fearing further reprisals for desertion, Selam already knew she would leave again. Between her first journey and her return to Sudan in 2014, Khartoum worked to tackle the trafficking. - The Khartoum Process - "Sudan is fighting human trafficking in a number of ways. Firstly with Sudanese law that forbids this crime and punishes it, and the government has set up specialised prosecutors for the crime," Sudan's commissioner for refugees Hamed al-Gizouli told AFP. In 2014, Sudan also joined an initiative with the European Union and other east African countries -- the Khartoum Process -- to coordinate a response to migration in the region. With no official figures for migrants trafficked in Sudan, it is difficult to gauge how successful such measures have been. The International Organization for Migration says Sudan has made progress, but challenges remain. "The difficulties that Sudan is facing are the length of its borders with the neighbouring states," IOM Sudan head Mario Lito Malanca told AFP. Other challenges include the changing routes migrants follow, and the international nature of trafficking networks. When Selam was released from prison she again set about planning her departure and began her second journey in early 2014. This time she reached Khartoum, where the Eritrean community gave her accommodation before she sought help from the UN last September. Selam's motives for leaving Eritrea were commonplace. "The root cause of course is underdevelopment, it is poverty, it is unemployment," said UNHCR's Sudan head Mohamed Adar. "It is something that requires a much more comprehensive approach." After nearly two years in Khartoum, Selam didn't want to reveal too much about her plans, although her goal remains the same as four years ago. "I'd like to go anywhere I could receive medical treatment and raise my child," she said quietly. The Hague (AFP) - More than 70 years after the Nazi bombing blitz of Rotterdam turned the port into "a sea of fire" and forced the Netherlands to surrender, a historian has found the city's long-lost letter of capitulation. "I was looking at archive photos on a German auction site and there was a photo of a document signed by Colonel Scharroo who was in charge of defending the city in May 1940," Gerard Groeneveld told AFP. "I nearly fell off my chair," the researcher and author added. The handwritten document had last been seen by the then mayor of Rotterdam at the moment the city surrendered to Nazi Germany, after its historic centre was razed in a terrifying aerial bombardment on May 14, 1940. The document was believed lost forever. "It was in a file tucked into the back of a war diary which had been kept by the Germans," Groeneveld said. The diary had been turned over to senior German officials and then disappeared. In the early months of World War II, Germany attacked the Netherlands -- strategically placed across the North Sea from Britain -- on May 10, 1940. But Dutch forces fought back and there was quickly a stalemate. The German army demanded the surrender of Rotterdam, and the head of German ground forces, General Rudolf Schmidt, sent the Dutch forces in the city a typed ultimatum: give up or face a brutal air campaign. But Dutch Colonel Pieter Wilhelmus Scharroo wrote back by hand that he couldn't accept the ultimatum as it wasn't signed, Groeneveld said. Schmidt then added a handwritten ultimatum at the bottom of Scharroo's missive, ordering at the same time that the attack on Rotterdam be postponed for the negotiations. But the order to halt the bombing never reached the German pilots and bombs were rained on the city, which was engulfed in flames. Much of it was destroyed, some 800 to 900 people were killed and 80,000 were left homeless. The largest fires were only brought under control two days later. Story continues In the hours after the blitz on May 14, 1940, Scharroo wrote "accepted" at the end of Schmidt's ultimatum. This is the document now uncovered by Groeneveld. After the Germans threatened to bomb Utrecht in a similar fashion, the Netherlands surrendered to the Nazi regime the next day on May 15, 1940. Groeneveld did not want to reveal how much he had paid for the document, but he hopes to sell it now to a Dutch museum. After Russian attack aircraft repeatedly buzzed a Navy warship earlier this week, the U.S. and Russia have responded with what amounts to diplomatic shrugs. A pair of Su-24 jets (nicknamed Fencer by NATO) were filmed flying over the destroyer U.S.S. Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea, about 70 miles from Russia's Kaliningrad province, on Monday and Tuesday. U.S. European Command put the footage online and it soon went viral, leaving many observers to wonder what would happen next between the two former Cold War enemies. Turns out, probably nothing. "To be honest, we don't understand such a painful reaction from our American colleagues, Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov told the state-controlled TASS news agency. Related: The 10 Most Expensive Weapons in the Pentagons Arsenal "Spotting the ship within the visibility zone, the Russian pilots turned their aircraft away from the vessel fully observing the safety measures," he added. Just as the U.S. ship has freedom of navigation in international waters, the Russian jets have freedom of navigation in international skies, Konashenkov said. The principle of freedom of navigation for the U.S. destroyer, which is staying in close proximity to a Russian naval base in the Baltic Sea, does at all not cancel the principle of freedom of flight for Russian aircraft," the spokesman said. In addition to the pair of Su-24s, a Russian Ka-27 helicopter made seven passes above the destroyer and was believed to be photographing the ship. As for Washingtons response? The United States has raised our concerns with the Russians, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday during a press briefing. Related: Putin Revives a Cold War Dance as Russian Bombers Buzz US Carrier Earnest said the hair-raising incident was inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries operating on the sea and airspace as well as a treaty Washington and Moscow struck in 1972 that governs such instances. Story continues Well seek to resolve our differences through well-established military channels, he noted, adding that the U.S. military attache in Moscow had already reached out to the Kremlin. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Moscow (AFP) - Russia denied Thursday its fighter jets were engaged in reckless or provocative behaviour when they flew just metres from a US destroyer in international waters in the Baltic Sea, exacerbating tensions between the rival powers. The aircraft repeatedly buzzed the USS Donald Cook this week, including an incident on Tuesday when a Russian Su-24 jet flew 30 feet (nine metres) above the ship in a "simulated attack profile," the US military's European Command said. Ties between Russia and the West have plunged to their lowest point since the Cold War over Moscow's 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Kiev and its support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. One US defence official called the actions of the Russian planes "more aggressive than anything we've seen in some time". The destroyer's commanding officer Charles Hampton told journalists in Lithuania that "very low, very fast" flybys were "inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries in international waters or international airspace". - 'Sore reaction' - Russia countered the criticism, insisting it had observed all safety regulations. Su-24 planes were conducting test flights in the area and "having observed the ship, turned away in observance of all safety measures," Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement on the ministry's Facebook page. "Frankly speaking, we don't understand such a sore reaction from our US colleagues," the statement added. "With the US Navy destroyer in operational proximity of the Russian navy's Baltic fleet base, the principle of its free sea navigation does not negate the principle of free air navigation of Russian planes." The US military's European Command (EUCOM) released video showing warplanes zooming so close past the Cook that one sailor can be heard saying: "He is below the bridge wing," meaning the plane was flying lower than the highest point of the ship. Story continues - Warship 'trolled' - The manoeuvres began Monday while the destroyer was located about 70 nautical miles from the Russian base in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea. A Ka-27 Helix anti-submarine helicopter and Russian Su-24 planes flew around the ship, including a plane that was not visibly armed that made the particularly low approach captured on video. US sailors tried multiple times to hail the Russian aircraft on international frequencies but got no response, officials said. A Polish helicopter had been conducting drills on the destroyer and was refuelling during one of the overflights. It suspended flight operations as a safety precaution until the planes left, EUCOM said. Some pro-Kremlin media on Thursday depicted the incident as the Americans taking fright at the Russian pilots. A journalist with Komsomolskaya Pravda daily wrote on Twitter that the planes had "trolled" the US warship, which "got fresh" by coming so close to the Russian base. Argumenty i Fakty newspaper accused the United States of "Russophobia", saying that the ship's crew and the Polish helicopter had been "scared" of the planes. Hampton said his crew had tracked the warplanes' approach, and confirmed that they posed no danger. "It's very important to understand that the objection from the US navy about the Russians' military activity and the conduct is not about fear, but about safe and professional behaviour at sea," he said. Poland, which had helicopter crews training take-offs and landings from the deck of the US warship, and has long been wary of Russia's actions in its neighbourhood, was also furious. "We cannot consider this anything but a provocation and a new example of aggressive intentions against NATO, the US and Poland by the owner of these planes," its Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz said. The Pentagon periodically decries the risky tactics displayed by Russian pilots. Exactly two years before the latest flyby -- on April 12, 2014 -- a Russian Su-24 made numerous close-range, low-altitude passes near the Cook while it was in the Black Sea, in an incident the Pentagon at the time called a "provocative act". MOSCOW (Reuters) - Media reports about offshore accounts in Panama are a "provocation", Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, blaming U.S. officials and U.S. bank Goldman Sachs for attempts to influence Russian elections. The leak of confidential documents from a Panamanian law firm earlier this month has had political repercussions in many countries, after shining a spotlight on the offshore wealth of politicians and public figures worldwide. The files, which contained the details of clients around the world, prompted Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, the prime minister of Iceland, to quit, put British Prime Minister David Cameron under pressure over his family's financial affairs, and sparked calls in Ukraine to investigate President Petro Poroshenko. The revelations included details of offshore companies belonging to Sergei Roldulgin, a famous Russian cellist who was a childhood friend of Putin and is godfather to his eldest daughter, Maria. Putin reiterated his defence of Rodulgin, portraying the scandal as a conspiracy orchestrated by U.S. officials and financiers aimed against Putin and his government. "Who does it, these provocations? We know that there are some staff of official American institutions," he said at an annual televised phone-in with the Russian public. Putin said that German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, which he said had been first to publish the Panama documents, belonged to a leading U.S. bank. "Suddeutsche Zeitung is a media holding company owned by an American financial corporation, Goldman Sachs," he said. "That is, the ears of the instigators are sticking out everywhere, but they do not even redden." "We should not be expecting them to show any kind of a remorse. They will keep on doing it and the closer to the (Russian) elections, there will be more of that stuff." In a statement on the newspaper's website, Stefan Hilscher, managing director of the Suddeutsche Zeitung, said the newspaper "has no relationship under corporate law with Goldman Sachs", adding the paper's ownership was publicly available information. Goldman Sachs referred to Hilscher's statement and declined further comment. According to the leaked documents, the companies owned by Rodulgin had handled billions of dollars, including loans from companies linked to the state or other friends of Putin. Putin has previously defended Roldulgin, saying he was not corrupt and that he was "proud to have such friends". [ID: nL5N17A3NH] For HIGHLIGHTS, click on (Additional reporting by Jack Stubbs, Lidia Kelly, Dmitry Solovyov, Maria Kiselyova, Gleb Stolyarov and Anastasia Lyrchikova,; Writing by Jason Bush) Sen. Bernie Sanders is trailing in the polls and may not be able to pull out a victory next Tuesday in the New York primary against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But he has the wind at his back and could score another important moral victory even if he doesnt put a dent in Clintons committed delegate count. One thing thats safe to say: The self-described democratic socialist has startled the political world with an improbable campaign that has frequently rocked Clinton on her heels and led to victories in seven of the last eight primary and caucus contest. Wednesday night, he drew roughly 27,000 people to a rally in Manhattans Washington Square Park, a larger crowd than the one gathered for nominee Barack Obama in 2007. Related: Bernie and Hillary Take the Gloves Off in a Fiery Debate Sanders rallied with striking Verizon communications workers earlier in the day, whose union endorsed Sanders last December. Clinton signaled her solidarity with the strikers as well, but she cant count on many of them backing her at the polls next Tuesday. And despite her strong support among blacks and Hispanics more generally, Clinton got a tepid response from those attending the Rev. Al Sharptons National Action Network convention after former President Bill Clinton clashed with some Black Lives Matter protesters last week. And talk about perfect timing federal regulators announced yesterday that JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and three other of the largest banks in the country are still too big to fail and do not have credible plans for how they would unwind in the event of another banking crisis. This played directly into the hands of Sanders, who for months has been calling for the breakup of these banks while Clinton has advocated a more cautious approach called for under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law Sanders for a long time was criticized as a Johnny One Note who obsessed in his speeches on income inequality and the evils of Wall Streets largest banks, which he largely blames for the financial meltdown that triggered one of the worst recessions in U.S. history. He was also criticized by the Clinton camp and others for seemingly stumbling over his explanation of precisely how he would go about breaking up the big banks during a lengthy interview with the New York Daily News editorial board a week ago. Story continues As The New York Times noted on Wednesday, Sanderss position has drawn some positive nods from the other side of the political spectrum in the banking world, including Neel Kashkari, a former Treasury Department official during the 2007-2008 financial crisis and now the new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Related: New Polls -- Kasich Is the Only Republican Who Could Beat Clinton During his speech last night in the heart of Greenwich Village, Sanders lashed out once again against the political status quo and corporate greed and the rigged economy taking careful aim at the big banks and at Clinton, the former New York senator who over the years has accepted $675,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. It is about creating a government that works for all of us, not just wealthy campaign contributions, Sanders said to the cheering masses near the campus of New York University. This campaign is sending a message to corporate America: You cannot have it all. Cumulative Democratic Candidate Debate Talk Times | InsideGov Sanders, the former mayor of Burlington, Vt., and a member of the House of Representatives, early on vowed to conduct a civil campaign that would be steeped in issues and devoid of personalities and cheap shots. But as Clinton has pulled well ahead of Sanders in both committed delegates and super delegates to the point where it is almost impossible for him to overtake her and win a majority before the Democratic national convention in July, Sanders and his advisers have been far more critical and hard hitting against Clinton, to the point of disputing that she has the qualities and judgment to be the next president. Sanders insists, for example, that Clintons Senate vote in 2002 in support of the U.S. invasion of Iraq -- leading to vast U.S. casualties and expenditures of government funds is reason enough to disqualify her for president. Related: Sanders Tax Plan Soaks Everybody, With the Wealthiest Paying Millions More The Sanders campaign also has portrayed Clinton as an establishment Democrat who has had to be dragged further left on key issues and always seems to come up with an argument for why Sanders proposals for free tuition, national health care for all and other liberal ideas are not feasible. As if the Democratic contest wasnt heated enough, Paul Song, the executive chairman of the progressive Courage Campaign, who also spoke at the Sanders rally, said the government would never adopt a Medicare for all program like the one Sanders has proposed as long as corporate Democratic whores are elected. Sanders and Song both later apologized for the comment, but the damage had been done. And now we all await tonights final Democratic presidential debate on CNN, beginning at 9 pm (ET) in advance of Tuesdays New York primary, to see whether the vitriol continues to flow. Sanders is at a crucial juncture in his drive for the nomination: After treating his campaign largely as a progressive messaging effort for months, he now firmly believes he is best equipped to be the Democratic nominee and best equipped to beat Republican frontrunner Donald Trump in the general election campaign this fall. But the more the political analysts and experts insist he cant overcome the delegate math squarely in favor of Clinton, the angrier and more frustrated he appears to become. Related: Not So Fast, Hillary: Bernies Right About Breaking Up the Banks More than half way through the primary season, Clinton leads Sanders in total delegates, 1,776 to 1,118, with 2,382 needed for the nomination. That means Clinton needs to pick up an additional 606 delegates in the remaining contests to win the nomination, with many of the upcoming races in the highly friendly terrain of the Northeast. Clinton leads Sanders 55 percent to 41 percent in New York, according to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. Regardless of the result Tuesday night, she is certain to pick up more than half of the 291 Democratic delegates at stake. Sanders will probably end up losing ground. Because the Democratic delegates will be distributed proportionate to the popular vote going forward, Sanders will have to score improbably large victories of 60 percent or more if he hopes to catch up to Clinton. Or he will have to persuade many of the super delegates the party and elected officials who automatically are chosen to take part in the convention to switch their allegiance from Clinton to the Vermont senator. At the same time, Sanders may have turned up the heat so much in his now-frequent denouncements of Clinton that the two sides will have a tough time putting the pieces together and uniting against the Republicans this fall. After all, Sanders comments disputing Clintons qualifications to be president will make interesting fodder for GOP political campaign ads this fall if Clinton emerges as the Democratic nominee. If Clinton wins next week by ten or more percentage points, as the recent polls suggests, she will be well on her way to securing the nomination, even without much reliance on the super delegates. If Sanders wins in New York -- where he was born and Clinton served two terms as a U.S. senator -- then the race will be turned upside down and Sanderss scenario for ultimately winning the nomination will seem more credible. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: A project to speed development of cancer-fighting drugs that harness the immune system has academic and drug-industry researchers collaborating and sharing their findings like never before. The newly created Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy is being funded by a $250 million grant from Sean Parker, the co-founder of the file-sharing site Napster and Facebook's first president. It brings together partners at six top academic cancer centers, dozens of drugmakers and other groups. "Everybody knows that we need to move forward and change the model" for cancer research, Jeffrey Bluestone, an immunology researcher and the institute's CEO, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "The goal here is to rapidly move our discoveries to patients." For decades, fiercely competitive and secretive drugmakers protected their moneymaking discoveries with patents and lawsuits. Academic researchers likewise often guarded their work closely until it was published because their promotions, awards and sometimes revenue from licensing patents depended on individual achievement. That often slowed progress. Read More: 5 Hurdles Facing Sean Parker's $50 Home Movie Service With the increasing cost and complexity of research, drugmakers began licensing or buying patents and research programs from university researchers. Then big drugmakers began collaborating with each other and buying smaller companies, to share research costs, speed up the drug development process and get an edge on rivals. The Parker Institute, founded nine months ago, pushes those trends to a new level by creating a virtual "sandbox" in which scientists at different institutions can work collaboratively, said Bluestone. About 300 scientists at leading cancer institutions - Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Stanford Medicine; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, San Francisco; University of Pennsylvania; and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - will share their findings. Story continues They will focus on early research. After initial patient testing, the institute's technology-transfer committee will strike licensing deals with drugmakers best able to develop those drugs, providing funding for other early research. Those drugmakers, from industry giants Amgen and Pfizer to small drug and diagnostic test developers, will fund the much-larger tests needed for drug approval, which can include hundreds or thousands of patients and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Read More: Top Theater Group Dismisses Sean Parker's $50 Home Movie Service Parker worked with hundreds of scientists to create a roadmap for the institute's work. It will quickly fund projects fitting its scientific targets and then rapidly enroll many of the 300,000 or more patients treated at the six centers each year in tests of resulting experimental drugs. "We'll make progress against three or four cancer types in the next several years," Parker predicted. He added that to be most effective, immunotherapy must become an initial treatment. Now it's usually reserved until patients relapse after chemotherapy and other standard treatments that weaken the immune system. Scientists have tried less-sophisticated strategies to use the immune system against cancer for about a century, with limited success, noted Dr. Eric Rubin, head of early stage cancer drug development at Merck & Co. It took recent advances in cell biology, genetics and related science to make progress. Now there are a handful of approved immunotherapy drugs that greatly extend lives of some patients with lung cancer and melanoma. Read More: Janice Dickinson Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis Those include Merck's Keytruda and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Yervoy and Opdivo. They are so-called "checkpoint inhibitors," which block molecules that slow down or turn off the immune system's ability to attack cancer cells. Other immunotherapy approaches that will be part of the institute's initial work include CAR-T therapy, in which a patient's T-cells are removed from the blood, engineered to be "cancer assassins," then injected into the patient, said Parker. Researchers also will develop therapeutic viruses and vaccines to drive the immune system to recognize and attack tumors. "The Parker Institute does have the potential to accelerate development [of drugs] that will enable a greater number of cures," said Rubin. "We're very happy to be part of this." WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee on Thursday approved a reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, nearly three years after the legislative authority for the country's commodities and swaps regulator expired. The head of the CFTC, Timothy Massad, praised the committee for clearing the way for the full Senate to vote on authorization. "I am committed to continuing to work with Congress throughout this process, particularly on making sure end-users like agricultural producers can continue to safely and affordably use the derivatives markets, while ensuring these markets do not generate excessive risk to our financial system," he said in a statement. The CFTC has operated on year-by-year funding since the end of 2013 because Congress has not passed a new authorization, which lawmakers say created uncertainty in many markets. The House of Representatives has already approved a similar bill. Republicans, who control the Senate, said the bill would allow farmers, ranchers and small energy providers to use derivatives for hedging operational costs without being ensnared in regulation intended to prevent the risky type of swap deals that contributed to the financial crisis. The bill "allows for anticipatory hedges and the management of a hedge when it serves as a risk management tool for our producers and commercial end-users and not an investment or for speculation," said Committee Chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas. Still, Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a proponent of strong Wall Street oversight, said the bill as written would also benefit financial players. "Its clear that this bill is all about helping Wall Street traders and big energy companies like Koch Industries under the guise of helping farmers," he said. Massad's major concern involved funding. The senior Democrat on the committee, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, sought to add a provision that would create a model for backing the CFTC similar to that used for the Securities and Exchange Commission, which offsets taxpayer funds it receives with fees and fines. The proposal was not included in the final bill. "The funding language proposed by Senator Stabenow addresses the fact that we are the only federal financial regulator without some form of fee-based funding," Massad said. Republican John Boozman of Arkansas, who has say over the CFTC's budget as chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on financial services, shot down the idea, describing funding tied to fines as a "bounty program." (Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Peter Cooney) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and 10 other Senate Democrats on Wednesday called for significant changes to a Republican-crafted bill in the House of Representatives aimed at helping Puerto Rico overcome its debt crisis. "Senate Democrats are united in our belief that any legislation to solve this crisis must include an effective restructuring process that allows Puerto Rico to adjust all of its debt," the group said in a statement. They said an oversight board proposed in the legislation would be too powerful and that the bill did not include "appropriate safeguards for pension holders and retirees." (Reporting by Timothy Ahmann; Editing by Diane Craft) Sharon Stone is the latest celebrity to weigh in on the 2016 presidential election. Like many in Hollywood, the actress endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in 2008. Now eight years later, Stone feels it's the female candidate's time. "Look at everything she's been through. Why would she have been secretary of state during the most demanding and dangerous time this country has seen since World War II?" Stone tells The Hollywood Reporter. "She could go retire somewhere great, write a book, relax a little. It's not like she needs the $200,000 or whatever you make being president. She just cares about our country." Stone, who headlined TNT's short-lived action drama Agent X last year, felt strongly that Clinton needed to serve as secretary of state before she could be president. "And she knows that," says the Basic Instinct actress, insisting the two have a "frank" and "open" relationship. "She showed such grit and grace as secretary of state, such steely calm and humor in those hearings. That's what it actually takes to be president. It takes a lot of friggin' mettle. It doesn't take a lot of flamboyancy or that George W. Bush let's-go-out-for-a-beer personality." Lack of experience is also the reason Stone doesn't think Bernie Sanders is qualified for the job. "I do not believe that Bernie Sanders is in any way, shape or form prepared to be president. I think he's a very intriguing, outspoken, energetic campaigner - but there's a big difference between knowing how to put on a campaign and actually being president of the United States of America," she says. "And at 74 years old, some of his learning curve is not totally on the beat." She went on to add that Sanders' age might be working against him. "Bernie seems pretty old just in general, and some of his ideas are a little bit old. He's not young doing this, and he didn't really work until he was 40 so I wonder, like, how much acid has this guy taken?" she says. "I really do, that's not a joke. We were so aggressive asking people, 'Did you smoke pot?' But in reality, how much acid has Bernie Sanders taken? Because there's a certain edge to his personality and way about his behavior that makes me wonder, 'How much LSD have you taken?'" Story continues Read More: Two Guys From Brooklyn: The Bernie Sanders Interview by Spike Lee Despite her refusal to back him as a presidential candidate, Stone insists that she's a fan of Sanders personally. "I like him, don't get me wrong. He's just adorable. I'd like to have him over for dinner so that I could ask him a bunch of questions, but I think his ideas about taxation are a little bit disproportionate to reality," she says, suggesting that Sanders perhaps try his hand at the vice presidency instead. "That way he could at least see what it's like to be in conflict and negotiate inside those rooms because he clearly doesn't know." Stone took a more somber tone when asked about Donald Trump. "We have leaders and people who are trying to be leaders who are running campaigns based on fear, and that's a contagion. It's horrible. Holocausts have occurred when that fire catches loose," she says, noting that she is taking action against certain laws that she believes are discriminatory like Mississippi's new "religious freedoms" bill, which allows businesses and public employees to deny service to LGBT people. As a result of Stone's protest, a short film she's starring in that was scheduled to shoot in the Southern state this summer is now relocating elsewhere. But according to Stone, it's Trump and his "hubris" that's most alarming. "What can I say that he doesn't say for himself? I think the ever-changing muskrat on his head speaks worlds about his confidence," she says, adding that when other countries have seen the rise of controversial leaders, the result is often "major atrocities" and "international wars." "When I go abroad and listen [to what people say about us], I just feel very, very sad. It was one thing during the George W. time where you just had to sit in shame, but this?" She also thinks the media is largely to blame for the Trump phenomenon. "Unfortunately, there is a lot of humor attached to [Trump] in the media, but it isn't funny and it wouldn't be funny [if he became president]," she says. "We really have to get that because if you look back at history of other countries who have faced this situation and the things that have had to occur to save lives, there's nothing funny about it." By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Thursday unveiled new oil well control rules to prevent the kind of blowout that happened six years ago on a BP Plc rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced the finalized regulations, which include more stringent design requirements and operational procedures for offshore oil and gas operations. The new standards come nearly six years after a deadly explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig off the cost of Louisiana, which led to the worst oil spill of all time. The Macondo well blowout and the fire on April 20,2010 killed 11 workers. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told reporters the rule took six years to complete because the agency wanted to understand the root cause of the disaster. "There are a number of things that went wrong," she said. "It was important that we understood those things and the evolution of technology." The Interior Department said it took into account industry and other stakeholder feedback since it first proposed the rule last April. To improve the "culture of safety" on oil rigs and prevent future spills or blowouts, the new rule tightens requirements for blowout preventers, well design, well control casing, cementing and sub-sea containment. It also calls for real-time monitoring, third party reviews of equipment, regular inspections and safe drilling margin requirements. The agency estimates the new rule would cost the industry $890 million over a 10-year period, but would yield $1.5 billion in benefits. Republican Louisiana Senator David Vitter slammed what he called an "overarching" rule that would "kick our oil and gas industry while its down. Industry lobby group the American Petroleum Institute said it is still reviewing the document, but said technical problems in the initial proposal could cause unintended consequences if they remain. Offshore drilling has seen at least 1,066 injuries, 496 fires and explosions, 22 losses of well control, 11 big oil spills and 11 fatalities since the Deepwater Horizon accident, according to the Interior Department. Jacqueline Savitz, vice president of the ocean protection advocacy group Oceana, said the new standards were "a significant improvement over the status quo" since Congress has not passed legislation to improve offshore drilling safety but are "absolutely not sufficient to protect our oceans." Earlier this month, a federal judge in New Orleans approved BP's $20 billion settlement, paving the way for Gulf restoration to begin. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Alan Crosby) Paris (AFP) - Seven Somali pirates were sentenced to between six and 15 years in prison by a French court for the hijacking of a French yacht and killing of its owner in the Gulf of Aden in 2011. Christian and Evelyne Colombo were on a round-the-world trip when their "Tribal Kat" catamaran was hijacked by pirates in the Arabian Sea. Christian was killed and his body dumped in the water, while his wife was held hostage for 48 hours before being rescued by the Spanish military. Two members of the gang identified as the "recruiters", Farhan Abdisalamn Hassan and Ahmed Abdullahi Akid, were handed 15-year sentences. Farhan Mohamoud Abchir, a minor at the time of the hijacking who has developed schizophrenia while in prison, according to his lawyer, was given the lightest six-year jail term. The prosecutor had sought terms of up to 22 years for the seven. "It's hard to understand the range of the penalties, the motivations of the court. Fifteen years is a very heavy sentence," said Augustin d'Ollone, lawyer for Akid Abdullahi. The Colombo family cried as the sentence was read out. "It has been four years that we have sought life sentences. This verdict does not satisfy us," the family said in a statement posted on social media. Before the sentence was read out, the Somalis asked for "forgiveness" for a crime they said haunted them "every day". - 'War, hunger' - The Colombos had sold everything before embarking on a dream round-the-world trip. They left the Yemen port of Aden in early September 2011 and were heading for Oman -- a journey that took them through notoriously pirate-infested waters -- when naval authorities received a distress signal from their "Tribal Kat" catamaran. A German frigate found the boat several hours later. There were bullet holes in the deck and a pair of glasses lying in a pool of blood. No one was onboard. Two days later, a Spanish warship located the skiff believed to belong to the pirates. They tried to approach but turned away when the attackers dragged Evelyne Colombo into view, a gun to her head. Story continues The Spanish military prepared a raid and attacked a few hours later, leaving two pirates dead and the remaining seven under arrest. Evelyne Colombo told her rescuers that her husband's body had been dumped into the sea. It was never found. She had spent a nightmarish 48 hours with the pirates, kept under a tarpaulin, drenched by waves and in constant fear of death. The defence team sought to present the seven Somalis as unwilling criminals forced into piracy by the hardships of life in Somalia. "War... hunger... for these men to be properly judged, the court must understand the hell from which they have come," one of their lawyers, Martin Reynaud, previously told AFP, saying this could only explain rather than excuse their actions. The dramatic decline in piracy off the Somali coast means the trial could be the last in Europe for some time. The European Union's military counter-piracy mission "Atalante" saw zero vessels pirated over the past three years, compared with a peak of 47 in 2010. MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish judge remanded former top banker Mario Conde in custody on Wednesday after he was arrested on suspicion of money laundering 13 million euros ($14.66 million) as he oversaw the collapse of one of Spain's biggest banks. Conde was one of the country's most prominent bankers of the 1990s when he was chairman of Banesto, which the Bank of Spain had to bail out in 1993 under his watch due to a financial shortfall worth 3.6 billion euros in today's money. Banesto was subsequently bought by Banco Santander, which went on to become the dominant bank in Spain. Police arrested Conde on Monday along with six other people, including his daughter and son-in-law, after an investigation by the High Court into whether he had set up a network of companies abroad and in Spain to help disguise money he had taken from Banesto before its state rescue. In a written ruling, the judge Santiago Pedraz said Conde, who is 67, would be remanded in prison, with no bail granted, until the start of his trial on charges of money laundering, eight counts of tax fraud and for belonging to a criminal organization. The judge also ordered that Conde's lawyer Francisco Javier de la Vega be detained without bail. The others are either to be held under domestic arrest or provisionally released. Conde, released from prison in 2005 after serving 11 years of a separate 20-year sentence related to misappropriation of funds and fraud, is being held in a cell at the High court and will shortly be moved to the Soto del Real prison north of Madrid, a court spokesman said. He joins a long list of former Spanish bankers - such as ex-IMF chief Rodrigo Rato accused of misusing credit cards for personal expenses - that face trial for lining their pockets during their tenures, as public anger against such scandals continues to build. (Reporting by Angus Berwick) The Mist is coming a lot sooner to Spike TV than the cabler first imagined. Nearly two months after ordering the Stephen King adaptation to pilot, the Viacom-owned network has handed out a straight-to-series, 10-episode pickup for the drama, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Insiders say that the network was so impressed with the series pitch and script that they opted to go straight to series rather than proceed with a typical pilot order. That said, the decision to fast-track The Mist comes a month after Spike hit pause on scripted drama series Red Mars after showrunner Peter Noahs departure. Red Mars, an adaptation of Kim Stanley Robinson's book trilogy with Sense8s J. Michael Straczynski on board as a writer, was picked up straight to series in December - less than a month after Jerry Bruckheimer-produced drama Harvest was scrapped after its straight-to-series order. Harvest was poised to become Spikes first scripted drama series in nine years. The cabler has been active in developing multiple scripted projects after the successful launch of miniseries Tut was able to help Spike re-enter the space. Spike now hopes The Mist - which remains uncast - will be its first scripted drama series. Read More: Spike TV Exec on Plans for Lip Sync Battle and Luring More Women Originally published in 1980, The Mist - based on Stephen Kings novella - centers on a seemingly innocuous mist that seeps into a small town and subsequently creates havoc. The drama hails from Dimension Television, with Christian Torpe (Denmark's Rita) onboard as a writer and executive producer. The series will begin production in the summer for a 2017 debut. Christian and the entire team at The Weinstein Co.-Dimension TV have crafted the framework for a compelling and distinctive series that will resonate with Spikes expanding audience, Spike exec vp original series Sharon Levy said. Dimension exec vp scripted Megan Spanjian will oversee the series alongside exec vp production and creative affairs Matthew Signer and senior vp production and development Keith Levine. Levy, senior vp scripted original series Ted Gold and senior director of scripted Lauren Ruggiero will oversee for Spike. The Mist marks TWC/Dimensions second scripted series and joins MTVs Scream reboot, with the latter set to debut its second season in May. In a February interview with THR, Levy said the hardest aspect about the cablers return to scripted was the competitiveness. If you love something, you have to move quickly, grab it, convince people who you are and thats been a challenge but not insurmountable, she said. I dont think weve lost to Netflix; Cinemax, a couple. We arent making our choices out of 20 things; we are making our choices out of four or five things. Nairobi (AFP) - Ragged, hungry and rejected by society, thousands of street children abandoned by nearly all live in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. There is no official figure on the number of homeless children in Kenya, a sign of the lack of interest by Kenyan authorities of the problem. One estimate, by the Consortium of Street Children (CSC), an international charity, suggests the number of street children could be as high as between 250,000 and 300,000 throughout Kenya, including 60,000 in Nairobi alone. In the district of Mlango Kubwa in central Nairobi, a former landfill is a refuge for street children, who call it "the base". Here they sleep on the hard floor, close to the rubbish dumps where they scavenge for scraps to make some profit, but at least the place is safe from outside eyes. A few hours after dawn, some children are still lying on the ground, the plastic bottles from which they sniff glue beside them. Other spaces are empty, with those youngsters having headed off to work, begging on the streets. "When people see some of these kids, they do not take them as human beings," said Moha, himself a former street child, who escaped the tough life, and ekes out a living now dancing alongside bands. "When people see them sniffing glue and dirty, they beat them or insult them." Some children are pushed onto the street following the death of parents -- sometimes due to HIV/AIDS -- or after running away from violence at home. Others live on the street simply because their families are too poor to look after them. - 'Act of despair' - "It is quite difficult to describe the situation... you find if they sleep outside someone's shop, in the morning, instead of the owner waking them up gently, they kick them or even pour water on them," Moha said. Many leave their rural areas - where traditional community ties have loosened - for cities, where they have more chance of surviving by begging, finding odd jobs, scavenging rubbish sites, or prostitution. Story continues Abandoned by the state, several charities offer help. Alfajiri is one of them, a project set up by Australian artist Lenore Boyd, who offers drawing lessons. "It's just to invite the kids, to get them to create. It's not to teach them, it's not to impose anything on them," Boyd said. "It's to say: 'Tell your story'. They're very focused and they do lovely work... they tell the stories in their heart and they just enjoy themselves." When Boyd walks the streets of the slum, children throw themselves at her, finding friendship and love they otherwise lack. "Everybody needs to think about the way they've been treated, and why they're living on the streets, and suffering on the streets," Boyd said. "These kids are traumatised, they are kids who had huge suffering, they're abandoned... going to the streets is an act of despair." - 'Selling their bodies' - Girls face an especially tough time. The Rescue Dada Centre -- 'Girl Rescue' Centre in Swahili - has been supporting the rehabilitation of street girls in Nairobi for over two decades. Composed of a dormitory and classrooms, the centre is home to 70 girls. It offers psychological support as well as education, and leads efforts to reunite them with their families. "The life in town is very difficult, one sleeps out in the cold where you are rained on, sometimes you find that you wake up and find that one of your colleagues has died," said Janet, 16, who just recently joined the centre. "Others even end up selling their bodies in order to get money to buy food." Of the girls admitted in 2014, almost a third were victims of sexual abuse or sexual exploitation, some the victims of gang rape. Many are forced to become prostitutes, with a high risk of contracting AIDS. "Rehabilitation can take a lot of time," said the centre's director Mary Njeri Gatitu. But she struggles on, providing what help she can. "It is a drop of water in an ocean, because the issue of poverty in Kenya is not being addressed by the government," she added. Damaged houses Damaged houses after an earthquake in Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture, southern Japan, Saturday, April 16, 2016. (Photo: Kyodo News via AP) A strong, 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit southern Japan early Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, a day after another powerful tremor killed at least 22 people in the same area. The quake hit Kumamoto Prefecture of Kyushu island at 1:25 a.m. local time, the USGS said. The Japan Meteorological Agency initially issued a tsunami warning for the western coast of Kyushu, where hundreds were injured in Thursdays quake, but later lifted it. Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that waves of more than 3 feet may have already reached shore. JMA also reported several aftershocks hitting the area. (AFP) Find more news-related photo galleries on the Yahoo News Photo Tumblr! A supersonic plane recently zoomed past the sun, and its light-bending shock waves were captured in a stunning new image. The plane, a T-38C manned by a pilot for the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, was photographed using an updated version of a 150-year-old technique called Schlieren photography. Schlieren photography typically uses a bright light source and a speckled background to reveal changes in the density of air. Shock waves squish and stretch air, changing the air density. That, in turn, alters how light rays bounce off the air, and these changes show up in a shadow image. [Supersonic! The 11 Fastest Military Planes] Old technique, new spin In the past, Schlieren photography required a very bright light source and some complicated optics. As a result, it was typically performed only on supersonic planes in wind tunnels. However, NASA recently developed new methods of Schlieren photography, in which the sun or the moon forms both a luminous source and the mottled background needed for the images. NASA has been working on the project in an effort to design quieter supersonic jets. The Federal Aviation Administration has banned the ear-splitting jets from flying over unrestricted air space since 1973, because of their incredibly loud sonic booms. But if scientists better understand the shock-wave structure, they can predict when and where the shock wave is the loudest, according to NASA. In turn, this could help designers craft supersonic jets that produce quieter booms. NASA recently awarded a $20 million contract to Lockheed Martin to design a quieter supersonic jet. Early test flights could begin as soon as 2020, assuming funding continues. Several companies are currently working on supersonic jets. For instance, Spike Aerospace is developing a commercial airliner that could speed from New York City to London in a mere 3 hours. The plane would fly at Mach 1.8, or 1.8 times the speed of sound, (1,370 mph, or 2,205 km/h). A more pie-in-the-sky (or plane in the sky?) idea aims to zoom people between the two big cities in just 30 minutes. That concept, called the Skreemr, would need a "magnetic rail-gun launching" system to take off and fly at 10 times the speed of sound, or about 7,600 mph (12,300 km/h). Story continues Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. AMMAN (Reuters) - A Syrian jet plane was probably shot down on Thursday by Islamic State militants near a military airport in southern Syria but the pilot appears to have been rescued, a monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had received information that the hardline group had hit and may have brought down a Syrian plane near Khalkhala airport, north east of the city of Sweida. Earlier Amaq, a news agency close to the militants, said in a newsflash it had downed a Syrian army plane in the vicinity of the same airport. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Toby Chopra) Taiwan's fishing industry was "out of control", environment advocacy group Greenpeace said Thursday, with shark finning still rampant as well as labour and human rights abuses. Taiwan has one of the world's biggest tuna fishing fleets and the new Greenpeace investigation is just the latest criticism of its practices. The European Union warned Taiwan last October that it would face economic sanctions if it did not tackle illegal fishing within six months -- a period which is almost over. "These investigations paint a comprehensive picture of an industry in crisis," said Yen Ning, campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia. "Despite talking the talk, Taiwan's Fisheries Agency appears incapable of monitoring the out-of-control tuna industry." The year-long probe into Taiwan's distant water tuna fisheries revealed the "devastating impacts on marine life and people's lives" from the industry, Yen added. Crew on Taiwanese vessels -- which include as many as 160,000 migrant workers -- endure "horrendous" working conditions and physical abuse, withheld payments and exploitation by recruitment agents, the report said. Greenpeace said foreign crews' labour rights are not protected by any regulations, with workers recounting tales of being beaten by captains and working more than 20 hours a day for months on end. Taiwan's Fisheries Agency -- the government division overseeing the industry -- did not have an immediate response to the Greenpeace allegations. Commenting on the expiring warning from the EU, the agency's deputy chief Huang Hung-yan said: "They know that Taiwan has done a lot of work in this area. We communicate frequently." An EU ban on Taiwan fishery imports could cost the island 13 million euros ($14.6 million) a year, the European Commission, its executive arm, has estimated. Despite warnings against illegal shark fishing, Greenpeace said its investigation discovered 16 cases of shark finning in just one Taiwanese port over a three-month period. Story continues Legislation passed in 2012 requires fishermen to ship back entire shark carcasses, preventing them from just slicing off the fin -- a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. But Greenpeace said in September it had discovered a haul of illegal shark fins on a Taiwanese ship near Papua New Guinea. The Fisheries Agency rebuked Greenpeace for boarding a Taiwanese vessel without permission from the government, but promised it would investigate claims the ship was fishing illegally. The report Thursday also raised concerns about Thailand, one of the biggest markets for Taiwan's catch, where labour rights abuses have been revealed in its seafood processing industry. Thailand was also warned of potential fishery sanctions by the EU last year. "The fishing industries of both Taiwan and Thailand have been shown to have human rights problems," said Yen of Greenpeace. "Seafood lovers everywhere may be eating tuna tainted by human exploitation and environmental crime, and they'd never know." By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - A group of Taiwanese deported from Kenya to China after being acquitted of cyber crime are wanted for suspected fraud in China, the Chinese government said on Wednesday. In a case that has enraged Taiwan, which has accused Beijing of kidnap, the Kenyan government said the people were in Kenya illegally and were being sent back to where they had come from. Kenya does not have official relations with democratic Taiwan and considers the island part of "one China", in line with the position of Communist Party leaders in Beijing. China's Ministry of Public Security, in a statement released via the official Xinhua news agency, said Kenya had decided to deport 32 Chinese and 45 Taiwanese to China, of whom 10 had already arrived and another 67 would leave on Wednesday. Xinhua showed some of them arriving in Beijing with black hoods over their heads, escorted by police. Taiwanese had been heavily involved in telecoms fraud in China and had caused huge losses, with some victims killing themselves, the ministry said. Taiwanese criminals "have been falsely presenting themselves as law enforcement officers to extort money from people on the Chinese mainland through telephone calls", the ministry added. The group detained in Kenya had operated out of Nairobi and were suspected of cheating people out of millions of yuan across nine provinces and cities in China, and as most the victims were in China, they would be prosecuted there, it said. China had informed Taiwan of the situation and would invite Taiwan law enforcement officials to visit to discuss how best to tackle such fraud, the ministry said. An Fengshan, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan needed to view the case rationally. "The victims abhor this kind of fraud. I hope the Taiwan side can give more thought to the victims when it looks at this issue," he told a news conference carried live on Chinese television. According to Taiwan's foreign ministry, one of the Taiwanese sent to China was also a U.S. national. The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it was aware of this report, but was not able to discuss it "due to privacy considerations." On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the department, Anna Richey-Allen, said the United States was following the issue closely and added: "We encourage Beijing to engage with Taipei to resolve this issue on the basis of dignity and respect." CHINA'S JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN QUESTION China views Taiwan as a wayward province and has not ruled out the use of force to ensure unification. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island in 1949 after the civil war with the Communists who have remained in control in Beijing since then. Only 22 countries recognize Taiwan as the Republic of China, with most, including Kenya, having diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, with its leaders in Beijing. Taiwanese lawmakers grilled government officials during parliamentary committee sessions about the case. "The Chinese judicial system is in question for many people in Taiwan," said Lo Chih-cheng, a lawmaker for the ruling pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party. "They are wondering if those people can get a fair trial in China." Rachel Liu, the mother of 28-year-old Liu Tai-ting, who was deported to China on Tuesday even though a Kenyan court had acquitted him last week, also said she did not know about China's judicial system. "We hope any trial can be conducted in our own country no matter if guilty or not guilty," she told Reuters. Some comments on Taiwan social media questioned whether a precedent was being set of Taiwanese abroad being "taken away" by China, drawing a parallel with the case of five booksellers in Chinese-controlled Hong Kong who temporarily went missing in mysterious circumstances. Hong Kong authorities are still waiting for detailed explanations from China regarding the booksellers, who produced and sold gossipy books critical of Chinese leaders, amid suspicion among some that they were abducted by Chinese agents. China has denied any wrongdoing. China's influential state-run Global Times said Kenya was right to send the people to China and added: "The mainland's handling of the case is supported by international laws." (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by J.R. Wu and Carol Lee in TAIPEI and Davi Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON; Editing by Nick Macfie, Robert Birsel and Michael Perry) Htc-10-1 HTC fumbled last year's flagship One M9 so badly it almost ruined the company. If not for a bunch of midrange phones and hype for HTC Vive virtual reality headset to prop it up, the company would be dead. But things are looking up. HTC's new flagship HTC 10 has all of the cutting-edge tech you could want from a premium phone. Most notably, the HTC 10 has a camera that doesn't suck. See also: HTC One A9 review: Is an iPhone clone that runs Android any good? The HTC 10's solid aluminum unibody design is bold and flashy. It's not the thinnest phone, but the curves and thick beveled chamfer that runs around the backside give it a svelte appearance. The metal body feels really firm in the hand. It's not slippery like the iPhone 6S or the Galaxy S7. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more solid-feeling metal phone. The proof is in the details, too. Compared to the One M9's mushy power and volume buttons, the HTC 10's power button is ridged and the volume buttons are very clicky. The HTC 10 has a 5.2-inch Quad HD (2,560 x 1,440) resolution display with 564 pixels per inch. It's big, bright and sharp. Below the screen is a home button/fingerprint sensor the same one from the One A9. The fingerprint sensor unlocks immediately with a light touch and I prefer it over the iPhone 6S's Touch ID and Galaxy S7's sensors that require a button press first. The fingerprint sensor can also be used to lock specific apps, preventing nosy spouses or friends from snooping through your Facebook, email or photos. htc-10-lock-apps Image: Screenshots: HTC You may have also noticed the two front-facing BoomSound stereo speakers that made HTC's One M7, M8, M9 iconic are gone. Not to worry: BoomSound remains, and it's as loud and clear as ever, pumping audio out from the single front speaker/earpiece and second speaker located on the bottom of the device. And like the One M9, it supports 24-bit high-res audio, if you're into that. Story continues Stacked up HTC-3 Image: Brittany Herbert/Mashable Internally, all of the best Android smartphones this year are packing pretty much the same specs, and the HTC 10 is no different. The phone's powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and 4GB of RAM it's such a common pairing that even my video producer who doesn't keep up with the latest phone tech has already memorized the combo. To be fair, it's an excellent combo. The 820 chip really is the best one Qualcomm's ever made; it's 50% faster and 50% more power efficient than the previous 810 processor. The HTC 10 is a very fast and snappy phone. Like the Galaxy S7 and LG G5, you can throw hard-hitting apps like 3D games at the HTC 10 and it still blazes. Battery life is fantastic I easily got a day and a half from its 3,000 milliamp-hour battery. htc-10-microsd-cardslot Image: Raymond Wong/Mashable The phone comes with 32GB or 64GB of onboard storage to stash your apps and media. But if you need more, you can pick up a cheap microSD card to expand that. The prices keep plummeting on microSD cards a 128GB is only $30 and a 256GB is $80. As always, the biggest differentiator between Android phones is the software. The HTC 10 comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which means you get new features like Android Pay, Now on Tap and Doze. But the UI that sits on top is HTC's own Sense 8 skin. Out of all the custom Android skins, Sense has always been one of my favorites. It's lightweight and doesn't overhaul the UI with too many visual gimmicks. It's a sensible, fast and modern looking interface prettier than Samsung's TouchWiz and LG's UX, that's for sure. HTC has even removed many of its own duplicate apps that are better offered by Google. Moreover, Google apps are better integrated into HTC's apps. For instance, in the camera app, tapping the gallery goes right to Google Photos. htc-free-form-ui Image: Screenshots: HTC The Themes app isn't new, and many phones now have their own version for easy customization. But there is, however, a new kind of theme HTC's calling "freestyle." Normally, phone apps and widgets are laid down on a grid. With a freestyle theme there's no grid. Instead, you assign apps to "stickers" and place them wherever you want on the screen. Journey, the only freestyle theme available right now is shown in the Vine above. It's a fun idea, but it's not the most practical, especially if you decide to hide the app names. First-class camera HTC-11 Image: Brittany Herbert/Mashable In my ultimate camera shootout last year, I didn't even consider the One M9. Its camera was, bluntly speaking, hot garbage. The 12-megapixel camera on the HTC 10 is the complete opposite. The "Ultra Pixel 2" camera has an f/1.8 lens with larger 1.55 micron pixels, which lets in 135% more light. Optical image stabilization (OIS) helps to reduce blurry photos and the laser autofocus sensor below the dual LED flash helps to lock onto subjects quickly. The camera app's been overhauled with a cleaner, neater look. Click here to view this gallery Image quality is much better this time around. Whereas pics from the One M9 suffered from lots of image noise, pics from the HTC 10 look excellent. Color reproduction is solid not nearly as saturated as the Galaxy S7, though not quite as accurate as the iPhone 6S, but a good in-between. Low-light performance is miles better than last year's phone. Pictures are crisp when viewed on the HTC 10's screen. But if you enlarge them and compare them with the same shots from the Galaxy S7, the latter is sharper. Still, HTC's done a fantastic job remedying one of the biggest flaws of the One M9. htc-10-camera-comparison Image: Raymond Wong/Mashable The laser autofocus could be faster, though. Despite being a second-gen version, the autofocus sensor is nowhere near as quick as the dual-pixel autofocus on the Galaxy S7. I missed a lot of street shots because the camera failed to focus fast enough. And, of course, no phone beats the quick draw of the Galaxy S7's double-tap-of-the-home-button-to-launch-camera feature. The HTC 10 is the world's first smartphone with OIS for its front-facing camera. It's a nice boasting point, but it's not really a game-changer in practice. OIS is great for combatting shaky hands and helping freeze fast-moving subjects like cars and kids. For selfies, not so much. It's not like your face is running anywhere. htc-10-selfies Even without the "beauty" effect turned on, 5-megapixel selfies looked liked they were mildly airbrushed. I prefer the rawer skin-imperfections-and-all selfies that the iPhone 6S takes, but if you don't mind the airbrushing, the selfies aren't terrible. I'd say they're roughly on par with the selfies from the Galaxy S7. Taking selfies in low-light is also better than many other phones because the lens is also f/1.8, and there's the built-in software flash (screen flashes white before the shot), popularized by the iPhone 6S's Retina flash. HTC's comeback? htc-10-usb-c Image: Brittany Herbert/Mashable The HTC 10 is a terrific smartphone HTC's best ever. HTC took a look at all of the One M9's shortcomings and fixed every single one of them. I'm wholly impressed by the turnaround. The stakes are high for phone makers building premium devices. Samsung and Apple have all but locked down the high-end market to the point LG and Sony are struggling to hang on. Xiaomi, OnePlus and Motorola have gobbled up the low and mid-range. Where does that leave the HTC 10 to fit in? I honestly don't know. The 32GB HTC 10 will cost $699 (unlocked) when it's available in early May, which is as much as a Galaxy S7. It's a noble effort to challenge the current champ head-on, but it's almost suicide. Not only does Samsung have a great phone, it's got the marketing might to outspend everyone else and maintain its lead. A lower price would have put serious heat on Samsung. Whether the HTC 10 is a financial success or a failure isn't really my concern, it's HTC CEO Cher Wang's. But as a product, the HTC 10 gives her a lot to work with. HTC 10 The Good Sharp, high-res screen Excellent 12-megapixel camera Speedy performance Long battery life Fast, responsive fingerprint sensor Expandable storage The Bad Meh selfie camera Autofocus could be faster The Bottom Line The HTC 10 is HTC's best smartphone to date and a worthy contender for best Android phone of the year. (Reuters) - Canadian miner Teck Resources said water containing metals had spilled at its Trail smelting and refining plant in British Columbia on Wednesday, with some discharge possibly flowing into a nearby creek. Teck said it believed the spill, which lasted 15-20 minutes at the zinc and lead plant, was caused by a break in a line carrying runoff water from a landfill to the on-site water treatment facility. "A quantity of the water may have entered nearby Stoney Creek," Teck said in a news release, noting there was no risk to human health. It did not provide an estimate for the volume of the spill. The miner said it would assess the potential environmental impact. (Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Editing by Richard Chang) If you thought that Tesla Model 3 momentum had died down, think again. During a recent speech in Amsterdam, Tesla VP of Business Development Diarmuid O'Connell revealed that the number of Model 3 reservations is now approaching 400,000. DON'T MISS: HTC 10 review: An exciting new flagship phone thats better in every way Originally reported by Electrek, O'Connell's statement drives home how strong of a demand there is for Tesla's incredibly hyped and long-awaited mass market EV. Of course, the real question now isn't whether or not the Model 3 will engender the same level of interest as the Model S, but whether or not Tesla can actually manufacture the Model 3 at scale to meet shockingly high demand. Tesla, of course, is clearly not blind to the challenges that lie ahead. When asked about production plans, O'Connell explained that while the volume of Model 3 reservations is a great success, "the real success will be delivering a great product" at scale. Indeed, even Elon Musk, in the wake of the Model 3's reservation tally, noted via Twitter that the company would have to rethink production planning. So while it's encouraging that Tesla is aware of the challenges ahead, it's worth noting that the company has not once ever met a launch deadline. Remember, the Roadster was delayed, as were both the Model S and the recently released Model X. Summing up things nicely, Jean-Louis Gassee recently articulated that sometimes "the design of the production process trumps product engineering prowess. In other words, the engineering of the Model 3 may be world class, but it won't mean a whole a lot if Tesla can't be similarly innovative when it comes to manufacturing at scale. Gassee adds: Today, however, Teslas factory produces a relatively low volume of luxury cars. Tomorrows Model 3 production system will need to be meaningfully different in order to achieve the volume and cost reductions that the Model 3s affordable price tag requiresand reducing production costs means an additional capital outlay. Last February, the company said it didnt expect to need outside capital, but that was before the deluge of Model 3 orders. (Of course, the excitement for the new product could make it easy to raise money) Its an enormous challenge, but if Musk manages to come up with a new, not merely tweaked, production process, Tesla might be on its way to fulfilling its leaders prophecy of 500,000 cars a year by 2020but wed need to hear more about that process. So far, we have little or no information. Story continues What's crazy is that Elon Musk's promise of being able to churn out 500,000 cars by 2020 used to elicit a bit of skepticism insofar as people doubted that demand might reach 500,000 that soon. With Model 3 reservations likely to hit 500,000 before the end of the year, the initial 2020 deadline may be need to be adjusted. Related stories GM executive fires shots at Tesla's Model 3 Tesla Model 3 details: All the updates you may have missed since the unveiling Tesla Model 3 concerns and questions still loom large More from BGR: HTC 10 review: An exciting new flagship phone thats better in every way This article was originally published on BGR.com Washington (AFP) - Europe's five leading economies called for a crackdown on tax havens, urging the G20 powers to end the secrecy of shell companies that enables tax evasion and money laundering. In the strongest reaction yet to the leaked "Panama Papers," the finance ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain also proposed a blacklist of havens like Panama if they do not share corporate registry data. "The recent extensive leaks from Panama show the critical importance of the fight against tax evasion, aggressive tax planning and money laundering," the five EU ministers said in a statement. The proposal was made as the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund kicked off in Washington, with fighting tax evasion among issues under discussion to help countries strengthen finances and boost growth. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the illicit financial activities enabled by tax havens undermined the fight against poverty. "When taxes are evaded, when state assets are taken and put into these havens, all of these things can have a tremendous negative effect on our mission to end poverty and boost prosperity," he said. - Pressure on Panama - In a letter to the G20 leading economies, meeting simultaneously in Washington, the five EU finance ministers proposed establishing transnational registries that would identify the beneficial owners of companies, trusts, foundations and other entities that had been able to hide from tax administrators and law enforcement. That would extend the steps already taken under the 2014 "Common Reporting Standard" (CRS) agreement on sharing information about assets and accounts of signatories' nationals. Corrupt officials and criminals still can exploit cracks and loopholes to hide illicit financial activities despite that pact, the ministers said. "The current events show that identifying the ultimate beneficial owner behind corporate structures is key to fighting tax evasion, money laundering and illicit finance effectively," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a news conference. Story continues The move was a reaction to the leak of thousands of documents on anonymously-owned shell companies from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that specialized in setting up such firms. The trove showed the use of shell companies by prominent politicians including close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, family members of Chinese leaders, British Premier David Cameron, and the leaders of Iceland and Argentina. The leak placed Panama in the spotlight as one of the leading havens that have not joined the CRS agreement on sharing information on bank accounts and other assets. The five threatened to create a blacklist of countries which do not cooperate on sharing data. "We want to have lists which make it possible to place sanctions on countries which don't respect the rules," French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said. Under pressure, Panama said Thursday it was ready to begin working together with the CRS system. "Panama's path to financial transparency is irreversible," Vice President Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado said in a statement. "We are fully and immediately committed to the implementation of bilateral automatic exchange of information consistent with the goals of the Common Reporting Standards." But the Oxfam anti-poverty group, which released Thursday a paper showing how top US coproations have socked away $1.4 trillion in profits in tax havens, said the European proposals are still too weak. "If the proposed registry of beneficial owners of companies and trusts is hidden from the public, how can we know who is hiding their profits and fortunes and trying to avoid paying their fair share?" they said. - Warnings over slow growth - In the meetings that got underway Thursday, both the IMF and World bank continued to press countries to do more to support economic growth and prevent the world from backsliding toward recession. They said the demand for financial support from struggling governments has risen to levels normally seen during crises. "In the global economy, there are not many bright spots," World Bank President Kim said. "The weakening global economy threatens our progress toward ending extreme poverty by 2030." "We are on alert, not alarm," IMF chief Christine Lagarde said. "The current policy responses that we are seeing need to go faster and need to go deeper." Lagarde also warned that Britain's threatened pullout for the European Union was a "serious concern" for the global economy. "It's been a long marriage between members of the European Union," she said. "It's really my personal hope that it doesn't break," she added. "Like all marriages, good talks can actually help and I hope that the dialogue can continue." Jeffrey Tambor, who won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Maura Pfefferman, a retired professor living as a woman after a life as a male on Transparent, has signed on to write his memoir, publisher Crown Archetype announced. Are You Anybody will be published in spring 2017. The memoir will be a collection of humorous and inspiring autobiographical essays tracing Tambor's life from his childhood as a self-described "fat kid with a lisp in a Hungarian-Jewish family with a father whose motto was 'Don't celebrate - they'll take it away from you'" to the present. He'll reflect on his acting career, the colleagues he's worked with over the last 40 years and "the pain and exhilaration of auditions [along with] the fear of success." Tambor's other notable roles include George Bluth on Arrested Development and Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show (his "hey now" became an instantly recognizable catchphrase). Amazon's Transparent has become Tambor's most celebrated show. In addition to the Golden Globe and Emmy, Tambor has won numerous other awards for his work. The show has also won several Emmys. Both Tambor and the show have been honored by LGBT organizations for the sensitive and nuanced portrayal of Maura's transgender identity. Tambor was also nominated for six previous Emmys for his work on Larry Sanders and Arrested Development. In a statement about the project, Tambor said, "Books and theater saved me. I am thrilled to be publishing my first book with Crown. I look forward to sharing the stories and lessons from my life that have shaped the characters I've played and how those characters have helped shape me. Some stories will be awkward, others inspiring, some dark, most funny, and all will, I think, be hopeful and instructive." Added Crown vice president Tricia Boczkowski: "Jeffrey is one of the most gifted storytellers of our time. Now he turns a gimlet eye on his own life in a book that reads like an intimate conversation over dinner with a beloved friend and teacher." Joseph Veltre at the Gersh Agency represented Tambor on the book deal. Tambor is represented by the Gersh Agency, manager Joannie Burstein and the American Program Bureau for speaking. NEW YORK - The Tribeca film festival kicked off its 15th year with an evening celebrating the meeting of glamor and art with a documentary about New Yorks annual star-studded Met Gala. The First Monday in May looks at the behind the scenes preparations for the Gala, organized by American Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour, and the Metropolitan Museum of Arts costume exhibition curated by Andrew Bolton. It features appearances by Rihanna, and top designers including Jean-Paul Gaultier and Karl Lagerfeld . Wintour said that although a lot of attention is given to the opening night and the party what's revealing about the documentary is Andrew Boltons genius. Bolton, curator of the Mets Costume Institute, said we're all about trying to put fashion within the wider artistic sort of realm. So for us it's about trying to promote fashion as an art form." Jane Fonda, Tribeca festival co-founder Robert De Niro, designer Zac Posen and actress Chloe Grace Moretz were among the stars who came out for the opening night of the festival, which will showcase more than 200 feature films, documentaries, shorts, and talks with filmmakers over its 10-day run. (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign manager, who was charged in Florida last month with battery on a reporter, will not be prosecuted, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing sources with knowledge of the situation. Corey Lewandowski was charged with intentionally grabbing and bruising the arm of Michelle Fields, then a reporter for the conservative news outlet Breitbart, when she tried to question Trump at a campaign event on March 8. Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg is scheduled to announce the decision not to press charges against Lewandowski on Thursday afternoon, Politico said. (Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Mohammad Zargham) Unless something changes dramatically in the Republican presidential primary contest in the next few months, accepting the partys nomination at the national convention in Cleveland this July is likely to be the high-water mark for whichever of the two leading candidates gets the partys nod. Billionaire Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are the only two candidates with a mathematical chance of securing enough delegates to win the nomination outright. If neither does, both will still arrive in Cleveland with such large shares of the overall delegate pool that denying one of them the nomination would throw the GOP into turmoil. Related: How Cruz and Trump Voters Will Tear the GOP Apart So, its most likely that either Trump or Cruz will be the nominee, and from a purely practical point of view thats horrible news for the GOP. Because, as a new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows, both of them are very unpopular with the American public at large. Not only are they unpopular, they are also getting more unpopular as time goes on. That means that the GOP faces nearly two more months of highly contentious primaries ahead, which will almost certainly be contested to the last day, followed by more than a month of wrangling before what could be an explosive nominating convention in July. When its all over, the last man standing will have a little over three months to remake himself as a plausible general election candidate. Thats a short time to win over a lot of hearts and minds. Things are particularly bad for Trump. Though he has won more than twice as many states as Cruz and holds a substantial 220-delegate lead at this point, he has managed that by motivating a relatively narrow slice of the American electorate. Its been enough to earn him plurality victories in Republican primaries, but taken out of that rarefied environment, Trump is a PR disaster. Related: New Polls -- Kasich Is the Only Republican Who Could Beat Clinton Story continues The poll finds that 67 percent of US adults hold an unfavorable opinion of Trump, and that 53 percent say that their opinion of him is strongly unfavorable. Worse still, his numbers have been getting worse as the campaign goes on. His total unfavorables, as low as (a still terrible) 59 in November, rose to 62 in January before spiking to 67 in March and April. Among self-identified Republicans, he barely manages a net favorable rating, with just 53 percent saying they have a positive opinion of their partys frontrunner. If Trump werent so staggeringly unpopular, wed likely be hearing more about Cruzs struggles with the general publics perception of him. The Texas senator has a net disapproval rating of 53 percent, with 33 percent of respondents saying that they strongly disapprove of him. And, like Trump, things arent getting better for Cruz as people get to know him better. In May of last year, he had a combined unfavorable rating of 38, but 37 percent of the population said they didnt know him well enough to form a judgment. Now, only 11 percent of the population has no opinion of Cruz, and while some appear to have found they like him -- driving his combined approval up from 25 to 36 -- most appear to have decided they dont like him, with the unfavorable moving from 38 to 53. Related: Why Loyalty Pledges Wont Seal the Deal for Trump The ironic thing about Trump and Cruz struggling so badly with the publics impression of them is that they are battling to take on a likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, who is also broadly unpopular with the public at large. Clinton has a disapproval rating of about 56 percent, though her approval numbers of 40 percent are higher than those of either Trump or Cruz, both of whom she beats easily in hypothetical matchups. The only Republican candidate in the race who beats Clinton head-to-head is the one getting the least attention from the voters. Ohio Gov. John Kasich has equal approval and disapproval ratings, both at 39 in the Washington Post/ABC News poll. Kasich, though, cannot mathematically win the nomination on the basis of his primary performance, so his only road to the nomination at this point is a contested convention in which the vast majority of voters who are supporting either Trump or Cruz come away not only disappointed but probably quite angry. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: By Steve Holland and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican front-runner Donald Trump took fresh steps to reset his campaign on Wednesday, hiring a top Republican operative and scheduling a meeting between aides and U.S. lawmakers as he girds for a new phase in his White House bid. Trump is under pressure to professionalize his campaign beyond a close-knit group of advisers and expand the appeal of his anti-establishment candidacy in the face of fierce opposition from rival U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and a well-funded anti-Trump operation run by establishment Republicans. Trump announced he had hired Rick Wiley as his national political director. Wiley, a long-time Republican strategist, had been campaign manager for Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor who dropped out of the presidential race last autumn. "He brings decades of experience, and his deep ties to political leaders and activists across the country will be a tremendous asset as we enter the final phase of securing the nomination," Trump said in a statement. In addition, Trump's campaign arranged a meeting in Washington of about a dozen U.S. legislators as the fierce anti-establishment candidate tries to build more relationships inside Washington and broaden his appeal. The meeting with the lawmakers and senior Trump adviser Ed Brookover is planned for Thursday morning on Capitol Hill, congressional aides said. About a dozen lawmakers are expected to attend, some of whom have endorsed Trump and some of whom have not but who are interested in his message. Trump will not be there. A series of policy speeches Trump plans to begin delivering soon could be among the topics discussed, one source said. "They're definitely planning several policy speeches ... and they are looking for input on those," a Republican source familiar with the situation said. KELLY: "CHANCE TO CLEAR THE AIR" The Trump campaign received some good news when Politico reported that campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who was charged last month in Florida with battery on a reporter, will not be prosecuted. Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg is scheduled to announce the decision not to press charges on Thursday afternoon, Politico reported, citing sources with knowledge of the situation. In another development, Trump met privately at Trump Tower in New York with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly after months of attacking her for the tough questions she asked him at a Republican debate last August about his treatment of women. Tensions between Trump and Kelly, and controversial remarks he has made about abortion, have contributed to Trump's negative image with women. Opinion polls show the New York billionaire is viewed unfavorably by women by a wide margin. Kelly said on her Fox News show she had asked for the meeting and used it to request an interview. "We met for about an hour just the two of us and had a chance to clear the air," she said. In recent days Trump has attempted to soften his image with important constituencies such as female voters. A group interview on CNN on Tuesday night featured Trump, his wife, Melania, daughter Ivanka and sons Eric and Donald Jr., and showed a more personal side to the often-brusque businessman. Melania Trump said she had fussed at Trump to stop tweeting at night. "If he would only listen," she said, chuckling. PROSPECT OF CONTESTED CONVENTION Republican strategist Ron Bonjean said the hiring of Wiley and, two weeks ago, of delegate specialist Paul Manafort suggest that Trump is preparing for a contested convention in July should he not win outright the 1,237 delegates needed for the Republican presidential nomination. "Without having good people on your team who understand how to navigate those waters, you're in big trouble," he said. The steps point to a new phase of Trump's campaign after vulnerabilities were exposed when he was beaten in Wisconsin by Cruz and outmaneuvered by Cruz in the competition for delegates in Colorado. As the Trump campaign attempts to get a better handle on the complicated delegate selection process, Trump is expected to send a contingent to a Republican National Committee (RNC) meeting in Florida next week. Trump has been in a war of words with the RNC, accusing the party apparatus of having rules that, for example, allowed party regulars in Colorado to select delegates without giving Republicans there a chance to vote. Trump on Tuesday said that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus "should be ashamed of himself." Priebus, who met Trump two weeks ago at RNC headquarters in Washington, said the delegate-selection rules have been in place for a year and it is the responsibility of each campaign to understand them. "Complaints now? Give us all a break," Priebus tweeted. (Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler) London (AFP) - A British lifeboat on Thursday rescued two Iranian men attempting to cross the English Channel in an inflatable dinghy after a passing ship noticed the light on their mobile phone, according to rescuers. The men had been at sea for up to eight hours when they were picked up at around 3:30am (0230 GMT), around 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) from the port of Dover on the southern coast. "The P&O ferry Pride of Canterbury was leaving Dover harbour when they saw a very weak light flashing occasionally," said Andy Roberts of Dover Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). "They slowed down and diverted towards the light. It was a mobile phone being held up." The men who had crossed one of the world's busiest shipping lanes without lifejackets or other safety equipment were extremely cold and given first aid by the crew, a RNLI spokesman said. After being brought ashore, the two Iranians were transferred to an immigration office, according to the local Kent Police force. The northeast coast of France is home to thousands of migrants and refugees hoping to smuggle themselves to the UK. At its narrowest point in the Strait of Dover the Channel is around 32 kilometres (21 miles) wide. By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force said on Wednesday said it still expected to declare an initial squadron of Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets ready for combat between August and December, despite delays in the jets' computer-based logistics system. The four-star generals who run Air Combat Command and Air Force Materiel Command reviewed flight milestones and other aspects of the $379 billion F-35 program at Hill Air Force Base in Utah last week. The Pentagon's F-35 program office, Lockheed, pilots and maintenance specialists also took part. Colonel Tad Sholtis, spokesman for Air Combat Command, said the conference affirmed that the jet's complex Autonomic Logistics Information System was behind schedule. But the actual plane was on schedule and doing well, he said, adding that Air Force expected to meet its target window of August through December for declaring an "initial operational capability," or IOC, of the new jets. Sholtis called the F-35 jet "a technological leap forward for the military in general and the combat air forces specifically." He said the extensive software involved with the program required extra focus for Air Force personnel, much like any other new weapons program. Sholtis said the fighter jet's performance continuously exceeded the expectations of pilots and those at the flying the accompanying jets, but the Air Force was continuing to evaluate the jets in comparison to older aircraft. He said the jet had some "very strong suits" as well as "less strong capabilities," but did not elaborate. "We anticipate that side-by-side, air-to-air and air-to-ground tests will be illustrative of the fifth generation fighter's advanced interdiction capabilities," Sholtis said. "This aircraft is built to go where legacy platforms cannot." Fielding the planes and allowing pilots and maintainers to get "hands-on experience with the nuts and bolts" would be the key to fully exploiting their capabilities, he added. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Tom Brown) (Adds details from CDC announcement, comments from health officials and background) By Bill Berkrot April 13 (Reuters) - U.S. health officials have concluded that infection with the Zika virus in pregnant women is a cause of the birth defect microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities in babies. "It is now clear, the CDC has concluded, that Zika virus does cause microcephaly," Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. "There isn't any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly." U.S. and world health officials have been saying for some time that mounting scientific evidence points to the mosquito-born virus as the likely cause of the alarming rise in microcephaly in Zika-hit areas of Brazil. It had not been declared as the definitive cause until now. Never before in history has a bite from a mosquito been seen as the cause of birth defects, Frieden said. The announcement comes at a critical time for the Obama Administration, which has been trying to get Congress to come up with funding to fight the Zika virus, which is already affecting Puerto Rico and is expected to hit parts of the United States with the coming of mosquito-friendly warmer weather. The administration has requested about $1.9 billion for Zika prevention and fighting efforts, but the CDC has been forced to divert funds intended for Ebola while awaiting new funding from Congress. The removal of any lingering doubt about the cause of the birth defects may help spur more intensive efforts to develop diagnostics and vaccines specific to Zika, which is closely related to dengue and other mosquito-borne viruses. The CDC said it believes that microcephaly, characterized by unusually small head size that can lead to developmental problems in babies, is likely part of a range of serious birth defects being caused by Zika. It also said the microcephaly cases it has reviewed in Brazil is a particularly severe form with devastating brain abnormalities. Brazil has confirmed more than 1,100 cases of microcephaly, and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. It is investigating more than 3,800 additional suspected cases of microcephaly. The latest conclusions came after all necessary scientific criteria had been met to make the official call, the CDC said. "The data are there. The evidence is there. The pieces of information we have now makes us confident," said Sonja Rasmussen, director of the CDC division of public health information and lead author of a New England Journal of Medicine article outlining evidence. CDC travel and sexual transmission guidelines remain unchanged. Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant are advised to avoid travel to the at least 41 countries and territories where Zika has spread, and men who have been to those areas are advised to abstain from sex or use condoms with partners who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant. Now that the causal relationship has been established, several important questions must still be answered with studies that could take years, Frieden said. Among answers being sought are what percentage of babies born to Zika-infected mothers are likely to suffer birth defects, or whether infected pregnant mothers who did not have symptoms of the virus pose a danger to their babies. Researchers also want to discover the full range of brain and developmental issues that may crop up later in life for infected babies, Rasmussen said. CDC officials said they expect to start seeing cases of microcephaly in Colombia soon, based on when reports of infections began in that South American country. (Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Bernard Prr) By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An influential U.S. senator accused United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of ineptitude on Wednesday for failing to halt sexual exploitation and abuse by blue-helmeted peacekeepers. The criticism from Senator Bob Corker, a Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, comes as candidates to replace Ban when he leaves the post at the end of the year after 10 years have been holding town hall meetings with diplomats from U.N. member states this week. Ending U.N. peacekeeper abuse has been a major topic of discussion during the meetings at U.N. headquarters in light of a slew of rape allegations leveled against international peacekeepers in Central African Republic. Corker asked a committee hearing on ending sexual abuse by U.N. peacekeepers why some recommendations included in a 2005 report on the problem to the U.N. General Assembly were only now being implemented. "What is wrong with the secretary-general of the U.N.?" Corker asked at the hearing, which was broadcast live. "This report ... the one that you refer to, is 10 years old." "How do we put up with such inept leadership at the United Nations?" he said, adding that he was "disgusted" by the abuse. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Ban was "determined to continue to shine a spotlight on the scourge of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers and hold those responsible accountable." "However, this is a fight that no one person can lead alone," Dujarric added. "Member states are the only ones who have the power to swiftly bring to justice those who have committed crimes and to impose the strongest possible disciplinary and criminal sanctions." Ambassador Isobel Coleman, who oversees U.N. management and reform issues at the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said countries that contribute U.N. troops were often unwilling to hold those who commit abuses accountable. "I don't think it's ineptitude," Coleman said. "I think it is a reluctance to take on the opposition of troop contributing countries that don't want to deal with this issue in the transparent way that it must be dealt with." She added that the United States was monitoring follow-up actions in troop-contributing countries to ensure people accused of sexual abuse are prosecuted. Republicans are traditionally more critical of the United Nations than Democrats. The United States contributes 27 percent of the U.N.'s $8.3 billion peacekeeping budget. Ban has pushed the U.N. to "name and shame" countries whose troops are accused of sexual abuse. Some 800 Congolese peacekeepers were repatriated earlier this year over alleged sex crimes. In December, an independent review panel accused the United Nations and its agencies of grossly mishandling allegations of child sexual abuse by international peacekeepers in Central African Republic in 2013 and 2014. (Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell and Tom Brown) By Bill Berkrot (Reuters) - U.S. annual spending on prescription medicines will increase 22 percent over the next five years, climbing as high as $400 billion in 2020, according to a report released by health care information company IMS Health Holdings Inc on Thursday. Those figures, which take into account anticipated discounts, rebates and other price concessions that have become common, represent an annual growth rate of 4 percent to 7 percent through 2020, according to the report. Using wholesale prices, IMS sees U.S. spending rising 46 percent to as high as $640 billion in 2020. As politicians, including U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, call for drugmakers to rein in price increases, spending on prescription drugs is expected to grow at a faster rate through 2020 than over the past five years, although slower than for 2014-2015, when introduction of new hepatitis C cures fueled a spike in spending. The average net price increase for branded drugs was just 2.8 percent in 2015, according to IMS, versus 12.4 percent using wholesale prices. "That reflects the new dynamics in the marketplace, where we have heightened competition in several major therapy areas, including diabetes, with manufacturers taking price concessions through rebates," said Murray Aitken, executive director of IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, which produced the report. It also reflects more aggressive tactics by pharmacy benefit managers and health insurers to restrict access to certain drugs unless manufacturers agree to hefty discounts, he said. Research pipelines filled with innovative medicines should ensure a high number of new drug launches by 2020, led by expensive cancer treatments. U.S. oncology drug spending reached $39.1 billion in 2015, an 18-percent jump, while treatments for autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, rose nearly 29 percent to $30.2 billion. "Our spending on those drugs will be relatively high but still manageable ... because they will be offset by more modest price increases for branded drugs and a rising level of savings from drugs losing patent protection," Aitken said. Upcoming high-profile patent expirations include AstraZeneca's Crestor and Pfizer Inc's Lyrica and Viagra. By 2020, there will also be increased competition from cheaper versions of pricey biotech medicines, known as biosimilars. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has so far approved two biosimilars, with many more in development. In 2015, generic drugs, including off-patent medicines still sold under brand names, accounted for nearly 89 percent of all prescriptions filled, IMS reported. (Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Bill Rigby) Despite a few positive trends in pharmaceutical industry marketing, the total cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. rose again last year by 8.5 percent and reached a record level of $310 billion, according to a new study by IMS Health. Spending on prescription drugs especially the newer, breakthrough biometric drugs for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune diseases and Hepatitis-C increased by double digits for a second year in a row and showed no sign of abating through 2020. That means that consumers, insurers and federal health care services such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Department of Veterans Affairs will be squeezed as more and more seniors and veterans seek coverage and services. Related: Extreme Rise in Some Drug Prices Reaches a Tipping Point Longer-term trends driven by the Affordable Care Act and in response to rising overall healthcare costs continued to play out in 2015, the report states. In particular, healthcare is being delivered by different types of healthcare professionals and in different facilities, and patients face higher out-of-pocket costs as well as access barriers. chart-drug spending over 10 years Even with its mixed forecast for industry pricing practices in the coming years, the report did provide some encouraging news. For one, the rate of growth in spending on drugs actually slowed slightly from the previous year, 2014, when prescription drug prices rose by 14.2 percent. That dip resulted from the expiration of patents that allowed cheaper generic drugs to enter the market. Moreover, many drug manufacturers seeking to improve their tarnished reputation for price gouging, and under pressure from health care providers, continued to offer patients, insurers and health care providers substantial discounts or rebates to reduce the sting of the overall cost. When those rebates and other price concessions were factored in, net spending on drugs totaled just $310 billion last year, or an 8.5 percent increase over the 2014 level. While the average list price for brands still protected by patents rose by 12.4 percent last year, the increase in the net price after discounts and other breaks was just 2.8 percent. Story continues Related: Drug Company Profits Soar as Taxpayers Foot the Bill The surge of new medicines remained strong and the use of recently launched brands remained at historically high levels, while the savings from brands facing generic competition were relatively low, according to the study, which was released on Wednesday. Specialty drug spending on a net price basis reached $121 billion, up more than 15 percent from 2014. The cost of breakthrough specialty drugs doubled over the past five years; they make up a huge share of the overall annual cost of drugs. For example, $39.1 billion was spent last year on cancer drugs alone, followed by $30.2 billion for autoimmune disorders and $18.8 billion for the treatment of hepatitis. Yearly Drug Costs for Selected Cancers | HealthGrove Yet the overall cost of some of the newer breakthrough drugs, such as Gilead Science Inc.s Sovaldi and Harvoni for the treatment of the Hepatitis-C virus, appears to have leveled off, as demand for the drug begins to subside. Harvoni was Gilead Sciences top-selling drug in the U.S. last year, raking in an estimated $14.3 billion in sales before discounts, according to The Wall Street Journal. The average 12-week treatment of Sovaldi or Harvoni can cost as much as $60,000 to $94,000 before the discounts. Related: Wonder Drugs Blow a $1 Billion Hole in VAs Budget While 250,000 patients were treated with Harvoni in 2015 for the deadly liver disease, up from 170,000 the year before, the number of people beginning the therapy slowed as the year progressed, suggesting many of those most in need of the medicines may have received them, according to the report. Abb-Vie Inc.s Humira and Amgen Inc.s Enbrel used in the treatment of inflammatory conditions including arthritis were the second and third highest selling drugs in the country, according to The Wall Street Journal. Since 2005, spending on prescription drugs has steadily risen with just one exception, in 2013, when it actually dipped by 3.2 percent. The new report provides only faint hope of a moderation in pricing over the next several years, projecting a mid-single digit growth rate. New innovative and very costly drug treatments will win approval from the Food and Drug Administration and continue to put pressure on overall drug spending while the introduction of more generic drugs will soften the overall impact. Related: The Surprisingly High Cost of Beating Cancer The drug industry has come under intense fire and federal and congressional overview and probes because of soaring prices of prescription drugs. The pricing practices of Gilead, Turing Pharmaceuticals, Valeant Pharmaceuticals and others -- have prompted strong criticism from the two Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bernie Sanders, as well as from consumer advocates and other public policy makers who are demanding cost constraints. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and other industry advocates have justified the price structure as essential to defraying the costs of research and development, although critics often scoff at this defense and question how much of the profits are plowed back into research. PhRMA, the industrys chief lobbying arm, issued a statement yesterday saying that the new IMS report confirms that drug costs have begun to moderate due to a competitive marketplace for medicines where large, powerful purchasers negotiate aggressively and generic utilization rates are nearly 90 percent. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China has agreed to scrap some export subsidies on a range of products from metals to agriculture and textiles, the United States said on Thursday, in a step by Beijing to reduce trade frictions with Washington. China ended a program which provided export subsidies of some $1 billion over three years to Chinese companies in seven economic sectors, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said. Some industry executives were skeptical about the deal's impact given remaining disputes over other supports that China give to its exporting industries. Steel has been a particular flashpoint. One source knowledgeable about the agreement said it was not comprehensive enough to do much to help the U.S. steel industry, given its focus was only on specialty steel products. In part, the dropping of the subsidies is an effort by China to move away from labor-intensive production and emphasize more-sophisticated industries such as semiconductors. "The Chinese want to become a high-tech country. They want to move up the value chain," said James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Chinese agriculture products that will lose the subsidies include apples, beef, mushrooms, pork, tea, tomatoes, beans, ginseng, poultry, seaweed and, garlic, USTR said. Candidates in the U.S. presidential election, especially Republican front-runner Donald Trump, accuse China of treating the United States unfairly in trade. But White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the accord "is an example of how committed this administration is to ensuring that we're fighting in the international community for American businesses and American workers." The United States had complained to the World Trade Organization about the program, alleging unfair practices by China. The Chinese industries that have received the subsidies under the program include textiles, light industry, specialty chemicals, medical products, hardware, agriculture and advanced materials and metals, including specialty steel and aluminum products, the trade representative's office said. STEEL INDUSTRY Since it joined the WTO in 2001, China has frequently drawn complaints that its exports are being "dumped," or sold at unfairly cheap prices on foreign markets. Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan said Beijing is committed to WTO regulations. China has been firmly committed to the WTO rules, continuously expanded its opening-up, deepened the reform of its foreign trade system, improved its foreign trade legal system, reduced trade barriers and administrative intervention, Zhu said in an email. U.S. Steel Corp President and Chief Executive Mario Longhi said he was cautious about the latest Chinese move. People can say whatever they want, and I think China has been saying a lot of things for the past couple of decades," Longhi told reporters in Washington. "You need to ask yourself what, from a practical perspective, is really happening. We need to see the proof in actions, not just in verbiage." The U.S. steel industry is under huge pressure this year from cheap imports, a strong dollar, and falling oil prices, which have decimated demand for steel tubes used by the oil and gas industry. China still has other forms of support for industry in place, including relatively cheap and easy credit from state banks, state-regulated power prices that have often favored industry, and low prices for other inputs such as water. "While it is clearly an important result, it is only one feature in a universe of other measures that China foresees for its steel sector," said Karl Tachelet, trade director at European steel industry body EUROFER. Wall Street shrugged off news of the agreement, with stocks in related sectors showing a mixed bag of results. Alcoa Inc was up 2.2 percent, and Freeport-McMoRan Inc rose 0.3 percent while U.S. Steel Corp shed 1.1 percent. (Additional reporting by David Morgan, Susan Heavey and David Lawder in Washington, Barbara Lewis in Brussels, Chuck Mikolajczak in New York and Jason Subler in China; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Bill Trott and Alan Crosby) By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) Formal instruction about birth control and other aspects of sexual health in the U.S. is on the decline, according to an analysis of survey data from 2006 to 2013. The declines in formal sex education we observed since 2006 are distressing, but unfortunately are part of a longer term retreat from sex education, especially instruction about birth control methods, said lead study author Laura Duberstein Lindberg of The Guttmacher Institute in New York. For example, in 1995 more than four out of five teens were taught about birth controlin the most recent data this is only about half, she said. The researchers used interviews taken from nationwide household surveys administered continuously between 2006 and 2010 and between 2011 and 2013, focusing on respondents aged 15 to 19 years. The analysis included responses from about 2,000 teen boys and 1,000 teen girls in each wave of surveys. The surveys included questions about whether the youth had ever received formal sex education at school, church, a community center or elsewhere before age 18. Examples of sex education topics used in the surveys included how to say no to sex, methods of birth control, sexually transmitted diseases and how to prevent HIV and AIDS. The second wave of surveys also asked about learning where to get birth control and how to use a condom. In addition, the teens reported whether they had ever discussed these topics informally with a parent or guardian. In the 2006 to 2010 surveys, 70 percent of girls and 61 percent of boys said they had received formal instruction about birth control, which dropped to 60 percent and 55 percent, respectively, in the 2011 to 2013 surveys. Girls also reported less formal education on STDs, HIV and AIDS prevention, and saying no to sex over time. Both girls and boys reported more formal education in saying no to sex without instruction about birth control in the second survey wave, the researchers report in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Most of the decline in reported formal sex education happened in rural areas, the study team notes. Informal sex ed talks with parents did not appear to change over time. About one in five girls and more than a third of boys said they had received no instruction on birth control from formal sources or from a parent. The ongoing changes in the public education system likely explain some part of it, said Brian Goesling of Mathematica Policy Research in Princeton, New Jersey, who was not part of the study. Schools are placing more emphasis on academic standards and student achievement. They may have less time for formal sex education. What happens in a particular school depends mostly on state and local educational policy, he told Reuters Health by email. Sex education has long been contentious and political in the U.S., Lindberg told Reuters Health by email. Abstinence-only until marriage programs took over sex education in the late 1990s, and instruction about birth control has declined ever since. At the same time, concern about HIV declined, reducing prioritization of sex education, she said. Too many teens are falling through the gaps, without instruction from parents or formal settings, she said. Too few teens receive sex education before they first have sex. While teen pregnancy has also been on the decline, that drop could have been greater if comprehensive sex education were more widespread, Lindberg said. Parents need to talk with their children about sex, about sexuality and about normal healthy development, not as a single conversation, but as part of the ongoing job of being a parent, she said. Parents can also be important advocates for other sources of sex education, working with their childs school and pediatrician to ensure that their child has access to the education that they need. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1T6IGUS Journal of Adolescent Health, online March 29, 2016. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke on Thursday to new Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, emphasizing the need to move quickly on reforms and implementing the Minsk ceasefire agreement with Russia, the White House said. "The vice president stressed that, in order to maintain international support for Ukraine, the new team should move forward quickly on Ukraine's reform program, including fulfilling its IMF commitments, as well as on Minsk implementation and the confirmation of a new, reformist prosecutor general," the White House said in a statement. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Peter Cooney) By Paola Totaro LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The British government risks losing "trust and the moral high ground" around the world if it goes ahead with plans to privatize the 150-year-old UK Land Registry, experts in the field have said. Land and property specialists are concerned that the plan, announced by Business Secretary Sajid Javid on the eve of the Easter holiday, is aimed solely at "raising cash in the short term", according to Geoffrey Payne, international advisor to the World Bank. Payne told the UK Land Forum, a seminar on land and corruption, that publicly owned land registers were essential to fostering community trust and social stability and could be powerful tools to combat land corruption, particularly in developing economies. "... it is very important that a land registry be held which gives reliable up-to-date information on who owns what - and with what rights - and that this is maintained in a way that is affordable, efficient and gives access to people to ensure transparency and good governance," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview after the seminar on Wednesday. "This is one of the main ways that we can help to reduce corruption and abuse of land management," he said. "I was very concerned to see that the UK government is now proposing to privatize the Land Registry, which ... has maintained a very accurate record of land holdings in the UK." "This (privatization) is being done for purely commercial and ideological reasons, not public benefit. This means that it will be impossible for the United Kingdom to maintain the moral high ground when it comes to advising and offering loans to developing countries," he said. "The UK Department for International Development (DFID) has interests in improving governance and reducing corruption and improving incomes and living standards ... it makes life for DFID very difficult, if it is advising governments on reducing corruption, if the UK itself in land management and governance is not setting the very highest standards of ethical behavior ..." Javid, when announcing the plan, defended it as a bid to make the Land Registry more efficient and "to meet government objectives in the best way possible". "Creating an organization that can focus on delivering modernized services and bringing in 'best in class' knowledge and external investment is a key part of this," he said. "High-quality Land Registry services and confidence in the property market will remain a high priority for government throughout this process." The Land Registry employs more than 4,500 civil servants and holds around 24 million titles to properties across England and Wales, the seminar was told. PUBLIC OPPOSITION TO PRIVATIZATION Nicky Heathcote, head of the Chief Land Registrars Office, said a nine-week national public consultation had been launched, lasting until May 24. Public opposition to the proposal has been growing, marked by the launch of a petition against privatization and a campaign by the activist group 38 Degrees. John Manthorpe, who was Chief Land Registrar for more than a decade, is among opponents of Land Registry privatization. He told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that a similar proposal in 2014 saw the public roundly reject privatization, more than 91 percent of respondents saying they did not agree that a sell-off would make the Registry more efficient. "On top of that, 89 percent said they would not be comfortable with the private sector processing land registration information," he said. In a paper 'Why Privatising Land Registration is Wrong he argues that public ownership is vital to transparency. Questions "...can arise from sale and purchase, inheritance, mortgage, discharges, leases, restrictions, matrimonial and family matters ... none of this massive and daily movement of guaranteed interest in land, between citizens, business, public bodies and financial institutions on which the market economy depends, could function without an impartial and trusted system of land registration," Manthorpe said. "The Land Registry is self financing, operating at no cost to the public purse. It has an excellent record of holding and reducing its costs and its fees to the customers. It pays an annual dividend to the Exchequer. It is not an activity that any responsible government can transfer to the private sector." In the UK, nearly 40 percent of all land holdings are still held in aristocratic estates and so have never been placed on the market for official registration, Payne said. But all land that is registered is available for scrutiny by the public, ensuring confidence and security for both investors and landowners, he said. "The real challenge and real problem is that if the government does proceed to privatize, the interest and the motivations for those running it will be in personal or private, not the public interest", he said. CORRUPTION The seminar also heard from specialists assessing the impact and origins of land corruption in developing economies and identifying measures to tackle the problem. British Prime Minister David Cameron will host an international anti corruption seminar in London on May 12. Sheila Masinde of Transparency International Kenya said the Global Corruption Barometer Report had revealed that in Africa, half of all clients of land administration services surveyed had reported being affected by corrupt practices. She said one in five people say they have paid a bribe - 70 per cent in Sierra Leone - and further research showed that land developers and speculators seek out countries with weak governance. "Land corruption is driven by poor oversight, weak institutions, a lack of capacity and low public and stakeholder participation in the land administration process," she said. "The areas most vulnerable to corruption in land administration are auctioning for land sales, land transfers, enforcement of land rights, valuations and compensations for local communities ... finding the correct balance between centralized and decentralized land management bodies is key to limiting corruption risks." (Editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, corruption, climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - - Britain's housing market looks set for a soft patch in the run-up to June's referendum on European Union membership, surveyors said on Thursday, forecasting the slowest house price growth in almost a year. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its members still saw strong underlying price pressures. But in the near term they forecast prices would slow due to tax rises on rental properties, June's referendum and Scottish and Welsh elections in May, while sales volumes were expected to dip for the first time since 2008. RICS said its monthly house price balance fell to a nine-month low of +42 last month from +50 in February, below all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists. Property website Rightmove reported earlier this week that interest from prospective landlords had dropped by more than a quarter compared with a year ago due to tax changes. "As expected, the buy-to-let rush has now run its course, and as a natural result, the market is starting to slow," Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS, said. As of April 1, buy-to-let investors and second homeowners must pay an additional 3 percent stamp duty on new purchases compared with first-time buyers. He added that there were other "significant" factors hitting short-term confidence. "Elections inevitably bring with them periods of uncertainty in the market, and our figures would suggest that next Mays devolved elections are no exception. Likewise, the EU referendum, is likely to be an influencer in terms of the damper outlook for London in particular," he added. RICS's index for price increases over the next three months was +17 in March from +21 in February, its lowest since April 2015, just before May 2015's national election which some polls had wrongly suggested could bring the opposition Labour Party to power. Over the long-term, prices are still expected to rise more than 4 percent each year for the next five years across England and Wales, the survey said, as demand in Britain's housing market continues to outweigh supply. sales rose for a fourth consecutive month although at a much slower rate than earlier in the year, according to the survey, while near-term sales expectations dipped into negative territory for the first time since 2008. ((Reporting by Ana Nicolaci da Costa, editing by David Milliken); ((ana.dacosta@reuters.com; +44 207 542 7748))) LONDON (Reuters) - A British government scheme costing energy firms 3 billion pounds ($4.3 billion) to help people save money on their bills and cut greenhouse gas emissions has not provided value for money, a parliamentary watchdog said. The report, by the National Audit Office (NAO), said "neither we nor the Department (of Energy and Climate Change) can determine the impact of the schemes on fuel poverty", while the average cost of cutting just one tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) was around 94 pounds, almost three times the cost of earlier schemes. The country has some of the most energy inefficient homes in Europe and the measures had been expected to help the country meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets. The government is also under pressure to curb rising energy bills with 2.3 million of Britain's 27 million households deemed fuel poor, meaning the cost of heating their homes leaves them with income below the poverty line. Since 2013 power suppliers are required to install energy efficiency measures such as loft insulation in some of their most vulnerable customers' homes under the governments Energy Company Obligation (ECO). Several companies, including Centrica and RWEs npower have long criticised ECO saying it is too expensive. The NAO said ECO had cost energy suppliers 3 billion pounds from 2013 to 2015 and improved the energy efficiency of 1.4 million homes. By the time the scheme ends on 31 March 2017 it is expected to save 34 million tonnes of CO2. Under a separate initiative, The Green Deal, the government offered homeowners loans to pay for green products such as energy-efficient boilers, but uptake was slow and the project was scrapped last year. The NAO report said the scheme cost taxpayers 240 million pounds with just 14,000 homes benefiting from improvements. ($1 = 0.7034 pounds) (Reporting by Susanna Twidale; editing by Susan Thomas) By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - The U.N.'s panel of climate scientists agreed on Thursday to study how to limit global warming to the toughest target suggeted by world leaders, saying even small rises in temperatures could be harmful. The panel would look into ways to restrict the rise in temperatures to 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times after a 195-nation summit in Paris agreed in December to try and phase out net greenhouse gas emissions this century. Hoesung Lee, chair of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said there were "serious risks" with even minor rises in temperatures from current levels, for instance to coral reefs and to coasts from rising sea levels. "There was not much scientific research on this topic" when the IPCC last issued a major overview of the risks of global warming in 2014, he told a webcast news conference from Nairobi. The IPCC would issue the 1.5C report in 2018 and two other special climate reports in coming years, one on land, desertification and food security and another on oceans and the world's icy areas, he said. The December 2015 summit asked the IPCC to come up with a report about 1.5C, a level scientists reckon would demand drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.. In Washington, finance ministers from a group of developing countries vulnerable to climate change, from Afghanistan to Yemen, urged developed nations to make the global financial system more compatible with the 1.5C goal. "We see the financial system as a weapon to fight climate change with tremendous potential," Cesar Purisima, secretary of finance of the Philippines and head of the Vulnerable 20 (V20)group, said in a statement. The V20 said its members planned to adopt domestic carbon pricing systems within 10 years and called for an international tax on financial transactions to help fund efforts to slow climate change and adapt to rising temperatures. Last year, average global surface temperatures hit the highest since records began in the 19th century, about 1C above pre-industrial times. Lee said the IPCC would also issue an overall report about the risks of climate change in 2022, in time for a scheduled global review in 2023 of governments' plans for fighting climate change. (Reporting By Alister Doyle, editing by Pritha Sarkar, Larry King) By Irene Klotz COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - United Launch Alliance plans to cut up to 875 jobs, or about one-quarter of its workforce, before the end of 2017 to better compete against rivals bankrolled by billionaire entrepreneurs including Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, ULA's chief executive said on Thursday. ULA, a partnership of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co , expects a first round of 375 job cuts to be accomplished this year, mostly through voluntary layoffs. In an interview with Reuters, ULA CEO Tory Bruno said another 400 to 500 employees would be cut by the end of 2017. Were in the process of transforming our company, Bruno said. For example, ULA is ending one of the two independent space transportation systems required by the U.S. Air Force, Bruno said. ULA used to be responsible for assuring that U.S. government agencies had at least two ways to send payloads into space. With this new environment where we have multiple providers, I dont have to bear that burden by myself anymore, Bruno said. Last year, Musks Space Exploration Technologies' Falcon rocket was certified to fly military payloads, leaving ULA free to end its pricey Delta 4 rocket line. Air Force Secretary Deborah James told Reuters that SpaceX could win a contract to launch a GPS military satellite in coming months, breaking ULAs monopoly. ULA is working on a next-generation rocket called Vulcan that will be less expensive to manufacture and fly than its current Atlas booster. "Our prices are coming down every day," Bruno said. "We now talk about a $99 million launch service." ULA does not plan to offer both Atlas and Vulcan rockets, an option raised by Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc during a press conference at the symposium on Tuesday. Aerojet hopes to displace Bezos Blue Origin as ULAs intended supplier for Vulcan rocket engines. Our business strategy is to simplify the product offering because that simplifies that cost structure that goes with it, Bruno said. (Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Steve Orlofsky) Capas (Philippines) (AFP) - Glowing projectiles lit up the Philippine sky from an advanced US long-range missile system on Thursday, in war games aimed at boosting their military alliance in the face of an increasingly assertive China. The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) was the star of a simulated assault exercise by 5,500 US and Philippine soldiers, unleashing six missiles at distant targets from a dry riverbed three hours' drive from Manila. US Marine Cobra attack helicopters and Philippine S211 jets also buzzed over the Crow Valley training range as Filipino and US troops acted out the capture of imaginary enemy-held territory. The exercises were staged in the shadow of a festering dispute between the poorly equipped US ally and regional giant China over islands, reefs and waters in the resource-rich South China Sea. "The truth of the matter is we are allies and as allies, we need to work together," Lieutenant-General John Toolan, the US Marine Corps Pacific commander told reporters, referring to the missile system. "I think we will be more than happy to share," he said when asked if the US would deploy HIMARS to the Philippines in the case of armed conflict over the South China Sea. The system's range is 300 kilometres (186 miles), Toolan said, meaning it could hit vessels far from the Philippine landmass. China claims most of the South China Sea, even waters and rocks close to the coasts of several neighbours that overlap with their claims. Beijing has reclaimed several reefs claimed by Manila and built structures on them that the Philippines alleges were designed for military use -- a charge China denies. - 'Highly mobile, lethal' - Although the United States has not taken a stand on the conflicting claims to the South China Sea, it has opposed China's efforts to claim the waters and has stressed freedom of navigation in the vital sealane. "We have seen the capability. It is highly mobile, lethal. So I think it is one of the capabilities we want to have," Philippine Navy Vice-Admiral Alexander Lopez said as he watched the missile firing. Story continues Lopez, the commander of Filipino forces in the South China Sea, told reporters this would "raise the skill and the respect for your armed forces, not only for the Filipinos but also in our region". Toolan said the two-week manoeuvres displayed the capability of both armies to deploy rapidly across the Asian archipelago. The truck-mounted missile system had been flown aboard a giant military transport plane to an airport near the Crow Valley firing range earlier in the day from the western Philippine island of Palawan. The Philippines has been improving its defence ties with the United States to help upgrade its capability to defend its territory. The Philippines has allowed American forces to rotate through five Philippine bases including one on Palawan and another in the north, both close to the South China Sea. Asked if HIMARS systems would be deployed in these five bases, Toolan said: "That's not necessarily in the plan but obviously, with the mobility the HIMARS gives you, you can use it anywhere." Washington (AFP) - The United States refused to say Thursday whether or not it would support a Palestinian proposal for a United Nations resolution to condemn Israeli settlement building -- but ruled nothing out. While Washington often criticizes Israeli building work in occupied areas as an obstacle to peace, it has also traditionally resisted Palestinian efforts to pressure Israel through the United Nations. And, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the United States wields a veto that it has often used in the past to shoot down motions it deems unfairly critical of the Jewish state. "We understand that there is an early draft that the Palestinians have shared informally in New York," State Department spokesman John Kirby said. "I'm not going to comment on an informal draft resolution. Nothing has been formally introduced or circulated at the Security Council," he added. But, using terms that may raise concerns in Israel, he added: "We are very concerned about trends on the ground and we do have a sense of urgency about the two-state solution. "We will consider all of our options for advancing our shared objective of lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians." Palestinian officials have circulated a draft resolution that would deem Israeli settlements illegal and an obstacle to a peace deal based on two states living side by side within agreed borders. It demands that Israel "immediately and completely" cease all settlement activities. The UN Security Council failed to adopt a similar motion condemning Israeli settlement building in 2011 after the United States deployed its veto. Washington has since argued that the best route to peace lies through a comprehensive deal between the two parties, and not through litigating the conflict in the Security Council. But the peace process is moribund and there has been a recent uptick both in Palestinian violence against Israelis and in Israel authorizing new settlement building. The Palestinian draft is still under discussion among Arab countries at the United Nations and it is not known when it will be presented to the full council. But the world body is due to discuss the Middle East crisis on Monday and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is due in New York next week to attend the signing of the UN climate deal. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The separatist leader of Western Sahara has warned the United Nations of a return to armed conflict in the north African territory unless pressure is put on Morocco to fully restore a UN mission there. Polisario Front leader Mohammad Abdulaziz delivered the warning in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, three weeks after Morocco expelled 80 staffers of the MINURSO mission, severely crippling its operations. "We warn that the absence of a real and direct pressure on the occupying state of Morocco from the international community, specifically the Security Council... will be considered a green light to a military aggression by the kingdom of Morocco against the Sahrawi people," wrote Abdulaziz in the letter sent this week. "This people will find itself, again, obliged to defend its rights by all legitimate means, including the armed struggle, which is legalized by the UN to all colonized people," he wrote. The warning came as the Security Council struggled to agree on how to salvage the MINURSO mission with its skeletal staff. Ban is due to release next week a report on renewing the mission's mandate, but the clash with Morocco has left a question mark over the future of the peace force. The UN chief angered Rabat when he used the term "occupation" to describe the status of Western Sahara, where Morocco deployed troops in 1975. The United Nations has been trying to broker a Western Sahara settlement since the 1991 ceasefire that ended a war and led to the establishment of MINURSO. The mission was tasked with organizing a referendum on the future of Western Sahara, which never materialized. Diplomats said Morocco was lobbying to have that provision dropped from the MINURSO mandate. France and Senegal have supported Morocco in its demands, according to diplomats, who raised concern that concessions to Rabat will embolden other governments unhappy with a UN presence in their countries to take action. Days after House Speaker Paul Ryan categorically declared that he did not want and would not accept the Republican nomination for president, its becoming clearer how the Wisconsin lawmaker will be spending the rest of 2016. Reports filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission show that Ryan raised $17.2 million in the first three months of the year. Over $11 million of that went to the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOPs campaign wing, smashing the $7 million record set by Ryans predecessor, John Boehner, in the second quarter of 2012. Related: Paul Ryan: Count Me Out I Should Not Be Considered. Period The infusion of cash will be used to keep the House in Republican hands by shoring up vulnerable members who could get swept away in the November election if Donald Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) is at the top of the ticket. The latest polls show either candidate would yield disastrous results down the ballot. Ryan, who grudgingly accepted the speakers gavel last year, wants to enact major reforms to taxes and entitlements during his tenure, but he wont be able to realize any of those plans if the GOP majority is swept away in a Democratic tidal wave. Its likely then that the Wisconsin lawmaker will continue to serve as his partys fundraiser-in-chief as Election Day draws closer. At the same time Ryan is working to keep the Republican Party financially viable heading into November, he is also taking a step back from the chaotic GOP presidential primary. Related: Paul Ryan Faces Fiscal Failure as the House Blows the Budget Deadline Despite repeated pledges to stay out of the fray of the campaign, Ryan has forcefully commented on the race several times, often to denounce the latest controversy from Trump, the frontrunner. Those admonishments, coupled with the release of a slick video of a recent speech in which he called for a battle of ideas to replace identity politics, sent such a mixed message about the speakers own presidential aspirations that Ryan had to give a Shermanesque statement earlier this week to quash rumors that he secretly wanted the GOP nomination. Story continues On Thursday, Ryan was content to stay on the sidelines for the latest fight between the Republican Party and Trump. The real estate mogul has been decrying the presidential delegate system as unfair following Cruzs recent win in Colorado, a victory credited to the Texas senators superior campaign organization. It's up to the states to decide that. Every state has their own process for doing it. I'm familiar with my own state. I'm really not that familiar with other states. So again, that's not something that we are involved in. That's not our choice. That's the state's choice, Ryan, who will serve as the chair of the Republican National Convention, said during his weekly press conference. Related: Why Paul Ryan Will Dodge the GOP Presidential Snake Pit I am not going to comment on the day-to-day, in-and-out of the presidential campaign on these issues, he added, noting that the conventions rules committee will set the rules and we will follow the rules by the book. And we are not at the convention yet. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: In 1999, a team of scientists led by Christian Korner did what thousands of people do every Christmas: they wrapped Norway spruce trees in tubes. Except this was in March, not December. And the trees were 40-metre-tall giants in the middle of a Swiss forest, not 2-metre pipsqueaks in a living room. (The team had to use a crane). And the tubes had no lights or baubles on them. Instead, they had a series of tiny holes, which pumped out carbon dioxide. For years, the team fumigated five of these wild spruces. They wanted to see how trees will cope with the high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide that were pumping into the atmosphere. But in the process, and almost by accident, they showed that trees of different species exchange huge amounts of carbon via an internet of fungia wood-wide web that secretly connects their roots. When trees photosynthesize, they use the suns energy to refashion carbon dioxide and water into sugars. In this way, they assimilate the carbon from the gas into the molecules of their own leaves, trunks, and roots. To study this process, Korners team exposed their trees to a special blend of carbon dioxide, depleted in an isotope called carbon-13. These depleted levels acted like a label that the team could use to track the flow of carbon through the trees, from leaf to root, from tip to toe. Recommended: Why Luck MattersMuch More Than You Think And beyond. When Tamir Klein joined the team in 2012, his job was to see how much of the labeled carbon had made its way from the canopy to the roots. Sure enough, when he dug up the spruces roots, he found that they had low levels of carbon-13. But, to his surprise, so did the roots of surrounding trees, including other species like beech, pine, and larch. Somehow, the labelled carbon had not only moved from the canopies of the five spruces to their roots, but also across to unconnected trees. Christian was very reluctant to believe any of this. He said: you misidentified the roots, says Klein. But he hadnt. He and his colleagues dug up the soil around the trees to ensure that the labelled roots belonged to different individuals. Sometimes, we even tasted the roots to distinguish them. We confirmed that the label really was being transferred. Story continues It wasnt moving across the canopy. Klein only found the carbon label in the roots of nearby trees and not their leaves, so the exchanges are happening underground. Roots of neighbouring trees can sometimes graft together, and lab studies have shown that carbon can move along these bridges. But Klein showed that this wasnt the case for his spruces: they werent wired up to their neighbours. Roots can also release carbon directly into the soil, which can then be absorbed by other roots. But if the spruces were doing that, then Klein should have found labelled carbon in every nearby plantand he didnt. There wasnt any trace of the stuff in understory herbs like dogs mercury and blackberries. It was, however, abundant in fungi, growing on the roots of the spruces and other trees. Recommended: The Hell After ISIS These fungithe mycorrhizaare found on the roots of almost all land plants, and provide phosphorus and nitrogen in exchange for carbon-based sugars. They can also colonize several hosts at once, creating a large fungal internet that ferries nutrients and signaling chemicals between neighboring plants (much like the trees of Pandora in James Carmerons Avatar). Theres a below-ground community of mycorrhizal fungi invisibly interconnecting an above-ground plant community, explains Christina Kaiser from the University of Vienna. But its usually regarded as a network for supplying nutrients in exchange for carbon, not for delivering carbon from one plant to the other in such large amounts. Shes not kidding about the large amounts. Kleins team estimated that in a patch of forest the size of a rugby field, the trees trade around 280 kilograms of carbon every year. Thats around 40 percent of the carbon in their fine roots, and about 4 percent of what they produce in total through photosynthesis. There were earlier hints of these underground carbon exchanges. In 1997, Suzanne Simard from the University of British Columbia used a similar labelling experiment to show that seedlings of paper birch and Douglas fir trees can exchange carbon via fungi on their roots. But nothing much has happened since that influential paper, says Klein. No one took it to the forest level, to show that this carbon transfer could be relevant to big trees, at an ecological scale. If anything, he showed that trees are transferring even larger amounts of carbon than Simards seedlings were. Recommended: Sanders Wins the Debate on Points Its an important advance, says Simard, given that the experiment was conducted among older trees in natural forests. It drives home the shift in how we view plant communities, driven not only by competition, but also cooperation. The big question is whether this carbon sharing actually improves tree fitness or resilience to changing environmental conditions, adds Franciska de Vries from the University of Manchester. During a drought, the least affected trees might be able to continue photosynthesizing, and supply struggling trees with carbon, thereby increasing the resilience of the entire community. De Vries also wants to know if the carbon trades depend on the donor tree. Does it matter if the donor is an oak or a pine, rather than a spruce? Can large, old trees with access to lots of light supply carbon to smaller trees and saplings that might otherwise be outcompeted? Forests might be more socialist than we thought, she says. To understand more about these carbon trades, Klein wants to create a mini-ecosystem, where he grows trees in common pots and allows them to develop mycorrhizal networks. Under these controlled conditions, we can do smaller labelling experiments where we can precisely measure the rates of carbon transfer and its direction, he says. Is it really bidirectional? If you put a suffering tree next to a strong one, would the carbon flow from strong to less strong, or the other way? Or would it be neutral? We dont think there is any intention of a tree to help its neighbor, he cautions. You could equally view the exchanges as smaller trees stealing carbon from larger ones, or as the entirely incidental side effect of mycorrhiza growing on multiple trees. But whatever the slant, its clear that even a very mixed forest is much more connected than we thought, says Klein. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The World Bank will likely take the lead on initial projects jointly financed with China's new Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, the head of the Washington-based multilateral lender said on Thursday. The two institutions on Wednesday signed a framework agreement to co-finance projects, and the World Bank said they were currently discussing nearly a dozen projects in sectors that include transport, water and energy in Central Asia, South Asia and East Asia. AIIB, which was formally launched in January, expects to approve $1.2 billion in financing this year. The World Bank said joint projects will account for a sizeable share of that amount. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim told reporters on Thursday that such financing projects require a massive amount of up-front preparation work, and the AIIB is still building up its capabilities. "The AIIB is only now increasing their staff. So likely, the first projects will be that we do all of that project preparation, we do all the work that requires huge amounts of staff in a large and institutional infrastructure, and then they will simply co-finance," Kim said. He said no decisions have been made on specific projects to jointly finance with the AIIB. He noted that under the framework agreement, the jointly financed projects will use the World Bank's policies and procedures in areas such as procurement, environment and social safeguards. The AIIB is expected to lend $10 billion to $15 billion annually within the first five or six years of operations. The new bank, which signals China's growing economic clout, will provide an alternative to the World Bank and other Western-dominated multilateral investment banks. Despite opposition from Washington, U.S. allies including Australia, Britain, German, Italy, the Philippines and South Korea have agreed to join the AIIB. (Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao) By Edward Krudy NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City's largest public pension is exiting all hedge fund investments in the latest sign that the $4 trillion public pension sector is losing patience with these often secretive portfolios at a time of poor performance and high fees. The board of the New York City Employees Retirement System (NYCERS) voted to leave blue chip firms such as Brevan Howard and D.E. Shaw after their consultants said they can reach their targeted investment returns with less risky funds. The move by the fund, which had $51.2 billion in assets as of Jan. 31, follows a similar actions by the California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers), the nation's largest public pension fund, and public pensions in Illinois. "Hedges have underperformed, costing us millions," New York City's Public Advocate Letitia James told board members in prepared remarks. "Let them sell their summer homes and jets, and return those fees to their investors." The move is a blow to the $3 trillion hedge fund industry where managers like to have pensions as investors because they leave their money in for longer than individuals, sending a signal of stability to other investors. Hedge fund returns have been lackluster for some time. The average fund lost about 1 percent last year when the stock market was flat, prompting institutional investors to leave. Research firm eVestment said investors overall pulled $19.8 billion from hedge funds in January, marking the biggest monthly outflow since 2009. Performance at some of the funds with which New York City invested was far worse. Luxor Capital Group, a long-time favorite with many pensions, lost an average 18.3 percent a year for the last two years. New York city's public pension system has five separate pension funds with individual governing structures. The system has total assets of $154 billion, with about $3 billion invested in hedge funds as of Jan. 31. Story continues NYCERS had $1.7 billion invested in hedge funds at the end of the second quarter 2015, according to its financial report. That amounted to 2.8 percent of total assets and was the smallest portion of its 'alternative investments' portfolio, which included $8.1 billion in private equity. Unaudited data from the city Comptroller's office showed NYCERS' hedge fund exposure was $1.4 billion as of Jan. 31. Comptroller Scott Stringer, a trustee, said eliminating hedge funds would a help NYCERS construct a "responsible portfolio that meets our long-term investment objectives". NYCERS paid nearly $40 million in fees to hedge funds during its 2015 financial year, while its hedge fund portfolio returned 3.89 percent over the year, according to its financial report. "Hedge funds are charging exorbitant fees for high-risk and opaque investments," said James. Public pensions started to invest heavily in hedge funds after the financial crisis in 2008-2009 to diversify their assets. A CEM Benchmarking survey of public pensions with a total of $2.4 trillion in assets found 5.2 percent of assets were invested in hedge funds in 2014, compared to 1 percent a decade earlier. (additional reporting by Svea Herbst; Editing by Nick Zieminski) A version of this story first appeared in the April 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. When Steven Pasquale and Philippa Soo announced their engagement in February via Instagram, it was the post seen round the theater world: Soo, 25, plays Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, the emotional center of the juggernaut Hamilton; theater and TV veteran Pasquale (Rescue Me, The Good Wife, Billions), 39, is wowing audiences off-Broadway in The Robber Bridegroom. In true theater-royalty style, the two were set up in 2015 by Hamilton's King George III, Jonathan Groff. "Steve has been getting to know me as this whole Hamilton experience has unraveled," says Soo. "I've been grateful to have someone with an outside perspective but who totally understands." But it's likely they crossed paths years before their first meeting, she adds (Soo moved to New York in 2008 to attend Juilliard). "We talk about our favorite places, or art exhibits or shows we've seen in the past before we knew each other, and we'll say, 'I was there, too!' It's funny that our worlds were so close but we never met until last year. I think that's something magical about New York, that your circles are always crossing with the most interesting people." Read More: New York Power Pairing: ICM Partners' 'Binky' Urban and New Yorker Writer Ken Auletta Share a Literary Life Decompressing from eight shows a week happens over spicy noodles or Indian food on Sundays, when they discuss the pressures of Hamilton and the politics of the present: "Charlie Brown could be on the ballot opposite Donald Trump, and he would get our vote," says Pasquale, who has encouraged Soo in developing The Eliza Project, which brings arts workshops to at-risk children through Graham Windham, an organization descended from the orphanage founded by Eliza Hamilton 200-plus years ago. Story continues When Pasquale was filming The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story in 2015, he flew to L.A. to shoot scenes as Detective Mark Fuhrman but remained based in New York. If his CBS pilot (crime drama Doubt) gets picked up, the two will spend more time out west, though they remain committed to NYC ("We talk about what we want to do once we finally have our nights free, to see films and more shows," says Soo) and theater. "We'd love to do more work together," says Pasquale, "so at least we'd be in the same room!" Meet Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, Vietnam's first female self-made billionaire. Much of her net worth comes from her company VietJet Air, which on its website calls itself a "dynamic, innovative airline." But some might have other words for what it is her company is doing. Indeed, VietJet isn't known so much for its CEO as it is its bikinied flight attendants. It's a uniform Thao insists is empowering for women in such a conservative country. "As a businesswoman, I have a responsibility to contribute to the economy and to push for positive changes of the country and in the society, in light of the international integration that's happening," Thao told B. "You have the right to wear anything you like, either the bikini or the traditional ao dai," she added, with the ao dai being a long tunic traditionally worn in Vietnam. Read more: This Hilarious Video Proves Just How Empowering Girl Power Ads Are The airline also profits off of its calendars, which star models in VietJet Air bikinis hanging out on a plane and a tarmac. Social media slammed the airline when images from a "trial photo shoot" were leaked by one of its starring models and went viral, according to the Telegraph. I've never scolded an airline until today. @VietjetairCom, you should be ashamed of yourself marketing Iingerie models as fight attendants. Fellow budget airline Ryanair went through a similar controversy with its own calendars, which used to feature its flight attendants in bikinis, according to the Irish Times. The airline canceled the calendar, which began in 2008, in 2014 after it was called "discriminatory." In 2012, VietJet Air hosted a "beauty show," in which women danced down the aisle while the plane was at cruising , according to ABC News. The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam fined the airline $1,000 for holding an "unapproved show." VietJet Air currently has 47 destinations in Vietnam and around Asia, It also has of Vietnam's flying market share, Bloomberg reported, and it could very well become the nation's biggest airline. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 By Azad Hasanli - Trend: Consolidation of banks in Azerbaijan will make it possible to reduce their administrative expenses, Dmitry Vasiliev, Fitch Ratings director for financial institutions, told reporters. "Consolidation of banks is necessary so that they can work with lower administrative costs," he said. "Now in average on the market, the ratio of expenses to revenues is 60 percent, which is rather high and indicates a lack of effectiveness of the banking system." Fitch representative said that in this regard, consolidation will have a positive impact on Azerbaijan's banking market. Azerbaijani Central Bank has repeatedly stated about the need for the country's banks to merge. Since the beginning of 2016, two mergers were announced: Atrabank, Gunay Bank united with Caucasus Development Bank NBC Bank, Kredobank united with Parabank After that, Gunay Bank refused to merge with Atrabank and Caucasus Development Bank. Azerbaijan's NBC Bank signed a letter of intent on merger with two other banks. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend: Oil prices will stand at $45 per barrel if the market's major players stick to the agreements reached, says Valentin Zemlyansky, director of energy programs at the Center of World Economy and International Relations at Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences. "The upcoming meeting of oil producing countries in Doha will lead to stabilization of crude prices and the price for a barrel of oil will begin to grow," Zemlyansky told Trend Apr. 14. The expert believes that Iran doesn't play a key role on the global oil market and is unlikely to increase production in a short time. Oil producing countries plan to hold a meeting in Doha on Apr. 17 to discuss freezing the oil output at the February levels in order to stabilize the prices. During a meeting in Doha on Feb. 16, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela agreed to freeze the oil output at the January levels if other producers followed the suit. Ecuador, Algeria, Nigeria, Oman, Kuwait and the UAE expressed readiness to join this initiative. Earlier, Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter in OPEC, said it will freeze the oil output without Iran's participation. Iran, for its part, said it won't join the output freeze initiative. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: The US must take immediate and decisive actions to support Azerbaijan in the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, director of international communications for an Israeli think tank, wrote in her article published in The Washington Times. "The US Congress must understand that an extended cease fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia won't stick," Jaffe-Hoffman, who is also former editor for the Jerusalem Post and former editor in chief of the Baltimore Jewish Times, wrote. "Now is the time to take action toward a peaceful and complete reconciliation between the two countries." Jaffe-Hoffman wrote that preserving the status quo is unacceptable. The author wrote that for starters, as a result of the Armenian occupation, around one million Azerbaijanis have been forced to flee their homes. "Second, the U.N. Security Council has recognized Azerbaijan's right to this territory with Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884, among others," the author wrote. "Armenia has continued to ignore the resolutions. By sitting idly, the United States looks weak and sends a less-than-caring message to its ally Azerbaijan." "Third, while there may be another cease fire now - and it may even stick for months - keeping the status quo is like standing by a volcano waiting for it to erupt," the author wrote. "Fourth: Azerbaijan is the most important player in the $45 billion international Southern Gas Corridor pipeline project to bring new gas supplies to the European market," the author wrote. "This project is arguably the global oil and gas industry's most significant and ambitious undertaking yet," the article says. The author wrote that Armenian commanders have more than once threatened to attack Azerbaijan's oil and gas infrastructure, and some of the fighting that took place in recent weeks was not far from the route of the oil pipeline. "If the line was attacked, this would drastically slow down and potentially put on hold a project in which seven European governments and 11 companies are invested," the article says. "This, not to mention that European energy security is at stake." The author wrote that finally, and most importantly, is the fact that with every day the cease fire holds, Moscow's influence in the region grows. "Yet it was also Moscow that brokered the cease fire agreement, which significantly increased Russia's diplomatic profile in the region," the article says. The author wrote that Moscow is on Armenia's side. "If Moscow's participation becomes any deeper, the Turks will undoubtedly involve themselves, too; Turkey backs fraternal Azerbaijan," the article says. "The result may be a regional war with two major powers and militaries fighting on the periphery, while supporting the two central players as proxies." The author wrote that the region cannot afford another flash point. While appealing to the US Congress, the author wrote that now is the time to step in and forestall the Russians and ensure justice in the region. "It is necessary to force Armenia to remove its troops from the region," the article says. "It is necessary to allow Azerbaijani refugees to return to their homes and reconvene the Minsk Process to produce a peaceful and lasting solution to the conflict." On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow the author on Twitter:@E_Kosolapova Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14 By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend: Status quo is unsustainable in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Malena Mard, head of the EU Delegation in Azerbaijan, told reporters in Baku April 14. "We support the OSCE Minsk Group," Mard said. "We are very clear that status quo is unsustainable." Mard said that the EU supports territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, when it comes to Nagorno-Karabakh. "We need to move forward towards the peaceful solution of the conflict," Mard said. "I think it was in the focus of EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy Federica Mogherini's recent visit to Azerbaijan." On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum Details added (first version posted on 14:33) Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 Trend: Armenia has once again distorted the essence of negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in a way convenient for itself, says Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. "Armenia's attempts to distort the essence of the negotiation process and present it in a one-sided form once again prove that country's non-serious and destructive attitude towards the conflict's settlement," Mammadyarov told AzerTAg news agency Apr. 14. He said it is illogical to make claims about invalidity of the document, in particular the updated Madrid principles, which were submitted by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to the OSCE secretary general's depository with the consent of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Mammadyarov said international community is aware of Azerbaijan's stance regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's resolution. He said that under the UN Security Council's resolutions, Armenian armed forces should be unconditionally and completely withdrawn from the occupied Azerbaijani lands and Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty should be restored within the internationally recognized borders. "Azerbaijan has repeatedly expressed readiness to start a political process on a comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on those principles," he added. Edited by EA Details added (first version posted on 14:33) Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 Trend: Armenia has once again distorted the essence of negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in a way convenient for itself, says Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. "Armenia's attempts to distort the essence of the negotiation process and present it in a one-sided form once again prove that country's non-serious and destructive attitude towards the conflict's settlement," Mammadyarov told AzerTAg news agency Apr. 14. He said it is illogical to make claims about invalidity of the document, in particular the updated Madrid principles, which were submitted by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to the OSCE secretary general's depository with the consent of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Mammadyarov said international community is aware of Azerbaijan's stance regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's resolution. He said that under the UN Security Council's resolutions, Armenian armed forces should be unconditionally and completely withdrawn from the occupied Azerbaijani lands and Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty should be restored within the internationally recognized borders. "Azerbaijan has repeatedly expressed readiness to start a political process on a comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on those principles," he added. "The provocations and military gambles started by the Armenian servicemen on the line of contact on Apr. 2 once again showed that the presence of Armenian armed forces on Azerbaijan's occupied lands is the main reason for escalation of situation and the main threat to peace and stability in the region," said Mammadyarov. "It also shows how fragile is the peace in the region." "Perhaps, some in Armenia think it is still 1990s in the region," he added. "The region has changed fundamentally." Mammadyarov said as it can be seen on the example of Azerbaijan, as distinct from Armenia, the region's countries pursue a more full-fledged policy at international and regional levels. "The sooner Armenian leadership understands the necessity of withdrawing its forces from the occupied Azerbaijani lands, the sooner it will be possible to restore peace and stability in the region," added Mammadyarov. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.14 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) should support Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, TRT Haber TV channel quoted Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying Apr.14. The latest developments in the region require the OIC countries to show a single position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, according to the prime minister. The 13th Islamic Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has kicked off in Istanbul. Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev is among the leaders attending the event. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Edited by SI --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Details added (first version posted on 14:44) Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 Trend: The Armenian side is refusing to provide information about the missing Azerbaijani serviceman, warrant officer Seymur Bakhishov, the Azerbaijani State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons told Trend Apr. 14. Armenia does not take appropriate steps for return of the soldier, said the commission. On the instruction of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, immediately after the reaching an agreement on suspension the military operations, the Azerbaijani side has fulfilled all the tasks in connection with clarifying the fate of those killed and missing soldiers. As of Apr. 14, the bodies of 18 servicemen were given to the Armenian side with the participation of international mediators. The Azerbaijani side also calls on the relevant international structures to show adherence to the issue of clarifying the fate of Seymur Bakhishov, determination of his whereabouts and assist in his return. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 By Aygun Badalova - Trend: The stability in South Caucasus region is important not only for Turkey but also for other countries, said Tugay Tuncer, deputy chief of Turkey's mission to the US. He made the remarks addressing an event titled 'Syria and the South Caucasus: Emerging Threats to Turkish and NATO Security', held at the Heritage Foundation, Apr. 14. Tuncer noted that Turkey is greatly concerned with the recent large-scale attacks and ceasefire violations by Armenia against Azerbaijan along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as in Nakhchivan, which caused military and civilian casualties. The OSCE Minsk Group, which mediates the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict since 1994, had many unsuccessful attempts at finding the solution to the conflict, according to Tuncer. The current status quo is actually not sustainable anymore, he noted. "We expect the international community, especially the Minsk Group co-chairs to take responsibility and urge Armenia to put an end to armed provocations," said the diplomat. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Tuncer further said that Turkey is fully committed to continue to develop good relations based on mutual respect with all countries in the South Caucasus. "We believe that this region should not be seen as the sphere of influence of any power," said Tuncer. "The region's countries have the right to determine their path in line with their national interests." Tuncer said that Turkey's constructive approach towards the region was met by similar understanding by Georgia and Azerbaijan and today these countries improve relations and cooperation with Turkey. Tuncer noted that Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey have many big projects like Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project, TANAP gas pipeline project. Armenia, according to him, is missing cooperation opportunities in this region, but Turkey hopes that the country will see the benefits of this cooperation. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @AygunBadalova Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: Europeans have demonstrated inability and lack of commitment in resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, says the US expert Ariel Cohen. Since the Bush senior administration through Bill Clinton administration and Bush administration, the US had a policy of commitment to South Caucasus, the policy of keeping its friends and allies - Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia as independent nation-states increasingly integrating, said Cohen, who is the founder of International Market Analysis Ltd., director of the Center for Energy, Natural Resources and Geopolitics, and senior fellow at the Institute for Analysis of Global Security. Unfortunately, since 2008 and 2009 there has been a slow deterioration of this commitment, Cohen added addressing an event titled 'Syria and the South Caucasus: Emerging Threats to Turkish and NATO Security', held at the Heritage Foundation. He pointed out that the West has very few observers on Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the expert, the West should renew its commitment to settling of the crisis between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the basis of international law and liberating the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Cohen also talked about the significance of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) projects, which are the parts of the Southern Gas Corridor. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 Trend: The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Herbert Salber will be arriving in Baku Apr. 14 to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Salber told Trend by phone that he plans to hold a number of meetings with Baku officials. The main topic of the talks will be the latest developments on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, Salber said. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend: With heavy weapons and artillery barrages, Armenia recently attacked Azerbaijan, breaking a fragile truce that concluded the bloody, six-year war between the two countries in 1994, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Washington Elin Suleymanov wrote in his article in The Daily Caller. Armenia's assault across the line of contact, which separates the Azerbaijani and the Armenian forces in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan - triggered fighting that killed civilians and soldiers on both sides, according to the article. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. After repulsing the attack, Azerbaijan declared a unilateral ceasefire, a move supported by the US and other Western allies, Suleymanov wrote. Armenia accepted the truce two days later, after Russia intervened, the article said. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Now the international community must call on Armenia to abide by the ceasefire, withdraw its occupation forces from Azerbaijani territory and negotiate in good faith for a settlement to one of the world's most protracted conflicts, according to Suleymanov. If Azerbaijan and Armenia can resolve their differences peacefully, it will encourage other long-term adversaries to settle longstanding disputes, he wrote. But, if force prevails over fairness, extremists and expansionists everywhere will be emboldened, Suleymanov said in his article. The timing of Armenia's attack was noteworthy - coming just as Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev was wrapping up a successful visit to the US for the Nuclear Security Summit, Suleymanov said. Shortly after more than 50 world leaders came together to promote peace, Armenia incited the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh - undermining hope of a sustained resolution, according to the article. "Unfortunately, Armenia's conduct during the current crisis is typical of its behavior over the past three decades," the article said. "During the final years of the former Soviet Union, Armenia supported separatists of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in western Azerbaijan. While some pattern of separatist violence has been replicated elsewhere in the region, Armenia's actions then resulted in the largest and most dangerous separatist conflict in the former Soviet Union." Now that the ceasefire has halted the heaviest fighting in two decades, the international community must make the most of this opportunity to transform an unacceptable and unsustainable status quo, the diplomat said in his article. It is time to insist that Armenia not only accept the ceasefire but also withdraw its illegal occupation forces from Azerbaijani territory, according to Suleymanov. Azerbaijanis are frustrated with the slow pace of the negotiations, and are eager to do their part for peace, the article read. "Azerbaijan and Armenia are strategically situated in the South Caucasus at the crucial crossroads of Asia, Europe and the Middle East," said the article. "The international community should help us set an example for other nations embroiled in seemingly insoluble conflicts. We should seek coexistence so that all in our region can live alongside one another in peace and prosperity." Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend: The EU and Azerbaijan have already signed a joint declaration on migration and mobility, and this is a sign of great attention by the EU towards cooperation with Azerbaijan in this sphere, Malena Mard, head of the EU Delegation in Azerbaijan, told reporters in Baku April 14. Visa facilitation agreement that has been implemented more than a year ago shows that there is a willing from the EU side and Azerbaijan to facilitate and see more movement between kinds of groups, be that tourists or business people, she said. The EU is the largest trade partner and investor for Azerbaijan, Mard said. The EU hopes to organize a business forum in Baku May 17-18, which will be important to figure out what else can be done to increase trade and investment between the union and Azerbaijan, according to Mard. According to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, in 2015, the country's trade turnover with the EU amounted to $9.69 billion, which is 1.5 times less than in 2014. The share of the EU countries accounts for 31.9 percent and 59.1 percent of Azerbaijani imports and exports, respectively. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 Trend: The Armenian side has published some of its losses the country incurred as a result of the recent military action, after which the Armenian community fell into state of fear and panic, the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend Apr. 14. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. Thus, the criminal military and political regime in Armenia will be for a long time disseminating information that allegedly the Azerbaijani army daily commits acts of sabotage, said the press service, adding that Armenia will be also reporting about killings of soldiers in order to justify their other losses. In addition to these excuses, the Armenian side has no other choice but to hide its defeat, according to the defense ministry. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Details added (first version posted on 12:47) Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14 Trend: The violation of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity is unacceptable, says Iyad Ameen Madani, secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Madani made this statement at the 13th OIC Islamic Summit Conference, being held in Istanbul April 14. The 13th Islamic Summit Conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is underway in Istanbul. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is participating in the event. The OIC stands for the speedy settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the secretary general of the organization said. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend: Azerbaijan by its successful response to the aggressive provocations of the Armenian armed forces has demonstrated the technical and moral advantages of its army to the whole world, Aurelia Grigoriu, the chairperson of the Public Chamber of Moldova, told Trend Apr. 14. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. "Azerbaijan demonstrated its determination to defend its territorial integrity by all means within the framework of international law," said Grigoriu. She said that no preservation of the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be considered, as only those who are not interested in a peaceful resolution of this conflict can support such a status. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. "The international community, if it sincerely wants to prevent the bloodshed is now obliged to support Azerbaijan, a country suffering from aggression, and force Armenia to finally comply with the requirements of the four resolutions of the UN Security Council, as well as other documents of authoritative international structures on unquestioned withdrawal from the occupied Azerbaijani territories," Grigoriu said. "Only after the liberation of Azerbaijan's seven occupied districts and the Nagorno-Karabakh region, after the return of IDPs to their homes will it be possible to proceed to the next stage of settlement of the conflict in a peaceful way - addressing the issue of self-determination if this issue is topical," she said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 Trend: Despite the agreement to cease hostilities, the units of Armenian armed forces continue to exacerbate the situation along the entire contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, said Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry in a message Apr. 14 Junior Sergeant Rustam Ahmadov, serving in Azerbaijan's army, was killed Apr. 14 at the line of contact while suppressing another Armenian provocation. "Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry extends its deep condolences to the family and friends of the killed," read the ministry's message. "The Defense Ministry states that the responsibility for the bloody provocation on the line of contact lies entirely on the military and political leadership of Armenia and the retaliatory strike on the enemy will be devastating," according to the message. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend: Russia will do everything to help solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as Moscow is interested in the settlement, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on air Apr. 14, Russia 24 TV channel reported. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Putin went on to add that a compromise should be found. "Several years ago, it seemed, we were quite close to the settlement, but things turned out to be different," Putin said. This is a very sensitive topic, which should be treated according to the "Do no harm" principle, the president said. Putin said that Russia will continue working to resolve this issue within the framework of international organizations and in a bilateral format. He said that long-term solutions that should be found through political means are needed. "Russia, no matter what anyone says, is interested in solving this issue," he said. "We want to work with both Azerbaijan and Armenia." Russia will make its contribution to the solution of the conflict, the president said, but the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia must make the final decision. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.14 Trend: As a G-20 member, brotherly Turkey has been making serious contribution to the global development in recent years thanks to its growing influence on the international arena, said Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev. He made the remarks while addressing the first session of the 13th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul Apr.14. President Aliyev expressed gratitude to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the invitation to the summit and excellent organization of the event. "I wish Turkey success during the period of its presidency in the OIC," said President Aliyev and expressed gratitude to the OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani for his efforts for the organization's development. He added that the cooperation with Islamic states is a priority for Azerbaijan. President Aliyev pointed out that around ten meetings of culture, tourism, education, foreign, labor and other ministers of OIC member states have been held in Baku in recent years. "I praise the activities of the OIC towards mutual support and solidarity," said the president. "Currently, Islamophobia is one of the serious threats in the world. We strongly condemn this tendency," said President Aliyev. "In reality, Islam is a religion of peace, mercifulness, tolerance and justice." He said identifying Islam with terror is a wrong and biased attitude, adding that Muslim states most of all suffer from terror. Further, President Aliyev drew the attention to the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "Armenia has been pursuing occupation policy against Azerbaijan for over 20 years. As a result of this policy, 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories - Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts - were occupied by Armenia, a policy of ethnic cleansing was pursued on these lands and over a million of our compatriots became refugees and IDPs," he said. "Armenia committed the Khojaly genocide." The president pointed out that the international community and organizations recognize Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and support the fair settlement of the conflict based on international law. The UN has adopted four resolutions demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Azerbaijani lands, he added. The similar decisions and resolutions have been adopted by the Non-Aligned Movement, OSCE, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and other organizations, according to President Aliyev. "I once again express my sincere gratitude to the OIC for the fair resolutions supporting the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty," said the president. But the invader - Armenia - doesn't reckon with these decisions and periodically stages armed provocations in order to disrupt the negotiation process, he added. President Aliyev said one of those provocations was staged in early April, adding that Azerbaijani servicemen and civilians were killed as a result of the armed attack, which was stopped by Azerbaijani army. In connection with Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan, the OIC has adopted a decision to create a contact group with participation of foreign ministers, said President Aliyev and expressed gratitude for this decision. Azerbaijan continuously makes contribution to the intercultural and interreligious dialogue, according to the president. "We will hold the 7th UN Alliance of Civilizations Global Forum in late April," he said. Azerbaijan attaches great importance to solidarity among Islamic states, the president said, adding that Baku will host the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in 2017. "On this occasion, I invite all of you to Baku to watch these Games. I believe that this event will pave way for strengthening the peace and solidarity in the Islamic world," said President Aliyev. "In conclusion, I once again express gratitude to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the sincere hospitality," said the president. "I wish success in holding the summit. Thanks for the attention." Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.14 Trend: Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev met with Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul Apr.14. During the meeting, they emphasized the high level of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey and expressed satisfaction with the friendly, brotherly and partnership relations between the two countries. The parties also pointed out the significance of the 13th Summit of the Islamic Cooperation Organization (OIC) which is being attended by heads of 30 states. President Aliyev said that the summit has been organized at a high level and wished success to Turkey during the period of its presidency in the OIC. They also exchanged views on the latest developments on the frontline in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 15 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani in Istanbul. The presidents hailed dynamic development of Azerbaijani-Iranian bilateral and multilateral relations and cooperation in various fields. They pointed to wide opportunities for developing cooperation, and stressed the importance of intensifying reciprocal visits and such meetings in this regard. During the conversation, they had a broad exchange of views over the events that happened on the line of contact of the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops in April. President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan does not want war. "But we had to retaliate the provocative actions of the Armenian military units." The head of state expressed his gratitude to the President of Iran for phoning him and expressing his concerns about the events. They discussed the activity of the Minsk Group. The issues of cooperation in oil and gas field were also discussed. The importance of continuing the negotiations to determine the legal status of the Caspian Sea was underlined. It was noted that this would contribute to elevating the relations between the two countries in political, security and other fields to a higher level. The presidents of Azerbaijan and Iran discussed the development of the relations and cooperation in a variety of areas, including visa regime, tourism, financial and e-banking sectors, fight against extremism, terrorism and radicalism. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 15 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman. Close cooperation between Azerbaijan and the UN and its agencies was emphasized during the meeting. The Seventh Global Forum of Alliance of Civilizations to be co-organized in Baku by Azerbaijan and the UN was described as a good sign of this cooperation. It was noted that the preparatory process was being completed, and they also exchanged views over organizational issues. The importance of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon`s participation in the Seventh Global Forum was underlined. It was noted that this would be an important event for Azerbaijan and the region. It was stressed that the visit of the UN Secretary General to Azerbaijan would be a significant message of peace, stability and security to the world. They exchanged views over settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It was noted that a message to be given by Ban Ki-moon in Baku would be important in terms of resolution of the conflict and prevention of Armenia`s provocative actions. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 Trend: On Apr. 14, Azerbaijan Technical University hosted opening ceremony of the special laboratory supplied with telecommunications equipment by Nar. In the framework of the partnership agreement signed between Azerfon LLC and the Technical University, Nar presented relevant telecommunications equipment for the use by the university free of charge. In addition to the theoretical knowledge about GSM, the renewed lab gives the students an opportunity to gain special knowledge such as operation of GSM equipment, formation of internal GSM network and its control. Moreover, according to the contract signed, professional technical staff from Nar will hold training courses and seminars for the students. The telecommunications equipment, which has been provided by Nar, was installed in the laboratory of Switching Systems and Postal Communication Department. The mobile operator has undertaken maintenance services. Trainings on mobile communication will cover topics as 'LTE - the next generation of mobile communication', 'IMS and NGN technology', 'Wireless Internet access technologies', 'Frequency-territorial planning of mobile communication networks' and 'Quality of service of mobile communications networks'. Notably, free presentation of GSM equipment to Azerbaijan Technical University as well as methodical support to the students is carried out within CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) strategy of Nar operator. Nar considers the field of education as an important aspect of CSR strategy. For further information about this and other projects, visit www.nar.az. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: JSC KazMunaiGas Exploration Production ("KMG EP") held an extraordinary general meeting of its shareholders ("EGM"), where the new Board was elected for a term to May 25, 2017 inclusive, the company said April 14. The EGM appointed Gustave Louis Eugene van Meerbeke, representative from the National Company KazMunayGas ("NC KMG") to the Board, replacing Yerzhan Zhangaulov. Gustave Louis Eugene van Meerbeke has been Independent Advisor, oil and gas, working part time on selected reserve based lending deals for various banks since 2013. During the extraordinary meeting of the Board of Directors, held on the same day, Christopher Hopkinson, the First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of NC KMG, was re-appointed as the chairman of the Board of Directors of KMG EP. The members of the KMG EP Board of Directors as of April 13, 2016: Christopher Hopkinson - representative from NC KMG; First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of NC KMG - Chairman of the Board of Directors of KMG EP; Igor Goncharov - representative from NC KMG; Managing Director for Operational Production Assets - Chief Engineer at NC KMG; Asiya Syrgabekova - representative from NC KMG; Managing Director for Investment & Risk Management at NC KMG; Gustave Louis Eugene van Meerbeke - representative from NC KMG; independent consultant, oil and gas; Kurmangazy Iskaziyev - Chief Executive Officer (Chairman of the Management Board of KMG EP); Philip Dayer - Independent Non-Executive Director; Edward Walshe - Independent Non-Executive Director; Alastair Ferguson - Independent Non-Executive Director. KMG EP is among the top three Kazakh oil producers. The overall production was 12.4 million tons in 2015. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14 By Aygun Badalova - Trend: Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG (TAP) has awarded to Saipem SpA the contract for Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) for the offshore section of the project, TAP reported on April 14. TAP's 36-inch offshore pipeline across the Adriatic Sea - between the coastlines of Albania and southern Italy - will be approximately 105 km in length, down to approximately 820 meters below sea level at the deepest. The EPCI scope comprises associated civil works at the landfalls in both Albania and Italy (including micro tunnel), offshore pipeline installation, offshore fiber optic cable supply and installation, as well as pre-commissioning and survey activities, according to the report. The coated offshore 36-inch line pipes, the anodes and the buckle arrestors will be provided by TAP. Saipem is one of the world leaders in drilling services, as well as in the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of pipelines and complex projects, onshore and offshore, in the oil and gas market. The TAP is meant to transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz 2 field in Azerbaijan to Europe. The approximately 870 km long TAP will connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in southern Italy. TAP's shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent). TAP's initial capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year, expandable to 20 billion cubic meters. The pipeline's construction is planned to start in May 2016. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14 By Aygun Badalova - Trend: While major oil producing countries demonstrate effort to stabilize world market by helping oil prices to recover, analysts doubt such efforts could have any fruitful results. Oil output freeze as a measure, which will be discussed at the meeting in Doha, is not enough to return balance on the oversupplied market, analysts believe. Freezing oil output at current high levels would simply maintain the excess supply that is now in place and, as such, would not be a game-changer for the oil prices, Tom Pugh, the economist at British economic research and consulting company Capital Economics believes. "A sustained recovery in oil prices would probably require outright cuts in global supply and increases in demand," Pugh said in a report, obtained by Trend. Geoffrey Styles, managing director of GSW Strategy Group, LLC, an energy strategy consultancy based in Virginia (USA), believes that the freeze under discussion represents a very low bar, compared to past OPEC actions. In particular, in 1998, following the drop in oil prices below $10 a barrel, OPEC took several steps to affect the market by firstly cutting oil production by 1.25 million barrels per day and then by 1.34 million barrels per day. In 2008 OPEC went through three stages of cutting the oil output by a total of 4.2 million barrels per day. This was the largest cut in cartel's history. Styles told Trend that OPEC itself has contributed to the global oil surplus through actions such as Saudi Arabia's output increase following the failed November 2014 OPEC meeting. Styles shares the view that if the members of the upcoming Doha meeting can't agree on a freeze now, then they would appear to be a spent force. With regard to Iran, Styles does not think the country is required as a party to a deal, since everyone is clear that they will continue to attempt to restore output to pre-sanction levels as fast as they can. "Growing beyond that point, or even reaching it, will require major investments with lead times longer than the likely duration of the oversupply the freeze is intended to address," Styles said. Meanwhile, Edward Chow, a senior fellow in the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) believes that the upcoming meeting in Doha may disappoint the market resulting in just another statement about the readiness to cooperate. "Frankly I expect very little from the Doha meeting, other than a nice statement pledging future cooperation," Chow told Trend via e-mail. He stressed that currently, global supply still exceeds global demand and this is unlikely to change before the end of 2016 or beginning of 2017. "Holding this meeting actually risks disappointing the market if no concrete actions comes from it. It may lead to further testing of the $40 price level," Chow said. On April 17, major oil producers are expected to meet in Doha to discuss an agreement to freeze oil output at January 2016 levels. In February, representatives from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Venezuela, and Russia discussed possible measures to stabilize the current oil market, including the oil production freeze. Earlier Saudi Arabia stated that it will only freeze its oil output if Iran and other major producers do so. Iran in its turn said that Tehran will not join the oil output freeze plan. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: The Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project will save Turkey from gas dependence on Russia, said Stephen Blank, senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council. He made the remarks addressing an event titled 'Syria and the South Caucasus: Emerging Threats to Turkish and NATO Security', held at the Heritage Foundation, Apr. 14. Blank said 60 percent of gas is being supplied to Turkey from Russia, so it is important to support the SGC project in order to reduce Turkey's gas dependence on Russia. The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian Sea to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey. At an initial phase, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage. As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: No doubt that any country's policies are affected by economic issues, especially the energy issues. Only a few countries don't use their energy resources to exert political pressure on the countries that depend on those resources. Azerbaijan is one of the countries that don't use energy resources as a means of pressure. Azerbaijan's energy projects have no alternative in the world thanks to the country's transparent energy policy. Today, Azerbaijan is successfully implementing important projects, TANAP being one of them. TANAP will play a great role in ensuring Europe's energy security after TAP is constructed. There are also such countries in the region, as Iran, Russia and Turkmenistan, which are also important in terms of energy issues. Iran, Russia and Turkmenistan have repeatedly stated their readiness to import natural gas to the world markets. Russia is currently the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe. But, evidently, the Europe-Russia relations push the EU to seek alternative sources of gas. After lifting of sanctions against Tehran, Iran can become a new alternative gas source for the EU. And taking this into account, Federica Mogherini, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, will visit Tehran on Apr. 16. Along with development of bilateral relations, Mogherini is also to discuss the Iranian gas supply to Europe. Iranian authorities have repeatedly said the country is interested in exporting gas to Europe, but currently, the exports to neighboring countries is a priority. Moreover, Iran has said that the route through Turkey is the best one for exporting its gas to Europe. Tehran will likely export gas to Europe as LNG. But currently, Iran doesn't have an LNG plant. The country started to build such a plant, called the Iran LNG, in 2007 and around $2.5 billion is needed to complete its construction. There are also problems in transportation of Iranian gas to Europe through Turkey. First of all, there is no infrastructure needed for that purpose. As much as 9.65 billion cubic meters of gas is exported to Turkey's domestic market a year via a gas pipeline running between Iran and Turkey. That pipeline has a capacity of 11.2 billion cubic meters of gas a year. That means it will be necessary to create a new infrastructure for exporting Iran's gas through Turkey and additional investments will be needed for this. Given that currently, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist group is active in the region, the creation of a new infrastructure also seems unreal. So, if Iran is going to start gas transportation to Europe, it will have to use the Southern Gas Corridor and TANAP, as they are the safest routes in the region. Edited by EA --- Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Apr. 14 By Demir Azizov- Trend: The armed conflicts in a number of Middle Eastern countries and North Africa threaten the security of the countries of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Viktor Mahmudov, secretary of Uzbekistan's Security Council said Apr.14 in Tashkent. He made the remarks following the SCO National Security Council Secretaries' Meeting. "Secretaries of SCO security councils said that the international and regional security remains under risk due to the political, economic and social instability, the widening scope of terrorism, extremism and radicalism," said Mahmudov. Moreover, the meeting participants noted that one of the most important factors of strengthening the security and stability in the region is the speedy settlement of the situation in Afghanistan through peaceful means, he added. Mahmudov said that the security councils' secretaries welcomed the practical implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on resolving Iran's nuclear problem which will pave way for expanding the international cooperation for peace and stability in the region and beyond. The SCO members are China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia and Belarus are the SCO observer-countries, while Turkey, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal are dialogue partners. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Apr. 14 By Demir Azizov- Trend: The member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will show a common stand on the drug problem at the UN General Assembly's session, the SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov said Apr. 14. "At the UN General Assembly's special session, which is to open in New York next week, the SCO member states will make a joint statement, where a consolidated position on global drug problem will be stated," said Alimov. He made the remarks on the results of the 11th meeting of Security Council Secretaries of the SCO member states in Tashkent. Preparation of anti-drug strategy of the SCO member states for 2017-2022 and the Programme of Action for its implementation are at the final stage, said Alimov. Meanwhile, the meeting's participants noted that the early settlement of the situation in Afghanistan by peaceful means is one of the most important factors in strengthening security and stability in the region. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was established in 2001. It is a permanent intergovernmental international organization. The SCO members are China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia and Belarus are the SCO observer-countries. Uzbekistan took over the SCO presidency on July 11, 2015. The SCO summit will be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on June 23-24, 2016. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14 By Khalid Kazimov - Trend: Boeing officials have voiced their interest in visiting Iran for talks with the country's airlines, an Iranian aviation official said. Maqsud Asadi samani, an official with Iran's Airlines Association has said that the move came following the US Treasury Department's decision for granting Boeing with a permit to hold talks with Iranian airlines, Fars news agency reported. Saying that Boeing airplanes form 32 percent of Iran's air fleet, the official added that there are currently about 60 Boeing aircraft in the Islamic Republic. The Chicago-based airliner manufacturer has announced that it will discuss fleet-planning options with Iranian officials. If Boeing manages to reach an agreement with Iran on aviation, it will be the second major international manufacturer inking a deal with Iran since mid-January when international sanctions on Iran were lifted. Over the past decades and after the removal of crippling nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, Airbuss was the first airplane manufacturer to seal a major aviation deal with Iran. On January 28, Tehran signed a historic deal with Airbus for the purchase of 118 airliners (73 widebodies, 45 single aisle) including 12 A380 superjumbos. Under the memorandum of understanding (MoU), the European aircraft manufacturer will train Iranian pilots as well as technicians to maintain the planes. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 12 By Umid Niayesh - Trend: Iran will not be able to resume fruitful economic ties with leading European countries if its trade relation with the US is not normalized, Mohammad Reza Sabzalipour, chairman of Iran World Trade Center, told Trend April 12. Giving the fact that the US was the leader of the six world powers in nuclear talks with Iran, and the country had a leading role in imposing sanctions against the Islamic Republic, Tehran needs to reach an agreement with Washington to revive its trade ties with the West, Sabzalipour said. In the post-sanctions period, Washington still remains the leader of the Western party in resuming economic ties with Tehran, he added. The European countries follow up the US, which is the world's first economic power, regarding the ties with Iran as they did during the nuclear talks, according to Sabzalipour. He further said that certain European firms and banks have still concerns on resuming ties with Tehran and need guarantees from the US that they will not be penalized if ties with Iran are strengthened. Sabzalipour also believes that the US is interested in Iran's market, adding that President Hassan Rouhani should achieve a JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) in terms of economy- or JCPOA2 as Rouhani himself said - via holding fundamental talks with the P5+1 group of countries leaded by the US. The international sanctions imposed on Iran with regard to its nuclear program have been removed as the JCPOA (also known as nuclear deal) entered the implementation phase on Jan. 16. Iran and the P5+1 (the US, France, the UK, Germany, China, and Russia) in July 2015 agreed a landmark nuclear deal to curb Tehran's sensitive nuclear activities in return for the lifting of international sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Sabzalipour believes that no Iranian trade delegation will be sent to the US in the near future and there are no plans to send one. However, he did say that several economic delegations from Iran traveled to the US over the past several years and vise versa. Sabzalipour said that the problem in this case is related to Iran's Industry Ministry which tries to have an exclusive role in dispatching trade delegations to the US. Iran World Trade Center earlier had plans to send an economic delegation to the US in autumn, which was canceled after disputes erupted between the center and the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran's Industry Ministry. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 12 By Umid Niayesh, Dalga Khatinoglu - Trend: The Unites States says that the American firms still can not participate in majority of commercial activities in Iran. "Because of pre-existing, non-nuclear related sanctions, the US companies are still prohibited from participating in the majority of commercial activities with Iran," Sam Werberg, press officer for the Iranian Affairs Office at the US Department of State, told Trend Apr. 12. "However, under the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aka nuclear deal], we have committed to license certain activities involving US persons," the diplomat explained. These, according to Werberg, include the sale of commercial passenger aircraft and related parts and services to Iran, exclusively for commercial passenger aviation end use, as well as the importation into the United States of Iranian-origin carpets and foodstuffs. "Lastly, we have committed to license foreign entities that are owned or controlled by US persons to engage in certain activities with Iran that are consistent with the JCPOA and US law," he added. Werberg also said that in addition there are exceptions for certain humanitarian exports of food, medicine and medical devices. Despite the United States' non-nuclear related sanctions, Iranian officials are negotiating with the US companies, including General Electric and Boeing. Iran Air, which is Iran's flag carrier, announced on Apr. 8 that a top-level delegation from global aviation giant Boeing will arrive in the country in the next days to discuss potential areas of cooperation with Iranian companies after the US government permitted the company to negotiate with Tehran. Boeing's license to begin commercial discussions with Iranian airlines marked a step towards catching up with European rival Airbus, which earlier agreed to sell 118 planes to Iran. Over the past decades and after the removal of nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, Airbus was the first airplane manufacturer to seal a major aviation deal with Iran. The US multinational conglomerate General Electric is also looking at business opportunities in Iran, a spokesperson with the company told Trend last month. Iranian officials have announced on various occasions that there are no limits for the US companies to invest in Iran, in particular in the oil and gas industry. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14 By Khalid Kazimov - Trend: Timed to the marking of the National Army Day to be held on April 18 in Iran, the country's regular army received new equipment, including weapons and military vehicles. Commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan attended a ceremony for unveiling and delivering tactical and reconnaissance vehicles to the ground forces, Mehr news agency reported. Meanwhile, a number of optimized Chieftain battle tanks, sniper guns were exhibited during the ceremony. A vehicle performing as a communication node, the 7.62-mm Dragunov sniper rifle and an air defense system were also among the delivered equipment. Annually on April 18, select units from Iran's Armed Forces hold parades across the country to mark National Army Day. Iranian official media outlets have suggested that the country has made achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems over the recent years. Official Tehran has repeatedly said that its military might poses no threat to other countries, reiterating that its defense doctrine is based on deterrence. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14 By Khalid Kazimov - Trend: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has objected against "anti-Iran and anti-Lebanese Hezbollah" articles included in a draft declaration of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Foreign Minister Zarif has described Saudi efforts to include four paragraphs in the draft declaration against Iran and one more against Hezbollah against the "spirit of Islamic solidarity", IRNA news agency reported. Zarif further added that the Saudi move to draft "anti-Hezbollah and anti-Iran" paragraphs serves the interests of Israel. According to Iranian media reports, the draft was prepared during an expert-level OIC meeting in February in the Saudi port city of Jaddah, which the Iranian officials failed to attend as they were denied visas by Riyadh. Iranian media outlets have also suggested that Saudi representatives foiled Zarif's efforts to discuss the article during the meeting of the foreign ministers of the OIC April 13. The OIC meeting brings together leaders from more than 30 states to discuss a range of issues, including regional issues as well as recent confrontations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif took part in the meeting of the OIC foreign ministers on April 12. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14 By Khalid Kazimov - Trend: Iran spares no efforts to promote regional unity, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said during his speech in the 13th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on April 14, IRNA reported. He called for unity among Muslims and criticized those Islamic states that allocate large budgets for purchasing arms. Rouhani urged the Islamic countries' leaders to stop supplying arms and backing extremist groups. Earlier Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif objected against "anti-Iran and anti-Lebanese Hezbollah" articles included in a draft declaration of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Foreign Minister Zarif described Saudi efforts to include four paragraphs in the draft declaration against Iran and one more against Hezbollah against the "spirit of Islamic solidarity". The OIC meeting brings together leaders from more than 30 states to discuss a range of issues, including regional issues as well as recent confrontations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 By Fatih Karimov - Trend: A home-made floating dock, with the capacity of launching 2000-ton vessels, was delivered to the Iranian Navy in Caspian Sea on April 14. The dock which has been manufactured by Iran's defense ministry, was handed over to the navy in northern port of Anzali during a ceremony with participation of Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan, the state-run IRINN TV reported. The floating dock can be applied for launching different types of vessels less than 2000 tons in weight, Dehghan said at the event. Having a mobile maintenance and overhaul infrastructure in Caspian Sea and preparing technical support for navy as well as oil and gas projects are among the purposes of launching the dock, he added. Floating docks are used for the construction, maintenance, and repair of ships, boats, and other water crafts. Iranian media outlets report that Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems in recent years. Iran has manufactured its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, radars, boats, submarines and fighter planes since 1992. Iran also unveiled its first domestically-manufactured long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in 2010. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14 By Khalid Kazimov - Trend: Hamdollah Bakhshandeh, a member of Iranian Army has been reportedly killed in armed clashes with Syrian opposition groups. He is the fifth member of Iran's Army who has been killed in Syria, Fars news agency reported. Iranian officials have recently confirmed that four members of the army's commandos were killed in Syrian clashes. Earlier in April, Brigadier-General Ali Arasteh, an Iranian Army commander, said the Army has deployed a group of its commandos to Syria for providing advisory support for President Bashar Assad's army in the fight against terrorist groups. Iranian officials have constantly said that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) provides the Syrian army with advisory support in fight against terrorist groups. However, for the first time in early April reports broke regarding the involvement of Iranian Army forces in Syria. More than 250,000 people have been killed in the Syrian crisis with hundreds of thousands displaced since crisis sparked in the country. North Korea has reportedly deployed one or two mobile launchers of intermediate rage ballasting missiles on the eastern coast of the Sea of Japan, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on Thursday. A mobile launcher carrying up to two Musudan missiles was seen on the eastern coast of the Sea of Japan, Yonhap said citing a source in the South Korean government. The deployment of the Musudan missiles might indicate North Korea's preparing for a launch timed to mark the birthday of North Korea's Eternal President Kim Il Sung on April 15. The Musudan missile, with a range of up to 3,000 kilometers, was first demonstrated at a military parade in Pyongyang in 2010. Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) has sued the US government for the right to tell its customers when a federal agency is looking at their emails, the latest in a series of clashes over privacy between the technology industry and Washington, Reuters reported. The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in federal court in Seattle, argues that the government is violating the US Constitution by preventing Microsoft from notifying thousands of customers about government requests for their emails and other documents. A US Department of Justice spokesman declined to comment. The government's actions contravene the Fourth Amendment, which establishes the right for people and businesses to know if the government searches or seizes their property, the suit argues, and Microsoft's First Amendment right to free speech. Microsoft's suit focuses on the storage of data on remote servers, rather than locally on people's computers, which Microsoft says has provided a new opening for the government to access electronic data. Using the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the government is increasingly directing investigations at the parties that store data in the so-called cloud, Microsoft says in the lawsuit. The 30-year-old law has long drawn scrutiny from technology companies and privacy advocates who say it was written before the rise of the commercial Internet and is therefore outdated. "People do not give up their rights when they move their private information from physical storage to the cloud," Microsoft says in the lawsuit. It adds that the government "has exploited the transition to cloud computing as a means of expanding its power to conduct secret investigations." SURVEILLANCE BATTLE The lawsuit represents the newest front in the battle between technology companies and the US government over how much private businesses should assist government surveillance. By filing the suit, Microsoft is taking a more prominent role in that battle, dominated by Apple Inc (AAPL.O) in recent months due to the government's efforts to get the company to write software to unlock an iPhone used by one of the shooters in a December massacre in San Bernardino, California. Apple, backed by big technology companies including Microsoft, had complained that cooperating would turn businesses into arms of the state. "Just as Apple was the company in the last case and we stood with Apple, we expect other tech companies to stand with us," Microsoft's Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said in a phone interview after the suit was filed. In its complaint, Microsoft says over the past 18 months it has received 5,624 legal orders under the ECPA, of which 2,576 prevented Microsoft from disclosing that the government is seeking customer data through warrants, subpoenas and other requests. Most of the ECPA requests apply to individuals, not companies, and provide no fixed end date to the secrecy provision, Microsoft said. Microsoft and other companies won the right two years ago to disclose the number of government demands for data they receive. This case goes farther, requesting that it be allowed to notify individual businesses and people that the government is seeking information about them. Increasingly, US companies are under pressure to prove they are helping protect consumer privacy. The campaign gained momentum in the wake of revelations by former government contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 that the government routinely conducted extensive phone and Internet surveillance to a much greater degree than believed. Microsoft's lawsuit comes a day after a US congressional panel voted unanimously to advance a package of reforms to the ECPA. Last-minute changes to the legislation removed an obligation for the government to notify a targeted user whose communications are being sought. Instead, the bill would require disclosure of a warrant only to a service provider, which retains the right to voluntarily notify users, unless a court grants a gag order. It is unclear if the bill will advance through the Senate and become law this year. Separately, Microsoft is fighting a US government warrant to turn over data held in a server in Ireland, which the government argues is lawful under another part of the ECPA. Microsoft argues the government needs to go through a procedure outlined in a legal-assistance treaty between the US and Ireland. Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) is fighting a separate battle in federal court in Northern California over public disclosure of government requests for information on users. The case is Microsoft Corp v United States Department of Justice et al in the United States District Court, Western District of Washington, No. 2:16-cv-00537. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Muslim countries should resolve their problems themselves, said Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Apr. 14. Erdogan made the remarks at the 13th Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that is being held in Turkey's Istanbul, TRT Haber TV channel reported. The interference of other countries in the Muslim states' affairs is unacceptable, according to him. The countries, which support the solution of problems in the Islamic world, are interested in energy resources of these countries, noted Erdogan. The Turkish president also called on for the reconstruction of the UN Security Council, adding that there are no Muslim countries among the UN Security Council's permanent members. The OIC is the largest and the most influential official international Muslim organization. The organization has 57 member-states. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu If Yixing wares were to be sold in the United Kingdom, they would attract a market of niche buyers, according to Rob Kesseler, a professor of ceramic art and design at Central Saint Martins College. (Photo : Getty Images) Local officials from Yixing, Jiangsu Province, are keen on promoting the local pottery industry, according to an article by China Daily, that's why a pottery exhibition showcasing local ceramic artworks at a museum in London couldn't happen at a better time. Advertisement Held at the British Museum in London on Tuesday, April 12, the exhibition features over 60 ceramics from Yixing. The event was hosted by the City University London and the China National Tourist Office, London branch. Approximately 100 British enthusiasts attended the event, where guests can view works by 34 Yixing artists. Included in the display are decorative ceramic objects, plates, clay pots, vases, and cups made using ancient Yixing ceramic techniques, some of which date back to the 15th century. "Yixing ceramics are deeply rooted in history and tradition, which can be observed from the works' design, use of material and fine details in the craftsmanship," said Shi Juntang, president of the Yixing Ceramic Industry Association, in an interview with China Daily. "But it is continually changing through innovation to make more beautiful designs and skillful process of production." Shi hopes that the exhibit will promote Yixing ceramics among European pottery enthusiasts to open a market for such works in Europe in the future. "Currently Yixing ceramics have a large market in China and South East Asia, but in the future we'd like to sell them in Europe and other countries internationally," Shi said. It's not impossible, as Yixing ceramic ware display "dynamics between tradition and creativity." "There is a very set discipline for the construction of Yixing teapots, but within these confines a breadth of designs can be found," said Christine-Ann Richards, a British ceramics artist. If Yixing wares were to be sold in the United Kingdom, they would attract a market of niche buyers, according to Rob Kesseler, a professor of ceramic art and design at Central Saint Martins College. Yixing ceramics would also be sold within a wide range of prices, from approximately 100 pounds to even 10,000 pounds. It all depends on the artist, the design, and detail in production, said Shi. InnoTREE is the first business to apply AI technology in the equity investment market, and other businesses are interested in exploring its huge development potential. (Photo : Getty Images) Artificial intelligence technology is slowly being embraces by businesses that offer investment and wealth management services, according to an article by China Daily. InnoTREE Co. Ltd. launched a new line of service last Tuesday, April 12, that harnesses robots to provide equity investment advice. Advertisement "The robot could first establish a database, which covers the investment and financing information of more than 130,000 startups, and then track and analyze the daily operation situation of these startups or their projects," said Ma Chao, founder of the Internet-based investment and equity financing provider. In addition, the robot will analyze, categorize and evaluate business models of various projects to effectively give out sound advice. "The workload of a robot each minute is equivalent to the workload of an experienced analyst working for 40 hours," shared Teng Fang, InnoTREE Co. Ltd.'s co-founder. "Its cognition level is same as an investment manager with three to four years of investment experience." InnoTREE is the first business to apply AI technology in the equity investment market, and other businesses are interested in exploring its huge development potential. "AI technology will make the equity market more effective and efficient," said Yi Jigang, president of Beijing-based equity firm Orient Jiyi Investment, in an interview with China Daily. "AI technology won't shock the investment industry but promote it," Yi said. "People could make use of the technological advancements to devote more time and energy to do other higher-level business, and improve working efficiency and value by virtue of advanced machine tools." Artificial intelligence can also help professionals calculate investment risk and even predict investment yield, allowing them to offer customized financial advice, said Dong Jun, the company's CEO. "AI technology could only play an auxiliary role in the equity investment market as a huge pool of fake information exists in the market and the machine couldn't identify its authenticity," said Yang Fan, a researcher from Analysys International. Last but not the least, AI technology can help humans pursue other interests, creative or otherwise, although high-risk equity investment should still be assessed by humans. Gay Chinese Couple (Photo : Reuters) While Chinas censors may have approved the exhibition of gay French-Chinese movie "Seek McCartney," it is still a big No insofar as same-sex marriages is concerned. In a landmark decision, a Changsa judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by a gay couple against the Civil Affairs Bureau of Changsa City which refused to officially recognize their marriage in June. The case was filed by 27-year-old Sun Wenlin who married 37-year-old security guard Hu Mingliang, reported The Guardian. Advertisement The couple applied for a marriage certificate on June 2, 2015, but the registry in the capital of Hunan Province turned down their application because Chinese laws allow marriage only between a man and a woman. Sun filed the lawsuit after six months, and the Furong District Peoples Court accepted it on Jan. 5, 2015, reported Sixth Tone. It is the first case of its kind in China which a Changsa court agreed to hear in January. By lunchtime on Wednesday, the three-hour trial hearing ended with the judge dismissing the case. Sun said he would appeal the courts decision which his lawyer, Shi Fulong, said provided insufficient grounds for dismissing the case. Shi, however, said it was inevitable for gay marriages to become a reality in China in the near future. Even if they win the case today, we will definitely win the future, the lawyer said. Many LGBT members consider the turn of events as a victory too for gays and lesbians because a court tackled the issue. This is a moment because of all the news coverage, and people are gaining exposure, The Washington Post quoted Ying Xi, director of the Beijing LGBT Center. Ying noted the sharp hike in awareness of gay issues compared to 2009 when they began street performance art in the Chinese capital city. Even state-owned Central China Television sent a reporter to interview Sun. Villagers crowd around to receive water in Luoyang, Henan Province, on Aug. 4, 2014. (Photo : Getty Images) Chinas deep groundwater resources are safe to drink, the Ministry of Water Resources said on Monday in response to media reports suggesting a majority of the countrys aquifers are too polluted. In a Global Times report published Tuesday, more than 80 percent of China's underground sources of drinking water are unfit for human consumption, citing the latest monthly report from the ministry that sampled 2,103 wells used for monitoring China's eastern flatland watersheds. Advertisement The report, which was made public on Monday, classified 32.9 percent of the sampled wells as suitable only for industrial and agricultural use, while 47.3 percent were unfit for consumption of any type. Following the report's release, government officials sought to reassure the public that most of the water used in urban Chinese households is safe because it comes from deep underground reservoirs that are treated to ensure safety. "The quality of drinking water is good overall," Chen Mingzhong, a senior official from the Ministry of Water Resources, told reporters at a news conference. Chen said that 85 percent of the 1,817 groundwater resources used for drinking water meet quality standards, while the 33 sources that supply drinking water to cities with a population larger than 500,000 all comply with water quality standards. "However, many people in rural areas are still drinking shallow groundwater. Contamination could affect them," he added Incidents of water contamination in China have increased in recent years, with more than 1,700 reported annually and affecting at least 140 million people in urban areas. "The report shows that the issue of groundwater quality is very severe, since the samples are relatively wide-ranging, which can at least cover 30 to 50 percent of China," said Mu Jianxin of the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research. Environmental group Greenpeace said that the ministry report is "another stark warning of the extent of groundwater pollution" in China, adding that water pollution is as serious as the recent air pollution woes affecting Beijing and other major Chinese cities "The pollution to groundwater will threaten local people's health and contaminate local crops," Ada Kong, toxics campaign manager for Greenpeace East Asia, told the Global Times. "It could also cause a geological hazard as the overuse of groundwater could cause land subsidence." Alibaba founder and chairman Jack Ma (R) listens to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (L) at the 50th Vinitaly international wine fair in Verona, Italy, on April 11, 2016. (Photo : Twitter) Italy will be partnering with e-commerce giant Alibaba to reinvigorate Italian wine sales to China where it still lags against France and other wine-making countries. Advertisement In a joint conference with Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi expressed hopes that Alibaba's knowledge of the digital economy will help transform Italy's wine industry and the economy in general. "Italy has lost too many opportunities in the e-commerce sector. The only way for small companies to keep up with global competition is to turn digital," Renzi said at the Vinitaly wine fair in the northern city of Verona. Jack Ma, who also serves as Alibaba's executive chairman, said that the company aims to boost the share of Italian wines "from 6 to 60 percent" of all the bottles sold on its e-commerce platforms. "Chinese people have a passion for all things Italian. Alibaba wants to be the gateway to China for Italian brands and small businesses," he said. Ma also announced the launch of a Wine and Spirits Festival on Sept. 9, an online event aimed at promoting international wine and spirit brands to Chinese buyers. Italian red and white wines make up for only 5 percent of Chinese imports, worth an overall 1.8 billion euros ($2 billion), according to a report by research firm Nomisma. Industry analysts point to the majority of Italy's winemakers as being small, family-owned operations and lack of national strategies on exports and high tax duties as challenges to reaching out to complex markets like those of China. Nomisma, which publishes the annual Wine Monitor report, said that out of a total of 55,000 wine producers in Italy, almost 85 percent make less than 10,000 bottles. And of Italy's 5.4 billion euros of wine exports, only 87 million euros worth go to China. "We are still very little known in China where culturally wine is still not perceived as a household habit," Roberto Giannelli, owner of Tuscan winery San Filippo, told Reuters. Meizu PRO 5, a smartphone with an all-metal body, an Exynos 7420 8-core 64-bit processor, Flyme OS 5, and a Sony 21. (Photo : Youtube/Android Authority) The Meizu Pro 6 will come with 5.2-inch screen, 1080p resolution under Super AMOLED display. Previously, the mini version, has been featured in a leaked photo along with the full back panel of the upcoming Meizu M3 Note. The image has been leaked on the Chinese social media website Weibo. Two Meizu devices facing down on a table can be seen on the photo. Advertisement The Meizu Pro 6 and Meizu M3 Note were widely speculated to be the upcoming Meizu smartphones, Giz China reported. The purported Meizu Pro 6 displayed on the image appeared to be smaller than the supposed display size which was reportedly 5.5 inches. Those who saw the photo led to speculations that the phone shown is a mini variant of the Meizu Pro 6. On the other hand, the alleged Meizu M3 Note seems to be made of metal and features a large lens on the rear main camera along with a dual-tone LED flash. The Meizu Pro 6 will be powered by a deca-core Helio X25 chipset specially made by Mediatek, Phone Arena reported. This new chipset will be exclusive to the Meizu Pro 6 for reportedly a number of months. Other specifications that the device is expected to have are Full HD 5.2-inch display with Gorilla curved Glass 3 screen protection, 4 GB of RAM, and 64 GB internal storage. Reportedly, Meizu got the mini inspiration from Apple's iPhone SE device. There were additional rumors of a premium version of the Meizu Pro 6. The rumored version supposedly will come with a 128 GB built-in internal storage and a 6 GB RAM. The display is also said to have an embedded 3D Press, the company's alternative to the 3D Touch support. The Meizu Pro 6 mini is still pure speculation. The Meizu M3 Note, on the other hand, is alleged to run on a Helio P10 chip with 3,200 mAh battery. The screen is smaller than the Meizu Pro 6 at 5-inch but it also features a 1080p Full HD resolution. The Meizu M3 Note is said to be sold at a price of 799 Yuan, which is about $123, for its 16 GB variant. Meizu Pro 6 specs and benchmark reviews are here in the video: O gold, where art thou? A peek at what happens at the Porgera Joint Venture, an open pit and underground gold mine in Papua New Guinea. (Photo : Barrick Gold) Taking advantage of the low prices of gold, Chinese companies look for gold mining prospects in other countries, reported The Wall Street Journal. Its an ideal time for Chinese gold miners to buy mines because, according to the report, huge debts and credit crunches beset various mining companies abroad. Advertisement Peter Grosskopf, chief executive officer for Canadian company Sprott Asset Management, told WSJ that he made talks with five Chinese gold companies, and all expressed their interest to venture abroad. China will launch a new yuan-denominated gold benchmark on April 19, according to Asia Times. The Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China--all state-owned banks--will join the price-setting group. China remains to be the top producer and consumer of gold in the world. According to Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, Chinas gold imports in 2015 reached 992 tons. The biggest import it made so far was in 2013, at 1,495 tons, reported CNN. Last year, Zijin Mining Group, as part of its internationalization strategy, ventured into two international projects, one in Congo and the other one in Papua New Guinea, according to its website. It invested CA$105 million for a 9.9-percent stake in Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Mines, according to Ivanhoes website. The two companies then signed an agreement for the Kamoa Copper Project located at Kolwezi District, Katanga, Congo. Zijin bought a 49.5-percent stake for $412 million in the project, giving $206 million for the initial payment with the remaining half to be paid in five equal installments. Beijing-based China National Gold Group Corp. discussed with Ivanhoe Mines its plan of buying a stake but nothing materialized, reported WSJ in 2013. Zijin also acquired a 50-percent interest in the Porgera Joint Venture in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea, paying Toronto-based Barrick Gold $298 million, according to Barricks website. The company announced on March 25 on its website its 74.30 billion yuan ($11.42 billion) sales revenue and net profit of 1.656 yuan ($254 million) for 2015. In 2014, its sales revenue reached 58.76 billion yuan with a net profit of 2.345 billion yuan. The company cites the sluggish economy and plunging gold and commodity price for the 29.40-percent decrease year-over-year. Incorporated in Sept. 2000, Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. is engaged in the exploration and development of gold, copper and zinc and holds office at Shanghang County, Longyan City, Fujian Province. Chung To, founder of Chi Heng Foundation (CHF) based in Hong Kong, a charity organization targeting AIDS prevention, gives a class about homosexuals at Fudan University Sept. 7, 2006 in Shanghai, China. (Photo : China Photos/Getty Images) In the first-ever court case in China addressing the issue of same-sex marriage, a Beijing judge on Wednesday denied permission to a gay couple who had filed a petition seeking the right to marry. In June 2015, the gay couple, Sun Wenlin and Hu Mingliang (both pseudo names), had filed a court case against the civic authorities Changsha, Hunan Province, located in southern China, after the office rejected their application to grant them the right to marry, BBC reported. Advertisement On Wednesday, hundreds of supporters gathered outside the court premised to cheer for 27-year-old Sun and 37-year-old Hu when they came to attend the hearing. The authorities permitted about 100 of these supporters inside the court room. However, unfortunately for Sun and Hu, the court discharged the case within a few hours since hearing started. Soon after, the dismissal of their petition Sun said that he and Hu were planning to appeal against the verdict. As per the Chinese law, they are required to submit an appeal to a higher court in the next 15 days. Interestingly enough, though China does not support gay or lesbian marriage, the district court had not only accepted Sun's petition, but also agreed to hear the lawsuit. Initially, the hearing was scheduled for January, but it was postponed of reasons unknown. Immediately after the court held a hearing on Wednesday morning and the judge issued a ruling, the news started circulating on social media. Meanwhile, in an interview to Global Times, Sun alleged that the local police visited him with the aim of persuading him to withdraw the case. As the case became a high-profile issue and was supported online by many LGBT activists, the police also visited his home several times. According to Sun, the police officer continued to emphasize that it was imperative to have a child from a marriage, as the offspring would carry on the parent's family name. Sun further stated that he was, however, unable to abide by people thrusting their values on him. During a previous interview with the same media outlet, Sun had said that the Chinese Marriage Law's original text does not specify one man and one woman. Instead, it talks about a husband and a wife. "I personally believe that this term refers not only to heterosexual couples but also to same-sex couples," he said. Meanwhile, Shi Funon, the lawyer of the gay couple, said he had anticipated that the judgment will be against his clients, but not so quickly. According to Funon, this is against the spirit of the laws of the People's Republic of China. Watch the video on "Rural Chinese gays come out, advocate gay marriage" below: 18-Year-Old woman arrested for live streaming the rape of her friend; The suspected rapist is her boyfriend Marina Lonina and Raymond Gates, suspects in the rape and kidnapping of a 17-year-old girl (Photo : You Tube/BBC News) Marina Lonina, an 18-year-old student of New Albany High School in Columbus, Ohio, has been arrested for multiple charges including kidnapping and broadcasting the rape of her friend via a live-streaming site. Her alleged boyfriend, Raymond Gates, 29, was tagged as the rapist. The jury from Franklin County charged Lonina and Gates with two counts of rape, one count each for kidnapping, sexual battery and five counts of child pornography. Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said that the incident took place on Feb. 27, at a home located along Christina Lane of the Northeast Side. Advertisement O'Brien said that the 17-year-old victim was drinking with her friend Lonina and Gates when the latter forced her to have sexual intercourse. While the rape is happening, Lonina took out her mobile phone and began live streaming the activity through the social media app called Periscope. Commenting on the incident, one parent from New Albany High School named Dawndie Smith told 10tv, "It's not human. It isn't a human reaction to record something like that." He added that what happened was vile and very disturbing. It was learned that Lonina also took and published nude photos of the victim, the day before the assault. This act had led to additional charge of two counts of using an underage in nudity-oriented materials. The crime was only discovered when a friend of Lonina contacted the police after seeing the live footage being broadcast online. O'Brien explained that the victim was not able to resist the attack because the alcohol impaired her ability to give or refuse consent. "The alcohol accounts for the stupidity of what was done with the live-streaming," he said. The prosecutor further said that the case is the first in the county, where the assault was streamed for everyone to watch in real-time. According to The Washington Post, through her lawyer Josh Bedtelyon, Lonina denied all the charges hurled against her. In case of Gates, he does not have a legal representative yet who can comment on the accusations, but he is set for arraignment on Friday, April 15. Finally, the court stated that if Lonina and Gates would be found guilty for all the complaint, both of them are likely to get a 40-year imprisonment term. Watch the video below to see the indictment of Gates for rape, kidnapping and pandering: The head of Libya's internationally-recognized parliament has criticized the UN envoy, accusing the international community of imposing a unity government that contradicts a UN-brokered agreement. Agila Saleh told Libya 218 television on Tuesday that UN envoy Martin Kobler is acting as the country's "ruler" and paving the way for a new unity government to seize power in the capital before parliament votes on it. The parliament is expected to vote on the unity government on April 18. Western nations hope the UN-backed government led by Fayez Serraj, a little-known technocrat, can unite the country and combat an increasingly powerful Islamic State group affiliate. Search Keywords: Short link: President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Wednesday that the investigation into the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni in Cairo was being conducted with the "utmost transparency," and blamed some Egyptians he said had spread lies about the case. In a nationally televised speech, El-Sisi blamed "evil" people in Egypt for "lie- and allegation-mongering" about the case and embarrasing Egypt internationally. "We have done that to ourselves and put Egypt in trouble," El-Sisi said, in reference to accusations the country's security forces were involved in the PhD student's murder. Regeni, who was in Cairo conducting research on independent trade unions, went missing on 25 January. His body was found, bearing signs of severe torture, by a roadside on the outskirts of the capital nine days later. The case has strained ties between Cairo and Rome, otherwise close allies, prompting Italy last week to recall its ambassador to Egypt for consultations, after Egypt refused to share evidence deemed relevant to the case. Egyptian prosecutors said the Italian request for a large volume of call logs was "illegal and unconstitutional." In his address, El-Sisi stressed that Cairo enjoys "special relations" with the Italians, emphasising that "Rome was quick to back Egypt following the 30 June revolution." El-Sisi said the involvement of the country's judiciary in the investigation of Regeni's murder gives the process credibility. "And you still do not believe?" he asked rhetorically. He expressed his condolences to Regeni's family. The Egyptian president urged the media to be more cautious about what they publish, describing media handling of the issue as "scary" and saying that relying on social media as a source of information in relation to such issues is "very dangerous." Egyptian officials have repeatedly denied claims that security forces were involved in Regeni's murder. Search Keywords: Short link: Despite most political forces rejecting its programme, the Ismail government will be granted a vote of confidence, if only because no coalition could form an alternative government The government of Prime Minister Sherif Ismail will face its first vote of confidence in parliament next week. Parliament deputy speaker Al-Sayed Al-Sherif told reporters this week that Prime Minister Ismail will come to parliament next Wednesday to respond to MPs' comments on his government's policy statement, which he delivered before parliament 27 March. "At the end of his response, MPs will be required to grant or withhold confidence in Ismail's government," said Al-Sherif. Parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Al indicated that the government's policy statement will be discussed in a number of plenary sessions between 10 and 20 April. "Spokespersons of political parties will be given priority in taking the floor, with each allowed 15 minutes to give a comment," said Abdel-Al. Al-Sherif explained that a 340-page report prepared by a special 50-member committee offers a critical review of the government's three-year programme and recommends that the government implement it under constant review of parliament. "The report states that parliament's vote of confidence will be granted, with the stipulation that implementation of the programme be based on a clear-cut time schedule and that at the end of each stage the government comes to parliament to give a detailed report about it," said Al-Sherif. Al-Sherif said the parliamentary report covers the government's seven-point programme in detail. "In general, the report devotes particular attention to the government's social justice policies, ringing alarm bells that the lives of millions of ordinary Egyptians were severely battered by a steep rise in basic food prices and bills of electricity and water supplies," said Al-Sherif. The report said "although the government's policy statement allocates an unprecedented sum of LE429 billion in spending on social protection programmes, it remains short of lifting millions of the most economically marginalised Egyptians out of poverty." The report urges the government to rationalise public spending rather than cutting social subsidies, promote labour-intensive projects to reduce unemployment, and fight bureaucracy in government circles. "In this respect, the government should closely cooperate with parliament in fighting corruption and improving public services," the report said. The report also lamented that the government's policy statement fell short of discussing the issue of human rights in detail. "In this respect, the report recommended that local council elections be held as soon as possible, conduct a regular and strict review of conditions in prison cells and police stations, implement the constitution's articles on media freedoms, and issue a new law for NGOs operating in Egypt," said Al-Sherif. Parliamentary spokespersons of most political forces, however, indicated that they will grant the government a vote of confidence not out of conviction, but rather because they have no other choice. "If we rejected this programme, the other option would be much worse," said Abed, referring to the fact that the constitution (Article 146) states that if MPs chose to withhold confidence, the majority coalition would be required to form a government itself. Abed notes that right now it is difficult for any parliamentary coalition to take charge of forming an alternative government. Abed told reporters: "We are in one boat and all we can do right now is to approve this programme in order to let the boat move forward." "But this does not mean that the government will be granted blanket approval," said Abed, adding that "We stipulated that the programme be implemented under parliament's supervision and that it does not come at the expense of poor classes." Abed said all political forces in parliament insist that the government is not doing enough to rationalise spending. "We still see this government acting as if it is the government of a rich country and not that of a country suffering from a severe foreign exchange squeeze," said Abed. Abed complained that "cabinet ministers are still paying costly visits to foreign countries, while most of them ride expensive imported cars." "Within the same context, we do not see any credible administrative reform and anti-corruption programmes that might save millions of pounds and dollars," said Abed. Mohamed Khalifa, the spokesman of Al-Nour Party, the only Islamist force in parliament, told parliament on Monday that his party will grant the government confidence "even if its statement came short of any democratic reform programmes." "There are no plans for promoting the multi-party system in cooperation with parliament, not to mention programmes for improving the country's human rights conditions," said Khalifa. Bahaaeddin Abu Shukka, the parliamentary spokesperson of the liberal Al-Wafd Party, slammed the government's policy statement for not adequately addressing the issue of NGOs law reform. "We warn that NGOs operating in Egypt must be prevented from obtaining foreign funding because this violates the law," said Abu Shukka. He also lamented that, "The statement spoke highly of the necessity of implementing a number of mega-development projects, but without indicating how these projects will be funded." "We do not need rhetoric, but we need figures and a time schedule that show how these projects will be implemented," said Abu Shukka. Joining forces, Kamal Amer, the spokesperson of the "Guardians of the Nation" party, said the current NGOs law should be amended to impose a ban on foreign-funded NGOs. Search Keywords: Short link: The 16 Egyptian fishermen had been detained in Libya for nine months for trespassing into Libyan territorial waters Sixteen Egyptian fishermen who were detained in Libya for almost nine months for trespassing into Libyan territorial waters have been released, Al-Ahram Arabic news has reported. The fishermen returned Cairo through Tunisia. The fishermen, originally from Kafr El-Sheikh governorate, were arrested in Libyan territorial waters and were detained in a Libyan prison. The Egyptian foreign ministry held talks with Libyan authorities in Tripoli, as well as local tribes, to secure their release and transfer to Tunisia. A number of incidents has seen Egyptian fishermen arrested in the territorial waters of neighbouring countries like Sudan, Libya and Tunisia. Egypts foreign ministry has repeatedly intervened in these cases to ensure the release of the fishermen and has warned against trespassing in foreign waters. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt's Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadek referred on Thursday investigations into the deadly crash of a Russian airliner last October in Sinai to the Supreme State Security Prosecution, a statement by the prosecutor's office said. In March, an official Russian investigation report, which said that criminal activity was behind the deadly crash of the Metrojet airliner that killed all 224 on board, was delivered to Egyptian authorities. Egypt's Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSP) prosecutes crimes related to terrorism and national security. The Kremlin had said as early as 17 November 2015 that a bomb ripped apart the Russian passenger jet and promised to hunt down those responsible. Prior to Thursday's decision to refer the case to the SSP, Egyptian prosecutors did not produce any final report on the cause of the crash. However, last February, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi hinted in public remarks that a terror attack might have downed the Russian plane. The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility of the deadly attack. Following the crash, Russia and several other European countries suspended direct flights to Egypt, citing concerns over security conditions in Egyptian airports, with Russia demanding improved security measures before it resumes flights to Egypt. Egypt and Russia have repeatedly said the two countries would make joint efforts to resume direct flights as soon as possible. Search Keywords: Short link: As a call on Facebook for Egyptians to protest on Friday against the recent cabinet's decision to acknowledge Saudi Arabia's sovereingty over the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir attracted interest, supporters of the idea seemed divided down the stretch over how to proceed following the Muslim Brotherhood's last minute decision to join the demonstrations. On Sunday, two days after Egypt agreed to give the two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia in a maritime redrawing accord, a group of anonymous individuals launched a Facebook page titled The Land is the Honour, and called on Egyptians who reject the decision to join street protests in a number of cities after Friday noon prayers. A week of arguments Since the announcement by the Egyptian government on Saturday that it agreed to return the two islands off the coast of Sharm El-Sheikh in Sinai to the Saudi kingdom, Egypt has seen heated debates and controversy. Some political forces and figures have argued that the two islands are Egyptian and called on the cabinet to reverse itself or call for a referendum on the matter. The Egyptian government has explained that its decision, which was announced during a visit by the Saudi King Salman to Cairo, comes after a six-year process of studies and 11 rounds of negotiations between officials and experts from Cairo and Riyadh. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi told public figures on Wednesday that the parliament would vote on the agreement before final ratification. MPs from Support Egypt, the parliament's largest bloc, have said that while they tentaively believe the government's decision to return the islands to Saudi sovereinty is legally sound, adding, however, said that they would still review the deal before they make a final decision. Alaa Abed, the head of the parliamentary bloc of the right-of-centre Free Egyptians Party (FEP), which has the largest number of seat by any one political party in the house, said that if parliament finds that official documents prove Saudi ownership over the islands, the FEP bloc would vote for the agreement. Small parties reject but no protest Several small political parties have rejected the decision, but have not endorsed any calls for protest, opting instead to back other measures to stop the return of the islands. The Egyptian Social Democratic Party (ESDP), which announced on Monday that it opened its headquarters for the public to issue powers of attorney to file a lawsuit in order to stop the implementation of the agreement, has not endorsed the call for protests. Egypt's Popular Alliance Party have also announced their support of Friday protests. The Popular Current, which was founded by former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi who opposes the agreement, has not endorsed the protests. Brotherhood angers potential protesters In the begining of the week, the anonymous Land is the honour had called on its fresh followers online to march from 30 different mosques and churches onto Cairos Tahrir Square. Supporters of small January 25 groups of the 6 April Movement and the Revolutionary Socialists called supported the call for protests. However, by the end of the week, sentiments to support the Friday rallies was thrown into disarray when the now-banned Brotherhood organisation formally endorsed the rallies and called on its members to take to the streets. "To all Egyptians, the picture has become clear. We are facing a group of criminals who are committing a gross violation against our land and history and honour. This is the time for unity," the Brotherhood said in a statement on Thursday calling on supporters to join the planned protests to "save the country," and "launch a spark of anger." Immediately after the statement was released on the Brotherhood's website, many non-Islamist opponents of the Egyptian-Saudi agreement denounced the Brotherhood's decision to join the rally, accusing them of attempting to "hijack the movement in order to put forward their own anti-government agenda." "We who called for the [protests] on Friday refuse the attempts of some Muslim Brotherhood members and figures from other political powers to hijack our event on Friday as they have previously done throughout the revolution," the admins on "The Land is The Honour" Facebook page said. "We will not allow any political current to exploit this event for its own interests and steer it away from its main aim, which is to preserve Egyptian land and sovereignty," they said, warning all participants against raising any brotherhood slogans. Police insist on 'legtimacy' Some non-Islamist activists have argued they fear that the Egyptian authorities might use the Brotherhood's participation as an excuse to crack down on protesters. On Thursday afternoon, Egypt's Ministry of Interior called on citizens not to be duped into following the calls made by the Brotherhood, warning against any attempts to upset the legitimate order. The ministry said it would take the necessary and decisive measures to ensure security and stability. The ministry also said it had not received any request to organise protests on Friday. Protest without prior official notification and approval has been criminalised in Egypt since November 2013. The authorities has dispersed many unpermitted demonstrations since then and arrested hundreds for for breaking the Protest law. Friday uncertain On Thursday night, Ahram Online learned that several revolutionary and youth movements are planning to organise a separate protest against the ceding of the islands on Friday at 5pm on the steps of the press syndicate in downtown Cairo. These groups include the 6 April Movement, the Revolutionary Socialists, the Strong Egypt Party which is lead by former presidential candidate Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh Youth for Justice and Freedom, and the Resistance student movement. By Thursday night, the liberal Constitution Party, which has opposed the return of the islands to Saudi Arabia as an unconstitutional decision, issued a statement saying it fully supports the legal right of its members and all others to participate in any peaceful protests on Friday. The party rebuked the Brotherhood's decision to join the protests, accusing them of betraying the people time and again, and insisted that the Islamist group no longer has a place among revolutionaries. It called on the interior ministry to provide full protection to peaceful protesters according to their constitutional rights, and warned the police against using repressive measures. Search Keywords: Short link: Scheduled negotiations between Yemens warring parties depend on upholding the ceasefire, which in turn depends on perceptions of the agenda and power balance in negotiations Eight days separate the beginning of a ceasefire and the anticipated start of negotiations on 18 April between the warring Yemeni parties. The two are mutually dependent. The ceasefire needs to hold reasonably well in order for the negotiations to take place. At the same time, breaches in the fragile ceasefire and the accompanying mutual recriminations reflect the ongoing tug-of-war over the agenda of the talks to take place in Kuwait next week. As UN Special Envoy to Yemen Ould Cheikh Ahmed indicated, the parties are wrangling over interpretations of five points related to UN Resolution 2216 which Mohammed Ali Marem, director of the office of Yemeni President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi, summed up as: the ceasefire, withdrawal and the surrender of weapons, restoration of legitimacy to government, creating the climate for the return of the representatives of the political forces to complete arrangements and preparations for the interim phase, and the question of POWs and abducted persons. The joint political bureau of the Houthi movement and former President Ali Abdullah Saleh issued a statement, a copy of which has been made available to Al-Ahram Weekly, stating that they are fully committed to the ceasefire in accordance with the discussions that took place with the UN. The ceasefire calls for a halt to all combat activities and military movements by land, sea and air, across the entirety of Yemeni territory, airspace and borders. The document was signed by both parties. Ahmed Rafiq, who is close to the Houthi-Saleh political bureau, told the Weekly that the members of the front of the former president have agreed to head to Kuwait and demonstrate their serious determination to pursue the negotiations. However, first, the ceasefire needs to hold. Saudi aircraft are still circling in the air and this raises concerns regarding the durability of the ceasefire, he said. On the other hand, speaking from Taiz, editor-in-chief of Al-Shahed newspaper Abdel Aziz Al-Majidi told the Weekly that it was not true that the Houthi militia was abiding by the ceasefire. They are in the process of a redeployment that includes regaining control over positions they recently lost, which is in violation of the terms of the UN resolution on this issue, he said, adding that the Houthis in Taiz are receiving reinforcements from Ibb and Dhammar. He claims that the Houthis are doing the same thing in Sirrah, in Mareb, and in Nehem north of Sanaa. An unprecedented military convoy has left the capital in the direction of Nehem, he said. Local Yemeni news reports relate that areas such as Midi are still within Houthi firing range. The command of the Saudi-led coalition announced that it would respond to the breaches. Coalition command spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asiri said that command headquarters had received a request from President Hadi to manage the truce in a manner that would pave the way for the meeting in Kuwait, but that the coalition, simultaneously, reserves the right to respond to any breaches. Asiri added that it has been agreed to send in humanitarian relief to six Yemeni provinces during the truce. He also said that the Yemeni government would head for talks in Kuwait regardless of the circumstances, stressing that that government is committed to UN resolutions regarding the ceasefire. Although the understandings the Houthis reached with the Saudis in talks that took place in Abha and Riyadh over the past month were expected to reduce many of the obstacles in the path to Kuwait, some sources have suggested that Saleh is making certain moves because he has been excluded from those talks, which galls him because he sees himself as the main player. Rafiq, in his interview with the Weekly, curtly dismissed this notion. Theyre imagining things. President Saleh is still the strongest party in the equation up to now. Al-Majidi countered, Saudi Arabia holds the cards. The nature of the understandings it reached with [the Houthis] is what will prevail. As for Salehs role, and whether he is coordinating with the Houthis or whether the Saudi-Houthi understanding will encourage a sidelining of Saleh, he said: These are questions that I believe will settle that important debate concerning the relationship between the Houthis and Saleh which, in the context of the Kuwait dialogue, is undoubtedly different from [what it was] in Geneva. Mohammed Abdel Salam Al-Houthi has spoken of a graduated ceasefire. According to another source close to the Houthi movement, the statement signed jointly by the Houthis and Saleh affirms Houthi commitment to the ceasefire. It also includes a list of names of local delegates responsible for monitoring the combat fronts. He stressed that the purpose of the Houthis troop movements is not to redeploy with the idea of escalating but on the contrary to prepare the ground for talks. The source added: The draft document that was circulated in the committee charged with coordinating the truce and forming local monitoring committees in six governorates along the demarcation lines is what stirred those doubts. However, ultimately there will be commitment. Al-Majidi rejects the argument. We could accept such talk if we were talking about movements to relinquish positions. But when we speak of targeting the 35th Artillery Brigade and other locations the context is different. In the end, the Houthis want to exploit the situation to improve their position in the negotiations in Kuwait. They will go to Kuwait, for sure, in order to see what they will obtain. We can say that what is happening is not commitment to the ceasefire but a tactic on the part of the Houthi movement no more, no less. The agenda that unfolds in Kuwait will answer many of the foregoing questions. Will the articles of UN Resolution 2216 be set aside, signalling that the parties accept them as stated, or will some participants insist on opening them to negotiation? Meanwhile, the coming days will tell us whether or not the talks in Kuwait will go ahead as scheduled. *This story was first published at Al-Ahram Weekly. Search Keywords: Short link: Today's OIC summit in Istanbul could see a measured thaw in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, though nothing is assured The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul today might see confrontation between the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Iran, or and as one Turkish diplomat suggested a three-way meeting between the new chair of the summit and King Salman of Saudi Arabia and President Hassan Rouhani of Iran. Turkey, the same diplomat told Ahram Online by phone, has for long been trying to pass positive messages between Iran and Saudi Arabia. He acknowledged that Turkey is member of a loose Sunni Muslim alliance that the Saudis summoned to send Tehran a message of strength. But Ankara, too, is a NATO member and a country that likes to perceive itself as a leading regional player that aims to help contain tension and resolve problems. This is essential for Turkish diplomacy. The possibility of a three-way meeting was confirmed by other sources, including Western diplomats in Cairo, with one suggesting that if Erdogan manages to get the meeting together he would have delivered a considerable diplomatic coup. The sources said that Washington is lending support to Ankara and that it is expected in the US capital that the meeting would take place. The agenda of the meeting is very basic, according to sources who spoke to Ahram Online. Just to break the ice and to get them to sit and talk together, said the Turkish diplomat. Well, to start a process that could reduce the level of high regional tension, said the Western diplomat. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran have been particularly strained during the past few months, prompting parallel tensions in relations between Iran and most of the Saudi led Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), except Oman. Saudi Arabia, which according to many Western and Arab diplomats tried everything to block the nuclear deal between Iran and the West concluded last year, has been getting very anxious over the intentions of Iran towards the ruling family in Riyadh. Saudi diplomats have been openly suggesting to interlocutors in and out of the region that Tehran could try to use the Shias in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf allies, particulary Bahrain (where Shias are the majority of the population), to topple the Saudi regime as part of a larger scheme to impose Iranian-Shia influence over the otherwise largely Sunni region. Earlier this week in Cairo, King Salman used his political weight to prompt Egyptian support for the Sunni political-military camp that Riyadh has been composing. Salman also stressed during a meeting with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in Cairo the need for the highly influential Islamic institution to assert a stance against the expansion of the Muslim Shia faith in Arab countries. The Saudi narrative suggests that Iran is spending a lot of money to entice Muslims in North Africa, Sudan and Djibouti to convert from the Sunni to the Shia faith in order to expand its base of support. It was this Saudi apprehension over Iran that also prompted the visiting Saudi monarch to use his influence to start a process of slow reconciliation between Egypt and Turkey. Turkey took a firm stance against the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in the summer of 2013 and openly and at the highest level criticised the new regime in Egypt for its treatment of the Muslim Brotherhood and their sympathisers. Relations soured to the point of very low diplomatic representation and an exchange of recriminations. Salman had been hoping to convince Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to head the Egyptian delegation to the OIC summit, especially that Egypt is the outgoing chair and should hand over the rotated presidency of the 50-plus member Muslim organisation to Turkey. El-Sisi agreed to send his foreign minister, Sameh Shoukri, to head the Egyptian delegation to the summit. Shoukri sent his undersecretary, Hesham Badr, to head the delegation of Egypt to the ministerial meeting. A member of the Egyptian delegation said that Badr was very well received and conducted positive meetings, sending back a reassuring telegram to Cairo to inform Shoukri that his participation in the summit is unlikely to be interrupted by any show of diplomatic insensitivity on the part of the host Turkey. Originally, Cairo had planned to let a low-ranking diplomat who is operating its embassy in Ankara head the Egyptian delegation, downplaying the handover. This aimed to send Ankara a message of discontent over its criticism of the post-Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt. It was also designed to avert any diplomatic incident should the president of Turkey make reference to the Muslim Brotherhood. The president decided to accommodate the Saudi king, and we do have very good relations with Saudi Arabia and would like to help ease regional tensions as much as possible, the Turkish diploamat said. However, there are no major expectations from the participation of Shoukri in the OIC summit. I am not sure this is a major game changer, but yes, one could expect a reduction of media hostility and so forth, said an Egyptian diplomat. Shoukri participation in the Istanbul summit, nonetheless, could allow a meeting with Egypts other regional "headache": Qatar. Riyadh's pursuit of a united Sunni front prompted both Egypt and Qatar, who experienced some diplomatic unease since the ouster of Morsi, to come together in a joint military grouping for manoeuvres under the leadership of Saudi Arabia. Qatar has committed to reducing the level of its criticism against the ruling regime in Egypt, particularly through the Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera satellite channel. Most recently, Qatar, to please Saudi Arabia, kept Al-Jazeera away from the recent controversy over Egypt's handover of two Red Sea islands (Tiran and Sanafir) to Saudi Arabia. According to diplomats who spoke to Ahram Online, the Istanbul summit will be mostly about what happens on the sidelines, rather than the official agenda of the summit itself that covers the Arab-Israeli struggle, the situation in conflict areas in Islamic countries, and economic and cultural cooperation among its member states. Even Syria, which is a key issue for Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, is likely to be discussed in depth only on the fringes of the summit hall. Search Keywords: Short link: The ambassadors of Britain, France and Spain arrived in the Libyan capital on Thursday to support the new unity government seeking to end the country's turmoil, an AFP journalist said. It is the first visit by the European envoys to Tripoli since European Union member states decided to close their embassies in mid-2014 because of unrest. French ambassador Antoine Sivan, British envoy Peter Millet of Britain and Spain's Jose Antonio Bordallo arrived at Tripoli's Mitiga airport before heading to the naval base where the unity government has set up operations. World powers see the establishment of the unity cabinet as vital to tackling a raging jihadist insurgency and rampant people smuggling in the North African state. The oil-rich country has had two rival administrations since mid-2014 when a militia alliance overran Tripoli, setting up its own authority and forcing the recognised parliament to flee to the remote east. Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said during a visit to Libya on Tuesday that embassies would be reopened in the capital in "the near future". Search Keywords: Short link: Israel has approved plans for more than 200 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, adding to a sharp increase in settlement projects so far this year, Israeli campaigners said Thursday. Israel's government disputed the claim, saying nearly all approvals involved "upgrading existing structures" and not new construction, without providing a more detailed breakdown. Settlements are considered illegal under international law and are seen as major stumbling blocks to peace efforts since they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state. Hagit Ofran, a spokeswoman for settlement watchdog Peace Now, said the government had given the green light for at least 229 new homes, which are at various stages in the technical process. The new units were also reported by Israeli newspapers. The projects must pass through five administrative stages before winning final approval from Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon. An Israeli government statement said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yaalon had "not approved new construction." "Almost all of the permits are for upgrading existing structures," it said. "The small proportion of them pertaining to new construction are for the community of Ganei Modiin, which abuts the fence and which will be part of Israel in any future agreement." Peace Now said this week that the number of West Bank settlements Israel plans to build more than tripled in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period last year. Between January and March, projects for 674 housing units passed at least one of the steps in the planning approval process, up from 194 in the first quarter of 2015, it said. The new plans would bring the total to at least 903. "This policy is killing the two-state solution," Ofran told AFP. The United States and the European Union, among others, have strongly criticised Israeli settlement construction. Palestine Liberation Organisation secretary general Saeb Erekat said in a statement that "the continued Israeli colonisation of Palestine is a war crime under international law." According to Peace Now and Israeli media, the new plans call for additional homes in a range of settlements. They include Har Brakha (54 units) near Nablus in the northern West Bank; Revava (17), also in the northern West Bank; Ganei Modiin (48), northwest of Jerusalem; Tekoa (34), south of Jerusalem; and Givat Zeev (76), north of Jerusalem. Some 2.8 million Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank and occupied east Jerusalem in near constant tension with more than 500,000 Israeli settlers. Ofran said the new plans "will allow approximately another 1,000 people to move to the settlements, people that we will need to evict in order to get a peace deal." Earlier this week, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas told AFP in an interview that there is an "urgent" need for a UN resolution on Israeli settlements. He made the comments just before he left on a multi-country diplomatic tour that may be among the 81-year-old's last chances to renew peace efforts. The Palestinians are currently discussing a UN draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Abbas's two-week tour will end in New York. The United States has repeatedly vetoed resolutions opposed by Israel at the UN Security Council, but there has been speculation that President Barack Obama may change tack in the waning days of his administration. Peace efforts have meanwhile been at a standstill since a US initiative collapsed two years ago. Israel had excessively used force against Palestinians protests that erupted in October, leading to the death of 200 Palestinians and 28 Israelis. *This story was edited by Ahram Online. Search Keywords: Short link: Iraqi lawmakers voted Thursday to remove the parliament speaker and his deputies from office, increasing political turmoil as the country battles Islamist militants and struggles with a financial crisis. The chaos at parliament is a significant setback for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, overshadowing his efforts to replace the current cabinet and preventing nominees from being brought to a vote. The turmoil has escalated over three successive sessions this week: the first ended in a sit-in, the second with a fistfight among lawmakers, and the third with the vote to remove parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi. Juburi, one of the country's leading Sunni Arab politicians, issued a statement saying that the session, which he did not attend, was unconstitutional and that the required quorum was not reached. The session held "in the absence of the presidency of parliament is unconstitutional and lacked the necessary quorum," the statement said. But Niyazi Oghlu, the official responsible for taking roll at parliament, put the number of lawmakers present at 173, while two lawmakers also said more than 170 attended. The main Sunni bloc condemned the effort to remove Juburi. "These calls will lead to the end of the concept of political partnership and the principle of consensus on which the political process was based," it said in a statement read out by MP Ahmed al-Misari. Abadi has called for the party-affiliated cabinet to be replaced by a government of technocrats, but has faced significant resistance from the powerful parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds. An "emergency" session on Wednesday ended with lawmakers shouting, shoving and throwing punches in the parliament hall, leading Juburi to call a recess. The speaker's office said earlier in the day that Abadi was to give a revised list of nominees to parliament on Thursday, but the move to sack Juburi stole the spotlight instead. Abadi presented a first list of cabinet nominees at the end of March, but the political blocs put forward their own candidates, and most of the premier's original list was replaced on a second presented to MPs on Tuesday. Some MPs demanded the opportunity to vote on Abadi's original list -- from which at least two candidates had already withdrawn -- but the session was adjourned Tuesday without a vote. Dozens of lawmakers then began a sit-in and spent the night at parliament. Iraqi ministries have for years been shared out between powerful political parties that run them as their personal fiefdoms, relying on them for patronage and funds. But even if the current cabinet line-up is replaced with independent, technocratic ministers -- a change that faces major obstacles -- that would only be the beginning of the process. Ministries are packed with lower-level employees appointed on the basis of party and sectarian affiliation, and replacing them would face serious resistance. Technocratic ministers would also lack the political cover afforded by party affiliation, and could face threats by armed groups opposed to changes they proposed. Abadi called in February for "fundamental" change to the cabinet so that it includes "professional and technocratic figures and academics". That kicked off the latest chapter in a months-long saga of Abadi proposing various reforms that parties and politicians with interests in the existing system have sought to delay or undermine. Sadr later took up the demand for a technocratic government, organising a two-week sit-in that put Abadi under pressure to act, but also supported the course of action he wanted to take. Sadr relented after Abadi presented his first list of nominees at the end of March, but has yet to react to the most recent developments in efforts to replace the cabinet. The political crisis surrounding efforts to change the cabinet comes as Iraqi forces battle to regain more ground from the Islamic State group, which seized swathes of the country in 2014. Iraq has also been hit hard by the plummeting price of oil, revenues from account for the vast majority of government funds. Search Keywords: Short link: State-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp on Thursday reviewed "maximum" contingency plans in the face of a total strike threatened by oil workers over alleged pay cuts. KPC said in a statement its board of directors discussed "alternative plans and precautionary measures" at all its affiliate companies after the oil workers union declared an open-ended strike starting Sunday. The board was briefed by heads of Kuwait Oil Co, responsible for production and exploration, and national refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Co on their "maximum emergency" plans, it said, without giving details. Local media reported on Wednesday that Kuwait was to deploy national guard units to run and protect some oil facilities during the strike. Hit by the sharp drop in crude prices, Kuwait is introducing a new payroll scheme for all public employees and wants to include the country's 20,000 oil workers, which would mean an automatic cut in wages and incentives. KPC said the workers union had boycotted negotiations called for Thursday by the social affairs and labour ministry. It said KPC had offered to "suspend" all spending cuts if the union agreed to join a committee to negotiate a settlement. The union is also protesting plans to privatise parts of the oil sector. Search Keywords: Short link: Related Jordan security services shut Muslim Brotherhood HQ Jordanian security services on Thursday pressed ahead with closures of offices of the Muslim Brotherhood, the kingdom's main opposition force, which vowed to fight the measure in the courts. Brotherhood spokesman Badi al-Rafaia said its offices were sealed off with red wax in the towns of Mafraq, 70 kilometres (45 miles) northeast of Amman, and Madaba, 30 kilometres (30 miles) to the south of the capital. Its offices in Al-Ramtha and Irbid, both in northern Jordan, and Karak in the south were also closed, raising to seven the number shut down since Wednesday, the movement said on its Facebook page. The latest moves came one day after the movement's Amman headquarters were closed along with an office in Jerash to the north. Previously tolerated for decades in Jordan, the Brotherhood has had tense relations with the authorities since the Arab Spring uprisings that shook the region in 2011. The movement, in a statement published Thursday, said the closures "take us back to the days of martial law when order and justice are not respected", and pledged "to take judicial and political measures against these illegal pressures". Jordanian authorities view the Brotherhood as an illegal organisation because its licence was not renewed in accordance with a political parties law adopted in 2014. The Jordanian branch of the movement, which was formed in Egypt in 1928 and has affiliates across the region, has wide grassroots support in the kingdom. Other governments in the region, particularly the Gulf monarchies, are also deeply suspicious of the Brotherhood, fearing that its brand of grass-roots activism and political Islam could undermine their authority. The Brotherhood's second-in-command in Jordan, Zaki Bani Rsheid, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in February 2015 for criticising a decision by the United Arab Emirates to blacklist the organisation. The Jordanian branch of the Brotherhood accuses the authorities of trying to exploit divisions within the organisation. Last year, the government in Amman authorised the formation of a breakaway group known as the Muslim Brotherhood Association. Search Keywords: Short link: The United States is "very concerned" about reports of a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive near the country's second city Aleppo, a senior administration official in Washington told AFP on Thursday. "Such actions could well violate the cessation of hostilities, which has held for nearly seven weeks but has been under increasing pressure in recent weeks," the official said, reiterating a call for Russia to "cease any provocative actions in Syria." Syrian government fighters, rebels and jihadists are battling for control of swathes of Aleppo province. Regime loyalists backed by Russia's air power pressed a fierce offensive just north of the provincial capital of Aleppo city, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, straining the landmark ceasefire and a nascent round of peace talks in Geneva. US officials "expressed our strong concerns" to all members of the 17-nation International Syria Support Group (ISSG), including Moscow, the Washington official said, urging the Kremlin to lean on Syrian President and ally Bashar al-Assad to commit to talks about a political transition. "Now is the time for all sides to follow through on their commitment to the cessation of hostilities and to refrain from any further destabilizing actions," the official added. In Geneva, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura criticized Assad's government for hindering efforts to deliver life-saving assistance to Syrians in need. The United States and Russia co-chair the ISSG, seeking to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis. Search Keywords: Short link: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government unveiled a bill Thursday that would allow severely ill and dying Canadians to seek medical help in ending their life. The amendment to the Criminal Code comes one year after the Supreme Court struck down a prohibition against doctor-assisted suicide. The government was given until June 6, 2016 to draft new legislation that would permit consenting adults with serious health problems to end their suffering. The protocols are much less comprehensive, however, than proposals put forward by a parliamentary special committee formed to study the controversial issue. The committee's 21 recommendations urged that the physician-assisted suicide be available to people, including competent minor and people with mental illness, who suffer with debilitating and irreversible illness. A person diagnosed with a serious health problem could also make arrangements in advance to die, in situations where dementia or other illness could prevent them from making the decision later, the panel had suggested. Opposition Conservatives on the committee challenged the recommendations, saying they go far beyond what the court had ordered. It remains unclear whether the draft legislation will pass before the court's June deadline. After much back and forth, political parties have said members of parliament will be free to vote their conscience for or against the bill. The proposed law would not compel doctors or nurses to provide help to die. The option would also not be available to foreigners. Some form of physician-assisted dying is legal in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and in a handful of US states. Search Keywords: Short link: Nigeria has made progress in combating Boko Haram although the Islamist militant group is still a threat, the White House said on Thursday, adding that the United States has assisted Nigerian authorities working to secure the release of schoolgirls kidnapped by the militants. "The threat still remains and it is quite serious, and it is why the United States continues to be committed to supporting them as they counter that threat," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a daily press briefing. Search Keywords: Short link: North Korea has been making preparations to launch mid-range ballistic missiles, possibly to mark the birthday of the country's late founding president on Friday, South Korean media reported. The North deployed one or two Musudan ballistic missiles around the eastern port of Wonsan about three weeks ago, Yonhap news agency said Thursday, citing an unnamed Seoul official. "There is an ample possibility that the North would launch them around Kim Il-Sung's birthday," Yonhap quoted the official as saying. The North lavishly celebrates Kim's April 15 birthday, often with massive military parades featuring its most impressive-looking weapons or with missile launches. The nuclear-armed state has staged several short- and mid-range missile launches but has yet to test the Musudan missile, known to have a range of up to 4,000 kilometres (2,485 miles). Seoul's defence ministry spokesman said there was a "possibility" the North would carry out such a missile test around Friday's anniversary, but declined to elaborate. On Tuesday, CNN reported US intelligence satellites had spotted signs North Korea may be preparing for an unprecedented launch of a longer-range mobile ballistic missile. Seoul military declined to confirm the report. A US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that North Korea had been moving several "vehicles" in recent days, including mobile missile systems called "transporter erector launchers." But he said it was unclear if Pyongyang was actually readying a launch, or if it was just posturing. "We are always concerned about this type of activity and we will continue to monitor it, but we are confident in our missile defense capability," the official said. "Nobody actually knows if -- or when -- they are going to launch." He added that the United States does not believe North Korea has Intercontinental Ballistic Missile capability, and any potential launch would likely be to test an intermediate-range weapon. Tension has been running high on the divided peninsula since the North conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and a rocket launch a month later that was widely seen as a disguised ballistic missile test. The UN Security Council responded with its toughest sanctions to date, angering the North, which has since made repeated threats of attacks targeting Seoul and Washington. They have been accompanied by claims of success in miniaturising a nuclear warhead to fit on a missile and developing a warhead that can withstand atmospheric re-entry. Outside experts treat the recent claims with scepticism, suggesting leader Kim Jong-Un is seeking to talk up his achievements ahead of a key convention of the ruling Workers' Party in May. Search Keywords: Short link: Secretary of State John Kerry was alarmed by video of a simulated attack on a US Navy ship in the Baltic Sea by two Russian warplanes and will raise the incident with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the State Department said on Thursday. "The secretary was alarmed at seeing the imagery and the reports of these overflights, these passes on the USS Donald Cook," State Department spokesman John Kirby said. "He found it unprofessional, needlessly provocative and indeed dangerous. And I can tell you he will raise it directly with Foreign Minister Lavrov." Search Keywords: Short link: The award-winning film Bara Fil Sharea made its Egypt premiere in the art house cinema Zawya last January Egyptian film Bara Fil Sharea (Out on the Street) will be screened starting Wednesday and for the duration of a week at Cinema Magda Wa Marwa in Helwan, the neighborhood from which many of the characters come from. The working-class neighborhood, home to 10 of the workers featured in the film, will host three screenings a day (3, 6 and 9 pm) until 19 April. The award-winning film is directed by Jasmina Metwaly and Philip Rizk and produced by Cairo-based Seen Films, is a hybrid film, which features nine factory workers. Oscillating between truth and fiction, in the film the directors include workshop, rehearsals and eventually the enacting of the characters personal experiences drawn from the factories they worked in. It is through this process that intertwines a theatrical performance with film, the personal narratives with the footage filmed on mobile phones by the workers, that the viewer is offered a tale of the exploitation of the employee, injustice and corruption in the capitalist society. The film focuses on four protagonists, Ahmed Ruba; Am Saeed, who used to work in a private company for nine years; Khalaf, who works as a private security guard; and the youngest, a 17-year-old Mohamed who has been working since 13. The film premiered in February 2015 at the Berlin International Film Festival, and since then has been screened throughout the world and took part in many festivals. Following it's international release in February 2015, this hybrid film premiered in the Arab world in November 2015 when it screened within the official selection of the 26th edition of the Carthage Film Festival in Tunisia. It made its Egypt premiere in art house cinema Zawya last January. As the directors reveal, the film is not about the January 25 Revolution, but rather it explores the lives of people who were at the forefront of bringing the revolution about, people who were not the subject of interest for media covering the political transformations. Out on the Street won the Best Feature Film Award at the 5th Latin-Arab International Film Festival (Festival Internacional De Cine Latino Arabe) in Buenos Aires. The film is produced by Seen Films, a Cairo-based film house and the entity behind Sawt Min Al-Toroqat (Sound from the Hallways, 2012), a short video-art film by filmmaker Lasse Lau, and Bayt Al-Tout (The Mulberry House, 2013), a long feature film by the Academy Award-nominated Scottish-Yemeni filmmaker Sara Ishaq. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: Hollywood stars turned directors Jodie Foster and Sean Penn will show their latest films at the Cannes festival next month, organisers said Thursday. Director Steven Spielberg will also unveil his version of Roald Dahl's classic children's book "The BFG" (Big Friendly Giant) at the French festival, the biggest and most important in the movie calendar. Foster's Wall Street thriller "Money Monster" stars George Clooney while Penn's former girlfriend Charlize Theron is the lead in his love story set among aid workers in Africa, "The Last Face". Women directors have their best showing for years in the main competition, with three among the 20 competing for the Palme d'Or led by Britain's Andrea Arnold, whose "American Honey" stars maverick American actor Shia LaBeouf in a film about the macho culture of a sales team. Cannes has been repeatedly criticised for being a "boy's club" with no women at all selected in 2012. The festival's feminist credentials took another battering last year when it emerged that women were banned from its glamorous red carpet premieres for not wearing high heels. Both Jodie Foster and Spielberg are showing their films outside of Cannes' main competition in a year which is not short of Hollywood stardust. The paparazzi will have their hands full with "Twilight" superstar Kristen Stewart in two films and Ryan Gosling and "Star Wars" actor Adam Driver also on the Croisette. After his years in the wilderness following the critical mauling of "Showgirls", "Total Recall" director Paul Verhoeven is returning to the competition for the first time since 1992, when his "Basic Instinct" set pulses racing. Despite a controversy raging in Spain over Pedro Almodovar being named in the Panama Papers leak, the organisers included his new film "Julieta" in the main competition. The Spanish director -- a leftwinger known for his support of environmental causes -- cancelled a press conference last week to promote the story of a girl who disappears for a decade, and did not show up at another event in Barcelona. The official selection is full of major surprises and Cannes regulars, with veteran British director Ken Loach making the final cut despite rumours that his "I, Daniel Blake" might not make it. The biggest surprise was the absence of two-time Cannes winner Serbian master Emir Kusturica, whose "On the Milky Road" stars Monica Bellucci. |Festival chief Thierry Fremaux said: "We know the risks we are taking and risks sometimes end in pain, but we liked (these films) and we want to share them with you because we think they are important." The festival runs in the French Riviera resort from May 11 to 22. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: (Guangzhou) Many car-hailing apps have stopped subsidizing passengers for using their service in Guangzhou after the southern city's government said the approach hurt fair competition. Companies including Yidao Yongche and AA Pinche, which were required by the local transportation bureau and traffic police to end the subsidies, have complied and said they will put big promotions on hold, the Southern Metropolis Daily, a Guangzhou-based national newspaper, reported on April 13. China Auto Rental Holdings also said it would follow the order, the newspaper reported. It reported that the ride-sharing giant Didi Kuaidi had canceled all coupon offers and Uber Inc. did away with most of its. A lawyer said transportation officials overstepped their authority. Zhou Yuzhong, of Beijing Yingke Law Firm, said it was up to the industry and commercial regulator to decide whether competition was unfair and how to deal with it, not transport officials, according to New Express Daily, a local newspaper. New Express said the bureau defended its requirement as being only "a word of advice" aimed at ensuring fair competition based on the belief that car-hailing apps should know they cannot carry on their price war forever. "But we all know that if we don't cooperate, there will be an even harsher clampdown awaiting us," one driver told the Southern Metropolis. For-hire car services have been operating in a grey area in China, with the attitudes of local governments ranging from measured approval to treating the business as criminal activity. Guangzhou has said it would punish any ride-sharing service involving privately owned cars for "operating illegally." The city's traffic police have encountered backlash from drivers, who protested last year, saying they were being entrapped. Taxi drivers have also expressed anger at how the new business is hurting their income. Critics have linked the Guangzhou government's move to recent complaints from taxi firms that their online platform, which is under development, could not keep up with the spending on subsidies by car-hailing apps. The city government denied that connection, saying its move has nothing to do with the platform. (Rewritten by Wang Yuqian) (Beijing) The central government says it has demoted or removed from their posts nearly 360 officials and detained 200 people over a probe into sales of problematic vaccines. The 357 officials who have been punished include those from the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the China Food and Drug Administration, and government agencies in 17 provinces and cities, minutes from a meeting of the State Council on April 13 show. The State council, the country's cabinet, did not reveal the officials' names or ranks. Some of them could face charges of dereliction of duty pending further investigation, the minutes show. The minutes show police are handling 192 cases related to the scandal, and some 202 people have been placed under criminal investigation in connection with distribution of vaccines that originated in the eastern province of Shandong. In March, drug safety authorities and police in Jinan, in Shandong Province, published the names of 300 people around the country who have been tied to a dealer believed to have distributed vaccines worth hundreds of millions of yuan from 2010 to 2014 even she lacked a business license. The dealer, a 47-year-old former pharmacist, and her daughter bought the vaccines from licensed drug firms and sold them for 310 million yuan to wholesalers and retailers in 17 cities and provinces, including Shandong and Beijing. The vaccines posed a health risk to adults and children because the pair did not have the refrigeration facilities needed to store and distribute the products, a problem that could render them ineffective, officials say. Police arrested the mother-daughter pair in April last year, but authorities did not say why it took so long to track down the others involved in the scandal and to tell the public about the scandal. Parents shocked by the news are shunning Chinese-made shots and some are taking their children to places such as Hong Kong to get vaccinations. Hong Kong's health officials announced on March 31 that only 120 non-resident children per month will be allowed to get shots at government-run clinics each month due to concerns the former British colony could run out of the vaccines. The State Council said the episode has exposed problems with the supervision and use of vaccines. It announced on April 13 it would tighten the oversight of shots by bringing all vaccines under a centralized procurement scheme. Vaccines had been divided into two categories. One type was mandatory and administered free in government-funded programs, for polio virus and measles. The other shots, including those for flu, hepatitis B and rabies, which the pair in Jinan were distributed, are optional, meaning parents have to pay for their children to get them. This type of vaccine has been handled by private businesses. The central government has also said it wants all vaccines to be tracked by a national database, and manufacturers, dealers and distributors must get business licenses. (Rewritten by Li Rongde) A U.S. newspaper is reporting that federal investigators paid professional hackers to help them crack into the Apple iPhone used by one of the terrorists who killed 14 people last December in San Bernardino, California. The Washington Post said Wednesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation paid a one-time flat fee to the hackers who provided the U.S. law enforcement agency with information about a previously unknown software flaw in the cellphone. The newspaper said that information allowed the FBI to crack the phone's four-digit personal identification number without setting off a security feature that would have erased all the phone's data. The challenge for investigators had been to disable that security because it would have wiped data stored on the device after 10 incorrect guesses on the code. Results not Revealed It is not known what the FBI found on the phone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, an American-born Muslim, who carried out the assault on a local government center with his Pakistani-born wife, Tashfeen Malik, before being gunned down hours later in a massive shootout with police. North Korea is likely to conduct another nuclear test or test-fire a missile after South Korea's general elections on Wednesday, a pundit speculated Tuesday. Victor Cha of the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies said the North will probably carry out further provocations between the general elections in South Korea and a massive Workers Party congress slated for early May. "Historically, North Korea has responded with a missile or DMZ provocation within an average seven-day span before or after the legislative election event," Cha said. An exception was the "sunshine policy" of engagement with the North from 2000 to 2004. Cha pointed out that commercial satellite imagery suggests the North has finished all preparations so it can conduct another nuclear test "without any forewarning." "The domestic dynamic of establishing the North's recognized nuclear weapons status in time for the party congress is also a driving causal factor," he said. The regime may feel a "need for an action" because April 15 is the 104th birthday of regime founder Kim Il-sung. "The provocation could take the form of a fifth nuclear test... Or, it could take the form of a launch of one of North Korea as-yet untested mobile, medium and long-range ballistic," he added. CNN on Wednesday quoted U.S. government officials as saying satellites have spotted signs "that North Korea may be preparing for an unprecedented launch of a mobile ballistic missile which could potentially hit portions of the U.S." Former convicts coming in from the cold 2016-04-14 10:01 A raft of new measures outlined in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) will provide greater assistance to organizations dedicated to helping ex-prisoners rejoin society, as Cao Yin reports. On March 24, less than four years after he was released from prison, Zheng Hongjun opened his own fruit store, thanks to the assistance provided by a socially aware businessman, government departments and members of the public. Zheng, 47, used to own a fish store in eastern China's Anhui province, but in 2010 he was sentenced to two years in prison after he assaulted a supplier who had reneged on a business deal. During Zheng's time in prison, his wife became ill and died, and when he was released in 2012, he discovered he was unemployable. His life fell apart. "The experience drove a wedge between my daughter and me; she never thought I would offend, let alone serve a prison sentence," he said. Zheng returned to his hometown, Jiamusi in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, and began looking for work, but the first six months after his release saw his hopes dashed repeatedly, leaving him frustrated and angry. "I found several jobs, but my employers always fired me when they found out about my 'bad record'," he said. Last year, when he was at his lowest ebb, Zheng met Ying Zhanwei, head of China Ex-Convict Aid, in Langfang, Hebei province. Ying and a number of other entrepreneurs in Langfang run regular businesses, but most of the profits are used to fund socially beneficial activities, such as an employment information platform that contains details of ex-offenders looking for work and homes. As a result of his interaction with China Ex-Convict Aid, Zheng's life began to get back on track. He is now a volunteer for the organization and helps former convicts to re-establish their lives. According to statistics supp-lied by the Ministry of Justice, 400,000 to 600,000 inmates are released from China's prisons every year. Thanks to the efforts of organization such as China Ex-Convict Aid, more than 90 percent of them have settled down and found jobs in recent years. 'The golden period' Criminologists and psychology experts believe that the first six months after release are the "golden period" for ex-convicts. It's the time that determines the success or failure of their rehabilitation, and the best way to stop them reoffending is to provide training that will give them the skills they will need to find work. He Junjian, president of Chang'an, a magazine that reports on China's legal system, said the path of reintegration should be made as smooth as possible for ex-prisoners to allow them to settle down quickly after their release. However, that will require greater understanding and assistance from society as a whole. China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), released by the central government earlier this year, highlights the need for more assistance for recently released prisoners. Wang Jie, founder of China Ex-Convict Aid, which has helped more than 4,000 ex-inmates since it was established in Shanxi province in 2007, said the measures outlined in the plan are good news because they will help former prisoners to ensure that their rights are protected by law. Zheng never imagined that his impulsive act would result in a jail term, and he was devastated by the bitter experiences he endured after his release. He remembers the date he left prison, Dec 20, 2012, and how grateful he was for the gift of 200 yuan ($31) provided by a friendly warder. "I was jobless. My wife was dead. I had nothing," he said. "To comfort my elderly parents, I returned to my hometown to spend the 2013 Spring Festival with them." Repeated setbacks in his search for permanent employment sent his self-esteem into a downward spiral. "I was employed as a cook in a local restaurant and as a worker on construction teams, but my employers asked me leave when they learned about my criminal record. They were worried that I would fight with the other workers," he said. His daughter was also distrustful. "She kept away from me because of my offense, and we rarely communicated. I had no money or time to give her, and I was unable to look after her. I didn't know how to play the role of a father," he said. Touch and go Despite severe depression, Zheng managed to endure the first six months without incident, but it was touch and go: "I even wondered about whether I should offend again, because at least that would have allowed me to settle down (in prison)." Disappointed, he left Jiamusi, and spent a year wandering from place to place. "My unstable life ended in late 2015, when I met Ying," he said. Ying used to lead construction teams in Hebei province, but when the work dried up he offered his services to the provincial branch of China Ex-Convict Aid. "I like helping other people, and Zheng was the first person my branch helped. At first, I asked him to do odd jobs, hoping that I would get to know him that way. At the same time, I posted his information online and contacted a couple of local companies that were willing to provide financial aid or job opportunities," he said. "In fact, we are a 'bridge' between kind-hearted people and ex-offenders. We aim to help them grasp opportunities to regain society's trust," Ying said. Fortunately for Zheng, Ying was quickly able to help him raise 50,000 yuan as a startup fund for the fruit store. "Business is good. I'll send the startup money back to the people who provided it as soon as I can," Zheng said. His new-found stability also resulted in improved relations with his daughter, who is now 24 and pregnant. "She sends me photos and videos on WeChat (a popular instant-messaging platform). The fruit store has improved my life and provided a new connection with my daughter. It's helped me to rediscover the feeling of being a dad," he said. "What's more, I also have a girlfriend, so this feels like home." A long struggle Like Zheng, Ni Zhijie, struggled for a long time following her release from jail in 2011. The 59-year-old Jilin province native ran a liquor store for many years, but in 2007, she was sentenced to six years in jail for providing fake receipts. Ni's absence left her family in financial difficulty, and the problem was exacerbated when her husband injured his leg and was laid off work. "I didn't know who I could ask for help until my neighbors told me to turn to our community. I agreed to do some sewing work in the community, which I later discovered has a duty to help people like me to settle down," she said. "I had to teach myself about the policies related to ex-convicts, because initially the community committee and local government didn't contact me," she added. "The government officials treated me very well after they heard about my experience, but why didn't they volunteer to provide me with aid before that?" The current rules require local justice bureaus to follow ex-inmates after they are released from prison, but experts question the validity of the approach. "It just takes them to the places the former convicts have registered as their residences," said Wang, the China Ex-Convict Aid founder, who added that the help on offer at present is far from adequate. The employment prospects and family situations of former inmates are vitally important in determining whether they will offend again. "That is why I founded my organization and provided homeless ex-inmates with a temporary base in Shanxi to help them settle down quickly after their release," Wang said. "Many ex-inmates have little education and are mentally fragile. They crave contact, but are sensitive about meeting people who might mention their bad record or distrust them," he said. "At the base, we provide encouragement and help them find themselves. We also post their information on our website to find them jobs." Low levels of education means that most of the ex-inmates who have found employment through Wang's platform work in unskilled jobs, such as warehouse packers or security guards. Although buoyed by the platform's success, Wang called for greater public involvement in the provision of jobs and homes for ex-offenders. He suggested the central government should use the new five-year plan to introduce special measures and assistance to bolster legal protection of the rights of ex-convicts. "Legal measures will put the government's 'follow-up' plan into practice and attract the attention of a larger number of people". Psychological aid Ni, the former inmate, said psychological counseling was the thing she desired most after her release: "I didn't know how efficiently I could reintegrate into society, but I couldn't complain to my poor family. If I could have found someone to pay attention to my suffering and bitter life, I think my deep anxiety would have been better alleviated," she said. In January, Wu Aiying, the minister of justice, highlighted the importance of psychological aid designed to help former inmates re-enter society. She also advocated more work-related training, saying that justice bureaus at all levels should provide psychological counseling and innovative measures in community centers to improve the quality of their work. Li Meijin, a professor of criminal psychology at the People's Public Security University of China, suggested that communities, especially those in rural areas, should provide both legal and psychological services to ex-convicts under their jurisdiction. "The last month in prison and the first year after release are important for helping former inmates to return to society, and to reduce the rate of reoffending," Li said. She urged prisons and communities to provide classes to teach inmates the skills that will help them when they are released and introduce them to the policies relating to ex-prisoners. The classes should make it clear to former inmates that they must be realistic and accept that their previous mistakes will make it difficult for them to find jobs. However, while ex-convicts should not be overambitious, continuous encouragement is key to successful psychological assistance, she added. Zheng hopes that his fruit store and new-found love signal the end of a disastrous chapter in his life. He is determined to learn from his mistakes, and is committed to helping other ex-inmates reintegrate. "Although returning to society was harder than I expected, and I was struggling to decide which way to go, I'm still grateful for my life, and I would like to help more people who have suffered experiences similar to mine," he said. Contact the writer at caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn What they say After losing their freedom for a long time, released prisoners often don't know what to do or which path to choose. That's the time when they are in greatest need of help. If they cannot find a job and have no source of income, it's easier for them to offend again. Wang Ping, criminal law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law When I was released, I wanted care and understanding from other people, just a sense of belonging. Besides, I desperately needed something to do. I would still like to fulfill my dreams and contribute to society. The support from all walks of life warmed my heart and made me feel confident. Yang Hongjun, from Jishan county in Shanxi province, who obtained assistance from the county justice bureau when he was released from prison In addition to drawing a salary, ex-convicts in Shanghai can be subsidized by their employers. However, some are not satisfied with laboring jobs because they believe the work is poorly paid. But I think ex-inmates should know themselves and their work capabilities, and we should also call on more entrepreneurs to provide them with skills and job opportunities, while also helping them to settle down and avoid discrimination. National search platform aids reintegration At the end of last year, Beijing's prison, police, correction and justice officers began using a national online system to supervise former inmates, according to the Beijing Justice Bureau. A statement issued by the bureau said the system, which came into use in December, was set up to provide an accurate and efficient platform to search for information related to ex-prisoners. The bureau declined to disclose details of how the system works or the type of information it can provide, but said it will ensure that every former convict will be able to find a place to live, acclimatize to life outside prison and receive training that will boost their chances of finding work. "Our main job is to provide ex-prisoners with a good link between jails and communities. As part of the improvement in our services, we occasionally cooperate with other departments to help ex-inmates with basic tasks, such as finding a job or visiting a doctor," the statement said. Every six months, the bureau, assisted by the capital's human resources department, conducts a survey of employment prospects for ex-convicts in an attempt to understand the difficulties they face and the type of work on offer, it said. To encourage former prisoners to start their own businesses, the bureau provides free training sessions to help them obtain technical skills and understand employment policies. "If an ex-prisoner is elderly, disabled or has a serious illness, we contact their community committees or local government before they are released. That means their relatives can be contacted and asked to look after them to ensure that they can receive the appropriate medical care," the statement said. Beijing's tobacco control efforts now bearing fruit 2016-04-14 10:01 More than 1,700 individuals and establishments in Beijing have been penalized for violating the city's tobacco control regulation since it came into effect in June, according to Beijing's top health authority. By the end of March, Beijing's health authorities had issued 7,193 notices to premises and imposed penalties on 376 of them for failing to rectify problems, Zheng Jinpu, an official at the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning, said on Wednesday. In addition, law enforcement officers imposed fines on 1,331 people by the end of March for violating the regulation, with total fines on owners and individuals reaching 1.05 million yuan ($162,000), he said. The regulation bans smoking at all indoor public areas and workplaces and a number of outdoor areas. Violators face fines of up to 200 yuan, a 20-fold increase from fines within the previous regulation adopted in 1996. Owners of buildings classified as public places, such as restaurants, that fail to stop smokers lighting up face fines of up to 10,000 yuan. Nine months after the adoption of the regulation, the number of complaints filed by residents through the city's public service hotline - 12320 - decreased to about 40 a day from around 1,000 initially, Zheng said. Smoking in public places has decreased since the regulation was introduced, and the number of cigarettes sold in Beijing last year decreased by 2.7 percent compared with the previous year, he said. Zhao Wenzhi, deputy director of the Beijing Tobacco Monopoly Administration, said the administration has been reducing the number of tobacco outlets within 100 meters of schools, and has persuaded 265 owners to close shop since June. It will not issue new permits or renew permits for such cigarette shops, he said. "However, Beijing still faces severe challenges in tobacco control, due to the traditional tobacco and wine culture, frequent population flow and the large number of smokers in the city," Zheng said. More than 4 million people in the capital smoke, accounting for nearly a quarter of the adult population. To improve supervision, the Beijing People's Congress will have its first enforcement inspection since mid-April, Hu Heng, an inspector at the congress, said on Wednesday. Inspectors will check whether government departments have done their duty in supervising tobacco control, she said. China has more than 300 million smokers, the largest smoking population in the world. More than 1 million people die as a result of tobacco-related diseases every year, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission. Beijing bigamist jailed after fourth marriage ends in divorce 2016-04-14 13:44 A man was sentenced to 22 months in prison for bigamy on Thursday at Beijing Haidian District People's Court. Chen Liangtao, a 49-year-old native of Henan province, married one woman at the district's marriage registration office in March 2008 before getting married to another in Shandong province the same year, according to court documents. In March 2010, Chen divorced both women, but three months later fell in love with another woman from Inner Mongolia autonomous region and married her, the court said. While married to the third woman, he then went on to marry a fourth in 2012 in Henan. Chen had children with the first and second wives, the court said, adding that the case only came to light when the first wife sued him over a child-raising dispute. In a statement after the judgment, Chen said he had met three of the women through a marriage website and claimed that civil affairs' departments had issued certificates for all four marriages. Marriage registration information is not shared through a national network at present, "which is why the convict could marry different women," said the judge in charge of the case, who refused to be named. The convict told the four women that he was a businessman and owned a company. "None of the victims confirmed what he had said before they married, let alone did a background check," the judge said. Last year, both the third and fourth wives filed for divorce and subsequently filed cases against Chen in court. He was arrested in August last year, the judge said, adding that the youngest victim was 33 and the oldest 39. The judge suggested women do more research on the men they meet online before getting married. In addition, she said that the court will issue judicial advice to civil affairs' departments around the country, suggesting they establish a nationwide information sharing platform as soon as possible. Contact the writer at caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn Project to record family history picking up steam with youth From:chinadaily.com.cn | 2016-04-14 09:26 Gu Haoyuan (far left, second row) and his team from Shandong University of Arts interview his grandparents. [Photo provided to China Daily] A nonprofit is urging more Chinese to engage with their genealogies through a project, titled "Family, Spring and Autumn". The annual program asks college students to record their family histories orally and present short documentaries that are judged by a professional panel. Founded in 2014 by Cui Yongyuan, formerly a popular TV anchor, the Beijing Yongyuan Foundation aims to back efforts by ordinary people to preserve family trees through interviews and video recordings. The nonprofit awarded prizes to the top videos for this year at a function in Beijing on Sunday. Though symbolic in nature, the ceremony is meant to encourage young Chinese to participate in the project. "I interviewed my great-grandmother, my grandmother and my father to trace our family history," says Pan Chao, a student of Beijing University of Chemical Technology. "While they are my closest relatives, I began to understand them better once I saw them narrating their stories in front of the camera." Pan, whose roots lie in southern China, says older generations in his family have given him something that will transcend time. "I will show the video to my children and tell them where we came from, if they aren't able to see my hometown in the mountains firsthand." Cui says: "Oral history can complement history books that often neglect people's habits or anecdotes. It can even correct wrong records and overcome stereotypes." According to Xiang Xiaojing, also from the nonprofit, the project last year featured 147 short documentaries that were submitted by some 100 colleges nationwide. The themes covered a wide spectrumfrom dying folklore in the countryside and patients of rare diseases to war veterans. [Photo provided to China Daily] So far, the videos have together garnered about 2.6 million hits on major Chinese streaming sites Youku and Sina. But in the project's early days in 2014, only a handful videos were submitted. Wang Xintong, from Nanjing University in East China's Jiangsu province, is a winner this year. He interviewed elderly alumni about vicissitudes faced by the university during World War II, when the campus was moved to Chongqing in the country's southwest, after Nanjing was invaded by Japanese troops. "The physical remains of National Central University (the predecessor of today's Nanjing University) in Chongqing don't exist anymore," Wang says. "But my interviews record the students' resilience back then amid the Japanese occupation." For Xiong Jingming, a professor of folk history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who is also a judge on the awards panel, the recording of oral history is of much significance in today's China. In 2013, Xiong found the annals of her county hometown in Southwest China's Yunnan province, written by her grandfather in 1925. She was surprised by it, because Xiong remembered her grandfather as a man with "a serious face who smoked opium". "He was almost a negative entity for me. How could he have written something like this?" If stories about previous generations are written, much more than ashes will be left behind after their deaths, Xiong says. Chen Danqing, an artist and a guest at Sunday's ceremony, recalls that when he was young, the world outside his home interested him more than the details of his family tree. But he is glad that Chinese students today are looking to have such conversations with their parents. A dialogue between generations is among the most natural forms of communication, he says. Submissions for the coming year's project are now being received at five universities, including Nanjing University, Sun Yat-sen University and Communication University of China. The campuses will work as incubators for students' ideas and recordings of oral history. Chinese internet company Tencent will soon add to the project via a regular display of the videos. A new spin: The Huntsman: Winter's War From:chinadaily.com.cn | 2016-04-14 09:26 The Huntsman: Winter's War that stars Jessica Chastain (left) and Charlize Theron will premiere on April 22. [Photo provided to China Daily] Chris Hemsworth, an Australian actor, who is inevitably linked to his previous leading role in fantasy epic Thor, is not playing god this time. And, Jessica Chastain, the American actress who has entertained moviegoers with a stream of serious films, is now off on a romantic adventure, reinterpreting a classic fairy tale. But for hundreds of Chinese fans who waited by the red carpet for a rendezvous with the two stars last week, it did not matterthey just wanted a glimpse of the celebrities. The actor and the actress were in Beijing to promote their upcoming film, The Huntsman: Winter's War. "The most challenging thing (about making the film) was the cold," Chastain tells China Daily. "I was feeling very cold on the set." Chastain, incidently, also had a seven-week physical conditioning course to prepare her for her debut as an action star. The Huntsman: Winter's War, a film by Universal Studios, is to be simultaneously premiered in the United States and China on April 22. Chastain and Chris Hemsworth are in Beijing to promote the film. [Photo provided to China Daily] As both a prequel and sequel of Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), the new film is derived from characters based on the fairy tale Snow White by the Brothers Grimm. The film spans a seven-year time frame, which skips the well-known part of the original story about conflicts between Snow White and Queen Revenna that has already been covered in the 2012 film. In the latest movie, Revenna (played by Charlize Theron) and her sister (played by Emily Blunt) prepare to conquer the territory, as two renegades, Eric the Huntsman (Hemsworth), and his lover, Sara (Chastain), set out to stop their plan. Chastain, 39, is renowned for her performances in heavy-duty films. Her performance in Zero Dark Thirty (2013) won her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. Her other major works include Help, Tree of Life and Salome. In China, she is referred to "lady model worker" for her prolific career. The film is the first directorial venture of Cedric Nicolas-Troyan. [Photo provided to China Daily] A fan presented her with a placard bearing the nickname at last week's event. Such is the volume of her work, that in 2011, six films featuring her in a leading role were released. "I love the name (Lady Model Worker)," she tells China Daily. "For me, the best part of being an actor is that you can walk around and get in someone else's shoes and experience life from their point of view. So, the best way to do that is to put yourself in different situations." But what if you have to keep playing similar roles? Chastain says doing the same characters "again and again" bores her. So, is The Huntsman: Winter's War, French special-effects veteran Cedric Nicolas-Troyan's first directorial effort, the new start she is looking for? "Every movie I do doesn't have to be really dramatic," says Chastain, welcoming the change. Still, she finds something familiar in the new film where she plays Sara, another "strong woman" in many people's eyes. The Huntsman: Winter's War that stars Jessica Chastain (left) and Chris Hemsworth will premiere on April 22. [Photo provided to China Daily] However, she says she just sees Sara as a normal woman. "For me, every woman is a strong woman," says Chastain. However, her statement at the promotion event is like a manifesto. "They (women) don't have to be in a fairy tale and wait for a prince to rescue them." Nevertheless, Chastain also says that she is looking for more diverse roles on the silver screen. "What I would love to do are Western (films)," she says, adding that the US doesn't make too many such films now. She also wants to do more comedies but is in no rush to take up a project. "I've done a lot of sad films, and I'm really looking to having a laugh and doing something which is fun and light," she says. "I work so much, and if I'm doing five movies a year and they are all heavy and dark, it is bad for me. "It's easier for me to find great scripts about serious subjects, but for comedy, it has to be written well." Perhaps, a potential comedy star is just around the corner. The Huntsman: Winter's War that Chris Hemsworth will premiere on April 22. [Photo provided to China Daily] When Chastain says the sets of the new film are the funniest she has worked on, she speaks to their freshness and energy. Hemsworth, 33, who also appeared in the 2012 film, appears to agree when he says his role was "darker" the last time. "Jessica brings charisma and a great sense of humor (to the set)," he says. "It (the new film) has an epic and adventure quality about it, but it is also a lot of fun. And, that is why I took the role." The actor says he is a man with a spirit of adventure, and that lets him enjoy the different "worlds" in films. "When I was a kid, I just wanted to exist in the books I read or the movies I saw. That was far more interesting than normal life." So, for him, as someone who had never been to China before, a booming film market in the country is probably a whole new world. Chastain is in Beijing to promote the film. [Photo provided to China Daily] Hemsworth worked with Chinese actress Tang Wei in the 2015 American thriller Blackhat. Recounting that experience, he says: "She talked to me a lot about Chinese cinema and that was great. There is an abundance of talent and creativity here." Though Hemsworth says he is looking for opportunities to film in China, unfortunately, he has not had the time to tour Beijing during this short visit. "The country (China) is so exciting because there is so much color, sound and life on the streets." Recalling her last visit to Shanghai, Chastain says: "I'd love to work in China. When I was doing The Martian with Matt Damon, he told me he was about to come to China to do a movie (Zhang Yimou's The Great Wall), and I was like ..." says Chastain, making a gesture to show how envious she was. So, is Lady Model Worker making overtures to the Chinese film industry? "I have never received an offer to do a movie in China, but anyone out there, I would love to." Contact the writer at wangkaihao@chinadaily.com.cn French Film Panorama to open in Beijing From:chinadaily.com.cn | 2016-04-14 11:24 A poster of the 2016 French Film Panorama in China. [Photo/Mtime.com] Beijing moviegoers will have a chance to watch ten recently released French films in full-length. All films will be shown in original French language with Chinese subtitles. The screening list includes Mustang, which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards, and won four trophies at the 41st Cesar Awards. Set in a remote Turkish village, the film depicts the life of five young orphaned sisters and challenges they face growing up as girls in the society. 17 Again, The Measure of a Man, and 2 Days in New York are also on the screening list. Also, renowned French director Benoit Jacquot will headline this year's event, by promoting his new film Diary of a Chambermaid in Beijing. This year's panorama is planning to tour six cities across China, including Shenzhen, Chengdu and Wuhan. The event is held jointly by UniFrance and the French Embassy in China, aiming to promote cultural exchanges between the two countries. The 2016 French Film Panorama in China will kick off in Beijing on April 15, and lasts for two months. Related: Chow Yun-fat returns to thriller genre Internet giants train sights on aspiring directors to up gains ABC/Randy HolmesIt's been only a few months since he released his latest album, Royalty, but Chris Brown apparently has remained focused in the studio. After dropping remixes for "Back to Sleep," Breezy took to Instagram to preview a new, reggae-inspired track. "You got to give that man props/ Your girl love the man lots," he raps in a Jamaican accent. Last month, CB posted on Instagram the preview of a brand-new song called Dead Wrong. The link has since been removed. While its unclear if the songs will appear on his next album, Brown will embark on the European leg of his One Hell of a Night Tour, beginning May 22 in Germany. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The minister said the order was an attempt to create stagnation in the higher education sector and that it was definitely a setback for the sector's progress. #COVID-19 New COVID-19 cases post sharp on-week rise amid resurgence woes South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed below 30,000 for the fifth consecutive day Sunday, but the daily count recorded a sharp hike from the previous week amid rising concerns ove... #illegal gambling China-based online gambling ring busted; 20 arrested Law-enforcement authorities here said Sunday they have busted an online gambling ring based in China for illicit operations in South Korea, worth a total of 5.7 trillion won (US$3.... As we're now only a couple of weeks before the start of the summer, we're going to cinemas loaded up with some of the biggest films of the year. The summer blockbuster season this year looks particularly full, with the early word on some of the films being nothing short of incredible. We've collected the ten most popular films from searches on the website and given you a complete rundown on what to expect at the cinemas this summer. If you're looking for something a little less mainstream, don't worry - we'll be putting together a list of non-blockbuster films headed for this cinemas. 10. CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (April 29th) The closest one on this list to release date, the early on Civil War has been nothing short of spectacular. It's garnered extremely positive reviews pretty much right across the board and many are calling it the best Marvel movie to date. As well as pitting Iron Man and Captain America against one another, Civil War also introduces Black Panther and further edges us toward Infinity War. 9. THE BFG (July 22nd) Steven Spielberg's output has always veered in and out of genres, but one thing he's done well and never gotten enough credit for is slightly darkened fairytales. Hook, for example, is a hugely underrated entry in his catalogue. Adapted from Roald Dahl's literary treasure, The BFG follows the titular character - the Big Friendly Giant - and his friendship with a young girl. Outcast from his own people because he refuses to eat children, the BFG must make his way through the world. Expect floods of tears. 8. WARCRAFT (June 3rd) Together with Assassin's Creed, Warcraft is the Great White Hope for videogame adaptations. It has everything going for it, to be honest. A strong director who understands the material, a well-chosen cast and a decent budget to carry it all out. The reaction to the initial trailers have been somewhat mixed, but the word coming out of CinemaCon is that Jones has nailed the tone and the high adventure of it all. Here's hoping Warcraft does well because if it doesn't, pretty much every videogame adaptation that's not in production will be kicked to touch. 7. INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE (June 24th) Roland Emmerich's returning to a genre that made him a household name in the '90s and gave birth to Will Smith's film career. When we first heard about Independence Day: Resurgence, there was definitely a measure of skepticism. However, the first trailer was particularly good at both tapping into the nostalgia factor and giving us a rip-roaring sense of scale and blockbuster action. Although Will Smith may not be returning, it's definitely heartening to see Jeff Godlbum and Bill Paxton back in the saddle. 6. STAR TREK BEYOND (July 22nd) Whether you love or hate JJ Abrams' take on Star Trek, one thing cannot be denied - they're a hit with audiences. The two previous Star Trek films far exceeded the expectations of Paramount and cemented the idea that you could take a previously dormant franchise and breathe new life into it. Star Trek Beyond is, according to what we're hearing, a return to the '60s themes of exploration and frontier space with lots of weird aliens and dodgy planetary landscapes. Idris Elba stars as the villain and you've got the returning cast of Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg returning as Kirk, Spock and McCoy respectively. 5. FINDING DORY (July 29th) Ellen DeGeneres and Al Brooks return for a brand-new story involving Dory setting out to find her parents, who are voiced by Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy. If that's not perfect casting, then we give up. As you'd expect, there's a plethora of big names in minor roles - including Ed O'Neill as a cantankerous octopus, Ty Burrell as a spaced-out beluga whale, Kaitlin Olson as a whale shark and the return of Crush, the surfing turtle. The trailers we've seen so far seem to have the same warmth and charm of the original, so here's hoping it works out. 4. JASON BOURNE (July 29th) After the so-so performance of Jeremy Renner, it looked like Jason Bourne was done and dusted. In fact, Matt Damon was even reasonably adamant about how he wouldn't be returning for another one. Yet, here we are with Paul Greengrass back in the director's chair and a post-Wikileaks / Edward Snowden world to explore. We've seen all of fifty seconds of footage for Jason Bourne, but it's just about enough to convince us that this is going to be something special. After all, it's not like Matt Damon needs to return to this franchise unless the story is worth it. 3. SUICIDE SQUAD (August 5th) After the mixed reviews for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, there's still a measure of hope for Suicide Squad. For one, the trailers have all been pretty spectacular and the much more jovial tone is a big difference to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and its darkened, sullen tone. Margot Robbie, of course, looks like she's going to steal the show from everyone and we'll also get to see what Jared Leto made of The Joker and if it was worth all those annoying gifts he kept sending everyone. He sent somebody a used condom filled with jizz. That's not cute or funny or quirky. That's f***ing sick, Jordan Catalano. You asshat. 2. X-MEN: APOCALYPSE (May 18th) What makes Apocalypse really interesting is that, for the most part, this is it for most of the X-Men. Jennifer Lawrence has said that this will be her last time as Mystique and the word is that Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy will both moving on from Magneto and Professor X respectively. As well as this, you've also got Oscar Isaac in a villainous role as the all-powerful Apocalypse - something we haven't seen him take on in any kind of meaningful way in his career. Did you say Sucker Punch? Hah. Good one. 1. GHOSTBUSTERS (July 15th) If for no other reason that curiosity, Ghostbusters has to be one of the must-see films of 2016. Much has been made of the frankly flat and unfunny trailer, but we get the honest sense that there's something much better waiting for us on July 15th. There's too much working for it not to be as funny as the original. Paul Feig's work has always been solid, bar a few mishaps. You've also got some of the funniest actors working together for the first time and, to top it all off, you've also got a decent chunk of the original cast returning as well. Jeyrick Sigmaton, a vegetable farmer from the Philippines, shot to fame in February when a picture of him carrying a basket of carrots went viral. People around the world were mesmerised by the photogenic 21 year old who was photographed by a passer by as he carried vegetables in the rural province from which he hails. An enthusiastic fan base was formed with the hashtag (#carrotman) to go along with it. Now it appears that local clothes retailer Boardwalk have recruited Sigmaton as their new face. They posted this teaser image on their Instagram two days ago. Most fans of Sigmaton were able to identify him because of the carrots on his shoulder sleeve. Can you all guess the man under the hood? Comment your answers below! Good luck, everyone! #Boardwalk25 #ChooseYourStyle A photo posted by boardwalkph (@boardwalkph) on Apr 12, 2016 at 2:52am PDT Then the next day they made a full reveal. #carrotman is not just a local phenomenon it seems with Sigmaton using Facebook to reach out to his fans in Belgium. And even Taiwan and Israel. Via Mashable Australia has updated its travel advice for Ireland to warn of 'tensions' in the run up the 1916 Centenary celebrations. The advice says that "Tensions between dissident republicans and unionists have increased in the lead up to the centenary of the Easter Rising (24-29 April )," and that "You should avoid all protests and demonstrations, including those associated with Northern Ireland, as they may turn violent," "Instances of civil disorder can rapidly escalate into violence and you should avoid them wherever possible, including through careful monitoring of the media and following the advice of local authorities," according to its smarttraveller.gov.au website. While the level alert for Ireland has not changed, Australians are advised by the government that conditions can "change suddenly" and that they should "exercise normal safety precautions". While the official State commemorations of the Rising were centered on Easter, the calendar anniversary falls between April 24-29. Via The Independent Charlie Cox says his return as Daredevil "still feels too good to be true" Balance stimulus and supply-side reform Updated: 2016-04-14 07:45 By Yu Yongding(China Daily) LI FENG/CHINA DAILY Since last November economists and the media alike have been hailing supply-side structural reform as a groundbreaking solution to China's economic woes. The logic goes, demand-side policies, in the form of Keynesian stimulus measures, are useful only for resolving short-term and aggregate problems. But since China's problems are long term and structural, the country should focus on supply-side structural reform, even if it means accepting slower GDP growth. Is this the right approach? GDP growth is generated via the interaction between the supply side and the demand side of the economy. For example, investment in human capital enables innovation, the products of which create demand and, in turn, economic growth. Demand-side policy and structural adjustment are not mutually exclusive. In aggregate terms, growth of supply determines growth potential, and growth of demand determines the use of that potential. To change the economic structure and growth pattern, first the structure of demand must be changed. For China, the supply side should be driven more by innovation and creation, rather than by increasing inputs. On the demand side, it should be driven more by domestic consumption, instead of investment (especially in real estate) and exports. But this shift is proving difficult, as structural factors cause China's long-term potential growth rate to fall; the economy now seems set to fall below that lower rate this year. All of this suggests that continued structural adjustment is needed in China. But the reality is that China has been engaged in such adjustment for a long time, with unsatisfactory results, indicating that complementary demand-side policies may be needed. Moreover, while slower growth is unavoidable because of adjustment, there is a limit to how low a growth rate China can accept. With China's growth having already reached a 25-year low in 2015, that threshold may not be far off. To be sure, many believe that China's growth rate will stabilize in the second half of 2016. If it does, China's leaders could probably concentrate on structural adjustment without considering additional stimulus. But there is good reason to believe that China's growth rate will continue to decline this year. The fact is that China remains in the grip of deflation, with prices and output in a downward spiral. Despite a slightly positive consumer price index, the producer price index has been falling for 47 months in a row. Moreover, the GDP deflator has been negative since the beginning of 2015. Two types of deflation spirals are currently at work in China. There is the overcapacity-deflation spiral, in which overcapacity pushes down the producer price index, leading to falling corporate profitability. Then there is the debt-deflation spiral, in which falling producer price index causes real debt to rise, again weakening corporate profitability. In both cases, firms are driven to deleverage and reduce investment, a response that leads to more overcapacity and further declines in the producer price index. Furthermore, given that China's corporate debt is already very high, the increase in real debt may have devastating consequences for financial stability. Cliff Lipson/CBSEven though Jake Owen has had quite a few big hits like Beachin, Anywhere with You and Barefoot Blue Jean Night, he admits its still encouraging when people immediately love a song, like his latest top-30 hit, American Country Love Song. In this business, people don't realize it's not easy, he chuckles, and you can put out songs that you genuinely love -- I've had moments over the past couple years where I've released songs, for instance, 'What We Ain't Got,' which meant the world to me. But it was a huge departure from what people kinda perceive me as, as the 'Barefoot Blue Jean Night' guy. And so the song didn't do as well as maybe we thought we would. So to put out a new song now that's kinda back in the vein of what people have come to expect from me, it feels good to see it like back on track again and see it rollin'. One of the things thats helped the song find success is the road trip Jake took in his classic VW van the week the single was released. We stopped off along the way, and something about driving 55 miles an hour in the right-hand lane on the interstate, he recalls, usually if you did that in any other vehicle, people would be mad, like honking the horn. But people gave me thumbs-up, because you can't get mad at a '66 Volkswagen van, seafoam green. So I just watched people smile, and we pulled off on the side of the road, stopped at truck stops. People would say, 'Man, tell me about that van,' we'd just get to talkin'. And it was just cool to be able to just for a minute, not be in a hurry and just say, 'We're headin' to Key West,' and tell the story and along the way just meet great people. It was good. Jake says his trek from Nashville to the tip of Florida also helped teach him a new life philosophy. Every day we wake up and you live in this world, in this beautiful country. And sometimes if you just take a minute and turn it into your playground, it's amazing how much fun and happiness you can not only bring to yourself, but to other people. I mean it's pretty easy just to make someone smile and ask 'em how their day is, he reflects. The video for American Country Love Song was shot along the way during Jake's VW journey. You can relive the trek on YouTube now. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Your digital subscription includes access to all content on our agricultural websites across the nation. Access unlimited content and the digital versions of our print editions - This Week's Paper. LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - Apr 14, 2016) - Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) executives are pleased to announce that Alabama is set to be the next state to legalize industrial hemp. Earlier this week, both the Alabama House and Senate passed an industrial hemp bill that would authorize the Department of Agriculture and Industries to administer an industrial hemp research program. House Bill (HB) 393 and Senate Bill (SB) 347 state an institution of higher learning may apply for a permit or waiver to grow industrial hemp for the manufacture of hemp products. The industrial hemp bill would also revise the definition of marijuana in the controlled substances law to exclude industrial hemp. "We are seeing overwhelming support from the public and politicians for industrial hemp. With this kind of support, we expect to see all 50 states legalize industrial hemp in the coming months and years ahead," said Craig Perlowin, Secretary of Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP). "Since we have the largest commercial industrial hemp processing facility in America, Hemp, Inc. will be there to support the American farmers in any way we can." According to the Alabama legislature, the industrial hemp bill shall become effective on the first day of the third month following its passage and approval by the Governor Robert Bentley, or its otherwise becoming law. Bruce Perlowin, CEO of Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) said, "Nothing can stop the hemp revolution. Alabama is set to be the next state to pass legislation to legalize industrial hemp. States are quickly recognizing the benefits of industrial hemp and I believe it will, once again, grace the farmlands of the United States." Thus far in the United States, 27 states which include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Virginia have adopted pro hemp laws. The United States remains one of the biggest importers of hemp. Over 30 countries produce industrial hemp, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey and Ukraine. Story continues "Industrial hemp is making its way back. I even said in a previous press release that it seems like every week a state is in the news regarding industrial hemp and passing an industrial hemp bill. Our previous video update clearly illustrates this. And now, Alabama is soon to be yet another state to become part of a new clean, green agricultural and industrial American revolution that, based on the economics and products derived from hemp, is set to be the next billion dollar industry," says Bruce Perlowin, CEO of Hemp, Inc. To see Hemp, Inc.'s most recent video update of America's largest hemp processing facility (70,000 square feet under roof, on 9 acres) and 60-foot silo installation, click here. ABOUT INDUSTRIAL HEMP AND MEDICAL MARIJUANA CONSULTING COMPANY (IHMMCC) This lucrative division of Hemp, Inc. is once again picking up momentum. The Industrial Hemp and Medical Marijuana Consulting Company (IHMMCC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hemp, Inc. that pulls industry information from a vast network of specialists. IHMMCC is entrenched primarily in all the multi-faceted opportunities of the Industrial Hemp industry while also maintaining professional contacts in the medical marijuana sector. As the country transitions to embrace more sustainable agricultural practices, public and private companies want to expand into the industrial hemp industry and consulting services from IHMMCC are helping them in leading the way. IHMMCC's most recent agreement, before entering into an agreement with Green Cures and Botanical Distribution, Inc., is with FutureLand Corp, a leading provider of strategic real estate investment, grow facilities and material solutions to the global cannabis industry. Per the Consultant Agreement, IHMMCC will provide consulting services specific to the Industrial Hemp/Medical Marijuana Industry in the area of sales and marketing strategy, public company venues, and general industry specific business guidance to FutureLand Corp. For more information on FutureLand Corp, visit their website here. SUBSCRIBE TO HEMP, INC.'S VIDEO UPDATES "Hemp, Inc. Presents" is capturing the historic, monumental re-creation of the hemp decorticator today as America begins to evolve into a cleaner, green, eco-friendly sustainable environment. What many see as the next American Industrial Revolution is actually the Industrial Hemp Revolution. Join "Hemp, Inc. Presents" and join the hemp revolution. Watch as Hemp, Inc., the #1 leader in the industrial hemp industry, engages its shareholders and the public through each step in bringing back the hemp decorticator as described in the "Freedom Leaf Magazine" article "The Return of the Hemp Decorticator" by Steve Bloom. Freedom Leaf Magazine, a leading cannabis industry magazine is published by the public company, Freedom Leaf Magazine, Inc. "Hemp, Inc. Presents" is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by visiting www.hempinc.com. To subscribe to the "Hemp, Inc. Presents" YouTube channel, be sure to click the subscribe button. Subscribers will automatically get an email from YouTube every time a new Hemp, Inc. video update is posted along with suggestions of other similar videos. Stay up-to-date with industrial hemp news and the progress of Hemp, Inc.'s multipurpose industrial hemp processing plant while being educated on the industrial hemp industry. Our video update views are collectively reaching over a thousand views per week. Stay informed by subscribing to Hemp, Inc.'s video updates. Hemp, Inc. is positioned to be the avant-garde of the industrial hemp industry and leader of processing industrial hemp in America. HEMP NATION MAGAZINE HempNationMagazine.com (HNM) is published by Hemp, Inc. and focuses on informing, educating, raising awareness and connecting the public to the powerful world of HEMP. HNM reports on Politics, Industrial Growth, Banking, Distribution, Medical, Lifestyles and Legalization. HNM is your source for all things HEMP and news about this emerging multi-billion dollar industry. For more information on HNM, visit www.HempNationMagazine.com. ABOUT INDUSTRIAL HEMP When it comes to environmental impact, industrial hemp is a crop that can actually give back to the earth. It takes less water to grow and process, is less polluting from pesticides and can actually help rebuild depleted soil. A hemp crop requires half the water alfalfa uses and can be grown without the heavy use of pesticides. According to a USDA report in 2000, industrial hemp is not very susceptible to widespread disease. Most contagion can be controlled through seed treatment before planting. Additional research has shown that industrial hemp can be used for phytoremediation of polluted environments and significantly detox toxic soil. Hemp is a durable natural fiber that is grown as a renewable source for raw materials that can be incorporated into thousands of products. It's one of the oldest domesticated crops known to man. Hemp is used as a nutritional food product for humans and pets, building materials, paper, textiles, cordage, organic body care and other nutraceuticals, just to name a few. It has thousands of other known uses. HEMP, INC.'S TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) seeks to benefit many constituencies from a "Cultural Creative" perspective, thereby not exploiting or endangering any group. CEO of Hemp, Inc., Bruce Perlowin, is positioning the company as a leader in the industrial hemp industry, with a social and environmental mission at its core. Thus, the publicly traded company believes in "up streaming" a portion of its profits back to its originator, in which some cases will one day be the American small farmer -- cultivating natural, sustainable products as an interwoven piece of nature. By Hemp, Inc. focusing on comprehensive investment results -- that is, with respect to performance along the interrelated dimensions of people, planet, and profits -- the triple bottom line approach can be an important tool to support its sustainability goal. http://www.twitter.com/hempinc (Twitter) http://www.facebook.com/hempinc (Facebook) http://www.instagram.com/hempinc (Instagram) SAFE HARBOR ACT Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - Argentina's first debt issue in more than a decade is seeing "awesome" demand from investors, Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said on Thursday. "The demand is awesome," Prat-Gay said at an event on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington. He was describing the road show Argentine officials have been doing to gauge demand for a debt issue which Prat-Gay said would likely be offered on Monday. (Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Paul Simao) Joschka Fische, former vice chancellor of Germany, shows the development strategy advisor certificate he receives from president Tang Jianhe of Sichuan Institute of Industrial Technology. [Photo by Huang Zhiling/China Daily] Southwest China's Sichuan province can emulate Germany's dual vocational education model to train professional personnel contributing to its real economy, said a former leading official in Germany. Joschka Fische, vice chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005, made the remarks during his visit to Sichuan. Attending the conference "Innovative Deyang: Made in China 2025 and German Industry 4.0" held yesterday in Deyang, Sichuan, Fische was invited to be a development strategy advisor by the Sichuan Institute of Industrial Technology. The university is located in Deyang which is known as China's heavy equipment manufacturing base. Fische received the development strategy advisor certificate from the university's president Tang Jianhe and said he would promote his country's vocational education model in Sichuan. Germany's industrial development has much to do with the support of professional personnel. Blue-collar workers in Germany are highly respected because they have propped up their country's real economy. Their income is almost the same as that for university teachers and public servants, he said. Germany's dual vocational education system pairs hands-on learning with classroom learning to give young people a leg up in the workforce. Most students graduate not only with a degree, but also with job experience and a deep knowledge of their trade. Fische considered vocational education a good breakthrough point for cooperation between Sichuan and his country. Germany has cooperated with some institutions of higher learning in Sichuan. For example, it is building the schools of Kuka robotics and automobile industry at the Sichuan Institute of Industrial Technology. The schools will train students with Germany's dual vocation education system, making them contribute to the real economy, Fische said. By Maximilian Heath BUENOS AIRES, April 14 (Reuters) - Argentina, the world's No. 3 soy exporter, said on Thursday the government must authorize any grain inspection, dealing a blow to Monsanto Co which wants exporters to check cargoes to make sure farmers had paid to produce its genetically modified soybeans. Monsanto responded in an email that it sought to comply with all laws, but noted that Argentine farmers had benefited substantially from its Intacta technology and called for "all producers to pay ... if they decide to use it." For a year, Monsanto has pressured shipping companies to notify it when crops grown with the technology are slated for export without documentation showing royalties had been paid. Intacta soybeans have a gene that protects plants against crop-devouring worms. Argentina's agriculture ministry said in an official bulletin that any inspection needs its prior authorization. It did not mention the dispute between farmers and Monsanto. Monsanto is pressing for royalties even for grains produced from second-generation seeds. Farmers argue that Argentinian law does not require this and have urged the government to stop private companies from monitoring crops. The Argentine Rural Society, or SRA, which represents medium- to large-scale producers, said on Thursday the inspections were unwarranted. "These methods were not only not authorized, but furthermore, we saw them as an abuse of power for a company to be acting like the police," SRA President Luis Etchevehere said in a phone interview. (Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Writing by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Richard Chang) By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Trade Organization's appellate body on Thursday threw out a complaint from Panama about Argentina's efforts to combat alleged tax evasion and avoidance. The case brought by Panama, now under global scrutiny because of a huge leak of secretive offshore accounts data from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, was the first WTO row over steps taken against "harmful tax practices". Panama accused Argentina of discriminating against suppliers of financial services based in "countries not cooperating for tax purposes", and it won a partial victory in a ruling last September. WTO member countries are not allowed to discriminate between suppliers from different suppliers. But Panama said in 2012 that Argentina discriminated in eight ways against countries, including itself, that did not exchange information with Argentine authorities for the purposes of fiscal transparency. Argentina countered that its measures were in line with recommendations by the OECD and the Financial Action Task Force, which combats money laundering and terrorist financing. The appeal ruling found Argentina's measures did not break WTO rules. But it did not go so far as to say Argentina was definitely within WTO rules, either. Instead, it decided there had been insufficient analysis of Panama's original complaint, leaving the way open for similar disputes in future. However, the Appellate Body did rule that countries could restrict trade with tax havens for "prudential" reasons or to comply with national laws, as long as they did so in a consistent and non-arbitrary manner. Panama brought the WTO action when it was on Argentina's list of countries that did not cooperate with tax investigations, though it was later listed as cooperative. Part of its complaint was that Argentina was inconsistent, listing countries such as Cyprus, Gibraltar and Hong Kong as non-cooperative even though they had begun negotiations on an agreement on an exchange of tax information. Argentina also listed as "cooperative" countries such as Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands, which did not at the time meet basic OECD basic standards on tax transparency and information exchange. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Mark Heinrich) At best, this weekend's oil producers meeting was only expected to walk away with a sketchy deal to freeze production. Now, with Iran's last minute decision to stay home, even that modest outcome appears in jeopardy. Early Saturday morning, Iran's oil ministry said no representative would attend the meeting in Doha, Qatar on Sunday. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman reiterated in a Bloomberg interview this week that the kingdom would not hold back on oil output unless other producers, including Iran, did the same. Analysts say a freeze would do very little to change the world oil glut, but it might help producing nations buy time until the oil market stabilizes. On Saturday, sources in Doha told CNBC that expectations were building for a modest agreement that may help support oil prices and manage market expectations until June's OPEC meeting. Oil prices have gained sharply over the past two months on high hopes that the Sunday meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC countries will result in a deal to freeze crude production at January levels. But oil analysts now say the best deal producers may agree to could be what seems more like the outlines of an eventual deal. "There's a lot of rhetoric, a lot of statements around the oil market, but the fundamental thing you have to look at is money. It's revenues, and the revenues of these countries that export oil have really collapsed," said Dan Yergin, vice chairman of IHS. That could indeed be what brought producing nations to the table. "In 2014, OPEC revenues were about a trillion dollars. Last year, they were half a trillion dollars. This year they're on a course to be down another 20 percent," said Yergin. "This creates inordinate pressure on governments. Very difficult choices have to be made. Budgets have to be cut, credit ratings go down. There is a risk of social turmoil and problems. I think that is really weighing on producers, forcing them to find some way to stabilize things." Story continues Read More A Doha deal could boost prices: Survey If an agreement can't be reached and oil prices fall, analysts expect the ripple effects to be felt across financial markets Monday. "I think they're they're trying to put lip stick on this pig," said Helima Croft, head of commodities strategy at RBC Capital Markets. "They will try to make sure they don't walk away grim faced." Read More What's driving stocks in the week ahead John Kilduff of Again Capital said he had been expecting the potential agreement to fail, and without Iran it appears that it will. "The market share battle will rage on, now, with only the poorer OPEC countries and U.S. shale players paying the price," said Kilduff. Edward Morse, Citigroup global head of commodities research, said last week if there were any type of accord, it would lack detail and commitment. "I think at best, it's going to be a very soft agreement," he said. Morse said the group could also announce that it has a follow-up meeting, but no binding deal is expected. Read More OPEC: Oil to boost summer driving season Oil prices have risen about 55 percent since Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela agreed in February to freeze output if other producers would join them. Russia's energy minister, Alexander Novak, reportedly told a closed-door briefing of energy analysts this week that a deal would be more of a framework, without specifics. "I do not expect to see a firm agreement coming from Sunday's meeting. I think kicking it down the road to some future deal is the best we're going to get ... kicking it down the road and hoping the oil market fundamentals improve enough," said Chris Weafer, senior partner at Macro-Advisory. "When this started, the oil price had dipped below $30. They had to do something and creating optimism has worked very well, and it has had traders building long positions." Read More U.S. oil output drop is 'buying time' The focus in recent weeks has been on the tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and those concerns picked up when bin Salman said the kingdom would not participate in a freeze unless other nations did the same. But Iran on the other hand, has long insisted it will not abide by a production cut. Tehran is working to bring oil back on the market, now that it is no longer being sanctioned. The IEA said Iran's March output was 400,000 barrels a day higher than it was at the start of the year, and Iran has said it wants to add a total of a million barrels this year. "It would be extremely difficult for the Saudis to say 'We're absolutely freezing this hard and fast,'" Morse said. Bin Salman was also quoted by Bloomberg as saying if there is no freeze, Saudi Arabia would "sell at every opportunity." Morse said Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, made a key statement when he spoke at the CERAWeek conference in February that underscores the Saudi position. Naimi said he would support a freeze if all countries agreed but said Saudi Arabia would be ready to supply customers with whatever they want. Yergin said Iran's domestic politics do not allow for much flexibility and it would be difficult to publicly back down from its plan to return oil to the market. "If it was not for the tensions between Saudia Arabia and Iran, they might well have been able to work something out," said Yergin. Read More This Saudi millennial could scuttle oil deal Barclays' head of energy commodities research, Michael Cohen, said he expects Saudi Arabia's oil officials will have a plan before they arrive in Doha. Saudi Arabia was the driver behind OPEC's 2014 decision to let the market set the price of oil, in an effort to maintain its market share and knock out high-priced producers, like U.S. shale. Read More This country could drive oil demand growth "I think the likelihood is they'll have all their ducks in a row. The Saudis will all know what they're allowed to say and it will have been sanctioned all the way to the top," said Cohen last Thursday. "If the Saudis were having cold feet, this meeting would already be canceled." The stakes are high for producers to leave Doha with the appearance of an accord, so that oil prices do not collapse again. But bin Salman, who controls the Saudi oil operations, is a relative unknown and it has been unclear how much he would dig in if Iran refuses to budge on output. Read More The 30-year-old prince who is changing the world He has said the kingdom would be fine with low oil prices. "As far as Saudi finances, they have plenty of room to tap the global credit markets and even sell a stake in portions of Aramco," said Kilduff. Cohen said he didn't expect the meeting to fall apart and a vague statement was more likely, but the statement will be less important than the comments from producers, Cohen said. "They have to have something so it's likely to be vague and the market has very low expectations, so our view is that given their very low expectations, it's important to keep in mind that you're getting a bunch of producers together in Doha, and if they start speaking to the press they're likely to have bullish statements about the market adjusting and their output not increasing." From Moscow to Riyadh, no producer has gone unharmed. That also includes the U.S. shale industry, which operates based on the drivers of supply and demand, and the availability of financing, as opposed to a government dictate. The hit from months of falling oil prices has finally shown up in U.S. production, which was under 9 million barrels a day last week for the first time since late 2014. The International Energy Agency on Thursday said that the expected drop-off in U.S. production was beginning to accelerate, and that the oil market could get close to being balanced in the second half of the year. The IEA also said if the producing nations do agree to a freeze, the impact would be much more limited than an output cut. The U.S. industry is also seeing stockpiles grow but it has now begun refinery maintenance season, typically a period of lower oil demand as refineries get ready to switch to summer gasoline production. It is also called the shoulder season. West Texas Intermediate futures settled down 2.8 percent Friday at $40.36 per barrel Friday, on concerns about the freeze deal after Iran reiterated its refusal to freeze output. Given the low expectations for the meeting, there are mixed projections for what will happen to oil prices after the weekend. "I think it's negative," said Kilduff. "I think the market has rewarded them richly for action and inaction will be punished." Morse said the language used by producers will make a difference to the oil price, which he said is likely to fall after the meeting. "It very much depends on the statement," he said, in a conversation last Thursday. More From CNBC By Alonso Soto BRASILIA, April 14 (Reuters) - President Dilma Rousseff's fate in an impeachment vote in Brazil's Congress on Sunday is being decided in deals struck at lunch tables and behind the mirrored windows of luxury hotels in Brasilia, where the tide has turned decisively against her. Rousseff's survival hinges on winning over a dwindling number of undecided lawmakers who are also being courted by the man poised to take over if she is ousted, Vice President Michel Temer. Frenzied horse trading by both camps is taking place not only in their offices and official residences but inside congressional cafes and corridors, and in the glossy eateries of the futuristic capital. At the luxurious Royal Tulip hotel - a marble-floored red crescent on the outskirts of Brasilia that is home-from-home for Brazil's political elite - former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has set up camp with the aim of saving Rousseff, his protege and successor. Rousseff faces impeachment on charges of breaking budget laws to support her re-election in 2014, and her position has been weakened by a deep recession and a massive corruption scandal centered on state oil company Petrobras. A former Marxist guerilla and now Brazil's first female leader, Rousseff denies any wrongdoing and has branded the process a "coup" to strip power from her leftist Workers' Party, which has won four straight presidential elections. The situation remains fluid, legislators said, but there is a growing sense that even Lula's storied negotiating skills - which helped him rise from a union leader to Brazil's first working class president - cannot secure the one-third of votes in the lower house of Congress needed to save Rousseff. "Lula is a superb negotiator but it's too late," said a senior senator from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) led by Temer. "These smaller parties ... want to be on the winning side." The biggest force in Congress, the PMDB broke with the unpopular Rousseff last month after spending a decade in the ruling coalition. It has been followed in recent days by a series of smaller parties that have thrown their weight behind impeaching her. Story continues If the lower house votes on Sunday to send Rousseff for impeachment in the Senate, the upper house could agree as early as May to hold the trial. At that point, Rousseff would be suspended for up to six months and Temer would take over. She has branded him a traitor. Aides to Rousseff insist Lula could yet save her, despite corruption charges hanging over him. A hero to many poor Brazilians thanks to anti-poverty programs launched by his government, Lula would be the front-runner for the 2018 presidential election should he choose to run, polls say. "People trust him and we are betting on that to win on Sunday," said one aide on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak to the media. Another Rousseff confidant said Lula has been tasked with leading negotiations over senior government jobs and ministries in a new coalition. "It's a tough negotiation because Temer's group is negotiating in parallel with the same people," he said. With poppy Bossa Nova echoing amid the curved walls of its jasmine-scented lobby, the Royal Tulip hotel seems an unlikely setting for Brazil's bitter political warfare. Yet insiders say it is here that Lula is waging his campaign to convince PMDB lawmakers to defy Temer and vote against impeaching Rousseff. CARROTS AND STICKS The government's principal weapon is the ability to offer up positions in ministries with enormous budgets to lawmakers in exchange for their loyalty, along with ramped up pork barrel spending for their pet projects. But those enticements only work if lawmakers have faith that Rousseff will actually survive, and they increasingly do not. Temer and the ardent pro-impeachment factions have growing momentum among lawmakers ahead of Sunday's vote, making it easier for them to convince lawmakers that siding with Rousseff is pointless if she will soon no longer be the president. "What can Lula offer? Any promises have a short time span," said a senior PMDB official close to Temer and involved in the negotiations. "Politicians have a big sense of survival. We can offer them governability." The shift in Congress toward impeachment allows Temer's camp to simply offer up the same rewards of government jobs and pork spending to legislators who vote against Rousseff. It has also happened just as polls show the public's appetite for impeachment has slightly diminished. The Datafolha polling group's latest survey taken on April 7-8 showed that 61 percent of Brazilians favor impeachment - down from 68 percent three weeks earlier. As part of the negotiations, Ricardo Barros, a lawmaker with the Progressive Party (PP), was recently floated as top candidate to take over as Rousseff's next health minister, the ministry with the largest budget. But the PP broke away from the Rousseff coalition on Tuesday and Barros told Reuters he would vote now for her impeachment. Denouncing "this delivery of government jobs" in return for votes, Barros said that what should matter is whether or not lawmakers think Rousseff committed an impeachable offense. Whoever is in Brasilia's modernist Planalto presidential palace in the wake of the impeachment process will have accrued a large number of political debts. That means a future government will have to share power and policy-making more widely -- something the Workers' Party has been criticized for failing to do during 13 years in power. For Jose Cardoso, 70, a retiree who lives in Brasilia's blue collar commuter suburb of Taguatinga, the round of frenzied political negotiations is another disappointment "These negotiations are just another means of putting money in the pockets of the politicians," he said. "I don't believe in politicians but something has to change. They cannot stay like they are. I think she needs to leave the presidency." (Additional reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello and Brad Brooks in Brasilia; Writing by Brad Brooks; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Kieran Murray) SACRAMENTO, CA--(Marketwired - April 13, 2016) - Today, the California Life Sciences Association (CLSA), the statewide public policy organization representing over 750 of California's leading life sciences innovators, issued the following statement opposing SB 1010. This statement can be attributed to Sara Radcliffe, President & CEO, California Life Sciences Association (CLSA): "As innovators in the life sciences sector dedicated to the development of treatments and cures for patients across multiple disease states and levels, we have serious concerns regarding SB 1010. The information being sought under SB 1010's framework would create legal challenges, provide a distorted view of the role medicines play in overall healthcare costs, pose substantial risks to our members' trade secrets and otherwise proprietary information, and result in significant costs to the system with no discernible benefit to patients. "SB 1010 would create significant practical and legal challenges for those in the life sciences industry, while failing to present a true picture of costs. The bill requires medicine-specific information life sciences organizations cannot produce and demands documentation that would, in many cases, violate FDA and federal securities laws, as well as constitute proprietary information. "A new medicine can cost $2.6 billion and take more than 15 years to develop. SB 1010 distorts the true cost landscape and could add millions in new costs to the system. By looking at medicines as a short-term expenditure and not an investment, the bill looks at only one side of the ledger. SB 1010 stops at the sticker price without looking at the price paid, the role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), or the costs of care saved through medicines. "On behalf of California's life sciences innovators, a sector with 2,848 life sciences companies employing nearly 300,000 people all across the state, California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) must respectfully oppose SB 1010 in its current form, and hope to continue to work with the bill's author and sponsors to ensure it can make a meaningful contribution to cost transparency while not inhibiting patients' access to treatments and cures." To learn more, click here to view California Life Sciences Associations (CLSA)'s letter of opposition. About California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) is the leading voice for California's life sciences sector. We work closely with industry, government, academia and other stakeholders to shape public policy, drive business solutions and grow California's life sciences innovation ecosystem. CLSA serves over 750 biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics companies, research universities and institutes, investors and service providers. CLSA was founded in 2015 when the Bay Area Bioscience Association (BayBio) and the California Healthcare Institute (CHI) merged to create the state's most influential life sciences advocacy and business leadership organization. Visit CLSA at www.califesciences.org, and follow us on Twitter @CALifeSciences, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - China's central bank does not want to see a big overshoot in the yuan exchange rate and believes the world's second-largest economy is in robust shape, based on its view of first-quarter numbers. Yi Gang, Deputy Governor at the People's Bank of China, told a panel in Washington on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund meetings that the yuan was near equilibrium value. The pace of growth in China is a central concern for the world economy and first-quarter growth data will be issued on April 15. Yi said he was confident the economy would grow 6.5-7 percent this year, roughly in line with IMF forecasts. (Reporting by Koh Gui Qing; Editing by David Chance and Andrea Ricci) BOGOTA, April 14 (Reuters) - Drummond, Colombia's second-biggest coal producer, has started talks with three small workers' unions to seek agreement on labor conditions and benefits, though it has been unable to meet with the main coal syndicate, the company said on Thursday. Some 4,905 Drummond workers are affiliated with five unions. Drummond said in a statement it began formal negotiations with Sintradrummond, Agretritrenes and Sintramineros on Wednesday and that the talks will run for 20 days. So far, the Alabama-based company has been unable to initiate discussions with the biggest union, Sintramienergetica, and the smaller Sintradem. Sintramienergetica, with 2,300 affiliates, held a strike in 2013 that lasted 53 days and paralyzed production and exports of Drummond coal. Drummond produced 25.8 million tonnes of coal in 2015, 30 percent of Colombia's total 85.5 million tonnes of output. Apart from Drummond, the coal sector in Colombia is dominated by Cerrejon, a joint venture between Australia-based BHP Billiton Ltd, London- and Johannesburg-based Anglo American Plc and Swiss-based Glencore Xstrata. Prodeco, a unit of Glencore Xstrata is also present. Last month, Cerrejon and unionized workers reached an accord to avoid a strike. (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Helen Murphy; Editing by Alan Crosby) By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) - After years of rapid expansion, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will have to "think carefully" before moving into more countries, the lender's head Suma Chakrabarti told Reuters in an interview. Chakrabarti also said the bank, which marks its 25th anniversary on Friday, would remain based in London regardless of whether Britain votes in June to leave the European Union. Created in 1991, the EBRD has evolved far beyond its original mandate of investing in ex-Soviet bloc states and it is now active in Turkey, Mongolia, North Africa and Jordan as well as euro zone crisis states Greece and Cyprus. During this period it has invested more than 100 billion euros, funding roads, banks, gas pipelines and small businesses, as well as a steel hanger the size of London's St Paul's Cathedral that is being built at the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine. But there are questions about the EBRD's longer-term role, for example whether it should be involved in North Africa or continue to invest in increasingly prosperous economies such as Poland. Asked whether he saw more expansion on the horizon, Chakrabarti said shareholders would have to "think carefully". "I myself feel we have a huge task already. We have 36 countries of operation and they are very heterogeneous," he said. "I think we need to focus, therefore, the efforts (of staff) fully on delivering within the existing set of countries." The EBRD has just opened offices in the United States and Japan, however, and plans one in the Gulf. Chakrabarti declined comment on speculation that the EBRD could start operating in communist Cuba, which is mending ties with the United States. But he made clear the outcome of the British referendum on its EU membership on June 23 would have no impact on the EBRD. "We are an international institution with a European heart so we are not an EU institution. Therefore the question of whether Britain leaves the European Union or not does not actually impact this bank," he said. Story continues CONTROVERSY Controversy is nothing new for the bank. Its founding father and first president, Jacques Attali, stepped down two years into his term after fierce criticism over lavish spending on re-marbling the bank's headquarters. More recently, the EBRD stopped new lending in Russia, where it has invested almost a quarter of its money since 1991, after the West imposed sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. Russia said the EBRD move was politically motivated. Instead, the bank has pumped 2 billion euros into Ukraine over the last two years, a reflection of Western support for Kiev. Chakrabarti pledged to continue investing as long as Kiev did not let up on reforms [L5N17H51V]. The former civil servant, who is seeking a second term as EBRD head, expressed some disappointment with a pushback by some countries against economic reform. He did not name any countries but several ex-Soviet republics could fit that description and investors are also becoming increasingly concerned that Poland is following Hungary down the route of populist policies. "If you look at the last 25 years there is no doubt the countries of operation of the EBRD have made enormous progress," Chakrabarti said. "But we have huge challenges. The institutions in some of these countries are not as strong as they need to be and not as strong as we thought they might have become by now." For FACTBOX on 25 years of EBRD investments click [L5N17H4PO] For sidebar story on Ukraine click [L5N17H51V] (Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Gareth Jones) (Adds company comment) HOUSTON, April 14 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil is shipping a cargo of crude produced from its deepwater Julia field in the Gulf of Mexico to its refinery in Rotterdam, Netherlands, marking the first export of offshore oil to leave a U.S. port since a ban was lifted. The crude came from initial well tests conducted on the Julia project, Aaron Stryk, a company spokesman, said in an emailed statement on Thursday. The oil company is sending a modest 18,000 barrels of oil on a Panamax tanker, the PGC Marina, according to a bill of lading published at Bloomberg terminals and Thomson Reuters vessel tracking data. Refiners typically do tests to see how new crudes will impact yields from making fuels. While only a small volume, the cargo is the first known export of offshore oil from the United States since Congress lifted a ban last December. Until now, all other shipments had been of light onshore oil. The vessel departed from Gramercy, Louisiana, in early April and is expected to arrive in Rotterdam on April 19, according to the data. It was not clear whether Exxon would continue to export Julia crude, but the firm anticipates an initial production of 34,000 barrels per day (bpd) following the startup of the field in the second quarter of this year, according to its website. Initial testing on the Julia field, a joint venture between Norway's Statoil and Exxon Mobil located roughly 200 miles south of New Orleans, Louisiana, began in March. . Commissioning activities are underway for the startup of the field, Stryk said in an email. Two wells are completed, and the company is in the process of drilling a third well. (Reporting by Liz Hampton; additional reporting Marianna Parraga; Editing by Franklin Paul, Terry Wade and Diane Craft) By Mike Kentz NEW YORK, April 13 (IFR) - Former New York state financial services chief Benjamin Lawsky may have taken a harsh view of virtual currency as a regulator, but he has begun to stump for the technology behind it. The man accused of implementing tough regulations on Bitcoins and other online currency now heads a consultancy that is acting as an adviser and media liaison for one of the sector's major new players. The Lawsky Group, which provides legal and strategic counsel for clients on financial regulation issues, was the press contact last week for Axoni, a blockchain technology firm. Axoni was promoting its successful test of blockchain technology into the back office settlement process for derivatives transactions. "We'll be doing a broad range of financial consultancy ... and some financial technology public relations," said Lawsky Group spokesman Matthew Anderson. Anderson was spokesman for the Department of Financial Services, the state regulator where Lawsky was accused of slowing the development of virtual currencies. Lawsky said last June he wanted to "put in place guard rails that protect consumers and root out illicit activity without stifling beneficial innovation". Though some Bitcoin proponents welcomed the safeguards, Lawsky's about-face now that he is profiting from the technology in the private sector has miffed more than a few observers. "I think the most interesting thing about Mr Lawsky's newest venture is that it highlights the cozy relationship between regulators and the regulated industry," Pamela Morgan, CEO of Third Key Solutions, told IFR. Morgan, whose company consults for other companies that use digital currencies such as Bitcoin, called Lawsky's new role "crony capitalism at its finest". Lawsky's spokesman did not respond to two requests for further detail about his work, though others saw no problem with it. "I think it is fantastic that he has entered the private sector and continued to support the Bitcoin/blockchain space," said Adam Draper, CEO of Boost VC, a venture capital firm focused on blockchain and other virtual technologies. Some suggest the addition of public relations brings out a strength that helped raise Lawsky's profile in the first place - his ability to interact with the media. (Reporting by Mike Kentz; Editing by Jack Doran and Marc Carnegie) * Joint paper distributed ahead of EU finmins' meeting * Euro zone bank fund may not be enough in a banking crisis * Germany opposes government-funded backstop for bank fund (Adds details, background) By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS, April 14 (Reuters) - The euro zone bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, should provide a credit line to a new European fund for troubled banks to offset risks of a fresh banking crisis, France and Italy said in a joint document seen by Reuters. European countries have long debated how to give the new Single Resolution Fund enough firepower to weather a large banking crisis, but are divided on where to find the resources to bolster the fund in the short term. Germany is opposed to a government-funded backstop for the SRF, because it fears this would expose its taxpayers to unfair costs. It wants measures to make euro zone banks less risky, such as limits on their government debt holdings, before agreeing any new financial commitment. "A credit line from the European Stability Mechanism to the SRF is the simplest and most consistent option," the French-Italian document said. The ESM has a total lending capacity of 500 billion euros. The paper was circulated among European Union national representatives ahead of a monthly meeting of the bloc's finance ministers in Amsterdam on April 22-23. The SRF, operational since January, is to be gradually financed by banks to reach a total capacity of 55 billion euros by 2024. The problem is that if a new major banking crisis struck earlier, the SRF may find itself under-capitalised, Italy and France warned. They called for the establishment of an EU working group to advance planning for an SRF backstop. "FISCALLY NEUTRAL" The group should set a date of entry into force for the common backstop and its amount, which should be calculated on the basis of banks' recapitalisations in past financial crisis, the joint document said. The backstop would be "fiscally neutral" as public funds used to prop up the SRF would be reimbursed over time by banks in a "realistic" period, according to the paper. Story continues The SRF backstop is seen by its supporters as a necessary step within the EU flagship project of a banking union, which includes a single supervisor for euro zone banks, a common resolution procedure for troubled lenders and a joint insurance on banks' deposits. EU finance ministers will discuss next week how to strengthen the banking union and they will focus on reducing banks' exposure to sovereign debt with options including caps and higher costs for holding public debt. Germany supports limits on banks' holdings of public debt because it says this measure would break the "doom loop" of debt dependency between states and banks. France and Italy said in their joint document that this vicious nexus could be weakened with the establishment of a backstop for the SRF. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Gareth Jones) OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Apr 14, 2016) - The federal government recognizes that, for all Canadians, medical assistance in dying is a difficult and deeply personal issue. It is important to defend people's choices and freedoms in a way that protects the most vulnerable, and also supports the personal convictions of health care providers. Today, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Jody Wilson-Raybould, together with the Minister of Health, Jane Philpott, announced that proposed legislation has been introduced that would give dying patients, who are suffering intolerably from a serious medical condition, the choice of a medically-assisted death. The proposed legislation has been developed following the Supreme Court of Canada's unanimous decision in Carter v. Canada to strike down the criminal laws against physician-assisted dying. It is the result of extensive consultations with individuals, groups and experts, at home and abroad, and takes into account a range of interests, including personal autonomy and safeguards to protect the vulnerable. This is a compassionate approach that considers all these interests. The proposed approach was carefully designed to recognize and respect the individual choice of a medically assisted death for adults who are suffering intolerably and are on a foreseeable course toward the end of their lives. Safeguards have also been proposed to protect against errors and abuses in the system. The proposed legislation was developed in line with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It would ensure a consistent approach to medical assistance in dying across Canada while recognizing the jurisdiction of provinces and territories over the delivery of health care services. The proposed measures would revise the Criminal Code to exempt health care practitioners who provide, or help to provide, medical assistance in dying, from otherwise applicable criminal offences. Moving forward, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Health will appoint one or more independent bodies to study how medical assistance in dying could apply to the issue of advance requests, mature minors, and individuals with mental illnesses. Story continues Quotes "Medical assistance in dying is a sensitive, complex issue and many Canadians have deeply-held views on the subject. Recognizing the inherent dignity and equality of all Canadians, we are proposing the choice of a peaceful death for patients with a serious medical condition who are irreversibly declining and suffering intolerably. After the Supreme Court of Canada's (SCC) unanimous decision in Carter, it was no longer a question of whether we would have medical assistance in dying in Canada, but how it would be made available. Based on the current evidence, we believe this is the best approach to ensure that dying patients who are suffering unbearable pain have the choice of a peaceful death and that the vulnerable are protected." Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada "Every Canadian deserves access to timely and high-quality health care, including at the end of life. The Government of Canada is grateful for the work of the Special Joint Committee, and will engage with the provinces and territories to support consistency in the delivery of medical assistance in dying, as well as to develop a pan-Canadian monitoring system to collect and analyze data, monitor trends and publicly report on the new regime. To implement our commitment to support a full range of end-of-life care options, we will continue to work with provinces and territories to improve palliative care as part of discussions on a new Health Accord. We will also explore options to support access to medical assistance in dying, while supporting the personal convictions of health care providers. Jane Philpott, Minister of Health Related Products Backgrounder: Medical Assistance in Dying Associated Links Medical Assistance in Dying Follow Department of Justice Canada on Twitter (@JusticeCanadaEn), join us on Facebook or visit our YouTube channel. Follow Health Canada on Twitter (@HealthCanada), join us on Facebook or visit our YouTube channel Backgrounder Medical Assistance in Dying In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Carter decision that sections of the Criminal Code that make it illegal for anyone, including a doctor, to cause the death of another person who consents to die or to assist a person to end their own life, are unconstitutional. To respond to this court decision, the federal government has proposed a framework to provide access to medical assistance in dying to those who are eligible. This approach has been informed by consultations that have taken place across the country, including the federal External Panel on options for a legislative response to Carter v. Canada and the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying. The proposed approach was carefully designed to: recognize individual choice of a medically assisted death for adults who are suffering intolerably and for whom death is reasonably foreseeable; affirm the inherent and equal value of every person's life; avoid encouraging negative perceptions of the quality of life of persons who are elderly, ill or disabled; protect vulnerable people from being encouraged to die in moments of weakness; re-affirm society's goals with regard to preventing suicide; and encourage a consistent approach to medical assistance in dying across Canada. What the legislation would do To enable access to medical assistance in dying in Canada, the Criminal Code would be changed so that: Physicians, nurse practitioners - and those who help them - can provide assistance to die to eligible patients without the risk of being charged with assisted suicide or homicide. There will be safeguards to make sure those who receive medical assistance in dying are eligible, can give informed consent, and voluntarily request it. The foundation is laid for the Minister of Health to make regulations to establish a process for monitoring and reporting on the use of medical assistance in dying. Who would be eligible A person who wants access to medical assistance in dying would have to: Be a mentally competent adult (18 years or older); Make a voluntary request and give informed consent to receive medical assistance in dying; Have a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability; Be in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability; Experience enduring and intolerable suffering as a result of their medical condition; and, Be on a course toward the end of life. Death would have to be reasonably foreseeable in all of the circumstances of a person's health, but there would not have to be a specific prognosis or prospected time period before death. Protective measures The following safeguards would ensure that patients are eligible and have given informed consent: Patients would have to make a written request for medical assistance in dying (a designated person can do so if the patient cannot write), and have it signed by two independent witnesses; Two independent physicians or authorized nurse practitioners would be required to evaluate the request; There would be a mandatory period of at least 15 days of reflection, unless death or loss of capacity to consent is imminent; Patients would be able to withdraw a request at any time. Implementation Health is an area of shared federal-provincial-territorial jurisdiction, but provinces and territories hold primary responsibility for delivering health services in Canada. They may choose to adopt additional laws and regulations around medical assistance in dying or set out more requirements for health professionals. The federal government will work with the provinces and territories to support a consistent approach to medical assistance in dying across Canada. Access The government is proposing to work with provinces and territories on the development of mechanisms to coordinate end-of-life care for patients who want access to medical assistance in dying. This system would help connect patients with a physician or nurse practitioner willing to provide medical assistance in dying, and support the personal convictions of health care providers who chose not to participate. It would also respect the privacy of those who are willing to provide this assistance. This system could also offer other end-of-life care options to both patients and providers. Monitoring The government is proposing to develop a system to collect and analyze data, monitor trends and report on medical assistance in dying in Canada in order to ensure there is transparency and openness around its use. The government would work with provinces and territories to discuss criteria and protocols for collecting data so that reporting would be consistent across Canada. This system, and the obligations on providers to submit the necessary data, would come into force when the detailed regulatory measures are ready. Palliative care The government is committed to supporting quality end-of-life services. To this end, the government will work to improve palliative and end-of-life care during discussions with provinces and territories on a new Health Accord. Existing end-of-life medical practices Patients can already choose to accept palliative care, refuse or withdraw voluntarily from any life-saving treatment, or have intermittent or terminal sedation. These choices will not be affected by new provisions allowing for medical assistance in dying. Quebec Legislation Legislation that recently came into force in Quebec limits medical assistance in dying to patients who are at the end of their life, and allows only voluntary euthanasia. The proposed federal law is quite similar to the law in Quebec, except that individuals who meet all of the criteria and whose "death has become reasonably foreseeable" would be eligible for medical assistance in dying, while under Quebec's law, an eligible person needs to be "at end-of-life". The proposed federal law would also allow both assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia as part of medical assistance in dying. Further study The government proposes to appoint one or more independent bodies to study the issues surrounding mature minors, people who suffer only from mental illness, and advance requests in the context of medical assistance in dying. Coming into force The Criminal Code prohibition on medical assistance in dying remains in effect until June 6, 2016 or until legislation is passed in Parliament and comes into effect. russian fighter US ship On Tuesday, two Russian warplanes flew simulated attack passes past the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea, and while the move was unnerving and aggressive, it's not the kind of event the Navy responds to with force. "You dont get to kill people just because theyre being annoying," retired frigate and cruiser commanding officer Capt. Rick Hoffman told the Navy Times about the incident. "Were not at war with Russia," Capt. Rick Hoffman said. "It would be one thing to be operating and have a threatening attack profile from someone who might not recognize me thats not the case here." As a former commander of a cruiser that protected aircraft carriers and amphibious-assault vehicles from airborne attacks, Hoffman knows how to deal with threatening aircraft. The Russian planes, Su-24s, had no visible weapons during the passes, and at no point did the USS Cook detect that the Russians were trying to lock onto them with a missile. russia navy us Though the passes likely violated a 1973 agreement between the US and Russia and were a clear act of aggression, downing a plane likely means the death of the pilot, which was simply not warranted given the situation. According to Hoffman, this stunt most likely took place to generate propaganda for Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime. "It would be real interesting to see what shows up in the Russian papers in the morning, how they play it," Hoffman said. "It's not that different from North Korea," he said. "He does something and then he plays it domestically however he needs to play it for the purposes of getting his people energized." NOW WATCH: Watch Russian warplanes fly dangerously close by a US Navy ship More From Business Insider Gotaplatsen, Gothenburg, Sweden. In relation to its size, Sweden has long accepted more refugees than any other European country. So when over a million migrants came to Europe last year, with even more on their way this year, a large share sought asylum in Sweden. Attracted by Stockholms generous immigration policies, more than 160,000 migrants applied for refugee status in Sweden in 2015, a per-capita rate more than six times the EU average. The sheer scale of this influx is set to change Sweden in profound ways. This week, the Swedish government doubled its budget for integrating the new arrivals, especially when it comes to training and finding them jobs. This is increasingly stoking tensions with the locals, pushing officials to rethink some aspects of their open-door policy. Still, the unprecedented influx of migrants in recent years is already set to rewrite Swedens demographic destiny. A new forecast by the countrys statistics agency projects population growth in the next few years that will be the fastest recorded since a few individual years during the 19th century. Earlier forecasts did not foresee such a sudden rise in immigration, which will put Swedens population on a faster long-term growth path, given the relative youth and higher fertility rate of many of the new arrivals. Swedens population is now expected to top 10 million next year, with another million added less than a decade later. Compared with forecasts made in 2008, Sweden will be a fifth bigger in 2050 than previously expecteda difference thats roughly equivalent to current population of Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmo combined. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: * Isaka leads profitable 7-Eleven convenience store chain * Former CEO quit after failed attempt to oust Isaka * Group under pressure from activist investor Daniel Loeb (Updates with panel's plan to nominate Isaka as leader) By Taiga Uranaka and Ritsuko Shimizu TOKYO, April 15 (Reuters) - Executives at retail conglomerate Seven & i Holdings plan to nominate the head of its profitable convenience store chain as the group's next leader, a source familiar with the matter said late on Thursday. The move would go against the wishes of 83-year-old former Chief Executive Toshifumi Suzuki, who pioneered 24-hour convenience stores in Japan four decades ago. He abruptly stepped down last week after failing to persuade board members to oust Ryuichi Isaka, head of the Seven-Eleven Japan chain. Isaka is widely credited for the chain's successful expansion over the past few years, and is favoured by some outside directors to succeed Suzuki. He was also backed by activist investor Daniel Loeb who had been calling on the group to offload its struggling supermarket business, and to pick Suzuki's successor based on merit instead of elevating Suzuki's son, who is also a senior executive. Isaka's appointment will still need approval at a board meeting on Tuesday, the source said, declining to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media. The same source said earlier that there was still strong opposition to naming Isaka as Suzuki's successor, and that the panel of executives was considering abolishing the role of CEO and appointing multiple leaders as a conciliatory move recognising Suzuki's legendary management skills. "There is no one like Suzuki. Whoever does the top job, the person lacks expertise in some areas. So, it will be a group leadership by some core members," said the source. Another executive, Katsuhiro Goto, currently Seven & i's Chief Administrative Officer, is also mentioned for a possible role in the next leadership, the source added. A Seven & i spokesman said nothing has been decided and declined to comment further. (Writing by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jane Merriman) Neil Heslin Newtown A Connecticut judge on Thursday rejected a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against the maker of a gun used in a 2012 elementary-school shooting that killed 20 children and six adults, the Hartford Courant reports. Under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), gun-makers are not liable for crimes committed with their products. However, in a blow to the maker of the Bushmaster AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, Judge Barbara Bellis ruled that law wasn't enough to have the case thrown out at this early stage, according to the Courant. The case was brought by families of nine children killed in the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The 20-year-old shooter, Adam Lanza, used a Bushmaster AR-16 and killed himself following the massacre. The families are suing for wrongful death, and they're accusing the gunmaker of selling a so-called civilian weapon that's designed and marketed for combat. The judge's ruling is a potential blow to other gun manufacturers, which generally have broad immunity from wrongful-death litigation under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. "We are thrilled that the gun companies motion to dismiss was denied. The families look forward to continuing their fight in court," Josh Koskoff, the plaintiffs lead attorney, said in a statement, per Newsweek. The suit's defendants include Remington Arms Co., the manufacturer of the Bushmaster AR-15 that was used in the shooting; Camfour Inc., a gun distributor; and Riverview Gun Sales, a now defunct gun shop in Connecticut where the rifle was purchased by the shooter's mother in 2010, according to Newsweek. The PLCAA has been a point of contention the Democratic race. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) supported the law when he was in Congress. Sanders has defended his decision, citing his Vermont constituents, who are in favor of protecting local gun stores from legal action. As a senator from New York, Hillary Clinton voted against the law, according to Newsweek. Story continues Clinton's campaign released a statement praising the judge's decision: Todays ruling in Connecticut is an important step forward for these families, who are bravely fighting to hold irresponsible gunmakers accountable for their actions. They deserve their day in court. Period. Unfortunately, PLCAA the sweeping immunity law that protects gun manufacturers and dealers still remains a major obstacle for these families and others seeking to hold these gun companies accountable. That is why, as president, I would lead the charge to repeal this law. Nothing can make these families whole again after losing their children and loved ones in Sandy Hook, but they deserve a president who will fight for them, and I am committed to doing just that. More From Business Insider By Denny Thomas HONG KONG (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) is targeting private equity firms, including Bain Capital, MBK Partners, TPG Capital Management and Chinese state-backed conglomerate China Resources (Holdings) for its planned sale of 2,800 restaurants in North Asia, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The U.S. fast food giant is adopting a new business model in Asia, which is now the most intense battleground for global restaurant chains, by planning to bring in partners to own the restaurants within a franchise operation. Several other global restaurant operators have switched to the so-called franchise model and McDonald's has also set a long-term aim of being 95 percent franchised, the company said in a statement on March 31. Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's has hired Morgan Stanley (MS.N) to run the sale of the restaurants in China, Hong Kong and South Korea, the people said. A formal sales process is expected to kick-off in about three to four weeks, one of the people said. Ahead of that, McDonald's and its advisor are drawing up a list of likely partners who will be approached to participate in the auction, the person added. The franchise partners would likely end up owning a majority stake in the restaurants in each market, or even as much as 100 percent, and be responsible for future capital spending. The precise structure of the deal is still to be decided, the sources said. In return, McDonald's will get a one-time franchise payment and ongoing royalty fees, which usually range between 3-5 percent of annual turnover. Asia-focused Baring Private Equity Asia is the other buyouts firm likely to be invited to the auction process, banking sources familiar with the process said. McDonald's declined to add to the March 31 statement. China Resources, MBK, Bain, TPG and Baring all declined to comment. Morgan Stanley didn't respond to an email seeking comment. McDonald's does not break out country-by-country revenue details. It is China's No. 2 fast food chain behind YUM Brands Inc (YUM.N), which operates the KFC and Pizza Hut chains. Story continues McDonald's is leaning towards finding separate partners in all the three markets and would likely offer a majority stake to make the deal appealing to buyers, the people added. The private equity firms are attracted to the rapid growth opportunity available in the so-called quick-service restaurants' (QSR) business in Asia. "In recent years, even though formal dining may have been impacted by the austerity measures, QSR as a format is growing pretty rapidly," said Kiki Yang, a Greater China partner at consulting firm Bain & Co. "QSR has the format that a lot of investors like because of the growth of the segment, standardized procedures and it's easy to expand." China Resources (Holdings), which is the parent of brewing company China Resources Beer Holdings , and operates Pacific Coffee chains in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Macau, has previously expressed interest in expanding its retail footprint. "This will attract a lot of sponsor interest," said one senior Hong Kong-based M&A banker familiar with the McDonald's process. "For one, it's an established business and second such assets rarely come to market in Asia." Buyout firms from KKR & Co (KKR.N) to Carlyle Group (CG.O) and others have raised billions of dollars in new funds in Asia to benefit from the region's growth potential. But the lack of opportunities to gain control of businesses and stiff asking prices have left the Asia private equity industry sitting on about $140 billion of "dry powder" or unemployed capital, according to data provider Preqin. Apart from the proceeds from a sale, a deal would lower McDonald's capital spending needs, which totaled $2.6 billion last year. McDonald also plans to open 1,500 more restaurants in China and Hong Kong over the next five years, to tap the region's rapid growth. However, McDonald's and Yum, have been facing increasing competition from cheaper local rivals, particularly in China, where they are both trying to recover from food safety scares. Yum is also in the process of spinning off its 6,900 China restaurants, and is in talks with buyouts firms, including KKR and Hopu Investments to sell up to a 20 percent stake after battling sliding sales over the past few quarters. Bruised by food safety scandals and changing tastes, McDonald's is also selling a big stake in its Japanese arm. Buyout firms, including Bain Capital, Permira [PERM.UL] and MBK, were among those who submitted bids for the McDonald's Japan stake earlier this year, though it was unclear if a deal is close. All three buyout firms declined comment. McDonald's has struggled in Japan over the past two years, closing more than 150 restaurants last year, remodeling almost 3,000 and posting a $310 million net loss in 2015. McDonald's owns 49.99 percent of its Japanese arm McDonald's Holdings , according to the company's website, and intends to cut that to about 20 percent. (Reporting by Denny Thomas; Additinal reproting by Gaurav Dogra in Bangalore, Elzio Barreto in Hong Kong, Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Junko Fujita in Tokyo; Editing by Martin Howell in Singapore) (Adds Pemex comment, paragraph 8) MEXICO CITY, April 13 (Reuters) - Mexico's Finance Ministry announced on Wednesday a series of measures to improve Pemex's finances, giving the ailing state-owned giant a $4.2 billion liquidity boost. That includes a capital injection of 26.5 billion Mexican pesos ($1.5 billion) and a credit facility for a further 47 billion pesos to pay down pension costs this year. The support also includes tax breaks that will allow Pemex to deduct more of its exploration and production costs. As a condition of accepting the support, the company must reduce its liabilities by 73.5 billion pesos. Mexico's oil output has slid for 11 consecutive years, while crude prices have fallen about 70 percent since 2014, both of which have battered public finances. The federal government was able to support Pemex because of previously announced budget cuts in February, the ministry said in a statement. Miguel Messmacher, a deputy finance minister, said the Mexican oil company would have less need to tap credit markets after the liquidity injection. Pemex said it would use some of the extra cash to pay back billions of dollars owed to dozens of suppliers and contractors for last year, many of them small and medium-sized firms fully dependent on its business. "This is good, because it is comprehensive and it deals with the main issues," said Alexis Milo, an economist at Deutsche Bank in Mexico City. "The reaction of markets will be positive because this is the beginning of the structural changes that markets were expecting." Pemex has historically provided the federal government with as much as 40 percent of its revenue, but recently that amount has been halved. A constitutional energy overhaul passed in 2013 at the start of President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration ended Pemex's decades-long monopoly and promises to boost future oil output by luring new private and foreign producers into the country. ($1 = 17.4849 Mexican pesos) (Reporting by Peter Cooney) * Beer imports in South Korea jumped 43 pct last year * Japanese, European brands make inroads amid changing tastes * Local brewers say they disadvantaged by discounting rules By Rebecca Jang SEOUL, April 14 (Reuters) - South Korean beer drinkers are drinking to the more robust flavours of imported brands, encouraged in part by attractive discounts for multi-packs - so much so that local brewers are crying foul over pricing tactics and have asked for government help. Beer imports surged 43 percent last year in South Korea, as consumers, among the most enthusiastic beer drinkers in Asia, move beyond often-bland local lagers. Lighter domestic beers may be well-suited to accompany traditional spicy food but Korean drinkers increasingly crave variety. The jump in imports has seen the two main local brewers - Anheuser-Busch InBev SA's Oriental Brewery and Hite Jinro - go from commanding 99 percent of the market in 2012 to sliding to 82 percent in the first half of last year - a swift encroachment that is expected to take further ground. "Foreign beer has boosted its share of the household retail market rapidly and I expect the same trend will emerge as they find favour in bars and restaurants over time," said Park Sang-jun, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities Co Ltd. Asahi Group Holdings Ltd and Kirin Holdings Co Ltd have led the invasion - aided by a weak yen, with Japanese products alone accounting for more than a quarter of imports. European and U.S. brands, helped by free trade agreements in 2011 and 2012, account for about half of imports led by the likes of Heineken. Chinese labels have also made inroads with E-mart, the country's biggest hypermarket chain noting that Tsingtao's flagship brew is now its top-selling beer. The drastic increase for foreign beer is no trivial matter in a country known for consuming the most alcohol per person in the Asia-Pacific region. Beer accounted for 42 percent of the country's 9.1 trillion won ($8 billion) alcohol market in 2014, government data shows. Story continues But South Korean brewers, including new domestic entrant Lotte Chilsung Beverages Co Ltd, are keen to stem the tide - rolling out new products with higher malt content, expanding exports and making their case to authorities that local laws hamstring their ability to compete. Where imported brands have no restrictions on discounts or promotions, local brewers cannot by law discount below factory prices. "Domestic brands have suffered from reverse discrimination as imported beers have more flexibility in their pricing," said Lee Eun-a, deputy general manager at Oriental Brewery. South Korea's Fair Trade Commission said last month it is conducting a review of competition in the beer industry- a statement that analysts view as heralding fewer discounting restrictions for local players. An Asahi spokesman said that while the company does offer discounts, changing tastes have been the primary force driving the success of imported beer in South Korea. Yu GoEun, a 24-year-old student in Seoul, who often joins friends for a pint of Hoegaarden, a Belgian wheat beer made by Anheuser-Busch InBev, seems to agree. "I don't drink domestic beer for the taste, only when I want to get drunk cheaply," she said. (Reporting by Rebecca Jang; Additional reporting by Ritsuko Shimizu in Tokyo; Editing by Tony Munroe and Edwina Gibbs) Like many, I watched with sadness as North Carolina's leadership passed a law known as House Bill 2 that discriminates against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. Understandably, this feels like a punch in the gut to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. It's also a punch to those who are straight and can't reconcile what our lawmakers have done with the North Carolina we know and love. Discrimination in any form should never be tolerated. It's simply unacceptable. There is no justification. And it's up to all of us to speak out when injustice rises. However, business has an especially strong voice, and the actions taken in recent days give me hope that its power for good is being realized and harnessed. As dean of a business school, I interact every day with not just future business leaders, but current ones. I've observed for some time a new kind of leadership. These are CEOs like Apple's Tim Cook, Unilever's Paul Polman, and Salesforce's Marc Benioff. They lead some of the world's most powerful companies with complete authenticity and don't make decisions based on the bottom line alone. It's no surprise to me that these companies spoke out against recent actions in states like North Carolina and Georgia that discriminate against the LGBT community. But what makes me proud is that so many other companies did as well. IBM , American Airlines , and the NCAA (just to name a few) expressed disgust at the North Carolina law and threatened that the decision could impact future investments in the state. Indeed, Paypal has already cancelled plans to open an operations center in Charlotte that would have created about 400 jobs. This is how business should work. It should be a change agent. Simply put, business has the power to affect real change in ways that governments, politicians, and activists alone can't. It's heartening to see a societal shift in the United States where many businesses are meaningfully figuring that out. Doing the right thing isn't just a nice platitude, it's a winning business strategy. Story continues All of this makes me optimistic about the future of business and its impact on the world. I look into the faces of our MBA students every day and I see such amazing potential and such desire to do more than ensure their own financial success. I hear discussions daily about the power that lies in difference. It's not just lip service: This generation of business school students genuinely understands how diverse perspectives challenge us and make us stronger. It's no surprise to me, almost immediately after the North Carolina law passed, our students were talking about organizing forums to lead conversations on the issue to better understand the perspectives of those who feel marginalized even though the law doesn't apply to private universities like Duke (who I'm proud to say strongly came out against it). So to the brave businesses leading the effort against this law, I applaud you. Thank you for your commitment to ensuring inequality doesn't win. I hope you are setting a precedent for generations to come. Bill Boulding is dean of Duke Universitys Fuqua School of Business. This article was originally published on LinkedIn. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com OSLO, April 14 (Reuters) - Norway's $863 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world's biggest, said on Thursday it had banned 52 companies from its portfolio based on a newly created rule to exclude firms that rely on coal for a significant part of their business. U.S. firms AES Corp and Allete Inc were among the firms, as were China Coal Energy Co Ltd and Reliance Power Ltd of India. Norway's parliament agreed last year to make the fund sell out of companies that get more than 30 percent of their business from coal. The fund is also limiting investments in firms with high greenhouse gas emissions. (Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Stine Jacobsen) * Norway's oil fund axes miners, power producers reliant on coal * Fund will exclude more companies later in 2016 * Greenpeace calls it "biggest single divestment from coal ever" (Adds detail) By Stine Jacobsen OSLO, April 14 (Reuters) - Norway's $863 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world's biggest, said on Thursday it had sold shares in 52 coal-dependent companies from its portfolio as part of a policy to fight climate change. A Reuters calculation showed the stakes sold were worth at least $1 billion at the end of 2014, before the fund started big divestments from coal. The biggest holdings included a $188 million stake in CLP Holdings. Norway's parliament agreed last year to make the fund, built on revenues from the country's vast offshore industry, sell out of companies that derive more than 30 percent of their turnover or activity from coal. The fund listed U.S. firms American Electric Power Co Inc , AES Corp and Allete Inc among the firms, along with China Coal Energy Co Ltd and Coal India, the world's biggest coal miner by output. Global coal producer Peabody Energy Corp, which filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, was also on the list. The fund expects to exclude more firms from its investment universe amid the new rule. "The intention is to assess the remainder of relevant companies in the portfolio by the end of 2016," the fund said in a statement. Norges Bank Investment Management said it had given the companies an opportunity to give views before they were excluded. The fund sent letters to the companies, but only five responded, it said in a statement. The fund declined to give an overall value of its divestments so far. The Norwegian finance ministry previously said the curtailment of investments in coal-dependent businesses could lead the fund to sell shares in about 120 companies worth some 55 billion Norwegian crowns ($6.7 billion).. Martin Norman, climate and energy adviser at environmental group Greenpeace, welcomed the sales which he said were probably the biggest single divestment from coal ever. Story continues "They are setting a new standard when it comes to transparency," he said. Greenpeace studies have indicated that the fund should sell shares totalling about 80 billion crowns to follow parliament's instructions to limit exposure to coal. He said Greenpeace wanted the fund to diversify even further from fossil fuels and that it was wrong to focus only on the climate risks of coal while promoting oil and gas. The fund has a range of ethics criteria for excluding firms from its portfolio, including severe environmental damage, nuclear weapons making, tobacco production and certain labour conditions. ($1 = 8.2482 Norwegian crowns) (Reporting by Terje Solsvik, Stine Jacobsen and Alister Doyle; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Beijing must better scrutinise imports of illegally logged timber from countries such as Papua New Guinea where deforestation is devastating ecosystems and livelihoods, Global Witness said (AFP Photo/ARIS MESSINIS) (AFP/File) Twelve people, including an Australian, were killed when a light aircraft crashed just short of a landing strip in remote Papua New Guinea, reports said on Thursday. The aircraft was flying in the rugged west of the Pacific nation on Wednesday afternoon when its engine failed mid-air, sending it into a nose-dive, the PNG Broadcasting Corporation said. It crashed into a swamp close to Kiunga airstrip. "Yesterday we encountered a tragedy, a plane crash," Kiunga's police commander Joe Puri told local media. "A small plane that arrived from Oksapmin just before landing crashed into the swamp, with all the passengers, including the pilot, dead." The broadcaster said three children were among those killed while Australian media said the Australian on board was the pilot. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed one of its nationals was on the Sunbird Aviation flight and that it crashed on approach to Kiunga. "We continue to work closely with Papua New Guinea authorities," a department spokesman told AFP, without confirming whether or not he was the pilot. "Our thoughts are with the passengers and crew of the aircraft and their families. Due to privacy obligations, we are unable to provide further information." Scott Olson | Getty Images. The biggest bar to implementing necessary structural reforms is the rise in political populism in Europe and the U.S., the Spanish economy minister said on Thursday. The biggest bar to implementing necessary structural reforms is the rise in political populism in Europe and the U.S., the Spanish economy minister said on Thursday. "These are not easy times for governments globally all over the world," Luis de Guindos said at a panel discussion at the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) hosted by CNBC on Thursday. "The biggest challenge and the biggest enemy of structural reform is populism and populism is pervasive now. Even in the (United) States, I have realized you have a little bit of populism now," he later added. De Guindos has served as economy minister since Mariano Rajoy 's center-right government took power at the end of 2011. Shortly afterwards, the country requested international aid for its banks, which were crippled by piles of non-performing real estate loans. Spain received a loan of around $100 billion for its lenders, which de Guindos helped negotiate, as well as helping push through reforms of the country's banks and labor markets. The Spanish economy returned to growth at the start of 2014, having exited its bailout at the start of the year. The economy accelerated further in 2015 to grow by 3.2 percent. De Guindos said Spain's experience showed it was best to make reforms as soon as possible and that "the first reforms you have to implement are the hardest ones." At the panel discussion in Washington D.C., IMF Deputy Managing Director Min Zhu added: "We observe in Europe that people more and more realize that structural reform is a must." The rise in protest parties brought an end to Spain's traditional bi-party system in its elections in December 2015. Rajoy's People's Party won the most votes, but failed to gain an absolute majority, while the upstart anti-austerity party, Podemos, came a close third to the Socialist Workers' Party. De Guindos said the ascent of populism in Spain and elsewhere meant it was harder for parties to win absolute majorities in elections. The radical-left Syriza Party took power in Greece in 2015 with an anti-austerity platform. New protest parties and political figures of the left and right have gained support in other European countries, including the U.K., Germany and Iceland. Story continues In the U.S., Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have whipped support away from the mainstream Democratic Party and Republican Party candidates and Trump could yet become the GOP's presidential nominee. At the panel discussion, Diana Farrell, CEO of the JPMorgan Chase Institute, said political populism corroded the ability of government and regulators to have an "ongoing dialogue" with business and industry. "If you create a populist environment You are going to get regulations that are actually more crippling to the economy," she said on Thursday. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. More From CNBC MOSCOW, April 14 (Reuters) - There is effectively a civil war in the south of Turkey whose leadership is cooperating with radical groups instead of fighting them, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, sending a warning to Russian holiday-makers. Putin, in his annual televised phone-in, said there were no guarantees of safety for Russian visitors and that it was too early to talk about restarting flights to that country and Egypt. For HIGHLIGHTS, click on (Reporting by Alexander Winning and Andrew Osborn; Writing by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Dmitry Solovyov) A worker walks atop a tanker wagon to check the freight level at an oil terminal on the outskirts of Kolkata in this November 27, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri/Files CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's deputy oil minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman discussed the situation in oil markets and further cooperation with India's Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday, Saudi state news agency reported. The report did not give details but said the talks included "the evident role of the kingdom (in achieving) stability of the oil markets." The two officials also discussed cooperation between the two countries in energy as well as boosting India's purchases of crude oil and oil products, and joint investments. Saudi Arabia was the biggest oil supplier to India in February. India is one of the countries in which state oil giant Saudi Aramco is looking at in terms of downstream investments. On Thursday, The International Energy Agency (IEA) said India could replace China as the main engine of global demand growth, estimating its demand growth at 300,000 bpd the strongest ever volume increase. Leading oil producers including Saudi Arabia plan to meet in Doha on Sunday to cement a preliminary deal reached between Russia, Venezuela, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in February to freeze oil output at January levels to curb a glut in the oil market. (Reporting by Ali Abdelatti; writing by Reem Shamseddine in Khobar, editing by David Evans) - By PJ Pahygiannis Las Vegas Sands' (LVS) Sheldon Adelson has been on top of Las Vegas for 28 years, and he's not looking to stop. The average CEO's term on the Fortune 500 list is 6.9 years. Sheldon Adelson, CEO and chairman of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, has that beat nearly four times over. Adelson, whose company owns The Venetian, Sands Macao, The Palazzo and many others, has been at the helm of the Las Vegas company for 28 years, half the time of the longest serving CEO in the Fortune 500. Adelson's time as CEO is a lesson in going big. In the last 28 years, the Sands has become an international power in both gambling and resorts. If you had invested $1,000 in the Sands when it went public in 2004, it would be worth $1,705.64 today. Adelson has achieved growth through expansion into convention centers, resorts, casinos and into Macau, China. Adelson, 82, first entered Las Vegas in 1979 with COMDEX at the MGM Grand that was eventually sold to Softbank Corp. (SFTBY) out of Japan. It focused on premier computers and is now one of the largest computer trade shows in the world. Then in 1988, Adelson and his partners purchased the Sands Hotel and Casino. He soon found inspiration to open a Venice-themed property that would become a resort, hotel casino in 1991. By 2007, he had properties both in Las Vegas as well as in Cotai, China and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In 2007 Adelson took steps to acquire a Israeli newspaper. Adelson also began snapping up the right to build properties in Macau, China. Then, as masterfully as he had developed the properties, he began turning them into cash machines and even spun off its Macau assets with an IPO in Hong Kong. He tried to sell the company's Sands Bethlehem and in 2008 when the company was struggling, put up $1 billion of his own money to save it. Story continues Las Vegas Sands has done so well, said analyst Bryan Maher at Brean Capital, because "Las Vegas Sands has developed into the best-positioned gaming company to deal with today's industry challenges." The Venetian and The Palazzo, two luxury hotel and casino properties, remain in Sands' portfolio of properties. The company's Asian properties, Sands Macao, The Venetian Macao, Sands Cotai Central and Four Seasons Hotel Macao, made up 21% of Macau's $80 billion casino market, according to Forbes. The Macau Properties has also excelled in a tough market; its EBITDA increased by 7% quarter-over-quarter. Altogether, Las Vegas Sands reported net sales of $11.6 billion for the fiscal year ending in Dec. 31, 2015, down 20% from the previous year. Considering Adelson's roaring success, plus a personal fortune of $27.6 billion, it's easy to ask why he hasn't handed over control to someone else. He has said in the Jewish Journal "Why do I need succession planning? I'm very alert, I'm very vibrant. I have no intention to retire." Adelson's way of thinking has given him the edge through the years. "I formed an opinion that if I did things differently than the way everybody did it that it would add value to every effort I made," he has said. And in the age of providing value to the customer, it's even more important to create an amazing experience and give them what they want. Las Vegas Sands properties, for their part, breaks the rules as to how casinos are designed and built. The company designs its properties to meet the needs of convention centers. Instead of trying to get guests on the casino floor, Adelson focuses on meeting the needs of the guests. "You know I offered Steve Wynn half the Cotai Strip. He said to me, 'That's the stupidest idea I've heard of in my life' - almost verbatim," he said. "We don't have to be Chinese to appeal to the Chinese market." Adelson isn't done chasing success, even after 28 years on the job. According to Adelson, there are two ways of measuring success: one is the gross income and the other is the EBITDA - the bottom line. Adelson focuses on the bottom line. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. (Adds SunEdison comments, ReNew Power talks) By Krishna N. Das MUMBAI, April 14 (Reuters) - SunEdison Inc is in talks to sell minority stakes in its Indian solar projects to Finland's Fortum, two sources said, as the U.S. firm seeks funds to finish proposed plants in India amid concerns about its finances at home. Heavily indebted SunEdison, once the fastest growing renewable energy developer in the United States, could soon file for bankruptcy protection, according to one of its publicly listed units. Fortum, a state-controlled utility, said on Tuesday it planned to invest 200-400 million euros ($225-$450 million) in solar projects in India and would look at developing large new projects or consider partnerships. Fortum is interested in taking stakes in SunEdison's projects, including a proposed 500-megawatt (MW) plant in Andhra Pradesh state it won last November after an aggressive bid, said the two sources with knowledge of the matter. Fortum spokeswoman Sophie Jolly declined to comment on any talks with SunEdison, but said it was "normal that there would be rumours and speculation around our interest in any solar, and particularly now in India". SunEdison said in an email it was in discussions for equity partners in its projects but declined to name any investor. The company has around 600 MW of projects constructed and financed in India, with plans to build another 1,700 MW in the coming year, according to one of the sources. SunEdison has also drawn preliminary interest from Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's fast-expanding Adani Group, though a person close to Adani said the low tariff agreed for the Andhra plant would make any deal hard for Indian firms. Goldman Sachs-backed Indian renewable energy company, ReNew Power, is also in talks with SunEdison for the assets, the Hindu newspaper reported on Thursday. One of the sources also reported the talks, but ReNew declined immediate comment. ($1 = 0.8877 euros) (Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Mark Potter) Djibouti's President Ismael Omar Guelleh, in power since 1999, is seeking a fourth term as head of the former French colony that sits at the entrance to the Red Sea and Suez Canal (AFP Photo/Simon Maina) Djibouti (AFP) - The tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, which votes Friday in presidential elections, is hitching its wagon to the star of neighbouring Ethiopia with a series of cross-border projects funded mainly by China, the new power-broker in the region. Djibouti's President Ismael Omar Guelleh, in power since 1999, is seeking a fourth term as head of the former French colony that sits at the entrance to the Red Sea and Suez Canal. The vote, which the opposition has already branded a sham, will test support for a series of infrastructure projects that aim to increase the already outsized influence of the country of around 800,000 people, home to America's biggest -- and only permanent -- military base in Africa. Djibouti has been in the lucrative position of offering landlocked Ethiopia its only access to the sea since Ethiopia went to war with Eritrea next door in 1998. During the two-year conflict, Addis Ababa relied on Djibouti's main port to import weapons. Since then Ethiopia's economy has grown exponentially, and with it the tide of imports flowing through Djibouti to the country of 97 million people, which accounts for 86 percent of all goods transiting through Djiboutian ports. Not content to rely on passing trade and playing host to the military bases of several world powers, Djibouti is now looking to play a bigger role in east Africa, in tandem with fast-growing Ethiopia. "Even if the country has a very good strategic location, small economies like ours need to be integrated into regional development efforts," Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf told AFP. - A 'model' for east Africa - In 2011, Djibouti was hooked up to Ethiopia's electricity grid. Two further interconnectors are planned, one of which could transport Ethiopian power across the Red Sea to Yemen. A 752-kilometre railway line linking the city of Djibouti to Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa is scheduled to open soon, with another line for exporting potassium from the northern Ethiopian city of Mekele through the Djiboutian port of Tadjourah set to soon follow. Story continues In the past year the neighbours have also announced two major energy projects. A multi-billion-dollar pipeline will transport natural gas from Ethiopia to a liquefaction plant and export terminal at Damerjog in Djibouti, while in the other direction, a planned 550-kilometre pipeline will carry diesel, gasoline and jet fuel from Djibouti's ports to central Ethiopia. Completing the list of cross-border projects is a water pipeline to channel drinking water from Ethiopia to Djibouti, which like Ethiopia is prone to droughts. "Our relationship is gaining momentum", said Tewolde Mulugeta, spokesman for the Ethiopian foreign ministry, who sees the deepening ties between the two countries as "a model" for the region. It is a view shared in Djibouti. "The main thing is that the development benefits not only the two countries but also other countries in the region," Energy Minister Ali Yacoub Mahamoud told AFP. "That is why we must combine our resources, our efforts and our ideas". - Chinese money - The two countries see themselves as the engine of closer cooperation within the regional IGAD grouping, which also includes Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan. Ethiopia and Djibouti's special relationship has been welcomed by China, a major investor in the region. Most of Djibouti's 14 major infrastructure projects, which have been valued at a total 14.4 billion dollars, are being funded by Chinese banks, including the railway line that will halve transit times from Djibouti to Addis Ababa. "These are very big investments," Djibouti's foreign minister said, explaining that China was "the only partner that accompanied us along this path." China is also funding the pipeline that will transport natural gas to the port in Djibouti for export to the Asian powerhouse, and recently signed an accord with the Red Sea state on the construction of a free trade zone around 50 kilometres from Djibouti city. Economists warn that Djibouti is becoming too reliant on Chinese credit. The country's public debt burden is forecast to rise from 60 per cent in 2015 to around 80 percent in 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund. "It's a dilemma," admits Youssouf, the foreign minister. "The more indebted we are, the more we depend on our creditor. But what alternative is there? Countries can only develop if they have infrastructure." An Atlas 5 ULA (United Launch Alliance) rocket carrying a satellite for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California April 3, 2014. REUTERS/Gene Blevins By Andrea Shalal COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - U.S. military and intelligence agencies must innovate more and better coordinate their actions to defend critical satellites in the wake of growing potential threats from Russia, China and others, U.S. military leaders said Tuesday. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said the Pentagon and Air Force were taking steps to improve the resilience of U.S. military satellites given their fundamental importance to what he called "the American way of war." "If an adversary were able to take space away from us, our ability to project decisive military power across transoceanic distances - the very essence of our conventional deterrence - would be critically weakened," Work told a space conference hosted by the Space Foundation. U.S. military officials are starting to provide details about how they will spend more than $5 billion over the next few years to shore up satellite security, galvanized by gains in technology that could be used by Russia, China and other countries to disrupt or destroy U.S. satellites, or disable their communications links through jamming or other means. Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co, Raytheon Co and other weapons makers are anxious see what new business opportunities that could develop as a result of the changes, Work said the Defense Department would make a series of structural changes by dispersing equipment, hardening satellites and taking other steps to make U.S. satellites "hard to find, hard to catch, hard to hit and hard to kill." Changes could include using different orbits and deception, as well as use of different operating practices, Work said, noting that Washington would keep some of its changes secret to keep potential adversaries guessing. The Pentagon is also using older satellites on orbit to experiment and test ways to improve the way it manages and controls satellites, Work told reporters before his speech. He said three rounds of experiments had already been carried out through the Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center, but the results had not yet been briefed to Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Story continues U.S. Air Force General John Hyten, head of Air Force Space Command, said the government would also use prototypes and other innovative approaches already used in commercial industry. Colonel John Wagner, commander of the 406th Space Wing, which operates U.S. missile warning satellites, said the Air Force would also set up an innovation cell in Boulder, Colorado, that would look at potential civilian uses for the powerful sensors on new Space-Based Infrared System satellites built by Lockheed, such as early warning for firefighters. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Leslie Adler) By Pavel Polityuk and Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament approved presidential ally Volodymyr Groysman as prime minister on Thursday in the biggest political shakeup since a 2014 uprising brought in a pro-Western leadership. President Petro Poroshenko hopes the appointment of the former parliamentary speaker will end months of political deadlock that has delayed billions of dollars in foreign loans needed to shore up Ukraine's war-battered economy. But the departure from the cabinet of experienced technocrats, including U.S.-born Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko, who led strategic talks with Western lenders and investors has rattled pro-European reformists. Some deputies said the new government would struggle to get laws approved. Speaking ahead of the vote, Groysman, 38, said his government was committed to tackling Ukraine's endemic corruption and strengthening ties with the European Union. "I understand the threats that face us. In particular I would like to highlight three threats - corruption, ineffective governance and populism, which do not pose less of a threat than the enemy in eastern Ukraine," he said, referring to the conflict with pro-Russian separatists. A new government should allow talks to resume on the disbursement of a third tranche of loans from the International Monetary Fund worth $1.7 billion, delayed since October. Ukrainian bonds firmed after the vote in parliament. TECHNOCRATS EXIT Groysman's rebooted cabinet appears to strengthen the influence of Poroshenko in the government and on the economic side of policymaking in particular. Oleksandr Danylyuk, 40, who is set to become finance minister, is the deputy head of Poroshenko's administration, while the economy minister and first deputy prime minister positions will be given to Stepan Kubiv, who is currently the president's representative in parliament. They replace Yaresko, praised by Washington for her handling of Ukraine's debt crisis, and Aivaras Abromavicius, who as economy minister spearheaded a drive to privatize graft-ridden state firms, but quit in protest over corruption in February. Poroshenko, whose confectionary business Roshen has made him Ukraine's sixth richest man, said the new government must honor reform commitments made under its $17.5 billion International Monetary Fund bailout. "I stress the imperative and inviolable necessity of continuing cooperation with the IMF and other international lenders," he said. His comments were echoed by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, who in a joint statement said the formation of a new government was "a crucial development at a time when new momentum in the country is badly needed." Some lawmakers doubt the government will find that momentum, questioning whether it has sufficient votes to pass critical reforms or laws to underpin the fragile peace deal in eastern Ukraine, after former coalition partners joined the opposition. "It means the government will only last for a few months at most, afterwards the president will be forced to dissolve parliament," said Opposition Bloc lawmaker Serhiy Lyovochkin. Ukraine's Western allies fear that a snap election could boost populist parties who oppose IMF-led austerity measures to save an economy emerging from two years of recession. Groysman replaces Arseny Yatseniuk, who was appointed after the "Maidan" street uprising that ousted Russia-backed president Viktor Yanukovich. His popularity declined into the low single digits, partly due to public perceptions that his government did too little to hold powerful oligarchs to account. (Additional reporting by Robin Emmott in Brussels; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Mark Heinrich; Editing by Gareth Jones) What's Driving the Crude Tanker Industry in 2016? (Continued from Prior Part) Where India stands Chinas importance in the tanker industry is well known, as its the second-largest importer of crude oil and also one of the highest consumers of oil. Chinas oil imports were a key factor in 2015s spectacular crude tanker performance. Along with China, India will also assume a great deal of importance in the industry in the coming years. India also has a lot of potential to boost oil demand growth as well as shipping growth. India currently is the third-largest importer of oil after the US and China. In this article, well look at reasons why India (INDA) will be so important to the tanker industry in coming years. Indias oil demand outlook According to the IEA, the Indian demand outlook is favorable. The IEA forecasts demand growth to be 1.1 million barrels per day, or a 4.2% annual increase, through 2021. According to a report by Poten and Partners, Indias development is similar to Chinas development when the country was growing by 7.8% between 2000 and 2005. If India grows at this rate, it will boost both oil and shipping markets. Indias oil product demand In 2015, Indias demand for oil products grew more than 9%, and its gasoline demand grew by a whopping 16%. Barclays expects strong gasoline demand growth in 2016, driven by growth in passenger vehicle sales, expanding road networks, and rising income levels. Higher product demand increases refineries demand for crude oil. Indias oil sources India traditionally imported crude oil from the Middle East. However, in recent years, India is diversifying its suppliers and has increased its imports from West Africa and Venezuela. These ports are farther from India, and a longer distance increases the ton-mile demand. The higher ton-mile demand benefits crude tankers like Frontline (FRO), Teekay Tankers (TNK), Tsakos Energy Navigation (TNP), Nordic American Tankers (NAT), DHT Holdings (DHT), and Euronav (EURN). After the lifting of nuclear sanctions against Iran, India has also increased its imports from the country. Story continues Continue to Next Part Browse this series on Market Realist: Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd.s YGE wholly owned subsidiary, Yingli Green Energy Europe GmbH has signed a supply agreement with a European EPC Partner to provide solar panels for photovoltaic (PV) projects in the Dominican Republic. Per the agreement, Yingli Europe will supply almost 200 megawatts ("MW") of solar panels to the Partner. Commercial terms of agreement, which will run through mid 2019, have been fixed. Out of this figure, to date, 50 MW of projects are in developed stages, with construction expected to begin in 2017, while the remaining 150 MW of projects are in early stages of development. According to Project Manager at Yingli Europe, Norman Luth, headwinds in the European market has urged the company to continue working with the Partner to export European knowledge and experience to emerging markets across the world. Mr. Liansheng Miao, Chairman and CEO of Yingli, stated, "The combination of European EPC technical and economic efficiency, honed over many years in a challenging European market, and Yingli's leading brand with over 14 gigawatts of proven product performance in the field creates a potent force for the diffusion of solar electricity generation infrastructure in emerging markets." Yingli Green Energy is a leading, vertically integrated manufacturer of photovoltaic products based in China. The company manufactures the entire photovoltaic value chain, including ingot casting and wafering, solar cell production and solar panel assembly. Zacks Rank & Key Picks Yingli Green currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the solar space are SunPower Corporation SPWR, ReneSola Ltd. SOL and SolarCity Corp. SCTY. While SunPower and ReneSola sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), SolarCity carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report RENESOLA LT-ADR (SOL): Free Stock Analysis Report YINGLI GREEN EN (YGE): Free Stock Analysis Report SOLARCITY CORP (SCTY): Free Stock Analysis Report SUNPOWER CORP-A (SPWR): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research 2000 - 2022 24 .- . focus-news.net, () . 24 . 24 . . 24 . We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. By AN BAIJIE in Beijing and WANG HUI in Hong Kong (China Daily) Premier Li Keqiang talks with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull as they attend a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday. WU ZHIYI / CHINA DAILY Beijing and Canberra are seeking to increase business ties as Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull leads his country's largest-ever trade mission to China. Australia will also grant 10-year visas for the first time to Chinese and allow online applications, according to Turnbull, who started a two-day visit to China on Thursday. China is Australia's most important tourism market, with more than 1 million visitors last year. Witnessed by Premier Li Keqiang and Turnbull, the two countries signed five documents on Thursday to boost cooperation in areas including tourism, science, industrial parks and mining. Li called on both countries to make full use of their complementary advantages and work together in multiple sectors including infrastructure construction, equipment manufacturing, new energy, cross-border e-commerce, education, law enforcement and defense. "Enhanced China-Australia cooperation will send a positive signal to the region and the world, especially at a time when the global economy is sluggish with increasing uncertainties," Li said. It is Turnbull's first visit to China since taking office in September. Representatives of more than 1,000 companies are attending events at Australia Week in China, which begins on Monday in 12 cities. Turnbull said Australia considers China an important trade partner and is positive about the great potential for China's development. He said he was honored to be the first Australian prime minister to visit China since the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement took effect, adding that the two countries should enhance cooperation in e-commerce, agriculture and technology. Iran just upped their output by 90% If we replace Saudi imports with domestic products then they will also be looking for new customers. Rather than build for a foreign market that requires ships that don't exist supply the east with enough volume that they can grow a bit and energy going south would do it from those lines. Great Lakes to the GOM would be produce alley and of the rivers were straightened out and the shore turned into terraced fields then living in a flood plain suggests you build a hill if you don't already have one. For towns you assume the bottom floor is going to get flooded so you move everything to the 2nd and 3rd floors and don't clean up the 'basement' but fill it with silt so it is waterproof and 'stable' in a flood rather than it being empty of anything valuable that a flood can take away. If the east get more moisture their rivers will flow more water at some point in the year. A straight river handles floods better and in the dry part you can keep a deep channel open for heavy traffic. What else are 30M 'refugees' from other parts of North America going to do as a 'hobby'? MONTREALPrime Minister Justin Trudeau says his business dealings are above board and follow the rules after charges that he has used registered companies to avoid paying his full share of taxes.In addition to his $340,000 prime ministerial salary, the Liberal party leader receives regular dividends from a holding company, 7664699 Canada Inc., according to a compliance agreement published on the federal ethics commissioners website last month.An official in the Prime Ministers Office said the dividends come from a business that sells lumber and firewood from family land in Quebec and that management of those interests has been placed in a blind trust since he became prime minister.The day after last Octobers federal election, the official said Trudeau also liquidated and shut down 3701140 Canada Inc., a holding company that managed the inheritance left to Justin and Alexandre Trudeau, his brother, by their late father, former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.mo @brianlilley Is Trudeau cheating on his taxes? More Liberal hypocrisy:Remember during the election when Justin sat down with his friend Peter Mansbridge for that friendly tete-a-tete during which Trudeau revealed that he thought many small businesses were just shell companies set up to avoid taxes? William and Kate meet king and queen of Bhutan BBC News 14 April 2016 FACTS Kingdom of Bhutan Capital: Thimphu Population: 750,000 Area: 14,824 sq miles (nearly twice the size of Wales) Major language: Dzongkha Major religions: Buddhism (official), Hinduism Life expectancy: 66 years (men), 70 years (women) Currency: ngultrum Population: 750,000Area: 14,824 sq miles (nearly twice the size of Wales)Major language: DzongkhaMajor religions: Buddhism (official), HinduismLife expectancy: 66 years (men), 70 years (women)Currency: ngultrum UN, World Bank UN, World Bank Analysis By BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge received a ceremonial welcome in the mountain kingdom of Bhutan The descent into Paro by plane, which has to navigate a mountainside, is not for the faint-hearted. William and Kate are entering a once-isolated land. Tourists could only visit from the 1970s; TV was introduced in the 1990s; and this former absolute monarchy became a constitutional one with an elected government in 2008. Bhutan is a Buddhist country with an emphasis on gross national happiness rather than its gross domestic product. However, the country's prime minister has acknowledged that this much-lauded concept can be overused, and can mask the kingdom's problems with debt, unemployment and poverty. For two days the Cambridges will be guests of a young king and queen that are held in high regard by their subjects. They'll learn how Bhutan - which once revelled in its remoteness - is now facing the challenge of how to retain its Buddhist traditions while also embracing the modern world. The descent into Paro by plane, which has to navigate a mountainside, is not for the faint-hearted.William and Kate are entering a once-isolated land.Tourists could only visit from the 1970s; TV was introduced in the 1990s; and this former absolute monarchy became a constitutional one with an elected government in 2008.Bhutan is a Buddhist country with an emphasis on gross national happiness rather than its gross domestic product.However, the country's prime minister has acknowledged that this much-lauded concept can be overused, and can mask the kingdom's problems with debt, unemployment and poverty.For two days the Cambridges will be guests of a young king and queen that are held in high regard by their subjects.They'll learn how Bhutan - which once revelled in its remoteness - is now facing the challenge of how to retain its Buddhist traditions while also embracing the modern world. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have arrived in the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and met the country's young king and queen.The royal couple were allowed into the cockpit of their Royal Bhutan Airways chartered jet as it landed at Paro airport - one of the most challenging places to touch down in the world.They were greeted with a ceremonial scarf by the King of Bhutan's sister.Over the next two days the couple will see the famous Tiger's Nest monastery.Prince William and Catherine are in the middle of a seven-day tour of India and Bhutan.After the brief ceremonial greeting on the tarmac, the royal couple's convoy of cars snaked its way through steep mountain valleys to the capital.At one point during the journey dozens of schoolchildren lined the road wearing traditional clothes and holding friendship scarves.They then met Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 36, and his wife Queen Jetsun Pema, 25 - like the Cambridges, a young couple with a family.They visited an open-air archery venue in the capital Thimphu, where they saw at first hand Bhutan's national sport.Both Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge tried their hand at firing arrows at a target about 40 yards away. The couple also tried out khuru, a sport developed by cow herders which involves throwing large darts out of tree branches and bird feathers at targets.The duchess dressed in a Bhutanese-inspired outfit, with a mauve and blue skirt made from local material and styled on the country's national dress.The duke and duchess will return to India on Saturday, but over the next few days they will be hosted by Bhutan's royal couple, who are expected to name their first child - a boy - at the weekend.They are also to have a private audience with the king and queen, as well as a dinner together at Lingkana Palace.During their visit, the Cambridges will also trek up a mountain to visit the Tiger's Nest monastery. Perched at an altitude of 10,240 ft, the sacred site was built in 1692.Prince William's father, the Prince of Wales, had planned to make the same hike in 1998 but became injured after a polo match - he stopped before the ascent and painted a scenic watercolour picture.During the first leg of their tour in India, they met survivors of 2008's Mumbai attacks and fed orphaned baby rhinos and elephants at a wildlife park in Assam.On Wednesday, the pair toured Kaziranga National Park in the state of Assam in an open-topped 4x4, catching sight of elephants, monkeys and a monitor lizard.They later visited a village on the edge of the park to find out how villagers live side-by-side with the wild animals. Airports Council International (ACI), the trade association of the world's airports, announced that global passenger traffic (+9.2%) continued to grow in both international and domestic sectors (+9.8% and +8.9% respectively) in the month of February. February traffic was affected by the leap year month and the timing of the Chinese New Year, which introduced a distortionary effect on year-over-year growth as compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe have been the major contributors to this growth, with a year-over-year increase of over 10% in total passenger traffic (+11%, +10.5% and +10.1% respectively). North America, the most mature aviation market, posted a robust total passenger traffic growth rate of 8.4% given ongoing strong fundamentals across the region's aviation sector. Latin America-Caribbean's total passenger traffic grew moderately by 4.5%, although the largest country in the region, Brazil, continues to experience economic malaise. Africa remains in a fragile state with a marginal growth rate of 0.3%, with declining international traffic for nine consecutive months and the first positive growth rate in total passenger traffic in the last seven months. At the individual country level, India continues to outperform all other major passenger markets with strong total passenger growth of 18.4% for its major commercial airports (+22.6% in domestic traffic and +8.4% in international). The US, China, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom all posted growth between +6% and +8%. Other important country markets demonstrating double-digit growth rates in total passenger traffic at major hubs and tourist destinations include Spain (+16.2%), Thailand (+16.4%), Korea (+15.3%), Turkey (+12%), Mexico (+13%) and Indonesia (+15.5%). Brazil is the only passenger market posting a total passenger traffic decline of 3.4% for its major airports. Air freight growth rates reveals an entirely different story. At the global level air freight volumes declined by 4.1% as compared to the previous year, with international freight experiencing a greater decline than domestic freight (-5.5% and -0.8% respectively). While there is some cause for concern, much of the decline is attributed to the timing of the Chinese New Year (19 February in 2015 versus 8 February in 2016; this difference of 11 days affects global imports and exports). As a result, Hong Kong (HKG), Shanghai-Pudong (PVG), Seoul-Incheon (ICN), Tokyo-Narita (NRT) and Taipei (TPE) reported traffic losses of 14.9%, 13.1%, 9.4%, 16% and 18.2% respectively. However, some major freight hubs remained in positive territory, including Dubai (DXB, +2.9%), Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG, +9.9%), Doha (DOH, +20.8%) and London-Heathrow (LHR, +2.7%). Based on the global sample of airports, 16 of the top 20 airports in terms of freight volume all experienced year-over-year declines for the month of February, including Memphis (MEM) and Louisville (SDF), the two major freight hubs in the US; Miami (MIA); Frankfurt (FRA); Singapore (SIN); Los Angeles (LAX); and others. The picture is thus two-sided: As all major air freight markets in East Asia experienced declines in traffic volumes, the major air freight markets in Europe remained flat or grew only marginally. At the regional level, Asia-Pacific and North America are the only regions with significant and comparable rates in air freight declines (-8.1% and -7.3%), testifying to the pattern of international trade and economic interdependence of the two regions. At the same time, the short term distortionary boost to freight volumes a year ago during the West Coast Sea port crisis has exacerbated the decline in February. Transavia, the low cost airline, part of the Air France-KLM Group,Transavia launches a new route from Vienna to Paris-Orly. The airline will operate up to four weekly flights in April 2016 from Vienna and starting in May increases to a daily flight service to the French capital. The new flight connection was officially inaugurated by Herve Kozar, CCO of Transavia, and Berlina Neumann, Head of Aviation Marketing at Flughafen Wien AG. We are very pleased to being able to offer a new flight connection to Paris in cooperation with Transavia, says Julian Jager, Member of the Management Board of Flughafen Wien AG, commenting on the flight service to Paris-Orly. Passengers can take advantage of an increased flight offering to France. Herve Kozar, CCO of Transavia, is also delighted about the cooperation with Vienna Airport We are very glad to offer daily scheduled services between Vienna and Paris Orly. By adding Paris to the existing route from Vienna to Rotterdam our capacity from Vienna has more than tripled compared to 2015 with a total of 164.000 seats. It is a pleasure to welcome more Austrian people on board and offer both leisure and business passengers an attractive price. As of April 14, 2016, Transavia will offer flight service between Paris-Orly and Vienna four times a week. Starting on May 8, 2016, Transavia will offer daily flight service between Vienna and Paris. The aircraft will depart from Paris-Orly on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 6:25 a.m. and arrive in Vienna at 8:15 a.m. The return flight is scheduled for 9 a.m. from Vienna, landing in Paris-Orly at 10:45 a.m. On Saturdays and Sundays, Transavia will operate a flight at 5:40 p.m. from Paris-Orly, reaching Vienna at 7:30 p.m. The aircraft will depart from Vienna at 8:15 p.m. and land in Paris-Orly at 10 p.m. Tickets from Vienna to Paris Orly are offered at 35 (one-way, depending on availability, including booking & payment fees) and can be booked via the website www.transavia.com The Ascott Limited, has launched The Crest Collection, a prized selection of some of Ascotts most prestigious and unique luxury serviced residences. The collection offers the growing number of discerning travelers extraordinary experiences with a sense of home. Each property is a signature on its own with a distinctive character which epitomises European elegance and grandeur. The debut collection comprises the newly added Metropole, which will open in Bangkok in June 2016, and three of Ascotts Citadines Suites properties in Paris that have been renamed to La Clef Louvre Paris, La Clef Champs-Elysees Paris as well as La Clef Tour Eiffel Paris, where the launch ceremony of The Crest Collection was held. Acquired in 2011, La Clef Tour Eiffel Paris was included in the global asset enhancement programme rolled out by Ascott in 2010. Through Ascotts extensive experience in product development and design, the property was boldly transformed the serviced residence seamlessly marries Parisian elegance in a 19th century Haussmannian apartment building with the postmodernist style of celebrated architect Ricardo Bofill in an adjoining hotel. The launch of The Crest Collection follows Ascotts recent unveiling of its Tujia Somerset brand to cater to the booming segment of middle class travellers in China. Together with its three award-winning brands of serviced residences Ascott The Residence, Citadines Aparthotel and Somerset Serviced Residence, Ascott is able to provide guests with wider choices to suit their different lifestyle needs. The premier Ascott The Residence brand provides refined luxurious living in elegant apartments. These serviced residences frequently welcome top executives, government dignitaries and industry leaders. Citadines Aparthotel offers independent travellers the flexibility to choose the services they require. For those travelling with children, Somerset Serviced Residence is ideal as the properties come with amenities such as playground, indoor playroom and childrens swimming pool. With the addition of Metropole which Ascott will be managing, the company now has more than 3,000 apartment units across 17 properties in Bangkok, Pattaya and Sri Racha in Thailand. Ascott is the largest international serviced residence owner-operator in Thailand and one of the largest in Europe. It has over 5,200 units in 44 properties in France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Georgia and Spain. The IMEX Group announced its support for the Global Meetings Industry Day (#GMID), which is an initiative that follows the success in 2015 of North American Meetings Industry Day (NAMID). Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group commented: Global Meetings Industry Day is a great innovation and we are delighted to support it wholeheartedly. In fact some of our team played a small part in the online song writing process as one of the many groups around the world who contributed to Song Divisions Global Meetings Industry Day Anthem. Global Meetings Industry Day is only five days before IMEX in Frankfurt (19 - 21 April) where the global meetings industry will be coming together from across the world. Alongside the trade show is the annual IMEX Politicians Forum which will, like Global Meetings Industry Day, highlight the valuable, wide-ranging contribution that the meetings and events industry makes to national and regional economies. Politicians and policy makers from across the globe will be there to share best practice and discuss with industry leaders how destinations are preparing for the challenges over the coming years. Carina Bauer adds: The politicians will also hear about Global Meetings Industry Day at our Opening Ceremony from David DuBois, our keynote speaker, who, as Immediate Past Chair of the Convention Industry Council and President & CEO of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), has played a key role in the initiative. To help celebrate Global Meetings Industry Day, the team at SongDivision wanted to contribute an anthem that would capture how meeting professionals feel about their work and its incredible impact on people, businesses and communities. Listen it below WTM Connect Asia, taking place in Penang, known as the cultural melting pot of Malaysia, is a pod event marking World Travel Markets arrival in South East Asia. During the three days of WTM Connect Asia from 18-20 May, suppliers of international travel product will meet with Chinese, South East Asian and international Hosted Buyers for pre-scheduled business appointments, inspiring education content, networking functions and cultural evening events. The Hosted Buyer Programme offers carefully selected leisure travel buyers from all over the world the chance to attend and make new business contacts. Chinas outbound leisure travel market is now the largest single travel market in the world and continues to grow. Taking this into consideration, WTM Connect Asia is hosting a number of key outbound Chinese leisure travel buyers providing more business opportunities for exhibitors. Beijing Luxtrip Holding Ltd, Mudianjiang Youth International Travel Agency Co. Ltd , Ctrip, Beijing Huantao Information & Technology Co. Ltd, GZL International Travel Service Limited, Chongqing Guangda International Travel Ltd Co, China Chongqing Holiday International Travel Service Co. LTD, 6renyou Trip are some of the Chinese buyers confirmed to attend. In addition to the Chinese Hosted Buyers at WTM Connect Asia there will also be buyers attending from South East Asia and the rest of the world, providing a strong offer for exhibiting companies. Some of these buyers are Interpark, Cathay Pacific Holidays, APT, Gate 1 Travel, Tidesquare/ Privia Travel, Pacific Leisure Group, and CBS Travel Asia. WTM Connect Asia has an equally strong mix of exhibitors lined up including Missing Italia, INCOTOUR GROUP Oy, JTB Global Marketing & Travel Inc, Cox & Kings, Helidubai , Olympia Europe LTD, Travallanda, Let's Travel, C Hotels Tourico and Kaimoo Travels & Hotel Services Pvt Ltd. Tehran will host Oil, Rail& Ports, the first international event organised by the rail sector and entirely dedicated to synergies and partnerships with the oil and gas sector as well as with ports and shipping lines. UIC, the worldwide organisation representing the rail sector with 240 members in nearly 100 countries from 5 continents, together with ITE-EUF organiser of 22 international transport and logistics events and 21 oil & gas events in 19 countries are jointly organising the 1st International Oil, Rail & Ports Conference that will be hosted by the Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran RAI, from 15 16 May 2016 in Tehran. This first international railway conference entirely dedicated to cooperation between railways and the oil and gas industry as well as with the major ports and terminals in the Middle-East, Central Asia and neighbouring regions, will be co-located in Tehran with the RAILEXPO 2016 international railway exhibition and held under the Patronage of the Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Ports and Maritime Organisation, and the Minister of Petroleum of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The conference is also officially supported by OTIF, the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail based in Berne, Switzerland. The 1st International Oil, Rail & Ports Conference will host decision-makers involved in transport and logistics issues in the Middle-Eastern and Central Asian Regions, in particular in relation to the oil and gas transportation market, as well as representatives of railway and intermodal operators, oil and gas terminals, ports, railway manufacturers and all authorities with the competence to support or regulate these markets. Speakers will include ministers and officials from Iran as well as high-level representatives from international organisations including UIC for the international railway community directors of market development, transport and logistics at oil & gas and energy companies, rail rreight operators from the Middle-East, Central Asia, Asia, Europe, wagon fleet/pool managers and oil tank manufacturers, port authorities and terminal operators, security and safety managers, oil field service companies The following themes will be addressed during the two-day conference: . Container market: the challenges . Container market: the challenges of keeping a position of solution provider in a fast changing environment . Vision and Strategic Action Plan 2013-2020 for Railways in the Middle-East . Investment opportunities created by the present environment of low global oil and gas prices . A Middle-East Project Case Study . The Legal and Regulatory Framework of International Oil Transport Interoperability and Safety Standards . Navigating Iranian Sanctions Micro-seminar . The Multimodal Revolution in Oil and Gas Transportation For registration or more detailed information on the 1st International Oil, Rail&Ports Conference, please visit the conference website: www.oilrailports.com The U.S. State Department says in a new report that the world faces a "global governance crisis" as both governments and nonstate actors increasingly infringe on human rights. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in the State Department's human rights report, released on April 13, that Washington saw "an accelerating trend by both state and nonstate actors to close the space for civil society, to stifle media and Internet freedom, to marginalize opposition voices, and in the most extreme cases, to kill people or drive them from their homes." Kerry also denounced governments for cracking down on freedom of expression by "jailing reporters for writing critical stories" or targeting nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) "for promoting supposedly 'foreign ideologies' such as universal human rights." Kerry said nonstate actors like Islamic State militants and Boko Haram in 2015 committed "crimes against humanity," including genocide. He said such groups "flourish in the absence of credible and effective state institutions." In its annual human rights report, the U.S. State Department says that "authoritarian governments" are reacting against an increasingly strong "civil society" throughout the world "because they fear public scrutiny, and feel threatened by people coming together in ways they cannot control." "In 2015, this global crackdown by authoritarian states on civil society deepened, silencing independent voices, impoverishing political discourse, and closing avenues for peaceful change," the report says. The report accuses governments across the former Soviet Union of both overt repression of political freedoms and bureaucratic measures aimed at stifling opposing voices. Russia's Repression It criticizes the Kremlin for "a range of measures to suppress dissent," including "new repressive laws" and selective prosecution "to harass, discredit, prosecute, imprison, detain, fine, and suppress individuals and organizations engaged in activities critical of the government." The report also accuses Russia of "especially" targeting individuals and organizations that have opposed the Kremlin's forceful and illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and Moscow's support for separatists who are fighting Kyiv's forces in eastern Ukraine. Russian authorities controlling Crimea, the report adds, have subjected Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars on the peninsula to "systematic harassment and discrimination." Moscow has repeatedly rejected such accusations by Western governments in the past and typically responds angrily to criticism it faces in the U.S. State Department's human rights report. The latest report, meanwhile, denounces what it calls repressive actions taken by authoritarian governments across Central Asia. It says Tajikistan's government "took steps to eliminate political opposition in 2015," including the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), which was recently banned and whose leaders have faced prosecution in secret trials. The State Department report says Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan in 2015 all enacted new legislation against nongovernmental groups "that could restrict operating space for civil society organizations." The report also accuses law enforcement authorities in Kyrgyzstan of using arbitrary arrests, torture, attacks, threats, and extortion. It says Kyrgyzstan routinely violated "procedural protections" in the judicial process during 2015. And it says sexual and ethnic minorities faced "police-driven extortion." The report says "members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community reported police regularly monitored LGBTI chat rooms and dating sites and arranged meetings with LGBTI users of the sites to extort money from them when they met." Other human rights abuses in Kyrgyzstan during 2015 noted in the report included poor prison conditions, as well as the harassment of activists, journalists, and employees of domestic and international nongovernmental organizations. It also says Turkmenistan "already had and enforced a restrictive NGO law." Azerbaijan's Crackdown The report from Washington also says that nongovernmental organizations in Azerbaijan face a "severely constrained" space. "Multiple sources reported a continuing crackdown on civil society" in Azerbaijan, the report says, "including intimidation, arrest, and conviction on charges widely considered politically motivated." The government of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has faced scathing criticism from international rights groups and Western officials over its crackdown on political opponents and independent journalists in recent years. Azerbaijani authorities in March released 16 jailed opposition politicians, journalists, and rights activists listed by human rights groups as "political prisoners." Twelve more rights campaigners and journalists on that list remain in prison. They include opposition leader and rights activist Ilgar Mammadov, and investigative journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova. The report says citizens of Belarus continued to face human rights violations in 2015, including an inability to "change their government through elections," restrictions targeting former "political prisoners," and a failure to account for long-standing cases of politically motivated disappearances." Macedonian Scandal The report also accuses Macedonia's government of failing to fully respect "the rule of law" -- citing "high-level" corruption, "cronyism," and selective prosecution. The release of the State Department's report comes a day after President Gjorge Ivanov announced a decision to halt criminal proceedings against politicians and government officials suspected of involvement in wiretapping thousands of people. Ivanov's April 12 announcement has triggered violent street protests in Macedonia and both domestic and international criticism. The report says Macedonian authorities in 2015 continued "efforts to restrict media freedom, interfere in the judiciary, and selectively prosecute offenders." "Political interference, inefficiency, cronyism and nepotism, prolonged processes, violations of the right to public trial, and corruption characterized the judicial system," the report said. Hours before the release of the report on April 13, State Department spokesman John Kirby said Washington was "deeply concerned" by Ivanov's announcement "to pardon persons subject to investigation in connection with the wiretapping scandal." "If implemented, this decision will protect corrupt officials and deny justice to the people of Macedonia," Kirby said. In Iran, the report says authorities subjected independent rights groups and other nongovernmental organizations to "continued harassment because of their activism." It says such groups also were threatened with closure by Iranian government officials following prolonged and often arbitrary delays in obtaining official registration." Editor's note: Court information provided to the Globe Gazette by Jayme Steege indicates prosecutors dropped the first-degree arson and domestic assault with strangulation charges in October 2016. WATERLOO | An Iowa City man has been arrested for allegedly strangling his girlfriend and trying to start a fire in a Waterloo hotel last week. Jayme Michael Steege, 42, was arrested Thursday for first-degree arson, domestic assault with strangulation and fourth-degree criminal mischief. His bond was set at $25,000. Authorities said Steege was at a room at a Motel 6 on April 8 when he assaulted his girlfriend, Annette Holtz of Charles City. During the attack, Holtz fled to the bathroom, but Steege caught the door before she could lock it and forced his way inside, court records state. Steege then lit towels that were hanging in the bathroom and told Holtz they were both going to die, records state. The incident was interrupted when smoke from the burning towels set off a smoke alarm and Steege fled through a window, damaging the screen on the way out, authorities said. The fire was extinguished without any damage to the building, said Capt. David Mohlis with the Waterloo Police Department. Jeff Reinitz, Waterloo Courier MASON CITY | Police are asking the publics help solving a series of recent tire slashings in a Mason City neighborhood. Tires were slashed on five vehicles Monday night or early Tuesday morning in the 900 block of Sixth Street Southwest, said Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley. The incidents are believed to have happened after 9:30 p.m. Monday. They were reported about 9:35 a.m. Tuesday. The combined damage will likely top $1,000, Brinkley said. Anyone with information can call Mason City police at 641-421-3636. -- Molly Montag. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy DGAP-News: RNTS Media N.V. / Key word(s): Final Results RNTS Media N.V.: reports significant progress in 2015 13.04.2016 / 23:36 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- RNTS Media reports significant progress in 2015 Highlights - Three successful acquisitions in 2015 & 2016 to date with Falk Realtime, Heyzap and Inneractive1, strengthening RNTS Media's technology stack and significantly expanding its global reach - Listing upgrade to the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange providing a more liquid and transparent trading venue for RNTS Media's shares - Placement of EUR100 million convertible bonds to finance acquisition-driven and organic growth - Significant expansion of global reach to over half a billion monthly active users - Inneractive's 630 million monthly active users to be combined with this - Launch of many new features and ad formats addressing key mobile advertising growth trends and client demands - Expansion of management team to reflect the Group's focus on the substantive ad tech market and the increased managerial requirements induced by organic and acquisition-driven growth 
 12 months ended 31 12 months ended 31 Pro-forma figures2 December 2015 December Change EURm 2014 % EURm Revenue 81.1 64.0 27% Gross margin 30.0% 38.1% -8.1 pp Adjusted EBITDA3 -13.7 0.7 n/m Adjusted loss after tax3 -16.2 -1.8 n/m Adjusted basic loss per share3 -14c -4c n/m Operating cash flow -12.6 -8.6 -45.9% Net debt 11.6 -9.3 n/m
2 Pro-forma results show the financials of the Group as if Fyber had been acquired on 1 January 2014 3 Results adjusted to exclude separately disclosed items as explained in the notes to the consolidated financial statements The full Annual Report 2015 including financial statements and notes to the financial statements can be downloaded at: ttp://www.rntsmedia.com/reports-presentations/ Andreas Bodczek, CEO of RNTS Media, said: "We achieved a number of important milestones during 2015 on our journey towards becoming one of the world's leading mobile ad tech companies as we invested in the technologies, products and people that will deliver a lasting competitive advantage. The Group's global reach expanded significantly, both organically as well as through acquisitions, with monthly active users on the platform growing to over half a billion and delivered ad impressions growing more than 500% over 2014. RNTS Media has made considerable strategic progress during the year to ensure it is best positioned to capture the fastest growing segments of the ad tech market. Mobile advertising spend continued to grow at the expense of desktop advertising and other traditional marketing channels, climbing 50%, from $19bn to $30bn, in the US alone during 2015. As a result of this rapid growth, mobile ads now account for 50% of the total US digital ad spend. However, despite this growth, mobile advertising still only accounts for 15% of total US ad spend, and this constitutes a significant growth opportunity for the Group, given that 24% of all media was consumed through a mobile device. In-app ad spend, RNTS Media's core market, hit $21bn in 2015 from $14bn in 2014 in the US alone and is poised to outpace mobile web ad spend 3-to-1 in 2016. RNTS Media continued to profit from these underlying market trends with its existing product portfolio and worked towards strengthening key areas for future growth such as programmatic media trading and video advertising. Strategic Developments In line with our strategic goals, 2015 was a transformational year, during which we placed EUR100m of convertible bonds to accelerate organic growth and take advantage of a series of important acquisition opportunities. These successful acquisitions greatly strengthen our market position, both in terms of technology and product offering, broaden the reach of our platform, and give us scale and global presence. In May, the Group acquired Falk Realtime, an ad tech company focused on programmatic trading of advertising, real-time bidding ('RTB') and ad serving. The acquisition strengthened the programmatic stack of RNTS Media's core asset Fyber, an independent advertising technology company, and added new functionalities that enable app developers to monetize their content more effectively. The entire Falk Realtime team joined the Group, and together we continue to develop our programmatic products to deliver on market trends and meet customer demand. Heyzap, operating a similar business model to Fyber, joined the Group in January 2016 and put Fyber in a market leading position for Mediation. The shared mission to empower the app economy with smarter ad monetization made Heyzap the perfect fit to further strengthen our market position. RNTS also benefits from the added technology hub in San Francisco, with the entire Heyzap team being integrated into Fyber. The latest addition to the Group is Inneractive, a fast-growing Tel Aviv-based mobile Ad Exchange with a core focus on RTB across video and display advertising. Subject to formal closing of the deal, Inneractive will significantly enhance our global scale with its 630 million monthly active users and we would expect it to account for about one third of the Group's pro-forma gross revenues in 2016. In 2015 Inneractive grew gross revenue by more than 100% to $43.2 million and was profitable. It is aiming to double its revenues again over the next two years. Although the company will continue to run as a separate entity within RNTS Media, we see significant revenue synergies in connecting clients across platforms and enabling seamless customer access to cross-company products. The closing is expected for the second quarter of 2016, after the satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions and expiry of the statutory 50 day waiting period for mergers in Israel. The coming months will be focussed on the integration of these newly acquired assets, streamlining processes and identifying further synergy and mutual learning opportunities. Investments in Future Organic Growth In addition to our acquisition activity, we have accomplished our product goals around the Rewarded Video product, strengthening the product capabilities and the positioning of our own Ad Exchange. We also developed and launched the Fyber Ad Server, enabling app developers to set up direct deals with advertisers as well as cross-promotion campaigns to support new app launches and drive user engagement within their apps. Other initiatives included the roll-out of enhanced ad controls, allowing the setup of even more granular ad monetization strategies, the expansion of our Mediation network and the introduction of a simplified process for app developers to join our platform. We broadened our ad format offering in 2015 with the introduction of a substantially refreshed Rewarded Video product and Interstitial ads and will roll out Banner and Native ads in the course of 2016. We anticipate these initiatives will help offset the slower than expected growth of Offer Wall, up to now Fyber's core ad format. Organisational Growth During 2015, we expanded our team by 34 to 306 employees by organic growth and through the acquisition of Falk Realtime. We have also set up our first US engineering hub in our San Francisco office with the acquisition of Heyzap. As the organization grows, it has been a priority to invest in the senior management team with the skills and experience to support and inspire our rapidly expanding team. We appointed Heiner Luntz as Chief Financial Officer of RNTS Media and also strengthened the management board of Fyber with the appointments of Jim Schinella as Chief Business Officer, Henrik Basten as Chief Technology Officer, and Michael Bullion as Chief Product Officer. This expanded leadership team combines a wealth of ad tech industry expertise with the experience of managing rapid operational growth, particularly through acquisitions, and underpins our commitment to building one of the largest independent mobile advertising companies in the market. Furthermore, we have nominated three new independent directors for approval to join our Supervisory Board at the next Annual General Meeting. The new additions will deepen our ad tech industry knowledge and best practice expertise in international and German corporate governance, thereby supporting the Group's future growth. In August, we delivered on our commitment to providing a more liquid and transparent trading venue for RNTS Media shares by completing the transfer of our equity listing to the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Outlook 2016 The focus for 2016 will be on fully integrating Falk Realtime and Heyzap into the Fyber platform and putting in place the processes and technical solutions to connect Fyber's and Inneractive's platforms. At the same time we will preserve the operational flexibility for these businesses to pursue their ambitious stand-alone growth plans. The Group expects additional momentum to be generated by these integrations alongside Fyber's plans to introduce new ad formats and monetize a larger proportion of the traffic we are seeing on our Mediation platform. We are therefore aiming to achieve a revenue run-rate for the Group of more than EUR200 million by the end of the year." Presentation to analysts and investors A conference call with presentation and Q&A will be held on 14 April 2016 at 16.00 CET. To attend the call, please register at: http://www.audio-webcast.com/cgi-bin/visitors.ssp?fn=analyst&id=3513 With the same link, you will also be able to join the web portion of the meeting on the day of the event. To join the conference call please use the country specific phone numbers at http://events.arkadin.com/ev/docs/International%20Access%20Numbers_%20UKFE LBRI1_SU7.pdf and the participant passcode 81940982# Enquiries 
 Analysts & Investors Heiner Luntz, RNTS Media +49 30 609 855 555 ir@rntsmedia.com Media Alex Simmons, Smithfield +44 207 903 0669 asimmons@smithfieldgroup.com
Notes to Editors RNTS Media is a leading mobile advertising technology company. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany and founded in 2010, it empowers app developers and publishers to generate business-critical revenue streams with targeted in-app advertising through its core asset Fyber. RNTS Media is listed on the Prime Standard of Frankfurt Stock Exchange under symbol 'RNM.' For more information, visit www.rntsmedia.com. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13.04.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: RNTS Media N.V. Johannisstr. 20 10117 Berlin Germany Phone: +49 30 609 855 528 E-mail: governance@rntsmedia.com Internet: www.rntsmedia.com ISIN: NL0010315453 WKN: A1J87D Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard) End of News DGAP News Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 454169 13.04.2016 Defence and security company Saabs Annual General Meeting was held on 14 April 2016, in Linkoping. At Saabs website you will find President and CEO Hakan Buskhes speech as well as the speech of the Chairman of the Board, Marcus Wallenberg. Please see the following link: http://saabgroup.com/about-company/corporate-governance/annual -general-meeting/. Approval of Income Statement and Balance Sheet The Annual General Meeting approved the Parent Companys Income Statement and Balance Sheet, and the Consolidated Income Statement and Balance Sheet for the financial year 2015. Dividend The Annual General Meeting decided on a dividend of SEK 5.00 per share to the shareholders and that the record date shall be Monday, April 18, 2016. Payment of the dividend is expected to be made from Euroclear Sweden AB, on Thursday, April 21, 2016. Discharge from liability The Board of Directors and the President were discharged from liability for the financial year 2015. The Board of Directors Bert Nordberg was elected as new Board member in accordance with the Nomination Committees proposal. Furthermore, the following Board members were re-elected: Hakan Buskhe, Johan Forssell, Sten Jakobsson, Sara Mazur, Per-Arne Sandstrom, Cecilia Stego Chilo, Lena Treschow Torell, Marcus Wallenberg and Joakim Westh. Marcus Wallenberg was re-elected as Chairman of the Board. At the Board Meeting following the Annual General Meeting, Sten Jakobsson was re-elected as Deputy Chairman of the Board. Fees to the Board of Directors and the Auditor The Shareholders Meeting decided, in accordance with the Nomination Committees proposal, that the Board fees shall be SEK 1,430,000 to the Chairman of the Board, SEK 610,000 to the Deputy Chairman, and SEK 560,000 to each of the other Board members elected by the Shareholders Meeting and not employed by the Company. Compensation for work in the Audit Committee shall be SEK 200,000 to the Chairman, and SEK 135,000 to each of the other Audit Committee members. Compensation for work in the Remuneration Committee shall be SEK 135,000 to the Chairman and SEK 80,000 to each of the other Remuneration Committee members. Fees to the Auditor are to be paid according to approved invoice. Guidelines for remuneration and other terms of employment The Annual General Meeting decided in accordance with the Boards proposal of guidelines for remuneration and other terms of employment for senior executives. Long-term incentive program 2016 and acquisition and transfer of own shares The Annual General Meeting decided in accordance with the Boards proposal of a long-term incentive program 2016 (LTI 2016), that consists of a Share Matching Plan 2016 and a Performance Share Plan 2016. The conditions for the LTI 2016 correspond to the conditions for the LTI 2015. LTI 2016 comprises a maximum of 1,340,000 Series Bshares. The Share Matching Plan 2016 covers all permanent employees. The participants can save up to 5 percent of the base salary, for purchase of Saab Series B shares. If the purchased shares are retained for three years and employment within the Saab Group continues, the employee will be granted a corresponding number of shares by Saab free of consideration. The program covers a maximum of 900,000 Series B shares. The Performance Share Plan 2016 is directed at a maximum of 175 key people, including the President. The participants can save up to 7.5 percent of the base salary for purchase of Saab Series B shares. If the purchased shares are retained for three years and employment within the Saab Group continues, the employee is entitled to matching of performance shares, free of consideration, provided that the performance targets are met. The program gives the employee the right to 2-7 performance shares for each purchased share, depending on the group belonging. The number of performance shares is linked to three independent performance targets: organic sales growth, EBIT margin and free cash flow during the financial year 2017. The performance targets are established by the Board of Directors with a minimum level and a maximum level for each respective performance target The Performance Share Plan 2016 covers a maximum of 440,000 Series B shares in Saab. The Annual General Meeting also decided to authorise the Board of Directors to decide on acquisition of a maximum of 1,340,000 Series B shares to secure delivery of shares to participants in Saabs incentive program and for subsequent transfers on the stock exchange to cover certain costs associated with LTI 2016, mainly social security costs. The Shareholders Meeting further decided that no more than 1,340,000 Series B shares may be transferred, free of consideration, to participants in LTI 2016. Transfers are normally made during the financial year 2020 and in February 2021 according to the conditions for LTI 2016. Acquisition and transfer of own shares The Annual General Meeting decided on authorising the Board to, before the next Annual General Meeting, decide on the acquisition of Series B shares up to a maximum of 10 percent of the total number of shares in the Company. The purpose of the authorisation is to be able to adjust the Companys capital structure and thereby contribute to an increased shareholder value as well as to enable a continuous use of acquired shares in connection with potential acquisitions of companies and for the Companys share-related incentive programs. The Board of Directors were further authorised to, before the next Annual General Meeting, decide on transfer of own shares in connection with acquisition of companies. The purpose of the authorisation is to provide the Board of Directors with increased scope for action in connection with financing of acquisitions of companies. It was also decided that the Company shall have the right to, in consideration of earlier years established incentive programs, before the next Annual General Meeting, over the stock exchange transfer a maximum of 1,200,000 Series B shares in order to cover certain expenses, mainly social security payments. For further information, please contact: Saab Press Centre, +46 (0)734 180 018, presscentre@saabgroup.com www.saabgroup.com (http://www.saabgroup.com/YouTube)www.saabgroup.com/YouTube (http://www.saabgro u p.com/YouTubeFollow) (http://www.saabgroup.com/YouTube) Follow us on twitter: @saab (http://www.saabgroup.com/YouTube) Saab serves the global market with world-leading products, services and solutions within military defence and civil security. Saab has operations and employees on all continents around the world. Through innovative, collaborative and pragmatic thinking, Saab develops, adopts and improves new technology to meet customers changing needs. The information was submitted for publication on 14 April 2016 at 18:30 (CET). The U.S. Attorney's office has indicted eleven people on money laundering charges, alleging they generated about $1.4 million through at least 10 illegal Korean-run brothels in or near the city. The U.S. Attorney's office says the defendants were part of a ring that brought women from South Korea or other parts of the United States to New York, where they worked as prostitutes at a lengthy list of local establishments. These, according to a criminal complaint filed in Federal Court, include Asian Flower in Flatiron, Rainbow Spa in Midtown East, and Blue Angel in Midtown West. All were independently owned, but shared the same list of customers. Blue Angel was raided by the NYPD a year ago, and cops uncovered documents that tipped them off to the brothel ring's business practices. Federal investigators later discovered that the ring members would trick young women into believing they were with immigration services, helping them obtain fake visas and sending them to the states. Some women were informed they'd be working as prostitutes, according to the complaintthey would be housed in rooms in the brothels and forced to turn over some of their earnings to cover room and board. Some of the women worked in various brothels, and were even specially requested by customers. Sexually explicit photographs of the women were used as advertising, and the defendants were allegedly tasked with making and disseminating those ads. Each defendant has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering; and one count of conspiracy to violate the Travel Act. They face a maximum of 5 to 25 years in prison if convicted. Less than a week before what he called the "enormously important" New York Democratic Primary next Tuesday, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders drew an estimated 27,000 supporters to a jubilant rally last night in Washington Square Park. That head count comes from Sanders's camp, but seems plausiblein 2007 then-candidate Barack Obama claimed 20,000 registered attendees at a Washington Square Park rallyand last night the park was packed. Sanders remains the underdog in the NY race, trailing Hillary Clinton by ten points in the most optimistic of recent polls, but the candidate and his fans were anything but discouraged. "I think we've got a surprise for the establishment [on Tuesday]," Sanders said to rolling cheers at the end of his nearly hour-long speech, and then, after getting a smooch from his wife Jane, he waded into the front rows of the crowd like a rock star. Bernie Sanders in Washington Square Park (Scott Lynch / Gothamist) The entire night's program lasted nearly three hours (though most in attendance had been waiting on line outside the park for far longer than that), with a four-song set by Vampire Weekend kicking things off, followed by hype speeches from Rosario Dawson, Spike Lee, Tim Robbins, CWA and TWU union leaders, Linda Sarsour, and Nina Turner. Here's video of the event; at around 55 minutes, Lee introduces Sanders: Sanders hit all the expected points in a feisty speech, occasionally slamming his rival Clinton on her voting record, but mostly attacking familiar targets: Wall Street greed and Republicans, Citizens United and Super PACs, wage inequality and offshore tax havens, drug laws and mass incarceration, and the "awful trade agreements" that have led to the loss of millions of jobs in America. Sanders also vowed to remove marijuana from the Section 1 federal drug list when he became president. He promised to end wage inequality between men and women. He pledged to "substantially lower student debt" and to offer free public college educations to anyone willing to do the work. These latter initiatives, Sanders said, would be paid for by a "speculation tax on Wall Street." The Brooklyn native also reminded the crowd, "If we have a large voter turnout on Tuesday, were going to win this thing." Tonight, Sanders will face off against Clinton in a debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard at 9 p.m. CNN is broadcasting the showdown live, and you can also can stream it online at CNN.com. Business Australias inflation expected to peak towards end of year: Official Australias treasurer has warned that inflation in the country is expected to peak towards the end of the year and it will persist for a little bit longer because of the impact of the natural disasters and energy prices. Not many people live in eastern Montana, but those who do and those who travel through want reliable cellphone service. As we move out into eastern Montana, the population density becomes less than one person per square mile, said Mike Kilgore, CEO and general manager of Nemont Telephone Cooperative, based in Scobey. There are so many miles to cover and so few people to serve. Though population is sparse, people who live along the Hi-Line and east of Billings are starting to expect cellphone service just like their counterparts to the west. Visitors traveling through want their devices to be able to run off the areas cell towers. Farmers and ranchers use wireless services to direct farm equipment through fields during planting season. Nemont and other rural providers like Mid-Rivers Communications, based in Circle, and Triangle Communications, in Havre, are increasingly challenged by providing service to these rural areas an endeavor that is growing more expensive and receiving less reliable funding. There are fewer people to pay for the constantly changing communication networks of the 21st century, Kilgore told the Economic Affairs Interim Committee on Thursday. These systems are expensive to build from a capital investment standpoint and expensive to maintain. Without some form of support, its not economical to serve rural Montana, he said. Kilgore and Michael Candelaria, general manager of Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, said some type of state support is necessary to provide and expand wireless service for the 25,000 square miles their companies serve. The men were invited by the committee to discuss rural cellphone service and broadband access, issues the group is considering examining. Interim committees can explore possible recommendations or create draft legislation for the upcoming legislative session. The two companies have 20,000 cellphone customers along the Hi-Line, through southcentral and Eastern Montana and into parts of North Dakota. They also serve national customers of companies like Verizon or AT&T who travel through. Nemont also provides wireless service on the Fort Peck and Crow reservations. Not all providers go onto reservation land; some circle the borders. The state, Kilgore and Candelaria said, needs to decide where rural wireless coverage and broadband service fit into the its priorities. Would the taxpayers of Montana be willing to support funding to enhance modern telecommunications service in rural Montana? Kilgore asked. Quite frankly I believe its a tough one. Decreasing federal support is hurting his company, and the state could help fill the gaps, Kilgore said. He pointed to a 911 fund paid for with a $1 fee tacked on to all phone bills in the state, a pot he says has about $32 million but cant be tapped by his company. The federal Universal Service Fund that helps pay for operations is frozen at 60 percent of what it used to be and Nemont hasnt yet been paid for projects it completed based on commitments from the funds Mobility Phase 1. Legislative research analyst Sonja Nowakowski said the Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee is exploring draft legislation on how to spend some of the stranded money. Its unclear how much of the money must be spent and saved, she said. A proposal includes spending some of the $10 million set aside for wireless providers to update 15 older routers around the state, which would benefit 911 service but also capacity for wireless broadband data. Thats expected to cost $5 million and would be done through grants administered to local governments working with private telecommunications providers. The issue will be discussed at a meeting of a group of stakeholders next Thursday and the Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committees next meeting in Kalispell on May 12-13. The state Public Service Commission also has opened an investigation into providing a Montana Universal Service Fund to create greater broadband development. Without that support, there is no business case to build and operate rural wireless networks, Kilgore said. Its hard to put a dollar amount on how much it would cost to upgrade cell equipment in the region, he said, since technology is constantly changing. Only half of Nemonts third-generation, or 3G, sites have been updated to 4G service. VoLTE, one of the newer, faster technologies, is not universally deployed, and the industry is already talking about whats next. The company, which began providing service in 1995, has 115 3G sites and 64 4G sites; 17 of which are on the Fort Peck Reservation along Highway 2. The state could provide some relief by making it easier to access state lands for maintenance work. Companies like Nemont and Mid-Rivers spend hours negotiating access whenever they need to do work on their towers, Candelaria said. Other assistance could come in the form of tax abatements, grant programs or a state version of the service fund. Rural wireless networks not only serve the several thousand subscribers in rural Montana, but also 200-plus million subscribers nationwide who travel through the state. Roaming revenue is a big part of staying in business, Kilgore said. You look at all those maps those carriers boast that shows their coverage, Kilgore said of providers like Verizon. They can say that because of our network. The power of fear is at the heart of The Crucible, a Tony Award winning play by Arthur Miller, that opens tonight at Capital High School, 100 Valley Dr. The show runs 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, April 14-16, at the CHS theater. I think theres something timely about teaching the kids about the power of fear, said Laura Brayko, the director and a CHS English and drama teacher. It also teaches how important it is to keep your head in stressful situations and not to jump to conclusions -- and to be skeptical. While the play focuses on the Puritan faith, its not anti-faith, she said. Its an anti-fear play and the power that fear has if we let it get to us. Its also a great way to bring history to life. While on one level The Crucible is based on the historic Salem witch trials of 1692-93, its also an allegory for the Joseph McCarthy anti-communist witch hunts of the 1950s that caused thousands to be blacklisted and hundreds to be imprisoned in the United States. What starts out as a group of Puritan girls dancing in the forest who are caught by the local minister, snowballs into a flurry of accusations that various townsfolk are consorting with the devil. Tensions escalate as the number of witch trials grows -- taking on their own momentum. Those seeing the miscarriage of justice are powerless to stop it. The play presents challenges for young actors, said Brayko, such as the portrayal of such mature characters as farmer John Proctor and his wife, Elizabeth, both of whom are accused of being witches by a jealous girl. But the student actors also bring a naivete to their roles that is genuine, Brayko said. Another challenge, she said, is the actors are dealing with a very simple time. The costumes are black and white and the set is basic, so your acting better glimmer. They are dealing with the emotions like jealousy and manipulation and love, she said. Theyre very sophisticated emotions. Its one thing to read a play...in the classroom ... its quite another to convey a love that fills 470 seats. They have to go beyond that barrier of vulnerability thats so hard for teenagers to go beyond, she said. One of the actors who steps up to this challenge is CHS junior Alicia Treichler, playing the role of Ann Putnam. Treichler won Best Actress in a Drama at the Montana Thespian Festival this spring in Missoula. Putnam is a little bit of a witch herself, Treichler said of her character. Shes kind of mean and nasty and in the script shes described as a bit of a twisted soul. She lost seven out of her eight babies the night they were born. She sends her remaining daughter, Ruth, out to the graveyard to talk to her dead children. There, Ruth meets some other young girls who are out there dancing, when they are all discovered by Reverend Parris. Its a very exciting kind of play, she said. Miller starts his plays softly and lets the momentum build until it just explodes. Junior Bradyn Malee, who plays Reverend Hale, sees his character as developing and changing throughout the play. Hale starts out stern and uptight, convinced and righteous that hes there to do the Lords duty. But the more Hale watches, the more he realizes this isnt quite right -- this is wrong and a terrible lie has overtaken the village. Its a great play, Malee said. It (capitalizes) on peoples fears, loves and hate. It all come downs to love. The plays true on many levels, he said, from what happens when political lies grip the heart of the people, to what happens when lovers get vengeful. Its a very powerful piece, he said. Its going to be a great play. Tickets are $6 at the door. Hundreds gathered in Yerevans Liberty Square yesterday to voice their anger over Russias selling of weapons to Azerbaijan. Chanting slogans such as Get lost, false ally, We are the master of Artsakh, and Our soldier is our ally, the crowd then marched on the Government Building, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from there to the Russian Embassy. Davit Sanasaryan, one of the protest organizers, said that Russia must stop its arms sales to Azerbaijan and that Moscow, as a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, shouldnt be inciting war. We do not accept the present government of Armenia as legitimate. The people are the legitimate masters of the country and we will tell the government what it must do. Russia is either our ally or it must leave this country. There is no other option, noted Sanasaryan. Daniel Ionisyan, president of the Informed Citizens Union, told the protesters opposite the Government Building that the members of the European Economic Union are also members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and that if they believe that Armenia is a party to the conflict, they must support Armenia. Scores of police were on hand, escorting the protesters as they made their way to the Russian Embassy. A phalanx of police had cordoned off the embassy to the approaching protesters. Police top brass and protest organizers then deliberated as to how close the marchers could get to the embassy. Protesters promised to return to the embassy and take more drastic measures if Russia doesnt stop arms sales to Azerbaijan. Diana Ghazaryan is a 4th year journalism student at Yerevan State Un Gevorg Altunyan: Good evening, Mr. Minister. Thank you for accepting our invitation to be the guest of the programme. Let us start perhaps from the most important issue, why do you think it all has started? Edward Nalbandian: Good evening. I think that main explanation is that Azerbaijan failed in the negotiation process. After the failure in military field, Azerbaijan tried to succeed through negotiations and failed again. In general, I do not like to speak about successes or diplomatic failures; however there are landmark cases, when things should be presented openly. What is it if not a failure when the entire international community, and the Co-Chair countries representing it, speak about the well-known 3 principles of non-use of force or threat of use of force, equal rights and self-determination of peoples and territorial integrity, while Azerbaijan speaks only about one principle? The Co-Chairs were here recently, few days ago, and during the press-conference they once again reaffirmed those three principles as the basis for the negotiation process and settlement of the issue, and the next day all the headlines of the Azerbaijani media read that the Co-Chairs support the principle of territorial integrity as the basis for negotiations and settlement of the issue. Is that a success for Azerbaijan? Definitely, not. Is it a success for Azerbaijan, when they by all means avoid making any reference to or recall the five statements made on the level of the heads of the Co-Chairs countries, which are key documents for the settlement of the issue adopted on Presidential level? Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga is a vivid example, when Azerbaijans president rejected to attend and the Foreign Minister left the Summit, as the Declaration referred to those five statements, made by the heads of the Co-Chair states as a basis for the settlement of the issue. What is it if not a failure, when the Co-Chairs outline that a mechanism for investigation of incidents should be created, which could serve not only to investigation purposes, but also that of restraint? This proposal has been voiced not only by the Co-Chairs but also the United Nations, the European Union, different international institutions, although Azerbaijan pretends that there is not such a thing. Indeed, there is also criticism against the Co-Chairs, that they do not always make addressed statements, but I would like to remind that last year they made 3 very clear statements addressed to Azerbaijan, where they called to reaffirm commitment for exclusively peaceful settlement of the issue. Azerbaijan never heeded to these calls. The Co-Chairs urged to agree as Armenia and Artsakh did to create a mechanism for investigation of incidents. And again, Azerbaijan did not agree. They urged to put an end to the criticism of the Co-Chairs, as they spoke about the lack of political will in that country for the settlement of the issue and so on. This list can go on. What if not a failure, when in Kazan, in fact, they backtracked from the almost reached agreement? What if not a failure, when before Kazan in Sochi, before Sochi in Astrakhan, before Astrakhan in St. Petersburg they backtracked in the same way? Or 10 years before Kazan in Paris, the so-called Paris Principles, when it seemed that the sides were able to reach some agreement and Azerbaijan backtracked in Key West. So on and so forth. The best prove is when being caught in a situation when they have nothing else to say during the negotiations, in a situation, when they had to decline meeting with the Co-Chairs, an example of which is when the Azerbaijani side rejected to meet the Co-Chairs at all in Washington. Over the years, Azerbaijan voiced provocations, over the years everyone called to respect the 1994 Trilateral Ceasefire Agreement, which has no time limitations, and 1995 Agreement on the Consolidation of the Ceasefire Regime. In spite of it Azerbaijan pretended as if this was of no concern to it. And now it resorted to large-scale actions. I think that everyone is aware of who launched the actions. All in all, during the talks that I held with my counterparts no one had even the least doubt that it was Azerbaijan, which started those actions. And, second, its goal is clear they have told on numerous occasions to resolve the issue through military means. And they failed again. Azerbaijan may have minimum and maximum goals set. I think that Azerbaijan has not reached neither minimum nor maximum goals. And now it would be forced to return to the negotiation process, sit around the negotiation table and continue talks. It is not an easy task to resume negotiations for sure, appropriate conditions are to be created and the efforts of the Co-Chairs are exerted in this direction. Gevorg Altunyan: Mr. Minister, I do realize the essence of diplomacy, that we are not always allowed or should speak about all the things that are underway in the negotiation process. Nevertheless, as you have mentioned, the guns are silent now. The issue has shifted into the diplomatic field. And what does Armenia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs implement in this direction? The question is important, as there are some claims in the society that there is a lack of information on those activities. Edward Nalbandian: You are probably quite right. Diplomacy is not a field, where all the things should be publicly spoken about. But, referring to the latest developments, I believe, that only during the past week, once you look up the website of the MFA, you would find at least 10 press-releases on these events, developments. From the very first minutes of those developments, Azerbaijans aggressive actions, I was in direct contact with my colleagues from the Co-Chair countries and their Ambassadors, I had not one but numerous phone conversations, including with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the OSCE chairing country, and also Ministers of Foreign Affairs of our neighbouring countries, Secretary Generals, heads of different institutions. It is obvious that all those institutions and many states reacted and unequivocally declared that there is no alternative to exclusively peaceful settlement of the issue, and criticized the resumption of military actions. Those phone conversations, meetings continue to this day. Some other developments took place yesterday, which, as you mentioned, should not be publicized, but even yesterday at night and today in the early morning I had nearly 12 phone conversations with my colleagues and representatives of different institutions. Making speeches is not what is crucial in diplomacy, hanging bells is in order to reach results, as if meetings of the Foreign Minister, Ambassadors accredited to other states, or other MFA high-ranking officials are publicized, it may become a target for the adversary, or those who would use that for opposite goals. Gevorg Altunyan: Mr. Minister, after the resumption of military actions, during the first two days, apparent inertia could be observed in international reaction, and there was the impression as if the world is waiting to see how the developments would unfold in the battlefield, and only then, roughly speaking, interfere in the process. Is this impression correct, and what is your comment on that? Edward Nalbandian: A situation was created when it was repeatedly said that Azerbaijan is to wage war, Azerbaijan is to use force, Azerbaijan threatens, Azerbaijan triggers provocations and they happened, but not that kind of large-scale actions Gevorg Altunyan: In other words, they got used to it and did not expect Edward Nalbandian: Not got used to it, but lots of people thought, that there would be new provocations, and so on and so forth, but not everyone would expect it to be to that extent, to that scale. Indeed, analyses was needed as soon as the first information was received, as there was an information received from one side, and the other side was also to be heard, one should have alternative information. And statements and conclusions are made only by comparing it all. But I think, that the statements followed quite soon. I am not speaking about our statement, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made its statement on the developments hours later. Statements by the Co-Chair countries were also made, those by the international institutions were voiced. I do not think, we could label it as a sign of inertia. There is a deep concern, and those institutions and the Co-Chairs attentively follow the events, exert efforts for the situation not only not to further destabilize but the opposite, so that respective conditions are created to continue the negotiations. Gevorg Altunyan: The Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan stated that he learned about the resumption of military actions from the third party. How likely is all that? Edward Nalbandian: You know, it is not the first time, when a high-ranking Azerbaijani official stated that they were not aware. The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. Or pretend they were not aware. It is not the first time when the supreme leadership creates an impression, that they were on a plane, I do not know where else, and someone decided, carried out some actions, organized provocations... It is not the first time. We, in Armenia, are well acquainted with that. But what you point out, I am not sure whether it is this way or the other, but in reality, only after my calls those interlocutors started contacting him. At first he was not picking up the phone. It was rather difficult to contact him. Then he pretended that he is not quite aware. Hence, one could leave conclusion to the interlocutors to say to what extent do they believe in the expressions of such kind and style, when in those rather critical conditions the Azerbaijanis pretend as if nothing happened. Gevorg Altunyan: I see. One thing was remarkable in the developments of recent days, regarding the states considered as our partner-states. Obviously, you are aware, that some statements were made from those countries, which, to say the least, were not pro-Armenian or even neutral. Apparently, some pro-Azerbaijani essence could be noticed in them. How would you comment on that? Edward Nalbandian: If you mean the member-states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), one should not exaggerate in that regard, as even when you take into consideration the countries of the European Union, not always the EU member-states agree with each other. They make statements or voice positions which do not necessarily please all the member-states always. As to the EAEU, it is a newly established structure. I drew parallel with the European Union, but one may make comparison with other structures. This is an economic union, and each state has their intentions here, directions, interests, preferences, etc.,and may voice respective opinions. We dont have such format within the CSTO, where foreign policy positions could be coordinated, as is the case in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). But even in the CSTO such things happen. Indeed, this is the reason why we always raised this issue from Summit to Summit, from Ministerial meeting to Ministerial meeting, and not only us, but also the Secretariat, and other countries as well. Indeed, much coordinated and effective work should be done in this direction and cooperation and partnership should be established between the states. A Ministerial Meeting of the CSTO is scheduled here soon. I think, this issue would be raised again. Gevorg Altunyan: Statements were made by high-ranking authorities of our strategic ally Russia, which overtly expose equalization of substance and depth of the relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan. Such an impression was created at least from the level of statements. Obviously this fact should have caused rather huge dissatisfaction in the society. Is this a normal situation? Edward Nalbandian: It is not in Azerbaijan, where the Russian military base is located, not Azerbaijan that is a CSTO member, not Azerbaijan which, unlike Armenia, has dozens of agreements with Russia on defense and military-industrial sector. Not Azerbaijan signed the well-known 5th Protocol with Russia, about which I elaborated thoroughly in on of my previous interviews. This list can go on. I do know that it has become a topic of rather sharp criticism in our public opinion, that Azerbaijan purchases respective weaponry from Russia. There is such an approach, an opinion as if it is a matter of business. I do not know, whether to accept that argument or not, but in reality, the Armenian-Russian relations are not business relations, they are strategic not just in words The also have legal foundation. This is clear to all, including Azerbaijan. It is not a secret. Gevorg Altunyan: Against this backdrop, certain circles of society make demands regarding our membership in the EAEU. This is the logic behind it. Two of our partners - Belarus and Kazakhstan - display unequivocal attitude on recent developments. Russia sells weapons to our adversary. Why then should we stay in this structure? What should we answer these people? Edward Nalbandian: As I already mentioned, the EAEU is an economic union. This is a structure, where member-states are able to make consensus-based decisions, express their positions. No decision can be made in this institution without the consent of all the states. Armenia enjoys full right to express its opinion, and no decision may be adopted without also our consent. Those states are also CSTO members (thi is completely another story, as I already said) should display more coordinated approach on foreign policy issues. In particular, if we speak about Nagorno-Karabakh, then the summits and the ministerial councils of the CSTO have issued statements on numerous occasions, made decisions, in which the approaches, position of the CSTO member-states on the settlement of the issue is clearly emphasized. We are talking about the support to the efforts of the Co-Chair countries, exclusively peaceful settlement of the issue based on the well-known three principles, as well as the support to the five statements of the heads of Co-Chair countries. All these is very clear. If one of those member-states makes a misstep or expresses different positions, then within those frameworks we remind them, that we have common consensus-based approaches adopted on the level of Presidents, and even instructions based on those adopted decisions have been provided to the Ambassadors of those member-states to undertake relative steps while taking into consideration the abovementioned approaches. Gevorg Altunyan: Basically, with regard to the military situation we should concentrate our attention not on the Eurasian Economic Union, but the CSTO. Edward Nalbandian: If we talk about military and political issues, then yes: the CSTO is a military and political alliance, and indeed, we can discuss issues within that very framework. We dont hesitate to express our position if there is that need. If you follow the press releases that we have issued, you know that our Deputy Foreign Minister received the corresponding instruction and had a meeting with the Ambassador of Belarus, when a statement of the Belarusian side on the recent events was made, as well as a phone-conversation between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Belarus was held. Of course, we did not inform the details, however, naturally, we speak about all these issues very honestly, openly and clearly. You know, that also another statement of the Belarusian side was made, where some corrections were included. Gevorg Altunyan: With regard to the developments of the recent days, while analyzing the statements of high-ranking officials of different countries an expert opinion was raised that a new document has appeared on the negotiation table, and that the document is not so beneficial for Armenia. Is it so? Edward Nalbandian: It sounds a little bit strange to say, that it is not so beneficial for Armenia, yet Azerbaijan had to unleash military actions. It is a dilettantism. The question is that what is on the table, I will try to open a parenthesis, as I have not told before, that I will say it now. A working document is the document which has been a subject of discussion between the sides. Many such documents have existed. When the negotiations on those documents failed, those documents have been submitted to the OSCE Headquarters in Vienna for deposit. Gevorg Altunyan: Hence, is the issue closed? Has the package been submitted? Edward Nalbandian: Maybe it has not been closed completely, however we were not able to complete discussions on that working document, hence it has been submitted for deposit in Vienna. Delivered for deposit, in sealed envelop. You know which document has not yet been deposited in Vienna? The Kazan one. Therefore, accordingly, there is no need for other comments. On numerous occasions my various colleagues have presented explanations on this regard. Indeed, there are different ideas, however there is no reason to reinvent a wheel. The principles and the key elements are known. The main essence of this negotiation process is that Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be within Azerbaijan. Gevorg Altunyan: Basically, it runs in all the documents like a red thread. Edward Nalbandian: Yes, and not only in one, but in all the documents. Gevorg Altunyan: And cannot we make any step back from this point under any condition? Edward Nalbandian: Do you think that we can? Gevorg Altunyan: I want you to say it clearly to our society... Edward Nalbandian: If the society, people cannot do that, then nobody will be able to do. Gevorg Altunyan: The military actions were accompanied by display of savagery by the Azerbaijan side, and the Armenian side possesses proofs of those acts. Is our country going to present those to the international community on the legal platform and require that the perpetrators of those atrocities are held accountable? Edward Nalbandian: For sure we have already started that process. Already today facts have been presented to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), a corresponding letter was sent. Naturally, the process will continue. Gevorg Altunyan: Last question. Many claim that amid all these the continuation of negotiations becomes meaningless, as Azerbaijan once again and openly demonstrated that by any means it is not planning to move towards a peaceful settlement. Is not the negotiation process under these circumstances becoming a farce? Edward Nalbandian: While one of the sides is trying to make it look like a farce, the entire international community urges today to return to the negotiation table. And it is natural, as when we say that the negotiations have no alternative, we mean it.. No military actions, no wars can ever solve problems. Throughout history after all wars and all military actions the sides return to the negotiation table and start to continue again the negotiations, may be under even worse conditions, I think, no one needs new military actions, no wars. The negotiation path should be continued and the possibility of the settlement of the issue exclusively through peaceful means should be sought. I think that possibility exists. Gevorg Altunyan: Thank you, Mr. Minister, for finding time to be a guest to our programme. Edward Nalbandian: Thank you. The following is taken from the 2015 edition of the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices issued by the U.S. Department of State Executive Summary Armenias constitution provides for a republic with an elected head of state and a unicameral legislature, the National Assembly. The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) held a majority of seats in the National Assembly, and with President Serzh Sargsyan as leader, continued to dominate the countrys political scene. The country held a presidential election in 2013 and legislative elections in 2012. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) described the presidential election as well administered but with shortcomings, including an uneven playing field, some serious election-day violations, and concerns about the integrity of the electoral process. Similar flaws marred the 2012 National Assembly elections. Civilian authorities maintained effective control of the security forces. The most significant human rights problems during the year were officials use of government resources to maintain the dominance of the ruling RPA, use of economic and political power by the countrys elite to enrich supporters and to corrupt the law enforcement and judicial systems, and limited judicial independence. During the December 6 constitutional referendum, local and international observers, members of civil society, and journalists reported witnessing numerous types of electoral violations, including use of administrative resources, multiple voting, ballot-box stuffing, and the intimidation of commission members and observers by officials. As of December 18, the Republic of Armenia Investigative Committee (RAIC) had initiated 34 criminal cases stemming from the referendum. Other reported problems and abuses included suspicious deaths in the military under noncombat conditions and continued bullying and mistreatment of conscripts by officers and fellow soldiers without accountability. Police employed torture and mistreatment to obtain confessions and reportedly beat and abused citizens during arrest and interrogation. Some prisons were overcrowded, unsanitary, and lacking in medical services for inmates. Authorities continued to arrest and detain persons arbitrarily and without reasonable suspicion. Trials were often lengthy, and courts failed to enforce laws providing for fair trials. Authorities did not adequately enforce laws prohibiting government intrusion of privacy and unlawful searches. The media lacked diversity of political opinion, and most outlets reflected government views. Self-censorship was a problem. There were credible reports that police targeted journalists at citizens protests. Authorities respect for freedom of assembly was uneven. The roles of senior officials in the governance of prominent academic institutions and the politicization of student activities inhibited academic freedom. Authorities restricted freedom to participate in the political process and political pluralism. Government restrictions affected some minority religious groups, and members of religious minorities suffered from societal discrimination. Domestic violence remained a problem. A significant imbalance in the birth ratio of boys to girls pointed to gender-biased sex selection. Human trafficking was a problem. Persons with disabilities experienced discrimination in almost all areas of life. Officials, including police and military and prison authorities, subjected lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons to abuse and discrimination with impunity; they also experienced societal violence and discrimination. Society stigmatized persons with HIV/AIDS. The government limited workers rights and weakly enforced labor laws. Although the government took some steps to punish officials in the security forces and elsewhere for human rights abuses, officials often continued to commit abuses with impunity. Authorities did not hold anyone accountable for the 10 deaths that occurred following postelection clashes in 2008. See FULL REPORT Im a fourth-generation Wisconsinite, Sean Robbins proclaims proudly, having spent most of his youth in Madison. Robbins wife, Kristy, grew up in northern Wisconsin, near Colfax. Thats why when family responsibilities called, Robbins, 37, hardly hesitated about quitting his job as chief economic development officer for the state of Oregon and returning to Madison last October with his wife and their two sons, ages 7 and 9. I love this state. It has always been my center of gravity, he said. A graduate in business administration from the University of Iowa with a masters in urban and regional planning from the UW-Madison, Robbins was executive vice president of THRIVE, now MadREP (Madison Region Economic Partnership), for 18 months until he was tapped in 2011 to be president and CEO of Greater Portland, that citys public-private economic development partnership. In 2014, he advanced to the state level, serving as director of the Oregon Business Development Department, a state agency with a budget of more than $500 million a year. Now vice president of development and commercial leasing for Hovde Properties, Robbins brings fresh eyes to Madison, colored by the experiences of four and a half years in the Pacific Northwest and finds himself hungry for the sights and smells of a rollicking Midwestern thunderstorm. How do you feel Madison has changed since you left in 2011? It feels like a community grappling with who it is and what it wants to be when it grows up. Economic empowerment, social justice, race, homelessness these are issues around how it grows. Madison is trying to decide: Should we make this jump into becoming a more globally fluent city or are we content with being a smaller Midwestern town? Hasnt that been a key question for decades? Maybe, but I do think that the concentration of technology companies and the younger workforce that they attract is inviting the community to grapple with that transition at a more rapid rate than in the past. Weve always been a young town but people have come and gone. Now, more and more are coming and staying. They begin to change the dynamics of some conventional thinking. The technology companies that we are working with in some of our projects have very different tastes about where they want to work, how they get to work and the amenities they want nearby. They value parking Downtown a little less, for example, but value more the accessibility to transit. They want fitness centers, changing rooms and bike storage inside traditional office buildings. That changes the way real estate responds. What did you learn about economic development from your experiences in Oregon? In Oregon, we identified the largest sectors that create goods or services and sell them to customers outside the state so youre not just selling lattes to each other. We were recognizing that most new growth comes from existing businesses. Its the folks down the road who have 17 employees with dreams of 100 employees. We built a grow our own platform in Oregon. I would like to see as much effort in Madison at helping the small and medium-sized businesses grow as we do about keeping the Oscar Mayers. These smaller companies are much easier to relocate. They can easily pick up and move if were not building our economic development strategy into the ecosystem. In Oregon, we used economic data to ascertain which were the industries where we had a unique competitive advantage in the world economy: computer electronics manufacturing, athletic shoes and apparel, and software. Then we went to companies in those industries and their suppliers and asked what they needed, in order to grow. Its very different from creating an endless array of tax credits for anyone who knocks on our door. What did you miss most about Madison? I couldnt wait to take my sons to their first Saturday (University of) Wisconsin football game. I did that on our second weekend back last fall with my older son, Emory, just like my dad did with me. I missed, in the fall, the sound of leaves when theyre dry, with a hard wind, blowing against the street and the smell of rain coming in the spring. I was dying for a rollicking Midwestern thunderstorm with black clouds, lightning and wind. It was time to come home and give my kids that. What did you find in Portland that you wish Madison had? The most amazing thing about Portland was the restaurant scene. We, in Madison, do have a good food scene for a community our size. But Portland has the most eclectic, diverse array of restaurants Ive ever seen. And a significant amount is hyper-localized, farm-to-table. When paired with the wine industry there, its fantastic. Interview by Judy Newman Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 16-04-14 Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW No. 69/16 14.04.2016 [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci argues that in the last decade Turkey has changed its position that the division is the solution in Cyprus [02] Bozkir: Turkey is the most suitable route for transferring Cypriot gas to Europe" [03] Cavusoglu discussed with Colak the latest developments in the "TRNC" [04] Statements by Ozgurgun and Denktas on the formation of a new coalition "government" [05] Soyer said that CTP worries about the future of the negotiation and the granting of "citizenships" [06] Tatar: "The breakaway regime needs "citizens and population" [07] Izcan: "The government is under the AKP's directives" [08] Turkish Cypriot daily refers to danger for 35 thousand new "citizenships" [09] The Missing Persons Committee found the remains of 1,115 missing persons in the past ten years [10] OIC 13th Leaders Summit meeting in Istanbul [11] Serdar Denktas met with the US Ambassador [12] A ceremony to take place at the restored Turkish Cypriot cemetery in Limassol [13] "An academic cooperation agreement" between illegal GAU and a Spanish University [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci argues that in the last decade Turkey has changed its position that the division is the solution in Cyprus Turkish Cypriot daily Vatan newspaper (14.04.16) reports that Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci has argued that in the past Turkey had been describing the division of Cyprus as a solution to the Cyprus problem, but during the last decade this has changed. Replying to a question yesterday by German parliamentarians at the German Federal Parliament's Committee on European Relations, Akinci alleged that Turkey understood that the division cannot be a solution and offers sincere support to the Cyprus negotiations. "Support to the negotiating process came from Turkey and in fact it is the first time that Turkey's leaders instead of accusing the one of the sides praised the Greek Cypriot leader by saying that both leaders want a solution", argued Akinci claiming that this is something new and wishing for this situation to continue. Noting that he does not think that the withdrawal of the Turkish occupation army will take place without finding a solution, Akinci said that in case of a solution Turkey will withdraw its army according to the agreement. Alleging that Turkey has nothing to gain from the non-solution, Akinci argued that "Turkey will also have benefits from a solution in Cyprus". He also expressed the view that the "walls which exist in the heads" should be demolished in order for a solution to be achieved in Cyprus. He noted: "27 years ago you could demolish the wall. We could open some holes in the wall in Nicosia. In 2004 we said yes in the referendum, but we could not demolish the wall because two yes votes were needed. We need something for this and what we need is to demolish the walls in the heads. If we demolish the walls in the heads it will be easier to demolish the physical walls". He said that the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots have been raised to be enemies to each other and added that from the very first day of his "election" he has been saying that "we should see each other as partners not enemies". Noting that the culture of peace should be developed in the island, Akinci said that in order to achieve this, the leaders decided the establishment of a "cultural committee" and the sides have abandoned the "mutual blame game" that existed in the past. Pointing out that the education should also be examined, Akinci said that a group of members of ELAM extreme right-wing organization had attacked some Turkish Cypriots in the government-controlled area of the island and added that students were participating in this attacks which had been incited by some teachers. Referring to the hydrocarbon resources discovered in Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Akinci argued that these "could start a new source of trouble, new tensions or a new cooperation. I and my community prefer to develop new cooperation". He reiterated that the relations between Turkey and Israel are being improved and in case the Cyprus problem is solved the natural gas could be transferred to Europe through Turkey. He also expressed the belief that the electricity network and the water transferred from Turkey to the occupied area of the island "could open big horizons". Replying to a question regarding the adoption of Turkey's judiciary system in the occupied area of Cyprus, Akinci said that this is out of the question and that what the Turkish Cypriots could look for on this issue are the European norms. Referring to the Greek Cypriot political parties, Akinci said that the two big Greek Cypriot parties, main opposition AKEL and ruling DISY support the solution, but the Social Democrat EDEK party is exhibiting a stance which is allegedly not in harmony with social democracy and has taken out the bi-communal, bi-zonal solution from its program. Referring to the Organization for the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Akinci said that the Turkish Cypriots have an observer status in this organization and this bears a symbolic meaning for the Turkish Cypriot community. Touching on the issue of guarantees, Akinci argued that a formula which will preserve Turkey's guarantees and will not be a threat for the Greek Cypriot side should be found. Meanwhile, according to Turkish Cypriot daily Halki Sesin newspaper (14.04.16), Achim Barchmann, Vice President of the German Parliament's Committee for Relations with the European Parliament, alleged that the big part of the opponents for finding a solution to the Cyprus problem is in 'south Cyprus', as the government-controlled area of the island is described. He expressed the belief that they could contribute in the reunification of the island and added that the Group will visit Cyprus in June. (I/Ts.) [02] Bozkir: Turkey is the most suitable route for transferring Cypriot gas to Europe" According to illegal Bayrak television (14.04.16) the Turkish Minister of European Union Affairs and Chief Negotiator Volkan Bozk?r said that Turkey is the most suitable route for transferring Cypriot gas to Europe. Delivering a speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna Austria, where he carries out contacts, Bozk?r touched upon Turkey's EU membership process, the Cyprus issue and other regional issues. Reminding that the 27th anniversary of the demolition of the Berlin Wall was being celebrated this year, he said that there should be no wall on Turkey's entrance to the EU and expressed readiness to cooperate on the issue. Noting that the Turkey-EU relations have regained momentum, he added that both sides have great benefits from those ties. Touching upon the Cyprus problem within the context of the energy issue, Bozk?r said" "Turkey is 40 miles away from Cyprus while Crete is 500 miles away. The most suitable route to transfer Cyprus gas to Europe is Turkey. Energy is one of the issues which could help in the solution of the Cyprus problem". [03] Cavusoglu discussed with Colak the latest developments in the "TRNC" Under the title: "Mini summit in Istanbul", Turkish Cypriot daily Diyalog newspaper (14.04.16) reports that according to information acquired by diplomatic sources, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with so-called foreign minister Emine Colak. According to the paper, Colak and Cavusoglu exchanged views during the meeting on the latest internal developments in the "TRNC" and on the issue of the improvement of information potentials of the "foreign ministry". (AK) [04] Statements by Ozgurgun and Denktas on the formation of a new coalition "government" Turkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi newspaper (14.04.16) reports that the National Unity Party-National Forces (UBP-UG) and the Democratic Party (DP) will sign tomorrow the coalition "protocol". According to a statement issued by UBP, the "protocol" will be signed tomorrow by the leaders of the two parties at the so-called assembly. Meanwhile, according to the paper, Huseyin Ozgurgun, leader of the UBP, who was given the mandate last week by Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, to establish a new coalition "government" in the "TRNC", continues his efforts for the new "cabinet list". In statements to illegal Bayrak television (13.04.16), Ozgurgun announced that the names of the "cabinet" will become clear by Friday. Stating that he aims to present the new "cabinet" to the "president" on Saturday the 16th of April, he reminded that he will be briefing the UBP party assembly on Friday. Meanwhile, speaking to illegal BRT on the issue, the leader of DP-UG Serdar Denktas said that they discussed the "government program" in general terms with Ozgurgun. "Following the approval of the new coalition government by the president, we will start discussing the government program. I think these discussions will start during the weekend" Denktas said. Responding to a question, Denktas said that there is no problem at the party in regards to the names to take part in the new "cabinet". He also added that the work still continues towards determining the "deputies" who will take part at the "parliamentary committees". Noting that they also determined the problems existing on the "economic" protocol with the UBP, Denktas said: "We won't have serious problems with the UBP on the economic protocol. We will sign the protocol after consultations with Turkey". Meanwhile, if Turkish Cypriot leader Ak?nc? approves the "cabinet list" of the UBP-DP "government" on Saturday, then the "parliament" will convene on Monday, the 18th of April. The "constitutional process" will start when the new "cabinet" is read out at the "parliament". Moreover, Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (14.04.16) under the front-page title: "The amount of 42 million TL is missing", reports that Denktas in exclusive statements to the paper yesterday, made important statements towards the "budget" of the occupation regime and the unpaid salaries of April. According to Denktas, who's name became definite of being the next "minister of finance" in the new coalition "government" to be formed, said, inter alia, that they need the additional resource of the amount of 42 million TL, in order to make the payments for the salaries of April. Denktas added that works have been already launched in order to cover this deficient without Turkey's support and added: "We will undertake duties by April 26 and thus it is not possible for the economic protocol to be signed in two days". Asked to reply about the new "government's priorities", Denktas said that amongst them will be to lift the bureaucratic obstacles in the "country", to implement facilitative measures for additional "investments" in the "TRNC" and to restore the occupation regime's ties with Turkey. Referring to the Cyprus problem, Denktas said that they do not experience any problem with Akinci towards the formation of a new "government" and added that he considers that Akinci defends their rights at the negotiating table with goodwill. (AK) [05] Soyer said that CTP worries about the future of the negotiation and the granting of "citizenships" Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (14.04.16) reports that Ferdi Sabit Soyer, "deputy" with the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) expressed his party's worries over the future of the Cyprus negotiations and the granting of new "citizenships" due to the establishment of a new collation "government" between the National Unity Party (UBP) and the Democratic Party (DP) Soyer made these statements evaluating the recent political developments in the breakaway regime at Kibris TV. Soyer stated that the new coalition will try to put pressure at the negotiation table for the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci regarding his efforts for finding a solution. He went on and added that there will be great international reaction against Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots in case more "citizenships" are granted. Soyer also said that the breakaway regime entered into "election atmosphere" after the collapse of the previous "coalition government", between the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) and UBP. Asked if Turkey is blackmailing the breakaway regime on the issue of giving money for its operation and for paying the "civil servants'" salaries, Soyer stated that this is a new kind of blackmailing, adding that this is a big dimension of status quo. (CS) [06] Tatar: "The breakaway regime needs "citizens and population" Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (14.04.16) reports that Ersin Tatar, "deputy" with the National Unity Party (UBP) stated that the breakaway regime needs "citizens and population". He made these statements speaking at Kibris TV where he evaluated the recent developments in the breakaway regime and the issue of granting new "citizenships". "We need more citizens and population; but I do not say that we should grant citizenship to anyone that comes here", Tatar stated adding that the discussion for "citizenship" must be speeded up. (CS) [07] Izcan: "The government is under the AKP's directives" Turkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi newspaper (14.04.16) under the title: "The government to be formed is under AKP' directives", reports on statements by the leader of the United Cyprus Party (BKP) Izzet Izcan, who criticized the collapse of the former coalition "government" between the Republican Turkish Party-United Forces (CTP-BG) and the National Unity Party (UBP) and supported that a possible formation of a new coalition between the UBP-DP will not serve the "people's" interest. In a written statement, Izcan also said that the accusations between CTP and UBP right after the collapse of their coalition, related with corruptions and personal interests are true. Izcan also argued that the AKP government continues its imposition practices in the "TRNC" and pointed out that Turkey designs the political life in the northern part of the island in the direction of its own interests. "It is not possible to expect from the UBP-DP government to serve the people's interest. AKP aims from now on to establish a government that will act under its own directives and with no problems". Izcan called once more the "people" to resist and not to accept such imposition policies. (AK) [08] Turkish Cypriot daily refers to danger for 35 thousand new "citizenships" Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (14.04.16) reports that 35 thousand new "citizenships" lie under Turkey's demand for granting "citizenship" to those who have taken "work permit" for at least six consecutive years. Journalist Mert Ozdag writes that the number of the people who have taken "work permit" for at least six consecutive years is 8.627 persons and if they are granted the "citizenship" together with their families the number of the new "citizens" will reach 35.000. During that last three years, 796 persons were granted the "citizenship" upon decision of the "council of ministers". Almost half of these were granted the "citizenship' in 2013 by the National Unity Party (UBP) self-styled government. From 2004 until today 10.203 persons were granted the "citizenship" because of marriage. Noting that the UBP supports the policy of granting "more citizenships", Ozdag expresses the worry that with the establishment of an UBP-Democratic Party "government" and the support offered by the DP to this policy, the number of the "new citizens" might exceed 35.000. "We will follow all together the process, but it is not difficult to say that the number of 35.000 totally coincides with Turkish officials' 'more citizens' policy", he points out. (I/Ts.) [09] The Missing Persons Committee found the remains of 1,115 missing persons in the past ten years Turkish Cypriot daily Star Kibris newspaper (14.04.16) reports that the Turkish Cypriot member of the Missing Persons Committee (CMP) Gulden Plumer Kucuk gave information about the Committee's work since 2006 and stated that the Committee found the remains of 1,115 missing persons in the past ten years. Around 120 remains were found on average every year, during the excavations, she said and added that the remains of 157 persons were identified in 2014, and the remains of 163 persons in 2015. She also stated that due to complications in 2015, the support from experts was requested from abroad and added that 100 remains are expected to be identified this year. Touching upon the excavation works that took place in military zones between 2006 and 2015, she said that this year permission was received to carry out excavation works in 30 locations in military zones and added that 3 out of the 10 areas had been excavated but no remains were located. She said that the Committee would be carrying out excavation work in 250 civilian areas and added that at the end of ten years some of the projects needed to be further strengthened. Explaining that throughout the years the excavation teams had been increased and the anthropology laboratories had been developed, Kucuk however said that there was also need for the research to be further developed adding that workings towards this end are continuing. [10] OIC 13th Leaders Summit meeting in Istanbul Turkish daily Sabah newspaper (14.04.16) reports that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meets in Istanbul, Turkey today for its 13th Leaders Summit. In an article to Sabah, the Turkish President Tayyio Erdogan, said that the OIC must take the lead to highlight the threat of secular extremism while working with member states to address the root causes of terrorism. "The main issue of the Summit is peace and justice", Erdogan wrote, adding that the efforts should not be limited to OIC member states. According to the paper, the Summit will have a record of participants since representatives of 57 countries will participate in it. (CS) [11] Serdar Denktas met with the US Ambassador Under the title "The American Ambassador sounded out the new government", Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (14.04.16) reports that the US Ambassador to Nicosia, Kathleen A. Doherty visited yesterday the leader of the Democratic Party (DP), Serdar Denktas. A source close to the party told the paper that the climate during the almost one hour meeting was sincere and that Denktas and Doherty exchanged views regarding the ongoing negotiations for finding a solution to the Cyprus problem and the efforts for establishing a new "coalition government" in the occupied area of Cyprus. (I/Ts.) [12] A ceremony to take place at the restored Turkish Cypriot cemetery in Limassol According to Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (14.04.16), a ceremony will take place on Sunday at 12.00 at the newly restored Limassol cemetery where the "Turkish Cypriot martyrs of 1963 and 1974" are laid. The cemetery was restored with the support of the Cyprus Vakif Foundation and the Limassol Municipality. (AK) [13] "An academic cooperation agreement" between illegal GAU and a Spanish University Turkish Cypriot daily Ortam newspaper (14.04.16) reports that the illegal American University of Keryneia ("GAU") signed an academic cooperation agreement with the Technocampus Mataro-Maresme University of Spain. According to a statement issued by "GAU", the agreement envisages the exchange of students and academic staff between the two "universities", common researches and publication activities and issues related with career opportunities and continuing education. (AK) TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio (AK/AM) Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-14 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] Refugee scuffles at Greek-FYROM buffer zone [02] Alternate Defence Min: Piraeus port decongestion well on track; Greece-Italy-Albania meeting on refugees on Thursday [03] Taxi drivers block the entrance of FinMin to protest against tax reforms [01] Refugee scuffles at Greek-FYROM buffer zone Scuffles among refugees broke out at Greece-FYROM buffer zone at Idomeni early on Thursday. According to police, around 30 persons were involved in the scuffles at Idomeni's railway causing damage to the glass front of the canteen. [02] Alternate Defence Min: Piraeus port decongestion well on track; Greece-Italy-Albania meeting on refugees on Thursday "The port of Piraeus port will have been decongested by Easter," Alternate Defence Minister Dimitris Vitsas said in statements to ANT1 on Thursday adding that the decongestion procedure is well on track. Another priority of the government is to decongest the facilities at Helliniko, he added. He also referred to the organisations trying to exploit the situation on the pretext of protecting refugees and migrants, stressing, however, the important work of serious non governmental organisations that provide real assistance. Also, a between Foreign Ministry officials and police officers. More specifically, they will focus on information exchange and ways to combat undocumented migrants networks as well as the readmission procedure and assistance from Greece, Italy and Albania on the asylum system. [03] Taxi drivers block the entrance of FinMin to protest against tax reforms Taxi drivers on Thursday blocked the entrance of the Finance ministry protesting against the government's tax reform plans. The nationwide federation of taxi drivers (POEIATA) has announced a 24-hour strike for Thursday. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-14 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] Pope Francis' visit to Lesvos 'golden opportunity' to show arbitrary detention, says Amnesty International [01] Pope Francis' visit to Lesvos 'golden opportunity' to show arbitrary detention, says Amnesty International The visit of Pope Francis and the Orthodox Church leaders in Lesvos this week will be a "golden opportunity" to highlight the arbitrary detention of refugees and migrants as a result of the EU-Turkey deal, Gauri van Gulik, Deputy Director for Europe at Amnesty International, said on Thursday. "During his visit the Pope will highlight the important role of the local and international solidarity organizations in supporting some of the most vulnerable people in the midst of the refugee crisis," he said in a press release. "But he must also talk openly about the violations, the fear and the uncertainty suffered by thousands of refugees and migrants trapped in Lesvos and elsewhere in Greece," he added. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article "For first time in generations, the Chicago Republican Party is free of Democrat influence," said Chicago Republican Party Chairman Chris Cleveland . "It's a new era for aggressive Republican action against Chicago Democrats. We've had enough of the corruption." CHICAGO - Thirteen Chicago GOP ward committeemen will be fired at Wednesday night's Cook County GOP convention for either having voted in the Democrat primaries over the past eight years and being accused of illicit behavior. While Cook County GOP Chairman Aaron Del Mar gave Daily Herald's Kerry Lester a slightly different version in which he took sole credit for the move, a press statement sent out this afternoon says the Cook County GOP and the Chicago GOP worked together to make the "move to end Democrat control over several Republican ward organizations." Among those expelled were two individuals placed by House Speaker Mike Madigan in the 13th and 23rd Wards, an individual placed by Alderman John Arena in the 45th Ward, and an individual placed by Alderman Emma Mitts in the 37th Ward, the statement issued Wednesday afternoon says. "In each case the petitions for the 'Republican' candidate had been circulated by precinct captains for his or her Democrat sponsor. In Madigan's district, the 'Republican' committeeman had circulated petitions for Madigan's fake Republican opponent in 2014," the statement says. In the 20th Ward, the "Republican" candidate is the mother of the Democrat Committeeman. In other cases, the "Republican" candidate had never voted in a Republican primary, and many had life-long Democrat voting records. In one case, a faux GOP committeeman was expelled because he allegedly committed multiple felonies, including solicitation of murder. At the end of 2014, Madigan and former Democrat Governor Pat Quinn signed into legislation changes to the election code which transferred control of election judges from the Republican County Chairman to local Republican ward organizations. The changes gave Democrats incentive to run loyal Democrats for Republican ward committeeman so that they could control all of the election judge positions in the polling place. By law, the ward committeeman from each party is allowed to appoint half of the election judges. Complete Democrat control would bar Republican party representatives from a polling place, opening the door to voter fraud. In response to Madigan's moves, Republican committeemen made changes to the bylaws of the Cook County Republican Party disqualifying any committeeman who had taken a Democrat ballot in a recent election. "It's an outrage that an open Democrat would try to head the Republican Party in a ward," said Cook County Republican Party Chairman Aaron Del Mar. "Fortunately, we've put a stop to it. "The city and county parties worked together to make this happen," the statement said. Del Mar told the Daily Herald he will not be seeking re-election as Cook County GOP Chairman Wednesday night. Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison confirmed to Illinois Review he is seeking the office Wednesday night. Yes, I do plan on running, and if I am ever so fortunate to be elected I plan on the following: So briefly - Raise money for operations Hire an full time executive director Raise money Recruit and place republicans in elected offices along the COMPLETE spectrum of elective offices Raise money Provide politics tools and training to committeemen as needed Raise money Continue and expand the election judge program Raise money Sync the county party and efforts with the state party for greater efficiencies, and effective results Raise money More to come after the meeting. CHICAGO -- Several Democrats who had run for Republican ward committeeman in Chicago shut down the organizational meeting of the Chicago Republican Party Wednesday night. They gathered in the room in which the meeting was to take place and refused to leave. Among the protesters were a number of the 13 committeemen who had been barred from participation in the party because of a history of voting in Democratic primaries. The ousted committeemen had been notified of their dismissal Tuesday. "We asked the protesters to leave and they refused. The owner of the restaurant also asked them to leave, but they yelled that she was a racist for wanting them out, so she backed down," said Chris Cleveland, Chairman of the Chicago Republican Party. Throughout Illinois Wednesday night, county GOP organizations elected organization officials and prepared for the upcoming state convention May 19 - 21 in Peoria. County, state and national conventions are hot topics this election season - thanks to controversies at the presidential campaign level. Chicago GOP's Chris Cleveland, outgoing Cook Co GOP Aaron Del Mar, incoming Chairman Sean Morrison - photo by Kevin Suggs Cook County GOP has a new head - Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison of Palos Park, succeeding Aaron Del Mar of Palatine. of Palos Park, succeeding of Palatine. Macoupin County GOP re-elected their county chairman Terri Koyne . . Gloria Pereia de Campos was elected chairman of the Jackson County Republican Party, succeeding outgoing chairman Darrell Dunham. What happened in your area? UPDATE X1: Chicago Republican GOP meeting shut down due to Democrat protesters. Read more HERE. UPDATE X2: At the Will County Republican Convention that is held every two years, with nearly 100% attendance in person or by proxy, the membership unanimously elected Kathy Havel of Naperville the new Will County Republican Chairman and Marianne DeMeritt (most Republican votes in the County) the new Secretary of the Will County Republican Central Committee. Kathy then gave a fine speech about our previous successes and her plans to take the WCRCC to new highs. Will County Republican politics is unique among our neighbors with decades going by without a contested election for Republican Chairman. Our Will County Republican future looks bright with our newly elected officers. - from Ed Ronkowski, previous Will County GOP Chairman via George Pearson. UPDATE X3: Mercer County Republicans elected a new executive committee and state convention delegates, including Jay Doherty Chair; Linda Sarabasa Vice-Chair; Laurie Bluedorn Secretary; Joe Vann Treasurer. A slate of five delegates and three alternates was also chosen unanimously for the Illinois Republican State Convention on May 19-21 in Peoria. UPDATE X4: Sheila Mullennix-Devall tells us that By a unified and unanimous vote, the Lake County GOP delegation elected their new Chairman, Mark Shaw. Chairman Shaw brings with him a wealth of experience serving over 22 years as a Precinct Committeeman, eight years as the Chairman of West Deerfield Township and four years as the State Central Committeeman of the 10th Congressional District. In addition to his political experience, Mark has been a businessman in Lake County for over 20 years, is an attorney and a pharmacist. His diverse background will give him a unique perspective to tackle this new role. Other notable news from the convention was the naming of the honoree of the Raymond G. Card Lifetime Dedication Award. The recipient of this award was Robert Byrne of Waukegan. Mr. Byrne is a long-time resident of Waukegan serving the community through numerous organizations. Either place in comments below or email to info@illinoisreview.com the news and we'll share the latest with our eager, conservative, in-the-know Illinois Review readers. A Chinese medical worker prepares to vaccinate a young kid at a hospital in Shanghai, China, March 20, 2016. [Photo/IC] Inefficient government supervision and the dereliction of duty by officials are mainly to blame for the flaws in the vaccine distribution system exposed by the recent scandal of a criminal network selling improperly stored and expired vaccines. The fact that the illegal network involved had been operating since 2011 shows problems exist in almost every stage of the vaccine system. That is why at an executive meeting on Wednesday, the State Council, China's Cabinet, not only reiterated it would show zero tolerance toward those held accountable, but also announced tighter regulation of the storage, transportation and use of vaccines. So far, 357 civil servants have been removed from office or demoted for their role in the illegal selling and use of these vaccines, and further severe punishments are expected to be meted out to crooked officials as the investigation continues. Strengthening the supervision over the entire vaccine chain is an essential move to help rebuild people's confidence in the country's vaccination system and better protect its people, especially children, the largest recipient group, from the potential health hazards posed by substandard vaccines. There have been reports that concerned parents have held back their children from being vaccinated, showing that any misstep would cost the government its credibility and further undermine confidence in the public health system. So the plan to set up a tracking system for all vaccines from the factory to the clinic and finally to users is a welcome move, as it will dispel worries over the genuineness of vaccines and ensure their potency and effectiveness. The scandal also revealed the system had a problem in categorizing vaccines into two kinds, one distributed free to all children through a strictly managed government immunization program, the other provided for private purchase in market. The illegal sales involved vaccines for private purchase not only because of the high profit margins involved in their trading but also for the lack of regulation over them. Thus the government has taken the right step by promising to treat vaccines under both categories equally. The government's swift response to the issues raised by the scandal shows it has been quick to learn the lessons and is resolved to never compromise on issues concerning people's health. Immunization is the most effective and economical way to prevent and eradicate diseases, and directly affects people's health and the quality of their lives. Therefore, there can never be too much government regulation of the sector. By PTI: New Delhi, Apr 14 (PTI) India Unlimited, a platform initiated by the Indian Embassy in Sweden to strengthen economic and social ties between the two countries, will hold its third edition in Stockholm from April 21 with the launch of an Indian film festival followed by a business conference. Jointly organised by the Embassy of India in Stockholm and SF BIO, Swedens leading cinema chain in collaboration with the Indian National Film Development Corporation, the festival will showcase recent films that span numerous genres, ranging from blockbusters to regional Indian gems. From May 2, it will organise the annual India-Sweden business conference with the theme Making and Innovating in a New India. advertisement A business delegation led by Confederation of Indian Industry will also visit and hold discussions with Swedish companies. The delegation would include Rajiv Modi CEO of Cadilla Pharma and fashion designer Tarun Tahiliani. "India Unlimited seeks to strengthen India-Sweden connections and partnerships in all areas that benefit both countries, with a special emphasis on economic relations and people-to-people ties through business seminars, exhibitions, food and cultural festivals," Indian ambassador to Sweden Banashri Bose Harrison said in a statement. PTI RR MR --- ENDS --- By PTI: Bengaluru, Apr 14 (PTI) Air Pegasus will raise Rs 200 crore capital through angel investments or External Commercial Borrowing (ECB), Managing Director Shyson Thomas said today. "We have many options open. We have completed our initial rounds of discussion, and right now, we are in the middle rounds of discussion. We are looking at ECB... and also we are discussing with some angel investors," he told reporters here. advertisement Asked whether the airline is looking at raising capital through IPO, he said, "we are not going for IPO because the airline needs to complete three years of operations." The capital raised would be utilised to expand the airlines fleet size and connect more locations this calender year. To a question whether the company intends to dispense with discounts, Thomas said the airline wouldnt do away with it and its bottomline is not getting affected much. "I dont think we will be doing away with it...wewant 100 per cent seat bookings. We would like more people tofly, that is our purpose because markets require growth," he said. "We are not operating in well-established markets. The strategy isquite different here," he said. "The airline does not roll out discounts for commercial purposes. How much of bottomline is getting affected? It is not much," he added. On the update on offers including cheaper flights to startup companies, Thomas said as many as 30startups have registered with the airline. However, the airlines primary intention was not to earn money out of them initially, but to support them in their growth, Thomas said. The company is expected to add two more aircraft within a month and had ordered five more to connect destinations including Goa, Puducherry, Kochi and Vijaywada,Thomas said. Air Pegasus currently operates flights to Hubbabll, Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Mangaluru, Chennai and Kadapa andplans to scale up its services to connect Tuticorin, Belagavi, Rajahmundry, Puducherry and Tirupati, he said. Replying to a query, airline Director Ashwin Thomassaid Bengaluru and Chennai are good markets for catering to flying services to employees and honchos of startup companies. Asked whether the airline plans to implement thescheme for IT companies, Ashwin said it was eager toextend to smaller and bigger companies. A lot of IT employees and their bosses travel in the airline on routes where there was literally no competition fromrival airlines. PTI BDN RA VS ANU --- ENDS --- The protesters raised issue about job vacancies, which are rare in the area, only being given to Pakistani youth thus marginalising Kashmiri youth of the area. By India Today Web Desk: In the midst of unrest, anti-Pakistan protests erupted in various parts of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) on Wednesday over Islamabad's discrimination in employment to local youth. The protesters raised issues regarding lack of jobs in the PoK and preference being given to Pakistani youth over Kashmiri youth. Anti-Pakistan protest, condemning oppressive rule by Pak in what is called Azad Kashmir by Pakistan (13/04/16) pic.twitter.com/pRMF2wT58s ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 advertisement About 100 individuals owing allegiance to Jammu and Kashmir National Students Federation (JKNSF) along with some members of Jammu and Kashmir National Awami Party (JKNAP) carried out a demonstration rally in Muzaffarabad area of PoK, condemning the oppressive rule by Pakistani authorities and the local PoK government. Anti Pak protests were over employment discrimination of local youth in Islamabad, in Muzaffarabad (PoK) (13/04/16) pic.twitter.com/l7XfdngKcy ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 The demonstrators raised slogans demanding for an independent Kashmir. They also raised anti-Pakistan slogans resulting in crack-down on the rally by the local police. The protesters carried placards which read "Kashmir Bachanay Nikley Hain, Aao Hamaray Saath Chalo". Police resorted to heavy lathicharge on the peaceful demonstrators and roughed them up in a savage manner taking many of them into police custody. --- ENDS --- The breezy conversation has chipped off at his onscreen image of a rugged, bewhiskered young man to reveal a sorted, sensitive, feminist mind beneath; growing up with his mom and sister he has witnessed her journey 'from being a little girl to becoming a woman, the silly and sorted stages, the immense capacity to nurture and the emotional strength in the face of challenges.' advertisement He speaks with genuine tenderness for the unsung heroes, the super-productive but largely invisible workforce that falls between the cracks--the millions of homemakers who are working 24X7 to nurture their families, managing household finances and saving bits and bobs so their children can have a weekend outing, or go to the cinema! It's not just the things he talks about in that typical unhurried manner. As we wrap up, the television crew from Aaj Tak that has accompanied us requests Arjun Kapoor to demonstrate his cooking skills in the kitchen. It is stuff viewers love. No doubt an admission of "I learnt to cook for the film," makes good copy, and an even more relishing clip. Also read: From fat to fit: Bhumi Pednekar gained, and then lost, 30kg Arjun is happy to comply, and walks up to the stove displaying confidence that surpasses his culinary skills, the 'cooking lessons' while shooting for Ki & Ka got him as far as cooking eggs well, he admits. "Why have we lit up four burners! Such a waste, band karo yaar issko, bass ek chalao," Arjun says to the hotel chef, insisting it is done before he proceeds to poach the eggs. There it was, the perfect 'Ka' moment. And it's not about how the eggs turned out, because the sustainability Nazi in me just checked another box for his little mindful act. Plus, it's just what a homemaker or any sensible person would do, don't you think? The interview is a little 'chit game' with Arjun speaking on keywords scribbled on pieces of paper lying before him. He's only seven movies old, hails from a Bollywood family which has witnessed its share of real-life drama, wears a scraggly beard and a don't-care attitude with equal ease; belongs to a crop of young, motivated actors that loves to experiment, often doing so with the confidence that appears to be a heady mix of entitlement, attitude and fierce talent. From turning up the heat at the 'infamous' AIB Roast, to hosting Fear Factor, from playing a Agrey ka launda to a house husband, his decisions have been spontaneous, and not part of some grand plan. He's just rolled along with the punches, trying to have fun along the way. 'I feel, only one percent of me has been explored. Every character for me is a new discovery. I'd like to do a hundred different films.' It doesn't come easy and you need to have an appetite for this work, because it's a tough world out there and there are more lows than highs, he says. advertisement Also read: WHOA! This transformation aptly befits perfectionist Aamir Khan's reputation; actor gets lean in 3 months flat "People are always ready to pull you down. Then there is a media perception of an actor. For me, this is what I love doing. Every morning when I wake up, I am grateful and happy that I come to the film set. It is home. I cannot get enough of the profession. I am like a child who is hungry to do more." So when he picks the chit that attempts to put him in a box, Macho or Metrosexual? he's a bit dismissive before the casual elan resurfaces. "Aah.. If I knew who I was, it was time to take sanyas and retire," he says, peppering his responses with appropriate Bollywood phrases. advertisement In Ki & Ka, which released this month, his character, Ka, is an alpha male who chooses the kitchen over boardrooms. It is a light-hearted, feelgood romantic, with no intention to be a change maker. But Kapoor hopes Ki & Ka will start a conversation. "It will leave the audience with a thought, and if a husband decides to become a homemaker even for one day in a month, it's an amazing gift to give to your wife," says Arjun. It's this deep empathy and understanding of the female mind that dominates this conversation. Arjun Kapoor, on all things female and fantastic. Growing up with women... I have been part of their journeys, with all its ups and downs. Women have an immense capacity to nurture, to make you believe in yourself. They are emotionally stronger than men. Before my mom passed away, I was with her and my sister. Growing up, I''ve shared the company of my sisters (Anshula, Sonam, Rhea) and know what it means for a woman to be emotional with somebody. I might not be the most engaging person when it comes to having a conversation, but I understand enough to be there in whatever capacity a woman may need me in. advertisement And I want my woman to be... Herself, as often as possible. In my profession you meet a lot of people with facades and guards and different garbs, so I'd like my woman to be just herself with me, regardless of how she is with the world. And she should be able to make me be myself, that's very important too. She should laugh at my stupidity, be able to handle my mood swings, and my PMS, which is perhaps worse than women! Also read: There's more to Sonali Bendre than just being an actor, mother and now an author Marriage is... Important if you want to have children! That, in my opinion, would be the most genuine reason, otherwise, today, a live-in relationship allows you enough time to understand each other. The word marriage is loaded; in our country it brings in a lot of family pressure. You are exhausted by the idea of it, there is so much taam jham and chaos; so you should go through the entire process only if you see the bigger picture of having a family. Not everyone may be cut out for marriage, some people fly when there is no pressure, they are able to be themselves and have fun when there is no burden on them. The moment the word marriage comes in, families step in and a lot more people are involved than just you and your partner. All that pressure may lead to a shift in emotion. Some people can deal with it, but I do feel my generation is one that chickens out, they start using all these excuses to panic! Has the Indian marriage changed?... I've always felt that films mirror society. There has been a very gradual shift in the sensibilities of what a relationship is, what a working woman is capable of, who you should get married to, 'arranged' or 'love'; and the obstacles being faced by young people in our country. Two of my films have dealt with two ends of the spectrum; Ishaqzaade was about inter-caste marriage that leads to honour killing, that is one reality of our country which we cannot ignore. Also read: It's never easy for a beautiful woman to be a stand-up comic, says Sugandha Mishra Then there was Two States, which was about a couple that is in a live-in relationship but when it comes to marriage, they want the blessings of the family. And that is pretty much the moral of the story: you can be in a live-in relationship or you can be casual about it, but when it comes to marriage, you want everybody to support you. So yes, the Indian marriage has changed, but it has not changed so much. We would still say, "mein tumhe pasand karti hoon par mummy papa ko bhi pasand ani chahiye," that has not changed. What has changed is that a woman can now go to her parents and say, I like this guy. And I think parents are more encouraging to give it a shot. Earlier parents said, "we will decide". Now, they're willing to have a conversation. That evolution is happening, in a certain class. Isn't house husband an oxymoron? how does ka handle it?... In a sense, Ka is a superhero, because someone like him may not exist in real life. He takes the Mickey out of the situation. He says, you will not understand so let me play up the cliche of being the wife... so he wears a mangalsutra, laughs at the situation and society, he's not embarrassed of it. He's a proud man, mind you; he's happy being not so ambitious and doesn't see anything wrong with it. It is an extreme situation, but it is definitely a conversation starter. If we had made this subtle, the audience would not have thought about it. You need to leave them with a thought. With Salman Khan on the set of Bigg Boss; stills from Ki & Ka, Ishaqzaadeand Gunday To stay-at-home husbands I would say, you truly are the inspiration for this film. I've met men who work from home, whereas the woman has the consistent job. They are often creative people, writers and artists, they take care of the house, and the kids. It's something to be proud of. I'm sure a lot of men would have made the choice, but they're not spoken about, because people might label them joru ka gulaam. But I think they're awesome, they should be proud of it and such men should speak about it, because you're doing what makes you happy. My stay-at-home stint on set has... Taught me to cook! And I really enjoyed that. I mean, I got my eggs right, I couldn't crack more than that. I was learning how to chop too. So that's a progression, because I was a child who couldn't even light up the stove before this. Now I have genuine and newfound respect for people who cook, because it's a beautiful thing and a great deal of thought, detailing and craft goes into it. And yes, it is therapeutic. So now, before I react or want to give my opinion on food, I know the effort that has gone into everything, from chopping the vegetables the right way, to getting the flavours right. I respect people who cook, professionally or for passion, and housewives who do it every day. They are artists, there is no better way to say it. Also read: The fresh-faced Aditi Rao Hydari lets us in on her beauty and fitness secrets Mighty housewives... I believe housewives are artists. The problem being that they don't have a designation or a visiting card, so it is not considered a worthy 'job'. But they are working 24X7. And they step in so you can fly and not be stressed, they stay awake late night to make sure you eat dinner, they get the children ready, make sure you get to office on time and don't have to worry about issues like, is your mother taking her medicines? Who is picking up the children? Are the bills being paid on time? Middle class India relies on housewives being able to budget and save to allow their children to have that evening out. Men will do the 9 to 5 job and tell the wife, 'I go out to work, you don't know what it means to be working", not realising that she's doing the same amount of work and not just 'sitting' at home. Ka has an issue with this, he believes they don't just 'sit' home, they nurture a home, they build a home. It is a full-time job, working in the house. --- ENDS --- Modi said that the Congress should "repent" for "undermining" BR Ambedkar's legacy for 60 years as he reached out to Dalits, saying he is working to fulfil the vision of the Dalit icon. By India Today Web Desk: Commemorating the 125th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar, PM Narendra Modi today said that Ambedkar fought against injustice in society and his fight was for equality and dignity. Modi, who paid tributes to the father of the Constitution, said that he was fortunate to grace the occasion at the leader's birthplace, Mhow, in Madhya Pradesh. advertisement Addressing a gathering outside Parliament house complex, Modi said that the Congress should "repent" for "undermining" BR Ambedkar's legacy for 60 years as he reached out to Dalits, saying he is working to fulfil the vision of the Dalit icon. Listing a number of measures that his government is taking to carry forward the vision of Ambedkar including on maritime projects and the empowerment of weaker sections, Modi said, "for so many years, the vision of Ambedkar was undermined." The prime minister even released a book '10 Saal Bemisaal', which centres around the works carried out by the Madhya Pradesh government. He also launched the 'Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday' programme and said the programme would be held from April 14 to April 24. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other political leaders were also present at the event, where they paid a floral tribute to the statue of Ambedkar. The occasion was also celebrated at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Here are the highlights of his address: -I am fortunate to be present and to salute the place where the great Dr Ambedkar was born. -BR Ambedkar fought against injustice in society. His fight was for equality and respect. -'Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday' programme will be held from April 14 - 24. -This year's budget is dedicated to our villages and our farmers. -Efforts towards rural electrification is done very transparently. The 'Garv App' shows the real time progress. -Digital connectivity is essential in our villages. This is difficult to do, yes, but we need to make a start somewhere. -It's a matter of great regret that 18,000 villages have still not been electrified even after several years of independence. -I congratulate CM Shivraj Chauhan for providing a detailed road map to double the income of farmers by 2022 in the state. -Several people were looted due to chit fund scams like Saradha. This happened because they did not have access to the banks. Now, we have Jandhan Yojana. advertisement -Several people have voluntarily given up their gas subsidy. India has benefitted from this. -A person whose mother used to clean utensils, if he has become prime minister then the credit for that goes to Babasaheb. -Those engaged in vote bank politics thought of nothing else than dividing the society. -Some people have been calling themselves the messiah of the poor for the last six decades. The account of what they have done for the poor in last 60 years is shocking even as they keep talking of the poor day and night. -Some persons are distressed why Modi is doing all this. It's all about conviction and dedication. --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Anisur Rahman Dhaka, Apr 14 (PTI) Bangladesh today celebrated the Bengali New Year with tens of thousands of people joining the Pohela Boishakh festivities across the country, defying threats of fundamentalist Muslim groups. Amid tight security, festivities began with the break of dawn when artistes of major cultural group Chhayanaut welcomed the day with Rabindrath Tagores famous song Esho hey Baishakh, esho, esho under the banyan tree at the Ramna Park in Dhaka. advertisement Men, wearing traditional panjabi-pyjama, women attired in saris with red borders, and children in colourful dresses joined the open concerts and the Shovajatra, braving the hot weather and threats of Islamists who are opposed to the celebrations, in which people carry masks of animals and colourful garlands, as "un-Islamic". Traditional Boishakh music filled the air as Dhaka Universitys students organised a colourful "Mongol Shovajatra" procession carrying statues and other traditional props in a key-feature of the celebration. The organisers focused on fighting religious radicalism amid increasing attacks on writers, publishers, foreigners, dissidents and violence against women and children. President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina greeted the countrymen on the Pohela Boishakh. "The Bangla New Year rekindles our nationalist spirit... there were attacks again and again. People were killed in bombings. But no evil attempt of the fanatics, communal forces ever succeeded," Hasina said. "Bigotry and ugly religious fanaticism have no place in our national culture," Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaan Noor said yesterday, apparently referring to the Islamists reservations against the festival. However, the security vigil with deployment of hundreds of policemen and members of elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) with riot vehicles, sniffing dogs and two- wheelers partly surpassed the festivity. Security forces directed revelers to go through their makeshift checkpoints on the street while they kept a sharp watch on the people from temporary watchtowers. RAB choppers enforced a vigil hovering over the major festival spots. Police issued a restriction on celebrations in public places after 5 PM for security reasons and prohibited people from wearing masks. Traffic restrictions were put in place. Meanwhile, police arrested four LGBT campaigners during their march with Mongol Shobhajatra. An organiser of Roopbaan group said they did not hold any Rainbow Rally. Roopbaan is a platform for promoting the rights of LGBT in the country, media reports said. In 2001, Islamist militants had carried out a deadly bomb attack on Boishakh revelers, killing 10 people in Dhaka. The Pahela Baishakh celebrations originated over six centuries back when Mughal Emperor Akbar introduced the Bangla calendar in 1556. PTI AR CPS AKJ CPS --- ENDS --- advertisement In 1795, a woman went on a voyage around Scandinavia. Along the way she wrote a book that influenced the Romantic movement. The woman was Mary Wollstonecraft, the foremother of feminism and human rights, and the book, Letters from Norway, takes you on a roller coaster ride, traversing the worlds of philosophy and heartbreak. Recent scholarship has revealed the true nature of this trip; Wollstonecraft was actually on a treasure hunt. Even more remarkable is the fact that she travelled with her infant daughter at a time when most men feared travelling alone. She wrote, with characteristic mettle, "I enter a boat with the same indifference as I change horses; and as for danger, come when it may, I dread it not sufficiently to have any anticipating fears." Bee Rowlatt Two centuries later I developed a fascination for this incredible journey, which ended up with me attempting my own recreation. My book In Search of Mary began as a biographical experiment to see how I, travelling with my own baby, would measure up to her efforts. The idea was to chart the changing rights and roles of women over the centuries, and to explore the tension between careers and motherhood. If I'm honest, there was more than a hint of escapism involved too. advertisement The historical re-enactment proved so fruitful, and so powerfully addictive, that I ended up pursuing the life and legacy of this extraordinary woman onwards to other destinations. We travelled to Paris and San Francisco, both homes to radical uprisings of their own, and along the way we encountered activists, witches, a porn star, and surprising quantities of humour and generosity. Who'd have thought that an 18th century feminist would be such a barrel of laughs? It was the trip of my life. But all good stories contain darkness, and the best stories contain truths that last forever. Many gains in gender equality have been made since Wollstonecraft's day, but her political journey is not over. Often I felt that, as an ardent believer in the perfectibility of mankind, she'd be appalled by our lack of progress around her cry for "Justice for one half of the human race!" And yet, retracing her footsteps was somehow reassuring. We live in slippery political times and it can seem that we're on the brink of irreversible change. It's useful to look back in time and meet someone who felt the same way. Wollstonecraft was fearless not only in her travels, but in her political targets. As an upstart woman from nowhere, she rose to challenge every single vested interest in the land. No part of the entitled establishment was immune from attack, including the Indian caste system. "It is necessary emphatically to repeat that there are rights which men inherit at their birth, as rational creatures, who were raised above the brute creation, by their improvable faculties." She was talking about human rights before the term even existed. Driven by curiosity and optimism, Wollstonecraft went to live in Paris during the French Revolution. But she witnessed bloodshed, as the Revolution tipped over into the Reign of Terror. The beheading of the King of France unleashed a shockwave across the region, and the backlash was appalling. England endured its own terror in the shape of the Treason Trials. The government, fearing dissent, led a violent crackdown on freedom of speech. Foreshadowing recent events in India, Wollstonecraft's friends and allies were put on trial on trumped-up charges of sedition and treason. I spent golden and wondrous times following in the footsteps of the original feminist, but every day the news reminds me that history must not be forgotten; that we stand on the shoulders of giants. In Wollstonecraft's words: "The more I see of the world, the more I am convinced that civilisation is a blessing not sufficiently estimated by those who have not traced its progress." advertisement --- ENDS --- "The list comprises names that TIME readers think should appear on our annual list of the most influential people in the world" the magazine was quoted. Bernie Sanders came first with 3.3 per cent of the total 'yes' votes when the polling closed at midnight on Thursday. (Photo: Reuters) By India Today Web Desk: Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has claimed the numero uno spot on the TIME 100 reader poll. In his wake he has beaten not just rival Hillary Clinton but also a bunch of world leaders including US President Barack Obama and Myanmarese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, in addition to other eminent personalities. Bernie Sanders came first with 3.3 per cent of the total 'yes' votes when the polling closed at midnight on Thursday, bagging more than three times as many votes as former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. advertisement South Korean boy band Big Bang followed close at second spot with 2.9 per cent votes, third spot went to Suu Kyi with 2.2 per cent, followed by Obama at fourth with two per cent. Pakistani rights activist and nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, US First Lady Michelle Obama, Pope Francis and Leonardo DiCaprio also made it to the top 10. Clinton, who is leading the Democrat race and is Sanders' rival for the Democratic Party nomination, finished with one percent of the 'yes' votes. South Korean boy band Big Bang (left) came second, Aung San Suu Kyi (centre) third and Barack Obama (Right) fourth. (Photo: Reuters) "The list comprises names that TIME readers think should appear on our annual list of the most influential people in the world" the magazine was quoted. Sanders, who has long benefited from his digital campaign, maintained a lead in the reader poll from the beginning. "While he badly lags behind Clinton in the race to win the delegates needed to ensure the presidential nomination, his populist rhetoric and emphasis on income inequality has allowed him to stage a stronger-than-expected challenge to Clinton while also helping frame the debate in the Democratic contest," says TIME. The TIME 100 comprises of world leaders, intellectuals from the field of science and technology, outstanding figures in the arts and other icons of the moment. After going through all the nominations TIME's editors ultimately decide the TIME 100, which will be announced on April 21. Also Read: Modi, Nadella among four Indians in Time's 100 most influential people list --- ENDS --- By PTI: Mumbai, Apr 14 (PTI) The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) today conducted a special disaster training programme for those visiting the holy city of Mecca to prepare them for any major catastrophe like Hajj stameped last year. Nearly 500 people from various states took part in the training conducted jointly by the BMC and the Haj Committee of India. advertisement "After the last years tragedy, we decided that people need to be trained in emergencies in disaster management so that they remain safe in case a tragedy occurs," Ataura Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of Haj Committee said. "Therefore, the civic bodys emergency management cell prepared the training plan for Haj pilgrims, that consists of emergency management if an untoward incident occurs during the pilgrimage," he added. Over 700 people were killed in a huge stampede at Mecca in September last year. According to an official in the BMCs Emergency management cell, people were given training in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. They were also told about the potential disasters. "All teachers, who are trained in disaster management, were carrying a guided computerised presentation, from which knowledge was being given. The training focused on potential disasters that can occur, effective materials available during the Haj pilgrimage to tackle them and how first aid could be used," the official said. PTI MM NP PMS BAS --- ENDS --- "I don't need my wife Priyanka to enhance my life, I have enough, I have always had enough. My father gave me enough. I have been educated enough to sustain in all types of situations," Vadra told ANI. By India Today Web Desk: Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has said that is capable of handling 'political' attacks on him, adding that he didn't need wife Priyanka's help for tackling issues concerning him. Vadra's dubious land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan have often been used by the BJP to corner the Congress. "I don't need my wife Priyanka to enhance my life, I have enough, I have always had enough. My father gave me enough. I have been educated enough to sustain in all types of situations," Vadra told ANI. advertisement On joining politics "I would not say never, let's see what future has in store for me. How can I join politics just because I am a part of a family? When I feel that I can work for the people, when I get my calling, that is when I'll think of joining politics," he said when asked about his plans to join politics. Vadra has campaigned for his brother-in-law Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi during Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh. However, he has never made any speech during the political gatherings. Will never leave India Vadra land deals is being probed by various government agencies but the businessman asserted that he will never leave India. "I am born and brought up here. I would never leave my country even if I am humiliated. No matter what the government says, I have the ability to sustain and to absorb. I have a very strong and good family which gives me strength," he said. The former Congress government of Haryana led by the then Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been accused of turning a blind eye towards Vadra's multi-million rupee land deals with the real estate major DLF. Modi govt will soon face revolt Speaking on the present political situation of the country, Vadra said that NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon face revolt from the people. "I wish the government all the best, but I think people will revolt against it as they know what is right and what is wrong. Nobody says go against the nation but people have their way of thinking. We can't dictate terms, or push the youths down," he said. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Mumbai, Apr 13 (PTI) The BJP-led Government in Maharashtra was a "management disaster", Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil today said, addressing the media after the Budget session. Stating that the Government was a complete failure on all counts during the session, the Leader of Opposition stated that the Finance Minister couldnt specify exact monetary allocations for most of the announcements made in the Budget. "There have been incidents where sitting as well as former MLAs were assaulted. There were several other incidents where BJP workers are involved which creates the impression that the Government is backing the goons," he said. "Chief Minister appears to have opened a single-window to give clean chits to his ministers," Vikhe-Patil said, commenting on the way the corruption charges against several ministers were brushed aside. "Inquiry needs to be done, this is our contention," said the former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, mentioning the pulses scam issue raised in the House and alleging that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave misleading information over the issue in the House. Vikhe-Patil also criticised the state Government for not allocating funds for the proposed Shivaji memorial and said the BJP used King Shivajis name only for political gains. PTI MM KRK RCJ --- ENDS --- advertisement A two-week long investigation carried out by the India Today special investigation team in Chhattisgarh's Bastar, Jagdalpur, Sukma and Dantewada reveals that the police seems to be working in close association with the new vigilante group, the Samajik Ekta Manch. Chhattisgarh police seems to be working in close association with the new vigilante group, the Samajik Ekta Manch. Over the past few weeks several human rights activists, lawyers and journalists have been hounded out of India's red corridor in Chattisgarh. These ousters have been forced by protests by a six-month-old organisation called the Samajik Ekta Manch. The police claims that the Samajik Ekta Manch is a group set up by locals who are fed up with human rights activists constantly interfering in India's battle against Naxalism. advertisement However, a detailed investigation by the India Today Special Investigation Team shows that these protests are not spontaneous eruptions by locals, but part of a devious strategy on the part of the state police to push inconvenient forces out of the state of Chhattisgarh. India Today has been able to capture on camera senior officials in the state police and also the founders of the Samajik Ekta Manch to reveal how the actions of the vigilante group are facilitated by the state police. These testimonies show that the Samajik Ekta Manch is acting as a force multiplier for the state police in quashing inconvenient voices and forcing activists out of the state. Samajik Ekta Manch protests against human rights activist Malini Subramaniam An India Today investigation shows how members of the Samajik Ekta Manch protested against human rights activist Malini Subramaniam at the Dharampura Colony in Chattisgarh's Jagdalpur in January this year. The protesters demanded that Naxal supporters leave Chhattisgarh. The protesters even went to the house where Malini stayed and urged the landlord not to let a Naxal supporter live in his premises. The landlord was also summoned by the police. Under pressure, he asked Malini Subramaniam to leave his house. After a series of protests, including an attack on her car, activist turned journalist Malini Subramaniam decided to leave Bastar on February 23. Malini is not the only activist who has been forced to leave Chhattisgarh. Protests by the Samajik Ekta Manch have forced lawyers like Shalini Gera and Isha Khandelwal also to leave the state. Gera and Khandelwal were members of the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group or JagLAG. JagLAG was set up in July 2013 to provide legal help to the locals of Bastar who are caught in a bloody battle between the Maoists and the security forces. Before the JagLAG came along, locals did not have access to good legal advice and were not able to effectively fight their cases. The JagLAG tried to change that. This time it was the Mahila Ekta Manch that swung into action and on February 23 this year members of the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group were forced to leave Bastar. advertisement The police had at that time completely washed its hands off the protests saying that these were spontaneous protests which were being led by locals who were fed up with outsiders meddling in Chhattisgarh's affairs. Police-vigilante nexus exposed A two-week long investigation carried out by the India Today special investigation team in Chhattisgarh's Bastar, Jagdalpur, Sukma and Dantewada reveals that the police seems to be working in close association with the new vigilante group -- the Samajik Ekta Manch. The senior most police officers in the state of Chhattisgarh even admit that the activities of the Samajik Ekta Manch are facilitated by the state police. D Shravan, superintendent of police, Sukma, even accepted on camera that the police is happy that the activists who create a nuisance have been forced out of the state. "The police did not start the Samajik Ekta Manch but we facilitate the Samajik Ekta Manch. Earlier, we used to have a dance troupe which used to go around creating awareness. It was because of the effort that was made to create this awareness that the Samajik Ekta Manch was created," D Shravan said. Shravan talked about how Chhattisgarh's previous vigilante group the draconian Salwa Judum was banned by the Supreme Court -- for breaking the law and for violence against adivasis. He added that now a new vigilante group has taken its place. This one doesn't use guns, but it's intent is equally violent. advertisement Samajik Ekta Manch is not the only vigilante group "Earlier, there was the Salwa Judum. We don't know what kind of an organisation it was. We were not involved. We do not know if they did something wrong. But the Supreme Court decided to ban the Salwa Judum. So, we are now working on a new strategy. We have started not just one Samajik Ekta Manch but many other organisations too. In case one gets banned then we have the Mahila Ekta Manch, if that gets banned then we have the Adivasi Ekta Manch. Also, the Vikas Sangharsh Samiti and so on," said Subbarao, founder of Chhattisgarh Samajik Ekta Manch. While speaking to India Today in Jagdalpur, Subbarao and Sampath Jha also boasted about how an international journalist was hounded out of the state. To sum up, it can be said that the Samajik Ekta Manch is hardly an independent organisation and its members seem to be working in tandem with the local police and instead of acting against those who are taking law into their hands, the cops seem rather pleased that these activists who oppose them are being hounded out. advertisement ALSO READ | 8 Maoists killed in gunbattle on Telangana-Chhattisgarh border --- ENDS --- Deputy commissioner of Gurugram TL Satya Prakash told Mail Today that there is no need to impose such a formula in the district as the scheme's implementation in Delhi helps in reducing around 40 per cent of the traffic. By Ajay Kumar: Even as the Kejriwal government is all set to launch the second phase of odd-even scheme in the Capital from April 15, neighbouring city Gurugram will not follow the same. Deputy commissioner of Gurugram TL Satya Prakash told Mail Today that there is no need to impose such a formula in the district as the scheme's implementation in Delhi helps in reducing around 40 per cent of the traffic. advertisement "For a city like Gurugram, the scheme has an automatic impact on traffic flow as the number of vehicles to and from the two cities are already cut by half. Therefore, I don't think additional effort is needed to minimise traffic here," Satya Prakash said. Satya Prakash also cited the poor transport facility in Gurugram for which implementing the scheme would not be possible. Gurugram, at present has five Metro stations facilitating public transport services in new Gurgaon area. Even privately funded rapid metro is limited to just 5.1 km in Cyber City area. There are 118 buses of Haryana roadways of which 80 of them ply on different routes. Balbir Singh, DCP traffic of Gurugram said that imposing such a formula required collective efforts from all departments followed by alternate sources of public transportation service. "We have not received any order from the commissioner of police, the deputy commissioner, Haryana roadways GM or administrator of Haryana urban development authority in this regard," the DCP said. Also Read: Odd-Even 2.0 comes with a child lock --- ENDS --- When the citizens of Wales were treated to two benches with their backs faced towards a scenic view, they didn't know whether to be amused, or downright shocked. By Mini Dixit: Yes, the selfie culture is more than prevalent in almost all parts of the globe today--and has also been the reason for several fatal incidents, but this time around, the contagious trend seems like the only way the Bridgend County Borough Council, Britain can save its face. This is in context to the two 'selfie benches' that have recently become the focal point of several conversations in Britain. advertisement "But why! And what the hell is a selfie bench?" we almost hear you say. Porthcawl, Wales has some wonderful and picturesque views to offer, including the one of the "coast of Somerset and Devon miles across the Bristol Channel," reports Wales Online UK. So when the Bridgend County Borough Council installed two benches with their backs faced towards THAT scenic view, the locals didn't know whether to be amused or shocked. The new benches that served as replacements to the two existing benches--both of which had their backs towards the sea--face the busy Esplanade Road and Seabank Hotel, when it could've easily faced towards the ocean instead. Wales Online UK reports that after flak and criticism started flowing in, a spokesperson from Bridgend County Borough Council said, "After the original seats were removed due to their poor condition, members of Porthcawl Shout contacted the council to ask whether it would be possible to install two new replica seats with the Victorian-period 'serpent' design." Also Read: How a hidden camera, 4 sets of twins and a subway ride made for a priceless time-travel prank Matters got worse when the spokesperson went on to blame the Porthcawl Shout--an elderly voluntary group--of specifically asking for the "seats to be facing the road and to be visible, offering an alternative view for pedestrians taking a rest while walking along the seafront." The argument was vehemently denied by the voluntary group, whose spokesperson said that they merely wanted the old benches to be replaced due to their shoddy condition. Also Read: Twin brothers to undergo surgery so that their twin wives can tell them apart "We had nothing to do with the siting of the benches, they decided that was where they were going to be put," the group's spokesman said. But, what now? While there isn't any sign of the 'selfie benches' turning into normal, non-selfie benches anytime soon, the council members are trying to convince the social media world how the benches are in fact, a "blessing in disguise." "We are inviting anyone visiting Porthcawl's esplanade to take their own bench selfie and share it on social media using the hashtag #SelfieBench," iTV quotes a particular director of the Bridgend Tourism Association. --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Apr 14 (PTI) Pakistans notorious spy agency ISI paid a whopping USD 200,000 to the dreaded Haqqani Network for a suicide attack on a CIA camp in Afghanistan in 2009 that killed seven American agents and contractors and three others, according to a just declassified State Department cable. The explosive information is contained in a series of State Department cables from January 11, 2010 and February 6, 2010 which has been obtained by the National Security Archive of the George Washington University under the Freedom of Information Act. advertisement Significant portions of these cables have been redacted. "During discussions at an unknown date between Haqqani, Salar and an unidentified ISI-D officer or Officers, Haqqani and Salar were provided USD 200,000 to enable the attack on Chapman," says the cable dated February 6, 2010. The cable shows Haqqani attacks are still provided by the Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate, including USD 200,000 for the December 30, 2009, attack on the CIA facility at Camp Chapman, NSA said in a blog post. "Haqqani provided the money to Salar who then communicated the planning details to Mullawi (Sakh). Sakh then contacted (Arghawan), Afghan Border Commander of the Khost Provincial Force. Arghawan was promised USD 100,000 by Salar for his assistance to enable a suicide mission by an unarmed Jordanian National," the cable says. "Following the attack, Salar was believed to have kept the 100,000 promised to Arghawan because Arghawan died during the suicide attack," the cable said. According to another cable of January 2010, "as of late December 2009, at the end of every month, senior Haqqani network leadership met with the ISI-D in Islamabad. The meetings were attended by Siraj Haqqani and Badruddin (Haqqani). ISI-D Col (Nasib) chaired the meetings. ISI-D Major (Daqud) and Sobedar (Zarim) were also in attendance." An unknown amount of funding was provided to the Haqqanis for use in unspecified operations during these meetings. "There were two meetings between the ISI-D and the Haqqani network leadership in December 2009. The first discussed funding for operations in Khost province. These funds were later provided to tribal elders in Khost province for their support of the Haqqani network," the cable said. "The second meeting involved ISI-D direction to the Haqqani networks to expedite attack preparations and lethality in Afghanistan," the cable said. The Embassy of Pakistan in the US did not respond to a question on the allegations made against ISI in the US cable. The Haqqani Network has carried out a number of kidnappings and attacks against US interests in Afghanistan, as well as Afghan government and civilian targets. advertisement The group is also blamed for several deadly attacks against Indian interests in Afghanistan including the 2008 bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul that killed 58 people. PTI LKJ ZH AKJ ZH --- ENDS --- Bangladesh has claimed that there is no presence of Islamic State in the country, however, there may be some local groups who owe allegiance to the IS. By India Today Web Desk: The Islamic State or IS is planning to stage 'guerrilla attacks' in India with the help of attackers from local terror groups based in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Syria based terror organisation is also on the lookout of tapping local mujahideens to create chaos in India, Islamic State's Bangladesh unit head said. In an interview to the group's online magazine Dabiq, Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif, the 'amir' of IS in Bangladesh, revealed that the terror group considers Bangladesh important for its global jihad due to its 'geographic location.' advertisement "Bengal (Bangladesh) is located on the eastern side of India, whereas Wilayat Khurasan is located on its western side. Thus, having a strong jihad base in Bengal will facilitate performing guerrilla attacks inside India simultaneously from both sides and facilitate creating a condition of tawahhush (fear and chaos) in India along with the help of the existing local mujahidin there," a report in Hindustan Times quoted al-Hanif, as saying. Bangladesh has claimed that there is no presence of Islamic State in the country, however, there may be some local groups who owe allegiance to the IS. While the government has repeatedly rejected threat from Islamic State, the latest statement from one of its top commanders is certainly a cause of worry for the country's security establishment. In December 2015, a 16-year-old Pune girl was by the Anti-Terror Squad before she could join the Islamic State in Syria. During interrogation, she had revealed that the terror group was planning to launch a massive assault on the Indian sub-continent by 2020. The girl claimed that IS is planning to expand its area of control beyond Syria and Iraq and preparing grounds to target India by 2020. According to reports, the girl also said that 8 to 10 men were in touch with her within India to carry out IS's nefarious plans. In the past few months, security agencies have arrested several people from across India for Islamic State links. ALSO READ ISIS threatens Paris-like attacks in London, Rome and Berlin Dubai-bound 'ISIS recruit' held at Pune airport --- ENDS --- Anita Hassanandani is only getting better in terms of her acting chops as well as her looks with each passing day. By Parmita Uniyal: She has been in the showbiz for more than one-and-a-half-decade, but Anita Hassanandani is only getting better in terms of her acting chops as well as her looks with each passing day. The actress who started her television career with Metro Gold's Kabhi Sautan Kabhi Saheli (2001)as a simpleton called Tanushree, surely knows how to strike the perfect balance between playing a homely bahu and a hottie. Over the years, the actress has experimented with diverse genres and added memorable roles to her kitty. She's someone who doesn't shy away even from playing a character with grey shades, has a good comic timing, and loves to come out of her comfort zone often. She's even done a season of Khatron Ke Khiladi in 2009. advertisement The actress is currently balancing a daily soap, Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, with a reality show, Comedy Nights Bachao. From chubby Tanu to a toned Shagun, there's no doubt that she has become fitter and hotter over the years. Also read: All is well between Karan Patel and Anita Hassanandani. Here's proof As far as one can recall, her first big makeover was of an item girl (remember the Ding Dong song) in her debut Bollywood movie Kucch To Hai. No prizes for guessing that her friend and mentor Ekta Kapoor envisioned the look for her. Anita also recently shot for the Indian Telly Calendar in Taipei, Taiwan, and she looked gorgeous to say the least. A stunner, an ace performer, a consistent actor--Anita Hassanandani has had an exceptional innings in Indian Television. Here's a look at some of her best roles so far, as she turns a year older. 1. Anita Hassanandani plays a simpleton Tanu in Kabhi Sautan Kabhi Saheli where her character faces a dilemma after coming to know that her best friend Sonia is married to her husband Harsh. 2. Anita Hassanandani plays a double role of Anjali and Anjum in Kavyanjali, and we must say, she looked ethereal in the soap. 3. Anita also excelled in a youth-based show Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya. 4. One of her strongest performances so far, Anita got an opportunity to display various shades as Shagun in Yeh Hai Mohabbatein. Here's wishing the actress a very happy birthday. --- ENDS --- The man was also in the habit of sending lewd messages over phone to the students. By Mail Today: The vice-principal of a nursing college in Koteshwara in Karnataka's Udupi district has been arrested for alleged sexual harassment of students. According to the police, Amar, the vice-principal of the college, which had been set up by Kerala entrepreneurs, allegedly sexually harassed nursing course students. He would force them to meet outside the college or threaten disciplinary action. He was also in the habit of sending lewd messages over phone to the students. advertisement A majority of the students were from Kerala. A girl, unable to bear the harassment, complained to the college management, which reportedly failed to take any kind of action against the vice-principal. The students eventually brought the matter to the notice of the police, who arrested Amar, who hailed from Kerala. --- ENDS --- The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have made it to the mountain nation and here are the outfits Kate Middleton has been sporting in the country. By Hemul Goel: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have taken a detour from their India trip to head to the mountain nation of Bhutan. Also read: Here are the outfits the Duchess of Cambridge wore in Assam After enjoying the scenic beauty, interacting with locals, taking in Bihu performances and the wonders the wildlife in Assam has to offer, the couple departed from the state to continue towards the next leg of their journey which will see them spend two days in Bhutan. advertisement Wearing a printed dress from Tory Burch, which has been seen on the Duchess in the past, Kate Middleon and Prince William boarded their flight to Bhutan. Picture courtesy: Instagram/@sach_nathali The Duke and Duchess landed at the Paro International Airport, with Kate Middleton looking rather sunny. Also read: What Kate wore: The sartorial style of the future queen of Britain on her India tour Picture courtesy: Instagram/@royally_catherinemiddleton Picture courtesy: Instagram/@royally_catherinemiddleton Opting for Emilia Wickstead yet again, the Duchess was seen wearing a coat dress paired with nude pointed pumps. The couple was received by Princess Chimi Yangzom Wangchuck--the half-sister of the King of Bhutan--and her husband. Picture courtesy: Instagram/@theduchesscatherine Post her arrival, the Duchess of Cambridge wowed everyone by switching to an ensemble inspired by the traditional attire of Bhutan. Bhutanese traditional costume for women include separates described as follows according to the Tourism Council of Bhutan, "Women wear the Kira, a long, ankle-length dress accompanied by a light outer jacket known as a Tego with an inner layer known as a Wonju." Picture courtesy: Instagram/@katemiddleton_kurdistan Her outfit looked as gorgeous from behind as it did from the front. Picture courtesy: Twitter/@QueenVicMirror The stunning royal opted for an embroidered woolen cape by Paul an Joe. Her skirt on the other hand was custom made by a seamstress in London using locally sourced fabric from Bhutan. The fabric for the skirt was created by Kelzan Wangmo, a weaver famed for having created the wedding outfits of the King and Queen. King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and the Bhutanese Queen Jetsun Pema received the British royals rather warmly. Picture courtesy: Instagram/@georgiecharlotte_cambridge That attire was a lovely touch by the Duchess, don't you agree? After starting her day in a printed dress by Tory Burch, the Duchess chose to end her day with another creation by the designer. For the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's dinner with the royals of Bhutan, Kate Middleton opted for a floral embroidered dress from the designer's Resort 2016 collection. Letting her hair stay open, the Duchess finished her slit dress with black suede heels from Gianvito Rossi, a pair of gold earrings and an orange wrap. Picture courtesy: Twitter/OIMFashion Any trip to the mountain nation, would be incomplete without a hike and Kate Middleton and Prince William were busy doing just that. Wearing a light coloured shirt paired with a waistcoat and jeans, the Duchess seemed ready for the excursion with her hiking boots in place. Picture courtesy: Twitter/BritishRoyals Picture courtesy: Twitter/BritishRoyals advertisement May we add what an attractive couple the two made? Serious, #CoupleGoals with this one! Let's see what the Duchess will choose to wear during the couple's final event i.e. their reception in Bhutan with British nationals and Bhutanese people. --- ENDS --- The restrictions imposed earlier by the Kerala High Court included a ban on the use of fireworks and use of elephants during Thrissur Pooram, an annual temple festival in Kerala If the directives were to be followed, they would not be able to parade the elephants for the kudamattam. (Photo: Reuters) By India Today Web Desk: In a move favouring the Thiruvambadi and Paramekkavu Devaswom boards, Kerala Forest Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan today directed the chief forest conservator to relax regulations on the use of elephants during Thrissur Pooram celebrations. The restrictions imposed earlier by the Kerala High Court included a ban on the use of fireworks and use of elephants during Thrissur Pooram, an annual temple festival in Kerala. advertisement The main directive of the circular was that elephants should not be paraded between 10 am and 5 pm. Whereas the main parade of Thrissur Pooram is held from 7.30 am to 6 pm. The order also directed that the belly of the elephants taken for the parade should be kept at a distance of three metres and their heads at four meters. If the directives were to be followed, they would not be able to parade the elephants for the kudamattam in which caparisoned elephants stand facing each other. In addition, the chief forest conservator had also directed that the maximum duration for which an elephant could be paraded in a day was 3 hours at a stretch. Withdrawing the order, Thiruvanchoor said that a circular released without government's consent has no legal validity. The Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu devaswoms had lodged a complaint to the minister earlier. The restrictions were withdrawn after considering pleas of Thiruvambadi and Paramekkavu Devaswom boards, bodies responsible for smooth functioning of temples as per traditional rituals and customs. With the Kollam temple tragedy bringing focus to safety issues, the Thrissur district administration has imposed regulations including use of low decibel crackers during such celebrations. Thrissur Pooram celebrations are scheduled to take place on Sunday. --- ENDS --- Underprivileged women will now get a chance to work in the hospitality industry, thanks to the partnership between hotel Le Meridian and Joining Hands, an NGO. Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi launched this initiative in New Delhi yesterday. By KC Archana: Hotel Le Meridien, New Dellhi and Joining Hands, a non-profit organisation, launched a unique initiative to train and equip urban, underprivileged women with necessary skills to find employment in the steadily growing hospitality sector on Wednesday. Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi welcomed the unique skill development initiative in which women between the age group of 18-35 will be trained in all aspects of hotel operations and training. advertisement Speaking at the event Maneka Gandhi said 'When our ministry launched a program called STEP, we asked for ideas from non-governmental organisations to train 200 women across the country and out of all the 6,000 applications received, 5,999 applications mentioned just stitching and weaving work and it was very disheartening.' She lauded Joining Hands, NGO for thinking out of the box with this special skill development program. She added, 'even the smallest ideas can lead up to something very big and women should be made self-dependent in every possible way.' "There is a growing need to include women in the organised sector and the hospitality industry offers great opportunities for women to join the work force. The course has been designed in a way to provide both academic and practical knowledge of the key areas," said Meena Bhatia, Vice President-Marketing and Operations of Le Meridien New Delhi. In the first six months, 25 women will be trained under a fast track course designed by the hotel. They will be trained in House Keeping, Food and Beverage Service, Food and Beverage Production and the Front Office. Most of these women are going to be first-generation learners and are enthusiastic about generating livelihoods for themselves and their families. At the event Sushila Varma of Joining Hands said, 'when Joining Hands started work in 2006, the main areas of focus were education, health and environment and they gradually came to the realization that there is an urgency in earning and generating employment.' She added, 'In the underprivileged sector even though the women are educated, most fail to get the right kind of job due to lack of confidence and skill. Even though many are willing to work they don't get the necessary support from their families.' Thus, their main objective is to aid their transformation into confident, career-focused individuals in the organized sector and positively transform the lives of these vulnerable members of the society. The underprivileged women will be inducted into the the sixth month course starting July 15 and will also pay a nominal fee of Rs 300. advertisement Joining Hands has established a Training Centre in Badarpur to enhance the employability of disadvantaged youth in the area between the ages of 18 to 35. Here, skill enhancement training is conducted with candidates to help them qualify for entry-level positions in various sectors. Within a year of its establishment, the training centre has successfully recruited more than 60% of its graduates in reputed places like Cafe Coffee Day, Cocooberry, Kidzania and others. --- ENDS --- Major Amit Deswal of 21 Para succumbed after being evacuated from the encounter site. By India Today Web Desk: Major Amit Deswal of 21 Para was today killed in an encounter with Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) militants in Manipur's Tamenglong district. Army officials said one militant was also killed in the encounter which occurred during a combing operation undertaken by Rashtriya Rifles and Special Forces personnel, PTI reported. While the militant was killed in an earlier encounter, the Major, hailing from Jhajjar district in Haryana, lost his life during an exchange later in the same area. advertisement He succumbed after being evacuated from the encounter site. The combing operations are continuing, army officials said. --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Mamata Banerjee has slammed the Election Commission for issuing a showcause notice to her for violating the Model Code of Conduct. The West Bengal chief minister had reportedly promised voters to make Asansol a district during one of her election rallies. "Election Commission has showcaused me on Bengali New Year today, people will showcause them on May 19," Mamata said while referring to the date when votes for Assembly polls will be counted. advertisement Earlier, talking to reporters, Chief Election Commissioner Naseem Zaidi said," It has been brought to our notice that she made a promise of creation of Asansol district and also made certain other utterances, for which the showcause has been issued." With the third phase of elections approaching, the full bench of the Election Commission of India held day-long meetings with police and administration officials on Thursday. However, an unmoved Banerjee said she stood by whatever she had said. "They (the opposition) have complained to the Election Commission against me. Whatever I have said I stand by my point. I still stand by my point. "The CPI-M, Congress and the BJP have their men in the Election Commission. Even if 40 letters are sent, that would be fruitless. Can't rob me of my democratic rights. Whatever I have said, I have done the right thing. I will say the same thing thousands of times," she said at an election rally. Banerjee said she would ask the opposition to reply for the canards and disinformation spread against her. "I will take replies against the canards and disinformation spread against me. And also against the injustice done to me, and the character assassination they have indulged in." - With agency inputs. ALSO READ: Mamata, PM Modi two sides of the same coin, says Sonia Gandhi Mamata apologises for her partymen's deeds --- ENDS --- Allowing display of low-decibel fireworks, the high court asked the concerned authorities to ensure that no unauthorised chemicals are used in the fire crackers. By India Today Web Desk: The Kerala High Court today exempted the ongoing Pooram festival from the ban it imposed on fireworks in the wake of Kollam temple fire tragedy in which 114 people were killed. Allowing display of low-decibel fireworks, the high court asked the concerned authorities to ensure that no unauthorised chemicals are used in the fire crackers. The court was hearing a plea by Paramekkavu and Thirvambadi Devaswoms, which fund the annual Pooram festival in the premises of the famous Vadakkunnathan Temple in Thrissur, for permission to hold fireworks display. The festival is currently on and will culminate on April 18. advertisement Parties decide against blanket ban on fireworks During an all-party meeting called today by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, leaders decided against imposing a total ban on fireworks display during festivities. However, they suggested the government to ensure strict checks and controls. "It was not a ban on fireworks that was necessary, but a strict control and checks during its display was the opinion which emerged at the all party meet," Chandy told reporters. However, Chandy said that under no circumstances competitive fireworks would be allowed and warned of stern action against those indulging in such acts. --- ENDS --- A mobile launcher was spotted carrying up to two Musudan missiles, Yonhap said on Thursday, citing multiple South Korean government sources, following the North's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the next month, which led to fresh UN sanctions. By Reuters: North Korea has deployed one or two intermediate-range ballistic missiles on the east coast, possibly preparing for launch on or around Friday, the anniversary of the birth of the country's founder, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. A mobile launcher was spotted carrying up to two Musudan missiles, Yonhap said on Thursday, citing multiple South Korean government sources, following the North's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the next month, which led to fresh UN sanctions. advertisement The Musudan missile, with a design range of more than 3,000 km (1,800 miles), is not known to have been flight-tested, according to South Korean defence ministry and experts. Some experts said the North may choose to test-fire the Musudan in the near future as it tries to build an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to put the mainland United States within range. US intelligence believes North Korea's ability to reach the United States is low, but its capabilities will increase, making continued investment in missile defence essential. South Korea's Defence Ministry spokesman, Moon Sang-gyun, declined to confirm the Yonhap report but said the military had been on high alert for any missile launch by the North since its leader Kim Jong Un's vow to conduct more tests. Kim said in March his country would soon test a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. North Korea, which regularly threatens to destroy the South and the United States, often fires missiles during periods of tension in the region or when it comes under pressure to curb its defiance and abandon its weapons programmes. South Korean experts have said the North may choose to display a show of force ahead of a major ruling party congress in May where it is expected to declare itself a nuclear power or around the April 15 anniversary of the birth of Kim's grandfather, Kim Il Sung. Isolated North Korea and the rich, democratic South are still technically at war after the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. North Korea accused South Korea on Tuesday of abducting its citizens in China, four days after South Korea said 13 workers at a restaurant run by the North had defected. Also Read: North Korea reveals details about its Nuclear weapons North Korea has miniature nuclear warhead, says Kim Jong-Un President Obama imposes new sanctions on North Korea after nuclear tests North Korea warns of preemptive nuclear attacks against US and South Korea Senior North Korea military officer defects to South Korea --- ENDS --- advertisement While Gates sexually assaulted the victim, Lonina began live streaming the video using Periscope, a video streaming app. By India Today Web Desk: An 18-year-old Ohio woman has been indicted on charges of live streaming her own friend's rape. Marina Alexveena Lonina and 29-year-old Raymond Boyd Gates were socialising with the 17-year-old victim at a residence in Columbus, Ohio on February 27. They were indicted on charges of kidnapping, two counts of rape, one count of sexual battery and several counts of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor, The Strait Times reported . advertisement If convicted, each of them face up to 40 years in prison. While Gates sexually assaulted the victim, Lonina began live streaming the video using Periscope, a video streaming app. "People need to know and understand that the use of a smartphone to video events can constitute serious felony crimes. They should think twice before they use their smartphones to either photograph or video anything that's of a sexual nature," Franklin County prosecutor Ron O'Brien was quoted as saying by The Strait Times. However, Lonina's attorney Josh Bedtelyon said his client "categorically denies" the charges. ALSO READ South Sudan allows soldiers to rape women as part of their salary Polish magazine cover titled Islamic rape of Europe sparks controversy --- ENDS --- Pakistani gangsters on Thursday killed six policemen and took hostage 24 people, including police, during a raid to clear an island hideout in the south of Punjab province, authorities said. By Reuters: Pakistani gangsters on Thursday killed six policemen and took hostage 24 people, including police, during a raid to clear an island hideout in the south of Punjab province, authorities said. The operation to flush out the gangsters entered its ninth day as 1,600 security officials, including police officials and paramilitary rangers, battled for control of the island in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's power base of Punjab. advertisement "Police killed four top criminals of Chotu Gang and wounded eight, while six police officials are dead and seven injured," Punjab police spokeswoman Nabeela Ghazanfar told Reuters. "The gang has held 24 persons hostage, including police officials. We are not sure how many civilian and police officials are among the hostages." Authorities suspect the gang is behind hundreds of cases of kidnapping for ransom, murder and robberies. "It is a very difficult operation, because the gang has made its hideout on a small island, surrounded by water and dense jungle," Ghazanfar added. Authorities identified the leader of the gang as Ghulam Rasool, also known as Chotu, who is active in the border areas of the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. Pakistan launched an armed crackdown in Punjab after an Easter Day bombing in the eastern city of Lahore killed 72 people last month. While Pakistan's attention has for years been focused on the Taliban and al Qaeda threat on the Afghan border in the remote northwest, militants and criminals have quietly expanded their influence and won recruits in the country's heartland of Punjab. Most of the militants belong to banned organisations such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Sipah-e-Sahaba. Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence establishment have long been accused of tolerating or even supporting such groups. Pakistani authorities deny supporting any militants. Attacks such as the Easter bombing show that ties between Punjabi groups and the Pakistani Taliban fighting to overthrow the government help boost the groups' capabilities, while giving the Taliban cover to operate outside traditional strongholds. Also Read:Anti-Pakistan protest erupts in PoK, students demand independent Kashmir Also Read:Pakistan army chief accuses India of undermining China investment corridor --- ENDS --- By PTI: Berlin, Apr 14 (PTI) A prime suspect in the Paris terror attacks had documents related to a German nuclear research center hidden in his Brussels flat, a media report said today. Salah Abdeslam possessed documents about Juelich Nuclear Research Centre located near the Belgium-Germany border and being used for the storage of atomic waste, RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) media group reported. advertisement Citing its sources within the parliamentary control committee, whose meetings are confidential, RND said that head of Germanys domestic intelligence agency (BfV) Hans-Georg Maassen told the nine-person committee at the end of March that Abdeslam had the documents. Maassen told the committee, which monitors the work of German security agencies, that printouts of articles from the internet and photos of nuclear centre CEO Wolfgang Marquardt had been found in Abdeslams apartment in the Molenbeek area of Brussels, the Belgian capital, it added. RND said it was unclear whether Maassen had passed this information on to the chancellery or the interior ministry. Several members of the Bundestag and a terrorism expert at the BfV said they knew of this information and that Maassen had confidentially informed them, RND reported. In a statement, the centre said that there was no indication of any danger and that it was in contact with security authorities and nuclear supervisors. Abdeslam, 28, born and raised in Belgium to Moroccan parents, was arrested on March 18 along with four other suspects in his flat where he lived while the Paris attacks were being plotted. Four days later, suicide bombers killed 32 people in Brussels airport and on a rush-hour metro train. Experts fear nuclear plants are potential targets for terrorists, either for sabotage or efforts to steal nuclear materials to build a "dirty" bomb. The Nuclear Security Summit, hosted by US President Barack Obama in Washington early this month, attended by more than 50 world leaders, termed threat of nuclear and radiological terrorism as "one of the greatest challenges to international security" in the communique, which said the threat is "constantly evolving". The countries pledged to continue improving their nuclear security and reaffirmed their commitment to fight proliferation of nuclear weapons. PTI ZH AKJ ZH --- ENDS --- The male rhino was shot by an AK 47 and its horn was hacked by poachers. Poachers had killed a female rhino just two days before the British royal's visited the national park. Six rhinos have been poached at the sanctuary so far this year, after 20 were killed in 2015. By India Today Web Desk: Poachers at the Kaziranga National Park shot dead a rhinoceros on Wednesday, the day when England's Prince William and his wife Princess Kate Middleton visited the sanctuary. The body of the animal was recovered by forest officials late yesterday.. The male rhino was shot by an AK 47 and its horn was hacked by poachers. advertisement Poachers had killed a female rhino just two days before the British royal's visited the national park. Six rhinos have been poached at the sanctuary so far this year, after 20 were killed in 2015. Forest officials said they heard a burst of fire at about 11:10 pm on Wednesday, hours after Prince William and Kate Middleton had driven through the park in an open jeep. 88 empty cases fired from AK 47s were found near the adult rhino's body. The rhino was killed about 20 km away from the Diphlu river lodge where the royal couple stayed for the night, before leaving for Bhutan today morning. The 480-square-kilometer grassland park is home to the world's largest population of rare, one-horned rhinos as well as other endangered species including swamp deer and the Hoolock gibbon. --- ENDS --- The CISF said it has expertise in handling security of such installations, which they are specifically trained for, while the Delhi Police sited close liaison with judiciary as reason for them to take over. The Delhi Police has cited 'judicial liasion' as a reason while seeking control of the Metro security from the Central Industrial Security Force. By Ankur Sharma: Delhi Police wants to take over the security of Delhi Metro in wake of growing incidents of crime but the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards the city's commuting lifeline, has strongly opposed any such move. The two forces are at loggerheads resulting in feverish exchange of notes rejecting each others contentions. Making a strong case for taking over security of the Metro, Delhi Police have cited several reasons, including a seemingly risible one that it has "close liaison with judiciary" and other agencies of criminal justice system. advertisement "Delhi Police being an investigative agency has close liaison with judiciary and other agency of criminal justice system. So it will be very helpful if prevention and detection of crime and security agency with one agency," said DCP (Metro) of Delhi Police in his letter seeking to take over the security of Metro. The Police also lack coordination with CISF, which is hampering day-to-day functioning. CISF officials, however, wondered what police meant by "liaison" with judiciary and how it could help in securing Delhi Metro. The central police force, which is meant to guard country's big infrastructure landmarks like airports, Delhi Metro, nuclear, space and industrial complexes, said Delhi Police is essentially an investigative agency. The CISF has said in its reply that it has expertise in handling security of such installations. The force is specifically trained for the purpose. According to a senior CISF officer, Delhi Police is deliberately raising the issue of lack of coordination. "Delhi Police has never brought any scientific point regarding lack of coordination during the time of any contingency to our notice on any prior occasions," said an officer. The CISF has prepared a point by point rebuttal to puncture Delhi Police's arguments. In its reply, the CISF has also raised questions on Delhi Police's contention that it is the first agency to react to any crime. The officer also said, "If anything happens in high-profile areas, including Delhi airport, government buildings and offices, Delhi Police would be the first agency to react so going by police's logic, everything should be hand over to Delhi Police." The CISF has also raised question on Delhi Police staking claim on Delhi Metro security by deploying a workforce of 3,195 personnel. "The figure of 3,195 personnel suggested by the police is not accompanied by any security framework or scheme and hence it is not clear what sort of system Delhi Police will put in place and whether it will be better in terms of quality of service than existing system," said CISF in its reply. The Delhi Police has been in the news over the past one year for its continuous bickering with the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government over various issues ranging from the appointment of Anti-Corruption Branch chief among others. advertisement Also Read: Delhi Metro card helps trace duo behind stabbing, robbery Delhi Metro staffer stabbed inside station, attackers loot Rs 12 lakh --- ENDS --- The royal couple will start their two-day trip to Bhutan today and it is because of this retired school teacher that they are visiting the Himalayan country. By India Today Web Desk: A retired Oxford school teacher took up the task of arranging the visit of Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton to the Himalayan kingdom Bhutan. 78-year-old Michael Rutland was appointed the first Honorary Consul of the United Kingdom in Bhutan on 1st April 2013. He is said to have played a crucial role in arranging the royal visit despite Bhutan not having diplomatic relations with Britain. advertisement The royal couple will start their two-day trip today i.e. April 14. They will meet the 5th king and the queen of Bhutan for the first time and will also aim to do something William's father, Prince Charles, was not able to. Prince William and Duchess Kate will trek to the Tiger's Nest, an ancient Buddhist monastery perched 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) up a mountain. During Prince Charles visit in 1998 he was unable to complete the steep ascent and decided to paint out the scene instead. Rutland's migration to Bhutan too happened suddenly. During a dinner party in Oxford, he was asked if he wanted to teach in Bhutan. He just accepted the job in 1971 only to discover that he had been appointed tutor to the crown prince of Bhutan. The prince became the fourth king, going on to end his own absolute rule before abdicating. Rutland now lives full time in Bhutan and has adopted a son there. (Inputs from Reuters) --- ENDS --- Sanjay Gupta's Jazbaa was touted to be Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's comeback wagon, but it's actually Omung Kumar's Sarbjit that has brought the actor in her back from the dead. The three-minute trailer of Sarbjit which opens with a scene where Aishwarya, who plays Dalbir Kaur, is looking for her brother near the India-Pakistan border, sets the tone of the film. By India Today Web Desk: Sanjay Gupta's Jazbaa was touted to be Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's comeback wagon, but it's actually Omung Kumar's Sarbjit that has brought the actor in her back from the dead. The three-minute trailer which opens with a scene where Aishwarya, who plays Dalbir Kaur, is looking for her brother near the India-Pakistan border, sets the tone of the film. advertisement ALSO READ: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Dalbir Kaur in Sarbjit ALSO READ: Randeep Hooda lost 18 kg in just 4 weeks for Sarbjit and looks like this From a happy young village woman to a bespectacled middle-aged woman, Aishwarya brings to light the impossible journey of a sister who fought for justice for her brother who was imprisoned in Pakistan on allaegedly wrong charges. The film is based on Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer, who was wrongly convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan and was sentenced to death. He was attacked by inmates at a prison in Lahore in April 2013 and died a few days later. Based on a true story, the gripping trailer of Sarbjit boasts of high-octane and power-packed performances by Randeep Hooda and Aishwarya. The trailer unfolds the story of Sarabjit who accidentally crosses the border one night and how his life changes forever. It isn't just Aishwarya who makes heads turn with her superb performance. Randeep Hooda, who underwent a complete transformation to get into the skin of his character, brings forth a plethora of emotions and stuns you with his performance. Omung Kumar, who rose to fame with his 2014 film Mary Kom, has returned to the director's chair with another biopic. And the trailer has definitely set the expectations high. The film also stars Richa Chadha as Sarabjit's wife and Darshan Kumar as a Pakistani lawyer. Sarbjit is set to hit the screens on May 20 this year. --- ENDS --- By PTI: New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court today dismissed as "infructous" a plea challenging the Finance Ministers power to nominate two members in the selection board for appointment of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman and its full-time members. The apex court passed the order after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the court that Rule 3(5)(e) of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Terms and Conditions of Service of Chairman and Members) Rules, 1992 has been amended. advertisement "Senior counsel appearing for the petitioners, submits that in the light of a Notification dated December 23, 2015 issued by the Government of India amending Rule 3(5)(e) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Terms and Conditions of Service of Chairman and Members) Rules, 1992, nothing further survives for consideration in this petition. "Writ petition is hereby dismissed as infructuous," a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said. At the outset, the court questioned on what grounds a PIL challenging the validity of the rules can be entertained and said such a petition is understandable when it is filed by a person who is directly aggrieved by such rules. "You want us to strike down statutory rules? We have better work to do," the bench observed. The apex court was hearing a plea filed by former IPS officer Julio Ribeiro and other members of civil society, alleging that the rules framed by the government were contrary to the SEBI Act. PTI PKS SJK RKS ARC --- ENDS --- By PTI: Dehradun, Apr 14 (PTI) In the backdrop of Amit Shahs Haridwar visit, deposed chief minister Harish Rawat today took a swipe at him, saying the BJP president had chosen the right place to "atone for his sin" after "murdering democracy" in Uttarakhand. "By toppling the government in Uttarakhand he (Shah) has murdered democracy. And now he has come to the right place to atone for his sin. advertisement "The holy waters of the Ganga can hopefully absolve him of his sin," Rawat told reporters after offering a flower wreath on the statue of Babasahab Bhim Rao Ambedkar here on his 125th birth anniversary. Rawat made the remark when asked by reporters about the BJP Presidents visit to Haridwar where he participated in a programme to mark the Dalit icons birth anniversary. PTI ALM AAR PAL AAR --- ENDS --- By PTI: New Delhi, Apr 14 (PTI) Sister of Kirpal Singh, who died recently in a Pakistani jail under mysterious circumstances, today met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and sought his support in bringing back her brothers body from the neighbouring country. "We want Kirpals body to be brought back here from Pakistan...his body should be brought back for final rites so that we can get a sense of relief. advertisement "In the meeting, the Chief Minister said he will help in bringing back the body here from Pakistan. He (Kejriwal) said that he would help us in whatever way he can," Jagir Kaur said after meeting Kejriwal at his residence here. Delhi government sources said she sought a probe into her brothers death. 50-year-old Kirpal was languishing in a Lahore jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges. Jagir was accompanied by Dalbir Kaur, sister of another Indian, Sarabjit Singh who had also died in the Pakistani jail in May 2013. Dalbir said during the meeting, Kejriwal expressed his condolence and said he might attend a prayer meeting to be held for Kirpal. Dalbir said she also urged Kejriwal to make movie Sarbjit, based on life of her brother, tax-free in the national capital. "In meeting with the Chief Minister, I sought help to put pressure on Pakistan to free Indian prisoners who are lodged in jail there. Kejriwal knew that Kirpals family members are in Delhi and in view of this, he called them," she said. Pakistan has said Kirpal had died of a heart attack at a jail in Lahore on April 11. Kirpal had allegedly crossed over to Pakistan through Wagah border in 1992 and was arrested. He was sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistans Punjab province. Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of charges related to bomb blasts by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons. PTI BUN AAR SC AAR --- ENDS --- By PTI: Washington, Apr 13 (PTI) Sri Lanka has made "historic" accomplishments in the past one year, signaling the peoples commitment for reconciliation, tolerance and peace, US Secretary of State John Kerry said today. In a message to greet Sri Lankan people on the occasion of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, Kerry said, "I offer my best wishes for a happy New Year and continued success as you move ahead with the new constitution and further efforts to strengthen Sri Lankas democracy and prosperity". advertisement The past years accomplishments have been "historic, demonstrating the deep commitment of the Sri Lankan people for reconciliation, tolerance and peace", Kerry said. Kerry visited Colombo in May last year to convey the US governments appreciation of the democratic transformation in the country which laid the foundation for the new governments current efforts to achieve national reconciliation. Kerry during his last years visit to Sri Lanka had praised President Maithripala Sirisenas new government for reaching out to the Tamil minority after the end of the nearly three-decade of ethnic conflict that claimed more than 100,000 lives. Sirisena had vowed to pursue reconciliation more vigorously than his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was known for his hardline Sinhalese nationalism. PTI Corr UZM AKJ UZM DK --- ENDS --- The strategically important road was scheduled to be opened in the first week of April, but was delayed due to snow avalanches and extreme weather conditions. The strategically important road was scheduled to be opened in the first week of April. By Ashraf Wani: After a delay of nearly two-weeks, the 434-km long Srinagar-Leh National Highway will open for one-way traffic around April 20. The strategically important road was scheduled to be opened in the first week of April, but was delayed due to snow avalanches and extreme weather conditions. During an inspection of snow clearance work on Wednesday, Chief Executive Councillor, LAHDC Kargil Haji Mohammad Hanifa Jan had said that it was a blessing that Kargil observed snowfall in March after a long dry winter. advertisement "The need for a spell of heavy snowfall was the need of the hour for a healthy agriculture season. But it was unfortunate as due to the heavy snowfall the already opened Kargil-Srinagar road was closed once again." Haji Hanifa said. He also announced an award of Rs 20,000 for the local labourers who work at Zojila and assured that he will recommend them for a National Award. When pressed to increase the remuneration of local labourers from mere Rs 9,000 to Rs 25,000, keeping in view the risk they take, Haji Hanifa has assured that he will take up the issue with the concerned authorities. Commanding Officer of Project Vijayak Col Pankaj Mittal said that they had to clear the road four times due to repeated snowfall. The Chief Executive Councillor has asked authorities to work relentlessly for early opening of the road as the people of Kargil were facing shortage of essential commodities besides huge number of passengers including patients and students were stranded at Jammu and Srinagar. Pointing towards more than 80 feet high snow avalanches which was being cleared, Col Mittal appreciated the work and efforts of the local labourers and Border Roads Organisation (BRO) forces who are working 12 hours a day for opening the highway, strategically important for the Army and the people living in both regions of Kargil and Ladakh. In the last week of March, the road link was throw open and the BRO was preparing for the opening of the road for public use from March 30, 2016. Subsequently, heavy snowfall started in the region and continued for a week. This resulted in fresh snow avalanches near Zojila and Gumri. The avalanches resulted in restarting of fresh snow clearance operations from the road from April 10. Snow clearance on road by the BRO is in full swing and if weather allows, the road will be reopened within week. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Mumbai, Apr 14 (PTI) Latching onto popularity of the song Gerua from Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol starrer "Diwale", shot in picturesque Iceland, the island country now wants to target niche and premium travellers from India. "There has been an interest among Indians to visit Iceland after the picturisation of the song Gerua from movie Dilwale in Iceland. The locales of Iceland were beautifully captured in the song. We want to leverage on this interest and increase the number of tourist arrivals from India," Ambassador of Iceland to India Thorir Ibsen said here. advertisement He said Iceland would like to invite more Bollywood filmmakers to come and shoot in his country. Recently, Promote Iceland, a body that promotes Iceland as a tourist destination, conducted its maiden roadshow in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai to reach out to Indian travellers. The strategy of Promote Iceland is to target the premium travellers from India as Iceland is not for budget tourists. "We have not been very active in the Indian market in the past. But now we think that Iceland has gained interest in India and we want to build on the momentum through our maiden roadshows. The roadshow was a platform for us to meet the travel trade and understand the requirements of Indian travellers," Promote Iceland Manager - Trade Delegations, Thorleifur Thor Jonsson said. Being blessed with beautiful landscapes, roaring volcanoes, monolithic glaciers, icy mountains and deep fjords, Icelands beauty sometimes seem surreal and will appeal to those Indians who are looking for new and niche destinations, Ibsen added. Iceland received a little over 1,000 tourists from India last year. PTI SM ARS MNG --- ENDS --- Kirpal Singh, who was languishing in a Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years in connection with a serial blast case, is said to have died of a heart attack. By Mail Today: India on Wednesday raised the issue of Indian inmate Kirpal Singh's mysterious death with Pakistan authorities, who said he died of heart attack at a Lahore jail two days ago even as the government has sought a probe into the matter. India's Acting High Commissioner JP Singh met Director General (South Asia) in Pakistan Foreign Ministry in Islamabad, following a directive from the Indian government in connection with death of Kirpal, who was languishing for nearly 25 years in jail in connection with a serial blast case there. advertisement According to the government of Pakistan, Kirpal died on April 11 at 2.55 pm due to heart attack. "We await further details," spokesperson in the MEA Vikas Swarup said. He said India's acting high commissioner has also requested the Pakistan Foreign Ministry to investigate the incident and sought early repatriation of mortal remains of Kirpal. Later, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met Kirpal's family and conveyed that the government was making all efforts to get his mortal remains back as early as possible. "Comforting a family in grief. EAM @SushmaSwaraj meets with relatives of Shri Kirpal Singh, who died in Pakistan," Swarup tweeted. The external affairs minister also informed the family that India will try to revive the Indo-Pak Judicial Committee dealing with the welfare and overall status of prisoners of India and Pakistan lodged in each others jails. Earlier, Swarup had said that India's acting high commissioner was instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in Pakistan Foreign Office for early transportation of Kirpal's mortal remains as also official information on the cause of the death and postmortem report. Fifty-year-old Kirpal was languishing in a Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges. He had allegedly crossed over to Pakistan through Wagah border in 1992 and was arrested. He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case. Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of charges related to bomb blasts by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons. Jagir Kaur, Kirpal's sister, earlier said the family could not raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case. Also Read: MEA seeks response from Pakistan on Kirpal Singh's mysterious death in Lahore jail --- ENDS --- India has expressed concern over the hike in visa fee by the US, saying it is "discriminatory" and largely affects Indian IT professionals. Last year, the US Congress imposed a special fee of up to USD 4,500 on H-1B and L-1 visas - popular among Indian IT companies -- to fund a 9/11 healthcare Act and biometric tracking system. (Reuters) By Press Trust of India: India has expressed concern over the hike in visa fee by the US, saying it is "discriminatory" and largely affects Indian IT professionals. During a bilateral meeting with US Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also underlined the need for early conclusion of Totalisation Agreement which would benefit Indians working in America. Referring to the visa issue, he spoke about "India's concern over the hike in the H-1B and L1 visa fee, which is discriminatory and in effect is largely targeted at Indian IT companies". advertisement Last year, the US Congress imposed a special fee of up to USD 4,500 on H-1B and L-1 visas - popular among Indian IT companies -- to fund a 9/11 healthcare Act and biometric tracking system. While agreeing on the USD 1.1 trillion spending Bill, Congressional leaders decided to impose a special fee of USD 4,000 on certain categories of H-1B visas and USD 4,500 on L-1 visas. Jaitley expressed India's keenness in early conclusion of a Totalization Agreement with the United States, a finance ministry statement quoting him said. As per Industry estimates, Indian professionals contributed more than USD 25 billion to the US Social Security during the last decade, without being able to retrieve their contributions. Also Read Hike in visa fee by US Congress to hit Indian IT industry --- ENDS --- According to the police, the suspect Mazhar, a rowdy sheeter in D J Halli police station, often indulged in eve-teasing in the locality. By Mail Today: The police on Thursday arrested 3 people for allegedly murdering a youth after he confronted them over eve-teasing his sister in Bengaluru. According to the police, Mazhar, a rowdy sheeter in D J Halli police station, often indulged in eve-teasing in the locality. As he had been to jail several times, none dared to stand up to him. Recently, Mazhar targeted a girl, who brought it to the notice of her brother Idris. advertisement When Idris went to Mazhar's home to question him about the incident on Wednesday night, a fight broke out between them. Mazhar and two of his associates allegedly attacked Idris (28) with machetes. Hussain, who had accompanied Idris, was also injured. While Hussain survived, Idris succumbed to injuries. Mazhar and two of his associates are now behind the bars. The police have registered a case and investigation is on. --- ENDS --- Insurance Back Keeping up with the changes in the insurance claims field The insurance industry is currently facing a significant amount of change on various fronts, all of which influence the industry's operations, and claims management is no exception. Among the main factors in play, there are new technologies, customer-centric business models, and regulatory updates. As it stands, the field of insurance claims is transforming along with the entire insurance industry. In this situation, maintaining a competitive edge is key, which is why senior executives from premier insurers will meet for the 4th Annual Insurance Claims Forum . This event functions as a platform to facilitate discussion and sharing knowledge of the best industry practices and strategic assesments of the market conditions. The program is divided into several parts, each focusing on one driving factor of the industry - regulatory updates, claims stakeholders, digitization and technological innovation, insurance fraud, cyber security , as well as a special section on the specifics of contemporary motor claims . The format of the program facilitates the collaborative aspect of the meeting. In addition to the usual roundtable and panel discussions, the event will also introduce "Group work" sessions, where participants will be able to expand their practical skillset. To ensure the highest quality among the participants, the conference will bring together speakers of senior executives from the most prominent insurers today. AXA, Allianz, Zurich Insurance Group, Swiss Re , and AIG are all featured in the speaker panel, among other relevant companies and associations. While the participants will have many chances to discuss various claims-related topics, there are several sessions that will address the most vital and/or the latest industry challenges. These include the impact of Solvency II on the field of claims, fraud prevention through social media investigation, solutions for cyber risks and cyber crime claims, and digitization of the claims handling process. All of the above make the 4th Annual Insurance Claims Forum an informed, up-to date, and collaborative conference. Fleming. connects people who know the answers, bring you the know-how you seek and the opportunities you desire, creating Critical Business Connections. After 13 years in the business, Fleming. has grown to offer a complete portfolio of Conferences, Trainings, Exhibitions, Blended Learning, and Online Conferences in 5 continents and various industries. For more information, please visit bit.do/InsuranceClaims Will Hoss Marketing Manager Fleming. will.hoss@fleming.events T: +421 257 272 164 F: +421 255 644 490 Author: Daniela GHETU on 14.04.2016 Archive Comment this article 0 comments Atention! "Comment" and "E-mail" are mandatory Name: If you are logged on and you do not fill in your name, will be used the name that you used when you registered If you are not logged on, your name will appear preceded by '(Anonymous)'. For authentication, click here If you are logged on and you do not fill in your name, will be used the name that you used when you registered E-mail: Comment: < 10.000 car. Fill in the code from the image: Insurance Back Pro and cons for the bodily injuries' compensation tables debated in Budapest, at the 1st International Motor Insurance Conference "The amount of compensation for bodily injury can be the result of lengthy discussions based on the extent of the injuries, as documented by medical professionals and the claimant's subjective assessment of the damage. If the disparity between the views of the claimant and the liable party on the damage is large, a judge will decide on the amount of the compensation. This process costs both time and money," says Patrick Le ROY, Gen Re, Germany. In fact, this will be tje starting point of the presentation he will give in Budapest, at the 1st International Motor Insurance Conference , on April 28th-29th. He will talk, in this context, about a solution adopted by many countries, the compensation tables. "Depending on the degree of disability, the law determines how much an injured person is entitled to receive. This is already a growing trend in Europe," says Le ROY. The benefits and drawbacks of the compensation tables use, for claimants, insurers and the whole community will be analyzed in his presentation. Beside Patrick Le ROY , the Keyote speakers' list also contains well known names as Michael THEILMEIER , Gen Re, German Insurance Association (GDV), Germany and Zsolt SIMON , Generali Hungary / Genertel Hungary, and other representatives of the European motor insurance market will address the above issues, as well as other topics essential for the sector's profitability. The Conference will focus, among other, on the influence of technology on motor insurance and will gather main players in motor insurance in Central and South Eastern Europe (representatives of insurance associations, green card bureaus, insurance and brokerage companies, as well as technological and motor companies), making it the place to be. Current overview of the European motor insurance market, how new technologies and services influence motor insurance, insurance market liberalization, how to make the most of the data base, how to settle international claims are some of the hot topics that will be addressed at the conference in Budapest by renowned experts from across Europe. Conference delegates will have a unique opportunity to listen to top-notch presentations, participate in in-depth discussions and network in the company of industry's leaders! The latest issue of the XPRIMM Motor Insurance Report, containing the full year 2015 statistical data of over 30 CESEE and CIS motor insurance markets will be handed to the delegates. The 1st International Motor Insurance Conference (Sofitel Budapest Chain Bridge Hotel in Budapest, Hungary on 27 -29 April 2016) is organized by Croatian Institute for Insurance in cooperation with the Romanian company XPRIMM, under the patronage of Association of Hungarian Insurance Companies (MABISZ). Become a part of this must-visit conference and join numerous motor insurance experts in advancing the industry. Join us in changing the motor insurance industry for the better! Check the event's agenda here Do not miss out on this opportunity and join right away Author: Daniela GHETU on 14.04.2016 Archive Comment this article 0 comments Atention! "Comment" and "E-mail" are mandatory Name: If you are logged on and you do not fill in your name, will be used the name that you used when you registered If you are not logged on, your name will appear preceded by '(Anonymous)'. For authentication, click here If you are logged on and you do not fill in your name, will be used the name that you used when you registered E-mail: Comment: < 10.000 car. Fill in the code from the image: ********************** Zuzana Hecko explains what it is like to be an IP lawyer in Slovakia The view from Zuzana's office overlooking the Danube Devin Castle - the view can be nicely paired with some currant wine and deer goulash involves a huge amount of coordination, support and opposition with lawyers from all over the world. One of the IPKat's key objectives is to bring this global IP community closer together by sharing IP decisions, legislation and practice from across the world with our readers, with the aim that by understanding our unique perspectives on the culture of IP practice we can work together to make IP a success story for innovators, creators, users and the public. With those grand aims, the AmeriKat thought it would be worthwhile to ask the next generation of global IP lawyers to illuminate IP practice in their jurisdiction, as well as to give readers some fun reading over their lunch-al-desko ...For the third in the series, we travel 900 miles south east to Bratislava, Slovakia where IP lawyer Zuzana Hecko at Allen & Overy fights counterfeiters, battles getting confused with Slovenia and dreams of working in Hong Kong.Our Bratislava office is located on the bank of the river Danube. The office is alongside Eurovea , a famous promenade with loads of cafes and restaurants. The view from my office window is straight onto the Danube.I started to work in IP in 2008, when I was offered a temporary contract at the European Commission. At that time, the Commission was looking for staff from Eastern European countries (this was a few years after Slovakias accession to the EU). Since my LL.M. degree did not include IP law, straight after I started at the Commission I signed up to a specialised intellectual property course at the KU Leuven University and took exams in trademark, patents and copyright law. Working at the Commission was a great experience for a young lawyer. On the other hand, three years later, I realised that a public administration job does not entirely suit my personality. The private sector is much better for my temperament!I make it to the office around 9:30 am. Im lucky enough that my days tend to be different and there is not much routine (although each day has to start with a cup of coffee). One day I might be fighting pharmaceutical copycats or cigarette counterfeiters, the next I may be involved in a transaction involving an IP aspect or speaking at a conference about drones. I tend to leave the office (on average) around 8.00 pm, although there may be days when I finish earlier or later. On top of my client work, I sometimes take on assignments (secondments) for various companies. Even though my permanent office base is in Bratislava, temporarily it may shift to another city. So luckily enough, there are not that many typical days.The IP practice in Slovakia is a "soft" IP practice. Patent litigators waiting for big patent cases in Slovakia would probably be waiting for Godot. Other than that, a positive surprise for clients is that injunctions in Slovakia are granted ex-parte and within 30 days from filing. These injunctions can sometimes already contain (allegedly infringing) product market recalls, demonstrating that preliminary protection does work in Slovakia. Proceedings on the merits, however, tend to take a long time. For example, if you litigate at the Bratislava court, it isnt a surprise that the first (!) oral hearing is scheduled three years after you file the law suit. Hence, if the preliminary injunction hasnt been granted, pursuing the case on the merits is often of little help. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though, as a new civil procedural code will enter into force on 1 July 2016 which will, to a certain extent, shorten the length of proceedings on the merits. The new civil procedural code also provides that in cases where the injunction provides sufficient protection for the plaintiff, a law suit on the merits doesnt have to be initiated.I dare to say that most challenges nowadays are faced by the previous generation. While younger generations speak many languages and have worked abroad, the previous generations didnt have such opportunities because of the restrictive regime. The younger generation is able to see things from a wider perspective, is able to analyse know-how from other countries and is able to work better with EU law and the decisions from the Court of Justice of the EU.IP is a field of law where developments happen almost every day. Therefore, to provide up-to-date advice, one has to cross boundaries of ones own jurisdiction almost on a daily basis. IP is becoming to be seen as a sexy field of law in Slovakia because it is often linked with new technologies and innovation. I therefore expect that this particular law segment will be increasingly attractive for young lawyers. This will be a source of many benefits for the industry, though also resulting in greater competition and pressure on fees.Nothing comes to my mind that would be specifically linked or related to IP. A general one would be that some clients still get confused between Slovakia and Slovenia. There have been occasions where I have been asked to advise on a Slovenian issue or asked to review documents in Slovenian. It always brings a smile to my face.Introducing the concept of punitive damages, which most countries, including Slovakia, currently dont apply. If damages (only) compensate for the actual prejudice suffered by the rights owner as a result of the infringement, the deterrent effect of would-be infringers is non-existent.There is a famous saying which states that there is no better way of exercising the imagination than to become a lawyer. No artist will ever interpret reality as freely as the lawyer interprets the truth. Neither life nor the law is black and white, so defending IP is often a war of words. These words need to be precise and concise, yet very simple and most importantly, undoubtedly convincing. It may sound easy but its often a challenge.I believe that the amount of work in IP will be steady: it will not rapidly increase but it will not decrease either. The field in which expertise will increase rapidly in the next few years will be privacy law. Job postings for privacy officers or privacy lawyers seem to have doubled, if not tripled, in the last few years. No IP case has garnered such attention, publicity and controversy as when M r Schrems filed a case against Facebook the result of which was the invalidation of the Safe Harbor data transfer scheme. This is because people are increasingly aware of the value of their privacy and do not want to be watched. Intelligent use of personal data that respects peoples privacy and limitations given by the law will be among the biggest competitive advantages in the coming years.I dont think Slovakia is significantly different compared to other countries in this particular aspect. A client once told me that a good attorney is a lawyer where the client doesnt need to worry about the law and can entirely shift his/her attention to the sales. In a jurisdiction such as Slovakia, where IP is a relatively new and still developing field of law, it is imperative that an IP specialist is brought in to deal with an IP issue. In jurisdictions where judges are very experienced in IP cases and where IP litigation has a long history, there is a good chance that the judge will know the law even if the attorney isnt a true specialist. In jurisdictions such as Slovakia, the judge may appreciate an IP specialists guidance. On the other hand, attorneys are only as good as the information clients provide them with. Its unlikely that a judge will understand the issue if the attorney doesnt fully grasp it.With the approaching summer, I feel better just having something very light. I will probably grab a salad.The Czech Republic. I find myself travelling back and forth between Prague and Bratislava on a regular basis. As Slovakia and the Czech Republic used to be one country before separation in 1993, many businesses operate cross-border. This is also due to linguistic similarities between the two countries. Taking advantage of the fact that we have offices in both Prague and Bratislava, clients often appreciate that we service both countries with one contact person as a one-stop-shop.Trademarks, trade secrets, utility models and patents will always be relevant to protecting, managing, exploiting and leveraging both basic and improvement innovations. Recent (and increasing) statements saying that copyright is dead or that there is too much of copyright raise question marks over this field of IP law. Im a bit worried that people will increasingly ignore copyright if it doesnt give them exactly what they want, both in terms of convenience and price.Thats an easy answer. Hong Kong, the city that never sleeps, would definitely be my choice. I worked there back in 2011 and for a short while was in Gabriela Kennedys team (at that time a partner in Hogan Lovells). It was an awesome experience. When I finish work late in Bratislava, I usually drive home and the city is rather quiet and tranquil. When one finishes work at a late hour in Hong Kong, the city is still lively, there are many people on the streets and many shops are still open. The energy and the vibe of the city are very contagious.An easy and quick answer again. It would certainly be Margot Frohlinger , principal director at the European Patent Office and previously a director at the IP Unit of the European Commission, or simply "Ms UPC". Margot was my boss when I worked for the European Commission. Margot combined a deep knowledge and passion for IP that mattered intensely to her. She is a very charming and inspirational person, very hard-working and it would be great to catch up again after all these years. Where would I take her? Well, it better be nice!There are a couple. Under-promise and over-deliver but never the other way round. Or that the answer should never be "No, you cant" but "Lets figure out how you can".There are many nice places but one which is particularly close to my heart would be Devin castle. The castle stands just inside Slovak territory on the frontier between Slovakia and Austria, along the Morava River and the Danube. Before 1989, the Iron Curtain between the Eastern Bloc and the West ran just in front of the castle. At that time the area was a restricted military zone surrounded by several watchtowers and barbed wire. After the Velvet Revolution the area was demilitarised. Nowadays Devin is a nice area for walks featuring small and cosy traditional restaurants. The area is well known for wine production. To many people in Slovakia the word "ribezlak" (an informal Slovak name for currant wine) recalls memories of their grandparents, who used to manufacture this rather sweet wine some decades ago. The goal nowadays is to revive this tradition and produce wine whose quality is approaching the quality of popular grape wines. With the currant wine, Devins food speciality would be deer goulash. CNN indicates that the company has so far refused to back down on this point, but the ongoing controversy illustrates the tensions that many companies will face as they attempt to re-engage with Iranian markets, over the objections of international activists and policymakers. In fact, while some people are citing their awareness of Iranian human rights abuses and other illicit behaviors in an attempt to avoid being sent into the country against their will, others are eagerly attempting to gain access to Iran, in the interest of exposing these issues. The Associated Press reports that Republican Representatives Mike Pompeo, Lee Zeldin, and Frank LoBiondo had sent an open letter to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday following up on their two-month-old visa application, which they filed in person at the Iranian Interests Section in Washington, DC. The lawmakers complained that their request to travel to the Islamic Republic was met with ridicule and delay, something that the AP suggests was to be expected on the basis of the Republican fantasy trip that Pompeo, Zeldin, and LoBiondo outlined. The three say that they are seeking a direct audience with American citizens held prisoner in Iran, as well as briefings from Iranian officials on recent ballistic missile tests and a January incident in which the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps seized 10 US sailors who had strayed into Iranian territorial waters and held them for about a day. Presumably, the Republican legislators never expected their request to be granted, but were instead seeking to bring renewed attention to the issues that they believe should preclude Western governments from sending representatives to Iran without precondition. The Iranian neglect of their application arguably also illustrates the interest that Iranian officials have in limiting public scrutiny of its provocative behaviors and avoiding inquiries regarding whether those behaviors can be expected to change in the wake of sanctions relief under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Pompeo, Zeldin, and LoBiondos apparent publicity stunt may help to provide their colleagues with further justification for congressional actions that seek to obstruct efforts to reengage economically with the Islamic Republic. In recent weeks, the White House has come under fire from opponents of the nuclear deal for what have been regarded as efforts to reverse a rule banning interaction between the Iranian and American financial systems. In a report on Tuesday, The Tower emphasized that those restrictions had been imposed even before the sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program, which were suspended under the JCPOA. It quotes Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies as saying the earlier measures were being put in place because the Iranian financial sector represented a threat to the integrity of the global financial system. Iran continues to be a significant source of money laundering and corruption, with some of the countrys assets being funneled into terrorist organizations, giving the Islamic Republic a reputation as the leading state sponsor of terrorism or the worlds central banker for terrorist groups. Republican and some Democratic congressmen reportedly hope to avoid the worsening of this situation, as well as other illicit uses for Iranian assets, by limiting the extent to which the US and its allies are able to interact with the Iranian financial system. But recent controversies have highlighted that Congress and the president are significantly at odds over some prospective measures. By some accounts, the White Houses efforts to promote post-JCPOA investment in Iran helped to bring about Boeings visit to the Islamic Republic on Monday. That visit was the first of its kind in decades, and it appeared to represent a major change in policy by US-based businesses that had previously been worried they might still fall afoul of US-led sanctions, even in spite of the nuclear deal. Still, the ultimate significance of the visit and the long-term effects of an economic agreement between Boeing and Iran remain in doubt. Congressional scrutiny may still help to hold back the value of any such deals, if not their ability to move forward in the first place. The Daily Signal pointed out that one way in which Republicans are still limiting such reengagement is by delaying the confirmation of President Obamas appointment to the board of the US Export-Import Bank. In absence of a quorum, this body is unable to approve deals that exceed 10 million dollars in value. A deal concluded early this year between Iran and French Boeing competitor Airbus was valued at approximately 25 billion dollars. Thus, as Boeing strives to gain access to the same market, it has joined in lobbying the Senate to confirm Obamas nomination. But Republican opposition to the deal is very unlikely to waver, and may thus hold the American executive and US-based businesses back from activities that could be seen as enriching a terrorist state. Interestingly, this obstructionism was not included in Forbes recent list of seven persistent obstacles to the reentry of international companies into the Iranian market. The list did, however, mention the lingering uncertainty about the outcome of both the American and Iranian presidential elections. Depending on this outcome, congressional Republicans could receive support from the new president, as well as additional fuel for their efforts to call attention to Iranian provocations and abuses. Forbes also mentioned the existing banking restrictions, which remain in place despite accusations that the Obama administration is seeking to weaken or partially circumvent them. These restrictions still make it difficult for companies to do business with Iran and the US at the same time. Sanctions on Irans human rights abuses and support for terrorism have a similar effect, as does the threat of snapback, or the quick re-imposition of suspended sanctions in the event that Iran cheats on the deal. Forbes also highlighted some of the problems that Republican lawmakers have been trying so hard to emphasize, including the levels of Iranian corruption and the influence that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a heavily sanctioned organization continues to exert over the Iranian economy. Similarly, an article in Eurasia Review analyzing Irans probable financial future called attention to Supreme Leader Ali Khameneis controlling influence over the Iranian Central Bank something that could lead the hardline cleric to obstruct Irans access to foreign business on his own, regardless of the efforts of the US and its allies to ease that access from their end. This and other factors lead Eurasia Review to conclude that Irans financial future still remains highly uncertain. And to this we can add that as long as the Republic congressional majority and its Democratic allies, along with non-governmental political groups, keep up pressure on Western businesses, the ultimate effects of the JCPOA may continue to be held back to a great extent. [April 13, 2016] NEC Display Demonstrates Digital Cinema Projector Capable of up to 35,000 Lumens of Brightness NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading provider of commercial LCD display and projector solutions, announced today the demonstration of the NC3540LS digital cinema prototype, a 4K RGB laser projector with a bright and wide color space (Rec 2020) targeting large theater screens. The new projector will be demonstrated today through April 14 in Milano Room 4 at Caesars Palace, home to CinemaCon, the official convention of The National Association of Theatre Owners. "NEC (News - Alert) Display offers the widest range of laser projector models on the market and, coupled with its large-screen displays and LED video walls, helps exhibitors build lasting experiences for movie-goers from the time they enter a theater lobby," said Keith Yanke, Senior Director of Product Marketing for Large Screen Displays and Projectors at NEC Display. "The NC3540LS projector gives theater owners just the solution to enhance their venues' brands and engagement with customers." The NC3540LS projector with IPG Photonics (News - Alert) Corporation (www.ipgphotonics.com) fiber laser light source joins NEC Display's portfolio of popular 2K and 4K digital cinema projectors suitable for all types of theater settings. For facilities with larger screens, the NC3540LS model can be configured in a two-projector stcking setup to deliver 70,000 lumens, among the brightest options on the market. NEC also plans to enhance its line-up of affordable laser phosphor projectors for medium screens requiring up to 15m-screen width later this year. To learn more about NEC Display Solutions digital cinema solutions, please visit www.necdisplay.com. About NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc. NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc., is a leading designer and provider of innovative desktop LCD monitors, commercial- and professional-grade large-screen LCD displays, a diverse line of multimedia and digital cinema projectors, and integrated display solutions. It develops leading-edge visual technology and customer-focused solutions for a wide variety of markets, including digital signage, education, graphics, healthcare, restaurants, retail, transportation, and many more. NEC is orchestrating a brighter world with the quality and reliability of its products and outstanding customer service. For additional information about NEC Display Solutions of America products, call (866) NEC-MORE, or visit the website at www.necdisplay.com. Follow us on our social media channels: Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn. About VUKUNET VUKUNET powers growth in the digital out-of-home advertising business, and creates new revenue opportunities for DOOH network owners from trading desks, digital agencies and online companies. As the only global solution for online DOOH ad buying, VUKUNET automates campaign planning, inventory availability, flighting of ads and reporting of POP. For additional information on this ad serving platform from NEC Display Solutions of America, please visit www.vukunet.com, or call (877) 805-VUKU. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413006413/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 13, 2016] GSA Global Leadership Summit to Co-locate with CES Asia 2016 Today, CES Asia announced that the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA)'s Global Leadership Summit (GLS) will be held in conjunction with CES (News - Alert) Asia 2016 to promote cross-industry collaboration and innovation. CES Asia is the premier event in Asia for the consumer technology industry, showcasing the full innovation value-chain across the Asian market. Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), and co-produced by Intex Shanghai, CES Asia will run May 11-13, 2016, in Shanghai, China. GLS is GSA's flagship event held every two years in Shanghai, China. This year's Summit, entitled "The Rise of China," will discuss China's efforts to grow the semiconductor industry from within and how this will translate to new opportunities for the global market. "We are excited to partner with the GSA as we pursue our shared goal of promoting collaboration and innovation, as well as grow the Asian marketplace for our respective industries," said Gary Shapiro (News - Alert), president and CEO, Consumer Technology Association. "CES Asia attracts over 30,000 total attendees, more than 5,000 of which are senior-level executives from a broad array of global industries. We look forward to welcoming executives attending GLS to CES Asia 2016 to network, learn and identify opportunities for shared industry growth." "GLS brings together more than 200 leading executives from around the world to collaborate on solutions that will further enhance the contribution of the semiconductor industry," says Jodi Shelton, president, Global Semiconductor Alliance. "Collocating GLS with CES Asia was an easy decision as it provides the opportunity for these leaders to take their collaborative efforts one step further by including the consumer electronics ecosystem." The second annual CES Asia will span up to 32,000 gross square meters of exhibit space. Businesses from around the globe come to CES Asia to launch new products into the fast growing Asian marketplace. Currently more than 300 companies from 23 countries, regions and territories are set to exhibit at CES Asia 2016. Top exhibitors include 360, 3M, Alibaba, Audio-Technica, Baidu Online Network Technology, Beltronics, BMW, Cobra Electronics, Continental Automotive Holding, Escort, Garmin (News - Alert), Gibson Brands, Hisense, Huawei, IBM, Intel, JD.com, LeTV, LG, Mercedes-Benz, Monster, NavInfo, Onkyo, Peiker Automotive Technology, Pioneer, OnStar/Chevrolet, Scosche, Sogou Technology Development, Speck, Suning, TE, Twitter (News - Alert), Volvo, Voxx, Wacom and Yihaodian. Find the full list of exhibiting companies. CES Asia 2016 also features a dynamic conference program. The complete lineup of CES Asia conference sessions is available on CESAsia.com. The Global Leadership Summit is an invitation-only event, dedicated to promoting the advancement of technology, business and education with the ultimate goal of improving efficiencies and strengthening the semiconductor industry. For more information about the event, please contact Britton Cunningham at [email protected]. Registration for CES Asia 2016 is live. Visit CESAsia.com for more information. Note to Editors: Journalists traveling from outside of China will require a J-1 or J-2 visa. For questions about exhibiting at CES Asia, contact Brian Moon at [email protected] or +1 703-907-4351. About Consumer Technology Association: Consumer Technology Association (CTA)TM is the trade association representing the $287 billion U.S. consumer technology industry. More than 2,200 companies - 80 percent are small businesses and startups; others are among the world's best known brands - enjoy the benefits of CTA membership including policy advocacy, market research, technical education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CTA also owns and produces CES - the world's gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. Profits from CES are reinvested into CTA's industry services. About Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) mission is to support the global semiconductor industry and its partners by offering a comprehensive view of the industry. This enables members to better anticipate market opportunities and industry trends, preparing them for technology and business shifts. It addresses the challenges within the supply chain including IP, EDA/design, wafer manufacturing, test and packaging to enable industry-wide solutions. Providing a platform for meaningful global collaboration through efficient power networking for global semiconductor leaders and their partners, the GSA identifies and articulates market opportunities, encourages and supports entrepreneurship, and provides members with comprehensive and unique market intelligence. Members include companies throughout the supply chain representing 30 countries across the globe. Learn more at gsaglobal.org. About CES Asia: Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)TM and co-produced by Intex Shanghai, CES Asia is the premier event for the consumer technology industry, showcasing the full breadth and depth of the innovation value-chain in the Asian marketplace. Key global businesses come to this new event to grow and reinforce their brand by showcasing the latest products and technologies to consumer tech industry executives, foreign buyers, international media and a limited number of consumers from China. Attendees have exclusive access to some of the largest brands from China and around the world, while celebrating the innovation that defines the consumer technology sector. About Intex Shanghai: Intex Shanghai Co., Ltd is the sub joint venture company of CCPIT (China Council for the Promotion of International Trade) Shanghai, which started in 1992 and is jointly invested by Shanghai Hongqiao E&T Development Zone United Development Co., Ltd., CCPIT Shanghai and Istithmar P&O Estates FZE. As a prominent producer of tradeshows in China, Intex owns a venue in Shanghai, manages various exhibition venues outside of Shanghai and also organizes and co-organizes 10 international trade shows throughout China. Intex Shanghai is the vice chairman of SCEIA, the Deputy Director of CAEC and the member of UFI and has a stand-out reputation in the domestic exhibition industry. Find Intex Shanghai online at www.intex-sh.com. UPCOMING EVENTS CES on the Hill - Register April 19, Washington, DC April 19, Washington, DC Digital Patriots Dinner - Register April 20, Washington, DC April 20, Washington, DC CES Asia 2016 - Register May 11-13, Shanghai, China May 11-13, Shanghai, China CEO Summit June 21-24, Tel Aviv, Israel June 21-24, Tel Aviv, Israel Innovate! September 20-22, San Jose, CA (News - Alert) September 20-22, San Jose, CA (News - Alert) CES Unveiled Prague October 20, Prague, Czech Republic October 20, Prague, Czech Republic CES Unveiled Paris October 25, Paris, France October 25, Paris, France CT Hall of Fame November 9, New York, NY November 9, New York, NY CES Unveiled New York November 10, New York, NY November 10, New York, NY CES Unveiled Las Vegas January 3, Las Vegas, NV January 3, Las Vegas, NV CES 2017 January 5-8, Las Vegas, NV View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413006600/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 13, 2016] Fitch Rates Duval County School Board, Florida's Rfdg COPs 'AA-'; Outlook Stable Fitch Ratings assigns an 'AA-' rating to the following Duval County School Board, Florida certificates of participation (COPs): --$41.2 million refunding COPs, series 2016A. Proceeds will be used to refund the board's outstanding series 2009A COPs for level savings. The COPs are expected to be sold through negotiation the week of April 18. In addition, Fitch affirms its 'AA-' rating on the $329 million outstanding series 2007, 2009A, 2009B, 2013A, and 2015B COPs. Fitch also affirms its 'AA' rating on the Duval County School Board implied unlimited tax general obligation (ULTGO). The Rating Outlook is Stable. SECURITY The COPs are backed by lease payments made by the Duval County School District (the district) from any legally available funds, subject to annual appropriation. The COPs are issued pursuant to a master lease agreement, which, in the event of non-appropriation, requires the district to surrender all leased facilities to the trustee. KEY RATING DRIVERS SOLID FUND BALANCES: The district has maintained a healthy financial cushion over the past three years, despite general fund drawdowns in fiscals 2014 and 2013. Given the prospects for stable to moderate growth in state aid, together with the district's practice of conservative budgeting, reserves are expected to remain sufficient. SOUND ECONOMY: The local economy is sound, anchored by the presence of the U.S. Navy, and trade activity at the Port of Jacksonville. Taxable assessed value (TAV) has grown for the past three years and county employment trends are positive. LOW CARRYING COSTS: Total expenditure levels associated with debt service, pension contributions, and other post-employment benefit (OPEB) payments are low. However, this is due in part to average debt amortization. STRONG LEASE STRUCTURE: The Florida master lease structure is strong, with the all-or-none appropriation provision affording solid incentive for timely repayment. There are 22 school properties (12 schools and 10 school additions) included under the lease structure out of a total 197 district schools. RATING SENSITIVITIES FINANCIAL STABILITY: Fitch expects management to continue its conservative budget practices and maintain reserves at or close to current levels. Actions contrary to this could pressure the rating. CREDIT PROFILE The district serves the consolidated government of the city of Jacksonville and Duval County located on the north-eastern coast of Florida. The district enrolls about 129,000 students in 197 elementary, middle and high schools. Annual student enrollment growth has been less than 1% in recent years. STABLE FINANCIAL OPERATIONS The district closed fiscal 2014 with unrestricted reserves at a favorable $104.1 million or 11.2% of spending following an operating deficit of $15.3 million or 1.6% of spending. The original budget was balanced with a $63.6 million use of reserves, although the district budgets conservatively and has a long history of exceeding forecast. The fiscal 2015 budget initially assumed a $60.8 million fund balance appropriation, but spending was significantly lower than budget, which resulted in a net operating surplus of $2 million (less than 1% of spending). Unrestricted reserves equaled $100.8 million or 10.6% of spending at the end of fiscal 2015. The fiscal 2016 budget appropriates approximately $67 million of fund balance; however, management estimates the district will close the year similar to fiscal 2015, with flat to modest surplus financial operations. Moderate increases in per pupil funding adopted by the state legislature coupled with positive growth in enrollment (albeit slight) and prospects for increasing taxable assessed values will help support district financial operations over the next several years. ECONOMY SUPPORTED BY MILITARY PRESENCE The area's diverse economic base is bolstered by its historical naval presence, large cargo port, insurance, health care, and manufacturing industries. Unemployment reached a high of 11.4% during the recession but has steadily declined. The February 2016 unemployment rate was slightly higher than state and national rates. After significant recessionary declines the district's tax base saw the first year of growth in fiscal 2015, posting gains of 6%. Solid 5% growth was followed in fiscal 2016, with the tax base totaling approximately $57.7 billion. Increases in the taxable assessed value provide additional discretionary operating and capital outlay revenue for the district. Management is projecting similar increases over the next several years, primarily based on overall recovery in the regional housing market and reported commercial development. The tax base is diverse, with the top 10 taxpayers accounting or less than 5% of the total assessed value. LOW CARRYING COSTS Total debt service, required pension contributions and OPEB payments were a low 8.2% of spending in fiscal 2015. The district's debt ratios are average, with overall debt levels about $2,900 per capita or 3% of market value. Amortization is average at about 49% of outstanding principal repaid in 10 years. The district's five-year capital improvement plan identifies $300 million in spending needs, largely for maintenance and technology and largely funded with current revenues. COP issuance ($80 million) is anticipated in fiscal 2020 for two new schools. New debt isn't expected to materially impact debt ratios given the rate of amortization of existing principal over the next five years. The district may use any legally available revenue for COPs debt service, but it has historically paid with revenue from its 1.5 mill capital outlay millage. Of this millage, the district may use 75% (1.125 mills) for new obligations entered into after June 30, 2009 and the full 1.5 mills can be used for leases originated pre-2009. The district has issued new money COPs post-2009, which limits the district to the 1.125 mills for those obligations; however, the district only needs a relatively low 0.58 mills of the capital outlay (assuming a 96% tax collection rate and no federal subsidy payments) to cover maximum annual debt service (MADS) on outstanding COPs. The district provides pension benefits through the state-administered Florida Retirement System (FRS). Employer only pension costs of $29.6 million equaled approximately 2% of total governmental spending in fiscal year 2015. While the district has historically made its required contribution to the plan, in fiscal years 2011 to 2013, FRS did not have participating entities make the actuarially determined required contribution. In fiscal 2014, FRS returned to an actuarially based contribution, resulting in increased pension costs for participants. Using GASB 68 reporting, the ratio of assets-to-liabilities at June 30, 2014 was 96.09% using the plan's 7.65% discount rate assumption, or an estimated 89.7% using Fitch's 7% discount rate assumption. Fitch estimates the district's proportional share of FRS' net pension liability at roughly $247 million (0.3% of market value). OPEB payments were less than 1% of fiscal 2015 spending. The unfunded actuarial accrued liability as of the July 1, 2014 actuarial valuation date was a low $55 million and represents the implicit subsidy from allowing retirees to purchase insurance at the group rate. Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. Fitch recently published exposure drafts of state and local government tax-supported criteria (Exposure Draft: U.S. Tax-Supported Rating Criteria, dated Sept. 10, 2015 and Exposure Draft: Incorporating Enhanced Recovery Prospects into U.S. Local Tax-Supported Ratings). The drafts include a number of proposed revisions to existing criteria. If applied in the proposed form, Fitch estimates the revised criteria would result in changes to less than 10% of existing tax-supported ratings. Fitch expects that final criteria will be approved and published at the beginning of the second quarter of 2016. Once approved, the criteria will be applied immediately to any new issue and surveillance rating review. Fitch anticipates the criteria to be applied to all ratings that fall under the criteria within a 12-month period from the final approval date. In addition to the sources of information identified in the applicable criteria specified below, this action was informed by information from CreditScope, Lumesis and Zillow Group. Applicable Criteria Exposure Draft: Incorporating Enhanced Recovery Prospects into US Local Tax-Supported Ratings (pub. 02 Feb 2016) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=875108 Exposure Draft: U.S. Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 10 Sep 2015) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=869942 Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 14 Aug 2012) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=686015 U.S. Local Government Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 14 Aug 2012) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=685314 Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=1002452 Solicitation Status https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1002452 Endorsement Policy https://www.fitchratings.com/jsp/creditdesk/PolicyRegulation.faces?context=2&detail=31 ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413006618/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] SES Government Solutions Wins Army TROJAN Contracts Satellite solutions provider SES (News - Alert) Government Solutions (SES GS) was the sole winner of the two U.S. Government TROJAN follow-on contracts which support U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM). These contracts support the premier Army intelligence network, using the SES global data network. Both contracts were awarded as Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA's) with a five year period of performance. While there is no minimum guarantee under a BPA for either contract, the current contract with SES GS currently utilizes slightly more than 400 MHz. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005105/en/ SES Government Solutions Wins Army TROJAN Contracts (Photo: SES) The Army's TROJAN Network provides access to a global, end-to-end network, complete with multi-band service tailored to meet specific U.S. INSCOM requirements. The SES GS suite of capabilities enhances combat readiness of military personnel by streaming data, voice and video to and from intelligence centers. Performance on the program is based on delivering operational availability at the highest levels. This network also includes terminals and ground infrastructure for the U.S. Army soldiers and decision makers from multiple locations across the globe. "By using the latest commercial satellite capabilities as part of the TROJAN network, senior U.S. Government leaders are able to quickly get the right information they need to make critical decisions," said Peter Hoene, President & CEO of SES Government Solutions. SES GS was awarded the initial TROJAN contract in 1998 and works closely with U.S. Army INSCOM to ensure the network is maximized to support U.S. Army decision-makers. About SES Government Solutions SES Government Solutions, a subsidiary of global satellite operator SES, is exclusively focused on meeting the satellite communications needs of the U.S. Government. Leveraging more than four decades of experience in the government SATCOM market, SES Government Solutions offers robust and secure satellite-based communications solutions. Supported by SES's fleet of over 50 satellites offering comprehensive global coverage, SES Government Solutions provides highly reliable fixed and on-the-move capacity. Further information can be found at www.ses-gs.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005105/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] MNC's in the Automotive, Aerospace & Defence and Semiconductor Verticals House Bangalore as Their Preferred Destination for High Availability of Talent and Matured Ecosystem: Says Zinnov BANGALORE, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- - Indian R&D Talent Pool Expected to Grow at a CAGR of 10.9% to Reach One Million by 2020 - The Indian Ecosystem Currently Houses 928 MNCs, With 1165 R&D Centers, Making the Current MNC R&D Talent Pool Stand at 323,000 Leading management consulting firm, Zinnov, today released its latest study on the MNC R&D Talent Landscape in India with very specific focus on Automotive, Aerospace & Defense and Semiconductors verticals. Suggesting a positive and upbeat outlook for the industry, the Zinnov report said that the R&D talent pool is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.9% and touch 1 million by 2020 from the present 610,000. The Indian ecosystem currently houses 928 MNCs, with 1165 R&D centers, making the current MNC R&D talent pool stand at 323,000, with the Telecommunication/Networking, Semiconductor and Automotive verticals employing approximately 10% each of the total MNC R&D talent pool, respectively. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130213/594614 ) The report also puts forward insightful revelations on the talent distribution across locations, stating that 96% of MNCs are set up in tier-1 cities with Bangalore and Pune accounting for the highest concentration of R&D talent. However, tier-2 cities too, with their quality infrastructure coupled with lower operations cost, are gaining prominence in MNCs' decision to set up R&D centers, thus suggesting a rapid evolution of a multi-city R&D ecosystem in the country. The released Zinnov report, presented the talent spilt across verticals like Automotive, Aerospace & Defence and Semiconductor. Talking about Aerospace alone, the report reads that with top MNCs based out of Bangalore like Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Safran, Lockheed Martin, etc, R&D centers in this vertical are aligning their capability with global trends such as IoT and Big Data. Additionally, the Aerospace & Defence MNCs largely employ software and embedded talent with minimum focus on mechanical talent, it added. Aerospace & Defence vertical in India has come a long way in the product-engineering value-chain, from providing just peripheral serices to securing high-involvement collaborations for developing whole subsystems, systems, and solutions. Total MNC R&D talent Vertical MNCs in India R&D centres pool in India Aerospace & Defense Nos. 13 Nos. 17 Nos. 3,356 Automotive Nos. 62 Nos. 73 Nos. 30,757 Semiconductors Nos. 58 Nos. 83 Nos. 23,333 Laying specifics on the Automotive vertical, the Zinnov study reads that the MNCs in this vertical have a significant R&D presence in India with players like Mercedes Benz, Visteon, Fiat Chrysler, Renault Nissan, Ford, etc. And when it comes to talent, automotive R&D centers majorly employ mechanical talent but are increasing their hiring focus on embedded and software talent to deliver advanced solutions such as ADAS. It also added that the Deccan Triangle (Pune - Hyderabad - Bangalore) is the automotive hub in India with Pune leading with the highest number of automotive R&D centers in India. While cost arbitrage continues to be a key driver for R&D globalization, automotive vertical in India has progressed from just CAD/CAM solutions to infotainment systems, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and other core engineering services. Semiconductor as a vertical, on the other hand, houses names like Intel, Qualcomm, ARM, AMD, Applied Materials, Texus Instruments, etc, in the MNC R&D landscape and Internet of Things (IOT) has boosted the installed talent in this vertical significantly. The centers in this vertical employ software and embedded talent only, it reflected. Additionally, the report also added that India is becoming a key market for most semiconductor companies with initiatives such as 'Digital India' and 'Smart cities' in motion. Most of the centers are focussing on next-generation technologies, which are centered around wireless networking (4G & above) and video technologies. Apart from this, India is also becoming a hub for R&D in developing products for Internet of Things platform. Speaking about the released study, Anand Subramaniam, Engagement Manager & Project Lead, Zinnov, said, "Attributing the burgeoning talent growth to factors such as the rise in MNCs (over 200 MNCs have entered the Indian ecosystem in the last decade), service providers, tech startups and Indian establishments, we are confident that proactive government initiatives like 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' are expected to further drive the R&D talent intensity in the Automotive, Industrial, Software, Semiconductor and Engineering Services verticals." "There is an increasing shift in mindsets across the R&D community, moving away from cost arbitrage to value creation. The R&D ecosystem in India has grown at a phenomenal pace in the last decade. MNCs, service providers, tech startups and Indian cos/establishments are driving this growth and by 2020, 49% of the global 500 R&D spenders will have their centers in India," he added. About Zinnov: Founded in 2002, Zinnov is headquartered in Silicon Valley and Bangalore. In over a decade they have built in-depth expertise in engineering and digital practice areas. They assist their customers in effectively leveraging global innovation and technology ecosystems to accelerate innovation and digital transformation. Zinnov helps their customers: Benefit by benchmarking their technology strategy and business models with best practices from peers and technology startups. With large-scale engineering and digital transformation through globalization and innovative engagement models. Build their M&A strategy. Grow revenue by helping them identify relevant products and services for emerging markets. With Zinnov's team of experienced professionals, they serve clients in Software, Automotive, Telecom & Networking, Semiconductor, Consumer Electronics, Storage, Healthcare, Banking, Financial Services and Retail verticals in US, Europe, Japan & India. For more information, visit: http://www.zinnov.com . For any further media queries, please contact: Kinjal Chhetri Panwar [email protected] +91-8197140140 Zinnov Sunaina Bajaj +91-9844476529 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] IBM Honors 11 New Fellows for Outstanding Work in Cognitive, Cloud, Security and Healthcare ARMONK, N.Y., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today named 11 new IBM Fellows, the company's most prestigious technical honor. The new Fellows are being honored for pioneering work in areas including cognitive computing, analytics, cloud, security, mobile and healthcare. As Fellows, these individuals will have the opportunity to dedicate significant time to free-form exploration and innovation in their areas of expertise. "These extraordinary men and women join a select community made up of some of the world's most creative thinkers," said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and CEO. "Our new IBM Fellows play a critical role in defining the next era of technology, business and society, with vital contributions to IBM's position as the world's leading cognitive solutions and cloud platform company." The IBM Fellow distinction is conferred in recognition of exceptional and sustained technical achievements and leadership in engineering, programming, services, science, technology and industry solutions. Collectively, the 11 new Fellows have 172 patents. This year's Fellows are transforming business and society with technical advancements, developments and research. For example, Director of IBM Healthcare and Life Sciences Research Ajay Royyuru is using Watson for Genomics to translate genomic variations in cancer to treatment options. IBM's Chief Scientist for Medical Sieve Radiology Tanveer Syeda-Mahmood is developing automated, cognitive radiology and cardiology technology that is aimed at helping clinicians in their decision-making. Director of IBM Security Research JR Rao is addressing emerging challenges in security and privacy with cognitive computing, data and analytics. IBM Cloud Computing Scientist Gosia Steinder is greatly simplifying application lifecycle management with container cloud research. Past IBM Fellows, who include a Kyoto Prize winner and five Nobel Prize winners, have fostered some of business and society's most significant breakthroughs?from the IBM Watson cognitive system, to the systems that helped put the first man on the moon, and the first instrument to image atoms. To be awarded IBM's pre-eminent technical honor, an employee must meet four important criteria: Sustained innovation in some of the world's most important technologies Significant recognition as a leader among IBM's technical communities Broad industry acknowledgement of the individual's accomplishments A strong history of new technologies and business models being deployed at scale The program was founded in 1962 by Thomas J. Watson, Jr. to promote creativity among the company's most exceptional technical professionals. IBM has named 278 Fellows since the program's inception. Collectively, IBM Fellows have 9,329 patents. 2016 IBM Fellows Mac Devine Cloud Computing and Internet of Things IBM Cloud As Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Neworking and Innovation Services within IBM's Cloud division, Mac Devine has helped shape the company's cloud computing and Internet of Things strategies, including IBM's acquisitions of SoftLayer, Cloudant, Fiberlink, Ustream and The Weather Company. Mac is a master innovator who constantly pushes IBM into new technology areas and finds innovative ways to leverage open source and its ecosystem. As an IBM Fellow, Mac will be responsible for defining the architecture and setting the technical direction for leveraging emerging technology used for supporting hyperscale workloads. He will also focus on advanced innovations to extend IBM's presence into Edge of Network in support of Internet of Things, data-as-a-service, video services and cyber security. Blaine Dolph Apple+IBM Partnership IBM Global Business Services Blaine Dolph is Chief Technology Officer of the Apple+IBM Global Partnership. He is also an IBM Master Inventor with more than 40 patents filed. Blaine has been instrumental in launching the technical strategy for several IBM organizations, including IBM Interactive, IBM Global Mobile Center of Competence and most recently the Apple+IBM Global Partnership. As an IBM Fellow, Blaine will continue to serve as CTO of the Apple+IBM Global Partnership, while also offering technical leadership and guidance to The Weather Company, an IBM Business, and IBM's Global Partnerships with Box and Twitter. Stacy Joines Performance Engineering IBM Watson Stacy Joines is the Chief Technology Officer of Watson Client Implementations. In this position, Stacy builds on her contributions to the field of performance to deliver robust cognitive solutions. She has a long history of delivering and sustaining IBM's high-volume clients in the WebSphere Application Server and Smarter Commerce spaces. As an IBM Fellow, Stacy will apply the concepts of performance and end-user workload metrics to the era of cognitive computing. Shankar Kalyana Cloud Business Solutions IBM Global Business Services Shankar Kalyana has worked for IBM in the US and India, helping clients across banking, government, automotive and other industries transform their organizations using cloud computing. Shankar Kalyana is currently serving as Vice President, Distinguished Engineer and Chief Technology Officer of IBM Cloud Business Solutions. Shankar's noteworthy technical accomplishments include launching the IBM Cloud Business Solutions technical and delivery model, and the launch of a cloud-based personalized learning solution that now delivers cognitive computing-generated education to students. Adam Kocoloski Cloud Data Services IBM Analytics Adam Kocoloski joined IBM in 2014 through the acquisition of Cloudant, where he built a highly scalable database-as-a-service by extending Apache CouchDB. At IBM, Adam applied the lessons learned at Cloudant to form a Cloud Data Services group. His expertise and entrepreneurial spirit will be critical as IBM continues to innovate and serve clients as a cognitive solutions and cloud platform company. William Kostenko z Systems IBM Systems William (Bill) Kostenko is the Chief Engineer for IBM z Systems hardware. Bill's innovation, leadership, and strategic vision were fundamental to the (5 GHz) z13 launch in 2015. His design also anticipated and provided key technology to accelerate the delivery of IBM's POWER8 high-end and mid-range systems. Bill is a leading innovator of data center optimization, system energy efficiency, the transformation of Systems hardware, and the delivery of large hardware cost reductions. Josyula Rao Security and Analytics IBM Research Josyula (JR) Rao is the Director of IBM Security Research. JR is widely known for his pioneering technical contributions to the development of empirical and analytical methods for security. This is best exemplified by an industry-wide vision that JR has created for applying big data security intelligence for protecting enterprise, mobile and cloud environments. These ideas were instrumental in IBM's acquisition of Q1 Labs as well as establishing and evolving IBM's Security Business Unit. As an IBM Fellow, JR will continue to define and develop new technologies that address emerging challenges in security and privacy. Salim Roukos Natural Language Processing IBM Research Salim Roukos' work has significantly accelerated machine translation research and development over the past decade. The multilingual technologies developed by Salim have been key drivers for expanding IBM cognitive services and multilingual question-answering client engagements by making Watson systems understand non-English languages. As an IBM Fellow, Salim will lead the strategic research and development in multilingual natural language cognitive systems and services, expanding his influence to provide cognitive, integrated analytics and big data components that can reason over large, unstructured multilingual content and integrate with structured information for the finance, healthcare, government, and insurance industries. Ajay Royyuru Computation Biology and Genomics IBM Research Ajay Royyuru leads Healthcare and Life Sciences Research at IBM and is an expert in computational biology and genomics. Ajay's latest work has been dedicated to human genetic research to help combat diseases. Using Watson for Genomics, Ajay built a system to translate genomic variations in cancer to treatment options. Today, leading medical institutions are using the technology as a research tool to inform deliberations on new patients. Ajay's early work on computer modeling 3D structures of protein sparked the birth of IBM Blue Gene. It was both the most powerful and efficient supercomputer of its time, and has gone on to advance other simulations in life sciences, for example exquisite biophysical simulations of human heart and neural tissue, and diverse disciplines of physics, chemistry, material science and other areas. Malgorzata Steinder Container Cloud Research IBM Research Malgorzata (Gosia) Steinder's work is in the area of workload and resource management for hybrid cloud and data centers. Over the course of her career, Gosia has pioneered important concepts and technologies such as dynamic application clusters, workload-centric resource management, power-aware and license-aware workload placement, and container clouds. Her work has enabled IBM clients to greatly simplify the lifecycle management of their applications by removing the need for manual intervention in deploying, scaling and managing availability of applications. Tanveer Syeda-Mahmood Cognitive Computing and Medical Imaging IBM Research Tanveer is currently the Chief Scientist leading the Medical Sieve Radiology Grand Challenge project, a global IBM Research project aiming to develop automated, cognitive radiology and cardiology technology to aid clinician decision-making. This flagship project has made tremendous scientific advancements to establish IBM as a thought leader in cognitive computing and medical imaging. Over the last 25 years, Dr. Syeda-Mahmood has made a broad and deep impact to the field of healthcare through her pioneering research in content-based image and video indexing that established a new field of multimodal clinical decision support in healthcare. As an IBM Fellow, Tanveer will continue to apply cognitive computing to healthcare informatics and strengthen medical imaging technology. For more information on the 2016 IBM Fellows, visit: http://ibm.biz/2016ibmfellows Join the conversation on Twitter at #ibmfellows CONTACT: Melissa Turesky IBM Media Relations [email protected] 781-414-9380 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160414/355471 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibm-honors-11-new-fellows-for-outstanding-work-in-cognitive-cloud-security-and-healthcare-300251791.html SOURCE IBM [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] anterior Entrevista/Miami. El flamante consul Lior Haiat destaco el apoyo recibido contra el boicot a Israel Itongadol.- For the second time in a decade, the Yarkon River Authority has begun spraying pesticide along the length of the river to control a mosquito outbreak caused by pollution. In a statement released on Sunday, the YRA said that though it was reluctant to use pesticide, the spraying had become necessary due to sewage leaks. The river is not able to repel pests naturally, it said. A spokeswoman told The Jerusalem Post that the authority was using a natural pesticide to minimize environmental harm. She added that without spraying, the mosquito population would rapidly increase, posing health concerns for visitors to the river and nearby residents. The pesticide kills the larva of the Culex genus of mosquitoes, and costs NIS 5,000 per day. The authority has not decided how long it will continue spraying pesticide. The current mosquito outbreak was caused by sewage and gray water leaks from a waste treatment plant in the southeastern Sharon region that caused significant ecological damage to the river, said the authority. The leaks were detected after white foam, which is a sign of detergent, was spotted floating on the river. Less than a month before, the authority permitted gray water to flow into the Yarkon. Gray water is recycled water that has been used in showers, sinks, dishwashers and other household appliances. While considered unsafe to drink, it is used commonly used for irrigation. The authority added that river pollution is expected to continue for at least two years until a new wastewater treatment plant is inaugurated. The current sewage treatment plant, it said, is overloaded and is treating four times the amount of waste that it was built to handle. The Yarkon River is monitored on a regular basis by a team from the Yarkon River Authority. Water management professionals at the YRA expressed the hope that with the new plant and the three-year, NIS 220 million action plan for sediment drainage and remediation, the Yarkon will be rehabilitated just as the once polluted Yarkon River has been cleaned up. 100 years ago, April 14, 1916 MATTOON -- The week beginning with Saturday, April 29, will be "Clean Up Week" in Mattoon. The work will be carried on under supervision of a committee composed of one alderman from each of the seven wards of the city, a representative of the mothers' associations of each school, a representative of the merchants association, a member of the medical association and a member of the Tuesday Noon Club. The committee contemplates making the mothers' organization units responsible for their districts and that school children will be expected to do most of the work... TRILLA -- "Away over mountain, away over plain, vacation, vacation is with us again," so runs an old song, and the school children of Trilla likely sang it yesterday, for the school year ended. The "last day of school" was duly celebrated with a picnic at the school grounds. The principal this year was Lou Barger, and teacher, Miss Marie Buchanan. Trilla has an eight months school. Trilla is ahead of most communities in recognizing "the new woman" movement, for the school board has as its president a woman, Mrs. Emma F. Mitchell. 50 years ago, 1966 SPRINGFIELD -- Anonymous letters alleging irregular practices in building construction at Eastern Illinois University will be investigated by the Illinois Legislative Audit Commission. Rep. James Loukas, D-Chicago, and Rep. Richard Larson, R-Galesburg, were named to visit campus and talk with a person named in one of the letters and to give the letter writer a chance to talk with authorities. Attorney General William Clark, who opposed any further action, said the allegations have been investigated and answered to the satisfaction of the Board of Governors of State Colleges and Universities... CHARLESTON -- The boards of directors of the Mattoon Association of Commerce and the Charleston Chamber of Commerce held their first joint meeting at the Charleston Country Club Wednesday night. Approximately 30 chamber officials from both cities attended. Merle Myerscough is president of the Charleston Chamber while Harlan Heller is president of the Mattoon Association. George M. pendell is managing secretary of the Mattoon board and Bill Browning is managing secretary of the Charleston organization. 25 years ago, 1991 Sunday. No paper. 100 years ago, April 15, 1916 LERNA -- As a result of a petition sent to Washington, D.C., by Ed Rodgers, asking that Sunday postal service be restored in the Lerna Post Office, a representative of the federal government visited Lerna Thursday and made a thorough house-to-house canvass to ascertain views on the subject. He will report his findings to federal officials. It is proposed to have the local post offi9ce open following the arrival of the 7:35 a.m. Illinois Central mail train and to remain open about an hour... MATTOON -- One of the most auspicious days in the history of John C. Hale Court, Tribe on Ben Hur, was Friday when 300 candidates were initiated into the society at the grand spectacular degree, the ceremonies carried out in the Majestic Theater in the presence of about 500 members of the society. The scenes, some of the most spectacular ever witnessed in Mattoon, were from "Ben Hur," General Lew Wallace's great book. Candidates taken into the society were from Mattoon, Charleston, Effingham and Casey. The Tribe of Ben Hur began in Crawfordsville, Ind., Gen. Wallace's hometown, in 1894. The tribe now has more than 100,000 members across the country. 50 years ago, 1966 CHARLESTON -- Eastern Illinois University President Quincy Doudna said today that the university has had no official notice of any pending investigation of construction on campus. In a prepared statement, Doudna said he has no objections to an investigation of campus construction and added he doubts investigators will find anything irregular. Doudna said EUIU officials believe any investigation will again show there is no basis in fact for the anonymous and unsubstantiated allegations... MATTOON -- One of five Mattoon High School seniors will be crowned MHS Sweetheart at the school's annual spring party tonight at the MHS gym. The five candidates are Sharon Ross, Christi Weber, Conni Mory, Kathy Lucier and Andrea Sparks... MATTOON -- Income tax payers who are pressing the deadline for mailing in their returns are reminded that 10 p.m. tonight is the absolute deadline. The Mattoon Post Office closes at 10 p.m. and mail must be received prior to that time in order to bear an April 15 postmark, Leonard Finnegan, Mattoon postmaster, said. 25 years ago, 1991 MATTOON The deadline nears. The IRS waits. The taxpayer panics. Many local residents and tax preparers worked overtime this weekend to beat the deadline of midnight tonight to mail 1990 income tax forms. Tax preparation firms in Mattoon and Charleston reported that several people waited longer to prepare returns this year, perhaps because they were focused on the Persian Gulf War earlier this year MATTOON Now Marge Fedrigon can take consider taking down the Christmas tree and decorations. She refused to take them down after Christmas because the Fedrigons son Tom was on the USS San Jacinto in the Persian Gulf War. Fedrigon, wife Susan (Record) and 8-year-old daughter Amber returned to Mattoon Saturday from Virginia for a Christmas and homecoming celebration. Fedrigon has been in the Navy four years with one year remaining on his enlistment. How about this scenario? As the Democrats are afraid Hillary may not be electable, the following plan is being considered. Very close to the Democratic convention, the Obama Justice Department will indict Hillary Clinton on charges against the state and she will become ineligible to be president. As Barney lacks enough delegates, the back room boys will have a brokered convention and present Elizabeth Warren as their candidate. First woman president, no embarrassing baggage, popular and on and on. It is possible, you know. We remain in favor of Voter ID as a concept, that a person appearing at a polling place should be wiling to offer proof of identity. But we also recognize that for all law-abiding citizens 18 or older, voting is a right, affirmed with the same powerful language in the 15th, 19th, 24th and 26th Amendments as something to not be denied or abridged. Which means the State of Wisconsin has work to do before the Aug. 9 partisan primaries, and most definitely before the Nov. 8 presidential election. We were troubled by remarks related to the April 5 presidential preference primary by U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothmann, R-Wis. He said, in an interview with WTMJ-TV, that Republicans will win Wisconsin because now we have photo ID, and I think photo ID is gonna make a little bit of a difference as well. So, to follow Grothmanns logic, Voter ID passed by a Republican-majority Legislature and signed into law by a Republican governor was not established to prevent voter impersonation, but is something enacted for the benefit of Republicans. Then, when an understandable backlash arose to Grothmanns suggestion of naked partisanship in the Voter ID law, he responded: You got to remember it was to a certain extent a flip comment as well. So, its OK for a congressman to be flippant about disenfranchisement? We dont think it is. Rep. Grothmann should run that flippant remark past Jackie Russo, a 75-year-old from Brookfield, who was turned away when she tried to vote early because she had misplaced her drivers license. Though she had her old, expired drivers license as well as a Social Security card, she was not permitted to cast a vote. She had to go to the DMV and pay $14 to replace her license in order to vote on April 5. I have been a registered voter for 58 years, she said to ThinkProgress.com. I still looked like the picture [on my expired license] and the address on it matched the voting sheet that they check you off on. Ms. Russo has an awfully strong argument, but she also raises cause for concern in the way Wisconsin now issues drivers licenses. Take a look at yours. Its good for eight years from the date you received it or renewed it. Then theres the matter of Dennis Hatten, who served this nation in the Marine Corps. His birth certificate was signed, in 1962, by an Arkansas midwife who used the French Creole spelling of his name, a spelling which didnt match that on his other documents. Were it not for the assistance of a volunteer lawyer and a six-month fight with the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles, this military veteran would have been denied his right to vote. I thought, is this sort of a poll tax type of thing? said Hatten, who is black. Are they trying to stop us from voting? Were learning of an awful lot of discretion, on denying a persons constitutional right, being given to inadequately trained poll workers, nearly all of whom are volunteers. There must be better training given to poll workers, and to those working the service windows at the DMV with regard to acceptable proof of identity for voter registration. There must also be training to recognize that someone like Jackie Russo is offering sufficient proof that she is exactly who she says she is. The long lines at college-campus polling places also must be addressed before a new crop of 18-year-olds arrives on campus in the fall, eager to cast his or her first ballot. Were hoping college administrators take note of the problem, for student voters, of not having an expiration date on student IDs, as that makes such an ID an unaccceptable form of proof. After similarly long lines in Arizona for its presidential primary, U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., wrote an opinion piece for the March 31 edition of the New York Times, urging passage by the House of Representatives of the Voting Rights Act of 2015. Ensuring that every eligible voter can cast a ballot without fear, deterrence and prejudice is a basic American right, he wrote. I would rather lose my job than suppress votes to keep it. Well said, Rep. Sensenbrenner. Were hoping Gov. Scott Walker and all members of the Wisconsin Legislature take the necessary steps so that absolutely no one is prevented from exercising his or her right to vote. Editor's note: The original editorial had incorrect information about whether a resident's drivers' license or state ID card needs to have a current address. The address does not need to be current for the ID to be acceptable at the polling place. To learn more about the law go to: http://bringit.wi.gov In addition, the report of voting problems at the UW-Madison was based on initial news reports which were in error. There were long lines for registration at UW-Green Bay and at Marquette University, but not at UW-Madison. Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain. Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred. For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here. Canadian PM Trudeau, US Secy Kerry extend New Year wishes Canadian President Justin Trudeau and US Secretary of State John Kerry have extended New Year wishes to Nepalis living all around the world. 2,400 engineers in all quake-affected districts by April-end As part of its efforts to construct earthquake resistant buildings, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) is planning to mobilise around 2,400 engineers in all quake-affected districts by April-end. Crane collapse kills 18 in Dongguan, China At least 18 people have been killed by a crane which collapsed in high winds in China's Guangdong province. Doctor Strange trailer sets twitter abuzz The first trailer of the highly-anticipated Marvel flick Doctor Strange set the Nepali Twitterverse abuzz on the first day of the new calendar year. House session delay hits law formulation Delay in finalising Parliament regulations and summoning House session has affected the process of formulating laws required for the smooth implementation of constitution. Prithvi Man Shrestha is a political reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering the governance-related issues including corruption and irregularities in the government machinery. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2009, he worked at nepalnews.com and Rising Nepal primarily covering the issues of political and economic affairs for three years. Nepali Ambassador to Saudi Arabia attacked with knife Nepali Acting Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ananda Prasad Sharma, sustained four cut wounds after he was assaulted with knife at his office on Thursday by a fellow citizen. New-year resolution Getting the larger population on board the constitution, Reconstruction are priorities Occupying border again is sheer folly: Rajendra Mahato Sadbhawana Party Chairman Rajendra Mahato, an influential face in the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha which is planning to launch a fresh round of protests, said on Wednesday that there were no plans to enforce another blockade on the border. Pokhara intl airport project set to take off A year after the government started upgrading Gautam Buddha Airport in Bhairahawa as an international airport, it has now started another international airport in Pokhara. QFX Labim opens in Lalitpur QFX Cinemas latest addition, QFX Labim, has been officially launched at the Labim Mall, Pulchowk, Lalitpur. U.S. and Philippine Marines trained together to build their combined capabilities.U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dillon Ellzey and Lance Cpl. Andrew Whitbeck, assigned to the 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force under the Unit Deployment Program, in a ground assault maneuver training during Balikatan 16 at Crow Valley, Philippines, April 9, 2016. [Photo/IC] The recent remarks of a US spokesman over the Philippines government's provocative activities in the South China Sea reflects the duplicity of the United States. At the department's daily news briefing, Mark C. Toner, deputy spokesperson for the US Department of State, gave only a vague response when asked a question about Manila's upgrading of a military airport on the Zhongye Island that it seized from China in the 1970s. Toner refused to criticize the Philippines government's activity, claiming he did not know much about the issue. "I don't have specific details about what they (the Philippines) are planning to do or not do on the islands, and we'd have to wait to get more details about that." he said. Manila said in 2014 and last year that it had halted work at the airport on Zhongye Island, yet it has sent substantial amounts of construction materials and various types of gasoline to the island. Despite this, Washington has failed to act on the fact that its ally has failed to honor its commitment. On the contrary, when China finished construction of a lighthouse on Zhubi Reef in a bid to provide efficient navigation services to ships, the US State Department quickly voiced its opposition. The two different attitudes can't help make people question the double standard displayed by the US, which goes against its promise not to take sides on the South China Sea disputes. For a long time, the US has turned a blind eye to the fact that some countries including the Philippines have been beefing up defense facilities, constructing airports and seaports and settling residents on the islands that they illegally seized from China in the South China Sea. But whenever China conducts any construction activities on the Nansha islands and reefs, which fall within the scope of China's sovereignty, the US always expresses its strong opposition and suspicion. The US has the most sophisticated weapons systems, defensive and offensive, which are deployed across the world. But after China deployed a missile system on Yongxing Island, part of the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea, the US said it expected to hold "very serious talks" with China. Its allies also expressed concern over the development. As far as the US is concerned, there is obviously one rule for some nations and another for China. The South China Sea is not the only example of this. The US has also shown double standards on many other issues, such as cyber security and the setting up of air-defense identification zones. The author is a writer with China Daily. anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn Robbery at Jaleshwar Robbers who broke into the shop and the house of Devendra Shrestha at Jaleshwar Municipality-4 on Wednesday night decamped with goods and valuables worth more than Rs 500 thousand. Street smart Planned cities in the mid-hills should not repeat the mistakes of car-centric Kathmandu Two arrested along with pistol Siraha Police has arrested two persons for issuing life threat to Satyadev Kamati of Siraha Municipality-11 over transaction dispute by showing pistol. US election: Trump accuses Republican leaders of conspiracy Republican Donald Trump has said the party's leaders do not want him to win the presidential nomination. Yes, its hard to to tell when one enters the city limits Yes, they will make the city more inviting Maybe ... does it really matter? No, the signs in place are fine No, it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars Vote View Results Following the breakdown of Ugandas only Cobalt 60 radiotherapy machine, the Aghakhan hospital in the Kenyan capital Nairobi has offered to treat 400 Ugandans who are in dire need of this service. The machine installed at Mulago national referral hospital in 1995 broke down beyond repair about a month ago. Its replacement however is not due for at least one year due to absence of a bunker to house a new one. Now according to the state minister for Health Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, the government is equally concerned about the state of this machine, and its trying its best to manage the situation. He however says patients should not be discouraged to go to Mulago because other machines are still available to treat cancers that do not require radio therapy. He explained that government will cater for the patients transport and feeding costs while in Kenya. Story By Samuel Ssebuliba The Director of Public Prosecutions Mike Chibita has today dropped charges against the Australia- based Ugandan cardiologist Dr.Aggrey Kiyingi. Kiyingis discharge letter has been tendered in to the presiding court judge Duncan Gaswaga by state prosecutor Charles Kamuli. He was accused alongside 31 other suspects for alleged involvement in the murder of muslim clerics including Sheikh Mustafa Bahiga at Bwebajja along Entebbe Road, Sheikh Abdulkadir Muwaya in Mayuge District and Sheikh Hassan Kirya at Bweyogerere in Wakiso District. The suspects who include the leader of the Tabliq sect leader Sheik Yunus Kamoga appeared before Justice Duncan Gaswaga for a pre-hearing session of the case. Nine of the suspects have asked court to halt trial until the Constitutional Court pronounces itself on the legality of the trial and the DPPs alleged refusal to disclose the evidence linking them to the charges. The application for an order to stay the case was made by defence lawyer Fred Muwema. However lead prosecutor Charles Kamuli handed the DPP three files containing a phone, motorcycle and laptop as exhibits to be used against the accused and will avail it within seven days. Kamuli added that the rest of the 26 suspects have written to several superior offices seeking commencement of the trial and it would be unfair to halt it now. The charges against them include terrorism, murder, crimes against humanity and rendering support to the Allied Democratic Forces rebel outfit. Story By Ruth Anderah ABB, a global player in power and automation, is expanding its product range in lighting control with redesigned DALI potentiometers, an LED dimmer KNX and a new version of the successful UP rotary dimmer launched in 2012. The range will be introduced in Germany, Netherlands and Austria under the Busch-Jaeger brand a member of the ABB Group. With its new, particularly flexible and powerful devices, ABB provides attractive solutions for a wide range of applications in residential and functional buildings. The program is complemented by the ZigBee Light Link radio system. DALI and KNX key system for lighting control in building automation DALI potentiometers are available in two different versions: with or without power pack. Both versions work in broadcast operation and therefore enable standard control of all connected DALI operational devices, including electronic control gear (EVG), power dimmers and transformers. The products are ABBs response to the requirements of a constantly expanding market for DALI systems. The range of functions of the redesigned DALI potentiometers conform to the new Device-Type 8 DALI standard and enables virtually seamless changes of light colour and brightness with LED lights/lamps in white light between 2700 Kelvin (warm white) and 6500 Kelvin (neutral white). The potentiometers, integrated into commercially available 40 mm flush-mounted sockets, are compatible with the standard rotary dimmer knob from various ABB/Busch-Jaeger light switch ranges. LED dimmers for easy and reliable dimming of LED lights ABB started its cooperation with Philips, the worlds leading manufacturer of LED lamps and LED lights in 2010, by developing LED dimmers. The focus was on compatibility between LED lamps and dimmers working together in perfect harmony and adjusting brightness is just as flicker-free and homogenous as the bulb dimmers of the past. Now ABB has redesigned the range. The new LED dimmers for retrofit LEDs can also dim electronic transformers with pure C characteristics, in contrast with their predecessors. Another positive feature: The LED dimmers are compatible with many of todays standard lamps. This means both products can also dim 230 V halogen lamps, 230 V halogen low-energy lamps and low voltage halogen lamps with standard, inductive transformers and electronic LC transformers. Two new four channel dimmers for the KNX standard ABB is expanding its range for the KNX standard with two new four channel dimming actuators. The new devices control a RGB or RGBW-LED module or up to four individual, white LED modules, for example. The dimmers were designed especially for controlling LED modules with constant voltage. A dimmer comprises an integrated power pack to control 24 VDC LEDs. The other built-in unit is supplied without a power pack, requiring an external power pack to control 12 to 24 V DC LEDs. With the new redesigned solutions, ABB is expanding its lighting control range and meeting current market growth in this segment, which is expected to continue in the future. DALI potentiometer advantages * Light color in white LED lights/lamps according to Device-Type 8 seamlessly adjustable between 2700 Kelvin (warm white) and 6500 Kelvin (neutral white) * Potentiometer available with or without power pack * Broadcast operation possible * Harmonious and flicker-free dimming * Integrated directional light in 18 color and brightness levels * Extension unit operation with up to 5 DALI dimmers in one system possible * Compatible with all central disks with rotary knobs in ABB/Busch-Jaeger light switch ranges * Memory function and excellent surface feel with the rotary potentiometer * Background brightness, switch on brightness and power on level can be set with power failure protection * Electronic protection against connection failure, voltage or current surges LED dimmer advantages * Universal dimmer with manual switching between phase on and phase off section * For resistive, inductive and capacitive loads (RLC) * Reliable and comfortable dimming of low-energy LED lamps * Coordinated with exchange lamps (retrofit LEDs) * Two models for rotary adjuster respectively press and sensor switch * For flush-mounted socket and switch cabinet * Safe function and user-friendly * Brightness adjuster backward compatible also suitable for 230 V halogen lights, 230 V halogen low-energy lights and low voltage halogen lights with standard, inductive transformers and electronic LC transformers * No buzzing or humming with transistor technology * Harmonious and flicker-free dimming Four channel dimmer advantages * Controls up to 4 channels per device * Controls an RGB or RGBW-LED lamp * Install directly in the lamp * A version with integrated power pack and overheating and overload protection * Implemented color frequency * Harmonious and flicker-free dimming * Specially developed for controlling LED modules with constant voltage www.abb.com No Yes, a light case Yes, two or more light cases One serious case Two or more serious bouts Vote View Results KENDALLVILLE Lucas Graden was shaking on his way down to the office with the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship in the back of his mind, even before he spotted the balloons and his parents waiting for his arrival. Graden, a senior at East Noble High School, was announced as the 2016 winner of the Lilly scholarship Wednesday morning. He was one of 10 finalists from across Noble County competing for the major award, which covers four years of tuition and fees to any Indiana college or university. Graden is planning to attend Butler University in the fall to study digital and media production, with the hopes of writing and producing TV programs in the future. The scholarship will be a big financial boost for Graden, since tuition to Butler will run $34,700 per year, with the annual cost topping $51,000 when room, board and fees are added in. I mean, I was speechless, Graden said of his reaction to winning the scholarship. Its something that it was always a dream, and even the possibility of achieving this goal, its surreal. Good grades were just part of the winning equation. Graden has been involved in multiple extracurricular activities, most notably East Noble Theatre. On Wednesday, he was wearing a red T-shirt for the schools recent production of The Nerd, in which he played sharp-tongued drama critic Axel Hammond. All of his outside activities helped shape him into a more well-rounded person, he said, and he gave credit to East Noble School Corp. for helping to push him academically with advanced classes starting back in elementary school. That enabled him to skip eighth grade. Early on in my school career, East Noble itself was always good about helping to challenge me, Graden said. Hes found a passion working with the interactive media program at Impact Institute and wants to expand his skills at Butler in Indianapolis. Someday, hed like to be bring a show in which hes got a hand in both the script and the cinematography to prime time. Im personally a huge television fan, and Id really like to in the future have a network drama, something where I could write and be actively involved in the video, Graden said. His parents, Brad and Kelly Graden, were planning to do whatever they could to help their son follow his passion at Butler, and the Lilly scholarship is a huge honor, Brad Graden said. Kelly and I view it as a blessing. Were very, very proud of Lucas and were just excited, Brad Graden said. Fifty-eight students applied for the scholarship this year, according to the Noble County Community Foundation. Their applications, which included letters of recommendation and essays, were evaluated by a committee that narrowed the field down to 10 finalists. The other finalists who were in the running for the Lilly scholarship are: Claire Brown, Sarah Buchanan, Samantha Ness, Alyssa Yoquelet, Lynsee Devers, Phillip Phan, Timothy Stohlman, Daniel Kane and William Stayner. The other finalists will receive a $1,000 scholarship from the community foundation. Last October, water lettuce and water hyacinth were found in Lake Onalaska, both highly invasive aquatic species that can spread very quickly. Through the efforts of agencies, local conservation groups and volunteers, the plants were swiftly removed from approximately 3.5 miles of shoreline both north and south of Fred Funk Landing. This was the third instance of these plants being found in the upper Mississippi River. In 2011, water hyacinth and water lettuce were discovered in a dozen locations in Pool 5 near Buffalo City, Wisconsin., and in 2012 a large infestation of nearly 10,000 plants was discovered in a secluded backwater bay. A meeting was held in March at the refuge visitor center on Brice Prairie to develop a plan for future coordination, monitoring and possible control efforts. The meeting was attended by several partners including: Lake Onalaska Protection and Rehabilitation District, River Alliance of Wisconsin, Brice Prairie Conservation Association, the La Crosse Sailboat Club, and Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge staff. Staff from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Army Corps of Engineers have also participated in the control and outreach effort. Future efforts will include educational signage at boat ramps, citizen aquatic invasive species training through River Alliances Project Riverine Early Detectors, education and outreach to bait and tackle shops and suppliers of ornamental aquatic plants and distribution of outreach materials to those living adjacent to and/or using Lake Onalaska. People who use the river, Lake Onalaska or any public waterways are urged be diligent in their efforts to not transport invasive and/or exotic species. People should take steps including removing vegetation from boat trailers, emptying bait buckets on land, pulling drain plugs and never releasing anything from home into the wild. People interested in volunteering or who find any of these invasive aquatic plants on the Mississippi River or Lake Onalaska are asked to report them immediately by calling the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 779-2399. MADISON Employees cannot be denied unemployment benefits in Wisconsin for inadvertent errors, even if the worker has been repeatedly warned about such errors, a state appeals court ruled Thursday. The ruling is the 4th District Court of Appeals first look at interpreting substantial fault, a new threshold the state Legislature established in 2013 to tighten eligibility for unemployment benefits. Under the law, employees cant receive benefits immediately if theyre terminated for misconduct or substantial fault, defined as acts that violate reasonable employer requirements. Misconduct involves wanton disregard of an employers interests, such as drug and alcohol use, theft or falsifying business records. Substantial fault, however, is a nebulous concept. The law doesnt explain what does constitute substantial fault, instead laying out three categories that dont: minor infractions of rules unless repeated after a warning; inadvertent errors; and any failure to perform work because of insufficient skill, ability or equipment. In the case before the appeals court, Lela Operton was a full-time service clerk at Walgreens who made eight cash handling errors, mostly related to federal assistance checks for the Women, Infants and Children program. She received multiple warnings throughout the two years during which those errors occurred. Walgreens terminated her employment in March 2014 and objected to her request for unemployment benefits. The Department of Workforce Development denied Opertons benefits on the grounds of misconduct. On appeal, an administrative law judge affirmed the denial of benefits but on the grounds of substantial fault, a decision the Labor and Industry Review Commission and Dane County Circuit Court both affirmed on appeal. The appeals court reversed that decision Thursday, ruling that Opertons actions were inadvertent errors and therefore dont constitute substantial fault. Repeated inadvertent errors do not statutorily morph into infractions if warnings have been given, Judge Paul Reilly wrote in the opinion. Inadvertent errors, warnings or no warnings, never meet the statutory definition of substantial fault. Labor and Industry Review Commission general counsel Maria Gonzalez Knavel said the commission is reviewing the decision and considering its options. Opertons attorney, Marilyn Townsend, said the ruling would impact favorably on thousands and thousands of working men and women, for whom obtaining unemployment is the difference between being homeless and paying their rent. WASHINGTON House Republicans are about to blow through a statutory deadline to pass an annual budget, a major embarrassment for Speaker Paul Ryan that raises questions about his stewardship of the House despite his high profile on the national stage. A day after rampant speculation forced him to call a news conference to deny he wants to run for president this year, Ryan insisted Wednesday that he hadnt given up on the Houses obligation to pass its annual spending blueprint, even though the Friday deadline looks impossible to meet. You know me, I want to pass a budget, said the Wisconsin Republican, his partys 2012 vice presidential nominee. I think we should pass a budget and were still talking with our members on how we can get that done. Yet success looks unlikely as the same tea party lawmakers who ousted Ryans predecessor, John Boehner, rebel against a bipartisan spending deal Boehner cut with President Barack Obama last fall before leaving office. Its better to do no budget this year than a bad budget, Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint said in an interview, echoing the sentiments of many conservatives in the House. Boehner himself, despite his troubles with the hard-liners in his caucus, met the budget deadline each of the five years of his speakership. The situation has left numerous House Republicans deeply frustrated. Yet Ryan himself has managed to remain popular, as all sides continue to profess admiration for his communication skills and his patient attempts to involve lawmakers in his deliberations. Its extremely frustrating, GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said of the imminent budget failure. He praised Ryans style, but added: Its admirable in some ways but not producing results. Ryan himself chaired the House Budget Committee for much of Boehners speakership and crafted the Ryan Budget that would have transformed Medicare into a voucher program for millions. It never became law, but he did cut a deal with Senate Democrats and the White House that enhanced his profile as a charismatic, policy-focused conservative. Ryan has repeatedly lambasted Democrats when they didnt get budgets done while in congressional control, even backing a law that would have cut off lawmakers paychecks if they failed to pass a budget. Yet the reality is that failing to pass a budget has few real-world consequences for lawmakers, and GOP leaders in both the House and Senate are instead moving ahead with the annual spending bills that determine agency operating budgets. That process is just getting underway, though it too could fall prey to divisions in the House. Democrats are likely to oppose many of the bills if theyre laced with conservative policy riders, while conservatives have problems with spending levels. The budget is not the only area where House Republicans are faltering under Ryans leadership. Very little significant legislation has been moving, and negotiations over a bill to address Puerto Ricos fiscal crisis have proceeded in fits and starts. Its unclear whether a just-released Puerto Rico bill backed by Ryan will attract the needed support. But Ryan has aimed his sights higher than the nitty-gritty of legislating, putting committees to work on developing policies on issues from health care to national security to poverty that can serve as a governing agenda for the GOP. Hes pledged to release the proposals ahead of the GOP convention in July, giving his Republicans a program to run on should they want to distance themselves from the eventual GOP nominee. Ryan is helping ensure that they have the campaign cash to get elected. He raised $17.2 million in the first three months of 2016 and transferred more than $11 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee. Ryan made clear Tuesday that he himself will not be the GOP nominee, hastily calling a news conference to try to shut down speculation that he could emerge as his partys standard-bearer if front-runner Donald Trump or the other candidates Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich flame out at a contested convention. Party leaders fear both Trump and top challenger Cruz could spell certain defeat in November, costing the GOP not only the White House but control of the Senate too. Let me say again, Im not going to be our partys nominee, Ryan said. But Ill also be clear about something else: not running does not mean Im going to disappear. On the budget, Boehner confronted a comparable situation in 2014 to where Ryan is now. It was the second year of a budget deal with Obama negotiated by Ryan and some conservatives were reluctant to go along with higher agency budget levels. Boehner was working with a smaller GOP majority but had an advantage since conservatives were relatively sheepish after the 2013 government shutdown that they sparked. Now, in a hyper-polarized presidential election year and after toppling Boehner last year conservatives arent falling into line. You have the power to keep local news strong for the coming months. Your financial support today keeps our reporters ready to meet the needs of our city. Thank you for investing in your community. Stories like these are only possible with your help! Start your day with LAist Sign up for How To LA, delivered weekday mornings. Subscribe Big changes look to be coming to Echo Park. Long-time tenants along a busy stretch of Sunset Blvd. in Echo Park are preparing to relocate as a developer prepares to transform the area, reports The Eastsider. In the coming months, businesses along the southwest corner of Sunset and Alvarado will be pushed out as the new property owner, the Continental Development Group, prepares to gentrify renovate the entire block. While longtime neighborhood favorite Pizza Buona already left the corner due to an unrelated rent hike, according to Curbed L.A., the mass-closing will include vintage tile and pottery seller Wells Tile & Antiques and Erics Architectural Salvage, which have shared a space for 25 years, but will have to clear out by June 1. Meanwhile, discount store Hit Bargain is already clearing out their inventory, while mom-and-pop electronics shop Rewind Audio and Lucys coin-laundry will close before the end of April. Not even the Starbucks inside Lucy's seems to be safe, as an employee tells the Eastsider that they'll be clearing out as well. Continental, which is working on several other major development projects around town, plans to renovate the buildings and lure restaurants and other businesses to its "retail and restaurant compound." The new complex will be known as Sunset+Mohawk. While The Eastsider reports that a Continental employee told them there's a chance some businesses could return after the revamp, nobody seems to be holding their breath. Many of the exiting tenants say there's slim chance they could afford higher leasing rates. We really didnt want to leave, Scott Wells of Wells Tile & Antiques tells The Eastsider. Adding, "we couldnt afford to stay." He plans to move his tile business, along with Erics Architectural Salvage, to Sixth Street in Westlake. It's just hard to rent a space now in Echo Park, Well explained. I couldnt afford a place on Sunset now. Judging by some of Continentals listed clients from other projects, we're not so sure the existing tenants really fit their vision: The large majority of young Arab adults say they do not support Islamic State (IS) militants. And more than 75 percent say they do not believe that the Islamic State will create a caliphate, or government based on Islamic law. These are among the findings from interviews done with 3,500 young Arabs in 14 nations. They were aged 18 to 24. The interviews were done by ASDAA Burson Marsteller, a public relations company. The research comes at a time European governments worry about radicalized young people joining the Islamic State and carrying out terrorist attacks. Seventy-eight percent of young adults reject the Islamic State even if it did not use so much violence. Thirteen percent, down from 19 percent in 2015, say they would support Islamic State if it was less violent. As to why some young people join the militant group, 24 percent said they believe it is because of a shortage of jobs. Seventeen percent say the support comes because some like the Islamic States view of Islam. Hassan Hassan is an Islamic State expert at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington, D.C. He offered his views on the survey and why young people continue to join the Islamic State. It did not simply invent the problems the responders identified as factors. Put another way," (Islamic State) "is a symptom of a growing disease that needs to be tackled, and not just the disease itself, he said in a statement. Some other findings of the survey include: More than half of Arab young adults said they believe that religion is too big an influence in the Middle East. 63 percent said they view the United States as an ally, 32 percent as an enemy. But in Iraq, just 6 percent of young Iraqis view the United States as an ally and 93 percent as an enemy. Fewer than half the young Arabs, 44 percent, said they believe they can get good jobs in their countries. Only 2 percent of young people in Yemen say they can get good jobs. In Libya, the percentage is 7 percent. Just 36 percent of young Arabs feel the Arab world is better off after the Arab Spring uprisings. That is down from 72 percent in 2012, at the height of the unrest. I'm Bruce Alpert. Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or share your views on our Facebook Page. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story interview n. a meeting at which people talk to each other in order to ask questions and get information radicalized adj. someone who becomes more radical especially in politics responder n. a person who reacts to a request for information or help factor n. something that helps produce or influence a result symptom n. a change which shows that something bad exists tackle v. to deal with something difficult stability n. the quality or state of something that is not easily changed or likely to change survey n. an activity in which many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to gather information about what most people do or think about something This year, the U.S. National Park Service turns 100. Americans 28th President, Woodrow Wilson, formed the National Park Service in 1916 to protect the wild and wonderful landscapes in the United States. Today, the organization manages nearly 34 million hectares of land. The organization is celebrating all year long. And starting April 16, the National Park Service will also be celebrating National Park Week. The National Park Service manages more than 400 national parks, historic sites, monuments and more. There are 127 national parks that usually charge visitors admission. Visitors to Arches National Park in Utah, for example, pay $25 per car. The Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona charges $30 per car. But during National Park Week, visitors can enter all national parks across the country free of charge. National Park week this year runs from April 16 to April 24. Earth Day is also celebrated during National Park Week, on April 22. The National Park Service urges people to volunteer at nearby national parks on that day. To celebrate the start of National Park Week, here are some fun facts: The National Park Service started 100 years ago, but some parks are over 100 years old. Yellowstone National Park in the western United States was established in 1872 as the first national park in the America. It was also the worlds first national park. Each of Americas 50 states has at least one location managed by the park service. The largest park is the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska. It covers more than 5 million hectares of land. Alaska is also the state with the most national parks. The smallest National Park Service site is the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The memorial honors Kosciuszko, a Polish freedom fighter who designed defense walls during the American Revolutionary War. The newest National Park Service site is not far from us here at the Voice of America. It is the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument in Washington, DC. The site is an historic house and museum on Capitol Hill. It honors womens right to vote and equal rights in America. It became a part of the National Park Service this year on April 12. Over 300 million people visited U.S. national parks last year. That was a 5 percent increase compared to 2014. Will you be one of the visitors this year? Im Dan Friedell. Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. Will you plan to visit a National Park in the United States this year? Which one? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story admission n. the cost of entering a theater, sports stadium, museum, etc. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that does not allow women to drive. And it is likely to stay that way, if the countrys top religious cleric has his way. Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Sheikh argued that allowing women to drive is a dangerous matter that exposes women to evil, according to the Associated Press. What did he mean by that? He said men with "weak spirits" who are "obsessed with women" could cause female drivers harm and that family members would not know where the women were. He spoke on the religious channel, al-Majd. The Saudi kingdom follows an ultraconservative version of Islam that includes many restrictions on women. While there is no actual law against women driving, the Saudi government does not permit women to get drivers licenses. Womens rights activists have driven cars to protest the ban, posting images of themselves driving on social media. Some have been arrested. Women must rely on hired male drivers, or male relatives, to get them to work or to go shopping, or anywhere else they might need or want to go. The Los Angeles Times reports that Saudi women are increasingly using the driver service Uber to get around. They do so because the taxi system is described as sometimes chaotic, says The Los Angeles Times. The mass transit system is poorly run and the cost of hiring a chauffeur, a regular driver just for one person, is high. The newspaper says a woman using public transportation alone, without a male, is often seen as lacking morals. So the country is seeing a rise in smartphone-based ride services. In addition to Uber, Saudi women also use a company called Careem to get around. In addition to not being able to drive or go out alone, women face other restrictions in Saudi Arabia under its form of Islam. The Week website says they are not allowed to mix with men in public places. They cannot open a bank account without their husbands agreement. They must cover up their bodies. Most women must wear an abaya -- a long black robe that fits over their clothes and has a head scarf. Religious police on the streets go after women who show too much of their body or wear too much makeup. Many public buildings have separate entrances for men and women, according to The Daily Telegraph. This is because women can only spend limited time with men who are not family members. If there is unlawful mixing, the newspaper says, criminal charges can be filed against both parties. But usually the women get a stronger punishment. Saudi women represented their country at the 2012 London Olympics for the first time. Conservative clerics called them prostitutes, says The Week. Still, the women athletes had to have male guardians with them and cover their hair. But progress is being made in at least one area. For the first time, women could vote, and run for office, in local elections in 2015. It was the only the third time elections have been held in Saudi Arabia for either women or men. And it was the first time women were elected as politicians in the Saudi Kingdom. Im Anne Ball. Anne Ball wrote this for Learning English from several news sources. Kathleen Struck was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and visit us on Facebook. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story cleric n. a religious leader ultraconservative adj. person or organization that takes a very conservative opinion on something chaotic adj. complete confusion or disorder prostitutes n. women who get paid to have sex with people Place names in the United States are a hodgepodge, a seemingly random collection, of different languages. This can make pronunciation a bit difficult, even for people who live here. From the Pacific Northwest to the eastern shores, some names are infamous in this regard. Lets talk about 12 of them. We begin in the Pacific Northwest. As with most parts of the United States, this area is heavily influenced by its rich Native American history and culture. 1. Spokane, Washington The correct pronunciation is Spo-CAN, not Spo-CANE. The name Spokane comes from a Native American tribe. It means children of the sun. This city is located in the northwestern part of the United States. Spokane is known for its natural beauty. The residents are very outdoorsy, meaning they like to enjoy outdoor activities like hiking and biking. Moving down the coast, we come to California. Many names in this state come from the early Spanish settlers. 2. La Jolla, California This sun-drenched town is commonly mispronounced La JOL-LA. But the correct pronunciation is La HOY-a. La Jolla is a seaside community located within the city of San Diego, California. It is still unclear whether La Jollas name comes from the Spanish word La Joya, meaning the jewel, or from the Native American term (woholle) meaning hole in the mountains." But moving east across the United States, we come to not a state but a national park. 3. Yosemite National Park This national park is grand and beautiful and often mispronounced. It is not Yo-SE-mi-nee or YO-se-MIGHT. But rather Yoh-sem-it-ee. At the end, dont forget to say the t." Yosemite National Park is set within Californias Sierra Nevada Mountains. This park is known for its giant, ancient sequoia trees and for other breath-taking mountain scenes. Photographer Ansel Adams is famous for his black-and-white photographs of this national treasure. 4. Helena, Montana The capital city of Montana is pronounced HELL-e-na, not Hel-LAY-na. That is how most women named Helena say their name. Helena is located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, between Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. However, the citys founders did not come for the scenery. They came to look for gold. It was first called Saint Helena. But the locals dropped the Saint and kept Helena. Besides its Gold Rush history, Helena is also a popular destination for people who like to do things outdoors, such as hiking, biking, fishing and camping. Helena is known for its trail system -- 120 kilometers (75 miles) of hiking and biking trails. Moving inland, we come to a state that does not sound as it is spelled. 5. Arkansas The name Arkansas means south wind. It comes from (akansa), a word used by some Native Americans to describe an early tribe in the area. The pronunciation Ark-an-saw follows the French custom of not pronouncing the final s. This state is known for its rich mineral reserves and natural beauty. But the city of Hope, Arkansas is more famously known as the birthplace of former U.S. president Bill Clinton. 6. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania This is a college town in the eastern state of Pennsylvania. The e at the end may confuse some people. It is not Willks-BAR but rather Willks-BARRY. Do not drop the last e as common sense -- and French speakers -- would suggest. 7. Schenectady, New York This city in New York State is pronounced ski-NEK-tuh-dee. The Mohawk tribe of the Iroquois Nation originally called this area "Schau-naugh-ta-da," meaning over the pine plains. As Dutch settlers came to the area in the 17th century, the spelling changed. The great inventor Thomas Edison founded the General Electric Company in this city. In the 1900s, the American Locomotive Company also made most of its trains there. Now, we move from upstate New York into New York City. In the Big Apple, as it is called, there are two names that are often mispronounced. 8. Houston Street, New York City Houston is a big city in the state of Texas. But if you are on a street in New York Citys funky Lower East Side, you do not pronounce it that way. Pronounce it HOW-ston Street and you will keep your street cred. 9. Carnegie Hall Also while visiting New York City, if you attend a music show at this famous concert hall, make sure to pronounce it properly. It is ker-NEGG-ee not CAR-na-gee. The stress is on the middle syllable. 10. Worcester, Massachusetts Like the city of the same name in England, the correct pronunciation is WUSS-TER. It is not WOR-ches-ter or WOR-sess-ter. Incorporated as a town in 1722, Worcester, Massachusetts, is now a vibrant, bustling city with a population of over 180,000. This makes it one of the largest cities in New England. Now we move to the South. 11. Louisville, Kentucky If you want to sound like a true southerner, pronounce this city in Kentucky as LOO-i-vul not LOO-iss-vill and definitely not LOO-i-vill. If you do, they will think youre a Yankee from the North. Louisville is historically a mining and agricultural city. And its position on the Ohio River also made it an important hub for transporting goods by water. These days, the city has a diverse and vibrant economy. Louisville is also famous as the home of the Kentucky Derby horse race. 12. Kissimmee, Florida This one is easy to remember. You are not asking for someone to kiss you. So do not say KISS-a-mee. Its ka-SIM-mee. This city is located in the center of Florida. This is another name that comes from a Native American tribe. However, it is not known whether Kissimmee means long waters, as in the Kissimmee River, or it refers to the place where mulberries grow. But we do know the name has nothing to with kissing. So, now if you read about or visit any of these places in the United States, you will know how to say their names! Im Anna Matteo. I'm Jonathan Evans. Anna Matteo wrote this article for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Spokane as the capital of Washington state. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story hodgepodge n. a mixture of different things outdoorsy adj. enjoying outdoor activities scenic adj. having, providing, or relating to a pleasing or beautiful view of nature sequoia n. a very tall evergreen tree that grows in California foothill n. a hill next to a higher mountain or group of mountains destination n. a place to which a person is going or something is being sent trail n. a beaten path through rough country such as a forest or mountain range street cred n. the acceptance and respect of people who live in a city neighborhood vibrant adj. having or showing great life, activity, and energy bustling adj. to have a lot of busy activity hub n. a center of activity diverse adj. made up of people or things that are different from each other The U.S. State Departments 2015 report on human rights explores rights issues around the world. Many of the issues are linked to long-term problems, such as crises in governance or authoritarianism. Others relate to violence and threats of brutality by terror groups. Yet, the report, presented to U.S. lawmakers this week, notes signs of progress. The major subject in the report is the Islamic State group's campaign against minorities in Syria and Iraq. The groups campaign of violence has fueled a refugee and humanitarian crisis in Europe and the Middle East. The report says that just within Iraq alone, 3.2 million people have been displaced. In Syria, where fighting began in 2012, the situation is worse. An estimated 250,000 people have been killed since the countrys civil war began. Islamic State fighters are blamed for more than 2,000 deaths in Syria. The report says the militants have sought to kill or expel rights activists and civil society groups. Secretary of State John Kerry said some of the worlds worse rights violations last year took place in Syria. The most widespread and dramatic violations in 2015 were those in the Middle East, where the confluence of terrorism and the Syrian conflict caused enormous suffering, he said. The human rights report also noted violence by extremists in African countries, including Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. It said that good governance would go far in stopping militant groups such as Boko Haram and al-Shabab. The report accused security forces in Nigeria of using heavy-handed tactics to make the countrys civilians to feel threatened. It called on the Nigerian government to put military reforms in place to better protect human rights. The State Department also accused the governments of China, Turkey, Russia, Iran, and Cuba of targeting media workers, civil society groups, and their critics. The first part of the report sought to answer concerns that civil society groups present a threat to government power. These non-governmental groups deal with social issues and often demand change. Civil society organizations do not have that power all they can do is to propose policies and ideas, something that people should have a right to come together to do, the report says. The U.S. report criticized China for a campaign against rights lawyers. It said the governments actions against lawyers and legal groups were severe, adding that the campaign was marked with repression and coercion. The report also criticized North Korea for severe human rights abuses. The U.S. government and South Korea have each announced measures to punish North Korea and its leadership. The United Nations Security Council also has approved sanctions against the country. The State Department report noted that, in Myanmar -- also called Burma, discrimination against the Rohingya minority continues. The report noted heavy-handed actions against activists in Vietnam. And in Cambodia, it said, 55 people were tried in an unfair manner and for largely political reasons. However, Secretary Kerry noted political gains in many countries, too. We have seen important democratic gains in such countries as Tunisia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and Burma, though in each there are challenges that still need to be overcome but we are working closely with each of those countries in efforts to help meet those challenges. This is the 40th year that the U.S. government has released its Human Rights Report, which is mandated by Congress. The report offers information to help guide policy on foreign assistance, said Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski. "You can be certain that whenever we have credible evidence that a unit or an individual member of a foreign security force has committed gross violations of human rights, we do not and we will not provide assistance to those units and individuals." Some observers say human rights issues should carry more influence in shaping U.S. foreign policy. On Wednesday, Secretary Kerry told reporters that the often repeated purpose of the report is simple. Respecting human rights isnt just a moral obligation; its an opportunity to harness the full energy of a countrys population in building a cohesive and prosperous society, he said. Kerry noted that human rights are not opposed to order. He added, And it doesnt jeopardize stability; it enhances it. Sarah Margon is the Washington Director of Human Rights Watch. "I think one of the concerns we have at Human Rights Watch is that even though this document is so accurate and so clear-eyed about what's going on in many of these countries, it isn't often used in the way that it should be." Im Mario Ritter. Nike Ching reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English with additional material from RFE/RL and RFA. George Grow was the editor. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story authoritarianism n. government that demands obedience to laws without allowing for personal freedom brutality n. severe cruelty, violence confluence n. a place where two things come together heavy-handed adj. with too much force, something that is overdone coercion n. to cause someone to do something by force or threat jeopardize v. to put in danger enhance v. to increase or improve accurate adj. correct The World Bank Group plans to invest close to $2.5 billion over five years in education projects to help girls between the ages of 12 and 17. The bank says that about 75 percent of these investments are expected to come from its program for the worlds poorest countries. Most of the countries are in South Asia and in Africa, south of the Sahara. Those areas reportedly have the highest number of out-of-school girls. The investments were announced by Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group. Empowering and educating adolescent girls is one of the best ways to stop poverty from being passed from generation to generation, Kim said. He spoke Wednesday at the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The meetings are taking place through Sunday in Washington, D.C. Michelle Obama, the wife of U.S. President Barack Obama, also spoke at the announcement. She said the investments in education will benefit millions of girls. The First Lady also said it will help build the workforce in each country. The World Bank says a total of almost 62 million girls around the world are not in school. A World Bank study found that a womans lifetime earnings increased by 18 percent for every year she attended school. The bank said its investments will support efforts to provide a quality education in secondary school and financial assistance to adolescent girls. The money will help to finance clean drinking water and toilets in schools. Im Marsha James. Jim Dresbach adapted this story from VOANews.com. Additional material came from The World Bank Group. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story empowering v. to give power to someone adolescent n. a young person who is developing into an adult LEXINGTON, Neb. Scottsbluff native Ben Salazar gave a presentation about his Latino heritage on Saturday afternoon at the Dawson County Historical Museum. Salazar, a Humanities Nebraska Speaker, gave a presentation titled Latinos: Searching for the Good Life in Nebraska, in the art gallery of the museum. His presentation coincided with other events in April, sponsored by the museum meant to promote and celebrate Hispanic heritage in Nebraska. The Dawson County Historical Society and Museum hosted a Nebraska Humanities Film Screening and discussion of Latino Americans: Prejudice and Pride at the Majestic Theater on Saturday, April 2. Also, Salazar gave his presentation in the art gallery because it is currently showing an exhibit showcasing Hispanic themed art work and the work of local Hispanics. Having grown up on the outskirts of Scottsbluff more than 50 years ago, Salazar said the political backlash nationally against Hispanic immigrants was ridiculous considering Hispanics have settled in Nebraska for 100 years. He said his parents were born in Kansas and Western Nebraska in 1910s. Salazar said it was a natural evolution that drove me to become a speaker. I speak about my experiences as a Latino in Nebraska. In the 1900s, Mexicans were pushed from Mexico to the United States to escape the turmoil of the Revolutionary War in their country, he said. As more Mexican immigrants settled in the Midwest, they slowly replaced the field workers of that day, Germans and Russians. The Germans and Russians then left the field and moved into town, Salazar said. Agriculture was gaining momentum in the Midwest. There was mechanization, there was irrigation. They had the tractor. They could plant and till the land, they planted beets, corn and beans, he said. Salazar grew up in one of the colonies or colonias on the outskirts of Scottsbluff. Life for him growing up was simple and tough, he said. We had no electricity, no running water. We took a bath once a week in a tub; my parents heated the water in a wood stove. You were lucky if you were the first one in the tub. There was no food stamps, no help from any (federal) agencies, Salazar said. Although life was difficult in the colonias, which Salazar described as a series of shacks, help was always available when needed. Salazar said people, the Latino neighbors, always helped each other. The farmers allowed the Latinos, who worked as laborers in the fields, to turn over the dirt after it was picked the first time and take any left over potatoes and produce home with them. If you were lucky, you would take home two or three bags of potatoes, he said. No talk about the history and culture of Latinos would be complete without talking about food, a topic Salazar seemed to relish talking about. The rising price of many household foods, especially beef products was very troubling for Salazar, who enjoyed making and buying beef products to make Hispanic cuisine. The delicacies Mexicans like to make are ox tail and tripe soup or (uses beef stomach), called menudo. These cost more than prime rib now, the world has turned upside down, he said. Going to school at a Catholic Institution was a difficult experience for him because Salazar said he didnt like praying like a robot. Mexican immigrants often had many passions. These are not only to give their families a better life but also to start their own business, he said. One way many families were able to live their American dream was to become entrepreneurs by owning their own shop or restaurant, Salazar said. One special friend for Salazar growing up was Richie, whoses grandmother taught Salazars mother how to cook. Grandma Dona Maria was from Mexico City. She was a four foot-eight or nine inch Aztec woman. Richie was proud of his grandmas cooking, he said. Although payday for his parents meant they went to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread, bologna and a pack of Pepsi, the day-to-day lunch for Hispanics like him was a sack lunch with homemade burritos, Salazar said. He noted that Richie, whose grandma cooked for him, often ate the best sack lunches. The burrito lunches were so good even the white boys who looked down on sack lunches were converted, Salazar said. One day he went to lunch during third or fourth grade and put linen on the table. He put his three or four bean burritos out and made a big show of eating one. Two white kids came and asked about them. The white kids traded half a bologna sandwich for a burrito, he said. Taco Bell owes its success to Richie. The beans (from his grandmothers burritos) melted in your mouth. You would savor them for days, Salazar said. Sharps RoboHon isnt your typical smartphone. Yeah, you can use it to make phone calls or run Android apps. But it looks like a small robot, walks like a robot, and even dances like a robot. For some reason it also has a built-in projector. Sharp introduced RoboHon in October, and now the company is getting ready to sell the robot/phone to Japanese customers. Its available for pre-order in Japan, and the little guy is expected to hit stores on May 26th. Priced at 198,800 yen (about $1,816), the Sharp RoboHon is one of the most expensive smartphones on the market but also one of the most unusual. In terms of smartphone specs, RoboHon isnt all that impressive. It has a 2 inch, 320 x 240 pixel display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, Android 5.0 software, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, 4G LTE, an 8MP camera, and a 1,700 mAh battery. But it also has 13 servo motors, a series of motion sensors, a a projector that can display imagery at 1280 x 720 resolutions, and you know, two arms, two legs, and a head. It can be operated with voice commands. So while the built-in display is tiny, the idea is that you wouldnt actually use it all that much. Instead, you can speak to the robot to answer calls, ask it to display photos with its projector, and more although Engadget notes that youll have to pay a monthly fee if you want to use cloud voice recognition features powered by Nuance. Clearly this 7.7 inch, 14 ounce robo-phone is a niche product that kind of screams Japan. But even so, the $1,800 price tag seems a bit steep. Dear Meredith, This column has been my savior during bad days at work. I always joked about writing in, but never thought I would. That being said, I think I need your advice. A little background on me: I am in my mid-20s and I'm a chronic dater who would like more than my typical three-to-five date run. I was in a long-term relationship, which I ended, but I have been single for about 1.5 years. I have enjoyed being single but I think I'm ready for something with more substance. I recently met a guy (let's call him W), who I think I really like. I find him to be very attractive and intelligent, and we have an absolute blast together. He's exactly what I need right now. The one little issue is that he spends a lot of time with this girl let's call her B. They appear to be very close friends and I had no issue with this in the beginning. I have both male and female friends and understand that friendship doesn't always lead to sexual attraction. My problem with their relationship is that I sensed that there was some sort of past and I eventually had the courage to ask him about it. Unfortunately, I was right; B and W had a short-term fling where they attempted to take their friendship to the next level. This involved a few months of kissing and eventually led to them sleeping together. W states that the sleeping together only happened one time and that he knew it wasn't right. My issue is that I know W will not take B out of his life, and frankly I wouldn't want to ask him to. I don't ever want to be the type of person who "forbids" someone from seeing a person; I wouldn't want someone to do that to me. However, I am not sure I am comfortable with their friendship. I do also need to mention that B and W's last romantic adventure was only a few months ago, around Christmas. I'd like to think that I can move past it and trust that W's friendship with B is purely that friendship. I've been single for a while, and the idea of trusting and opening up to someone is a little scary. I don't want that fear to stop me, but I don't want to open myself up to a man who potentially still has lingering feelings for someone he sees a few times a month. B and W have mutual friends and hobbies that they enjoy together. W assures me that no feelings exist on his part for B. W does express feelings for me and a desire to continue to grow our relationship. Am I being naive to think that I can trust him or am I overreacting about his past? I certainly have a long tangled past myself and I feel like I am not in a place to judge. However, I do not see any of my exes on a regular basis. Should I continue to see this guy and see where it goes or is this a glaring red flag? Should I run? Russia is waging a disgraceful war on Ukraine. Stand With Ukraine! Tiger Shroff, who is coming up as an action hero among the fresh lot of young actors, never shies away from accepting in public how big a fan he is of Hrithik Roshan. Tigers second film Baaghi is due to release in couple of weeks and he expresses him wish to hold a special screening for him. I am a big fan of Hrithik Roshan. I dont try to copy him because I cant copy him. I follow him very closely. I would love to hold a screening of Baaghi for Hrithik, if he is free, Tiger said in a promotional event of the film. In the event, Tiger awed the media with high caliber stunts and action, without wearing any cable. He also showcased some postures of the martial art Kalaripayattu. Talking about the martial art he said, Its very difficult. I dont have any experience in Kalaripayattu. It took a lot of hard work to get the basic posture of this martial art. I think I have done it to my full potential, he said. Kalaripayattu is the mother of martial arts. It originated in India. Most of the movies we see here show many western forms of action. Surprising, we dont make any action films on our culture, added Tiger. Baaghi will release on 29 April. Mumbai: Members of the Cine and TV Artistes Association (CINTAA) have decided to take action against actresses Dolly Bindra and Rakhi Sawant for making insensitive remarks on Pratyusha Banerjee's death. "I fail to understand how can people be so insensitive. A child is no more and you are dying for publicity. We can't ban these two people because they are members, Amit Behl, chairperson dispute committee, CINTAA told IANS. It's such a shame people are trying to make issue out of somebody's death, he added. Pratyusha, who portrayed the character of the adult Anandi in the popular teleserial Balika Vadhu, was found hanging from a fan by her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh and neighbours at her Goregaon residence on 1 April. She was rushed to the Kokilaben Ambani Hospital where she was declared dead. After her death, Dolly circulated her phone conversation with the late actress' mother, Soma Banerjee, in the media. She also made a statement in the media that Pratyusha had vermilion on her forehead when she was brought to Kolikaben Hospital. Rakhi, on the other hand, requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban ceiling fans in order to stop suicides. Behl said that he also had a discussion with all members of CINTAA on the issue. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Maritime India Summit on Thursday and praised Dr BR Ambedkar, calling him "the architect of the water and river navigation policy in India". "There is a reason why this important Summit has been organised today, on 14th April 2016. Today is 125th anniversary of a great son of India: Dr BR Ambedkar," said PM Modi. He said that Ambedkar had emphasised on creating a new waterways policy for India. "Many of us may not know that Babasaheb created two powerful institutions related to water, navigation and power. They were the Central Waterways, Irrigation and Navigation Commission and The Central Technical Power Board. Dr Ambedkar emphasised importance of new waterways policy to lay the foundation for a regime of prosperity for millions of poor of India," he said. "We have embarked on the development of National Waterways in keeping with Babasahebs vision and foresight," the PM added. The Prime Minister also claimed that India was the fastest growing economy in the world today. "With a GDP growth rate of more than seven percent, India is the fastest growing major economy today," he said. "We Indians are inheritors of a glorious maritime heritage. It is my governments endeavour to revive and restore Indias position of eminence in the global maritime sector," Modi said. "In the very early days of our government, we announced the Sagarmala programme...We want to modernise ports and integrate them with SEZs, port-based smart cities, industrial parks, warehouses, logistics parks," he said. "Our maritime agenda will complement this ambitious infrastructure plan for the hinterland which is going on at the same time," he said. "Long coastline of India along with diverse coastal regions and hard working coastal communities can become an engine of growth of India. Our vast coastline of 7,500 km offers a huge investment opportunity," said the PM. Modi also said that the year 2015-16 saw the highest-ever FDI inflow into India and that Moody's had recently appreciated the 'Make In India' programme. "Our vision is to increase port capacity from one thousand, four hundred million tonnes to three thousand million tonnes by 2025," he said. Our vision is to increase port capacity from one thousand, four hundred million tonnes to three thousand million tonnes by 2025: PM PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 14, 2016 "With more than 14,000 km of navigable inland waterways, there is tremendous potential for development," said the PM. "Private ports have been growing at a very healthy pace and have nearly doubled their capacity in the last five years," he said. "The maritime sector not only creates and facilitates economic activities; it also connects countries and civilisations," he added. The PM added that 18 percent of the population in India lived in 72 coastal districts. Finally, Prime Minister Modi ended his speech by saying, "It is the right time to come to India, an even better time to come through the sea route." At the three-day summit, agreements entailing investments of over Rs 82,000 crore will be signed, Union Shipping and Ports Minister Nitin Gadkari had said, adding this includes 35 concession agreements of Rs 5,900 crore, 20 work orders of Rs 8,250 crore and 86 MoUs involving an investment of over Rs 68,700 crore. More than a dozen Union ministers are expected to address the summit, for which 3,000 delegates, including 300 from 41 countries, have registered, he said. Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat will also be present. Being held at NSE Grounds in suburban Goregaon, the summit will have 13 technical sessions, 200 exhibitors and 52 participants from South Korea, which is the partner country for the event. It will also have a museum resembling a ship displaying the maritime history of the country, made by art director Nitin Desai. India and South Korea also signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation and mutual assistance in the port sector, Gadkari said Watch Modi's inauguration speech here: You can read PM Modi's full speech here: Hon. Governor of Maharashtra; Hon. Chief Minister of Maharashtra; His Excellency Mr. Kim Young-Suk, Minister of the Republic of Korea Our Union Minister for Shipping, Mr. Nitin Gadkari Other Dignitaries on the dais; Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen! I have great pleasure in being with you and welcoming you at the Maritime India Summit. This is the first time that a global event of such a large scale is being organised by India. I extend a warm welcome to all the esteemed guests attending this event in the maritime hub of India. I am sure, this event; together with the seminars and exhibition, will showcase the emerging trends and opportunities in the maritime sector. We all know that oceans cover more than seventy percent of the Earth's surface. We also know that oceans contain ninety-seven percent of the Earth's water. Therefore, maritime transport can be the most extensive mode of transport. It is also the most eco-friendly mode of transport. However, there is one more aspect to this fact. Which is that, oceans contain ninety nine percent of the living space on the planet. This means that our lifestyle, transport systems and trading behavior should not spoil the ecology of the oceans. Also, maritime security, freedom of navigation and safety and security of sea lanes is equally important. The challenges of climate change have shown that even offshore human behavior can change the ecology of glaciers and oceans. This is already causing a lot of concern for island countries and coastal communities in particular. I hope this summit will deliberate on these issues while discussing economic issues related with oceans. The elimination of sea piracy, which was a big threat to international shipping a few years ago, is a good example of how joint efforts by maritime nations can achieve outstanding results. Friends! There is a reason why this important Summit has been organised today, on the 14th of April 2016. Today is the 125th birth anniversary of a great son of India who also lived and worked in Mumbai. I am referring to Dr. B.R.Ambedkar, who was the architect of our Constitution. He is also the architect of the water and river navigation policy in India. I offer my profound respects to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar on this auspicious day. I also wish and pray that his wisdom continues to guide us in our efforts towards nation building. Many of us may not know that Babasaheb created two powerful institutions related to water, navigation and power. They were: The Central Waterways, Irrigation and Navigation Commission and The Central Technical Power Board. His observations while setting up these two organizations is a testimony to his great foresight. I quote from his address on 3rd January, 1945: The objects which have led to the setting up of two organizations are to advise on how the water resources can be best utilized and how a project can be made to serve purposes other than irrigation. Dr Ambedkar had emphasized the importance of the new waterways policy in order to lay the foundation for a regime of prosperity for the millions of poor of our country. I am happy to state that we have embarked on the development of National Waterways in keeping with Babasahebs vision and foresight. With a GDP growth rate of more than seven percent, India is the fastest growing major economy today. The IMF and the World Bank have indicated even better prospects in the days to come. We are taking aggressive steps to ensure that our process of growth is both fast as well as inclusive. This summit is another step to realize Babasahebs dream of an economically strong, socially empowered and technologically equipped India. I understand that more than 4500 dignitaries and delegates from around forty countries are participating in this Summit. I am particularly happy that the Republic of Korea is the Partner Country for this event. I thank the President of Korea and also the senior Minister, Mr. Kim Young-Suk who is present here. Friends! We Indians are inheritors of a glorious maritime heritage. The worlds first dock was built at Lothal in Gujarat around 2500 BC during the Harappan Civilisation. This dock was equipped to berth and service ships. It was built after studying tidal flows. In addition to Lothal, there were also some other Indian ports, which were major drivers of global maritime trade two thousand years ago. These included: Barygaza - which today is known as Bharuch in Gujarat; Muziris which today is known as Kodungallur near Cochin in Kerala; Korkai which is todays Tuticorin; Kaveripattinam which is in Nagapattanam District of Tamil Nadu; and Arikamedu which is in Ariyankuppam District of Puducherry There are many references in ancient Indian literature and in Greek and Roman works about the vibrant maritime trade of India with Rome, Greece, Egypt and Arabia. Ancient and medieval Indian traders maintained links with countries in Southeast and East Asia, Africa, Arabia and Europe. Friends! Since my government took over, among other things, we have laid emphasis on building futuristicinfrastructure. This includes building next generation infrastructure in many sectors. Port, Shipping and Maritime infrastructure is prominent among them. It is my Governments endeavour to revive and restore Indias position of eminence in the global maritime sector. Building upon our glorious maritime tradition, we are working hard to achieve new heights in this area. In the very early days of our Government, we announced the Sagarmala programme. This is aimed at leveraging our long coastline and natural maritime advantages. It also focuses on promoting port led development, energizing the coastal economy and infrastructure development in these areas. We particularly want to modernize our ports and integrate them with Special Economic Zones, Port based Smart Cities, Industrial Parks, Warehouses, Logistics Parks and Transport Corridors. I must mention that our vast coastline of 7500 kilometers offers a huge investment opportunity. Apart from the length of the coastline, India's maritime potential also lies in its strategic location on all major shipping highways. In addition, we have an expansive and productive hinterland, through which flows a network of mighty rivers. Our maritime agenda will complement this ambitious infrastructure plan for the hinterland which is going on in parallel. I call upon the global business community to partner with us to give shape to our process of port led development. I amsure, the long coastline of India along with diverse coastal regions and hard working coastal communities can become an engine of growth of India. To enable the growth of the port and related sectors, we have carried out several reforms and taken a number of new initiatives. Under our Make in India approach, we have taken many steps to make India a global manufacturing hub; Recently MOODYs has appreciated the Make in India initiative; We have done a lot of corrections on the front of Ease of doing business - we have jumped up 12 ranks in World Banks ranking; A lot of simplification has happened in the processes for cross border trade; We have greatly liberalized the licensing regimes; This also includes the defence sector and ship building therein; We have taken almost sixty per cent of the defence items out of the licensing process Most of the FDI sectors are now put on automatic approval route; Shipyards are being given Infrastructure status; at par with the ports; Rebate of service tax on coastal shipping has been increased to seventy per cent; We have granted customs duty and central excise exemption on inputs used in ship building; A scheme of financial assistance to promote ship building has been approved; Customs and central excise duties have been exempted on bunker fuel for Indian flagged container ships; Tax issues of sea farers have been resolved; A new company by the name of Indian Port Rail Corporation, has been established to focus on the last mile connectivity to ports. We have enacted a legislation for declaring one hundred and eleven waterways as National Waterways-1. We have taken up skill development activities aggressively. The results of our initial efforts are clearly visible: FDI inflows have gone up by 44 per cent since this government took over. In fact, the year 2015-16 has seen the highest ever FDI inflow into India; Indias highest ever quantity of cargo handled by major ports was in 2015; The port efficiency parameters have shown very good improvement; Indias fastest average turnaround time in ports was in 2015; In the last two years, our Major Ports have added 165 million tonne capacity with record additions each year; 94 million tonne capacity was added by these ports in 2015-16 alone which is the highest ever; The traffic in Major Ports has shown a healthy growth of more than four per cent in the last two years, despite global slowdown; The performance of the Major Ports in the last two years has been remarkable; Operating Profit margins which were declining, have increased; In 2015-16 alone, the operating profit of the twelve Major Ports has increased by nearly 6.7 billion rupees; During 2015-16, Kandla Port in Gujarat breached the one hundred million traffic landmark and displayed twenty per cent improvement in efficiency. Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust registered a net profit of ten billion rupees helped by a twelve per cent increase in efficiency. Our flagship companies like the Shipping Corporation, Dredging Corporation and the Cochin Shipyard have registered higher profits as compared to the previous year. However, this is just the beginning. We want to do more. We are enhancing our own capacities of execution and implementation. The National Perspective Plan of the Sagarmala Programme has been released today. During the last two years, major ports have awarded 56 new Projects involving an investment of more than 250 billion rupees. This will create an additional port capacity of 317 million tonnes per annum. Our vision is to increase port capacity from 1400 million tonnes to 3000 million tonnes by 2025. We want to mobilize an investment of one lakh crore, or one trillion rupees, in the Port Sector to enable this growth. Five new ports are planned to meet the increasing demand of the Exim trade which will rise in proportion with the fast-growing Indian economy. New ports are also being developed by several coastal States of India. The multiple measures to promote Coastal Shipping coupled with the anticipated rise in domestic production of coal, is expected to enhance coastal transportation of coal by at least four fold by 2025. We are engaging with our immediate and regional neighbours to promote shipping and maritime security. Recently India has signed a Coastal Shipping Agreement with Bangladesh which will be mutually beneficial. India is also engaged in the development ofChahbahar Port in Iran. A special purpose vehicle by the name India Ports Global Limited has been established to take up Maritime Projects overseas. I am informed that the Ministry of Shipping is showcasing about 250 projects with investment opportunity in the Maritime Sector. These projects include various infrastructure development opportunities in 12 Major Ports, projects in eight maritime states and other agencies. Of these, over 100 projects have been identified under the SagarmalaProgramme. With more than 14,000 kilometers of navigable inland waterways in the country, there is tremendous potential for development in this sector. My Government is committed to integration in infrastructure. We are also committed to creating an enabling environment for investors and to facilitate investments with an open mind. Friends! All this is being done to benefit the common man. This is being done to provide employment to the youth. This is particularly being done to empower coastal communities. Approximately eighteen percent of Indias population lives in 72 coastal districts. It comprises twelve percent of Indias landmass. Therefore, there is a need for holistic and sustainable development of coastal regions and communities. Development of coastal communities especially fishermen requires an integrated approach. As part of the Sagarmala programme, we will adopt a comprehensive approach with focus on capacity building and training, upgrading of technology and for improving physical and social infrastructure. This will be done in collaboration with the coastal states. These initiatives will create employment opportunities of approximately ten million jobs over the next ten years. This includes four million direct and six million indirect jobs. To broaden livelihood opportunities further, we are planning to deploy modern and sophisticated fishing vessels. This would enable them to harness resources in Indias Exclusive Economic Zone. In addition, we are also focusing on value addition in fisheries, aquaculture and cold chain development. The Port Sector in India is a good mix of Private and Public Ports, with both contributing to the growth of the sector. The PPP model of development has been quite successful in this sector and has helped in bringing latest technology and best practices. Private Ports have been growing at a very healthy pace and have nearly doubled their capacity in the last 5 years. They handle around 45 per cent of the total cargo. Most of these Ports are new, with modern facilities and can match the best international Ports in terms of performance and infrastructure. Friends! India has had a glorious maritime history. We are on the path of shaping an even better maritime future. The maritime sector not only creates and facilitates economic activities; it also connects countries and civilizations. Moreover, it is the cleanest and cheapest carrier of global trade. Investing in maritime sector is not only investing in ones own future; but in the future of the planet and that of coming generations. However, in this sector, no country can achieve the desired results in isolation. Nations have to collaborate to realize this potential and to overcome challenges in this sector. The objective of this Summit is to provide a platform and forum for such cooperation. To conclude, I would like to say that: This is the right time to come to India; It is even better to come through the sea route; The Indian ship is well equipped for a long haul; Dont miss it; Missing it means missing a pleasant journey and a great destination. Once you are here, I assure you that I will personally hold your hands to see that your berthing is safe, secure and satisfactory. Thank You! With inputs from PTI Kolkata: The Election Commission has issued a show cause notice to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for violation of the model code of conduct, Chief Election Commissioner Naseem Zaidi said on Thursday. "It has been brought to our notice that she made a promise of creation of Asansol district and also made certain other utterances, for which the showcause has been issued," Zaidi told the media. "She also made some other utterances which violated the model code of conduct," he said. Zaidi informed that future course of action will be decided after receiving reply from Banerjee. An unfazed Banerjee, however, dared the Commission and said, "Do whatever you like". "I heard that Election Commission has showcaused me. What I have said I will say it again, I will say it thousand times. I will say it a lakh times. Do whatever you like. If anyone spread canards against me I will seek answers," she said during an election meeting in Birbhum district. "Election Commission has showcaused me on Bengali New Year today, people will showcause them on 19 May," she said. The full bench of the Election Commission of India held day-long meetings with police and administration officials and also met delegations from various political parties ahead of the third phase of the state assembly polls scheduled for 17 April. With inputs from agencies Shimla: Half of the students in 20 per cent government schools of Himachal Pradesh had failed their class X exams and 14 per cent the class XII exams in 2014-15, an audit report has revealed. The result of class X was poor as during 2011-15, two to 16 of the 2,230 government schools in the state had zero results while 134 to 232 schools had results of less than 25 per cent , says a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). Similarly, for class XII, 10 of the 1,375 schools had zero result and 48 schools had less than 25 per cent results in 2014-15. The report said 463 class X schools had pass percentages ranging from 26 to 50, as did 204 class XII schools during this period. The government auditor, which submitted its report in the assembly last week, picked holes in the implementation of the central-funded Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) that was launched in 2009. Of the Rs.348.47 crore ($52,000) available under RMSA during 2014-15, the state education department could spend only Rs. 218.67 crore on various components of the programme, leaving Rs.129.80 crore (37 per cent) unutilised, the report said. It also pointed to the chronic shortage of teachers in schools. In 2014-15, there were 2,230 high schools and 1,375 senior secondary schools in Himachal Pradesh. Their shortage of teaching staff was 14 and 39 per cent respectively as of March 2015. The state government had framed a policy in January 2010 to evaluate the results of schools and to identify the reasons for poor results, including the staff responsible, The teachers in schools with results less than 25 per cent were to be penalised through adverse entries in their annual confidential reports and withholding of future increments. Surprisingly, said the CAG, no action was taken by the department against the teachers in schools with less than 25 per cent results. During the assembly's just-concluded budget session, leader of opposition and two-time chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal expressed concern over sharp deterioration in the quality of education and the high dropout rate. He said government schools were losing out to the private ones owing to shortage of staff. The CAG said the enrolment of children from class IX to XII (14 to 18 years) was not commensurate with their population. As per 2011 census, there were 515,132 children in this age group. Their enrollment increased from 447,221 in 2010-11 to 510,495 in 2012-13 but decreased to 484,360 in 2014-15. This showed that the state government's efforts to attain universalisation of secondary education through its schools had not produced the desired results as envisaged in the RMSA guidelines. It also observed that the overall gross dropout rate for boys and girls during 2010-15 ranged between 1.66 and 9.11. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who is known for his reforms in education, said filling vacant posts of teacher is one of his top priorities. "My government has started filings posts in the education department in 2013-14 and it still continues. More than 5,000 teaching posts will be filled in this fiscal," he told IANS. The chief minister in March revived the British system of carrying out inspections of educational institutions by constituting an inspectorate of education to improve standards. This will ensure that all schools teach mathematics, English and Hindi from class I. In the budget for this fiscal, the chief minister launched a scheme that will provide state-of-the-art infrastructure and teaching facilities in two senior secondary schools in each assembly constituency. About 10 days ago, Ram Bahadur Rai received a call from a senior South Bloc official, asking for his approval if he were to be appointed as Chairman of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA). That call was obviously made to him after his name was given due approval by the political leadership and the final paper work was to be set in the motion. Rai, a veteran jounalist surely has ideological moorings in the Sangh Parivar, someone who grew up as ABVP activist, but he is equally at ease with the Lohiate thought process. Almost all senior leaders of the socialist tradition have been his friends -- V P Singh, Chandrashekhar, Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, etc to name a few. So much so that it was he who named Lalu's eldest daughter as Misa. Lalu and Rai were jailed together in jail during Emergency under Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and so when Lalu got the news of his daughter birth, he asked Rai what should be her name. Rai responded, `Misa'. He is considered to be among those who don't hanker for positions of authority and influence. Thereby Ram Bahadur Rai could perhaps be the least controversial person to be heading the IGNCA. He has been picked up by the Modi government for the post, long considered to be Nehru-Gandhi family personal fiefdom. But this is one change which Congress couldn't take kindly to. Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma called restructuring of IGNCA to be a "cruel joke". In politics, people's memory is short, or at least people pretend it to be so. What else would explain the fact that within few months of its return to power in 2004, the Congress had thrown out the NDA's appointee to the IGNCA trust, bringing back its own favourites including Kapila Vatsyayan? In year 2000, the Vajpayee government had gone through a long drawn battle against the Congress to make changes in the Board of Trustees, Executive Committee and other structures of this influential cultural body. LM Singhvi was then appointed as its chairman. Spread across 23 acres of prime land in New Delhi on the intersection of Janpath, Rajpath and Rajendra Prasad Road, IGNCA was established by Rajiv Gandhi in 1985 as an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Culture. Its official website says: "The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, established in memory of Indira Gandhi, is visualised as a centre encompassing the study and experience of all the arts -- each form with its own integrity, yet within a dimension of mutual interdependence, interrelated with nature, social structure and cosmology. This view of the arts, integrated with, and essential to the larger matrix of human culture, is predicated upon Smt. Gandhi's recognition of the role of the arts as essential to the integral quality of person, at home with himself and society...." It was one of the rare institutions to whom the Union Government had provided an initial corpus of Rs 50 crore to begin its work, so that it would not be dependent on fund allocation by the ministry for programmes. IGNCA now has a swanky new building. A "boutique hotel" Indravan, has also been allowed to it. The Hindu had done a detailed news report on that. It also noted that "a quarter of a century after opening, the Centre's academic and cultural activities remain at a low level". The IGNCA is a cash rich organisation with prime properties in Delhi, Bangalore and Guwahati. Its trustees and chairpersons have drawn authority, for most parts since its existence, directly from the Prime Minister and his office. Rajiv Gandhi had handed it over to Kapila Vatsyayan on a platter, giving her a free hand in its operations and was said to always open to her suggestions for related requirements. On its inception in 1987, Rajiv Gandhi became its president and Kapila Vatsyayan its member secretary. she also became its academic director. Given her close and continued proximity with the Nehru-Gandhi family for three generations, from the time of Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, her word was the law for those concerned. The kind of weight this organisation carried in the official structure at the centre was apparent list of its founder trustees -- Rajiv Gandhi, R Venkataraman (President of India), P V Narasimha Rao (HRD Minister), Pupul Jayakar, H Y Sharada Prasad and Kapila Vatsyayan. The Congress first family's control over the organisation was further strengthened in 1995 by issuing an executive order to make Sonia Gandhi as its "life President" and the likes of Vatsyayan as "life trustee". The address 1 Janpath which houses IGNCA was virtually seen to be an extension of 10 Janpath. A change in regime at the Centre, the Vajpayee government taking over in 1998 and in 1999, meant that IGNCA couldn't remain a personal pocket borough of the Nehru-Gandhi family and its loyalists. In 2000, the Vajpayee government dismantled the then existing structure of life president (Sonia Gandhi) and life trustees. Removing Kapila Vatsyayan from the top post and making Sonia Gandhi an ordinary trustee for a specified period. Some took it as an outbreak of an uncultured cultural war between the BJP and the Congress to control an organisation which was dedicated to memory of Indira Gandhi, even as it was run on ordinary tax payers expenses. That change, however, did not last long. Four year later when the BJP lost power and Congress led UPA came to power, the old regime led by Kapila Vatsyayan was brought back at positions of command and influence. This time around Sonia Gandhi, however, didn't choose to be officially part of it. Kaveri Bamzai of India Today wrote a piece titled `Comeback queen'. Bamzai wrote "Kapila Vatsyayan, the Congress' favourite cultural czarina, is back in her preserve, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, and the tit-for-tat with the NDA is now almost complete." Some of those sacked as trustees by the UPA government included likes of famed classical dancer Sonal Mansingh and V Kamath. It is ironical that when Modi government has gone for restructuring of IGNCA now, it has brought them back as trustees. The new board of trustee include Sonal Mansingh, Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Nitin Desai, K Arvinda Rao, Vasudeo Kamath, Dr Mahesh Chandra Sharma, Dr Bharat Gupta, Dr M Seshan, Rati Vinay Jha, Professor Nirmala Sharma, Harsh Neotia, Dr Padma Subrahmaniam, Dr Saryu Doshi, Prasoon Joshi, DP Sinha and Viraj Yagnik. Clearly Ram Bahadur Rai has his task cut out for him. Kolkata: Facing flak from the opposition over the Narada sting, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday described it as a "planted election vendetta" and said law will take its course in the matter. In an interaction on Facebook to reach out to netizens, Banerjee took an array of questions on issues like Narada, the recent flyover collapse and the alliance between Congress and CPI(M) and also expressed confidence about her party coming back to power in the state. "It is a planted election vendetta and blackmail politics to malign a political party. We do not support this. They did not have any other issue. This is political bankruptcy. And we will take all necessary action. Law will take its own course. Party is also very serious," she said in a post in reply to a query on the Narada sting. Asked if 'syndicates', or groups supplying construction materials that allegedly force people and builders to pay high prices for low-grade items, were funding her party, she said, "No. Never done." Asked about the action she has taken following the flyover collapse, Banerjee said, "Law will take its own course. The tender for the flyover was allotted during CPI(M) rule. We have already set up an expert committee. We will deal with the matter strongly." Asked about her views on IIT fee hike, she said "the Centre must consider the feelings of my young generation". "I don't agree (with it)," she added. As to the CPI(M)-Congress alliance for the Bengal polls, she said "it is an unethical, selfish alliance". Hitting out at the Centre, Banerjee claimed it "has stopped or drastically reduced funding of several social sector projects like mid-day meal, ICDS, 100-days work, police modernisation, Sarba Siksha Abhiyan and Jangalmahal development programmes, among others". "We will continue with the ICDS programme. It was previously settled that the Centre will pay 90 per cent of the cost and the state would bear the rest. Now, they have stopped paying but we have to continue for the sake of the children. The Centre has taken away more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore as instalments on the debt incurred by CPI(M). Despite so many meetings, they did not offer any package for Bengal or any moratorium." Politics makes strange bedfellows. All the more if it involves two parties who are fighting for survival. Then all past rivalries are forgotten, grievances forgiven and ideological differences put to rest. On Wednesday when Congress president Sonia Gandhi kicked off her West Bengal Assembly election campaign by addressing twin rallies in the state, local CPM leaders and candidates were present on the dais with her and other Congress luminaries. Never mind the fact that opposing the Congress and its ideology has been CPM's raison d'etre and the both still remain engaged in a bitter battle in Kerala. Her first stop was Sujapur constituency in Bengal's Malda district, a veritable Congress fortress even during the 34-year Left Front rule thanks to one man ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury. It's a good thing that Choudhury is no more. Had he been around, it would have been interesting to get his reaction because the cornerstone of his long political career had been his rivalry against the Left Front. Be that as it may, the Congress president, who stuck closely to a prepared script, attacked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on corruption and for failing to provide jobs and ensure security for women but even while criticising the TMC supremo, the Congress chief's most withering and choicest barbs were reserved for one man who resides at 7 Race Course Road Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For the Congress-Left Front alliance to have any hope of unseating the ruling TMC, it is imperative that two things happen. One, transfer of votes take place from one alliance partner to another and two, anti-incumbency votes are not eaten up by the BJP. To that end, the Left Front-Congress alliance has used the 'secret understanding' between TMC and BJP as its favourite motif. The strategy became clear in the very first lines of Sonia's address. "Bengal is getting oppressed under two dictatorial governments," Sonia started. "One in the state and the other in Delhi." For the better part of her short 15-minute speech, Sonia played on this theme. She tried to insinuate that Modi and Mamata have struck an understanding of convenience and both parties and its politics are two sides of the same coin. "One whom you call Didi and the other who is known as NaMo are the same. Why have both of them remained silent on Sarada scam where lakhs of poor were robbed of their life's savings? Why has no progress been made on the probe? "Just as Mamata has not sent to jail those who have looted the poor in Bengal, PM Modi has allowed people who have cheated banks lakhs of crores to safely fly away from India." "Modi needs Mamata's support in the Parliament whenever his government faces a crisis and in return, he has promised to go slow on the Sarada scam probe," she said. There were a few times the Bengal CM was singled out for criticism. "After coming to power in 2011, Mamata has forgotten the promises she made to people about improving the condition of the poor, the oppressed and providing safety and security to women. "She raises the slogan of Ma, Maati and Manush but under Mamata, Ma is not secure, Maati has become dry and Manush is left without jobs. "It is shameful that despite having a woman chief minister, Bengal tops the list in India in crimes against women," said Sonia. For the most time , she couldn't resist taking digs at Modi. "As CM Mamata has cheated Bengal, PM Modi has cheated India. To dismiss our governments in different states, BJP has used money power and threats to destabilise democratically elected governments. "Under Modi's rule, nobody has the right to even open their mouths, leave alone criticising the government. The party in power at the Centre is trying to divide Indians in the name of caste, creed, and religion so that no one asks questions of them for uttering a litany of bluffs before coming to power," she said. The charge of intolerance was followed by claims that had it not been for the Congress, NDA would have gotten away with anti-people policies. "Modi tried to snatch land away from farmers, but he failed to do so because we stood in the way. His government tried to tax provident fund but we didn't allow that to happen. Then he tried to bring policies that would harm the interests of the daily-wage workers, we stopped him," said Sonia. "When Modiji visits foreign lands, he talks of unity and peace in India, but when he returns to the country, his real face becomes unmasked, one that hates the dalits and the poor of this country. When members of his party or ministers deliver poisonous dialogues, the Prime Minister remains silent. "His governance so far is full of empty slogans like Make in India and Stand up India", said Sonia. After the short sermon on corruption and destabilisation, she ended the speech with the age-old question. "Kya Modiji ko satta mein rahena chahiye? Kya Mamataji ko satta mein rahena chahiye?(Should Modi remain in power? Should Mamata remain in power?) One could be forgiven for thinking that this is 2019 and the Congress president is campaigning for the general elections. Families of two Indian soldiers, Mangal Singh and Ram Das, who are reportedly being held at Pakistans Kot Lakhpat jail since the 1971 war, have asked the central government to take the matter up with Pakistan, after an Indian prisoner there died on Monday under mysterious circumstances, reports The Indian Express. Pakistan on Wednesday informed India that Indian inmate Kirpal Singh died of a heart attack at a jail in Lahore two days back after the issue of his mysterious death was taken up with the Pakistani authorities even as the government said it was awaiting further details in the case. "After Sarabjit, it is now Kirpal who has died under mysterious circumstances and the same may happen to Mangal Singh and Ram Das," members from both the families told The Indian Express. The two soldiers, who were initially assumed dead and declared "martyr" after the 1971 war by the Indian government, have been in Pakistan custody for over forty years. India's Acting High Commissioner JP Singh met Director General (South Asia) in Pakistan Foreign Ministry in Islamabad following a directive from the Indian government in connection with death of Kirpal Singh, who was languishing for nearly 25 years in jail in connection with a serial blasts case there. "According to government of Pakistan, Shri Kirpal Singh died on 11 April 11 at 1455 hours due to heart attack. We await further details," Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Vikas Swarup said. He said India's Acting High Commissioner has also requested the Pakistan Foreign Ministry official for earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains of Kirpal Singh. 50-year-old Kirpal was languishing in a Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges. He had allegedly crossed over to Pakistan through Wagah border in 1992 and was arrested. He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province. Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of charges related to bomb blasts by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons. Jagir Kaur, Kirpal's sister, earlier said the family could not raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case. The government asked India's acting envoy to seek a meeting with the Pakistan Foreign Office in connection with Kirpal's death under mysterious circumstances and seek early transfer of the mortal remains. "On Kirpal Singh, our acting high commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in Pakistan Foreign Office this forenoon to seek early transportation of Singh's mortal remains," Swarup said earlier. With inputs from PTI Lahore: Seven Pakistani policemen were among 13 killed and 22 others taken hostage by a notorious gang during a police raid to clear their island hideout in Punjab province, forcing the government to use aerial strikes to end the 9-day standoff. The operation involving 1,600 security officials, including police officials and paramilitary Rangers, were engaged in a pitched battle to take control of the island on Indus river. "At least seven policemen, mostly Elite Force commandos have been killed so far and 22 cops taken into hostages in the operation against Chotu gang in Rajanpur district, some 400 kilometers from Lahore," said Ghulam Mubashir Maken, senior police officer who is spearheading the operation codenamed 'Zarb-e-Aahan'. Thirteen gangsters were also killed in the standoff. The Chotu gang is hiding in a forest in an island in Indus River area between Rajanpur and Rahim Yar Khan districts of Punjab. Chottu, who carries a huge bounty on his head, radioed a message to the police to call off the operation, release his arrested gang members and vacate the area or else the hostages would be killed one by one. The fierce resistance put up by criminals showed some terrorists of banned organisations might be present in the area, a police official said. It is being suspected that elements of banned outfits of Lashkar-e-Jhanghvi (LeJ) and Sipah Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) are also part of the gang, he said. Police commandos moved into the thickly forested hideouts of the Chottu gang in the Kacha Jamal area on Tuesday night. The heavily-armed gangsters fired indiscriminately at the advancing police party, killing six and forcing the rest to retreat. "Yesterday, police commandos mounted another operation to recover the bodies but the gangsters put up a fierce fight and abducted 15 of the policemen," officials said. The police has not been able to achieve any significant success so far, forcing officials to use aerial attack on the hideouts of the gangsters. Now, the police have decided to use air power to soften the target before mounting a ground operation. The Punjab government has requested the Pakistan Army to deploy two helicopter gunships for air raids and two helipads have been set up in the Kacha Sounmiani area for this purpose, said District Police Officer Ghulam Mubashir Maikan. Over 100 gangsters with the Chottu gang have 54 cases of murders, dacoities and kidnapping registered against it in police stations across South Punjab, Maikan said. Purely from a design point of view, there is very little that is wrong with Dabiq Islamic State's magazine. It's a thorough magazine with a cover story, rich picture quality and in depth analysis of the Brussels attacks 'The Knights of Shahadah in Belgium' that is how the suicide bombers are celebrated through the written word. These two brothers gathered the weapons and the explosives. After the blessed raid in Paris, he saw another dream, which motivated him to carry out an istishhadi (martyrdom) operation," said the magazine. In their April 2016 issue, Dabiq interviews Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif, whom they hail as the "Kilafah's s soldiers in Bengal" (Caliphate's soldiers in Bangladesh), where Dabiq asks, "What is the role of India and the Hindus in the war against Islam and the Khilafah in general and in Bengal in particular?" to this, the soldier claims that the Hindus of both Bengal (Bangladesh) and India have always been waging war against Islam and Muslims. The only difference, he says,"Is that the Hindus in India show their animosity towards Islam and the Muslims openly, whereas the Hindus in Bengal do it in a more deceptive and covert manner due to them being a minority sect." al-Hanif claimed that to achieve the Sharia rule in Bengal, local Hindus need to be targeted in mass numbers and "a state of polarisation" needs to be created, "dividing between the believes and the disbelievers." This is not the only instance, where the Islamic State has made threats against India. In an e-book released online in December 2015, the Islamic State aimed their statements at PM Narendra Modi calling him a 'right-wing Hindu nationalist' who 'worships weapons' and is 'preparing his people for a future war against their number one enemy - Muslims'. The Islamic State in the e-book also cited the Dadri lynching incident, alleging that a movement of Hindus who kill Muslims who eat beef is growing in India. April issue of Dabiq, again makes a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "rubaiwedayah" (degenerate) who is "known for congratulating the masses of cow-worshiping, pagan Hindus on their religious occasions of shirk on a regular basis." and called the Hindus residing in "Bengal" (Bangladesh) as "anti-Islamic propagandists" who "adhered to this filthy, cow-worshiping religion initially before becoming full-fledged atheists and denying 'religion' entirely." Last year in July, according to a PTI report, the Islamic State was preparing to attack India to provoke an Armageddon-like confrontation with the US, according to an internal recruitment document of the feared group which also seeks to unite the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban into a single army of terror. A Harvard scholar who translated the undated document titled, 'A Brief History of the Islamic State Caliphate, The Caliphate According to the Prophet' said, "attacking in India is the Holy Grail of South Asian jihadists." With inputs from Agencies New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday night hailed the celebration of B R Ambedkar's birth anniversary by the United Nations, terming it as a "matter of great pride" for India. "It is a matter of great pride for India that Dr. Ambedkar's birth anniversary was observed at @UN & several people joined the celebrations," he tweeted. For the first time, the UN celebrated the birth anniversary of Ambedkar with a top official describing the noted Indian social reformer as a "global icon" for marginalised people and voiced the world body's commitment to work with India to fulfil his vision. "On behalf of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), I commend India on celebrating this important anniversary at the UN," UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said in her keynote address at a special event organised by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN to commemorate Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary for the first time at the global body. Clark who is Chair of the UN Development Group, addressed a packed audience of diplomats, scholars and Ambedkar's followers and said the occasion commemorates the "legacy of a very great man" who understood that "rising and persistent inequalities" pose fundamental challenges to the economic and social well-being of nations and people. Emphasising that Ambedkar's ideals are as relevant today as they were 60 years ago, former New Zealand prime minister Clark said his work on the empowerment and inclusion of excluded groups, reform of labour laws and promotion of education for all "made him an icon for marginalised people in India and in other countries". WASHINGTON U.S. President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Ash Carter will talk next week with leaders in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries about the fight against Islamic State militants and other defence issues, a White House official said on Thursday. The United States and its Gulf partners have had differences over how best to address conflicts in the region - particularly those with Iran. An article in The Atlantic last month brought some of that tension into the open, including comments from Obama about "free riders" - countries that don't "carry their weight" in conflicts. Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, did not back away from the comments, which he said Obama had made publicly and privately before. "The only way to truly deal with global challenges is if everybody does their part," Rhodes told reporters on a conference call on Thursday. Obama will meet with King Salman in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and attend a summit with other leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council on Thursday. Carter will meet his counterparts just before the summit, on Wednesday, the White House said. "As youll hear more coming out of the summit, theres been agreements reached to increase our cooperation on counterterrorism, streamlining the transfer of critical defence capabilities to our GCC partners, bolstering GCC ballistic defence ... systems, and defending against the cyber threat," said Rob Malley, a senior adviser to Obama on the Middle East. "On all of those, I think youll see progress has been made, there's been much deeper cooperation between us and the GCC," Malley told reporters on a conference call. The discussion will be "less about large sales of defence systems" and more about expanding Gulf nations' ability to "confront asymmetric threats," Rhodes said. Obama also wants to hear about ideas from King Salman and other leaders for dealing with economic issues in an era of low oil prices, Malley said. Obama will then travel to London to meet with British Prime Minister David Cameron and to Hanover, Germany, for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, where Islamic State and counterterrorism cooperation will be on the agenda, the White House said. Obama also plans to discuss Afghanistan and Russian aggression in Ukraine with Cameron and Merkel, the White House officials said. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Bill Trott and Peter Cooney) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Seoul: South Korea's main opposition party won a surprise victory in general election, ending the the conservative ruling party's 16-year parliamentary majority. The vote, clouded by North Korean nuclear threats and a slowing economy, dealt a blow to President Park Geun-Hye and raised hopes for an opposition victory in the 2017 presidential election. With almost all ballots counted, Park's Saenuri Party on Wednesday won 122 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, while the main opposition Minjoo Party won 123, the most for any party. The splinter opposition People's Party bagged 38 spots, and another six seats went to a small opposition party, the Justice Party. "The Saenuri Party humbly accepts the election results and voters' choice," party spokesman Ahn Hyung-Hwan told journalists. "The people are deeply disappointed with us, but we've failed to read their mind," he added. It marked the first time since 1999 the conservative party has lost control of parliament, with the three opposition parties garnering a combined 167 seats, well over the majority. Voter turnout was 58 per cent, up 3.8 percentage points from the 2012 election, and final official results were expected on Thursday morning. "This is a voters' judgement against President Park. Many voters are fed up with her authoritarian style of administration", Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies told AFP. Park has also fallen short on most of her key economic promises, a failure she puts down to legislative inaction. But critics accuse her of skewed priorities, poor decision-making and a dogmatic style of leadership. "People punished Park for her poor performance in economy," Minjoo Party President Kim Chong-In said. Political power in South Korea is firmly concentrated in the presidency, with incumbents limited to a single five-year term. Dissatisfaction is especially high among young people, with the jobless rate among those aged 15-29 at record levels. The left-wing opposition sought to frame yesterday's vote as a referendum on Park's economic policies. But it has suffered from factional infighting and breakaways that threaten to split the liberal vote. Kate Kim, an unemployed 25-year-old college graduate, said crippling levels of joblessness had persuaded her and many of her previously apathetic friends to vote. "This is the first time I have voted. Our country desperately needs change, especially for young and jobless people like me," Kim said. Panama City: Prosecutors have wrapped up their search at Mossack Fonseca's offices, looking for evidence of any illegal activity in the company at the center of a document leak that revealed details of offshore financial accounts. Lead organised crime prosecutor Javier Caraballo emerged from the offices after 27 hours of searching to say investigators had seized 100 computer servers that they would begin reviewing. "We cannot so far establish if we have elements that show some kind of tie (to illegal acts), but we are satisfied with the quantity of information that we have been able to collect," Caraballo said. Earlier in the day, Attorney General Kenia Porcell said it was too early to talk about what might have been found in an investigation that she described as very complex. She said investigators were checking the firm's computers and noted it had servers in multiple locations. Prosecutors are also checking the server of the telephone company that provided the firm's service. "I'm not saying there is a crime," Porcell stressed. Mossack Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing. The search started on Tuesday, 10 days after news reports began emerging about the document leak known as the Panama Papers. Stories reported that the millions of documents contained details on secretive offshore accounts and shell companies set up by Mossack Fonseca for wealthy clients around the globe. About 30 demonstrators gathered outside Mossack Fonseca's office on Wednesday to demand a thorough investigation. "We demand justice. We cannot allow that a law firm cast doubts on the country," said Luis Gonzalez, leader of the country's powerful construction workers union. "Investigate these scoundrels and lock them up." Some legal observers questioned the government's delay in investigating the offices. "The day after the revelations came to light, the public ministry should have intervened immediately in Mossack Fonseca, should have collected the data, the computer, gotten all of the evidence," said Italo Antinori, an expert in constitutional law at Complutense University in Madrid. "A lot of evidence could have been diluted, altered," he added. Berlin: A prime suspect in the Paris terror attacks had documents related to a German nuclear research center hidden in his Brussels flat, a media report said on Thursday. Salah Abdeslam possessed documents about Juelich Nuclear Research Centre located near the Belgium-Germany border and being used for the storage of atomic waste, Redaktions Netzwerk Deutschland (RND) media group reported. Citing its sources within the parliamentary control committee, whose meetings are confidential, RND said that head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV) Hans-Georg Maassen told the nine-person committee at the end of March that Abdeslam had the documents. Maassen told the committee, which monitors the work of German security agencies, that printouts of articles from the internet and photos of nuclear centre CEO Wolfgang Marquardt had been found in Abdeslam's apartment in the Molenbeek area of Brussels, the Belgian capital, it added. RND said it was unclear whether Maassen had passed this information on to the chancellery or the interior ministry. Several members of the Bundestag and a terrorism expert at the BfV said they knew of this information and that Maassen had confidentially informed them, RND reported. In a statement, the centre said that there was no indication of any danger and that it was in contact with security authorities and nuclear supervisors. Abdeslam, 28, born and raised in Belgium to Moroccan parents, was arrested on 18 March along with four other suspects in his flat where he lived while the Paris attacks were being plotted. Four days later, suicide bombers killed 32 people in Brussels airport and on a rush-hour metro train. Experts fear nuclear plants are potential targets for terrorists, either for sabotage or efforts to steal nuclear materials to build a "dirty" bomb. The Nuclear Security Summit, hosted by US President Barack Obama in Washington early this month, attended by more than 50 world leaders, termed threat of nuclear and radiological terrorism as "one of the greatest challenges to international security" in the communique, which said the threat is "constantly evolving". The countries pledged to continue improving their nuclear security and reaffirmed their commitment to fight proliferation of nuclear weapons. AMSTERDAM Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) today announced the launch of its eco-incubator Element brand in the Netherlands. The opening of Element Amsterdam marks the second Element hotel in Europe, following Element Frankfurt Airport Hotel which opened in 2014. Offering bright, modern design and eco-minded sensibilities, the hotel is located in the vibrant Zuidas area of Amsterdam, one of the city's main business districts. An adaptive re-use project, the hotelis located in a former office building at the Gelderlandplein shopping mall. "Together with Bari Gruppe, we introduced the Element brand into Europe in 2014 with Element Frankfurt Airport Hotel, shaking up the traditional extended stay experience for healthy active global travellers. We are thrilled to expand our collaboration with the debut of our second Element Hotel," said Michael Wale, President, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Europe, Africa & Middle East. "Element Amsterdam offers a fresh new option for travellers who want a bright, energizing environment, great design and everything they need for smart, sustainable living." Element Amsterdam features 160 spacious studios and suites, all featuring a fully-equipped kitchenette, flexible living space, the signature Westin Heavenly Bed and spa-inspired bathroom. The hotel's two restaurants My Place and Carrots &Co. focus on sustainable ingredients and provide a range of healthy options throughout the day. Open 24/7, the grab-and-go gourmet food pantry allows guests to buy everything needed to make delicious meals in the comfort of their rooms. Guests can also fuel their day with the healthy Rise breakfast and wind down with the Relax evening wine reception both complimentary. As the first major hotel brand to mandate that all properties pursue sustainable certifications, Element is recognized as an industry leader in the eco-space and offers travellers a reimagined interpretation of the traditional hotel experience with natural light, modern design, healthy options and eco-minded sensibilities. Providing an atmosphere that fuels life in balance and on the move, this reimagined experience is perfect for the traveller who is visiting for a few days or a few weeks. "We are delighted to open a second Element Hotel in Europe and to work with Starwood Hotels & Resorts once again," Marco Bari, Managing Director & CEO, Bari Gruppe GmbH & Co. KG added. "One of the industry's most innovative brands, Element appeals to business and leisure travellers with its emphasis on clean, sustainable living and long-stay accommodation." Element Amsterdam also boasts a 24/7 fitness centre, two meeting rooms and a business centre. Guests can stay on the move and exploreAmsterdam with Element's complimentary bikes, as well as catch up with loved ones or work using the complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the hotel. The hotel will also feature SPG Keyless - the industry-first keyless entry system - enabling guests to use their smartphone or Apple watch as a room key. "We are thrilled to introduce Element to the vibrant and forward-looking city of Amsterdaman ideal fit for the brand," said Brian McGuinness, Global Brand Leader, Starwood's Specialty Select Brands. "On track to more than double its global portfolio in the next three years, Element fills a much-needed niche in the market and caters to travellers who seek a smart and sustainable experience when they are on the move." Starwood has four hotels in the Netherlands: the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel; Hotel Des Indes, The Hague, a Luxury Collection Hotel and the recently opened W Amsterdam. For more information on Element Amsterdam Hotel, please visit: www.elementamsterdamhotel.com. About Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 1,300 properties in some 100 countries and approximately 188,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences under the renowned brands: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Westin, Le Meridien, Sheraton,Tribute Portfolio, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft, and Element, along with an expanded partnership withDesign Hotels. The company also boasts one of the industrys leading loyalty programs, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG). Visit www.starwoodhotels.com for more information and stay connected @starwoodbuzz on Twitterand Instagram and facebook.com/Starwood. Ashley Chapman Global Public Relations, Aloft, Element & Four Points 212-380-4015 Starwood Labor has seized on reports the Coalition will head to the election with a pledge to raise revenue by increasing the cost of cigarettes, a Labor policy the government once vehemently opposed. Fairfax Media reported on Thursday that Treasurer Scott Morrison's first budget would contain an increase to the tobacco excise, a measure former Prime Minister Tony Abbott criticised as a tax on "smokos" and workers, when it was first proposed by Labor in 2015. When asked about the report on ABC's 7.30 on Thursday night, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann did not rule it out, saying that smokers would have to "wait and see." "Rogerson just shot him." This was the claim from former policeman Glen McNamara as he gave evidence at his murder trial on Thursday. Mr McNamara and former detective Roger Rogerson are on trial in the NSW Supreme Court for the murder of university student Jamie Gao. The 20-year-old was shot twice in the chest and died inside a southern Sydney storage shed in May 2014. Pentagon officials are crediting the Iraqi crew of an Abrams M1A1 tank with playing a major role in helping push Islamic State fighters out of the city of Hit, where the tank and its crew have achieved an almost "folk hero status among the locals. During a Tuesday press briefing, Pentagon spokesman Steve Warren told the tale of the tank crew, which he said "has been handing it to the enemy regularly now for several days." The tank crew operates in the small town about 65 kilometers west of Ramadi along the Euphrates River, on the front lines of an Iraq counterterrorism service which Warren called a great example of the Iraqi army working hand-in-hand with the counterterrorism service. "This M1 tank has been driving all around Hit, crazy blasting IEDS, punching holes in enemy defenses, and maneuvering between multiple engagements and allowing the CTS, and other Iraqi ground forces, to clear and help evacuate civilians," Warren said. Warren said American advisers who watch the tank in action have given it the "hero of the day award" for the past seven days. Warren called the tank "a bit of a folk hero," and social media users nicknamed it "The Beast," which is now trending on Twitter in Iraq. During the briefing, Warren tweeted out this video of the tank in action: On Monday, Iraqi forces were able to push IS fighters out of Hit and raised the Iraqi flag over the local government building for the first time since the ancient city fell to the militant group in October 2014. Iraqi forces went on the offensive in the city in February. During the briefing, Warren said 75 percent of city is clear, and he believes IS will be completely removed within a few days. The European Union has accused Turkey of backsliding on democracy and urged Ankara to conduct "a structured and more frequent political dialogue on key thematic issues." Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) approved (by a vote of 375 to 133, with 87 abstentions) the annual progress report on Turkey Thursday, in which it criticized the countrys record on human rights and media freedom in 2015 and urged the country to show progress on rule of law and fundamental values. MEPs urge Turkey to act against intimidation of journalists in all its forms, condemn its violent and illegal takeover of several newspapers ...and highlight its serious backsliding on freedom of speech," the parliament said. Migrants EU - Turkey cooperation on migration should be uncoupled from the EU accession process, MEPs said, but noted that Turkey remains a "key strategic partner for the EU. Ankara immediately rejected the report. Speaking in Vienna, Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir said that his government considered the report "null and void" and would return it to the European Parliament. Bozkir said that Ankara was particularly outraged by a reference in the report to the mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 as "genocide. Turkey accepts that hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed at that time but denies they constituted a campaign of genocide. TWIN FALLS | The king of the jungle arrived on a flatbed trailer, his bronze and copper mane glistening in the afternoon sun. Chris Kasper, manager of Dunkley Music, saw the sculpture coming down Blue Lakes Boulevard and immediately came outside to greet its creator, Jacob Novinger. "He's right," Kasper said. "It's awesome." Dunkley Music was the host of last year's grand prize winner of the annual Art & Soul of the Magic Valley art competition a 3,000-pound entry gate featuring a pair of elk by Don Moore of North Fork. Kasper said he hopes Novinger's piece will also capture the top prize of this year's contest. "We do take a lot of pride in having the grand prize winner last year," Kasper said. "It raises awareness that we have a really excellent local artists. The artists get a chance to meet each other and it brings a lot of people to the community to see all the artwork." The sixth annual Art & Soul of the Magic Valley starts Friday and runs through April 30. Presented by the Magic Valley Arts Council, it is the largest cash-prize art contest in the Northwest. The competition brings artists, businesses and community members together to award $43,000 in prize money to local and out-of-state artists. This year's grand prize winner will win $15,000. Look for the yellow flags planted around Twin Falls. Artists will have their work showcased at 74 Twin Falls businesses, public offices and public spaces. These venues become galleries of artwork seen by thousands of visitors throughout the city. Visitors need to register at the Twin Falls Center for the Arts, 195 River Vista Place in Twin Falls, to vote for their favorite artwork. Last year, about 1,000 people registered to vote. Voters need to be 16 or older with a valid identification. Public voting is free and determines all the winners. There will be more than 40 prize winners. "I think it's good to help local artists," Kasper said. "We support the arts in the Magic Valley and surrounding areas." Novinger named the 250 pound sculpture "Aslan." After Art & Soul, he will drive it to Canada, where it will be installed at an elementary school. Novinger made "Aslan" as a memorial to an 11-year-old boy who died from a brain tumor. The boy was a fan of the book "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." It took the artist six months and more than 600 hours to craft. Each strand of hair on his mane was handled four times. The lion is a direct metal sculpture, which means Novinger didn't use casting in his process. His work is on display as far away as France. "Aslan" is his second piece of art sold in Canada. Animals are his favorite muses. "They're almost alive," Novinger said. "It carries on it's own entity. Everything has an awareness and consciousness. It's like frozen in time." Novinger, a 36-year-old from Gooding, has submitted work for Art & Soul for the past six years. He won the grand prize in 2013 with "Flaming Giraffe." "I believe my art is for the people, and I like seeing my art with the people rather than hidden away," Novinger said. "The whole thing is getting it out there for people to see." Artist Scot Horton has submitted his work to Art & Soul for the same reason. Horton wants to share his art with the public. Horton was the grand prize winner of the fourth Art & Soul competition with a 17-foot-high metal sculpture of an eagle trying to feed a rattlesnake to its eaglets. This year, he submitted "Don't Feed the Bear," which weighs 5,000 pounds and is 18-feet tall. It took him seven months to finish it. It's perched on the lawn at the KMVT television studio on Blue Lakes Boulevard. "People get to see your work," Horton said. "It's really very good for the community. It's neat to see who is out there and what they are doing." Volunteers Hospice Visions Inc. is looking for volunteer handy men and women for light home modifications, light-touch massage therapists, hair dressers, volunteers for meal assistance, and to visit with, play music and games with those on hospice services. Volunteers are needed with licensed certified therapy animals to love our hospice patients in their own homes or assisted living centers. Hospice Visions is looking for volunteers interested in doing art projects with our patients or filming and creating a Life Legacy Video, or can take someone to the store, run an errand or out for a drive. Veterans can become a Vet-to-Vet Volunteer and visit with other veterans. Volunteers are also needed to assist with fundraising events and provide office assistance. Information: 208-735-0121 or nwells@hospicevisions.org. Drivers The Twin Falls Senior Center is looking for volunteers to deliver meals to homebound seniors in the Twin Falls area. The center delivers meals Monday through Friday, and routes take one hour or less to complete. Commitment is based on your availability. Volunteers can commit as little as one hour a week to five days a week. Several positions are available. Volunteers must be age 18 or older with their own car and have proof of liability insurance. Drivers are reimbursed for fuel. Information: Sandee Earl, 208-734-5084. Drivers The Senior Assisted Services (SAS) program at CSIs Office on Aging is looking for volunteer drivers for their transportation department. The volunteers will transport the programs senior clients to doctor appointments, shopping, and personal necessities. Information: Kathy, 208-736-2122. Volunteers The Foster Grandparent Program at the CSI Office on Aging has openings for volunteers, 55 and older, to read to children ages 2 to 9 and assist with their academic and social skills. Placements are available throughout the Magic Valley in Head Start programs and public elementary schools. Information: Marisol, 208-736-2122 or toll free, 800-574-8656. Volunteers The Senior Companion Program at the CSI Office on Aging needs volunteers, 55 and older, to assist homebound seniors by providing friendly visits and transportation as needed. Information: Marisol, 208-736-2122 or toll free, 800-574-8656. Volunteers The CSI Office on Aging is looking for a volunteer with general office skills. The volunteer will sit at the front desk, greet customers, answer phone calls, file, input data on computer and perform other general office duties as requested by the director. The office is open from 8 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Info: Suzanne, 208-731-2122. Volunteers The CSI Refugee Center is in need of adult volunteers to assist refugees with English as a Second Language instruction and one-to-one ESL tutoring of adults. No previous teaching experience is required. Information: Kathy at 208-736-2166. King Salman of Saudi Arabia who is in Turkey for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit held talks with President Erdogan on issues of common interest. Discussions centered mostly on regional security, stability and development. The Muslim world is witnessing collective and strategic action through alliances to ensure coordination and integration efforts, and these include the Islamic military alliance to fight terrorism, King Salman has been quoted as saying. The alliance is led by Riyadh and the king acknowledged Turkeys quick response to join it. President Erdogan called for enhancing bilateral ties and underlined the importance of the strategic cooperation between the two countries in assuring regional stability. King Salman recalled the military drill recently held in the kingdom under code name North Thunder in which several countries took part. This largest military exercise to take place in the region is a message to everyone who may try to undermine our security and stability, he said. Meanwhile, tensions between Turkey and Egypt are beginning to cool down after the Secretary General of the Islamic Organization Cooperation stated that the two countries participated at the preparatory meeting of the 13th summit of the organization without any incident. Egyptian officials on top of whom President al-Sisi allegedly received bribes from Saudi Arabia during King Salmans five-day visit to endorse agreements among which handover of the two Islands to Saudi Arabia, according to Saudi official documents leaked by former Egyptian presidential candidate Ayman Nour. The leaked documents, seemingly official correspondence sent from the Saudi embassy in Cairo to the head of the royal court and the countrys foreign minister, were published on Nours Twitter feed on Wednesday. King Salman visited Egypt last week for the first time since coming to power in 2015. The visit was marked by the signing of an array of agreements worth billions of dollars including maritime border agreements capped by the Egyptian cabinets announcement to relinquish territorial sovereignty over Tiran and Sanfir Islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia as well as the agreement for the construction of a bridge to link the two countries. The leaked documents mention the positions of some Egyptian officials, including the President, the Parliament Speaker, MPs, and the gifts they should receive during the visit of the Saudi monarch. The documents also disclose the price of the gifts, which include pricey watches, as well as cash gifts to be given to cabinet ministers, journalists and all employees in the Egyptian presidency. According to the documents, the President should receive a Rolex Submariner Diamond Emerald Baguette watch, worth $290,000 $300,000. Nour, who appeared on opposition satellite channel Elsharq on Wednesday evening, told the program host he intended to use the documents to file a criminal complaint against the Egyptian government for receiving foreign bribes. Nour argued that there were laws regulating the exchange of valuable gifts between world leaders, but the fact that the Saudi document suggests gifts for all members of parliament and select members of the media -demonstrates an intention to buy influence among lawmakers. Nours claims that the documents were official were rejected. Badr al-Amer, a Saudi Twitter, said the documents contained phrases unlikely to be used in official government correspondence in Saudi Arabia. Al-Amer also claimed that the documents contain grammatical errors, while official documents are routinely edited for spelling and grammar. The news that the Egyptian cabinet gave up sovereignty over the two islands caused a tide of public anger in Egypt with thousands of Egyptians lashing out at President al-Sisi for selling off the country to Saudi Arabia. President al-Sisi Wednesday vehemently cast down the accusations. We did not surrender our rights, but we restored the rights of others, Sisi said in comments broadcast live. Egypt did not relinquish even a grain of sand, he added. All the data and documents say nothing except that this particular right is theirs. Please let us not talk about this subject again, he added. There is a parliament that you elected which will debate the accord. It will either ratify or reject it. It is very appalling that in this 21st century where technologies, sciences and democracies are prevailing, some fanatic religious clerics continue to preach extremism and dark ages ideologies. It is also very depressing and chocking that in this modern world where some Muslim countries such as Morocco, Turkey, Malaysiaoffer successful models of moderate and tolerant Islam, some preachers such as the leader of banned group al-Adl wal-Ihsan (Justice and Benevolence) in Morocco comes out with radical views, advocating restoration of Islamic caliphate. His remarks were widely slammed by Moroccans of all walks of life. In a video footage posted on internet, the groups chief Mohamed Abbadi, who replaced late Abdessalam Yassine, defended the Islamic caliphate project in a bid to regain and reclaim Islamic bygone glory. It seems that he tried desperately to sell his followers the dream of Islamic State and an utopist world, failing to mention the inhuman atrocities committed by Daech in the name of Islam within the frame of self-proclaimed caliphate. Abbadi, who used freedom of expression enjoyed in Morocco, has offended all Moroccans by his radical views and stand. The man should understand that we cannot turn back the clock. It is time to look forward to the future and move on, adapting our religious beliefs to our modern needs and daily challenges. Sheikh Abbadi also failed to mention the virtues of Al ijtihad (efforts made in the explanation of religious texts) which enabled Islam to evolve through ages. According to some stories, the Prophet Sidna Mohammed (PBUH) asked a judge (Muad Ibn Jabal) how he would decide matters coming up before him. He responded that he will judge matters according to the Quran. If the Book of God contains nothing to guide me, I will act on the precedents of the Prophet of God, and if it is not in that either, then I will make a personal effort [Ijtihad] and judge according to that. The Prophet is said to have been most pleased at the reply. It is also worth mentioning that Morocco spearheads a landmark training program for imams to counter Islamic radicalization. According to experts, this program is the best tool to fight Isis and other radical Islamic militants spreading their poisonous obscurantist ideology as that preached by Abbadi. The leader of Al Adl Wal Ihssan should understand that Moroccans will continue to embrace and nurture an Islam of the middle path doctrine, a vision of religion based on tolerance, intercultural dialogue and respect of other faiths. And nothing will change ever the specificity of the North African Kingdom. Madagascars new Prime Minister Olivier Solonandrasana Mahafaly on Wednesday promised to eliminate corruption pledging that the anti-corruption drive will help rescue the Indian Ocean island nation. Olivier Solonandrasana has replaced Jean Ravelonarivo who had resigned along his cabinet last Friday, as reported by the presidents office. During a handover ceremony at the prime ministers office in Antananarivo, on Wednesday, the new head of the government said he has always been a promoter of integrity and transparency and his profound wish is to ensure that this fight against corruption should become a reality in Madagascar. Our priorities will be the fight against poverty, he said. He said he would also concentrate his efforts on the fight against the looting of our natural resources. The Indian Ocean island nation has endured several years of turmoil after Marc Ravalomanana was ousted as president in a 2009 coup that led to the withdrawal of foreign investment and donor money. Donors resumed lending to Madagascar after successful elections in 2013 ended a political crisis. Mahafaly, 52, is the third premier President Rajaonarimampianina has appointed since taking over leadership in 2014. Mahafaly is known as one of the most active members of the ruling HVM party. By Emmanuel Vitus, Accra Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has launched a new food award worth $100,000 called the Africa Food Prize, which is intended to inspire innovations in the field of agriculture and food marketing in Africa. The announcement was made in Accra as high-level leaders from across Africa gathered under the auspices of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) to seek new sources of investment and financing for African farmers and agriculture businesses. As farmers in Africa struggle with severe drought, the Africa Food Prize arrives as a clarion call for the bold thinking and technical innovation required to overcome the recurrent drought phenomenon and an array of other challenges. We want to celebrate individuals and institutions that are changing the reality of farming in Africa from a grueling struggle to survive to a profitable family business that thrives, said former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is chairing the Africa Food Prize Committee. Winners will be selected by a panel of independent and distinguished leaders in African agriculture. The Africa Food Prize began as the Yara Prize, which was established in 2005 by Yara International ASA in Norway to honor achievements in African agriculture. Moving the Yara Prize to Africa in 2016 and christening it the Africa Food Prize gives the award a distinctive African home, African identity and African ownership. Sixteen conservancies in Namibias northeast Zambezi Region representing 30,632 adults would lose their most important source of income as European Parliament is planning to vote a ban on hunting trophies entering the European Union. Trophy hunting has been the only source of income for the people of the Bamunu Conservancy in eastern Zambezi Region, and since 2011, the conservancy pocketed more than N$3.1 million from trophy hunting activities. The European Parliament last month hosted a discussion in Bruxelles calling for a complete ban on trophy-hunting imports into the EU or for current legislation to be tightened. According to the governor of Zambezi, Lawrence Sampofu, the region alone generated a revenue of about $1.2 million last year. According to the Governor, the income is used by the conservancies to pay salaries of community wildlife guards, and to pay for the costs of managing wildlife, as well as providing household level benefits to very poor rural families. Concerns and debates around the role of trophy hunting in conservancies raged last year after the killing of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe and an endangered black rhino in Namibia. These two incidents triggered demands to ban trophy hunting in Namibia and throughout Africa, and according to international reports, several airliners last year banned the transportation of hunters animal trophies aboard their planes. Dr. Leszek Ignatowicz, immunologist in the Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. Credit: Phil Jones Scientists want to know whether taking antibiotics early in life can disrupt your immune system function lifelong. Regardless of our age, antibiotics at least temporarily wipe out many of the good gut bacteria, or microbiota, that help us digest and use food and eliminate waste. That may be particularly problematic for children because, up to about age 3, this useful group of bacteria also is helping educate their immune system about what to ignore and what to attack, said Dr. Leszek Ignatowicz, immunologist in the Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. That means early antibiotic use may also have a lasting impact on the diversity of children's immune cells, specifically their T cells, that do both, potentially increasing their lifelong risk of inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and more, said Ignatowicz, principal investigator on a new $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health that will help parse the impact. "There has to be that balance, and we think that in the early stage of life, balance is achieved by the microbiota dynamically educating plenty of peacekeeping regulatory cells," Ignatowicz said. The grant is enabling scientists to give commonly used, broad-spectrum antibiotics to younger and older mice, look at what that does to the diversity of the T cells in the gut, how long any impact lasts and whether the long-term result is a host of potential diseases that can result from an overactive or underperforming immune system. "We hypothesize that adult mice with a well-developed immune system will quickly rebuild their diversity as the flora rebuilds," he said. "But we propose that in younger mice, this will not occur as completely as it does in adults. That could mean that in young children, instead of millions of different bacteria in the gut, their T cells only interact with say 100,000, which will impact their diversity," Ignatowicz said. T cells have the ability to call the immune system to action or keep it nonresponsive. The healthy gut has more of the peacekeeping regulatory T cells to ensure control of the more aggressive effector cells. Ignatowicz notes this does not make the immune system centered in the gut weak, just balanced, both poised to attack invaders and ignore useful guests, like the gut microbiota. T cell education is supposed to work this way in the gut: Another type of immune cell, dendritic cells, literally holds up pieces of the bacteria mix - both from the individual and his/her environment, which essentially enables the immune system to grow accustomed to and accepting of the gut microbiota. Without a diverse microbiota, T cells may never learn to ignore these common environmental triggers, so rather than helping prevent inflammation - an early sign of attack - T cells will be more likely to promote inflammation that can result in a host of so-called autoimmune diseases, where the body essentially attacks itself, including Crohn's, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis. However, an ample microbiota can even help convert some T cells that learned to be effectors in the thymus gland - where T cell education begins - to regulatory cells, he said. In fact, another primary aim of the new studies is to determine what percentage of the regulatory cells come directly from the thymus and how many get converted to peacekeepers in the gut. There is conflicting data, but Ignatowicz thinks most come from the thymus, a tiny gland behind the breastbone, but still have plenty to learn when they get to the gut. The fetus' gut is sterile, so microbiota begin to populate with the act of birth. In fact babies born by C-section start out with a different colony of microorganisms than those who came through the reproductive tract since there are different bacteria in the two locales. The microbiota further develop based on what touches the baby and vice versa, even kisses, as well as the bacteria on the food the baby eats and in his environment. Broad-spectrum antibiotics, which might be given for anything from a skin infection to bronchitis and tonsillitis, are notorious for wiping out the microbiota, which is why they often cause temporary diarrhea even in adults. Microbiota also quite literally take up important gut space, leaving less room for invaders, such as the feces-borne bacterium C. difficile, which is often spread by touch and in health care settings, causing diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain. In fact, taking an antibiotic is one of the more common reasons hospitalized patients get C. difficile. In a laboratory setting at least, scientists have shown mice missing their normal microbiota will even colonize with flora from the lake or soil, Ignatowicz said. While the mice live with their new flora, there are problems with an underdeveloped immune system. Explore further Immune cells support good gut bacteria in fight against harmful bacteria D. Chris Clark checking both arms for blood pressure. Credit: University of Exeter The University of Exeter Medical School has led an analysis of more than 3,000 people in Scotland who each had blood pressure measurements taken from both arms, published today in the British Journal of General Practice. Researchers say the findings show the importance of routinely measuring blood pressure in both arms. Up to now, such research has mainly focussed on people who have already encountered heart disease or hypertension. Now, the new research, funded by RCGP, The South West GP Trust, NIHR and the NIHR CLAHRC South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC), analysed a cohort of people who had been identified as having a greater risk of heart disease or hypertension, but who had not yet had any episode of either. They were healthy, but identified as being at higher risk of cardiovascular disease when recruited to the study. The team found that a difference in systolic blood pressure measurements between the two arms (of 5mm Hg) was associated with almost double the risk of death from heart-related disease, when the cohort was followed up over a period of eight years. In the analysis, which was based on one pair of blood pressure readings, 60 per cent of the cohort had this difference. The researchers wanted to examine this single check of blood pressure in both arms to reflect currently available measurement methods in general practice. It is known, however, that the proportion of people confirmed to have a blood pressure difference will fall substantially on repeated testing. Dr Chris Clark, a GP andNIHR Clinical Lecturer at the University of Exeter Medical School, said: "Current guidelines state that blood pressure should be measured in both arms when assessing patients for hypertension, but often this advice is not followed due to time constraints or lack of awareness amongst clinicians. For accuracy, to overcome natural blood pressure fluctuations, it is important to test both arms simultaneously to confirm any difference. However, our previous research has found that if one arm is tested before the other, with just a single pair of measures, it is still possible to identify nearly all those who will prove to have an inter-arm difference on further testing. This new study confirms that people identified with only a single pair of measurements are still at higher risk of heart disease than those without an inter-arm difference. Repeated assessments to confirm the existence of an inter-arm difference, and suitable lifestyle advice, can then be targeted at individuals identified in this way, and could make a difference to their future health. The next stage of our research is to quantify the extra risk that an inter-arm difference indicates, and after that, to discover the extent to which this can be protected against." The cohort was from the Aspirin for Asymptomatic Atherosclerosis (AAA) trial, a randomised controlled trial conducted from April 1998 to October 2008. That study, led by the University of Edinburgh and funded by the British Heart Foundation, recruited 3350 males and females aged 50-75 years living in central Scotland and free of pre-existing clinical cardiovascular disease. The study involved taking blood pressure from both arms, and the Exeter team worked with the authors of the AAA trial to analyse their data. Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation which funded the initial clinical trial, said: "Differences in blood pressure between arms has previously been linked with an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease in those that already have the condition or are at very high risk. But this study found that healthy people without pre-existing heart disease may also have an increased risk. The findings support current guidance that blood pressure should be measured in both arms when assessing someone for hypertension." Explore further New study presents evidence that blood pressure should be measured in both arms More information: The study, Inter-arm blood pressure difference and mortality: a cohort study in an asymptomatic primary care population at elevated cardiovascular risk, is published in the print edition of the British Journal of General Practice on April 29, 2016. Journal information: British Journal of General Practice The study, Inter-arm blood pressure difference and mortality: a cohort study in an asymptomatic primary care population at elevated cardiovascular risk, is published in the print edition of theon April 29, 2016. A map of the brain connections that proved useful in distinguishing patients diagnosed with autism from people without an autism diagnosis. Credit: Nature Communications Many doctors and scientists think they could improve the diagnosis and understanding of autism spectrum disorders if they had reliable means to identify specific abnormalities in the brain. Such "biomarkers" have proven elusive, often because methods that show promise with one group of patients fail when applied to another. In a new study in Nature Communications, however, scientists report a new degree of success. Their proposed biomarker worked with a comparably high degree of accuracy in assessing two diverse sets of adults. The technology, principally developed at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International in Kyoto, Japan, with the major contributions from three co-authors at Brown University, is a computer algorithm called a "classifier" because it can classify sets of subjectsthose with an autism spectrum disorder and those withoutbased on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans. By analyzing thousands of connections of brain network connectivity in scores of people with and without autism, the software found 16 key interregional functional connections that allowed it to tell, with high accuracy, who had been traditionally diagnosed with autism and who had not. The team developed the classifier with 181 adult volunteers at three sites in Japan and then applied it in a group of 88 American adults at seven sites. All the study volunteers with autism diagnoses had no intellectual disability. "It is the first study to [successfully] apply a classifier to a totally different cohort," said co-corresponding author Yuka Sasaki, a research associate professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences at Brown. "There have been numerous attempts before. We finally overcame the problem." The classifier, which blends two machine-learning algorithms, worked well in each population, averaging 85 percent accuracy among the Japanese volunteers and 75 percent accuracy among the Americans. The researchers calculated that the probability of seeing this degree of cross-population performance purely by chance was 1.4 in a million. "These results indicate that although we developed a highly reliable classifier using the training data only in Japan, it is sufficiently universal to classify [autism] in the U.S.A. validation cohort," wrote the team of clinicians and basic researchers led by Mitsuo Kawato of ATR. Further validation In another way of validating the classifier, the researchers asked whether the differences it notes in the 16 connections were predictive not only of whether a person had an autism diagnosis at all, but whether they relate to performance on the main diagnostic method currently available to clinicians, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. ADOS is based not on markers of biology or physiology, but instead on a doctor's interviews and observations of behavior. The classifier was able to predict scores on the ADOS communications component with a statistically significant correlation of 0.44. The correlation suggests that the 16 connections identified by the classifier relate to attributes of importance in ADOS. When the researchers examined where these 16 connections are and what brain networks they affect, they found that 41 percent of the specific brain regions in which the 16 connections reside belonged within the cingulo-opercular network, which matters to brain functions such as conceiving of other people, face processing and emotional processing. Difficulties with such social and emotional perception tasks are important symptoms in autism spectrum disorders. Finally, the team looked to see whether the classifier appropriately reflects the similarities and differences between autism spectrum disorders and other psychiatric conditions. Autism, for example, is known to share some similarities with schizophrenia but not with depression or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as indicated by a previous genome study. Applied to patients with each of these other disorders compared to similar people without the conditions, the classifier showed moderate but statistically significant accuracy in distinguishing schizophrenia patients, but not depression or ADHD patients. Eventual clinical usefulness? The MRI scans required to gather the data were simple, Sasaki said. Subjects only needed to spend about 10 minutes in the machine and didn't have to perform any special tasks. They just had to stay still and rest. Despite that simplicity and even though the classifier performed unprecedentedly well as a matter of research, Sasaki said, it is not yet ready to be a clinical tool. While the future may bring that development, refinements will be necessary first. "The accuracy level needs to be much higher," Sasaki said. "Eighty percent accuracy may not be useful in the real world." It's also not clear how it would work among children, as the volunteers in this study were all adults. But if the classifier's accuracy can be improved further, the researchers hope that it can be used not only as a physiology-based diagnostic tool but also for monitoring treatment. Doctors perhaps will be able to use the tool someday to monitor whether therapies produce changes in brain connectivity, Sasaki said. Explore further Brain representations of social thoughts accurately predict autism diagnosis More information: Noriaki Yahata et al. A small number of abnormal brain connections predicts adult autism spectrum disorder, Nature Communications (2016). Journal information: Nature Communications Noriaki Yahata et al. A small number of abnormal brain connections predicts adult autism spectrum disorder,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11254 Transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of Zika virus. Credit: Cynthia Goldsmith/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention US health authorities on Thursday described the first known case of Zika being transmitted during sex between gay men, suggesting yet another route for infection with the mosquito-borne virus. The case involved a man who traveled to Venezuela and infected his male partnerwho had not traveledupon his return to Texas in January. The couple had been monogamous for more than 10 years, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Both men experienced a fever, an itchy rash on their upper bodies and the eye infection conjunctivitis, but no lasting complications. At least five other cases of sexual transmission of Zika have been described in scientific literature, but those have involved males infecting females. "Sexual transmission through both vaginal and anal sex is an emerging mode of Zika virus infection that might contribute to more illness than was anticipated when the outbreak was first recognized," said the CDC in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Earlier this week, the CDC said there is no longer any doubt that Zika can cause birth defects, making it the first-known mosquito-borne virus with the ability to cause such harm to a developing fetus. Explore further US urges condom use or abstinence to avoid Zika virus 2016 AFP New research conducted at Queen's University has found the penises of men who were circumcised as newborns are no less sensitive than intact (uncircumcised) penises. Jenn Bossio, a clinical psychology PhD candidate, studied 62 men between the ages of 18 and 37. A total of 30 were circumcised and 32 were not. Four penile sites were tested using touch, pain, warmth detection and heat pain. The results indicated neonatal circumcision is not associated with changes in penile sensitivity and provides evidence to suggest the foreskin is not the most sensitive part of the penis. Only two studies had looked at this area before. Both used fine-touch pressure thresholds (a light touch) while just one used pain thresholds (a harder touch). Ms. Bossio extended the research methods in her study to include warmth detection and heat pain because these stimuli are more likely to activate the nerve fibres associated with sexual pleasure. "One researcher who only used fine touch to measure penile sensitivity claimed the foreskin is the most sensitive part of the penis, so removing it via circumcision is detrimental to men's sex lives," Ms. Bossio says. "Many anti-circumcision activists believe this is true, but we didn't find sufficient evidence to support this. We found that while the foreskin was more sensitive to fine touch, it was not more sensitive to the other stimuli we used, and those stimuli are likely more important in sexual pleasure." Approximately one-third of the global male population undergoes circumcision, and with the American Academy of Pediatrics recent report in favour of neonatal circumcision, plus the increasing number of men undergoing circumcision in Africa to try and reduce HIV transmission, those rates are likely to rise. Ms. Bossio explains that although there is a great deal of research on the health benefits of circumcision, there is almost no information on sexual outcomes of the procedure. "We need to take a more multi-lens approach to this procedure before making wide-sweeping conclusions about it in policy," she says. "Further, many men opt to undergo circumcision to correct sexual dysfunctionbut this research suggests that this would likely not help. Lastly, parents of infant boys need to be fully informed before they decide to circumcise their sons or not." Conducting her research in the Sexual Health Research Lab under the supervision of Dr. Caroline Pukall (Psychology), Ms. Bossio says her next area of focus is to extend her findings to groups of men with sexual dysfunction like erectile dysfunction (who may have lower penile sensitivity) or premature ejaculation (who may have higher sensitivity). "I also think we need to have a better understanding of the sensory mechanisms of the genitals." Ms. Bossio's research was recently published in the Journal of Urology. Explore further Male circumcision lowers prevalence of penile precancerous lesions among African men More information: Jennifer A. Bossio et al. Examining Penile Sensitivity in Neonatally Circumcised and Intact Men Using Quantitative Sensory Testing, The Journal of Urology (2015). Journal information: Journal of Urology Jennifer A. Bossio et al. Examining Penile Sensitivity in Neonatally Circumcised and Intact Men Using Quantitative Sensory Testing,(2015). DOI: 10.1016/j.juro.2015.12.080 Protective mastectomies that preserve the nipple and surrounding skin prevent breast cancer as effectively as more invasive surgeries for women with a genetic mutation called BRCA that raises their risk of developing breast cancer, a multi-institution study led by Mayo Clinic found. The research should reassure patients and surgeons that nipple-sparing mastectomies, which leave women with more natural-looking breasts than other mastectomies, are a safe way to reduce breast cancer risk in BRCA carriers, the authors say. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons in Dallas. "Nipple-sparing mastectomy is gaining wide acceptance because of its superior cosmetic results, but pockets of the medical community remain skeptical that it is the right choice for the BRCA population," says study lead author James Jakub, M.D., a breast surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "This is the largest study of its kind to address the controversy, and to show that nipple-sparing mastectomy is as effective at preventing breast cancer as traditional mastectomy." To determine the incidence of breast cancer in BCRA-positive women who had prophylactic nipple-sparing mastectomies, researchers studied outcomes among 348 patients who collectively had 551 mastectomies performed at nine institutions between 1968 and 2013. The study included 203 women who had both breasts removed protectively, known as a bilateral mastectomy, and 145 patients who had one breast removed preventively after cancer occurred in the other breast. None of the patients who had a bilateral nipple-sparing mastectomy developed breast cancer at any site after an average of three to five years of follow-up, the researchers found. No breast cancers developed in the retained skin, nipples, or lymph nodes on the side of the prophylactic procedure. Seven women died from breast cancer during follow-up; in all of those cases the patients had a previous or concurrent breast cancer at the time of surgery and their stage IV disease was attributed to that cancer. Mastectomies have changed dramatically over the years. The radical mastectomy of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s removed the breast tissue, skin, lymph nodes, and underlying muscle. By the 1980s, that procedure largely gave way to the modified radical mastectomy, which left the chest muscles alone. Next came skin-sparing mastectomies, which preserve an envelope of skin and allow surgeons to begin breast reconstruction during the mastectomy surgery. Nipple-sparing mastectomies leave the nipple, areola and breast skin intact. Their use is increasing and has gained acceptance as a safe option in breast cancer patients. In 2009, approximately 8 percent of mastectomies performed at Mayo Clinic were nipple-sparing. Five years later, that fraction had more than tripled to approximately 30 percent, and Dr. Jakub says the number is increasing. Still, controversy remains over whether or not the procedure is appropriate for women with BRCA mutations, who can have a breast cancer risk of 50 to 60 percent by age 70 and up to 80 percent over a lifetime. "The BRCA population has a genetic mutation in all the cells of their body that predisposes them to breast cancer," Dr. Jakub says. "We know that a majority of breast cancers originate in the breast ducts, so it might seem counterintuitive to leave behind the nipple and the ducts associated with the nipple when you are trying to reduce the risk of this disease." Several studies have shown the procedure is safe among BCRA carriers, but some physicians have been waiting for more evidence, Dr. Jakub says. He believes the study results offer further proof that nipple-sparing mastectomies are effective in preventing breast cancer among women carrying the BRCA mutation and should be offered when they consider prophylactic surgery. "There is no question that this option of nipple-sparing mastectomy can often provide an outstanding cosmetic result and may make it easier for women who are at risk to take this preventive measure," Dr. Jakub says. "Though the nipple is preserved, it unfortunately will not have stimulation or arousal. Despite that, studies looking at the impact of risk-reducing surgery on quality of life, sexual satisfaction, and intimacy, suggest that being able to preserve aesthetics and body image can improve all of these factors." Explore further Nipple-sparing surgery safe in carefully selected patients Georgia exports 7 million bottles of wine, earns $18m profit Georgia is continuing to penetrate world markets with its traditionally-made wine and brandy, as new markets open up to import Georgian drinks.This year, Georgia has already exported more than seven million bottles of wine to 26 countries, which generated $18.14 million USD income for the country.This was a 51 percent increase in wine exports in January, February and March 2016 (Q1) than in the same months of 2015, reported the Georgian National Wine Agency. The extra exports saw the country earn 20 percent more income than in Q1 2015.In the first two months of this year 21 countries imported Georgian wine however last month an additional five countries also imported the products, announced the Agency today.The five countries that imported the most Georgian wine in Q1 2016 were: Russia 4,077,797 bottles; Ukraine 1,088,862 bottles; Kazakhstan 784,844 bottles; Poland 443,208 bottles; and China 371,295 bottles.The Agency said of these top five consumer countries, exports of Georgian wine to Belarus had increased by 297 percent, to Russia by 124 percent, to Germany by 89 percent and to Kyrgyzstan by 70 percent. Furthermore, wine exports to Ukraine had increased by 66 percent, to Great Britain by 40 percent, to Lithuania by 34 percent, to Poland by 26 percent, to the United States by 19 percent and to China by two percent.In Q1 this year Georgia also experienced a 116 percent increase in brandy exports.The Agency said in the first three months of 2016 Georgia exported 2,193,395 bottles of brandy to 10 countries, worth $5.04 million. This was 70 percent higher than the amount earned from brandy sales in Q1 2015. No Governmental reshuffle before the elections? By Messenger Staff On March 5, the President and the Prime Minister held a meeting at the Administration building of the Government of Georgia after which the President said the Parliamentary elections will take place on October 8.As the President said, the issue of Governmental reshuffles was not discussed at the meeting.The President said the meeting was mainly focused on the situation in the region."The Prime Minister and I had a fruitful meeting with representatives of the executive and legislative branches, under which we reviewed the situation in the region and coordinated work both inside and outside the country for the benefit of the region.No reshuffles were discussed at the meeting, he said.However, Georgian analysts continue to speculate that a Government reshuffle might take place before the elections and ministers representing the Republican Party might quit their posts.The Minister of Defence and the Environment are of the Republican Party, which recently announced that will take part in the upcoming elections independently.Of the parties that make up the Georgian Dream coalition, only the Industrials party and the Conservatives have not yet announced their future intentions over the elections; Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (the core coalition party) have said they want to independently participate in the race.It will be a result of serious control of emotions and attitudes if the Republican Ministers manage to retain their posts, as the Republican Party has always had different attitudes from the rest of the GD coalition on various issues.The party said it will stay within the coalition but claimed they would openly reveal their attitudes in the legislative body on those issues of which they have a critical attitude. The News in Brief Traffic to be banned from Laguna Vere to Queen Tamar Bridge ramp at night Traffic will be banned from Laguna Vere to Queen Tamar Bridge ramp till April 17, - Tbilisi City Hall has reported. The restriction is linked with repairs. The alternative roads will be available at these days, via Vakhushti Bridge ramp, Heroes Square and Kostava Street. Tbilisi City Hall offers apologies for the inconvenience reads the statement. (IPN) In Phone Calls with Armenian, Azerbaijani FMs, Georgias FM Stresses Need for Ceasefire Georgias Foreign Minister, Mikheil Janelidze, spoke by phone with his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts on April 4 and expressed his extreme concern over the recent escalation of situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. It said that Janelidze stressed the urgent need for cessation of hostilities and ensuring peace and also expressed hope that it will be possible to de-escalate the situation through international communitys efforts. The Georgian MFA released two separate, and almost similar, readouts of Janelidzes respective phone conversations with his Azerbaijani andArmenian counterparts. The Georgian MFAs readout of phone conversation with the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian also says: The Georgian Foreign Minister underlined that continuation of military actions will aggravate the current situation and will have a negative impact on the stability in the region. Georgias Defense Minister, Tina Khidasheli, also spoke by phone with her Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts. Georgias PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili convened a meeting of senior government, parliament and security officials on April 3 to discuss conflict between Georgias neighbors, Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh region, where renewed fighting has killed dozens. Speaking at NATO-Georgia Public Diplomacy Forum in Tbilisi on April 4, PM Kvirikashvili expressed concern over escalation of situation in our neighborhood. We hope that it will be possible de-escalate situation through efforts of the international community, which is so important for peace and stability in our region and beyond, the Georgian PM said. (Civil.ge) Usupashvili: Partnership with UNM not serious Speaker of Parliament Davit Usupashvili flatly denied allegations that the Republican Party of Georgia, commonly known as the Republicans, was considering a partnership with the United National Movement (UNM) before the parliamentary elections in October, 2030 reported. We cant speak seriously about a partnership with the United National Movement, Davit Usupashvili said during the interview at the GDS TVs political talk show 2030 on Tuesday evening. The Republicans left the ruling Georgian Dream coalition last week and announced they would run as an independent party in the upcoming elections. Mr. Usupashvili said the Republicans were looking for partners to work with in the future Parliament, but they werent interested in cooperation with the UNM. The raison detre of every political party is to exercise influence over society and to be present in the government. A party which takes part in the elections in order to win a couple of mandates and be in the opposition is not a political party. Its as if you wouldnt like to earn in business. The Republicans, for the forty years of their existence, have been in power for just 3.5 years. We spent the remaining years in opposition, yet it had its certain charm. We are ready to find partners in the future Parliament, but we cant speak seriously about a partnership with the United National Movement,' Usupashvili said. The Republican Party of Georgia and the United National Movement, together with Our Georgia Free Democrats, are regarded the most articulate advocates of Georgias Euro-Atlantic foreign policy course. The UNM lost to the Georgian Dream coalition in the 2012 elections. Their current de jure leader is Davit Bakradze, although the party maintains strong ties to its founder, the former president and current Governor of Odessa Oblast,Ukrine, Mikheil Saakashvili. The Free Democrats under the leadership of former Minister of Defence Irakli Alasania left the ruling Georgian Dream coalition in November 2014. Tinatin Khidasheli of the Republicans now serves as the current Minister of Defence. (DF watch) @doug_hanks The pile-on continues for Carnival over its decision to launch a cruise to Cuba that Cuban-born Americans can't join. The Coral Gables City Commission this week passed a resolution urging Miami-Dade to block Carnival from using the county-owned PortMiami for the new Havana-bound cruises. "Carnival Corporation should not offer the Miami-Cuba route where a regulation set by the Cuban government has the result of discriminating against United States citizens and residents," the resolution read. Coral Gables "urges Miami-Dade County to review whether it may deny Carnival Corporation access to and use of the Port of Miami for this route until such national origin discrimination stops." Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is threatening action against Carnival for agreeing to Cuba regulations that bar Cuban-born residents from returning to the country by water. His primary challenger, school-board member Raquel Regalado, issued a statement endorsing the mayor's stance but urging him to go farther in pressuring the Doral-based cruise giant. "As the granddaughter of a political prisoner and the daughter of a Peter Pan exile, the use of a county asset and/or public funds by a company who chooses to adhere to Cuban law over our constitutional rights at Port Miami, and thereby discriminate against Miami-Dade residents, adds insult to injury," Regalado said in the statement. She's the daughter of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, whose father was a political prisiner under the Fidel Castro regime. Washington granted Carnival permission to launch the Miami-to-Cuba cruises last month, and the first voyage is scheduled to leave PortMiami on May 1. Company representatives say the company's booking policy simply reflects Cuba law, though they're asking the regime of Raul Castro for a waiver. To read Regalado's statement, click here To read the Coral Gables resolution, click here Gov. Rick Scott's office has a revised organizational chart that reflects several new hires and promotions and several noteworthy changes in the chain-of-command. In the latest sign of Enterprise Florida's loss of prestige following the planned exit of Bill Johnson, its CEO -- if there is one -- will no longer report directly to the governor. Under the new org chart, Enterprise Florida reports to a deputy chief of staff, Frank Collins. A previous version of the chart, updated when Melissa Sellers became chief of staff in December 2014, had former Enterprise Florida CEO Gray Swoope reporting directly to the governor. "Job creation remains the governor's top priority," Scott spokesman John Tupps said. "The organizational chart represents our office at this time." After the Legislature rejected Scott's call for a $250 million enterprise fund at Enterprise Florida, he called for a downsizing of the agency including a reduction of its payroll and an audit of its real estate leases. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a member of Enterprise Florida's board, said he hoped Scott would not "completely burn down the agency" in response to the denial of funding. Scott has also decided that the state's tourism arm, Visit Florida, and Space Florida should report directly to Collins, not to Enterprise Florida as they did previously. The state Department of Corrections, which previously reported to Collins, is now under director of policy Jeff Woodburn. Under new chief of staff Kim McDougal, the Department of Education and the state's early learning coalitions will continue to report to her, as they did when she was legislative affairs director, along with the Able Trust, a nonprofit that matches Florida employers and people who have developmental disabilities. Three people report directly to Scott: McDougal, Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera and chief inspector general Melinda Miguel. @ByKristenMClark An independent advocacy organization is highlighting Sen. Anitere Flores' former ties to Doral College in a direct-mail campaign in the Miami Republican's district. The mailers from Florida Strong are part of an ongoing "Got Ethics?" campaign that the group launched earlier this year to call for ethics reform and to highlight lawmakers' ties to special interests. Florida Strong said the mailers started arriving in Flores' constituents' mailboxes today. The group declined to say how much it spent for the mailers, which accuse Flores of being "part of the problem" of lawmakers accepting money from special interest groups. View it here. "This in-district communication is a continuation of our statewide program to hold Florida legislators accountable and educate concerned citizens about policies that impact their lives," Florida Strong executive director Charly Norton said. "This past session, Senator Flores had an opportunity to pass real ethics reform legislation, but chose not to. Instead, she has kept open the loopholes that allow for the kinds of potential conflicts we see her personally benefiting from on the backs of Miami-Dade taxpayers. Senator Flores ought to answer these lingering questions and take action to address the rampant corruption and cronyism here in Florida." From 2011 until last July, Flores was president of Doral College, which is run by Academica -- a for-profit company that's believed to be Florida's largest charter school operator. A few Miami-Dade Republican lawmakers, such as Flores, who have voted in support of charter schools have connections to Academica. Florida has broad voting conflict laws for state officers. Legislators are only required to abstain from voting in narrow situations where they will be directly affected by new law or regulations. If a proposal could affect a them indirectly through a family member or an employer they can still vote. Flores has defended her work with the college, which is still seeking accreditation. "Doral College is an independent non-profit college that I did help establish with the mission of offering college access to low-income students at no cost to them or their families," Flores said in a text message last month, after a national Democratic advocacy group lobbed similar complaints of corruption against her through a web ad. The attacks against Flores come as she faces a contentious battle for re-election to the Florida Senate in November. In the District 39 race, she's competing against Democrats Andrew Korge and Daniel Horton, who are poised to square off in the Aug. 30 primary. The race is shaping up to be the most expensive Senate contest in the state, with $1.2 million raised by the end of March. via @oppenheimera Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday condemned Cubas policy of discriminating against Cuban-born Americans who want to travel to the island by sea, and criticized Carnival Corp. for enforcing that rule. The United States government will never support, never condone discrimination. And the Cuban government should not have the right to enforce on us a policy of discrimination against people who have the right to travel, Kerry said during an interview with the Miami Herald and CNN en Espanol in Miami. American citizens, Cuban-Americans, have a right to travel, and we should not be in a situation where the Cuban government is forcing its discrimination policy on us. So we call on the government of Cuba to change that policy and to recognize that if they want full relations and normal relationship with the United States, they have to live by international laws, not exclusively by Cuban laws. Asked whether Carnival should postpone its plans to start cruises to Cuba until Cuban-born Americans are allowed to travel the island, Kerry said, Carnival needs to not discriminate. Kerry was in Miami for a graduation speech at Miami Dade College. This developing story will be updated here. @PatriciaMazzei The U.S. Senate refused to vote Thursday on Florida Sen. Marco Rubios bid to stop giving welfare benefits to Cuban immigrants, prompting an exasperated Rubio to take to the Senate floor to blast political paralysis in Congress. This is why people are so sick of politics, said Rubio, who noted that, until a month ago, he was a Republican presidential candidate hearing from voters about their frustrations with lawmakers. You can vote for a Democrat, you can vote for a Republican, you can vote for a vegetarian. It doesnt matter who you vote for: Nothing happens. These people dont do anything. No one can argue this, he added of his proposal, which he argued would put an end to abuse by some Cubans who take the welfare dollars back to the island. But I cant even get a vote on an amendment to change this. And why not? According to Rubio, because fellow Republicans tell him, We cant vote on it because if we give you your amendment, then we have to give the other side their amendment. (The other side being Democrats.) This is crazy. This is nuts. We cant solve problems, Rubio said. He noted the plan has bipartisan support: U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, is a cosponsor in the House of Representatives. Floridas senior senator, Democrat Bill Nelson, signed on to Rubios bill Thursday, saying the welfare benefits were meant to help those fleeing persecution by Castros oppressive regime, not to be a source of income for those who returned to Cuba. More here. @JeremySWallace Homeowners will get more information in the future when deciding if they should voluntarily leave that state-run Citizens Property Insurance Committee for a private company. Under a bill Gov. Rick Scott signed into law on Thursday, homeowners will get new details on all potential offers to switch to a private carriers and Citizens itself will be responsible for mailing them, instead of leaving it to private companies customers have often mistaken as junk mail. In the past, homeowners have complained that offers have come from private companies unfamiliar to them, which many mistook for junk mail and threw away. In addition, if there were multiple offers from private companies, Citizens only allowed one company of their choosing to present an offer. Now, Citizens will have to list all offers giving customers some customers more options. But while the new law offers new consumer protections, it omits the one State Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, fought hardest to pass. Flores initially proposed a provision to allow homeowners 36 months to return to Citizens after they left if the new company they had raised rates dramatically. Flores has said some homeowners have reported getting hit with 200 percent premium increases just a year or two after being kicked out of Citizens. She said those people should be allowed to return to Citizens if they want. But that provision was nixed in the closing days of the spring Legislative session because legislators worried Scott would veto the legislation. In 2015, Scott vetoed a similar bill that would have allowed homeowners to return to Citizens. Scott said then he worried it would stem the progress Florida has made in trying to reduce the number of policies in Citizens. Since 2012, the state has been aggressively reducing the number of people in Citizens. After a flurry of hurricanes and tropical storms in the mid 2000s, Citizens exploded in size as major insurers cut back in Florida. Citizens, which was created to be the state's insurer of last resort, became the state's largest insurance company with 1.5 million policies. That put political pressure on lawmakers to lure private companies back into the market and shrink Citizens. The more policies Citizens carries, the greater the potential financial hit on everyone in the state who has insurance. Under state law, Citizens can bill even non-Citizens policyholders if it runs out of cash to pay damage claims after a major storm. Citizens has trimmed down to fewer than 500,000 policies as of March, but its tactics have been widely criticized and helped provoke Flores' legislation the last two years. Many customers said they were switched to private carriers without their knowledge because the official notice letters looked like junk mail and were from new carriers people did not recognize. To avoid being switched, Citizens puts the onus on customers to fill out an "opt-out" form, which many consumers said was hard to find. @ByKristenMClark Republican Gov. Rick Scott signed into law on Thursday a massive education bill that will let public school students, starting in 2017-18, attend any school in the state that has space available. Starting next school year, the measure also will let high school athletes have immediate eligibility when transferring schools, and it will subject charter schools to more accountability and a new formula for receiving capital dollars. Scott also signed 19 other bills, including the session's main transportation package and new laws affecting health care policy and Citizens Property Insurance Committee. He also issued his second veto of the session, disapproving of HB 139 -- which would have provided incentives for dentists who practice in underserved areas or who treated underserved people. Scott said it did not place "appropriate safeguards on taxpayer investments" and it "is duplicative of existing programs." Scott has just three bills remaining to act on of the 272 that lawmakers passed during the 2016 session. Two require his action by Saturday and the final one -- a controversial bill reforming alimony and child custody arrangements -- is due for action by Tuesday. Among today's actions, Scott signed four health care bills that are among the free-market changes pushed by the Legislature and especially House Republicans this year. Under the new laws, advanced registered nurse practitioners and physician assistants can prescribe controlled substances. And psychiatric nurses will have additional prescribing authority, as well -- a change Rep. Kathleen Peters, R-South Pasadena, says help address psychiatrist shortages in many parts of the state. The governor signed a health care transparency bill (HB 1175) that creates a statewide database of hospital costs. It doesnt go as far as legislation he proposed that would have added penalties for hospitals that price gouge customers. "The way patients are charged for services at the hospital should mirror a free market system. We must ensure that prices and quality outcomes are aligned so Floridians receive the best care possible when they visit a health care facility," Scott said in a statement. And he approved the first steps toward allowing telemedicine (HB 787) in Florida -- using technology to provide health care across distance, and even from other states. He signed another health care bill, as well, which is not part of lawmakers free-market push. Supported by insurers and consumer advocacy groups, HB 221 ends the practice of balance billing by which patients are billed directly for out-of-network health care services. That legislation became the vehicle for a last-minute change by President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, to require insurers cover additional treatment options for children with Down syndrome. "Insurance coverage will make these therapies more affordable for families across Florida who have either been struggling to pay out-of-pocket, or going without these life-changing services," Gardiner said in a statement. Meanwhile, supporters of school choice policies heralded Scotts approval of HB 7029, a 160-page education bill that lawmakers negotiated into the final hours of session. By expanding Floridas school choice options, parents and students will be able to find an education solution that best fits their needs, House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, said in a statement. The Republican-led Legislature passed the bill mostly on a party-line vote. Its a combination of about a dozen different bills with various implications on Florida's education policy. The most contentious aspect of HB 7029 affects how the state's 650 charter schools can get funding for construction and maintenance projects. State dollars will now be weighted to favor charter schools that serve mostly impoverished students and those with disabilities. The state allocated $75 million for charter school capital projects in 2016-17 -- the same as what the state's 3,600 traditional schools will receive, in addition to their local sources of capital funding. A casualty of legislative negotiations was an effort by the Senate to crackdown on businesses using state capital dollars to profit from charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately managed. Advocates of traditional public schools wanted that included and they have said they also would've liked for the new accountability measures on charter schools to go even farther. But the law does add at least some new standards for charters. They'll be required to provide "monthly or quarterly" financial statements -- so potential money troubles can be flagged early -- and any charter school with two consecutive "F" grades will be "automatically terminated." The open enrollment provisions will affect all public schools, allowing students to attend any school in the state that hasn't reached capacity. The law gives preference to students living in the district, students moving because their parents are active-duty military personnel or students moving because of foster care placement or court-ordered custody arrangements. State and district officials will now begin the steps to implement the policy. That''ll be an easier endeavor in some counties than in others; some parts of the state -- such as Tampa Bay -- already allow students to attend school across county district lines. HB 7029 also codifies the performance funding formula for Florida's 28 colleges and 12 public universities and includes myriad smaller changes affecting statewide education policy. (Here's a full rundown of what was in HB 7029.) For instance, Florida's 356 individual school board members will now be able to direct their taxpayer-funded dues to whichever membership association they want representing them. The legislative intervention helps a bloc of conservative school board members -- several of whom have ties to Republican politics -- who broke away from the Florida School Boards Association last year and started their own coalition that they've had to self-fund. Scott also signed Thursday a wide-ranging transportation bill (HB 7061) that requires DOT to install roadside barriers where state roads are next to lakes and ponds. The bill also transfers the Pinellas Bayway to the state and requires state economists to study and report on the economic benefits of the state's five-year road construction work program. And it creates a new transportation oversight panel within the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority. Regarding Citizens Property Insurance, homeowners will get more information in the future when deciding if they should voluntarily leave that state-run insurer for a private company. Under HB 931, homeowners will get new details on all potential offers to switch to a private carriers and Citizens itself will be responsible for mailing them, instead of leaving it to private companies customers have often mistaken as junk mail. In the past, homeowners have complained that offers have come from private companies unfamiliar to them, which many mistook for junk mail and threw away. In addition, if there were multiple offers from private companies, Citizens only allowed one company of their choosing to present an offer. Now, Citizens will have to list all offers giving customers some customers more options. Here are all the bills that Scott signed Thursday: HB 153 -- The Healthy Food Financing Initiative This bill directs the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to establish the Healthy Food Financing Initiative program. HB 221 -- Health Care Services This bill protects patients from paying unexpected bills for out-of-network services and provides additional treatment options for individuals with Down syndrome. HB 287 -- The Principal Autonomy Pilot Program Initiative This bill creates the Principal Autonomy Pilot Program Initiative to provide additional professional development training for school principals. HB 423 -- Access to Health Care Services This bill allows Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants to prescribe certain controlled substances. HB 447 -- Local Government Environmental Financing This bill refers to the Florida Keys Stewardship Act and provides funding for water resource projects and land acquisition in the Florida Keys. HB 491 -- Water and Wastewater This bill revises the current framework for governing water and wastewater utilities. HB 585 -- Instruction for Homebound and Hospitalized Students This bill streamlines the process for school districts to provide educational instruction to homebound and hospitalized students. HB 821 -- Reimbursement of Assessments This bill prohibits representatives who assist veterans in applying for benefits from charging the veteran an administrative fee. HB 931 -- Operations of the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation This bill revises various provisions relating to the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. HB 941 -- The Department of Health This bills amends various practice acts related to health professions and occupations. HB 977 -- Behavioral Health Workforce This bill allows psychiatric Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners to prescribe certain controlled substances and expands eligibility for providers in a substance abuse program. HB 981 -- Administrative Procedures This bill clarifies the timeframe for agencies to evaluate the economic impact of administrative rules. HB 1075 -- State Areas This bill revises acquisition, management and surplus processes for state-owned lands and other state areas. HB 1175 -- Transparency in Health Care This bill requires hospitals to post their prices and average payments online. HB 1305 -- Emergency Allergy Treatment in Schools This bill provides schools with cost-saving options for acquiring epinephrine auto-injectors. HB 7019 -- Education Access and Affordability This bill promotes college affordability by providing tuition and fee transparency, textbook cost predictability, oversight of graduate school tuition, and accountability of Floridas higher education system. HB 7029 -- Education This bill expands educational options for students and parents in prekindergarten, K-12, and higher education. HB 7053 -- Early Childhood Development This bill revises health and safety requirements for school readiness program providers. HB 7061 -- Transportation This bill makes various changes to the Department of Transportation and the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, including implementing Chloes Law which provides additional roadside safety measures. HB 7087 -- Health Care This bill creates the Telehealth Advisory Council within the Agency for Health Care Administration. Herald/Times reporters Michael Auslen, Jeremy Wallace and Steve Bousquet contributed to this report. Fishing opportunities have been enhanced recently with the summertime-like temperatures that western Montana experienced late last week. My bet is if you havent been out on the water yet, you probably are getting your boat and fishing gear ready to go. The weather got me motivated to get my boat ready to head out on the water. My first call was to Dick Zimmer at Zimmer's Tackle to see if he wanted to go perch fishing in east Polson Bay on Flathead Lake. Zimmer had been having a lot of success fishing for perch and was documented with a couple of reports on montanaoutdoor.com. "There are millions of perch in east bay right now getting ready to spawn and they are spread over a wide area in the bay," he said. However, the day I called Zimmer he was heading to Lake Mary Ronan to see if the kokanaee salmon were biting. We decided during our phone conversation that we would go fishing either at Lake Mary Ronan or Flathead Lake, depending on his success catching kokanee that day. Well Zimmer only caught one fish on Lake Mary Ronan so it was perch fishing. The spring water draw-down has made the water elevation on Flathead Lake low. Launching and loading your boat from the public ramp by the KwaTaqNuk Resort can be challenging. Bring a pair of hip boots or waders to help you in that process. Once we arrived in east Polson bay, the perch fishing was as advertised excellent! Fishing in three feet of water makes it easy to see the perch on the bottom, and they were everywhere you looked. It didnt take me long to catch as many of 9- to 10-inch perch that I was willing to clean for a nice meal. I spent the rest of the time watching the perch react to my baited hook as I attempted to jig them off the bottom. Two things stood out for me. When we first started fishing, the perch bite was aggressive. After a couple of hours, the fish bite was less aggressive. With a less aggressive bite the perch would take my bait in their mouth and move it, but when I went to set the hook they would let go without being hooked. The jigging motion almost seemed to scare the perch that were close, but at the same time jigging would attract perch that were a few feet away. The perch seemed more likely to pick the bait up when it was motionless rather than when it was moving up and down by jigging. However, at the same time the perch seemed easier to hook after casting out and retrieving back to the boat in more of a horizontal motion. The perch were also harder to hook when I could see them rather than when I couldnt and would set the hook by feel of the rod. They also looked bigger under the water. Ever heard a fishing story about the big one that got away? So the next time I am fishing for trout or walleye and the bite is good for a while then falls off, instead of thinking that the fish have moved, I might try a different technique because chances are the fish are still where they were when the bite was on. By the way, Jens Gran from Polson did get into a good kokanee salmon bite on Lake Mary Ronan last Saturday. Gran found the fish in 20 feet of water and had luck jigging a glow hook tipped with raw shrimp. *** Mark Wards statewide Montana Outdoor Radio Show airs Saturdays from 6 to 8 a.m. in Missoula on KGVO 1290 AM and 101.5 FM. Email Ward at captain@montanaoutdoor.com. HELENA Not many people live in eastern Montana, but those who do and those who travel through want reliable cellphone service. As we move out into eastern Montana the population density becomes less than one person per square mile, said Mike Kilgore, CEO and general manager of Nemont Telephone Cooperative, based in Scobey. There are so many miles to cover and so few people to serve. Though population is sparse, people who live along the Hi-Line and east of Billings are starting to expect cellphone service just like their counterparts to the west. Visitors traveling through want their devices to be able to run off the areas cell towers. Farmers and ranchers use wireless services to direct farm equipment through fields during planting season. Nemont and other rural providers like Mid-Rivers Communications, based in Circle, and Triangle Communications, in Havre, are increasingly challenged by providing service to these rural areas an endeavor that is growing more expensive and receiving less reliable funding. There are fewer people to pay for the constantly changing communication networks of the 21st century, Kilgore told the Economic Affairs Interim Committee on Thursday. These systems are expensive to build from a capital investment standpoint and expensive to maintain. Without some form of support, its not economical to serve rural Montana, he said. Kilgore and Michael Candelaria, general manager of Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, said some type of state support is necessary to provide and expand wireless service for the 25,000 square miles their companies serve. The men were invited by the committee to discuss rural cellphone service and broadband access, issues the group is considering examining. Interim committees can explore possible recommendations or create draft legislation for the upcoming legislative session. The two companies have 20,000 cellphone customers along the Hi-Line, through southcentral and Eastern Montana and into parts of North Dakota. They also serve national customers of companies like Verizon or AT&T who travel through. Nemont also provides wireless service on the Fort Peck and Crow reservations. Not all providers go onto reservation land; some circle the borders. *** The state, Kilgore and Candelaria said, needs to decide where rural wireless coverage and broadband service fit into the its priorities. Would the taxpayers of Montana be willing to support funding to enhance modern telecommunications service in rural Montana? Kilgore asked. Quite frankly I believe its a tough one. Decreasing federal support is hurting his company, and the state could help fill the gaps, Kilgore said. He pointed to a 911 fund paid for with a $1 fee tacked on to all phone bills in the state, a pot he says has about $32 million but cant be tapped by his company. The federal Universal Service Fund that helps pay for operations is frozen at 60 percent of what it used to be and Nemont hasnt yet been paid for projects it completed based on commitments from the funds Mobility Phase 1. Legislative research analyst Sonja Nowakowski said the Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee is exploring draft legislation on how to spend some of the "stranded" money. Its unclear how much of the money must be spent and saved, she said. A proposal includes spending some of the $10 million set aside for wireless providers to update 15 older routers around the state, which would benefit 911 service but also capacity for wireless broadband data. Thats expected to cost $5 million and would be done through grants administered to local governments working with private telecommunications providers. The issue will be discussed at a meeting of a group of stakeholders next Thursday and the Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee's next meeting in Kalispell on May 12-13. *** The state Public Service Commission also has opened an investigation into providing a Montana Universal Service Fund to create greater broadband development. Without that support, there is no business case to build and operate rural wireless networks, Kilgore said. Its hard to put a dollar amount on how much it would cost to upgrade cell equipment in the region, he said, since technology is constantly changing. Only half of Nemonts third-generation, or 3G, sites have been updated to 4G service. VoLTE, one of the newer, faster technologies, is not universally deployed, and the industry is already talking about whats next. The company, which began providing service in 1995, has 115 3G sites and 64 4G sites; 17 of which are on the Fort Peck Reservation along U.S. Highway 2. The state could provide some relief by making it easier to access state lands for maintenance work. Companies like Nemont and Mid-Rivers spend hours negotiating access whenever they need to do work on their towers, Candelaria said. Other assistance could come in the form of tax abatements, grant programs or a state version of the service fund. Rural wireless networks not only serve the several thousand subscribers in rural Montana, but also 200-plus million subscribers nationwide who travel through the state. Roaming revenue is a big part of staying in business, Kilgore said. You look at all those maps those carriers boast that shows their coverage, Kilgore said of providers like Verizon. They can say that because of our network. Qui a aide le FBI a craquer liPhone du tueur de San Bernardino (Californie) ? Alors que tous les regards etaient braques sur Cellebrite, une start-up israelienne specialisee dans lextraction de donnees, le Washington Post a revele, mardi 12 avril, que lagence federale americaine aurait beneficie de laide de hackers professionnels, citant une source proche du dossier. Selon le quotidien americain, les pirates informatiques auraient decouvert une faille dans le logiciel du telephone portable. Le 28 mars, le FBI avait abandonne une procedure judiciaire entamee a lencontre dApple pour forcer la firme de Cupertino a debloquer le telephone de Syed Farook, lun des auteurs de lattentat de San Bernardino. Notre decision de mettre fin a la procedure est basee seulement sur le fait quavec lassistance recente dun tiers nous sommes maintenant capables de debloquer cet iPhone sans compromettre les informations dans le telephone , avait alors precise la procureure federale du centre de la Californie, Eileen Decker, dans un communique. Apple exige des details Avec la revelation de ce mysterieux tiers , le quotidien outre-Atlantique met fin a cette partie de Cluedo, debutee il y a une quinzaine de jours. Les hackers professionnels, dont lethique est parfois discutable, chassent les failles des logiciels pour les revendre aux societes concernees ou aux gouvernements. Grace aux informations fournies par ces pirates informatiques, le FBI aurait ainsi mis au point un outil informatique capable de neutraliser leffacement automatique de toutes les donnees du telephone apres dix essais infructueux lorsquon tape un code PIN. Une fois cette difficulte levee, le FBI serait en mesure de craquer sans probleme ce code en 26 minutes. Apple, qui setait oppose a lagence arguant a fait savoir quil ne poursuivrait pas le FBI James Comey, directeur du FBI, a toutefois precise mercredi 6 avril lors dune intervention au Kenyon College, dans lOhio, que la methode pour y parvenir ne fonctionnait pas sur les modeles les plus recents de la marque a la pomme tels que liPhone 5S ou liPhone 6S. De son cote, Apple, qui setait oppose a lagence arguant du droit a la vie privee de ses utilisateurs, a fait savoir quil ne poursuivrait pas le FBI pour quil revele la methode employee pour deverrouiller le telephone mais quil exigeait neanmoins des details. Le debat sur lacces aux donnees des telephones cryptees nest pas pres de sarreter. Mercredi 13 avril, deux parlementaires americains, Richard Burr (Republicains) et Dianne Feinstein (Democrates), responsables de la Commission du renseignement au Senat ont devoile un projet de loi, encore a letat de brouillon, pour forcer les entreprises technologiques a collaborer contre le cryptage. Nous avons besoin dun cryptage solide pour proteger les donnees personnelles, mais nous avons egalement besoin de savoir quand des terroristes projettent de tuer des Americains , sest justifiee Mme Feinstein. Un tel projet, qui reviendrait a encourager la creation de portes derobees dans les logiciels, devrait de nouveau se heurter aux geants du high-tech, Apple en tete. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia On Thursday the High Court here rejected yet another challenge to the Sedition Act, paving the way for the governments record-breaking case against the political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, better known as Zunar, to proceed. Zunar faces up to 43 years in prison on nine counts of sedition the most counts anyone in Malaysia has ever been charged with. His crime? Posting comments and cartoons on social media criticizing a court decision last year that upheld a conviction for sodomy against the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. In February, the police hauled in another cartoonist, Fahmi Reza, for drawing Prime Minister Najib Razak as a clown. (Mr. Fahmi has since been released.) The latest to be summoned were three lawyers who asked the Malaysian Bar to remove Attorney- General Mohamed Apandi Ali from his post for refusing to prosecute Mr. Najib over alleged financial improprieties. Their motion was deemed to be seditious because the attorney general is appointed by the king, and a challenge to him is seen as a challenge to the king himself. In 2015 alone, according to Amnesty International, 91 people were arrested, charged or investigated under the 1948 Sedition Act almost five times as many as during the laws first 50 years. UNITED NATIONS Lawmakers on Wednesday used a rare hearing in the United States Senate to excoriate the United Nations secretary general for what they called his failure to stanch sexual abuse by his agencys peacekeepers and threatened to withhold crucial funding not only for the United Nations, but also bilateral aid for countries that fail to hold their soldiers accountable. The United States is the largest single donor to peacekeeping operations, though not many of its soldiers and police serve under United Nations command. The congressional scrutiny came as the United Nations has been roiled by allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by its blue-helmeted troops, particularly in the Central African Republic. The allegations emerged a year ago against French soldiers sent to quell the violence in the fragile former French colony. They were accused of sexually abusing children in exchange for food. The allegations spread to soldiers from other countries, serving under the United Nations flag, and they prompted the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to start naming countries that fail to investigate and prosecute misconduct by their troops. The scandal also prompted him, for the first time, to throw out of peacekeeping an entire battalion from the Democratic Republic of Congo. That nations army has had a long record of using rape as a weapon of war in its own internal conflicts, and several senior United Nations officials had warned against using its armed forces at all. But after intimidation that has kept outsiders like Mr. Taloa away for generations, a group of surfers is fighting to open up the beach to all comers. A class-action lawsuit filed last month by the Coastal Protection Rangers and two surfers seeks to bar the Bay Boys from congregating at Lunada Bay similar to the way injunctions have been used against members of criminal street gangs. The alleged members hail from one of the most exclusive communities in Southern California; many of them are middle-aged; some live in multimillion-dollar homes so close to the coastline here that the morning fog rolling off the ocean leaves their lawns damp. Still, Vic Otten, one of the lawyers for those bringing the lawsuit, said the group represented a threat to the public. Only eight members have been named in the lawsuit so far, but he said he expected to add dozens more. Theyve taken a public asset, the ocean, and stolen it through violence and intimidation, he said. In California, the ocean belongs to the public, not to a bunch of trust-fund babies. Outside his auto shop, where surfboards were leaning against the wall, Angelo Ferrara, who, along with several of his family members, was named in the lawsuit, said that his family was not part of any gang, and that the territorialism here was no worse than anywhere else. WASHINGTON Republican senators meeting with Judge Merrick B. Garland seem to take quite a long time to simply say no. As Judge Garland, President Obamas nominee to the Supreme Court, wraps up his fourth week of introductions on Capitol Hill, most of his courtesy calls with Senate Republicans have been anything but brief, even though almost all of them have said they will not vote to confirm him. His meeting Thursday morning with Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, was one of several that have lasted at least 45 minutes, with some stretching on for an hour a considerable time given the preordained futility of the sessions. While the senators have resolutely declined to elaborate on what they discussed with Judge Garland behind closed doors, most said they had spent the time explaining why they opposed him, offering the now familiar Republican refrain about letting voters have a say in who replaces Justice Antonin Scalia in this contentious election year. TOKYO Two years ago, Toshio Tamogami, a deeply conservative former military commander turned politician, drew more than half a million votes as a candidate for governor of Tokyo, fueling concerns about the growing appeal of far-right ideology in Japan. On Thursday, Mr. Tamogami was in jail, arrested on suspicion that he violated election laws during his campaign for governor. Mr. Tamogami, 67, is accused of paying 2.8 million yen, or about $25,000, in salaries to five members of his campaign staff who, under the law, were supposed to be working as volunteers. The finance director for his 2014 campaign was also arrested on Thursday, the Japanese authorities said. MANILA Philippine and American forces began conducting joint naval patrols in the South China Sea last month and will immediately start air operations over the area, United States Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said during a visit here on Thursday. The naval patrols were agreed on during a meeting in Washington in January between the defense departments of the two countries. The air operations will include aircraft and pilots currently participating in joint military exercises by the two countries in the Philippines. The United States will position 200 pilots and crew members, as well as six aircraft and three helicopters, at the former Clark Air Base, north of Manila, part of which is now a Philippine Air Force facility. She kept an open mind about designers as she scoured Kleinfeld Bridal, Wedding Atelier and the Gabriella New York Bridal salon, ultimately deciding on a lace strapless exposed corset gown by Pnina Tornai, another Israeli designer. It was a win all around. It was just obviously the best dress I tried on that fit my budget, she said. The main point is the detail: the lace and the shape. It was tight in the right places and loose in the right places. I thought I was going to die at the end of the night with the corset, but I loved how I looked. Ms. Kneppel also recognized the brand from watching the reality show Say Yes to the Dress, but the association wasnt necessarily a good one. She was quick to dispel any comparisons with those TV brides. Those dresses are crazy see-through fronts and bedazzled everywhere, she said, laughing. But yeah, I did want to look sexy and have something form-fitting that wasnt inappropriate but that also wasnt traditional. There is the sexiness trend, but, like Ms. Kneppel, the customer is more willing to try unknown niche brands today. Its only in the last three years or so that theyve really made an impact, Mr. Ingram said of the Israeli designers, who he noted: Really understand flattering the female body. The three designers I work with are all made to measure, not made to order as many gowns are, and there is a very complicated measurement about 25 different measurements that I have to send to them. These gowns are very complex and they are also very expensive. R.K. Bartenhagen Farms (Log No. 28,448) requests a permit authorizing withdrawal of water from one existing Muscatine Island Aquifer well, about 36 feet deep, located in the SW of the SW of Section 32, and five existing Muscatine Island Aquifer wells, about 80 to 90 feet deep, located in the NE of the NE and the SE of the NE of Section 31and the SW of the NW , the SE of the NW , and the NW of the NW of the NE of Section 32, all in T76N, R2W, Muscatine County, Iowa, in the maximum total quantity of 300 acre-feet per year at a maximum total rate of 4,000 gallons per minute during the period April 1 through October 31 of each year for irrigation of up to 200 acres of general and specialty farm crops such as grain and vegetables, on land generally described as the S of the NW , the NE of the SW , and the NW of the NW of the NE of Section 32 and leased land generally described as the E of the NE of Section 31 and the SW of the SW of Section 32, all in T76N, R2W, Muscatine County, Iowa. Water Use Permit No. 3497-MR4 presently authorizes withdrawal of water from said six Muscatine Island Aquifer wells in the maximum quantity of 242 acre-feet per year at a maximum rate of 2,200 gallons per minute to irrigate general and specialty farm crops, on the land described above. The senator thinks the "people's voice should be heard..." Well, Senator, the people DID speak in 2012. There is nothing in the Constitution that supports your point of view, that we have to wait, that in a presidential election year the outgoing president has not right to appoint a new Supreme Court Justice. Of course, then-Sen. Joe Biden made this same argument several decades ago, Republicans did not agree with him, and argued the exact same way Democrats are arguing now. Why was it wrong when Biden did this, but we have to accept this when YOU do this? While Biden's statement was nothing more than hypothetical (there was no opening at the time) we now do have an opening. Biden's comments and position had no real impact, but we now have an extremely negative impact! Check with some Californian teachers, for example. They lost their case against the Unions on how dues were used because the outcome was a tied vote. Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes [] Bloomberg has reported that MTN executive CEO Phuthuma Nhleko is confident a resolution to its massive fine in Nigeria will be reached by next month. Citing a person familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said Nhleko plans to step down in May following the resolution. Nhleko wont step away from his operational role until he comes to an agreement with the Nigerian attorney general, Bloomberg reported. MTN Nigeria was handed a fine for failing to disconnect 5.2 million unregistered SIMs on its network by a Nigerian Communications Commission-given deadline. MTN was originally fined 200,000 (R15,572) per unregistered SIM active on its network. The fine was later reduced by 25% to 780 billion (R61 billion), but the mobile operator elected to take the matter to Nigerias courts. It later dropped the case and paid a good faith sum of 50 billion (R3.8 billion at the time) in an effort to achieve an amicable settlement. More MTN Nigeria news MTN fuelled Boko Haram terrorist group: Nigerian president MTN clarifies Nigeria listing comments MTN pays Nigerian authorities R3.8 billion President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday was on a tour of Kiambu County to launch several projects. The Head of State launched the construction of the Thogoto-Gikambura-Mutarakwa Road in Limuru Constituency. He also launched the construction of the Ruaka-Banana-Limuru Road. In the tour, the president, accompanied by Deputy President William Ruto opened the Gatundu Level 4 Hospital, which is now complete after 2 years. The hospital construction is a Chinese-funded expansion that was launched by President Kenyatta in August 2013. Here are the photos: MANILA, Philippines In a military buildup certain to inflame tensions with China, the United States said Thursday it will send troops and combat aircraft to the Philippines for regular, more frequent rotations, and will conduct more joint sea and air patrols with Philippine forces in the South China Sea. The announcement by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter in a news conference with Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin was the first time the U.S. disclosed that its ships had carried out sea patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, a somewhat rare move not done with many other partners in the region. Carter insisted that the U.S. did not intend to be provocative and was "trying to tamp down tensions here." But Gazmin said he expected that U.S. forces, "with their presence here, will deter uncalled-for actions by the Chinese." The increased troop presence is part of a broader U.S. campaign to expand its assistance to the Philippines as America shores up its allies in the Asia-Pacific that are roiled by China's building of man-made islands in the South China Sea. While the military boost does not include permanent basing for U.S. troops, China views any increased U.S. military presence and activities in the region as a threat. "Military exchanges by relevant countries should not target third parties, much less support a few countries in challenging China's sovereignty and security, inciting regional contradictions and sabotaging regional peace and stability," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement in response to Carter's announcement. Carter said the U.S. will keep nearly 300 troops, including Air Force special operations forces armed with combat aircraft and helicopters, in the Philippines through the end of the month. The U.S. will increase troop rotations to strengthen training and support increased military operations in the region. Speaking in the guest house of the presidential complex, Carter said the joint patrols will improve the Philippine navy and "contribute to the safety and security of the region's waters." Two patrols have taken place since March. The U.S. also has conducted joint patrols with Japan in the region. Carter has said that China's increased aggression in the region is compelling more countries to reach out to the U.S., strengthening their military ties with Washington. The increase in military support comes days after the Philippines' ambassador to the U.S. asked the Obama administration to help persuade China not to build in the nearby Scarborough Shoal, which is viewed as important to Philippine fishermen. Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. said the Philippines cannot stop China from building there. China has built man-made islands in other contested spots in the South China Sea. Charlito Maniago, the leader of a northwestern Philippine village where many fishermen lost access to the disputed Scarborough Shoal after China seized it in 2012, said the joint patrols will bring hope that fishermen can again sail freely to the rich fishing ground. "This will boost the confidence of our fishermen because they think the U.S. has the capability to defend them," Maniago told The Associated Press by telephone from the coastal village of Cato in Pangasinan province. "The presence of America will make China think twice." The Pentagon said the U.S. forces that will remain in the Philippines are already participating in the Balikatan, or shoulder-to-shoulder combat exercises, that will end Friday. About 200 airmen, including special operations forces, will remain at Clark Air Base, along with three of their Pave Hawk attack helicopters, an MC-130H Combat Talon II special mission aircraft and five A-10 combat aircraft. This initial contingent will provide training to increase the two militaries' ability to work together, laying the groundwork for forces to perform joint air patrols. Up to 75 Marines will stay at Camp Aguinaldo to support increased U.S. and Philippine combined military operations. The troops and aircraft are expected to leave at the end of April, but other U.S. forces and aircraft would do similar rotations into the Philippines routinely in the future. Carter would not say how frequently those rotations would happen, but called it a "regular periodic presence." Last week the Pentagon announced that the U.S. will give the Philippines about $40 million in military assistance to bolster intelligence-sharing, surveillance and naval patrols. Carter said the aid will include an enhanced information network for classified communications, sensors for patrol vessels and an unmanned aerostat reconnaissance airship to help the Philippines keep watch over its territory. The U.S. will get access to five Philippine military bases to house American forces that will rotate in and out of the country for training and other missions. Scarborough Shoal is at the center of a case that Manila filed with the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international panel, in January 2013 after Chinese coast guard ships took effective control of the disputed land following a tense standoff with Filipino ships. The shoal sits about 145 miles (230 kilometers) west of the Philippines, and 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the Chinese coast. The court has agreed to take the case. Beijing says the panel has no jurisdiction in the matter. Chinese visitors to the Napa Valley presently make up only a small percentage, but that is expected to change in the coming years. According to Angela Jackson, director of media relations for Visit Napa Valley, the states tourism marketing board, Visit California, has recently made China its primary target (previously fifth on its list) for tourism outreach due to increases in both existing and forecast visitors and spending. We expect Chinese visitation to the state to grow by double digits every year through at least 2018, said Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of Visit California. Our organization is investing $9 million in China this year, marketing our state as a travel destination to this critical market. And its paying off this year California will welcome 1.2 million Chinese tourists, a 13.5 percent increase from 2015. These are high-spending travelers by 2018, we project Chinese visitors to California will collectively spend more than $4 billion in the state. Just this week, Visit California is taking a delegation of California businesses to Shanghai and Beijing to meet with operators, agents and media to educate them on whats new in California over five days, Beteta added. Napa Valley Tourism will be attending the mission, assuring that the destination will be top of mind among key travel influencers in China. We are seeing big jumps in the number of Chinese visitors to the Napa Valley, wrote John Stallcup in an email. Stallcup is co-founder of Napa Seasoning Co. and a wine-business consultant, often advising wineries on how to better engage with visitors from Asia. So if you understand the Chinese tourism business, speak the native language of China (Mandarin) and have connections in China, youre all good. There are plenty of reasons to believe that visitations from China, and Asia more broadly, will increase, Stallcup said. This includes a growing middle class, more interest in wine in the popular culture and travel is getting easier. However, big jumps in numbers should be kept in context, according to the Napa Valley Vintners. According to the Visit Napa Valley 2014 Visitor Profile Study, visitors from China did make up the third-largest segment, but keep these numbers in context, observed Patsy McGaughy, communications director of the Napa Valley Vintners. Visitors from the USA made up 87 percent, visitors from Canada were next at 3 percent and visitors from China were third and made up 1.7 percent. Yet there are reasons to believe that visitations will increase enough to warrant special consideration from business owners. In 2014, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama extended the tourist visa period to 10 years and student visas to five years. And according to a recent ChinaDaily USA report, these changes have led to a 68 percent increase in visa issuance in the last two years. According to the same source, Chinese tourists are the most desired international shoppers, spending an average of $6,000 per person per trip to the United States, which is higher than any other visiting group. Locally, UC Davis is holding a China Wine Conference April 13. The one-day conference will examine the evolving wine import market in China, exploring ways to promote California wines, wrote Emilia Aguirre, event coordinator for global affairs at UC Davis. The meeting will explore recent market changes, brand development, the appearance of informed consumers, the very different distribution systems, the emergence of local competition and the necessity of a digital brand presence in China. Companies beyond wineries are emerging to provide services for the expected increase of tourism. There are lots of numbers floating around out there about the number of visitors, but I can tell you that some of the most popular wineries in the valley saw thousands of Chinese guests last year, and our business is growing, said winemaker Adam Ivor. Ivor and his partner, Jack Duan, recently launched Gliding Eagle, a company that facilitates the shipment of wine to China. At the moment, many wineries still cant ship directly to China. So no matter what the number of visitors, if you are not servicing all your winery guests, then thats not great customer service. As a businessperson, you want to understand exactly who your customers are, which segments are growing and how best to remove any barriers to their experience. The Cal-China Wine Cultural Exchange (CCWCE), a nonprofit in Napa, was created in 2014 with the intent of fostering improved cultural exchange between China and the United States, through wine tourism and education. The CCWCEs mission is to help support the wine trade, existing visitor and tourist programs, and enhance educational efforts, said Dr. Joe Chuang, founder of the 501 c (3) group. Chuang owns a winery in China, near Beijing, and also owns Firefly Vineyards from which he produces 5,000 cases of Napa wine. He will begin production of 100,000 cases of wine from his China vineyard and winery this year. All Chuangs wines will be sold exclusively in China. Our hope is to use wine as a way to foster friendship and understanding between our two cultures, he said. According to Chuang, there are important steps that should be considered with the expected increase of tourism. Weve found it exceptionally useful to have native-Mandarin-speaking wine experts give tours, and thats why we have many on our staff. Guests visiting the Napa Valley want to learn about wine, but many do not speak English well, so this can help immensely. Having a Mandarin (not Cantonese) wine-tour guide is critical. Beyond language, education on both sides is important so last year we organized a cross-cultural wine forum at the Napa Valley College that highlighted some of the opportunities with the expected increase of travelers from China. We will continue such educational events, some of which will be held in China, Chuang said. We also have a detailed understanding of distribution in China because of my winery and vineyard, which can provide useful information to Napa wineries or other businesses looking to gain insight. Beyond language, other areas that should be explored include food options and a more detailed understanding of the cultural difference. Many Chinese people cannot handle more than three western meals in a row (with lots of cheese and butter), so we are looking to help bring in four or five mainstream Chinese restaurants in the coming years. As businesses prepare for new visitors, others are echoing many of Chuangs comments, often highlighting the need to improve communication, especially when it comes to talking about wine. Each language has a specific cultural context, and Mandarin is a particularly complex language, observed John Mini, a St. Helena native who has been an accredited Chinese medicine specialist for more than 30 years and who practices in Marin. Ive written about the complexities of translating wine terminology. There is really no exact translation for many of the terms we use to describe wine, he said. Even the word flavor (in Mandarin wei dao) also means smell. There are other words for flavor, too. And blackberry is not very common, so using mulberry (sang) might be a better alternative. Consequently, a few businesses are hiring Mandarin speakers to lead tours and help translate wine descriptions. We are excited that many of our guests come from Asia and more and more from China, said Henriette Steinrueck, vice president of operations at Castello di Amorosa. Weve hired Mandarin-speaking tour guides, created Mandarin menus and have special programs to help with shipping. Weve found that many of these guests prefer our small-production red wines, which theyve told us are often given as gifts back home as a sign of health and prosperity. No matter where our guests come from, we want to ensure that each of them feels well cared for with exceptional personalized service. Other local companies that have Mandarin tours are Robert Mondavi Winery, Yao Ming Wines, Beringer Estate, Kieu Hoang Winery and the Napa Valley Wine Train. Hall Wines is reportedly going to start Mandarin tours this May. The causes of any change in tourism can be linked to many influences, but sometimes even minor events can have a big influence. Japan has Manga, Korea has Manha, and China has Manhua they are all the same graphic illustrated novel tradition, Stallcup said. It is quite common to have Japanese anime/manga translated into other Asian languages, and one of these, Drops of God, was translated into Chinese about six years ago. In volume 22 of the series called the New-World issue, select Napa wines were called out (Kongsgaard, Harlan, Dominus, Opus, Mondavi, among others). If you put a time-lapse camera in the wineries that were listed you would definitely see the impact. Speaking at the Kyiv Security Forum on Thursday (14 April), NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow focused on NATOs response to Russias aggression and on the Alliances support to Ukraines efforts to reform its defence forces and democratic institutions. The Deputy Secretary General underlined that NATO will never accept Russias military occupation of Crimea. NATO stands by Ukraine and its right to be an independent, sovereign nation, Mr. Vershbow said. He also stressed a clear need for Ukraine to adopt NATO standards and said that this is not just a technical exercise. Civilian control of the armed forces and democratic oversight of the security and defence sector are essential, interconnected principles shared by all NATO Allies. These are principles that Ukraine needs to embed irreversibly in its own institutional set-up, he said. Deputy Secretary General Vershbow underscored that NATO will continue to support Ukraines reforms. We back this political support with practical assistance through an advisory mission in Kyiv supporting comprehensive reform of the security and defence sector. NATO also supports Ukraine through capacity building Trust Funds and through the Annual National Programme, which includes reform of its defence forces and democratic institutions, and reform to tackle corruption and strengthen the rule of law. Ukraines leaders have set an ambitious course towards Euro-Atlantic values and standards; they must now deliver. But so must we. Allies will continue to support Ukraine, through NATO and bilaterally. And we will further improve our own coordination to make the most of the resources we have available for Ukraine, he said. Mr. Vershbow said that the Minsk agreements must be implemented in full and that strengthened security is needed in parallel with the fulfilment of the political aspects of the Minsk agreements. NATO will reiterate its insistence on full implementation of the Minsk agreements when the NATO-Russia Council convenes next week, Mr. Vershbow said. Speaking about the upcoming NATO Summit, the Deputy Secretary General said that Allies will reaffirm their continuing commitment to support the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine by holding a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at the level of Heads of State and Government in July in Warsaw. Mr. Vershbow highlighted that the security and independence of Ukraine are vital for Euro-Atlantic security and that Ukraine has long been one of NATOs closest partners. As we approach the Warsaw Summit, now is the time to make Ukrainian defence forces and Ukrainian democratic institutions truly fit for purpose, in line with NATO standards. Ukraine has missed many previous windows of opportunity in the last 25 years. Let us resolve not to miss this one, he concluded. During his visit to Kyiv, Deputy Secretary General Vershbow also met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin and other senior officials. (As delivered) Thank you so much and its great to be back in Downing Street and to meet with Prime Minister Cameron. And to meet an old friend because we have been working together for many years. And I have seen your strong personal commitment to security, to NATO, both when we worked together when I was Prime Minister of Norway but especially now when Im Secretary General of NATO. And the UK is really leading the way when it comes to security, because you are contributing so much to our collective defence in Europe. You are contributing to our operations and missions in Afghanistan, in the Aegean Sea. But also, as you mentioned, the UK is really showing the way for all the European NATO Allies when it comes to defence spending upholding defence spending at 2 percent and more for defence which is of great importance for the whole Alliance. So I actually use the UK as an example for all the European Allies. That it is possible to invest in defence and to meet the pledge we made together at the Summit in Wales, to the 2 percent of GDP on defence. Im looking forward to our discussions because we are going to address how NATO shall continue to adapt to a more challenging and difficult security environment. How we can further increase our strength and our collective defence. How we can step up our joint efforts to fight terrorism and ISIL and how we can do more together, tackling the migrants and refugees crisis. And also how we can expand further our cooperation between NATO and the European Union. On all these issues I know that I can count on the UK and count on you David, so Im looking forward to the meeting here today. Thanks. YEREVAN. Armenian-Russian relations are not based on business, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian told the Public Television of Armenia. Responding to the query as to whether Moscows statements in recent days equate Russias relations with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, the FM recalled that the Russian military base is not in Azerbaijan, that Azerbaijan is not a Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member, and that Armeniaand not Azerbaijanhas dozens of defense and military industry agreements with Russia. He noted that Armenia and Russia are allies not only in words, but with respective legal grounds. This is not a secret, including for Azerbaijan, Nalbandian added. Commenting on the position of some partners from several international organizations, and which were ambiguous, the Armenian FM said the Eurasian Economic Unionwhich comprises Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstanis an economic organization, whose each member has its own interests and priorities. And as case in point, Edward Nalbandian noted the European Union (EU) stating that the positions of whose member states also do not always coincide. STEPANAKERT. The operational situation along the Line of Contact between the Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces did not change, from late Wednesday night to early Thursday morning. In some sectors, the Azerbaijani armed forces continued violating the verbal agreement that was reached between the parties to cease fire. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) Ministry of Defense informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that the adversary used grenade launchers and fired at the Armenian military positions, especially in the northeasterly (Martakert) and southeasterly (Hadrut) directions of the frontline. In addition, a diversionary reconnaissance infiltration attempt was recorded at night. At around 4:55am, the Armenian position-holders detected, in timely fashion, the operation which the Azerbaijani army special units launched in a southerly direction, but they were pushed back. Vanguard units of the NKR Defense Army continue adhering to the aforesaid verbal agreement and confidently carrying out their military task. US, Russia defense chiefs discuss Ukraine situation for 2nd time in last few days Turkey plans to set up 2 more military bases in northern Syria Germany wants to use Israel UAVs to protect its key infrastructures UK defense secretary holds phone talk with Russia counterpart US to attempt set Russia oil price cap above $60 per barrel? Russia, Turkey defense ministers confer about Ukraine situation Armenia official: Terms for buying, building houses for those displaced from Artsakh have improved Saudi Arabia forum set to draw American business leaders despite existing tensions Iran plans to increase natural gas exports to Turkey Iran army ground forces holding exercise in West Azarbaijan Province Sovereignty renunciation to be punished in Armenia with 12-15 years of imprisonment, as per justice ministry draft 2 pilots killed in Russia fighter jet crash Russia, France defense ministers discuss Ukraine Fighter jet crashes into house in Russias Irkutsk 150 residents of 3 Karabakh settlements handed over to Azerbaijan get compensation certificates Rishi Sunak confirms UK premier bid Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson hold talks Biden slammed for 'scary' long pause during interview Elite US troops conducting exercises on Ukraine border Iran MP: Military exercises on Azerbaijan border are decisive response to Israel Xi Jinping elected Communist Party of China Central Committee general secretary Armenia envoy presents credentials to Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency chair Hungary to approve by years end Sweden, Finland petitions to join NATO US researchers debunk main theory for origin of life Iranian MP: Iran will conduct military exercises wherever it deems necessary Finnish delegation to visit Ankara to discuss NATO membership Social media giants are likely to oppose Turkey's new law Pastor steals $900,000 to buy stocks and car in U.S. Lithuanian President Nauseda is named most popular politician in country Charles III will embark on longest tour of world in history of royal family Deputy Director of Institute of Oriental Studies of RAS: Baku's goal is that Karabakh has no Armenian population Hurricane Roslyn in Pacific Ocean intensifies to third category Italy's new prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, begins forming government U.S. Treasury Department records budget deficit of over $429 billion in September Why does Baku need aggravation on border with Armenia? Skakov assesses likelihood of new aggression Iranian Foreign Minister: I had important meeting with Pashinyan in Armenia Johnson spotted in economy class on flight from Dominican Republic to Britain Armenian PM and European Parliament Resident Rapporteur for Armenia discuss Karabakh situation Authorities in Kherson urge residents to immediately leave city Russian expert: Baku's attempts to open corridor by force will cause negative response not only from IRI or Russian Telegraph: Britain to send about 60 old tanks to NATO base in Germany for exercises Artak Beglaryan: You will see me in new position Netanyahu: Iran nuclear deal could bring Russia 'hundreds of billions' Russia and Turkey begin to develop gas hub project PM Pashinyan discusses agenda of bilateral relations with Iranian FM Anna Hakobyan meets Armenians in Paris Sargsyan: Recognition of Artsakh people's right for self-determination must be reflected in legal documents Italy's first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, sworn in Private jet goes missing off coast of Costa Rica Times of India: India tests nuclear-capable Agni Prime missile Spiegel: German Foreign Minister and Defense Minister ask to allocate 2.2 billion for military aid to Kiev Deputy PM of Armenia and Head of Sharjah Heritage Institute discuss strengthening of Armenian-Emirati relations Biden allows participation in U.S. presidential election in 2024 Secretary of Security Council of Armenia and representatives of AIISA discuss security issues Kakhovka reservoir increases water discharges in case of possible destruction of HPP Pashinian's spouse: Yesterday at Elysee Palace I was received by dear Brigitte Macron At least 15 people killed in bus-truck collision in India Explosion at Uzbek Defense Ministry depot injures 16 people Armenian NA Speaker receives Iranian FM: Tehran opposes obstacles on border with friendly Armenia President Harutyunyan receives group of members of Union of Artsakh Reserve Officers NGO Newspaper: Armenia restores diplomatic ties with Hungary? China hit by 5.5 magnitude earthquake Armenian Defense Ministry denies Azerbaijani report on shelling, calling it disinformation Blinken: Moscow is not interested in stopping aggression against Ukraine Japan and U.S. will hold joint military exercises France withdraws from Energy Charter Treaty CNN: White House is in talks with Elon Musk to create satellite Internet service Starlink in Iran Baku outraged by Iran's statements and frightened by IRGC military exercises Who are main beneficiaries of 'Zangezur' corridor?: Another anonymous article by 'Haykakan Zhamanak' newspaper Ankara decides to stand up for Riyadh amid deteriorating relations between Saudi Arabia and U.S. French Foreign Minister considers it vital to keep lines of communication with Russia open Pentagon refuses to give details of conversation between Austin and Shoigu Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin: Head of Caucasus Muslims Department again made slanderous and false statements Erdogan denies using chemical weapons against Kurds and threatens those who dare to talk about it Saudi Arabia and China will strengthen their ties in energy sector Governor of Gegharkunik province receives representatives of OSCE fact-finding mission Penny Mordaunt runs for Prime Minister of Great Britain Sweden expects ratification of NATO membership application by Hungary and Turkey to be completed soon European Union will allocate 1.5 billion euros per month to Kiev in 2023 An Israeli-built flight school opened in Greece YEREVAN. The Azerbaijani side carried out nine violations at the northeastern sectori.e. Tavush Province of Armeniaof the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, from late Wednesday night to early Thursday morning. During this time the adversary fired irregular shots at the Armenian position-holders, and by way of rifle weaponry. The Ministry of Defense of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that the vanguard units of the Armenian armed forces, however, exercised restraint, took actions in response solely when absolutely necessary, and they confidently control the situation along the aforesaid border. Russia won't allow NATO to involve itself in senseless opposition, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said during the lecture at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia today, TASS reported. He mentioned that they observe unprecedented accumulation of military activity since the end of the Cold War, presence of NATO on so-called eastern flank of the alliance with the purpose of inserting military and political pressure upon Russia. He also added that all this is followed by aggressive propaganda campaign aimed at Russias demonization. Lavrov emphasized that NATO is occupied with search for the enemy to give meaning to their further existence. Russia does not intend and will not be involved in senseless opposition and is convinced that there is no reasonable alternative to mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of pan-European security based on the principle of the indivisibility of security and in accordance with the international law. The European Union (EU) wants very much to facilitate and contribute to a settlement over Nagorno-Karabakh. Ambassador Piotr Switalski, Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, told the aforesaid to the media Thursday in capital city Yerevan, at the public consultation on capacity-building of civil society organizations. Speaking on the latest developments in Karabakh at the request of the media, Switalski explained that this is a question to be discussed on a separate occasion. For now I can confirm that the European Union wants very much to facilitate and to contribute to the settlement because the EU believes this will change for the better the development conditions of Armenia and for the whole region, he said. Hundreds of Armenian and non-Armenian demonstrators in Uruguay protested the Azerbaijan aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). The mass demonstration was staged on Wednesday at the central square in capital city Montevideo, informed the Uruguayan Armenian community. The picketers held the national flags of Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In addition, the passersby were handed pamphlets informing about what had occurred. Many local media extensively covered this protest. Also, the Uruguayan Armenian youth associations read a statement that strongly condemns the crimes of Azerbaijan. The capacity building of NGOs is beneficial for the state, and hopefully, the Government of Armenia shares this view. Ambassador Piotr Switalski, Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Armenia, told the abovementioned to the media Thursday in capital city Yerevan, at the public consultation on capacity-building of civil society organizations. The main emphasis of the [respective] project is to help local NGOs, especially [those] located far from Yerevan, which makes fundraising more challenging, Switalski said. He noted that the experience of other countriesincluding Poland, his place of birthshows that civic activists can really achieve a lot. But what is needed is also a change of mindset by political leaders. They should not look at NGOs as a threat, or as rivals or competitors for power. This is not true, even if for many NGOs the main task is to make the government hear critical voices and to make the life of the government challenging difficult; this is part of a democratic culture, Piotr Switalski concluded. Congressman Brad Sherman, a senior member of the House Financial Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, has called on the US administration to negotiate a new tax treaty between the United States and Armenia, reported Asbarez Armenian daily newspaper of the US. Dear families of those serving their compulsory military service, ACBA- CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK lowered rates of the loans that have been issued or will be issued in the future. Thank you, Armenian serviceman... Everything will be fine! At a recent hearing before the Financial Service Committee, Sherman told Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew that currently, we have a chicken and egg circumstance. You dont get the business investment because you dont have the tax treaty. Then you dont need the tax treaty because you dont have the business investment. We have tax treaties with scores of countries around the world. We devote a substantial amount of money to trying to achieve our international development goals and can always provide foreign aid to Armenia. But we can also achieve those goals by having a tax treaty. The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) applauded Shermans advocacy. We join with Congressman Sherman in calling for a U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty and thank him for his strong leadership in promoting expanded economic relations between the United States and Armenia, said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. YEREVAN. By and large, Azerbaijan had no military objective; the tools were military yet the objectivespolitical. Caucasus Institute Director, political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan, said the abovementioned at a press conference on Thursday. In his words, these objectives have been implemented to some extent. As per Iskandaryan, what the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group mediators are doing now in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict negotiation process is providing first aid. The analyst stressed that the negotiation process can resume, but noted that the 21st-century wars are won not only and not so much in the battlefield, but via television. Under the conditions of zero results of the escalation [of the conflict], Azerbaijan wanted to show that they likewise can fight, Alexander Iskandaryan added. Had it been a real war, it would have happened in an entirely different way. The European Union Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EU EaP CSF) Armenian National Platform issued a statement on the military actions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. It noted that these hostilities initiated by Azerbaijan on the border of Nagorno-Karabakh, and which started on April 2, 2016 and continued for four days, were a flagrant violation of the cease-fire agreement signed on May 12, 1994. Subversive operations, provocations and the sniper war over the line of contact were taking place during previous years, and dramatically intensified since August, 2014, the statement also reads. However, very recent events left no doubt that official Baku deliberately neglects efforts of the international community towards peaceful resolution of the NK conflict. Recent military actions resulted in numerous human losses among military and civilians from both sides, destructions and dramatic growth of hostilities. The events also posed new challenges for security and stability in the South Caucasus region as a whole. Meanwhile, out of the sides of the conflict only Azerbaijan rejects OSCE Minsk Group recommendation to withdraw snipers from the line of contact. Azerbaijani statements, insisting that their actions were provoked by and became a response to Armenian aggression, are not more than another act of demagoguery, which can be refuted with several counterarguments. Particularly, for years along the world witnessed the intensifying bellicose rhetoric of Baku aimed at blackmailing the international mediators with the threat of resolving the conflict with the use of force in case if the offered solution will not be preferable for Azerbaijani side only. It was Azerbaijan that rejected all proposals of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group to carry out a border monitoring mission and identify the perpetrators. The proposal to investigate the events of April 2-5, 2016 was also declined by Azerbaijan. The vast majority of international independent experts unequivocally define Azerbaijan as an initiator of recent military clashes. And finally, the statement articulated by Ambassador of Azerbaijani Republic to Russia Mr. Polad Byul-Byul Ogly is a direct confirmation of Azerbaijani aggression1. It is worth mentioning, that Azerbaijani aggression, actually, was a result of change in military balance in the region, highly provoked by Russia through its continuous supply of modern armament to Azerbaijan in massive scale. Battles on the frontline were accompanied by serious war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani military. Those crimes are gross violations of the Geneve Convention of 1949 and the Hague Convention of 1954. For instance, on April 2nd, 2016 a 12-year-old child was killed and two others wounded as a result of MM-21 (Grad) missile systems firing at the local school in Martuni city. On the same day, after temporary capturing of Talish village, Azerbaijani military have brutally killed senior citizens Valera and Razmella Khalapyans, and cut off their ears. They have also killed Marusya Khalapyan, the 92-year-old mother of Valera Khalapyan. Moreover, Azerbaijani military beheaded three soldiers of the NK Defense Army. Both Azerbaijani military and civilians were mocking the head of the killed soldier, ethnically Yezidi Kyaram Sloyan. They were taking pictures with it and sharing photos in the social media. The head of Kyaram Sloyan was taken from village to village and presented as a war trophy. Such manifestations of inhumane atrocities are identical to the barbaric actions taken by ISIL terrorists against Yezidi population. A bus carrying civilians was destroyed by Unmanned Arial Vehicle (UAV) aka drone, and left seven dead and a dozen wounded. On April 10, 2016 through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office, exchange of bodies of the deceased was carried out between the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan near the Bash Karvend settlement. The bodies of 18 servicemen of the NK Defense Army, fallen as a result of the large scale military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan in April 2-5, were transferred to the NK side during the exchange. At the presence of the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the NK State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons registered that all bodies of the deceased transferred by the Azerbaijani side had signs of torture and These unconcealed manifestations of hatred and cruelty should leave no doubt that in case of Nagorno-Karabakh appearing under Azerbaijani control, the most inhumane ethnic cleansing of Armenian population will be unavoidable. Thus, it became once again evident that self-determination of the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh has no alternative. Unfortunately, Azerbaijans bellicosity and deliberate hindering of the peaceful resolution of the NK conflict does not get an adequate response, on the contrary it is triggered by some countries, including few members of the OSCE Minsk Group. Hence, Turkish leaders expressed their full solidarity and readiness to offer military support in response to the aggressive actions by Azerbaijan. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin during his visit to Baku just after four-day war added fuel to the fire by stating that Russia will continue contract-based arms supplies to Azerbaijan. Such attitude expressed by the countries of huge influence in the South Caucasus region leave no choice for Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh other than exercising all possible and available means in the areas of defense and foreign policy aimed at finding out ways of resilience to the threats which hinder mere existence of Armenia and NK. The refusal of the Eurasian Union partner countries (which are also members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization together with Armenia) to visit Yerevan on April 7th, 2016 in order to participate in pre-planned session of the EaEU Intergovernmental Council as well as their hypocritical reasoning that it could be perceived as a support to the Armenian side in the conflict with Azerbaijan, puts high in the agenda the expediency of participation of our country in such integration processes which do not correspond to Armenias vital interests. The recent events do indicate that this becomes a matter of national security. Taking into consideration points articulated above we call on the international community - To compliment the Agreement on Enhancement of Ceasefire Regime, signed by defense ministers of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and entered into force in February, 1995 with additional legally binding provisions addressing changed realities. To guarantee their practical application and foresee responsibility for the party that violates the principle of non-use of force. - To grant a mandate to OSCE respective structures to investigate into incidents taking place in the zone of NK conflict and on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan, regardless of the consent of the sides. To start that mission with meticulous investigation of circumstances of the large scale military actions that took place on April 2-5 2016. Identify, on official level, those responsible for instigating the war and committing war crimes. The refusal of any of the parties to cooperate with the investigation should be considered as intent of aggression threatening the regional security. This should be reflected in the documents of respective international organizations. - To return the status of the negotiating party to Nagorno-Karabakh. - To ensure that the governments of the conflicting parties do restore the necessary conditions for the cooperation of the civil society and media in order to overcome the mutual distrust, xenophobia and propaganda of hostility. To encourage the initiatives promoting the informal direct dialogue. We demand from the Armenian authorities. - To initiate a broad debate- which will stipulate political and legal implications- weather Armenias membership in EaEU, participation in other formats of international cooperation do correspond to the goal of countrys security and development. - To take practical measures for the efficient use of national potential for strengthening of the defense capabilities of the country. To consider corruption, vicious methods of governance, monopolization and protectionism in the economy, factitious obstacles for investment and development of small and medium-sized enterprises, restraining civic activism and inertia in diplomacy as imminent threats to countrys security. We state our readiness - To investigate all cases of human rights violations in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in unbiased and responsible way, regardless of the parties that committed them. - To contribute to the efforts to hold responsible individuals who violated the universal norms of humanitarian law. - To cooperate with representatives of all parties to the conflict and relevant international organizations in all above mentioned directions. We express our full support to the Joint Appeal of the Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian Non-Governmental organizations, Mass-Media and National Minorities Representatives to the European Parliament signed by more than 500 organizations. YEREVAN. President Serzh Sargsyan on Thursday received Ambassador Argo Avakov, newly appointed Head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. The Presidential Press Office informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that, first, Sargsyan congratulated Avakov on his appointment, and expressed confidence that his rich track-record will contribute to the effective implementation of his mission in Armenia. The new head of the OSCE office, for his part, assured that during his tenure he will do everything possible to further develop and deepen Armenia-OSCE cooperating. In his words, the OSCE Office in Yerevan will continue its activities to the benefit of the ongoing reforms in Armenia. The interlocutors exchanged views on the planned processes within the framework of constitutional reforms in Armenia, and discussed the projects which the OSCE Office in Yerevan implements in the country. Russia will do everything to find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at Thursdays live Q & A session. He added that the Karabakh conflict settlement talks are getting underway. This is a very sensitive topic, Putin said. We must approach it with the well-known medical precept of do no harm. The Russian president stressed that the Karabakh conflict shall be resolved by solely political methods, and mutual concessions by the two conflicting partiesi.e. the Armenian and the Azerbaijani. Russia wants to work fully with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at Thursdays live Q & A session. In his words, Russia is interested in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and a respective mutual concession needs to be found. A few years ago it seemed to me that we are close to this mutual concession, but it turned out [to be] not so, Putin added. He noted that Russia is doing its best to resolve this conflict and to find an option that is acceptable to the two conflicting partiesi.e. the Armenian and the Azerbaijani. The Russian president stated that a mutual concession needs to be found in the long run, and solely through political means. As per Putin, Russia is interested in the resolution of this matter, since it has friendly relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan alike, and it will contribute to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. But, according to the Russian president, the final decision is left to the two conflicting parties. YEREVAN. - The Investigative Committee of Armenia has launched a case into the violations of the international humanitarian law provisions during the military conflict in Karabakh on the ground of Article 390 (6) of the Armenian Criminal Code. On April 10, the bodies of 18 Armenian soldiers killed as a result of the aggression unleashed by the Azerbaijani side on April 2-5, were handed over to the Armenian side through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Chairperson-in-Office of the Office of the Personal Representative to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The external examination of the bodies by forensic experts has revealed numerous injuries, as well as traces of torture and mockery. The Investigative Committee has commissioned an expert examination to find out the cause of the death of each serviceman, the nature of their bodily injuries, their severity level, the cause-and-effect relationship to their deaths, as well as the time of causing injury before or after death. Additional information on the expert examination results will be provided later. The terrorists have bombarded a number of Aleppo districts, violating the ceasefire. Armenian-populated districts of Aleppo Nor Gyugh, Sulaimaniyah and Seyrafi have also come under rocket attack, Beri Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church reports. The attacks have left many people dead, while still others are wounded. However, there has been no information on injured or killed Armenians yet. The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration stressed that the random bombardment of the residential districts in several provinces of the country by the armed gangs aims to undermine the agreement on ceasefire in Syria, local SANA news agency reports. In two identical messages directed to the UN Secretary-General, the Syrian MFA mentioned that the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization and other similar organizations like Jaish al-Fatah, Ahrar ash-Sham and al-Jabha al-Shamiyah, whose operations are coordinated by Turkey-based headquarters, randomly bombard Sheikh Maqsood district of Aleppo and neighboring settlements from hundreds of mortars and rockets. Consequently, dozens of civilians were killed and hundreds were wounded, most of whom are children, women and old people. Many residential buildings have been damaged. Bodies of local residents still remain under their debris. Several hundreds of Armenian community representatives staged a protest in front of the Israeli Foreign Ministry building in Jerusalem Thursday. The demonstrators demanded to stop the sale of weapons to Azerbaijan. The protest, organized by the United Committee of Jerusalem, was attended not only by the members of the Armenian community in Jerusalem, Haifa and Petah Tikva, but also Jews. Former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Yosef "Pepe" Alalu delivered a speech during the protest, in which he mentioned that he shares the pain of the Armenian people and the sorrow of the Armenian Genocide. He also stressed the unacceptability of the fact that currently Azerbaijan kills the Armenian people by the weapons sold by Israel. Mr Alalu also urged the Israeli authorities to stop selling weapons to Azerbaijan. In an interview with Armenian News - NEWS.am, Rev. Koryun of Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem noted that the demonstrators also handed a letter to the Israeli Foreign Minister, where the Armenian community expressed its concern about the Israeli arms sale to Azerbaijan. Although the relations of Balarus ally Russia and Turkey are tense, and despite the fact that Belarus is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and EAEU, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenkohas left for Istanbul to take part in the 13th session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held bilateral talks with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Savarona yacht, Turkish Presidents press-service reports. Its time to activate cooperation, update the agenda and edit the roadmap of relations, Lukashenko told Erdogan. The Belarusian President also noted that his country is open to the cooperation with Turkey. The funny side here is that Belarus is the only Christian country invited to the OIC conference. Its even funnier that the Belarusian President embraced and told kind words to the personal enemy of his friend Vladimir Putin. Moreover, Lukashenko disregarded the fact that his ally Russia has imposed sanctions on Turkey. Lukashenko and Erdogan discussed ways to raise the level of the economic and political cooperation between their respective countries, Belarusian Belta.by website reports. The official conduct of Belarus has acquired incomprehensible shadesrecently. During the days of Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh, the Belarusian MFA supported Azerbaijan, in connection with which the Belarus Ambassador to Armenia was summoned to the Armenian MFA. YEREVAN. - The situation on the Contact Line and the Armenian border is currently controllable and stabilized, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan told Public Television of Armenia. In his words, our Armed Forces have completed their tasks: they are allocated in their places, ready to quickly respond to corresponding violations. Of course, there have been minor violations, but they are controllable. The troops of both the [Nagorno-Karabakh Republic] Defense Army and Armenian Armed Forces, which are allocated on the border, carry out stabilization and engineering activities; the border line is strengthened, Ohanyan said. Referring to the maneuvers of the adversarys armed forces, the Minister said: Our reconnaissance constantly works. I should say that actually no superpower can today be secured from any war or terrorist act. In such a situation our task is unification and unified implementation of the tasks set before us. What happened during these days is the continuation of our struggle, which we have always won thanks to our unity. According to the Minister, the military activities which took pace from April 2 to 5, were unprecedented by their scale, maneuvers, use of force, as well as in terms of politics. Defense Army commanders, soldiers and volunteers have simply manifested heroism: we have achieved success thanks to their feats, Ohanyan noted. He also added that the Armenian side sees the entire movement of the adversary and takes relevant measures accordingly. Over 150 diversionary infiltration attempts have been launched in the recent days. All of them have been pushed back thanks to our reconnaissance. There have been certain issues related to vigilance in several sections, but our reconnaissance does work, the Minister stressed. YEREVAN. - No strategic position has been surrendered to the adversary, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan told Public Television of Armenia. In his words, the certain movement both from the Azerbaijani and Armenian side has been towards the unprotected positions, which have no essential significance for Armenia, while most of the positions have been re-occupied. According to the Minister, since 2014 Azerbaijan has started escalating the tension, also using Turkey-made weaponry to shell not only the positions, but also civilian objects. Referring to the use of modern and heavy weaponry, the Minster noted that they were used by the adversary during the last stage, when their diversion attempts had failed. Having gone into hysterics, they tried to use those weapons to show that they have force and at the same time go for ceasefire, Ohanyan said, noting that the Chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff addressed them, saying that the adversary had proposed a ceasefire. The Minister also noted that the adversarys consistent weapon acquisition has been in the center of their attention. Its known that they have a quantitative and technical privilege. We knew about the weapons they used. Nevertheless, the significant part of our victims fell not because of those weapons, but as a result of fighting on the frontline till the last bullet, Ohanyan stressed, adding that this is a military expression and doesnt mean that the soldiers didnt have bullets. Responding to the query as to whether Armenia currently needs additional weapons, Ohanyan said: Weapon acquisition is a continuous process. We have already moved to its second stage. We periodically inform of this process. The Armenian Defense Minster also noted that they have discussed the lessons learnt from the war and have concluded that the development plan of military forces corresponds to the situation, although certain changes will be made. There are certain gaps, which will by all means be worked on, he added. YEREVAN. - The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) doesnt think that the withdrawal from the EAEU is timely and sees no such prospect, Armenian National Assembly (NA) Deputy Speaker Hermine Naghdalyan told journalists after the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Executive Body session. We dont think that the withdrawal from the EAEU is timely and we see no such prospect. This is a narrow and unjustified thinking. I guess, the accusations addressed to the EAEU are a little misplaced. We understand the implications of trying to sow anti-EAEU intentions, she said. Naghdalyan also noted that in such a short period of time the Union hasnt yet been finally established so that its members can enjoy climate of cooperation and dedication to each other. The states which have initiated this Union and which are moving forward in establishing it, have various interests, various friends and mentality. Id like to remind the biography of the European Union: having been established in the early 50s, that union worked in the climate of conflict of interests for 3-4 decades. Referring to PM Hovik Abrahamyans visit to Moscow after moving the EAEU meeting from Yerevan, Naghdalyan said that this was a necessary step. I dont think that Hovik Abrahamyans visit received much criticism. I think the criticism followed one source: these were the powers which have an opposite orientation. It was indeed correct and necessary to go, participate and later present our positions and preferences through active work. Our Russian colleagues withdrawal from the meeting wasnt pleasant for us, but Id like to inform that an agreement has been reached with Hovik Abrahamyan to hold the [next] session in Yerevan on May 20. This shows that instead of forming sulky positions, we must try to be understood by our partners, Naghdalyan said. The renowned molecular biologist known as the bacteria whisperer will deliver two addresses later this month as part of the 2016 Rhodes Lectureship sponsored by the Department of Biology. Bonnie L. Bassler, chair of the molecular biology department at Princeton University, is an international leader in her field who discovered how bacteria communicate. Bassler received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2002 widely known as the genius grant for her work on quorum sensing in bacteria, and she was also elected a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She rose to fame beyond the scientific community after delivering a TED talk in 2009 on how bacteria talk in a chemical language to accomplish group tasks. That lecture has since been viewed more than 1.9 million times. Bassler has gone on to more accolades, winning a 2012 L'Oreal/UNESCO Prize Laureate for Women in Science for North America, earning the 2014 EMD Millipore Alice C. Evans Award for contributions toward the full participation and advancement of women in microbiology, and also winning the 2015 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine. Through her fascinating studies of fluorescent marine bacteria, Dr. Bassler was able to discover an entirely new field of study, bacterial quorum sensing, that has enormously important implications for how bacteria interact in their environment and cause human disease, says Steven LHernault, chair of Emorys Department of Biology. It is a perfect example of how basic scientific inquiry can, in short order, have significant practical implications, he adds. Bassler will speak at 4 p.m. on April 18 in the Harland Cinema at Dobbs University Center, delivering a lecture titled Bacteria Quorum Sensing and Its Control. A reception will follow at 5 p.m. in the Coca-Cola Commons. The lecture is free and open to the public. She will also serve as the keynote speaker at the Biology Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 19, discussing "Tiny Conspiracies: Cell-to-Cell Communication in Bacteria." That event begins at 2 p.m. with a student poster reception, with the symposium starting at 4 p.m., both in the School of Medicine lobby and Room 120. For more information, call 404-727-4211. 22:59 A powerful earthquake has struck near the southern Japanese city of Kumamoto, a day after a tremor there killed at least nine people. The magnitude-7.1 quake at a depth of 10km (6 miles) hit at 01:25 on Saturday (9.55 IST on Friday). Another report says a second quake hit later. A tsunami warning has been issued, with waves of up to 1m (3ft) possible. Japan is regularly hit by earthquakes but stringent building codes mean that they rarely cause significant damage. Thursday's magnitude-6.2 quake caused shaking at some places as intense as the huge earthquake that hit the country in 2011, Japan's seismology office said. The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] Registration now open for Camp Little Giant by Christi Mathis CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Southern Illinois University Carbondales Camp Little Giant, the place where children and adults of varying abilities and disabilities enjoy a real summer camp experience, is now accepting registrations for the 2016 season. The therapeutic recreation camp, which opened in 1952 as one of the nations first such programs, gives campers the chance to enjoy swimming, music, boat rides, talent shows, arts and crafts, horseback riding, dances, campfires, nature hikes and activities and much more. Trained staff members adapt each activity to the needs and abilities of the campers. The co-educational camp is held at the 3,100-acre Touch of Nature Environmental Center, located along the shores of Little Grass Lake about eight miles south of Carbondale on Giant City Road. There are eight different camp sessions, geared toward differing ages and abilities and ranging from six to 13 days. The 2016 Camp Little Giant Schedule, along with the special population for which each session is designed, includes: June 12-17: Camp Olympia I, for adults 21 and older with high care needs, low mobility or using wheelchairs. June 12-24: Camp Olympia II, for adults 21 and older with high care needs, low mobility or using wheelchairs. June 19-July 1: Camp Traditions II, for adults ages 21 and older with physical, cognitive or developmental disabilities. June 26-July 1: Camp Traditions III, for adults ages 21 and older with physical, cognitive or developmental disabilities. July 10-15: Camp Shawnee I, for youths ages 8-21 with physical, cognitive or developmental disabilities. July 10-22: Camp Shawnee II, for youths ages 8-21 with physical, cognitive or developmental disabilities. July 17-22: Camp Shawnee III, for youths ages 8-21 with physical, cognitive or developmental disabilities. July 24-30: Dyna Camp, for youths ages 8-19 with attention deficit, hyperactive disorder. For those who need less intensive and individualized care and supervision, the cost is $550 for a six-day session or $1,200 for a 13-day session. The cost for each six-day camp session is $1,000 and a 13-day session is $1,200 if a camper requires one-on-one care and supervision. The price for the seven-day Dyna Camp is $650 for those needing less assistance or $1,200 for campers needing one-to-one care and supervision. Some campers may qualify for scholarship assistance. Scholarships and reservations are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Camp registration forms and additional information are online at www.ton.siu.edu or you can call 618/453-1121, ext. 231. You may email vickil@siu.edu with further inquiries or for information about day camp options. Amazon rainforest may be home to more animals than previously thought, Stanford scientists show By tapping the expertise of indigenous hunters, researchers found that conventional surveying techniques underestimate animal populations and miss species in the remote Amazon. Producing an accurate count is important for planning conservation efforts. Wikimedia Commons The lowland tapir is a culturally important animal in many Amazonian societies. The Amazon rainforest has long been known for being an exotic place in the world, full of lush vegetation and diverse wildlife perhaps even more than we previously thought. A new study led by Stanford scientists shows that tapping the expertise of indigenous hunters can provide more accurate animal counts than modern sampling techniques. Estimating the number of animals in an ecosystem has been a relatively straightforward effort: Simply count which animals you see as you walk through a measured-off zone in the forest. Recently, the practice has expanded to include motion-triggered cameras to record animals as they walk by, together painting a picture of how many animals live in an area. There are limitations to this approach, however, said Jose Fragoso, a biologist at Stanford and lead author on the new study. Animals often sense and avoid even the stealthiest human observers, and camera systems break down or are so expensive that a limited number can be deployed at a time. In the remote areas of the forest in southern Guyana, however, Fragoso has experienced success using a technique called the "sign method." This estimates animal populations through indirect evidence of animals, such as footprints, feces, hair, burrows and so forth. Animals cannot inhabit an area without leaving their mark, he said, and trained local people can easily detect these marks. For three years, the researchers applied both the sighting count and sign methods to more than 200 2.5-mile-long trails within the forest in southern Guyana. Data collectors indigenous hunters skilled in tracking and trained by the researchers in sampling methodologies walked more than 27,000 miles during this period. The results were surprisingly different. The six most important game animals in the region including species of deer and pig-like peccaries and tapirs were not encountered in up to 40 percent of the villages or control sites, or on 29 to 72 percent of the trails where they were detected by sign. The sign method found that tapirs, one of the most culturally important animals and which are sensitive to overhunting, were present at many sites where they were never spotted visually. "We were very surprised that so many animals, and in one case a whole species, were undetected using the visual sighting method," Fragoso said. "This discovery questions the validity of so many past studies that reported that rural people through overhunting were gravely reducing or extirpating species throughout tropical forests." Sign surveys might be the most efficient method for management-oriented studies conducted in large, remote areas, and particularly those focused on community-based wildlife management. Even though the researchers found that in areas of the Amazon animal populations are healthier than previously believed, this does not mean that overhunting is not a problem, Fragoso said. In this study, people hunted only for their personal food needs. But areas experiencing commercial hunting for instance, many regions in Africa and Asia have seen serious population declines and, in some cases, localized species extinction. For instance, elephants and rhinos might soon become extinct due to commercial hunting. Fragoso hopes to prevent similar declines in remote areas such as the Amazon, and good counts of animals are the key. "Having an accurate count of animals allows us to set appropriate hunting levels and this increases the likelihood of achieving sustainability in the system," Fragoso said. "This gives governments and institutions that govern human resource use more options for conserving land and protecting animal species." The study, titled "Line Transect Surveys Underdetect Terrestrial Mammals: Implications for the Sustainability of Subsistence Hunting," was published in the journal PLOS One. Co-authors included Taal Levi of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University; Luiz Oliveira of Museu Nacional in Brazil; Jeffrey Luzar of Stanford; Han Overman of the State University of New York, Syracuse; Jane Read of Syracuse University; and Kirsten Silvius of Virginia Tech. Media Contact Bjorn Carey, Stanford News Service: (650) 725-1944, bccarey@stanford.edu Jose Fragoso, Biology: fragoso@stanford.edu Stanford and Wikimedia researchers create a tool to boost article creation in local language Wikipedias Wikipedia exists in nearly 300 languages but many versions are small and incomplete. In one experiment, computer scientists tripled article creation by recommending missing entries to editors. Computer scientists at Stanford and the Wikimedia Foundation have created a tool that identifies the most important articles not yet available in a given language. Every day, people around the globe visit one of the roughly 300 language editions of Wikipedia, searching through millions of articles written by tens of thousands of volunteer editors who build and maintain this free encyclopedia. Most of the visitors look for articles written in English or one of the other widely spoken languages that account for the vast majority of Wikipedia's 36 million entries. But with more than half the world's population monolingual, gaps in knowledge exist from one local language version to another. To help editors in different linguistic communities identify important missing articles, computer scientists at Stanford and the Wikimedia Foundation have created a recommendation tool that identifies the most important articles not yet available in a given language. Editors can use these recommendations and, if they are multilingual, find an article in a second language familiar to them and get other help in order to translate the article for local Wikipedia readers. Thus, the system would first identify an editor in Madagascar who is interested in climatology and literate in Malagasy and French and then recommend the editor work on an article about El Nino, which is absent from the Malagasy Wikipedia. This way the editor can create an article for people on this island country explaining how El Nino may influence rainfall, which in turn affects agriculture and flooding. "As university researchers, we look for projects with real-world impact," said Jure Leskovec, an assistant professor of computer science at Stanford. "What could have more impact than democratizing access to knowledge?" Wikimedia Foundation research scientists Ellery Wulczyn and Leila Zia and Stanford graduate student Robert West rounded out the team of collaborators who will report on their efforts this week at the International World Wide Web Conference in Montreal. "Wikipedia has huge amounts of data about articles in different languages and the relationships between them," said West, a doctoral candidate in computer science. "Our goal was to use that data to design a system to encourage editors to create the most important missing articles." The researchers began by creating lists of every article in each language, and then cross-referencing these lists to determine which articles were missing in which languages. The researchers then estimated the importance of each missing article based on cultural and geographic relevance. The idea was to rank the value of creating any given article missing in that language relative to all the other missing articles. "We had to create a system of rankings that would be meaningful to editors in different cultural and linguistic communities because Wikipedia is shaped by the editors' choices," Zia said. The researchers hypothesized that a system that accurately predicted the popularity of missing articles would appeal to editors by suggesting where their voluntary efforts would deliver the most value to their linguistic communities and, presumably, afford them the greatest personal satisfaction. To test this premise, the researchers designed a complex experiment. They began with the 4.9 million articles that existed in English Wikipedia, and found those that were missing relative to the 1.6 million articles in French Wikipedia. The researchers then chose the 300,000 most important English articles missing from French Wikipedia. These articles were randomly divided into three groups of 100,000 articles each and distributed to selected editors. The crux of the experiment involved two groups of 6,000 editors who had done at least one edit in both English and French Wikipedias in the 12 months before the experiment. On June 25, 2015, each of these editors received emails pointing them to five unique missing articles and a suggestion that it would be a community service if they translated one from English into French. In one group, the five choices were assigned at random from the master list of important articles missing from French Wikipedia. For the second group, the five choices were also drawn from a separate list of important missing articles, but were also attuned to each editor's presumed interests based on articles each had edited in the past. A month after sending out their emails, the researchers assessed missing article creation. The researchers found that by simply pointing editors in the first group toward five random missing articles they could double the organic article creation rate. In the second group, where the scientists tailored the five suggestions to the editors' interests, they tripled the rate at which editors plugged article gaps. Based on these results, the Wikimedia Foundation has developed an experimental tool where editors can find gaps in their local language Wikipedia and get pointed to an entry in a second, familiar language that can serve as a starting point for translating that article or creating it from scratch. The research is described in detail at arxiv.org. Media Contact Tom Abate, Stanford Engineering: 650-736-2245, tabate@stanford.edu Juliet Barbara, Wikimedia Foundation: press@wikimedia.org Stanford leaders address Board of Trustees during its April retreat During its April meeting, trustees heard presentations from campus leaders on a variety of issues economics, arts programs, the Stanford Cyber Initiative, the biomedical revolution in precision health. They also toured the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The Stanford University Board of Trustees, which traditionally holds a retreat during its April meeting, stayed on campus this year for the annual event. L.A. Cicero Steven Denning, chair of the Board of Trustees In addition to touring the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory during its April 11-12 meeting, trustees heard presentations on economics, campus arts programs, the Stanford Cyber Initiative and the biomedical revolution in precision health. Marc Tessier-Lavigne, a neuroscientist pioneer who will become Stanford's 11th president in September, joined the meeting both days as an observer. Currently, Tessier-Lavigne is the president of The Rockefeller University, a premier biomedical research and graduate education institution in New York City. During the retreat, the board's Special Committee on Investment Responsibility held two early-morning meetings to continue discussions on a proposal from students for divestment from fossil fuel extraction companies. At its February meeting, the Special Committee on Investment Responsibility began evaluating a recommendation on the issue from the Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility and Licensing. Steven A. Denning, chair of the Board of Trustees, said trustees hope to have a response to the divestment request by the end of the academic year. One evening, trustees joined members of the Faculty Senate for a dinner, which was held in Paul Brest Hall at the Munger Conference Center. Denning said trustees and faculty members enjoyed getting to know each other in the casual setting. During its two-hour visit to SLAC, trustees heard a presentation from Chi-Chang Kao, director of the laboratory. They toured several facilities at SLAC, including the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), a unique X-ray laser that helps users from around the world pursue cutting-edge research in chemistry, materials science, biology and energy research. Denning said trustees learned firsthand about SLAC's plans to upgrade the X-ray laser under a project known as LCLS-II. Earlier this month, SLAC began construction on the project, which will add a second X-ray laser beam that is 10,000 times brighter, on average, than the first one and fires 8,000 times faster, up to a million pulses per second. It will greatly increase the power and capacity of SLAC's experiments that sharpen our view of how nature works on the atomic level and on ultrafast timescales. "It takes still pictures in a millionth of a billionth of a second," Denning said, adding that a SLAC scientist, in response to a question from a trustee during the tour as to whether it was a destructive test, said the X-ray laser is so fast it can take a still picture of the moment before a bullet destroys an apple. Trustees also learned more about SLAC's project to design a 3.2 billion-pixel digital camera, known as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which will capture the widest, fastest and deepest view of the night sky ever observed from atop a mountain in northern Chile. "It was a fantastic tour, and we got a real sense of what it means to Stanford as a university, and its applicability to medicine, chemistry, biology, physics and so forth," Denning said. Trustees also heard a presentation on arts education by Richard Saller, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, and Matthew Tiews, associate dean for the advancement of the arts. Among the topics they discussed were the renovation of the historic Roble Gym, which will provide new program spaces for theater and dance productions when it opens in the fall; the innovative stage setting and lighting for Rent, a 1996 rock musical about struggling artists in New York City, which is currently being performed in Memorial Auditorium by Stanford's Ram's Head Theatrical Society; and the new creative expression breadth requirement for undergraduates. "We've made tremendous progress expanding the scope and scale of what we offer programmatically to match what we have with facilities," Denning said, noting that the arts district's new facilities include Bing Concert Hall, the Anderson Collection at Stanford University and the McMurtry Building for the Department of Art and Art History. Still, Stanford can do more, Denning said. "We recognize that there is still a demand that hasn't been met with regard to studio space, practice space, what we might need for theater, dance and so forth," he said. Denning said the four economists who gave presentations to the board exemplified Stanford's strength in the field: Susan Athey, professor of economics at the Graduate School of Business; and Raj Chetty, Matthew Gentzkow and Alvin Roth, professors in the Department of Economics. Athey, Chetty and Gentzkow are also senior fellows at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Denning noted that one of the economists (Roth) is a Nobel laureate, and the other three (Athey, Chetty and Gentzkow) have received the John Bates Clark Medal, which is awarded to economists under age 40. Each of the four economists made a presentation about their respective specialties, and talked about how "big data" is changing the field of economics. The trustees also heard a panel discuss the importance of leading the biomedical revolution in precision health at Stanford. The panelists were Ann Arvin, vice provost and dean of research; Mariann Byerwalter, interim president and CEO of Stanford Health Care and chair of the Stanford Medicine Advisory Council; Persis Drell, dean of the School of Engineering; Lloyd Minor, dean of the School of Medicine; and Richard Saller, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences. In addition, the trustees heard a presentation on the Stanford Cyber Initiative by its co-directors, Dan Boneh, professor of electrical engineering and of computer science, and George Triantis, professor of law and associate dean for strategic planning at Stanford Law School. The Stanford Cyber Initiative, which was created in late 2014 with a $15 million grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, is a central hub on campus for research about the opportunities and challenges raised by cyber technologies in our economic, political and social systems. One of the issues researchers are studying is how the digital era of rapid technological change is affecting the nature of work and the workplace. "The police chief for highways linking Takhar to the neighbouring Kunduz province, Abdul Qahar Kharmabi was attacked and killed by unidentified armed men on a road in Farkhar district," a police spokesman told Xinhua news agency. Two of his bodyguards were also killed in the attack, the official added. --Indo-Asian News Service ksk/bg ( 86 Words) 2016-04-14-14:43:29 (IANS) India's leading handset manufacturer Micromax, which opened its new manufacturing facility here on Thursday, plans to invest Rs.2,000 crore for expansion over the next five-six years. Rajesh Agarwal, co-founder, Micromax, told reporters that the company will expand its operatios to two to three countries this year. Already present in SAARC countries and Russia, it is looking at CIS countries, Africa and Iran for expansion. Micromax targets 25 percent growth during 2016-17 to achieve revenues of Rs.15,000 crore. The revenue in 2015-16 was Rs.12,000 crore. Currently selling 2.5 million units per month, Micromax has 14 percent market share. The market size is 220 million units a year. "We expect our share to go up to 20 percent in 2016-17," Rajesh said. The market size is expected to grow at 10 percent. The international operations contribute 8 percent to the company's revenues. On the funding for expansion, Rajesh said they were looking at various options including IPO. The Hyderabad facility, inaugurated by Telangana's IT minister K.T. Rama Rao, will have the capacity to manufacture one million mobile phones per month. The unit, which opened at Fab City here, currently employs 700 people and will increase the number to 1,000 in next two months. Spread over 19 acres, this is the second manufacturing plant of Bhagati Products Ltd in India, the manufacturing arm of Micromax. The company made an initial investment of Rs.100 crore in the unit which also has provision for expansion to manufacture LED TV, LED lights and other electronic equipment in the future. The Hyderabad plant along with the facility in Uttarakhand will take the overall production to 1.2 million handsets per month. The company is manufacturing rest of the handsets in China. The third facility coming up in Rajasthan and expected to be operational in six months will have a capacity of one million units in first phase. Stating that the company plans to have its presence across the chain of consumer electronics, Rajesh said they will focus on backward integration and research and development. Announcing that the company plans to shift its R&D centre from Beijing to Hyderabad, he urged Telangana government to allot land for the same. --Indo-Asian News Service ms/mr ( 374 Words) 2016-04-14-14:19:31 (IANS) Emphasising on his government's commitment to revive and restore India's eminence in the global maritime sector, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday listed out a series of initiatives taken to enable the growth of the port and related sectors. Speaking at the inauguration of the Maritime India Summit 2016 here, the Prime Minister said that nation's vast coastline of 7500 kilometers offers a huge investment opportunity as India lies at a strategic location on all major shipping highways. "In addition, we have an expansive and productive hinterland, through which flows a network of mighty rivers. Our maritime agenda will complement this ambitious infrastructure plan for the hinterland which is going on in parallel," he said. Prime Minister Modi said that his government has carried out several reforms and taken a number of new initiatives to enable the growth of the ports and related sectors. "Under our 'Make in India' approach, we have taken many steps to make India a global manufacturing hub. Recently, MOODY's has appreciated the 'Make in India' initiative; we have done a lot of corrections on the front of ease of doing business, we have jumped up 12 ranks in World Bank's ranking; a lot of simplification has happened in the processes for cross border trade; we have greatly liberalized the licensing regimes; this also includes the defence sector and ship building therein," he said. "We have taken almost sixty percent of the defence items out of the licensing process. Most of the FDI sectors are now put on automatic approval route; shipyards are being given infrastructure status at par with the ports; a scheme of financial assistance to promote ship building has been approved," the Prime Minister further said. Listing out the details of major changes brought about by his government, he said that customs and central excise duties have been exempted on bunker fuel for Indian flagged container ships and tax issues of sea farers have been resolved. "A new company by the name of Indian Port Rail Corporation has been established to focus on the last mile connectivity to ports. We have enacted legislation for declaring one hundred and eleven waterways as National Waterways-1. We have taken up skill development activities aggressively," he added. The Prime Minister added that initiatives undertaken since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power were yielding positive results. He said the FDI inflows had gone up by 44 percent since this government took over, adding that the year 2015-16 witnessed highest ever FDI inflow into India. "India's highest ever quantity of cargo handled by major ports was in 2015 and the port efficiency parameters have shown very good improvement," he added. Prime Minister Modi also stressed on the importance of maritime transport. He, however, insisted that everyone should make sure that lifestyle, transport systems and trading behaviour do not spoil the ecology of the oceans. The objective of the three-day Maritime India Summit is to attract potential investors to the vast opportunities that the various components of the Maritime Sector have on offer. It will showcase projects covering sectors like port development and modernization, Greenfield ports, port led development under 'Sagarmala', shipbuilding, ship repair and ship breaking, inland water transportation, coastal shipping, lighthouse tourism and cruise shipping, hinterland connectivity and logistics handling facilities to the potential investors from across the world. (ANI) Cine and TV Artists Association (CINTAA) has decided to issue a Non-Cooperative directive against Shilpa Shinde, better known as 'Angoori bhabhi' of 'Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai' , for walking out of the show midway.Few days back, producer Binaefer Kohli had sent a legal notice to Shilpa for 'breach of contract'.CINTAA stepped in to settle the dispute ordering her to start the shooting of the show immediately.Shilpa was warned that if she does not follow the orders then strict actions would be taken against her.The CINTAA's decision implies that no producer can work with Shilpa until she tenders an apology and settles Kohli's dues which arise from the losses which the producer has incurred due to her unceremonious walkout."We tried to reason with actress on several occasions. Finally, we have decided to act on the issue after contemplating it over a month. Shilpa is setting a wrong precedent and we have no choice but to support the producer," Amit Behl, chairperson dispute committee CINTAA said in a statement. Kohli has slapped Shilpa with a case in Civil Court suing her for damages to the tune of Rs 5 crore.Says CINTAA's Behl, adding,''I gave Shilpa her first break in TV a serial called 'Amrapali'. Still, she has no respect for what I stand for. Imagine!.''Speaking on the issue, Kohli said, "We have only made an effort in trying to set an example of inculcating discipline in the TV industry. We have no personal agenda against Shilpa. I must compliment &TV who patiently bore the brunt but never gave up."Meanwhile, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees whom Shilpa wanted to handle her case, are yet to take a call.The actress, however, refuted the charges levelled against her."The problem started when the makers asked me to sign a contract that would bar me from doing other shows," the 28-year-old actress said.The controversy has led to Shilpa's exit from Kapil Sharma's upcoming show.Earlier, it was reported that Shilpa will be next seen in Kapil Sharma's upcoming show playing the role of a nurse, but to avoid controversy the makers of the show dropped her replacing Shilpa by model Rochelle Rao.UNI PY/AR PR VN1229 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0138-682705.Xml The Prime Minister reached at the airport here in a special aircraft. He was welcomed by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and several other distinguished citizens. Mr Modi will leave for Mhow in an Army helicopter. He would reach Dr Ambedkar's birthplace and pay floral tributes at his memorial. Later, he would launch the campaign and address a public meeting. He would return to Mhow and leave for Indore at 1600 hrs in the helicopter. He would leave for New Delhi from Indore in a special aircraft at 1630 hrs.UNI XC-PS PR PM1326 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-682748.Xml Hitting out at the BJP and Congress to organising functions on the 125th birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Dr B R Ambedkar "merely for their vested political interest", Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati today alleged that Congress was behind the person who has moved a case against her in the Supreme Court to insult a dalit. "The person Kamlesh Verma, who moved the petition against me even after a clean chit by the CBI, had contested the Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh on Congress ticket and in 2012 had contested as Congress candidate from Charkhari seat in UP. But now Congress is using this person against me for their political interest after they did everything to nail me during the UPA regime," she alleged. Yesterday, SC accepted the petition of Kamlesh on the DA case against Mayawati even after CBI counsel protested over it. Ms Mayawati addressing a function at the Dr B R Ambedkar Samajik and Parivartan Sthal on the occassion of the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar here lambasted both the BJP and Congress for shedding "crocodile tears" on the name of the dalit icon due to vote bank politics. She said Congress has always insulted Dr Ambedkar, first by opposing him in the elections and then promoting Babu Jagjivan Ram against him." They even did not spare BSP founder Kanshi Ram by terming him as an ISI agent besides implicating me in the DA case," she charged. She also questioned the Congress leadership for celebrating the birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar in Nagpur.More UNI MB ADG NS1300 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-682693.Xml An Assam Rifles jawan, who was injured in a blast last night near AR transit camp, died here today. Minuthong Imphal and two other AR jawans were injured in the blast. The jawan died after reaching hospital. Police said the bomb exploded near the wall of the Assam Rifles transit camp. Police was investigating about bomb planting just near the Assam Rifles camp, which is guarded day and night by the Assam Rifles personnel. The blast site is also close to the high security camp of the Manipur Police crack force the Manipur Police Commando.UNI NS PL PR NS1240 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-682698.Xml An Army Major and a militant have been killed in an encounter between cadres of the NSCN(K) and Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) at Tamenglong. Maj Amit Deswal was commissioned on June 10, 2006 into Regt of Artillery and was working in Manipur since January 2016.Sources today said along with other army personnel the major was trying to attack a camp of the militants in a dense forest area of Nungba. During the encounter he sustained bullet wounds in his stomach and succumbed to his injuries. A militant was also killed in the encounter. The mortal remains of the officer will be brought to Imphal airport later today where a formal salute will be given. UNI NS PL PR VN1308 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-682731.Xml Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also accompanied the Prime Minister to Dr. Ambedkar's memorial, where Modi garlanded his bust and sought his blessings with folded hands. Prime Minister Modi had, earlier in his tweets, said that the architect of the Indian Constitution was a ' Vishwa Manav', who devoted his life in service of the poor and the marginalised. A function was held in the lawns of the Parliament house complex today where political leaders and people from different walks of life paid floral tributes to the statue of Dr. Ambedkar. Meanwhile, the United Nations also celebrated Dr B. R. Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary 'Ambedkar Jayanti' at the UN headquarters in New York. On this day, the international organisation aims to focus on combating inequalities to achieve Sustainable Development Goals and vouch his vision to create a nation on the firm grounds of democracy and social justice and equality for all. (ANI) Congress today asked the Narendra Modi led NDA Government for notsigning memorandum of understanding(MoU) for logistical support agreement(LSA) with the USfor allowing US forces access to Indian military bases saying the previous UPA Government led by the party had been resisted this move for a decade since 2004. Addressing a media conference at the party headquarters here this afternoon, AICC SpokesmanAnand Sharma said India and US have reached an in principle understanding to sign the Logistic Exchange MoU..,..this is to provide logistic support to each others military their respective bases". "While US is India's strategic partner, we have strong reservations about this move..,..the LSA was earlier proposed in 2004 during the regime of the then UPA government..,..for over a decadeour nations have been in talks,But, India resisted", Mr Sharma said. "We did not agree because we see this as intrusive as it will be construed or misconstrued byIndia's other strategic partners as India being drawn into a military alliance", he added. "The LEMO is one of three foundational agreements..,..Others are CISMOA and BECA..,..We have strong concerns on these agreements..,..CISMOA would take into its embrace complete communication network of our Armed Forces", the Congress leader said. "This can jeopardise our operational preparedness and strategies", Mr Sharma said adding the Government saying that they want this on a case to case basis. But, an informal agreementalready exists on a case to case basis". "The question arises why there is a need of a formal agreement..,..the PM and the ruling BJPdon't have a national mandate to push India into a situation where we are seen in a closer anddeeper military alliance and become part of the larger operational design of the US in Asia", thespokesman of the principal opposition party at the Centre, said. "This would be detrimental to India's strategic and security interests and undermine the geo-strategic balance in South Asia..,.this will also require, despite Government's denial, support personnel in our bases..,..this will take us further towards a military alliance". "We have concerns that it will invite opposition from India's strategic partners, Russia and even China", Mr Sharma said adding India has, from days of Pt. Nehru, refused to join any military alliance..,..We have strategic partnership with various countries". "We have a philosophy that our strategic relationship with any country, cannot be at theexpense of our other partners". He said 'hence, we have asked the Government to not sign this agreement and that India'spast position of not being drawn into military blocs is respected".UNI SS -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0089-682969.Xml In a bid that could help over five lakh Indians who are working in the US on immigrant visas, India today urged the US authorities for early conclusion of a totalisation agreement. India is keen in early conclusion of a Totalization Agreement with the United States. As per Industry estimates, Indian professionals have contributed more than 25 billion dollars to the US Social Security during the last decade, without being able to retrieve their contributions, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on his maiden visit to US this year, he held a bilateral meeting with US Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman and affirmed that the sustained engagement and rapidly increasing trade and investment partnership between India and the US are key elements of the bilateral engagement. He also said India looks forward to strengthening and deepening this economic engagement. The Finance Minister also raised the issue of hike in the H-1B and L1 visa fee. India's concern over the hike in the H-1B and L1 visa fee which is discriminatory and in effect, largely targeted at Indian IT companies, it added. Mr Jaitley was accompanied by RBI's Governor Raghuram Rajan, Shaktikanta Das, Secretary Economic Affairs, Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser and other officials. UNI ASH AE 1512 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0388-682845.Xml The Prime Minister garlanded the statue of Dr Ambedkar and paid him floral tributes. Later, he explored the complete memorial and inspected all the items associated with Dr Ambedkar as well as his paintings. Officials responsible for the upkeep of memorial apprised the Premier about every aspect. He was accompanied by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Earlier, the Prime Minister reached at the airport in Indore in a special aircraft at 1300 hrs. He was welcomed by Mr Chouhan and other distinguished citizens. Mr Modi arrived here from Indore in an Army helicopter to launch 'Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday' campaign. He would address a public meeting at 1440 hrs. He would return to Mhow Helipad at 1600 hrs and leave for Indore in helicopter. He would leave for New Delhi from Indore in a special aircraft at 1630 hrs.UNI Team-PS AE AN1456 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-682843.Xml Speaking at the inauguration of the summit he said that MoUs include 35 concession agreements of Rs 5,900 crore, 20 work orders of Rs 8,250 crore and 86 MoUs involving an investment of over Rs 68,700 crore. India and South Korea also signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation and mutual assistance in the port sector, Mr Gadkari said. The three-day summit will have 13 technical sessions, 200 exhibitors and 52 participants from South Korea, which is the partner country for the event. It will also have a museum resembling a ship displaying the maritime history of the country, made by art director Nitin Desai. Over 4500 delegation from 41 countries are taking part in the event. UNI ST NV ADG VN1512 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-682817.Xml The Dimapur district administration yesterday foiled an attempt to construct a road in Rilan village within Nagaland side along the Assam-Nagaland border allegedly by a group of people from Assam. According to various sources, an alarm was raised today after Rilan villagers detected the attempted construction of an approach road to Rilan from National Highway (NH) 36. The construction had started from the Assam side of the inter-state border and into Rilan village territory after crossing the Lengri stream, which is traditionally regarded as the boundary between Rilan and Dillai in Assam. The start point of the road was adjacent to the Assam Police check post at Dillai and was being constructed with armed Assam Police personnel on guard.Sources said the group had reportedly gone inside Rilan village under Dimapur district and engaged an excavator in removing the earth, residents reportedly claimed. However, the construction of road leading to Rilan village was stopped after the intervention of Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Dimapur, the residents stated. The residents reportedly further claimed that despite their protest, the group engaged the excavator for construction of the road. In this regard, the villagers approached DC Dimapur, who then called up his Karbi Anglong counterpart, following which the work was stopped. UNI AS PL SW AS1534 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-682866.Xml The full bench of Election Commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi arrived here today to review the poll preparedness for West Bengal's second phase poll for 56 assembly seats spread over Birbhum district (11) and north Bengal districts (45seats). Mr Zaidi after having meeting with districts civil and police officials would be meeting leaders of different political parties including ruling AITC, CPI(M),BJP , Congress and other parties. The visit of EC full bench happened, two days after the city police commissioner Rajeev Kumar was removed for his alleged proximity with the ruling regime. The removal happened after the BJP chief Amit Shah's demand following abotched sting operation by two Kolkata police cops to defame the BJP candidate and former state chief Rahul Sinha.Mr Sinha had alleged that the ruling party chief Mamata Banerjee used the city police chief to sue the BJP leaders after Naradha New sting operation that exposed 13 AITC leaders were taking money. The opposition parties were now demanding removal of chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta after rampart violence marred the second part of the first phase poll that held on April 11.The opposition parties have been showing resentment with the state poll panel's performance in the first phase of the assembly elections stained with violence.UNI PC KK AE AS1630 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-683108.Xml Micromax Co-Founder Rajesh Agarwal today said that the company would invest Rs 2,000 crore for its expansion plans. Talking to newsmen on the sidelines of inauguration of Micromax (Bhagwati Products Limited) second plant for manufacturing mobile phones, tablests, at Fab City here, Mr Agarwal said the company total revenue is Rs 12,000 crore during 2015-16. It would be expected to reach Rs 15,000 crore during 2016-17 at a growth rate of 20 per cent. Of the total revenue, 90 per cent garnered from mobile segment and 10 per from LED TVs. He said the total Indian mobile market sized at 22 million and growing at a rate of 25 per cent. Micromax mobile market share is 14 per cent with sales of 2.5 million units per year. Eight per cent of revenue is receiving from exports, he said and added Micromax have footprints in Nepal, Srilanka, Bangladesh and Russia. Mr Agarwal said the company (Bhagwai Products Ltd) has its first plant in Uttrakhand for manufacturing mobile phones, tablets, LED TVs, Dongle, and their spares and accessories as OEM supply to Micromax Informatics Ltd. with the capacity to produce 16 lakh Mobile Phones, 1 Lakh LED TV, 1 Lakh Tablets, and 4 Lakh Dongles per month. The Hyderabad plant was the second unit of Bhagwati Products Limited and has the capacity of producing one million smart phones a month in the first phase. It also has a provision for expansion and a provision to manufacture LED TV and other electronic equipment in the future, he added.UNI VV CS 1752 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-683036.Xml A professor of the government polytechnic here who was absconding after the registration of a sexual harassment case against him was arrested in Yanam yesterday. According to police, two girls of the government polytechnic lodged complaints to the authorities of sexual harassment by Professor Karunakaran in December last. The girls later approached the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Chairperson Vidya Ramkumar, who conducted an enquiry and directed the Lawspet police to register a case against him. Following registering of case under different sections of POCSO Karunakaran absconded. Meanwhile, police got information that karunakaran is hiding in Yanam and a team was sent there and arrested him. He was brought back to Puducherry and produced in a local court. The Professor was sent to central prison here by the Court.UNI PAB CS 1735 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-683128.Xml Talking to reporters here, Samooganeethi MakkalKatchi (SMK) Founder S G Umar Mukhtar and Kamarajar Adithanar Kazhagam (KAK) President S Silambu Suresh said their parties have decided to extend support to the AIADMK in all the 234 constituencies and strive to make Ms Jayalalithaa the Chief Minister again. Mr Mukhtar said Ms Jayalalithaa during the lastfive years has taken various steps to protect the interest of the minorities. ''We hope that our demand to increase the reservationfor Muslims from 3.5 per cent to seven per cent, releaseall the Muslims lodged in jails for more than 14 yearsby granting general amnesty will be realised'', he added. ''Since Ms Jayalalithaa has also promised to introduceprohibition in the state in a phased manner, we have decided to extend support to AIADMK in the poll'', headded. Mr Silambu Suresh hailed the steps taken by the AIADMKregime, like construction of memorials for freedom fightersand protecting the interests of the small, marginal andretail traders by opposing FDI in retail sector and launching a new scheme of providing Rs 5,000 loans totraders hit by floods. ''With a view to ensure continuance of its good government, the KAK has decided to support the AIADMK in the poll'', he said.UNI GV CS 1801 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-683420.Xml Leading power company Hindustan Power today announced successful completion of the first phase 1,200 MW capacity addition of its flagship Anuppur thermal power project in Madhya Pradesh. "While commissioning the second 600 unit of the first phase, the company achieved the milestone of synchronization and coal firing in a single day. As a result, the project is now a 'Mega' project," the company said in a statement.The 1,200 MW capacity, added at a cost of Rs 8,000 crore, is directly feeding into the national grid, thus minimising its system losses and also reliability of power supply. The project is also located close to the fuel source.The company has already tied up 70 per cent electricity from the operational capacity by signing Power Purchase Agreements with Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.Coal for the project is secured through a Fuel Supply Agreement with South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. The total capacity of the flagship thermal plant is 2,520 MW to be developed in two phases. Commenting on the commissioning, Ratul Puri, Chairman, Hindustan Power, said: " In this scenario, commissioning of 1,200 MW thermal asset is a big boost to address the base load requirement in the country and the Government's vision to provide power to all by 2019. As the bulk of infrastructure needs of second phase has been secured, the same should be constructed within next four years at an investment of Rs 9,000 crore."Raghav Trivedi, President Thermal - Operations, Hindustan Power, said, "We acknowledge the passion with which both the central government and State government along with local bureaucracy supported the project towards its commissioning."UNI NM SW AE 1710 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0100-683405.Xml The ecosystems in Eastern Ghats are more fragile to degradation owing to fragmented distribution and heavy anthropogenic pressure. Unique species and nature's precincts of the hill ranges in the eastern ghats are under tremendous pressure and many scientists have cautioned about the degradation which warrants immediate attention and action plans to conserve the eco-geo-sphere of Eastern Ghats. Disclosing this at a news conference here Council for Green Revolution (CGR), a Hyderabad based environmental organsation CEO G Narayana Rao said a two-day national conference on Conservation of Eastern Ghats will be held here from April 16 to deliberate on the eco systems of the Eastern Ghats. It will also discuss the Biodiversity and conservation, Sustainable management of natural resources, Indigenous communities, Role of civil society, Legal, policy and designing a governance framework for Eastern Ghats. The conference will have 12 invited lectures in the technical sessions by eminent academicians, activists and policy experts. More than 100 research papers from premier national research institutions, top universities, senior forest administrators and social activists will be presented during the conference. Mr Rao said the conference is being organized as part of activities of Greens' Alliance for Conservation of Eastern Ghats (GrACE), an initiative launched by CGR to protect the Eastern Ghat hill ranges Odisha Governor S C Jamir is scheduled to inaugurate the National Conference being organised by CGR in collaboration with Zoology Department of Utkal University. He said GrACE was launched on World Environment Day, on June 5 2011, in Andhra Pradesh to create a platform for different institutions, civil society groups, individuals for the protection of the hills and its ecosystems. As a part of GrACEs' activities, four regional conventions were organised so far at Andhra University, Visakhapatnam; Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur; SRM University, Chennai; and Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupathim he said. Mr Rao said Eastern Ghats in Odisha occupy a centre stage in ecological, economic and socio-cultural development adding that deforestation, haphazard mining, construction of dams, rapid land use changes, forest fires, temple tourism, roads, power plants and transmission lines, biopiracy during the last seven decades has caused irreparable damage to the fragile ecosystems. But neither the central government nor the states' governments have initiated any comprehensive policy for the protection of these invaluable natural resources, which is crucial for sustainable development of the country. Mr Rao said the environmentalists would deliberate on themes like Eastern Ghats ecosystems, Biodiversity and conservation, Sustainable management of natural resources, Indigenous communities, Role of civil society, Legal, policy and designing a governance framework for Eastern Ghats during the two day conference.UNI BD DP KK PY AS1911 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-683400.Xml The BJP today claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar could not establish rule of law in the state till the time RJD was part of the government. Senior BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh told media persons here that the law and order situation in Bihar had reached an alarming state and the common people were at the mercy of criminals who were roaming around freely. He said the sister of an RJD MLA was killed in Ara after she resisted sexual assault. This incident exposed the government's 'incompetence' in maintaining law."Good governance and rule of law would remain distant dreams for the people of the state as RJD is pulling the strings of the Nitish Kumar government," he remarked. Mr Singh said the rise in crime graph in the state gave an impression that Jungle Raj had returned to the state. He said Dalits were being killed in the state at a time when the entire country was busy celebrating the birth anniversary of the architect of the Indian constitution Dr B R Ambedkar. Dalits of the state would never pardon the Nitish Kumar government for its failure in stopping the outlaws, who were striking at their will. The BJP leader alleged that criminals had unleashed a reign of terror across the state and demanded that the state government initiate effective steps for reining the outlaws.UNI DH AD SW AE 1954 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-683664.Xml Talking with reporters after being discharged from a private hospital this afternoon where was treated late last night after being beaten up by a mob of protestors in Mahalaxmi temple, she said yesterday's incident of attack on her in Goddess Mahalaxmi temple was an insult of thoughts of late Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj and Dr B R Ambedkar. Ms Desai demanded to register cases against activists of different Hindutavadi organisations who allegedly beat her and threw pouches of ink on her in the temple precinct within two days. Otherwise, she warned that she himself will register a First Information Report against these activists. She also demanded that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis order an inquiry into incident and take stern action against the culprits. Later, Ms Desai left for Pune by car after being discharged from the hospital.UNI SSS SS SW AE 1954 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-683654.Xml The Congress on Thursday voiced "strong reservations" over the government's move to sign a military logistics support agreement with the US, saying the Narendra Modi government does not have the mandate to push India into any military alliance. "Though America is India's strategic partner, we have our strong reservations and concerns against this agreement," Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma told reporters here. "The LSA (Logistics support agreement) was earlier proposed by the US in the year 2004, and for one decade the two countries have been in talks. But India had resisted it during the 10 years of UPA's rule. We did not agree to it because we see it as intrusive. It will show India being drawn into a military alliance," Sharma said, insisting that such a situation will not be favourable to India. He added that India has strategic relations with the US and also with Russia, China, Japan and Indonesia and it had maintained balance among its various strategic partners but had never been part of a power bloc. Sharma also said the Modi government has not got the mandate to push India into any military alliance which could prove detrimental to its interest in the long term. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government do not have a national mandate to push India into a situation where it sinks in a closer, deeper military alliance and becomes part of a larger operational design and requirement of the US in Asia and Pacific and South China Sea," Sharma said. "It will be detrimental to India's strategic and security interests. It will also undermine the critical geo-strategic balance and also the balance of forces in India's immediate and extended neighbourhood in the region," Sharma added. US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at a joint press conference here had announced that the two countries have 'in principle' agreed to conclude a logistics support. India and the US will ink two more agreements, apart from the LSA, including a Communication and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for assistance in geospatial intelligence. The Congress has described all three agreements as a grave threat to India's strategic communication system. "These three foundational agreements that have been kept on hold. The second one -- CISMOA -- would take into its embrace the communication network of Indian Armed forces, the radars and signals, including that of the air force and the Indian Navy, which can jeopardise our operational preparedness and strategies," Sharma said. "The government has said they want to have this LSA on a case to case basis. But for specific such cases, the arrangements already exist with Russia, US and other strategic partners. Therefore, there is no need of such an agreement," he said. On Wednesday, Congress leader and former defence minister A.K. Antony criticised the government's decision to ink the logistics agreement, saying it would affect the independence of India's foreign policy and strategic autonomy. Antony said the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by then Congress had resisted the agreement for 10 years, and that it would be disastrous for India. "It is a disastrous decision. The government should retract it," he said. --Indo-Asian News Service vin/rn/vt ( 556 Words) 2016-04-14-20:11:29 (IANS) Shukla and five of his gun-wielding security men were scalded in the attack, barely 100 metres from the Kotwali police station. C.P. Dubey, the Kotwali police station chief, has been transferred to police lines for deriliction of duty. A jeweller has been named in a first information report and police said that prima facie, a property dispute seems to be the reason behind the acid attack. The attackers also pelted stones and damaged the car of the former minister. Senior Superintendent of Police Manoj Tiwari said the security gunman who played a crucial role in saving the minister will be awarded Rs.5,000. --Indo-Asian News Service md/pm/vt ( 138 Words) 2016-04-14-20:15:56 (IANS) Union Minister in Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh today launched the 'Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday' Abhiyan from Udhampur district in Jammu and Kashmir.Dr Singh, who was the chief guest at the District Conclave, organised on 125th birth anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, reiterated the commitment of the Central Government for strengthening Rural Economy through a series of Centrally Sponsored Schemes and flagship programmes. He informed that 58 works worth Rs 1.88 crore were sanctioned for District Udhampur under MPLADS and process has been set into motion for establishment of a Radio Station here. He added that six new community halls have been provided in Ghordi, Krimchi-Mansar, Dhemma, Chenani, Battal-Ballian and Mand and appreciated the administration and 'Project Rahat' team for construction of a record 114 bridges, providing the much required vital infrastructure and employment to thousands of local youth. He also announced that in addition to Rs 40 Lakh provided to DDC for gap funding of bridges under Project Rahat, more funds will be provided under MPLADS.UNI VBH PY SHS 2101 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-683842.Xml Senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik today questioned the ongoing CBI investigation into the multi-crore chit fund scam in Odisha and the involvement of Food Supply and Consumer Affairs Minister Sanjaya Das Burma. In a statement here, Mr Patnaik said the name of Mr Das Burma figured in CBI interrogation of Pradeep Sethi, prime accused in the Artha Tatwa chit fund case, a year and half back but remained unknown. He said, "What is now known is a single sentence in the interrogation report implicating the Minister," He asked, "How can an interrogation of an accused on any issue be completed in just one sentence?" The former PCC chief said the IO is duty bound to ask the next set of logical questions as to "who is the person, what is his address, why was the Car gifted, when was the car gifted and what was the modus operandi." He said there is no dispute to the fact that the Minister has taken a loan from Vijaya Bank and the repayment has been done from his account in UCO Bank. He asked, "...what is the source of the money deposited in Uco Bank. Since the Minister was a public servant, did he inform the Speaker about availing loan and buying of vehicle?"He further questioned, "Why did he dispose of the car abruptly? What were the disclosures made to the bank while availing loan? How did he and his family amass so much of wealth in so less a time?" Mr Patnaik said the chit fund companies invented new ways of cheating people and those in power found new ways of indulging in corruption to share the booty.The loan, the Congress leader alleged, was taken by Mr Das Burma and the repayment was done by chit fund accused Sethi. "This is a unique and sophisticated way of indulging in corruption. CBI knows it all, but has been asked not to probe further," he claimed.Mr Patnaik alleged that a few state BJP leaders may want CBI to act but the CBI central leadership will do nothing further. "CBI will do nothing because of the protection that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik enjoys from Amit Shah and others, may be even Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he remarked.UNI DP AD SHS SB2026 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-683776.Xml All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) Rajya Sabha leader and party's national spokesperson Derek O'Brien today said the show cause was served to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as she had promised to make Asansol into a new district which was against the Election Commission's model code of conduct."We learnt through the press conference that the EC has show caused Ms Banerjee for her comments made at a rally in Asansol. The apparent reason for the show cause is that she had promised to make Asansol into a new district which was against the EC model code of conduct," Mr O'Brien said in a statement. "Before issuing a show cause notice to no less a person than the Chief Minister, we only wish some very basic due diligence was done," he said. The AITC national spokesperson said the decision to make Asansol, Kalimpong, Basirhat, Sunderbans and Jhargram into different districts was taken up in the West Bengal Cabinet in December 2015, four months ago. "It was also discussed in the Assembly. This information is in the public domain and is common knowledge," he added. The people who registered the complaint do not have their facts right. "They have little or no knowledge of Bengal. They speak without knowing. We are not surprised," he said. "The political bias is obvious. A lot of this is cooked up by the Delhi babus. Now that they have given wrong facts, should not the EC ask them to clarify or apologize?" Mr O'Brien asked.UNI BM AD SHS SB2055 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-683852.Xml West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee today accused the opposition of maligning her and her party's image instead of fighting her politically.Addressing an election rally here at Birbhum district, Ms Banerjee said, "We will take account of every single slander that some of the opposition is spreading about Bengal. It is my democratic right."She said the opposition is only complaining and have no real issues.Ms Banerjee said, "I do not need to abuse anyone. It is the expertise of the opposition. I believe in the soil and people of Bengal for justice.""There is a political vendetta against us...Bengal will rise against the oppression of Delhi," she said.The Trinamool supremo said some politicians come from Delhi only during elections. "They neither understand Bengal nor do they accept any responsibility for what happens," she asserted."BJP just talks big, but when it comes to work they have nothing to show. They are shameless liars," Ms Banerjee said.She said there were 46 instances of mass murder under the CPI(M) rule. "There has been no such instance in the last four and half years.""I do not need a certificate from the opposition, it is the people who vote, and it is the people who are the final judge," Ms Banerjee said."The opposition cannot scare me through the threats and letters. For 34 years people of Bengal were not allowed to vote, the farmers were not allowed to till their fields," she said.The Trinamool supremo alleged, "Opposition says there is no law and order in Birbhum. This is the place of culture and education.""There has been a wave of development in Birbhum. Those who say against it are lying and have no credibility. They are dumb, blind and deaf if they say there was no development in Birbhum, and they cannot understand what the common people say. What Trinamool Congress has done in Birbhum cannot be done CPI(M), Congress and BJP in their lifetime," she said."There are some who spread slander about Birbhum. Their mouths will be sealed through your votes in the democratic exercise," the Trinamool supremo commented.There have been all round development in this district, what had the comrades done for Bengal in 34 years, she questioned."Over 1.05 crore minority students have received minority scholarships. This is the highest in the country," Ms Banerjee added.UNI BM AD SHS PR2151 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0137-683920.Xml Jammu and Kashmir State Bharatiya Janata Party today demanded withdrawal of FIRs registered against non local students in NIT incident. "Registering FIR against non local students was decision taken in haste and to gag voice of nationalism in valley which should not have been done," Sunil Sethi, BJP's Chief spokesperson said in a statement issued here.He said students were raising slogans for the country which is not crime rather it should have been encouraged and protected by institution, police and local administration, adding, ''the act of unprovoked brutal lathi-charge without justification on hapless students which was act of provocation and harassment to the students and which started chain of events against the interest of state.'' The things can still be controlled by withdrawing FIR against non Local students and providing them adequate safety and security, added Mr Sethi. The BJP leader further said the incident in Handwara is proving only what was being repeatedly told by party about concerted efforts and designs to bring disrepute to armed forces by levelling false allegations against them. He however, advocated strict action against perpetrators of this dastardly crime and dealing with them immediately under law to instill confidence in peace loving majority of valley. UNI VBH PY SHS 2116 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-683895.Xml The police today rounded up Congress activists for showing black flag to Food Supply and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Das Burma at the inaugural function of the "Ahar" yojna at the municipality bus stand here.The Congress activists suddenly came and started shouting slogans against Mr Das Burma demanding his resignation for his involvement in AT chit fund scam and on receiving Pajero SUV from the group.Heavy police bandobast was made keeping in view earlier egg hurlings by the Congress activists at the minister. Before the function, police snooped the entire area and had arrested some Congress leaders on preventive detention. Police rounded up the agitating Congress activists and whisked them away.On the Congress demanding his resignation, the minister said CBI is investigating into the matter and denied his involvement in the scam as alleged by the Congress."I have no involvement and after investigation everything would be clear, Mr Burma said, adding that "Congress should wait for the outcome of the investigation and if anything found against me I shall take 'sanyas' from politics."The Minister claimed some unscrupulous elements were trying to defame him . Earlier, they had also unsuccessfully tried to get him entangled in Madhavilata suicide case. He said there are forces trying to derail the development drive taken up by the Naveen Patnaik government.UNI XC DP AD SHS SB2114 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-683877.Xml The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) today staged a protest rally against undemocratic and vindictive actions of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led NDA government in the centre against Congress ruled states.Addressing the protestors outside the Congress Bhavan in Kohima, NPCC President K Therie said the protest was staged against the ideology of BJP rule in the country, where minorities are cornered and pulled down to the knees of BJP ideology. Terming the BJP government absolute, Mr Therie alleged that the BJP were trying to topple the Congress ruled states, which he said is against the constitution. He said that the nation is no more secure under the constitution of India because of force and power. While expressing displeasure over the absolute actions of BJP, Mr Therie said he does not see any difference between the NPF and BJP. He alleged that the NPF are playing the same game of BJP, which is against their own faith. Lamenting on the collective moral failure in the activity of BJP, Mr Therie appealed the people to vote for a party which can give a democratic government and restore the constitution and moral of the nation.Addressing the protest rally, ex-MLA Taka Masa Ao alleged that the BJP has destroyed the cooperative federalism against the spirit of the constitution and against the Congress ruled states. The protest rally was attended by all District PCC member representatives. UNI AS AD SHS BD2115 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-683878.Xml The Department of Rural Development and the Department of Social Security and Welfare jointly organised the state level celebration of Dr B R Ambedkar's 125th birth Anniversary at the Rural Development Directorate conference hall here this afternoon. Addressing the function, Nagaland Minister for Social Security and Welfare Kiyanilie said the life of Ambedkar is an inspiration to those growing up in a challenging environment, and his contribution towards social and economic empowerment of the downtrodden is praiseworthy. His contribution in drafting the constitutions and his vision for women empowerment paved the way for advancement of our nations, he added. Kiyanilie appealed to all the sections of the people to maintain social harmony and equity which was the dream of Dr Ambedkar.Nagaland Minister for Rural Development C L John mentioned that the contribution of Dr Ambedkar and others have led to the acceptance of welfare state in our constitution and in consonance to the Directive Principles of state, the Parliament had passed the landmark legislation in the form of MGNREGA Act in 2006, providing employment and development in the rural India. He also appraised the gathering about the existence of VDBs in Nagaland in place of Panchayati Raj and expressed hope that the state would not be denied its due share of development under Panchayati Raj Ministry. Marking the occasion series of programmes are being held across the State in all villages and will culminate on Panchayati Raj Day which falls on April 24, he informed.Nagaland Chief Secretary Pankaj Kumar, who chaired the programme, administered the oath to the officials gathered. During the function, the photograph of Dr Ambedkar was garlanded by the Ministers and the Chief Secretary. UNI AS AD SHS SB2122 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-683893.Xml Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh today said Rampur and Billawar areas of Kathua district will have grid station worth Rs 78 crore. ''To create a 2X 50 MVA , 220/33 KV grid station at Rampur , Billawar estimated to cost Rs 78 crore which will benefit Billawar and Ramkot tehsils by giving uninterrupted and quality power supply,'' Dr Singh said while speaking at a function organised to commemorate the 125th Birth Anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar. He said the grid station shall also meet the demand of 33/11 KV substation. The Deputy CM also said Dr B R Ambedkar struggled all his life for the upliftment of down trodden people without any bias and prejudice. He said such a tall personality does not belong to any particular community rather leaders like Dr Ambedkar belong to the entire nation and he shall always remain in the heart of every citizen of India.Dr Singh said 21st century belongs to the Asian subcontinent which necessitates that every citizen has to deliver his responsibilities and duties towards the nation with zeal and full commitment. The Deputy Chief Minister also announced construction of a community shed near Guru Ravi Dass Temple at Gurha Kalyal at an estimated cost of Rs 1.5 Lakh.UNI VBH PY SHS 2218 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-683934.Xml President Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to be on a two-day visit to Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. Tomorrow, the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces would attend a convocation of the Wellington-based Defence Services Staff College, an official statement said today. On Saturday, the First Citizen would inaugurate the Fourth Retreat of Supreme Court judges at the National Judicial Academy here prior to returning to the national capital. UNI AC SHS SB2226 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-683933.Xml Pakistan is using its 'all-weather' friend China to oppose India's entry into the prestigious Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) even though New Delhi enjoys the full backing of the United States.Pakistan's former permanent representative at the United Nations in Geneva and envoy at the Conference on Disarmament, Zamir Akram yesterday said, "Chances of India gaining entry into NSG are virtually nil".Ambassador Zamir Akram was speaking at a conference on the International Nuclear Order, organised by the Strategic Vision Institute and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.This is the second time in a month that a senior official involved in the country's nuclear affairs has dismissed India's chances. At a conference late last month, advisor to the National Command Authority, Lt Gen (Retd) Khalid Kidwai, had said: "We also have friends in NSG who would not let it happen."Mr Akram opined that China would not allow India to enter the coveted group because this would affect its nuclear cooperation with Pakistan. He said China was committed to ensuring that both India and Pakistan gain membership at the same time.Other than China, he said there were some countries that were upset by the "double standards" being shown in India's case, and were calling for an approach based on criteria.Discussing the global nuclear order, Mr Akram said it had been destabilised by a number of factors, including the world powers' double standards and discriminatory exemptions granted to India.For a balanced nuclear order, Mr Akram suggested the resolution of political disputes, a reduction in the reliance on nuclear weapons for deterrence, dialogue between nuclear weapon states on disarmament or controlling or containing nuclear arsenals, ending 'discriminatory' policies followed by the US and other Western countries, and commitment to not building any more destabilising weapons.Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Gen Ehsanul Haq, while inaugurating the conference, said Pakistan's nuclear programme would continue "no matter how adverse the environment, to provide us the credible deterrence against the existential threats we confront". UNI XC AT PR -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0098-682751.Xml Israeli troops sparked a fire that gutted about 10 Palestinian shops on Thursday after they tried to blow open safes in a raid on a money-changing office suspected of handling funds for militants. The fire brigade in El Bireh, in the occupied West Bank, said no one was hurt in the blaze that spread through a three-storey commercial building in the town before opening hours. An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers out to confiscate documents from "a money-changer who deals with terror funds" attempted to open safes using a controlled explosion and a fire erupted. She said the military had begun an investigation of the incident. El Bireh is a part of the West Bank that is under the security and administrative control of the Palestinian self-rule authority. Citing security concerns, Israel frequently carries out raids against suspected militant activity in such territory.REUTERS SW RAI1451 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0101-682880.Xml With India raising the issue of Kirpal Singh's death, Pakistan has said that the Indian prisoner died of heart attack while asserting that it was not appropriate to see everything through the prism of suspicion and conspiracy. "The Indian prisoner Kirpal Singh died on 11th April, 2016, due to heart attack. It is not appropriate to see everything through the prism of suspicion and conspiracy. He was kept in intensive care at the hospital but he could not survive," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said. He said that Islamabad was in touch with the Indian High Commission with regard to handing over Singh's body. "We have communicated this information to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. We are in contact with the Ministry of Interior and the Indian High Commission with regard to transportation of dead body back to India," he added. Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday met the family members of Kirpal Singh, the Indian prisoner who died in a Lahore jail on April 11, in New Delhi and promised a full inquiry into the matter. India's Acting High Commissioner in Islamabad, J.P. Singh, met the Director-General for South Asia in the Pakistani Ministry for Foreign Affairs to request that Singh's body be flown to India at the earliest. "Our Acting High Commissioner met DG South Asia in the Min of Foreign Affairs & asked for earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains," tweeted Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup earlier. "According to Govt of Pakistan, Shri Kirpal Singh died on April 11 at 1455hrs due to heart attack. We await further details," he added. Kirpal Singh's kin had on Tuesday staged a protest at the Attari border and raised anti-Pakistan slogans near the Integrated Check Post (ICP). (ANI) Duke: Stop the gas increase Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced several financial mechanisms in his mid-year budget review on April 8, designed to, increase revenue and curb expenditure. Among the measures were an increase in gas and diesel, tax to online buying and an increase in the price of alcohol and cigarettes. Duke said this was Governments way of saying to the poor man, know thy place. Life, he added, was becoming harder for the poorer class. The Government, he said, saved $7.75 billion in the last six months, by denying public officers back pay. Duke said the association would not take it lightly. He added that Government cannot disrespect the trade unions tripartite agreement. He said the unions did not agree to the paying of back pay in parts. Duke said the financial measures taken were unfairly skewed to the countrys working class. All of the money going to the West. Whenever they see the trade unions they turn up their nose, he said. The Government, he replied, when asked what should have been implemented, should have a system where corporate TT is taxed heavily. The current system was done to favour the rich, Duke claimed. Senator: Govt has few options The depth of the problem facing the Government is huge, Small said during Senate debate of finance provisions. The options available to the Government are limited. The Independent senator said the public is cynical about all of the economic reforms. There is a level of cynicism in the public, Small said. A lot of people in this country live from month to month. If their salary is one day late, their whole life is in pieces. He called for the full removal of the fuel subsidy but at the same time said people should pay the market prices for fuel. I support the move to reduce the subsidy or eliminate it altogether, the senator said. Put in place a system where people pay the market prices. He called for a tax holiday on solar energy products, the bestowing of greater powers on the National Gas Company in relation to Atlantic LNG, and for justice in relation to Clico, Hindu Credit Union, and the First Citizens Bank IPO. Small warned that the diminished role of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in international affairs will only make the market, more unpredictable, even more controllable. He called on all to focus on the issues facing the nation amid these difficult waters. Proceeding with care It appears that there are serious concerns whether the changes in the international price of petroleum is V-shaped in the context of quicker return to upward movement, or U-shaped where low prices are protracted. The question that arises here is whether the Minister will be able to attract companies to engage in exploration at this time to ensure that we can stem the decline in production of crude oil and gas. Then there is the enormity of the task to develop a plan to diversify the economy, which has to be a medium to long term effort, with no hope of a turnaround in under two years. We are already being warned about the prospects of this by the Minister, and the consequences that will accrue if the price of oil does not rebound or slides further. There is also the effort to juggle stabilising the economy after four quarters of negative growth and to institute measures to get back to a growth path. But with that comes the warning that some stabilization measures can undermine growth. Care has to be taken accordingly in instituting a judicial mix to ensure this does not happen. Turning to the removal of the subsidy on fuel, a concern that remains is that since the subsidy is made up of costs borne by both oil companies and government, why not reduce the governments contribution and increase the cap of the oil companies since they are not paying any taxes? In this way when the international price of oil increases, a phased reduction could reduce the burden on the government account. We must not be seen to be seeking to justify cutting costs merely to balance the books. One measure that speaks to this perception is the issue about the possible removal of Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) programme. This was a mechanism to achieve a knowledge economy, but are we anywhere close to fulfilling that objective. What measures are being put in place to mitigate the impact on the poor or simply less well-off families? How do we guarantee a future flow of skills five years from now? What is going to be the impact on educational institutions around the country? What is going to be the impact on the quality of the labour force in ten years time? In considering, all of these are issues that must be looked at closely, and must engage the attention of that special committee announced by the Minister to deal with GATE. The country must be deeply concerned also about burgeoning debt wrought by transactions that were, in effect, never communicated to the population. The case of a loan to TTEC is a good example. Were we ever informed of the short repayment period for such a large loan? Why isnt the former Board of TTEC held responsible for this? It would appear that a number of actions by the previous government have contributed to the difficulties we now face. The lack of investment and savings, imprudent decisions, massive overdraft at the Central Bank and rapid increase in expenditure between 2010 and 2015, especially of transfers and subsidies, have not helped us. One has to ask, what was the real agenda behind the huge overdraft at the Central Bank? Was it only to facilitate a significant jump in expenditure? The government also needs to do a better job at communicating the rationale for the charge on internet purchases. As it stands, there are increases in taxes, items covered by VAT, price of gas at the pump, anticipated increased cost of education, travel, groceries and other consumer items, rendering the tax on internet purchase as just an irritation. Economist: TT in commodity cycle not recession Farrell said the distinction is important because the definition used by economists is one that has to do with the business cycle and refers to a short period typically of six to 18 months or even 24 months in some cases. And it really has to do with demand conditions in an economy. He said, Our thing is very different. Our thing has to do with the commodity cycle of the thing that we happen to produce, which is oil and gas. Those cycles are long cycles so that you might have a period where commodity prices have been rising for ten years as has happened in the case of oil and gas, for ten years and then it falls. In addition to that, in our particular circumstances in respect of oil and gas, what we have in the oil and gas market is a structural break, not just the cycle. So on top of the cycle, you have a structural break that is due to the strategy of Saudi Arabia in particular. He said the Saudi strategy was spelt out by that countrys Oil Minister in the OPEC meeting in November 2014. Recalling that oil prices peaked in June 2014 and began to decline, Farrell said the Saudi strategy was that there was expensive oil and gas in the ground and cheap oil and gas in the ground and the cheap oil and gas must be produced first. He said the Saudis have brought down the price of oil and gas because they wanted to get the Shale oil and gas producers out of the market and their strategy is that they are going to keep oil and gas prices as low as they need to get that production out. He said Saudi Arabia was also aware that the Paris Climate Change Talks would be in progress in 2015 and that countries were getting on board with commitments to reduce emission of greenhouse gases. He said the talks have set conditions that show the use of hydrocarbons as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product worldwide is supposed to peak in 2025 and begin to fall. So the Saudis understood that and the Saudis simply said, You see between now and whenever this thing stops, our oil and gas will come out of the ground and get monetised before the oil finish. Thats the structural break that we are talking about. He said this means If the country thinks that it is in a recession which is something that will end in 18 months, you are on the wrong track. If you think that you can stimulate the economy, which is what you do in a recession the government would increase government spending and so on to stimulate the economy and get demand going. In our economy, that is doubly dangerous because in our economy when you stimulate expenditure, because of the high foreign exchange content of expenditure, you are in fact going to be increasing your use of foreign exchange. So you have two things, if you stimulate in a situation where your foreign exchange inflows are falling, your foreign exchange reserves are going to disappear very quickly, so you cant stimulate the economy in that fashion by fiscal or monetary policy. You cant do it. He said what is required is to adjust the economy to a lower level of income, pointing out that the countrys income has already fallen and cannot be described as falling. Our incomes have already declined because our terms of trade have declined drastically. Once your terms of trade have declined it means that the countrys income has fallen. Every barrel of oil that we produce is now worth less. Every standard cubic foot of gas that we produce is now worth less and what does that mean: the countrys income has already fallen so what we have to do now is to adjust our expenditure to suit that. All I am saying is the terminology that we are using can lead us down the road into a false sense that well, this thing can finish quick or that it is not a big problem or that it is just a recession. That is the wrong approach and that is why I am saying that the language is important. Farrell, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank, who is chairman of the Economic Development Advisory Board appointed by Cabinet last October, and reports directly to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, said he would endorse some of the policies outlined by Finance Minister Colm Imbert in his budget review last Friday. I would say again, it is a question of pace and timing. He said while he thought Imbert was going in the right direction, the question was whether he was going far and fast enough. I quite frankly dont think that he is. If I was in that position and I was able to persuade the government, I would have been going faster and further and quicker. He said he would cut more sharply because If you cut a lot and in fact something happens and the price of oil goes back up and the price of gas goes back up, then you could always restore it, but if you dont cut and you use up all your savings trying to achieve a soft landing and then you find yourself with no foreign exchange, as we did in 1986, so you reach zero, then what is your position? And what would be your position if there is another shock of a different kind in that period of time, what is your position? He said a lot of the population still hasnt come to terms with the situation because it hasnt affected them on the individual level. He said people will have to feel it in their pockets for them to understand what has happened and make the necessary adjustments. For this reason he said his position on the fuel subsidy is simply to remove it. Now is a good time to remove it because if you remove it now it doesnt affect anything at the pump except diesel. He added that when oil prices begin to go back up and then it will not be going back up to US$100 a barrel, it wont happen but when they go back up then prices at the pump will begin to go back up and people will adjust. We dont give people enough credit, people will adjust. Farrell said the important thing as a society is to identify those households which are most vulnerable and need help. BLINK Vigilance helps tackle bullying and violence in schools Core Foundation President, Angelo Scope, explained, Today, school violence ranges from well-planned gang activity to bullying and intimidation to theft and verbal abuse. It incorporates the fights, language unbecoming of our young people and the use of dangerous weapons. It is perpetrated against teachers, students, administrators, and even security personnel. The Core Foundation felt it was its social responsibility to aid in the national discussion on safety and security in schools. Referring to BLINK Vigilances participation in the conference, Francola John, a Core Foundation Director thanked BLINK Vigilance for coming on board and supporting them from early in their preparations, thus ensuring that the event was a success. She said, We recognised that technology plays an important role in addressing the solutions for the safety and security of schools. As the leading telecommunications provider that is the only national provider, we felt that they were the only telecomms organization we wanted to partner with since this was a national issue. Darryl Duke, TSTTs Senior Manager for Government, Security and Directory Business reminded the audience that TSTT, as the national leader in CCTV deployments, is adequately poised to support the Ministries of Education and National Security in their efforts to reduce school violence. He said, TSTT has over 80 percent of all primary and secondary schools connected with broadband solutions and 1,600 pervasive CCTV cameras utilised by the national security network across Trinidad and Tobago. Duke continued, It is an international fact that CCTV in schools reduces school violence by at least 25 percent. Duke shared that TSTT currently has BLINK Vigilance security solutions of alarm monitoring and/ or CCTV in ten schools, including four high risk schools identified by the Ministry of Education. The objective is to reduce the theft and damage of property at these ten schools. Duke added, The BLINK Vigilance deployments work because we have not been getting reports of continued theft or vandalism of these schools. In wrapping up his presentation, Duke reminded the conference attendees that safety and security solutions should not make schools resemble a prison with barbed wire, big security gates and armed guards. He said, The electronic security solutions we provide, of CCTV cameras supported by alarm monitoring, access control equipment, storage and video analytics, 24/7 stateof- the-art alarm monitoring room and rapid response personnel, are less intrusive and intimidating methods that provide effective protection and response solutions in schools. Other speakers at the conference included international feature speaker, Michael Dorn, an FBI National Academy graduate and antiterrorism expert; Harrilal Seecharan, Chief Education Officer, Ministry of Education; criminologist Renee Cummings; Anthony Watkins, Principal Consultant, Odyssey Consult Inc; Perthrina Pegus, Program Manager/Social Service Supervisor, Catholic Charities of Brooklyn; and Gerard Best, Global Communications and Technology Director of Congress WBN. The whole day conference was well attended and had representation from the five critical Ministries involved - Education, National Security, Health, Community Development, Culture and Arts and Social Development and Family Services, as well as the Office of the Prime Minister and various national organisations. These included school principals, teachers, parents, school guidance counselors, school safety officers, school Missing man found dead in car He appeared to have a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Police officers have not yet ascertained a motive for Hernandez murder, as the toll rose to 137. Attorney: Prosecution should withdraw case He told the jury his client was a 35 year-old man who spent the last six and a half years incarcerated under circumstances that will shock them. According to Sankersingh, Garcia fully cooperated with the police back in 2007, and was liberal and frank with them. He further pointed out that it was Garcia who directed the police to the whereabouts of the pool table on which it was alleged Naipaul-Coolman was shot and also admitted he played pool at the red brick house at La Puerta in Diego Martin, where the businesswoman was allegedly held and her body chopped up in pieces. You think anybody who was involved in that (the alleged murder) would offer that info? he said. Sankersingh, who found himself in a bit of trouble with the prosecution and the judge over his references to legal matters, also submitted to the jury that Garcia was arrested in July 2009, almost two years after he gave his statement and after the preliminary inquiry into Naipaul-Coolmans murder was completed in the magistrates court resulting in his client being put at a disadvantage of not being able to provide a notice of alibi at the end of the inquiry. That is a serious matter, the lawyer said, insisting that the way Garcia was treated was a clear violation of the principle of natural justice. Naipaul-Coolman was abducted from her home at Lange Park, Chaguanas, on December 19, 2006. A $122,000 ransom was paid by her family but she was not released and her body has never been found. Weeping widow begs Minister Dillon On Tuesday, following the funeral of slain officer PC Anson Benjamin at the St Pauls Anglican Church, Harris Promenade, San Fernando, Minister Dillon was approached by the weeping widow of PC Ramroop, Susan Roopnarine-Ramroop, as he was being interviewed by reporters. She begged Minister Dillon to do all in his power to ensure the probe into her husbands death not be labelled a cold case. The Penal woman said that following the death of her husband, her life has not been the same and she believes his death was not accidental. She pleaded with the Minister to use his authority to seek the answers and even informed him that she had gone to his office but was turned away by a secretary. Yesterday, Dillon told Newsday that he will be taking an interest in this issue to ensure the probe is speeded up and all pertinent information is forwarded to Roopnarine-Ramroop Gunmen shoot at police officer Police sources told Newsday yesterday that officer Selwyn Jack was sitting outside his home on Dondonald Hill in St James, at about 8 pm on Tuesday night, when a man approached, drew a pistol and opened fire on him. Jack scampered to safety as the gunman hastily escaped on foot. Newsday understands that the suspended officer was not harmed in the attack. Police are now on the search for the gunman who made the attempt on Jacks life. No motive has yet been established. Newsday was informed that Jack was on suspension after it was allegedly found that he was moonlighting as a security guard for TSTT. The attempt comes one day after the funeral service of slain police constable Anson Benjamin who was given his final rites on Monday last. On Monday April 4, Benjamin, along with a female colleague, responded to a report of a robbery at a supermarket at St Clements, San Fernando. As he was making his way to the back of the building he was shot in the head by one of the bandits. Youth in car-jacking remanded Yesterday, the teenager of La Brea, appeared before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John who read a charge to him of robbery with aggravation. The charge stemmed from an incident on Saturday in which he and Alexander, allegedly held up a taxi driver in San Fernando and using a toy-gun, robbed him of his Nissan Almera car. Alexander lost his life when during a police chase, the vehicle ran off the north-bound lane at Indian Trail, Couva and crashed into an electricity pole. Alexander died at San Fernando General Hospital on Sunday night. Yesterday, the magistrate told the teenager he was not called upon to plead to the charge. Attorney Marrissa Bubb represented him as duty counsel. He was remanded to 120 days in accordance with amendment to the Bail Act, No 7 of 2015, which mandates a magistrate not to grant bail for the first 120 days, to a person who is charged with a criminal indictable offence in which a firearm is used. The case was postponed to May 11. A journey to Mermaid Pools Its coastline seven miles long is the favourite destination to observe the nesting of the leatherback turtles. The name Matura originated from Amerindian and Spanish dialect and referred to as a region of dense and unbroken forest. Traffic passes through the community en route to the various beaches, but its mystical beauty is sometimes overlooked. However, meandering through the vast landscape of never-ending forest, there is the Matura River, timeless, patient and uncontaminated from human interference. To experience the natural treasures of Matura one has to explore the river to discover its fascinating pools, waterfall, and gorges. A favourite spot that attracts a lot of nature lovers is the Mermaid Basins where there is a large pool to swim, relax and enjoy the scenic ambiance of nature. The river as it flows through the valleys passes through a region of uninhabited and unbroken woodland. The trees that border its bank are tall, majestic and consist mainly of mora forest, which adds splendour to the already picturesque terrain. The sun shining on the crystal-clear waters radiates vibrant colours of emerald green. The name Mermaid refers to the serenity of the surrounding, to sit on the rocks and sway ones feet in the soothing waters of the river. Further upstream there are fascinating pools to discover and a fabulous destination known as Manulot Falls. The journey to Mermaid Pool starts at Thomas Trace located just before the Matura Outreach Centre. The walk down to the river will take 35 minutes, and there are two shallow areas to cross that are knee-deep. Noticeable are the towering pine trees (pinus caribae) planted by the Forestry Division to preserve the environment from numerous bush fires, which occur during the dry season. The pines upkeep the watershed, prevent soil erosion and at the same time, beautify the forest. These trees can withstand the pressures of bush fires and built at a strategic site there is a fire observation tower which is used to oversee the miles of territory. Over the years, public visits to Mermaid Pools have increased in popularity, and it is the responsibility of citizens to protect and preserve their environment by carrying out their litter. Please remember no garbage collectors are coming into the forest and bubbling a pot in forested areas can lead to bush fire. On Sunday Island Hikers will visit the Mermaid Pool. Recommended: children five and up Rating: 3 fair (35 minutes one-way) Assembly: 7 am corner of OMeara Road and Churchill Roosevelt Highway, Arima, (next to FT Farfan) Depart to Matura: 8 am Registration: on the morning of the hike Recommended: a change of clothing and footwear Cane farmers want every last penny owed Furthermore, Ramdeen chastised Minister of Finance Colm Imbert and Attorney General Faris Al Rawi, for saying that certain European Union (EU) indicators had not been met, so cane farmers could not receive monies owed. Notably, Ramdeen pointed out that a pre-action protocol letter was issued to Government regarding the payments but no response has been received. The attorney said that at a Post Cabinet press briefing on March 10, both Imbert and Al-Rawi made statements to the effect that the money was not going to be paid, because certain indicators had to be met by the previous administration. But this was totally untrue and the honourable Attorney General and Minister of Finance, ought to have known better, Ramdeen said. Ramdeen referenced the written opinion of former Attorney General Anand Ramlogan who found that the Cane Producing Association and cane farmers are entitled to their money. He also produced a letter written by the Ministry of Planning to the Chairman of the Cane Farmers Association, which confirmed three tranches of payment to be made and a memorandum issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, stating the performance indicators 200 acres of former Caroni lands under agricultural production, integrated water management plan establishing the framework for drainage and irrigation systems for 70 percent of Caroni Lands used for agricultural purposes inclusive of Wastewater Management and local agricultural production increased by 7 per cent had been met. Therefore, Ramdeen affirmed, while cane farmers will accept the $52 million offered by Dr Rowley, they expect to receive all balance of payments owed. I want the Prime Minister to understand that cane farmers, as I said before, are not begging government to pay them. Cane farmers are not asking for a favour or a gift. This is not a matter of gratitude. Cane farmers have an enforceable legal agreement with the Government and they intend to accept the $52 million and fight the government if they have to and go to court, as the Leader of the Opposition indicated two days ago, if we have to, on Monday, Ramdeen said. Officers dont want bonds At a press conference, the Police Social Welfare Association (PSWA), the Fire Service Association (FSA) and the Prison Officers Association (POA) said they are hoping to have that meeting this week or early next week. PSWA head Inspector Anand Ramesar said, for the Police Service, we would have communicated to the minister on several occasions and we would have made clear to Government, options other than bonds, which are amenable to members to resolving this issue. POA head Ceron Richards said when it won the general election, the PNM promised a new dawn in which consultations would be the order of the day. And here it is a major decision such as to pay law enforcement officials in bonds, was taken without any input whatever from members of any of the associations within the protective services. We see that as an absolute disrespect, disregard for our input. FSA head Leo Ramkissoon said disenchantment was spreading through the service because at no time was any representative of the association given the opportunity to present options to Government. Ramesar reiterated, part payment is bad payment. Newsday understands a meeting with union heads and Imbert is being planned. Las Cuevas cliff victim undergoes surgery Antonios friend Aubrey Bre Clarke told Newsday yesterday, The hospital assessed her within an hour of her being there. Antonio was flown out of the country on Tuesday after being stranded at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH) and doctors being unable to tend to her complex fractures. She was on vacation at the time of the accident and had not secured travel insurance. She arrived in Toronto, Canada in a chartered air-ambulance at about 10pm . Clarke said Antonio had a CT scan done which came back with great news. She was unable to get a CT scan done at the PoSGH where the machine was inoperable. She also had more x-rays and ultrasounds. Antonia stepped off the 40-foot cliff on March 28, tumbled and landed in soft sand. Her pelvis was broken in several places. Her sacrum which connects the pelvis to the spine was fractured. She sustained a fractured right leg and a broken right heel. According to Clarke, The pelvis had already started healing, and we got her back just in time to stop it from healing in the wrong place. Clarke led an online fund-raiser to procure over CDN$56 to hire an air-ambulance to transport Antonio back to Canada after she could not get the required medical treatment in Trinidad. He met her on arrival at Pearson International Airport along with a friend. Her two daughters and an aunt were at the hospital to greet her on arrival there. Although she was grimacing in pain she smiled when she saw the smiles on her daughters faces, Clarke said. Her pastor John Scott led a prayer of thanksgiving for bringing her home safely, he said. Mahabir: Free petty offenders He spoke in Tuesdays Senate debate on the Finance (Variation of Appropriation) Bill 2016, picking up on Attorney General Faris Al-Rawis recent revelation of a $20,000 monthly bill to keep each inmate. The freeing of petty offenders would cut State costs and help communities if offenders are deployed to clean beaches under the watch of the Community Police, said Mahabir. He also urged that the Ministry of National Security be made to do a full cost/benefit analysis for any major equipment purchase such as armoured personnel carriers or offshore patrol vessels. Mahabir said that likewise each ministry must now seek ways to cut spending. Lamenting that many big oil companies in TT now pay nothing to the treasury (due to taxbreak incentives), he urged that now is the time to renegotiate pacts with that private sector. He congratulated the Government on initiating a tripartite council, hoping that Government, labour and business can now all work together. Mahabir urged Finance Minister Colm Imbert to consider Independent Senator Hugh Smalls suggestion of a five percent savings bond and a tax credit as a way for the Government to raise funds from local, small investors. However, he urged an amendment to the Central Bank Act to give that institution the power to set the fees that private banks charge to account holders as he related his daughters experience of a $25 service charge from an account she had not touched. Also on a personal note, Mahabir said he and other senators, who had served in the last Parliament, had still not received their $60,000 pension, after ten months. He urged a ten percent interest charge on late payments of pension. May amount to offensive behaviour In a statement yesterday, the EOCs chairman Lynette Seebaran- Suite said while offensive behaviour is not a criminal offence, it is a form of discrimination that is prohibited by the Act and a person who believes that they have been subjected to offensive behaviour can lodge a complaint with the EOC. Seebaran-Suite said the EOC is empowered to investigate, and where possible. conciliate disputes. If the complaint cannot be resolved at the level of the EOC, the matter may be referred to the Equal Opportunity Tribunal (EOT) which is a superior court of record, Seebaran-Suite said. The EOT is empowered to make orders, declarations and awards of compensation as it deems fit. Last month, the teacher discussed homosexuality with her pupils in a classroom and likened homosexuals to atheists (people who deny or disbelieve in the existence of God). She said, You see me, give me a gun and I will fix all the problems in the world. I will shoot both of them first (referring to the parents of a student at the school) and then their offspring. Do not tell me there is not a God. The comments were recorded by a student and disseminated via social media following which many called for her removal from the education system. Seebaran-Suite said the EOC noted that the nature and tone of the teachers comments may possibly incite gender and / or religious hatred. She said, according to Section 7 of the Act, Statements or actions are considered to be offensive behaviour where they are done otherwise than in private, and the statements or actions are such that: (a) they are reasonably likely, in all of the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or group of persons; (b) they are done because of the gender or race or ethnicity or origin or religion of the other person or of some or all of the persons in the group and (c) they are done with the intention of inciting gender or racial or religious hatred. Seebaran-Suite said the EOC is available to consult on issues of discrimination and provide public education on the Act at no cost. Vector-bourne disease expert tours Gulf View This was restricted to the Chaguaramas area at Point Gourde, but it seems to have migrated down either by shipping or by boats that have been moving back and forth. The fact that the albopictus has now arrived down south, it also increases the possibility of transmission of both chikungunya, zika and dengue, Chadee said. Chadee, an international expert on vector- borne diseases, was speaking to reporters yesterday during a tour of Gulf View, La Romaine, where there are four confirmed cases of Zika infection. San Fernando Mayor Kazim Hosein, together with health inspectors and other officials from the San Fernando City Corporation (SFCC), accompanied Chadee on the tour. The purpose of the tour was for Chadee to advise the Mayor and the Public Health Department of the Corporation on the containment of the Zika virus. Chadee noted that given the number of Zika cases in the area, it means the mosquitoes are transmitting the virus and therefore the insects will need breeding sites. He identified several sites which he said vary from artificial containers, cans, pans and drums, guttering as well as natural breeding sites. Rowley: Parliament going back to Red House Under this Government they will leave the Waterfront, because the Waterfront was not built for Government offices, and even the Parliament is going to leave there too, because we intend to fix the Red House and carry the Parliament back to Red House, he said . Addressing members of the Peoples National Movement (PNM) at an indoor meeting on Tuesday evening in Malabar, Rowley said the office spaces will be used for an international financial centre and to earn revenue . We are also going to go back to our moorings of trying to become a financial centre in the region supplying financial services, he said . This will enable the creation of new jobs, he added . The previous administration, he said, spent millions of dollars creating offices for ministers in the two buildings . To laughter from the audience and without mentioning names, he said, Last week, I had to order a minister out of one of them back to his ministry, because I didnt know for the last six months that the minister was not at the ministry. The minister was down at the Waterfront. Because under the last Government, all the ministers were down at the Waterfront. Speaking on a range of development plans for the country, he said, he was invited to the opening of the newly-expanded Panama Canal on June 26 and will not attend, but has plans to take advantage of the opportunities it will offer TT in terms of development . He said the Panama facilities will change the level of trade in the region and the Government was looking at TTs geographic location to see how it may benefit from the world trade that passes from east to west and west to east through the Panama Canal . To benefit from this new development in the region, Rowley said plans were in place to build a new port of Port-of-Spain within the next three to four years as a major international transshipment port under a design, finance, construct procurement system. The port will provide fuelling/refuelling services, ship servicing and transshipment for Central America, western US and South America . We will have to borrow to do it, he said, noting that the Government will look to long-term debt arrangements of 25 to 30 years . It will not be done like the previous administration did in trying to build the highway to Point Fortin out of the current accounts budget, he said . Commenting on the Beetham landfill, Rowley said the Government will take steps to prevent it from being a permanent fixture on the edge of Port-of-Spain . Proposals were in place to recycle the waste to generate electricity, and which will also enable job creation . What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames news Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Just India New Delhi, Thu, 14 Apr 2016 NI Wire Today on 14 April 2016 the whole India is celebrating the 125th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the architect of Indian Constitution and the champion of equality in his long struggle for the people of India. Everyone, starting from President of India, Prime Minister of India to all high-profile dignitaries in the political sphere, as well as in academics, has come forward to pay tribute to the great leader. Other than his contribution in Indian politics, Babasaheb is better known as a jurist, an economist and a social reformer. He is regarded as the Father of Indian Constitution as he was appointed (on 29th August, 1947) the chairman of the constitution drafting committee. Ambedkar who was born in an "untouchable" (The Mahars, in Maharashtra) family carried on an unrelenting battle against caste system and untouchability throughout his life. At this phase of Modern India when we are reeling with much difficulty in the polarised political scenario, Bhimrao Ambedkars ideas stand tall to bring the whole India together. Even though Babasahebs message touches everyone in our society with equality and justice, today political parties are only trying to exploit selective quotes in order to gain mileage and showcase their motives to take forward his great legacy. He had a charismatic personality who only thought for the people of India as a whole. Hence to opine that he was only a Dalit leader is grossly wrong. His deep and vast study on human relation, social equality and dignity of humanity, he was first chosen as the member of the constituent assembly, then the first law minister of Independent India and finally the chairman of the constitution Drafting Committee. Every true Indian must stand to Babasaheb Ambedkars ideas who almost fought as a foot soldier on several issues. Whether it is secularism, social justice or socialism, his contribution to the nation is enormous. From his days in Bombay High Court when he was practicing law, he tried to promote education of untouchables, economic and social welfare of outcastes. He brought forward the struggle of Dalits through many periodicals such as Mook Nayak (leader of the silent, 1920) and Bahishkrit Bharat (1927). These were two Marathi journals edited by Babasaheb. Dr. Ambedkar on Democracy: He says, Democracy is not a form of government, but a form of social organisation. He suggested that in any democracy, there should not be inequalities in society; there should be equality in every sphere, including law and administration; there should be a healthy opposition; there should be no tyranny of majority; and should be a rational and moral order of society. He once said that Indian society has already experienced democratic set up in reference to Buddhist Bhikshu Sanghas. In modern India context, he however firmly believed that political democracy cannot succeed without social and economic democracy. He further added that fundamental rights without economic security are no use of the downtrodden. Dr. Ambedkar on Women Empowerment: Babasaheb saw the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women had achieved. Somehow, today's feminist political thinking, social discourses and social democracy revolve around Ambedkar's ideas and philosophy that warrants to address the issues of class, caste and gender. He saw the oppressive, caste-based and rigid hierarchical structure as the reasons of women being the victims in our social fabric. He in every sense, blamed the Hindu verna system and questioned Hindu scriptures such as "Manu Smriti" and "Dharma Shastra" which prescribed the dharma of each Hindu. He stated that the "Manu Smriti" is primarily responsible for the downfall of women in our society. Babasaheb Ambedkar had tried to promote women empowerment and gender equality through the Hindu Code Bill, which was widely opposed by the upper caste Hindu leaders. Dr. Ambedkar on Religion: Babasaheb was a born Hindu who faced the worst side of Hindu caste system in form of untouchability. He termed the untouchable Hindus as Depressed Classes and fought to safeguard their rights. He was certainly critical of Hindu religion, particularly the Hindu shastras that inflict atrocious traditions of caste system. He believed society must be based on reason and not religious practices. He believed that religion must propagate liberty, equality and fraternity. Dr. Ambedkar's philosophy underlined the fact that the sovereignty of scriptures of all religions must come to an end if we want to have a united integrated modern India. Constitutionally, he made it clear that in a secular state, the parliament shall not impose any particular religion upon the rest of the people. As far as minorities are concerned, he suggested that the state should guarantee its citizen the free exercise of religion, including the right to convert within public order and morality. He himself converted to Buddhism in the later part of his life and even called for a mass conversion of Dalits to Buddhism, in 1956. Nevertheless, Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkars legacy as a socio-political reformer is greatly relevant in present India. Whether its the caste based society, the issue of oppression of the poor or the issue of social and gender inequality, his ideas have immense potential to take India as a nation forward. Considering the fact that Hindu Right wing is now openly supporting his philosophy, his dream of India being a modern, socialist, and democratic, above all a just society certainly seems attainable. PM to present awards on implementing Government's priority programmes to mark the Civil Services Day New Delhi, Thu, 14 Apr 2016 NI Wire The 10th Civil Services Day function will be organised at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on April 21, 2016 by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, PG and Pension. The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will confer awards to civil servants for excellence in implementation of Priority Programmes of the Government of India namely Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), Swachh Vidyalaya and Soil Health Card Scheme. This is for the first time a new category of Excellence in implementing a Priority Programme has been added to the Prime Ministers Awards for Excellence in Public Administration. A total of ten districts will be awarded the Prime Ministers Awards this year under the four Priority Programmes. These awards be given in three Groups, - the first group consists of eight North-Eastern States and the three Hill States of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The remaining 18 States constitute the second Group while the third Group comprises of the seven Union Territories. Eight awards will be given to the first and second Group under the four Priority Progammes. However, no award will be given for two Programmes, - Swachh Bharat (Grameen) and Soil Health Card for the Group comprising seven Union Territories. The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) has conducted an exhaustive analysis and assessment for short listing the awards. Ministries concerned with the four Priority Programmes were involved at each stage. Line Ministries submitted a list of top ranked 74 districts in all the four Priority Programmes, - PMJDY - 20, Swachh Vidyalaya 20, Swachh Bharat (Gramin) 17 and Soil Health Card 17. This was followed by presentations by each District Officer. The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances hired an expert agency, Quality Council of India (QCI), to analyze the feedback taken from the citizens. A call centre was set up through BSNL and more than 3 lakh surveys were conducted across the four priorities programme. Citizen feedback was analysed and it was incorporated into the evaluation process. A two member team consisting of Director/Deputy Director level Officers were sent for Field Study Visits to 38 shortlisted districts during March 9-12, 2016. These teams held multiple interactions with various stakeholders. Based on firsthand experience which helped validate the claims made during presentations by district officers, the Experts Committee headed by Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Shri Devendra Chaudhry recommended 24 districts to the Empowered Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary Shri Pradeep Kumar Sinha. This committee made final recommendation to the Prime Minister. Like the previous year, the Civil Services Day function will be an elaborate affair spread over two days. The Union Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu will be the Chief Guest at the inaugural function on April 20, 2016. The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh will preside over the function. The inaugural session will be followed by eight panel discussions on the replication of PM awarded initiatives during last year and four priority programmes. These sessions will be chaired by Union Ministers/persons of eminence. Civil Services Day is organized on 21st April every year, when civil servants rededicate themselves to the cause of the citizens and renew their commitment to public service. This day coincides with the date on which Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel had addressed the first batch of probationers at the All India Administrative Service Training School at Metcalfe House, New Delhi in 1947. The Prime Ministers Awards for Excellence in Public Administration are also given away on this day. Civil Services Day was organised for the first time in 2006. Since then every year the function is being organized by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. PM Awards for Excellence in Public Administration have been instituted with a view to acknowledge, recognize and reward the extraordinary and innovative work done by officers of the Central and State Governments for the welfare of common citizen. Source: PIB The age of steam has generally referred to the use of the Steam engine from 1770 to 1914 However, for power generation, we have not left the age of steam. It will take the next several decades to scale up supercritical CO2 turbines. The other class of technologies for ending the age of steam would be to directly convert fast-moving charged particles [from fusion power] directly into electrical current. Wind, solar and hydro also do not involve steam but they have not eliminated steam turbine power from fossil fuels. Toshiba Corporation announced that it will supply a first-of-a-kind supercritical CO2 turbine to a demonstration plant being built in Texas, USA. The plant will be developed by NET Power, LLC, a U.S. venture, together with CB and I, the most complete energy infrastructure focused company in the world, Exelon Corporation, one of the leading competitive energy providers in the U.S., and 8 Rivers Capital, the inventor of the unique supercritical CO2 power cycle that will be demonstrated by this plant. The turbine is an essential part of the system, and Toshiba will start delivering the key equipment in August 2016. The plant is expected to enter the commissioning stage later in 2016. Supercritical CO2 could make coal plants up to 40% more efficient and enable capture of pipeline ready CO2. Supercritical CO2 technology can make solar and nuclear power more efficient and lower cost as well. Those energy sources would not require the efficiency gains to be used on CO2 capture and storage. The US National Energy Technology Lab lists the Dept of Energy funded Supercritical CO2 projects. Instead of 40% cheaper electricity using efficiency to pay for cost of Capturing CO2 New Supercritical CO2 power cycle could utilize pressurized oxy-combustion in conjunction with cryogenic compression to achieve the DOE goals of 90 percent CO2 removal at no more than a 35 percent increase in cost of electricity (COE) as well as high overall plant efficiencies with CO2 compression to 2,200 psia. Supercritical CO2 would use the 40% efficiency gain of going to about 800 degrees celsius to enable CO2 90% removal at the same cost as current coal or natural gas plants. The technological challenge and efficiency gains of leaving steam technology is proposed to be spent on capturing CO2. Nextbigfuture reviewed the supercritical CO2 turbine roadmap. The Toshiba work is executing to the dates on that roadmap. * Sandia National Laboratories and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are involved with Toshiba, Echogen, Dresser Rand, GE, Barber-Nichols in S-CO2 cycles. * Toshiba, The Shaw Group and Exelon Corporation are engaged in a consortium agreement to develop Net Powers gas-fired generation technology with zero emissions target. This approach uses an oxy-combustion, high pressure, S-CO2 cycle, named Allam Cycle. Toshiba will design, test and manufacture a combustor and turbine for a 25MW natural gas-fired plant. A 250MW full-scale plant is expected by 2017. * Echogen Power Systems has been developing a power generation cycle for waste heat recovery, CHP, geothermal and hybrid as alternative to the internal combustion engine. * Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne is engaged with Argonne National Laboratories in a project with aim to integrate a 1000 MW nuclear plant with a S-CO2 cycle. The reasons of growing interest toward this technology are manifold: * simple cycle efficiency potentially above 50%; * near zero emissions cycle; * footprints one hundredth of traditional turbomachinery for the same power output due to the high density of working fluid; * extraction of pipeline ready CO2 for sequestration or enhanced oil recovery, without both CO2 capture facilities and compression systems; * integration with concentrating solar power (CSP), waste heat, nuclear and geothermal, with high efficiency in energy conversion; * applications with severe volume constraints such as ship propulsion There is a DOE project to a make a 10 MWe supercritical CO2 turbine that should be completed in 2015. Not Found The requested URL was not found on this server. Apache Server Port 80 We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Weather Alert ...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND NORTHWEST IOWA... * Affected Area...In Iowa, Monona county. In Nebraska, Knox, Cedar, Thurston, Antelope, Pierce, Wayne, Boone, Madison, Stanton, Cuming, Burt, Platte, Colfax, Dodge, Butler, Saunders, Seward, Lancaster, Saline, Jefferson and Gage counties. * Winds...South 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 55 mph. * Relative Humidity...As low as 22 percent. * Impacts...Any fires that ignite may spread rapidly and exhibit extreme fire behavior. Use extreme caution if engaging in any activities that could start a fire. Outdoor burning is not advisable. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior. && German authorities have arrested three young men suspected of giving money to IS sympathizers, ready to join the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq at the time German authorities fear infiltration of IS militants in the army ranks, reports say. The three men, a 25-year old German and two Turkish citizens aged between 20 and 25, were according to Stuttgart judicial authorities arrested on Sunday around and in the city of Ulm on the suspicion of providing financial support to recruits. The three are suspected of sending money, collected while distributing copies of the Quran, directly or indirectly to members of ISIS, according to Stuttgart prosecutors. The prosecutors on Wednesday told the media that the three young men had been already banned from leaving Germany, preventing them from heading off to train with ISIS. A judge on Monday ordered the suspects be kept in custody pending possible charges, Al Arabia English service reports. The three mens arrest came to light as German authorities have been puzzled with defection of army personnel and the infiltration of IS militants into the Bundeswehr (German Army.) An internal German Army report released Monday reveals that at least 29 soldiers have joined ISIS in Syria or Iraq in recent years, while 65 active soldiers are under investigation on suspicion of having Islamist sympathies, reports say. According to German military counter intelligence service (MAD,) the 29 soldiers fled to IS battle fronts in the Middle East. Another background check in the army reveals that 22 have been identified as Islamists while 17 of them have been revoked from their duties. A total of 320 suspected cases of Islamism have been investigated since 2007, according to German authorities. The revelations have created fears among German authorities, with the Defense Ministry demanding implementation of tough rules to prevent further infiltration of IS militants into the army. According to the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, around 760 Germans have joined IS in war zones where the group is engaged. German security forces have been put on alert as the country braces up for likely IS attacks even though there is no immediate intelligence on planned attacks in the European country. The contenders. Photo: Brian Cahn/Corbis Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will throw down in an all-out, knock-down, bare-knuckle debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Thursday night. The Democratic presidential hopefuls have sparred eight times already, but never before have they had this much incentive to pander to New Yorkers. Bernie from Brooklyn and Hillary from Bestchester will make their closing arguments to Empire State voters five days ahead of New Yorks April 19 primary. Heres everything you need to know to prepare yourself for tonights thrilling oratorical action. What time is this thing happening, and on which channel? The debate will air on CNN and Time Warner Cables NY1 starting at 9 p.m. EDT. If you live off the internet alone, fear not: The debate can also be livestreamed at CNN.com. Has anything changed since the last time these two met? Quite a bit, actually. Six days after Clinton and Sanders last squared off in Miami, the Democratic front-runner swept five primaries, including three in the Midwest, where the democratic socialist had hopes of re-creating his Michigan miracle. For a while, all went quiet, Clinton turned her fire on Donald Trump, and Sanders focused on fund-raising emails. But then the campaign turned West, a small bird landed on Sanderss podium, and he won eight of the nine contests held since late March. Now Sanders has a path to the nomination again if you squint real hard, ignore all polls of northeastern states, and say the superdelegates will feel the Bern three times while clicking your heels. So youre saying theres a chance? Sure. Point is, things got close enough to get Clinton sweating about the possibility of somehow losing New York the state where she served as senator for eight years and that her family and global initiative call home. Last week, the front-runner went on the offensive, pursuing a strategy that CNN summarized as disqualify him, defeat him, unite the party later. Clinton proceeded to do the media rounds, questioning Sanderss party loyalty, understanding of financial reform, and, without quite saying it, his qualifications for the Oval Office. In response, Sanders went on an ill-advised rant about how any big money-courting, Iraq Warapproving, trade-deal-supporting moderate isnt qualified to be president. Pearls were clutched. Scolding op-eds were written. Clinton assured Sanders that she likes him better than the pseudo-fascist atop the Republican field. Sanders said that Clinton was, of course, qualified. Peace reigned throughout the land. Except: Sanders is still pushing his narrative that Clintons integrity is compromised by her campaign cash. And Clinton is still arguing that Sanders loves guns more than he loves the children at Newtown. And then, at a rally in Washington Square Wednesday night, a Sanders surrogate told the 27,000-member crowd, Medicare for all will never happen if we continue to elect corporate Democratic whores. So, things are still tense. Gotcha. So, back to the debate: Wholl be asking the questions? CNNs Wolf Blitzer and Dana Bash will be joined by Errol Louis of NY1s Inside City Hall. Is there anything new to ask them about? Sure. First, there are new narrative questions. Sanders will probably be asked to account for Not Qualifiedgate, an issue he may need to handle tenderly: Clinton is pretty popular among registered Democrats, and registered Democrats are the only people who can vote in next Tuesdays primary. The Vermont senator will probably also be asked to get wonkish about financial reform. Sanders was widely criticized for not sounding like a talking white paper in an interview with the New York Daily News last week, which included some vague, tentative answers about his plan for breaking up the banks. Clinton turned those answers into an indictment of Sanderss capacity to solve the problems of economic inequality that his campaign has so fervently decried. As for Clinton, Politico reported Wednesday on some shadier aspects of her time as secretary of State. Specifically, Clinton expanded the use of special government employees, a status that allows State Department officials to receive private income. Among those special employees was an ex-fund-raiser who leveraged the position to lay the groundwork for a global consulting firm with ties to someone named Bill Clinton. Anyhow, its one among many examples of how the Clintons private enterprises and public service have intertwined in eyebrow-raising fashion. It would be great to hear Clinton pressed on this subject, though its probably too complicated to summarize in a 15-second question. Beyond narrative stuff, there are a bunch of issues that havent been discussed much at recent debates but have special salience in New York. Israel, for example. Sanders and Clinton seem to have the same basic policy toward the Jewish state the two-state solution is good, settlement expansion is bad, the nation is an important ally that must be protected. But they voice those positions with decidedly different rhetoric. Most significantly, Sanders is willing to criticize Israel for using force disproportionately during the 2014 Gaza War, which killed more than 2,000 Palestinians, including 495 children. Clinton, on the other hand, has described such criticisms as a negation of Israels right to defend itself. Theres also the matter of fracking policy. Over the past two weeks, Sanders has been touting his support for a national ban on fracking to the earthier residents of upstate New York. Clinton, meanwhile, supports greater regulation of natural-gas extraction but isnt ready to tell regions that are prospering from the industry to cease and desist. Will the debate matter? Well, Sanders has to try to make it matter. Polls of the Empire State consistently show Clinton over 50 percent, with very few voters claiming to be undecided. The key for the Vermont senator will be to show that he can speak fluently on subjects beyond our nations gradual descent into neo-feudalism something he hasnt quite accomplished at any past debate. Hell also need to find a way to tarnish Clintons image, without turning off voters via strident negativity. As for the front-runner, as long as she doesnt accidentally confess to murdering Vince Foster or ordering the attacks on the Benghazi embassy, she should be okay. But if she can unveil new, better answers to questions about her Goldman Sachs speeches and Iraq War vote, while imbuing her erudition on Wall Street reform with a little more populist passion, shell go a long way toward easing Democrats anxieties about the general election. When running for mayor of New York on the Conservative Party ballot line in 1965, William F. Buckley was asked the usual question about what hed do first upon learning he had won. Demand a recount! he quickly replied. Thats not characteristic of too many politicians. But you do have to wonder occasionally if its true of voters who cast ballots for candidates for reasons other than the desire to see them win. That thought arises from reading a column by the renowned liberal journalist John Judis at Talking Points Memo today: Hes not going to get the nomination, is he? my wife asks anxiously as she gazes out of the kitchen window at the Bernie for President sign on our front lawn. No, I assure her, and he certainly wont win Maryland on April 26. Im voting for Bernie, and my wife may, too, but were doing so on the condition that we dont think he will get the nomination. If he were poised to win, I dont know whether Id vote for him, because I fear he would be enormously vulnerable in a general election, even against Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, and Im also not sure whether he is really ready for the job of president. Why vote for him at all, then? For me, its entirely about the issues he is raising, which I believe are important for the countrys future. This is a sentiment heard often in casual conversations with Democrats before and immediately prior to this years nomination contests. Before Bernie Sanders threw a genuine scare into Team Hillary, the formulation was often We need Bernie [or before that, Elizabeth Warren] to run to keep Hillary honest. By that it was inferred that without some pressure from the port side of the Democratic Party, Clinton might indulge the family habit of leaning a bit too far starboard to suit the base or the activists purporting to speak for said base. Left unsaid (though it is articulated by Judis) is the belief that Clinton is a far better bet to make sure Republicans dont make away with the White House while Democrats are arguing over what to do with it. Nowadays Team Sanders is far more aggressive than Team Clinton in arguing its champion is more electable, brandishing reams of general-election trial heats showing so. And they are right to do so, because primary exit polls consistently show voters concerned about electability are heavily tilting toward Hillary. After all, you dont need a political-science degree to suspect that a 75-year-old self-styled democratic socialist with a Senate voting record a bit to the left of tofu is going to get Dukakised to death after a good, vicious billion-dollar Republican general-election ad campaign. That makes you wonder how many Hillary voters there are whod pull the lever for Sanders if they really thought he could win the general election. And it also makes you wonder exactly how many Sanders voters like Judis dont really want him to win the nomination because they dont think he can win the general election or want to fence in Clinton ideologically because they think she can. True Detective season eight. Photo-Illustration: Daily Intelligencer; Photos: Getty Images Karl Rove has shown little affection for the GOP front-runner. The conservative (former) kingmaker has called Donald Trump a petty man consumed by resentment and bitterness, one with staggeringly bad favorability numbers and an voracious appetite for sowing divisions. But like a fifth-grade boy relentlessly teasing his schoolyard crush, Rove may be flinging these hostilities to mask a secret attraction. Or, at least, a secret tolerance. On Tuesday afternoon, Roves super-pac, American Crossroads, held a conference call with prominent Republican donors in which Karl & Co. argued that Trump could beat Clinton in a general election. One GOP bigwig told Politico that the conversation marked a softening of the anti-Trump position among his fellow party pooh-bahs, saying, Its not that they support him, only that if hes the guy, we can do something to stop Hillary. Crossroads spokesperson Ian Prior elaborated on this view, in an interview with the news site: There has been a hardening narrative from the media and others that Hillary Clinton can start planning her inaugural ball that is simply false and we believed it was important to communicate that to our supporters, he told Politico. What we have in fact seen is that there is such intense dislike and distrust of Hillary among the general electorate that the presidential race will be close, regardless of the GOP nominee. The best available data suggests that, barring a repeal of the Nineteenth Amendment, a Trump-Clinton race will not be close. On the other hand, that data also shows that more than half of America has a negative opinion of Clinton. Assuming she maintains her significant lead over Bernie Sanders, Clinton will become the second-most-unpopular non-incumbent presidential nominee in recorded history, just behind a certain proto-fascist reality star. Eyeing this fact, along with polls that show nearly 60 percent of the country saying Clinton is dishonest, Republicans have to wonder: If the GOP Establishment wasnt calling Trump a closet-liberal con man all the time, could they make this thing a race? Many conservative leaders refuse to entertain such questions. Politico reports that a few #NeverTrump operatives were flummoxed by Crossroads conference call, concerned it will dissuade donors from funding the counter-revolutionaries in the partys civil war. Most of Trumps conservative dissenters would prefer to wait another four years for a crack at the White House than hand the party apparatus over to an unpredictable authoritarian. But for donors who arent ready to forfeit Novembers contest, Trump may be the best horse to back. Yes, he would be a historically awful nominee. But the same could be said about Ted Cruz, and nominating anyone else would be inviting a mutiny from the partys base. At least with Trump youd be throwing your lot in with the consensus choice of the GOP electorate. Plus, hell hath no fury like a Donald scorned if Trump is cast aside at a convention, despite laying claim to more primary votes than any other candidate, he will declare himself the martyr of an illegitimate party. Polls show that more than 50 percent of Republican voters are likely to agree with him. Republican National Committee member Randy Evans seemed to show deference to that view on Wednesday, when he said Trump would become the nominee if he enters the convention with 1,100 pledged delegates 137 less than a majority. Give the Donald some media training, very serious advisers, and a multi-million-dollar rebrand, and maybe, just maybe, the Republican Party can capitalize on Clintons vulnerabilities. All things being equal, this should be a tough cycle for the Democrats winning a third straight White House term has been a challenge for both parties throughout their histories. Still, Crossroads latest anti-Clinton ad gives cause for skepticism. The 30-second spot argues that Clinton is the new Nixon, because she has occasionally used some of the same English words to describe her email scandal as Tricky Dick once did to obfuscate his role in Watergate. Thats a fine enough way to launder donor money to some friends ad firm. But evoking Nixon is unlikely to be an effective message in a Trump-Clinton race after all, Donald is the candidate campaigning on behalf of a silent majority, while receiving occasional advice from Nixon lackey Roger Stone and assembling a private security force to spy on protesters. Even if Rove finds a less flawed metaphor for Clintons alleged dishonesty, it will be no easy feat turning the man behind Trump University into the candidate of candor. Dont believe the embattled RNC chairman will be given a chance to stick around for a second autopsy report. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images As recently as the beginning of last year, Reince Priebus was riding pretty high as chairman of the Republican National Committee. He was reelected with little opposition to a third term as chairman, the first to do so with a Democrat controlling the White House. Republicans had made big and historic gains in the 2014 midterms. Party finances were looking good. Priebuss famous 2013 autopsy report after the 2012 presidential loss, with its call for a more diverse and less angry GOP, was still the prevailing wisdom in the GOP. Now, 15 months later, you get the sense Priebus is going through the motions, sure to be replaced the next time his party reaches a resting point. To the Trump and Cruz partisans dominating the GOP presidential nominating context, Priebus is the face of the hated Republican Establishment, eyeing their presidential candidates with bad intent and doing what he can to set the stage for a stab in the back in Cleveland or soon thereafter. Just yesterday Trump called Priebus a disgrace who should be ashamed of himself for the rigged rule of the nomination process. But to anti-Trump and anti-Cruz Republicans, Priebus is an empty suit babbling about party unity when he should be taking a stand. Todays Washington Post has not one but two columns kicking the man in the slats. First there is journalist and snark-master Dana Milbank, who acidly notes that the more Priebuss party sinks into the mire of Trumpism, the more its chairman engages in vapid uplift: Priebus failed to act to stop Trump when he could have, or to coordinate Republicans to clear the field for a mainstream alternative. And now he compounds the damage by sticking with the same moral neutrality and happy talk of GOP unity that allowed the situation to develop. After the Jan. 14 debate, in which Trump said he would gladly accept the mantle of anger and traded charges with Cruz about their constitutional eligibility for the presidency, Priebus tweeted: Its clear weve got the most well-qualified and diverse field of candidates from any party in history. In the Feb. 13 debate, Trump blamed George W. Bush for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and said Bush lied about Iraqs weapons of mass destruction. Trump, Cruz and Marco Rubio took turns calling one another liars, and Rubio ridiculed Cruzs Spanish skills. Our well-qualified & experienced candidates continue to put forth serious solutions to restore prosperity & strength to America, Priebus tweeted. And after the March 3 debate, in which Trump spoke about the size of his genitals, Priebus tweeted that Republican candidates are the only ones offering the course correction voters overwhelmingly want. At this rate, if the worst happens and Cleveland is a bloodbath of historic dimensions, you figure Priebuss joy at GOP unity will know no bounds. Similarly, conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin is enraged at Priebuss refusal to flat-out oppose Trump. Damning with the faintest of praise the chairmans refutation of the Trump camps claims of being robbed in Colorado this last week, which she attributed to Priebus being momentarily roused from his stupor, Rubin cuts loose: What is missing here as it has been for months now is any principled defense against the man threatening to replace the conservative movements political apparatus with one that is nothing more than a cult of personality. In the latter, any outcome other than one favoring Trump is crooked or rigged. Acceptable rhetoric is defined as whatever he says; any efforts to present the party as inclusive go out the window. Priebus continues to passively allow Trumps torrent of deception, threats and out and out lies to wash over the party, treating him as just another candidate. It was this attitude that sent Priebus scurrying to Trump Tower with the pledge, now shown to be entirely worthless. Priebuss collapse into moral relativism led him to forgo speaking out against the vast majority of Trumps outrageous comments, and to only cryptically frown on violence in the race, which Trump alone has instigated and condoned. Worse yet, without an operative moral compass, Priebus again and again praised the entire field and provided assurance that no matter who got to 1,237 delegates, the entire party would get behind him. In short, he offered Trump carte blanche and now stands accused of running a corrupt and undemocratic outfit. You would think he would show a smidgen of indignation. Theres an informal bipartisan tradition that a partys presidential nominee if its not an incumbent president whos already been running the show is given the opportunity to name her or his own national chairman. No matter who finally claims the tarnished prize in Cleveland, its hard to imagine Priebus will be kept around unless its to serve as a scapegoat if things go south. And even in that remote contingency, he will not be given the opportunity to authorize and bless a second autopsy. No one party chairman can survive that much death. Photo: Max Whittaker/Getty Images Yesterday, former Reuters journalist Matthew Keys was sentenced to two years in prison. Keys had been convicted of assisting in hacking the Los Angeles Times website by providing usernames and passwords to members of Anonymous; he had the log-in credentials from having previously worked for a local TV station in California owned by Tribune Media, the same company that owns the L.A. Times. Here is what the hackers did: They changed the headline on an article Pressure Builds in House to Pass Tax-Cut Package became Pressure Builds in House to Elect CHIPPY 1337 as well as the sub-headline and byline. The change was live for 40 minutes. Keys himself did not make the alterations; a user in the chat room where he had posted the credentials did. (According to chat transcripts, he did encourage the cyber-vandalism.) CHIPPY 1337 was never identified or prosecuted. This past October, Keys was found guilty on three counts of computer hacking under the archaic Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, following a trial in which Tribune had, in some instances, claimed nearly $1 million dollars in loss and damages. Keys continues to assert his innocence. The exact loss and consequent damages caused by the hack has been in dispute throughout the legal proceedings. The alterations on the article were brief, and Tribune was never able to definitively prove that anyone actually saw them. It seems extremely unlikely that anyone cancelled a subscription because of the defacement, and even less likely that the Timess credibility as a news organization was threatened. But, the prosecution argued, in the wake of the intrusion, the large media conglomerate did have to go through a comprehensive security audit and upgrade, which adds up to thousands of dollars in time and labor. Minor acts can have major cascading effects. Still: A brief, minor defacement that led to money spent on beefed-up security doesnt add up to two years in prison. If youre wondering how the court reached that sentencing figure, this might help explain it: The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act the federal law under which Keys was prosecuted was enacted in 1986. Thats three decades ago, and seven years before the world wide web launched. Computers at the time were the property of corporations and those wealthy enough to afford them, not the widely accessible, fully networked tools they are today. (The CFAA is the same statute used to prosecute famed programmer Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide in 2013.) The CFAA, among other provisions, makes it illegal to [access] a protected computer without authorization, and as a result of such conduct, [cause] damage and loss. The language of the law is vague, to say the least. Humans authorize things by giving permission, and computers authorize actions by accepting log-in credentials. That vagueness of unauthorized access has given prosecutors astronomically wide latitude in what can be prosecuted under the CFAA. If, for instance, you use your ex-boyfriends email address and password to log in to Netflix without his knowledge, you are potentially violating the law. Its often invoked for things that arent really hacking in the contemporary sense, but can be defined as such under the CFAA, or in cases where no other charges will stick. As the podcast Reply All put it, prosecutors wield the CFAA in the same way that the tax code was used to convict Al Capone. Before the sentencing, Keys posted on Medium, in part: I am innocent, and I did not ask for this fight. Nonetheless, I hope that our combined efforts help bring about positive change to rules and regulations that govern our online conduct. As Ive previously written, nobody should face terrorism charges for passing a Netflix username and password. But under todays law, prosecutors can use their discretion to bring those exact charges against peopleincluding journalistswhenever they see fit. Prosecutors did so in this case. Until the law catches up with the times, theres no doubt that prosecutors will do it again. All of this is to say that Keys certainly does not deserve two years in prison, and the CFAA needs serious reform. To put this in perspective, just a day prior to Keyss sentencing, Ethan Couch who killed four people in a drunk-driving accident in 2013 was sentenced to two years in prison for violating his parole. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has an entire section of its website devoted to advocating for CFAA reform. There are three main tenets: violating a websites terms of use should not be the basis for a criminal complaint; commonplace circumvention techniques like changing ones IP address should not be criminal; and, most importantly, the punishment should fit the crime. The legislative process moves more slowly than the tech industry, and it always will, but lagging 30 years behind is not only ridiculous, it poses a danger to anyone who touches a computer. Louisa Catherine Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams. Photo: Corbis At the very end of a leather-bound composition book after the journal she kept from 1819 until early 1824; after the memoir sketch, Record of a Life, which she wrote in the White House; after the anguished lament she wrote about the death of her son Louisa Catherine Adams scrawled a few recipes for cosmeticks. The process of making face powder required a pound of rice, fresh spring water, and a thin sheet of lead; it took more than a month. Lipstick was easier: a little Brazil wood and white vinegar boiled a minute or two. For rouge, cambric muslin dipped in pokeberry juice and dried is a harmless preparation. Harmless. It was a curious choice of words. In those days, makeup (or paint) was incredibly controversial, as Louisa knew well. Senators studied the flushed cheeks of her predecessor, Elizabeth Monroe, for signs of rouge, whispering that the high flush of her cheeks was evidence that she was too aristocratic, too influenced by European courts. A false blush suggested false modesty. By Louisas time, makeup had become more socially acceptable than it had been a half-century before, when an act had been introduced into parliament which controlled the colonies stating that all women, of whatever age, rank, profession, or degree, whether virgins, maids, or widows who might entice a man into matrimony by use of scents, paints, cosmetic washes, artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, high-heeled shoes, bolstered hips shall incur the penalty against witchcraft and like misdemeanors. But in the early republic, it still carried a taint. Ministers preached sermons against it. Ladies magazines were conflicted, running instructions for compounding cosmetics Louisa seems to have gotten hers from Mrs. A. S. Colvins Weekly Messenger but also allegories about how the best recipe for a good complexion was a moral life. Beauty was supposed to be pleasant, natural, and chaste. Artifice was deceitful; sexuality was corrupted power. For a young woman, it was necessary to be pretty, but it was equally necessary to be unaware of it. Growing up in London, Louisa was taught those skills that were thought to make a woman more alluring: painting, singing, dancing, a smattering of bad French, and embroidery, which was called work. Once she was introduced to society, she was expected to find a husband. But she was not supposed to try. This led to some difficult mental gymnastics. In my own eyes I never possessed beauty, Louisa later wrote, but, strange to say, she was familiarized to the idea of possessing it. She was encouraged to expect a mans attentions and accept his proffered verses, but also to be very much surprised when he compared her to a cherub. Related Stories The YouTube Beauty Expert Who Re-creates Ancient Roman Hair One of the men who came to visit was a young American diplomat, John Quincy Adams, the son of the vice-president of the United States. After several weeks of demurrals and expressions of innocent confusion, she acknowledged his courtship. They flirted and bantered. She teased him for his unfashionable clothes. One day, he joined her for a walk very handsomely dressed in blue, wearing the hat in style. When she complimented his appearance, however, he immediately took fire, and assured me that his wife must never take the liberty of interfering in those particulars. The reverse, of course, would not be true. The problem arose a few years later, in Berlin, where John Quincy was a diplomat, when Louisa tried to wear rouge. The Queen of Prussia, whom Louisa adored, had given her a box after seeing how the blood drained from Louisas face when she was to told to begin a dance with the king. Louisa knew that her husband would never let her accept it, and she tried to protest. The queen, however, was persistent. She smiled at my simplicity, and observed that if she presented me the box he must not refuse it, Louisa later wrote, and told me to tell him so. Louisa hid the gift away until the masked balls of Carnival. The custom was for a woman to wear a black dress with deep decolletage, a black Spanish hat, black shoes, and black feathers a stunning look if you could offset the dark cloth with flush cheeks and the glitter of diamonds, but a difficult look if you couldnt. Knowing that a black dress made a pale face look cadaverous, and tired of feeling a fright in the midst of the splendor, Louisa brought out the forbidden rouge. When it was time to leave for the ball, she rushed past her husband, calling to him behind her to put out the lights. He sensed something suspicious in her quick step and stopped her before she went down the stairs. When he saw the blush on her cheeks, he led her to the table and sat her on his knee. He picked up a towel, and all my beauty was clean washed away. That winter, 1801, Louisa tried to wear the rouge again. This time, instead of trying to sneak past her husband, she walked boldly forward to him. John Quincy told her to wash the makeup off, and she refused with some temper. He turned on his heels, went down to the carriage, and left for the party without her. A page from Louisas composition book. Photo: Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society It was only a little makeup. Behind it, though, were serious matters, the most pressing of which had to do with the queen herself. John Quincy could respect the king well enough, because the king was trying to remain neutral between France, Great Britain, Russia, and Austria, and because the king rose at six in the morning and famously disliked parties, and because power came naturally to worthy men. But the queen made him uneasy. She knew her appearance and used it, and she had a frank willingness to command. She tried to command even him. If she presented me the box he must not refuse it, she had told Louisa. Six years later, the Prussian army was crushed by Napoleon at Jena. When Queen Luise went to make a personal appeal to the emperor, she was mocked: Napoleon responded to her pleas of mercy on behalf of her country by inquiring about the fabric of her dress. John Quincy took some pleasure in her fate. The vicissitudes of the world have reached many of our old acquaintance there, John Quincy wrote to Louisa, thoughtlessly or pointedly telling her the news of Prussias defeat, and the beautiful and thoughtless queen whom we were accustomed to see so splendid has been brought to dance something less delicious and more vivid than a waltz. But for Louisa, Queen Luise was something of a role model. They shared more than John Quincy would like to admit, including an awareness of the power of appearances. Like Queen Luise, Louisa understood the social forces that bound civil society. And like Luise, she used them to get what she wanted. What Louisa wanted was for her husband to become president though this was not an uncomplicated desire. The exchange to a more elevated station would put me in a prison, she wrote before her husband was elected. It was further complicated by the fact that John Quincy himself refused to admit that he was pursuing the presidency. Electioneering was a dirty word, especially to him. So any efforts had to be concealed, from the public and from his conscience. Fortunately, he had a wife. Presidential hopefuls were not supposed to stump; they did not travel from town to town, promoting their platform and shaking strangers hands. Instead campaigning happened in small conversations and coded letters and at the dinner table, in a casual comment on the rivals, with a good glass of Madeira in hand. A woman, a hostess, could play an important subterfuge. She might help the pretense that no campaigning was happening, since politics were not permitted in mixed company. She could serve dinner with eclat, put people at ease, and spice the conversation with the wit that obscured the politics in political discussions. She provided the cover the artifice. While John Quincy earned the reputation of being unapproachable, cold, and aloof, Louisa became the dominant hostess of the day. There were weekly dinners, a few grand balls, and a series of parties, Tuesdays at Mrs. Adams, that kept the bright light of attention on her husband, while he sat in the corner, appearing distracted, badly dressed. She visited Congress to watch the debates, she read the newspapers, she advised John Quincy and she denied any knowledge of, or interest in, or involvement in politics. She called her parties my campaigne. Given the dates of the composition book she used, she wrote down those recipes for cosmetics around that time. Theres no evidence of how often she wore the makeup, or even if she ever did at all. Theres also no record of what she thought about it. It may be that she copied down those recipes on a day when she glanced in the mirror and saw her age in the reflection. After all, she described a portrait of herself from that time as a woman who has just felt the first chill of death. Or maybe she was conscious of rebelling against her husband, two decades after he had washed the blush from her cheeks. It may also be that she did it in the awareness that a powerful woman had to wear a mask. Perhaps she had more than one motivation. After all, makeup is never superficial. It is always expressive of some desire, which it conceals and which it reveals. Stephanie Rhodus and her son Archer. Photo: ABC Stephanie Rhodus was in court on Monday to testify in a custody hearing for her 8-year-old son. She was waiting to be called to the stand when her younger son, 8-month-old Archer, wanted to be fed. She was nursing him when judge Peter Knight called her up, and all was okay for about five minutes. Then Knight can be heard saying this in an audio recording: Maam, you need to cover up. For you not to realize that is absolutely ridiculous. Step outside, and cover up right now. Stand up, and go, now. He went on to say that having a child in the courtroom is allowed but nursing is absolutely inappropriate. Rhodus apologized and tried to continue. Unsurprisingly, her son was fussy and agitated during the remainder of her testimony. She told the Washington Post that her son wont take a bottle and he also doesnt like being covered when nursing. But the law in North Carolina says this is all fine: Women can breast-feed in any public or private place theyre allowed to be, without covering up. Rhodus knows this (she breast-fed in the presence of a woman judge last week) but she told ABC News that the judge was so condescending and so aggressive that she was too scared to say anything. A legal analyst for ABC pointed out that the judge went too far he could have simply called a recess. Rhoduss mother has custody of her older son and Knight ultimately issued six-month protective order that bars Rhodus from seeing him. Rhodus thinks the episode affected both her testimony and the judges decision. It caught me completely off-guard. I couldnt think straight to present my case properly, she told the Post. It was just I was in shock. Knight issued the following statement to the Washington Post: We as a court routinely accommodate women who are nursing, including while they are waiting for a case to be called in the courtroom. However, when a case is called and a party is participating in a formal hearing before the court, all litigants are expected to respect the same rules of procedure, decorum and dress. That was the case here. If breastfeeding accommodations were needed, those certainly would have been made. Except they werent. Rhodus will be back in court on Tuesday with Archer in tow. [WATCH] Madonna ICONIC Rebel Heart Tour Backdrop Video https://t.co/OHka0jC0da pic.twitter.com/XyVNcFb6nf madonnarama.com (@madonnarama) 13 April 2016 Madonna just received a Billboard Awards nomination for "Top Touring Artist" Congrats to @Madonna, who has received a Billboard Music Award nom for Top Touring Artist!" https://t.co/DOp4IjYpv4 pic.twitter.com/tglgmJKIJO TIDAL (@TIDALHiFi) 12 April 2016 -The video was directed by Steven Klein.-It was used as the opening video for her Rebel Heart world Tour.-Madonna Performed 82 shows around the world and she grossed $170 million in six months.[REBEL HEART "ICONIC" SPOKEN INTRO]I'm a woman.I'm a blonde.I have tits and ass.And an insatiable desire to be noticed.come on baby! show us your ASS![ICONIC]Shake it for us baby! do that dance you do so well for us baby!okay. But I still want to start a revolution.Somebody's got to.There's too much beauty in the world going to waste. Too much talent going unnoticed.Too much creativity being crushed beneath the wheel of corporate branding and what's trending.IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP!And i looked into the eyes of people and i saw helplessness.I saw hopelessness. I saw humans searching for a way out.Because when those FASCIST dictators posing as righteous men come for you.with their big leather boots to SHUT YOU UP!To put a gag in your mouth.You better be prepared to FIGHT for what you believe in!You better be prepared to DIE for what you believe in!I want to start a revolution...Are you with me?And while we wait for the DVD. Get your life to the "Holy Water" performance. lol Reply Thread Link That being said, it is amazing how much women are conditioned to apologize for, like, ever having any feelings. I often have to stop myself from apologizing for reasonable shit -- I talked about this in a few roundups, but I've been seeing this guy who texts me WAY too much and doesn't respect my boundaries, and I finally had to be firm with him, but I kept writing "I'm sorry, but..." and then deleting it because fuck that, I ain't sorry. ...uh.That being said, itamazing how much women are conditioned to apologize for, like, ever having any feelings. I often have to stop myself from apologizing for reasonable shit -- I talked about this in a few roundups, but I've been seeing this guy who texts me WAY too much and doesn't respect my boundaries, and I finally had to be firm with him, but I kept writing "I'm sorry, but..." and then deleting it because fuck that, I ain't sorry. Reply Thread Link Best thing coming out of that show. Reply Parent Thread Link It's something I'm trying to work on but it's hard because other people kind of tend to resent you for it I think? Reply Parent Thread Link Eh Reply Thread Link her face looked really different in the new TMP episode Reply Thread Link Yeah not sure if she had work done, lost weight or both Reply Parent Thread Link >> Season 1 >> Season 4 Her eyebrows are so different! That'll definitely change what a face shape looks like, plus it seems like she lost a little bit of weight. I also think they figured out a better direction to go with her makeup. This isn't a great illustration of what I'm talking about, but...>>Season 1 >> Season 4 Reply Parent Thread Link Those eyebrows make her look super mad Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah, that arch is so unnecessary Reply Parent Thread Link lol i loved this part Reply Parent Thread Link Whatever. I'm all about being assertive when the situation calls for it. No apologies here. Reply Thread Link i used to work in an office was like 70% middle aged white men and its crazy the shit they could say or get away with, while of course all the women in the office were prim and proper with a smile on their face at all times. Reply Parent Thread Link I once had a manager ask me to 'smile more' in emails, after being assertive with a colleague. Reply Parent Thread Link There's a guy at my Mum's work (the only one) who's a temp. She talks about him a lot lol. He sits around applying for jobs demanding 65k (for context those doing the job he's temping at get like 40k max). He just basically does whatever he feels like, like using the therapy rooms without booking so when other people go to take their clients in they can't. Idk all the stories about him he just sounds like such a man lol. Reply Parent Thread Link did she get her lips done? Reply Parent Thread Link Yep it's so obvious when she tries to smile Reply Parent Thread Link It's super obvious too when they show her currently and then run old clips immediately afterwards. Reply Parent Thread Link omg mte, she looks like she's struggling so much to talk lol Reply Parent Thread Link Her lips looked weird at the Oscars too and here her face looks frozen. Reply Parent Thread Link lip injections? Reply Parent Thread Link her hair and lips omg Reply Parent Thread Link oh mindy, why? Reply Parent Thread Link omg who let her out of her house looking like this Reply Parent Thread Link Holly shit her lips! And is her nose different too?! D: Reply Parent Thread Link so what's BFR? Reply Parent Thread Link omg those lips arn't subtle lol Reply Parent Thread Link I try to take note of how many times I "apologize" for just being a functioning, assertive human being and not do it as much. It's frustrating that we women have to smile and be nice and are expected to be so amenable about everything, lest we come across as rude and abrasive. Reply Thread Link i hate that i reflexively apologize for things i don't need to apologize for. like recently i apologized for correcting someone when they called me the wrong name, and immediately i was like why am i apologizing for this. i'm getting better about being unapologetic about being assertive, but sometimes i catch myself apologizing for little things like that :\ Reply Thread Link This always makes me laugh walking in and out of the bathroom at work. The entrance is odd and you're either scaring the shit out of someone when you open the door, or about to get your nose bashed in by the door. There's always a bunch of "oh my gosh, I'm sorry," "excuse me, I'm sorry!" being spouted off by both people going in and out. Reply Parent Thread Link Heard this before. Don't apologise for being assertive and having a voice. Reply Thread Link The Obama administration unveiled new regulations on offshore drilling on Thursday, rules that were several years in the making. The regulations stem from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, a well blowout that resulted in the death of 11 workers and one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history. The regulations call for new well-control measures, limits the volume of fluids that can be injected into wells, and requires heightened well monitoring. Related: 70-90% Decline In Well Completions Raises Hope For Oil & Gas The oil industry pushed back against the rules, arguing that they will impose billions of dollars in new costs at a time when the industry can ill-afford them. ExxonMobil, Chevron, Anadarko and other companies have lobbied against the regulations, leading regulators to soften some requirements in the final rules compared to the original proposal from last year. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency, said in an April 13 report that all of the regulations imposed by the Obama administration in the aftermath of the 2010 blowout and oil spill do not go far enough to ensure effective industry management and control of major hazards or prevent possible future Macondo-type incidents. In fact, the agency notes, many of the measures that BP and Transocean had in place before the disaster would satisfy many of the rules established after 2010. Related: The Great Glut: Why LNG Markets Might Not Balance Before 2025 The new rules from BSEE, however, would require more tests of the blowout preventers, the equipment used to shut off a well as a last resort. The regulations also require drillers to balance the injection of drilling fluids with well pressure, with the intention preventing operators from pushing well pressure too high. ExxonMobil and other companies say the rules will impose costs as high as $25 billion over the next decade, pushing many offshore projects into unprofitably territory. Wood Mackenzie says the rules could reduce Gulf of Mexico spending by 70 percent. But the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) says that the rules will cost just $1 billion across the industry over ten years, and in any case, the rules are crucial to avoiding another disaster. By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: This is part 2 of a 4 article series on LNG, part 1 can be found here, part 3 can be found here Modern capitalism has seen many market bubbles, from the Dutch tulip bulb mania of 1634-1637, through the Wall Street crash of 1929, to the housing and mortgage crisis of 2008. In the LNG business one bubble has already run its course: the previous decades fad to build import terminals that ended up idle, in America and elsewhere. Import (regasification) terminals are expensive, though not as expensive as export (liquefaction) terminals. In 2014, a year when less than 240 Mtpa of LNG changed hands, global regasification capacity totaled 724 Mtpa. At that time too, overoptimistic promoters plans for new import terminals totaled 750 Mtpa. Although all economic bubbles have disastrous financial outcomes, they are not purely financial events. Every bubble has two parents. One is easy money, the other the illusion that the price of something, and/or the demand for it, will keep rising or stay high forever. That illusion is the descendant of yet another, which says that because many people believe and do the same thing, they must be right. And so they are, until the tide turns. Economic bubbles spread rapidly across ground prepared by those illusions, even though it is not always clear who started them. In this case one candidate is the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) which published a special report in 2011 titled: Are we entering a Golden Age of Gas? Using new assumptions that underpin a more positive outlook for gas, the special report announced a fabulous new future. By 2035 global gas demand would grow by 55 percent, with LNG increasing its share of the booming trade: Chinas gas demand rises from about the level of Germany in 2010 to match that of the entire European Union in 2035. Middle East demand almost doubles, to a level similar to Chinas in 2015, and demand in India in 2035 is four times that of today. . . . An increase in production equivalent to about three times the current production of Russia will be required simply to meet the growth of gas demand in 2035. . . . In the near term, there is an urgent need to invest in LNG capacity in some regions. (Bold added) The IEAs special report also predicted substantial growth in the use of natural gas in vehicles and as a way to cut pollution, greenhouse gases, and the use of coal and nuclear power plants. And we should not forget that 2011, the year when the IEAs report saw the light, also saw the spike in Japanese LNG demand caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. That event must have enhanced the LNG euphoria. Related: Tesla And Other Tech Giants Scramble For Lithium As Prices Double The IEAs predictions were spread by press releases, presentations, and the free distribution of the IEAs special report, all of which proclaimed the Golden Age of Gas. The press briefing was full of statements which, in my opinion, should have been more cautious than bold, since they were the opposite: Gas overtakes coal before 2030 and meets one quarter of global energy demand by 2035 demand grows by 2% annually, compared with just 1.2% for total energy. Trade in natural gas between major regions doubles to over 1 tcm by 2035 . . . In the GAS scenario, demand for gas grows more than 50% by 2035, providing over 25% of world energy . . . . . . surely a prospect to designate the Golden Age of Gas To be sure, there were a few caveats in the IEAs work. But its giddy tone and its sparing use of qualifiers like could and might and possibly could lead one to think that the agencys statisticians had flung open their windows on the Rue de la Federation in order to pelt the astonished pedestrians with their green eyeshades and sharp pencils, all while dancing on their desks, shouting: We got gas! GAS! GAS! There is a reason, besides the limited literary talents of number-crunchers, why most economic reports contain dry verbiage covered by boring titles. The world, including the world of business, is full of promoters and empire builders itching to go out on a limb, and if that limb breaks and they get hurt, its better for their consultants not to be held responsible. For those reasons the Golden Age of Gas theme struck me as reckless. It seemed to be contagious too, considering the prophecies by prominent entities like WoodMac, E&Y and the BG Group, plus the fact that for several years, plans for new LNG plants multiplied like Australian rabbits. A 2013 presentation by the BG Group showed that the LNG fever was presenting classic bubble symptoms. Here are a few quotes: LNG continues to be a high-growth industry Continued strong demand supply constrained despite US exports Fundamentals remain robust; market to remain tight Illusion of a coming buyers market To its credit, two years later the BG Group saw the light and in 2015 postponed FID on its Lake Charles LNG export terminal in Louisiana, which already had the required permits. For traders like BG it made no sense to spend billions for a new terminal when there will be plenty of existing ones, desperate to sell. Related: 70-90% Decline In Well Completions Raises Hope For Oil & Gas The IEA may deserve a smidgen of credit too, but not much. Amid an avalanche of LNG terminal construction, and an even bigger avalanche of plans for more, in early 2014 the agency tried to put some distance between itself and its Ode to Gas of 2011: QUESTION: In 2011, the IEA predicted what it called the golden age of gas, with gas production rising 50 percent over the next 25 years. What does this golden age mean for coal, oil and nuclear energyand for renewables? . . . IEA: We didnt predict a golden age of gas in 2011, we merely asked a pertinent question: namely, are we entering a golden age of gas? And we found that the potential for such a golden age certainly exists, especially given the scale of unconventional gas resources and the advances in technology that allow their extraction. But the potential for a golden age of gas hinges on a big if, and we elaborated on this in 2012 in a report called Golden Rules for a Golden Age of Gas. Exploiting the worlds vast resources of unconventional natural gas holds the key to [a] golden age of gas, we said, but for that to happen, governments, industry and other stakeholders must work together to address legitimate public concerns about the associated environmental and social impacts. With all due respect, the IEA used a lot of verbiage to dress up an oblique admission that they should not have published what they published, but especially the way they published it. What were they thinking, proclaiming a Golden Age? Regardless of the fiasco, the IEAs executive director boasted of her agencys expertise and influence: . . . the IEA has evolved and expanded over the last 40 years. I like to think of the IEA today as the global energy authority. We are at the heart of global dialogue on energy, providing authoritative statistics, analysis and recommendations. This applies both to our member countries as well as to the key emerging economies that are driving most of the growth in energy demand and with whom we cooperate on an increasingly active basis. More than a year later, in June 2015, the IEA officially reduced its optimistic projections for gas, explaining that: . . . the belief that Asia will take whatever quantity of gas at whatever price is no longer a given. The experience of the past two years has opened the gas industry's eyes to a harsh reality: in a world of very cheap coal and falling costs for renewables, it was difficult for gas to compete. The IEA director admitted that . . . markets are not always predictable, and times change. She urged the industry . . . to adapt to a new reality, and accept prices that better reflect market fundamentals. And what applied to gas applied even more to LNG. In December 2015 the Browse project off the coast of Australia was postponed. As some observers noted: . . . project postponement, whether officially announced or simply the reality, may be tantamount to a cancellation in due course. Related: Natural Gas Trading Strategies The Browse project had incurred considerable costs, but at least it could still be postponed. Other Australian projects are too far along, but have incurred huge construction cost overruns. Those sunk costs will increase their eagerness to ship LNG, as long as they can cover at least their operating expenses. In 2018, when Australias export capacity is predicted to reach 86 Mtpa, that country will be the worlds biggest LNG supplier, replacing Qatar which despite or because of its huge gas reserves has made a political decision to impose a moratorium on expanding liquefaction capacity beyond its current 77 Mtpa. While it seems unlikely that the experts expected the extreme Japanese spot prices of 2011-2013 to persist, they did predict continuing growth of global LNG trade. But during the 5 flat years deflated those predictions, as seen in this table from part (1). To make their projections, E&Y had used data from multiple sources. I assume WoodMac had done the same, which means that both consultants had the benefit of opinions and data on sales and contracts and shipments from people in the LNG trade. That is not an unusual process in the consulting business, and sound up to a point. That point is passed when you start relying too much on conventional opinion. Most people, and most businessmen, get comfortable with the way things are, start assuming they will continue, and may transmit their complacency, or their enthusiasm, to visiting consultants. Result: when the bubble bursts everyone is caught by surprise, and denial may well continue until the bills come due. We will continue to ponder the viability of the LNG consultants projections for 2016, and beyond, in part (3). 1IGU World LNG Report 2015 Edition ?, p. 6. 2 Are we entering a golden age of gas? Special Report WORLD ENERGY OUTLOOK 2011, IEA International Energy Agency, pp 7-8. 3 The Golden Age of Gas, Possibly: Interview with the IEA. OilPrice.com, February 7, 2014. 4 Ibid., The Golden Age of Gas, Possibly 5 http://www.iea.org/newsroomandevents/pressreleases/2015/june/despite-decline-in-oil-prices-natural-gas-demand-outlook-revised-down.html 6 http://www.iea.org/media/speeches/mvdh/150604_MTGMR_Presentation_Speech.pdf 7 Australia's Woodside postpones decision on Browse LNG project Reuters, Dec 16, 2014. 8 Philip Weems & Monica Hwang: The Top 10 Questions Facing the LNG Industry in 2016, Energy Law Exchange, January 12, 2016. 9 Ledesma, Henderson & Palmer: The Future of Australian LNG exports: Will domestic challenges limit the development of future LNG export capacity?, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, September 2014; p. 1-5.. By Wim de Vriend for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: We shared the news about a forthcoming restaurant from Milwaukee chefs Dan Van Rite of Hinterland and Daniel Jacobs of Odd Duck in February. Now weve learned that the restaurant, which will be called DanDan, will be a modern Chinese-American restaurant that has sights set on an opening in mid-July. Originally, Van Rite and Jacobs hoped to purchase Hinterland Erie Street Gastropub; however, when terms could not be reached on a lease for the space, the partners turned to the current restaurant location at 360 E. Erie St. in the former site of Tulip, the Turkish restaurant which closed in July 2015. According to Jacobs, details of the menu are still in development. However, the chefs describe it as a restaurant with "a Chinese soul with a Midwestern sensibility," and Jacobs notes that it's likely to include a variety of noodle dishes, pancakes, dumplings and house-made sauces, all made with a focus on local ingredients from area farms. The name, a play on the two chefs names as well as the noodle dish with origins in Chinese Szechuan cuisine, reveals a bit about the spirited, fun atmosphere with which the two accomplished chefs hope to infuse the new restaurant. The space will also reflect a fun themed interior. Renderings from the design team show red and black accents, table, bar-side and banquette seating. The proposed capacity is 125 in the main dining area, with up to an additional 30 seats on the patio. A second phase in the build-out for DanDan will include a "restaurant within a restaurant." The second concept, which will provide an outlet for both chefs to create innovative and creative dishes, will resemble a chefs table or "dinner party," according to Jacobs, and will feature a menu that departs from the Chinese American theme. The concept which will bear its own unique name and a private entrance will operate primarily on weekends, offering up to 20 guests a tasting menu style experience. DanDan will be open Tuesday through Saturday, opening initially with dinner service only and adding lunch, carryout and delivery at a later time. Jacobs also notes that, prior to the restaurants opening, DanDan will be hosting a series of pop-up preview dinners at locations around town during the months of May and June. For more information, visit dandanmke.com or follow the restaurant on Twitter and Facebook. Also watch OnMilwaukee for additional details, including previews of the menu and space, as they develop. ghostdanceshirt (Image by 1onewolf.com) Details DMCA I just read this piece on fracking and it stirred me. When people of spirituality fail to rise up and fight the horrors of false spirituality and dangerous ignorance powered by the false god named "Faith"; a hole opens up in human consciousness that cannot be filled. Like a Black Hole it draws everything into itself: swallowing, gulping, destroying. When people in government choose to Lie, Distort, Obfuscate, Pander, Deny, Falsify, Deligitimize and Obstruct based on false ideology and religion; a hole opens up in human consciousness that cannot be filled. Like a Black Hole it draws everything into itself: swallowing, gulping, destroying. When governments commit murder, ecological destruction and deny Creation; a hole opens up in human consciousness that cannot be filled. Like a Black Hole it draws everything into itself: swallowing, gulping, destroying. When people of Science deny Science; a hole opens up in human consciousness that cannot be filled. Like a Black Hole it draws everything into itself: swallowing, gulping, destroying. Hydraulic fracking is the perverse, unimaginable act of a society that has completely lost its way. It is the sick brother of nuclear technology. It is so obviously wrong and the fact that it can be justified on the grounds of "economic growth" is proof that our leaders are woefully lost and flailing about for answers to the wrong questions. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Bopal, British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Dresden, 9/11 -- but a few examples of of the depravity of men looking for answers to the wrong questions. We, citizens of the world, are at a crossroads. Do we comfortably vote for and allow the status quo to continue or do we take the other way -- the way of humanity connected to Creation and each other? Hillary Clinton is a representative of those that continually ask the wrong questions. Bernie Sanders is trying to ask the right questions. It is as much now, we are very early in the societal paradigm shift, about asking the right questions as about having answers. Society is coming full circle. The Age of Enlightenment ushered in the Modern World. The historic role of medicine men and shamans was ended -- the sterile religion based upon man's dominion over the earth won the day and predominated. Fracking is the natural outcome of man seeing himself as the Lord of the world. One must simply look at the depraved and destructive rule of despots throughout history to imagine the final outcome of our present course. I was very attracted to Native American Spirituality early on. I was raised by a grandfather that told stories that contained messages. He had a biblical foundation. I was an iconoclastic, metaphysical young fellow -- I could connect with stories of coyote and spider. The extreme sadness I felt when reading about the massacre of Native Americans at Wounded Knee was even more poignant for my young self because it was, in part, initiated by a story (The Ghost Dance) told by a shaman called Wavoka that promised a devastated people a new beginning and hope. Bernie is trying to tell such a story. Corrupt governments don't like stories that offer hope and redemption based on opposition to the status quo. Hillary is painting Bernie as a Dreamer, unrealistic. Hillary is not aware of it but she is a product of Wounded Knee. She wants to kill the story. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Reprinted from Smirking Chimp Kai Newkirk, one of the organizers of the march, appeared on this program and told me about its goals. Democracy Spring activists are calling on Congress to take action right now on a group of different bills that would take money out of politics once and for all. All of this is part of a massive, nonviolent campaign to save our democracy from oligarchy. The marchers are part of a movement called Democracy Spring and Democracy Awakening, and today they staged a sit-in at the Capitol building. They plan on camping out there through the end of the week. On Sunday, thousands of activists from around the country arrived right here in Washington, DC, after a 10-day long, 140-mile march from Philadelphia. The fight against corporate control over our democracy is, of course, the same fight that Bernie Sanders is fighting right now in his presidential campaign. But it's also the same fight that the founders fought more than 200 years ago when they rebelled against the British empire and created our constitutional republic. They just called it something different -- they called it the fight against "faction." James Madison, the author of the US Constitution, talked at length about the dangers of faction in "Federalist Paper Number 10." First defining faction as, "[A] number of citizens ... who are united and ... adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community," he then warned that, "The instability, injustice, and confusion introduced [by faction] into the public councils, have, in truth, been the mortal diseases under which popular governments have everywhere perished." Many historians have interpreted Madison's words as a warning about the dangers posed by political parties. And while that's probably partially true, it's not the whole story. A faction, as Madison understood the term, was any special interest that was "adverse [in opposition to] to the... interests of the community." This could mean a political party that cared about its own success more than the success of the republic as a whole, but it could also mean a pressure group like the shipping industry or, to pick a more modern example, the fossil fuel industry. This fear of faction was well-grounded in historical fact. Madison was a student of history, and he didn't want our fledgling republic to go down the road of ancient Rome and ancient Greece, which both collapsed after being taken over by powerful special interests. Libertarians have traditionally opposed calls for "public financing" of elections, as well as the current system under which candidates can receive "matching funds" from the Federal Election Commission. In 1996, Libertarian Party nominee-apparent Harry Browne mused about applying for such funding, refusing to commit one way or another until, at the party's national convention, someone in the crowd screamed "SAY IT! SAY IT!" at him and he begrudgingly announced he wouldn't seek a government welfare check. And that was the end of that " for the next 16 years, anyway When former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson dropped out of the 2012 Republican nomination contest and sought the Libertarian nomination instead, some party activists were concerned about his campaign debt (as of April 2012) of about $150,000. No problem, said Johnson. He'd qualify for matching funds and pay off that debt. Qualify he did, receiving more than $600,000 in political welfare. But it turned out his actual debt had been six times as much as originally reported -- more than a million dollars -- and his campaign committee ended the general election campaign more than $1.5 million in debt. In 2016, Johnson is back for a second run on the Libertarian ticket and is thus far the closest thing to a media darling the party has ever enjoyed. But the $1.5 million debt remains unpaid. And on April 5, the Federal Election Commission notified Johnson and his campaign that it wants a good chunk of that 2012 welfare check back. It deems more than $330,000 in "matching funds" to have been improperly spent. The campaign has 30 days to cough up. What was shaping up as a banner year for a credible third party presidential campaign seems to be going south for Gary Johnson -- and for the Libertarian Party, if it nominates him next month at its national convention in Orlando. Fortunately, the party has other options. Among others, software tycoon John McAfee, libertarian talk radio host Darryl W. Perry, and former Fox producer Austin Petersen have offered themselves up as presidential prospects. As a long-time partisan Libertarian, I'd hate to see my party set itself up to come in a distant fourth place this November, behind likely Green Party nominee Jill Stein. That's already a distinct possibility given the likelihood that Bernie Sanders's supporters will desert a Hillary Clinton Democratic campaign for Stein. It will get a lot more likely if the Libertarian Party nominates a political welfare queen who can't balance his campaign's checkbook. As the Battle of New York looms, an underground shadow war flirts with High Noon. After nearly one year, the FBI has finally investigated the treasure trove contained in Hillary Clinton's subterranean private email server. The FBI has refused to release any records. Remember, this is a criminal investigation. Former State Department IT official Bryan Pagliano -- who essentially set up Clinton's personal server -- was granted immunity in exchange for cooperating with the FBI's investigation. A whodunit applies on whether Pagliano was told this server might be the conduit of secret State Department communications as well as top secret National Security issues. The timeline of the Clinton subterranean homesick server blues does raise eyebrows. The story first broke in March 2013, when Romanian hacker "Guccifer" leaked four intercepted Sidney Blumenthal e-mails -- related to Libya and Benghazi -- to selected global media outlets. Only RT -- routinely denounced in the US as a Kremlin propaganda arm published them at the time. It took the New York Times a hefty two years to report that Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, used a private email account. Now Forbes comes out all guns blazing: "The Kremlin's cyber warfare army has had ample opportunity to steal Clinton's entire e-mail cache (including 31,830 'private' e-mails). Such hacking would likely have taken place before the Kremlin's propaganda arm, RT (Russia Today), published Sidney Blumenthal's e-mails to Clinton on March 20, 2013, presumably sending out alarms at that late date to Clinton to secure her private server. The Clinton cache of e-mail correspondence in the hands of the Kremlin or other hostile intelligence agencies could represent one of America's greatest intelligence disasters, giving Vladimir Putin the opportunity to determine the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election or, barring that, to cast a cloud over a Clinton presidency." Away from Putin now cast as The Great Elector, the crucial player is Pagliano. This is entering Grand Jury investigation territory. The Department of Justice (DoJ) -- to which the FBI is subordinated -- cannot grant immunity; only federal judges can, when formally requested by a DoJ prosecutor. And that, in itself, is a big deal. The FBI team, led by Director James Comey, together with DoJ prosecutors, is now on overdrive. There will be interviews ahead. Possibly in a matter of days or weeks. And one of them will feature Comey talking to Hillary Clinton in person. There will be, essentially, two answers to the key question. Either Hillary Clinton ignored the rules of the secrecy game. Or she willfully breached the rules. The undisputed top reason for the existence of the subterranean private server was for Hillary Clinton to keep her emails, well, secret, and thus not subjected to freedom of information laws. Clinton even had a request for a government Blackberry denied by the NSA in 2009. Yet immediately afterwards she was busy on a Blackberry using private email accounts to contact State Department staff. Legitimate questions in this case include whether the subterranean server was protected against hacking. And whether State Department information morphed into Clinton Foundation information. The Queen of Libya If we follow journalism's golden rule, widely praised by Alex Cockburn, of never trusting anything unless it's officially denied, President Obama may have -- inadvertently -- placed Clinton in a world of grief. The President "guaranteed" on Fox News that there will be "no political influence" from the White House. At the same time, what he said could be legitimately deconstructed as a sort of message to both the FBI and the DoJ.; "She would never intentionally put America in any kind of jeopardy." Nothing "intentional" then; it was just "carelessness." After the upcoming interviews, Comey will have to make his recommendation to Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Exoneration or indictment? Now picture both Comey and Lynch confronted with the -- highly politicized -- presidential message. Obama insisted it was "carelessness." Let's assume they opt for exoneration. Public perception that Comey and Lynch must have been influenced by the presidential message will inevitably fall like a ton of -- legal -- bricks. Interview with Diana Johnstone, author of Queen of Chaos My guest today is Diana Johnstone, journalist and author. JB: Welcome to OpEdNews, Diana. I recently had a great interview with Coleen Rowley about why she is adamantly against the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. She advised me to speak with you, that you had some spectacular insight on this topic. And, indeed, your most recent book is Queen of Chaos [Counterpunch, 2015]. Ralph Nader said of it, "Veteran journalist Diana Johnstone captures the imperial worldview of Hillary Clinton in memorable detail. Hillary the Hawk, as U.S. Senator and Secretary of State, never saw a weapons systems she did not support nor a U.S. war practice she did not endorse." Diana, where would you like to begin? Diana Johnstone (Image by courtesy of Diana Johnstone) Details DMCA DJ: Let's start with the current primary elections, which are unexpectedly interesting thanks to Bernie Sanders' surprising success in his challenge to the establishment's chosen candidate, Hillary Clinton. In my book, I stress that the power of money in the form of gigantic campaign contributions (especially since Citizens United) is a major factor in replacing democracy by oligarchy. The current Democratic primaries are tending to put that assertion to the test. Should Bernie Sanders win the nomination over Hillary Clinton, clearly the darling of Wall Street, that would show that popular enthusiasm can still defeat the power of Wall Street. I would enjoy being proved wrong. JB: Yes, we would all love to believe that an outsider with principles can trump money. DJ: In any case, my book will remain timely, because it is mainly a critique of all that is wrong about current US foreign policy. The issue is largely neglected even though it is the most crucial, because the way things are going, Washington risks leading the world into nuclear war. JB: Nuclear war?! Talk about starting the interview off with a bang! Before we head in that direction, Diana, let's deal specifically with the case you make against Hillary Clinton whom you dubbed Queen of Chaos. That's particularly relevant to our readers in this primary season. In spite of Bernie Sanders' miraculous and consistent wins, eight out of the last nine primaries and caucuses, Hillary continues to be perceived as the inevitable nominee. So, please state your case. DJ: I start off with a bang because the situation today is dangerous. I wrote this book essentially as a warning. Two things in particular inspired me to write this book. One was the totally unjustified war that destroyed Libya, a country I happen to have visited and know something about. Most people are totally unaware how much falsification was used to justify that war. Hillary pushed Obama into that war and is quite ready to use it as model for further "regime change" in countries whose leaders she doesn't like. The other thing that inspired me was the totally disproportionate hostility aroused against Vladimir Putin and Russia as a result of the Ukrainian crisis, which was incited largely by Washington and the European Union. That hostility was already brewing, and Hillary has kept it stirring. These events are part of a trend toward a much greater war than people today think possible. At this moment, NATO is engaged in a huge military buildup that is clearly aimed at Russia, with manoeuvres and exercises right up to the Russian border, at the same time that politicians and media are engaged in Russia-bashing that sounds like nothing other than pre-war propaganda. Yet only a few people seem properly alarmed. I can name a few: John Pilger, Stephen Cohen, Ralph Nader. But the media and the politicians ignore this danger, and make a huge fuss about dangers that are very minor compared to a war between NATO and Russia. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). I received an email today (April 13, 2016) from The Progressive Turnout Pac , which announced that President Obama is seeking a "secure" way for the public to vote online. The email said, "Last month President Obama announced his support for exploring secure ways to vote online, so that anyone with a smartphone can exercise their democratic responsibility." I have to admit that whenever President Obama puts forth an idea that he wants to see happen because it will "make things great for the American people", I become very leery. Just like his idea to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq way too soon, and his idea to get on board with the TPP; his idea of opening the internet to "secure" voting is equally as suspicious. Obama is kidding, right? There not a computer that a country and not even the Pentagon have proven to be un-hackable. Recently the FBI put the Apple CEO through hell trying to force Apple to create a program that would allow them to hack any phone, any time and for any reason. The FBI even sued Apple, only to drop the suit later because they found someone who hacked the phone they wanted opened, which left the matter moot. This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here. [Note for TomDispatch Readers: As you know, in return for a donation of $100 ($125 if you live outside the U.S.), we've been offering signed, personalized copies of Andrew Bacevich's groundbreaking new book, America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History. Many thanks to those of you who already contributed. Your books will be in the mail soon and your donations really do help keep us chugging along! If you meant to get a copy and haven't yet, the offer is only open until Sunday, so check out our donation page soon for the details. Tom] At the moment, there are a maximum of 3,870 U.S. military personnel (or 7,740 actual boots on the ground) in Iraq supporting the war against the Islamic State. That's the "official cap" imposed by the Obama administration, because everyone knows that the president and his top officials are eager to end American wars in the Middle East, not expand them. Of course, that number doesn't include the other 1,130 American military types (or 2,260 boots) -- give or take we don't know how many -- who just happen to be there on what's called... er, um... "temporary deployments," or are the result of overlap from rotating deployments, but add up to perhaps 5,000 trainers and advisers, or maybe, for all we know, more, including 200 Special Operations forces whose numbers are officially acknowledged by no one but mentioned in press reports. And naturally that 5,000 figure doesn't include the American private contractors also flowing into Iraq in growing numbers to support the U.S. military because everyone knows that they aren't either troops or boots on the ground and so don't get counted. Those are the rules. Do keep in mind that this time around the whole American on-the-ground operation couldn't be more limited. Though the numbers of U.S. trainers, advisers, and Special Ops types continue to creep up, they are, at least, helping the Iraqi military reconstitute itself on Iraqi bases. In other words, this round of Washington's Iraq wars bears no relation to the last one (2003-2011), when the Pentagon had its private contractors build hundreds of U.S. bases, ranging in size from American towns to tiny combat outposts. This time, the U.S. military has no bases of its own, not a single one... er, um... at least it didn't until recently when an American Marine, a specialist in firing field artillery, died in an Islamic State rocket attack on what turned out to be an all-American Marine outpost, Fire Base Bell, in the northern part of the country. The artillery operations he was involved in supporting the Iraqi army in its (stalled) drive on the country's second largest city, Mosul, are not, however, "combat operations" because it's well established that no American troops, Special Ops units possibly excepted, are in combat in that country (or Syria). In fact, U.S. officials point out that artillery doesn't really count as combat. It's more like U.S. air operations against the Islamic State except... er, um... it takes place on the ground. And by the way, according to Nancy Youssef of the Daily Beast, the U.S. actually has two bases in Iraq (the other in al-Anbar Province) and is planning to add more in the future, but these will most certainly not be old-style "fire bases." In fact, the one where that Marine died has already been renamed the Kara Soar Counter Fire Complex and it seems that any future... er, um... post established in Iraq will also be a "counter fire complex," not a base, and will only engage in air-strike-style operations on or just above the... um... ground. And the reason for that has nothing to do with the possible reaction of Americans to the new realities of Iraq. As Youssef points out, it's the fault of the touchy Iraqis: "The new name notably did not include the word 'base,' as some Iraqis fear the return of any U.S. footprint that resembles the eight-year war that began with the 2003 invasion." In this spirit of renaming, the Pentagon and the Obama administration follow in a proud American linguistic tradition. As the Bush administration was completing its invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq in April 2003, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon was planning to build at least four major installations for the future garrisoning of that country, though "permanent bases" was a phrase being avoided at all costs. ("[T]here will probably never be an announcement of permanent stationing of troops," wrote the Times reporters.) At the Pentagon, these massive outposts were instead labeled "enduring camps." And tradition matters. So all is well in... er, um... that country in the Fertile Crescent. You know the one I mean. It's true that, in these years, American English has taken some casualties, but the good news is that none of these have happened "in combat." Just think of them as necessary adjustments to an increasingly difficult-to-describe world, one that TomDispatchregular retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel William Astore catches to a T in today's post on this country's post-9/11 war of words. Tom What's the Meaning of Failure? A Dictionary of Euphemisms for Imperial Decline By William J. Astore The dishonesty of words illustrates the dishonesty of America's wars. Since 9/11, can there be any doubt that the public has become numb to the euphemisms that regularly accompany U.S. troops, drones, and CIA operatives into Washington's imperial conflicts across the Greater Middle East and Africa? Such euphemisms are meant to take the sting out of America's wars back home. Many of these words and phrases are already so well known and well worn that no one thinks twice about them anymore. Here are just a few: collateral damage for killed and wounded civilians (a term used regularly since the First Gulf War of 1990-1991). Enhanced interrogation techniques for torture, a term adopted with vigor by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and the rest of their administration ("techniques" that were actually demonstrated in the White House). Extraordinary rendition for CIA kidnappings of terror suspects off global streets or from remote badlands, often followed by the employment of enhanced interrogation techniques at U.S. black sites or other foreign hellholes. Detainees for prisoners and detention camp for prison (or, in some cases, more honestly, concentration camp), used to describe Guanta'namo (Gitmo), among other places established offshore of American justice. Targeted killings for presidentially ordered drone assassinations. Boots on the ground for yet another deployment of "our" troops (and not just their boots) in harm's way. Even the Bush administration's Global War on Terror, its label for an attempt to transform the Greater Middle East into a Pax Americana, would be redubbed in the Obama years overseas contingency operations (before any attempt at labeling was dropped for a no-name war pursued across major swathes of the planet). As euphemisms were deployed to cloak that war's bitter and brutal realities, over-the-top honorifics were assigned to America's embattled role in the world. Exceptional, indispensable, and greatest have been the three words most commonly used by presidents, politicians, and the gung ho to describe this country. Once upon a time, if Americans thought this way, they felt no need to have their presidents and presidential candidates actually say so -- such was the confidence of the golden age of American power. So consider the constant redeployment of these terms a small measure of America's growing defensiveness about itself, its sense of doubt and decline rather than strength and confidence. To what end this concerted assault on the words we use? In George Orwell's classic 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language," he noted that his era's equivalents for "collateral damage" were "needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them." Obviously, not much has changed in the intervening seven decades. And this is, as Orwell intuited, a dangerous way to go. Cloaking violent, even murderous actions in anodyne language might help a few doubting functionaries sleep easier at night, but it should make the rest of us profoundly uneasy. The more American leaders and officials -- and the media that quotes them endlessly -- employ such euphemisms to cloak harsh realities, the more they ensure that such harshness will endure; indeed, that it is likely to grow harsher and more pernicious as we continue to settle into a world of euphemistic thinking. The Emptiness of Acronyms In the future, some linguist or lexicographer will doubtless compile a dictionary of perpetual war and perhaps (since they may be linked) imperial decline, focusing on the grim processes and versions of failure language can cloak. It would undoubtedly explore how certain words and rhetorical devices were used in twenty-first-century America to obscure the heavy burdens that war placed on the country, even as they facilitated its continuing failed conflicts. It would obviously include classic examples like surge, used in both Iraq and Afghanistan to obscure the way our government rushed extra troops into a battle zone in a moment of failure only ensuring the extension of that failure, and the now-classic phrase shock and awe that obscured the reality of a massive air strike on Baghdad that resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians ("collateral damage"), but not the "decapitation" of a hated regime. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Marsha is a resident of the State of Florida. She graduated from Miami-Dade CC in 1975 when college was so low cost that it was not hard to work & pay her own way. She has always been a strong advocate for democracy for all, and have always been opposed to racism of any kind. I believe the time is right to make major corrections to the U.S. Constitution so that the polarization that has been occurring in our country for many years, but very much more so in recent years can be addressed with some degree of success. Voting right must be a Constitutional right for all Americans, even those in jail. Today, it is not. Laws governing lobbiests, how they can conduct themselves either publicly or privately, must have guidelines. And no lobbiest should ever be allowed to hold any government office. Money in politics should never be allowed to be the linchpin under which our courts make decisions. School systems nationwide should be required to teach nothing but the truth. Slanted educations from one state to another in a country where moving from one state to another is a common occurrence is unfair to a young mind. Each state has its own history which should be taught fairly, but as to governmental history, the history should not be allowed to change factually from one state to another. She had the advantage of living under the New Deal and can promise anyone who did not have that advantage that it does, indeed, work. It worked very well. Taxes are not and never have been the culprit in this economy. It is the lack of taxes and rigging of the democratic system by both parties causing the great divide between the haves and have nots. Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities Gov. Kate Brown Must Stand Up for Counties and Communities Advocates for rural Oregon say the Bureau of Land Managements final proposed Resource Management Plan for Western Oregon will cost rural jobs, threaten public services and leave forests more vulnerable to wildfire, insects and disease. In seeking to adopt a new management plan before President Obama leaves office, they say the agency ignored pleas by county leaders, Oregons business and labor communities, and newspapers across the state to produce a plan that better serves our rural communities. If adopted, the plan will guide future management of over 2.5 million acres of BLM timberlands in Western Oregon, including over 2 million acres of O&C forest lands. The final proposed RMPs released Tuesday would put 75 percent of the O&C land base into reserves, leaving just 19 percent for regular timber harvests. This will severely limit opportunities for timber, fuels reduction and county revenues for essential services, especially in Southwest Oregon where all are needed the most. Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities Executive Director Nick Smith says fewer timber harvests and forest health projects on O&C lands will have serious consequences for the rural economy and county governments dominated by federal lands. As more details emerge, it will be clear that the Bureau of Land Management has once again turned its back on rural Oregonians, Smith said. This is yet another example of an out of touch federal government, fueling the kind of rural frustration that garnered national attention after the Malheur standoff. The new plan is intended to replace the Clinton-era Northwest Forest Plan, which promised a reliable timber supply to support rural economies but was never successfully implemented because of agency inaction, litigation and obstruction that commonly stymie projects. Smith says the BLM is essentially doubling-down on a flawed approach that has produced high unemployment, rural poverty and the decimation of the rural safety net. Meanwhile, he says northern spotted owl populations will continue to decline, and forests and wildlife habitat will continue to succumb to catastrophic wildfire. The BLMs proposed plan once again demonstrates the need for a congressional solution that supports our Western Oregon rural communities, Smith said. But at this point in the process, rural Oregon needs Gov. Kate Brown to stand up and call out the agency for its failure to honor the O&C Act and its mandate and responsibility under federal law to manage these lands for the benefit of Oregonians. Over the coming weeks we will be urging the Governor to take action to protect the people she represents. With the release of the proposed plan and Environmental Impact Statement, a 30-day protest period will now begin for those who provided comment to the BLM during the planning process last year. The release also initiates the formal Governors Consistency Review, which entitles the states chief executive to file an administrative appeal raising inconsistencies between the plan and applicable state and local laws and policies. Click here to visit the website for Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities (HFHC) a non-profit, non-partisan grassroots coalition of over 70,000 citizens concerned about the management of our federal forests. HFHC advocates for congressional action on reforms that restore the health of our forests and rural communities. 14-year imprisonment linked to terrorism through Internet or mobile ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday approved the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2016, which proposed 14-year imprisonment or Rs50 million fine or both for those linked to terrorism through the Internet or mobile. Penalty of one-year imprisonment and fine worth Rs100 million would be imposed in case someone supports banned outfits and hate speech. The Bill stated that access to data of sensitive installations without permission would result in five years of imprisonment or fine worth Rs5 million. Hacking, counterfeiting e-mail or any account and unauthorised use of SIM cards would result in three years of imprisonment or fine worth Rs0.5 million. Interference in information statistics would result in two years of imprisonment and fine worth Rs0.5 million. The government has announced establishment of computer emergency response teams to counter any cyber attack on a government information system. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) protested for not including some of their amendments to the bill. Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman Khan presented the bill with clause-by-clause reading along with several amendments. The Senate must approve the bill before it is signed into law. The draconian bill, which has been criticised by the IT industry and civil society for curbing human rights and giving overreaching powers to law enforcement agencies, was submitted to the NA for voting in Jan 2015 by the Ministry of IT. It was referred to the NA Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication to address concerns raised by the opposition members and stakeholders from the industry. The standing committee cleared the draft cyber crime bill in September and then it was forwarded to the NA for final approval, without showing to the members a copy of the bill. According to the critics, the proposed bill criminalises activities such as sending text messages without the receivers consent or criticising the government actions on social media with fine and long-term imprisonment. Industry representatives have argued that the bill would harm business as well. Online criticism of religion, the state, its courts and the armed forces could invoke official intervention under the bill. The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2016 has extended special protection to women. Whoever, with a malicious intent, knowingly and publicly, exhibits, displays or transmits any electronic communication that harms the reputation of a woman, causes sexual harassment to a woman, superimposes a photograph of a woman over sexually explicit images or distorts the face of a woman, will face the consequences.Political criticism and political expression in the form of analysis, commentary, blog, cartoon, caricature and meme has been criminalised. Obscene or immoral messages on Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms have been made offences without defining obscenity or immorality, thus giving sweeping powers to investigating agencies to implicate anyone on these charges. According to the bill, currently Pakistan has no law to comprehensively deal with the growing threat of cyber crime. The centuries old criminal justice legal framework was inadequate and ill equipped to address the sophisticated online threats of the 21st century cyber age. The introduction of this legislation would effectively prevent cyber crimes and contribute to national security. Both the opposition and the treasury benches termed the passage of the bill a great achievement. The House also passed the Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2014 and the Foreigners (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The parliamentary secretary for finance presented the Second Quarterly Report for the year 2015-16 of the Central Board of Directors of the State Bank of Pakistan on the state of the Pakistani economy. Parliamentary Secretary for Industries and Production Rao Ajmal moved a calling attention notice in the National Assembly and said that Rs26 billion corruption had been detected at the Pakistan Steel Mills. Action against corruption is National Accountability Bureaus discretion and his department can do nothing about corruption, he said. Ajmal said the Pakistan Steel Mills had been closed for eight months. The Sindh government proposed buying the corporation, but there was no progress on this issue yet. He said that 13,000 extra workers were a burden on the Pakistan Steel Mills. Ayyan Ali allowed to travel abroad ISLAMABAD: Supermodel Ayyan Ali heaved a sigh of relief, as the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed her to travel abroad. The Supreme Court upheld the Sindh High Courts verdict and directed the Ministry of Interior to remove Alis name from the Exit Control List (ECL). A three-member bench of the top court headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan announced the verdict against the plea filed by the government that challenged SHCs decision about removal of Alis from the ECL. Customs officials arrested Ali at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad on March 14 last year when she was found in possession of $506,800. Customs officials charged her under Section 156(1)(viii) and Section 2(s)(ii) of the Customs Act, Section 8 of the FER Act and Section 3(1) of the Import and Export (Control) Act, 1950. The government put the models name on the ECL and stated that it was its prerogative to place the name of anyone on the ECL if he or she is involved in corruption. The top court observed in its five-page judgement that mere pendency of a criminal case could not be a justification for restricting Alis movement. The court said that it had never been the plea of the government that Ali was involved in any of the cases listed in Rule 2 of the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Rules, 2010 in general or Rule 2(1)(b) in particular. She had not been charged with embezzling huge government funds or committing institutional fraud. In the absence of any such allegations, we dont think the respondents movement could be prohibited under the Ordinance or the Rules mentioned above, stated the detailed judgement authored by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan. The top appellant court observed in its judgement that the governments apprehensions about removal of Alis name from the ECL were misplaced because her attendance could still be enforced by the trial court in conformity with the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. We, however, dont agree with the argument of counsel for Ali that remedy by way of review is inadequate or illusory because such argument would tend to defeat the letter and spirit of Article 199 of the Constitution which provides that a High Court may, if it is satisfied that no other adequate remedy is provided by law, on the application of any aggrieved party, make an order. The words used in the Article cannot be lightly ignored or overlooked, the judgement further stated. Five former senior judges refused Panama Leak Investigation: Nisar Ali ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday said the government had contacted former senior judges of the apex court, including former chief justices, to head the inquiry commission that will probe the Sharif familys involvement in the offshore investments. The minister read out five names of former Supreme Court justices Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Tasadiq Jilani, Justice Amirul Mulk Mengal, Justice Sahir Ali and Justice Tanvir Ahmad Khan all of whom, he said, had been contacted by the government to head the investigation related to Panama leak. But all of these judges after taking some time to think over the matter, refused to lead the commission without giving any reasons, he said. If the government was not interested in transparency, why would it go ahead and request these renowned judges to lead the investigation? he asked. But, he lamented, these former judges are reluctant to become part of the probe due to the political scenario in the wake of the data leak. Nisar criticised all opposition figures who, he said, were resorting to cheap tactics to gain political mileage. Inhumane criticism for political point scoring should be abandoned, he said. Nisar said that the prime minister had been suffering from heart problem for the past many years which exacerbated in the past two to three months. He had taken time from doctors earlier as well, but he could not attend his appointments. Now he had, on my advice, agreed to go on a separate visit for medical treatment. Full-time bed rest has been advised and thus a stopover in Moscow instead of the direct flight, he said, and added, All of us [at the airport this morning] were in agreement that he should return as soon as doctors advised him to. If the PM wanted an excuse to leave the country, he could have gone to attend the OIC conference in Turkey and gone to London from there, he said. On my advice, he scheduled a separate visit just for the medical treatment. The minister regretted that some politicians, educated and civilized people and intellectuals are indulging in conjectures and doing politics on health condition of the PM. He categorically rejected that the prime minister was visiting London to meet any political figure. He urged the opposition to refrain from point scoring on medical issues and said that the prime minister would return to Pakistan soon. He said that opposition parties must not target government under the garb of Panama leaks. The government is ready to investigate the matter in consultation with the opposition parties, he said, adding that in case opposition wants an FIA-led probe, the government is ready for it too. If keeping foreign property is unlawful for the prime ministers family, it also applies to Imran Khan, Asif Zardari and all others, he said.Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz will respond themselves to allegations of offshore companies, he said, adding that government has nothing to do with this matter. About PTIs rally in Islamabad, the interior minister said that government was ready to allow the PTI to hold a rally anywhere in Islamabad other than Red Zone. Pak Turk need joint efforts to tackle challenges confronting Muslim Ummah: Mamnoon Hussain ISTANBUL: President Mamnoon Hussain and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wednesday urged the need of joint efforts to tackle challenges confronting Muslim Ummah. The two leaders, who met on the sidelines of the 13th Islamic Summit of the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) being hosted by Turkey from April 10 to 15, also discussed the matters of bilateral relations and exchanged views on regional and international issues. President Mamnoon and President Erdogan also agreed to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation in diverse areas including trade, economy, energy, infrastructure for the mutual benefit of the two brotherly countries. Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Ambassador of Pakistan to Turkey Sohail Mehmood and senior officials were also present in the meeting. Describing the current trade volume with Turkey as very low, he urged the need to take the trade level that commensurate with the close political ties. He appreciated the growing participation of Turkish companies in energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan. The president also sought Turkish investment in several sectors including low-cost housing, food procession and others. He highly appreciated Turkeys active role in the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir and the arrangements made by Turkey for its meeting in Istanbul. He reaffirmed Pakistans support on issues of vital importance to Turkey including Northern Cyprus. The president also urged the need of efforts for maintaining unity and solidarity among the OIC member states. He appreciated Turkey for hosting the first World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul on May 23, and assured the Turkish president that Pakistan would be well represented at the summit. Later, President Mamnoon also attended a dinner hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. RAW made special cell to sabotage CPEC ISLAMABAD: Indian intelligence agency RAW has established a special cell at its Head Quarters in New Delhi to sabotage China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and the plan is executed via Afghanistan, said Secretary Defence Gen (retd) Alam Khattak on Wednesday. RAW and Afghan NDS have launched joint secret operations against Pakistan by using three Indian consulates in Jalalabad, Kandahar and Mazar e Sharif, said secretary defence. The three consulates in Afghanistan are providing weapons, money, training and other logistical support to agents for subversive activities in FATA, Balochistan and Karachi, added Khattak. Secretary defence, flanked by senior defence officials, was briefing Senate defence committee which met at Parliament House earlier today. RAW has also set-up a cell at NDS HQ in Kabul for coordinating anti-Pakistan activities, said Khattak. Referring to the recent arrest of Kulbushan Jadhav, a deep cover RAW operative arrested from Balochistan, the secretary defence elaborated that his entire network has been dismantled by Pakistani security agencies. Khattak, also shed light on Coalition Support Fund (CSF) and its disbursement since 9/11. He explained to the committee that 40 per cent of the amount received was allocated to civil government while 60pc was given to the armed forces. Pakistan received $13 billion under CSF since 9/11, and another $200 million is due to be given by the United States. "CSF is going to be closed on September 30, 2016", said Khattak Earlier, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, speaking at the Peace and Prosperity seminar in Balochistan, said Indian intelligence agency RAW is actively involved in destabilising Pakistan. Hostile intelligence agencies are averse to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said the chief of army staff. Law enforcement agencies announced the arrest of Jadhav during an intelligence-based raid in Balochistan's Chaman last week. The Indian Foreign Ministry earlier confirmed the arrested man was a former Indian Navy officer, but the Pakistani government claimed to have recovered travel documents and multiple fake identities of Jadhav, establishing him as an Indian spy who entered into Balochistan through Iran holding a valid Iranian visa. Jadhav was shifted to Islamabad for interrogation, during which an unnamed official said the spy revealed that he had purchased boats at the Iranian port in Chabahar in order to target Karachi and Gwadar ports in a terrorist plot. The official had said the 'RAW agent' is believed to be expert at Naval fighting techniques. After Jadhav's arrest, Pakistan summoned Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale to lodge a strong protest over 'India's spying activities' in Balochistan and Karachi. There's a reason "flu season" has earned its miserable prominence: When the flu is severe, it's difficult to avoid. And if you're a parent you know this all too well, since children play a key role in influenza transmission. That's why, in 2013, health officials in the United Kingdom selected children in seven cities across England for an experiment on the effectiveness of flu vaccines. But when they tried to test the success of this campaign, they faced one critical hurdle: The flu season was not considered severe enough to provide definitive test results. Or so they thought. "What they were counting was how many people were hospitalized or visited the doctor," Microsoft principal researcher Elad Yom-Tov said. "But very few people who have the flu ever bother to see a doctor. Usually when you get the flu you stay at home a few days and that's that." Instead, Yom-Tov and his colleagues at University College London looked at flu-related searches on Bing, along with how many people complained about the flu on Twitter. "Based on these data sources alone, we were able to show a 25 to 30 percent reduction in the number of flu cases in cities where the vaccine was distributed, compared to other cities where it was not," he said. In his new book, Crowdsourced Health: How What You Do on the Internet Will Improve Medicine, Yom-Tov, a principal researcher based in Microsoft's New England lab, shows how the Internet's trove of data on how we research our own health can itself be mined for answers medical researchers otherwise have no way of getting. To protect users' privacy, Yom-Tov used rigorous safeguards, such as examining data that had been anonymized and aggregated. "Even when pulling data from Twitter, we're not identifying any of the people individuallywe don't care who they are," Yom-Tov said of the flu study. "All we care about is how many people have the flu in those seven cities where the vaccine was used, compared to other cities." He applied the same data mining approach to try to get a better understanding of the side effects of prescription drugs. Yom-Tov, in collaboration with Evgeniy Gabrilovich, analyzed search engine logs for associations between drugs and their possible side effects, and they discovered some side effects were being overlooked. "We were missing side effects people don't realize are connected to the drugs because they're more benign or take a longer time to appear," he said. "This is due to the fact that traditional methods rely on people reporting such associations." Yom-Tov said this deep data dive is the best way to detect such side effects. And it can be done without compromising user privacy because the data is sourced from very large populations. "We're not asking if John Smith asked about this drug or this side effect," he says. "What we're asking is how many people asked about this side effect after asking about this drug?" Still, Yom-Tov acknowledges Internet data does not hold all the answers. "It's worth saying that these data are not the magic bulletthey won't replace traditional ways of doing medical research." Yom-Tov's hope is that the medical community will start collaborating more closely with computer scientists and think of Internet data as another source of information for their researchespecially for data that's difficult or impossible to get in another way. Although Internet search data can be a valuable source of data for medical researchers, Yom-Tov also cautioned that much of the medical information published online "is not of the highest quality." He recommends that people rely on trustworthy sources like the Mayo Clinic, government organizations, and websites certified by the Health on the Net Foundation, which promotes useful and reliable online health information. "Be careful about what kind of authority you attribute to the sources of information you find online," he said, noting it is a topic of upcoming research. Explore further Animals cope with climate change at the dinner table Share of carbon pricing revenues required to finance universal access to water infrastructure under domestic carbon pricing (i.e., without transfers between countries) for an average 2C scenario. The darker the color, the higher the share, with dark purple shares exceeding 100%. White areas denote countries for which data are not available. Please note the logarithmic scale. Credit: Jakob, et al. (2016) "It's possible to finance the drinking water supply in the majority of countries worldwide by the year 2030," says Dr. Michael Jacob, lead author of the study from the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) in Berlin. In India alone, a carbon tax would generate around 115 billion US dollars a year, "and only a fraction of that would be needed for clean water, meaning that enough money would remain for sanitation and electricity," said the researcher. In fact, the needed infrastructure for this second largest country of the world would consume only about four percent of the revenue from the tax. That said, there are a few countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (see figure), where carbon pricing would not suffice, namely because carbon emissions there are so low that they would yield little revenue. "However, this funding gap could be closed when considering that developing countries have not yet exhausted their right to use the atmosphere," says Jakob. "Avoidance of emissions would then entitle them to compensation payments from industrialized countries." The MCC study, which examined the development potential for not only water, sanitation and electricity but also ICT and roads, was published today under the title "Carbon pricing revenues could close infrastructure gaps" in the journal World Development. In their calculations, the researchers assume that every country in the world is now introducing a steadily increasing carbon tax. In 2020 the tax would have to be 40 US dollars per tonne of CO? emissions and increase up to 175 US dollars by 2030. "In addition to generating revenue for infrastructure, the tax would thus contribute to the international goal of limiting global warming to two degrees," explains Dr. Sabine Fuss, co-author of the study who is also a guest researcher at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). "This is because the tax penalizes the use of fossil fuels and creates incentives for zero-carbon technologies." Money not needed for the infrastructure could be used to mitigate climate change impacts such as rising sea levels, which affect in particular the developing countries. As is well known, raising the price of coal, oil and gas as part of climate protection measures brings its share of problems. "Nobody wants to pay more. But that's exactly why the idea to fund vital infrastructure directly from carbon revenue has clout," says Jakob. Linking the revenue to a specific use increases acceptance among the population and decreases the risk of misappropriation. In addition, carbon pricing could be used to reduce the burdens facing in particular the poorer segments of the population, such as the value added tax. "One thing is clear: For climate protection to be effective it must be embedded in a broader sustainable development scheme, and vice versa," says Jakob. "Simply infusing more money won't solve the problem. Instead, decisive factors such as a functioning state, democratic decision-making and the relevant institutions must be taken into consideration." Explore further How finance ministers could fall in love with carbon pricing More information: Michael Jakob et al. Carbon Pricing Revenues Could Close Infrastructure Access Gaps, World Development (2016). Michael Jakob et al. Carbon Pricing Revenues Could Close Infrastructure Access Gaps,(2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.03.001 A few years ago, Dr. Christine Sears published a nonfiction book about American slaves and African masters whose tales of high-seas misadventure sounded more like a Patrick O'Brian novel than a depiction of real life. Now the associate professor of history at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is back, with a collection of essays that delve into the commodification of slavery, slave communities, and how slavery compared between different nations. "A lot of the research I couldn't include in my first book I was able to incorporate into this one," she says. New Directions in Slavery Studies is co-edited by Dr. Sears' colleague Dr. Jeff Forret, a history professor at Lamar University; both studied under Dr. Peter Kolchin, the Henry Clay Reed Professor of History at the University of Delaware. "Peter's book on American slavery is a standard in the field, and he's influenced a generation of people who research slavery and Southern studies," says Dr. Sears. "So a couple of years ago, Jeff pitched me this idea of essays by people who either studied under him or were influenced by his works." The resulting book was organized into three thematic sections. The first, "Commodification," explores the extent to which slaves were treated as a form of property rather than as human beings. "It's much more than we thought," she says. "Some owners used their slaves as collateral for loans, while others bought life insurance for their slaves or sold them to pay off a debt." One even addresses whether we're still commodifying slavery by paying to see movies about it. "How do we get the story right," she asks, "and how do we translate it to the screen?" The second section, "Community," considers the communities that both slaves and freed men and women formed and the similarities and differences between them. "There's an essay that discusses the primarily French-speaking Catholics slaves who were brought from Haiti to Philadelphia by their owners fleeing the Haitian Revolution," says Dr. Sears. "They were not able to assimilate so they formed their own nucleus." Others examine the black republic formed following the revolution and the roots and motivation of slave-on-slave violence. The final section, "Comparison," challenges the notion that slavery throughout the world was similar to slavery in the U.S. - or even that slavery within the U.S. was homogenous. "Only 6 percent of people brought from Africa went to North America," she explains. "Most went to sugar-growing plantations owned by Europeans in other countries." Thus, one essay compares female labor in Baltimore and Brazil, while another looks at how the 19th century separatist movement played out in the U.S., Brazil, and Cuba. As for Dr. Sears' essay, it examines the problem of urban slavery in Algiers at the end of the 18th century. "Many historians have argued that slavery couldn't work in cities because it's too easy for slaves to disappear," she says. "But in Algiers, they had a different system. They used their captives more as public works slaves who lived in prisons and would be sent out in gangs to the quarries. They were also easier to identify because they were all Westerners who didn't speak the language." That's because the slaves were actually European and Americans sailors captured at sea and held for ransom by their Algerian captors. They couldn't escape to the harbor because the owners had an agreement with the ships to return them, and they couldn't escape to the desert because the Berbers who lived there would enslave them. As a result, she says, "they just had to wait for their own country to negotiate their release." Dr. Sears is now building on that essay by delving into ransom slavery in the Western Sahara in the early 1800s. "I want to look at it from the perspective of the ransom - who had the money, who paid it, and how the enslaved sailors got back home," she says. That research will culminate in a presentation at the conference on Piracy and Captivity in the Mediterranean being hosted this summer by the University of Innsbruck. It will also inform a book she's currently working on about American sailors and their fluid identification of citizenship. Though for those who are looking to expand and advance their understanding of slavery in the meantime, the twelve essays that are included in New Directions in Slavery Studies is more than up to the task. "If you want to see where the state of the field is and where slave studies are going," she says, "it's a good book to pick up and take a look at." Facebook revealed Terragraph technology which uses low-cost components to create networks in dense urben areas to improve wireless Internet availability After taking to the air with drones to provide Internet to remote spots, Facebook on Wednesday unveiled new land-based systems to provide connectivity to people in urban settings. "We are really going at this problem from every possible angle," Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg said of efforts by the social network to make Internet connectivity more widely available around the world. Facebook used its annual developers conference to reveal Terragraph technology that uses low-cost, off-the-shelf components to create antenna-based networks in dense city settings to improve wireless Internet availability. The technology "incorporates attributes and industrial design required for fast, attractive and affordable deployment across cityscapes," Neeraj Choubey and Ali Yazdan Panah of Facebook said in a blog post. "Its reduced interference and ability to operate in non-line-of-sight conditions increases customer reach." Terragraph "nodes" can be mounted outside high-rises or other big buildings and connected to Internet connections inside. Terragraph is being tested at the Facebook campus in Silicon Valley and will soon start a broader trial in the nearby California city of San Jose. Facebook chief and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg discusses Messenger and other platforms at the leading social network's annual developers conference in San Francisco on April 12, 2016 A Project ARIES at Facebook has a goal of building a test platform for efficient ust of energy and unused radio spectrum that could provide a way to deliver Internet to communities outside of cities. "We are interested in developing this technology to harness the incredible gains in providing communications to rural communities from city centers," Choubey and Panah said. "The hope with systems such as these is that costly rural infrastructure can be avoided while still providing high-speed connectivity." Facebook stressed that it was not interested in being an Internet service provider, but wanted to show those who do what could be possible. "Moreover, we would like to make this technology open to the wireless communications research and academic community," the blog post said. Satellite to launch The leading social network in coming months will launch its first satellite to provide Internet service to sub-Saharan Africa, Zuckerberg said at the conference. Facebook's mission to connect the world has included building solar-powered Aquila drones capable of transmitting data using lasers. "If you had told me 12 years ago that we were going to be building a plane, I would have told you that you are crazy," Zuckerberg said as he showed off a lightweight piece of a drone during a keynote presentation. "Well, here we are." Facebook estimates that more that four billion people don't have access to the Internet for reasons that include access and cost. As part of an often-shared long-range vision of letting people anywhere share whatever they want with anyone using the Internet, Zuckerberg on Wednesday announced the creation of a "Building 8" team devoted to building new hardware products for connecting the world. Facebook hired Regina Dugan away from an Advanced Technology and Projects group at Google to head the new team, according to Zuckerberg. Before joining Google, Dugan was director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency devoted to innovations for the US military. "I'm excited to have Regina apply DARPA-style breakthrough development at the intersection of science and products to our mission," Zuckerberg said. Facebook will devote hundreds of people and invest hundreds of millions of dollars to the effort as it pursues a 10-year roadmap that includes virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and online connectivity, according to Zuckerberg. Explore further Facebook-owned WhatsApp boasts a billion users 2016 AFP Brian Anthony. Credit: David Sella A portable ultrasound scanner is a marvelous device for medical diagnostic imagingsafe, painless, relatively inexpensive, and available instantly in a medical office or at a patient's bedside. But current scanners don't provide reliable quantitative information over time, because sonographers can neither position nor orient them in exactly the same way each time. Brian Anthony, a principal research engineer in MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering, and his colleagues are overcoming that limitation, with prototype scanners that integrate information about exactly how they are oriented and positioned on the patient's body. "We use the unique skin textures of the body as a global landmark system that allows us to figure out the orientation and pose of the ultrasound probe," Anthony explains. "We can enable a sonographer to get back to the same place and pose on the body by looking at both the skin features and the structures that we're seeing in the ultrasound image." The enhanced scanners may find many roles. One is to track the size of potentially pre-cancerous nodules in the thyroid, and Anthony is collaborating with Anthony Samir, associate director of abdominal radiology research at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), with partial support from GE Global Research, to study this application. The two researchers also are working together to study the effectiveness of monitoring changes in tissue characteristics and loss associated with chronic kidney disease, under a seed grant from a major partnership between MIT and MGH announced in 2014 that sponsors early-stage Grand Challenges research. MIT Medical Electronic Device Realization Center (MEDRC) co-director and Master of Engineering in Manufacturing program director Brian Anthony provides an overview of his research and teaching activities. Credit: MIT Industrial Liaison Program In projects like these, Anthony emphasizes, medical devices need more than innovative technology to move successfully into clinical use. The devices must fit into "the clinical workflow, the constraints, the use model and the reimbursement model that only really can be articulated by medical professionals," he says. "Bringing those communities together is very exciting, and allows us to do things we couldn't do otherwise." That's a role for MIT's Medical Electronics Device Realization Center (MEDRC), which Anthony co-directs with electrical engineering's Charles Sodini and Joel Voldman, and which teams up researchers and clinicians with industry allies. Collaborations that cover the bases "A lot of people speak about the big data challenges in health care, but big data doesn't actually exist unless you have the devices to generate the big data," Anthony comments. "MEDRC looks at areas of medical technology that can be improved by the semiconductor industry, the same way that the semiconductor industry has driven down cost and improved quality throughout its history. MIT serves a convening role, bringing together the semiconductor companies and the medical device companies of the world." MEDRC focuses on driving down device costs, improving quality and moving technologies from hospitals to clinic to home to the patients themselves. "We're concerned with the devices themselves," Anthony says. "How do you make them, how do you design them, how do you manufacture them, how do they yield relevant data, and how do you get actionable information out of that data?" Anthony adds that the center benefits from its location in the heart of the Boston medical ecosystem, with the area's high density of universities, research hospitals, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and venture capitalists. "We're seeing companies start to put their medical device research here," he says. "It's Boston's opportunity to lose to be the premiere center in the United States for medical device research, or medical device realization as I prefer to call it." Most MEDRC collaborations are with major suppliers of medical devices such as Analog Devices, GE, Nihon Kohden, and Philips. More often than not, the outcomes of the research can go into the products and product lines that such firms originally envision. But MEDRC also works with startups, including companies formed by MIT graduate students. In one recent example, a startup is developing a behind-the-ear sensor with sensors to monitor heart rate, ballistocardiogram activity and related physiological signals. This device fits behind the ear like a hearing aid, "which is a nice way to enhance and get more frequent longitudinal data, in a form factor that's not intrusive," Anthony says. In some cases, large MEDRC partner companies say they "may not be interested in taking the technology developed at MIT and bringing it into their main core business, but they would like to maintain visibility into what we're doing," he adds. "They might be willing to invest via their venture arm in a small startup company, with a seat on the board." After some background discussion, all potential partnerships typically kick off with a meeting with several MIT investigators and appropriate representatives, "who share as much information as they're willing to share to identify points of common technology and business interest," Anthony says. Ideally clinicians also attend those meetings, he says. "Within the MEDRC, no project will be started unless we have an agreement that we should start among those three parties, with the clinical perspective, the technical perspective and the business perspective." "It's also very important that we very rapidly get from an idea to some form of demonstrable technology, even if it's crude, that you can get into the clinic to get early data," he emphasizes. "Instead of saying, we have this grand final vision in mind and we'll spend the next three years researching it and making it perfect, we want to get off-the-shelf technology working in six months and into the hands of the doctors. We create a very tight and rapid feedback loop where we get technology into the hands of clinicians, they can give us feedback, and we can rapidly iterate on the design." Mastering manufacturing In addition to his research and his role in MEDRC, Anthony is director of MIT's Master of Manufacturing Engineering program, accelerating the ability of young engineers to make not just medical devices but products more generally. Here again, industry partnerships are front and center. "You'd have a hard time doing research related to manufacturing without talking to companies," Anthony notes. Students go through the one-year professional program as a cohort. After taking courses in manufacturing design, process, systems and business, they complete an eight-month group project in industry. "We ask them to solve a problem that's a real immediate need for the companyeverything from new product introduction, product design, factory floor layout or re-layout, logistics systems, and quality control to process control," he says. "One of the nice things about having the students there as outside experts is that they can ask the challenging and difficult questions that they may not be asking inside the company," Anthony points out. "Often the project will evolve and change, once the students are there and asking the hard questions." "This is very much an educational partnership between MIT and companies, and it's a very cost-beneficial opportunity for the companies," he emphasizes. "They get a project done and they have a great opportunity to recruit students." This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching. The developed standard LED and usage image Researchers have developed the first standard LED covering the full visible light, in collaboration with Nichia Corporation. LED and OLED lighting, which is generally called solid-state lighting (SSL), is becoming more common as the next generation lighting. Evaluations of total luminous flux (a performance index for lighting) and color are important for SSL, and to evaluate those values, it is indispensable to measure the light intensity of each wavelength accurately based on spectral measurement. For accurate spectral measurement, the light source under test shall be compared to a standard light source as the reference standard. However, there has not been any standard light source covering the full visible light that suitable for high accuracy spectral measurement of SSL. AIST and Nichia developed a standard LED having sufficient light intensity over the full visible light by introducing multiple LED dies with different central wavelengths in combination with multiple fluorescent substances. By using this standard LED, LED manufacturers and developers will be able to evaluate SSL characteristics more accurately, which is expected to help accelerate product development and enhance performance. Details of the technology will be presented at the FY2015 National Metrology Institute of Japan research achievement meeting held on February 10, 2016, at AIST Tsukuba (Tsukuba, Ibaraki). Figure 1: Example spectra of the developed standard LED (red line) and a typical white LED (blue dotted line) Lighting accounts for about one-sixth of residential energy consumption. LED and other forms of SSL consume less energy and are increasingly replacing traditional lighting such as incandescent and fluorescent lamps in order to conserve energy. For that reason, lighting manufacturers around the world are competing fiercely to research and develop SSL. Therefore it is important to inform users of correct performance of each product. Energy efficiency and color are indices of the lighting product performance and are evaluated by a spectrum derived from spectral measurement. SSL, however, has different characteristics from those of traditional lighting. For example, radiation of SSL is emitted to the forward direction only and spectral distributions of SSL are rich in variety. Because of these differences, there have been no standard light sources suitable for spectral measurement of SSL, making it challenging to measure precisely. Achieving a standard light source suitable for the spectral measurement of SSL necessitated the characteristic of emitting to the forward direction only, as well as that of having sufficient light intensity over the full visible light (380 nm - 780 nm). A white LED is suitable to fulfill the former requirement, but white LEDs developed to date have not been suitable as standard light sources because even the best of them did not have sufficient optical intensity in the short and long wavelength sides of visible range. Figure 2: Ambient temperature dependence of light intensity of each LED (left) and changes in optical intensity of each LED against operating time (right) AIST has conducted research and development of total luminous flux standards (as a reference for lighting measurement) and spectral measurement technology, as well as measurement technology for SSL. Through these efforts, it has cultivated high-accuracy spectral measurement and analysis technologies. Nichia, as a worldwide LED developer and manufacturer, has developed LEDs of high quality and reliability, but it has also sought measurement and evaluation technologies of higher accuracy. In order to achieve high-accuracy evaluation of SSL characteristics, AIST and Nichia combined AIST's technology for accurate quantitative measurement and analysis of spectra with Nichia's advanced LED technology to develop a standard LED suitable for the spectral measurement of SSL. Typical white LEDs do not have sufficient light intensity outside the wavelength range of 420 nm - 720 nm (Fig. 1, blue dotted line), and as such they are not suitable as a standard source for spectral measurement over the full visible range. The developed standard LED has improved light intensity over the wavelength range of 380 nm - 430 nm by using multiple LED dies with different central wavelengths. Light intensity of the developed standard LED in the wavelength range longer than 430 nm was improved by combining multiple fluorescent substances emitting blue, green, and red fluorescent light. That expands the spectrum of the standard LED to the wavelength range of 380 nm - 780 nm, thus providing sufficient light intensity over nearly the full visible light (Fig. 1, red line). Additionally, the diameter of developed standard LED body is 62 mm, and that of the light-emitting part is 12 mm. To keep the temperature of the light-emitting part constant, it also has a temperature control mechanism. This mechanism keeps changes in the standard LED's light intensity relative to ambient temperature within 0.01 %/ (Fig. 2, left). This is about 20 times as stable as typical white LEDs, whose temperature dependence is about 0.15 %/ - 0.2 %/. Furthermore, although the light intensity of typical white LEDs changes greatly after turning on, the light intensity of the developed standard LED changes minimally after turning on (Fig. 2, right). Nichia plans to prepare for mass production of the developed standard LED. AIST aims to further advance the accurate spectrum-measuring technology introduced in the development of the standard LED and will conduct research and development of evaluation technologies for surface emitting light sources and light sources in the ultraviolet and infrared regions. Explore further Laser diodes versus LEDs Management of the airlines Ghana office have revealed that the offer will begin from the Tuesday April 2016. Come tomorrow, all travellers from the African African countries, Algeria, Angola, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe to Emirates networks will benefit from an increased baggage allowance according class. For Economy Class, customers will get a baggage allowance of two bags, each of which can weigh up to 23kg each, making the baggage allowance a total of 46kg 16kg up from the previous 30kg. First Class customers will get a baggage allowance of two bags weighing up to 32 kg each, up from the current 50 kg to 64kg. In addition, infants will be entitled one piece of luggage up to 23kg. He made this call at the launch of a pro-government students group called on the campus of theundefined in Accra. Amissah-Arthur said it was important that the countrys youth look beyond job seeking after graduation and rather focus their energies on proffering solutions to the country's problems. The vice president also spoke about the importance of creating a venture capital fund to encourage entrepreneurship. Let us create a venture capital fund ourselves; by mobilizing the little monies that are coming from various places to finance and support ideas. In August 2014, undefinedlaunched the undefinedinitiative to give young Ghanaians an opportunity to showcase their talents and entrepreneurial skills, and challenge the youth to start new businesses and employ other youth. He tasked the youth to learn crucial lessons from the founders of global companies such Microsoft, Google and Facebook; which are creations of young minds. Endowed with the features of an African woman, her vocal delivery on every song has been outstanding with praises coming from both legends and major music players. Being the only female Highlife musician in Ghana, Sista Afia has been able to solidify her name in the Ghanaian music industry and beyond and ironically today, her crush pick for the day is the "Susuka" hitmaker, Kofi Kinaata. Sista Afia on her Instagram page posted a picture of Kofi Kinaata with the caption, "My crush Wednesday and everyday @kinaatagh move." And guess the reply she had from Kofi Kinaata. Kofi Kinaata as we all know is another gifted musician who is currently among the list of those making major moves in the industry. He is a promising gentleman, handsome and blessed with the features that most ladies will die for. Could we see a Jigga and Beyonce in the making? According to data available on the Volta River Authority (VRA) website, the hydro plant is currently producing power despite operating below the minimum operating level. The water level in the lake on April 14, 2016 stood at 238.22 feet or 72.609 meters while the minimum operating level is 73.15m or 240ft. It is not sustainable and we will destroy the dam, the head of policy unit at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) Ishmael Ackah has charged. Despite making significant progress in solving the close to four year power crisis that rocked the country, Ghana has encountered setbacks. A two week scheduled maintenance work on the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah has now been extended to five weeks, leading to curtailment in gas supply to the Ghana National Gas company, ultimately affecting power generation. The VRA thermal plants and AMERI power plant in the Western region that rely on the gas from the FPSO have all suspended operations due to the challenges. What we are doing to solve it (the power challenge) is a very bad thing; we are over drafting the Akosombo dam, Ishmael Ackah stated. Meanwhile the power ministry has denied the accusation by the energy policy think tank, Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP). Let me state that we are not over drafting hydro, technically Im informed by engineers that you cant run less than three turbines at Akosombo and this is a technical issue. More over the Akosombo dam does not run only on three turbines and so even if you run three turbines it doesnt mean you are running all the turbines, deputy power minister John Jinapor stated. According to him government will ensure the integrity of the dam is protected. This alert comes as the country is trying to drastically reduce incidents of cholera which has grown to become an annual feature of Ghanaian life. According to the Public Relations Officer of the ministry, Tony Goodman, one case has already been reported at the Achimota Hospital in Accra. The ministry says it is issuing the alert because it is important to conscientise the public [because] the rains are in, the next they should be looking out for is cholera. The disease thrives in areas that have unsanitary conditions and people with poor personal hygiene. Between June 2014 and February 2015, Accra alone recorded as many as 20,500 cases with 121 deaths. Nationally, the death toll was over 200. The capital and other major cities such as Kumasi record higher annually numbers because of the filthy nature of streets and markets; which are exposed by the rains. Flash points in the capital include Jamestown, La and Teshie; where open defecation is rife. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) cholera is an acute diarrheal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated. Its symptoms include watery stools accompanied by profuse vomiting. Cleaning dirty areas, drinking clean water, eating uncontaminated food, hand washing and reporting to hospital early are ways one can stay unaffected by the disease. In 2015, the government instituted the programme; which tasked citizens to come out on the first Saturday of every month, to clean their communities. However, the plan has been failed incredibly; with many choosing to stay away from this communal labor exercise. Eseman, also know as Miss Taxi, has been driving all over Ghana for the past three years. She started out trying to pick up random passengers, hoping to get flagged down. She tried to join three different taxi unions, but was rejected by all. However, she struck a deal with one around the Marina Mall area. While the union there officially said no to her, she asked to hang around the area and if the drivers had passengers who did not want to pay their prices, Esenam would take them. They said 'yes, if you want our rejects you can have them'. This led her to meet a passenger who worked for a high commission in Ghana, who ended up passing on her number to his colleagues, and it snowballed from there. Now, Esenam calls her cab the UN car. I get clients from all over the surface of the world, literally, she says with a smile. The taxi driving came about when the dream to drive a tipper truck fell apart. She spent about six months trying to convince tipper drivers to take her on and train her, but they would always tell her she would not be able to handle the early hours and the physical work. They were all flimsy excuses, it was just like they were trying to tell me 'this is our space don't invade it. Go find your space and belong in your small space.' So, taking a different angle, she started looking at the commercial transport sector finding it very gender segregated, so she asked why that was - why she didn't see female taxi drivers. For me that curiosity was social research, so I was asking myself 'should commuters be given a choice between male driver taxi service and female driven taxi service? Which one would they choose without thinking twice?' Over the three years she has been driving, Esenam says she attracts a lot of stares. I sort of understand, I am a woman in a very male dominated profession and probably they see it as a no go zone area. Some of the stares are somehow encouraging, some are like literally telling me, what are you doing here can't you find anything feminine? But, stares and nay sayers didn't hold her back, and now she has many clients, mostly ex-pats and tourists who she offers a range of services to, including tours of Accra, airport drop offs and pick ups and tours through Ghana. She also picks up children from school, and takes them to appointments their parents may not be able to take them to. It's more like a taxi driver and a nanny sometimes, she laughs. One of her long-term clients, entrepreneur Kim Addison says she feels more comfortable with Esenam, than other drivers. Personally as a woman I feel safer, especially on a late night trip, [I like] taking Esenam because there is no risk with her." One of the main problems she has with male taxi drivers in Ghana is their impatience when she doesn't know parts of Accra. The Ghanaian movie director of international repute confirmed to Ghanareporter on Thursday saying, Yes Im told fake copies of the movie are out there. Someone sent me photos of it from Accra central and I want to assure the public that those are fake copies. Where Children Play, is Leilas second production in the USA after her first movie; "And There Was You". It revisits the issue of sexual abuse and how it is affecting society especially children. It stars Teyonah Parris, Macy Gray, Brian White, Edwina Findley, Osas Ighodora, Leon Robinson and Kylee Russell. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! According to the public relations officer of the GIS Francis Palmdeti, the alert was leaked and not meant for public consumption. Ghana and Togo are the next targets after the attacks in Burkina Faso and Cote dIvoire, the report said. The choice of Ghana is to take away the perception that only francophone countries are targeted. The Ivorian security agencies investigating the attack on the Grand Bassam, gathered that the terrorists mode of entry into countries with their explosives and weapons is through concealment. They enter through approved and unapproved entry points. In the Ivorian attacks they reportedly entered from Mali using Niger registered 44 vehicle. They reportedly concealed their weapons and grenade in the vehicles compartment for a spare tyre, padded with cushions and bubbled wraps to keep them stable and prevent noise," the statement added. But, responding to the statement, Mr. Palmdeti said the way the media handled the document was rather unfortunate. "What I can tell you is that we usually send internal memos to our various controls as and when the need arises. And if it is a memo it means it is an internal documentation meant for officers or therefore meant for a particular people and therefore it is not a document meant for public consumption. With this particular document, I'm unable to confirm or deny the content of it. What I would say is that we take terrorist activities very seriously as a body...and so regularly memos are sent out to our controls to be vigilant," he told Accra-based Citi FM. Mr. Palmdeti however assured the public as his outfit is working hand in hand with other security agencies, with border patrol personnel doing 27 patrols. The terror alert statement also asked all security agencies to treat the instructions as important calling for thorough profiling of all people coming from high risk countries, including Mali, Libya and Niger. However, this rapid transformation has come along with some social vices, as being reported by the police in the region. There are reports of an increase in prostitution, human and drug trafficking, armed robbery, and so on. Confirming the development, the Northern Regional Police PRO, ASP Ebenezer Tetteh said the victims "were lured into the country with the pretext of securing them good jobs. But they came and to their shock and amazement, they were made to do prostitution against their will." "Some of them were coerced; some were beaten, brutalised, and beaten to death. Some were even forced to swear oaths," he told Radio Ghana. The police PRO added that the victims were told to contribute the monies used in transporting them into the country. But statistics on teenage pregnancy should make parents reconsider their position because most of the pregnancies could have been avoided if girls had knowledge of contraceptives and how to use them. Data from Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), a non-governmental organisation, (IPA) says 43% of all females in Ghana have sexual intercourse before the age of 18, and unwanted pregnancy is common. Forty-two percent of 15-19 year-old girls who had sex ended up pregnant and more than three-fourths of these girls who gave birth said they had not wanted the pregnancy at the time of conception. The sad aspect of this data is that many girls who become pregnant drop out of school, affecting their education and employment opportunities later on in life. The Ghana Education Service (GES) has a singular method of teaching sex education: abstinence. But teaching abstinence is not enough, according to Slawa Rokicki, a PHD student at Harvard University and principal investigator of Study on mHealth and Reproductive Health in Teens (SMART). While abstinence is a good idea and that we should educate girls on how to delay sex, I dont think that is always possible, Rokicki told Pulse.com.gh in an interview. We should be able to teach girls all of the tools that are at their disposal to help protect their health, prevent pregnancy and help prevent sexual transmitted diseases. It is very relevant for girls to learn how to use such contraceptives, she said. The IPA data also revealed that most teenagers say they get their information about HIV/AIDS and contraception from mass media and sources like radio, TV, and the internet rather than from teachers, parents, or friends. The information they get is not always reliable: the most recent results of a national survey of adolescent health found that adolescents lacked fundamental knowledge about how to prevent pregnancy and STIs. But Felicia Boakye-Yiadom, regional director of GES for Greater Accra region, says teaching girls in senior high schools how to use contraceptives will draw resentment from society. How do you teach them how to use condoms? she quizzed. Should a teacher take a condom to class to teach the children how to use the condom? I want you to go and try it in the schools and see how parents will get up against it. She argues that we should look at our society and in our context when talking about adolescent reproductive health. According to US organisation Planned Parenthood, sex education that is responsible and medically accurate begins in kindergarten and continues in an age-appropriate manner through the 12th grade is necessary given the early ages at which young people are initiating intercourse. Sex education programs that are balanced and realistic, according to Planned Parenthood, encourage students to postpone sex until they are older, and promote safer-sex practices among those who choose to be sexually active. They have been proven effective at delaying first intercourse and increasing the use of contraception among sexually active youth. It can not be denied that girls in senior high schools are sexually active. Ghana and Togo are the next targets after the attacks in Burkina Faso and Cote dIvoire, the report said. The choice of Ghana is to take away the perception that only francophone countries are targeted. The Ivorian security agencies investigating the attack on the Grand Bassam, gathered that the terrorists mode of entry into countries with their explosives and weapons is through concealment. But, speaking on Koforidua-based Sunrise FM during his Accounting to the People tour, President Mahama said it is unfortunate that the internal memo was leaked. He however urged the public to remain calm and not panic. Unfortunately, in the signal that went to the regional security councils, whoever wrote it indicated the intelligence that National Security was dealing with and I think that was not necessary. You didnt need to put the Intel in there, you just needed to send a directive asking for alertness. "The NPP is busily compiling a very dubious list of supposed dead persons that they intend to present to the EC for such names to be deleted from the voters' register. "The NPP has decided to create a new voters' register in their stronghold by disenfranchising known NDC supporters," he added. Mr. Anyidoho added that the NPP is only engaging in this 'fraudulent' act as a means of "forcing out names of persons who will not be able to take part in that so-called validation exercise they are talking about." He also accused the Member of Parliament for Suame, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu as being the mastermind of the act. But, in a response, Hon. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu told Accra-based Joy FM that given the fact that the voters' register with the political parties is a public document, he only asked his party activists to go through the 2012 register and help identify individuals who have passed away in the constituency and whose names remain in the register. Share on FacebookThe Zongo Movement for Change (ZOMOC) has learnt with grave shock, comments attributed to Mr Eric Opoku, Brong Ahafo Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for Asunafo South.The Minister is reported by the media to have shockingly claimed during a meeting with NDC officials in Acherensua in the Asunafo South Constituency that all Muslims who support the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are not true Muslims because, according to him, the Quran advises true Muslims to stay away from the elephant, which is the emblem of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The Minister also roped in Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice Presidential Candidate of New Patriotic Party (NPP), questioning and ridiculing his Isamic faith due to his association with the NPP.ZOMOC is scandalized by the blasphemous, divisive and insulting comments by no less a person than a minister of state and a member of parliament, who is also the Chairman of the Brong Ahafo Regional Security Council (REGSEC). We are baffled how a minister of state of a democratic, circular state like ours will exhibit such crass ignorance and gross disrespect to Muslims by misinterpreting the Holy Quran to achieve political expediency. His deliberate act to rope in the Dr Mahamudu BawumiaThe particular chapter in the Holy Quran (Surah Al Fil) which the minister referred to, does not say what the minister sacrilegiously claimed. The Chapter does not ask Muslims to stay away from elephants as the minister claimed.The minister ought to go and learn, and understand Surah Al Fil and its antecedents.With regards to who is a true Muslim, only the Almighty Allah can judge, and it is He alone who knows who is a true Muslim. It is not within the remit of Mr Eric Opoku to determine who is a true Muslim.Muslims cherish and hold the Holy Quran in highest esteem. Misinterpreting the Holy Quran is unquestionably a great sacrilege and we demand the resignation of Mr Eric Opoku, or his dismissal by President John Mahama for such gross disrespect . We also demand an unconditional retraction by Mr Eric Opoku for his sacrilegious misinterpretation of the Holy Quran, and an apology for questioning and disrespecting the faith of Muslim sympathizers of the NPP. Furthermore, we call on fellow Muslims in the National Democratic Congress to condemn this blasphemous misinterpretation of the Holy Quran by the Minister.There are thousands of Muslim NPP sympathizers in the country, and in the Brong Ahafo Region, where the Minister sits as the REGSEC Chairman. By his position as REGSEC chairman, the Minister should be the number one advocate of peace and unity in the region, regardless of one's political and religious affiliations.When a minister and a REGSEC Chairman, irresponsibly abandons these noble responsibilities and rather dabbles in religious extremism for political benefits, it is clearly a recipe for chaos, particularly in an election year.ZOMOC, as advocates of peace and unity calls on NPP Muslim sympathizers who have been irked by the Ministers comments and are expressing their anger on social media in the midst of this extreme provocation to remain calm. As Ghana gears up for the general elections in November, ZOMOC urges all political commentators to eschew unguarded, inflammatory comments which could ruin the peace we enjoy as a country.We also respectfully urge the National Peace Council to take note of such unwarranted religious attacks in our politics and call perpetrators to order.ABOUT ZOMOCZOMOC is a movement which is aimed at mobilizing support for political change to ensure genuine development in Ghana and zongos in particular. Its membership is drawn from various zongos across the country, particularly the youth. SIGNED:1. Mohammed Hashir Issah (Operations Director)2. Khalid Abdul-Qadir Mainasara (Member Publicity Committee) Simon-Peter, whose parents are from Ghana, is among over 130 students across the United States who have presented their work at this years edition of the White House Science Fair. Frimpong, who lives in Aurora, Colorado worked with Maya Max-Villard (also 13) and Grayson Fast (14 years) on a prosthetic (artificial) leg which they designed and built using 3-D printing. The story of an injured US war veteran is believed to have inspired the teenagers to work on creating a leg that could help the veteran walk and among other things hike and skateboard comfortably. In the letter titled Letter From Akufo-Addo To 13-Year Old Ghanaian Prodigy, Simon-Peter Atuahene Frimpong, Nana Addo describes Frimpong as an excellent example to the youth of Ghana. The presidential hopeful also stated the need for the country for place more emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) as it was needed to make the rapid transformation of our society and economy, that would bring prosperity to the mass of our people. Earlier this year, another talented Ghanaian youngster; actor Abraham Attah won Best Male lead at the 31st Film Independent Spirit Awards. But, many of the party supporters failed to turn up at the said meeting due to the party's decision to allow Dr Zanetor Rawlings to contest in last Novembers NDC parliamentary primaries even though they argue she was unqualified. The incumbent MP, Nii Armah Ashietey, is in court because according to him, Zanetor is not a registered voter and thus her election must be declared null and void. Party members who trooped to the venue of the meeting demanded that all of Zanetor's branded materials at the meeting premises be taken off. They subsequently boycotted the meeting, amidst shouts, compelling the Vice President, to reschedule the said meeting. Hannah started her career with Multimedia Broadcasting Company, Ghana before joining Ernst & Young, where she worked in a consulting capacity with their HR Advisory team. READ MORE: Vodafone Ghana Vodafone makes new appointments She has also worked with Medtronic, a world leader in medical technology in various functional and business partner HR roles across various divisions of the company in the United States, the United Kingdom and Hannah has a BSc in Marketing from the University of Ghana and a Masters in Human Resources and Industrial Relations from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, USA and the IAG School of Business, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. She takes over from Stella Agyenim-Boateng, who has voluntarily exited the company, effective March 31, 2016, after 8 years with Vodafone and 20 years with the erstwhile Ghana Telecom company. Under her leadership, Vodafone Ghana won several awards including the Employer of Choice, Best Organisation in Employee Relations and Fittest OpCo in Vodafone (on two consecutive occasions). Stella also won personal awards such as HR Focus Magazines HR practitioner of the Year and Most Outstanding Corporate Executive in HR. In a recent interview that made rounds yesterday Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde revealed that her husband goes to the market for her. Let me tell you something more, my husband is actually the one who goes to the market. I don't go to the market because I can't. Because of my status, I can't. Read more: Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde covers Glitz Magazine But my husband didn't say you know traditionally, a man is not supposed to go to the market, 'I'm not gonna go, no' my husband actually goes to the market she said. For some reason the fact that her husband goes to the market instead of her threw a lot of people off. Quite a number of people wondered why Omotolas husband Captain Ekeinde would be going to the market for his wife. This Omotola husband is falling other man hand read one tweet yesterday. There were also tweets from people who saw nothing wrong with what Omotolas husband does. Popular blogger Omojuwa tweeted If you are angry Omotola's husband goes to the market for her, you are always free to volunteer for the job or apply within. You can picture what happened next. There were arguments and counter arguments on why what Omotolas husband is right or wrong. To me it is even baffling that people are talking about Omotolas husband going to the market. Lets look at this logically. Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde is a household brand. At least one person in each household in Nigeria knows Omotola. She is a national star. She cant go out randomly in public. Imagine Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde going to shop at a market in Lagos. She will cause more than a scene, she will cause a stampede. It only makes sense that she does not go out like she is a common, anonymous person. So with that said it only makes sense that her husband goes shopping for her. Now even if Omotola isnt super famous there is nothing wrong with Captain Ekeinde going to the market. The world has moved on from traditional family roles. There is nothing wrong with the man of the house shopping for the family. Read more: Freeze defends Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde from Internet trolls A relationship is between two people who are meant to help themselves. If you cant help your woman in shopping then why are you with her? Nigerian men need to know that their wives are not house helps or slaves. They are their partners. Women are not domestic servants. There is nothing in wrong in going to the market for food. However there are a lot of women who dont want their husbands to go to the market. Its not because they dont appreciate it but most women think men suck at buying stuff. A man could buy mangoes in a market and a woman would complain that they are not good. Women have more detailed eyes than men that is why they are good at buying things. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! It was gathered that Bamidele and Balogun are members of a syndicate which specialised in posing as patients to get access into hospitals and rob genuine patients and staff. Their waterloo came after they attacked a hospital at the Ajangbadi area on Wednesday, April 13. Narrating how they operated, Bamidele said: Before we go out on operation, we would dress the body of one of our members with bandage. When we get to the gate of the prospective hospital, the supposed sick person would start crying loudly. Others would start calling for emergency. Immediately we are allowed into the hospital, we would whip out our guns and rob the patients. We would rob them of money and other valuables. We dont kill people. We only collect money and phones. I used to pick pocket until I met , our leader. He advised me to abandon that. He said it was not profitable. Before I started going out with them, they trained me for a week. On the day we were arrested, we had just robbed the patients and we were running away from the scene when we ran into a police patrol van. He added: The policemen were on patrol when they heard shouts of thief coming from the direction of the hospital. They ran after us. Ahmed and others escaped. Muritala and I were arrested. Since I joined the gang, we have robbed about five different hospitals at Ajangbadi, Shibiri and other parts of the community. I regret my actions. My parents must not hear I was arrested for armed robbery. On his part, Balogun narrated his involvement: I was also into pick pocket until I met Ahmed. I was at home when Ahmed called me. He said I should go with them to visit a friend at the hospital. I obliged. We both went to the hospital. When we got to the hospital, I was surprised to hear Bamidele scream like he was in pains. Ahmed and others called for emergency. Mohammed was arrested by a surveillance patrol team along Zango road in Tudun Nupawa area of the state after residents tipped off the police on his activities. He was said to be fully dressed in military camouflage while extort money from residents. The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Zubairu Abubakar, said: "The suspect was spotted on 11th April, 2016, at about 10.30pm in full military camouflage, with a bullet proof jacket and tried to conceal himself in suspicious manner on sighting policemen. Daily Trust reports that Emeka took advantage of his wife travelling to her hometown to lure the victim to his room where he forcefully had carnal knowledge of her, causing serious damage to her private parts and had to be rushed to the hospital. It was gathered that a neighbour noticed the girl walking awkwardly and called her to find out what was wrong with her but she would not say what happened, prompting the neighbour to raise an alarm which led to the arrest of the suspect by the police. A test conducted on the victim at the Kubwa General Hospital proved she had been defiled and her hymen broken, with severe bruises around the labia of her private parts. In a swift reaction, the IGP directed Ali to forward the necessary details of the accused officer to the force secretary, Abuja, for further disciplinary actions. Onwu had descended on the female traffic warden, Inspector Anifat Bello, at her duty post at the NNPC Junction on IBB Boulevard way, Abeokuta, the state capital, and beat her to a pulp for daring to stop his vehicle while controlling the traffic. The incident had drawn a lot of condemnation by the force and the State Police Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, had said in a press statement that Ali was unhappy about the incident and had directed that the matter be thoroughly investigated. 45% of Pulse Nigeria Poll voters however, say they will play along with the woman instead of losing their job and the goodies that come with it. Read Steve's letter here: "My name is Steve, a 28-year-old man working in telecommunication firm in Lagos. I got the job in October of 2015 and it turned out to be a far better job to what I had before then. The salary is fantastic and I get all the perks that has allowed me to live very comfortably. I was able to change my car after just two months on the job from an allowance that came my way after a training course in Abuja. I am planning to get married to my fiancee this year but there is a fly in the ointment in the person of my direct boss, a married woman of about 48. The woman is very influential in the company and has the ears of the Managing Director and the Board of Directors. In fact, no decision is ever taken without her input and she wants even a senior manager sacked, it will be done without anyone batting an eye. From the very first day I joined the company, my boss took a special interest in me and made sure I got many opportunities. Initially I thought she was impressed with my resume and what I would bring to the company. Little did I know that she had some hidden schemes for me until she invited me to join her at a conference in Abuja last month. She made sure we stayed in the same hotel with adjoining rooms. In the night, she called me via the intercom and when I got to her room, I was embarrassed because she was in an almost see through night gown. I was very uncomfortable and apologized to her but she brushed me aside and told me to sit close to her. But I could not and told her I was comfortable standing. She stood up and came to me and tried to kiss me but I practically fled from the room. She tried everything to gt m to sleep with her through out our stay but I managed to keep her at bay. When we got back to Lagos, she called me into her office and told me that she has been behind all the windfall that has been coming my way and would do more if I become her lover. She practically begged me to sleep with her in her office but I sternly refused. Since then, she has been on my neck, warning me of the dire consequences if I continue to refuse her request. She has given me an ultimatum and has dared me to continue to reject her offer. Knowing what she can do, I am afraid for my life. Apart from getting me sacked, I know she can even implicate me and get me into serious trouble. I doubt if the management would believe me if I tell them what she has been putting me through. What do I do to get this woman off my back? Steven." How Nigeria voted: 33% - I will quit the organisation 21% - I will report him/her to the management 45% - I will play along with him/her Mrs Nike Azeez, who had been reported to have been on the run following her dastardly act on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, was finally arrested today, April 14. The police reports that Mrs Azeez had fled to the Alakuko area of Lagos State following the incident where she had been arrested. The reports further reveal that the Lagos Police Command officials who had been on her trail since on Tuesday, had managed to move in on her, cornering her which had led to her arrest. The Daily Sun also reports that a 14 year old girl, Mariam Mustapha died at the weekend after complaining of the same symptoms. Reports say Ms Salome Maikalfi, a nurse who spoke about the incidents, said it is a spiritual matter. The nurse said What we hear is that somebody will complain of headache; they will go to a local drug dealer and buy medicine. None of them went to the hospital, but, before you knew it, the person would die within two days. Most of the victims were said to have complained of seeing strange light rays or objects they could not de-scribe in the night before dying. The Dankaci Saburi 1, Alhaji Muhammad Yamwawo also confirmed news of the deaths, and called on the government to establish a health care centre in the area. Another resident of the area, Blessing Sunday said They(FCT officials) came here two times in February, and, till now no result. We didnt hear anything from anybody. I cant tell whether anybody cares about us again; you can see that the population of the community has reduced, many people have left, those of us remaining are in fear of what will happen next. Meanwhile, the FCT Minister, Muhammad Sani Bello said Abuja is over-populated, adding that it was designed to accommodate only one million people. See Pulse Photo-News gallery below. As a result of housing deficit in the Nigeria capital city, many people live in these slums but work in the Abuja city. These have been described as cosmetic life in Abuja.Gishiri, Lokogoma, Nyanya, Gwagwalape Dawaki, Dutse, Dei Dei, Lugbe, Byanzhin, Karu, Karshi, Garki village, Piya Kasa, Kabusa, Ungwan Tiv, Ketti village are just few out of many slums in Abuja where a substantial number of people working in Abuja city resides. Most of these communities have no road network, throwing people that reside on them into serious agony. Many Nigerians prefer these settlements to the modern strictures with high rate of rent. Some of these communities have also been carved out for the disadvantaged groups, it was gathered. In Karamajiji, a colony of people living with disability has been carved out. People who live in these communities have no decent houses neither social amenities that makes life meaningful. It was gathered that because of the horrible and difficult life in the slums, water vendors are making bricks businesses while pollution from electric generators is very rampant. The settlements also do not have proper drainages to control the movement of water especially in the rainy season. Most of the dilapidated streets are faced with a serious threat of erosion, it was observed. Several flooded earth roads and erosion gullies threatening houses are what ones see if one is visiting some of these communities for the first time. The slums are mostly associated with indigenous communities such as Amwamwa, Bassa, Egbura, Gade, Ganagana, Gbagyi, Gbari, Gwandara and Koro that made up Abuja natives. Pulse gathered that most of these indigenous residents are been neglected when it comes to the development of Abuja. Government preferred relocating us to slums whenever there is an interest to develop a district. Instead of the government to develop the city with us, they keep pushing us to undeveloped places and that is why you will continue to see slums in Abuja, a Gishiri resident, Shehu Emmanuel said. An indigenous resident of the Abuja, Pastor Danladi Jeji, has decried the February 3rd, 1976 pronouncement of Abuja as Nigerias capital by Major General Muritala Muhammed. Because of the slums experience, Jeji said the pronouncement of Abuja has multiplied the misery and woes of the original inhabitants of the FCT with natives lagging behind in terms of infrastructures, education, political, economic and social opportunities. Jeji said as we recall the annexation of our lands forty years ago by the Nigerian government, we remain dismayed by General Murtala who erroneously referred to this area as virgin land with sparse population. How could a land be virgin and populated at the same time? This was the first contradiction. In fact, the imaginary virgin land was later confirmed by ex-president as homeland to over 400,000 indigenous Nigerian citizens who had settled, cultivated and adapted to this geo-limatic area since prehistoric times.Thus, the demolition of our homes, farmlands and land-grab by the federal government, politicians in power and wealthy land speculators in different guises have become the order of the day since 1976 without due compensation or regard for our existence as humans, he said. We live in these communities people are referring to slums, Benjamin Shekwogbizami said. Abuja is a city of the rich. In fact even people that work in government offices cannot afford to rent close to places they work not to talk of houses in the heart of the city. So, there must be these kinds of settlements to accommodate the low income earners, he added. We know that we are living in poor structures, plight through very poor roads and other poor conditions faced, ones hope that if things get better, we can move to the city centre, Emmanuel Ejide said. With high population in the slums, many locals believed government can make their life much better. Some residents said with efficient opening of the satellite towns with road networks, electricity and pipe born water, good structures would be erected to accommodate the populace. Let me tell you, as things are now, there will still be slums in Abuja. Abuja is a place you experience influx of people on a daily basis. The structures and the development are overwhelmed. People must keep living in such settlements considered as slums because most of them cannot afford the high life in the city centre, Salihu Usman said. The 47-year-old Ugbo, who was also accused of publishing an article against the governor in a manner likely to cause breach of public peace, was arraigned on Thursday, April 14. He was said to have committed the offense on April 12 at No 2b, Ugbor Road in Benin City, Edo State. The three-count charge sheet reads: That you, Curtis Eghosa Ugbo, m, on the 12th April, 2016 at No. 2b, Ugbor Road, Benin City in Oredo Magisterial District did made a publication in internet, with the caption: Whats wrong with my Boss? The ground breaking of Edo State own cement industry in partnership with a private company under Government Public Private Partnership and stakeholders, no State House Members or Speaker and National Assembly Member Presence Notice. Is Edo State now a personal business of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole? Knowing same to be capable of disturbing public peace and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 59 (1) of the Criminal Code, Cap 48, Vol. II, Laws of the defunct Bendel State of Nigeria 1976, as applicable in Edo State. Ugbo pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The Presiding Magistrate, C. A. Nwoha however granted him bail to the tune of N100, 000.00 and a surety in like sum, who must own a property with Certificate of Occupancy in the district. Aregbesola said this on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, at a meeting with members of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR). The Osun state Governor called on Buhari to set up an panel of inquiry to investigate how 400,000 barrels of crude oil was stolen from Nigeria without being noticed, during Jonathan's administration. Aregbesola said In the middle of 2013 a party at the helms of affairs of our country told us that four hundred thousand barrels of crude oil were stolen on a regular basis for 24 months, we never heard that it stopped for that period. What we have lost is N5.8 trillion to an unprotected crude oil theft in 24 months. We can imagine how many roads, schools and quality of electricity we could get from such amount. I am not underestimating your demands but you still need to add to your demand requesting how the country lost 400,000 barrels of crude oil everyday. The Governor also said Aside from corruption, what is actually affecting the country is low productivity, as we are condemning corruption, we should also charge ourselves to be productive. We should be able to earn our living as a people. Aregbesola also promised to help the group deliver their activities to Mr. President when he comes back from China. See Pulse Photo-News gallery below. The group said the immediate past administration did not take the rescuing of the girls seriously for one month after they were abducted because Jonathan did not believe they were indeed kidnapped. Speaking in an interview with PUNCH on Wednesday, April 13, the BBOG spokesman, Tunji Olanrewaju, said the girls would have been freed if the Jonathan government acted faster. We believe strongly that the delay is a strong factor, no doubt about that and it was the reason why we came our very vocally against the government that they needed to do something, act faster and be more creative in how they go about it," he said. Experts are of the opinion that in the case of abduction, if a rescue mission is not launched within the first 48 hours, the chances of successful rescue diminishes. Because of the doubt that permeated the government at that time, the right thing was not done and that is the reason we are where we are today. The first official response did not happen until after 18 days and then, the fact-finding committee was set up on the 19th day of the abduction, the implication was that the government was in doubt about the abduction and it was after the fact-finding committee submitted its report that we had an official response from the government that 219 school girls were abducted. That was how we came about the 219 girls; it was the Sabo committee that established that fact. Olanrewaju said despite the fact that the international community established the location of the girls through the satellite, no concerted effort was made to rescue them. He discredited the speculations that some of the girls may have been used as child bombers by the terrorists, saying that most of the suicide bombers were below the age of the schoolgirls - the youngest of missing girls is believed to be about 17 years old. Most of the girls quoted in the report are below 12, they are below the age of Chibok girls who are about 17 years and above. We know that most of the child bombers may not be Chibok girls but they are Nigerians and this made us sad, he noted. In comparing the efforts of the the Jonathan and Buhari administrations to find the girls, the spokesman said the incumbent government is more proactive in the rescue missing. He said, The sad fact is that the girls are not back, but we acknowledge that the response of the Buhari government as against that of Jonathan government has been more proactive and more hands-on. It was difficult for Jonathan government to even accept that the girls were missing, it took about 19 days for the government to react officially, it took almost one month after before the Sabo committee was asked to do a verification before the report was ready, it took a lot of time. Buharis government coming in knew there was a problem it had to solve and I know that it probably under-estimated the enormity of the challenge, which is obvious. Pulse recalls that the group, earlier today, Thursday, April 14, marched to the Presidential Villa in Abuja in commemoration of the 2nd anniversary of the abduction of the Chibok girls. The missing children were taken from the Government Girls Secondary School in the town by Boko Haram insurgents and most of them remain in captivity. The abduction gave rise to the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement which saw world leaders joining calls for the girls rescue. However, despite mass outrage and continuous advocacy by the BBOG group, the girls have still not been reunited with their families. Former President, Goodluck Jonathan was severely criticized for failing to act swiftly when the girls were first taken. Jonathans administration first of all denied the abduction then described it as a political attempt to rubbish the president. According to Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, the president didnt contact him about the incident until 19 days after the girls were taken In our own case, Your Excellency, after the Chibok abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in April, 2014, it took 19 days for me to receive a call from the Presidency, Shettima said while receiving former president, Olusegun Obasanjo at the Government House in Maiduguri. Obasanjo had earlier criticized Jonathan for failing to act immediately the girls were kidnapped. It is unfortunate. What I have said to Jonathan before and what I have said also in my letter - and I have said it several times - is that, once active and concrete action was not taken within 48 hours, a period of 72 hours was already too late, he said during an interview with Rosie Collyer of Radio France Internationale (RFI) in 2014. We will never be able to get those girls again. And the story of those girls will go on for the next 30 years. Some of them will come out when they are adults or they will be sent back when they are pregnant by those who have captured them. If anyone is thinking of being able to get those girls released intact, he must be day dreaming, he added. Obasanjo also made a similar comment on Friday, February 5, 2016, saying that anyone promising to rescue the Chibok girls is telling lies. The Muhammadu Buhari administration has promised to rescue the girls but adds that a specific time frame cannot be given. At every security council meeting that I have attended, the President has always been concerned about Chibok girls. He thinks of how this can be done quickly. But its a very delicate issue and we cannot say we can deal with it next week. Every rescue attempt must take the safety of the girls into consideration, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo said at a recent forum on vulnerable people in Nigeria. From the security reports we get, we will be able to bring back the girls but we must exercise some caution and patience and not sound as if it can be done but its not being done, he added. It had earlier also been revealed that the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom located some of the missing girls after the abduction but failed to rescue them. The disclosure was made by former British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr Andrew Pocock while speaking to The Sunday Times. A couple of months after the kidnapping, fly-bys and an American eye in the sky spotted a group of up to 80 girls in a particular spot in the Sambisa Forest, around a very large tree, called locally the Tree of Life, along with evidence of vehicular movement and a large encampment, Pocock said. A land-based attack would have been seen coming miles away and the girls killed, an air-based rescue, such as flying in helicopters or Hercules, would have required large numbers and meant a significant risk to the rescuers and even more so to the girls. You might have rescued a few but many would have been killed. My personal fear was always about the girls not in that encampment 80 were there, but 250 were taken, so the bulk were not there. What would have happened to them? You were damned if you do and damned if you dont, he added. Its been two years and it seems like almost nothing has been done to rescue the missing Chibok girls. The question now remains: Can we still Bring Back Our Girls? -------------------------------------------------- The House Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, stated this after a long debate on a motion, moved by the All Progressives Congress member, representing Damboa/Chibok Federal Constituency of Borno State, Mrs. Asabe Bashir, to mark the second anniversary of the girls' abduction. A time has come for us as an institution, to insist that the executive should set targets for the rescue of the girls. We have to set targets so that we dont lose the sense of urgency that is required to free the girls, Dogara added. The Speaker commended the Bring Back Our Girls campaigners for not giving up on the struggle for the girls' freedom. We must also commend the security forces of our country, who have been toiling day and night, searching for these girls, he said. Mohammed made the disclosure while speaking to CNN on the new video of the Chibok girlswhich was sent by Boko Haram and obtained by the network. There are ongoing talks. We cannot ignore leads but of course many of these investigations cannot be disclosed openly because it could also endanger the negotiations, CNN quoted the minister as saying. President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier said that his administration could not rule out the possibility of negotiating with Boko Haram for the Chibok girls release. We have to be very careful about the credibility of various Boko Haram leadership coming up and claiming that they can deliver. We have to be very careful indeed and we are taking our time because we want to bring them safe back to their parents and their school, he said on Tuesday, July 21, 2015, during an interview on CNN with Christiane Amanpour. When asked if he was against negotiating with Boko Haram, he said: I cannot be against it because as I told you our main objective as a government is to rescue those girls back to their schools and rehabilitate them back to normal sight. If we are convinced that the leadership that presented itself can deliver those girls safe and should, we will be prepared to negotiate what they want. Buharis media aide, Femi Adesina had earlier said that the government would negotiate with the terrorists if necessary but it would do so from a position of strength. ---------------------------------------------------------------- He said that his client is asking the court to enforce his right to life, personal liberty, freedom of movement, dignity of the human person and right to private and family life. The counsel said joined in the suit instituted against the Federal Government was the Nigerian Army, Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai, Director-General, DSS, Inspector-General of Police , and the Attorney General of the Federation. According to him, Femi Falana (SAN), Festus Okoye and Maxwell Kyon would serve as El-Zakzaky's legal team in the suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/247/16/. "Our Client is also seeking an order of the court to compel the respondents jointly and severally to pay to him the sum of N3 billion as general damages for the illegal violation of his fundamental rights to life, dignity of his person, fair hearing, privacy and private property. "The applicant is seeking a declaration that the violent invasion of his private residence at No 1 Wali road, Gyallessu, Zaria in Kaduna State on December 14, 2015 is a flagrant violation of his fundamental rights to privacy and private property as guaranteed by the Constitution. "A declaration that shooting of the applicant by armed soldiers who are members of the 1st respondent on Sunday, December 14, 2015 at his residence is illegal and unconstitutional. "A declaration that the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment meted to the applicant by armed soldiers who are members of the 1st respondent is a flagrant violation of his fundamental right to dignity of human person as guaranteed by the Constitution.'' He also wants the court to declare the alleged killing of his three children namely: Hameed Ibrahim (18), Ali Haidar Ibraheem (16), and Humaid Ibraheem (14) as illegal and unconstitutional. Okoye further said that his client had asked the court to declare that his arrest and continued detention as a violation of the Constitution. The Ekiti state Commissioner for Justice, Mr Owoseni Ajayi in an open letter to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Alhaji Abubakar Malami (SAN), said the military panel report on the governorship election cannot be used to prosecute Fayose or any other politician in the state. This is coming on the heels of alleged plans to prosecute the Governor and some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti state. An excerpt of the letter obtained from Vanguard reads Therefore, unless an alleged criminal act constitutes an offence under a federal enactment, the Attorney General of the Federation will definitely be acting ultra vires by any purported move to prosecute an alleged offender before any state or federal court in Nigeria without a fiat by the Attorney General of the respective state, vested with constitutional jurisdiction to prosecute criminal matters under the state law. Although the Electoral Act 2010 is a federal enactment, which creates several offences triable only in the magistrate or high court of a state in which the offence is committed, prosecution of such offences can only be undertaken by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), upon a recommendation made to it by an Election Petition Tribunal for the prosecution of any person or individual disclosed in an election petition or upon findings, after thorough investigation by the police. The Ekiti law officer also advised the AGF to respect the principles of federalism and adhere to judicial processes. Meanwhile, undefinedto attend the 119th China Import and Export Fair. President Buhari is also in China for an official visit. See Pulse Photo-News gallery below. The girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents on April 14, 2014, and most of them remain in captivity, or so many will like to believe. The campaign to secure the girls rescue has been unending and one cant help but praise the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group for their tireless efforts to get the Chibok girls back home. However, the time has come to face the truth, unpleasant though it may be. The Chibok girls were taken away by murderous terrorists who kill with impunity and without a second thought. Are we to believe that they kept the girls aside for a special day? There have also been rampant reports that the sect is suffering a food shortage, so how is it feeding such a large number of girls? Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo recently gave a realistic opinion on the girls fate when he said that its too late to rescue them. The former president heard about the kidnap 8am in the morning of the abduction but failed to act until 72 hours later and by then it was too late, Obasanjo said on Friday, February 5, 2016, while speaking at an event in Ile-Ife, Osun State Anyone saying they (Chibok girls) will return is telling lies, maybe some of them will return to tell their story, he added. Obasanjo had expressed a similar sentiment during an interview with Rosie Collyer of Radio France Internationale (RFI) in 2014, the year the girls were abducted. We will never be able to get those girls again. And the story of those girls will go on for the next 30 years, he said. Some of them will come out when they are adults or they will be sent back when they are pregnant by those who have captured them. If anyone is thinking of being able to get those girls released intact, he must be day dreaming, he added. This is coming from someone who has access to Boko Haram and once offered to negotiate with the sect for the girls release. I have ways of reaching them, (Boko Haram) but I have not been given the go ahead, Obasanjo told BBC Africa in 2014. I believe that some of them will never return. We will still be hearing about them many years from now, some will give birth to children of the Boko Haram members, but if they cannot take care of them in the forest, they may release them, he added. The Nigerian government has also said that its not sure when the girls will return home. At every security council meeting that I have attended, the President has always been concerned about Chibok girls. He thinks of how this can be done quickly. But its a very delicate issue and we cannot say we can deal with it next week. Every rescue attempt must take the safety of the girls into consideration, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo said during a recent forum on vulnerable people in Nigeria. Meanwhile, it was recently revealed that the United of States of America and the United Kingdom knew where some of the abducted Chibok girls were kept for a while, but did nothing to save them. This was disclosed by former British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr Andrew Pocock while speaking to The Sunday Times. A couple of months after the kidnapping, fly-bys and an American eye in the sky spotted a group of up to 80 girls in a particular spot in the Sambisa Forest, around a very large tree, called locally the Tree of Life, along with evidence of vehicular movement and a large encampment, Pocock said. You might have rescued a few but many would have been killed. My personal fear was always about the girls not in that encampment 80 were there, but 250 were taken, so the bulk were not there. What would have happened to them? You were damned if you do and damned if you dont, he added. A small surge of hope was felt on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, when CNN released a video which had been sent by Boko Haram to negotiators to show that the girls were alive and well. The video was supposedly shot in December 2015, but Boko Haram members have become such masters at propaganda, that its hard to believe anything that comes from them. The unfortunate truth is that if the Chibok girls could be rescued, they wouldve been rescued by now. Precious time was wasted in taking action to save them and now it is too late. This is a hard pill to swallow because these girls have parents who need closure of some sort before believing their daughters are gone. The bill, which was sponsored by Senator Biodun Olujimi, was debated and rejected on March 15, 2016. The senator made the comments on Wednesday, April 13, in Abuja during a forum on the political rights of women in Nigeria, Premium Times reports. The bill was defeated at the second reading when its details were highlighted to the senators, Abaribe said. Some lawmakers started expressing deep worries about some parts of the bill that they think could give women too much freedom and lead them to prostitution, lesbianism and other social vices. The reason why were here is that we think that we should be able to re-strategize, we should be able to look at the bill again and see those contentious areas we may need to modify. We should be able to find those critical constituencies within the senate that we must have to address. We should be able to look at the narrative of the bill and how it is being presented to the public and change that narrative and make it a positive narrative. For example, the bill is not a north versus south bill. The bill is not a Christian versus Muslim bill. The bill is not a male versus female bill. The bill simply seeks to extend to every Nigerian all the rights that are they should enjoy. And if women by virtue of our culture, by virtue of our historic antecedents are being behind, then we need to also drag them into the economy by giving them every right that they can use to be productive members of the society and that is all that were trying to do. It has been rejected but were talking to the senators who are supporting the bill to know how we could move forward. Its not easy to say the bill can pass tomorrow, but we will continue to plead with other members for their support on this bill," he added. Senate President, Bukola Saraki had earlier said that the bill was rejected by some senators because they disagreed with it along the lines of religion and tradition. ------------------------------------------------------------ The Minister of Environment, Hajiya Amina Muhammad, stated this while speaking at the second year anniversary of the girls' abduction in Chibok. The girls were abducted from their school dormitory by the Boko Haram sect on April 14, 2014. Muhammad led a delegation consisting of two other ministers to the event. "It is with heavy heart that we visit today. We visit today because it is not for want of efforts that your children,our children have not been found. "We had prayed that we will bring good news to you now, but the only news that we are bringing to you is our continuous commitment to bring back those daughters to their families and their communities," she said. Muhammad said that government would continue to liaise with the military and its allies in the international community towards finding the girls. Other members of the delegation were Minister of state for National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, her works, power and housing counterpart, Alhaji Baba Shehuri, Senator Muhammad Ndume (APC-Borno South) and Senator Binta Garba (APC-Adamawa North). The ministers joined Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno to offer prayers for the safe return of the teenagers . Some parents and relations of the abducted girls called for more effort for the release of their girls to relieve their pains. Leader of the parents, Mr Yakubu Nkeki, in a speech, said the grief and sorrow of their missing daughters is boldly written on their faces. "We cannot fathom your definite location and the condition you are in right now. Are you alive or dead? Are you pregnant, put to bed or empty?. Have you eaten the food of your choice or forced to eat something against your will? Have you taken your bath today? How do you take care of yourself during your menstrual flow?" He said they are aware that nobody could answer some of the posers except the abductors of their daughters, urging the government to step up efforts at freeing the girls. Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima said former President Goodluck Jonathan should be blamed for the woes of the Chibok parents. He said the schoolgirls would have been freed few days after the abduction had the former president acted. "The president didn't even believe the abduction took place. Perhaps that was why he and his wife never visited Chibok even for once." The school boy had already been wrapped on a sack, except for the intervention of these boys that engaged themselves in smoking of marijuana to rescue him, Grace Bala said. She said: Weeks before today the stories and pictures of missing children were all over the social media. I kept wondering if at all they were all true not until what happened in Barnawa. I really couldnt reconcile how a fellow human being could actually kidnap an innocent child. Well it happened that the kidnapper today had to meet his maker. I was marveled at the way the youths, the ones we call Yan wee wee (marijuana smoker) rescued the little child who would have been a victim, She said. According to her, Although I do not support extrajudicial killings or any form of illegality but it seemed that killing the kidnappers was the only remedy and deterrent measure available in a society where we are no longer safe in our homes. Though am still troubled and I still relive the gruesome scene of a fellow man been set on fire to burn to death, I hold the government solely responsible because the economy is so hard hence youths have resorted to doing anything just to make ends meet, she added. The President General, Chief Gary Enwo- Igariwey in a signed statement, said Ndigbo are curious and very suspicious of the reasons behind the DSS statement, which indicted IPOB as responsible for the act. Such statements are very unprofessional and capable of inciting the polity and endangering our unity. We urge Ndigbo to continue to live in peace with fellow Nigerians and resist any action that will breach peace in the country. He also said We are further aware that the Governor of Abia State, who is the Chief Security Officer of the state said the security organisations in his state, including the DSS were unaware of the discovery as it had not been reported to the State Security Council, which he is the chairman. The governors of Abia and Imo states, at a joint press briefing on Monday April 11, condemned the act and attributed it to kidnappers and criminal elements, The DSS recently alleged that its agents discovered a mass grave graves in a forest in Isikwuato Local Government Area of Abia State, containing Hausa-Fulani residents allegedly killed by members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). Meanwhile, another Igbo group, Aka Ikenga has also called for an autopsy to be carried out on the corpses the Department of State Services (DSS) alleged to be Fulani herdsmen. See Pulse Photo-News gallery below. For today, April 14 2016: THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER Well treat pipeline vandals like Boko Haram, Buhari warnsPresident Muhammadu Buhari has warned that henceforth, the activities of vandals and saboteurs blowing up oil and gas installations will get the same reaction from his government as that being taken against Boko Haram insurgents by the Armed Forces. READ MORE How Oronsaye used N190m diverted from govtOlubunmi Ojoko, another prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of Stephen Oronsaye yesterday told Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja how the former Head of Service used N190 million diverted from the Federal Government. READ MORE Banks in brisk business with new naira notes, reject old billsBy management directive or individual discretion, banks in the country have gradually become an outlet for new notes to currency hawkers, who in turn make brisk business at various party centres across the country, particularly Lagos State. READ MORE_______________________________________________ VANGUARD NEWSPAPER Dont sign 2016 Budget, Southern senators tell BuhariABUJAThe controversy trailing the 2016 budget of the Federal Government got messier, yesterday, as legislators in the two chambers of the National Assembly, NASS, broke ranks with the official position of NASS which blamed the Presidency for the fiasco. READ MORE Chibok girls anniversary: Account for billions of naira budgeted for education, FG tells states, LGsAbuja The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has called on Nigerians, especially civil society organizations, to make states and local governments account for the hundreds of billions of naira budgeted for education over the years. READ MORE We spend $1.8bn to import fuel every quarter NNPCABUJANigeria National Petroleum Cooperation, NNPC, has revealed that an average of $1.8 billion is spent on quarterly basis on the importation of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as fuel, into the country. READ MORE_______________________________________________ THE PUNCH NEWSPAPER Protesters block Aregbesolas convoyMembers of the Campaign for the Defence of Human Rights who staged a public protest against corruption in Osogbo, the Osun State capital on Wednesday, stopped the convoy of Governor Rauf Aregbesola on his way to the office. READ MORE Budget: Calabar-Lagos rail project splits SenateSenators from the southern part of Nigeria have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to withhold his assent to the 2016 budget if the Appropriation Committees of both chambers of the National Assembly refuse to include the Calabar-Lagos rail project in the 2016 appropriation bill. READ MORE States borrowed N13.1tn from banks in 2015 NBSThe National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday stated that the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory got a total credit of N13.1xtn from banks in the 2015 fiscal period. READ MORE_______________________________________________ THE NATION NEWSPAPER Tearful parents watch new Chibok girls videoThree mothers of schoolgirls abducted from Chibok, Borno State two years ago shed tears as they identified their daughters in a video released by Boko Haram. READ MORE Chibok girls constantly on Buharis mind, says OsinbajoVice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday cautioned against cynicism and hopelessness about the recovery of the 217 Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram. READ MORE Budget: Southern senators demand Calabar-Lagos railA sharp division appeared to have emerged in the National Assembly over the 2016 budget. Senators of Southern states may have advised President Muhammadu Buhari to withhold his assent on the controversial budget. READ MORE_______________________________________________ THIS DAY NEWSPAPER Nigerias FX peg stirs memory of 1994 economic miseryThe slow down in Nigerias economy is gathering pace as capacity utilisation crashes with factories shutting down or reducing shifts on the back of a debilitating foreign exchange shortage that is also creating significant price pressures for households in the country. Analysts say Nigeria may have returned to the 1994 era when then Head of READ MORE Okonjo-Iweala says past government lacked political will to accumulate savingsNigerias former Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Wednesday said that the immediate past government lacked the political will to accumulate enough savings, explaining why the Africas largest economy is in a very difficult financial position today. She was speaking during one of the sessions on Low income developing countries: READ MORE Vice President Osinbajo specifically emphasised the importance of addressing vulnerability through quality education especially for girls. He was speaking in Abuja at a one-day Roundtable on Vulnerable People in Insurgency and other conflicts in Nigeria, a forum organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser in conjunction with the Presidency. It is important in my view to have a lot more advocacy to reverse the situation where about 10.4 million children are out of schools. He urged stakeholders to do more in line with the theme of the Roundtable Together We Can Do More. He stressed that all issues thrown up at the roundtable were critical towards having a holistic approach to addressing the plight of the vulnerable people across the country. Osinbajo, cautioned against cynicism and hopelessness about the rescue of the 217 Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram, stressing that their rescue was uppermost in the mind of President Muhammadu Buhari. He explained that the rescue of the Chibok girls was of utmost importance to the extent that it dominated the security meetings and that President Buhari as a parent was traumatised by the incident. At any security council meeting that I have attended, the President in particular has always been concerned about the question of Chibok girls in particular. "Of course it comes out of ensuring that apart from the international importance attached to it, he reflects on the abduction as if any of the girls is one of his own, he said. Osinbajo expressed governments appreciation to NGOs, CSOs and international partners and sought for their continued collaboration and assistance in further addressing issues around the wellbeing of victims and the rebuilding areas affected by insurgency. undefinedInspector Anifat Bello for allegedly stopping his vehicle. Reports say the DPO who was on mufti, drove to a nearby filling station, dressed up in his uniform and came back to deal with Inspector Bello. The police IG also ordered that Onwu be transferred to another post. The IG of police said he got to know about the incident from the dailies. Arase also commended the female traffic warden for not fighting back. The incident occurred at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) junction, on IBB Boulevard way, Abeokuta, in Ogun state. Security experts have also praised the Inspector General of police for the proposed adoption of stun guns to reduce casualties from misuse of firearms by men of the force. Watch video below. "Henan is considered the breadbasket of China. Our target in Sokoto is that in the next 10 years, we want to become the most important state in Nigeria in terms of agriculture. "We hope to standardize the production of important agricultural items such as beef, fish, maize and vegetable oil. Our vision to have the full agricultural value chain fully embedded thereby creating job opportunities for the citizens," the governor added. He said visiting the province has come at the right time considering the renewed relationship blossoming between Nigeria and China. According to a memorandum of understanding earlier signed, Chinas Henan companies will invest more millions of dollars in construction of a demonstration farm in Sokoto. It also provides for experts from Sokoto and Henan Province to carry out joint analysis and study of climatic conditions, soil moisture status, crop cultivation techniques and plant protection and quarantine. The partnership will also promote lease investment and promotion of agricultural machinery between the two entities. According to Tambuwal, Henan has seen rapid development in its economy over the past two decades, and its economy has expanded at an even faster rate than China's national average. Is the anticipated superhero film worth your time? Check out critics are saying. "Tear away the powers, abilities and egos, though, and the third Captain America movie is at its core a deep exploration of friendship and family and what sacrifices should be made to hold onto both." - USA Today. "Directors Anthony and Joe Russo continue to mine their experience with TV comedies, juggling all the members of their superhero family with a playful touch that both informs character interaction and delivers vital breathing room in between battles." - The Wrap. "Featuring what's arguably the best ever screen depiction of Spider-Man as well as a cool new hero in Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War can't quite recapture the emotional and cerebral strengths of its predecessor." - IGN. 'Captain America: Civil War' Is Great Fun, Even As It Alternates Between Shameless Fan Service Bits And Subversive Narrative Choices." - Forbes. ALSO READ:undefined "Matching its blockbuster scale and spectacle with the smarts of a great, grown-up thriller, Captain America: Civil War is Marvel Studios' finest film yet." - Empire. "Call it "civil war" or call it brand extension; call it a "cinematic universe" or a corporate behemoth - the latest Marvel extravaganza furthers the studio's cross-pollination of action franchises in a way that's sure to satisfy devotees." - The Hollywood Reporter. "The most mature and substantive picture to have yet emerged from the Marvel Cinematic Universe." - Variety. "April 13, 2016Finally, a big budget superhero sequel that manages to be both effortlessly entertaining and utterly sobering, instead of just one of those things-or, as we've endured too frequently in the past, neither of them. (Looking at you, Batman v Superman.)" - The Daily Beast. "This is the best Marvel movie so far. This is not hyperbole. I have my doubts they can make anything better." - Uproxx. ALSO READ: undefined "Captain America: Civil War" is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, and stars It also stars , , Tom Holland as and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man. Synopsis. "Political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability when the actions of the Avengers lead to collateral damage. The new status quo deeply divides members of the team. Captain America (Chris Evans) believes the heroes should remain free to defend humanity without government interference. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) sharply disagrees and supports oversight. As the debate escalates into an all-out feud, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) must pick a side". ALSO READ: undefined Members of the House of Reps are also blaming the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin for tampering with the budget. Reports say the lawmakers blamed Jibrin for playing a major role in the removal of the Lagos-Calabar railway project from the 2016 budget. Also, Vanguard reports that Senators from the South, have called on President Buhari not to sign the 2016 budget. The Reps also alleged that their recommendations on the budget was not adhered to by Jibrin. After a closed door deliberation on the matter, the House Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara said In the interest of our people, in view of the prevailing economic situation, the House has decided to re-examine the 2016 budget. Also speaking on the matter, the Chairman of the Media and Public Affairs committee, Abdulrazak Namdas said We are not saying that as a House that the Calabar-Lagos rail project is not good, we know it is a viable project. Our concern is that people say that this thing was in the budget, and we removed it. That is why we are making this clarification and again I want to state it clearly that up till now, as I speak, there is no communication from the executive, the President to the National Assembly about the budget. He also said All that we read in the media are other peoples opinions, but Mr. President has not come out clearly, and this is my problem with the budget that has been passed because as we were told, this budget has been taken back to Ministries for them to examine and get back to the President. That is why we asked our speaker to liaise with the executive, lets know what is the issue because we are elected by the people and we are here to serve Nigerians. The presidency and lawmakers have been trading blames over alleged removal or non-inclusion of the Lagos-Calabar railway project from the 2016 budget. What do you think is the way forward? Please drop your comments below. See Pulse Photo-News gallery below. Aluko had made similar revelations on Channels TV weeks ago, where he narrated the rigging process that allegedly involved Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, the army, PDP Chieftains and former president Goodluck Jonathan. Speaking in an interview on Adaba 88. 9 FM, Akure, Ondo State capital, on Wednesday, April 13, Aluko alleged that the hotel the illegal meeting held is owned by the Chief of Staff to Fayose, Chief Dipo Anisulowo. He said sensitive materials like ballot papers and result sheets were delivered to PDP chieftains by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the hotel. The former PDP Chieftain claimed that the electoral materials were delivered through Akure Airport, adding that INEC ballot papers were thumb-printed and result sheets filled by PDP members which gave the party an edge long before the actual election was conducted. Aluko further disclosed that operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) led by a female officer had stormed Anisulowos hotel and arrested the PDP members perfecting the rigging, but they were said to have been released within three hours after the intervention of the Federal Government. He alleged that a lorry conveying part of the electoral materials delivered through the Akure Airport was intercepted by soldiers led by Brigadier Gen. Aliyu Momoh, who was compulsorily retired recently. He said the officer were later ordered from "above" to release the materials Aluko also alleged that the N5.2 billion refund spent on Ado-Ifaki federal highway by former Kayode Fayemis administration, which was received by Fayoses administration, has been diverted to the Ado Ekiti flyover project following investigation conducted by the Department of State Service, the Police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. He said: Ask him (Fayose) why did former Commissioner for Works, Kayode Oso run away? Commissioner for Finance Toyin Ojo told his interrogators about the finances of the state including the N5.2bn refunded on the Ado-Ifaki Road project carried out by Fayemi. You will recall that Fayose had earlier denied receipt of the N5.2bn refund but the revelation by Ojo while in custody now made him (Fayose) to divert the money for flyover construction because Ojo told them that Oso was in a better position to explain on the refund collected on road. Fayose, who travelled to China on Wednesday, April 13, to attend the 119th China Import and Export Fair, otherwise known as the Canton Fair holding between April 14 and 19, three days after the President left for the country to secure a low interest loan. In a letter written to the Chinese authority and dated April 12, the governor said: The government of China should be mindful of the fact that Nigerians, irrespective of their political and religious affiliations are totally opposed to increment of the countrys debt burden, which is already being serviced with 25 per cent of the Federal Government annual budget. The letter, with reference number EK/GOV/28/10, was addressed to President Xi Jinping of China and delivered by Chief of Staff to the governor, Barrister Dipo Anisulowo in Abuja on Thursday, April 14, through the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Gu Xiaojie. It was gathered that Fayose will also deliver a copy of the letter directly to the Chinese President. The letter read in part: I write as one of the major stakeholders in the project Nigeria, and a governor of one of the federating units making up Nigeria, to draw your attention to report that the Federal Government of Nigeria is on the verge of obtaining a $2 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of China. This $2 billion loan is part of the N1.84 trillion the Federal Government of Nigeria has proposed to borrow to finance the 2016 budget, which is yet to be signed by the President, Mohammadu Buhari owing to unending controversies between the Executive and Legislative arms of government. According to reports, Nigeria desires to raise about $5 billion abroad to cover part of its 2016 budget deficit. This is projected to hit N3 trillion ($15 billion) due to heavy infrastructure spending at a time when the slump in global oil prices has slashed the countrys export revenues. While conceding that all nations, especially developing ones need support to be able to grow because no nation is an island, I am constrained to inform you that if the future of Nigeria must be protected, the country does not need any loan at this time. The government of China should be mindful of the fact that Nigerians, irrespective of their political and religious affiliations are totally opposed to increment of the countrys debt burden, which is already being serviced with 25 per cent of the Federal Government annual budget. It will interest the government of China to know that some of the projects for which the loan is being sought are not captured in the controversial 2016 budget, which has been sent to the President by the National Assembly for his assent. For instance, the Lagos Calabar Rail project was not included in the budget proposal the President presented to the National Assembly and it was not included in the Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly. Most importantly, Nigeria is presently servicing debt with about 25 per cent of its annual budget and what will happen to the economy in 2017, when the country will begin to service the additional debt to be incurred this year is better imagined than experienced. The Chinese government must also be aware that some western nations approached by the Federal Government for loan diplomatically and cleverly declined. This must have been informed by the suspicion in the present governments capacity to salvage the nations economy as well as the sincerity in the fight against corruption. More so that Nigerias Foreign Reserve, which is the only guarantee for foreign loan has declined to a very uncomfortable level. Delivering his opening speech at the inauguration ceremony held at the university chapel, the Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies, Professor Shalom Chinedu, said the essence of the event cannot be over- emphasized. This year makes it the 14th year of the School of Postgraduate Studies, and through the years, we have been able to graduate students on schedule. In 2010, we started to accept external students and this year, the fact that 90 percent of our intakes came from outside makes it imperative for effective leadership among students. The caliber of members underscores the importance of the student council, he said. The council, Prof Chinedu added, serves as a bridge between the students and the management of Covenant University. Speaking at a seminar organised by NRAN in Lagos, Oyewole said thousands of candidates who would have secured admissions into various higher institutions this year would be denied of such opportunities if the examination remains valid. Explaining that he has no problem with the UTME exercise overall, he said, This one conducted by JAMB was not only poorly organised but shows some of their staff were unskilled and deficient in carrying out the project. In view of the development, Oyewole said NRAN would be heading to the National Assembly next week to challenge the exam and persuade the lawmakers not only to cancel it, but to also move a motion for JAMB dissolution. JAMB is no more relevant to our education system, as it was in our time. As an educationist and a cleric, I feel bad seeing JAMB as a mere extortionist body to candidates and their parents. Let every higher institution conduct its own entrance examinations, as it once was before JAMB, he stressed. The decision to free Walus has caused anger in a country still dealing with the legacy of the brutality meted out by the white-minority regime that prevailed from 1948 to 1994. The latest twist in a saga that has revived memories of the country's liberation struggle. "The leave for appeal is dismissed," Judge Nicoline Janse van Nieuwenhuizen of the High Court in Pretoria said during a brief televised court session. The government's lawyer said the state would consider filing an appeal at the Supreme Court to have Walus' parole blocked. Officials from the justice and correctional services ministry said Walus' lawyers would be in court on Wednesday to seek his immediate release. Spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga told the eNCA news channel that Walus' lawyers would on Wednesday apply for his immediate release. He said the state would oppose the plea. Walus' lawyers were not available to comment. The murder of Hani, the charismatic leader of the South African Communist Party (SAPC), triggered nationwide riots, almost derailing the 1994 transition to multi-racial democracy after decades of white apartheid rule. "Walus was sentenced to life imprisonment and that is how long he must remain behind bars," SACP spokesman Alex Mashilo told eNCA. Davenport police are investigating a shooting incident between the occupants of two cars that occurred Wednesday night at the intersection of West 3rd and Gaines streets. The incident was reported at 10:23 p.m. No one was injured but one of the cars involved in the incident, a Hyundai Sonata, was struck twice; once in the drivers side front quarter panel and once in the front drivers side wheel well. Davenport police were able to stop that vehicle on Centennial Bridge as its driver tried to flee into Illinois. The occupants of that vehicle were taken to the Davenport Police Station for interviews. The other car was able to flee the scene. Davenport police found three bullet casings in the east bound lanes of West 3rd Street. One was in the intersection of the northbound lanes of Gaines Street. The other two were east of Gaines in the center lane of the three-lane roadway. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Davenport Police Department at 563-326-6124. The $300 million "bailout" Exelon Corp. has spent a year trying to ram through the Illinois General Assembly is DOA. But, at some point, Illinois must recognize nuclear's role in low-carbon energy production. An official from the Chicago-based nuclear giant expressed his understandable frustration Monday with Springfield's inaction during a Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce luncheon with local lawmakers. Last year, Exelon threatened the closure of three cash-bleeding plants, major economic engines in Quad-Cities and Clinton, Ill., unless lawmakers OK'd a plan, which included a state-imposed surcharge on users. But the company's continued profit margins and September's $1.6 billion windfall in PJM market auction all but killed the already controversial legislation that critics called a "bailout" intended to help "only Exelon." Holding a trio of major employers hostage didn't sit well with the public. The U.S. Supreme Court's temporary stay of federal emissions standards for coal-fired plants didn't help, either. But Exelon brass aren't wrong when pointing to a government-backed deck stacked against them. Wind, solar and other "renewable" sources benefit from perks within Illinois Renewable Portfolio Standard. Exelon, meanwhile, is left to makeup the shortfall when those less-consistent sources of electricity peter out. Clouds and gentle breezes leave Exelon carrying the water. And yet, Exelon doesn't benefit from the state subsidies that encourage wind and solar producers to flood the grid when conditions are favorable. And that's the problem. We've opined about the unfair nature of government picking winners and losers. We acknowledged Sen. Ted Cruz's point late last year when he called for the end of the biofuel subsidy that benefited so many Iowa corn growers. But we also believe that the government should incentivize low-carbon means of electricity production. Water vapor beats black smoke every time. Regardless of the bluster, global warming is a bygone fact. The U.S. Department of Defense is preparing for the fallout. The U.S. government is prepping for encroaching coastlines and more frequent storms, even as its politicians pay lip service to the anti-science crowd. So, too, are governments and militaries throughout the globe. Global average temperatures are rising. The ice caps are melting. Yes, the planet has gone through countless cooling and warming cycles throughout its history. But the speed at which the planet is warming leaves no question: The past century of industrialization fueled by coal and fossil fuels -- have pumped tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide rates are higher than at any point in the past 400,000 years. Inserting nuclear into a "green" plan comes with blow back. The waste is, indeed, a problem. After decades, Western states are now rejecting shipments of spent radioactive fuel. But all electricity comes with a cost, a fact that some of the planet's greatest defenders are now accepting. Earlier this month, famed climate scientist James Hansen, a man widely credited for making climate change a household phrase, co-penned an open letter to Illinois lawmakers stating, Do everything in your power to keep all of Illinoiss nuclear power plants running for their full lifetimes. Longtime anti-nuclear activists are coming around after seeing the results in Vermont, where high-carbon power swept across the state after the 2014 closure of Vermont Yankee nuclear facility, a shuttering largely instigated by that state's eco-minded legislature. Nuclear is clean energy, if carbon emissions are the gauge. Only political cowardice and the state's historic marriage to coal mining bars Exelon's massive operation from the state Renewable Portfolio Standard. SPRINGFIELD Gov. Bruce Rauner spent part of Thursday morning fielding questions from a group of hard-nosed reporters. But these budding scribes weren't part of the usual Statehouse press corps. They were fourth-graders from Sangamon Valley East Elementary School in Harristown, carrying on an annual tradition that began during the administration of Gov. Richard Ogilvie in the 1970s. Rauner welcomed each student and shook their hands as they filed into his ceremonial office on the second floor of the Capitol. The students formed a semicircle around the governor, and he made sure each one got a question in. Taking on the role of reporters for publications ranging from the Herald & Review and The (Springfield) State Journal-Register to Reader's Digest and Sports Illustrated, the students asked Rauner about his favorite pastimes (bird hunting, fishing and riding his Harley), foods (juicy hamburgers and ice cream), and movies and TV shows ("The Godfather" and "Casablanca," "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Gilligan's Island"). Zara Athey, representing Reader's Digest, asked Rauner about his favorite books. He spends most of his time reading budgets and policy papers these days, he said, but he used to enjoy science fiction and fantasy novels, such as "The Andromeda Strain," the "Dune" series and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, when he was younger and had more time to read for pleasure. Zara said he thought it would be a good question to ask because she likes to read. Her favorites are the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series. "I think the experience was quite enjoyable," she said of the chance to question the governor. Although they steered clear of the state's historic budget impasse and other controversial issues, some of the students' questions did put Rauner on the spot. Mary Irwin asked, "Which city or town in Illinois do you admire the most or visit the most often?" "Boy," Rauner said with a laugh, "that's a hard question for a politician to answer. You can't really, truly give, like, one answer. That's not really possible." The governor said one of his favorite parts of the job is traveling the state and meeting people in the communities he visits. He added that he tries to visit schools as often as possible. Jarrett McKittrick asked Rauner a question that could well have been posed by a professional reporter: If a business can locate in any of the 50 states, why should they choose Illinois? "That's a great question," Rauner said. "You know what? That's the No. 1 reason that I ran for governor is to give a good answer to that. Because we should be one of the fastest-growing states where businesses most want to come." As he often does speaking to business groups and others, the governor touted the state's location, transportation and agricultural assets and hard-working people. But he said taxes and regulations are holding the state back. Teacher Julie Bauer said the experience gave her students "an up-close and personal look at the government." "It's one thing to read about it, but it's another thing to walk into the Capitol, where the laws are made and people can protest and people can really speak for what they believe in," she said. Retired teacher Jeff Deremiah has organized the trip, now in its 46th year, since its inception. SPRINGFIELD The latest attempt to overhaul the way Illinois funds its public schools has taken its first step toward passage. The Senate Executive Committee signed off Wednesday on a proposal from Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, that is designed to refigure the way state money is funneled to schools. Manar and other proponents say the current funding formula doesn't get enough money to the districts that need it the most to meet the needs of low-income students. "We've been struggling with this for decades for decades," Manar said during his testimony before the committee. "I think we know what we have to do. I think this is a pretty good way to do it." Manar's bill would do away with the current system in favor of one that puts more weight on demographic factors such as the number of students in a district who come from low-income families, are learning English or require special education services. In response to "constructive criticism" of previous versions, Manar has included a provision that would prevent any school district from losing money under the new formula for the first year, which would cost an additional $400 million. That "hold harmless" protection would be phased out over four years. The plan also calls for Chicago Public Schools to be part of the same funding formula as the rest of the state's school districts and for the state to pick up the tab for the employer's share of Chicago teachers' pensions, something it currently does for other districts. Covering the pension contributions would cost another $200 million annually. Marin Gjaja, a managing director at the Boston Consulting Group who has studied Illinois education funding for the Funding Illinois' Future coalition, testified that the state ranks 50th on equity of funding for low-income students. "Greater equity in school funding drives better student outcomes," Gjaja said, adding that Manar's proposal would be "a giant step forward." Ginger Ostro, executive director of education advocacy group Advance Illinois, said the state spends 81 cents on educating low-income students for every dollar it spends educating children from wealthier families. The committee approved Manar's plan without any Republican votes, although all but one GOP member voted "present." Many Republicans have publicly backed Gov. Bruce Rauner's plan to increase funding under the current formula for next year. At the committee hearing, many of the Republicans' concerns centered on the impact the plan would have on individual districts and whether it's realistic to try to pass an overhaul of the funding formula before next school year. Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, said the issue is an especially thorny one because it breaks down along regional as well as political lines. Luechtefeld recalled similar debates during the administration of Republican Gov. Jim Edgar in the 1990s. "It became so difficult and so not partisan, honestly. It was more, 'If it helps my districts, I'm for it; if it doesn't, I'm against it,'" he said. "And I think you're going to see some of that no matter what the formula is." Luechtefeld said he also has concerns about the legislation's future in the House, where a committee has been holding hearings on education funding this spring. Democrats and Republicans agreed that they want to see forthcoming projections from the Illinois State Board of Education on how each district would be affected before taking a final vote. Such bipartisan agreement was not on display earlier Wednesday, however, when Democrats voted to approve a $3.9 billion spending plan that the House approved Tuesday. The measure would fund higher education, social services and other programs that haven't received any state funding amid the budget impasse between Rauner and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly. Democrats argued that the bill would allow universities, community colleges and service providers, among others, to get in line for payments from the state. Republicans countered that it constituted another promise that the state's checkbook can't keep. "This is the legislative version of 'Groundhog Day,'" said Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon. SIOUX CITY The genesis for a Republican primary battle may have come from a high-profile, winter-months political skirmish over agriculture issues in advance of the Iowa caucuses. That's why there's considerable attention being given to where Iowans with ag-industry and farming ties come down in the contest between seven-term 4th District Rep. Steve King and his GOP challenger, state Sen. Rick Bertrand of Sioux City. Both King and Bertrand say they'll get a substantial number of ag-related support, but for now, industry officials are playing their cards close to the vest. King ruffled some feathers in November when he endorsed presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who doesn't support an extension to the federal Renewable Fuel Standard for corn-based ethanol. That caused Gov. Terry Branstad and others to publicly criticize King's pick, with the Republican governor saying Cruz shouldn't be supported by Iowans after his knock on an industry that is so important to the state. Cruz went on to win the Iowa caucuses and is one of three remaining GOP presidential candidates. Bertrand entered the 4th District race in March, in part because he said Iowans and particularly those who work in agriculture aren't happy with King. Now, with less than two months until the June 7 primary election, Iowa Republicans are deciding whether to support King or Bertrand, so where ag interests in the largely rural 39 counties come down in the race will be important. Iowa State University political science professor Steffen Schmidt, who lives on a Story County farm, said nearby farmers told him they were not happy that King endorsed Cruz, "of all the candidates, the one guy who was not on board with ethanol and renewable fuels." Said Schmidt, "They were pretty peeved and ticked off that Steve King would go with Cruz." The professor added that dissatisfaction, however, doesn't mean Iowans with ag ties will move to embrace Bertrand. He said they will look to see if Bertrand has the heft, as shown in campaign fundraising, endorsements and other benchmarks of strength, to defeat King. Schmidt said Bertrand also will have to convince Iowans that he would be a vocal supporter if he represented the district. "They are not gonna automatically support someone who is gonna take on Steve King who we know is a fabulous campaigner and has won every election he's ever run in if they think that this is gonna go south and that (King) is going to survive the primary ... because they don't want him ticked off at them, either. So it is calculating game where the industry farmers and ethanol fuel are going to be carefully watching Bertrand," Schmidt said. "If it looks like King has been wounded and he is limping a little and there is blood, they just might go for a new guy," he added. In an interview last week, King said that in his 2012 re-election race, he won the support of about 60 agriculture groups. He expects those groups will continue to back him, although he conceded a few individuals who work in agriculture will defect to Bertrand. "I don't know that any groups will go against me, just a scattered individual here and there," King said. King criticized Branstad's intrusion into the caucus race. "It looks like the governor has given us advice that you should only think of one thing, and that is the RFS, and nothing else matters," King said. King sought to have Cruz fully support the RFS. Failing that, the congressman said he is relieved to know that while Cruz isn't supportive of extending the RFS, the senator from oil-rich Texas has vowed, as president, to "shape a policy that helps the (ethanol) industry grow and compete in the open markets." Bertand said King made a bad decision for the ag economy with the Cruz endorsement. The Sioux City businessman and developer noted that the RFS doesn't cost taxpayers a dime, as "it is access, not a subsidy, it gains access for the markets." "The question is, why did Steve King turn his back on Iowa agriculture? You can paint that pig anyway you want. But the bottom line is that the cattlemen, the corn growers, the soybean growers, the ethanol people, they understand what that endorsement meant," Bertrand said. King won a key farm-state ally last Saturday, winning the endorsement of Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey. Northey, a Spirit Lake farmer, became the first Republican state or federal officeholder to formally endorse in the Bertrand-King contest. In a statement, Northey didn't reference the Cruz-RFS flap but noted Kings leadership and knowledge of production agriculture. Bertrand has one big agricultural supporter with deep pockets, Bruce Rastetter, a resident of the 4th District whose large business holdings have included biofuels, pork and farmland. Rastetter, who has signed on as Bertrand's campaign finance director, was the biggest donor to Gov. Terry Branstad's 2010 re-election campaign, giving the Republican governor $160,000. Bertrand, who actively farms with his father, also has been touring the 4th District to meet people who work in agriculture. One such stop came April 1 when he toured the Quad County Corn Processors plant in Galva and met with top officials and employees there. Quad County CEO Delayne Johnson said he isn't taking a stance on the primary race but mentioned King's endorsement of Cruz certainly turned heads in the ethanol industry. "I am hopeful that every voter supports a candidate that publicly speaks out in favor of defending the RFS, which benefits farmers, Main Street businesses and our rural economies in western Iowa. I believe this issue is the biggest issue in our district," Johnson said. Schmidt said it will take fortitude for the initial people to publicly pick either King or Bertrand. Schmidt said people often keep their political preferences private, but once a few people start airing them, it will be easier for others to follow. Some have already made up their minds. Tim Bierman, a livestock and grain farmer from Larrabee in Cherokee County, has lobbied King on trade agreements and said the congressman took his positions into account. Bierman has known King since he was in the state Senate in the 1990s and will vote for him over Bertrand. Bierman said King was quick to embrace ethanol when it was a fledgling energy source and Bierman himself had initial doubts. "(King) is a strong supporter (of grain commodities). He is probably one of the strongest supporters of ethanol," Bierman said. Bierman isn't troubled that King supported Cruz: "Steve King is all about ag and doing the right thing for Iowa, not just getting re-elected." Iowa Renewable Fuels Association President Monte Shaw said the organization's board members in a March meeting decided to stay neutral in the Bertrand-King primary. Shaw said the organization's political action committee also won't get involved, noting that King in the U.S. House and Bertrand in the Iowa Senate have been big supporters of renewable fuels. "We are just not going to get involved in the primary. Individual people and individual plant PACs will have to make their own decision," Shaw said. Shaw said he isn't sure if King's support for Cruz will drive higher voter turnout in the congressional primary. "I don't live up there, I'm not in the 4th District. You know, it is no secret that some folks in our industry were not ecstatic that Congressman King endorsed Senator Cruz. How that will affect the primary, I don't know," Shaw said. DES MOINES A group of Democratic senators Thursday refused to confirm Gov. Terry Branstads appointment of Marianette Miller-Meeks as a member of a state advisory board that oversees an insurance program for Iowas low-income children. The nomination of Miller-Meeks, 60, of Ottumwa, to the state HAWK-I board garnered support from 20 Republicans and eight Democrats, but another 18 Democrats voted no, which meant she failed to achieve at least 34 affirmative votes to reach the two-thirds majority needed for confirmation. Four GOP senators were absent for confirmation votes in which 36 other Branstad appointees were approved by 46-0 votes, and Ryan Wise was approved 42-4 as director of the state Department of Education. Miller-Meeks, a licensed ophthalmologist and retired Army Reserve officer, served as director of the state Department of Public Health under Branstad from 2011 to 2013 and lost to Democrat Dave Loebsack in the 2nd Congressional District in the 2008, 2010 and 2014 general elections. Critics expressed concern about her time as Branstads state public health agency chief and her approach as a public member on a state board that provides direction to the state Department of Human Services on the development, implementation and ongoing administration of the states childrens health insurance program at a time when the governor is moving Medicaid services to privately managed care. I have grave concerns about this appointment. We need a HAWK-I board member that has a strong knowledge of the health insurance programs that will advocate for affordable, accessible, comprehensive care for children and not just worry about the reduction in services and the bottom-line costs, especially in this period of transition to a managed care environment, said Sen. Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City. This is not a fit that I think is good for HAWK-I or the state of Iowa, especially in this change. Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, said the HAWK-I program needed a champion at a time when it is being dismantled by the Branstad administration and called on the governor to send the Senate a strong childrens advocate. Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said Miller-Meeks displayed weaknesses in her commitment, her listening skills and her failure to consult with others regarding personnel decisions during his interactions with her when she directed the state Department of Public Health. Sen. Charles Schneider, R-West Des Moines, defended Miller-Meeks as a health-care professional who serves Medicaid patients in her practice and has donated medical care to military veterans. He noted that senators previously confirmed her in 2011 as state health department director and thinks she now would be equipped with knowledge, expertise and experience needed in advising the state regarding Iowas most vulnerable children. She is not only well qualified for this position, she is uniquely qualified for this position, he said. After the Senate vote to block her confirmation, Senate GOP Leader Bill Dix of Shell Rock called Miller-Meeks a very upstanding, capable and clearly qualified woman in this area who served her country proudly but was the victim of politics in the Iowa Senate on Thursday. It just appears to me that this is nothing but partisan politics, and thats truly unfortunate when such a qualified person is willing to step up and serve Iowa, Dix said. Ben Hammes, Branstads communications director, expressed shock over Thursdays confirmation outcome, calling it D.C.-style politics creeping into the legislative process at the close of an otherwise productive session. Instead of doing their job and confirming the appointment of a well-qualified doctor to the oversight board for Hawk-I, Senate Democrats chose to play petty partisan politics, Hammes said in a statement. The easy dig at "Hardcore Henry" is that it's like watching someone else play a video game without getting a turn yourself. That's true, but a more accurate and condemnatory criticism is that whether it were in the form of a film or a game, it'd be terrible, a monotonous drudge through same-y looking designs and rogues and annoying side characters before it finally shuts off and shuts up. Shot on a GoPro, the film takes place entirely from protagonist Henry's point of view. He's been brought back to life by his scientist wife Estelle (Haley Bennett), who's given him bionic limbs and super-strength but hasn't uploaded his voice yet. Before she can, they're interrupted by Akan (Danila Kozlovsky, looking vaguely like Ewan McGregor in "Velvet Goldmine"), a telekinetic supervillain planning to use their technology to build an unstoppable cyborg army. He kidnaps Estelle, leaving Henry with only his incredible strength, his apparently intuitive sense of how to use anything as a weapon, and the assistance of the shape-shifting and apparently immortal Jimmy (Sharlto Copley) to save the day. The film is directed by first-time filmmaker Ilya Naishuller, best known as the frontman of the Russian rock group Biting Elbows. He's got a good ear for music cues, with inventive use of The Stranglers' "Let Me Down Easy" in the opening credits, The Sonics' "Strychnine" in an action scene and Elmer Bernstein's theme from "The Magnificent Seven" serving as highlights (I'm far less impressed with his own songs that show up in the film). Naishuller previously directed a pair of videos for Biting Elbows utilizing the same first-person aesthetic and heavy stunt work and violence. The stunts are impressive in a pure "How'd they do that?" sense, but they're more impressive for three minutes at a time than they are for an hour and a half, when every shooting, stabbing and explosion from first-person looks exactly the same. The effect is numbing, particularly when paired with the flat, uninteresting environments, be they dilapidated buildings, rooftops or futuristic settings. I'm not a regular gamer (mostly because I'm terrible at them), but I've played enough for everything "Hardcore Henry" shows me to look familiar and boring. The interactivity (the appeal of video games) has been removed, as is the innovation and imagination that comes with the better-regarded first-person shooters ("Half Life," "Halo," "Bioshock"). The film doesn't even capture the appeal of a Let's Play video, in which more experienced gamers walk through a game, spicing things up with jokes or commentary: There's nothing to play, and the only sense of humor is either dully juvenile (there's a shootout at a strip club, because the film wasn't enough of a lame "Duke Nukem" knockoff as it was) or provided by the superhumanly annoying Copley, doing his best to fit in every bad performance he can think of into one character and 90 minutes. The draw, then, is the stunt work and violence, which pales in comparison to the more vividly charged and nasty likes of the "Crank" movies. Naishuller is clearly influenced by "Crank" directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, going beyond the extreme violence of their most famous films to directly lift a song-and-dance routine from their less-acclaimed "Gamer," which it can't match. Left without any of the animating devices of its influences the verve, the visual sense, the humor, the appearance of Jason Statham, the controller it's hard to imagine exactly who "Hardcore Henry" is for. Really, wouldn't you rather just play a video game? After last week's episode of "The Americans" killed off one beloved character and threatened to take out at least two more, "Clark's Place" can't help but feel like a bit of an exhale, or a wind up to what's coming next. That doesn't mean that the episode isn't strong stuff, but it deals with transitional situations: Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth (Keri Russell) trying to reach out to Pastor Tim (Kelly AuCoin) after their daughter, Paige (Holly Taylor), confesses to him about their true nature; Oleg (Costa Ronin) and Stan (Noah Emmerich) trying to move on from Nina's death; Philip trying to patch up his friendship with Stan after their misunderstanding in the premiere; and poor Martha (Alison Wright) essentially alone, without "Clark"/Philip to lean on, feeling the heat from Stan and Aderholt (Brandon J. Dirden) closing in on her. Nobody could be said to be in truly good shape, but things seem to be progressing a bit with Pastor Tim, at least at first. Elizabeth and Philip agree to meet with their daughter's mentor, and the walk in with an El Salvadorian Jesuit priest who'll give a more complete picture of what they do. Pastor Tim and his wife, Alice, look at least somewhat moved, or at least more open, when the priest says that it's because of people like Elizabeth and Philip that he was able to escape death squads, and he's well aware that the United States government is funding the death squads. But there's at least one level of subterfuge in the scene: when the couple drops the man off, Elizabeth can only answer Philip's question of whether or not he's really a priest with a slurre "I dunno" sound. Things are more uncertain still when the two meet with Paige later that night, urging her to make Pastor Tim trust her again. Paige starts walking towards bed and doesn't react to their further comment, and the look on her face before she turns suggests her recognition that her parents are working her over. "Is this gonna work?" Elizabeth asks Philip. No answer. A "yes" would be charitable at best, with Paige meeting with the pastor the next day and informing him that they've asked her to work him over. Tim is, to his credit, a good listener, taking in Paige's concerns that "there's a whole grownup conspiracy" about what she's supposed to feel and do. She does appreciate that her parents believe in something and that they love her, but she still seems uncertain, her body language pitched forward and confessional. When her parents check in on her at night, she's still but restless, telling them that they're right, that Tim does care about her, but she's keeping something back. Things aren't going to get easier for Paige any sooner. More capable of coping with a terrible situation, but not in any better shape, is Oleg, who gets the heartbreaking news that his father's efforts to save Nina were all for naught. Like Nina before him, Oleg's gone through quite a change over the past few seasons, from smug, cocky kid to Nina's protector to a man who's growing openly disillusioned with the cause. He tilts his head backwards and makes a coldly sarcastic face towards his father, saying he couldn't save his brother from his death in Afghanistan either. There's a break between the two: one convinced his son died a hero, who's furious enough that there are no military honors at his funeral that he shoots his own pistol into the air; the other attends the funeral full of spite, embracing a Russian officer and weeping as much for his lover as for his brother. He regards his father's insult ("Go back to America to your clothes and special favors") and salute with scorn, and when he meets up with Arkady (Lev Gorn), he's equally hostile to his boss' suggestion that Nina got "chance after chance" when she never had any choice at all. His meeting with Stan gives him the chance to voice his disillusionment: "When my father was young, they fought the Nazis.They were heroes." He can't say the same for his brother's death in a more meaningless war. I'm on the fence about where Oleg's story is going is he turning, or is the war just forcing him to grow colder? I could see either, but either way, he's moving towards the second half of season 4 with a greater measure of cynicism towards his country than he had before. Stan's a bit stunned at the Nina news, but he's not given much opportunity to mourn, and I think he had a better sense of how doomed she was than Oleg did. He's also got a surrogate son in Henry (Keidrich Sellati), the Jennings' son who keeps hanging out at his place. His own son, Matthew, stays at his place for the first time in what seems like together, but Henry idolizes Stan openly and asks his advice far more often than he does Philip. Part of it is the cool FBI Agent job, and part is proximity and availability the Jennings kids never really know where their parents are going to be at any given time but Stan is emotionally available and open towards Henry in a way Philip can't be. Henry marvels at Stan's "Trivial Pursuit" skills and even finds a way to get Matthew to warm up around the house. He spends so much time there that Elizabeth pleads with Philip, yet again, to patch things over with him. After a brief "you're an a------," Stan and Philip are able to bridge the gap, but Philip still has reason to be nervous, especially after he greets Aderholt outside: the man he knows is watching Martha, and the man who fought Elizabeth last season. The Martha Situation is growing more delicate by the day. The episode opens with her alone, waiting up at night for "Clark" and confessing to him that she had a panic attack and had Valium prescribed to her after her date with Aderholt. When they sit together on the couch, he's positioned himself with his knees pointing toward her, but she's turned away. He gives her a way to contact him at any point, but it's a number for a service that she can only call on a payphone and wait for him to call her back. It's another barrier, and it's getting to be too much, especially after a tense scene that shows Martha followed by Aderholt to "Clark's" apartment and Philip having to make a quick escape after Hans signals that someone's watching. She's able to contact him, but only after waiting for his call for an hour in a laundromat. "I love you," he tells her. "Tell me Tuesday," she says brusquely, losing patience and hope that her husband can provide her any comfort. When Philip isn't dealing directly with Martha, he spends much of the episode speaking with Elizabeth or Gabriel (Frank Langella) about the situation, showing real concern that another woman that he's spent time with and developed feelings for might get hurt. They'll do everything they can, Gabriel says, but there are no promises. A final montage shows Elizabeth promising the same to Philip before taking some of the pressure off of the whole situation Martha, Aderholt, Stan, Pastor Tim with a vigorous love-making scene set to "Under Pressure." Frankly, this is the first time a song cue on the show has seemed a bit too on-the-nose to me, but I like how Emmerich (who directed the episode) contrasts the comfort the Jennings can provide each other with a lonely Martha, staring out at nothing and popping a Valium. That uncertain "Is this gonna work?" referred to the Pastor Tim/Paige situation, but it could go for just about anyone in the show as they're all feeling...well, y'know. Stray thoughts: -Henry and Stan disagree about what's the better pizza place in D.C., Mario's or Abdullah's. "Mr. Beeman, are you high?" "...I don't think so." -Stan remarks to Aderholt that he found the "Kama Sutra" when he looked through Martha's stuff, with a lot of pages checked off. -Gabriel's got a lingering cough and pallid look from his Glanders encounter, but he's looking better. He also notes that William is a patriot, even if he "complains...a lot." -Elizabeth meets briefly with Young-hee, who's still a delight. I dread whatever's coming to her. -When Elizabeth returns from said meeting, she tells her family that she was with friends. Henry: "You have friends?" Cold, kid. A U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs police officer faces a federal kidnapping charge following what prosecutors allege was a violent confrontation with his wife at their home on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Cheyenne has filed a criminal complaint against William Arthur Curran. The complaint identifies Curran as a BIA police officer and a member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. The complaint alleges the officer's wife reported her husband had handcuffed her and threatened to kill her at their home in Ft. Washakie on Monday evening. It states she called 911 while she was restrained. Curran faces an initial court appearance Thursday in Casper. Court records don't indicate that he has retained a lawyer yet. Trust Bank sues former owners in London court for $830 million MOSCOW, April 14 (RAPSI) Trust Bank has filed a lawsuit with the London High Court demanding to collect $830 million in damages from former owners of the bank, Ilya Yurov, Nikolai Fetisov and Sergei Belyaev, RIA Novosti reported on Thursday citing press office of Otkritie Holding. The claim was filed following a court decizion to freeze assets belonging to ex-shareholders. Such ruling has been delivered on the grounds that companies connected with the defendants, then owners of the bank, obtained credits amounting to $1 billion providing security worth nearly $150 million, according to the statement of Otkritie Holding. These loans have been serviced prior to reorganization of Trust Bank in 2014; along with that the companies continued getting funds for repayment of earlier loans. The companies ceased paying when relending stopped. Before lodging of the claim, in January, Trust Bank turned to the London High Court seeking to freeze accounts of ex-owners and suspend a deal stipulating free divestment of assets priced at $100 million, Otkritie Holdings press service said. In late December 2014, the Central Bank of Russia decided to reorganize Trust Bank placing it under the temporary supervision of the Deposit Insurance Agency. FC Otkritie Bank, part of Otkritie Holding, was selected as a bridge bank. By the end of 2014, Trust Bank suffered a loss of 18.8 billion rubles ($293 mln). As of December 1, 2014, its assets were estimated at over 290 billion rubles ($4.2 bln). The Central Bank estimated that the banks debts exceeded the value of its assets by 67.8 billion rubles ($984 mln). Russian Supreme Court approves bill allowing commercial courts to dismiss lawsuits MOSCOW, April 14 (RAPSI) The Plenum of Russias Supreme Court has approved a bill that introduces legal procedure into the Commercial Procedural Code allowing commercial courts to dismiss lawsuits. This legal procedure was previously present in the Commercial Procedural Codes of 1992 and 1995. The accompanying note to the bill says that lack of such legal procedure in the current Code forces commercial courts to dismiss lawsuits only after start of respective court hearings. Legislators believe that reintroduction of this procedure will optimize efficiency of Russian commercial courts and will accelerate the decision-making process in them by reducing the workload pressure. Such measures will hopefully improve the quality of justice procedure in Russia, the note reads. According to the bill, a judge will be able to dismiss a lawsuit if it cant be reviewed by an commercial court or if similar case was already reviewed by other court. Such dismissal will prevent plaintiff from filing the same lawsuit again with a court, but it also may be appealed. Currently similar legal procedures are present in the Civil Code and the Code of Administrative Offenses of Russian Federation. Dhaka Tribune - 8 April 2016 Stand with Nazim, put an end to religious extremism Tribune Editorial The murder of Jagannath University Masters student Nazimuddin Samad by assailants we have strong reason to believe were religious extremists was a most despicable crime committed in cold blood, and should be condemned in the harshest manner by all. The police must leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the killers are found and brought to justice. As of now, the perpetrators have not even been identified yet. And even though the chant aAllahu Akbara was heard at the site of the murder, which was crowded at the time, witnesses have so far been reluctant to come forward with information. It should be the topmost priority of our law enforcement to get to the bottom of the Nazim murder, and for the government to send a strong message that those who commit murder, in the name of religion or not, will never get away with impunity. Regrettably, the murder of 28-year-old Nazim was not an isolated incident. In recent times, the country has seen the horrifying, brutal killings of secular bloggers and authors, such as Oyasiqur Rahman, Avijit Roy, and numerous others. Just earlier this year, Hindu priest Jagneshwar Roy was stabbed to death, allegedly by JMB and Shibir members. We cannot allow Bangladesh to become a haven for religious extremists, who get away with murder after murder. These crimes not only take away innocent lives and destroy families, but threaten to destroy the secular fabric of our nation and divide our society. We cannot let extremists win. These crimes must be made to stop. o o o The Hindu, 9 April 2016 Editorial Another killing in Bangladesh The death of one more secular activist in Bangladesh this week is a chilling reminder of the unrelenting assault by Islamist groups on freedom of expression. Nazimuddin Samad was returning from classes in Dhakaas Jagannath University when attackers waylaid him. They hacked his head with a machete, and then shot him. In initial comments the police did not say whether Islamists were responsible, but it is no accident that Samadas name figured in a hit list of 84 Bangladeshi bloggers and activists compiled in 2013 and sent anonymously to media organisations. The manner of the 26-year-old law studentas murder bore close similarity to the death by machetes of four bloggers in 2015. To reaffirm that Bangladesh is a secular republic, young campaigners have taken the fight to Islamist groups in multiple ways. They have braved threats from extremists and carried on writing, in print and on social media platforms. They have also, importantly, mobilised tens of thousands of Bangladeshis in seeking strict punishment for Islamists implicated in war crimes in the nine months leading up to the liberation of Bangladesh. These activists a mostly students and writers/bloggers a are at the vanguard of the ongoing struggle to define the secular and democratic nature of the Bangladeshi state, an issue that has been acrimoniously contested by political parties, Islamists and the military since the 1971 war. Upon her return to power in 2009, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made the war crimes tribunal central to the Awami Leagueas politics, and brought leaders of Islamist groups, notably the Jamaat-e-Islami, to trial for collaborating with the Pakistan army in war atrocities. When a key Jamaat leader, Abdul Quader Mollah, was handed life imprisonment, huge protests erupted in Dhakaas Shahbag Square demanding that he be punished with the death penalty. The protests, named the Shahbag movement, called for accountability as well as returning Bangladeshas Constitution to its initial secular character. It is reported, for instance, that Samad had participated in the Shahbag protests. There is, however, anxiety that Sheikh Hasina is using the war crimes issue not only to secure the secular character of Bangladesh, but also to consolidate her grip on power. There is a grain of truth in the charge that she has been somewhat slow, inactive even, in bringing those responsible for the threats and assaults on secular activists to book. She has used a variety of measures to discredit her long-time rival, Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and to target journalists and well-regarded civil society members such as Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus. Samadas death is a cautionary alert that the logical extension of the purported fight to rescue the progressive vision of the countryas founders is to assert its democratic ethos. Bloggers cannot be the only opposition to extremism. If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). Could and should past concussions be a significant mitigator at federal sentencing of white-collar offender? | Main | California board recommends parole for former "Manson family member" Leslie Van Houten April 14, 2016 Two timely stories of marijuana reform not yet helping those serving "Outrageous Sentences For Marijuana" From two very different media sources today, I see two very notable stories of defendants convicted of marijuana-related offenses serving extreme sentences for a type of behavior that is now "legal" at the state level in some form throughout much of the United States. First, the New York Times has this new editorial headlined "Outrageous Sentences for Marijuana," which starts this way: Lee Carroll Brooker, a 75-year-old disabled veteran suffering from chronic pain, was arrested in July 2011 for growing three dozen marijuana plants for his own medicinal use behind his sons house in Dothan, Ala., where he lived. For this crime, Mr. Brooker was given a life sentence with no possibility of release. Alabama law mandates that anyone with certain prior felony convictions be sentenced to life without parole for possessing more than 1 kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, of marijuana, regardless of intent to sell. Mr. Brooker had been convicted of armed robberies in Florida two decades earlier, for which he served 10 years. The marijuana plants collected at his sons house including unusable parts like vines and stalks weighed 2.8 pounds. At his sentencing, the trial judge told Mr. Brooker that if he could sentence you to a term that is less than life without parole, I would. Last year, Roy Moore, chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, called Mr. Brookers sentence excessive and unjustified, and said it revealed grave flaws in the states sentencing laws, but the court still upheld the punishment. On Friday, the United States Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Mr. Brookers challenge to his sentence, which he argues violates the Eighth Amendments ban on cruel and unusual punishments. The justices should take the case and overturn this sentence. Second, AlterNet has this new piece with this lengthy headline, "As Marijuana Goes Mainstream, California Pioneers Rot in Federal Prison: Luke Scarmazzo and Ricardo Montes opened a dispensary in Modesto. Now they're doing 20 years in federal prison. Their families want them home. " Here is how it starts: Behind the headlines about President Obamas historic visit to federal prisons and highly publicized releases of non-violent drug offenders, the numbers tell a different story. Despite encouraging and receiving more clemency petitions than any president in U.S. history more than the last two administrations combined, nearly 20,000 very few federal prisoners are actually being granted clemency. Nowhere is this irony more glaring than in the world of legal cannabis. Cannabis is now considered the fastest-growing industry in the nation, yet remains federally illegal. The sea change from the Department of Justice since 2009 has allowed state-legal cannabis industries to thrive. Federal solutions seem to be around the corner and for the first time cannabis businesses are being publicly traded and receiving legal Wall Street investment. Ricardo Montes and Luke Scarmazzo are two of the 20,000 federal prisoners appealing to President Obama for clemency. They have exhausted their appeals and are serving 20-year mandatory minimum sentences for openly running a dispensary in the early days of Californias pioneering medical cannabis law. The irony isnt lost on them that their crimes are now legal and profitable, but their appeals for clemency arent based on justice anymore they just want to be home with their kids. Their daughters, Jasmine Scarmazzo, 13, and Nina Montes, 10, are appealing directly to President Obama to release their fathers via a Change.org petition. Given that the Supreme Court has often stated and held that the Eighth Amendment's "scope is not static," but "must draw its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society, Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 101 (1958), I think both these cases should be pretty easy constitutional calls if courts and/or executive branch officials took very seriously a commitment to updating and enforcing Eighth Amendment limits on lengthy prison terms in light of the obviously "evolving standards of decency" concerning medical use of marijuana throughout the United States and the world. But, while hoping for some judicial or executive action in this arena, I am not holding my breath that any of these medical marijuana offenders will be free from incarceration anytime soon. April 14, 2016 at 03:42 PM | Permalink Comments Thank God I don't live in Alabama. Posted by: Emily | Apr 15, 2016 1:03:29 AM Post a comment Say goodbye to 10-for-a-dollar limes and hello to something new and gentrified in FoodHall, whose prices we do not know but whose chic logo and new paint job herald a different era at the northwest corner of 16th and Valencia Streets. Arriving next to ice cream sandwich artist outpost CREAM, the forthcoming market in the former Val 16 grocery space is weeks away according to proprietor, Bilal Mannaa, who spoke with SFist. Meanwhile an ad on Craigslist indicates a "unique shopping experience for food and drink enthusiasts in San Francisco." That apparently includes coffee, as baristas are wanted. Before Val 16, the space was once a Wells Fargo branch, and London-based architects William Tozer have designed the space for the forthcoming Foodhall. The concept, as they say, is certainly on trend, as they also say. The Market on Market arrived last year in the Twitter Building, and closer to this location, the Myriad is open at 15th and Market, each serving a variety of prepared foods, coffee, and other items to eat on site or take away. Inside Scoop was also on the case today, and adds that in addition to Maanna, Yasmin Murtadha, is behind the project. Both are ex-investment bankers from London. Inside the 2,500-square-foot space, you'll find all the essentials: charcuterie, pastry, cheeses, and with a full liquor license, craft beer, spirits, and wines. In each department the space will also hold educational events. A photo posted by F O O D H A L L (@foodhallsf) on Mar 26, 2016 at 2:17am PDT FoodHall - 3100 16th Street at Valencia - Opening mid-May An elderly San Francisco woman is in the hospital today, after she was brutally beaten when she tried to wake a woman sleeping outside her building. The San Francisco Police Department was summoned to the 3300 block of Geary Boulevard, which is between Parker and Commonwealth Avenues in an area near both Laurel Heights and USF at 4:05 p.m. Wednesday. When they arrived they discovered an 89-year-old woman suffering from head trauma. According to police, a 30-year-old woman named Angelique Parry was sleeping behind a Geary Boulevard building owned by the victim. When the elderly woman tried to wake Parry up, Parry allegedly flew into a rage and punched the older woman "multiple times in the head." The blows caused the victim to fall to the ground. Parry then allegedly began to beat the victim's head into the pavement, stopping only when someone who passed the altercation intervened. According to a police spokesperson, Parry then "went back to sleep" at the scene. The victim was transported to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment of head trauma. According to a police spokesperson, her injuries are not considered life threatening. The slumbering Parry "was taken into custody when officers came on scene" and was booked into San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, trespassing, aggravated assault, and resisting arrest. According to a spokesperson with the San Francisco Sheriff's Department, as of Thursday afternoon Parry remains in custody. A easily-infuriated Muni rider was arrested Wednesday, after punching a fellow passenger in the head when her child bumped into him. It all went down at 8:20 a.m., near 15th and Mission Streets. According to the San Francisco Police Department, a 34-year-old woman was riding the bus with her child in tow. Her kid, whose gender and age was not immediately known by an SFPD spokesperson, "accidentally bumped into" a fellow passenger. That rider, a 34-year-old man, "became enraged," SFPD says, and punched the kid's mom "in the back of the head." The blow caused "her to hit the front of her head on a metal railing," police say. The rampaging man then fled the bus and ran south down Mission Street...and into the arms of police officers who'd been summoned to the scene. The mad Muni rider was booked into San Francisco County Jail on aggravated assault charges. The injured woman was transported to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment of what SFPD says is non-life-threatening head trauma. An angry crowd gathered yesterday at the Laborers International Union on the corner of 18th and Shotwell Streets, less than a block from where a week ago San Francisco Police Officers shot and killed 45-year-old Luis Gongora. Police Chief Greg Suhr called the town hall to speak about the shooting, which police have claimed was an act of self defense by officers after Gongora charged them with a knife a claim disputed by numerous witnesses and took questions from those gathered. Given the already evident distrust of the chief among many in the room, it comes as no surprise that it was not long before calls of "Fire Chief Suhr now" filled the hall. Before opening up the meeting to questions from the crowd, Suhr attempted to fill in some of the details of the shooting. However, as the investigation is still ongoing, it remained a mostly incomplete picture that was painted. Suhr confirmed that Gongora was struck six times by bullets fired from two officers' service pistols, and CBS 5 reports that Suhr informed the crowd that one of the two who fired is a sergeant with 17 years on the force, and the other is an officer with 13 years of experience. The meeting was then opened to questions, and it was not long before those at the podium began asking the police chief if he intended to resign. He made it clear he did not. One speaker, reports the Chronicle, emphasized the apparent disconnect between the SFPD's official de-escalation policy of creating "time and distance" and the actual circumstance of the shooting video of which shows that it all went down in roughly 30 seconds. [The 'time and distance' policy has] been on your books for three years," said retired ACLU attorney John Crew. "I beg of you to speak out about it and enforce it. The message that the officers are getting is if they create the imminent danger, they can shoot. This event obviously went very quickly, CBS 5 reports Suhr as responding. We will be looking at tactics to see if anything could have been done differently. According to the CBS, Gongora had a wife and three children living in Mexico. Previously: Day Around The Bay: Another Witness Comes Forward In Shotwell Shooting 'Town Hall' On Controversial Shooting Of Homeless Man To Be Held Wednesday At Noon Marchers Disrupt Sunday Streets To Protest SFPD Shooting Of Luis Gongora First Video Surfaces Of SFPD Firing On Homeless Man Within 30 Seconds Of Exiting Squad Cars Protesters March On Mission Station As Additional Witnesses Dispute SFPD Shooting Death Claims [Update] Homeless Man Shot By SFPD Has Died, Witnesses Dispute Police Claims Hey guys remember Tower Records? And Discolandia? And Force of Habit? And Medium Rare Records? Yeah, me too. Music is now, on the bright side, easier to find and listen to than it ever was in human history, but just like there is a loss of human curation and interaction in the death of bookstores, the death of neighborhood record shops is a sad, sad thing. BuzzFeed chronicled the phenomenon in 40 sad portraits, and that was five years ago. But as DJs and vinyl fanatics know well, our surviving record shops have, by and large, become niche outlets catering to specific types of fans, and they have become proof that there is still a market for places where you can see, touch, and often listen to LPs. And there are still the big second-hand marketplaces like Amoeba and Good Will where you can have moments of discovery in busted CD bins, and maybe even find some stuff that Spotify hasn't uploaded yet. Also, don't forget, Saturday, April 16 is Record Store Day, so go find one. Jay Barmann 1-2-3-4 Go! Records What started as a tiny store in Temescal, with an emphasis on selling to fans of the already-established punk label by the same name, has grown into a major presence in the East Bay music scene. Earlier this year, 1-2-3-4 Go! nearly doubled the size of its store by expanding into a next door space, making room for more records, a book and 'zine section, and vinyl accessories. Though punk and indie is well represented in its shelves, the store also stocks plenty of new and used rock, blues, reggae and other world music. They even clean every used record, so you don't have to worry about it skipping when you get home. In the back of the store, local and touring bands regularly perform and admission is usually $10 or under. The bands are always worth checking out, even if you have not heard of them, and maybe you'll catch a surprise guest, like East Bay legends Green Day who played in 2011. Whitney Phaneuf 420 40th Street #5, Oakland Aquarius Records While it's not the biggest record store in San Francisco, Aquarius is the oldest independent store in the city, and also the best curated. The store's owners and employees are unabashed music nerds who take the time to write reviews, list each week's new arrivals, compile year-end favorites (here is 2015's) and they are super nice, even if the selection can seem obscure and intimidating. This is a true music discovery experience, though, that includes local bands, D.I.Y. artists, and international acts in a variety of genres and spanning many decades. Want to hear Norwegian black metal from the early 90s? This is your place to find it. Whitney Phaneuf 1055 Valencia Street (Photo: john daniel reiss) Amoeba Music When you're looking to act out all your Empire Records fantasies, this is the store to do it in. Amoeba's Haight Street location is a former bowling alley and every square inch is packed with merchandise, making it easy to get lost in for hours and forget what brought you there in the first place. Luckily, everything is pretty well organized by artist and ranges from essentials to the obscure. The vinyl selection includes new, used, clearance, and collectable (be ready to fork over serious cash for the latter), and the few of you who still listen to CDs should head to the deep discount section in the back corner of the store. There are also cassettes, DVD/Blu-ray videos, books, t-shirts, and weekly shows (you can pretend it's Rex Manning...we won't tell). Whitney Phaneuf Multiple locations: 1855 Haight Street; 2455 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley Econo Jam/Facebook Econo Jam Records One of the newer record stores in Oakland, Econo Jam packs a lot of great stuff in its small shop, located near the 19th Street BART station. Punk, jazz, and metal fans will find a lot to love, but there's also a decent selection of rock, funk, and experimental records and cassettes. Plus it's a one-stop-shop for folks getting back into vinyl as the store sells new and used turntables and receivers. The art shows, performances, and readings are well-curated and frequent, and you can stay updated on events via their Facebook. Whitney Phaneuf 2519 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland Explorist International/Facebook Explorist International Records Visiting Explorist International Records is like hanging at the house of a crate-digger friend, but a tidy and organized one who has impeccable taste in a wide variety of music. Located in the Mission, Explorist International lives up to its name with a focus on vinyl from all over the world. There is Dub, Afro-funk, Cuban and Latin jazz, French electronic, and roots American music, to name a few. You can also find books and 'zines, cassettes, and vintage electronics. On the first Friday of every month, stop by for Free Jazz Friday, which is "free" in that it costs nothing and features improvised music. Whitney Phaneuf 3174 24th Street near South Van Ness Photo: Jim P./Yelp Grooves Inspiralled Vinyl This Castro-adjacent record shop (on the Octavia side of Mint Hill) is a true SF treasure, though it may not be the best organized record store in town. Owner Ray Anderson was a well known 1960's counterculture figure in the city, as head of the Holy See Light Show, and he's a character who'll guide you through the vinyl-only selection, which often features gems slipped in from his private collection. "People like the idea of being able to find something serendipitously," he told the Chron back in 2007, when at that point his cluttered shop was ringing in its tenth anniversary on Market Street. And if you're on the hunt for that rare rock concert album or lounge-era oddity, this is where to look first. Jay Barmann 1797 Market Street near Octavia Jack's/Google Plus Jack's Record Cellar Jack's is only open on Saturdays from 2 to 7 p.m. (or by appointment) and only caters to vinyl lovers (no CDs or DVDs), but it's a San Francisco institution that has been selling records since 1951. The store specializes in rare, out-of-print 78s and 45s in a variety of genres including jazz, folk, and country. Tucked in a corner of Page and Scott Streets with just a sign that says "Records" hanging above the door, it's a great place to take music-loving, out-of-towners and impress them with your insider knowledge of the city. Whitney Phaneuf 254 Scott Street at Page A happy customer with his newly purchased records via Yelp. Noise A family-owned and operated record store pretty much hits all the "relic of the past" notes, but, fortunately, in this case reality diverges from expectations. Enter Noise, an outer Richmond record shop that doubles as a gallery and small jazz venue. Run by Sara Johnson, her son Daniel A.J. Brown, and with the sometimes help of her daughter (also named Sara), the seven-month-old shop is rightfully called out by the Chronicle as being a light in San Francisco's jazz and music scene. The store stocks a wide range of LP's, and hosts a (no cover) jazz show every Sunday from 2 p.m to 6 p.m. So grab some records, chat up the owners, and hear some live music. Jack Morse 3427 Balboa Street between 35th and 36th Avenues Rooky Ricardo's/Facebook Rooky Ricardo's Records You may have walked into Rooky Ricardo's after a few pints at Toronado and thought you stumbled into the 1960s. There are vintage posters, toys, rotary phones and of course lots of cool, old 45s lining the walls. But if you stick around and talk to owner Dick Vivian, who has run the place for almost 30 years, you'll likely leave with a few records. The store stocks soul, oldies, and R&B vinyl, focusing on the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and Vivian can tell you about each and every one. Even though it's a small store, it's easy to spend hours there as you can listen to records on turntables with headphones, and the vibe is warm and welcoming (unlike Toronado). Jay Barmann 448 Haight Street near Webster Stranded/Facebook Stranded Another off-shoot of a local record label, in this case Superior Viaduct, Stranded features an artfully curated collection of music's past and present. Naturally, the store carries Superior Viaduct's excellent releases, mostly reissues and archival compilations from Bay Area underground bands of the late 70s and early 80s, plus stuff like DEVO's previously out-of-print hardcore album. But what people really love is that Stranded stocks records you can't find anywhere else (unless you buy them online...shame on you). That classic Captain Beefheart album you've been searching for all your life? Yeah, they probably have it. Most of these albums are reissues, and thus new records, so don't expect to find rare gems hidden in a bargain bin, but there's still a lot of thrill and surprise in the hunt. The store also regularly hosts performances (I saw Bonnie 'Prince' Billy there for free) and you can check here for an updated listing. Whitney Phaneuf 4929 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland Thrillhouse Records via Facebook Thrillhouse Records You know what's punk as hell? A not-for-profit, volunteer-run, DIY record store that, in addition to boasting a vast punk library, carries selections of jazz, classical, and more. Thrillhouse Records is mostly vinyl, tapes, zines, and such, but you can find a few CDs here, too. And, if you happen to be in a cool band (good for you!) their basement workshop has a full screen-printing set up and can make some tees for your next gig. Come in for the free arcade machine, and as they encourage you to do, buy some beers for the volunteer clerks. Free beer is punk, too. Caleb Pershan 3422 Mission Street at 30th Street Photo: Facebook Vinyl Dreams This teeny, low-ceilinged, Lower Haight shop is as curated as they come, with owner Mike Battaglia (a.k.a. Mike B) serving up the best in electronic, house, disco, and dub records to a dedicated clientele. The place occupies the storied former location of Black Pancake Records and Tweekin Records, so it's been a destination for record-philes for a couple decades. And, in honor of Record Store Day, Mike B will be hosting DJs and passing out drinks all day, so stop by. Jay Barmann 593 Haight Street at Steiner A photo posted by Mollusk Surf Shop (@mollusksurfshop) on Feb 11, 2016 at 11:57am PST Western Relics It's only been open since February of this year, but this collaboration from Wilson Drozdowski and Sabrina Kay is already making waves. "We don't want to have to go downtown to buy records," Kay told Hoodline earlier this year. "We felt like that was a need we wanted to fill. Open from 12-8 p.m. daily, not only do they stock a tightly curated selection of vinyl, but are willing to buy and trade for more. If that's not enough to convince you that the dream of the 90's is alive in the Inner Sunset, I'll direct you to Western Relics' ample 'zine and comics section. But if you think that it was a nostalgic trend that inspired this place, think again. According to Drozdowski, "Doing this business is definitely not us banking on the repopularization of vinyl...You'll read articles that say 'vinyl is back,' but for a lot of people, it was never gone. Eve Batey 1400 Irving Street at 15th Avenue Honorable Mentions: Down Home Music (10341 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito) Groove Merchant (687 Haight Street, SF) Mod Lang (6328 Fairmount Ave, rear, El Cerrito) Recycled Records (1377 Haight Street, SF) RS 94109 (835 Larkin Street, SF, currently closed for remodeling) Remember the infamous UC Davis pepper spray incident? How could you forget? The photographs and video depicting the brutal pepper spraying of peacefully gathered students captured a prime example of police overreach in the era of Occupy protests, and the actions of UC Davis police officer Lt. John Pike became the stuff of memes, prompted calls for the chancellor's resignation, and damaged the reputation of the school in the process. Well, school officials decided the best thing to do about this would be to erase the incident from our collective memory (a.k.a. the internet). And so The Sacramento Bee reports that officials at the public university paid a private company at least $175,000 to scrub all stories of Pike and his pepper spray from Google searches, which you're probably guessing is an impossibility, and you'd be right. "We have worked to ensure that the reputation of the university, which the chancellor [Linda P.B. Katehi] leads, is fairly portrayed, says UC Davis spokeswoman Dana Topousis. We wanted to promote and advance the important teaching, research and public service done by our students, faculty and staff, which is the core mission of our university. Needless to say, that plan has backfired. The Sacramento Bee obtained documents detailing the expenditures after filing a request under the California Public Records Act. Apparently reeling from the worldwide negative publicity that followed the November 18, 2011 pepper spraying, the school in 2013 hired Nevins & Associates a Maryland company that promised the eradication of references to the pepper spray incident in search results on Google for the university and the Chancellor. Subsequently, they also paid a firm called ID Media Partners to "design and execute a comprehensive search engine results management strategy." Now, as the Washington post notes, searches for "UC Davis" come up with mostly university-sponsored pages that is until, the story of this web-scrubbing contract arose. The money paid to these firms was in addition to the $30,000 the school eventually paid out to each of the pepper-sprayed students, and, gallingly, the $38,000 the school paid to officer Pike after he claimed he suffered "psychiatric injury" from the response to his actions. News of the school's use of taxpayers' money to try and bury one (but not the only one) of its more shameful moments has sparked some outrage and people are once again calling for the resignation of Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, reports the Bee, following the revelation that she accepted a paid board position with the for-profit DeVry Education Group. "It is troubling that the administration chose to spend scarce public dollars and to nearly double its PR budget when tuition soared, course offerings were slashed and California resident students were being shut out, said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, who chairs the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance. These findings just raise more questions about university priorities. Indeed. In the meantime, in the spirit of helping to reinforce UC Davis's colorful Google footprint, we'll just leave this here. Previously: Pepper Spray Cop Nabs $38K In Workers' Comp UC Davis Pepper Spray Cop Claims He Suffered 'Psychiatric Injury,' Wants Workers Comp $1 Million Awarded To Pepper Sprayed UC Davis Students UC Davis Chancellor Apologizes For Pepper Spray Incident UC Davis English Department Calls For Chancellor Katehi's Resignation UC Davis Pepper Spraying Cop Turns Into Meme UC Davis Police Brutally Pepper Spray Student Protesters [Video] For many Siouxland catfish anglers, North Dakotas Red River is the place where dreams are made. It is where hundreds of dedicated cat men trek to each year to seek battle with one the toughest fish that swim, the channel catfish. Brad Durick of Grand Forks, North Dakota, lives this catfish dream every day. He is a full-time catfishing guide on the Red and also can arrange trips on North Dakotas Devils Lake. He is also a nationally recognized fishing educator and outdoor writer. He is the author of the 2013 self-published book Cracking the Channel Catfish Code and his recently published Advanced Catfishing Made Easy. Durick was on hand for last weeks Fish Fest hosted by the Sioux City Scheels store at the mall. He is in his ninth year of guiding on the fabled Red. He expects a great season this year, but it will be hard to beat last year, he admits. It was an outstanding year, he said. You just happened to be there on the worst week of the year. Brad was referring to an April trip that Gary Howey of Hartington, Nebraska, and I had made. The river was 13 feet higher than normal, running dirty and full of floating snags and trees. But we still managed to catch plenty of catfish up to 16 pounds. Last October was just phenomenal, he said. Fully as good as Lockport, Manitoba, for numbers and size. With the low water we have now, I think it will just pick up where it left off, he smiled. If we dont get some rain, its going to be hard on gear. Im thinking the fishing is going to start really good in about two weeks. Water temperature right now is about 40 degrees, but when it reaches 50 degrees, its game on. As I was driving down here, all the water in the ditches was making me kind of jealous, he said. We had a winter which started off normal and then it just quit snowing. Durick fishes cut bait all year long, perhaps switching to frogs in a wet year when the leopard frogs begin migrating back to the water. For him, suckers and goldeye are the go-to baits, with suckers best early and goldeyes coming on later as a rule. If you can find them and get them legally, tullibies are working really good in the fall, he said. You have to read the regulations to make sure you're using them legally. For instance, in Minnesota they have to be treated a certain way by licensed bait shops. In Manitoba they have to have the reproductive organs destroyed. They are a September-October bait and not anything to really fuss over until the fall. He fishes seven-and-a-half-foot Rippin Lips catfish rods with Amassadeur reels spooled with 30-pound-test monofilament. He uses a 2-ounce, no-roll sinker above a barrel swivel with a two-foot mono leader tied to a 7/0 or 8/0 Rippin Lips circle hook. Brad says a typical daylong trip will usually produce about a dozen catfish. Some days may yield as many as 20 to 25 cats, but he says that is a heck of a day. Most fish in this area of the Red will average about 10 pounds, but most days he will put cats in the high teens in the boat or even one over 20. He guides out of both Grand Forks and Drayton, North Dakota. He is a U.S. Coast Guard licensed captain, and fishes out of a 19-foot G3 aluminum boat. Theres about 70 miles of river between them and its like two different worlds, he said. "Below the low head dam at Grand Forks, its pretty wild. Lots of log jams, a lot of structure you have to sift through. However, when you get up to Drayton, its like a mini version of the Red at Selkirk, Manitoba." Durick has seen cat fishing really taking off the last five years. You can get started with a minimum investment in gear, he said. But, like anything else, the more specialized stuff you want, the more money you are going to spend to get it. I always tell people just starting out to get the original catfish book by In-Fisherman, read the book and then read it again. That, and time on the water, will be the two biggest lessons you can get as a beginner. Technology is also making inroads in successful catfishing. Of all the advancements Ive seen in the last couple of years, I think the one that will make a big difference is electronics. Three years ago you could not get into side imaging for less than $1,000. Now, you can get it for a lot less and you can even get map making software and that is a game changer. That's even affordable. You can get into that now for about $1000. For more information about Brad Durick Outdoors, check out his website at www.redrivercatfish.com. His books are available through his website. Sioux City Republican Rick Bertrand is determined to unseat U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, and King is shaking his head over one of the reasons the challenger has given as a need for change. King listened to Bertrand's March campaign kickoff, and noted that Bertrand contended the congressman "is not likable." "Is that really his platform?" King said, his voice rising in incredulity, in an interview with the Journal. During his announcement remarks in Sioux City, Bertrand kept touting his own "likability." He didn't specify the ways in which King isn't likable, but said people are more likely to vote for someone who connects with them in a friendly way. "I lead with likability, (King) leads with a finger in the eye...What I have learned in life, in business and in politics, that likability is the key to success. You gotta be likeable. You can be tough, you can play rough, but at the end of the day, you gotta be likable, because politics is personal," Bertrand told the Journal. King, who has won seven congressional terms, can't believe this topic could play out in the campaign up to the June 7 primary vote that will determine the Republican nominee moving onto the November general election. "If that's the best you've got, can you bring us an issue? And then go ask somebody that knows me, ask somebody that's worked with me. Siouxlanders know how to do that. If that's what this race is about, then, you know, it is over before it starts," King asserted. Buena Vista University Political Science Professor Bradley Best said likability is a difficult concept to pinpoint, since how people view others varies. Best said King has made controversial statements on immigration policies and other issues, so he can see why Bertrand is in part framing the campaign that way "to create daylight" between the two. Beyond his statements, King can also point to votes he's made, which will make some Iowans like and continue to support him, the professor noted. "The Bertrand candidacy will reveal the extent to which an in-party challenger can reset the terms of debate and public dialogue on Steve King as a public servant... In a primary race, an incumbents 'likability,' or lack thereof, can impact the vote, provided that a challenger successfully defines the contest as a referendum on image and personal characteristics," Best said. Best noted King for years has been "able to drag a history of controversial statements all the way to double-digit victories in the general election." People have sent Letters to the Editor to the Journal about the Bertrand-King race. One dug into that likability topic, as a letter published from Jacob Hall, of Sioux Center, on March 22. "We don't need a representative who is more concerned about being 'likable' than being principled... If Bertrand is really concerned about being liked, he's running for the wrong position," Hall wrote. "Go be a game show host or find some position where difficult decisions will never force you to do something that might make you unlikable." When it comes to Arctic grayling in Montana's Big Hole River, even the numbers are controversial. The native fish once a species of concern are estimated in the thousands in the river, said Emma Cayer, grayling biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. But Montana Tech professor Pat Munday says the numbers are not as hardy as the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks claims. Munday, along with Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity and Montana fishing guide George Wuerthner, filed a lawsuit against U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year to force the agency to put grayling on the endangered species list. The lawsuit is pending. The Big Hole's Arctic grayling are a unique species. Since becoming extinct in Michigan in the 1930s, the Arctic grayling can only be found in the Big Hole River in the lower 48 states. By the early 2000s, their numbers were in serious decline in the river that runs through Southwest Montana. Through an agreement with state and federal agencies, landowners along the upper Big Hole began working with the agencies to improve habitat. By 2014, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service announced the grayling were out of danger. Cayer said the state, through genetic sampling, has proof the fish numbers are improving. A Missoula geneticist looks at samples taken from the fish during a yearly survey in the Big Hole and can determine not only the fish numbers, but also that the fish are genetically diverse. Munday said he believes there are less than 500 Arctic grayling in the Big Hole. Cayer said that cant be the true count. We would see serious inbreeding taking place (if there were less than 500), Cayer said. Cayer said the state agency has seen the fishs distribution expand in the upper reaches of the Big Hole and that it has seen an increase in the number of breeding fish. The agency is also seeing grayling in Governor Creek near Jackson, northwest of Dillon, as well as in the lower reaches of the Big Hole near Melrose. The grayling numbers are improving through reintroduction. Munday says he has no problem with reintroducing the fish, but said the reintroduction program has not become self-sustaining. I have not seen any measurable results of that effort yet, Munday said. Cayer disagrees, saying the reintroduction program is working. The state FWP receives between $250,000 and $300,000 annually on habitat improvement on the Big Hole in the agencys continued effort to improve the graylings chances of survival. This year the agency has between 10 to 12 projects planned. Those include stream bank fencing to keep livestock out of the river, new irrigation infrastructure to keep water in the river, bridge work to eliminate fish passage barriers and solar stock water systems, which enables ranchers to provide fresh water to livestock without diverting the river. The money comes mostly from grants from various agencies. The take home is, the grayling are trending upwards and theyre genetically healthy and thats what were after, Cayer said. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy DES MOINES | An alternative funding plan to help counties that say they need to boost their mental health care funding was met with a chilly reception Wednesday during a hearing at the Iowa Capitol. But it may be the best the Iowa House can do this year, conceded state Rep. Linda Miller, R-Bettendorf, who is running the bill and represents a portion of Scott County, which is one of the counties that says its mental health care funding is insufficient. The bill approved Wednesday by a House subcommittee would extend by one year, through June 2018, the state mental health care property tax levy implemented as part of the states regional redesign. County officials said they favor an Iowa Senate proposal that would allow counties in need to increase their mental health care property tax levy. Miller said she, too, favors the Senate measure but is unsure enough House members would support its passage. She said she expects the House proposal to pass that chamber. We have to come up with a solution. The problem is its an election year, and I cant get either (political) side, Miller said. I prefer the bill in the Senate, actually. (But) I cant pass it over here. A state cap designed to equalize how much property tax revenue counties can dedicate to mental health care actually has created inequities under the new regional delivery system, county officials say. They say the cap has left some counties lagging behind others in their region, forcing those other counties to cover the difference to make the regions budget whole. The issue has led some regions to begin discussing whether those lagging counties, including Scott County, should be removed from their regions. Originally with the redesign, the state made equalization payments to the counties. But no state dollars have been allocated for equalization in the past two fiscal years, and none is planned for the upcoming fiscal year. Under the Senate plan favored by counties, those counties could raise their mental health property tax levy to equalize it with other counties in the region. County officials at Wednesdays hearing described the House proposal to simply extend the levy by one year as kicking the can down the road. A Polk County official said 1,300 people could lose mental health care services if the county is not able to fill a $7 million budget hole. I think we all uniformly agree (the statewide mental health care redesign) has been successful in achieving everything you wanted it to be, said Amy Campbell, a lobbyist for the Polk County supervisors. The last thing we havent addressed is the property tax, the financing piece, which did drive a lot of the inequities in the system because of the dollar cap. Id encourage you to look for a permanent solution; the sooner the better. John Miller, a Black Hawk County supervisor, spoke at Wednesdays hearing even though Black Hawk County is not one of the counties that finds itself in a mental health care budget crisis. Miller said he nonetheless thinks the funding inequity threatens the states new regional delivery system. DES MOINES | A Medicaid recipient in central Iowa with a rare form of cancer receiving treatments at the Mayo Clinic was given conflicting answers on how the treatments would continue. Another, who is schizophrenic, saw delays in getting a necessary injectable medication. A disabled Iowan in the northwest part of the state had trouble scheduling non-medical transportation to a job at a McDonalds. You keep referring to a warm transfer from fee-for-service to managed care, said Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines. I believe many Iowans would disagree with this. Peterson and other state legislators fired questions and complaints from constituents at Department of Human Services representatives and at the heads of the three managed-care organizations (MCOs) that have contracted with the state to administer its $5 billion Medicaid program, during a Senate Human Resources committee hearing on Wednesday afternoon. The state handed over its Medicaid program with more than 580,000 beneficiaries to three out-of-state private companies on April 1. During the hourlong meeting, legislators talked with the state and MCOs about the first 13 days of the transition and the switch to managed care. Weve had no major system issues, Iowa Medicaid Director Mikki Stier said. However, with something this large and of this magnitude, there will be challenges. Were making sure to resolve problems with compassion and as quickly as possible. Stier said the state has about 100 employees staffing the Iowa Medicaid call centers. So far, it has received 18,000 member calls and 7,800 provider calls. Its key that we make sure we triage those member calls if we need to transfer to the MCO, we do. If its a critical incident or a complex patient, we pull in other divisions to handle the member, Stier said. The MCOs also have worked quickly to resolve problems, MCO leaders said. AmeriHealth, for example, worked directly with the provider and Medicaid beneficiary who was having issues getting an injectable medication, and then retrained staff to ensure proper information will be given out in the future. But senators still voiced their dissatisfaction at the end of the meeting. Sen. Dave Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, asked why a hospital in Northwest Iowa still hadnt contracted with two of the three MCOs, while Sen. Liz Mathis, D-Cedar Rapids, said Gov. Terry Branstad is contributing to some of the confusion with the physician numbers hes reported. Mathis pointed to a statement from Branstads office on Friday that said there were 7,512 physicians in the fee-for-service Medicaid network, while MCOs have contracted with 16,821 physicians. The Iowa Board of Medicines most recent annual report said there were 6,828 physicians with Iowa work addresses, Mathis said, adding she understands a doctor may be counted multiple times if he or she bills from more than one place. But can someone from (Iowa Medicaid) please tell the governors office that we dont have 16,000 doctors? Mathis asked. Earlier Wednesday, the Council on Human Services a policymaking and advisory board for the Department of Human Services met with AmeriHealth Caritas Iowa market President Cheryl Harding to discuss the transition roll out and the MCOs provider network. This is the biggest priority for the organization that the go-live goes smoothly, she said. Were watching every day, every hour. However, with every go-live there are some bumps. AmeriHealth provides managed care to Medicaid or Medicare populations to 6.9 million people in 16 states, Harding said. The MCO has about 205,000 Medicaid enrollees in Iowa, she added, including 58 percent of the long-term services and support population (waiver services), 21 percent of the Hawk-i population and 34 percent of the remaining Medicaid population. 1. Love Bites You best hope you bought your tickets for Halestorm and Lita Ford ahead of time because the upcoming show at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City is completely sold out! Halestorm has made a stop in Sioux City once or twice in the past, and they always rock it. The aggressive rock band will pair well with Lita Fords more classic rock-oriented tunes. Its certainly going to be a show to remember. See the performance at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (April 16) at Hard Rock. 2. Classic night Who doesnt like rock tunes and Johnny Cash classics? Crazy people, thats who. Those people will be missing out, too! Sioux Citys own Trip Modus is back and ready to teach everyone how rock n roll is supposed to be played. Playing alongside Trip Modus is the Big Bad Cash Band, a trio of musicians dedicated to playing amazing Johnny Cash songs. Check out the show at 8 p.m. Friday (April 15) at The Chesterfield. 3. Art, art & more art The Briar Cliff Review is back! This award-winning journal features articles, essays, poetry, photography and other works of art, many of which are created by local writers and artists. The Briar Cliff Review has been around for more than 25 years. And now you can check out many of the journals photographs and artwork at The Briar Cliff Review exhibition. The reception begins at 10 a.m. Thursday (April 14) at the Sioux City Art Center. The exhibit will be open to the public until July 3. 4. Intense drama Shot in the Dark Productions has a new play. This two-person drama titled "Closet Land" stars Mindy Brinkerhoff, an author who was arrested by an oppressive government accusing her books of inspiring kids to rebel. Shes mercilessly interrogated by a nameless man played by Rick Myers. This show, directed by Joey Hartshorn, isnt for the squeamish the interrogator employs tortuous tactics to get the information he wants. The shows begin at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday (April 15 & 16) and 7 p.m. Sunday (April 17) at the Evelyn Larson Theatre. 5. Romance, advice & entertainment Having trouble finding that special person in your life? Well, the actors and actresses over at Lamb Arts Regional Theatre might be able to help you out with their latest production, "Miss Abigails Guide to Dating, Mating & Marriage." The show uses audience participation (probably not in the "mating" portion), and its sure to be lots of fun. Now the play has two extended dates! See the show at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (April 16) and 1:30 p.m. Sunday (April 17) at Lamb Arts Regional Theatre. 6. A-singin and a-dancin Musical theater has never been more fun. Over at the Sioux City Community Theatre, the show "The World Goes Round" is underway. The play mixes hefty doses of humor, romance, drama and nonstop melodies for one entertaining night of theater. Songs like "Mr. Cellophane," "Cabaret," "New York, New York" and "Maybe this Time" propel this show into a harmonious ride. Catch the shows Friday-Sunday (April 15-17) at the Sioux City Community Theatre. There are many fitness goals out there that we desire. Some of us want to be leaner and others wish to put on muscle mass. The thing is, for you to achieve your fitness goals, you need to Fornax Cluster ESO Galaxies, it seems, are sociable animals and they like to gather together in large groups, known as clusters. Actually its gravity that holds the galaxies in the cluster close together as a single entity, with the pull of gravity arising from large amounts of dark matter, as well as from the galaxies we can see. Clusters can contain anything between about 100 and 1000 galaxies and can be between about 5 and 30 million light-years across. Galaxy clusters do not come in neatly defined shapes so it is difficult to determine exactly where they begin and end. However, astronomers have estimated that the centre of the Fornax Cluster is in the region of 65 million light-years from Earth. What is more accurately known is that it contains nearly sixty large galaxies, and a similar number of smaller dwarf galaxies. Galaxy clusters like this one are commonplace in the Universe and illustrate the powerful influence of gravity over large distances as it draws together the enormous masses of individual galaxies into one region. At the centre of this particular cluster, in the middle of the three bright fuzzy blobs on the left side of the image, is what is known as a cD galaxy a galactic cannibal. cD galaxies like this one, called NGC 1399, look similar to elliptical galaxies but are bigger and have extended, faint envelopes [1]. This is because they have grown by swallowing smaller galaxies drawn by gravity towards the centre of the cluster [2]. Indeed, there is evidence that this process is happening before our eyes if you look closely enough. Recent work by a team of astronomers led by Enrichetta Iodice (INAF Osservatorio di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy) [3], using data from ESOs VST, has revealed a very faint bridge of light between NGC 1399 and the smaller galaxy NGC 1387 to its right. This bridge, which has not been seen before (and is too faint to show up in this picture), is somewhat bluer than either galaxy, indicating that it consists of stars created in gas that was drawn away from NGC 1387 by the gravitational pull of NGC 1399. Despite there being little evidence for ongoing interactions in the Fornax Cluster overall, it seems that NGC 1399 at least is still feeding on its neighbours. Towards the bottom right of this image is the large barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365. This is a striking example of its type, the prominent bar passing through the central core of the galaxy, and the spiral arms emerging from the ends of the bar. In keeping with the nature of cluster galaxies, there is more to NGC 1365 than meets the eye. It is classified as a Seyfert Galaxy, with a bright active galactic nucleus also containing a supermassive black hole at its centre. This spectacular image was taken by the VLT Survey Telescope at ESOs Paranal Observatoryin Chile. At 2.6 metres in diameter, the VST is by no means a large telescope by todays standards, but it has been designed specifically to conduct large-scale surveys of the sky. What sets it apart is its huge corrected field of view and 256-megapixel camera, called OmegaCAM, which was specially developed for surveying the sky. With this camera the VST can produce deep images of large areas of sky quickly, leaving the really big telescopes like ESOs Very Large Telescope VLT to explore the details of individual objects. Notes [1] The image captures only the central regions of the Fornax Cluster; it extends over a larger region of sky. [2] The central galaxy is often the brightest galaxy in a cluster, but in this case the brightest galaxy, NGC 1316 , is situated at the edge of the cluster, just outside the area covered by this image. Also known as Fornax A, it is one of the most powerful sources of [radio waves] in the sky. The radio waves, which can be seen by specialised telescopes sensitive to this kind of radiation, emanate from two enormous lobes extending far into space either side of the visible galaxy. The energy that powers the radio emission comes from a supermassive black hole lurking at the centre of the galaxy which is emitting two opposing jets of [high-energy particles]. These jets produce the radio waves when they plough into the [rarefied gas] which occupies the space between galaxies in the cluster. [3] The Fornax Deep Survey with VST. I. The extended and diffuse stellar halo of NGC1399 out to 192 kpc by E. Iodice, M. Capaccioli, A. Grado , L. Limatola, M. Spavone, N.R. Napolitano, M. Paolillo, R. F. Peletier, M. Cantiello, T. Lisker, C. Wittmann, A. Venhola , M. Hilker , R. DAbrusco, V. Pota, and P. Schipani has been published in the Astrophysical Journal. More information ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the worlds most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the worlds most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the worlds largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become the worlds biggest eye on the sky. NGOS working with Roma push new Government Proxy for the Roma Communities Abel Ravasz to effectively use eurofunds. Font size: A - | A + In a move that has disappointed many in the human rights field, the government has replaced widely criticized Government Proxy for the Roma Communities Peter Pollak with the virtually unknown Most-Hids nominee Abel Ravasz -- who is not Roma. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement It is very important that Roma man or woman with sufficient qualification and experiences in this field will run this office, reads the statement of Centre for Ethnic and Culture Research (CVEK). We cant pretend the there arent such people in Slovakia. Precitajte si tiez: Precitajte si tiez: Most-Hids Ravasz becomes new government proxy for Roma Read more Pollak, who is a Roma, earlier this week announced that he wanted to resign as of April 30 due to what he described as a lack of support from the previous government and lack of communication by the new governing quartet consisting of Smer, Slovak National Party (SNS), Most-Hid and Siet. Obama from Gemer In a response to critics, Ravasz stated that besides his wide theoretical knowledge he has field work experience with Roma. He explained that he is not well-known because he has been working mostly with Hungarian-speaking Roma and avoiding publicity. He sees himself as a sort of connection between the ministry and communities. This is very important because proxy is advisory body and he has to cooperate with ministries or other offices, Ravasz told The Slovak Spectator. Precitajte si tiez: Precitajte si tiez: New government ignores Roma and refugees Read more Ravasz will be assisted by Roma candidate for Most-Hid in the 2016 general election Stefan Vavrek, mayor of Rimavska Sec in the Banska Bystrica region. Vavrek, who goes under the self-proclaimed nickname Obama from Gemer region was a hot candidate for the post and has been cooperating with the current proxy for a long time. I believe in him and Im convinced that thanks to his hardwork and effort he has a lot to offer to marginalised communities in this country, Ravasz told the TASR newswire. Mixed feelings A proxy with high qualities is important because Slovakia has probably the last chance to use eurofunds specially targeted on socially excluded communities during 2014-2020 programme period, according to CVEK. Ravasz got the post as a result of political negotiations and hopefully he will use the funds as effectively, according to Zuzana Kumanova, an ethnographer from the In Minorita non-governmental organisation. New proxy will certainly do his best but there is a threat that politicians will not listen to him, according to Klara Orgovanova who occupied the post between 2001-2007. Precitajte si tiez: Precitajte si tiez: AI criticises Slovakia for Roma and migrants Read more Vlado Rafael of Eduroma, the Roma education NGO is sceptical about new proxy saying that there were better candidates. He pointed out that Ravasz propose measures of Most-Hids programme which are not of high quality. The document which was co-authored by Ravasz is just the bunch of theoretical statements which people can find in every bachelors thesis, Rafael told The Slovak Spectator. After the government's session on April 13 in which the Government Manifesto was passed, Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak presented its foreign affairs priorities. Font size: A - | A + These will be continuous and stable policies which emphasise Slovakias pro-European and pro-Atlantic orientation. The manifesto is set to be submitted to parliament on April 18. We are interested in a strong and competitive European Union, said Lajcak as quoted by the TASR newswire, adding that the ministry will continue to provide aid to Slovak citizens and entrepreneurs. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The minister also declared the intention to step up the ministrys activities in the care of ethnic Slovaks living abroad and to increase the amount of resources earmarked for development aid. We need to realise that the expectations are higher, he said. The cabinet intends to embrace effective measures to draw from the experiences of Slovaks living abroad and encourage them to return and rejoin public, economic and social life in Slovakia. A short-term priority in European policies will be the first ever Slovak Presidency of the Council of the EU, slated for the second half of 2016. The Presidency aims to come up with a positive agenda with an impact on the everyday lives of citizens. The Government pledges to embrace measures for better administration and protection of the EUs external borders and streamlining of the Schengen area, which Slovakia joined in 2007. It also intends to support the internal market as a main tool of the EU in terms of ensuring economic growth and job creation. One other outstanding foreign ministry priority is the EUs further enlargement. The Manifesto approved by the government on April 13 puts an accent on four broad priorities, including the fight against unemployment, regional disparities and corruption, and introduction of policies ushering in a functioning state. Font size: A - | A + Premier Robert Fico listed these priorities at a press conference and also announced that the Manifesto will be up for debate in Parliament on Monday April 18. Its especially the fight against unemployment which contains ambitious goals that have been embraced by the new governing coalition, PM said. Theres a goal to create 100,000 new jobs and squeeze the unemployment rate under 10 percent. These objectives are ambitious, but also absolutely realistic. I also welcome the fact that we've agreed on introducing stricter conditions for those who do not want to work, avoid opportunities to find jobs and rely on the social system of our country instead. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Read also: Read also: Government introduced its manifesto Read more The second broad priority concerns regional disparities, according to Fico. It is true that well continue implementing the law of the least developed districts adopted as of November 1, 2015. Weve planned five away-from-home sessions for the government by mid-August when we want to approve the remaining 11 action plans for the least developed districts, Fico said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. The coalition partners Smer, Slovak National Party (SNS), Most-Hid and Siet/Network want to extend the scope of this law to other districts, too. He added that the cabinet also appointed a proxy for implementing this law. Furthermore, the four-member governing coalition has pledged to narrow the scope for corruption and non-transparent behaviour, including adoption of an even more efficient law on shell companies. They are also committed to writing the entire Rule of Law initiative as presented by employers into the Manifesto and into an action plan; while also applying the principles of open government. Although we dont have a constitutional majority, we want to return to the legislation on proving the origin of ones property with a view toward adopting a new constitutional law, thereby breaking down the barriers set up by the Constitutional Court in its earlier decision, the premier said. Furthermore, we want to focus on the receiving and providing of unethical benefits, as well as on material accountability of people dealing with public resources. Well extend the system of mandatory publication of contracts, introduce anti-corruption clauses into drafts of individual laws, while the process of introducing more professionals into the state administration and defining the scope for political nominations will also continue. The fourth area is a well-functioning state. Here weve focused mainly on education and health care, Fico summed up. And I hereby announce that we have the ambition to put a total of 2 billion more into the Slovak education system from 2016-20. According to Fico, the first moves of new Health Minister Tomas Drucker have confirmed his trust in him. The PM also slammed the media image of health care which allegedly does not reflect the reality because a huge amount of work has already been done in this sector. SaS: Let us see how its implemented The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party in its initial criticism of the Government Manifesto said the proof will be in the pudding that the main pitfall of the Manifesto will lie in its implementation. Based on previous experiences, we have to declare that political parties have learned to draft government manifestos that look pleasing to the eye on the surface, reads the statement published April 13 as quoted by TASR. Unfortunately, they havent yet learnt to govern in compliance with them. The liberals claim that the single-party government of Smer (2012-16) also had noble sounding plans for fighting corruption in its manifesto, yet the subsequent reality did not correspond with the document. It also had plans to combat tax evasion and fraud, yet the current case of entrepreneur Ladislav Basternak demonstrates that this fight was applied selectively, according to SaS. Therefore, we take the current proclamations of the fight against corruption and tax evasion in the Manifesto with a large grain of salt. SaS concedes that some of the proposals and goals in the Manifesto sound promising, such as those in the sphere of education, the attempt to reform health care, to introduce guidelines for political nominations and strive to professionalize the state administration. However, the liberals also harbour fundamental objections. We see the plan to acquire a balanced public budget by 2020 as a cheap trick, used by the future government to cover its inability to consolidate public finances by 2018 as promised, SaS opines. Also, the reduction of income tax for companies to 21 percent is absolutely inadequate and works to erode the competitiveness of Slovakia within the Visegrad Group (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia). We see no sensible reason to wait with the scrapping of tax licences until 2018. Although the governing coalition talks about the intention to improve the business environment, its tendencies to introduce a special levy for chain stores, special incentives for spa businesses and attempts to increase the share of Slovak groceries on the domestic market are counterproductive and lead to discrimination and protectionism. Columnist: No trace of real reforms, mere cosmetics The Government Manifesto is a nice piece of literature full of good resolutions but there is no trace of real reforms which this country needs, columnist Peter Schutz wrote for the Sme daily. To reduce the tax for legal entities by one percent or to slash tax licences are merely cosmetic changes, according to him. And he deems the postponement of a balanced budget to 2020 a fiscal putsch, heralding loosened budgetary ethics and the continuity of brining the electorate. This conflict of the intention of budgetary discipline and its postponement in two years evokes caution also in other parts which can cause less criticism, Schutz sums up. In the foreign orientation, he misses the listing of Russia among security threats. Schutz finds the joint European insurance against unemployment extremely funny sheer science fiction. The state health insurer Vseobecna zdravotna poistovna (VsZP) allegedly violated the law when concluding a contract with Klinika Kostka. Font size: A - | A + The Health-care Surveillance Authority (UDZS) found several flaws in the contract, the TASR newswire wrote on April 13. The state insurer adopted some measures after internal audits but UDZS does not like them, the offices spokeswoman Sona Valasikova informed. UDZS deems the measures adopted insufficient. Based on the information available, UDZS ordered VsZP to adopt measures to eliminate the flaws and their causes within 30 days at the latest, she said. The health insurer also must inform UDZS on their fulfilment within 30 workdays after the protocol is delivered. UDZS launched administrative proceeding in imposing the sanction towards VsZP, Valasikova explained. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement On February 2, 2016 the opposition Siet party drew attention to extraordinary profits enjoyed by Dr. Pavel Kostka under Robert Ficos government due to special VsZP payments. Kostkas clinic specialises in massages and rehabilitation. In the meantime, Transparency International Slovensko watchdog discovered that Klinika Kostka also received money from the Prime Ministers reserve and European funds. VsZP argued that the contract establishing a unique payment code for Klinika Kostka was already signed back in 2011 under former director Marian Faktor (a nominee of Christian-Democratic Movement-KDH), and that the deal was abrogated in 2015. The recent UDZS audit showed that VsZP paid the clinic owned by Pavel Kostka also acupuncture or massage with lava stones as special health-care measures, under a special code. However, these should not be repaid by public health-care insurance; and, moreover, VsZP did not reason the increase in payment to Klinika Kostka, a rehab clinic specialising in massages, for these treatments. A third complaint was that the treatment was not ordered by an authorised specialised doctor. Klinika Kostka had special treatment In 2011, Klinika Kostka received a special code which enabled it to operate in a way unheard of by other similar facilities. Until the first half of 2015, VsZP made no audit focused on the effectiveness and economy of the resources rendered by public health-care insurance which is required by law; it failed, despite a request to do so, to file a pilot project, an expert opinion for the project and the evaluation of the project, according to Valasikova. The state insurer has so far failed to comment. Its spokeswoman Petra Balazova told the TASR newswire that they will say more after UZDS report is scrutinised and due administrative steps are made. Even if Plavcan had great ideas, could Slovaks really forgive him and those who chose him for the job for their lack of respect to laws and morals as demonstrated in the past? Font size: A - | A + Two sectors of public administration have particularly stood out during the election campaign: health care and education. Amid emotional appeals to the migration crisis, practical problems like schools and hospitals, neglected to the point that in many of them roofs are leaking and plaster is coming off walls, were telling issues. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Despite obvious public concern about both, the new coalition government does not appear to be taking both on equally. By appointing Tomas Drucker (recently awarded the Most Respected CEO 2016 title as the general director of the postal service company) health minister, the government told the public that they recognise the troubles of health care and will try to deal with at least some of them. However, by installing Peter Plavcan to lead the Education Ministry, keeping him there despite revelations about his misconduct as a public servant in the past, they showed that it will be business as usual when it comes to managing the countrys schools. Read also: Read also: Plavcan already in trouble Read more Meanwhile, Plavcan had been roaming the media, saying we should all wait and see the biggest reform in the past 25 years that he was going to present in the programme statement and launch during his term. This is the same Plavcan who has been at the ministry for a quarter century and in his most recent posting of the general director of section of universities did little to improve higher education. In fact, academics from Slovak universities who launched a petition against his appointment say he did just the opposite: his era in the post is marked with a number of bad decisions that have harmed education and research in Slovakia and that he is responsible for. It is naive to think that he would do differently with the entire education system and indeed the programme statement that his ministry drafted suggests he will not. The bold declaration that education is one of the governments top priorities in the upcoming term is not sustained by the sum of money the government plans to spend in the sector. Plavcans ministry declares they want to increase the attractiveness of the job of a teacher through financial rewards but then counts on salary raises by mere tens of euros, less than half of what the teachers have been calling for. Teachers do deserve more money, and education deserves a crisis manager just like health care, but Plavcan does not seem to be a man for that job. And the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS) whose past ministers in other departments have been linked with some of the countrys biggest corruption affairs does not seem to be the right party to shelter that job. SNS has so far chosen to turn a deaf ear to the accusations against Plavcan, and so have its coalition partners, although it was an opportunity for all three of them to show they mean it when they say education is their priority. It was an opportunity for Most-Hid and Siet, who supported the teachers demands before the election, to show they do get their say in how the country is ruled. It was an opportunity for Prime Minister Robert Fico to show he wants his government to at least give a good first impression in education too. Even if Plavcan had great ideas, could Slovaks really forgive him and those who chose him for the job for their lack of respect to laws and morals as demonstrated in the past? Thus far most people still seem easily satisfied with the (very popular) apologetic saying that politicians are people too and that they make mistakes. Therefore we should forgive them if they trespassed against us, against the state and its rules, against morals. Until voters start holding political leaders up to higher standards insist that they are the best of the best, not just professionally but also morally we cant expect big changes. Madeleine Albright to receive the Transatlantic Award at Globsec 2016 Slovak President Andrej Kiska gives the opening speech of The Globsec 2016 security conference. (Source: Sme) Font size: A - | A + Rising concerns about eroding political cohesion in Europe, refugees fleeing violence in the Middle East and North Africa, the Ukraine crisis and the broader Russia challenge are among the topics hundreds of politicians, business leaders and experts from leading European and transatlantic think-tanks will discuss at the eleventh global security conference Globsec. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The event takes place in Bratislava between April 15-17 and besides the main debates it will include public debates held in Bratislava, Banska Bystrica and Kosice, a gala dinner, bilateral government meetings, expert working groups and business-oriented events. Read also: Read also: Europeans dont talk about war, but it could break out Read more The current security situation in Europe and the Middle East is putting our political and security paradigms to a tough test as we speak, says Globsec founder Robert Vass in press release. We feel extremely rewarded that GLOBSEC can again provide the opportunity to look for vitally urgent answers. One of the most distinguished guests will be Madeleine K. Albright, former US Secretary of State. The Czech-born American politician will visit Bratislava to receive the Czech and Slovak Transatlantic Award (CSTA) for her contribution to strengthening the Euro-Atlantic relations. The event is organised by Slovak Atlantic Commission (SAC), a non-governmental organisation active predominantly within the international security and policy agenda. Over the years, Globsecs guest list has included David Cameron, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Donald Tusk, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, John Allen, John McCain, Carl Bildt, Ahmed Rashid, George Friedman, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and other personalities. New teams of analysts will work towards preventing overpriced purchases and the extension of senseless regulations. Font size: A - | A + New teams of analysts at the ministries, the Government Office and the Supreme Audit Office will work towards preventing overpriced purchases and the extension of senseless regulations, the Sme daily reported on April 14. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Read also: Read also: Economists call on politicians to support Filkos initiative Read more The analysts will start by analysing the existing relations in the health-care and education sectors, along with information technologies that the state has already procured. This stems from the government Manifesto, which was approved by the cabinet a day earlier. The idea comes from an initiative called 'The Best of All Possible Worlds - Value for Money in Slovak Public Policies', which was drawn up by economists Martin Filko, Stefan Kiss and Ludovit Odor. The document involves restricting purely subjective decision-making by politicians and influential civil servants, who will have to explain their decisions vis-a-vis analyses and facts. Read also: Read also: Body of well-known economist found in the Danube Read more One of the initiatives authors, Financial Policy Institute (IFP) director Martin Filko, disappeared on March 28 when his kayak capsized on the Danube River in Bratislava. Rescuers found his dead body in the river on April 13. Filko served as an advisor to former finance minister Jan Pociatek between the years 2008-2010. At the time, he prepared a reform of calculating the prices of medications, based on which the prices began to be compared with those in other countries. He also became healthcare advisor to ex-prime minister Iveta Radicova (2010-2012). Following Robert Fico's return to power in 2012, Filko returned to the Finance Ministry and became director of the Institute for Financial Policy. The annual Specialty Coffee Association of America Event takes place this weekend in Atlanta, Georgia, bringing with it a spate of new product launches and brand revamps. Well be reporting on several over the next few days, but were given an advance look at the launch of a new QC Suite from Cropster. Headquartered in Austria, Cropsters stated goal is to become an institutionalized hub for roasters and processors around the world, facilitating communication across the supply chain and fostering a wider traceability for coffees journey from source to roast. The brands popular Cropster Hub is a worldwide network for green coffee buyers and sellers, while their Roast program is to coffee roasting what ProTools is to audio engineering, allowing users a streamlined and simplified way to track roast curves, a kind of heartbeat EKG chart for how a given coffee is roasted, where minute differences in temperature and time can yield a dramatic effect. The result is increased control throughout the roasting process for some of your favorite roasters, and a better final product for consumers to enjoy. The casual Sprudge reader and coffee consumer may never know its effects, but for the roasting professionals that use Cropster swear by it. This behind-the-scenes integration of information technology into the coffee roasting process may not make for sexy mainstream headlines, but the control it affords is one of the many reasons why coffee today has never been more delicious. Cropsters new QC suite is launching this weekend to the specialty coffee industry gathered in Atlanta, offering the first complete picture of coffee quality from green buying and selling through roast profiling to ensure roast consistency, as per a press release provided to Sprudge by Cropster. The new suite offers increased reporting capabilities, as well as the ability to better integrate cupping (flavor evaluation) data into a more complete picture of a coffees development. Trend tracking and increased comparative analysis are also part of this update, all of which was built by Cropsters in-house software and front end development team. The Austrian company are also debuting a new app as part of this QC suite, dubbed Cropster Cup, allowing for evaluation scores to be captured on the go, and organizing the information within Cropsters wider suite of services. The new tools make your coffee data easily accessible and close the quality control loop, Cropster CEO Andreas Idl tells Sprudge. This goal of a closed loop is a kind of holy grail for how information technology can intertwine a feedback loop across a single platform, and should be familiar to anyone who uses Apple products. Industry professionals reading Sprudge can learn more in-depth about these developments by visiting the news section of Cropsters official website. But for the laymen out there, the casual readers who love coffee, its worth noting that these kinds of tech developments in the coffee world play a huge role in the tasty mug you enjoy each day. Roasting was once a kind of dark art, hidden in the back room, shrouded in secrecy. As information sharing and improved technical integration draw roasting our of the shadows, its our belief here at Sprudge that coffee all around the world tastes better as a result. Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge.com. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge. The Canadian Supreme Court's decision from last year declared that forbidding people from seeking their own death "deprives dying people of their dignity and autonomy." The Court consequently ordered the Canadian government to update the relevant law within a year. As of April 14th, the updated assisted suicide policy was presented by the Liberal Party of Canada . Despite controversy about this practice in the Canadian government, the law is expected to pass. If passed, the document will remove a 14-year prison sentence for providing assistance in suicide for terminally ill. The law forbids suicide assistance for people who experience mental illness or psychiatric conditions. The idea of so-called "Advance Consent," defined as requesting to end one's life at a future point, is advocated by the "Dying with Dignity" movement, is also outlawed in the new policy. The law forbids the practice of so-called "suicide tourism," that of traveling abroad in pursuit of a final remedy if such aid in one's home country is forbidden. Several countries across the globe, Mexico and Switzerland among them, do allow or do not effectively forbid suicide tourism. In the US, only four states provide for this kind of aid for terminally ill patients. It is her dream not only to see the day humanity takes its baby steps off this planet, but also to play a major role in helping to achieve this goal. She dreams of reaching stars, no matter how far they are. "You can see no boundaries from space. Our earth is just a pale blue dot. We humans created these boundaries boundaries of religion, caste, race and gender. If everyone on this planet could see the view of earth from space, they would forget all the boundaries that we have created for ourselves," the scientist said. Karishma believes that NASA has offered her a lot, and that, under the guidance of the distinguished researchers, she will be able to make a positive contribution to on-going space research work. "How far is far, how high is high, you will never know until you fly. Fly higher and higher," she added. "The same tricks and tools used by multinational companies to dodge tax in the US are being used to cheat countries across the world out of their fair share of tax revenues, with devastating consequences. Poor countries are particularly hard hit, losing an estimated $100 billion a year to corporate tax dodgers. This is enough to provide safe water and sanitation to more than 2.2 billion people," Silverman said. One of the leading overseas territories named in the Oxfam report is the British crown dependency of Bermuda. Speaking exclusively to Sputnik News, Ronen Palen, a Professor in International Politics and a respected expert in the use of tax havens by corporations, said "We knew that companies use tax havens for tax planning purposes, we knew less about them stashing trillions in tax havens." Palen suggested that there is not enough political will in the United Kingdom to resolve the problem. "Companies should pay tax like the rest of us, unless they do the system is broken. There are always ways and means of resolving such techniques of avoidance, but we need serious political will. I am not surprised to hear the name of Bermuda, British overseas territories are leading the pack of tax havens: indeed, I see the UK as part of the problem, not part of the solution right now," Palen told Sputnik. MOSCOW(Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova Western partners should assist Ukraine in tackling corruption in the country seen as a necessary precondition for the Minsk agreements implementation, a member of the EU External Affairs Sub-Committee in the UK House of Lords told Sputnik Thursday. Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the Direct Line Q&A session that the West must work with their counterparts in Kiev to fulfill Mink accords instead of 'reiterating' Moscow must adhere to them each time. Even though, corruption is not listed among the provisions of the Minsk agreements, preventing the cases of abuse of entrusted power for private gain have been perceived by the deal signatories as a much needed condition for the reforms in Ukraine and the long-awaited reconciliation. "I think the Ukrainian regime has responsibilities as to what they should be doing and the west has to stick to these agreements as well and a proper way forward in Ukraine is to help Kiev to tackle corruption," Lord Alfred Dubs stressed. On the other hand, the Stronger In campaigns John Edward rejects Coburns position as a political gesture which sacrifices all the systems of cooperation that weve had for the last 45 years. Edward is adamant that far from flourishing after a Brexit, Scotland would be better, safer and stronger remaining in the EU. Coburn goes on to suggest that the EU is currently a huge corporate scam and that more money can be made lobbying in Brussels at the moment than Washington: Its big business working hand in glove with a multinational bureaucracy whose, quite frankly, whole purpose is to expand the number of bureaucrats working for it. So, is Scotland just a net loser we ask John Edward? [No], manifestly it gains. If you look at the development in Scotland over the last forty years with the inevitable end of the industrial spell of coal and steel in Scotland as the developed world has come up the traditional industries have died away and other ones have been replaced theres been a whole system which weve been part of during that time which have made it easier for Scots to go abroad, trade abroad and work abroad. So what about security? How do Scots view the migrant crisis and the EU? Harrison suggests there isnt the same negative attitude towards immigrants as can be found south of the border. David Coburn: We have good relations with our ethnic minorities in Scotland, the reason for this is we dont have so many of them In Scotland if we had the same number of migrants as in England people would be screaming about it here tooWe have more and more people coming up here and we cant afford it. If we have the health service completely wiped out by too many people taking out and not paying in well end up with no health service. John Edward contests this however, stating that what everyone forgets is that people who come here are workers and by definition they pay taxes and pay into the National Health Service. He also notes that: More people are coming to the UK from outside the EU than inside the EU. Those people that are coming from the older member states like France, Germany and Italy than the newer ones but people dont complain about the streets being full of French. So what happens if Scotland votes differently from the rest of the UK regarding Brexit? John Edward predicts there is more pro-EU sentiment north of the border The likelihood of a second referendum after Brexit is far more unlikely than it was three years ago. This of course goes against what Nicola Sturgeon maintains, that indeed Scots would be entitled to a second referendum if it voted differently. Coburn here points out that if Britain left the EU and Scotland wanted to rejoin the EU, it would not be easy as according to Jean-Claude Juncker. Scotland would leave with England, and it would have to apply separately, after Turkey, and also accept the Euro. Edward states, however, that politically, there is a broad consensus for remaining in the EU, with only 2 Scottish politicians advocating Brexit. The conversation then turns to the subject of defence, where the future of British defence policy under a Brexit is debated with Coburn declaring There will never be another war in Europe to which Edward comments that It would come as a surprise to the countries of former Yugoslavia that there would be no more wars in Europe. War in Europe is, of course, a hypothetical scenario, but nevertheless one cannot forget that the EU was born out of two world wars. It remains to be seen the extent to which that affects British public opinion today. "We can also recall Erdogan's comments about Yasin al-Qadi, a Saudi banker and Muslim Brotherhood member currently listed on a United Nations blacklist. Erdogan, even as prime minister, voiced his full confidence in al-Qadi, to the point where he signaled his willingness to vouch for him." Hence, Ozkan notes, the financial aspect too is also doubtlessly one of the major reasons for Erdogan's decision to meet the Saudi king personally at the airport. For their part, the political analyst notes, Western countries continue to perceive Turkey first and foremost as a member of the NATO alliance, and, despite mild criticisms of the authorities, have generally turned a blind eye on the deteriorating situation in the country, primarily because they view the country as an important 'buffer zone' in the Middle Eastern migrant crisis. "By and large, the West is not really concerned over whether Turkey develops in the direction of an authoritarian regime, or observes democratic principles. It sees Turkey only as a 'gasket' between itself and the inflamed Middle East. In principle, this approach is not very different from that which existed during the Cold War." Ultimately, Ozkan suggests, "the transformation of Turkey into 'another Syria'" would be disastrous for the West. "Hence, Western countries believe that Turkey needs a stable government. Today, the ruling AKP has no real competitors, and only one question remains: whether the current government will be able to keep the country from sliding into the abyss." The political reality in the Middle East is that "the clashes in the Middle East are not fueled by Sunni-Shiite differences, but by the ideology of Wahhabism which has been developed and fed by Saudi Arabia. I think the West is looking for the roots of the problem in the wrong place. Figuratively speaking, Saudi Arabia is the swamp, while the West now chooses to struggle with the malaria-carrying mosquitos instead." "Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia, which has served as the main source of problems in the Middle East since the Cold War, remains one of the most important allies of the West. European research institutes are vying to present moderate Islam in a positive light. But these organizations are funded by the Gulf monarchies countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which spend millions of dollars in the Western media in order to promote themselves," Ozkan concludes. Commenting on the issue, Daniel McAdams, the Executive Director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, referred to the Wall Street Journal article that shed some light on Washington's plans to send various types of anti-aircraft weapons to Syrian rebels. "Throughout this ceasefire the US is taking the opportunity to provide a lot of arms to the so-called moderates three thousand tons by one estimate. But the logic is insane: [these arms] only will be available if the ceasefire fails. That is like telling a kid: 'You only get a cookie if you don't eat your broccoli'," McAdams noted. But what looks even more suspicious is that the CIA has been supplying advanced anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems to the Syrian rebels. There is no doubt that these types of weapons are primarily aimed against Bashar al-Assad's tanks and aircraft, not at Daesh's Toyota trucks. "The CIA agenda is definitely not anti-ISIS [Daesh], it's primarily anti-Assad. And I think that is evident by the kinds of weapons they provided. They provided TOW missiles which are only effective against the Syrian government's tanks. The Manpads, the shoulder fired missiles, which shot down two Syrian Air Force planes over the past couple of weeks. And even the Soviet-era "Grad" rockets, which are used to fight against the Syrian [Arab] Army. So, the types of weapons, I think, tell us a lot about what the CIA is focused on," McAdams remarked. McAdam's statement was posted on LinkedIn on Wednesday, the same day the Democratic presidential hopeful joined almost 40,000 Verizon workers in Brooklyn in one of the largest strikes in the United States in recent years. "Verizon is one of the largest, most profitable corporations in this country, but they refuse to sit down and negotiate a fair contract?" Sanders told the strikers. "Just another major American corporation trying to destroy the lives of working Americans." McAdam reacted to the accusations by not addressing them. Instead, claiming that Verizon has paid over $15.6 billion in taxes over the last two years, the CEO asserted that, as one of the leading capital investors in corporate America, the company benefits the country on many levels. Support for Anti-Civil Rights Campaigners The first political contribution Ted Cruz ever made in his life, he made to the late Jesse Helms, and he's proud of that fact. Helms famously supported the apartheid regime in South Africa, massively opposed the civil rights act, and called the University of North Carolina the "University of Negros and Communists." Ted Cruz said he'd put Rosa Parks on the $20 dollar bill, but 100 Jesse Helms in the Senate. #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/Tt3Tr2MYbK Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) September 17, 2015 Associations With Extreme Homophobs Last year, Cruz attended a conference in Iowa led by Pastor Kevin Swanson, a right-wing radio host who has on a number of occasions called for the execution of homosexuals who refuse to "repent." Essentially Supports the Idea of a Theocracy Ted Cruz has previously given tacit approval to the notion of the USA as a Christian theocracy, explicitly stating: "I'm a Christian first, American second". Wants to Assassinate Iran's Supreme Leader Just as the diplomatic relationship between the USA and Iran is finally, slowly beginning to thaw, Cruz has signaled his willingness to assassinate Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying that he might "have to help introduce him to those 72 virgins". There's nothing like a Texan saying "Ayatollah Khomeini". I giggle every time. I find it charming& also rewind worthy @tedcruz. #CruzCrew Kelli Hemstock (@godisapackerfan) March 22, 2016 @wolfblitzer Any chance we can ban @tedcruz from saying "Ayatollah Khomeini" until he learns how to pronounce it correctly? SK (@savannahyyc) March 22, 2016 Wants to Nuke the Middle East We all know that Donald Trump favors torture methods like waterboarding, but less well known is Ted Cruz's desire to make Middle Eastern desert sands "glow in the dark," where he strongly implied a desire to nuke the region. NATO was formed in 1949, and ostensibly meant to keep the Soviet Union from invading Western Europe. In July 1991, the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet-founded response to NATO, was formally disbanded, and the USSR itself collapsed later that year. Since then, NATO has expanded from 16 members to 28, and came to include members of the former Warsaw Pact, and even the Baltic states, which were once part of the Soviet Union. Moscow, which was given verbal guarantees that NATO would not expand beyond united Germany in 1990, has been irked by the alliance's expansion eastward toward its borders. At the same time, Trump noted, not only has the alliance lost its main enemy; it has also proven itself to be incapable of responding to the central threats facing the world today, terrorism chief among them. "It doesn't cover terror, and if it does cover terror, the wrong countries are in," the candidate said. Pressed by Cooper on whether he really believed that the alliance was outdated, Trump did not back down. "Of course it's obsolete; it was done 68 years ago and it hasn't changed. And by the way, experts on NATO: they now look and they say Trump is right. These are people that study it." Indeed, experts and pundits in the US and beyond have reacted to Trump's comments, with detractors such as Bloomberg running a piece evoking the Soviet bogeyman (and putting it side by side with the Nazis), with other experts saying that Trump "might actually have a point." Donald Trump Is Right About One Thing: NATO Is Obsolete https://t.co/KFBPcaH6FU pic.twitter.com/E9b2n42OBK Russia Insider (@RussiaInsider) 14 2016 . For his part, Cato Institute senior fellow Doug Bandow went a step further, noting that the moment when spending on the alliance might have been justified to preserve the 'free world' against the what President Ronald Reagan called the Soviet 'Evil Empire' had "passed long ago actually even before the end of the Cold War." We dont allow media into the event, Larry Beresnoy, executive director of NYTOA, told AlterNet. Weve had issues with that type of thing in the past. Weve had people say their intention is A when really it is B, so we try to have control. Beresnoy stated further that he sees no problem with Mauro presenting a workshop titled, "The Global Threat of Islamic Extremism (ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Iran) & The Threat of Islamic Extremism in America/New York State. Ryan Mauro is a national expert on terrorism and Islamic extremism, he said. His entire job is researching the issue. Ive looked at Ryans stuff, looked at Clarions stuff. Ive seen their videos Third Jihad and Obsession. There are many experts who believe that the information is accurate. He has good information to share. The data is used by regulators to calculate how much extra capital large banks must hold to protect against the risk they pose to the financial system, and to recommend the amount of risk-based capital surcharge a bank should be subject to. The Basel Committee's capital surcharge standard began to be implemented in 2016, and will be phased in by regulators over the next two to three years. The surcharge requires banks to maintain a buffer of capital of one to 3.5 percent of their total risk-weighted assets, and is intended as an incentive for banks to conduct themselves more conservatively and avoid a shock like that provided by US investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008. According to the OFR study, which looked at G-SIB indicators up to the end of 2014, the US investment bank JP Morgan Chase is the most dangerous for the world financial system if it fails; the next most critical is UK-based HSBC. The story of an Ontario-based Standardbred broodmare with a foal at her side adopting an orphan foal has become an international sensation, and one of the best feel good stories in the industry in recent memory. Last week, Kawartha Downs' Facebook page posted a story titled The Brother From Another Mother. It involves broodmare Emprize Hanover, her weanling filly and their adopted son. The story of the trio, who make an appearance on Page 9 of the April issue of Trot Magazine, was subsequently picked up by several industry websites. Joanne Colville, whose High Stakes Stable is home to the unusual family, started hearing from people far and wide. One gentleman from the U.S. wrote me an email and said he was over 60 years old and not embarrassed to say he had tears in his eyes when he read the story, Colville, adding thats shes had countless emails, texts and messages about the story and asking how the popular little family is doing. Kawartha has an active Facebook presence with stories posted on a regular basis. A popular posting usually receives around 2,000 views. This story is currently at 32,282. People from around the world have viewed the post, with more than 256 of them sharing it with others. Comments have been in several languages and include remarks such as: "What a heart warming story.", "Great story!", "What a joyful story. Bless this mare's heart.", "I love this story & what a good mom she is!!", "Mother nature can be amazing!!", "LOVE good stories! Big thank you for sharing!", "Standardbreds are so amazing - kind and loving animals...", "Hurray for mom. Exceptional." The trio, who now have their own public Facebook group, will be on hand to greet fans at an open house at Joannes farm in Moffat, Ontario, taking place -- appropriately -- on the afternoon of Mothers Day, May 8. SC and Trot Magazine will continue to cover these two foals, and their amazing mom, as they make their journey through the coming months and years. The Brother From Another Mother Theres a broodmare at Joanne Colvilles High Stakes Farm, Emprize Hanover, who will be receiving extra presents on Mothers Day next month due to her loving welcome of an orphan foal despite already having a newborn of her own. Her wonderful, feel good story has become an Internet sensation over the past few weeks since Joanne shared it on her Facebook page. The story began on March 4th when Emprize Hanover delivered a filly by E L Titan. It was the fourth foal for the Credit Winner mare owned by Chris Christoforou Sr., the grandfather of Joannes daughter Emma. Eleven days later Emprizes friend and pasture buddy Noble Flirt foaled a good sized Holiday Road colt. Unfortunately Noble Flirt died during the delivery leaving Joanne scrambling to find colostrum for the youngster. As soon as it happened we were able to get milk from Emprize for him as she was the only mare at that time with a foal, explained Joanne. I started phoning around looking for a nurse mare and drove to Darlene Hayes place nearby for the colostrum and went to the feed store for milk replacement. We got a couple of bottles into him and Im thinking what are we going to do? This is a nightmare. Then the foal started to call and Emprize Hanover called back to him. So my ingenious daughter comes up with the idea of putting him in with Emprize and her foal. Emma and her friend put the foal on a cooler and carried him into her stall, related Joanne. The mare sniffed him and licked him so they gently lowered him on the cooler into the straw. The colt still hadnt been up at this point. Joanne and Emma kept a close eye on the situation but Emprize made it easy as she quickly accepted the newcomer and didnt bat an eye when he was standing and starting to nurse. The only issue we had was with the filly who thought he was a new playmate, she was 12 days older and he was newborn. But as soon as he was able he gave her the leave me alone message and she got it and theyve been best buddies since then, noted Joanne who is the administrative co-ordinator for the Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society, Chair of Standardbred Canada and outrider on the WEG tracks as well as operating a breeding farm. Emprize Hanover has been an absolute godsend, shes worth her weight in gold. I sent Murray Brown (the PR Director at Hanover Shoe Farms, which bred Emprize) a private message the other day and said you raised her right. Ive had countless people tell me theyve never heard of a situation like this before, where a mare with a foal that old would accept a newborn. We call the colt the brother from another mother. Whats really nice as well it its proven to be a feel good story for a lot of people who follow my Facebook page. They send all kinds of messages about how it makes their day and when I havent posted photos of the pair for a couple of days, I hear about it. Left: Emprize Hanover stands over both of her foals: an E L Titan filly (foreground) and a Holiday Road colt. Right: Emprize Hanover and her foals (Photos Supplied) Left: Emprize Hanover stands over both of her foals: an E L Titan filly (foreground) and a Holiday Road colt. Right: Emprize Hanover and her foals (Photos Supplied) For her trouble, Emprize Hanover gets a couple of extra meals a day and the foals, who are known around the stable as Junior and Elena, have their own creep feeder for themselves to start to learn to eat on their own. She gets an extra lunch, all the hay she wants and I feed her again just before midnight, noted Joanne. Shes earned every bite. Anyone interested in meeting the trio are welcome to the Open House at High Stakes Stables near Moffat, Ontario, on Mothers Day next month in the afternoon. (with files from Kawartha) It has been announced that Great Canadian Gaming Corporation Chief Financial Officer Kiran Rao has submitted his resignation to the company. Great Canadian has related that Raos resignation is for personal reasons, and that it will become effective in 90 days. The companys president and chief executive officer, Rod Baker, has commented on Raos resignation, via release. "On behalf of Great Canadian I'd like to thank Kiran for all his efforts," Baker said. "Kiran has been with us for 10 years and has played an important role in Great Canadian's development and growth during that period. We wish him well in his future endeavours." The release states that Great Canadian will be seeking a suitable candidate to replace Rao. (With files from Great Canadian Gaming) Hawthorne Race Course would like to remind horsemen that the stake payment for this seasons Illinois conceived and foaled two-year-old crop must be postmarked no later than Friday, April 15. The single staking payment of $1,250 will keep horses eligible to all four legs of the stakes series and the final or consolation which will all be contested at Hawthorne. The top 10 highest point earners in the four legs will make the finals which will be contested on Hawthornes Night of Champions which is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 10. The consolations are scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 11. Please make nominating cheques payable to: Hawthorne Race Course C/O Horsemans Bookeeper 3501 S. Laramie Ave Cicero, IL 60804 (708) 780-3700 A complete list of the dates for the legs of the stakes and a nomination form can be found at hawthorneracecourse.com. Racing Secretary Pete Hanley has also decided to push back the deadline for this springs Have Em Ready to Roll Late Closing Series. Originally scheduled to close on April 15, horsemen will now have until Wednesday, April 27 to get their nominations in for the bevy of series fashioned by the ambitious Hanley. With April 15 being tax day and all the other stakes in Illinois being due that day I just wanted our horsemen to have a few days to catch their breath and take a good look at what we hope will be another well-received Late Closing program, said Hanley. All of these late closers will carry an entry fee of $200 and nominations will close on April 15th. The complete late closing series schedule as well as instructions and nomination forms are attached and also available at hawthorneracecourse.com. CARDINAL & VIOLET ALSO DUE BY APRIL 15 Hawthorne Race Course, the IHHA and the Illinois Department of Agriculture would like remind horsemen that nominating payments for the 2016 Cardinal and Violet Stakes, to be contested at Hawthorne Race Course in September, are due to the Illinois Department of Agriculture by Friday, April 15th. The two-year-old Violet and Cardinal Finals are tentatively scheduled to be contested on Sept. 24th and 25th. Eliminations will be held (if needed) the week prior to the finals. (Dates are subject to change). Purses for these races are yet to be determined. Staking payments for the Cardinal and Violent events are made to the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Nomination forms and payment information may be found here. Please continue to check the IDOA website or the IHHA website for updates. If you have questions, please call the Bureau of County Fairs & Horse Racing at 217-782-4231. (with files from Hawthorne) Cinder Lane Sam, the winner of the 1994 Ohio Sires Stakes two-year-old colt pace final, passed away on Wednesday, April 13 at the farm of his owner, Charles Skip Miller. Miller owned the 24-year-old gelding throughout his racing career and rewarded him with a lifetime retirement at his Wauseon, Ohio farm. Cinder Lane Sam was sired by Nobleland Sam and was out of the Bye Bye Andy mare Bye Bye Irma. He was bred by Tom Gerdeman of Napoleon, Ohio and was trained his entire racing career by Max Mick Shaw, with the assistance of Maynard Raker, at the Fulton County Fairgrounds at Wauseon. Cinder Lane Sam finished his eight years of racing in 2001 with 36 lifetime wins out of 162 starts. The gelding also had 35 second-place finishes and came home third 17 times. Cinder Lane Sam took his two-year-old mark of 1:54.2 in winning the Ohio Sires Stakes final at Scioto Downs with David Miller in the bike. He picked up his lifetime record of 1:53 as a three-year-old at Woodbine Racetrack. The gelding finished his career with earnings of $624,899. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of Cinder Lane Sam. (Bill Peters) Liberty Counsel Advises Churches Regarding Boy Scouts Contact: Liberty Counsel, 800-671-1776, Media@LC.org ORLANDO, Fla., April 13, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- Liberty Counsel has received questions from churches which have chosen to maintain their association with Boy Scouts of America (BSA) regarding whether their continued involvement with the organization requires them to admit an openly homosexual scout master or youth member. Liberty Counsel has provided model language to ensure that all church programs or uses of property, including scout troops, remain consistent with God's Word. For boys, BSA's January 2014 membership standards require that "no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone" and state that "any sexual conduct, whether homosexual or heterosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting. The BSA is not endorsing homosexual conduct nor is it forcing religious chartered organizations to do so." Therefore, churches may define and enforce behavior and advocacy in chartered scout troops consistent with biblical teaching. For adult leaders, BSA will not prevent churches from selecting leaders consistent with their religious beliefs. BSA's legal memo concludes that its right to grant charters to religious organizations is strongly protected under the law. However, when churches are challenged about use of their facilities for same-sex ceremonies, use of restrooms, and other LGBT issues, they hurt their legal defense by allowing the BSA as a recognized group. A better alternative to the BSA is Trail Life USA, which was formed in response to the change in the BSA policy. See www.traillifeusa.com. "The once great Boy Scouts of America has taken a great fall when it changes the longstanding policy to allow homosexual scout leaders and members. This change in policy is fraught with danger. While there are ways for churches to protect their integrity and the safety of their young boys, the best alternative is to abandon the scouts because the scouts abandoned them. Trail Life USA is the best alternative to the failed BSA program," said Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver. "Liberty Counsel will continue to defend the right of churches to make employment and volunteer decisions based on church religious beliefs and the teachings of the Bible," said Staver. Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics. One incumbent is running in the five-candidate race for two open seats. tech2 News Staff Regina Dugan, former head of DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and vice president of Google's ATAP (Advanced Technology And Projects) group has now moved to Facebook. At Facebook, she will be heading a group labelled Building 8, which is positioned as a rival to Google's ATAP. Dugan told Forbes that Facebook is looking to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into research and development and that they're looking to fluidly blend physical and digital worlds. As the only woman to have headed DARPA, which is a big deal by the way, the loss of Dugan must be a huge blow to Google and their ATAP division in particular. Google's ATAP has been at the forefront of innovation and have been responsible for Project Tango, Project Ara and more. The Forbes report adds, "At DARPA and Google, Dugan led rapid product development teams, whose projects depended on scientific breakthroughs and who typically had two years to yield results." Dugan took to Facebook with this statement, "I am on the one hand, tremendously excited. Building 8 is an opportunity to do what I love most... tech infused with a sense of our humanity. Audacious science delivered at scale in products that feel almost magic. A little badass. And beautiful. There is much to build at Facebook and the mission is human compelling." tech2 News Staff Matthew Keys, a former Reuters journalist convicted for helping the hacker group Anonymous, has been sentenced to 24 months of prison term. According to TheVerge, he is set to surrender on 15 June for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by providing website login credentials to The Los Angeles Times. He had the credentials to the login information to the joint content management system as at one point be worked for a companion Tribune property, KTXL Fox 40 in Sacramento, California, further adds the report. He later joined Reuters as social media editor, but was fired after charges were filed in March 2013. After the sentencing, he took to Twitter stating how he would try to change the 'absurd' computer law. https://twitter.com/MatthewKeysLive/status/720367954169192448 In a post on Medium, he wrote, "I am innocent, and I did not ask for this fight. Nonetheless, I hope that our combined efforts help bring about positive change to rules and regulations that govern our online conduct. As Ive previously wrote about, nobody should face terrorism charges for passing a Netflix username and password. But under todays law, prosecutors can use their discretion to bring those exact charges against peopleincluding journalistswhenever they see fit." tech2 News Staff Mobile phone manufacturer Micromax opened its new manufacturing facility which will have the capacity to manufacture one million mobile phones per month. The unit, which opened at Fab City here, currently employs 700 people and will increase the number to 1,000 in next two months. Spread over His 19 acres, this is the second manufacturing plant of Bhagati Products Ltd. in India. The company made an initial investment in the unit which also has provision for expansion to manufacture LED TV and other electronic equipment in the future. Recently, At an even held in New Delhi, Micromax unveiled several devices which included a smartwatch, new televisions and new tablets as well. A total of 19 products were introduced out of which 15 were smartphones. In addition, the company also unveiled a new brand identity with the launch of its new logo and brand philosophy Nuts: Guts: Glory. Micromax invested in three new manufacturing units in India to ramp up domestic production and reduce dependence on imports. The company will have functional manufacturing units in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan by 2017. Nation celebrates Pahela Baishakh UNB, Dhaka: Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bangla calendar, was celebrated across the country on Thursday amid traditional festivities and enthusiasm, remembering the roots the nation has sprung from. The festivities began at dawn with the artistes from Chhayanaut welcoming the day with Tagores famous song Esho hey Baishakh, esho, esho (come O Baishakh, come, come) under the banyan tree at Ramna Park. The celebrations reached a peak in the afternoon with people in their thousands thronged different popular and historic spots in the capital and elsewhere across the country to welcome the Bangla New Year, 1423. As there were restrictions on outdoor programmes after 5pm, many were seen rushing to celebration venues in the capital from the morning. Dhaka University proctor Amzad Ali told UNB that they managed to conclude all the outdoor programmes, except the concert at Mall Chattar, by 5:00pm as per as per as the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) directives. No untoward incident occurred in Dhaka University area, even they did not get any allegation from anyone in this regard, he said. As per the DMP directives, nobody could enter the Ramna Park and Suhrawardy Udyan after 4pm on the Pahela Baishakh as all the outdoor programmes were rolled back in the two venues by 5:30pm, DMP Deputy Commissioner (media) Maruf Hossain Sardar told UNB. However, indoor programmes continued even after the sunset. People from all walks of life welcomed Pahela Baishkah, the first day of Bangla calendar, amid traditional festivities and enthusiasm despite the restrictions prompted by last year's women assault on the Dhaka University campus. Pahela Baishakh celebrations have become an integral part of Bangalees since it began over six centuries back. Mughal Emperor Akbar introduced the Bangla calendar in the 1556 of the Gregorian calendar in a bid to streamline the timing of land tax collection in the then 'Subah Bangla' region, the much of which falls under Bangladesh. The day is a public holiday. On the occasion, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina greeted country's people and all Bangla-speaking people across the globe. Traders and shopkeepers across the country open 'Halkhata' (new book of accounts) and entertain customers and visitors with sweets on the first day of the New Year as part of the tradition and culture. On every return of Pahela Baishakh, also the country's biggest cultural festival, the people of all walks of life, especially the youth, come out on the streets at daybreak wearing traditional dresses to celebrate the day. Students of the Institute of Fine Arts of Dhaka University took out a 'Mongol Shuvajatra (procession of good wishes)' from in front of the institute around 9:10am as part of the carnival. People from all walks of life joined the procession that ended at the Dhaka University after parading Karwanbazar through Shahbagh. Men, wearing panjabi-pyjama, women attired in srees with red borders, and children in colourful dresses flocked to traditional Baishakhi Mela (fair) and other cultural functions in the city and elsewhere in the country. People took 'Panta Bhat (watery rice)' with fried fish, lentils, green chili and onions at home, restaurants and fairs following the rich tradition of Bangla culture. However, many boycotted hilsa, a tradition item on the Pahela Baishakh menu, amid campaign by various quarters that it was an invented culture. Deadly earthquake topples houses in southern Japan BBC Online: At least two people died and a number were injured after an earthquake jolted southern Japan, toppling buildings and disrupting power supplies. Officials say more people could be trapped under collapsed buildings. About 16,000 homes were left without electricity and 38,000 without gas, reports say. No tsunami warning was issued after the magnitude 6.4 quake, which struck at 21:26 (12:26 GMT) east of Kumamoto city, on the island of Kyushu. Nuclear reactors on the island are not reported to have been affected. The two Sendai nuclear reactors on Kyushu were operating as normal while the three Genkai nuclear reactors still in operation were already closed for routine inspection. The quake struck at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles) and was followed by aftershocks measuring 5.7 about 40 minutes later and 6.4 just after midnight local time. But Japan's seismology office recorded the shaking at some places to be as intense as the huge magnitude 9 earthquake that hit the country in 2011. That triggered a tsunami in a double disaster that left more than 18,000 people dead or missing and led to meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. "The shaking was so violent I couldn't stand still," Hironobu Kosaki, a local police official, told the Associated Press news agency. BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) At the request of Gov. John Bel Edwards, Louisiana senators Thursday rejected the public school financing formula proposed by the state education board for next year, which included a spending boost. Lawmakers in the current budget year raised funding for K-12 public schools by $44 million outside of the annual financing formula. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, or BESE, proposed to roll that money into the formula for the 2016-17 school year, to make it a permanent increase. Edwards said Louisiana can't afford that amid ongoing budget problems that have the state struggling to close a $750 million shortfall in the financial year that begins July 1. The Democratic governor is proposing to cut the $44 million from public schools next year. The Senate Education Committee agreed without objection Thursday to the reluctant request of its chairman, Sen. Dan "Blade" Morrish, to reject the formula. "It's not something I particularly want to do," said Morrish, R-Jennings. Education leaders said public schools will struggle with the cut. "This is obviously not an easy reduction for any public school to take," said Superintendent of Education John White. But he didn't argue in favor of the formula, saying: "I also recognize that the governor and the Legislature are having difficult discussions like this across the budget." The president of the Louisiana Association of Educators urged the committee to advance the financing proposal with the $44 million included. Debbie Meaux said while she understands "times are hard and money is even harder to find in the state's budget," the reduction for public schools would hit classrooms. "I cannot in good conscience accept that reality without expressing the harm that will do to our children," Meaux said. Morrish said lawmakers might be able to come up with additional money for public schools in a second special session expected later this year, when new tax increases will be considered. Edwards' proposal to cut the money for local public schools is a turnaround for him. As a state lawmaker last year, Edwards pushed for the $44 million increase that was given to schools this year. Now as governor, elected with the backing of teacher unions and public school leaders, he's seeking to remove the money. If BESE doesn't agree to rewrite the financing formula for next year, the current year's spending plan which doesn't include the $44 million increase paid outside the formula will remain in place for the 2016-17 school year. Lawmakers can only approve or reject the formula, known as the Minimum Foundation Program, that BESE sends them. They cannot change it. Pre-purchase property inspection is a relatively new thing in the United Kingdom. Its not something that most people have heard about, but it has become increasingly popular over the last few years with the rise in property prices and increased demand for high quality homes. What are the benefits of pre-purchase building inspection? What can you expect to find out when you pay someone else to inspect your home before you buy it? And what should you look for during an inspection? Many people want to know if theyre buying a house thats been well maintained or if its had any serious problems. If youve found a place on the market that seems attractive, but then discover some issues after moving in, you may not be as excited about buying it as you thought you were. Its important to do your due diligence when looking at properties. A lot goes into making a property appealing to potential buyers, from the landscaping to the flooring to the kitchen appliances. The same applies when inspecting a property there are many things that need checking over to make sure everything is running smoothly. Here are some of the benefits of performing a pre-purchase inspection: You get to see exactly what will happen to your money When you go shopping for a new car, youll probably be shown several different models. You might even be shown one that looks like a great value, but doesnt fit around all of the extra features that you want. When it comes time to actually buy the vehicle, however, you wont have seen how your money will be spent on it once you drive it off the showroom floor. Likewise, when you shop for a new home, you dont really know what youre getting yourself into until you move in. In order to get a feel for whether the home youre considering is what you want, you normally have to spend quite a bit of time inside it. This allows you to learn more about everything that youre going to be spending your hard-earned cash on. A pre-purchase building inspection gives you much the same kind of experience without having to spend thousands of dollars. Since youre paying for the service, you can expect to see exactly what youre paying for, instead of just seeing a vague idea of what you might end up with. You find out about potential major repairs Some buildings are very expensive to maintain, which means that owners often neglect them for the sake of saving money. While youre paying for a building inspection, youre also paying for a professional who knows how to spot signs of trouble and repair work that needs doing. If you notice that a particular area of your new home needs fixing right away, you can call in an expert to take care of it quickly. If you find that theres something wrong with your boiler, you wont have to wait weeks for a plumber to come over and fix it. Instead, youll have access to a solution immediately. You can save hundreds of pounds by finding out about potential problems early on One of the biggest expenses when you first buy a home is the cost of moving in. Many people dont realize this until its too late. Buying a home involves not only paying for the actual house, but also for moving costs, furniture, and other items that have to be moved along with the home. Having a good idea ahead of time of what youre likely to encounter can help you avoid these kinds of costs. If you know youll need to replace the plumbing system, for example, youll be able to put together a budget for the expense and plan accordingly. You can protect your investment by finding out if the homes been well cared for While there are plenty of people who think that houses always look better when theyre newly built, youd be surprised at how well maintained older residences can still look nice. Sometimes, though, those homes need some additional maintenance to keep them looking their best. This could involve repairs that arent so noticeable or small improvements that you wouldnt consider otherwise. Even worse, some houses have fallen into disrepair without anyone noticing. This is why having a professional perform a building inspection prior to purchasing a home is such a big benefit. Not only will it give you insight into the state of the property, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing youre not getting taken advantage of. As long as youre aware of the potential pitfalls, youll have less reason to worry about the state of your new home. You can use information gathered during a building inspection to negotiate a lower price If youre worried about buying a home because you suspect that it may need extensive renovation work, you may already have a rough idea of how much work youll need to do to bring it up to scratch. That knowledge can come in handy if you decide to buy the home. You can use all of the details that you gather during a building inspection to present a realistic picture of what the home is worth to prospective buyers. If a potential buyer thinks that the home is worth more than what you paid for it, you can try negotiating a lower price. You can sell your home faster and for more money If you decide to list your home on the market soon after buying it, youll need to price it accurately in order to attract buyers. But if youve already done a thorough building inspection, youll know exactly what work is needed and what the current market conditions are. In other words, youll be able to make a more accurate estimate of the amount of money youve invested in the home and how much its worth. If you find that youre selling your house for close to its full market value, you can use this information to convince the potential buyer that your home is worth the asking price. Even if youre planning to stay in the home for a while before you decide to sell, the fact that you did a thorough building inspection will give you more confidence when listing it. Prospective buyers will know exactly what theyre paying for. Your home will hold its value longer As mentioned earlier, the value of a home depends heavily upon the condition of the building itself. If your home is in bad shape, potential buyers wont be interested in buying it. On the other hand, if youve performed a thorough building inspection and know what sort of repairs are necessary, you can offer your prospective buyer a compelling reason to invest in your property. When you buy a home, youre essentially agreeing to have it inspected periodically to ensure that it stays in top shape. Not only does this allow you to avoid expensive repairs down the road, but it can also increase the value of your home. You can make smart decisions about property investments Buying real estate isnt as simple as just driving a couple of minutes to pick up a house. There are lots of considerations involved, ranging from location to cost. The same is true when youre investing in property. If you find a house that meets all of your requirements, youll want to make sure that you have a solid understanding of where it stands with regards to the rest of the market. If you havent spent enough time researching the area, you could inadvertently end up with a bad deal. There are lots of resources available online that can help you determine the overall level of competition in your area. They can also help you figure out if there are any properties that meet your requirements that you didnt know about. If you own rental property, you can use the information to identify tenants who might cause damage If you own rental property and youve noticed that certain tenants consistently cause damage, you can use the results of a building inspection to identify them. You can then contact them directly to let them know that youre watching them closely and that you dont appreciate the problem theyre causing. They might start taking better care of their homes, which would be good news for everyone. It could also be the case that youll find out that theyre responsible for previous damages that werent caught during a previous visit. You can make smarter decisions about hiring contractors If youve hired contractors to build or repair your home, you might want to ask them for references. However, unless you perform a thorough building inspection, you might not know exactly what to look for. For instance, maybe you only checked the roof for leaks or the walls for cracks. You might not have looked underneath the foundation for anything that could cause a future issue. By performing a building inspection, you can ensure that you hire reputable contractors who will be trustworthy with your money. You can avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition Of course, the main benefit of structural inspections perth is that it helps you avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition. Before you make the decision to buy a home, you should do whatever you can to find out about the state of the building. You can also ask your realtor about what sorts of inspections are typically recommended. Some agents say that its standard practice to check the heating system, the roof, the electrical wiring, and the floors. Others will tell you that they recommend that you check the entire structure. Either way, if you choose to hire an inspector, youll find out exactly what needs to be fixed and how much it will cost to do so. As a result, it can be concluded that a pre-purchase building inspection is highly important for the buyers because it provides transparency regarding the current conditions of the structure. Additionally, the building owner is made aware of any upgrades or repairs that are required, which could lead to a fair deal throughout the purchasing and selling process. The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now. Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market. In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender. India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex. Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted. But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted? Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner. If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems. I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now. I want more variation in masturbation I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own. If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end. What is sex toys for Indian? Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation. It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms. They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable. Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner. The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner. It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past. In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping. Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order. In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing. Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome. Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own. But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance. More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around. Sextoy situation in India Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years. In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India. Mumbai Kolkata Bangalore Delhi Chennai Hyderabad These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India. In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well. If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too. If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it. What are Sextoys for beginner? Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms. Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy. I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion. I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy. If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma. Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it. Advantages of using sextoy for Indians There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways. Can have stimulating sex Can develop new sexual zones If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern. However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways. You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation. Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever. There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure. This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it. When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems. It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms). For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles [Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou... Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India. Sextoy for beginner men in India So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners. For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men! The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men Masturbator Cock rings Love Doll Sex Lubricants Toys for the prostate Lets check each one in detail. Masturbator The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products. It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands. Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands. They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.) Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much. Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! ! Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa SEXToys India PR (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018 Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood. If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ... [For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien... Cock Ring A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis. It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow. It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber. In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection. Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction. It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it. Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time. Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function. Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy. You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect. [Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat... Love Doll Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex. There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women. Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price. The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true. You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste. There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice. You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls. If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to... Sex lubricants Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules. It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution. Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse. There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent. Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent. If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here. What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many... Toys for the Prostate Another sextoy for men is prostate toys. The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line. Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men. Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men. What is the prostate? The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm. You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus. By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms. Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.) The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation. Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure. sextoy for beinner women in India The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy. The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy. Vibrator. Dildo Electric Masserger Lets check out what each one is in detail. If you want to check out womens toys, click here. [BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm... Vibrators A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator. Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy. It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy. Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women. For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators. Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex. Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself. This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual. Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men. When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons. Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most... Dildo A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis. It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass. A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it. They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well. It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device. A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo. Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands. For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis. This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one. To learn more about dildo, please click here. What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th... Electric Masserger A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores. It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low. Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels. Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation. It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure. For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm. It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out. If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager? To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here. What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th... How to choose a sextoy for Indian Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one. Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points: Does the size fit you (the partner)? Does the size fit you (your partner)? Is the environment able to produce sound without problems? Price range First of all, the choice of size is quite important. Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women. For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage. Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems. Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise. If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level. Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it. Finally, there is the price range. The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest. Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy. Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy? I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance. For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics. If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out. How to buy sextoys in India The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping. For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below. Sextoy is one of them. Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping. SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India. They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry. Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card. To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy. ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal. Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on. Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture. Cautions for Indians using sextoy When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind Keep sex toys clean Watch out for electrical leakage Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone. Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there. It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case. In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness. Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful. If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it. You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly. Summary What did you think? In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India. The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future. As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values. However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health. If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try? Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women. I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it. SPRINGFIELD The latest attempt to overhaul the way Illinois fund its public schools has taken its first step toward passage. The Senate Executive Committee signed off Wednesday on a proposal from Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, that is designed to rebalance the way state money is funneled to schools. Manar and other proponents say the current funding formula doesnt get enough money to the districts that need it the most to meet the needs of low-income students. Weve been struggling with this for decades for decades, Manar said during his testimony before the committee. I think we know what we have to do. I think this is a pretty good way to do it. Manars bill would do away with the current system in favor of one that puts more weight on demographic factors such as the number of students in a district who come from low-income families, are learning English or require special education services. In response to constructive criticism of previous versions, Manar has included a provision that would prevent any school district from losing money under the new formula for the first year, which would cost an additional $400 million. That hold harmless protection would be phased out over four years. The plan also calls for Chicago Public Schools to be part of the same funding formula as the rest of the states school districts and for the state to pick up the tab for the employers share of Chicago teachers pensions, something it currently does for other districts. Covering the pension contributions would cost another $200 million annually. Marin Gjaja, a managing director at the Boston Consulting Group who has studied Illinois education funding for the Funding Illinois Future coalition, testified that the state ranks 50th on equity of funding for low-income students. Greater equity in school funding drives better student outcomes, Gjaja said, adding that Manars proposal would be a giant step forward. Ginger Ostro, executive director of education advocacy group Advance Illinois, noted that the state spends 81 cents on educating low-income students for every dollar it spends educating children from wealthier families. The committee approved Manars plan without any Republican votes, though all but one GOP member voted present. Many Republicans have publicly backed Gov. Bruce Rauners plan to increase funding under the current formula for next year. At the committee hearing, many of the Republicans concerns centered on the impact the plan would have on individual districts and whether its realistic to try to pass an overhaul of the funding formula before next school year. Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, said the issue is an especially thorny one because it breaks down along regional as well as political lines. Luechtefeld recalled similar debates during the administration of Republican Gov. Jim Edgar in the 1990s. It became so difficult and so not partisan, honestly. It was more, If it helps my districts, Im for it; if it doesnt, Im against it, he said. And I think youre going to see some of that no matter what the formula is. Luechtefeld said he also has concerns about the legislations future in the House, where a committee has been holding hearings on education funding this spring. Democrats and Republicans agreed that they want to see forthcoming projections from the Illinois State Board of Education on how each district would be affected before taking a final vote. Such bipartisan agreement was not on display earlier Wednesday, however, when Democrats voted to approve a $3.9 billion spending plan that the House approved Tuesday. The measure would fund higher education, social services and other programs that havent received any state funding amid the budget impasse between Rauner and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly. Democrats argued that the bill would allow universities, community colleges and service providers, among others, to get in line for payments from the state. Republicans countered that it constituted another promise that the states checkbook cant keep. This is the legislative version of Groundhog Day, said Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. /By Azernews/ By Amina Nazarli ...Shells were falling like rain. We had no breathing time, Fazil Aliyev, an owner of the burned house in Agdam, an Azerbaijani city on the contact of line with Armenians, remembers that terrible day. Armenian forces staged provocations on the frontline on April 2 targeting the nearby Azerbaijani regions from the positions under the control. Aghdam, a town in the south-west of Azerbaijan, was under intense shell of Armenian troops, which also targeted Fuzuli, Terter and Goranboy regions. A total of 32 Azerbaijani settlements and civilians living along the frontline suffered from the enemys aggression. The Armenian militaries killed six civilians, including two children under 16, and wounded 26 residents during the shelling. Although the 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group, Armenia violated ceasefire with Azerbaijan targeting houses and civilians. To protect the civilians, the Azerbaijani army gave a strong rebuff, destroying more than 370 enemy soldiers, 12 tanks, 12 armored vehicles and 15 artillery pieces. Although the military operations on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies were stopped on April 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, great damage was caused to public, their houses, schools and other facilities. Some 232 houses, 99 poles for power transmission lines, electrical substations, water mains and gas pipelines, as well as hospitals, mosques and schools were seriously damaged or destroyed. One of the enemy shells hit the school in Agdams Sarijali village. Fortunately, no students were at the school. My house is located close to the school. Fortunately, the school was closed that day. Otherwise, a major disaster could occur, school teacher Khanlar Fatayev said. Goranboy District Chief Executive Nizameddin Guliyev noted that the regions Tapqaraqoyunlu and Zeybe villages were severely damaged. Communication lines were damaged. Armenians mostly fired from artillery and Grad shells. As a result, about 100 houses and kindergartens were damaged. Despite no civilians were killed during the attack, some nine houses were completely destroyed and 60 heads of cattle were killed, he said. Currently, restoration work is underway in the regions, which suffered from the four-day attacks of the Armenian armed forces. Head of the Agdam Executive Power Ragub Mammadov said that the total damage is being calculated, adding that restoration of a high school building has already begun. Speaking about the situation in the region, Mammadov noted that, in spite of the ceasefire agreement, Armenians periodically violate ceasefire along the contact line of the troops, opening fire with machine guns, but Azerbaijani armed forces suppress enemy fire. Baku, which has suffered from Yerevan's aggressive policy for more than two decades, has repeatedly stated that the presence of the Armenian Armed Forces in the occupied territories is a major obstacle to the settlement of the conflict and threat to the regional stability. Despite the fact that the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) demanding the Armenian troops to withdraw from Azerbaijan's occupied territories, they were ignored and have not been implemented by Yerevan yet. Armenia has once again distorted the essence of negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in a way convenient for itself, says Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. "Armenia's attempts to distort the essence of the negotiation process and present it in a one-sided form once again prove that country's non-serious and destructive attitude towards the conflict's settlement," Mammadyarov told AzerTAg news agency Apr. 14. He said it is illogical to make claims about invalidity of the document, in particular the updated Madrid principles, which were submitted by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to the OSCE secretary general's depository with the consent of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Mammadyarov said international community is aware of Azerbaijan's stance regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's resolution. He said that under the UN Security Council's resolutions, Armenian armed forces should be unconditionally and completely withdrawn from the occupied Azerbaijani lands and Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty should be restored within the internationally recognized borders. "Azerbaijan has repeatedly expressed readiness to start a political process on a comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on those principles," he added. "The provocations and military gambles started by the Armenian servicemen on the line of contact on Apr. 2 once again showed that the presence of Armenian armed forces on Azerbaijan's occupied lands is the main reason for escalation of situation and the main threat to peace and stability in the region," said Mammadyarov. "It also shows how fragile is the peace in the region." "Perhaps, some in Armenia think it is still 1990s in the region," he added. "The region has changed fundamentally." Mammadyarov said as it can be seen on the example of Azerbaijan, as distinct from Armenia, the region's countries pursue a more full-fledged policy at international and regional levels. "The sooner Armenian leadership understands the necessity of withdrawing its forces from the occupied Azerbaijani lands, the sooner it will be possible to restore peace and stability in the region," added Mammadyarov. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. /By Azernews/ By Aynur Karimova Azerbaijan has voiced its keen aspiration to further develop relations with the Muslim states. President Ilham Aliyev, who is attending the 13th Islamic Summit Conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, said at the first session of the Summit that Azerbaijan gives priority to cooperation with the Islamic countries. "In recent years, Baku has hosted more than 10 meetings of the OIC member states' foreign affairs, culture, tourism, education, labor and other ministers," he said. "I highly appreciate the activity of OIC towards mutual support and solidarity. Today, Islamophobia is one of the serious threats to the world. We strongly condemn this trend. In fact, Islam is a religion of peace, compassion, tolerance and justice. Equating Islam with terrorism is a wrong and biased approach. The Muslim states are the most affected from terrorism." Azerbaijan regularly contributes to the dialogue of cultures and religions. Capital Baku will host the 7th Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations on April 25-27. Azerbaijan also attaches great importance to solidarity among Islamic countries. The 4th Islamic Solidarity Games will also be held in Baku in 2017. President Aliyev also drew attention to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the OIC's efforts in resolving it. The head of state said the OIC foreign ministers have decided to establish a contact group engaged in the settlement of the conflict, and thanked the organization for such a decision. "For more than 20 years, Armenia has been pursuing aggressive policy against Azerbaijan. As a result of this policy, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory - Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions were occupied by Armenia, ethnic cleansing was carried out in those areas and more than one million of our cognates have become refugees and internally displaced people. Armenia has committed Khojaly genocide. International community and organizations recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and support fair settlement of the conflict in accordance with international law. The UN Security Council has issued four resolutions on the conflict. These resolutions demand immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian Armed Forces from Azerbaijani lands. At the same time, the Non-Aligned Movement, the OSCE, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and other organizations have adopted similar resolutions," he stressed. President Aliyev thanked the OIC for fair resolutions of the organization on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which supports settlement of the conflict within the framework of Azerbaijan's sovereignty and territorial integrity. "Occupant Armenia ignores these decisions and from time to time resorts to armed provocations to break the negotiation process. One of them was carried out in early April. Azerbaijani soldiers and civilians were killed in an armed attack. Azerbaijani army prevented the Armenian provocation," he said. The OIC, which announced on April 12 about its plan to establish a contact group for the settlement of the long-lasting Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, always kept the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in focus. Its member states expressed concern over the occupation of Azerbaijan territories by Armenia as well as the looting and destruction of archeological, cultural and religious monuments in those areas, including those Islamic monuments included in the resolution that the OIC summit adopted in Dakar, Senegal in 2008. Moreover, the Organization has repeatedly slammed Armenia for the destruction of Islamic artifacts in the invaded lands. The 13th Summit of the OIC is being held in Istanbul on April 14-15 and there will be very broad participation, as it is being attended by the representatives of all 56 member countries. The theme of this years summit is Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace. This Summit is being held at a time when there is a need for unity and solidarity of the Islamic world to search for ways of preventing risks and threats, resolving the existing problems endangering peace and justice, which is worthy of the Islamic world. Settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was high on the agenda of the OIC Summit. Iyad Ameen Madani, who serves as the secretary general of the OIC, stated that the violation of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity is unacceptable. While speaking at the 13th OIC Islamic Summit Conference, he noted that the Organization stands for the speedy settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Turkey, which has always supported Azerbaijan's sovereignty and territorial integrity, has also urged the OIC to support Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The latest developments in the region require the OIC countries to show a single position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in turn, said the interference of other countries in the Muslim states' affairs is unacceptable and urged the Muslim countries to resolve their problems themselves, He also proposed the member states of the OIC to establish the Arbitration Center for resolving their internal disputes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined on Wednesday to comment on the first delivery of Russian-made S-300 air defense systems to Iran. The first batch of surface-to-air missiles capable of downing jets was delivered to Iran on Monday, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. "We do not comment on this," Netanyahu's spokeswoman told RIA Novosti. Russia and Iran signed a $900-million contract in 2007 amid opposition from Israel and the United States. The deal was suspended after the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Iran in mid-2010. In April 2015, Russia resumed talks on S-300 deliveries following a framework agreement on a landmark pact that aimed to ensure the peaceful nature of Tehran's nuclear program. Israel, in turn, criticized Russia's decision to go ahead with arms deliveries to Iran, saying that it would further destabilize the region. /By Azernews/ By Aynur Karimova Kazakhstan and Turkey, the two Turkic speaking countries with expanded economic ties, have discussed the possibility of strengthening cooperation in trade, investment making, agriculture, culture and humanitarian fields. The discussions were held in Istanbul on April 13 at a meeting of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is on a visit to Turkey to attend the 13th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Akorda reported. During the meeting, the sides pointed out the promising joint projects, the implementation of which can involve the small and medium business representatives from both countries. Nazarbayev and Erdogan also reviewed the progress in implementation of the agreements reached during the Turkish president's visit to Kazakhstan in April 2015. The Kazakh president pointed out that leading Turkish companies and holdings can actively participate in implementation of the 'Nurly Zhol' program, as well as the industrial and innovative development programs in Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev also highlighted Kazakhstan's transit and transportation potential, which can be effectively used for economic development of both countries. The Turkish president, for his part, underscored the necessity of strengthening the bilateral cooperation for achieving goals in a number of fields. With growing economic ties with world countries, Turkey, in recent years has focused on more effective cooperation with Central Asian states. Thanks to its geographic, religious, cultural, and historical bonds both with Europe and Central Asia, Turkey intends to be a bridge between the countries of these regions. Turkey, best positioned in between Europe and Asia, is also a stable economic and political partner of Central Asian states, in particular of Kazakhstan. Active cooperation with Astana is on the focus of Ankara's long term economic interests. Also, Turkey is seen as an economically stabile route for seamless transportation of Kazakhstan's huge oil and gas resources to international markets. Turkey considers Kazakhstan as one of the most important players in the supply of Central Asias energy resources to European markets through the Caspian Sea. Development of transport and transit potential between the two countries is also among the most important areas of cooperation. Experts believe that Kazakhstan, which intends to develop its ability to export not only oil, but also other products, in particular metals and grain across the Caspian Sea, considers Turkey as a good route with a long coastline and hundreds of years of maritime experience. In this case both sides will have a profit: Kazakhstan will benefits from a new export route, while Turkey - from goods imported and transit fees for Kazakh goods heading to Europe. Turkish companies actively cooperate in various fields of the Kazakh economy. More than 1,800 Turkish companies operate in Kazakhstan, and this figure exceeds the number of other foreign companies operating in the country. Till mid-2015, the total cost of projects implemented by Turkish contractors in Kazakhstan stands at about $17.5 billion. In 2012-2015, the trade turnover between the two countries has doubled - from $2 billion to $4 billion, and this figure is projected to reach $10 billion within the framework of the program New Synergy, adopted by the heads of the two states eralier. Doha-based Qatar Steel, a leading steel producer in the Middle East, has achieved a record production of more than one million tonnes of rebar at RM II, the companys ultra-modern rolling mill, said a report. RM II was commissioned in 2007 with a production capacity of 700,000 tonnes per annum of rebar with sizes ranging from 8 mm to 40 mm in diameter. The mill, which applies international steel standards to fulfil customers requirements, has achieved its design capacity in the first three years of operations and excelled with the milestone production of over one million tonnes in 2015, added the Peninsula Qatar report. The companys managing director and general manager Ali bin Hassan Al Muraikhi, said that this major achievement was possible through the support and efforts by the companys dedicated and motivated team to improve the companys operational and maintenance efficiency. He added that the company constantly focuses on implementing new innovative technologies to fulfil its commitment towards quality and productivity without compromising the safety and sustainable practices being implemented at the company. Qatar Steel is one of few companies which have initiated and are practising sustainable development in line with the priority areas identified in Qatar National vision 2030. The company has launched several key initiatives designed to reduce energy consumption, recycle process wastes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Qatar Steel is also committed to improving health, safety and environment. The company along with Primetals, the supplier of Rolling Mill II, held an award ceremony to mark this milestone achievement, added the report. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) is building three 132/11 kilovolt (kV) substations with 45 km of high-voltage (132kV) cables in support of the World Expo 2020 in Dubai, UAE. The total cost of the electricity projects will be Dh420 million ($114.318 million). They support Dubai Expos theme of Connecting Minds, Creating the Future and its three sub-themes of sustainability, mobility and opportunity and are named as such. Dewa is also building water transmission networks with pipelines that are 600 and 1200 mm in diameter, pumping stations and distribution stations. With a planned budget of Dh515 million ($140.176 million), these projects will increase water-flow rates and ensure an adequate water supply to meet the increasing demands. Dewa managing director and CEO Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer recently inspected the construction progress of the substations. He was accompanied by Hussain Lootah, executive vice president of transmission power at Dewa; Khalifa Al Mehairi, vice president of distribution maintenance; and Saeed Al Jallaf, vice president of transmission projects and permits. Al Tayer also visited the World Expo 2020 headquarters, and was welcomed by Najeeb Mohammed Al Ali, senior vice president of the Unified Project Management Office - Expo 2020; and Ahmed Al Khatib, senior vice president of real estate development at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC). They discussed progress made in the construction of the exhibition site. The substations will all be ready by 2017. Mobility will be operational by March, Sustainability by October and Opportunity by December. Dewas efforts are focused on establishing excellent energy infrastructure that meets the emirates development needs. It has launched a wide variety of initiatives to support this, allocating over Dh2.6 billion ($707.68 million) to boost electricity, water, and renewable energy projects, according to the highest international standards. This contributes towards organising the World Expo 2020 in Dubai. To emphasise its commitment to sustainability, which is one of the main pillars of World Expo 2020 in Dubai, Dewa has also assigned a large part of the budget to clean-energy-related projects in support of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to provide 75 per cent of Dubais total power output from clean energy by 2050," said Al Tayer. "This will make Dubais carbon footprint the lowest in the world. Most prominent of these projects is the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park and the Shams Dubai project to encourage building owners to install photovoltaic panels to generate electricity from solar energy and connect it to Dewas grid. "Dewa has also budgeted for research and development, and research and innovation in renewable energy. All these will promote sustainable development in the UAE. The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park will provide a dedicated supply of 100 MW electricity to Dubai Expo 2020 to manage its energy requirements, said Al Tayer. As part of the Smart Applications and Smart Meters initiatives, Dewa is building a smart grid to become the first network in the world to provide the entire value chain of generation, transmission, and distribution systems to the Expo. The smart grid includes demand-side management, asset management, distribution automation, substation automation, system integration, and smart meters. Dewa plans to install one million smart meters by 2020 across Dubai, and replace all mechanical and electromechanical meters during the next few years. Dewa has allocated Dh7 billion ($1.905 billion) worth of investments to the development of smart grids, he said. - TradeArabia News Service Enabling works on the $1.1-billion Airport Modernisation Programme (AMP) of Bahrain International Airport are progressing rapidly and are scheduled to be completed by the end of April. In addition, bids are being evaluated for the final package of the programme, said Derek Hendry, the director development for Bahrain Airport Company, in an interview with Gulf Construction. He added that tender evaluation for the information communication technology (ICT) contract the last of the tenders to be awarded on the modernisation programme - will start on Sunday. He was speaking on the sidelines of the Bahrain International Airport Development Forum held at Movenpick Hotel in Bahrain from April 13-14. Work on the main works package of Phase One and long-lead packages had also started, he added. A new fire station, fuelling facilities and a security gate are currently under construction, Hendry stated. These are scheduled for completion mid-summer this year. The Airport Modernisation Programme involves the construction of a new 207,000-sq-m terminal with all modern facilities and will raise the annual capacity of Bahrain International Airport to 13.5 million passengers. Hendry said the new terminal was aiming for Leed Gold certification. That will make it just the second airport in the region after Saudi Arabias Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah to have won the global rating. He said the new terminal had already met 75 per cent targets in areas of energy usage, energy vision development, water usage, material sourcing, building management, among other aspects. - TradeArabia News Service Three leading entities have joined to create an elite educational institution located at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Saudi Arabia and modelled after a top-ranked entrepreneurship education programme in the US. Babson Global, a wholly owned subsidiary of Babson College; Lockheed Martin; King Abdullah Economic City; and the Saudi Arabia Economic Offset Program (EOP) office announced the project during the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Education's International Exhibition and Forum for Education (IEFE). The College for Business and Entrepreneurship at KAEC project is aligned with the vision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, for the Kingdom to become a leading knowledge-based economy by advancing education, entrepreneurial skills and helping establish the next generation of job creators, a statement said. Its development by KAEC, the owner of the facility, is part of a comprehensive entrepreneurship ecosystem within the new city to foster the next generation of job creators. The college will be based on Babson's unique methodology, fuelled by Babson expertise and founded on the same academic rigor that has made Babson the No. 1 ranked school for entrepreneurship education by US News & World Report for the past 20 years. Degree programmes will be offered beginning in 2017. "Helping to establish an educational institution that will support sustainable development and contribute to peace and stability in Saudi Arabia is important and exciting work," said Babson president Kerry Healey. "Babson is proud to assist Saudi Arabia and partner with Lockheed Martin on this tremendous opportunity to bring world-class entrepreneurship education to Saudi students and to help empower them to stimulate economic development and generate new sources of job growth in the Kingdom." The initiative also advances King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) as a hub of activities to encourage the region's emerging entrepreneurial businesses. "Entrepreneurship is at the core of our vision for KAEC and we are deeply engaged in helping people build and develop the skills they need to be successful in the future," said Fahd Al Rasheed, managing director and Group CEO of King Abdullah Economic City. "In the new world of work, innovation is the currency of success. By developing an entrepreneurship ecosystem here in the city with this world class educational institution at its heart, KAEC is delivering on its mandate to be a driver of socio-economic change in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." Under the agreement, Lockheed Martin will provide funding over a 10-year period to establish the Babson-powered programs and campus at KAEC, the world's largest public-listed city. The investment will produce credits toward fulfilling Lockheed Martin's industrial participation or "offset" obligations tied to its business in Saudi Arabia. "We are committed to supporting the economic development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with an innovative program that will provide sustainable returns and benefits," said Alan Chinoda, Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin Saudi Arabia. "Today's announcement is the culmination of four years of project planning and maturation, and Lockheed Martin is honoured to be a partner with Babson in this exciting initiative." Lockheed Martin's interactions have principally been with Babson Global and its development partner StrateSphere and the leadership of KAEC. Saudi Arabia's Economic Offset Secretariat (EOS) and Economic Offset Committee (EOC) have been instrumental in the creation of the project, which is endorsed and supported by the Ministry of Education. When fully developed, the new college will have a complete campus environment and the capability to enrol up to 1,400 students in graduate, undergraduate and entrepreneurship development programs. Activities will include classroom study programs as well as virtual, technology-aided programs. The development will include the unique Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership as an important resource for both the college and the Saudi business and entrepreneurial community in general. TradeArabia News Service Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), the flagship free zone entity of Dubai, has registered an additional 60 Indian companies in 2015 from key sectors, including electronics, steel, construction and building materials, chemicals and petroleum products and FMCG, a report said. With over 800 Indian companies from various sectors based in Jafza, the free zone recorded a growth of 10 per cent last year in the number of companies registered. This is due to the strong bilateral ties between India and the UAE and the reputation that Jafza has built among Indias business community, added the WAM report. Jafza has been organising regular roadshows in India and the latest in the series was a three-city tour held recently in major Indian business centres Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and New Delhi. Over 300 senior investors and Indian businessmen from various sectors attended business seminars to learn about the attractive investment environment in Dubai and Jafza, it said. The business seminar in New Delhi was attended by Ahmad bin Harib Al Falahi, UAE commercial and trade attache to India, at the UAE Embassy in India. Opportunities for healthcare companies was Jafzas focus in Hyderabad, one of the leading destinations for medical tourism in India. Adil Al Zarooni, senior vice president-sales, presented an outline of the pharmaceutical industry in Jafza and highlighted efforts by the government to promote Dubai as a regional destination for medical tourism. He introduced the attendees to Dubais emerging health sector and the state-of-the-art hospitals and medical centres in the emirate that would require equipment and services, presenting broad prospects for Indian companies experienced in the field. Ibrahim Mohamed Aljanahi, deputy CEO and chief commercial officer, said: Historically, India has been a strategic partner of the UAE and Dubai. Jafza began operations 31 years ago and since then, Indian investors have trusted us and have played a key role in the growth of Jafza by establishing their businesses and production lines here. Over the years, we have continued to build a stronger business relationship with India through mutual annual visits. The exchange of trade between the two sides has grown continuously, with new companies registering here every year. Through Jafza, they too have expanded their businesses and reached out to newer markets in the region, he said. Aljanahi added that Jafza aimed to build long-term economic partnerships with the Indian business community by providing the appropriate trade environment and by attracting investments to the country, in line with the goal of the UAE and Dubai to diversify sources of income and to prepare for the post-oil era. He also pointed out the significance of the visit of HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to India in February that has further strengthened business relations with India, and raised the level of cooperation between the two friendly nations, added the report. Oman Shipping Company (OSC) is launching a new freight service linking all Omani ports to the UAE by mid-April, aimed at boosting trade links. OSCs new fortnightly Oman Express Service will be the first freight feeder operator to connect all Omani ports. It will be run by OSC subsidiary Oman Container Lines (OCL), said a statement from the company. OSC chief executive Tarik Mohamed Al Junaidi said the new service will be cheaper and faster than the road transport which currently handles all freight to the interiors, it added. The main objective of OSC, one of the Gulfs biggest ship operators, is to connect Oman with the rest of the world with a regular service linking the Omani ports of Salalah, Duqm and Sohar, with the UAE, it said. The state-owned company will be the focal point for all customers and the Oman Express Service will use its own multi-purpose vessel to carry containers, break bulk and project cargo, which has a capacity of 350 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit containers) or 8,000 tonnes of general cargo. Al Junaidi said the ambitious move will drive the development of freight-handling facilities in both Duqm and Salalah ports. He said: The Oman Express Service will revolutionise the trade movement in Oman by linking our main ports with one fast and efficient freight feeder operation. We are looking to harness the power of our coastline and maximise Omans strategic location, to boost both trade within the Gulf and worldwide, he added. Duqm is set to become Omans gateway for heavy cargo and the Sultanates next industrial hub once it is fully operational, with major construction work in hand to handle greatly increased container, project and general cargo. Al Junaidi said: There is going to be a lot of development in Duqm. So there will be a demand for equipment, project cargoes, supplies for construction projects and container services. We are discussing this with the port authorities of Duqm, Salalah and other government authorities. Improved road links will enable faster and easier movement of cargo via Duqm port to central Omans oilfields. The Oman Express Service will also increase the amount of cargo being handled at Salalah and Sohar ports, said the statement. He further noted that OSC already operates a weekly feeder service connecting Sohar with Jebel Ali port. He said within a few months of starting the new service, OSC will be able to evaluate the actual requirement and, if necessary, exchange the vessel to meet whatever needs would have arisen. OSCs modern fleet is expected to rise to more than 50 vessels this year. It spans from very large crude carriers (VLCCs), liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, product tankers, multi-purpose vessels, bulk carriers and container ships, to serve Omans oil and gas, petrochemical and other industries. Al Junaidi added: Our intention in the long-run is to have all of them managed by Oman Ship Management Company, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of OSC, currently technically managing 32 vessels. A total of five of our latest ships are the 183m long, 29,354 gross tonne product and chemical tankers, which have been recently constructed at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in Ulsan, South Korea, as part of a deal for 10 medium range (MR) tankers. All the vessels will be chartered to Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Ltd for its Project Silver, he said. This recent investment will strengthen and consolidate our position in the hydrocarbon shipping sector. It also demonstrates how we can offer the very best, and very latest, shipping solutions to major operators like Shell. Entering into new joint venture agreements to expand our fleet is the key to OSCs ongoing business development, he concluded. TradeArabia News Service Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can enable all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and even has the potential to accelerate their achievement, according to a report by ICT firm Ericsson. Hans Vestberg, president and CEO of Ericsson, said: The SDGs lay out a clear path to a more sustainable world, and ICT is a powerful lever to make that happen. We intend to build on our momentum from 2015 so everyone can benefit from the opportunities afforded by the networked society. Ericssons annual Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Report also details the companys performance in 2015 in the areas of responsible business, environment and climate change and communication for all. It shows that 99 per cent of active Ericsson employees have acknowledged the companys Code of Business Ethics. In 2015, the Ericsson Compliance Line, which enables secure reporting of suspected violations, was reinforced to support industry anti-corruption best practices. Demonstrating its commitment to respecting human rights, Ericsson reported according to the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights framework for the second year in a row, and continues to be the only ICT company to do so. In 2015, Ericsson met the target to offset twice the amount of CO2 from its own carbon footprint with solutions such as smart grids and intelligent transport, according to the report. In 2015, Ericsson also exceeded its goal to reduce CO2 emissions per employee by 30 per cent two years ahead of schedule. This amounted to a 42 per cent reduction compared with the 2011 baseline. Mobile financial services can be a game changer for advancing financial and social inclusion. In 2015, Ericsson supported ASBANC, Perus National Bank Association, in an initiative to provide next-generation mobile financial services to 2.1 million Peruvians within five years. TradeArabia News Service Leading hospitality group Centara Hotels & Resorts has introduced a number of new members to the general managers team. Dominique Ronge, a Belgian national, is the new area general manager of Samui. He first joined Centara Hotels & Resorts in 2012 as the general manager for the opening of Centara Grand Phratamnak Pattaya where he was served for two years. He then was promoted to area general manager at Centra Avenue Hotel Pattaya and Centara Avenue Hotel for their pre-openings. He then briefly left the group to work as the general manager (opening team) at Keemala Phuket before re-joining Centara Hotels to take up his new role. With his extensive knowledge of the group and the properties, Ronge will be lead at Centara Grand Beach Resort Samui, Centara Villas Samui and Centra Coconut Beach Resort Samui. Eric Weber joins Central Grand and Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld Bangkok as its new general manager. Weber is a Swiss national with over 27 years of experience in hospitality industry, having worked for various properties including the Mandarin Oriental and Hyatt. Prior to joining Centara Hotels, he was the general manager of the Hyatt Regency Mumbai in India. Centara Ceysands Resort & Spa, Sri Lanka has welcomed Riaan Drever as the new general manager. Drever is a South African national with over 19 years of experience in the hospitality industry, having worked for various properties across Africa, America, Middle East and Asia within groups such as Orient Express, Fairmont, Movenpick, Jumeirah and Six Senses Soneva. He was in the Maldives at Centara Ras Fushi Resort and Spa as resident manager before taking up the role in Sri Lanka. With an extensive background with Centara Hotels & Resorts, Chaiphun Thongsuthum has joined as General Manager for one of the newest properties, Centra Maris Resort Jomtien, which is just a few hours out of Bangkok. Thongsuthum has more than 32 years of experience in the hospitality industry in operations and sales and marketing. He has worked for many Centara resorts such as Centara Grand at Central Plaza Lad Prao Bangkok, Centara Hotel Hat Yai, Central Hotel Myanmar and Centara Duangtawan Hotel Chiang Mai. Prior to the transfer to Jomtein, Thongsuthum was the general manager at Centara Hotel & Convention Centre Udon Thani for the past seven years. Thirayuth Chirathivat, chief executive officer of Centara Hotels & Resorts, said: I offer my congratulations to all of the new members to the Centara team as well as to the friendly faces who are taking on new challenges in their new assignments. I am pleased to see the progress of many of our people and am confident that they will continue to help drive their properties to meet their goals in 2016. - TradeArabia News Service Hill International, a global leader in managing construction risk, said its joint venture with UAE-based Ehaf Consulting Engineers has been awarded a two-year contract to provide design and construction supervision consultancy services for a new five-star hotel at Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi. The Dh13.8-million ($3.8 million) contract for the 374-key Rixos Saadiyat Island Hotel was awarded by Turkish group Megaprojeler Insaat Turizm Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, an affiliate of Rixos Hotels. On the project win, Mohammed Al Rais, the regional president (Middle East) for Hill's Project Management Group, said: "We look forward to working with our client and Ehaf on this new Rixos hotel." Ehaf, he stated, is a major provider of premier professional engineering, management and architectural services from concept through completion for cost-effective solutions. "This five-star hotel will be an important tourist attraction on the fast-growing Saadiyat Island," he added. Located off the coast of Abu Dhabi, Saadiyat Island is a 27-sq-km island planned and created around an environmentally-sensitive philosophy and low-density masterplan. Saadiyat's real estate developments have been built around natural beauty, cultural experiences, architectural design and business amenities. The main districts in the island are the Saadiyat Cultural District, the Saadiyat Beach District and the Saadiyat Marina District. Hill International, with 4,800 professionals in 100 offices worldwide, provides programme management, project management, construction management, construction claims and other consulting services.-TradeArabia News Service Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, is marking the fifth anniversary of the opening of its Al Ain Contact Centre by celebrating the achievements of its 160 Emirati female employees. One third of the centres employees are working mothers, reinforcing the airlines commitment to empowering women, and in particular UAE nationals, by providing a wide range of training and development opportunities to ensure they can pursue challenging and rewarding careers whilst upholding their social and cultural values. The airlines contact centres in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi and Manchester serve a total of 40 markets. Last year, the Al Ain Contact Centre handled 17 per cent of Etihad Airways three million global phone calls for 14 countries, across three continents. The Al Ain Contact Centre generates revenue of more than $40 million annually and since the centres launch the volume of calls answered by agents has increased by 187 per cent. Opened in March 2011, the centre began its operations with 85 highly qualified and fully trained Emirati women. By the end of 2012, the number of employees at the centre had increased by 150 per cent and since then a further 30 Emirati women have joined. Ali Al Shamsi, Etihad Airways vice president - Emiratisation Strategy said: We envisaged a highly efficient contact centre that would combine world class customer service with the highest level of Arabian hospitality. We are extremely proud of the service that our employees are providing to thousands of our guests every day. The centres fifth anniversary is the perfect opportunity for us to showcase and celebrate the immense talent of our Emirati female workforce, the important impact that they are having on our airline and the crucial role they are playing in the economic diversification of Al Ain. All of the women employed at the centre completed a series of rigorous assessments prior to being offered a position. On joining the company, employees were enrolled in several training programmes to further enhance their IT, English language and employability skills. The centre has also worked with Abu Dhabi University Knowledge Group to find the brightest graduates and the Abu Dhabi Human Resources Authority (previously known as Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council) to source candidates from the future of Al Ain scheme. Samia Barj, Etihad Airways Al Ain Contact Centre manager, said: I am extremely proud to be able to lead a team of inspirational Emirati women who are doing so much to strengthen our national identity and make a real impact within the company and in the city of Al Ain. It is due to their impressive capabilities that the centre is able to provide a superior service to hundreds of thousands of Etihad Airways guests each year and I am confident that we will continue to exceed all expectations as we keep striving for excellence. - TradeArabia News Service A police officer on the Wind River Indian Reservation is facing a federal kidnapping charge for allegedly chaining his wife in their basement, court records show. William Arthur Curran II forced his wife into the basement of their home and put handcuffs on her wrists and ankles, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming. The complaint states Curran is a police officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Wind River Indian Reservation, and has been since July 2014. Nedra Darling, public affairs director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, confirmed Curran is employed by the agency. She said she could not comment further on the issue because it involves personnel matters. Curran appeared Thursday for his initial hearing in federal court in Casper. A judge read the charge and told Curran he would have a detention hearing within the next week. At that hearing, it will be decided whether Curran should remain in jail pending trial or be released. Curran requested he be appointed a public defender. He appeared in the courtroom in jeans and a t-shirt, and was handcuffed. According to the criminal complaint, Curran arrived at his home at about 10 p.m. Monday in Fort Washakie. His wife and two children were sleeping. Currans wife told a Federal Bureau of Investigations agent her husband was drunk at the time, the complaint states. The couple argued and the woman tried to leave the home. However, Curran blocked the bedroom doorway and hit his wife. According to the complaint, Curran then picked up his wife and carried her toward the basement. While doing so, the woman was able to pick up her cell phone and a cork screw bottle opener from their kitchen counter. She tried to stab Curran in the back with the cork screw. However, Curran threw the woman onto the ground and pushed her down the stairs into the basement, the complaint states. Curran grabbed his wife by the arms and dragged her into a room where he keeps his police gear, according to the complaint. He cuffed her wrists and ankles and retrieved a pistol. He then threatened to kill his wife and bury her, the complaint states. The woman dialed 911 on the cell phone and hid the phone behind her. A recording from the Fremont County Sheriffs Office states Curran told his wife, I can bury you, according to the complaint. Curran continued to threaten his wife while her hands were cuffed for about an hour and a half, the complaint states. She was eventually able to convince her husband to allow her to go upstairs with him. Curran directed the woman to sleep on a couch and checked on her frequently, according to the complaint. When interviewed the next day by detectives, Currans wife had bruises and abrasions on her face, arms and legs, the complaint states. A multi-million-dollar Canyon Pass home in Dove Mountain goes on the auction block Monday, and then every five days the price will drop by $50,000. Called a reverse auction, the sales approach is unique because of the announced price reduction and schedule. We know the buyers are out there, we just need to get their attention, said listing agent Jeff Ell, with Ell Real Estate Group at Keller Williams Southern Arizona. Some people might raise an eyebrow at announcing future reductions, but we expect the prescheduled drops will motivate interested parties to act decisively, knowing that every five days their competition increases. The home, at 4502 W. Hanging Rock Court, is a four-bedroom, seven-bath house built in 2008. It is more than 6,500 square feet in size on 1.8 acres in a gated community north of Tangerine Road and Dove Mountain Boulevard. The asking price on Monday will be $2,050,000 and the decreases will begin five days later. Bids will be accepted at anytime because the property remains active, Ell said. It is a second home for the owners, who declined an interview request. It has been on the market since 2012 with other agents, and Keller Williams got the listing in October. There just isnt a large buyer pool for these types of homes, Ell said. We told the buyers, lets do something different to turn the tables. With its international network through Keller Williams Luxury Division, the agents will use social media, direct mail and email to update prospective buyers. The auction has its own website, tucsonreverseauction.com, where people can see photos of the home and make a bid. Ell said its an ideal second home or suitable for a young family. Agents often negotiate a schedule of price reductions with the seller when a house goes on the market, said Kevin Kaplan, vice president of marketing and technology for Long Companies. Every time the price goes down theres a shoutout to a different group of people in the price range, he said. It depends on the seller and what they are looking to do. Announced price reductions and schedule, Kaplan said, is a little different. Dan Polimino, owner of Keller Williams Colorado Dream House Team, came up with the idea of using a reverse auction to sell a luxury home in 2008 but didnt employ the technique until last year. His Denver property was listed for $3.9 million on Sept. 14 and sold 45 days later for $2.45 million. To critics who said all Polimino did was lower the price of the house, he said, What we did was find the true value of the house, he told Inman, a real estate news outlet. And, he noted, it didnt sit on the market for four or five years. So how low will the price of the Tucson house go? PHOENIX Officials from the Salt River Project dont expect any disruptions at the Navajo Generating Station despite Wednesdays bankruptcy filing by the mining company that feeds it coal. Peabody Energy Corp., based in St. Louis, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Peabody had about 7,600 employees at the end of last year and has ownership stakes in 26 mines in Australia and the U.S., including the Kayenta Mine on the Navajo Reservation. That mine sends coal to the Navajo Generating Station outside of Page, which is run by SRP on behalf of multiple owners. SRP spokesman Scott Harelson said the utility does not expect Peabody to suspend operations at the mine because it is cash positive for Peabody. The contract SRP and the other plant owners have with the mine allows the owners to step in and operate the mine in the event Peabody cant meet the contract, Harelson said. We dont believe that is going to be necessary, he said. The mine also has a 35-day supply of coal on site, and that can be increased as a buffer against any supply concerns, he said. Peabody also has U.S. mines in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico and Wyoming. Peabody Energy, the nations largest coal miner, made its filing less than three months after another from Arch Coal, the countrys second-largest miner, which followed bankruptcy filings from Alpha Natural Resources. New energy technology and tightening environmental regulations have throttled the industry and led to a wave of mine closures and job cuts. Peabody makes most of its money by selling its coal to utility companies that use it to generate electricity. But many utilities have shifted to using natural gas, which costs less than coal and produces less pollution. SRP is working on a plan to close one of the three generators at the power plant in 2019, or curtail operations by one third, which represents the portion of the plant owned by Los Angeles (21.2 percent) and Nevada (11.3 percent) utilities, which are exiting the project. PHOENIX Utility regulator Robert Burns refused to vote Tuesday for a bill adjustment for Arizona Public Service Co., saying he will not advance any of the utilitys business matters until it complies with his request to review any spending it has done on elections. Until APS complies with my request in its entirety, I will be voting no on all APS matters that do not impact the safety and health of ratepayers, Burns said in a statement shared with The Arizona Republic. APS is widely believed to have contributed to the successful campaigns of two fellow utility regulators, Tom Forese and Doug Little, in the 2014 elections. APS has not denied supporting independent political, or dark money, groups that supported Forese and Little. But the company has declined to provide Burns with documentation he has requested regarding the companys political spending. Tuesdays request from APS was a routine adjustment to one of the many line items on APS bills. It would have added 34 cents to the average customer bill. But with Burns no vote, Commissioner Andy Tobins recusal from the vote because of a potential conflict of interest, and Commissioner Bob Stumps absence, the matter failed on a 2-1 vote. Forese and Little approved the change. APS officials suggested Burns actions were hurting utility customers. Our goal is to work in good faith with the commission on behalf of our customers, the company said in a prepared statement after the meeting. Its unfortunate Commissioner Burns feels he cant take action on issues that affect Arizona electricity customers. Burns in November asked APS to disclose such spending, giving the utility 30 days to respond. APS on Dec. 30 said no. In January, Burns expressly directed APS to provide accounts, books, papers and other documents regarding campaign contributions. APS has declined. Burns, who is running for re-election this year, said he was using the best tool at his disposal, his vote, to pressure APS. I would request support from my fellow commissioners in holding APS accountable to respond to my request, he said. In the future they, too, may request information from public service corporations and I am sure they would appreciate their fellow commissioners support of such a request. He suggested Little, who serves as chairman of the five-person commission, could decline to place APS matters on commission agendas as long as they dont impact health and safety matters for the utility. This commission should take every opportunity it can to restore public confidence in this body, Burns said. Hows this for a citys nickname: the capital of murdered women. Its a distinction that belongs to Juarez, Mexico, which is where Borderlands Theaters play, The Ghosts of Lote Bravo takes place. According to the Council of Hemispheric Affairs, the rise of maquiladoras in that state have contributed to the femicide there. Women from impoverished areas of Mexico flock to the city for jobs. They are given the more lowly chores at the plants and are subject to harassment and assault. When a woman has a low-paying job, she is forced to earn money other ways, often as a prostitute. Women in general get little respect; women who make their livings in what are considered less respectable professions get even less. And sometimes often they get murdered. When that happens, its not unusual for a body to be dumped in an area of Juarez known as Lote Bravo. It is murder and that dumping ground, that provide the background for Hilary Bettis play, which is receiving a rolling premiere Borderlands and two other theaters in the National New Play Network are staging the piece. The Borderlands production is the first to open. The story: The play opens with the teenage Raquel struggling for breath as she lies where shes been tossed in Lote Bravo. She has been beaten and is dying. La Santa Muerte a folk saint said to bring safe delivery to the afterlife cradles her head. Raquel begs for a story, and La Santa Muerte begins to tell her about Juanda, Raquels mother. The play quickly shifts scenes as we go back over the days and weeks before this moment of death. Raquel and her mother, whose husband was murdered, work in a maquiladora, but there is not enough money to provide food for them and Raquels little brothers. So Raquel goes out hunting for more work. While she may earn money while on her back, Raquels dreams of a life in America, free of violence and hunger never leave her. But there is much to overcome if she is to realize that dream. The genesis of the play: It was a radio interview with a photojournalist who had documented life in Juarez for years, that launched the idea for Bettis. There was something about the way he spoke of the murders, the reverence he had for (the victims), that sparked this obsession about what life was like for them, and why are the murders happening, and the circumstances of the culture that seemed to cause such a level of violence, said Bettis from New York City, where she writes for the FX television series The Americans. From a womans perspective: The women, Raquel and Juanda, have full lives in the script, which is packed with poetic language, deep emotions, and just enough humor to lighten the load. I wanted to have a conversation from a womans perspective, especially because prostitution is so easily stigmatized, says Bettis. In the very patriarchal world, if someone is a prostitute, she is trash, she has no value. Raquel, though forced to sell her body so her family can survive, never gives up her goal of her familys freedom from the devastations of poverty and violence. I wanted to humanize her and show the audience that she has the right to have a voice, and she deserves to be listened to. Raw and vivid: Bettis portrays a devastating world in Juarez, one thats dominated by organized crime, murder, poverty and desperation. Read the script and youll see that her treatment of the city is raw and disturbing. Yet it is difficult to turn away from. I really wanted to write this for an American audience, she says. I wanted an American audience to actually live in that life. I wanted an audience to not just be rooting for a Mexican to cross illegally, but to really understand why. And I wanted them to look at themselves and ask, if I were living in the same circumstances and I had children, would I do the same thing. Q&A with Ratt drummer, Bobby Blotzer The 1980s introduced some of the world's most popular metal bands, giving us hits like "Wanted Man," "Round and Round" and "Lack of Communication" by RATT. Those hits and many others will be heard once again at the Pima County Fair, as RATT headlines the KLPX Rock Fest on Saturday, April 16. Opening acts include Quiet Riot and Blue Oyster Cult. Bobby Blotzer, who's been the band's drummer since 1982 and is the only original touring member, spoke to us in a phone interview from his Valencia, California home, while laying in bed, drinking coffee and "doing RATT business." Have you always been a musician? "I've always been a musician...I've always known how music is put together. I've always gotten it. As a kid in the 60's, when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, I was only like 6, but I knew what was going on. I got it. My sister jumped around like a maniac and we loved it. The Beatles are still my favorite band of all time. I love catchy, hook heavy songs. That's what Ratt is all about. All of our songs are really catchy. I want people to listen to the songs we write and stay with them and think of good times of the past." What is the band's energy like? "My band is like Ratt was in 1984. They're young. They're hungry. We sound just like the records...They're such great players. We don't fight or argue. They're so talented. It's just amazing. We put on a great show." How has the rock music scene changed over the years? "It's gone from a lot of fun and a lot of bands to, you know, a lot of disgraceful things happening in the business...It's not like it was where you can put a band together, establish a following, get somebody down from a record company and get a deal...I don't see the funness, unless it's some little kid band like One Direction. They seem to be having fun and their audiences are having a good time. But, rock bands..I'll look at some internet sites and they all look like prison gangs or something, ghouls from the Walking Dead. And I'm just like what the (bleep). We tried to look good. Girls loved the band. It was sexy for the chicks, but looked rocked up enough for the dudes. We tried to have a broad appeal. When I say this people think 'oh your parents were saying the same thing' and I guess that's true to a degree, but it is what it is." How many stops are you making on this tour? "We're gonna do 60 dates, domestically and we'll probably do another 20 around the world. We are very excited. We are playing a lot of festivals and arenas. A lot of dates with Bret Michaels. We sold out an arena in Toledo last week and it was amazing." How many times have you played Tucson? "A million. I love Arizona. I love being in Arizona. I love playing Arizona...Arizona is a gorgeous state...We're gonna come and kick some ass. I can't wait to get there." age 87 of Tucson died April 8, 2016, after a brief illness. Sue was born January 4, 1929, in Flint Michigan, daughter of Hugh Neilson Parker and Helen Mae Parker (Batterson). She graduated from Flint Central High School in 1946 and was class Salutatorian. She received her Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene from the University of Michigan in 1950. On August 23, 1952, she married Richard R. Lovinger and he survives. Also surviving are daughter, Stephanie Lovinger of Tucson; sons, Dr. David Lovinger (Kekku) of Olney Maryland, John Lovinger (Denise) of Hillsdale Michigan; granddaughters, Katie Campbell (Tim) of Indianapolis Indiana, Sarah Lovinger of Boston Massachusetts, Kim Bahti of Minneapolis Minnesota; grandson, Yuri Ba hti (Jill) of Phoenix Arizona; brother, James B. Parker (Ruth) of Michigan, and several nieces, nephews and great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; son, Matthew Lovinger; sister, Janet Coulter; brother, Hugh Parker, and nephew, James Coulter. Sue and her family moved to Tucson from Michigan in 1963 to find a healthier climate for her lifelong battle with Asthma. She thrived in the desert climate and was an active volunteer in the community as a Girl Scout Troop Leader, Member of the Junior League of Tucson, the Pima County Bar Auxiliary, the Saguaro Girl Scout Council, Deacon at St. Mark's Presbyterian Church, and swim meet official at the Eastside YMCA and Highland Vista where her children participated in competitive swimming. After her children were grown, she became an accomplished artist specializing in Batik and took great pleasure and pride in showing her pieces at art festivals around the southwest, in galleries in Sedona, and donating them for charitable fundraisers. Her Batiks are treasured by her family. Sue was adventurous and loved to travel. In her retirement years she traveled and camped with her husband all over the United States, including a summer long camping trip from Tucson all the way to Prudhoe Bay Alaska. A lifelong reader with a gentle, creative, and inquisitive spirit, Sue loved her family and took great interest in her grandchildren's lives and activities. She will always be remembered as a dedicated wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. She was an example of perseverance, acceptance, patience, and kindness. At Sue's direction, her body was donated to the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center so that others may learn and advance medical understanding. A Celebration of Sue's Life will be held on Saturday April 23, 2016, at Hacienda Del Sol, 5501 N. Hacienda Del Sol Road, Tucson from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. Fellowship with her family will follow a brief memorial. In lieu of flowers, the family would request donations in Sue's memory to Peppi's House Hospice at Tucson Medical Center through the TMC Foundation. Arrangements by U OF A ANATOMICAL PROGRAM. When Jullisa Sanchez answers the front desk phone at Tucsons Ronald McDonald House, she might as well be speaking to someone in her family. Sanchez, a 21-year-old public health student at the University of Arizona, knows from experience how the facility can help a family. She has stayed here. The families who spend the night at the Ronald McDonald House must live at least 30 miles away from its location at 3838 N. Campbell Ave., Building 6, and be in town so their child under the age of 21 can receive medical care in the Tucson area, says Anne Rounds, the chief development officer of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern Arizona. Donations are accepted, but families can stay at no cost. The house has 28 bedrooms, a kitchen, a backyard and common areas. Its a place to call home when so much is in turmoil. Sanchez is one of about 110 volunteers the nonprofit has spent the week honoring as part of National Volunteer Week. They cook, they drive, they clean. They do the little things. Theyre everything, says Rounds, one of seven paid staff. Really they are the foundation for which we are able to do what we do. As staff, we have administration and oversight, but they are the smile, the human connection, the emotional support. Here are just a few of the volunteers that make this place run. Jullisa Sanchez, 21 Sanchez decided to volunteer after her newborn sister stayed in the hospital from December 2013 to May 2014 following an emergency cesarean section. Sanchezs sister Jewelianna was born more than two months premature and required two surgeries at Banner University Medical Center Tucson. Although Sanchez was a freshman at the University of Arizona with a Tucson apartment, her family is from Nogales, Arizona. She had a roommate, and her apartment had stairs, so her mother couldnt stay with her. Instead, her mom spent five months at the Ronald McDonald House. It goes beyond having a place to eat and rest and all of those things, Sanchez says. It was like having a support system in Tucson. Sanchez remembers the relief of having basic details attended. Even a free haircut given by a volunteer brought joy. Volunteers made a difference in the whole stay, and I really wanted to give back when this was done, she says. I decided when this was all over, I wanted to comfort people the way they did and help out. In August 2014, Sanchez started spending a few hours each week answering phone calls, tidying the kitchen and even translating for Spanish-speakers. When Im here, I know how big of a difference Im making in peoples lives, and I know that they are going through a really hard time, she says. Any little thing helps. Dr. Arthur N. Lindberg, 92 At the Ronald McDonald House, Lindberg has found healing of his own. For about six years, he has manned the front desk for three hours every Friday. When guests enter, he sees the whole family, just as he did during his career as a family practitioner in Glendale. Its just a worthwhile job, the retired doctor says of his volunteering. His son, one of his four children, suggested he volunteer after Lindberg lost his third wife to health complications this time to a surgical procedure for pancreatic cancer. Volunteering gave him something to do in the midst of a depressed phase. Medicine is just helping people, he says. Eleanor Furtak, 77 When Furtak retired from Prudential Real Estate in 2001, she knew she needed to volunteer. A friend suggested she check out the Ronald McDonald House, and thats the beginning of the love story, Furtak says. Instead of working at the main house, Furtak has spent the last 14 years in the Ronald McDonald Family Room at Banner Childrens Diamond Childrens Medical Center. She makes the coffee and welcomes pediatric inpatient families. She grieves with them and cheers with them over medical victories and when her beloved Wildcats win. She knows how these parents feel. She lost her own son Greg years ago. You never get over it, but it does get better, she says. You come to feel like youre going to live. The families stick with her from children with cancer who visit years later as college grads to the mother she brought snacks and coffee to in the pediatric intensive care unit. When that mothers 3- or 4-year-old daughter died, Furtak stayed in touch. Yellow butterflies remind that mom of her daughter, and so Furtak shares each time she spots one. This has added something to my life, Furtak says. It has made me realize that we can do something. Bonus, a film about an adopted shepherd mix who wasnt perfect, won the audience choice award at the inaugural Doggie Shorts: A Furry Film Festival at the Loft Cinema on Saturday. Five locally produced films were selected to be shown at the event, which benefited Handi-Dogs Inc., a Tucson-based nonprofit that has helped people with disabilities gain independence and self-esteem by assisting them to train their own dogs to be their service, therapy or well-mannered pet dogs. I was very pleased and thrilled particularly because it was a sold-out crowd, said William Hoffacker, who received a years pass to the Loft Cinema for the win. To know that many people saw my work and liked it and voted for it was very validating. His nearly 4-minute film tells the story of Kim Stoll and the dog she adopted several years ago from the Humane Society of Southern Arizona. I thought it was a fabulous film, said JoAnn Turnbull, Handi-Dogs president. It really told a beautiful story about a rescue dog who needed extra help and a loving, responsible person who took care of their dog. Hoffacker, an administrative assistant at Arizona Public Media, went to college with Stoll and the two have been friends six or seven years. Both are active in animal rescue. When they heard about the new shorts festival from a Bridge Rescue for Dogs volunteer they decided to make a film. She wrote about her experience with Bonus, while Hoffacker shot footage at her home. Stoll, who has since adopted two other dogs, said Bonus was initially severely under socialized and easily overwhelmed. In addition, what Stoll was told was mild hip dysplasia was actually severe. The options were expensive. I remember being sort of angry at the shelter, thinking, how could they have called this mild? I felt duped, but he was my dog now, she says in the film. Stoll started a GoFundMe campaign, hoping to raise $1,800 for his surgery. She woke the next morning to find the fund had already raised $1,985 mostly from her peers grad students and people right out of college. While the first few weeks after the surgery were agonizing Bonus was scared, in pain and reluctant to walk in a sling the film shows him more recently navigating an agility course. People give up on dogs all of the time, Stoll says in the voiceover at the end of the film. They treat them like appliances, like something returnable for a refund when there should be commitment and accountability, hard work and patience. You get a dog you figure out how to care for it and it changes your life. Hoffacker said he was interested in taking part in next years festival, in addition to First Friday Shorts, the Loft Cinemas monthly film contest. A Tucson physician who had been under investigation for unprofessional conduct has surrendered his license to practice medicine, Arizona Medical Board documents show. Rinly R. Gecosala, who had been practicing in Arizona since 1999, agreed to give up his license on March 10, board records show. Board documents show an investigation was initiated after a complaint that Gecosala inappropriately prescribed opioids and sent text messages that were sexual in nature to a patient (referred to as KT in board documents) whom Gecosala began treating in 2006. The board investigation says Gecosala, who was a general-practice physician, failed to adequately review prior medical records or perform studies to assess the cause of the patients pain. In spite of a relatively normal X-ray result, Gecosala, continued to prescribe opioid medications and muscle relaxants to treat KTs complaints of chronic back pain, the surrender agreement says. The agreement says board investigators found a pre-signed prescription pad a with blank spaces for the name and date of birth of the patient during a site visit to Gecosalas office in 2015. Signing a blank, undated or predated prescription form is considered unprofessional conduct under Arizona law. Gecosalas last listed practice address was at a clinic called Citymed at 4099 E. 22nd St., Suite 107. County assessor records show that Gecosala owns the building. The clinic, which has in its window the listed specialties of internal medicine, family practice, occupational medicine, preventive medicine and personal injuries, was closed and undergoing renovations on Tuesday. The board can accept the surrender of a licensee under investigation if the licensee is either unable to safely engage in the practice of medicine or has committed an act of unprofessional conduct, said Patricia McSorley, who is executive director of the board. When the Arizona Medical Board accepted the voluntary surrender of Gecosalas license, it prevented any need for the matter to progress to an administrative hearing that may have resulted in the revocation of his license, she said. Medical-license revocations are rare, McSorley said. There were eight MD licenses revoked in Arizona during a period between Jan. 1, 2013 and Feb. 19, 2016, McSorley said. Physicians are more likely to surrender for disciplinary reasons than proceed to a hearing that may result in revocation, she wrote in an email. The board had taken prior disciplinary actions two letters of reprimand and five years probation against Gecosala, a general-practice physician, dating back to 2005. Details of those prior board actions were not available on the boards website Monday or Tuesday. According to a May 2005 article published in the Tucson Citizen, Gecosala was reprimanded and fined $1,000 by the Arizona Medical Board for falsifying medical records and charging excessive fees. Efforts to reach Gecosala were unsuccessful, and his lawyer, Michael Harwin, did not return phone calls Monday or Tuesday. PHOENIX House Speaker David Gowan's decision to lift a ban on journalists covering proceedings from the House floor means all eyes are again focused on stalled negotiations on a nearly $10 billion state budget package. Lawmakers have been slow-walking budget negotiations for the past couple of weeks, despite Gov. Doug Ducey's call for lawmakers to stop sending him legislation before a budget. The ban, which was put in place by Gowan last week because of purported security concerns, was lifted Tuesday after becoming a major distraction. Senate President Andy Biggs said Wednesday he and Gowan are now meeting on budget issues, but a deal isn't close. "We are having regular meetings, working hard," Biggs said. "I will know Tuesday night whether we're going to be together on a budget - we're not doing a budget this week." Gowan left the floor after Wednesday's afternoon session without taking questions. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Justin Olson said budget negotiations are ongoing, but declined to give details. Republican Sen. Don Shooter, who chairs the Senate appropriations committee, said his chamber has been ready to move a budget for weeks and he hopes lifting the ban breaks the logjam. "I hope some of these distractions are going away and we can work on getting a budget out," Shooter said Tuesday. Ducey said Wednesday he's still insisting on a balanced budget but may consider some new spending. "What's important to me is that we have a structurally balanced budget," Ducey said. "So I have said to different members of the Legislature, different interests around town and the state that have certain things they want to advocate for, that I'm open-minded. But what's most important to me is that we're living within our means as a state." Ducey proposed a $9.5 billion spending plan in January that mainly leaves in place much of a nearly $500 million budget surplus. "We had to make some really difficult decisions in last year's budget," Ducey said. "This year we have some dollars available, so I think that's the discussion that's going on. But in terms of dramatically increasing spending, that's not going to happen." Prescott Rep. Noel Campbell is one of the House Republicans who is pushing for more spending for universities, K-12 schools and local roadbuilding efforts. He said despite House and Senate leadership meetings, rank-and-file GOP members are not yet involved and don't plan on going along with a deal until they are consulted. That means the usual rush to pass a budget after leaders come to a deal with the governor may not come to pass this year. Help India! By TwoCircles.net, Staff Reporter Srinagar: Kashmir Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS), a body of Kashmiri Pandits, strongly condemned the killing of four unarmed civilians in Kashmir Valley over the past two days. Support TwoCircles Sanjay Tickoo, president, KPSS, termed the incident as an engineered one aiming to meet the vicious political agenda and called for a joint probe into the killings both by unionists and separatists. File Photo It is seems that few persons in Kashmir Valley want to de-stablize the state on the instructions from their masters and for that common masses are used as tool to achieve the goal, said Tickoo. We urge state Government to do a time-bound probe through an independent agency involving members jointly from unionist and separatist factions and the same as soon as possible and fix the responsibility so that the guilty is punished, he added. While urging Government of India to issue a fresh advisory to the forces under their control and command to maintain restraint, Tickoo said, Armed forces being disciplined and experienced one should show some restraint while dealing with aggressive mob situations. Such kind of reactions will no way help to improve the situation in Valley. On Tuesday, two youths were shot dead by the security forces in Handwara, a town in Kupwara district, 71 kms from Srinagar. The youths who were protesting against the alleged molestation attempt of a school girl in Handwara town by a trooper of Indian Armys 21 RR were allegedly fired upon by army which lead to injuries to six people out of which two youths Nayeem Qadir Bhat, 22 and Iqbal Farooq, 21 died and another elderly women succumbed to her injured on Wednesday morning taking toll to three.Later another youth was killed after he was hit by tear gas shell on his head in Drugmulla area of North Kashmir taking toll to four. Over half million people will have attended the Milan Design Week when the internationally renowned Italian exhibition on designand furniture closes next Sunday. More than ever, this year the Salone Internazionale del Mobile is allowing its visitors to enjoy great Italianfood and wines at some of the best designed restaurant and bars of Italy. After all, Milan is the Italian capital of fashion, business and lifestyle par excellence. Let us see some of them. Bar Luce at the Prada Foundation recreates the atmosphere of a traditional Milanese cafeteria. It has been designed by the celebrated movie director Wes Anderson, who believes that while it would make a pretty good movie set, I think it would be an even better place to write a movie in. I tried to make it a bar I would want to spend my own non-fictional afternoons at. It is the right place for an afternoon business coffee surrounded by the wallpaper of Grand Budapest Hotel and the pinball of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou! When end of day approaches, it is time for a glass of Prosecco. After a long day spent visiting the Salone, you probably feel the need of resting a bit. Wineria is the right place to go. Based in Piazza Caneva, close to the Fiera of Milano, Wineria is already one of the most popular Wine-rooms in Milan, specializing in niche wines: we do not hold only big labels among our wines; Wineria also wants to show the excellence of those producers who still see wine more as a lifetime passion than a business. We want to help foreign visitors to learn about the incredible wealth of Italian wines made from indigenous grapes says the owner Stefano Rimassa. When the sun starts to set on Milan, dinner time is now calling. Carlo e Camilla in Segheria is a relatively new top-tier restaurant offering innovative Italian dishes and signature cocktails in an former factory with two long tables and crystal chandeliers. Among the founders are Carlo Cracco, chef and television celebrity(In 2011, Cracco began hosting the Italian version of MasterChef) and Tanja Solci, art director, curator of exhibitions, designer of installations. Sharing the long table with many other guests sounds nice and a right celebration of the Italian sociable way of drinking wine together. You are not ready to go bed just after dinner. The right place for a relaxing drink is Ceresio 7, the restaurant and bar created by the DSquared fashion designers on the building roof of their headquarter in the newly-created financial district. The club features two swimming pools and a terrace with a magnificent view of the breathtaking skyline of Milan. You can sip a drink by the pool with your friends and enjoy the atmosphere of a city that some call the Big Apple of Italy...Libiamo! Kenya repatriating 77 Chinese telecom fraud suspects Updated: 2016-04-13 15:57 (Xinhua) Telecom fraud suspectes are escorted off a plane by Chinese police from Kenya. [Photo/Xinhua] BEIJING -- Kenyan police are deporting 77 Chinese telecom fraud suspects, including 45 Taiwan people, to the Chinese mainland. The first group of 10 people were repatriated on Saturday and the remaining 67 are due to be sent back on Wednesday, the Ministry of Public Security confirmed. It will be the first time that China has repatriated such a large group of telecom fraud suspects from Africa. In recent years, syndicates led by Taiwan citizens and based in Southeast Asia, Africa and Oceania have been falsely presenting themselves as law enforcement officers to extort money from people on the Chinese mainland through telephone calls, according to Chinese police. The MPS said in a statement that judicial organs on the Chinese mainland have legal rights of jurisdiction over the repatriated suspects. Mainland police will investigate the Taiwan suspects in strict accordance with the law and keep Taiwan authorities informed, the statement added. Hawking joins Sina Weibo and is instant hit Updated: 2016-04-14 03:24 By Cheng YingQi(China Daily) Stephen Hawking listens to the announcement of the Breakthrough Starshot initiative involving investor Yuri Milner in New York on Tuesday. LUCAS JACKSON / REUTERS British physicist Stephen Hawking has opened an account on Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo, amassing more than 2 million followers within 24 hours. Netizens, including those who are baffled by Hawking's scientific theories, expressed their admiration for him. In his first blog post, at 10:12 am on Tuesday, Hawking, 74, reminisced about his trips to China and welcomed communication with Chinese people through social media. Within hours, the greeting had been forwarded more than 190,000 times and had generated more than 180,000 comments. Hawking posted a second message, announcing a $100 million space mission with Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The mission was announced by Hawking and Milner at a news conference at the One World Observatory in New York City. The bilingual blog post was forwarded more than 640,000 times and had received nearly 80,000 comments by Wednesday afternoon. A netizen using the name ConanMC commented, "Hi, dear Mr Hawking. It's morning now in China. I am so happy that I can read such wonderful information just as I wake up. Although I cannot understand it completely, it is obvious that it will be a great breakthrough." Others were less diplomatic. "I do not understand his words, even in Chinese," netizen Yishu Benshen wrote. Another, Ali Mumu, commented: "I do not understand a word he says, but I leave this comment to express my admiration for Hawking." Hawking's new project, the Breakthrough Starshot, aims to build laser beam-propelled "nanocraft" that can travel at 20 percent of the speed of light, more than 1,000 times faster than today's swiftest spacecraft. Once the "nanocraft" are built and deployed, they are expected to reach Alpha Centauri, a star that is 4.37 light-years away, in about 20 years. Chen Xuelei, a researcher who specializes in dark matter research at the National Astronomical Observatories affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said it is natural that Hawking's Weibo message has attracted attention, even if the physicist's participation in the project has more symbolic, than practical, meaning. "The project is set to solve some technical problems, such as how to make a spacecraft into the size of a stamp and how to keep the laser beam aimed at the nanocraft over long distances. Solving these problems are not in the expertise of theoretical physicists like Hawking," Chen said. Xinhua contributed to this story. Breeder raises venomous snakes for market Updated: 2016-04-14 08:18 By Yang Jun And Zeng Jun In Liping, Guizhou(China Daily) Farmer pulled family out of poverty by selling serpents to restaurants A farmer who swapped raising crops for breeding venomous cobras and other less-deadly snakes, lifting his family out of poverty in just a few years, is eager to share his skills with other villagers in Southwest China's Guizhou province. In a peaceful courtyard in Liping county's Niujiaowan village, a neat row of bungalows is home to thousands of snakes, including the vibrantly patterned kingsnakes that use constriction to subdue and kill their prey. "Taming snakes is way harder than raising regular animal species," said 40-year-old Luo Han, who owns the breeding houses. Luo wears special gloves and uses other equipment to pull a snake out of its pit. He tightly presses on the snake's head to ensure it won't be able to attack anyone. As experienced as Luo is today, he didn't start his career as a snake farmer. Born and raised in the province's mountainous area, Luo's family was poor during his childhood, and he was forced to drop out of school as a teenager to find work in the coastal regions. "I was once the owner of a restaurant and guitar factory in Guangdong province, but the financial crisis in 2008 took nearly everything from me," Luo said. Seeking another business, he learned that snakes are quite popular as food in Guangdong province and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Hunting wild snakes is strictly prohibited in China, so the demand for farmed snakes is quite large. To master the skills of snake handling and breeding, Luo spent nearly a year as an apprentice at various breeding bases across the country. In 2009, he returned to his hometown and opened his own breeding base. "The biggest concern was a worry about snake bites and the emergency care needed should someone be bitten by a snake while taming it," Luo said. In order to assuage any worries his fellow villagers might have, Luo built the breeding houses in an isolated area and added three fences to ensure safety. "I always keep a first aid kit, as well as antivenoms, at my office just in case," Luo said, adding that mastering those medical skills is fundamental for every snake handler. Still, it is impossible to avoid the inevitable. In 2011, as Luo's snake business started to show promising results, he was bitten. "It felt worse than being stung by a bee and that is the first time I faced a life-or-death situation," Luo said. Even now, he has kept the incident from his parents and children. Only his wife is aware of what happened and "she's been nagging at me ever since", Luo said. "She's fine with me breeding snakes, since it's profitable, but I have to get rid of the deadly ones, such as the cobras." It costs about 80 yuan ($12) to raise a snake that can be sold for more than 130 yuan in the current market, Luo said. "Snakes are asleep most of time, so it takes less labor compared with traditional animal husbandry, such as pig breeding," he said. Luo's company breeds more than 9,000 snakes a year, which brings in revenue of about 1 million yuan. He is looking to share his know-ledge and snake-farming skills with other villagers. "I'd like to help more poor people, like I used to be, to join the breeding business," he said. Zhao Kai contributed to this story. Contact the writers at yangjun@chinadaily.com.cn Luo Han grabs a kingsnake bred in his snake farm at Niujiaowan village, Liping county in Guizhou province. Photos Provided To China Daily Cobras and their eggs at one of Luo's snakebreeding houses. Luo checks the condition of his snake eggs. (China Daily 04/14/2016 page7) Didi test drive app users experience first test flight Updated: 2016-04-14 16:05 (chinadaily.com.cn) Two women pose for a photo inside an SR 20 fixed-wing aircraft at Badaling flight experience center, Beijing, April 13, 2016. [Photo/IC] People can enjoy aerobatic flights and maneuvers such as a free fall and Section B Steep Turns through test flights provided by Didi Shijia, a test drive app from China's top car-hailing company, Didi Kuaidi. Didi Shijia and Global Wings Private Aircraft Club began a test flight service at Badaling flight experience center on Tuesday. The app lets users book the test flight experience. The planes are SR 20 fixed-wing aircraft, nicknamed "Air BMW" and made by Cirrus Design Corporation, a global leader in manufacturing small airplanes. China issues report on US human rights Updated: 2016-04-14 16:18 (Xinhua) BEIJING - China published a report on the United States' human rights situation on Thursday. The report, titled "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2015," was released by the Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, in response to "the 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" issued by the U.S. State Department on April 13 local time. China's report says that the United States made comments on the human rights situation in many countries while being tight-lipped about its own terrible human rights record and showing not a bit of intention to reflect on it. In 2015, the United States saw no improvement in its existent human rights issues, but reported numerous new problems, according to the report. "Since the U.S. government refuses to hold up a mirror to look at itself, it has to be done with other people's help," it says. The report states money politics and family politics went from bad to worse in the United States where voters found it hard to express their real volition. Figures cited in the report shows that civil rights were wantonly infringed upon in the United States in 2015 with rampant gun-related crimes and excessive use of force by police. There were a total of 51,675 gun violence incidents in the United States in 2015 as of December 28, leaving 13,136 killed and 26,493 injured. U.S. police shot dead 965 people last year as of December 24. No substantial progress concerning the economic and social rights of U.S. citizens were made, the report says. In 2015, more than 560,000 people nationwide were homeless, and there were still 33 million people in the United States with no healthcare insurance. It also quotes figures to show that the United States continued to trample on human rights in other countries, causing tremendous civilian casualties. From August 2014 to December 2015, the United States launched 3,965 air strikes in Iraq and 2,823 in Syria, causing an estimated number of civilian deaths between 1,695 and 2,239. The report says that the United States' overseas monitoring projects infringed on the privacy of citizens of other countries. The United States had bugged the phones of three French presidents and many other senior French officials, according to the report. Though the United States repeatedly vowed to defend "human rights," it still has not ratified core human rights conventions of the UN, and took an uncooperative attitude towards international human rights issues, says the report. China values historical heritage protection for balanced, sustained growth Updated: 2016-04-13 09:44 (Xinhua) Chinese President Xi Jinping [File photo] BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the government to strike a balance between the conservation of cultural relics and economic development. In a written instruction to a national meeting on the topic on Tuesday, Xi said that the balance is a difficult one to strike in a country that is urbanizing at such a fast pace. The president called cultural relics "a valuable legacy from our ancestors," stressing that conservation will benefit future generations. China is a great nation boasting an innumerable amount of cultural treasures, Xi said. He ordered authorities at various levels to beef up protection of cultural relics and promote proper and moderate utilization of these relics so as to bring more benefits to the people. He urged Party and government departments to keep in mind that this conservation is part of their official duties, and suggested that "private sectors should be mobilized and involved in the effort." Premier Li Keqiang also wrote comments on the country's relics protection, saying the work should help amplify the role of outstanding traditional culture in inspiring and propelling the progress of modern society. Local authorities should contribute more efforts to protecting cultural relics and enhancing supervision, Li said. Scientific preservation of cultural relics means giving full play to the social, cultural, and educational function of relics, the premier said, adding that the whole society should be encouraged to actively participate in preserving them. "Local governments often consider economic development and heritage conservation two issues that conflict with each other, while they can contribute to each other," said Huang Zhenchun, deputy curator of the National Museum of China. China is home to huge numbers of historic relics. According to the third national archaeological survey which was completed in 2011, there are more than 760,000 registered unmovable cultural items. Citing several state parks of archaeological sites as successful examples, Wang Wei, director of the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it is important to find a proper way of using historic sites to boost social and economic development without undermining the relics so that they can enjoy sustainable preservation. Shan Jixiang, curator of the Palace Museum, called for encouraging the involvement of the general public. Graphic cigarette warnings find support among public Updated: 2016-03-28 14:41 By Shan Juan(China Daily USA) Nearly 90 percent of Chinese approve of graphic health warnings - like pictures of black lungs and throat cancer - being printed on cigarette packages to deter smokers, primarily new smokers, according to an online survey. More than 13,000 people responded to the survey launched by China Daily and Netease News. Duan Tieli, deputy director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, said during the two sessions that China wouldn't use the visual warning labels, stating that they don't conform with "Chinese cultural tradition". He's also a legislator. China still has a State tobacco monopoly, and the bureau, as well as the China National Tobacco Corporation, has the final say over the label issue, according to Wu Yiqun, deputy director of ThinkTank, an NGO committed to tobacco control. Currently, China only has written warnings, which research has found are less effective for tobacco control. Of respondents who rejected the idea, 46 percent said that the warnings make cigarettes an awkward gift. Some 30 percent expressed doubt over their effectiveness, the survey found. High-end cigarettes have long been popular gifts, and more than 75 percent of those polled said they have given or received cigarettes as gifts. Cigarette packages in China are sometimes made with designs like historical sites and scenic spots. The anti-health "culture" needs to be addressed as people tend to relate smoking to positive and pleasant things because of such designs, said Hu Dayi, head of the Chinese Association of Tobacco Control. China has an estimated 315 million smokers. About 85 countries and regions worldwide have printed visual health warnings on cigarette packages. China produced more than 130 billion packs of cigarettes in 2014, according to Wu. "They can serve as anti-smoking pamphlets with the graphic warning labels." "They are more powerful, as these conditions can happen to you if you continue smoking," she said. Wu urged for all-around measures to curb smoking in a country where more than one million die from smoking-related diseases each year. The government has recognized the importance of such measures and has introduced public smoking bans and raised tobacco taxes. But 91 percent of the respondents reported suffering from passive smoke at public indoor places during the past month, the survey showed, with nearly 82 percent saying that they were not satisfied with current smoking control efforts by the government. The number of smokers in China actually increased by 15 million during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2010-15) period. shanjuan@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily USA 03/28/2016 page5) Australia sending big delegation Updated: 2016-04-14 08:14 By Li Xiaokun(China Daily USA) Canberra 'must choose between economic interests, toeing US line' Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who is leading a 1,000-company delegation to China to tap the country's biggest export market, should be careful and considerate about Canberra's stance on the South China Sea, observers said. Beijing announced on Tuesday that Turnbull will visit China on Thursday and Friday and attend the annual China-Australia prime ministers' meeting. He is leading Australia's largest-ever trade mission to China. Representatives of the 1,000 companies will attend Australia Week in China events beginning on Monday in 12 cities. According to the Australian Associated Press, Turnbull will be warmly welcomed with talks and banquets with both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. It is his first visit to China since taking office in September. The visit comes right after Turnbull called China's military deployments in the South China Sea "counterproductive". Beijing has said the United States is militarizing the region with frequent patrols and that China has every right to construction in its own territory. Earlier this month, Australia for the first time joined a US-Philippines joint drill in the South China Sea, an exercise seen as apparently targeting China. Turnbull did not say whether the South China Sea issue would be raised in Beijing, when he was asked about it in Perth on Wednesday. Han Feng, deputy head of the National Institute of International Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the 1,000-company delegation reflects the high expectations Australia pins on economic cooperation with China. Han said that although Australia is under pressure from the US on the South China Sea issue, he was sure that Australia knows its economic interests with China should come first. "It will be a test of Australian leaders' political wisdom," Han added. Zhang Yuyan, head of the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the CASS, said Australia's tendency to intervene on the South China Sea issue will "more or less" impact its economic cooperation with China, as "it is about China's core interests". "It will cast a shadow on the promising cooperation if such a tendency keeps developing," Zhang said. "Canberra has to view the situation comprehensively." The visit comes four months after the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement took effect. Under the agreement, more than 86 percent of Australian exports can enter China duty-free, rising to 94 percent in 2019 and 96 percent in 2029. lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily USA 04/14/2016 page3) Michelin sees stars in Copenhagen Updated: 2016-04-14 14:35 By China Daily(China Daily USA) The Michelin Nordic Guide 2016 continues the gastronomy guide's love affair with Denmark's capital, which scooped up a total of 26 stars in the latest edition, up five from last year's total. Geranium claimed a third star while AOC and Noma celebrated being rated with two. More than a dozen other Danish eateries won a single star, and the Danish embassy in Beijing hopes to introduce the celebrated New Nordic Cuisine to Chinese diners soon. "The Danish gastronomical scene has been revolutionized in recent decades by a new generation of inspiring and ingenious chefs," says A. Carsten Damsgaard, Denmark's ambassador to China. "We hope to be able to bring some of these young and talented chefs to China this year." The Geranium's prized three-star rating made it the first in Denmark to receive top Michelin marks. Noma, named best restaurant in the world by Britain's Restaurant magazine in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014, retained the still impressive two stars it held last year. Geranium's top chef Rasmus Kofoed, who received one of international cooking's most coveted prizes, the Bocuse d'Or, in 2011, opened his bio-friendly restaurant in 2007, won his first Michelin star in 2012 and his second a year later. "Noma makes food into a plaything, its dishes are too all over the place to get three stars," the editor-in-chief of Denmark's Gastro magazine Jesper Uhrup Jensen told DR public television. "They serve entertaining cuisine, but there is a little too much banter and jokes for Michelin." That may be, but as the initiators of New Nordic Cuisine in 2004, the chefs at Noma have plenty of admirers for their focus on local produce and reinterpretation of ingredients in new forms that have made it an icon of molecular cuisine. Noma closed its doors at the end of 2015, announcing plans to re-open - possibly next year - as an urban farm anchored by a restaurant. Founding chef Rene Redzepi promises a menu shake-up and an even more seasonal approach than before. Will the hiatus mean he has time to be coaxed to visit China? Only time will tell. China Daily Danish chef Rasmus Kofoed is at his restaurant Geranium in Copenhagen, Denmark. Kofoed recently received his third Michelin star at Hotel D'Angleterre in Copenhagen.Reuters (China Daily USA 04/14/2016 page10) East West Bank expands in Texas Updated: 2016-04-14 11:24 By May Zhou in Houston(China Daily) Chinese Consul General in Houston Li Qiangmin (fourth from left), Dominic Ng (center), chairman and CEO of East West Bank (EWB), and Wendy Cai-Lee (right), executive vice-president of EWB, join in the ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of EBW's new Houston regional offices on Tuesday. MAY ZHOU / CHINA DAILY Local business and community leaders joined East West Bank (EWB) to celebrate the opening of its new Houston regional offices on Tuesday. The new offices are a move to enhance EWB's commercial banking presence and corporate image. Guests included Chinese Consul General in Houston Li Qiangmin, Texas State Representative Gene Wu and Spring Valley Village Mayor Tom Ramsey, among others. The new offices include a 3,500-square-foot commercial banking center on the first floor, and a 20,000-square-foot Texas regional office on the third floor. "These offices were built as the bank's very first prototype of a commercial banking center and crystallize the bank's vision of how our future branches and offices will look and function," said Wendy Cai-Lee, executive vice-president at EWB. The offices are digitally enhanced with interactive kiosks and multi-media technology. In addition, EWB also celebrated the grand opening of its new 7,220-square-foot Dallas commercial banking center on Wednesday. EWB extended its Texas market presence by acquiring local Metro Bank which was headquartered in Chinatown. While its regional office is moving to the more prominent location by Katy Freeway, its Chinatown location will remain open and continue to serve the Chinese community. "More than 40 years ago, we started as a savings and loan serving new Chinese immigrant families and have grown into one of the 30 largest public banks in the US," said Cai-Lee. "Today, we remain unmatched in our ability to serve the Chinese-American community thanks to our cultural heritage and unique core competencies." In addition to upgrading facilities, EWB has brought in an energy team to focus on the oil and gas business. "Our deposits have grown, loans have grown, and additionally we've added a lot of new products like foreign currency exchange and international trade," said Dominic Ng, chairman and CEO of EWB. "I think there is no better opportunity to enter the energy market than right now." At the opening celebration, Ng unveiled a piece of art he recently acquired and displayed in the lobby at the regional office. Titled Under Heaven, it is the work of young Shanghai artist Xu Zhen and shows a God's-eye-view from above. "Its primary color is red which symbolizes prosperity for Chinese," said Ng. EWB, publicly owned and headquartered in California, focuses exclusively on the United States and Greater China markets with more than 130 locations worldwide. Chinese Consul General Li Qiangmin said that there are more than 100 Chinese companies in Texas and the economic ties between the two countries are stronger than ever. mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com John Loges is a veteran detective and drug enforcement agent, but when it came to addressing a synthetic-drug epidemic in South Florida, he put on his diplomat's hat. A Fort Lauderdale police detective on loan to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Loges coordinated a trip to China last fall to lobby officials to cut off the export of chemicals used to make the street drug "flakka", which sends users into psychotic frenzies. Flakka is a version of a Spanish word that means a thin, pretty woman. A derivative of bath salts, the drug compels users to tear off their clothes as their body temperatures surge. Some hallucinated that they were being chased. One man impaled himself on a police department fence trying to evade imaginary pursuers, The Associated Press reported. In 16 months, 63 flakka users died in Fort Lauderdale and its vicinity - overdoses, suicides, homicides and accidents, according to the AP. Anti-flakka posters around Broward warned: "Lose your mind. Lose your life." But about three months ago, the scourge suddenly stopped. "I have never seen a drug gain popularity so rapidly and be eliminated so quickly," Broward Sheriff Scott Israel told the AP. Hospitals in Broward County recorded more than 300 flakka cases in October, 187 in November, and 54 in December, also the last month for a flakka fatality, The Washington Post reported. The Chinese government, as of Oct 1, 2015, restricted exports of flakka's key ingredient, alpha-PVP, and 115 other chemical substances used to make synthetic drugs, according to the DEA. Loges told China Daily that the Chinese government used three criteria to ban the drug: Is there any medicinal or industrial use for the chemical anywhere in the world? Is it actually being exported from China? Is it being abused as a drug? Loges, who also has served in the US Army for 30 years, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is now a master sergeant in the Reserves, led a delegation of Broward County, Florida, law enforcement officials and federal agents to Beijing last fall to meet their Chinese counterparts. On the Nov 1-8 trip to Beijing with Loges were US Attorney Tony Gonzalez, Fort Lauderdale police Sgt. John Jensen, Broward Sheriff's Office Lietuentant Ozzy Tianga, Assistant DEA Special Agent Kristine Costa, and Mindy Mazzei, a Coral Springs detective and DEA task force officer, the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale reported. Loges said his thinking was, "Let's take it to their government. ... Just because we're local officials, why can't we?" Loges' team met with Zhao Yu, director of China's office of the National Narcotics Control Commission, Ministry of Public Security, and Shan Yehua, deputy director for international cooperation. "They were open arms with us," he said of the meeting. The delegation also met with US Ambassador to China Max Baucus. Loges said Baucus "embraced" the team's efforts, adding the synthetic-drug problem to his list of top 10 priorities as ambassador. Although the alpha-PVP ban was in place by the time the group arrived in China, the trip "was important moving forward, strategy-wise", Loges told the Sun-Sentinel. Once China put the ban in place, it still had to trace the suppliers through postal and delivery service codes. "In the history of their government, they've never done this," Loges told the Sun-Sentinel. "They don't want to be known as a source country similar to Colombia or anything like that." In the US, drug dealers were buying alpha-PVP from Chinese labs online, breaking it down into small doses and pushing it onto the streets. "The dose unit for cocaine is in general 1 gram, but for alpha-PVP, it is a tenth of a gram," Loges said. "Ten thousand people can get high off that kilo, versus cocaine. The price for a kilogram online was anywhere between $1,500 to $3,000. But the street value of it was $50,000, crazy mark-up." Loges said that law enforcement also faces the issue of illicit manufacturers tinkering with molecular structures to create new drugs to avoid detection. "When you're changing the synthetics ... it's with the intent to circumvent law enforcement and dog detection". "It's not like you're targeting Pablo Escobar," Loges said, but rather, trying to tackle a problem wherever it arises. He said it took a partnership across jurisdictions (local, state, federal), at the border, in the medical community, and finally, diplomatically. "You're not going to arrest your way out of the problem." He estimated that before China's actions, and despite a concerted effort by US Customs, only about 5 percent of alpha-PVP was intercepted before it made it into the US. The battle against synthetic drugs is ongoing. Before flakka, there was "Molly", which had flooded South Florida's streets before China banned its key ingredient, methlyone, in 2014. The bilateral action on synthetic drugs exemplifies the best results of people-to-people exchange between the US and China. Contact the writer at williamhennelly@chinadailyusa.com Students face canceled visas after sting in US Updated: 2016-04-14 08:18 By China Daily(China Daily) Hundreds of Chinese students in the United States face visa cancellation and deportation after a sting operation by the US Department of Homeland Security to catch agencies promoting fake universities and help the students get visas illegally, China Central Television reported on Wednesday. More than 20 agencies were caught. More than 1,000 students in the US, mainly from China and India, now face visa cancellation and deportation. US authorities announced last week that they had set up a fake university three years ago - the so-called University of Northern New Jersey. The sham school had no teaching or administrative staff, and no educational activities had ever taken place, CCTV reported, citing a federal prosecutor. A Chinese student, surnamed Zhang, said he didn't know the school was fake and couldn't believe that he and hundreds of peers had been tricked by the US authorities. Deng Hong, a lawyer hired by some Chinese students to deal with the incident, told CCTV that many students who wanted to remain in the US after the expiration of their legal student visa were implicated. Foreign students who want to stay in the US typically need to switch from a student visa to an H1B classification that allows for employment. But competition is fierce. At least 250,000 international students participated in a lottery for 80,000 H1B visas that ended in early April, Deng said. Rising numbers of international students, especially Chinese, go to the US to study. The annual Open Doors Report released by the Institute of International Education showed that in the 2014-15 academic year, nearly 1 million students from around the world were studying in the US. Of those, about 304,000 - the largest group - were Chinese. Given the stiff competition, students with expiring visas who fail to get an H1B in the lottery had no choice, Deng said, but to pay an agency about 10,000 yuan ($1,500) and hope that it would find schools they could enrol in so they could remain in the US. With a fake school, no studies are required, although certificates may be issued. Lu Weiwei, a staff member at the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange, said students should be more cautious when choosing universities and agencies overseas. They should choose one recognized by the ministry, which posts a list online at jsj.edu.cn. Confirmation that Zika causes microcephaly shifts debate to prevention Updated: 2016-04-14 10:34 (Agencies) Therapist Rozely Fontoura holds Juan Pedro, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil March 26, 2016. When Daniele Santos gave birth to a baby boy with microcephaly, a serious birth defect linked to the Zika infection, she was distraught. She was left to look after Juan Pedro alone after her husband left. In addition to traditional treatment at a hospital in Recife, Santos is learning therapeutic massage from an NGO to help alleviate Pedro's symptoms. [Photo/Agencies] CHICAGO - After several weeks of study and debate, US health officials concluded that infection with the Zika virus during pregnancy causes the birth defect microcephaly, a finding that experts hope will refocus attention on efforts to stop infections and prompt US lawmakers to fund emergency prevention efforts. "There isn't any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told reporters in a conference on Wednesday. US and world health officials have been saying for weeks that mounting scientific evidence points to the mosquito-borne virus as the likely cause of the alarming rise in microcephaly in Zika-hit areas of Brazil. It had not been declared as the definitive cause until now. The announcement comes at a critical time for the Obama Administration, which has been urging the Republican-controlled Congress to grant nearly $1.9 billion in emergency funds to fight the virus, which is already affecting Puerto Rico and is expected to hit parts of the United States with the coming of mosquito-friendly warmer weather.. In a temporary fix, the White House said last week that it would redirect $589 million in allocated funds to prepare for Zika's arrival in the continental United States. The declaration of Zika as a cause of microcephaly may make it harder for lawmakers to deny the request for emergency funding. "I think it's a game-changer," said Dr. Lawrence Gostin, a global health law expert at Georgetown University who testified before Congress last month on the need for Zika funding. "It's acceptable if we don't know for sure if a risk is going to emerge and we're unprepared, but it's shameful if we absolutely know that an epidemic is coming and we fail to prepare." Certainty over whether Zika causes microcephaly should end the debate in the public health community about the potential impact of the virus and focus attention on how to prevent infections, experts said. "There has been so much debate. It lays that to rest now," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota. Russia ready to give helping hand to any partner: Putin Updated: 2016-04-14 20:54 (Xinhua) Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a live broadcast nationwide call-in in Moscow, Russia, April 14, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that his country is ready to lend a helping hand to any partner in difficulty. When asked by a 12-year-old during his annual live phone-in whom he would choose to save first if Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko were both drowning, Putin said his country would like to help any partner. He added that it is impossible to save those who choose to drown. Commenting on relations with Turkey, Putin said Moscow has been viewing Turkey and its people as friends, but some politicians in Ankara seem not to do enough on their part. He also blasted the Turkish government for "cooperating" with extremists, rather than fighting them. Relations between Moscow and Ankara nosedived after the latter downed a Russian warplane along the Syrian border in November 2015. Turkey said the plane violated its airspace while Russia denied the charge. Moscow slapped a bunch of sanctions against Turkey after the incident and accused Ankara of being involved in illegal oil trade with the Islamic State militant group. Turkey denied the claim. Big tech summit set for Houston Updated: 2016-04-14 11:24 By May Zhou in Houston(China Daily) A large-scale US China Innovation and Investment Summit (UCIS) will be held in Houston from May 16 to 18, it was announced on Wednesday. The gathering aims to facilitate networking between US technology companies and potential partners in China. More than 150 Chinese investors, companies and incubators, as well as over 200 US tech companies are expected to attend. The conference is being co-organized by the US China Innovation Alliance, a Houston-based nonprofit that provides a platform to promote exchange and collaboration in innovation between China and the US; China Science and Technology Exchange Center, an affiliate of China's Ministry of Science and Technology; and the International Technology Transfer Network, a Chinese group devoted to promoting international technology transfer and innovation cooperation. The two Chinese organizers have developed this type of conference successfully in South Korea, Italy, and other European countries with fruitful results, and this is a replica of those successful models, according to Chen Hongsheng, consul and director of science and technology at the Chinese Consulate General in Houston. Chen said that the conference will provide an efficient and reliable platform to connect US innovation with China's manufacturing capabilities. Similar ties have been well-established between China and Silicon Valley in CA and areas of Boston, but as yet not with Texas and other southern states, Chen said. "In Texas alone, Houston, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio are on the list of the top 10 innovation cities in the US, yet little is known about them in China. So there are many opportunities still to be explored," said Chen. Chen said UCIS is a much needed forum for US companies looking for Chinese investment, manufacturing capabilities and market access. mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com China ready San Francisco Yvonne Chang, a docent at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, introduces the exhibition China at the Center on March 31 at the museum, which is launching a China Ready program to tap the growing Chinese tourist market. Both the current show, with two 400-year-old maps crafted by European Jesuit missionaries and Chinese scholars in the 17th century, and the upcoming exhibit The Emperors Treasures, consisting of 181 artifacts from the Palace Museum of Taiwan, are expected to be a major attractions for visitors from China. LIA ZHU / CHINA DAILY Judge rejects mistral motion for Liang Updated: 2016-04-15 04:57 (China Daily) A New York judge on Thursday rejected a mistrial motion for ex-New York City police officer Peter Liang, who was convicted of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man in the stairwell of a public housing project. Supreme Court Justice Denny Chun's ruling means that Liang will be sentenced on April 19 for shooting Akai Gurley in the stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project in 2014. Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson has recommended Liang, 28, serve no prison time. Liang was on a routine vertical patrol, opened a door to the stairwell and accidentally fired his weapon. The bullet ricocheted and struck Gurley, who died at the scene. Liang's attorneys argued last week that juror Michael Vargas told lawyers during the jury selection process that no one in his family had been accused of a crime. But after the verdict, he told a newspaper that his father was sent to prison for accidentally shooting a friend to death. Liang's sentencing was delayed while the judge listened to both sides. Liang's sentencing was delayed due to the revelation that juror Michael Vargas had failed to disclose that his father had served seven years in prison for manslaughter. Liang's attorneys then found Facebook posts in which Vargas criticized police. Prosecutors then found comments from Vargas's Facebook this year in which he spoke positively about police. After a two-day hearing on the juror, Chun found that Vargas had not deliberately lied. Five years ago, Sugabelly did a language challenge that was really fun! Although, at the time, it was like pulling teeth for me because it required me to speak Igbo, and my Igbo isnt great. I am reminded of this post now because on April 1st of this year, I put up an April Fool post (sort of) where I listed three truths and two lies about myself and had you guess which ones were true and which ones werent. You can read that post here, but as a reminder, below are the three truths and two lies: Number 1 and Number 5 were the lies, and the rest were true. But let me talk about number 2: I used to speak Russian fluently. I know it sounds weird, but yes, indeed, I used to speak Russian fluently. One of my greatest regrets is that I no longer speak Russian not even a little bit. As I have mentioned lots of times, I was born in Russia, and I did not return to Nigeria till I was four years old. By the time we moved to Nigeria, I was speaking Russian fluently and not a lick of English. I had to start school in Nigeria, of course, so that meant that I also had to learn English. My parents were so desperate to teach me English that they did not really speak Igbo to me at that time. I eventually learned English, and learned it so well. But in the process, two things happened: (1) I forgot Russian, and (2) I did not speak Igbo. So now, its not that I have no knowledge of Igbo, or that I cannot speak the language, but that I speak Igbo like Im a foreigner, like its a learned language, and I speak it with a non-Igbo accent. Also, my parents used to laugh when I attempted to speak Igbo, and they said my Igbo wasnt done, so I just kind of got used to not speaking it. I meet people sometimes now and they ask if I speak Igbo, and I always say yes, but when they speak to me in Igbo, I respond in English, except for when I say a few things in Igbo. One weird thing however, is that although I do not speak Russian, my ears still recognize it. I cannot explain it. But whenever someone speaks Russian around me, my ears hear it and recognize it. I immediately know its Russian, and I wish I could speak back to them in Russian. If the situation permits, I would introduce myself to said person (people) and they would often be surprised that I was born in Russia. Its almost as if its abnormal to have a Black person living in America who was born in Russia. They would ask me what city I was born in, and I would tell them, and they would look at me with astonishment and affection, followed by disappointment when I tell them that I no longer speak the language. Anyway, heres the audio of me speaking Igbo. I hope that one day, there will be an audio of me speaking Russian, too. P.S. Both my parents still speak Russian fluently, and it is the language they turn to when they dont want me to understand what theyre saying. P.P.S. Heres the original post that Sugabelly made me do. P.P.P.S. Learning to speak Russian is still on my to-do list. Lord, help me. P.P.P.P.S. Speaking Igbo and not having it sound undone is even higher on my to-do list. Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. According to the report, public and publicly guaranteed debt has increased from 59.6 per cent of GDP in 2014 to 62.5 per cent in 2015. VNA/VNS Photo Ngoc Ha HA NOI Viet Nam News - World Bank economists have urged Viet Nam to be more prudent in its fiscal policy as the countrys public debt is close to the set limit of 65 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). World Bank lead economist in Viet Nam Sandeep Mahajan stressed in a press briefing of the banks East Asia and Pacific Economic Update early this week that Viet Nam should map out a medium-term fiscal plan aimed at increasing State income and keeping regular expenditure stable. According to the report, public and publicly guaranteed debt has increased from 59.6 per cent of GDP in 2014 to 62.5 per cent in 2015. The bank predicts that the proportion will rise further, reaching 63.8 per cent in 2016, 64.4 per cent in 2017 and 64.7 per cent in 2018. He attributed the rise to a long term loosened fiscal policy. An increase in public investment was necessary during the previous global economic downturn which caused a decrease in private investment and consumption, Mahajan said. However, the situation had changed, he said, domestic investment and consumption had bounced back, so fiscal policy should be tightened. The economist also said that Viet Nam should be aware of growing fiscal pressure, with the fiscal deficit estimated at 6.5 per cent of GDP in 2015, reflecting a weak revenue outturn and increased current and capital spending. The Government is yet to announce credible measures to implement medium-term fiscal consolidation (on either the revenue of expenditure sides), the report said. Mahajan said that reducing the fiscal deficit could not be done overnight, but it was time for Viet Nam to consolidate its fiscal policy. Mahajan said that Viet Nam was still able to pay all due debts. However, economists expressed their concern over the payment terms because most debts were short-term which pressured the budget, particularly in light of the countrys current high budget deficit. Mahajan said that if the Government spent up to 16 per cent of the countrys budget every year to pay public debt, investment for development in various areas such as education and health would be cut, so the Government needed a stable spending plan. The World Bank was working with the Government on fiscal matters, and the Ministry of Finance would make the final decision, the economist said. When asked whether Viet Nams ratio of public debt to GDP was too high, Mahajan said that there was no standardised measure for the risk of public debt of all countries. For example, Japans public debt is 200 per cent of GDP but is not a concern as the country has an effective investment plan. In contrary, in some countries, the ratio is just 50 per cent but still alarming. Bank M&A procedures On the Vietnamese Governments efforts to reduce the number of commercial banks, World Bank economists said the Government should focus on merger and acquisition (M&A) procedures and reform in the banking sector rather than aiming at the quantity. Mahajan said that M&As should be done in a strict and suitable process to create a sharp fall in number of credit institutions. Although substantial progress has been made in the shake-up of financial organisations, it will be hard to slash the number of commercial banks from 34 to 15-17 by the end of 2017, according to the World Bank. VNS HA NOI The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines is offering several promotion deals at the Viet Nam International Travel Mart (VITM) 2016, which is taking place at the Giang Vo Exhibition Centre. As the diamond sponsor of the mart, Vietnam Airlines will offer preferential airfares on flights departing from now to October 31, excluding holidays and peak hours. One-way tickets will start from VN199,000 (US$9) for local routes, while return tickets for international flights will cost VN649,000 and above. The airline will also introduce tourism packages for customers, with discounts of up to 50 per cent and 30 per cent for domestic and international tourr, respectively. During the four days of the mart, Vietnam Airlines and low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific will jointly organise interesting games and special promotion programmes for customers. The carrier will also present customers 100 promotional codes with 50 per cent discount on domestic routes and 50 promotional codes with 75 per cent discount on international flights. Meanwhile, Jetstar Pacific will provide customers with 50 coupons worth VN1 million ($44.7) each and 100 coupons worth VN500,000 each. Chairman of the HCM City People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong meets with UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and his entourage in HCM City yesterday. Photo Thanh Vu HA NOI Viet Nam News - Authorities in HCM City said they hope UK enterprises would further investment in local projects, and affirmed that the city would create opportunities and conditions for them to develop business. Speaking at the meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and his entourage in HCM City yesterday, Chairman of the HCM City Peoples Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong said the UK ranked 8th in investment out of the 74 countries and territories investing in the city. Among them include many large-scale projects. He mentioned the 86-storey, $1.2 billion observation tower complex project in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area in HCM City as an example of co-operation between businesses on the two sides. In 2015, two-way bilateral trade between HCM City and the UK reached US$875 million, a 20 per cent increase compared with 2014. The British Business Group in HCM City had 450 members. This was a dynamic group, and their investment results and trade co-operation made important contributions to the citys development, Phong said. Phong also informed the UK diplomat about the citys development vision to become a big training centre for economics and trade, science and technology, and education in the ASEAN region. Phong expressed hopes that the UK, which has strengths in education, would help the city train high-quality human resources through co-operation between universities on both sides. Hammond said he appreciated the development of Viet Nam in general and HCM City in particular, as well as the strategic partnership between the two counties. He said he had met representatives of UK companies working in HCM City before the meeting. They reported to him that they were optimistic about the future development of Viet Nam, especially HCM City. In their bilateral relationship, relations in trade and investment are the most important fields right now, said the diplomat. He said the UK expected to learn more about the citys development focuses in the future, at which time the two sides could take concrete action. He said UK businesses would invest more in the future - not only through individual projects, but also through the citys socioeconomic development plans. VNS The 26th Vietnam Expo draws a wide range of participants. VNS Photo Doan Tung HA NOI Viet Nam News - Vietnam Expo 2016, which aims to increase exports and enhance regional and international economic connectivity, was officially kicked off yesterday in the capital city. This year is considered a pivotal year for the economy because Viet Nam has taken action to accelerate its global and regional integration by joining the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). In addition, many trade agreements have been signed such as FTA-EU, FTA-Korea and the TPP. The expo is hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Trades Trade Promotion Agency (VIETTRADE) and Vinexad Company over the last two decades. At the event, domestic enterprises have the opportunity to promote their products and meet foreign buyers, all while expanding and reinforcing the domestic market. At the same time, participant countries will have the opportunity to access a huge number of enterprises in Viet Nam in order to explore the market, discuss, co-operate for investment and transfer technology with the intention of promoting the growth of exports and attracting foreign investment into Viet Nam. The event attracted the participation of more than 500 enterprises from over 20 countries and territories, showcasing their products at 520 stands, including local big names such as the Ha Noi Trade Corporation (Hapro), the Viet Nam Electrical Equipment Joint Stock Corporation (GELEX) and the Tan A ai Thanh Group. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade o Thang Hai said the Vietnam Expo is recognised as the most effective trade event, bringing about a lot of economic values for organisations, enterprises and individuals in Viet Nam and overseas. Belarus was the honoured guest at this years fair, which is seen as a significant initiative in the context that Viet Nam signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), of which Belarus is a member, he said. Hai said the Ministry of Industry and Trade highly appreciated the involvement and positive contributions of Belaruss organisations and enterprises. Director of the VIETTRADE Bui Huy Son said the event would create opportunities for businesses to partner with both domestic and international enterprises, improve export growth and attract foreign investment. Nguyen Duy Chinh, General Director of Tan A ai Thanh Group, said this was an opportunity for domestic enterprises to network with foreign ones and seek business partners through the signing of contracts at the fair. In addition, thanks to this fair, enterprises could promote their image to consumers. Hailing the growing importance of the expo, Director of the Ha Noi office of the Trade Investment Promotion Agency of the Republic of Korea (Kotra Hanoi) Lee Kyu Seon said the fairs have brought co-operation opportunities for both Vietnamese and South Korean businesses, adding that 71 Korean firms are attending this years event with 76 stands. Olga Likhanova of Belarusian State Concern of Food Industry (Belgospishcheprom) said her company brought specific kinds of food and other products from Belarus. She said the company has increased its export volume to Viet Nam and hopes to further expand other industries with Viet Nam. The expo will run until April 16. VNS The two sides reached agreement during their sixth session negotiating the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT). Photo cafef.vn HA NOI Viet Nam News - Viet Nam and the European Union have agreed that the Timber Legality Assurance System of Vietnam (VNTLAS) will be applied to wood and wood products exported to the EU, and also to other countries, as well as the domestic market. The two sides reached agreement during their sixth session negotiating the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT), said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan at a press conference in Ha Noi yesterday. Tuan stated that during this sixth session, Viet Nam and the EU also reached a consensus on applying the FLEGT licensing mechanism to timber exported to the EU. The two sides entered into negotiations on FLEGT-VPA in October 2010. All FLEGT-licensed timber and timber products from Viet Nam will be considered legal and, as such, not subject to the requirements of the EU Timber Regulation. The EU, which is responsible for about one-fourth of world timber consumption, is now the fourth largest importer of Viet Nams timber and wood products, after the US, Japan and China. VNS The largest local car-maker, Thaco, has been negotiating with Mazda for mass production of its most popular cars in Viet Nam, with an anticipated capacity of 100,000 Mazda cars per year, according to the EZA. Fille Photo QUANG NAM Viet Nam News - The Truong Hai Automobile Joint-Stock Company (Thaco) will begin construction on the expansion of the Truong Hai-Chu Lai Mechanical Automobile Industrial Zone with an investment of VN794 billion (US$35.3 million) in central Quang Nam Province. The ground-breaking ceremony of the expansion project will take place in the zone on April 23, an official from the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone Authority (EZA) told Viet Nam News. He said the expansion project, which covers 210ha of land, would include a new Mazda plant and other supportive industries for several car models. Thaco, the countrys largest local car-maker, has been negotiating with Mazda for mass production of its most popular cars in Viet Nam, with an anticipated capacity of 100,000 Mazda cars per year, according to the EZA. EZA said the expansion project in the Tam Hiep Industrial Zone would connect with the Tam Anh Industrial Zone and the seaport systems in the zone. Earlier this year, Thaco began the operation of a new production line of trailers and special purpose vehicles in the Truong Hai-Chu Lai Mechanical Automobile Industrial Zone. The Quang Nam-based car producer, which claims 44.7 per cent of the market share of the Viet Nam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA), currently manufactures and distributes models of Kia of South Korea, Mazda of Japan and Frances Peugeot at the Truong Hai-Chu Lai Auto Complex in central Quang Nam Province. The Truong Hai Automobile Company has invested $400 million to build the Chu Lai-Truong Hai Industrial Complex which has the first logistics centre, car production factories, a vocational training college, and a sea port and storage system, as well as a shipping service in the zone. VNS The Ministry of Finance will continue completing tariff policies and reforming tariff and customs administrative procedures to support production and business and also improve the competitiveness of the economy. Meanwhile, the establishing of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) since this year would bring opportunities and challenges for Viet Nam because the nation must reduce various import taxes to zero for goods imported from members of the AEC by 2018. Vu Nhu Thang, head of the Ministry of Finances External Relations Department spoke to Bnews, an economic news website of the Vietnam News Agency, about other issues. What is your view on tariff liberalisation of ASEAN and also of Viet Nam? Tariff liberalisation in ASEAN has been implemented by the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA). This is the first comprehensive agreement of ASEAN to correct trade in goods of the ASEAN community and the agreement has had development based on all commitments in the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) under the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA). Under the ATIGA, 98 per cent of total tariff lines are reduced to zero and reduction of tariff would be implemented in the short term ending 2018. So far, six ASEAN countries finished the reduction of tariff to zero in 2010 and four other ASEAN countries, including Viet Nam, will complete the tariff reduction in 2018. According to the commitments, 97 per cent of Viet Nams tariff lines will reduce to zero in 2018 while 3 per cent of the remaining tariff lines, including tariff lines for sensitive farming products, products under a list of goods enjoying elimination of tariff reduction and completely knocked down (CKD) units of automobiles, will be taken out of commitments for reducing tariff. What are challenges that Viet Nam faces in the process of reforming tariff policies? Establishment of the AEC and going forward to 2025 has required member countries to integrate further in all fields of the economy. Therefore, the countries must complete institutions and policies in a situation with numerous differences in economic development, politic institution and administrative management among those countries. In the financial field, Viet Nams Ministry of Finance will continue implementing commitments on reducing import tariffs and basically completing the tariff reduction in 2018. In addition, the ministry will complete reforms in local tariff policies including import and export tariff, value added tax and special consumption tax and also promote reforms in administrative procedures. For the financial markets, the Ministry of Finance will continue negotiating commitments on financial services to have gradual liberalisation in the insurance, banking and securities fields. It will also implement effectively legal framework for the mutual recognition of accounting and auditing. According to the commitments in ATIGA, Viet Nam is permitted to delay deadline of tariff reduction of some sensitive goods until 2018. Experts say the relevant state offices have not had much support for local production industries to take advantage of the delay from tariff reduction. What is your opinion? Viet Nam has some goods that have permission to postpone deadline of tariff reduction to zero until 2018. Extension of the duration to maintain this tariff will help local industries gain time to adapt to a gradual tariff reduction schedule and also implement suitable adjustments. The finance ministry has implemented solutions on complementing tax policies and reforming administrative procedures of tax and customs fields to support local production and business and improve the competitive ability of Viet Nams economy. To take advantages of the integration process, together with support from state agencies, the local enterprises must have real competitive ability. They must actively take information from the process of integration to the international economy and have suitable production and business strategies to improve competitive ability of their goods against those from other ASEAN countries. When tariff reduces to zero, what will the Ministry of Finance do to support local production and business activities and improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese economy? To support local production and business activities and improve competitiveness of local economy, the state must take many synchronic solutions, including tax solution. The ministry has submitted to the government proposals on complementing the legal systems for import and export tax and create a synchronic legal framework to actively integrate into the international economy. The ministry has also had specific regulations on tax exemption and tax refund of several import and export goods. Of this, Viet Nam will focus incentives on machines, equipment, and important material according to fields and areas that need priorities in development and encouragement in development of production, increase of competitive ability for local products and attraction of foreign investment. For local taxes, the ministry has proposed adding regulations on corporate income tax, special consumption tax, and resource tax to existing regulations to create favourable investment and business environments. Meanwhile, the ministry has implemented the ASEAN single window mechanism, standardised and publicised 859 administrative procedures managed by the ministry, and also abolished unnecessary procedures. The ministry has implemented solutions to improve business environment and national competitive ability in 2015 and 2016. Therefore, the time for paying tax for enterprises was reduced by 420 hours, 97 per cent of local enterprises have implemented online tax declaration, and 90 per cent of local enterprises have registered online tax payment. In the future, the ministry will continue to implement solutions on complementing tax policies as well tax and customs administrative procedures. VNS Vuong Bach Lien Someone once said, Home is where I can be myself. This may explain why two French filmmakers Francois Leroy and Stephanie Lansaque have made Viet Nam their second home. It was love at first sight for the filmmakers on their first visit to Viet Nam as tourists in 2002. They were instantly seduced by the countrys captivating beauty. We immediately felt comfortable on arriving here. We felt a sense of familiarity with the country and its streets. We were impressed by the dynamism of the country and the kindness of its people, Lansaque said. Since then, the filmmakers have been returning to Viet Nam every year, and each time they stay for a period of four to six months. The total time they have spent in the country is five years. While they may be French, they do not see themselves as very different from the locals and have integrated easily with the life here. They speak Vietnamese, cook Vietnamese food, travel by motorbike and go out with the locals. Their first trip to in 2002 was clearly memorable in every way and a turning point in their lives. At the time, Leroy was a student studying animation at the prestigious Gobelins School of Visual Communication (LEcole de lImage) in Paris. Lansaque was a design artist and worked as an artistic director. But the strong love they felt for Viet Nam on this trip motivated them to make their first film -- an animated film inspired by Vietnamese daily life. Animated films Until now, the couple have made three short animated films on Vietnamese society, which have received a positive response from the public and won several awards at important French film festivals. Last week, the two French artists presented the three films to the public in Ha Noi. Those who watched the films were pleasantly surprised to see how cartoons could portray in such a realistic way scenes of the daily life and culture of the local people. Their unique style and the combined use of different techniques, such as mixing drawings by hand, digital drawings, videos and photos, accompanied by well-selected pieces of traditional music, left the audiences mesmerised. It normally takes the filmmakers one-and-a-half years to complete an animated film. Their first short film, Bonsoir Monsieur Chu (Hello Mr Chu), which began production in 2003 and finished in 2005, captured life in crowded HCM City. This film captured their first impressions of the country. One is impressed to see not only the beauty of the Vietnamese countryside, with the images of the dragonflies, the lotus flowers and the paddy fields, but also the lively atmosphere on the citys crowded streets. In 2012, they finished their second film on Viet Nam, titled Fleuve Rouge (The Red River). The film depicts the hard lives of people who have moved from the countryside to the city in search of a better life. Most of the storys backdrop is on the middle bank of the Rid River, under the Long Bien Bridge. In 2015, the French artists finished their film Cafe froid (Cold Coffee), revolving around the life of a girl living in HCM City. The girls mother died in an accident, forcing her to abandon her studies to work at the coffee shop run by her family. The film features the harsh realities of life the girl and thousands of others endure each day, suffering from psychological violence and difficult living conditions, as they toil day and night. Its the sad realities of Vietnamese society that we also wanted to portray in this film, Lansaque said. Through their films, the artists have become well-known in Vietnamese society. We have a lot of Vietnamese friends. Many have invited us to come to their homes. We have shared many moments with them, from celebrations of Tet (the Lunar New Year) to local weddings, birthdays and other anniversaries, Lansaque said. Its easy to make friends with the Vietnamese people. They are very friendly and generous. We can become friends while sitting at a cafe or even while walking on the street, she said. When the couple is in Ha Noi, they often stay at a small house in Hang ieu Street and spend their free time at a local coffee shop nearby. While sitting at a cafe, sipping a cup of iced tea, we observe life. We talk to the locals and learn a lot of things from them, Leroy said. Our films depict the lives of the people we meet on the streets. Their day-to-day lives interest us. The French couple are now working on their fourth film, which is a long light-hearted animated film on Viet Nams daily life. It features a wandering dog, who discovers by chance the dog meat that is sold on the streets. Viet Nam has brought us a lot of energy and inspiration. One day, we may stop making films, but one thing is certain: We will never stop loving this country, Leroy said. VNS PANAMA CITY Panamas public prosecutor against organised crime said Wednesday there was no evidence so far to take action against the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal, following a raid lasting 27 hours on its offices. "Right now we dont have any strong evidence allowing us to take any sort of decision" against the firm Mossack Fonseca, the prosecutor, Javier Caraballo, told reporters. He said the swoop on its law offices, located in Panamas banking district, had begun on Tuesday on the basis of the news reports about the offshore businesses it created and in some cases ran for wealthy clients around the world. "The information we have collected is what will permit us to have evidence to take a decision later on," Caraballo said. He said the investigation was complicated by the fact that the firm kept most of its records in digital form, on more than 100 computer servers, and not on paper. But he added that the firm had "co-operated" with his investigators. Nearly 40 years worth of archives from Mossack Fonseca have been pored over by hundreds of journalists around the world since being given to a German reporter a year ago. They have resulted in the so-called Panama Papers: a series of reports exposing politicians, celebrities and some criminals who used Mossack Fonsecas services to stash assets in offshore companies. Mossack Fonsecas founders, lawyers Ramon Fonseca and Juergen Mossack, insist they did nothing illegal. They stress that offshore companies in themselves are not illicit and they were not responsible for any activities their clients did with the entities. Fonseca is a friend to Panamas President Juan Carlos Varela and, until March, served as a senior advisor on his cabinet. The Panama Papers revelations have triggered a multitude of probes around the world as authorities look for evidence people named in them might have committed tax fraud, money laundering or other criminal acts. Varelas government is currently fighting to prevent other countries responding to the scandal by putting Panama back on international blacklists of nations that facilitate money laundering or tax evasion. Panamas chief state prosecutor, Kenia Porcell, earlier Wednesday gave a news conference in which he noted that "in Panama, tax evasion does not constitute a crime." He said, however, that the country was extending "all necessary co-operation" to address the scandal. Porcell said he had been contacted by counterparts from Peru, Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica, but did not elaborate. AFP Thu Van Earlier this month, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cao uc Phat, told the National Assembly in Ha Noi that most of our food is safe, its just that people dont know that fact. On the very same day, in central a Nang City, authorities discovered the use of Auramine O by vendors to add yellow colour to bamboo shoots, making them look more attractive. Auramine O is a water-soluble diarylmethane dye, which can cause cancer if consumed by humans over time. In January this year, some seven tonnes of food containing salbutamol, which helps in the treatment of asthma. However, this substance is not permitted to be used in animal feeding, nor should appear in our food. Many more examples can be cited in argument with the minister. Vegetables and fruits tainted with higher-than-permitted chemical residues have also become a nightmare for the public recently. Phat had to apologised for his statement in the end, but people need more than an apology. They want safe food. Isnt that just a basic right? Most agricultural production in Viet Nam takes place on small-scale farms. In the 1970s, when the countrys economy was underdeveloped and poor, the government subsidised fertilisers and pesticides in order to increase agricultural productivity. As the country changed, this habit did not. Farmers started growing crops for profit, instead of subsistence, and they become more and more dependent on chemicals. In Vietnamese culture, many people buy their food at small markets, where its hard to know the origins of the food they buy or whats inside the food. They might be safe, but after so many discoveries of unsafe food samples like those mentioned above, people are becoming more and more suspicious. Many now try to grow their own vegetables, and get pork, beef and poultry products from trusted sources. Many avoid the small markets and turn to supermarkets or safe food shops where food origin standards and food prices are often higher. But not everybody can afford that. And the problem is, why can only well-off people afford safe food? Will people with moderate incomes have to risk consuming unsafe food because they have no other choice? When doing business, people will tend to maximise their profits. This motivation will, in theory, encourage people to do everything they can for more and more profit. But what can stop them from doing anything at all, regardless of the consequences to consumers? In my opinion, the first thing is morality. Its undeniable that those who use prohibited and harmful chemicals in food and then sell them onto the market are just evil. If only the humanity in them could win over the greed, then they wouldnt do such things to people. Theres a humourous story spreading around town about a butcher that wouldnt buy meat at the market, and a greengrocer wouldnt buy vegetables at the market. Instead, they raised their own domestic cattle and vegetables, respectively, for home consumption. The joke is that the butcher ended up eating unsafe vegetables, and the greengrocer ended up eating unsafe meat. What now? Telling someone to act kindly doesnt take a day. Profound campaigns should be conducted to change the thinking and behaviour of individuals and firms working in the food supply chain. The second thing that can stop unsafe food is the law. If the law is tough enough, and the enforcement is strong enough, Im sure things will be different. But what weve seen are occasional inspections, soft punishments and lax management. Is the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, or the Ministry of Trade responsible for unsafe food and the use of unsafe substances in food? Take the case of importing salbutamol as an example. While the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said they banned the import of salbutamol, the health ministry said salbutamol was a necessary chemical in the making of medicines. When the legal system doesnt operate effectively, the motivation to maximise profits will still encourage people to violate the law. Punishments must be far more severe, including larger fines or longer jail time. Chairman of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front, Nguyen Thien Nhan, said consuming unsafe food was like consuming poison. The revised Criminal Code has increased the penalties for violating food hygiene regulations. Those caught using banned substances in the manufacture, processing or preservation of food will face up to 20 years in prison. As someone once said, We are what we eat. I hope we are green and fresh, not chemically poisoned.--VNS From left to right: President Tran ai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. HA NOI Viet Nam News - Leaders worldwide have sent messages to congratulate newly elected President Tran ai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan on their election as the new leaders of Viet Nam. Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, Hungarian President Janos Ader, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and President of Panama Juan Carlos Varela Rodriguez extended congratulation to President Quang. President of Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas, President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari and President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan also congratulated him. Greetings were also sent by UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev congratulated his counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc on the latters election as leader of the Vietnamese Government. The Russian PM said the two countries relationship is built on the solid foundation of time-honoured amity and mutual trust. It is developing dynamically in such spheres as economy trade, energy, and science technology, he noted. He expressed his willingness to co-operate with the Vietnamese leader to consolidate the countries comprehensive strategic partnership. Phuc was elected to the top leadership position in the Vietnamese Government during the 11th session of the 13th National Assembly on April 7. Newly elected NA Chairwoman Ngan received greetings from foreign parliamentary leaders. Speaker of the Russian Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko and Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia Sergey Evgenievich Naryshkin expressed their confidence that the new tenure of the National Assembly of Viet Nam will continue its effective co-operation with Russia in various fields. Chairman of the Parliament of Mongolia Zandaakhuugiin Enkhbold along with President of the Thai National Legislative Assembly Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman also sent their congratulations to the new NA Chairwoman.VNS Earlier, the Vietnamese President, Prime Minister and National Assembly Chairwoman received congratulations from Asian countries leaders on their election to the posts. In separate messages sent to President Quang, Japanese Emperor Akihito and PM Shinzo Abe said their country treasures its ties with Viet Nam. Congratulations were also offered to PM Phuc by his counterparts from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (Park Pong Chu), Japan (Shinzo Abe), and the Republic of Korea (Hwang Kyo-ahn). Bruneian Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah also cabled a similar note to the new Government leader of Viet Nam. They all voiced their belief that their countries friendship and partnership with Viet Nam will flourish in the future. Speaker of the Republic of Korea National Assembly Chung Ui-hwa also extended congratulations to the newly elected NA Chairwoman Ngan. VNS Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Deputy Prime Ministers. File Photo HA NOI Viet Nam News - Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has signed a decision on the assignment of work for the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers. The decision outlined rules and principles for work division and relations between the officials. It stated that Prime Minister Phuc should undertake the comprehensive Government leadership and executive work in management of the Government. Prime Minister Phuc should also manage and authorise executive works relating to national and regional socio-economic strategic development plans, including zoning and land use planning, national finances, credit, currency strategies, State budget expenditures and reserves, foreign exchange reserves and other State funds. He is responsible for issuing Government bonds, strategies to cope with climate change, national security and defence, and foreign relations issues. The Prime Minister will undertake the leading role in directing relations between the Government and the Party, National Assembly, the President, the Central Committee of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and other political and social organisations. In addition to other tasks, he will also serve as the Chairman of a number of National Steering Committees including the East Sea and Islands Committee and the National Steering Committee on International Integration. The Prime Minister assigned the Deputy Prime Ministers to assist the Prime Minister in monitoring, steering and handling routine work under the authority of the Prime Minister in all fields of Government work. The Deputy Prime Ministers should help the Prime Minister to fulfill his tasks and consult with the Prime Minister on important issues. The Deputy Prime Ministers should co-ordinate with each other while handling their tasks. Within the scope of their assigned tasks, Deputy Prime Ministers are entitled on behalf of the Prime Minister to: direct the ministries in setting up their own strategic development plans, and prepare and fulfil legal documents for issuance under the authorisation of the Government and the Prime Minister or make proposals to the Government and the Prime Minister for approval. According to the assignment, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh should assist the Prime Minister in monitoring and directing administration reforms, prevention of smuggling and trade fraud, anti-corruption, inspection and settlement of complaints and denunciations, ensuring order and traffic safety, and crime prevention. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh should assist the Prime Minister in dealing with external relations such as the management of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and non-governmental aid, international integration, monitoring and directing negotiations, and the implementation of international commitments. Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue was assigned to help the Prime Minister to monitor and direct work areas related to economic development including planning, financing, banking, managing stock markets and financial investment sources, forecasting and operating macroeconomic policies, and boosting international economic integration. Deputy Prime Minister Vu uc am stasked with supporting the Prime Minister in dealing with issues including education and training, science and technology, labour, employment, information and communication, tourism, culture and sports. Deputy Prime Minister Tronh Ninh Duong should help the Prime Minister to directly monitor and deal with issues including industry, trade, import-export, construction, transportation, natural resources and environment protection, foreign direct investment. VNS A patient gets cancer check-up at hospital. Viet Nam has about 150,000 new cancer patients, and more than 75,000 people die of cancer each year. VNA/VNS Photo HA NOI Viet Nam has about 150,000 new cancer patients, and more than 75,000 people die of cancer each year, Deputy Minister of Health Pham Le Tuan said at a conference on the issue in Ha Noi Tuesday. Cancer is one of the 10 most critical diseases in Viet Nam, according to the latest national survey on disease burden. Globally, about 14.1 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year, and about 8.2 million people die from the disease annually, Tuan said. Tuan said the conference aims to share information and experiences on cancer treatment to help patients access affordable, effective treatment. Reports at the conference revealed that the most common types of cancer among men include lung, stomach, liver, colon and rectal cancer. The most common types of cancer among women include breast, colon, rectal, lung, liver, leukemia and cervical cancer. The national strategy on cancer prevention for 2011-15 provided cancer screenings for early discovery to 532,000 people. The rate of breast cancer discovery was 63.7/100,000 women. The rate of cervical cancer discovery was 22.6/100,000 women. And the rate of oral cancer was 15/100,000 people. High-technologicy treatment is conducted only in central hospitals, or patients must travel to foreign countries, health experts said. Nguyen Minh Thao, deputy director of the Viet Nam Social Insurance, said expenses for cancer treatment have become too high, and they are only increasing more and more. Expenses for cancer patients in 2014 cost more than VN3.8 trillion (US$170.3 million), and last year cost VN4.4 trillion (US$197.3 million). Viet Nams fund for cancer was limited, while the prices for cancer medicine are high. Several patients spent a billion ong but still died, said Thao. So it is necessary to closely manage cancer diagnosis and treatment, he said. Pham Xuan Dung, deputy director of the HCM City Oncology Hospital, said the Ministry of Health should regularly check cancer testing and diagnosing centres to manage their quality. The HCM City Oncology Hospital has nearly 20 doctors. To conduct accurate diagnoses, each of them need 7-10 years of training. Thus, although we have modern machines, doctors quality is very important, he said. -- VNS HCM CITY (VNS) The Peoples Court in HCM City sentenced two people to death yesterday for trafficking 11.8kg of heroin. Nguyen Van Thang, 49, living in HCM Citys Go Vap District and Tran Tuan Anh, 35, living in central Nghe A province were both sentenced to death. Le Thi Ngoc Tuyen, 35, in Go Vap District, was sentenced to life in prison on charge of four crimes of buying and selling illegal drugs, illegally stockpiling drugs and military weapons and making fake documents. The remaining defendants, Nguyen Minh Hanh, 30, Nguyen Be Chinh, 38, Bui Duy Thanh, 48 and Hong Ngoc Long, 51, were sentenced from 10 to 17 years in prison. According to the indictment, Tuyen was arrested on March 03, 2012. Earlier, on January 9, 2009, police in Binh Tan District caught Tuyen with 6,800 grams of drugs. While on bail, the accused fled and hired someone to forge identity documents and began buying and selling drugs. Through searching Tuyens home, police discovered and seized over 7,300 grams of Methamphetamine, a pistol and 25 bullets and other exhibits relating to her crimes. The police confirmed that Tuyen and her gang members illegally smuggled more than 11.8kg of drugs. Police are hunting an escaped person in the gang, Nguyen Tang Quang, who supplied drugs to Tuyen. VNS Measures to stop the use of banned substances and overuse of antibiotics in animal husbandry were discussed at a forum organised in Binh Duong Province on Tuesday. Photo tuoitre.vn BINH DUONG - Measures to stop the use of banned substances and overuse of antibiotics in animal husbandry were discussed at a forum organised in Binh Duong Province on Tuesday. Chu inh Khu, head of the Animal Husbandry Departments Animal Feed Division, said the rampant use of banned beta-agonist substances and antibiotics in animal feeding to stimulate growth and prevent diseases has made consumers feel insecure when using meat products. Vietnamese laws allow 46 kinds of antibiotics and chemicals to be used in animal feed, with 24 having maximum dosages. Inspection teams have found antibiotics being overused at many animal feed production plants as well as at pig and poultry farms, he said. In addition, since last year, 58 out of 1,893 animal feed production plants inspected were found to be using banned substances. Banned substances were found in 17 out of 1,239 animal feed samples and 257 out of 3,972 pigs, he said. Improper use of antibiotics causes antibiotic resistance in animals, and residue in meat results in drug resistance in humans when it is consumed, he said. Le Thi Hong Hao, director general of the National Institute for Food Control, said consuming meat with industrial dyes to colour food and banned beta-agonists (salbutamol, ractopamine and metoprolol) to stimulate growth in animals and make them lean could affect human health, including causing acute and chronic poisoning. Salbutamol residues can speed up the heart rate and cause dizziness, headaches and anxiety in humans, especially in those with heart diseases and hypertension, she said. Nguyen Van Viet, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development chief inspector, said intensified inspection by relevant agencies has basically controlled the import, distribution and use of banned substances in animal freeding. The ministry would further intensify checks of animal feed producers and distributors, pig farms, and slaughterhouses to eradicate the use of banned substances and overuse of antibiotics, he said. Phan Huy Thong, director of the National Agriculture Extension Centre, said awareness of the adverse effects of these substances on human health and on the image and competitiveness of the husbandry industry should be strengthened among farmers, slaughterhouse operators and consumers. Authorities should publish the names of violators and tightly control the import of banned and harmful substances, he said. Viet said following changes to the law in July, the use of banned and harmful substances in animal farming can lead to severe punishment, including prison terms of 20 years. Together with better monitoring by relevant agencies, this is expected to eliminate the use of banned substances in animal breeding by the end of this year, he said. Dr Nguyen Van Bac of the National Agriculture Extension Centre said to develop the livestock industry in a sustainable manner, the agriculture sector needs to conform to VietGap standards and develop closed breeding chains to help reduce costs and control quality better. The industry should teach farmers how to use organic methods to prevent diseases and use advanced technologies in animal farming, he said. Many poultry and pig breeding models following VietGap standards have enabled farmers to be highly efficient and ensure food safety, he said. At the forum, representatives of animal feed producing companies and farms in Binh Duong Province signed commitments to not use beta-agonists and not overuse antibiotics and co-operate with inspection agencies. - VNS HA NOI (VNS) Sewage discharge was the culprit responsible for a mass fish kill earlier this month in central Ha Tinh Provinces Ky Anh Town, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developments environmental and disease monitoring centre announced. The results were revealed after the centre, in co-operation with the provincial authorities, arrived at the site to take water and fish samples to determine the cause of the incident. Dozens of households in Vung Ang Town and the neighbouring communes of Ky Ha, Ky Hai, Ky Ninh and Ky Loi complained about their caged fish dying en masse. It has caused the loss of nearly VN3 billion (US$135,000). They blamed the Formosa Industrial Zone and Vung Ang 1 Thermopower Plant, which is located nearby, for discharging untreated wastewater into the sea. The centre said the toxic substance contained in the water in Vung Ang Town originated from untreated sewage, which was directly discharged into the sea, thus contaminating the water and poisoning the fish. To address the problem, the centre has asked the authorized agencies to inspect the wastewater treatment systems of all processing factories and companies in Ky Anh Towns industrial zone. The water quality should be monitored regularly, especially water sources that serve aquaculture production, the centre said. VNS The sector maintained the rate of 90 per cent of under one-year-old children being vaccinated. Photo VNA HA NOi Viet Nam News - The Ministry of Health has set a target to reduce the rate of deaths caused by dangerous infectious diseases in the 2016-20 period. The target was announced by the ministrys head of Planning and Finance Department, Nguyen Nam Lien, at a conference yesterday. The conference reviewed the national programme on healthcare and population in the 2011-15 period, and set targets for the next five years. The national programme on healthcare and population for the 2016-20 period include eight major projects aimed at preventing and controlling dangerous infectious diseases. The projects include expanding vaccinations; population and development; food safety; HIV/AIDS prevention and control; safe blood and blood-related disease prevention and control; and media management on healthcare. The main aims of the programme are to prevent disease spread and epidemics, and to reduce the infection and mortality rates of some dangerous infectious diseases to ensure public health, Lien told the conference. The programme will also engage in supervising food safety, as well as ensuring safe blood transfusions and preventing some blood-related diseases, he said. Over the next five years, the healthcare sector will also focus on reducing the HIV/AIDS infection ratio in the community, he added. In terms of population issues, the healthcare sector will carry out measures to maintain a stable birthrate and increase population quality, as well as enhancing healthcare services to people in border and island areas, Lien affirmed. By 2020, the national healthcare programme will be promoting information dissemination among health workers and people working in disease control. Yesterdays conference was a chance for the health ministry to review its work between 2011 and 2015. During this period, the ministry was assigned to carry out four national programmes covering public heath care, food safety, population and family planning, and HIV/AIDS prevention and control. So far, the rate of dengue fever infection has dropped by 18 per cent and the mortality rate was lowered to under 0.09 per cent. Also in this period, health checks for high blood pressure were implemented in nearly 1,200 communes nationwide. Through these activities, more than two million patients aged 40 or over were given a health check service. The sector maintained the rate of 90 per cent of under one-year-old children being vaccinated. The quality of population was enhanced thanks to the population and family planning project. Under the project, people in 5,700 communes that had a high birthrates were provided family planning services. The project also provided free contraceptives to people in remote and poor areas. The healthcare sector maintained a ratio of HIV/AIDS infection of under 0.3 per cent of the total population. The system of HIV/AIDS prevention and control nationwide was also further strengthened. The budget for HIV/AIDS treatment has increased three times since 2013. Speaking at the conference, Lien affirmed that, The National Programme on Healthcare has made a positive change in peoples attitudes on personal and public healthcare. People were aware of the importance of disease prevention in public, which helped to lower the rates of infection and mortality caused by dangerous diseases, as well as reduce the risk of disease outbreaks, Lien said. VNS Referring to India's Neighbourhood First policy, Prime Minister on Monday said that the security and stability of the Maldives are in the interest of India. "The Maldives is among India's closest partners," Modi said while addressing the media after holding bilateral delegation-level talks with visiting Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom over a working lunch in New Delhi. "The stability and security of the Maldives are in the interest of India," he said. The prime minister's statement comes in the face of China's growing influence and investments in the Indian Ocean archipelago nation. India and the Maldives exchanged six agreements in the fields of taxation, tourism, space research, defence and conservation of mosques following Monday's talks. Referring to India's Neighbourhood First foreign policy, Modi said he and President Yameen discussed the entire gamut of bilateral relations. "India understands its role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean and is ready to protect its strategic interests in this region," Modi said. "The prompt implementation of a concrete action plan in the defence sector will strengthen our security cooperation," he said. The prime minister said that development of ports, continuous training, capacity building, supply of equipment and maritime surveillance would be the main elements of the security cooperation. "President Yameen and I are aware of the growing dangers of cross-border terrorism and radicalisation in South Asia," he said. "Information exchange between security agencies and training and capacity building of Maldives Police and security forces is an important part of our security cooperation." Modi also said that the South Asian Satellite proposed by India would help the Maldives in the fields of education, health and tourism. He said the agreement on cooperation in the tourism sector would boost people-to-people ties. The agreement on conservation of ancient mosques in the Maldives would strengthen cultural ties, he said. "President Yameen, India is a well-wisher and will match steps with the Maldives in its journey towards progress," the prime minister said. On his part, President Yameen said that India was the most important friend of the Maldives. "Our ties are based on civilisational roots," he said. "Our security is intimately linked with India's security." Earlier on Monday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on President Yameen in his first engagement of the day in the city. Yameen is also scheduled to call on President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday evening before departing from India. Yameen had earlier come to India on a bilateral visit in January 2014 and was among the South Asian leaders who attended Prime Minister Modi's swearing-in in May 2014. Though India and the Maldives completed 50 years of diplomatic ties last year and the two countries historically enjoy a close relationship, Yameen's visit assumes significance because of New Delhi's discomfiture over China's increasing investments and influence in the Indian Ocean region. Sushma Swaraj visited the Maldives in November 2014 and again in October 2015 for the India-Maldives Joint Commission meeting, which was held after 15 years. This year, Maldivian ministerial delegations to India, led by the foreign minister, defence minister, tourism minister, and foreign secretary "have further strengthened bilateral ties between India and Maldives", said a Maldives high commission statement. On Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary on Tuesday, political parties across the spectrum tried to stake claim on his legacy. Since Independence, governments have introduced schemes to improve the social and economic conditions of Dalits. The current government at the Centre, too, has introduced affirmative action programmes such as Stand Up India, aiming to support entrepreneurship among Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and women. One example of a successful Dalit entrepreneur is Santosh Kamble, 37, who supplies nylon and leather bags to companies in Mumbai, materials for which he sources from 100-odd small units in Dharavi. Kamble's business is thriving and he plans to open a plant in Bhiwandi. Kamble says government initiatives and an increasing awareness among corporate groups are slowly changing the environment for Dalit businesses like his. "Today, I can proudly say I have about 150 corporate clients," he told Business Standard. His company, Bizcraft, clocked revenue of Rs 6 crore last year and is targeting Rs 20 crore, riding on the new Bhiwandi unit. Kamble is confident because of one such government initiative - a new public procurement policy which mandates that four per cent of the Rs 3 lakh crore procured by public sector enterprises annually be sourced from SC/ST enterprises. "This creates an assured market of Rs 12,000 crore for SC/ST businesses," he said. P S Krishnan, former secretary in the Ministry of Welfare and currently advisor to Government of Telangana, says there has never been a "systematic study" of SC entrepreneurs. "The general impression is that SC entrepreneurship is growing, but it still is minuscule," he said. Krishnan says SC entrepreneurs continue to face discrimination, particularly those who want get into the business of food. "Moreover, entrepreneurial quality is a result of a network of existing entrepreneurs, which Dalits lack. Hence, they need much more hand holding. In any case, a vast majority of SCs live in rural areas and are landless agricultural labourers. So, while the increase in Dalit entrepreneurship is welcome, it isn't a complete solution," he says. Recently, Devesh Kapur, director, Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania, conducted a survey of the top 1,000 Dalit entrepreneurs in the country. Although the findings are yet to be made public, sources said all 1,000 entrepreneurs, products of the post-reform period, were together worth about Rs 15,000 crore. This is roughly the amount of capital raised by companies in a not-so-great year through initial public offerings, and is just a minuscule fraction of the Rs 96.75 lakh crore that the 1,300 NSE-listed companies are worth. Even this presents an exaggerated view of the community's economic prospects. Journalist Chandrabhan Prasad, who has co-authored a book Defying the Odds with Kapur, said: "These entrepreneurs do not represent the larger Dalit reality. But the rise of Dalit enterprise is a new narrative that we must watch." The survey found that most of these entrepreneurs are in the manufacturing sector, supplying parts to Tata Motors, Honda's and Bajaj's motorcycles. The Tata group companies and Pune-based Forge Marshall use services of over 100 welding companies owned by Dalits. Milind Kamble, chairman of Dicci said, there would be about 8.7 million Dalit enterprises in the country. "From 1.5 million in 2001, the number has grown significantly," Kamble added. Dicci's calculation was based on numbers given by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his previous Budget, where he said there were about 57.7 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country, of which 62 per cent belonged to SC, ST and OBC entrepreneurs. While anecdotal evidence often tends to paint a rosy picture, the share of SC/ST entrepreneurs hovers around 15 per cent, according to Kamble. According to the third All India MSME Census in 2001-02, there were 1.5 million enterprises floated by SC and ST businessmen. This accounted for about 15 per cent of the 10.52 million enterprises that were operational at that time. In the fourth census (2006-07), the number grew to 4.9 million, but their share fell to about 13.6 per cent of 36 million enterprises in the country. Between the third and fourth census, the number of ST businesses grew at a faster pace than SC entrepreneurs. The fifth census is currently being conducted. At a broader level, the economic prospects of the community seem to be improving. A 2013 Columbia University study by Arvind Panagriya and Vishal More on 'Poverty by Social, Religious & Economic Groups in India and its Largest States 1993-94 to 2011-12' said, "The first and foremost point to make is that the level of the SC poverty in 2011-12 has shown a strong tendency to converge toward the poverty rate prevailing across all groups. At India-wide level, the rural poverty rate for the SC at 31.5 per cent in 2011-12 is now less than six percentage points away from the poverty rate of 25.4 per cent for all groups. The percentage point gap in 2004-05 was twice of this gap." A LEGACY TO BE REMEMBERED Late Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's family on Thursday converted to Buddhism, nearly three months after his suicide led to massive protests. Rohith's mother Radhika and brother Naga Chaitanya Vemula were given 'deeksha' by Buddhist monks in Mumbai in the presence of Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of B R Ambedkar. Modi visits Ambedkar's birthplace Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid tributes to B R Ambedkar at his birthplace in Mhow cantonment town of Madhya Pradesh. UN starts a new tradition For the first time, the United Nations celebrated the birth anniversary of Ambedkar, describing him as a "global icon" for marginalised people. We got Telangana because of Ambedkar: KCR Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday laid the foundation stone for a 125-feet bronze statue of Ambedkar in Hyderabad. Mayawati sounds bugle for 2017 UP polls Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Thursday sounded the bugle for 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly election and said any move to weaken the reservation system will not be tolerated. The government is planning to develop five new major ports to improve trade and transport along the 7,500-km coastline, Union shipping minister said on Wednesday. India currently has 12 major ports and three more are being developed, one each in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The total cost of the three upcoming ports is about Rs 25,000 crore. "We will give more details about the five planned ports over the next three days," said Gadkari. He was speaking in here ahead of the three-day Maritime India Summit 2016, starting on Thursday. The event is expected to see signing of deals worth Rs 82,900 crore. It will comprise 86 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 68,700 crore and 35 concession orders worth Rs 5,900 crore. About 3,000 delegates are expected at the event which will also have 12 Cabinet ministers, along with chief ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Goa. At the inauguration, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to lay focus on the ambitious Sagarmala project of the government. The Sagarmala expects to see investment worth Rs 12 lakh crore, creating around 10 million jobs. Meanwhile, the shipping ministry has signed an MoU with South Korea for cooperation in port-related matters. South Korea is also the partner for the maritime event starting on Thursday. A slew of announcements after Tuesday's meeting in New Delhi between the US and Indian defence secretaries - Ashton Carter and Manohar Parrikar - have sought to create a glow of unalloyed success around the US-India defence relationship. But a look at the outcome of earlier US-India announcements, including those made during President Barack Obama's visit to India in January 2015, provides a sobering dose of reality. Tuesday's announcements include an "in principle" agreement to quickly conclude a long-delayed logistics agreement; joint development of defence equipment; deepening consultations for designing India's aircraft carrier and an advanced jet engine; cooperating on submarine operations, and safeguarding maritime security in the Asia-Pacific. In fact, US officials are disappointed that an India-specific logistics agreement, entitled "Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA)" was not formally signed during Carter's visit, even though New Delhi and Washington had agreed on all its clauses. The US Department of Defence (Pentagon) now realises that the National Democratic Alliance, like the United Progressive Alliance government, is wary of the political risks of alignment with America. New Delhi's cautious approach to the LEMOA - first signing an in-principle agreement, and then inking the deal later after gauging the political fallout - portends slow progress in concluding the other two "foundational agreements": a Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) that would allow Washington to release secure radio equipment to India; and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geospatial Information and Services Cooperation (BECA), on digital mapping and survey. Carter, who has relentlessly pushed the US-India defence relationship, put a brave face on this, telling NDTV on Tuesday: "I think, over time, (the foundational agreements) all will be concluded. I want to emphasise there's a lot we can do without them; but there's much more we can do with them." The announcement of two US-India "pathfinder projects" to co-develop a Digital Helmet Mounted Display; and a Joint Biological Tactical Detection System, is unlikely to yield products in a hurry, going by the tardy progress on four "pathfinder projects" identified during Obama's January 2015 visit. Of those, New Delhi and Washington are still deciding on industrial partners for two products, the "Cheel" micro-drone that infantrymen could launch for battlefield surveillance; and roll-on, roll-off kits for the C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft, which are essentially quick-change aircraft interiors for varied missions like para-dropping, cargo-carrying and medical evacuation. The other two - a mobile, electric hybrid power source (MEHPS); and protective clothing for soldiers in nuclear, chemical or biologically contaminated battlefields - which will be co-developed by military agencies. It took India seven months to decide on its development agency. Pathfinder projects are of two types: those proposed by industry, and others proposed by the military. The MEHPS was proposed by the US Marine Corps, and is being co-developed with India's Defence R&D Organisation. Both the projects proposed during Carter's visit are military proposals. The US Air Force will co-lead the digital helmet project, while the US Army will co-lead the biological detection system. It remains to be soon how quickly New Delhi selects the Indian agencies. Similarly, there is little to report on the two major DTTI projects initiated during Obama's visit in January 2015: on US design assistance for India's next aircraft carrier; and in co-developing an advanced fighter jet engine. Carter and Parrikar have merely resolved to "deepen consultations" on these projects. Senior New Delhi officials tell Business Standard there is little chance that India will equip its aircraft carrier with the futuristic, electro-magnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) that the US is only now fitting on its carriers. Choosing EMALS would logically lead the Indian Navy to American carrier-based aircraft like the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, but New Delhi planners have decided EMALS is untested, expensive, power-intensive (requiring a nuclear-powered vessel), and provides a rapid aircraft launch capability beyond what the Indian Navy needs. Even if India chooses a conventional steam catapult for launching aircraft, it would open the doors for US aircraft like the Super Hornet. But there was no announcement on the proposal to build these fighters in India, which US officials had discussed before Carter's visit. Delay also bedevils the project to co-develop an advanced jet engine, which India needs for its next-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). Last year, encouragingly, Washington cleared US engine-maker, General Electric, to share jet engine technology with India. However, thorny issues of intellectual property rights remain, with General Electric reluctant to provide India access to critical technologies that it developed at enormous cost. Similarly, Carter's and Parrikar's announced support for freedom of navigation in the South China Sea was only an echo of the "India-US Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region" that Obama and Modi signed in 2015. What took that forward, however, was the announcement of a bilateral Maritime Security Dialogue between both countries' defence and foreign ministries. India has clearly gained from the agreement "to commence navy-to-navy discussions on submarine safety and anti-submarine warfare." It is learnt that the trilateral Exercise Malabar scheduled for June, featuring the US, Japan and India, would have a major submarine component. For last year's Malabar, the US had sent a Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine, while India fielded a Kilo-class diesel-electric boat. Analysts say the next Malabar could feature Japan's vaunted Soryu-class submarines, which it hopes to sell India. Conservative commentators, such as Bharat Karnad, speculate that deepening relations with the US, specifically the signing of CISMOA, would offend Moscow, causing it to cancel the ongoing lease to India of an Akula II-class nuclear submarine, the planned lease of a second nuclear submarine, and the sale of other high-technology weaponry. However, authoritative Russian sources tell Business Standard that Indo-US submarine cooperation would not impact relations with Russia "significantly or dramatically", especially with regard to weapons platforms "already provided or offered to India". Another major plus for the Indian Navy is the US entry into the "white shipping" technical arrangement. This Indian initiative for "maritime domain awareness" involves partner countries informing New Delhi in real-time about their merchant shipping transiting through the Indian Ocean sea lanes. Six countries are already on board --- Sri Lanka, Thailand, Australia, Singapore, Mauritius and Seychelles. Navy spokespersons say that figure is likely to rise to 27 soon. 04:34 Jim Chalmers has to start making some hard decisions Former Victorian Liberal Party President Michael Kroger says Treasurer Jim Chalmers is just like a commentator simply telling us the... 03:00 A number of issues with Victorian governments energy plan The Australians Environment Editor Graham Lloyd says there are a number of issues with the Victorian governments decision to boost the... 06:00 The game is up for despicable Lidia Thorpe Sky News host Chris Smith says he believes the game is up for the "despicable" Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe, following recent revelations.... 06:06 Distinct intensification of concerns about Taiwan Former US deputy assistant secretary of defence Elbridge Colby says theres a distinct intensification" of concerns about Taiwan in the... 05:48 Entitled and small-minded: Netball Australia has cooked its greatest golden egg Netball Australia is about to learn the lesson, "go woke and you go broke" the hard way, says Sky News host Chris Smith. Affluenza teen gets 2 years in jail FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) A judge on Wednesday ordered a Texas teenager who used an affluenza defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck to serve nearly two years in jail, a surprising sanction that far exceeds the months in jail prosecutors originally said they would pursue. Ethan Couch, in adult court for the first time after he turned 19 on Monday, received 180 days for each of the four deaths in the June 2013 crash. Couch was already in custody since he was arrested in Mexico last year. He had always faced the prospect of adult jail time as part of his probation once his case had moved out of the juvenile system. Prosecutors didnt ask the judge to declare Couch had violated his juvenile probation by fleeing to Mexico with his mother, or to consider it in his ruling. Tot shot by moms gun at hospital ER JACKSON, Miss. (AP) A 2-year-old girl was grazed by a bullet when her mother dropped her purse and a gun inside of it discharged while the two of them were in a hospital ER waiting room. Jackson Police said the woman and her daughter were at a vending machine at the hospital Wednesday morning when the gun went off. A bullet ricocheted off the machine and grazed the childs face. The wound was superficial and the child is expected to be fine. Hospital officials say weapons are prohibited on its campuses. Woman found after 9 days in forest TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) Ann Rodgers ate plants and a turtle and made a help sign large enough a helicopter was able to find her after nine days in the Arizona wilderness. The 72-year-old Tucson woman, who was found in the White Mountains in eastern Arizona, said studying survival methods and taking a survival course saved her life. But an expert said Wednesday she broke the most important rule for being found: Stay with your car. Rodgers went missing on March 31 on her way to visit her grandchildren in Phoenix, which is a straight shot from Tucson on Interstate 10. She struggled to explain how she became lost. Couple kisses through robbery BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) Police in Montanas largest city are looking for three suspects who robbed a bar at gunpoint, but they didnt seem to disturb a couple who kissed through the commotion. An employee of the Tap Inn and several patrons told police in Billings two men and a woman wearing bandannas and gloves stormed the bar and casino early Monday and demanded money. Surveillance video shows the bartender quickly opening the cash register and putting his hands in the air, as did other bar patrons, while the amorous couple kept hugging and kissing. Woman allegedly livestreamed rape COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) A woman used a social media app to livestream the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl, an Ohio prosecutor said Wednesday as a grand jury indicted the woman and a co-defendant on several charges including rape and kidnapping. The case came to light when an out-of-state friend of the woman saw the images. Marina Lonina, 18, and co-defendant Raymond Gates, 29, were charged. Authorities said Lonina and the victim, who were friends, were socializing with Gates at a home in Columbus on Feb. 27 when Gates raped the 17-year-old girl. Lonina used the Periscope app to livestream the assault. WATERLOO A Cedar Falls man has been arrested after police found a gun and items used to make methamphetamine during a traffic stop Tuesday morning. Waterloo police arrested Robert Goff, 52, of 2712 Big Woods Road, for conspiracy to possess meth with intent to deliver and as a felon in possession of a firearm. Officers pulled over the vehicle at Kimball and Ridgeway avenues about 12:35 a.m. as part of a report of a theft at Walgreens pharmacy. Goff was a passenger in the vehicle and police found a .22-caliber Browning pistol under a seat. The officers also discovered lithium batteries, coffee filters, Coleman fuel, drain cleaner and other items used to make meth, according to court records. Goff is prohibited from handling firearms because of a 1996 burglary conviction, according to court records. Mitchell man faces kidnapping charge MITCHELL A man was charged Monday with first-degree kidnapping for allegedly holding a woman against her will at a residence in Mitchell in March. Nicholas Lenz, 23, of Mitchell, also was charged Monday with a number of other offenses, including willful injury, burglary and theft, according to Mitchell County Sheriff Greg Beaver. First-degree kidnapping is a Class A felony. If convicted, Lenz faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. Lenz, according to investigators, escaped from Beje Clark Residential Center in Mason City on Feb. 26. He was found March 7 at a residence in Mitchell. He ran from the residence but was apprehended a few blocks away, according to Beaver. A woman found during Lenzs arrest was transported to a hospital. She was later transferred to a hospital in Minnesota for additional treatment. Investigators believe Lenz held the woman against her will, Beaver said. Lenz initially was charged with escape or absence from custody, a felony. In addition to kidnapping, officials also suspect Lenz committed several burglaries and vehicle thefts March 5-6 in Mitchell County. The new charges against Lenz were filed after a six-week investigation by the Mitchell County Sheriffs Office with assistance from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Mitchell County Attorneys Office. Lenz remains in the Mitchell County Jail on $50,000 cash bond. Woman cited for hitting cop vehicle MASON CITY A St. Ansgar resident has been cited for crashing into a Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office vehicle in Mason City. Miricle Corbo of St. Ansgar was cited for failure to failure to obey a traffic control device. Corbo ran a red light about 7 p.m. Sunday at Fifth Street and South Federal Avenue and hit a Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office sport-utility vehicle driven by deputy Zach Scott, according to the Mason City Police Department. No one was hurt. The crash did about $4,000 damage to the county-owned Chevrolet Tahoe and about $5,000 to Corbos vehicle, a Chrysler Sebring car, according to police. The investigation included review of footage from the Tahoes dashboard camera. Man sentenced on gun charge WATERLOO A Waterloo resident who struggled with officers investigating gunfire has been sentenced to prison. Authorities said Diamond Jackson, 18, was carrying a .380-caliber handgun in his pocket and had smoked marijuana earlier when Waterloo police attempted to arrest him for hampering their investigation. On Tuesday, Jackson was sentenced to two years and six months in prison in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. He was also ordered to spend three years on supervised release following prison. The charges stem from a September incident where police were looking into gunfire near Jacksons home in the 500 block of Western Avenue. They noticed his mother was involved in an argument on her porch and was complaining about the gunshots. Jackson and his brother allegedly told officers not to talk to his mother, a struggle broke out, and police found a .380-caliber Lorcin pistol in his pocket. They also found .25-caliber and 9mm ammunition in his home along with a bag of marijuana and a pipe, court records state. A urine test showed the presence of marijuana in his system, according to records. Man accused of sexual assault FAYETTE On Monday, the Fayette County Sheriffs office arrested James Hanson, 19, of Fayette, for indecent contact with a child, an aggravated misdemeanor. The investigation showed on March 31, Hanson, a student at West Central High School in Maynard, had indecent contact with a 9-year-old girl at the school. School officials contacted the sheriffs office once they learned of the incident. Hanson is being held in the Fayette County Jail. Man cited for OWI, assault SUMNER On Tuesday at about 3 p.m., the Fayette County Sheriffs Office received a call of a vehicle that was tearing around a sand quarry near Sumner and got stuck. When deputies arrived, the driver of the vehicle was identified as Steven Rechkemmer, 38, of Waterloo. Officers determined Rechkemmer was intoxicated. He was arrested and taken to the Fayette County Jail, where he assaulted a detention officer while being booked in, according to the sheriffs office. Rechkemmer was charged with second-offense operating while intoxicated and assault on a correctional officer. WATERLOO It may have been snowing just hours earlier, but it was 82 degrees inside the Black Hawk County YMCAs swimming area, and the third-graders were excited to hop in the pool. Actually, they were excited for all of it. Around 75 third-graders screamed in excitement when they saw the pool for the first time. They screamed when they saw their classmates in swim suits. They screamed as they lined up to go in the water, and screamed when they were finally allowed in. Sandra Burroughs, charged with helping them learn to float as part of the water safety skills class Friday, had the unenviable task of calming them down. Stay on the steps until its your turn, she said, admonishing her group of two dozen Sarah Fishers third-grade class as each excited conversation echoed and amplified the noise in the room. A small hand raised once the group was briefly quiet: What if they didnt know how to swim? Well help you, Burroughs said. These werent swim lessons. The YMCA initiative was meant to teach three third-grade classes from Irving Elementary School in Waterloo the basics of water safety. Fisher estimated about a third of the children in her class didnt know how to swim. That fact, said Jeremy Loria, the Ys senior membership and program director, makes water safety classes especially important. The Cedar Valley has so many different areas of water, and every year you hear about an accident someone drowning, Loria said. In that age group, drowning is one of the leading causes of death. Irvings third-graders are the second group the Y has taught Poyner Elementarys third-graders went through the course, which includes classroom teaching, earlier this year. Loria is trying to schedule third-grade classes from the other elementary schools in Waterloo and hopes to include Cedar Falls kids someday. Besides classroom teaching, the pool day includes three modules: learning to float on your front and back, learning to use a flotation device such as a water noodle to pull someone out of the water safely (reach and assist) and how to properly wear a life jacket. Some children looked confident in the water, showing the instructor they could float on their own. Others were less so worried about putting their face in the water. They were gently encouraged and finally cheered on by their classmates after theyd successfully done it. And once they were all through, seated on the side of the pool, head lifeguard Becca Nims allowed them a respite letting them kick water while they screamed in delight. Bigger! Bigger! Nims demanded, eliciting more splashing, more screaming. Getting over that fear of being in the water and having fun while doing it seemed to be the message Friday. They are so excited. Its a good experience, Fisher said. DES MOINES -- Iowa landowners in the path of a proposed underground oil pipeline that won a state-approved permit to proceed Wednesday cited environmental, safety and property-right concerns in vowing to fight the project. "This is not a good deal," said LaVerne Johnson, a Boone County farmer. He is one of nine landowners bringing legal action in Polk County contending the Iowa Utilities Board should not have granted eminent domain authority to a Texas developer that doesn't qualify as a utility. "It is outrageous that a private company that has no benefit for any Iowan could take my farmland for their use," added Keith Puntenney, another landowner in Boone and Webster counties. He is also president of the Private Property Rights Fund. The lawsuit argues the pipeline developer, Dakota Access, which is a subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners and Phillips 66, shouldn't be allowed to force landowners to sell easements by condemning the land against their will in a way that runs contrary to a 2006 Iowa law. "This lawsuit is about whether Iowa law allows a private company, which provides no service to Iowans, the right to use the state's power of eminent domain over Iowa farmland," Bill Hanigan said. Hanigan is with the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines, filed the lawsuit against the Iowa Utilities Board on behalf of nine landowners. "We understand very well that this is a David and Goliath undertaking. Although we are the Davids, we are many," he added. Hanigan told an afternoon news conference the affected landowners are not seeking a statewide injunction, but will request individual county court injunctions to stay Dakota Access from proceeding against their clients with local condemnation actions. "Our lawsuit is not about delay. We're in it to win it and we think that the law supports our position," he said. Hanigan cited a case of first impression focusing on a 2006 legislative change in challenging the use of eminent domain by a private entity seeking to involuntarily take farmland for a private purpose. "The issue of eminent domain is far, far from over. Instead, it is finally just getting started," he added. "We expect that with these county-level injunctions, our clients will blaze a trail for other landowners and their lawyers to follow." Steve Hickenbottom of Fairfield, a landowner, said he was threatened with the use of eminent domain by pipeline agents who would show up without appointment. He also claimed the agents would call up to six times a day on his cell phone to persuade him to enter into a voluntary easement like 85 percent of the Iowa landowners in the pipeline's path. "They've been forceful. They've been very rude," he said. "It hasn't been handled properly in any way, shape or form." The Iowa Utilities Board voted 3-0 last month to grant a permit for a hazardous liquid pipeline through 346 miles and 18 counties of Iowa after certain conditions are met. The $3.8 billion pipeline, when built, would reach 1,168 miles from the Bakken and Three Forks region of North Dakota, through South Dakota and Iowa, to a distribution hub in Patoka, Ill. Dakota Access said last week it has voluntary easement agreements for 85 percent of the land needed in Iowa and 93 percent for the entire route. The majority of land in the path of the underground pipeline is agricultural. About 200 remaining landowners have resisted, saying it could harm their crops, damage drainage tiles and destroy the land for generations if there is a spill. Trade unions and other business interests have been major supporters of the project, contending it will bring thousands of construction jobs and boost the economy. DES MOINES A group of Democratic senators Thursday refused to confirm Gov. Terry Branstads appointment of Marianette Miller-Meeks as a member of a state advisory board the oversees an insurance program for Iowas low-income children. The nomination of Miller-Meeks, 60, of Ottumwa, to the state HAWK-I board garnered support from 20 Republicans and eight Democrats, but another 18 Democrats voted no, which meant she failed to achieve at least 34 affirmative votes to reach the two-thirds majority needed for Senate confirmation. Four GOP senators were absent for confirmation votes in which 36 other Branstad appointees were approved by 46-0 verdicts and Ryan Wise was approved 42-4 as director of the state Department of Education. Miller-Meeks, a licensed ophthalmologist and retired Army Reserve officer, served as director of the state Department of Public Health under Branstad from 2011 to 2013 and three times lost to Democrat Dave Loebsack in the 2nd congressional district in the 2008, 2010 and 2014 general elections. Critics expressed concern about her time as Branstads state public health agency chief and her approach as a public member on a state board that provides direction to the state Department of Human Services on the development, implementation and ongoing administration of the states childrens health insurance program at a time when the governor is moving Medicaid services to privately managed care. I have grave concerns about this appointment. We need a HAWK-I board member that has a strong knowledge of the health insurance programs that will advocate for affordable, accessible, comprehensive care for children and not just worry about the reduction in services and the bottom-line costs, especially in this period of transition to a managed care environment, said Sen. Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City. This is not a fit that I think is good for HAWK-I or the state of Iowa, especially in this change. Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, said the HAWK-I program needed a champion at a time when it is being dismantled by the Branstad administration and called on the governor to send the Senate a strong childrens advocate. Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said Miller-Meeks displayed weaknesses in her commitment, her listening skills and her failure to consult with others regarding personnel decisions during his interactions with her when she directed the state Department of Public Health. However, Sen. Charles Schneider, R-West Des Moines, defended Miller-Meeks as a health-care professional who serves Medicaid patients in her practice and has donated medical care to military veterans. He noted senators previously confirmed her in 2011 as state health department director and believed she now would be equipped with knowledge, expertise and experience needed in advising the state regarding Iowas most-vulnerable children. She is not only well qualified for this position, she is uniquely qualified for this position, he said. 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(12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1) Operating licence application submitted for Finnish EPR 14 April 2016 Share Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) has today submitted its operating licence application for unit 3 of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant. The first-of-a-kind EPR plant is scheduled to start up in late 2018. The Olkiluoto EPR, pictured earlier this month (Image: TVO) TVO announced today that it has submitted its 130,000-page application to the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy. The application contains information on, among other things, the technical and operational safety principles, arrangement for nuclear waste management, and details of TVO's expertise and financial position. In addition to seeking approval to operate Olkiluoto 3 for an initial 20-year period (from the beginning of 2018 to the end of 2038), TVO's application also seeks permission to use the existing on-site interim storage facilities for the used fuel and other radioactive wastes that will be generated by the unit over this period. The application does not concern the use of final disposal facilities for nuclear wastes. The application will now be reviewed by the Finnish nuclear regulator STUK, as well as several ministries and certain other authorities and communities. STUK will give its safety assessment for the application, while the others will submit statements to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. The Finnish government will make a decision on TVO's application based on the ministry's recommendations. STUK said that as it has already inspected and approved the design of the plant during the construction phase, the focus of its assessment for the operating licence will be verifying updated safety analyses and TVO's preparation for operation. It said this assessment will take about 18 months to complete and that STUK will deliver its statement to the ministry at the end of 2017. "TVO has already submitted most of the operating licence materials to STUK", said Tapani Virolainen, deputy director of STUK's nuclear reactor regulation department. "STUK has granted a six-month extension only for the provision of certain analysis results." TVO senior vice president for the Olkiluoto 3 project Jouni Silvennoinen said the submission of the operating licence application is "an important milestone" towards commissioning of unit. "Now the project is moving from installations to testing. The operating licence application process is the most important phase of the final acceptance of a nuclear power plant project before start up of the new power plant unit," Silvennoinen said. TVO said it anticipates obtaining the operating licence for Olkiluoto 3 towards the end of 2017, after which nuclear commissioning will start at the unit. Commercial operation of the reactor is expected to begin by the end of 2018. Instrumentation and control system testing at Olkiluoto 3 started in January and last week testing began of the first process system - the seawater system. The company said the main electromechanical installations, including piping works, will be completed by mid-2016. The first-of-a-kind EPR at Finland's Olkiluoto plant has been under construction since 2005 and has seen several revisions to its start-up date, which is now expected by 2018. The Flamanville EPR in France, construction of which began in 2007, is now expected to start up in late 2018. Taishan 1 in China, which has been under construction since 2009, is expected to start up in early 2017, while Taishan 2 is scheduled to begin operating later that year. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics If youre looking to try out an online casino, there are several things that will help you make a decision. Heres what you should look for when choosing an online casino Are they regulated? A lot of the larger ones have licenses issued by the authorities in their respective regions, so its worth checking this first. 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These are usually offered alongside welcome bonuses, so make sure you read both parts of the terms and conditions carefully before signing up. Does it offer live dealer games? Live dealers are much preferred by many over regular virtual versions, so it pays to check this option out too. Most online casinos now offer live dealer games in addition to their regular offerings, allowing you to experience the thrill of the real thing without needing to leave home. Now that youve got an idea of what to look for when choosing an online casino, heres some tips for making the right choice It really comes down to personal preference. No two people are exactly alike, so everyone has an opinion on what they like and dislike about each casino. That said, here are some things to consider in order to narrow down your choices Popularity. Check out reviews, forums and Facebook pages to see what other people think of the casino. Also, ask around at work or friends houses who they would recommend to you. You could always take a look at the casinos website too, to see what kind of information they provide about themselves. Reputation. Find out what the general public thinks about the casino. Check out any customer reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Amazon and Google Play to find out more. As far as gaming goes, you can also check out the Better Business Bureau to see whether there have been any complaints against the casino. Security. Make sure the casino uses SSL encryption to secure its transactions, meaning that your private data stays safe during transactions. Other than that, look for security seals on the site itself and verify that theyre legitimate. You can also check out the casinos privacy policy to see how they handle confidential information. Payment methods. Its good to have multiple payment options available, especially if you plan to play frequently. Its also nice to find a casino that accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. If youre worried about safety, you can always opt for a credit card or PayPal instead. With all those criteria in mind, heres our top picks Betway: Betway is a relatively new UK casino offering online gambling to residents of the United Kingdom and European Union. They offer hundreds of games across both land based and digital platforms, with plenty of top software providers like Net Entertainment, Microgaming and Yggdrasil Gaming Network. With a generous welcome offer that gives players 100% up to 100, you really cant go wrong with Betway. Coral Casino: Coral Casino is operated by the same company that runs the famous Caribbean casino, Grand Reef. Like many casinos, Coral Casino offers a wide variety of games, including plenty of video slots and table games. New players can benefit from a huge 100% match bonus up to 1000, while existing customers enjoy 25% cash back on deposits made within 48 hours of opening an account. Ladbrokes Casino: Ladbrokes Casino is owned by the same company as the famous bookmaker that started life in 1921. With more than 500 games from leading software providers such as Amaya, NetEnt and Microgaming, you wont be disappointed by the quality of the games here. New players get a 200% match bonus up to 500, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits. Paddy Power Casino: Paddy Power is another Irish-owned casino that operates throughout Europe. Not only does Paddy Power Casino offer traditional casino games like blackjack, roulette and slots, but it also provides a full range of sports betting, including football, tennis, boxing and horse racing. New players can receive a massive 100% match bonus up to 200, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits. William Hill Casino: William Hill Casino is one of the biggest names in the industry, operating in Europe, Asia and North America. Founded in 1984, this online casino has more than 400 games to choose from, including slots and table games, with a wide array of software providers like WagerLogic, Big Time Gaming and Rival. Bonus: 100% Match Bonus up to 100 Register Now Betway: 100% Match Bonus up to 100 Claim Now Coral Casino: 25% Cash Back on Deposits Claim Now Ladbrokes Casino: 35% Cash Back on First 3 Deposits Claim Now Paddy Power Casino: 100% Match Bonus up to 200 Claim Now William Hill Casino: 100% Match Bonus up to 200 Claim Now If youre interested in trying out an online casino but arent quite ready to commit to one, why not try out one of the many no deposit casinos weve reviewed? You can test drive various casinos completely risk-free, so you can feel confident about your choice before you make a single penny deposit. This stricter approach ensures company's commitment to Singapore's workforce. Nonetheless, talented professionals can still obtain Employment Passes," said Mr. Heng, Chief Consultant at One Visa SINGAPORE, April 14, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is adopting a stick-and-carrot approach to dealing with the issue of hiring foreign professionals. Companies applying for foreign talent in jobs that pay at least S$3,300 a month will now face three new criteria added to the EP application process. These criteria will entail companies being assessed based on how strong their "Singaporean core" is, whether they have a commitment to strengthen this core and their relevance to the local economy as well as society. In the past, EP approvals were based on an applicant's qualifications, experience and salary. Disproving The Misconception Manpower Minister Mr. Lim Swee Say revealed numbers for the first time during the Ministry's Committee of Supply debate, to correct the perception that foreigners outnumber Singaporeans in professional, managerial, executive and technical jobs. About 79% of jobs with a monthly pay of more than $3,300 are held by Singaporeans. Even in the infocomm and food and beverages sectors where the proportion of foreigners is higher, Singaporeans still have the upper hand by 1%. Singapore has nevertheless already tightened rules for hiring foreign workers in recent years, after their growing presence in the economy spurred voter unhappiness over greater competition for jobs. Employers who persist in hiring these foreign professionals for no good reason and fail to have concrete plans to nurture their Singaporean staff, will now find it harder to operate and expand in Singapore. They will be put on the watch list and their work pass privileges could be suspended; specifically, their applications or renewals for Employment Passes. However, One Visa Pte. Ltd, a Singapore based recruitment and immigration consulting firm believes that these revisions do not necessarily mean that Singapore no longer welcomes foreigners to work or set up a business in Singapore. "The Manpower Ministry's stricter approach is set to ensure higher quality company sponsors and in the process assuring that companies are committed to contributing to Singapore by hiring and training the workforce. Nonetheless, talented foreign professionals will still be able to obtain Employment Passes if their sponsored company is able to give ample justification for the hiring," said Mr. Heng, Chief Consultant of One Visa. "It is also important to know what MOM is looking for and how to boost each application especially since approval for EP is subject to the authorities' discretion. We do this by enhancing the value-adding aspect for our clients so that they can present a stronger case for their application," Mr. Heng added. At the same time, Mr. Heng believes in giving tailored advice to strengthen the case based on their situation. "We are not in the business of providing false hope to our clients so we have set up a complimentary assessment to ensure they meet the minimum requirements before they start paying. We value all our clients and this is an extremely important factor for One Visa so we can establish a win-win situation." Building A Stronger Singaporean Core In building a strong Singaporean Core in all major sectors, MOM has also launched sectoral manpower plans to create jobs and develop skills of the future to support the growth of future industry. Having foreign manpower as part of the Singapore workforce is a plus point and this is not due to Singaporeans not being valuable, but because Singapore simply does not have enough in number, readiness and diversity of capability. Immigration policies are generally geared towards building a world-class workforce and that's why both locals and foreigners must work together as one to attract better investments and to create better jobs. Moving forward, employers should have a concrete hiring plan in place for Singaporeans when they consider applying for Employment Passes. Employers must also ensure they have substantial justification for their hiring in terms of the foreign applicant's relevance experience and qualifications. A second opinion from an expert can lead to valuable insights. For more information on the changes to the Employment Pass requirements check here. MORE ABOUT ONE VISA: One Visa is a Singapore-based consulting firm that specialises in providing solutions to Immigration, Recruitment and Incorporation matters to both the corporate clients and individuals. One Visa Offers specialised immigration service to obtain Singapore Work Visa, Permanent Residency and Angola Visas. In addition, the company provides recruitment services from Junior to Mid-Level Executives as well as Technical specialists for IT, Finance, Oil & Gas Sectors. Singapore, 14 April 2016 - The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is adopting a stick-and-carrot approach to dealing with the issue of hiring foreign professionals. FOR ENQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT: ONE VISA PTE. LTD Phone: +65-63854389 Web: http://www.one-visa.com/ Email: [email protected] Editorial Contact: Mohamed Fadhil # # # Apr 14, 2016 | By Benedict Dutch company Clear Flight Solutions is a provider of remote control 3D printed birds, which can be used on farms, airports, and other locations to scare off real birds. The Materialise-produced Robirds are laser sintered in glass-filled polyamide and hand-painted for realism. Robirds in flight When we talk about 3D printing taking off, were usually referring to significant industry growth or new, landmark applications of the exciting technology. Occasionally, however, 3D printing takes flight in a more literal sense. Many voices in the aviation sector can be heard getting excited about Boeings 3D printed fuel nozzles deployed in the companys LEAP-1B engines, while 3D printed drones are becoming more and more commonplace around the world. Dutch company Clear Flight Solutions, however, might be the first business to create 3D printed flying birdsan experiment that could revolutionize the bird management industry. Birds are, without doubt, incredible creatures. Some people devote their entire lives to ornithology, and many of us keep parrots or budgerigars as pets. In some lines of work, however, the presence of birds can be something of an albatross around a companys neck. For thousands of years, farmers have deployed scarecrows to discourage birds from snacking on precious crops, while airports, sanitation areas, and harbors must also prevent avifauna from damaging important equipment. Scarecrows still perform a vital role in agriculture, but their efficacy is understandably limited. Birds can eventually stop fearing the stationaryor sometimes animatedfigures, prompting farmers, airport staff, and other victims of the winged creatures to invest in new anti-bird technologies. Since 2012, Clear Flight Solutions, a project devised by students from the University of Twente, Netherlands, has presented an innovative solution to the age-old problem of flying pests: a highly realistic remote control, 3D printed peregrine falcon, designed to instill fear into the hearts of smaller birds on farms, airports, and other necessarily bird-free locations. Unlike more extreme forms of pest control, Robirds provide a balanced, controllable method of influencing an ecosystem. Targeted birds are not directly harmed by the 3D printed model; they are simply ushered away from the protected area. The 3D printed Robirds flap their wings in a birdlike manner, demonstrating a realism miles ahead of the traditional scarecrow. We create raptors and other birds believe theyre real because of the way they look and fly, explained Nico Nijenhuis, Clear Flight Solutions CEO. This way, we can drive away birds from certain areas. Creating the impressive 3D printed robot birds was far from an easy task for Nijenhuis and his now-15-strong team, but 3D printing eventually proved to be the ideal manufacturing technique for the robotic birds. In 2013, Clear Flight Solutions approached Materialise with its business plan, and the 3D printing giant, wise as an owl, was keen to get on board with the project. The two companies worked on various prototypes, eventually opting to laser sinter the bird in glass-filled polyamide, with all necessary internal fixation points for mechanical components directly printed inside the body. 3D printing provides a lot of freedom to make beautiful bird shapes, Nijenhuis noted. 3D printing has enabled Clear Flight Solutions to produce a high-quality product, while allowing continual modifications and improvements to be made at relatively little cost. Some big advantages of 3D printing are, for instance, the freedom in the shaping process, and the ease with which you can adjust your model, Nijenhuis continued. This way, you can really use it as rapid manufacturing. We dont have to make any molds, which would then be impossible to adjust. Very easily, we can modify the shape, the internal structure, the wires inside the bird. 3D printing really provides immense freedom. An early prototype While Robirds are already available to farmers as a viable alternative to scarecrows, implementing the 3D printed creations in airports has been a slower process, due to the rigorous safety precautions employed at such locations. Clear Flight Solutions has, however, already scheduled its maiden airport flight. In February 2017, the company will fly one of its 3D printed birds of prey at Weeze Airport in Germany. The company had been in discussions with representatives at Amsterdams Schiphol Airport, but due to stricter regulations, implementation of the 3D printed birds at a Netherlands airport has been postponed for the time being. Clear Flight Solutions hopes that, in the near future, it will be able to develop 3D printed birds which can autonomously locate and chase flocks of real birds, identifying the correct targets in the correct locations as a duck takes to water. The company recently received an investment of 1.6 million from Cottonwood Euro Technology Fund, which has helped the company to take on new staff and expand its bird management projects. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Emmanuel Koko wrote at 5/10/2018 4:42:39 AM:Please how can I acquire some of these robobirds for my rice farm? I live in Ghana. Apr 14, 2016 | By Tess Charts and graphs, though necessary in many business meetings, do not really convey any notions of fun or excitement. In order to liven up their own business data and statistics, and to show what fun can actually be had with infographics, Belgian biopharmaceutical company Ablynx enlisted the help of local creative branding studio Coming Soon. The result of the collaboration is a series of inspired and amusing 3D printed infographics that would make just about anyone want to pay attention to Ablynxs annual report. The infographic project consists of eight images, each showcasing the digitally drawn graphs or charts as well as their 3D printed counterparts. The latter include 3D printed pie charts, line graphs, and bar graphs. Additionally, each of the 3D printed infographics is composed in such a way that not only communicates the data and statistics, but also a playful and engaging approach to presenting a report. As youll notice from the photos, the design team at Coming Soon, made up of creative director Jim van Raembonck, art director Phoebe De Corte, designer Dries Caekebeke, and 3D printing expert Kobe Mertens, also decided to add small miniature figures to the 3D printed charts and tables, effectively making the graphs a sort of playground for the tiny figurines. In the spread which details Ablynxs overall performance through a line graph, tiny mountain climbers scale the jagged orange 3D printed graph; to illustrate cash income and expenses a small child swings from a blue green and yellow bar and line graph; and the breakdown of the share capital spread, for its part, displays two figurines ascending a spiral staircase 3D printed pie chart. While incredibly amusing, the 3D printed charts and graphs also accurately convey the companys numbers and statistical information, therefore relaying actual information through a fun visual means. To delve further into the statistical information, the companies have also included digital graphics to accompany the 3D printed ones, as well as a comprehensive digital graph alongside them. According to Coming Soon, the pieces for the project took them two entire weeks to 3D print, and the effort seems to have been well worth it. The Belgian creative design company has worked with infographics before, having designed and created a series of giant infographics for Ablynx in the past. Though evidently a more costly and time consuming process than simply printing out graphs on paper, we cant help but hope more companies will follow Albynxs lead and get inspired to add some fun and originality to their annual reports and statistics. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Apr 14, 2016 | By Tess Perhaps one of the most inspirational recent uses of 3D printing has been the development and creation of a number of custom fitted 3D printed prosthetic hands for children with disabilities. The global community of makers who have dedicated themselves, through the e-NABLE network, to designing and 3D printing prosthetic hands, have changed a number of young lives for the better, including that of fourth grader Peyton Andry, who recently received a 3D printed hand from the organization. To help further advance the quality of the 3D printed prosthetic hands that are being made by maker volunteers and to ensure their usability for those wearing them, a team of students from the Rice University in Houston, Texas have developed a force-testing device that is capable of measuring how efficient the 3D printed hand is. The research team, which has appropriately dubbed itself Carpel Diem, is made up of two mechanical engineers, Rachel Sterling and Amber Wang, two bioengineering majors, Nicolette Chamberlain-Simon and Michaela Dimoff, and computer engineering major Nirali Desai. Together, they initially set out to design their own 3D printed hand prosthetic but soon realized that what was maybe more necessary was a way to test existing designs, to determine their efficacy and usability. As Amber Wong explains, Children born without full hands are forced to adapt to the world and figure out how to go about their daily routines. If a prosthetic hand is not absolutely perfect in its function, the child will probably discard it and return to his or her own adaptive ways. To test the 3D printed prosthetics, the team from Rice University came up with a novel device that can test how efficiently force exerted by the wearer is transferred to the artificial hands own movement. Typically, the 3D printed hands are attached to the wearer who can control the prosthetic finger movements, instructing them to grab or hold objects by moving their wrist in a certain way. How much effort is necessary to get a 3D printed hand to grip or hold, however, depends entirely on its design. If a kid has to put in five pounds of force to only get one pound of grip, thats a lot of lost efficiency because of how these hands are designed, says Rachel Sterling. Until we reach a force efficiency of 100 percent, the hands arent going to be useful. The force-testing device consists of a motorized wrist and palm rig which is capable of moving up to 60 degrees in any direction, a number of objects, such as a cylinder, a sphere, and a rectangular prism which are equipped with force sensors, and a user-friendly control program. Using the control program, the movement of the mechanical wrist can be set which in turn moves the hand and fingers of the 3D printed prosthetic hand. By moving the wrist rig, the 3D printed hand can pick up the sensor embedded objects, which can then determine details about force strength and distribution. These types of testing devices are not common fare within the 3D printed prosthetic hand industry, as Nirali Desai explains, The industry standards for testing these kinds of devices are not very well established. We had to get very creative about how we were going to test the accuracy and precision of our device. Carpal Diem is hoping that their force-testing device will continue to be developed and ultimately be made available to volunteers at e-NABLE so that they can easily 3D print and test prototypes for different prosthetic hand designs. Eventually, they are even hoping to provide makers with the specifications necessary to create their very own testing devices, so that no 3D printed prosthetic hand will be unsuitable. The testing device, which was developed as part of a senior capstone design project, will be on display at the Universitys Engineering Design Showcase, and might even have the chance to win a prize of up to $5,000. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Johnny Zhu wrote at 4/22/2016 5:17:43 PM:I think it is really cool that this group made this force testing device because it can test force of a prosthetic hand. I agree with Rachel Sterling, who is in the team, Carpel Diem. She said that the prosthetic hands will be useless if they have to use 5 pounds of force to pick up a 1 pound of grip. I think it was amazing that a few college kids actually thought of this! The device got put in the Universitys Engineering Design Showcase and they have a chance to win up to $5,000! ACAs library of educational tools help members improve their business practices. ACA also holds the most popular industry conferences and offers credentialing for collectors, attorneys, and more. ACAs Training Zone subscription gives agencies access to almost all of our education for one low cost. IMGCAP(1)]The American Institute of CPAs is pushing for legislation that would make it easier for employees who work across state lines to do their taxes. The Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act of 2015 was introduced in the U.S. House on May 14, 2015 as H.R. 2315 by Rep. Mike Bishop (R-Mich.) and Hank Johnson (D-Ga.). The legislation would set a 30-day safe harbor from personal income tax and withholding obligations for traveling employees and their employers, including businesses, associations, governments and unions. Employees traveling to a nonresident state for fewer than 30 days would incur no personal income tax liability in the nonresident state, and the employer would have no withholding obligation. The AICPA urged Congress to pass the bill at a hearing on April 13, 2016 before the House Small Business Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access. The hearing explored how the tax code could be simplified to help small businesses. Troy K. Lewis, chair of the AICPA Tax Executive Committee, testified, The AICPA strongly supports H.R. 2315. We believe the bill is an important step towards state tax simplification for small businesses. It would provide relief, which is long overdue, from the current web of inconsistent state income tax and withholding rules on nonresident employees. The rules are burdensome and often bewildering to small businesses and their employees. Lewis cited some of the complexities in the rules: There are states that tax wages even if the employee only works in the state for one day. Some states provide a de minimis number of days, or a de minimis earnings amount before employers must withhold tax on employees wages. However, these vary widely from state to state. For example, individuals are subject to state tax withholding after working 59 days in Arizona, 15 days in New Mexico, or just 14 days in Connecticut. States with a de minimis exemption based on wages earned vary widely. Out-of-state employers are required to withhold state taxes once an employee earns $1,500 in Wisconsin, $1,000 in Idaho, $800 in South Carolina and $300 a quarter in Oklahoma. As CPAs, we see, firsthand, small businesses on Main Street and their employees getting caught up in this web of inconsistent state income tax and withholding rules, Lewis said. Consider a real estate developer, whose employee visits 20 prospective sites in 20 different states, and spends less than a day in each state, or a store manager who attends a half-day regional meeting in another state, with some of these meetings occurring only twice a year. Unfortunately, small businesses are forced to comply with all of the variations from state to state, and some states have extremely complicated rules, he said. For example, Georgia requires withholding when a nonresident employee works more than 23 days in a calendar quarter, or if 5 percent of total earned income is attributable to Georgia, or if the compensation for services there is more than $5,000 a year. The employer must determine and calculate each of the three thresholds to determine when to withhold for each employee working occasionally in that state. The financial impact to most states would be minimal were the bill to pass, according to Lewis. After taking into consideration their costs for processing nonresident tax returns, we believe these states receive only a minimal benefitif anyfrom forcing out-of-state employees to file a return for just a few days of work, he stated. The reception given the AICPA position at the hearing was fabulous, Lewis said. There were a lot of representatives who attended who were very supportive of the bill. Many were cosponsors, which is a function of the effort of the AICPA and the Governing Council. My point was that not only do we represent clients that are small businesses, but many of our members are small business owners themselves, and many require limited travel. We are confronted with the same issue as our clients. The bill currently has 136 cosponsors, according to Lewis. It tells us that congressional members get it, he said. It was well received on a bipartisan basis, with no apparent opposition. Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen defended the IRSs cybersecurity efforts during a contentious congressional hearing Thursday on the IRSs ability to protect taxpayer systems. Securing our systems and taxpayer data continues to be a top priority for the IRS, Koskinen said during a hearing before the House Science Committees Subcommittee on Research and Technology. Even with our constrained resources as a result of repeatedly decreased funding over the past few years, we continue to devote significant time and attention to this challenge, which is twofold. First, the IRS works continuously to protect our main computer systems from cyber incidents, intrusions and attacks, but our primary focus is to prevent criminals from accessing taxpayer information stored in our databases. These core tax processing systems remain secure, through a combination of cyber defenses, which currently withstand more than one million attempts to maliciously access our systems each day. Second, the IRS is waging an ongoing battle to protect taxpayers and their information as we confront the growing problem of stolen identity refund fraud. Committee chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, pointed to recent reports from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the Government Accountability Office that found problems with the IRSs identity authentication methods and cybersecurity. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has identified a number of ongoing cybersecurity system gaps and IRS failures to fully implement certain security controls, he said. The report found that of 28 prior GAO cybersecurity recommendations to the IRS, nine have not been effectively implemented. These gaps could open the door for cyber criminals to steal confidential taxpayer data. The past years IRS breaches are especially troubling. Taxpayer data was fraudulently accessed, not through a forcible compromise of the computer systems, but by hackers who correctly answered security questions that should have only been answerable by the actual individual. Smith acknowledged the hackers probably had originally accessed the data they used to compromise the IRSs system from prior high-profile hacks, such as data breaches last year at the federal governments Office of Personnel Management and at Anthem Health Insurance. Koskinen pointed out that the IRS has never experienced a data breach of its database in its history, although he acknowledged information already in the hands of cybercriminals was used to access the IRSs online Get Transcript and Identity Protection PIN systems. The reality is criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and are gathering vast amounts of personal information as the result of data breaches at sources outside the IRS, said Koskinen. We must balance the strongest possible authentication processes with the ability of taxpayers to legitimately access their data and use IRS services online. It is important to note that cybercrime (theft by unauthorized access) and privacy breaches are increasing across the country in all areas of government and industry. Cybercriminals and their methods continue to grow in sophistication, frequency, brazenness, volume and impact. The IRS will continue to be challenged in our ability to maintain currency with latest technologies, processes and counter-measures. Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., who chairs the Research and Technology Subcommittee, said she too had suffered from the breach at the Office of Personnel Management. While I appreciate the IRS efforts to accommodate most peoples desire to access their tax information electronically, it cannot do so at the expense of their security, she said. As someone whose information was compromised in last years OPM hack, I assure you, more security is better than less. This would also help many of my federal employee constituents who were impacted by the OPM breach, as well as by last years Anthem cyber-attack. As one of the largest health insurance providers in the Commonwealth, the Anthem hack hit particularly close to home for us too. J. Russell George, head of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, confirmed the seriousness of the cybersecurity threat facing the federal government and the IRS in particular. Cybersecurity threats against the federal government continue to grow, he said. Since 2011, my office has identified the security of taxpayer data as the most serious management and performance challenge confronting the IRS. According to the Department of Homeland Securitys U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, federal agencies reported 77,183 cyberattacks in FY 2015, an increase of more than 10 percent from FY 2014. George acknowledged that hackers are using the information they get from other data breaches to access the IRSs systems. The increasing number of data breaches in the private and public sectors means more personal information than ever before is available to unscrupulous individuals, he said. Much of these data are detailed enough to enable circumvention of most authentication processes. Therefore, it is critical that the methods the IRS uses to authenticate individuals identities provide a high level of confidence that tax information and services are provided only to individuals who are entitled to receive them. The risk of unauthorized access to tax accounts will continue to grow as the IRS focuses its efforts on delivering online tools to taxpayers. The IRSs goal is to eventually provide taxpayers with dynamic online account access that includes viewing their recent payments, making minor changes and adjustments to their accounts, and corresponding digitally with the IRS. Gregory C. Wilshusen, director of information security issues at the Government Accountability Office, presented a GAO report on the IRSs continuing challenges with cybersecurity. The report noted that in March, the GAO reported that the IRS had instituted numerous controls over key financial and tax processing systems, but it had not always effectively implemented safeguards to properly restrict access to the systems and information (see IRS Faulted for Controls over Financial and Taxpayer Data). In particular, while the IRS had improved some of its access controls, weaknesses remain with identifying and authenticating users, authorizing users level of rights and privileges, encrypting sensitive data, auditing and monitoring network activity, and physically securing its computing resources. The weaknesses were due in part to the IRSs inconsistent implementation of its agency-wide security program, including not fully implementing a variety of GAO recommendations. National tax preparation chains are exploiting the working poor by forcing them to spend a significant portion of the Earned Income Tax Credit just to pay for filing their taxes, according to a new report, and H&R Block is firing back. The report, from the Progressive Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, found that workers eligible for the EITC continue to spend fees averaging around $400 at national tax preparation chains such as Block and Liberty Tax Service. The report was coauthored by Paul Weinstein Jr., a senior fellow at PPI and director of the Public Management Graduate Program at Johns Hopkins University, and Bethany Patten, a policy and research manager at Excellent Schools Detroit. In a recent survey of storefront operations in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., the researchers found that those eligible for the EITC, who are typically low-income workers with children, would spend between 13 and 22 percent of their refund this year at local tax preparation outlets. In Baltimore, where the average EITC refund is $2,335, the cost to file ranged from $309 at H&R Block to $509 at Liberty Tax Service. In Washington, D.C., where the average EITC refund is $2,351, the cost to file ranged from $315 at H&R Block to $485 at Liberty Tax Service. H&R Block challenged the study. This report from the Progressive Policy Institute is not worth the paper it was written on, said a statement forwarded Thursday by spokesman Gene King. It is a highly-biased work co-authored by Paul Weinstein, who, by the way, presented as a speaker at an Intuit-sponsored forum in January 2015. Intuit is the maker of TurboTax. With that said, and taking into consideration the numerous examples of misleading or outdated information contained in this report, as well as the lack of transparency regarding its funding, we strongly recommend that media, policy makers and the public disregard it entirely given its lack of credibility. In their study, Weinstein and Patten contend that national tax preparation chains are targeting EITC filers by locating in areas where the largest numbers of EITC claims are made. ZIP codes with the highest level of EITC filers have approximately 75 percent more tax preparers per filer than moderate-EITC ZIP codes. The study found a clear relationship between the share of EITC filers in a ZIP code and the areas saturation of tax preparation chains. Government studies, as well as those by nonprofit organizations, consistently show a high error rate for returns filed on behalf of EITC beneficiaries by paid tax preparers, according to the report. Two studies by the Government Accountability Office found an error rate of 89 and 94 percent respectively. Last year the head of the GAO stated that in an analysis of IRS data, an estimated 60 percent of returns prepared by preparers contained errors. These realities demand a public response, wrote Weinstein and Patten. But proposals to further complicate the tax code in the name of reducing fraud would only make the problem worse. Instead, U.S. policymakers should establish a national goal of reducing the dependence of low-wage workers on paid tax preparers. Specifically, this would mean taking steps to simplify EITC rules and requirements, by requiring all paid preparers to take competency exams, increasing access to free filing programs, and/or streamlining the federal income tax code in its entirety. A combination of these reforms would allow low-income workers to keep more of their tax credit while also raising standards within the paid tax preparation sector. H&R Block argued that the methodology behind the report was shoddy. To begin, the research and methodology is extremely poor, said Block. Significant findings in the study are based on an informal survey of major tax preparers over six days in two cities. There was no comparative assessment of how taxpayers are or arent served by the DIY software providers (of which H&R Block is the second largest provider). There also was no mention of the error rate for individuals filing their own EITC returns. H&R Block was offended that the report casts doubt on the companys efforts to prevent the enormous levels of fraud and improper payments associated with the EITC. H&R Block simply made the common sense suggestionand obtained concurrencethat the eligibility questions should be the same for all taxpayers, regardless of the methodology they use to file, said the company. H&R Blocks efforts are about preventing the $14-$17 billion in annual fraud and improper payments so that the EITC program is protected for taxpayers who are the intended beneficiariesand nothing more. Anyone who argues H&R Blocks motives are different is not really committed to fixing a gaping hole in EITC eligibility (or to reducing the billions of dollars in improper EITC payments) that will continue until unequal filing standards are addressed. All taxpayers, and especially the intended beneficiaries of the EITC program, deserve equal treatment. The report follows up on a 2002 study by researchers at PPI and Brookings Institution, which found that tax preparations services, clustered in low-income neighborhoods, cost workers eligible for EITC refunds about $1.75 billion. The Earned Income Tax Credit was established in 1974 as an anti-poverty measure. It has become the federal governments largest safety net program, last year providing $66.7 billion to 27.5 million Americans. It is especially valuable to low- and middle-income workers, since it provides a direct credit against taxes owed rather than a deduction from reported income. It is also a refundable credit, meaning an eligible worker can receive a refund even if the credit exceeds what would have been his or her federal income tax liability. H&R Block said it found the report offensive. Perhaps the most offensive aspect of this report is the absolutely unfounded suggestion that H&R Block is in any way preying on the poor, said the company. Theres simply no other tax company doing more to help low income families than H&R Block. We are experts on EITC and know how to help qualifying clients. We work hard to get our clients their maximum refunds and, importantly, we stand behind our work by guaranteeing its accuracy. In addition, H&R Block is one of the largest Free File Alliance (FFA) providers, filing one out of 4 FFA returns thats free tax support for those making under $62,000 a year. Further, we get 85 percent of our clientsfrom all demographics and income levelsa refund with the average amount of $3,000. Block contended that it is not taking advantage of low-income workers. Its also an absolute falsehood to suggest we try to take advantage of lower income Americans by locating our offices in their neighborhoods, said the company. The fact is H&R Blocks 10,400 offices in the United States are located in all kinds of communities. In fact, we have an office within five miles of 95 percent of Americanscovering all demographics and income levelsand we are pleased to represent each and every one of our clients. H&R Block has a proud 62-year history of serving clients. We have prepared over 680 million tax returns since 1955. We have 80,000 tax prosa virtual armyworking every day to serve taxpayers with the quality they deserve and have come to expect. Commsoft announced today that the Slovakia based charter airline, Go2Sky, has chosen the MRO IT system OASES, to support both CAMO and other engineering activities on its current fleet of three Boeing 737-400s and a recently introduced Boeing 737-800NG. Based in Bratislava, at Milan Rastislav Stefanik airport, Go2Sky provides non-scheduled transportation of passengers, cargo and mail. Its aircraft have also been leased in recent months to other airlines, including Mistral Air, Norwegian, Royal Air Maroc and Czech Airlines. A best-of-breed system, OASES offers an industry-leading technical sophistication whilst being intuitively user-friendly. To allow for scalability, the system is structured in a modular format and Go2Sky has selected the Core, Airworthiness, Planning, Line Maintenance and Materials modules. This is a five-year contract for five concurrent users and the system will be hosted on Commsofts OASES Cloud service. Nick Godwin, Commsoft Managing Director, commented: Were delighted to welcome Go2Sky into the OASES community. We currently have over 35 OASES customers in Eastern and Central Europe and Go2Sky will be Commsofts third airline customer in Slovakia. Daniel Ferjancek, CEO and Accountable Manager of Go2Sky, added: "We have chosen OASES as our MRO IT provider in tandem with the introduction of the first B737NG aircraft to our fleet. We have found OASES a great tool to support our daily CAMO tasks and forward maintenance planning." Oman Air has launched the airline's second daily, non-stop and direct service between Muscat and London Heathrow. The first flight of the new service took place on Tuesday 12th April with over 200 passengers on board. That evening Oman Airs Chief Executive Officer, Paul Gregorowitsch, hosted a modest celebratory dinner at a Londons restaurant. Guests included His Excellency Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Zahir Al Hinai, Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman, John Holland-Kaye, CEO of London Heathrow Airport and senior figures from the UK travel trade. The inaugural flight - which landed at Heathrow at 06.30 on 12th April - was met by officials from the airport, who offered an official airside welcome, including a cake cutting ceremony. Paul Gregorowitsch commented: On behalf of Oman Air, I am delighted to be joined by so many frequent flyers already to celebrate the launch of our new service between Muscat and London. This is one of Oman Airs flagship routes and our second daily frequency is a clear indication of the strong demand for flights between these two great cities. As a result of this new service, many thousands more travellers will be able to visit Oman and discover its remarkable beauty and warm hospitality, or continue on to one of Oman Airs many other exciting destinations. In addition, customers will enjoy even more choice and convenience as they travel to London from any point within our rapidly-growing network. In addition with our double daily flights to London we offer now superb connectivity on the North Atlantic, with major cities in the USA and Canada in reach with short connection times at London Heathrow within 3 hours. Furthermore, the depth of the relationship between the Sultanate of Oman and the United Kingdom is clearly illustrated by the presence at our celebration of His Excellency Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Zahir Al Hinai, the Omani Ambassador. Oman Airs new service will further strengthen the long-held economic and political ties between the two countries. It has been an honour to share our celebrations with His Excellency, with John Holland-Kaye of Heathrow Airport, and with so many of our vital partners within Britains travel trade. The new service flies through the night, departing Muscat at 01.25 and arriving in London Heathrow Terminal 4 at 06.30. Return flights depart Heathrow Terminal 4 at 08.25 and arrive in Muscat at 18.55. All timings quoted are local. The service therefore enables short connection times to major US cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Toronto in Canada. It builds on the success of Oman Airs first service between Muscat and London, which was launched in 2007. This departs Muscat at 14.00 and arrives at Heathrow Terminal 3 at 18.20. Return flights depart Heathrow Terminal 3 at 20.15 and arrive in Muscat the following morning at 07.35. The city of Montgomery was formally presented with the Altus Trophy as the community having the best relationship with its military partners in Air Education and Training Command for 2015 during a ceremony April 11 at the U.S. Federal Courthouse. Presenting the trophy to Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange were Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson, commander of Air Education and Training Command, and Dr. Joe Leverett, the chairman of the Altus Trophy selection committee. The Altus Trophy, established in 2010, recognizes AETC's top community supporters and is also known as the AETC Community Support Award. It is presented annually by the Altus, Oklahoma, chamber of commerce. Montgomery was announced as the winner of the trophy March 23. During the ceremony at the courthouse, Roberson spoke about the enduring legacy of Montgomery's support to Maxwell, going back to the days of the Wright brothers' civilian flying school in 1910 to the establishment of Air University in 1947 at the start of the Air Force as a separate military service. "You have been supporting our Airmen and everything they do for the mission every day," he said. "You have been taking care of our families for a long, long time, and we are so appreciative of that." In listing some of the city's accomplishments over the year, Roberson specifically highlighted the community's support to Air University's Alabama Goodwill Ambassadors Program, a program where civilians volunteer to be sponsors of international officers and their families who are attending schools at the university. "What you're doing is establishing relationships with partners around the world that has made a difference time after time and will continue to make a huge difference as world events occur," he said. "The time to know each other is not in a crisis. The time to know each other is beforehand when you can make lasting bonds, and that's what happens here." Maxwell commanders also spoke about the community's support to Airmen and River Region residents' devotion to country. "This trophy represents what is in the 'water' here," said Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, commander of Air University, "A fighting spirit of patriotism that recognizes that American exceptionalism is forged in a relationship between a community of civil society and the military that defends it." The commander of the 42nd Air Base Wing, Col. Andrea Tullos, said she has been fortunate to have served in military communities where civic leaders have supported the military and know what it means to serve. "But," she said, "I have never worked in a community that has been able to take that essence and get it down to every single person on the street that I come across." The mayor said he plans to have the trophy on display at various locations throughout the city for the rest of the year. He added that winning the award is a reflection of the city's and Maxwell's mutual support for each other. "This is a significant honor for our community," said Strange. "We win it together. We do not win it as a community in absence of the base. We are now in a position to claim that we are the best hometown in the Air Force." Previous winners of the Altus Trophy include Columbus, Mississippi; Wichita Falls, Texas; Del Rio, Texas; Enid, Oklahoma; and San Angelo, Texas. Nearly 650 family members reach US from Turkey within 74 hours Minutes after an ordered departure of Defense Department family members and civilians assigned to locations in Turkey, mobility Airmen sprang into action around the world, preparing to execute missions that would ensure a safe and speedy airlift for them and their pets. The combined mission effort was accomplished within 74 hours following the initial order on March 29. Around 650 passengers and 70 pets were moved using three contracted commercial aircraft and six C-17 Globemaster III aircraft assigned to Air Mobility Command, according to data compiled by the 618th Air Operations Center at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. The mandatory departure came at the recommendation of Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, the commander of U.S. European Command. In a press conference held March 29, Peter Cook, the Pentagon press secretary, said the decision to move dependents was made "out of an abundance of caution." The DOD spokesman also emphasized that the decision was not triggered by a specific threat, but rather the broader scope of security threats playing out in the region. "This decision allows for the deliberate safe return of family members from these areas due to continued security concerns in the region, he said. It in no way signifies a permanent decision to end accompanied tours at these facilities and is specifically intended to mitigate the risk to DOD elements and personnel, including family. After the passenger movement was validated by U.S. Transportation Command, Special Assignment Airlift Mission and Global Channel planners at the 618th AOC worked together to phase the required aircraft through normal en route bases and move the families to their desired home destinations. Lawrence Gray, the 618th AOC deputy director of current operations, said that once USTRANSCOM confirmed mission requirements and the estimated number of passengers needing airlift, flowing the aircraft through Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, at a rate that met the needs of the 39th Air Base Wing was all that was needed to successfully execute the ordered departure. "Having previously been assigned to Incirlik myself, it was a little disheartening to see the families have to leave; but it was good to see the footage of the families moving through the transportation system to their desired destinations on TV and know that we were able to rapidly respond to get them a step closer to home," Gray said. Brig. Gen. Brian Robinson, the 618th AOC commander, highlighted the important role readiness played in moving families to safety. "Taking care of our Airmen and their families is a top priority in our Air Force," Robinson said. "Employing rapid global mobility was crucial to ensure that family members could safely depart Turkey. On March 30, those being evacuated began to arrive at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where members of the 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing, the 86th Airlift Wing and others throughout the Kaiserslautern military community stood ready to welcome the travelers and ease their transition. "What we tried to do is ease the stress of travel for the family members and take care of their needs as they came in (to the passenger terminal)," said Senior Master Sgt. Stephen Holland, of the 721st Aerial Port Squadron. "I can imagine myself being downrange and getting the notification that my family is leaving in a few hours. I would want someone to assist them." While some families remained at Ramstein AB, many continued their journey back to the states and other authorized safe-haven locations. On March 31, flights bound for the U.S. began arriving at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in Baltimore. Members of Detachment 1, 305th Aerial Port Squadron greeted families and assisted with their final travel arrangements to locations throughout the States. A number of other support agencies, including the USO and Red Cross, stepped in to provide food, comfort items and assistance during the ordered departure. Industry partners also bolstered the seamless transition of families as they arrived at both Ramstein AB and BWI. Lt. Col. Bary Flack, the 305th APS commander, said he was thrilled with how his team of Airmen assisted families and coordinated with numerous agencies and commands at Ramstein AB and BWI. "The partnership with the BWI airport authorities has been outstanding," Flack said. "They've been great partners. To see not only how our folks adapted, but (also how) the airport's (staff) adapted." Gen. Carlton Everhart II, the AMC commander, said the success and speed of this passenger movement was a shining example of the command's mission to provide rapid global mobility. "Rapid global mobility is the heart of what we do," Everhart said. "Thanks to our ability to reach any corner of the globe in a matter of hours and the skill of our Airmen, we were able to act quickly and deliver critical airlift when our military family needed us most." In September, concurrent travel of accompanying dependents was suspended and the voluntary departure of Air Force families was approved amid concerns about increasing unrest in the region. This move resulted in the relocation of about 100 family members. (Editor's note: Some information was taken from stories published by 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs, 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs and Air Force News Service.) Belgium Arrests Belgian-Moroccan and Four Others Related to Paris and Brussels Attacks International media reports say Belgian forces arrested five terror suspects on Friday, including a Belgian Moroccan named Mohammed Abrini the last known fugitive responsible for the deadly attacks in Paris last November. Belgian prosecutor, Eric Van der Sypt told reporters that it remains unclear whether the man in the hat seen on a surveillance video taken at the Brussels airport minutes before the attacks was indeed Abrini. We are investigating if Abrini can be identified as the third person at the Brussels national airport, the so- called man with the hat, Van der Sypt said. The attacks on the airport and a subway station in Brussels stop, killed 32 people on March 22nd. The second man arrested on Friday, Osama Krayem, also known as Naim al Ahmed, was the leader of the ring of terrorists who killed atleast 31 people in the Belgian capital last month, a French official said. News of the Abrinis arrest come one day after local authorities released new videos of a man in a black hat and a white jacket pushing a luggage cart at the airport next to two of the terrorists who later blew themselves up. Authorities said Abrini also has a bomb on the car, but itt failed to detonate. International arrest warrants implicated Abrini as a key suspect involved in the ISIS-affiliated shootings and bombings in the French capital that led to the demise of 130 people. The warrants said he was seen on video driving a now-arrested terror suspect, Salah Abdeslam, to Paris two days before the attacks on November 13th. Authorities said they arrested Abrini in Anderlecht a community located next to largely Muslim neighborhood named Molenbeek, located near Brussels. More police operations in Anderlecht continued late Friday Morocco and the African Development Bank (AfDB) signed, on Friday in Rabat, loan and guarantee agreements totaling 112.30 million dollars related to the project of reinforcing the railway infrastructure of the National Railways Office (ONCF). The guarantee agreement related to the said project was inked by Economy Minister Mohamed Boussaid and Yacine Fal, AfDB resident representative in Morocco, said the Economy Ministry in a statement. This agreement is aimed at contributing to increase the railway transportation offer between Casablanca and Marrakech, and improve the capacity and service quality in stations between Tangier and Casablanca to meet the needs of goods and travelers traffic by the year 2020, it added. Concerning the loan agreement related to this project, it was signed by Yacine Fal and ONCF director general Mohamed Rabie Khlie. Speaking at the signing ceremony, attended by Equipment and Transport Minister Aziz Rabbah, Boussaid commended the cooperation ties between Morocco and AfDB, underlining the diversity of AfDB-funded reform programs and investment projects since the beginning of cooperation between the two parties in 1970. The Bank has 29 operations under way in Morocco amounting to 1.53 billion euros. Moroccan Sovereign King Mohammed VI, accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan haved chaired on Friday in Rabat, the launching ceremony of the new project by the Renault group in Morocco Renault Ecosystem, a project that will place the Kingdoms car industry on the international scene. During the ceremony, an institutional film was screened to show the progress witnessed in the national industrial sector over the past years thanks to the industrial acceleration plan dated April 2, 2014. The new project consists of developing an international supply platform, noting that the said project has an additional turnover of 20 billion dirhams yearly, thus increasing threefold the amount of manufactured parts purchased by Renault on the Moroccan territory. This ecosystem will treble the number of jobs created by Renault, generating 50,000 new permanent jobs, On this occasion, the minister of industry, trade, investment and digital economy Moulay Hafid Elalamy gave a speech before the King in which he presented the broad lines of the said project which testifies to the trust Morocco enjoys internationally on the back of the countrys stability, attractiveness and good governance. The minister underlines that the training of new executives will be provided by proven mechanisms in the automobile sector. And that the project will achieve a local integration of 65% and will reach the size needed by many components manufacturers to gain a foothold in Morocco. The minister announced also that We will start, today in Tangiers, with the convention of Renault components manufacturers bringing together over 600 people to make the project fully operational, Highlighting the positive impact of the industrial acceleration plan and the re-structuring of the industrial sector with effective and inclusive ecosystems, the official noted that Morocco succeeded, thanks to this industrial strategy, to integrate in a record time the in-group of 31 countries producing and exporting engines. The automobile ecosystems will double, by the year 2020, the number of jobs to reach over 160,000, in addition, automobile exports will reach over 100 billion dirhams per year, he said. For his part, Renault Chairman for Africa-Middle East-India Region Bernard Cambier said that, through the Renault Ecosystem project, the French group intends to boost its industrial and commercial presence in the Kingdom. He underlined the untiring action by the Moroccan government, under the Kings leadership, to promote education and training notably in the automobile sector via the creation, for example, of institutes for training on automobile-related jobs. These assets place Morocco among countries that made progress in the field of industrial manufacturing quality. The quality of +Made in Morocco+ products is recognized by our group. One of the challenges facing the ecosystem is to continue progress in this area and ensure excellence, he added. Prospects of development are very important for all actors of Renault ecosystem as they rely on the Moroccan markets dynamism and the growth of exports, in addition to the development of the Iberian base, he said. He also mentioned other fields to promote the development of the Moroccan base as spare parts, toolmaking, engineering at competitive costs and supply of equipment. On this occasion, the King Mohammed VI chaired the signing ceremony of three agreements related to the said project. The first agreement is a framework-agreement on the setting up of the Renault ecosystem; the second agreement, related to the industrial real estate; and the third agreement is related to the training of executives and vocational training in the automobile sector. From his side the CEO of Renault-Nissan Group, Carlos Ghosn, on Friday hailed the constant support of King Mohammed VI to group projects in the Kingdom. I praise the constant support brought by HM King Mohammed VI to our group. Under His impulse, the government has always stood alongside our group and its partners to facilitate their implementation and to encourage their development, Ghosn said in a video-testimony screened at the launch ceremony, held Friday under the chairmanship of King Mohammed VI, of the new project of the Renault group. Ghosn called upon Renault partners to write, with the constant support of the King and His government, the next chapter in the industrial and commercial adventure of the group in the Kingdom under the sign of leadership, confidence and competitiveness. The current challenge for the Renault group is building an ecosystem based on the effective contribution of all stakeholders, the CEO of Renault-Nissan said, noting that the conditions for the success of the Renault ecosystem are based on continuing progress in quality made in recent years by our supplier partners, as well as improving their competitiveness. Frances Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Saturday said he had deep regrets over Algerias refusal to issue visas to two French journalists in a row over the so-called Panama Papers revelations. Frances Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Saturday (Apr 9) he had deep regrets over Algerias refusal to issue visas to two French journalists in a row over the so-called Panama Papers revelations. I will bring up this point with friendship and frankness while feeling deep regrets over the decision, Valls tweeted before arriving in Algiers accompanied by several cabinet ministers. We share a common vision on many subjects, including Libya, Valls told reporters after being welcomed by Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal. We will work together in the next few hours. We are here because friendship between Algeria and France is above minor problems, he added in an apparent reference to the visa row. The journalists from Le Monde newspaper and television show Le Petit Journal on Canal+ were to have covered Valls visit, during which economic accords are expected to be signed. Several French media outlets decided to boycott the trip in protest at Algerias decision, including Le Mondes rival newspapers Liberation and Le Figaro, as well as public radio stations France Inter and France Culture. On Wednesday, Algiers summoned French Ambassador Bernard Emie to complain about a hostile campaign against the North African nation by French media following the Panama Papers leak. Le Monde was one of a large group of papers worldwide to publish stories after the leak of millions of financial records showing how Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca had helped firms and wealthy individuals set up offshore companies. On Tuesday, it published a front-page photo of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika before later clarifying that his name does not appear in the Panama Papers. It was not immediately clear why Algeria refused to grant a visa to Le Petit Journal, but the satirical show has frequently reported on the health of 78-year-old Bouteflika. Valls spoke to Sellal earlier in the week to try to get the ban lifted, but without success, a source close to the French premier said. Around 20 media outlets had been accredited to cover Valls visit to Frances former colony. French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron, who is accompanying Valls, is expected to meet his influential Algerian counterpart Abdesselam Bouchouareb. Le Monde has also reported, citing the Panama Papers, that Bouchouareb had an offshore company established in Panama in Apr 2015. It said that the companys mission was to manage a portfolio of real estate assets in the amount of 700,000 (US$800,000). U.S. intelligence estimates now put the number of ISIS fighters in Libya between 4,000 to 6,000, double the number in the war-ravaged country last year, according to the top U.S. military commander in Africa. Gen. David Rodriguez, commander of U.S. Africa Command, said the intelligence community estimates the number of ISIS fighters in Libya at around 4 to 6,000. He added that the number has probably about doubled in the last 12 to 18 months, based on what their assessments were last year. Wracked by violence since the fall of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, Libya has become a haven for militant groups. From 2014, the country was divided between two rival governments, one in the capitol of Tripoli and another in the east. A December deal created a Government of National Accord that the United Nations and Western governments hope can unite the countrys armed factions against ISIS and set Libya on a more stable course. Rodriguez said several types of foreign fighters are flooding into Libya, many of whom come from other northern African countries. The foreign fighter flow goes back and forth across North Africa, which generates a lot of the foreign fighters who go all the way across to Syria and Iraq, Rodriguez said. He said there are also militants already in Libya who are now pledging allegiance to ISIS. The U.S. continues to watch Libya closely, Rodriguez told reporters Thursday. We are continuing to go after targets that pose an imminent threat to U.S. interests and personnel, he said, citing a December air strike by a U.S. F-15 that killed ISIS leader Abu Nabil in eastern Libya and a March raid on the western city of Sabratha that left seven suspected ISIS fighters dead. We continue to do that, Rodriguez said. The unity government in Tripoli is getting more support especially from the locals who have come out to show their solidarity with the union. A group of people rallied in Tripoli expressing their concern over the state of the country and called for peace in Libya. We support the government of national union after its arrival last week. We hope that the agreement signed by the Libyan parties in Tunisia on 15 December will be put in place, said one member of the public This Government is the one which will lead Libya in the future, if God wants, because we are tired. We had a government for Tobruk, one for Tripoli, almost three or four. We want a single government of national unity. This Government is the one which will lead Libya in the future, if God wants, because we are tired. We had a government for Tobruk, one for Tripoli, almost three or four. We want a single government of national union, another member added. The Government of National Accord and whose members of arrived in Tripoli last week, has also secured support from the Libyan Investment Authority, the National Oil Corporation, and the Central Bank. The EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations renewed on Friday the readiness of Europe to offer more support for Tunisia to carry out essential reforms across the country, Anadolu has reported. Johannes Hahn made his remarks during a meeting with President Beji Caid Essebsi in Tunis, a statement issued by the Tunisian presidents office confirmed. Hahn reiterated the importance of accelerating mutual cooperation between the EU and Tunisia. He stressed the latters vital role in Europes neighbourhood policy, as well as its role in reinforcing stability in the region. This includes Tunisia promoting commercial exchanges between Africa and the European Union. According to President Essebsi, his countrys wish is for mutual support with its top partner, the EU, to assist Tunisia in fulfilling its economic and social programmes. The two must also work together in the fight against terrorism, which threatens the whole region. The EU official started a three-day official visit to Tunis on Thursday, meeting a number of senior Tunisian officials, including Prime Minister Habib Essid and Minister of Foreign Affairs Khemaies Jhinaoui. The agenda has included future EU-Tunisian partnership priorities, cooperation against terrorism and the implementation of socio-economic reforms. During his visit, Hahn has also met with representatives of civil society. [I] commend the vital contribution of civil society to Tunisias remarkable achievements, he wrote on Twitter. Refusal comes after Italy recalled its ambassador to Cairo over a lack of cooperation from the Egyptian authorities over the killing Egypt has rejected an Italian request to hand over the phone records of mobile subscribers in the Cairo district where an Italian doctoral student was staying before being abducted, tortured and killed. Senior prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman addressed a news conference one day after Italy recalled its ambassador to protest what it described as a lack of cooperation in the investigation of the killing of Giulio Regeni, whose body was found nine days after he disappeared, bearing signs of torture. Italy recalls ambassador from Egypt for talks about death of student Suleiman said Egypt rejected the request because it violated Egyptian laws and the constitution. He said the Italians told an Egyptian delegation visiting Rome this week that the continuation of cooperation between the two nations over the case hinged on meeting their request for the records, which include those of subscribers in the Cairo suburb where Regenis body was found Feb. 3. Suleiman said the Italians repeated the request on the second and final day of the talks in Rome. The Egyptian delegation reasserted its uncompromising rejection, he said. Regeni, who was in Egypt to research labour movements, went missing on 25 January, the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising, when police were out in force to prevent demonstrations, leading to speculation that Egyptian security forces were behind his abduction and death. The interior ministry has denied any involvement. The Egyptian government has suggested several alternative scenarios. It recently claimed that security forces had killed members of a kidnapping gang in a raid and circulated photos of Regenis ID cards it said had been found at the scene. That explanation was widely dismissed, including in the Italian media, which has closely followed the case. Suleiman also said Egyptian investigators could not meet an Italian request for video footage from security cameras at the metro station nearest to Regenis Cairo apartment, saying the recently installed cameras automatically erased footage. He said the US manufacturers informed the Egyptian investigators that it was not possible to retrieve the erased footage. A German company approached by the Egyptians said retrieval had a 50/50 chance of success but that the procedure was costly. We met 98% of all the requests made by the Italians, Suleiman said. The Italians, meanwhile, provided the Egyptians with only a small number of more than 500,000 files stored in Regenis laptop computer, he added. The two sides, however, left on good terms, he said. Judicial cooperation between Egypt and Italy is positive and Italy is one of the best countries that deals with Egypt when it comes to judicial matters, he said the start of the news conference. We are eager to continue this cooperation. He refused to be drawn into commenting on media reports on the case, saying only that anyone who has a confirmed and documented piece of evidence should come forward and submit it to the Egyptian investigators. Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said on Tuesday his country deeply regretted Regenis death and intended to transparently continue its full cooperation with Italy to resolve the case and bring the culprits to justice. El-Sissi and Italian premier Matteo Renzi have forged close ties since the Egyptian leader came to office in June 2014. Italy is Egypts biggest EU trading partner and the two countries have been coordinating policies on Libya, Egypts neighbor and Italys former colony, where the extremist Islamic State group has a local affiliate. Renzi told reporters on Friday that the decision to recall the Italian ambassador in Egypt was made immediately after Italian prosecutors gave their assessment of two days of meetings with the Egyptians that they had hoped would deliver useful evidence. Italy, as you know, made a commitment to the family of Giulio Regeni naturally, to the memory of Giulio Regeni, but also to the dignity of all us, saying wed only stop in front of the truth, Renzi said. Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Saturday that Italy would study other steps to take if the truth about Regenis slaying doesnt come out, without elaborating. Gentiloni recalled that he has said we will adopt immediate and proportional measures, the Italian news agency Ansa reported from Tokyo, where he was participating in a G7 ministers meeting. We committed ourselves to doing this, and we will do this. Last week, Regenis parents urged the Italian government to declare Egypt unsafe for Italians to visit, saying their son was only one of many torture victims in the Arab nation. Egypts Red Sea resorts have for years been a popular destination for hundreds of thousands of Italians who visited Egypt annually Suspected al Qaeda militants in southern Yemen seized and executed 17 soldiers loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Saturday, local officials and residents said. The soldiers were detained while travelling from the southern port of Aden to al-Mahra province in eastern Yemen via Ahwar, a city in Abyan province under al Qaeda control. The militants took them to a remote area and killed them by firing squad, the officials and residents said. They said 17 other captive soldiers were wounded in the incident and some managed to escape and get help from local tribal leaders. Ansar al Sharia, an al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, later issued a statement denying responsibility for the attack and blamed a local armed fighter named Ali Aqeel. We entered Ahwar around two months ago to chase this corrupt individual and his gang, the statement said. The soldiers had been visiting family in Aden and were returning to their base in al-Mahra to draw their salaries, security sources said. They were not dressed in military uniform and were not riding in military vehicles. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has exploited the Yemeni war to expand areas under its control, seizing Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout province, last year and recruiting more followers. The Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, backed by the United States, has helped AQAP become stronger than at any time since it first emerged almost 20 years ago, a Reuters special report revealed last week. Iran-allied Houthi forces have been battling forces loyal to Yemens Saudi-backed President Hadi since March 2015 in a conflict that has cost more than 6,200 lives. Chad goes to polls with president Idriss Deby expected to extend 26-year rule Six million Chadians have begun voting in an election likely to see president Idriss Deby extend his 26-year rule in a country increasingly on the frontline of the global war on terror. Deby, the warrior president who took office in a 1990 military coup, faces 12 challengers but is widely expected to win a fifth term after consolidating his grip on power in the central African nation. Polling stations opened shortly after 7am and were to close at 6pm. Early votes were cast on Saturday by soldiers, nomads and refugees. Official provisional results may not be released for two weeks. At polling stations in the capital NDjamena, men and women waited in separate queues to cast their ballots. Security forces were out en masse for the election. Chad has been hit by a series of suicide attacks. The voters look set to hand another mandate to Deby, whose resources far exceed those of his challengers in a nation classified by the UN as one of the five poorest countries in the world. Under his leadership, the once unstable country has become both an oil producer and key player on the global anti-jihadist frontline, winning new strategic influence. Yet, despite a wealth of new oil resources since 2003, half of the population of 13 million lives below the poverty line and 70% cannot read or write. The 63-year-old Deby is facing unprecedented dissent at home. Anger at the government has run high in recent months, prompting the authorities to crack down on protests and throw activist leaders in jail. Just three days before the election, police fired live rounds and tear gas to disperse several hundred protesters angered by plans to hand six-month jail terms to five anti-government activist leaders. Chad is also facing an unprecedented security threat. It was hit by two jihadist attacks in the capital last year, while facing a constant threat of suicide attacks and raids. To address the threats, Deby has tightened security while maintaining a strong presence in a regional force fighting the Nigeria-based Boko Haram Islamist group. The country has scores of ethnic groups that speak more than 100 languages, and some of its conflicts have been blamed on divisions between Muslims, who make up 53% of the population, and Christians and animists. Those tensions have also been fuelled by Deby handing top jobs to members of his Zaghawa ethnic group, whose members also largely head Chads much-feared army. Ethnic resentment may be behind protests that erupted in February over the gang-rape of a young woman by the sons of several leading army commanders and officials, including that of the foreign minister. Two youths were killed when security forces cracked down on the demonstrations. One of Debys challengers, Mahamat Yesko Brahim, the father of the rape victim, stood down in favour of the president at the last minute. He was not immediately available to comment. The most prominent of Debys challengers is Saleh Kebzabo, a Muslim from the south-west Mayo-Kebbi province who first stood against him in 1996 and who heads the National Union for Development and Renewal. Another high-profile challenger is former premier Joseph Djimrangar Dadnadji, a Christian from the Mandoul region in the south and a one-time Deby ally. In the face of these accumulating challenges, Chadian authorities must avoid the politics of religious or geographic exclusion, the International Crisis Group said in March. The greatest threat to stability in Chad in the long term [is] a national political crisis. Congress president Sonia Gandhis son-in-law and Priyanka Gandhis husband Robert Vadra on Thursday hinted that he is not averse to join politics in the future adding that he didnt need wifes help for tackling issues concerning him. Vadras dubious land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan have often been used by the BJP to corner the Congress. Vadra, who is shrouded in controversies related to land deals with real estate major DLF in Haryana, said, When I feel that I can work for the people, when I get my calling, that is when Ill think of joining politics, adding: You never say never, so lets see what the future has in store for me. Saying that he was capable of withstanding pressures both political and otherwise because of the strong support of his family, Vadra said, I dont need my wife Priyanka to enhance my life, I have enough, I have always had enough. My father gave me enough. I have been educated enough to sustain in all types of situations. Vadra has campaigned for his brother-in-law Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi during Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh. However, he has never made any speech during the political gatherings. Commenting on the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, Sonias son-in-law said, In business like real estate, many people are upset and they will start voicing their opinions soon enough. Wishing the present dispensation all the best, Vadra said that people will understand whats right and wrong, and will soon revolt. Expressing his views on freedom to express opinions in campuses and elsewhere, Vadra said, I dont say go against the nation. I am a proud Indian and I will abide by the norms but at the same time I have thoughts, I have ideology. I have the right to decide (what is) wrong and right. We cant dictate to the youth. They are our future. We have to listen to them, understand them but we cannot threaten them or intimidate them. Rohith Vemulas mother and brother converted to Buddhism at a function in Dadar in the presence of Prakash Ambedkar. On the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Dr. BR Ambedkar, mother and brother of dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide at Hyderabad Central University in January embraced Buddhism. Both of them had taken this step as they were opposed to caste system prevalent in Hinduism and caste oppression doesnt exist in Buddhism. They also were unhappy with the injustice meted against Dalits in the country. Rohiths mother Radhika and brother Naga Chaitanya Vemula, also known as Raja Vemula, were given deeksha at a function in Dadar in the presence of Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr. BR Ambedkar. At the venue of the deeksha ceremony, the mother-son duo paid tributes to Dr. Ambedkar and bowed before his portrait. Raja Vemula said, My brother Rohith was a Buddhist at heart although he did not convert. He took his own life as he was discriminated because he was a Dalit. We performed his last rites according to Buddhist traditions, honouring his love for Buddhism. Rohith used to talk of Buddhism a lot. He had also written a letter to the vice-chancellor about how Dalits are discriminated against on the campus. My mother feels that we should honour Rohith by embracing Buddhism, he said. We are against the caste system in Hinduism and have, therefore, decided to embrace Buddhism which does not have such an oppressive system of castes, Rohiths brother said. Prakash Ambedkar national leader of Bharipa Bahujan Maha Sangh said, The function to convert the duo to Buddhism was organised after Radhika Vemula approached me and conveyed their wish to embrace Buddhism when I visited Hyderabad recently. Ambedkar, Dalit icon and architect of the Indian Constitution, converted to Buddhism at a grand ceremony in Nagpur in 1956 as he was strongly opposed to the caste system in Hindusim. Raja and Radhika Vemula, along with Rohiths childhood friend Riyaz Shaikh and Hyderabad university student Charbad Raju, had left for Mumbai from Hyderabad on Wednesday. Rohiths elder sister, who is married, has not converted to Buddhism. Rohith Vemula, 27, committed suicide on January 17 in a hostel room in Hyderabad Central University where he was a PhD scholar after he and four others were suspended from the hostel last year and restrictions were put on their movement by the university administration as part of disciplinary action for allegedly assaulting ABVP leader N Susheel Kumar. Rohiths suicide had led to a wave of protests in campuses across the country and renewed debate on treatment of Dalit students in educational institutions. At least 111 people have died and more than 380 were injured in a massive fire near the Puttingal temple in Kerala. Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew to Kollam district to express grief over the horrific tragedy. A team of 15 burn specialists had accompanied him. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi too, visited the spot located 60 km from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. Sparks fell on storeroom, exploding crackers stocked there. Officials had denied permission for competitive fireworks display; several buildings in vicinity of temple were damaged. Dead persons cannot return back, and this is not the first time that the tragedy happened in any religious place. Ironically, precious lives have been lost and this time, spiritual and mental darkness has crept in to so many families. Safety should be given priority before giving permission for bursting crackers, particularly in crowded places like temples, party/political meetings, marriages etc. Also storage should not be allowed inside the premises. Religious heads should also involve themselves to prohibit rituals which endanger human lives. Proper diversion of crowd should be ensured. In north, people celebrate Dussehra with idols of Raavan, Kumbhakarna, Indrajit stuffed with crackers of all sorts which goes in different directions. Safety distance should also be specified. It is really unfortunate to lose so many lives. In olden days, the means of communication was lacking and to inform the people around that place about the starting of the festivals crackers used to be burst as sign of beginning the event. Now with all TV channels covering live footage of the festivals, there is no need for crackers which cause pollution. We have grown with the time, now there are facilities and modern ways to enjoy life. However, still some things have not changed yet, which causes threat to human lives. Though the lives lost cannot be brought back, it should be a lesson not to play with and/ be callous with fire in any way and ascribe reasons for doing so. It is an unfortunate event in the history of Kerala. The Government should think about banning the burning of crackers in the large public areas. Especially in the temple functions, it should be banned at any cost. Tradition and culture are not above the human lives. The temples in South India are always enacting fireworks during their Pooram festivals without much thought of the safety of the people watching the entrancing display. Actually, this display was in violation of the District Collectors instructions. The police officials too were against this dangerous display. However, the temple officials disobeyed and conducted the fireworks with the agreement of the devotees. So, this tragedy occurred with the loss of many lives and serious injuries to many people. Temple is place for serenity. It is a place for bhajans-it is a place for meditation-it is a place for spiritual discourses-it is a place for inculcating moral and ethical values. Where is the scope for bursting fire crackers? Temples are places of worship not a place for display of grandeur. The clergy must show guidance to the masses but not guide them to frenzy display. The temple authorities in the entire country should take care not to repeat such mistakes. After tragedy, the maximum what the state government can do is announcing a judicial inquiry and pay some compensation but time and again if this happens, they should strictly pass some guidelines too for averting fire accidents. Eyewitnesses said the disaster struck when a cracker meant to explode in the air fell to the ground, sending sparks flying in all directions. The sparks reached the storehouse, igniting fireworks stored there. The explosion that followed brought down a building and caused damage to several structures in the vicinity. The explosion was followed by power disruption, which left the crowd clueless about the magnitude of the tragedy for some time. However, the locals swung into action, extricating bodies from the debris and pulling out the injured, many of whom did not survive the journey to hospitals. While the majority were admitted to the general hospital and private hospitals in Kollam city, 12 of the injured were rushed to the Thiruvananthapuram medical college hospital and to some private hospitals in the capital. The Kollam district administration had denied permission for the fireworks display based on reports from the local police that the temple authorities planned to hold a competitive pyrotechnics display. However, the temple authorities went ahead with the display after giving much publicity to the event. People from neighbouring districts had converged on the temple to witness the show. People need to realise, God doesnt require fire crackers or lavishes, it needs your sincere prayers, silence, joy and happiness. No God ever wants people to shed their lives in his holy premises. If you care for God then care for fellow humans too. (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com) Hrithik Roshan says living Hollywood legend Sylvester Stallone is his inspiration and the Bollywood actor will only meet him as a true fan and not as a star. Hrithik, who often indulges in a conversation with his fans and well-wishers on Twitter, was asked by a Twitter user about who inspires the Bang Bang! star the most. The 42-year-old actor quickly replied to the user saying: Sylvester Stallone the only person I will meet as a true fan. On the professional front, Hrithik, who ventured into Hindi movies with Kaho NaaPyaar Hai in 2000, has two films in his kitty Mohenjo Daro and Kaabil. Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, Mohenjo Daro is an upcoming Indian epic adventure-romance, which also features actress Pooja Hegde. Kaabil is directed by Sanjay Gupta and is being produced by Hrithiks father, filmmaker Rakesh Roshan. Its plot has been kept under the wraps. Kaabil will also feature actress Yami Gautam, who will be seen sharing screen space with the Krrish actor for the first time. There has been an air of uncertainty hanging over the launch of the Snapdragon 652 powered HTC 10 Lifestyle in India in the past few days. HTC doesnt appear to have made up its mind about what hardware to ship out to the country, with changes to specs and contradictory statements coming from the company. Faisal Siddiqui, HTCs president for South Asia, said: We are pleased to announce that global flagship HTC 10 is coming soon to India. Stay tuned for the announcement and the availability date. The new flagship from the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer features a 2K display, an aluminium unibody design and the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor. Pre-orders for the smartphone are now open in the US, which is priced $699. HTC 10 will come with new BoomSound technology, Dolby Surround Sound and best in class DAC. Theres also an HTC 10 Lifestyle version, which will have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor. The HTC 10 comes with a 5.2-inch QHD display. It runs Snapdragon 820 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM. Theres another variant, which was earlier speculated to launch in India, comes with Snapdragon 652 processor with 3GB of RAM. The smartphone has 32GB and 64GB storage variants, and also supports microSD for expandable storage up to a whopping 2TB. For photography, the HTC 10 has 12-Ultrapixel 2 camera with OIS, laser autofocus and 4K video recording support. It also includes Pro mode, Auto HDR, HTC Zoe, hyperlapse and slow motion mode. The HTC 10 has a stereo 24-bit Hi-Res audio recording capabilities, which is able to capture up to 256 times more detail than standard recordings. The smartphone has a 5-megapixel front facing camera with OIS. Other key features of the smartphone includes fingerprint scanner, Dolby Audio, BoomSound Hi-Fi edition and a 3,000mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 support. Connectivity features include 4G LTE support, USB Type-C port, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC. Glowing projectiles lit up the Philippine sky from an advanced US long-range missile system on Thursday, in war games aimed at boosting their military alliance in the face of an increasingly assertive China. The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) was the star of a simulated assault exercise by 5,500 US and Philippine soldiers, unleashing six missiles at distant targets from a dry riverbed three hours drive from Manila. US Marine Cobra attack helicopters and Philippine S211 jets also buzzed over the Crow Valley training range as Filipino and US troops acted out the capture of imaginary enemy-held territory. The exercises were staged in the shadow of a festering dispute between the poorly equipped US ally and regional giant China over islands, reefs and waters in the resource-rich South China Sea. The truth of the matter is we are allies and as allies, we need to work together, Lieutenant-General John Toolan, the US Marine Corps Pacific commander told reporters, referring to the missile system. I think we will be more than happy to share, he said when asked if the US would deploy HIMARS to the Philippines in the case of armed conflict over the South China Sea. The systems range is 300 kilometres, Toolan said, meaning it could hit vessels far from the Philippine landmass. China claims most of the South China Sea, even waters and rocks close to the coasts of several neighbours that overlap with their claims. Beijing has reclaimed several reefs claimed by Manila and built structures on them that the Philippines alleges were designed for military use a charge China denies. Although, the US has not taken a stand on the conflicting claims to the South China Sea, it has opposed Chinas efforts to claim the waters and has stressed freedom of navigation in the vital sealane. We have seen the capability. It is highly mobile, lethal. So I think it is one of the capabilities we want to have, Philippine Navy Vice-Admiral Alexander Lopez said as he watched the missile firing. Lopez, the commander of Filipino forces in the South China Sea, told reporters this would raise the skill and the respect for your armed forces, not only for the Filipinos but also in our region. Toolan said the two-week manoeuvres displayed the capability of both armies to deploy rapidly across the Asian archipelago. The truck-mounted missile system had been flown aboard a giant military transport plane to an airport near the Crow Valley firing range earlier in the day from the western Philippine island of Palawan. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders face off on Thursday in a closely watched US presidential debate ahead of the key New York primary in the increasingly acrimonious Democratic race for the White House. The former secretary of state holds a double-digit lead over the Vermont senator in polls and needs a big win in next Tuesdays primary after losing seven of the last eight contests to her leftist rival. The Brooklyn-born, self-described Democratic socialist is similarly dreaming of a shock win in Clintons adopted home state to keep alive his dream of wresting the nomination from the Democratic front-runner. It makes for a dramatic showdown in a state in which both claim close ties. New York is the state that elected Clinton twice to the US senate, and Sanders was born and brought up in Brooklyn. I think it will be lively, Clinton predicted of the debatetheir first since 9 March and scheduled at Sanders insistence, looking to close his trailing gap behind the former first lady. Addressing a huge rally in New Yorks Washington Square on Wednesday, Sanders attacked Clinton for her ties to Wall Street, her support for trade deals that have cost US jobs and for the 2003 Iraq invasion. This is going to be tough primary for us but when I look at the thousands of people who are here I think that if we have a large voter turnout on Tuesday were going to win this state, he said. The 68-year-old Clinton and 74-year-old Sanders have traded increasingly heated blows in recent days. Sanders, whose call for a revolution has ignited a passionate youth following, was forced to backtrack after questioning Clintons qualifications for the nations top office. Clinton has lashed out at Sanders over gun control and immigration reform, and accused him of dodging questions on the campaign trail. Thursdays debate will be moderated by CNN and kicks off at 9:00 pm at the Duggal Greenhouse, a fashionable venue that has hosted events for the likes of Alexander Wang and Lady Gaga. Clinton has a commanding advantage over Sanders with 1,790 delegates to his 1,113. A total of 2,383 delegates are needed to secure the partys nomination for the presidency in the partys convention this summer. There are 291 Democratic delegates up for grabs in New York, where minorities and wealthy Democrats are likely to favour Clinton, although Sanders appears to have cut into her lead in more economically disadvantaged communities, white males and young voters. A Siena Research Institute poll released on Wednesday said Sanders narrowed Clintons lead to 52-42% from 55-34% on 7 March among registered Democrats. The younger voters are feeling the Bern but the question is, will they come out and vote in large numbers, as older voters historically do? said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg. The rules of the New York primary are also likely to favour Clinton. Only those previously registered with the Democrat or Republican party can vote, and only for a candidate running on that partys ticket. Like most parts of India, festivals in Kerala are an integral part of the social and cultural structure of the state. It is the best time to plan ones travel to the southern state. In Kerala, every community, every religion has something to celebrate about all throughout the year. Vishu is one of the important festivals of Kerala. According to the traditional Malayalam calendar, it is the 1st day of the first month Medam (March-April) of the New Year. Traditional rituals are followed to bring in another year of prosperity. Vishu is one of the most popular festivals of Kerala. Since it is considered propitious to view good things on this day for year round good fortune, Vishu morning is an important time. The heart of this festival of Kerala is the preparation of the kani (the lucky sight or gift). The custom of preparing the kani has been followed for generations. The women take a large dish made of bell-metal (uruli), arranged in it a grantha (palm-leaf manuscript), a gold ornament, a new cloth, some flowers from the Konna Tree (Cassia fistula), some coins in a silver cup, a split coconut, a cucumber, some mangoes and a jack-fruit. On either side of the dish are placed two burning lamps with a chair facing it. Family members are taken blindfolded and then their blindfolds are removed and they view the Vishu Kani. As in other Indian festivals, a great feast at home is the high point of celebrating Vishu in Kerala. Vishu (New Year) is being celebrated by the people in Kerala in particular and the Malayalee community in general all over the world and the Tamilians settled in Kerala as well. Tamilians celebrate Tamil New year day with pomp and gaiety all over Tamil Nadu. Punjabis celebrate this as Vaisaki as the festival of harvest season. In Kerala on the New Year day every one rises early in the morning to view Vishu Kani, which is an assortment of cereals, pulses, fruits, vegetables and money kept in front of a big mirror and oil lamps and incense sticks to lit around it. After viewing Vishu kani people visit temple in the morning, adorn new clothes and greet each other, visit relatives and friends and seek blessings of the elders in year round. There will be prosperity in life and you are likely to get food, clothing and other material benefits along with money throughout the year. In Kerala people will be bubbling with activities and there will be a long week-end there. (The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.) Carry on our wayward son there'll peace when you are done. Lay your weary head to rest, don't you cry no more. As I woman of a "certain age," classic rock band Kansas was a big part of my musical upbringing. I was delighted to hear from Eben Plettner that Kansas is auctioning off a guitar to benefit Autism Free Brain. From CLASSIC ROCK REVISITED: In conjunction with the albums 40th Anniversary, Paul Reed Smith commissioned and donated a one of a kind Commemorative Leftoverture SE Custom 24 guitar. The Commemorative Leftoverture SE Custom 24 is a quality guitar that is decorated by the classic Leftoverture album artwork. The guitar, which will be auctioned off to raise money for autism research, will be played on stage by KANSAS guitarist Richard Williams during select KANSAS concert dates in 2016. The auction will begin on April 1 and end on April 30. Bidding will start at $1,000, and bids can be placed here: Kansas Leftoverture Guitar Auction For More Information on the Auction Contact Paul Schmutzler at p_schmutzler555@comcast.net. Growing up in Topeka, Kansas in the 1970s makes me an automatic fan of the band Kansas. Having my grandparents, Max and Margaret Baker, live next door to Orville and Ida Williams, and their son Richard, makes me a bigger Kansas fan. Loving their music, getting to know the guys, and ranking this band among my Top 5 favorites of all-time flat-out makes me a Kansas Rock Nerd. While not an official Wheathead, I would like to think I have the heart and soul of one. This band, and this music, has influenced my life in many ways mostly positive! When I received an email from fellow Kansas fan Paul Schmutzler telling me he was going to auction off a Paul Reed Smith Guitar with the cover of the iconic Kansas album Leftoverture on the face of it, then give all of the money raised to charity (in this case Autism Free Brain www.autismfreebrain.org), I wanted to learn more. We are also approaching the 40th anniversary of the release of Leftoverture in October. These two events made me think I should shoot a text to Kansas guitarist Rich Williams and see if I could get a few more details and it is was great excuse to do an interview with him discussing that classic album. The timing of our conversation happened to be only a day or two after Richard had fallen off stage while performing and broken his ankle. Despite pervasive social media, and a Kansas music addiction, I had not heard about this occurrence. So we begin the interview with all of the gory details of this stage-dive-gone-wrong. Before jumping into the interview, however, here is some information on the guitar that is being auctions off for Autism Free Brain (www.autismfreebrain.org): We can start with groups whose parents choose no vaccines for their children. There are such groups in every major metropolitan area and scattered around the country in small towns. They frequently have difficulty finding a doctor who will work with them and respect their decision. There are a few doctors out there who will work with parents who choose to avoid vaccines altogether or selectively vaccinate their children. Homefirst Medical Services provides medical care for families who choose to have home births and avoid vaccines in the Chicago area. They have treated around 35,000 of these children over the years. Homefirsts medical director, the late Dr. Mayer Eisenstein, said in an interview a few years ago I dont think we have a single case of autism in children delivered by us who never received vaccines. This is going to be very easy. The CDC tells us that 1 in every 68 children in the U.S. has autism and a recent government survey pegged the incidence of autism even higher at 1 in 45 children. We are told repeatedly that autism is genetic and vaccines dont cause autism. All we need to do is go find groups of unvaccinated children and count those with autism. Lets try Amish children. They are mostly unvaccinated. Dr. Frank Noonan is a doctor who treats Amish children in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He has said that he has seen no cases of autism in the thousands of Amish children he has treated over 25 years. Youll find all the other stuff, but we dont find the autism. Were right in the heart of Amish country and seeing none, and thats just the way it is. Dr. Heng Wang is a neurologist and the director of the Clinic for Special Needs Children in Ohio, another area where there is a large Amish population. He has estimated the rate of autism in the Amish community to be 1 in 15,000. Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, a Florida family doctor who died mysteriously recently, proposed a study of unvaccinated children. He said I know I can tap into this community and find you large numbers of unvaccinated homeschooled children. We can do simple prevalence and incidence studies in them. My gut reaction is that youre going to find no autism in this group. Rather than being very easy, finding unvaccinated children with autism seems to be downright difficult. Doctors Eisenstein, Noonan, Wang, and Bradstreet have been out there on the front lines actually treating unvaccinated children. Their assessment that autism is quite rare in these children is valid. Conclusion: Autism is common in fully vaccinated children but rare in unvaccinated children. I cant wait to see the documentary Vaxxed: from cover-up to catastrophe. I feel sure it will help people connect the dots of the autism controversy. Dr. Gaunt is a retired doctor of naturopathic medicine. He has also taught chemistry and anatomy at high school and college levels. To read previous articles, google articles by Dr. William H. Gaunt on ageofautism.com. By Anne Dachel What Robert De Niro said on the TODAY Show on Wednesday was addressed by NBC on Thursday's show, and what was done was a huge attempt at damage control using industry-backed sources. The network had to dispel the idea that De Niro put forth, that vaccines can cause autism. In typical mainstream media style, NBC cited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a doctor from the American Academy of Pediatrics, Ari Brown, in support of the safety of vaccines and in opposition to the possibility of any link to autism. (The vast web of pharmaceutical industry ties to the AAP were, of course, not included.) Dr. Brown suggested things that have been linked to the development of autism, including older parents (an obvious reference to De Niro who would have been 54 when his son was born). (Brown left out all the other official findings that lay the blame for autism on the doorstep of the parents, usually the mother: fat moms, drinking moms, smoking moms, moms on anti-depressants, moms who have babies too close together, moms who live too close to freeways, and the lists goes on. We are not far removed from the days when refrigerator mothers were the culprits.) Brown dismissed the idea that children can suddenly regress into autism (after a round of vaccinations), claiming that those parents just didnt notice the signs until their child got to be a toddler. NBC and Brown also made the claim that children who receive vaccines according to the CDC schedule are just as healthy as kids who dont, which was the bizarre attempt to convince the audience that comparing vaccinated kids with vaccinated kids is the same as a study of fully vaxxed vs fully unvaxxed children when it comes to autism. I would like to point out that Wednesday and Thursdays TODAY Shows were because of De Niro's actions with the documentary Vaxxed. Vaxxed is about the revelation by Dr. William Thompson, a senior scientist at the CDC, that his agency destroyed critical findings that showed a connection between the MMR vaccine and the development of autism in African American boys. I did not hear one word about what the film revealed. Instead, NBC cited the CDC, the agency that allegedly covered up a link, as the expert source on vaccine safety. When is anyone going to cover what "Vaxxed" is really about? Thursday's Today Show discussed Robert De Niro's comment's from Wednesday. Robert De Niros TODAY interview reignites debate over autism and vaccines During an interview on TODAY Wednesday, actor Robert De Niro said that he is not anti-vaccine, but he did raise a number of his own questions about the discredited connection between vaccines and autism while discussing the anti-vaccine movie Vaxxed that was pulled from the Tribeca Film Festival. NBCs Joe Fryer reports for TODAY. Clip of De Niro saying, "I'm not anti-vaccine, I want safe vaccines." NBC's Joe Fryer: "De Niro may have pulled the controversial documentary, 'Vaxxed,' from the Tribeca Film Fesival, but the award-winning actor still has questions. De Niro said that certain people have a susceptibility to vaccine injury, "but nobody seems to want to address that." Fryer: "The medical community says research has addressed that question and vaccines don't cause autism in any population." Dr. Ari Brown: "What we know is that there are certain children who are susceptible to autism, and those children who are born prematurely, whose parents are older." Fryer: "De Niro is not convinced." Clip of De Niro from Wed: "There is a link, and they're saying there isn't, but there are certain things. The obvious one is thimerosal, which is a mercury-based preservative." Fryer: "But the Centers for Disease Control says 'Reputable scientific studies have shown that mercury in vaccines given to young children is not a cause of autism.' And since 2001, childhood vaccines have been thimerosal-free." (As Fryer talked about thimerosal, vials of the MMR vaccine, which never contained mercury, are shown.) "For De Niro, this issue is personal, his 18 year old son has autism." Voiceover of De Niro's comment about parents who reported their children changed overnight after being vaccinated. Fryer: "Pediatrician Ari Brown says she's had this conversation with families, some of whom realized the change is not overnight." Brown appeared saying, "A lot of times it's not seeing the signs until it becomes increasingly apparent when the child is a toddler." Fryer continued talking about how some parents just aren't convinced and they want to space out vaccines. Brown: "There are studies that show that children who receive vaccinations on time versus those that don't for whatever reason, have exactly the same developmental outcomes." Fryer added that not vaccinating leads to outbreaks of diseases in unvaccinated populations. He also said that there is difference in autism rates in those who get the MMR and those who get a separate measles vaccination, according to one study. (He also said that there's not single measles shot available in the U.S.) Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism. WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 - China is eliminating a complex web of subsidies the country has been using to boost its exports of agricultural, medical, textile and other goods, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman announced Thursday. Today we have signed an agreement with China to eliminate export subsidies that the United States challenged because they are prohibited under WTO rules, Froman said in a press conference, flanked by four House members. USTR officials said they calculated that China has spent about $1 billion over the past three years, providing free or discounted services to industrial centers that specialize in exporting and that put U.S. producers and exporters at a disadvantage in the global market. Chinas elimination of the subsidies is particularly good for U.S. farmers and agricultural exporters, Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., said. Trade is crucial for the agriculture industry in my California district, Farr said. Our growers play by the rules and we expect the same from our trade partners. This administrations strong record of enforcing trade agreements and pushing for even higher standards in future deals ensures that everyone is playing on a level field. USTR officials highlighted seafood as a sector that has been highly subsidized by the Chinese government in order to boost exports, but Farr pointed to damage in his own central California district. Chinese shipments of commodities like garlic are especially damaging to U.S. producers, he said. He noted that his constituents have complained often that you can buy imported Chinese garlic in Gilroy, California -- home to the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival and the Miss Gilroy Garlic Beauty Pageant at lower prices than the domestic product. Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas, Scott Peters of California and Kurt Schrader of Oregan also attended the press conference to praise the USTR victory. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., who was not at the event, said in a statement, China has illegally subsidized manufacturers and producers across seven economic sectors several of which directly harm businesses and farms in Washingtons First District. But the U.S. win went further than just stopping Chinese export subsidies, Froman said. It shows that the U.S. is capable of enforcing trade rules and provides an example of how the U.S. will make sure that foreign trade partners live up to promises in the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership, he explained. This agreement shows our dedication to ensuring that American workers and businesses have the opportunity to compete fairly, supporting high-quality U.S. jobs and strengthening the middle class, Froman said. It also demonstrates the resolve with which we will enforce the high standards negotiated in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, whether on labor, environment, intellectual property rights or other commercial issues. Froman and other Obama administration officials are lobbying lawmakers to approve the TPP this year, a deal the American Farm Bureau Federation says will increase net farm income by $4.4 billion annually. Following trade? We cover it on Agri-Pulse. Sign up today for a four-week free trial subscription. It was on Feb. 11, 2015, that the U.S. first filed a challenge with the World Trade Organization against Chinas export subsidy scheme with the awkward name Demonstration Bases-Common Service Platform Program, and the WTO established a dispute panel about two months later. In the end China chose not to fight the U.S. complaint and on Thursday signed an agreement in Switzerland to dismantle the export subsidies that supported 179 industrial complexes throughout the country. When asked if the U.S. was looking into other subsidy schemes being employed by China, one U.S. trade officials responded: Were constantly prowling looking for other things. Were going to continue to that. Were pretty good at finding these things out. #30 For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com Please enter your login information below to access your account. If you are not a current subscriber, please click here to subscribe for a year, sign up for a free four-week trial, or register for three free articles per month. If you clicked "Forgot Your Password?" but did not receive an email, please be sure to check your spam or junk folder. Still having trouble logging in? Email pam@agri-pulse.com or call (573) 873-0800. WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 The topic of declining farm income is not a new one, but lawmakers and farm group leaders approached it in a new way on Thursday, framing the conversation around the lessons learned going into the next farm bill. The House Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management held the first of a six-part series of hearings to Focus on the Farm Economy, fixing the conversation on farm income and how producers are reacting to the changing economic times. We do not see a crisis today, but we do see one on the horizon, American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said at the hearing. Duvall and other witnesses all stressed the need for a safety net such as crop insurance or commodity assistance policies, like Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) given current economic conditions. Joe Outlaw, an agricultural economics professor and extension economist with Texas A&M, said the debate over which producer assistance program is most important is a moot point, because both have proven to be critical to producers. In my opinion, the interest groups that continue to call for changes that would negatively impact (crop insurance and commodity assistance policies) clearly either have no idea how difficult the financial situation is across agriculture or they simply do not care, Outlaw said. At future hearings, the panel wont just be working on farm bill language it will be working to defend the bills importance, a House Ag Committee staffer told Agri-Pulse. Both lawmakers and industry representatives have noted that passing another farm bill will be difficult. Farm bills are not written to make the good times better, theyre written to make the bad times bearable, Rep. Rick Crawford, an Arkansas Republican and the chair of the subcommittee, said. Were putting an awful lot of pressure on an already pretty thin farm bill. Some ag interests, however, namely Duvall and National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson, have told Agri-Pulse that opening up the current farm bill to provide further assistance is not the answer. As Johnson put it: We worry that it may get worse rather than better if that happens. The general farm group leaders pushed for stability in the safety net, along with a proposal to add cottonseed as an oilseed under ARC and PLC. Like what you see here? Agri-Pulse subscribers get our Daily Harvest email and Daybreak audio Monday through Friday mornings, a 16-page newsletter on Wednesdays, and access to premium content on our ag and rural policy website. Sign up for your four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription. Johnson was the only witness to get specific about what he would like to see in the next farm bill an increase in PLC reference prices. The rest of the panel and the presiding lawmakers all spoke to the importance of unity and support for agriculture as the drafting process begins. When we get in to writing the next farm bill, one of the things that we have to make sure of is that we dont allow commodity groups to be pitted against commodity groups, Georgia Republican Austin Scott said at the hearing. This is agriculture, our rural economy, and quite honestly feeding Americans that weve got to get the policies right for. #30 For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com Kurdish Forces Blockade Assyrian Villages in Iraq Kurdish forces blockade Assyrian villages in north Iraq. (AINA) -- Kurdish security forces (Asayish) imposed a blockade on four Assyrian villages in the Nahla district in North Iraq to prevent Assyrians from going to Arbel to participate in a demonstration. Cars belonging to Kurdish security were parked across the roads leading out of Nahla, blocking more than 100 Assyrians from leaving the villages of Upper and Lower Hezani, Zoly and Khalilane. The demonstration was held yesterday at 12 P.M. in front of the Kurdish Parliament building in Arbel and was attended by more than 60 Assyrians. The demonstrators were protesting the illegal seizure of Assyrian land in Zoly and construction of homes on that land. A Kurd named Ibrahim Hajji Yasin moved into Nahla a few months ago and began seizing land in the village of Zoly and moving livestock into it. He brought more than 200 cows into the land. He also began constructing 3 homes. According to Assyrian sources, Mr. Yasin is employed by Retha Zebari, a close relative of Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government. Nahla has eight Assyrian villages, Upper and Lower Hezani, Belmand, Khalilane, Zoly, Kashkawa, Meroke and Rabatke. The land of Nahla on parcels 89 and 90 includes Upper and Lower Hezani, Zoly and Khalilane, and all the deeds in these villages are held by 117 Assyrians in a co-op. The deeds, most of which were granted before 1970, have been recognized by the Iraqi Department of Agriculture and Iraqi courts. Assyrians prevented from leaving their villages in Nahla by Kurdish security forces. On March 11 a delegation from a coalition of six Assyrian parties visited the Kurdish Parliament and asked the government to order Mr. Yasin to immediately cease and withdraw from Zoly, but the government failed to act. The coalition included the Assyrian Patriotic Party, Bet Nahrain, Abnah Nahrain, Warka List, National Chaldean Congress and Peoples' Council of the Chaldeans, Syriac and Assyrians. Conspicuously absent from the coalition was the largest Assyrian party, the Assyrian Democratic Movement. Ibrahim Hajji Yasin's partially and illegally constructed home in the Assyrian village of Zoly. On April 7 the coalition sent a letter outlining the case to Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government. The letter included copies of the deeds and all supporting documentation. No response was received. Assyrians in front of the Kurdistan Parliament protest the illegal seizure of Assyrian land in the village of Zoly. According to the organizers of the demonstration, the Asayish telephoned each one of the coalition members and asked that they cancel the demonstration. The organizers declined, but three of the parties did not participate in the demonstration. An Assyrian delegation meets with the vice-president of the Kurdistan Parliament, Jaffar Imniki (center), regarding the illegal expropriation of Assyrian land in Zoly. After the demonstration a delegation met with the vice-president of the Kurdistan Parliament, Jaffar Imniki, and presented its demand for an immediate halt to the illegal land expropriation within 72 hours and to demolish the partially built homes. The Assyrian residents of Nahla are now waiting to see if the Kurdish authorities will act. Assyrians prevented from leaving their villages in Nahla by Kurdish security forces. An Assyrian woman confronts a member of the Kurdish security forces in Nahla, who imposed a blockade on the village. Kurdish security forces block road in Nahla, preventing Assyrians from leaving their villages. Air Canada and Cargojet Airways are finalising a commercial arrangement to operate the only direct scheduled freighter service between Canada and Latin America. A Cargojet Boeing 767-300ER freighter will fly from Canada to Latin America, offering 52 tonnes of net cargo capacity from June 9, subject to regulatory approvals. Initial service will be from Toronto to Bogota, Colombia and Lima, Peru via Atlanta and Toronto to Mexico City via Dallas/Fort Worth, TX. Under the arrangement, Air Canada Cargo also plans to introduce a dedicated freighter service to Europe from Toronto in the second half of 2016. Air Canada Cargo vice president, Lise-Marie Turpin, said: "Working with Cargojet, we are able to leverage and build upon Air Canadas extensive North American and international networks. We look forward to continuing to grow our dedicated freighter network to Europe later this year." Cargojet president and chief executive, Ajay Virmani said the arrangement allows us to optimise our overall freighter aircraft utilisation and to expand our range of services and customer base with Air Canada." Share this story April 14, 2016 Disagreements in the Palestinian leadership have started affecting the factions within the ruling Palestinian Liberation Organization. Tensions between PLOs leading faction, Fatah, and especially President Mahmoud Abbas, and the second-largest PLO faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), are now in the open. The PFLP, a left-wing movement, has for years been a thorn in the side of Fatah, both under late PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Abbas. However, the two factions have tolerated each other and shared common ground until now. Following the recent tensions, Abbas has ordered the suspension of the movement's monthly stipend, due to its leaders' much harsher than usual anti-Abbas positions. In response, anti-Abbas demonstrations were held April 12 by PFLP supporters in the Gaza Strip, during which the photo of the Palestinian president was burned. The conflict between Abbas and the PFLP is a result of a series of decisions and statements by Abbas, which included the Palestinian participation in the funeral of a senior Israeli civil administration official March 25 and an interview on Israel TV that was seen as an appeasement to the Israelis. On Feb. 26, there was the mysterious death of Omar Nayef Zayed, a PFLP operative who died inside the Palestinian Embassy in Bulgaria. PFLP officials held talks and issued a statement April 3, saying that Abbas had crossed red lines. PFLP political bureau member Rabah Muhana called on Abbas to resign for deviating from what is acceptable for a national leader. Kayed al-Ghul, a Gaza-based PFLP leader, told Al-Monitor that the Palestinian National Fund has stopped paying the monthly stipend to the movement. He said, The February and March fund transfers have not been made, apparently following a verbal request by Abbas to Ramzi Khoury, the head of the Palestinian National Fund. Ghul said that while it is not the first time that this has happened, it does reflect a retraction in relations. This is a sign by Abbas to dominate all decision-making even though the fund transfer issue was mandated by the Palestinian National Council [PNC]. The funds, which are said to be around $80,000 a month, are to cover the salaries of the movements cadres and other administrative costs such as rent for offices, publications and transportation expenses. Ghul said that the Palestinian national and Islamic factions issued a statement April 11 in support of the PFLPs position. He told Al-Monitor by phone from Gaza, In addition to the monopoly over financial decisions, we have been seeing similar attempts by the president to make national decisions such as the Arab Leagues labeling Hezbollah a terrorist organization and an approval without consultation of the French plans. Hamdeh Faraneh, a member of the PNC, told Al-Monitor that suspending the funds is not acceptable. He said, It is not acceptable to cut off financial support to well-respected national factions such as the [PFLP]. For his part, a senior PFLP official in Amman told Al-Monitor that the transfer of funds to the movement has varied between $80,000 and $120,000 per month over the years, and that it had been $85,000 recently. The source, who preferred not to be identified for security reasons, said that it was not the first time that the chairman of the PLOs Executive Committee had resorted to financial pressures. He said, Both Abbas and before him Arafat have tried this method many times. Yet they must know that the PFLP will not yield to this kind of pressure. The source explained that his faction has put some funds aside for emergencies, and that the issue will be raised in the next meeting of the PLO Executive Committee, of which the organization is a permanent member. Abdel Rahim Mallouh, who was the acting director of the PLO and who resigned as a representative of the PFLP in 2010, has only nominally represented the organization, since a replacement has not yet been elected. Yet, Omar Shehadeh often represents the organization at the meetings of the Executive Committee. Since the resignation in 2000 of PFLP's founder George Habash, who passed away in 2008, the movement has witnessed various leadership challenges. Abu Ali Mustafa, Habash's successor, was assassinated by Israel in August 2001. Mustafas deputy Ahmed Sadaat took over the leadership position, but he was accused of having planned the revenge for the killing of Mustafa, by ordering the killing of Israeli Minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001. Sadaat is currently serving a 30-year sentence in Israel. Khalida Jarrar, a senior PFLP supporter and an elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was sentenced in December 2015 to 15 months in prison on charges that included attending public forums. Its Central Council rather than an individual leader leads the organization, which is under constant threat from the Israelis. Palestinian internal politics appears to be deteriorating on all fronts. However, Fatah and its leader Abbas cant afford to alienate a secular national movement such as the PFLP. This attempt to influence the movement through economic pressure is unlikely to produce any major changes in its political posturing. The sooner that this issue is resolved, the better it is for Abbas to solve his much more intractable problems within his own movement and with Hamas, his main political adversary. April 14, 2016 Jean-Marc Ayrault, France's recently named minister for foreign affairs and international development, has had a long career in the political arena. Ayrault was first elected to the French National Assembly in 1986. As mayor of Nantes from 1989 to 2012, he transformed and modernized the city, which today is considered one of the most dynamic cities in France and a strong base of the Socialist Party. Ayrault left that position to serve as head of the Socialist Party delegation to the chamber from 1997 to 2012. In this capacity, he worked closely with Francois Hollande, who at that time was the first secretary of the party. When Hollande was elected president of France, Ayrault became his first prime minister, from 2012 to 2014. A dedicated left-wing politician, Ayrault is a former German professor. Al-Monitor interviewed Ayrault via email April 13, soon after he returned from the Group of Seven (G-7) meeting of industrialized countries in Japan. Excerpts of the interview follow: Al-Monitor: How do you link the migrant crisis with the Syrian conflict? Does France act in Syria only to curb the number of migrants flocking to Europe? Ayrault: Refugee management is not the only determining factor in French policy on the Syrian conflict. We maintain long-standing relations with the Middle East, particularly with Lebanon and Syria. Furthermore, since the start of the Syrian crisis, France has been calling for a political transition that alone can address the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people, even before the refugee crisis affected Europe. Today, this transition appears even more necessary to restore lasting stability in Syria and the neighboring countries, as well as security in Europe. Yet it is true that the migrant crisis in Europe is directly linked to the Syrian conflict as almost 45% of the migrants and refugees who have arrived in Europe in 2016 are from Syria. The current regime is chiefly responsible for this situation due to the repression it has been conducting for the past five years. The mass bombings, including with barrel bombs, carried out by the regime, in addition to the resulting casualties, have been largely responsible for the 7 million internally displaced persons and almost 5 million refugees. As a result of the mass repression against its population, the regime has also created the conditions that enable terrorist movements like Daesh [Islamic State] and Jabhat al-Nusra to thrive on its soil. With the recent attacks in Brussels, it is clear that Europe is also suffering the consequences. Al-Monitor: How do you see the future of Lebanon in the Middle East crises? Ayrault: Lebanon is one of the countries worst affected by the consequences of this crisis. For example, the Syrian crisis has caused the arrival of over a million refugees in the country, accounting for a quarter of its population. To preserve Lebanon's stability and avoid that it becomes hostage to regional tensions, France calls on the Lebanese to follow the policy of dissociation toward the Syrian conflict, in accordance with the Baabda Declaration adopted by all Lebanese parties in June 2012. Lebanon's presidency has been vacant for almost two years. This affects the functioning of all institutions. France calls on Lebanese actors to mobilize in order to enable the election of a president without delay. France has also worked hard to create the International Support Group for Lebanon, which is active in the political, military and humanitarian components. Beyond that, resolving the issue of refugees and viably limiting risks of destabilization in Lebanon can only be achieved through a lasting political solution in Syria. Al-Monitor: Considering the progress of IS in Libya, what should be done in that country? Ayrault: It is urgent to combat Daesh in Libya, where it is committing unacceptable abuses on civilians and threatening the entire region. Daesh has established itself in Libya owing to political instability there. It is therefore great news that the national unity government has just taken office in Tripoli, since the best way of stopping the progress of Daesh is to rebuild the authority of the state and restore its principal functions, in particular the army and the police. There have been major developments in the inter-Libyan political process facilitated by the United Nations: A political agreement was signed in Skhirat in December 2015 and a national unity government was formed in February 2016. This government is supported by the majority of deputies in the House of Representatives and Libyans, and the international community stands ready to support it in all areas, including security. It is important, however, for the government to establish itself in Tripoli and assume control of the country's economic and financial institutions. Al-Monitor: Should France/Europe play a larger role in the [Israeli-Palestinian] peace process? Ayrault: In the face of the deadlocked peace process and of a rapidly deteriorating situation, France has suggested organizing an international conference to further the resumption of negotiations in order to arrive at the only possible solution to this conflict that is the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel. I have entrusted Ambassador Pierre Vimont with the mission to contact the concerned parties with a view to preparing this conference. I myself have had the opportunity to meet with the Arab League's Committee in Cairo and to present our ideas to our European partners. All our meetings, notably with [US Secretary of State] John Kerry and [Russian Foreign Minister] Sergey Lavrov, have provided an opportunity to explain that the status quo is dangerous and that we must restore the hope of all Palestinians that the two-state solution will be realized rapidly. France has proposed taking action in two stages: to first hold a conference in the spring bringing together the principal partners to mobilize the international community around this solution, and second an international conference expanded to the parties, so as to lay the foundations for a new dialogue. France and the European Union have major interests in the Mediterranean and we must shoulder all our responsibilities to further a just and lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. April 14, 2016 TEHRAN, Iran More than two decades have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of Moscows domination over vast territories in the Caucasus and Central Asia. One bitter legacy of the Soviet era is the continued existence of frozen conflicts in these areas, conflicts that every now and then flare up for various reasons. During the past two weeks, the eruption of a new wave of fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region has shown that this legacy still has serious destabilizing potential, at least in the South Caucasus. Although the clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops that began April 2 have been temporarily halted, with a truce implemented after three days of fighting, the death of dozens of soldiers and civilians from both sides has caused serious concern among neighboring countries as well as regional and outside powers. After the eruption of clashes, Iran which due to various economic and security considerations has always been concerned about stability in its northern regions urged the two sides to show restraint and refrain from further escalation. It also called for resolving the issue through diplomatic means. At the same time, Tehran declared its willingness to mediate to end the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in an April 5 phone conversation with his Armenian counterpart, Edward Nalbandian, emphasized the need to stop the clashes in the disputed region while declaring Irans readiness to play a role in this regard, should the two involved parties consent to such an undertaking. Zarif, who traveled to the northern Iranian city of Ramsar the same day to participate in a trilateral meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, emphasized to Mammadyarov Irans full readiness to resort to good offices with the aim of resolving the conflict peacefully. The next day, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held separate phone conversations with his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts in which he stressed Irans readiness to play an active role in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Islamic Republic of Iran is very upset about the killing of civilians and troops of the two friendly, neighboring countries, Rouhani said, adding that Iran is ready to use all of its capacities to achieve a peaceful settlement of disputes between the two sides through political dialogue. The fact of the matter is that Iran, for a variety of reasons, is opposed to an escalation of conflict in the South Caucasus. A rise in tensions in the region could lead to an increase in the military presence of countries from outside the region in support of the opposing sides. This has always been a primary regional security concern in Tehran. Furthermore, due to the economic and social ties Iran has with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, an escalation of conflict between the two could pose serious challenges for Iran. Thus, senior Iranian officials emphasis on the need to prevent an escalation is rather logical and understandable. The real question, however, is given the present circumstances, could Iran act as a mediator between Azerbaijan and Armenia, or more generally, play an active and distinct role in this regard? To answer this question, two points must be considered. First, in the years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has sought to keep the former Soviet republics within its political and economic orbit and to maintain control over what it calls its near abroad. In this context, Moscow has always been wary of any role, whether negative or positive, played by external actors in the former republics, especially in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Thus, Moscow has attempted to direct all political, diplomatic, economic and security initiatives through its own channels. In regard to Iran, this was demonstrated when Tehran made efforts to mediate in the Nagorno-Karabakh War and Tajikistan civil war in the early 1990s. Because of Russian considerations, Iran was never able to stake out an independent role in either instance. Iranian mediation initiatives in Tajikistan could, at best, have led to a joint Iranian-Russian solution, and in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh, Moscow preferred to pursue the issue through an entirely different track, namely, the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Second, in the current situation and with the recent round of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Moscow is pursuing an agenda that makes the role of external actors, including Iran, an even more sensitive matter. On the one hand, during the past two years in the wake of the Ukraine crisis which has led to the most serious confrontation between Russia and the West in more than two decades Moscow has been trying to further strengthen its ties with the former Soviet republics. The most obvious manifestation of this trajectory is the proposition to create a Eurasian Economic Union. In this context, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an opportunity for Moscow to, by playing an active role, persuade both Baku and Yerevan to accept Russias special role in the region. On the other hand, given the current unfriendly relations between Russia and Turkey and Ankaras public expression of support for Azerbaijan in the conflict against Armenia, the Nagorno-Karabach clashes have turned into a Russian-Turkish face-off, and thus, grown in importance for Moscow. Considering these factors, one cannot expect an Iranian willingness to mediate between Azerbaijan and Armenia to result in Tehran actually playing an independent role in the current crisis. Rather, the best possible outcome for Iran could be its potential engagement in efforts to find a diplomatic solution through partnership with Russia and within the framework of a multilateral mediation process. In practical terms, however, by pursuing a policy of positive neutrality or active neutrality, Iran has already scored diplomatic points in the region. By avoiding taking sides and emphasizing a diplomatic settlement to the clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh, Tehran has presented itself as a responsible and peace-seeking actor in its northern neighborhood. April 14, 2016 At the 13th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, leaders of Muslim countries gathered to address issues such as terrorism, the migration crisis in the region and the issue of Palestine. What has captured the attention of the Iranian media, however, is the continuing conflict between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. Before the April 14 summit began, Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif publicly objected to Saudi Arabias attempt to introduce what Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) called four anti-Iranian resolutions and one resolution against Lebanons Hezbollah in the draft declaration of the OIC. Zarif said such a statement would contradict the spirit of Islamic unity and is in the interests of the Zionist regime" and warned that such destructive actions would have consequences. Addressing the Iran-Iraq War and anti-Iranian resolutions at previous OIC conferences by the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein, Zarif said, During that time Mr. Tariq Aziz, who was the foreign minister of Iraq, would pass anti-Iranian resolutions with the support of a number of regional countries. Zarif added, A lesson must be learned from the past, look now where Tariq Aziz is. Aziz, who was the public and international face of Iraq under Saddam, surrendered to American forces after the 2003 invasion. He was sentenced to death in 2010 and died of a heart attack in an Iraqi prison in 2015. Continuing with the theme of the Iran-Iraq War, Zarif also said that Iran has always tried to pursue positive relations with OIC members, even while some countries supported Saddam Hussein and his war against Iran and were partners with Saddam in his crimes against Iran. In a rare case of partisan Iranian media unity, Zarifs comments were front-page news both on Reformist Iranian newspapers, which have a softer position toward Saudi Arabia and support rapprochement, and hard-line publications linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which are staunchly opposed to better relations with Riyadh. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations with Iran after protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran in January. At the time, tensions were brewing over regional conflicts and a hajj stampede in Mecca that killed 464 Iranians, including top diplomats. President Hassan Rouhani attempted to strike a more conciliatory tone toward Saudi Arabia during his address at the OIC. He said, For everyone it is clear that for Saudi Arabia, Iran is not the problem and for Iran, Saudi Arabia is not the problem. He added, The main problem is ignorance, extremism and violence. Indirectly addressing the anti-Iranian resolutions that Saudi Arabia proposed, Rouhani said, The OIC summit was convened under the name of unity, no message that increases division between Muslims should be put out. Rouhani also lamented that the decline of the early Islamic civilizations began when, instead of cooperating, they became entangled in conflict with one another and prepared the scene for outside invaders. He said the same phenomenon is repeating itself today, and instead of investing in science, development and employment for the youth, money is spent on stockpiling weapons. Despite Rouhans positive comments, there are deep differences between Saudi Arabia and Iran over Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Even in his speech, Rouhani said Iran is supporting the Syrian government against terrorism, a position that Saudi Arabia, which has supported the armed opposition, is completely opposed. April 14, 2016 What motivated the speaker of Hamas' military arm on April 1, when he showed photographs of four Israelis two soldiers killed in Operation Protective Edge and two civilians currently held prisoner by Hamas on TV? Hamas ostensibly wanted to deny that it was engaged in negotiations over the fate of two bodies and two civilian hostages. In fact, the situation is far more complex. Today, Hamas still has the bodies of Israeli soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul. It also holds two civilians who crossed the border from Israel into Gaza: Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayyad, a resident of the Bedouin settlement of Hura. At the request of his family, the media was banned from releasing the young Bedouin's name. Once Hamas showed his name and photo on air, however, his father spoke out, saying that his son is mentally ill and in need of treatment. For the longest time, Hamas denied possession of Mengistu or Sayyad, apparently in an attempt to get Israel to pay for information about their whereabouts. In response, Israel made it clear that it had no intention of paying an excessive price for the bodies of two soldiers and for the two civilians who crossed the border on their own volition. Hamas blinked first, admitting that it had the two civilians and that it wanted to move forward with a prisoner exchange. At first, messages between Israel and Hamas were relayed via Ghazi Hamad and Gershon Baskin, the two men who helped secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, as well as other channels, including emissaries from the European Union and Egypt. Netanyahu himself raised the issue with the German chancellor, and it was discussed last month when the Hamas delegation visited Egypt. Al-Monitor has learned that the members of the delegation, headed by Mahmoud az-Zahar, demanded the release of hundreds of prisoners currently held in Israeli jails. Israel responded that it would only be willing to release prisoners in humanitarian cases, such as ailing or elderly prisoners who have served most of their sentences and are not considered to have blood on their hands. It now seems as though the timing of Hamas denying the negotiations could be linked to the Hamas delegations return from its unsuccessful trip to Egypt. It now realizes that it will not get the kind of deal it was hoping to reach. Hamas and Israel have been exchanging messages for a year now without any progress. Over the year, Hamas' situation has only gotten worse. The problem is bigger than the dire economic conditions in the Gaza Strip and the deteriorating relationship between Hamas and Egypt. It also involves an overwhelming feeling among the Hamas leadership that the people in Gaza are simply fed up with their rule. Obviously, no expression of the wide frustration and sharp criticism of the Hamas regime can be found in the Palestinian media. It can scarcely be found in social media, either. Ever since Hamas' military arm, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, seized power in the military coup of 2007, the region has been ruled by intimidation. Anyone who dares to criticize Hamas faces arrest and torture. Young people who attempt to organize protests in Gaza are visited by al-Qassam Brigades, who beat the daylights out of them. The lesson has been learned. Today, there is probably not a single young person in Gaza who would dare to demonstrate against Hamas. On the other hand, young people living in the Gaza Strip speak among themselves about the miserable situation. In private conversations, they share with one another how frustrated they are with Hamas and how they have lost hope in general. Though Hamas once promised them change and reform, the movement actually caused the situation in Gaza to deteriorate further. Young people in Gaza who do send messages to their peers in the West Bank over the social networks use codes and allusions, so that only insiders will be able to read their criticism. Even thats dangerous, a young man from Khan Yunis told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. The opinion on the street has not been with Hamas for a very long time now, and it is not just because of the situation in the Gaza Strip and us being separated from our brothers and sisters in the West Bank. It is that gradually, all of us, young and old alike, came to the realization that they established a corrupt government that only cares for itself. If there were elections in Gaza now, they would suffer a crushing defeat. According to him, this is the reason Hamas will never hold elections in Gaza. It also explains why it will never reconcile with Fatah. The consequence of all this is that Hamas believes the only way for it to bring good news to the people of the Gaza Strip is to announce another prisoner exchange with Israel. Such a deal would give al-Qassam Brigades and the Hamas leadership cause for celebration, even if there is no real reason to party. They believe that to advance a deal, al-Qassam Brigades must manipulate the Israeli public yet again. From there it is a short distance to showing photos of the Israelis held by Hamas on television. It should also be noted that the Hamas announcement did not mention that the soldiers were dead, creating the illusion that they were alive. Until recently, the spokesman of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades even maintained a Hebrew-language Twitter account, which he used to update his followers about the situation of the hostages. These messages were intended to pressure the Israeli public, which so far has responded with apathy to the possibility of a deal with Hamas. It certainly would not have the widespread support that gripped Israel over Shalits release. If the Hamas leadership believes that these means will encourage Israel to engage in an extensive prisoner exchange and that such an exchange could be the carrot that the people of Gaza need right now, then apparently, everything that the young people of Gaza are saying about the Hamas leadership is true. Hamas may once have had deep roots among the people, but it is now completely cut off from the residents of the Gaza Strip. Power, it seems, has corrupted even it. April 14, 2016 The outbreak of the latest intifada in October, accompanied by the intensification of Palestinian attacks against Israeli targets, which resulted in the death of 33 Israelis and the injury of over 250 others, provided the Israeli army with an excuse to further encroach on the West Bank under the pretext of a hot pursuit of Palestinian fugitives, without any distinction as to the statuses of Areas A, B and C. Such hot pursuits began after Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank in 2002 following suicide bombings undertaken by Palestinian factions between 2001 and 2002 within Israel, which killed and wounded hundreds of Israelis. The Oslo II Accord of 1995 divided the West Bank (5,844 square kilometers, or 2,256 square miles) between Palestinians and Israelis into three areas. Area A, where the majority of the Palestinian population is concentrated, is under the Palestinian Authority (PA) full civil and security control and its surface area represents 18% of the total land area of the West Bank. Area B, with a surface area of 21% of the West Bank, comprises the villages adjoining the main cities and falls under Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control. Area C 61% of the West Bank includes contiguous areas of the West Bank and falls under full Israeli security and civil control. Amin Maqbul, secretary-general of Fatah's Revolutionary Council, told Al-Monitor, Israels determination to invade Area A reveals its intent of fueling security tensions with Palestinians. It is also indicative of Israels refusal of the security and military recommendations by the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] and the Shin Bet in late November 2015, which included a series of provisions for the PA, such as strengthening its security by giving it more weapons, as well as granting work permits for Palestinians inside Israel, releasing Palestinian prisoners, granting permits for the export of goods from the West Bank to Israeli factories, allowing Palestinians to build houses in Area C in the West Bank, in addition to Israel refraining from any military action in Area A. This means that Israel is making a wrong political judgment that may harm the region in general by further exacerbating the [heated] situation. The PA can respond to these Israeli measures by calling for suspending the security coordination and reconsidering the political agreements signed with Israel such as the Oslo Accord in 1993, the Paris Economic Protocol in 1994 and the security coordination agreement in 1994. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported April 7 that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had stated that the IDF's freedom of action in Area A is sacred, which paves the way for the IDF to enter all areas in the West Bank without differentiating between Areas A, B or C. On the same day, Haaretz also reported that Education Minister Naftali Bennett warned that if the Israeli government decides to reduce the IDFs operations in Palestinian cities of the West Bank, this may undermine the coalitions stability, claiming that the IDF's control over Area A is a guarantee of Israel's security. By conducting hot pursuits in Area A, Israel aims to chase and arrest Palestinians wanted on security charges, including those planning to launch armed attacks against Israel. The Shin Bet compared these fugitives to a ticking bomb, claiming that it cannot afford to waste time by coordinating with the Palestinians before arresting the fugitives, who can exploit the situation to go underground and elude Palestinian security before launching their attack. It should be noted that in the period between October 2015 and March 2016, Israel was able to detain 3,000 Palestinian fugitives. A Palestinian official following the course of the security coordination with Israel told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, The PA believes Area A is one unit that cannot be divided and refuses to surrender any part of it. It also stands firm on Palestinian sovereignty over it and the need for Israel to respect and refrain from violating this sovereignty under any excuse. In the past few weeks, Palestinian officials urged their Israeli counterparts to restore the PAs control of Area A according to a preset short schedule without any further delay, because the PA did not and will not tolerate the Israeli security measures labeled as hot pursuits. Meanwhile, Israel insists on chasing Palestinians in Area A, although Maj. Gen. Roni Numa, the head of the IDF's Central Command, pointed that the PA is intensifying its activities against perpetrators. In its article, Haaretz reported that a senior official involved in the secret talks quoted Numa as saying that until a few months ago, Israel was handling 85% of counterterror activity in the West Bank and the PA only 15%. However, the equation changed in March, and the PA started handling 40% of the hot pursuits, with Israel security and military action in the West Bank dropping down to 60%. Nonetheless, Israel seems to only trust its security forces to maintain its security. On March 15, an Israeli political source told Hebrew radio on condition of anonymity that the secret talks with the Palestinians for putting certain areas under the PAs security control led to a dead end since the Palestinians refused to meet the Israeli conditions, no understandings were reached regarding changing the pace of the security and military Israeli action in the West Bank; the source said the IDF will continue to operate wherever and whenever it deems necessary. Former Endowments (Awqaf) Minister and Hamas leader in Hebron Nayef al-Rajoub told Al-Monitor, The hot pursuits are nothing new for Israel, although Palestinian security services have been making significant contributions toward ensuring Israeli security and protecting the Zionist project rather than the national Palestinian one. But sometimes, the Israeli army does not trust the information provided by Palestinians, leading to Israeli incursions in Area A, thus undermining what is left of the PAs shadow relevance in the West Bank to the extent that it is now seeking to preserve its interests with the Israelis for the sake of some of the PAs influential figures to the detriment of the Palestinian national cause. Seven months into the intifada, and with the Israeli army continuing its operations in Area A, questions are raised as to the fate of the security talks that started in March 2015 between the two sides on the IDFs redeployment in Palestinian cities such as Ramallah and Jericho. However, the ongoing hot pursuits may suggest an Israeli plan to take over some areas in the West Bank while keeping its security sway under different terminology such as security areas, armed intervention and securing settlements. Hasan Kharisha, the second deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, told Al-Monitor, Hot pursuits are entrenched in the Israeli armys ideology. I am fully convinced that they are being carried out in coordination with Palestinian security. This coordination is intensifying day after day with more attacks being thwarted and ongoing exchange of Palestinian militants between the security services of the two sides. This indicates that the PA does not seem serious about its threats of halting security coordination, which provides Israel with a cover to continue its pursuits against Palestinians. It seems that the Israeli army enters Area A whenever it pleases and carries out armed pursuits. Sometimes Israeli authorities inform the PA about it and request intel concerning some armed groups. It should be noted that the Israeli army withdraws its troops after arresting the fugitives it is pursuing, which is what happened in cities such as Hebron, Nablus, Jenin and Ramallah. Although security coordination between the PA and Israel is ongoing, in recent months,the IDF has been carrying out incursions into Palestinian cities, while the Palestinian security services stood idly by. The IDF would only ask the Palestinian security services to evacuate security and police positions in which it planned to carry out a hot pursuit. Raed Noueirat, a political science professor at An-Najah National University in Nablus and director of the Contemporary Center for Studies and Policy Analysis, told Al-Monitor, Israels ongoing armed pursuits promote the Israeli governments popularity among Israelis and provide the IDF with more accurate information about the West Bank than the Palestinian security services do. At the same time, Israel prefers the collaboration between its own security apparatuses and their Palestinian counterparts within the West Bank in order to preserve maximum security. Israel does not seem inclined to halt its hot pursuits against Palestinian fugitives anytime soon, amid the ongoing intifada and the helpless PAs failure to end it or contain it, neither politically nor militarily. As a result, what is remaining of the PAs imaginary sovereignty over the West Bank, as per the Oslo Accord, is gradually waning. April 14, 2016 RAMALLAH, West Bank The Knesset ratified the first reading of Israel's suspension bill, which allows the suspension of Knesset members and targets Arab lawmakers on charges of committing treason or supporting any terror or hostility toward Israel. Lawmakers voted 59-53 in favor of the bill March 28. On March 29, Shin Bet head and former Likud Knesset member Avi Dichter attacked the head of the Arab List, Ayman Odeh, threatening that he might end up like Hamas leaders Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi, assassinated by Israel in 2004. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed the suspension bill after having led a campaign of incitement against Knesset members Jamal Zahalka, Haneen Zoabi and Bassil Ghattas from the Joint List's Balad Party. The legislators had met with the families of Palestinian men who were killed Feb. 2 while attacking IDF soldiers. The families had requested that the Knesset members help them recover the bodies of their children for burial. On Feb. 8, the Knessets Ethics Committee decided to suspend the three Knesset members from their duties. Zoabi and Ghattas were suspended for four months and Zahalka for two months. The bill allows the suspension of Knesset members for making statements against Israel or denying the existence of a Jewish democratic state, without specifying an appropriate suspension period, subject to the approval of 90 out of 120 Knesset members. The bill calls for suspensions to enter into force 10 days after a decision is made. The bill aims to amend Section 7 of the Basic Law to define the reasons the Central Elections Committee may ban a candidate or a list and disqualify them from running in elections. The bill specifies that while making the decision to disqualify, the Central Elections Committee may consider all the candidates statements, not only their declared objectives or actions. Odeh, who heads the Joint List, told Al-Monitor that the suspension bill aims to exclude Arab political parties and leaders from legal and influential circles in Israel. Odeh explained that Netanyahu supported the bill after realizing the weight of the Arab public some 20% of the population in the last election after his failed attempt to weaken the Arabs parliamentary representation by raising the electoral threshold in the Knesset from 2% to 3.25%. It should be noted that Netanyahus move failed when the Arab parties formed their first joint list and were able to obtain 13 seats. The Knessets decision to ratify the suspension bill is unconstitutional because it contradicts a fundamental right: the election. Arab Knesset members are elected by the citizens and not by other Knesset members, and amending a Basic Law requires an absolute majority of 61 seats in the Knesset. This bill received only 59 votes, Odeh noted. For his part, Knesset member Massoud Ghanayem told Al-Monitor that ratifying the suspension bill upon the first reading sends the message that the government and the Israeli right want to disenfranchise Arab political actors by pushing Arab legislators out of the Knesset. The bill is dangerous, as it contradicts the essence of representative democracy by virtue of which the Knesset members were elected by the people, and therefore, Knesset members may only be suspended through the ballot box. The bill contradicts the principle of separation of powers and the essence of representative democracy, he added. The bill faces a second and third reading before being passed. Political writer and analyst Nazir Majli told Al-Monitor that the bill came as part of a series of racist laws that the right-wing Israeli government is trying to pass to limit the work of Arab Knesset members. Majli believed that the bill may be passed in light of the policies of the ruling Israeli right, which violates the values of democracy and treats Palestinians with arrogance and racism, relying on the wide support it receives from so many Israelis. Should Netanyahu continue and succeed in his quest to pass the bill, we will appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court and demand it issue a resolution against it, Majli answered when asked about the possible recourses. The bill is unconstitutional but we do not know what the Israeli Supreme Courts decision could be since it is biased and supports the policies adopted by the Israeli right, he said. Meanwhile, Ghanayem believes the Arab Knesset members should fight within the parliament to convince Knesset members to vote against the bill. Should the bill be ratified after the second and third reading, we would have to resort to the Israeli Supreme Court, and should it refuse to annul the bill, we would turn to the popular struggle through the Arab follow-up committee and parties, he said. On Dichter's threats, Odeh said, Dichter gave an inciting speech against me and he said i will have the same fate as Sheikh Yassin and Rantisi, in an attempt to turn the discussion over the democracy issue regarding the suspension bill into a discussion over the Hamas issue, in order to gain sympathy for the Netanyahu government. Odeh added, We wanted to discuss the suspension bill within the Knesset and Dichter attacked me to turn the attention toward a different subject and incite the Israeli public against us. Most of the Arab Knesset members have received death threats at some point, as Odeh did Oct. 16, when a Knesset security officer told him he and other Arab members needed to take security precautions. The suspension bill and the threats against Arab Knesset members come in the context of the ongoing harassment campaign against Palestinian political action. This campaign has included the banning of the Islamic Movement inside the Green Line on Nov. 17, issuing a six-month prison sentence for Zoabi on charges of insulting a civil servant a sentence that was commuted Feb. 7 imprisoning former Arab Knesset member Said Nafaa in November for visiting Syria and blocking Balad Knesset members from attending Knesset sessions. In light of the Knessets anticipated ratification of the bill, the Arab Knesset members are preparing to try to campaign for support from Jewish Knesset members. If they fail, the next step would be appealing to the Israeli Supreme Court. If both attempts prove unsuccessful, Arab parties in Israel will organize protests and make international political contacts to pressure Israel. April 14, 2016 Turkey recently proposed that the United States abandon Syrian Kurdistan's People's Protection Units (YPG) and "let us wipe out the Islamic State [IS] jointly with the moderate opposition." Turkey then made its first such move last week at al-Rai, Syria, with a composite force of Turkmens, Free Syrian Army factions and Salafists. That force took the town with Turkeys support, winning much acclaim, but was trounced four days later when IS retook the city April 11. As the Syrian army was preparing for a major move at Aleppo with the support of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, the United States was involved in an operation with the Kurds south of the Euphrates River, and Turkey was hatching its plan against IS north of the Euphrates with the participation of so-called moderate groups. The US goal is to expel IS from the area along the Euphrates before the Syrian army does it. Turkeys goal is to prevent the YPG from entering. Faced with heavy international pressure to liberate Jarablus and al-Rai from IS, Turkey had two options: allow the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) led by the YPG to conduct operations west of the Euphrates, or push forward to al-Rai and Jarablus with organizations linked to Turkeys National Intelligence Service. Because Moscow might still retaliate for Turkey's downing of a Russian jet in November, it's no longer an option for Turkey to field its own army and air force in Syria. There were reports that, during his recent visit to Washington, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had proposed to President Barack Obama that the United States should not cooperate with the YPG, but consider a joint operation with Turkey and Arab tribes. Media reports in Turkey said the presidents had agreed for the United States to launch an operation at Menbic with the SDF, while leaving the area to the north to the "moderate opposition." Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, referring to the bargaining with the United States, hinted that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) could be shifted to the areas where IS is now in control. Special forces can guide them. With additional training, cadres could be prepared to command them. The idea is not to send our army in, but to shift the FSA from the northwest toward the IS area. Turkey will provide air and ground support from its side of the border, he said. We have the means to do this. This is how the area will be cleansed of IS. We didnt discuss sending Turkish and American soldiers to Syria. We have political agreement on this. In line with the road map Cavusoglu spoke about, Turkey gave artillery support to the operation that began April 7, and coalition planes from Incirlik Air Base provided air support. A local source at Elbeyli, on the Turkish side of the strip of land controlled by IS, told Al-Monitor about military activities. For a while every evening, people were seen being transported to the border area in buses. We also saw trucks laden with earth-moving equipment and 4x4 vehicles," the source said. "This was done at night, and because some of the trucks were covered with tarpaulins, we couldnt see their loads. Clashes escalated Saturday night. They brought about 20 wounded to Kilis. Two of them were IS men." Pro-government media in Turkey reported the developments as a victory of Turkmens, while organizations such as Ahrar al-Sham released their own combat photographs. This move added credibility to Ankaras view that the area can be cleaned of IS without the Kurds. Turkish media lauded the al-Rai victory as a success of opposition forces toward establishment of a safe zone, as Turkey has been advocating. After taking al-Rai, the opposition groups were expected to advance 60 kilometers (37 miles) to Jarablus, which is the most significant logistics hub on Turkeys border. The euphoria lasted four days until IS returned with 11 explosive-laden vehicles and routed Turkeys allies. Not only was al-Rai lost again, but the Azaz-Marea corridor held by Turkey-supported groups came under threat. Turkish media, which had replayed the "safe zone" scenarios, fell mute and then began debating how Turkmen forces had to be reorganized. Abdurrahman Mustafa, chairman of the Turkmen Assembly, replied to Al-Monitors question about why Turkey-backed groups could not hold on to al-Rai: We have been fighting east of Azaz for the past two years. Daesh's [IS] defense is incredible. The area changed hands so many times. Combat conditions are different here. It is flat land with many villages. Daesh can come from any direction easily with their vehicle-borne bombs. That is why we had to retreat, but we are preparing for new actions. He added, Last week we had the support of planes that took off from Incirlik. This is the first time we had coalition support. Turkey was firing artillery within their rules of engagement any time Kilis was shelled. Those were useful. Turkeys support is within its rules of engagement." According to Mustafa, 25-30 Turkmens fighters were killed. Another Turkmen official, who did not want to be identified, scorned the Arab allies and the coalition. The Syrian war is one of treachery. Someone is always shooting Turkmens in the back. We lost al-Rai because of the treachery of militants who had infiltrated Arab groups. Coalition forces did not give sufficient support. As you know, until now, coalition forces have always fired on groups Turkey supports. Turkeys response was limited by its rules of engagement, the official said. The northern corridor is so confusing, we have no idea who is on whose side. There is the risk of losing the Azaz-Marea line. Actually, there is that risk all over because of rampant treachery, the Turkmen source said, referring to mounting fears that IS as it did last year might not stop at al-Rai but press on to Azaz again. Turkmens pay the heaviest price. We have lost the reins in our area. The process is manipulated by foreign powers. We are now discussing what we can do, whether we can reorganize the Turkmen forces. I dont know how effective we can be." As this is happening north of the Euphrates, the Menbic operation that SDF was going to carry out with the United States was delayed. We are not yet ready for the operation, Zuhat Kobani, an official with the Kurdish nationalist Democratic Union Party, told Al-Monitor. Another Kurdish source said, There are issues to be cleared up about the Menbic operation. The United States and Turkey have not yet agreed on this matter. Turkeys tactical moves designed to keep the YPG away from the area are impeding a real and meaningful struggle against IS. The expectation is that if the Kurds and their Arab allies move against Menbic, Turkey will arrange for a repeat of the al-Rai offensive. If the Syrian army succeeds in the Great Aleppo War, the northern front will be even more complicated, so much so that even Turkey wont be able to cope with it. Then, the with Kurds or without Kurds debate will become irrelevant. 13015128_10156801668565029_2312792149504483607_n.jpg (Left to right) Lyndsay Ferguson, Bill Hopkins, Leslie Pitts, Jim Bolte, Ed Castile and Ralph Bryson. (Courtesy of the Chamber of Commerce) Before Leslie Pitts became a student at Limestone County Career Technical Center, he was working on engines on a small farm where he grew up. The 10th grader wants to put his experience to work someday by building engines for companies like Toyota's Huntsville plant, the only Toyota facility in the world to make four-cylinder, V6 and V8 engines under one roof. Pitts is one of many north Alabama students who will benefit from Toyota's recent donation of 45 V6 engines to automotive programs in Madison, Limestone, Morgan, Marshall, DeKalb and Cullman counties. Many students in those programs were previously using engines that are 10 years old. "It's just really an honor to have Toyota donate these engines," he said. The "trial" engines, which were made on Toyota's newest production line in Huntsville, will help high school students learn new skills and stimulate their interest in the automotive manufacturing industry. Bill Hopkins, superintendent of Morgan County Schools, said students in his district will be able to graduate and enter the automotive workforce immediately as a result of the hands-on education. "In education, we hear people all the time talk about that they want to help, what can we do to help," he said. "Here's a company that is actually practicing what they preach." Toyota made the donation Thursday afternoon at its facility on One Cottonvalley Drive, which served as the quarterly meeting space for the Northeast Alabama Workforce Development Council - Region 2. Jim Bolte, president of Toyota Alabama, said the donation allows Toyota to invest in education, which is one of the company's top initiatives. "By having access to this latest technology, it's our hope that the students will really gain better skills and become more interested in automobile manufacturing and advanced manufacturing altogether," he said. Toyota Alabama operates on 200 acres, spans 1.1 million square feet and employs 1,350 people in Huntsville. The company has produced more than 631,000 engines and made five significant investments at the site during the past 11 years. On a recent spring day, beneath a sky so blue it looked ready for a kindergartner to glue cotton-ball clouds to it, Karen Self worked near the entrance of her family ranch along U.S. Highway 231. Behind Self - and miles of barbed fencing - stretched a scene that also looked as if it came from a child's imagination: rolling green hills, grazing black bulls, a fuzzy brown donkey and a small red barn. Adding to the feeling that this picturesque setting belonged in a frame was the hulking, imposing presence of two American bison, also commonly called buffalo. Nearby, longhorn cattle grazed among fluffy-eared donkeys and frolicking calves that were part longhorn, part Angus. Self wasn't at all surprised to see a car pull over and its occupants ask to take photos. "It happens all the time," she said. The bison, languidly chewing the plentiful grass, were in no danger of being sent to a slaughterhouse. "We really keep those as pets," Self said, with a laugh. She pointed out a week-old, black-and-white calf, the offspring of a longhorn called Sweet Baby and an Angus daddy, and explained it wouldn't grow the distinctive curled horns because the mixed babies developed Angus characteristics. Another longhorn cow, this one named Eunice, was large with her own offspring, which Self was expecting to make an appearance in a few weeks. Self and her husband work the Blount County land named Christine's Place in honor of her mother. The bison draw plenty of attention, and Self is more than happy to allow photos and talk to passersby about the livestock. Bison in Alabama Although there are increasing numbers of bison in Alabama, including some on ranches that raise them for their meat, seeing the animals beside a rural road is surprising. After a brush with extinction in the 1900s, the animals are recovering, although mostly in captivity and not free-ranging. The only unfenced, free-range herd left in the U.S. is in Yellowstone National Park. Buffalo are also making their way back into Alabama, which once had a large bison population, according to OutdoorAlabama.com. Through the 1800s, the plains bison "occurred in all but the most southern part of the state (of Alabama)," the website said. In Alabama, many ranchers have a few bison mixed in with other livestock. In 2012, the most recent livestock census available, 32 farms statewide had a total of 252 bison, according to Cynthia Price with the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. In addition to bison and longhorn cattle, Alabama is home to several other unusual breeds of captive animals, including alpacas, llamas, mink and even elk, Price said. Twelve farms in Alabama had a total of 401 elk in 2012. Another exotic breed making a home in Alabama is the Dine', or "churro," sheep, a Native American "spirit animal" being preserved by Sacred Way Sanctuary in Florence. The churros look similar to bighorn sheep but they have multiple, "curly" horns. According to the sanctuary website, churro sheep "are a unique species and are the traditional companions of the Dine (Navajo) People of the Southwestern United States. They were and are still honored as the providers and clothiers of the children." Sacred Way Sanctuary also provides a habitat for more than 100 Native American "spirit" horses, which can have unusual markings like zebras, along with a herd of buffalo. The sanctuary, located at 4409 County Road 200 in Florence, offers tours and weddings to offset operating costs. For information, call 256-648-0582. Seven men face multiple federal charges following indictments from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Georgia. U.S. Attorney John Horn announced that seven Atlanta men face charges of conspiracy to steal firearms from the premises of federal firearms dealers, possession of multiple stolen firearms and theft. The indictments stem from a case in Heflin as well as the cities of Tallapoosa, Thomson, Monroe, Warner Robins, Dalton, Macon, LaGrange, and Athens, Ga. "Thefts from firearms dealers have become a serious issue in our district and elsewhere, and sometimes stolen firearms are used to commit other crimes," Horn said in a release. "The arrests and indictment of these seven individuals is a significant step in solving these crimes and helping to prevent the distribution of stolen firearms in our community." According to the charges, the men participated in seven thefts and three attempted thefts from October through December of last year. The group worked at night, either by driving a stolen car through storefronts or using bolt cutters and a window punch to break into the businesses. Authorities said the group made off with 130 guns, with evidence some of the stolen guns were sold. ATF worked with multiple law enforcement agencies in three states as part of the investigation. The men indicted were Terry Eugene Brown, 26; Jakeisia Miller, 19; Demontra Sharod Lucear, 26; Dillon James Leborgne, 21; Eric Jerome Moore, 22; Jacquez Miller, 23, and Jameel Yusef Drinkard, 35. The Heflin incident occurred Oct. 13 at 1 a.m. at Don's Pawn Shop on Burns Street. A Chevrolet Tahoe reportedly stolen out of Fulton County, Ga., came through the front of the store and four people began a coordinated search for items inside. Police Chief A.J. Benefield said at the time that the group entered, attempted to grab firearms and failed, then attempted to grab electronics and jewelry but ended up dropping some items on their way out. Investigators said the group was in and out of the store in 36 seconds. A passing motorist Wednesday morning alerted authorities to a four-year-old child wandering a Calhoun County highway unsupervised. Chief Deputy Matthew Wade said deputies arrested Lisa Dawn Franklin, 25, of Crain Circle in Piedmont, following an incident that happened around 7:20 a.m. Wednesday. Dispatchers received a call about a four-year-old walking along U.S. 278 near the Calhoun-Etowah county line. Deputies for Etowah and Calhoun County responded, and it was determined the child's home was at a Piedmont address in Etowah County. Wade said Franklin had smoked methamphetamine the night before, which allowed the child to wander away. The Department of Human Resources took the child into protective custody. Franklin is being held in the Calhoun County Jail on child abuse charges with a bond of $7,500. Her court hearing is scheduled for May 12 at 1:30 p.m., Wade said. One Alabama Department of Transportation employee was killed and another injured Thursday morning in a crash that shut down Interstate 65 northbound in Morgan County. Seth Burkett, a spokesman for ALDOT, identified the victims as employees, though their names are being withheld out of respect for their families. "Additional information will be made available at the appropriate time," Burkett said in a statement. AL.com news partner WHNT News 19 reports that a vehicle struck the back of an ALDOT truck as workers were placing barrels out in an area of construction set to begin on the Tennessee River Bridge. Traffic was diverted to Highway 67 as first responders worked the scene. The crash remains under investigation by state troopers. The interstate had been reopened to traffic about mid-morning, but traffic was still moving very slowly. Updated at 10:25 a.m. to identify the victim as an ALDOT employee. A year after the devastating cyclone, little has been rebuilt despite millions pledged. 4am. Last March. My birthday, in fact. But there was to be no opportunity to celebrate. I was at Sydney airport for a flight to Port Vila, Vanuatu. Checking in, too, were members of other TV crews and employees of relief aid agencies and charities. The queue moved slowly: there was lots of excess luggage. We were catching the first flight to depart to Vanuatu since the country had been hit by the biggest cyclone in its history. The initial reports from within Vanuatu were dire. In fact, over the next week in Vanuatu I discovered that although the damage was extensive, few died. But the cyclone briefly dominated headlines around the world. Governments competed to announce donations of aid. Individuals gave generously to charities. Six months later I went back to see how the initial emergency phase had gone. The answer, So I tried. My best estimate, from drawing together figures in various organisations annual reports, is that between $20m and $35m was donated shortly after the storm. Most people Ive talked to say that sounds about right. For longer-term help for a recovery phase, a dollar figure for aid has proved even harder to pin down. Vanuatus government doesnt have one. The best theyve been able to provide is a list of what they believe was promised. But as officials stressed privately to me that does not mean that money was delivered. Residents claim they are being mercilessly taxed by armed groups, and short-changed by a corrupt state government. Dimapur, India Rose Dukru, 32, and her family belong to a new generation of businessmen in Indias northeastern state of Nagaland. But a few years ago, they decided to go back to their farming roots and began to cultivate vegetables in the village of Zhavame, unaware of the difficulties they would soon face. Our cabbages are famous throughout the state. In a year, the village contributes to a market value of about 17 million [rupees, or $254,000] through its produce, she said. Yet her family, like other farmers in the region, only see a small percentage of the revenue. When they send their vegetables to be sold in Dimapur, the states commercial centre, its municipal council levies transportation taxes on the vehicles bringing the produce to market as do several armed groups along the 140km-long route from Zhavame to Dimapur. When the cabbages finally reach the wholesale market, traders set the price of the produce, irrespective of the farmers production cost. The traders have formed a syndicate and they pay something known as protection tax to armed groups that gives them the power to dictate over the poor farmers. Theres price monopoly here when there should be a free market. If were lucky, we make a small profit. Otherwise, most days end with deficits, Dukru explained. Last July her father, Sanyi Dukru, 54, was assaulted by traders and found unconscious by the police at midnight. As the chairman of a local farmers committee, Sanyi Dukru spent his days in Dimapur inquiring about the market prices of vegetables and updating farmers back home. That day was no different. There was an argument, and the traders attacked him with the furniture lying around. A few suspects who were taken into custody have been bailed. I dont know whether to expect any justice from the system, said Dukru dejectedly. Multiple taxation layers Nagaland, a state in northeastern India, has long been a restive region, with many demanding sovereignty or full independence from the central government. The Naga National Council (NNC) declared the area to be independent a day before Indias independence in 1947, and later claimed that a plebiscite it held found that 99.9 percent of people favoured sovereignty. The Indian government rejected the plebiscite, and after several failed attempts by the government to resolve the issue, the NNC took up arms in 1955. The Indian army retaliated with counterinsurgency operations, and in 1958, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was passed, which controversially gave Indian security forces immunity in conflict-ridden areas. When the state of Nagaland was formed in 1963, it was given a special status and exempted from taxes, but disturbance in the area continued. Although separatist groups signed ceasefire agreements with the Indian government, there remain four major, and at least five small, separatist groups in Nagaland today. Each runs a parallel government of sorts in the state, fights against the others, and levies taxes on state residents. In 2013, a peoples movement called Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) was formed to protest against the taxation by armed groups and corruption in the state government. Joel Nillo Naga, a social activist and the co-chairman of ACAUT, said that in the past, Nagaland residents voluntarily helped provide NNC fighters with rations and other supplies. But now, were asked to pay several taxes to several groups. People are being exploited on the pretext of nationalism, he said. Every commodity is taxed multiple times, right from transportation to storage to the point of sale. The burden of taxation is added to the price of every product that a common man buys. In addition, there are retailers and traders whove formed syndicates and also decide the price at will. Every commodity is taxed multiple times, right from transportation to storage to the point of sale. The burden of taxation is added to the price of every product that a common man buys. by Joel Nillo Naga, ACAUT To back up its demands, ACAUT formed a fact-finding committee to study taxes levied by separatist groups, as well as a high power committee, backed by the state government, to investigate the issue further. The high power committee found that each of the nine separatist groups imposes taxes on government employees, except the armed and paramilitary forces which amounts to roughly two months worth of an employees salary. Even funds for flood management and irrigation were taxed several times. The groups function very systematically, and collect tax from the government funds through their respective finance departments. There are more than 80 departments in the government, and a tax of 5 percent is levied on each of their budgets, explained Khekiye Sema, a retired bureaucrat who was one of the three members of the high power committee along with Naga. Whats worse, he added, is that the government officials have begun to use taxation as an excuse to pocket the money. Taxation or extortion? In a camp a short distance away from Dimapur, the armed group the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, Isak Muivah, or NSCN (I-M), defended its taxation policy. We have the legitimate authority to tax people, just like any other government in the world. Its a way for people to participate and contribute to the mass movement of the Nagas, said Varengam Horam, who identifies himself as the minister of information and publicity for NSCN (I-M). Peace talks require money, Horam added. We have coordination offices in 10 countries and thousands of armed men from Nagaland deployed there. We cannot call them back or stop sending them rations and other necessary supplies. Itll be extremely easy for us to engage in illegal activities and make money, but we dont want to do that, so we seek peoples support. According to Chungkhojang Singson, an adviser to an NSCN faction called GPRN-NSCN, a small amount of 100 Indian rupees ($1.50) is collected from all villagers, but strict orders have been given to refrain from taxing funds allocated to villages for development work. We do not harass either businessmen or the government employees for tax. We seek a certain amount, but are open to negotiation and bring down the amount for most people, he claimed. Shouka Kakheto, a senior police officer in Dimapur, is quick to point out that while armed groups consider it their right to collect taxes, the police force regards this as extortion. The problem has become so deep-seated that people complain only when it begins to bother them. Otherwise, theyre silently paying or negotiating the amount every day, Kakheto said. Even when the police file cases of extortion against members of separatist groups, locals refuse to appear as witnesses in court. As a result, the accused are let go. Tackling corruption On top of the multiple taxes, Nagaland residents complain of rampant corruption in the state government. Indias central government allocates Nagaland a large budget each year, but little money is said to reach the public. According to the secretary of a village committee, who spoke to Al Jazeera on the condition of anonymity, his village received only a small fraction of development funds it was entitled to under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005. The village was also asked to return 40 percent of the amount it received to Nagalands rural development department. Earlier, taxation was our biggest problem, the village committee secretary said. Anybody and everybody would come and ask us to pay, but after ACAUT was formed, we managed to ban the paying of tax altogether as a community. But how do we tackle corruption? If we speak up, our village will be blacklisted by the state departments, and the little money that is sent will be stopped as well. Chotisuh Sazo, speaker of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly, denied that state funds were being misused, and said delays in payments were the result of a financial crunch in the state. Of the total annual funds that we receive from the government, 65 percent is spent on salaries of government employees and the rest, 35 percent, on development projects. Where is the space for corruption? Sazo said. WATCH: 500 Indians named in Panama Papers Yet Kuzholuzo Nienu, the former minister of Nagalands Public Welfare Department, admitted that corruption was siphoning money from public projects. There are many governments but little governance in the state, he said. Corruption begins in the electoral process. Nominees pay locals to cast votes in their favour, and once elected, the legislative member or minister tries to earn back the money that he spent. The system is so corrupt that the contractor assigned to do a particular development work by the government is barely left with any money to undertake the contractual work after the ministers, bureaucrats and different armed factions take their cuts. The states education and health systems are also deeply affected by this misuse of funds. Last September, teachers boycotted classes over the non-payment of their salaries, affecting the functioning of 49 schools. People feel neglected by the government, and the system of taxation and syndicates keeps them from starting out their own ventures, said Naga. The frustration eventually drives them to join the separatist groups. Its a vicious cycle. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Last week I was granted a meeting with a man who, for the past two years, has been vilified by friends and foes alike: Yemens President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. When I arrived at the gate of the palace, there were no signs of heavy security. I simply showed my ID card and that of my driver and we were quickly ushered in. A few minutes later, a security guard escorted me to a large room where Hadi was waiting. We shook hands and he asked how I was doing. In the hour or so that followed, I gained an insight into a man whose media appearances are rare perhaps because he is ill-suited to them or simply doesnt like journalists and found him to be quiet, cordial and spontaneous. PROFILE: Yemens Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi There are no problems between me and Bahah. I agreed to appoint him as vice president during a critical phase in Yemens history. Others have also supported that [decision]. For the past two years, Hadi has been viewed by many inside and outside of Yemen as a weak, hesitant and conspiratorial person. At least this is how media outlets, particularly that owned by the ousted former President Ali Abdulla Saleh, portray him. In fact, if you have been following the Yemeni media, you will have been led to believe that Hadi had assisted the Houthis in Saadah province, their stronghold in northwestern Yemen, when he kicked out thousands of Salafis from Dammaj, a small town there. You might also have heard that he collaborated with the Houthis to bring down Sanaa in order to undermine his rivals from the al-Ahmar family, and to render irrelevant Yemens Islamist al-Islah party. After all, these are some of the many accusations that have been levelled against him. He has struggled to refute these charges, but his efforts have been in vain. I suggested that he might do well to allow history to be the final arbiter. It was not my intention to confront Hadi with what the countrys media and activists perceive as his failures. After all, it has not been all doom and gloom, and many Yemenis have shown support for their president. I remember when, in late 2012, Hadi sacked Salehs security and military apparatus, including Salehs son Ahmed, who headed Yemens powerful Republican Guards. Yemenis welcomed Hadis decision. Hadi came to power after ousting Saleh, who had ruled the country for 33 years and still resides among those who ousted him, living off a fortune estimated at $60bn by the United Nations. Saleh is also supported by a complicated network of alliances affiliated with the countrys military, civil and tribal institutions, and suspected to have ambitions towards seizing power again. WATCH: What is the solution to the war in Yemen? Hadi told me that during his time at the National Defence Council, which was headed by Saleh back in 2012, he opposed the shelling of al-Taghyeer Square in Sanaa, where thousands of Yemenis held protests against Salehs rule. Hadi, along with other political parties, struggled to spare the country the tragedies of war by assisting with the drafting of the GCC initiative for a transfer of power in Yemen. What Hadi told me during our meeting seemed to confirm what many Yemenis already believe about Saleh: that he is somebody who thrives on planting the seeds of strife. Salehs personality is dominated by two traits, he said: violence and holding grudges. Many people think that Hadis 17-year service as Salehs vice president is proof of his weakness. Hadi begs to differ. While he does acknowledge that he benefited a great deal, he, nonetheless, points out that disagreement with Saleh over many issues was a key feature of their relationship. READ MORE: Yemens children suffer collctive trauma During our short interview, I discovered how well the 75-year-old from the southern province of Abyan would know the answer to the most important question to Yemenis: What is going on in Yemen? Hadi explained that he believes a federal Yemen, a state with defined provinces, and a return to the draft constitution that was an outcome of the Gulf initiative, is the way forward in order to bring stability back to Yemen. Fifteen minutes into our conversation, Hadi was still talking about the aftermath of the 2011 revolution. I tried to steer the discussion to the present time, but to no avail. A phone call from Washington asking Hadi about his recent decision to sack his vice president and prime minister, Khaled Bahah, brought us closer to the issue. I asked about Bahah and his reported keenness to communicate with the Houthis. Hadi chose his words carefully, but his general description of a year-long series of disputes with Bahah implied a clear divergence between the two men over crucial issues. When I asked whether or not he consulted with his allies, Hadi replied that he consults with Saudi Arabia and other countries on all matters. He did, however, stress that his decisions always aim to serve the welfare of Yemen. I understood that Hadi believed that there was a plan being plotted by Bahah to push the Houthis into handing power over to him instead of Hadi. That way, Bahah would be able to return to Sanaa, form a national unity government and remove Hadi from power. He believes Bahah was trying to execute this plan before the Kuwait talks, due next week. There are no problems between me and Bahah. I agreed to appoint him as vice president during a critical phase in Yemens history. Others have also supported that [decision], Hadi said. READ MORE: Yemens Hadi urges week-long truce for peace talks Of Bahahs alleged plot, Hadi said: It was a defeat for all of us, and I will not accept that. I understood what he meant when he spoke about defeat, particularly after the sacrifices, the civilian casualties and the destruction that have hit Yemen. Hadi stressed several times that we will not allow the Houthis and Saleh to defeat us, and this is what I have told our brothers [the Gulf states]. For Hadi, the defeats that have befallen Yemen since 2011 are a cause for serious concern. He hopes that a federal Yemen will soon prevail and will, he insists, work hard to achieve this goal. I asked him: How many times have you come close to death or were targeted in assassination attempts? More than once, he replied. I told him that all of this would pass, but history would only mention whether Hadi had worked for Yemen or against it. I told him: It will not be your own personal defeat, if it happens. It will be the defeat of Yemen. The campaign against cultural appropriation is part of the broader attempt to police communities and cultures. Another week, another controversy about cultural appropriation. The latest has been the furore over Justin Biebers dreadlocks. The Bieber furore followed similar controversies over Beyonces Bollywood outfit, Kylie Jenners cornrows, Canadians practising yoga, English students wearing sombreros and American students donning Native American Halloween costumes. Many of these controversies may seem as laughable as Biebers locks. What they reveal, however, is how degraded have become contemporary campaigns for social justice. Cultural appropriation is, in the words of Susan Scafidi, professor of law at Fordham University, and author of Who Owns Culture? Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law, Taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone elses culture without permission. This can include the unauthorised use of another cultures dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc. A colonial past? But what is it for knowledge or an object to belong to a culture? And who gives permission for someone from another culture to use such knowledge or forms? The idea that the world could be divided into distinct cultures, and that every culture belonged to a particular people, has its roots in late 18th-century Europe. The Romantic movement, which developed in part in opposition to the rationalism of the Enlightenment, celebrated cultural differences and insisted on the importance of authentic ways of being. For Johann Gottfried Herder, the German philosopher who best articulated the Romantic notion of culture, what made each people or volk unique was its particular language, history and modes of living. The unique nature of each volk was expressed through its volksgeist the unchanging spirit of a people refined through history. OPINION: Is Peshmerga chic offensive? Herder was no reactionary he was an important champion of equality but his ideas about culture were adopted by reactionary thinkers. Those ideas became central to racial thinking the notion of the volksgeist was transformed into the concept of racial make-up and fuelled the belief that non-Western societies were backward because of their backward cultures. Radicals challenging racism and colonialism rejected the Romantic view of culture, adopting instead a universalist perspective. From the struggle against slavery to the anti-colonial movements, the aim not to protect ones own special culture but to create a more universal culture in which all could participate on equal terms. Enters identity politics In recent decades, however, the universalist viewpoint has eroded, largely as many of the social movements that embodied that viewpoint have disintegrated. The social space vacated by that disintegration became filled by identity politics. As the broader struggles for social transformation have faded, people have tended to retreat into their particular faiths or cultures, and to embrace more parochial forms of identity. In this process, the old cultural arguments of the racists have returned, but now rebranded as antiracist. The campaign against cultural appropriation is, in other words, part of the broader attempt to police communities and cultures. Those who most suffer from such policing are minority communities themselves, and in particular progressive voices within those communities. by But how does creating gated cultures, and preventing others from trespassing upon ones culture without permission, challenge racism or promote social justice? Campaigners against cultural appropriation argue that when privileged cultures adopt the styles of less privileged ones they help create stereotypes of what such cultures are like, and assert racial power. By dressing up as a fake Indian, one Native American told white students, you are asserting your power over us, and continuing to oppress us. The trouble is that in making the case against cultural appropriation, campaigners equally perpetuate stereotypes. After all, to suggest that it is authentic for blacks to wear locks, or for Native Americans to wear a headdress, but not for whites to do so, is itself to stereotype those cultures. Cultures do not, and cannot, work through notions of ownership. The history of culture is the history of cultural appropriation of cultures borrowing, stealing, changing, transforming. Nor does preventing whites from wearing locks or practising yoga challenge racism in any meaningful way. What the campaigns against cultural appropriation reveal is the disintegration of the meaning of anti-racism. Once it meant to struggle for equal treatment for all. Now it means defining the correct etiquette for a plural society. The campaign against cultural appropriation is about policing manners rather than transforming society. Who is the authority? This takes us to the second question: who does the policing? Who gives permission for people of other cultures to use particular cultural forms? Who acts as the gatekeepers to gated cultures? Most black people could probably not care less what Justin Beiber does to his hair. Inevitably, the gatekeepers are those who are outraged by Biebers locks. The Stream: When traditions become trends The very fact of being outraged makes one the arbiter of what is outrageous. The gatekeepers, in other words, define themselves, because they are ones who want to put up the gates. The debates around Justin Biebers hair or Beyonces Bollywood outfit are relatively trivial. But, in other contexts, the creation of gatekeepers has proved highly problematic. In many European nations, minority groups have come to be seen as distinct communities, each with their own interests, needs and desires, and each with certain so-called community leaders acting as their representatives. Such leaders are frequently religious, often conservative, and rarely representative of their communities. But they wield great power as mediators between their communities and wider society. In effect, they act as gatekeepers to those communities. Their role as gatekeepers is particularly problematic when it comes to policing not fashion styles or cuisine but ideas. Community leaders often help define what is acceptable to say about particular communities, and what is offensive. And notions of offence are often used to police not just what outsiders may say about a particular community, but to shut down debate within those communities think of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie or the shutting down by Sikh activists of Sikh playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhattis play Behzti, which explored the role of women within Sikh communities. The campaign against cultural appropriation is, in other words, part of the broader attempt to police communities and cultures. Those who most suffer from such policing are minority communities themselves, and in particular progressive voices within those communities. The real fight against injustice begins with ridding ourselves of our self-appointed gatekeepers. Kenan Malik is a London-based writer, lecturer and broadcaster. His latest book is The Quest for a Moral Compass: A Global History of Ethics. He writes at Pandaemonium: www.kenanmalik.wordpress.com. Phillips argues for integration in the documentary, although you may not agree with the ways he suggests getting there. If the title were the only issue, maybe it wouldnt be worth mentioning. But as it is, the documentary What British Muslims Really Think, which aired on Britains Channel 4 on April 13, is so full of problems that we might as well start there. Because it does seem a tiny bit troublesome, suggesting as it does that British Muslims all think the same thing and, moreover, that what they tell you isnt what theyre really thinking. And as it turns out, these are the two operational premises running through this one-hour documentary. It begins by taking some time to establish the legitimacy of the polling upon which it is based as accurately representing Britains population of three million Muslims. Well get to the problems with the methodology in a bit. The poll, we hear, is a unique new survey, the findings of which will shock many and point to a looming threat to our very way of life. Methodological issues Then it goes on to steadily create the fearful impression of Muslims in the United Kingdom as superficially a part of society they seem quite nice and friendly, dont they? but actually quite dodgy when you get to really know them. And the trouble is that the Muslims you meet at work or at the shops or on the school run or wherever wont tell you their innermost thoughts, according to this documentary hence the need for some face-to-face polling. So, we start with the nice stats about the majority of British Muslims feeling British, feeling an emotional attachment to the country. Everything seems fine but then, hang on, here are the issues over which British Muslims diverge from the rest of the population not that this is an us and them set-up, you understand. The polling shows that 52 percent of Muslims think homosexuality should be illegal, a third believe that polygamy is acceptable and nearly a quarter support the implementation of Sharia law. Theres more, too, about the equivalent of 100,000 Muslims as extrapolated from the polling of 4 percent having sympathy for suicide bombers, who fight injustice, alongside intolerance for freedom of expression when it comes to portraying the Prophet Muhammad, and also believing that Jews have too much power at 44 percent. OPINION: UK counterterrorism strategy just does not prevent The survey methods have aroused criticism, as many have pointed out that polling in Muslim-dense parts of the country by default means that those questioned are more likely to be socially disadvantaged and socially conservative. The questioning took place in areas of Britain that are 20 percent Muslim but so many British Muslims dont live in such areas and a majority say they dont want to. So much for refusing to integrate. But even if the figures are accurate and other polls have also pointed to illiberalism over issues such as homosexuality where we are going with this repeated accusation and worry over intolerant views? Nobody is suggesting that such opinions should go unchallenged. But are we going to bind full citizenship to tolerance, or to not being a bigot? Are we confusing deeply intolerant with being a violent extremist? What is going to happen to our stated desire to build robust social cohesion if we keep singling out British Muslims as unique special cases? And what is it that is really underlying such constant scrutiny? Ancestral backgrounds A clue can perhaps be found in a segment in the Channel 4 documentary when Trevor Phillips, former head of the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission, who published the countrys first report on Islamophobia 20 years ago, asks why the views and values of many British Muslims are still so out of line with rest of society. Intolerance falls away when you have inclusion, prejudices can evaporate in contact with other people and with the understanding on both sides that integration is a two-way process. by He suggests that some of it might be down to the ancestral backgrounds of British Muslims, countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh or in the Middle East, where dodgy views are more commonplace. Worse, he says, cheap flights and fast technology mean that Muslims are regularly taking planes to those countries, and if they havent somehow caught the intolerance from their ancestral homes, they are picking it up via satellite TV in their own British front rooms. It feels to me that this is the stuff that can often inform a familiar theory, that backward cultures not coincidentally, often former colonies will somehow overwhelm enlightened liberal countries, whose long-established laws and democracies somehow just arent robust enough to, these days, withstand someone on the street proclaiming that they want a caliphate in Britain (as featured in the Channel 4 programme). Wrong focus Apart from anything else, its this sort of mindset that helps cement a divide, because it doesnt see a spectrum, because it cant absorb the possibility of intolerant liberals, or liberal Muslims or all the shades in between. As Jonathan Birdwell, of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue a think-tank that works to combat extremism told me, the trouble with such a focus and such surveys is that they risk dividing us even further. OPINION: Prevent, a story of community resentment It might make other Britons think that a Muslim person inevitably holds these views heard in the survey, so they prejudge and dont engage, while the Muslims who dont hold those views feel attacked, he says. We do need to talk, be open and see if there are any policy implications, but the worry is that this constant negative press about the Muslim community will feed polarisation. None of this is to give sexism, homophobia or any other prejudices a free pass. Nobody is suggesting that its brilliant that a minority of British Muslims support stoning or, for that matter, that 45 percent of the overall British population would bring back hanging. But intolerance falls away when you have inclusion, prejudices can evaporate in contact with other people and with the understanding on both sides that integration is a two-way process. A far more productive focus might be one that, for example, seeks out real workplace integration, at all pay grades, for a Muslim population that is still one of the most deprived in the country. Trevor Phillips argues for integration in What British Muslims Really Think, although you may not agree with the ways he suggests getting there. But the trouble is that, amid all that scary noise about sneakily intolerant, potentially dangerous Muslims stealth Muslims, if you like the necessary messages about inclusion just cant come across as sincere, or ring true. Rachel Shabi is a journalist and author of Not the Enemy: Israels Jews from Arab Lands. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. At least nine killed and nearly 1,000 injured after 6.2-magnitude earthquake strikes 11km east of Kumamoto city. At least nine people have been killed and nearly 1,000 injured after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake knocked down houses and destroyed roads in southwestern Japan. The tremor struck 11km east of Kumamoto on Thursday, according to the US Geological Survey, and strong aftershocks continued to shake the area around the city on Friday. More than 40,000 people were evacuated to schools and community centres, some spending the night outside after the first quake hit around 9:30pm local time. Roads cracked, houses crumbled and tiles fell from the roof of Kumamoto Castle in the centre of the city. More than 3,000 troops, police and firefighters were dispatched to the area from around Japan, and Shinzo Abe, prime minister, said more would be sent if needed. Rescuers were concentrating their searches in Mashiki, near the epicentre of the quake where eight of the nine deaths occurred. Footage from public broadcaster NHK showed firefighters tackling a blaze in a building in Mashiki, a town of about 34,000 people. About 16,500 households in and around Mashiki were without electricity, according to Kyushu Electric Power Company. There were no irregularities at three nuclear plants on the southern major island of Kyushu and nearby Shikoku, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said. The plant is 130km south of Kumamoto. The operator restarted the reactors last year, the first two units under updated regulations. In March 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake led to a devastating tsunami that killed 18,000 people along Japans northeast coast. The wave struck the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing a major radiation leakage. More than 100,000 displaced people are still unable to return to their homes near the nuclear plant because of the contamination. Ice-sheet melt is one of the more visible and key signs of man-made global warming from the burning of fossil fuels. Greenlands massive ice sheet has experienced such an early and extensive melt that scientists this week thought their models were broken when they saw the data. Summer-like warm temperatures and rain resulted in about 12 percent of the ice sheet surface area 1.7 million square kilometres showing signs of melting ice on Monday, scientists at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) said. We had to check that our models were still working properly, climate scientist Peter Langen told DMIs Polar Portal website. Such a melt is normal for late May, but not mid-April. Before now, the top three dates for reaching that milestone were previously: May 5, 2010; May 8, 1990; and May 8, 2006. Something like this wipes out all kinds of records, you cant help but go, This could be a sign of things were going to see more often in the future,' Langen said. More extreme, more common A weather system is bringing warm temperatures to Greenland and funnelling lots of warmer-than-normal rain up from the south. Scientists said that this is part of a natural weather system, but man-made climate change has worsened it. Things are getting more extreme and theyre getting more common, said NASA ice scientist Walt Meier. Greenlands ice sheet melting is one of the more visible and key signs of man-made global warming from the burning of fossil fuels because it is causing seas to rise, and putting coastal areas at risk, Meier said. If the entire Greenland ice sheet melted, which would take centuries, it could add six metres or more to the global sea level, Meier added. But within the next century, Greenland ice melt alone could raise it by a metre or so, he said. The concern is things are moving faster than we thought, Meier said. Another day of chaos in Iraqi assembly as parliamentarians fail to agree on cabinet line-up. Iraqi politicians have voted to remove the parliamentary speaker, MPs say, amid a major row over the cabinet line-up that has caused chaos in parliament. The office of parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi, one of the countrys leading Sunni Arab politicians, said the session was unconstitutional and lacked the necessary quorum. But Niyazi Oghlu, the official responsible for taking roll at parliament, put the number of politicians present at 173 out of 328, while two MPs also said more than 170 attended. The vote comes a day after a parliamentary session degenerated into a massive brawl with shoving, shouting, and water bottles thrown. Al Jazeeras Jane Arraf, Baghdad PM Abadi has not been able to get the support he needs to even show up and present the cabinet line-up. These chaotic scenes point to a huge political deadlock over a very serious issue essentially, whether the prime minister can stay in power. And if he stays in power, whether he has enough support to put his plan through. Parliament says they will meet again on Saturday in an emergency session and between now and then, theres some hope that theyll come up with some kind of compromise but not a lot of hope that theyll solve all of the very deep underlying issues. The chaotic scenes have been triggered by division over Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis efforts to replace the current cabinet. Last month he presented to parliament a list of new cabinet nominees composed of independent technocrats. The political blocs then put forward their own candidates, and under pressure, Abadi on Tuesday submitted a second list, based on party links. Some MPs demanded the opportunity to vote on Abadis original list but the session was adjourned on Tuesday without a vote. Dozens of politicians then began a sit-in and have remained in the parliament building, protesting at what they say are attempts by powerful factions to maintain control of posts in the proposed government. READ MORE: Iraq may soon reach a point beyond repair Another session on Wednesday descended into mayhem after some polticianss were involved in scuffles over the government nominations. Iraqi governments have been formed along political and sectarian lines since the United States-led 2003 invasion that deposed Saddam Hussein. Street and political protests against this system, which critics say contributes to corruption, have been increasing in recent months. Last summer, Abadi proposed a package of reforms amid pressure from the countrys politicians and religious leaders, but his rivals say few changes have since been implemented. ISIL takes control of more than half of the refugee camp, but Palestinian groups and Nusra hold on to key areas. Deadly fighting between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the al-Nusra Front has put civilians, mostly Palestinian refugees, in danger yet again in the Yarmouk refugee camp in southern Damascus. Issam, a 54-year-old resident of Yarmouk, said that civilians have called for a temporary humanitarian ceasefire from the armed groups but have yet to receive a response. There is not a piece of bread left in this camp, he told Al Jazeera by telephone while the sound of gunfire rang out behind him. There isnt medicine or water for drinking. Issam estimated that 5,000 civilians are stuck in the areas where clashes are ongoing. The people who stayed in the camp [since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising] are the ones who will never leave until they can return to Palestine. The Sons of Yarmouk Movement, a recently formed Palestinian armed group, is also battling ISIL (also known as ISIS), he added. READ MORE: Palestinian Syrians twice refugees Home to both Palestinian refugees and Syrians, Yarmouk is situated in southern Damascus and was the largest Palestinian camp in Syria, with some 200,000 residents. The Jafra Foundation, a Yarmouk-based humanitarian group, estimates that a mere 5,000 to 8,000 residents remain. The by Issam, are the ones who will never leave until they can return to Palestine.] Describing the camp, Issam said that bodies of killed fighters were in the streets and snipers were posted up on rooftops as civilians hid in their homes, while plumes of smoke dotted the skyline. People are scared to leave their homes. They are hiding there because there is killing in the middle of the streets, and ISIL has burned down homes and cut off the roads, he said. Everyone here is just trying to survive. Wesam Sabaaneh, a coordinator at the Jafra Foundation, explained that 20 homes were set ablaze during the fighting on Wednesday. The humanitarian situation in the camp is very difficult, Sabaaneh told Al Jazeera by telephone. With medical access already limited, ISIL set the Basel Hospital on fire, leaving only one medical facility still standing in the camp, the Palestine Hospital. Since the clashes erupted on April 7, more than 50 ISIL fighters and another dozen from al-Nusra have been killed, said Sabaaneh. Four civilians were killed, two of whom were beheaded by ISIL. Q&A: A perilous journey for Yarmouks piano man Sabaaneh said ISIL has taken over most of the camps territory, but that Palestinian factions, some of which are aligned with the Syrian government, and al-Nusra continue to control the key areas, checkpoints and entrances. Geographically, ISIL controls most of the territory now, Sabaaneh added. But the Palestinian factions and al-Nusra control the areas key to security. The clashes are very heavy. On Wednesday, camp residents issued a joint statement calling for a six-hour ceasefire to allow for access to humanitarian aid. They noted that there is an immediate need for drinkable water as most supplies in the camp have been contaminated as a result of the ongoing battles. In April 2015, ISIL invaded the camp in coordination with al-Nusra and took control of an estimated 90 percent of its territory. However, ISIL subsequently pulled out most of its fighters and stationed them in nearby neighbourhoods in southern Damascus. As allegiances shift on the battlefield, al-Nusra and ISIL have now turned their guns on one another in Yarmouk and surrounding areas. Since 2013, government forces and armed groups loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have imposed a harsh siege on Yarmouk, restricting the flow of food, medicine and other humanitarian goods into the camp. In July 2015, the United Nations removed Yarmouk from a list of besieged communities in Syria. In February, the camp was added to the list again. Camp residents have suffered a serious deterioration in health due to the siege, Jafra said in a statement on Wednesday. Urgent medicine and medical equipment are not allowed to enter the area. Mere kilometres from the heart of the Syrian capital, controlling Yarmouk is a strategic goal for many armed groups in the Syrian civil war. The Palestinian League for Human Rights Syrias Salim Salamah argued that the ongoing fighting demonstrates the desire of multiple parties to put the final nail in the coffin of Yarmouk. The surprising thing about the new round of infighting is that food has run out, but bullets and weapons have not, he told Al Jazeera, adding that al-Assad forces have merely paid lip service to de-escalating the violence. This is a battle for a single faction monopoly in the camp. Up until this moment, it seems that ISIL has the upper hand and no lack of weapons and manpower. READ MORE: Beyond Yarmouk, Palestinians in Syria need aid For many, Yarmouk is a microcosm of the broader situation Palestinian refugees face across the map of Syria. Among the camps hit particularly hard are the Sbeineh camp in Damascus and the Deraa camp in southern Syria, which are respectively 80 percent and 60 percent destroyed. Salamah decried the UNs inaction and the Palestine Liberation Organisations silence over the plight of Palestinians in Yarmouk as conditions plunge yet again. Palestinian refugees, as the backbone of the Palestinian cause, deserve at least a word of consolation from those who are supposed to be their representatives, he said. The most important responsibility lies with UNRWA to highlight and ease the dark plight of Palestinian refugees. Palestinians are looking for protection and not food packages. Starting as an unarmed uprising against Assad in March 2011, the Syrian conflict morphed into a full-on civil war that has left upwards of 260,000 people dead, according to UN statistics. Of the more than 500,000 Palestinian refugees who lived in the country before the uprising, more than 50,000 have fled and another 3,200 have been killed, estimates the UK-based Action Group for Palestinians in Syria. The Action Group has also documented at least 163 Palestinian refugees from Yarmouk who were tortured to death by the Syrian government since the beginning of the conflict. The latest bout of violence has also interrupted aid deliveries by UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees, to displaced Yarmouk residents in the adjacent neighbourhoods of Yalda, Beit Saham and Babila. It is distressing to see yet another episode of extreme trauma and suffering imposed on civilians in Yarmouk, Chris Gunness, UNRWA spokesman, told Al Jazeera. To help reverse the years of deprivation endured by civilians in Yarmouk, this minimal level of humanitarian assistance must be sustained. UNRWA has been unable to access Yarmouks interior since ISILs April 2015 invasion of the camp. The Agency calls on the concerned parties to cease hostilities and to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law to respect and to protect the lives of civilians in Yarmouk, Gunness added. Back in Yarmouk, resident Issam appealed to the international community, the UN and the Palestinian factions for protection. No one cares about the people of Yarmouk, he lamented. No one is ready to protect us. Follow Patrick Strickland on Twitter: @P_Strickland_ Summit opens in Istanbul with Turkish president hosting over 30 leaders including Saudi king and Iranian president. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hosting more than 30 heads of state and government from Islamic countries in Istanbul for a summit aimed at overcoming differences in the Muslim world. The two-day summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) got under way at 06:30 GMT on Thursday with a speech by Erdogan. The summit will end on Friday with a news conference held by Erdogan. Prominent guests at the meeting include Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, whose countries find themselves on opposing sides in the Syria and Yemen conflicts. Turkey has said it wants to use the meeting to narrow differences between the worlds estimated 1.7 billion Muslims. However, the gathering risks being overshadowed by disputes on issues ranging from Syria to Yemen. Notable absentees There is a security lockdown around the summit venue in Istanbul, the former capital of the Ottoman Empire from where the Ottoman sultans for centuries ruled Muslims from the Balkans to Arabia. While the summit marks one of the most significant gatherings of heads of state for years in Istanbul, some prominent leaders such as Jordans King Abdullah and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will be notable by their absence. Turkeys relations with Egypt have still not recovered from the 2013 overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi, a close ally of Turkey, while ties with Jordan are being tested by differences over Syria. Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkish foreign minister, said the summit was being held at a time when the Islamic world is experiencing many disputes within itself. Fratricidal conflict causes great pain. Sectarianism divides the ummah, he told OIC foreign ministers on Tuesday, using the Arabic world for the Muslim community. Hopefully, this summit will pave the way for healing some wounds. But Turkeys own policies in the Middle East have been facing critical scrutiny, with several Muslim states objecting to the backing by its government of rebels in Syria. Improved relations The run-up to the summit saw a visit by Salman to Ankara which marked the visible improvement in ties between Turkey and Saudi Arabia since he came to the throne in 2015. Erdogan went to Ankaras Esenboga airport to personally welcome Salman on the tarmac and then gave him Turkeys highest honour for a foreign leader. Salman landed in Istanbul on Wednesday to find cars waiting on the tarmac to transport him and his delegation to their hotel by the Bosphorus. Saudi Arabia and Turkey both believe the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad is the key to solving the Syrian conflict and back rebel groups fighting his government. However, Turkey needs to tread carefully in its alliance with Saudi Arabia, which is also overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, so it is not seen as a sectarian union aimed at mainly Shia Iran. The Israeli military on Thursday said prosecutors have announced their intention to file a manslaughter charge against a soldier caught on video shooting a wounded Palestinian attacker in the head. The soldier appeared in a military court, where his detention was extended until Monday. The military said that prosecutors informed the court that they plan to charge the soldier with manslaughter, but are still working out technical details before formally indicting him. The shooting took place last month in Hebron, a West Bank city that has been a focal point of a seven-month wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Palestinians shot dead after attacking bus At the time, the military said two Palestinians stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier before troops shot and killed the pair. But in a video later released by the Israeli human rights group BTselem, one of the attackers was shown still alive after the initial shooting. The video, taken by a Palestinian volunteer for the group, shows the wounded attacker lying on the ground, slowly moving his head before a soldier raises his rifle and fires. Blood is then seen streaming from the Palestinians head. An autopsy determined that the bullet to the head was the cause of death. The incident has triggered uproar in Israel with the countrys defence minister, military officials and many Israelis calling it contrary to the armys values. That has led to widespread support for the soldier, with many calling his actions appropriate for a country reeling from months of attacks. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed and at least 33 Israelis and foreign nationals have died since violence erupted in October. On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that extremist elements are attempting to rekindle violence in the run-up to the Jewish holiday of Passover. Speaking at a pre-Passover ceremony, Netanyahu said Israel had sent messages to Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and the entire Arab world in attempt to calm tensions. He said Israel would increase security forces and use additional defensive measures to respond to possible riots. US president and defence chief on a two-day trip to the Gulf to talk counterterrorism and regional security threats. US President Barack Obama will talk next week with leaders in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries about agreements on counterterrorism and bolstering ballistic missile defence systems, a White House official said on Thursday. Obama will travel to Saudi Arabia with his defence chief Ashton Carter to meet King Salman on Wednesday and then attend a summit with other leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council on Thursday. As youll hear more coming out of the summit, there have been agreements reached to increase our cooperation on counterterrorism, streamlining the transfer of critical defence capabilities to our GCC partners, bolstering GCC ballistic defence systems, and defending against the cyber threat, said Rob Malley, a senior adviser to Obama on the Middle East. ISIL Incorporated: Business behind violence On all of those, I think youll see progress has been made, theres been much deeper cooperation between us and the GCC, Malley told reporters on a conference call. Obama plans to discuss the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Saudi-led conflict in Yemen, and Iran and regional stability issues, the AP news agency quoted Ben Rhodes, Obamas deputy national security adviser, as saying. The president also wants to hear about ideas from King Salman and other leaders for dealing with economic issues, given the sharp drop in oil prices, Malley said. Obama will then travel to London to meet British Prime Minister David Cameron, and to Hanover for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, where ISIL also known as ISIS and counterterrorism cooperation also will be on the agenda, the White House said. Obama plans to also discuss Afghanistan and Russian moves in Ukraine with Cameron and Merkel, the White House officials said. After WHOs comments, CDC experts now say there is no doubt the virus causes microcephaly and other serious defects. US health officials have confirmed that the Zika virus causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and severe brain defects, confirming the worst fears of many pregnant women in the US and Latin America. Doctors in Brazil have been linking Zika infections in pregnant women to a rise in newborns with microcephaly an unusually small skull since last year. READ MORE: Living with Zika in Brazil Most outside experts were cautious about drawing such a connection but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has enough evidence to confirm that. There is no longer any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly, Tom Frieden, CDC director, said on Wednesday. The CDC said it also is clear that Zika causes other serious defects, including damaging calcium build-ups in the developing brain. Among evidence that clinched the case was that signs of the Zika virus, which is spread primarily through mosquito bites and can also be transmitted through sex, have been found in the brain tissue, spinal fluid and amniotic fluid of microcephaly babies. The CDC and other health agencies have been operating for months on the assumption that Zika causes brain defects, and they have been warning pregnant women to use mosquito repellent, to cover up, to avoid travel to Zika-stricken regions and either to abstain from sex or to rely on condoms. Those guidelines will not change. READ MORE: Zika virus facts you need to know But the new finding should help officials to make a more convincing case to the public for taking precautions. Some experts hope it will change public thinking about Zika the way the 1964 surgeon-generals report convinced many Americans that smoking caused lung cancer. Weve been very careful over the last few months to say its linked to, its associated with, said CDCs Sonja Rasmussen. Weve been careful to say its not the cause of. I think our messages will now be more direct. The World Health Organization made similar statements recently and an official applauded the CDC report. We feel its time to move from precautionary language to more forceful language to get people to take action, said Bruce Aylward, who is leading WHOs Zika response. Zika has been sweeping through Latin America and the Caribbean in recent months, and the fear is that it will only get worse there and arrive in the US with the onset of the mosquito season this spring and summer. The virus causes only a mild and brief illness, at worst, in most people. In the past year, infections in pregnant women have been strongly linked to fetal deaths and devastating birth defects, mostly in Brazil, where the health ministry said on Tuesday that 1,113 cases of microcephaly have been confirmed since October. Israel says it would not advance new building plans, but some observers say a construction freeze was never implemented. Ramallah, occupied West Bank Palestinian officials have slammed the latest Israeli authorisation to build more than 200 new settler houses in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as a war crime that serves to destroy the prospects of two independent states living side by side in peace and security. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said: The latest approval of settlement construction, and the significant increase in Israeli settlement activity during 2016, should serve as a reminder to the international community of its responsibility to put an end to such crimes. Israeli authorities have denied giving the green light to new construction. Almost all of the permits are for upgrading existing structures, said a statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus media adviser. Anat Ben Nun, director of international relations for Peace Now, an Israeli settlement watchdog, said, however, that so far this year, the vast majority of settlements units are new, not retroactively approved. This is a dangerous step given the current violence and security situation, Ben Nun told Al Jazeera. The area is very sensitive and any approvals are risking to shake a very fragile reality. READ MORE: Israel tears down seven Palestinian homes in 24 hours A Palestinian armed with an axe attacked an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank and was shot dead on Thursday, the Israeli army said, ending a three-week lull in deadly incidents. An army statement did not specify whether the soldier was wounded in the attack, which occurred near the al-Arroub refugee camp between Hebron and Bethlehem. The incident was the latest in a seven-month wave of violence. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed and at least 33 Israelis and foreign nationals have died. Peace Now has recently warned that authorities plan to quadruple the number of settlement projects compared with the same period in 2015. The group said until March of this year, plans for 674 housing units were pushed forward compared with 194 units in the same period last year. In 2015, plans to build 1,665 new housing units were approved more than a 1,000 of them initially built without government authorisation, but retroactively legalised, according to the group. This was much lower than 2014s figures, which showed that about 8,600 new housing units were promoted. For almost two years, Israel said it would not advance new settlement building plans, but some observers say the informal construction freeze was never implemented on the ground. Even though the numbers approved in 2015 were substantially lower, it was still not a settlement freeze, Ben Nun said. There were still many plans being approved. It was not a real freeze. Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli lawyer and settlement expert, also said he believes there was never a real construction freeze in 2015. READ MORE: Palestinian father seeks justice for slain son The latest numbers indicate a resumption of intense settlement activity, he told Al Jazeera. There was a lull at some point, but building never really stopped. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been pushing for a UN resolution to condemn settlement activity, and officials have begun circulating a draft to that effect. This increases the sense of urgency for a solution, Seidemann said. A two-state solution depends on how many settlers can be moved over the border. That number is going up by 5,000 to 10,000 every year, which is huge. Follow Dalia Hatuqa on Twitter: @DaliaHatuqa North Korea attempted to launch an intermediate-range ballistic missile off the countrys east coast on Friday but the launch failed, South Koreas Yonhap news agency reported. The US military detected and tracked the missile launch at 5:33am Korea time, or 20:33GMT on Thursday, a defence department spokesman said in a statement. The missile did not pose a threat to North America, it added. We call again on North Korea to refrain from actions and rhetoric that further raise tensions in the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps towards fulfilling its international commitments and obligations, the official said. An official at the South Korean defence ministry said North Korea attempted a missile launch early on Friday but it appeared to have failed. The official could not confirm the type of missile. Yonhap, citing a number of South Korean government sources, reported a mobile launcher was spotted carrying up to two Musudan missiles on Thursday following North Koreas fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the next month, which led to fresh UN sanctions. Defiant North Korea fires ballistic missiles into sea Analysts speculated the North would fire the Musudan missile with a design range of more than 3,000km. It is not known to have been flight-tested previously by Pyongyang. Some analysts said North Korea may choose to test-fire the Musudan in the near future as it tries to build an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to put the mainland United States within range. US intelligence estimates say North Koreas ability to reach the United States is low, but its capabilities will increase, making continued investment in missile defence essential. READ MORE: Holiday in North Korea? The US, which has 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea, said it was aware of reports that North Korea was preparing to test intermediate-range missiles and was closely monitoring the Korean peninsula Admiral Bill Gortney, the officer responsible for defending American airspace, told a US Senate hearing on Wednesday that he agreed with a South Korean assessment that North Korea was capable of putting a nuclear warhead on a medium-range missile that would reach all of South Korea and most of Japan. READ MORE: South Korea and US forces storm mock North Korea beach The US and South Korea began talks on the possible deployment of a new missile-defence system, the Terminal High Altitude Area defence (THAAD), after the latest North Korea nuclear and rocket tests. North Korea, which regularly threatens to destroy South Korea and the US, often fires missiles during periods of tension in the region or when it comes under pressure to curb its defiance and abandon its weapons programmes. In March, the North Korean government released a video depicting a nuclear attack on the US. The four-minute state media video entitled Last Chance showed a digitally created scene of a missile being fired from a North Korean submarine and wiping out the US capital South Korean analysts have said North Korea may choose to display a show of force before a major ruling-party congress in May, where it is expected to declare itself a nuclear power, or around the April 15 anniversary of the birth of Kims grandfather, Kim Il-sung. Main opposition bloc willing to create transitional body with current government members, but not President Assad. Syrias main opposition group says its willing to share membership of a transitional governing body with current members of the government of President Bashar al-Assad, but not with Assad himself. UN mediator Staffan de Mistura has said that the political transition would be the main focus of the current round of peace talks in Geneva, which aim to end Syrias five-year war. There are many people on the other side who we can really deal with, Salim al-Muslet, the spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee, told Reuters in Geneva on Thursday. We will have no veto, as long as they dont send us criminals, as long as they dont send us people involved in the killing of Syrians. A United Nations resolution governing the talks says a transitional governing body would have full executive powers, and Muslet said the body would call for a national conference which would in turn form a constitutional committee. Assads role The HNC was willing to take less than half of the seats on the transitional body, as long as it satisfied Syrians and brought a political solution, he said. Even if we only take 25 percent, believe me, 100 percent would be the Syrian people. If Syrias ally Russia was willing to put pressure on the Syrian government, and if the government delegation was serious about negotiation, then a deal could be done in the current round of talks, he said. The HNC has always insisted that there can be no place for Assad in a transitional governing body, but Muslet said there was room for negotiation on how to handle Assads departure. For a solution, to really help Syria to get relief, then let them suggest what they want for Assad and we discuss it. There is a table here in the United Nations building and we can sit and discuss all these things, we are ready to discuss these things. Al Jazeeras Reza Sayah, monitoring the talks in Geneva, described the remarks as a very diplomatic and conciliatory statement that puts pressure on the Syrian government negotiators on the eve on their scheduled arrival in Geneva. The ball now perhaps is in the court of the Syrian government negotiators, our correspondent said. A day earlier, however, Syrias deputy foreign minister rejected the opposition demand for a transitional ruling body with full powers, instead favouring a unity government. This will not happen not now, nor tomorrow nor ever, Faisal Mekdad told The Associated Press in response to the oppositions calls for Assads departure. President Bashar Assad has become a guarantor for the existence of Syria, and for the unity of Syrias territory and people. In the first anti-government rally in years, thousands hit the streets of Harare to protest at economic mismanagement. Thousands of opposition supporters marched through the streets of Zimbabwes capital Harare on Thursday calling for an end to the rule of longtime President Robert Mugabe. In the first anti-government protest in nearly a decade, supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) carried anti-Mugabe placards and sang party songs before party leader Morgan Tsvangirai gave a speech against the presidency. Mugabe has no solution to the crisis, Tsvangirai told supporters gathered in Africa Unity Square wearing T-shirts in the partys red colours. We are here to tell Mugabe and his regime that you have failed. READ MORE: Mugabes ex-deputy launches rival Zimbabwe party Anti-government protests in Zimbabwe have often been brutally broken up by police during the rule of Mugabe, who has been in power since independence in 1980. Al Jazeeras Haru Mutasa, reporting from Harare, said that police had initially threatened to ban Thursdays protest but were eventually ordered by the High Court to allow it to go ahead. Its been several years since the opposition has marched in the streets of Harare like this; people are surprised and the numbers are huge, she said. They are in their thousands, marching to the parliament saying they want President Robert Mugabe who is 92 years old to step down. They say he is too old and that he is mismanaging the country. They also say they want corruption dealt with, they want jobs. WITNESS: The Bag on my Back: Return to Zimbabwe Zimbabwes economic crisis has worsened in recent months, taking a toll on employment rates and government expenditure. Mugabe remains active but his increasingly fragile health has sparked intense speculation over his successor, and the fate of the country when his rule comes to an end. Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meet in Istanbul. As more than 30 leaders from Islamic countries gather in the Turkish city of Istanbul, the main message has been one of unity. But many say its hard to disguise the fact that the Muslim world is deeply divided. The leaders of two of the biggest countries in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran, are locked on opposing sides of the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Meanwhile, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and its ideology threatens to destabilise or consume nations around the world. And hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Muslim world are being forced to uproot their lives and relocate to an increasingly unwelcoming Europe. Its against this backdrop that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit is being held. An organisation that prides itself on being the collective voice of the Muslim world. But is it doing its job? And can its leaders overcome divisions to find solutions for the many challenges facing the Muslim world? Presenter: Jane Dutton Guests: Ahmet Han Associate Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University. Azzam Tamimi Academic and political activist. Nicolas Pelham Middle East correspondent for the Economist and author of Holy Lands: Reviving Pluralism in the Middle East. The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art will host an evening with artists and performers from around the globe today. The second annual Art Without Borders event will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Harn, located at 3259 Hull Road. Cynthia Tarter, the assistant director for Undergraduate Academic Programs at UFs International Center, said the event is part of Museum Nights, which occurs every second Thursday of the month. A digital display will feature work from the International Centers 2016 Global Culture Photo Contest, Tarter said. Art is international the idea is that there are so many ways to get globally engaged, Tarter said. Along with food and museum tours, she said, the free event will feature artists such as Ameena Khan, who will showcase a series of paintings under an exhibition entitled Just a Peek, Please? The series is about Muslim women who are portrayed as victims in need of rescue or mysterious seductresses, thus dehumanizing them, according to Khans website. Tarter said Art Without Borders will also include Taiko drumming and English country dancers, along with a Q&A session with filmmaker and actor Imran Khan, which will take place after a screening of the film Timmy II. Tami Wroath, the director of marketing and public relations for the Harn, said the event attracted a diverse crowd during its debut last year. Its a great mix of UF students and the community, she said. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now For the past 28 years, UF professor Julie Dodd has helped students find their passions. Dodd, a journalism professor, has taught more than 11,000 students in about 14 buildings at UF. About 220 public relations and journalism students take her course, Multimedia Writing, every semester. On Tuesday, shell teach her last class in Weimer Hall. I think itll be like students graduating from college, said Dodd, who officially retires in August. In some ways youre looking forward to having a different experience, but then theres going to be things youre going to miss. Before Dodd retires, shell spend her summer transitioning Multimedia Writing to be available online. It will be the second time the course has changed. When she first taught it, originally called Mass Communication, students didnt go out and report. They wrote from worksheets from a filing cabinet. Dodd changed the class to give her students real-world experience in social media, blogging and interviewing. I just felt like so much of communications work is about working with people, she said. So I was really interested in us getting out of the filing cabinet. Over the years, Dodd used teaching to build students confidence, she said. I think college students want to be challenged, she said. But I think they also want to feel like whatever theyre being asked to accomplish is doable. Bonnie Layton said Dodd helped her find her strength in teaching. Dodd was Laytons mentor as she completed her mass communication masters degree at UF in 1990. Layton, now a lecturer at Indiana University, said Dodd was the first to encourage her to teach. With Julie, once youre a student of hers, youre always a student, she said. She has done so much for me. Dodd was patient and always available to talk, Layton said. I always think I need to give that to my own students, she said. She set the bar very high. Dodd will leave the lecture hall for the mountains. Shell continue blogging for Friends of the Smokies, a nonprofit organization which fundraises for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and focus on nature photography, she said. She also plans to complete the Hike 100 challenge, in which she will hike 100 miles through the Great Smoky Mountains to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Parks Service. Dodd will leave a legacy at the college. The Graduate Student Teaching Award in the college will be renamed the Julie Dodd Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now I cant think of a better retirement gift the college could have given me, she said. @k_newberg knewberg@alligator.org Editors note: This is part four of an ongoing series on sexual assault survivors. See Fridays paper for a look into the recovery process of survivors. Emma Leech bears the weight of the stories she hears. The University Police detective is one of the first law enforcement officers to respond to a report of a sexual assault, one of the first to speak with the survivor and hear what happened. Yet after two years and a handful of investigations, Leech still struggles with the raw emotion and frustration of the stories. But for the survivor, Leechs presence marks the beginning of a potential path to justice either through the university or local law enforcement. No case or legal work is the same: They rely on the choice of the survivor and assailants status as a student to pave the way. It definitely weighs on you by the end of an interview with someone, Leech said. It definitely drains you. If the assailant is also a UF student, survivors can pursue a student-conduct investigation through the director of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution, Chris Loschiavo, at the Dean of Students Office. Theres no way to make reporting about a sexual incident easy, but we try to make it as easy as we can, he said. We try to make it judgment-free in terms of coming forward. When an on-campus sexual assault occurs, Leech puts on her uniform. Shes usually accompanied by one of UFs victim advocates when she arrives at the location of the survivor. But the survivor is usually alone, the attacker gone. The crimes still linger, though, manifested in both physical and mental Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now trauma. As the survivor is initially treated for injury, the investigation begins with a conversation. Well try to get as much initial information as possible, Leech said, but if theyre just not in the state of mind where they can deal with an intense interview at that point, Ill wait a day or two until they have time to process it. The excruciating details, the unanswered questions, the missing pieces they all take a toll on her as the investigations lead either to arrests or dead ends. If you dont end up finding answers, thats probably the most stressful, frustrating part of it, she said. But the hope for justice is unflinching, as is Leechs belief in the survivor. If someone comes here, and theyre telling me that they were involved in a sexual battery, Im taking whatever they say as the truth to me, she said. Im not doubting anything they say. In addition to a statement, if the survivor wishes to have forensic evidence recorded in a rape kit, a designated nurse will perform the examination. The survivors will choose whether they want to report assaults to police. If they choose not to report, their test kits stay at UPD in case they wish to report at a later time. While UPD has received eight reported calls for sexual battery this academic year, its unknown how many of those survivors wanted rape kits. For survivors who do report, police send the kits to a lab in Jacksonville, Florida, where the Florida Department of Law Enforcement analyzes them before sending the results back to UPD. Currently, eight untested kits sit at UPD, belonging to survivors who chose not to formally report their assaults, said Lt. Mitchal Welsh, who manages the Criminal Investigations Division at the department. UPD is handling one active case to date, a sexual battery that occurred Sept. 7, Welsh said. FDLE recently sent UPD the results of that kit, so the department is not waiting on any other kits, a relief considering the extreme backlog many Floridian police departments often face. Its all about power, Welsh said, and that powers been taken from the victim, and we really want to get them some power back. The length it takes to complete an investigation can vary. Sometimes leads dry up, in which case an investigation will be suspended until more evidence can be found, Leech said. You just do as much as you can, she said. Even if an arrest cannot be made due to an unknown suspect or a lack of evidence, police departments can file a sworn complaint against the suspect and send it to the Office of the State Attorney for the Eighth Judicial Circuit. One of about 30 lawyers there reviews the case, takes testimony and makes a decision whether to issue a warrant for the suspects arrest, said Bill Cervone, the state attorney for the Eighth Judicial Circuit. For some survivors, like 21-year-old Brianna DuPree, this process is as cumbersome as it is frustrating. After the UF public relations junior was sexually assaulted in late February, she went to the Gainesville Police Department with the hopes of seeing her attacker serve jail time. But almost two months have passed, and DuPrees attacker is still walking free. She had a testimony scheduled Friday with an attorney, but its been pushed back about two weeks due to backlog at the attorneys office, she said. It makes me kind of feel like maybe I shouldnt have gone to police, she said. Even if an arrest is not made, DuPree said she wants her attacker banned from campus he violated her privacy, but his record is unsullied. Hes not paying for what he did, she said, but I feel like I am. If DuPrees attacker had been a student, she could have filed a Title IX report. When survivors at UF choose to report on a fellow student, they often report to Chris Loschiavo at his office in Peabody Hall. He is the associate dean of students, the director of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution and the deputy Title IX coordinator for students titles that represent his work with survivors, students and Title IX. Title IX is a federal law that prohibits gender discrimination in any federally funded education program or activity. In past years, the Dean of Students Office has received about 10 to 15 Title IX reports per academic year, which include sexual harassment, stalking and sexual assault. But in the last couple of years, the number has risen to about 80 to 90 cases per year, Loschiavo said. So far this academic year, Loschiavo said, 36 sexual assaults have been reported to the Dean of Students Office, all from female students. Twenty-six of those cases occurred off-campus, he said. If the student wishes to pursue an investigation into an assault, Loschiavo assigns an investigator to his or her case. The investigator then interviews the survivor, the accused student and all other witnesses. Loschiavo will eventually receive and review a summary before deciding if the accused student violated the UF Student Conduct Code against sexual assault. I think thats important to keep in mind: The only thing the University of Florida can determine is whether or not someone violated our rules, he said. We cant determine whether someone committed a crime. If he feels a violation did occur, then Loschiavo will send the case to a Title IX hearing. At the hearing, which occurs at Peabody Hall, the survivor and the accused meet with either a five- to seven-person panel of students and faculty members or with a single administrator from Loschiavos office. Every undergraduate committee member has been trained in about 60 hours of Title IX protocol, a weekly course taught for a semester by Loschiavo and his staff. Students apply to the committee before receiving the training, an opportunity often criticized for allowing students power over their peers. Loschiavo said some campuses have done away with this student-hearing method, but others still employ it. He said students can better empathize with other students far better than administrators can. It works really well for us, but it wouldnt work on every campus, he said. Not every campus has the support to do the kind of training that we do. At the hearing, the panel or the administrator reviews the investigative summary and speaks with the survivor, the accused and any witnesses. A decision is then made on a simple-majority basis. Unlike the criminal justice system, which functions on the basis of probable cause, Title IX cases deal in whats called a preponderance of the evidence, which Loschiavo compared to a set of scales if the evidence tips one scale in one direction, even very slightly, that is enough for a violation of the conduct code. After the hearing, the panel or administrator recommends a punishment to Jen Day Shaw, the dean of students, who can confirm or appeal any ruling. If a victim so desires, the Dean of Students Office can require the accused student write an apology letter to the victim, but this is rare. The minimum punishment for sexual assault charges is a suspension, and the maximum is an expulsion. Suspensions can range from a semester to several years or for as long as the victim attends the university, Loschiavo said. He said about 10 to 15 students are suspended each academic year for Title IX violations. Currently, about 10 students have been suspended this academic year. Even though awareness for sexual assault has brought in more survivors to his office, Loschiavo said theres still room for improvement. Moving forward, he said his priorities are teaching students how to not only intervene in potentially dangerous situations, but also how to respond to a survivors story. But then at all costs, if someone reports to you that they believe they were sexually assaulted, believe them, he said. @martindvassolo mvassolo@alligator.org After more than an hour of discussion Tuesday, county commissioners unanimously voted in favor of sending a letter to the state, voicing concerns about high nitrate levels in West Alachua County wells. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection never responded to an initial letter on the issue, said Robert Knight, the director of the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute. Knight said it is scientifically proven that drinking toxic nitrates could lead to cancer, thyroid problems and birth defects. Are you going to take that risk with your family? he said. Nitrogen is sometimes converted to nitrate in soil, especially in agricultural areas, said Anthony Dennis, the environmental health director for the Alachua County Health Department. The department sent out teams to test the water and discovered the elevated nitrate levels. Many homes in rural regions, he said, get drinking water from wells where nitrates sometimes seep into the water undetected. Dennis said there is no proof that nitrates in drinking water can cause cancer, but legitimate concerns exist. The most adverse health effect from nitrates over this level is (methemoglobinemia), or blue baby syndrome, which causes oxygen deprivation in infants generally less than 4 months old, Dennis said. He said the Department of Health provides an alternative water source to homeowners when nitrate levels exceed the maximum contamination level. Alachua County Commissioner Mike Byerly said it was not possible to immediately mandate a reduction in nitrogen fertilizer use. Instead, the letter will call for improved sampling and the mapping of nitrogen concentration in county wells. Im happy to support resending the letter with more exclamation points and red ink, he said. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now @mollyidonovan mdonovan@alligator.org "Floridians have been encouraged to believe that government could take care of us. But government always takes more than it gives back. Rick Scott, in his 2011 State of the State address. The feigned disdain of government of so many conservatives is quite baffling. Like their debonair white savior, Ronald Reagan, those on the right hate the government they simultaneously control and profit from so well. Its an interesting combo of childlike delusion and pandering to the ignorant masses, whose sustained fear and prejudice are crucial to the existence of the right. Obviously, I dont buy the line about wanting smaller government. They love government, a living vestige of the absolute control exerted by the moneyed class, which is always one and the same as the ruling class. Furthermore, Scott knows full well how government has taken care of him, both as an individual with white privilege and as an unsentenced felon. Scott oversaw the then-largest Medicare fraud in history. Then, he pleaded the fifth 75 times when deposed but still got off without going to jail. His background was in health care, an extremely profitable venture. I doubt his concern for health care stretches at all beyond that. The same can be said of John Thrasher, who chaired Scotts reelection campaign and was determined to claim FSUs presidency as his prize, though he has no background in education. One is reminded of the dogs that mark their territory on every post on the block. All Rick Scott talks about is jobs, jobs and more jobs. Why doesnt he bemoan Floridas status as a hotbed of human trafficking and sexual slavery? Repeat the mantra: jobs, jobs, jobs. We know those illicit activities operate well within Scotts no government regulation model, one that benefits from cheap, invisible and disposable labor. In those terms, it doesnt matter that innocent lives are being destroyed. I think we should gauge the health of any place in terms of human welfare of which economics are an inextricable part, but so are health, culture, access to legal recourse and protection of the law. So, when you specifically target low-income populations and strip them of services they rely on to survive, that fails them in a profound way. Its eerie to consider who should be held accountable, because the government always takes more than it gives back, as Scott pontificated. Dont forget, though, as the sentiment expresses: A system cannot fail those it was never built to protect. Naturally, these kinds of measures build discontent. Having lived in Tallahassee, I have seen firsthand how impenetrable and corrupt Floridas government is. Average citizens, powerless by design, try to arrange meetings with their representatives, and their efforts are seldom met with even form letters. Thats where people like Cara Jennings come in. Afforded no recourse and not even given a modicum of access, the only avenue we have left is through our words. She said what we all know: Rick Scott is an a--hole. He wont be told what to do, but hell cut your health care because Daddy knows best. Some assert yelling at the governor (gasp) is horribly offensive to his office. Thats cute. I would appreciate if these people found it within themselves to consider those who suffer because of the austerity measures of the powerful whom they so adulate. The episode obviously struck a nerve with Scotts PAC Lets Get to Work, which uploaded a campy video degrading a private citizen. Thats not leadership. Its crass and cowardly. If anything, that kind of behavior debases the dignity of the office. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now There is no virtue in respecting or even tolerating politicians who use citizens as pawns for neoliberal experiments and wish to reduce Florida to a big rat race. Hang in there, fellow Floridians. We all know from Harry Potter good ultimately prevails. Jordan MacKenzie is a second-year UF linguistics masters student. His column usually appears on Wednesdays. These past few weeks have seen an almost unprecedented movement in state governments across the country attacking LGBTQ+ rights in one way or another. The failed Georgia and successfully passed North Carolina and Mississippi religious liberty bills have caused widespread debate and condemnation across the country. It isnt new; the respective bathroom and wedding cake wars have been playing out in state and local governments for the past couple years and have been evermore present since the Supreme Courts marriage equality decision last summer. These bills revolve around myths and prejudices as crutches for support in their respective state legislatures. Baking a cake for a same-sex couple should not keep you up at night in utter regret of your religious conventions. If you want to own a business that bakes cakes, you do not get to choose who your customers are. Denying service in such a way is discrimination, pure and simple. As for bathrooms, the idea that transgender people are going to possibly rape or assault women or children in bathrooms preys on fears that werent even an issue before. If you can show me a case of a transgender person assaulting someone in the bathroom, Im all ears; it hasnt happened. Although the bleak tone of the past couple weeks here in the U.S. has been lingering, last Friday, Pope Francis released a more hopeful tone for LGBTQ+ rights in the Roman Catholic Church. Amoris Laetitia, or The Joy of Love, is a post-Synodic apostolic exhortation that cites the need for acceptance of homosexuals and single parents in the church and having support for these groups of people who have been marginalized by the Catholic doctrine. This writing will not change the position of the church immediately, but it is a start. The Catholic church is an institution that is slowly changing, even with a progressive pope like Francis at the helm. These past few weeks have shown that religion is what you make it. Religion can be a tool of compassion and protection for the less fortunate, such as the church under Pope Francis, or it can be a tool to explain away the moral debt needed to continually suppress minority groups. The latter should not and cannot be the face of religion in this country or the face of this country in general. The fact that lawmakers across the country, including some presidential candidates, use terms such as religious liberty to claim that the civil rights of a majority are threatened by the newly acquired rights of a minority is counter-productive and preying on peoples fears. The party that is against big government using its power in every aspect of daily life does not mind the government regulating bathrooms, which to party members, has become a paramount responsibility of their government. It is time for those claiming to be the mouthpiece of the religious in our country to take a lesson from the Pope: acceptance. Religion is all about the golden rule we all learned in kindergarten: Treat people the way you would want to be treated. This issue speaks to the greatest problem in our time of gridlock and uncompromising partisanship; there is no longer a dialogue. Republicans and Democrats no longer watch the same nightly news programs or discuss issues with each other. The country is becoming a clear duality of us versus them in which equal rights becomes a partisan issue. Kevin Foster is a UF political science senior. His column appears on Thursdays. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Its a beautiful world and a wonderful life, but these are also times of great civil unrest. Tensions between civilians and police, institutionalized racism and movements like Occupy Wall Street and Fight for $15 are sobering reminders of such unrest. In light of all this strife, youd think when a noteworthy example of nonviolent civil disobedience arises, thered be relentless cable news coverage of it, right? Right? On Monday, Democracy Spring, a coalition of more than 100 progressive groups, arrived on Capitol Hill to stage a sit-in demonstration in protest of a number of issues, including money in politics and voter disenfranchisement. By the time the coalition made it to the Hill, after marching from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, more than 600 protesters had gathered in solidarity. By Mondays end, more than 400 were arrested. Not a single shot was fired, nobody was harmed, no riot gear necessary: civil disobedience in its prime. In terms of protester-police relations, Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks even reported after his arrest, The police actually treated us great. There was a real friendly attitude. And we had a couple of pro-cop chants there, (because) theyre in the 99 percent, too. Despite how peaceful and admirable these demonstrations were, cable news outlets largely dismissed it. As The Intercept reported, between CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, the protests and arrests garnered less than 30 seconds of airtime Monday. A widespread nonviolent protest along bipartisan lines in which the police and protesters respect each other is a shooting-star story. Why wouldnt they cover it? The truth of the matter is much of our political media tends toward if-it-bleeds-it-leads journalism, which isnt actually journalism. Many of us here at the Alligator are journalism majors, and were trained to prioritize accuracy and transparency above all else. Yet, theyve lost sight of this. When riots in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014, and when Baltimore was figuratively burning in April 2015, cable news responded immediately because violent, urban-thug stories sell. But, now, when a monumental peaceful demonstration emerges, the election takes priority. Money in politics isnt just an issue on the Hill: It impacts us on a day-to-day level, by way of the information we receive and the headlines we read. Think about it: You likely know Benghazi-Gate as a foreign policy blunder and scandal, but do you actually know what happened? Youve heard of the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, as either one of the greatest evils to plague our streets or a noble achievement of the Obama administration, but do you actually know what the ACA achieved or how it works? You could probably trace a replica of Donald Trumps podium with how much airtime its received, but the 24-hour news media can only devote a few seconds to the sort of civil demonstration that would fill Martin Luther King Jr. with pride? They do their viewers a disservice. We could close this out many different ways, but surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, depending on how much patience you have for Will Ferrell) Ron Burgundys monologue from Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues encapsulates our predicament quite well: News is supposed to keep watch over the powerful so the powerful dont become corrupt. But what happens when the powerful own the news? Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now AR's Editor Joe Shea Talks About Elections On Iranian TV Bear Stearns Saved By Fed As Lehman Bros. Falters; Major Bank Failure Looms Over Wall Street, Sends Markets Into 200-Pt. Dive Lie Upon Lie Five Years Into the Iraq War The Administration Still Churns Out Lies by Randolph Holhut A Small Tragedy Even at 90, As Friends Turn Cool She Knows the Show Must Go On by Joyce Marcel I'll Take Me Imagine John Wayne or Arnold In Heels, Silk and a Girdle by Elizabeth Andrews Sen. Nelson Calls For New Fla. Primary; Gov Crist Backs 'Do-Over' Who'll Win? Ask Spock Spock.com Engine Predicts Winners By Site Searches; It Can be Wrong by Jay Bhatti Chatting Up The Cat God Gave Me Dominion Over Him But I Think He's a Non-Believer by Constance Daley Death of a Thug The Life and Horrors of Suharto by Andreas Harsono ___________________________ This Just In Sierra Club: McCain Ducked All 15 Key Votes On Green Laws (AR) A Work By AR's T.S. Kerrigan Is Chosen As 'Best Poem' By Wordpress Site Murder At Mile 63 The Deadly Assault and Bush Administration Cover-Up by S. Eben Kirkesby and Andreas Harsono 5427 14th St. West, Bradenton, FL 34207 $6.99 Fish Fridays! Manatee Co.'s Only 24-Hr. FREE Wi-Fi Paid Advertisement On Native Ground AFTER 5 YEARS, WE'RE STILL LIED TO ABOUT IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Next week is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And it is likely that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the 4,000th American soldier will die in Iraq. [MORE] Momentum OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - It's 1931, and a 14-year-old girl is standing alone on a stage. She's small and lively with dark curly hair, widespread hazel eyes, slender wrists and an open, eager face filled with the wonder of performing. Her name is Rose, and one day she will be my mother. But now she is performing an Eugene O'Neill monologue called "Before Breakfast" for a ladies' club in a wealthy suburb of Long Island. [MORE] One Woman's World COMFORTABLE WITH MYSELF by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I'm not sure but I think I may be socially incorrect. [MORE] On Native Ground ENOUGH FOR A WAR, NOT FOR A PEOPLE by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the National Governors Assn. met in Washington, D.C. One of the tasks the NGA had on its agenda was to ask President Bush to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects as a way to stimulate the economy. He rejected their pleas out of hand, claiming that infrastructure projects wouldn't offer any short-term economic boost. [MORE] Brasch Words BEWARE THE SELF-REVERENTIAL PRESS by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter called Sen. Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination "inevitable." It also called for Hillary Clinton to "start her campaign for Senate majority leader." [MORE] Constance A CONVERSATION WITH MY CAT Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not. [MORE] Momentum OUT OF STRUGGLE, ART by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center. [MORE] Campaign 2008 HOW TO PREDICT SUPER TUESDAY II WINNERS? ONLINE SEARCH by Jay Bhatti NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T VOTE; IT ENCOURAGES THEM by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November. [MORE] On Native Ground BUSH AND THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain. [MORE] Momentum WHICH AMERICA DO YOU LIVE IN? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] On Native Ground FIDEL RETIRES: NOW THE COLD WAR IS REALLY OVER by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] One Woman's World POLITICS IS NO PARTY by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Are you having a hard time focusing your eyes? Do you have faint red spots all over your body? Is there a ringing in your ears and do you see wavy lines when you look at your television set? Do your hands shake when you try to hold a cup of coffee? And have you recently been forgetting what day of the week it is - or what year? [MORE] Make My Day FOR BETTER OR WORSE ... A LOT WORSE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse." [MORE] Constance YOU CALL THESE RIGHTS? by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try. [MORE] Momentum THE BRIDGE WOMAN by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them. [MORE] On Native Ground OBAMA AND MY GENERATION by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4. [MORE] The Willies: WARNING: THIS MEDICATION MAY MURDER YOUR FRIENDS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't? Well, that warning is not on the bottle, but like countless mass-murder incidents before it, Friday's shootings at Northern Illinois University, as well as the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 last year, was probably precipitated by the effect of stopping medications that suppress anger and other powerful emotions but do not relieve the underlying cause. Isn't it time we started warning people - or stopped prescribing these medicines? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T KNOCK ON MY DOOR by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I wish I could feel delight in my poet's mansion being like Grand Central Station all the time, but I can't. And I wish my place was such a place that someone would one day write: "Her door was always open and she always made you feel all fuzzy and warm in her presence. She could make a cup of coffee seem like a banquet." [MORE] Reporting: Panama PANAMA'S VIOLENT LABOR UNREST INTENSIFIES Mark Scheinbaum PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say. [MORE] Brasch Words TO STIMULATE ECONOMY, BUY A CHINESE-MADE U.S. FLAG by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler. [MORE] Make My Day THE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1 [MORE] Momentum THE WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid. [MORE] The Willies AMERICA TO HILLARY: GET OUT! by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. [MORE] Constance CONFESSIONS OF A DISAPPOINTED VOTER by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote. [MORE] Reporting: Florida SIERRA CLUB SET TO SUSPEND FLA. CHAPTER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports. [MORE] One Woman's World PLANT A NEW WORLD THIS SPRING by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background. [MORE] On Native Ground VERMONT AND THE 5 STAGES OF CONSERVATIVE GRIEF by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. [MORE] Make My Day REBEL WITHOUT A TONGUE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species. [MORE] The Willies FOR DEMOCRATS, NOW IT'S ABOUT RACE, INCOME AND GENDER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity. [MORE] Momentum SUPER TUESDAY BLUES by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections. [MORE] The Willies ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY, YOUR PUSH IS NEEDED by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future. [MORE] Campaign 2008 AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. [MORE] One Woman's World STAND BY YOUR WOMAN by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote. [MORE] An AR Special SUSPECTS IN BENAZIR ASSASSINATION HAVE TIES TO MUSHARRAF by Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto? [MORE] Momentum TO THE VERMONT DELEGATION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff. [MORE] On Native Ground IF BUSH HAS HIS WAY, WE'LL NEVER LEAVE IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. - In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year. [MORE] Campaign 2008 CLASH OF COMMENTS AND PROTESTORS AT CLINTON, OBAMA RALLIES IN DENVER by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday. [MORE] The Willies WHY THE FLORIDA PRIMARY STINKS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot. [MORE] Passings: Suharto DEATH OF A KEMUSU THUG by Andreas Harsono JAKARTA - A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartos house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartos residence on Cendana Street. [MORE] Constance I REMEMBER YOU by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child. [MORE] 32 booths to share food, crafts and information to celebrate local connections to the rest of the world. Baracutanga perform. The UNM Global Education Office (GEO) proudly presents the annual International Festival on Thursday, April 14 from 10a.m. to 2p.m. on the Cornell Mall (East of the Student Union Building) on the UNM main campus. There will be 32 booths to share food, crafts, and information. The event is free and open to the public. The International Festival is a fun and visible way for the entire UNM community to celebrate our connections to the rest of the world, said Pablo Torres, Director of international admissions and festival co-chair. Our international students come to UNM from 100 countries, making our campus truly global. Twenty-four UNM student groups including Korean Club, Muslim Student Association, Black Student Union, and Filipino Student Organization, are going to prepare small plates of food for a small charge to share. One of the highlights of the event is music by Baracutanga, which will bring the flavor of South America with rhythms of Peru, Brazil, and Colombia. They will perform from 12:10 p.m. to 12:35 p.m. The event also features Flamenco and Tango dance performances, Japanese drum Taiko performance, and music from Kenya. Detailed event information is available at: http://geo.unm.edu/international_festival.html More than half of a century of financial regulation is grounded in this idea: If you give someone fair access to the financial system, you open the doors to a more promising future for him or her. Our research at BBVA Compass has found that giving Internet access to isolated families has the potential to increase the number of individuals with a bank account by 10%. While race and education levels are still major factors in determining financial inclusion, Internet access is what matters most in a fast-moving and digital economy. Financial inclusion is on par with education, health care access and property rights as an influencer of economic opportunity. Policymakers have tried to guarantee that the most vulnerable groups in society have fair and equitable access to financial services by lowering barriers to participation, increasing financial literacy, eliminating discriminatory practices and improving the regulatory landscape. The results of these efforts have been mixed. The U.S. has the largest and one of the most advanced financial systems in the world in both absolute and relative terms. Yet, its benefits do not extend to the entire population if one considers that most basic of measures ownership of a bank account. In fact, according to the World Bank, the U.S. ranks 23 out of 38 high-income nations in the percentage of people with a bank account. And for adults in the poorest 40% of households, the share of those without a bank account in the U.S. is more than eight times higher than in the United Kingdom, Canada or Australia. Lawmakers and the private sector rightly created ways to address the fact that a person's race, income, gender, age and other factors could act as barriers to accessing the traditional banking system. But factors that are correlated with financial inclusion are also associated with poverty, education levels and race. They leave significant challenges for researchers and policymakers in determining where to focus resources and where to find opportunities for collaboration. The policy implications of our findings are substantial and also immediate. Society needs to embrace the notion that access to the Internet is as important as having clean drinking water and adequate sanitation. Just like previous generations understood that these services were essential, our job today is to ensure widespread access to the Internet so that the next generations can benefit from increased connectivity. This will not only lift education and productivity standards but it will also make a significant contribution to lowering inequality, alleviating poverty and boosting economic growth. Addressing cost is paramount. More than a quarter of households with income below $30,000 aren't using the Internet. Broadband in the U.S. is among the most expensive in the developed world, a stark irony considering it is the birthplace of the Internet. Half of American homes have only two options for Internet service providers for basic broadband, according to the Federal Communications Commission. This could explain why costs reach $100 a month for basic Internet in many places. In fact, the cost of broadband in the U.S. is almost twice as that in Finland, Denmark and Sweden where 100% of the adult population has a bank account. Boulder, Colo., which ranks at the top of our Financial Inclusion Metropolitan Index, is one of a few areas in the U.S. with financial inclusion levels that rival those of the Nordic countries. Interestingly, the city once owned miles of fiber that its residents could not take advantage of because of laws limiting municipal broadband. But the city challenged the telecommunications industry at the polls in 2014 and won. In doing so, Boulder has become one of a growing number of municipalities that have voted to allow their local governments to increase competition by offering Internet service to residents. This speaks to the mindset of a community that has embraced technology as a way to lift up everyone that calls Boulder home. The other communities that round out the top five in our index are San Francisco, Seattle, San Jose, Calif., and Washington, D.C. all of which have had robust efforts to increase access to technology. The FCC proposal to give low-income individuals a $9.25-a-month subsidy for broadband Internet service could also move the financial inclusion needle. At an estimated cost of $1.7 billion per year, the program is expected to reach 12 million households. Still, subsidies are not the only way forward or even the best tool. Greater competition could also reduce prices while fostering innovation. In addition, collaboration between Internet providers, financial institutions, information and communication technology companies, and local government is important. One option could be for banks to contribute to the cost of broadband or mobile Internet access based on the clients' usage of banking apps. Not surprisingly, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. concluded that mobile financial services have the potential to address the challenges of reaching the underserved. According to the FDIC, 90% of households that are underserved by the banking industry are likely to have mobile phones and 32% of them are likely to use mobile banking as their main banking method. Delivering digital technologies yields a bigger bang for the buck than financial inclusion policies that target race or education. With the proliferation of the virtual economy and the need to keep up with progress, the shortest road to financial inclusion is a fiber-optic one that's paved by both the financial industry and nonbank stakeholders. Nathaniel Karp is chief economist for BBVA Compass, and Boyd Nash-Stacey is a senior economist at BBVA Compass. They can be reached on Twitter @BBVAResearchUSA. A month after introducing the Express Business Loan for its customers, Eastern Bank in Boston says it is in talks with several banks across the U.S. to license the product. The product, the first developed by the bank's Eastern Labs division, delivers working capital up to $100,000 to small-business owners within five minutes of applying. The loan application can be completed in a minute or two, but those needing a guarantee from the U.S. Small Business Administration must wait an additional two to three minutes for approval, the company said in a press release. Speed is one reason small businesses have been turning to online and marketplace lenders rather than to banks for funding in recent years. Quicker decisions and funding could help depository institutions recapture that business. News of the possible licensing agreements was included in a press release to announce that the financial services research firm Celent named the $9.6 billion-asset Eastern Bank its Model Bank of the Year for 2016. The bank was picked specifically for the Express Business Loan. "Eastern has accomplished a significant feat in building an entirely new loan origination system from scratch in 14 months, using internal resources, and showed game changing results on par with anything that the most disruptive fintech company has achieved in this space," Dan Latimore, senior vice president at Celent, said in the press release. Eastern created the Labs in 2014 when it hired a team led by Dan O'Malley, who previously was chief executive of PerkStreet Financial, a card rewards startup that shuttered. Community Bank in Pasadena, Calif., has promoted from within to fill the positions of president and chief banking officer. The $3.6 billion-asset bank appointed Alan Buckle to the two positions on April 1, according to a news release. He previously held the title of director of business banking. As president and chief banking officer, Buckle will consolidate the bank's sales functions and oversee real estate lending and Small Business Administration lending. He will also retain his current duties, including oversight of the bank's C.H. Cook private banking group. Buckle joined Community Bank in 2009 as business center manager for its Burbank, Calif., location. Prior to joining Community Bank, Buckle was managing director of asset management at Alliance Bank in Culver City, Calif. Community Bank did not identify in its news release who last held the positions of president and chief banking officer. The bank did not respond to requests for comment. Community Bank has 17 offices in Southern California, including Los Angeles and Orange County. We are constantly told that it is a stupid logical fallacy to blame all Muslims for the actions of a few. It is so stupid that it could only be the result of a psychological malady: Islamophobia or hysterical anti-Muslim derangement syndrome. Yes, it would be stupid to blame all postal workers for a given postal worker that goes postal. The stupidity of generalization of blame to an entire cohort for the actions of a few, however is not always that clear-cut. Should the members of a KKK group in Georgia be blamed for the actions of a few that burn down a black church? No. They cannot be blamed for actually burning the church but it is rational that they be treated with the suspicion as to whether they support as much. They have earned the suspicion and distrust of those who regard such actions as inexcusable. But that, in part, is just what the Muslim community regards as unfair and irrational. They complain about being viewed with distrust and suspicion. I get people who don't want to sit next to me, people who whisper things like, 'Does she have a bomb on her, is she going to harm us?'" she says. And this from Pew Research: life for Muslim Americans in post-9/11 America is difficult in a number of ways. Significant numbers report being looked at with suspicion (28%), and being called offensive names (22%). When the distrust and suspicion spill over into hatred and violent crimes -- that is certainly unacceptable. But in and of itself, being viewed with distrust is just what the Muslim community, in conjunction with statistics and ulema pronouncements, has earned. A survey conducted by the Center for Security Policy (CSP) finds (in contrast to Pew Research) that a majority of Muslims living in the U.S. support Muslim supremacy and domination by hook or crook. A majority (51%) agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to shariah. More than half (51%) of U.S. Muslims polled also believe either that they should have the choice of American or shariah courts, or that they should have their own tribunals to apply shariah. Nearly a quarter of the Muslims polled believed that, It is legitimate to use violence to punish those who give offense to Islam by, for example, portraying the prophet Mohammed. Nearly one-fifth of Muslim respondents said that the use of violence in the United States is justified in order to make shariah the law of the land in this country. Roughly 300,000 Muslims living in the United States who believe that shariah is the Muslim God Allahs law that Muslims must follow and impose worldwide by Jihad. Moreover, now the former head of Britains Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), Trevor Phillips, has just admitted that he got almost everything wrong regarding Muslim immigration and that the major problem is hardly Islamophobia but that Muslims are intentionally creating nations within nations in the West. And then there is a document recently discovered online by the Center for Security Policy regarding the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA) that insists the only legitimate law according to Islam is sharia and urges American Muslims to nurture hostility towards U.S. law. The document, which was written in 2007 and presented at a 2008 Houston imams conference, makes clear that the AMJAs ultimate goal, as described by Andrew Bostom, is nothing less than the eventual subversion of the American legal system to Islamic law (sharia). The AMJAs website describes the annual Imams Conference as a service to [the] Muslim community that offers training to Muslim clerics working as a minority under infidel legal systems in North America. The goal is to provide guidance for these imams to pass on to their communities, especially those involved in the legal profession, on how to act overtly to present a facade of compliance with the existing legal system while feeling hatred in their hearts. The paper specifically instructs these Muslim imams to encourage deception if necessary in order that Islamic law eventually will triumph over the laws to which they must temporarily feign allegiance (i.e., laws derived from the U.S. Constitution). The participation of Muslims -- whether clerics, ordinary lay persons or members of the American legal community -- in a non-Muslim legal system is described as temporary only and sanctioned by darura, the doctrine of necessity. Being looked at with suspicion and distrust? Youve earned it. By now, the pattern should be clear: Republican governors sign legislation taking a stand on an issue and the left mounts a rabid attack with the tactics and fervor of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement. They sucker punch Republican governors in the economic gut, enlisting the help of other elected Democrats, their media pals, Hollywood, and corporate America (yes, that evil corporate America whose free speech rights they condone only when it suits their political purposes). We have seen this play out in states that enact legislation mirroring the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)introduced by Congressman Chuck Shumer and Senator Ted Kennedy, and signed by Bill Clinton in 1993. Their swift about-face is, I guess, what Democrats call "evolution." To date, only North Carolina's Governor Pat McCrory and Mississippi's Governor Phil Bryant have demonstrated the intestinal fortitude to stand firm against such leftwing onslaughts. Bryant is defending the will of the people of Mississippi through their state RFRA bill and McCrory is fighting the transgender bathroom brawl where the people demand that girls use the girls bathroom and boys use the boys bathroom. Contrast such courage and conviction with pusillanimous redcoat -governors Jan Brewer (AZ), Mike Pence (IN) and Nathan Deal (GA), each of whom succumbed to left-wing bullying and turned tail on their state RFRA laws. Pence capitulated when Angie's List cancelled a $40 million expansion of its headquarters in Indianapolis; Brewer caved in the wake of fierce opposition from Delta, MLB, and the Super Bowl host committee; and Deal vetoed his state's RFRA measure under pressure from the NCAA, NFL, Disney, and Salesforce, among others. Although Deal claims he "doesn't respond well to insults or threats" it seems he did just that. How Citizens United of the left to use corporate influence and an economic cudgel to get their way. And conservatives? They just stand on the sidelines and watch. Most throw up their hands and complain We can't do anything because the left controls the media. True enough, but if conservatives click their heels together three times, they'll see that the solution has always been there: Utilizing the internet, conservatives can deploy the very same progressive street fighting tactics that the left has used against the right to make noise, fight battles, bully the opposition, and reinforce their brethren on the front lines. But it requires a two-pronged approach, and, to draw an analogy, we need to take our cues frombees. First, we must envelop courageous conservatives like Governors Bryant and McCrory the way drones surround their queen, creating an impenetrable barrier of support protecting her at all costs. Second, we need to swarm outside of the hive and attack anything that gets in our way. If Springsteen cancels a show, conservatives support a different artist performing in that state, tweet #NoFanOfSpringsteen, boycott his music, and maybe post a homemade video burning old Springsteen album covers. We need to inform Governor Cuomo that those blue hairs from the Midwest who populate Manhattan during Christmas, will redirect their yuletide traditions to Vegas or Branson. We must make it known that thousands will cancel business and travel plans to Georgia and take their spending dollars to Mississippi instead. We respond to threats from Coke, Delta, or Apple by drinking Pepsi. If Pepsi joins Coke, give up soda for iced tea. Fly United. Buy Dell. Forego the beaches of Georgia for Mississippi. Whatever the message, tweet it, petition it, write it, email it, post it, FaceBook it, and hashtag it to death. You don't have to live in Georgia to tweet your support. And no one will check to see if you flew United instead of Delta. But to have an impactthe best impactonce you commit to boycott Coke, stick to it, get your friends and family to join in, email Coke, write Coke, post your intention to boycott Coke products on Coke's FaceBook page. A visual of you pouring Coke down the drain and drinking iced tea from Dunkin' Donuts is worth a thousand words. It took me ten seconds to type this and might require 30 seconds more to post on FaceBook: Dear Governor Pence: Because you caved on religious liberties and turned your back on conservatives, my son will not apply to any Indiana colleges but will instead apply to schools in North Carolina. When you decide to grow a spine and stand up for conservatives, we will reconsider. (Picture: teenage boy wearing a UNC sweatshirt, throwing away an application to Indiana University.) In an ideal world, fellow Republican governors would also support each other. Thus, when Governor Cuomo prohibited official NY state travel to North Carolina because Governor McCrory had signed the transgender bathroom legislation, it should have prompted other Republican governors to rise up: a simple #FLstandswithNC would do the trick; a FaceBook post from Governor Christie that he will travel to NC to discuss economic development and visit the Outer Banks with his family, would be powerful. We need to ensure going forward, that we have the backs of our elected officials who take a stand on our behalves. And, at the same time, we must force governors like Jan Brewer to sign bills like SB1062 by demonstrating that we will bring in dollars and Arizona-friendly businesses to compensate for any losses suffered because of liberal threats. An assault on our elected representatives, especially those of conviction, is an assault on all of us. Don't give up. We are legion and powerful. When Republican leaders actually do the job we ask of them, we must protectively swarm around them and shield them from attack. Then, we swarm around our political foes and sting them with every hashtag and FaceBook post, every petition and tweet, every article and email, we can muster. And the buzz we all make must be consistent with one another. In the words of Mohammed Ali, we need to "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." We must be nimble with our tactics and brutal in the execution. Every year when I was at University of Virginia, I attended the screening of Leni Riefenstahls Triumph of the Will. This classic propaganda movie was produced in 1934 to showcase the party rally in Nuremberg. Riefenstahls filming techniques were decades ahead of Britain and the U.S. At U.Va., we were fortunate to be instructed by our distinguished professor of Modern European History, the redoubtable Oron J. Hale. Mr. Hale had served as Allied High Commissioner in occupied Bavaria. This fact added immeasurably to our appreciation of his insightful commentary on the film Todays viewers can google Der Triumph des Willens as it was shown to German audiences. With its Wagnerian sweep, it retains its power to move us. That, Mr. Hale warned, is exactly the point. We who know where such mass hysteria leads have a duty to speak out, to stand up, and to oppose its advance at every turn. Donald Trumps antics entertain and offend at the same time. When we see the film Triumph, we see its star possessed of much more dignity and commanding presence than ever attended the oafish Trump. Nonetheless, Hitlers base then is Trumps base now. Hitlers base did have grievances, real and imagined. First and foremost was the Dolchstolegende. This Stab in the Back legend was central to Hitlers appeal. You have been betrayed, he told his followers endlessly. For his National Socialists, that betrayal referred to the World War I defeat and the Treaty of Versailles imposed on Germany. Hitler blamed Socialists and Jews. Trump blames the entire governing class of the United States. All trade agreements are products of a conspiring elite determined to put honest Americans out of work. He, who outsources the making of his own brand of shirts, tells the credulous displaced garment workers its the fault of the suits. They are losers who have negotiated all those trade treaties. But somehow these losers are incredibly powerful -- so they stick it to you, honest workers. Hitler was both nationalist and socialist. Historian John Lukacs in The Legacy of the Second World War teaches us that national socialism was the greatest threat to freedom of the twentieth century. Lukacs writes that it had a powerful and almost irresistible appeal to the masses. Millions of them felt disrespected and scorned by the elites of Germany. The Nazis were their instrument of revenge. Trumps policy -- to the extent he has any policy -- is all nationalist, all socialist. There is a consistency in his message. He is a nationalist when he goes after NATO, the most successful alliance in world history. NATO, with Ronald Reagans leadership, prevailed over the Warsaw Pact and helped bring down the USSR. All this without firing a shot. But to Trump, NATO is only there to screw the American taxpayer. He says he wants America to be great again. He implies by that, America is weak and cowering. Despite the irresponsibility of seven years of the Obama administrations cuts, and its determination to use the military as a social engineering sandbox, our all-volunteer force remains the most powerful on earth. Yet Trump would order our splendid military to commit war crimes. He wants our soldiers to kill the wives and children of ISIS members. This is what Hitlers SS did in occupied France in 1944 at Oradour-sur-Glane. No American soldier should ever obey such an unlawful order. Lt. William Calley did obey such an order at My Lai in 1968. Calley was tried, convicted of murder, imprisoned, and eventually paroled. But he has spent every day of his life since regretting his actions. If Calley is repentant, Trump is not. That is the key to his character. He does not apologize. He has never asked Gods forgiveness because, as he tells us, he has done nothing for which he needs to repent. That still small voice of conscience is not his guide; it is his accomplice. Here, too, Der Triumph des Willens provides the clue. The tens of thousands of belt buckles worn by those goose-stepping, strong young men were emblazoned with Gott mitt uns. God is with us. Trump believes this, too. And if He isnt, then He is also a loser. Trumps economics are socialist. He backs socialist minimum wage and tax-the-rich proposals that will do nothing to help the poorly educated or the working poor. He backs single-payer health care, the keystone of socialism. When pressed by Marco Rubio to say how his own plan differed from President Obamas, Trump promised to get rid of state barriers to insurance coverage. Rubio ridiculed this, drawing finger circles in the air that signaled loco, or crazy. But Trumps message was clear: Everything will be run from Washington, by him. Again, hes a socialist, but a national socialist. Lawlessness was a key to the Nazi movement. And to Trumps. Trump doesnt need Congress. He doesnt need the courts. He doesnt need the Constitution. All he needs is a measure of public approval. The German Weimar Republic in the 1920s deliberately inflated their currency to pay off indemnities to the victorious allies of WWI. This was like a man setting fire to his own house to avoid the rent collector. But the devastated working class and middle class in Germany became eager hearers of Hitlers economic appeals. In America, ObamaCare has caused great harm to working Americans. Skyrocketing premiums, out-of-reach deductibles make guaranteed coverage a cruel joke. And to these unfortunate citizens, Trumps simplistic message is seductive. When conservative friends tell me Trump is popular with many, I respond: What part of Volkswagens for all, highway construction jobs for the unemployed, and purposeful activity in the fresh air for young people would we not like? Demagogues dont arise telling people what they dont want to hear. Violence. Trump approves it. He uses it. There will be riots, he informs us, if he is denied the nomination. He has never supported the Republican Party, its candidates, or its principles. His nomination would be a repudiation of the partys entire past. And yet, based on his pluralities in a badly splintered field, he thinks he is entitled to claim the brass ring. Violence was central to the rise of the Nazis in Germany, too. Does paying off Storm Troopers who beat up Communists, Socialists, pacifists, and Jews differ materially from Trumps offering to pay the legal expenses of assailants in his crowds today? Obviously, there are stark differences between Hitler and Trump. Hitler bore himself with dignity, at least in public. Trump is constantly capering like a baboon. Hitler was a genuine hero in World War I; his Iron Cross medals were not false. Trump is a coward who dodged the draft, claiming heel spurs. Hitler was a compelling orator. Trump simply rants; his speeches are incoherent. But, like Hitler, Trump has mastered the communications techniques of the age. For Hitler it was radio and film. For Trump it is the Internet and Twitter. Hitlers public conduct was prudish, even puritanical. Insiders in the Third Reich knew he kept a mistress. Trump has had wives and mistresses. He has had other mens wives as his mistresses. And he brags about it. And shows no remorse about the families hes broken up. The Lie. The Lie was central to everything in the Nazi movement. It had to be. And Joseph Goebbels was the evil genius in charge of the Lie. Trumps core is the Lie. No better example may be found than his baseless claim that many in the pro-life movement demand punishment for women who have had abortions. I have been active in the pro-life movement for forty years. I have never once heard any pro-lifer call for punishing women. Ours is the movement that created pregnancy care centers that extend their love, practical help, and acceptance to all women. And their babies. Trump has backed, and still backs, Planned Parenthood. This is an outfit that kills 800 unborn children every day. Then Planned Parenthood scavenges their hearts, lungs, and livers for sale. In truth, there is nothing in the history of our pro-life movement or in the history of our country to support Trumps outrageous falsehoods. Things were different in Nazi Germany, as Prof. Richard J. Evans writes in The Third Reich in Power. There, women were subjected to more punitive abortion laws -- unless they were Jewish. These were pressed to abort. Does Trump really think there are many in America who want to punish women? OK, Trump: Name one! Now is the moment to decide. Trump or NeverTrump. That decision was made for me more than forty years ago. Ill go with that old English hymn, Once to Every Man and Nation. Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side; Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight, And the choice goes by forever, twixt that darkness and that light. Robert Morrison is a writer in Annapolis. He was a Reagan delegate in Washington State and served in the administration. Colorado held its delegate convention last weekend. When the sweet smelling smoke cleared from Colorado Springs, Ted Cruz walked away with all 34 delegates. A real Rocky Mountain High for Teds campaign. Not so much for Colorado Republicans who felt robbed of their voices and votes by a convoluted delegate allocation process put in place last August by the Colorado GOP. Accusations are flying across the airwaves. Donald Trump saying Great anger totally unfair. Ted Cruz answering by calling out the Drudge Report for its convention coverage, The attack site for the Donald Trump campaign. Whats really going on here? Is this the GOP establishment stealing delegates on behalf of Ted Cruz? Or a true grassroots effort by the Colorado GOP in support of their candidate? Did Cruz bend the rules, doing something illegal or unethical or did he simply understand the rules and use them to his advantage? Is this another example of Trump and his campaign flying on pomp and personality, being either uninformed or too lazy to learn about the nuanced Colorado delegate selection process? Or is all of this a calculated gambit by the Trump campaign to parlay the Colorado delegate loss into a first ballot nomination in Cleveland? I believe this was a calculated move on the part of the Trump campaign, to skip Colorado and now make hay over the delegate selection process. Knowing and believing are two different things. Since I am not on Mr. Trumps morning call list after he phones in to Fox and Friends and Morning Joe, I have no inside knowledge, only some healthy speculation. The first scenario is that Trump was blindsided by the Colorado caucuses. Colorado has always been a caucus state but last August changed the rules requiring the states delegates support the candidate that wins the caucus vote. The result was Colorado forfeiting a role in the early nominating process. And leaving Republican voters without a voice in who the state ultimately supports at the national convention. The Denver Post Editorial Board felt this move to be a Colorado GOP blunder. This rule change was made last summer, at a time when Donald Trump was gaining popularity by telling America if he was elected, Well have so much winning, youll get bored with winning. Or how his trade deals would be so much better than anything we have now. Or how he would surround himself with the best people. So how could he misinterpret or overlook the Colorado delegate rules? Is this his idea of winning? Trump also hired Paul Manafort a few weeks ago. Manafort is a master of delegate counting and convention strategy, according to those who have worked with and against him. Wouldnt he understand the Colorado delegate allocation process better than anyone? Yet Donald stayed away from Colorado, cancelling his appearance at the Colorado GOP convention. Leaving the door wide open for Ted Cruz, with his encyclopedic knowledge of campaign processes and minutiae, to waltz in and capture all the delegates. Not steal, capture. Cruz used the rules to his advantage much as Trump has used bankruptcy laws to reorganize several of his struggling businesses. On the surface this makes no sense. Trump is a smart guy. His new campaign guy is a delegate guru. How could he make such a blunder? Especially after losing handily in Wisconsin, his fourth loss in a row. His Wisconsin loss shifted the primary momentum to Cruz, according to beltway pundits. The second scenario is that Trumps Colorado loss is no mistake but instead a carefully planned gambit to regain the momentum and use the loss to his advantage. After Wisconsin, it seemed Trump lost his mojo. Reaching 1237 delegates before the convention is less and less likely. Not that Cruz will reach the magic number either. But Cruz has another plan in mind, capturing enough delegates to win a second or third round victory. Never mind that the GOP establishment has other plans in mind if neither Cruz nor Trump win on the first ballot. So why wouldnt Trump fight for every delegate, especially since his odds of winning the nomination are currently only 56 percent? Simple. He is trading Colorados 34 delegates for 95 in New York and many more in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Even if Trump attended the Colorado GOP convention, he might have picked up a few delegates, but given some of the hardball efforts to stifle Trump supporters, its unlikely Trump would have won more than a handful. What he did win was the chance to deliver a populist message, one that has served him well thus far, that Colorado voters "had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians." He is on the news shows and on Twitter promoting his outsider status, fighting against the establishment and elites who rigged the delegate selection process. This is a message many voters, especially those inclined to support Trump, agree with. Play by the rules, pay your taxes, support your political party and get bupkis in return. What a brilliant way to regain his electoral momentum, a week before the big New York primary. Give Ted his Colorado victory while building on the probability of a huge win in New York. Current polls show Trump with anywhere from 51 to 60 percent of the vote in New York. GOP kingpin Karl Rove believes, Trump will get 90 of 95 delegates in New York. Not to mention neighboring northeast states where a big NY win could translate into a bonanza in these delegate rich states. Trump showing up and competing in Colorado would have made his rigged meme much less effective. Instead he is back on offense, dancing with the populist lady who brought him to the big party. As the Donald himself said, Sometimes your best investments are the ones you dont make. Brian C Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver based retina surgeon, radio personality, and writer. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter. Is Saudi Arabias ruling family at last moving toward liberalization of its draconian Islamic fundamentalism? There is a very long way to go, but this is an encouraging sign: The Saudi government issued new regulations for the religious police operating in the state Tuesday, taking away the organization's authority to arrest and persecute citizens for not adhering to Sharia law in their daily lives. The unprecedented Saudi move came as a result of growing local criticism of the police and the way it performs its role as the defender of Sharia law in the state. According to a statement explaining the new regulations, the religious police is "an independent body, which has organizational relations with the prime minister." According to the report, the religious police (aka the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice) are now supposed to report drug offenses to the regular police. Other infractions against sharia are not specified, but if the report is true, they have lost their power of arrest. The religious police were subject to worldwide revulsion when in 2002 they prevented girls from fleeing a fire in a school in Mecca because they were not properly dressed (in full beekeeper outfits) and 15 of them died. The fact that this move coincides with the drastic fall in oil prices, slashing government revenue, and forcing the kingdom into huge deficits is interesting. Are the heads of the Saud family preparing for the day when they will no longer be able to buy off the clergy? Are they planning to disarm the religious police, and thereby head off armed resistance? One thing to watch is funding for mosque construction and Wahhabi indoctrination overseas. If that is cut, in order to free up funds to maintain the huge generous welfare state at home, that could be another sign of reform. It woud also do a lot to turn back the tide of Islamic fundamentalism that has plagued the world. How long will the Republican convention in Cleveland last? It's scheduled to run from July 18-21. But challenges to the rules and credentials (not to mention a probable fight over planks in the platform) threaten to draw out the affair beyond the four days allotted. Daily Caller: The rules committee at the Republican National Convention is not the only committee where controversy will happen as the Trump campaign is preparing challenges against the conventions credentials committee. We are compiling evidence, were gonna be filing several credentials challenges and whether we win on the challenges or not, the point on whats happening if you go to these meetings and youre not a [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] supporter, you dont want to be a Republican when you leave cause youre so abused, Trump adviser Paul Manafort said on Fox Newss Hannity Tuesday. The 112-member credentials committee handles allegations from campaigns that proper procedures were not followed through when a delegate or slate of delegates was elected, and therefore the individuals are not legitimate delegates who can be seated at the convention. If there is an allegation that proper procedures were not carried out, then it is possible to undertake a procedure that is elaborate but outlined in the party rules a multi-step procedure whereby you can challenge the credentials of people who are claiming to be delegates, Virginia Republican National Committeeman Morton Blackwell told The Daily Caller on Wednesday. In 2012, Ron Paul lost his delegates from Maine as a result of a credentials challenge. They had Ron Paul people run as Romney people. So you can have a challenge there and say, look, these people arent really our delegates. They arent our people. So there are things like that, which could potentially happen, a GOP insider told TheDC. The Trump campaign alleges that unfair delegate election practices happened in states like Colorado and Missouri, but one GOP insider familiar with RNC rules has told TheDC that it may be difficult to prove such irregularities. I dont know if [Manafort], yet, has any legitimate basis for challenges, but Im sure theyll make some if only to keep the controversy going. Im sure theres going to be challenges. There always are. There are always legitimate mistakeson process and that sort of thing. I dont know of any serious challenge as of this point, he said. However, another RNC source says the credentials committee will have its hands full this summer. Virtual Reality still has a long way to go before it reaches its maximum potential, but things are already off to a great start with the options that are out there. While some consumers will still be waiting on Sony to launch their PlayStation VR headset, like myself, both the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive can be purchased now. All three of these headsets are perfect for gamers and theyll undoubtedly be offering other types of content too like movies or other forms of media. Of course, if youre someone who isnt really a huge gaming enthusiast and you simply want something that allows you to experience a little bit of everything that the world of VR has to offer, there are more affordable and more portable options out there, like Samsungs Gear VR and now LGs 360 VR headset, both of which are powered by your smartphone and can be taken with you. Between the headsets listed here that already puts the market at five different offerings. For those interested in VR even in the slightest amount, the question is which VR headset is right for you? The answer to that really all depends on a handful of different factors. First and foremost is cost, as how much you pay for the VR headset youre looking to pick up should be an important detail to you. How much youre willing to pay will dictate what headset you should be looking at. If you arent wanting to spend a whole lot to jump into the VR space right now, then arguably, Samsungs Gear VR is probably the best option. At $99 its a steal for something that not only has a decent selection of applications but is portable too, meaning you can take it with you anywhere, although because of the immersive capabilities youre better off keeping its use to non-public places, that is unless you feel completely safe with the idea. You could even stretch your cost range a little bit and spend the extra $100 to pick up the LG 360 VR when its available soon, which is even more compact and more portable than the Gear VR, although it doesnt have nearly the same amount of available content and it likely wont for a while since it was just announced back in February. If youre not opposed to waiting a little bit, Sonys PlayStation VR will cost you $399, and youll be able to buy a bundle for $499 that comes with everything youll need, save for the PS4, of course. The last two options, the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive are no doubt the most expensive, and will set you back $599 and $799 respectively, but they also have the most advanced technology of all of them and they are sure to have some of the best content. Advertisement Taking into consideration the cost of each VR headset unit, youll also want to think about the costs of the compatible hardware that youll need to use any of them. In many cases the Gear VR will still be the cheapest option as the $99 headset can be picked up and used with devices as old as the Galaxy S6, which you can now generally pick up for around $479.99 for a brand-new and factory unlocked model with 32GB of storage. Thats just under $600 all in to get started with a phone that supports virtual reality content and the VR headset to immerse you in the experience. If you look at LGs option, the LG G5 brand-new will cost you about $629.99 depending on your carrier selection, then youre looking at another $199 for the LG 360 VR which puts you at a total of around $830. Thats a little more than Sonys option as the PS4 can now be picked up for $349.99 brand-new, and if you go with the standard PlayStation VR bundle youre looking at $399 for a total of around $750. This puts it at the second cheapest option and is going to give you much more immersive and likely enjoyable content than the LG G5 and LG 360 VR as well as the content on the Gear VR. If youre going big and opting for either Oculus Rift or HTCs Vive headset, youre not only going to be spending a lot on the units themselves, but youll need a pretty powerful PC even for the most basic requirements to power each unit. For the Oculus Rift starting costs for a PC that can handle the device will cost at least $949 and they can go up from there depending on how serious of a gamer you are and how powerful of a PC you want. That puts you all in for a base cost of $1,450 $1,500. With the Vive, starting costs for PCs that can handle powering the headset are the same, but the Vive is $799 which makes your base cost to get up and running about $1,800. Of course, these prices are based on people who may not already have the hardware they need to power the VR devices, if you already have the phone, console, or computer you need, then youre only looking at prices of the VR units themselves which is going to be much less than buying everything together at once. Advertisement Whether or not money is no object, another factor in choosing or deciding which is the best VR headset for you is the content. If youre serious about content then youll want to consider which units will have the most content available to you fro the get-go. Without a doubt this is going to be Samsung Gear VR as it has been out the longest, and the software is powered by Oculus and has its own Oculus store that users can tap into for all their downloads and apps. While the Oculus store on Gear VR is still continuing to grow with new content consistently, it already has big-name apps on board like Netflix and although it doesnt work in HD, its still likely to be an exciting experience. Of course, both Oculus Rift and HTCs Vive are starting out with quite a few apps and games that are compatible themselves. Although you will be able to grab games and apps from the Oculus Store on the Rift when its connected, youll also be able to download Oculus-ready apps through Steam, and currently there are 76 apps and games on Steam that are Oculus compatible. When it comes to the HTC Vive, there are 151 compatible apps and games for the platform, so its safe to say that Vive has a huge offering of content to sink your teeth into. While its hard to gauge the amount of content that will be available for both the LG 360 VR and the PlayStation VR since theyre not yet available, Sony has at least stated what their plans were for content by the time of the devices release at the end of this year, which is supposed to be around 50 titles, or rather up to 50 titles when it launches. However, there were already at least 81 games confirmed to be compatible for the platform according to IGN. This makes PlayStation VR a compelling offering as well, especially if you already own a PS4. Advertisement When it comes down to it, its hard to say that there is any one thing that makes one VR headset the perfect fit, and ultimately it comes down to what youre willing to spend and what essentially has the content you want to experience. If youre a big PC gamer, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are what you should consider and narrow down what has the best content for you personally. If youre a console gamer and specifically of the PS4 persuasion, then PlayStation VR is likely your best choice. If youre much of a gamer at all but would be open to playing VR games, and are more interested in the whole of VR content and want something portable, than the Gear VR or the LG 360 VR are what you should be looking into. While I would personally rather own the HTC Vive and a really powerful PC to run it, I know that I would likely get more use out of the PlayStation VR which makes it more of a value for what I am spending and in the end making it the right VR headset for me. You may feel differently and thats OK as everyones tastes are different. Whatever the right headset is, VR is definitely something that shouldnt be missed even if its just to try it out briefly. So youve heard the news about the brand new HTC 10 and its UltraPixel 2 camera sensor, but are wondering how it compares to other phones out there? Were so glad to hear that, because were here to bring you an epic shootout between the hottest phones available right now in 2016. If youre looking to pick up a premium smartphone you want a premium experience all around, and the camera is one of the biggest ways to judge that premium status without a doubt. All four of these phones sport new generation sensors and lenses that are designed to accept more light and bring you brighter, more balanced shots quicker than ever. Which ones comes on top? Lets find out in tons of different situations including night time, day time, indoors and more! As a reminder the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge will product identical images since they are the exact same camera sensor and affiliated hardware. The same goes for the Nexus 5x and Nexus 6p which share hardware as well. This means folks who want a Galaxy S7 over an Edge version will get the same quality as the S7 Edge, and folks that are buying a Nexus 5x will achieve the same results as the Nexus 6p. Another note is that the LG G5 uses a 16:9 wide ratio sensor versus the 4:3 sensors used in the other 3 phones, so shots will not line up 100% towards the edges in particular, however every effort was made to center the same elements on screen in each shot. Advertisement Night Shots Well start with the hardest situation at all, since this ultimately will tell whether or not all these advances in sensor and lens technology are actually paying off. Do larger pixels and lenses with a lower f-stop actually work as well as weve been told? Lets see for sure. Advertisement Shot 1 This particular scene features some white garbage trucks in front of an extraordinarily yellow street light, presenting a fun challenging for white balance. In addition to this the extra bright sign in the back coupled with the darker building poses some exposure challenges if there isnt enough available dynamic range. The LG G5 and Nexus 6p get the exposure dead on here, as the truck isnt overblown at all, neither is the sign but theres still plenty of shadow detail on the building in the background. Both phones exhibit incredible amounts of detail, with the G5s shot containing a little more detail in foreground objects like the trucks license plate and exhaust pipes on the top, while the Nexus 6p shows better stabilization and detail on the buildings in the background. The Galaxy S7/Edge is the brightest of all the shots but it doesnt really do anything for the image quality, which is smudgy and over-processed here to say the least. Comparatively theres very little detail in objects when zoomed in, and it only beats the HTC 10 by a small margin. The HTC 10 loses this particular one without a doubt, showing an overexposed picture with little detail anywhere in the scene. Advertisement Winner: Tie LG G5 and Nexus 6p Shot 2 Advertisement Night time construction scenes are a fun challenge for sure. Theres plenty of detail to suck in with all the beams and equipment, and lots of bright light contrasting with dark surroundings, not to mention plenty of ways to throw off color balance. The Nexus 6p shows the best overall balance, especially when it comes to exposure and color accuracy. Meanwhile the LG G5 is a bit warm, the Galaxy S7 is a bit cool, and the HTC 10 is way too cold looking. The Galaxy S7 comes in second place with exposure levels, showing some detail inside that building at the bottom, while the HTC 10 and G5 are very overexposed to say the least. Both the HTC 10 and Galaxy S7 have the worst levels of detail here, with the HTC 10 seeming to have focus issues here, while the Galaxy S7 held the shutter open too long to keep the image steady. If the G5 werent so overexposed it would likely have won the detail challenge, but thanks to the overall incredible balance and detail levels, plus the correct color the Nexus 6p wins this one hands down. Winner: Nexus 6p Shot 3 Advertisement Most of the time when youre taking lower light shots, its probably not going to always be outside. Indoor shots pose plenty of challenges too, and often times youll find shots end up blurry or fuzzy because of a slower shutter (and hand shake), or focusing problems. Weve got a good mix here of issues in this hotel lobby, and a winner that switches things up a bit. Overall the Galaxy S7 absolutely blows all the other cameras out of the water here, nailing the correct lighting color of the overhead lights here (and in those dark blue lit water cases toward the back), has tons of detail everywhere in the scene thanks to a sharp focus, and just generally looks fantastic. The only problem here is that the chandeliers are overexposed, leaving little detail in the hanging ornamentation. The LG G5 got the overheat lighting color right but not quite on the blue water in the back, but seemed to have focusing issues overall as its lacking detail that should otherwise be there. It also way overexposed the chandeliers up top to say the least. The HTC 10 definitely got the focus right but is not only underexposed, but has the wrong color balance in the lighting and completely messed up those blue water cases in the back (theyre not even remotely purple). The Nexus 6p does better on the lighting and exposure than the HTC 10 did, but loses it in the detail competition because it seems to have focused on the wrong thing, leaving fuzzy details in the background. Advertisement Winner: Galaxy S7/Edge Shot 4 Advertisement I was sure one of these cameras would have an issue with hand jitter in this scene, which is actually quite dark in real life to human eyes. Instead every phone seems to have captured near perfect exposure and detail level, with the only real differences being in light balance. The HTC 10 is actually the only one that got the light balance perfect, while the LG G5 and Nexus 6p are a tad warm, while the Galaxy S7 is far too warm. Winner: HTC 10 Shot 5 Weve got one more outdoor scene for you in this last on, which is particularly interesting to say the least. Standing under a construction walkway and in front of the entrance to a restaurant, which features ivy on the trusses, theres plenty to pick out here. Overall the Nexus 6p decimates every category except for exposure, where it sits just slightly underexposed. Outside of that it got the lighting color perfectly and exhibits more detail in every part of the picture than any of the other phones by a fair margin. The Galaxy S7 comes in second place and features lots of detail, however that detail is marred in plenty of areas by the aggressive denoise filter Samsung likes to use to attempt to hide natural noise a sensor makes when the ISO is raised, on top of sharpening everything to negate that effect. This creates some unpleasant artifacting that would have otherwise made a really nice picture. Its also a tad on the warm side but nothing offensive, and the light sources are slightly blown out. The LG G5 and HTC 10 are both overexposed and end up losing quite a bit of detail in areas because of it. Bright lights in dark conditions will create halos and and up hiding the detail around them if not kept in check with a good HDR algorithm, and both of these seem to have failed there. Theres also a distinct lack of detail on both of these cameras, and it doesnt seem to be down to focusing this time, rather some aggressive denoise filters to hide digital sensor noise, resulting in a blurrier than normal shot. This is particularly evident on the bricks to the left, where the Nexus 6p has an incredibly granular detail level, with the Galaxy S7 dropping behind that, and the LG G5 and HTC 10 falling far behind. The HTC 10 does a great job with lighting color, while the LG G5 remains too cold looking. Winner: Nexus 6p Verdict While were a bit surprised with some of the results to say the least, its amazing to see just how much individual situations affect photography and the final outcome of a pictures quality. Different settings certainly work better for each phone, and while the Nexus 6p won 3 out of the 5 shots above its clear that each phone has its strengths and weaknesses. Google ends up dropping the exposure a little too much sometimes and hiding shadow detail, while LG and HTC seem to want to overexpose many of the shots above instead. Samsung seems to enjoy warmer looking shots while LG prefers cooler ones, and the HTC 10 seems to be all over the place in general. Check out the gallery below for every shot we took in our big camera comparison, and stay tuned for some additional comparisons including day time shots, selfies and even videos! Farmers and their customers discuss the current climate for independent agricultural producers in New Mexico. Recorded live in front of a studio audience. Farming is an integral part of the history and culture of the Rio Grande Valley. The average age of farmers in New Mexico like other states is rising, presenting new challenges for agricultural industries. This month, Blue Corn Live brings together farmers and their customers to discuss the current climate for independent agricultural producers in New Mexico. Whats are the unique opportunities to being a young farmer? How can the community supporting a younger generation of farmers? How are New Mexicos farmers overcoming agricultural challenges related to climate change? Where are the best markets for selling products during the growing season? How do New Mexicos farmers meet community needs while maintaining the bottom line? Blue Corn Live records live at THERAPY in downtown Albuquerque (119 Gold Ave SE) every 4th Sunday of the month. Join us this Sunday, April 24 at 11 a.m. As always, we welcome comments and questions from the audience. RSVP on our Facebook event page: Meet Your Farmers Blue Corn Live is a small show with big aspirations: to bring New Mexicos unique culinary history to the world. From farming to fine dining, the latest trends to the oldest traditions, Sarah Gustavus and Alex Curtas explore food in all its facets live with community members who care about food and the people behind it. HTC 10, the latest flagship smartphone from the Taiwanese vendor, was unveiled officially on the 12th of this month. While the handset looks a fairly decent prospect on paper, many have questioned the wisdom of pricing it at $699, which is too close for comfort to the price-tags of Samsung and LGs latest flagships that are currently available for purchase in most regions around the world. While $699 may not be the highest pricing ever for a flagship smartphone from a tier-1 brand, many commentators have wondered if HTC could have been more aggressive with its price-point to bring in more buyers, especially given that its previous offerings in the premium segment, the One M9 and the One M8, didnt exactly set the sales charts on fire. With the HTC 10 going up for pre-order almost immediately after it was announced, many HTC fans didnt think twice about signing up, given that the device promises to be one of the more interesting handsets to be launched in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to many would-be HTC 10 buyers, the company started offering a $100 discount on the unlocked, SIM-free version of the device on its own website. The discount can be claimed by applying a special promo code, without which, buyers would still have to pay the full $699 to get their hands on the smartphone. However, using the HTC1008 promo code will activate the $100 discount and lower the smartphones price to $599, which many believe may very well be the sort of price that will allow the device to compete on even terms with fancied competitors like the Galaxy S7 and the LG G5. Advertisement While many had pre-ordered the device without knowing about the $100 discount, some netizens are now claiming that calling up the companys customer service reps can still get you the $100 discount even if you hadnt actually used the promo code at the time of ordering. While some claim that contacting the company online isnt getting them any response, direct phone calls seem to be doing the trick according to some posts on Twitter. Its important to note, however that such reports have not yet been verified independently and are based on hearsay, so there is no guarantee on that front at the moment. Many of you may remember Regina Dugan from the ATAP breakout session at Google I/O 2015 which was live streamed. She was in charge of ATAP and famously said that her team makes epic sh*t, which definitely got the internet talking. ATAP has many projects, but the most popular one is ARA, which we havent heard much about as of late. Dugan recently announced she was leaving Google and heading across Silicon Valley to Facebook. However, her last talk as a Google employee happened at SXSW (South by Southwest) 2016 in March. Her talk was mostly the same as what we heard at Google I/O last year. But following the talk, she spoke with a small group of journalists at the festival. She spoke to these journalists talking about the differences between working at DARPA and then heading to Google. She talked about how at DARPA they started the day at 7:30am, and went to meetings, and such all day long. It was executed very efficiently, according to Dugan. However, Google was not the same, as man of you could imagine. Dugan said she walked into her first meeting at Google and there were about 12 people in the room. She also stated that she couldnt tell who was in charge. Or if there was an agenda or not. Someone piped up during the meeting saying we should really get that done next week. Naturally Dugan asked who? If that was meant for her, for the team, and whether anyone was writing it down. The team thought it was a joke, but Dugan was completely serious. Advertisement Dugan says that the biggest challenge for her during her time at Google was to recognize that the polarity was flipped. She noted that in Silicon Valley, the execution side of getting things done was flipped, and under-attended to. It was a big change for her to get used to in Mountain View. As you can see, Dugan was very used to executing things and getting stuff done in a timely manner, while thats not what works at least how it works in Silicon Valley. This could be why she decided to leave Google. But its also possible she may have the same issue at Facebook. Having faced severe criticism over the lack of profitability of its so-called moonshot projects, Alphabet Inc. has recently started cracking the whip on some of its subsidiary units in an apparent effort to keep Wall Street in good humor. While Google continues to bring in the lions share of revenues for Alphabet, a couple of other group companies like Nest and Fiber are also apparently chipping in and adding to Alphabets overall revenues, although their combined contributions pale into insignificance next to what Google alone brings in for its parent company. However, latest media reports regarding Alphabets financial situation has now revealed that there is at least one more company within the Alphabet fold thats making at least some money for its parent, if only on a technicality. Verily is Alphabets medical technology business that was earlier known as Google Life Sciences. The unit falls under the category of what the holding company describes as Other Bets during its earnings calls, meaning the business is not yet financially significant enough to merit a separate listing in Alphabets financial reports. However, a couple of weeks ago, Googles co-founder and Alphabet president, Mr. Sergey Brin, reportedly informed company insiders that Verily is actually making money on a cash basis. While the caveat at the end is very likely an indicator that Verily isnt actually profitable overall, employees and investors alike will probably be happy to know that at least the company isnt yet another entity thats proving to be a persistent drag on Alphabets balance sheet. Advertisement Alongside Nest, Verily is actually the second Alphabet company that has faced some amount of scrutiny and criticism in the media over the past few weeks. While the whole mess surrounding Nest and Tony Fadell got a lot more press, Verilys CEO, too, got a severe dressing down from Boston Globes medical publication, Stat. According to a report published by the aforementioned journal late last month, several key functionaries had left Verily in recent months allegedly because of the derisive and impulsive attitude of the companys CEO, Mr. Andy Conrad. Either way, the company reportedly earned revenues of around $10 million last year, mostly by way of licensing fees from medical institutions and pharma companies. A case in point would be Swiss multinational pharmaceutical giant Novartis, which is apparently working on launching Verilys smart contact lenses commercially. Where Chinese manufacturers are concerned, Huawei is making waves right now for being one of the more successful companies at the moment. They had a pretty great year last year, and theyve gotten 2016 off to a great start with the launch of the P9 and P9 Plus, in partnership with Leica. Huawei are now apparently looking ahead to being able to meet 140 Million device shipments for the year of 2016, which is no mean feat, but the question is can they do it? Partnering with Leica might certainly get them some more attention in some circles, but the one thing that arguably put them on the Map in the West was partnering with Google on the Nexus 6P. Now, there are rumors that either a Nexus 7P or a successor running Huaweis own software will be coming this year. Thanks to a trademark filing for a Huawei 7P, it appears as though the Chinese manufacturer might be looking to get more success out of last years Nexus 6P. Whether or not they succeed is another matter entirely, but the trademark for a Huawei 7P is interesting to say the least. As the Nexus branding belongs to Google, the firm cant possibly trademark a Nexus 7P, and given Googles penchant for naming devices after their screen size, this years large Nexus might be yet another Nexus 6-something. As such, its possible that the Huawei 7P is a device that the Chinese firm will be developing entirely on their own, and marketing on their own. This would lead to a device running Huaweis Emotion UI over the top of Android, but if it carries the same sort of design and features as the Nexus 6P, and still sells unlocked for a good price, Huawei might have a winner on their hands. Advertisement Huawei has been selling their own hardware directly to US customers for some time now even before the Nexus 6P came along and if they can create a device that has a little Nexus about it, this 7P might help them reach that 140 Million shipment target. It is however, also good to note that these trademark filings could be just a precaution to make sure that they can use this name in the future if they want to. Regardless, 2016 is shaping up to be a fun year for Huawei fans. On Thursday, South Koreas LG Electronics launched a couple of lower mid-range smartphones in India as part of its affordable K series of smartphones it had unveiled earlier in the year. The one interesting aspect about both the LG K7 and the LG K10 is that they will be manufactured in the country and wont be imported from either China or South Korea. While LG already operates manufacturing facilities in India, those factories typically churn out traditional consumer electronics products like televisions and refrigerators, but these two devices will be the very first smartphones from the house of LG Electronics to be actually rolled out from the companys Indian facilities. According to the Managing Director LG Electronics, India, Mr. Kim Ki-Wan, We want to tap the huge potential for smartphones in the country and the K-series will be the first ones to be manufactured in India. That first ones bit in his statement is probably a hint that the company will also look to manufacture other smartphone models in India in the near future, in an attempt to tap into the rapidly-growing smartphone market in the country. Such a scenario is quite plausible, given the company also revealed that it plans to manufacture at least 1 million units in the country on a yearly basis. The smartphone industry in India is currently dominated by Samsung and Apple at the premium end and Chinese, Taiwanese and Indian brands at the mid and entry-level segments, leaving companies like LG out in the lurch. Advertisement Of course, LG Electronics is in no way the first or only multinational company to set up manufacturing in India. Given the federal governments push to bring manufacturing to the country with its much talked-about Make in India initiative, many firms from around the world have recently started manufacturing or at least assembling their smartphones in the country. While Samsung has been rolling out India-made smartphones for a while now, many others are also starting to do the same, either by setting up their own facilities or by outsourcing their manufacturing duties to contract manufacturers like Foxconn Technologies, whove already set up multiple plants in the country over the past couple of years. Companies such as Sony, Asus, HTC, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Gionee, Micromax, Lava and a whole bunch of others are either already rolling out Made in India models to their customers in India or are planning to do so in the foreseeable future. One of the hottest topics in Ottawa has to be Uber they have been operating there illegally and paying fines since it launched in Ottawa in October 2014. The cab drivers are enraged over Uber coming into their territory, claiming that Uber is taking away their livelihood. One taxi plate owner Tony Hajjar shouted to the city council, Do you know what the hell you are doing? he even called Uber a criminal organization. However, Uber seems to always hit resistance at first, but eventually gets favorable votes to operate. The Ottawa city council meeting to vote on Uber was disrupted several times, but in a close vote, it was decided that Uber could legally operate in the city beginning October 1, although Uber will keep operating until that time. However, once that date hits, Uber must ensure that they meet the citys requirements. Two of the biggest points of discussion were insurance and camera requirements in Uber cars they have been a requirement for cabs since 2008 as a public safety measure. The city staff had recommended that the new licensing category be exempt from requiring cameras in Uber vehicles. It was a lengthy debate, but in the end, voting went against cameras. Their reasoning does make sense as there is no money exchanged since you summon the Uber vehicle through an app the driver knows who you are and you even get to see the picture of your driver, and payment is made via the app. There is already a relationship established, but some members really believe cameras are a good deterrent and they voted to reexamine the issue in one year to see how it is working. Advertisement In a close 13-11 vote, the council did decree that all vehicles for hire would be required to carry a minimum of $2 million in liability insurance the same amount already established for cabs. This is down from the $5 million that was initially purposed by the city staff and what the Ottawa cab industry voluntarily raised their coverage too. It was argued that $2 million is the same amount being purposed in the City of Toronto and that it was a sufficient amount and would help both sides. Another restriction that matches the cab industry is that no vehicles can be used for rides that are over ten years old. Diane Deans, who heads the committee that reviewed the bylaw changes, claims that Ottawa is taking the handcuffs off the taxi industry even though the taxi industry is fighting the changes. Deans said, The taxi business will remain lucrative. Dire predictions of doom and gloom will not come to pass. Uber is a force that seems to be here to stay and one that embraces technology. People seem to like it and they even started uberASSIST in Ottawa last month, where you can request assistance to get in and out of the vehicle great for riders with disabilities or older people. This program, also started in Toronto first and now Ottawa is embracing Uber whether the cab drivers like it or not the riders are sure to benefit. Android 6.0 Marshmallow is beginning to make its way towards Sonys smartphone lineup. Initially, beta versions of the update have been released on a handful of smartphones including the Sony Xperia Z2, Z3, and Xperia Z3 Compact, but more recently the Android 6.0 update has left Sonys beta stages and publicly landed on the aforementioned handsets. Many improvements have been introduced by Marshmallow, but much to the surprise of numerous Sony enthusiasts, Sonys STAMINA battery mode has been removed in Android 6.0 and replaced by Googles Doze battery management system. Fortunately for Sony smartphone owners, the Japanese company has just confirmed that STAMINA mode will make its way back to Android 6.0 Marshmallow in one of the upcoming releases in Xperia Beta Program also known as the Sony Android Concept Initiative. STAMINA mode was introduced by Sony in 2013. Its a feature that can be described as the companys proprietary battery saving manager, designed to improve battery life by reducing background activities and allowing users to have more control over battery usage of various features. However, with the release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, it appears that Sony has removed STAMINA mode in favor of Googles Doze mode, available on Android 6.0 natively. Much like STAMINA mode, Doze mode aims to improve and conserve battery life, but unlike STAMINA mode, Doze focuses primarily on reducing battery consumption when the smartphone is not in use. In other words, although the sole purpose of both STAMINA and Doze modes is to increase battery life, each one of these features approaches the task quite differently. Its also worth noting that, according to sources cited by XperiaBlog, STAMINA mode in Android 5.0 Lollipop appears to be more efficient than Doze mode in Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Advertisement According to Sony, STAMINA mode has been the most requested feature by users, and fortunately for Sony smartphone owners and fans of STAMINA mode, the feature has been confirmed to make a comeback in an unspecified future software release. As yet Sony doesnt have a release schedule for STAMINA mode, but the company claims that the feature will be definitely available for members of the Xperia Beta Program in the near future. Back during Mobile World Congress Sony officially unveiled their brand-new line of smartphones that would later be confirmed to be the replacement for the Xperia Z lineup. Known as the Xperia X series, Sony was shifting its focus for at least this year to the series of three new devices. After the event, Sony eventually opened up pre-registration capabilities for anyone who would be interested in pre-ordering a new Xperia X device, and today they have started notifying those consumers to alert them that they will have the opportunity to grab some upcoming promotional offers for the pre-order on Xperia X, Xperia Xa, and the Xperia Ear. In addition to sending out emails for these promotional pre-order offers, Sony has also released a new video which they have posted up to their official Sony Xperia YouTube account which highlights the Xperia X camera. If you didnt have the chance to check out the camera at Mobile World Congress or havent really read up on it, this advertisement is a good way to become familiar with what Sony will be offering in the camera department for this device. While this isnt likely to be the last advertisement focusing on camera quality, features, or capabilities, it does a good job at showing just what the phone can do. Advertisement The short ad-sport focuses particularly on the Xperia Xs ability to snap a shot of a moving target thanks to its intelligent movement tracking, stating that it is capable of predicting the next move. If you often like to take photos of moving subjects, then it just might a smartphone worth considering. Not to mention Sonys cameras have generally been some of the best out there on smartphones. The Xperia X in particular comes equipped with a 23MP shooter with f2.0 aperture and according to Sony is capable of snapping off a shot in just 0.6 seconds for a super fast picture. This would help quite a lot in combination with Sonys smart capture technology thats built into the Xperia X. This of course doesnt do anything to reduce the level of hand shake that some users are undoubtedly going to have. https://youtu.be/IDZQE0qlrHM Smartphones may come and go but promos never go out of fashion. Verizon apparently knows that all too well, seeing as the carrier is now offering a bill discount of up to $300 for customers whore looking to get their hands on a shiny new smartphone by getting rid of an old handset. There is a select list of devices that customers must buy in order to be able to take advantage of the offer, and the list includes the likes of Samsung Galaxy S7, LG G5, Motorola Droid Turbo 2 and the 16 GB version of the iPhone 6s. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and the iPhone 6s Plus, meanwhile, are conspicuous by their absence from the rather short list. To qualify for the offer, all somebody needs to do is either activate a new line or just upgrade on their current line. Those switching to Verizon from a competing carrier are also welcome to hop on to the promo bandwagon, according to the press release from the carrier. Verizon also says that upgrading customers will also be eligible to get three months of free HBO NOW, which is a streaming service that costs $14.99 per month and gives users access to all of the cable networks original programming, along with some of the biggest Hollywood movies. The service also allows users to stream movie premieres to smartphones and tablets the same time they air on TV. Advertisement Coming to some more info on what Verizon is calling its National Trade-In Event, the carrier has also announced a list of handsets that are actually eligible for trade-ins, and that list includes some of the more recently-launched premium smartphones, like the Motorola Droid Turbo, the HTC M9, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and the LG G4 and V10, alongside a number of Samsung devices, like the Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge and the Galaxy S6 Edge+. The offer is valid both online and off, so interested Verizon subscribers can either walk into their nearest Verizon stores to upgrade their handsets or choose to do so online at their convenience. Meanwhile, the company says this is a Limited Time Offer, but doesnt mention how long the offer will actually be valid. The Commissioner of Police of the Royal Anguilla Police Force Mr. Paul Morrison recently chaired a multi-agency debrief into the circumstances surrounding the loss of life of two persons in Anguilla on 16th December, 2015 who drowned after the motor vessel they were on capsized at sea. The fishing boat the MV Esmeralda 2 owned and operated by Captain Edwin Carty with three crew members on board sank off Seal Island while returning from a fishing trip shortly after 5:00pm. Mr. Carty and one other member of the crew were rescued and the other two Sidney Carty and Arthur Greenidge remained unaccounted for at the end of the day. Cartys body was recovered from the waters off Seal Island some two days after the incident occurred. The findings from the debrief will now be considered along with recommendations to develop the search and rescue capabilities of Anguilla. It is clear that command, communication and co-ordination are areas for consideration. The debrief, held at the conference room of the Disaster Management Conference Room, was attended by representatives from the Fisheries Department, Police Marine Department, Dutch Coast Guard, Local Fishermen Senior Officers of the RAPF and other stake holders in the industry. The group had a further opportunity to sit with the Captain and crew of Royal Navy Ship, HMS Mersey during her recent visit to Anguilla to build on the debrief initial findings and the experience of the Royal Navy in search and rescue missions at sea. The Royal Anguilla Police Force is urging property owners in Anguilla to be vigilant and to ensure that their property and their valuables are secured at all time. This appeal has become necessary with the increase in burglaries especially to commercial properties on the island. Between the period January to February 2015 of the 21 burglary reports made to the police 3 (14%) were related to commercial properties. Comparatively, during the same period this year of the 28 burglary reports made to the police 7(25%) were related to commercial properties. The statistics also shows that while there is an overall 33% increase in burglaries, burglaries on commercial properties accounts for 72% of the increase. As a result the RAPF is recommending property owners to invest in the installation of security cameras and proper lighting for their properties to serve as a deterrent to would be burglars. However persons who install security systems on their premises must ensure on a regular basis that the system is up and running properly. Additional every effort should be made to reduce the amount of cash and other valuables left unsecured on your premises. While the RAPF realizes that statistically there are periods during the year when this sort of criminal activity increases, such as October December and June August the preventative efforts by individual property owner can help to reduce the opportunity for it happening in the first place. Always remember if you observe something out of the ordinary occurring always alert your neigbour, a family member or the police if necessary. (ANSA) - Turin, April 13 - President Sergio Mattarella said Wednesday the European Union must pull together in the face of the plight of refugees and the threat of Islamist terrorism, because there is no plan B. "Migratory pressures, ongoing crises at Europe's door, instability in some areas of Africa and the Middle East, the scourge of terrorism - all these clearly indicate we must do more, and that we need to do it via a truly collective effort," he said. "We don't have a plan B - no one can realistically boast of a plan B based on an alleged national approach to solving the problems affecting the continent. On the contrary, we can say that wherever Europe has shown a lack of solidarity in refugee reception, or foreign policy, or its effectiveness in fighting gangs of murdering extremists, it happened due to a lack not an excess of Europe". The barriers dividing Europe are "dead weight burdening our path," Mattarella added. "Backtracking on Schengen would be an act of self-harm for everybody". He spoke in reference to Austria, which has begun building a 250-meter barrier across road links with Italy at the Brenner Pass border crossing in the Alps to keep asylum seekers out. (supersedes previous)(ANSA) - Milan, April 14 - Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Thursday said if Austria shuts down its side of the border at the Brenner Pass in the Alps it will not bode well for the European Union. If Austria were to actually shut down the border "it would be serious because it means forgetting that problems must be faced together," he said. "It would be a bad sign for Europe". Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil said earlier in the day that Vienna was ready to completely close the Brenner Pass connecting it to Italy to stop the flow of asylum seekers in an extreme-case scenario, the APA agency quoted him as telling a meeting of his SPHE party in Innsbruck. He also said Austria would ask Italy to be able to operate controls in its territory if asylum seekers keep arriving, according to APA. Austria has started reinforcing controls at its border with Italy at the Brenner Pass, including via the construction of a new barrier. This has caused friction both with Rome and Brussels. On Wednesday Gentiloni said that Italy would not accept "unilateral" moves by Austria on the asylum-seeker crisis. (ANSA) - Bolzano, April 14 - Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil said Thursday that Vienna was ready to completely close the Brenner Pass connecting it to Italy to stop the flow of asylum seekers in an extreme-case scenario, the APA agency quoted him as telling a meeting of his SPHE party in Innsbruck. He also said Austria would ask Italy to be able to operate controls in its territory if asylum seekers keep arriving, according to APA. Austria has started reinforcing controls at its border with Italy at the Brenner Pass, including via the construction of a new barrier. This has caused friction both with Rome and Brussels. On Wednesday Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said that Italy would not accept "unilateral" moves by Austria on the asylum-seeker crisis. (ANSA) - Rome, April 14 - Rome prosecutors on Thursday sent via diplomatic means an international request for judicial cooperation on the Giulio Regeni case to Egypt. The request asks Egyptian authorities to hand over all relevant material in the probe into the Cairo torture and murder of the 28-year-old Cambridge doctoral researcher, especially long-sought phone records. The request, sent by the justice ministry via the foreign ministry to Italy's consulate in Cairo, will be evaluated by Egyptian Prosecutor General Ahmed Nabil Sadeq. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Wednesday denied Egyptian security forces were behind Regeni's murder, accusing the national and international media of peddling lies about the killing, which he attributed to unspecified "evil people" who allegedly wanted to hurt bilateral ties. (ANSA) - Washington, April 14 - Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Thursday that Italy was moving in "the right direction" to reinforce its banking sector. The executive has passed measures to encourage consolidation in the sector and on Monday the financial industry approved a government-backed plan to set up the privately financed fund to help with situations regarding the capital and exposure to non-performing loans of some lenders. "We are reinforced the banking system," Padoan said. "We might see some volatility, but we are going in the right right direction". He said the long economic crisis had led to a "great accumulation of impaired credits" of around 200 billion euros. (ANSA) - New York, April 14 - Six projects in the vanguard of Made in Italy innovation technology in the service of efforts to combat climate change were presented at the United Nations headquarters in New York during a conference organised by Italy's permanent representation to the international organisation on Wednesday. The MOSE moving flood barrier system developed by the New Venice Consortium and robot fish developed by Enea, the Italian national institute for new technologies, to monitor water depths and protect the lagoon city from high tides, were among the projects illustrated. Other technologies to be presented have been invented or are being developed by oil giant ENI, Telespazio/Finmeccanica, environmental monitoring system provider CAE and ENEL Green Power. The conference was organized in view of the signing of the Paris climate agreement at UN headquarters on April 22. "With 8,300 km of coastline and over 450 islands Italy is one of the countries that is most exposed to the consequences of climate change," Italy's permament ambassator to the UN Sebastiano Cardi said. "We are relatively small but we have an incredible geographical heterogeneity," he added. The aim of the conference was to show in "concrete" terms what Italy is doing to mitigate the risks. Francesco Ossola of New Venice Consortium illustrated the MOSE system of moving barriers that can be raised to protect the fragile lagoon ecosystem in Venice. Claudio Moriconi, head of ENEA's robotics laboratory, instead presented Venus Swarm, submarine drones that act like fish and are able to 'talk' to each other, monitoring water temperature and salinity, studing currents and coastal erosion and raising the alarm in the event of a tsunami. Francesca Ferrazza of ENI explained how the company is developing a new generation of photovoltaic panels using organic instead of silicion semi-conductors, leading to lower costs and a faster ruturn on investment. Luigi Pasquali of Telespazio/Finmeccanicahen then presented the four satellites of the Cosmo-SkyMed network that are to monitor 1 million square kilometres of Amazonian rainforest and deforestation in Brazil. CAE vicepresident Giancarlo Pedrini illustrated the experience gained in mitigating the effects of climate change starting from weather stations that protect Vietnam against flooding. Last but not least, Riccardo Amoroso of Enel Green Power talked about the Pantelleria project and the use of waves and tides to generate energy. photo: MOSE system in Venice (ANSA) - Beirut, April 14 - An advanced team of Italian soldiers has arrived at the Mosul Dam in Iraq to reconnoitre in view of the deployment of an Italian contingent to protect Trevi Group workers as they repair the structure soon, local sources told ANSA Thursday. Last month the Iraqi government played down reports from the United States and the United Nations that the key Mosul Dam was in danger of imminent collapse. The alerts are "not correct" and "unrealistic", said Mahid Rashid, an aide to the Iraqi water resources ministry. The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, had reiterated warnings that there could be a "catastrophic collapse" of the dam. Rashid added that the Italian company Trevi "will start work for maintenance within two months, according to a spokesman for the firm". Rashid said the last US report on the dam's structural state was made a year ago, and it did not highlight any risk of the dam breaking. He urged the US to "provide the Iraqi government with all reports referring to the possibility of a collapse". Rashid added: "The experts from Trevi will visit the dam in the next few days for a first surveillance, and then the work will start in two months' time". If the dam breaks more than a million people could be drowned by its waters. The UN appealed to "carry out the necessary work" to repair the dam "as soon as possible", before it is too late. Italy's Trevi construction group is set to start repairing the dam under the protection of Italian troops. On March 2 the Italian foreign ministry said that the Cesena-based Trevi group had signed a contract with Iraqi authorities for consolidation work on the Mosul Dam, following "intense" negotiations with Baghdad. The contract is worth some 273 million euros, ANSA learned from informed sources in Baghdad. The repair and strengthening work will last 18 months, they said. The project was agreed on a recent visit to Rome by Iraqi Premier Haider al-Abadi and was the subject of talks in New York between Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and US and Iraqi representatives to speed the terms of the contract, the ministry said. The arrival of some 500 Italian soldiers to protect Trevi's restructuring work on the dam, whose urgent need for repair has been highlighted by the US, has been scheduled for late spring, either May or June, officials said Monday. The contingent could be composed of the Garibaldi Brigade bersaglieri with armoured vehicles, plus special forces, sappers and air support. Reconnaissance and analysis of the area to be secured have already been carried out. Defence ministry plans to deploy the troops are at an advanced stage. The Iraqi government and the US Embassy in Baghdad warned local residents on February 29 that the Mosul Dam may collapse, a risk the US called "serious and unprecedented". The US said a collapse could cause the deaths of nearly 1.5 million Iraqis living along the Tigris River. "Prompt evacuation offers the most effective tool to save lives of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis," the U.S. embassy said at the time. The US has warned in the past of the potential for collapse. Built in the 1980s, the dam is situated on soft mineral foundations, easily dissolved by water. (ANSA) - Rome, April 14 - Premier Matteo Renzi said in his online newsletter Thursday that thanks to stable institutions Italy can now be a key player on the foreign affairs front, including in Iran. "We have many points of distance from Iran, beginning with human rights," he wrote. "But we believe the nuclear deal is a positive one and that this great country - the child of the great Persian culture - can make a positive contribution to peace and stability in the region". "We are building opportunities in many areas of common work - for once, we got there early with respect to other countries," Renzi added. BOLZANO - Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil said Thursday that Vienna was ready to completely close the Brenner Pass connecting it to Italy to stop the flow of asylum seekers in an extreme-case scenario, the APA agency quoted him as telling a meeting of his SPHE party in Innsbruck. He also said Austria would ask Italy to be able to operate controls in its territory if asylum seekers keep arriving, according to APA. Austria has started reinforcing controls at its border with Italy at the Brenner Pass, including via the construction of a new barrier. This has caused friction both with Rome and Brussels. On Wednesday Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said that Italy would not accept "unilateral" moves by Austria on the asylum-seeker crisis. Croatia and Albania united vs 'Adriatic route'. Defence ministers meet over closure of Balkans route ZAGREB- Croatia and Albania will be in constant contact to prevent a new migratory route opening up on the coasts of the Adriatic Sea, the two countries said on Thursday after a meeting of their defence ministers in Zagreb. After the closure of the Balkans route last month, thousands of migrants and refugees have been stranded in Greece. Albania fears that a part of those migrants could try to reach western Europe by passing their land and then crossing to Italy by sea, or to Croatia via Montenegro. To prevent that, the Albanian and Croatian defence ministers "have decided to open a communication channel and to intervene together in case it is necessary". HRW warns over detention in Lesbos, Chios . Situation creating difficulties for vulnerable people ROME - "Greek authorities, in coordination with the European Union, are automatically detaining all asylum seekers who arrive on the islands of Lesbos and Chios in deplorable conditions," Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. It added that "the detention of about 4,000 people creates particular hardships for vulnerable people who are held, such as children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities". "The blanket detention of all asylum seekers and migrants in closed facilities is unjustified, given the possibility of less restrictive options, and amounts to arbitrary detention," it continued. Two closed facilities should be converted into open camps with appropriate services and security for people that need protection from war, persecution and human rights abuses, HRW said. "The EU's policy, carried out in Greece, has locked up families and others who have fled horrors such as ISIS terror, Taliban threats, or Syrian-government barrel bombs," said Eva Cosse, Greece specialist at Human Rights Watch. "When alternatives to detention exist, as they do on the Greek islands, there is no legal or moral justification to hold asylum seekers and migrants behind bars." TEL AVIV - Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon have given the go-ahead to the first phase of construction of 200 new houses in West Bank settlements and outposts, Israeli daily Haaretz reported. The secretary-general of the PLO, Saeb Erekat, condemned the move, calling it an example that "should serve as a reminder to the international community to put an end to these crimes". For Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria regional council, the approvals only relate to existing plans. (ANSAmed). (ANSAmed) - ROME, APRIL 14 - Over 1,700 asylum seekers arrived in different parts of Italy late on Wednesday and early on Thursday. Operations in Palermo to offload, run medical checks and identify almost 900 migrants who were saved by the Norwegian Navy ship Siem Pilot went on through the night. Among the arrivals were 138 unaccompanied minors. A Greek merchant ship with 235 migrants aboard, including 111 women and six children, docked at the Sardinian capital Cagliari. An Italian coast guard ship, the Dattilo, arrived in Catania carrying 121 migrants who had been rescued in the Channel of Sicily. In addition to assisting the migrants, the authorities in Sicily have also started investigations to identify human traffickers. The Italian Navy ship Cicala Fulgosi P490 landed in the port of Reggio Calabria with 558 people of various nationalities on board. They include 155 women, 10 of whom are pregnant, and 21 children. (ANSAmed). Energy: key Mediterranean energy stakeholders meet in Madrid Aim is to boost renewable sources and efficiency measures (ANSAmed) - ROMA, 14 apr - Mediterranean Energy Regulators (MEDREG) together with the Mediterranean Association of the National Agencies for Energy Conservation (MEDENER), the Observatoire Mediterraneen de l'Energie (OME) and the Renewable Energy Solutions for the Mediterranean (RES4MED) brainstormed today in Madrid, on how technical stakeholders, particularly regulators, could contribute to the advancement of renewable energy sources (RES) integration in the grids and on energy efficiency (EE) measures adopted in the Mediterranean basin. The four actors, which are involved in the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Euro-Mediterranean Platform on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (REEE) are committed to implement the objectives of the Platform and discussed the different modalities that could be carried out to financially sustain the RES market. The workshop "Deploying renewable energy sources and energy efficiency measures in the Mediterranean: State of play and way forward", kindly hosted by the Spanish National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), aimed at bringing together leading perspectives and expertise on RES potential in the Mediterranean region and identify the most promising pathways to develop energy efficiency measures. Luis Jesus Sanchez de Tembleque, MEDREG RES WG co-Chair, opened the workshop recalling that since the creation of MEDREG, the Spanish regulator has been an active member of MEDREG, as one of the Chairs of the Renewables working group. The RES WG reported on mechanisms to promote renewable and energy efficiency in the Mediterranean Southern shore countries, regulations about distributed generation, net-metering, isolated systems, and drafts a yearly benchmarking on RES-generated electricity and energy efficiency measures. In 2010 the group received the ICER Scholar Award 2010 for a paper on the "Effects of the Introduction of Successful Mechanisms to Promote RES-CHP / Energy Efficiency in non-EU Countries". Manuel Sainz Andres, from the Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy, Spain and member of MEDENER highlighted the role of MEDENER as an important actor for the energy transition in the Mediterranean region. MEDENER in cooperation with OME has elaborated an energy transition scenario by 2040 structured around three ambitious objectives: 30% reduction in energy demand compared to a standard conservative scenario, an energy mix of 27% renewable energy and a reducing emissions by 38% over the region Mediterranean. In order to contribute to these objectives MEDENER runs activities to strengthen an Euro-Mediterranean cooperation such as developing an EE observatory, organizing regional dialogue with international conferences (next 25th of May in Algeria) and contributing as animator of the UfM Energy Platform on EE and RE in partnerships with RCREEE, RES4MED and others energy platforms (Gas and Electricity market). Emanuela Menichetti, Director of the OME Renewable Energy Division, presented data that show encouraging signs of a brighter future for renewable energy technologies (RETs), which has surpassed natural gas as the first electricity generation source in terms of capacity. All South and East Mediterranean countries have set ambitious renewable energy targets; OME estimates that about 71 GW of non-hydro RETs are required by 2025 to meet these targets. Strong growth of renewables should also be accompanied by enhanced energy efficiency measures and other low-carbon technologies to face the challenges of climate change and energy security and address the energy needs in a sustainable manner. Giovanna Gentile from RES4MED presented a survey on the main barriers affecting investments in RE capacity in the Mediterranean focusing on Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. The analysis is based on a wide stakeholders' consultation carried out through a structured survey involving projects developers, Independent Power Producers (IPPs), market operators, financial players and consultancy firms asking to rate some specific issues related to the entire lifecycle of an investment and gather valuable mitigation suggestions to be submitted to policy makers. (ANSAmed). Onu: Gef approves USD 3.2m to improve Serbian foresT (ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, 14 APRIL - The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council has approved a grant of USD 3.2 million to help improve the state of forests in Serbia, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said in a release Thursday. The funds will be used to finance activities in a four-year FAO project aimed at improving the general health and condition of Serbian forests through sustainable forest management. The aim of the FAO project is to help Serbia review its current forestry-related development strategy and legislation and introduce modern multifunctional forest management. (ANSAmed) ISTANBUL - "The first time that we used the expression 'Armenian genocide' was after the killing of Hrant Dink. That day changed the history of this newspaper and of all of Turkey." Yetvart Danzikyan is sitting behind his computer and in front of a tapestry which the letters of the Armenian alphabet have been embroidered into one by one. Since February 2015, he is the director of Agos, the first Turkish-Armenian newspaper, started 20 years ago when Istanbul was very different. At the time, Danzikyan was part of a circle of intellectuals, journalists and small business executives who launched the adventure to give a voice to the Armenian community of the city - which totals about 60,000 people today, even if there is no official census. They were led by Hrant Dink, a champion of intercultural dialogue who was assassinated by a nationalist fanatic in front of the Agos newsroom on January 19, 2007. "After almost 10 years, they have convicted only the perpetrator and one instigator. The real trial, in which police agents and state workers stand accused, is only starting now: because we are certain that state apparatus is behind the killing, and we will not tire of seeking the truth," said Danzikyan in an interview with ANSAmed. After contributing to the Agos Foundation, he started working for several different national media outlets. But the killing of Dink pushed him to contribute again, first as a columnist and now as director. "In Turkey, there are two historical Armenian newspapers, Marmara and Jamanak. Agos, which is a weekly, widened its sphere of interest, working on other minorities and democratic battles, with a much more political approach," he said. This is a commitment that has made them one of the most influential voices of the Turkish opposition. Attention to the opinions expressed in the newspaper goes well beyond the 5,000 copies that on average circulate each week. About 10 journalists and several more columnists contribute to the creation of the 24 pages that appear in newsagents every Friday- 20 in Turkish and four in Armenian. Last year the staff of Agos transferred to a new location in a historical Armenian school that had fallen into disuse due to the lack of students. Nowadays the Hrant Dink foundation is also based here, which aims to preserve his memory and stimulate intercultural dialogue. In the old headquarters of the newspaper, near to where Dink was assassinated, a museum dedicated to his work is set to be built. "After the killing of Hrant, the government made some steps forward, above all resolving some problems linked to property that the state had confiscated from religious minorities. But the centenary of the genocide did not lead to any real apologies on the part of Turkey and the conflict with the Kurds, which has re-emerged over the summer, has fuelled nationalist sentiment again. Many media operations near to President Erdogan accuse the Armenians of fighting with the PKK". After 20 years, the future of Agos is uncertain, like that of all media. "We are thinking of new models, focusing on the web. It is not easy to survive as a little newspaper. But even in such difficult times, we will continue to commit ourselves to having our voice heard," he said. Libya: French, British ambassadors in Tripoli Envoys meet Premier Sarraj in naval base-Libya web site (ANSAmed) - CAIRO, APRIL 14 - Ambassadors of France and Britain visited Tripoli on Thursday, government press representative Fathi bin Issa told ANSA. Citing media sources, the Libya 24 site said the visit was aimed at meeting Premier Fayez Al Sarraj and other members of the presidential council. The site says the two diplomats landed at Mitiga airport and headed to the Abu Setta naval base, temporary headquarters of the presidential council. Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni visited Tripoli earlier this week, on the "first visit of a foreign institutional nature in the Libyan capital since the installment of the government of national unity," as the foreign ministry explained. (ANSAmed). Migrants: HRW warns over detention in Lesbos, Chios Situation creating difficulties for vulnerable people (ANSAmed) - ROME, APRIL 14 - "Greek authorities, in coordination with the European Union, are automatically detaining all asylum seekers who arrive on the islands of Lesbos and Chios in deplorable conditions," Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. It added that "the detention of about 4,000 people creates particular hardships for vulnerable people who are held, such as children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities". "The blanket detention of all asylum seekers and migrants in closed facilities is unjustified, given the possibility of less restrictive options, and amounts to arbitrary detention," it continued. Two closed facilities should be converted into open camps with appropriate services and security for people that need protection from war, persecution and human rights abuses, HRW said. "The EU's policy, carried out in Greece, has locked up families and others who have fled horrors such as ISIS terror, Taliban threats, or Syrian-government barrel bombs," said Eva Cosse, Greece specialist at Human Rights Watch. "When alternatives to detention exist, as they do on the Greek islands, there is no legal or moral justification to hold asylum seekers and migrants behind bars." (ANSAmed). WASHINGTON - The political process in Syria has to include a transition that removes Bashar al-Assad from power, U.S. President Barack Obama said during a visit to the headquarters of the CIA intelligence service. The U.S. President also said the future of Syria is on the agenda of a Gulf summit next week in Saudi Arabia. The ceasefire in Syria is largely holding but it is fragile and under pressure, Obama said, adding that "the heart of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq continues to shrink, with the number of fighters at its lowest level in two years. And the leaders of ISIS wake up every day knowing they could be the last one". But Obama warned that as a result of the greater efforts, more foreign extremists were heading to Libya: "as we, our allies and partners, have made it harder for foreign terrorists to reach Syria and Iraq, we have seen an uptick in the numbers of ISIS fighters heading to Libya". "Therefore we will continue to use all the instruments available to push ISIS out of Libya," he added. (ANSAmed). Last Monday Empar Moliner (1) did her usual segment on Els Matins de TV3 (Mornings on TV3), this time with the tone of a very funny and pointed artistic performance. Its hard to find opinion segments on TV that work in such a visual way. When there is a certain provocative intention, its important that there is a solid argument and a consistent narrative thread. To smear a photo of the king with feces or burn a Spanish flag for no other reason than to protest against what it represents implies a poverty of wit and philosophical emptiness. Its simple and vulgar. In contrast, on her television performance Empar gave to protest a poetry and a story that made it inevitable to give in to this womans teasing instinct. On Els Matins Empar posed the question of what affected families should do after the Constitutional Court had annulled the Catalan law that guarantee energy supply to struggling families. Moliner suggested that they should heat their homes with whatever they had close at hand --for example, a book. She picked up one that, behold, was a copy of the Spanish Constitution. Empar kept tearing out pages from the book and throwing them into a metal barrel with delicious suspense. You could not help but to watch with a smile. Finally, she picked up a ball of paper from the bottom of the barrel and brought it close to a burning match. Once the bonfire was going, she threw in the full copy. An irreverent and perfect act of protest, ideally suited to shock those who are forever talking of democracy, but are always ready to mutilate free speech. Beyond provocation, there was a deeper message. The warmth that the Constitutional Court (TC) denied to families in need is eventually provided by the flames of the lighted pages of the book they so defend. Provocation always requires talent. Empar is telling us that, if a body such as the TC does not take into account the most basic needs of people without resources, the Constitution serves very little purpose. A printed book of laws is not a national symbol. There are thousands of wrinkled, scribbled-in copies in the bottom of law students backpacks. Its a simple reference manual, printed to be used. To burn it is not a criminal offense and it is an act of literary and television creation permitted by article 20 of the very same book: the right to free speech. The pity, and what must be kept in mind, is that once again the pleasure of some to be outraged does not stem from the symbolic value of the Constitution but, rather, from the pleasure of being able to fire on what truly bothers them, once again: TV3, the Catalan public TV network. ________ (1) N.T. Catalan writer and media personality Empar Moliner is known in Catalonia for her wit and on-screen antics. She is a regular contributor on TV and radio shows. One third of the centres employees are working mothers, reinforcing the airlines commitment to empowering women, and in particular UAE nationals, by providing a wide range of training and development opportunities to ensure they can pursue challenging and rewarding careers whilst upholding their social and cultural values. The airlines contact centres in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi and Manchester serve a total of 40 markets. Last year, the Al Ain Contact Centre handled 17 per cent of Etihad Airways 3 million global phone calls for 14 countries, across three continents. The Al Ain Contact Centre generates revenue of more than USD40 million annually and since the centres launch the volume of calls answered by agents has increased by 187 per cent. Opened in March 2011, the centre began its operations with 85 highly qualified and fully trained Emirati women. By the end of 2012, the number of employees at the centre had increased by 150 per cent and since then a further 30 Emirati women have joined. Ali Al Shamsi, Etihad Airways Vice President - Emiratisation Strategy said: We envisaged a highly efficient contact centre that would combine world class customer service with the highest level of Arabian hospitality. We are extremely proud of the service that our employees are providing to thousands of our guests every day. The centres 5th anniversary is the perfect opportunity for us to showcase and celebrate the immense talent of our Emirati female workforce, the important impact that they are having on our airline and the crucial role they are playing in the economic diversification of Al Ain. All of the women employed at the centre completed a series of rigorous assessments prior to being offered a position. On joining the company, employees were enrolled in several training programmes to further enhance their IT, English language and employability skills. The centre has also worked with Abu Dhabi University Knowledge Group to find the brightest graduates and the Abu Dhabi Human Resources Authority (previously known as Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council) to source candidates from the future of Al Ain scheme. Samia Barj, Etihad Airways Al Ain Contact Centre Manager said: I am extremely proud to be able to lead a team of inspirational Emirati women who are doing so much to strengthen our national identity and make a real impact within the company and in the city of Al Ain. It is due to their impressive capabilities that the centre is able to provide a superior service to hundreds of thousands of Etihad Airways guests each year and I am confident that we will continue to exceed all expectations as we keep striving for excellence. Attending were members of the board of directors, RJ President/CEO Captain Suleiman Obeidat, the representative of the companies general comptroller, RJ accounts auditors Ernst and Young and some shareholders; the latter, in their entirety, own 88% of the company capital, which amounts to 146.4 million dinars/ shares. The ordinary meeting discussed the boards report on the 2015 financial situation and the business plan for 2016, in addition to the auditors report, the budget, profits and losses. The ordinary general assembly agreed to all the articles under discussion. At the meeting, a new board of directors was elected. It includes: The Government Contributions Managing Company holding 5 seats, the Social Security Corporation holding one seat, Mint Trading Middle East holding one seat, in addition to Michael Nazzal and Mohammad Ali Bdeir. Hafez said that 2015 marked the beginning of the process of real transformation undergone by Royal Jordanian in terms of financial results and recording profits, which we all look for, as shareholders, management, employees and the government, and the citizens as well. He added that since the beginning of 2015 the company started to implement the 2015-2019 business plan, which came after a detailed analytical study of income, expenditure, route network, fleet, cost and nature of financial restructuring. The study, he said, concluded that two important factors are the cornerstone to the advancement of the company, namely maximizing revenues and reducing expenses in a manner that would not affect the safety standard, which is a top priority for the company, and the level of services offered RJ passengers. The business plan, he added, is based on six main pillars. The first focuses on the route network and fleet. The company took the decision to close eight destinations due to their poor feasibility and suspended operations to eight other cities for security reasons. In exchange, it opened five new destinations: Tabuk, Najaf, Ankara, Jakarta and Guangzhou. At the same time, RJ phased out a number of aircraft and introduced five new Boeing 787s. The second pillar of the plan involves boosting the market share locally and internationally and growing by increasing the number of passengers from and to Jordan and by increasing the transit traffic via QAIA. Revenue management is the third pillar of the plan. The company has taken a number of measures to boost revenues, with a focus on ancillary revenues, which are part of the fourth pillar. The fifth pillar is the efficient use of fuel in order to lower cost. The company is implementing a number of initiatives that reduce fuel consumption, including continuously renewing its fleet and negotiating with fuel suppliers to obtain best prices. The sixth pillar involves an analysis of the aircraft ownership structure. The company will study the best ways to meet its needs and achieve its interests in regards to the options of the operational and/or capital lease. Regarding the procedures undertaken by the company to raise its capital, Hafez said that the company worked on the implementation of the decision taken at the previous general meeting, including restructuring the company's capital by reducing it to become 46,405,342 shares/dinars and increasing the authorized capital by JD200 million, making its total authorized share capital 246, 405,342 million shares/dinars. The board of directors decided to proceed with increasing the subscribed capital through two phases. The first phase involved the first part of the increase in the amount of 100 million dinars/shares, while the second part of the increase (also in the amount 100 million dinars/shares) to be carried out through a second phase based upon the companys results and performance. The shares of the first part of capital increase were offered to the main shareholders and the implementation of these procedures was complete. The offering represented 100 million shares at a cost of 1 Jordanian dinar per share. RJs management looks forward to commencing the second phase of the capital increase in the future. Hafez said that Royal Jordanian's management will tirelessly pursue the advancement of the company and repositioning it on the right track in order to make this important pillar of the national economy profitable. RJ contributes about 3% of the country's GDP, exceeding the contribution of other key sectors. The business plan, said Hafez, also included a quite successful rescheduling of the company's debts; RJ closed $275 million loan facility deal at the end of 2015. The facility carries a tenor of five years and its proceeds will be primarily utilized to pay RJs existing bank debts and further support the companys ongoing strategic growth and turnaround plans in the short and medium run, particularly those regarding the modernization of the fleet. RJ will continue modernizing its fleet by introducing three new Boeings 787, one at the end of 2016, a second at the beginning 2017 and a third in 2018. RJ introduced five 787s in 2014. Hafez pointed out that the drop in fuel prices was not the main reason for the profit made by the company last year, despite their importance on airline budgets. He said that RJ reduced ticket prices due to fierce competition, but the lower fuel prices helped offset some of the losses incurred because of the drop in ticket prices. In 2015, RJ halted two significant routes to Sanaa and Aden, incurring losses of JD12.3 million, which was offset by lower oil prices as well. While the lower fuel prices offset mostly the mentioned two factors, the profits achieved were the result of the staff's keenness to carry out the companys business plan. The measure carried out on the orders of the capitals governor. There are no official explanations for the closure. The Brotherhood and its political wing are the primary internal opposition movement. King Abdullah II is financing the restoration of the tomb of Christ in the Holy Sepulchre Church. Amman (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Jordanian police have shut down the headquarters of the country's main opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), on the orders of Ammans governor. There are no official reasons to explain the closure, which has angered the leaders of the Islamic extremist group. The Muslim Brotherhood enjoy strong support in urban areas in Jordan and its political wing, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), today is the most important opposition party. In 2014 the movement was divided internally into two factions: the original, with a radical vision of politics and Islam, and a more moderate. Yesterdays police raid targeted the headquarters of the fundamentalist faction. Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, Badi al Rafaiah, said he was "surprised" by the "move of the Department of Public Security." He speaks of "several policemen and security agents who intervened ... broke down the door and kicked out all the staff, with orders to close the center" without providing "any explanation". In recent months has seen the advance of extremist Islamic groups in the Middle East and in Jordan, which had to date been a model of interfaith coexistence and secular state, Relations between the authorities and brotherhood have rapidly deteriorated. The Islamic Action Front (IAF) boycotted the last parliamentary elections, accusing the system of marginalizing nonaligned political parties. Last year one of the Mb leaders was arrested for criticizing the United Arab Emirates, Ammans allies, in the first case of "political" arrest of a leading figure in the country. Meanwhile, in an edict the king of Jordan announced his decision to finance the restoration of the tomb of Christ in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. A decision that confirms, once again, the secular and multi-religious vision leader of the Hashemite kingdom. In a letter sent on 10 April to the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, King Abdullah II announced his intention to participate in the restoration, emphasizing that he "is and will remain a faithful guardian and custodian of Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem." The restoration was possible thanks to an agreement reached between the three main denominations (Greek-Orthodox, Latin and Armenian) that coexist in the Basilica. Commenting on the decision Msgr. William Shomali, Latin Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem, spoke of "good news of a highly symbolic value, since the Holy Sepulchre is the most sacred place for Christians of all denominations. "This decision - adds the prelate - shows the Kings goodwill towards Christians and his constant concern to preserve the heritage of Christianity." The Maronite patriarch held talks in Bkerke with Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors. For the prelate, disputes need "political solutions" and wars must end. Diplomats stress that no Lebanese citizen was expelled without a legal basis. Still relations remain tense. Beirut (AsiaNews/Agencies) Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi met today with the ambassadors from Gulf Cooperation Council (GC) members (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar) at Bkerke, seat of the Patriarchate of Antioch of the Maronites. The head of the Maronite Church stressed the importance of maintaining good relations between Lebanon and the Gulf states at a time of unprecedented diplomatic crises between Sunnis and Shias, in particular between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The meeting comes at a time of "great tensions" between Lebanon and Gulf states. As relations deteriorate, the regions governments have threatened to expel Lebanese nationals and block bank accounts. Recently, Saudi Arabia halted US$ 4 billion in assistance to the Lebanese army and security forces, whilst GCC states have labelled Hezbollah and its members as terrorists. Earlier this month, the United Arab Emirates jailed three Lebanese for setting up a group affiliated with the Lebanese Shia movement. After serving a six-month sentence, they will be expelled. Lebanons Hezbollah is the main bone of contention. Gulf States, Saudi Arabia included, loathe the Shia armed group, whose influence has grown in Lebanon over the past few decades. Backed by Iran, the so-called party of God has propped up Syrian President Assad, sending troops to fight against the al-Nusra Front (Al-Qaeda) and the Islamic State (IS) group, inflicting major defeats on both. Last month, the Arab League declared the Lebanese Shia movement as a terrorist organisation, after a similar move by Arab Gulf states for its alleged involvement in Yemen and Iraq. "We have lived together, Christians and Muslims, on this sacred land, for over 1,400 years in spite of difficulties," Patriarch Rahi told the diplomats. It is imperative to end clashes and wars by finding political solutions, he added. Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, Kuwaiti Ambassador Abdel Aal Kinai said that Gulf states back Lebanese migrants. He denied that there is any crisis with Lebanon. Although there are differences over Hezbollah, no Lebanese national has been expelled without legal motive. For his part, the Maronite patriarch concluded describing the current situation as "a passing cloud" that should not tarnish ties with some of your countries. Saenuri, the ruling party, won only 122 seats out of 300 total. For the first time in 16 years it is a parliamentary minority. A spokesman admits defeat: "We have not been able to listen to the people." A clear signal to President Park Geun-hye, that reopens the presidential campaign. The Minjoo party, with 123 seats, becomes the major power in parliament. Seoul (AsiaNews) In an election shock, the Saenuri conservative party has lost the parliamentary elections in South Korea, and for the first time after 16 years is in the minority in the National Assembly. With 99% of ballots counted the elections have crowned the opposition Minjoo party. The conservatives won 122 seats, their rivals 123. The Peoples Party now has only 38 deputies. Saenuri part secretary Kim Moo-sung offered his resignation and has taken "full responsibility" for the failure; Ahn Hyung-hwan, party spokesman added: "We humbly accept the results and the peoples choice. The voters are very dissatisfied with our work and we are not able to listen to them. " In general terms, however, the vote was hotly contested: 58% of eligible voters went to the polls, an increase of almost 4 points compared to 2012. Many experts emphasize that this is a warning and a signal of discontent especially against President Park Geun-hye, daughter of former military dictator and Saenuris diamond. Voters seem particularly disenchanted with two points of her program: greater "dynamism" in the world of work, which has been reflected in an easing of laws protecting workers; her crackdown on opponents and dissidents, whom the government - after decades is once again dragging through the courts. Now all eyes are on 2017, when the ballot boxes will be opened again to choose a new president. In 2012 Park won in a tight race against the Catholic Moon, a well-known democracy activist. Yesterday a pro-life forum was held ahead of elections next May. Pro-Life Partylist Secretary: "Like marriage encounters and counselling groups in every parish, we must offer those services in the government". Currently, the only way to end a marriage in the Philippines is through annulment, a usually very long and expensive process. Manila (AsiaNews / CBCP) - Divorce is not the solution to the growing number of abuses that occur within families and violence that in some cases are perpetrated on children, but alternative solutions must be offered. That's what Pro-life Partylist candidates in the upcoming national elections reiterated yesterday at a forum held in Manilas "Aristocrat" restaurant. Party secretary, Jan Louenn Lumant, stated that the movement will propose a law that institutionalizes the "family crisis centers" in every barangay (in the municipalities, the smallest administrative unit in the Philippines). " Like marriage encounters and counselling groups in every parish, we must offer those services in the government, he said. Divorce is not legal in the Philippines and there are a few members of parliament who are pushing for the creation of a law that makes it so. For the moment, a couple can separate only through the annulment process, which is usually a very long process. The debate on this issue is one of the hotspots of the election campaign for the upcoming vote, to be held on May 9. Roman T. Romulo, senatorial candidate, states that "the problem with the annulment is [it is] too expensive and the process is too long but there are other ways to do that there is legal separation but there should be a valid reason before we allow it". According to Martin Romualdez, a member of Congress, supporters of divorce want a shorter and less difficult way to achieve separation, and promised that if elected senator, "I propose a revision of the Family Code". Senatorial candidate Dante Liban, is of a very different view "we must promote the unity of the family, its development and its strengthening. We must follow the Constitution and the will of God to strengthen the Filipino family". Vicente "Tito" Sotto III, senator and television host, believes the Philippines does not need a law on divorce: "I am very confident that divorce bill will not pass in the House of Representative, congressmen will now allow it or else their wives will kill them". by John Ai Beijing (AsiaNews) - Official Buddhisms admiration for President Xi Jinping seems to verge on religious veneration. Two videos posted on the social network Weibo - the Chinese equivalent of Twitter have set off a debate in the national cyber-sphere. One of the videos shows Master Yinguang preaching to hundreds of monks. He says, "China is a strong country with vast territory, rich resources and a large population. As long as China is strong, the world could be saved, and there is hope for Buddhism. Thus, we all practitioners of Buddhism must closely unite around the party central committee led by Xi Jinping to fulfill Xi's Chinese dream, rejuvenating China and leading the world. The religious also encourages those present to be "monks of Mao Zedong". This video had already been published a few months ago, but is re-trending after the publication of a second video, this time starring Master Chin Kung. Born in 1927, he has studied Buddhism in Taiwan and preached in the United States, Singapore and Australia. The Monk is famous for his efforts to spread the religion online. In this second video he says: " now the range of China's rejuvenation is the globe. We have a good leader, President Xi. Really lucky. I read his speeches when he visited India and several other countries. I feel really happy. He is the reincarnation of the Buddha and he devotes to the country, the national and the lives around the world, regardless himself. Therefore the world is promising". Veneration of Xi Jinping is the latest trend in the nation. The leader has achieved a level of power that unprecedented since the death of Mao Zedong. This week even foreign newspapers such as The Economist and Time have dedicated space to the "cult of Xi". In response, China blocked their websites. Nepals consul-general backs plans by local politician for camps to discourage economic migrants. In all, 300 Nepalis have sought asylum in Hong Kong, a few after the civil war. For diplomat, Maybe some of them are fake. Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Agencies) Baliram Prasad Dhami, Nepals consul-general to Hong Kong, has asked Hong Kong to set up a detention camp for Nepalis claiming refugee status to weed out bogus claimants whose action is detrimental to other Nepalis. The diplomat made the proposal at a press conference jointly organised with pro-Beijing lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun. Minority rights activists immediately challenged his proposal as a violation of human rights. Last month, Executive Councillor and former Security Minister Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee called for a camp to be set up in Shenzhen for asylum claimants to stem the influx of economic immigrants to the city. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying rejected the idea, although he accused the refugees of causing great distress to the city. In agreeing to it, Consul-General Dhami said, We can put them in some refugee detention camp [to let them have] bad experiences that life is not as it is [expected]. As of February, Hong Kong immigration has processed the claims of some 300 Nepalis, 3 per cent of the total. Few of them came to the city after the countrys civil war with Maoist militias ended in 2006. Still, Maybe some of them are fake, Dhami said. Hong Kong has a backlog of 11,160 asylum applications. More than half are said to be illegal immigrants and cases can take up 2.3 years to process. The government expects related expenditures this year to balloon from HK4 million (US$ 83 million) to HK.4 billion (US$ 180 million). Commenting on Phillips evangelization of Ethiopia, Francis stresses the importance of openness to the Spirit: "Philip, one of the Apostles, was busy as all bishops are, and this day surely he had his plan to work". But the Spirit tells him to leave what he was planning to go to Ethiopia "and he obeyed." Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Docility to the Holy Spirit, relying on the will of God "does things. It is the Spirit who gives birth and nurtures the Church" and not "so-called fidelity to the law, that is, to the letter of the law, explained Pope Francis this morning during Mass in Casa Santa Marta. We need to pray, "to ask to be docilie to the Holy Spirit and with this docility to advance the Church, to be the instruments of the Spirit for the Church to move forward". Vatican Radio reports that the Pope was commenting on the evangelization of the Ethiopians by Philip, a senior official of Queen Candace. The protagonist of this meeting, Pope Francis noted, is in fact not so much Philip, nor even the Ethiopian, but just the Spirit. "It is Him who does things. It is the Spirit who gives birth to and grows the Church. "In days past, the Church has shown us how there can be a drama of resisting the Spirit: closed, hard, foolish hearts resisting the Spirit. Weve seen things - the healing of the lame man by Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple; the words and the great things Stephen was doing but they were closed off to these signs of the Spirit and resisted the Spirit. They were seeking to justify this resistance with a so-called fidelity to the law, that is, to the letter of the law." In referring to the reading, Pope Francis said that "the Church proposes the opposite: no resistance to the Spirit, but docility to the Spirit, which is precisely the attitude of the Christian. He continued: Being docile to the Spirit, this docility is the yes that the Spirit may act and move forward to build up the Church. Here, he added, is Philip, one of the Apostles, busy as all bishops are, and this day surely he had his plan to work. But the Spirit tells him to leave what he has planned and go to the Ethiopian - "and he obeyed." Pope Francis then outlined the meeting between Philip and the Ethiopian, in which the Apostle explains the Gospel and its message of salvation. The Spirit, he said, "was working in the heart of the Ethiopian", offers him "the gift of faith and this man felt something new in his heart." And at the end he asks to be baptized, being docile to the Holy Spirit. "Two men, the Pope said, one an evangelist and one who knew nothing of Jesus, but the Spirit had sowed a healthy curiosity, not the curiosity of gossip." And in the end the eunuch goes his way with joy, "the joy of the Spirit, in the docility of the Spirit." "We have heard, these past days, about resistance to the Spirit; and today we have an example of two men who were docile to the voice of the Spirit. And the sign of this is joy. Docility to the Spirit is a source of joy. But I would like to do something, this but I feel the Lord ask me to do something else. Joy I will find there, where there is the call of the Spirit! A beautiful prayer asking for this docility, the Pope revealed, we may find in the First Book of Samuel, the prayer which the priest Eli suggests to the young Samuel, who during the night heard a voice calling to him: "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." "This is a beautiful prayer that we can always pray: 'Speak, Lord, because I am listening.' The prayer asking for this docility to the Holy Spirit and with this docility to carry forward the Church, to be instruments of the Spirit so that the Church can move forward. 'Speak, Lord, because your servant is listening'. We should pray this many times a day: when we have a doubt, when we do not know what to do, or when we want simply to pray. And with this prayer we ask for the grace of docility to the Holy Spirit." Mgr Andrew Thanya Vissanu Anan, deputy general secretary of the Thai Bishops Conference, attended the event at Bangkoks Islamic Centre. Afterwards, he took part in a seminar with Islamic leaders and a march for peace. For him, differences should not be a cause of conflict". Bangkok (AsiaNews/Agencies) Mgr Andrew Thanya Vissanu Anan, deputy general secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Thailand, attended the inauguration of a new mosque at Bangkoks Islamic Centre earlier this week. "We need to build more solid bridges and destroy the walls of hatred and prejudice that divide us, he said at a seminar that followed the ceremony. The latter focused on inter-faith dialogue and the role of Christianity and Islam in a country where 93 per cent of the population is Buddhist. In his address, Mgr Vissanu urged participants to undertake joint efforts to promote peace and harmony among various confessions, noting that "it is possible" to build a multicultural and pluralistic society. The differences of religions and traditions should not be a cause of conflict, he insisted, and the quest for peace is the responsibility of all believers. Stressing the meetings friendly atmosphere, he said that many Muslim leaders appreciated the efforts of Pope Francis, and the local Church's attempts at collaboration and dialogue with Muslims. Interreligious dialogue should not be just an event or a show, he explained. We need to join hands with humility so that we can concretely explore new areas and share religious values. The celebrations at the Islamic Centre of Thailand included an interfaith march for peace, in which many Christians participated. We further hope that we can share the ideas of dialogue with youth in schools, Mgr Vissanu said after an exchange of gifts. Scores of heads of state and government from Muslim countries came for the summit whose agenda includes a ten-year plan for Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace. Turkeys Erdogan reserves special welcome for Saudi King Salman. The Palestinian question and the Sunni-Shia sectarian rift are among the unresolved issues to address. Istanbul (AsiaNews) The 13th Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is currently underway at the Istanbul Congress Centre. Its theme is Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed heads of delegations from member states. The meetings agenda includes a ten-year action plan to meet challenges and address issues that affect the Muslim nations today, most notably terrorism, growing Islamophobia, Israel, the role of women in the Muslim world, and Myanmars Rohingya minority. The heads of state and government are expected to adopt the summits OIC 2025 Action Plan, focusing on terrorism, human rights, poverty, epidemics, the role of women, education, science, and technology. For OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani, Muslim leaders have to focus on exceptionally critical circumstances, regionally and internationally and create a collective vision for the Muslim world over the next ten years. Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud received special treatment. Contrary to Turkish protocol whereby the official welcoming ceremony for a foreign guest of the president should be held at the presidential palace, President Erdogan was at the Ankaras airport to welcome the Saudi monarch. This is the first time Turkey hosts the OIC summit (10-15 April). Its goal is to boost unity and solidarity among Muslim countries in the fight against terrorism, and provides the last opportunity' against the territorialisation of the crisis. Significant decisions are expected against the terrorist activities of Daesh (aka Islamic State group) and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Terrorism is considered as the Muslim worlds main challenge because it claims innocent lives, and inflicts irreparable damage to Islamic civilisation by distorting the past and undermines the future. This fuels discrimination, xenophobia and Islamophobia in the West and leaves Muslims more vulnerable to verbal and physical abuse. Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia compounds the problem, as does the war in Syria which is still going on despite peace talks in Geneva (Switzerland) under UN auspices , and difficult relations between summit host Turkey and Egypt. The high-level meeting of Muslim leaders will also vet the situation in Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, and Azerbaijan. A call for a new peace process to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is expected. Sectarianism is another unresolved issue in the Muslim world. The summit aims at creating opportunities for Shias and Sunnis to find solutions together to pressing problems, based on the central principle that every Muslim is equally important. Founded on 25 September 1969, the OIC was granted observer status by the United Nations General Assembly in 1975. It has 57 members in Europe, Middle East, South America, Africa, Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. Its purpose is to protect the interests and promote the development of Muslim populations in the world. Miss Russia Contestant Threatened Over Racy Photos Trending News: A Miss Russia Contestant Receives Threats Over Her Bikini Photos Why Is This Important? Because this flat-out makes no sense. Long Story Short Albina Ildarova, a Miss Russia contestant, is receiving criticism and threats from her conservative home region of Dagestan. They're mad about the bikini pic she posed for as part of the contest and want her to renounce her heritage. Long Story Life is hard for a beauty pageant contestant. You have to be hot. You have to learn to sing or play the flute, or something. You have to not completely lose your shit when Steve Harvey screws the pooch and mistakenly announces you as the winner. But in all seriousness, life gets very hard for a beauty pageant contestant when you're receiving death threats from your homeland for being too slutty. That's exactly the plight of Miss Russia contestant Albina Ildarova, who's being criticised by her native region of Dagestan for posing for the following photo: Miss Russia That's it. That's the standard getup worn by all contestants in their official photographs. But Ildarova hails from Dagestan, a region at the very southern tip of Russia that's seen a surge in Muslim extremist ultra-conservatism in the last decade, according to the Moscow Times. Religious fundamentalism and female sexuality rarely mix, and Dagestan officially wishes she Ildarova would stop mentioning her Dagestani heritage altogether. She should stop mentioning Dagestan, she should start saying that she is not a Dagestani at all, said Head of the State Duma committee for ethnic affairs Gadzhimet Safaraliyev. She does nothing good by these [photos] to Dagestan or its women. What she has posted [online] she should not have done that, no matter what kind of 'miss' she wants to become, he added. Some kinds of norms should be observed. Pardon the disagreement, but I think Ildarova is doing plenty for Dagestan's women, in the sense that now I want to visit and meet some of them. But while Safaraliyev's comments were measured (if not obtuse), the online peanut gallery is not nearly as kind. What is the world coming to. Such daughters should be buried alive, said one commenter on VK, Russia's answer to Facebook. A normal man will never keep silent when he sees something like that. It casts shame on the whole nation. And Islam doesn't approve when a person walks past a sin and keeps silent," said another. The real travesty? Right now, Ildarova is sitting at 10th in the fan voting for Miss Russia 2016, which is a travesty. You can help her out by voting for her via social media here. Thus ends your periodic reminder that as scary as conservatism can be in the U.S., we don't have much on other parts of the world. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Do her critics have a valid point? Disrupt Your Feed No one should be ashamed of themselves, especially not someone who looks like this. Drop This Fact Miss Russia has only gone on to win Miss Universe once. The firm alleges that the company misled its retail shareholders by not disclosing relevant information about its distributor network in the US. The Federal Court heard yesterday that the firm was seeking orders from the overseas district court to obtain evidence from current and former executives of the company in the US.But the court found yesterday that Maurice Blackburn had sought to invoke the powers of a foreign court to obtain compulsory oral discovery outside the [Federal Court] docket judges case-management control of this class action and without his knowledge or approval.This court has exclusive control over proceedings before it this is all the more so in relation to class actions [given the courts roles], the judgment stated.According to The Australian, three judges have ordered the firms client to be restrained from taking further steps in a New York District Court, which the Australian Federal Court saw as a bid by Maurice Blackburn to obtain evidence that would otherwise be unavailable.The Federal Court said the management of the class action had been undermined the firms conduct overseas.Justices John Gilmour, Lindsay Foster and Jonathan Beach also suggested that the firms argument to the New York District Court was misleading, without notice and without the imprimatur of the Australian Federal Court.The decision follows concern expressed by class-action clients that the wait for settlement sums is too lengthy, The Australian reported. Geraint Hughes has been appointed regional managing partner for Asia-Pacific at international firm Clifford Chance . He will assume responsibility for the nine offices including Australia, Greater China and North & Southeast Asia.Hughes is well-acquainted with the region having spent the last 6 years as managing partner of the firms Singapore office. In that time, Clifford Chance has doubled its size in Singapore and grown its headcount across Asia-Pacific by almost 70 per cent to more than 450.His new role means a relocation to Hong Kong for Hughes in June; his replacement as managing partner for Singapore will be announced in the weeks ahead.Current Asia-Pac managing partner Peter Charlton has been in the role for eight years and will return to London following a transition period working alongside Hughes.The legal profession is lagging behind other professional services when it comes to customer service according to a new report. The Benchmarking Legal Services study from UK-based Peppermint Technology looks at what clients want from their law firms and how firms can meet those demands.Ahead of the full release next week, some key findings have been revealed including that legal services achieved the lowest customer satisfaction score compared to accountancy, financial services, retail, insurance and consultancy. Sixty-per cent of law firms do not ask for customer feedback regularly.The report also shines a light on the fragility of many law firms with 1 in 5 making a loss and 13 per cent close to ceasing trade. There is also insight into investment with 30 per cent not introducing any new initiatives in the last two years and law firms spending less as a percentage of turnover than financial services, accountancy or consultancy firms.The Chinese authorities have hit back at a new report from the US State Department which criticizes Chinas human rights record. The Americans specifically reference the crackdown on lawyers which it called severe.In its response, Chinas State Council condemns Americas own human rights record and its rampant gun-related crime.Reuters reports that China permanently disbarred prominent human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang on Thursday. Last year he was given a three-year suspended sentence for publishing comments online that the government said would incite racial hatred. Hello everyone! I'm new here and i'm wondering if you could shed some light on finding potential employment in Australia. I will be coming in June 2016 and starting my travels in Brisbane. I have not decided whether or not Brisbane will be the place i want to work but i was hoping some people on here would have suggestions on where i can make the most money or what location would have the best selection of jobs. I've done some research on gumtree.com.au , Seek.com , and backpacker job board. The problem is the high influx of competition especially on the backpacker job board. I am only eligible for a 12 month visa so trying to find employment in fruit picking just doesn't make sense to me. I just want to make the most of my time there since i only get 12 months. I have been considering jobs potentially on the east coast near Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane etc. However, I wouldn't be opposed to jobs down in the mines (like a food worker etc) or anything else that pays really well. PLEASE HELP ANF GIVE ME SOME INSIGHT! MUCH APPRECIATED! THANK YOU :] The Saluto RX is powered by a single-cylinder, 110cc engine developing 7.5hp; has a claimed fuel efficiency of 84kpl. Yamaha has brought the legendary RX name back to the Indian market. However, this time around the name isnt reserved for a light, wheelie-loving stroker. In a bid to gain greater volumes in India with the new 110cc Saluto RX, Yamaha has stepped into a segment that accounts for just over 60 percent of the market. Launched at Rs 46,400 (ex-showroom, Delhi), the Saluto RX is powered by a single cylinder, air-cooled, four-stroke, 110cc engine that delivers a peak power output of 7.5 hp at 7,000rpm and maximum torque of 8.5Nm at 4,500rpm. The bike maker claims a fuel efficiency of 84kpl for the new motorcycle. A light kerb weight of 98kg will help it in delivering better efficiency and performance. The model, which abides by the BS-IV emission norms, will come in four colour options inspiring red, matte black, breezy blue and gleaming black. Roy Kurian, VP, sales and marketing, Yamaha Motor India Sales said, "We are targeting the rural markets with our new model, with a special focus on the youth population. This is a new chapter for us; very critical for our growth going forward." The model will take on Honda's Dream Series and the new Livo models, TVS Motor's recently launched 110cc Victor. Out of a total of 47 Ronin bikes, it looks like there are only 17 left at the time of writing, and this is quite successful, considering how special these bikes truly are. Of course, the main thing about these machines is the fact that they are built on the Buell 1125R platform.Make no mistake, these ARE original Buells, and if you fancy adding one to your collection, these machines may very well be the last new ones you can lay hands on, with all that comes with owning such a motorcycle.From the old Buell, only the engine, frame, swingarm, and wheels were retained, with the rest being designed and fabricated by Magpul for the Ronin project specifically. The list includes the new exhaust the rear subframe with the seat and tank, and of course, the majestic front end.Ronin machines come with a linkage fork that also incorporates the oil cooler and the dual stacked headlight. The bars are also custom-made, with minimalist controls, and the bike comes with RFID ignition, making starting it virtually impossible. Cue LED bar-end turn signals and tail light, and die-cast parts, such as mirrors, a battery box that also integrated the rearsets, plus a ton of other cool features that are rare or downright unique in the industry.Unlike most other bikes, these four bikes, #5 through #2, have received a spectacular, albeit "love it or hate it" paint. Denver, Colorado-based artist Jason Thielke is responsible for #5, named after the Samurai Horibe Kanamaru. Bikes #4 and #3 have been decorated by Scot Lefavor in the vein of contemporary street art.Ronin #2 bears the unmistakable resemblance to the traditional Japanese graphic art and was painted by Denver artist Samuel Lee Turner. All four bikes will be auctioned this year, so if you thought about getting a Ronin at the base $40,000 (35,500), maybe you should revise your plans. Until now, the French law deemed illegal to ride a motorcycle that was capable of more than 100 hp without a restriction kit also known as "Le Retrofit." That meant that, regardless of how brawny a motorcycle was, its owner could only enjoy a fraction of its power riding it on public roads.Thankfully, it looks like someone finally understood how silly this whole thing was, especially when compared to the laws in other countries in the European Union.The EU licensing laws already made short work of the power-related issue, as much as it was possible. Still, there is nothing stopping a new rider from operating the bike erroneously and becoming injured.Frankly, a 47 horsepower bike can be quite fast, has a strong acceleration and can be a road hazard in the hands of the inexperienced rider. Why France considered until now that even highly-experienced motorcyclists should not ride bikes over 100 hp remains a complete mystery, but as this is hardly the only silly motorcycle law in that country, we'll just add we're glad it's gone.The new law still expects to be published in official papers and will only then become effective. It looks like things will return to normal in May, and besides the riders, the new rule will also help the industry grow a bit. For starters, those who are riding restricted bikes will now be able to unleash their full power, being allowed to "restore them to the original configuration."Riders who have been eyeing a new motorcycle will have one more incentive to go for pretty much any model that pleases them, and man, there is a lot of new superbikes and other street models that are fantastic choices, and that are excellent fun with their full, unbridled power. While a new dealer is not usually the subject of news, this time we are talking about the first US dealer of an all-new brand, Genesis.As some of you already know, Genesis is the premium division of Hyundai Motor Company, and has been separated from the South Korean brand for marketing purposes.The first Genesis dealer in the USA is North Freeway Hyundai, and they will sell the recently unveiled 2017 Genesis G90 and the 2017 Genesis G80.The retailer is located in Houston, Texas, but others are expected to follow in other areas of the United States of America as Hyundai Motor Company continues its premium push with Genesis.The first Genesis models sold in the USA under the new brand are expected to arrive late this summer. They will be featured in an exclusive showroom, and potential customers will get personalized vehicle demonstrations. The latter will be performed by a certified team of trained professionals, and will include a valet service directed by certified Genesis brand service specialists.Considering the above description of the facilities covered by the new Genesis dealer, it looks like Hyundai went through all the stops to ensure a premium experience for potential customers of its new premium branch.The separation from Hyundai was a necessary step to ensure the success of the Genesis brand, as customers of premium vehicles might have avoided Hyundai showrooms until now because of their value brand reputation.Hyundai of America, the branch of the South Korean automaker, will continue to discuss with existing certified dealers in their US network for the expansion of the Genesis dealership map. However, this development will be carefully administered, and the company does not expect every dealer to make the cut. After all, not all dealerships will have space and personnel to ensure a dedicated exhibition space with specially trained technicians and representatives.The dealer experience provided by premium and luxury brands makes the difference in ownership satisfaction when compared to volume automakers, but this does not exclude the latter from quality services. However, premium customers already have high expectations, which Genesis dealers will have to exceed to persuade them to buy their models. The stage had been set, but when the pesky signs showed up, Angelholm had to postpone its dream of seeing the One:1 grabbing the street-legal production car record from the Porsche 918 Spyder.Well, the Egg people have recently used their website to let it slip that they'll be back at the Nordschleife soon. Nevertheless, before jumping to record-setting conclusions, the K marque wants us to take a few things into consideration.First and foremost, Koenigsegg needs a driver for the feat and here's the automaker explaining why: "Our regular factory driver, Robert Serwanski (seen above), will be supporting our preparation with plenty of time in the car at the Ring working on vehicle setup. He will most likely not be at the wheel at the time a record is attempted, however. Intimate knowledge of the track takes a long, long time to build and we are aiming to secure a driver with maximum experience at this most demanding of tracks."The lucky man or woman (let the Sabine Schmitz nominations begin) who will get to attempt the record-setting run in the 1,342 hp (1,361 PS) Swedish beast will have anything but an easy task, regardless of his or her 'Ring skills."There is a lot for any prospective driver to learn about the car, too, which is why well be there soon. Well be testing updated systems on the car, gaining intelligence on vehicle setup to optimize the cars performance and providing valuable wheel-time for our driver. As a Koenigsegg is far more powerful than most rear-wheel-drive cars, the driver really has to become accustomed with how to push so much power to the limits," Koenigsegg said.The company said they'll need a few months until they get to take a stab at the infamous German track. No, they won't be memorizing every square inch of the track using a computer run by reptilians. Instead, the Swedes explained that "while we foresee this taking several months, those months comprise only one or two days at the track each month. We will not be testing on public days when the track is full of 'public' drivers. We will be testing on private days that we can gain access to."All seven units of the One:1 have already been born, which means that, in the time it took the Nurburgring to receive its 2016 safety-aimed changes that saw the limits being raised, the One:1 went out of production. Then again, who's keeping track of such details when we're dealing with a monumental velocity quest here?After all, Koenigsegg hasn't been sleeping on its Megawatt car (1MW equals 1,341 hp) laurels, having developed the manic gas-electric Regera meanwhile.As for those who want to point out the complex preparations defeat the "production car" purpose, allow us to remind you that Zuffenhausen did tons of laps before setting the 6:57 record and had three drivers running in the 918 on the day the feat was achieved. EV In the pics provided by the Abensberg fire department , its easy to see that the crash was a biggie, destroying the front end, front left wheel, and roughening up the left-hand side of the battery-powered sedan. Despite the severity of the impact, the Tesla Model S is a sturdy bird and the passenger compartment has barely even flexed. An electric car crash is more problematic than a conventional car crash, though. For everyone.You see, a crashed electric car, especially one with a large battery such as the Tesla Model S, poses a real hazard because batteries have this habit of leaking and combusting. Needless to say, thats a serious problem for both the occupants and the emergency personnel on the scene. Most surprisingly, the brave men and women of the Abensberg fire department know how to prevent such a situation from occurring.To shut down anafter a crash and minimize the chances of a fire, the firefighters of Abensberg have been instructed to pay special attention to every little cable and component painted orange. First thing the firefighters did was look in the front trunk for a tag with the instruction to cut the orange loop next to it.If the front trunk loop is inaccessible, firefighters should open the rear passenger door closest to the charge port to locate an orange label that indicates where to cut into the C-pillar with a 12-inch circular saw. Either way, thats how you take a Tesla Model S out of service. The emergency response guide attached in the PDF file below offers more detailed info on how to safely handle the Model S in an emergency situation. Photo courtesy of NHTSA. The highway safety offices for Florida, Illinois, Nevada and Texas will receive grants totaling nearly $80,000 to help combat drug-impaired driving, the Governors Highway Safety Association announced. The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (Responsibility.org), a not-for-profit group funded by the distillery industry, is providing financial support for the project. The four highway safety offices will use the funding to train law enforcement officers to detect drivers impaired by marijuana and other drugs. Twenty-two states and territories applied for these competitive grants, according to GHSA. A selection committee reviewed the applications and determined the winners. One of the key recommendations in our 2015 report on drug-impaired driving was to provide training for law enforcement officers that will empower them to identify and arrest drug-impaired drivers, said GHSA Executive Director Jonathan Adkins. This new program delivers the much-needed resources that will help states do just that. Specifically, Texas and Nevada will use their funds to reach rural agencies that often dont have access to this training. Florida and Illinois will expand their existing programs and lay the groundwork for long-term training. At the end of this year, collectively this program will provide training and certification to nearly 70 new drug recognition experts (DREs) and certify more than 410 law enforcement officials in advanced roadside impaired driving enforcement, according to GHSA. Recent data suggests that impaired driving whether the driver is drugged, drunk, drowsy or distracted is a growing concern. Increased training for law enforcement officers is more important than ever in addressing this challenge, said Ralph S. Blackman, president and CEO of Responsibility.org. That's why Responsibility.org is proud to sponsor this law enforcement training initiative. In addition to GHSA and Responsibility.org, other selection committee members and advisors for this project include senior leadership from the International Association of Chiefs of Police, National Sheriffs Association, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Washington Traffic Safety Commission. Ford's Everest SUV will have a new production plant valued at $167 million, which would be located in the sub-Saharan part of South Africa. As a result, the investment would uplift Pretoria's employment services sector as production starts by the third quarter this year, join the likes of India, Thailand, and China. After South Africa announced in 2015 its intent to promote its auto-incentive program, many international companies have shared interest and Ford Motors was one of them, Bloomberg reported. The program was meant to revitalize vehicle production in South Africa via tax breaks, according to Tembela Zweni, East London IDZ's executive manager on zone development. "Suddenly we are getting more interest from companies," said Zweni."They will save on start-up costs because we would have this huge facility." The country had put up ELIDZ in 2002 to further investments as well as open jobs, as the economy continues to struggle on a 25 percent unemployment rate. On the other hand, South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry also announced November of last year that vehicle production has been down to 10,000 from 50,000 units per year. The government also expressed its great support for the industry to extend beyond 2020, according to the news agency. Ford Motors has also announced new changes for its US plant, with production for the C-Max and Focus compact MPVs to be transferred beyond the country's border: in Mexico, according to MSN. More speculations on the Wayne, Michigan plant also included the production of a new SUV product or truck, and the closest guess was a Ranger pickup. Still, opinions are flying on the company's take in reviving the old Bronco (the original was a two-door), to keep up with the 4-door lineup of SUVs today. There's also a big chance for Ford to model the Bronco line similar to the Everest. And that remains to be seen. Uber released its first transparency report on Tuesday, detailing how it fulfilled requests of law enforcement agencies for user data from about 14 million drivers and riders. Such information were provided between July and December 2015, Uber said. Under the law, regulatory agencies have the power to require transportation companies to submit operation reports. Statistics Details from 11,644,000 riders and 583,000 drivers were provided to 33 separate requests. In response to 34 requests from airport agencies, details from 1,645,000 riders and 156,000 drivers were delivered, the Washington Times noted. In Chicago, for instance, 1,697,000 riders and 95,000 drivers (after narrowing scope) were affected. All values reported have been rounded. The report cited a total of 415 requests from law enforcement agencies during the five-month period. Requests were made during the course of criminal investigations and other emergencies. CNET wrote that Uber's compliance puts it in the same page as Apple, Facebook, Google and Reddit - companies that likewise deal with such requests. What Agencies Need But which specific data are sought by regulatory agencies? According to Uber, they could possibly be "information about trips, trip requests, pickup and dropoff areas, fares, vehicles, and drivers in their jurisdictions for a given time period." The transportation provider clarified that reporting requirements from online companies can differ or exceed in comparison to offline counterparts, at least in some cases. Different types of information may also be asked from the former, such as an electronic trip receipt with a trip route instead of a paper log. Narrowed Responses The collection of personal information could worry drivers and riders alike, but Uber explained that it seeks to narrow its responses when agencies ask for more than necessary. While regulators do not always disclose what they do with the collected data, the company ensures that requests are limited to "legitimate regulatory purposes." Airport authorities independently determine required reporting information. According to Uber, only activities occurring within airport areas are requested - drop-off locations and users' homes are kept. Uber also expressed its hope in disclosing information to requests outside the United States. For details about Uber's privacy policy, head over here. Aural Fixation Record Store Day Comes Once A Year Now its here, now its hear Eric Williams Photography Vinyl junkies, recording enthusiasts and music lovers of all stripes rejoice: Record Store Day is upon us once more. On Saturday, April 16, the annual event will celebrate the nation's record stores with a batch of special, limited vinyl releases of both new and old records, including J Dillas long lost vocal album, The Diary, and a 12 picture disc re-release of David Bowies 1970 album The Man Who Sold the World. You can find the complete list of special releases on the official Record Store Day website. A couple of Albuquerque record stores are participating in the event, so you can join the rush to get ahold of some of those special releases this weekendif you get there early. In past years, lines have stretched down the block at some stores, an event more likely to occur than not in Burque because our town only has a handful of the places. All that being said, dont have your sights too fixed on a certain release, as each individual record store cant promise what titles it will actually receive from distributors. Stores wont actually know what titles and how many copies theyll have available until the delivery person arrives on Record Store Day. Its like Christmas, but for a small, vinyl-loving subset of the population. In recent years, RSD has been critiqued (see Pitchforks article from last year, Record Store Day and the Ambivalent Branding of Independence) for creating more profit for large corporate record labels than for independent record stores. Its certainly a high-stress event for most record store owners and employees, and, as record distributors are more likely to prioritize filling orders for larger stores, sometimes small indies are left with their orders unfilled and with long lines of disappointed customers on the big day. Honestly? Its a pretty stressful day for us, and Im looking forward to it being over, says Rocky De la Vega, owner of Mecca Records on Central. He feels that the event has grown in both popularity and corporate-ness in the past few years. It used to be a list of about 50 special releases each year, and its grown to something like 600 this time around. Its less special these days. Some record stores get more out of it, though. Chuck Roast of Vinal Edge Records (in Houston, Texas) says that, although stressful, RSD is their most profitable day of the year. There are a lot of people who come in early to the shop on RSD just to buy special release titles and flip them on Ebaya practice that frustrates some shop ownersbut Roast says that he cant get too upset about it. I mean, thats what I used to do. Although it can be profitable for savvy record store owners, participating in RSD is an investment, and one that doesnt always pay off. If you order too many of a certain title, then those unsold copies sit on your shelves after RSD, gathering dust and getting more and more discounted each day. For small indie stores, it can be a make-or-break scenario. So, whats a discerning music lover/record store aficionado to do? Just come to our store more than one day a year! says De la Vega. Seriously, youre more likely to find cool titles on any other day of the year, when were not swarmed. You can try your luck for a special Record Store Day title at either Mecca Records or Charleys 33s & CDs on Saturday, April 16. Nob Hill Music, one of Burques other local music outlets will be open, but is not officially participating in the festivities. Tesla's wildly popular Model 3 will require more lithium supplies for its electric batteries. Tesla Motors is currently seeking more competitive lithium suppliers for its Gigafactory. The publication Seeking Alpha reports that Kurt Kelty, Tesla's Director of Battery Technology, announced that their future battery cells will be less expensive than current 18650s, as well as safer and larger. Today, Tesla Motors is producing around 50,000 vehicles each year, consuming 7 GWh/year. By 2020, Tesla plans to produce 500,000 vehicles/year and for this goal the Gigafactory will have to deliver 35 GWh/year. When the Gigafactory will be complete, it will become the world's second largest building. Tesla has a plan to reduce cell costs be 30 percent by optimizing mechanical design and cell chemistry. The company will also use a new form factor optimized for electric vehicles (EVs). Another way of reducing costs is by optimizing processes, vertical integration and bringing the supply chain closer. For producing lithium-ion batteries at the Nevada factory for the upcoming Model 3, Tesla Motors is looking to take more low-cost supplier bids for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries. Tesla received two earlier-stage proposals from Bacanora Minerals Ltd. and Pure Energy Minerals Limited. However, none of these companies ever produced any lithium products or conducted a feasibility study. According to the publication Hybrid Cars, industry analysts have speculated that by taking their bids Tesla intend to put pressure on established global lithium suppliers to reduce their price. According to a Financial Post article, Albemarle Corporation, SQM and FMC Corp might become Tesla Motor's lithium suppliers. The three major companies supply 90 percent of the world's lithium. They will compete as the primary lithium supplier for Tesla's Gigafactory. The way Tesla Motors is doing business at the battery plant in Nevada has been heavily scrutinized. The automaker is under lot of pressure from the state of Nevada. The state offered $1 billion in tax breaks to entice the automaker to choose the Nevada site for its factory. But now, Tesla is required to meet strict regulatory guidelines. On Wednesday, a General Motors executive expressed his confidence at the Chevrolet Bolt, the highly-anticipated rival of the Tesla Model 3. Dan Nicholson, GM's vice president of global propulsion systems, spoke at the SAE World Congress, "I am very proud of the Chevrolet Bolt that's coming out, which will be the first to market as a long-range affordable battery electric vehicle." The exec's comment sprung days after the hyped Tesla Model 3 was up for reservation grabs, the Detroit Free Press reported. At least 325,000 refundable preorders had been accepted, the outlet said, for $1,000. 'Your $1,000 is Unnecessary' Speaking for the Chevrolet Bolt, Nicholson argued that plopping a thousand dollars is unnecessary. "It [Bolt] will have more than 200 miles of range and it will be in production by the end of 2016, so it's not necessary to put down $1,000 and wait until 2018 or some time after that." The Tesla Model 3 is set to sell at $35,000, while the Chevrolet Bolt is priced higher at $37,000, according to the Detroit Free Press. What the Bolt Promises As told by Slash Gear, the Chevrolet Bolt's pre-production kicked off in March. Branded all-electric and all-efficient, the vehicle is said to be designed from the inside out, having "perfectly sculpted proportions and distinctive technology." It features a 240-volt charging unit, touted to be as simple as charging a cell phone. Power lies in the nickel-rich, lithium-ion battery of the Chevrolet Bolt, designed to enhance heat resistance. It comes with a liquid cooling system which adapts to environmental climate. Meanwhile, the 10.2-inch diagonal center display screen and 8-inch diagonal driver cluster provide timely information on battery levels, range estimation, charge settings and climate controls. Featuring split-screen and expanded viewing, the interactive display is controlled by intuitive gestures, all for convenience. Nicholson sees no problem with GM's balance sheet. These and more support Nicholson's confidence in the expected market showdown. Which car excites you more? Sound off in the comments section. The Swedish carmaker Volvo is planning to test its self-driving cars on the public roads in the United States in a few years from now. Automotive News reports that by the end of the decade Volvo autonomous cars could be on American streets. The company did not choose yet a specific site for its U.S. self-driving project. The European automaker also announced recently its plans to launch and advanced self-driving experiment in China. Volvo will test up to 100 autonomous vehicles on the Chinese public roads. According to a report that appears in the publication Hybrid Cars, Volvo North America CEO Lex Kerssemakers announced at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention that the European carmaker plans a similar self-driving project in the United States. Kerssemakers added that it is premature to announce a location for the U.S. self-driving project, since it is just in the early stages. It is expected that the driverless car experiment in the U.S. will come at the very least some time after Volvo's experiment called the Drive Me pilot program, scheduled to start in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2017. The Drive Me pilot program will include 100 self-driving XC90 SUVs tested in a controlled 31-mile route with ordinary people behind the wheel. The pilot program will run until the spring of 2019. The driverless cars will operate "in real traffic in a real situation," being used on roads with a barrier between the lanes. As for the U.S., with its abundant traffic and big cities, Kerssemakers sees a great opportunity for testing autonomous vehicles. However, any tests in North America will start only after the Swedish Drive Me pilot program and it will represent Volvo's latest tests before bringing autonomous cars to production. According to the publication Auto Blog, Volvo already offers its 2017 S90 car model that features semi-autonomous driving technology. However, the Swedish automaker is convinced that fully autonomous cars represent the future of the auto industry. On Wednesday, April 13, Ford Motor Company opened officially the application process for customers interested in purchasing the Ford GT, its new high-performance supercar. Ford has begun taking applications for the GT via the website FordGT.com. Potential customers are asked to download an application form containing dozen of questions. Ford's questionnaire is designed each applicant's passion for the brand. According to Q13Fox, the potential buyers need to have deep pockets, since prices of the Ford GT will start at about $450,000. The high-performance supercar is the most expensive Ford production vehicle ever. The Ford GT will be available to applicants in North America, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, China and Europe. The supercar will feature a body made from aluminum and carbon fiber. The GT's engine will be a turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 able to provide over 600 horsepower. The sales process for the Ford GT is a highly unusual one. Automakers usually supply the cars to franchised dealers, even in case of the limited-production cars. Usually, the dealers are left to decide on the customers who will get the cars. In case of the Ford GT the carmaker is the one to decide who gets to buy one. According to the manufacturer, priority will be given when assessing applications to current Ford GT owners and other loyal Ford customers. According to Fortune, the GT program is overseen by Henry Ford III, who is Henry Ford's great-great-grandson. He declared that the company wants to choose wannabe buyers that will be "true ambassadors to Ford." Ford will limit the production of its GT supercar at only 500 cars over the next two years. For those lucky enough to be among the 500 customers chosen, they will be contacted by a Ford GT Concierge and guided through the entire purchasing process. According to Henry III, the company wants to provide at the factory a single point of contact for the dealer and the buyer "all the way through the order, delivery and ownership experience." Game developer Rockstar Games is currently facing a $150 million lawsuit against its former lead producer of the hit game Grand Theft Auto. Leslie Benzies, ex-president of Rockstar North, which is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, filed a case against the study and its parent company, Take-Two interactive. The former executive is asking for $150 million, consisting of unpaid royalties, considering the massive success of Grand Theft Auto V. The Herald Scotland cites Benzies in alleging that he was forced to quit the company after Rockstar Games asked him to take a sabbatical in September 2014. Benzies continued in his suit that Rockstar actually intended to permanently remove him from the company. His royalty payments ceased when he started his six-month sabbatical. When he tried to return to work in April 2015, he found out that he was ousted from company and not allowed to enter the office premises. The lawsuit was issued by law firm Locke Lord LLP in New York. The Telegraph reports that Take-Two, on the contrary, denied that it was liable in any manner and responded by filing a countersuit. The company alleged that Benzies committed breach of contract and that his claims were strange and unfounded. Take-Two also stated that Benzies had conduct issues that compelled them to remove him from the group. Three men are credited for creating the hit game Grand Theft Auto, namely Benzies, President Sam Houser and vice-president Dan Houser. In 2008, the three of them agreed to long-term employment contracts with Take-Two and Rockstar, based on a profit-sharing agreement. According to Benzies suit, the Houser brothers received $93 million in royalties from GTA V, while he was not paid anything, which he deemed contrary to the agreements they previously entered into. The lawsuit also claimed that another $523 million remains unaccounted for. In the countersuit, Take-Two claimed that Benzies left the company for no good reason, which makes him undeserving to collect any royalties. The company continued that they have no further financial obligations to Benzies and that Sam Houser had sole authority on the distribution of the royalty payments. His claims are entirely without merit and in many instances downright bizarre. We are very confident this matter will be resolved in our favour, said Rockstar Games in a press release. Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most successful video games in history. It sold over 60 million copies and raked in over $2.8 billion in revenue. More updates and details on the huge lawsuit are expected soon. External Tank 94, a 69,000-pound artifact from NASAs space shuttle program, is en route to a permanent home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The tank, which was one of 138 built at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, is the last of its kind. ET-94 left its storage site there this week on a barge for its five-week journey. The barge will travel to the Pacific via the Panama Canal and arrive in southern California next month, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. There, crews will place the tank on a specially assembled wheeled mount for a drive through L.A. streets to the Science Center. There, it will go on display with the shuttle Endeavour, which took a similar trip through the city in 2012. This tank is a 154-foot-long lightweight version of the external tank that launched with the space shuttle, absorbing and distributing more than 7 million pounds of thrust while distributing liquid oxygen and hydrogen to the orbiters main engines, according to NASA documents. After the shuttle Columbias fatal accident on re-entry in 2003, NASA designated ET-94 a test article as the agency planned for the shuttles return to service, which took place with the launch of Discovery in 2005. Ill always see, when I look at ET-94 that its a critical team member, that it made a difference, a NASA official told the Times. When you think about it, its really appropriate for ET-94 to be the one thats on center stage now. Its time for it to have its day and be displayed. As the tank makes its way to Los Angeles, Thursday also marks the 35th anniversary of the first shuttle landing, when Columbia touched down at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The Weekenders SocialFlight schedule shows the airshow season picking up the pace around the country. March Air Reserve Base in California will host its first show since 2012 on Saturday and Sunday, featuring the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds along with military and aerobatic performances and static displays. On Saturday,Old Kingsbury Aerodrome in Kingsbury, Texas, site of the Pioneer Flight Museum, will host its Spring Fly-In on Saturday. The museum preserves and restores artifacts from the earliest days of flight to World War II. The fly-in will feature vintage automobiles as well as aircraft. Durant Regional Airport-Eaker Field in Oklahoma will host the Take to the Skies AirFest on Saturday, presented by the Choctaw Casino Resort. The airshow will feature a variety of aerobatic shows along with military performances including the U.S. Air Force and the Oklahoma Army National Warbird rides in aircraft from the Cavanaugh Flight Museum will be available. For aSunday day trip, fly in to Sportys at Clermont County, Ohio, and have lunch with members of the PALS (Patient Airlift Services) team. Learn more about PALS pilots and their experiences with medical flights around the northeastern states, including Ohio. For more on this weekends events, visit SocialFlight. 14 April 2016 14:41 (UTC+04:00) By Nazrin Gadimova Recent developments in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict area showed the necessity to change the status-quo to find a solution to the protracted problem. The Armenian-staged provocation made the international community think in depth about the real threat that exists in the region. The Karabakh conflict has stretched on for many years due to the fault of Armenia and some have forgotten that this is the real war that is not over. So, could erupt at any moment, as it happened on April 2. Armenia violated the ceasefire all of a sudden and even Yerevan has periodically arranged provocations on the contact line of troops before, the recent escalation was the unprecedented act of violence. Now many organizations and decision makers accept that the status quo, which Armenia is keen to preserve, is categorically unacceptable in this situation. Federica Mogherini, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, believes that events in Nagorno-Karabakh are a reminder how dangerous a protracted conflict can be. Addressing a plenary session of the European Parliament held in Strasbourg on April 12, Mogherini said a large scale conflict is not in the interest of anyone and can lead to nowhere. "Everyone now understands that status quo can only lead to more violence and this is exactly what happened. Let us not underestimate dangers of this conflict, let us turn current situation into an opportunity towards peace," she stressed, adding that the EU is increasing its efforts towards a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "It [the conflict] continues to pose a threat to regional security in our neighborhood, and it is an obstacle towards development of both countries and of the entire region. South Caucasus is a crucial region for Europe, it lies on the crossroads between Europe, Asia and the Middle East," she concluded. The German Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Frank-Walter Steinmeier also believes that the existing status quo is unacceptable. There is a need to hold serious talks aimed at solving the crisis in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, he said in his interview with the local media. Steinmeier then welcomed the armistice between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but at the same time he emphasized that the existing status quo cannot provide security. With its wrong policy Armenia has driven itself into a corner. After the escalation of the conflict Yerevan was surprised that no one - neither Russia nor the Western countries are going to defend its interests. And now, when international organizations and numerous officials have stepped up their efforts to resolve the conflict, Yerevan will fail to explain its refusal to comply with the terms for the settlement of the prolonged conflict. -- Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 11:00 (UTC+04:00) The Armenian armed forces 132 times violated ceasefire on various parts of the contact line between the troops of Azerbaijan and Armenia During the past 24 hours, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry reported on April 14. Armenian military was using large-caliber machine guns. Azerbaijani positions located in the village of Gizilhajili of the Gazakh district and the nameless heights were fired by Armenians stationed in Berkaber village of the Ijevan district, as well as the nameless heights of the Noyemberyan district. Armenian military stationed in Chinari village of Armenia's Berd district opened fire at the Azerbaijani army positions in the villages of Agbulag, Kokhanebi of the Tovuz district. Azerbaijani army positions, located on nameless heights in Azerbaijan's Gadabay district, were fired at by the Armenian military stationed on nameless heights in Armenia's Krasnoselsk district. Armenian army also opened fire from positions near Goyarkh, Yarimja, Chilaburt villages of the Terter district, Shikhlar, Javahirli, Sarijali, Kangarli, Novruzlu, Shuraabad, Qaraqashli, Merzili, Yusifjanli villages of the Aghdam district, Kuropatkino village of the Khojavand district, Garakhanbeyli, Horadiz, Gorgan, Ashagi Seyidahmadli villages of the Fizuli district and Mehdili village of the Jabrayil district. Armenians also opened fire upon the Azerbaijani army positions from nameless heights in the Goygol, Goranboy, Khojavand, Fizuli and Jabrayil districts. Azerbaijani armed forces inflicted 132 strikes upon Armenian positions. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 17:51 (UTC+04:00) By Nazrin Gadimova Anti-Russian sentiments are gaining new pace in Armenia, as the country was upset with Russia's position in the last military operation on the frontline with Azerbaijan. Armenia staged provocations on the contact line of troops on April 2, thus making the Azerbaijani side to retaliate the mass attacks targeting not only military positions, but also civilians. Armenian army killed 6 Azerbaijani civilians, while 26 were reported to get heavily injured as a result of attacks. The scaly reply of well-equipped Azerbaijani troops to such sudden attacks revealed poor state of the Armenian army, which immediately blamed the countries, in particular Russia in sale of weapons to neighboring country. Instead of thinking about its own aggressive actions towards Azerbaijan, Yerevan now calls to include Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin in the list of personas non grata after his statements in regards of deliveries of weapons to the both side. Such a nervous statement indeed shows that while initiating a new provocation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia was expecting a full, comprehensive support from Moscow, but this did not happen. And what is more, response of the international community was immediate and also did not suit the Armenian side some politicians finally expressed their deepest concern over the existing status quo. Now Armenia is demanded to withdraw its troops from the occupied Azerbaijani lands. Reiterating his countrys official position over this issue, Rogozin said deliveries of Russian arms to Armenia and Azerbaijan form a balance that keeps the region from military escalation. Moreover, Rogozin stressed that in accordance with agreements Russia will continue to supply weapons to Azerbaijan as their strategic partner. "For Russia, Armenia is the CSTO ally, with whom we have military-technical cooperation, while Azerbaijan is not our ally, but it is our strategic partner in the region, with which we have strong economic ties, the Russian deputy prime minister said. Some Armenian mass media, including HayastanNews, report that after this statement it will be proper to declare Dmitry Rogozin unwelcomed person in the country. Acting in this way, Yerevan has put itself in an awkward and stupid situation, and now is doing everything to undermine relations with its most important and sole ally Russia. Armenias aggressive policy has resulted in its isolation from regions important countries: Turkey has closed its border after Armenia occupied Azerbaijans internationally recognized territories, while Azerbaijan responded with the same actions after Yerevan's naked aggression. If Armenia, the poorest country of the region, severs diplomatic relations with Moscow, it will hardly be able to deal with the all-absorbing crisis in solitude. -- Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 12:37 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli ...Shells were falling like rain. We had no breathing time, Fazil Aliyev, an owner of the burned house in Agdam, an Azerbaijani city on the contact of line with Armenians, remembers that terrible day. Armenian forces staged provocations on the frontline on April 2 targeting the nearby Azerbaijani regions from the positions under the control. Aghdam, a town in the south-west of Azerbaijan, was under intense shell of Armenian troops, which also targeted Fuzuli, Terter and Goranboy regions. A total of 32 Azerbaijani settlements and civilians living along the frontline suffered from the enemys aggression. The Armenian militaries killed six civilians, including two children under 16, and wounded 26 residents during the shelling. Although the 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group, Armenia violated ceasefire with Azerbaijan targeting houses and civilians. To protect the civilians, the Azerbaijani army gave a strong rebuff, destroying more than 370 enemy soldiers, 12 tanks, 12 armored vehicles and 15 artillery pieces. Although the military operations on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies were stopped on April 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, great damage was caused to public, their houses, schools and other facilities. Some 232 houses, 99 poles for power transmission lines, electrical substations, water mains and gas pipelines, as well as hospitals, mosques and schools were seriously damaged or destroyed. One of the enemy shells hit the school in Agdams Sarijali village. Fortunately, no students were at the school. My house is located close to the school. Fortunately, the school was closed that day. Otherwise, a major disaster could occur, school teacher Khanlar Fatayev said. Goranboy District Chief Executive Nizameddin Guliyev noted that the regions Tapqaraqoyunlu and Zeybe villages were severely damaged. Communication lines were damaged. Armenians mostly fired from artillery and Grad shells. As a result, about 100 houses and kindergartens were damaged. Despite no civilians were killed during the attack, some nine houses were completely destroyed and 60 heads of cattle were killed, he said. Currently, restoration work is underway in the regions, which suffered from the four-day attacks of the Armenian armed forces. Head of the Agdam Executive Power Ragub Mammadov said that the total damage is being calculated, adding that restoration of a high school building has already begun. Speaking about the situation in the region, Mammadov noted that, in spite of the ceasefire agreement, Armenians periodically violate ceasefire along the contact line of the troops, opening fire with machine guns, but Azerbaijani armed forces suppress enemy fire. Baku, which has suffered from Yerevan's aggressive policy for more than two decades, has repeatedly stated that the presence of the Armenian Armed Forces in the occupied territories is a major obstacle to the settlement of the conflict and threat to the regional stability. Despite the fact that the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) demanding the Armenian troops to withdraw from Azerbaijan's occupied territories, they were ignored and have not been implemented by Yerevan yet. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 16:24 (UTC+04:00) The units of Armenian armed forces continue to exacerbate the situation along the entire contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops despite the agreement to cease hostilities, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry reported on April 14. Junior Sergeant Rustam Ahmadov, serving in Azerbaijan's army, was killed on April 14 at the line of contact while suppressing another Armenian provocation. The Defense Ministry stated that the responsibility for the bloody provocation on the line of contact lies entirely on the military and political leadership of Armenia and the retaliatory strike on the enemy will be devastating. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 23:51 (UTC+04:00) By Nazrin Gadimova Azerbaijan, more than Armenia, is interested in establishment of an international military tribunal over the recent events on the contact line of troops, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry said on April 14. The ministry made such a statement in a response to Yerevan, which announced about possibility of appealing to the UN to create an international military tribunal in connection with the recent events. Baku believes that the creation of a military tribunal will help to prove countless bloody crimes committed against Azerbaijanis. "The genocide of Azerbaijani civilians in Khojaly is a sufficient fact to force the Armenian leadership and its field commanders to stand before the International Criminal Court and to receive condign punishment," the defense ministry stressed. Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan flared up again on April 2 when Yerevan, which has pursued an aggressive and occupation policy against Baku, tried to tarnish Azerbaijans image by provoking war and repeatedly violating the ceasefire and firing on civilians. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on April 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides. Later, the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have retrieved the bodies of the military personnel left on the battlefield in accordance with the agreement, which was reached through the mediation of relevant international organizations. However, despite the agreement, Armenian Armed Forces continue to violate ceasefire on the contact line of troops. Azerbaijans State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People said the enemy also violated the ceasefire during the process of exchanging the bodies of the military personnel. -- Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 17:36 (UTC+04:00) By Nazrin Gadimova Armenia once again proved its treacherous nature while refusing to provide information about the missing Azerbaijani serviceman, warrant officer Seymur Bakhishov. Armenia does not take appropriate steps for return of the soldier, Azerbaijans State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons told Trend on April 14. Earlier, Baku has launched an investigation after several citizens reported about the servicemen who have gone missing in the recent military operations on the contact line of the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops. Armenian aggression against its neighboring country resulted in death of over 20,000 Azerbaijanis while over 4,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis were taken captive, hostage, or went missing as a result of the war. The majority of those captured during the hostilities are children, elderly people and women. The Azerbaijani National Security Ministrys documents earlier revealed that Armenian vandals have set up six women- and children- only internment camps: Vardenis childrens camp (250 occupancy), Razdan children's camp (180 occupancy), Khankendi (Stepanakert) children's camp (180), Gechashen women's camp (320), Jermuk women's camp (250) and Kalbajar women's camp (150). The available data shows that Armenians have grossly violated the rules and provisions of the conventions on captives and hostages. They subjected hostages to brutal forms of tortures and forced them into hard labor. -- Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 09:00 (UTC+04:00) The British School in Baku will hold an OPEN DAY on April 29 between 1:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. The event will feature a comprehensive presentation and general overview of the curriculum, and give a chance to tour the school itself. Refreshments will be provided. Those interested can confirm attendance at [email protected] The event can provide the best possible experience, for those who would like to avail of this opportunity. For the registration at reception it's necessary to bring ID. BSB founded in 2007 is the only British School in Azerbaijan and that is what gives it its distinctive character. Its curriculum is based on the English National Curriculum which, has become one of the most respected globally and prepares children for study at university level around the world. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 11:06 (UTC+04:00) The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Herbert Salber, will arrive in Baku on April 14 to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Salber told Trend by phone that he plans to hold a number of meetings with Baku officials. The main topic of the talks will be the latest developments on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, Salber said. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 17:26 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova The 13th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has today kicked off in Istanbul. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva are attending the Summit. President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed President Aliyev and other heads of state and government. Then the heads of state and government posed together for photographs. The Summit is held under the motto Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace. The event started with the recitation of verses from the Quran. Foreign Minister of Egypt Sameh Shoukry, whose country chaired the 12th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, praised the OIC`s activity in terms of protecting the interests of Muslims and Islamic countries. The FM announced that the chairmanship of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation passed from Egypt to Turkey. President Erdogan, who accepted the chairmanship of the OIC, expressed hope that this event would be a success for the entire Islamic world. Secretary General of the OIC Iyad Ameen Madani thanked Turkey for the excellent organization of the Summit, as well as the active protection of the interests of Islamic countries in the world. The Secretary General of the OIC said Armenia continues its aggressive policy against Azerbaijan. He underlined that finding a soonest possible solution to the conflicts in Muslim countries was the key task facing the world community. The Secretary General said the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved on the basis of the UN Security Council resolutions within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Iyad Ameen Madani noted that the OIC would continue to support Azerbaijan in the settlement of the problem. The Secretary General expressed his confidence that the OIC Istanbul Summit would demonstrate fair and resolute stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as it did with respect to the conflicts in other Muslim countries. Then a short documentary on the developments taking place in Muslim countries was screened. Speeches on behalf of groups of Asian, Arab and African countries were heard. President Aliyev addressed the event on behalf of Asian group. The Azerbaijani president wished Turkey success in its new chairmanship. Emir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani addressed the Summit on behalf of Arab countries, while Gambian President Yahya Jammeh on behalf of African countries. The Turkish President thanked the heads of state for their speeches. Then King of Saudi Arabia Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud made a speech at the event. Later, a dinner reception was hosted on behalf of Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu in honor of participants of the 13th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul. President Aliyev attended the dinner. Addressing the event, Davutoglu expressed confidence that the Summit would be fruitful. Founded in 1969, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation consists of nearly 60 member states and represents the collective voice of the Islamic world. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 13:43 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli The Azerbaijani Parliament will discuss a bill "On Reproductive Health" at the plenary session on April 15. Ahliman Amiraslanov, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on health issues announced about it at the round table titled The traditions and customs of the formation of the family institution on April 13. Amiraslanov went on to say that several subjective reasons delay the adoption of the bill. The main reason is in the wrong organization of advocacy. Vitro fertilization, which is stipulated in the project, is carried out in such Muslim countries as Saudi Arabia and Iran. Then why it should not be applied in our country?! he said. The MP believes that issues included in the bill, should not be perceived as contrary to Islam. Opponents of the bill claimed that the matters included into the project, such as artificial insemination, "surrogate mother" and donor insemination contradict the national mentality. Supporters of the bill believe that the adoption of the law will help prevent divorces and childlessness. We held meetings with structures opposing the bill, and mulled a number of issues that cause discontent. Particularly, we met with the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations, and the Caucasus Muslims Office and discussed these issues together, he said. The meetings revealed that these structures didnt know the essence of the issue, he said, adding that therefore, the issues that are included in the bill cannot be perceived as contrary to Islam. Both the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations and Caucasus Muslims Office approved the bill. As soon as Parliamentary Chairman Ogtay Asadov agrees, it will be included in the agenda for discussion, he explained. The long-lasting discussions on the adoption of "Reproductive health and family planning" caused wide public debate. Achieving good reproductive health remains a far-off goal in many parts of the world. Family planning is one of the most basic and essential healthcare services that can promote and ensure reproductive health, yet at least 200 million women lack access to modern methods of family planning in the world. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 16:44 (UTC+04:00) Armenia has once again distorted the essence of negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in a way convenient for itself. Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov announced about it while talking to Azertac state news agency on April 14. As usual the Armenian side has distorted the negotiation process in a way they see fit for themselves. Attempts by Armenia to distort the essence of the negotiation process and to introduce unilateral attitudes are yet another indication of Armenias unserious and destructive approach towards the conflict settlement process, Mammadyarov said. It is beyond any logic to argue the invalidity of the document, in this context the updated Madrid principles, submitted by co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group to the depositary of the Secretary General of OSCE, with the consent of the parties to the conflict - Armenia and Azerbaijan, he said emphasizing that Azerbaijan's position to resolve the conflict is well known to the international community. Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by US, Russian and French mediators to end the conflict have been largely fruitless so far. In accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993) Armenian armed forces should completely and unconditionally withdraw from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijans integrity and sovereignty must be provided within the internationally recognized borders. Azerbaijan repeatedly expressed its readiness to start the political process for the settlement of the conflict based on the mentioned principles, he said. The FM believes the sabotage and military provocations launched by the Armenian armed forces since April 2 along the line of contact are yet another testimony to the fact that illegal presence of Armenian troops in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is the main reason for the tensions and poses a threat to the regional peace and security. Elmar Mammadyarov stated that it has also demonstrated fragility of the peace in the region. Probably, some people in Armenia think that the region is still in the 90s of the last century. The region has changed significantly. It is obvious that unlike Armenia, the political and economic policy of Azerbaijan such as the other countries of the region is more mature in the international and regional levels. The sooner Armenian leadership realizes the importance of withdrawing their troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, the sooner peace and stability can be provided in the region, Mammadyarov concluded. As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled. The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 16:36 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijan by its successful response to the aggressive provocations of the Armenian armed forces has demonstrated the technical and moral advantages of its army to the whole world, Aurelia Grigoriu, the chairperson of the Public Chamber of Moldova, told Trend on April 14. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire. "Azerbaijan demonstrated its determination to defend its territorial integrity by all means within the framework of international law," said Grigoriu. She said that no preservation of the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be considered, as only those who are not interested in a peaceful resolution of this conflict can support such a status. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. "The international community, if it sincerely wants to prevent the bloodshed is now obliged to support Azerbaijan, a country suffering from aggression, and force Armenia to finally comply with the requirements of the four resolutions of the UN Security Council, as well as other documents of authoritative international structures on unquestioned withdrawal from the occupied Azerbaijani territories," Grigoriu said. "Only after the liberation of Azerbaijan's seven occupied districts and the Nagorno-Karabakh region, after the return of IDPs to their homes will it be possible to proceed to the next stage of settlement of the conflict in a peaceful way - addressing the issue of self-determination if this issue is topical," she said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 17:54 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova Azerbaijan has voiced its keen aspiration to further develop relations with the Muslim states. President Ilham Aliyev, who is attending the 13th Islamic Summit Conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, said at the first session of the Summit that Azerbaijan gives priority to cooperation with the Islamic countries. "In recent years, Baku has hosted more than 10 meetings of the OIC member states' foreign affairs, culture, tourism, education, labor and other ministers," he said. "I highly appreciate the activity of OIC towards mutual support and solidarity. Today, Islamophobia is one of the serious threats to the world. We strongly condemn this trend. In fact, Islam is a religion of peace, compassion, tolerance and justice. Equating Islam with terrorism is a wrong and biased approach. The Muslim states are the most affected from terrorism." Azerbaijan regularly contributes to the dialogue of cultures and religions. Capital Baku will host the 7th Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations on April 25-27. Azerbaijan also attaches great importance to solidarity among Islamic countries. The 4th Islamic Solidarity Games will also be held in Baku in 2017. President Aliyev also drew attention to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the OIC's efforts in resolving it. The head of state said the OIC foreign ministers have decided to establish a contact group engaged in the settlement of the conflict, and thanked the organization for such a decision. "For more than 20 years, Armenia has been pursuing aggressive policy against Azerbaijan. As a result of this policy, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory - Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions were occupied by Armenia, ethnic cleansing was carried out in those areas and more than one million of our cognates have become refugees and internally displaced people. Armenia has committed Khojaly genocide. International community and organizations recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and support fair settlement of the conflict in accordance with international law. The UN Security Council has issued four resolutions on the conflict. These resolutions demand immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian Armed Forces from Azerbaijani lands. At the same time, the Non-Aligned Movement, the OSCE, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and other organizations have adopted similar resolutions," he stressed. President Aliyev thanked the OIC for fair resolutions of the organization on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which supports settlement of the conflict within the framework of Azerbaijan's sovereignty and territorial integrity. "Occupant Armenia ignores these decisions and from time to time resorts to armed provocations to break the negotiation process. One of them was carried out in early April. Azerbaijani soldiers and civilians were killed in an armed attack. Azerbaijani army prevented the Armenian provocation," he said. The OIC, which announced on April 12 about its plan to establish a contact group for the settlement of the long-lasting Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, always kept the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in focus. Its member states expressed concern over the occupation of Azerbaijan territories by Armenia as well as the looting and destruction of archeological, cultural and religious monuments in those areas, including those Islamic monuments included in the resolution that the OIC summit adopted in Dakar, Senegal in 2008. Moreover, the Organization has repeatedly slammed Armenia for the destruction of Islamic artifacts in the invaded lands. The 13th Summit of the OIC is being held in Istanbul on April 14-15 and there will be very broad participation, as it is being attended by the representatives of all 56 member countries. The theme of this years summit is Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace. This Summit is being held at a time when there is a need for unity and solidarity of the Islamic world to search for ways of preventing risks and threats, resolving the existing problems endangering peace and justice, which is worthy of the Islamic world. Settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was high on the agenda of the OIC Summit. Iyad Ameen Madani, who serves as the secretary general of the OIC, stated that the violation of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity is unacceptable. While speaking at the 13th OIC Islamic Summit Conference, he noted that the Organization stands for the speedy settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Turkey, which has always supported Azerbaijan's sovereignty and territorial integrity, has also urged the OIC to support Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The latest developments in the region require the OIC countries to show a single position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in turn, said the interference of other countries in the Muslim states' affairs is unacceptable and urged the Muslim countries to resolve their problems themselves, He also proposed the member states of the OIC to establish the Arbitration Center for resolving their internal disputes. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 19:32 (UTC+04:00) By Nazrin Gadimova Russia will do everything to find a solution to the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, as Moscow is interested in the conflict settlement. Russian President Vladimir Putin made the remark as part of annual direct line on April 14. Putin went on to add that a compromise should be found. Several years ago, it seemed, we were quite close to the settlement, but things turned out to be different, Putin said. This is a very sensitive topic, which should be treated according to the "Do no harm" principle. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Putin further added that Russia will continue working to resolve this issue within the framework of international organizations and in a bilateral format. Russia, no matter what anyone says, is interested in solving this issue, he said. We want to work with both Azerbaijan and Armenia. Russia will make its contribution to the solution of the conflict, but the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia must make the final decision. Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the release of the regions around Karabakh and simultaneous addressing of the issue of its status will allow unlocking the situation in the conflict zone. Armenia staged provocations on the contact line of troops on April 2, thus making the Azerbaijani side to retaliate the mass attacks targeting not only military positions, but also civilians. Following Yerevans provocations, Azerbaijan has replied with a strong counter attack and later unilaterally called on truce. Despite the parties to the conflict have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact through the mediation of Russia, which is the co-chair country in the OSCE Minsk Group, Armenia continues to breach fragile ceasefire. -- Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 11:10 (UTC+04:00) Due to frequent fraud cases in the tourism sector, CJSC Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) calls on people traveling overseas to apply to only trusted travel agencies, AZAL said. To avoid problems with air tickets, AZAL calls to use services of agencies that have an official agreement to sell the airline's tickets in Azerbaijan. You can find the list of the agencies on the following link: www.azal.az/en/article/31082015 For more information: Telephone: (012) 598 88 80 / *8880 Email: [email protected] Azerbaijan Airlines is a major air carrier and one of the leaders of the aviation community of CIS countries. AZAL with the newest airplane fleets, consisting of 25 airplanes, does not have a single old plane. The total route network of AZAL, one of the aviation community leaders in the CIS area, includes 40 destinations in 19 countries. Being an important member of the International Civil Aviation Organization Council, for its services AZAL received a prestigious "4 Stars" from the leader in air transport research, the world-famous British consulting company Skytrax last June. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 19:18 (UTC+04:00) By Fatma Babayeva The railway agencies of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan agreed to create the International Trans-Caspian Transport Consortium. This was announced by Nadir Azmammadov, the spokesman for Azerbaijan Railways JSC on April 13. The agreement on the establishment of the consortium was signed on April 13 during the meeting of companies involved in cargo transportation via the Trans-Caspian international transport route. Azerbaijani companies ADY Express and ACSC Logistics, Kazakh KTZ Express JSC and Georgian Trans Caucasus Terminals LLC are the members of the consortium. The sides also agreed to create Supervisory Board of the Consortium. Igbal Huseynov, the deputy head of Azerbaijan Railways JSC was elected as a chairman of the board. The parties further agreed that the schedule for cargo trains via the Trans-Caspian transport route will be determined in May, Azmammadov added. The Trans-Caspian international transport route runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then through Turkey and Ukraine goes to Europe. This is a multimodal corridor using railway, maritime and roadways for transporting goods. The establishment of railway consortium is expected to ensure smooth, more convenient, fast and cost-efficient transportation of goods from ports of China to Europe via the Trans-Caspian international transport route. Once the transport corridor will run at its full capacity, it will have a positive impact both on Azerbaijans economic growth and its members countries of the region. This route will transport approximately 300,000-400,000 containers by 2020. Previously, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Ukraine signed a protocol on setting preferential tariffs for cargo transportation via this route on January 14. Moreover, the commissioning of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will accelerate cargo delivering between the East and West. The effective operation of the Trans-Caspian transport route will positively affect the growth of trade turnover between Europe and China. At the same time, the route will contribute to Azerbaijan by helping the country to turn into a transport hub between East and West. The Trans-Caspian route is expected not to have an alternative in the coming decade by being the cheapest and most profitable corridor for freight traffic in the region. --- Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 12:46 (UTC+04:00) Baku Expo Centre will host the only event in the Caspian region specialised in energy efficiency and renewable energy, the 6th Caspian International Power and Alternative Energy Exhibition, Caspian Power 2016 on June 1-4. The exhibition is part of a series of major energy events from the leading exhibition company ITE Group and is a proven brand among industry companies. The exhibition is organized by Iteca Caspian and its partner, ITE Group (UK). Traditionally, the Caspian Power exhibition will take place on the same platform as the largest event in the Caspian region's oil and gas sector - Azerbaijan International Oil and Gas, Refining and Petrochemicals Exhibition and Conference, Caspian Oil & Gas. The relevance of the exhibition is preconditioned by the launch of the new power plants, the use of hybrid power stations, and the installation of wind turbines and solar panels in Azerbaijan. The Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the State Agency for Alternative and Renewable Energy Resources officially support the exhibition. Among the exhibitors are leading vendor companies in the field of power engineering from Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, France, Poland and other countries. The exposition of the exhibition will present automated systems for technical and commercial electricity metering, LEDs, solar panels, LED lights, lighting equipment, a variety of cabling and wiring products, switching and distribution equipment, modern energy-saving bulbs, transformers, insulators, electrical switches and more. The Caspian Power 2016 exhibition provides a unique opportunity to meet with leading representatives of the electric-power industry, to learn about the latest technological developments and power development strategies, as well as to expand and establish new, effective and mutually beneficial contacts and conclude long-term contracts. 14 April 2016 15:22 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli Kelagayi, a unique headscarf of Azerbaijani fair sex, is as beautiful and gentle as women. The silk headscarf, accentuating female beauty even more, was an integral part of Azerbaijani womens life during many centuries. Kelagayi is a silk headscarf made from fine and soft silk in a four-cornered shape and with a printed pattern on it. Silk thread is incredibly thin, and unbelievably strong as well ... silk both warms and cools. This beautiful garment with 2,000-year history enters the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List, thus acquiring even a symbolic meaning thanks to its colors and patterns decorating this piece of folk art. Azerbaijan, being the largest sericulture region of the Middle East of the 17th century, therefore local masters produced amazing fabrics and silk headscarves surprising with their niceties, thinness, elegance and beauty of patterns. Azerbaijans regions Shamakhi, Ganja, Sheki and Shusha were important centers of production of silk fabrics, so that Italian traveler Marco Polo living in the 13th century, noted the beauty of silk scarves made in Shamakhi and Barda. It is believed that through color, ornament and tying techniques of kelagayi girls could declare their love, ask for forgiveness, make up a quarrel, or define their social status. Color also can be selected to suit all tastes. Red kelagayi, for instance, traditionally was put on bride's head. Unmarried girls always covered heads with headscarves of bright colors, usually yellow, pink, gold and lilac. Adult women preferred to wear kelagayi of darker shades, not to attract attention. Each region of the country has its own manner of wearing kelagayi. In some places kelagayi was tying over kerchief previously collecting hair with flax. Shawl covered womens face and surrounded their figure. Although the days when kelagayi were so popular among women left behind, however, this traditional clothing accessories still please the eye and warm the soul. The tradition of covering head with kelagayi is still preserved in some regions of the country, mostly among older generations of women. Young girls do not cover their head with kelagayi, and wear them instead of a scarf, beautifully tie it around the neck or cover shoulders as part of the accessory. Traditionally kelagayis were in the form of a square and regular in size -- 150x150 or 160x160 cm, which was considered as a module, dividing the scarf into four parts, and getting comfortable scarf for everyday wear. Nowadays kelagayis are made in different sizes including rectangular shape in the form of scarves, or square-shaped but smaller size. Today, the beautiful accessory is imposed both on the local market and abroad, mainly neighboring Iran. Ornaments for kelagayi are produced by wooden forms or seals, called ghalib, usually made of pear or walnut wood. There are great varieties of drawings including rose, poppy, narcissus, flowers of fruit trees, etc and all of these patterns take on deeper meaning and are used to transmit certain information while combining into a coherent composition. Ornament pattern of kelagagis are different in various regions of Azerbaijan. But regardless of pattern applied to kelagayi this traditional scarf will always decorate the image of Azerbaijani women and serve as an example of Azerbaijan folk art. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 10:00 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Enerji Club in Baku will host an incredible performance of Ukrainian stylists titled "Music and style night", Trend Life reports. The show scheduled for May16, will be attended by the team of Erteqoob Hairdressing Academy, which is going to publicly demonstrate a new approach in hairdressing. The event program includes the show of exclusive collection from Georgian designer's U. G. L. Y Studio, prepared specifically for this project. The show will end with performance of Cepasa (Pavel Lenchenko), the Ukrainian electronic music producer and vocalist who creates deep electronic music as well as bass-oriented tracks. His charismatic vocal and distinctive music allowed him to be named one of the top Ukrainian producers. The debut album Doing Right made his name known as a producer with his own unique style. For the tickets, please call: (050) 25 23 247 Media partners of the event are Trend, Day.az and Milli.az --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 18:06 (UTC+04:00) By Fatma Babayeva Azerbaijans state-owned energy company SOCAR can reduce its stake in Greek natural gas transmission system operator DESFA from 66 to 41 percent, reports Greek media. Earlier, Greek Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Panos Skourletis said that SOCAR needs to sell 17 percent to a European company in order to complete the acquisition of 66 percent stake in DESFA. However, due to the failure of selling 17 percent stake to European companies, SOCAR may increase the proposed stake to 25 percent by keeping 41 percent stake in DESFA, writes Greek mass media. SOCAR won a tender in December 2013 on the sale of 66-percent share in DESFA for 400 million euros. The European Commission started an inquiry into the compliance of the deal on acquisition of a stake in DESFA with the EUs regulations in November 2014. Currently, the deal is being considered by European Commissions Directorate-General for Competition, and the procedure will continue until the end of the year. The privatization of DESFA is delayed due to the fact that the EC opposes to the transfer of a majority stake in gas operator to SOCAR. The European Commission does not want the control package of such a big Transmission System transferred to the hands of non-EU country, but remain under the Greek control. Baku has earlier claimed that from Azerbaijan's perspective, there was no conflict of interest in acquiring a majority stake in DESFA as the gas owner to be pumped through the SGC was not Azerbaijan, but the Shah-Deniz Consortium. --- Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 11:16 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova Kazakhstan and Turkey, the two Turkic speaking countries with expanded economic ties, have discussed the possibility of strengthening cooperation in trade, investment making, agriculture, culture and humanitarian fields. The discussions were held in Istanbul on April 13 at a meeting of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is on a visit to Turkey to attend the 13th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Akorda reported. During the meeting, the sides pointed out the promising joint projects, the implementation of which can involve the small and medium business representatives from both countries. Nazarbayev and Erdogan also reviewed the progress in implementation of the agreements reached during the Turkish president's visit to Kazakhstan in April 2015. The Kazakh president pointed out that leading Turkish companies and holdings can actively participate in implementation of the 'Nurly Zhol' program, as well as the industrial and innovative development programs in Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev also highlighted Kazakhstan's transit and transportation potential, which can be effectively used for economic development of both countries. The Turkish president, for his part, underscored the necessity of strengthening the bilateral cooperation for achieving goals in a number of fields. With growing economic ties with world countries, Turkey, in recent years has focused on more effective cooperation with Central Asian states. Thanks to its geographic, religious, cultural, and historical bonds both with Europe and Central Asia, Turkey intends to be a bridge between the countries of these regions. Turkey, best positioned in between Europe and Asia, is also a stable economic and political partner of Central Asian states, in particular of Kazakhstan. Active cooperation with Astana is on the focus of Ankara's long term economic interests. Also, Turkey is seen as an economically stabile route for seamless transportation of Kazakhstan's huge oil and gas resources to international markets. Turkey considers Kazakhstan as one of the most important players in the supply of Central Asias energy resources to European markets through the Caspian Sea. Development of transport and transit potential between the two countries is also among the most important areas of cooperation. Experts believe that Kazakhstan, which intends to develop its ability to export not only oil, but also other products, in particular metals and grain across the Caspian Sea, considers Turkey as a good route with a long coastline and hundreds of years of maritime experience. In this case both sides will have a profit: Kazakhstan will benefits from a new export route, while Turkey - from goods imported and transit fees for Kazakh goods heading to Europe. Turkish companies actively cooperate in various fields of the Kazakh economy. More than 1,800 Turkish companies operate in Kazakhstan, and this figure exceeds the number of other foreign companies operating in the country. Till mid-2015, the total cost of projects implemented by Turkish contractors in Kazakhstan stands at about $17.5 billion. In 2012-2015, the trade turnover between the two countries has doubled - from $2 billion to $4 billion, and this figure is projected to reach $10 billion within the framework of the program New Synergy, adopted by the heads of the two states eralier. Turkey and Kazakhstan, which have a great relationship since the collapse of the Soviet Union, are expected to further enjoy goodwill that provides a basis for closer and larger cooperation. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 13:29 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova Energy-rich Kazakhstan believes that potential participants of the Eurasia project will soon take a decision on the study and exploration of hydrocarbon deposits in the Caspian basin. The government expects to receive intentions of participation in this project by late May, Kazakh Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev was quoted by Novosti-Kazakhstan as saying on April 14. "We are well aware that a decision on participation in such a complex project requires a certain time. Therefore, appealing to potential participants of the consortium, I want to say that we look forward to their decision by the end of the spring, that is, until the end of May," the minister said during a round table. In October 2015, the Kazakh government approved a list of privileges and preferences, which is an initial step towards negotiations with potential participants of the $500-million worth project. The Eurasia project, to be implemented in 2016 to 2020, targets studying deep-water geological structure of the region to enable discovery of new and huge hydrocarbons recources. The project initiated in Atyrau in 2014 stipulates the exploration of deep laying horizons of the Caspian Basin, both on land and at sea, located on the territory of Kazakhstan and Russia. The project will be carried out in three phases. The first phase envisages the collection and processing of materials from previous years. The second phase includes large-scale research. The last phase includes the drilling of a new support-parametric well called Caspian 1, at the depth of nearly 14-15 kilometers. The potential payoff for the Eurasia project is huge - up to some 50 billion tons of oil and oil equivalent. Currently, Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry jointly with the Committee of Geology and Subsoil Use and the KazMunaiGas National Company is holding initial talks with potential participants on various aspects of the project. "We are open to discussion and proposals from potential participants of the Eurasia project. We are in active dialogue with our Russian partners and with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on this issue," Bozumbayev stated. Earlier, the Kazakh Energy Ministry told Trend that Kazakhstan currently holds meetings and consultations with such leading global oil, gas and service companies as the U.S. Chevron, the French Total, Russia's Lukoil and Rosneft, China's CNPC, India's ONGC and others regarding the terms of their possible involvement in the Eurasia project. The prospects of realizing the Eurasia project are huge and it can bring huge benefits to Kazakhstan, in particular huge investments and financial revenues, new technologies and decrease of dependence on old oil fields. Experts believe that Kazakhstan, which desires the participation of international companies in the Astana-initiated project, will see more interest of big oil companies in its Eurasia project. The main condition on the way of involving leading energy companies in this project is the oil price in the world markets as in the current low oil prices and a glut of oil on the world markets the Eurasia project probably does not look so attractive. The Eurasia project is considered by the Kazakh government as a possibility to avoid the energy-rich Central Asian nation from decrease of oil resources. Current forecasts show that global oil production is likely to decrease in about 15-25 years due to depleted reserves by that time. Kazakhstans giant oil fields - Tengiz and Kashagan - are among those fields that are predicted to see reduced output after 2040. In this regard, Kazakhstan needs to discover and develop new fields and the Eurasia project offers such a possibility. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 April 2016 15:03 (UTC+04:00) The 14th Islamic Summit Conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will be held in Kazakhstan in 2017, said Iyad Ameen Madani, the OIC secretary general. Madani made this statement at the 13th OIC Islamic Summit Conference, underway in Istanbul on Apr. 14. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), founded on Sept. 25, 1969, is the largest and most influential official Muslim governmental international organization. The OIC brings together 57 countries. Kazakhstan became an OIC full member in 1995. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3.0 ( - - ): editor [at] bahrainmirror.com A couple who beat a 3-year-old foster child to death and left her body in their southwest Bakersfield home as they fled to Mexico were sentenc Maritime Terminal Project Contracts Have Been Signed Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - On Tuesday, April 12, the General Director of the Port Authority (API) of Puerto Vallarta, Miguel Angel Garcia Beltran, met with the winners of the national bidding contest for the modernization of the cruise ship terminal. The long-anticipated modernization and expansion of the port will include the construction of Passenger Terminal No. 3, a complementary tourist services area, a Mexican hacienda that houses a Tequila museum, and a world-class aquarium where more than 300 species will be exhibited. Representatives of the winning companies - Carlos Gerard Guzman on behalf of sister company and subsidiary of VallartaShorex, Puerto Magico PV, which was awarded the contract for the passenger terminal; and Alejandro Nasta Icaza, on behalf of one of Carlos Slim's companies, Blau Life, S.A.P.I. de C.V., which will be building the aquarium - met with Garcia Beltran for the signing of the respective contracts for the over 300 million pesos investment project. During the meeting, Garcia Beltran put the circumstances and difficulties that were faced to make the project a reality into context. He explained that the bidding process was delayed due to the limited number of cruise ship arrivals in Puerto Vallarta three years ago, when the project was first proposed, which was not attractive to entrepreneurs. At that time, Puerto Vallarta only received 80 cruise ships per year, so he set out to improve the API's security and services to encourage more cruise ships to visit our port. And the cruise lines DID return, to such an extent that this year around 140 cruise ships are expected to arrive in Puerto Vallarta. In parallel, he said, the number of tourists to our city has also risen dramatically, thanks in great part to the federal and state governments' efforts to strengthen connectivity by air, maritime and railway to accelerate the growth of tourism. Gerard Carlos Guzman said that this investment project seeks to regenerate the product of Puerto Vallarta in alignment with the federal and state governments' promotional efforts. "The goal is to conjoin Puerto Vallarta's efforts with those of the federal government to increase the port's competitiveness and enhance interest in Puerto Vallarta within the cruise industry," he said. The API modernization project will also include a hacienda that houses a new Tequila Museum to draw the attention of the cruise lines that visit other ports on the Mexican Pacific. Guzman said that he was grateful to the federal government for believing in local investment, (which exceeds 120 million pesos,) but warned it was a tendering procedure in which all requirements must be met. For his part, Alejandro Nasta Icaza said that his company, Blau Life, S.A.P.I. de C.V. specializes in the design, development and operation of public aquariums, adding that Puerto Vallarta's aquarium will be much larger than the public one that tycoon Carlos Slim Helu recently opened in Mexico City, which has more than 300 species and about 15,000 specimens in 48 exhibits. Investors estimate that construction will start within three to four months, after the supporting studies, which are currently being conducted, have been completed. Completion of the Maritime Terminal modernization project is scheduled for late 2017. Sources: regionmx.net paraleloinformativo.com Tracy Lee Gehue contributed to the translation of the source materials, which expedited the publication of this article. San Diego-Tijuana Delegation Heads for Mexico City San Diego, California - San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Tijuana Mayor Jorge Astiazaran are expected to join a binational delegation starting Sunday in Mexico City aimed at raising awareness of key issues in the cross-border region. Led by the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, the 11th annual California-Mexico Trade Initiative takes place through Wednesday. More than 80 participants are scheduled to meet with top Mexican federal officials on a broad range of topics, including energy reform, immigration policy, environmental issues and foreign investment opportunities. "We care about the economic and political relationship, and we will continue to strengthen it. That is our message," said Paola Avila, vice president for international business affairs at the San Diego chamber. The two highest priority issues for this year's visit involve border infrastructure. Avila said that a "huge concern" is the timely opening of PedWest, a new pedestrian entrance at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. U.S. officials are prepared to begin operations in June, but the opening may be postponed because of delays on the Mexican side. Mexican authorities earlier this year said they lacked funding to move forward, but they now say the funds have been guaranteed. Still, Avila said that uncertainty remains over Mexico's ability to carry out the necessary adjustments in time for a June opening. She said the other critical issue is Otay Mesa East, a planned port of entry for commercial and passenger vehicles that would be financed through tolls. The project requires close collaboration between the Mexican and U.S. governments. As President Barack Obama is within months of leaving office, "we need to move this forward right now," Avila said. Among the officials scheduled to meet with the group are Mexican energy secretary Pedro Joaquin Coldwell, Mexican customs chief Carlos Trevino Chapa, tourism secretary Enrique Cordero de la Madrid, and Monica Aspe Bernal, subsecretary of communications and transportation. DIOSA MAR Launches Online Store with Fashion Show Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - DIOSA MAR is proud to announce that it will be launching its online store on April 16 by hosting the "Goddess Rising" fashion show at Chicos Yelapa Beach Club. DIOSA MAR was envisioned and created by local designer Tatiana Rodriguez-Anderson, who is ready to make a splash in the swim industry this Spring/Summer 2016 with the launch of her online store making her collection available to Mexico and the world. "DIOSA MAR has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. Living in Yelapa all I ever wore were swimsuits and no shoes. It is an honor for me to be launching my own swimsuit brand in the place where I grew up and first had a vision for this," said Tatiana. "I wanted to make a line for girls like me, who have a passion for swim wear - especially Brazilian cut swim wear." DIOSA MAR swimwear is locally made in Mexico and the brand embodies what it means to connect with your inner goddess. Diosa means "Goddess" in Spanish and mar means "ocean." The DIOSA MAR logo is an ancient symbol in many cultures, called the triple moon symbol that represents the three phases of a woman's life - the woman in her youth, in motherhood, and the woman in her elderly age. The feminine energy of the moon breathes life into the world and has a deep effect on the tides of the ocean, which shows how the DIOSA MAR brand has deep-rooted symbolism. "Most of the pieces in the DIOSA MAR collection are reversible, this is my current obsession because, who doesn't love a two-for-one? I've carefully selected all the colors which range from earth tones to fluorescent pink," said Rodriguez-Anderson. "DIOSA MAR strives to reconnect women with their inner goddess, and the launch this Saturday will be to celebrate just that." The DIOSA MAR "Goddess Rising" fashion show will begin at 4 pm, followed by a Goddess performance at sunset, invoking the four elements - earth, water, air and fire. The celebration will continue on throughout the night. Guests are encouraged to book accommodations for the night in advance. Diosa Mar hopes to inspire and empower women to connect with their inner goddess. For more information, check out DIOSA MAR SWIM on Facebook. The DIOSA MAR website will go live on April 16 at 4:00 pm, which will allow women everywhere to shop online. Sweet and Savory Bites and Beverages at The OTFM-TC Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Market day is almost here (Saturday), and we have all sorts of unique "make it, bake it, grow it" experiences to enjoy. In fact, we have 90+ stalls featuring farm-fresh produce, regional plants and flowers, fine jewelry and clothing, natural body products, traditional Mexican hand crafts and beautiful art pieces. While you are browsing through the vendor stands, be sure to satisfy your palate with the market's sweet and savory bites and beverages! Baked Goods Baked goods are all the rage at the market. Discover your next favorite from these vendors: Chilean Whole Grain Bread Artisan Bakery (sourdough breads, pastries) Hecho en Mexico Pasteleria (breads & gluten-free) Corn Flan (baked goods, gluten-free & dairy-free) Panaderia Colin (traditional Mexican breads, pastries) Paninos Artisan Bakery (sourdough breads, pastries) Vallarta Bagel World (bagels, breads, cinnamon buns) Food On-the-Go Mexico's traditional tamales make the perfect on-the-go meal. Gourmet options are available at Tamal Gourmet. Tamales y Empanadas Angel also serves up tasty tamales along with flaky empanadas. Teosintle y/o Pozole Dona Lucy stirs up traditional Mexican green pozole, while Perros Locos dishes homemade sausages and French fries. And, if you're in the mood for a more European take on to-go foods, try the British-style pies, quiches and pastries found at The Leek and Thistle Pie Company. Get a Little Saucy Smother, marinade and dip your market finds in the saucy goodness found at the OTFM-TC. Jams, jellies, chutneys and sauces can be found at Jan's Specialty Condiments. You can get dips, salsas and infused oils at Los Sabores de Cristy. Miriam's Mexican Kitchen will wow your taste buds with pestos, sauces, and condiments. Pickle lovers will appreciate Muy Green pickles and dips. And if you crave Italian, you can pick up fresh pasta and sauces from Pasta Fresca Santa Lucia as well as Italian liquors, dried pasta, sauces, and infused oils from La Dolceria Produzione Italiana. Healthy Options Treat your body to a variety of good-for-you foods. La Vaka Gorda serves up Greek yogurt and dips. Top them off with fresh cut fruit from Frutas Frescas de Vallarta. Then make it extra healthy with granola from Gran Ola de Sabor. For a healthy digestive system, go for fermented foods and natural vinegars crafted by Small World Probiotics. Then power up your salad with fresh spouts and dressings made by Shining Sprouts. (And just so that you're not the next meal for pesky mosquitoes, try Shining Sprouts' Natural Mosquito Repellent.) International Food Court Kick back and enjoy a smorgasbord of fun flavors at the International Food Court: Bites of India Comida Taiwanesa (Taiwanese foods as well as green and red tea) El Taco Ranchero (burritos, quesadillas, tacos and huaraches) La Mexicana (traditional Mexican foods made in clay pots) Narisa's Thai Food Veggie Table (vegan hamburgers, al pastor, falafels and sticky buns) Pair your entrees with these fine beverages: Jugos y Aguas Gloria's (fresh juices and all-natural aguas frescas) Zumo Fresh (freshly squeezed orange, lime and grapefruit juices) Cafe Yolanda Superior del Pacifico S.A. de C.V. (hot coffee and organic coffee beans) El Fortin de San Sebastian (coffee, marmalades, dressings, chutney and salsas) The Sweet Stuff Chocolate fans will love Xocodiva Artisan Chocolates' confections and chocolate covered bananas. Get a little nutty with candied nuts from Mr. Pistaches and nut butters and cookies from Cacahuate Carlos. Meet the Market The OTFM-TC is a North American style market that celebrates the tradition and culture of Mexico's outdoor Tianguis markets. It is also a registered non-profit/association civil organization that focuses on nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit of Puerto Vallartans. All OTFM-TC products are either locally grown or handmade within 75 kilometers of the city. You're Invited! The OTFM-TC will be open 9:30-2 every Saturday, from November 7, 2015, to April 30, 2016. You'll find us in Lazaro Cardenas Park, located in Vallarta's Emiliano Zapata neighborhood. For only 12 pesos an hour, you can park in the garage directly beneath park. Public buses and taxis also come this way with a Pino Suarez Street drop off. Get Involved Interested in becoming a new OTFM-TC vendor or volunteer? Stop by the information booth to pick up an application. Dateline: New Zealand A student production of the musical Sweeney Todd got a little too real when two teenagers had their throats accidentally slashed by a prop. The boys, both aged 16, were treated at Auckland City Hospital after the opening night incident at St. Kentigern College. One was treated for serious injuries, the other for moderate injuries. Both were later released. The well-known musical tells the story of a demented Victorian barber who kills his customers by slashing their throats with a razor. Stephen Cole, the head of the private college, told TVNZ that it was an unfortunate and isolated incident. Cole described the prop straight razor as being covered in all sorts of duct tape, foam and silver paper. The same prop had allegedly been used in rehearsals without incident. Asked by a reporter whether a plastic prop blade should have been used instead, Cole replied, In hindsight that may be a reasonable point. Police and health-and-safety officials are investigating. Dateline: Australia A motorist has been charged with several offenses after police in West Australia say he used a seatbelt to secure two cases of beer while leaving his children unrestrained. Kimberley District Police posted a photo on their Facebook page showing two 30-packs of beer (Emu Export and Victoria Bitter, to be precise) buckled into the passenger seat of the mans car. The photo was captioned, Priorities? According to the police department a suspended driver had children laying on adults laps and seated in foot wells, while cartons of beer were seat-belted into position. One of the children was less than a year old. The driver was given two liquor offenses, two summons for misuse of Drugs Act offenses, five summons for no authority to drive, three summons for no seatbelts, seven speeding offenses and four other cautions. Kimberley District Superintendent Allan Adam told ABC News Australia that the incident was symptomatic of a larger problem. It shows some of the attitudes of some of our road users, the superintendent was quoted as saying. We are doing our best to stamp it out through enforcement, but we are also about to embark on public education, which is obviously needed in remote communities. Dateline: Texas A United Airlines flight attendant evidently had enough of her job, deploying a planes emergency slide and bailing out on a flight packed with passengers at the Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Security footage obtained by NBC affiliate KPRC shows the flight attendant tossing a bag down the slide, then riding it expertly to the bottom. She then reclaims her luggage and calmly walks into the airport. United spokesperson Charlie Hobart said officials are still investigating why the unnamed flight attendant inflated the slide from the side of the plane following the early morning flight from Sacramento, Calif. The flight attendant has been removed from her flying duties while airline officials investigate the incident. We hold our employees to the highest standards, the airline said in a statement. This unsafe behavior is unacceptable and does not represent the more than 20,000 flight attendants who ensure the safety of our customers. The plane was put back into service after a new emergency slide was installed and the aircraft was inspected. Dateline: Florida Good news, Floridians: Its now legal for you to live with one another in sin. On Wednesday, April 6, Governor Rick Scott signed a bill to repeal the states generally unenforced prohibition against cohabitation. The law has apparently been on the books since 1868 and prevents a man and woman from living together without being married. Until now unhitched couples could have been fined $500 and locked up in jail for 60 days. The new law repeals the long-standing stature covering unmarried (or married, for that matter) men and women engaging in open behavior that is gross, lewd or lascivious. Now you can be gross all you want, Florida. Dateline: California A man who wanted to propose to his girlfriend in the worst way did just that. Michael Banks, 27, had to be rescued by the California Highway Patrol and ended up being arrested on multiple charges after he scaled the southern face of the 591-foot high Morro Rock off Californias Central Coast. According to the San Luis Obispo Tribune, Banks used the towering backdrop to propose to the love of his life via iPhones FaceTime app. Fortunately, she said yes. Unfortunately, Banks got trapped on the rocks sheer face. A witness heard him yelling for help around 8:30am on the morning of Thursday, April 7, and called 911. A CHP helicopter was eventually dispatched to winch the man off the face of Morro Rock. To make matters worse, Banks was cited for trespassing, since climbing Morro Rock is prohibited. The romantic rock climber was also arrested on suspicion of being under the influence and in possession of methamphetamine. Banks was being held at the San Luis Obispo County Jail in lieu of posting $10,000 bond. The City of Morro Bay later released a statement saying that Banks, will be billed for the chopper ride and other related costs. The country of Iran is often discussed on the campaign trail. In fact, GOP presidential candidate and current frontrunner Donald Trump frequently brings the Iran nuclear deal up during debates and speeches. During a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Trump said, "During the last five years, Iran has perpetrated terror attacks in 25 different countries on five continents." PolitiFact Florida heard the claim and gave it a HALF TRUE rating. PolitiFact writer Joshua Gillin said Trump got it right that Iran is a sponsor or international terror groups, but the problem is, Trump misstated a talking point from the Israeli government. The Israelis did not use the word "attacks." "They involved actually having some kind of reach: sponsoring, giving money, weapons," Gillin said. "Theres a lot of different things here and theres only a couple of actual attacks involved." For that reason, Trumps statement received a HALF TRUE rating. SOURCES: Iran supports terrorism Trump claims As a divided Republican Party stumbles toward what could become an open presidential nominating convention, a familiar name is resurfacing as a potential contender: Marco Rubio. Online petition asks delegates to unite behind Rubio Petition already has 2,500 signatures Polls show Donald Trump, Ted Cruz still faring poorly among moderate Republicans Barely a month after the Florida senator ended his bid for the White House, an online petition has been launched to persuade delegates to unite behind him. The petition, posted on NominateMarco.com, has already garnered 2,500 signatures. In it, its supporters "hereby request that any and all unbound delegates elect Marco Rubio as our nominee" at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July. The petition assumes the party's presidential frontrunner, Donald Trump, won't be able to amass the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination, in which case other candidates could compete for the prize on the convention floor. Calling Rubio "the best and most qualified candidate to defeat the Democratic nominee" in the fall, the petition echoes a position trumpeted by the senator's supporters: that his Hispanic heritage, relative youth and policy acumen make him uniquely qualified to win a general election. Polls have shown Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, the candidate with the second-most delegates, faring poorly among moderate Republicans, independents and crossover Democrats. The delegates in Cleveland are likely to be dominated by Trump and Cruz devotees, who would be hard-pressed to support an establishment candidate like Rubio. "It's not as though you're going to have a bunch of sane Republicans going there to vote for Donald Trump or Ted Cruz," said Democratic strategist Steve Schale. "These are Republicans that want Donald Trump or Ted Cruz to be the nominee, who've already rejected a Jeb Bush, have rejected a Marco Rubio. It's going to be exceptionally hard for mainstream Republicans to convince those kind of Republicans to vote for somebody like Rubio." Two Lakeland men are out to find legendary Bigfoot-type creatures known as skunk apes in the northern Green Swamp. Barton and Conner have searched area for almost two years Believe they captured footage of a skunk ape on video Use skepticism about their efforts as inspiration to keep looking Mark Barton and Chris Conner have been searching the area for almost two years. The men have shot video they believe shows the head and part of the upper body of a skunk ape hiding behind a palmetto bush. MORE INFO: Watch their YouTube channel The two said they didnt realize they had captured what they believe is a skunk ape on video until they reviewed their footage after a trip into the Green Swamp. The video only lasts for a brief moment, and they understand that many people might think it is not conclusive evidence skunk apes actually exist. They believe the creatures could be huge. We have done reenactments. I kind of pale, Barton said. Were thinking 7 to 8 feet. Barton and Conner said they heard sounds in the swamp that sound like chattering creatures. "I will mimic it, Conner said. Most of the time it sounds like bluh, bluh. The hunters also use an infrared camera and audio recorders to try to find any trace of a skunk ape. There is running water and wild orange trees in the area of the swamp that they search. Both realize that skeptics think they're never going to find a skunk ape, but they use that as inspiration to keep going. They really want to come out here, Barton said. They just dont have the guts like we do. Watch 'The Trail to Bigfoot' A CDC report confirmed Zika virus causes microcephaly and other serious birth defects, according to Drug Target Review. Here are four things to know: 1. In the report, CDC officials detailed a wealth of evidence proving Zika causes the birth defect. 2. The World Health Organization declared the microcephaly epidemic an international public health emergency in February. 3. The confirmed link does not definitively conclude every pregnant woman with Zika virus will have a baby with a birth defect, but it does present an increased risk. 4. CDC's confirmation is essential as it will drive additional prevention efforts, strengthen the need for direct communication about Zika risks and drive research efforts. More articles on quality & infection control: New study links Zika to 2 autoimmune neurological conditions: 7 things to know Physicians may misinterpret FDA 'breakthrough' terminology 5 points Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America supports part of Clinton's drug proposal 4 insights Here are seven updates: SCA partners with Gladiolus Surgery Center Surgical Care Affiliates partnered with Gladiolus Surgery Center in Fort Myers, Fla. Through the partnership, SCA will now operate four ASCs and more than 30 physicians in southwest Florida. MFC CEO Britt Reynolds to start in May Britt Reynolds will begin his role as Medical Facilities Corporation's CEO on May 1. MFC initially had a June 1st start date for Mr. Reynolds. Since January 2012, Mr. Reynolds has been president of Tenet Healthcare's hospital operations. Shiley Eye Institute commemorates 25 years Shiley Eye Institute was San Diego's first comprehensive eye care facility. Last year, the UC San Diego Shiley Eye Center was renamed the UC San Diego Donald P. and Darlene V. Shiley Eye Institute. UnitedHealth to exit Georgia, Arkansas exchanges UnitedHealth plans to exit the Affordable Care Act exchanges in Georgia and Arkansas. The payer only entered the Arkansas marketplace last November, and did not comment why it was leaving in 2017. US physicians successfully perform 1st in-vivo esophageal regeneration U.S. physicians successfully regenerated a damaged esophagus, which was badly damaged with a 5-cm, full-thickness hole. Physicians used tissue-engineered extracellular matrix populated with autologous pluripotent cells and readily available stents, which were removed within three to five years after the initial procedure. Premiums rose 8% in 2015 From 2015 to 2016, premiums rose, on average, from $356 a month to $386 a month, according to a Department of Health and Human Services report. HHS reports once the ACA tax credits are factored into the equation, the average premium increase will be 4 percent. Lehigh Valley Health Network dedicates pediatric ASC On April 8, Allentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Valley Health Network dedicated its new pediatric ASC. Lehigh Valley named the center The J.B. and Kathleen Reilly Children's Surgery Center in honor of one of the biggest developers in the region and his wife. More healthcare news: Using peer review and benchmarking to improve quality: A 4-step guide for ASC leaders 40 statistics on ASC accounts receivable by case volume Hoag Orthopedic Institute expands outpatient services with new post-op pain modality: 5 things to know The American Academy of Ophthalmology is honoring five members of Congress with its 2016 Visionary Awards. Here are three things to know: 1. The academy is presenting the awards to Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.) and Reps. Phil Roe, MD (R-Tenn.), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Raul Ruiz, MD (D-Calif.) and Ami Bera, MD (D-Calif.). 2. The awards recognize individuals for their efforts in enhancing and preserving access to quality eye care in the United States. 3. The award winners were honored for Advancing consumer protections for electronic health records Preserving patient access to sight-saving, cost-effective medications Preserving cost assurance for Medicare patients through bundled prices for surgery More articles on ASC issues: 5 things to know about restless legs syndrome 7 things for ASC leaders to know for Thursday April 14, 2016 Using peer review and benchmarking to improve quality: A 4-step guide for ASC leaders AAO honors 5 Congressmen: 3 things to know The American Academy of Ophthalmology is honoring five members of Congress with its 2016 Visionary Awards. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-academy-of-ophthalmology-honors-five-members-of-congress-for-efforts-to-ensure-quality-medical-eye-care-300251374.html Here are three things to know: 1. The academy is presenting the awards to Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.) and Reps. Phil Roe, MD (R-Tenn.), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Raul Ruiz, MD (D-Calif.) and Ami Bera, MD (D-Calif.). 2. The awards recognize individuals for their efforts in enhancing and preserving access to quality eye care in the United States. 3. The award winners were honored for Advancing consumer protections for electronic health records Preserving patient access to sight-saving, cost-effective medications Preserving cost assurance for Medicare patients through bundled prices for surgery More articles on ASC issues: Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards proposed $792 million in cuts Tuesday that would shutter hospitals in four cities, according to a WWL news report. The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals would have its funds slashed by $408.7 million under the governor's 2016-2017 budget proposal. Under the proposal, safety-net hospitals in Alexandria, Bogalusa, Houma and Lake Charles would close, while all other safety-net hospitals would receive a 3 percent cut, according to the report. During a hearing before the Louisiana House Appropriations Committee, Gov. Edwards said he hopes the cuts can be avoided by raising taxes. He plans to call a special legislative session as soon as June 7 to address the issue. Louisiana Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, who testified after Gov. Edwards at the hearing, said more than $70 million is needed to fund the four hospitals slated to close under the proposal. More articles on healthcare finance: South Dakota hospital set to lose Medicare status California companies take on Sutter Health over cost of care Calif. hospital slated to close fails to make payroll Massachusetts hospitals would pay a new $250 million annual tax to help fund the state's Medicaid program under a budget proposed by Massachusetts House leaders Wednesday, according to the Boston Globe. As proposed, the tax would be phased out after about five years. Tax revenue would be redistributed among hospitals, and those with higher shares of Medicaid patients would gain more funds than those with fewer Medicaid patients, according to the report. Administration officials said the new revenue will help MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program, transition into an accountable care organization model of care, according to the report. Under the proposed budget, the tax would begin Oct. 1, 2016, and end July 1, 2022. The House and Senate still must debate and approve the budget before it can be sent to the governor to sign, according to the report. More articles on healthcare finance: 4 Louisiana safety-net hospitals at risk of closure Major health systems, payers make progress toward value-based payment goal South Dakota hospital set to lose Medicare status A University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro (N.J.) employee who was herself previously hospitalized within the health system has filed a lawsuit, alleging her HIV-positive status was leaked to coworkers during a security breach, NJ.com reports. The employee alleges that a year after her hospitalization, she received a notification letter from Princeton Healthcare System stating that a coworker had accessed her medical records without permission, and the hospital had known for two months before sending the notice. The notification letter stated the hospital was taking appropriate action against the coworker, but in the lawsuit the employee claimed her protected health information had become the stuff of gossip and was affecting how she was treated on the job, according to NJ.com. The hospital issued a statement explaining its policy on educating employees about patient confidentiality. The statement also reiterated that the system takes medical record breaches seriously and is investigating. Here are eight recent news updates on key health IT companies. 1. A new ad campaign for IBM Watson seeks to highlight the supercomputer's ability to solve business problems, and in one ad, Cleveland Clinic physician Andrea Sikon, MD, discusses with Watson how to manage data overload. 2. The Department of Veterans Affairs has suspended a $624 million contract awarded to Epic Systems and Lockheed Martin to develop an appointment scheduling system for the department. 3. Tift Regional Health System in Tifton, Ga., chose Cerner as its new information technology partner for EHR and revenue cycle management systems across its acute and ambulatory care facilities. 4. IBM and the American Cancer Society are joining forces to develop a virtual advisor for people fighting cancer. 5. Black Book Research has released its 2016 HIE User Survey, and for the fourth year running Cerner claimed the top spot. 6. Westborough, Mass.-based health IT vendor eClinicalWorks is the newest member of the National Patient Safety Foundation Patient Safety Coalition. 7. IBM Watson Health completed the $2.6 billion acquisition of Truven Health Analytics. 8. The board of trustees at Winneshiek Medical Center in Decorah, Iowa, unanimously approved investing $2.5 million to implement Epic's EHR. More articles on health IT: 7 latest data breaches 4 latest Epic go-lives 88% of providers say collaborative HIE initiatives improving payer-provider relations: 9 survey findings Cecil Alexander Kent Jr. of Eastlake, Ohio, pleaded guilty Monday to his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare of approximately $6.2 million while he posed as a licensed physician, according to the Department of Justice. Mr. Kent, 58, pleaded guilty in Michigan federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, two counts of healthcare fraud and five counts of making false statements relating to healthcare matters. While he was employed at Detroit-based B&M Visiting Doctors, Mr. Kent admitted he saw patients and falsified patient records under the name of a licensed physician. He also admitted he wrote prescriptions for controlled substances using the Drug Enforcement Administration number of a licensed physician. Mr. Kent's sentencing is scheduled for August 16. Charles McRae, part owner of B&M, and Alvin Williams, both of Detroit, were charged in the same incident. They pleaded guilty for their participation in the fraud scheme and will be sentenced in July. More articles on healthcare industry lawsuits: MemorialCare sues over hospital closure, asks for $42.5M in damages FTC heads to trial to stop Hershey-Pinnacle merger: 3 things to know 5 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements Louisville, Ky-based Humana has informed thousands of Texans it won't cover their allergy medication because it isn't FDA approved. The problem? It is, according to the Austin American Statesman. The medication, a generic version of Flonase, was actually approved in 2006. But Humana still sent out letters to 12,000 Texans saying it wouldn't cover their allergy medication. This mistake caused one disgruntled customer, David Crump, to go to the Texas Department of Insurance. Ben Gonzalez, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Insurance, said the department would closely follow Humana's next steps in dealing with the issue. Humana is currently working to help customers fill their prescriptions. "We apologize for this error and are working to send corrected letters to impacted members as quickly as possible," said Humana spokeswoman Marina Renneke, according to the report. Ms. Renneke added that the error impacted less than 1 percent of Humana's overall 1.8 million members in Texas. On Wednesday, the CDC officially announced that the Zika virus causes microcephaly and other fetal brain defects. The decision is based not on one single piece of conclusive evidence, but rather a growing body of research. A report on the CDC's decision was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The report describes the rigorous examination of the evidence that led to the organization's affirmation of the direct correlation between Zika and microcephaly. "This study marks a turning point in the Zika outbreak. It is now clear that the virus causes microcephaly," said Tom Frieden, MD, director of the CDC. "We are also launching further studies to determine whether children who have microcephaly born to mothers infected by the Zika virus is the tip of the iceberg of what we could see in damaging effects on the brain and other developmental problems." The announcement may place added pressure on Congress to allocate more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding that President Barack Obama requested to bolster Zika preparations and resources in the continental U.S. and vulnerable island territories like Puerto Rico. Misperceptions about Zika are relatively common in the U.S., surveys have shown. "Surveys have told us that a lot of people aren't concerned about Zika virus infection in the United States they don't know a lot about it... now that we can be more convincing that Zika virus does cause microcephaly, we hope that people will focus on our prevention messages more closely," Sonja A. Rasmussen, MD, the CDC's director of public health information and dissemination and the study's lead author, said in The New York Times. The CDC's announcement comes after the World Health Organization confirmed scientific consensus regarding the Zika virus' causative link to the birth defect microcephaly, Guillain-Barre syndrome and other neurological disorders earlier this month. Dr. Frieden stated that the agency's confirmation is in line with mounting evidence and is an affirmation of the organization's "early guidance to pregnant women and their partners to take steps to avoid Zika infection and to healthcare professionals who are talking to patients every day. We are working to do everything possible to protect the American public." More articles on the Zika virus: CDC official: Zika virus is 'scarier than we initially thought' This Brazilian physician is using telemedicine to treat Zika patients 25% of Americans say female athletes should forgo Olympics due to Zika threat As the nationwide epidemic of heroin and prescription drug abuse escalates, a group of 60 state health officials, physicians and consumer advocates want a harsher approach to treating pain in hospitals and clinics, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Here are five things to know about the issue. 1. The group includes senior health officials from Pennsylvania, Vermont, Alaska and Rhode Island. 2. The group believes current standards for pain treatment are too aggressive and contribute to abuse of addictive painkillers, so they are calling for new guidelines, according to the report. 3. Senior health officials outline their concerns in a letter sent April 13 to CMS. In the letter, the group urges the federal government to stop asking patients about how well their pain was controlled while hospitalized, information CMS uses to help judge hospital performance and determine payment, according to the report. The group contends the pain questions "have had the unintended consequence of encouraging aggressive opioid use" because hospitals want high scores on the surveys. 4. CMS plans to respond to the letter. CMS also noted that HHS has said it would look at how patient satisfaction surveys influence pain treatment and opioid prescribing, according to The Wall Street Journal. 5. According to the report, senior health officials and physicians have also sent a letter to the Joint Commission, asking the organization to "re-examine" the pain management standards it requires its accredited institutions to adhere to. More articles on infection control and clinical quality: 49 hospitals with the lowest serious complication rates Cleveland Clinic: Infection caused failed uterus transplant Higher patient experience star rating linked with better outcomes, lower readmissions 0 - Call to undefined function upload_hubspot() You may not be able to visit this page because of: an out-of-date bookmark/favourite a search engine that has an out-of-date listing for this site a mistyped address you have no access to this page The requested resource was not found. An error has occurred while processing your request. Please try one of the following pages: If difficulties persist, please contact the website administrator and report the error below. To continue following the latest news and information for Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, simply enter your full postcode below There are fears that home-produced foods will be shunned by the EU The rejection of produce from Northern Ireland by EU consumers - and higher prices for imported goods at home - are among the risks facing us in the event of a Brexit, it was claimed today. The CBI, which represents big firms, along with retail body Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association (NIIRTA), joined Northern Ireland Food & Drink (NIFDA) to urge members to vote to stay. CBI Northern Ireland director Nigel Smyth said "every credible" business survey had shown that most Northern Ireland private sector employers wanted to stay. And he said that the CBI had estimated that families were better off by around 2,700 to 3,300 every year because of EU membership. "Being in the EU provides a strong platform for Northern Ireland to attract investment, and to export our goods and services, helping to create jobs and improve living standards." And he said a Brexit would put at risk any additional attractiveness which Northern Ireland could otherwise count on, when it introduces lower corporation tax in 2018. Mr Smyth said: "A decision to leave the EU would create enormous uncertainty putting at risk the potential to attract more investment from a lower corporation tax rate." He said CBI had asked business advisory firm PwC to examine how the UK would fare in the event of a Brexit and if a trade deal was agreed swiftly - and what might happen if negotations were more prolonged. Mr Smyth said: "The economic evidence was clear - leaving the EU would cause a serious shock to the UK economy, with a potential cost of 100bn and nearly a million jobs by 2020, with negative echoes that could last for many years after that. "Even in the best case there would be a big hit to the UK economy." And Michael Bell, head of NIFDA, said 60% of exports from Northern Ireland go to the EU - which was higher than the rest of the UK. He said: "A Brexit will undoubtedly alienate the European consumer towards our produce and there is no guarantee that any subsequent UK government would not seek to solve budgetary challenges in the future by reducing rural farm support in favour of health welfare or education." And Glyn Roberts (left), chief of NIIRTA, said the EU meant customers had greater choice and lower prices, "with no import taxes added onto prices in the shops". He added: "The uncertainty of Brexit is the very last thing Northern Ireland's retail sector needs at this time." But businessman Jeff Peel of Quadriga Consulting - spokesman for Business for Britain, which is aligned with VoteLeave - said: "There is no compelling evidence that a remain vote is in the interests of the economy. "Evidence that is offered is merely conjecture. There is evidence that the EU - and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in particular - results in higher food costs. The UK's meeting EU 'green' energy requirements pushes up our energy costs (part of the reason for the closure of the Port Talbot steel plant and Michelin Tyre plant here in Northern Ireland)." And he said that only 20% of EU exports went to EU countries other than the Republic - and that the common travel/trade area with the Republic was likely to continue. He added: "Also it's not clear why EU shoppers would shun Northern Ireland produce. "They don't shun designed in California and manufactured in China." A total of around 300 jobs are expected to be lost when B&Q closes five stores here DIY giant B&Q is shutting its Craigavon store this weekend - resulting in the loss of around 50 jobs - more than six months ahead of schedule, it can be revealed. The chain confirmed last year that it will shut five stores here, more than half its Northern Ireland network, resulting in the loss of up to 300 jobs. Three initial stores were already earmarked to close by the end of this financial year, but it's now understood the Craigavon branch - expected to shut in 2017 - will close this Saturday. A spokeswoman for B&Q confirmed the store would be closing its doors early, while its Sprucefield location is also expected to go by the end of the year. "We can confirm that staff at B&Q Sprucefield and B&Q Craigavon have been told their stores are set to close and we will endeavour to find alternative positions for as many staff as possible. "Following these two closures, B&Q will continue to serve customers in Northern Ireland with stores located in Coleraine, Holywood Exchange (outside Belfast), Newtownabbey and Newry." The three stores which have already shut include the Belfast, Boucher Road outlet, Buncrana Road in Londonderry and Ballymena. In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph in September, B&Q divisional director Diarmuid Walsh said it was unlikely workers in some stores, such as Londonderry, could be redeployed elsewhere. The retailer is closing some 60 stores across the UK. But parent company Kingfisher is growing its Screwfix business throughout Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. Breaking the bad news last year, Mr Walsh said the business would focused on "redeploying as many colleagues impacted by these changes as we can." The firm said it hoped to find staff jobs at other stores, or elsewhere in the Kingfisher group, such as its expanding Screwfix stores. Kingfisher, just last month, revealed that bottom-line profits fell by more than a fifth, as it counted the cost of an overhaul but said its "ambitious" plans were on track. The group posted a 20.5% decline in annual statutory pre-tax profits to 512m as it closed shops and suffered an exchange rate hit. But with the impact of its restructuring and currency woes stripped out, group-wide underlying profits rose 0.3% higher to a better-than-expected 686m, helped by a robust performance in the UK. UK retail profits jumped 18% to 326m for the year to the end of January, helped by another impressive sales hike in its trade-focused hardware arm, Screwfix. Last month Kingfisher said it was halfway through an overhaul to shut 65 B&Q stores and cut 3,000 jobs in the UK and Ireland. An Irish drinks giant has been urged to find a buyer for one of Britain's oldest cider plants. The Shepton Mallet mill in Somerset is to close in the summer with 120 jobs on the line and the threat that it will bring a 246-year-old tradition to an end. Trade union chiefs in Unite said Dublin-based owner C&C should repay the loyalty of staff after it shifted cider making to one of its plants in Ireland. Regional co-ordinating officer Steve Preddy said Shepton's famous brands such as Gaymers, Blackthorn and Olde English, coupled with highly-skilled workers, should make it an attractive proposition for a buyer. "Since buying the plant in 2009, C&C has profited from the association with Shepton, which has been synonymous with cider-making for centuries," he said. "It is unacceptable that the company should now decide to divest itself of the plant and its loyal workforce without a backward glance." C&C announced the Shepton closure in January although it vowed to keep pulping fruit in the town and to source apples for its Irish cider making from Somerset farmers. It subsequently sold a bottling line at the site to Brothers Drinks, also a maker of cider, saving a number of jobs. Mr Preddy claimed Ireland has its own experience of global companies pulling out in moves which devastate communities. "Unite members are therefore particularly disappointed that an Irish multinational, such as C&C, should be effectively discarding not only the Shepton facility and its workforce, but also the long tradition of cider making which made Shepton such an attractive location in the first place," he said. "We are calling on C&C to repay the loyalty and hard work of the Shepton workforce by finding a buyer to take on the main Shepton site as a going concern, thus preserving a tradition of cider-making in the town stretching back to 1770. "We believe that iconic brands, combined with a highly-skilled and motivated workforce, would make Shepton a very attractive proposition for a buyer. "Since buying the plant in 2009, C&C has profited from the association with Shepton." Shares in Mr Kipling cakes firm Premier Foods fell by more than a quarter after Schwartz spices owner McCormick & Company gave up on its takeover pursuit. McCormick walked away from the negotiations after having three bid approaches - the last worth 537m - rejected by Premier. McCormick said it could not pay a price that would be accepted by the Premier board. Shares in Premier, which also owns Oxo, Bisto and Sharwood's, fell by 28% afterwards. McCormick said: "After careful consideration, (we have) concluded that it would not be able to propose a price that would be recommended by the board of Premier Foods while also delivering appropriate returns for McCormick shareholders. Accordingly, McCormick has withdrawn its proposal." Premier bosses insisted they saw a "strong future for an independent" company. St Albans-based Premier found itself at the centre of a takeover saga, rejecting several offers from McCormick while agreeing a "co-operation agreement" with Japanese noodle giant Nissin Foods, which has built up a 19.9% stake in the firm. But some investors were left disgruntled after it emerged Premier told Nissin of the bid from McCormick before notifying the rest of its shareholders. They were also angered by the board's dismissal of earlier offers. Premier rejected McCormick's first offer of 52p in cash per share, a second at 60p and a third made at the end of March worth 65p a share, saying they undervalued the company and its future growth prospects. However, after the third approach, the Premier board agreed to open talks for the first time with McCormick. Premier said it appreciated McCormick's "open and collaborative spirit" in discussions. Shares in the company had almost doubled since McCormick's takeover interest first emerged. Premier said it believed its "longer-term prospects will be enhanced by the co-operation agreement it has signed with Nissin Foods". The agreement could see Nissin's products distributed in the UK and Premier taking advantage of the Japanese firm's international distribution network. Nissin has also agreed not to attempt to buy Premier Foods for six months, unless another group makes a firm bid for the UK food business. The Japanese company bought its stake in the UK food firm from private equity group Warburg Pincus, upping the holding from 17.3% to 19.9% at the end of March. Nissin Foods - which invented the first instant noodles in 1958 - trades across 19 countries and has annual revenues of $3.8bn (2.6bn). Its products include Cup Noodles and Top Ramen. The abortive takeover bid is part of a spurt of corporate activity in the food business. Sausage maker Cranswick this week bought over Crown Chicken in a 40m deal - and is also tipped to have approached Dungannon-based meat firm Dunbia to buy its pig-processing division. And Dunbia, run by brothers Jim and Jack Dobson, is reported to be in talks with UK food giant 2 Sisters over a joint venture in red meat. Ice cream prices could go up by 10% this summer because of the soaring cost of vanilla. It means the cost of a 99 could rise by 20p to around 2.20. Production problems in Madagascar, the world's largest vanilla producer, have caused prices to surge 120% year-on-year, meaning vanilla beans priced at around 14 per kilogram five years ago are now in excess of 155 per kilogram. The hike could affect a range of companies including soft drink manufacturers and bakers, but ice cream makers are likely to be harder hit as it is the most expensive ingredient in the production process. Arnaldo Morelli, boss of the Causeway coast's Morelli Ice Cream chain, said he hoped the family-owned brand would be able to freeze prices. "Some big name brands such as Haagen-Dazs are very into intense vanilla flavours but our vanilla flavours are more subtle," he added. "We do put vanilla in, but it complements the other ingredients rather than overpowering them." Mr Morelli said the firm had not increased prices a couple of years ago after a bad crop and was prepared to do that again in the short-term. "The rising price of vanilla will increase the costs of making our ice cream but we'll bear the immediate increase," he added. "If this is prolonged we may certainly have to look at it, but hopefully that won't be a concern for ice cream lovers during the summer." Mr Morelli, who heads up the fourth generation of the family firm which has been producing ice cream here since 1911, said a large 99, which currently costs about 2, could potentially go up to 2.20. Vanilla is increasingly in demand in foreign markets such as Asia where, according to industry experts, rising personal income means more people are able to spend money on luxuries such as ice cream. The price of vanilla is likely to stay high for the foreseeable future. "Madagascar always dictates things," said vanilla pod importer Harry Rao. "It's not a controlled market because a few big suppliers dictate the market. The cost of vanilla tends to rise quickly but fall very slowly." BBC sitcom Citizen Khan has been labelled Islamophobic, with an MP suggesting she would not be surprised if a future episode features cutting people's hands off. Labour's Rupa Huq said the programme portrays a Muslim family as "quite backward" and showed some areas of television have yet to move forward from the sitcoms of the 1970s. She criticised BBC and ITV productions from the past, including Till Death Us Do Part and Love Thy Neighbour, noting they demonstrated an inferiority to other races. Ms Huq (Ealing Central and Acton), whose sister Konnie is a former Blue Peter presenter, told a Commons debate on BBC diversity: "All of these things are now excused, like Jimmy Savile's crimes, as 'it was acceptable in the 70s, this is a pre-politically correct time'. "But in some senses it does feel almost that you can cite examples where we haven't really moved forward." She added: "One I would cite that's a current programme, it's been going since 2012, is Citizen Khan. "I feel if I didn't know what the year is... you would think it's an every day tale of a Birmingham family of Muslims but they're really quite backward. "Again the Islamophobic point (Labour MP Chuka Umunna) made, it's a beardy weirdy chap and they're not quite cutting off people's hands but I can imagine that being in a future episode." Mr Umunna (Streatham) earlier attacked the "representation of our Muslim communities" on broadcast television. He said: "The rising Islamophobia that we see is in no small part to certain broadcasters, I've seen it happen on the BBC but on others, who put up so-called community leaders who purport to speak for that community but have no mandate whatsoever to do so." A BBC spokesperson said: "The fact that Citizen Khan returns for its fifth series this year is a sign of its popularity with all audiences - indeed the show has won several awards including Best TV character at the Asian Media Awards. "We've also had positive comments from members of the Muslim community for the show and for creator Adil Ray who, like the family portrayed, is a British Pakistani Muslim. As with all sitcoms the characters are comic creations and not meant to be representative of the community as a whole." Brian May said we 'still have a society that is split between the rich and the poor' Queen guitarist Brian May has spoken out about the gap between the rich and poor in society, calling it "appalling". Speaking at the south London launch for his latest book, the musician praised Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert for his "vision" and endeavours to make a better society. May said: "We still have a society that is split between the rich and the poor. Now to me that's appalling in the 21st century, and I don't want to see that any more. "I want to see equal opportunity for people, real equal opportunity. I don't want to see any people making themselves richer at the expense of the poor." He added: "It's not about selfishness, it's not about economic recovery, it's not about money, it's about compassion and decency and working towards a society that benefits everyone and every creature." Written alongside Denis Pellerin, Crinoline: Fashion's Most Magnificent Disaster is a visually striking 3D exploration of one of fashion's most recognised garments. Featuring contributions from leading fashion designers Dame Vivienne Westwood and Dame Zandra Rhodes, it has been published to coincide with the Undressed: 350 Years Of Underwear exhibition at London's Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A Museum). Asked how he felt to have the endorsement of such renowned fashion figures, the 68-year-old hailed their "great enthusiasm". "I was thrilled that it happened, that Vivienne Westwood and Zandra wanted to contribute," he said. "I guess I thought that maybe what we were doing was very small and they wouldn't be bothered, but they plunged in with great enthusiasm, as did the V&A." He added: "I'm very thankful that the V&A has collaborated with us. What it's proved to us, more than anything, is that crinoline is alive. We now have some young designers who have also come in contributing to this exhibition with their new designs. "The book, I hope, will just give people wonder. I hope they will go, 'Wow! That's amazing, that's beautiful'." Photo historian Pellerin said their research also led them to the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition in London. "Once Brian was won over, and he saw it was a good idea, everything was very easy," the Frenchman said. "We were also lucky to be allowed to photograph one of Alexander McQueen's crinolines in the exhibition at the V&A last year so everything fell into place." London-born May said he does not consider himself "a fashionable person". "I kind of react against fashion because I regarded it as conformity and I don't like conformity," he said. "I like individualism. But to look back on how fashion has influenced people sociologically is a fascinating thing and this is what I've discovered on this journey." May is passionate about stereo photography, a Victorian fad in which two flat images are fused in a special viewer to produce a scene in 3D. Each copy of Crinoline: Fashion's Most Magnificent Disaster, which is out now, is accompanied by his patent 3D viewer called the OWL. It allows readers to see the Victorian-era illustrations included in the book in another dimension. "I don't know who we were thinking of when we started to write the book," May admitted when asked if it was aimed at a particular market. "It was a journey of discovery. For me, the initial passion was the stereoscopy part because all these wonderful images of crinolines are in glorious 3D and you can enjoy them. "Gradually, I realised the importance of what we were looking at." :: Visit www.londonstereo.com for more information about Crinoline: Fashion's Most Magnificent Disaster by Brian May and Denis Pellerin. :: Undressed: A Brief History Of Underwear opens at the V&A on Saturday The inaugural Good Morning Britain Health Star Awards saw celebrities including Michelle Heaton, pictured, and Leslie Ash join the show's team and award nominees at the London Hilton The inaugural Good Morning Britain Health Star Awards saw celebrities including Leslie Ash, pictured, and Michelle Heaton join the show's team and award nominees at the London Hilton A transplant surgeon and a mother who founded a charity after struggling with postnatal depression were among the winners at the inaugural Good Morning Britain Health Star Awards. The awards were set up to reward those who have gone the extra mile to help someone's health or save a life and are voted for by GMB's viewers. They saw celebrities including Leslie Ash and Michelle Heaton join the show's team and award nominees at a packed ceremony at the London Hilton on Park Lane on Thursday. Also attending were Strictly professional Kevin Clifton and his wife Karen, Gloria Hunniford, Lord Winston, Debbie McGee and Dr Dawn Harper. The winner of the Hospital Health Star award was Majid Mukadam, a lung and transplant surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, who has spent the last six years encouraging the Asian community to join the organ donor register. From the talks he has given in the local community, he estimates that he has encouraged around 25,000 Asians to sign the donor register. Accepting the Community Health Star award was Rachael Jones from Shropshire, who set up a charity to support women suffering with postnatal depression after experiencing the illness herself. Since setting up PANDAS Foundation in 2011, Jones and her team have supported over 20,000 people. The final Life Saver Health Star award winner went to Darran Sampson, from East Sussex, who saved Paul Harris's life by performing CPR on him for almost an hour when he suffered a cardiac arrest in a pub. The off-duty firefighter brought Mr Harris back to life twice before paramedics arrived. There was also a Special Recognition Health Star award chosen by The Sun's health editor, which went to 18-year-old friends Sophia Parvizi-Wayne and Amber Van Dam. The pair have campaigned to have mental health put on the national curriculum for several years after Ms van Dam struggled to find help and information when Ms Parvizi-Wayne told her she had anorexia as a young teenager. Highlights from the awards will be on Good Morning Britain on Friday from 6am. Spotted standing in a queue in her local Mace store in her school uniform, local teenager Victoria Bustard is now being tipped as Northern Ireland's next top model. The gorgeous Co Down teenager was stunned when she was approached out of the blue by a leading local model agency boss who immediately saw her potential as a new catwalk star. Tracey Rodgers, who has discovered many of Northern Ireland's top models during the past 26 years as the owner of leading agency Style Academy, described Victoria as "the most exciting discovery I have seen in quite a while". In what is every young girl's dream, the 16-year-old has now signed up with Style Academy and has just enjoyed her first professional photo shoot and her first catwalk deportment class. Tracey Rodgers is so convinced of Victoria's star quality that she has already set up a meeting with an international model scout based in Milan. Victoria - who lives in Hillsborough with her parents Clare, a chartered accountant, and Peter, a sales rep, and younger brother Patrick (14) - is currently studying for her GCSEs at Hunterhouse College while trying to come to terms with the unexpected new turn her life has taken. "I have thought in the past how lovely it would be to do modelling. But it is one of those things you would like to do but don't ever believe will actually happen," she says. "It does feel really good and it's still a big shock. I haven't really taken it all in yet." Tracey Rodgers compared Victoria's natural beauty to that of supermodel Christy Turlington, adding that she couldn't take her eyes off her when she spotted her in her local shop. The model boss recalls: "I had just come out of a spin class looking a bit worse for wear and had popped into the shop when I noticed Victoria standing in the queue in her school uniform. "I just thought she was absolutely stunning. She is 5ft 9in and is a natural beauty - that stood out a mile. "I haven't seen anyone in a very long time who I felt compelled to approach like that. I ran down to my car to see if I had any business cards and thankfully there were some. "When I went back Victoria was standing outside the shop waiting for her friend. I gave her my card and asked if she was interested to get her parents to call me. "I am so thrilled that they did and we have met a couple of times. Victoria is now signed up with our agency. "She just has that special look," adds Tracey. "She is so natural and has beautiful features - great cheekbones and natural long hair. She is also very pleasant, well-spoken and well-mannered. "She is amazing. I have an international model scout coming over at the end of the month and I am very excited for him to see her." In what is the stuff of every young girl's dreams, Victoria is thrilled with the glamorous new opportunities that are opening up for her. "When Tracey approached me I was quite surprised and, obviously over the moon, although it was a really big shock," says the teenager. "I had just come out of school and was with my friends so I had no make-up on nor was my hair done. "I am doing my GCSEs at the minute and hope to go back to do As and A-levels and go to university - but, it will be amazing to be able to do modelling part-time. "I really enjoyed doing the photo shoot. I didn't know what to expect and I was a bit nervous but the photographer, make-up artist and hairdresser were really welcoming and friendly, and I didn't feel awkward at all. "It was amazing seeing behind the scenes and having my hair and make-up professionally done. I loved it." While she intends to continue with her studies, Victoria is also hoping that a new career as a model will give her opportunities that she wouldn't otherwise have dreamt of. She is still unsure of how her life will change, but if all goes well with the Milan model scout, she could be on her way to international catwalk fame. Victoria says: "I'm really excited to be meeting a scout from Italy and it also feels a bit surreal. "I am happy to take any opportunities I am offered. If I have the chance to go places and travel, I would definitely take those up." Victoria, who volunteers as a fundraiser with her local church Hillsborough Parish, was also a keen netball player until recently. Her family and new boyfriend Matt Milligan (16) are all thrilled for her and naturally very proud. She says: "I've been going out with Matt for four months and he thinks what is happening is great. My parents are really supportive, too." Her mum Clare says: "We are delighted for her that she has got the opportunity that most of us don't get. She is a great girl, very hard working at school and well-liked, and very good with the family. It is a great opportunity for her, although ultimately for us, her education takes priority." Dad Peter is also very proud of his daughter, adding: "I think she had just got off the school bus the day Tracey spotted her and it was a nice surprise. "It has come at a good time as she has just turned 16 and is working hard for her GCSEs so it will hopefully be a nice distraction from all her studies. "Victoria is very excited and very flattered, and it has given her a nice wee boost as she starts to think about what she wants to do with the rest of her life. She really is a sweetheart. She is very popular with her friends and close to her family, and helps the church collect for charity. It is exciting for all of us - even my son Patrick who doesn't get excited too much is thrilled that his sister is going to be a model. "She is always going to be a model in our house and it's not just her looks that make her special, she is just naturally a very nice girl." Other modelling stars from Northern Ireland Tabea Weyrauch (23), from Londonderry, has travelled the world to walk the catwalks for some of fashion's most famous designers. Tabea was just 16 when she took the international fashion world by storm after winning RTE's The Model Scouts and landed a contract with IMG - one of the world's top model agencies who have helped shape the careers of supermodels Kate Moss, Gisele Bundchen, Heidi Klum, Naomi Campbell, Mischa Barton and Liv Tyler. 50 Shades star Jamie Dornan from Holywood, Co Down started his career as a model in 2003. He modelled for a number of fashion houses and retailers including Hugo Boss and Armani, featuring in major ad campaigns for Dior Homme and Calvin Klein with Kate Moss and Eva Mendes. He moved into acting in 2006 when he landed the role of Count Axel Fersen in Marie Antoinette. Belfast model Kiera Gormley caught the eye of Mario Testino, leading to shoots for Vogue UK and Italy, ID, Burberry, Aquascutum, Aveda and Jaeger. Now living in London, she is on the books of Storm Model Management in London, Marilyn agency in New York and Paris, and Women Model Management Milan. She has worked for Gaultier, Dior, Lanvin, Vivienne Westwood, Hermes, Paul Smith, Burberry, Maison Martin Margiela, Biba, Giorgio Armani, and many more. She became the face of MAC Cosmetics in the 'Rose Romance' campaign shot by Miles Aldridge. The DUP has strongly suggested that it could take the education ministry in the next Executive after years of Sinn Fein being left in charge. First Minister Arlene Foster indicated that her party might opt for education rather than control of the Stormont purse strings at the Department of Finance. Aside from a few periods of Direct Rule, Sinn Fein has been in charge of education since responsibility was devolved to Stormont in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement. If, as expected, the DUP remains the largest party in the Assembly, party leader Mrs Foster will have first pick when departmental portfolios are handed out. In the first major television event of the current election campaign, broadcast on UTV last night, Mrs Foster said her party had always given priority to the finance and personnel department in the past. "I am not saying that this time," she said. She said people were also keen for her party to take control of agriculture, which has also been in Sinn Fein hands, and the new Department of the Economy - but "unfortunately" it could not take them all. Mrs Foster took centre stage flanked by her main election rival, Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, Alliance leader David Ford and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood. In terms of the election contest, it was the first major television test for the two newest leaders - Mr Eastwood and Mrs Foster - and while there were robust exchanges the programme produced no knockout blows. Mrs Foster, however, said that since the 'Fresh Start' deal reached between her party and Sinn Fein last November, relations at Stormont between the two biggest parties were probably better than at any time since devolution was restored in 2007. "I want to build on that," she said. Mr McGuinness said he believed the opportunity now existed to move into the next phase of the peace process, focused on reconciliation. Mr McGuinness and Mr Eastwood, who are facing each other in the Foyle constituency, clashed over the question of the 11-plus. The SDLP leader said Mr McGuinness had failed to fulfil his promise to abolish the 11-plus, with primary school pupils now facing up to five tests. But Mr McGuinness said the 11-plus as an official government examination had gone - the current tests were being run by grammar schools. And he said the grammars were now taking pupils who had not taken tests as well as those who had, adding: "That's how ludicrous it has become." Mr Nesbitt argued Mr McGuinness had actually conceded that Sinn Fein had lost control of the state education system. Mr McGuinness said the province needed an education system "like Finland, which does not have selection." The programme opened with questions from presenter Marc Mallett on 'the state of Stormont'. Mr Nesbitt read from a 2007 DUP manifesto claiming it had rectified the flaws of the Good Friday Agreement, which he said now "rings a little bit hollow". Mr Ford said people angry about the political failure and point-scoring at Stormont should "not just sit back and complain about it" but vote for change. Mr McGuinness said SF and the DUP had now shared power for two full Assembly terms without Stormont collapsing, compared to the administration shared by the UUP and the SDLP which fell three times. Mr Eastwood said it was "fantastic" the political process had come so far but people should not now be expected to just be grateful. "People out there want us now to deliver," he said. Mr Nesbitt, Mr McGuinness and Mr Eastwood all agreed that a woman recently convicted of buying so-called 'abortion pills' online should not have been prosecuted. The subject produced the most serious clash of the night between the unionist leaders. Mr Nesbitt said the DUP was guilty of a "political ploy" in setting up a panel to examine the issue which will take six months. It was a blocking mechanism "by any other name", he said. Mrs Foster retorted: "It's called democracy. It is called talking to other parties to find a way forward. "I am sure Mike doesn't think that is the way you do politics." In a lighter section, the leaders were asked who should portray them on the silver screen. It was an easy question for Mr McGuinness, who is due to be played by Colm Meaney in a forthcoming movie about the relationship between him and former first minister Lord Bannside, better known as Rev Ian Paisley. The Deputy First Minister said he was happy with Meaney in the role, "though I think I am slimmer". Mr Ford joked he wanted someone as good-looking as himself to play him in a movie, "perhaps Liam Neeson". Mrs Foster opted for Indecent Proposal star Demi Moore, quipping they had the same figure, while Mr Eastwood went for Fifty Shades of Grey hunk Jamie Dornan. Dressed in a bright red jacket and navy dress, the DUP leader sartorially outshone the four dark suits spread out on each side of her. But although she has long experience of television interviews, she at times appeared a little nervous and fluffed some lines - perhaps because this was her first major TV debate as DUP leader and First Minister. The Deputy First Minister was first to go on the attack, interrupting to go on the offensive against his main election rival, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, over his party's failure to back the 'Fresh Start' proposals. He claimed that Dublin officials had told Sinn Fein the SDLP was not prepared to agree to any deal in the negotiations last autumn. A man well used to the ways of UTV as its former news anchorman, the Ulster Unionist leader appeared the most relaxed of the five leaders. He bantered during advert breaks and chided presenter Marc Mallet after he had to re-record the introduction to the programme. "I wouldn't have fluffed the opening," he said. As the new kid on the block, the SDLP leader could have been expected to be most nervous but instead delivered a confident and fluent performance, continually rising to challenges thrown out by his more experienced rival Martin McGuinness. He was also first to grab the hand of presenter Marc Mallet at the end and came across as serious but not stodgy. Although he is normally less confrontational in the five-way studio debates than other party leaders, Mr Ford interjected to point out the DUP and SDLP had wanted to "tighten up" legislation on abortion. The Alliance leader was in good humour too, joking about the amount of studio make-up required to cover his forehead. Jim Allister has challenged the DUP to make clear if they would take the position of Deputy First Minister if Martin McGuinness took the top post. DUP leader Arlene Foster has warned that just a small swing of votes could result in the Sinn Fein veteran becoming First Minister. But while the prospect of Sinn Fein becoming the largest party is a long shot, TUV leader Mr Allister said the DUP could thwart their own "nightmare scenario" by simply refusing to nominate a deputy - although it would mean Stormont would collapse. "Do you think I would shed any tears over that?" Mr Allister told the launch of his party's manifesto for the Assembly elections yesterday. As the election battle on the unionist side heats up, Mr Allister also accused his former DUP colleagues of "hypocrisy" after agreeing the 'Fresh Start' deal with Sinn Fein - despite Provisional IRA involvement in the murder of Kevin McGuigan in Belfast last year. And he said Mrs Foster had now agreed to the same arrangement with Sinn Fein over which she left the Ulster Unionist Party in 2003 amid a row over "guns and government". An independent panel set up by the Government in the wake of the murder concluded that the structures of PIRA remain in existence "in a much reduced form". And it added: "PIRA members believe that the Provisional Army Council oversees both the PIRA and Sinn Fein with an overarching strategy." Mr Allister said yesterday after their "one day in, one day out" protest by DUP ministers, the DUP had agreed to "sweep murder under the carpet in order to cling to office". The TUV manifesto said despite the panel's conclusions "amazingly the DUP response was to renew their government vows with Sinn Fein". "What a shameless climbdown! Guns and government, as with (former UUP leader, Lord) Trimble now don't matter to the DUP. "Ironically it was over that very issue that Arlene Foster resigned from the UUP. Now she leads the DUP in precisely that arrangement." The DUP hit back, accusing Mr Allister (below) of wanting to wreck Stormont and offering no achievable way forward. North Down candidate Peter Weir said: "Arlene is going into the election to win it. Jim Allister wants to wreck Stormont. He wants to take us backwards. Arlene has a five-point plan for Northern Ireland. "It deals with jobs, health, education, infrastructure and family budgets. "To implement this plan, Arlene Foster needs as many MLAs returned to Stormont as possible." And he added: "More MLAs means more influence and more ministers. Jim attacks fellow unionists but offers no achievable way forward." The TUV is hoping to build on its success in the last local government elections, when it won 13 council seats, and is fielding 15 candidates for the Assembly contest. Insiders admit the party's best prospect may be in South Down where their standard-bearer is former Ukip councillor Henry Reilly. But given a strong enough performance in his North Antrim stronghold, Mr Allister could bring Timothy Gaston in with him on transfers. Mr Allister argued the TUV has proved the "catalyst for change" at Stormont, with other parties - the Ulster Unionists and SDLP in particular - now considering going into opposition after the May poll. But he said the dysfunctional, mandatory coalition system in the Assembly "will never be capable of working" without root and branch change, leading to a voluntary government. "We will urge people to pass their verdict on the excruciating failure of the last five years when that which passes for government has lurched from crisis to crisis," he told the event in south Belfast. "This system of government will never work, it doesn't matter how many 'fresh starts' it proclaims of itself, because it defies the basic rules of democracy and the basic matters which are afforded across the world in democratic states." Vigil in memory of those who lost their lives in the tragedy in Buncrana last Sunday Some of the hundreds of people who came together in Derry's Guildhall Square on Sunday night for a vigil in memory of the five people who died in the Buncrana tragedy a week ago. One minute of silence was obeserved during the gathering at the time the tragedy occurred. PIcture Martin McKeown. Inpresspics.com. 27.03.16 Northern Ireland fans observe a minutes silent in respect to Sean McGrotty, 49, his sons Mark, 12, and Evan, 8, his mother-in-law Ruth Daniels, 59, and Ms Daniels' daughter Jodie Lee Daniels, who was 14 who died in Buncrana, Co. Donegal before an International Friendly at Windsor Park, Belfast. PA Hollywood star Roma Downey took time out on her trip to Ireland to pay her respects to Louise James who lost five members of her family in the Buncrana pier tragedy last month. Roma travelled to her home town of Londonderry earlier this week from Dublin's Mansion House where she had earlier been presented with the Irish Diaspora Award to visit Louise and her baby Rioghnach-Ann who was miraculously saved by Davitt Walsh. The 55-year-old former Thornhill College pupil, who originates from the Bogside area, also spent a considerable amount of time at the graveside of her parents Patrick and Maureen Downey. The meeting is understood to have been arranged by Fr Paddy O'Kane, parish priest at the Holy Family where the funeral service for Louise's partner Sean McGrotty, their two sons, Mark (12) and Evan (8), Louise's mother Ruth Daniels and her sister Jodi-Lee Daniels took place. Since the tragedy, Fr O'Kane has been providing spiritual support to Louise and the McGrotty and Daniels families. Following the meeting between the two Derry mothers, Ms Downey visited her own family plot at the cemetery. In a reflective frame of mind she posted a photograph to her Twitter page of the view of the city from the spot where her parents lie. Alongside this she wrote the lyrics from the song Danny Boy: "And if you come, when all the flowers are dying, and I am dead, as dead I well may be, "You'll come and find the place where I am lying, and kneel and say an 'Ave' there for me. "And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me, and all my dreams will warm and sweeter be, "If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me, I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me. "I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me." Despite her vast wealth - she is one of Hollywood's richest women - Roma has never forgotten her home city, so it was not surprising that she would take the opportunity to express her condolences. She said: "While I've spent most of my career in the United States, I'm a Derry girl at heart. "I do miss home, but sometimes when I come home, I still miss it. "So what I miss is the past, you know - when my mum and dad were alive. I couldn't come to Ireland and not pay a quick visit to Derry, the town I love so well." A recovering alcoholic has been jailed for four months after he admitted stealing 11,000 from a faulty Ulster Bank cash machine and blowing the money on drink A recovering alcoholic has been jailed for four months after he admitted stealing 11,000 from a faulty Ulster Bank cash machine and blowing the money on drink. A judge told Peter Anthony Young (58), of Hunter's Way, Ardglass, Co Down, that he had "deliberately taken advantage" of the major glitch in the bank's system almost four years ago. Prosecution lawyer Laura Ivers told Downpatrick Crown Court that on June 22, 2012, Ulster Bank had "experienced a computer malfunction in its system" which enabled customers to withdraw funds from ATMs without it affecting their balance. "Following a check, Ulster Bank discovered that Young, who was one of its customers, had 11,000 withdrawn from his account on that day," said Ms Ivers. Judge Stephen Fowler QC was told that there had been 22 separate withdrawals of 500 on the day in question. The prosecution lawyer said the bank made repeated attempts to contact Young without success before eventually reporting the incident to police as "fraudulent". The PSNI started an investigation, the court heard, and Young voluntarily attended a police station and admitted making the withdrawals, telling police he had "spent the money on drink". Ms Ivers added that Young had "made no effort to pay back the funds" and the outstanding balance now stood at 10,908.40p. Defence counsel Eugene Grant QC described it as an "unusual case" and said that when Young was interviewed by police in September 2014 he made "frank admissions" to his crimes. He told the court: "Reading between the lines from the court papers, it appears Mr Young was in the company of other people drinking with them that day and when he was taking money out it became apparent to him and the others that there was a fault with this machine. This was always going to come home to him." Mr Grant said Young's life had "taken a downward spiral" following the death of his mother in 1991 and said that by the age of 34 he was an alcoholic, homeless and "living on the streets of Belfast". The defence QC said father-of-five Young was now a recovering alcoholic, who was attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, was part of a church group and attending a rehabilitation programme. The judge said Young, who is living on social security benefits, had not repaid any money. "I don't believe I could deal with this case by way of a suspended sentence. The least sentence I can impose is one of four months in custody." Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 13th April 2016 Funeral for hit-and-run victim Lesley-Ann McCarragher at First Presbyterian Church, Armagh. The 19-year-old was jogging near her family home on the Monaghan Road, outside the town, when she was knocked down on Saturday. A 17-year-old male as since been and remains in custody. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 13th April 2016 Funeral for hit-and-run victim Lesley-Ann McCarragher at First Presbyterian Church, Armagh. The 19-year-old was jogging near her family home on the Monaghan Road, outside the town, when she was knocked down on Saturday. A 17-year-old male as since been and remains in custody. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 13th April 2016 Funeral for hit-and-run victim Lesley-Ann McCarragher at First Presbyterian Church, Armagh. The 19-year-old was jogging near her family home on the Monaghan Road, outside the town, when she was knocked down on Saturday. A 17-year-old male as since been and remains in custody. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 13th April 2016 Funeral for hit-and-run victim Lesley-Ann McCarragher at First Presbyterian Church, Armagh. The 19-year-old was jogging near her family home on the Monaghan Road, outside the town, when she was knocked down on Saturday. A 17-year-old male as since been and remains in custody. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye Mourners at the funeral of Co Armagh teenager Lesley-Ann McCarragher Family members and mourners at the funeral of Co Armagh teenager Lesley-Ann McCarragher Family members and mourners at the funeral of Co Armagh teenager Lesley-Ann McCarragher The order of service for the funeral of Lesley Ann McCarragher Family and Friends attend the funeral of Lesley-Ann McCarragher, 19, at First Presbyterian Church, Armagh. Pic Jonathan Porter Presseye On Saturday the Irwin family from Tynan in Co Armagh were celebrating their son John's 16th birthday. Today they are preparing for his funeral. John, a pupil at City of Armagh High School, where his mum Diane is a governor, collapsed on Tuesday afternoon. It was the school formerly attended by Lesley-Ann McCarragher, the 19-year-old killed in a hit-and-run in Milford earlier this week. John, who came from a sheep farming family, was rushed to Craigavon Hospital but medics were unable to save him. The teenager died surrounded by his family in the early hours of yesterday in the hospital's intensive care unit. The cause of the boy's death will not be known until after a post-mortem is carried out. A PSNI spokesman said it was not being treated as suspicious. Read More It's understood John went to school as normal on Tuesday, but in the mid afternoon he suffered a seizure. Staff gave him what assistance they could. Ambulance Service personnel were on the scene quickly and the schoolboy was rushed to hospital. Rev Matthew Hagan, Rector of St John's Church in Middletown, was with John and the family when he passed away. Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph last night, the Church of Ireland clergyman said: "It would break your heart. He simply collapsed at school. "The suddenness, the shock, has left the family devastated. "John was a quiet young man, very committed to St John's Parish Church, Middletown, as are all the members of his family. John loved farming, and especially working with the sheep. "The family have my heartfelt and sincere sympathy at this very sad time. "It's a tragic loss for them." City of Armagh High School paid tribute to the Year 12 pupil on their Facebook page. They said: "We at City of Armagh High School mourn the sudden death of John Irwin, one of our year 12 pupils. John was a much loved and highly respected member of our school community who will be missed by all of us. "We are deeply saddened by this great loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with Johns family at this tragic time, we extend to them our sincerest sympathy and support." UUP councillor Sam Nicholson is a friend of the Irwin family. Last night he said that John's parents Keith and Diane were in shock at the sudden loss of their beloved son. Mr Nicholson heard the news of the death as he attended the funeral of Lesley-Ann, a former head girl at City of Armagh High. "To lose a son so young, it's heartbreaking. These two tragic deaths in the same week have hit everybody hard," he said. "There's nothing that you can say to the families that will make them feel any better. They will never get over it." Friends posted messages on social media in tribute. Katie Neville posted a picture of John and said: "Cannot believe my wee John is gone. "A best friend to everyone, such a wee sweetheart. Made a fortune for so, so long selling sweets and Lucozade round school and never got caught. "Loads of memories with my wee star John Irwin! Partner in crime a lot of the time, relationship adviser, and everything. RIP John Irwin. Thoughts with you forever petal xxx" Another pal, Amiee Robinson, wrote on Facebook: "RIP John, was only talking to you a few hours before, most caring fella I've ever met, brightened up my days. Thoughts and prayers go out to the Irwin family." And Sam Coulter posted: "There was never a bad word against John. He always came into school with a smile and his head held high. "John was a person who always cheered you up, he will never be forgotten, school will be a little quiet but in our hearts John is always there." The chairman of the board of governors, William Scott said, yesterday: "On behalf of the board of governors and the whole school community I wish to express our deepest sympathy with the family of our student, John Irwin, who died this morning. "John was a much valued student in City of Armagh High School. "His mother, Mrs Diane Irwin, is very much involved in school life as a member of the board of governors and we very much appreciate the contribution of the wider family circle to the life of the school. "We assure John's parents, siblings and wider family circle that they are all in our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time." Armagh DUP councillor Freda Donnelly also knows the Irwin family. "To lose a child is every parent's nightmare, and I know the community will support the family at this very difficult time," Ms Donnelly said. Friends said the Irwin family were too shocked to speak about their loss. Former MLA Danny Kennedy, who visited the family yesterday, said: "People are stunned. This is another tragedy for Armagh and for the school. "The family told me they are grateful to the staff at the City of Armagh School who tried to help John, to the emergency services and to the medical staff at Craigavon who tried to save his life." Mr Kennedy said that the teenager had no medical history that could have given any early warning. "His mother told me he'd hardly been to the doctor's since he was a toddler," the former Stormont minister said. Funeral arrangements have yet to be finalised. Australians have been warned of the risk of protests turning violent Australia has warned its citizens about increasing tensions in Ireland between dissident republicans and unionists around the 1916 Rising centenary. In updated travel advice issued this week, people travelling to the country have been warned of the risk of protests turning violent, including those associated with Northern Ireland. "Tensions between dissident republicans and unionists have increased in the lead up to the centenary of the Easter Rising (24-29 April - Proclamation of Irish independence)," Australian diplomats said. "You should avoid all protests and demonstrations, including those associated with Northern Ireland, as they may turn violent. Instances of civil disorder can rapidly escalate into violence and you should avoid them wherever possible, including through careful monitoring of the media and following the advice of local authorities." The notice was added to the advice on the Australian government's smartraveller online portal, run by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Its general advice on Ireland is to exercise normal safety precautions - essentially using the same common sense you would when at home. It says there is a moderate incidence of serious and violent crime, car theft and break-ins are increasing, especially in Dublin, and tourist locations and rental cars are particularly targeted. On its specific advice for travel to Northern Ireland it said the threat of terrorism was severe, compared with moderate in England, Wales and Scotland. "In recent years, Northern Ireland-related terrorist groups have used firearms and explosives to target police and military, and occasionally commercial interests such as banks and local businesses. Civilians have been injured in these attacks," it said. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport said it would not comment on the travel advice issued by another government. But a spokesman said: "When compared to the number of tourists entering the country, Ireland is a very safe destination and the rate of crime against tourists is quite low. "Research has shown that the vast majority of our overseas visitors are more than happy to subsequently recommend Ireland as a holiday destination." A council has told a distraught south Belfast family that its pest control service is too busy to deal with a swarm of rats which has infested their home. The young family, including primary school-age children, have witnessed large rodents scurrying through their kitchen, living room and upstairs bathroom. A total of 18 rats have been caught and killed in just three days at their terraced home on Edinburgh Street, off the Lisburn Road. Read More Despite their landlord's efforts to tackle the infestation with traps and poison, the rats keep coming back to the family house. Belfast City Council said there is a long backlog for pest control, and the family, who reported the case on Tuesday, was advised that it could be two weeks before they are dealt with. A spokeswoman said: "We are committed to responding as soon as possible but as there is a huge demand on our free pest control service, the caller was advised that it can take up to 10 to 14 days. "An appointment was scheduled at the beginning of next week - well within the advised timeline - and advice offered on action that could be taken in the interim. "It should be pointed out that the Council has no statutory responsibility for dealing with rats. "However, in the 12 months to the end of March 2016, we dealt with more than 2,700 requests for service and baited more than 12,200 manholes." It is thought that the rats are invading the property through a hole over a sewer in an alleyway to the back of the house. The landlord said his efforts to explain the situation to the local authority fell on "deaf ears". "The council told me it would be 10 days before someone could come out and look at it," he said. "But that's not satisfactory, particularly as it's a family with three young kids and the rats are running through the house. "The council told me that I would need to get a private firm. My man is doing what he can do with traps, but the problem is outside the house. "I can't stand by and let this happen to my tenants. I couldn't deal with this on my own and I'm asking public authorities to deal with that problem and that's the response I got. This is falling on deaf ears. "The tenants have lived at the property for two years. They first noticed the problem this time last year, and the maintenance man came out and dealt with it. But that was four or five rats. "We then got the call on Friday evening about the new rats and we set up the traps and came back on the Sunday." Some 10 rats had to be killed after being found in the traps. The following day, the tenants found two more running through their living room. Residents in the area said they had complained to the council several times about the infestation but that no action had been taken to resolve the issue. An elderly woman said she spotted rats running up and down the street, while others claimed that the bins had not been emptied for a number of weeks. Johnny McCluskey, who works in building maintenance, said that the incident was the worst case he had dealt with. "I personally caught 16 rats after I set the traps on Friday, and I came back on the Sunday and I killed 10," he said. "I have never come across anything on this scale in my life." Rothschilds giraffe are one of the most endangered of the nine subspecies of giraffe. Visitors got a surprise at Belfast Zoo on Tuesday 5 April when they witnessed the birth of an endangered Rothschild's giraffe calf. Visitors at Belfast Zoo got a surprise this week as they witnessed the birth of an endangered Rothschild's giraffe calf. The latest arrival to the herd was born to mother, Neja and father, Finn. After a gestation period of approximately 15 months, keepers noticed that Neja was displaying signs of labour on Tuesday morning. << Did you witness the birth? Did you take any pictures or video? Get in touch here >> They carefully monitored the situation and eventually Neja gave birth to a healthy calf, in the outdoor area, in front of astounded visitors. It has become a tradition for calves born at Belfast Zoo to be named after towns and villages in Northern Ireland, so once they know the sex, keepers will pick a name. Senior keeper, Peter Cross, witnessed the arrival of the lcalf. "We were onsite throughout the birth to monitor the situation and to ensure that everything went smoothly", he said. "Neja gave birth outdoors with the rest of the herd and to the delight of many zoo visitors, who got to witness the event. Giraffe give birth standing up and the calf falls more than five feet to the ground. "The calf learns to stand within 30 minutes after birth and can run just 10 hours later. Since the birth, we have been giving mother and calf time to bond, so we have not yet had the chance to find out what sex the latest arrival is. "Belfast Zoo first became home to giraffe in 1988 and this is the 35th calf to be born at Cave Hill and Neja and Finns third calf, showing the success of our conservation efforts. Giraffes are one of the worlds most iconic and loved animals but they are facing increasing threats in the wild due to poaching and habitat destruction. It is estimated that giraffe populations have decreased by 40% in just 15 years. Rothschilds giraffes are one of the most endangered of the nine subspecies of giraffe and Belfast Zoos herd is part of a European breeding programme. With research showing that there may be as few as 2500 mature Rothschilds giraffes left in the wild, the subspecies is on the brink of becoming critically endangered and the conservation role of zoos is becoming even more critical. Zoo curator, Alyn Cairns, said: This is an exciting time in the giraffe house with the arrival of our latest calf but we are also delighted to announce that we will soon be launching our brand new giraffe experiences. "These experiences will take place every Saturday and Sunday between April and September and will allow visitors to spend 30 minutes behind the scenes with the giraffe keepers and to get the chance to feed the giraffe herd." Police have been given four weeks to interview witnesses over the death of a man in Belfast City Hospital three years ago. Coroner Joe McCrisken told PSNI officers at a preliminary hearing into the death of Seanpaul Carnahan that he expected to see witness statements by May 13. Mr McCrisken, speaking at Laganside courts, said the situation had "gone on too long" and indicated a number of medical staff could be called to attend the inquest on September 26. Mr Carnahan died aged 22 after being admitted to the hospital with a brain injury sustained during a suicide attempt. When admitted, the chef from the Beechmount area of west Belfast weighed 12 stone. When he died five months later in July 2013 he weighed five stone. Official medical notes obtained by the family from the Belfast Trust - and seen by the Belfast Telegraph - show that during Seanpaul's five months in hospital he was given a day's worth of food in the space of two weeks. The lack of nutrition caused a serious condition known as refeeding syndrome, and in the last nine weeks of Seanpaul's life he became more and more ill as his body attacked itself for food, before he eventually died. Last month this newspaper reported claims from his mother Tracy that police dragged their heels after her solicitor found the force had not formally interviewed any medical staff involved in Seanpaul's care. The solicitor and the family had been pushing for a corporate manslaughter or gross negligence charge to be brought against the Belfast Trust. Speaking after yesterday's hearing, Mrs Carnahan said she was glad the case was proceeding. "It's good news that a date has finally been set," she added. "The coroner said there is not to be any more delays since this has been going on for three years. "It's about time the police started to interview people who looked after Seanpaul. "The coroner is very no-nonsense and seems like he isn't going to allow the police to stall the case much longer. It looks like I am getting justice for my wee son after all." Earlier this year Mrs Carnahan set up a petition on change.org asking for justice for her son's death. It has so far attracted more than 3,000 signatures. Friends and family of Mrs Carnahan have said they are going to take the petition to the streets and shopping centres to get as many signatures as possible before presenting it to First Minster Arlene Foster. A young woman from Belfast has claimed she developed a bald patch, blisters and sores as a result of regularly using 'dry' shampoo. Nicole Baxter was initially diagnosed with triangular alopecia - hair loss in one area of the head. The 21-year-old wrote on Facebook in a post shared 31,000 times: "Dry shampoo caused me to have a bald patch on my head, which I still have, and it may or may not grow back, but nothing can be done - and a terrible scalp for ages." The former Victoria College student went to her GP at the end of last year. "My scalp was also very itchy and flaky," Nicole posted. "I had wee red sores and blisters all over my scalp and a terrible burning sensation all over my head, to the point where I would wake up several times a night due to the discomfort and pain." She was referred to the dermatology unit in Belfast City Hospital and was diagnosed with the hair-loss condition in February. Nicole was told to come back for a follow-up procedure last Thursday, but not to have anything in her hair. When she arrived, she said the specialist "looked at my file and said that it was to see what the blisters and sores were and could they diagnose a cause." It was only then Nicole realised they had gone. "So, she compared my scalp today to the pictures that were in my file from February and asked what had I done differently in the last six/seven weeks that may have helped it?" she wrote. "I told her I'd stopped using dry shampoo and that was it, nothing else different." Nicole now advises people to avoid dry shampoo, although she acknowledges she had an unusually severe allergic reaction. A lorry driver accused of bringing a 1 million consignment of herbal cannabis into Northern Ireland claims he thought it was contraband cigarettes, a court heard today. Police seized more than 50 kilos of the drugs transported from England in flower boxes when they stopped and searched two vehicles in Belfast on January 26. Gerard Bates, a 25-year-old HGV driver from Watsonville in Lurgan, Co Armagh, was arrested with Robert Byrne, 37, of Moneymore in Drogheda, Co Louth. Both men are charged with possessing Class B drugs with intent to supply, and being concerned in its supply. Bates faces an additional count of unlawfully supplying cannabis to another person. Although previously granted bail, he returned to Belfast Magistrates' Court seeking to have a curfew lifted and permission to resume full driving duties. His lawyer argued that he needed to return to employment to help pay the mortgage. But police opposed the move, claiming that a Dublin-based crime gang was behind the attempt to import the cannabis from England. A detective confirmed Bates has alleged that he believed he was bringing in tobacco. But she claimed: "He had them in the back of his lorry and he hid them there." Refusing the application to vary bail terms, District Judge Peter King told Bates: "I have huge concerns about the amount of drugs that are involved. "At the height of your case you thought you were involved in the importation of contraband cigarettes. "You're very fortunate that you are in the community and not remanded in custody." Bates was told to return to court in June for an update on the case. Pacemaker Press Belfast 14-04-2016: A man in his 40s has been arrested after the windows of a suicide prevention charity's offices in north Belfast were smashed during an attack. The incident happened at the offices of Public Initiative For Prevention of Suicide and Self Harm (PIPS) on the Antrim Road on Wednesday night. Picture By: Pacemaker. Pacemaker Press Belfast 14-04-2016: A man in his 40s has been arrested after the windows of a suicide prevention charity's offices in north Belfast were smashed during an attack. The incident happened at the offices of Public Initiative For Prevention of Suicide and Self Harm (PIPS) on the Antrim Road on Wednesday night. PIPS Chief Executive Brian Maguire pictured outside the office. Picture By: Pacemaker. Pacemaker Press Belfast 14-04-2016: A man in his 40s has been arrested after the windows of a suicide prevention charity's offices in north Belfast were smashed during an attack. The incident happened at the offices of Public Initiative For Prevention of Suicide and Self Harm (PIPS) on the Antrim Road on Wednesday night. Picture By: Pacemaker. Pacemaker Press Belfast 14-04-2016: A man in his 40s has been arrested after the windows of a suicide prevention charity's offices in north Belfast were smashed during an attack. The incident happened at the offices of Public Initiative For Prevention of Suicide and Self Harm (PIPS) on the Antrim Road on Wednesday night. Picture By: Pacemaker. Pacemaker Press Belfast 14-04-2016: A man in his 40s has been arrested after the windows of a suicide prevention charity's offices in north Belfast were smashed during an attack. The incident happened at the offices of Public Initiative For Prevention of Suicide and Self Harm (PIPS) on the Antrim Road on Wednesday night. Picture By: Pacemaker. Pacemaker Press Belfast 14-04-2016: A man in his 40s has been arrested after the windows of a suicide prevention charity's offices in north Belfast were smashed during an attack. The incident happened at the offices of Public Initiative For Prevention of Suicide and Self Harm (PIPS) on the Antrim Road on Wednesday night. Picture By: Pacemaker. Pacemaker Press Belfast 14-04-2016: A man in his 40s has been arrested after the windows of a suicide prevention charity's offices in north Belfast were smashed during an attack. The incident happened at the offices of Public Initiative For Prevention of Suicide and Self Harm (PIPS) on the Antrim Road on Wednesday night. Picture By: Pacemaker. Pacemaker Press Belfast 14-04-2016: A man in his 40s has been arrested after the windows of a suicide prevention charity's offices in north Belfast were smashed during an attack. The incident happened at the offices of Public Initiative For Prevention of Suicide and Self Harm (PIPS) on the Antrim Road on Wednesday night. Picture By: Pacemaker. Pictured is the scene at the PIPS charity office on the Antrim Road ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) A man is in hospital after a brick bounced back and hit him when he allegedly threw it at the office of the Public Initiative for Prevention of Suicide (PIPS) charity on the Antrim Road in north Belfast. The front windows of the property were smashed in the incident on Wednesday evening. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Pictured is the scene at the PIPS charity office on the Antrim Road ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) Kevin Scott / Presseye Pictured is the scene at the PIPS charity office on the Antrim Road ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) Kevin Scott / Presseye Pictured is the scene at the PIPS charity office on the Antrim Road ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) Kevin Scott / Presseye Pictured is the scene at the PIPS charity office on the Antrim Road ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) Kevin Scott / Presseye Pictured is the scene at the PIPS charity office on the Antrim Road ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) Kevin Scott / Presseye Pictured is the scene at the PIPS charity office on the Antrim Road ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) Kevin Scott / Presseye Pictured is the scene at the PIPS charity office on the Antrim Road ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) Kevin Scott / Presseye Pictured is the scene at the PIPS charity office on the Antrim Road ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) Kevin Scott / Presseye / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Pictured is the scene at the PIPS charity office on the Antrim Road ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) A number of people were in the premises at the time but were not injured. The man, who is in his 40s, reportedly threw a brick at the window but it bounced back and hit him. He was arrested at the scene and is currently being treated in hospital for a head injury. Police said they are investigating criminal damage at the property and enquiries are continuing. In a post on their Facebook page, a spokesperson for the charity said: "I would just like to thank the amazing board, staff, volunteers, family group , and friends of PIPS for all their help and support tonight." Following the clean up, the charity was able to open as normal on Thursday. McGurk's Bar massacre: 15 people were killed after the Ulster Volunteer Force detonated a bomb at McGurk's Bar in Belfast in December 1971 Relatives of those killed in one of Northern Ireland's worst terrorist atrocities are facing further delay in their legal battle to have a controversial police report into the bombing quashed. A challenge taken by the families of victims of the McGurk's Bar massacre was adjourned today amid ongoing alleged resistance to having the dossier fully rescinded. Counsel for Chief Constable George Hamilton has already confirmed he will not be contesting a finding of bias in the original RUC investigation into the attack. Fifteen people were murdered when the north Belfast pub was blown up by the Ulster Volunteer Force in December 1971. Five years ago a Police Ombudsman probe identified investigative bias in how the RUC handled the case. It concluded that detectives failed to properly probe loyalist paramilitary responsibility for the bombing because they were so focused on the mistaken idea that the IRA was to blame. At the time of the attack it was suggested that it may have been an accidental "own goal". But a separate review carried out by the police's now defunct Historicial Enquiries Team (HET) reached a different verdict. It claimed there was no evidence of any bias on the part of the RUC investigators. Those findings have been challenged by Brigid Irvine, whose mother Kathleen was among those killed in the attack. Her legal team sought a judicial review in a bid to have the HET report quashed, claiming its conclusions were irrational. With the Chief Constable no longer contesting the conclusion reached by the Police Ombudsman, Ms Irvine's lawyer have continued to press for the entire HET report to be quashed. However, a hearing at the High Court in Belfast was adjourned today following discussion between counsel. Listing the case for a further mention next month, Mr Justice Maguire told relatives who attended: "The court cannot avoid being anything other than concerned that justice be done in respect of such egregious events as occurred at that time in respect of the bombing of McGurk's Bar. "It's one of the most notorious incidents of the Troubles... I can appreciate there's no doubt concern about delay, but the court can see from the papers that there's been a considerable effort made in this case to reach agreement about a way forward." Following the hearing Ms Irvine's solicitor said the Chief Constable is seeking to stand over what remains of the HET report. Paul Pierce of KRW Law added: "The families welcome the opportunity to have the court examine all these issues, that will include the original RUC investigation, the Police Ombudsman findings of investigative bias and how the HET failed to consider the evidence provided to them by the families." Arlene Shannon from North Belfast who's son Liam (14) who is currently hospitalised in a psychiatric unit Arlene Shannon with a picture of her son Liam (14) who is currently hospitalised in a psychiatric unit A desperate mother is pleading for help to stop her 14-year-old boy killing himself through cocaine and other drugs. Arlene Shannon says that her son's life is in imminent danger because of the lack of help for children with drugs and mental health problems in Northern Ireland. Her son Liam is in Beechcroft psychiatric unit in south Belfast, but Arlene claims that the treatment he is receiving is "totally inadequate". Three days ago the teenager raided a medicine cabinet in the unit, overdosed with prescription drugs and then ran off into the city centre, his mother said. Arlene put out frantic messages on social media in a bid to find him. Liam was later apprehended by passersby. The PSNI then took him to A&E at the Mater Hospital, but he escaped from there. He was eventually detained on the Shankill, handcuffed and returned to the hospital. In an exclusive interview with the Belfast Telegraph in her Ardoyne home, Arlene said: "I am at my wits' end. The system is failing my son. He needs put in a locked, secure unit but the health authorities won't do that. "If nobody will take responsibility for saving Liam's life, then they will have to take to responsibility for his death. "I am speaking out today because if my son doesn't get the help he needs the next time I see him he will be in a body bag." Arlene claimed that her son had started taking cocaine last year and, since then, he has abused other illegal narcotics and prescription drugs, which are freely available on sale on the streets. She said that Liam had tried to take his own life many times. The young mother-of-three expressed her fury at the glamorisation of drugs mule Michaella McCollum. "I am sickened at how she has been treated. My family's story is testimony to the ugly reality of the drugs trade. Ardoyne is awash with drugs. It's like a tsunami has hit this community. There are up to 10 dealers in some streets," Arlene said. SDLP councillor Nichola Mallon, who has been trying to help the Shannons, said: "The family want Liam put in a secure, locked unit but I've been told no such thing exists in Northern Ireland. "Some health professionals say that locking him up would be counter-productive anyway, but his family believe it's the only way to help him. "This is a heartbreaking case and somebody must do something before this young boy's life is lost." Ms Mallon added: "I don't doubt that health professionals are trying their best but clearly the system cannot cope. Children and families who find themselves in these horrific circumstances need more support. Liam's story is by no means unique. "I know other parents equally terrified of losing their children. There is a drugs epidemic and its child victims are getting younger and younger. "Our healthcare system isn't changing quickly enough to meet their needs." The Belfast Telegraph asked the Department of Health for comment, but at the time of going to print the department had not responded. Arlene said Liam's first experience of drugs was taking a legal high when he was just 12. "His behaviour started to change. He became introverted and anxious. "He'd come into my bed at night because he was scared to sleep alone. "He became paranoid. He wouldn't leave the house even to go to school. "If he went to school, he'd suffer panic attacks and I'd be called to come and collect him," she explained. Arlene said the family GP referred her to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). "They said he was too young for them to treat him and he was referred to child psychology in the RVH. "We waited a year for that appointment. He was seen just a week before his 14th birthday and they only saw him once, as they said they only deal with under 14s." Arlene said that Liam's behaviour became increasingly erratic last summer when he "started going out but was moody and bad-tempered at home". She bought a drugs test on eBay and made him take it. Liam came up positive for four different drugs. "He told me that he had taken only cocaine, so it must have been cut with different substances," she added. The family GP again referred them to CAMHS. "But CAMHS passed us onto DAMHS (Drug and Alcohol Mental Health Service), and DAMHS referred us to DAISY (Drug and Alcohol Intervention Service for Youth). "Liam saw DAISY twice and we never heard anything after that," Arlene said. In January she found her son lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. He had taken drugs and sliced his arms. "I contacted CAMHS again and they put me in touch with CAIT (Crisis Assessment and Intervention Team). CAIT medicated Liam with anti-psychotic drugs," she said. "Liam's school then referred us to FASA (Forum for Action on Substance Abuse) on the Shankill. Liam was getting on well there, he had great relationship with his counsellor, but then FASA closed and our lifeline was gone." Arlene said that Liam overdosed last month. "He went crazy. We had to hold him down in the hall. He must have banged his forehead off the floor 100 times. He tried to bite and swallow his tongue. "The police had to put him in hand and legcuffs to get him into the ambulance," she said. Liam was admitted into Beechcroft psychiatric unit as a voluntary patient. Arlene added: "He has sliced himself with blades. He has tried to enter the kitchen area to get a knife. He has kicked down doors to get out. "The staff at Beechcroft are brilliant but the regime just isn't stringent enough for Liam. He has been given day and weekend passes and, when he's got out, he's taken drugs. Once when the police found him after he went AWOL he had taken prescription drugs. "They took him to the RVH. He was then sent back to Beechcroft but a few hours later he absconded and the police caught him wandering in front of traffic." Arlene insisted that her son urgently needed put in an ultra-secure unit and given intensive therapy. "I've been told by medical professionals that children have rights, but what use will rights be to my child if he is dead?" she said. Arlene, who is a school dinner lady, said: "I am a good mother who has tried to do everything right but the system isn't supporting me. "I can't sleep at night because I'm so sick with worry. I haven't been able to work in weeks. I am 35 but I feel 100 years old. I don't know what more to do. I am crumbling as a human being." The mother-of-three said that her 17-year-old son Brendan and her six-year-old daughter Alex were also enduring "an emotional nightmare". Arlene described the drugs problem among young people in Ardoyne as "heartbreaking". She said: "I see other mummies with their perfect wee four-year-old boys and girls walking into P1 and I think: 'God love you. In a decade or less, you could be me'." If you are having a crisis contact Samaritans on 116 123 or Lifeline on 0808 808 8000. Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt speaks during the launch of his party's Assembly election manifesto at the Park Avenue Hotel in east Belfast Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt has predicted his party could top the polls at the Assembly election. Making the claim as he launched the UUP's manifesto, Mr Nesbitt accused the DUP and Sinn Fein of "arrogance" for portraying the battle to secure the First Minister's seat as a two-horse race. After the DUP emerged as the largest party in 2011 with 38 seats and the UUP came third on 16, a huge electoral turnaround would be required for Mr Nesbitt to emerge victorious in May, particularly as the party is only fielding 33 candidates. But the claim was in tune with a manifesto launch in Belfast that proclaimed the UUP as a reinvigorated force. "We are fighting like any other party, we are fighting to win," said Mr Nesbitt. "I think there is a certain arrogance in other parties saying it is either A or B for First Minister. Who is to say that the Ulster Unionists with 33 great candidates and stated policies which are second to none, and a better vision than anybody else on the future of Northern Ireland, can't come out top?" Mr Nesbitt said his party had regained its "appetite for elections". "We believe in ourselves again," he told party faithful at the Park Avenue Hotel in east Belfast. "We have new-found credibility with the public and these two feed off each other in a virtuous circle, generating the gold dust of elected politics - momentum." Accusing the DUP and Sinn Fein of mismanaging the power-sharing administration for nine years, he asked: "Does anyone really want more of the same? Another five years of failure?" The UUP walked out of the executive last autumn amid a crisis sparked by a murder linked to members of the supposedly defunct Provisional IRA. At the time, Mr Nesbitt claimed Sinn Fein's insistence that the IRA did not exist had undermined trust in the republican party to such a degree that the UUP could no longer share power with its representatives. At the manifesto launch on Thursday, the UUP leader said Sinn Fein's position on the IRA was not a precondition for his party returning to government. "I didn't put ourselves on a hook, I was very careful not to say there's an ultimatum or a precondition for us to go back in," he said. Mr Nesbitt said the decision to enter the executive would be based on whether a "progressive" programme for government could be negotiated between the main parties after the election. The DUP's campaign has placed heavy focus on its new leader Arlene Foster. In an apparent dig at this tactic, Mr Nesbitt said: "Having lived through the era of Ian Paisley's party, we do not want to return to the cult of the individual." Later, as he announced the UUP's candidates, he told supporters: "These are not just Mike Nesbitt's candidates, these are your candidates." The Iraq Inquiry report must be published before the "incomprehensible and unacceptable" expected date of June or July because people have already "probably" died as a result of the ongoing delays, MPs have been told. Conservative David Davis wants the Chilcot report published as soon as national security vetting is complete - expected to be in early May after the Government promised the process would take a fortnight or less. Cabinet Office Minister John Penrose said the report into the Iraq War should be handed next week to officials for security checks, which will be completed within two weeks as promised by David Cameron. But Mr Penrose stressed that inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot will still need to prepare the "very large" report for publication and will announce a firmer release date after vetting. The minister told a backbench debate on the inquiry: "I should make clear that at that stage, even when the national security checking process is complete, the report will still be in Sir John Chilcot's hands and will not be released to the Government until everything is ready. "The inquiry has said that it will complete the remaining work as swiftly as possible, and as Sir John Chilcot indicated in his letter to the Prime Minister last October, that he expects publication in June or July this year." Responding to speculation that the report may be delayed until after the EU referendum on June 23, Mr Penrose that there is nothing in the "purdah" rules for the poll to stop the inquiry's publication beforehand. But Mr Davis said waiting until June or July to publish the report would be difficult to understand for many, including the families of the British war dead. And he said recent decisions about intervention in Libya, Syria and Iraq were made without proper knowledge of the controversial 2003 choice to go to war. As a result bad decisions have been made which have probably cost lives, the former foreign minister added. Mr Davis told the Commons: "There are lessons to be learned from the Iraq War about our foreign policy, about our political decisions to go to war and about our military operations. "The longer we leave it the less useful these lessons will be and the more likely it is that we will make the same mistakes. "A decision such as those that were made in Libya, Syria and Iraq are made without the knowledge or facts, mistakes are made, and sometimes people die as a result. "It's not hyperbole to say delay to the Iraq Inquiry could cost lives because bad decisions could be made - I would go further, I'd say it probably did cost lives because bad decisions were made." He later added: "I want to say through the minister to Sir John Chilcot that June/July is incomprehensible and unacceptable." Several other MPs called for the publication of the report as soon as possible. The SNP's Angus MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) said: " The UK risks becoming an international laughing stock by this infinite and eternal delay that's tied with this report." Former British Army officer Bob Stewart, Tory MP for Beckenham, said: "I think we could sum up what the military families feel by the fact that the longer this takes, the more jiggery-pokery they think is going on with actually the results of the inquiry. "If we keep going on and on like this there will be total loss of faith in what it produces." Labour's Graham Allen (Nottingham North) said the publication would be good for the party: " The publication will be part of what is necessary to purge our own party of the fault line that occurred around the time of the Iraq War and continues to this day." The SNP's Martin Docherty-Hughes (West Dunbartonshire) said: " The longer we wait, the more unstable our position becomes and this has led successive British governments to continue with this same failed philosophy without ever learning from the mistakes or looking at a different set of responses to the situation in which we now find ourselves." Labour's Paul Flynn (Newport West) said: "It is absolutely crucial we understand that mindset that drove us into war - and that mindset is one that we heard recently in other debates here, with going into Libya, or into Syria, and is this myth, that affects English MPs rather than Scottish or Welsh or Irish MPs, and it's the idea that the UK, our country, must punch above its weight militarily." Liberal Democrat Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) said: "Since the Iraq war of course we have had the first involvement in Libya where, if the Chilcot Inquiry had been published, that I'm sure would have helped the decisions taken there." This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes has his picture taken with members of the public following the funeral of TV agony aunt Denise Robertson This Morning presenters Eamonn Holmes and wife Ruth Langsford arrive for the funeral of TV agony aunt Denise Robertson This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield wipes his eye as Holly Willoughby looks on following the funeral of TV agony aunt Denise Robertson Sunderland Minster Eamonn Holmes paid a heartfelt tribute to "national treasure" Denise Robertson as he joined family and friends at the agony aunt's funeral yesterday. The Belfast broadcaster and wife Ruth Lansgford joined fellow This Morning presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby at Sunderland Minster as mourners paid their final respects to the 83-year-old. Denise, who won a place in millions of viewers' hearts with her no-nonsense yet warm approach, died of pancreatic cancer. At the service Holmes spoke movingly of the colleague he had known since the 1980s. "Never was there a more shrewd judge of character," he said. "She could spot a fake at a hundred paces. (She was) a mum, an aunt, a best friend, a shoulder to cry on and a friend for life. For 28 seasons at ITV, a record in itself, the glass lens never tired of Denise Robertson. She was the real deal." Langsford also paid tribute to her colleague's love of bright colours and recalled her "wafting" fragrantly down the corridors of the TV studios. Holmes added: "She was a national treasure. I don't think we will see anything like that again. No one expects to have a gig as long as she did." Before the service, Holmes - walking with crutches after his double hip replacement - revealed he had followed Denise's advice to marry Langsford, to get a dog and to have his hips fixed. "It's very difficult to believe we will go into work on Friday and she will not be there," he added. An emotional Schofield said before the funeral how he was desperate for Denise's approval when he joined This Morning. "She was feisty, really, really tenacious and would power through authority," he added. And Willoughby said: "She was an incredible person and a great friend. She was also a remarkable woman. She blazed her way through life and never let anything hold her back." Robertson played a crucial role in the popularity of This Morning from its first broadcast in 1988. She was widowed twice - losing first husband Alex to cancer in 1972 and then Jack to a stroke in 1995. She also lost her 44-year-old stepson John to cancer in 2006. She was awarded an MBE a decade ago and given the freedom of the city of Sunderland. Downing Street has rejected calls for Culture Secretary John Whittingdale to step aside from decisions about Press regulation after he disclosed that he had a relationship with a sex worker. Mr Whittingdale, who is single, said he had been unaware of the woman's occupation and had broken off the relationship after six months in 2014 when he discovered someone was trying to sell the story to the Press. Labour's shadow culture secretary Maria Eagle said it was now essential for Mr Whittingdale to give up his responsibilities for Press regulation to ensure there was no perception of "undue influence" in his dealings with newspapers. But a senior Downing Street spokesman responded: "The Prime Minister has got full confidence in John Whittingdale to carry out all of his duties." The Number 10 spokesman confirmed that Mr Whittingdale did not inform Mr Cameron about media interest in his relationship at the time he was appointed to the Cabinet after the 2015 general election. The PM learned about the affair only around 10 days ago, when the story emerged on the internet, said the spokesman. He said it was a decision for Mr Whittingdale whether he felt it necessary to inform the PM about the issue. In a statement last night Mr Whittingdale insisted that events had no bearing on any decisions he took in office. "This is an old story which was a bit embarrassing at the time. The events occurred long before I took up my present position and it has never had any influence on the decisions I have made as Culture Secretary," he said. BBC2's Newsnight reported that four newspapers had investigated the claims at the time but concluded it was not a public interest story. Although the relationship occurred before he was made a minister, it occurred at a time when he was chairman of the influential Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which had held a series of high-profile hearings on the phone-hacking scandal. Ms Eagle said: "Everyone is entitled to a private life. However, these revelations raise serious questions about why the Secretary of State has reneged on the Government's promise to deliver the cross-party agreement on Leveson when this is something he was previously committed to as chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee." In a statement, Mr Whittingdale confirmed he had a six-month relationship with the woman who he met through a dating website. The top-performing officer cadet at Sandhurst has said on the eve of his "passing out" ceremony that had it not been for joining the Army he would be dead or in prison. Officer cadet Kidane Cousland, who grew up on a housing estate in north London, thanked the Army for putting him on the right track, ahead of completing his officer training at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy. The 24-year-old is one of only a handful of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) officer cadets to be awarded the "sword of honour" for coming top of his intake, which he will be presented with during Friday's graduation ceremony. Born in an estate in Tottenham, by the age of 11 officer cadet Cousland could not read, and left school at 15. He said: "I went to school, I was completely disconnected, I didn't get on, I didn't do very well, I wasn't motivated ... I was in a bad way really. "But something I always wanted to do since I was a child was join the Army. "And it felt like a bit of a pipe dream when I was in Tottenham, but then I said to myself if I'm good enough, they'll pick me." His mother refused to sign his application form at first because she was "absolutely terrified by the prospect of her young mixed-race son" joining the Army. He said: "You're in the middle, you're mixed-race ... and it's just, it's hard to find sanctuary anywhere really, so she was extremely worried that going into this - what a lot of people perceive as a predominantly white organisation made up of some potentially quite aggressive working class men ruled by some upper class sorts ... t hat was very much her perception of the Army." But, he said: "I either did that or my anger issues and frustration would actually see me move in a different direction, and probably end up killing me or I'd be in prison." His mother having relented, he came top of the Army selection board when he applied at 16 in 2008, did "extremely well" during the year's training at Harrogate that followed, and came top of his Commando course aged 18. At 19, he was deployed to Afghanistan, where he served as a bombardier for six months in the 29 Commando regiment, Royal Artillery. The first thing he did on leave was buy his mother a car. After being recommended for officer training, he started his 40-plus week officer training at Sandhurst in May 2015. And when he officially becomes a senior under officer on Friday, in a ceremony watched by a 1,000-strong crowd, he will be presented with the prestigious sword of honour which he beat 200 fellow recruits to win. Only a handful of BAME people have received the accolade, and the last black officer cadet to receive it was Charlie Mulira in 2007, who is currently serving with the Irish Guards. Despite his lack of education, officer cadet Cousland excelled in his academic challenges - even beating former Oxbridge graduates in his war studies essay. He now hopes to complete a Bachelor's degree in war studies before doing a Master's. The soon-to-be officer, known as Danny to his Army colleagues said: "I've invited loads of my friends ... but I've not told them that I've won the sword of honour because I think it would be quite funny to see their faces in the crowd. "My mum lost a fiver to my uncle - she bet I wouldn't get it," he said, adding: "I'm just glad I can represent my family and they can be proud of me." Around 2.5% British officers in the Army are from BAME backgrounds, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. However numbers have been slowly rising, and the MoD says it is on track to meet the target of 10% of all recruits as set out by Prime Minister David Cameron in early April. Officer cadet Cousland said he did not believe the Army was "fundamentally racist" but admitted he had experienced some racism while serving. "As I learned from when I was a kid, my response to racism is just to prove them wrong by being the best I can be, every day," he said. "That's all you can do. It's an ideology that can only be defeated by successful people. You can't defeat it by stooping to someone's level and being upset and emotional, you just have to fight through it." A top Syrian official urged the opposition to let go of its dream of easing President Bashar Assad out of power in a transitional government, complicating peace talks that resumed in Geneva on ending the five-year civil war. As Syrians voted in parliamentary elections in government-held parts of the country - balloting the opposition dismissed as a sham - Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said a transitional government amounts to a coup d'etat and "will never be accepted". A transitional government is the centerpiece of the peace program that the United States, Russia and other world powers agreed on at a 2012 Geneva Conference. The terms have been left vague intentionally and are supposed to be worked out in the peace talks, but the presumption, at least in the opposition's mind, is that a transitional government means one without Mr Assad. "This will not happen, not now, nor tomorrow nor ever," Mr Mekdad said, speaking at his office in Damascus ahead of the resumption of the indirect talks in Geneva that the UN envoy says will focus on a political transition. Mr Assad recently floated the idea of a national unity government, rejecting the opposition's demand for a transitional ruling body, and Mr Mekdad echoed the rejection. "We believe such an idea has failed, it is outdated, it will never be acceptable. This amounts in fact to a coup d'etat. People organise a certain rebellion and then they get power. This will never happen in Syria," he said. He said most of the world except Saudi Arabia and Turkey - the two top backers of the rebellion - have all but relinquished calls for Mr Assad to step down, having realised after five years of war that the president is fighting "terrorists" in Syria. "We believe that if we have to proceed, then we need to forget or we need others to forget the dreams they had for the last five years and to come with factual, actual solutions to the problem," he said. "This includes the possibility of establishing a national unity government or a broad government that includes members of the opposition." But in Geneva, UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said that his recent visits to Iran, Russia and Syria led him to believe that those countries were "supportive to what we are trying to do in terms of a political transition". "There was no doubt on that. From Moscow to Tehran, even to Damascus, (they) agreed with the fact that this is the agenda," he said. US Secretary of State John Kerry said he spoke to Mr de Mistura about the talks and urged all participants "to adhere to the cessation of hostilities". "There is an opportunity in these days ahead to be able to negotiate transition according to Geneva Communique of 2012, which is precisely what they say they want," Mr Kerry said in Washington. "The Iranians have signed up to it, the Russians have signed up to it. The Turks, the Qataris, the Saudis, the Emiratis, most of the European countries, all of the countries that are part of the International Syrian Support Group." Aided by Russian air power, the Syrian army and allied militiamen have reversed the tide of the war in recent months, making rapid advances against its opponents. Syria also has benefited from a US- and Russian-engineered partial ceasefire, which has allowed it to focus on fighting extremists like the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front, which are excluded from the truce agreement. The new 250-member parliament being chosen on Wednesday is expected to serve as a rubber stamp for Mr Assad. Western leaders and members of Syria's opposition have denounced the election as illegitimate and a provocation that undermines the peace talks. After casting his vote with his wife, Asma, Mr Assad said the election was one way to defy the terrorists - the term he uses to describe Syria's armed opposition. Parliamentary elections in Syria are held every four years, and Damascus says the vote is constitutional and separate from the Geneva talks. But the opposition says the voting contributes to an unfavourable climate for negotiations. Britain said Damascus' decision to go ahead with the elections in the war-torn nation, where hundreds of thousands cannot take part, shows "how divorced (the government) is from reality". Germany said it would not accept the results of the vote. But Mr Assad's main ally, Russia, welcomed the vote, calling it necessary to prevent "a power vacuum" in Syria until a new constitution and elections are agreed upon in the peace talks. In the tightly-controlled Syrian capital, voters said they fully supported holding the elections. Most voters said they were mostly concerned about rocketing prices rather than security, which has become less of a concern in the capital since the ceasefire. The balloting, in which soldiers are being allowed to vote for the first time, was carried out only in areas under government control. Voting stations were set up in 12 of Syria's 14 provinces. The northern province of Raqqa is controlled by the Islamic State group, and the northwestern province of Idlib is controlled by its rival, the al Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, as well as other insurgents. The government has no presence in either province. While some parts of Damascus had sizeable turnout, other less-secure areas on the outskirts of the capital and on the edge of rebel-held suburbs saw fewer people vote. In Tadamon, outside the Palestinian refugee camps of Yarmouk, which is largely under IS control, people were hesitant to vote, and polling centres were nearly empty for most of the morning despite the military presence. Polls were to close at midnight, after they were extended for five hours because of high turnout, according to state TV. Results were expected on Thursday. As the Geneva talks resumed, Mr de Mistura said the recent fighting in Syria amounted to "incidents, and not a bush fire". He said the fragile ceasefire was holding despite a recent "deterioration" in some areas, and he vowed to press ahead with his efforts despite the messages coming from the Damascus government. Mr de Mistura said he hopes to go "deeper and deeper" toward reaching a deal on political transition in Syria - his ultimate goal. He hosted a delegation from the main opposition group, the High Negotiations Committee. A delegation from Mr Assad's government is expected to arrive on Friday. The two sides do not negotiate directly in the "proximity" talks; instead, Mr de Mistura meets with each side separately and shuttles between them. Australians travelling to Ireland have been told to avoid all protests and demonstrations. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs has updated its travel advice on Ireland to warn of "tensions" ahead of the Easter Rising centenary. "Tensions between dissident republicans and unionists have increased in the lead up to the centenary of the Easter Rising (24-29 April )," it says. "You should avoid all protests and demonstrations, including those associated with Northern Ireland, as they may turn violent," the advice continues. "Instances of civil disorder can rapidly escalate into violence and you should avoid them wherever possible, including through careful monitoring of the media and following the advice of local authorities," according to its smarttraveller.gov.au website. In general terms, the level of alert has not changed for Ireland, with its government advising Australians to "exercise normal safety precautions". However, the advice also says conditions "can change suddenly". Ireland's official State commemorations of the 1916 Rising centred on Easter, but the calender anniversary itself falls between April 24-19. Separately, security recommendations warn travellers that car theft and break-ins are increasing, especially in Dublin and tourist locations, and rental cars are particularly targeted. Credit card and ATM scams are becoming more common, it says. The incidence of serious, violent crime is listed as "moderate". A spokesperson for the Irish Department of Transport & Tourism said it doesn't comment on travel advice issued by other countries. Failte Ireland, the Republic's travel board's most recent Visitor Attitudes Survey saw 92% of tourists list safety and security as one of their top reasons for visiting Ireland. The Australian embassy has been asked for comment. Read Australia's full travel advice on Ireland here. Source Irish Independent The 50 companies are believed to have earned $4trn in profits globally from 2008-2014, but paid only 26.5 per cent of this in tax in the US. File photo The 50 biggest US companies have more money stashed offshore than the entire GDP of Spain, Mexico or Australia, collectively keeping about $1.3trn (0.91trn) in territories where the money does not count towards US tax, according to a new report by Oxfam. The revelations come after the European Commission announced plans to make big companies more transparent about where they pay tax. The charity said the Commission's proposals are almost useless for identifying where tax avoidance may be happening. It urged the UK Government to push for stronger rules to ensure that companies pay tax in all countries where they do business. Robbie Silverman, Senior Tax Advisor at Oxfam, said that tax avoidance in the US will have a knock-on effect in countries around the world. The same tricks and tools used by multinational companies to dodge tax in the US are being used to cheat countries across the world out of their fair share of tax revenues, with devastating consequences, he said. Poor countries are particularly hard hit, losing an estimated $100bn a year to corporate tax dodgers. This is enough to provide safe water and sanitation to more than 2.2 billion people, he added. In its investigation into the US tax system, Oxfam revealed some of the offshore accounting practices of the biggest companies in the US. Fifty companies including Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, Alphabet (Google) and Goldman Sachs keep a total of about $1.3trn in subsidiary companies registered all over the world, Oxfam says. The Independent has contacted the companies named above for comment. Goldman Sachs declined to comment, the others did not respond. The 50 companies are believed to have earned $4trn in profits globally from 2008-2014, but paid only 26.5 per cent of this in tax in the US, below the countrys statutory tax rate of 35 per cent. They rely on an opaque and secretive network of more than 1,600 disclosed subsidiaries in tax havens to stash about $1.3trn offshore, Oxfam said. It added that other offshore subsidiaries may be in use but under the radar of the Securities and Exchange Commission, because of weak reporting requirements. These same 50 companies collectively received $27 in federal aid-like loans, loan guarantees and bailouts for every $1 they paid in federal taxes, amounting to a total of $11.2 trillion, Oxfam said. Charities including Oxfam and Christian Aid have dismissed European Commission proposals to crack down on tax dodging as close to pointless. Christian Aid said new rules would allow dodgy business as usual. Under EC proposals, companies would have to report profits and pay taxes in the EU and certain so-far undisclosed tax havens.While campaigners have lobbied for country-by-country reporting of taxes and profits, the proposed versions is so limited that it would not do the job, charities say. Unless companies have to report on their activities in all the countries where they operate, they could continue to dodge tax on a massive scale, using the places still hidden from view, said Toby Quantrill, Chrisian Aids tax justice expert. Read more Read More Read More Campaigners have long asked for country-by-country reporting of tax affairs but the latest EC proposals are only a limited version of the rule. A previous tax haven blacklist put together by the European Commission in 2015 was withdrawn after it failed to include key countries like Luxembourg. The latest European Commission proposals come in the wake of a huge data leak from a law firm in Panama that provided evidence of the true scale of offshore banking by the worlds super rich, including many current and former world leaders. Oxfam described the exploitation of tax loopholes as an integral component of the profit-making strategies of many multinational corporations. Tax avoidance comes in many forms. Companies have reported up to $2 trillion of profits as permanently reinvested abroad, meaning it is not accountable for tax in the US. Some of the companies The Independent spoke to said that they still pay high taxes in the countries where the subsidiaries are registered. This practice can help them reduce their US tax bill because companies receive a dollar-for-dollar credit for any amount of tax they pay to other countries. Oxfam, Christian Aid and Action Aid have said that in order to create a fairer tax system, companies must publicly report revenues and taxes, publicly declare any subsidiaries in tax havens and publicly reveal how much money they spend on lobbying politicians. Read the full report: How Americas dysfunctional tax system costs billions in corporate tax dodging Independent CaptionBot uses a number of complex programs to analyse and caption images Microsoft Microsoft's CaptionBot is an artificial intelligence (AI) system capable of analysing and describing pictures automatically. The program, now available to try on the company's website, is from the Microsoft Cognitive Services team, and it works surprisingly well - most of the time. We tested it with a few faces that are well-known to people in Northern Ireland and the results were mixed. Users can upload any image to CaptionBot and have it return a description in seconds. It manages this by using image and face analysing programs, as well as a language processor which returns descriptions in understandable English. The program isn't entirely spot-on all the time, but it's generally close enough to be impressive. Expand Close CaptionBot uses a number of complex programs to analyse and caption images Microsoft / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp CaptionBot uses a number of complex programs to analyse and caption images Microsoft Read More Image captioning software is nothing new, but the way Microsoft has made the program public gives everyone a chance to see how it works. CaptionBot should get more accurate over time - users can rate how well it did at captioning pictures on a one-to-five scale, and it will slowly 'learn' to identify different elements as it gets fed more content. Expand Close CaptionBot uses a number of complex programs to analyse and caption images Microsoft / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp CaptionBot uses a number of complex programs to analyse and caption images Microsoft A word of warning - Microsoft says it will hold on to all images uploaded to CaptionBot, in order to improve its capabilities in future. However, it insists it won't record any personal information about users. George Hawley, a professor of political science at the University of Alabama, supplies an invaluable service to students of American politics with his recently published book, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism. All too rarely do we encounter a work that is as theoretically as it is practically significant. Though published by an academic press, Hawleys work has much to say to popular audiencesparticularly to those who self-identify as conservative or as being on the right. And at this juncture, as the meteoric rise of Donald Trump to the status of GOP presidential frontrunner has been met by Republican Party apologists in the media and political classes with insistence upon conservative purity, its a timely analysis indeed that reveals the intellectual diversity on the right. I will say more about this crucial book in the future. For now, though, Id like to make some brief remarks. What passes for conservatism or the right in the mainstream of American mediai.e. in both Democrat and Republican-friendly outletsis actually neoconservatism. The latter, in turn, is synonymous with what many are currently, and contemptuously, referring to as the GOP Establishment. But as Ive argued in my own book, The American Offensive: Dispatches from the Front, not only is there little to nothing genuinely conservative about neoconservatism; it is more a species of leftist or progressive thought than it is an expression of anything thats traditionally been associated with the right. Hawley, for his part, is more concerned with identifying both the dissident voices on the right and, at least as importantly, the relentlessness and effectiveness with which those voices have been purged or otherwise excluded from what is known as the conservative movement. He deserves immense credit for achieving both goals in spades. However, the many virtues of this book aside, Hawleys discussion of paleolibertarianisman oft-neglected variant of the classical liberal perspective from the genuine rightcouldve been vastly enriched had only he said a thing or two about a specific paleolibertarian writer whose omission from his exposition struck this author as glaring. That writer is Ilana Mercer. There are three reasons why it is imperative that Mercer be included in any discussion of paleolibertarianism. First, and most obviously, she is a paleolibertarianand a tireless one at that. For decades, this defender of the paleolibertarian vision has published a couple of books and thousands of articles and blog posts in which shes shattered not only leftist pieties but neocon and libertarian-lite(left-wing libertarian) sureties as well. Much blood, sweat, and tears, to say nothing of opportunities for professional advancement, has Mercer foregone in her campaign against the idols of our Politically Correct age. Second, not only is Mercer a veteran paleolibertarian writer. She is unquestionably the most visible, the most widely read, of such contemporary writers. At one point, she was nationally syndicated by Creators Syndicate, and for nearly the last 20 years, World Net Daily (WND), a site that boasts roughly 1 million visitors a month, has featured Mercers weekly column, Return to Reasonits longest standing, exclusive, paleo-libertarian weekly column. In addition to WND, Mercers work has been showcased in a plethora of outlets, both internationally and stateside, and shes currently a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies. No paleolibertarianto repeat, a rightist proponent of a tradition-grounded classical liberal idealhas nearly as much exposure when it comes to scholarly and popular audiences alike as does Mercer. Third, Ilana Mercer is a woman. Moreover, she is a Jewish woman, the daughter of a Rabbi who was raised in both South Africa and Israel. This is no insignificant detail: Mercer is a standing repudiation of the stereotype, all too easily reinforced by her exclusion from any study of right-wing critics of American conservatism, that such critics are exclusively elderly white men. Moreover, this willingness on her part to break with the packpaleolibertarianism, like all political persuasions to the right of Fox News and conservative talk radio, tend not to appeal to those who are interested in social respectability, much less does it appeal to your average Jewish female intellectualdistinguishes Mercer for both her courage and devotion to truth. John Derbyshire is a former writer for National Review Online. Hawley correctly identifies him as one of the many right-leaning critics of American conservatism who have been unceremoniously rendered into non-entities by its self-appointed guardians. Yet even Derbyshire, who, having written with admiration for Mercers work, shouldve known better, neglected to mention her in one of his articles on paleolibertarianism. Upon lauding the latter as a once-promising intellectual movement that stayed true to libertarian principles while opposing open borders, libertinism, egalitarianism, and political correctness, he rejoices that theres at least one paleolibertarian left. Yet the person to whom he refers is Hans Hermann Hoppe, a German born political philosopher and economist who is now a retired (but still active) academic living in Turkey. Hoppe is most certainly a paleolibertarian. And hes an arresting thinker in his own right. But Mercer has proven to be a far more influential voice as a right-wing critic of American conservatism than either Hoppe or most of the right-wing critics named in Hawleys book, for unlike many of them, she has invested her resources in promoting paleolibertarianism to a large popular audience. And unlike most of Hawleys right-wing critics, she has succeeded not just in acquiring a hearing among very large numbers of readers, but in maintaining that audience over a span of decades. Before the second edition of his fine book goes to press, Id urge George Hawley to consider including Ilana Mercer in his section on paleolibertarianism, for both it and his readers would be well served by this addition. First printed in The Daily Star, Oneonta, New York. Death and dying By Cheryl Petersen With the advancement of medicine is coming an advancement in how we participate in death and dying. Five local professionals, served as a panelist at the Fly Creek Methodist Church, and brought discussion on the topic of accepting death and dying peacefully. Dr. James Dalton, Director of Medical Education at Bassett, said People actually restrict their lives when they dont look at dying. Looking at death helps us realize what matters most to us. Dalton pointed out that death and dying arent medical question, but involve human talks. The Reverend Betsy Jay, Chaplain, mentioned the benefits of talking about death in advance. Before a crisis, she said. Dr. Chris Mulik, Hospice, said, Its a mental shift. Dr. Carol Beechy, Palliative Care and Hospice Specialist, highlighted the availability of Guides for people to follow. The Guides offer useful questions to ask about death. Five Wishes, is a document designed to serve as a living will. Its a way to open the door to conversations in regard to learning from others their personal, emotional and spiritual desires in the end, or expressing your own wishes. Peter Deysenroth, Funeral Director, said, People typically try to hide from death. But, in his thirty-year career, Deysenroth has noticed an uptick in people specifying beforehand how they want to die, even following through on pre-paid funeral expenses. It makes for easier days for everyone, he added. The necessity to unlearn the tendency to keep a person existing medically was discussed. I was trained to fix the body, said Dr. Tom Huntsman, Chief of Plastic Surgery at Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown. After many years of service, I realized I cant fix everything. At that point, I started learning how to transition from being a physician to being a human being. The feeling of failure oftentimes prevents honing the skill to transition. I was able to make the transition when I realized that although I cant help a person surgically, I can help humanly, said Huntsman. A book, Being Mortal, authored by Atul Gawande, American surgeon, initiated Pastor Sharon Rankins-Burd to host the discussion, April 11. I heard him speak and have read his book, said Dalton. He writes, not as a doctor, but as a person. We need to start the conversation about death and dying. We need to let others know how we want our last years to go. Ive discovered its a team effort, said the Reverend Carol Jubenville, Director of Independent Living. When the patient, family members, physicians, and care-takers all work together, death can be beautiful. Police in Dhaka on Thursday detained four members of a group promoting rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people as they tried to rally without a permit amid Bengali new-year festivities, officials said. According to witnesses, the activists gathered Thursday morning at the Shahbag intersection under the banner of the Roopbaan activist group to celebrate the first day of Bengali calendar, Pahela Boishakh. We have arrested them as they did not have clearance from authorities to hold such a rally, Abu Bakar Siddique, the officer-in-charge of the Shahbag police station, told BenarNews. The group of LGBT activists had set out to join thousands of people who were gathering to take part in the Mongol Shovajatra, a Pahela Boishakh rally organized by the Institute of Fine Arts at Dhaka University. They [the four activists] tried to join the Mongol Shovajatra, but the organizers refused them entry, Siddique said. Besides, you know, protecting homosexuals may create a law and order slide, the policeman added. As of 7:30 p.m. (local time), no charges had been filed against the four activists, and they were expected to be released from custody, Siddique said. Witness Mohammad Faruk, 32, who attended the Mongol Shovajatra, told BenarNews that he saw some 10 LGBT people gathering at the intersection. Police picked some of them up, and the others left, he said. The authorities at the last minute denied permission for and ordered the cancellation of a rainbow rally being organized by Roopbaan, after Islamic fundamentalists had threatened to beat up participants, Agence France-Presse reported. We did not hold the rainbow rally although some 60 people came to the spot where we were scheduled to meet, a Roopbaan organizer told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding he did not know why the four men were detained. Their rights must be protected Homosexuality is considered a taboo in Bangladesh. There is no official figure on the number of the LGBT people in the country, because few of them are seen in public. The negative social attitude toward LGBT people works against protecting their rights, social scientists say. Unless the social attitude toward the LGBT is changed, the police would not mind the arrests of the same-sex marriage promoters this is a bitter fact. But, we have to understand the LGBT members are our children. Their rights must be protected, Hasan Imam, a teacher of sociology at Rajshahi University, told BenarNews. On its Facebook page, Roopbaan posted a photo on showing members holding balloons of different colors and parading on Shahbag square to celebrate the Pahela Boishakh. According to Roopbaans Facebook page, the group promotes sexual diversity. Members are respectful to the countrys laws, values and culture. According to our constitution, all citizens irrespective of sex, gender, caste, creed and religion [have] the right to hold rallies. But, now, the police decide our rights. This is really unfortunate to foil the LGBT rally, A.S.M. Nasiruddin Elan, director of the rights group Odhikar, told BenarNews. Malaysias High Court on Thursday turned down satirical cartoonist Zunars legal challenge to the Sedition Act, clearing the way for a lower court to set his trial date on nine counts of seditious speech. Zunar, whose real name is Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, could face 43 years in prison if tried and convicted of alleged sedition stemming from tweets he had sent out that criticized last years jailing of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on sodomy charges. Zunar, 53, and his legal team were challenging the legality of the 68-year-old law, arguing that the Sedition Act contradicted the constitutions guarantee of free speech. High Court Judicial Commissioner Ab Karim Ab Rahman, however, ruled against the cartoonist and his attorneys, saying that the nations highest court, the Federal Court, had answered this question on Oct. 6 by then rejecting a similar challenge to the Sedition Act lodged by a Malaysian law professor, Azmi Sharom. Eric Paulsen, one of Zunars lawyers, told BenarNews that his client would now try to persuade the Court of Appeal to overturn the High Courts decision. Zunar, who was in London on Thursday, declined comment. The courts rejection allows the lower Sessions Court to fix a date for Zunars trial. A panel of the Sessions Court is scheduled on Friday to hold a mention a legal term used in Malaysia that refers to a case being called up or managed over the cartoonists case. An attempt to muzzle the entire population In an op-ed article in the New York Times on Thursday, the former chief executive officer of the recently shuttered news website, The Malaysian Insider (TMI), described this legal setback for Zunar as part of a growing campaign by the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak to use the Sedition Act to silence his critics. Zunar faces up to 43 years in prison on nine counts of sedition the most counts anyone in Malaysia has ever been charged with, Jahabar Sadiq wrote. [T]he Najib administration, after pledging to repeal the archaic law, is now wielding it to silence anyone who questions the state, or even the political status quo. This is an unprecedented onslaught against free expression in Malaysia, and an attempt to muzzle the entire population, he added. Last year, Jahabar and four TMI editors were briefly arrested under the act. In late February, Malaysian internet regulators blocked the news portal after it reported that an independent panel within the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission had found sufficient evidence of financial improprieties by Mr. Najib, the former TMI CEO wrote. Because of lost advertising revenue as a result of the online blockage and a lack of bids from potential buyers, The Malaysian Insider closed last month. It goes against the Federal Constitution The Sedition Act was enacted by the British colonial government in 1948 to combat communists, and was amended by Malaysia following race riots in 1969. The law defines sedition broadly and places many limitations of free speech, particularly over sensitive political issues, according to a report by Center of Independent Journalism Malaysia. In 2014 and 2015, some 200 people were investigated, arrested or charged under the Sedition Act, Zunar told BenarNews in an interview in Washington in November. We challenged the law because in our view, it goes against the Federal Constitution which in Article 10 states that every citizen has the right to freely give their views, Zunar said then. Editors note: Zunar is a BenarNews contributor. Rodjaraeg Wattanapanit (left) poses with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during the International Women of Courage awards ceremony in Washington, March 29, 2016. Rodjaraeg Wattanapanit, the co-owner of a Chiang Mai bookstore that has been an oasis for the free exchange of ideas in Junta-ruled Thailand, says she worries about growing censorship and diminishing freedoms since the generals seized power in May 2014. Last month, the 49-year-old graduate of Payap University became the first Thai to be honored with the International Women of Courage Award by the U.S. State Department. She travelled to Washington to accept the honor alongside 13 other women from across the globe. But since returning home from the United States, her Book Re:public bookstore was forced by the regime to cancel an event, during which people were going to discuss a controversial constitution drafted by a commission appointed by the National Council for Peace and Order, the juntas official name. In 2011, she co-founded the bookstore, which has since grown into a popular meeting place among intellectuals and scholars in northern Thailand. Rodjaraeg is also the co-founder of Creating Awareness for Enhanced Democracy, or Cafe Democracy, an association dedicated to increasing political awareness, empowering citizens and encouraging the free exchange of ideas in society. Since junta took power, Rodjaraeg has twice been summoned for so-called attitude adjustment sessions at military camps. She was required to sign documents promising to refrain from all political activities as a condition for her release. Her bookstore, which was forced to close for a full year, resumed its role as a center for debate after its re-opened its doors in October. Since reopening at the end of last year, Book Re:public has become an indispensable public space for neighbors to gather, discuss societal problems, and develop solutions to Thailands political challenges, the U.S. State Department said in presenting the award to Rodjaraeg. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry noted that reopening the bookstore was done at great personal risk. In an exclusive interview with BenarNews, Rodjaraeg talked about her new award, her countrys future, as well as her concerns about the state of freedoms and human rights in Thailand under the junta. BenarNews: What inspired you to open the bookstore? Rodjaraeg: Before opening the bookshop, I was working for the Community Forest Support group, a non-governmental organization working on conservation and community forest issues. When the Bangkok crackdown took place in 2010, I was deeply disturbed by the fact that members of the public were shot dead right in the heart of the capital. Even though we may hold opposing political views, nobody should have to lose their life for choosing to assemble to express their views or call out for their rights. After that, my friend and I needed an answer to the question of why democracy in Thailand was going backward, not forward. So we turned our attention to reading books about Thailands history, politics and society. We thought that access to this type of knowledge and understanding should be made available to society at-large. We realized that one way of accomplishing that would be to open a bookstore, which could also serve as a public forum for the exchange of ideas and civilized debate. BenarNews: So the bookstore was primarily intended to serve as a public place for exchanging political knowledge and views? Rodjaraeg: We wanted to establish a space for people to come and exchange ideas about any and all issues that affect their daily lives. In the past, we held dialogues on just about every subject imaginable, including many that involved gender issues. It was not restricted to political debate. But, at the same time, politics are almost always involved in these topics in one way or another. Whether it be dam construction or other environmental issues, capital investment or suggesting changes to the law as it relates to LGBT issues, it always comes down to the policies of the state. Politics is all-encompassing. It is not just about administration. BenarNews: What does this award mean to you? Rodjaraeg: I accept this award on behalf of women and all people who are fighting for justice in Thailand. I am glad to have been recognized by the global community. The United States has supported me and the principles of human rights, by bestowing this on me and other woman who uphold these principles, even if it means having to face the power of an authoritarian state. BenarNews: What is the most challenging aspect of your work right now? Rodjaraeg: The hardest part of the current situation is censorship and the loss of freedom of expression, which I hold as a basic human right. The military government is still using Article 44, which gives it full power to either back or abolish projects with no public input whatsoever. We need to find a way out of this situation in the future. BenarNews: Why were you twice invited by the military government to undergo attitude adjustment? Rodjaraeg: The first time I was invited to the Kawila Army Camp, which is in Chiang Mai. The second time it was by the Army Central Command. I asked my interrogator, Why do I need to report myself twice? One high-ranking army officer told me it was because me and my work at Book Re:Public had an influence on the new generation of Thai society. I like to think of this as a sign of admiration. BenarNews: After that did you have to change your approach or the goals of your work at the bookstore? Rodjaraeg: Our bookstore was put under such pressure that we were first forced to move, and then we had to close down for a full year. We finally reopened in October 2015. We certainly had to change our activities after that because we were no longer allowed to engage in activities that could be deemed critical of the state. But, at the same time, we continued to insist that we had not done anything wrong in the past. We still wanted see our country progress and develop, so our goals remained the same as they always had been. That is to say we never held up democracy as some final, ultimate goal, but rather we wanted to see the democratic process advance with greater respect for human rights. BenarNews: Do you still feel that you are under pressure from the state? Rodjaraeg: I am still under pressure from the state because my activities are constantly monitored. Before I was released from the army camp, I had to sign a memorandum of understanding stating that I would not take part in any political activities whatsoever. This will remain in effect until the National Council of Peace and Order (NCPO) ceases to exist. BenarNews: Do you have any hope for Thailands future? Rodjaraeg: I cant see much hope for positive change over the next five years, especially with a draft constitution that would [vest] so much power with the military, allowing them to continue to control politics through parliament, infringe on human rights and eliminate political opposition. My only hope is that groups like ours, who oppose authoritarian rule by an unelected military government, will continue to grow in size and number. Newscity NM Poverty Center Confronts HSD Robert Maestas The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty recently filed a motion concerning the New Mexico Human Services Department (HSD). The Center on Law and Poverty wants an independent monitor brought in to bring the HSD into full compliance with a 1990 consent decree. The decree was created as a result of a class action lawsuit against the HSD which accused the department of not providing adequate services to its constituents. Officials at the Center on Law and Poverty say the HSD is still not in full compliance. Initial legal action against HSD in this matter was filed in 2013. That's when HSD went digital, and as a result, 10,000 to 30,000 applicants were automatically denied Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. Allegedly, these unprocessed cases were not studied to determine who was at fault in the denial of benefits. Ultimately a violation of federal statutes was discovered; this was the reason for the initial court case filed against HSD by the Center on Law and Poverty. As a result of this motion, the Center was allowed to perform random checks on cases and found a backlog of thousands of SNAP and Medicaid cases that had not been serviced properly. In the past three years, the HSD had five motions filed against them claiming they hadn't complied with the original 1990 consent decree. This situation led the Center on Law and Poverty to ask for a court-appointed monitor to go through and make sure things are not slipping through the cracks. In their defense, the HSD has called the motion an extraordinary remedy, claiming that the Center has not worked with them cooperatively. HSD also says that they are working closely with their IT companies in order to program the necessary changes. For Immediate Release, April 13, 2016 Contacts: Maya Golden-Krasner, Center for Biological Diversity, (213) 215-3729, mgoldenkrasner@biologicaldiversity.org Tom Frantz, Association of Irritated Residents, (661) 910-7734, tom.frantz49@gmail.com Jonathon Berman, Sierra Club, (202) 495-3033, jonathon.berman@sierraclub.org Noah Garrison, Climate Change Law Foundation, (415) 602-6223, clearbluefuture@gmail.com Lawsuit Challenges EPA Inaction on Dangerously Inadequate Air Pollution Plan for Alon Refinery in California's San Joaquin Valley Valley Residents Already Breathe Some of Nations Smoggiest Air BAKERSFIELD, Calif. Concerned citizens and conservation groups today sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to protect the San Joaquin Valleys air from the polluting Alon oil refinery project in Bakersfield, Calif. Valley residents already breathe some of the nations smoggiest air. Todays lawsuit, filed in U.S. district court by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Association of Irritated Residents, the Sierra Club, and Climate Change Law Foundation, seeks to compel EPA administrator Gina McCarthy to fulfill mandatory duties under the Clean Air Act to respond to the groups public-health objections to a permit issued by local air officials for the Alon USA Bakersfield Refinery Crude Oil Flexibility Project. The permit allows Alon to resume refining and expand the refinerys rail terminal to receive hundreds of tank cars a day and up to 63.1 million barrels of crude oil a year. But the permit approved by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District failed to require Alon to install crucial pollution controls and gave the company emissions-reduction credits for facility changes made almost 40 years ago. EPA officials failed to object to the flawed permit for this project, which the groups lawsuit notes will significantly increase harmful air pollution that will only exacerbate climate change and the poor air quality and respiratory illnesses that plague San Joaquin Valley communities already unfairly burdened with industrial pollution. My neighbors and I already breathe some of the dirtiest air in America, and the last thing we need is a polluting oil refinery next door, said Tom Frantz, a farmer with the Association of Irritated Residents. Weve already got a smog problem that regularly sends kids to the hospital. EPA officials need to do their job and protect our lungs from this dangerous project. The EPA cant opt out of shielding asthmatic children from air pollution just because they live in Bakersfield, said Maya Golden-Krasner, a Center attorney. Local officials gave this hazardous oil refinery a free pass to pollute, and its up to the federal government to stop this reckless plan in its tracks. The EPA must take strong action to protect the families and residents of the San Joaquin Valley from this dirty refinery, said Elly Benson, a Sierra Club staff attorney. Rather than doubling down on polluting a community that already suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the country, the EPA should put an immediate stop to this dangerous plan. This dangerous refinery represents an outdated grab for fossil fuel profits at the expense of Californias climate future and would result in massive amounts of climate change pollutants spewing into our air, said Noah Garrison, an attorney for the Climate Change Law Foundation. California can do better alternative energy options exist, and the EPA has a legal duty to speak up. Lower oil prices have led to the project being postponed, but work could resume at any time. Once the Alon refinery and rail terminal are fully operational, the facility will receive as many as two mile-long trains a day full of dangerously explosive Bakken crude oil. Bakken crude emits high levels of volatile organic compounds that lead to ozone pollution. The San Joaquin Valley is already in extreme nonattainment under federal standards for ozone, which triggers asthma attacks and contributes to other respiratory illnesses. Bakersfield had the countrys third most polluted air in 2015, according to the American Lung Association, and more than 20 percent children in the valley will be diagnosed with asthma. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 990,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. For Immediate Release, April 14, 2016 Contact: Tanya Sanerib, (971) 717-6407, tsanerib@biologicaldiversity.org Ben Solvesky, (928) 221-6102, ben@sierraforestlegacy.org West Coast Fisher Denied Endangered Species Act Protection in Bow to Timber Industry Reversal of Proposed Listing Highlights Pattern of Politics Trumping Science PORTLAND, Ore. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today denied Endangered Species Act protection to West Coast fishers, mid-sized forest carnivores that were proposed for federal protection in October 2014 throughout their range in California, Oregon and Washington. Following pressure from the timber industry, the Service withdrew the proposed protection despite overwhelming scientific evidence that the survival of the rare carnivores is threatened by logging, toxic chemicals used by marijuana growers, and other factors. The politically driven reversal of proposed protection for the fisher is the latest example of the Fish and Wildlife Service kowtowing to the wishes of industry, said Tanya Sanerib, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Fishers may be tough enough to prey on porcupines, but they need Endangered Species Act protection to survive. If we are going to save the fisher for future generations then it needs range-wide protection, said Ben Solvesky, an ecologist with Sierra Forest Legacy. It is incredibly disappointing that after decades of waiting and a mountain of scientific information supporting the need to list, the agency yet again let politics trump science. Fishers are cat-like, medium-sized members of the weasel family with slender, brown bodies and long, bushy tails. Fishers once roamed from British Columbia to Southern California, but due to intense logging and trapping pressure, today only two naturally occurring populations survive a population of 300 fishers in the southern Sierra Nevada and a population of 250 to a few thousand fishers in southern Oregon and Northern California. They have been reintroduced in three populations in the northern Sierra, southern Cascades and Washington state. Fishers select old-growth forests because the canopy cover helps protect them from predators and extreme temperatures, and because old trees and snags provide the structures they rely on for resting and denning. In addition to logging, California and Oregon populations are threatened by the toxic chemicals used by illegal marijuana growers, especially rodenticides, which poison fishers and their prey at alarming rates. Eighty-five percent of fishers tested in California have been exposed to rodenticides, which represents a six percent increase in two years. The Center petitioned to protect the fisher in 1994 and again in 2000 with Sierra Forest Legacy and allies. The fisher was added to the candidate waiting list in 2004 when the Service determined that protection for the animal was warranted but precluded by other fiscal priorities. The Center sued in 2010 over the delay in protecting the fisher and the agency was required under a subsequent settlement to issue a decision this year. The Center and allies are considering a legal challenge to todays withdrawal. Earlier this week a federal judge in Montana criticized the Service for bowing to political pressure in reversing a proposed listing for another carnivore, the wolverine, and charged the agency with protecting species at the earliest possible point in time. Just like with the wolverine and the coastal marten, once more we may be forced to head to court to defend species, science and the law from political interference, said Sanerib. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 990,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Media Advisory, April 14, 2016 Contact: Rebecca Sobel, WildEarth Guardians, (505) 216-6826, rsobel@wildearthguardians.org Alex Renirie, Sierra Club, (925) 989-6957, alex.renirie@sierraclub.org Mariel Nanasi, New Energy Economy, (505) 989-7262, mariel@seedsbeneaththesnow.com Maria Jose Alcazar, Earth Care, (505) 204-0664, mariajose@earthcarenm.org Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, (801) 300-2414, tmckinnon@biologicaldiversity.org 'Keep It in the Ground' Rally to Target BLM's Oil, Gas Auction in New Mexico SANTA FE, N.M. At least 200 climate activists will stage a Keep It in the Ground climate rally Wednesday, April 20, at the site of the Bureau of Land Managements fossil fuel lease sale in Santa Fe, N.M. The bureaus climate auction, as protesters have dubbed it, will allow industry to bid on more than 2,000 acres of publicly owned oil and gas in Kansas and Oklahoma. The rally marks the first of many efforts in New Mexico, where lease sales are also scheduled for July and October. The rally takes place just days before President Obama is slated to sign the Paris Climate agreement, and is part of a rapidly growing national movement calling on Obama to define his climate legacy by halting new federal fossil fuel leases on public lands and oceans a step that would keep up to 450 billion tons of potential carbon pollution safely in the ground. Similar Keep It in the Ground protests are planned for upcoming auctions in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Utah, and have already taken place in Alaska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Wisconsin. Since November protested lease sales have been postponed in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Washington, D.C. What: Keep It in the Ground rally at BLM oil and gas auction When: 8:00 a.m., Wednesday, April 20 Where: Marriott Courtyard Hotel, 3347 Cerrillos Rd, Santa Fe, N.M. 87507 Who: Local activists from participating groups including Dine C.A.R.E., Idle No More Four Corners, Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, Tewa Women United, United Native Americans, 350 New Mexico, 350.org, The Campaign to End Sacrifice Zones, the Center for Biological Diversity, Earth Care, Environment New Mexico, Food & Water Watch, The Global Warming Express, Interfaith Worker Justice, New Energy Economy, New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light, Osceola Energy, Sierra Club, WildEarth Guardians and Wise Fool New Mexico. Media availability: Protesters will be available for interviews before and after the rally and photos will be made available to the media. Visuals: Protesters with signs, flags, banners, chalk demonstrations and large letters to the Obama administration Background Some 67 million acres of U.S. public lands are already leased to dirty fossil fuel industries, an area 55 times larger than Grand Canyon National Park containing up to 43 billion tons of potential greenhouse gas pollution. Nearly one quarter of all U.S. climate pollution already comes from burning fossil fuels from public lands. Remaining federal oil, gas, coal, oil shale and tar sands that have not been leased to industry contain up to 450 billion additional tons of potential greenhouse gas pollution. In September more than 400 organizations called on President Obama to end federal fossil fuel leasing. In November Sens. Merkley (D-Ore.), Sanders (D-Vt.) and others introduced legislation to end new federal fossil fuel leases and cancel non-producing federal fossil fuel leases. Last month the Obama administration placed a moratorium on federal coal leasing while the Department of the Interior studies its impacts on taxpayers and the planet. Since November 2015 in response to protests, the BLM has postponed oil and gas leasing auctions in Utah, Montana, Wyoming and Washington, D.C. Download the September Keep It in the Ground letter to President Obama. Download Grounded: The Presidents Power to Fight Climate Change, Protect Public Lands by Keeping Publicly Owned Fossil Fuels in the Ground (this report details the legal authorities with which a president can halt new federal fossil fuel leases). Download The Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions of U.S. Federal Fossil Fuels (this report quantifies the volume and potential greenhouse gas emissions of remaining federal fossil fuels). Download The Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions fact sheet. Download Public Lands, Private Profits (this report details the corporations profiting from climate-destroying fossil fuel extraction on public lands). Download WildEarth Guardians formal petition calling on the Department of the Interior to study for the first time ever the climate impacts of the federal oil and gas leasing program and to place a moratorium on new leasing until completed that study is completed. For Immediate Release, April 13, 2016 Contact: Abel Valdivia, (510) 844-7103, avaldivia@biologicaldiversity.org West Coast Water Quality Standards Not Strong Enough to Fight Ocean Acidification OAKLAND, Calif. A new scientific paper published today in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management concludes that current water quality criteria are inadequate to address ocean acidification on the West Coast. This paper and a related report published last week call for major changes in how California, Oregon and Washington deal with ocean acidification triggered by the high carbon emissions that are also causing climate change. Water quality standards are the management foundation of the Clean Water Act, and give water quality managers the tools to maintain a water body in an ecologically functional condition. Every two years, each state water quality regulatory agency must analyze and list water bodies that are impaired by pollution and failing to meet their water quality standards..However, these determinations are challenging when addressing acidified waters because harmful biological damage is known to occur well within current pH standards. The West Coast is on the front line in the fight against climate change and ocean acidification. We need water quality standards that match the magnitude and urgency of the problem, not outdated versions designed more than 40 years ago, said Dr. Abel Valdivia, a marine scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity who was not involved in the study. Ocean acidification caused by increasing human carbon dioxide emissions is a major issue, and we see substantial negative effects on marine calcifying species even within pH criteria that are currently considered normal. The bottom line is we need new, better and stronger standards and we need them now. The new study describes scientific difficulties in assessing water impairment associated with ocean acidification using existing data. Current coastal and even estuarine pH fluctuations fall well within an allowable criteria range that is considered normal, even though they are known to cause substantial biological negative effects. There is strong scientific evidence that many biological communities are declining due to ocean acidification. Todays study identifies two marine species, oysters and pelagic sea snails called pteropods, that can be used to design new criteria because of their vulnerability to corrosive waters. Over the past decade, both groups have already shown negative effects due to ocean acidification. Last week the West Coast Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Panel, a bi-national team of 20 leading scientists in ocean acidification from California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, published a report providing recommendations and actions that West Coast states can take now to address ocean acidification locally. Among the main recommendations was to revise and adopt water quality criteria relevant to ocean acidification. Recently California Assembly member Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara) proposed a bill that would require the Ocean Protection Council to conduct research and make recommendations for further legislative and executive action on ocean acidification. However, in light of the conclusions of the paper released today, and the recommendations of the West Coast Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Panel, the Center and other organizations are advocating that the bill be strengthened to require adoption of water quality standards more relevant to ocean acidification. The bill has a hearing before the Natural Resources Committee on Monday, April 18 at 1:30 p.m. If we want to preserve Californias amazing coast, we need to take action now. Fortunately, we can do it with the tools we have and within the current legal framework but only if we adopt standards sufficient to protect marine communities from the devastating effects of ocean acidification. The cost of inaction will be tremendous and will only increase over time, Valdivia said. West Coast states can take the lead in fighting ocean acidification now, we just need political will. Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia More than a week after 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped from the remote northeast Nigerian town of Chibok by Boko Haram on April 14, 2014, a lawyer posted the first #BringBackOurGirls tweet. Image by 123RF Ibrahim Abdullahi's hashtag would go on to become one of Africa's most popular online campaigns and was shared more than four million times over the next month on Twitter. Social media heavyweights such as Kim Kardashian and Chris Brown endorsed it, while US First Lady Michelle Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron both held up signs of the slogan. #BringBackOurGirls undoubtedly brought global attention to a brutal but largely ignored conflict that since 2009 has claimed at least 20,000 lives and made more than 2.6 million others homeless. It also galvanised international support against Boko Haram at a time when Nigeria's military was floundering badly in the face of the better-armed rebels, losing territory and vital public support. But two years on, #BringBackOurGirls risks becoming another example of the limited influence of online protest, according to Ufuoma Akpojivi, a media researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. On the ground, 219 of the 276 girls are still missing, their Government Girls Secondary School is a broken ruin and Chibok is desperate for development. "There's nothing to show for it," said Yana Galang, whose daughter Rifkatu is one of the 219 girls who haven't been seen since they appeared in a Boko Haram video message released in May 2014. Galang, who doesn't have a Twitter account, said the online outrage hasn't helped her. "The only thing that matters now is for my daughter to be back," she said, as fellow parents prepared to meet at the stricken school in Chibok on Thursday for a prayer vigil. "This has been going on too long." Translating social media success into tangible change on the ground has always been a challenge to online campaigns such as #BlackLivesMatter and #OccupyWallStreet. #BringBackOurGirls was an initial success, bringing protesters out to the streets in a country where mass public demonstrations are rare. But domestic politics in Nigeria trumped global outrage, as the online protest became entangled in the complicated web of identity politics and partisanship, said Akpojivi. Supporters of Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian who was Nigeria's president at the time of the kidnapping, dismissed it as a fabrication by his political enemies in the Muslim-majority north to derail his re-election campaign. Outspoken government critics such as the former education minister turned anti-corruption activist Oby Ezekwesili and the popular televangelist Tunde Bakare meanwhile promoted #BringBackOurGirls. "They (Jonathan's government and supporters) thought the movement was fuelled by the opposition to discredit them, so the government criminalised the movement," said Akpojivi. One woman was arrested after meeting Jonathan's wife, Patience, while the police moved to ban daily protests by Ezekwesili and other #BringBackOurGirls activists in Abuja. The Jonathan administration's alienation from the campaign - and an apparent reluctance or inability to find the girls - highlighted the limits of well-meaning online protesters. "There is the misconception that embracing social media or using new media technologies will bring about the needed change," Akpojivi said. "Retweeting doesn't mean that the government will take action. We need to understand that there are other political and economic issues at play." Despite the original #BringBackOurGirls tweet originating in Nigeria itself, US Twitter users posted the majority of the tweets. Yet even here, the world's superpower has been unable to secure the girls' release, despite Boko Haram-related counter-terrorism assistance totalling more than $400 million to date. A month after the kidnapping, US President Barack Obama sent some 80 military personnel to neighbouring Chad to help locate and "support the safe return" of the schoolgirls. US and British surveillance experts reportedly located some of the missing girls and passed on their findings to the Nigerians but they failed to follow up. A Pentagon spokesman said the personnel were redeployed because the Nigerian military had stopped requesting their services. More direct Western military assistance for the counter-insurgency and finding the girls has been limited by concerns about human rights abuses by Nigeria's armed forces. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who leads the #BringBackOurGirls campaign in Washington, said she has struggled to get more funding for security assistance in Nigeria. "Too many people think it's okay to limit their advocacy for this cause to tweeting," Wilson said, adding she is worried for the girls. I pray they are still alive but the reality is that we don't know where they are or what they are doing." Health and care brands group, Ascendis Health, continues its acquisitions campaign with the go ahead from Competition Commission for the 100% purchase of pharmaceutical company, Akacia Healthcare, a deal worth R345m. Dr Karsten Wellner, CEO: Ascendis Health Delight at the green light We are delighted to receive the green light, as this acquisition will contribute towards growing the local and international position of our pharma division in the prescriptions medicine and consumer health markets. At the same time, it offers access to lucrative new distribution channels such as retail pharmacies and prescribing doctors, Ascendis Health chief executive officer, Dr Karsten Wellner, comments. This deal strengthens Ascendis Pharmas position in the prescriptions and consumer health markets, while adding top brands such as the probiotic, Reuterina, and cold and flu remedies Sinucon and Sinuend to its stable. Increased manufacturing capacity The transaction also includes Akacia Pharmas 23 000m state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Isando, Johannesburg, valued at R100m, thereby increasing Ascendis local manufacturing capacity, especially for the growing international portfolio of brands. It also gives the company a competitive advantage in state tenders that favour local manufacture. Aligned with vision Dr Wellner concludes, This important acquisition is aligned with our overall vision to become a leading global player in the human, plant and animal health and care sectors by strategically integrating leading brands into the Ascendis Health group, allowing us to extract and benefit from the synergies that exist, while competitively growing new market segments for the benefit of consumers as well as our shareholders. Last year, Ascendis, which listed in 2014, bought a 49% stake in Spanish generic specialist Farmalider - with the right to acquire the remainder of the business over the next five years. With more than 600,000 new diagnoses and over 450,000 deaths per year, cancer is a major killer in Africa. A study published in the September 2015 issue of The Breast medical journal shows that in the Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) respectively 68% and 63% of all breast cancer tumours were 5cm or larger when discovered. Some 74% and 81% of cancers in these two countries were stage three or stage four at the time of diagnosis. Lack of awareness In many other African countries, things are not much different. Reasons for late diagnosis and low survival rates include lack of awareness of what breast cancer is and how patients can help detect it, poor access to healthcare services, and overburdened, under-resourced public facilities. Where treatment is available, it tends to be expensive, says CEO of Liberty Health, Andrew Schwulst. In Kenya, a country with an annual GDP per capita of US$2,776, chemotherapy ranges between US$130 and US$2,000. Most cancer patients have to pay for their treatment out of their own pockets, which is terribly difficult if you don't have health insurance. The problem is that Africa's often better resourced private hospitals are inaccessible to most. Shortage of healthcare professionals A shortage of doctors also plays a role. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Africa accounts for 25% of the world's disease burden but has only 3% of the global medical workforce. In addition, many hospitals don't have the means to adequately diagnose and treat breast cancer, or any other form of cancer. Chemotherapy is for instance only available in half of Africa's 54 countries. Medical aid cover growing However, whilst overall private medical aid penetration remains low in Africa, things are looking up; Through Liberty Health, weve enabled more than 384,000 lives in 16 different countries to access comprehensive private healthcare through our health insurance solutions, says Schwulst. In addition to Liberty Health increasing medical aid penetration, which is improving people's access to cancer treatment, Schwulst is optimistic about the fact that a number of African governments have made great strides in improving the accessibility and affordability of their public healthcare services. In Ghana, a tax-funded national health insurance system currently covers 95% of diseases that affect the general population, cancer included. He adds that Rwanda has embarked on a journey to eradicate cervical cancer by the year 2020 by immunising all adolescent girls between 11 and 15 against human papilloma virus (HPV). This disease is responsible for the bulk of cervical cancer, one of the leading mortality causes among African women aged 40 to 48, he says. In Africa, the illness is responsible for 20,4% of all female cancer cases, and 19% of cancer deaths among women. Rwandas state-of-the-art cancer centre Apart from prevention, Rwanda is also doing well in terms of treating cancer, Schwulst says. In 2012, the country opened a state-of-the-art cancer centre, the first of its kind in rural East Africa, he says. These initiatives and the fact that more people in Africa have access to health insurance, meaning they have access to better resourced facilities, will help reduce the number of cancer deaths. Committed organisations will be recognised at the 15th annual Oliver Empowerment Awards on Thursday, 14 April 2016 at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg, where the Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor and the CEO of BUSA Khanyisile Kweyama are expected to speak. Some of the award finalists include Woolworths, City of Tshwane, Sun International, Murray & Roberts, AfroCentric Health, Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, DHL Express and Eskom Holdings. Some of the companies that have shown consistent commitment to empowerment in the last 15 years, which will be recognised as Legends of Empowerment include: Absa Group Limited; Coega Development Corporation; Nedbank; KPMG; McKinsey & Company; Metropolitan Holdings Ltd; Netcare Limited; Super Group Limited; Total SA; Volkswagen Group South Africa; Woolworths ; South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA); Department of Science and Technology; National Empowerment Fund and FirstRand Limited. Donald Liphoko, Acting Director General, Government Communications Information Services, and one of the judges, I have a sense that we dont acknowledge the amount of work that happens in South Africa particularly in the space of business leadership and innovation. It is important that we start to share some of these good stories because it motivates other people and also builds the kind of confidence that you need as a country. Winners within the following categories will be announced: FAST GROWTH BLACK-OWNED SMME AWARD Sponsored By SENET MANAGEMENT CONSULTING Bulichule Training & Consulting Godimong Consulting Engineers LA Consulting Engineers Moyomuhle Social Solutions Ngubane & Co Orizoe Services Staza Cleaning Services SED (SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT) AWARD Sponsored By DESTO AfroCentric Health Aspen Pharmacare Holdings DHL Express Eskom Holdings SOC Foskor K.Carrim Builders Hardware Murray & Roberts Spring Lights Gas Sun International Ulwazi Protection Services SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AWARD (>R1 Billion) Sponsored By TOTAL SA Accenture SA Haw & Ingils Civil Engineering McKinsey & Company MultiChoice South Africa Holdings PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc Woolworths Holdings Ltd SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AWARD ( Britehouse SSD Elgin Brown and Hamer FleetAfrica Southern African Shipyards ENTERPRISE & SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT AWARD AfroCentric Health Elgin Brown and Hamer ENSafrica FleetAfrica Haw & Inglis Civil Engineering Hudaco Industries Megaphase Road Marking & Traffic Signs MultiChoice South Africa Holdings Murray & Roberts Palabora Copper Sun International Zonke Monitoring Systems DIVERSITY AWARD Isilumko Staffing Maponya Inc Naledi Rail Engineering Nambiti Technologies PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc JOB CREATION AWARD Sponsored By RAND WATER Adenco Construction Coega Development Corporation FleetAfrica Isilumko Staffing Maponya Inc Southern African Shipyards TOP EMPOWERED ENTREPRENEUR OF 2016 AWARD Boniswa Corporate Solutions - Lynette Magasa Godimong Consulting Engineers - Norman Mongae Marine Data Solutions - Steve Nell Naledi Rail Engineering - Wahed Rasool Staza Cleaning Services- Stella Mokwena TOP EMPOWERED YOUNG ACHIEVER AWARD (UNDER 40 YEARS) Sponsored By TUMI Ditshego Media - Tebogo Ditshego DNA Brand Architects - Sylvester Chauke Mhlathuze Water - Megan Govender Moyomuhle Social Solutions - Sikhumbuzo Thabede TOP EMPOWERED PUBLIC SERVICE LEADER OF THE YEAR AWARD City of Tshwane - Cllr Kgosientso Ramokgopa North West Parks - Mothobi Edward Mothobi South African Civil Aviation Authority Dr Poppy Khoza Strategic Fuel Fund - Marion de Wet TOP EMPOWERED BUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR AWARD Sponsored By Public Sector Manager (PSM) Lion of Africa - Bonga Myeza Maponya Inc - Phatudi Maponya Nambiti Technologies - Kevin Paul Nyeleti Consulting - Abe Thela WOA Fuels & Oils - Pria Hassan TOP EMPOWERED PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD City of Tshwane Mhlathuze Water North West Parks South African Civil Aviation Authority Strategic Fuel Fund Umgeni Water TOP EMPOWERED VISION 2030 AWARD Sponsored by MMI Holdings Coega Development Corporation Naledi Rail Engineering PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc Southern African Shipyards Strategic Fuel Fund TOP EMPOWERED BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD Adenco Construction McKinsey & Company MultiChoice South Africa Holdings Nedbank Ltd Spring Lights Gas Woodford Group Molebatsi Moagi, Managing Director, Centre of Supplier Development and one of the judges: It is about striving for excellence and going beyond compliance. You have to go an extra mile to show the commitment that you believe in what you are doing. This year, organisations that have generated real impact in the transformation in the last 15 years will be honoured through The Legend of Empowerment award. The Vision 2030 Award is new in the stable, recognising private companies that have initiatives contributing to the NDPs 2030 goal. To attend the ceremony contact: Rose Setshoge on 086 000 9590/ 083 997 9922 or az.oc.ocpot@egohstes.esor The latest round of facilitating the transfer of climate technologies in East Africa forum took place from 5-7 April in Nairobi, Kenya. Participants at the seminar dubbed facilitating the transfer of climate technologies in East Africa. The forum was attended by leading East African organisations pioneering the improvement of agriculture and food production, and clean water supply in East Africa. It was organised by the World Intellectual Property Organisation and the Climate Technology Centre and Network, in cooperation with Kenya Climate Innovation Centre, Africa Agricultural Technology Foundation, and Strathmore University Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law, with the support of the Japan Patent Office. The objective of the forum was to hold high level discussions around technology transfer and climate change adaptation and mitigation, to facilitate matchmaking between agriculture and water technology seekers from sub-Saharan Africa and technology providers, and to link climate change goals with business contribution. Building resilient economies Green technologies have been identified as key to building resilient economies in developing countries. The event brought together thought leaders who shared valuable insights with green technology seekers, technology providers, financiers and other development partners that are working to build a greener world. By harnessing science to reduce water and pesticide usage, and to pioneer greener modern farming, East Africa is leading the way in boosting agricultural productivity. Investing in pioneering agri-tech and water projects like these is a win-win position for Kenya and the rest of Africa as these technologies will improve food production and create businesses and jobs around the country. Flowcrete South Africa recently opened a new resin flooring business in Nairobi, Kenya. Flowcrete South Africa has been trading in Kenya since 2009, however the East African office will supply and service the entire East African community, namely Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Tanzania and Burundi. This new office location will mean shorter lead times for customers while providing the resin flooring manufacturer with a platform to grow its business within the regions burgeoning construction sector. A new warehouse, located at Unit 13 Norda Industries, Mombassa Road in Nairobi, will enable Flowcrete East Africa to rapidly supply large-scale construction projects with high quality resin flooring materials. The 1,000m warehouse has been serving as Flowcretes distribution centre for the whole East African area since it officially began operations on 1 January 2016. The warehouse stocks large quantities of finished goods imported from Flowcrete South Africas manufacturing plants to ensure prompt delivery of the required materials. Important milestone Unveiling Flowcrete East Africa and its state-of-the-art warehouse is an important milestone for the company," said Craig Blitenthall, managing director of Flowcrete Africa. Not only does this investment exemplify our commitment to meeting the East African construction industrys flooring needs, but it is also a significant step in our ambitious growth plan - which will see the Flowcrete East Africa warehouse combined with a production plant in the near future. Our customers depend on the timely delivery of our products, as for most developments there is often only a small window of time in which to supply and complete a flooring project. The launch of the Nairobi facility will build on our already strong logistics foundation so that Flowcrete can not only better support our current customers but can expand our business with a new customer base for the future, Blitenthall added. The introduction of Flowcretes East African office positions the company as a leading coatings specialist within one of Africas most significant construction markets, with the capacity to provide innovative flooring solutions tailored to the aesthetic and functional demands of both commercial and industrial developments. Approximately 80% of South African engineering professionals do not think that the government will allocate sufficient funds towards projects aimed at addressing the country's electricity and water crises. This is according to the latest PPS survey conducted among almost 600 engineering professionals. Manglin Pillay, CEO of SAICE Manglin Pillay, CEO of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE), says that the institution has been advocating urgent measures from governments side to roll-out projects for a number of years now. With regards to solving the current water and energy challenges, infrastructure departments at various government departments have to be re-professionalised. Engineering firms in the public sector have made increased efforts to attract qualified, senior and registered civil engineering professionals into their ranks, in order to make the public sector an employer of choice for engineers. Dwindling numbers He says the number of qualified engineering practitioners in infrastructure ministry departments such as transport and water and sanitation, has dwindled substantially and employees without suitable technical training have replaced qualified engineering employees, to the great frustration of the infrastructure engineering economy of South Africa. The government should aim to employ local, registered, experienced senior engineers to avoid any further deterioration of service delivery and insufficient energy and water reserves. South Africa just cannot afford water restrictions on top of load shedding. The survey also revealed a confidence level of only 35% among the engineers when they were asked whether they are confident that government is effectively delivering on its promises on infrastructure spend. The respondents confidence level for this specific question has been deteriorating over the past three years from the first confidence level of 48% recorded in 2011, says Macy Seperepere, manager of Professional Associations at PPS. Pillay points to the 2014 State of the Nation address when President Zuma said that over the next years government will spend R847bn on the infrastructure and several projects are to be started or completed. It is clear that what has been done over the past few years is far from the R847bn that was allocated towards infrastructure, even since as early as 2011. Service delivery projects In the 2016 Budget Speech Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan allocated a collective R870bn to infrastructure projects in accordance with the National Development Plan. According to Pillay, the engineering industry would like to see more projects rolled out in terms of actual spend on service delivery projects in the form of both social and economic infrastructure, which will have a direct impact on the lives of all citizens. Macy Seperepere, manager of Professional Associations at PPS This issue probably lies at the heart of the engineers low confidence in the government to spend sufficient funds on infrastructure development, says Pillay. Many civil engineering and construction companies had to lay off experienced engineers due to the lack of project roll-out, with the government being the biggest client of all engineering companies in the country. This presents an opportunity for municipalities, provincial and national government to attract these skills back to the government, where they are desperately needed. This lack of project funding could lead to many engineers leaving the country to find employment elsewhere. According to the PPS survey, a 67% confidence level was recorded when the survey respondents were asked whether they will remain in the country for the foreseeable future. While this result is still at a positive level, 61% of the respondents said that there were not enough opportunities for young engineers in the profession. While there are clearly various issues that are of serious concern for South African engineers it was positive to note that the survey still revealed a 75% confidence level in the future of engineering profession over the next five years, and 69% of the respondents indicated that they will encourage their kids to enter their profession, concludes Seperepere. By 2025, jobs which were common place in 2015 will no longer exist. Students graduating in 2016 will have obsolete qualifications for which there will no longer be a profession by 2025. Wayne Houghton Front-line military personnel will be replaced with robots. Private bankers and wealth managers will be replaced with algorithms. Telemarketers, data entry capturers, tax preparers, lawyers, accountants, actuaries, statisticians and consulting engineers will be replaced with Artificial Intelligence (AI). New business models, like those of Uber and Alibaba, are already industry-shaping disruptors, and each day, new digital innovators are emerging to cause disintermediation and disruption across every industry imaginable. Traditional enterprises, whilst presently successful by todays standards, are scrambling to make sense of business digitisation in order to stay relevant in the digital future. Many are attempting to create new digital business models which will eventually cannibalise their traditional business, rather than capitulating to new disruptive digital start-ups. Companies are also digitising their products and services, along with operational processes and customer channels. Over 70% of top fortune 500 companies have plans to offer their products as a digital service by 2020. Presently, the ten most valuable start-ups globally are estimated to have a value of $172.7bn - all embracing digital platform based business models. Around 90% of the business models in 2020 will be driven by the cloud. Altering skills Globally, the number of connected devices will nearly quadruple by 2025, significantly altering the skills employers hold most valuable. Increasing connectivity will change how employees choose to work (for example, remotely, part-time, independently, or dispersed), and provide employers with a spectrum of hiring options. Millennials, most of whom are digital natives, will comprise an estimated 48.3% of the global labour force in 2025, while those aged 60 and older will comprise 9.9% (compared with 7.9% in 2015). The line between what has traditionally been business and IT is becoming more and more blurred. Largely due to the early adoption and impact of digital marketing, the chief marketing officer (CMO) now controls a bigger IT budget and influence than the CIO. This is only set to increase and expand across the organisation, as digital natives become future business leaders. What new skills and expertise will be required to lead and manage the digital enterprise of the future? As robots, AI and digital algorithms continue to replace many jobs and professions; new and emerging professions by 2025 will focus more on human interaction, augmented through digital mechanisms. Jobs requiring uniquely human characteristics, such as cultural deftness, caretaking or empathy, and creative thinking, are those least threatened by automation. Digital nomad trend The ability to work anywhere, anytime is fueling the digital nomad trend, which is highly appealing to millennials, but will also blur political and economic boundaries, and test national labour codes. AI, its sub-fields, and automation will create some specific reflecting trends associated with new and emerging technology advances. Career gains from AI and automation include: Artificial Intelligence technology and automation salesperson. Specialist programmers. Cybersecurity experts. Engineering psychologists. Robot and automation technology manufacturer, distributor, servicer, and refurbisher. Technology-specific trainer. Neuro-implant technicians. Virtual health care specialist. Virtual reality experience designer. Digital transformation cannot be ignored without becoming irrelevant, and an adaptive digital strategy is imperative. Digital transformation cannot be ignored without becoming irrelevant, and an adaptive digital strategy is imperative. The digital workforce will be largely millennial, and significantly different from today in terms of culture, leadership style and skills. AI, robots and digital algorithms will automate many professions, but jobs requiring uniquely human characteristics - or are critical to the development of digital solutions - will be in great demand by 2025. A holistic digital transformation strategy, which considers the digital workforce along with the business model, process and customer channel dimensions, will be imperative for organisations wishing to remain relevant in the next ten years. Cisco has launched a pilot project to upskill specialised networking experts to assist South Africa in obtaining full digital integration. In South Africa, there are an estimated 829,800 positions for highly-skilled workers that need to be filled, say recruitment specialists Adcorp. Of these, Cisco estimates that 30 70,000 of these fall within the category of skilled technology workers. These skills are just not available, says Vernon Thaver, chief technology officer (CTO) at Cisco SA. At present there is a need for each country to fundamentally change in a digital way, but we lack the necessary human resource skills to do so. Its also not just about simple upskilling; its about building the right skills that the market needs, with a focus on the specialisation in the Internet of Things (IoT). This sentiment is echoed by the World Banks 2016 Digital Dividends Report, which notes that, Digital technologies have spread rapidly in much of the world. Digital dividendsthe broader development benefits from using these technologieshave lagged behind. In many instances, digital technologies have boosted growth, expanded opportunities and improved service delivery. Countries that are able to swiftly adjust to this evolving digital economy will reap the greatest digital dividends, while the rest are likely to fall behind. Solution A pilot project launched this week by Cisco is a step forward in addressing this need. The fulfilment will take a step forward in helping boost the countrys ailing economy, with a market related skills intervention that will see positive results in a year. The programme will result in respectable expert masters specifically in the area of Networking. The programme, referred to as the Cisco CCIE 360 Learning Programme is part of the bigger Cisco Legacy programme, a collaboration with Telkoms Futuremarkets, which focuses on driving innovation in the ICT sector by growing access to technology and by offering long-term support to its SMMEs. This ambitious project is a collaboration between Cisco, MICT SETA, NIL Data Communications and Telcolink. This Cisco CCIE 360 Learning Programme is the largest of its kind in the world. A 75-strong contingent of students, the largest group to be trained in this skill at one go, will spend the next year being up skilled in the sector. The Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) is accepted worldwide as the most prestigious networking certifications in the industry, says Lesley Mamaila, project manager for the programme. What sets this project apart from other programmes is that it is a demand-based approach. Cisco called on its partners and clients to submit the names and achievements of employees that could benefit from the training, after a rigorous selection process 75 of the 186 applications were accepted into the programme. Martin Camp, regional director for NIL Africa (the Cisco Learning Partner) says that the CCIE 360 Learning programme will be implemented as a planned, structured, and co-ordinated and managed programme that seeks to provide a specialised skill, where a designated mentor supports the selected candidates during the duration of the programme. The CCIE 360 Routing and Switching will serve as a practical programme and assist with the continuous development for future appointment in the labour market. Improved job prospects The second part of this project that warrants attention is the employment of the students after the programme. With a high rate of skills programme, concluding after three months, to allow companies to re-apply for additional skills levy grants, these students are already employed and will simply hold a higher position on their return. There is a dramatic improvement in post-graduation job prospects, says Thaver. The employers run across a series of verticals including telecommunications, FMCG, the public sector, financial services and FMCG. Some of the high-profile employers include Vodacom, MTN, Premium Foods and Sita. However, this programme is not limited to the enterprise market, but also seeks to support SMMEs. Supporting SMMEs As part of Ciscos SMMEs development programme, Telcolink has been appointed as the key strategic partner. The role that Cisco will play in Telcolinks development is to share valuable business expertise and foster skills transfer in an effort to contribute in addressing governments transformational and developmental imperatives, more so in the Enterprise Development space. Cecil Mashawana, CEO of Telcolink says, Research by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor shows that small businesses are significant contributors to job creation, creating more than 50% of all employment opportunities in South Africa. This is why it is imperative for both private and public to invest in small businesses. We are grateful to be part of a programme that provides companies such as Cisco with an opportunity to play its part in developing SMMEs, such as us. Furthermore, we are honoured for the opportunity to play a role in a learning programme aimed at addressing the shortage of critical and scarce skills in the country. As for concerns about trained employees leaving for higher paid positions elsewhere, Thaver says, Rather you train them and they go, than not train them and they stay. It is this foundation that will pave the way to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The government is exploring the possibility of a merger between SA Airways, SA Express and Mango airlines, with a decision to be made shortly, Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises Bulelani Magwanishe has told parliament. NJR ZA via Wikimedia Commons Addressing the select committee on public accounts where SA Express was appearing as a result of its poor performance, Magwanishe revealed some details about plans for the state-owned airlines, saying an undesirable "form of competition" had developed among them. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown have suggested a merger between SAA and SA Express, both of which have struggled to stay afloat without government bailouts and guarantees in recent years. Magwanishe's statement indicated Mango could be part of the merger too. He said Gordhan, Brown and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa were looking into the issue and a decision would be made "soon". There was no indication as to how the merger would affect consumers. He said a merger would allow for the three airlines to streamline finances and technical expertise. SA Express has in recent years managed to turn a small profit, mostly thanks to extreme cost-cutting measures. However, chairman of the board, George Mothema, yesterday admitted were it not for government guarantees, which allowed it to borrow privately, the airline would not be able to function as a going concern. Scopa also expressed concern about the quality of the airline's financial statements that contained material misstatements, and its failure to meet its targets. Source: The Times After taking to the air with drones to provide internet to remote spots, Facebook on Wednesday, 13 April, unveiled new land-based systems to provide connectivity to people in urban settings. Image by 123RF We are really going at this problem from every possible angle," Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg said of efforts by the social network to make internet connectivity more widely available around the world. Facebook used its annual developers' conference to reveal Terragraph technology that uses low-cost, off-the-shelf components to create antenna-based networks in dense city settings to improve wireless Internet availability. The technology incorporates attributes and industrial design required for fast, attractive and affordable deployment across cityscapes," Neeraj Choubey and Ali Yazdan Panah of Facebook said in a blog post. Its reduced interference and ability to operate in non-line-of-sight conditions increases customer reach." Terragraph nodes can be mounted outside high-rises or other big buildings and connected to internet connections inside. Terragraph is being tested at the Facebook campus in Silicon Valley and will soon start a broader trial in the nearby California city of San Jose. Project Aries at Facebook has a goal of building a test platform for efficient use of energy and unused radio spectrum that could provide a way to deliver internet to communities outside of cities. "We are interested in developing this technology to harness the incredible gains in providing communications to rural communities from city centres," Choubey and Panah said. "The hope with systems such as these is that costly rural infrastructure can be avoided while still providing high-speed connectivity." Facebook stressed that it was not interested in being an internet service provider, but wanted to show those who do what could be possible. "Moreover, we would like to make this technology open to the wireless communications research and academic community," the blog post said. The leading social network in coming months will launch its first satellite to provide internet service to sub-Saharan Africa, Zuckerberg said at the conference. Facebook's mission to connect the world has included building solar-powered Aquila drones capable of transmitting data using lasers. "If you had told me 12 years ago that we were going to be building a plane, I would have told you that you are crazy," Zuckerberg said, as he showed off a lightweight piece of a drone during a keynote presentation. "Well, here we are." Facebook estimates that more than four billion people don't have access to the internet for reasons that include access and cost. As part of an often-shared long-range vision of letting people anywhere share whatever they want with anyone using the internet, Zuckerberg on Wednesday, 13 April, announced the creation of a Building 8 team devoted to building new hardware products for connecting the world. Facebook hired Regina Dugan away from an Advanced Technology and Projects group at Google to head the new team, according to Zuckerberg. Before joining Google, Dugan was director of the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency devoted to innovations for the US military. "I'm excited to have Regina apply DARPA-style breakthrough development at the intersection of science and products to our mission," Zuckerberg said. Facebook will devote hundreds of people and invest hundreds of millions of dollars to the effort as it pursues a 10-year roadmap that includes virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and online connectivity, according to Zuckerberg. 16 more Iraqi refugees are planning to leave the Czech Republic 14. 4. 2016 cas cteni < 1 minuta Sixteen more Christian Iraqi refugees who have been accepted by the Czech Republic are planning to leave the country, said Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec on Thursday. These refugees have been housed in the Moravian city of Brno. According to information obtained by the Pravo daily, the refugees are planning to go to Germany. The Czech Interior Minister said that the refugees will be given exit visas, valid for three days. "I have told my people to inform the Iraqis that they must not cross the border illegally," said Chovanec. Earlier, a group of 25 Christian Iraqi refugees left the Czech Republic for Germany. The Germans are allegedly wanting to return them to the Czech Republic which has threatened to deport them to Iraq. Later on, the Czech Interior Minister said that the Czech Republic will not accept these returnees from Germany because the German application to return them to the Czech Republic is allegedly formally incorrect. Source in Czech HERE 0 It looks like you have reached this page in error ... The content you are looking for has either moved, or if you typed in the address there might have been a mistake. If you believe there has been a technical error please let us know. Most Popular Destinations Mississippi Phil Bryant participated in an interview with the president of American Family Association yesterday who was predictably elated that Governor Bryant signed an anti-LGBT "religious liberty" bill into law. I ask if Phil Bryant is a liar or delusional, or some combination of both, because the governor discussed his motivations for signing the bill into law and what he said is not reflected by empirical reality. via RightWingWatch: "This is about the churches," Bryant said. "The next stop will be American Family Radio and it will be Mississippi College, it will be St. Dominic's Hospital as lawsuits will be filed; it will be churches where pastors can say, 'I can't perform that ceremony,' a lawsuit will be filed, it will go to a federal court and the federal court will say, yes, they should be a protected class, those who choose to marry and want to be married in the church and that church might lose its tax-exempt status and they'll have to close. And church after church after church across this country will close." "We think people of faith have rights," he continued. "I know that's a strange notion, but we believe the scales of justice must be balanced for those people of faith and those that have other ideas about their desires in life. And that's what the scales of justice must do is be balanced and we believe that this is a step in protecting the civil liberties of people of faith just as the First Amendment of the Constitution does." It's hard to say if Governor Bryant truly believes this or if he's simply lying and pandering his ass off. The law is not "about the churches." In fact, churches are barely a footnote in the language of the law. The law encompasses public agencies and institutions and private businesses with no religious affiliations whatsoever. An employee of any establishment need only invoke their "principled beliefs" to deny service to anyone who offends their puritan sensibilities. Moreover, the idea that a low level federal court is going to force a church to officiate a gay wedding is absurd. Governor Bryant says the intent of the law is to protect civil liberties, but the civil liberties of churches are not at risk. They're already protected by the Constitution and federal law. Governor Bryant's law does, however, threaten the civil liberties of LGBTQ individuals. Governor Bryant evidently believes public and private employees with deeply held religious delusions should be a protected class but the people they discriminate against should not be. Liberty for me, not for thee. I can't imagine there was a great deal of doubt about where Ted Cruz would fall on this issue, but now we know for sure. The GOP presidential candidate spoke at a town hall meeting in Buffalo, New York where he expressed support for North Carolina's anti-transgender "bathroom bill" HB2. The law that eliminates civil rights and curbs a non-existent problem is "perfectly reasonable," Cruz says. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says he supports the ability of North Carolina lawmakers to pass a law restricting bathroom access for gay and transgender people. Cruz said Thursday during taping of a MSNBC town hall in Buffalo, New York, that states can pass such laws because "men should not be going to the bathroom with little girls." Cruz says, "That is a perfectly reasonable determination for the people to make." I don't expect conservatives will give up the talking point that "men" are "going to the bathroom with little girls" easily. It's a dangerous and cynical talking point that implies that being transgender means being a deviant predator. It implies that being transgender is not even a legitimate status of being. In some ways it's an extension of the anti-gay arguments that have been deployed in court rooms and defeated and I expect that's where this will eventually end up; in front of the Supreme Court. The idea that being an LGBTQ individual is synonymous with being a predator doesn't hold up very well in a federal court room where such claims have to be substantiated. Transgender women are not men. Transgender men are not women. There isn't a single documented case of a transgender person assaulting anyone, young or old, in a bathroom. The possibility of being assaulted is an everyday threat for transgender people. They're the ones who need protection from everyone else. What lawmakers in North Carolina have done is make them an even bigger target. A transgender man in North Carolina who must now use the women's restroom shared his experience under the new law with Mother Jones which I recommend reading. Competition Authoritys Director Corporate Services, Tebelelo Pule will next week Monday start her role as Acting Chief Executive Officer of the anti-trust body, Botswana Guardian can reveal. The outgoing CEO Thula Kaira this Wednesday told Botswana Guardian in an exclusive interview that, the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry has engaged an Acting CEO, Tebelelo Pule. She will start from Monday next week until the process of identifying the substantive CEO is complete. I have no doubt that the next person will do better than I did, he said. Pule has been with the Authority since inception in 2011 directing the corporate services division. Training of locals for the succession plan has been ongoing at the Authority. It is understood that those who have been on the training process include, Gideon Nkala- Director Communications and Advocacy; Tebelelo Pule-Director Corporate Services; Duncan Morotsi-Director Legal and Enforcement and Magdeline Gabaraane - Director Mergers and Monopolies. Pule has been picked as the preferred candidate of the four. Meanwhile, as CA celebrates its fifth year anniversary this year, the outgoing chief executive Thula Kaira will today Friday 15th April host and address the media on the Authoritys anniversary. The CEO is expected to highlight some of the major achievements the CA has made since inception. This briefing would also be the Zambian natives last address with the Botswana press as Friday 15th will be his last day at the Authority as he completes his five year tour of duty. Kaira is the founding CEO of the Competition Authority. According to a statement from CA, Kaira elected not to seek a renewal of his contract when his term came to an end. The diversified knowledge, skills and competencies one acquires at Botswana Accountancy College (BAC) are requirements needed to diversify and grow the economy in future. The colleges Executive Director Serty Leburu said this at BACs first-ever open day last weekend which she promised will be an annual event going forward. Leburu explained that as they celebrate 20 years of existence this year they pride themselves in having contributed, immensely to the human capital development of the country. She said their vision is to be an institute committed to excellence that is recognised in Africa and beyond for providing sustainable market relevant human capital towards a knowledge driven economy. She said the open day is a platform that allows BAC team to engage and interact with prospective students, parents and the public at large. On the relevance of hosting the open day after the tertiary fair Leburu explained that they needed to have direct interaction with their students and have them tour their premises as well. Among the top 10 biggest growing occupations that require college education, software developers, network and computer system administrators are featured in the global 2015 survey said School of Computing and Information systems Acting Director Stewart Muchuchuti The open day activities included consultation points on courses, touring the school, getting career advices and inquiries on alternative private sponsorships. The state has failed to defend a lawsuit which was instituted following a negligent act by Dr Corbet Mcharo at Nyangabwe referral hospital in 2011. Late last year a broken hearted mother, Lalu Mazhani, 38 dragged the state before Francistown High Court and sued Nyangwabwe hospital for P4.3 million for an operation gone wrong that claimed the life of her 13 year old daughter, Zandile Mazhani a year and some months after it was performed. Mazhani was also suing for emotional trauma and sought a post mortem report of the cause of her childs death. The incident followed hard on a periphrastic operation that was carried on her daughter at the hospital which later unintentionally left surgical gauze which later tempered with the childs well-being. Delivering his judgement on Tuesday, Justice Bengbame Sechele said the childs death according to the plaintiff was a direct result of a surgical gauze that was sewn up inside her daughters body during surgery. However he said that Dr Mcharo said that there was no negligence in the manner that the surgery was conducted, thereby conceding that a surgical gauze was inadvertently left in the deceaseds body during surgery. He further maintained that the surgical gauze aforesaid did not cause the deceaseds death. Most of the evidence that was led at this trial was common cause. It was not in dispute, for example, that a surgical gauze was inadvertently left and sewn up in deceaseds body after surgery. The only dispute there is, is whether such inadvertence was due to negligence and whether the surgical gauze caused the medical complications that ultimately led to deceaseds demise, said Sechele. Furthermore he brought to the courts attention that Mazhanis evidence in a nutshell was that her daughter was in and out of the hospital. He said that she stated in her evidence that many tests were conducted on her daughter with no luck of helping her to relieve her constant complaints of abdominal pains. Justice Sechele said that a Computerized Tomography (CT) scan was carried out at Nyangabwe hospital. The result of the scan revealed something on the deceaseds right side, he said adding that she then booked for a biopsy procedure for the 14 October 2010 which unfortunately before the procedure was due the deceased passed out a surgical gauze when she was relieving herself. Sechele explained that the plaintiff took the gauze to hospital and it was confirmed to be a surgical gauze. However Sechele said that the hospital denied that there was no way in which a gauze could have been sewn in the deceaseds body. He said that after the gauze was expelled from her body her condition did not stabilise and she was taken to several facilities including Gaborone Private Hospital. The deceaseds health continued on a downward spiral until she passed away after being re-admitted at Nyangabwe hospital on the 23 June 2011 and passed away the following day, he said. Sechele also brought it to the courts attention an expert, Dr Davis Makwinja who was called by the plaintiffs attorney to the stand and testified that a surgical gauze was a foreign body. Justice Sechele said that Makwinja cemented his statement saying that since it was not accepted by the body it caused adhesions and perforations in the deceaseds bowels. He also said that Makwinja said that the surgical gauze was in the deceaseds body for three months which brought about calcification in the form of gangrenous growths as the body tried to fight off infection and isolate the foreign object. The doctor also maintained that surgical staff was under a duty to account for all the materials used during surgery. Had this been done, the surgical team would have noticed that the surgical gauze had not been accounted for, he said. He said that Dr Mcharo confirmed that the cause of deceaseds death was bowel gangrene secondary to adhesion bind. Passing his judgement Sechele considered Whether the defendants were negligent in the manner in which they conducted surgery on the deceased? Whether or not defendants negligence, if any was the cause of deceaseds death? In the event that the defendants death whether the plaintiff suffered damages, and if do the quantum thereof. Having taken all the circumstances of the case Sechele said he will award damages to the plaintiff in the sum of two million pula which will be discounted by ten percent. The defendant will bear the costs of this action, he said. Mbiganyi Mhizha of Chakalisa and Phumaphi Attorneys represented the plaintiff while Wedu Maphane appeared for the State. The mother told this publication outside court that she was happy with the judges decision. Justice has finally been served for my baby girl after five years, said Mazhani. Already have an account? Log in here TORONTO - Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. says it plans to spend $52 million this year on advancing capital projects at the East Timmins operations in Northern Ontario, acquired recently through a friendly takeover of St Andrew Goldfields. We need your support! Local journalism needs your support! As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! Already have an account? Log in here REGINA - Sales of petroleum and natural gas rights in Saskatchewan are down as investment in the sector plunges. We need your support! Local journalism needs your support! As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. LETHBRIDGE, Alta. A mother accused in her toddlers death from bacterial meningitis says his face just kept getting bluer and bluer as she desperately tried to get him to breathe the day he was rushed to hospital. Hed stopped breathing again and so I did the CPR again and I did a couple of chest compressions and he started to breathe. Nothing had come out and shortly after he stopped breathing again, a sobbing Collet Stephan testified in her own defence Thursday. The 911 operator was kind of directing me while doing the CPR with counting and so forth. I remember his face starting to turn blue. David Stephan and his wife Collet Stephan arrive at court in Lethbridge, Alta. on Thursday, March 10, 2016. A father who used naturopathic remedies to treat his toddler son before he died from bacterial meningitis four years ago was grilled by the Crown at his trial Tuesday. THE CANADIAN PRESS / David Rossiter Stephan, 35, and her husband, David, 32, are on trial accused of failing to provide the necessaries of life for 19-month-old Ezekiel in March 2012. Ezekiel was sick for more than two weeks before he died in hospital. Court has heard how his parents gave him natural remedies, including smoothies with hot peppers and horseradish, because they thought he had croup. Stephan told jurors that the first day of her sons illness was easily the worst. She said he had a fever and the wheezing and whistling noise was heartwrenching. She said her sons condition worsened after her husband noticed Ezekiels breathing had changed. She put him on her lap and suddenly he stopped breathing. He choked and he stopped breathing for a few seconds. I hit him on the back. He started breathing again, she said as jurors and spectators wiped away tears. Then he just stopped breathing again and I put him on his back and put two breaths into his mouth forcing him to breath and put him on his side. He started coughing and he coughed up a bunch of mucus and phlegm. It was at that point they decided to take him to hospital and called an ambulance. Ezekiel was airlifted to Alberta Childrens Hospital in Calgary where his parents were told that there was little brain activity. An interview with the RCMP while Ezekiel was on life support caused a great deal of worry, the mother admitted. I feared losing both our children. I was 20 weeks pregnant and having the fear of losing that child as well. It was a roller-coaster of emotions I was constantly going through, she testified. Our son was on life support and we were being told that someone felt we were neglectful. We were now being questioned on our parenting, too. Court documents reveal just days before Ezekiel went to hospital his parents were giving him fluids through an eyedropper to keep him hydrated as he would not drink on his own. They also started him on an electrolyte and amino acid supplement, wrote Dr. Jenn DMello in an assessment. His symptoms worsened. He would not eat or drink, was lethargic and they noticed his body to be very stiff. These symptoms persisted and he started being so stiff that his back was arched, DMello wrote. The assessment indicates Ezekiels body was so stiff and sore that he couldnt be placed in a car seat. Mello wrote on March 15, 2012, that Ezekiel met criteria for brain death. A pathologist determined the boy died as a result of bacterial meningitis and right pleural empyema (lung infection). DMellos report noted Collet Stephan never saw a physician during her pregnancy and did not have any blood tests or ultrasounds before Ezekiels home birth. Follow @BillGraveland on Twitter Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. HALIFAX New research reveals theres more to being a sperm whale than deep diving, eating giant squid and being as big as a city bus. These lumbering behemoths may have their own distinct dialects and cultures and prefer other whales that are most like themselves, according to a marine researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax. After analyzing 30 years of underwater recordings, PhD candidate Mauricio Cantor has found sperm whales learn to communicate from their peers and relatives, in much the same way that humans do. Mauricio Cantor, a PhD student studying the social and cultural identities of sperm whales, is seen at Dalhousie University in Halifax on Wednesday, April 6, 2016. Cantor is the lead author of a research paper studying speech and habits of groups of whales. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan They prefer to interact with those that communicate using the same sounds that they do and we call these vocal clans, he says. Even though they are very different from us, they have key similarities with our society, in terms of having families, having social preferences and also communicating using similar sounds. When near the surface of the ocean, typical sperm whales emit clicking noises that sound like a stick being raked across a series of metal bars a kind of staccato Morse code. Researchers have long known that these sounds have patterns associated with separate populations of sperm whales. Cantors research, however, goes much deeper than that. Using recordings that date back to the 1980s, Cantor created computer simulations of whale populations spread over many centuries. The technique generated evidence suggesting communication within these large groups is the product of social learning. The most likely scenario is that they are learning from their peers. They are conforming to the most common sounds they hear, just like us. They tend to copy what is in fashion. The fascinating result, he says, is segregated whale cultures that are not unlike the various human cultures around the globe. We usually interact more with those who are similar to us. I hope that finding the similarities with other animal societies can improve our relationship with the natural world with the whales and other animals. Among the tropical Galapagos Islands off Ecuador, Cantor studied two clans that shared the same area but were segregated because they didnt share the same dialect a phenomenon that is rare in the animal kingdom but easy to recognize among people. One (clan) has very regular clicks, very evenly spaced, and the other has clicks that include long pauses with one click at the end, says Cantor, a 32-year-old biology student who is originally from Brazil. Its the same way for us. Its more likely for me to interact with someone who speaks English or Portuguese, which is my native language, than someone who is Russian or another language. The clicks, produced in the whales large forehead, are also used to find food through a process known as echolocation the same radar-like method bats use to find prey. Cantor, under the direction of renowned marine biologist Hal Whitehead, helped record sperm whale sounds between 2012 and 2014. Typically, he would spend three weeks aboard a 12-metre sailboat with up to five other researchers, working in shifts 24 hours a day tracking, listening and recording. Weve had some very exciting encounters. A whale came about a half metre from the boat and checked us out, rolling on its side. You could see it looking at our faces. Other sperm whales tried to bite the underwater microphones trailing behind the boat. Hes not the only Dalhousie researcher trying to learn more about sperm whale culture. Christine Konrad, a 24-year-old Dalhousie student who is also preparing a thesis on the marine giants, says her own work is focused on how different groups behave when hunting squid and travelling, among other things. I think a better understanding of the social structure of sperm whales helps us put ourselves and our own society and culture in context, the student from Burnaby, B.C., said in a recent email from the Caribbean, where she was conducting field research near the island of Dominica. It makes us realize we arent the only ones with complex relationships that extend beyond simply who you are related to. And I hope that realization helps people relate to a species other than our own. Cantor says hes aware that his findings will fuel a simmering debate over the notion that cultural evolution is exclusive to humans. Still, he says the evidence is there, based on the idea that culture in its simplest form is behaviour that is learned from other individuals. Im not saying that whale culture is as complex as human culture, but at least the (sperm whales) have these two main features. with files from Melanie Patten Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Westman municipal leaders continue to pressure the government for more money to address crumbling infrastructure in the province. Speaking from the Association of Manitoba Municipalities seminar at the Keystone Centre on Wednesday, Killarney-Turtle Mountain Mayor Rick Pauls said the provincial government has downloaded more and more responsibility to municipalities while funding has remained static. We need that PST money, Pauls said. We have 60 per cent of the infrastructure in the province and we only collect eight per cent of the taxes. File photo Killarney-Turtle Mountain Mayor Rick Pauls is among several municipal leaders who want a change in the provincial grant funding system, which they view as antiquated and partisan. The Manitoba Liberals are the only party to commit one per cent of the PST to municipalities should they get elected. The Progressive Conservatives have promised to roll back the tax, while the NDP has promised the status quo. Pauls said the PST money, if distributed on a per capita basis, would amount to roughly $800,000 more for his municipality. The amount of things that we could accomplish with that money would blow peoples minds, Pauls said. Getting one per cent of the PST is part of a larger discussion, however, as many municipal leaders believe the grant funding system currently in place is antiquated. We call it the grant lottery, Pauls joked. You fill out the forms, sending it in and cross your fingers and hope. But you cant grow a municipality buying a lottery ticket. More unfair is that many perceive the system as being deeply partisan. Typically speaking, you see a lot of money go to ridings of the governing party, Pauls said. If there is a shift to a PC government, is the money going to flow back to us? We hope so. That would be nice, but its still not fair. Pauls said he would sacrifice any potential short-term gain from a change in government for a funding model that was equitable for all municipalities. Sifton Coun. Stan Cochrane believes the forced amalgamation of towns and municipalities was a way to make municipalities larger so the government can download more on them. He would also like to see the funding model changed. Municipalities have to go begging for money, Cochrane said. Municipalities cant afford to take on any of the big infrastructure projects. There just isnt enough money. At the same time, mayors from Manitobas cities met to discuss issues plaguing Brandon, Dauphin, Flin Flon, Morden, Portage la Prairie, Selkirk, Steinbach, Thompson, Winkler and Winnipeg. Brandon Mayor Rick Chrest, who chairs the AMM Cities Caucus, said infrastructure funding continues to be a top priority. AMM has been vocal during the election campaign, touting a Fair Share, Fair Say conversation across all political stripes. Members of the Cities Caucus were pleased with the AMMs six-week campaign leading up to next weeks provincial election, along with the overall reaction to it by the parties and the public, Chrest said. Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman will speak during the final day of the seminar today about the importance of a stable funding model. ctweed@brandonsun.com Twitter: @CharlesTweed Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A bitter and bloody land dispute between Ottawa and a southwestern Ontario First Nation that culminated in the police killing of an aboriginal protester two decades ago has formally come to an end. The federal government and the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation signed an agreement Thursday to return Camp Ipperwash, a former military base built on land appropriated in 1942, to the First Nation. The agreement also gives the First Nation $95 million to invest in a brighter future. Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan looks on as Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett jokes with Chief Thomas Bresette during the signing of the final settlement agreement between the federal government and the Kettle and Stoney Point First Nation for the Camp Ipperwash Lands, Thursday, April 14, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Geoff Robins This is the day the community will finally realize the land is being returned, said Chief Thomas Bressette. Today, WWII is finally over for the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point with the closure of the taking of our lands in 1942. We look forward to a better relationship with Canada going forward, and today marks a new beginning. The First Nation located along the shores of Lake Huron, 35 kilometres northeast of Sarnia, Ont. says it plans to use the settlement funds to invest in compensation for members, community infrastructure, economic development and community healing and renewal. Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett, who was among those who signed the agreement, called it a landmark settlement Today we are closing a dark chapter of our shared history, she said. But we are also celebrating a new beginning for the First Nation on its journey toward healing and reconciliation within its community and with Canada. The Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation had sought the return of the Camp Ipperwash lands since the end of the Second World War. In 1993, some members of the First Nation began an occupation of the property and in September of 1995, protester Dudley George was shot and killed by a police officer after a splinter group of about 30 protesters occupied nearby Ipperwash Provincial Park, claiming it contained a sacred burial ground. The officer was later convicted of criminal negligence causing death and an inquiry found the government of Ontario, Ottawa and the Ontario Provincial Police all bore responsibility for the events that led to Georges death. In his final report in 2007, Ipperwash inquiry commissioner Sidney Linden called for the disputed land to be returned immediately to the Stony Point First Nation, along with compensation. The settlement that was formally signed Thursday specifies that work will be done to ensure the land which was used by the military for 50 years the military withdrew from the base in July 1995 is safe and environmentally sound. That process is to include clearing the land of unexploded military devices such as bombs or grenades and the preservation of the sensitive local environment and sacred cultural sites. Dudley George died for whats being commemorated today, said Michael Bryant, chief negotiator for the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation and former Ontario minister of aboriginal affairs. Many here worried they wouldnt live to see the return of Stony Point, stolen by Canada 80 years ago, Bryant said. Chief Tom Bressette and council courageously said no to an unjust federal settlement offer almost 20 years ago, which turned out to be a small fraction of the final settlement celebrated today. All First Nations will benefit from this precedent. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA The Liberal governments point man in the Senate walked into a political storm Thursday over what he felt was a practical request for more than $800,000 from the upper chamber to effectively do his job. Peter Harder told the committee that he wasnt asking for anything more or less than what Conservative Claude Carignan received when he was government leader in the Senate under former prime minister Stephen Harper. Carignan had to ask the Senate for office money because he was not a part of Harpers cabinet like his predecessors, which made him ineligible for financial help from the Privy Council Office, the central bureaucracy that aides the prime minister and cabinet. Senator Peter Harder waits to take his place in the Senate before being officially welcomed to the Senate on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Tuesday April 12, 2016. Harder, the Liberal government's point man in the Senate says he needs more than $800,000 from the upper chamber to effectively do his job.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld Harder whose role is complicated by the fact that Liberal-appointed senators are no longer considered part of the party caucus said he was told no funds would be forthcoming because of the precedent the Senate set with Carignan. The money would cover the cost of nine staffers in his office as government representative in the Senate four fewer than what Carignan had during his tenure under the previous Conservative government when he was leader of a caucus of more than 50. Harder made the pitch for the money to help him usher through government legislation through the upper chamber a process made more difficult by the lack any senators affiliated directly with the government and try to build support for bills from the growing number of independent senators. Harder said he expected the independent ranks to swell by 20 by the fall when the government makes its next round of appointments, creating more pressure points to garner votes without the hammer of party discipline. The Conservatives on the internal economy committee, which oversees Senate spending, wanted details of how Harder was going to use the money and details of how the Senate would operate and how funding would flow if partisan caucuses disappeared and the Senate became a house of independents. The talk was more politically charged than when the committee approved similar funds for Carignan, or topped up funding for independent Liberal Sen. James Cowan when he was opposition leader. Independent Liberal Sen. Larry Campbell said neither Carignan nor Cowan would have been required to answer the same questions facing Harder. Planning, how Im going to do things I wouldnt tell you dick, Campbell said. I support whats going on, Campbell said of the ongoing reforms in the Senate, which included a move in 2014 by then-leader Justin Trudeau to essentially kick the partys senators out of the Liberal caucus, forcing them to sit as independents. I do not know how it will end or where it will be, but you know what? Sometimes thats how ideas and how great things take place. Senators punted the request to a sub-committee that has yet to have members appointed to it. Harder was among a group of seven senators who took their seats in the Senate this week the first batch of senators appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau under a new appointments process. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. BIBLE HILL, N.S. Four men have been charged after a 14-year-old girl said she was sexually assaulted at a house party. Police say the men two Nova Scotians, two from Ontario, all in their 20s were arrested after the girl reported that she had been sexually assaulted at a party in Bible Hill, N.S. To me, its quite unusual for us to investigate something of this seriousness with that age of a victim, said Cpl. Jennifer Clarke, spokesperson for Nova Scotia RCMP. All four men are charged with sexual assault and sexual interference. The girl went to Colchester District RCMP on Dec. 18. Police say the two Nova Scotians, both from Colchester County, ages 21 and 23, were arrested in January. A 27-year-old Sarnia, Ont., man was arrested on March 31, and a 25-year-old Cornwall, Ont., man was arrested in Ottawa on April 12. Both were returned to Nova Scotia by the RCMP, with help from the Canada Border Services Agency. The three younger men appeared in Truro provincial court Wednesday, and all four are scheduled to return to court May 4. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. HALIFAX Nova Scotia will draft new legislation to replace its pioneering cyberbullying law inspired by the death of teenager Rehtaeh Parsons. Supreme Court of Nova Scotia Judge Glen McDougall struck down the original CyberSafety Act in December, saying it violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Justice Minister and Attorney General Diana Whalen said Thursday that the province accepts the act was too broad, and will not appeal the decision. Whalen said targeted consultations will take place over the next several months to ensure the new law protects the public and addresses the concerns raised in the court decision. The original law was passed in May 2013 in response to public outrage over Parsons death less than a month earlier. Parsons was 17 when she taken off life-support after attempting suicide. Her case attracted national attention when her family alleged she had been sexually assaulted in November 2011 at the age of 15 and then repeatedly bullied online after a digital photo of the alleged assault was shared among students at school. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. WINNIPEG Manitoba Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister told a business audience Thursday the province is being run by the Canadian Union of Public Employees something that will change if his party wins Tuesdays provincial election. I believe in the rights of workers to organize. I believe in collective bargaining. But I do not believe in a province thats run by CUPE, Pallister said during the last leaders debate before the election, in front of some 500 members of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. That has been whats being going on for far too long here in Manitoba. It has to stop. The comments the only real drama during a 90-minute debate in which the leaders stuck closely to talking points were quickly condemned by Pallisters opponents. I think we should definitely respect that organizations are organizations but there are individual people who are a part of these organizations who are Manitobans and they matter to us, so its quite insulting Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari said. Mr. Pallister always looks for one person or one group that he can punish or make a victim, and he demonstrated that again today, Selinger told reporters afterward. Pallister, who is leading in opinion polls, pointed to the role CUPE played in helping Premier Greg Selinger survive an internal coup last year. CUPE had hundreds of delegates at the leadership convention that saw Selinger hold on to his job by a 33-vote margin. CUPE and other unions have helped tilt labour laws against businesses, Pallister said. Pallister repeated that a Tory government would no longer require all workers on large government projects to be covered by a collective labour agreement. The Tories would also end automatic certification in union drives and allow secret-ballot votes in all cases. Currently, if a union gets 65 per cent or more of employees in a workplace to sign membership cards, certification is automatic and no vote is held. The changes, Pallister said, would put employers and unions on an equal footing. Selinger said the current laws are fair to both sides. The key is to make sure that its a fair process and that people have a chance to make a decent living. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Why cant we all just get along? We all eat. We all sleep. And we all poop. So what is this big deal about bathrooms? Over my 24-year career, I have worked with women and gay men, and have shared a bathroom with both. I can eat with them, work with them, sit beside them on a plane, take classes, travel in a car together and attend a seminar together. The only social situation that continues to divide men and women is the restroom. And I think its a bunch of poop. Literally. Its time to tear down that barrier and lets get on with it already. Of course, I bring up this topic because bathrooms are a big part of this weeks news cycle involving laws recently passed in U.S. states. Three weeks ago, North Carolina passed a law that requires schools and public agencies to have gender-segregated bathrooms, preventing people from using one that doesnt correspond to their biological sex. Since then, PayPal has cancelled plans to build a new operations centre in Charlotte, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has banned state employees from making non-essential work trips to North Carolina, and Bruce Springsteen cancelled his North Carolina concert, which was supposed to take place on Monday. Canadian rocker Bryan Adams followed suit over a similar law in Mississippi. But I digress. Locally, the bathroom debate is much less of an issue, especially on a campus like Brandon University. Gender-neutral washrooms are now more common on Canadian campuses, so this year, BU put in 14 single-stall, accessible washrooms. (Note to self: drink all the coffee you want when on campus at BU. Its a great place to use the washroom. Unlimited bathrooms abbreviated is UB. In reverse, its BU. Coincidence?) And really, does your gender really matter? In a position of needing to go, are we all not just people. Funny, dancing, wincing, uncomfortable people? You are a person needing to take care of a personal, yet quite common, practice that everyone does every day. (Or should do every day, and if youre not, you may want to consider more fibre.) The bottom line is this: I think it is time for all of us to poop together in individual stalls and wash our hands at the same sinks. Its what we all do at home, if were men living with women, and men living with men, so why is it a problem? There are now 51 gender options to choose from when you sign up for Facebook. Fifty-one. We are going to need more than 51 separate bathrooms. Or do we just say enough is enough? There may be 51 genders, but the only numbers that matter are whether youre going No. 1 or No. 2. And we all need to wash our hands, for heavens sake. Public restrooms have not always been gender-segregated. Historically, shared washrooms are still the norm in developing countries such as Ghana, China and India. According to sociology and sexuality studies Prof. Sheila Cavanagh, the first separate toilet facilities for men and women appeared at a ball in Paris in 1739. Until then, public restrooms were generally gender-neutral. We asked our Facebook friends during the Tuesday Morning Mess radio show, and much of the issue is around safety. While most men have no issue sharing a bathroom with a woman, many women do not feel safe sharing a bathroom with a strange man. OK, I dont even feel comfortable sharing a bathroom with a strange man, but why cant I get that strange man picture out of our minds? Is he real? Is the strange man standing in the way of full acceptance that the last barrier that exists between the sexes must come down? Lets address the fear of sexual assault toward women. It is real and it is every day in Canada. Here are some very real stats compiled from sexassault.ca, a resource for information and myth-busting regarding sexual assault. More than 80 per cent of sex-crime victims are women. One in four North American women will be sexually assaulted during their lifetime. Most are young people 60 per cent of sexual abuse/assault victims are under the age of 17. Eighty per cent of sexual assault incidents occur in the home. Eighty per cent of assailants are friends and/or family members of the victim. Those last two stats are startling. They make the issue of sexual assault even MORE scary than it already is. And let me be clear the thought of a 10-year-old girl and a 40-year-old man sharing a washroom makes me quite uncomfortable. But Im also uncomfortable if that 10-year-old girl is alone in a fast-food restaurant eating a burger next to a 40-year-old man. Nobody is advocating that. And why is she young and alone? We want everyone to be safe. Everyone to be respected. And everyone to mind their own business when it comes to gender. But then what are we saying to our sons and husbands and brothers and fathers? Are we telling them we would be fearful of using the washroom because men are dangerous just because they are strangers? Is that the message we want to send to our sons? Is it a message we want to send to anyone? While personal safety is paramount, we must also have some common sense. I know we have a long way to go to ensure equal rights for all. But it starts with self-examination. It starts with asking yourself if YOU would be OK sharing a washroom with someone you didnt know. What if that someone was not like you? We can share a meal with those different from us. We can share ideas with people different from us. We can even share a seat on the bus or a glass of wine. Maybe its time we look at sharing the loo. JOKE THIS WEEK A pirate walked into a bar and the bartender said, Hey, I havent seen you in a while. What happened? You look terrible. What do you mean? the pirate said. I feel fine. What about the wooden leg? You didnt have that before. Well, we were in a battle and I got hit with a cannonball, but Im fine now. Well, OK, but what about that hook? What happened to your hand? We were in another battle. I boarded a ship and got into a sword fight. My hand was cut off. I got fitted with a hook. Im fine, really. What about that eyepatch? Oh, one day we were at sea and a flock of birds flew over. I looked up and one of them pooped in my eye. Youre kidding! said the bartender. You couldnt lose an eye just from some bird dung. It was my first day with the hook. BIRTHDAYS Tia-Lee Morgan Lori Sutherland Cheryl Mauthe Chris Coulson Aime Gaudry Tyler Lounsbury Stephen Findley Jodi Nicole Woloski Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2016 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. In response to Political Co-operation Needed to Protect Lake Manitoba, Brandon Sun, April 12: I recognize a lot of encouragement, some words on leadership, nostalgia and opportunity for the next provincial government to lead the charge by Alexis Kanu and Scott Higgins. The next provincial government leading the charge; this metaphor reminds me of the glory of the noble 600 as they rode into the valley of death in The Charge of the Light Brigade, and any historian can refresh you on how badly that situation turned out. We have been down this repetitious road so many times before, only to be detoured and disappointed at the results. The measurements of phosphorus continue to rise in Lake Winnipeg, having doubled in the past 15 years. Somewhere in my hoard of files, there is a study that attributes the U.S. contribution of phosphorus pollution to Lake Winnipeg at 53 per cent (samples taken from the Red River at the border). And unless that contribution is significantly reduced, the lake will continue to experience the infestation of algae (some of which is toxic). Manitoba is presently using Band-aids to deal with the situation, when what is really needed is a tourniquet! However, according to Water Stewardship, the ongoing signature treaties with the involved states are not expected to be completed until 2020. Which brings up another interesting scenario back to the 1970s, before the Jenpeg dams were put in place (for hydro power) and the Hecla Island causeway was not artificially blocked, the lake and the lake waters were substantially healthier the pollutants were not trapped as they are now, and there were few algal concerns. Now, the lake is affected by constipation. Nature has its way of dealing with situations; humans sabotage nature, and now there is a huge problem. A problem that was initiated some 45 years ago. In 1974, co-author of The Algal Bowl, scientist John R. Vallentyne, predicted that we would be living with an environmental disaster he called the algal bowl by the year 2000. Just as the Dust Bowl of the 1930s was created by misusing western farmland, he forecasted that continued misuse of lakes would also lead to water degradation. A second publication in 2008 by David Schindler reiterates the situation of Lake Winnipeg. Today, those waters suffer from our ignorance and denial. Their grim predictions have been realized. Band-aid solutions alone will not overcome, nor deter the flow of phosphorus nutrients that are responsible for the perilous situation of Lake Winnipeg. Canada is in desperate need of a water commissioner. John Fefchak Virden Update 12.05pm: Former Diplomat and author, Eamon Delaney, thinks the advice is bizarre, and damaging. Mr Delaney said: "This is the most strange and even ludicrous advice by the Australian authorities about Ireland. "There was no unrest for 1916 commemorations, there was no unrest or even tension in Northern Ireland over the commemorations. "It really makes you beg the question as to how the Australian government and its consular service and its foreign service forms its expertise on countries, especially somewhere like Ireland, of which they should know well." Earlier A travel warning has been issued to Australian tourists thinking of coming to Ireland. It claims tensions are high between unionists and republicans because of the Centenary of the Easter Rising. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has issued the travel warning for Ireland on its website. In particular, it highlights that tensions between dissident republicans and unionists have increased in the lead up to the centenary of the Easter Rising. It advises Australians visiting here to avoid all protests and demonstrations, including those associated with Northern Ireland, as they may turn violent. "Instances of civil disorder can rapidly escalate into violence and you should avoid them wherever possible," it states. The smartraveller.gov.au website also says Ireland has a moderate incidence of serious, violent crime and recommends avoiding secluded parks and unlit areas. It says petty crime, including bag snatching, smash and grab from cars and public transport, and pickpocketing is common, particularly in city centres and areas frequented by tourists. It also states that car theft and break-ins are increasing, especially in Dublin and tourist locations, and rental cars are particularly targeted Here is what happened in today's Dail vote By Daniel McConnell Political Editor Acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny has lost a third vote this afternoon to be re-elected in the Dail. TDs met for just the fourth time since the general election seven weeks ago and the country remains without an elected Government in place. Mr Kenny was defeated by a margin of 77 votes to 52, with the acting Taoiseach's nomination being supported by all 50 Fine Gael TDs, Michael Lowry and for the first time Dublin South-West TD Katherine Zappone. Her decision to support Mr Kenny was praised by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, who called on other independents to take a risk. Within minutes of losing the vote, Mr Kenny took to his feet in the Dail in which he committed to continuing in office until a Government is formed. He also issued a fresh invitation to Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin to meet to discuss how talks between the two sides could continue, with a view of forming a minority government. For his part, Mr Martin was also rejected by the Dail in his bid to be elected Taoiseach. He lost his vote by a margin of 91 votes to 43. Speaking in the Dail, Mr Martin strongly criticised Fine Gael in its approach to the talks in recent days as did other members of his party in the chamber. Before the vote, Independent Alliance TD Shane Ross called for Fine Gael to deal with Fianna Fail on a basis where there is "parity of esteem". Mr Kenny said that parity exists but this was rejected by Mr Martin and several Fianna Fail TDs. Earlier, fourteen Independents announced their intention to abstain from the vote for Taoiseach. They also said they were stepping back from the talks with both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail until they agree a reciprocal agreement that they will give mutual support to each other, in the event of either party leader becoming Taoiseach in a minority Government. Update 4.32pm: The acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny has offered to meet Mr Martin to discuss a minority government. Enda Kenny extends a fresh invitation to Micheal Martin to talk about a minority Government.. suggests a meeting tonight #iestaff Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) April 14, 2016 Update 4.24pm: Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has been rejected by the Dail for Taoiseach. Mr Martin secured 43 votes with 91 TDs voting against him. Micheal Martin vote: yes 43 (all FF); no 91. No change so. Bluff called? #ge16 Fiachra O Cionnaith (@Ocionnaith) April 14, 2016 The Dail will now decide if it wants Micheal Martin as Taoiseach. Update 4.10pm: Fourteen Independents, the Labour Party, Social Democrats and the Green Party have abstained in the vote for Enda Kenny as Taoiseach. It means he has been rejected for the post. Enda Kenny taoiseach vote: yes 52 (50 FG + Lowry and Zappone); no 77; 28 abstain (Lab, Greens, Soc Dems, 14 Inds); a couple not here #ge16 Fiachra O Cionnaith (@Ocionnaith) April 14, 2016 Mr Kenny got 52 votes, - 50 Fine Gael TDS, Michael Lowry and Katherine Zappone - with 77 voting against him and 28 abstaining. Katherine Zappone votes for Enda Kenny.. with lowry and 50 fg votes, Kenny is 9 ahead of Micheal Martin #iestaff Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) April 14, 2016 Update 3.55pm: The Dail is now carrying out its third vote to decide if it wants Enda Kenny as Taoiseach. Dail now voting to reject @EndaKennyTD for a third time #iestaff Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) April 14, 2016 Acting Tanaiste and Labour leader Joan Burton spelled out a wishlist of what would be required if Labour is to back a minority Government. Ms Burton said: "We believe that any programme for government should include an ambitious housing package, an absolute commitment to eradication child poverty in Ireland and a commitment to progressively increase the minimum wage to deliver a living wage. "Childcare costs, reduced carbon emissions, repealing the eighth amendment and having real tax justice and reform." Independents have again called on Fine Gael to agree if Micheal Martin gets the numbers they would support Fianna Fail from opposition. Fourteen of the 15 who engaged in talks with both parties say they are withdrawing from those talks until that is agreed. Shane Ross says Ind Alliance 'getting used to being lovebombed by both sides'. But real problem is FG & FG won't do a deal #dail #iestaff Juno McEnroe (@Junomaco) April 14, 2016 Dublin Rathdown TD Shane Ross also criticised Fianna Fail's behaviour. He said: "And this is one of the reasons why we are abstaining, we do not like receiving ultimatums from any party that we should vote one way today or that they get off the pitch. We do not respond to that." Labour's Joan Burton sets out a 'wish list' in #Dail to support a Gov.Interesting given most Inds have now stepped outside talks today #ge16 Juno McEnroe (@Junomaco) April 14, 2016 Joan Burtons address not going down well..labour not in a position to support fg or ff #iestaff Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) April 14, 2016 Update 3.20pm: Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin have both been nominated for Taoiseach in the Dail. There were no nominations from Sinn Fein or from the Anti-Austerity Alliance/People Before Profit bloc. FF's Lisa Chambers nominates Micheal Martin. Again: If TDs "sit on your hands" they're effectively putting Enda Kenny back into office #ge16 Fiachra O Cionnaith (@Ocionnaith) April 14, 2016 "Thank you, again, ceann comhairle," says FG's Catherine Byrne as she seconds Enda Kenny's nomination. Again. Sums it all up #ge16 Fiachra O Cionnaith (@Ocionnaith) April 14, 2016 Update 3pm: A spokesman for Enda Kenny has said it remains his position that Fine Gael should not support any government led by Fianna Fail. He proposed that the Dail be adjourned until next Wednesday if there is no Taoiseach elected this afternoon. The Dail has voted by 100 votes to 55 in favour of holding its next sitting next Wednesday. Update 1.53pm: Fourteen Independent have said that they will abstain in this afternoon's vote for Taoiseach. They have said that will not continue talks unless Fine Gael and Fianna Fail negotiate a deal first. A statement from the 14 TDs said: "We are stepping back from the talks on the formation of a new government with both parties until they agree a reciprocal agreement that they will give mutual support to each other, in the event of either party leader becoming Taoiseach in a minority government. "We require that they agree to a minimum of three budgets in order to give stability to the Irish people. We are offering to facilitate both parties in this task in any way that will hasten the formation of a government." The statement is signed by Sean Canny, Michael Collins, Michael Fitzmaurice, Noel Grealish, John Halligan, Michael Harty, Danny Healy-Rae, Michael Healy-Rae, Finian McGrath, Mattie McGrath, Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, Denis Naughten, Maureen O'Sullivan and Shane Ross. 14 Independents will abstain during today's vote for Taoiseach. #Dail Juno McEnroe (@Junomaco) April 14, 2016 Update 1.30pm: It is being reported that Fianna Fail have secured the support of three Independent TDs. It is said the party has the backing of Michael Healy-Rae and his brother Danny as well as Mattie McGrath. If so, then the gap between them and Fine Gael stands at 51-46. further to my earlier tweet...it now appears the healys' rae and mattie are now abstaining as part of the Ag House agreement #iestaff Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) April 14, 2016 Update 12.50pm: Sinn Fein says, while the country needs a Government, the party will still vote against both Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin. Party President Gerry Adams has also said he is available for talks on Government formation but other parties have ruled them out. He says the party would only vote for a Taoiseach of a progressive Government for the people:. Mr Adams said: "It isn't just a matter of forming a government, just to say 'any old government will do, whatever you're having yourself', it's what a government would do. "So we are firmly of the view that the mess that was created, was created in the first instance by Fianna Fail and perpetuated by Fine Gael." Gerry Adams says SF will vote against both Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin #iestaff pic.twitter.com/E2dR6BySFn Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) April 14, 2016 Sinn Fein President went on to say that an inconclusive vote for Taoiseach should be postponed. He said: Sinn Fein are of the view that if the vote for Taoiseach today is likely to be inconclusive it should be postponed. If it does go ahead, we will vote against both Micheal Martin and Enda Kenny. Public patience is wearing very thin with both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. They need to get real and come up with an agreement for a government soon. I dont believe these have been serious negotiations. No one ever really believed that Fianna Fail could win support for a Fianna Fail led minority government. Its all been part of the charade and the two large conservative parties trying to outmanoeuvre one another. Seven weeks after the election the two largest parties, which claim to want to be in government have not even discussed policy matters. Last night it was confirmed that Fianna Fail failed to even prepare a policy paper. Thousands more families are paying unsustainable mortgages and demanding action on water charges and this morning we learned that homelessness figures for February have doubled, and there are 5,881 citizens in emergency accommodation, including 1,881 children. Citizens would be better served if we were working on these matters than engaging in another pointless vote. Update 10.11am: Acting Minister Brendan Howlin has said Fianna Fail reportedly issuing an ultimatum to Independents is an example of old party tactics. I believe Fianna Fail have significantly overplayed their hand, he said. Old arrogance [is] creeping back into Fianna Fail, they seem to believe theyve won the election, and yesterday, cutting short negotiations with Fine Gael, and issuing ultimata to other Deputies on how they should vote and when they should vote is old Fianna Fail, theyve got a mandate that they dont have. As this afternoons vote to elect a Taoiseach nears, Independent TD Mattie McGrath has said that he is unlikely to vote for a Fine Gael government. Quite simply, I campaigned against the Government, and the Government didnt get re-elected, so Id find it very hard to vote for the Government, he said. So it would be impossible for me to vote for a Fine Gael Government who havent changed. Nothing has been dealt with in the last couple of weeks that satisfies me in their policies and really the problem is that Enda [Kenny] wants to be at the wheel. Update 9.15am: Simon Coveney says that a Fianna Fail led minority Government is not a viable option. Fianna Fail has rejected the offer of a partnership Government with Fine Gael and Fine Gael has rejected the proposal that there would be a Fianna Fail led minority government, and thats because we just dont think its viable, he said. Theyre starting with 43 seats, were starting effectively with 51, thats a big gap in the current circumstances. Update 8.22am: Independent TDs Michael Healy Rae and Mattie McGrath have said that Micheal Martin did not issue them with an ultimatum. It had been claimed the Fianna Fail leader told the independents to vote for him today or he would not put his name forward again. But Deputies Healy Rae and McGrath say that statement did not come from Micheal Martin. I believe that he didnt say that, and that has been attributed to him, but its wrong and its unfair, because he didnt say it, said Deputy Healy-Rae. The ultimatum that never came from Micheal Martin. Deputy Mattie McGrath agreed. That statement, I have verification from Micheal Martin, that that statement wasnt issued by him, about the ultimatum. A source it was attributed to, and the source could be anybody. Earlier: Independents have been told today is their last chance to get Enda Kenny out of power, as another attempt will be made to elect a Taoiseach in the Dail. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin Read More: It follows a Read More: A meeting between the two parties planned for 8pm last night was cancelled at short notice. The number of planning permissions granted in the last three months of 2015 has almost doubled. Figures from the Central Statistics Office show the approvals for homes jumped more than 95% compared with the final quarter of 2014. More than 4,000 dwelling units received planning permission, compared with 2,057 in the last three months of 2014. The trend for building houses over apartments is continuing, with permissions granted for 2,754 houses compared to 1,263 apartment units. The Irish Planning Institute has called for the immediate establishment of the Office of the Planning Regulator if Ireland is to "avert repeating its past planning mistakes". The Institute has also called on the next government to appoint a Minister for Planning & Housing. Deirdre Fallon, President of the Irish Planning Institute, outlined some key planning priorities for the next Government at their annual conference in Athlone today. They are: * The need to set up a free Planning and Environmental Advice Service, along the lines of the UK's Planning Aid service, for members of the public, and to encourage greater public participation in the development plan process and planning system. * The need to update the current "crude" listing system for heritage buildings and to introduce financial incentives to offset concerns about the cost of refurbishing buildings. *The need to provide legislative clarity around the term "planner". Update 9.45pm: Gardai have said they have now identified a man shot in Dublin's inner city this afternoon. It is believed the victim was not the intended target in the lunchtime shooting at the junction of Sheriff and Oriel Street. The man in his 20's was shot up to six times. Gardai have said the victim's family has asked for privacy. Superintendent Kevin Gralton at Store Street Garda station made the following appeal this evening. I would ask that anybody that witnessed this shooting today to call us, said Superintendent Kevin Gralton. I would also ask that anybody that saw a male on a black pedal cycle on Sheriff Street Lower at approximately 12.25pm today, and who abandoned the pedal cycle on Sheriff Street lower at the junction of Seville Place and Guild Street and then left on foot to make contact with us here at Store St on 01 6668000, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station. Update 6.10pm: Gardai in Store Street have said that the identity of the man shot dead in Dublin this afternoon is unknown. They are appealing for witnesses, in particular anyone who may have seen a man of strong build and dressed in dark clothing who was seen leaving the area on a bicycle in the direction of Seville Place and the Guild St junction with Sheriff Street. They say he abandoned the bicycle at the end of Sheriff Street and was last seen leaving Sheriff Street Lower on foot. Superintendent Kevin Gralton said: "I would ask that anybody that witnessed this shooting today to call us. "I would also ask that anybody that saw a male on a black pedal cycle on Sheriff Street Lower at approximately 12.25pm today, and who abandoned the pedal cycle on Sheriff Street lower at the junction of Seville Place and Guild Street and then left on foot to make contact with us here at Store St on 01 6668000, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station." Earlier: A man in his 20s has died following a shooting in Dublins inner city. It is being reported that it happened outside Noctor's pub on Sheriff St at around 12.30pm. It is also understood that six shots were fired at the man, who it is said was not the intended victim. The man who was injured in the shooting was taken by ambulance in a serious condition to the Mater Hospital, where he later died. Locals said the man was not from the area, and Gardai have sealed off the scene and deployed a helicopter. Locals say it happened very close to a school and creche. One said: "It makes you afraid to send the kids to school, because an hour later my daughter would have been walking right down where it happened to go to school." Another local said: "It is a disgrace, for it to happen when all them children are coming home from school." The gun attack took place about a mile from where taxi driver Eddie Hutch was shot dead at his home off North Strand in February. The area of Dublin's north inner city has been home to members of the extended Hutch family for a long time, some of whom have recently become embroiled in an increasingly vicious gangland war with the Kinahans. The feud has been blamed for a number of gun murders, including one in Spain, two in Dublin and one in Ratoath, Co Meath. Armed Garda patrols and checkpoints were posted to the Sheriff Street area after the bloody fallout deepened in February with a gun attack at a boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel in the north of the city. Before that the area was for years patrolled by armed officers attempting to keep apart two factions of another gang that split. Sheriff Street is in the shadow of the IFSC, home to big international banks and the location for massive redevelopment over the last 20 years. The Hutch-Kinahan feud spiralled into a killing spree when Gary Hutch was shot dead in an apartment complex near Marbella on the Costa del Sol last September. His killing is believed to have been avenged in the Regency attack which claimed the life of David Byrne, an associate of the Spain-based Kinahan family. Within days Eddie Hutch was dead and at the end of last month Noel Duggan, an old friend of suspected armed robber Gerry "The Monk" Hutch, was shot dead at his home in Ratoath. A mother said she would not forget a single detail of the day that her two-year-old daughter died after a road traffic collision involving a 40ft articulated truck, writes Claire Quinn. Patrick Corcoran, with an address at Castlefarm Stud, Narraghmore, Athy, Co Kildare, pleaded not guilty at Waterford Circuit Court to careless driving. It is the States case that the 49-year-old truck driver drove without due care or attention, thereby causing the death of Daenerys Crosbie-Callaghan on November 18, 2014, at Manor St. Carole Anne Crosbie told barrister for the State, David Humphries, she was late for work and her daughter was late for her first day of creche, as the first bus was full. She was just a few feet away from the creche on Manor St when she tried to cross the road. Ms Crosbie said traffic was still on her side when she stepped off the footpath. The other side started to flow and before she could do anything the truck started to move. Both mother and daughter went under. Bystanders assisted Carole Anne and Daenerys until emergency services arrived. Carole Anne later identified her daughters body. Bernard Condon SC, defending, put it to her that a consequence of such a tragic event might have had an effect on her memory. I dont think I would forget a single detail of what happened that day, she said. The court heard that an examination of the articulated truck and trailer found it to be in good roadworthy condition. A hands-free kit was also in working order. There were no tyre or skids marks at the site of the collision. However, forensic collision investigator Garda Ruth Finn confirmed that if the woman and child were within the range of the Cyclops mirror at the front of the truck they would be visible to the driver. During a statement, Mr Corcoran told gardai that what happened still goes through his head, but added he had nothing to answer. He said he has over 30 years experience driving articulated trucks and no penalty points. He arrived in Waterford minutes before the accident. He said he heard a noise that sounded like he drove over a copper pipe, followed by screaming. He stopped straight away. Before he heard the noise he was looking straight ahead and added he was in the habit of looking in his mirrors. The trial continues today. This story first appeared in the Read More: Irish Examiner. A woman has been killed after a building collapsed in Tenerife. Several others have been injured and emergency services are searching through the rubble for survivors. The four-storey building was in the tourist town of Los Cristianos. The Department of Foreign Affairs say there is no indication at this point, that the victim is Irish. A spokesperson confirmed that they will remain in contact with the Spanish authorities in relation to this tragedy. At least one person was killed and three people injured, according to local newspaper Diairo de Avisos. Officials have not confirmed the death, with the Canary Islands Emergency Co-ordinator and Safety Centre saying only that one woman was seriously injured and a man and a woman suffered less severe injures. Among the injured were a 57-year-old woman who suffered serious trauma to her upper body, a 28-year-old Italian man who had a shoulder injury, and a 55-year-old woman who suffered an anxiety attack and was treated at the scene, the Canary Islands government said. The scene following the collapse of a four-storey building in Los Cristianos, Tenerife. Pic: PA. A spokesman for the Spanish Red Cross said it had sent volunteers to help the emergency services with the search. The owner of the Hide Away Pub, Javier Velazquez, 58, lives in a flat above the bar next to the affected building and said his terrace had been "obliterated". He told the Sun: "No-one was on the terrace because I don't open till 5pm but if this had happened in the evening, it would have been far worse. "Around a third of my customers are British and 95% are Europeans from places like Italy, Belgium and Scandinavia. "The noise when the building collapsed was tremendous. There was work going on in an old commercial premises on the first floor and I fear what's happened could be something to do with that." He added that there were three separate collapses and he believed a Spanish woman had died. A judge has ordered Mohamed Abrini and five other suspects arrested in connection with the attacks in Paris and Brussels to be held for another month, Belgian prosecutors said. Abrini has admitted being the "man in the hat" seen leaving Brussels Airport the morning two suicide bombers detonated explosives-laden suitcases, killing 16 people. Two teenage girls have been arrested by British police on suspicion of kidnapping a three-year-old girl in Newcastle. The toddler disappeared from a Primark in the city centre at around 5pm on Wednesday evening. It triggered a city-wide search after officers found she had left the store with two teenage girls she did not know, leaving her mother "incredibly" distressed. Police trawled through CCTV from Newcastle City Council, local shops, Newcastle University, bus companies, the metro and their own cameras in search of the girl. She was eventually found nearly three miles away and over an hour later in Gosforth, north Newcastle, by a police officer. The alleged kidnappers, aged 13 and 14, were arrested on suspicion of child abduction and taken for questioning. Chief Inspector Dave Gould said: "Thankfully the child was quickly located by officers and then reunited with her mother. "This has been an incredibly distressing time for the girl's family and specialist officers are working with and supporting the family. "We mobilised all available local police resources to make sure the girl was found as quickly as possible and also included assistance from the public, and many of our partner agencies including Newcastle local authority and university as well as staff from retail premises, bus companies, train station and metro system. "I would like to thank all of those involved for their help in finding this little girl and helping reunite her with her mother. "Our enquiries will now continue to establish the circumstances of what happened and speaking to the two teenage girls in custody regarding the incident." Shocking footage has been released showing a drunk lorry driver reversing along a busy British motorway forcing cars to dodge him. CCTV charts the faltering and dangerous progress of Czech man Frantisek Formanek as he wove across the M6 Toll in Staffordshire just before 11.25pm on March 1. Fellow lorry drivers were forced to veer out of the 56-year-old's way, flashing their lights, as he backed up 800 metres in the wrong direction on the northbound side of the motorway at Norton Canes. The video has been released by Staffordshire Police after Formanek was jailed for six months for dangerous driving, and four months for being drunk at the wheel - to be served concurrently. He was also banned for 12 months and will have to take a test to get his licence back. Formanek pleaded guilty to both charges before being sentenced at Stafford Crown Court last month. His employers, the logistics firm Eddie Stobart, issued a statement through the police saying the driver had been immediately sacked after his driving came to light. Formanek was arrested at the scene and later found to be more than twice the legal limit for alcohol in his breath. Chief Inspector Jed White, of the Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG), said: "On this occasion this driver was clearly putting lives at risk, including his own." James Hodson, of the M6 Toll's operator Midland Expressway, added: "We fully support the sentence imposed by the court for this dangerous behaviour." He went on: "M6 Toll control room operators continuously monitor the motorway with CCTV cameras and work closely with CMPG to ensure the appropriate response." David Pickering, Eddie Stobart chief operating officer, said: "Following a very swift internal investigation into this incident, the driver was identified as part of our European operation on a delivery from the Czech Republic to the UK. "He was immediately dismissed. "We have fully supported the CMPG in their investigation and completely endorse their quick and decisive action in response to this individual's appalling and criminal actions." A grey seal found tangled up in netting on a beach in Scotland has been returned to the sea by rescuers. The distressed seal was discovered with netting around its neck at Cruden Bay in Aberdeenshire on Tuesday. US health officials have said there is now enough evidence to say the Zika virus can cause unusually small heads and brain damage in babies. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there was an established link between pregnant women catching Zika and their babies developing microcephaly as well as other neurological abnormalities. Dr Thomas Frieden, from the CDC, said: "There is no longer any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly. "Never before in history has there been a situation where a bite from a mosquito can result in a devastating malformation." It comes as experts in Brazil said they had found evidence of "extremely severe" brain damage in babies. They have mapped out the largest set of brain scans of children with microcephaly which was presumably caused by mothers being infected with the virus while pregnant. They examined 23 youngsters and found "severe cerebral damage" which indicates a "poor prognosis for neurological function". Since October there has been a significant increase in the number of cases of microcephaly among babies born in Brazil, which has led to scientists linking the condition with the virus. In February, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the link between microcephaly found in babies born to infected mothers should be considered a "public health emergency of international concern". The new study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), describes a range of brain abnormalities found in babies with microcephaly born in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco between July and December last year. All but one of the babies were born to mothers who had a rash during pregnancy, consistent with a Zika infection. Other infectious causes of microcephaly, such as toxoplasmosis, cytomegalovirus, rubella, syphilis and HIV, were ruled out. The team, led by Professor Maria de Fatima Vasco Aragao, analysed the types of abnormalities and lesions shown in MRI and CT brain scans of the children. The scans revealed that the majority of babies had severe brain damage. "This study shows the largest and most detailed case series of neuro-imaging findings in children with microcephaly and presumed Zika virus-related infection to date," the authors wrote. "We have described the imaging (CT and MRI) findings in a series of children with presumed Zika virus-related congenital infection, which in most of the cases show severe cerebral damage. "The brain damage caused by Zika virus infection in these children was extremely severe, indicating a poor prognosis for neurological function." Researchers noted brain calcifications, a condition in which calcium builds up in the brain, and other problems including malformations of cortical development, decreased brain volume, and ventriculomegaly - a condition where the brain cavities are abnormally enlarged. They also observed underdevelopment of the cerebellum and the brainstem. There has been active transmission of Zika over the last nine months in countries in the Caribbean, Central America, South America, the Pacific and some of south-east Asia. Since the start of the outbreak, 12 British travellers are known to have been infected with the virus. Most people who are infected have no symptoms, but some experience mild flu-like symptoms and skin rashes. KARACHI: Gold prices on Friday lost some value on the local market, traders said. They dropped by Rs500 to Rs147400... TOKYO: Japan intervened in the foreign exchange market on Friday to buy yen for the second time in a month after the... LONDON: Liz Truss came to 10 Downing Street vowing to be a disruptor. She U-turned on almost everything else, but... Better known for sitting behind the desk at Channel Nine's A Current Affair, Tracy Grimshaw will now be coming to you from another location - behind the bar. A new sour beer made by two Canberra brewers goes under the name "Hello, I'm Tracy Grimshaw. This is a Currant Affair". Kevin Hingston, Frazer Brown and Alan Ball with their new brew -'I'm Tracey Grimshaw and this is A Current Affair'. Credit:Jay Cronan The cheeky homage to the current affairs host, which is available on tap for a limited time, is a collaboration between Canberra breweries Pact Brewing Company and Wig and Pen. But the veteran journalist won't have to touch down in the capital in order to get a taste of the beer named in her honour. The moment a man tried to bait dogs in a Canberra backyard has been caught on CCTV. Police were called to the home after the owners captured the man on camera sneaking down their Higgins driveway about 5am on Wednesday. The man captured on film at 5am on Wednesday. Baited meat was later found in the yard. Credit:ACT Policing The man was seen to lob several small items into the yard before hurrying away. Meat covered in a green chemical substance was later found in the backyard. AFL fans have been warned they will be caught and punished if they attempt to sneak in any anti-religious banners for Friday night's clash between West Coast and Richmond at Domain Stadium. Two anti-Muslim banners have been unfurled at AFL games this season, with one of those being in last week's western derby in Perth. The people responsible for the offensive banner at Domain Stadium at the derby were evicted. Credit:Twitter The other one was during a Collingwood-Richmond game at the MCG. New WAFC chief executive Gavin Taylor said security and police have been put on alert for Friday night's clash. Thousands of counterfeit USB phone chargers displaying fake approval numbers have been seized in raids conducted by NSW Fair Trading across Sydney. More than 4500 items were seized at one premises, some of which were counterfeit well-known brand products, while others were styled on a branded product. As well as phone chargers, the products seized included more than 6500 mobile accessories, leads and device batteries. A second premises netted hundreds of cables, chargers, adapters and unauthentic Samsung and Apple-branded mobile batteries, which could pose a significant fire risk. Waste the learning opportunity at your peril. For eons, TAFE was the cornerstone of vocational education, offering high-quality courses at affordable prices. The decline in Vocation's shares was sudden and steep. By introducing competition "contestability" as it was called more courses would become more accessible to a higher number of students, or so the theory went. It didn't work out like that. Private operators cherry-picked the most profitable courses, leaving TAFE to deliver the expensive, low-margin programs. Low-cost loans More significantly, in an act of monumental stupidity, government funding caps were removed, allowing students to take out low-cost loans for approved diploma courses up to a value of $95,000. If someone had designed a system to deliver exactly the wrong result for students, investors and taxpayers, it would look like this. Governments paid the fee for the entire course upon student registration but colleges only incurred costs as lessons were delivered (in many cases sub-contracted). If a student dropped out, as many did, the college kept its fees and the student kept the debt. If someone had designed a system to deliver exactly the wrong result for students, investors and taxpayers, it would look like this. The cost of the ludicrous financial incentives naturally fell on the taxpayer. Spending balloons In 2012, government expenditure in the sector ran to $325 million. By the end of 2014 it had hit almost $1.8 billion. Enterprising opportunists had quickly found their way to a rich plunder and were keen to cash in. Vocation, one of the biggest providers, listed in December 2013 at $1.89 a share. It reached a high of $3.31 in September 2014 and entered administration at 12 a share in November last year. It now faces three class action lawsuits. In total, founders, staff and directors sold about two-thirds of their shares into the float. Australian Careers Network's story wasn't much different. It listed at an issue price of $1.70 in December 2014 and by October last year had risen above $3.40. After burning through $10.4 million in the December quarter and with just $13.5m remaining in the kitty, it entered voluntary administration a few weeks ago. Both companies had expanded quickly, taking on debt to do so. But what really bought them undone was federal and state governments realising the extent of their own stupidity. A scathing senate hearing described government oversight as a "failure" and the misbehaviour of some private providers as "rampant and unethical". Eventually, the money pump was shut down. Easy to predict, right? Well, sort of. Seeing the forest for the trees Whilst we didn't recommend any stocks in this sector, we did get roped a similar situation more than six years ago. Ostensibly, managed investment scheme (MIS) stocks like Forrest Enterprises, Great Southern Plantations and Timbercorp were agribusiness investment managers. They would buy land, plant trees or crops like almonds and olives, and then manage them on behalf of investors. The trouble was that scheme investors weren't getting anywhere near the returns promised. And yet they kept purchasing MIS products because they got a nice up front tax deduction in the year of their investment. A fat 10 per cent commission paid by the company to the financial planners no doubt helped. Dud products Just as in vocational education, the products were rubbish but the incentives to sell and purchase them were strong. At the 2006 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Charlie Munger said: "You don't make clay out of turds". The MIS sector and vocational training companies sold turds. The dream of a good education, rather than the reality of a poor one, is a dud product, as is a nice tax deduction travelling under the guise of an MIS that returns less than your initial capital. Of course, if you incentivise the selling of a dud product you can get away with it for a while. Eventually, though, the duped investor stirs, looks into his empty pockets and looks around for a thief. That's when the investment case goes up in smoke. If the product is a charade, one that wouldn't exist without favourable legislation and a nice sales commission, it usually isn't a good business. You can't make clay from a turd. Disclosure: The author John Addis made money on Great Southern before losing it on Timbercorp. He has learnt his lesson. A senior employee of the Seven Network who has admitted to defrauding the company by falsifying invoices has agreed to a freezing order over his assets. The broadcaster sought and won an injunction to freeze the assets of John Michael Fitzgerald in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday. The Seven Network has taken urgent legal action against a senior employee. Credit:Bloomberg Mr Fitzgerald, 54, was the network's commercial manager of programming. He has been suspended from duties. The amount of money Seven is seeking to recover has been redacted in court documents. Rio Tinto chairman Jan du Plessis has given an unusually pessimistic account of global business conditions, declaring that "tremendous uncertainties" in Europe and the Korean peninsula are posing "real risks" to the company's business model. Speaking at the miner's annual meeting of shareholders in London, Mr du Plessis indicated Rio would continue to cut costs and slash capital spending in a bid to ride out the storm. He said the global economic and political environment had deteriorated in 2015, and he referenced the recent migration crisis in Europe and the continuing nuclear threats in North Korea. "The global macro-economic and political environment continues to provide a highly challenging backdrop against which to run a complex business such as ours," he said. Sandfire Resources managing director Karl Simich says the resources downturn has made it challenging for the copper miner to generate investor excitement in its exploration successes but is presenting opportunities for the company to consider acquisitive expansion. Speaking to the miner's March quarter results on Thursday, Mr Simich said the market's response a day earlier to the company's long-awaited maiden mineral resource estimate for its Monty coppergold deposit was "about what we expected in this environment, an environment that is feeling very negative". The life of Sandfire's DeGrussa mine could be supported by the Monty deposit. Credit:Carla Gottgens Sandfire and its joint-venture partner Talisman Mining reported a total indicated and inferred mineral resource at Monty of 1.05 million tonnes grading 9.4 per cent copper and 1.6 grams per tonne gold, which translates to 99,000 tonnes of contained copper and 55,000 ounces of contained gold. The result, delivered less than a year after the deposit's discovery, surpassed analyst expectations on grade and fell within expectations on size but failed to move Sandfire's share price on Wednesday. Norwest soon may put up the "house full" sign as office vacancy hits an all-time low, while demand remains strong as tenants prepare for the Sydney Metro rail link. Having opened in 2009 with the Norwest Business Park of 58,000 square metres, the area has morphed into a residential and commercial hub. Its 6.06 per cent vacancy rate is considered by agents as close to equilibrium. Norwest Business Park in Sydney has a 6.06 per cent vacancy rate. The vacancy rate dropped from 14.4 per cent in 2014 to 9.5 per cent in 2015. With the changes have come new tenants such as childcare centres and residential developers' headquarters. Riding this popularity, he has overseen a far-reaching anti-corruption campaign, bagging extremely well-connected political, military, and business figures along with tens of thousands of other lesser figures. Along the way he has marginalised the authority of the country's Premier, Li Keqiang, while putting himself in charge of numerous "leading small groups" to direct policy on sensitive issues such as internal security and economic reform. According to relatively reliable polling, Xi is enormously popular among the laobaixing the common folk on the street. He is the subject of dozens of laudatory videos and other social media messaging cranked out by Chinese propaganda organs. In the view of many Western analysts not to mention many in China Chinese leader Xi Jinping has achieved a quasi-cult-like standing within China reminiscent of the 1960s when the "Great Helmsman" Mao Zedong lorded over the Chinese masses. The Prime Minister along with the leaders of hundreds of Australian companies is in China. Amid the deal-making, they would do well to also take careful measure of Chinese President Xi Jinping, his leadership style, and their implications for Australia in the years ahead. Casting his eyes abroad, Xi has visited more than 40 different countries in just three years and has set out an ambitious foreign policy agenda. Through the "One Belt One Road" initiative and the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Beijing has pledged hundreds of billions of dollars to connect China by land and sea to its markets across Eurasia. Xi has overseen China's massive land reclamation activities in the South China Sea, bolstering its military footprint thousands of kilometres offshore. It seems he has had a remarkable run. Or has he? In fact, contrary to his carefully polished public image and all the international media hype about his Mao-like standing, Xi is not all-powerful. The Chinese leader himself took the highly unusual step of publicly acknowledging that several recently ousted top-level political and military leaders including the flamboyant rising star "princeling" Bo Xilai and former internal security chief Zhou Yongkang were involved in not just corruption, but "political conspiracies" to "split the party". To admit this tells us a lot about the machinations at the uppermost reaches of Chinese politics. Xi's sweeping anti-corruption drive against the highest levels of the party and military means he is generating a lot of disgruntlement, fear and, no doubt, enemies. Many thousands of senior politicians, officials and military officers over China's own Gilded Age of the past 20 years have been involved in some form of corruption petty, middling or worse. That makes deciding who to target for corruption less an objective process than a political one. Intellectual elites at universities, think tanks, cultural institutions, and in the media are openly criticising the country's turn towards a harder form of authoritarianism which increasingly suppresses even modest attempts at contrarian or out-of-the-box expression. Among the broader population, there is also evidence of growing discontent. As the Chinese industrial and manufacturing sector slows, Chinese workers are pushing back. According to a recent study by the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin, incidents of labour unrest in China have nearly doubled every year since 2011, reaching more than 2700 in 2015. It is hard to comprehend why someone would kill an infant. It is often the job of criminologists to bring some understanding to seemingly incomprehensible acts. It is also our job to examine the social context of crimes, that we can deliver better ways to respond in order to prevent them from happening in the future. So, why do people kill infants? Not surprisingly, the research points to a complex picture of both social and individual factors: child vulnerability, cultural isolation, social stressors, drug misuse and mental illness. A father has admitted to causing the injuries that killed his baby daughter. Credit:Michele Mossop Infanticide is treated as a special category of homicide, one that takes into account the mitigating circumstances of the mother. In many jurisdictions in Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the Philippines and Turkey, there is a specific offence category of infanticide that acknowledges the context of the act and the uniquely stressful circumstance of motherhood. According to a 2013 review of infanticide by Lillian deBortoli, Australian cases had a number of common characteristics. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews made a lot of people across Australia smile on Wednesday. Standing alongside his Minister for Women and Prevention of Family Violence, Fiona Richardson, Rosie Batty and family violence sector advocates, he announced that his state government was committing more than half a billion dollars to fix Victoria's broken family violence system. And that's just an initial two-year promise. Both Andrews and Richardson have made it clear this is just the first step in a longer term process to tackle domestic and family violence and to change attitudes towards women. Less than a fortnight ago, the 2000-plus page, 227-recommendation report from Victoria's royal commission sent a message that if we are serious about addressing the scourge of intimate partner violence, governments must take huge, brave measures to fully fund the range of supports that women, families and communities so desperately need. Since the royal commission reported, advocates have beenholding their breath to see whether the Victorian government would financially match its strong words on ending the deaths of women and children and their acceptance of all 227 measures. Daniel's announcement of an immediate injection of $572 million to create new housing and crisis refuges for victim-survivors of violence as well as increasing the capacity of existing specialist services was met with astonishment and relief by advocates and survivors, not just in Victoria and not just in the family violence sector, but across the country in communities, corporates and childcare centres. Dedicated, affordable, long-term housing is a crucial part of the solution. This is the first time we have seen a government recognise the scale of investment required if we are going to address the violence and stop it from harming future generations. Ben Affleck is officially stepping behind the camera, Batman-style. Affleck will direct an upcoming solo Batman film, Warner Bros. chairman and chief executive Kevin Tsujihara confirmed during the studio's presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. Ben Affleck (left) as Bruce Wayne and Jeremy irons as Alfred in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Tsujihara's announcement at the convention of theatre owners followed his reaffirmation that Warner Bros.' DC Comics slate would include "at least 10 movies through 2020". This includes James Wan directing Aquaman and Affleck handling the "standalone" Batman project. No further details were given. Affleck did not mention the directing opportunity when he took the CinemaCon stage with Amy Adams to thank theatre exhibitors for the box-office success of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Has a song ever given us a better insight into a musician's mind than Kanye's West's, Famous? The track - vehicle for those detested lyrics about Taylor Swift plus humdingers such as: "For all the girls that got d--- from Kanye West / If you see 'em in the streets give 'em Kanye's best / Why? They mad they ain't famous" - hasn't had a video clip made yet. Perhaps partly because of that oversight, Famous, Kanye's latest single from his number one album The Life of Pablo has failed to crack the top 20 in any major market. So comedians Eric Wareheim (Adult Swim, Funny or Die) and Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation) thought they'd put that right, producing a wacky, satirical clip in which they moodily pout and grind for the camera in the streets and restaurants of Rome to the strains of Famous. The clip, which quickly went viral, also seeks to explain Kanye's spontaneous whoops and howls - as involuntary reactions to eating good Italian food and fine Italian wines. The NSW Police Integrity Commission has launched an investigation into allegations of misconduct by police officers across Sydney who have been accused of harassing an MP with racist and sexist posts on social media. The PIC's probe, codenamed Operation Colchester, was prompted by a Fairfax Media investigation on Sunday which revealed how police personnel at Sydney City Local Area Command, Kings Cross, Bankstown, Cabramatta and even within senior management had viciously rounded on Greens member for Newtown, Jenny Leong. Greens MP Jenny Leong. The trolling featured a string of Facebook posts that vilified her ethnic background, including one that referred to her father as a "swamp monkey". Ms Leong, who referred the matter to the PIC, said on Thursday: "We welcome the commitment from the Police Integrity Commission to investigate whether there has been any police misconduct. This is a very serious matter and we are pleased to see it is being responded to accordingly." Imagine throwing a party but none of the guests of honour showed up. Lord Mayor Graham Quirk will feel that burn next Tuesday, when a special council meeting to allow retired councillors the chance to give a valedictory speech, convened at his request, is held at City Hall. Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has organised a special meeting for retired councillors to give their valedictory speeches, but none are going to show up. Credit:Glenn Hunt Retired Labor councillors Milton Dick (Richlands), Kim Flesser (Northgate) and Helen Abrahams (The Gabba) told Fairfax Media they would not attend. Former Liberal National Party Pullenvale councillor Margaret de Wit will also not attend. She did not return Fairfax Media's calls. Lawyers for the so-called "Postcard Bandit" Brenden Abbott are preparing to argue their case to block his extradition to Western Australia. A review hearing will be held in the Queensland Supreme Court on Friday morning. Brenden Abbott's legal team will seek to revoke an extradition order to the WA. It follows a decision made on Tuesday by Brisbane Deputy Chief Magistrate Terry Gardiner to extradite Abbott back to WA where he could face another 16 years behind bars over a 1989 jailbreak. Abbott's legal team will seek to revoke the order and have the extradition application dismissed. If you can get past the corny dialogue and the cliched sound effects, Michael Moore's new documentary, Where To Invade Next, is seriously very good. Its central premise is that happy people create better societies and so it's in our best interest to cultivate happiness at home, at school and, of course, at work. He dedicates a substantial portion of the film to the latter. He makes the case, for example, that Italy's generous annual leave entitlements, Germany's employee representatives on corporate boards, and Iceland's quotas for gender equality, all result in happier employees. And you can really see it on their (carefully selected) beaming faces. These smiles, according to the filmmaker, result in a range of beneficial business outcomes, with improved productivity being the primary upshot. But how true are his claims? Happiness in the workplace can help the bottom line. Credit:Digital Vision From a moral perspective, it's no doubt important for bosses to prioritise employee happiness. Even if there are no quantitative gains that materialise, a happy workforce makes for a more pleasant work environment, a nicer customer service experience and, if you believe in it, good karma. Surely they're reasons enough. The reality, though, of doing business in a neo-liberal world is that it so frequently comes down to the bottom line. So let's have a look at what fresh research tells us about the business benefits of happy employees. The freshest of research comes from the most recent analysis on this topic, published in the International Journal of Human Resource Management in January. When Fairfax Media last spoke with Ben, he was working on a completely different app, called One. It was meant to aggregate users' Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts all into the one app for a combined social experience. The Flogg app in action. Credit:Flogg One "fizzled out" because its reliance on other social networks ultimately proved problematic, Ben says. But much of what he learnt trying to get One off the ground has come in handy the second time round. Meeting the right people has also helped. When visiting Los Angeles last year, a family friend put Ben in touch with film maker Chris Smith, who had connections in the tech industry and had been following Ben's achievements in the press. "We talked for a bit and basically he said, 'Come up with a project you really want to work on, drop out of high school, move to New York where I live, I'll connect you with VCs," Ben said. "I was like, 'Yeah, OK dude ...'" But a seed was planted. Ben's parents, Anna and Mark, have always been supportive of his extracurricular achievements but wanted him to finish high school and then, preferably, go to university before pursuing a risky business idea. Eventually he convinced them to let him drop out if he succeeded in raising money for his new app idea on his own. "I guess they said that thinking that investors probably wouldn't give money to a 15-year-old," he says. Just shy of $US1 million later Ben won't disclose the exact amount he had more than enough to get him started, and his parents kept their end of the bargain. Flogg's investors include John Maloney, Jonathan Teo and Justin Caldbeck of Binary Capital, which has tipped cash into some serious tech royalty including Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat; Greylock Partners' Josh Elman, who has invested in Meerkat; and Greycroft Partners' Paul Bricault, who helped fund Klout and 9GAG. "The last 15-year-old I invested in worked out pretty great," Mr Maloney says, referring to David Karp, who founded Tumblr as a teenager. "Regardless of his age, Ben is very talented and experienced." Mr Maloney, who was the president of Tumblr before it was sold to Yahoo for $US1.1 billion, suggested Michael Landsberger as Flogg's chief operating officer, and Mr Landsberger jumped at the chance. "Maloney pitched to me about this young kid with a bright idea obviously Ben was 15 at the time who didn't have experience working in business and managing people, so he recommended I join Ben," says Mr Landsberger. "He needed an old man to help out!" The pair now work out of Ben's Midtown Manhattan apartment or in nearby coffee shops or co-working spaces as its core team. Flogg also contracts several developers. Mr Landsberger says he knew Ben was a sure bet because he's "very bright" and "passionate". "He also has an interesting perspective on himself ... he knows what he doesn't know and he's very quick to come and ask for assistance when he needs it, but confident in the areas he does understand," he says. "There are plenty of older people who don't have that intelligence." But Ben will act just like any other 16-year-old from time to time, Mr Landsberger says. "He's got this awesome blend of both worlds wise beyond his years, but very much 16 when he should be." As if launching Flogg wasn't keeping Ben busy enough, a film crew has been shadowing him for the last few months for a forthcoming documentary called CEO@16. Ben hopes Flogg, which hit the App Store this week, will get "millions of downloads in the first couple of weeks, if not the first week" thanks to an "influencer marketing campaign". Marketing professional Andrew Antoniou says he had more opportunities to read at his leisure before he had children. Today, however, he consciously uses the 90 minutes he spends driving to and from work to consume books. That's not to suggest he's moving through gridlock with his eyes glued to a paperback in his lap, however. Antoniou has converted to audiobooks. It took him about five weeks to finish his most recent one, Outliers: The Story of Success, a non-fiction real-world account of the lives of exceptionally successful people, written by New Yorker writer and best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell. A woman listens with headphones to an audiobook during a visit to the Paris International Book Fair, held at the Porte de Versailles in Paris, France, in March. Credit:Francois Mori Antoniou, who listened to the book predominantly on an iPhone connected to his car speakers, likes to discover audiobooks through personalised recommendations on his app. "I listen to Malcolm Gladwell, so then it will throw up another book in a similar genre or say, 'People who listen to this also listen to this'," he says. "That's a very easy way to navigate books that are in your interest sphere." Melbourne Express: Friday, April 15, 2016 Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss The hero who saved a judge from being abducted at gunpoint by notorious standover man Mark "Chopper" Read has died aged 85. Ernie Trotter wrestled with Read for control of the shotgun he had smuggled into court to kidnap County Court Judge Bill Martin, on Australia Day, 1978. "Judge Martin bravely pushed the gun aside, stood and went through the bench door with [Read] in hot pursuit. At this point, the judge turned to face the assailant and gave him a hefty kick in the knackers," Trotter once told me. A bikie from an outlaw motorcycle gang says he was refused service at a pub in the WA's South West because his tattoos were deemed "illegal". Sefa Rotuma posted on Facebook on Tuesday, claiming the manager of the Eaton Tavern said she couldn't serve him because of his tattoos, one of which displays the words "Coffin Cheaters" on his arms. Sefa Rotuma's post on Facebook got tongues wagging. It's understood there was no specification about which of Mr Rotuma's tattoos was "illegal." Some of Mr Rotuma's Facebook language is too colourful to publish, but an edited version of his comments runs as follows: A Perth grandmother will spend her 90th birthday in hospital after nearly dying from complications following food poisoning on an Australian cruise liner. Shirley Faulkin was one of 13 West Australians to get salmonella on a Cruise and Maritime Voyages vessel and was so ill she has spent a month in hospital, Nine News reported. "Doctors said to me I had the choice of having an operation or I would die," she told the station. "And I had to work out what would be best for me." Fuel thieves set fire to two cars in North Beach early on Thursday morning in a botched effort to steal petrol according to police. Assistant State Controller Fred Andrews said firefighters called police to the scene in Sedgeford Road just before 5am, after they extinguished the fire. One of the cars torched at an oval in North Beach. Credit:Nine News Perth "It would appear at the time of the fire, unknown offenders have been trying to steal fuel from a silver Ford Laser that had been parked on the verge next to a black Honda Civic," Inspector Andrews said. "The fire has completely destroyed the Ford and extensively damaged the Honda." Police are preparing hundreds of new charges against a school traffic warden who is accused of raping, filming and photographing children over a six year period. Michael Cyril Hyde, who is from Perth, appeared briefly before Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday on video-link from Casuarina Prison. Michael Hyde, already charged with eight child sex offences, is facing hundreds of new charges. His defence lawyer told the court that she and the police had agreed to ask for a four week adjournment. The police prosecutor said the case officers were "processing literally hundreds of new charges". Artists and crew of a popular WA festival have pleaded with the promoter to "stand up and be the boss" after claims they have not been paid for more than 100 days. Disconnect Festival is a weekend-long event of music, art and comedy held at Fairbridge Village in Pinjarra, about an hour south of Perth. Father John Misty at the Disconnect Festival in December. Credit:Daniel Grant, Photographer News came to light after a feedback survey on the 2015 event on Facebook began to attract comments for organisers to pay artists and crew. The survey also forward-promoted the 2016 Disconnect event. Several people had complained that organising the second festival was unfair to those who had not been paid for the previous, inaugural event. The recovery agent behind the 60 Minutes-linked child snatch operation previously received a "donation" to his personal charity from an Australian media organisation that profiled his activities. The transaction involving the media outlet reveals how the agent could potentially access money provided by the media without it being seen as a direct payment. So far, no one has admitted to paying for last week's failed attempt to recover the children in Lebanon that led to the arrest of the agent, Adam Whittington, several of his associates, a 60 Minutes crew including high profile reporter Tara Brown, and Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner. Manila: US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said on Thursday that US troops and military equipment would be sent on regular rotations in the Philippines and that the two countries had started joint patrols in the South China Sea as China increasingly asserts its territorial claims. The initiatives are designed so that the United States does not increase its permanent footprint in its former colony, but they demonstrate that the two countries are increasing security cooperation amid joint concerns over China's actions in the region's disputed waterways. US and Philippine troops take part in the Balikatan annual joint military exercises. Credit:Getty Images Countries across the region have expressed concern over China's activities, but the broader American military presence was not meant to provoke conflict with the Chinese, Mr Carter said. The biggest library of bat sounds has been compiled by an international team of scientists, including Professor Gareth Jones of the University of Bristol. The reference call library will allow scientists to accurately and quickly identify and differentiate between bat species. The team, led by researchers from UCL, the University of Cambridge and the Zoological Society of London, conducted the study in Mexico, a country which harbours many of the Earths species and has one of the highest rates of species extinction and habitat loss. This is the first time automatic classification for bat calls has been attempted for a large variety of species. The researchers say the method can be used to monitor biodiversity change and complete information on bat species distributions in remote and understudied regions in Mexico. It could also be expanded for use in other areas across the Neotropics, which incorporates South and Central America, and the Caribbean Islands and Florida. Audio surveys are increasingly used to monitor biodiversity change, and bats are especially useful for this as they are an important indicator species, contributing significantly to ecosystems as pollinators, seed dispersers and suppressors of insect populations. By tracking the sounds they use to explore their surroundings, we can characterise the bat communities in different regions in the long term and gauge the impact of rapid environmental change, said lead author Dr Veronica Zamora-Gutierrez from UCL and the University of Cambridge. Before now it was tricky to do as many bat species have very similar calls and differ in how well they can be detected. We overcame this by using machine learning algorithms together with information about hierarchies to automatically identify different bat species. For the study, published today in Methods in Ecology and Evolution, the researchers ventured into some of the most dangerous areas of Mexico, primarily the northern deserts, to collect 4,685 calls from 1,378 individual bats from 59 different species. The team now plan on developing a citizen science monitoring programme for Mexican bats to collect further information on bat calls. They will also develop more robust tools for bat identification using the Bat Detective website which will allow them to refine the machine learning algorithms used by the software. Paper Acoustic identification of Mexican bats based on taxonomic and ecological constraints on call design by Veronica Zamora-Gutierrez, Celia Lopez-Gonzalez, M. Cristina MacSwiney Gonzalez, Brock Fenton, Gareth Jones, Elisabeth K.V. Kalko, Sebastian J. Puechmaille, Vassilios Stathopoulos and Kate E. Jones in Methods in Ecology and Evolution Three weeks out from the 2016 Budget, the former governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Bernie Fraser, has implored the federal government not to consider cutting company tax rates, dubbing such a move as the unkindest cut of all.With increases in GST and personal income tax cuts ruled out, the government has suggested cutting the current company tax rate of 30%, in the hope a reduction would allow businesses to invest more and thus grow the economy.Talking to ABC Radio, Fraser said, History shows it doesnt work that way.Fraser believes that a cut in company tax rates does not lead to more jobs and that such cuts would rule out other important spending programs, leading him to say, That would be the unkindest cut of all.Research from the University of Victoria has shown that a cut in company tax rates could see Australians worse off by an estimated $1,600 each, with significant consequences for those seeking home loans.Fraser is among scores of academics and community leaders who have put their names to an open letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, urging that the government not tamper with the current company tax rates in the forthcoming budget.We urge the prime minister and all political leaders not to cut taxes at this time - and certainly not for companies, reads the letter. Latest News NAB reveals six market megatrends for brokers More opportunities for investors, first home buyers Firstmac shifts up a gear on auto loans National sales manager appointed to pursue growing market Recently released figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) suggest that the sea or tree change phenomenon may be returning to popularity among Australians.The new migration data appears to show a resurgence in people relocating to coastal towns and lifestyle markets, where some of the biggest increases in migration were recorded over 2014/15.Responding to the figures, research analyst Cameron Kusher of CoreLogic RP Data Property Pulse said, Sea and tree change appear to be the long forgotten buzzwords for the migration of people to coastal and lifestyle markets. This trend was particularly strong before the financial crisis hit in 2008, however, since the end of this occurrence, we saw interstate migration slow and many lifestyle markets underperform when compared to the capital city housing markets.The latest migration statistics from the ABS are now suggesting that migration to coastal and lifestyle markets is increasing and is being led by families rather that retirees.The greatest level of internal migration (as opposed to those moving from overseas) was found to be in the Melbourne-West region, where 5,038 moved over 2014/15. Kusher puts this down to particularly affordable housing in the area.Other popular areas are the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast and the Richmond-Tweed area of New South Wales. Julian Packshaw, a mortgage broker based in the latter region, near Byron Bay, has noticed an increased number of clients making the move to the area from the big conurbations.City prices are getting so high, that what you can get for your money in regional Australia and Byron specifically is good value, he says. I definitely write business for people moving from Melbourne and Sydney, as well as locals.Any increase in migration towards regions like Richmond-Tweed could have a range of consequences for the property markets in those places, including increased demand and competition between buyers.Packshaw adds, This week Ive negotiated on two properties with clients who have paid over and above the asking price. There is definitely a demand for good real estate, and discerning buyers, if push comes to shove, will pay above the asking price if there is another buyer interested. Both of these properties came on the market on the Saturday and were both sold by the Tuesday.Kusher points out that given the ABS data is nearly a year old, it is likely this trend has progressed further during the current financial year. Latest News NAB reveals six market megatrends for brokers More opportunities for investors, first home buyers Firstmac shifts up a gear on auto loans National sales manager appointed to pursue growing market Apartment prices in inner-city Sydney fell by up to 19% in the final quarter of 2015, a report by real estate group JLL has discovered, drawing parallels with the similarly inauspicious apartment market in Melbournes CBD.JLLs report found that suburbs within 10 kilometres of the Sydney CBD, including Rosebery, Potts Point and the CBD itself, suffered significant price falls in the second half of 2015.Such a fall in prices can be regarded as proof of an excess of apartment supply in relation to demand. Prices for new and re-sold apartments in Rosebery in particular fell by up to 19%, with the CBD falling by 12% and Potts Point by 9%.Sydneys inner south is particularly vulnerable to oversupply in the wake of the $13 billion Green Square town centre, where 45,800 new units could be built by 2020, potentially leading to further oversupply.In addition, a slowing down in the sale of off-the-plan apartments is another sign of oversupply, with merely 50% of off-the-plan projects marketed in 2015 sold within a month significantly down on the 87.7% of 2014.However, Jeremy Fisher of Sydney-based 1Street Home Loans is not fazed by the gloomy outlook, so long as brokers remain cautious.He told Australian Broker, Any negative media is bound to scare Sydney buyers, especially if they are considering off-the-plan purchases. We have always taken a cautious approach with any clients purchasing off-the-plan, to ensure they were aware of the potential risks of such a purchase, which is predominantly a shortfall in the valuation or potential lender policy changes at the time of formal approval.As an additional safeguard, we ensure our clients are financially capable of covering any shortfall up to 20% of the purchase price, which up till now has not been required.I am not expecting a significant downturn in enquiry for off-the-plan purchases. The only change could be the value of the property.Alarm bells similarly went off in Melbourne in March when sales data showed that some apartments in the CBD are being sold off at up to 30% less than their off-the-plan purchase price. Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint , from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.) Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives . You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast. Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category. "How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop. Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com , Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest. Climate Change is Worse Than You Thought Posted April 13, 2016 Excerpt of a talk by climate scientist Dr. James Hansen, delivered at Yale University on April 7 recorded and produced by Melinda Tuhus Former NASA climate scientist James Hansen is one of the world's leading experts on climate change. He testified before Congress back in 1988 that global warming was already occurring due to the burning of fossil fuels, becoming one of the first scientists to go on record. He now works at Columbia University's Earth Institute, and in late March published an important paper in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics titled, "Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms: evidence from Paleoclimate Data, Climate Modeling, and Modern Observations that 2C Global Warming Could be Dangerous." The paper posits that sea level rise is on track to occur faster and at higher levels than more conservative estimates, like that of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, have predicted. An agreement signed by 195 countries in Paris last year seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but it's not remotely ambitious enough to limit global warming to the degree Hansen regards as necessary. Hansen is party to a lawsuit against the federal government filed by the group, Our Children's Trust, for not protecting young people and future generations from the ravages of climate change. On April 8, a judge ruled in favor of the 21 youthful plaintiffs, which moves their lawsuit one step closer to a trial. Hansen visited Yale University April 6 through the 8 as the Yale Climate Change and Health Initiative's "Climate Change Leader in Residence." What follows are excerpts from his April 7 talk at Yale, where Hansen discussed his new study. He uses the term "paleoclimate" to refer to studies of the climate dating back hundreds of thousands of years. The term "forcing" refers to anything that forces the climate system to go out of equilibrium, resulting either in an increase in temperature, or a decrease, which is called a "negative forcing." JAMES HANSEN: One of the other issues that I've wanted to raise and have tried to raise several years ago, but have not gotten any response from the [scientific] community, so I'll raise it again. And I raise it in this paper, I think, more clearly. And that is that I think the climate response function of climate models is too lethargic compared to the real world. You know, the paleoclimate evidence tells us that when ice sheets disintegrate they can disintegrate quite rapidly and give you several meters of sea level rise in a century, even though the forcings that caused those p changes were much weaker than the human-made forcing. I argue that when the ice sheets disintegrate it's going to be a very non-linear process, and is probably better characterized by a doubling time than it is by a more linear assumption. But we don't know what the characteristic time would be, so I just say let's assume that there's up to five meters of sea level rise; there's ice equivalent to that, which is vulnerable to contact with the ocean, because the threat of rapid sea level rise is caused by the fact that parts of the ice sheets are in contact with the ocean, and that ocean water can cause relatively rapid melting of ice shelves, and once ice shelves are melted then the ice sheets can discharge icebergs to the ocean much more rapidly. And there's at least five meters of sea level rise in the West Antarctic, plus parts of East Antarctica and parts of Greenland, that is vulnerable to rapid change. So it depends on what we do with our fuel use. If we stay on business as usual, and right now, as long as fossil fuels are allowed to be the cheapest energy, then regardless of these statements, that were made in Paris in December, those are practically worthless. If we stay on that path, I think we would get several meters of sea level rise this century. We say 50 to 150 years. But we have to keep our eye on Greenland and Antarctica the next several years and see how that rate continues to change. But, the question is, have we passed a point at which it's inevitable that we're going to lose the West Antarctic ice sheet? I'm not sure about that, but this amplifying feedback in the southern ocean has to make one very concerned. We have to restore the planet's energy balance. As long as there's more energy coming in than going out, then ice is going to keep melting, and to restore the energy balance requires that we get CO2 to go down. And that's very hard, but that's what we're asking in the lawsuit that we filed against the federal government or Our Children's Trust has filed against it. We're asking the government to give a plan for how they're going to reduce emissions at a rate that would be consistent with restoring the planet's energy balance in a century. And if we did that I think we could minimize sea level rise. We're not going to avoid it altogether. BETWEEN THE LINES: An audience member asked what is the role of methane in Dr. Hansen's climate modeling. Natural or fracked gas is composed mostly of methane, which creates 86 times more global warming, unit for unit, than CO2 in the first 20 years after release. JAMES HANSEN: Methane is actually quite important. The human-made methane increase also causes tropospheric ozone to increase and stratospheric water vapor to increase. So when you include those indirect effects of methane, the forcing is about 7/10 of a watt of meter squared, which is at least as large as the planet's energy balance. So if we would just stop the human-made emissions of methane, we could restore the planet's energy planets, if CO2 stayed the same. The reason you could restore it is that the methane lifetime is only about 10 or 12 years, so it would go back to its pre-industrial level. So it's a big factor; it has to be part of the plan for how we're going to restore the planet's energy balance. But unless we get CO2 under control, that methane knob is just not powerful enough, so I don't emphasize it. We've got to make policy makers think of the major knob, and that's the CO2 knob. For more information, download James Hansen's paper "Ice melt, sea level rise and superstorms: evidence from paleoclimate data, climate modeling, and modern observations that 2 degrees C global warming could be dangerous" at www.atmos-chem-phys.net/16/3761/2016/acp-16-3761-2016.pdf. Related Links: latest news October 3, 2022 Dee Gambit Hundreds if not thousands of new and returning TV shows and movies are released every month your options of what to watch are endless. Variety, they say is ... Campus News African film expert to discuss work of father of African cinema The work of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, dubbed "the father of African cinema" by The Los Angeles Times, will be the topic of a talk at UB by Francoise Pfaff, a Fulbright scholar and pioneer of African-American film studies. By BERT GAMBINI Sembenes success opened doors and paved the way for generations of independent cineastes from Africa and the Black Diaspora. Francoise Pfaff, a Fulbright scholar and pioneer of African-American film studies, will visit UB April 19 to discuss the life and career of Ousmane Sembene (1932-2007), the writer and film director who The Los Angeles Times called the father of African cinema. Her talk, Maids, Wives and Women Warriors: Gender relations in the works of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, will take place at 2 p.m. in 107 Capen Hall, North Campus. It is free and open to the public. A reception will immediately follow at 4:30 p.m. The lecture will include clips and film stills from Sembenes most influential works. Sembene uses forceful portrayals of African women to challenge patriarchy at both the domestic and national levels, says Pfaff. He stresses the resourcefulness and resilience of African women, as well as their activism as agents for social change. Pfaff, a professor emerita at Howard University, is the author of three books on African cinema and the recipient of several awards for her achievements as a teacher, translator, lecturer and writer. Sembenes success opened doors and paved the way for generations of independent cineastes from Africa and the Black Diaspora, she says. Today, in fact, the Nigerian film industry, often referred to as Nollywood, is the second-largest film industry by volume in the world ahead of Hollywood and behind Bollywood, according to Fortune Magazine. Pfaff met Sembene in the late 1970s when he visited Howard University. She soon started to incorporate his novels and films into her courses and later received a grant to conduct research in Senegal. Her interviews there with Sembene resulted in the book The Cinema of Ousmane Sembene: A Pioneer of African Cinema (1984), the first about an African filmmaker written in English. I enjoy using his didactic approach to film as a pedagogical tool and my students consistently develop a more realistic perception of the continent, says Pfaff. Sembene began his career as a novelist, but turned to cinema not long after writing his 1960 masterpiece, Gods Bits of Wood. Already established as one of Africas greatest writers, Sembenes film work sprang from Senegals independence era. His filmography, beginning in 1963, touches five decades and has been noted for an authenticity that helped dismantle Western screen portrayals of Africans. African cinema has presented multifaceted views by Africans, on Africa that are in sharp contrast to stereotypical, monolithic, otherizing Hollywood and European depictions, says Pfaff. I create to talk to my people, my country, Sembene told Londons Guardian newspaper in 2005. The priority is that my people can understand me. Africa needs to see its own reflection. A society progresses by asking questions of itself, so I want to be an artist who questions his people. Prior to 1960, French colonial authorities prohibited Africans from making their own movies. Sembenes entry into the medium was a personal artistic shift that took him from page to screen while simultaneously creating the African film industry. He was committed to social justice, says Lillian S. Williams, associate professor in UBs Department of Transnational Studies, who established the endowed lectureship, now in its second year, in the former Department of African American Studies, now a program within the Department of Transnational Studies. I think the issues that Sembene addresses are issues that were facing now when we look at Africa and other parts of the world. It was Pfaffs scholarship that helped place African film in context and brought the work of noted filmmakers, including Sembene, into a wider public view, according to Williams, who was a Howard faculty member with Pfaff in the mid-1980s before coming to UB. Sembenes films help us to better understand a culture, Williams says. Its a body of work that Pfaff says uses a blend of art and politics. Rather than purvey Utopian dreams about the continent, his works project cinema as a night school to present a wide range of real cultural, political and economic issues that have affected his country and other African nations, she says. Sembene is also the subject of recent film work. The documentary Sembene!, co-directed by Samba Gadjigo and Jason Silverman, premiered last year at the Sundance Film Festival and also played at the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival. 5 changes to you, your seafood and the Shore from warming Atlantic The warming Atlantic is beginning to cause a unique set of changes for fishermen, albeit subtly. They have to adjust to catch new kinds of sea life. THE DEVIL'S CHESSBOARD Allen Dulles, the CIA and the Rise of America's Secret Government David Talbot HarperCollins 686 pages; Rs 899 A biography of Allen Dulles 47 years after his death would have struggled for context but for the US presidential primaries. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump's swashbuckling assertions on US intervention in West Asia, a crude amplification of the "neocon" agenda, may dismay even conservative right wingers. But this substantial book on the Central Intelligence Agency's longest serving director (1953-1961) shows why braggadocio-as-foreign-policy retains a certain popularity in America 26 years after the Cold War. The Devil's Chessboard aims to show how Dulles, in partnership with his brother John Foster, Secretary of State under President Eisenhower, shaped and projected America's global power in a way that found ready successors in Lyndon B Johnson, Ronald Reagan and George W Bush and the disasters and scandals of Vietnam, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. The book covers mostly familiar ground but still makes for a compelling read. Mr Talbot, a founder and former editor-in -chief of Salon, tells the story with light-handed skill that masks a prodigious amount of research. He scours recently discovered US documents and personal journals (including of Dulles' wife and mistress), interviews intelligence sources across the Atlantic and children of CIA officials (including Dulles' daughter) to build a rivetting portrait of one of the most unfathomable men in American public life. The Dulles brothers' role in Iran, where they engineered the overthrow of the popularly elected Mohammad Mossadegh to reinstate the egregious Shah Reza Pahlavi, and Guatemala, where they drove out Jacobo Arbenz, and the U2 scandal, which embarrassed Eisenhower on the eve of peace talks with the Soviet Union, are well documented here as elsewhere. Mr Talbot, however, does well to remind us of the tragic fate of Patrice Lumumba and the Congo, also a Dulles operation, days before the Kennedy administration took charge. The shrill anti-Communism of the Joseph McCarthy era legitimated all these interventions but the real purposes were linked - then as now - inexorably with American business. For the Dulles brothers, those interests were personal, in Sullivan and Cromwell, the law firm in which both had been partners and whose clients these coups served (the similarity with the Dick Cheney-Haliburton-Iraqi invasion link is hard to miss). Big Oil and the Iranian debacle, United Fruit Company and the Guatemalan coup, these are well remembered, but Mr Talbot has also written in fascinating detail about the brothers' less-known wartime activities. John, the older, was still a partner in Sullivan and Cromwell, and Allen was an officer with the Office of Strategic Services, the CIA's predecessor, in Switzerland, by then well established as the haven for financing the Nazi war machine. The chapter titled "The Double Agent" traces how the brothers leveraged the secrecy of the Swiss banking system to parley massive US investments in the firm's German clients like IG Farben and Krupp, integral cogs in Hitler's military-industrial complex. Mr Talbot also documents Dulles' post-war role in rescuing several of the Nazi regime's most notorious officials - among them SS General Karl Wolff, Heinrich Himmler's chief of staff and commander of Nazi security forces in Italy, his deputy Eugen Dollman and Reinhard Gehlen, Hiltler's intelligence chief on the Eastern Front. He has probably exaggerated Dulles' influence in the infamous "Ratline" policy that prompted the Allies to soften towards "useful Nazis" in their new rivalry against the Soviet Union. But he does create a persuasive picture of the rank amorality, developed in the first flush of victory, that informed the American post-war political establishment, which threw up politicians like McCarthy and Richard Nixon and provided ample scope for men of Dulles' sinister talents. Dulles' leadership of the CIA created a twisted legacy in which thought experiments - to which he even subjected his son who suffered the effects of a head wound in the Korean War - and covert operations were given official sanction. Establishing this is one part of Mr Talbot's intention in writing this book. The Devil's Chessboard takes the Dulles story a step further to raise the old suspicion that he was connected with the plot to assassinate John F Kennedy, the president who dismissed him after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Sacked and discredited after that ill-fated operation to oust Fidel Castro, Dulles nursed deep grievances against the young president. His refusal to provide air cover for Dulles' operation was the immediate reason for this disgruntlement, but the old spy, who retained links with CIA dissidents and old Cuba hands after he stepped down, was also dismayed by Kennedy's softer foreign policy stance. His membership of the famous Warren Commission investigation into Kennedy's assassination was odd enough but the ludicrous conclusion of a lone, deranged gun man was a patent cover-up, acknowledged even then. Eventually, writes Mr Talbot, even Dulles' loyal mistress and long-time confidante believes he is implicated in the whitewash. Though the book is kinder to Kennedy than warranted, Mr Talbot raises questions and hypotheses that point the needle of suspicion inexorably in Dulles' direction, clarifying issues that were raised even then (hinted at in Oliver Stone's gripping Kevin Costner-starrer JKF ). The careful investigation provides convincing evidence but stops short of the expose we're promised. With many key documents destroyed or yet to be declassified, we'll probably never know. But as a portrait of power without accountability, this biography of Allen Dulles is well-timed in the current political milieu. Suzuki is all set to launch the new rear disc brake equipped Gixxer in India at the first ever Gixxer Day on Friday. The new Suzuki Gixxer with a rear disc brake, is expected to be priced around Rs. 2,500 more than the rear drum brake trim. The motorcycle will continue to make 14.8PS/14Nm from its 155cc carburetted heart, and will also get new graphics. The Suzuki Gixxer Day is the company's way of bringing motorcycle owners together, where they can interact with one another, meet dealers, and discuss any issues with the service personnel. Gixxer Day will be celebrated in nine cities to enable owners to head to a convenient location. Pumping up the festivities for the Suzuki Gixxer Day, Red Bull athlete and stunt rider Aras Gibieza will tour the country, showcasing his gravity and physics defying skills. The tour spans an entire month, during which the 26-year old will perform in nine cities. The two-time European Stunt Riding Champion has already toured the country twice prior, and plans to wow the audience once more starting Friday in Delhi, with the final act in Pune on the May 15. Source : BS Motoring Previewed at the Delhi Auto Expo back in February this year, the Innova Crysta is powered by a 2.0-litre i-VVT petrol motor that churns out 137BHP and 183Nm and an all-new 2.4-litre diesel engine that produces 147BHP and 359Nm which is also shared with the new Toyota Fortuner. The engines will be offered with either a 5-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic gearbox across all variants. On the safety front, ABS, EBD and 3 airbags, EBD, Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) and Hill Start Assist is standard across all variants. The new MPV is longer, wider and taller than the one it will replace. Up front, the nose borrows styling cues from more recent models like the Corolla Altis and Camry. The big hexagonal grille is wider and taller, and extends all the way to the base of the nose. The headlamps are double-barrel projector units with integrated LED daytime-running lamps. The automatic variant will come with a 2.8-litre diesel engine whose power rating has not yet been specified. The Innova finally gets a six-speed automatic gearbox with the Crysta, which, according to reports, works great with the 2.8-litre turbo-diesel, exhibiting a quick-shifting, responsive character. The petrol engine for the Innova Crysta will be sourced from Toyota's global operations. However, there are rumours that the company might manufacture the engine in India as well. Source : BS Motoring A day after Star India announced a rejig in its corporate structure, Sudhanshu Vats-led media and entertainment company Viacom18, announced the appointment of Narayan Ranjan to a new and strategic role of chief of staff Viacom18. Ranjan was earlier the CFO of the company. In his new role, he would be responsible for mergers and acquisition, internal audit, internal control as well as the admin function while continuing work on improving group level governance. Ranjans previous post will now be occupied by Soumen Ray, who has been promoted to chief financial officer of the company. Ray joined the company as deputy CFO in 2013. Both the managerial changes have been made with effect from April 15, 2016. Commenting on the management restructuring, Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18, said, With a 30X growth in topline since inception, we are one of Indias fastest growing M&E . As we gear up for a more streamlined growth phase, it is imperative to align our corporate functions so that we can leverage both the experience and the expertise that our leaders possess. Narayan Ranjan, one of our more experienced and senior leaders, will now take on a more strategically aligned role that streamlines our business and administrative processes across the ever-growing brands of Viacom18. Soumen Ray, who as the Deputy CFO, has been pivotal in streamlining the networks financial performance, will now take over as the chief financial officer. Ranjan had joined Viacom18 twelve years back to head the finance function after having successfully managed critical roles within the broadcast industry and outside and was part of the team that forged this JV back in 2007. He has been a recipient of numerous awards including the CFO100 awards in 2016 and 2015; winner of 100 Most Influential CFOs in India award in 2015 and the Best Finance Team of the Year award in 2015 by Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. With close to 2 decades of experience in financial planning, Soumen Ray had joined Viacom18 three years ago after successful stints at HUL, ITC and Eveready Industries. A chartered accountant by qualification, Ray has played a pivotal role in the networks meteoric growth, over the last few years. has reshuffled some of its senior managerial staff in the cigarettes, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), distribution and personal care divisions. Sandeep Kaul, who led the personal care division as its chief executive took charge from Hemant Malik as CE of the tobacco division. The latter is to lead FMCG marketing and distribution. The personal care division is now being led by Sameer Satpathy, while the president of the FMCG vertical, B Sumant, has been inducted in the corporate management committee. These come at a time when the term of the company's chairman, Y C Deveshwar, ends next year. In 2011, the cigarettes to FMCG major had announced an extension of his term for another five years effective 2012, making him the longest serving in that post. A mechanical engineer from Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, and MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Kaul joined in the marketing function of the tobacco division in 1990. Between 1990 and 1999, he handled a variety of assignments in both sales and brand management. Between 1999 and 2001, he headed the market research group and became associated with ITCs new FMCG initiatives in 2001. He thereafter focused on the personal care business and took over as its chief executive in 2007. Satpathy, the new recruit in senior management, joined the company last December as chief operating officer of the personal care products business. While he began his career with Berger Paints in 1995, he moved over to Marico in 2002, having more than two decades of experience in marketing, innovation, sales & operations, building brands and market leadership, across key categories such as haircare, skincare, foods, paints and fabric care. Before joining ITC, he was leading the marketing function globally for Marico. Prior to his appointment as the divisional chief executive of ITC's FMCG trade marketing and distribution business, Malik was the divisional chief executive of the India tobacco division. Before that, he was chief operating officer of the cigarette brands and supply chain of the same division. He joined in 1989 after completing an MBA from IIM, Kolkata, and worked in the tobacco, lifestyle retailing and foods divisions. With back on shelves, Swiss FMCG major Nestle said Thursday its India business is "recovering faster than anticipated" although the performance will continue to impact the company's showing in Asia, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa (AOA) zone. "India is recovering faster than anticipated, although it still weighed on the Zone's overall performance," Nestle SA said in its first quarter results statement. India comes under the Asia, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa (AOA) for the company. It further said: "In India, the noodles business gained back market share but the business results were still affected by the unfavourable comparatives." Nestle India had relaunched the instant noodles in November last year after it went off the market for five months after a ban by central food safety regulator FSSAI over alleged presence of lead beyond permissible limits. The company had challenged the ban in Bombay High Court, which overturned the ban while ordering fresh test in accredited labs. In the latest development, the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) had cleared the Maggi instant noodles. Nestle reported sales of 20,934 million Swiss Franc in the first quarter of 2016 as against 20,918 million Swiss Franc in the same period last year. Commenting on the results, Nestle CEO Paul Bulcke said: "As anticipated, the first quarter continued the positive momentum in real internal growth, with softer pricing. We gained market share in the majority of our categories and businesses." "The strongest performances were in Europe, in South East Asia and in Africa as well as for Nescafe, Nespresso and petcare," he said. In AOA zone, Nestle had a sales of 3,554 million Swiss Franc in January-March quarter of 2016. India is an important market in the AOA zone, which also includes China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines. While in China, Nestle got good contributions from Nescafe soluble and ready-to-drink coffee, confectionery and culinary. South East Asia delivered high single-digit growth and markets as Vietnam and Indonesia performed well. Japan and Oceania had a solid start to the year with a strong performance of Nescafe in Japan, it added. India today announced that they are exiting from their operating contract for the Courtyard By Marriott Pune city centre hotel from June 10, 2016. In a statement India said that the hotel chain and Neo Capricorn Plaza today announced that they have mutually agreed to terminate the operating contract for the Courtyard By Marriott Pune City Centre hotel. Marriott has been operated by Marriott since July 2011. In a joint press statement the said, and Neo Capricorn would like to assure their customers and Marriott Rewards members that the transition will be smooth and seamless with all commitments, in terms of bookings until the last day of operation, being honored. The two have amicably decided to part ways and the decision has no bearing on existing or future business ventures between Neo Capricorn and Marriott Hotels. Both wish the other the best in all future endeavors. Neo Capricorn Plaza Private is owned by Shiv Deepak Raheja, Aditya Deepak Raheja, Deepak Bhagwandas Raheja. Customers who booked the Baleno, Maruti Suzukis latest premium hatchback, may have to wait for up to six months for delivery. The company is struggling to meet demand and production can only be increased at the cost of other models. The countrys biggest car manufacturer is facing production constraints with the Baleno forcing it to juggle output between domestic and export markets. The Baleno is among the top selling cars with unserviced bookings of 55,000 units and sales of 44,000 units in just six months. India (MSIL) started exporting the hatchback in January to Europe and Japan, leading to lower supply in domestic market, a consistent fall since December. This is even as the exports have more than trebled in the past three months to close at 5,600 in March from 1,800 in January, according to MSIL. The company is running its plants in Haryana at near-full capacity, with incremental volumes coming only through improvisations such as debottlenecking. Increasing the Balenos production beyond this will mean sacrificing volumes of other models. We expect to hit a capacity roadblock this year despite efforts at debottlenecking its stated manufacturing capacity of 1.55 million units. The Gujarat plant is expected to add 0.25 million units of capacity only next year, said a Religare report. MSIL has said the Baleno production expansion is going as planned but demand continues to outstrip supply. In addition, sources say, there could be issues in ramping up component supplies from the vendors. R C Bhargava, chairman, MSIL said, When there is a surge in demand of a particular product, we have to make a judgment on what the long-term demand is going to be and what is the optimum mix. Capacity has to be increased, but by how much? While initial target was to increase total production to 150,000 units 100,000 for the domestic market and the rest for exports Bhargava said, the management is confident of increasing production to beyond 160,000 units this year. MSIL will not take export orders beyond 50,000 units this year. It is obligation of the company to meet the demand. We have asked the management to tell us if they need any help. We are ready to provide it but it is important that a message goes out that Maruti is making the best effort possible to best serve the customer, added Bhargava. However, rivals could be cashing in on Balenos supply bottleneck. Hyundai has been able to grow its volumes and maintain its market share in the premium hatchback segment with i20, which is available with a waiting of 15-20 days. Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice-president (sales and marketing) Hyundai Motor India said, The segment size of the premium hatchback has not grown. In that scenario, we were able to grow in volumes and held on to our market share of 35 per cent. Balenos successor, Vitara Brezza, which was launched last month, is facing a similar situation. Micromax, one of India's leading mobile handset makers, today said it was expecting a 25 per cent growth in revenues to touch Rs 15,000 crore mark in the current year. The company inaugurated a new mobile manufacturing plant, it's second facility, on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The plant was set up at an investment of Rs 100 crore. Speaking on this occasion, Rajesh Agarwal, co-founder and chairman of said that the company would also pursue the export markets besides seeking to expand in the domestic market in the next 1-2 years. The company, which is currently the third largest mobile handset brand in Russia, is looking to expand its global footprint covering other CIS countries and the countries in Africa in the coming days, according to Agarwal. Besides this, aims to increase its market share in India to 20 per cent from the present 14 per cent level by next year, he added. For all this future expansion, the company plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore on the manufacturing, R&D and product development areas over the next 5-6 years. With an existing manufacturing capacity of 2.5 million handsets a month, the company was able to achieve a total revenue of Rs 12,000 crore for the full year in 2015-16, and in the current year the same is expected to reach Rs 15,000 crore. Hyderabad facility was built with a capacity to produce 1 million handsets per month. The company plans to reach the full production capacity level at this facility by the end of this calendar year from half a million handsets per month in the initial months. The third plant, proposed to be set up in Rajasthan with a similar 1 million handsets per month capacity, will be ready in another 6-7 months time, Agarwal said. also entered in TV sets manufacturing with a belief that it is better placed in producing the new generation smart TVs. Telangana IT minister K T Rama Rao inaugurated the Micromax plant, which will also house the company's R&D initiatives in future. The facility currently employs 700 people and will increase the number to 1,000 employees in the next two months, boosting employment opportunities in the state, the minister said. Datsun, the two-year-old brand from Japanese car maker Nissan, now contributes to half the companys volumes in India. Overall, Nissans sales have been under pressure for months, even as the market continues to expand. After unveiling Datsuns third product, the Redi GO, Vincent Cobee, global head of Datsun at Nissan headquarters, tells Ajay Modi the company will focus on improving presence and profitability. What segment of the Indian car market interests Datsun? It is dynamic. Datsun is made to address the mobility needs of the emerging middle class. When we began in 2013, we launched a compact hatchback. You will see us expanding in a structured way, to meet the evolving tastes of Indian customers. Then, we came up with GO Plus, a larger and more spacious car, and now the Redi GO for younger India. You can expect crossovers and SUVs. We are not so convinced about sedans. At what price points would you want to be present? We are present in the Rs 3.5-4.7 lakh range. The Redi GO will start around Rs 2.5 lakh. The Indian customer is price-sensitive but also conscious of the value proposition. We realise there is a high level of analysis and involvement in purchase. People opt for higher specifications at even lower price points. You see Datsuns acceptability as a challenge in the Indian market, where older players continue to dominate? This is an amazing anomaly. You have a very fast growing market, where the dominant player grows share. There is something particular about the decision making process of buyers here. It is influenced by word of mouth from friends and family. I dont expect the dominance to continue. Acceptability is not our problem. My challenge is presence and awareness. We have taken lot of efforts to improve on these fronts. We are improving proximity by opening dealerships and focusing on improving the service network and better communication through different ways. What will be the companys India-specific strategy? India is one of the most focused growth markets for Nissan. For Datsun, it is very close to being our birthplace. This should become our largest market. India has an extremely demanding customer, a very capable engineering base and very capable supplier base. Put that together and we want India to become our centre of excellence. If you can be competitive in India, you can be competitive in Africa, the Gulf, Asean and maybe even in Latin America. The taxi segment uses a lot of your cars. Is it the way you want to be positioned? Well, that is the cab hailing segment. We have a very productive and win-win collaboration with Ola. We see Ola as one of the great examples of Indian capabilities and innovation. This company is beating Uber in the Indian market. We were honoured when they approached us for a deal. We believe we can offer durable and competitive vehicles for them. It offers us a good way to be visible and demonstrate our capabilities. We see this as one of the numerous facets of the Datsun presence in India. Is ensuring profitability of dealers a challenge, as volumes are low? We have a very close and continuous discussion with dealers. They are our face to the customers. Dealer revenue is made on new cars and service. When most cars are new, you do not make money on service. We need to go over that period. The starting period is always a challenge for a new brand in India. We will continuously launch products and bring our dealers to the right level of profitability. Is making money in the Indian market possible as cars are being launched at aggressive prices? The dominant player in India makes more money here than anywhere else in the world. So, it is possible. We need to understand that profitability is the result of a job well done. It is not the starting point. We have competitive offerings. If our products are seen as reliable by customers and volume goes up, we will make money. The Securities Appellate Tribunal had on Wednesday asked Sebi to re-investigate whether Independent Media Trust, related to RIL, acquired control over from Raghav Bahl even before inking the share purchase pact in 2014. The tribunal gave the direction to Sebi while deciding on an appeal which alleged that the open offer price fixed by the acquirers of was much less. In February 2012, an investment agreement was entered into between Independent Media Trust of which Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary and six holding of Raghav Bahl and the Bahl Group. Under the pact, Independent Media Trust was to invest in the six holding by subscribing to Zero Coupon, Optionally and fully Convertible Debentures (ZOCD). Meanwhile, the Share Purchase Agreement between the parties was inked in May 2014. "Perusal of various clauses contained in the ZOCD agreement... led us to believe, prima facie, that by executing ZOCD agreement on February 27, 2012 the Bahl group sought to divest its control over the six holding and consequently sought to divest control over target company and TV18 without receiving any consideration which is rather strange and unusual to say the least," the tribunal said. Two shareholders of Victor Fernandes and Sangeeta Fernandes had filed the appeal against Sebi, Independent Media Trust, Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings, Reliance Industries, JM Financial Institutional Securities and Network 18. In the present case, the tribunal said that divesting the control over the target company prima facie falls within the meaning of the word 'control' as defined under Sebi's Takeover Regulations. According to SAT, Sebi has failed to give reasons as to why various clauses contained in the ZOCD agreement do not amount to divesting control over the target company to Independent Media Trust. The tribunal said that in public interest it was directing Sebi to "re-investigate the question as to whether the respondent No 2 (Independent Media Trust) in the guise of executing ZOCD agreement, indirectly acquired control over the target company without following the procedure prescribed under the Takeover Regulations, 2011". In case, it is found so, the tribunal said appropriate action should be taken against the concerned person or persons for violating takeover norms "so that such violations are not committed again". In July 2014, Reliance Industries had announced taking control of Network 18 and its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast Ltd. SAT said the appellants' argument that Sebi should have approved the open offer price at Rs 5,68,430.32 per share of Network 18 instead of Rs 41.04 apiece is without any merit. As per the share purchase agreement, purchase of 60,000 shares of the six holding companies by Independent Media Trust constituted acquisition of 100% shares of the six entities. Since that amounted to Independent Media Trust indirectly acquiring shares having voting rights in excess of 25% in Network 18, the open offer was triggered. If the gross amount paid under the share purchase agreement dated May 29, 2014 for acquisition of shares of the six holding companies and RB Holdings Pvt Ltd is segregated, then Independent Media Trust has paid less than Rs 41.04 per share of Network 18. "Therefore, in the facts of present case, decision of Sebi in approving the open offer price at Rs 41.04 per share, by taking into consideration the amount invested under the ZOCD agreement cannot be faulted," the order said. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is planning to outsource the Sahara property auction job, which could be worth at least Rs 40,000 crore. The regulator is in talks with SBICAP Trustee Co, a wholly-owned subsidiary of investment bank SBI Capital Markets, and UTI Infrastructure Technology and Services, for potential sale of 87 properties, part of the long effort to recover money from the Sahara group. The move comes after the Supreme Court (SC) allowed Sebi to sell Sahara group properties for generating the bail money required for the release from jail of the latter's chief, Subrata Roy. The hearing on Sebis application for appointing a receiver to auction Saharas properties is scheduled for April 27. The claims made by Sahara on the properties and the respective title deeds can be only verified when we appoint some third party for verification, a Sebi source told the Business Standard. It is unlikely that the regulator would float a tender to manage the task. The properties cannot be managed internally. The court has suggested an external agency be appointed for this and the regulator would probably suggest some outside agencies to the court, said the person cited above. The exercise could involve 87 properties in 71 cities, covering 7,161 acres, of which 47 title deeds seem clear, from the details given by Sahara before the SC in 2013. The 71 locations have some huge properties. These includes Pomgaon and Kumheri villages near its Aamby Valley project in Pune district. The other big chunks are in Faridabad, Noida, Muzzafarnagar and Haridwar. These together could account for Rs 12,000 crore. Details given to Sebi reflect that the properties are largely in agricultural or vacant lands. Title deeds are one issue. The outside agencies need to examine the documents of all the properties figured and at the status of the said lands. This could take several months, said a property consultant, who did not wish to be named. The entire property sale is likely to generate a huge cash pile for the government, as the regulator has received investor refund claims worth only Rs 540 crore so far. Sebis recent all-India advertisement through 144 publications has clearly said this is the last chance for investors to register their claims for a refund. Two Sahara group entities had raised nearly Rs 24,000 crore through optionally fully convertible debentures from 30 million investors. The issue ran into controversy, leading the Supreme Court to order the refund of the entire money to investors, with 15 per cent yearly interest. MARKET REGULATORS PLAN SBI CAPS, UTI INFRA 47 PROPERTIES TITLE DEED BIGGER PROPERTIES HEARING A RECEIVER Outsource Sahara property auction jobCan be appointed to auction Sahara's massive real estateshave clear title deeds, claims Sahara, of the total 87Is a legal document constituting evidence of a right, especially to ownership of propertyCould be liquidated firstOn Sebi's plea for appointing a receiver is scheduled for April 27 in SCIs a person or entity chosen by a court to be in charge of a company that is bankrupt The price of jumped 10% in the past month, on an upsurge in demand from steel mills following the government's protectionist measure to protect the interest of domestic producers. Trading currently at Rs 12,500 a tonne, the steel making raw material has seen a sharp uptick in restocking from steel producers, amid expectation of a seasonal demand rise from infrastructure and housing activities. The sudden jump in prices indicates a proportionate increase in prices of steel products and, thereby, a revival in the fortunes of steel mills. These have had a setback in the past two years, following a sharp increase in import from China, Japan and South Korea. The government has moved to curb this. "The prices of competing raw material i.e. melting scrap, has also jumped. The trend is likely to continue, with strong revival in prices by the second half of the current financial year," said Amitabh Mudgal, vice-president, Monnet Ispat. Melting scrap has become costlier by 10% in the past month, to trade currently at $225 a tonne from $180-190. Turkey, not a major buyer in the world market until now, has started buying in large quantities. The traditional supplier of melting scrap, Europe, has diverted shipments to Turkey than export to India. "The trend is changing rapidly in favour of Indian sponge iron producers, with prices of melting scrap moving up. In fact, a sharp cut in low grade iron ore prices has made sponge iron making viable for independent producers. Despite that, sponge iron units are operating at 40-45% of installed capacity," said an independent producer in Chattisgarh. Government-owned iron ore miner NMDC announced a 25% cut in prices of low grade ore, a raw material for sponge iron making, a help for producers. Energy has successfully repaid in cash, Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs) worth $28.8 million in principal amount, along with the applicable 8.7% redemption premium. This was part of the 5% April 2016 FCCB series which have now been redeemed in full and will cease to exist. Kirit Vagadia, Chief Financial Officer, Energy, said, Further, most of our remaining debt maturity profile is back ended. This gives us sufficient headroom to meet our operations and growth requirements. Our focused efforts towards debt reduction, liquidity optimization and business ramp up are bearing tremendous results. There is a visible ramp up in our execution volume, order inflow and resultantly the cash flows. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our stakeholders, particularly the bondholders for their continuing support. Real estate developers in the National Capital Region (NCR) districts of Haryana are in the eye of a storm after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the state government to reply by May 11 why findings of tax evasion of over Rs 10,000 crore should not be investigated. Probes by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) may soon be launched into institutionalised corruption and alleged money laundering. Issuing the notice on April 11 on a petition filed by whistleblowers, Justice Paramjit Singh Dhaliwal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court observed that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Haryana Lokayukta had found developers in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat and Panipat in nexus with officials of the Haryana excise department indulged in large-scale tax fraud. The court quoted the SIT report, which had found DLF Gurgaon, BPTP Gurgaon, Omaxe Faridabad, BPTP Faridabad, Unitech Gurgaon, TDI Panipat, Skylight Hospitality and others had evaded valued added tax/sales tax on work contracts. These builders had collected the taxes from prospective buyers but had failed to deposit them with the state government, the report said. Emails to Unitech and Omaxe went unanswered. A DLF executive said the company was tax compliant and did not indulge in such practices. The SIT had also indicted Roshan Lal, head of Haryana's excise department, for sabotaging investigations and two other officials, Anil Malik and Sudhir Rajpal, for not cooperating in the investigation. The court while issuing notices to Union finance ministry, ED, CBI, Financial Intelligence Unit, and the Central Vigilance Commissioner, directed the Haryana government to reply by May 11 why investigations should not be conducted by the CBI and the ED on the basis of the SIT report. The report was submitted on January 14, 2015, but the Haryana government did act on it. The petitioner's counsel has attached file notings of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu and alleged the builders were being shielded. "Officials of the excise department have close connections with senior bureaucrats, police officers and politicians of different political parties in Haryana," contended the petitioner's counsel Pardeep Rapria. Captain Abhimanyu when contacted said special assessment teams had been constituted to calculate the extent of tax evasion. "The assessment by the SIT was not accurate. Procedures have been put in place to recover each and every penny of tax. The wrongdoings were during the Congress regime and our government will take suitable action," he said. The SIT report also said the tax evasion required inquiry in Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab and other states and it would be appropriate if the probe was conducted by the CBI. Rice processors in Haryana may also face the music as their names figure in the SIT report. Pakistan is banking on good friend China to block India's chances of making it to the coveted Suppliers Group (NSG), a former Pakistani diplomat has said, adding that "chances of India gaining entry into NSG are virtually nil". Zamir Akram, Pakistan's former permanent representative at the United Nations in Geneva and envoy at the Conference on Disarmament, said on Wednesday that China would not allow India to enter the NSG because this would affect its cooperation with Pakistan, according to Dawn online. Akram said China is committed to ensuring that both India and Pakistan gain membership to the 48-nation NSG at the same time. Besides China, there are some countries that are upset by the "double standards" being shown in India's case, and are calling for an approach based on criteria, he added. Akram was speaking at a conference on the International Order, organised by the Strategic Vision Institute (SVI) and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. According to Dawn, this is the second time in a month that a senior official involved in Pakistan's nuclear affairs has dismissed India's chances. At a conference late last month, adviser to the Command Authority Lt. Gen. (retd) Khalid Kidwai had said: "We also have friends in NSG who would not let it happen." Discussing the global nuclear order, Akram said it had been destabilised by a number of factors, including the world powers' double standards and discriminatory exemptions granted to India. Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Ehsanul Haq, criticised the world nuclear order for being "highly discriminatory and obstructive". He said Pakistan's nuclear programme would continue, "no matter how adverse the environment, to provide us the credible deterrence against the existential threats we confront". SVI president Zafar Iqbal Cheema said the world powers were using the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Non-Proliferation Regime (NPR) for their political, strategic and foreign policy objectives, thereby diminishing their credibility. He said Pakistan was a victim of the West's discriminatory attitude. The Indo-US nuclear deal provides India with fissile material for 50 additional warheads every year by sparing local resources. SVI also called for maintaining credible deterrence capability against India, and advised against compromising security for mainstreaming in the nuclear order. Karnataka has backtracked on its earlier decision to ban motorcycle taxis from aggregator services, such as Uber and Ola, on Bengalurus roads, after citizen pressure to allow this. The state says it has begun framing rules that will govern aggregators offering bike taxis as a service. A draft policy will be issued for public consultation in the coming weeks, officials said. Read more from our special coverage on "UBER" Since there is public demand, we thought we will frame the rules first. Let them submit their applications and get the necessary permissions from the transport authority. We will come out with the rules in the meantime. When they are ready, we will also be, said state transport commissioner Ramegowda.Bengaluru is the playground for no less than four motorcycle taxi services Uber, Ola, Rapido and Hey Bob, all of which had been forced to suspend their services. However, many people consider such taxis best suited for the city, which has the slowest national average speed for vehicles, due to its clogged roads. ALSO READ: Uber slashes prices in ten cities Uber, the Silicon Valley taxi hailing app that launched its India service two years earlier from Bengaluru, bore the brunt of Karnatakas move against bike taxis. Accused of operating its service illegally on city roads, it has had at least 100 vehicles of its driver-partners impounded in the past six weeks. A day after the company launched its bike taxi service on March 4, the authorities cracked down, demanding Uber shut its service.The state government has had a long-standing problem with taxi hailing services such as Uber and Ola. Recently, the state published rules stating that these services will have to register with the local transport authority, cap fares which would end surge pricing, and install digital meters in cabs. San Francisco-based Uber is now trying to build public consensus against the move; theres no comment from local rival Ola.While the Road Transport Authority has not yet given aggregators the required permits to operate bike taxis, the state government says it wants to be ready when that happens. Currently the rules are being framed, following which Karnataka will submit a draft to gather consensus from the public and players. ALSO READ: Uber slashes prices in ten cities The Centre has prepared a comprehensive plan to increase Indias port handling capacity to 3,000 million tonnes by 2025 from the present 1,400 mt. The government envisages an investment worth Rs 1 lakh crore to meet this target, announced Prime Minister in his inaugural speech at the maiden Maritime India summit. The Union ministry of shipping is showcasing about 250 projects for investment opportunity in the sector. The proposed plan includes development of five new ports in addition to the existing 12 major ports and ongoing development at three new ones. He said a slew of initiatives, including the Sagarmala project, will help revive and restore Indias position in the global maritime sector. He added the Sagarmala project would allow leveraging the 7,500-km long coastline. Read more from our special coverage on "NARENDRA MODI" The Jawaharlal Nehru Port alone registered a net profit of Rs 1,000 crore, helped by 12 per cent increase in efficiency. He, however, said this is just a beginning as the government wants to do more. We are enhancing our own capacities of execution and implementation of ports, he said. Participate delegations in 1 session: Sagarmalm port led development at Maritime India Summit Jyoti Mukul Modi said the Centre was engaging with regional and neighbouring countries to promote shipping and maritime security.Modi asked investors to come to India with an open mind and has assured assistance on all fronts. He said, This is the right time to come to India and an even better time to come via the sea route. Do not miss it.The PM said foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows have increased by 44 per cent since the government took over and has been the highest in the 2015-16. In FY16, the cargo handled by the major ports has also gone up significantly due to higher efficiency and lower turnaround time. Indias flagship companies in the maritime sector, including Shipping Corporation of India, Dredging Corporation and Cochin Shipyards, have garnered highest profits in 2015-16, compared to the previous year, he said. ALSO READ: Maldives' security, stability in India's interest: Narendra Modi He said in order to participate in global port projects a special purpose vehicle titled Indian Port Global Ltd has been formed. Currently, the Chabhar Port in Iran is being developed. Regarding corporatisation of major ports, the Union highways and shipping minister said the hurdle in this matter is more political in nature. It is not a problem of the unions. It is a political problem. The Opposition parties want to establish that the government is pro-industrialists and again poor. So it is a fight for image, he said, at a CEO roundtable at the summit.Enlisting the initial efforts taken by the Centre, Modi said major ports have added 165-million tonne capacity, with record addition each year in last two years. The traffic in major ports has shown four per cent growth in the same period, despite global slowdown. Operating margins, which were on decline, have also improved. In FY16, operating profit of 12 major ports has increased by nearly Rs 670 crore. In a bid to offer a level-playing field to the major ports of the country, the ministry of shipping is determined to abolish the existing tariff-setting practices. We want to close the TAMP (Tariff Authority of Major Ports) chapter soon and replace it with new system. We are sure about that. Discussions are on with the government but cannot give a timeline for this, Gadkari said. The Centre will table a new Bill that will facilitate a model agreement by way of public-private partnership in the port sector. In the next two months, we will have a new model agreement, hopefully by June 30. Ministry of shipping is coming up with a separate Bill to handle long-term concessional arrangement between port and terminal operators, Shipping Secretary Rajive Kumar said. ALSO READ: China to establish maritime judicial centre amid SCS dispute Before the beginning of the 19th century, it was speculated that India had around 10,000 . Over the years their number declined drastically, after the Britishers and erstwhile rulers hunted these for sport and poachers for money. In 1972 came the Wild Life Protection Act, with in the list of endangered species. Project Tiger was set up at Corbett Park, with nine reserves in 1974. The government commissioned an annual survey, based on study of pug marks, to keep a check on falling numbers. The belief was that India had around 3,000 . Officials say this was the turning point in the fight against poachers and India getting serious about tiger extinction. Under pressure from both international community and activists, the government ordered an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Some officials were suspended but the biggest change came when the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2006, was passed, a Wild Life Crime Control Board set up and empowered a Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). NTCA recommendations were made binding on states and the number of tiger reserves increased from nine to almost 50, covering 70,000 sq km or 2.2 per cent of geographical area. The NTCA budget was also increased from Rs 986 crore to Rs 1,240 for creating more infrastructure, including buying of arms and ammunition for forest patrolling. Other steps included raising of the minimum punishment to three years and hefty punishment for an offence committed in the core area. A tiger protection force was constituted, with participation of locals, and scientific methods and techniques (double sampling and camera taps) employed to get the authentic number of tigers in the country. However, these measures couldn't prevent extinction of 30 tigers from the Panna Reserve in Madhya Pradesh in 2008, another jolt to conservationists. The scientific survey undertaken in 2006 but completed in 2008 revealed an abysmally low number of tigers, down from 3,000 to 1,410. The government had to reintroduce tigers at both Panna and Sariska, exhorted states to constitute a Special Tiger Protection Force and arm its personnel on the lines of the India Reserve Battalion. Currently this force is functional in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan, states which have recorded an increase in tigers. These efforts led to a rise in the total number from 1,410 in 2006 to 1,707 in 2010. Another boost came when the Supreme Court in 2012 put a blanket ban on 'tiger tourism', asking states to notify the buffer area and restricted tourist access to the core area. S P Yadav, assistant secretary general of Global Tiger Forum, said the tiger is a prolific breeder. On an average, a tigress give birth to eight to 10 cubs in her life span of 10 years. Their reproduction depends on high prey density, availability of water, shelter and less human disturbance, he said. A combination of these factors resulted in the increase in tiger population to 2216, according to the latest survey conducted in 2014. However, experts have been eyeing these surveys with suspicion and believe the tiger is growing in only a few states which have adopted innovative practices. Ullas Karanth, a leading expert, said there has been improvement particularly in the Western Ghats, the Terai, parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (see box). In Maharashtra and Rajasthan where tiger numbers actually increased, innovative state government schemes have come into play for conflict resolution. The Van Dhan Yojana in Rajasthan and Jan Van Vikas Yojana in Maharashtra are new schemes that effectively mitigate conflict between people and tiger landscapes, said Valmik Thapar, another expert. He said the good news was when Project Tiger started in 1974, there were 1,800-2,000 tigers and 42 years later, the number was the same, though the population of India had doubled from 630 million to 1.25 billion people. The bad news is that many tiger reserves like Buxa (Bengal), Dampha (Mizoram) and Palamau (Jharkhand) have few tigers left, he said. A government official said the carrying capacity of Indias tiger reserves is only up to 2,500 and they do not expect the numbers to rise in the future. Nature takes its own course to control their births. We will not have more tigers, said Yadav. The increase in tiger population might give rise to tourism but Yadav feels that it would not be significant. The number of tourists who can enter the park is fixed and strictly regulated as per the SC norms, he added. India wants to resume talks with the European Union over the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) as soon as possible, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday. "The EU Ambassador has said in Mumbai that we are not ready yet to resume the talks, but I want to make it plain here that India is keen on resuming the talks," Sitharaman said. She was speaking at a brainstorming session held by the Commerce Ministry and foreign trade think thank Research and Information System for Developing countries, on the impact of free trade agreements (FTAs) on the domestic market and suggest ways to deal with issues and concerns. Read more from our special coverage on "FTA" Americans divided over trade pacts Talks over an with the EU, officially known as the Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), had been launched in 2007. However, negotiations have been stalled since 2013 as both sides are yet to bridge substantial gaps on crucial issues, including data security for the IT sector. The EU has also stuck to its demands of lowering tariffs on automobile and spirits, and liberal visa regime. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Brussels last month, India and the European Union (EU) have endorsed the 'EU-India Agenda for Action 2020' as a common road map for the strategic partnership in the next five years. The agenda, while building on the joint action-plans of 2005 and 2008 will take into account cooperation in fields like climate change, trade and business, foreign policy but is silent on the BTIA. Britain's potential exit from the 28 member European Union has also slowed the talks, sources in the know said. At the session, market access in trade and services, investment and intellectual property rights featured in the discussions. Domestic industry has complained for long that India's FTAs have resulted in skewed trade, benefitting the partner country more. India has so far implemented FTAs with countries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Asean. It is negotiating several such pacts with nations like the EU, Australia and New Zealand. Also, on Wednesday Sitharaman had said the government was looking to conclude the negotiations on India joining the proposed 16 nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, at the earliest. The next round of RCEP talks, set to begin from April 22 in Perth, Australia might stretch longer due to a lack of consensus over services. Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia had earlier said India has offered its commitments on opening the goods and services sectors in the RCEP negotiations while other members are still struggling to meet their obligations. Sitharaman also said the national Intellectual Property Right (IPR) policy will soon be taken up by the Cabinet for consideration, Sitharaman said. "It has already reached the cabinet secretariat and we hope it will come on the agenda of the cabinet soon," she told reporters here. The draft report had enlisted six objectives of the policy which includes patent awareness and promotion, creation of Intellectual Propoerty, legal and legislative framework and the commercialization of patents. It had suggested to provide statutory incentives, like tax benefits linked to IP creation for the entire value chain from IP creation to commercialization. Developed countries such as the United States have repeatedly raised concerns over India's IPR laws, particularly related to the solar and pharmaceutical sectors. India has expressed concern over the hike in fee by the US, saying it is discriminatory and largely affects Indian IT professionals. During a bilateral meeting with US Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also underlined the need for early conclusion of totalisation agreement, which would benefit Indians working in America. Referring to the issue, he spoke about Indias concern over the hike in the H-1B and L-1 fee, which is discriminatory and, in effect, largely targeted at Indian IT companies. Last year, the US Congress imposed a special fee of up to $4,500 on H-1B and L-1 visas to fund a 9/11 health care Act and biometric tracking system. While agreeing on the $1.1 trillion spending Bill, Congressional leaders decided to impose a special fee of $4,000 on certain categories of H-1B visas and $4,500 on L-1 visas. Jaitley expressed Indias keenness in early conclusion of a totalisation agreement with the US, a finance ministry statement quoting him said. According to industry estimates, Indian professionals contributed more than $25 billion to the US Social Security during the last decade, without being able to retrieve their contributions. The US has entered into agreements called totalisation agreements with several nations for the purpose of avoiding double taxation of income with respect to social security taxes. Under these, professionals of both the countries would be exempted from social security taxes when they go to work for a short period in the other country. The two countries are also engaged in negotiations for a bilateral investment treaty to protect investments. The finance minister emphasised on sustained engagement and a rapidly increasing trade and investment partnership between India and the US as key elements, saying India looks forward to strengthening and deepening this economic engagement. Jaitley is currently on an official trip to Washington DC to attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and other sessions. He is accompanied by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian and other officials. Moderator: The government has been trying to push insurance. Do you think that it has done enough in the Union Budget? Amitabh Chaudhry: I do agree that the government is and will be looking at life insurance. But at the same time I also believe that our expectation from the government to do something for the life insurance industry in every Budget is a bit misplaced. What it has not done is not imposed further taxes on us. The government is now talking about a health insurance scheme. And this is the first time that it is tackling some base level social security benefit at the right price when no one is subsidising it for the society in general. In the absence of a strong underwriting process and dependable claims mechanism, will such a health scheme succeed or achieve the desired objectives? Arijit Basu: The government's social security schemes have made a good beginning and what it has done is opened our eyes to the fact that we can give protection to a large number of people. We have issues on whether the pricing was right and we are having discussions with the government because SBI Life apart from Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) was one of the major participants in the life insurance area. But what it has done is provide a cover of Rs 2 lakh to people, and a large number of people now understand it. We have also started paying claims in the past few months. We look forward now to a fine-tuning of the process and from the insurance company's perspective we can build on this. Vipin Anand: First, we are fulfilling a need, which in many developed countries is taken care of by the government. Second, there are restrictions on this industry which are not there in any other industry. Half the savings we mobilise has to be invested in central and state government securities, 15 per cent or more is to be invested in infrastructure. The part that can be constituted as profits is also well- regulated. This is unique to this industry; it doesn't happen anywhere else. So, keeping all these things in mind I feel that there should be a compensatory set-off in tax provision. If we focus on increasing penetration, the revenue that the government will get from other sources is possibly going to be far more than the revenue which would be generated through service tax on policies or TDS on policies or things like that. One of the major headlines in this Budget was allowing public sector general insurance companies to list on stock exchanges. But do you think that public sector general insurance companies are in a position to list? G Srinivasan: I know a lot of people have been asking if it is easy for public sector insurers to list, and my answer is yes. Of course, we will have to go through a process - when an unlisted company goes for listing there are certain requirements like you have to restate the accounts, you have to amend your articles of association, you have to ensure that your board is in line with Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) requirements. But clearly these are do-able. Today, one problem for the insurance sector is that none of the companies is listed, and insurance companies do not really have a brand. So, it's time that not only public sector insurers, but private sector insurers also take the lead and come to the market and get themselves listed. They should allow themselves to be scrutinised by the analysts and the public. In that way, we support listing. New India Assurance will be one of the first companies to be off the track as far as listing is concerned. Can the government really afford to let LIC list? Anand: I think that is the question to be answered by the government but as things stand today I don't see anything happening in the very near future. Very few people talk about distribution reforms. How do you look at it? Sanjay Kedia: There is only one element which is not yet freed, which is on the distribution side: how do you deal with the distribution commission, and costs structures, which remain frozen. There is also an inherent bias in our regulatory and policy system which encourages owned distribution by the insurer. We need to move from owned distribution to independent distribution to unlock the potential of the sector. Is there a disappointment that the Budget did not do much for the health insurer this time in terms of tax deduction? Anuj Gulati: We had seen an increase in the 80D tax exemption from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 after a number of years in Union Budget 2015-16. As an insurance company that sells health insurance policies, I can tell you that less that we collect more than Rs 25,000 of premium in less than 5 per cent of the policies. Having said that, there is still a need to increase health insurance penetration. And I think the one big segment which still remains uncovered is the whole organised labour market and the micro, small and medium enterprises. Has the insurance industry done enough in terms of consumer awareness and bridge the trust deficit with your stakeholders? Anand: As far as LIC is concerned I believe that there was never a trust deficit - we have always been the most trusted organisation in the country. And even as far as the private sector is concerned, there is a fair degree of trust factor now. So trust is not an issue today. The problem is that there are so many restrictions on agents that the agency channel which even today contributes 80 per cent of the total business is today not very comfortable because of which the attrition rates are growing day by day. Srinivasan: We keep saying that there is a lack of awareness in insurance. Recently, we had huge floods in Chennai and a large number of people were affected personally and a lot of households had to replace refrigerators, television sets, etc. Three months after that incident, you would have hoped that everyone would have gone and purchased home owner's insurance but that hasn't happened. Clearly, insurance in this country is sold not bought. We need to reach the stage where insurance is bought and only then will the whole thing change. Chaudhry: The schemes that were launched last year have had a huge reach through the existing distribution channels, and they have worked because there was a crying need for them. There is also a limitation on the amount of returns we can give to the policyholder, which is limited by investment regulations. On the flip side, we have our own huge distribution costs, mortality charges etc. As a sector, we need products that can compete with other financial products in terms of returns. At present, we are not able to compete with other financial products, due to restrictions in investments. Simple products sell like hot cakes, which is good. However, why is there a recurring complaint that insurance products are made complex? Basu: All the companies in the life insurance sector have about 20-25 products. And each company will have at least five or 10 products which are fairly easy to understand. These have converged over the last few years and they are fairly easy to understand. Is the industry doing enough to institutionalise skill building not only in agency, but in every area? Kedia: And there is always a lot being done also and there is lot which could be done. A lot of new talent certainly has entered the market but I would tend to agree that not enough has been done. Anand: This is work in progress; it has been so for the last several decades and it still continues. But definitely some innovations need to come. Coming to open architecture, banks have been allowed to sell more than one insurer's products but it is not mandatory. Will banks open up? Chaudhry: Most of the banks are actually asking themselves as to why we should not do it. So it is leading to a situation where at least gradually, say in the next 12-18 months, we expect most of them to actually have more than one partner. Otherwise, the experience of opening up with a big bang approach has not been very good in a number of markets around the world. This calibrated way is the right way to go. Basu: If you had made it mandatory then it's not really open architecture. Any kind of regulation, especially a regulation of this nature, has to be voluntarily accepted. At this stage it requires another two-three years by when, cross-selling of insurance products and other products becomes an integral part of the sales process for bank. Banks automatically will open up. Many of the banks would want to support their insurance arms, but then we should have the best possible outcome for our customers. Srinivasan: Contrary to my fellow panelists' views, I believe open architecture cannot be left voluntary. From a customer's perspective there must be a choice. Banks should do insurance not because they have big infrastructure but because they must really be interested in it and devote resources and time, and have dedicated people to sell insurance. Kedia: Any bank which owns an insurance arm would not prefer to have open architecture, and even if it does it would be a compromise system. This is a challenge at this point of time for the insurance market and the economy, and is bound to continue. But banks will not like to take the liability of being a broker because brokering is a very onerous job. Banks working as a broker is a good idea but it is only going to sell once we have a reform on the distribution side allowing the broker's remuneration to be freed and left to market forces. About health insurance specifically do you agree with this that there is still a huge lack of innovation on the part of the industry? Gulati: Rome was not built in a day. We have added about Rs 4,000-5,000 crore of health insurance premium on a base of Rs 22,000 crore - this is a segment which is growing upwards of 20 per cent. In our lifetime we will solve this problem and in the next five-six years we will start seeing products that will reduce wait period significantly, products that will come out and focus on segments like diabetics or hypertensive alone, etc as companies are building up data. In insurance, just about 2-3 per cent of the business comes through these digital channels. So why is this figure so low? Basu: What is now happening is that people who are buying purely online and going ahead are the financially literate class in the metros and there is some amount of sales happening through that. But I would look at the issue a little more broadly. For example, digitisation is also applicable to your processes and the way you make the sale. Till the time life insurance will continue to be somewhat of a push product needing customers, looking for some kind of financial advice, I think it will take time. Chaudhry: We are a leader in the online space by a margin and please understand that what is being sold online is mainly term insurance where the overall premium size tends to be obviously small as the product is typically a pure term policy. And if you compare market share based on the premium then automatically it tends to be understated because the number is smaller. In the next five years, completely new ways of selling will emerge, and completely new kind of products which cater to that space will emerge. Srinivasan: In non-life insurance, it is slightly different. Only two-three per cent of customers buy non-life customers directly from insurance companies. What we do is enable our intermediaries, issue policies digitally, or brokers issue policies digitally. Almost 12 per cent of our policies get issued online so in that way it's a large number. It was January 2014 when a crucial meeting was on between insurers and the regulator. About 200 representatives of the industry discussed solutions on how to improve distribution architecture in the country. Cut to 2016, distribution is still the biggest challenge in the industry. While touch-points of sales have seen a jump, sales and penetration remain low. distribution in India is divided into tied-agency channel and third party distributors such as corporate agents, brokers and web aggregators. Recent additions to this include marketing firms and common service centres (CSCs). But are these enough? Insurance industry wants more. V Manickam, secretary general, Life Insurance Council said that the agency channel has traditionally been the lifeline of the industry. "However, the number of exits of agents is alarming and this is primarily due to the low remuneration that they receive," he said. Higher fees for agents The life insurance industry has seen over 30,000 agents exit between April 2015 and February 2016. Lack of a continuous income flow and no proper career development have led to the decline in numbers. However, the regulator has a solution for this. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) in an exposure draft on remuneration for insurance agents and intermediaries has proposed higher commission for agents. Further, it has also said that insurance companies can give rewards over and above commissions. This, say insurers, could resolve part of the problems. R M Vishakha, MD & CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insurance said that the proposals would help incentivise agents and would be especially beneficial in the group term space to bring it on par with the non-life sector. ( INSURANCE INDUSTRY: A SNAPSHOT ) Even flexible incentives based on performance and business quality would be facilitated, said Deepak Mittal, MD & CEO of Edelweiss Tokio Life. Commissions have been raised by up to 50 per cent in the first year for term products. This is in order to enable them to do more business and earn more incentives. Spawning entrepreneurs The regulator even went a step forward in order to boost the entrepreneurship spirit among insurance agents. It launched a new channel for selling insurance called insurance marketing firms where agents could set up their own firms. Insurers encouraged their agency force to be a part of this channel. However, only few agents expressed interest in this new structure where these firms could solicit insurance products, undertake insurance service activities, and distribute other financial products. A senior industry professional said that agents were apprehensive of running their own firms and were satisfied maintaining status quo. "Allowing these firms to work under insurance companies as a pilot would have given more agents the confidence to join this channel," said the head of distribution at a private life insurance company. Banks come to rescue Despite the vast population, India stands 15th globally in premium income, as per global reinsurer Swiss Re's sigma study. This is because insurance penetration, measured as a percentage of premium to a country's gross domestic product, has been on a constant drop in India. Swiss Re's latest sigma study says India's insurance penetration fell to 3.3 per cent in financial year 2014-15 (FY15) compared to 3.9 per cent in FY14. This has been the lowest since FY06 when the penetration was at 3.14 per cent. Rural areas in particular, have been hit the hardest. Overall, less than five per cent of insurance penetration has been seen in public sector bank branches across the country including smaller towns. With poor internet connectivity, customers in these areas only have a handful of points where they can buy policies. Data shows that the bancassurance market size grew from Rs 9,500 crore in FY14 (individual segment) to over Rs 11,000 crore in FY15 driven by large unit-linked insurance policy sales. There is huge scope since public sector banks with 400 million accounts have an insurance penetration of just over one per cent. It is estimated that increase in penetration in public sector banks alone to 15 per cent, can add 50 million customers and generate additional Rs 60,000 crore in life insurance premium in the next five years. Since constant nudges to open up their branches to more insurers did not work, Irdai brought out a new set of regulations which allowed banks to sell products of three insurers each in life, non-life and health. Banks have been given strict instructions to come up with a policy and time-line for opening up to other insurers to give more choice to consumers. Making it mandatory would be essential to enable customers to buy products of their choice, said G Srinivasan, chairman and managing director of New India Assurance. From this financial year, banks have been given the option to open up and the regulatory body has also started seeing action towards this endeavour. However, other concerns remain. With insurance still being a push product, several complaints of banks forcing customers to buy a policy with a banking product or service have been reported. But with Irdai stating that each bank employee will be responsible for the product they sell, these practices may see a drop. Group networks and malls Various studies have shown that it is easier to cross-sell to existing customers rather than acquiring newer customers. For this, insurers are also looking at utilising their corporate group networks to sell products. Future Generali India Insurance, for instance, which began selling insurance in outlets like Big Bazaar is now preparing a database. K G Krishnamoorthy Rao, MD & CEO of Future Generali India said that the company is targeting the group's customer base to sell insurance products. Having common products across life and general insurance companies across a business group was also proposed. Termed combi or combination product, it would have components of pure term and health insurance offered by a life and non-life insurer within one group. But this failed to take off. CSCs: New touch-points Since newer distribution infrastructure would be expensive, the regulator has also looked at utilising existing networks like CSCs. Irdai said that insurance companies could tie up with CSCs to act as insurance brokers. However, due to the expense management norms, insurers are not finding it cost-effective to partner CSCs. Also, special products for this channel would have to be devised which are being designed. A handful of insurers have entered into such tie-ups though sales are not high. Anoop Pabby, managing director and CEO of DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance said, "CSCs require huge economies of scale for the product to be offered at such a cost." However, he added that with payments banks coming into play, there might be a drastic reduction in transaction costs. CSCs will offer web-enabled e-governance services in rural areas. They can offer application forms, certificates, and utility payments. Some insurers, including IndiaFirst Life, SBI Life and HDFC Life, have products to cater to this channel. With costs under pressure, newer channels like online brokers and web aggregators are also catching up. Though four per cent of overall sales come from these channels, heavy investments are being made in digital, be it via their own company website or aggregator platforms, insurers are looking at more online visibility. While the regulator has been giving a gentle nudge to make good use of all existing sales channels, the real challenge is that insurers are seeing a big swing in business from one channel to another. When given an equal opportunity to perform, third party intermediaries are of the view that the true potential of the industry will be unlocked. Bringing in newer touch-points to complement the existing points of sales will only lead to more numbers to the overall business, bringing newer dimensions to India's insurance growth story. Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh delivered a message to the nation on the occasion of Fire Services Day today. The text of the message is as follows:- . . Every year on 14th April, we observe the Fire Service Day. On this day, in 1944 a devastating fire on SS Fort Stikin ship in Mumbai Dock caused a powerful explosion which resulted in huge loss of life and property. In memory of this accident since 1955 the Fire Prevention Week has been conducted and from 1968 onwards 14th April has been observed as Fire Service Day as per a decision taken by the Government of India. On this day, we remember the great sacrifices of those Firemen who achieved martyrdom. On this occasion, I, on behalf of my country, express my gratitude to those Firemen who took grave risks to minimize the losses of men and material due to the accidents caused by fire. . . Most of the devastating accidents, invariably show that minor negligence were the cause of these debilitating accidents. The past fire accidents reveal that if appropriate preventive measures were taken, these devastating accidents could be averted. . . The Government of India under its 12th Five Year Plan proposes to establish new fire stations at the sub-district levels too. Efforts are also being made to minimise the response time of the Firemen to accidents spots. For this, efforts are being made to get the latest fire fighting equipments, build on the infrastructure and increase the number of Fire Stations. . . Recently, the devastating fire accident at Puttingal Devi Temple in Kerala took the lives of more than 100 pilgrims and property worth crores got destroyed. This has impacted our mind and heart immensely. . . Hence, I appeal to all of you to be aware about the finer aspects of fire hazards to minimise the occurrence of fire accidents. I also appeal to all in the Industrial Sector and different institutions to be conscious to ensure fire safe working environment for their employees. Hence, it is necessary that all fire safety norms be determined in advance. . . Finally, I call upon my fellow countrymen to make the Fire Service Department theme for this year Prevent Fire Accidents-promote Nations Development a grand success". . . FM: Amid weaker outlook across the globe, Indias experience of strong economic growth, comfortable price situation, low current account deficit, and adherence to fiscal recovery path has projected it as an outpost of opportunity for global investors. . The Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley said that Indian economy is estimated to register 7.6% growth in FY 2015-16, notwithstanding contraction of global exports and two consecutive years of shortfall in monsoon. Shri Jaitley said that amid weaker outlook across the globe, Indias experience of strong economic growth, comfortable price situation, low current account deficit, and adherence to fiscal recovery path have projected it as an outpost of opportunity for global investors. The Finance Minister was speaking on the theme of, at an event organized byinyesterday on the very first day of his US trip. . . Earlier Mr William J Burns, President of Carnegie Endowment and former US Deputy Secretary of State welcomed the Finance Minister and gave the introductory remarks. Speaking further on the occasion, the Finance Minister Shri Jaitley emphasized on Indias economic recovery and the role of various initiatives taken by the present Government in achieving it. . . Elaborating on the large number of initiatives taken by the Indian Government, the Finance Minister Shri Jaitley said that what distinguishes the present Government is this Governments emphasis on decisiveness, consistency in policy direction and transparency in functioning. He also talked about reforms in taxation, Make in India programme, increase in FDI limits, expediting the process of granting clearances to new projects, steps taken for ease of doing business, rationalization of expenditure by making petrol and diesel prices market linked and promoting financial inclusion by linking Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) to Aadhar. . . FM holds a bilateral meeting with United States Trade Representative Ambassador Mr Michael Froman; Emphasis Indias keenness in early conclusion of a Totalization Agreement with the United States; Expresses Indias concern over the hike in the H-1B and L1 visa fee which is discriminatory and in effect, largely targeted at Indian IT companies. . The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley held aThe Finance Minister affirmed that the sustained engagement and rapidly increasing trade and investment partnership between India and the US are key elements of the bilateral engagement between the two countries and India looks forward to strengthening and deepening this economic engagement. The Finance Minister emphasized: . . Indias keenness in early conclusion of a Totalization Agreement with the United States. (As per Industry estimates, Indian professionals have contributed more than US$ 25 billion to the US Social Security during the last decade, without being able to retrieve their contributions) . . Indias concern over the hike in the H-1B and L1 visa fee which is discriminatory and in effect, largely targeted at Indian IT companies. . . The Finance Minister is currently on official tour to Washington DC to attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and other associated meetings. He is accompanied by Dr. Raghuram Rajan, Governor RBI, Mr. Shaktikanta Das, Secretary Economic Affairs, Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser and other officials. . . Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has said that the Union Government has hiked the Northeast Railway Budget by as much as 151 percent within the last two years of its term. . . Stating this while addressing the Global Rail Convention" organized by PHD Chamber of Commerce here yesterday, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the total Budget outlay fixed by the present government for 2016-17 is Rs. 5,340 Cr. This, he said, is manifold higher than the average Budget outlay during the five years of 2009-10 to 2013-14 of the earlier UPA government when it stood at just Rs. 2,121.6 Cr in comparison to the average Budget outlay during 2014 to 2016 which is Rs. 5,316.3 Cr. . . Dr Jitendra Singh said the high priority given to connectivity in the Northeast including the rail network is borne out by the fact that within six months of the taking over of the present government, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, during one of his visits to the Northeast, inaugurated the first ever Rail link to Meghalaya and around the same time, Arunachal Pradesh was also brought on the Rail map of India. Similarly, he said, Akhaura-Agartala-Bangladesh is going to be a game changer and the Ministry of Railways has offered to contribute Rs. 580 Cr for construction of railway track on the Indian side while for across the border, funds will be borne by Ministry of External Affairs. . . Referring to fast-track movement of rail expansion in Northeast, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the long-time pending work on the broad-gauge track was expedited in the last two years and during the year 2015-16, over 500 kilometers of broad-gauge railway track was laid in the region. This includes the broad-gauge track to Agartala which became functional on February 20, 2016 and also Kathakat-Bhairabi in Mizoram. . . Dr Jitendra Singh said that the overall connectivity, including rail and road network, to the Northeast is a major priority of the present government, because this will also pave the way for growth in the areas of tourism, revenue and trade. In addition, he said, the innovative work on laying down of waterways along the Brahmaputra up to the Bay of Bengal has also been undertaken which will not only prove to be an alternative means of transport but also be much more cost effective. . . Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju inaugurated a national workshop on An Integrated Approach to Fire Safety" here today on the occasion of the 'Fire Service Day'. Shri Kiren Rijiju said that the efforts put in by the firemen invariably do not get reflected. The job of firemen is so difficult that it cannot be performed effectively, if proper equipment is not provided to them, he added. . . Shri Kiren Rijiju said that allocation of more resources and modernization of fire services is needed, so that the entire system can be more robust. The Minister said that the state Governments need to strictly enforce the fire safety regulations. He said that the Ministry of Home Affairs is persuading the states to incorporate the provisions to the Building Code to ensure proper safety of life and property. He also said that the MHA provides technical support, guidance and assistance in this field to the states. . . Shri Kiren Rijiju said that the MHA has already decided to further upgrade and modernise the National Fire Service College, Nagpur and a scheme of Rs. 205 crore is already in progress. . . Shri Kiren Rijiju said that the Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards are working together as first responders to the disasters and form an integral part of the disaster management system. He said that they play a vital role in preparing community for disaster management by imparting appropriate training to them. A trained community responds well in cases of disasters and also helps in effective relief and rescue work, he added. . . Shri Kiren Rijiju said that the National Workshop on An Integrated Approach to Fire Safety is a positive step towards sharing of knowledge and technology among the various stakeholders in the country. During the event, a commemorative Postage Stamp was released on Fire Services of India to mark the importance of the Fire Services Day. . . The day long workshop included two technical sessions to discuss the issues like force multiplying endeavours in mitigating fire hazards and implementation of e-governance in fire and emergency services. . . Smt. Archana Ramasundaram, DG, Fire Services, Civil Defence & Home Guards and SSB, Shri Braj Kishore Prasad, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Shri T. Murthy, Member (Operations), Postal Service Board, Shri D. K. Shami, Fire Advisor and other senior officers from Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Communications and Information Technology were also present. . . The event started with lighting of lamp, followed by a documentary on the devastating fire on SS Fort Strikine ship in the year 1944. Two minutes silence was observed in the memory of sacrifices made by the firemen during that incident. . . The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, launched the pilot of e-NAM - the e-trading platform for the National Agriculture Market here today. On the occasion he said that the initiative will usher in transparency which will greatly benefit the farmers. Shri Narendra Modi said this is a turning point for the agriculture community and the agriculture sector has to be looked at holistically, and it is only then that maximum benefit of the farmer can be ensured. . . On the occasion Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh said here today that the Government is working hard for the welfare of the farmers and launch of National Agriculture Market is a step in this direction. Shri Singh said that 21 mandis in 8 states have been linked to National Agriculture Market today. By September, 2016 two hundred mandis will be included and by March, 2018 five hundred eighty five mandis. The Minister asserted that the Center is very keen to accomplish the work as early as possible and if States cooperate it will be done one year ahead that is by March2017. . . Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister said that Baba Saheb Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar dedicated his life to the poor, down trodden section of the people as well as farmers. That is why the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi made up his mind to launch National Agriculture Market for the farmers on 125th birth anniversary of Baba Saheb. The Agriculture Minister extended his gratitude to the Prime Minister for the able guidance meant for this project. . . Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh informed that this project will operate through an online portal which is being linked to the mandis of the States. Its software will be provided to all the willing states without cost. A knowledgeable person is being deployed for one year in every sharing mandi so as to facilitate the smooth functioning of the portal. Under this Project, Government of India is providing a grant of Rs. 30 lacs to the proposed agriculture mandis of the states. The farmers will be provided farmer helpline services round the clock" for obtaining information related to this portal. . . Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister said that the Ministry of Agriculture has adopted a concept- agriculture development tree". The Ministry of Agriculture has initiated a number of projects for overall development of the farmers within the same tree. The Minister further said that Government is taking all steps to double the farmers income in the next 5 years. In the end, the Agriculture Minister added that for the first time in India, one nation and one market" is being developed and this market status will be elevated to the status of international market. Shri Singh said that all stakeholders should help achieve this goal. . . Apart from the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, Union Minister of Tele Communication and Information Technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Mohan Bhai Kundaria, Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Cabinet Secretary Shri Pradeep Kumar Sinha and Agriculture Secretary, Shri Shobhana Patnaik were also present on the occasion. . . NCJ/SS "This is the right time to come to India via sea route" - PM . Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi today inaugurated the maiden Maritime India Summit in Mumbai, asserting his government's resolve to restore India's position in global maritime sector. "We Indians are inheritors of a glorious maritime heritage and world's first dock was built at Lothal in Gujarat, during the Harappan civilization, Building upon our glorious maritime tradition, we are working hard to achieve new heights in this area" he said. . . Stressing on the importance of maritime transport, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that everyone should make sure that our lifestyle, transport systems and trading behaviour do not spoil the ecology of the oceans. He also said, the architect of the Indian Constitution Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar, on whose 125th birth anniversary, the Maritime India Summit was being inaugurated, was also the architect of the water and navigation policy in India. . . The Prime Minister said India's vast coastline of 7500 kilometers offers a huge investment opportunity. " Apart from the length of the coastline, India's maritime potential also lies in its strategic location on all major shipping highways. In addition, we have an expansive and productive hinterland, through which flows a network of mighty rivers" Mr. Modi added. . . Elaborating on the measures taken by his government to promote ease of doing business under 'Make In India' programme, the Prime Minister said India plans to mobilize an investment of One trillion rupees (Rs 1 lakh crores) in the port sector to channelize economic growth. Mr. Modi said five new ports are planned to meet the increasing demand of the Exim trade which will rise in proportion with the fast-growing Indian economy. . . Prime Minister said India wants to modernize ports & integrate them with SEZs, Port based Smart Cities, Industrial Parks, Warehouses, Logistics Parks. Mr. Modi said the Ministry of Shipping was showcasing about 250 projects with investment opportunity in the Maritime Sector. These projects include various infrastructure development opportunities in 12 Major Ports, projects in eight maritime states and other agencies. . . The Prime Minister also informed the port sector gathering from around the world, that India was also promoting coastal shipping in a big way and developing 14,000 kms of navigable inland waterways in the country. "My Government is committed to integration in infrastructure. We are also committed to creating an enabling environment for investors and to facilitate investments with an open mind" Mr. Modi asserted. . . "I call upon the global business community to partner with us to give shape to our process of port led development. I am sure, the long coastline of India along with diverse coastal regions and hard working coastal communities can become an engine of growth of India" Mr. Modi added. . . Speaking on the occasion, South Korean Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, Mr Kim Young-Suk welcomed the reform measures taken by the Indian government in opening up the port sector. He said, South Korea, which has considerable expertise in port and shipping sector, was ready to help India to modernize its ports and develop the shipping industry. . . Union Shipping Minister Mr. Nitin Gadkari spoke about the importance of maritime sector and how the vision of Prime Minister about port-led development was transforming the port and water transport infrastructure sector. . . The Governor of Maharashtra Mr. C Vidyasagar Rao, Maharshtra Chief Minister, Mr. Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Gujarat, Ms. Anandiben Patel, MoS Shipping, Mr. P. Radhakrishnan, the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, Mr. Kitack Lim were prominent among those present at the inauguration. . . Earlier, the Prime Minister visited a Maritime heritage museum, built in the shape of ship and also interacted with top global CEOs of the port and shipping sector. . . About the Maritime India Summit . . The three day Maritime India Summit is aimed at attracting potential investors to the vast opportunities that the various components of the Maritime Sector have on offer. It is showcasing projects covering sectors like port development and modernization, Greenfield ports, port led development under Sagarmala", shipbuilding, ship repair and ship breaking, inland water transportation, coastal shipping, lighthouse tourism and cruise shipping, hinterland connectivity and logistics handling facilities to the potential investors from across the world. . . PIB Mum | MA / MDesai presented a voluntary redundancy plan to unions on Thursday that calls for 675 job cuts at its corporate and institutional bank in France, a source familiar with the matter said. said in February it planned to save more than 1 billion euros by 2019 to help to mitigate the impact of rising regulatory and compliance costs. Sources had told Reuters that management was to meet with union representatives at its CIB division on Thursday. BNP Paribas said when it reported annual results in February, it wanted to reduce low-return activities and portfolios and make adjustments in all regions, a process the bank had already started in the Middle East, Africa and Russia. BNP Paribas had more than 30,000 employees at its CIB division in nearly 57 countries, according to its 2015 annual report. The French bank has also said it aims to gain market share in investment banking as rivals retreat to develop less capital-intensive and fee-driven businesses. 1Malaysia Development Bhd, the troubled Malaysian state fund that's the subject of global investigations, said it could be a victim of fraud if payments of $3.5 billion intended for an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund never made it there. Authorities from the US to Switzerland and Singapore are trying to determine if some of the billions of dollars that 1MDB raised were siphoned out inappropriately. 1MDB, whose advisory board is headed by Prime Minister Najib Razak, amassed more than 50 billion ringgit ($12.9 billion) of debt over six years, using some of it to buy energy assets, including ... Microsoft Corp sued the US Justice Department in an attempt to stop the government from forcing it to turn its customers' e-mails and other data over to law enforcement without their knowledge. The lawsuit, which names the Justice Department and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, ratchets up the pressure by technology companies against the US government and echoes a struggle by Apple Inc to protect its customers' privacy by refusing to undermine the encryption on its iPhones. Microsoft has been fighting the US over customer privacy and its ability to disclose what it's had to turn ... Global oil markets will "move close to balance" in the second half of the year as lower prices take their toll on production outside Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), the International Energy Agency said. The world surplus will diminish to 200,000 barrels a day in the last six months of the year from 1.5 million in the first half, the agency said in a report on Thursday. Production outside the Opec will decline by the most since 1992 as the US shale oil boom falters. The glut is also being tempered as Iran restores exports only gradually with financial barriers ... The preliminary agreement by Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Qatar to freeze output has already put a floor under crude prices and a deal this weekend to include other producers would extend the recovery, according to Qatar's Energy Ministry. Analysts and traders have puzzled over exactly why oil producers have devoted so much diplomatic energy to the meeting in Doha on April 17, when the consensus is that the freeze would have little immediate impact on crude production. The letter - an invitation to the Doha meeting that Norway declined - gives some answers. Qatar, which is ... The US has started hitting the with "cyber bombs" as part of its new arsenal of tactics against the dreaded terror group, a top Pentagon official said. "We are dropping cyber bombs. We have never done that before," Deputy Secretary of Defence Robert Work said. "Just like we have an air campaign, I want to have a cyber campaign. I want to use all the space capabilities I have," Work said. He said that the entire counter- campaign was putting "enormous pressure" on the organisation. "Right now it sucks to be ISIL," Work was quoted as saying by CNN. "Every time we have gone after one of their defended positions in the last 10 months, we have defeated them," he claimed. Earlier, Defence Secretary Ash Carter had said that the cyber effort was focused primarily on terrorists in Syria and that the campaign's goal was to "overload their network so that they can't function" and "interrupt their ability to command and control forces there, control the population and the economy." Carter has said that by disrupting ISIS' communications, these cyberattacks risked hindering US intelligence collection. But he said that such "trade-offs" did not detract from the need to disrupt ISIS' networks. "We have to attack their command-and-control," Carter said in February. Carter added that Cyber Command "was devised specifically to make the US proficient and powerful in this tool of war." But the head of Cyber Command warned last week that ISIS may be able to mount cyberattacks of its own on the US. Meanwhile, Admiral Michael Rogers, Commander of the US Cyber Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that ISIS had "harnessed the power of the information arena" to propagate its ideology, recruit, move money and coordinate activity and that it "would not be difficult" for ISIS to conduct future cyberattacks on the US should they seek to develop that capability. ISIS is an al-Qaeda splinter group which has captured a large swaths of Iraq and Syria and declared a caliphate led by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. The Islamic State militants, known for their brutality, have executed a number of Westerners. The group also publishes a sleek monthly online English- language magazine, Dabiq, with religious lessons, plus news about its activities. Mark Zuckerberg has said that Facebook thinks a new product is ready to become a real business only once it has one billion users. The company's Messenger app isn't quite there yet- Zuckerberg said on Tuesday the app has 900 million people using it each month - but he's already started laying out his vision for the software's commercial future. And the future, it seems, is bots. The kinds of bots Zuckerberg is referring to are software programmes that can discern what people type in plain language, then provide an appropriate response. Zuckerberg said at Facebook's F8 ... manufacturers in the country are in the soup after the union government's decision to lift the 30 per cent export duty on chrome ore and chrome ore concentrates. They feel zero export duty would flood the country with cheaper imports from China and Malaysia, killing value addition. India's export of chrome ore has reduced from 33.28 per cent of annual output in 2007 to 4.89 per cent in 2014. However, this trend is likely to be reversed with the removal of export duty as this will enable producers especially from China and Malaysia to dump cheaper into the country. Chrome ore production in the country touched a high of 3.3 million tonne (mt) in 2007, falling gradually to 0.54 mt in 2014-15 and 1.92 mt in 2015-16. Similarly, chrome ore exports from the country reached an all-time high of 0.11 mt in 2007 and finally falling to a lowly 94,000 tonne in 2014. Ferro chrome producers with an installed capacity of 0.25 million tonne have made huge investments. Currently, the ferro chrome plants are deprived of raw materials and struggling to get the chrome ore at competitive prices. The government's decision on waiver of export duty will impact the domestic ferro chrome producers and also jeopardise the operations of stainless steel makers for whom ferro chrome is a vital ingredient. "The government must review its decision in order to promote manufacturing and greater value addition of the natural resources. This would save lakhs of jobs and the ailing industry", said S Bhattacharya, director, Jindal Stainless Ltd (JSL). The ferro alloys industry is in a precarious state presently due to adverse market conditions. In the future, "industry also faces threat of dumping of ferro alloys from Malaysia under FTA (Free Trade Agreement). Therefore, it is our earnest request to see the export duty on chrome ore is restored so that Indian ferro chrome producers have a level playing field," Manish Sharda, vice chairman, Indian Ferro Alloys Producers Association (IFAPA) said in the representations submitted to the Ministries of steel, finance and commerce. Around 96 per cent of the chrome ore is used for ferro chrome production which in turn, is used in stainless steel making. With 70 per cent of the world's production of stainless steel taking place in Asia (China, Japan, South Korea & Taiwan), India is ideally positioned to cater to this requirement by exporting value added ferro chrome rather than by exporting chrome ore. Also, the country's stainless steel demand is expected to touch five million tonne in the next five years. Indian chrome ore has higher chrome to iron ratio which makes it of better quality. The exports of this chrome ore will only support the Chinese stainless steel industry which is completely dependent on imports of chrome ore. "The domestic ferro chrome manufacturers are operating in losses and most of the small manufacturers are operating just to utilise the power from their captive power plants. On the other side, condition of ferro chrome manufacturers is further worsened due to the artificially high chrome ore prices maintained by Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) through e-auction process", said N C Mathur, president at Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA). Chrome ore is a scarce resource and export duty was imposed in 2007 with a view to conserve it for domestic value addition which has a multiplier effect. Presently, the country has only 0.6 per cent of the global chromite reserves. Food group confirmed its full-year outlook on Thursday after first-quarter underlying sales growth of 3.9% beat expectations, driven mostly by growth in volumes rather than pricing. Like its peers, is facing slower growth and more demanding consumers in emerging markets, notably China, but said it managed to gain market share in most of its categories and businesses. "As anticipated, the first quarter continued the positive momentum in real internal growth, with softer pricing," the maker of Nescafe instant coffee and Pure Life bottled water said in a statement. It confirmed its full-year outlook for organic growth, which strips out currency swings, acquisitions and divestitures, to be in line with 2015, with improvements in margins and underlying earnings per share in constant currencies. Sales at the group based in Vevey on Lake Geneva rose to 20.9 billion Swiss francs ($21.6 billion), in line with forecasts in a Reuters poll. Organic growth slowed to 3.9%, down from 4.2% last year, but beat a 3.7% forecast in the poll. reported 3.0% volume growth in the quarter, slightly better than rival Unilever which had underlying volume growth of 2.6%. Nestle shares were indicated to open 1.3% higher, versus a 0.4% rise in the Swiss market index. The maker of Gerber baby food said its volume growth accelerated compared to last year, thanks to strong performances in Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa. It managed to boost prices as well but that growth was slower than a year earlier. Sales in the group's Asia, Oceania and Africa (AOA) zone accelerated to 2.1%, from 0.5% in 2015, recovering from a Maggi noodle recall in India last year. "Asia zone swings positive for the first time in a couple of a quarters reflecting a quicker than expected rebound in Maggi in India as well as coffee and ongoing signs that China is on the mend," Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Jon Cox said in an emailed comment. "Overall, Nestle has printed a decent number and consensus should nudge up. Given the disappointments of the last couple of quarters this is extremely encouraging," he said. Recalling Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's vision of a prosperous India on his 125th birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reiterated his government's commitment to electrify all the villages in the country, adding that efforts to achieve it are being carried out in a transparent manner. Speaking at an event held to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of the father of India's Constitution at his birth place Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, the Prime Minister said Babasaheb Ambedkar fought for equality, respect and against the injustice in the society. The Prime Minister said that the NDA's Budget for the fiscal 2016-17 is dedicated towards the welfare of the villages and farmers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi further expressed disappointment at the fact that around 18,000 villages in the country remain without electricity even after decades of independence. "It's matter of great regret that 18000 villages of our country have not been electrified even decades after Independence. Efforts towards rural electrification is being done very transparently. The 'Garv App' gives real time progress in this regard," he said. Prime Minister Modi also released a book titled '10 saal bemisaal' to highlight the achievements of work done by the Madhya Pradesh Government. Prime Minister Modi earlier in the day paid tribute Dr. Ambedkar at his birthplace in Mhow on the occasion of his 125th birth anniversary. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also accompanied the Prime Minister to Dr. Ambedkar's memorial, where Modi garlanded his bust and sought his blessings with folded hands. Anti Pakistan protests have erupted in various parts of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) over Islamabad's discriminatory practices in providing jobs to local Youth. Jobs which are rare in this part of the region are reportedly being given to Pakistani youth and youngsters of Kashmiri origin are being marginalised. About 100 individuals owing allegiance to the Jammu and Kashmir National Students Federation (JKNSF) along with some members of the Jammu and Kashmir National Awami Party (JKNAP) took part in a demonstration in Muzaffarabad that condemned the oppressive rule of the Pakistani authorities and the local PoK government. They demanded the creation of an independent Kashmir and raised slogans to this effect. The demonstrators also raised anti-Pakistan slogans resulting in a crackdown on the rally by the police. The protestors carried placards which read "Kashmir Bachanay Nikley Hain, Aao Hamaray Saath Chalo". Police had to resort to a heavy baton charge on the demonstrators. Some of the latter were roughed up in a savage manner and many were taken into custody. Sharing of military logistics with the United States will have serious repercussions on India's independent foreign policy and strategic autonomy, former defence minister A.K. Antony told ANI in an exclusive interview. Cautioning the NDA government, the former defence minister said, "India has been following an independent foreign policy and strategic autonomy all along. India is against joining any military block. But, after signing the logistic support agreement with the U.S., India will become a part of the U.S. military block." "This decision, if implemented, will be disastrous. I appeal to the government to reconsider their decision and not sign all three foundation agreements whatever may be the pressure from any quarter," said Antony, while urging the government to reconsider its decision and not buckle under any pressure. "This decision is an evasion of our policy followed since independence. India will become part of the U.S. military block. If you sign this agreement, the U.S. military, especially the navy and air force, will get facilities on Indian soil to refuel their aircraft and ships, and if necessary they can keep their military equipments on Indian soil," said the former defence minister, adding that that is why they were resisting the proposal from successive U.S. governments during the former UPA regime. "As far as India is concerned, our military rarely goes to foreign shores. We are operating within the boundary on Indian soil. By signing this agreement, the U.S. military is going to be the real beneficiary. They (the U.S.) have already announced within three years, 60 percent of the U.S. Marine will be stationed in the Asia-Pacific region. So, gradually U.S. Navy's and a major portion of their air force's main operation theatre will be the Asia-Pacific," he added. "They will be the beneficiary of the signing of this agreement and they are compelling us to signing of two more agreements -Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for geospatial intelligence. These three agreements are so-called foundation agreements. If you sign all three, the Indian military will become an integral part of the U.S. military establishment, and that will be end of India's strategic autonomy and it will become merely a part of the U.S. military block," he warned. Antony said India maintains friendly relations with all major powers. "We have a very friendly and traditional relationship with former Soviet Union and now with Russia. We are gradually improving our relations with the US. We are also our relations with Japan, Europe and the Middle East," he said. The United States has said that the Bangladesh Government took 'limited measures' to investigate and prosecute cases of abuse and killing by the security forces. The US, in its 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, claimed that the authorities failed at times to maintain effective control over the security forces. The report listed extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, the killing of secular bloggers and others by groups espousing extremist views, some restrictions on online speech and the press, reports Daily Star. Other human rights problems included torture and other abuse by security forces, arbitrary arrests and detentions, weak judicial capacity and independence. US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington is opposed to the use of torture in any form at any time by any government or non-state actor. Politically motivated and intraparty violence remained serious problems and official corruption remained a problem, the US report observed. The US thinks discrimination against persons based on their sexual orientation continued in Bangladesh. The report described Bangladesh as a secular, pluralistic, parliamentary democracy. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League (AL) retained power in the January 2014 parliamentary elections. Bayern Munich claimed a 3-2 aggregate win over Benfica to progress through to the semifinals of the Champions League following a 2-2 draw in the second leg match in Lisbon. The German Champions held a 1-0 lead heading into the second leg, thanks to Aruto Vidal's early strike at the Allianz Arena last week. Raul Jimenez breached the Bayern defence to restore parity for Benfica in the 27th minute before Vidal and Thomas Mueller put the Germans in control, Sport24 reported. Although Benfica were given a glimmer of hope when Brazilian Talisca curled a free-kick into the top corner in the 76th minute, Rui Vitoria's men eventually ran out of steam. With the win, five-time champions Bayern advanced to the last-four stage for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. China has published a report on the United States human rights situation on Thursday, in response to the '2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices' issued by the U.S. State Department on April 13. Titled "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2015", the report was released by the Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, reports Xinhua. The report says that the Washington made comments on the human rights situation in many countries while being tight-lipped about its own terrible human rights record, adding, the United States saw no improvement in its existent human rights issues, but reported numerous new problems. "Since the U.S. government refuses to hold up a mirror to look at itself, it has to be done with other people's help," Xinhua quoted the report as saying. The reports asserted the money politics and family politics went from bad to worse in the country, where the voters fount I hard to express their real volition. It also showed light on the civil rights situation which in 2015 went rampant with gun-related crimes and excessive use of force by police. In total it revealed that 51,675 gun violence incidents took place in the United States in 2015 as of December 28, leaving 13,136 dead and 26,493 injured. As of December 24 last year, U.S police shot dead 965 people. The report highlights that no substantial progress concerning the economic and social rights of U.S. citizens were made, adding, more than 560,000 people nationwide were homeless last year, and there were 33 million people in the United States with no healthcare insurance. It also quotes figures to show that Washington continued to trample on human rights in other countries, causing tremendous civilian casualties. The United States launched 3,965 air strikes in Iraq and 2,823 in Syria, causing an estimated number of civilian deaths between 1,695 and 2,239 from August 2014 to December 2015. It further said that the United States' overseas monitoring projects infringed on the privacy of citizens of other countries. According to the report, Washington has also bugged the phones of three French presidents and many other senior French officials. The Disney star Debby Ryan took to her Twitter handle to apologise to her fans after getting arrested for drunk driving. "Over the last few days I have had the chance to think about my actions, and I wish I had used better judgement. I recognize that I am a role model and have always worked hard to set a good example for my millions of fans. I am so sorry to disappoint everyone," she tweeted, reports TMZ.com. The 22-year-old 'Jessie' star was driving around Los Angeles on April 5, 2016 when she made a left turn in her Audi and crashed into a Mercedes Benz. Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that the star was arrested on a felony of 'Driving Under the Influence' (DUI). Reportedly, the driver claimed injury. However, the local authorities ultimately reduced Ryan's offense to two misdemeanor counts and released her on 100,000 dollar bail. The Duke and Duchess flew to to Bhutan on Thursday. On arrival at Paro airport, The Duke and Duchess will immediately get a sense of the beauty of this mountainous country. They will be welcomed by senior state representatives before departing for a scenic drive to the capital city of Thimphu. In the afternoon, they will travel to the beautiful Thimphu Dzong where they will take part in a Chipdrel, a traditional welcome procession, complete with music, ceremonial dress, and plenty of colour. Inside the Dzong, they will have a private audience with The King and Queen. Their Majesties will then lead The Duke and Duchess across the Dzong's vast courtyard, which will be beautifully decorated, across to a temple where they will receive a brief blessing and will light butter lamps. The Duke and Duchess will then say goodbye to The King and Queen for the afternoon before heading to Thimphu's open-air archery venue, located in the heart of the small city. Their Royal Highnesses will see first-hand Bhutan's awe-inspiring national sport, where archers must aim at very small, brightly decorated wooden targets positioned 145 metres away from where they are standing. The Duke and Duchess will also have the opportunity to meet young people from local schools and NGOs and see other traditional games. Today evening The Duke and Duchess will have a private dinner with The King and Queen at Lingkana Palace. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge began their two-day tour of Bhutan after landing at Paro airport on Thursday morning. On arrival, the royal couple were greeted by the King's sister Princess Chhimi Yangzom and her husband, and presented them with two ceremonial scarves each called Khadhar. Prince William and Kate Middleton enjoyed a scenic drive through the capital city of Thimphu and also took part in the Chipdrel, a traditional welcome procession, complete with music, ceremonial dress, and plenty of colour. Inside the Dzong, the Duke and Duchess met the King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema. Their Majesties then led The Duke and Duchess across the Dzong's vast courtyard, which was beautifully decorated, across to a temple where they received a brief blessing with lit butter lamps. Later today, the Duke and Duchess will see first-hand Bhutan's awe-inspiring national sport of archery, where archers must aim at very small, brightly decorated wooden targets positioned 145 metres away from where they are standing. The Duke and Duchess will also have the opportunity to meet young people from local schools and NGOs and see other traditional games. This evening, the Duke and Duchess will have a private dinner with The King and Queen at Lingkana Palace. PureCircle, the world's leading producer of high-purity stevia ingredients for the global food and beverage industry, have announced its plans to invest in India's infrastructure over the next five years. The company plans to partner with thousands of Indian farmers to plant 5,000 hectares of stevia and eventually build a stevia processing facility in India. "Our investment in India signals the huge potential we see in this market for stevia like a sweetener and as an agricultural commodity," said Jason Hecker, PureCircle's President of Group Sales and Marketing. "We believe this plant can not only help farmers in the region earn extra income, but also help to naturally reduce calories for Indian consumers while maintaining the sweet tastes they want," added Jason. India is the last major market to approve stevia leaf extract as a sweetener, opening the doors for PureCircle investment. This highlights PureCircle's ongoing commitment to the PureCircle Stevia Agronomy Program and to working directly with farmers. The agronomy program provides farmers with a contract that states a fixed priced for the stevia they produce and teaches them how to grow the plant sustainably. Indian farmers that grow PureCircle stevia on one hectare of land can expect to yield an income of about Rs. 400,000 per year. Early agricultural trials are already underway in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. "Stevia, also called Meethi Tulsi and Meethi Patti by Indian farmers, is the perfect ingredient for India due to its natural and herbal origins," said Ajay Chandran, Senior Director for South Asia Region. "Across the globe, PureCircle's portfolio of innovative stevia sweeteners and flavors has enabled major brands to reformulate full sugar products with this natural, zero-calorie solution to address consumer demands. We feel confident that stevia's approval India will lead to new, lower calorie taste innovation for this market and help consumers significantly reduce their sweet calorie intake," added Ajay. Stressing on the importance of maritime transport, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday insisted that everyone should make sure that our lifestyle, transport systems and trading behaviour do not spoil the ecology of the oceans. "Maritime transport can be the most extensive mode of transport. It is also the most eco-friendly mode of transport. But we have to make sure that our lifestyle; transport systems and trading behaviour do not spoil the ecology of the oceans," he said at the inauguration of the Maritime India Summit 2016 here. Prime Minister Modi said the challenges of climate change have shown that even offshore human behaviour can change the ecology of glaciers and oceans. He also said that the architect of the Indian Constitution Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was also the architect of the water and river navigation policy in India. "Many of us may not know that Babasaheb created two powerful institutions related to water, navigation and power. They were-The Central Waterways, Irrigation and Navigation Commission and The Central Technical Power Board. Dr Ambedkar emphasised on the importance of new waterways policy to lay the foundation for a regime of prosperity for millions of poor of India," he said. The Prime Minister also asserted that his government has embarked on the development of Waterways in keeping with Babasaheb's vision and foresight. Prime Minister Modi also lauded the efforts of the Shipping Ministry, saying the performance of major ports in the last two years has been remarkable. "The operating profit margins, which were declining have increased. Our vision is to increase port efficiency. We want to enable growth with investments and new ports being developed. Private Ports have been growing at a very healthy pace and have nearly doubled their capacity in the last five years. Our vision is to increase port capacity from one thousand, four hundred million tonnes to three thousand million tonnes by 2025. We want to mobilise an investment of one lakh crore," he said. "We Indians are inheritors of a glorious maritime heritage. It is my government's endeavour to revive and restore India's position of eminence in the global maritime sector. In the very early days of our government, we announced the Sagarmala programme. We want to modernize ports and integrate them with the SEZs, Port based Smart Cities, Industrial Parks, Warehouses, Logistics Parks. Our maritime agenda will complement this ambitious infrastructure plan for the hinterland which is going on in parallel," he added. The Prime Minister also said the long coastline of India, along with diverse coastal regions and hard working coastal communities can become an engine of growth of India. "The maritime sector not only creates and facilitates economic activities; it also connects countries and civilisations. India has had a glorious maritime history. We are on the path of shaping an even better maritime future," he said. The objective of the three-day Maritime India Summit is to attract potential investors to the vast opportunities that the various components of the Maritime Sector have on offer. It will showcase projects covering sectors like port development and modernization, Greenfield ports, port led development under 'Sagarmala', shipbuilding, ship repair and ship breaking, inland water transportation, coastal shipping, lighthouse tourism and cruise shipping, hinterland connectivity and logistics handling facilities to the potential investors from across the world. Criticizing Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli's for failing to understand the cause of Madhesi's agitation, leaders associated with the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) termed the former's offer of talks an eyewash. Oli on his televised message on Tuesday had invited the agitating forces to the negotiating table to seek a settlement on constitutional issues. Spokesperson for the Tarai Madhes Democratic Party Sarvendranath Shukla said that PM's offer of talks was aimed at giving a false impression to the international community that his government was trying to settle the Tarai problems. He asserted that Oli had made similar offer when he became the Prime Minister but formed the government's talk's team only after a month reflecting insincerity on his part. "In his televised address, the PM said he could not understand the reasons behind Madhes agitation.How can the government find solution if it continues to ignore the reasons behind a movement which saw 20 lakh people taking to the streets to protest against discriminatory provisions of the constitution?" The Himalayan Times quoted him, as saying. He said that even after the Madhesi leaders went to submit a memorandum, Oli did not even bother to listen to their political demands, adding, United Democratic Madhesi Front was not against dialogue but the government should make sincere efforts in negotiating settlement of the Tarai problems. Shukla demanded the government to announce the constitutional status of the report of the committee and its terms of reference in it. Meanwhile, Chairperson of the Sadbhawana Party Rajendra Mahato said that Oli's offer of talks was a waste of time. "We had given the government an ultimatum to address our concerns before April 12.Instead of addressing our demands within the time frame, the government just made an offer of talks. This shows how indifferent this government is to our demands," Mahato said. He said that Oli's offer of talks was only a ploy to stop the agitators, adding, the UDMF would unveil its protest programmes in a few days and the movement would be Kathmandu centric. Norway will be one of two countries hosting a dedicated country pavilion at the Maritime India Summit 2016 in Mumbai this week. A range of Norwegian maritime companies will present their competence and technology at the pavilion. The Maritime India Summit is a flagship initiative of the Indian Ministry of Shipping, and provides a platform for foreign companies to explore potential business opportunities in the Indian maritime sector. The summit is being organised for the first time this year, and will take place in Mumbai from 14 April to 16 April. Norway and South Korea are the only countries hosting dedicated country pavilions during the summit. Innovation Norway has organized the 132 square meters pavilion which will present Norwegian companies working in the maritime sector, including DNV GL, Goltens, Jotun, Kongsberg Maritime, NORINCO and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics. The Norwegian Business Association in India, which represents about 20 maritime companies from Norway, will also participate. A large number of foreign delegates will attend the summit. Mr. Olav Akselsen, who is the Director General of Norwegian Maritime Authority and a former Minister for Petroleum and Energy, will lead the Norwegian delegation, which will be meeting Minister of Shipping, Mr. Nitin Gadkari, and representatives of the Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI). Mr. Akselsen will also give a speech at the Session on Maritime Nations. The topic will be Norway's maritime policy, as well as safety and environmental sustainability in the maritime industry. There will also be a Norway-centric panel discussion, concerning Norwegian expertise for maritime cluster-led development of coastal India. The panel will consist of representatives from DNV GL, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, Jotun, Kongsberg Maritime and NORINCO. The panel discussion will be followed by a networking event with the Norwegian delegation in the evening. The maritime cooperation between Norway and India is multifaceted and covers areas from manufacturing and maintenance of tools and equipment and over 2000 Indian seafarers working onboard Norwegian vessels. In 2010, Norway and India established a Joint Working Group on maritime affairs. Some of the areas identified for collaboration are coastal shipping and inland waterways, LNG-based shipping, cooperation in ports and sustainable shipping. The Norwegian fleet is one of the biggest and most modern in the world, and Norwegian shipping companies are engaged in all shipping segments. The Norwegian maritime industry has developed many business partnerships in India, and is eager to do more. The fifth joint air exercise Shaheen-V between Pakistan and China kicked off at an operational base in Pakistan today. A contingent of People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) comprising combat pilots, air defence controllers and technical ground crew besides a PAF contingent are participating in the exercise, reports Dawn. The last such exercise between both sides was conducted in Beijing in October last year. The exercise witnessed the participation of three different types of frontline fighter aircraft belonging to various PAF squadrons for the first time. Air Commodore Syed Muhammad Ali said this exercise will enhance bilateral relationship and capability of the air forces of the two friendly neighbours. The Pakistan Air Force has been a regular participant in a number of international air exercises with various air forces, including the United States Air Force (USAF), Italian Air Force, Turkish Air Force and other allied countries. The strategic partnership has been further strengthened through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, infrastructure development and routine joint military exercises. With India raising the issue of Kirpal Singh's death, Pakistan has said that the Indian prisoner died of heart attack while asserting that it was not appropriate to see everything through the prism of suspicion and conspiracy. "The Indian prisoner Kirpal Singh died on 11th April, 2016, due to heart attack. It is not appropriate to see everything through the prism of suspicion and conspiracy. He was kept in intensive care at the hospital but he could not survive," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said. He said that Islamabad was in touch with the Indian High Commission with regard to handing over Singh's body. "We have communicated this information to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. We are in contact with the Ministry of Interior and the Indian High Commission with regard to transportation of dead body back to India," he added. Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday met the family members of Kirpal Singh, the Indian prisoner who died in a Lahore jail on April 11, in New Delhi and promised a full inquiry into the matter. India's Acting High Commissioner in Islamabad, J.P. Singh, met the Director-General for South Asia in the Pakistani Ministry for Foreign Affairs to request that Singh's body be flown to India at the earliest. "Our Acting High Commissioner met DG South Asia in the Min of Foreign Affairs & asked for earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains," tweeted Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup earlier. "According to Govt of Pakistan, Shri Kirpal Singh died on April 11 at 1455hrs due to heart attack. We await further details," he added. Kirpal Singh's kin had on Tuesday staged a protest at the Attari border and raised anti-Pakistan slogans near the Integrated Check Post (ICP). Pakistan's former permanent representative at the United Nations in Geneva and envoy at the Conference on Disarmament, Zamir Akram, has said that "chances of India gaining entry into Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), were virtually nil", and appeared convinced of this despite New Delhi having the support of the United States. Ambassador Akram was speaking at a conference on the International Nuclear Order, organised by the Strategic Vision Institute and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung on Wednesday, where he dismissed India's chances, reports the Dawn. This is the second time in a month that a senior official involved with the country's nuclear affairs has made such comments. Last month, adviser to the Command Authority, retired Lt Gen Khalid Kidwai, at a conference, said , "We also have friends in who would not let it happen." Read more from our special coverage on "NSG" He opined that Beijing would not allow New Delhi to enter the coveted group because this would affect its nuclear cooperation with Islamabad and said that China is committed to ensuring that both India and Pakistan gain membership at the same time, reports the Dawn. Akram asserted that some countries were upset by the "double standards" being shown in India's case. In 2008, India received a country-specific safeguards agreement at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which set at ease exemptions from the for nuclear trade with India, despite not being the signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Both China and Pakistan initially opposed to India-specific agreement with the IAEA, but later withdrew the objection after US pressure on Islamabad. Talking about the global nuclear order, the ambassador asserted that it has been destabilised due to various factors, including the world powers' double standards and discriminatory exemptions granted to India. Meanwhile, Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Ehsanul Haq, in the conference criticised the world nuclear order for being "highly discriminatory and obstructive". He asserted that Pakistan's nuclear programme would continue to defend itself. "No matter how adverse the environment, to provide us the credible deterrence against the existential threats we confront," Haq said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid tribute to father of India's Constitution and nation's first Law and Justice Minister Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar at the late leader's birthplace in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, on the occasion of his 125th birth anniversary. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also accompanied the Prime Minister to Dr. Ambedkar's memorial, where Modi garlanded his bust and sought his blessings with folded hands. Prime Minister Modi had, earlier in his tweets, said that the architect of the Indian Constitution was a ' Vishwa Manav', who devoted his life in service of the poor and the marginalised. A function was held in the lawns of the Parliament house complex today where political leaders and people from different walks of life paid floral tributes to the statue of Dr. Ambedkar. Meanwhile, the United Nations also celebrated Dr B. R. Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary 'Ambedkar Jayanti' at the UN headquarters in New York. On this day, the international organisation aims to focus on combating inequalities to achieve Sustainable Development Goals and vouch his vision to create a nation on the firm grounds of democracy and social justice and equality for all. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the pilot of 'e-NAM' (e-trading platform for the Agriculture Market) here on Thursday. Addressed a gathering of farmers on the occasion, the Prime Minister said, "The initiative will usher in transparency that will greatly benefit the farmers." "This is a turning point for the agriculture community and the agriculture sector has to be looked at holistically, and it is only then that maximum benefit of the farmer can be ensured," he added. He also called for change in the sector according to global requirement to make the agri products more profitable, and asked farmers to adopt modern and scientific methods in farming to boost country's economy. "The e-NAM is a pan-India e-trading portal to network existing APMC and other market yards to create a unified market for agri commodities. The portal will provide a single window service for all APMC related information and services," he said. The portal will connect e-mandis in several states and is aimed at ushering in much needed agri marketing reforms to enable farmers to get better price of their produce and double their income. He said earlier farmers used to get to know rate of their crops only after reaching mandis, but now it enables them to know the rate of their crops and production even before they load it on a tractor or cart. He said laboratories will be established in mandis to check quality of the crops. "Unfortunately, the country does not have real time data on agriculture production and these structures need to be changed. Even in many states there is no law on agriculture market," said the Prime Minister, urging the states to amend the APMC rules to facilitate farmers to take benefit of the scheme. Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh said, "The Government is working hard for the welfare of the farmers, and launch of Agriculture Market is a step in this direction." "Twenty-one mandis in eight states have been linked to the National Agriculture Market today, while by September 2016 two hundred mandis will be included and by March 2018 five hundred eighty five mandis will be added to it. The Centre is very keen to accomplish the work as early as possible and if states cooperate it will be done one year ahead that is by March2017," he added. Singh said, "The project will operate through an online portal, which is being linked to the mandis of the states. Its software will be provided to all the willing states free of cost. A knowledgeable person is being deployed for one year in every sharing mandi so as to facilitate the smooth functioning of the portal. "Under this project, the Centre is providing a grant of Rs. 30 lakhs to the proposed agriculture mandis of the states. The farmers will be provided farmer helpline services round the clock for obtaining information related to this portal." He said the Ministry of Agriculture has adopted a concept, 'Agriculture Development Tree'. "The ministry has initiated a number of projects for overall development of the farmers within the same tree. The government is taking all steps to double the farmers' income in the next five years," said the Agriculture Minister, adding that for the first time in India, "one nation and one market" is being developed and this market status will be elevated to the status of international market. New Delhi Apr.14 (ANI): With a new Director General in Professor K.G. Suresh, it is a good time to reset the aims and objectives of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). Array I have had the opportunity to be associated with the IIMC ever since it was founded. The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, had sought the advice of democracies in the West as to what should be the role of public information organisations in the country and what should be the training given to the personnel 'manning' such institutions. Array The advice received from the UNESCO and the Ford Foundation was that the country should have a Indian Information Service and the personnel of the service should be selected through a competitive examination, given initial training at the Services Training Institute in Dehradun, and then given professional training at an institution named the IIMC. Array The IIMC was initially housed in two buildings in South Extension in New Delhi. Senior officers of various departments of the Ministry of Information were appointed to head the IMMC academic staff. To name a few, we had eminent communicators like H.Y. Sharada Prasad, who received training at Harvard in the USA after a stint with a leading English newspaper in Bombay -- now Mumbai --G. N.S. Raghavan, a news editor with a English newspaper in the capital and many others. It had the blessings of Indira Gandhi, the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting, who inaugurated it on August 17 , 1965. Array After the passing away of India's second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, there was confusion with the break up of the Indian Congress. During the Ministership of the Information Ministry of Nandini Satpathy it was decided to suspend recruitment to the Indian Information Service. The IIMC would have had no work to perform and it was decided to admit students to the institute through a competitive examination, and in addition to train personnel of the Indian Information Service. The recruitment to the Indian Information Service resumed after the return of Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister. Array When the institute was shifted to its present location near Jawarharlal Nehru University, a committee was appointed to draw up its aims and objectives . It was then headed by N.L Chawla, a former senior official of the broadcasting service. He had suggested that the IIMC should be given the status of a 'deemed university'. Array The committee, after deliberations, decided that while it should continue to train students in journalism and advertising, it should not dilute its primary role, which is to train personnel of the mass communication departments of the Government of India, have short courses for those manning the publicity departments of the state governments and public sector undertakings. By that time the country had fought four wars -- in Kashmir in 1947-48, the India China War, the war with Pakistan and 1965, and 1971. It was felt that the armed forces personnel should receive orientation regarding the role they and communication personnel have to play in future wars. Array The examinations conducted for admission to the institute were highly competive. To accommodate more students, K. P. Singh Deo who had taken over as the new Information Minister, decided to establish a branch of the institute in Orissa and allowed it to function from a location in Dhenkanal which belonged to him. There were more demands of opening more branches and they emerged in Aizwal (Mizoram) Amravati (Maharashtra), Kottayam (Kerala) and Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir). Array Meanwhile, the mass communication scene changed with the emergence of many television channels in the country. Some newspapers established their own mass communication establishments. Many training institutions also emerged in the country and the IIMC soon lost the importance it had as a mass communication training institute. Teaching staff at the institute also started drifting away. There were periods when the institute was' managed' by a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Array After a long time, a 'professional journalist' is heading the institute. One hopes that he would not dilute the initial aims and objectives of the institute. It is also necessary that literature is available at the institute which is relevant to India. I have had the advantage of being a visiting professor at the institute decades ago in addition to directing its aims and objects till I reached superannuation in 1992. Array Good luck Prof K. G. Suresh. Array Mr. I. Ramamohan Rao is a former Principal Information Officer of the Government of India. He can be reached at raoramamohan@hotmail. Karnataka Chief Minister K. Siddaramaiah on Thursday rubbished allegations of favouring his son in a government hospital contract, saying everything is legal and transparent. "Everything is legal and transparent. He is a doctor, he is a pathologist," he told ANI in Bengaluru. Karnataka BJP chief B.S. Yeddyurappa, however, accused Siddaramaiah of misusing his power. "It is a big offence, legal action will be initiated," the former chief minister told the media here. Meanwhile, the Congress Party came to Siddaramaiah's defence and said that attempts must not be made to defame the state government. Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said the Chief Minister has explained his position on the issue. "And his son has also told that if it is illegal (then) I don't want to participate, I will withdraw from the company. He clearly told this. It means there is no hanky panky. Even if some people have doubt, he himself has said that I am ready to withdraw myself from that," Kharge said. "So, such things should not be made unnecessarily just to defame the government and the Congress Party," he added. The Karnataka Chief Minister has come under the scanner over his younger son Dr. Yathindra being permitted to set up lab and diagnostic facility at government-run hospitals in alleged violation of the code of conduct for ministers. "After taking office, and so long as he remains in office, the minister shall: ensure that the members of his family do not start, or participate in, business concerns, engaged in supplying goods or services to that government (excepting in the usual course of trade or business and at standard or market rates) or dependent primarily on grant of licenses, permits, quotas, leases, etc., from that government," states one of the provisions for the code of conduct for ministers. The lab, which is reportedly set to open at the end of this month, will be run in partnership with Matrix Imaging Solutions India Private Limited in which Siddaramiah's son Dr. Yathindra is a director. Matrix Imaging was awarded the tender in October last year despite objections from many heads of department at the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) and questions over the emergence of the company as the lowest bidder. The Sri Lankan Navy said that it has assisted in the repatriation of three Indian fishermen released from Sri Lankan custody on Wednesday. The released fishermen were handed over to the Indian Coast Guard Ship 'Abheek' at the International Maritime Boundary Line north of Kankasanthurai, reports Lanka Page. Sri Lanka Coast Guard Craft CG 48 was deployed for the mission. Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Saturday assisted the repatriation of 96 Indian fishermen, who were released from Sri Lankan custody by the courts recently, handing them over to the Indian authorities. Sushila Karki has become the first female acting Chief Justice of Nepal's Supreme Court ending the male domination in higher posts in the judiciary. The Constitutional Council headed by the Prime Minister KP Sharama Oli recommended the appointment of Karki, 63, replacing Kalyan Shrestha, who retired on Tuesday reported The Himalayan Times. Her nomination is expected to be confirmed by a parliamentary committee, though this has not yet been formed because of bickering among political parties. Karki has the reputation of being a fearless judge with zero tolerance for corruption. She is also known for judgments allowing women to pass their citizenship to their children, previously something only men could do in Nepal. She strongly believes that competent women should be in leadership positions for the emancipation of women and is known for delivering judgments free from the influence of political or personal ties. Former colleagues say Karki is known for delivering judgments free of the influence of politics or personal ties. The Himalayan nation, though still a deeply patriarchal society, is becoming increasingly inclusive, following the end of 10 years of civil war in 2006 and the abolition of the 239-year-old feudal monarchy two years later. Last year, a specially elected Constituent Assembly approved the first post-monarchical constitution, which gave women the right to 'proportional inclusion'in all government organs. It also guaranteed equal property rights to daughters and required that the president and vice-president be from different genders and communities. A Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) militant cadre has been killed in an encounter between security forces and militants in Manipur's Tamenglong District. The encounter took place last night at the Nungba Sub Division. However, there are no reports of any injury to security personnel. Held on 13 April 2016 Electrosteel Steels announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on 13 April 2015 has considered and approved the following - Annual business plan for FY 2016-17 with estimated/ expected annual turnover of around Rs 4500 crore, which in terms of goods sold in tonnes vis-vis financial year FY 2015-16 is expected to be more than 25%. The Company at present is producing pig iron, billets, TMT bars, Wire rod and Ductile Iron pipes. During the financial year 2015-16, the overall sales of the Company vis-vis financial year 2014-15 in terms of product sold in tonnes has increased by more than 78%. Allotment of equity shares of the Company on preferential basis at face value of Rs 10 each for consideration other than cash on private placement basis to Shandong Province Metallurgical Engineering Co., China against amount payable but not due to the Company on account of retention, pending successful completion and/ or performance guarantees test of various capital equipment supplied for the Company's plant aggregating to US 22.68 million not exceeding Rs 150 crore, subject to approval of the lenders and shareholders of the Company and such other approvals, premissions as may be required in connection thereof. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Ahead of the second phase of the West Bengal assembly polls, the Election Commission is taking additional measures to prevent the possibility of unusual voter turnout, Chief Election Commissioner Naseem Zaidi said on Thursday. "The voter turnout at 5 p.m. and closing time at 6 p.m. will be obtained through mobile SMS-based information system. The number of electors standing in the queue at the time of closing of polls will be compiled by returning officer so the possibility of any unusual increase in voter turnout is ruled out," he said here. To ensure further transparency and accountability in those polling stations where voting continues beyond polling hours due to the presence of electors in the queue, the presiding officers have been given specific instructions. "They have been directed to submit a statement capturing the full information on votes polled by the electors present at the polling station at the time fixed for close of polls, and had actually voted till the actual closing of the polls. "This statement will be signed by the presiding officer and the polling agents present at the booth and will be submitted to the authorities," he said. Zaidi informed the final publication of electoral rolls for 51 enclaves which were transferred from Bangladesh have been completed on April 11. "Now these citizens will be able to cast their votes on May 5," he said. The full bench of the Election Commission of India held day-long meetings with police and administration officials and also met delegations from various political parties ahead of the next phase of the state assembly polls scheduled for April 17. Amid the ongoing controversy over high voter turnouts in the first phase (April 4 and April 11), the poll panel had earlier claimed Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) initiatives have led to "huge" voters' turnouts in first phase of assembly polls in both Bengal and Assam. For the part one of the first phase of polls on April 4 involving 18 segments (including 13 in Left-Wing Extremism areas), the poll watchdog declared a final turnout figure of 84.22 percent on April 6. A shortwhile after the scheduled time for close - 6 p.m. - on April 4, the panel had given a tentative figure of 80.92 percent. Opposition parties had questioned the increase in the turnout, and claimed the final figures were adulterated. Former state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya approached the Commission recently over the high percentages saying the spike in figures needs to be investigated. Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who launched the trailer of her film "Sarbjit" on Thursday, decided to maintain silence over her name figuring in the Panama Papers leaks for allegedly having links with offshore entities. When one of the reporters asked her about the Panama Paper leaks during the trailer launch of the film, she said: "The statement has been made to all of you already. Hope you all are aware about it." The "Panama Papers" -- based on an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and over 100 other news organisations around the world -- is a global list revealing offshore links of over 500 Indians, including megastar Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya. In India, The Indian Express released pages of the investigation reports, alleging among other names that Amitabh and Aishwarya were directors in companies in Panama. Aishwarya's media adviser previously told the newspaper that the information was false. Amity University Gurgaon will monitor the air quality in the National Capital Region as the Delhi government rolls out the second phase of the odd-even vehicle restriction scheme from Friday. Scientists at Amity's centre of environmental science and health led by P.C.S. Devara will monitor the air quality on real-time basis through a multi-parameter study. The university will deploy a Pollution Study Vehicle equipped with particulate matter measuring instruments that will collect daily observations from different locations in Delhi-NCR, Devara said. The study shall also monitor vehicular noise pollution. Taking charge of the BJP's Karnataka unit as president on Thursday, the party's national vice president and former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa vowed to return to power through the 2018 legislative assembly poll. "My target is to get 150 seats in the 2018 state election to form a BJP government again, with absolute majority in the assembly," Yeddyurappa said at a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mega rally in the Bangalore Palace grounds here. In the 225-member assembly, that includes one nominated member, the opposition BJP has 47 lawmakers, the ruling Congress 123 and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) 40, while there are nine independents and five others. "My aim is to put our party back into power by getting rid of the Congress in the state to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of freeing the country from it (Congress-mukt India)," he told hundreds of party cadres and workers at the rally under a scorching sun. The rally was also held to mark the 125th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, and Yeddyurappa's appointment as the party's state unit president for the fourth time in his chequered political career. Terming the Congress a sinking ship, the 73-year-old leader of the state's second largest community Lingayats exhorted the party's state leaders and cadres to work hard for winning the next assembly elections with a huge margin to form the government unlike in 2008 when it had to depend on independents and others. He lamented that the party, which came to power first time and ruled the state for five years during 2008-2013, had no visible presence in nine districts, only one lawmaker in 13 districts and 21 lawmakers in Belagavi and Bengaluru districts. "When we were together, we were strong with 110-120 members in the assembly and plunged to 40 plus in the present time due to differences and working against the party's interests," he recalled. Ironically, Yeddyurappa who was forced to resign as the state's first BJP chief minister on July 31, 2011 following corruption charges against him and his kin in the multi-crore-rupee mining scam and for freeing government-owned lands (de-notification), left the party in a huff and formed the regional Karnataka Janata Party (KJP), winning six seats in the May 2013 assembly election. He, however, returned to the BJP in early 2014 after merging KJP with it and was elected to the Lok Sabha in the May 2014 general elections from his home parliamentary constituency of Shivamogga in the state's Malnad region. The BJP's state unit in-charge Muralidhar Rao, the state unit's outgoing president and Dharwad Lok Sabha member Prahlad Joshi, the party's central ministers Ananth Kumar and Siddeshwar and the party's former chief minister Jagadish Shettar also spoke briefly on the occasion, assuring full support assistance to Yeddyurappa in reviving the party's fortunes in the state. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday attacked the BJP, saying "those who make a mockery of the Indian constitution" are now celebrating the birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar. "They make a mockery of the Indian constitution and then celebrate the birth anniversary of Ambedkar extravagantly to pretend as if they are close to his ideas and thoughts," Nitish Kumar said at a function to pay tributes to the Dalit icon at the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) office here. Nitish Kumar became the national president of JD-U on Sunday, replacing Sharad Yadav. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was going to town with Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary only with a view to winning the votes of the weaker sections of society. "It's their lust for power, nothing more. They have nothing to do with the ideology of the Dalit icon," said Nitish Kumar. While Ambedkar fought for the unity of the society and championed the cause of the deprived people, the BJP believes in dividing the society and exploiting the deprived people for political gains, he said. "Dalit students have been harassed in universities across the country and forced to commit suicide by those in power at the centre who feign love for Ambedkar." "Those who have no role in India's freedom struggle are talking too much about patriotism and nationalism these days," Nitish Kumar added. The Centre has finally intervened in the controversy arising out of three bills passed by the Manipur state assembly in August last year that resulted in violence and the death of nine youths in the hills of the northeastern state. However, it is not the union home ministry, but the tribal welfare ministry that has written to Manipur's social welfare department seeking information and action taken in the aftermath of the passing of the bills. After the union tribal welfare ministry sent a letter on March 17, the state's social welfare department asked the home department for information "since the action is related to your department". IANS has access to the official letter from the social welfare department to the state home department that was dated April 4. Ostensibly to safeguard the rights of the indigenous people, the Manipur government, bowing to pressure from agitators from the state's valley, convened a special session of the assembly on August 31 last year and passed three controversial bills -- the Protection of Manipur People Bill, the Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Bill (Seventh Amendment) and the Manipur Shops and Establishments (Second Amendment) Bill. The very day the bills were passed, protestors, mainly comprising tribal organisations, torched five houses belonging to Congress legislators. Among them were the dwellings of Health and Family Welfare Minister Phungzathang Tonsing and Lok Sabha member from Outer Manipur Thangso Baite in Churachandpur district. The violence and resultant police action left at least nine people dead. The nine bodies are still lying in a Churachandpur hospital mortuary with the families refusing to bury them till the hill peoples' demands are met. The state government had passed the bills after a three-month-long agitation spearheaded by the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) demanding the enforcement of an inner line permit system similar to those in force in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland to check the influx of non-Manipuris into the state. The JCILPS says that according to the 2011 census, Manipur's population is 2.7 million. Of this, only 1.7 million are indigenous people while the rest are people who have their roots outside the state. However, according to the tribes inhabiting the hills of Manipur, the three bills would directly undermine the existing safeguards for the tribal hill areas regarding land ownership and population influx, as the primary threat for the tribal people came not from outside the state but from the Meitei people of the valley itself. Given that the hills of Manipur are inhabited by Nagas and Kukis among other tribes, Nagaland's lone MP Neiphio Rio in December pointed out in the Lok Sabha the anomaly in passing the bills saying these were passed without proper consultations with tribal leaders and elected members of the autonomous district council according to norms. Rio sought the intervention of the central government in this context. Rajya Sabha member Tarun Vijay also took up the issue in parliament stating that the agitating tribal people were the children of India. The union tribal welfare ministry's letter was dispatched to the Manipur government following the interventions of these two MPs as the social welfare department's letter to the home department showed. On the 227th day of an ongoing protest by the Manipur Tribals Forum Delhi (MTFD) in New Delhi on Thursday, April 14, its convenor Romeo Hmar expressed disappointment at what he called the Centre's reluctance to act. "The tribal people of Manipur fail to understand the reluctance of the central government in upholding Article 371C of the Constitution," Hmar told IANS. "The tribal people of Manipur are the only tribal people in the northeast who are not protected under the Sixth Schedule," he added. (Aroonim Bhuyan can be contacted at aroonim.b@ians.in) YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh Republic reports that the Azerbaijani special forces attempted a sabotage reconnaissance infiltration, Armenpress was informed about this by the Press Service of the NKR Defense Army. The statement of the NKR Defense Army reads: On April 13 and throughout the morning of April 14 the situation remained the same in the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces. In some parts there have been violations of ceasefire agreement which has been orally reached. The adversary fired with 82mm (1 grenade), 60mm (11 grenade) and automatic grenade launchers (25 grenade) against the Armenian positions especially towards the northeastern (Martakert) and southeastern (Hadrut) directions of the frontline. An attempt of sabotage reconnaissance infiltration has been recorded during night. At 04:55am the Armenian troops prevented the actions carried out by the adversarys special forces in the southern direction on time and threw them back. The Defense Army frontline subdivisions continue to keep the ceasefire agreement that was orally reached by the two sides and confidently implement their military tasks. China's largest ever double-shied tunnel boring machine (TBM) has rolled off the assembly line in Wuhan and will soon be exported to India. The TBM, at 9.86 metres in diameter and 150 metres in length, was made by China Railway Science and Industry Group Co., the People's Daily reported on Thursday. Its weighs 2,500 tonnes and its driving power can reach 4,200 kw. The machine took more than one year to make. It was built for the express purpose of completing a one-time 12.5-kilometre boring task in India. In addition to India, products of China Railway Science and Industry Group Co. have also been exported to other countries, including Turkey and Laos. Contrary to reports that prime minister Chandra Shekhar dismissed Tamil Nadu's DMK government at the behest of Congress in 1991, a new book says that its "proven links" with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militant outfit was the sole reason for its ouster. The book "Flying in High Winds" (Rupa, pp 270, Rs.500) by S.K. Misra, former principal secretary to Chandra Shekhar, also seeks to "dispel perceptions" that the prime minister bowed under pressure from the Congress, which supported his government from outside, on many issues. Chandra Shekhar has taken all the decisions on merit, says Misra. Chandra Shekhar's coalition government, which came to power with the support of Congress in November 1990, lasted for only seven months. On the accusation that the union government did not seek a report from the Tamil Nadu governor before the dismissal, the book quotes Chandra Shekhar as saying this was not required if Article 356 was to be invoked and if the state's law and order situation warranted such an action. Defending Chandra Shekhar's decision to impose president's rule in Tamil Nadu, Misra says that the prime minister went ahead with this after receiving ground-level assessments from the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB). Addressing parliament on January 10 1991, the prime minister said: "I have information that the chief minister has gone to the LTTE headquarters not only in Tamil Nadu, but even in Jaffna, This is something very serious," the book recalls. The book also states that J.N. Dixit, the Indian commissioner in Colombo from 1985 to 1989, in his disposition before Jain Commission, said that except for the Congress party, all political parties in Tamil Nadu continued to support the violent activities of the LTTE against the Indian Peacekeeeping Force in Sri Lanka. The Jain Commission had enquired into the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by a suicide bomber in Sriperambudur in May 1991. Misra also praises Chandra Shekhar for his efforts to maintian friendly relationships with neighbouring countries, especially Pakistan. He says that Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the Indian leader shared a warm relationship and both had decided to set up a hotline to facilitate communications. Chandra Shekhar believed in a dialogue with Pakistan, though he drew criticism from the Opposition for his initiative. The book says that he silenced his critics by urging more dialogue and informal diplomacy with the neighbour. Misra further narrates an incident in which four Swedish engineers were kidnapped in Kashmir. Chandra Shekhar telephoned Sharif to request the release of the engineers, saying that the news hadn't gone to the media. Though Sharif attributed the kidnapping to terrorists, the engineers were freed within four days and this was never reported in the media, the book says. Mishra also writes that the relationship between Rajiv Gandhi and Chandra Shekhar took a turn for the worse on India's support of US in the Gulf war, especially on the issue of permitting US military aircraft to refuel in Bombay (now Mumbai) on their way to Iraq. However, Chandra Shekhar stuck to his guns. Mishra also reveals that contrary to the impression that it was the Congress that withdrew support to the government, it was Chandra Shekhar who decided to step down as he didn't want to toe the Congress line. Misra also recollects his encounter with Sanjay Gandhi during his stint as joint secretary to Bansi Lal, who was the defence minister in 1977. Gandhi wanted permission to directly fly to a particular point instead of taking circuitous route. When he was denied permission to divert from the PDR (pre-determined route), Gandhi was at his worst and flung the message from the then IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal H Moolgavkar. "He flung the note at me and shouted 'Stupid Note,'," Mishra says. (Preetha Nair can be contacted at preetha.n@ians.in) ---Indo--Asian News Service pn/vm The Congress on Thursday voiced "strong reservations" over the government's move to sign a military logistics support agreement with the US, saying the Narendra Modi government does not have the mandate to push India into any military alliance. "Though America is India's strategic partner, we have our strong reservations and concerns against this agreement," Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma told reporters here. "The LSA (Logistics support agreement) was earlier proposed by the US in the year 2004, and for one decade the two countries have been in talks. But India had resisted it during the 10 years of UPA's rule. We did not agree to it because we see it as intrusive. It will show India being drawn into a military alliance," Sharma said, insisting that such a situation will not be favourable to India. He added that India has strategic relations with the US and also with Russia, China, Japan and Indonesia and it had maintained balance among its various strategic partners but had never been part of a power bloc. Sharma also said the Modi government has not got the mandate to push India into any military alliance which could prove detrimental to its interest in the long term. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government do not have a national mandate to push India into a situation where it sinks in a closer, deeper military alliance and becomes part of a larger operational design and requirement of the US in Asia and Pacific and South China Sea," Sharma said. "It will be detrimental to India's strategic and security interests. It will also undermine the critical geo-strategic balance and also the balance of forces in India's immediate and extended neighbourhood in the region," Sharma added. US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at a joint press conference here had announced that the two countries have 'in principle' agreed to conclude a logistics support. India and the US will ink two more agreements, apart from the LSA, including a Communication and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for assistance in geospatial intelligence. The Congress has described all three agreements as a grave threat to India's strategic communication system. "These three foundational agreements that have been kept on hold. The second one -- CISMOA -- would take into its embrace the communication network of Indian Armed forces, the radars and signals, including that of the air force and the Indian Navy, which can jeopardise our operational preparedness and strategies," Sharma said. "The government has said they want to have this LSA on a case to case basis. But for specific such cases, the arrangements already exist with Russia, US and other strategic partners. Therefore, there is no need of such an agreement," he said. On Wednesday, Congress leader and former defence minister A.K. Antony criticised the government's decision to ink the logistics agreement, saying it would affect the independence of India's foreign policy and strategic autonomy. Antony said the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by then Congress had resisted the agreement for 10 years, and that it would be disastrous for India. "It is a disastrous decision. The government should retract it," he said. Curfew was on Thursday clamped again in parts of a tense Kashmir Valley amid simmering anger over the death of four civilians, killed in alleged firing and tear gas shelling by security forces in the last two days. As a precautionary measure and to prevent trouble-mongers from spreading rumours, authorities also snapped cellphone internet for the time being. A senior police told IANS that "restrictions will continue" in parts of old Srinagar city. Restrictions were also imposed in the main business hub of Lal Chowk, amid a valley-wide shutdown call by separatist groups in protest against the civilian deaths. Curfew was also enforced in the north Kashmir Handwara town and parts of the border district of Kupwara. Three civilian were killed in Handwara on Tuesday when police fired at an angry mob protesting against the alleged molestation of a teenage girl by an army man. The army has, however, dismissed the allegation as a rumour to malign the force. A day later, people in Kupwara took to the streets to protest the Handwara deaths. A burning tear gas canister fired by police hit a 25-year-old man on his head. The man later succumbed to the injury. The police officer said the authorities had made adequate security arrangements in other towns in south and north Kashmir "to ensure that miscreants are prevented from creating any law and order problem". Separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik, have been placed under house-arrest as they had appealed to people to observe a protest shutdown against the killings. There was a near-total response to the shutdown call as shops, schools, colleges, offices and other businesses in areas where restrictions have not been imposed remained closed. Public transport was also off the roads in the valley. Separatists have also called for post-prayer protests on Friday. The authorities extended the restrictions to mobile and internet services throughout the valley. Trouble erupted in Handwara after a rumour on Tuesday that a school girl was allegedly molested by an army soldier. However, a video was circulated online in which a girl was shown denying the allegations. Northern army commander Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda visited Handwara on Wednesday and assured a time-bound inquiry to ascertain facts regarding Tuesday's incident. An assistant sub-inspector has been suspended for allegedly "mishandling" the protests in Handwara. Cracking the whip hours after a day's visit by its full bench to West Bengal, the Election Commission on Thursday removed Birbhum district police superintendent Mukesh and officers of three police stations of the district where assembly polls will be held on April 17. "On the basis of the assessment of election preparedness and overall law and order situation, as also the representation made by the national and state recognised political parties of West Bengal, during its visit to Kolkata on April 14, the commission has decided to transfer Mukesh, superintendent of police, Birbhum district," said a late night EC order. The order, signed by the poll panel's secretary B.K. Srivastava and communicated to chief secretary Basudeb Bandopadhyay, also announced that Sabya Sachi Raman Mishra would replace Mukesh with immediate effect. A 2004 batch IPS officer, Mishra is now posted as superintendent of police, CID. In a separate order, the commission announced that the officers in charge of three police stations -- Labhpur, Mayureswar and Bolpur -- were being transferred with immediate effect. The reasons for the three officers' removal were given as the same as those for Mukesh. The communication, addressed to the director general of police, said the substitutes to the officers should be immediately posted in consultation with West Bengal's Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta. All four new officials have been directed to take charge by 2 p.m. on Friday. The state government has been asked to send compliance reports with regard to the orders by 5 p.m. on Friday. The Election Commission has showcaused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for violation of the model code of conduct, Chief Election Commissioner Naseem Zaidi said here on Thursday. The poll watchdog is also set to initiate legal action against Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal. "It was brought to the knowledge of the commission that a statement was made in Asansol that Asansol district will be set up, and (there were) certain other utterances which are contained in our notice," Zaidi told the media. On threats by Birbhum district Trinamool president Anubrata Mondal that the opposition would "vanish" on the day of the polls there (April 17), Zaidi said the poll panel was taking action. "Barring one, all political parties have brought to our attention the alleged incident in the district and the commission is initiating urgent legal action against any such person. You will come to know soon," he said. Asked about the shifting of officials on allegations of lack of impartiality, Zaidi said: "It is under active consideration of the commission." Ahead of the visit of the full bench, opposition parties (including the Congress) lodged complaints against chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta for allegedly acting at the behest of the Trinamool. "Not exactly. Our CEO will do his level best to ensure the exercise is conducted in appropriate manner," Zaidi said on a poser on the opposition demanding the CEO's removal. The full bench of the Election Commission of India held day-long meetings with police and administration officials and also met delegations from various political parties ahead of the next phase of the state assembly polls scheduled for April 17. However, an unmoved Banerjee said she stood by whatever she had said. "They (the opposition) have complained to the Election Commission against me. Whatever I have said I stand by my point. I still stand by my point. "The CPI-M, Congress and the BJP have their men in the Election Commission. Even if 40 letters are sent, that would be fruitless. Can't rob me of my democratic rights. Whatever I have said, I have done the right thing. I will say the same thing thousands of times," she said at an election rally in Murarai of Birbhum district. Banerjee said she would ask the opposition to reply "inch by inch" for the canards and disinformation spread against her. "I will take replies inch by inch against the canards and disinformation spread against me. And also against the injustice done to me, and the character assassination they have indulged in." Banerjee also lashed out againt the poll panel for threatening legal aciton against Mondal. "Why should Anubrata be arrested? Why shouldn't (CPI-M leader) (Mohammed) Salim? What has Anubrata done? Why shouldn't (state Congress chief) Adhir (Chowdhury) be arrested? "Why shouldn't (CPI-M leader) Sujon (Chakraborty), Biman (Bose) and Buddahdeb (Bhattacharjee) be arrested?" She also alleged that the EC has changed 300-350 officers-in-charge and even removed the Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar. "You have removed police officers every day. Even the Kolkata police commissioner, the brightest of police officers, has been removed. You have changed 300-350 OCs. You are doing whatever the Congress, BJP and the CPI-M asks you to do." "Are we not human beings also? Why should everythign be done unilaterally?" said a fuming Banerjee. Jammu and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday directed the state police to ensure that no civilian is harmed during crowd control, as the valley remained tense over the deaths of four people, including three in alleged firing by security forces. Mehbooba, who returned to Srinagar on Thursday from New Delhi, held a meeting of top officials to review the security situation in the state. The chief minister, who earlier in the day met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah in New Delhi, directed her officials that the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of dealing with mobs should be followed to ensure that civilians do not get harmed during crowd control, said sources. The meeting, held at her Fair View residence on Gupkar Road in Srinagar, was attended by the Director General of Police K. Rajendra Kumar and senior officials of the police. The meeting came as curfew was clamped again in parts of a tense Valley amid simmering anger over the death of four civilians. As a precautionary measure and to prevent troublemongers from spreading rumours, authorities also snapped cellphone internet. Restrictions were also imposed in the main business hub of Lal Chowk, amid a valley-wide shutdown call by separatist groups in protest against the civilian deaths. Curfew was also enforced in the north Handwara town and parts of the border district of Kupwara. Three civilians were killed in Handwara on Tuesday when police fired at an angry mob protesting against the alleged molestation of a teenage girl by an army man. The army has, however, dismissed the allegation as a rumour to malign the force. A day later, people in Kupwara took to the streets to protest the Handwara deaths. A burning tear gas canister fired by police hit a 25-year-old man on his head. The man later succumbed to the injury. Separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik, have been placed under house arrest as they had appealed to people to observe a protest shutdown against the killings. There was a near-total response to the shutdown call as shops, schools, colleges, offices and other businesses in areas where restrictions have not been imposed remained closed. Public transport was also off the roads in the valley. Separatists have also called for post-prayer protests on Friday. The 'in principal' agreement between India and US to conclude an agreement for providing military logistics may prove beneficial for India as long as it is clear that Americcan troops will not be stationed on Indian soil, experts say. The announcement on a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) that came during US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter's just-concluded India visit is already facing political skepticism, which was expected for the agreement that has been pending for 10 years, with the former Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government soft-pedalling on it. It also comes at a time when US has been vocal about the growing Chinese activities in the South China Sea and has repeatedly on stressed 'freedom of navigation'. India on the other hand has been expressing concerns over terror emanating from Pakistan, with the proximity between Pakistan and China being another issue. The major concern expressed by different political parties for long remained that India, which had chosen to remain non-aligned post independence and through the Cold War period, must not enter the NATO block by supporting US troops. Former defence minister and Congress leader AK Antony went to the extent of terming the agreement "disastrous", while the Left has also opposed it. However, as both sides -- Carter and his Indian counterpart, Manohar Parrikar -- clarified, the renamed agreement LEMOA (it was previously the Logistics Support Agreement) would not involve the presence of US troops in India. The agreement, according to available information, will be country-specific for India and will focus on providing support that will primarily include food, fuel and stores. Former Indian Army chief General V.P. Malik said the agreement is likely to be beneficial for India. "This agreement has been floating around for ten years, but India had reservations. Now that the two sides have agreed, it is possible that the agreement has been modified," General Malik, who was in office from 1997 to 2000, a period which included the 1999 Kargil conflict, told IANS. "The basic opposition was that we do not want American troops to be stationed in India, nor do we want to support the process of the forces striking somewhere else," he added. "I feel the Indian and US governments have agreed on a draft that meets these two requirements. It is a useful agreement as long as we are not seen to be supporting americans fighting somewhere else," Gen. Malik noted. Strategic analyst C. Uday Bhaskar concurred and said the LEMOA would benefit India in the long term. "It is an India-specific agreement. I do think it will be in India's interest in the long term in terms of being able to obtain fuel and logistics at short notice," Bhaskar, who is the director of think tank Society for Policy Studies, told IANS. "At a time when India needs to maintain its presence in the region, this is a useful traction for India," he said. Bhaskar also underlined that the agreement, when it comes into force, is unlikely to be binding in nature and India will always have the right to refuse assistance. "We are not getting stuck in NATO," he clarified. The US had first proposed an India-specific LSA in 2004 at the sixth meeting of the India-US Defence Policy Group. This was a version of the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA), which the US has with several NATO nations, something that has raised concern. India has, in the past, provided logistics support to the US. During the 1990-91 Gulf War, prime minister Chandra Shekhar's coalition government provided overflight rights to US planes, and even permitted refueling, but revoked it after protests. During the 2004 tsunami, US support came in handy with India lacking the capability to provide assistance to the vast affected areas, as it did after 2015 Nepal earthquake. Both Gen. Malik and Bhaskar highlighted this aspect. "During the tsunami, there was good coordination and US helped, although US ships did not come on our side," Gen. Malik said. Bhaskar said India lacked resources to deploy on multiple fronts after the tsunami. "During the Nepal earthquake, US had the digital maps and geo-spatial data which came in handy," Bhaskar added. (Anjali Ojha can be contacted at anjali.o@ians.in) The family members of Major Amit Deswal, who died in a gun battle with tribal militants in Manipur, on Thursday said they were proud of his "martyrdom". Major Deswal of the 21 Special Force of Rashtriya Rifles who hailed from Surheti village in Haryana's Jhajjar district, 45 km from Gurgaon, died fighting militants in Manipur's Tamenglong district on Wednesday. "The braveheart breathed his last in the true traditions of a warrior," said Deswal's brother-in-law Sanjeev Kumar. His uncle Om Singh said: "The family mourns his death but he died for the country, a commando, fighting till the end." An Indian Army official said in Delhi that the body will arrive on Friday at the technical area of Palam airport, where a wreath-laying ceremony will be organised around noon. Deswal's father and grandfather were also in the army. The army major got married in 2009 and his wife and four-year-old son lived with him in Manipur. His other family members live in Sector 6 area in Jhajjar. Deswal was commissioned on June 10, 2006 into the Regiment of Artillery. "After his basic service, he recognised that his calling was somewhere more adventurous. He opted for the Special Group at first, but finally opted for the coveted Special Forces," Col. Narender Chikara (retd), with whom Deswal served in the Regiment of Artillery based in Gurgaon's Dundahera, told IANS. "He joined the elite unit in January 2011. He was physically robust which was reflected in his performance. He got inducted in Manipur for an operation in January 2016," Col. Chikara said. YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenpress presents on the air of LRATVAKAN radio all that you will read, hear and see in todays news. Today, on April 14, the session of Anti-monopoly and competition of EEU member states will take place in the Governmental Reception House. A more than 30-member delegation will arrive in Yerevan, which includes heads of Anti-monopoly institutions of all EEU countries, including head of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service Igor Artemyev. The needs of development of civil society organizations have been reviewed, and the results will be discussed today. During the discussion-consultation, head of the EU delegation to Armenia Piotr Antoni Switalski and head of the Podlaska regional development fund Andrey Parafinyuk will talk about the role and importance of the civil cosiety. Israeli intellectuals have arrived in Armenia, who had their investment in the Armenian Genocide recognition. Advisor to the US secretary of state, Dr. Vaughan Turekian will deliver a public lecture entitled Diplomacy of science: meaning and success factors in the American University. What role did the Turkish, Kurdish and Muslim factors have in the 4 day war in Nagorno Karabakh? Expert on Kurdish studies Vahram Petrosyan and expert on Iranian studies Rudik Yaralyan and expert on Arabian studies Sargis Grigoryan will discuss this topic. Member of the New Armenia council and commander of the Shushi battalion Zhirayr Sefilyan, director of the Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan and others will discuss the possible recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh republic, the process of Russia selling arms to Azerbaijan and other relevant topics. You can read about these and other topics on armenpress.am and listen to the news on the air of LRATVAKAN radio. Follow us on TWITTER and FACEBOOK. Three days after he suffered a mysterious death in a Pakistani jail, Indian prisoner Kirpal Singh's anguished sister met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking his help to get his body back at the earliest. A day after she made a similar plea to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Jagir Kaur called on Kejriwal at his residence and urged the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief's help in seeking a probe into the death of her brother who was in the Kot Lakhpat Jail of Lahore for the last nearly 25 years. She said she suspected foul play and cast doubts over Pakistani claims that her brother died of cardiac arrest, a Delhi government official said. The official said Kejriwal expressed sympathies with Jagir Kaur's family and assured "all possible support in securing justice" and an early repatriation of his body. Jagir Kaur was accompanied by Dalbir Kaur, the elder sister of another Indian, Sarabjit Singh, who also died in the same Pakistani jail in 2013, allegedly after being beaten up by some Pakistani prisoners. Kirpal Singh, 54, a resident of Gurdaspur in Punjab, was reported to have died on Monday. His body was shifted to the Jinnah Hospital a day later for autopsy. But it was still lying in the morgue on Thursday. The delay in the post-mortem examination has raised doubts in India whether the prisoner indeed died of heart failure. Kirpal Singh was arrested in 1992. Pakistan claimed he was caught spying for India, an allegation New Delhi denies. India has been insisting that Kirpal Singh had strayed across the border between the two countries. India has already sought more details on how the prisoner died suddenly. "Our acting high commissioner met the director-general (South Asia) in (Pakistan's) ministry of foreign affairs and asked for the earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains (of Kirpal Singh)," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Wednesday. "We await further details." On Wednesday evening, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met Kirpal Singh's family and informed them that the government was making efforts to get his mortal remains back as early as possible. "Comforting a family in grief," Swarup tweeted, regarding the minister's meeting with Kirpal Singh's kin. Kirpal Singh's family earlier staged a protest demonstration at the Attari-Wagah border, raising anti-Pakistan slogans and demanding his body be returned for his last rites and cremation in his homeland. The government is taking steps to overcome the water scarcity in Gujarat, where dams in Saurashtra and Kutch regions are left with just 10 percent water, according to a minister. The government has deployed 147 State Reserve Police Force personnel along the Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam canals to prevent pilferage of water. Most parts of the parched regions are dependent on water from the Narmada dam. According to Water Supplies Minister Vijay Rupani, the government was prepared to face the crisis and had taken several measures. "Due to two subsequent weak monsoons, dams have not been filled to capacity. In Saurashtra and Kutch, only 10 to 11 percent water is left in dams while some are bone dry," Rupani said. "As Gujarat generally gets its first showers by June 15, we have to wait for two more months," he said. "We are taking various measures to tide over the situation. We have started a control room where people can call us and register their water-related complaints." He said eight districts -- Amreli, Jamnagar, Devbhoomi-Dwarka, Porbandar, Rajkot and Surendranagar in Saurashtra and Panchmahals and Dahod in central Gujarat -- were the worst hit. The government had increased water supply to these districts for the last one month through the Narmada canal network. Where there was no canal network, hand pumps and bore-wells were being set up, Rupani said. The minister, who is also the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president, said: "The situation would have been worse in the absence of the Narmada canal network. "As local water resources are drying up, our water supply is dependent on Narmada network, particularly in Saurashtra and Kutch." He claimed that nearly 10,000 villages across Gujarat were now connected to the Narmada canals. The bill by Gujarat government to levy entry tax on interstate e-commerce transactions will pose significant commercial challenges to all stakeholders, industry body Nasscom said on Thursday "This levy of entry tax poses significant challenges both commercially and operationally for the e-commerce companies, logistics companies and the outside state sellers selling goods to customers in the state (Gujarat)," the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) in a statement. According to the new rule, the entry tax will be paid by the consumers which will be collected and deposited by entities which bring the goods to Gujarat from any other part of India for sale and consumption. "Providing unrestricted cross border access to sellers as well as buyers is the prerogative of the government and is an important driver towards creating an ease of doing business. Such tax structures will lead to additional burden on SME traders, enhanced litigation, and also reduce business efficiencies. It will also restrict choice of the customer," said Nasscom president R. Chandrasekhar in the statement. The industry body noted a similar tax is being collected in Assam, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Mizoram and is being proposed to be introduced in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Nasscom said that the entry tax is flawed as it is akin to introducing trade barriers to free interstate trade, discourages SMEs to manufacture and will have a short life in view of the impending GST reform. "For collecting and depositing the tax, the deemed tax payer would be required to significantly revamp the IT systems to track the tax charged on inter-state sale of goods to Gujarat and determine the differential tax which has to be paid in the form of entry tax," it said. Other hiccups Nasscom raised include disputes on classification as a huge number of sellers operate through the marketplaces and also resulting in burdening the service industry with administrative costs and unwanted disputes. "Cost of complying with this entry tax for thousands of sellers outside the state will be much higher than the expected outcome. Such moves will fragment the India market, severely jeopardising business case for many entrepreneurs both manufacturers and service providers," it said in the statement, adding the entry levy is not aligned with reform and growth programmes like Digital India, Make in India and Start-up India and Standup India. Filmmaker Guy Ritchie was photographed visiting former wife Madonna's house here along with their son Rocco Ritchie. In some photographs obtained by dailymail.co.uk, Guy was seen entering the front door. He reportedly emerged some time later. Rocco was seen in the doorway of the house, hinting he was already at his mother's place and would stay there for the night. Madonna's reunion with Rocco came after the former partners got warned by a High Court judge that they could ruin what is left of their son's childhood if they failed to settle their bitter custody battle. Judge Macdonald ruled that the English proceedings could be halted, after analysing the latest round of the row at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court here in March. The judge urged the exes to resolve their differences over where Rocco should live. He ruled their legal battle would be held in a New York court, rather than in London. Rocco reportedly agreed with his mother's decision to withdraw the proceedings. After the pan-India success of "Baahubali: The Beginning", actors from Telugu cinema are being welcomed in Bollywood. Actor Ravi Tejaa says that he would also like to do a Hindi film like "Ki & Ka". Andhra superstar Ravi Teja has been constantly getting offers from Bollywood but he says that Telugu cinema is his home ground. "I speak fluent Hindi. In fact I speak better Hindi than Telugu. But Telugu cinema is my home ground. I am in no hurry to try and conquer Bollywood. It would take a lot more than just a script that extends what I do in Telugu cinema to take me to Mumbai," says Ravi. The Telugu superstar, who is known as the Mass Maharaja in Andhra Pradesh says, he would love to something out-of-the-box in Hindi. "Something like R. Balki's 'Ki & Ka' or Karan Johar's 'Kapoor & Sons'. If I've to continue doing action and comedy I'd rather do it on my own home ground," he said. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said India remains a bright spot, even as global economic revovery has weakened and risks to global financial stability have increased, all of which call for a combination of monetary, fiscal, and structural actions. "India remains a particular bright spot with rising real incomes and confidence boosting domestic demand," Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in her global policy agenda, just ahead of the Spring Meeting of the Fund and the World Bank. "Global economy is expanding moderately, but the outlook has weakened further since October and risks have increased," she said, adding this may well prove to be a deterrent to higher living standards, fresh employment levels and controlling debt of nations. The chief said there could emerge some indirect ramifications from factors like geopolitical shocks from conflicts, terrorism, refugee flows, a potential exit of Britain from the European Union and global epidemics. At the same time, there were some positives also, she stressed. "Some recent improvement in data releases, somewhat firmer oil prices, reduced pressures on outflows from China, and actions by major central banks have all contributed to improving sentiment," said Lagarde, but felt these needed to be built upon. "A three-pronged approach with monetary, fiscal, and structural actions can work as a virtuous trinity, lifting actual and potential growth, averting recession risks, and enhancing financial stability." Among the various policy prescriptions, Lagarde said more needs to be done to support efficient infrastructure investment in all countries and that a new infrastructure policy initiative will be piloted this year to scale up spending in this area and improve institutional capacity. This apart, she said, the Fund will also assess the size and implications of the problem, and examine options to reduce the risk of adverse balance sheet effects from the rising private sector indebtedness, and unresolved crisis legacies in banks. There are more environmental conflicts in India than any other country, and more clashes are over water (27 perccent) than any other cause, according to the recently released Global Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas). India has 222 listed conflicts - in proportion to population, there are many more - followed by Colombia and Nigeria with 116 and 71 conflicts, respectively, according to the EJAtlas, an interactive map of 1,703 global ecological conflicts, categorised by cause, such as water management, waste management, fossil fuels and climate justice, and biodiversity conservation. With India currently facing the worst crisis in a decade and on course to becoming "water-scare" within nine years, as IndiaSpend reported last month, the scale of the conflicts listed in the Atlas further indicate a worsening situation. Most water conflicts in Himachal Pradesh, most over hydroelectric projects The conflicts over water are most evident in Himachal Pradesh, and most are related to hydroelectric projects, often planned without considering the needs and consent of local communities. Similar conflicts have been recorded in Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Orissa and Sikkim, among other states. There are other kinds of water-management conflicts. In Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, locals objected to a municipal corporation partnership with a private company to build a pipeline and augment water supply, because prices were to be decided by the company. Another example involves use of groundwater by Coca-Cola, involved in five conflicts with local communities protesting bottling plants (one each in Jaipur, Dehradun and Plachimada (Kerala), and two in Mehdiganj, near Varanasi. Dams are persistent sites of conflicts, especially when they are being built and commissioned, said Sailen Routray, an independent researcher based in Bhubaneshwar. He has worked extensively on water issues and conflicts. Other environmental conflicts arise from an expanding economy Most Indian conflicts listed in the EJAtlas appear to be a consequence of the country's expanding economy. For example, the raging underground fires in the Jharia coal mines in Jharkhand - an exclusive storehouse of prime coking coal - were first seen a century ago, started spreading in the 1970s and, currently, more than 70 mine fires are underway, polluting the air, water and land and devastating the health of the locals. Several conflicts centre around garbage dumping sites, such as Deonar in Mumbai, Sultanpur and Bandhwari villages near the national capital region, Kodungaiyur near Chennai, Eloor in Kerala and villages around Bangalore. Across India, more than three million truckloads of garbage is dumped without being treated, as IndiaSpend has reported, a manifestation of growing urbanisation. Conflicts have also erupted at construction sites of new airports, seaports and other big infrastructure projects. The common theme running through most conflicts is loss of right to land or livelihoods of local communities. More conflicts in India than the Atlas lists Although the EJAtlas lists 220 environmental conflicts in India, there are many more. "You should realize that 220 is in proportion to population," said Joan Martinez-Alier, Professor of Economics and Economic History at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and director of the EJAtlas project. "India has more cases than any other country because good work has been done on the EJAtlas by our partners at JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) and also obviously because India is the country with the largest population in the world." He attributed conflicts to a growth in "social metabolism", prompted by economic expansion. "Materials and energy are extracted from new places and transported far away. Mining expands and reaches new frontiers. Hydroelectricity expands and reaches villages in the Himalaya," said Martinez-Alier. The high environmental costs in states that supply raw material Environmental conflicts are global, but India differs from other developing countries in South America or Africa on one crucial point: External trade. "Despite being a large country, India does not import or export too much," said Martinez-Alier. "Most of the extraction of materials in India is for internal consumption. But there are conflicts between states. Sometimes, about water rights. And, sometimes because some states (like Odisha, Jharkhand) become providers of raw materials for the rest of the country at very high internal social and environmental costs." A comparison of the states shows that some of them have indeed borne a larger share of environmental conflict. The national green tribunal's successes aren't enough to stem the tide In recognition of rising environmental disputes, the government established a National Green Tribunal in 2010 to serve as a fast-track court for such disputes, but the tide of environmental conflicts is not ebbing. "NGT has played a good role (in delivering environmental justice)," said Swapan Kumar Patra, one of the Indian contributors to the EJAtlas. In an unrelated paper, Patra and V.V. Krishna, professor at JNU and the other Indian contributor to EJAtlas wrote: "Since its inception, NGT has given many fast-track judgments in various cases and has passed several orders to the respective authorities like ban on illegal sand-mining, against noise pollution in Delhi, preservation of biodiversity of Western Ghat Mountains, wildlife protection in Kaziranga National Park in Assam, suspended many environmental clearance and so on." However, despite NGT's intervention and rising participation from affected locals, environmental injustice in India is on the rise. The question, however, is not how to avoid the conflicts, said Martinez-Alier, but how to profit from the awareness of so many conflicts-"in order to move to an economy which is more sustainable and also more socially just". (In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform. Manupriya is a Bengaluru-based freelance science writer. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. The author can be contacted at respond@indiaspend.org) Ceremonial border personnel meetings (BPMs) between the Chinese and the Indian Army were held on Thursday on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Jammu and Kashmir on the occasion of harvest festivals across India. "Ceremonial BPMs on the occasion of harvest festival were held today (Thursday) at the Indian BPM hut in Chushul and at the Indian Meeting Point Hut at Daulat Beg Oldi in eastern Ladakh," Colonel S.D. Goswami, spokesman of the army's Udhampur-based Northern Command, told IANS. The delegations were led by Brigadier Rajender Rai in Chushul and by Colonel B.S. Uppal in Daulat Beg Oldi. The Chinese delegations were led by Senior Colonel Wang Jun Xian in Chushul and Lieutenant Colonel Duan Yu Gangin in Daulat Beg Oldi. After saluting the national flags, there were ceremonial addresses by delegation leaders who spoke about the mutual desire to maintain and improve relations at the border. Programmes showcasing Indian culture and traditions were also organised. "Both sides sought to build on the mutual feeling to uphold the treaties and agreements signed between the governments of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquillity along the LAC," the spokesperson said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday called on Islamic countries to stand united against terrorism and violence, the most fundamental problems facing the Muslim world. "We should be unifying and not a divider. We should strengthen alliances and not the controversies," Erdogan said in his opening speech at the 13th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that groups 57 member states, reports Xinhua news agency. He announced that an Islamic cooperation and police coordination centre would be established in Istanbul to conduct an effective struggle against terrorism. "The terror groups oppress and harm all Muslims," Erdogan said, stressing the importance of coordination among the Islamic countries. He also urged Islamic leaders to support Saudi Arabia's suggestion about the establishment of an Islamic alliance against terrorism. Erdogan was referring to an address on Sunday to Egypt's parliament by Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who called for building a joint Arab power for the battle against terrorism. Addressing the OIC summit, the group's Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani also highlighted the spread of terrorism in the Middle East and North Africa. "During the terrorism acts that took place within OIC member states over the last three months, around 3,000 people lost their lives, while 4,000 were injured," he said. Saudi King Salman and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, whose countries are at odds over the conflicts in Yemen and Syria, are present as well at the two-day summit. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has raised the issue of hike in the US visa fee for Indian technology professionals, which he said was targeted largely at the Indian IT (information technology) companies. "The finance minister held a bilateral meeting with United States Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman expressing India's concern over the hike in the H-1B and L1 visa fee which is discriminatory and in effect, largely targeted at Indian IT companies," the union finance ministry said in a statement. Jaitley is currently on a seven-day official tour to Washington DC to attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and other associated meetings. Jaitley is accompanied by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan, Secretary Economic Affairs Shaktikanta Das, and Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian. Jaitley also emphasised upon India's keenness for early conclusion of a Totalization Agreement with the United States, for the purpose of avoiding double taxation of incomes with respect to social security taxes. "As per industry estimates, Indian professionals have contributed more than $25 billion to the US social security during the last decade, without being able to retrieve their contributions," the statement said. Jaitley added that India looks forward to strengthening and deepening of its economic engagement with the US. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian community of Czech Republic will hold a demonstration in Prague in protest of the Azerbaijani provocative actions. The demonstration is initiated by the Urartu Armenian-Czech Union. The President of the Union Alexander Sargsyan informed Armenpress that 10 other local Armenian organizations have joined them. The goal of the demonstration is to bring the international communitys attention to Azerbaijans military attacks and crimes. We chose the place not by accident. Many tourists visit that area. We will raise our voice regarding the Azerbaijani provocative actions. The international community must properly assess the Azerbaijani actions, Alexander Sargsyan. The protesters will rally to the European Parliament representation office and the Russian Embassy. We demand to stop supplying arms to the aggressor. Those, who sell arms to Azerbaijan, will one day get fired upon from that direction. We will protest outside the Russian embassy. And we will demand the Council of Europe to assess things as they are, and point out the aggressor. Hindus in Kerala on Thursday celebrated the traditional new year "Vishu", with many thousands thronging temples across the state. The festival, believed to herald good luck and fortune, is a public holiday in the state. Big crowds were witnessed at all major temples such as the Sabarimala temple, the Guruvayur Sri Krishna temple and the capital's Padmanabhaswamy temple. Most women were dressed in the traditional "kasuvu" saree (overall white with golden border) and men in dhoti. Of Kerala's 3.34 crore population, Hindus constitute 1.82 crore. One of the main attractions of the festival is households observing "Vishukani", a ritual where people view their favourite deity the first thing in the morning. Preparations for Vishukani begin the night before with auspicious items like rice, grains, cucumber, pumpkin, coconut, mangoes, betel leaves and a metal vessel kept in the worship room along with a mirror. The young and the old view all this after waking up. The elders give away money to children. Many families consuming a 26-course Vishu lunch served on a plantain leaf. While this is mainly vegetarian in central and southern districts of the state, it is non-vegetarian in the northern districts. World music band Maati Baani has unveiled another track titled "Jao Piya" from their latest webseries titled "The Music Yantra". The song has brought on board 17 artistes from seven countries. "Jao Piya" showcases a vivid journey of tracking down musician to musician, country to country in search of soulful music. It also features voices of Nirali and Kartik Shah, who formed the band. One will see artists like Bart De Kater Duo Valkuil from Amsterdam, Max ZT from New York among other musical milestones across global cities featuring in the song. "These days we see most buildings in cities look the same, no matter in which country we are. This song which is based on raag Sarang, we decided to have landmark locations of the different cities in which the artiste belongs to, to celebrate architectural diversities," Nirali and Kartik told IANS in a joint statement. Malaysian authorities destroyed seized ivory worth some $20 million on Thursday, in the first-ever such public event to showcase its commitment to combat illegal wildlife trade. Authorities have confiscated more than 4,000 pieces of ivory and various other wildlife species through coordinated efforts by international enforcement networks and public information, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. A total of 9.55 tonnes of ivory was destroyed on Thursday. The authorities said the disposal of confiscated ivory through crushing and incineration is the best way to keep the ivory out of the illegal market. Wan Junaidi admitted that Malaysia had been exploited as a handy transit point for illegal wildlife trade. "We are blessed with our strategic location and well developed facilities to support international trade and logistic demand," he said, adding "However, these blessings also benefited the illegal wildlife traders as excellent point of entry, transfer and exit of the illegal wildlife products." Wan Junaidi stressed that his country strongly supports efforts to combat the illegal wildlife trade and was serious in curbing illegal wildlife trafficking, especially the trade in ivory. Meanwhile, Malaysia has conducted forensic sampling on several large scale seizures since 2014 to identify the origin of the ivory in a bid to confront the entire crime chain. Malaysia is a party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) since 1978, and the country has enacted and enforced its own laws to meet its obligations under the convention. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday went all guns blazing against the Election Commission which show-caused her for violation of the model code of conduct and also announced initiating legal action against controversial Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal. Barely minutes after Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi informed the media about show-causing Banerjee over her announcement of making Asansol a district and other utterances, the Trinamool supremo thundered "people will show-cause the commission" on May 19 when results of the assembly polls will be declared. "It was brought to the knowledge of the commission that a statement was made in Asansol that Asansol district will be set up, and (there were) certain other utterances which are contained in our notice," Zaidi told the media in Kolkata. On threats by Birbhum district Trinamool president Anubrata Mondal that the opposition would "vanish" on the day of the polls there (April 17), Zaidi said the poll panel was taking action. "Barring one, all political parties have brought to our attention the alleged incident in the district and the commission is initiating urgent legal action against any such person. You will come to know soon," he said. The full bench of the EC held day-long meetings with police and administration officials and also met delegations from various political parties ahead of the next phase of the state assembly polls scheduled for April 17. Appearing unmoved, Banerjee said she stood by whatever she had said and lashed out against the poll panel while addressing a rally in Murarai of Birbhum district. "They (the opposition) have complained to the EC against me. Whatever I have said I stand by my point. I still stand by my point. "The CPI-M, Congress and the BJP have their men in the EC. You can't rob me of my democratic rights. Whatever I have said, I have done the right thing. I will say the same thing thousands of times," she said. She also warned her political opponents of seeking "inch by inch" replies from them for the canards and disinformation spread against her. "I will take replies inch by inch for the canards... for the injustice done to me, the character assassination they have indulged in." Lashing out at the poll panel for threatening legal action against Mondal, a fuming Banerjee asked why shouldn't leaders of other parties like the CPI-M's Mohammed Salim or state Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury be arrested. "Why shouldn't (CPI-M leader) Sujon (Chakraborty), Biman (Bose) and Buddahdeb (Bhattacharjee) be arrested?" she asked. Pointing to the removal of Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar and the changing of "300-350 officers-in-charge" of police stations, Banerjee accused the EC of "doing whatever the Congress, BJP and the CPI-M asks you to do". "Are we not human beings also? Why should everything be done unilaterally?" she asked. The opposition dubbed Banerjee's outbursts against the EC as an attempt to distract the masses from the issues plaguing the Trinamool. "The way the Saradha scam and the Narada sting operation have tarnished her image, the chief minster's attack on the EC is nothing but a ploy to distract the masses from these issues," said Congress MP Chowdhury. He also accused the Trinamool of trying to influence the lower rung of the poll panel through inducements. Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh will turn 97 on Friday. Arjan Singh was the first IAF chief to lead a young force into war. He was Chief of Air Staff when the IAF saw action in 1965, and was hardly 44 years of age when entrusted with the responsibility of leading the IAF. The Marshal was born on April 15, 1919, in Lyalpur (now Faislabad in Pakistan), and completed his education at Montgomery (now Sahiwal in Pakistan). At the age of 19, he was selected for the Empire Pilot training course at RAF Cranwell. His first assignment on being commissioned was to fly Westland Wapiti biplanes in the North West Frontier Province as a member of the No.1 RIAF Squadron. After a brief stint with the newly formed No.2 RIAF Squadron where he flew sorties against the tribal forces, he moved back to No.1 Squadron as a Flying Officer to fly the Hawker Hurricane. He was promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader in 1944. Arjan Singh led the squadron against the Japanese during the Arakan Campaign, flying Close Air Support missions during the crucial Imphal Campaign and later assisting the advance of the allied forces to Rangoon. For his role in successfully leading the squadron in combat, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in 1944. On August 15, 1947, he achieved the unique honour of leading a fly-past of over a hundred IAF aircraft in Delhi, over the Red Fort. After his promotion to the rank of Wing Commander, he attended the Royal Staff College in Britain. Immediately after independence, he commanded Ambala IAF station in the rank of Group Captain. On August 1, 1964, in the rank of Air Marshal, Arjan Singh took over the reins of the IAF. He steered the IAF through the India-Pakistan war of 1965, when Pakistan launched its Operation Grand Slam, with an armoured thrust targeted at the vital town of Akhnoor. He inspired the IAF to victory, despite the constraints imposed on the full-scale use of the IAF combat power. Then defence minister Y.B. Chavan wrote about him: "Air Marshal Arjan Singh is a jewel of a person; quiet, efficient and firm; unexcitable but a very able leader." The IAF, in a statement, said it "salutes the Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh, an iconic figure and wishes him all the best and grateful to him for guiding and inspiring through the years". BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday vowed to oust the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh and return to power to "uproot mafias and goons". Addressing a large gathering of party workers here on the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar, the four-time UP chief minister took on the BJP and the Congress as well. She labelled all three parties as "opportunists" who she said were wooing Dalits only for political and electoral gains. "I am cautioning the Dalits not only of Uttar Pradesh but the whole country to be watchful of the sweet talk by these parties as this is meant only for electoral gains and has no seriousness," she said. Urging her support base to act as "master keys to political power" as espoused by Ambedkar, she said the time had come to uproot what she said was the anti-Dalit government in UP in the assembly polls next year. She explained that she got her own statues installed during her rule in UP in 2007-12 as per the "verbal wishes and a written will" of her mentor and Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram. After that, she said, other parties plotted against her and slammed her for erecting elephant statues in parks. "They said these were attempts by me to promote the party symbol but the fact was that they were used as welcome symbols." Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah here amid simmering anger in the Kashmir Valley over the death of four civilians during the week in clashes with security forces. The two leaders, according to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sources, discussed the latest situation in the Kashmir Valley where authorities have imposed curfew following clashes in Kashmir. It was the first meeting between Shah and Mehbooba after the PDP president became the first woman chief minister of on April 4. She heads the PDP-BJP ruling combine in the state. BJP leader Ram Madhav, who is the party's affairs in-charge, was also present at the meeting. Mehbooba arrived in the capital on Tuesday and has since met Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, Urban Development and Housing Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari. She also met Prime Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday separately to discuss security and developmental issues in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged the farming community to evolve a new policy for water conservation and improve their knowledge about soil behaviour for getting better yields. "I am on a new mission of per drop - more crop," Modi said launching an electronic trading platform, the national agriculture market -- eNAM. "With each drop of water saved, we can usher in a new era of progress and prosperity," Modi said. He stressed the need for farmers to improve their knowhow about soil behaviour. Modi also said that while emphasis should be given to technological upgradation in the fields, the old practice of "flood irrigation has become a thing of past". "Farmers should not merely think that abundant water only can bring in better results. For instance, even for sugarcane sprinkling water helps to get better yields," he said. The e-NAM trading mechanism proposes to integrate 585 regulated wholesale markets or agriculture produce market committees (APMCs) under one electronic platform within a couple of years. The eNAM will allow farmers to sell their produce to highest bidders. It will initially aim at integrating 21 mandis in eight states -- Uttar Pradesh (6), Gujarat (3), Telangana (5), Rajasthan (1), Madhya Pradesh (1), Haryana (2), Jharkhand (1) and Himachal Pradesh (2). Launched with a budget allocation of Rs.200 crore, as many as 25 key commodities, including wheat, paddy, maize, onion, jowar, bajra, groundnut, potato, soyabean and mustard seed, have been selected for e-trading, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh had said on Wednesday. Fruits and vegetables normally known for price fluctuations, however, have not yet included in the platform, officials said here. Nepal has invited Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to attend the 2,560th birth anniversary celebrations of Lord Buddha in Kathmandu, officials said on Thursday. "Nitish Kumar has been invited by Nepal next month to attend a function in connection with the birth anniversary of the Buddha," said an official from the chief minister's office here. The Nepal government is organising an international Buddha seminar on May 19-20, and has also invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jingping and UN chief Ban Ki-moon. Nitish Kumar had visited Kathmandu last month to attend the inaugural function of the national convention of the Nepali Congress. Actor Ram Charan, who is currently Shooting an yet to be titled Telugu remake of Tamil blockbuster "Thani Oruvan", says he is not sharing screen space with Salman Khan, contrary to reports surfacing in media. Ram, who was last seen in Bollywood film "Zanjeer", a remake of director Prakash Mehra's 1973 released film "Zanjeer", says that Salman once approached him for producing a film but they are not starring together as of now. "No, I don't know how these rumours are coming in. I am not starring in a film with Salman Khan," Ram, son of Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi, told IANS during his visit to the capital. He added: "But it was very nice of him when he once approached and said he wants to produce a film, and but of course the script and everything he has to select... but we are not acting together as of now." Ram is known for his performances in Telugu films like "Magadheera" and "Chirutha". YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Before the military operations carried out by Azerbaijan against the Nagorno Karabakh a situation has been created that repeatedly said that Azerbaijan prepares to war, it is going to use force, threatens, goes to provocations and etc. As Armenpress reports, the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia stated this during an interview with the Public Television of Armenia. According to him, it seemed to everyone that the adversary may carry out provocative actions, however, not everyone expected such kind of large-scale operations. There was a need to analyze the situation after receiving the first information. Since the information was received from that side, the other side, there was a need to juxtapose, and to have also other sources of information, then it is possible to make statements and give assessments. I think that the statements were made quite quickly. I do not speak about our statement since the Foreign Ministry of Armenia issued a statement hours later. Statements were made by the Co-Chair countries, international organizations. A big concern exists, since these organizations and the Co-Chair countries follow and make efforts in order to stabilize the situation and create every possible condition to make possible continue the negotiations, Nalbandian said. Referring to the question whether there is a need to believe the statement of the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov, which says that he was informed about the military operations by the third source, Edward Nalbandian emphasized that it is not the first time that the Azerbaijani officials say they know nothing, one hand does one thing, the other something else, or they pretend that they know nothing. Its not the first time that even the Azerbaijani high-ranking authorities pretend that they were in the plane, and someone decided and carried out the actions. We are familiar with it. After my calls, the partners started to have contact with him. At first he did not take the phone, then he pretended that he is not aware of the situation. Let the judgments to interlocutors, how can they believe these practicies when they pretend, the Foreign Minister of Armenia mentioned. Speaking about the necessity of informing the public about the situation, Nabandian highlighted that diplomacy is not the field where everything should be publicly spoken. From the very start of the Azerbaijans aggressive actions, I was in direct contact with my partners with the Co-chair countries, Ambassadors. I had a numerous telephone conversations including with the Foreign Minister of the OSCE Chairing country, with the ministers of neighboring countries, the General secretaries and heads of different organizations. It is obvious that these organizations and many countries responded and stated that there is no alternative to negotiation process, the conflict must be resolved only with peaceful means, and they criticized the resumption of military operations. These telephone conversations, meetings continued till now, yesterday there have been several other developments which arent publicized yet. I had 12 telephone conversations with my different partners, the representatives and heads of various organizations even yesterday night and today morning. The most important thing in diplomacy is not the rhetoric, but hanging up the call in order to reach results, Edward Nalbandian concluded. US President Barack Obama on Wednesday pledged to keep up momentum in the fight against the Islamic State (IS), saying the 66-member coalition of nations is "on the offensive". "Today, on the ground in Syria and in Iraq, IS is on the defensive," Obama told reporters after meeting with his national security team at the headquarters of Central Intelligence Agency. "We have momentum, and we intend to keep that momentum." Though the IS has managed to advance in some areas of Syria and Iraq, it has not had a successful major offensive operation on the ground there since last summer, Obama said. On Wednesday, the Pentagon said the US-led military operation against the IS has entered its second phase with the aim to dismantle the group, Xinhua news agency reported. The first phase focused on stopping IS militants from advancing and squashing its ability to operate as a conventional force, said Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting the IS. At the CIA headquarters, Obama stressed the importance of ending the Syrian civil war, calling it the "only way to truly destroy ISIL (IS)". "So we continue to work for a diplomatic end to this awful conflict," he said. The UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said Wednesday that the second round of proximity talks aimed at brokering a political end to the Syrian crisis had started. To date UN-mediated talks have made little progress to end the five-year war which has killed over a quarter million people and displaced millions of others. On Wednesday, Obama also noted that as the coalition has made it harder for foreign terrorists to reach Syria and Iraq there is an "uptick" in the number of IS fighters heading to Libya. "We are going to continue to use the full range of tools to roll IS back from Libya while assisting the new and nascent Libyan government as it works to secure their country," Obama said. The earthquake that hit the Myanmar-India border region on Wednesday night damaged structures and left at least 30 people injured in Manipur, but there has been no report yet of any loss of life, officials here said. At least 30 people, including women, were injured in the earthquake that measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, said the officials on Thursday. Several houses, school buildings and markets in Manipur were damaged by the tremors, they said. In neighbouring Assam, two persons were killed and over 70 others were injured in the quake. One primary school building at Khekman in Thoubal district of Manipur collapsed completely, destroying the adjacent house of Jamir Khan. Wednesday's earthquake exacerbated the damage caused to some structures -- such as the 150-year-old Ima Keithel or Mothers' Market complex here -- that had already been shaken by the January 4 earthquake. Following the January quake, the government had declared the Mothers' Market complex unsafe for the vendors, who are exclusively women. Officials told IANS on Thursday that the damage to the portions of the market complex has worsened. The district administration has barred women vendors from doing business in the complex. Several houses in Nungba sub-division of Tamenglong district were also damaged by the tremors on Wednesday. There are reports that several persons have been injured. The district administration is collecting information on the number of people injured and houses damaged in the hill district. Police officials told IANS in Imphal that so far there is no report of any death in the quake-related incidents. Health officials said that medical teams, medicine supplies and equipment have been kept in readiness in case any report is received of injuries in the far-off hilly and rural areas of the state which lack in proper medicare facility. In the light of High Commissioner Abdul Basit's comment that "at present the peace process is suspended" exactly a week ago, Pakistans foreign ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria on Thursday said the door for negotiations with India was very much open. "Yes, dialogue is the best option," Zakaria said in response to a question whether the door was still open for negotiations between India and at his weekly media briefing in Islamabad. Read more from our special coverage on "PAKISTAN" "Diplomacy is for interaction and engagement between countries," he said. Asked at the Foreign Correspondents Club in New Delhi in a media interaction exactly on April 7 about a meeting between the foreign secretaries of the two countries, Basit said: "There is no meeting scheduled for now. I think at present the peace process is suspended." Foreign secretary-level talks between the two countries scheduled for the middle of January this year were derailed following the January 2 cross-border terror attack on the Pathankot Indian Air Force base in which seven Indian security personnel were killed. The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack in which the six attackers were also reportedly killed. The two south Asian neighbours had agreed to start a comprehensive bilateral dialogue during a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Sartaj Aziz, the advisor to the prime minister on foreign affairs, in December. This happened after Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif had a seemingly impromptu meeting at the Conference of Parties (CoP)-21 climate summit in Paris on November 30 last year which was followed by a meeting between the security advisors of the two nuclear-armed neighbours in Bangkok on December 6. The neighbourly rapport got a significant boost when Modi made a surprising stop at Lahore on his way back to New Delhi from Kabul on Christmas Day on the occasion of his counterpart's birthday. The next day was the wedding of Sharif's daughter. However, the terror attack in Pathankot on January 2 strained relations between the two countries. India said it sent "actionable evidence" to Pakistani authorities to bring the perpetrators of the attack to book. Pakistan filed an FIR in Gujranwala in February against unknown terrorists in connection with the airbase attack. It then sent a joint investigation team (JIT) to India in March-end to probe the attack. Basit held the press conference after the JIT's departure. In Thursday's media briefing, Zakaria said that during Modi's visit to Pakistan in December, it was decided that the two foreign secretaries should meet soon. "It is hoped that both sides would work out modalities for the FS level talks. We need to look ahead and not think in terms foreclosing any options. Both sides are in contact with each other. Once the modalities are worked out secretary-level talks would take place," he said. Replying to a range of questions, Zakaria said: "At our level here in the ministry, we do not give a day-to-day running commentary on official policy." As to the visit of the JIT, he said that it was evaluating the information shared by the Indian side. "It may be appropriate to allow the investigations to take its due course rather than indulge in speculations," the spokesman said. To a question about Kirpal Singh, an Indian prisoner who died in Pakistan on April 11 following what the authorities claimed was a heart attack, Zakaria said that it was "not appropriate to see everything through the prism of suspicion and conspiracy". "He was kept in intensive care at the hospital but he could not survive. He was given death sentence and life imprisonment by anti-terrorism court," he said. "We have communicated this information to the Indian high commission in Islamabad." Kirpal, 54, died at a hospital in Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat Jail. He was alleged to have been involved in a bombing at Faisalabad Railway Station in 1991 and sentenced to death for spying and terrorism in Pakistan. Pakistan pushed the Afghan Taliban on Thursday to join peace negotiations, two days after the group launched their annual fighting season that could further complicate efforts for the dialogue. The Taliban last month refused to take part in direct talks with the Afghan government under the Quadrilateral Coordination Group QCG), Xinhua news agency reported. Pakistan had agreed to host the talks. "It is in the interest of all groups in Afghanistan to participate in the process as this is the best hope to bring peace in Afghanistan and the entire region," foreign ministry spokesman Nafees Zikriya said. "We believe that a politically negotiated settlement is the best option for bringing lasting peace to Afghanistan," Zikriya said. He reiterated that Pakistan had higher stakes in Afghanistan peace than any other country and that Islamabad was "determined and serious in ensuring that peace returns to Afghanistan because it is not only in our interest but also the entire region". US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olson visited Islamabad this week for talks with military leaders and senior diplomats to review options for the next QCG meeting and the overall peace process, officials say. The spokesman said the US envoy and Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry had discussed "prospects of next QCG meeting and the situation in Afghanistan and both sides agreed that it should be held at the earliest on a mutually convenient date". Olson had also visited Kabul prior to his visit to Pakistan. There he exchanged views with Afghan leaders on how to begin the peace talks. Afghan sources in Islamabad insist that despite the Taliban's public refusal, some "background consultations" were on that were seen helpful in the peace initiative. As the UN celebrated B.R. Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary by examining the relevance of his legacy to its global development goals, the world body heard a plea to declare April 14, the birthday of the crusader against discrimination, as "International Equality Day". "I believe Baba Saheb's lifelong struggle for equality was not only for the people of India but for people around the globe," Punjab Assembly Speaker Charnjit Singh Atwal said at the Ambedkar Jayanti celebration here on Wednesday. Therefore, as his "true tribute and honour", he said that April 14 may be declared the "International Equality Day" by the UN. Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, the keynote speaker, said that Ambedkar's ideals were relevant today as the UN embarks on its ambitious programme of sustainable development goals (SDG). "Ambedkar understood that inequalities pose fundamental challenges to well-being" and the UN had adopted the elimination of inequality as its goal, she said. Clark is now the head of the UN Development Programme and a candidate for Secretary General of the UN in the upcoming elections. The theme of the celebrations organised for the first time by the Indian Mission to the UN along with the Kalpana Saroj Foundation and the Foundation for Human Horizon was "Combating inequalities for the achievement of SDG" and included a panel discussion on the relevance of Ambedkar's message to these goals. India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, said: "Last year, when the UN adopted the universal and transformative Agenda 2030 with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets, we, as Indians, noticed traces of Ambedkar's vision in the 'Sustainable Development Goals'." These could be seen in the parallels between the SDG goals of eliminating inequality and the Constitution that Ambedkar developed for India, enshrining the principle of equaity, and the UN's goal of achieving gender equality and his commitment to affirmatively empowering women, he said. More than 550 people -- diplomats, international officials, academics, civil society activists and Indian residents from across the US -- filled a UN conference room for the celebrations. A troupe of dancers and drummers performed at an entrance to the UN. The Begumpura Cultural Association of the New York brought a decorated float with a bust of Ambedkar to the UN. Meanwhile, Pakistan's UN mission organised a briefing on regional cooperation in Asia exactly at the same time as the Ambedkar celebrations a few rooms away at the UN. The Ambedkar celebrations featured two remarkable Dalits, who acknowledged they owed their positions to Ambedkar. Kalpana Saroj, whose foundation co-sponsored the celebration, is the chairperson of Kamani Tubes, an industrial manufacturer with an annual turnover of over Rs.100 crore. She spoke of discrimination based on religion that "treats crores of its adherents worse than dogs" and said that fed up with such atrocities "Ambedkar accepted Buddhism and bestowed upon us the duty to follow the path of truth and non-violence of Bhagwan Buddha". Deelip Mhakse, the president of Foundation of Human Horizon, said India owed its emergence as a power on the world arena to Ambedkar's vision of promoting "education and exertion". Stan Kachnowski, a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi and chair of HITLAB (Healthcare Innovation Technology Lab), said that if today India was "the intellectual capital" of medical technology and pharmaceuticals, it was a consequence of Ambedkar enshrining the primacy of education. This had in turn led to Amebedkar's imprint being placed on the world's health development as it pursues goals like the elimination of tuberculosis and the provision of clean water technology and mosquito netting, which are among the UN's goals. Harvard University lecturer Christopher Queen saw parallels in the careers of Ambedkar fighting for the rights of the Dalits and Martin Luther King for African Americans and the role religion played in their lives and in their politics. Dalits and blacks still suffer, he said, and the situation has taken a turn for the worse lately in both countries. He referred to the continuing attacks on African Americans and the recent suicide of Rohith Vemula, a student at the University of Hyderabad who killed himself reportedly because of harassment based on caste. An associate professor at Ambedkar's alma mater, Columbia University, Anupama Rao, also spoke of the Vemula case and the protests but said that such violence could no longer take place in secrecy because of the Constitution that Ambedkar drafted. She said that human rights can be realised only when there were political and economic equalities and Ambedkar advocated economic redistribution because of this. The SDG goals can only be achieved through social justice and eliminating inequalities as Ambedkar advocated, she added. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday recalled India's rich maritime heritage, dating back to the world's first dock built at Lothal in Gujarat around 2,500 BC. "This dock was equipped to berth and service ships. It was built after studying tidal flows," Modi said of Lothal, still known by the same name in Ahmedabad district. Besides Lothal, there were several other important ancient Indian ports which proved to be major drivers of global maritime trade over 2000 years ago, he said. These were Barygaza or modern day Bharuch in Gujarat, Muziris of modern Kodungallur near Kochi in Kerala, Kaveripattinam and Korkai or today's Tuticorin, both in Tamil Nadu, and Arikamedu in Ariyankuppam district of Puducherry. "There are many references in ancient Indian literature, Greek and Roman works about the vibrant maritime trade of India with Rome, Greece, Egypt and Arabia. "Ancient and medieval Indian traders maintained links with countries in South-East and East Asia, Africa, Arabia and Europe," Modi said. He said the chief architect of India's Constitution, B.R. Ambedkar, whose 125th birth anniversary is being celebrated on Thursday, was also the architect of the country's water and river navigation policy. He said Ambedkar created two powerful institutions -- Central Waterways, Irrigation and Navigation Commission and Central Technical Power Board -- to best utilize water resources and help projects serve purposes other than irrigation. "Ambedkar emphasized the importance of the new waterways policy in order to lay the foundation for a regime of prosperity for the millions of poor. I am happy to state that we have embarked on the development of National Waterways in keeping with Babasaheb's vision and foresight," Modi said. Modi pointed out that 70 percent of the earth's surface was covered by water and 97 percent of this (water) was in the oceans. Oceans also contained 99 percent of the living space on Earth, which meant that our lifestyles, transport systems and trading behavior should not spoil the ocean ecology. Modi pointed out that the challenges of climate change had shown that even offshore human behaviour can change the ecology of glaciers and oceans. While maritime transport can be the most extensive and eco-friendly mode, care must be taken on maritime security, freedom of navigation and safety and security of sea lanes, he said. Controversial actress Poonam Pandey, who went bold with her debut film "Nasha", will be next seen in a horror film. "I was in Mumbai recently when I got a call from a director asking for a meeting for a script narration. The film appealed to me so much that I have given my nod to be a part of the film on the same day. "It's a horror film and I am doing a horror film for the first time. We will commence shooting shortly," Poonam told IANS. The yet to be titled horror film is a Kannada movie and is scheduled to go on the floors by the middle of this month and the actress says that she is ready to showcase her scary side with this film. "My debut film, 'Nasha' helped me showcase my romantic side and 'Malini & Co.' exposed my macho side. Now this film is a perfect opportunity to showcase my scary side and prove my versatility by portraying different kinds of roles," she said. The actress is said to have already begun her preparation for the role and is eager to go to great lengths to bring authenticity to her role. President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday led the nation in paying tributes to Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar, principal architect of the Indian Constitution, on his 125th birth anniversary. Mukherjee paid tributes at Ambedkar's statue in Parliament House lawns. Vice President Hamid Ansari, union ministers, leaders of political parties and people in large number also paid floral tributes to Ambedkar on the occasion. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot, among others, was also present during the function. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also paid tributes to Ambedkar at Mhow, his birth place in Madhya Pradesh. Functions are being organized all over the country to remember the contribution of Ambedkar in the building of the nation. The day was observed as "Social Harmony Day", an official statement said. "Portraits of Ambedkar are being garlanded at village Panchayats and literature about his life and work is being distributed. Discussions about his teaching and work are also being held," it added. Born on April 14, 1891 to Bhimabai Sakpal and Ramji in Madhya Pradesh, Ambedkar died on December 6, 1956. Bihar's Nitish Kumar government should have been more pragmatic before announcing prohibition as this cost Nagaland dearly in terms of revenue and only helped "bootleggers of neighbouring Assam", a former minister from the north-eastern state has said. "I think the Bihar chief minister should have been more careful and done a more in-depth study. This prohibition idea is a folly. Prohibition has either failed as in Nagaland or Manipur or had to be withdrawn as in Mizoram," Thomas Ngullie, an Independent legislator and former information minister, told IANS here. "We brought in the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act in 1989. I was part of the Congress party that brought the law. But that was a mistake. We only helped the bootleggers of Assam and cash-starved Nagaland lost huge revenue," he added. Apart from bootlegging, spurious liquor too takes its toll on consumers. The Naga politician's lament, though, is not in isolation. Within minutes of the announcement that prohibition had been enforced in governance-starved Bihar, microblogging site Twitter and social networking Facebook were on fire. This striking oneliner went viral: Breaking news: Bihar announces massive investments in bootlegging industry. This has generally been the outcome of prohibition laws wherever they have been imposed or tried. An IANS report from Kathmandu said that at a recent meeting in Forbesganj in Bihar, Indian authorities sought help from their Nepali counterparts to curb the movement of people seeking alcohol from Nepal. "Mizoram was reeling under Prohibition for 18 years and one of our governors said: 'Mizoram is the wettest dry state in the country.' Not a comment to be proud of. Let's not indulge in hypocrisy," wrote Hmar C. Vanlalruata from Mizoram capital Aizawl on Facebook on the day prohibition was enforced in Bihar. Christian-majority Mizoram declared prohibition under the influence of church bodies but lifted this in July 2014 after 18 years of struggling with its failure. In another northeastern state, Manipur, prohibition was brought in 1991 and for more reasons than one everyone seemed to believe in its limitations. There have been reports of bootlegging and also increase in drug abuse. In July 2014, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh stated in the Manipur assembly that his government favoured exploring options of lifting prohibition. He also had suggested that the country liquor produced in Manipur by scheduled castes and tribes be sold in other states "for revenue". While the state was declared dry, scheduled castes and tribes were permitted to brew liquor for traditional purposes. This situation continues till today. Prohibition had beeen in force in what is now Tamil Nadu since pre-Independence days and was lifted in 1971. It was again briefly imposed in 1974 before being lifted. Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha has promised to turn the state dry if she is voted back to power in the assembly elections later this year. Prohibition was imposed in Haryana in July 1996 by the government headed by then chief minister Bansi Lal, who had ridden to power on the promise of a dry state. However, it remained in force only till March 31, 1998. One of the reasons is that neighbouring Punjab has one of the highest per capita consumption rates of liquor, so it was always easily available. Rajasthan briefly flirted with prohibition in 1977-79. Bombay State - now Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat - briefly imposed prohibition from 1948 to 1950 and again from 1958 to 1960. With Maharashtra and Gujarat created on May 1, 1960, today there is prohibition in only three of Maharashtra's 36 districts - Wardha, Chandrapur and Ghadchiroli. Gujarat is quite a different story. Prohibition is as old as Independence and the fact that it is violated openly is also as old. Just like home-delivered pizza, illicit liquor is just a phone call away and the industry has grown exponentially. There are scooter-borne small bootleggers in thousands delivering one and two bottles of your choice. Then there are the sophisticated ones by who come dressed like a guest to your home to ensure nobody notices their purpose and deliver stuff nearly packed in grocery bags and flower bouquets. Some bigger suppliers have got tech-savvy: They keep lap-top computers and employ GPS to keep track of where the supplies have reached. The police is well aware of this, and so are ministers and bureaucrats. Gujarat looses Rs.5,000 crore ($750 million) in excise income to implement the dry law. The government tries to recover this from its 52 Permit Shops, where liquor is officially sold to 70,300 permit-holders. Revenue loss is also what Kerala will have to deal with by deciding to impose total prohibtion by 2023 when all the 730 bars will shut down and liquor will only be served in 29 five-star hotels. Kerala may be shooting its cash cow. "Alcohol helps in giving Kerala's economy a good high - shockingly, more than 40 percent of revenues for its annual budget come from booze," a posting on the BBC website said. In all these states, experience shows demand for prohibition is mostly guided by populism and surrendering to the pressure tactics of influential groups. Little wonder then, that celebrity Rishi Kapoor retorted in the context of Bihar: "Any law which tries to stop the people from doing something is bound to fail." But for the moment, more politicians are falling for prohibition policy's double-edged sword. (With inputs from V. Jagannathan in Chennai, Jaideep Sarin in Chandigarh, Anil Sharma in Jaipur, Darshan Desai in Ahmedabad and Sanu George in Thiruvananthapuram) (Nirendra Dev can be contacted at nirendra.n@ians.in) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday voiced hope that the current ceasefire in Syria will lead to a political settlement in the war-torn country. "We are expecting the cessation of hostilities from both sides to lead to pacification. It is necessary to adopt a constitution, hold early elections and resolve the crisis by these means," Xinhua news agency quoted Putin as saying during his annual live phone-in. The Syrian army was capable of launching offensive operations with the help of Russia's remaining forces in the country, Putin said. A tentative truce has largely been held since conflicting parties in Syria ceased hostilities in late February, under the auspices of Russia and the US. This is Putin's 14th Question and Answer session, dubbed "Direct Line with Vladimir Putin," which was launched in 2001 and held annually with exceptions only in 2004 and 2012. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Twelve people are feared to be dead, including an Australian pilot, after a small island plane crashed while approaching the runway of an airport in western Papa New Guinea. The plane, part of two-aircraft company Sunbird Aviation, reportedly crashed while approaching Kiunga airport in the Western Province of the island nation, Armenpress reports, citing Daily Mail. Vasil Wifo, a former employee of the local airline, confirmed the tragedy. 'Twelve bodies are now in the morgue in Kiunga Hospital,' he said. 'It's terrible news, everyone feels really low and really sad. It's something we don't expect to happen every day.' Mr Wifo said the civil aviation authority would investigate the crash to understand what went wrong. A spokesperson for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said they were aware of reports that a 'Sunbird Aviation aircraft travelling from Oksapmin to Kiunga has crashed.' 'Our thoughts are with the passengers and crew of the aircraft and their families,' the spokesperson said in a statement. 'The Australian High Commission in Port Moresby is liaising closely with local authorities to determine whether Australians were on board the aircraft.' 'We stand ready to provide consular support to victims and families of Australians who may be involved,' the statement read. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday greeted people on the occasion of Bengali and Malayalam New Year. "Best wishes to the people of Bengal on Poila Boishakh. Shubho Noboborsho!," Rahul Gandhi tweeted. "Greetings to everyone celebrating Vishu. May the new year bring new beginnings, peace & prosperity. Happy Vishu," he said in his another tweet. If you are heading to the hills of Himachal Pradesh this weekend, mild showers may greet you, the Met office said on Thursday. "A fresh western disturbance would be active in the region on April 16, bringing rain and thundershowers," an official of the India Meteorological Department here told IANS. He said most of the prominent tourist destinations like Shimla, Kasauli, Kufri, Narkanda, Dharamsala, Palampur, Dalhousie and Manali are likely to witness intermittent rainfall till April 18, which will bring down temperatures to comfortable levels. Meanwhile, the maximum and minimum temperatures across the state increased due to prevailing dry weather. Kalpa, a picturesque town 250 km from here, recorded a maximum temperature of 20.6 degrees Celsius, while it was 26.8 degrees Celsius in Dharamsala. State capital Shimla saw a maximum temperature of 24.8 degrees Celsius, whereas the minimum was 13.3 degrees. Picturesque tourist resort Manali recorded a minimum temperature of 2.8 degrees Celsius. Una was the hottest in the state a high of 37.5 degrees Celsius. A top Pakistani official said that Indian intelligence agency, RAW has established a special cell at its headquarters in New Delhi to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and is being executed via Afghanistan. ""RAW and Afghanistan's NDS (National Directorate of Security - intelligence agency) have launched joint secret operations against Pakistan by using three Indian consulates in Jalalabad, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif," said Secretary Defence Alam Khattak on Wednesday. "The three consulates in Afghanistan are providing weapons, money, training and other logistical support to agents for subversive activities in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), Balochistan and Karachi in Pakistan," he said. The remarks were made while he briefed the Senate defence committee at Parliament House, Dawn online reported. RAW has also set-up a cell at NDS headquarters in Kabul for coordinating anti-Pakistan activities, the secretary defence said. Referring to the recent arrest of Kulbushan Jadhav, a deep cover RAW operative arrested from Balochistan, Khattak elaborated that his entire network has been dismantled by Pakistani security agencies. Law enforcement agencies announced the arrest of Jadhav during an intelligence-based raid in Balochistan's Chaman last week. Jadhav was later shifted to Islamabad for interrogation. Russia acted "in accordance with international rules" when its unarmed fighter jets had two close encounters with the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea, Russia's defence ministry said on Thursday. Defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov spoke to Russian state news agency Tass on the incident. Initial reports indicate two encounters with the US Navy's guided missile destroyer occurred Tuesday night in international waters, reports CNN. One of the Russian jets flew within 75 feet of the US ship's superstructure. The USS David Cook "encountered multiple, aggressive flight manoeuvers by Russian aircraft that were performed within close proximity of the ship", the US European Command said in a statement. "We have deep concerns about the unsafe and unprofessional Russian flight manoeuvers," the statement said. A US official described the Russian manoeuver as "strafing runs" without firing any weapons. The unarmed Russian aircraft swooped in over the deck in the same flight profile that would have been used if an attack were underway. The Pentagon released dramatic video of the jets flying extremely close to the USS Donald Cook more than 30 times over two days. The Russian planes raced by the US Navy destroyer low and fast, over and over. Pictures taken from on board the ship show just how dangerously close they came during some of their passes, the official said. Russian defence ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said Thursday the Su-24 fighter jet pilots saw the ship and then turned back "while using all measures of precaution". Konashenkov claimed the ministry was baffled by what he described as the "distressed reaction of our American counterparts", according to CBS News. "The principle of freedom of navigation for the US destroyer, which is staying in close proximity to a Russian naval base in the Baltic Sea, does not at all cancel the principle of freedom of flight for Russian aircraft," Konashenkov said. A pair of Russian attack jets flew 20 passes on the ship Monday, coming as close as 1,000 yards at an altitude of 100 feet, ignoring radio calls from the USS Cook and forcing the ship to cancel flight operations. On Tuesday, a Russian helicopter circled the Cook, taking photographs, followed by another pair of attack jets that showed up and buzzed the Cook 11 times -- this time coming within an estimated 30 feet of the ship. This was the latest and most striking in a series of incidents over the past two years in which Russian aircraft have challenged NATO ships and planes. US officials believe the actions violated an agreement signed in the 1970s with the Soviet Union, which remains in force with Russia and specifically prohibits running simulated attack profiles against ships, said CBS News. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has won the TIME 100 reader poll, topping not just rival Hillary Clinton but also a host of world leaders that include US President Barack Obama and Myanmarese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as other eminent personalities. Sanders finished with 3.3 percent of the total 'yes' votes when the poll closed at midnight on Thursday, bagging more than three times as many votes as former US Secretary of State Clinton. South Korean boy band Big Bang came at second spot with 2.9 percent votes, while Suu Kyi was third with 2.2 percent, and Obama fourth with two percent. Pakistani rights activist Malala Yousafzai, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, US First Lady Michelle Obama, Pope Francis and Leonardo DiCaprio round out the top 10. Clinton, who is leading the Democrat race and is Sanders' opponent for the Democratic Party nomination, finished with one percent of the 'yes' votes. The list comprises names that "TIME readers think should appear on our annual list of the most influential people in the world". Sanders, who has long benefited from digitally active supporters, led the reader poll from the start. While he badly lags Clinton in winning the delegates needed to capture the presidential nomination, his populist rhetoric and emphasis on income inequality has allowed him to sustain a stronger-than-expected challenge to Clinton while also helping frame the debate in the Democratic contest, says TIME. The TIME 100 comprises of world leaders, great minds in science and technology, outstanding figures in the arts and other icons of the moment. TIME's editors ultimately choose the TIME 100, which will be announced on April 21. South Korea's defence ministry on Thursday said the military is preparing for possible launch of ballistic missile by North Korea. Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Kyun said the military is closely monitoring and preparing for the possibility for Pyongyang's fifth nuclear test and the launch of ballistic missiles such as Musudan missiles, Xinhua news agency reported. Moon said it would be in line with top North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's orders on March 15 to test a nuclear warhead and ballistic rockets capable of carrying the warhead. Regarding possibility for the launch of ballistic missiles from mobile launcher, Moon said it was possible for North Korea to launch mobile ballistic missiles, noting that the military continued the monitoring and tracking of such possibility. The spokesman, however, noted that Pyongyang is yet to issue a no-navigation zone in waters off the country, widely seen as a sign to launch ballistic missiles. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday greeted citizens on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar, main architect of the Indian Constitution. She said that one of the greatest icons of modern India, Ambedkar's contribution spread across every field of national development. "His faith in democracy, which he shared with Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and other stalwarts of the freedom movement, is one of his proud legacies to our country," she said, according to a statement. As Ambedkar said in the "last session of the constituent assembly, our Constitution has given us not just a political democracy, but also a social democracy, guaranteeing equality of all and empowerment of the weak and the marginalized." Born on April 14, 1891 to Bhimabai Sakpal and Ramji in Madhya Pradesh, Ambedkar died on December 6, 1956. Gandhi said that the Indian Constitution, drafted by Ambedkar, is a unique affirmation of fundamental human rights and guarantees social empowerment through constitutional means. "India's unique experiment of social and economic transformation through peaceful and democratic means holds lessons for all societies in transition and for all nations divided by social and economic disparities and discrimination," she said. "On this occasion, we pay our humble tribute to one of the greatest son of India and champion of social equality and democracy," she added. Kenyan authorities said on Thursday that a lion which strayed from the Nairobi National Park early this week has returned to the park unharmed. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) spokesman Paul Gathitu said the lion, which strayed from the park on Monday night, was later spotted around the Karen Hardy residential estate early on Tuesday, reports Xinhua news agency. It returned to the park on Tuesday night. "The lion returned to the park safely through a fence which had been knocked down by some motorists," Gathitu told Xinhua. In the space of two months, there have been at least three confirmed cases of lions coming into contact with people in Nairobi and the surrounding areas. In early February, several lions strayed from the park at night and wandered into the Lang'ata suburb. In the middle of last month, a 63-year-old man was almost killed by a lion as he walked to work along the Nairobi-Mombasa Road. The last incident left a motorcyclist badly injured. People across Tamil Nadu welcomed the Tamil New Year or "Vilambi" with traditional fervor. People greeted each other by saying "Puthaandu Vazhthukkal". The Tamil New Year is celebrated on the first day of the Tamil month Chithirai which normally falls on April 13 or 14 annually. Houses are decorated with 'kolam' (rangoli) outside the front door. Mango leaves adorn the door frames. All the popular temples here - Kapaleeswarar Temple, Sri Parthasarathy Temple - were crowded since the early hours of Saturday. At big temples, the almanac for the New Year was read. At home, Tamilians feasted on dishes like vada and payasam (sweet dish) and other savouries were being prepared. The special dish of the day is the 'mango pachidi' made with neem flowers, jaggery, mango, green chilli, salt and tamarind juice representing the six major human emotions. Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister K.Palaniswami and several other state leaders extended their greetings. Actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth said at a time when agitation has become a part of our lives to protect the farming land, air that we breathe, the water that we drink and to estabilish secured legal rights, the grace of God is needed for the New Year to be happy. --IANS vj/ksk (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation concluded here on Thursday with the 13 Tiger Range Countries adopting a resolution reasserting their commitment to the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP). Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said the 'New Delhi Resolution on Tiger Conservation' will help strengthen the commitment of the member countries toward the "Global Tiger Summit" resolution adopted in 2010 at St. Petersburg, Russia - which was to double the tiger population by 2022. The minister said there is need to align development and tiger conservation through participation of locals and other stakeholders. "We believe in partnership with local communities because they are the real protectors," said Javadekar. He added, "India is ready to help non-tiger countries to develop tiger habitats." "We have tigers, they have money," he said. Answering a question on the tiger parts trade in China, through its several 'tiger farms', he said that China has its own legal framework and "we respect that". He also stressed to include non-tiger countries, with rich bio-diversity, in the next conference, to be held two years later. The venue of the conference had not been decided yet. "Strengthen co-operation at the highest levels of government to combat wildlife crime, address the demand for tiger products and increase formal and informal trans boundary coordination," the resolution stated. The resolutions adopted also stressed on accelerated implementation of the GTRP, mutual and systematic reporting of the census, integrating tiger and wildlife safeguards in infrastructure at the landscape level, leverage funding and technical support from international organisations and financial institution in addition to the tiger range country governments. Providing ecosystem services to the tiger reserves, emphasising the tiger recovery growth in the areas with low tiger densities, knowledge sharing and capacity development for all stakeholders and increase in the use of technology were also part of the resolution adopted. "Restoration, Reintroduction and Rehabilitation is needed to increase tiger population in low density areas," Javadekar said. Artem Sidorov, head of the Federal Supervisory Natural Resources Management Service, Russia said, "We understand that our common goals and compliance still exists." "This resolution must not be limited to the respective ministries of environment or forest only. It's ambit must be broadened and other departments must be included," said Chencho Norbu, director general of Department of Forest and Park Services, Bhutan. During the three-day conference, representatives from the earlier 13 Tiger Range Countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, India, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russian Federation, Thailand and Vietnam as well as the two new ones of Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan participated. The two new countries gained entry for the Snow Leopard. While several Tiger Range Countries like India, Nepal, Russia and Bhutan have registered an increase in tiger population, the status of tiger remains 'endangered', and has declined to 'non-viable' level in some range countries, a cause for concern. India is home to 70 percent of the world's tigers. According to the latest figures, Bangladesh has 106 tigers, Bhutan 103, Cambodia nil, China seven, India 2,500, Indonesia 371, Lao PDR two, Malaysia 250, Nepal 198, Russia 433, Thailand 189 and Vietnam less than five tigers in the wild. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Youth Federation London Khanasor on April 15 will make a protest in front of the Azerbaijan Embassy to the United Kingdom. As Armenpress reports, the Armenian Youth will express their solidarity to the soldiers who keep the borders of the homeland and will raise their voices against the criminal regime of Azerbaijan. The peaceful rally will take place at 18:00 local time. The Armenian community of London on April 4 gathered in front of the Embassy of Armenia, which is located in the Kensington district, for the support of Artsakh people. People raised the flags of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh Republics, as well as posters with Azerbaijan is an aggressor, hands off from Nagorno Karabakh, stop using Grad and kill children, stop note. The protest aimed to bring the attention of British people to the Azerbaijani aggression carried oud in the Artsakh borders which resulted in the loss of not only the protectors of the homeland, but also of the civilian population. As a result of Azerbaijans military operations 64 servicemen and 13 special militia and reserve forces were killed from April 2 to April 5. 1 officer is missing. 9 servicemen, 2 special militia forces, 4 civilian people were killed as a result of the escalation of border tensions in the period of April 2-13. Overall, 92 people were killed. Twenty tigers in northeast China's Heilongjiang province embarked on a journey on Thursday morning to their new home more than 2,000 km away. The felines, one white tiger and 19 Siberian tigers, are all adults of about four years old. They will arrive at a new tiger park in Luanchuan County in central China's Henan province after three days of travel. "The distance is long, and some tigers may get tired or even carsick. We will give them water and food regularly," Xinhua news agency quoted Liu Dan of the Siberian Tiger Park as saying. The Park is the world's largest Siberian tiger breeding base. Siberian tigers are among the world's most endangered species. They mostly live in eastern Russia, northeast China and northern parts of the Korean Peninsula. The Siberian Tiger Park of Heilongjiang is now home to more than 1,100 tigers. So far it has sent more than 100 tigers to zoos in other parts of China. Last year, more than 150 tiger cubs were born in the park, the highest number since the park was built in 1986. About 100 cubs are expected to be born this year. An 18-year-old woman from Ohio in the US has been charged with using a social media app to livestream a minor's alleged rape by a male friend, media reports said on Thursday. Marina Alexeevna Lonina and her 17-year-old friend had been drinking with Raymond Boyd Gates, 29, on February 27 when Gates allegedly raped the victim, www.ktla.com reported. Lonina started live-streaming the sexual assault over the live video streaming app Periscope. She also allegedly took nude photographs of the victim the night before the sexual assault, according to Franklin County prosecutor Ron O'Brien. Police were notified after a friend of Lonina saw the livestream on Periscope. Lonina and Gates have both been indicted on one count of kidnapping, two counts of rape, one count of sexual battery, three counts of pandering sexually-oriented material involving a minor. If convicted, the duo face up to 40 years in prison. Owning shares entitles you to dividends and voting rights. Secured lending in the extreme entitles you to seize the assets of the company to make your money whole. Recent developments at Yahoo Inc pose a question: If a minority equity holder in the US is able to nominate directors to the Board (or initiate the nomination, in this case) to influence the future direction of the firm, why are lenders in India not doing the same? A quick recap on the events at Yahoo. Bibek Debroy's piece, "Why Jamalpur still has a hold" (April 9), has several inaccuracies. He says that "once you have cleared the (Union Public Service Commission or UPSC) exam (for Special Class Railway Apprentices or SCRA), you join the IR (Indian Railways) as a Group A officer. All that is required is passing the intermediate examination or its equivalent (Class XII), with mathematics and either physics or chemistry". This is incorrect. One joins as an apprentice after the UPSC exam and becomes an IR officer only after clearing several assessments, internal and external, some of them conducted by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London. Debroy says: "With civil engineering no longer part of its portfolio, the SCRA is only into mechanical engineering." Civil engineering was never part of the SCRA "portfolio". He further says: "If you join through the SCRA, you are younger when you join the IR. With existing IR silos, you move up faster. You go on to become member (mechanical) and perhaps CRB (chairman, Railway Board)." Both of these are incorrect. There is no real difference in the proportion of members of different services becoming members or chairman of the Railway Board. He says that "most senior people you meet in the IR are from Jamalpur (it's a little less now)". "Is it surprising they don't want to scrap the SCRA, despite the UPSC arguing for it?" This is not only wrong but also absurd because most senior people in the IR are not even from the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering of which Jamalpur is a small part. The other bit, about not wanting "to scrap the SCRA", is irrelevant, as the decision to do so is reported to have been taken already. Debroy quotes Rudyard Kipling's writing from 1888 to imply that most people who join or did join Jamalpur as SCRAs had their fathers working in the railways. This is also patently wrong. Jagdeep S Chhokar Delhi responds:I will leave aside Kipling; that's not pertinent. The relevant point is this: Do simultaneous SCRA and non-SCRA entry channels cause distortions? For two reasons, I think they do. The government funds SCRA students, not non-SCRA ones, at the student stage. Nothing in the letter contests this. Second, logically, on an average, those who join the IR through the SCRA will be younger at the entry level than their non-SCRA counterparts. Irrespective of the channel used for vertical mobility and the silo, this will create a differential between the two modes. The letter doesn't contest this either. Therefore, discontinuation of the SCRA, when implemented, is indeed desirable. can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to: The Editor, Business Standard Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg New Delhi 110 002 Fax: (011) 23720201 E-mail: letters@bsmail.in All must have a postal address and telephone number Indian farmers have long sought the ability to trade seamlessly across state barriers, and the new electronic "e-mandi" platform, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally launched on Thursday, is an important step in that direction, even if it does not go all the way. The concept of a barrier-free national agricultural market was mooted in the early 2000s to allow farmers to sell their produce wherever they could get good prices. This would allow them to escape the cartels that dominate local mandis and strangle the freedom to trade, pushing the mark-up between the farm and the table for agricultural produce in India to among the highest in the world. The first-ever National Policy for Farmers brought out in 2007 by the United Progressive Alliance government also mentioned this need. However, getting states on board for full agricultural marketing reform turned out to be difficult. The present National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government instead allocated funds in the 2015-16 Budget for the electronic infrastructure necessary to allow wholesale trading on a national electronic platform. US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter has concluded his visit to India on a high note. Most importantly the two sides have agreed to sign a Logistics Exchange Memorandum Agreement that would enable reciprocal support to each other's armed forces in specific situations such as joint military exercises, interventions in natural disasters and any other situation that may be mutually agreed upon. This does not add up to an alliance relationship but certainly upgrades the defence relationship between the two countries. On his 125th birth anniversary, political parties and leaders competed on Thursday to claim to be the true inheritors of the legacy of B R Ambedkar and to abuse the rest as charlatans. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanded that the Congress repent for undermining Ambedkars legacy, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati launched her partys election campaign for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh polls and termed the Dalit outreach of Modi and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi as eyewash. The PM visited Ambedkars birthplace in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh. He said India's development won't happen through five or 50 cities --- the foundation of villages will have to be strengthened. And, reiterated his commitment to double farmers' income by 2022. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao laid the foundation stone for a 125-ft statue of Ambedkar near the Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad. Even the United Nations commemorated the anniversary. In Mumbai, amid the countrywide melee of competing claims, the mother and brother of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide at Hyderabad Central University in January, sparking strong protests from dalits across the country, embraced Buddhism. Rohiths mother, Radhika, and brother Raja Vemula, were given deeksha at a function in Dadar in the presence of Ambedkars grandson, Prakash. Ambedkar, to protest the discrimination of Dalits by upper castes, had converted to Buddhism at Nagpur in 1956, shortly before he passed away. My brother Rohith was a Buddhist at heart although he did not convert. He took his own life as he was discriminated because he was a Dalit. We are against the caste system in Hinduism and have, therefore, decided to embrace Buddhism, which does not have such an oppressive system of castes. We want azadi (freedom) from the caste system, said Rohiths brother. In Lucknow, BSP chief Mayawati defended putting up her statues beside those of mentor Kanshi Ram at various memorials her government built over 2007-12. She said it was done to honour the wishes of her mentor but her party would now concentrate on development, not on building memorials if voted to power. She also dismissed the Bharat Mata ki Jai controversy. She said: "We in BSP say Jai Bheem and Jai Bharat. Some say Jai Hind. It's not necessary to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai, for which the BJP is making a big hue and cry." Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the Bhim Birthplace (Bhim Janma Bhoomi) Memorial on B R Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh. Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan is also seen In Mumbai, at a conference on maritime development, the PM said: "Many of us may not know that Babasaheb (Ambedkar) created two powerful institutions related to water, navigation and power. They are the Central Waterways, Irrigation and Navigation Commission and the Central Technical Power Board." In Bengaluru, former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa assumed charge as state BJP President and set an ambitious target of having an absolute majority, by winning 150 seats in the 224-member House in the 2018 Assembly polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday Congress should "repent" for "undermining" B R Ambedkar's legacy for 60 years as he reached out to dalits, saying he is working to fulfil the vision of the dalit icon. Modi, who had faced attack from Congress for trying to "approporiate" icons, hit back asking why the successive governments of Congress did not develop the five places associated with during their tenure. Listing a number of measures that his government is taking to carry forward the vision of including on maritime projects and the empowerment of weaker sections, Modi said,"for so many years, the vision of was undermined." "Some persons are distressed why Modi is doing all this. This is a matter of our dedication and conviction. We believe that social harmony can be achieved only by following the path shown by Baba Saheb. I feel proud to work at the feet of Baba Saheb." Referring once again to his humble origins, Modi said that if the son of a woman, who used to fetch water in others' houses could become Prime Minister, the credit for it goes to Ambedkar. On his government's decision to construct a memorial at 26 Alipur Road in Delhi, which was the last home of Ambedkar, the Prime Minister asked the Congress why did it not do so in the last six decades. "Why did you not do it in the last 60 years? When we are doing it, you are getting uneasy. You should repent over why you did not do this all these years," the Prime Minister said stepping up his offensive against the Congress. "Those engaged in vote bank thought of nothing else than dividing the society," he said. Making a pro-poor pitch, the Prime Minister accused the Congress of doing nothing on this count. "Some people have been calling themselves the messiah of the poor for the last six decades. The account of what they have done for the poor in last 60 years is shocking even as they keep talking of the poor day and night," Modi said as he highlighted the steps taken by his government in the last two years like giving LPG connection to the poor and Jan Dhan Yojana. Modi, whose government has often been accused by Congress of having a corporate bias, stressed that India's development won't happen through 5 or 50 cities and industrialists and foundation of villages will have to be strengthened for sustainable development and reiterated his committment to double the farmers income by 2022. With West Bengal Assembly elections underway, Modi also referred to Saradha chit fund scam in which the names of some Trinamool Congress leaders have figured as he spoke about challenges before the poor in saving their money. "Sometime there is Saradha chitfund and sometime some other chitfund. The money of the poor is taken away," he said, adding that this happened because they did not have access to banks. His government has tried to change it by increasing their access to banks with Jan Dhan accounts. "We connected the poor with the mainstream, which did not happen in the last 70 years," he said. The Prime Minister claimed that his is a government that is accountable to people. "This is a government, which will account for every penny, every second," he said. Making a strong pitch for developing villages, Modi said accelerating rural development could be the biggest engine to boost the growth of the Indian economy and emphasized the importance of increasing purchasing capacity of villagers. He said that a planned development of villages can bring big changes and visions of personalities like Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi, who had written about Gram Swaraj, can create this awareness. "The vision of Gram Swaraj of Mahatma Gandhi is yet to be completed. A change should have come after independence and the nation should have moved forward with the changing times but this did not happen," he said. It is to executive visions of Ambedkar and Gandhi that his government had launched 'Gram Uday se Bharat Uday' programme. All tools of development have to be directed at lifting villages, he said, adding that the whole world was "hailing" India's growth because of the government's work at empowering villages. The Prime Minister also talked about his pet Swachch Bharat campaign and also targeted Congress over electricity not reaching in 18,000 villages after so many years after independence. Recalling the "insult" that the dalit icon faced during his life time, the Prime Minister said Ambedkar had to taste this "poison" during his entire life time but since he was not an ordinary man, such things did not prejudice him and he showed no bitterness or anger towards any one when he wrote the Indian Constitution. "What else can be greatness. Unfortunately, the contribution of this great human being was brushed under the carpet," Modi said. On April 10, while addressing a rally at a village in Gurgaon district, Haryana Chief Minister declared that he would make Gurgaon a "super smart city". Two days later, he changed the name of the district from Gurgaon to Gurugram. The logic is that Gurgaon is the village of Dronacharya, the guru of the Pandavas and Kauravas, and, therefore, its name should reflect its epic connection with the Mahabharata. This, he said, was a long-standing demand of the locals. Now, if Gurugram means "village of the guru", so does Gurgaon (or Gurugaon, which many are saying would have been a better alternative if a name change was indeed in order). However, through this tactical name game, Khattar has brought Dronacharya back into conversation and has overnight added a Hindutva touch to Gurgaon's cosmopolitan character. A first-time MLA from Karnal and the first chief minister of Haryana from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Khattar is an old soldier of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Incidentally, 'Madhav Bhawan', the RSS office at Sector 12-A of Gurgaon, has for long had 'Gurugram' in its address. The blue board pointing to the office also reads 'Gurugram'. Born on January 1, 1954, Khattar joined the RSS in 1977 at the age of 24. He moved to BJP in 1994. Those who know him say that while he might lack administrative experience, he is completely entrenched in the RSS ethos. So much so that he chose to remain a bachelor to work as an RSS pracharak (propagandist). His proximity with another former RSS pracharak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is also no mystery. It was Modi who handpicked him to lead the first BJP government in Haryana. Under him, Haryana became one of the first states, after Maharashtra, to make the sale of beef a non-bailable offence with five years of rigorous imprisonment. The going, however, hasn't been easy for the first Punjabi chief minister of the state that is dominated by Jats. His lowest point as chief minister was his response to the recent violent agitation by the Jats for reservation. Many felt Khattar's response to that crisis, one of the worst the state has witnessed, was tentative and that he did not appear to have the confidence to take on the Jat community. In the end, he bowed down and the Haryana Assembly passed the Jat quota Bill. However, if he has been tentative, there have also been times when he has shown his proactive side - like making it mandatory for those contesting the panchayat and urban local body elections to have a minimum educational qualification. More recently, he stood up for the allottees of various housing projects developed by real estate firm Unitech in Gurgaon. Amidst allegations that the firm was delaying promised housing projects, Khattar, for the first time, presided over the monthly meeting of the Gurgaon grievance committee and appointed a panel to investigate Unitech's assets in India and abroad. Like in the party, Khattar has worked his way up in life. His father, Harbans Lal Khattar, and grandfather came to Rohtak from Pakistan during Partition. For some time, they worked as labourers, then opened a shop in Rohtak and eventually bought agricultural land. Khattar was born in Rohtak. There was a time he wanted to become a doctor and moved to Delhi to prepare for the entrance exam. Somewhere down the line, he gave up on that idea and instead set up a clothes shop in Delhi's Sadar Bazaar. Alongside as he did his graduation from Delhi University, he learnt about the RSS and joined the Sangh. The rest is history. And Gurgaon-turned-Gurugram is its latest chapter. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan fears to disclose to its own public the real number of casualties sustained as a result of its aggression against Nagorno Karabakh from April 1-5. As Armenpress reports, this is evidenced by the total silence of the Azerbaijani leadership regarding the numerous demands of political activists to release information about the casualties. It can be assumed that the real number of casualties is not disclosed because in reality, Azerbaijan suffered huge losses. Regarding this, in an interview with musavat.com Azerbaijani military analyst Uzeyir Jafarov expressed his support to the non-disclosure position of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. According to him, if Azerbaijan releases the real number of its casualties, the adversary and external forces might use it against Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani pro-leadership analyst urged the public of Azerbaijan to refrain from such demands, stressing that the Defense Ministrys position is totally correct. Uzeyir Jafarov earlier agreed to that fact that the attacking side always suffers greater loss than the defending side. The Azerbaijani side released the latest statement on its casualties on April 3, saying that Azerbaijan has 31 losses, without mentioning number of wounded or missing. However, Meydan TV conducted a research and concluded that Azerbaijan lost 93 soldiers, 34 were wounded and 6 missing in action. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry did not comment on this. The International Bellingcat analytical organization earlier reported that Azerbaijan suffered a minimum of 400 killed soldiers. Despite the ceasefire agreement which was initiated by the Azerbaijani side on April 5 at 12:00, Azerbaijan continues violating it and opens fire at Armenian positions and civilian settlements. According to Nagorno Karabakh Defense Armys data, during the Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno Karabakh from April 1-5, the Azerbaijani side lost 2 helicopters, 24 tanks, 3 battle vehicles, 1 engineering hardware, 7 UAVs, 1 MM-21 multiple rocket launcher. During the operations Azerbaijan lost 500 soldiers and 2000 were wounded. India Unlimited, a platform initiated by the Indian Embassy in Sweden to strengthen economic and social ties between the two countries, will hold its third edition in Stockholm from April 21 with the launch of an Indian film festival followed by a business conference. Jointly organised by the Embassy of India in Stockholm and SF BIO, Sweden's leading cinema chain in collaboration with the Indian National Film Development Corporation, the festival will showcase recent films that span numerous genres, ranging from blockbusters to regional Indian gems. From May 2, it will organise the annual India-Sweden business conference with the theme 'Making and Innovating in a New India'. A business delegation led by Confederation of Indian Industry will also visit and hold discussions with Swedish companies. The delegation would include Rajiv Modi CEO of Cadilla Pharma and fashion designer Tarun Tahiliani. "India Unlimited seeks to strengthen India-Sweden connections and partnerships in all areas that benefit both countries, with a special emphasis on economic relations and people-to-people ties through business seminars, exhibitions, food and cultural festivals," Indian ambassador to Sweden Banashri Bose Harrison said in a statement. At least six Pakistani policemen have been killed and 15 others taken hostage by a notorious gang during a police raid to clear their island hideout in Punjab province, forcing the government to use aerial strikes on the gangsters. The operation codenamed 'Zarb-e-Aahan' have been launched to flush out the gangsters from the province. The operation entered its ninth day with 1,600 security officials, including police officials and paramilitary Rangers, battling for control of the island of Punjab. Police officals have confirmed the casualties and hostage-taking situation. "The SHO (station house officer) of Bangla Acha police station, Hanif Ghouri, is among those abducted by the gang of Ghulam Rasool, alias Chottu," officials said. Chottu, who carries a huge bounty on his head, radioed a message to the police to call off the operation, release his arrested gang members and vacate the area or else the hostages would be killed one by one. Police commandos moved into the thickly forested hideouts of the Chottu gang in the Kacha Jamal area on Tuesday night. The heavily-armed gangsters fired indiscriminately at the advancing police party, killing six and forcing the rest to retreat. "Yesterday, police commandos mounted another operation to recover the bodies but the gangsters put up a fierce fight and abducted 15 of the policemen," officials were quoted as saying by the Express Tribune. The police has not been able to achieve any significant success so far, forcing officials to use aerial attack on the hideouts of the gangsters. Now, the police have decided to use air power to soften the target before mounting a ground operation. The Punjab government has requested the Pakistan Army to deploy two helicopter gunships for air raids - and two helipads have been set up in the Kacha Sounmiani area for this purpose, said District Police Officer Ghulam Mubashir Maikan. Over 100 gangsters with the Chottu gang have 54 cases of murders, dacoities and kidnapping registered against it in police stations across South Punjab, Maikan said. He added that the next 24 hours were important as Operation Zarb-e-Aahan has entered the final phase. "So far, we have arrested 110 facilitators of the gangsters, and soon the Kacha area will be purged of them," he claimed. The Centre's green panel has given clearance to Adani Petronet for the third phase expansion of its Dahej port in Bharuch district of Gujarat with an investment of Rs 464.32 crore. Adani Petronet (Dahej) Port Pvt Ltd (APPPL) has developed the Dahej port in phased manner. The third phase expansion would entail raising cargo handling capacity from 11.7 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) to 23 MMTPA besides development of additional area to store coal, back up equipment's, coal storage silo at railway siding and other supporting infrastructure. "The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) under the Union Environment Ministry examined the APPPL's proposal in a recent meeting and recommended granting of environment clearance (EC) and coastal regulation zone (CRZ) clearance for phase III expansion," a senior government official said. The EAC has proposed EC subject to certain conditions. Based on the recommendation of the EAC, the ministry will take a call on the proposal, the official added. The cost of the expansion project is estimated to be Rs 464.32 crore. Among the conditions specified, the EAC said that the company should carry out the construction activity strictly according to the provisions of CRZ Notification, 2011. The panel has directed the company to ensure that there is no damage to the existing mangorves patches near site and also ensure the free flow of water to avoid damage to the mangroves. It also said that no creeks or rivers should be blocked due to any activities at the project site. Air Pegasus will raise Rs 200 crore capital through angel investments or External Commercial Borrowing (ECB), Managing Director Shyson Thomas said today. "We have many options open. We have completed our initial rounds of discussion, and right now, we are in the middle rounds of discussion. We are looking at ECB... And also we are discussing with some angel investors," he told reporters here. Asked whether the airline is looking at raising capital through IPO, he said, "we are not going for IPO because the airline needs to complete three years of operations." The capital raised would be utilised to expand the airline's fleet size and connect more locations this calender year. To a question whether the company intends to dispense with discounts, Thomas said the airline wouldn't do away with it and its bottomline is not getting affected much. "I don't think we will be doing away with it...Wewant 100 per cent seat bookings. We would like more people tofly, that is our purpose because markets require growth," he said. "We are not operating in well-established markets. The strategy isquite different here," he said. "The airline does not roll out discounts for commercial purposes. How much of bottomline is getting affected? It is not much," he added. On the update on offers including cheaper flights to startup companies, Thomas said as many as 30startups have registered with the airline. However, the airline's primary intention was not to earn money out of them initially, but to support them in their growth, Thomas said. The company is expected to add two more aircraft within a month and had ordered five more to connect destinations including Goa, Puducherry, Kochi and Vijaywada,Thomas said. Air Pegasus currently operates flights to Hubbabll, Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Mangaluru, Chennai and Kadapa andplans to scale up its services to connect Tuticorin, Belagavi, Rajahmundry, Puducherry and Tirupati, he said. Replying to a query, airline Director Ashwin Thomassaid Bengaluru and Chennai are good markets for catering to flying services to employees and honchos of startup companies. Asked whether the airline plans to implement thescheme for IT companies, Ashwin said it was eager toextend to smaller and bigger companies. A lot of IT employees and their bosses travel in the airline on routes where there was literally no competition fromrival airlines. Floral tributes were paid to the Dalit icon and architect of the Indian Constitution Babasaheb B R Ambedkar today in London where a new memorial for him was the focal point of his 125th birth anniversary celebrations. India's Deputy High Commissioner to the UK Dr Virander Paul paid floral tributes to a bust of DrAmbedkarat 10 King Henry's Road, where the Indian leader livedin1921-22 during his student days at London School of Economics (LSE). "This home holds a very special place in the life and legacy of Dr Ambedkar and therefore in the hearts and minds of Indians. It is for the first time ever, we have gathered here to observe Dr Ambedkar Jayanti, a great son of India," Dr Paul said at a special ceremony, which opened with the chants of a Buddhist prayer. The event was attended by representatives of the London-basedFederation of Ambedkarites and Buddhist Organisation (FABO) UK, which had launched a campaign a few years ago to urge the Indian government to purchase the property as a historically relevant monument. The sale was completed by the Maharashtra government last year resulting in the creation of the Dr Ambedkar Memorial for Social Justice, which was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the UK last year. The six-room three-storey Victorian home is to soon open to the public as a memorial. The main floor includes a large bust of Dr Ambedkar, a selection of black and white photographs depicting his life and work, his famous quotes painted on the walls and a room dedicated to bound copies of his writings as well as a large wall painting of the preamble of the Indian Constitution. "This memorial is dedicated to the sheer hard-work and dedication of Dr Ambedkar, who walked here from LSE every day because he didn't have the money for public transport. He is a true inspiration," said Councillor Larraine Revah, the Mayor of Camden - the London council which houses the memorial. The details of the shape and form of the new memorial are in the process of being finalised after consultations between the Maharashtra government and the Ministry of External Affairs in India. Among some of the proposals under consideration for the memorial-cum-museum is a plan to use one of the floors as a transitory residence for Indian students who arrive in the UK to study. An army jawan was killed and his friend critically injured when their motorbike was hit by a truck in south Delhi's Moti Bagh, police said today. According to police, Sepoy Kiran Singh, a Manipur native, was on leave for the treatment of his mother -- a cancer patient -- and was headed to AIIMS along with his friend Jeetu when the accident took place near a flyover at around 10 PM. Singh died on the spot as the truck hit his motorcycle while Jeetu, who was riding pillion, sustained critical injuries, they said. Some locals rushed the duo to the AIIMS trauma centre where Singh was declared dead while Jeetu was admitted with critical injuries. Police said that the driver of the truck, which bears a Haryana registration number, fled abandoning the vehicle, which has been seized. A case in this regard has been registered at South Campus police station under Sections 304A and 279 of IPC, police said, adding that the footage of CCTV cameras near the site of the accident is being studied in connection with the investigation, added the officer. Singh, who was posted at the cantonment here, had taken 10 days' leave for the treatment of his mother, who has been diagnosed with oral cancer. The body of Major Amit Deswal, who was killed in an encounter yesterday, was today recovered from a remote place in Tamenglong district in Manipur and being flown to Imphal, army officials said. The body will then be taken to Surheti in Jhajjar district of Haryana via New Delhi, Army officials said. Maj Deswal of 21 Para SF was killed in a gunbattle with ZUF militants in densely forested Nungba area during a combing operation undertaken by Rashtriya Rifles and Special Forces personnel. One militant was also killed in the encounter. Deswal is survived by wife and a three-and-a-half years old son. For the time being, the combing operation which was going on for the last few days has been called off by the Army, the officials said. After an Army Major was killed in an encounter in Manipur yesterday, security forces have called off the combing operation in Tamenglong district and are trying to bring back the officer's body from the remote area. Army officials said Nungba area in Tamenglong district is densely forested and they have not been able to bring the body of Major Amit Deswal of 21 Para SF who was killed in a gunbattle yesterday. "We are trying to secure the area first and build an approach route so that our choppers can go there safely to recover the body. Due to dense vegetation it is not possible to go there on foot," an official said. Deswal, a resident of Surehti in Haryana's Jhajjar district, is survived by wife and a three-and-a-half years old son. One militant was also killed in the encounter. For the time being, the combing operation which was going on for the last few days has been called off by the Army. Around 50 school students were today taken ill allegedly after they had consumed food packets served to them during an event that was held simultaneously at four city colleges, police said. The event had been organised by Indian International Model United Nations (IIMUN) at Thadomal Shahani College in Bandra, K C College in Churchgate, Lala Lajpatrai College in Haji Ali and Whistling Woods College, they said. "Around 1,400 students of Class VIII to X from various schools took part in the event. During the event, at around 12.30 PM food packets were served to students," a police officer said. The aim of the event was to make a pitch for a permanent seat for India in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). At Thadomal Shahani College, five students started vomiting after consuming the food. While three of them were taken to Hinduja Hospital in Khar, two were rushed to Holy family hospital in Bandra. Two of these students were subsequently discharged, police said. At Lala Lajpatrai College, around 12 students were taken ill after consuming the food and were rushed to Breach Candy hospital, Bhatiya Hospital and Jaslok hospital. "All of them are out of danger," police said, adding that students who participated in K C College and Whistling Woods College also complained of uneasiness after consuming the food. Police said they are probing the case but refused to share further details. Talking about the incident, IIMUN, founder and president, Rishabh Shah said, "The students were going to be treated to food from an Indian multinational company that delivers home-style food to corporates and schools. They served rice and dal makhani but the rice was stale and dal was sour." He claimed that "the food, instead of being made at four centres as promised, was made in Thane before it was sent". Bangladesh today celebrated the Bengali New Year with tens of thousands of people joining the Pohela Boishakh festivities across the country, defying threats of fundamentalist Muslim groups. Amid tight security, festivities began with the break of dawn when artistes of major cultural group Chhayanaut welcomed the day with Rabindrath Tagore's famous song 'Esho hey Baishakh, esho, esho' under the banyan tree at the Ramna Park in Dhaka. Men, wearing traditional panjabi-pyjama, women attired in saris with red borders, and children in colourful dresses joined the open concerts and the Shovajatra, braving the hot weather and threats of Islamists who are opposed to the celebrations, in which people carry masks of animals and colourful garlands, as "un-Islamic". Traditional Boishakh music filled the air as Dhaka University's students organised a colourful "Mongol Shovajatra" procession carrying statues and other traditional props in a key-feature of the celebration. The organisers focused on fighting religious radicalism amid increasing attacks on writers, publishers, foreigners, dissidents and violence against women and children. President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina greeted the countrymen on the Pohela Boishakh. "The Bangla New Year rekindles our nationalist spirit... there were attacks again and again. People were killed in bombings. But no evil attempt of the fanatics, communal forces ever succeeded," Hasina said. "Bigotry and ugly religious fanaticism have no place in our national culture," Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaan Noor said yesterday, apparently referring to the Islamists reservations against the festival. However, the security vigil with deployment of hundreds of policemen and members of elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) with riot vehicles, sniffing dogs and two- wheelers partly surpassed the festivity. Security forces directed revelers to go through their makeshift checkpoints on the street while they kept a sharp watch on the people from temporary watchtowers. RAB choppers enforced a vigil hovering over the major festival spots. Police issued a restriction on celebrations in public places after 5 PM for security reasons and prohibited people from wearing masks. Traffic restrictions were put in place. Meanwhile, police arrested four LGBT campaigners during their march with 'Mongol Shobhajatra'. An organiser of Roopbaan group said they did not hold any 'Rainbow Rally'. Roopbaan is a platform for promoting the rights of LGBT in the country, media reports said. In 2001, Islamist militants had carried out a deadly bomb attack on Boishakh revelers, killing 10 people in Dhaka. The Pahela Baishakh celebrations originated over six centuries back when Mughal Emperor Akbar introduced the Bangla calendar in 1556. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The Vice President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov on April 13 received the Greek MP Garyfallia Kanelli. As Armenpress was informed by the Department of Public Relations and Media of the National Assembly of Armenia, the Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov, welcoming the guest, highly assessed the long history of Armenian-Greek relations and stated that the evidence of it is the visit of the Greek MP to Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia. Eduard Sharmazanov expressed gratitude to Garyfallia Kanelli for her support to the Armenian nation in these difficult days, which, according to him, is a vivid example of democracy and the protection of human rights. The Vice President of the National Assembly gave an importance to the visit of Garyfallia Kanelli to Nagorno Karabakh explaining it as a way to have her own opinion about the recent Karabakh-Azerbaijani events. Referring to the fact that the Greek MP is in the Azerbaijans black list, the Vice President of the National Assembly considered the restriction of a persons, in this case the PACE MPs movement strange and unacceptable in the 21st century. He expressed the hope that Garyfallia Kanelli will present the real picture of the events in the Nagorno Karabakh to European and Greek partners. He highlighted the stance of the Greek MP which condemns the events that resulted in the loss of lives, and also the use of double standards. Expressing gratitude for warm reception Garyfallia Kanelli referred to her visit to Nagorno Karabakh and considered the loss of human lives for the sake of others interests unacceptable. She assured that she will do everything possible to cease the Azerbaijani aggression and the sacrifice of innocent lives. Referring to her visit to Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex and Yerablur Pantheon she gave importance to the genocides condemnation since she thinks that the crimes that were not condemned are full of repeating risk. She stressed the necessity to combine efforts to struggle together for the protection and implementation of the human rights. "Game Of Thrones" showrunners David Beinoff and D B Weiss have revealed that US President Barack Obama wanted advanced copies of upcoming season of the HBO series. During the premiere event in Hollywood, Beinoff and Weiss confirmed rumours that Obama got advanced copies of the new episodes, reported New York Post. "For both of us finding out that the President wanted advanced copies of the episodes, that was an ah-ha moment. That was a very strange moment," they said. Asked if they granted his wish, Weiss replied, "Yes. He's the leader of the free world." Beinoff added, "When the commander-in-chief says, 'I want to see advance episodes,' what are you gonna do?" HBO decided earlier this year that they would not send press any episodes of the show's upcoming season 6 in advance in an attempt to prevent leak. HBO programming president Michael Lombardo explained it at the time, "It's painful for Dan (Weiss) and David (Benioff) when leaks happen. When you have press copies, inevitably friends ask, 'Can I see your copy?' There are things that happen." "Game of Thrones" season 6 will premiere on HBO on April 24. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) today conducted a special disaster training programme for those visiting the holy city of Mecca to prepare them for any major catastrophe like Hajj stameped last year. Nearly 500 people from various states took part in the training conducted jointly by the BMC and the Haj Committee of India. "After the last year's tragedy, we decided that people need to be trained in emergencies in disaster management so that they remain safe in case a tragedy occurs," Ataura Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of Haj Committee said. "Therefore, the civic body's emergency management cell prepared the training plan for Haj pilgrims, that consists of emergency management if an untoward incident occurs during the pilgrimage," he added. Over 700 people were killed in a huge stampede at Mecca in September last year. According to an official in the BMC's Emergency management cell, people were given training in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. They were also told about the potential disasters. "All teachers, who are trained in disaster management, were carrying a guided computerised presentation, from which knowledge was being given. The training focused on potential disasters that can occur, effective materials available during the Haj pilgrimage to tackle them and how first aid could be used," the official said. The bodies of two Indian fishermen hailing from Gujarat who died in a Pakistani jail arrived in Mumbai today and will be handed over to their families tomorrow. The mortal remains of Vaaga Bijal Chauhan and Ratandas Makwana were brought to Mumbai by a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight, officials said. A team of four officials of Fisheries Department of the Gujarat Government was sent to Mumbai yesterday to take possession of the bodies. The arrangement was made after the Gujarat Government received a message from Indian High Commissioner's office in Islamabad on Tuesday, said Mohammed A Narmavala, Commissioner (Fisheries). "The coffins carrying the bodies were brought in a PIA flight which arrived at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai at around 11:30 this morning," G K Rathod, a member of the Government-deputed team, told PTI by phone. "We spent about three hours at the airport completing the required formalities and left Mumbai at 14:30 pm," he said, adding two ambulances carrying the coffins are on their way to Gujarat. Chauhan was a resident of Dandi village, while Makwana hailed from Nanavada village, both in Gir Somnath district. The bodies will be handed over to the families of Chauhan and Makwana tomorrow for performing the last rites, Rathod said. Chauhan died in a Karachi jail on December 22, 2015, while Makwana passed away on February 8, 2016. Both were held in April last year when their boats allegedly entered territorial waters of Pakistan while fishing in Sir Creek area in the Arabian Sea. The exact cause of their death is not known, but their families suspect they died due to ill-treatment in jail. Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff launched a late bid today to escape an impeachment vote, seeking a court injunction to halt the proceedings after key allies deserted her. The 68-year-old leftist leader's grip on power was slipping in a political and economic crisis rocking Latin America's biggest country less than four months before it hosts the Olympic Games. Rousseff had been scratching around for support in the lower house of congress, which is scheduled to vote Sunday on whether to move forward with impeachment proceedings. Today, she launched a fresh line of defense. Her government's top lawyer Jose Eduardo Cardozo filed an injunction to halt the weekend's proceedings. Rousseff is fighting to save her presidency over charges that she illegally manipulated government accounts to mask the effects of recession during her 2014 re-election and in 2015. The government's appeal alleged procedural failings in the case against Rousseff, saying it had violated her right to a defense. "Evidence unrelated to the case has been included in the process, such as matters related to President Dilma (Rousseff)'s previous term," Cardozo said in the filing. He called the impeachment drive "a truly kafkaesque process in which the accused is unable to know precisely what she is accused of or why." Rousseff has vowed not to back down but repeated an offer to forge a political compromise with opponents if she survives the key vote on Sunday. "The government will fight until the last minute of the second half... To foil this coup attempt," she said in an interview published by various media. Rousseff today held a meeting with ministers and some of the lawmakers still loyal to her, a presidential source said, shortly before Cardozo announced his appeal. Several of the parties in Rousseff's coalition have jumped ship, starting with the PSDB of her vice president Michel Temer. Scores of lawmakers have turned against Rousseff, saying they will vote for impeachment. That has brought the total number of lawmakers who could vote against her on Sunday ever closer to the two-thirds majority needed to pass the impeachment motion up to the Senate. Leading newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo calculated that the number of lawmakers who have now decided to support impeachment has risen to 326 -- just 16 short of the total needed to pass the motion. Rousseff has branded Temer a traitor. UK-based British Telecom is planning to recruit 900 cyber security professionals in a year from across the globe. "BT is recruiting 900 people to work in its security business in the next 12 months, as part of a major drive to protect consumers, businesses and governments from the growing threat of cybercrime, the company said in a statement today. BT already employs over 2,500 security professionals and has security operations centres all around the world. 170 of the new posts will go to graduates and apprentices who will be trained at BT's Security Academy, the statement said. "A number of high-profile security and data breaches have dominated the headlines in recent months, and this has led to a surge in interest from both consumers and IT departments wanting to know how best they can protect themselves in the digital world," BT Security President Mark Hughes. While the majority of the roles will be in the United Kingdom, with many located at BT's security operations centres in London, Sevenoaks and Cardiff, BT is also looking to hire security specialists across Continental Europe, the Americas, the Middle-East and Asia-Pacific. India too is a hotbed for various multinational companies when it comes to recruiting cyber security professionals. BT caters to consumer, business and governmental security needs - from antivirus and parental controls for general consumers to complex managed security solutions used by multinational companies, banks and national governments. Graduates and apprentices will undergo training in BT's Security Academy in a range of areas including physical security, penetration testing, threat intelligence, risk management, security operations and sales. Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari has given his approval to CBI to prosecute JD(U) MP Anil Sahani against whom the agency had filed a charge sheet for alleged cheating and corruption in LTC Scam. The Bihar MP is reportedly the first from the Elders' House who will be prosecuted by CBI after sanction in this regard was given by the Chairman. CBI had filed a charge sheet against Sahani alleging that he, in conspiracy with other persons, used forged e-tickets and fake boarding passes to defraud Rajya Sabha to the tune of Rs 23.71 lakh as travel and dearness allowance reimbursement without undertaking the actual journey. Besides Sahani, whose term in Rajya Sabha ends in April 2018, others named in the CBI charge sheet were Anup Singh Panwar, an employee of Delhi-based Air Cruise Travels Private Limited, N S Nair, then Office Superintendent (Traffic), Air India and one Arvind Tiwari. Sahani, a second time MP, had claimed that it was a "political conspiracy" by BJP government to malign him. All Parliamentarians (both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha) get 34 free air tickets in a year for themselves, their family members and associates for domestic travel to their constituencies. CPI today lashed out at the Centre for giving "in principle" nod to a logistics exchange agreement with the US, accusing it of "surrendering" to pressure from Washington and insisted on strategic pacts to be discussed in Parliament first. The CPI also asked the central government not to become US' "strategic" partner in the latter's plan to play the role of a "world police" by signing the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), which will enable both the countries to use each other's assets and bases for repair and replenishment of supplies. "While people of Japan, Philippines, Cuba are fighting to remove American bases from their soil, the government is providing such a facility to USA, though in the name of 'maintenance facility', is very dangerous. "India should not become a 'strategic partner' of the US in its international military plan to play the role of 'world police'. Undoubtedly, it is a surrender of Modi government to US pressure," the party alleged. The CPI also raised objections to Communication and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), which it claimed, are being planned to be signed with the US. Terming the pacts as "dangerous", CPI claimed it will lead to opening of Indian Armed Forces command and its control structure to US Armed Forces and asked the NDA government not to sign these proposed agreements. "There is a need to discuss such strategic agreements to take people into confidence. It needs to be discussed in Parliament. There should be no compromise on question of national sovereignty. CPI appeals to all patriotic, democratic people to oppose these decisions of the Centre," CPI said in a statement. India and the US on Tuesday agreed "in principle" to the logistics exchange agreement. Parrikar and US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter made it clear that the agreement, which will be signed in "weeks" or "coming months", does not entail deployment of American troops on Indian soil. China's live-streaming sites have become a burgeoning cottage industry, offering money-making opportunities and even stardom to their mostly female hosts and an entertaining new alternative for millions of viewers to online dramas and stodgy state-controlled TV. Zhang Qige, a 23-year-old woman who plays computer games and chats on her webcam, attracts hundreds of thousands of real-time viewers at once. She has more than 2 million subscribers on the website Douyu TV and an average viewership of 400,000 for each nightly show. "They like me chatting with them," explained Zhang, who says she earns more than 1 million yuan a year (USD 150,000) from her performances. "They feel like I'm talking to them face to face." The proliferation of such shows and sites demonstrate the entrepreneurial drive of young Chinese as well as the financial potential of social media in the country, which has 668 million people online the world's largest. But their popularity also reflects the loneliness of Chinese urban life as well as the growing surplus of single men, blamed in part on the country's former one-child policy. Much of the content on various live streaming sites could be considered seedy, and some goes well beyond the borders of good taste. Many female broadcasters wear revealing costumes, and authorities recently cracked down after live pornographic scenes were broadcast on at least two sites. In one case, 34 people in the central province of Anhui were arrested for taking part. The spread of such platforms has drawn close government scrutiny, with the Ministry of Culture saying today that Douyu and other sites have been added to a list of websites found broadcasting pornographic and other objectionable content and will be handed unspecified penalties. The ministry said online live-streaming platforms draw around 200 million users, with major sites running several thousand live-streaming "studios" simultaneously. These sites derive a small proportion of their revenue through advertising. They survive primarily through a practice invented by Chinese companies: virtual gifting. Viewers can buy these imaginary gifts such as images of flowers or bottles of beer for their favorite performers, who receive a portion of the cash, with the site getting a hefty cut. Viewers can also send comments that pop up onscreen, giving them the perception they are interacting with the host. As tension prevailed in Kashmir, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today held a high-level meeting with top police and intelligence officials of the state here to review the situation and directed that no harm should come to civilians while dealing with law and order issues. Mehbooba, who arrived here from Delhi after a three-day visit, will be camping in the Summer capital of the state to monitor the law and order situation "as long as necessary", official sources said. Soon after arrival here, she met top police and intelligence officials of the state including Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar at her official residence. "The Chief Minister directed the police officials to strictly follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and ensure that civilians are not harmed while dealing with law and order situations," official sources said. The security review meeting was held in the wake of tense situation prevailing in the Valley since Tuesday when three persons including a woman were killed in firing by security forces during protests against alleged molestation of a college girl in Handwara town of Kupwara district. Another youth died yesterday when he was hit by a teargas shell in the head in Drugmulla area of Kupwara district as protests spread to many areas of the north Kashmir district, forcing the authorities to impose curfew-like restrictions. Meanwhile, Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir Asgar Hassan Samoon also reviewed law and order situation in the Valley following the Handwara incident. The meeting was attended by DIG, Central Range (Kashmir) G H Bhat, Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Farooq Ahmad Lone and other Deputy Commissioners of Kashmir division through video conferencing, an official spokesman said. He said the Deputy Commissioners told Samoon that situation is peaceful overall and the necessary deployment of forces has been made at sensitive places. The Divisional Commissioner asked Deputy Commissioner Kupwara to carry out time-bound probe into the Handwara incident. Samoon, while stressing the need for maintaining vigil, directed the police officials to strictly adhere to standard operating procedures in their respective districts and ensure that there is no loss of life or property during law and order situations. He also directed officials to remain present at their offices and maintain close liaison with the police. (REOPENS DES 49) Advising the engineers and planners to incorporate all the safety precautions in the works that they would be taking up under the project, Mehbooba said Jammu and Kashmir is a high seismic zone and prone to natural disasters like floods and cloudbursts and advised the experts to factor in this while going for the constructions. She also flagged sectors like education and health care where she desired to have a world class infrastructure. The Chief Minister said she intends Jammu and Kashmir to have a quality infrastructure in education so that it becomes a world class hub of education. On the clean environment in the State, Mehbooba said the State qualifies to be developed as a place for medical tourism. She hoped under the projects quality medical infrastructure would be raised which would not only provide better facilities to patients of the State but also persuade patients from outside to come for treatment here, thereby contributing to the State's economy substantially. She said with the setting up of five new medical colleges, some nursing colleges and paramedic institutes health infrastructure in the State would be upgraded substantially. Referring to recent unfortunate incidents in the State during the past four months, Mehbooba said she is deeply hurt with the killing of young boys, injuries to people and also due to the loss of precious academic time of the young generation which is among the irreparable losses. "The youth of Jammu and Kashmir have shown their talent time and again but the only thing is of opportunity and exposure. Be it the youngest woman pilot from Baramulla, topper of BSF officers exam from Udhampur or many of the young boys and girls who cracked the prestigious all India civil services examinations, they all have made us proud , she said. Observing that the State is very fertile in producing genius, the Chief Minister, however, advised the youth to channelise their energies positively so that they are able to provide relief to the citizens of the State who have suffered due to neglect and insincerity during the past 70 years. She asked who in the country and outside did not have a word of praise for the youth of the Valley during 2014 floods when they rescued not only the locals but even outsiders, tourists and even members of security forces. Mehbooba said people of the State are very simple, hospitable and peace loving but unfortunately a monster has been created out of them, partly by some "vested political elements and partly by some channels to boost their TRP ratings". Prime Minister Narendra Modi today accused the Congress of "undermining" the legacy of B R Ambedkar and asked why it is getting perturbed when his government is working ardently in this direction, saying he felt proud to work at the "feet of Baba Saheb". Stepping up his offensive against the Congress, he asked the party to "repent" for what it has not done in the last 60 years. Launching a village self governance campaign at Ambedkar's birthplace here, Modi made a strong pro-poor and pro-village pitch while underlining the need to strengthen the rural economy to boost the country's development. Kickstarting the 'Gram Uday se Bharat Uday Abhiyan' (village self governance campaign), the Prime Minister said he has been inspired by the dalit icon's vision. Later, addressing a rally, Modi, who has been attacked by Congress for trying to "approporiate" national icons, hit back asking why successive Congress governments had not developed the five places (panchteerth) associated with Ambedkar during their tenure. Listing a number of measures that his government is taking to carry forward the vision of Ambedkar including on maritime projects and the empowerment of weaker sections, Modi said,"for so many years, the vision of Ambedkar was undermined." "Some persons are distressed why Modi is doing all this. This is a matter of our dedication and conviction. We believe that social harmony can be achieved only by following the path shown by Baba Saheb. I feel proud to work at the feet of Baba Saheb." On his government's decision to construct a memorial at 26 Alipur Road in Delhi, which was the last home of Ambedkar, the Prime Minister asked the Congress why did it not do so in the last six decades. "Why did you not do it in the last 60 years? When we are doing it, you are getting uneasy. You should repent over why you did not do this all these years," he said. "Those engaged in vote bank politics thought of nothing else than dividing the society," he said. "Some people have been calling themselves the messiah of the poor for the last six decades. The account of what they have done for the poor in last 60 years is shocking even as they keep talking of the poor day and night," Modi said as he highlighted the steps taken by his government in the last two years like giving LPG connection to the poor and Jan Dhan Yojana. With West Bengal Assembly elections underway, Modi also referred to Saradha chit fund scam in which the names of some Trinamool Congress leaders have figured as he spoke about challenges before the poor in saving their money. "Sometime there is Saradha chitfund and sometime some other chitfund. The money of the poor is taken away," he said, adding that this happened because they did not have access to banks. His government has tried to change it by increasing their access to banks with Jan Dhan accounts. "We connected the poor with the mainstream, which did not happen in the last 70 years," he said. "Some people have been calling themselves the messiah of the poor for the last six decades. The account of what they have done for the poor in last 60 years is shocking even as they keep talking of the poor day and night," Modi said. "Some people are troubled that why we are taking Baba Saheb's name. We have taken refuge in Baba Saheb because Ambedkar advocated social unity, social justice and social harmony. That is why we are following him," Modi said. "BJP has made a memorial to Ambedkar (in Madhya Pradesh at his birthplace). Who stopped you? When we are following in the footprints of Ambedkar why are they troubled? Instead, they should repent now," he said. Modi accused the Congress of playing vote bank politics to divide the society. "They portrayed themselves as the Messiah of poor. What have they done? he said without naming Congress. He said that Ambedkar faced a lot of hardship, trial and tribulations but accepted them and marched ahead without feeling of vengeance. Terming Ambedkar as a "great human being", Modi said despite all odds, he drafted the constitution without any prejudice. He said that he is inspired by Ambedkar as he did not get bogged down by difficulties. Ambedkar being highly educated could have settled abroad but he returned to India and fought the evils. He also highlighted the steps taken by his government in the last two years like giving LPG connection to the poor and Jan Dhan Yojana. Modi, whose government has often been accused by Congress of having a corporate bias, said India's development will not happen through 5 or 50 cities and industrialists and foundation of villages will have to be strengthened for sustainable development. He reaffirmed his commitment to doubling the farmers income by 2022. Earlier, he paid floral tribute to Ambedkar at his birth place in Kalipaltan in Mhow cantonment town. Modi is the first Prime Minister to visit Ambedkar's birthplace, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said. Ambedkar was born in the cantonment town of Mhow on April 14, 1891 and the state government has built a grand memorial to him at his birth place in Kali Paltan area. Modi had a look at the grand memorial and spent more than 15 minutes before heading for the public meeting. (REOPENS DEL50) Earlier, on his arrival here via Varanasi, Modi laid the foundation of the 51km-long Tadighat-Ghazipur-Mau rail tracks to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,762 crore within three years. The section include a bridge over the river Ganga. He also laid the foundation of double-tracking of Ghazipur city-Ballia rail section and flagged off Ghazipur-Kolkata 'Shabd-Bhedi Express' train and dedicated to the people a cargo centre. The Prime Minister honoured gram pradhans who have ensured savings at Post Office by 100 per cent of residents of their respective areas and presented passbooks of Sukanya Samriddhi accounts to five girls. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The Nagorno Karabakh should have an opportunity to come back to the negotiation table. As Armenpress reports, the former Ambassador of Italy to the Republic of Armenia Bruno Scapini expressed such an opinion in an article entitled Nagorno Karabakh: Caucasian blitzkrieg. According to him, once more witnessing the violence that Azerbaijanis carried out against the civilian population, the Nagorno Karabakh people cannot tolerate any regression in terms of their status, thats why the return to the negotiation table is the least that should happen at this stage. If this conflict will not be resolved, the Azerbaijani authorities, who have the explicit support of Ankara, can once more take the risk and restart the military operations, said Scapini. The Italian diplomat also emphasized that in order to avoid from a full-scale war, Bakus ambitions should be restricted. In what could be a major boost for shipping sector, the Defence Ministry is awarding projects worth Rs 50,000 crore to Shipping Ministry, which would rope in private players for some pojects through Cochin Shipyard. "We are signing an MoU with the Ministry of Shipping to ensure that the orders which are there with the Defence Ministry could be shared comfortably with the private shipyards through Ministry of Shipping," Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on the sidelines of maiden Maritime Summit here. Later, Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said order from the Defence Ministry could be in the range of about Rs 50,000 crore. "We have discussed that Defence Ministry will provide Rs 50,000 crore work order to Cochin Shipyard. Cochin Shipyard in turn will award some of the projects to private sector," Gadkari told PTI. The Shipping Ministry is collecting all orders from Government of India which includes order for nine LNG ships worth Rs 18,000 crore and private sector will be roped in for the some of these. He said private shipping players were passing through a difficult phase and the orders would provide some relief to them. Government had held a meeting of the bankers and shipping players to solve their problems, Gadkari said. Earlier, Parrikar said private sector would be roped in through the Ministry of Shipping as Defence has several criteria which are hard to meet by private players. "There is another government department which can act as cushion. We can order allotment of some order to private shipyard. With shipping ministry it would be another government department. We can work out some orders or some work that can be given to private ship yards through ministry of shipping and this is what MoU is," Parrikar said. "This is an experiment being done so let us start somewhere. The minister(Gadkari) is very positive, I am ready to provide support. So let us start with something," he added. Replying to question on how the private sector will meet quality issues, Parrikar said, "You are asking me how the dish will taste. ... I'm just reading the recipe and we are drafting the recipe and going to cook. "Let me make an experiment which I and Gadkari both intend to make successful and we will definitely make it successful. When you make an experiment you can predict the outcome. We hope the outcome will be very positive." On quality issues Gadkari said it will be the responsibility of Cochin Shipyard. Earlier in a session, Gadkari said that the condition of 27 private sector shipyards is very poor and government is holding meetings with them to solve their issues. Cochin Shipyard recently announced to build cryogenic carriers that transport natural gas frozen in liquid form. It has signed a pact with GTT France, the world leader in design and technology provider of containment systems for transportation of LNG. Cochin Shipyard, incorporated in 1972, can build and repair the largest vessels in India. It can build ships up to 1,10,000 DWT and repair ships up to 1,25,000 DWT. The yard has delivered two of India's largest double hull Aframax tankers each of 95,000 DWT. (REOPEN DCM70) Replying to a question, Parrikar said that the Ministry of Defence is also considering offloading the repair of warships to private shipyards as part of the pact with Ministry of Shipping. He said his ministry has already included many private shipbuilders in the production of war ships. Due to financial constrains certain private ship yards are unable to deliver these orders in time. In order to enhance participation of private sector in warship building, MoD has to partner with Ministry of Shipping, he said. He also said that the aim of the MoU would be to improve the financial situation of private shipyards. The Delhi government has banned for one year the sale, purchase and storage of all forms of chewable tobacco, including "guktha, pan masala, khaini and zarda", in the capital. The Department of Food Safety yesterday issued a notification in this regard. According to the notification, unpackaged products of chewable tobacco, too, are covered under the ambit of the ban. "The manufacture, storage, distribution, or sale of tobacco which is either flavoured, scented or mixed... And whether going by the name or form of gutka, pan, masala, flavoured/scented tobacco, kharra, or otherwise... Whether packaged or unpackaged and/or sold as one product, or though packaged as separate products, sold or distributed in such manner so as to easily facilitate mixing by the consumer" is prohibited for a period of one year, the notification stated. Health department officials said a notification was issued by Delhi government in September, 2012, in pursuance of a series of directions from Supreme Court for a ban on 'gutkha' in the city. But since the term 'gutkha' was used in that notification, tobacco retailers started selling the components of 'gutkha' (betel nut and raw tobacco) in separate pouches, thus defeating the purpose behind the ban on gutkha. The health department had, therefore, come up with a new proposal for banning all raw chewable tobacco products in Delhi, a senior official said. In a first, scientists in the US have developed a device which has given a 24-year-old paralysed man functional control of his hand, enabling him to grasp and swipe a credit card and play a guitar video game with his own fingers and hand. These complex functional movements are driven by his own thoughts and a prototype medical system, scientists said. Ian Burkhart, a quadriplegic from Ohio, is the first person to use the device called NeuroLife, researchers from the Ohio State University said. This electronic neural bypass for spinal cord injuries reconnects the brain directly to muscles, allowing voluntary and functional control of a paralysed limb by using his thoughts, they said. The device interprets thoughts and brain signals then bypasses his injured spinal cord and connects directly to a sleeve that stimulates the muscles that control his arm and hand, they said. "We are showing for the first time that a quadriplegic patient is able to improve his level of motor function and hand movements," said Ali Rezai from Ohio State University. Burkhart first demonstrated the neural bypass technology in June 2014, when he was able to open and close his hand simply by thinking about it. Now, he can perform more sophisticated movements with his hands and fingers such as picking up a spoon or holding a phone to his ear - things he could not do before and which can significantly improve his quality of life. "It is amazing to see what he has accomplished. Ian can grasp a bottle, pour the contents of the bottle into a jar and put the bottle back down," said Nick Annetta from non-profit corporation Battelle, which collaborated with the researchers to develop the device. "Then he takes a stir bar, grips that and then stirs the contents of the jar that he just poured and puts it back down. He is controlling it every step of the way," said Annetta. The neural bypass technology combines algorithms that learn and decode the user's brain activity and a high-definition muscle stimulation sleeve that translates neural impulses from the brain and transmits new signals to the paralysed limb, researchers said. The Battelle team has been working on this technology for more than a decade. To develop the algorithms, software and stimulation sleeve, Battelle scientists first recorded neural impulses from an electrode array implanted in a paralysed person's brain. They used that recorded data to illustrate the device's effect on the patient and prove the concept. "We are hoping that this technology will evolve into a wireless system connecting brain signals and thoughts to the outside world to improve the function and quality of life for those with disabilities," said Rezai. "One of our major goals is to make this readily available to be used by patients at home," he said. The findings were published in the journal Nature. Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra singh today dubbed the forces trying to divide the country in the name of religion, caste and region as enemies of the nation and called upon people to thwart the nefarious designs of such forces. "Every citizen has a right to practice his own religion but the forces who want to divide the people of the country on the basis of caste, region and religion are the enemies of the Nation and we must ensure that designs of such forces are thwarted", Chief minister said while addressing a public meeting at Chintpurni in Una district. "Secularism does not allow discrimination or dissensions on the basis of religion, caste and language", he said adding it had been observed that several people in the country were playing divisive politics and harming the interests of the country. He said that the Congress did not believe in politics of caste, region and religion and considered entire India as one where every individual could practice his religion and all the religious are respected in the country. Singh said that Shyama Prasad Mukerjee, founder of Jan Sangh was different than the present BJPs leaders and decency in politics had sunk to a new low and politics of mud slinging has taken over the real politics for public service. "The former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal got my lands measured about eight times and now I will also move a step further to get his property evaluated," Singh said. He said that more than 1,000 schools had been opened or upgraded in the state besides opening of 24 ITI's and two engineering colleges. As many as 29 colleges had been opened in the state mostly in remote and rural areas during past three years raising the total number of government colleges to 94. The CM said that today there were more than 3,4500 kilometers of roads in the state and over 1,366 km new motorable roads and 134 bridges had been constructed during the last three years and 255 villages have been provided road connectivity. Apart from this, three medical colleges were being opened in Hamirpur, Chamba and Nahan. IIT in Mandi, AIIMS in Bilaspur and Indian Institute of Management at Dhaula Kuan. Lauding the efforts and contributions of Ambedkar for the country, Singh offered floral tributes to Baba Sahib and administered oath of social harmony on the occasion. Amidst a complaint-ridden Assembly polls in West Bengal, the Election Commission today issued a show cause notice to Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee for allegedly violating the model code of conduct. An unfazed Banerjee dared the Commission to take steps against her for threatening to take revenge and said that the people of the state will show cause them on May 19, the day of the election results. "The Commission has issued a show cause notice to her," the CEC told at a press conference here. "It was brought to our knowledge that she made the promise of creation of a new district of Asansol after which a detailed show cause notice was sent to her," he said. "She also made some other utterances which violated the model code of conduct," he said, adding, "upon receiving reply from Banerjee, the future course of action will be decided." Reacting to the Commission's move, Banerjee said, "Just heard that they (EC) have showcaused me because I had said that I will see inch by inch. I have said what I liked, I will again say so, thousand times, crore times, do whatever you (EC) can against me," Banerjee said at an election rally at Suri in Birbhum district. "What will you do against me? You have transferred my officer, will you transfer me to Delhi? If you bury me here, I will resurface in Delhi. I will react vigorously if you intimidate me," the fiery leader said, challenging the EC. "They have showcaused me on the very first day of the Bengali New Year, the people will showcause them on May 19," a visibly irritated Banerjee said. However, when she was asked after the meeting whether she would reply to the show cause notice, the Chief Minister said, "I have not yet received the letter. My party will decide what to do." Earlier, she told another meeting at Muraroi, "You (EC) have removed 300/350 OCs. You have removed city police commissioner (Rajiv Kumar). Such a bright commissioner can't be found. You are doing what Congress, BJP and CPIM are saying. Are we not humanbeings", she said. Meanwhile, TMC chief national spokesperson Derek O'Brien said that before issuing a show cause notice to her the Commission should have done "some very basic due diligence". Describing it as "ludicrous", he said, "The decision to make Asansol, Kalimpong, Basirhat, Sunderbans and Jhargram into different districts was taken up in the West Bengal Cabinet in December 2015, four months ago. It was also discussed in the Assembly. This information is in the public domain and is common knowledge". The Election Commission is taking urgent legal action against Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mandal who has been censured once and showcaused multiple times for violation of model code of conduct. "Barring one, all political parties have bought to our attention the alleged incident. The Commission is initiating urgent legal action against such person," Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi told reporters here today. He, however, refused to divulge what legal action is being taken against Mandal. Mandal, the Birbhum district president of TMC, was found to have made fresh comments which violate the model code of conduct. He was censured by EC on Tuesday for making certain utterances against a woman BJP candidate and was asked to be careful in future. On earlier occasions too he has been issued showcause notice by the poll watchdog. Zaidi brushed aside demands by some political parties for removal of Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta. "Our CEO will do his level best to ensure that the elections are conducted in an appropriate manner," he said. The Commission will not overlook any complaint in the discharge of poll-related duties by anyone and will "not hesitate to take most unpleasant action", Zaidi said. Referring to deployment of central forces for the Bengal polls, he said close to 800 companies of central forces have been put on the job. "Close to 400 companies are coming from Assam where elections have just ended. Another 400 were already here for phase 1a and 1b. Altogether 800 companies will be pressed into service," Zaidi said. This apart 1500 central police mobile forces are being deployed. All polling locations are being manned by central forces, he said after a mid-course review of elections for which he met top state and police officials, political parties and even a group of intellectuals. Zaidi said he has instructed to stop assembly of political workers outside polling booth. The move comes after Leader of opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra was gheraoed outside a booth during polling on April 11. Fighting escalated on several fronts today around Syria's second city Aleppo, as a Russian-backed government offensive strained a landmark ceasefire and a nascent round of peace talks in Geneva. In the Swiss city today, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura criticised President Bashar al-Assad's government for hindering efforts to deliver life-saving assistance to Syrians in need. On the ground, government fighters, rebels and jihadists battled for control of swathes of Aleppo province, threatening a nearly seven-week ceasefire that had seen violence drop. Regime loyalists backed by Russia's air power pressed a fierce offensive just north of the provincial capital of Aleppo city, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Fighting was heaviest around Handarat, a hilly area that lies along a route leading north out of opposition-held parts of the city. Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said regime forces were seeking to cut off that road and "completely besiege" eastern neighbourhoods. Both Russian and Syrian planes were carrying out air strikes on and near Handarat, he said. An AFP correspondent in opposition-held eastern Aleppo city said the booming crashes of air strikes could be heard throughout the day, but no raids hit the city itself. Fears are rising among residents that Aleppo's opposition-held areas may become besieged by regime troops, the correspondent added. The Russian-backed assault has sparked concern about the ceasefire, which has brought a significant drop in violence for the first time in the five-year conflict since it took effect on February 27. President Vladimir Putin, Assad's main backer, said during an annual call-in show today that he was "closely following" the latest spike in violence. Putin last month announced a partial pull-out from Syria, but warned Russia could return in full force should the situation require it. He said opposition groups in Aleppo province were fighting along jihadist groups like Al-Qaeda's local affiliate. "To distinguish them is very difficult." After reporting significant progress through the first two weeks of March, the UN now fears the humanitarian situation may deteriorate once again. "We are extremely concerned about the situation in northern Syria, including Aleppo governorate, where there has been a significant increase in incidents of violence that continue to aggravate the humanitarian situation," a UN humanitarian official told AFP today. With the commissioning of its 20-million tonne Bulk Terminal at Salaya in Gujarat, Essar Ports today said it expects company's cargo handling to grow by over 40 per cent to 85 million tonnes (MT) in the current fiscal. "The company expects cargo handling to increase to 85 MT in 2016-17 from 59 MT in 2015-16, a growth of more than 40 per cent on a year-on-year basis," the Ruias-promoted firm said in a statement. With the commissioning of the 20 MT Salaya Bulk Terminal recently, cargo handling will see a further boost in 2016-17, it added. On the back of increased production by its anchor customers, Essar Ports Ltd (EPL) has registered significant growth in cargo handling over the last three months, it said. "In March 2016 alone, EPL's four operational ports handled total cargoes of 6.25 MMT, which translates to a run rate of 75 million tonnes per annum (MTPA)," the company said. At present, the contribution of third-party traffic to overall cargo handling stands at about 10 per cent. About 90 per cent of the cargo handled at EPL's Hazira, Vadinar, Vizag and Paradip ports is contracted with captive businesses, like Essar Steel India, Essar Oil and Essar Power, it said. Commenting on the performance, EPL Managing Director Rajiv Agarwal said: "The rising volumes of cargo handled at our various ports and improved operational performance, reflects the modern facilities at our ports." This will help EPL's customers with faster turnaround of ships and better utilisation of capacities in the current year, he added. Essar Ports has capacity of 140 MTPA, which is being expanded to 194 MTPA over the next few years. It has five operational port terminals at Hazira, Vadinar, Paradip, Salaya and Vizag. Panorama Television, which owns and operates regional channels under the ETV brand, today launched three channels under the News18 brand for Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Northeast region. The three channels, which were soft launched today, will cater the viewers from Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the company said in a statement. Commenting on the development ETV Network CEO Jagdish Chandra said: "Now we are expanding our base deep south and North East also under News18 brand and hope that we would emerge as the most credible player in these regions also". Panorama Television is part of the Network 18 Group, which is owned by Reliance Industries. Initially, transmission of all the three news channels will be from its Hyderabad-based studios till elections are over in these three states. "In June, channels will shift to their respective state capitals and operate from there independently," the company said. The European Union parliament wants to decouple the commitment to speed up EU membership talks with Turkey from last month's agreement with Ankara to deal with the migrant crisis. Lawmakers said in today's non-binding resolution that "EU-Turkey cooperation on migration should not be linked to the calendar, content and conditionality of the negotiation process." In the March 18 EU-Turkey agreement, both sides agreed that irregular migrants who came across the Aegean to Greece would be sent back to Turkey. In exchange, some Syrian refugees in Turkey would be sent on to the 28-nation bloc, the EU would give Turkey billions of euros in aid to deal with refugees and it would boost Turkey's EU membership talks. The legislators also criticized the Turkish government's takeover of a leading newspaper and other moves to muzzle freedom of expression, key elements for any nation seeking to join the bloc. Parliamentary rapporteur Kati Piri said instead of going forward toward more democracy, "there has been a regression (in Turkey), which is particularly worrying." The resolution also referred to a previous call that urged Ankara to recognize the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago as genocide. Turkey rejects the term genocide to describe those mass killings. Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed and experts say it was the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey's EU affairs minister, Volkan Bozkir, said Ankara had declared last year's report "null and void" because it called on Turkey to recognize genocide. "This year, the same reference features in the European Parliament's report," Bozkir said. "For that reason we will also declare this report null and void. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin is speaking live on the Direct Line to Russians for the 14th time. As Armenpress reports, around 2 million questions were addressed to the President in a week. As reported by TASS, Putin dedicated 2 days for the preparation works of the Direct Line. How long the program will run is uncertain. A group of European ambassadors flew into Libya's capital today for the first time since 2014 to support the unity government's struggle to end years of chaos exploited by jihadists. French ambassador Antoine Sivan, Peter Millett of Britain and Spain's Jose Antonio Bordallo held talks with the Government of National Accord (GNA) at the Tripoli naval base where it has set up operations. It was the first such mission since European Union member states closed their Tripoli embassies in 2014 because of unrest. Speaking at a joint press conference in Tripoli, Millett said the visit sent "an important message to the Libyan people that we're supporting the unity government". "Our goal is to achieve security and stability in Libya, and we look forward to returning to Tripoli to open the British embassy again," he said, speaking in Arabic. The French and Spanish envoys also signalled their countries are preparing to reopen their diplomatic missions in the capital. "We are very close to normality. We are very close to peace, and Libyan people deserve better," said Bordallo. World powers see the unity government as vital to tackling a raging jihadist insurgency and rampant people smuggling in the North African state. The French government said the visits were a show of solidarity with GNA chief Fayez al-Sarraj and that Paris "stands alongside the national unity government in Tripoli". "The unity government must exercise its authority over all (Libya's) administrations and financial institutions," said foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal, adding it could count of French support "in the struggle against the terrorist threat". Sarraj arrived in Tripoli by sea with a naval escort two weeks ago and has since won the support of key institutions that control Libya's wealth. Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni also visited Libya on Tuesday and said that embassies would be reopened in the capital in "the near future". Libya has been plagued by instability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted longtime ruler Moamer Kadhafi, with the Islamic State jihadist group taking advantage of the chaos to seize territory. European nations in particular have been alarmed by the expansion of IS in Libya, just 300 kilometres (185 miles) away from Italy across the Mediterranean. A former US defence contractor was today sentenced to nearly five years in jail for illegally exporting to India military blueprints and technical drawings of parts used in some high-tech hardware like F-15 jets. Hannah Robert, 49, circumvented the US government and provided export-controlled technical data related to various types of military technology to an individual in India, said Assistant US Attorney General John P Carlin in a statement. Robert, a resident of New Jersey, was charged with illegally exporting to India the military blueprints and technical drawings of parts used in some of the high-tech and sensitive hardware like F-15. He was sentenced to 57 months of imprisonment for conspiring to send sensitive military technical data to India. "We will vigorously prosecute and bring to justice those who abuse their access to sensitive defence information and violate the Arms Export Control Act," Carlin said. Currently under home detention pending trial, Robert was charged in a superseding indictment with one count of violating the Arms Export Control Act, one count of conspiracy to violate the act and four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to court documents, Robert, founder, owner, and president of One Source USA LLC, used the computer of a local church to transfer technical drawings of military hardware parts. The exported technical drawings include parts used in the torpedo systems for nuclearsubmarines, military attack helicopters, and F-15 fighter aircraft, the Department of Justice said. Robert transmitted export-controlled technical data to one PR in India so that they could submit bids to foreigners, including those in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to supply them or their foreign customers with defence hardware items and spare parts. Neither Robert nor PR obtained approval from the US Department of State for this conduct, the Justice Department said. Jammu and Kashmir government today asked police and other security forces to exercise restraint while dealing with protests and sought the help of civil society in restoration of normalcy in Kupwara district where four persons have died during action against protesters. "I am in constant touch with the civil and police authorities at Handwara to ensure that normalcy is restored in the area at the earliest," said Rural Development Minister Abdul Haq Khan who is camping in the Kupwara district, where the troubled area falls. Khan last evening visited the families of those who died in action by police and security forces in Handwara and assured them that the guilty would be punished. Expressing solidarity with the bereaved families, the minister said while no amount of compensation would be enough to alleviate the grief of the bereaved families over the loss of their dear ones, the government would, however, try to reach out to them with whatever can be done for them. The Minister interacted with the members of the civil society and urged them to help restore normalcy in the town, an official spokesman said today. Khan said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has already taken up the matter at the highest level in New Delhi and action would be taken against the forces personnel who allegedly resorted "avoidable use of force against the protesters in Handwara resulting in tragic civilian casualties". The Minister also convened a high level meeting with the civil and the police administration to review the overall situation in the area. "The police and other security forces have been asked to exercise maximum restraint while dealing with the public protests," the spokesman said. Kashmir, particularly Handwara town in Kupwara district, is tense over the last three days in the wake of death of three youth and a woman. The total number of billionaires in Russia has fallen from 88 to 77 as the country suffers a recession, Forbes magazine's annual rich list showed today, but a man reported to be Vladimir Putin's son-in-law has become the youngest member of the club. Kirill Shamalov, who has been named in media reports as President Vladimir Putin's son-in-law, the husband of his daughter Katerina, became Russia's youngest billionaire at 34, according to the Russian edition of Forbes. The Kremlin has not confirmed that Shamalov is Putin's son-in-law and refuses to discuss the private life of the president and his family. Shamalov, a major stakeholder in Sibur petrochemicals company, joined the billionaire list for the first time with a fortune of USD 1.2 billion, making him Russia's 64th richest businessman, Forbes wrote. He is the son of Nikolai Shamalov, a shareholder of Bank Rossiya, which is blacklisted and identified by the US Treasury as "the personal bank" for senior officials owned by "members of Putin's inner circle." The total fortune of the richest 200 Russians fell to USD 360 billion from USD 408 billion last year, the Russian edition of Forbes calculated. Nevertheless 19 of Russia's billionaires managed to increase their wealth despite the economic crisis sparked by falling oil prices and Western sanctions imposed over Moscow's actions in Ukraine. The Russian list is topped by Leonid Mikhelson, a major stakeholder in Novatek natural gas company and Sibur petrochemicals company, who is said to be worth USD 14.4 billion. The previous number one, metals magnate Vladimir Potanin fell to fourth place with USD 12.1 billion, down by USD 3.3 billion. In second place is Mikhail Fridman, who controls Alfa holding including banks and telecoms, with USD 13.3 billion. Alisher Usmanov, whose interests range from metallurgy to social networking sites Mail.Ru and VK, comes third with USD 12.5 billion. With the revamp of the existing CPSE ETF stuck in procedural hurdles, Finance Ministry is planning to launch a new Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) comprising stocks of 10 PSUs in the current fiscal. The government had launched the first ever CPSE ETF, comprising scrips of 10 PSUs, in March 2014, under which retail investors have to invest a minimum of Rs 5,000 to buy units. It had then garnered Rs 3,000 crore to the exchequer. "The DIPAM will soon place before Finance Minister Arun Jaitley the proposal of launching a new CPSE ETF," sources told PTI. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) was initially planning to revamp the existing CPSE ETF to make it more retail investor friendly. However, before the process could be completed, CPSE ETF fund manager Goldman Sachs sold off its mutual fund business in India. "The revamp plans of the existing ETF is stuck as the transfer of fund management of CPSE ETF from Goldman Sachs to Reliance MF is awaiting regulatory clearance," sources said. In October, Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) had announced taking over of global giant Goldman Sachs' mutual fund business in India for Rs 243 crore. The deal has got approval of the Competition Commission in January 2016. The 10 PSUs which are part of the CPSE ETF basket are ONGC, GAIL India, Coal India, Indian Oil, Oil India, Power Finance Corp, Rural Electrification Corp, Container Corp, Engineers India and Bharat Electronics. An ETF is a security that tracks an index, a commodity or a basket of assets like an index fund, but trades like a stock on an exchange. Sources said after securing approval from the Finance Minister, the disinvestment department will appoint a new fund manager and then decide on the composition of stocks of the new ETF basket. Five men were jailed in Turkey for "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports have said, one of several such cases that have intensified alarm over the country's slide towards authoritarianism. The five from the southern province of Sanliurfa were accused of damaging the president on social media, according to the Dogan agency. A sixth person was arrested but later released. Almost 2,000 people have been prosecuted for "insulting" Erdogan since the former premier became president in August 2014, Turkey's justice minister said in March. The court cases have raised concerns over freedom of expression in Turkey and Erdogan has also been accused of seeking to muzzle the press, NGOs and academics. Erdogan has repeatedly denied that there had been any crackdown on free expression in his country. A German comedian has become the centre of a diplomatic spat between Turkey and Germany over a satirical poem that accused Erdogan of paedophilia and bestiality. Turkey has demanded that Berlin prosecutes the TV satirist, Jan Bohmermann, for slander. A former senior legislator in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region who was expelled from the ruling Communist Party last year has been indicted for accepting bribes, the state-media reported today. Prosecutors in Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, questioned Li Zhi, former deputy head of the standing committee of the regional People's Congress, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said in a statement today. The indictment said Li took advantage of his posts to seek benefits for others, asking for and accepting a huge amount in bribes. The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced in March 2015 that Li was under investigation for violating the law and Party codes of conduct. He was expelled from the CPC in July 2015. A Chadian court today handed down four-month suspended sentences on four civil society leaders arrested for urging anti-government protests ahead of a presidential election last weekend. The court convicted them for "attempting an unarmed gathering" in the run-up to Sunday's election, in which President Idriss Deby is set to win another five-year mandate following 26 years of tough rule over the central African nation. But Mahamat Nour Ahmed Ibedou, Younous Mahadjir, Nadjo Kaina Palmer and Celine Narmadji were to be released later on Thursday, a judicial source told AFP. The case of a fifth activist, arrested several days after the four, will come to court on a later date. Those arrested came from the Union of Trade Unions of Chad (UST) and the civic movements "That's Enough", "Enough is Enough" and Iyina ("We are tired"). The court building was surrounded by large numbers of police and paramilitary gendarmes. At a hearing on April 7, the state prosecutor urged the court to jail the accused for six months each. One of their lawyers, Frederic Nanadjingue, dismissed this request as "a purely political decision that comes from the executive." The state initially accused them of "provoking an unauthorised gathering, attempting to undermine public order and opposing the exercise of legitimate authority" after the opposition called for demonstrations against Deby's bid for a fifth mandate. The outcome of the polls across the partly desert country is not expected for around 10 days. Deby, whose regime has overseen the exploitation of oil wealth since 2003, faced a divided opposition of 12 challengers. The government banned demonstrations after protests erupted in February over the gang rape of a teenaged girl blamed on the sons of top figures in Deby's regime. Four days after the ban, a student was killed and five wounded when police opened fire to break up a protest at Faya Largeau in the north. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition agreed today on tough measures to spur the integration of migrants and refugees, including sanctions for failing to take part in programmes such as language classes. The deal, hammered out in six hours of late-night talks between Merkel's conservative Christian Union bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD), also included plans for new anti-terror legislation. The integration bill would take a carrot-and-stick approach, providing subsidised courses to help newcomers find their way in German life but, in some cases, denying residence permits to those who fail to take up the offer. "Germany now has an integration law, 50 years after the start of immigration," tweeted the leader of the SPD's parliamentary group, Thomas Oppermann. He was referring to postwar Germany's programme to invite Turks and other "guest workers" to fuel its economic miracle which was criticised for failing to provide millions of immigrants and their descendents a stake in German society and a path to citizenship. Under the new pact seen by AFP, federal funds would be used to create 100,000 jobs for asylum seekers receiving benefits. Those facing imminent deportation would be excluded but asylum seekers taking part in job training would be shielded from expulsion for the length of the programme. Refugees who abandon state-assigned housing would face unspecified consequences, but waiting periods for acceptance courses teaching German language and customs are to be slashed to six weeks from three months currently. "Learning the language is also necessary for temporary stays in Germany," the document states. The right-left coalition also agreed to give more funding, personnel and powers to security forces to combat terrorism. A significant new provision would allow federal police to deploy undercover officers for attack prevention as well as criminal prosecution. It would also allow the secret services to step up cooperation with their counterparts from partner states in Europe and NATO as well as Israel. The draft law is to be completed on May 24 and then presented to parliament, where the so-called grand coalition has a large majority. Merkel and her coalition partners were to hold a conference on the agreement at 1000 GMT. A group of ministers set up to examine an Election Commission proposal to buy new EVMs has also been mandated to examine the feasibility of holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls in a bid to bring down the cost involved in the democratic exercise. But at the first meeting of the GoM headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, it was felt that the panel of ministers may not be the right forum to make recommendations on simultaneous polls, a senior government functionary said. The GoM may now first recommend possible ways to reduce the cost of buying new EVMs and then delve into the issue of whether to make recommendations on simultaneous polls, the functionary said. The GoM constituted recently, met for the first time on April 11. Its other members include Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said during a meeting of BJP office-bearers on March 19 that state elections coupled with local-level polls, spread across virtually every year, often "hinder" the execution of welfare measures. He was keen on simultaneous elections once in five years. The government feels that while one-time cost in holding simultaneous polls would be high, but the exercise may bring down expenditure involved in 'election bandobast' such as deployment of central forces and polling personnel. In December last, a Parliamentary Committee has made a strong pitch for holding of simultaneous assembly and Lok Sabha elections all over the country, suggesting that it can be done in the near future. But most of the political parties which responded to the Standing Committees questionnaire have said the idea is a "noble" one but "difficult to implement". "The Committee does not feel that simultaneous election in every five year cannot be held in the near future but slowly it would reach in stages for which tenure of some of the state legislative assemblies need to be curtailed or extended," the Standing Committee on Law and Personnel said in its report 'Feasibility of holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies'. While as per electoral law, elections can be held six months prior to the end of the term of a House, the term of the House cannot be extended except during proclamation of Emergency. The committee has recommended an "alternative and practicable method" of holding simultaneous elections which involves holding of polls in two phases. The panel has envisaged holding of elections of some assemblies at midterm of Lok Sabha and remaining with the end of tenure of Lok Sabha. It said the "proposed first phase" could be held in November, 2016. Elections to all state assemblies whose terms end prior to or after a time period of six months to one year from the appointed election date can be clubbed together. "The terms of some legislative assemblies may need to be extended while some of them may need to be curtailed," it said. It admitted that gaining consensus of all political parties may be difficult in certain states. The AIADMK has supported the idea in principle and so has the Asom Gana Parishad. The SAD said it supports the idea but has doubts on certain issues like mandate delivering a hung assembly. Congress and Trinamool Congress have rejected the idea saying "ideal as it may sound" it is "impractical and unworkable". The NCP too said that the proposal is "not feasible". The CPI said the "proposal looks ideal" but there are practical problems such as need for mid-term polls. The Law Commission in one of its reports presented the government in 1999 had also supported the idea of simultaneous polls. The Election Commission had last year approached the government to buy nearly 14 lakh new electronic voting machines. In its January 18 meeting, the Expenditure Finance Committee headed by Secretary Expenditure in the Finance Ministry, gave in-principle approval for the purchase of 13,95,648 new balloting units and 9,30,432 control units at an estimated cost of Rs 5,511.48 crore between financial years 2015-16 and 2018-19. Sources in the government said an estimated Rs 1,872 crore would be required in 2016-17 for the new EVMs, but final figures will be available when the EC issues tender. The Election Commission wants to purchase new machines against the backdrop of over nine lakh such machines currently in use nearing end of their 15-year life. The two government undertakings -- Bharat Electronics Ltd, Bengaluru and Electronic Corporation of India Ltd, Hyderabad will not be in a position to produce new EVMs in one go and would provide it to the Commission in batches. The machines EC gets in batches can be used in coming assembly polls and by the time the next Lok Sabha polls are due the delivery will be completed. In a proposal sent to the Law Ministry, the Commission had said that 9,30,430 EVMs in use today would become "outdated" between 2015-16 and 2019-20. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian dram has appreciated against the US dollar in March, 2016 compared to February 2016. As Armenpress reports, this is stated in the quarterly summary of the National Statistical Services Consumer prices index in Armenia 2016 January-March. According to official statistics, the average exchange rate of AMD for USD in February of 2016 was 493.6 AMD. Union Power Minister Thursday sought to put the onus of the persistent agrarian crisis in Maharashtra on the previous Congress-NCP government, even as he lauded Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for providing drinking water to parched Latur through train wagons. Goyal also announced that Damodar Valley Corporation, that operates several power stations in Damodar River area of West Bengal will register profit in the current year. "Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was worried about irrigation way back in 1944 and today it is so unfortunate that chief minister Fadnavis has inherited such a severe crisis of water. There is such a bad situation in the irrigation area in the state because of terrible political management of several years," Goyal said. He was addressing a gathering on the inaugral day of a two-day International conference on Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's thoughts. "I am in fact delighted that the chief minister has taken proactive measures like Jalyukt Shivar, to ensure small check dams come up all across the state and ensure that water can be stored and conserved," he said. On Damodar Valley Corporation, Goyal said it was the only PSU in the coal and power sector which until last year was making losses. "Unfortunately, for bad management, bad leadership of the sector, it is the only PSU in the coal and power sector which until last year was making losses. I think it is a fitting tribute to Babasaheb Ambedkar that in his 125th birth anniversary year, Damodar Valley Corporation will register a profit after several years in this current year," he said. The minister said the Sagar Mala project, which was launched today at the Maritime India Summit, will generate 1 crore jobs and attract investments worth Rs 1 lakh crore. "We have excellent inland waterways which could have been used for navigation, but we have lost seven decades in making use of these inland water ways," he said. "(Union Shipping minister) Nitin Gadkari has taken it upon himself as a challenge, the Sagar Mala Project that he has initiated and which was launched today through the Maritime Summit and (will) generate 1 crore jobs and investment of 1 lakh crore and will help complete the dream that Babasaheb started way back in 1944," Goyal said. Twenty-two Chinese 'tomb raiders' were today handed down prison terms by a court in northeast China, with the gang leader sentenced to death. When members of the gang, led by Yao Yuzhong, were arrested last year it was one of the biggest busts of its kind supervised by the Ministry of Public Security since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949. Today's ruling given by Chaoyang City Intermediate People's Court in Liaoning Province sentenced 22 members of the gang. Yao was found guilty of several offences including tomb raiding, looting and selling stolen antiques and was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve while other major gang members were given prison terms. The court heard that Yao's gang was highly organised, and would source fund, explore, loot and trade relics. Among 32 artifacts retrieved by police, 16 were under grade-one state cultural protection. The court ordered that 77 relics still in the possession of the gang members must be returned. Yao's gang was among 12 organised gangs implicated in illegal excavations at Niuheliang, a Neolithic site in northeastern Liaoning. Police apprehended 225 people and retrieved a total of 2,063 artifacts, state-run Xinhua agency reported. An education department officer here allegedly helped an RSS-affiliated body hold a workshop two days ago for representatives of school managements in the district where discussions centered on the lives of "historical" figures from Hindu epics. The objective of the workshop - where events in the lives of "historical" figures such as Lord Ram's brother Bharat, and Bhishma were discussed - was to improve the academic environment, said Bhartiya Shikshan Mandal joint secretary Mukul Kanitkar today. "Our presence in Ahmedabad is negligible, so we approached the district education officer A K Rathod to help us send invites. He sent invites with official letters seeking presence of representatives of schools. We were expecting 125-150 participants, but only 25 came," he said. "The objective is to shape up the future of our children by discussing examples from the Indian history. We organise workshops for teachers, parents, and school managements with the aim of improving academic environment," he said. "Such events are organised all over the country. It was the first such workshop here," Kanitkar said. There were discussions on "historical figures" - Bhishma from Mahabharat, Lord Ram's brother Bharat, Prahlad etc. The participants discussed whether Bhishma, with his intelligence, could have done a better service to the society by supporting the Pandavas instead of the Kauravas, or whether Bharat was right to censure his mother Kaikayi for sending Ram into exile, he said. DEO Rathod could not be contacted for comments despite several attempts. Gujarat education secretary Sujit Gulati said he wasn't aware of the workshop. "I learnt about this from you. I will find out more and then respond," he said. State-run HAL is in talks with Swedish aerospace major Saab, makers of single engine Gripen fighter planes, to collaborate on the upgraded version of the indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft 'Tejas' which will replace IAF's aging fleet of MiG combat jets. Senior defence sources said that while the first round of talks have been completed, a high-level team from Saab will arrive in India next week to carry forward the discussion. "India needs about 300 aircraft of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) type. Saab's Gripen is a good fighter jet and hence exploratory talks are on to see if they can be a technical collaborator for the upgraded Tejas," they said. The Defence Ministry has set 2018 deadline for making the first upgraded Tejas aircraft. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), manufacturer of Tejas, is likely to hand over the fourth aircraft to IAF by June end. The four aircraft will make up for the first squadron of IAF which will be used for training and familarisation. Rather than waiting for LAC Mk II, IAF had decided to go in with an upgraded version of the existing Tejas with over 40 modifications. IAF currently plans to acquire 120 Tejas aircraft, with 100 of these having major modifications. The force wants Active Electrically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Unified Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite, mid-air refueling capacity and beyond the vision range missiles. As per the production plan, six aircraft will be made this year (2015-16) and HAL will subsequently scale it up to eight and 16 aircraft per year. Saab had offered JAS39 Gripen-E light fighter to India when the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender was announced. The bid was finally won by French firm Dassault Aviation. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had a few years ago sought Saab's help in the Mark-II version of Tejas, which will eventually be inducted into the air force. Saab is likely to insist on a government-to-government (G2G) deal if they step in to assist India in developing and manufacturing a light fighter plane. The Swedish aerospace major has already submitted a proposal to make Gripen in India under the 'Make in India' initiative. The Madras High Court has appointed an Advocate-Commissioner to take inventory of the loss and assess damage allegedly caused by Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation personnel to an exhibitor who conducted the 42nd edition of All India Tourism Fair at the Island Grounds here. In its petition, the company, Spellbound, claimed that the TTDC personnel had bulldozed and damaged materials and structures to accommodate a political rally for Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at the venue on April 9. According to senior counsel for the company, P Wilson, the trade fair promoter M/s Spellbound had moved the court first on April 7 seeking permission to dismantle and remove all goods belonging to it from the premises. While entertaining the plea, the court had ordered maintenance of status quo. However, officials brought men and earthmovers, and caused extensive damage to the property, in their hurry to clear Island Grounds for the public meeting, the petitioner alleged. Additional Advocate General of Tamil Nadu, however, refuted the allegations and said the petition deserved to be dismissed. Justice Subbiah, in his order, said no prejudice would be caused to the government if an advocate-commissioner is deputed to assess the damage and file a report to the court. "The advocate-commissioner is directed to note down, assess and report to this court the extent of damage caused to immovable properties erected and kept by Spellbound, such as machinery, equipment, instruments, platform, stages and iron sheds at Island Grounds," the judge said. The judge then asked the advocate-commissioner to file a report on April 22. The case will be taken up for further hearing on April 23, justice Subbiah added. A transgender's plea for change of name and gender from male to female in the official records has led the Delhi High Court to seek the Centre's response. Justice Manmohan issued notice to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Controller of Publications seeking their replies on the petition of the city-based transgender who has alleged discrimination by the authorities on ground of her sexual identity and has sought "disciplinary enquiry" against them. The court also directed its registry to redact the trans -sexual petitioner's name from the cause title of the case and refer to her as 'A'. It listed the matter for further hearing on August 16. The petition claims that "that petitioner is a MtF (male to female) trans-sexual who due to duality between petitioner's appearance, voice, mannerism, dressing style and her male ID, faces discrimination in the society". The petitioner through her lawyer told the court that the department officials have refused to consider her application for change of name without a certificate stating that she had undergone Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS). Advocate Harsh Ahuja, appearing for the central government, told the court the issues raised by the petitioner might be covered in the The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2015 which is pending in the Parliament. The plea said the petitioner was diagnosed with gender identity disorder in 2005 and has since been on hormone replacement therapy. It also claims that she has been living as a woman from the time she turned 19 years old. The petitioner has sought directions to the department of publications "to allow and publish in the gazette, name change of petitioner without requirement of any SRS, if needed, subject to certification of board/committee constituted for the purpose". Two petitions have been filed in Bombay High Court seeking liberty to people who practise "atheism" to take oath in the name of Constitution in the courts, instead of swearing in the name of God. Currently, as per Oath Act, 1969, a witness or any person who deposes in the court, can swear in the name of God or by placing hands on a religious book. In a PIL, a Pune-based couple, Sunil Mane and his wife Laxmikanta, cited a couple of cases in Maharashtra at Bhivandi Magistrate Court and Pune District Court wherein senior government officials have told the court that they do not believe in God and expressed their willingness to take oath in the name of Constitution but unfortunately they have not been permitted, the PIL said. In another petition, an officer of Bhiwandi Municipal Corporation has made a similar plea. Both the petitions are slated to come up for hearing in due course, High Court sources said. "The Oaths Act, 1969, needs to be declared as violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution," the Pune-based couple said in the PIL. They urged the court to issue directions to the Union and state governments that persons who are not willing to take oath in the name of God or by putting their hands on any religious book should be allowed to take oath in the name of Indian Constitution. "People who are not believers of God but have full faith in the Indian Constitution are getting denial during judicial proceedings at various levels in Maharashtra when they request that they be administered oath in the name of Indian Constitution," the PIL said. "It is high time to make the oath system suitable to democracy and in accordance with the spirit of Indian Constitution," the PIL states. Advocate Asim Sarode, through whom the PIL has been filed, said, "People, who are non-believers of God, are not allowed to swear in the name of Indian Constitution or placing hands on the rule book." He said that a person of any religion would not have objection to taking oath in the name of Constitution as it is his or her duty to abide by the Constitution. "This will help avoid flaring of communal thoughts and feelings and it will also not create problems for people who are atheists," Sarode added. Priyanka Chopra's husky voiceover as villainous snake Kaa in the Hindi version of "The Jungle Book" has earned her a lot of praise but the actress revealed she almost missed out on the part. The 33-year-old Padma Shri awardee, who was busy shooting for her debut international TV series "Quantico" in Montreal, said she managed to squeeze out time from her busy schedule to voice her favourite character from the Rudyard Kipling's classic tale. "I was very excited to do 'The Jungle Book'. I almost missed out the opportunity to voice it because of the date issues. I was not able to do it because the film (Jungle Book) was about to release. I was in Montreal shooting for 'Quantico' and that month was quite hectic for me as 'Baywatch' also happened the same month," Priyanka told PTI. The former Miss World said Disney India honcho Siddharth Roy Kapur strictly asked her to do the voiceover. "Sidharth called me and asked, 'You have to do it and I don't know how you will'. I also desperately wanted to do it. He delayed the shooting by a week. So, that's how I got the opportunity to do it." Asked what all childhood memories she had about the show, Priyanka said, "Sunday was almost synonymous to Jungle Book. We used to sit in front of the TV and watch it. It used to be my ritual. I had mugged up the show's title track 'Jungle Jungle baat chali hai'" Directed by Jon Favreau, "The Jungle Book" narrates the story of an orphan boy Mowgli who is raised in the jungle by a pack of wolves, a bear, and a black panther. Priyanka is happy that the film is doing good and she is getting appreciation from all quarters. "I am excited that the film opened so well. And I am lucky that I could do Kaa because it's very interesting," she said. For Priyanka, appreciation has become more important than getting awards now. "My work has become very spiritual for me now. It's like meditation for me between cut and action. It has gone beyond awards... Awards are great. You feel a certain encouragement that you should keep doing the good work. People should like the film and say 'she did a damn good job'. Actress Amyra Dastur says she was starstruck on meeting Chinese actor Jackie Chan with whom she is currently shooting her upcoming film "Kung Fu Yoga". Amyra met Jackie for the first time in Beijing. "The first time when I met him I just told him I love him. It was like a kid moment. I was starstruck," Amyra told PTI. The actress, who made her debut with "Issaq" in 2013 alongside actor Prateik Babbar, is enjoying shooting action sequences for "Kung Fu Yoga". "Performing the action scenes initially was challenging. I learnt martial arts, hand-to-hand combat and some other basic stuff. Jackie Chan, being an expert, helped me while I was training for the action part. I got a few bumps and bruises, but that's ok," she said. Amyra plays a young happy-go-lucky girl in the film. "I play a modern young Indian girl, funky, sweet, but there is a twist to my role. She is good at martial arts," she said. Amyra had a good learning experience while shooting with the Chinese crew on "Kung Fu Yoga". "I had a very good experience as I got to work with brilliant actors like Jackie Chan, Sonu Sood and others. They were particular about the shooting schedule, the shoots used to start on time around 6.30-7 AM. At 12 noon we used to have our lunch and at 7 PM dinner, and then if we want we could train for sometime," she said. "Kung Fu Yoga" is a part of the three-film agreement signed between India and China during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India. The action-adventure film is set to release this October. France's Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron today urged Britain to remain in the European Union, saying it was "in its interests" to protect its trade position within he bloc. Macron, a 38-year-old former banker, predicted years of uncertainty if Britain votes to leave in the June 23 referendum, and doubted it would be able to negotiate favourable trade terms from the outside. "If you want an efficient and powerful relationship with the European Union, why do you want to leave the club?" he asked at a Financial Times conference on the future of Europe. "You will take two years to renegotiate something new, for what? The sort of relationship that Norway or Switzerland have," he added. "Don't forget that they contribute to the budget to get access, and not even to the full fledged single market. "I do believe that the British interest is to remain in the EU," he concluded. The referendum campaign period formally kicks off tomorrow with latest polls suggesting a dead heat. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has dismissed Andriy Prubiy from the post of First Deputy Speaker and appointed him as Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada. As Armenpress reports, 284 MPs voted in favor of his candidacy on April 14. Parubiy was elected as first Deputy Speaker in December of 2014. Earlier, he was the Secretary of Ukraines National Security and Defense Council and a MP. Volodymyr Groysman was elected Prime Minister of Ukraine on April 14, Interfax reported. Dialogue is the best option between Pakistan and India and the two sides should not think in terms "foreclosing any options", a top Pakistani official said today. "During Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi's visit to Pakistan in December last, it was decided that the two Foreign Secretaries should meet soon. It is hoped that both sides would work out modalities for the Foreign Secretary-level talks," Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said when asked if the word "suspended" correctly defines the current state of the bilateral peace process. "We need to look ahead and not think in terms foreclosing any options. Both sides are in contact with each other. Once the modalities are worked out Secretary-level talks would take place," he said. "Dialogue is the best option! Diplomacy is for interaction and engagement between countries," he said. Zakaria's comments came days after Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said the bilateral peace process stands "suspended". When asked if the position in Islamabad is similar to Pakistan's High Commissioner to New Delhi, he said, "There is a difference between comments on day to day ground situation as compared to broader policy and future vision and prospects. At our level here in the Ministry, we do not give a day to day running commentary on official policy." He said Pakistan was committed to resolving all outstanding issues with India through a sustainable, uninterrupted and meaningful dialogue without any preconditions, in order to address each other's concerns, and establish lasting peace. On a question regarding the death Indian prisoner Kirpal Singh in a Pakistani jail, Zakaria said he died due to heart attack and preparation were underway to send his body to India. He said Singh was convicted by an anti-terrorism court for spying. "It is not appropriate to see everything through the prism of suspicion and conspiracy. He was kept in intensive care at the hospital but he could not survive," he said. "We have communicated this information to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. We are in contact with the Ministry of Interior and the India High Commission with regard to transportation of dead body to India," he said. India had raised the issue of Singh's mysterious death with Pakistan authorities and sought a probe into the matter. On Pathankot investigation, Zakaria said that the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) after visiting India was "evaluating the information shared by the Indian side" which is part of the ongoing investigation into the Pathankot attack. Days after China blocked its bid at the UN to ban JeM chief Masood Azhar, India today slammed use of "hidden veto" and demanded accountability, saying the world body's general members are never informed of the reason for not acceding to requests for sanctioning terrorists. "The procedures of unanimity and anonymity of the Al Qaeda, Taliban and ISIS Sanctions Committees need to be revisited. The procedures of unanimity and anonymity result in a lack of accountability," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin told the UN Security Council in an open debate on 'Threats to International Peace and Security Caused by Terrorist Acts' here. Against the backdrop of China last month again blocking India's bid to ban the mastermind of the Pathankot terror attack Masood in the UN Sanctions Committee, Akbaruddin said each of the 15 members in the committee now have a veto. Without naming China, he said none except these 15 members are told of who is it that has wielded the veto in a specific instance. "The general membership of the UN is never ever formally informed of how and why requests for listing terrorists are not acceded to. Counter terror mechanisms such as the Sanctions Committees that act on behalf of the international community need to build trust not engender impunity by the use of this form of a 'hidden veto'," Akbaruddin said. After the attack on the airbase in Pathankot in January, India had in February written to the UN calling for immediate action to list the chief of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) under the UN Sanctions Committee. The Indian submission was considered by the Counter- Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) for technical aspects of the evidence provided. The technical team then with the support of the US, UK and France had sent it to all the members, sources had said. All were told that if there are no objections, the designation will be announced after the expiry of the deadline but just hours before the deadline, China requested the UN committee to keep on hold the designation. When asked at a briefing earlier this month as to why China had put a hold on the listing request by India against Azhar, Chinese envoy and President of the Security Council for the month Liu Jieyi had said that any listing would have to meet the requirements, stressing that it was the Council members' responsibility to ensure that the criteria were followed. Investment bank Intellecap Advisory Services has entered debt investment banking. Under the services, Intellecap would assist its clients with transaction structuring and debt fund raising from banks, financial institutions, private placement of debt, commercial paper and external commercial borrowings, among others, it said in a statement. Intellecap investment banking Head Gagandeep Bakshi said the move "is a logical extension as it completes our fund raising offering and enhances our existing capabilities". ********* NPCI, MicroSave tie up to boost digital payments * National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and financial inclusion consulting firm, MicroSave, today signed a pact to support Jan Dhan Yojana and to boost digital transactions. Both the institutions will collaborate to accelerate creation of less-cash economy in the country through RuPay, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Aadhaar-Enabled Payment System (AEPS) and Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a press released issued said. NPCI will be working with commercial banks and will be supported by MicroSave in this programme. ******** ICICI Prudential AMC, Vidal Health launch healthcare facility * ICICI Prudential AMC, in collaboration with Vidal Healthcare Services, has introduced a medical advantage feature that allows investors to pay for healthcare expenses through their investment in its savings fund. Investors can seamlessly use their investments in the ICICI Prudential Savings Fund to pay for hospital costs across the country. This facility is available irrespective of health insurance status, the private MF company said. The investor can avail this facility through any of Vidal Health's Group level provider network covering 800 cities, with over 6,000 hospitals and 1,500 diagnostic centres. ************ Iclassonline launches India operation * Iclassonline.Net, a leading e-learning portal with offices in North America and South Asia, has launched its India operations to help students prepare for competitive exams using "cutting-edge" technology. Nikhil Chandwani, CEO of Iclassonline.Net said it offers "perfect solution" for students appearing for GRE, GATE and Civil Service examinations with state-of-the-art technical and non technical PDFs, GATE instructors from Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur and GRE instructors from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School. The portal, which was launched on March 28, also offers dedicated career counselling, free group discussion and interview training in a cost-effective way, Iclassonline.Net, said in a release. Amazon launches 'Subscribe & Save' programme *Ecommerce major Amazon.In today announced the launch of its globally popular 'Subscribe and Save' programme for its customers, which allows customers to create subscriptions for regularly bought items and enjoy the convenience of automatic recurring free deliveries. With automatic deliveries of recorded lists as per schedule set by them, Subscribe and Save, aims at reducing the customers' inconvenience of repeat ordering. "With Subscribe and Save, our core promise is focused on taking away the hassle associated with remembering to buy regular household items. Subscribe and Save is a very successful program in other countries...We are confident that our customers in India will see tremendous benefits from the program as well," Saurabh Srivastava, Head FMCG, Amazon India said. ************* AstroSage.Com top astrology website in world *Starting from a small room in suburbs of Agra a few years ago, AstroSage.Com has become the topastrology website in the world today. According to Alexa.Com, de facto standard for web rating, AstroSage's global ranking soared to 6138 surpassing the most popular website in this domain so far. Already India's leading astrology portal, AstroSage.Com is a venture of an Agra-based tech startup. "It certainly is a great achievement for us to surpass HYPERLINK "http://horoscope.Com" horoscope.Com and gain number 1 position in this domain worldwide," said Pratik Pandey, co-founder and director of Ojas Softech. Vijay Shekhar Sharma to head IAMAI's Payments Banks Group * Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma will chair the newly formed Payments Banks Group at industry body IAMAI. Vodafone India business head (M-Pesa) Suresh Sethi will be the Vice-Chairman of the Group, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said in a statement. "Payments Banks is an innovative model of bringing unbanked population into the formal banking fold. Paytm along with other license holders, would make financial services accessible for every Indian through this innovative route," Sharma said. At present, six out of 10 payments banks' primary licensees are IAMAI members. IAMAI has more than 50 companies representing PPIs, wallets, aggregators, business correspondents, PoS Operators, among others as members. ************** ITC Infotech launches sustainability sol for fashion retail * ITC Infotech today said it has launched a sustainability solution for the fashion retailers that will help address the industry's increasing demand for sustainable offerings while reducing their adverse impact on environment. It will enable fashion retail organisations standardise sustainability measurements for brands, products and facilities, ITC Infotech said in a statement. It also provides visibility into product designs and developmental processes with corresponding measurable sustainability scores, it added. ************** Sany Group to supply 15 cranes to JNPT * Port logistics equipment maker Sany Group today said it has signed a contract with Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) for design, manufacture and supply of 15 electrically operated Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes (E-RTGCs). The contract was signed at the Maritime India Summit 2016 in Mumbai in the presence of Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari and JNPT Chairman Anil Diggikar, it said in a statement. The landmark contract flags on the entry of Sany Group into the Heavy Gantry Cranes segment in India, it added. TCS deploys banking solution to Bank of Bhutan * Country's largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today said it has deployed its core banking solution at Bank of Bhutan. The deployment, carried out in 10 months, has resulted in ability to handle increased transaction volumes and improved success rate of delivery channel transactions, TCS said in a statement. No financial details of the deal were disclosed. All existing customers, accounts, lending and internet banking subscribers were migrated from the erstwhile Oracle FLEXCUBE system to TCS BaNCS as part of this transformation initiative, it added. * * * * * * nearbuy raises Rs 15 cr from BlackSoil Capital * Local commerce platform nearbuy has raised venture debt of Rs 15 crore from BlackSoil Capital. The Sequoia Capital-backed company aims to utilise the capital for investing in customer and merchant technology. The Gurgaon-based startup has expanded its presence to 33 cities across over 10 categories generating over 5,00,000 footfalls for offline merchants per month in the last 12 months. * * * * * * Amitabh Bachchan connects with 3.5 lakh college goers * Superstar Amitabh Bachchan connected with 3.5 lakh fans from 100 colleges across the country, engaging on a wide range of subjects, including technology and youth. The veteran actor, who is very active on Twitter, today tweeted: "Connected over 3.5 lakh students, 100 schools all over country sitting in my office. RelianceJio did it!!" This is the first time that a global celebrity has connected live with fans across multiple locations. He fielded questions from students of Delhi's FMS, Dempo in Goa, KIET in Moradnagar, IPSAR in Cuttack, Bharati College in Durg, Malini Kishore College in Mumbai. "This is the first time through Reliance Jio that we're able to connect to so many lakhs of students all over the country," he said. The event was a run up to the release of Pink, an upcoming courtroom thriller, starring Bachchan. Videocon to launch Cube 3 with app to report emergencies * Electronic firm Videocon has introduced an emergency response app on its Videocon Cube 3 smartphone in which the power button will also function as a panic button. The app on the phone is called "SoS-Be Safe" and has features like Alert, Walk with ME, and Reach on Time. Videocon Cube 3 is the first model from the brand's smartphone portfolio to feature this app. The phone with the new app will be available for Rs 8,490. Through the "Walk with Me" feature, a user can send an emergency alert to their family or friends while she/he is outdoor. The contacts added as emergency numbers will receive alerts immediately, the company said. The "Reach on Time" feature helps users to set a location such as home or office and set their normal travel timing. An alert will be sent to their immediate contacts if they do not reach their selected destination within the fixed time. With its "Alarm" option, users can enable/disable the power button to alarm and customise the message they want to send when notifying their emergency contacts. The app also uses GPS to provide a map view of nearby police stations and hospitals for emergency situations. The country needs a huge investment of Rs 6 trillion to train nearly 30 crore people over the next five years, Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said today. "We have a massive challenge to train our people in skill development. We will have to train nearly 300 million over the next five years and if we consider the cost, from entry-level training, it will entail an investment of around Rs 6 trillion," Union Minister of State for Skill Development Rajiv Pratap Rudy said at the Maritime India Summit here. He said the ambitious plan of increasing manufacturing will not materialise till we create "makers in India". "We are talking about Rs 10 trillion investment in the shipping sector and also we have set a vision of make in India. But I strongly believe that this will not be achieved unless we create the makers in India," Rudy said. As per global statistics, the Philippines is the largest contributor to the supply of seafarers, followed by China and India. "We are not seeing this as a cause of concern but we are certainly gearing ourselves to train our people. We know it's a huge task and much is needed to be done," he said. Rudy further said that the government is creating the right ecosystem to create skilled workforce through the National Skills Qualification Framework, which is a competency-based system that organises all qualification tests according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude. Under the revamped Apprentice Act, about 1.5 lakh youth would be given experience in various skills and trades in their various units. He referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emphasis That PSUs should make full use of apprentices. Currently, the PSUs engage only 15,000 youth. The amendment would also help tackle the problem of restrictions imposed by states and inspectors. Rudy said the National Skills Day will this year be celebrated on July 15, in IIT, Kanpur. He said an assessment made by the ministry has disclosed that India would need three crore people in construction industry, 1.6 crore in retail and 50 lakh in hospitality and hospitals sectors. The minister said the present Labour Market Information System (LIMS) that provides information to all stakeholders of labour economy will be renamed to revamp the system. Rudy said his ministry's focus was on the entry level skills and not higher engineering skills, which is taken care of by the traditional educational system for decades. The attempt is to make those with entry level skills who may have an earning of Rs. 2,000 or Rs.3,000 a month in villages to equip them with employment that can get them more than Rs.10,000. These include skills and trades like construction workers, plumbers and beauticians. As part of skilling with quality, he said 40 Sector Skill Councils have been formed with 4,500-plus National Occupational Standards and 1661 Qualification Packs. Iraqi forces retook the town of Heet from the Islamic State group today after weeks of fighting, the military said, the latest in a series of losses for the jihadists. "Units from the Counter-Terrorism Service completely liberated Heet," Iraq's Joint Operations Command said in a statement. CTS spokesman Sabah al-Noman said the recapture of the town west of Baghdad was completed today. "The town of Heet is cleared of any Daesh gunmen," Noman told AFP, using an Arabic acronym for IS. After securing Anbar capital Ramadi, Iraqi forces launched an operation in mid-March aimed at retaking Heet, one of the largest population centres in the province still under IS control. But the drive was apparently delayed by a two-week sit-in by supporters of powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, as forces were pulled from Anbar to protect them. IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, and captured Anbar capital Ramadi the following year. Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes and training have since regained significant ground from the jihadists. But IS still holds territory in Anbar and much of Nineveh province to its north, and it is also able to carry out frequent attacks against civilians and security forces in government-held areas. A team of Italian specialists arrived today at the site of the Mosul Dam as part of an emergency campaign to repair Iraq's largest dam before it collapses. The advance team from the Italian engineering firm Trevi Group will set up a camp for the group of engineers who are expected to arrive within a few weeks. US and Iraqi officials have repeatedly warned that the dam is in imminent danger of collapse. In late February, the US embassy in Baghdad called the dam's risk of collapse "serious and unprecedented," and Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi asked Mosul residents along the Tigris river to move at least six kilometers away from its banks. The dam's core problem is that it was shoddily built on unstable ground: The earth underneath it is constantly being eroded by water. From the day it was inaugurated in 1985, maintenance crews have had to continuously pour cement under its foundation. Without that constant injection known as "grouting" the 113-meter-high dam would soon collapse into a hole in the ground, causing an unprecedented disaster. The 30-mile long lake behind it would explode down the Tigris River valley with hundreds of millions of cubic meters of water, ramming into Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, currently home to more than 700,000 people about 40 miles downriver. It would then flood all the way down to Baghdad, some 340 miles south. US officials have estimated more than a half million people could be killed. Millions more would be driven from their homes. Things have worsened because the dam was captured for several weeks in 2014 by the Islamic State group. US-backed Iraqi forces retook the dam, but no grouting took place for six weeks. Even since then, the grouting has not been up to full levels in part because the militants control the nearby factory that produces the concrete for the dam. As a result, there are "almost certainly ... An unprecedented level of untreated voids" in the dam's foundation from continuing erosion, the US Army Corps of Engineers said in a January 30 report. Riyadh Izeddin, the dam's director, said that in addition to shoring up the dam's concrete, the engineers will also repair a faulty outlet gate, which allows water to be released from the reservoir and reduces pressure on the dam. The Italian crews will also be installing advanced technology and training Iraqi staffers on how to operate the new machinery. Italian art detectives said today they had recovered precious jewels stolen in a 2013 heist organised by a wealthy Russian woman with a penchant for gold. The jewel-encrusted gold pieces, made by Italy's Castellani -- which rose to fame in the 19th century for recreating jewellery found in archaeological digs and embellishing them with gems or mosaics -- were snatched from Rome's Villa Giulia museum. "It's a great day, now the gold returns to the museum," Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said, as detectives explained how they had recovered 23 of the 27 pieces stolen. Marked with the Castellani trademark, the pieces were hailed as priceless examples of founder Fortunato Pio Castellani's filigree and gold-speckling techniques used in antique jewellery. They had been on display in the Villa Giulia museum. Castellani's talent was such that museums from the Louvre in Paris to the V&A in London snapped up items up for their collections -- but the Villa Giulia trove was the most admired. Most of the haul, worth some USD 3.38 million, was recovered after a tail was put on two suspects who were believed to be trying to hawk them to Italian buyers, police told reporters. The Russian woman who organised the heist, who was not named, had been planning to smuggle the stolen earrings, bracelets and necklaces to Saint Petersburg, police said, but was spooked by the publicity surrounding the robbery. Detectives were alerted to her possible involvement after it emerged she had contacted a series of Italian antique dealers in a failed bid to get her hands on Castellani items. She was stopped with a Castellani catalogue in her bag and photographs of the display cases in the museum on her mobile phone, police said. Two suspects were caught in 2013 trying to sell seven of the jewels. Most of the other pieces were recovered last year, police said. Jordanian security services today pressed ahead with closures of offices of the Muslim Brotherhood, the kingdom's main opposition force, which vowed to fight the measure in the courts. Brotherhood spokesman Badi al-Rafaia said its offices were sealed off with red wax in the towns of Mafraq, 70 kilometres northeast of Amman, and Madaba, 30 kilometres to the south of the capital. Its offices in Al-Ramtha and Irbid, both in northern Jordan, and Karak in the south were also closed, raising to seven the number shut down since yesterday, the movement said on its Facebook page. The latest moves came one day after the movement's Amman headquarters were closed along with an office in Jerash to the north. Previously tolerated for decades in Jordan, the Brotherhood has had tense relations with the authorities since the Arab Spring uprisings that shook the region in 2011. The movement, in a statement published today, said the closures "take us back to the days of martial law when order and justice are not respected", and pledged "to take judicial and political measures against these illegal pressures". Jordanian authorities view the Brotherhood as an illegal organisation because its licence was not renewed in accordance with a political parties law adopted in 2014. The Jordanian branch of the movement, which was formed in Egypt in 1928 and has affiliates across the region, has wide grassroots support in the kingdom. Other governments in the region, particularly the Gulf monarchies, are also deeply suspicious of the Brotherhood, fearing that its brand of grass-roots activism and political Islam could undermine their authority. The Brotherhood's second-in-command in Jordan, Zaki Bani Rsheid, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in February 2015 for criticising a decision by the United Arab Emirates to blacklist the organisation. In Egypt, it has been blacklisted as a "terrorist group" and the authorities have cracked down hard on its members, including ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi who has been sentenced to death. The Jordanian branch of the Brotherhood accuses the authorities of trying to exploit divisions within the organisation. Last year, the government in Amman authorised the formation of a breakaway group known as the Muslim Brotherhood Association. A leopardess, which had entered Chhawani area here two days ago, was today captured by forest officials. The leopardess was captured at 11 AM from the godown of JCO mess of Army in the Cantonment area, where it was hiding since last morning, SSP D K Dubey said. The feline, about 2-years-old, had injured six persons including a doctor when he tried to tranquilise it with a dart gun, forest official H K Awasthi said. He said the wild cat will be released in the forests of Shivalik in Saharanpur district, after being treated. The paw of the leopardess was injured by a sharp object while trying to jump over the wall of the Army hospital. It was spotted near the Army hospital in the Cantonment area on Tuesday. Army jawans had informed senior officials of the presence of the leopard in human settlements following which police and forest officials rushed to the spot. A team of experts from Kanpur zoo, Delhi's national park and other places had come here to capture it. The locals here were in a state of panic. Schools and colleges were closed as a safety measure. Macedonia braced for fresh protests over the president's shock decision to halt probes into more than 50 public figures embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal. Protesters late yesterday ransacked the offices used by President Gjorge Ivanov's team and set fire to furniture in sporadic clashes in the capital Skopje, as thousands took to the streets demanding his resignation. New protests were announced for 6 pm by supporters of the main opposition SDSM party, as well as a counter-demonstration by a pro-government group called the Association of Citizens for the Defence of Macedonia. SDSM leader Zoran Zaev said he would join the demonstrations, the latest action in a widening political crisis that has set alarm bells ringing in the European Union and the United States. He told reporters he was "calling for calm" at the protest, while urging police "not to overstep their power." US ambassador Jess Baily also urged protesters to refrain from violence. "Peaceful demonstration is a fundamental democratic right. Violence and vandalism is not," Baily said on Twitter. The crisis erupted last year when the SDSM accused then prime minister Nikola Gruevski of wiretapping some 20,000 people, including politicians and journalists, and said the recordings revealed high-level corruption. The government denied the accusations and in return filed charges against Zaev, accusing him of "spying" and attempting to "destabilise" the Balkan country, which is hoping to join the EU. The original scandal triggered protests in Skopje, eventually prompting the EU to step in and mediate. Gruevski stepped down as premier in January, paving the way for early elections on June 5 -- but the opposition has announced a boycott, saying it fears electoral fraud. Ivanov's decision to halt proceedings against 56 people, including top politicians, businessmen, judges, prosecutors and mayors, came into effect yesterday when his decree was published in the official gazette. The list includes Gruevski -- an ally of the president who remains Macedonia's most influential political figure -- as well as former interior minister Gordana Jankulovska and ex-intelligence chief Sasho Mijalkov. It also clears Zaev and another onetime SDSM leader, former president Branko Crvenkovski. A special prosecutor had been probing the allegations but her office was caught by surprise by Ivanov's decision. "We don't know how this information ended up in his hands as a large number of those people have never been mentioned," said one prosecutor, Lence Ristovska. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan equals to the Islamic State, Azerbaijani servicemen equals to the Islamic State militant, expert on Arabic studies Sargis Grigoryan expressed such an opinion in Armenpress press hall. The Islamic State was not involved in the 4-day war in the line of contact at the beginning of April. The websites that serve the interests of the Islamic State did not release any information these days. However, we know that many Azerbaijanis are fighting in the ranks of the Islamic State and other groups. We saw that the crimes committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces were not different from those of the Islamic State. The evidence of all these exists. One of the reasons is that those Azerbaijanis, who fought in Syria and Iraq, come to Azerbaijan, share their heroic deeds, so the Azerbaijani servicemen follow that experience, said Sargis Grigoryan. Referring to the reaction by the Arabic media on the Karabakh events, Sargis Grigoryan stated that from the very start the Arabic media released the information provided by the Defense Ministry of the Republic of Armenia. The reason for that was that the Arabic media was quiet the first few hours of the news. However, the Arabic media, overall, was not in favor of Armenians. I would like to speak about one important thing. Currently the Islamic Cooperation Organization summit is being held in Istanbul, it has always been famous for its anti-Armenian stance. Our Foreign Ministry should work here, the cooperation with this organization is very important for us, the expert on Arabic studies said. According to an expert on Iranian studies Rudik Yaralyan Azerbaijan, starting the 4-day war, was trying to check the approaches of regional countries such as Turkey, Iran towards the Nagorno Karabakh issue. In case of Turkey we saw that except from the anti-Armenian actions, it is not ready for far-reaching actions. Concerning Iran, we saw that it adopted rather balanced stance. It means that Azerbaijan did not reach its goal. Azerbaijan even made provocations, fired 3 shell in the territory of Iran, then, skillfully, according to it, moved towards the Armenian side, but Iran was not even given to that provocations and stayed in its stance, the expert on Iranian studies said. According to him, Iranian media even put into circulation such theses that have not previously been. In particular, there were some discussions at expert level to take this opportunity and expand the Iranian-Armenian border from 40 km to 120 km. The expert on Iranian studies thinks that the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh independence is in the context of this thesis. Virtually sounding the bugle for the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, BSP supremo today attacked SP and BJP, claiming they have "failed" on all fronts, and promised a society free of fear and corruption if she is voted to power. "Dump SP, BJP in the Assembly elections. Not just that, you ensure that their candidates forfeit their security deposits," she said at a public meeting on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar. The BSP supremo also ridiculed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for "not taking cognisance" of suicides by Dalit students when his party was in power. "Now the 'yuvaraj' (prince) is indulging in theatrics," she said referring to Rohith Vemula suicide in Hyderabad. Coming down heavily on the Samajwadi Party government in the state for "failing on all fronts", the BSP chief asked people to ensure thumping majority for her party in UP polls to usher in fear and corruption-free society. She asked people to be wary of Congress, BJP and SP, saying they indulged in just issuing hollow statements. slammed the Narendra Modi government for "failing" to get back black money from abroad as promised during Lok Sabha elections. "I have noticed that BJP's base is shrinking across the country," she said. On Modi's foreign visits, said he was embarking on these tours to "pat his back" and was "misusing people's money". She alleged that BJP was trying to implement "RSS agenda" in higher education institutions and playing "dirty tricks" for this. Mayawati poked fun at the Modi government for its decision to run a bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad with the help of Japan, saying it was of no use to the poor. "Had this money been spent elsewhere, schemes like MNREGS and others could have been started and poor would have been helped," she said. Cautioning dalits and backwards against BJP's "designs", former UP chief minister Mayawati today said its leaders will only act as "bonded labourers of RSS" and claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi could do little for the OBCs though he claims to belong to the community. "BJP or RSS can make any dalit or backward as the prime minister or chief minister of any state but he cannot do any thing good for his people...He will always remain a bonded labourer of BJP or RSS," the BSP supremo said taking on her political rivals at a meeting to pay homage to B R Ambedkar on his 125th birth anniversary. Her remarks came in the backdrop of BJP appointing Keshav Prasad Maurya, a backward, as the UP unit president. "This is clearly evident in the government of Narendra Modi who does not tire of saying that he is an OBC... Leave alone doing anything for his caste people, he has not not done anything for tea sellers though he has had free tea from them," Mayawati said, in a reference to Modi's days as a tea seller. Virtually sounding the bugle for 2017 assembly election, Mayawati targeted ruling Samajwadi Party accusing it of "failing on all fronts" and promised a society free of fear and corruption if she is voted to power. The BSP supremo also hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for "not taking cognisance" of suicides by Dalit students when his party was in power. "Now that the Congress is out of power, the 'yuvaraj' (prince) is going around in states ruled by other parties and indulging in theatrics," she said referring to Rohith Vemula suicide in Hyderabad. Training her guns at BJP, Mayawati said Maurya has been appointed by BJP as state unit president though he has a criminal record and earlier its Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, who too belonged to backward community, could do nothing and all along toed the line of RSS on Ayodhya temple for which he had to also lose power. Criticising Modi, she said although he spoke publicly on the issue of reservation because of "political compulsion", it appears to be a "mere eye wash and a mischievous move". "Had Modi's intentions been clean, before allaying fears on any move to do away with quota, he would have taken action against his partymen and RSS workers who have been issuing wrong statements on making reservation ineffective," she said. She warned that any move in the direction of ending reservation will have a serious impact and her party will not take it silently. "If the need arises, I will personally lead the agitation by coming out on the streets," she said. She also cautioned people against possible moves to rake up Ram temple issue by igniting religious feelings before the coming elections in UP, Uttarakhand and Punjab. "They might resort to this tactic after failing to lure people on sensitive issues like love jehad and Hindu rashtra among others to serve their political interests. "The real God and messiah of dalits, backwards and other deprived people all over the country is only Babasaheb Ambedar and not in Ayodhya, Mathura or Kedarnath," she said. Mayawati said though a lot is being said about erecting memorials on Ambedkar, Modi has not taken action against his minister V K Singh "who made derogatory comments" against the followers of Ambedkar. (Reopens DEL28) Later, addressing a well attended public meeting, Mayawati asked people to give a crushing blow to SP and BJP and vote her party back to power to usher in rule of the law and development. "Dump SP, BJP in the Assembly elections. Not just that, you ensure that their candidates forfeit their security deposits," she said. Attacking the SP government in the state, Mayawati said, "The Chief Minister is only interested in playing cricket and visiting foreign countries, while most of the public money is being spent on his native village - Saifai." Referring to the friendly match between CM XI and IAS XI played recently, she said, "Officers had enabled the CM to win the cricket match but in the elections, these officials will not be of much help." Seeking to puncture claims of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav hailing Lucknow Metro and Agra-Lucknow expressway as milestones of his government, Mayawati said these projects were the brainchild of the previous BSP government led by her. Cautioning people against the "Dalit-backward card being played by Congress, BJP and SP", she said the rival parties indulged only in issuing statements. "The goonda and mafias who had gone into hiding during the previous BSP government, came out and started moving about freely with SP coming to power," the former UP chief minister said. The SP government earlier enjoyed the support of Congress and now BJP, which is in power at the Centre. So, all three needed to be shown the door in the upcoming polls, she said. She accused BJP of trying to implement "RSS agenda" in higher education institutions and playing "dirty tricks" for accomplishing this. On issues like chanting of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai", Mayawati said an unnecessary controversy has been created and there are other ways to show patriotism. "We in BSP say Jai Bheem and Jai Bharat. Some say Jai Hind. It's not necessary to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai, for which BJP is making a big hue and cry," she said. The BSP chief said law and order and development would be the main focus of her government if her party was voted to power and "decisions taken by the present government on the basis of caste will be reviewed and action taken accordingly". "The law and order situation in the state at present is in a shambles as criminals are ruling the roost. If BSP comes to power, these criminals would be put in jail by launching a campaign," she said. Mayawati also said all schemes and policies implemented by the SP government would be reviewed if BSP formed its government. A medical student accused of sending another person to appear in the 2006 medical entrance examination on his behalf has been acquitted of charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating by a Delhi court, giving him the benefit of doubt. Metropolitan Magistrate Anuj Agarwal let off the student saying the prosecution could not prove there was a conspiracy between the accused student and another person Rakesh, who allegedly appeared in the exam on his behalf. "It was incumbent upon the prosecution to prove the meeting of mind between accused student and co-accused Rakesh either expressly or by necessary implication. However, in the instant case, there is nothing on record to prove such agreement expressly or by necessary implication," the magistrate said. The court also said in a criminal trial, the onus remains on the prosecution to prove the guilt of accused beyond all reasonable doubt and benefit of doubt, if any, must necessarily go in favour of the accused. While acquitting the student of offences under sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, the court also considered the statement of the investigating officer that during the probe, hecouldnot procureanyproofregardingaccused student entrustingRakesh to appearinthe examination on his behalf. According to prosecution, a medical entrance examination conducted by Delhi University washeld on May 22, 2006atGargiCollegehere, where Rakesh attended the exam on behalf of the accused student. When the invigilator checked that the photo on the medical card of the student wasnot matchingwithRakesh, he raised an alarm, it said. Onbeingsuspicious,theinvigilatoralso asked Rakesh to sign ontheattendancesheet,howeverhe took some time in signing and later the invigilator found that the signature too did not match. Thematterwasreportedto thecollegeauthorityandon questioning,theexamineedisclosed hisnameasRakeshKumar whenthepolicewascalled. An FIR was lodged against the accused on the complaint of the principal of the college, it said, adding that Rakesh was declared proclaimed offender during pendency of trial. The accused student, who faced the trial, had denied the allegations and claimed he never even received an admit card and did not know who Rakesh was. Two Mexican federal police officers allegedly participated in the disappearance of 43 students, the National Human Rights Commission said today, implicating national agents in the 2014 case for the first time. The announcement adds a new twist to an investigation that has come under fire from international human rights groups and independent investigators. The attorney general's office has charged municipal police officers in connection with the mass abduction in the southern city of Iguala on September 26-27, 2014. But the governmental rights commission said that an eyewitness saw two federal agents near Iguala's courthouse, where municipal officers had stopped a bus carrying 15 to 20 students. The commission also said another local police department, from the town of Huitzuco, had a previously unknown role in the disappearance. The bus was one of five that around 100 students had seized that night in order to use them for a future protest. Jose Larrieta Carrasco, a commission official investigating the Iguala case, said authorities should look into a "new route in the disappearance" of the students. The attorney general's office declared last year that Iguala and Cocula police officers abducted the students and delivered them to a drug cartel. The gang then killed the students, incinerated their bodies at a garbage dump in Cocula, and dropped the remains in a nearby river. But experts from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights who conducted an independent investigation said that there was no scientific evidence that the 43 students were incinerated at the dump. Micromax, country's second-largest handset maker is likely to invest around Rs 2,000 crore in the next five years in manufacturing and new product lines, its co-founder Rajesh Agarwal said today. He said the company is expected to clock Rs 15,000 crore revenues during the current fiscal. It recorded Rs 12,000 crore revenues last year. "We are planning to manufacture accessories such as batteries, chargers here in the country. The backward integration will happen in a period of next five to six years. I think over next five to six years we will be investing Rs 2,000 crore on complete manufacturing activities," Agarwal told reporters here. The new manufacturing facility of Micromax was today inaugurated here by Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao in presence of state Transport Minister P Mahendra Reddy. Spread across 19 acres, the facility will make mobile handsets, LED TVs, LED lights among others. The mobile maker has a plant in Rajasthan also. He said the current size of mobile phone market in the country is 220 million units per annum and the brand enjoys a market share of 14 per cent. "We are talking a growth of about 25 per cent this year. Our target this year would Rs 15,000 crore. Today, we are selling around 2.5 million units per month. That's our run rate. We launched LED television sets around one and half years ago. We are one of the fastest growing LED TV companies in the country," he claimed. Agarwal said they are open to join with other companies to bring in the electronic component manufacturing to the country. "We will request the Telangana Government to allot some land for setting up Research and Development facility here," he added. The company has already invested over Rs 100 crore in its Hyderabad project in the first phase, he said. On exports, the co-founder said Micromax is currently exporting to around five countries and has plans to expand the footprints to African and European countries in future. The Telangana facility currently employs 700 people and will increase the number to 1,000 in the next two months, boosting employment opportunities in the state. "Telangana government strongly believes in the vision of 'Make in India' and has always encouraged corporates to establish their factories and R&D centres in the state," Rao said. Agarwal said the company aims to be India's largest indigenous phone manufacturer by 2017. By the end of the year, it plans to have two more plants in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh that will give the company a total capacity of five million units. These facilities will manufacture both phones and televisions. The projects will entail investment of Rs 300 crore and create job opportunities for over 10,000 people by 2017. Software titan Microsoft today sued the US government, arguing that secret warrants to search people's email violate the US Constitution. Microsoft filed the suit against the Justice Department in federal court in Seattle, near the company's headquarters in Redmond. "Microsoft brings this case because its customers have a right to know when the government obtains a warrant to read their emails, and because Microsoft has a right to tell them," lawyers for the company said in the court filing. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act lets courts order Microsoft or other email service providers to remain silent about warrants for data on the overly general grounds that there is "reason to believe" tipping people off might hamper investigations, according to the suit. That power violates constitutional protection of free speech and safeguards against unreasonable searches, Microsoft argued in the suit. In the past 18 months, federal courts have issued nearly 2,600 secrecy orders gagging Microsoft from saying anything about warrants and other legal actions targeting customers' data, according to the filing. "We believe that with rare exceptions consumers and businesses have a right to know when the government accesses their emails or records," Microsoft chief legal officer Brad Smith said in a blog post. "Yet it's becoming routine for the US government to issue orders that require email providers to keep these types of legal demands secret. We believe that this goes too far and we are asking the courts to address the situation." Internet giants have railed against secret search warrants, contending they erode trust in US technology companies while trampling on the rights of citizens and businesses. The situation has become more urgent as computing and data storage services shift from software packages loaded onto individual computers to servers running in the Internet cloud. "Today, individuals increasingly keep their emails and documents on remote servers in data centers -- in short, in the cloud," Smith said. "But the transition to the cloud does not alter people's expectations of privacy and should not alter the fundamental constitutional requirement that the government must -- with few exceptions -- give notice when it searches and seizes private information or communications." Microsoft's legal challenge follows a high-stakes battle over FBI demands for access to an iPhone used by one of the gunmen in a December 2 rampage that left 14 dead in San Bernardino, California. One of five men due for trial next month for conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group has pleaded guilty. Adnan Abdihamid Farah pleaded guilty today in federal court in Minneapolis to providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Three other counts were dropped. Farah faces up to 15 years in prison but avoided a possible life sentence. Judge Michael Davis didn't set a sentencing date. The 20-year-old Farah wasn't accused of trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State, but allegedly communicated with an Islamic State member in Syria. The hearing was delayed about 45 minutes after Farah's mother, Ayan, collapsed with chest pain. She was taken away for treatment and there was no immediate word on her condition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today paid rich floral tributes to B R Ambedkar at his birth place in Kalipaltan area of Mhow cantonment town on his 125th birth anniversary. Ambedkar was born in Mhow cantonment town of Madhya Pradesh on April 14, 1891. The state government has built a grand memorial at his birth place. "Modi is the first Prime Minister of the country to pay a visit to Ambedkar's birth place, Mhow," Ambedkar Social Science University, Mhow, Vice Chancellor R S Kureel claimed while talking to PTI. The Prime Minister was accompanied by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other dignitaries on the occasion. Modi took a look at the grand memorial and spent over 15 minutes there. He will later address a public meeting in Mhow and launch the 11-day-long 'Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday Abhiyan' (village self-governance campaign). Earlier, the PM was accorded a warm welcome on his arrival at the Indore airport by Chief Minister Chouhan and state Health Minister Narottam Mishra. From Indore, Modi left for Mhow in a helicopter. Director Girish Mohite's next Marathi movie, which is scheduled to release in August this year, will debate on 'live-in' relationships. "Ati Lagu" (conditions apply) is a movie that debates the pros and cons of 'live-in' relationship as against the institution of marriage,"Mohite told PTI. The film will be released in the first week of August across Maharashtra, Goa and Belagavi in Karnataka, the director said. "The story is around the life of a reserved man and outspoken woman who works as a jockey at a local Radio station. They are in a live-in relationship as they are opposed to the institution of marriage," said the "Bhartiya" helmer who has teamed up with lead actor Subodh Bhave once again in this movie. "The entire story line triggers debate on marriage versus live-in relationship. There is commitment in both the cases," said Mohite. The film, which is shot in Pune and Satara, features Dipti Devi, who will be seen for the first time in a main role. The starcast includes Atul Parchure, Radhika Harshe, Atisha Naik, Milind Pathak, Rajan Tamhane, Dr Utkarsha Naik, Radha Kulkarni, Vinit Sharma and Rewati Limaye. Produced by Sandesh Mhatre, the screenplay of the film is by Sanjay Pawar and music by Avinash-Vishwajit. One of Tuscany's most famous villas is up for sale with its owners hoping to be smiling all the way to the bank thanks to its links to the Mona Lisa. The Villa Antinori was once owned by the family of silk merchant Francesco Del Giocondo, whose wife Lisa Gherardini is widely believed to have sat for Leonardo da Vinci's world-famous portrait. Located in the hills outside Florence, "the villa is priced at over USD 11.3 million," but may well go for much more, a press officer for the Lionard Luxury Real Estate company told AFP. Villa Antinori, which boasts a chapel, extensive grounds and a vast lemon grove, lies some five kilometres from the Tuscan capital and was owned by the Del Giocondos from 1498 to 1517. At the end of the 19th century it was sold to Tuscan wine masters Antinori, and it was Nicolo Antinori who decided to put a drawing of the property on the family's Villa Antinori wines. The move was a challenge to wine rivals in France, with Antinori reportedly saying: "they have their chateaux, we our villas". Most historians believe Lisa Gherardini, who was born in 1479 and died in 1542, modelled for the Mona Lisa, which was painted between 1503 and 1506, when the Del Giocondos owned the villa. Some art sleuths think, however, that da Vinci might have used a male model for the Mona Lisa -- or that the sly grin is because the painting is a self-portrait. In September last year, Italian archaeologists trying to solve the mystery of the model's identity said they had found bits of bone which could have belonged to the 'real' Mona Lisa -- but had failed to find the DNA to test it against. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on April 14 warned a more fragmented Europe would be bad for NATO following Downing Street talks with David Cameron, Armenpress reports, citing Daily Mail. The alliance secretary general insisted he did not want to comment on the specific question of Britain's EU referendum. But Stoltenberg warned a 'strong UK in Europe' was important for international security. The talks with Cameron focused on stability in Europe and the fight against terrorism. Stoltenberg said: 'I will not comment on the ongoing debate in the UK on whether the UK is going to stay or not in the European Union. 'That is up to the people of Britain to decide. 'But what I can do is to say what matters for NATO. 'A strong UK in Europe is good for our security, it is good for NATO and I welcome that. 'A more fragmented Europe is bad for our security and it is bad for NATO.' Stoltenberg said the EU and NATO were 'complementary' in crises such as Russia's aggression towards Ukraine, when the EU implemented economic sanctions while NATO delivered military deterrence. The Secretary General added: 'All of these measures are of great importance delivered by NATO and the EU. 'We also see the importance of the UK being so supportive both inside NATO and inside the European Union promoting increased co-operation between NATO and the EU.' Welcoming Stoltenberg to Number 10, Cameron said the EU plays an 'important' role in maintaining Britain's security and strength. The PM said the talks, ahead of a NATO summit in Warsaw in July, were focused on the fight against terror, the migrant crisis in the Aegean, the need to 'stand up strongly and firmly against Russian aggression' in Ukraine, and the situations in Libya and Afghanistan. While he did not mention the UK's upcoming referendum on EU membership, Cameron made a point of stressing the 28-nation bloc's role in preserving stability. Cameron said: 'I'm sure we will be talking about the co-operation between the EU and NATO, because these are both important for our security and for our stability, for Britain's strength and power in the world and indeed for fighting the terrorism we face from Daesh.' After the meeting, Cameron's official spokeswoman said: 'They talked about the role the EU and NATO play alongside each other tackling some of the challenges that we face - whether that is looking at migration where we have been able to use NATO resources to help support numbers in the Aegean but it is a EU-led Naval mission that is currently working in the Central Mediterranean.' Security concerns have been a focus of debate in the referendum campaign to date. Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn yesterday raised fears that Brexit would leave Britain at risk from terrorists and 'infiltrators'. He insisted the security case for remaining in the European Union at June's referendum was clear. For the Leave campaign, Tory defence minister Penny Mordaunt has insisted quitting the European Union would 'risk nothing' and could enhance Britain's security - echoing calls for Brexit from Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6. Speaking to the BBC last week, Ms Mordaunt said: 'We risk nothing by taking back control of our borders and our laws that underpin this framework. 'It's not a gamble. Staying in is a gamble, because this is only going to get worse. We have to take back control. That is what is required to keep our nation safe.' 'Jeremy Corbyn is going to make a major speech on Europe this week, so you will see us now really taking the lead in this campaign because it is such a serious matter and it is about Labour voters, but it's also about large numbers of young people who want to look to the future.' Syrian troops exchanged fire with rebels in the contested northern city of Aleppo today in a renewed bout of fighting that could further mar peace talks underway in Geneva. Government warplanes, helicopter gunships and artillery were bombarding rebel-held parts of the city and its suburbs, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Aleppo-based activist Bahaa al-Halaby. The pro-government Addounia TV said one person was killed and five people were wounded by mortar rounds fired by insurgents into the predominantly Kurdish Sheikh Maqsoud district of the city. The fighting came a day after Syrians in government-held parts of the country voted for a new parliament - balloting that the opposition has dismissed as a sham and that could further undermine the peace talks. Those negotiations resumed yesterday in Geneva, with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura meeting Syrian opposition representatives. The government is expected to join the talks on Friday, a delay that was explained by the elections. Aleppo has seen sporadic clashes despite a US-Russia-engineered truce that went into effect in late February. Government forces and their allies have rebel-held parts of Aleppo almost surrounded from all sides, except for a corridor from the northwestern edge of the city. "Areas close to the front lines are tense," said al-Halaby, the activist, speaking via Skype as explosions were heard in the background. He said several shells are falling every minute on the city and its suburbs. The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, another opposition monitoring group, reported violence in other parts of the country, including the central province of Homs and the northwestern region of Idlib. Meanwhile, the US-led coalition struck areas controlled by the Islamic State group near Syria's border with Turkey, according to a Turkish agency. The militant IS group and al-Qaida's Syria branch known as Nusra Front are not part of the cease-fire in Syria. Coalition jets struck Islamic State militants in the villages of Souran, Hawar Kilis and Kafra, reported the private Dogan agency. The report said smoke rose from the strikes and that sounds of explosion and gunfire were heard from across the border. The Observatory also reported the airstrikes, saying they came amid clashes between IS fighters and rival groups in the area. It said IS fighters captured on Thursday the village of Hawar Kilis and the area around it. Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today called for greater cooperation and people-to-people contact among the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). After inaugurating BRICS Friendship Cities Conclave here, Naidu said, "A collaborative effort is needed by the five nations to fight social discrepancies and inequalities. They need to articulate their diplomatic and political joint interest. Less industrialised nations can learn a lot from the BRICS experience, both good and bad, and so steer their own urbanisation onto a more secure path." The three-day programme is being organised by the Maharashtra and the Union governments, and involves top urban policy makers/planners from BRICS countries. Irrespective of the socio-economic and political context, the nature and aspirations of the people in BRICS nations are the same, Naidu said. They seek advancement in their life term for themselves and for their children. These aspirations are the driving force of urbanisation across the country, he said. The experiences of BRICS and newly industrialised countries including the big Asian economies have demonstrated the power of urbanisation as an engine of development, the minister stated. The Minister said that the third generation policy regime initiated by Narendra Modi government is based on integrated planning and holistic development of urban areas through Smart City Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Swachh Bharat Mission and Heritage City Development Mission (HRIDAY). These new missions entail a total investment of about Rs 18 lakh crore by 2022 in urban areas in developing basic infrastructure in 500 cities with a population of above one lakh each, core infrastructure in 100 smart cities and construction of 2 crore houses for urban poor in all the 4,041 statutory cities and towns, he said. "We have made substantial ground towards improving the ease of doing business in urban areas, promoting better land use planning, vertical construction through Transit Oriented Development, promoting efficient public transport, much desired green and open spaces in urban areas etc. In the next few years, every urban household will be provided with water supply and sewerage connections. Every poor urban household will be provided with a decent house promoting inclusivity," Naidu added. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said his government had selected 10 cities in the state to be Smart Cities, which will have IT backbone and all basic infrastructure facilities. The first Smart City of the country will be launched in Navi Mumbai, he said. IT industry body Nasscom today came out against a Bill introduced by the Gujarat government to levy entry tax on consumers for inter-state e-commerce and similar practices of some other states, saying it poses a significant challenge. "Nasscom believes this levy of entry tax poses significant commercial challenges for e-commerce and logistics companies and to retailers from outside of Gujarat, selling goods to customers in the state," the industry body said in a statement. A similar levy is being enforced in Assam, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh and is proposed to be levied in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, it added. "Providing un-restricted cross border access to sellers as well as buyers is the prerogative of the government and is an important driver towards creating ease of doing business," President of Nasscom R Chandrashekhar said. "Such tax structure will lead to additional burden on SME traders, enhanced litigation," he said. Beside reducing business efficiencies, it will also restrict choice of the customer, he added. The entry tax, payable by the consumers, will be collected and deposited by entities that bring specified goods to the state from any other part of the country for consumption and sale. Gujarat government in March passed a bill to levy entry tax on goods purchased through e-commerce portals. The Gujarat Tax on Entry of Specified Goods into Local Areas (Amendment) Bill, 2016, was passed to amend the present Act of 2001 that did not cover e-commerce transactions. Amid widespread allegations of "creating hurdles" in organising the famed 'Thrissur Pooram' in the wake of Kollam temple tragedy, Kerala government today said all necessary steps would be taken for the smooth conduct of the festival. The UNESCO has adjudged Pooram as the "most spectacular festival event on the planet". As people cutting across religions and politics protested against the restrictions imposed on the festival, state Forest Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan withdrew an order issued by his department imposing curbs on elephant procession - a major attraction of the Pooram. The tradition was initiated 200 years ago by renowned King of Kochi kingdom, Sakthan Thampuran. The Forest Department had yesterday issued notice to two major Devaswoms organising the Pooram imposingrestrictions on parading elephants. The order stated that no elephants should be paraded during day time and a four-meter distance must be kept between elephants during the procession. "There will be no such restrictions for this year's Pooram. We will ensure all necessary steps for a smooth conduct of the festival," Radhakrishnan said in Kottayam today as many rallied behind Thiruvampady and Paramekkavu Devaswoms in a protest dharna against the restrictions imposed on the festival. Archbishop of Catholic Church in Thrissur, Mar Andrews Thazhathu, joined the protest being held at the gates of famous Vadakkumnatha Temple. "What is Thrissur without pooram," he asked. He urged the government to take necessary steps to ensure safety and security for smooth conduct of the festival. KPCC president V M Sudheeran, who hails from Thrissur district, expressed hope that the Pooram will be held in accordance with its tradition. Meanwhile, concerns are being raised whether a recent High Court order banninghigh decibel fireworks during night, another major attraction of the festival, would cast a shadow on the festivities this time. Kerala High Court had on Tuesday banned the use of high-decibel fireworks in the night in the wake of the Puttingal Temple fire tragedy in Kollam. "We will not take any risk. If there is no fireworks, we will have to abandon this national festival,"KManoharan, President of the Paramekkavu Devaswom, had said yesterday. Manoharan, who has been part of the Pooram organising committee for the last five decades, said the two Devaswoms have decided to join a party in the case in the High Court today and apprise the judiciary about a Supreme Court order they received in favour of organising the festival in its traditional way. The Devaswoms will move the High Court with their versions during its sitting this afternoon. Fireworks display, procession of majestically caparisoned elephants and changing of sequined parasols are the major attractions of Pooram festival. Thrissur is best known for its Pooram festival and is the most colourful and spectacular temple festivals of Kerala. Devotees and spectators from all parts of the state and outside throng the venue of the Pooram. With the Kollam temple tragedy, which has so far claimed 114 lives and left over 300 injured, bringing to focus safety issues, the Thrissur district administration had on Monday imposed regulations including use of low decibel crackers. The administration had decided to give sanction to two temple devaswoms (boards) to use a total of 4,000 kg low decibel fire crackers for the April 17 finale of Pooram festival. NHAI has come up with a proposal in for decongesting the National Capital Region traffic by constructing link roads, flyovers and underpasses. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has also created a separate cell to work on decongesting Delhi and the NCR, which comprises 13 districts of Haryana, UP's 7 and 2 of Rajasthan as well as boats of over 88.50 lakh vehicles. It has uploaded the proposal for decongesting the NCR on its website and urged architects, town-planners and other citizens to send in their suggestions and comments by April 30. "NHAI has prepared a decongestion proposal for Delhi. It recognises the urgency of decongesting Delhi and the critical need to optimise limited capital resources, while giving citizens maximum connectivity and comfort," it said in a statement. The NCR is India's largest and world's second largest urban cluster with a population of over 54 million. It has an area of 46,208 sq km out of which NCT-Delhi has an area of around 1483 sq km and Central NCR (CNCR) has about 2000 sq km. NHAI has proposed to provide an efficient connectivity through radial routes of outer ring road with Eastern Peripheral Express (EPE) and Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE), which will decongest Delhi. It proposes to connect Azadpur to Sonipat, Kashmiri Gate to Baghpat, Nizamuddin Bridge to Dasna, Lajpat Nagar to Kherli Kankar in Haryana and Bhikaji Cama Place to NBRC Gate on NH-8 in Haryana among others for radial connectivity of Outer Ring Road to EPE and WPE. It also proposed to decongest the settlement areas through elevated corridor or by rerouting the networks by a green field alignment. Besides, NHAI says that new links to NH-8 will further decongest Delhi-Gurgaon road, Palam area, Aya Nagar, Vasant Kunj and MG (Mehrauli-Gurgaon) Road. In order to decongest NH-8/Gurgaon, NHAI proposes a links to connect Vasant Kunj to Aya Nagar on Gurgaon-Mehrauli road (NH-236), Sikandarpur/Guru Dronacharya Metro station to NSG Gate on NH-8, among tohers. To decongest the Delhi-Gurgaon section of the NH-8, NHAI proposed construction of flyover and underpass at Hero Honda Chowk on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway as well as constructing of underpasses, overpasses etc. For improvement of 3 junctions at IFFCO Chowk, Signature Chowk and Rajiv Chowk. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has said Delhi's pollution has been catching all attention and government will solve it in 2 years with thrust on improving road designs, decongesting traffic and promoting eco-friendly fuel. In November 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation of 3 National Highway projects - Eastern Peripheral Highway, Western Peripheral Highway and eight-laning of NH between Mukarba Chowk in Delhi and Panipat in Haryana. The projects, with a combined length of 341 km will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 10,166 crore and will run through Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Angry over lack of progress to resolve one of the highest-profile mass kidnappings in the world, Nigerians marched in their country's major cities today to demand the safe return of girls who were abducted by Boko Haram extremists two years ago from a school in Chibok. Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was expected in the northeastern town of Chibok for the anniversary of the kidnappings, said Yakubu Nkeki, leader of a support group of parents of the kidnapped girls. He said the community is angry that their only school remains in ruins. Boko Haram firebombed buildings as they took off with girls. Some 20,000 children in the town and its surroundings have no school to attend, Nkeki said today as parents gathered at the ruins of the school to pray for the safe return of their daughters. "Boko Haram has achieved its aim. They say they don't want us to have Western education and our children don't," Nkeki said. Two years ago, the Islamic extremists seized 276 girls who had gathered for science exams at the Government Girls Secondary School in the northeast town of Chibok. Some managed to escape, jumping off pickup trucks as the Islamic extremists drove them toward the Sambisa Forest. A total of 219 remain missing. Yesterday, CNN broadcast parts of a Boko Haram video of girls wearing the Islamic hijab, and CNN also aired its own images of tearful mothers, including one reaching out to a computer screen as she recognised her kidnapped daughter. While Boko Haram is thought to have abducted thousands of people over the years, the mass abduction brought the extremist group to the world's attention. The campaign hashtag #BringBackOurGirls went as far as the White House, used by US first lady Michelle Obama. Japanese auto major Nissan today unveiled its compact car redi-GO under the Datsun brand that will hit markets in June. The company, however, did not announce the price of the car that will compete with the likes of Maruti Suzuki Alto and Hyundai's Eon, which are priced between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 4.42 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). "The bookings for the model would start in May and deliveries would begin in June," Nissan Motor India MD Arun Malhotra told reporters here. Redi-GO is the company's third vehicle from under the Datsun brand in India and has come up on a brand new platform developed in India. Last year, the automaker had launched a compact multi- purpose vehicle Go+ to add to the Go small car to expand its network in small towns to boost sales of its Datsun brand of vehicles. In 2014, when Nissan launched the Datsun Go in India, marking the global comeback of the brand after nearly three decades, it had said it was aiming to garner 10 per cent share in the Indian passenger vehicles market by 2016. However, last year, it had clarified that it would miss its target, but would advance the launch of a third vehicle from its Datsun brand in the country to propel growth. Both (Nissan and Datsun) now aim to garner 5 per cent market share in India by 2020. JD(U) President and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today launched a blistering attack against BJP and RSS, saying they were chanting the name of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar but behaving in a manner opposite to the values promoted by him. "These days BJP and RSS are chanting B R Ambedkar's name but their behaviour is opposite to that," Kumar said while addressing a function to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the father of Indian Constitution here. "A Dalit student is pushed to commit suicide in a central university. Students are sent to jail on charge of sedition," Kumar said apparently referring to the suicide of scholar Rohit Vemula and the arrest of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar. "The party (BJP), indulging in acts diametrically opposite to values promoted by Ambedkar, is giving the sermon of doing good for the poor," he said, asking people to be cautious of such forces. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a village self-governance campaign at Ambedkar's birthplace in Madhya Pradesh. "The party which came to power shouting 'sabka saath sabka vikas' got engaged in activities like love jihad, beef and nationalism-sedition," he alleged. "Those having no contribution in freedom struggle are trying to replace the tricolour with the saffron flag and bragging about patriotism," claimed Kumar, who drove JD(U) to snap 17-year-old ties with BJP in June 2013 in Bihar. Taking a potshot at the Narendra Modi government, he said, "By entering into an agreement with the US allowing them to use our strategic places, the central government has knelt down before the US and is still talking of Startup India." Former Speaker and JD(U) Vice President Uday Narayan Choudhary presided over the function at the party headquarters here. No Indian author has made it to the Man Booker International Prize for fiction shortlist this year that has an elusive Italian author, who writes under the pseudonym Elena Ferrante, and the Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk. Last year, British-Indian author Sunjeev Sahota's 'The Year of Runaways' had made it to the final list. Judges praised the diversity of the six-candidate list announced today that takes readers around the globe and to the frontier of fiction. The list includes a Chinese dissident. The settings of the books range from war-torn Angola to Naples terrorised by the Camorra, from Austrian Alps to Istanbul and from metamorphosis in South Korea to allegorical transformation during the Great Famine in China in the 1950s and '60s. Five of the novelists have been nominated for the first time, with Chinese author Yan Lianke appearing for the second time with 'The Four Books'. Other are: Pamuk, Ferrante, Angolan writer Jose Eduardo Agualusa, Austrian Robert Seethaler and South Korean Han Kang. They have all been shortlisted for the award, which celebrates the finest global fiction translated into English. The winner will receive 50,000 pounds to be split evenly between author and translator. Ferrante's 'The Story of the Lost Child' and Pamuk's Istanbul-set 'A Strangeness in My Mind' are on the shortlist. Pamuk, one of Turkey's best-known authors, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2006. Ferrante has topped best-seller lists around the world, but she writes under a pseudonym and rarely gives interviews. "This exhilarating shortlist will take readers both around the globe and to every frontier of fiction. In first-class translations that showcase that unique and precious art, these six books tell unforgettable stories from China and Angola, Austria and Turkey, Italy and South Korea," said Boyd Tonkin, chair of the Man Booker International Prize judging panel. "Our selection shows that the finest books in translation extend the boundaries not just of our world - but of the art of fiction itself. We hope that readers everywhere will share our pleasure and excitement in this shortlist." The list was selected from 155 books by a panel of five judges consisting of: critic and editor Boyd Tonkin; anthropologist and novelist Tahmima Anam; academic David Bellos, Professor of French and Comparative Literature and Director of the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication at Princeton University; editor and academic Daniel Medin, who holds a comparative literature professorship at the American University of Paris (AUP); and prize-winning British poet and author Ruth Padel. The winner will be announced on May 16 at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. After taxi owners went on a two-day strike in Goa earlier this week demanding a ban on rent-a-car operators, the latter today threatened to agitate if their demand to regularise their business is not met. Rent-a-car operators said they have been demanding the government to regularise their business for the past few years but it has paid no heed. "We have been fighting to legalise our rent-a-car business for the past three to four years. The government never paid attention to our demands," secretary of North Goa Rent-a-Car Association, Amir Shirodkar, said. Transportation was hit in the tourist state on Monday and Tuesday when taxi owners and auto-rickshaws went on a strike demanding a ban on rent-a-car and rent-a-bike business. Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar announced formation of a committee to look into the grievances, following which the strike was withdrawn. The government had asked police and transport department to crackdown on rent-a-car and rent-a-bike business. "Government has fallen to the pressures of the taxi owners. There is a massive crackdown due to which we have to keep our vehicles at home. Entire business has collapsed," Shirodkar said. "We will be forced to take to streets if these crackdowns continues and our demands are not met," he added. He said government has allowed only one company to operate rent-a-car business, which owns around 131 vehicles, while the rest of the small entrepreneurs are left to fend for themselves. "Motor Vehicle Act, 1989 specifically allows rent-a-car business. There are such services across India but only in Goa, government is unreasonably stubborn and not allowing the regularisation due to pressure from the taxi lobby," he alleged. As per official data, 1,500 rent-a-car operators' applications are lying with the transport department. "All applications are in the queue. But there are over 1,000 operators illegally running the business of rent-a-car," Director of Transport Sunil Masurkar said. He said the department has began the crackdown due to which its operations have almost come to a halt. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Militant terrorist groups have violated the ceasefire in Aleppo on April 14 and shelled a number of peaceful areas of the city. As Armenpress reports, this was informed by Perio News. The terrorists targeted many districts of Aleppo, including Nor Gyugh (where Armenians reside), Sulaymaniyah, Telefon Hauai, Seyrafi, al-Chapriye, Meyselun, Suleiman al-Halapi, Sheikh Maghsut, Arghup and other neighborhoods. Deaths and wounded are reported as a result of the shelling. The wounded were immediately hospitalized. Explosions and shelling continue in Aleppo in an unfathomable way. Cars, apartments, houses, shops were heavily damaged as a result of explosions. Earlier, Gandzasar reported that the Syrian Army was trying to seize the area from which the terrorists are targeting the city. US President Barack Obama has profusely praised two Indian-American science whiz kids for their innovative ideas and path breaking thinking, which he said would help serve the global community. Maya Varma from California and Anarudh Ganesan from Maryland won various science competitions, thus qualifying for the sixth White House Science Fair. "All of you are showing the rest of us that it's never too early in life to make a difference," Obama said in his remarks after interacting with the students who had come from across the country. "You teach us about the power of reason and logic, and trying things and figuring out whether they work, and if they don't, learning from that and trying something new. And you remind us that, together, through science, we can tackle some of the biggest challenges that we face," said the US President as he singled several of these whiz kids two of them were Indian-American. "We've got Maya Varma, who is a senior from San Jose, California," 54-year-old Obama said. Maya's (literally) breathtaking invention earned her a slot as a 2016 Intel STS finalist, where her spirometer was selected as one of the top 40 projects in the nation. "Maya is using a low-cost microcontroller, software freely available on the Internet, and a smartphone, and she designed a tool that allows people with asthma and other lung diseases to diagnose and monitor their own symptoms," he said. "My aspiration is not only to create the next big thing in my field one day, but also to make it accessible to more than a privileged few in the world," Obama quoted Maya as saying and asked the audience to her a big round of applause. And soon Obama narrated the story of 16-year-old Anarudh Ganesan. "So when Anarudh was little, his grandparents walked him 10 miles to a remote clinic in his native India for vaccinations, only to find out that the vaccines had spoiled in the heat," he told the audience. "Though he eventually got the shots that he needed, he thought, well, this is a problem, and wanted to prevent other children from facing the same risk. "So he developed what he calls the VAXXWAGON, and it's a refrigerator on wheels that transports vaccines to remote destinations. That's the kind of innovation and compassion that we're seeing from so many of these young people," Obama said. Anarudh's project made him a finalist in the 2015 Google Science Fair. Obama also had a presentation from Sanjana Rane, 18, from Kentucky, who helped discover how a particular protein could be used to detect and treat renal fibrosis. "This is just a small sample of the incredible talent that is on display at this science fair. We couldn't be prouder. To all the students, to all the young people, we could not be prouder of you," Obama said. Oil prices edged lower today after the International Energy Agency said it saw the global oversupply dwindling by year's end and as traders awaited a key producers meeting this weekend. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in May fell 26 cents to USD 41.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent North Sea crude for June delivery, the international benchmark for crude, finished at USD 43.84 a barrel, a decline of 34 cents from yesterday's close. The International Energy Agency, in a monthly report issued today, said the global glut would likely ease by the end of 2016. The IEA projected the oil surplus would fall to 200,000 barrels per day in the second half of 2016, from 1.5 million bpd in the first six months. The oil market had been slightly higher before dipping late in the session. "It was really the IEA report and the issues relating to the supply that have rallied the market," Bob Yawger of Mizuho Securities USA said before prices slipped. In its report, the IEA said it still anticipates "steady oil demand growth and falling non-OPEC supply," referring to producers outside of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. "This scenario is now taking shape and the oil market looks set to move close to balance in the second half of this year," it said. The 29-nation agency downplayed expectations that Sunday's meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC producers in the Qatari capital of Doha could prove significant in addressing the market imbalance. "We cannot know the outcome but if there is to be a production freeze, rather than a cut, the impact on physical oil supplies will be limited," said the IEA, which advises countries on energy policy. Traders will closely watch Sunday's talks after prices slumped by about three quarters to below $30 between mid-2014 and February this year on the back of the global supply glut and overproduction. "I personally don't think there'll be any kind of significant agreement but some people will probably buy into it, at least for a couple of days," Yawger said. Looking ahead, EY oil and gas analyst Sanjeev Gupta said that "China's first-quarter economic data due tomorrow (Friday) and results of the Doha meeting will set the tone for near-term price development. A dedicated Ebola clinic was treating Guinea's only known case of the virus today after the recovery of a girl diagnosed with the disease, the charity running the facility said. The Alliance For International Medical Action (ALIMA) runs the country's sole treatment centre in the southern city of Nzerekore, where it has handled six of the 10 confirmed cases recorded since the outbreak was officially declared over in December. "(Of) six confirmed cases, four have died, one was discharged after recovery and the sixth is still here," said ALIMA emergency co-ordinator Solenne Barbe. Barbe attributed the high mortality rate to the fact that the recent patients arrived too late to be treated with a good chance of survival. The newest confirmed case is an elderly man from Macenta prefecture to the north of Nzerekore, she said, thought to be a healer visited by one of the dead while still alive and infected with the virus. According to health authorities, that deceased man's wife and her children crossed the border into Liberia before she too succumbed to the virus. One son also died while another remains under treatment in Monrovia. In a rare piece of good since Ebola's reappearance, an 11-year-old girl left the centre on April 8 after a successful recovery, according to ALIMA. The World Health Organization was first alerted to the reappearance of Ebola symptoms in a Guinean village near the Liberian border on March 16, the same day it declared a similar flare-up over in Sierra Leone. Since then eight people have died, all in the same area, while the country's Ebola response unit confirmed today that more than 1,700 people have been vaccinated against the virus. The WHO has said Ebola no longer constitutes an international emergency, but the announcement of new cases in west Africa has demonstrated the difficulty of managing its aftermath. The deadliest period in the history of the feared tropical virus wrecked the economies and health systems of the three worst-hit west African nations -- Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia -- after it emerged in December 2013. The virus has since claimed 11,300 lives. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today hit back at Opposition for criticising the state government over toddy ban issue, saying no such decision has been taken and accused it of "provoking" the Pasi community involved in the toddy business. "Like environmental pollution, people (politicians of different parties) are making ideological pollution. They are trying to provoke a community in the name of toddy," Kumar said. He, however, made it clear that there was no ban on toddy and the state government was following the 1991 guidelines, which prohibits sale of toddy within 50 m of educational institutions, temples, hospital, bazaars and haats among others and the same within 100 m in rural areas. Kumar was addressing a gathering of Vikas Mitras for whom a workshop on 'Complete Prohibition in Bihar' was organised by the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Department on 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar. Coming down heavily on politicians for attacking him in the name of Pasi community, Kumar said they were not their benefactors and were only indulging in politics. "They (leaders) want that people from Pasi community, traditionally occupied in toddy business, to always climb palm trees and never earn their name by educating themselves," Kumar said, reminding people a hooch tragedy last year was the result of spurious toddy, blended with urea. "Now these people (leaders) are advocating toddy just for the sake of politicising the issue," he said. Kumar's assertion came in the wake of the criticism by different political parties and its leaders for his decision to enforce a complete prohibition in the state from April 5 that also included strict adherence to the 1991 guidelines. Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi yesterday charged Nitish Kumar of targeting the Pasi community by arresting them for selling toddy. "When there is no ban on sale of toddy under the Bihar Excise Act, then on what ground Principal Secretary (Excise) K K Pathak has directed the district officials to crackdown on sale of toddy?" he had asked. BJP's alliance partner and former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi had termed Nitish Kumar as an "enemy of the Pasi community and that's why the CM has banned toddy." "On the advise of IAS officer K K Pathak, Nitish Kumar has banned toddy in the state. Both Nitish and Pathak are enemies of Pasi community. Even doctors prescribe toddy, which is natural juice and banning the palm tree product is like inflicting torture on SC category people," Manjhi said at a toddy sellers protest here on Monday last. Myanmar appeared to have escaped with only minor damage to buildings including pagodas after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that rattled its remote north, police said today, as early reports said there not had been any casualties. The quake, which struck late Wednesday more than 130 kilometres below the surface, was felt from China to Bangladesh, where scores of people were injured in stampedes as panic spread. Read more from our special coverage on "MYANMAR EARTHQUAKE" Myanmar jolted by a massive 6.8 magnitude quake But initial surveys suggested the damage was limited in Myanmar, according to an official from Sagaing province, around 100 kilometres from the epicentre. "We have no casualties although there was some small damage to pagodas in villages," a police official said, requesting anonymity. "People are now enjoying the water festival," he added, referencing the Buddhist new year celebrated across the region. The Relief and Resettlement Department posted on its Facebook page that "there were no casualties, injuries or major damage to buildings because of (the) earthquake." A second, unnamed policeman in the capital Naypyidaw, said emergency checks on the quake-rattled zone had so far revealed only minor damage to buildings. "It seems like there was not so much damage from the quake," the officer said. "But we are releasing instructions of 'dos and don'ts' if earthquakes occur in the future." Wednesday's quake rippled out to Bangladesh, which shares a border with Myanmar. More than 80 people in the country were injured, mostly in stampedes as panicked residents fled their homes and offices, local television reported. In neighbouring India, tremors were felt in several northeastern cities, while Chinese state media said some residents in the Tibetan city of Lhasa ran out into the streets in panic. Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, but the country has not seen a major quake since November 2012, when a powerful 6.8 magnitude tremor struck the centre of the country, killing 26 people and injuring hundreds. Crumbling infrastructure and poor urban planning in Myanmar has made the country's most populous areas vulnerable to earthquakes and other disasters, experts say. Air forces of Pakistan and China today began their fifth joint exercise, signalling increasing military cooperation between the two all-weather allies. Code-named as Shaheen-V, the exercise started at an operational base in Pakistan, which was not disclosed by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). "A contingent of People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) comprising combat pilots, air defence controllers and technical ground crew besides a PAF contingent are participating in the exercises," said a PAF spokesman. He said the last such exercise called Shaheen- IV was conducted in Beijing in October 2015. The ongoing exercise saw participation of three different types of frontline fighter aircraft belonging to various PAF squadrons for the first time. It will enhance bilateral relationship and capability of the air forces of the two friendly neighbours, he said. The PAF spokesman said Pakistan and China enjoy very close relationship spanning over six decades. Their partnership has been strengthened through the USD 46-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor linking China with a Pakistani deep seaport through a network of roads, railways and investment parks. 24 Indian were apprehended and four boats seized by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) today off Gujarat's Jakhau coast, officials of the Fisherworkers' Forum (NFF) said. The had sailed off the coastal town of Porbandar and Okha few days ago and were apprehended by the PMSA near the International Maritime Border Line (IMBL) this morning, secretary of NFF, Manish Lodhari said. "We have learned that at least 24 on four boats were apprehended by PMSA near Jakhau coast today morning. Two boats are registered in Okha while two belong to Porbandar. These fishermen and their boats were being taken to Karachi port by PMSA," Lodhari said. The PMSA has been capturing Indian fishermen at regular intervals off Gujarat coast. Within last three months, as many as 191 fishermen along with 34 boats were captured by PMSA in six separate instances before today's incident. Recently, Pakistan released 172 fishermen, who reached Gujarat last month. The US has asked Pakistan to target all militant groups, following the release of a latest American State Department cable which suggested strong links between Pakistan's notorious spy agency ISI and the Haqqani Network. "We have been consistently clear with the highest levels of the Government of Pakistan that it must target all militant groups, including the Haqqani Network, al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e Tayyiba," said State Department Spokesman John Kirby. "The Government of Pakistan itself has repeatedly said it's not going to discriminate against a terrorist group regardless of their agenda or affiliation," he said. Kirby was responding to a question on a series of latest US cable released by the National Security Archive which suggest strong links between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and the Haqqani network. According to one of the cables, the ISI paid a whopping USD 200,000 to the dreaded Haqqani Network for a suicide attack on a CIA camp in Afghanistan in 2009 that killed seven American agents and contractors and three others. The CIA declined to comment on the cable. But an intelligence official told PTI there was no evidence which proves the information mentioned in the cable, which though is genuine. The US has maintained that the attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan was the handiwork of al Qaeda and not the Haqqani network. "During discussions at an unknown date between Haqqani Salar and an unidentified ISID officer or Officers, Haqqani and Salar were provide 200,000 USD to enable the attack on Chapman," says the cable released by the National Security Archive of George Washington University which obtained it from the State Department under the Freedom of Information Act. The State Department did not answer questions on the cable. According to an intelligence official, the information in the cable obtained from a source on the ground could not be corroborated and there is no other cable matching this information. "We've made it clear what our expectations of the Government of Pakistan are, and the Government of Pakistan has made it clear publicly, repeatedly that it's not going to discriminate against groups," Kirby said. A prime suspect in the Paris terror attacks had documents related to a German nuclear research center hidden in his Brussels flat, a media report said today. Salah Abdeslam possessed documents about Juelich Nuclear Research Centre located near the Belgium-Germany border and being used for the storage of atomic waste, RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) media group reported. Citing its sources within the parliamentary control committee, whose meetings are confidential, RND said that head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV) Hans-Georg Maassen told the nine-person committee at the end of March that Abdeslam had the documents. Maassen told the committee, which monitors the work of German security agencies, that printouts of articles from the internet and photos of nuclear centre CEO Wolfgang Marquardt had been found in Abdeslam's apartment in the Molenbeek area of Brussels, the Belgian capital, it added. RND said it was unclear whether Maassen had passed this information on to the chancellery or the interior ministry. Several members of the Bundestag and a terrorism expert at the BfV said they knew of this information and that Maassen had confidentially informed them, RND reported. In a statement, the centre said that there was no indication of any danger and that it was in contact with security authorities and nuclear supervisors. Abdeslam, 28, born and raised in Belgium to Moroccan parents, was arrested on March 18 along with four other suspects in his flat where he lived while the were being plotted. Four days later, suicide bombers killed 32 people in Brussels airport and on a rush-hour metro train. Experts fear nuclear plants are potential targets for terrorists, either for sabotage or efforts to steal nuclear materials to build a "dirty" bomb. The Nuclear Security Summit, hosted by US President Barack Obama in Washington early this month, attended by more than 50 world leaders, termed threat of nuclear and radiological terrorism as "one of the greatest challenges to security" in the communique, which said the threat is "constantly evolving". The countries pledged to continue improving their nuclear security and reaffirmed their commitment to fight proliferation of nuclear weapons. Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar today said there is a need for alertness to avoid incidents like the recent Kollam temple fire tragedy. "There is need for us to raise our level of awareness towards accidents and thereby inculcating a sense of alertness so as to curb and avoid fire accidents such as these," he said referring to the fire tragedy at Kollam temple in Kerala where 114 people were killed and nearly 350 injured after firecrackers went-off during a religious celebration. He was speaking at the 'Fire Prevention Week' that began in the state. The Chief minister lauded the intensive campaigningon 'Safer School Safer India' programme, which he said will help in enhancing the awareness level of primary school children and through them the families, on safety culture. He paid his respects to all firemen who lost their lives in the line of duty. As a part of raising the fire safety awareness in primary schools of Goa, the 'Safer School Safer India' programme was unveiled byParsekar last year. It is a joint initiative of the Directorate of Fire and Emergency Services, Directorate of Education (State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT)) and Underwriter Laboratories (India). YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. 20 year old Israil Karimli from Arabmekhtibeyli village of Agsu district of Azerbaijan, who returned from the army three months ago, committed a suicide. As Armenpress reports citing lent.az news site, the young man was unemployed, his family lived in extreme poverty, faced financial difficulties and had depts. It is written that the boy ended his life in front of his parents. He shot his stomach with a hunting rifle. Parents were unable to stop their son to commit a suicide. Azerbaijan media frequently releases information on suicides. There is no official statistics on suicides in Azerbaijan. According to press reports, suicides occur in Azerbaijan mainly as a result of financial difficulties. In recent years, the number of suicides among all age groups of Azerbaijani citizens has grown so rapidly that Azerbaijan has been recognized as a country of suicides in the world. According to Azerbaijani media since the beginning of the year 107 cases of suicides from which 8 were teenagers, 66 suicide attempts, 23 cases of self-immolation, from which 9 were died, were recorded in Azerbaijan. 535 Azerbaijani citizens committed suicide from which 29 were teenagers in 2015. Azadliq newspaper earlier reported that more than 2.6 million Azerbaijani citizens have debts to banks. Last year the rate of manat has been depreciated nearly more than twice as a result of which people cannot pay their debts. Profilers have been operating at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport since the attacks on Brussels airport, its operators revealed today. They have been watching for "abnormal behaviour" at France's biggest airport, Aeroports de Paris (ADP) said. Among other extra security measures, a facial recognition system will be tested in the next few months. Instead of passengers having to place their finger on a screen to be identified, the system will immediately recognise their face. "If a person poses any problems... An alert will automatically be sent to the police who will come and question them," ADP chief executive Augustin de Romanet said. He said Paris airport authorities were working with police to double the number of automatic security checks of passengers in the next three years. The number of security cameras has been increased in areas of the airport "where we need to be able to keep a closer eye on the comings and goings", he said. Suicide bombers detonated their explosives in the check-in area of Brussels airport on March 22 and at a metro station, killing a total of 32 people. Like the Paris attacks in November which killed 130 people, they were claimed by the Islamic State group. Take pledge to make Rajasthan a smart state, Governor Kalyan Singh today exhorted people here at a state level function on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar. "Unemployment breeds poverty, we have to educate ourselves and work with dedication for the progress of the state," Singh said at the function in Mundla village under Jamvaramgarh tehsil. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight hailed the celebration of B R Ambedkar's birth anniversary by the United Nations, terming it as a "matter of great pride" for India. "It is a matter of great pride for India that Dr. Ambedkar's birth anniversary was observed at @UN & several people joined the celebrations," he tweeted. For the first time, the UN celebrated the birth anniversary of Ambedkar with a top official describing the noted Indian social reformer as a "global icon" for marginalised people and voiced the world body's commitment to work with India to fulfil his vision. "On behalf of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), I commend India on celebrating this important anniversary at the UN," UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said in her keynote address at a special event organised by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN to commemorate Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary for the first time at the global body. Clark who is Chair of the UN Development Group, addressed a packed audience of diplomats, scholars and Ambedkar's followers and said the occasion commemorates the "legacy of a very great man" who understood that "rising and persistent inequalities" pose fundamental challenges to the economic and social well-being of nations and people. Emphasising that Ambedkar's ideals are as relevant today as they were 60 years ago, former New Zealand prime minister Clark said his work on the empowerment and inclusion of excluded groups, reform of labour laws and promotion of education for all "made him an icon for marginalised people in India and in other countries". Charging that the Medical Council of India was "highly corrupt" and had lost credibility, a group of former bureaucrats and doctors have urged the Prime Minister to revamp the medical regulator, bring transparency and ensure that owners of hospital chains and colleges having "deep conflicts of interest" do not enter the body. Five former secretaries of health and bio-technology departments as well former MCI members and prominent doctors have written to Prime Minister Naredra Modi seeeking his "personal involvement" in revamping the regulator and alleged that successive governments have shown their "inability" in handling "compromised" individuals in the body. The secretaries and doctors have also urged the Prime Minister to take steps for revamping the curricula for graduate and post graduate medical education and separating the three functions of regulation, education and accreditation within the body. "We request that implementation of the recommendations is taken up without delay, namely replacing the elected council with medical and non-medical persons to be selected by an expert body in a transparent manner, in order to ensure that hospital chains and owners of medical colleges, having deep conflicts of interest, do not enterthis body and subvert it once again for their personal gain. "Revamp the curricula for graduate and post-graduate education, separate the three functions of regulation, education and accreditation with eminent individuals known for their professional and personal integrity and the institution of a national entrance and exit examination so as to ensure better quality of the doctors being produced," the letter said. Among those who have signed the letter are former health secretaries Javid Choudhury, Prasanna Hota, Sujatha Rao, Chandramouli and Keshav Desiraju and MK Bhan, former secretary of the Department of Biotechnology, and Gautam Sen and Sita Naik (former members of the Board of Governors of MCI), Srinath Reddy, President of the Public Health Foundation of India, and eminent surgeon Samiran Nundy of Gangaram Hospital. A parliamentary panel had recently recommended restructuring MCI, stating that its current composition is "biased" against larger public health goals and is an "exclusive club" of medical doctors from corporate hospitals and private practice. The Committee had said the elected MCI neither represents "professional excellence nor its ethos", and that more than half of the members are either from corporate hospitals or in private practice. The British Medical Journal (BMJ) had recently also called for a 'radical prescription' to reform the MCI in order to eliminate corruption and lack of ethics in healthcare. The parliamentary panel on health has also come down heavily on corruption in MCI and said that it was shocked to find that compromised individuals have been able to make it to the MCI. The letter by the secretaries and doctors said, "We request your personal involvement and leadership in the revamping of MCI. "We have helplessly witnessed successive governments' inability in handling compromised individuals in the MCI even after being prosecuted and their integrity seriously questioned by no less than the Supreme Court of India. "A strong professional regulator can only bring credit to the country and enable the sector to grow with credibility and respect that is its due." They also suggested that pending the committee's work, the current MCI be replaced in view of the scathing observations of the Parliamentary Committee and a transition team of experts be constituted to work out the reform agenda over the span of of one or two years. "This will enable a smoother implementation of the revised architecture when the Bill is enacted by the Parliament," it said. The secretaries and doctors said that the rules and regulations governing the profession are not only "archaic" but also do not fulfil the needs of the country and have "incentivised corruption and greed". "Even as you (Modi) are strenuously working towards generating respect and credibility for India abroad, articles in foreign journals and media have ridiculed the profession as one based on kickbacks, profiteering and brazen commercialisation. "This is unfortunate but is directly the consequence of the highly corrupt and shameful Medical Council that brazenly allows private medical institutions to run as business ventures with 'ghost faculty' and 'fake patients'. "The quality of education imparted at these institutions is suspect, giving rise to one foreign expert calling upon English-speaking countries of the US, UK, Australia and Canada to debar Indian medical doctors from being employed in their countries," the letter said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for a power plant of Patratu Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (PVUNL), a joint venture company of National Thermal Power Corporation and Jharkhand government, on April 24. The PM will be laying the foundation stone for a 4000MW unit, the first phase of the 8000MW project, PVUNL General Manager B Narayan told PTI here. Jharkhand government had in 2014 handed over assets of the Patratu Thermal Power Station to the joint venture company for setting up the 8000MW capacity plant, which was stated to be India's biggest. Altogether, 1,200 acres of land has been transferred to the JV company for setting up the 4000MW power plant in phase-1 while 600 more acres would be transferred in the future, said Rahul Purvar, Managing Director, Jharkhand Bijali Vitran Nigam Limited. The state government owns 6,500 acres of land in Patratu. From the power generated by the the plant, Jharkhand will get 85 per cent and the rest would go to other states. Rajkot police today allowed some Patel quota agitation leaders to watch the IPL match at Khandheri stadium here after taking an assurance that they will not shout slogans related to the agitation or for the release of their jailed leader Hardik Patel during the match. Police were on their toes since morning after learning that a car with slogans and photographs of Hardik Patel, the leader of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, had entered the city. Police stopped them a few kilometres away from the stadium which was hosting an IPL tie between Gujarat Lions and Pune Supergiants. "There were 5-6 persons inside. They told us they are here just to watch the match. We have taken assurance from them that they will not create any problem and will not stage any protest. After they agreed, we allowed them to watch the match," district superintendent of police Antrip Sood told PTI. The car was driven by Surat PAAS convener Nikhil Savani, accompanied by Rajkot PAAS convener Brijesh Patel and others. "To convey our solidarity with Hardik and raise the demand for his release from jail, we came to Rajkot from Surat in this especially decorated car," Brijesh said. In October last year, Rajkot police had detained Hardik Patel when he was on his way to the Khandheri stadium ahead of the India-South Africa One-Day International where he had threatened to stage a protest. A police constable was today killed inapressurebombblasttriggered by Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district. The incident occurred this morning in a forest between Matwada and Jangla villages under Jangla police station limits of the district, when aroadopeningpartywas carrying out its task in the region, Bijapur Additional Superintendent of Police Indira Kalyan Elsela told PTI. The joint road opening party, comprising personnel of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and district force, had started patrolling from Matwada camp of the security forces. After the team covered a distance of around 1.5 kms, assistant constable AyituLekamaccidentally came in contact with a pressure bombplanted by Maoists that exploded, injuring him critically, the ASP said. "Lekam, who was posted at Jangla police station, succumbed to his injuries while being taken out from the forest," he said. A combing operation has been launched in the region to trace the assailants, he added. Even as most political parties in this Union Territory have announced their strategy for the May 16 assembly polls, the ruling AINRC is keeping everyone guessing as it is yet to spell out its plans. The Congress-DMK combine has already reached a seat- sharing pact and AIADMK has announced candidates for all 30 seats, while the five-party People's Welfare Alliance has also finalised the number of seats to be contested by them. But Chief Minister N Rangasamy is yet to announce the strategy of his All India N R Congress and is ona pilgrimage for the last two weeks visiting various shrines in Tamil Nadu seeking divine blessings. He has also visited a temple dedicated to his spiritual guru Appa Pythiasamy in Salem district as he always does before taking crucial decisions. AINRC stormed to power in 2011 Assembly polls in alliance with AIADMK months after it was founded by Rangasamy, who broke away from Congress. However, the alliance did not last long as Rangasamy ditched the AIADMK andformed the government with the outside support of the lone Independent member V M C Sivakumar. AIADMK has now announced its candidates for all the 30 constituencies virtually shutting its doors on AINRC. Incidentally, AIADMK had won the recent Rajya Sabha election from the Union Territory with the support of AINRC, as Rangasamy agreed for the understanding facing a rebellion in his party then. BJP which contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election in alliance with AINRC is likely to contest the poll on its own. Congress, eyeing to capture power, is contesting in 21 seats leaving the remaining nine to DMK. The run-up to the polls also witnessed some key personalities switching their loyalties to other parties. Former Home Minister P Kannan, who had contested the polls in the paston Congress ticket, has joined the AIADMK. He has been fielded in Raj Bhavan constituency, where Congress veteran and former union minister V Narayanasamy or senior leader K Lakshmi Narayanan is likely to contest. Sivakumar, who annexed the T R Pattinam seat in Karaikal as an Independent in the 2011 polls, has also joined the AIADMK and seeks re-election from the same segment. A man was arrested and 10 logs of were seized from Labanyagada Badakondagaon forest under Mahendra forest range in Gajapati district of Odisha. The man, who was arrested yesterday, has been identified as A Dharma (31) of Badakondagaon under Garabandh police station limits. The logs worth Rs 20 lakh were buried near a pond in the forest. Police suspect that smugglers who made away with logs on November 15, 2015, might have hidden a few of them near the pond. "Dharma was involved in the loot and he along with other accused had been on the run since then. He spilled the beans during interrogation," SP (Gajapati) Satyajit Naik said. The SP said around 20 people had felled trees in the forest that night after tying up forest staff. "Efforts were on to nab the smugglers and Dharma was identified as one of them," he said. Red sandalwood is in high demand in the international market, mainly China. Forest officials suspect that red sandalwood is generally smuggled to China via Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and West Bengal. It is used for preparing medicines, handicrafts, furniture and perfume. The trading of red sandalwood however, has been prohibited by Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, officials added. Red sandalwood trees are found in abundance in Gajapati district, particularly in Garabandh and Mahendra ranges, along Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border. In September last year, forest officials had foiled a smuggling bid and arrested five persons, including one from Kerala. Around 800 kg of the precious wood was seized from them, official sources said. Actor Paul Rudd had a major fan boy moment while working on the set of "Captain America: Civil War". The 47-year-old actor, who plays Ant-Man, said he couldn't help going full nerd over his fellow Marvel superheroes during the shooting, reported People magazine. "Being the fanboy in the group, there was very little acting required. They've all worked together and done this before - I've just seen all the Marvel movies. "So to be there on the day (the other heroes arrived), I kind of couldn't stop geeking out about it: 'Oh my God, there's the Shield!' When I was getting the suit on..It was like, 'Oh, there's Iron Man's suit!' I did feel that, that excitement of, 'What? I can't believe that I landed here. This is nuts.'," Rudd said. In "Captain America: Civil War," Chris Evans's Avenger is joined by Marvel Comics superheroes, including Rudd's Ant-Man, Tom Holland as Spider-Man and Chadwick Boseman playing Black Panther. Robert Downey Jr returns to the franchise as billionaire Tony Stark and armoured alter ego Iron Man. Also starring Scarlett Johanssen, Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner, the film will hit the theatres on May 6. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement can be achieved exclusively by political means. As Armenpress reports, this was stated by Vladimir Putin during the Direct Line program. The Nagorno Karabakh conflict is a very sensitive issue, and we have to approach it very delicately, by the well known medical not-harm principle. It is a very old conflict. It was frozen. Unfortunately, violence broke out. We will do everything to settle the conflict, find decision acceptable for both sides. Of course, the Nagorno Karabakh conflict requires a long-term solution. It can be achieved exclusively by political means, a compromise should be found in this matter. I thought, that a couple of years ago we achieved this in practice, that there would be a compromise from both sides, however, unfortunately it didnt happen, Putin said. He noted Russia will continue cooperating with Armenia and Azerbaijan in finding a solution for the conflict. We work within the framework of international organizations for solving the Nagorno Karabakh issue, and we will continue this cooperation in a mutual format. Russia wants the solution of this issue, because we want to fully work with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, Putin said. Putin also referred to the question of Armenians and Azerbaijanis living in Russia, by saying: Here in Russia, a large number of Armenians and Azerbaijanis are living, millions. Fortunately, we have no problems in the territory of Russia. Moreover, I know Armenians and Azerbaijanis, who despite the tragic events continue having friendly interpersonal relations. I think this is right. Russia will continue having its contribution. However, naturally the final decision will be up to the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan. South Korea's main opposition party won a surprise victory in general election, ending the the conservative ruling party's 16-year parliamentary majority. The vote, clouded by North Korean nuclear threats and a slowing economy, dealt a blow to President Park Geun-Hye and raised hopes for an opposition victory in the 2017 presidential election. With almost all ballots counted, Park's Saenuri Party yesterday won 122 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, while the main opposition Minjoo Party won 123, the most of any party. The splinter opposition People's Party bagged 38 spots, and another six seats went to a small opposition party, the Justice Party. "The Saenuri Party humbly accepts the election results and voters' choice," party spokesman Ahn Hyung-Hwan told journalists. "The people are deeply disappointed with us, but we've failed to read their mind," he added. It marked the first time since 1999 the conservative party has lost control of parliament, with the three opposition parties garnering a combined 167 seats, well over the majority. Voter turnout was 58%, up 3.8% points from the 2012 election, and final official results were expected today morning. "This is a voters' judgement against President Park. Many voters are fed up with her authoritarian style of administration", Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies said. Park has also fallen short on most of her key economic promises, a failure she puts down to legislative inaction. But critics accuse her of skewed priorities, poor decision-making and a dogmatic style of leadership. "People punished Park for her poor performance in economy," Minjoo Party President Kim Chong-In said. Political power in is firmly concentrated in the presidency, with incumbents limited to a single five-year term. Dissatisfaction is especially high among young people, with the jobless rate among those aged 15-29 at record levels. The left-wing opposition sought to frame yesterday's vote as a referendum on Park's economic policies. But it has suffered from factional infighting and breakaways that threaten to split the liberal vote. Kate Kim, an unemployed 25-year-old college graduate, said crippling levels of joblessness had persuaded her and many of her previously apathetic friends to vote. "This is the first time I have voted... Our country desperately needs change, especially for young and jobless people like me," Kim said. Telangana Minister for IT, Municipal Administration and Panchayati Raj K T Rama Rao today said safety should be the top priority in the execution of the ongoing Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) project. Rao, who held a review meeting on progress of the work at Metro Bhavan here, mentioned the fly-over collapse in Kolkata and emphasised need to stick to the safety standards to avoid such accidents. Appreciating the quality of construction of L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRHL, which is executing the project), the Minister instructed its engineers to take additional precautionary measures to ensure safety of citizens during the construction. He asked HMR Managing Director N V S Reddy to personally monitor the safety measures taken by L&TMRHL. While reviewing the overbridge work in Malakpet, Rao advised Reddy to conduct a joint inspection with the Hyderabad police commissioner and ensure free traffic flow during the construction period. L&TMRHL and HMRL should jointly ensure that the project is completed as per the schedule, Rao said. L&TMRHL Managing Director and Chief Executive V B Gadgil also attended the meeting. The 72-km elevated metro rail will have three corridors and 66 stations. A total of 551 trips are operated on the Line-6 per day. DMRC will write to the concerned power discom for power supply related problems, he said. Besides, power supply failure Metro services have also been hit due to other reasons such as track circuit failure. "The recent disruption in Blue Line due to track circuit failure at Dwarka was rectified but it recurred again and then it was replaced. It has been sent for testing to find out the fault," Sharma said. He said that the recent incident of fire in a Metro coach was found to be a "design fault" related to connector. Struggling with technical snags, Delhi Metro is also hard pressed as it has a small window of 2 hours for maintenance as tracks are open for moving maintenance equipment at 1.30 AM and leave tracks before 4.30 AM when train movements start, he added. Tata Steel's move to sell its long products business will reduce the cash losses of one of the world's largest steelmakers, but would not lower its debt, Standard & Poor's (S&P's) Ratings Services said on Thursday. The proposed sale of its European long products (LP) division to UK-based investment firm Greybull Capital will help Tata Steel's long-term deleveraging plan, S&P said in a statement. However, an improvement in operating performance of the group's India operations remains crucial for the company's credit profile, it said. "We do not expect the sale to lower the debt at because the sale is agreed at a nominal valuation. Moreover we believe transfer of debt to the buyer is unlikely," the ratings agency's Credit Analyst Vishal Kulkarni said. The proposed deal will stop Tata Steel's cash losses from the LP division and help somewhat improve profitability for the Europe operations, he added. Earlier this week, announced it will sell the Long Products Europe business to investment firm Greybull Capital for a nominal amount of 1 pound. The transaction is likely to conclude by June this year. The LP division is loss-making, resulting in significant cash losses and working capital needs. The group's India business provides cash support in the form of working capital to the Europe business, Kulkarni said. "The gains for in terms of release of working capital and improvement in profitability will be more meaningful when the group sells the rest of its loss-making UK asset," he added. Any one-off restructuring expenses, any pension-related or other settlement costs to be incurred by Tata Steel will also influence the benefits from the disposal of the UK assets. The rest of Tata Steel's UK business primarily comprises strip products and speciality bars businesses and a supply chain that is fed by a facility at Port Talbot, he said. "Tata Steel's India business will continue to be a significant contributor to the group's consolidated cash flows," said Kulkarni, adding, "Our base-case financial projection is that the group's profitability per ton for its India operations will improve over the next two years following the government's various protection measures for the domestic steel sector over the past two quarters." Continued and meaningful progress on sale of the UK assets, and better operating performance, especially at the India operations, will be key factors for the future rating transition, the agency added. The ongoing thrust on the shipping sector will not help lenders with a revival in the asset quality, but can be of benefit over a longer period, State Bank of India chief Arundhati Bhattacharya said Thursday. "Asset quality issues are issues of the past. They are legacy issues. Whether they will turnaround immediately, I don't really think so, not in the shipping sector at least," she said on the sidelines of the maiden 'Maritime Summit' here. The head of the country's largest bank, however, welcomed the ongoing efforts to provide fillip to the sector, saying from a longer-term horizon, things will be better for lenders. "There are projects being thought of, which will ameliorate some of the interest that we are seeing and definitely, going forward, we believe things will be better." It can be said that the shipping sector, especially the shipbuilding yards, has been a pain point for banks with loans of thousands of crores either restructured or classified as bad debts. Some shipbuilders in the private sector have gone belly up and been taken over by banks. Earlier, speaking at a CEOs' roundtable, she said even though the government has given the infrastructure status to shipbuilding, the RBI is yet to come out with its views. Refinance under the 5/25 scheme is also not possible for shipbuilders as they do not have a "positive number" when one subtracts the operating profit from the outstanding interest, Bhattacharya said. "How do we ensure these units, which otherwise good but stressed, are revived" she asked the Shipping Ministry officials and warned that if they are not turned around, the shipbuilding capacity will come down drastically. "There is a crying need to look into these issues and to see how best these units can be rebuilt so as to come out of the stress." Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari acknowledged that all the 27 shipbuilding yards are under stress and added the government is looking at ways to revive the sector. On the Vijay Mallya-Kingfisher saga, Bhattacharya refused to comment, saying the matter is pending with the Supreme Court. She also did not comment on reports about the Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines willing to pay up to Rs 6,000 crore out of the Rs 9000-crore dues of banks, saying the matter is sub-judice. Sister of Kirpal Singh, who died recently in a Pakistani jail under mysterious circumstances, today met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and sought his support in bringing back her brother's body from the neighbouring country. "We want Kirpal's body to be brought back here from Pakistan...His body should be brought back for final rites so that we can get a sense of relief. "In the meeting, the Chief Minister said he will help in bringing back the body here from Pakistan. He (Kejriwal) said that he would help us in whatever way he can," Jagir Kaur said after meeting Kejriwal at his residence here. Delhi government sources said she sought a probe into her brother's death. 50-year-old Kirpal was languishing in a Lahore jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges. Jagir was accompanied by Dalbir Kaur, sister of another Indian, Sarabjit Singh who had also died in the Pakistani jail in May 2013. Dalbir said during the meeting, Kejriwal expressed his condolence and said he might attend a prayer meeting to be held for Kirpal. Dalbir said she also urged Kejriwal to make movie 'Sarbjit', based on life of her brother, tax-free in the national capital. "In meeting with the Chief Minister, I sought help to put pressure on Pakistan to free Indian prisoners who are lodged in jail there. Kejriwal knew that Kirpal's family members are in Delhi and in view of this, he called them," she said. Pakistan has said Kirpal had died of a heart attack at a jail in Lahore on April 11. Kirpal had allegedly crossed over to Pakistan through Wagah border in 1992 and was arrested. He was sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province. Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of charges related to bomb blasts by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons. A slipper was hurled today at JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar when he was delivering a speech at an auditorium in Congress Nagar here, while some Bajrang Dal workers earlier threw stones at a car carrying him. Haridas Shende, an ABVP activist, missed the target, and was beaten up by some people present at the venue and handed over to the police. Kumar, who is out on bail after arrest on sedition charges by the Delhi police, today paid tributes to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar at the Deekshabhoomi here on the occasion of the iconic leader's 125th birth anniversary. He later spoke at a program organised by Rashtrawadi Youth Congress and others. As soon as he entered the auditorium, there was commotion and slogan-shouting. The police rounded up 19 youths for trying to disrupt the speech. Shende then hurled a slipper at Kanhaiya, but missed. Earlier in the day, when Kanhaiya who was received by Rashtrawadi Youth Congress leader Salil Deshmukh and NCP MLC Prakash Gajbhiye, a group of Bajrang Dal activists pelted stones at his car near the airport. In his speech, Kanhaiya said such "undemocratic and intolerant" incidents did not deter him. "You can't scare me off by throwing stones and shoes at me," he said. Seven Somali pirates were sentenced to between six and 15 years in prison by a French court for the hijacking of a French yacht and killing of its owner in the Gulf of Aden in 2011. Christian and Evelyne Colombo were on a round-the-world trip when their "Tribal Kat" catamaran was hijacked by pirates in the Arabian Sea. Christian was killed and his body dumped in the water, while his wife was held hostage for 48 hours before being rescued by the Spanish military. Two members of the gang identified as the "recruiters", Farhan Abdisalamn Hassan and Ahmed Abdullahi Akid, were handed 15-year sentences. Farhan Mohamoud Abchir, a minor at the time of the hijacking who has developed schizophrenia while in prison, according to his lawyer, was given the lightest six-year jail term. The prosecutor had sought terms of up to 22 years for the seven. "It's hard to understand the range of the penalties, the motivations of the court. Fifteen years is a very heavy sentence," said Augustin d'Ollone, lawyer for Akid Abdullahi. The Colombo family cried as the sentence was read out. "It has been four years that we have sought life sentences. This verdict does not satisfy us," the family said in a statement posted on social media. Before the sentence was read out, the Somalis asked for "forgiveness" for a crime they said haunted them "every day". The Colombos had sold everything before embarking on a dream round-the-world trip. They left the Yemen port of Aden in early September 2011 and were heading for Oman -- a journey that took them through notoriously pirate-infested waters -- when naval authorities received a distress signal from their "Tribal Kat" catamaran. A German frigate found the boat several hours later. There were bullet holes in the deck and a pair of glasses lying in a pool of blood. No one was onboard. Two days later, a Spanish warship located the skiff believed to belong to the pirates. They tried to approach but turned away when the attackers dragged Evelyne Colombo into view, a gun to her head. The Spanish military prepared a raid and attacked a few hours later, leaving two pirates dead and the remaining seven under arrest. Evelyne Colombo told her rescuers that her husband's body had been dumped into the sea. It was never found. She had spent a nightmarish 48 hours with the pirates, kept under a tarpaulin, drenched by waves and in constant fear of death. Latching onto popularity of the song 'Gerua' from Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol starrer "Diwale", shot in picturesque Iceland, the island country now wants to target niche and premium travellers from India. "There has been an interest among Indians to visit Iceland after the picturisation of the song 'Gerua' from movie 'Dilwale' in Iceland. The locales of Iceland were beautifully captured in the song. We want to leverage on this interest and increase the number of tourist arrivals from India," Ambassador of Iceland to India Thorir Ibsen said here. He said Iceland would like to invite more Bollywood filmmakers to come and shoot in his country. Recently, Promote Iceland, a body that promotes Iceland as a tourist destination, conducted its maiden roadshow in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai to reach out to Indian travellers. The strategy of Promote Iceland is to target the premium travellers from India as Iceland is not for budget tourists. "We have not been very active in the Indian market in the past. But now we think that Iceland has gained interest in India and we want to build on the momentum through our maiden roadshows. The roadshow was a platform for us to meet the travel trade and understand the requirements of Indian travellers," Promote Iceland Manager - Trade Delegations, Thorleifur Thor Jonsson said. Being blessed with beautiful landscapes, roaring volcanoes, monolithic glaciers, icy mountains and deep fjords, Iceland's beauty sometimes seem surreal and will appeal to those Indians who are looking for new and niche destinations, Ibsen added. Iceland received a little over 1,000 tourists from India last year. Nine people were killed after a powerful earthquake hit southern Japan, collapsing homes, sparking fires and injuring hundreds, officials said today as rescuers worked through the night to find residents feared trapped in rubble. Tens of thousands of people reportedly fled their homes and television footage showed damaged buildings, buckled roads and lumps of broken concrete in the streets after the 6.5-magnitude quake struck the southwestern island of Kyushu. NHK footage showed what appeared to be a house ablaze and firefighters dousing it with water, one of several fires reportedly sparked by the quake that left at least 780 injured, according to the public broadcaster. A camera in one of its offices showed violent shaking as the earthquake hit, with computer monitors and files tumbling off shelves as employees fell to the floor to take cover. "I felt quite strong jolts, which I had never experienced before," Shunsuke Sakuragi, a prefectural official in the city of Kumamoto, told AFP. "People were shocked but I have not seen any extreme confusion in the city." In the neighbouring town of Mashiki, scores of people gathered in front the town hall following the powerful shaking, some in tears while others wrapped themselves in blankets to ward off the nighttime chill. At least nine people were confirmed dead, a Kumamoto disaster management official said. "We also received information indicating a few people were under collapsed houses," said Sakuragi. As the death toll rose in the night -- earlier reports said two people had died -- an eight-month-old baby girl was pulled from the rubble alive and unharmed, NHK reported. Some 350 military personnel were dispatched for rescue work on the island, spokesman Yoshihide Suga said, appealing for calm. "I ask people in the disaster zone to act calmly and help each other," he said. Officials in Kumamoto prefecture said they were considering evacuating a hospital that was badly damaged, while several major manufacturers including Honda, Bridgestone, Mitsubishi and Sony suspended operations at their factories in the area, according to reports. At least two people were killed and 45 injured by a magnitude-6.5 earthquake that knocked down houses and buckled roads in southern Japan tonight. Both victims are from the hardest-hit town of Mashiki, about 15 kilometres east of Kumamoto city on the island of Kyushu, said Kumamoto prefecture disaster management official Takayuki Matsushita. Earlier, Japanese Red Cross Kumamoto Hospital said it had admitted or treated 45 people, including five with serious injuries. The quake struck at 9:26 PM at a depth of 11 kilometres near Kumamoto city on the island of Kyushu, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. There was no tsunami risk. "The shaking was so violent I couldn't stand still," said Hironobu Kosaki, a Kumamoto Prefectural Police night-duty official. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at least 19 houses collapsed, and hundreds of calls came in reporting building damage and people buried under debris or trapped inside. "Because of the night darkness, the extent of damage is still unclear," he said. The damage and calls for help are concentrated in the town of Mashiki, about 1,300 kilometres southwest of Tokyo, Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said One of the victims in Mashiki died after being pulled from some rubble, and the other was killed in a fire, Matsushita said. A third person rescued from under a collapsed building is in a state of heart and lung failure. Matsushita said rescue operations were repeatedly disrupted by aftershocks. "There was a ka-boom and the whole house shook violently sideways," Takahiko Morita, a Mashiki resident said in a telephone interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK. "Furniture and bookshelves fell down, and books were all over the floor." Morita said some houses and walls collapsed in his neighborhood, and water supply had been cut off. Dozens of people evacuated their homes and gathered outside Mashiki town hall, sitting on tarps well after midnight. Some wrapped blankets around their shoulders against the springtime chill. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that the government has mobilized police, firefighters and self-defense troops for the rescue operation. "We'll carry out relief operation through the night," he said. Suga said there no abnormalities at nearby nuclear facilities. The epicentre was 120 kilometres northeast of Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai nuclear plant, the only one operating in the country. There were multiple aftershocks, the largest one with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 shortly after midnight, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. By linking the Kurdish factor with Armenians, Turkey and Azerbaijan try to solve a number of problems. First, they want to drop Armenias reputation presenting it as a country supporting terrorism. Head of the Department of Armenian-Kurdish Relations of YSU Vahram Petrosyan told about this in a press conference at Armenpress media hall. In his words, it was still 1993, when Turkey for the first time mentioned that the PKK (The Kurdistan Workers' Party) has bases in Nagorno Karabakh. In 2000s this same theory started to be circulated already by Azerbaijan. By linking the Kurdish factor with Armenians, Turkey tries to exert pressure on Armenia, so as the latter assumes the role of a defender. Besides, by speculating the Kurdish factor, Turkey wants to find justifications and reasons for its interference in developments in Karabakh. Interestingly, the old materials of the alleged links between Kurds and Armenians in February started to be circulated in a fresh way, and already in April another information that allegedly 400 Kurds were fighting together with Armenians, started to be circulated, Vahram Petrosyan said. As refers to the reaction of Kurdish organizations to the developments in Karabakh in early April, Vahram Petrosyan noted that they were either neutral or pro-Armenian. Moreover, the Kurdish side even announced that Azerbaijan attempts to occupy the territories of Nagorno Karabakh. Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas condemned Azerbaijan, for which there are rumors in Turkey that a lawsuit is being prepared to be filed against him. Referring to the provocative measures by Azerbaijan on the contact line, Vahram Petrosyan mentioned that the developments on the contact line were in the interests of great powers in a short term perspective, but it would be vice the versa in case of a full-scale war. In case of short term operations great powers bring forward some issues, such as the issue of withdrawing Turkey from the Minsk Group, or the issue of deploying Russian peacekeepers, as well as facing Russia a dilemma by the USA. In this context, I have to mention that we managed to retain balance, Vahram Petrosyan said. Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah today greeted Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on the occasion of Tamil New Year. "I convey my heartiest greetings and best wishes to you on the joyous occasion of Tamil New Year", he said. "May the dawn of Tamil New year usher in good health, happiness, many more laurels, progress and prosperity", he said. A floral bouquet and the greetings of Governor was sent to Jayalalithaa, an official release said, adding Jayalalithaa telephoned Rosaiah to thank him. Tamil New yearis being celebrated across the State with people offering special prayers in temples and by visiting family members and friends. Europe's five leading economies called today for a crackdown on tax havens, urging the G20 powers to end the secrecy of shell companies that enables tax evasion and money laundering. In the strongest reaction yet to the leaked "Panama Papers," the finance ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain also proposed a blacklist of havens like Panama if they do not share corporate registry data with others. They proposed establishing transnational registries that identify the beneficial owners of companies, trusts, foundations and other entities that had been able to hide from tax administrators and law enforcement. "We want to have lists which make it possible to place sanctions on countries which don't respect the rules," said French Finance Minister Michel Sapin. The proposal of the five was to be submitted to the finance ministers of the G20 meeting in Washington today and tomorrow. "The recent extensive leaks from Panama show the critical importance of the fight against tax evasion, aggressive tax planning and money laundering," the five said. In a bid to give a push to the Centre's flagship Accessible India initiative, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has asked television channels to lay greater emphasis on airing programmes for disabled persons. In a letter to broadcasters, the ministry said that recently a joint meeting was held between its top officials and those of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disability (DoEPwD) to discuss advocacy and dissemination requirements for 'Accessible India Campaign' which aims at making public spaces accessible to people with disabilities, and other issues. Certain areas were highlighted in the meeting where support of I&B Ministry was solicited such as awareness generation about Accessible India Initiative, increased frequency of programmes for disabled persons, showcasing films on achievements of disabled persons through TV channels and working towards captioning for hearing impaired and audio facility for sight impaired in programmes, the letter said. The ministry also requested broadcasters to include the facility of providing sub-titles for the hearing disabled and audio support for programmes for visually disabled. Two persons on a Sri Lanka registered boat today jumped off their vessel and escaped after they saw the Coast Guard officials off Dhanushkodi near here. The duo, onboard a fiberglass boat, abandoned their vessel and absconded after noticing the customs and Indian Coast Guard officials on a routine patrol in the area, a customs official said. The boat was later retrieved. However, a search is on for the absconding persons, the official said. Two school students were killed and another was injured when the motorcycle they were riding rammed into a dump truck on the national highway 6 near Banitabla in this district today. Surajit Mondal (15), Suman Dere (16) and Abhijit Adak (16), students of class X, fell off the bike after it rammed into the heavy vehicle, a police official said. Surajit and Suman died on the spot. The seriously injured Abhijit was admitted to hospital. All three boys met with the accident while they were returning home at Bagnan from Uluberia in the same district where they had gone to offer puja to goddess Kali on the Bengali New Year's day this morning. Glowing projectiles lit up the Philippine sky from an advanced US long-range missile system today, in war games aimed at boosting their military alliance in the face of an increasingly assertive China. The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) was the star of a simulated assault exercise by 5,500 US and Philippine soldiers, unleashing six missiles at distant targets from a dry riverbed three hours' drive from Manila. US Marine Cobra attack helicopters and Philippine S211 jets also buzzed over the Crow Valley training range as Filipino and US troops acted out the capture of imaginary enemy-held territory. The exercises were staged in the shadow of a festering dispute between the poorly equipped US ally and regional giant China over islands, reefs and waters in the resource-rich South China Sea. "The truth of the matter is we are allies and as allies, we need to work together," Lieutenant-General John Toolan, the US Marine Corps Pacific commander told reporters, referring to the missile system. "I think we will be more than happy to share," he said when asked if the US would deploy HIMARS to the Philippines in the case of armed conflict over the South China Sea. The system's range is 300 kilometres, Toolan said, meaning it could hit vessels far from the Philippine landmass. China claims most of the South China Sea, even waters and rocks close to the coasts of several neighbours that overlap with their claims. Beijing has reclaimed several reefs claimed by Manila and built structures on them that the Philippines alleges were designed for military use -- a charge China denies. Although, the US has not taken a stand on the conflicting claims to the South China Sea, it has opposed China's efforts to claim the waters and has stressed freedom of navigation in the vital sealane. "We have seen the capability. It is highly mobile, lethal. So I think it is one of the capabilities we want to have," Philippine Navy Vice-Admiral Alexander Lopez said as he watched the missile firing. Lopez, the commander of Filipino forces in the South China Sea, told reporters this would "raise the skill and the respect for your armed forces, not only for the Filipinos but also in our region". Toolan said the two-week manoeuvres displayed the capability of both armies to deploy rapidly across the Asian archipelago. The truck-mounted missile system had been flown aboard a giant military transport plane to an airport near the Crow Valley firing range earlier in the day from the western Philippine island of Palawan. US First Lady Michelle Obama has praised the recent steps taken by India to educate and empower girl students through various programmes that break down the cultural barriers that keep them out of school. "I am thrilled that countries like Ghana and India and Rwanda are already doing such important work as part of this effort -- from scholarships and mentorship opportunities, to innovative programmes to break down the cultural barriers that keep girls out of school," Michelle said. "We need you to work with the Bank to develop programmes that will meet the needs of girls in your countries. And if your country has already reached gender parity in education, then we need you to step up and support countries where disparities still exist," she said in her remarks at a Special Event at the World Bank titled "Let Girls Learn!". During the event, the World Bank announced USD 2.5 billion in support of adolescent girls' education over the next five years. "That is truly amazing," Michelle said. The Indian Government has taken a series of steps including "Beti Bachao Beti Padhao" towards education and empowerment of girls in the country, the Indian Ambassador to US Arun K Singh said. India's National Campaign for Secondary Education aims to make quality education for adolescent girls accessible and affordable, enhancing the enrolment by providing a secondary school within a reasonable distance, improving the quality of education by ensuring compliance to prescribed norms and removal of gender, social-economic and disability barriers, he said. "The goal is to achieve an enrollment of 90 per cent by 2017, and universal retention by 2020. In five years, enrollment of Girls has improved from 58.70 to 78.94. Gender Parity Index has increased from 0.88 to 1. And there is sharp reduction in Gender gap," Singh said. India, he said, has rolled out a national incentive scheme that gifts money to young women from disadvantaged backgrounds when they turn 18 and have passed their 10th grade exams. "Separate toilets have been built for girls in over 96 per cent of secondary schools. Hostels were constructed close to schools to serve girls from remote areas. In one particular scheme,bicycles were given to girls who completed elementary school, making it easier for them to go to schools," he said adding that more and more female teachers are being hired. According to Michelle, the World Bank funding was not just a breathtaking investment of resources but also a powerful statement of mission. "It's an expression of our belief in the power of education to transform the lives and prospects of millions of girls worldwide, as well as the prospects of their families, their communities, and, of course, their countries. And it's also an affirmation of these girls' extraordinary promise," she said. The US military has said it will investigate air strikes it carried out this month, which Kabul said had killed 17 "insurgents" but which local officials and witnesses said today were civilians. The US army regularly conducts air strikes in the name of "counter-terror" operations in the eastern regions that border Pakistan, which are strongholds of Taliban, Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda fighters. On April 6 "US forces conducted two counter-terrorism strikes in Paktika" province, Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said in a statement to AFP. "Currently there is no evidence of civilian casualties. However, we are conducting a thorough investigation into the strikes," he added, without saying why they were carried out or the number of victims. Haji Hussain Khan, a tribal elder from the Gomal district where the attack happened, said there were three drone strikes which killed 17 people. "I confirm they were civilians who were carrying weapons for their own protection as the area is not under government control," he said. The account was corroborated by the district governor Shaista Khan, who said the victims were members of the Kakarzai tribe who were returning from a meeting over a land dispute. "The 17 victims were all civilians. There were youths and tribal elders among them," he said. But an Afghan official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the dead were "armed insurgents linked to Al Qaeda". "All the victims were armed insurgents," added Aminullah Shariq, governor of Paktika. US President Barack Obama has relied heavily on drone attacks since taking office in 2009, but the strikes evoke strong controversy. Last October, investigative website The Intercept accused the US of heavily underestimating civilian losses. The US has said it will support India's endeavour to find ways to fund its massive drive for building modern infrastructure and to create more jobs. "We are working together to support India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) in order to increase financing options for India's infrastructure growth," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, said in a joint statement yesterday. "We look forward to continuing discussions in areas such as municipal finance under the future work of the Initiative," they said on the sidelines of the annual Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Under the US-India Investment Initiative launched in January last year, the two governments have worked in collaboration with private sector to identify specific policies, regulatory reforms and technical collaboration aimed at mobilising capital from both domestic and foreign investors to build infrastructure and create jobs. The next meeting of the Investment Initiative will be in the United States later this year. "At this meeting, the last for the Obama Administration, we took stock of the impressive efforts that have been undertaken by both sides to deepen mutual understanding, and to improve cooperation across a wide range of bilateral and multilateral issues," Jaitley and Lew said. Asserting that the US-India partnership will be one of the defining relationships of the 21st century, they two leaders said they were committed to further deepen understanding of each other's economies. Noting that public debt management is an area of focus for India, the statement said New Delhi believes in continued efforts for more efficient debt and cash management as well as development of a deeper and more robust domestic debt market. It presents an opportunity for India's Ministry of Finance and the US Treasury's Office of Technical Assistance to engage in knowledge and information sharing in India's government debt management programme. A 'Terms of Reference' was signed between the two leaders to collaborate on India's government debt programme, it said. "As partners and peers, we are committed to working together to collaborate in multilateral fora, such as the G20, to steer our economies toward stronger, sustainable, and balanced growth. Under the aegis of our Economic and Financial Partnership, we held a sub-cabinet level discussion among our Deputies in India in early 2016," the statement said. "We are encouraged with the developments that have taken place since the launch of the Economic and Financial Partnership and look forward to continued engagement in an effort to strengthen our relationship, our economies, and the global economy," it said. The United States is "very concerned" about reports of a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive near the country's second city Aleppo, a senior administration official said in Washington today. "Such actions could well violate the cessation of hostilities, which has held for nearly seven weeks but has been under increasing pressure in recent weeks," the official told AFP, reiterating a call for Russia to "cease any provocative actions in Syria." Syrian government fighters, rebels and jihadists are battling for control of swathes of Aleppo province. Regime loyalists backed by Russia's air power pressed a fierce offensive just north of the provincial capital of Aleppo city, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, straining the landmark ceasefire and a nascent round of peace talks in Geneva. US officials "expressed our strong concerns" to all members of the 17-nation International Syria Support Group (ISSG), including Moscow, the Washington official said, urging the Kremlin to lean on Syrian President and ally Bashar al-Assad to commit to talks about a political transition. "Now is the time for all sides to follow through on their commitment to the cessation of hostilities and to refrain from any further destabilizing actions," the official added. In Geneva, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura criticized Assad's government for hindering efforts to deliver life-saving assistance to Syrians in need. The United States and Russia co-chair the ISSG, seeking to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Republican Party Fraction member Khosrov Harutyunyan considers the calls of withdrawing Armenia from the Eurasian Economic Union emotional. In an interview with Armenpress Khosrov Harutyunyan, referring to independent MP Khachatur Kokobelyans initiative of withdrawing Armenia from the Eurasian Economic Union, highlighted that he also has critical approaches toward Russia in terms of being a strategic partner of Armenia, however, Armenia in this case cannot be left alone. Today the global economy changed so much that even countries such as the USA and China form economic associations of countries around them. In these circumstances Armenia should also appear in any major economic bloc. The most appropriate choice for us, where they were waiting for us, was the Eurasian Economic Union. Now I ask you a question, if we leave the Eurasian Economic Union, what should we do? I cannot imagine, Harutyunyan mentioned. He thinks that it is not so that the European Union is looking forward to the day when Armenia will withdraw from the Eurasian Economic Union and will join the EU. We differ from Georgia in this case. Georgia has the Black sea, favorable conditions for transit, its geopolitical role and geographical position are more favorable than ours. I think that we should give more and more importance to our role in the Eurasian Economic Union, the MP added. Harutyunyan thinks that we should reach to the point that a country like Kazakhstan also will want to have economic ties with Armenia. Today we do not have these ties. Today we do not have relations with Belarus, Kyrgyzstan. Thats why they are not interested in having economic relations with Armenia. And we should not blame to them for that, rather we should blame us since they are not interested in our economy. We should work towards that direction. We need not to reject the opportunities provided by the Eurasian Economic Union, but we should run our economy so that except from Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, other partners will also show an interest to our economy Harutyunyan concluded urging Khacahtur Kokobelyan to step back from that initiative. National Assembly independent MP Khachatur Kokobelyan issued a bill in the National Assembly which proposes to withdraw Armenia from the Eurasian Economic Union. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has purchased a plot admeasuring 69,000 sqmt at Rajivnagar here for setting up the city's largest sewage treatment plant (STP) with a capacity of 78 MLD (million litres per day). The proposed STP will come up at a total cost of Rs 104 crore, Municipal Commissioner H S Patel said. "At present, there are total seven sewage treatment plants (STPs) located in various parts of the city whose total sewage treatment capacity is 276 MLD. This is insufficient in meeting the requirements of the city population of nearly 20 lakhs," he told PTI. Besides that, several villages located around the city have been merged with it in the past. Looking at the increase in city population, it will require a sewage treatment capacity of 358 MLD by 2030. So it underlines the need for another STP plant, he said. Several corporate giants like Reliance, Larsen & Toubro, ONGC, GSFC, Indian Oil corporation-owned Gujarat Refinery and many educational institutes are located on the eastern part of the city. Due to this and other reasons, it was felt that a new STP plant can be set up to cater to the ever increasing needs of the eastern area of the city, Patel added. Dr Jigisha Sheth, Chairperson of the VMC Standing Committee, said the meeting held late last evening unanimously approved the proposal of the Municipal Commissioner for setting up of this plant. "The plant will treat sewage up to parameters that will have levels of Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Suspended Solids that will be suitable for the crocodile park, which is to be set up on the bank of Vishwamitri river passing through the city," she said. The Gujarat government has already made a provision of Rs 10 crore in the budget of current fiscal year (2016-17) which is approved by the assembly. Two existing STP plants in Harni and Ajwa road area of the city with a capacity of 43 MLD is insufficient to handle the sewage load and hence the standing committee gave its approval for new STP in Rajivnagar area, Sheth said. She said it will also solve the problem of overdraw of drainage. The Election Commission (EC) today transferred Birbhum SP Mukesh Kumar and the officers-in-charge of three police stations in the district following a review of poll preparedness in West Bengal, where Assembly elections are underway. The move comes days after controversial Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar was removed from his post by the poll watchdog following complaints against him by the major opposition parties. Birbhum votes in the second phase of the elections on Sunday. Officials said the Commission decided to transfer these officers following an assessment of the poll preparedness and overall law and order situation as also representations made by the various political parties. The Commission has ordered that Kumar will be replaced by Sabyasachi Mishra as the new Superintendent of Police in Birbhum. The three other officers who have been transferred are the OCs of Bolpur, Mayureshwar and Labhpur police stations. Earlier in the day, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi met the leaders of various political parties with Congress leaders lodging a complaint against the Birbhum SP during the interaction. Trinamool Congress's controversial Birbhum district president Anubrata Mandal is already facing the ire of the poll watchdog, which is in the process of initiating legal action against him for allegedly violating the model code of conduct. Opposition parties have accused Mandal of intimidating voters in the area. Having bagged multiple port projects, the Adani Group today said it will focus on execution over the next year. "Right now, we are focusing on finishing our existing projects. We are expanding at Dhamra, and want to complete the Ennore project. "Next one year, we will just focus on completing our expansion of the existing projects," Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Chief Executive Karan Adani told reporters here at the Maritime India Summit. When asked if the company will be bidding for any of the new five major projects announced, Adani said, "Nothing on the cards." Vizhinjam transshipment project in Kerala is progressing as per the schedule, he said, and exuded confidence that the company will complete it within 1,000 days as promised. He also welcomed the Sagarmala Project for integrated approach which he said has been lacking till now and added that the results will be visible in 18 months. On the Chennai port, the Adani scion said, "We have an operators agreement with L&T at Chennai. That is what we are working on. Government approvals have come in for the demerger between the shipyard and the port. Once the demerger is over, we will discuss with L&T how to take it forward. There is no timeline." Within a short span, Adani Ports has become the largest private sector ports operator in the country with 10 ports/terminals. It operates ports in Mundra, Dahej, Hazira, Dhamra and Kattupalli and terminals in Murmugao, Visakhapatnam and Tuna-Tekra. The Ennore Container Terminal and Vizinjham transshipment port are under construction. Its overseas projects include Adani Abbot Point Terminal in Australia and Dudgeon Point Coal Terminal Project at Bunyu in Indonesia. Breaking his silence over the opposition demand for his resignation for allegedly receiving a car from a Ponzi firm, Odisha's food supplies and consumer welfare minister Sanjay Dasburma today said he will quit politics if the allegations were proved. "I will retire from politics if the CBI finds slightest evidence against me," Dasburma said while addressing a meeting held on the occasion of launching of the cheap meal "Aahar" programme in Puri. Accusing the opposition parties of adopting "dirty politics", Dasburma said, "The opposition parties are conspiring against me. They link my association with Artha Tatwa (AT) Group. After allegations that I own a Pajero SUV gifted by the AT Group managing director, I have submitted all relevant documents to the CBI for investigation." The minister also challenged the opposition to submit documents in their possession to the CBI to prove their allegations against him. Earlier, both Congress and BJP had demanded Dasburma's resignation after the CBI issued a notice to the minister seeking his clarification on the alleged receipt of a vehicle from AT Group chief Pradip Sethi. Ridiculing Dasburma's statement, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Prasad Harichandan said the BJD minister knows very well whether the opposition parties were conspiring against him or he himself was a party to the conspiracy. "Some senior BJP leaders are of the opinion that the CBI is not probing the mega chit fund scam cases with sincerity and is trying to shield BJD leaders who are involved in the scam. Even the people of Odisha have realised it of late. The Naveen Patnaik-led government in the state has managed to stay in power by the grace of the BJP government at the Centre which has influenced the CBI probe," he alleged. "Let Dasburma first clarify whether he has been a victim of conspiracy by his own party colleagues," said BJP leader Samir Mohanty. Meanwhile, ruling BJD leader and Sambalpur MP Nagendra Pradhan today launched a veiled attack on Dasburma. "Lord Ram had to desert Devi Sita over the suspicion of a common man though he was sure that she is pure. Dasburma claims to be innocent but the Chief Minister will take a final call," said Pradhan. The World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) today signed the first co-financing framework agreement paving the way for joint projects. In 2016, the AIIB expects to approve about USD 1.2 billion in financing, with World Bank joint projects anticipated to account for a sizable share, a media release said. The agreement in this regard was signed by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank President Jin Liqun. "Signing this agreement enables our institutions to finance development projects together, and that is an important first step toward working with a new partner to address the world's huge infrastructure needs," said Kim. "As the world's multilateral development banks collaborate ever more closely, leveraging each other's financing and expertise, the people who will benefit the most will be the world's poor," he said. Some 1.2 billion people in the world lack access to electricity and 2.4 billion people don't have access to basic sanitation services. The World Bank has invested USD 18.8 billion in infrastructure in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015. The institution will leverage more private finance through new partnerships, such as the Global Infrastructure Facility and the growing portfolios of the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. "The AIIB is very grateful for the generous and timely support offered by the World Bank Group throughout our establishment process, and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with ongoing cooperation in project co-financing and other areas," Jin said. According to an official release, the World Bank and the AIIB are currently discussing nearly a dozen co-financed projects in sectors that include transport, water and energy in Central Asia, South Asia and East Asia. Under the agreement, the World Bank will prepare and supervise the co-financed projects in accordance with its policies and procedures in areas like procurement, environment and social safeguards. The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, in which India is the second largest shareholder, was inaugurated in January by President Xi Jinping. With authorised capital ofUSD 100 billion and subscribed capital of USD 50 billion,the AIIB will invest in sectors including energy, transportation, urban construction and logistics as well as education and healthcare. It is expected to advance sustainable economic development and to improve infrastructure in Asia. Located in Beijing, AIIB aims to promote regional cooperation in addressing development challenges working with other multilateral and bilateral development institutions. Nine years after pension was stopped for her and a long legal battle, the daughter of a First World War soldier got justice from the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) at the age of about 103 years. Pension for Siri Kumari Gurung was stopped in 2007 and she was asked to refund Rs 5 lakh on the ground that she was not entitled for two pensions. Her father was a soldier for the country in the First World War and died on March 8, 1916 in Italy. Gurung, then 5-years-old, got family pension which was sactioned for life with effect from March 9, 1916. She later married an army soldier who died on September 17, 1964 and on account of it, ordinary family pension was also given to her. This way, the petitioner was getting two pensions. In 2007, the matter came to the knowledge of Principal Controller of Pension Department, Allahabad. He wrote a letter that her pension sanctioned in 1916 be stopped and since it had been paid illegally, recovery may be made. As a consequence, about Rs 5 lakh was liable to be returned by the petitioner and Rs 1.17 lakh was recovered from her. The Lucknow regional bench of AFT set aside a telegram of the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pension) Allahabad and copy of a post of 2007 stopping her family pension which was sactioned in 1916, with all consequential benefits. The Tribunal imposed Rs one lakh cost on the respondents - Government of India and army officers concerned - that has to be deposited by them in AFT within four months for payment to the old woman. It also directed the respondents to refund the recovered amount of pension (Rs 1.17 lakh) to her along with 10 per cent per annum interest from the date of recovery within four months and the arrears of pension. The AFT further directed to continue her pension on account of death of her father for life with all consequential benefits. "It shall be open for the respondents to recover the costs to be paid to the petitioner from the salary of person or persons responsible in stopping the petitioner's pension by appropriate inquiry," the Tribunal ruled. A division bench of Justice Devi Prasad Singh (judicial member) and Air Marshal Anil Chopra (administrative member) passed the judgement on April 11, while allowing the plea of Gurung who approached the AFT aggrieved with the stoppage of her family pension which she was receiving on account of death of her father since First World War. (REOPENS LGD1) Through another letter petitioner was informed that she was entitled for family pension till date of her marriage that was November 23, 1930 and further amount paid as pension be recovered. It was argued by the respondents' counsel that the moment the petitioner married, she became disentitled to receive family pension which was being paid to her on account of death of her father. However, both the sides relied upon letter dated June 28, 1990 which deals with different circumstances. The respondents' counsel also submitted that it was simply a letter and did not confer any statutory right and pension is being paid in pursuance of statutory rules and regulations of the Army. By Freya Berry LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest steel business is such an unattractive prize that most major investment banks are not even angling for the opportunity to advise potential buyers on one of the year's highest profile deals. The fate of Tata Steel's lossmaking UK division, including its flagship Port Talbot plant in South Wales, has dominated headlines since the Indian company announced on March 30 that it would seek a buyer. Normally a deal of that prominence and complexity would have bankers salivating at the prospect of fees. But out of 10 major investment banks contacted by Reuters, bankers at only two said they were sounding out potential buyers. Five said they were not seeking any role and three said they had not made a decision. Even the two bankers who were looking for a role said they were approaching entrepreneurs and family offices, rather than major steelmakers, who were unlikely to be tempted because of the protracted slump in prices. "This business burns cash. Would you pay money for that?" said one of the two, who spoke about prospects for future business on condition of anonymity. Not only would potential bidders be hard to find, but the likely need for a role for the British government in helping any deal could mean a political squeeze on potential fees, bankers said. Restructuring specialists said privately that they are not seeking mandates either, as the situation is currently a distressed sale rather than a debt restructuring. Tata Steel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Even the seller hasn't hired a bank, although sources earlier had told that Tata would name one. Instead, Tata has appointed accounting and professional services company KPMG and law firm Slaughter and May as advisors on the deal. KPMG and Slaughter and May already worked on Tata's sale of its Long Products Europe division in northern England to family office Greybull Capital for 1 pound ($1.42), announced this week, with no investment bank advising either side. Greybull, which rescued struggling Monarch Airlines in 2014, was advised by consulting firm Alix Partners. The deal included a 400 million pound investment and financing package and saved 4,400 jobs. Greybull has so far not ruled out a bid for Tata's other British assets. UNUSUAL While a deal for the rest of Tata's British business could in theory be done without any investment bank hired to give advice, it would be unusual for the sale of such a major asset. Tata's UK operations employ 10,000 workers and require large funding capabilities, as well as complex negotiations over everything from pension liabilities to energy subsidies. Bankers usually try to find a role on deals early on. They argue that their relationships providing corporate clients with other financial services make them ideally suited to advising buyers and sellers alike. They can also provide access to financing where needed. Apart from Greybull, the only other would-be buyer to have publicly emerged is metals firm Liberty House. Its boss, Sanjeev Gupta, has approached banks to advise on a potential deal, several sources said, but has yet to appoint anyone. "We, as well as other interested parties, will need to analyse carefully the information received in order to seek an economical and sustainable future for the business," a spokesman for Liberty House said in an emailed statement. "Liberty will be appointing a strong and reputable team to carry out that analysis and in the days and weeks ahead." Gupta said on Wednesday that he expected Tata to set a deadline for bids on its UK assets at the end of May and believed there would be other bidders involved. Even then, bankers said the politics of the sale and the loss-making nature of the assets meant fees were likely to be small. "When the UK government are involved, fees tend to dwindle. Some bank could do it for a million pounds, maybe. But you're going lower down the totem pole in terms of fees," one said, discussing prospective business on condition of anonymity. British business secretary Sajid Javid has hinted that the government could take a stake in the assets to help save jobs. The government has also said it could offer state loans to tempt private bidders. The ranks of experienced steel bankers have also been thinned by a dearth of activity in the sector. Some have left banks, while others have shifted to cover other areas. Banking fees for the steel industry have been in steady decline, reaching just $688.3 million last year, according to data from Thomson and Freeman Consulting, the lowest since 2005. The overall value of steel M&A activity in 2015 was $14.1 billion, the lowest since 2009. "We're not following up. There have been very few steel deals," said one banker at a major European institution who said nobody was covering the sector at his bank. ($1 = 0.7021 pounds) (Reporting By Freya Berry; additional reporting by Promit Mukherjee and Sandrine Bradley at IFR; Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Peter Graff) By Sudip Kar-Gupta LONDON (Reuters) - Weak oil prices and a fall in the shares of Burberry knocked back European stock markets on Thursday. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which had risen 2.6 percent to a one-month high in the previous session, slipped back 0.2 percent. The FTSEurofirst remains down by around 6 percent since the start of 2016, as concerns about a China-led economic slowdown have hit world stock markets and commodity prices, given China's role as a major consumer of oil and metals. Oil prices fell on Thursday as OPEC warned of slowing demand and Russia hinted that there might only be a loose agreement with little commitments at the upcoming exporter meeting to rein in ballooning oversupply. That in turn pushed down the shares of energy companies such as BP and Total. "The lower oil price is not helping markets today. We've had a good move up of late, but there's just a bit more caution creeping in now," said Hantec Markets' analyst Richard Perry. Burberry slumped 7 percent after the British luxury goods group reported a fall in second-half sales. "Near term, Burberry has high exposure to weakest areas of luxury demand: 38 percent of global sales to Chinese customers versus 30 percent industry average, 27 percent sales exposure to U.S.," Liberum analysts wrote in a note, keeping a "sell" rating on Burberry. Unilever's shares also dipped after the consumer goods company posted a drop in turnover, although shares in Nestle rose more than 1 percent after the Swiss food company posted first-quarter numbers ahead of forecasts. (Editing by Alison Williams) India's industry has sought to delay strict new health warning rules by appealing to the Supreme Court, a move anti-smoking activists say could backfire given that the court has ruled against cigarette makers in the past. Earlier this month Indian companies, some backed by "Big Tobacco" firms in the West, effectively went on strike by closing factories in protest against demands that 85% of a cigarette packet's surface be covered by health warnings, up from the older requirement of 20%. The industry estimates the stoppages cost it as much as $68 million a day, taking cumulative losses to up to $850 million. Similar battles have played out around the world in recent years as governments try to discourage smoking. On a few occasions, major producers have resorted to drastic action by freezing output. That tactic worked in India in 2010, when the government delayed a set of warnings proposed at the time after the industry shuttered plants. But this time New Delhi's room to compromise is more limited, court documents and interviews with federal health ministry officials and activists suggest. The documents show how a small group of health activists have outmanoeuvred the $11 billion industry and cornered the government into implementing the rules on April 1. Their strategy has left the Supreme Court as one of the last avenues of appeal for cigarette makers. "The tide has turned and the tobacco industry is on a downhill slope," said one of the activists, Sanjay Seth. In 2013, the court pulled up the government for not being serious about tobacco-control laws. The Tobacco Institute of India, an industry lobby group, declined to comment for this story. It has called the packaging rules drastic and impractical, saying the law will increase smuggling of illegal cigarettes. "BIG TOBACCO" HOLDING OUT One small local producer, Golden Tobacco, has started selling cigarette packs that comply with the new rules. But the biggest companies - ITC Ltd, part-owned by British American Tobacco, and U.S.-based Philip Morris International's (PMI) India partner Godfrey Phillips - are holding out. On April 8, an industry group that represents makers of traditional smokes, or beedis, in south India went to the Supreme Court to challenge the rules, according to the filing seen by Reuters on Thursday. It was not previously reported. The plea, filed by the Karnataka Beedi Industry Association, seeks a stay in enforcing the new rules, saying that they would bring the industry to a "grinding halt" and "cause grave and irreparable harm and loss". A hearing is scheduled for April 22. The appeal against the packaging regulations, which are among the world's strictest, does not directly involve major cigarette makers, but any ruling could also apply to them. ITC declined to comment on the packaging row. BAT said it would be "inappropriate" to comment as they are "just shareholders in ITC". PMI referred questions to Godfrey Phillips, which did not respond to requests for comment. PRESSURE ON GOVERNMENT For Western brands, Indian cigarette sales represent a small yet significant part of global earnings, as they face long-term sales declines in developed markets and eye countries like India and its 40 million cigarette smokers for future growth. In its 2015 report, BAT said the "adjusted contribution" from ITC was 280 million pounds ($400 million), about 5% of its annual profits. The factory shutdown is hurting government's coffers as well, costing it more than $10 million a day in tax revenues, according to industry estimates. More than 8 million workers and their families are affected, and farmers' groups are among those taking out large advertisements in newspapers criticising the legislation. But the government has kept a low profile. "We don't want to get into a duel with the industry on this," a health ministry official said, adding that public opinion appeared to be in the government's favour. Smoking kills more than 1 million people a year in India, said BMJ Global Health, published by London-based healthcare information provider, BMJ. The World Health Organization says tobacco-related diseases cost the country $16 billion annually. The new rules, which have been shown to help reduce tobacco consumption, put India, along with Thailand, at the top of the list of countries with the most stringent cigarette labelling. FAVOURABLE VENUE The new rules were proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in 2014. Initially, they were to be implemented from April 2015, but a parliamentary panel that included a lawmaker with a tobacco business forced the government to delay them as it assessed their impact on the industry and farmers. That was when Seth, who works with the non-profit campaign Voice of Tobacco Victims, said he and a handful of other activists got involved. Their strategy, he said, was to find a court that was likely to be sympathetic to their cause and then get someone to file a case challenging the delay. The Rajasthan High Court was that venue, because then-Chief Justice Sunil Ambwani was seen as someone who would favour public health over big business. Seth's idea was incorporated into a tobacco-control case that a father-son team of lawyers with a history of such activism, Sita Ram and Rahul Joshi, were filing in the high court in Jaipur city last year.Within days, Ambwani ordered the government to implement the rules without delay. Ambwani said he ruled on the merits of the case. The government won a six-month extension, but has so far ignored the parliamentary panel that last month urged it to set warnings at 50%. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia Artsvik Minasyan received the Head of delegation of the European Union to Armenia Ambassador H.E. Mr. Piotr Switalski on April 14. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Ministry o Economy of Armenia, welcoming the Ambassador, the Minister expressed his gratitude for the long-term close cooperation with the EU and the support provided to Armenia by the EU, noting that many successful projects have been implemented during 20 years of cooperation. Minister Minasyan touched upon the ongoing negotiation process within new framework agreement on Armenia-EU cooperation and in this context attached great importance to ensure the effective progress of the negotiations. The Minister also stressed the important role of EU budgetary and technical support in the process of reforms in Armenia. Artsvik Minasyan referred to preferential trade regime "Generalized System of Preferences" (GSP+) emphasizing that it promotes the export of goods of Armenian origin to the EU market, stated that the EU remains an important and primary partner for Armenia. The Minister also expected essential changes in the process of granting "Market economy status" to Armenia. Ambassador Switalski in his turn noted that the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia is considered to be primary partner for the EU delegation in Armenia concerning the EU's support to Armenia, as well as expressed his readiness for an open and active cooperation. Intending to carry out joint effective activities the Ambassador noted the Single Support Framework 2017-2020 which aims at identifying the future direction of EU Assistance to Armenia in line with the EU Armenia framework agreement being negotiated, as well as collaborative work in this direction. By Olof Swahnberg STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A tap of a finger could soon suffice to identify credit card shoppers and rail commuters, offering areas of new business for specialist companies which have benefited from the use of such technology in smartphones. Sweden's Fingerprint Cards (FPC) sees biometric smart cards -- those using fingerprint identification -- becoming its fastest growing market as early as 2018, having already become the market leader in a crowded sector for supplying such sensors for smartphones. Others within the industry are not convinced the smart card business will take off so quickly, prompting questions about whether FPC can maintain its runaway rise in valuation. FPC's share price surged around 1,600 percent last year as demand for fingerprint sensors in phones soared after Apple, which uses its own in-house supplier, helped to popularise the technology. FPC now has a market value of around $4.1 billion. Advocates say the technology offers greater security and simplicity when compared to techniques such as using pin codes to confirm identification. The fingerprint sensor business has a handful of companies supplying significant volumes today, with an equal number planning to enter the market. Three are based in the Nordic region where technology companies have thrived. Needing to maintain its momentum, FPC says it is in initial talks with potential big customers for smart cards. It declines to name names at this stage. "Our ambition for smart cards, and all other segments, is that we shall continue to be number one," FPC's Chief Executive Jorgen Lantto told . Silicon Valley firm Synaptics, the closest rival to FPC in sensors for smartphones, is more cautious on new markets. "It's hard for me to project market share in a segment of the market (when) we're not sure when it's going to happen," said Anthony Gioeli, vice president of marketing in the biometrics division of Synaptics. Sascha Behlendorf, a card systems product manager at Germany's Giesecke & Devrient, one of the top three smart card makers, expects widespread adoption of biometrics in smart cards could take some five to 10 years. RANGE OF USES Gothenburg-based FPC has been around for almost two decades, building a technology business based on an old Swedish fingerprinting patent. That left it well placed when the market expanded and it has also benefited by hiring staff from Nokia and Ericsson as their mobile phone businesses declined. Analysts say expectations for new markets have helped to underpin the huge leap in valuation for FPC. However, Carnegie analyst Havard Nilsson this week cut his recommendation for FPC to "sell" from "hold", citing what he called unwarranted share price appreciation and repeated his target price of 450 crowns. The shares traded at 524 crowns on Thursday. "Given that smartphones should constitute 60-70 percent of the global addressable market (in 2020), we do not believe new verticals, such as smart cards, will be able to compensate for competitive pressure in consumer electronics," Nilsson wrote. He sees earnings per share peaking at 37 crowns in 2018. Beyond payments, biometric smart cards could be used to allow access to buildings and IT-systems, according to FPC. Keyless entry to cars is another potential major market, as are wearable products such as watches or wristbands serving as a substitute identity card. FPC includes such applications in its forecasts for "other segments" of business. FPC sees a total addressable market for this part of its business of roughly 100 million sensors in 2017 and around 500 million in 2018. It is the only player so far to make specific forecasts for these new markets. "We talk to a lot of players and companies come to us. There is substance behind our numbers," Lantto said, adding that FPC has held talks with a handful of big potential smart card clients since last autumn. Most suppliers of fingerprint sensors, including FPC, use 3D imaging technology for recognition of a fingerprint, while Next Biometrics in Norway uses heat sensing technology. IDEX, another Norwegian competitor, roughly shares FPC's forecasts for segments beyond smartphones for the coming few years, Chief Financial Officer Henrik Knudtzon said. IDEX, which last summer entered a partnership with an unnamed global payments company for biometric applications, is integrating its sensors into smart cards with partners and expects shipments to start towards the end of this year, Knudtzon said. (Reporting by Olof Swahnberg; Editing by Eric Auchard and Keith Weir) BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's chief concern over a potential British exit is the political impact on such things as European integration, but there would be a huge economic impact on the bloc from losing its second-largest economy. Below are some of the main economic risks or benefits of Brexit for the remaining 27 EU members should Britons vote in a June 23 referendum to leave. BUDGET Most obviously, other EU members would have to fill in at least some of the shortfall from a lack of UK contributions. In 2014, Britain's total contribution to the EU budget was 14.1 billion euros, including its rebate and the contribution from customs duties. However, it also received 7.0 billion euros, largely in the form of agricultural and regional subsidies, leaving a 7.1 billion euro (5.65 billion pound/$7.99 billion) gap to fill or just over 5 percent of the total EU budget. Germany, the EU's largest member, would inevitably have to provide the most extra cash. Germany's Ifo institute estimates that would be 2.5 billion euros. Germany is the largest contributor to the EU budget, based on its gross national income, with additional contributions from VAT and customs duties and sugar levies. TRADE The rest of the European Union has a trade surplus of around 100 billion euros in goods with Britain, while Britain exports some 20 billion euros more in services than it imports, the same gap as for financial services. Imports tariffs could be introduced although, in accordance with World Trade Organisation rules, these would generally be in the low single-digits, albeit with a rate of 10 percent on cars. Many economists forecast Brexit would at least temporarily reduce UK growth, uncertainty hitting domestic demand and weakening the pound, with a resultant impact on EU goods exports to Britain, which make up some 2.6 percent of rest-EU GDP in 2014. But a UK "demand shock", linked also to a possible reintroduction of import tariffs, of 10 percent could lead to a reduction of rest-EU GDP by 0.26 percent. Brexit campaigners say the EU would want to agree a free trade deal with Britain even if the country left the bloc. However, Oliver Schulz, an economist at Citi, reasons that could play more into the hands of the EU given that there tends to be more focus in trade deals on goods than on services, and financial services in particular. Switzerland, where financial services are a larger share of GDP than in Britain, has no general access to EU financial service markets and runs a financial services trade deficit with the bloc. The EU's main service export to Britain, tourism, is unlikely to be affected. The rest of the EU could see a boost of its services trade with Britain, but given Britain's strength in specific sectors, the EU might have to import them at a higher cost or rely on inferior domestic suppliers, reducing overall productivity. INVESTMENT The United Kingdom is consistently the largest recipient of foreign direct investment in the European Union, according to UNCTAD data, with an average of some $56 billion per year in the 2010-2014 period. EU partners supply just under half of this. Some 72 percent of investors in an EY study in 2015 cited access to the European single market as important to the UK's attractiveness to FDI. There is a risk some FDI would be diverted to other EU countries if Britain lost access to the EU single market. MIGRATION One of the main arguments for Brexit campaigners is to limit migration of workers from other EU countries, even though both Norway and Switzerland have had to accept free movement of people in return for access to EU internal markets. If Britain did cap immigration, it could have a negative impact on eastern European countries, from which some 1.2 million workers were in Britain in late 2015. The impact could be most acute in the countries with the most citizens in Britain - Poland (853,000 in 2014), Romania (175,000) and Lithuania (155,000) By contrast, other affluent western European countries, such as Germany, could as a result see higher inflows of EU migrants. This might be beneficial economically, if politically difficult. CURRENCY/BANKING On the assumption that the British pound would indeed weaken if Britain voted to leave the European Union, the euro-based earnings of European companies with businesses in Britain would fall although currency variations are not new. Economists also refer to a risk, albeit limited, of a British financial crisis resulting from Brexit, with a huge ripple effect in the rest of the EU, where banks, companies, governments and households held UK assets of some 46 percent of GDP in 2013, according to Citi, many times more than Greek holdings in 2012. IRELAND, BENELUX HIT HARDEST? Research by the Bertelsmann Foundation sought to break down the impact by country and determined that the impact of a "soft exit" could be worse in Ireland than in Britain, based on their degree of trade dependence on Britain. The Benelux countries and Sweden were the next biggest hits, while the impact on Germany would be very limited given that its auto and other manufacturing sectors have many other markets. DYNAMIC EFFECTS The Bertelsmann study also looks into "dynamic effects", such as a potential loss of productivity because a decreased openness to trade reduces international competition and lowers the incentive to improve competitiveness. With dynamic effects, the long-term impact on German GDP would range between 0.3 and 2 percent below the value if Britain remained in the European Union. ($1 = 0.9015 euros) (1 British pound = 1.2773 euros) ($1 = 0.8883 euros) (1 British pound = 1.2563 euros) (Reporting By Philip Blenkinsop Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) LONDON (Reuters) - European demand for diesel is expected to have fallen in the first three months of 2016 for the first quarterly decline in nearly two years, the International Energy Agency reported on Thursday, the latest sign of distress in the fuel market. Europe, where roughly half of cars are fuelled by diesel, joins the United States, China and Japan which saw demand contract for a second consecutive quarter in January-March, according to the IEA. "Global gasoil demand crumbles," the Western energy watchdog said in its benchmark monthly report. Gasoil includes several different grades of fuel but diesel is the most important. "The end of gasoil demand growth is not yet upon us, as modest gains are forecast towards the end of the year as the underlying industrial situation improves worldwide," particularly in the United States and India, it said. Chinese demand for diesel slowed in recent years as the world's second-biggest economy shifted away from heavy manufacturing to be more consumer-focused. In the United States and Japan the weakening demand was linked to slower manufacturing and industrial activity and a mild winter in North America. Prior to 2016, "the European gasoil consumer demonstrated stolid resistance, a resolve that cracked in Q1 2016," when demand declined by 75,000 barrels per day compared to a year earlier, it said. The declines were led by France and Germany, which saw diesel consumption drop by 50,000 and 20,000 bpd respectively from a year earlier. The IEA trimmed slightly its forecast for growth in global oil demand this year to 1.2 million bpd, for total annual demand of 95.9 million bpd. (Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Susan Fenton) MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT) has halted the sale of Lafarge India after an appeal by a rival, delaying the merger of Lafarge and Holcim's Indian operations. The tribual stayed a February order by antitrust watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) allowing the sale of Lafarge India until the next hearing on May 9, according to an order posted on the tribunal's website. The CCI's order was challenged by Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd, which the tribunal said had been "aggrieved" by the order, without elaborating. A spokeswoman for Dalmia Bharat declined to comment. In February, LafargeHolcim said it was considering a divestment of its interest in Lafarge India, which has an annual capacity of 11 million tonnes, to comply with antitrust rules for the merger of the group's legacy companies. The group had earlier tried to sell 5.1 million tonnes of Lafarge India's capacity to cementmaker Birla Corp Ltd, but the deal was called off due to regulatory hurdles. (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy and Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Stephen Coates) In late February, several hundred Saudi officials, company executives and foreign consultants gathered in a luxury Riyadh hotel to discuss how Saudi Arabia's economy could survive an era of cheap oil. One company manager at the event told Reuters that officials from about 30 Saudi government bodies manned booths in which they described their challenges. Corporate bosses were encouraged to "figure out ways to do partnerships to address those needs, to offer feedback, to complain, and to plan future ventures or even just future meetings," the manager said. "It was like a private sector version of a national parliament." The workshop was part of Saudi government attempts to work out how to restructure the economy so it no longer relies on oil. The National Transformation Plan (NTP), as Riyadh has dubbed the changes, is expected to be unveiled in the next few weeks. Much is still secret. Ministries have refused to discuss plans in detail and Western consultancies contacted by Reuters declined to confirm their involvement, let alone policy details. Officials, consultants and executives, though, say the five-year programme is both ambitious and risky. It includes asset sales, tax increases, spending cuts, changes to the way the state manages its financial reserves, an efficiency drive, and a much bigger role for the private sector. Such changes have been talked about for years but never put into action. One reason to think this time could be different is that policy-making has in the past year shifted away from conservative bodies such as the finance ministry and central bank. Power is now concentrated in a new 22-member Council of Economic and Development Affairs, formed after King Salman took the throne in January 2015. The Council is chaired by his son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is about 30. In his role as defence minister, Prince Mohammed launched Saudi Arabia's military intervention in Yemen in March 2015. Now, he wants to shake up economic policy. "Since the foundation of the kingdom there has been no government-led programme that innovates in this way," said Mohamed al-Afif, a veteran banker who now runs Cash Solutions, a boutique financial services firm. CONSULTANTS AND WHATSAPP People familiar with the NTP said it was born late last year in discussions between Prince Mohammed and a few other top officials. At the time, oil was sinking below $30 a barrel, about half the low point that had been expected. That saddled the kingdom with an annual budget deficit near $100 billion and strengthened the case for radical changes. While Prince Mohammed is the ultimate decider, he has chosen Economy and Planning Minister Adel al-Fakieh, a former food industry executive and mayor of Jeddah, to help with the detail. As labour minister between 2010 and 2015, Fakieh overcame opposition from business to policies that pushed companies to hire more Saudis. People involved in the NTP say Fakieh, 57, uses WhatsApp on his mobile phone obsessively, conducting chats with dozens of groups until the small hours. Riyadh is spending tens of millions of dollars on foreign consultants for the NTP. London-based Source Global Research estimated in March that total Saudi spending on consultancies - mostly by the government or state-linked bodies - grew over 10 percent in 2015, from $1.06 billion in 2014. Consultants and ministry officials, many of them young Saudis with Western degrees, work at the Khozama office building in Riyadh, thrashing out policy in as many as 40 groups known as "delivery labs". The plans are heavy on jargon-labelled targets requiring ministries to hit rigid budget and reform goals, according to documents seen by Reuters. MODELS One model is neighbouring United Arab Emirates, which began radical reforms by cutting gasoline subsidies last year, people familiar with the Saudi plan said. Another model is Malaysia, which in 2010 moved to diversify beyond commodity exports and attract more foreign investment. Consultancy McKinsey & Co played a major role in the Malaysian plan and is now at the centre of the Saudi effort. The NTP echoes Malaysia's programme in three ways. It puts a single body in charge of implementation to force better cooperation between ministries. It seeks feedback from the private sector early, even during planning. And it aims to boost the private sector's share of investment, something Saudi planners consider vital as oil revenues sag. Riyadh wants private firms to develop tourism facilities on some of its islands, plans to create "free zones" with minimal red tape near airports, and even wants private investment in some schools. New infrastructure such as roads and port facilities will be constructed under build-operate-transfer contracts, in which private firms finance the projects and then operate them to recoup their investments. "The government will take no risk anymore, it will only provide opportunities," said a Saudi economist who attended a recent workshop. The NTP will also speed up Saudi Arabia's long-running but slow-paced privatisation programme. Up to 5 percent of national oil giant Saudi Aramco will be sold to the public, Prince Mohammed says, possibly raising tens of billions of dollars. Also on the block: chunks of other companies in up to 18 sectors, including healthcare, mining and transport. Management of the country's financial reserves will become more aggressive, according to officials and consultants. The central bank, which acts as the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, holds $584 billion of foreign assets, mostly in conservative investments such as bank deposits and U.S. Treasuries. In the future, privatisation proceeds will be invested in corporate assets around the world, generating income and obtaining access to technology and expertise. Saudi officials have been visiting the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority - which has over $700 billion invested in developed and emerging market equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate and infrastructure - to see how it works, sources said. Prince Mohammed told Bloomberg last month that one fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), would be expanded to control over $2 trillion eventually. The fund is now believed to have about $100 billion of assets. DEADLINE Top officials are reviewing proposals which all the ministries involved were required to submit by March 31, two sources said. "Everyone is waiting for the NTP announcement for a clue about how things will operate going forward," said a Western diplomat who monitors the economy. There are many sceptics. Some say the NTP is too late. Local capital markets are too small to absorb a privatisation programme so attracting foreign money will be vital. But investors are wary of Saudi Arabia's prospects given the low oil price. Eliminating the budget deficit by 2020 will require an additional $100 billion in spending cuts and tax increases - equivalent to about 16 percent of gross domestic product. That could stifle growth and deter the investment the NTP seeks. Some plans are headline-grabbing but may involve little real change. For example, the PIF will take over assets such as Saudi Aramco but won't be able to reinvest that wealth unless it sells big pieces of the firm, which would be tough for financial and political reasons. And then there's the mixed fortunes of some of the models Saudi Arabia has looked at. "Most of the economic transformation programmes in various countries didn't succeed or diverged immensely from the original plans," said prominent Saudi economist Ihsan Bu Hulaiga. Malaysia, for instance, has increased the private sector's share of investment modestly, to 64 percent in 2014 from 52 percent in 2009. But the country's currency has plunged along with commodity prices, something Riyadh wants to avoid. Many question the role of highly paid consultants. "You have people in their 30s with laptops helping to determine the direction of the country," said one foreign consultant. "The potential for change has certainly gone up, but so has the risk." Some Saudis think an economic shake-up could lead to the kind of social changes many foreign business executives believe are needed to modernise Saudi's economy: allowing women to drive, for instance, or opening up the legal system. The planning itself suggests some openness to change. Senior officials, normally given to opulent robes, regularly come to workshops in simple clothes, say some attendees. And unuusally, female consultants are working closely with men. ZURICH (Reuters) - Food group Nestle confirmed its full-year outlook on Thursday after first-quarter underlying sales growth of 3.9 percent beat expectations, driven mostly by growth in volumes rather than pricing. Like its peers, Nestle is facing slower growth and more demanding consumers in emerging markets, notably China, but said it managed to gain market share in most of its categories and businesses. "As anticipated, the first quarter continued the positive momentum in real internal growth, with softer pricing," the maker of Nescafe instant coffee and Pure Life bottled water said in a statement. It confirmed its full-year outlook for organic growth, which strips out currency swings, acquisitions and divestitures, to be in line with 2015, with improvements in margins and underlying earnings per share in constant currencies. Sales at the group based in Vevey on Lake Geneva rose to 20.9 billion Swiss francs ($21.6 billion), in line with forecasts in a poll. Organic growth slowed to 3.9 percent, down from 4.2 percent last year, but beat a 3.7 percent forecast in the poll. Nestle reported 3.0 percent volume growth in the quarter, slightly better than rival Unilever which had underlying volume growth of 2.6 percent. Nestle shares were indicated to open 1.3 percent higher, versus a 0.4 percent rise in the Swiss market index. The maker of Gerber baby food said its volume growth accelerated compared to last year, thanks to strong performances in Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa. It managed to boost prices as well but that growth was slower than a year earlier. Sales in the group's Asia, Oceania and Africa (AOA) zone accelerated to 2.1 percent, from 0.5 percent in 2015, recovering from a Maggi noodle recall in India last year. "Asia zone swings positive for the first time in a couple of a quarters reflecting a quicker than expected rebound in Maggi in India as well as coffee and ongoing signs that China is on the mend," Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Jon Cox said in an emailed comment. "Overall, Nestle has printed a decent number and consensus should nudge up. Given the disappointments of the last couple of quarters this is extremely encouraging," he said. ($1 = 0.9671 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by Edwina Gibbs) By Simon Falush LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell on Thursday as the International Energy Agency trimmed its forecast for demand growth and on signs that a producers' meeting this weekend will not yield a concrete plan to reduce oversupply. The International Energy Agency slightly trimmed its estimates for 2016 global demand growth from last month to 1.16 million barrels per day and said a deal to freeze oil production by OPEC and non-OPEC producers will have a limited impact on global supply. This came a day after OPEC cut its forecast for demand growth and warned of further reductions. Brent crude futures were down 54 cents from their last close at $43.64 a barrel by 0827 GMT. U.S. crude was down 47 cents at $41.29 a barrel. The world's biggest oil producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, are scheduled to meet in Qatar on Sunday to finalise a deal reached in February to freeze oil output at January levels, aiming to bolster oil prices. However, Russian oil minister Alexander Novak told a closed-door briefing of energy analysts in Moscow on Wednesday that the deal would be loosely framed with few detailed commitments. "The agreement will not be very rigidly formulated, it is more of a gentlemen's agreement," one of those present said, paraphrasing Novak's words at the briefing. "There is no plan to sign binding documents," another person at the briefing present said. This suggests producers are unlikely to formally agree to rein in production, which now stands at around 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in excess of demand. "It's not going to be an agreement, but a declaration of intent to say that if everything goes well we'll keep production at January levels," said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam. (Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Susan Fenton) By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices were pulled down in early trading on Thursday as OPEC warned of slowing demand and major exporter Russia hinted that there would only be a loose agreement with little commitments at the upcoming exporter meeting to rein in ballooning oversupply. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs said that productivity gains by U.S. shale producers were keeping alive its "deflationary outlook" for oil prices as drillers manage to adjust to lower prices and keep pumping instead of going out of business. Brent crude futures were at $43.89 a barrel at 0028 GMT, 29 cents below their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were at $41.60, down 16 cents. Prices came under pressure after Russian oil minister Alexander Novak told a briefing that a deal on an oil output freeze scheduled this weekend will be loosely-framed with few detailed commitments. This would make it less likely that the meeting by top exporters in Qatar's capital Doha next Sunday will manage to successfully rein in production that means some 2 million barrels of crude is being pumped every day in excess of demand. "The agreement will not be very rigidly formulated, it is more of a gentlemen's agreement," one of those present told Reuters, paraphrasing Novak's words at the gathering. A second person present said: "There is no plan to sign binding documents. It will be a kind of heads of agreement, a communique." With the likelihood of a binding freeze by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia fading, analysts will look to the U.S. oil industry to see if lower drilling will result in falling production. Here too, however, the outlook is for production to remain higher than many expected. "Shale productivity gains remain a key driver of our long-term deflationary outlook for oil prices," said Goldman Sachs. "Our analysis of shale productivity... (are) broadly in line with our expectations for 3 percent to 10 percent yoy (year-on-year) increases," it added. With supplies pointing to an ongoing glut, much will depend on the demand-side to determine the size of the market's oversupply. While oil consumption has been near records, supported largely by demand in Asia, OPEC on Wednesday cut its forecast for global demand growth in 2016 and warned of further reductions. World demand will grow by 1.20 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2016, OPEC said in its monthly report, 50,000 bpd less than expected previously. "Economic developments in Latin America and China are of concern... Current negative factors seem to outweigh positive ones and possibly imply downward revisions in oil demand growth, should existing signs persist going forward." (Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Joseph Radford) CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's deputy oil minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman discussed the situation in oil markets and further cooperation with India's Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday, Saudi state agency reported. The report did not give details but said the talks included "the evident role of the kingdom (in achieving) stability of the oil markets." The two officials also discussed cooperation between the two countries in energy as well as boosting India's purchases of crude oil and oil products, and joint investments. Saudi Arabia was the biggest oil supplier to India in February. India is one of the countries in which state oil giant Saudi Aramco is looking at in terms of downstream investments. On Thursday, The International Energy Agency (IEA) said India could replace China as the main engine of global demand growth, estimating its demand growth at 300,000 bpd - the strongest ever volume increase. Leading oil producers including Saudi Arabia plan to meet in Doha on Sunday to cement a preliminary deal reached between Russia, Venezuela, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in February to freeze oil output at January levels to curb a glut in the oil market. (Reporting by Ali Abdelatti; writing by Reem Shamseddine in Khobar, editing by David Evans) Inc is in talks to sell minority stakes in its Indian solar energy projects to Finland's Fortum, two sources said, as the US firm seeks funds to finish proposed plants in India amid concerns about its finances at home.Heavily indebted SunEdison, once the fastest growing renewable energy developer in the US, could soon file for bankruptcy protection, according to one of its publicly listed units.Fortum, a state-controlled utility, said on Tuesday it planned to invest ^200-400 million ($225-$450 million) in solar projects in India and would look at developing large new projects or consider partnerships. Fortum is interested in taking stakes in SunEdison's projects, including a proposed 500-megawatt plant in Andhra Pradesh state it won last November after an aggressive bid, said the two sources with knowledge of the matter. Fortum spokeswoman Sophie Jolly declined to comment on any talks with SunEdison, but said it was normal that there would be rumours and speculation around our interest in any solar, and particularly now in India. said in an email it was in discussions for equity partners in its projects but declined to name any investor. The company has around 600 Mw of projects constructed and financed in India, with plans to build another 1,700 MW in the coming year, according to one of the sources. has also drawn preliminary interest from Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's fast-expanding Adani Group, though a person close to Adani said the low tariff agreed for the Andhra plant would make any deal hard for Indian firms. Goldman Sachs-backed Indian renewable energy company, ReNew Power, is also in talks with SunEdison for the assets, the Hindu newspaper reported on Thursday. One of the sources also reported the talks, but ReNew declined immediate comment. ($1 = 0.8877 euros) YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky District Court found entrepreneur Levon Hayrapetyan guilty for embezzling 700 thousand dollars. As Armenpress reports, TASS announced about this in the hall. The Court found Hayrapetyan guilty for frauding money from Izmestyev, the decision was announced by the judge. Currently the announcement of the verdict is underway. According to the investigation, along with lawyer Sergei Antonov Levon Hayrapetyan took 700 thousand dollars from ex-senator Igor Izmestyevs mother, in order to mitigate her sons conviction. However in any case he could not have influenced the sentence. By Fang Yan and Siva Govindasamy SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Makers of private jets for China's elite are shifting their focus from luxury to convenience, as a cooling economy and long-running crackdown on corruption prompt customers to demand smaller planes and even consider second-hand deals. Utility is the watchword, say industry insiders, as buyers who once enlisted feng shui masters to help them design cabin interiors that might feature mahjong tables or karoake areas now look for functional desks to work at and rest areas to sleep. China's richest businessmen remain Asia's top owners of luxury aircraft: the greater China region had 466 private jets in 2015, according to consultancy Asia Sky Group, compared with 65 in 2007. Mainland China accounted for 300 of those. But for manufacturers such as Bombardier , Dassault , Embraer and General Dynamics' subsidiary Gulfstream the market is cooling, especially for new aircraft, forcing them to prioritise efficiency, keeping production costs low and speeding up aircraft delivery times. "The economy is weak and there are different political forces, as you know," said Bill Schultz, senior vice president of business development in China at Textron , which manufactures Cessna and Beechcraft-branded aircraft. "It's impacted jet sales, there is no question about that." Against that backdrop the mood was subdued as plane makers, charter firms and buyers gathered this week for one of the industry's biggest annual air shows in Shanghai. Interest in specialized firms who manage, charter or refurbish planes was high. KEEPING UNDER THE RADAR President Xi Jinping's three-year-old campaign against official corruption has discouraged conspicuous consumption in China, hitting discretionary spending on everything from fine wine and jewellery to luxury cars, yachts and casino trips. "Ten years ago, if you bought a business jet, you would show your shiny new plane off to reporters," said one China-based business jet broker, who has been helping wealthy individuals buy and sell aircraft for more than 15 years. "These guys have seen their peers being hauled up, and they don't want any scrutiny of their wealth and business interests. So they would rather keep a low profile," said the broker, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. Asia Sky Group put China's fleet growth in 2015 at 6.6 percent - from highs of more than 49 percent when the market hit its peak in 2012. With orders slowing, growth is set to dip further. Schultz said that Textron, which has built its Caravan turboprop plane and the Citation XLS+ in China as part of a joint venture with state-owned aerospace firm AVIC, was focusing on the market for smaller jets and utilitarian turboprop craft. Until recently mainland Chinese buyers have favoured larger cabin jets, even including retrofitted versions of the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 that can cost up to $90 million at list prices and another $10-15 million for fitting. Now there is more interest in smaller aircraft. "Instead of using too big a plane, people are flying in a smaller plane," said Fernando Grau, director of airline market analysis at Brazilian manufacturer Embraer, which uses actor Jackie Chan to sell its planes in China. Of course, countering China's domestic slowdown is its push to do deals abroad, spending more than $100 billion in 2015 - a boom that has more top executives forced to consider fast, convenient and efficient options as they travel more frequently beyond the country's borders. "We position the business jets also as a productivity tool," said Khader Mattar, who oversees sales for Bombardier in the Middle East, Asia Pacific and China. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE But visible in Shanghai's exhibition halls this year has been the rising interest in second-hand deals, long frowned upon in China, and in companies that manage and charter flights. A 14-seater Gulfstream jet, for example, can be chartered for roughly 50,000 yuan (around $7,700) an hour, making it reasonably affordable for China's rich entrepreneurs. While many charter trips in the past were for leisure or "unnecessary tours" said Fang Xinyu, vice-president at Beijing-based Deer Jet which manages more than 80 aircraft that are available for charter, these days it's strictly business. Executives estimated second-hand planes now account for 30 percent of sales, still less than in a more mature market like the United States but up from 10 percent just three years ago. A Gulfstream G550, one of the most popular business jets on the market, manufactured in 2010, for example, can be bought for half of the roughly $60 million it would have originally cost. Prospective owners can spend another $2-3 million to retrofit the cabin with Gulfstream's latest interior. "Compared to the price of a brand new plane, they are cheaper to buy and refurbish," said Jason Liao, CEO of China Business Aviation Group, which helps individuals buy and manage jets. "They are great value." (Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques and Alex Richardson) In 2014, when the NDA government started talking about bringing in an aggressive solar policy, Ratul Puri's Hindustan PowerProjects Limited (HPPL),was already amongthe top solar operators in the country with installed capacity of roughly 500 MW out of total just about 3000 MW Today, the renewable energy minister Piyush Goyal is making sure the tariffs are dropping with every bid. The installed capacity has reached 6000 MW, and the promise of 19 GW is in place. However, Puri doesn't agree to fly in the same speed. "We are deliberately staying away from the solar bids. We are finding the bids a bit too aggressive, and fear that many of these projects may not come up, or may find it difficult to match their commitments. We can't commit to such scenarios," Puri told Business Today. He says that the bankers and financial institutions are willing to invest in solar projects, but tariffs of less than Rs 5 per KwH make them uncomfortable. "Then the banks push for operators to put in more equity, the terms of debt become more stringent," said Puri. This is critical, especially when minister Goyal is taking pride in pushing the tariff low and matching the grid parity, and is hoping to seek more investments and accomplish the target 100 GW of solar power generation well before 2022. Puri says, as per his calculations, tariff of Rs 5 to Rs 5.5 a KwH is rational, anything below this makes projects risky. Hindustan Power has installed capacity of 500 MW spread across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, and also has a sizeable presence in matured solar economies such as Germany, Spain, Japan and Italy. In fact, on April 13, HPPL commissioned a 30-MW solar farm in Mansa district of Punjab. The Rajasthan leg of NTPC bids attracted call of Rs 4.34 a KwH from Finnish company Fortum, and before that US-based SunEdison stole the limelight with Rs 4.63 per KwH bid for NTPC's Andhra Pradesh bid. SunEdison still requires to convince the financial institutions about their business model and financial health of their parent company. Meanwhile, his rivals in solar business in India, like Manoj Upadhyay's ACME has solar projects portfolio of 1,329 MW leading the back, with others like Sumant Sinha's ReNew Power, and Inderpreet Wadhwa's Azure closely following him with roughly 1,000 MW. "We are in no hurry. We have seen how aggressive tariff bids can create problems for the developers in the other value chains of the business. We don't want this situation to prop up for HPPL," reasoned Puri. He spoke to BT on the sidelines of a conference organised to announce the commissioning of the second unit of HPPL's thermal power plant at Anuppur in Madhya Pradesh. The total plant capacity is 2,520 MW of which Phase 1's capacity was 1,200 MW. Puri said 70 per cent of the power generated in the plant would be sold to Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh at tariffs between Rs 3.60 to Rs 3.80 a unit. In solar, the government has very little option, he laments, adding "the operators need to be more rational". The government has set very ambitious targets for renewable sector. Out of 160 GW to be achieved by 2022 from the current numbers of 35 GW, about 30 GW is in wind and 5 GW in solar. This means, about 125 GW needs to be added in the next six years at 20 GW a year, whereas the current speed of addition is merely 3-4 GW. Adding more pressure to this, the government wants to expand solar more aggressively and lesser wind-based capacity. The biggest criticism Piyush Goyal is facing is that his interventions reduced the prices of solar drastically, which is creating more problems for the operators as well as the domestic manufacturers of solar panels and cells. It is only helping those either with deeper pockets or the manufacturers of panels in China. Till the time that changes, investors like Ratul Puri may have to wait. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Wednesday that it has completed the computerised draw of lots, or lottery, for granting 65,000 H-1B visas after receiving 2,36,000 petitions which is over three times the official cap for the coveted work visa sought by Indian IT professionals for 2017. According to a press statement on the USCIS website, the computerised draw of lots that would determine the successful applicants has been completed. The computerised draw of lots would determine the successful applicants for the 65,000 Congressional mandated H-1B visas and another 20,000 for those foreign students who completed their higher studies from a US academic institute in subjects if science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the statement said. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had announced on Monday that it received over 2,36,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period, which began April 1 for the Financial Year 2017, in just five days of opening up the process. On April 9, the USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process, or lottery, to select enough petitions to meet the general-category cap and the cap under the advanced degree exemption, also known as the master's cap. The agency conducted the selection process for the advanced degree exemption first. All unselected advanced degree petitions then became part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit, the statement explained. The USCIS will reject and return all unselected petitions with their filing fees, unless the petition is found to be a duplicate filing, it said. As announced on March 16 this year, the USCIS will begin premium processing for H-1B cap cases no later than May 16. It would continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. The number of petitions received is more than thrice the Congressionally-mandated cap in the general category for the work visas for highly-skilled workers in the general category. USCIS also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions by those foreign students who completed their higher studies from a US academic institute in subjects if science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). H-1B visa, popular among Indian techies, is used by American companies to employ foreign workers in occupations that require highly specialised knowledge in fields such as science, engineering and computer programming. A senior Nasscom executive told Mail Today that "the details would take some time to emerge but Indian companies such s TCS, Infosys and Wipro are expected to get a lion's share of the visas. Canada and the Phillipines are the closest competitors." India has been the largest applicant and also the biggest recipient of H1-B visas for computer workers and the trend will continue. Indian companies in fact account for around 80 per cent of the H1-B visas for techies.However, the US administration has been imposing restrictions on the number of these visas and also increased hiked the application fee. Nasscom, estimates local IT firms would incur an extra $400 million a year in costs due to the spike in visa fees. India had in March this year filed a complaint against the United States over non-immigrant temporary working visas at the World Trade Organization (WTO). India has disputed measures imposing increased fees on certain categories of temporary work visas for the United States and limits on their numbers. India's stand is that these measures appear inconsistent with commitments that the United States has made by treating persons from India working in sectors such as computer services in the United States less favourably than US persons.' In December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also raised the visa fee issue with Obama when the latter telephoned him to thank him for his leadership role on achieving the historic agreement on climate change in Paris on December 12. However, since it is politically sensitive, the Obama administration went ahead with the move. With the US now going into election mode the rhetoric against Indian workers and ``offshoring'' of jobs has picked up further momentum. Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has proposed raising the minimum wage for H-1B visa holders comprising mainly Indian technology professionals as he released his policy of putting American workers first. Such a move, Trump argued, would force companies to give IT jobs to unemployed Americans and not cheaper workers from overseas, including India. (In association with Mail Today Bureau) The FBI paid professional hackers to crack the San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone, it has been reported. Researchers are believed to have created a piece of hardware which could get around the four-digit pin code jihadi Syed Farook used to get into the device. They were able to design the technology after they found a flaw in Apple's software that had not been previously discovered, the Washington Post reported. The hackers also managed to get into the phone without triggering a security feature that would have erased all of the data. Sources told the newspaper they were paid a one-time fee for the work. The Justice Department said in March it had unlocked the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone with the help of an unidentified third party and dropped its case against Apple Inc. It ended a high-stakes legal clash but leaving the broader fight over encryption unresolved. The FBI have insisted the phone could contain vital evidence on the attack that left 14 people dead and 22 injured on December 2. The researchers specialise in hunting for vulnerabilities in software and then in some cases selling them to the US government, according to the Post. The challenged for the FBI was getting around the code. After 10 incorrect tries, all of the data on the device is erased as a security precaution. Now, officials in the bureau will have to decide whether to disclose the software flaw to Apple. Last week, FBI Director James Cuomo said they had 'purchased a tool' to crack into the phone. He would not reveal anything more specific, but said the software they used only worked on the iPhone 5c, which has been discontinued by Apple. Comey added that the technique would not work on the iPhone 5s and the later models iPhone 6 and 6s. As the technique cannot be used to break into newer models, law enforcement authorities will likely have to lean on Apple to help them access the devices involved in other cases. On Tuesday, Comey said he was glad the court fight was over as it was 'was creating an emotion around the issue that was not productive'. He told law school students that he is confident that lawsuits aren't the best solution for resolving the clash between privacy and national security. The Justice Department in February asked a judge to force Apple Inc. to help the FBI hack into an iPhone used by a gunman in the mass killing in San Bernardino. Apple CEO Tim Cook refused to help stating that creating a master key to unlock the device would put all Apple devices across the world at the risk of potentially being hacked. But it came to an end just a month later when the FBI managed to do it without the technology giant's help. Comey says one benefit of the dispute has been greater public dialogue about the balance between privacy and security. The Justice Department has asked a New York court to force Apple to unlock an iPhone 5s related to a drug investigation. Prosecutors in that case said they would update the court by April 11 on whether it would 'modify' its request for Apple's assistance. (In association with Mail Today Bureau) It was announced today that Irish dairy and animal feed co-ops, Arrabawn Group, have signed a gas supply deal with Vayu Energy valued at over 2 million per annum. The agreement will see Vayu supply Arrabawn with natural gas to meet the year-round energy requirements for its dairy ingredients manufacturing facility in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. The energy deal follows Nenaghs connection to the national gas network and will see Vayu provide Arrabawn with direct access to wholesale market prices for natural gas, allowing the Group to purchase gas at the best price available in the market thereby resulting in significant savings in energy costs. As part of a fully managed service, Vayu will also provide Arrabawn with risk management tools and a bespoke reporting solution to track the energy performance at its Nenagh facility in real time. Financial Controller at Arrabawn Group, Micheal OKelly says, "Our partnership with Vayu is a critical component of our ongoing cost efficiency strategy and will enable us to significantly reduce operating costs by shifting to natural gas as our main fuel source." He added, "It comes at an exciting time for our business on foot of our recent completion of a 15.7m capital investment programme, which has allowed us to achieve substantial gains in efficiencies and a significant increase our competitiveness." Source: www.businessworld.ie Irish Life today held their annual pensions conference which was attended by almost 200 delegates in Dublin today. The conference focused on Empowering Retirement and speakers discussed new initiatives to engage members of defined contribution pension schemes. This comes after recent research carried out by Irish Life found that only half of Irish people are in a pension plan with most starting in their 30s and saving only 10% of their salary. As part of its strategy to help individuals get the most from their pensions, Irish Life has introduced an innovative pension investment solution for members of Irish Life EMPOWER schemes. Known as the Personal Lifestyle Strategy (PLS), it is designed to help protect against market fluctuations as retirement approaches by directing investments into funds that best match the benefits an individual is likely to take at retirement. It offers company pension expertise and a range of personalised investment options for companies. Damian Fadden from Irish Life Corporate Business says, "We know from our research that only half of people working in the private sector are in a pension plan, that the average contribution rate in Defined Contribution (DC) schemes is just 10% and the average starting age in a workplace pension is in the mid-30s - so there is a mountain to climb." He added, "However, these challenges can be resolved with the help of the behavioural insights we have built into our new Empower pension package. These are not just ideas we have already successfully transformed pension scheme membership and savings levels for a number of our corporate clients."" Source: www.businessworld.ie European demand for diesel is expected to have fallen in the first three months of 2016 for the first quarterly decline in nearly two years, the International Energy Agency reported on Thursday, the latest sign of distress in the fuel market. Europe, where roughly half of cars are fuelled by diesel, joins the United States, China and Japan which saw demand contract for a second consecutive quarter in January-March, according to the IEA. "Global gasoil demand crumbles," the Western energy watchdog said in its benchmark monthly report. Gasoil includes several different grades of fuel but diesel is the most important. "The end of gasoil demand growth is not yet upon us, as modest gains are forecast towards the end of the year as the underlying industrial situation improves worldwide," particularly in the United States and India, it said. Chinese demand for diesel slowed in recent years as the world's second-biggest economy shifted away from heavy manufacturing to be more consumer-focused. In the United States and Japan the weakening demand was linked to slower manufacturing and industrial activity and a mild winter in North America. Prior to 2016, "the European gasoil consumer demonstrated stolid resistance, a resolve that cracked in Q1 2016," when demand declined by 75,000 barrels per day compared to a year earlier, it said. The declines were led by France and Germany, which saw diesel consumption drop by 50,000 and 20,000 bpd respectively from a year earlier. The IEA trimmed slightly its forecast for growth in global oil demand this year to 1.2 million bpd, for total annual demand of 95.9 million bpd. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland is axing almost 600 jobs in its UK retail bank, according to sources familiar with the situation, in the latest round of job cuts and branch closures at the lender. All the employees impacted work in the bank's retail network in England and most are being told of the decision on Thursday, according to the sources, who asked not to named, because they are not authorised to discuss the plans. The cuts are occurring in branches in northern, southeast or eastern England, the Midlands or London, the sources said. The bank is closing about 34 branches and reducing opening hours in hundreds more in an aggressive cost-cutting plan. Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan has been cutting thousands of jobs to reduce expenses in a bid to boost earnings after eight straight annual losses. The latest redundancies mean RBS has cut 1,500 staff across the UK so far this year. Most of the cuts are in the retail division where the bank has announced plans in 2016 to axe about one in every 12 jobs. RBS, 73% owned by the government, confirmed some staff would be losing their jobs without being specific and said the job cuts were due to customers increasingly banking online. "This is clearly difficult news for staff," the bank said in a statement. "We will do everything we can to support them, including seeking redeployment opportunities wherever possible." RBS is struggling to return to health eight years after requiring the world's largest bank bailout at the height of the financial crisis. Taxpayers face losing almost half the 45.5 billion pounds invested to keep the bank afloat because its shares are trading below the level that the state paid for them, according to an analysis by the Treasury last month. RBS closed more bank branches in the UK than any other lender between 2014 and 2015, according to one study published last year, and it has reneged on an earlier promise to avoid closing the last branch in any town. Like many UK banks, RBS is justifying closing branches to cut costs because changes in technology mean fewer staff and locations are needed. The bank says the number of people going into branches has dropped by half on average since 2010, while the number of people making transactions online has jumped four fold. About half of the UK's remaining 10,386 branches may disappear in the next five years as people increasingly bank online and lenders cut costs to increase profit, according to research by UBS. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky District Court sentenced businessman Levon Hayrapetyan to 4 years imprisonment. Armenpress reports TASS informed about this. The court took a decision to find Levon Hayrapetyan guilty by the 4th point of 159th article of the Russian criminal code, and sentence him to 4 years imprisonment, reads the verdict. The court found Levon Hayrapetyan guilty in frauding $700 thousand. According to the investigation, along with lawyer Sergei Antonov, Levon Hayrapetyan took 700 thousand dollars from ex-senator Igor Izmestyevs mother, in order to mitigate her sons conviction. However, in any case he could not have influenced the sentence. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The regular 8th meeting of the Military Committee of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will take place in Yerevan on April 15. On this occasion the delegations of the General Staffs of the Armed Forces of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, as well as the Secretary General of the CSTO and the Chief of the CSTO United Staff arrived in Yerevan on April 14. When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas Contributed photo Bill McBride Sr. demonstrates roping techniques in 1952 at the Horse Shoe Inn and Arena on Lexington Boulevard, now known as South Padre Island Drive. Bill and Marjorie McBride operated a cafe, stable, feed store and rodeo arena on the site near the current-day Flynn Parkway and SPID. SHARE Contributed photo The Horse Shoe Inn and Arena on Lexington Boulevard had a cafe and dance hall, a feed store, stables and rodeo arena. Here unidentified customers sit in the 50-foot by 100-foot dance hall in the rear of the cafe. By Allison Ehrlich of the Caller-Times Hard to imagine, but what is now a sea of strip malls, restaurants and frontage roads along South Padre Island Drive was South Texas brush country about 70 years ago. And from 1946 to 1978, Bill and Marjorie McBride operated the Horse Shoe Inn and Arena, which included a cafe, riding stables and rodeo arena on the area now near SPID and Flynn Parkway. The McBrides were both active riding and rodeo participants when the pair moved from Hearne to Corpus Christi in 1938 and opened the Santa Fe Riding Stables at 4100 Santa Fe St. They eventually bought a 40-acre site on Lexington Boulevard, SPID's original name. Bill McBride Jr. was about four years old when his parents first bought the property on Lexington to move from the Santa Fe location. "They wouldn't let me out of the back of the pickup bed," McBride explained about clearing the land to relocate the business. "Dad killed about a hundred-and-something rattlesnakes while he put up that first building. Coyotes would come root through our garbage." Not only was the land rugged, traffic was practically nonexistent. "You could walk into the middle of Lexington, see one light flashing (about where SPID and Everhart Road is now). No lights the other direction." The McBrides built the cafe and dance hall first which included upstairs living quarters. Customers could get a hot meal, a cold beer and hear live music on Friday and Saturday nights. The riding stables were built next, then a feed store and finally a rodeo arena. Articles in the August 1947 Corpus Christi Times announced the grand opening of the new arena with roping activities planned along with a general cowboys' get-together. In this photo taken in 1952, Bill McBride Sr. ropes a calf in the arena while other riders look on. This is close to where the Embassy Suites is now located. Both McBrides were heavily involved teaching and participating in riding activities, having traveled the rodeo circuits before opening their business ventures. Bill Sr. had ties to Hollywood stars: among others, he trained up Clark Gable's polo ponies and helped John Wayne recruit cowboys and horse trainers for the 1960 film "The Alamo." But Marjorie especially enjoyed their participation in 4-H and youth rodeos. Many of the young riders were eager to appear in the Buc Days parade each year. The encroaching development of the freeway took a portion of the land, but the McBrides continued the business until they eventually retired and closed the year before Bill Sr.'s death in 1979. There's not much of a chance to see barrel racing or calf roping around SPID these days, but fans can get their rodeo kicks starting at 7:30 p.m. today at the American Bank Center for the Buc Days Rodeo. Check out Friday's VivaCC or online at www.caller.com/VivaCC for the full schedule of events. Allison Ehrlich is the archive coordinator for the Caller-Times. Contact her at allison.ehrlich@caller.com and follow her on Twitter @CallerArchives. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Faustino Limon marches in red heels during the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event Wednesday at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. SHARE GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Alexander Hernandez tries on heels as he prepares to march during the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event Wednesday at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Female students cheer on male students as they wear heels during the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event Wednesday at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Luis Aguilar (left) high-fives Jose Baltazar after marching in heels during the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event Wednesday at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Joe Castillo arranges red heels as male students prepare to march during the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event Wednesday at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. By Gabe Hernandez of the Caller-Times Joe Castillo slipped into 2-inch red heels to take a stand again violence and "Walk A Mile in Her Shoes." About 25 male students at Texas A&M University-Kingsville traded sandals and sneakers for a pair of pumps Wednesday and walked a mile while holding signs. "It's a man's issue, too," read one sign. "Men against rape," another. Female students gathered along the route's sidewalk to encourage their red-heeled clad supporters. The walk and a Take Back the Night event at the university are intended to put an end to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual abuse and all other forms of sexual violence. "It's really interesting to see all the guys come and get together and participate and show that there are many males who are against violence and do not support sexual assault or rape," said Castillo, a wellness specialist and graduate student. Twitter: @CallerGabe Courtney SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Cecilia Garcia Akers, daughter of Dr. Hector P. Garcia, speaks about her book "The Inspiring Life of Texan Hector P. Garcia," during a signing Wednesday, April 13, 2016, at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Mary and Jeff Bell Library. SHARE COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Cecilia Garcia Akers signs a copy of her book, "The Inspiring Life of Texan Hector P. Garcia," on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Mary and Jeff Bell Library. Courtney SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Dr. Hector P. Garcia's Presidential Medal of Freedom was displayed during a book signing Wednesday, April 13, 2016, for Cecilia Garcia Akers' "The Inspiring Life of Texan Hector P. Garcia," at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Mary and Jeff Bell Library. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES A man holds six copies of Cecilia Garcia Akers' book, "The Inspiring Life of Texan Hector P. Garcia," as he waits for her to sign them Wednesday, April 13, 2016, at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Mary and Jeff Bell Library. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES A flyer advertising the book signing on a bulletin board features the cover of Cecilia Garcia Akers' book, "The Inspiring Life of Texan Hector P. Garcia," at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Mary and Jeff Bell Library. By Julie Garcia of the Caller-Times Snakes in the mailbox. The death of a son and brother. A man's jitters before meeting the president of the United States. These are the stories not found in any historical text on the legacy of Dr. Hector P. Garcia. But Cecilia Garcia Akers knew they were stories that needed to be shared with the world, especially the community her father worked tirelessly to serve. "He's a person who's a historical significance but people don't really look at the effect on his family," Garcia Akers said. "On the personal side his health, finances. I was able to touch on that in the book to understand the sacrifices that he made and his family made for him to do what he was able to do." After the release of her book, "The Inspiring Life of Texan Hector P. Garcia" earlier this month online and in select bookstores, a second run has been printed and a third is planned. The Mary and Jeff Bell Library at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi hosted a reception and book signing for the new author and supporters on Wednesday. Garcia Akers said she was approached by The History Press about a year ago to write a book that looked beyond a historical analysis on the Corpus Christi doctor and founder of the American GI Forum who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the country. The publisher wanted the perspective of the man's daughter during the major events of his life but also the everyday happenings at home. "I had fun writing it, but I got real emotional during some chapters," she said. "It's a different side of him, and the events that impacted him historically that also affected the nation." The campus library was a fitting place for the book signing because it's the place where the Hector P. Garcia Papers are archived and will soon be digitized, said Anthony Quiroz, professor of history with an emphasis on Mexican-American culture at A&M-CC. He likened Garcia to Martin Luther King Jr. for his work advocating for Mexican Americans and immigrants. Garcia Akers' lifelong best friend, Shirley Gallagher, was the first person in line to have her book signed. Gallagher was her maid-of-honor when she married Jimmy Akers and was present for the hardships and celebrations of her life. The now-Aransas Pass resident is featured in the book. "It was probably hard for her at first (to share personal family stories), but she's very proud of her father and she's doing him a great service in continuing to promote his legacy," Gallagher said. Twitter: @Caller_Jules HOW TO BUY What: "The Inspiring Life of Texan Hector P. Garcia" by Cecilia Garcia Akers Online: www.arcadiapublishing.com or www.drhectorpgarciafoundation.org Price: $21.99 with all proceeds going toward the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Foundation CALLER-TIMES FILE Andrea Ayala, a city code enforcement employee, documents the condition at a home March 2014 in the 1200 block of Whitaker. SHARE By Natalia Contreras of the Caller-Times The Corpus Christi Fire Department in a combined effort with the Corpus Christi Police Department's code enforcement division want to make sure residential address numbers are visible from the road. Fire Chief Robert Rocha said both departments are always monitoring neighborhoods to make sure businesses, apartment complexes and homes are in compliance. "This is something we do every year as part of our inspections," Rocha said. "This benefits both us and the public. In case of an emergency this helps us get to the citizens in a timely manner." According to the city's property maintenance code requirement, properties must have approved address numbers placed in a position that is legible and visible from the street or road fronting the property. The numbers must contrast with the background. The numbers must be a minimum of four inches high with a minimum stroke of half an inch. Information: http://www.ccpolice.com/government/ccpd/code-enforcement/index or call 361-826-3046. Twitter: @CallerNatalia COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Corpus Christi Mayor Nelda Martinez gives a proclamation declaring March 12, 2016, the 75th Anniversary of Naval Air Station Corpus Christi while Commanding Officer Captain Steve Banta listens during a celebration of the anniversary Saturday, March 12, 2016, at the base. SHARE By Matt Woolbright of the Caller-Times Military bases and the value they provide the country will be the talk of City Hall this week, but it won't be local officials leading the discussion. The Texas Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs and Military is set to meet Thursday at 9 a.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 1201 Leopard St. to explore ways to increase the military value Texas bases offer the armed forces. Local and state partnerships with military bases is not uncommon in Texas, and is often employed in efforts to both aid the national need and stave off cutbacks or closures of the bases that bring significant cultural and economic value to the cities they inhabit. "It is great to see (the military bases) in action and vital that we understand the challenges they face so we can protect the economic impact they provide our communities, estimated at $150 billion and employing more than 255,000 Texans across the state," state Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, and chairwoman of the committee said in a news release. Members of the committee were scheduled to tour military facilities in Corpus Christi and Kingsville on Wednesday, and public testimony is invited at Thursday's meeting. Twitter: @reportermatt YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Political aspects of the causes of the start of the April war will be discussed for a long time: many geopolitical, economic and other reasons will be propounded, but the fact is that Azerbaijan has calculated several things. Over the past years Azerbaijan has purchased a large number of new types of weapons and had confidence that this modern weaponry would provide an inevitable victory. At the same time they knew that the Armenian side started major acquisitions, the huge part of which is still underway. If we add the fact that the spending of the Azerbaijani armed forces have been drastically reduced, then it can be assumed that this was the right time for them to try make a blitzkrieg. From military aspect this April war still needs to be thoroughly analyzed, but several circumstances can definitely be mentioned. It's obvious that during the past two years after failing all its previous sabotage reconnaissance actions (nearly 150 infiltration attempts), as well as applying landmine and artillery means that were also a failure, the Azerbaijani side tried to start large scale military actions. How can these actions be called? This is surely not a large-scale war, some people call it "spying by battling", and this is to a certain extent right, however false in its classic meaning. Since the second half of the 1990s the tactics of striking on the basis of available forces without involving new forces and resources has been used in the military art. This time Azerbaijan performed this kind of actions, trying to inflict an unexpected and decisive strike with the forces and resources it had in its operative layouts, planning to reach operational depth by infiltrating the tactical line. The one factor, that they would not be satisfied with the first tactical line, already means that this was not a reconnaissance battle. Besides, there is an interesting specificity. The Azerbaijani media was completely silent till noon. From midday onwards they immediately started an aggressive informational downpour, moreover, at first with unconcealed pride they started reporting that they had assailed and occupied settlements and tactical lines. This means that the informational operations were also planned in advance in accordance with the military actions. And the theoretical success of the Azerbaijani army should have been accompanied with informational materials but when those materials started to emerge as planned, they did not coincide with the real military actions. By the way, the same tactic was used by the Turkish media, which was probably also aware of the details. This is proved by the concentration in two main areas and primary focus on tank attacks in the relatively lowland territories, for instance, the disruptive attack by tanks and infantry in the direction of Seysulan. The strike directions assume that the strikes from the North and South to the direction of the North of Artsakh aimed at capturing Martakert, Sarsang water reservoir and other places. According to data provided by Azerbaijan, in every location attacks were led by one brigade of the 1-st echelon at a time, reinforced with special forces - up to two special sabotage units in total, highland rifle units, other tank and artillery forces. In every direction considerable number of tanks was also concentrated. As we understand, the Azerbaijani side has the intention to reduce the size of its forces, which is also evidenced by the use of certain types of weaponry not controlled by the corps. It can be concluded that the forces were at least larger than brigades. The brigade backed up by such forces already had the potential of corps. This is also evidenced by the intensity of the Azerbaijani artillery attacks. Within 4 days the adversary has fired more than 30000 of 120-mm artillery shells, which is the number of ammunition expenditures envisaged for one larger than average strategic operation. As a starting point it should be noted that the ammunition of one artillery system is about 60-80 shells, and if we calculate on the provision that one cannon can shoot one ammunition set daily the utmost, then it is apparent, that during 4 active days of full usage of each cannon there have been about 100 units of over-120mm cannons. In case of partial usage, which is more realistic, more than 150 cannons were exploited. With all this the Azerbaijani armed forces tried to use a trick, which has already expressed itself brilliantly several times in military art history. In the first line of the attacking groups only Special Forces were used, including the attempt of landing air troops into the tactical depth. he helicopter, which was downed in the morning of April 2, was hit during this attempt. This means that these groups had the task to seize the tactical lines or to provide openings and to simultaneously attack the battalion depth from the back and cause panic. The main armored means were acting along with the mobile groups in the second line, trying to act highly harmonically with the first groups. Acting in accordance with these rules and trying to disguise their attack in order to ensure the surprise factor, the Azerbaijani troops involved new forces and means in the process, having reserve forces in the tactical depth. However, since the first actions of the sabotage groups did not achieve full success, despite the fact that there were saboteurs in Talish village and in the back of several positions, the main strike forces were not able to fulfill their task. This means that the way for the main strike forces was not opened, as it had been planned. Here the failure of plans and loss of harmony of strike forces began. Only in this direction, in the blockade, at least 30 soldiers of the Azerbaijani Special Forces were eliminated. Some positions successfully pushed back the attack or quickly regained losses thanks to counterattacks. The same scenario almost repeated in two fronts: 2 drones and 2 tanks were destroyed in Martakert. This means that not being able to overtake the Armenian units the adversary appealed to extreme methods, so called plan "B", the tactics of taking the lead by intense artillery fire. Of course due to such intensive fire, the adversary managed to break through the first line, but it failed the entire operation. Not achieving significant success and not conquering any strategic depth the main forces had to conduct positional battles. Attempting to break through the defense line and failing this operation as well, they started to use heavy artillery cannons which were not planned to be involved because of their slowness. Using armored vehicles, artillery, including MM -21 ("Grad") type systems, the adversary targeted not only the positions of Armenian defense forces, but also peaceful civilian settlements in depth. In this direction on April 2 at 12:30 the air defense forces downed one military helicopter and hit two tanks of the adversary. Actually the Azerbaijani army failed its rapid military operations by the main attacking potential, which should have fractured the protection units by the help of enhanced brigades and infiltrate to the strategic depth. Even two-level higher, the Azerbaijani forces, attempting to strengthen on the frontiers of unit bases, were subjected to counterattacks by NKR Defense Army battalion and regimental reserves and even lost some positions there. In places where the Azerbaijani army managed to keep maximum squad positions it was only possible by attracting reserve corps. Hence, Azerbaijan moved its actions to depletion dimension using old methods of bombing peaceful settlements. As the Azerbaijani Army did not plan this version, it was conducted even worse than a failed operation. From the beginning the Azerbaijani armed forces tried to achieve success relying on the large number of soldiers, but all their attempts were in vain. After the failure of each used methods, after each failed attack the Azerbaijani armed forces were trying to initiate new attacks, hoping to achieve success based on the number of soldiers and technical equipment. Based on this, the Azerbaijani army was transforming the war to a platform not in favor for their army. Gradually, the Azerbaijani army started to involve cannons, heavy artillery, and other types of arms, but as everything was poorly and unprofessionally planned, even the newest weaponry, such as combat UAVs were used not systematically, but individually, and the use of such equipment did not give expected results. Azerbaijan used "Smerch" rocket launchers system against Karabakh, but interestingly even these were totally unsuccessful. It was totally strange that the Azerbaijani army tried to strike tanks and cars using combats UAVs. These weapons are for solving serious operational problems, and not for achieving success in positional battles. About 15 drone strikes were conducted, of which only one was successful: it hit a civilian bus. Other strikes were either ineffective or impractical, and two drone strikes were thwarted by anti-aircraft forces. Certainly these devices were to solve serious operational problems, but they haven't been used correctly. However, since the positional battle became a problem of honor for the Azerbaijani army, they used every kind of means to occupy squadron foothold and trenches, or at least to protect occupied territories from Armenian counterattacks. Actually, the Azerbaijani army, except fighter jets, applied all other type of military equipment, though not operationally and, not in full scale, used the entire operational arsenal. On the contrary the Armenian armed forces did not involve these type of military equipment during the battles, moreover, there was even no necessity to use the army reserves. After the failure of the rapid operation, Azerbaijan began depletion fighting. It is undeniable that Azerbaijan had some technical advantage, but it was not as big as at the last stage of the war. Azerbaijan was forced to the ceasefire, as during 2 days of depletion fighting it lost the main part of the army and military equipment, which were involved in the fight. At the time of the cease-fire agreement the Azerbaijani side had lost 24 tanks, 1 TOS -1 multiple rocket launcher, 1 ITU,6 armored cars, 1 engineering machine, 1 'Grad' MLRS, 2 helicopters and 12 UAVs. Here it should be specially mentioned that the Armenian side lost only 1 UAV. Technical equipment of the Armenian side, particularly at Artsakh side was so dense, that practically it was impossible to move forward without great losses, and the large amount of losses is due to this fact. Besides, the troops were completely expanded due to the former tension conditions and based on reconnaissance data. The 4 day military actions showed that the Azerbaijani armed forces' attacks on our battalions with their reinforced subdivision troops failed and even couldn't move deep towards our battalions. On the 2nd day of military actions, the Azerbaijani troops used forces under operative command. Heavy cannons, military UAVs and "Smerch" systems are not under the control of the super-ordinate, thus, forces and facilities were used provided by 2-3 level higher commandment. In fact, on April 5, Azerbaijani armed forces used 2-3 times higher level forces to partially seize 2 positions of Artsakh Army. Even 10 times excessive Azerbaijani forces couldn't solve the military task and had to endure the counterattacks of Armenian Army. Thus, the cease-fire was an attempt to replenish the consumption to involve new forces as they couldn't implement expansive replenishment and force movements. The peculiarities of the actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces are the following: Operations planning of attacking groups, as well as the preparation of managing bodies were on low level. Azerbaijani army was equipped with modern weapons and military equipment, but they were not used correctly. This was especially demonstrated in the case of military drones and radio-technical equipment, as well as partial technical advantage in tank, antitank, long-range artillery and other hardware. Even a small number of military units had trouble in action coordination and management. The Azerbaijani army showed that it is unprepared for classic and moreover, innovative ways of the Art of War. The Azerbaijani army made one strategic mistake: having serious technical advantage, the latter was unable to use it correctly due to failure of proper management of armed forces; conversely, it chose the tactic of using human resources to gain success and failed by sustaining heavy casualties. The Azerbaijani society is not ready for an exhaustive war, which in reality is not a patriotic war for them. The Azerbaijani press and society are completely closed, there is no self-criticism and admission of mistakes, and they act using standard methods. The peculiarities of the actions of the Armenian armed forces are the following: On the contrary, the Armenian units act quickly and flexibly, especially in maneuvering and dispersion, so quick and precise, that, for example, the "Smerch" systems were unable to find targets on the first day of the attacks. The Armenian armed forces did not create unnecessary concentrations. The usage of the mentioned on strategic layouts cannot be productive. 1-2 salvos were fired. The system of the actions of reserved forces of the Armenian side is chiseled and acts uninterrupted. The Army performs the issue of its recruitment on a high level. Armenian units demonstrated cases of mass bravery. There were cases when small detachments fought against the adversary several times exceeding in number and were killed, while having an opportunity to flee. Defense Army private soldiers downed two helicopters and there were soldiers that destroyed several tanks. While yielding in certain technical issues, the Armenian army exceeds the Azerbaijani army in two most important factors which ensure victory: the high spirit and high level of management of armed forces and reserves, due to well trained and committed commanders and good experience. Artsrun Hovhannisyan Caller-Times File On Thursday, the two-year anniversary of Mostafa "Ben" Bighamian's death, his family wants the community to join them for a candlelight vigil and celebration of his life. SHARE By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times A week after Mostafa "Ben" Bighamian was gunned down in his convenience store, a woman went to the store and told his widow she owed him $100. Keep it, Thelma Bighamian told her. That's what Ben Bighamian would have said. And now it was up to his family to carry his voice, she said. Throngs of people visited the store at the corner of Ayers Street and Brownlee Boulevard to pay respects to the beloved store owner in the days following his April 14, 2014, death. Many have continued visiting the store, which was renamed Ben's Community Market, and have continued sharing memories of him, his widow said. Residents also painted a mural in his honor. On Thursday, the second anniversary of his death, his family wants the community to join them for a candlelight vigil and celebration of Bighamian's life at the store with drinks and hot dogs. The shooter, Daniel Garcia, was convicted last year of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Arturo Navarro, who wielded a knife and demanded cash, pleaded guilty to murder for 45 years in prison. The driver, Del Victoria Cavazos, pleaded guilty to robbery and tampering with evidence in exchange for 20 years in prison. In August, a parole board is scheduled to begin a process to consider releasing her early. The Homicide Survivors Support Group will collect signatures at the vigil to petition against Cavazos' early release. Donna Watkins, the group's founder, also encourages people who knew Bighamian to write letters to the board and deliver them to the store before May 1. Bighamian's six children four of whom are adults and widow briefly considered closing the business just after his death out of fear for their safety. But Bighamian loved the store. He worked long days and rarely took time off. A photo of him and his family celebrating his last birthday he was 59 in the store is pinned to a wall near the register. Even his daughter who was by Bighamian's side when he was shot and pleaded for help from a 911-call taker was compelled to continue his legacy. "There's no way we can close it," Amanda Rodriguez said. Bighamian's family also finds some comfort in continuing his spirit of giving that many friends have publicly described since his death. Bighamian often gave away cold bottles of water and granola bars to people who were in need. He offered odd jobs to people looking for work. He loved to listen to people who seemed to find comfort in talking to him. "People come here just wanting someone to listen and we continue to do that," Thelma Bighamian said. Twitter: @CallerKMT If you go What: Second Annual Memorial Candlelight Prayer Vigil for Mostafa "Ben" Bighamian When: 6 p.m. 8 p.m. Thursday Where: Ben's Community Market, 1602 Ayers St. Editor's note: An earlier version of this story said Mostafa Bighamian's store was located at Ayers Street and Baldwin Boulevard. Naval Air Station Kingsville SHARE CALLER-TIMES FILE Wind turbines dot the skyline in San Patricio County. By Matt Woolbright of the Caller-Times There may be a memorandum of agreement between Apex Clean Energy and local Navy officials for a wind farm in the Chapman Ranch area, but that doesn't mean it's smooth sailing for the hotly debated project. The local issue took center stage at a Texas Senate committee meeting Thursday in City Hall as state and military leaders discussed how best to position bases in the state to avoid cutbacks or closures during rounds of Base Realignment and Closure evaluations. Commonly called BRAC, the evaluations look at Department of Defense base operations searching for potential fiscal savings. An official with Apex emphasized the company was seeking to cooperate with Navy officials to minimize the effects the project would have on flight training in the area a claim Navy officials supported but the emergence of other projects proposed in the area has Navy officials hesitant. "I do feel like one day we're going to wake up surrounded by wind farms in South Texas significantly impacting the mission in a negative way," Capt. Christopher Misner, commanding officer of Naval Air Station Kingsville, told the Committee on Veteran Affairs and Military Installations. Misner said concern is not based on individual projects like the Apex development, but that the effects of hundreds of wind turbines in the vicinity of the base are not known. The Navy is developing a software to model those effects, but that's not expected to be ready until the fall at the earliest, officials said Thursday. "We've got to develop that modeling and we're not there yet," Misner said. "That's why there's so many different stances on wind farms." The large turbines can make tracking planes difficult or impossible, because the arms can spin at speeds faster than some aircraft fly a fact that makes maintaining mission safety impossible, according to a presentation the committee heard from Wichita Falls' Sheppard Air Force Base. Kingsville Mayor Sam Fugate emphasized the state will need to intervene in some cases to ensure bases' mission capabilities are not compromised. "Our (extraterritorial jurisdiction) only goes out 2 miles. We've done everything we can do," he said. "What we really need is a moratorium on constructing wind farms within 25 miles of our base until they can come up with technology to remedy the problem." Thursday's meeting was focused on fact-gathering, but Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels and the committee's chair, indicated she'd consider intervening if a development threatened student pilots' training. "We're actually making our military installations more vulnerable to closing when our military bases are situated surrounded by wind turbines," Campbell said. "We don't want that." "If we don't have enough pilots, then anything that affects pilot training ... is a threat to our defense," she added. Twitter: @reportermatt SHARE Does it really matter who Americans elect as our next president? As the lessons of Otto von Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm II demonstrate, the consequences could be significant indeed. Bismarck was appointed minister president of Prussia in 1862 and chancellor of Germany after its unification in 1871. He served until he was forced to resign by Wilhelm II in 1890, having largely maintained peace in Europe for almost 30 years. Bismarck feared hostility from France, who lost Alsace-Lorraine to Germany in 1871. He needed to remain on friendly terms with Russia to avoid having complications on both borders. Finally, he also worked to prevent conflicts between Austria-Hungary and Russia over tensions in the Balkans as the Turkish Ottoman Empire disintegrated. To counterbalance France, Germany (with Europe's most effective army) maintained friendly relations with Britain (who had the world's most powerful navy). Bismarck stayed out of the race for colonies, leaving the overseas adventurism to France and Britain. Germany provided technological and financial assistance to Russia, and entered into a Reinsurance Treaty where it pledged neutrality unless Russia attacked Austria. Germany entered into a similar Dual Alliance with Austria in which both parties pledged neutrality unless either party was attacked by Russia. Neither Russia nor Austria would receive German support if it were the aggressor. Wilhelm I, who first appointed Bismarck to office, ruled until his death in 1888. His son died 99 days later, leaving his 29-year-old grandson Wilhelm II to be crowned that year. Historian Thomas Nipperdey describes Wilhelm II as "superficial, hasty, restless, unable to relax, without any desire for hard work or to see things through to the end, without any sense of sobriety for balance and boundaries, or even for reality and real problems, uncontrollable and scarcely capable of learning from experience, desperate for applause and success, ... romantic, sentimental and theatrical, unsure and arrogant, with an immeasurably exaggerated self-confidence and desire to show off, a juvenile cadet." A contemporary claimed Wilhelm II "wanted every day to be his birthday." Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck, vowing to give Germany its rightful place in the sun. Wilhelm II caused embarrassment to Germany through his intemperate remarks. He told London's Daily Telegraph that the English "are mad, mad, mad as March hares." He congratulated a South African leader for suppressing British irregulars. He congratulated German troops, who arrived too late to do any good in the Boxer Rebellion, urging them to show no mercy "in the spirit of the Huns." He warned the world to beware of the "yellow peril" following the Russo-Japanese war. He encouraged Moroccan independence from France. But it was Wilhelm II's decisions as king that placed Germany in greater peril than his foolish remarks. Wilhelm II refused to renew the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia, or to allow Russian bonds to be sold on the Berlin exchange, which forced Russia into a military alliance with France, creating the possibility of a two-front war. Wilhelm II also pursued a massive naval construction program to compete with Britain, including a powerful new type of battleship called the Dreadnaught. So Britain entered into an Entende Cordiale with France in 1904, and into a treaty alliance with Russia in 1907. The stage was thus set for the Great War, awaiting only a spark to light the fuse. What were the results of World War I, which occurred in part due to Wilhelm II's intemperate words and ill-conceived decisions? More than 8.5 million German soldiers (and 7 million civilians) were killed, 7 million permanently disabled and 15 million seriously injured. Chemical weapons inflicted 1.3 million casualties. Germany lost 15 percent of its land area and 15 percent of its military-age male population. Economic devastation, Communism, Nazism, the depression and eventually World War II followed in its wake. So, do you think it will make any difference if America elects a leader who is intemperate in his remarks and/or whose policy decisions are not carefully considered? Well, it did for Germany. The consequences were huge. AFRIQUE :: Africa,Celebrating 10 Years of X Maleya: A Look Back Over the groups Career In honor of their decade long career.On March, 2006, a little known group X Maleya released their debut album Exil. The album spawned fun pop hits and put the young group on the map. But who knewthat this group would become a mega force in the African music industry? Now, X Maleya is known internationally for their iconic style, artistry, and numerous accolades that officially span a 10-year career. In the 10 years since the X Maleya burst onto the music-industry scene as the phenomenon, the group has had enormous success. With a lengthy list of major achievements including record-breaking album sales, successful collaborations with major brands and socially involved activities, its hard to believe they were just young people with a dream. Throughout their decade long career, X Maleya has gone from artists on the rise to megaforce across continent. In addition to selling millions of records, winning national and international Awards.More interestingly, these young men did not loose their friendship and still have the values that connect them and inspire their music: love, friendship, peace, humility, and trust in the Lord. The letter X was chosen as a symbol of the unknown, which is life. Maleya simply means Advice in Douala dialect. The group has become recognized for their unique Afro and contemporary music. They have been able to mix and match musical elements and cultural experience. The group has managed to make music that is relevant to worldwide audiences while espousing the ancestral roots of their identity and cultural experience. Through their music the X-Maleya group proposes to their audience a mix and match of Bantu sonorities which reflect their various origins and every style of music most people would enjoy: soul, reggae, jazz, spirituals, blues, and electro. This mix is rooted in multiple strands of the African Diaspora. Their music traverses through space and time. Addressing day to day issues, X Maleya pelted some of its well-known songs, including Yelele, Tchokolo, Son Me, Doumba. X Maleyas music is a blend of modern African rhythms, ambient moods, rhythm, blues, Rn B and Afro-jazz. It contains the rare sounds and rhythms of Cameroonian's traditional music meeting modern world influences. They sing in French, English, Duala, Bassa. The national trio has established itself as one of the true positive leaders and motivational musicians. With enough compassion, love and practical knowledge, they understand that the music they play can transform lives and better the global community. Their incredible upbeat attitude and positive energy combine to make them the Best African group. As African musical ambassador, they understand the power they possess and responsibility entrusted to them. The group continues to inspire younger generations with music that transcends cultural and linguistic barriers to establish a communion of people from all horizons. They use their music as a tool to engage countries to work in concert towards intercultural understanding and peace. X Maleya music traversed through space and time. Addressing day to day issues, X Maleya pelted some of his well-known songs, including Yelele, Tchokolo, Son Me, Doumba. X Maleyas music is a blend of modern African rhythms, ambient moods, rhythm, blues, Rn B and Afro-jazz. It contains the rare sounds and rhythms of Cameroonian's traditional music meeting modern world influences. They sing in French, English, Duala, Bassa, Bulu. After Germany, the trio will participate in a series of concerts and evening with the X-Maleya events in Washington DC, New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, during the period from August 2016 to September 2016. As their US tour promoter, J& R Music and Arts Production is excited and honored to host the X-Maleya as they are applying our proven expertise in African music promotion and marketing and public relations linking musicians with audiences around the world. J&R Music and Arts Production is an international recognized musical marketing and promotion and public relations organization that specializes in producing international music events and programs that enhance understanding of our diverse and multicultural world through the transformative art of music. Their primary focus is to connect musicians with events and programs that engage and uplift community at the local, national, regional and global levels. For X Maleya, this is not just any other celebration. It is a celebration of Cameroonian music and arts and our nations treasured cultural heritage. It is a celebration of talents, hard work and discipline.In addition to their musical career, X Maleya has been recognized for a number of noteworthy philanthropic initiatives. They are Unicef Goodwill ambassador since February 2015. They are also strong advocate of young girls and HIV/AIDS prevention. Client: Let's Go Surfing Agency: The Nest (part of Frost Collective) Market: Australia Scope of work: Brand refresh and website redesign Details: Aiming to significantly expand its business over the next 12 months, Let's Go Surfing undertook a UX refresh in order to address an outdated website "lacking dynamism and personality". The project sought to reflect the brands passion for surfing culture through a more responsive site that would drive engagement and bookings. The new site features an eye-catching video background, and the overall creative direction focuses on the transformative experience or surfing, which extends to the choice of the word 'Go' for calls to action throughout. The site's visual language employs surfboard shapes, while the content focuses on brand values of authenticity, positivity and sustainability to connect with existing and potential customers. The company operates on the east coast of NSW at Bondi Beach, Maroubra and Byron Bay, providing private or group lessons from beginner to advanced levels for families, children and corporate customers. The ambition, according to CEO Craig Wachholz, is to expand to more locations, including internationally, while offering a range of experiences including surf schools, lifestyle tours, surfing retreats, beach health and fitness and surfing academies. New site home page featuring video wave: Comparison of old site (left) and new site (right): Quotes: Martin Hoegh-Guldberg, head of digital, The Nest: Lets Go Surfing was ready to refresh the brands look and feel which was the perfect opportunity to work on the sites UX, structure and functionality. Emotive imagery and video bring the companys unique lifestyle offering to life and make a highly dynamic environment for visitors. We expect the new responsive site to help drive 2016 and beyond sales and bookings. David Judge, chief technology officer, Let's Go Surfing: To authentically connect, deliver professionally, feel good about the brand and importantly, to have fun, we really have to activate the personality and values of the brand both internally and externally, online and off. Campaign Asia Pacific's comments: Although the brand's old site was probably state of the art when created, a static, blocky website for an inherently dynamic activity such a surfing now seems crazily inappropriate. The new site communicates what the brand's all about in every way, which is what all brands should aspire to, really. Web design and technology have advanced to the point where there's no excuse for failing to bake your brand purpose, personality and values into your online presencewhile also taking care of 'hygiene' issues such as responsive (mobile-compatible) design and smooth interaction. CREDITS Head of Digital: Martin Hoegh-Guldberg Group Creative Director: Anthony Donavon Executive Producer: Charlie Bruton Senior Producers: Daniel Mulligan and Kate West Technical Lead: Matt Neville UX & Digital Designer: Zion Wu It is not known which other agencies competed for the business. Emirates will work with the agency to roll out its global Hello Tomorrow branding initiative in the market. According to a statement from BBDO, this will involve integrated campaigns aimed at high-growth segments and premium travellers. The branding initiative aims to position Emirates as the airline that unites people, places and passions, the statement said. Christopher Gallanto, SVP of corporate communications and advertising for the airline, is quoted as saying his team was impressed with BBDOs enthusiasm for the brand. Emirates follows Cathay Pacific in apparently increasing its activity in Japan. Last year, Cathay appointed Burson-Marsteller for communications duties in the country, according to sources. Adapting global work is a common approach by multinationals in Japan. In March, Marina Bay Sands launched its first branding effort for the marketan adaptation of a campaign featuring David Beckham that began in 2015. BBDO Japan is a division of I&S BBDO Group that launched last July to service global accounts and bring international resources to Japanese clients. In November, it absorbed the Japan operations of Omnicom Group sister agency DDB. We spent a year exploring why COVID testing is broken We look at the failures of America's diagnostic testing systems. There are structural barriers that prevented the U.S. from scaling up testing. [Your Business Name] Contact Info Phone: Fax: Email: Web: CAPITOLHILLCUBANS.COM Business Overview Geographic Area Line of Business Brands We Carry Products and Services Discounts Offered Additional Information Business Hours Timezone We Accept Three college students who first met while attending a Catholic high school in Florida have launched a scholarship fund to help others experience faithful Catholic education at a Newman Guide college. As we went off to different colleges, we kept in touch and found time to catch up whenever we returned [] Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. Pursuing academics in the top universities and top colleges is the dream of every student in the present era. Ofcourse, all the top universities and colleges across the globe are buzzing with the international students for one or the other reason. Choosing right place with right course out of them is where the challenge lies in. Sweden is one among top countries that houses best universities. Education system in the Sweden aims at imparting innovative and research-intensive skills among students has been the major driving factor to entice more and more international students. Besides, highly developed economy makes studying in Sweden a uniquely beneficial learning experience. According to Times Higher Education and the Academic Ranking of World Universities, Swedish universities are ranked among the world's top universities. Nearly four percent of Sweden's gross domestic product (GDP) are funded on research and development. Apart from this innovative education system , Sweden has also other aspects that lure international students such as: natural beauty, chic cosmopolitan cities, a welcoming culture, and lots of travel opportunities within the country and to the neighbouring European nations. Here we have listed out few factors why students from overseas are inclined to study in Sweden. 7 reasons for international students to study in Sweden 1. Studying in Sweden is an unique experience Studying in Sweden is an unique not only because students are exposed to innovative and valuable skills but also introduced to global job market.Swedish educational institutions provides you an opportunity to be a team player in the global job market, wherein you learn techniques of working in a team along with the academics. The educational institution in the country offer different undergraduate and post graduate programmes . You can also find different universities that focus on social sciences (psychology, sociology), medical fields, and other fields that aren't as "technical" but are just as important. 2. Swedish universities have advanced programmes Students pursuing Master's degree programmes in Swedish universities are explored to hand-on experience. Academics combined with practice, taking up internship, apprenticeships, and work part time in the related fields gives you a favourable prospects. Thus, this helps in building a distinct identity among peer-group even after completion of degree. 3. Universities in Sweden follow strategic learning in academics Sweden houses some of the best universities, has also have an history of proud and successful academic excellence. The Swedish higher education system is ranked number two in the world, and the number one in the relation to GDP. Being a part of such universities enables you to be active in receiving, contributing and implement your skills. Swedish universities are well-adapted to the needs of international students, and Sweden ranks in the top three in the world for English proficiency. You can use English with everyone you meet, from the classroom to city center. 4. Swedish universities encourage students to contribute ideas, opinions The informal and non hierarchical nature prevailed in Sweden provides you an opportunity to think independently, creatively and critically. The swedish universities encourage students to contribute ideas and opinions, which inturn help students to open up to new perceptions. 5. Swedish universities instill competitive edge to pursue career Many degree programmes in Sweden include internship, a great way to get real-world experience to build your professional network. If you're interested in research, pursuing master's in Sweden would be a best option. As a student you will be encouraged to learn how to combine theory and practice. Sweden owns the largest number of multinationals companies such as IKEA, TetraPak, Volvo, Ericsson, AstraZeneca and H&M. Here student can see bright future ahead as they get job offer soon after they finish the studies. Students can also apply for a work permit, which enables them to strike balalnce between work and life. 6. Students in Swedish universities are surrounded by innovation, creativity Innovative and Research are core concepts of the Sweden. Swedes embrace creativity. Institution and universities have also contributed leading to successful inventions. Some of the innovations include Computer mice, Bluetooth technology, Skype and other external computing devices, Pacemakers, kidney dialysis devices and other health care devices that save lives every day. Ericsson, Volvo, Scania, Electrolux, Sandvik, Atlas Copco, IKEA, H&M (clothing company) are some of the multinational companies that are named after Swedish innovation. 7. Swedish universities believe in gender equality and embrace diversity Sweden believes in gender equality and it welcomes the fact that everyone is of equal value contributes to Sweden's consensus approach to getting things done. It consistently places among the world's top countries in gender equality be it lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Sweden are reserved. Everyone can take part in the decision-making. In Sweden student will get introduced different interests, needs and ideas and learn how to collaborate to bring out the best in across cultures. S Most of the Swedes speak two or more languages. Every swede you meet speaks English, Swedish, and usually a couple more languages from some of the other counties in the European Union (German and French are popular). Companies in Sweden will work in English, universities offer courses in English. People from around the world stay in Sweden. As a student you can enjoy compatibility with existing diverse culture. Read Also: Photo: Jo Delli Most people misunderstand marketing. Its usually thrown in with sales and assumed to be just another way for a company to sell you whatever it is theyre selling. The truth is, marketing is the natural evolution of the standard sales approach. Henry Ford, when referring to colour selection on the Model T, said, "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants, so long as its black." Today the consumer is king: The sheer number of possibilities is mind boggling. If you go into a retail clothing store today to buy a pair of jeans, you quickly realize the days of single wash Levis 501s are over. You have a selection of washes from faded out to almost black. You have straight cut, boot cut, tapered fit, and skinny jeans. Go to a restaurant today to order a burger: Whole wheat, regular, or gluten free? How would you like it cooked? Fries, salad, or half and half? In virtually every industry, the range of selection, and ability for people to have an active role in the process, has increased exponentially. Financial services is no exception. The delivery systems, investment choices, fee or cost options, and service levels are all part of the decision making process, or at least they should be. For many in the full service side of the industry though, there is still a desire to offer clients not necessarily what they want or need but what is best for them to offer. This attitude tends to go with the cookie cutter approach to wealth and financial management. The one size fits all solution. As clients become more knowledgeable about their options, they begin to ask more questions and want a more detailed, transparent approach to help them make decisions. They want to know all their options, and the best solutions for them. Unfortunately, taking time to do the back work and produce a proposal that helps clients make decisions eats into the profitability of the old practice models. As they say, time is money. I remember a conversation with a friend of mine after the 2008 market meltdown. We would often debate the industry and the markets, and while she was only involved as an investor, she enjoyed the conversation. Her comments have stayed with me. She said that prior to 2008, we were willing to pay an advisor fees because we believed he could protect us from an event just like 2008 event. After going through the correction, we realized that no one has the ability to protect us, its just a question of managing the risks, not avoiding them. This begs the question - why should we pay these fees if advisors cant protect us from the markets? The short answer is that managing your financial future is about more than absolute returns. Certainly there are steps one can take to minimize the downside of the markets, but the price is lesser upside. Having a successful retirement isnt only about money. Its about lifestyle, health, accommodations, personal legacy, social networks, and interests. Its about the peace of mind that comes of knowing you have yourself on track. There are many people in the industry who understand this shift, and they have created processes to make sure that not only are their clients well informed, they are also comfortable with the solutions. Clients have become part of the process, and understand why theyre investing their money the way they are. The discussion should start with, What is it youre looking to achieve? What kind of lifestyle would you like to live? What are your hopes and dreams? These are all legitimate questions when planning your financial future. It doesnt guarantee youll get to where you want to go, but it does increase the likelihood. It also gives you a clear picture of what it is you need to do. Selecting the right investment products shouldnt centre around, What was the best performer last year? or Which fund has the lowest MER? Dont get me wrong, those are important factors, but they must be taken in context with considerations such as your time frame, risk parameters, income needs, the amount of participation you want to have, reporting expectations, and financial situation. There is a right solution out there for everyone. The key is to understand that it isnt the same solution for everyone. Its different for each client, and if youre being told that it isnt, what theyre really saying is that you are welcome to any colour you want, so long as its black. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. Its enough to make some people go crazy. Construction noise on the development lot at the corner of Richter Street and Harvey Avenue, has got residents in Kelowna talking. A machine used to compress soil is making consistent ringing sounds every Monday to Friday from about 7 a.m. to after 5 p.m. The area is being developed by Mission Group Homes for a planned community of heritage-inspired homes called Central Green. The noise made by the machine has rung out through the downtown for at least a couple weeks, according to readers. Some refer to it as "the gong," and wonder when the noise will end. Others wrote to Castanet with their concerns that the compression construction is shaking their homes. Several who lived more than four blocks away from Richter Street and Harvey Avenue said they can hear the noise inside their houses. Next door to the construction are the offices for the City of Kelowna. They told Castanet the cement building helps to block out some of the noise, but the computer monitors shake all day. A student from a nearby school said the sound gets very annoying day-after-day. Another person said it sounds like bells ringing from inside his residence, which is several blocks away. Many of those who spoke to Castanet on the street, were in the consensus that the work needed to be done, so there was nothing to do but wait for this part of the construction phase to be over. They will be making the neighbourhood look better, said one man. Let us know what you think about the "gong show" by sending Castanet a note to [email protected] Photo: Ryan Mehes A Kelowna man is furious after he says a local bus drivers irresponsible driving has left his 24-day-old daughter injured. On the afternoon of April 11, Ryan Mehes was riding the bus with his fiance and new daughter, Peyton Rose Babij Mehes. The baby was secured in a stroller. The Number 10 bus was travelling south on Spall Road, looking to make a left turn on Enterprise Way. Mehes says the bus was going well over the speed limit, at roughly 80 km/h, trying to make the turn before the light at Enterprise turned red. The car in front of the bus decided to stop instead of running through the yellow light, causing the bus driver to slam on his brakes, sending the passengers lurching forward. He hit the holy s*** switch because he knew he was speeding, Mehes said. Im watching full view, he didnt even touch the brakes up until the last 30, 40 feet before the light and then he slammed on the brakes. Peyton was secured in her stroller, but was jarred by the rapid deceleration. I almost landed on her, Mehes said. I had to grab the stroller because it was sliding backwards. Mehes says he and his fiance were concerned about how the incident may affect their daughter and kept their eyes on her overnight. Shes been acting really weird. She wont move her head to the right. She wont look right. Shes set on her left side, Mehes said. We told the public health nurse what had happened and she was doing a body check and making sure everything was OK, and guess what its not. The nurse told Mehes their daughter has hip dysplasia, a misalignment of the hip joint. Mehes says public transit is his primary mode of transportation, and hes seen this particular driver driving too fast before. Theyre unsafe, they have no care for the rules of the road and now my daughter is injured, he said. She needs to have a hip brace and a possible neck brace. He has contacted Kelowna Regional Transit, who told him to file a claim with ICBC, but Mehes wants to know whats being done about the driver. They havent said anything about the driver, what his repercussions are, he said. I bet you (he's) still driving today. Drew Snider, communications consultant with BC Transit, says Kelowna Regional Transit is still pulling together paperwork on the incident. Snider says he cant comment on any repercussions the driver involved may face until all the facts on the incident are compiled. Photo: The Canadian Press By all accounts, tensions between Latino newcomers and whites have eased in the nearly eight years since a vicious hate-crime stabbing left an Ecuadorean immigrant dead. Enter Donald Trump. Trump's planned appearance at a GOP fundraiser on Thursday just blocks from the site of the attack has ignited protests from Latinos, who fear the billionaire's tough talk against immigrants could open old wounds and undo the progress that's been made in Patchogue, N.Y. "If he comes, there might be a toxic environment again. Maybe something bad happens," said 23-year-old Jocelyn Fajardo, who was born in New York City to Ecuadorean parents. "Trump puts U.S. people against us, Latinos. He divides people." Joselo Lucero, whose brother was killed in the 2008 attack, says Patchogue is the wrong place for Trump to visit. "My community has suffered so much discrimination." So far, there's been no comment on the controversy from Trump, who caused a firestorm on the first day of his campaign when he labeled illegal immigrants from Mexico as rapists and criminals, and he has repeatedly promised to build a massive wall along the border. "I feel like that's the only thing he talks about," said businessman Angel Zhicay, 50, who is from Ecuador. Thursday's gala to raise funds for Republican candidates across eastern Long Island is being held in a nightclub about 200 yards from the intersection where 37-year-old Marcelo Lucero was confronted by a gang of teens who admitted they regularly targeted Hispanic immigrants. They called the altercations "beaner hopping." Lucero was walking with a friend when the teens began yelling ethnic slurs and approached them. Lucero hit Jeffrey Conroy, then 17, in the head with a belt. Conroy lost his temper, took out a folding knife and fatally plunged it into Lucero's chest. Conroy was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The six others pleaded guilty to lesser crimes. At the time of Lucero's slaying, police acknowledged there had been a tense atmosphere in the town of nearly 12,000, including attacks on immigrant day labourers, but they say tensions have noticeably subsided. Last month, the top prize in the town's annual St. Patrick's Day parade went to a group of Ecuadorean step dancers. "As much as one might hear that hateful echo in Trump's words today, it does not negate his right to speak," Long Island newspaper Newsday said in an editorial Wednesday. "More important, his trip is a chance for Patchogue to tell the story of its progress." Activists are planning protests leading up to and during Trump's appearance. This week at the site of the slaying a sign reads: "Hate is not welcome in Patchogue. Make America Love Again." John Jay LaValle, chairman of the Suffolk County Republican Committee, said Thursday's event was scheduled more than two months ago and he invited every Republican candidate. He said Trump, who was recently been endorsed by the county GOP, accepted only last week. "While we offer the greatest empathy possible to the family of Marcelo Lucero," LaValle said, "We can't help but to be suspicious of the motives of those leading the charge to connect that vicious hate crime with Mr. Trump's commitment to enforcement of immigration laws that have gone largely ignored by both parties for 30 years." Felix Diaz, 47, an immigrant from El Salvador who owns his own landscaping business, said he hopes Trump cancels. "He talks about separating families", Diaz said of Trump. "I have two kids who are here undocumented, but I am not speaking for them only. I am speaking for the whole Latino community. Even if someone would pay me to go, I would never go and listen to him." Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet File Photo George Abbott Water will take centre stage when local governments get together for the annual Southern Interior Local Government Association convention. The convention begins Tuesday at the Delta Grand Hotel in Kelowna. About 160 mayors, councillors, directors and administrators from nine cities, 10 districts, four towns, seven villages, six regional districts and one resort municipality will attend the four-day conference. The theme of the conference is 'Water Connecting Us All.' A drinking water symposium led by the Ministry of Health and Interior Health will highlight the conference. There will be updates on the new Water Sustainability Act and the Agricultural Land Commission. Former provincial health minister George Abbott will speak to delegates. Abbott is currently one of two mediators trying to find common ground between the City of Kelowna and local irrigation districts over integration of the city's water system. Bob Turner, former head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for the Gaza Strip will also speak at the conference. Several resolutions have also been brought forward from various municipalities. In all, 17 resolutions will be voted on in an effort to get them to the UBCM convention later this year. Photo: Flickr/RCMP An RCMP officer on Vancouver Island has been acquitted of aggravated assault at his second trial. A B.C. Supreme Court judge in Nanaimo acquitted Const. David Pompeo on Wednesday, 18 months after the B.C. Court of Appeal ordered a new trial after a September 2009 shooting. William Gillespie was pulled over south of Nanaimo on suspicion of driving while prohibited, and Pompeo testified he fired because he believed the man was armed and going for a gun. In throwing out the original conviction and its sentence of 24 months probation and 240 hours of community service, B.C.'s highest court ruled the trial judge compromised the appearance of fairness during questioning. Following the acquittal, Pompeo's lawyer Ravi Hira urged the Criminal Justice Branch to more rigorously assess evidence before charging officers for alleged crimes while on duty. After the shooting, Pompeo transferred to the Nanaimo RCMP detachment from Duncan and remains there. Photo: Natalia Bosley UPDATE: 9:10 p.m. A high-flying, adventuresome cat is back on solid ground in Princeton after it had been stuck on a power pole for four days. The cat had gotten itself stranded on top of the power pole, but its owner, Bill Backhall, was frustrated at the lack of response by BC Hydro. This prompted a social media storm, with dozens of tweets urging BC Hydro to save the stuck kitty using the hashtag #SavethePrincetonBCcat. Crews arrived on scene at 8 p.m. and had the cat back to earth without incident by 8:30 p.m. UPDATE: 1 p.m. BC Hydro's Dag Sharman says crews have determined they can save the cat without cutting power to the lines. Two highly-specialized transmission crews with transmission trucks are now on the way to Princeton from the Shuswap. Sharman says it will take several hours for the large trucks to arrive in Princeton. The rescue is planned for later this afternoon. UPDATE: 12:30 p.m. BC Hydro has just tweeted that it has a crew from Salmon Arm that is mobilizing and will work on cat-rescue efforts this afternoon. The rescue has now even gained a hashtag #SavethePrincetonBCcat on twitter and even MP Dan Albas has got involved asking the utility company to act. @bchydro Please help the cat or let people know why you can't help. Thank you. https://t.co/lea75nHyci Dan Albas (@DanAlbas) April 14, 2016 ORIGINAL: 12 p.m. UPDATE: 9:10 p.m. A young cat is stranded up a power pole in Princeton and its owner is desperate to get it down. Thursday marks the fourth day the cat has been stuck on the pole without food and water. The one-year-old cat is owned by Bill Blackhall, who is frustrated by the lack of response from BC Hydro. The cat didn't come home Sunday night and I found her up there Monday morning, says Blackhall. It is a very big pole. After her third night up there I was getting really worried. He says BC Hydro at first refused to acknowledge ownership of the pole and FortisBC told him they don't save cats, so he feels like he has been getting the runaround ever since. The poll is definitely owned by BC Hydro, so I called them back, says Blackhall. They said they would send a crew on Wednesday and I waited all day long and then I got a call from Fortis, they passed the buck to them. He says he was on the phone with them all day and night and was told that nothing could be done by either utility company. This morning Blackhall was back on the phone again with BC Hydro. I was really angry. Not only did they first deny ownership of the line, but they said they would send a crew and didn't. I was pretty angry at this point, says Blackhall. A supervisor said he would pass the message up the line and I am still waiting. Blackhall says the cat is still up the pole and he has seen vultures around the area that worry him. BC Hydro's Dag Sharman told Castanet that crews are trying to work on a way to save the cat, but it is a complicated rescue. We do not serve customers in that area, but we do have a transmission line in that area, says Sharman. It is high voltage, it is 138,000 volts that line, so it requires certified line crews to go up there. We are looking to see how we can help the cat, where we can get people from, says Sharman. The closest transmission crew is currently in Lilloett. It is logistically difficult, but right now we are trying to figure out any possible way we can get down there and save the poor cat. The pole the cat climbed is such a high-voltage line that only certified line crews can safely try to rescue the cat without risking their own lives. Sharman says the cat is high up there, about 60 feet in the air. The cat is also in a difficult position to get to. It is right at that pole, on a crossarm that holds the lines. Because it is high voltage, getting in there is pretty tricky without a power outage, says Sharman. We are also looking at whether this rescue will require a power outage and that line feeds the mine, which means the mine would be without power. He says BC Hydro is now looking to work with FortisBC crews to develop a plan to bring the cat down safely and quickly. We have to determine how we would be able to rescue it and who would be able to do that. Logistically, it is challenging, so we are working on all of that, adds Sharman. As for the the cat's owner, Blackhall says if the cat does get home safely, it will now be an indoor cat. Castanet will have further updates from BC Hydro on this situation later today. In Sikhism, Vaisakhi is one of the most significant holidays on the Sikh Calendar. The Okanagan Sikh Temple has been celebrating since 10 a.m., Friday morning, and will continue until Sunday afternoon. Photo: Grant Scott The 2nd Annual Vaisakhi Parade drew hundreds of people to the parade route Saturday afternoon. "It marks the beginning of the new year in the Sikh calendar," says Temple President Parmjit Patara. "It's commemorating the establishment of Sikhism." In 1699, the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, remembered as the last living Sikh spiritual teacher, baptized the first Sikhs using sweet nectar called Amrit. "It made them the Saint Soldiers to protect all human kind," says Patara. Around the world at this time, Sikhs and individuals of Punjabi descent reflect on the values taught to them by their gurus and celebrate the birth of the Khalsa. Patara also pointed out that Vaisakhi is a chance to celebrate and give thanks for the harvest. "Back in Punjab right now they have just finished harvesting the wheat crop. The farmers thank God for the harvest and pray for prosperity in the future." The celebrations include dancers performing the energetic Bhangra and Gidda dance, which represent everyday farming scenes like sowing, harvesting and the gathering of crops. The holiday also is a chance for Sikhs in the Okanagan to welcome the community into their culture. One way they do that is with the 2nd Annual Vaisakhi Parade which proceeded despite the rain on Saturday afternoon. "We've approached the community at large, other businesses and ethnic groups, and invited them in to bring their floats and have fun for a few hours," says Patara. The parade featured a variety of floats, an explosion of colours and the sounds of music filling the air. Despite the poor weather, the parade route was crowded with people who wished to join the celebration, Patara invites everyone to join them anytime over the weekend, as the festival will continue until Sunday afternoon at the temple on Rutland Road. "What happens is the reading of the scripture begins at 10 o'clock Friday morning, 1430 pages read continuously, until it's finished sometime on Sunday morning. Every two hours the person reading it changes." The reading is held upstairs at the temple, while downstairs the dining hall is open and people are invited to visit, eat and mingle with others. For more information the Okanagan Sikh Temple's website. Press Release Embargoed Until: Thursday, April 14, 2016, 1:00 p.m. ET Contact: image icon A pure culture of the bacteria that made someone sick. Changes in the tests that diagnose foodborne illness are helping identify infections faster but could soon pose challenges to finding outbreaks and monitoring progress toward preventing foodborne disease, according to a report published today in CDCs Morbidity and Mortality Week Report. Culture-independent diagnostic tests (CIDTs) help doctors diagnose infections quickly because they provide results in hours instead of the days needed for traditional culture methods, which require growing bacteria to determine the cause of illness. But without a bacterial culture, public health officials cannot get the detailed information about the bacteria needed to help find outbreaks, check for antibiotic resistance, and track foodborne disease trends. In 2015, the percentage of foodborne infections diagnosed only by CIDT was about double compared with the percentage in 2012-2014. Foodborne infections continue to be an important public health problem in the United States, said Robert Tauxe, M.D., M.P.H, director of CDCs Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases. We are working with partners to make sure we still get important information about harmful bacteria despite the increasing use of diagnostic tests that dont require a culture. The increased use of CIDT could affect public health officials ability to monitor trends and detect outbreaks. In the short term, clinical laboratories should work with their public health laboratories to make sure a culture is done whenever a CIDT indicates that someone with diarrheal illness has a bacterial infection. For a long-term solution, CDC is working with partners to develop advanced testing methods that, without culture, will give health care providers information to diagnose illness and also give the detailed information that public health officials need to detect and investigate outbreaks. Limited progress in reducing foodborne illness The report included the most recent data from CDCs Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, or FoodNet. It summarizes preliminary 2015 data on nine germs spread commonly through food. Overall, progress in reducing rates of foodborne illnesses has been limited since 2012, according to the report. The most frequent causes of infection in 2015 were Salmonella and Campylobacter, which is consistent with previous years. Other key findings from the FoodNet report include: The incidence of Salmonella Typhimurium infection, often linked to poultry and beef, decreased 15 percent from 2012-2014 levels. This decline may be due in part to tighter regulatory standards and vaccination of chicken flocks against Salmonella. The incidence of some infections increased: Reported Cryptosporidium infections increased 57 percent since 2012-2014, likely due to increased testing for this pathogen. Reported non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections increased 40 percent since 2012-2014. Quicker and easier testing likely accounted for some or all of this increase. FoodNet has been monitoring illness trends since 1996. FoodNet provides a foundation for food safety policy and prevention efforts because surveillance data can tell us where prevention efforts are needed to reduce foodborne illnesses. CDC is working with federal, state, and local partners, and the food industry to improve food safety. New regulations and continuing industry efforts are focusing on challenging areas. USDA has made improvements in its poultry inspection and testing models and has tightened standards for both Salmonella and Campylobacter in poultry. In 2013, we launched a series of targeted efforts to address Salmonella in meat and poultry products, known as the Salmonella Action Plan, and recent data show that since then the incidence of Salmonella Typhimurium infection has dropped by 15 percent, said USDA Deputy Undersecretary for Food Safety, Al Almanza. However our work is not done. The newly published performance standards for poultry parts will lead to further Salmonella reductions and fewer foodborne illnesses. In 2015, FDA published new rules to improve the safety of the food supply including produce, processed foods, and imported foods. Dr. Kathleen Gensheimer, MD, MPH, director of the FDAs Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation team and Chief Medical Officer, Foods and Veterinary Medicine Program, said, We want to respond quickly to foodborne illness, but our true goal is to move forward with preventive measures that will be implemented from farm to table. In addition to collaboration with other government agencies at the local, state and federal level, the rules we are implementing under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act will help the food industry minimize the risk of contamination to our food supply. For more information on avoiding illnesses from food, please visit www.foodsafety.gov. About FoodNet FoodNet collects information to track rates and determine trends in laboratory-confirmed illnesses caused by nine germs transmitted commonly by food: Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, Listeria, Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing O157 and non-O157, Shigella, Vibrio, and Yersinia. Annual data are compared with data from the previous three years (2012-2014). Since 2010, FoodNet has been tracking the increasing use of CIDTs used by clinical laboratories for diagnosis of bacterial enteric infection. FoodNet is a collaboration among CDC, 10 state health departments, the USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service, and the FDA. FoodNet covers 48 million people, encompassing about 15 percent of the United States population. The sites are the states of Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, and Tennessee, and selected counties in California, Colorado, and New York. ### U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESexternal icon Successes and Challenges in Implementation of Radon Control Activities in Iowa, 20102015 Allison A. Bain, MPH; Anne L. Abbott, MPP; Laura L. Miller Suggested citation for this article: Bain AA, Abbott AL, Miller LL. Successes and Challenges in Implementation of Radon Control Activities in Iowa, 20102015. Prev Chronic Dis 2016;13:150596. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd13.150596external icon. PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED Abstract Background Radon gas has recently become more prominent in discussions of lung cancer prevention nationally and in Iowa. A review in 2013 of cancer plans in the National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program found that 42% of cancer plans, including Iowas, had terminology on radon. Plans included awareness activities, home testing, remediation, policy, and policy evaluation. Community Context Iowa has the highest average radon concentrations in the United States; 70% of homes have radon concentrations above the Environmental Protection Agencys action levels. Radon control activities in Iowa are led by the Iowa Cancer Consortium, the Iowa Department of Public Health, and the Iowa Radon Coalition. Methods A collaborative approach was used to increase levels of awareness, testing, and (if necessary) mitigation, and to introduce a comprehensive radon control policy in Iowa by engaging partners and stakeholders across the state. Outcome The multipronged approach and collaborative work in Iowa appears to have been successful in increasing awareness: the number of radon tests completed in Iowa increased by 20% from 19,600 in 2009 to 23,500 in 2014, and the number of mitigations completed by certified mitigators increased by 108% from 2,600 to more than 5,400. Interpretation Through collaboration, Iowa communities are engaged in activities that led to increases in awareness, testing, mitigation, and policy. States interested in establishing a similar program should consider a multipronged approach involving multiple entities and stakeholders with different interests and abilities. Improvements in data collection and analysis are necessary to assess impact. Top Background Radon is a naturally occurring, radioactive, colorless, odorless gas produced by the decay of uranium. One route of radon production is through the soil. Radon in soil poses a health risk when the gas rises and enters buildings through cracks, joints, service pipes, and sump pits and accumulates indoors without having an exit. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends that radon remediation take place when indoor levels reach 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) (1). As radon levels increase, health risks increase (2). Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States (3). Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers and the second leading cause of lung cancer overall. An estimated 21,000 deaths occur nationwide each year as a result of radon exposure (4), making exposure prevention a priority issue. A review published in 2013 of the National Comprehensive Cancer Control Programs (NCCCPs) plans found that only 42% of those plans had terminology on radon. Plans that did refer to radon were most likely to focus on awareness activities and included such topics as home testing, remediation, policy, and policy evaluation. The study concluded that NCCCP-funded programs should consider collaborating with other organizations to leverage resources used in identifying or controlling radon exposure and, when cancer plans are updated, should consider the following radon-related activities to prevent lung cancer (5): improve awareness of radon, improve home testing, promote remediation of homes with high levels of radon, support radon policy activities, and evaluate existing radon policy. Iowas cancer plan is important for prioritizing radon-related activities in the state. The plan suggests the following activities: education, advocacy for comprehensive legislation, testing during real estate transactions, and financial assistance for radon mitigation (6). The plan is written, coordinated, and evaluated by the states cancer coalition, the Iowa Cancer Consortium (ICC), which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of more than 300 members who collaborate across the state. The overall objective of Iowas radon interventions since 2010 has been to reduce the incidence of lung cancer in the state by reducing radon exposure through a collaborative approach. The creation of a statewide coalition and increasing community engagement activities improved awareness, increased radon testing, promoted remediation of homes when necessary, and instituted policy to increase radon testing and mitigation. These strategies for meeting the overall objective align with the recommendations of the review of NCCCP cancer plans (5). Although interventions in Iowa began in 2010 before publication of the review in 2013, the reviews framework applies to interventions in Iowa since 2010 and is useful for highlighting broad success in the state. This article describes community engagement in Iowa to increase radon awareness, testing, and mitigation. Top Community Context Iowa has the highest average concentrations of indoor radon in the United States; 70% of homes have radon concentrations greater than 4 pCi/L; this level is more than 6 times the national average and is due to soil composition (7). The entire state of Iowa is classified at the highest potential for radon exposure by the EPA; thus, all Iowans are at risk. These factors create a scenario that necessitates radon exposure prevention activities to reach Iowas 3.1 million residents (8). Programs to address radon in Iowa are coordinated and radon stakeholders are mobilized by the Iowa Radon Coalition (IRC). (Materials created by the coalition are available at www.breathingeasier.info.) The IRC is made up of nearly 100 members who work on radon-related initiatives or are interested in increasing radon awareness. Coalition members include people and groups from various sectors: public health, nonprofit organizations, industry, health care, research, and academia (Figure). The IRC is facilitated by the ICC, and many IRC interventions are initiated and funded by the ICC. The ICC offers yearly community grants for radon awareness and testing projects. One radon coalition member group responsible for mobilizing communities across the state is lung cancer survivors. Survivors share their stories and the life-changing effects of radon exposure at community events and webinars and during legislative advocacy efforts. Figure. Members of the Iowa Radon Coalition. [A text version of this figure is also available.] The risk posed by radon exposure in Iowa makes the creation and promotion of radon policy a worthwhile endeavor. All lobbying activities are undertaken by the IRC. Since 2010, IRC members have advocated for testing and mitigation, when necessary, in Iowas schools. In 2014, these sustained lobbying efforts led to the passage of An Act Relating to Radon Control in Schools (9), which initiated the creation and administration of a survey for all public and private schools in Iowa. The results of this survey demonstrated that 82% of public and nonpublic schools had not implemented a radon testing and mitigation plan before December 1, 2014. Of those schools, 59% of public schools and 63% of private schools had no plans to create a testing and mitigation plan (10). The survey results underscored the need to continue advocating for a mandate on radon testing, a mitigation plan, and funds to assist schools. Before the IRCs formation in 2010, some radon-related policies were already in place. Since 1988, Iowa has required radon professionals to be licensed for radon testing and mitigation by the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) (11). Additionally, although testing is not required for most entities in the state, testing has been required for daycare and preschool facilities since 1997 (12). In 2009, Iowa established a requirement for home sellers to inform home buyers of previous radon testing during real estate transactions, and realtors are required to share the Radon Fact Sheet during a real estate transaction (13). In 2015, Iowa amended disclosure language to include disclosure of results of a radon test, regardless of the level, to a potential buyer during a real estate transaction. Previously, only the seller received the results (13). These policy advances laid an important foundation for the current policy work by IRC members. In 2013, the IRC first proposed creating policy to mandate that all new homes be built using radon-resistant new construction (RRNC) practices. RRNC practices are a series of techniques applied during the building process to prevent radon gas from entering the home, and the practices include having a passive mitigation system during construction (14). Although Iowa does not have a statewide policy on RRNC, RRNC codes have been adopted in 8 counties and 8 city jurisdictions (15). The decreased expense for the homeowner (compared with traditional mitigation) to activate the passive system makes the technique appealing to those considering or currently building homes. A statewide RRNC policy would help reduce one of the major barriers to mitigation high costs and potentially save each homeowner $500 to $1,500. The IDPH is a member of the coalition. IDPHs contributions occur through the Iowa Radon Program which tracks data on testing, mitigation, and certified mitigators. This program is coordinated by the Bureau of Radiological Health and the Bureau of Environmental Health Services. The program also provides national updates to the IRC. The Comprehensive Cancer Control Program in IDPHs Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Management provides oversight of radon activities implemented by the ICC. Top Methods When an intervention opportunity is initiated by the IRC, existing partners and coalition members are recruited. Many interventions are initiated by the ICC, and partners assist with developing materials or programs and then implementing programs in their community. Interventions are often modified to meet the needs of a target population. The partners community presence is leveraged to reach diverse populations across the state. Additional partners are recruited to address special needs related to awareness or testing, including targeted outreach to health care professionals, lobbying for policy, and outreach to particular populations or geographic areas. Partners are responsible for evaluating interventions and sharing outcomes of implementation. Information is collected qualitatively, based on experiences, responses, and surveys, and quantitatively, by collecting data on radon levels, testing, and mitigation. Metrics used to track programs include data from pretests and posttests on knowledge during educational sessions and events. In addition, contact information for participants is collected when test kits are distributed during events so participants can be contacted by telephone or email if tests are not completed. Program evaluation data, including data on successes, barriers encountered, and reach, are also collected. Program outcomes are shared at meetings and through electronic communications with partners. Stories of successful initiatives are used to gain support and encourage partners to replicate activities in other areas of the state. Several examples of interventions are highlighted below. Improve awareness A multifaceted communications effort was implemented to increase awareness of radon. Awareness activities occur during the entire year, but they increase during Novembers Lung Cancer Awareness Month and Januarys Radon Action Month. Advocates work with the governors office to declare each January Radon Action Month, giving radon a statewide profile, and to help increase awareness among Iowas legislators. Awareness activities include the creation of original content, material distribution, and media engagement. Original content included small media and social media. Social media messages are developed by the ICC and integrated into the social media accounts of partners. Among the most promising original content are 1) a brochure with Iowa-specific information, Radon & You: What you need to know to protect you and your family and 2) Breathing Easier, a YouTube video with 12-minute and 23-minute versions targeted to health care professionals (www.breathingeasier.info) (16). The brochure was developed by the IRC and the American Lung Association in English and Spanish, and it is available at no cost to the public. Partners distribute this brochure across the state as does the Iowa Radon Hotline, an 800-number that receives 1,400 calls per year from Iowans requesting information about radon. The hotline is funded by the Iowa Radon Program and staffed by the American Lung Association. The IRC also used earned media to increase awareness. Earned media allows organizations to promote events, activities, and stories without a fee. In January 2015, media outreach activities included developing and distributing media packets with radon information, promoting local radon-related stories, and disseminating contact information for radon experts and media outlets across the state. Twenty-four radonrelated news stories were published in January 2015. Increase radon testing and promote remediation of high radon levels The importance of testing for and remediating high radon levels is included in Iowas radon awareness messaging; however, strategies to increase testing and remediation, when necessary, were also implemented. For testing, community-based projects and events that couple educational materials with on-site test-kit distribution is a promising practice. Participants are required to complete a form when receiving a kit and receive follow-up by telephone or email if their test has not been completed. The ICC provides funding for such events; the ICC supported nearly 40 individuals or organizations in implementing projects, some of which consisted of multiple events. The reach of these events varied from 10 to 500 people. Well publicized events with multiple partners including public health and health care partners had the highest reach. Once testing is complete, the major barrier to mitigation is cost: approximately $1,200. With that in mind, the IRC and the ICC worked to find financial assistance programs for mitigation. The IRC worked with the Iowa Bankers Association to publish a newsletter article in January 2014 recommending that member banks offer unsecured low-interest loans for mitigation. To ensure that those who are not eligible for or unable to repay loans have mitigation options, the ICC and its partners disseminated information about assistance provided by local organizations. The ICC also provided services to communities with low socioeconomic status. For example, the ICC, from October 2012 through September 2014, in partnership with Polk Countys Healthy Homes Program, supplemented funding through the Radon Free Homes Initiative to test and mitigate homes at no cost to the homeowner through a social justice grant from the EPA. Additionally, some ICC-funded projects, such as the Northwest Iowa project, engaged in policy-, system-, and environmental-change efforts that addressed mitigation barriers. In the Northwest Iowa project, the grantee met with local banks to offer low-interest loans for home mitigation and 2 local contractors became certified mitigators in response to the project (17). Support radon policy activities and evaluate existing radon policy The IRC supports and advocates for comprehensive radon legislation, including radon testing and mitigation in schools, financial assistance for mitigation, and RRNC. Model policy includes all of these elements. The diverse membership of the IRC empowers members who can lobby for radon-related legislation and encourages education and advocacy efforts among members who are prohibited from lobbying. IRC members, including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, cancer survivors, and the Iowa Medical Society, are involved in lobbying for statewide radon policy. Advocacy activities include workshops to educate legislators about radon, an educational mailing to legislators, and one-on-one education. No formal evaluation of advocacy efforts with legislators was completed, however; anecdotal evidence from members of the coalition who work closely with legislators points to an increase in radon awareness. Top Outcome Community engagement on the issue of radon exposure has improved because of these collaborative efforts. Before 2010, awareness messaging was limited because communication among organizations addressing radon was not coordinated. The IRC has helped coordinate awareness efforts, increase radon testing and mitigation, and focus policy efforts. The collaboration of partners since 2010 led to an increase in the number of messages reaching Iowans and created a unified message about the dangers radon poses and what can be done to reduce risk. Since 2010, the IRC distributed more than 30,000 Radon and You brochures. As of December 2015, the 12-minute radon video, created by the University of Iowa College of Public Health and IRC members, had nearly 7,000 views, and the 23-minute video had more than 2,400 views. Novembers Lung Cancer Awareness Month and Januarys Radon Action Month were promoted on social media starting in 2013. One Facebook post, which featured a radon-induced lung cancer survivor, for Radon Awareness Month in 2014 had 1,000 unique views, 55 post clicks, and 44 likes, shares, or comments. Media outreach efforts resulted in 24 radon-related stories on television and radio and in newspapers during Radon Action Month in 2015. Funding provided by the ICC for radon-related initiatives has totaled more than $57,500 since 2010. Since then, 9 projects mobilized Iowans to provide education; test for radon; and create policy, systems, and environmental changes. In one Northwest Iowa community, the ICC funded a family physician to hold community education sessions, which more than 400 people attended and which resulted in 378 homes being tested for radon; more than 85% of homes had test results greater than 4.0 pCi/L (14). Radon testing and mitigation has increased since the collaborative work began in Iowa. In 2009, before implementation of collaborative radon efforts, the number of radon tests completed in Iowa was 19,600. In 2014, after implementation, nearly 23,500 radon tests were completed an increase of 20%. Evidence suggests that efforts to promote mitigation were successful. In 2009, the number of mitigations completed by certified mitigators was 2,600. In 2014, that number increased to more than 5,400, a nearly 108% increase (18). The number of certified mitigation specialists who perform remediations in the state increased from 54 in 2009 to 76 in 2014 (18), which suggests that demand is increasing. Although these increases do not address the full 1.3 million residences in Iowa (8), the increases are positive. Top Interpretation Iowa communities are engaged in the issue of radon exposure through collaborative efforts, and this engagement has led to improvements in awareness, testing, mitigation, and policy. States interested in establishing a similar program should consider a multipronged approach involving multiple entities and stakeholders with different interests and abilities (Table). One challenge in evaluating the success of Iowas radon efforts is the collection and analysis of state radon data. Currently, IDPH receives data from test-kit laboratories, which report the information provided by the homeowner or tester, and compiles data on the number of tests completed. However, the absolute number of test kits completed is often misleading because it does not reflect the number of homes tested. The number of test kits used to test a home depends on square footage and the personal choice of the tester. Additionally, these data are not readily available to the public or to advocates of radon testing; this lack of availability presents concerns not only for program evaluation but also for members of the general public who are interested in learning about radon levels in their community. Data on the publics level of radon awareness are also lacking. The level of activity and engagement by entities such as the ICC, IRC, and IDPH suggests that the publics level of awareness of radon increased, but no data confirm this supposition. Some states use surveys such as the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) to capture these data, but Iowa does not. In creating best practices for radon activities in other jurisdictions, it is important to note that Iowas success statewide is not well evaluated, in part because of the challenges in collecting test data. Statewide test and mitigation data are currently collected and stored in a way that is not easy to access or analyze. Currently, the ICC collects data at the individual and project level to overcome the limitations of statewide data collection. Iowas experiences make a viable case for collecting data on each radon-related activity. The challenges for data collection and analysis do not diminish the gains made in Iowa to date, however, and IDPH is currently working to improve the data collection system to make data more accessible to advocates for radon testing and the general public. The improvements in data collection and availability will be valuable for future campaigns and for determining where collaborative efforts are most effective. Overall, the multipronged approach and collaboration appears to be successful in increasing awareness and testing of radon in Iowa. Policy change will be necessary to create large-scale changes in the state and will continue to be pursued by the various agencies involved in radon control activities. Improvements in data collection and analysis are necessary to accurately assess the impact of the multipronged approach and collaboration. Top Acknowledgments Projects funded by the Iowa Cancer Consortium received support, in part, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant no. NU58DP003885 to the Iowa Department of Public Health for Iowas Coordinated Comprehensive Cancer Prevention and Control Program. The Radon Free Homes Initiative was funded by Environmental Protection Agency grant no. 97736701. Top Author Information Corresponding Author: Allison A. Bain, MPH, Iowa Cancer Consortium, 2501 Crosspark Rd, A164, Coralville, IA 52241. Telephone: 319-335-4609. Email: abain@canceriowa.org. Author Affiliations: Anne L. Abbott, Laura L. Miller, Center for Evaluation and Research, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. Top References US Environmental Protection Agency. A citizens guide to radon: the guide to protecting yourself and your family from radon. http://www.epa.gov/radon/pubs/citguide.html. Accessed September 1, 2015. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Toxicological profile for radon. US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service; 2015. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp145.pdf. Accessed September 1, 2015. US Cancer Statistics Working Group. United States cancer statistics: 19992012 incidence and mortality web-based report. Atlanta (GA): US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Cancer Institute; 2015. National Research Council. Health effects of exposure to radon: BEIR VI. Washington (DC): The National Academies Press; 1999. Neri A, Stewart SL, Angell W. Radon control activities for lung cancer prevention in national comprehensive cancer control program plans, 20052011. Prev Chronic Dis 2013;10:120337. CrossRef external icon PubMed external icon Iowa cancer plan. http://canceriowa.org/ICC/files/7b/7b48c315-8c4d-4f65-abf0-a77f57603bac.pdf. Accessed September 1, 2015. EPAs map of radon zones Iowa. Washington (DC): US Environmental Protection Agency, Radon Division, Office of Radiation and Indoor Air; 1993. US Census Bureau. State and county QuickFacts: population and Iowa residences; 2014. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/19000.html. Accessed August 27, 2015. 2014 Iowa Acts Ch 1094 (Senate file 366). Senate file 366: radon control in schools radon notification and testing. Des Moines (IA): Iowa Department of Education; January 1, 2015. Iowa Department of Public Health. Iowa credentialed radon mitigation specialists, 2015. https://www.idph.state.ia.us/radon/Fix.aspx. Accessed September 1, 2015. Iowa Code 237A.12. Iowa Code 558A.1 et seq. http://www.idph.state.ia.us/IDPHChannelsService/file.ashx?file=A57F5B95. Iowa Cancer Consortium. Breathing easier; 2012. http://canceriowa.org/BreathingEasier.aspx. Accessed March 1, 2016. US Environmental Protection Agency. Radon-resistant new construction (RRNC), 2013. http://www.epa.gov/radon/rrnc/index.html. Accessed September 1, 2015. Listing of states and jurisdictions with RRNC codes. US Environmental Protection Agency; March 12, 2015. http://www.epa.gov/radon/rrnc/code_listing.html. Accessed September 1, 2015. Levy BT, Wolff CK, Niles P, Morehead H, Xu Y, Daly JM. Radon testing: community engagement by a rural family medicine office. J Am Board Fam Med 2015;28(5):61723. CrossRef external icon PubMed external icon Radon database: measurement tests (no post mitigation results) and mitigation. Des Moines (IA): Iowa Department of Public Health Radon Program; 2015. Top Table Table. Radon Activities by Iowa Cancer Consortium, Iowa National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, and Iowa Radon Coalition, 2010 to 2016 Radon-Related Activity Area (5) Examples of Activities Improve awareness of radon Created Iowa-specific educational materials, including a brochure (http://canceriowa.org/ICC/files/c7/c774551a-687e-4a3e-8561-367d0a780737.pdf) and educational video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXn5s7-QCJY) Operate Iowa Radon Hotline through the American Lung Association Educated health care professionals on radon Direct outreach to various organizations, including worksites, real estate groups, banks, and garden clubs Created and coordinated social media messages on Facebook and Twitter Partnered with local television stations and newspapers Improve home testing Distributed test kits at large and small local and statewide events Educate about testing methods with instructions and demonstrations Attended conferences and events as speakers and vendors Promote remediation of homes with high levels of radon Supported financial assistance programs for mitigation Worked with Iowa Bankers Association on an article on banks that offer low-interest loans for home mitigation Developed a financial-resources document for Polk County that highlights programs that include radon testing and mitigation as part of services Support radon policy activities Involved in state and federal legislation on school testing and mitigation, radon-resistant new construction, and funding for mitigation and education Educated state legislators about radon and provided test kits Work with the Iowa governors office to recognize Radon Action Month Evaluate existing radon policy Evaluate state radon policy annually Top Cemex paves Egypt's first concrete highway 14 April 2016 Cemex in Egypt contributed to the paving of Egypts first concrete highway. The approximately 22-mile (35km) road connects Cairo, the countrys capital, with the seaport city of Suez, two of the nations most important economic centres. Cemex supplied 130,000m3 of concrete for the Cairo-Suez highway. This concrete paving solution offers this country a number of advantages over traditional asphalt roads, including greater durability, higher tolerance, better visibility especially at night, superior resistance to severe weather, lower periodic maintenance and higher road safety, claims Cemex. Although Cemex has successfully applied concrete technology to roads worldwide, it is new to Egypt. This achievement resulted from multiple concrete initiatives over the past several years. Beginning in 2011, Cemex in Egypt demonstrated the beneficial characteristics of concrete paving to Egypts General Authority of Roads and Bridges by working closely with the private sector on several pavement projects. We are very proud to have paved Egypts first concrete highway, and contributed to the development of the country, said Ramon Piza, Cemex Egypt country manager. Published under LINCOLN -- Farm and ranch landowners will receive a $20 million boost from the state of Nebraska next year to help offset their local property taxes. On Wednesday, lawmakers voted 47-1 to give final approval to a measure increasing the amount in the state's property tax credit fund to $224 million each year. For agricultural landowners, that total amounts to about $120 per $100,000 of property valuation. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island on behalf of Gov. Pete Ricketts, who has called property tax relief his No. 1 priority this legislative session. Its final version was the result of months of discussion between members of the Legislature's Revenue Committee and the governor's office. Ricketts is expected to sign the measure (LB958) in the coming days. Other measures given final approval by lawmakers Wednesday, the 59th day of a 60-day session, include these: Testing for juniors All Nebraska high school juniors would take the ACT or similar college admissions tests instead of the current series of statewide assessment tests under a measure sponsored by Sen. Jim Scheer of Norfolk. Lincoln Public Schools already gives the ACT to all juniors, and the Nebraska Department of Education would have until the 2017-18 school year to make that change statewide. LB930 passed on a 46-1 vote. Civil forfeiture Law enforcement agencies would need to seek criminal charges against a person in order to require forfeiture of their seized cash, weapons or other property under a bill by Sen. Tommy Garrett of Bellevue. The measure applies only to state courts, and still allows agencies to pursue the federal civil forfeiture process if the property seized exceeds $25,000. Agencies also must report to the state auditor's office about the property they seize. LB1106 passed on a 38-8 vote. Social media privacy Employers would be prohibited from demanding access to the private social media accounts of workers or job applicants under a bill sponsored by Sen. Tyson Larson of O'Neill. LB821 passed on a 46-0 vote. Arena financing Pinnacle Bank Arena and other major sports facilities would be able to capture state sales taxes from more surrounding businesses under a bill sponsored by Sen. Jim Scheer of Norfolk. In Lincoln's case, the measure widens the so-called "turnback tax" radius from which hotel sales taxes help cover the arena's bond payments. LB884 overcame a filibuster and passed on a 43-4 vote. Learning Community School districts in the Omaha-area Learning Community would no longer pool property tax revenue with a common levy under a bill sponsored by Education Committee Chairwoman Kate Sullivan of Cedar Rapids. The measure is expected to cost the state about $17 million next year, a figure that includes additional poverty aid for certain districts. LB1067 passed on a 40-7 vote. Prison crowding, sentencing A clean-up bill to a law passed last session would address sentencing and help with serious crowding issues at the state's prisons and keep offenders from returning to prison once they are out. It would also include a measure (LB910) that would require the Office of Parole Administration to cooperate with the state inspector general for corrections and provide direct access to computerized records, and require reporting on inmates with mental and behavioral health needs who are in solitary confinement. Bicycle right-of-way A bill meant to make Nebraska more friendly to bicyclists made it through the final round of voting. When a bicycle rider on a bike path comes to an intersection with a traffic control signal the rider would have the right-of-way. A pedestrian would still have the right-of-way in the crossing with respect to vehicles and bicycles. The bicyclist can't suddenly leave a curb or sidewalk and go into the path of a vehicle that could not stop because the bicyclist is so close. LB716 passed on a 38-3 vote. Sign up for our newsletter [] :2016 20160414 16:34:24 Wafangdian Bearing Company Limited Estimated Performance For The First Quarter Of 2016 Our company, the whole members of the board of directors and top managements ensured the truth, accuracy, completeness, no false record, misleading statement and fatal omit of the announcement. I. The estimated performance for the current period 1.Performance periodJanuary 1, 2016 to March 31, 2016 2. Estimated performance: Losses turn losses into gains increase compared with last period decline compared with last period Items Current period The same period of last year Net profit owned to the shareholders of listing company Yuan) gainsfrom 1.8 million to 2.6 million Yuan Losses :15,385,987.48 Yuan Basic gains on per shareYuan) gains from 0.004 to 0.007 Yuan Losses 0.04 Yuan II.The audited situation The estimated performance for the current period is unaudited. III.Statement for performance change Affected by economic downturn, the market needs dontinued depression, the company overcome many difficults such as the orders, over capacity, sale price constantly getting down and the cost level relatively went up,at the same time the company take many activity masures to make the company into a atable development,and make profit in Q1 2016. IV. Other relative statement The estimated performance is the preliminary data, the detail will be disclosed in first quarter report of 2016. The specified media for it is Securities Times, Hong Kong Commercial Newspaper and the website is http://www.cninfo.com.cn. The company's information will be disclosed in line with relative laws and regulation,please pay attention to the investment risk. Specially Announcement Board of director of Wafangdian bearing Co., Ltd April 14, 2016 Wafangdian Bearing Company LimitedEstimated Performance For The First Quarter Of 2016Our company, the whole members of the board of directors and top managements ensured the truth, accuracy,completeness, no false record, misleading statement and fatal omit of the announcement.I. The estimated performance for the current period1.Performance periodJanuary 1, 2016 to March 31, 20162. Estimated performance: Losses turn losses into gains increase compared with last period decline compared with last periodItemsCurrent periodThe same period of last yearNet profit owned to the shareholdersof listing company Yuan)gainsfrom 1.8 million to 2.6 million YuanLosses :15,385,987.48 YuanBasic gains on per shareYuan)gains from 0.004 to 0.007 YuanLosses 0.04 YuanII.The audited situationThe estimated performance for the current period is unaudited.III.Statement for performance changeAffected by economic downturn, the market needs dontinued depression, the company overcome manydifficults such as the orders, over capacity, sale price constantly getting down and the cost level relatively wentup,at the same time the company take many activity masures to make the company into a atable development,andmake profit in Q1 2016.IV. Other relative statementThe estimated performance is the preliminary data, the detail will be disclosed in first quarter reportof 2016. The specified media for it is Securities Times, Hong Kong Commercial Newspaper and thewebsite is http://www.cninfo.com.cn. The company's information will be disclosed in line with relativelaws and regulation,please pay attention to the investment risk.Specially AnnouncementBoard of director of Wafangdian bearing Co., LtdApril 14, 2016 The Civitas Institute Center for Law and Freedom (CLF) has moved for summary judgment in Gaston County Superior Court on behalf of clients seeking access to public records within the custody of the City of Belmont, North Carolina. The motion is the latest step in a lawsuit that CLF filed in August of 2015 The case presents the issue of whether an investigation into the Belmont Police Department is a public record. Put briefly, CLF is alleging that an investigation conducted into a police department by a private investigation company is a public record, and as such it should be disclosed pursuant to the Public Records Act. The City of Belmont has taken the position that the entire investigative report is a confidential personnel file , and that it therefore does not have to disclose the report as a public record. The parties essentially agree as to the facts of the case; they only disagree only as to how the public records and personnel laws apply to those facts. Such disagreements of law are ripe for argument on what is called "summary judgment," where a judge rules on how the law applies to a given set of facts - the idea being that if no facts are in dispute, it is more efficient for a court to dispose of the case without engaging in intensive fact-finding, whether on its own or with the help of a jury.In December of 2015, the parties were essentially ready to make their arguments on summary judgment. The defendants filed their answer to the lawsuit, and after conducting a small amount of discovery it was clear that the parties agreed on all the material facts, meaning that a decision made purely on the law was appropriate. However, North Carolina law requires the parties to a public records dispute to submit to mediation before a court has jurisdiction to compel the production of public records. While the mediation statute does provide for a waiver of mediation, the parties can only do so after requesting mediation and designating a mediator . These are time-consuming steps that substantially delay access to public records.Here's the most egregious part - in this case, the plaintiffs and the defendants agreed that mediation was unnecessary. All parties cooperated to waive mediation as quickly as possible. And yet, it still took three months from the time that the parties were ready to argue the case to the time when the plaintiffs were legally able to move for summary judgment.There may be cases where it makes sense for the parties to a public records dispute to go through mediation. For example, if there are numerous issues of fact in dispute, a mediator might be able to resolve whose version of the story is true, helping avoid the process of fact finding by a judge or jury. But in cases where the parties agree as to all material facts, it is unnecessary and onerous to require mediation, particularly in light of the Public Records Acts' statement that public records are "the property of the people" and that "the people may obtain copies of their public records and public information free or at minimal cost."Regardless, CLF has now moved for summary judgment and filed a notice of hearing for May 16 in Gaston County Superior Court. As that date draws closer, both sides will likely file written briefs before making their oral arguments in court. All public case documents will continually be added to CLF's litigation library It has been far too many years since the Woke theology interlaced its canons within the fabric of the Indoctrination Realm, so it is nigh time to ask: Does this Representative Republic continue, as a functioning society of a self-governed people, by contending with the unusual, self absorbed dictates of the Woke, and their vast array of Victimhood scenarios? Yes, the Religion of Woke must continue; there are so many groups of underprivileged, underserved, a direct result of unrelenting Inequity; they deserve everything. No; the Woke fools must be toppled from their self-anointed pedestal; a functioning society of a good Constitutional people cannot withstand this level of "existential" favoritism as it exists now. Tom Campbell As a TV talk show moderator my job is to ask questions. Lately, I've been fielding them, mostly about HB2. People want to understand how North Carolina got into this mess and how we get out of it.We may never know all the facts but here are several conclusions I've reached, understanding some might be wrong.First, contrary to what some might believe this isn't really about bathrooms or about LGBT persons. This is political gamesmanship and pandering to constituencies.Charlotte deliberated its anti-discrimination ordinance for more than a year, had several options, but decided to include the bathroom provision with the encouragement of and prodding by national political and special interest groups. The effective date of April 1 was set with the full knowledge that the legislature was coming back into session April 25th. This clever strategy was designed strategy to bait Republicans while stirring the Democratic base into action.Republican legislative leadership took the bait, swallowing it hook line and sinker. Governor McCrory wouldn't call them into special session, suggesting they wait for Charlotte's ordinance to become effective, acting only seeing its impact. The legislature refused, not only overturning the bathroom provision, but going much farther, pandering to their political base. Did they know the uproar their actions would create or just not care?They didn't care because they didn't have to. 90 percent of the legislators who voted for HB2 either face no opponent this fall or come from districts so gerrymandered they won their last elections by more than 10 percentage points. 42 percent of all legislative candidates are running unopposed this fall. If you ever needed proof why we need redistricting reform this should provide it.There are three primary parts to HB2. We think lawmakers were on pretty solid ground on two of them. North Carolina is not a "home rule" state. Local governments are the creation of and under the control of the state. The legislature has the constitutional authority to overturn any ordinance established by any local government. Agree or disagree with their actions but legislators were well within their authority to overturn Charlotte's bathroom ordinance. They were similarly justified in overturning local government attempts to raise minimum wage levels in their municipalities above the state proscribed level.Where lawmakers outran their headlights was in denying EEO and discrimination lawsuits from being filed in state courts, a deliberate attempt to eliminate or greatly curtail the numbers of these suits. Most folks have neither the money nor the patience to pursue them in the lengthy proceedings in federal courts.How do Republican leaders extricate this big, sharp fishhook they swallowed? Governor McCrory's Executive Order 92 was an acknowledgement of the damage done, but may have come too late. It allows the private sector and local governments to establish employment, bathroom and locker room policies as each sees fit and expands North Carolina's employment policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity. McCrory will also urge the legislature to rescind the provision refusing discrimination cases in state courts.Seldom do politicians admit they are wrong but a failure to fix this could cost Republicans a U.S. Senate seat, the Governor's office, many down-ballot elections and some big Republican fish could end up being served on Democratic tables come November 8th. This is the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tenn. was the site of a 2008 spill of more than 1 billion gallons of coal ash slurry. As energy companies decide what to do with aging coal ash disposal facilities in North Carolina and across the nation, they may be overlooking a fundamental but potentially critical variable -- oxygen. In a new study researchers from Duke University demonstrate that the level of oxygen in a coal ash disposal site can greatly affect how much toxic selenium and arsenic can be leached from the system. "The tests that the Environmental Protection Agency relies on consider variables like the pH of the water, but they don't look at whether the system is aerobic or anaerobic," said Heileen Hsu-Kim, the Mary Milus Yoh and Harold L. Yoh, Jr. Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "We wanted to demonstrate that oxygenation actually matters a lot, especially for arsenic and selenium." In the wake of a 2014 coal ash spill into North Carolina's Dan River from a ruptured Duke Energy drainage pipe, the question of what to do with other aging coal ash retention ponds and future waste has been a hotly debated topic. Duke Energy currently plans to dig up 24 of its 36 ponds in the Carolinas. But the 12 remaining ponds without a cleanup plan hold more than 70 percent of the 108 million tons of ash held in North Carolina ponds. One option is to essentially turn the ponds into a landfill by removing the water, capping the remaining waste with a top liner and covering it all with soil. "Some of these ponds did not have bottom liners when they were originally constructed, so they'll be susceptible to leaking to groundwater even if they are covered on top," said Hsu-Kim, who also holds an appointment in Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment. "When you cap a site, you're separating it from air. And if the buried waste goes anaerobic, it could enhance the leaching of some elements, leading to more contamination than expected." In the study, Hsu-Kim and her graduate student Grace Schwartz set up a series of microcosms -- small-scale laboratory replicas of an environment. They then looked at how much arsenic and selenium leached out of the system both with and without oxygen. Both contaminants are potential problems for aquatic wildlife, and arsenic can be cancerous to humans. The tests showed that with oxygen, the levels of selenium leaching are much higher than that of arsenic. But that trend flips when the system becomes anaerobic -- there is an increase in the leaching of arsenic and a decrease for selenium. Hsu-Kim points out that this result is not surprising given the chemistry of the two elements, and previous projects not related to coal ash sites have demonstrated these results in the real world. The study points out that this could be happening in coal ash sites as well. "I'm trying to figure out if anyone is thinking about the fact that they're changing the oxygen conditions within the ash site by covering it," said Hsu-Kim. "This research suggests that some of the proposed methods for ash ponds closure in North Carolina may not be a slam dunk solution to the problem." JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Bank of New York Mellon and State Street were cited Wednesday, April 13, 2016 by the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for gaps in their bankruptcy plans known as "living wills" that they were required to submit. The five banks were among eight Wall Street behemoths whose plans were evaluated. (Paul Sakuma / AP) Washington Federal regulators said Wednesday that five of the country's largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, still don't have credible plans for winding down their operations without taxpayer help if they start to fail. These so-called "living wills" are a critical requirement of the 2010 financial reform package, Dodd-Frank, aimed at a preventing a repeat of the taxpayer bailouts that took place during the financial crisis. The regulators found various problems with the plans submitted by Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, JPMorgan Chase, State Street, and Wells Fargo. Advertisement The failures are likely to tap into populist concerns that U.S. banks are still "too big to fail." It comes as the banking sector is likely to report weaker financial results for the first quarter of the year. The five banks have until October to address the problems found by the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. If the deficiencies aren't addressed, the banks could face higher capital requirements or other regulatory sanctions if their plans are still not deemed sufficient. Advertisement "The FDIC and Federal Reserve are committed to carrying out the statutory mandate that systemically important financial institutions demonstrate a clear path to an orderly failure under bankruptcy at no cost to taxpayers," Martin J. Gruenberg, chairman of the FDIC, said in a statement. The findings come at a time when other measures put in place to respond to the financial crisis are also under assault. Regulators have also attempted to identify financial firms, outside of banks, that could pose a threat to the economy. These firms have traditionally received little government scrutiny, but after the massive insurance company AIG nearly collapsed in 2008 and required a $182billion taxpayer bailout, lawmakers called for stricter oversight of this portion of the financial industry. A government panel has labeled four firms - AIG, Prudential, General Electric's financing arm and MetLife - as "systemically important financial institutions," subjecting them to tougher government rules. But General Electricis now arguing that it no longer qualifies for the designation because it has shrunk its balance sheet. And MetLife,which was founded in 1868 and has a global footprint of 100million customers and a market capitalization of $48billion, filed a lawsuit that now threatens the entire process. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer overturned the company's "too big to fail" label and challenged the process the government used. The Treasury Department is appealing the ruling, which experts have said could hobble this portion of the financial reform law. Evanston Hospital, part of NorthShore University HealthSystems, is seen April 5, 2016, in Evanston. Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University HealthSystem are seeking to merge but the Federal Trade Commission is challenging their plan. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune) Northwestern Memorial HealthCare wants the Federal Trade Commission to block the merger of Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University HealthSystem because it would like NorthShore to join its system, according to NorthShore's CEO. CEO Mark Neaman delivered the bombshell while on the witness stand Thursday in a hearing over whether its deal with Advocate would violate federal antitrust laws. Northwestern's interest in NorthShore had not been a matter of public knowledge. Advertisement Neaman said under oath that he met with Dean Harrison, Northwestern's CEO on Jan. 29 at the Chicago Club. Harrison told him that he wanted the FTC to win the lawsuit it brought to stop the merger. If the deal was blocked, Northwestern would like to pursue a merger with Evanston-based NorthShore, Harrison told him. Neaman said he told Harrison that it would be difficult to pull off a Northwestern-NorthShore merger because the two health systems had not gotten along well in the past. He also told him that he didn't believe there was any way the FTC would allow such a deal. Advertisement "He told me not to worry about the FTC," Neaman testified. "He said Northwestern had a way to get around the FTC." Neaman said Harrison encouraged him to meet with Northwestern University's leaders. Neaman said he met Morton Schapiro, president of Northwestern University in February, who reiterated the university's desire to marry NorthShore. "He said, 'I will do everything I can do to make it happen,'" Neaman said. Reached for comment, Northwestern Medicine spokesman Christopher King said later in an email: "Any discussions we have had with organizations in the past are confidential." Neaman was questioned about Northwestern Memorial's interest by his attorney, Dan Webb. Webb said the testimony shows Northwestern's bias in the case. The FTC called Northwestern Memorial's chief legal officer, Jim Dechene, as a witness on Tuesday. Northwestern has been a source of controversy in the antitrust case. The FTC has argued that Northwestern's academic medical center in Streeterville does not compete with Advocate and NorthShore's hospitals in the northern suburbs. Dechene testified that Northwestern's academic medical center generally competes with other academic medical centers and not community-based hospitals. Northwestern also owns five other hospitals in the Chicago area, including one in Lake Forest. Advocate and NorthShore disagree, saying that they compete with Northwestern every day, especially since the health system has opened outpatient clinics and acquired doctors' offices in the northern suburbs. asachdev@tribpub.com Advertisement Twitter @ameetsachdev Abraham Cabrera, a food delivery driver for a restaurant in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, said that he has never had a paid sick day. Cabrera spoke April 13, 2016, at a news conference before a Chicago City Council meeting. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) Calling access to paid sick leave "just a baseline of decency," Ald. Ameya Pawar joined like-minded lawmakers and advocates Wednesday in announcing a proposed ordinance that would require almost all Chicago employers to let their workers earn at least five sick days a year. The ordinance echoes recommendations released early this month by a task force convened by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to explore, among other things, paid sick time, the lack of which disproportionately affects low-income workers who must choose between getting paid or staying home when they or a family member are ill. Advertisement "Jobs without these basic standards are growing in our city and growing rapidly," Anne Ladky, executive director of advocacy group Women Employed and co-chair of the 27-member task force with Pawar, 47th, said at a news conference before Wednesday's City Hall meeting. "We need to ensure that our workplace standards keep up with changes in our economy." If Chicago passes the ordinance, it will join more than 20 cities and five states that mandate paid sick leave. Advertisement Some business groups, including the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, oppose requiring paid sick leave, saying mounting regulations and costs in the city, from tobacco taxes and the plastic bag ban to minimum wage increases, end up hurting jobs. "There are a number of ways to address paid sick leave, and the city is going about it only one way, which is employer-funded," Tanya Triche, vice president and general counsel at the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, said in an interview. "It seems to me that the city thinks employers have pockets full of cash. At what point will lawmakers think that enough is enough?" Under the proposed law, employees could accrue one hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked, with a minimum of five sick days in a 12-month period. Employees can carry over half of any unused sick time into the next year, up to 20 hours. Employers would not have to pay out any unused sick time when an employee exits a company. The proposal also allows employees to carry over up to 40 hours of unused sick time into the following year for purposes of the Family and Medical Leave Act, such as to care for a newborn or an ailing family member. The law would apply to employers of all sizes and to employees who work at least 80 hours for an employer within any 120-day period. New employees would start accruing time right away but wouldn't be able to use it for up to 180 days after their start date, meaning many temporary and seasonal workers wouldn't be covered. Paid sick time could be used in the event of illness, domestic violence or the closure of a school or business due to a public health emergency. Compared with other cities with paid sick leave laws, Chicago's proposal falls in the middle of the pack, more liberal than some and more conservative than others. Speaking at the news conference, Abraham Cabrera, who works as a food delivery driver for an Indian restaurant in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, said he has never had a paid sick day. He has two children, aged 5 and 7, who have asthma and when they become sick he has to take them to the emergency room. Advertisement "It means I have to choose between supporting my children's physical health and financial health," said Cabrera, 39. "I should not have to do that. And no one should have to do that." As introduced, the proposal is more conservative than an earlier iteration that called for five sick days for employers with fewer than 10 workers and nine days for larger employers. That measure never got to a vote. Ald. Toni Foulkes, 16th, a lead sponsor of both the new proposal and the previous one, recalled her own experience without paid sick days when she worked at Jewel as a cake decorator. Foulkes said she got chicken pox at age 32, with "a fever so bad that literally the water was running down my legs." "And I made cakes for little kids," she said. "I was dealing with food." Ald. Joe Moreno, 1st, who co-sponsored the original proposal with Foulkes, said the concept is "a no brainer" and as important to consumers as employees. Advertisement "If establishments don't support this ordinance, I'd like them to put a sign up in their establishment saying, 'Caution, your food may be being prepared by someone who is sick because we don't support earned sick days,'" Moreno said. Offering paid sick leave would add 0.7 to 1.5 percent in labor costs for most employers, depending on size and usage, according to an analysis completed for the task force by the nonprofit Civic Consulting Alliance. Triche, of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, said those numbers are "nonsense" and the costs would be much higher, especially for customer-facing jobs like retail that would need to substitute workers when someone takes a sick day. Triche said business owners "will find efficiencies" that don't ultimately benefit workers, like cutting hours. Pawar, at the news conference, called the opposition a "knee-jerk reaction" and pointed to documents leaked last week to The Washington Post that suggested business leaders support worker-friendly policies more than their interest groups acknowledge. The survey of 1,000 business executives across the country, conducted by Republican pollster Luntz Global and obtained by liberal watchdog group the Center for Media and Democracy, found 73 percent of respondents supported more paid sick leave. "For some of the business groups, they are out of step with their membership," Pawar said. Advertisement About 42 percent of Chicago private-sector workers, or 460,000, don't have access to any paid sick leave, according to Women Employed. More than 80 percent of Chicago voters in a nonbinding referendum in February 2015 said they supported requiring paid sick days. The mayor on Wednesday said he supports the idea of companies being required to provide sick leave, but did not commit to backing the proposal put forward by aldermen. Based on the task force report, "aldermen proposed a kind of final product, and now we're going to have that discussion at City Council," Emanuel said after the council meeting. But he indicated that he was reluctant for the city to act on its own and instead would prefer the General Assembly take up the issue, while acknowledging chances of that were slim. "The policy of having paid sick days, five of 'em, as a general rule I support," Emanuel said. "I happen to think we have to be smart about it. I don't want the city to be an island unto itself." Tribune reporter Hal Dardick contributed. Advertisement aelejalderuiz@tribpub.com Twitter @alexiaer Chef Pierre Pollin greets Susanne Poilevey at a memorial for her husband, chef Jean-Claude Poilevey, at La Sardine on April 14, 2016, in Chicago. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune) La Sardine restaurant became a culinary Field of Dreams on Thursday, as chefs throughout the area came to pay their respects to a fallen comrade. Jean-Claude Poilevey, who owned the classic bistros Le Bouchon in Bucktown and La Sardine in the West Loop, was killed in a 15-car crash Saturday. Advertisement The open-house memorial began at noon, and every few minutes another old friend, another chef from the old and the new days, wandered in. They embraced Poilevey's wife, Susanne, shook hands with sons Oliver, Henri and Nicola. They celebrated the life of a man known for his professional skill, quick wit and occasionally irascible tone. "My restaurant was next to his for eight years," said Takashi Yagihashi, referring to his former restaurant, Takashi. "He'd stop by late and give me (grief), saying, 'Hey, why don't you come over? Do you hate my food? You never come visit me. I have to come over to you.' " Advertisement The memorial was a tribute made for a bistro chef. Bartenders poured quality wine and bottled water into sparkling stemware. A spread of food included dishes from La Sardine and Le Bouchon, such as house-cured meats, artisan cheeses and tiny roast-beef sandwiches with cornichons. Perfect cheesy gougeres sat on a plate, though not for long. Farther down the counter were beautiful assorted desserts and mignardises. A looping slide show of photographs played silently on a screen in one corner, showing the progress of a young man to a chef, newlywed and proud papa. There were serious photos of Poilevey in the kitchen, sitting down with fellow chefs -- including the late Jean Banchet, with whom Poilevey began his American career in Lake Geneva, Wis. There were sillier shots of Poilevey wearing a funny wig, balancing a spoon on his nose. Poilevey's eldest son, Oliver, pulled up on his phone a favorite image of his father, beaming, while sporting a huge hammered copper pot on his head. "That's him," Oliver said. Standing near the kitchen were two French-born food industry veterans, Michel Coatrieux, associate dean of culinary arts at Kendall College, and Eric Carre, a corporate chef and food product developer. Coatrieux talked of how Poilevey helped bring together the French culinary community in Chicago. "If it were not for Jean-Claude and Jean Banchet, we would not be here now,'' he said. "He was very open and very frank," Coatrieux added. "If he liked you, he would tell you. If he didn't like you, he would tell you." Carre described Poilevey as a traditional French chef in some ways. There was no "fusion confusion" with his cooking, he said. Advertisement Other Chicago-area chefs had their own stories about Poilevey. "I knew him from my days at Carlos' (Highland Park)," said Roland Liccioni, chef at Les Nomades. "He'd come up there to eat, and when I moved to Le Francais, he'd dine there. In the city, we'd see each other at the farmers market; we'd both say hi, and then it was back to shopping and work." "He told me once, 'If I have a reservation for four at 7:45 and four people walk in at 7:30, I'll take the 7:30,' " said Pierre Pollin, longtime chef and owner of Le Titi de Paris in Arlington Heights. "I could never get away with that, but Jean-Claude, he knew he could charm the other party and make it all right." Daniel Prepejchal stopped by La Sardine on his way to work as a sous-chef at Everest restaurant. He and his friends have a tradition of celebrating birthdays at either La Sardine or Le Bouchon. He'll be returning later this month to mark his 33rd birthday. Asked how Poilevey will be remembered, Prepejchal had an immediate answer. "Keeping it true," he said. Loyalty and affection for the man and his restaurants were manifest among his patrons. Advertisement Sara Paretsky, the famed detective novel writer, recalled dining at La Fontaine, the restaurant Poilevey opened in 1973, when dating her husband in the 1970s. When Poilevey opened Le Bouchon in 1993, the couple began going there and became friends with Poilevey and the staff. "We lived in Hyde Park," she said, "but Le Bouchon was our Cheers." "It's my restaurant,'' said Stephen Diamond of River Forest, explaining he's been coming to La Sardine about once a week for 15 to 20 years. "I never had a bad meal and always wonderful service." Peter Zansitis couldn't remember what his first meal was at La Sardine, but he vividly recalled being told he was the first customer after the usual opening private parties were over. Sitting on a banquette, he pointed across the room to where he was seated by the window on that first day. "There was no pomposity in him at all," Zansitis said. That was 18 years ago, and the Chicago resident says he has returned to La Sardine once or twice every month since. And he plans to keep returning. "I don't intend to stop," the 81-year-old retired Chicago Public Schools principal said. "I hope they don't close. That would be a tragedy." Advertisement Rajko Brkic never got a chance to greet Poilevey on this most recent visit to Chicago, but the Serbian citizen was at La Sardine on Thursday to say farewell. "My plan was to come and see him and surprise him, but I was too late," said Brkic, who worked for the late chef for seven years. "He taught me everything," the Smederevo resident said. "He was a really, really good friend." Christian Bailey took the day off from work in St. Louis to attend the memorial service. "I thought it was the least I could do," said Bailey, who said he started work out of college at Le Bouchon more than 20 years ago, and that Poilevey helped determine the course of his career. Bailey recalled Le Bouchon in the early 1990s as the place to go, where industry giants like Gabino Sotelino and Rick Bayless would stop in for a late-night dinner. Advertisement "He was a great presence," said Bailey. "If he liked you, he would do anything for you," Bailey added, noting that no matter where people went after working for Poilevey, they "never left his world." Peter Rosenbaum had a simple answer when asked why he attended Poilevey's memorial service. Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > "He was a longtime friend," said the retired Chicago photographer and documentary filmmaker, who added that there were many ways one could describe Poilevey. "He was a real guy, and his food reflected it," Rosenbaum said. "There was no pretense. ... To me, he was a regular guy, especially when you think of the notion of a celebrity chef." "Who's like that anymore?" said Bailey of Poilevey's restaurant career, noting Le Bouchon is more than 20 years old and still packed with customers. "Really, who does this? Rick Bayless does, I think, but who else?" Advertisement wdaley@tribpub.com pvettel@tribpub.com Twitter @BillDaley Twitter @PhilVettel "In a Different Key: The Story of Autism" by award-winning journalists John Donvan and Caren Zucker has both unflinching accounts and the essential history of the disorder. (Marcin Pawinski / Hemera/Getty Images) There have been other and recent excellent histories of autism, but the newly released "In a Different Key: The Story of Autism" by award-winning journalists John Donvan and Caren Zucker is a fascinating and comprehensive history told from a personal perspective. Autism, the neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by impaired verbal and social communication, rigid and repetitive behaviors, and sensitivity to sensory input among other characteristics with wide-ranging severity, has affected both authors personally. Zucker is the mother of a son, Mickey, with autism, while Donvan has an autistic brother-in-law. Advertisement It is perhaps not surprising, then, that "In a Different Key" is a history told through a family lens. It is the history of parents over many decades who loved their children with autism and fought hard for them at every turn, and eventually turned that love and experience into a civil rights movement with significant political and social clout. It's difficult now to think of a time before we had robust nonprofit movements for autism, and a time when even the word itself was largely unknown. Those with cognitive impairments were commonly institutionalized and denied education, and medical "treatments" were often harsh, punitive and experimental; forced sterilization was common eugenics was a part of official state policy in 17 American states by the 1920s and many experts had few expectations for their charges. One leading medical journal, Donvan and Zucker write, even contained a "soberly worded endorsement of 'mercy killing' for mentally disabled children." Advertisement It was the parents, we learn individuals at first, and then informal and formal groups who, over generations, challenged the many parent-blaming experts, advocated for essential health and education services for their children and pushed for their children to be included in schools and the community at large. It was parents who sparked a movement to raise awareness about autism, lobbied politicians, sued school boards and changed policies, and even kick-started multi-million dollar fundraising campaigns to spark new research in the field. It was the parents who loved their children with autism even when society told them not to, and when experts insisted their children were lost causes and parents themselves were to blame. And it was parents who often embraced their children's differences and who sought supports to help their children thrive and then encouraged entire communities to follow suit. "In a Different Key" shares, often in heart-breaking detail, what it's like to stay awake all night with a child who doesn't sleep, change the diaper of a grown child who isn't toilet trained, and communicate meaningfully with a child without verbal language or to find strategies to calm spiraling anxieties, often with little or no professional support. But the book doesn't stay focused in struggle narratives or it would risk portraying autism as uniformly tragic and requiring pity. Instead it shares the often debilitating aspects of autism yet shows how those with autism can and do flourish with the right supports and environments, and how their lives, and the lives of their families, are filled with joys and triumphs and fun and irreverence too. "In a Different Key" is framed by the story of a man named Donald Triplett who became the first person in history to be diagnosed as having autism. Experts at the time insisted his family institutionalize Donald, but his mother, Mary, eventually refused this advice and, in seeking appropriate supports for her son, kicked off a chain of events that culminated in the "first internationally recognized description of the condition in a medical journal." The story of Donald is in many ways a model for the right way to embrace autism how to work with the "distinct combination of deficits and challenges" autism afforded Donald. Mary ignored the doctor who told her that she had caused her son's autism by "overstimulating" him, and made sure instead that he was educated, included in community events, and later, had gainful employment. Her goal was simply that he be allowed to lead a fulfilling, valued and valuable life. The book concludes with a chapter titled, "A Happy Man" a description of Donald's life at age 80, long after his mother has died, surrounded by friends and family in a community that accepts and loves him. It's the story of what happens when someone with autism is believed to have potential, is provided the supports to be a contributing member of society, and when his or her neuro-diversity is celebrated. "In a Different Key" tells us how autistics themselves are now carrying the movement forward, but why we still need whole communities to open up and embrace autism. We're getting there. Advertisement Kathleen O'Grady is the mother of two sons, one with autism. She is the managing editor of EvidenceNetwork.ca and a research associate at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Concordia University, Montreal. "In a Different Key: The Story of Autism" By John Donvan and Caren Zucker, Crown Publishers, 670 pages, $30 Sami Newman was 8 years old when she saw her first MRI machine. She remembers thinking that it looked cool until she had an MRI exam. Advertisement RELATED: TRENDING LIFE & STYLE NEWS THIS HOUR "It was really loud and claustrophobic," said the now-17-year-old, whose endocrinologist ordered the test at a Chicago hospital. Advertisement The doctor was concerned that Sami, who had been diagnosed with precocious puberty, had a benign brain tumor that was sending false messages to her adrenal glands, stunting her growth. Sami assumed her first MRI would be her last. But the doctors didn't find anything, and she had to have another three months later. Even listening to the "High School Musical" soundtrack on her headphones couldn't calm her anxiety. "I was crying and shaking," she recalled. Again, the doctors found nothing. Three months later, she had to go back for a third bout with the MRI machine. "I refused to go in," she said. "I was crying and kicking for over an hour. But then someone from social services brought me a teddy bear I could take into the MRI. Right away, it calmed me. I named him Mr. I." Today, Mr. I get it? is having the same reassuring effect on hundreds of children experiencing serious health issues or frightening medical procedures. That's because Sami, a junior at north suburban Deerfield High School, and her family have launched Mr. I Children's Charity, a nonprofit organization that donates branded Mr. I teddy bears to partnering hospitals (www.mrichildrenscharity.com). Sami's numerous trips to the hospital gave her the idea. "I saw kids with far worse problems," she said. "I told my mother that I wished they could have a Mr. I of their own." Advertisement Her first attempt to make that happen was her mitzvah project for her bat mitzvah. She collected more than 100 teddy bears from friends and family and donated them to what is now the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, where she was originally treated. Sami Newman, center, delivers Mr. I bears to Comer Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago, along with hospital mascot Remoc and child life assistant Erica Luciano. (Jenny Newman) Last summer, she began to pursue the initiative in earnest. A family friend who owns Babydreams in Highland Park put her in touch with Gund, a century-old plush toy company, which provides the bears to the charity at a discount. "We were beyond impressed with the work Sami is doing," said Kathryn Gustafson, a Gund account executive. "Comforting children in need is a cause near and dear to our hearts." Sami solicited another local retailer, Jelli Goods in Deerfield, to create Mr. I. shirts emblazoned with a logo designed by her aunt. Sami has given an additional hundred or so bears to four Chicago-area hospitals to distribute to children undergoing MRI exams or procedures for which they are not sedated. "We were so impressed with Sami," said Kia Beickert, coordinator of child life services at NorthShore Evanston Hospital, in an email. "The children have enjoyed having a fuzzy companion at their bedside during invasive procedures, specifically in radiology. They have helped us normalize our pediatric patients' environment by giving them something familiar and safe to hold during their hospitalization." Advertisement The doctors never did find that benign brain tumor, but they did give Sami a series of monthly shots for three years to help her grow at a more age-appropriate pace. Today, she stands nearly 5 feet tall tall enough to get behind the wheel of a car, the teen likes to point out. Sami said she plans to continue her philanthropic work when she goes to college. "This is a chance for me to give back," she said. "I was much more fortunate than so many of these kids who end up in hospitals for months or years on end. When I hear how the bears have put a smile on their faces, my heart melts." Donald Liebenson is a freelance writer. RELATED STORIES: Advertisement After meningitis death, a question: When should parents seek doctor's care? Kids preserve fertility while fighting cancer Why I let a brain tumor go untouched for 10 years Women are so under-represented as clinical department heads in U.S. medical schools, they're outnumbered by men with mustaches, according to a recent study. (Ghislain & Marie David de Lossy / Cultura) You may not be surprised to hear that men are more likely than women to head clinical departments at U.S. medical schools. But this next fact might raise a few eyebrows: The men in these power positions outnumber the women even when you only count men with mustaches. Advertisement That's the finding of a recent study that examined gender-related disparities in academic medical leadership. Researchers found that women made up 13 percent of clinical department heads at the country's top 50 medical schools funded by the National Institutes of Health, while mustachioed men accounted for 19 percent. RELATED: TRENDING LIFE & STYLE NEWS THIS HOUR Advertisement Why did the researchers zero in on mustaches? "It's memorable," said Dr. Mackenzie Wehner, lead author of "Plenty of Moustaches but not Enough Women: Cross Sectional Study of Medical Leaders," published late last year in the medical journal BMJ. Mustaches are also relatively rare. Study authors cited a report estimating that less than 15 percent of men sport hair between the nose and upper lip. That made them a good barometer of how unusual it is to find women in the upper ranks of academic medicine. Although the gender ratio is split just about 50/50 in medical schools, "it decreases with each upward rank," said Wehner, a dermatology resident physician at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Academic medical institutions (teaching hospitals) share a consistent hierarchy. On the clinical side, you progress from med student to intern, resident, fellow, attending physician, department head and medical director. Wehner looked at the country's top 50 NIH-funded medical schools and combed their websites for head shots of doctors at the top of the ladder in clinical specialty departments, such as anesthesia, emergency medicine and neurology, to name a few. Of these 1,018 leaders, 190 were mustachioed men and 137 were women. (The researchers acknowledged that one of the limitations of the study is that some of the photos might be out-of-date.) Wehner was "distressed but not surprised" to see when women quit or postponed their ascents; it coincided with when they had families. "Women still do more than their share of housework and child care, so it's hard for them to go 'all in' at work," said Jessica Milli, study director at the Institute for Women's Policy Research. "They need flexible schedules to juggle family and work." Advertisement It's no wonder the study tallied a greater percentage of high-ranking women in specialties where they're more in control of their schedules, such as obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, family medicine and dermatology. "I set my own hours," said Dr. Judith Hellman, dermatologist and associate clinical professor of dermatology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. "So I was there for my son when he was young and am now that's he's 18 and taking a gap year." Dr. Lisa Moreno-Walton was a surgeon until the day an emergency operation forced her to miss her daughter's birthday party. "I went back to do a residency in emergency medicine, where I make my schedule," said Moreno-Walton, emergency physician and professor of emergency medicine at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. "When I'm off work, I'm off. There's no guilt." Wehner's findings jibe with the Medscape Women as Physician Leaders Report, which says the percentage of women falls to 20 percent at the dean level. Ditto for the 2014 State of Women in Academic Medicine study from the Association of American Medical Colleges, which found that only 16 percent of deans are female. Medical academia's 13 percent is low compared with many other professions but not all, according to studies by Catalyst and the Center for American Progress. Nearly 21 percent of real estate executives are women. In transportation, finance and insurance, it's 28 percent. But when it comes to information technology, the number drops to 9 percent. Filmmaking? Sixteen percent. Women are 10 percent of governors, 12 percent of big-city mayors and 20 percent of U.S. senators. Advertisement Teaching hospitals can help women by refusing to tolerate sexual harassment, said Milli. "It's still there," she said. "Women know it." Offering better maternity and paternity leave would help too. "It's great that (Facebook CEO Mark) Zuckerberg announced his leave, but that's not the norm," Milli added. In what's seen as a step in the right direction, universities increasingly allow women to stop their tenure clocks and work part time while their kids are young, said Moreno-Walton. "It's no longer 'move up or get out,'" she said. Advertisement The bottom line, said Wehner, is hospitals should attain a "mustache index" greater than one, which means having more top-ranking women than top-ranking men with mustaches. Hospitals can achieve this by hiring, retaining and promoting more women, or they can "ask the men to shave," she said, tongue-in-cheek. Leslie Mann is a freelance writer. RELATED STORIES: Alcohol abuse common among med students, study finds Here's how often you should look away from your computer screen Advertisement Baby boomers, are you fit for everyday life? Wild Planet Adventures has a new twist on the once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing mountain gorillas in their native habitat in Uganda. To minimize the impact on the gorillas, conservation experts limit the number of permits issued each day for trekkers, and if you're lucky enough to see a family, you usually get to spend just 60 minutes with it. Wild Planet has a new tour working with researchers that expands the viewing time to up to four hours. Two versions of the trip are available. An eight-day itinerary adds a chimpanzee-habituation experience to the gorilla trek in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and includes Kibale National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park and the likelihood of seeing tree-climbing lions and mongoose. Advertisement It's priced from $6,498 per person, double occupancy. Info: 800-990-4376, http://tinyurl.com/h2ayarq. A 12-day version adds South Africa, where wildlife encounters are likely to include meerkats, cheetahs and rhinos. Cost is from $9,998. Info: http://tinyurl.com/zyj967y Best beer bars in America Advertisement Beer lovers who also love to travel can hoist a mug to toast the folks over at Craftbeer.com. For its 2016 Great American Beer Bars competition, the website asked its readers to nominate their favorite. The resulting list is a roster of the 51 best beer bars in America, with one in each state plus the District of Columbia. In Illinois, the honors went to The Bavarian Lodge in Lisle. Miami's The Mighty ruled in Florida. Max's Taphouse in Baltimore was the Maryland winner, and Torst in Brooklyn was the New York pick. Get out your road atlas, and check out the list at http://tinyurl.com/jb7tk4r. 'Game' in Spain As the popular HBO series "Game of Thrones" unveils its sixth season this spring, tour companies are jumping on the bandwagon to offer trips tied to filming locations. From Zicasso is a 12-day Game of Thrones Spain Tour: Season 6. The tour combines Thrones sites with other Spanish attractions while spending time in Barcelona, Costa Brava, Tortosa, Almeria, Granada and Seville. Six UNESCO World Heritage Sites are on the itinerary, and there's an opportunity to ascend the steps of the Great Sept of Baelor, where Cersei Lannister began her walk of atonement last season and to follow in Arya Stark's footsteps as you explore Braavos and Oldtown in search of the Many-Faced God in Girona. A private culinary lesson in Valencia teaches guests how to make paella, and the fun continues with a hot-air-balloon ride over Costa Brava. The tour is priced from $8,399 per person, double occupancy, which includes 11 nights' luxury lodging, 10 privately guided tours, admission to the World Heritage sites and more. Info: http://tinyurl.com/z75lonr Phil Marty is a freelance reporter. On Monday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the city plans to build 9 miles of protected bike lanes in 2016, part of an overall goal to install more than 50 miles of the "better bike lanes" in the next three years. The locations of the new lanes are still being worked out, and community meetings earlier this week on the South Side allowed residents to give input on where bike routes are most needed in their neighborhoods. A Tribune report this month showed that the current network of protected bike lanes, along with the Divvy bike-share system, shortchange minority areas of the city. Since 2011, the city has built more than 100 miles of protected bike lanes, but those do not reach many low- and middle-income neighborhoods that are predominantly African-American, such as Roseland, West Pullman and Riverdale, or majority Latino, such as Belmont Cragin and Archer Heights. The Divvy bike-sharing program, with 475 stations, skews toward white or integrated neighborhoods, as well. A statement from the Chicago Department of Transportation said it was working with aldermen and community groups to ensure that the expansion of the bike network buildout was equitable. The plan includes protected lanes, those set off by barriers or extra road space for greater safety and neighborhood greenways, lanes on streets designed to calm vehicle traffic. Read the report: Chicago's bike lanes, Divvy stations shortchange minority areas Compare bike infrastructure built from 2011-2015 with Chicago demographics Click the buttons below to change the demographics shown on the map Percentage of population that is black, by tract The Far South Side, with census tracts made up of primarily black, low-income residents, isn't reached by the protected bike lane network installed by Rahm Emanuel's administration, and the network of Divvy stations ends at about 75th Street. Majority race/ ethnicity Divvy stations Barrier-protected lanes (mi.) Buffered lanes (mi.) Black 84 10.9 42.1 Hispanic 48 0.8 7.5 White 256 6.6 28.1 Asian 9 0.5 0.9 No majority 78 2.8 10.4 Percentage of population that is Hispanic, by tract Hispanic areas have the fewest Divvy stations and protected bike lanes. Just 10 percent of Divvy stations and about 8 percent of the protected bike lanes fall within census tracts that are majority Hispanic. Majority race/ ethnicity Divvy stations Barrier-protected lanes (mi.) Buffered lanes (mi.) Black 84 10.9 42.1 Hispanic 48 0.8 7.5 White 256 6.6 28.1 Asian 9 0.5 0.9 No majority 78 2.8 10.4 Percentage of population that is white, by tract More than half of the Divvy bike-sharing stations fall within census tracts that are more than 50 percent white, although white residents make up about 32 percent of the entire city. The miles of protected bikes lanes installed since 2010 are more spread out, with about 31 percent of the lanes falling in white-majority tracts. Majority race/ ethnicity Divvy stations Barrier-protected lanes (mi.) Buffered lanes (mi.) Black 84 10.9 42.1 Hispanic 48 0.8 7.5 White 256 6.6 28.1 Asian 9 0.5 0.9 No majority 78 2.8 10.4 Median household income, 2010-2014 in 2014 dollars Many low-income areas have yet to be reached by protected bike lanes and the Divvy network. It's an imbalance that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pushing to rectify by extending bike lanes and Divvy stations further into the South and West sides. Note: Race and ethnicity demographics are as of 2010. White, black, Asian and other races include only those identifying as non-Hispanic. Median household income from the last 12 months is from 2010-2014, in 2014 dollars. Demographics are shown by census tract. Protected bike lane mileage are estimates based on files provided by the Chicago Department of Transportation. Sources: Tribune analysis of Chicago Department of Transportation and U.S. Census Bureau data Former U.S. congressman Mel Reynolds returned Thursday to federal court in Chicago, where he was scolded by a judge for violating the terms of his bond but avoided being taken into custody. Federal prosecutors want Reynolds to be fitted with an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet after he did not return from Africa by a deadline set by the court. They also revealed during a hearing that they believe Reynolds has two passports. Advertisement Reynolds, 64, who spoke frequently to the judge against the advice of his lawyer, said his old passport was stolen. U.S. District Judge John Darrah called Reynolds "a flight risk" but allowed him until Wednesday to find a place to live where he could be outfitted with electronic monitoring technology. Reynolds, who returned to the United States this week and Chicago on Thursday morning, said the couple he is staying with does not want the monitoring box installed at their home. Advertisement For a few minutes, it appeared Reynolds would be taken into custody. But Darrah gave him time to find a different place to live, admonishing him for disregarding the court order and warning him that an ankle bracelet was on the way. "It's important you be here next week," the judge said. "I'll be here," Reynolds said. During several exchanges with the judge, Reynolds apologized for not returning on time and tried to explain that he is not a threat to elude authorities. "I want to tell you personally that I'm deeply sorry for violating and not coming back," said Reynolds, his hands clasped behind his back. He wore a suit jacket, a white shirt with no tie, khakis and black sneakers. After the hearing, Reynolds expressed frustration that his laptop and cellphone were confiscated in Atlanta after his flight from Africa. Reynolds said he is not giving his password to the federal government. The computer contains documents important to his case, Reynolds said, and his lawyer, Richard Kling, told the judge he would not be able to present an adequate defense without the documents. Reynolds was scheduled to go to trial May 2 on four misdemeanor counts of failing to file federal tax returns. Darrah agreed to delay the start of the trial until June 20, but said it will begin whether or not Reynolds obtains his computer. Advertisement "You have to make a choice, Mr. Reynolds," Darrah said. Federal prosecutors pressed for Reynolds' detention, especially after learning from the pretrial services officer that he apparently has two active passports. But Reynolds, in a stumbling statement to the judge, said his passport was stolen in Zambia, possibly in November. He said he reported the theft to the U.S. Embassy there and received a temporary passport. The government wasn't convinced and said he had two different valid passports with two different identification numbers. Prosecutors also reiterated their doubts about the reasons why Reynolds was overseas. He has claimed he was caring for an ill daughter and taking her to medical appointments. Prosecutors point to social media postings to suggest Reynolds is not being upfront about the situation, and that his daughter is fit enough to travel to Berlin and exercise rigorously. Addressing reporters after the hearing, Reynolds said he had no second thoughts about his decisions. Advertisement "I don't regret staying with my daughter," he said. He called the government's contention that he's a flight risk "nonsense." Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Before returning to the United States this week, Reynolds spent more than a month in South Africa. Darrah issued a warrant for his arrest April 1 after Reynolds emailed a statement to news outlets declaring he intended to stay in South Africa in violation of his bond. Reynolds has been allowed to travel to Africa twice since pleading not guilty last year to the misdemeanor counts, but he's also clashed with court officials several times. He blasted efforts by court officials to have him placed on electronic monitoring, saying he was being punished because of the color of his skin. "In 2015, they want to treat a black man like he's a slave," Reynolds said last year. Once a rising political star, Reynolds was convicted in 1995 on charges of criminal sexual abuse, child pornography and obstruction of justice for having sex with a 16-year-old former campaign intern. Advertisement While serving a state prison sentence for the sexual abuse case in 1997, Reynolds was convicted again this time in federal court on 15 fraud counts related to illegally raising campaign cash and defrauding banks out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. He was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in federal prison. In 2001, President Bill Clinton commuted Reynolds' federal sentence with two years left to serve. poconnell@tribpub.com Twitter @pmocwriter The Rev. Eugene Klein, center, stands with his attorney, Thomas Anthony Durkin, after pleading guilty to federal charges Feb. 11, 2015, at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune) The lawyer for a former prison chaplain awaiting sentencing for passing notes from convicted Chicago Outfit boss Frank Calabrese Sr. accused federal prosecutors Wednesday of making "inaccurate and highly inflammatory" claims that the priest had also divulged the secret location of the mobster's turncoat brother. Prosecutors alleged in a sentencing memorandum earlier this week that Eugene Klein had revealed secret information to Calabrese about the location of his brother, Nicholas, who was in the federal witness protection program after his stunning decision to cooperate brought about the landmark Operation Family Secrets probe. Advertisement In a court filing Wednesday, however, attorney Thomas Anthony Durkin wrote that Klein never knew where Nicholas Calabrese was being held and never took any steps to find out, even though as an employee of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, he could have done so. Durkin called the allegations "consistent with the hostile and over-the-top position the government has taken throughout this case." He asked U.S. District Judge John Darrah to strike the references to Nicholas Calabrese from the court record and possibly delay Klein's Thursday sentencing so the judge can hold an evidentiary hearing into the matter. Advertisement Klein, a Roman Catholic priest, admitted in a plea agreement with prosecutors that he violated the most restrictive prison security measures possible that had been placed on Calabrese by conspiring with the convicted hit man to recover a supposedly rare 18th-century Stradivarius violin said to be hidden in the mobster's vacation home. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > In asking for the maximum of five years in prison, prosecutors alleged for the first time Monday that Klein had also revealed information about the location of Nicholas Calabrese despite knowing that he "was in grave danger" because of his cooperation with law enforcement. But Durkin included in his filing an FBI report that showed Klein had told agents in April 2011 that another inmate had told him he knew where Nicholas Calabrese was located. Klein relayed the message to Frank Calabrese Sr., who "asked Klein to find out all he could about the matter," the FBI report stated. "Although Klein did not intend to do anything more, he told Calabrese that he would see what he could do," the report said. Klein, however, was never told which prison the inmate thought Nicholas Calabrese was in and he never took any other steps to find out, according to the report. Nicholas Calabrese was behind bars at the time for unrelated mob charges. Nicholas Calabrese was the first made member of the Chicago Outfit to testify against his cohorts, and his testimony at the Family Secrets trial in 2007 led to life sentences for several Chicago mobsters, including his brother. Although he admitted to killing 14 people for the Outfit, Nicholas Calabrese was given just 12 years in prison because of his unprecedented cooperation. Frank Calabrese Sr. was first placed under special administrative measures after he was allegedly seen in court mouthing, "You are a (expletive) dead man," at a federal prosecutor. jmeisner@tribpub.com Twitter @jmetr22b Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield. Topspin It's common for freshly sworn-in aldermen to be praised by their new colleagues, who typically offer help in understanding the sometimes Byzantine ways of City Hall. Advertisement Sophia King, who Mayor Rahm Emanuel this week appointed to the 4th Ward seat vacated by Will Burns, got that treatment and an unusual comment from 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke, the dean of the City Council. The remark came right after King was sworn in. Husband Alan King and the couple's two young adult daughters, who had flown in from New York, were on hand to witness the ceremony. Advertisement "I've got a 20-year-old son at home that would love to get an introduction to those two beautiful girls," Burke said to much laughter in the chamber but little reaction from Ald. King. That prompted Emanuel to reference a council rule invoked when aldermen have a conflict of interest that prevents them from casting a vote a rule that Burke, with his active law practice, brings up more than any other alderman. "Isn't there a Rule 14 on that?" Emanuel asked. "That is Alderman Burke's attempt at social media." Earlier, during a committee hearing to recommend King's nomination, other aldermen took their stabs at humor: From 24th Ward Ald. Michael Scott Jr.: "I know I'm a rookie, but you give me one notch up on the seniority poll, so I thank you for that." And fellow rookie, the 11th Ward's Patrick Daley Thompson: "You may have difficulty with one of your constituents, my brother, who lives in the ward, but if you have any problems you can call me. If you have any other problems, just call (Budget Committee) Chairman (Carrie) Austin." (Hal Dardick) What's on tap *Mayor Rahm Emanuel has no public schedule. *Gov. Bruce Rauner will speak to the Taxpayer Foundation in the morning and attend an elementary school's commemoration of the assassination of President Lincoln in the afternoon. Advertisement *The General Assembly is in at the Capitol. What we're writing *City Council approves Eddie Johnson as new top cop, notes obstacles ahead. *Emanuel acknowledges racism in CPD. *Aldermen settle mentally ill Coleman police Taser lawsuit for $4.95 million. *Senate sends Rauner higher ed funding bill he's vowed to veto. *Cubs, city working on widening Addison sidewalks, installing barriers. Advertisement *Cook County to pay $1.4 million to settle jail civil rights cases. *Hastert lawyers question whether groin rub amounts to sexual abuse. *Losing rail-car company says CTA bidding process rigged. What we're reading *Nonprofits serving people with disabilities report staffing crisis. *Kogan: Anthony Bourdain brings "Parts Unknown" to Chicago. *NYT on looming threat of avian flu. Advertisement From the notebook *Close to a free lunch stunt: Illinois retailers are launching a campaign aimed at highlighting what they say is the compounding effect of taxes and regulations, inviting lawmakers to pick up lunch at the Capitol on Thursday for just 2 cents. The price represents what the Illinois Retail Merchants Association says is the average profit margin for each dollar spent in shops ranging from gas stations to hardware stores. The effort comes as retailers say they are continually asked to give more whether in the form of a recent minimum wage increase in Chicago, high sales tax rates in Cook County or a proposal under consideration in Springfield that would require paid sick leave for full- and part-time workers. Retailers say it's growing increasingly difficult to make ends meet, particularly for those along state lines where the cost of doing business can be cheaper just over the border. Rob Karr, the group's president, said he hopes the new strategy reminds lawmakers they can't keep tapping small business owners to pay government coffers. "I think in part they hide behind the 'big retailers.' Someone will point out 'Well, Wal-Mart made this or McDonald's made that,' forgetting, of course, that it's a question of scale. And forgetting that over 80 percent of employment is done by small employers, the people on Main Street, for example," Karr said. "They also think 'Oh, well you can just raise your prices,' but that's also not true. Again, because of our border communities, because of Internet competition. Maybe if Illinois were Hawaii, but we're not Hawaii." (Monique Garcia) *Kirk to Garland: Sox or Cubs? Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk was on the "Big John Howell Show" on WLS-AM 890 on Wednesday to discuss his meeting with President Barack Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland. Kirk, the first Republican to meet with Garland, said he was "very much" a leader in having other GOP senators meet with the chief judge of the federal court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit. Still, Senate Republican leaders do not plan to call for a confirmation vote. Advertisement The senator from Highland Park also said he asked Garland, a Chicago-area native, "Cubs versus Sox." Kirk recalled Garland saying, "Well, senator, my dad did grow up on the South Side.'' Kirk, a noted Cubs fan, said he told Garland: "You get special dispensation for that." Kirk is facing Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth in the general election. (Rick Pearson) *Lieutenant governor elimination resurfaces: A House panel signed off on a proposal that would ask voters whether the Illinois Constitution should be amended to eliminate the lieutenant governor's office. Sponsoring Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, contends the office has few official responsibilities and doing away with the position could save the state an average of $1.5 million a year. A similar effort passed the House in 2013 but stalled in the Senate. The post has long been maligned as serving little purpose than providing someone to step into the state's top post should something happen to the governor, which last happened in 2009 when Pat Quinn was sworn in as governor following the arrest and impeachment of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Former Democratic Gov. Dan Walker, Quinn's political mentor, held the lieutenant governor's office in such low esteem that he refused to give running mate Neil Hartigan an office in the state Capitol. Hartigan's successor, Republican Dave O'Neal, grew so bored with the position that he resigned midway through his second term. Advertisement Republican Gov. Jim Edgar's No. 2, Bob Kustra, tried to quit in his first term to become a radio talk show host. He returned after Edgar underwent emergency heart bypass surgery, but eventually left the post several months before his term ended to become a university president. (Monique Garcia) Follow the money *Track campaign contribution reports in real time with this Tribune Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ILCampaignCash Beyond Chicago *Presidential race, Republican side: If not Paul Ryan, then who for GOP? *Presidential race, Democratic side: How a Clinton insider used his ties to build a consulting giant. *"Affluenza" Texas teen ordered to serve two years in jail. *Spain arrests suspected arms dealer for Paris attacks. A California review board recommended parole for Leslie Van Houten, who was convicted in the 1969 killings of a grocer and his wife. (Nick Ut / Associated Press) A California review board recommended parole Thursday for former Charles Manson "family" member Leslie Van Houten, who was convicted along with other members of the cult in the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Van Houten, 66, had been denied parole 19 times by the state parole board since being convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. After the two commissioners on the panel issued their decision at a hearing at the California Institution for Women in Chino, Van Houten said she felt "numb," according to her attorney, Richard Pfeiffer. Advertisement "The opposition to parole has always been the name Manson," Pfeiffer said. "A lot of people who oppose parole don't know anything about Leslie's conduct. Her role was bad. Everyone's was. But they don't know what she's done since then and all of the good she's done." The ruling will be reviewed by the parole board's legal team. If upheld, it will be forwarded to Gov. Jerry Brown, who could decide to block Van Houten's release. A spokesman for the governor said Thursday that it would be premature for his office to comment. Advertisement Cory LaBianca, who was 21 when her father, a wealthy grocer, and stepmother were slain in their Los Feliz home, said she was disappointed by the parole board's decision and planned to lobby the governor to reject Van Houten's release. "Maybe Leslie Van Houten has been a model prisoner," Cory LaBianca said. "But you know what? We still suffer our loss. My father will never be paroled. My stepmother will never get her life back. There's no way I can agree with the ruling today." Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, whose office argued for Van Houten to remain behind bars, also expressed disapproval in a statement: "We disagree with the board's decision and will evaluate how we plan to proceed." Five people in all, including Van Houten, were convicted of the Tate-LaBianca killings, part of a murderous rampage hatched by Manson in an effort to instigate a race war, according to trial testimony. The youngest of Manson's followers, Van Houten has been considered the least blameworthy member of the group and has been portrayed by supporters as a misguided teen under the influence of LSD on the night of the slayings. A former homecoming queen from Monrovia, Van Houten did not join in the Aug. 9, 1969, murders of Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of film director Roman Polanski, and four others at the Benedict Canyon home that Tate was renting. But the following day, Van Houten, then 19, was part of a group that stormed into the LaBiancas' home. As Charles "Tex" Watson stabbed Leno LaBianca, Van Houten and another woman held down Rosemary LaBianca. After Watson stabbed Rosemary LaBianca with a bayonet, he handed a knife to Van Houten. She testified to stabbing Rosemary in the back at least 14 more times. The blood of the victims was used to scrawl messages on the walls, as had been done at the Benedict Canyon home. Advertisement Van Houten, Manson and three others were convicted and sentenced to death, but after the California Supreme Court struck down the death penalty, their sentences were commuted to life in prison. An appellate court overturned Van Houten's conviction in 1976, and a second trial the following year ended in a hung jury. She was convicted in her third trial in 1978 and sentenced to seven years to life in prison. Starting in 1979, Van Houten went before the parole board almost regularly. In 1985, board member Rudolph Castro said her crimes "shocked the conscience" and her "willingness to join a marauding group whose purpose was to commit crimes" warranted keeping her behind bars. In recent years, Van Houten's attorneys characterized her as a model inmate, earning bachelor's and master's degrees from prison while running self-help groups for incarcerated women. At a 2002 parole board hearing, Van Houten said she was "deeply ashamed" of what she had done, adding: "I take very seriously not just the murders, but what made me make myself available to someone like Manson." According to comments carried by the Associated Press, she told the board Thursday: "I don't let myself off the hook. I don't find parts in any of this that makes me feel the slightest bit good about myself." Advertisement Near the end of the five-hour hearing, Commissioner Ali Zarrinnam told her: "Your behavior in prison speaks for itself. Forty-six years and not a single serious rule violation." Manson, 81, and others convicted in the killings remain in prison. Watson and Patricia Krenwinkel have been denied parole several times, and Susan Atkins died in 2009. Last summer, a review board recommended parole for Manson associate Bruce Davis, who was convicted in the 1969 slayings of Gary Hinman and Donald "Shorty" Shea. He was not involved in the Tate-LaBianca murders. In January, Brown rejected parole for the 73-year-old, stating that "Davis' own actions demonstrate that he had fully bought into the depraved Manson family beliefs." Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz addresses a rally at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center on April 11, 2016, in San Diego, California. (BILL WECHTER / AFP/Getty Images) WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is close to ensuring that Donald Trump cannot win the GOP nomination on a second ballot at the party's July convention in Cleveland, scooping up scores of delegates who have pledged to vote for him instead of the front-runner if given the chance. The push by Cruz means that it is more essential than ever for Trump to clinch the nomination by winning a majority of delegates to avoid a contested and drawn-out convention fight, which Trump seems almost certain to lose. Advertisement The GOP race now rests on two cliffhangers: Can Trump lock up the nomination before Cleveland? If not, can Cruz cobble together enough delegates to win a second convention vote if Trump fails in the first? Trump's path to amassing the 1,237 delegates he needs to win outright has only gotten narrower after losing to Cruz in Wisconsin and other recent contests, and it would require him to perform better in the remaining states than he has to this point. Advertisement In addition, based on the delegate selections made by states and territories, Cruz is poised to pick up at least 130 more votes on a second ballot, according to a Washington Post analysis. That tally surpasses 170 delegates under less conservative assumptions - a number that could make it impossible for Trump to emerge victorious. That is why the race centers on the fevered hunt for delegates across the country. The intensity of the fight has sparked another round of caustic rhetoric - including allegations from party leaders that Trump supporters are making death threats. "It's unfortunate politics has reached a new low. These type of threats have no place in politics," said Kyle Babcock, a Republican delegate from Indiana's 3rd Congressional District. He received an email from a Trump supporter who warned, "Think before you take a step down the wrong path." Cruz's chances rest on exploiting a wrinkle in the GOP rule book: that delegates assigned to vote for Trump at the convention do not actually have to be Trump supporters. Cruz is particularly focused on getting loyalists elected to delegate positions even in states that the senator from Texas lost. On Wednesday in Indiana, for example, Republican leaders were finalizing a delegate slate that will include party activists unlikely to vote for Trump in the state's primary next month. Cruz also is poised to sweep Wyoming's 26 delegates this weekend in a state where Trump's campaign did not seriously compete. In Arkansas, Cruz supporters are exploring ways to topple Trump when delegates are chosen next month. And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has refused to release 171 delegates he won when he was in the race, signaling that he may contribute to the anti-Trump push in Cleveland. Cruz said this week that he thinks the odds of a contested convention are "very high." "In Cleveland, I believe we will have an enormous advantage," he told radio talk-show host Glenn Beck. Trump has a commanding lead in total delegates and the overall vote total, but he has complained that Republican leaders are conspiring against him in a bid to silence his supporters. Advertisement "The RNC should be ashamed of itself for allowing this to happen," Trump said Tuesday night while campaigning in Rome, N.Y. Paul Manafort, a senior adviser to Trump, said in an interview that he is confident Cruz will never have a chance to convert Trump delegates. "Just because [Cruz] has won some delegates in a state where we have the delegates voting for us is not relevant until and unless there's a second ballot," Manafort said. "There's not going to be a second ballot." As the battle for delegates has intensified, so too have emotions. Craig Dunn, who was elected Saturday as a Republican delegate from Indiana's 4th Congressional District, said he has received several threatening phone calls and emails after criticizing Trump in recent news reports. "When they reference burials and your family in the same email, and telling you that you're being watched, that's concerning," he said. In Colorado, Republicans are planning a rally Friday to call attention to threats made against GOP chairman Steve House. He said his office received 3,000 phone calls "with many being the trashiest you can imagine" after a state party convention last weekend awarded all 34 delegates to Cruz. Advertisement "Shame on the people who think somehow that it is right to threaten me and my family over not liking the outcome of an election," he wrote on Facebook. Cruz told Beck on Tuesday that threats made by Trump supporters, including those made by the businessman's longtime confidant Roger Stone, are "the tactic of union thugs. That is violence. It is oppressive." Stone recently told an interviewer that Trump supporters would track down delegates at their hotel rooms in Cleveland if they break away from Trump. Manafort said that "it's certainly not part of our policy" to threaten violence but accused "abusive" Cruz supporters of confronting Trump's backers at party meetings nationwide. When the presidential nomination vote is held at the convention, 95 percent of the delegates will be bound to the results in their states for the first vote, giving Trump his best shot at securing a majority. But if Trump falls short, the convention will cast a second ballot in which more than 1,800 delegates from 31 states - nearly 60 percent of the total - will be unbound and allowed to vote however they want. By the third round, 80 percent of the delegates would be free, sparking a potential free-for-all that could continue for several more rounds. Advertisement That is the crux of the state-by-state battle that is playing out over the next two months as Republicans gather at the precinct, county, congressional district and statewide levels to choose convention delegates. "If we go into a contested convention, we're going to have a ton of delegates, Donald is going to have a ton of delegates, and it's going to be a battle in Cleveland to see who can earn a majority of the delegates that were elected by the people," Cruz told a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on Saturday. He predicted that the first ballot "will be the highest vote total Donald Trump receives. And on a subsequent ballot, we're going to win the nomination." If Cruz prevails, it will be because of what supporters are doing for him nationwide with what they say is little direct input from his campaign headquarters. In Arkansas, Republicans will not meet until next month to finalize their delegate slate, but state lawmakers who probably will win a position are talking about voting for Cruz on the second ballot. "For the vast majority of Cruz voters, Rubio was their second choice, and for the vast majority of Rubio supporters, Cruz was their second choice. So when you're going to pick delegates, it just makes sense that we would work together," said state Sen. Bart Hester, who backed Rubio. Advertisement In Iowa, Cruz won 11 of the 12 delegates assigned last weekend - meaning that he probably will have their support in later rounds of balloting. That same day in South Carolina, Cruz secured three of the six delegate slots assigned by two congressional districts that Trump had easily won. "There's nothing underhanded going on," said Elliott Kelley, one of the Cruz supporters who won in South Carolina's 3rd Congressional District. "Delegates are being appointed from the local level. The Trump team just doesn't have people involved at the local level and they're not getting delegates." Cruz supporters also won two of the three delegate slots from Virginia's southernmost congressional district even though Trump won there handily. One of those Cruz supporters is Kyle Kilgore, 22, who said he would vote for Trump on the first ballot as required. "I would have a hard time voting for Trump on the second ballot," he said. In Indiana, Dunn will be required to initially vote for whoever wins his congressional district in May. If Trump fails in the first round, Dunn said he probably will vote for Ohio Gov. John Kasich on a second ballot. "I'll be looking for the candidate who I think has the best chance of beating Hillary Clinton in November," Dunn said. "And if the person I want doesn't get it, I won't take my marbles and go home; I will support the nominee of the Republican Party." Advertisement Alice Crites, Jose A. DelReal, Sean Sullivan and Katie Zezima contributed to this report. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, walks with his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, after speaking at a news conference Aug. 25, 2015, in Dubuque, Iowa. (Charlie Neibergall / AP) Donald Trump's campaign manager won't face prosecution for battery over a clash with a reporter, according to news media reports Wednesday. The Jupiter Police Department on March 29 issued Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, 42, a notice to appear in court on May 4 to answer to a misdemeanor charge of simple battery. Advertisement According to police, Lewandowski grabbed the arm of Michelle Fields, 28, as she and other reporters attempted to interview Trump, who was leaving a ballroom at the Trump National Golf Club on March 8. But Politico on Wednesday reported that sources with knowledge of the situation said the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office would not be pursuing the battery charge facing Lewandowski. Advertisement A source close to the case confirmed it to the Sun Sentinel. State Attorney Dave Aronberg on Thursday afternoon plans to hold a press conference to address the Lewandowski case. "Prosecutor's office told me they would inform me of decision tomorrow," Fields said via Twitter on Wednesday night. "If reports true, guess they decided to leak to reporters first. Ugly." Fields on Twitter went on to say, "For those asking, office of prosecutor asked 2 weeks ago if I'd be ok with an apology from Corey. I said ya but haven't heard back about it." According to the police report, Fields was holding her cellphone up to record Trump's comments when Lewandowski pulled on her left arm to yank her away from Trump, while the presidential candidate kept walking. Fields met with police three days later and there still appeared to be bruises on her left arm, according to the police report. When the charge was announced, the Trump campaign released a statement saying: "Mr. Lewandowski is absolutely innocent of this charge. "He will enter a plea of not guilty and looks forward to his day in court. He is completely confident that he will be exonerated." Advertisement A charge of simple battery, a first-degree misdemeanor in Florida, is punishable by up to a year in prison and as much as a $1,000 fine. Lewandowski could not be reached for comment Wednesday. abreid@sunsentinel.com, 561-228-5504 or Twitter@abreidnews Lincoln-Way East, in Frankfort Township is one of the schools in the Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210. (Susan DeMar Lafferty / Daily Southtown) A group of suburban parents trying to prevent a local high school from closing experienced a setback last month when a judge told the parents to revise their lawsuit. The school is expected to close at the end of the school year. But the yarn they pulled while researching their school district's finances led them on a path of inquiry that has upended the community. Questions of corruption, no-bid contracts and spending excess by school leaders have dogged Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 for months and attracted the interest of law enforcement. Advertisement A spokesman for Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said his office met with the parents months ago, but "there are other agencies that may have an interest here that supersedes our interest, statutorily and otherwise. Our office is not about to step on the toes of other agencies that may be looking at these issues. That's all I'm going to say." Draw your own inferences. That's, um, all we're going to say. Advertisement The group of parents who filed the lawsuit, Lincoln-Way Area Taxpayers Unite, originally hoped to block the closure of Lincoln-Way North in Frankfort, a high school that opened in 2008, after voters in the mostly white, upscale Lincoln-Way community approved a $225 million referendum to build two new high schools. Population in the early 2000s was booming in Will, then one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation. Families were flocking to Frankfort, Mokena and New Lenox in search of high-performing schools, more open space and the comforts of well-planned subdivisions. But the growth never came not enough to justify two new high schools. Now on the state's financial watch list, the district plans to close Lincoln-Way North, which is underused. Parents and other taxpayers rebelled. They began to dig into district finances. Their findings, along with numerous stories by Gregory Pratt in the Daily Southtown (which, like the Tribune, is owned by Tribune Publishing), have raised questions about district spending under longtime Superintendent Lawrence Wyllie, who retired in 2013. The parents found that the school board routinely spent more than what was collected in property taxes. Board members also signed off on a questionable land purchase, without an appraisal, that benefited an insider. They paid $368,148 into an annuity account for Wyllie. That was in addition to his generous salary. And his pension is some $312,000 a year. The Daily Southtown also found that Wyllie in the three years before he retired used his district-issued credit card for $30,000 in expenses that included sweaters, books, meals even an expensive oversized Teddy bear for his office. He also spent $45,000 in district money on Superdog, a dog obedience school housed in a barn at Lincoln-Way North. The trainer had worked with Wyllie and his dogs. More recently, the district paid $35,887 in tuition reimbursements to a former assistant superintendent even after he announced he would be retiring. Really, you have to wonder if school board members read any agenda items before approving them. Perhaps a zombie checkup is in order. Advertisement There's more, and this isn't the first time we've seen such recklessness. The Tribune's Jodi S. Cohen and Stacy St. Clair recently won a national journalism award for their work uncovering spending abuses at College of DuPage. There, the former school president, Robert Breuder, used taxpayer and tuition money to buy expensive meals, wine and gifts, including a hunting rifle for an outgoing administrator. A complacent school board signed off on Breuder's expenses, which included membership to a gun club and travel to a food and wine festival. Breuder got fired. Voters swept in several new board members. And law enforcement officials continue to investigate. At Lincoln-Way as at COD, one common thread appears to be lax oversight. Too often, school board members don't understand that their role is not to pal around with administrators but to serve as a check on these day-to-day executives. Lincoln-Way, which is now reliant upon tax-anticipation warrants loans for operating expenses, at one point was so flush with cash, it offered retirement bonuses to employees, as if it were a private, moneymaking business. Here's a novel idea: How about levying less in property taxes or returning extra money to taxpayers? We know, we know. That's crazy talk. Superintendent Scott Tingley, who took over after Wyllie, is trying to get costs under control. He was expected to talk about improved auditing measures at Thursday's school board meeting. But the damage endures. The impending closure of Lincoln-Way North has been painful and emotional but necessary in light of the district's finances. Property taxpayers already pay the maximum allowed under tax caps. They can't continue to be the school district's ATM. Advertisement The story unwinding at Lincoln-Way is yet another example of the need for taxpayers and elected school board members to keep administrators accountable. When that doesn't happen, communities end up with dog schools instead of open schools. An Aurora man accused of being the triggerman in a pair of 2013 shootings had his trial before a Kane County judge this week delayed until June. Armando Delgado, 19, is charged with attempted murder in connection to the incidents that occurred in Aurora in September 2013. Authorities have said Delgado and a second man, Andrew Bueno, were involved in two instances 90 minutes apart in which a gunman approached a parked vehicle first near Broadway Avenue and Bluff Street, later on North Avenue and opened fire. No occupants in either vehicle were injured in the shootings. Court documents state that witnesses identified Delgado as the shooter. Advertisement Delgado's bench trial before Judge Linda Abrahamson had been scheduled to begin this week but was continued to June 20 after a hearing. This is at least the second time a Delgado trial date has been reset, according to court records. Delgado is expected to appear in court for a Friday hearing, records show. Bueno, 26, pleaded guilty in February to aggravated assault and was sentenced to two years in prison. He is being held at the Robinson Correctional Center in Robinson and is scheduled to be paroled in December. Advertisement Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News. The city intends to demolish this house on South Fourth Street as soon as it takes possession of it. (Steve Lord, The Beacon-News) An Aurora City Council committee has recommended the city accept the donation of a dilapidated house on South Fourth Street next to the Gilman Trail. The house at 1126 S. Fourth St. is abandoned and has two separate mortgages on it, city officials said. Advertisement The owner now lives in Wisconsin, and wants to donate the house to the city. "It's really a very nice parcel, with a bad house on it," said Chuck Nelson, interim director of Neighborhood Standards. Advertisement The city would take the house on behalf of Habitat for Humanity, a not-for-profit organization that is one of the city's partners in the federally funded Blight Reduction Program, administered through the Illinois Housing Development Authority. It is one of the properties the city identified for demolition through the first year of the program, in which the city received $280,000. The city initially identified 10 properties for the first year of the program which was 2015 - and added five more alternatives. The reason for the alternatives is that a property must have underlying residential zoning to be eligible for the program, and some of those identified had other kinds of zoning. The program was created by the Housing Development Authority under the auspices of the federal Hardest Hit Fund Program, which was dedicated to preventing foreclosures and stabilizing neighborhoods. The program links a local municipality with not-for-profit organizations that tear down vacant and deteriorating properties, and leave the lot either green open space or a buildable lot for a new house. The city uses the money to buy the blighted properties. It turns them over to the not-for-profit partners. The not-for-profits demolish and redevelop the properties. While the city still is working on the 2015 program, the Illinois Housing Development Authority has chosen Aurora for a second year of the program in 2016. For the second round, the city would receive $525,000 in program funds. The full City Council this week approved the mayor signing necessary documents to enroll Aurora in the second year of the program. Advertisement Nelson told aldermen on the Finance Committee this week that Aurora has some of the properties it identified as slated for demolition this year. For the house on Fourth Street, the city would demolish it, and Habitat for Humanity would "green" the lot which means it would restore it with grass as open space. Nelson said eventually Habitat for Humanity could build a new house on the lot. Some of the other properties on the city's list are being rehabbed, and on some of the others the city will have to go to court to figure out what will happen to them. "We're going after blighted and abandoned buildings," Nelson said. Aldermen suggested the city ask the fire department if the house would be a possible house to be used for practice. Fire Departments often use abandoned properties as controlled burns for firefighters to practice on. Nelson said he would check on that, but said the city wants to act as quickly as it can once it gets ownership of the house. Advertisement "We would like to take it down as soon as we get City Council approval," he said. That met with approval from Alderman Bill Donnell, 4th Ward, who represents the neighborhood the house is in. He had a meeting with neighbors planned for Wednesday night and said "people will ask about it." slord@tribpub.com The Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce on May 26 will honor a baker, community banker, nonprofit founder, small business owner and a village president for their work in the community. Only one of the five local women will be handed the ATHENA Award during a luncheon hosted by the chamber's networking group Women Biz Net at the Biltmore Country Club, 160 Biltmore Drive, North Barrington. Advertisement "The ATHENA Award was created in 1982 to illuminate inspiring women leaders that excel in their profession, give back to their communities and most importantly, are a role model to other women, setting the example for achieving your full leadership potential," Suzanne Corr, president and CEO of the Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement . Since 1982, more than 6,700 leaders have received the award in the United States, Bermuda, Canada, China, Greece, India, Russia, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom, according to ATHENA International's website. ATHENA recipients have included former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Kay Koplovitz, founder of USA Networks and the first women network president in TV history, Pat Schroeder, former 12-term U.S. congresswoman, and U.S. Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Advertisement The local nominees this year include Kildeer Village President Nandia Black, Deborah Leydig, owner of Norton's U.S.A, and Susan McConnell, a photographer and founder of Let It Be Us, a nonprofit that supports children in the Illinois foster care system.Georgeanna Mehr, president of Hoffman Estates Community Bank, and Deborah Rivera, general manager and co-owner of bakery Ambrosia Euro American Patisserie in Barrington, also were nominated. Black, who now has her own firm, started as a legal prosecutor for Cook County and then joined the civil litigation team for a Chicago firm, according to the chamber.During her tenure in Kildeer, she has improved its financial position, created an electric aggregation program designed to lower energy costs for residents and led a sales tax referendum to renovate local roads, the chamber said. . Leydig started in fashion design working for Geoffrey Beene, Ellen Tracey and Jones of New York.By 2007, she opened Norton's U.S.A, a retail store in Barrington featuring products all made in the U.S. McConnell is a photographer and marketing professional, who also documented the Barrington White House community restoration project. An adoptive mother, McConnell founded Let It Be Us, and she received the Jack Curran Award from Wellness Place, a cancer resource center and the Hearts of Hope Award, from JourneyCare. Mehr is president of Hoffman Estates Community Bank, a branch of Barrington Bank and Trust Co. Mehr began as a personal banker and mortgage officer. She also has spearheaded bank mergers and conversions with smaller banks. She became president of Barrington Bank and Trust Company in 2001. Mehr has been involved in Habitat for Humanity, Barrington United Way and in the business communities of both Barrington and Hoffman Estates. Rivera is general manager and co-owner of Ambrosia Euro American Patisserie in Barrington with her husband, Richard. The chamber said in a news release that Rivera has trained hundreds of kids through the business. tshields@pioneerlocal.com Advertisement Twitter @tshields19 Jack McCullough walks out of Judge William Brady's courtroom at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore, Ill., on April 22, 2016, with Crystal Harrolle, an investigator with the public defender's office. Brady formally dismissed a murder case Friday against McCullough, a retired Washington state police officer, who a prosecutor says was wrongly convicted in the 1957 killing of a 7-year-old Sycamore girl, but he put off a decision on whether to appoint a special prosecutor. (Danielle Guerra / Daily Chronicle) In advance of a hearing Friday in DeKalb County court, attorneys for Jack McCullough are again pressing for his release from prison in the 1957 murder of a Sycamore girl. McCullough, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of 7-year-old Maria Ridulph, should be immediately released, based on his actual innocence, Chicago attorney Gabriel Fuentes said in a motion filed Wednesday. Advertisement "In light of the evidence of his innocence and because a hearing is unnecessary and a waste of the court's resources, Mr. McCullough respectfully requests that the court grant his petition for immediate release," Fuentes wrote. At a hearing earlier this month, Fuentes, of the Chicago firm of Jenner and Block, made a similar request of Judge William Brady. The judge indicated then that he would take a more methodical approach in deciding whether McCullough should be freed. The case is due back in court Friday morning. Advertisement McCullough, 76, was convicted of Ridulph's murder in 2012, a crime that drew national attention when the child disappeared from Sycamore on Dec. 3, 1957. Her body was found in April 1958 in a wooded tract in northwest Illinois. There was no arrest until McCullough, a Seattle-area resident, was charged more than 50 years later, in 2011. In 1957, McCullough's family lived in the same neighborhood as the Ridulphs. An appeals court upheld the murder conviction, but McCullough's assertions of his innocence gained new life last month when DeKalb County State's Attorney Richard Schmack, who was not in office when McCullough was tried, filed court documents in which he said he believed McCullough was innocent of Maria's murder. Schmack said his examination of the evidence led him to conclude that McCullough could not have been in Sycamore when Maria disappeared off a neighborhood street corner. Maria's brother, Charles Ridulph, who lives in Sycamore and believes McCullough is guilty, had filed an emergency motion, seeking to have a special prosecutor appointed in the case. At the last hearing, the judge told Ridulph to hire an attorney. Ridulph said Thursday he had retained counsel, whom he declined to identify, but had just been able to do so late Wednesday. The attorney is unable to appear for Friday's hearing, according to Ridulph, who said he will seek a continuance. McCullough's attorney, though, filed a motion this week seeking to preempt a special prosecutor. Fuentes argued, as Schmack has previously, that the conditions that would merit the appointment of a special prosecutor, such as a conflict of interest, have not been met. "The Ridulph family has no doubt suffered mightily in this matter, but innocence has suffered as well," Fuentes wrote. Advertisement Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders aggressively challenged each other's judgment to be president in Democratic debate April 14, 2016, wrangling over the minimum wage and gun control just days before the critical New York primary. (AP) Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders aggressively challenged each other's judgment to be president in Democratic debate April 14, 2016, wrangling over the minimum wage and gun control just days before the critical New York primary. (AP) (Associated Press) I honestly have no idea how I'm going to vote in the November presidential election. I don't like any of the candidates. But I'll vote, as I've done in every election since I turned 18 and received my first voter registration card. It was for "Red Slowik" because of my horrible penmanship. I rebelled against the nuns who tried to teach me cursive handwriting. Advertisement "Red Slowik? People will think you're a communist," the old veteran at the VFW hall told me the first time I voted and had to explain the mistake. I follow elections more closely and learn more about candidates than most because I work in the news business. The current cycle started with the "clown car" of 17 Republican hopefuls and one candidate dominating in polls on the Democratic side. Advertisement I don't like Hillary Clinton. She may be experienced and qualified, but I don't find her trustworthy. What she did with her emails while secretary of state reflects gross incompetence, terrible judgment and possible criminal conduct, in my opinion. We'll see what happens with the FBI investigation, but I'll be surprised if she's charged. I can't picture a scenario where the feds indict the Democratic front runner in the midst of a presidential campaign while a Democrat is in the White House, even though President Barack Obama assures us he'd in no way interfere with the investigation. Clinton cites her role in the 2011 U.S. military involvement in Libya as an accomplishment, yet Obama calls it the "worst mistake" of his presidency. Clearly there are a lot of others who don't like Clinton either, including many Democrats. Bernie Sanders inspires passion among young voters and carries a lot of momentum into next week's New York primary. He's won the popular vote in eight of the last nine caucuses and primaries but Clinton keeps picking up more delegates. Sanders speaks of revolution. He rails about income inequality and Wall Street banks corrupting America. He's certainly pushed Clinton's platform to the left. But there are questions about how he'd pay for free college and other proposals, and I don't think he has a serious shot at winning the nomination. I expect Clinton to be the Democratic nominee. On the Republican side, it's anybody's guess. Any one of a number of scenarios could unfold, and nobody knows for sure what will happen when Republicans convene in Cleveland in July. I'll say this: I'm fascinated by the Republican contest. Clearly, a lot of people are unhappy with the Republican establishment. Jeb Bush was the establishment favorite and his campaign was a stunning failure, despite its financial and party support. Outsider Ben Carson was an early front runner, but his popularity plummeted once he faced intense scrutiny. Donald Trump's antics at debates and rallies have entertained audiences and inspired supporters. I understand why his supporters believe their votes are a way of protesting the establishment. Advertisement Critics deride Trump's temperament, and his ground organization is clearly outmatched by that of Sen. Ted Cruz. I try to keep an open mind and imagine Trump becoming president and actually surprising a lot of people. It's hard to say, because you don't know what to expect with Trump. With Cruz, on the other hand, you know what you're getting. He's a conservative ideologue, and if he becomes president you can expect him to push that agenda. Just imagine the type of nominee Cruz would put forth for the U.S. Supreme Court. Cruz's critics say he is self-interested. He's particularly unpopular in the Senate. Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, said in February, "If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you." The exciting part of this election is that no one knows what will happen. Republicans might lose seats in the House and Senate. What happens to the Supreme Court vacancy if a Republican wins in November, but Democrats win control of the Senate? The country could face more gridlock. Remember, Cruz is the guy who succeeded in shutting down the federal government in 2013. Speculation abounds about what could happen if Trump, the front runner, comes up short of the 1,237 delegates required to secure the nomination on the first ballot. Some believe Trump will become the Republican nominee on a subsequent ballot. Another scenario has Cruz emerging as the nominee because he better understands party rules and is better at securing delegates. Polls say Clinton would defeat either Cruz or Trump in November. There are questions about the Republican party's ability to unite behind a candidate. Advertisement Marco Rubio is holding on to his delegates, and John Kasich is still in the running. Each seems to be a suitable choice for vice president, but I'm not sure either would be a good president. Neither has been sufficiently vetted yet. I think it's unlikely another candidate Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan or anyone else could emerge from a brokered convention. Realistically I think it's between Trump and Cruz at this point. I think the big takeaway in this election cycle is how little the popular vote matters. Are we really a democratic republic, or are we an oligarchy? The U.S. Constitution says nothing about political parties, which are private enterprises able to set their own rules. It takes a blatant example like the recent Republican caucus in Colorado where voters were entirely cut out of the process and Cruz was awarded all the state's delegates to make that abundantly clear. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Majority rules, except when a popular vote victory fails to coincide with an Electoral College majority. Voters may feel disenfranchised, disgusted and downright angry. But it's not like the masses would rise up in revolution and overthrow the government. Revolutions happen in history books and in other parts of the world, not in modern-day America. Still, I feel as if something historic is happening. Already we've seen plenty of moments to fill future documentaries about the 2016 presidential election. Trump debating "Lyin' Ted" and "Little Marco," talking about his anatomy, calling Mexicans rapists and promising to build a wall. Cruz calling for police patrols of "Muslim neighborhoods." The little bird landing on Bernie's podium. There have been physical confrontations at Trump events, and that creates the possibility of violence in Cleveland this summer. I hope it's peaceful, but I won't be shocked if it's not. A lot could happen in the next six months, but the way it stands now I believe America will inaugurate its first woman president in 2017. Advertisement I don't like Clinton, but I don't see how Sanders, Trump, Cruz or anyone else could beat her. Do you? tslowik@tribpub.com Twitter @tedslowik New District 60 Superintendent Theresa Plascencia speaks after being named to the post on Thursday, Dec. 17. (Lauren Zumbach / Lake County News-Sun) The incoming superintendent for Waukegan School District 60 wants to recruit and retain more minority teachers and build a districtwide approach to teaching social and emotional skills, which she thinks could bring down the number of suspensions and expulsions. The goals are part of the three-year contract for Theresa Plascencia unanimously approved by the Board of Education at its meeting Tuesday evening, a Chicago Public Schools administrator set to replace Donaldo Batiste, who is retiring at the end of June after spending a decade as the district's superintendent. Advertisement Plascencia, who is pursuing a doctorate at National-Louis University, wrote her dissertation on the need for more minority teachers and staff in schools, something she said is not a Waukegan problem but a national one. She said her goals include investigating programs that help nonteaching staff to get teaching licenses, launching mentoring opportunities that encourage Waukegan students to go into education and then come back, and forming partnerships with community colleges as well as four-year universities. Advertisement "Research shows they serve as role models," she said, adding that minority teachers "understand the students' background, and they can connect curriculum back into Waukegan." Before she can take the job, though, Plascencia needs to receive her superintendent credential. She said she's completed the coursework to acquire the endorsement and is waiting on the state and her university to finalize the paperwork involved. School board President Michael Rodriguez said district officials vetted her coursework before offering her the contract, and staff is in place in case something happens and Plascencia can't start. He said he's still "holding (his) breath a little bit." The district was "definitely not looking for somebody who was going to do on-the-job training" but someone who could "take the reins aggressively," Rodriguez said. Plascencia worked with 119 high schools as the executive director of high school programs, design and support for Chicago Public Schools, where she spent 20 years, according to a biography provided by District 60. The top administrators at both Chicago Public Schools and Elgin-based School District U46 don't have superintendent credentials. In Elgin, the decision has forced U46 to retain a part-time interim superintendent in addition to its full-time chief executive officer to do the work state law requires be done by a superintendent. Plascencia will start with a base salary of $210,000, which will increase at a rate no higher than what other district administrators receive as long as a majority of the school board finds her job performance satisfactory or better, according to a copy of the contract obtained by the News-Sun. The salary is less than the $246,000 Batiste earned this year and doesn't reach the salary of the district's second-highest employee, attorney Thomas Morris, who earns $244,000, according to data provided by District 60 spokesman Nick Alajakis. Advertisement At 17,000 students, Waukegan is the state's 10th-largest school district, according to state data. The top administrators at those 10 districts made, on average, $230,000 this year. As part of her contract, Plascencia also will have her contribution to her pension and the state's health insurance program for retired educators paid for by the district, which will also contribute $5,000 each year to an annuity. Plascencia also will receive $650 a month to cover her vehicle expenses for travel within Lake County, according to the contract. Any travel outside of the county will be reimbursed at the IRS-recommended rate, which is currently 54 cents a mile. She'll be required to move into the district, something the district will pay up to $8,000 to help cover, according to the contract. emcoleman@tribpub.com Twitter @mekcoleman This rendering shows the Anets Woods plan as submitted earlier this year, with 34 homes, two more than a plan passed by Northbrook on April 12. (Village of Northbrook / Handout) A month after rejecting the Anets Woods housing development, Northbrook trustees on April 12 approved a slightly scaled-down version of the project. The Village Board rejected a 34-house plan on March 8, but agreed to reconsider it at the developer's request. Edward R. James Homes came back April 12 with a plan for 32 houses. The new plan included a retention basin on land previously allotted to two houses and a small park, though the proposal still included two other parks. Advertisement Trustees voted 5-2 to approve the project, with Bob Israel and Mike Scolaro who both voted against Anets Woods in March - backing the smaller development. The development will be built on a 16-acre parcel on Waukegan and Voltz roads, with houses filling approximately a third of that land and the rest being used for roads or remaining forested. Some neighbors have opposed the project, largely because of concerns about increased traffic. Advertisement Israel said after the meeting that the new number of homes seemed right and the retaining pond which eliminates the need for a planned underground vault to store floodwater -- was a good feature. Trustee Kathryn Ciesla, who said at the meeting the number of houses should be reduced "into the twenties," voted against it, along with Village President Sandy Frum. Ciesla last month argued that the Anets Woods houses, proposed to cost a little less than $1 million each, should be more expensive and placed on bigger lots to better fit in with the area. But on April 12, CEO Jerry James said only three Northbrook houses have sold for more than $2 million in the past two years, so it wasn't reasonable to increase the size of houses, lots and prices in Anets Woods. "You get beyond a million and a quarter in this market, and the demand falls off precipitously," he said. In an April 6 letter to the Village Board that was referenced by trustees during the meeting, Jim Anetsberger, whose family owns the land, said the family was "stunned" by the Board's rejection of the project in March. He said family members had passed over at least 35 developers before settling on James, who they believed was a quality builder who would preserve three acres of trees on the property. He said that the family had agreed to successively smaller prices for the land as the number of homes was reduced during a dozen public meetings. The latest change to the plans might not have been costly either to the Anetsbergers or James, both Ciesla and fellow Trustee James Karagianis, who supported the project, said April 13. They said the loss of profit from the two houses would be largely offset by replacing an expensive flood-control vault with a cheaper retention pond. "It's probably as close to a zero-sum result as possible," said Karagianis, an engineer who heads the board's Building and Zoning Committee. The developer did not immediately return a call requesting comment. When first presented to Northbrook trustees in July 2014, the project included 38 houses on 16 acres. Advertisement But on April 12, several opponents still had complaints about its density. They said the retaining pond will take up space previously allotted for two houses, meaning the rest of the project didn't change much, especially along the north end, where the number of houses backing up against Country Lane stayed at eight. Some trustees had opposed the inclusion of a gate near the north entrance of the property, designed to prevent non-resident drivers from using Lee Road as a cut-through from Voltz Road. But Northbrook's own traffic consultant had said it was a good way to keep additional traffic to a minimum on Lee. James' and Northbrook's traffic consultants agreed the project would add only a handful of cars to Lee Road during peak hours, but some residents said even those might change their quiet way of life. Some Voltz Road residents, however, had said they didn't want all the cars using just the main entrance on their street. After the meeting, some neighbors said the reduction in the project's density wasn't enough. "I'm moving," said Lee Road's Nancy O'Connor. ileavitt@pioneerlocal.com Advertisement Twitter: @IrvLeavitt Hundreds of people fill the banquet hall Wednesday at the fh American Legion for a scoping meeting held by the Surface Transportation Board on the proposed Great Lakes Basin Transportation rail line. (Amy Lavalley, Post-Tribune) It isn't the path of a proposed freight line that would slice through Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties that surprised Tracy Cornett, it was her perception that it was kept under wraps in her community. "It was amazing how secret it was kept," said Cornett. "I've lived in Westville all my life and it would be the talk of the town. It just caught us all off guard." Advertisement There was nothing secret for the 450 people who attended the Surface Transportation Board's meeting Wednesday night at the Wanatah American Legion to learn about the proposed Great Lake Basin Transportation freight line and comment for an environmental impact statement. Some had warnings against it, while others took a more cautious view. Cornett lives in Westville, which is in the middle of the split in the proposed rail line, with one segment heading northeast to near LaPorte, and the other branch going east to Kingsbury. Other SBT meetings were held Tuesday in Valparaiso and Lowell, the other Indiana counties in the Great Lakes Basin Transportation plan. Advertisement GLBT proposes a 278-mile freight train track, starting near Milton, Wis., and with two end points in LaPorte County, with the goal of alleviating rail congestion in Chicago. The $8 billion, privately funded track would have the capacity for 110 trains a day and its path would run through southern Lake and Porter counties. The rail line would encompass the town of Westville, potentially blocking routes for emergency services and slowing response times, said Sean Jacks, chief of that town's volunteer fire department. "Our coverage area covers all of New Durham Township, 36 square miles, and also covers 10 square miles in Porter County," he said. LaPorte County Commissioner David Decker said he came to the meeting "to see what (people are) going to be complaining about, what their concerns are," but also said the project is early in the process. "It's going to take three years for the environmental impact statement. They could change the route. They may not even do it, but I would not be doing my due diligence if I didn't keep an open mind on it," said Decker, who has previously noted that the project could make Kingsbury "the largest logistics area in the United States" and could bring billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs to the area. Commissioner Mike Bohacek, who also attended the meeting, doubted the line's economic impact for his county. "I don't think it's going to be a big economic engine for our county," he said, adding it would bring construction jobs for the rail line, "but as far as ongoing economic development, I don't see how it could be a huge game changer." The meeting also included Porter County officials who, like LaPorte County residents, addressed the STB with concerns about the proposed route. Advertisement Porter County Councilwoman Sylvia Graham, D-at large, noted problems with drainage and the devastation of wildlife habitats. "Everything south of Division Road flows south into the Kankakee River. That's how our county works," she said, adding farmers and county officials are working hard to rectify drainage problems. "We're not prepared to fix the problems the railroad is going to cause." School buses within the East Porter County School traverse 130 square miles with 35 bus routes and 16 rail crossings now, said Superintendent Rod Gardin. "With this proposed rail line, that number would almost double to 31," he said, adding that increases the danger of crossing the tracks. "In a collision with a train and a school bus, the train always wins. We can't have that." Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. By Dezan Shira & Associates Editor: Jake Liddle The China General Administration of Customs (CGAC) has recently decided to make adjustments to the classification table and tax tariff list of imported goods issued in 2012. Taking effect from April 8, 2016, the policy will cancel parcel tax for cross border e-commerce and has been implemented with an aim to level competition between online platforms and traditional brick and mortar import stores. An adjusted parcel tax scheme now only applies to goods brought back into the country for personal-use by Chinese residents with a value exceeding RMB 5,000, and for non-residents personal-use goods with value exceeding RMB 2,000. Goods amounting to less than these amounts are tax exempt. The tax brackets have been reduced from four levels (10 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent, and 50 percent) to three. Below is a table detailing the new scheme: Influence on Cross Border e-Commerce Industry Previously, imported goods that retailed online via cross border e-commerce sites were treated as personal postal articles and were subject to parcel tax with comparatively lower rates around 10 percent if worth less than RMB 1,000. Furthermore, taxes amounting to under RMB 50 were waived as an incentive for exporters that sell general consumer goods to China. With the implementation of the new tax scheme, these goods are now treated the same as ordinary imported goods, subject to import value-added tax (VAT) and consumption tax, which vary according to type of commodity. Although consumers can still enjoy a 70 percent discount on import taxes for single cross border e-commerce transactions under RMB 2000 ( RMB 20,000 for yearly transactions), the overall tax burden on exporters/retailers will increase and is almost certain to exceed 10 percent. Certain low priced consumer products such as food and baby products, as well as luxury products that value above RMB 2,000, are to be most affected by this adjustment to tax rates. For example, before the change of policy, the price of a popular German branded baby formula came in at around RMB 258. After the adjustment where tax exemption on items amounting to less than RMB 50 no longer applies it will be subject to a tax of 11.9 percent, making the cost total RMB 289. However, commentators have noted that e-commerce giants like Tmall and JD.com will likely absorb the tax rise of certain commodities, squeezing profits to keep a competitive edge. And where some consumers will lose the desire to buy, the industry will ultimately benefit in the long run: previously, some online importers took advantage of the parcel tax to avoid taxes. Conversely, given proper pricing strategies, the costs of selling higher priced products (below RMB 2,000) such as cosmetics, clothing and electronics might fall. For instance, a foreign cosmetic product priced at RMB 600 was subject to a 50 percent parcel tax before the tax reform (tax payable was RMB 300). After the adjustment, the product can enjoy a 30 percent discount of import VAT (17 percent) and consumption tax (30 percent), making the tax payable total RMB 197.4 Following tax rates adjustment, the Chinese government issued the Cross Border e-Commerce Imported Goods List to clarify what types of goods are allowed to be imported under a cross border e-commerce model. The 23-page positive list, covering a broad range of products from toys to household appliances, is aiming to clamp down on foreign manufacturers that use cross border e-commerce as a tax-free channel to export raw materials to China. Customs clearance times for items found on the list will be substantially reduced, allowing goods to reach customers within one to two weeks as opposed to the previous several months. About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email china@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. Tax, Accounting, and Audit in China 2016 This edition of Tax, Accounting, and Audit in China, updated for 2016, offers a comprehensive overview of the major taxes that foreign investors are likely to encounter when establishing or operating a business in China, as well as other tax-relevant obligations. This concise, detailed, yet pragmatic guide is ideal for CFOs, compliance officers and heads of accounting who must navigate the complex tax and accounting landscape in China in order to effectively manage and strategically plan their China-based operations. Selling, Sourcing and E-Commerce in China 2016 (First Edition) This guide, produced in collaboration with the experts at Dezan Shira & Associates, provides a comprehensive analysis of all these aspects of commerce in China. It discusses how foreign companies can best go about sourcing products from China; how foreign retailers can set up operations on the ground to sell directly to the countrys massive consumer class; and finally details how foreign enterprises can access Chinas lucrative yet ostensibly complex e-commerce market. China Investment Roadmap: the e-Commerce Industry In this edition of China Briefing magazine, we present a roadmap for investing in Chinas e-commerce industry. We provide a consumer analysis of the Chinese market, take a look at the main industry players, and examine the various investment models that are available to foreign companies. Finally, we discuss one of the most crucial due diligence issues that underpins e-commerce in China: ensuring brand protection. A French documentary on the Miao community living in Guizhou province, southwestern China was seen by 5.2 million viewers, France 2 TV channel which broadcast the program said on Wednesday. A still of French documentary "Rendezvous in an unknown land" on the Miao community living in Guizhou province, southwestern China. [Photo / chinadaily.com.cn] The success of "Rendezvous in an unknown land" mirrored the rising public interest in Chinese culture and heritage, the channel added. The documentary showcased French actor Clovis Cornillac's journey to southwestern China where he met the Miao, an ethnic group recognized by Chinese government as one of the 55 official minority groups, accounting for less than 1 percent of China's total population. During his two-week stay, Cornilla tried to fish the Miao traditional way. He also participated in the ancestral rice harvest and tasted cooked river insects. The 47-year-old French actor and film director said the trip to the Chinese mountains was an exceptional experience for someone who always dreamed of going to China. "In this modern country, it is fascinating to see this small and self-sufficient community in a village on a rocky outcrop in the middle of all these rice fields. It's spectacular," said Frederic Lopez, the show's presenter. The documentary had touched many viewers. "What an extraordinary human adventure with the people of beautiful smiles, dignified and deeply alive. We can only be touched by these images and moved to have lived this experience," wrote Karine, a viewer. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. An English translation of "The Belt and Road Initiative: What will China Offer the World in Its Rise" was launched by China International Publishing Group (CIPG) and New World Press at the London Book Fair on April 12. Sociologist and globalization specialist Martin Albrow says that the book will challenge "deep rooted prejudices about China" at the book launch on April 12, 2016, during the London Book Fair. [Photo by Wang Zhiyong / China.org.cn] The work is a definitive interpretation of the "Belt and Road" initiative by Professor Wang Yiwei. In the book, Professor Wang lays out how the initiative embodies the "inherent logic of China's all round opening up." British academics and Chinese representatives came together with Wang to discuss and celebrate this book, which challenges Western perceptions of this huge initiative. The "Belt and Road" initiative is China's grand plan for creating economic growth throughout the world by creating connectivity, initially through infrastructure programs that will connect Asia, Africa, and Europe. It is loosely based on the idea of the original Silk Road that was once the corridor of trade from China, through the Middle East, and into Europe. It might be said that there is widespread misunderstanding about the "Belt and Road" initiative in the West, but this book works to dispel these notions. At the book launch, sociologist and globalization specialist Martin Albrow said that this book will challenge "deep rooted prejudices about China." Albrow also talked of the book's potential in changing international relations. "Professor Wang suggests to sceptical Europeans that [the "Belt and Road" initiative] can reconcile Europe with Russia and make it both a Eurasian and Atlantic power," Mr. Albrow told the audience. Speaking at the event, Counsellor Minister Xiang Xiaowei from the Chinese Embassy to the UK said he is confident about the effect the English edition of the book will have. "Many people around the world, including readers in the UK, will further understand the vision," Xiang told the audience. Dr Martin Jacques, a specialist in Asian affairs and visiting professor at Renmin University, and published author, said that the book is an "important" and "impressive" piece of work, before leading a conversation with Professor Wang. During the conversation, Professor Wang was critical of the term "globalization," and said that what we have at the moment is not truly globalization. the "Belt and Road" initiative might change this. "I think traditional globalization is not true globalization," Professor Wang said, "It is just maritime globalization." Stating data from the World Bank, Wang said that a large percentage of global GDP is generated on the coast and within 100 kilometers of the sea. This type of globalization is not "inclusive," according to Wang. By creating connectivity, the "Belt and Road" initiative may be able to change globalization from a maritime phenomenon to a global one, which can be seen on land as well as at sea. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim (R) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) President Jin Liqun shake hands after signing the first co-financing framework agreement at the headquarters of World Bank in Washington D.C., the United States, April 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on Wednesday signed the first co-financing framework agreement, paving the way for their cooperation on joint projects this year. The agreement outlines the co-financing parameters of the World Bank and AIIB investment projects, said the World Bank in a statement. In 2016, the AIIB expects to approve about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in financing, with the World Bank joint projects anticipated to account for a sizable share, said the World Bank. But it did not give details of its share in the co-financed projects. According to the statement, the World Bank and the AIIB are currently discussing nearly one dozen co-financed projects in sectors that include transport, water and energy in Central Asia, South Asia and East Asia. Under the agreement, the World Bank will prepare and supervise the co-financed projects in areas such as procurement, environment and social safeguards. "I am very pleased today to sign this co-financing agreement together with World Bank Group President Kim," AIIB President Jin Liqun said in the statement. "The AIIB is very grateful for the generous and timely support offered by the World Bank Group throughout our establishment process, and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with ongoing cooperation in project co-financing and other areas." According to the World Bank, some 1.2 billion people in the world lack access to electricity and 2.4 billion people don't have access to basic sanitation services. "Signing this agreement enables our institutions to finance development projects together, and that is an important first step toward working with a new partner to address the world's huge infrastructure needs," said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. The uranium subsidiary of China General Nuclear Power Corp, the country's largest nuclear operator, is looking to buy more assets in the uranium-rich countries such as Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia, a top company official said. "We will consider acquiring more uranium assets if the price is reasonable," Zhou Rongsheng, chief engineer at CGN Uranium Resources Co Ltd, told China Daily on the sidelines of an industry conference in Beijing. "We are now considering expanding cooperation with Kazakhstan in both uranium production and fuel assemblies." He said China's uranium production is expected to top 30,000 tons by 2030, which will enable the country to secure fuel supplies for nuclear power plants being planned at home and abroad. "By 2020, uranium production in China will exceed one-third of the world's total production," he added. CGN has already secured uranium projects in nearly all major uranium-producing nations, including Namibia, Kazakhstan and Australia. Last year, CGN paid C$82.2 million ($63.78 million) for a nearly 20 percent stake in Fission Uranium Corp, making it the first direct Chinese investment in a Canadian uranium developer. Since 2006, CGN has been involved in the uranium market in Kazakhstan, which has 15 percent of the world's uranium resources and an expanding mining sector. The State-owned company also plans to set up a joint venture in Kazakhstan to produce nuclear fuel assemblies, which will ensure sufficient fuel supplies as Chinese nuclear companies seek to go global, CGN said in a statement. A report by the World Nuclear Association said less than a quarter of nuclear fuel supplies comes from domestic uranium mining and exploration and plans for new mines have increased significantly since 2000. It said that State-owned enterprises are acquiring uranium resources internationally as the world's second-largest economy is trying to become self-sufficient in most aspects of the fuel cycle. "By international standards, China's ores are low-grade and production has been inefficient. The nuclear power companies are not depending on the national goal of sourcing one-third of uranium domestically, and are ramping up international arrangements to obtain fuel," it said. An expert, who prefers to be anonymous, said that uranium is of strategic importance for China. "The country tries to produce one-third of its uranium domestically, obtain one-third through foreign uranium mines, and to purchase one-third on the open market," the expert said. China will need more nuclear plants China will need to build more nuclear power plants in both inland and coastal areas amid huge pressure to combat climate change, the head of the World Nuclear Association said. Even though China is leading the world in the construction of nuclear reactors24 under constructionmore are needed for future use, according to Agneta Rising, WNA's president. "China is a very big country that needs to have electricity generation in more places instead of in some coastal areas," she said. "There's wide expectation that China will also do nuclear projects inland provided all safety issues and concerns have been properly addressed, because we don't see why that cannot go forward." Due to safety issues, China put a pause on nuclear construction after Japan's Fukushima nuclear crisis, but it lifted the ban in 2014, giving permits only for nuclear power plants located in coastal areas. The country is adopting a "wait and see" approach for inland nuclear power plants. Three inland plantsTaohuajiang, Pengze and Dafanhave been on suspension for about six years. Rising said the nuclear-energy sector has not grown as much as other energy sources such as wind and solar despite growing electricity demand. "Nuclear is very competitive compared to other renewables, because it doesn't need backup systems as other clean sources do to generate power constantly," she said. "Wind doesn't blow all the time and there isn't sunshine all the time either while nuclear is a reliable and low-carbon source for energy already existing today." China has rich talent sources and great potential on AI or artificial intelligence thanks to strong mathematics and IT research as well as local firms' expansion into AI, said LinkedIn in a report yesterday after the AlphaGo's winning in a machine-vs-human Go match. There are totally 250,000 people work and research on AI globally, mainly in the United States, Europe, India and China, according to LinkedIn, the worlds largest business social network. Besides the eye-catching AlphaGo, the artificial intelligence is already part of people's lives, from applications used in navigation, Siri and Google Translate to robots deployed in manufacturing and stock-advice software. AI technologies have been evolving steadily alongside the development of the Internet, big data, cloud computing and graphic chips. The United States has the most AI talents with the top employers Google, developer of AlphaGo, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM and Apple. In China, the top AI employers include Microsoft China, Baidu, Tsinghua University, Huawei and Alibaba, according to LinkedIn. The gap between US and China is the number of AI talents with experience of more than a decade (50 percent VS 25 percent). China has great potential on AI with the national policies supporting smart manufacture and robot and leading firms investment on it, such as BAT (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent), Huawei and DJI, the worlds biggest drone maker. For example, the countrys leading smartphone brand Xiaomi has established special division on artificial intelligence, which becomes one of the strategic business for Xiaomi in 2016, said Xiaomi's CEO Lei Jun. Baidu has already used AI on self-developed driverless cars, which is being tested on roads in Beijing. AI, with data analysis and automatic response features, has been used in a new system to fight against online finance fraud, said Ye Daqing, CEO of Rong360, a third-party online finance platform based in Shanghai. China has its unique advantages as strong academic backgrounds on mathematic and physics, a key part of AI research, said LinkedIn. China's top prosecutors are ready to prevent corruption from derailing the nation's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), according to a senior anti-graft official. A high-level prosecutor from the revamped anti-graft bureau of the Supreme People's Procuratorate said the bureau will make a more focused effort this year on tackling corruption cases at provincial and ministerial levels and above. The bureau was formed by merging three anti-graft authorities at the end of last year. The prosecutor, who declined to be named, told China Daily in an exclusive interview such cases are more likely to occur in key projects involving infrastructure construction, land acquisition, restructuring and transfer of State-owned enterprises and other assets, and in healthcare and education development. Top-level justice officials are also prepared to investigate behavior hindering or affecting the implementation of national economic strategies, the prosecutor said. These strategies include the central government's Belt and Road Initiative to promote business ties with nations on the ancient Silk Road. The largest key projects are listed in the 13th Five-Year Plan. But this is the first time that a top Chinese judicial professional has defined the role of the country's justice authorities under the long-term economic program. Yao Jianlong, a law professor at East China Normal University in Shanghai, said national investment and trade projects are where government officials' power is more closely involved with the largest public funds. In comparison, the authorities' financial management is still not strong enough. Loopholes in the system are more likely to attract greed and various forms of corruption, he said. Hong Daode, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law, said that with a reinforced staff, the anti-graft bureau formed last year can help the justice system to focus on the most dangerous type of corruption offenses. Previously, the top procuratorate could not concentrate on the highest level of corruption due to a lack of power and staff members to overcome "institutional barriers", Hong said. Yao said the new anti-graft mechanism can also be more effective in preventing local administrations from interfering with investigations into the most serious cases of official corruption. According to the Supreme People's Procuratorate, 22 high-ranking officials stood trial last year under the nationwide anti-graft campaign. Another 41 were placed under investigation, a rise of 46 percent compared with 2014. Among those who stood trial were Zhou Yongkang, the former national security chief, who was sentenced to life in prison, and Jiang Jiemin, former head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, who was sentenced to 16 years. You are here: Home The death toll of a collapsed structure on a construction site in south Chinas Guangdong province has risen to 18. An aerial view of the collapsed structure in south Chinas Guangdong province is pictured here on April 13, 2016. [Photo / Xinhua] Another 33 are injured with 18 hospitalized. The temporary structure collapsed after being hit by a crane on Wednesday morning in Dongguan, south China's Guangdong Province. Local officials said the accident occurred at around 5:40 a.m. and an area of about 200 square meters was covered by the collapsed structure, which 139 workers appear to have been using as a dormitory. An initial investigation showed the crane was blown over in a gale. More than 200 firefighters are searching for those still buried and 40 fire engines are on hand. A Chinese mainland spokesman on Wednesday confirmed that Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) had canceled a scheduled cross-Strait meeting for "reasons from the Taiwan side." An Fengshan, the spokesman with the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, is pictured here at the press conference on April 13, 2016. [Photo: people.com.cn] Chief officials of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and SEF had planned to meet last week in Xiamen, Fujian Province, said An Fengshan, the spokesman with the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, at a regular press conference. "We would not like to see normal exchanges between ARATS and SEF obstructed," An said, in response to a question on whether the incident means the end of ARATS-SEF talks. He reiterated that negotiations and regular meetings between the two organizations have contributed to peace and development of cross-Strait ties since 2008. ARATS and SEF have been entrusted by authorities to engage in regular talks since the early 1990s. After a suspension of ten years, they resumed their talks in 2008 based on the 1992 Consensus that agrees the mainland and Taiwan belong to China and their relations are not nation to nation. The two sides have signed 23 deals in 11 rounds of talks, such as lifting bans on direct shipping, air transport and postal services and an overall economic cooperation pact. Commenting on a draft regulation on supervising cross-Strait agreements put forward by Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party Tuesday, An said the mainland opposes any move that undermines the foundation of talks on cross-Strait agreements, disturbs the proceeding of talks and intentionally obstructs peace and development of cross-Strait ties. You are here: Home A British lecturer who taught in Hong Kong has been found dead and was "possibly murdered," said police, who suspect his disappearance three weeks ago was linked to a property deal. Hong Kong media reported that Hilary Bower, 60, had been murdered, but police would confirm only that he had been killed. Bower worked at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and lived in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, commuting between the two places. He lived with his girlfriend and 6-year-old son, according to reports. Hong Kong police yesterday said they had received notification from mainland authorities that Bower had been killed in the mainland. There were no further details given about where he was found or how he died. "Police have received notification from mainland authorities that he was killed on the night of March 22," a Hong Kong police statement said. A police source said it was "possibly a murder" but there had been no confirmation from mainland counterparts. Bower was last seen on March 21, Hong Kong police said, adding that he had crossed from Hong Kong into the mainland. Local reports said Bower was last spotted at a land border checkpoint. His girlfriend reported him missing at a police station in Hong Kong on March 30, the police statement said. A UK Foreign Office spokesperson said: "We are providing assistance to the family of a British national reported missing in southern China and are urgently seeking further information from local authorities." A friend of Bower, Richard Charles, said he believed there may be a link between Bower's disappearance and a recent property sale for which he was due to receive HK$9 million (US$1.2 million), according to the South China Morning Post newspaper. You are here: Home A former senior legislator in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has been indicted for accepting bribes. Prosecutors in Xining, capital of Qinghai province, have informed Li Zhi, former deputy head of the standing committee of the regional People's Congress, of his litigation rights and questioned him, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said in a statement on Thursday. The indictment said Li took advantage of his posts to seek benefits for others, asking for and accepting a huge amount in bribes. The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced in March 2015 that Li was under investigation for violating the law and Party codes of conduct. He was expelled from the CPC in July 2015. Photos of a woman undressing by Yamdrok Lake in Tibet have sparked controversy on China's social media platforms as some netizens have accused her of disrespecting local culture, China Tibet Online reported. Photos of a woman undressing by Yamdrok Lake in Tibet. [Photo/weibo.com] The pictures were first posted by a micro-blogger named "YouchumDolkar" on her Sina Weibo, China's twitter-like platform, on April 11, as she criticized the model and photographer in question of being uncivilized and immoral. YouchumDolkar's post was a snapshot of a photographer's latest update on China's popular messaging app Wechat. Yu Feixiong, who shot the controversial picture, is a professional photographer for Tibetan tourists and even runs an online store to boost his business. The controversial photos went viral online and have sparked a heated debate on the country's social media. Some say the act shows disrespect to Tibetan culture while others argue that society should be more open-minded towards art. Yamdrok Lake is considered to be one of the three largest sacred lakes in Tibet. News of plans to launch cruising activities around the lake in 2012 met a strong backlash online, and the project was cancelled. Rumor has it the photographer, accused of disrespecting local customs, has violated the Law of Punishment for Public Security and Administration and is faced with a 10-day detention. But local police have denied the act, according to Legal Evening News. A tourist was also detained for nude bike riding on a stretch of national road in China's Tibet Autonomous Region in 2014. Shanghai police have busted a gang they accuse of having used fraudulent job ads for Shanghai Disneyland to con 3 million yuan (463,000 U.S. dollars) in broker's fees from more than 200 applicants. Police announced the arrest of three suspected gang leaders on Thursday, two months away from the opening of Disney's first theme park on the Chinese mainland. A taxi driver surnamed Li was the first to report the scam to police. He said he quit his taxi business after the Disney job offer, for which he paid 13,000 yuan to the broker. However, the management position that was offered by the brokerage turned out to be a cleaning job. According to police, one of the suspects confessed that he pretended to be a senior Disney executive to recruit staff. The June opening of the Disney park in Shanghai has triggered a sales rush after tickets became available in March. Park passes for the resort's opening day were snapped up in minutes. You are here: Home A strong earthquake on Wednesday shook many parts of eastern India and northeast, officials and locals said. According to the Indian Meteorological Department, the earthquake of 6.8 magnitude occurred at 7:25 p.m local time. "The epicenter of earthquake was in Myanmar - India border region located at 23.0 degrees north latitude and 94.9 degrees east longitude," the information released on the website of the Indian Meteorological Department said. "The depth of the earthquake was 134 Km." The earthquake was felt in India's eastern city of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. Reports from Kolkata said panic-stricken people rushed out of buildings and gathered in open streets. Some buildings were evacuated following the tremors. "People blew conch shells on some streets in Kolkata to sound alarm and alert residents of high-rises," a local television news channel NDTV quoting eyewitnesses said. Strong tremors were felt in Assam's Guwahati city and Patna city, the capital of Bihar, while mild tremors were felt in New Delhi and Chennai as well. So far no reports of loss of life or damage to structures have been received. On Sunday a similar earthquake with epicenter in Afghanistan hit Indian-controlled Kashmir and many northern Indian states including the capital city New Delhi. Last year a powerful earthquake of 7.9 magnitude struck neighboring Nepal, causing large scale destruction and killing over 5,000 people and injuring another 8, 000. Flash Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin) China, the world's second-largest economy, and Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa, will join hands to contribute to regional and world economic recovery and growth. During a meeting in Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told visiting Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari that the mutual-beneficial cooperation between China and Nigeria has great potential. China's economy is operating in a reasonable range and positive factors are increasing, the premier said, stressing China will strive to overcome difficulties and challenges in order to maintain a medium-high rate of growth. As for ties with Nigeria, Li said that China is ready to help promote the African country's industrialization through enhancing production capacity cooperation, spearheaded by infrastructure projects including railway, highway, and hydropower construction. He also called on the two sides to push forward cooperation in construction of free trade zones, agricultural technology transfer, agricultural investment, aviation, mining and finance. China encourages capable enterprises to invest in Nigeria, the premier said, calling on Nigeria to provide good protection and support for Chinese investment. Praising China's achievement in development and long-term support for Nigeria, Buhari said the Nigerian government is willing to push forward cooperation with China in coastal railway, highway, hydropower construction as well agriculture, mining and manufacturing so as to promote diversification of the country's economy. Buhari is paying a state visit to China from Monday to Friday at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Before meeting with Li, Buhari held talks with Xi on Tuesday and met with top Chinese legislator Zhang Dejiang on Wednesday. Besides Beijing, Buhari will also visit Shanghai and Guangzhou. Also on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a meeting with Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama in Beijing. The two ministers also attended a celebration of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. Flash Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said Wednesday she is confident that her supporters will deny the opposition the votes needed to bring her impeachment case to the upper house of parliament. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff speaks at a press conference in Brasilia, capital of Brazil, on April 13, 2016. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said Wednesday she is confident that her supporters will deny the vote needed to bring her impeachment case to the upper house of parliament. [Xinhua] If she wins, Rousseff would propose a new pact among all the political forces to establish a unity government, the Brazilian leader told a press conference in Brasilia. Should two-thirds of the lawmakers in the House of Deputies vote in favor of her impeachment on Sunday, Rousseff said she "would not interfere." However, she also did not rule out the possibility of lodging an appeal to the Supreme Court against the result. The president also denounced "a conspiracy aiming to bring about a coup in Brazil," led by Vice President Michel Temer and Eduardo Cunha, president of the Chamber of Deputies. Both men are from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), a key coalition partner of Rousseff's left-leaning Workers' Party. The Chamber of Deputies will start the debate on her impeachment on Friday morning, and the process will last until the crucial vote set on Sunday. For the impeachment proceedings to move forward, 342 of the 513 lawmakers, or 67 percent, will have to vote in favor. If not, the proceedings will be shelved. Flash Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev here on Wednesday awards the highest state order to Chinese Ambassador to Bulgaria Wei Jinghua for his contributions to the development of bilateral ties. In recent years, the two countries have exchanged visits at the highest levels, and bilateral relations enter a new phase of intensive development, Plevneliev says when he decorates Wei with the Order of the Stara Planina, First Class. Wei has contributed to the deepening of bilateral dialogue under the "16+1" cooperation, bilateral trade and export of Bulgarian products to China both increased during his diplomatic term in Bulgaria, Plevneliev says. The two countries have also signed a number of important agreements in the fields of agriculture, education, tourism, maritime transport, fight against crime, and a memorandum to promote the Belt and Road Initiative. Wei says mutual trust at the political level between the two countries has been growing steadily, and the benefits to both nations are becoming more tangible. He adds that the order is not only an honor for himself, but also a recognition of the work of the entire team of the Chinese Embassy in Bulgaria. Flash Wanton Infringement on Civil Rights Civil rights were wantonly infringed upon in the United States in 2015 with rampant gun-related crimes, excessive use of force by police, severe corruption in prisons and frequent occurrence of illegal eavesdropping on personal information. Citizen's life and property security were threatened by violent crimes. According to the report "Crime in the United States" released by the FBI in 2015, an estimated 1,165,383 violent crimes occurred nationwide in 2014, of which 14,249 were murders, 84,041 were rapes, 325,802 robberies and 741,291 aggravated assaults. Nationwide, there were an estimated 8,277,829 property crimes, with the victims of such crimes suffering losses calculated at an estimated 14.3 billion U.S. dollars. The statistics showed the estimated rate of violent crime was 365.5 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants, and the property crime rate was 2,596.1 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants (www.fbi.gov). Many cities in the United States saw large jumps in crime during the first half of 2015: the murder rate rose 48 percent and 59 percent compared to the same period of the previous year in Baltimore and St. Louis, respectively, said an article carried by the Economist website on December 1, 2015 (www.economist.com, December 1, 2015). James Howell of the U.S. National Gang Center pointed out that in the past five years the United States had seen an 8 percent increase in the number of gangs, an 11 percent increase in members and a 23 percent increase in gang-related homicides (www.usnews.com, March 6, 2015). Citizen's right of life could not be guaranteed with the rampant use of guns. Statistics showed that there were more than 300 million guns in the United States which had a population of more than 300 million. Over the past decade, more than 4 million U.S. citizens became victims of assaults, robberies and other gun-related crimes. According to a toll report by the Gun Violence Archive, there were a total of 51,675 gun violence incidents in the United States last year as of December 28, including 329 mass shootings. Altogether 13,136 were killed and 26,493 injured (www.gunviolencearchive.org, December 28, 2015). According to the report "Crime in the United States" released by the FBI in 2015, firearms were used in 67.9 percent of the nation's murders, 40.3 percent of robberies, and 22.5 percent of aggravated assaults in 2014 (www.fbi.gov). Excessive use of violence by police gravely violated human rights. Excessive use of violence by police during law enforcement had resulted in a large number of civilian casualties. Police shot dead 965 people last year as of December 24, according to data posted on The Washington Post website (www.washingtonpost.com, December 24, 2015). Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American man, died while in police custody in Baltimore. His death, reportedly a result of violence by the police, sparked "Justice for Freddie" protests (www.usatoday.com, December 22, 2015). Outraged that it took too long to charge a Chicago police officer in African-American Laquan MacDonald's shooting death, demonstrators took to the street to demand justice in his death. The police officer had a history of 20 complaints before he gunned down the 17-year-old, but none resulted in discipline (edition.cnn.com, November 26, 2015). According to a report by the NBC News on November 19, 2015, protestors camped outside a police precinct in Minneapolis after African-American Jamar Clark, 24, was shot dead when he was already under police control. The demonstrations turned violent later (www.nbc.com, November 19, 2015). The government infringed on citizens' privacy by illegally eavesdropping personal information. According to a report carried by the website of The Washington Post on December 1, 2015, the FBI used special authority to compel Internet firms to hand over user information, including full browsing histories, without court approvals (www.washingtonpost.com, December 1, 2015). According to a report released by the Pew Research Center on May 29, 2015, a majority of Americans opposed the government collecting bulk data on its citizens, two-thirds believed there weren't adequate limits on what types of data could be collected, 61 percent said they had become less confident that the programs were serving the public interests, 54 percent of Americans disapproved of the U.S. government's collection of telephone and Internet data as part of anti-terrorism efforts, and 74 percent said they should not give up privacy and freedom for the sake of safety. Most said it was important to control who could get their information (93 percent), as well as what information about them was collected (90 percent) (www.pewresearch.org, May 29, 2015). Prison guards wantonly trampled on prisoners' human rights. According to a serial report on the website of the Miami Herald in December 2015, Lowell Correctional Institution, the nation's largest women's prison, was haunted by corruption, torment and sex abuse. The guards took hundreds of female inmates as whores and pressured them to barter sex for basic necessities, a shield from abuse or awards. In the past 10 years 57 inmates died in the prison, not accounting those who make it to hospital (www.miamiherald.com, December 12, 13 and 16, 2015). The Washington Post reported on its website on May 13, 2015 that a guard in the Fairfax County jail killed a mentally ill woman, Natasha McKenna, with a Taser stun gun (www.washingtonpost.com, May 13, 2015). The Fox News reported on its website on April 9, 2015 that guards in a prison in Florida was accused of abusing and even killing inmates. In one case, a mentally-ill inmate Darren Rainey was forced to take a shower for two hours with the water reportedly rigged to a scalding 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite his calls for help, no one came. He reportedly died after his skin was partially burned off his body (www.foxnews.com, April 9, 2015). Flash a limited way of guaranteeing a kill. During Operation Haymaker, a campaign in northeastern Afghanistan which ran between January 2012 and February 2013, some 219 people were killed by drones but just 35 were the intended targets. During another five-month stretch of the operation, a staggering 90 percent of those killed were not the intended target. Despite this all the deaths were labeled EKIA, or "enemy killed in action." (www.dailymail.co.uk, October 15, 2015). A report posted on April 24, 2015 by The Washington Post on its website said a study, which documented 415 strikes in Pakistan and Yemen since the September 11, 2001 attacks, put the total number of killed civilians between 423 and 962 (www.washingtonpost.com, April 24, 2015). The abuse of drone strikes not only drew widespread criticism from international community, but also incurred strong doubt from U.S. scholars. The Washington Post posted an article on March 20, 2015, introducing to its readers two books on drones - Kill Chain: The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins, by Andrew Cockburn, and A Theory of the Drones, by Gregoire Chamayou. Cockburn sees America's killer drone policy as "the culmination of a historical pattern of lies, deception and greed in the deployment of lethal military force around the world" and as "a continuation of previous U.S. assassination policy." Failing miserably to achieve the country's stated goal of enhanced security, the policy simultaneously undermined the democratic process, Cockburn writes, noting that "assassination by robot is bound to inspire rather than curtail extremism." According to Chamayou and Cockburn, killer drone exposes the trend toward a new -- and "inhumane form of warfare." "With drone warfare, there is no victory, just perpetual elimination." (www.washingtonpost.com, March 20, 2015). Abuse of cruel torture trampled on human rights. A report by the U.S. Senate on the study of the Central Intelligence Agency's detention and interrogation program found that the CIA's use of brutal interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, long-term solitary confinement, slamming prisoners' heads into walls, lashing and death threat, were in serious violation of U.S. law (www.intelligence.senate.gov). While according to some witnesses, the CIA torture went far beyond the Senate report had disclosed. Majid Khan, a Guantanamo Bay detainee-turned government cooperating witness, said interrogators poured ice water on his genitals, twice videotaped him naked and repeatedly touched his "private parts". At one point, Khan said, his feet and lower legs were placed in tall boot-like metal cuffs that dug into his flesh and immobilized his legs. The guards also stripped him naked, hung him from a wooden beam for three days and provided him with water but no food. All the above torture details that Khan had undergone were not included in the Senate report (www.theguardian.com, June 2, 2015). On January 11, 2016, human rights experts, including the UN special rapporteurs on torture Juan E. Mendez; on human rights and counterterrorism, Ben Emmerson; on independence of the judiciary, Monica Pinto; Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Seong-Phil Hong; and the director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights under the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Michael Georg Link, together called on the U.S. Government to promptly close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, 14 years after the detention center became operational. The experts recalled in the letter that close to 100 detainees still languished in Guantanamo after years of arbitrary detention without trial (www.un.org, January 11, 2016). The United States spied on leaders from other countries. The BBC reported on April 30, 2015 that the U.S. National Security Agency, by working with other secret services, has long monitored on European leaders (www.bbc.com, April 30, 2015). The Independent reported on June 24, 2015 that the United States had bugged the phones of three French presidents and many other senior French officials, for which a French government spokesman said was "unacceptable" (www.independent.co.uk, June 24, 2015). Facing criticism from its allies, the U.S. government continued to monitor some leaders in the name of "national security purpose" (www.theguardian.com, December 30, 2015). Though the United States repeatedly vowed to defend "human rights," it still has not ratified core human rights conventions of the UN, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women; the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The United States is the only country that is yet to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The United States also takes an uncooperative attitude towards international human rights issues. It often kept stalling or turned a deaf ear to criticisms leveled by the UN Human Rights Council special sessions and High Commissioners for Human Rights. On September 28, 2015 when the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution related to development right, the United States, as always, voted against it (www.un.org). Flash Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday voiced the hope that the current cease-fire in Syria would lead to a political settlement of the lingering crisis in the war-torn country. "We are expecting the cessation of hostilities from both sides to lead to pacification. It is necessary to adopt a constitution, hold early elections and resolve the crisis by these means," Putin said during his annual live phone-in. The Syrian army is capable of launching offensive operations with the help of Russia's remaining forces in the country, Putin said. A tentative truce has largely been held since conflicting parties in Syria ceased hostilities in late February, under the auspices of Russia and the United States. This is Putin's fourteenth Q&A session, dubbed "Direct Line with Vladimir Putin," which was launched in the year 2001 and held annually with exceptions only in 2004 and 2012. In last year's session, the Russian president answered more than 70 questions from across the country on domestic issues and foreign relations in nearly four hours. A Chinese worker installs signs on a giant rock in front of the headquarters building of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing, January 12, 2016.[Photo/IC] WASHINGTON - World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on Wednesday signed the first co-financing framework agreement, paving the way for their cooperation on joint projects this year. The agreement outlines the co-financing parameters of the World Bank and AIIB investment projects, said the World Bank in a statement. In 2016, the AIIB expects to approve about $1.2 billion in financing, with the World Bank joint projects anticipated to account for a sizable share, said the World Bank. But it did not give details of its share in the co-financed projects. According to the statement, the World Bank and the AIIB are currently discussing nearly one dozen co-financed projects in sectors that include transport, water and energy in Central Asia, South Asia and East Asia. Under the agreement, the World Bank will prepare and supervise the co-financed projects in areas such as procurement, environment and social safeguards. "I am very pleased today to sign this co-financing agreement together with World Bank Group President Kim," AIIB President Jin Liqun said in the statement. "The AIIB is very grateful for the generous and timely support offered by the World Bank Group throughout our establishment process, and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with ongoing cooperation in project co-financing and other areas." According to the World Bank, some 1.2 billion people in the world lack access to electricity and 2.4 billion people don't have access to basic sanitation services. "Signing this agreement enables our institutions to finance development projects together, and that is an important first step toward working with a new partner to address the world's huge infrastructure needs," said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. The stand of China General Nuclear Power Corp at an industry expo in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.[Provided to China Daily] The move is aimed at securing fuel supplies for nuclear plants The uranium subsidiary of China General Nuclear Power Corp, the country's largest nuclear operator, is looking to buy more assets in the uranium-rich countries such as Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia, a top company official said. "We will consider acquiring more uranium assets if the price is reasonable," Zhou Rongsheng, chief engineer at CGN Uranium Resources Co Ltd, told China Daily on the sidelines of an industry conference in Beijing. "We are now considering expanding cooperation with Kazakhstan in both uranium production and fuel assemblies." He said China's uranium production is expected to top 30,000 tons by 2030, which will enable the country to secure fuel supplies for nuclear power plants being planned at home and abroad. "By 2020, uranium production in China will exceed one-third of the world's total production," he added. CGN has already secured uranium projects in nearly all major uranium-producing nations, including Namibia, Kazakhstan and Australia. Last year, CGN paid C$82.2 million ($63.78 million) for a nearly 20 percent stake in Fission Uranium Corp, making it the first direct Chinese investment in a Canadian uranium developer. Since 2006, CGN has been involved in the uranium market in Kazakhstan, which has 15 percent of the world's uranium resources and an expanding mining sector. The State-owned company also plans to set up a joint venture in Kazakhstan to produce nuclear fuel assemblies, which will ensure sufficient fuel supplies as Chinese nuclear companies seek to go global, CGN said in a statement. A report by the World Nuclear Association said less than a quarter of nuclear fuel supplies comes from domestic uranium mining and exploration and plans for new mines have increased significantly since 2000. It said that State-owned enterprises are acquiring uranium resources internationally as the world's second-largest economy is trying to become self-sufficient in most aspects of the fuel cycle. "By international standards, China's ores are low-grade and production has been inefficient. The nuclear power companies are not depending on the national goal of sourcing one-third of uranium domestically, and are ramping up international arrangements to obtain fuel," it said. An expert, who prefers to be anonymous, said that uranium is of strategic importance for China. "The country tries to produce one-third of its uranium domestically, obtain one-third through foreign uranium mines, and to purchase one-third on the open market," the expert said. China will need more nuclear plants China will need to build more nuclear power plants in both inland and coastal areas amid huge pressure to combat climate change, the head of the World Nuclear Association said. Even though China is leading the world in the construction of nuclear reactors24 under constructionmore are needed for future use, according to Agneta Rising, WNA's president. "China is a very big country that needs to have electricity generation in more places instead of in some coastal areas," she said. "There's wide expectation that China will also do nuclear projects inland provided all safety issues and concerns have been properly addressed, because we don't see why that cannot go forward." Due to safety issues, China put a pause on nuclear construction after Japan's Fukushima nuclear crisis, but it lifted the ban in 2014, giving permits only for nuclear power plants located in coastal areas. The country is adopting a "wait and see" approach for inland nuclear power plants. Three inland plantsTaohuajiang, Pengze and Dafanhave been on suspension for about six years. Rising said the nuclear-energy sector has not grown as much as other energy sources such as wind and solar despite growing electricity demand. "Nuclear is very competitive compared to other renewables, because it doesn't need backup systems as other clean sources do to generate power constantly," she said. "Wind doesn't blow all the time and there isn't sunshine all the time either while nuclear is a reliable and low-carbon source for energy already existing today." A recent slowdown in growth in China's business jet industry will not affect the long-term prospects of the sector, a report said. According to the China Business Aviation Special Report 2016 jointly released by Hurun Report and Minsheng Financial Leasing, at least 1,420 rich Chinese people have the potential to buy 1,750 business jets, which are worth more than $52 billion. More than 9,000 superrich people in China have the potential to charter a plane, with the estimated flying time reaching 205,000 hours per year. In the next five years, a total of 1,850 people are expected to buy 2,320 business jets, which will be valued at $71 billion in total. Qiao Kai, vice-president of Minsheng Financial Leasing, said that the Chinese business jet industry has been developing steadily in recent years although the growth rate has been slower if compared with the peak period. There is still much room of growth if compared with mature Western markets. Business started to pick up especially in the first quarter of 2016. Besides efficiency, independency and privacy, "face" has become a key reason for buying business jets. According to Rupert Hoogewerf, founder and chief researcher of Hurun Report, business jets buyers always find it easier to seek partners when people recognize their wealth with the possession of a plane. But there are also various reasons for not to buy a business jet. The complicated procedure of applying for routes and parking is the biggest obstacle when owning a plane. Other reasons such as high maintenance costs and being too high-profile have also had an impact on purchases. Pedestrians walk past a Jin Jiang Inn of Shanghai Jin Jiang International Holdings Co Ltd in Changzhou city, East China's Jiangsu province, August 21, 2011.[Photo/IC] Jin Jiang International (Holdings) Co, which controls China's largest lodging company by market value, is considering increasing its stake in French hotelier Accor SA, people familiar with the matter said. Jin Jiang, already Accor's biggest shareholder with an almost 12 percent stake, could build up its ownership in the Paris-based company to about 20 percent, the people said. The Shanghai-based company would be interested in gaining more influence over Accor's management, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. Accor shares jumped 5.6 percent to 39 euros ($44) in Paris trading on Tuesday, the biggest gain since June 2012. An additional 8 percent stake would be worth about 735 million euros at Accor's current share price, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Accor has hired its own advisers to guide managers on how to proceed, the people said. "Jin Jiang is one of the fastest-growing Chinese companies in the hotel industry, and they've been looking to invest more outside of China," Wouter Geerts, a lodging analyst at Euromonitor International in London, said by phone on Tuesday. "Now that more Chinese travelers are taking international trips, it's important for Jin Jiang to benefit from that." Both companies have been part of the recent wave of consolidation in the hotel industry. Jin Jiang, which owns Shanghai's more than eight-decade-old Peace Hotel, has been building its stake in Accor in a bid to expand its global franchise after it bought Groupe du Louvre in 2014. Accor, Europe's biggest hotel operator, said last week it agreed to buy Onefinestay for 148 million euros to expand in the luxury serviced-home market. Jin Jiang hasn't made a final decision, and it may opt to keep its current shareholding level, according to the people. A spokeswoman for Accor declined to comment, while representatives for Jin Jiang didn't answer several phone calls seeking comment on Tuesday. Chinese companies have announced $97 billion of overseas deals in the first three months of the year, part of an unprecedented shopping spree that's already close to topping the total amount spent in either of the last two years, Bloomberg-compiled data show. The trend is poised to continue into the second quarter. HNA Group Co, the owner of China's fourth-largest carrier, said on Monday it agreed to buy Swiss airline catering company Gategroup Holding AG for 1.4 billion francs ($1.5 billion). Workers at a toymaking company in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, conduct a final check of toy bears before sending them overseas. The company is receiving increasing orders from abroad as the world market recovers. SI WEI / FOR CHINA DAILY Exporters gain as companies upgrade products, technology Chinese manufacturers and exporters have turned bullish on the economic outlook and external demand, expressing willingness to expand output and investment as official data on Wednesday showed an improvement in the country's foreign trade. Xinshen Group Co Ltd, a manufacturer of fine linen products based in Wujiang, Jiangsu province, is expected to increase its total output value by 5 to 10 percent this year from 500 million yuan ($77.3 million) last year, according to Li Jianfeng, its general manager. The company also plans to invest about 5 million yuan in research and innovation of products and methods to satisfy customers' needs. "The export situation is trending upward due to the better atmosphere for traditional manufacturing-based companies to add innovation to the products," Li said. Zhang Bin, general manager of a Shanghai-based manufacturer and exporter of steel products, said that overseas demand for his company's products is set to increase in the coming months. "Most of the export manufacturers like us have been busy dealing with regular and new clients since mid-March. More orders are expected to come in," Zhang said. Zhang's optimism was echoed by Yang Shan, general manager of Shenzhen Skymen Cleaning Equipment Co. Yang said overseas demand for the company's smart cleaning equipment has steadily increased since late last year. China's exports in yuan-denominated terms surged 18.7 percent year-on-year in March, while imports dipped 1.7 percent, according to customs data. While the rebound in exports has partly to do with the low base in the same period last year, economists said the better-than-expected data suggest that China's economic growth momentum improved in March after weak performance in January and February. "We continue to expect core activity data including industrial production, fixed-asset investment and retail sales growth, which are all due on Friday, to pick up in March," said Yang Zhao, chief China economist at Nomura Securities. Official data also showed that China's exports to emerging markets and countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative rose in the first quarter of the year while trade with major trading partners such as the European Union, the United States and ASEAN countries has declined. For example, exports to Pakistan increased by 26.4 percent year-on-year and exports to India and Russia rose by 6.1 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively, according to customs data, which was consistent with what companies have experienced in the changes of their orders. Instead of only receiving a large amount of orders from European countries and the US, Li, the general manager of the linen company in Jiangsu province, said he has started taking orders from emerging markets such as Southeast Asian countries. Qiu Quanlin in Guangzhou contributed to the story. An employee counts yuan banknotes at a bank in Huaibei, Anhui province.[Photo/Agencies] The International Monetary Fund estimated some $1.3 trillion corporate loans potentially at risk on Chinese commercial banks' balance sheet at the end of 2015 in a new report released on Wednesday. If 60 percent of these loans eventually go sour, commercial banks will incur a potential loss of up to $756 billion, accounting for 7 percent of China's GDP, the IMF said in the Global Financial Stability Report. This prediction is based on the sample of 2,871 companies, including 2,607 listed firms and 264 unlisted firms. They borrowed $2,775 billion in total, of which $392 billion or 14.1 percent are considered debts at risk. Despite the large number, the loss is manageable given China's bank and policy buffers and continued strong growth in the economy, said the IMF. The loss is equivalent to 1.9 years of profits of commercial banks, judging from their 2015 pre-tax profits, it indicated in the report. The report may overestimate unlisted companies' risks, as the method in categorizing non-performing loans used in the report is different from the prevailing international practice, Jin Zhongxia, IMF executive director for China, was quoted by 21 Century Business Herald as saying. The rate of loss for loans potentially at risk may have been set overly high and the figures may involve regular loans, he said. "The purpose of doing so is to take full account of possible losses; therefore, the estimates play a certain role of 'pressure test'", he explained. Chinese commercial banks had some $400 billion of pre-tax profits and $356 billion of provision for non-performing loans in 2015, which is adequate to cover the loss in a relatively short span of time without impairing the capital base, he said. A shopping plaza in Fuzhou, Fujian province, Dec 31, 2015. [Photo/IC] The value-added tax reform (VAT) would not push a boom in demand for commercial properties, according to officials, tax experts, and industry insiders. The reform to replace business tax with VAT in service sectors will expand to four sectors: construction, real estate, finances, and consumer services. The reform is set to begin May 1, and is expected to cut 500 billion yuan in taxes for enterprises. The reform will allow, for the first time, the implication of VAT incurred by all the enterprises on newly acquired immovable properties that would essentially be creditable. This has brought up speculation that enterprises would be incentivized to buy properties, especially commercial properties, as credit to lower tax burdens. Greater demand for properties would buoy up the market. When asked about the issue, vice-Finance minister Shi Yaobin said on Tuesday that he did not believed this would be the case. "Companies' primary focus is profits. If an investment does not align with the company's business, I don't think they'll buy properties simply for the purpose of tax credit." Other experts shared similar views. Alan Wu, national indirect tax leader for PwC China, said the purchase of real estate requires a large sum of investment, which far exceeds the benefits in the new VAT credit. "Not many companies who are not real estate investment-focused have a large enough cash flow to buy properties. Many firms also have a habit of leasing instead of buying properties," said Wu. CBRE, a real estate advisory firm, said in a report that while the new rule might strengthen the need for commercial and industrial properties for enterprises' self-use, firms should be aware that the purchase may incur other costs; such as corporate income tax, asset amortization, and other fees. Last year, Chinese travelers visited Asian cities more than any other continent in the world, according to a new top 10 destination list from Visabao.com, a tech start-up helping Chinese outbound travelers to streamline visa application process. Visabao.com processed 210,000 visas in 2015, up from just 50,000 in 2014. Among these visa applications, the top ten destinations were all in Asia. The top ten destinations are: Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Phuket, Bangkok, Singapore, Taipei, Chiang Mai, Bali, Jeju. But when it came to Chinese with an annual salary of 500,000 yuan ($77,000) and up (or 3.5 million yuan in assets), the landscape was totally different. Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong were the top three cities for this category while New York, Seoul, Sydney, London, Los Angeles, Rome and Barcelona followed suit. Three major locations in China dominated half of the destination list for outbound travelers: Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong. Per capita for Chinese traveling expenditure is among the highest in the world at 27,000 yuan per trip. On average, the Chinese spend about 16,000 yuan per trip. The number of Chinese outbound travelers in 2015 was 120 million. Those 120 million Chinese outbound travelers spent a total of 684.1 billion yuan overseas, according to China National Tourism Administration. On Tuesday, at the Juwai Global Developers Summit, Visabao.com CEO Chen Cheng said, "budget limitation is still identified as the top reason in preventing Chinese from going abroad for their holidays. Visa application is the second reason." Charles Pittar, Juwai CEO said on the summit that outbound tourism has been one of the main reason Chinese buy overseas homes. "We found that each time after China's golden week, inquries about homes in Thailand, Japan rise sharply," he said. Advances in cyber-physical systems and what has been termed the fourth industrial revolution will be the theme of this year's annual meeting of the New Champions of the World Economic Forum, according to its organizing committee. More than 1,500 business leaders, policymakers and experts from upward of 90 countries are expected to participate in the event, which is also known as the Summer Davos and will be held in Tianjin from Jun 26-28. Insights and outcomes from the annual meeting, which will feature more than 150 sessions, will feed directly into the yearly Industry Strategy Meeting that has been integrated into event. Media registration for the New Champions of the World Economic Forum meeting opened on Wednesday. Intel Corp promotes its 3D camera technology at an industry expo in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. WEI ZHIYANG / FOR CHINA DAILY Intel Corp is aggressively promoting its 3-D camera technology in China as the company is stepping up efforts to catch up with Qualcomm Inc in the mobile chip sector and preparing for opportunities brought up by the internet of things. Ian Yang, president of Intel China, said on Wednesday the company is teaming up with a string of Chinese companies to apply the RealSense technology to various products, ranging from computers, tablets and robots to drones. "RealSense 3-D camera can give machines 'human eyes', which can see the distance between objects and separate objects from the background layers behind them, thus producing better object, facial and gesture recognition than a traditional camera," Yang said. One of the major partners is Ninebot Inc, a Tianjin-based short-distance personal electric-vehicle maker, which acquired industry leader Segway Inc last year. Segway has equipped its latest butler robot with a RealSense 3-D camera, which can track full 3-D motion, recognize surfaces of things nearby, map and detect an environment in real time. Beijing-based Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's largest PC maker, and Yuneec International Co Ltd, a Shanghai-based drone maker, which raised $60 million from Intel last year, are also applying the technology to their products. Analysts said Intel's enthusiasm in 3-D vision marks a significant shift in the company's sales strategy as the giant of PC chips is losing ground to Qualcomm in the mobile chip sector. "Instead of selling chips alone, Intel is now selling chips as part of its solution packages, which can encourage developers to use its chips in non-PC devices," said Hao Ying, an industry expert. The RealSense technology, for instance, can only work on drones when backed with Intel's self-developed chips, which have far faster data processing capability than rival products, he added. Last year, the multinational said it would invest $5.5 billion to convert a chip plant in Dalian, Liaoning province, for the production of 3-D NAND chips, a type of advanced memory chip, which can store data without using up power. Zhou Dongmei (left) and Gu Yueyue, two fresh graduates, set up their own business in Nantong, Jiangsu province, by using Alibabas ecommerce platform. XU CONGJUN / FOR CHINA DAILY Company's credit program makes cross-border deals between buyers and suppliers a breeze Ai Baozhong, a trade manager with Xiamen Brandnew Color Steel Forming Co Ltd, is glad India's global conglomerate Tata Group, after much thought, has finally placed a big order, thanks to Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd's trade assurance program. A few months back, Tata had planned to buy steel forming equipment from Xiamen Brandnew, Ai said. But, even after two months of negotiations, Tata could not make up its mind. Its comfort level with Xiamen Brandnew was not high. From Tata's perspective, the Chinese company was an unknown commodity dealer. The conglomerate had never done a deal with the company. It had concerns about Xiamen Brandnew's product quality, its ability to deliver products on time and after-sales service. That's where Alibaba, the business-to-business or B2B e-commerce platform, came into the picture. Ai informed Tata that Xiamen Brandnew is covered by Alibaba's trade assurance program. The scheme promotes trust between buyers and merchants in cross-border trade. Buyers get Alibaba's protection coverage in the event of sellers or suppliers failing to provide the right product quality or failing to deliver on time. By becoming part of the program, sellers or suppliers offer reliability to buyers and enjoy increased coverage as Alibaba includes only reputable companies in its program. Alibaba also extends a line of credit to sellers. By promoting trade on its platform, Alibaba becomes even more popular. When Tata officials saw merit in Alibaba's program, they decided to buy the equipment from Xiamen Brandnew. "Alibaba's trade assurance program is good for both buyers and sellers," said Ai. "It will become the norm as credit is vital in international trade." Wu Minzhi, vice-president of Alibaba and president of Alibaba's B2B unit, said the group's trade assurance program had extended more than $3 billion in credit to Alibaba-registered suppliers in 2015. That, in turn, encouraged global buyers to place more than 1.2 million orders through Alibaba. The trade assurance program was launched in 2014. Since then, more than 100,000 suppliers have benefited from the program's credit facility. A single supplier could receive up to $1 million in credit. The Alibaba assurance is extended only after a thorough analysis of a seller's trading data. Based on it, a risk-control model is designed to calculate the credit quota. If there's any problem between a seller and a buyer, Alibaba will pay the buyer as per the seller's credit quota. The credit service also applies to buyers. Alibaba, in association with banks and other financial institutions, offers credit to buyers as well. Wei Qiang, head of Alibaba's trade assurance program, said the scheme is becoming increasingly popular among overseas buyers. "In 2015, 15 percent of overseas buyers with credit guarantee services were new clients of our platform," said Wei. "The foreign trade orders in the past six months increased 51 percent year-on-year. I believe trade assurance plays an important role in Alibaba's efforts to transform and upgrade business. "It not only helps suppliers on our platform to win the trust of overseas clients and improve their efficiency but helps us in accumulating international trade data." Wu said data are key to e-commerce, particularly cross-border e-trade. For, there is not much data available on e-trade of the past 10 years. To fill that gap, Alibaba acquired Shenzhen OneTouch Business Service Ltd in 2014. OneTouch is a leading Chinese online platform providing professional business process outsourcing services to China's small and medium-sized cross-border trade enterprises. OneTouch has accumulated much cross-border trade data. Alibaba's trade assurance program was developed based on OneTouch data. "Online trading value on OneTouch totaled $15 billion in 2015, and we expect it will total $50 billion this year," said Wu. Wang Chong, executive deputy director at the leading office of China (Hangzhou) Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Area in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, said: "We appreciate Alibaba's innovation in trade assurance, which promotes the development of foreign trade." Wang further said the pilot area will cooperate with Alibaba to make foreign trade convenient for companies. Employment key to controlling recidivism Updated: 2016-02-03 08:02 By Wang Yuke(HK Edition) A simple part-time job could prevent young offenders from recommitting crimes - as the city has seen a steady decline in the rate of recidivism with its emphasis on both academic and vocational training in its correctional services system. Raymond Tang Ping-ming, assistant commissioner of rehabilitation at the Correctional Services Department (CSD), told China Daily employment was important in stopping young people from reoffending. The recidivism rate in Hong Kong has dropped from 39.9 percent 12 years ago to 29 percent today, according to the department. "A decline in the recidivism rate has much to do with their acquisition of special skills and qualifications acquired in prison," Tang said. Young offenders, mostly disconnected from their families, can hardly live on monthly-paid jobs as they do not provide an instant source of income. This leaves the young offenders with the choice of blue-collar manual jobs at construction sites, kitchens and other places. However, social prejudice toward young ex-offenders has yet to be eliminated. "Employers of white-collar jobs and government jobs remain off-limits to them," observed Bob Lee, a social worker of HKFYG. Lee mentioned a young ex-prisoner who was jailed for robbing a bank. He was unable to become a fireman as he had aspired to be because of his criminal record. "Young people are impressionable and immature, so it's no surprise that they tend to go astray. We should not dwell on their mishaps, but give them more tolerance," noted Sharon Wong, assistant officer of the CSD. Wong is convinced that these young people can make as much of a contribution to society as anyone else. (HK Edition 02/03/2016 page7) Database to help prevent bigamy Updated: 2011-12-24 11:28 By He Dan (China Daily) BEIJING - Cases of marriage fraud will become less common if the establishment of a national marriage database in 2012 has the effect top civil authorities want it to. The database, which was announced on Friday, will record the marital statuses of Chinese citizens who tied the knot in the past six decades. That information will be uploaded to the Internet next year, said Li Liguo, civil affairs minister. So far, 25 provinces and autonomous regions have set up their own online databases, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Chinese law forbids polygamy. Even so, people manage from time to time to take more than one spouse. Such abuse is difficult to prevent without the help of a national marriage database, said Jiang Yongping, a researcher at the Women's Studies Institute of China. "People tend to move more these days," Jiang said. "And they are likely to marry people whose pasts they know very little about." Xiao Rong, a 39-year-old resident of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, discovered her husband Wei Zhicheng was a bigamist when she was in court trying to divorce him, local media reported. Xiao had met Wei, a businessman, at a trade fair in 2002. A few months later, they were living together. Xiao asked Wei to register the two of them as a married couple. Wei later came to her with two "marriage certificates", both of which proved to be fakes. During their marriage, Xiao became pregnant five times but never raised a child to adulthood. Her firstborn, a son, died while he was young; she later had four abortions. Xiao asked for a divorce in 2008 and, only then, found out that Wei had been married in 1989 and that the previous union had produced a daughter. In April, Wei, 49, was sentenced to six months in prison with a one-year reprieve and ordered to pay Xiao 500,000 yuan ($79,000) in compensation. Jiang believed the government's decision would help make bigamy and other misdeeds, such as Wei's, less common. Liu Jie, a resident in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, said she is worried the database will give the public access to private information. "The more information that is shared online, the higher the risk is that your personal life will be exposed and manipulated," said Liu, who works in e-commerce. She said the government should guarantee that the database will only be used for marriage registrations and for census purposes. She said anyone found guilty of leaking the information should be subject to strict punishment. LHASA - Strong tremors were felt in Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region after a 7.2-magnitude quake hit Myanmar on Wednesday. Xinhua reporters said strong and "dizzying" tremors, lasting for nearly a minute, were felt in Lhasa, the regional capital. Residents were seen rushing out of their houses for safety. Strong tremors were also felt in Nyingchi and Xigaze cities and Shannan prefecture, local officials said, adding that they are assessing the situation in each town and village. Slight tremors were also felt near the China-Myanmar border in China's Yunnan province. A 7.2-magnitude earthquake jolted Myanmar at 9:55 pm Wednesday (Beijing Time), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. Chinese telecom fraud suspects deported from Kenya get off a plane after arriving at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, April 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Seventy-seven Chinese, including 45 Taiwan residents, have been repatriated from Africa and are being investigated for suspected telecommunication fraud, the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said on Wednesday. An Fengshan, the office's spokesman, said at a regular news briefing that in recent years, wire fraud criminals from Taiwan have obtained more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) yearly from the Chinese mainland. Only 200,000 yuan has been recovered, he said. "The case is considered China's first large-scale repatriation from Africa of telecom fraud suspects," said a senior official of the Ministry of Public Security who requested anonymity. On Wednesday, police in Kenya transferred 67 of the suspects to Chinese authorities. They arrived on chartered flights at airports in Beijing and Jiangsu, Hunan and Sichuan provinces. The 10 other suspects, including eight from Taiwan, were repatriated to the mainland on Saturday to stand trial. The case dates to November 2014, when police in Kenya discovered tools used by the criminals, including computer data interchangers, in a house in the capital, Nairobi. Through further investigation, the Kenyan police uncovered a cross-border telecom fraud ring. They detained 48 suspects from the Chinese mainland and 28 from Taiwan. According to the ministry, the criminal gang established many fraud dens in Nairobi and recruited phone callers to pose as law enforcement officers from the Chinese mainland to swindle Chinese residents in nine areas, including Beijing, Jiangsu and Sichuan. "The victims, including elderly people, migrant workers, laid-off workers and students, were cheated out of a large amount of money by the swindlers. Many families and enterprises became bankrupt, and some of the victims have committed suicide," the official said. "Our judicial department will investigate the Taiwan suspects according to law, and their legal interests will be protected," said An, the office spokesman. According to the ministry, police officers will update the Taiwan side on developments after careful investigation. Additionally, Taiwan judicial authorities will be invited to the Chinese mainland for discussions on combating cross-Straits telecom fraud. Since an agreement was signed on both sides of the Straits in 2009 for a joint effort to fight crime and for mutual legal assistance, severe measures have been taken to crack down on wire fraud involving Taiwan residents, the ministry said. The two sides have launched 47 joint law enforcement operations in Southeast Asia and destroyed more than 500 dens, cracking about 10,000 wire fraud cases. More than 7,700 wire fraud suspects, of whom 4,600 are from Taiwan, have been arrested, according to the ministry. When Taiwan suspects were handled by the island, many were not punished, and money obtained through fraud was not paid back to victims on the mainland, it added. Zhang Zhijun, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office, talked with Andrew Hsia, Taiwan's mainland affairs chief, via a hotline on Tuesday afternoon, discussing the repatriation and investigation of the Taiwan suspects. Zhang said telecommunication fraud allegedly conducted by the Taiwan suspects and involving mainland residents occurred despite repeated prohibitions. Criminals must be brought to justice to protect people's interests, he added. Fewer tourists visiting Taiwan Applications from individual mainland tourists to travel to Taiwan dropped by 15 percent between March 23 and April 5, while the number of group travelers dropped by 30 percent, according to the island's Tourism Department. The number of visits to Taiwan might see a year-on-year drop for the first time in 17 years, the department said in a statement on Tuesday. Last year, more than 10.4 million visits were made to Taiwan by tourists from the mainland. During the first two months of this year, there were 1.78 million visits, of which 40 percent were by tourists from the Chinese mainland. The department said the number dropped rapidly in the past two weeks. According to Xinhua News Agency, mainland travelers have been reluctant to visit the island because of the uncertainty of cross-Straits relations. They also worry about service quality and safety while in Taiwan, it said. The reduction also might reflect that mainland tourists are increasingly interested in other destinations, including European countries, Xinhua said. A researcher checks on corn plants in a green house cultivating natural corn and genetically modified corn in Syngenta Biotech Center in Beijing, Feb 19, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] Nation will continue to develop varieties resistant to disease, drought and pests China will further step up its oversight of the seed market to prevent illegal commercial cultivation of unauthorized genetically modified varieties, an agricultural official said on Wednesday, after several cases of illegal cultivation were investigated by authorities last year. However, Liao Xiyuan, head of the Department of Science, Technology and Education under the Ministry of Agriculture, told a news conference on Wednesday that the country could push forward the commercial cultivation of pest-resistant GM corn varieties in the next five years. Liao said the country will increase oversight of GM crops in research and development, registration and production phases to prevent unapproved varieties from flowing into the markets. The authority will also focus on key agricultural seasons and increase oversight of companies and sales outlets, especially in rural areas. Liao said authorities in Liaoning province recently investigated three cases of illegal cultivation of GM corn, which coincided with a report by Greenpeace in January that claimed farmers were illegally growing GM corn. In 2015, authorities destroyed more than 66 hectares of corn-seed farms in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Gansu province. In Hainan province, authorities destroyed more than 6 hectares of GM corn farms. Liao signaled at the conference that in the next five years a GM corn variety could become the first approved GM staple food in the country. However, China does allow imports of GM soybeans, corn and canola, a majority of which are used for oil and animal feed. Liao said the country will push forward industry strategies that emphasize commercial crops and crops that serve as industrial raw materials during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period. New varieties of pest resistant, genetically modified cotton and corn will be the key products to be promoted for commercial cultivation, he said. Liao said the promotion of GM technology will follow a three-step approval procedure from nonedible crops, such as cotton, to indirectly edible crops that serve as animal feed and industrial materials to edible crops. "The approval of GM staple foods will come in the last step," he said, adding that the country will prioritize the development of GM varieties that are resistant to disease, pests and drought. Wu Kongming, chairman of the nation's biosafety committee in charge of agricultural GM organisms, said China has a strict approval and evaluation process, yet the country's anti-GMO sentiment has been fueled by widespread rumors on social media. He gave the example of the two varieties of GM rice being developed in China, which have already undergone 11 years of safety evaluation by researchers. "Only by clearing the rumors can we provide a good environment for the country's GMO technology," he said. Chinese gay man Hu Mingliang, center, and his partner Sun Wenlin, second right, leave the People's Court of Furong District after they lost the first instance of their lawsuit against the Bureau of Civil Affairs of Furong District which rejected their marriage application in Changsha city, Central China's Hunan province, April 13, 2016. [Photo/IC] Two gay men who lost a court case on Wednesday in which they had battled for the right to marry have vowed to carry on the fight. It was the first case of its kind in China in which gay people had tested whether same-sex couples have the right to marry. While homosexuality is not illegal in China, same-sex marriage has not yet been explicitly legalized. The lawsuit was brought by the couple, who were challenging the decision of a local civil affairs bureau that had denied them the right to marry. The case was dismissed after an open hearing that lasted three hours and was held before an audience of nearly 200 people, including many journalists. The case was heard at a court in Furong district, Changsha city, Hunan province. Sun Wenlin, the 26-year-old plaintiff, walked out of the court hand-in-hand with his partner, Hu Mingliang, and said he would appeal. "We gave away our 'wedding' candies after the hearing and even the opposing lawyer took a candy with a smile," he said. Sun had filed the case in December after he was denied the right to marry his 36-year-old partner. The couple had gone to the Furong district civil affairs bureau in June to register to marry but were rejected and told a legal marriage had to be between a man and a woman. Sun disputed this in court, saying the Chinese term yifuyiqi, which means a husband and a wife in the marriage law, refers to the identity of the participants, not their gender. But the judge said China did not have explicit laws concerning same-sex marriage and that a husband and wife could only be a man and a woman under the marriage law. Shi Fulong, Sun's lawyer, said he would like to represent Sun when he appeals. "Marriage is a basic right of all citizens, including homosexuals," Shi said. Li Yinhe, a famed sociologist who is a prominent supporter of LGBT rights, said the fight to realize same-sex marriage would continue. "The result is not surprising but the process will have inspired others to courageously recognize and strive for due rights, despite social discrimination and stigma," she said. Li said Chinese tradition highlighting reproduction was the reason why marriage is considered to be an institution between a man and a woman in China. Online, opinion about the lawsuit was largely skewed against the couple, with some labeling them "abnormal". Some netizens said they hoped such a high-profile court case would not encourage young people to "try homosexuality". Sun said homosexuality was not a choice. "Unsubstantiated fear comes from ignorance," he said. "We are born this way." Hundreds of Chinese students in the United States face visa cancellation and deportation after a sting operation by the US Department of Homeland Security to catch agencies promoting fake universities and help the students get visas illegally, China Central Television reported on Wednesday. More than 20 agencies were caught. More than 1,000 students in the US, mainly from China and India, now face visa cancellation and deportation. US authorities announced last week that they had set up a fake university three years ago - the so-called University of Northern New Jersey. The sham school had no teaching or administrative staff, and no educational activities had ever taken place, CCTV reported, citing a federal prosecutor. A Chinese student, surnamed Zhang, said he didn't know the school was fake and couldn't believe that he and hundreds of peers had been tricked by the US authorities. Deng Hong, a lawyer hired by some Chinese students to deal with the incident, told CCTV that many students who wanted to remain in the US after the expiration of their legal student visa were implicated. Foreign students who want to stay in the US typically need to switch from a student visa to an H1B classification that allows for employment. But competition is fierce. At least 250,000 international students participated in a lottery for 80,000 H1B visas that ended in early April, Deng said. Rising numbers of international students, especially Chinese, go to the US to study. The annual Open Doors Report released by the Institute of International Education showed that in the 2014-15 academic year, nearly 1 million students from around the world were studying in the US. Of those, about 304,000 - the largest group - were Chinese. Given the stiff competition, students with expiring visas who fail to get an H1B in the lottery had no choice, Deng said, but to pay an agency about 10,000 yuan ($1,500) and hope that it would find schools they could enrol in so they could remain in the US. With a fake school, no studies are required, although certificates may be issued. Lu Weiwei, a staff member at the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange, said students should be more cautious when choosing universities and agencies overseas. They should choose one recognized by the ministry, which posts a list online at jsj.edu.cn. Luo Han grabs a kingsnake bred in his snake farm at Niujiaowan village, Liping county in Guizhou province. [Photo provided to China Daily] A farmer who swapped raising crops for breeding venomous cobras and other less-deadly snakes, lifting his family out of poverty in just a few years, is eager to share his skills with other villagers in Southwest China's Guizhou province. In a peaceful courtyard in Liping county's Niujiaowan village, a neat row of bungalows is home to thousands of snakes, including the vibrantly patterned kingsnakes that use constriction to subdue and kill their prey. "Taming snakes is way harder than raising regular animal species," said 40-year-old Luo Han, who owns the breeding houses. Luo wears special gloves and uses other equipment to pull a snake out of its pit. He tightly presses on the snake's head to ensure it won't be able to attack anyone. As experienced as Luo is today, he didn't start his career as a snake farmer. Born and raised in the province's mountainous area, Luo's family was poor during his childhood, and he was forced to drop out of school as a teenager to find work in the coastal regions. "I was once the owner of a restaurant and guitar factory in Guangdong province, but the financial crisis in 2008 took nearly everything from me," Luo said. Seeking another business, he learned that snakes are quite popular as food in Guangdong province and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Hunting wild snakes is strictly prohibited in China, so the demand for farmed snakes is quite large. To master the skills of snake handling and breeding, Luo spent nearly a year as an apprentice at various breeding bases across the country. In 2009, he returned to his hometown and opened his own breeding base. "The biggest concern was a worry about snake bites and the emergency care needed should someone be bitten by a snake while taming it," Luo said. In order to assuage any worries his fellow villagers might have, Luo built the breeding houses in an isolated area and added three fences to ensure safety. "I always keep a first aid kit, as well as antivenoms, at my office just in case," Luo said, adding that mastering those medical skills is fundamental for every snake handler. Still, it is impossible to avoid the inevitable. In 2011, as Luo's snake business started to show promising results, he was bitten. "It felt worse than being stung by a bee and that is the first time I faced a life-or-death situation," Luo said. Even now, he has kept the incident from his parents and children. Only his wife is aware of what happened and "she's been nagging at me ever since", Luo said. "She's fine with me breeding snakes, since it's profitable, but I have to get rid of the deadly ones, such as the cobras." It costs about 80 yuan ($12) to raise a snake that can be sold for more than 130 yuan in the current market, Luo said. "Snakes are asleep most of time, so it takes less labor compared with traditional animal husbandry, such as pig breeding," he said. Luo's company breeds more than 9,000 snakes a year, which brings in revenue of about 1 million yuan. He is looking to share his know-ledge and snake-farming skills with other villagers. "I'd like to help more poor people, like I used to be, to join the breeding business," he said. Zhao Kai contributed to this story. BEIJING - A former senior legislator in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has been indicted for accepting bribes. Prosecutors in Xining, capital of Qinghai province, have informed Li Zhi, former deputy head of the standing committee of the regional People's Congress, of his litigation rights and questioned him, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said in a statement on Thursday. The indictment said Li took advantage of his posts to seek benefits for others, asking for and accepting a huge amount in bribes. The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced in March 2015 that Li was under investigation for violating the law and Party codes of conduct. He was expelled from the CPC in July 2015. BEIJING - Racial conflict was severe in the United States, with race relations at their worst in nearly two decades, according to the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2015 released by China on Thursday. Sixty-one percent of Americans characterized race relations in the United States as "bad," the report quotes a poll jointly released by the CBS News and The New York Times on May 4, 2015 as saying. The figure was the highest since 1992. Law enforcement and justice fields were heavily affected by racial discrimination, with 88 percent of African-Americans believing they were treated unfairly by police, and 68 percent of African-Americans believing the American criminal justice system was racially biased, the report says. Whites had 12 times the wealth of blacks and nearly 10 times more than Hispanics. It was said that the American Dream remained out of reach for many African-American and Hispanic families, according to the report. Online buyers are expected to have more choices to purchase high quality products on China's major e-commerce platforms with more enterprises committed to carry their products, according to China's top quality authority. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine launched an online quality commitment platform open to public on Thursday, through which consumers can check the name of enterprises who have made a commitment to their products and the names of products carried. The platform is shared with five top e-commerce platforms in China, including Alibaba and JD.com. Buyers on these platforms can check which products are committed to, Yan Fengmin, chief for law enforcement and supervision of the administration, said. Such a measure is expected to encourage enterprises to improve the quality of their products to win the online market and reduce the number of fake and substandard products sold online, he said. More than 120 enterprises have made a commitment online and in the future the administration will encourage more enterprises to join and more types of products will be covered, including popular products such as air purifiers and toilets, Fan Chunguang, an official for law enforcement in the administration, said. Quality authorities will also inspect the products committed to by the enterprises and the results will also be shared online, according to Yan. Three cities have reached their environmental improvement goals with sharp reductions in airborne particulate pollution matters after having serious talks with environmental protection authorities, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said. The ministry held talk-down sessions with city governments due to their poor performances in environmental control, especially due to their severe air pollution in 2015. On Feb 8, 2015, the Ministry of Environmental Protection hosted talks with the government of Cangzhou city in Hebei province, with Linyi city of Shandong province on Feb 25, and with the Zhengzhou city of Henan province on July 28. The talk-down sessions from the ministry pushed the cities' decision-makers forward to take serious efforts in reducing pollution. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, 2015 saw 203 days of good air quality in Cangzhou city, an increase of 59 days than that of 2014. The average reading of PM2.5 particulate matter with diameter less than 2.5 microns that pose risks to human health dropped by 20.5 percent year-on-year. Linyi in Shandong province has seen the PM2.5 the reduction of 17.4 percent while Zhengzhou in Henan province with the reduction of 20 percent, it added. After the talks, the cities governments have taken tougher efforts to control the pollutant emissions, and polluters have received severe punishments. For example, all 13 companies exposed with discharging excessive pollutants in Linyi city have received heavier fines with the total amount of 2.44 million yuan ($376,000) and nine managers have been detained. In 2015, the city has investigated 1,462 cases involved with destroying and polluting the environment; an increase of 76 percent year-on-year, with 70 million yuan in total fines, an increase of 132 percent. BEIJING -- China on Thursday questioned the findings of a United States human rights report, and cautioned against using the issue of human rights to interfere in China's domestic affairs. The US State Department released an annual report on global human rights on Wednesday, pointing a finger at China and some other countries. "This 'human rights report' overlooks China's human rights achievements," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular news briefing when asked to comment on the report. He said anyone with a real interest in China's human rights situation would not deny the remarkable improvements since the reform and opening-up drive began more than three decades ago. Lu said China can have candid exchanges with other countries on the issue and work together to improve human rights, but countries should not use human rights to interfere in the internal affairs of others. "Attempts to politicize the issue of human rights to disrupt China's stability and development will prove to be futile," Lu said. Visiting US Defense Secretary Ash Carter gestures during a joint press conference with his Filipino counterpart Voltaire Gazmin (not pictured) at the presidential palace in Manila April 14, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] The Foreign Ministry has voiced a "resolute opposition against infringement of China's sovereignty and security by any country in any form" after the Pentagon said the US-Philippine joint patrols in the South China Sea will occur regularly in the future. US Defense Secretary Ash Carter confirmed on Thursday that the US and the Philippines had conducted such patrols. "The military exchanges by relevant countries should not target a third party, not to mention supporting some countries to provoke against China's sovereignty, its security, and flaring regional contradictions while damaging regional peace and stability," said a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry in a written response. "Beijing will follow the relevant developments. The South China Sea situation generally maintains stability with joint efforts by China and relevant countries," the response stated. Carter made the confirmation at a joint news conference with Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin in Manila. Carter met with Philippine President Benigno Aquino earlier that day. According to Reuters, and international news agency, the Pentagon said the first joint patrol occurred in March, and a second one took place earlier this month. Chinese experts say the patrol showcased the US's hypocrisy over the South China Sea issue and its plan to sabotage peace and stability in the region. Carter visited the US treaty ally on Wednesday amid the ongoing annual US-Philippine Shoulder-To-Shoulder 2016 military drill. Police display a recovered jade dragon that is 5,000 to 6,000 years old. A court has sentenced the head of a tomb-raiding ring to death with a two-year reprieve for robbing ancient graves and trafficking in cultural relics stolen from the Hongshan cultural relics protection region. Another three key members of the gang received life sentences for excavating ancient graves and cultural sites, Chaoyang Intermediate People's Court in Liaoning province said on Thursday. "The high-profile tomb robbery case is considered the largest example of cultural relics robbery since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The number of cultural relics and people involved in the thefts both set records," the court said in a statement. Discovered in 1921, the Hongshan region in Liaoning province is a key national relics site and was a candidate for a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage designation in 2013. The region along the border of Lingyuan and Jianping counties includes a large altar believed to be 5,500 years old. The court said a gang led by Yao Yuzhong formed a secret chain of workers to conduct the crimes, including some who provided financial support, invested in equipment, excavated the tombs and sold the relics. Another 18 gang members received sentences ranging from three to 15 years. "Yao directed others to excavate the nationally protected cultural relics ... causing great losses for our national heritage. The circumstances of such a crime are very serious, and the suspect is subject to death," the court said. In Yao's case, the reprieve means his sentence could be later reduced to life in prison. The high-profile case dates to 2014, when police were tipped off about the crimes and evidence of tomb raiding was found in the Hongshan region. The Ministry of Public Security directed Liaoning police to form a special investigation team. In July, police identified 12 tomb robbing gangs and detained 225 suspects. They recovered 2,063 cultural relics, including 248 pieces considered to have national value. In January, Chaoyang Intermediate People's Court sentenced five of those defendants to life in prison, including Yao's brother, Yao Yufei. Another 25 defendants received sentences ranging from three to 15 years. Sentencing of the other defendants is pending. Policies to assist new graduates in job hunt (China Daily) Updated: 2016-03-15 07:59:17 As the annual sessions of the top legislature and political advisory body unfolded, China Daily collected questions on issues that netizens care most about and solicited answers from political advisers, legislators and senior government officials. The question With more and more university students graduating and looking for a job, what are you doing to ensure that unemployment levels stay low, and what steps are being taken to help the young generation get good jobs? A netizen who goes by "Adam cooper" The answer This year, we'll have 7.65 million college graduates, 160,000 more than last year, and a similar number of secondary vocational graduates, as well as middle and high school graduates who will not continue their schooling. These add up to 15 million young job seekers. The pressure is obviously heavy. However, we still feel confident in maintaining a stable job market. One important reason is that China's economy continues to maintain sustained and sound development, and new drivers for economic growth are taking shape with structural adjustments, which will create a supportive environment for employment. The government will adopt policies this year to promote the employment of college graduates. First, macroeconomic and industrial policies will be coordinated to create more job opportunities. Second, we will continue to provide college students with more career services. Third, vocational training will be strengthened to help job seekers improve their professional skills. Fourth, we will continue to promote entrepreneurship to expand employment. And last but not least, we will continuously offer good public employment servicesonline services in particularto better serve the target population. Winners of the CFDG Young Director Support Program hold scallions that imply freshness in Chinese culture. [Photo provided to China Daily] Chinese internet companies, which began to tap into the country's booming movie business several years ago, are now looking to attract aspiring directors. The CFDG Young Director Support Program, backed by China's top movie regulator and run by the China Film Directors' Guild, released its list of five winners, selected from some 300 candidates after a two-month competition that ended on Sunday. Unlike many similar projects sponsored by veteran filmmakers or leading studios, this project had two internet giants behind it. Besides the program's chairman Feng Xiaogang, the heads of Tencent Pictures and Heyi Pictures, the film arms of Tencent and Youku Tudou, respectively, were present at Sunday's award ceremony. Speaking about the contest, Feng, who says Chinese filmmakers have a tradition of passing on directing tips in a master-apprentice way, adds: "It is now time for our generation to take up the masters' responsibilities. We have to give newcomers more opportunities." Feng also says filmmaking is a job with high entry barriers, so veterans need to help newbies. His views seem to be supported by the current trend of veteran directors becoming producers. One of the latest instances of this is the upcoming romance drama, New York New York, produced by Hong Kong veteran Stanely Kwan and directed by beginner Luo Dong. Cheng Wu, the CEO of Tencent Pictures, says China's booming movie market, despite having many investors, is short of talent. As a film's quality mainly depends on the screenwriter and the director, Tencent hopes to use its online platform and resources to find more creative people, he says. "The winners and other aspirants who applied for the program are welcome to work with Tencent Pictures," he tells China Daily. He says Tencent can either finance their scripts or hire them to direct the company's copyrighted programs, referring to popular works with an accumulated fan base. Cheng says Tencent, which also has subsidiaries dealing with literature, gaming and animation, has a lot of popular content ready for cinematic adaptation. China Reading Ltd, the literature arm of Tencent, has 10 million online novels and 4 million authors, says a report released in March. Interestingly, popular online content, such as the animation series, The Fox Matchmaker and Zombie Brother, were used to test the finalists in the competition. For the contest, the competitors were told to shoot a short film based on them, says Hou Xiaodong, chief of the CFDG program. Hou says young directors can get immersed in the digital world quite quickly. "Most of them are addicted to the internet, and they are more familiar with works on the web than many middle-aged or elderly directors," he says. Actually, young directors are already showing reliance on the digital technology to not only present story ideas but also for money. When actor Xu Zheng was preparing for his second feature film Lost in Hong Kong, he collected online data to learn about viewers' tastes. Chen Yingjie, the producer of the animated franchise Roco Kingdom, earlier told China Daily that his crew recorded the audience's pulse rates and blood pressure readings to find out which scenes they found exciting during the test screenings. Gu Haoyuan (far left, second row) and his team from Shandong University of Arts interview his grandparents. [Photo provided to China Daily] A nonprofit is urging more Chinese to engage with their genealogies through a project, titled "Family, Spring and Autumn". The annual program asks college students to record their family histories orally and present short documentaries that are judged by a professional panel. Founded in 2014 by Cui Yongyuan, formerly a popular TV anchor, the Beijing Yongyuan Foundation aims to back efforts by ordinary people to preserve family trees through interviews and video recordings. The nonprofit awarded prizes to the top videos for this year at a function in Beijing on Sunday. Though symbolic in nature, the ceremony is meant to encourage young Chinese to participate in the project. "I interviewed my great-grandmother, my grandmother and my father to trace our family history," says Pan Chao, a student of Beijing University of Chemical Technology. "While they are my closest relatives, I began to understand them better once I saw them narrating their stories in front of the camera." Pan, whose roots lie in southern China, says older generations in his family have given him something that will transcend time. "I will show the video to my children and tell them where we came from, if they aren't able to see my hometown in the mountains firsthand." Cui says: "Oral history can complement history books that often neglect people's habits or anecdotes. It can even correct wrong records and overcome stereotypes." According to Xiang Xiaojing, also from the nonprofit, the project last year featured 147 short documentaries that were submitted by some 100 colleges nationwide. The themes covered a wide spectrumfrom dying folklore in the countryside and patients of rare diseases to war veterans. Chinese telecom fraud suspects deported from Kenya get off a plane after arriving at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, April 13, 2016.[Photo/Xinhua] Following Kenya's recent repatriation of eight Taiwan-born people to the Chinese mainland after their acquittal on telecommunication fraud charges, Taiwan authorities lodged a "solemn protest" to the mainland, demanding it immediately transfer the eight to the island. Some on the island have accused the mainland of "illegal abduction". However, Taiwan's judiciary admitted that although they were acquitted of the charge of operating an unlicensed telecommunication-related business, the eight people still face fraud charges and the mainland's extradition conforms to international laws. Any time there is a dispute between the mainland and the island, the island's pro-independence camp seeks to interpret it as the mainland "suppressing" Taiwan, in an attempt to politicize it and fuel "anti-mainland" sentiments on the island. Yet from the perspective of either territorial jurisdiction or the one-China principle, there can be no dispute concerning the eight people from Taiwan implicated in a fraud against mainland residents. Any "emotional wordings" used to defame the mainland will not help handle the case under proper law. Since the election of the Democratic Progressive Party to power, pro-independence radical forces on the island have become more active and a series of activities targeted at challenging the one-China principle have been organized. They have also tried to dominate the island's public opinion. But they should know that any provocation will eventually damage their own prospects. Today's mainland is no longer what it was when former Taiwan leader Chen Shui-ban was in power and any "Taiwan independence" attempt will be more easily countered. The island should make greater efforts to pursue development and progress, rather than pursue non-existent "national sovereignty". As far as the latest extradition case is concerned, Taiwan should pursue its settlement based on judicial consultations and cooperation with the mainland.--Global Times Sept. 9, 2011 - Washington, DC, USA - US President Barack Obama talks with Libyan Ambassador Ali Suleiman Aujali and his family September 9, 2011 during an Ambassador Credentialing Ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House.[Photo/IC] US president Barack Obama said on Sunday the worst mistake of his presidency was "a lack of planning" for the aftermath of the 2011 toppling of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi. People's Daily Overseas Edition commented on Wednesday: Despite viewing Libya today as a "mess" and accusing his European allies, including British Prime Minister David Cameron and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, of being "distracted by a range of other things" after the operation, Obama still insisted that intervening in Libya had been "the right thing to do". In Syria, too, the actions of the US and its Western allies caused the Bashar Assad administration to lose control of large swathes of its land by imposing economic sanctions on and diplomatically isolating the country. The endless chaos, in turn, has not only resulted in the deaths of over 100,000 Syrians, but also forced millions to flee their homes and many to seek asylum in Europe. True, in comparison with his predecessor George W. Bush, Obama has been more prudent when it comes to the use of military power, and more willing to deal with the Middle East issues. However, his efforts have failed, and instead escalated tensions in the region, allowing the Islamic State group to expand its territory in Syria and Iraq and launch attacks on some European cities. Under the name of "safeguarding global security" and "promoting democracy", Washington has never given up interfering in other countries' domestic affairs. Given its dominant military might and ability to mobilize international support, it has always been easy for the US to oust leaders it didn't like, but not so easy for it to restore peace and stability afterwards. Its China policy is hardly better, as it still refuses to correct its erroneous stance on the Taiwan question and South China Sea issue, which is injecting more uncertainties into the bilateral ties. It is time for Washington to reflect upon its previous mistakes and avoid repeating them in the years to come. New technology.[Photo/Agencies] Over the past couple of years, my son, who is now 9 years old, has made it a habit to demand spring outings. Usually, my answer is: "You need to wait for once-in-a-semester tour your school arranges" or "Let's schedule a family picnic next week or the week after". For working parents in major Chinese cities like Beijing, such a reply is neither too cruel nor too kind. This year has been different, however. One day my wife came home with a tip from another parent about a small tour club for kids. She contacted the club through WeChat and immediately paid online for our son's tour. The following Sunday, our son joined a group of 20 similar-age kids led by five college-graduate club employees to ride locally rented bicycles in fresh air and sunshine at a forest park beyond the limits of urban Beijing. I appreciated the great convenience the small tour club provided for urban parents like us who pay close attention to their children's health and want them to spend as much time as possible in the lap of nature but cannot always afford the exhaustion of a family journeywhich starts with planning and includes navigating Beijing's heavy traffic. Despite the difficulties that have long hindered consumption growth in the world's most populous country, mushrooming new service providers driven by the internet have begun to demonstrate the tremendous potential of the service sector as the future driver of the Chinese economy. Though most of such new service-provider businesses still look miniscule compared with the struggling industrial enterprises that have to lay off millions of workers in the next few years to reduce overcapacity, they are not only creating new jobs and satisfying consumers but have also positioned to take off with some timely help. Another surprise I have come across is a new service I recently found while using an app on my smartphone to fix an appointment with a doctor. After using the online registration system for one or two years, I was asked for the first time if I needed a professional assistant who would "accompany you through the entire hospital procedure for about 200 yuan a day". Though I did not press the order button for myself, I still felt relieved thinking about the troubles my family had to overcome last year to accompany my father for more than two weeks to a hospital hundreds of miles away from Beijing where he underwent a surgery. I have no intention of exaggerating the role of the new service. But the fact that patients can go through several departments of a hospital with relative comfort and save time as well should be a source of great relief for them and their families, as well as a much-needed boost to the overall efficiency of hospitals that have been long caught between understaffed medical professionals and ever-rising numbers of patients. Yet for these new service providers to thrive, the typical question potential consumers will ask"Can I trust them?"needs to be addressed, and addressed soon. And this is exactly where the visible hand of the government can play a regulatory and credit-enhancing role. Indeed, relevant government agencies should promptly regulate the fast growth of internet-based businesses. But it will also be good to see the government allocate a small part of the fiscal support for traditional service sectors to boost tourism or improve healthcare to support those emerging new service-provider businessessay, a 2-yuan subsidy for the 5-yuan insurance that a tour club will buy for each kid in a groupbecause it will considerably improve the creditability of these startups to tremendously boost consumption that, in turn, may earn more tax revenues. In this sense, the boom of various internet-based service providers is an opportunity policymakers cannot afford to ignore. The author is a senior writer with China Daily. zhuqiwen@chinadaily.com.cn Anabel Gonzalez [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Global economic cooperation key to promote reforms that are needed, says World Banks Anabel Gonzalez in an interview with China Daily website. In a wide-ranging interview with China Daily website, Anabel Gonzalez, Senior Director, World Bank Group Global Practice on Trade and Competitiveness, discusses her expectations from G20 Summit scheduled to be held in Hangzhou in September, the problems small industries face in securing finance and Chinas current economic transition. Here are the excerpts: 1, What are your expectations from China, which holds the rotating presidency of G20 this year? What would you like the G20 Summit in Hangzhou in September to focus on? Although China has denied that it will further depreciate yuan to boost exports, are you worried about the possibility of competitive depreciation happening among emerging economies? The countries that make up the G20 have a central role to play in global trade and investment, and they can do more to contribute to the G20s overall objective of strong, sustainable and balanced growth. For this reason, the World Bank Group fully supports the effort of the G20, under Chinas leadership, to establish a new Working Group to focus on trade and investment. Specifically, we welcome the proposal by the Chinese Presidency to develop a Global Trade Growth Strategy that will help reduce trade costs through the collective actions of G20 members. On your second question, there is always a possibility that countries resort to non-cooperative trade or macro policies in difficult times. This is true for all G20 countries, developed and developing, and it is not specific to China. Improving the institutional setting in which countries operate would facilitate cooperative solutions. A way to do this within the G20 is to enhance the independent role of the IMF, World Bank Group and WTO in the monitoring and analysis of economic policies by G20 members. 2, The member states of G20 belong to different Regional Trade Agreements, and there definitely exist a divergence of interests among them. How can we let the G20 Summit perform as an unofficial dialogue platform to encourage bilateral trade agreements and Regional Trade Agreements and strengthen, instead of weaken, the global trade governance under the WTO? Regional trade agreements are a good example of a policy area where the G20 with the assistance of international organizations, could do more. These trade agreements can do a lot to move international integration forward. For instance, they can go deeper than multilateral negotiations that involve a larger number of different countries in terms of development, needs, and preferences. Take for example, investment or competition policy where an agreement would often not be feasible at the broader level. On the other hand, there is concern that regional trade agreements could eventually fragment the multilateral trading system and increase trade costs. A solution is to give international organizations within the G20 a mandate to monitor and analyze the impact of these agreements on members and non-members. The World Bank Group is doing innovative work in this area. The goal should be to help countries identify what works best for them and for others, but realize the potential of multilateralizing certain provisions, so that regional trade agreements complement and reinforce the multilateral trading system. World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank President Jin Liqun signed the first co-financing framework agreement between the two institutions on Wednesday. The agreement outlines the co-financing parameters of World Bank-AIIB investment projects, and paves the way for the two institutions to jointly develop projects this year. In 2016, the AIIB expects to approve about $1.2 billion in financing, with World Bank joint projects anticipated to account for a sizable share. Jin said he was very pleased to sign this co-financing agreement together with Kim. "The AIIB is very grateful for the generous and timely support offered by the World Bank Group throughout our establishment process, and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with ongoing cooperation in project co-financing and other areas," Jin said. Kim said signing this agreement enables both institutions to finance development projects together, and that is an important first step toward working with a new partner to address the world's huge infrastructure needs. "As the world's multilateral development banks collaborate ever more closely, leveraging each other's financing and expertise, the people who will benefit the most will be the world's poor,"Kim said. Some 1.2 billion people in the world lack access to electricity and 2.4 billion people don't have access to basic sanitation services. The World Bank Group invested $18.8 billion in infrastructure in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015. The institution will leverage even more private finance through new partnerships, such as the Global Infrastructure Facility, and the growing portfolios of the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. The World Bank and the AIIB are currently discussing nearly one dozen co-financed projects in sectors that include transport, water and energy in Central Asia, South Asia and East Asia. Under the agreement, the World Bank will prepare and supervise the co-financed projects in accordance with its policies and procedures in areas like procurement, environment and social safeguards. The AIIB, located in Beijing, aims to promote regional cooperation in addressing development challenges by working with other multilateral and bilateral development institutions. It is expected to advance sustainable economic development and to improve infrastructure in Asia. Protesters hold a rally in support of former NYPD officer Peter Liang in the Brooklyn borough of New York February 20, 2016.[Photo/Agencies] Peter Liang, the former New York City police officer convicted of manslaughter, will be back in a Brooklyn courtroom on Thursday for the second day of a hearing for a mistrial motion by his defense team. Liang's sentencing, which was scheduled for Thursday, was postponed to April 19. Liang's lawyers argued that juror Michael Vargas, 62, "lied knowingly and for the purpose of securing a seat on the jury". Vargas was quoted by the New York Daily News on March 26, criticizing the decision of Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson to recommend probation, not a prison term, for Liang. "You cannot put away the average person's thoughts here just because they are police officers," Vargas told the paper. "They deserve to be prosecuted and sentenced just like everyone else who has the same background or committed the same crime." He also said that his own father served more than seven years in prison for accidentally shooting a friend. It caught the defense attorneys' attention that Vargas didn't disclose that information during jury selection, when he was asked by the judge whether he or anyone close to him had ever been accused of a crime. "None that have made the papers," Vargas said, and when pressed, answered, "No, no." "Did you lie during jury selection?" Liang's lawyer, Paul Shechtman, asked Vargas during the hearing on Wednesday in Kings County Supreme Court. "I don't believe I did," Vargas said, arguing that he didn't consider his father a close family member. "He was not close to me. He never spanked me. He never raised me." Shechtman also questioned Vargas about Facebook posts he reposted on police misconduct and about which he made comments including "Are the police a legal gang?", "Who's the one that needs help?" and "Everytime police shoot an unarmed person, they bring this country one step closer to a revolution." Shechtman asked if Vargas wanted to be on the jury because he knew the case involved a police officer. "I want to be on any jury that you get called from work, stop work and come to serve on the jury," he said. Liang was convicted in February for the shooting death of Akai Gurley, 28, an African-American man, at a Brooklyn housing project in November 2014. Liang, now 28, discharged his gun in a darkened stairwell at the housing project. The ricocheted bullet fatally struck Gurley on a lower floor. The prosecutors will cross-examine Vargas on Thursday afternoon. hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com Chinese Consul General in Houston Li Qiangmin (third from left), Dominic Ng (fourth from left), chairman and CEO of East West Bank (EWB), and Wendy Cai-Lee (right), executive vice-president of EWB, join in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. MAY ZHOU / CHINA DAILY Local business and community leaders joined East West Bank (EWB) to celebrate the opening of its new Houston regional offices on Tuesday. The new offices are a move to enhance EWB's commercial banking presence and corporate image. Guests included Chinese Consul General in Houston Li Qiangmin, Texas State Representative Gene Wu and Spring Valley Village Mayor Tom Ramsey, among others. The new offices include a 3,500-square-foot commercial banking center on the first floor, and a 20,000-square-foot Texas regional office on the third floor. "These offices were built as the bank's very first prototype of a commercial banking center and crystallize the bank's vision of how our future branches and offices will look and function," said Wendy Cai-Lee, executive vice-president at EWB. The offices are digitally enhanced with interactive kiosks and multi-media technology. In addition, EWB also celebrated the grand opening of its new 7,220-square-foot Dallas commercial banking center on Wednesday. EWB extended its Texas market presence by acquiring local Metro Bank which was headquartered in Chinatown. While its regional office is moving to the more prominent location by Katy Freeway, its Chinatown location will remain open and continue to serve the Chinese community. "More than 40 years ago, we started as a savings and loan serving new Chinese immigrant families and have grown into one of the 30 largest public banks in the US," said Cai-Lee. "Today, we remain unmatched in our ability to serve the Chinese-American community thanks to our cultural heritage and unique core competencies." In addition to upgrading facilities, EWB has brought in an energy team to focus on the oil and gas business. "Our deposits have grown, loans have grown, and additionally we've added a lot of new products like foreign currency exchange and international trade," said Dominic Ng, chairman and CEO of EWB. "I think there is no better opportunity to enter the energy market than right now." At the opening celebration, Ng unveiled a piece of art he recently acquired and displayed in the lobby at the regional office. Titled Under Heaven, it is the work of young Shanghai artist Xu Zhen and shows a God's-eye-view from above. "Its primary color is red which symbolizes prosperity for Chinese," said Ng. EWB, publicly owned and headquartered in California, focuses exclusively on the United States and Greater China markets with more than 130 locations worldwide. Chinese Consul General Li Qiangmin said that there are more than 100 Chinese companies in Texas and the economic ties between the two countries are stronger than ever. "EWB is a bridge between the two not only because you have a financial network in China but also because you have a deeper understanding of Chinese culture," said Li. "There are tremendous opportunities between the US and Greater China, we are happy to play a support role in financing and advice," said Ng. mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com Scantily clad runners attend a fundraising event called Cupid's Undie Run for the Children's Tumor Foundation in front of Capitol Hill in Washington DC, Feb 15, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua] WASHINGTON - Some compounds in antidiabetic drugs known as antioxidants may fuel the spread of tumor, a study led by Chinese researchers said Wednesday. The study, published in the US journal Science Translational Medicine, suggested that antioxidants may need to be administered with caution in diabetic patients with cancer. Diabetes is suspected to raise the risk of many cancers, and the number of diabetic patients who also have cancer is growing, but how antidiabetic drugs affect cancer is poorly understood, said the study led by Hongting Zheng and Shicang Yu of the Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, China. Antioxidants, compounds that protect cells from toxic reactive oxygen species, are commonly used to treat patients with diabetes, but mounting evidence from animal studies highlights the potential of these drugs to accelerate either cancer growth or metastasis. In the new study, the researchers studied the effects of two common classes of antidiabetic medications with antioxidant properties in mice with colon and liver cancers. The researchers found that while these drugs did not raise the risk of developing cancers, they sped the spread of existing tumors. Further research revealed that the drugs activated the so-called NRF2 signaling pathway, which accelerated tumor metastasis. If proven in humans, the findings would caution against giving this type of antioxidant-containing medication to diabetic cancer patients. "Our results challenge traditional views on the use of antioxidants, which thought that these drugs protect cells from damage caused by free oxygen radicals, reducing the risk of tumorigenesis and improving the prognosis of cancer patients," Zheng and Yu said in an email to Xinhua. "However, our study found that antioxidants may have a negative effect in certain circumstances, suggesting that we cannot abuse antioxidants." Two in three Americans say China is a very important partner. So says the 2016 US-China Public Perceptions Snapshot Survey by Brunswick Insight, done on behalf of the Committee of 100 early last month. The online survey of 1,000 respondents and 200 more Chinese Americans nationwide conducted between March 1 and 10 also found that the positive views of China as a partner to the US are at an all-time high of 63 percent since the question was first asked in 2007. In 2007 the figure was at 55 percent and by 2012 had risen to 61 percent. Also at an all-time high are favorable views of China by the general public in the US - 57 percent say they have a favorable impression compared with 52 percent in 2007 and 55 percent in 2012. The Committee of 100's opinion survey project began in 1994 and has produced four surveys - in 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2012 - with the aim of determining American attitudes toward China and identifying the most salient domestic issues in US-China relations. The survey findings are expected to provide a window into the American public's opinions of China and help foster more fact-based discussions. "At a time when China is politically, economically, and socially ascendant, it is more crucial than ever to find paths to mutual understanding and stronger bilateral relations," said the survey report released by the Committee of 100 on Wednesday. The report noted that distrust between the two countries was rising and threatening to undermine bilateral relations, as 75 percent of the respondents called China "a serious or potential economic threat" and 77 percent called China "a serious or potential military threat". Their concerns are mainly over cybersecurity, Chinese investment in the US and discrimination against Chinese-American professionals, according to the survey. This year's survey found that cybersecurity is as significant of a concern as job loss and the trade deficit when Americans think of China, but blame is equally placed on both governments in terms of alleged hacker attacks. While cyber security is predicted to be the biggest source of conflict, the analysts of the survey suggest that the US presence in Asia is also of intensifying concern. When it comes to Chinese investment in the US, nearly 70 percent of Americans say the US should encourage Chinese investment, but nearly 48 percent believe that these deals are politically motivated and designed to increase China's influence over the US. In the film industry, for instance, 42 percent of the respondents have a negative impression of Chinese investment in Hollywood and 25 percent express worry about content control when Chinese investors are involved. "The American understanding of the US-China relationship is being undermined by distrust and miscommunication," Committee of 100 spokesman Frank Wu said in a statement. "These findings clearly show that there has never been a more important time for the C-100 to promote cross-cultural understanding." The findings will be further discussed at the committee's upcoming annual meeting on April 16 in Beverly Hills to ensure the topics are grounded in sound data and to encourage a fact-driven conversation. liazhu@chinadailyusa.com Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner waves to supporters as she leaves her home on her way to a court to answer questions over a probe into the sale of US dollar futures contracts at below-market rates by the central bank during her administration, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 13, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] BUENOS AIRES - Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Wednesday refuted allegations of corruption, saying the government is trying to silence her by putting her behind bars. After being summoned by a federal judge to testify about suspicious operations made by the country's central bank in the final days of her presidency, Fernandez addressed a massive rally of supporters gathering outside the courthouse, state news agency Telam reported. "Thousands of demonstrators" cheered Fernandez as she delivered an impassioned speech, telling the crowd: "They can summon me 20 more times, they can imprison me, but what they cannot do is to shut me up." Fernandez was accused of playing a role in the central bank's decision to sell dollars on the futures market at an artificially low price in the months before leaving office in December. At the time, there was a large gap between the official rate of the Argentine peso against the U.S. dollar and the rate on the black market. Judge Claudio Bonadio said selling dollars below market rate cost the state about 5.2 billion dollars, and allowed buyers to make a lot of money on the transaction. In a written statement she presented to Bonadio, Fernandez denied any wrongdoing and accused the government of bringing "trumped-up" criminal charges against her to try to put her away. Her lawyer, Carlos Beraldi, also submitted a petition to have Bonadio "recused," or disqualified. Fernandez, who served as Argentine president from 2007 to 2015, instead criticized Mauricio Macri, her pro-business and pro-U.S. successor, whose austerity measures have sparked nationwide protests shortly after he took office. "I have never seen so many calamities produced in the past 120 days," Fernandez said. Addressing her supporters, Fernandez said she had nothing to hide and warned that the Argentine government was undergoing a political shift to the right, as was Latin America in general. "I am not afraid. I voluntarily renounced having immunity. I don't need it," Fernandez said, adding that "the (political) regression taking place" in Argentina "is being replicated regionwide." "This is a political, judicial and media pattern that has spread throughout the region to link national and people-based projects with corruption, so that ... by the time it has blown over, you won't even remember your own name," she said. In a separate case, Fernandez has also been accused of money laundering. SEOUL - The Republic of Korea's defense ministry said Thursday that the military is preparing for possible launch of ballistic missiles by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) at or around one of its most important national holidays. Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Kyun told a press briefing that the military is closely monitoring and preparing for the DPRK's possible launch of ballistic missiles such as Musudan missiles. Multiple ROK government sources were quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying that the DPRK had deployed one to two mobile Musudan missiles about 20 days ago to its eastern Wonsan area. Those missiles, which are allegedly capable of striking parts of the US territory such as Guam and the outer reaches of Alaska, are highly likely to be launched on Friday that marks the so-called Day of the Sun, according to the sources. The Day of the Sun is an annual public holiday in the DPRK that falls on April 15 to commemorate the birthday of Kim Il Sung, founder of the country and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un. If launched, it would mark the first time that Pyongyang test-fires Musudan missiles and also the first time that the country launches ballistic missiles from a mobile launcher. Pyongyang is known to have deployed around 50 mobile Musudan missiles. The ROK's military has reportedly dispatched an Aegis-equipped destroyer to the East Sea to detect and track the possible launch of Musudan missiles. The DPRK has twice launched a three-stage rocket, which was condemned as a disguised test of ballistic missile technology, from a stationary launch pad. The latest long-range rocket launch from a fixed site was carried out on Feb. 7, about a month after Pyongyang detonated what it claimed was its first hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6, the fourth of its nuclear test. Unlike the launch from a stationary site that can be detected by spy satellites as it takes time to prepare, mobile launches are very hard, in case of military conflicts, to spot as the mobile launchers can move to another position before shooting missiles. The ROK's military has also monitored possibility for the DPRK's fifth nuclear test since top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un gave orders on March 15 to test a nuclear warhead and ballistic rockets capable of carrying the warhead. Pyongyang has claimed that it possessed a miniaturized nuclear warhead and mastered the technology of a re-entry vehicle, key to developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Moon, Seoul's defense ministry spokesman, said that Pyongyang can conduct another nuclear test at any time when the leadership decides. Regarding CNN's Wednesday report that the DPRK could launch either its KN-08 or KN-14 mobile ballistic missiles, the spokesman said that it would be possible. The KN-08 is known as a long-range mobile ballistic missile that can strike the northwestern region of the US mainland. The KN-14 is alleged to be a more precise version of the KN-08. The spokesman, however, noted that the DPRK has yet to issue a no-navigation zone in waters off the country, widely seen as a sign to launch ballistic missiles. A ROK government official was quoted by Yonhap as saying that there is a possibility for the DPRK not to launch the mobile ballistic missiles, adding that stricter international sanctions would be taken if Pyongyang fires the Musudan missiles into the Pacific Ocean. GENEVA - China's permanent representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva, or UNOG, Ma Zhaoxu on Wednesday met UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan De Mistura, urging a balanced and sustainable settlement of the crisis in Syria. The two sides exchanged views on the ongoing Syrian peace talks. Ma said that China pays great attention to the Syria issue and highly values De Mistura's efforts in promoting the peace talks, which have already shown a positive momentum. Ma called on all parties involved in the talks to seize the opportune time and find a sustainable political settlement that benefits the Syrian people and takes into account of the interests and concerns of all parties. China advocates political settlement as the only solution to the Syria issue, has actively promoted peace talks, and provided humanitarian aid to Syria and its surrounding countries, Ma said. China will work together with the international community to play a constructive role in addressing the Syria issue, he added. De Mistura briefed Ma on the progress of the ongoing political transition in Syria, and stressed China's important role in solving the Syria issue. China has made active contribution to promoting peace talks, helped ease the Syrian humanitarian situation, as well as maintained peace and stability in Syria, said the envoy. He also hailed China's unbiased and fair stance towards the Syria issue. De Mistura also thanked China for supporting his work, and expressed the hope that China could continue to play a constructive role in the political settlement of the Syria crisis. Josemary da Silva, 34, holds Gilberto, five months old, who is her fifth child and born with microcephaly, in front of her house in Algodao de Jandaira, Brazil , February 17, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] BEIJING - US health authorities have confirmed that the Zika virus can cause microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects, while more efforts are needed to curb the outbreak worldwide. PROGRESS IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement Wednesday that it reached the conclusion after "careful review of existing evidence" using established scientific criteria. "This study marks a turning point in the Zika outbreak. It is now clear that the virus causes microcephaly," said Tom Frieden, director of the US agency. The conclusion, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, means that a woman infected with Zika during pregnancy has an increased risk of having a baby with these health problems, the statement said. The conclusion does not mean, however, that all women who have Zika virus infection during pregnancy will have babies with problems, it added. Frieden said the CDC is conducting further studies to determine whether microcephaly, or abnormally small heads, is only "the tip of the iceberg of what we could see in damaging effects on the brain and other developmental problems." Meanwhile, Brazilian scientists have found that babies born with microcephaly have "extremely severe" brain damage, "indicating a poor prognosis for neurological function," according to a study published in the British Medical Journal. A team of doctors from Brazil's Recife, a city at the center of the Zika outbreak, analyzed the types of abnormalities and lesions in brain scans of 23 babies diagnosed with a congenital infection associated with the Zika virus in Brazil. The babies had either computed tomography (CT) scans or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and seven of them had both types of scans. The brain abnormalities included brain calcification, a condition in which calcium builds up in the brain. Other signs included malformations of cortical development, decreased brain volume, underdevelopment of the cerebellum and ventriculomegaly -- a condition where the brain cavities are abnormally enlarged. There is now no vaccine or medicine available to fight the Zika virus. KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian government destroyed illegal-traded ivory worth some $20 million on Thursday, in the first such public event to showcase its commitment in combating illegal wildlife trade. Malaysian authorities have confiscated more than four thousand pieces of ivory and various other wildlife species through coordinated efforts of international enforcement network and public information, said Minister of natural resources and environment Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. A total of 9.55 tons of ivory were destroyed on Thursday, with the estimated value of 20.05 million US dollars. The authorities said the disposal of confiscated ivory through crushing and incineration is the best way to keep the ivory out of illegal market. Wan Junaidi admitted that Malaysia had been exploited as a handy transit point for illegal wildlife trade. "We are blessed with our strategic location and well-developed facilities to support international trade and logistic demand," he said, "However, these blessings also benefited the illegal wildlife traders as excellent point of entry, transfer and exit of the illegal wildlife products." Wan Junaidi stressed that his country strongly support the efforts to combat the illegal wildlife trade and were serious in curbing illegal wildlife trafficking, especially the trade in ivory. Meanwhile, Malaysia has conducted forensic sampling on several large scale seizures since 2014 to identify the origin of the ivory, in a bid to address the entire crime chain. Malaysia is a party of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) since 1978, and the country has enacted and enforced its own laws to meet its obligations under the convention. A formation of the Nanhai Fleet of China's Navy on Saturday finished a three-day patrol of the Nansha islands in the South China Sea. [Photo/Xinhua] Military cooperation between the United States and the Philippines should not "target a third-party" or "infringe the interests of the third-party", the Ministry of National Defense told China Daily on Thursday. The comment was made after US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Wednesday that US forces will gain access to more military bases in the Philippines than the five already announced, AFP reported. In response, the ministry referred to the fact that the US military bases in the Philippines were closed in the early 1990s. The ministry said in a written reply that "now the US army has returned, has reinforced its military presence in the Philippines and has given rise to militarization in the South China Sea region". "Reinforcing a military alliance is a sign of Cold-War thinking, and it runs against the trend of this era - peace, development, cooperation and win-win," the ministry said. "We urge the relevant parties to break away from the outdated Cold-War thinking, and not to target a third-party, infringe interests of the third-party or impact the regional peace and stability when they embark on bilateral military cooperation," the ministry added. Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a live broadcast nationwide call-in in Moscow, Russia, April 14, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that his country is ready to lend a helping hand to any partner in difficulty. When asked by a 12-year-old during his annual live phone-in whom he would choose to save first if Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko were both drowning, Putin said his country would like to help any partner. He added that it is impossible to save those who choose to drown. Commenting on relations with Turkey, Putin said Moscow has been viewing Turkey and its people as friends, but some politicians in Ankara seem not to do enough on their part. He also blasted the Turkish government for "cooperating" with extremists, rather than fighting them. Relations between Moscow and Ankara nosedived after the latter downed a Russian warplane along the Syrian border in November 2015. Turkey said the plane violated its airspace while Russia denied the charge. Moscow slapped a bunch of sanctions against Turkey after the incident and accused Ankara of being involved in illegal oil trade with the Islamic State militant group. Turkey denied the claim. Visiting US Defense Secretary Ash Carter gestures during a joint press conference with his Filipino counterpart Voltaire Gazmin (not pictured) at the presidential palace in Manila April 14, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] Beijing has voiced "resolute opposition against infringement of China's sovereignty and security by any country in any form". The Foreign Ministry spelled out China's stance after the Pentagon said that US-Philippine joint patrols in the South China Sea will occur "regularly". US Defense Secretary Ash Carter confirmed on Thursday that the US and the Philippines had already conducted such patrols. The Foreign Ministry told China Daily, "The military exchanges ... should not target a third party, not to mention supporting some countries to provoke China's sovereignty and security, flaring regional contradictions and damaging regional peace and stability." Beijing will follow developments, and general stability has been maintained in the South China Sea "through joint efforts by China and relevant countries", the ministry said Carter reported the US confirmation at a news conference with Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin in Manila. Carter met with the Philippine President Benigno Aquino earlier in the day. Without quoting a source, Reuters reported the Pentagon saying that the first joint patrol took place in March and a second one took place earlier this month. Carter started a visit to the Philippines on Wednesday during the annual US-Philippine military drill that started on April 4. He will attend the closing ceremony on Friday. Zhang Junshe, a senior researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said the US will damage peace in the South China Sea by calling for joint patrols. "When Washington calls China's behavior in the South China Sea coercive', the joint patrols have been a slap in the face. This is sheer coercion against China's peaceful development," Zhang said. Carter said US forces will be given access to more military bases in the Philippines than the five announced already. The Ministry of National Defense said, "The US Army has now returned, has reinforced its military presence in the Philippines and has given rise to militarization in the South China Sea region." Contact the writer at zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn Oxford University names one of its library reading rooms after China's largest publishing house, China Publishing Group (CPG). The CPG donated books to the university in conjunction with the three-day London Book Fair which ended Thursday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Oxford University names one of its library reading rooms after China's largest publishing house, China Publishing Group (CPG). The CPG donated books to the university in conjunction with the three-day London Book Fair which ended Thursday. On Wednesday, the CPG and the university's Bodleian Chinese Studies Library set up a reading room adopting the name "CPG". The books donated by the CPG are displayed. The books include: Twenty-four Histories, History Retold as a Mirror for Rulers, Encyclopedia of China and Complete Works on Chinese Fine Art. This center collects 50,000 books on China, including 20,000 Chinese rare books. CPG president Tan Yue and vice president Li Yan held talks with Richard Ovenden, Bodley's Librarian, and David Helliwell at the Bodleian Library to deepen cooperation. The two sides reached a series of cooperation intentions regarding old book collections and publication while building a long-term cooperation mechanism. They signed a memorandum of understanding. On the same day, the CPG held Celebrating Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare on the 400th Anniversary of Their Deaths: Opening Ceremony of the Book Edition Exhibition cum Book Granting Ceremony at Weston Library, University of Oxford. Tan and Richard jointly unveiled the exhibition and the former presented the latter with a list of the donated books. The two parties respectively delivered a short message on that occasion. The exhibition features 150 selected titles, including Zhonghua Book Company, People's Literature Publishing House and Commercial Press, the embroidery version of The Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu, and The Handan Dreamland Complete Works by Shakespeare. (Photo : How Hwee Young-Pool/Getty Images) enyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (L) shakes hands with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People Aug. 20, 2013 in Beijing, China. An agreement was signed between the two countries that will allow mutual visa exemptions for holders of diplomatic service passports. Advertisement A total of 77 Chinese suspects, including 45 Taiwanese, were deported by the Kenya police to mainland China reportedly because of telecom fraud. On Saturday, 10 of them were already repatriated, while on Wednesday, the remaining 67 people were sent to the mainland. The China state media Xinhua News reported that Taipei claimed that China "illegally" pressured the officials of Nairobi to deport its eight citizens after being cleared of the fraud charges, "in a case that inflamed anger in Taiwan." Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Amid this concern, China's public security ministry declared that "Mainland police will investigate the Taiwanese suspects." Meanwhile, it was learned that Taiwan already filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against a number of officials in Kenya for reportedly failing to recognize the court's decision clearing some of the suspects of the fraud charges. Taiwan's foreign ministry said that the officials "allowed Kenyan police to disrespect a court ruling, forcefully detaining our citizens for over 24 hours and illegally cooperating with mainland personnel to deport them to China." In the meantime, according to China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesperson An Fengshan, some of the deportees were accused of defrauding the Chinese people of more than 600 million yuan or $93 million by using internet phone accounts. "Many mainland people suffered. Many elderly people, teachers, students, migrant workers, laid-off workers and were deceived," the TAO official disclosed. "Some retired people who toiled all their lives were had their life savings taken from them, and are now penniless." It was noted that Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council head Andrew Hsia shared that the Taiwanese authorities may send senior officials to China "within days" to discuss about the issue. Advertisement Tagschina, Taiwan, Telephone Fraud (Photo : Reuters) Neanderthals were not ready for tropical diseases and resulted to their extinction. Advertisement A new study claims that ancestors of modern humans from Africa may have spread diseases among Neanderthals, contributing to their extinction. In a study recently published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, among the diseases brought to Neanderthals by modern humans are herpes, tapeworms, tuberculosis, and stomach ulcers. The study mentioned that Neanderthals were not ready for those tropical diseases and it was likely that it made severe effect on small groups of Neanderthals as they came into contact with migrating ancient humans. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Humans migrating out of Africa would have been a significant reservoir of tropical diseases. For the Neanderthal population of Eurasia, adapted to that geographical infectious disease environment, exposure to new pathogens carried out of Africa may have been catastrophic, said study co-author Charlotte Houldcroft of the University of Cambridge. The study also highlighted that Neanderthals and other early humans from Europe and Asia were not able to develop immunity against certain diseases transmitted by modern humans from Africa. Previous studies suggest that a lot of infectious diseases evolved after the development of agriculture, which allowed humans to crowd together in cities and put them in regular contact with domestic animals. But the recent studies on infectious disease genomes claimed otherwise. Houldcroft and her fellow researchers studied data from pathogen genomes and the DNA of ancient human bones. According to her teams findings, some infectious diseases may be thousands of years older than originally thought. It has long been believed that major human diseases began to truly evolve about 8,000 years ago. In addition, another finding from the study revealed that different so-called zoonoses or diseases transmitted from animals to humans may have originated from humans after all. There are several theories about what happened to Neanderthals, including climate change, but researchers think it was likely a combination of factors. Advertisement TagsDisease, Infection, Modern Humans, neanderthals, herpes (Photo : SAM YEH / Stringer/Getty Images) Andrew Hsia, Taiwan's Minister of Mainland Affairs Council, speaks to the press at the Interior Committee of the Parliament on April 13, 2016. Advertisement China will prosecute 45 Taiwanese citizens deported from Kenya on Wednesday in connection with a telecommunication scam. The Taiwan citizens, who were operating out of Nairobi, were detained in Kenya. Beijing's decision to prosecute the Taiwanese nationals has intensified a diplomatic scuffle with Taipei. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Taiwan has described China's arrest of its citizens as extrajudicial kidnapping. Legislators from Taiwan have accused Kenya of violating international law by collaborating with China on the case. The Taiwanese suspects had reportedly been acquitted by a Kenyan court so critics say there was no justification on the part of Nairobi to handover them to China. However, experts say that it is not illegal to extradite an accused person under international law and China has the right to indict anybody suspected of committing frauds/crimes, which has direct bearing on the territory of China. There has been a war of words between China and Taiwan on the issue. China's Ministry of Public Security issued a statement on Thursday which said that 45 Taiwanese and 32 Chinese nationals (including 10 now in China) had deceitfully claimed to be law enforcement officers in a bid to extort cash from common people and businessmen in the mainland through telephone calls. Meanwhile, an official in Taiwan's Justice Ministry has clarified that China wants to send the Taiwanese citizens among the suspects to Taiwan. However, officials in Beijing reportedly want Taipei to act tough on this issue because the suspects were operating in a foreign land and scamming Chinese nationals. According to the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, which was implemented since 2009, both countries have to formalize criminal-justice cooperation and establish a procedure for each side to return the other's citizens in legal cases. As part of this agreement, 14 Taiwanese accused in another fraud case, who were extradited from Philippines to China, were sent back to Taiwan under the agreement. Advertisement Tagschina, Taiwan, Kenya, telecommunication scam (Photo : South Korean Presidential Blue House /Getty Images) South Korean President Park Geun-Hye casts her vote in a polling station on April 13, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea Advertisement President Park Geun-hye got a striking political setback as South Koreans denied her conservative party a majority in the recently completed National Assembly election. The rising jobless rate, falling exports and weak consumer sentiment have clouded the outlook for South Korean's economy. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its forecast for the country's 2016 economic growth to 2.7 percent from 3.2 percent, citing sluggish Chinese demand for the nation's exports. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Kim Moo Sung, chairman of Park's Saenuri political party, has resigned from his position after the big setback for the ruling party on April 13 election. Experts feel that in her final year in the presidential office, Park's failure to drive her party to power in the country will undermine her possibility to push economic reform and other business agenda. After all the ballots are counted, the Saenuri Party is expected to win 122 seats. Park's party at present has 146 representatives in the 300-seat National Assembly, South Korea's unicameral legislature. Park's hard-line position on North Korea did not attract voters so much, while a tumbling economy may have weighed more heavily on their minds. The country's youth unemployment situation hit a record low in February this year and exports have decreased for 15 successive months. The outcome, which came as a surprise to many, will likely threaten Park's plans to push ahead with controversial economic reforms, including plans to make it easier for companies to lay off workers. The emergence of a new center-left party also ensures further changes to South Korea's political landscape, which has long been shaped by two-party dynamics. Advertisement TagsSouth Korea, Park Geun Hye, Parliamentary Election, North Korea (Photo : Getty Images) China has, so far, deployed 16 fighter jets to the disputed Woody Island in the South China Sea which Beijing claims as part of its territory, US defense authorities claim. Advertisement China has deployed 16 fighter jets to the disputed Woody Island in the South China Sea which Beijing claims as part of its territory, US defense authorities said on Wednesday. A high-level defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the press that China moved 16 Shenyang J-11 fighter jets to the Woody Island on April 7. This could be the largest deployment of fighter aircrafts in the South China region, the official said. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The defense official described the large deployment as "unprecedented" although he was quick to point out that this was not the first time the Chinese deployed fighter jets in the Woody Island. This large island is part of the Paracel group of islands which is being claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam. Large deployments China's latest move in the disputed South China Sea runs counter to its declaration that Beijing will not militarize the South China Sea region, a vow Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated during his latest visit to Washington last month. The official said China's large deployments of weapons and its continuous buildup of man-made islands in the disputed waterway has jeopardized the stability of the region and heightened tensions among the claimant countries. The US has repeatedly called for China and the countries claiming part of the disputed territory in the South China Sea-- through which $5 trillion of ship-borne trade passes every year-- not to militarize the area. Woody Island Woody Island, which is being claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam, has been under the control of China since 1950s. The defense official said China has built a runway that could accommodate various types of aircraft including advanced fighter jets. US defense secretary Ashton Carter is currently in the Philippines where US, Australia, and Philippine troops are conducting war games dubbed "Exercise Balikatan.' He is set to visit Philippine military bases in the country which the US finds critical in its strategy to counter China's expansion in the region. Carter said the US will deploy rotational troops to the Philippines and will invest in military weaponry. New information obtained by the the Pentagon said China has been further building up its military facilities in the Woody Island. Beijing has justified its military deployments in the South China Sea region saying it is "deploying necessary, limited defensive facilities on its own territory." Advertisement TagsWoody island, South China Sea, Fighter Jets, Philippine military bases, military facilities, china, Washington (Photo : Getty Images/China Photos) Chinese officials have set out to punish hundreds of people across the country guilty of complicity in the sale of expired or mistreated vaccines. Advertisement China is facing one of the biggest health scandals as it looks into the mishandling of vaccines in the country. The case came into the limelight last month as Chinese authorities announced that they had found nine companies selling expired or mistreated vaccines. This means that a large number of children may have been injected with vaccines, offering no benefits and potentially causing some side effects. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement China has filed 192 criminal cases across the country. Authorities have also apprehended 202 people so far. Further, the country is also likely to ban 45 groups from dealing in vaccines. The officials claim that the suspected vaccines were manufactured under prescribed conditions and the chances of them causing any diseases are minimal. The scandal has brought attention to lax health regulations in the country. In 2008, China had a similar incident where six infants died due to consuming tainted infant milk formula. Thousands of other children were hospitalized. China's drug supply chain is marred by shoddy middlemen and lack of proper infrastructure, critics claim. In order to salvage the situation, China is now endeavoring to tighten its regulatory environment. The country is looking to oversee the distribution and storage of vaccines. It has also ordered the demotion or dismissal of 357 government officials in the wake of latest mishap. Earlier in 2015, two women were arrested for selling $88 million worth of vaccines, which were improperly transported and stored. Officials are now tracing vaccines from production to end use stage. While regulations are lax, there is also a deficiency of vaccines, primarily due to 'red tapism.' With the new scandal, the country is likely to take stringent measures to avoid reoccurrence of such incidents. Advertisement Tagschina, Chna Vaccine Scandal, china health (Photo : Getty Images) China has clarified new rules to be implemented for imported milk formula sold online Advertisement Importing infant formula milk to China will now require an official approval starting 2018, the finance ministry announced, a reprieve for companies who expressed concerns that the new policy would take effect immediately. The finance ministry released a list on April 7 of items that cross-border e-commerce firms are allowed to sell and banned non-registered imported brands. It further announced that imported infant formula milk from e-tailers would "temporarily" not need to get registration papers until the new policy being formulated takes effect in 2018. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The announcement of the initiative caused share price gyrations especially to trade partners in Australia, as firms and investors were trying to assess its possible effects, according to Reuters. The ministry explained that the food administration is still working on the legislations governing how infant formula milk brands are to be registered. At the moment, formula milk imported from e-commerce platforms are not required to pass permits until 2018 when the new policy is scheduled to be implemented. The clarification of the new policy comes after Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull together with 1,000 business leaders visited China this week. "The Prime Minister received strong assurances of China's commitment to openness and reform, and the importance of e-commerce to the Chinese retail market," said a source familiar to the details of the meeting between Tumbull and Politburo member Han Zheng in Shanghai on Thursday. Infant formula in China is one of the most in-demand products after Chinese consumers lost their confidence with the melamine-tainted scandal in 2008. Moreover, just last week, counterfeited infant formula milk products were confiscated by the government. The Supreme People's Procuratorate found that suspects were allegedly repacking cheap milk powder and replacing labels with top brands to sell them off. Advertisement Tagsinfant formula, e-commerce, baby milk, food safety, imported milk, Finance ministry (Photo : Getty Images) Australian companies are looking to capitalize on China's economic reformation. Advertisement Australia has sent its biggest-ever delegation to capitalize on China's shift from mining to dining. China is restructuring its economy from exports and manufacturing towards service and consumption, with China's middle class leading the change. Consumption is expected to boom by 2030, with the mainland expecting to have a staggering 800 million middle class people. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "The key message that pulls through the Government is sustainable agriculture, food security and food safety," Michael Boddington, an agribusiness consultant, said, according to ABC News. Potential investors from Australia have expressed interest in profiting from this change. "Not every relationship is successful so it's a process of doing the legwork, during homework and building relationships," Tess Cam from Signature Beef explained. This week, China is expecting 1,000 Australian businesspeople to visit 150 Chinese locations to capitalize on the new market, as granted by the free trade agreement between the two nations signed in 2015. Steven Ciobo, the minister of trade and investment, said they are not discouraged with China's economic slowdown, emphasizing the country's massive trade volumes. "We want to develop key relationships, people to people," Mr. Ciobo said. "... because ultimately the benchmark of success will be by building these relationships, growing Australian exports, investments and that will under-source economic growth for many years to come." Australia's food exports in China has increased by 16 percent in the last 10 years, and the Reserve Bank believes it will surpass iron ore by 2030. On the other hand, China managed to surpass the United States as Australia's biggest foreign real estate investor. Australia reportedly approved $18 billion for investment in China's real estate market in the last financial year, a twofold increase from the value granted in the previous year. Advertisement TagsAustralia, china, Manufacturing, exports, Consumer, dining CHERISHING THE MOMENTS: 'Who is Solomon?' Editorial Staff | 14 April, 2016 by Joni B. Hannigan JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Christian Examiner) I had the coolest conversation today that began with a question from my 9-year-old grandson on the way home from church. "Who is Solomon?" he asked. "A very wise king in the Old Testament," I answered. My 7-year-old granddaughter piped up. "How do you know?" she asked. "Didn't you go to seminary? my grandson asked. "Hmmm, well, no, I didn't go to seminary, but I did take Old and New Testament classes in college because I went to a Christian college. Besides that, I was in Sunday School and church from the time I was 11 or 12, and even before that I spent a few years in Catholic school in religion classes. So, yes, the subject of Solomon has come up." "Ok," the kids said. I used the opportunity to tell them that whether they learn about the Bible in church or in Sunday School, they could always also read the Bible for themselves and study it. The thrilling part is later when tucking in my grandson, he thumbed through his old, worn Veggie Tales Bible we had given him a long time ago. I could tell he's been reading it. "Look Nana, I found out about Solomon. 1 Kings. He was, well, a king with a lot of wisdom." "Yep," I said, heart melting. Just a few minutes prior we had spoken of a situation that needed a lot of wisdom, and so I also went back and showed him 1 Kings where King Solomon gives wise counsel to the two women with the baby. We talked about walking in the light and how you cannot walk both in the light and the darkness. After he prayed, I backed down the ladder from his bed, rubbing my cheek where he kissed it. Cherishing the moments. Every one. Joni B. Hannigan is executive editor and director of operations for the Christian Examiner. She resides in Jacksonville, Florida, where she is a member of First Baptist Church. Joni has two children who along with their spouses all reside in Jacksonville with her six grandchildren. Court: 'Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster' is not religion, but satire 14 April, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | LINCOLN, Nebraska (Christian Examiner) A federal court in Nebraska has tossed a case in which a state penitentiary inmate claimed he was persecuted because his warden and other prison officials would not allow him to practice his faith Pastafarianism. In the 16-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge John M. Gerrard wrote that Pastafarianism in which the religion's adherents wear colanders on their heads and claim to worship a "Flying Spaghetti Monster" is not religion, but satire. As satire, conversations about "His Flying Noodliness" and "FSMism" are protected as free speech, but its adherents cannot claim the same freedom of worship as an historical religion, the judge said in the ruling. "The Court finds that FSMism is not a 'religion' within the meaning of the relevant federal statutes and constitutional jurisprudence. It is, rather, a parody, intended to advance an argument about science, the evolution of life, and the place of religion in public education. Those are important issues, and FSMism contains a serious argumentbut that does not mean that the trappings of the satire used to make that argument are entitled to protection as a 'religion,'" Gerard wrote. According the "church's" website, FSMism "came out into the open" in 2005, but has secretly existed for hundreds of years though that seems unlikely with a theology centered on heaven's beer volcano and stripper factory and a belief that pirates were the first Pastafarians. It was Christians, the group claims, who created a false narrative about the evil wrought by pirates. In reality, the group's aim is to attack both the doctrine of creationism and "intelligent design" in Christianity and, secondly, the belief that religion and religious texts should be taken literally. That places the group's claims, the judge wrote, squarely in the category of political speech or satire. The Court finds that FSMism is not a 'religion' within the meaning of the relevant federal statutes and constitutional jurisprudence. It is, rather, a parody, intended to advance an argument about science, the evolution of life, and the place of religion in public education. Those are important issues, and FSMism contains a serious argumentbut that does not mean that the trappings of the satire used to make that argument are entitled to protection as a 'religion.' The Nebraska case began when inmate Stephen Cavanaugh filed a complaint alleging his rights as a Pastafarian were infringed by the Nebraska State Penitentiary, but the case he brought had few details on how the supposed persecution took place. The judge in the case said the vagaries of the case were purposeful. "Cavanaugh's complaint actually contains very little detail on FSMism or its purported requirements perhaps because the deliberate absurdity of its provisions would undermine his argument," the judge noted. The judge claimed, however, that the parody was designed to look "very much like a religion," and there were few legal precedents to reflect upon when examining the case. "Candidly, propositions from existing case law are not particularly well-suited for such a situation, because they developed to address more ad hoc creeds, not a comprehensive but plainly satirical doctrine. Nonetheless, it is evident to the Court that FSMism is not a belief system addressing 'deep and imponderable' matters: it is, as explained above, a satirical rejoinder to a certain strain of religious argument. Nor, however, does FSMism advocate for humanism or atheism, which the Court acknowledges have been found to be 'religious' for similar purposes," Gerrard wrote. The judge concluded in his ruling that understanding the religion of Pastafarianism and the FSM gospel is not a matter of theology. Instead, he wrote, it is a "matter of basic reading comprehension." He called Pastafarianism "plainly a work of satire, meant to entertain while making a pointed political statement." He also claimed the literary work is no more suitable for drawing a theology from than "any other work of fiction," such as Jonathan Swift's work on cannibalism, A Modest Proposal. "Of course, there are those who contend and Cavanaugh is probably among them that the Bible or the Koran are just as fictional as those books. It is not always an easy line to draw. But there must be a line beyond which a practice is not 'religious' simply because a plaintiff labels it as such. The Court concludes that FSMism is on the far side of that line," Gerrard wrote. Ironically, a German court ruled the day after Gerrard that Pastafarians there could not hang signs publicly to advertise their religion next to signs for Catholic and Protestant churches. The judge said those holding Pastafarian beliefs were not a recognized religious community. Pastafarianism does, in fact, have adherents worldwide who have filed multiple lawsuits to have their rights enforced. For instance, three cases in 2015 came before courts in Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Russia in which adherents to the so-called religion asked for the right to wear a colander in their driver's license photos. The Pastafarians won in each case, though the Nebraska case might have a bearing on future challenges. The first Pastafarian wedding will take place in New Zealand this weekend. A similar phenomenon arose in Indiana in 2014 when organizers for the Church of Cannabis filed the paperwork to be recognized as a religious organization by the state's government. School district wants end to 'Jesus lunch' 14 April, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | MIDDLETON, Wisc. (Christian Examiner) A Wisconsin school district is asking a group of parents who meet with high school students in a public park for a lunch-hour Bible discussion to stop the "Jesus lunch," CBS affiliate WISC-TV has reported. Earlier this week, Middleton High School Principal Steve Plank and Middleton-Cross Plains District Administrator Don Johnson sent a letter to the parents claiming the lunchtime religious discussion is a violation of school policy on numerous levels, among them the use of school facilities for a religious club during school hours, the presence of unauthorized visitors to the campus, and food safety regulations. In the letter, which claims the district is "in no way interested in opposing religious practice in otherwise legal circumstances," parent organizers of the voluntary student gathering are said to be creating an unsafe environment for the students. Fireman's Park a public park owned by the City of Middleton remains accessible to everyone in the public for the purposes of assembly and free speech. By law, the lease agreement between the city and the School District of Middleton does not privatize the park. The City of Middleton has sent us a letter this week and acknowledged our rental agreement of the pavilion at Fireman's Park. According to school and district officials, the lunch began on a "very small scale" with a handful of parents bringing sandwiches to their own children, meeting them outside of the school and discussing the Christian faith over the lunch hour. The gathering then expanded to students not-related to the parents, who still provided the food and gave away Bibles, as well. Eventually, the letter explained, the gathering which took on the name "Jesus Lunch" grew too large and the meeting moved off campus. The district claims this would have been allowable "but would have required the school administration to inform parents of any incentivizing of students to eat a free lunch in exchange for attendance." It also claimed that the provision of large quantities of food called into question whether the event was actually led by students. The lunch meeting finally settled at Fireman's Park, adjacent to the school campus, when the parents reserved the park for weekly use in September 2015. According to the city's fee structure, residents can reserve pavilions in the park for $110. Now, however, the school district claims the park is governed by its rules during school hours since it leases the grounds. A sign at the entrance to the park also makes the claim. Mike Davis, Middleton's city administrator, told Christian Examiner the school district began discussion about leasing the park in 1999 when the expansion of the high school was being considered. The disctrict, Davis said, wanted to be able to enforce its rules on smoking, alcohol and drug abuse the only three provisions specifically mentioned in a lease singed in 2000 during the hours 7 a.m.-5 p.m. It was assumed, however, that other school rules could also be enforced. Davis said the city was also interested in maintaining the public park as a place that could be used by private citizens, another provision of the lease. Until now, there has been a "peaceful coexistence" between the park's users and the school, but Davis acknowledged the current situation has created a "conflict point" that will have to be resolved. Davis said he plans to meet with the city council and the city's attorney in the near future to seek a solution. The school district believes it has the answer already because, it claims, the leased park is "part of our property" and no religious (or political) gathering should be held there. That would also presumably apply even to religious or political gatherings unrelated to students during school hours. "Just two weeks ago, [Principal] Steve Plank learned that the parents intended to continue the lunches starting today. We have been working actively with city officials to make sure we are on the same page with our understanding of this situation and our lease of Fireman's Park. Steve Plank again asked the parents to cancel the event earlier this week in a telephone conversation that was to precede a scheduled meeting. The response was that they would not respect this request, and that they intended to move forward," the letter to parents said. "Instead of acknowledging and abiding by the District's policies, the parents have threatened legal action against the District. The District disagrees with this position, and will continue its efforts to enforce its health, safety and welfare policies for events involving students," the letter also said. "We believe that religious or political events do not have a place in our school or on our campus, except when sponsored by a student group in accordance with our rules, which require prior approval. In addition, many students have conveyed to us their concern about a group offering free food to incentivize participation in a religious event on campus. The result of which has a divisive impact on our learning community. As such, we will continue to work with the parent group to find an amicable resolution," Plank and Johnson concluded. The "Jesus Lunch" reportedly began with less than 40 students but has grown to 10 times that amount to a fourth of the student population of Middleton High School. The gathering has retained an attorney and is exploring how to proceed. "Just because a public entity leases to a private organization or a private citizen, that public park does not become a private entity, so the First Amendment Right still applies," Phillip Stamman, an attorney for the parents, told ABC-affiliate WKOW. A change.org petition has been launched by those who want the lunchtime gathering to continue. The information accompanying the petition claims the group has no desire to oppose the school, but wants to exercise its right to be in the park. "Fireman's Park a public park owned by the City of Middleton remains accessible to everyone in the public for the purposes of assembly and free speech. By law, the lease agreement between the city and the School District of Middleton does not privatize the park. The City of Middleton has sent us a letter this week and acknowledged our rental agreement of the pavilion at Fireman's Park," the statement accompanying the petition reads. It also includes a purpose statement, which claims the lunch provides "food for the body, nutrition for the soul." Students who attend the lunch are not required to listen to the message, presented in 3-5 minutes each time the gathering occurs. The event has grown solely as the result of student-to-student invitations, organizers said. The Holy Bible, along with some other books, was among the top 10 most challenged books in 2015, according to the American Library Association. The Bible was the 6th most challenged book overall in the country's libraries, a report by the association said. Many other books that were attempted to be removed from the shelves had sexually explicit content. Top two books that were challenged were 'Looking for Alaska' by John Green, and 'Fifty Shades of Grey' by EL James, which had adult content. Two other books 'Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out' by Susan Kuklin, and 'Two Boys Kissing' by David Levithan were about LGBTs. 'Dog in the Night-Time' was challenged for offensive language and "atheism." 'Nasreen's Secret School: A True story from Afghanistan,' is about a young girl trying to be educated in Afghanistan, which was objected for violence and religious viewpoint. "You have people who feel that if a school library buys a copy of the Bible, it's a violation of church and state," James LaRue, director at Office for Intellectual Freedom, ALA, was quoted as saying by Associated Press. Deborah Caldwell Stone, deputy director at the same office under ALA said that objection to Bible was due to "mistaken perception that separation of church and state means publicly funded institutions are not allowed to spend funds on religious information." The top reasons for challenging the books were sexually explicit content, offensive language, other objections, unsuited for age group, violence, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, Satanism/Occult, nudity, and drugs/alcohol/smoking. Between 2000 and 2009, schools recorded the most number of objections (1811), followed by school libraries (1639), and public libraries (1217). A Harris poll conducted in July 2015 showed that trend to raise objection on books with diverse contents was on rise. Of the 2,244 US adults surveyed, 28 percent said that certain material should be removed from libraries. In 2011, the proportion of those wanting to challenge books was only 18 percent. ALA considers a complaint as a challenge when a written and formal grievance is "filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness." Stone said that Bible was on the list for the first time. Other religious books were also challenged (but not as much as Bible as they did not make it into the top ten), show that faith is "very present on the minds of many people in society." The Pascack Valley Regional School District in New Jersey approved a policy allowing transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity irrespective of the sex mentioned on their birth certificates. The district board passed the measure by a wide margin of 6-1, which they say will protect transgender students from discrimination. "If you want to be called by your newly identified gender name, then we're going to allow you the opportunity. If you want to be called by a different pronoun, you're going to be given the opportunity to do so," said P. Erik Gundersen, School Superintendent. "I would say that the use of the restroom and of the locker room is probably the final chapter of the student's transformation, at least in high school." Joseph Blundo was the sole member of the board who did not vote in favour of the policy. He told NJ.com that he was not opposing the policy for religious or political reasons, but he said that many people told him they were not happy with the policy even though they did not speak at the meeting. "The burden is now shifting on them to be in an uncomfortable situation," he said. Blundo did not specify the reasons people were not happy with the new policy. A three-hour debate preceded the voting, where many expressed their views about what the new rules would mean for them. "Now I feel it's more openly accepted," Kax Petkovic, a transgender freshman at Pascack Valley High School told NJ.com. This was the second time the proposal was brought forth for voting, after it failed in February when parents blocked the policy citing concerns. After the voting, still many parents feared privacy invasion of non-transgender students. "How many of you have allowed your sons and daughters to change with members of the opposite sex? Why does it make sense now?" Bernadette Orso, one of the parents said. "While bathrooms generally have stalls which provide everyone with a level of privacy, locker rooms do not," Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi said in a Facebook post. "If a 14-year-old child is uncomfortable getting undressed next to another child who is still biologically a member of the opposite sex, what option does the non-transgender child have? If they tell the school they feel uncomfortable, will an accommodation be made for this child or in a worst case scenario could this child be written up for discriminating against a fellow student and/or bullying?" The school board said that the changing areas already ensure individual privacy, and each student will have to prove that they are serious about gender change. "The student has to be able to show consistent evidence, and the administration has to truly understand that this is part of the student's core identity," Gundersen said. He added that students who are not comfortable with sharing changing rooms in front of pupils of other sex will be provided with alternative arrangements. One school board member suggested that the issue was far from being resolved, saying that he expects lawsuits against the school district. North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory slightly changed the previous law passed last month, which required individuals to use the bathroom in accordance with their biological gender, and not based on their gender identity. The law was considered discriminatory by opponents, but the governor stood firm on the provision, which he calls "common sense" rules. The law was partially modified by the governor through an executive order, but the core measures were left intact. The Governor's office reported that the changes in the new law affirm private sector's right to establish its own restroom and locker room policies, allows private sector and local governments' right to establish non-discrimination employment policies for their own employees, expand state's employment policy for employees to cover sexual orientation and gender identity, and seek legislation to reinstate the right to sue in state court for discrimination. However, the earlier rule for using bathrooms in government buildings and schools was unchanged. "After listening to people's feedback for the past several weeks on this issue, I have come to the conclusion that there is a great deal of misinformation, misinterpretation, confusion, a lot of passion and frankly, selective outrage and hypocrisy, especially against the great state of North Carolina," Governor McCrory said in a statement. "Based upon this feedback, I am taking action to affirm and improve the state's commitment to privacy and equality." LGBT activists said that not enough was done to reverse the law, which they call discriminatory. "Gov. McCrory's actions today are a poor effort to save face after his sweeping attacks on the LGBT community, and they fall far short of correcting the damage done when he signed into law the harmful House Bill 2, which stigmatizes and mandates discrimination against gay and transgender people," said Sarah Preston, ACLU North Carolina's executive director. Charlotte Chamber of Commerce welcomed Governor's modifications to the law, saying that it was a decision that protected all interests. "We applaud the governor's actions today which demonstrate that North Carolina is an open and welcoming state," the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce said in a statement. "We strongly encourage the leadership and members of the General Assembly to take quick action to the governor's call to ensure citizens have the right to pursue claims of discrimination at the state level." North Carolina House of Representatives, State Rep. Tim Moore (R) said that the rules were "unfairly reported and maligned by political activists" so far. "Governor McCrory's executive order affirms the importance of the actions the General Assembly took in passing the Bathroom Bill to protect North Carolina citizens from extremists' efforts to undermine civility and normalcy in our everyday lives," Moore said. Following the government's decision to implement the law, many companies threatened to back out from the state and cease investment. PayPal withdrew a planned expansion to open a global operations center in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Deutsche Bank froze plans to create 250 more jobs in Cary, North Carolina, and many states banned non-essential state sponsored travel to North Carolina. A preaching conference for pastors of non-self sufficient churches and church plants was hosted by I Love Pastor, a Korean organization that serves non-self sufficient churches and church plants. The fourth calling conference which took place on April 11 at Ttokamsa Church was centered on the theme, The crisis and challenge of preaching, and featured Rev. Steve Sekyu Chang, the senior pastor of One Body Church in Virginia, as the main speaker. Chang started out with the question, Pastors, why do you preach? No one answered. Before I talk about the crisis and challenge of preaching, I want to talk about the preacher, he said. Jesus only had 12 disciples left by the time he ascended into heaven after three years of ministry. If you have been wrestling with 20 to 30 congregants for over 30 years, your reward in heaven will really be great. Jesus said, Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and even greater things than these (John 14:12), and Jesus will acknowledge that you have been doing even greater things than he did, Chang said in encouragement. Even if all of us were to get MBAs, it doesnt necessarily mean all of us will be great at running restaurants. Its the same with preaching just because we learned about preaching, doesnt mean all of us will be good at it. And the type of preaching we learned in seminary were more fitting for large church models, so if we were to use those strategies exactly the same way for our non-self sufficient churches or church plants, that would be a problem, he continued. According to surveys, 85 percent of all churches world wide consist of 150 members adults and children combined and the churches with more than 1,000 members take up only 0.8 percent, Chang explained. Having the dream to minister to 10,000 people gives you motivation and passion when you first start out ministry, but once you have your own church, you have to understand and accept the reality quickly and adjust to that. And if we are not part of that 0.8 percent, we must change our style of pastoring and preaching to fit our circumstances. Chang introduced the concept of Dunbars Number, a numerical limit to how many people one can maintain stable relationships suggested by the research of British anthropologist Robin Dunbar. Through his research with tribes living in remote areas, he found that all tribes consist of about 150 people or less, and theorized that relative to the size of a persons neocortex in the brain, the amount of people he or she can have meaningful relationships with varies. For most people, that Dunbars Number is 150. If the number of your congregants becomes greater than 150, you cant have as personal or meaningful relationships with each member, Chang said. Of course, there are those who are part of that 0.8 percent with an abnormally high Dunbars Number who can minister to 1,000 people or more. But those of us who are normal and are part of that 85 percent are not like that. Dont deceive yourself into thinking that you can minister to 10,000 people but that opportunity just hasnt come to you. Dont be so concerned about the numbers and just enjoy your ministry. He went on to discuss more about preaching itself, and said, The best kinds of sermons are those that blesses the congregation. We need to know who our members are and what their needs are, and preach about those things that are relevant to them, he emphasized. You all have been called not only to be preachers, but to be pastors. Pastors are preachers, teachers, speakers, and a lot of other things, but there are things only a pastor can do. A pastor must take care of the sheep with the heart of a parent. We arent chefs of a five-star hotel; we are just mothers ... Even if our sermons arent like the quality food at five-star hotels, all we need to do is put our heart and effort into it just as a mother does when she prepares food for her child, Chang said. Dont worry about whether the congregation will be blessed. The Holy Spirit is such a master that he can bless our members with just one phrase or expression or comparison or even just one word from a praise song. He has the power to do that. Meanwhile, I Love Pastor (ILP) was spearheaded and established 14 years ago by lay members of the Korean church in both South Korea and the U.S. For much of its history, the organization offered seminars and tours for pastors of non-self sufficient churches and church plants in South Korea, but starting four years ago, similar programs have been offered for pastors of Korean immigrant churches in the U.S. Among the programs offered for pastors in the U.S., the calling conference focuses on rejuvenating and renewing pastors. This article was translated by Rachael Lee. For the original in Korean, visit kr.christianitydaily.com. The Tennessee senate passed a bill that would allow counselors and therapists to deny service to individuals with same-sex attractions because of their religious beliefs. The bill now heads to the Governor Bill Haslam for signature. The bill was aimed to protect counselors whose clients want them to affirm sexual behaviors counselors think do not align with their religious beliefs. Senate Bill 1556, sponsored by State Rep. Dan Howell (R), was approved in the upper house by a comfortable margin of 25-6. House had already passed the bill by 68-22 votes. The governor has 10 working days to sign it to be made into a law. The bill states that "no person providing counseling or therapy services shall be required to counsel or serve a client as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the counselor or therapist." "This bill provides immunity from liability for counselors and therapists who refuse to counsel a client as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the counselor or therapist," the official summary of bill reads. "Counselors or therapists refusing to provide counseling or therapy under this bill must coordinate a referral of the client to another counselor or therapist who will provide the service. This bill includes liability protection for those persons providing counseling or therapy services whether or not they are licensed, registered, or otherwise regulated by the state." The American Counseling Assocation criticized the Tennessee bill, and called it an "unwanted and unnecessary blow to the counseling profession and those who benefit from the services of a professional counselor." The group stated that "allowing any health care provider to deny services based on their own "strongly held religious belief" would have a deleterious effect on countless people who seek mental and physical health services," and that it will "continue its opposition to the discrimination that this bill perpetuates." Haslam told reporters that he can "understand the reasoning" behind the bill, but he wanted to wait till he received the final bill, The Tennessean reported. Family Action Council of Tennessee said that the bill was necessary because of the American Counseling Association's alteration of its ethics code in 2014, which told counselors not to refer potential clients "based solely on the counselor's personally held values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors." A Christian Counselor Julea Ward referred a potential client, who wanted advice on a same-sex relationship, to another therapist as she could not affirm the relationship while counseling because of her sincerely held beliefs. Ward was expelled from her service, but she appealed the decision in court which ruled in her favor. "This amendment by the ACA was in direct response to a 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Ward v. Polite, which upheld the right of a Christian counselor to refer a gay/lesbian client if the therapy sought required the counselor to affirm a same-sex relationship in violation of her beliefs," stated the Family Action Council. "A counselor who has not regularly treated clients with behaviors or goals that conflict with a counselor's personally held values is less likely to be competent to treat such a client," the Family Action Council said. "However, according to ACA, this still may not be grounds for referral. A client deserves to be treated by a counselor who not only sympathizes with their issues, but is also experienced and competent to offer effective treatment." The court issued a statement in favor of Ward, saying "[She] was willing to work with all clients and to respect the school's affirmation directives in doing so. That is why she asked to refer gay and lesbian clients (and some heterosexual clients) if the conversation required her to affirm their sexual practices. What more could the [non-discrimination] rule require? Surely, for example, the ban on discrimination against clients based on their religion does not require a Muslim counselor to tell a Jewish client that his religious beliefs are correct if the conversation takes a turn in that direction and does not require an atheist counselor to tell a person of faith that there is a God if the client is wrestling with faith-based issues. Tolerance is a two-way street." UK members of parliament may soon vote on whether to recognize ISIS' atrocities in Middle East as genocide or not, according to Christian Today. The UK parliament has been divided on the issue of labeling ISIS-perpetrated violence against Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities in Middle East as acts of genocide. Conservative MP Fiona Bruce will introduce the motion in the House of Commons next Wednesday, in which the MP has asked the government to put pressure on UN and International Criminal Court (ICC) to intervene. Though the outcome of the debate may not suffice to make the government declare ISIS' activities genocidal, it is expected that Bruce will ask for a vote at the end of the motion, which will force the government to take a stand on the issue. The motion declares that "this House believes that Christians, Yazidis, and other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria are suffering genocide at the hands of Daesh; and calls upon Her Majesty's Government to make an immediate referral to the United Nations Security Council with a view to conferring jurisdiction upon the International Criminal Court so that perpetrators can be brought to justice." The government was treading cautiously on the issue of ISIS actions genocide, as that will put moral obligations on the state to accept more refugees. However, the parliament is now coming under increasing pressure to label the atrocities as genocide, because the European Parliament already affirmed ISIS' genocidal stats in February, even as US Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated the same position in March. "Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology and by actions, in what it says, what it believes and what it does," Kerry said in a televised address. In many parts of Syria and Iraq, no Christians are left as the ISIS ordered them to leave, pay a tax or be executed. In many other places though, several thousand Christians and Yazidis were killed as ISIS sought to capture large territories of land. The government approached the issue with a balanced approach during last week's debate in Parliament. Tobias Ellwood said that he believed acts of genocide have taken place, and that the minorities had suffered "systematic and horrific attacks" at the hands of ISIS. In spite of the that, he maintained, "genocide should be a matter of legal rather than political opinion... it is right for any assessment of matters of international law to remain in the hands of the appropriate judicial authorities." A month ago, House of Lords rejected the amendment to label ISIS violence against minorities as genocide by 148-111. If it were approved, the decision would have passed to High Court to give its final verdict on ISIS' crimes. Threaded through all John Carneys filmsOnce, Begin Again, and now Sing Streetis a singular preoccupation: the ways that trouble (in love and in money, mostly) and the artists vocation go together. As the former bassist for the Irish band The Frames and a now-successful filmmaker, you can imagine that he comes by this naturally; Carney has said he was living in his basement when he made Once (starring his Frames buddy Glen Hansard), which became a huge hit and spawned a Tony-winning Broadway musical as well. But while there are hints of Carneys history in his earlier films, Sing Street is explicitly autobiographical, the story of Connor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), a fifteen-year-old boy in Dublin in 1985 who wants two things more than anything: to be in a band, and to get the girl. Connors life isnt going very well: the same banal doldrums a lot of teenage boys experience, but all at once. His parents (Aiden Gillen and Maria Doyle Kennedy) fight constantlyproviding impromptu lyrics for Connors noodling on the guitarand probably splitting up. His older brother (Jack Reynor), whom he looks up to, has dropped out of college and is bumming around the house. Money is tight, and Connor has to switch from his nice Jesuit school to one run by bullies and sadistic Christian Brothers. The schools biggest bully, Barry, picks on him. His best friend is a nerd. And hes still very much in the gawky stage. All this is set against the backdrop of the Irish recession, during which many young people fled for London in search of opportunity. Sing Street is set among the working poor, people who can still pay some bills but are downwardly mobile and plagued by other ... 1 Several faith leaders were asked to write brief comments about the future of Roe. I was glad to see that I was not the only person asked who sees life as beginning at conception and who is ready to see Roe overturned. A man who allegedly headed a $2 million international counterfeiting ring has asked to be released into the care of Youth With a Mission (YWAM) while he awaits trial in Pennsylvania. Ryan Gustafson, 28, faces seven counts of counterfeiting and money laundering. A missionary kid who married a Ugandan dictators granddaughter, he allegedly used child sponsorship pamphlets to smuggle fake bills into the United States. A local YWAM leader told CT that Gustafson is sincerely trying to turn his life around, and that YWAM wants to err on the side of forgiveness. The investigation into Gustafson was sparked the day after Christmas 2013, when a fake $100 bill was used at Peets Coffee & Tea in Pittsburgh to buy a latte. It was the first of a score of false bills spread around the town, which soon caught the attention of the US Secret Service, according to Vice News. Agents followed the bills through the man passing them out, Joseph Graziano, to his supplier Willy Clock ... 1 home Life Bible texts may have been composed earlier than thought, suggests study of ostraca inscriptions The results of an analysis of ancient ostraca suggests that literacy rates were high throughout the military ranks in Judah as far back as 600 BCE, meaning Biblical texts may have been composed earlier than initially thought. "We found indirect evidence of the existence of an educational infrastructure, which could have enabled the composition of biblical texts," said Professor Eliezer Piasetzky of Tel Aviv University, co-leader of the research, as quoted by Christian Today. "Literacy existed at all levels of the administrative, military and priestly systems of Judah. Reading and writing were not limited to a tiny elite." According to the study titled "Algorithmic handwriting analysis of Judah's military correspondence sheds light on composition of biblical texts," scholars have been debating whether Biblical texts were compiled before 586 BCE, prior to King Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Jerusalem, or after. It says that the creation of such texts require the proliferation of literacy. Using sophisticated modern technology and computerized algorithms, the researchers at the Tel Aviv University looked into the texts handwritten on ancient ostraca or potsherds used for writing. These fragments, found previously in the Arad fortress near the Dead Sea and dated to around 600 BCE, contains the writing of at least six individuals. The notes, according to the study, are not likely to have been written by scribes but "the written evidence suggests a high degree of literacy in the entire Judahite chain of command." The ones studied contain military orders about supplies and provisions, namely flour, wine, and oil. Most of the ones that mention what is believed to be a mercenary unit called Kittiyim are addressed to someone named Eliashib, the quartermaster in the fortress, and were found on the floor in one room. There are orders to the fortress from higher ranking officials, messages from neighboring forts, an inscription with "the King of Judah" in it, and another with "the house of YHWH." "The results indicate that in this remote fort literacy had spread throughout the military hierarchy, down to the quartermaster and probably even below that rank," the study reads. "This implies that an educational infrastructure that could support the composition of literary texts in Judah already existed before the destruction of the first Temple." However, according to The New York Times, Prof. Edward Greenstein of Bar-Ilan University cautions against making conclusions about the Pentateuch having been written down based on these findings on literacy rates. Rewrites, revisions, and supplements may have been involved in writing the Torah, says the report, or the scribes may have written them down to help them remember while still orally trasmitting them to the people. "Biblical texts did not have to be written by many people, or read by many people, to have been written down," he said. home US 'In God We Trust' decals to be placed on all police cars, fire trucks in Forney, Texas as business owner pledges to foot the bill The city council of Forney, Texas arrived at a unanimous vote last week to have the "In God We Trust" line placed on all city vehicles, and a business owner has agreed to shoulder the cost of both materials and labor for the project. "There are not many opportunities to give back to the city like this and I believed this was my chance to give back," Jay Stinson, the owner of Big Jay's Signs and Shirtworks, told ABC News. According to the report, Stinson saw the proposal on Friday, and he pledged to donate the decals and the manpower to do it. He is currently working on its final design. The cost is estimated to be somewhere between $1,000 to $2,500, depending on how many police and fire trucks there are and how many decals each will have. "I believe in the words of this motto," he said. "I believe that our country was founded on this motto and believe that this project will be a small step to unite our community and make people feel better about our police and fire entities." However, there might be some who would not welcome this move. In 2013, according to the Huffington Post, the Freedom from Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury Department for having the "In God We Trust" line in the U.S. currency. Last year, the group questioned the police in Childress, Texas for having placed the decals bearing the same line on police cars. However, in a legal opinion in November last year, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton said that it does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. He wrote: "Congress adopted 'In God We Trust' as the national motto of the United States in 1956. In addition, Congress has required use of the motto on coins and printed currency of the United States. Against constitutional challenges to these statutes, courts across the country have consistently held that the statutes do not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Furthermore, the United States Supreme Court has on multiple occasions noted that the motto is a constitutional 'reference to our religious heritage.'" He also posted in Facebook his support for the Childress Police Department's decision. @majoestevez tu estas involucrada, tenemos que hablar ;) Angel Lugo (@AngelLugoVoz) November 23, 2016 Fox News reported in February that the Rutherford Sheriff Department in North Carolina has also started putting "In God We Trust" decals on their patrol cars. home World Muslim, Christian congregations team up to help transit refugees in Sweden Two of two biggest congregations in Sweden are joining together for an endeavor that would help refugees passing through the country. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees website, the Katarina Church and the Stockholm Mosque are collaborating to provide accommodation for those who are fleeing war and persecution, a venture that would compete with private companies. "Their professionalism, language skills and understanding of other cultures made the mosque an obvious partner for us," vicar Olle Carlsson of Katarina Church said. "We are small, but we have a unique cooperation with an organisation that has a lot of information, and the big asylum companies don't have that." The joint venture sprouted from the partnership between the church and the mosque when they started providing accommodation for transit refugees in September. They reportedly take in 33 percent of those who pass through Sweden to reach other countries, and the reaction of the asylum-seekers seems to be positive. "In Stockholm at the station I was met by volunteers with food and water. They asked where would I prefer to go, the mosque or the church? I said the church," said a Muslim from Baghdad, Iraq, who was undoubtedly grateful for the experience. "It was a beautiful feeling. Back home Muslims are not allowed to go to churches. Some refugees came to the church just because they wanted to find out what it was like. They found people respected them, even though they were Christians and we were Muslims." There had been opposition from both sides, however, such as questions raised about discussions on theological issues, comments about the church being submissive, opinions about Muslims sleeping in church, among other things. The media has likewise criticized such businesses since companies are allegedly making money from shelters that use state funds. Abdallah Salah, the secretary general of the Swedish charity Islamic Relief, said that the two religious communities have been discussing their differences for 30 years, but nothing concrete was ever done. Now, the mosque and the church are pursuing the first Muslim-Christian collaborative project. "We need to stop getting hung up on the 10 percent that separates our religions, and instead focus on the 90 percent we have in common in our values and our perception of good and evil," he said. home World Pakistani textbooks teach kids intolerance toward religious minorities, says study A recent study found that school textbooks in Pakistan teach children intolerance and superiority toward those of other religions. "Pakistan's public school textbooks contain deeply troubling content that portrays non-Muslim citizens as outsiders, unpatriotic, and inferior; are filled with errors; and present widely-disputed historical 'facts' as settled history," Robert P. George, the chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, said in a statement. He said that the textbooks lack content on the rights of religious minorities and their positive contributions to the development of Pakistan. The school materials, he expressed, reflect the current state of religious freedom in the country. "A country's education system, including its textbooks, should promote religious tolerance, not close the door to cooperation and coexistence," he said. The study, sponsored by the USCIRF titled "Teaching Intolerance in Pakistan: Religious Bias in Public School Textbooks," says that school materials in Pakistan portray those of other religions as "untrustworthy, religiously inferior, and ideologically scheming and intolerant." "The major findings of this report are that the content of Pakistani public school textbooks related to non-Islamic faiths and non-Muslims continue to teach bias, distrust, and inferiority," the report reads. "Moreover, the textbooks portray non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan as sympathetic towards its perceived enemies .... These perceptions predispose students early on that the non-Muslim population of Pakistan are outsiders and unpatriotic." The study, conducted by Peace and Education Foundation, a non-government organization in Pakistan, found that there is no content in the textbooks that discusses the complexity of religions. Instead, they indoctrinate Muslim kids to be prejudiced against religious minorities; while non-Muslim kids are subjected to public shaming at a very young age. Hindu kids, for instance, are made to read lessons on "Hindus' conspiracies toward Muslims" while Christian students are told that Muslims taught Christians how to be tolerant and kind-hearted. The report also said that while some biased content have already been removed, new excerpts reflecting bias toward religious minorities have also been introduced. "A review of the curriculum demonstrates that public school students are being taught that religious minorities, especially Christians and Hindus, are nefarious, violent, and tyrannical by nature," something that the researchers found to be ironic since Hindus and Christians in Pakistan are persecuted daily and are commonly victims of crime. Public school textbooks are perused by more than 41 million children in Pakistan. home World Pope Francis addresses population decline The Vatican has expressed a growing concern for the apparent decline in population. In the recently published Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation titled Amoris Laetitia or The Joy of Love, Pope Francis said that fear of overpopulation, economic difficulties, industrialization, sexual revolution, and consumerism are factors that keep couples from having children. Quoting the 2014 Relatio Synodi, he said that "the decline in population, due to a mentality against having children and promoted by the world politics of reproductive health, creates not only a situation in which the relationship between generations is no longer ensured but also the danger that, over time, this decline will lead to economic impoverishment and a loss of hope in the future. The development of bio-technology has also had a major impact on the birth rate." While the church is not opposed to those couples who are "generous in transmitting life" but need to limit the number of children due to serious reasons, it does not condone "forced State intervention in favour of contraception, sterilization and even abortion." Author and Family Talk founder Dr. James Dobson seems to have the same view. He said in a January blog post that the decline in birthrate is happening all over Europe. Russia, for instance, now gives incentives to women who bear children. In parts of Asia, two good example are Japan, which now has more old citizens than babies, and China, where there are not enough women to marry the men in the country. It is also happening in Central and South America. In the U.S., he said that if it were not for immigrants, there would no growth in the population. This decline, according to Dobson, is due to contraception, abortion, and surgery, as well as the choice of those of child-bearing age to have their freedom and independence. Some also view child-rearing as time-consuming and burdensome, not to mention expensive. If there is no longer be enough people in the workforce, the economy cannot be sustained. There will also be social, cultural, spiritual, and politicall repurcussions, Dobson said. home Faith Pope Francis: Persecution comes in the guise of progress, modernity, and culture Pope Francis, during the mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae chapel in the Vatican on Tuesday, said that persecution is part of a Christian's daily life, but he also discussed two kinds of persecution. The first reading during the mass was from the Book of Acts (7:51-8:1), which talks about the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen, rebuking those who "always oppose the Holy Spirit." His words angered the elders and those in power, subsequently leading to him being dragged and stoned to death. Pope Francis said that in every age, there are martyrs who die because of their faith. In this modern times, it is the "everyday men and women" who are persecuted and martyred, citing the bombing in Lahore, Pakistan on March 27. "Only three weeks ago, those Christians celebrating Easter in Pakistan were martyred precisely because they were celebrating the risen Christ," the pope said, as quoted by the Catholic News Service. "And like so, the history of the church goes forward with its martyrs." The pope, said the Catholic News Agency, also discussed the two kinds of persecution that Christians suffer from. While the first kind is targeted at those who confess the name of Jesus, the second one is something that Pope Francis called "polite persecution," one disguised as progress, modernity, and culture, and it is something that "takes away from man and woman their freedom, as well as their right to conscientious objection." The Pope said that it is the prince of the world aka the devil that heads this "polite persecution," with those in power making laws that make people go against their faith. "Jesus has named the head of this 'polite' persecution: the prince of this world," he said. "And when the powerful want to impose behaviors, laws against the dignity of the son of God, they persecute them and go against God the Creator. It is the great apostasy." He reminded the congregation that although Christians are persecuted, the Lord is always with them. Sri Lanka has a turbulent history. From multiple invasions and colonial rule to growing nationalism and ethnic conflict, the small island nation has seen it all. The country's '30 year war' saw violence between the majority Sinhalese ethnic group and the minority Tamil Tiger rebels. However, after the Tamil's final defeat in 2009, Christians are the new target. Miriam* is a religious liberties lawyer in Sri Lanka who works to defend the Church against increasing levels of persecution. She spoke to Christian Today about her work and the struggles Christians face. "We thought we were going to see a change for the better after a new government came in in 2015," she said. The previous administration was heavily influenced by Buddhist extremism and Christians were regularly subject to very violent attacks. The arrival of new president Maithripala Sirisena bought hope to embattled Christians. However, in just over a year since Sirisena was elected, more than 120 incidents against Christians have been documented by Miriam's organisation. Indeed, the number of attacks on Christians has risen. In 2012, under the previous government, 52 incidents were recorded. In 2013 that figure had almost doubled to 103 incidents. Now at more than 120, the outlook is ominous for Sri Lanka's Christians. "With the new government we have seen Buddhist extremists take a back seat and adopt a more strategic approach," Miriam said. "The kind of persecution Christians now face is in the form of legal restrictions. On top of this there has been an increase in persecution carried out by local government officials. "In many way this is more worrying because these are people with authority." Churches and prayer groups have been forced to close, Christian burials have been prevented and a number of violent attacks have been carried out against members of the faith. Miriam explained that one of the major ways government officials have justified their actions was through a "circular" which required all new religious buildings to be registered. However this edict has no legal basis or support from parliamentary law, she said. It is used not only on new buildings but on places where Christians have met for many years. Introduced under the last government, the circular is used as an excuse to directly target Christians. Although Sri Lanka has other minority religious groups, the seven per cent of the population who are Christian bear the brunt of the persecution. This is because Christianity is seen as a colonial religion for Westerners, said Miriam. The Sri Lankan government has effectively created a national identity around Buddhist philosophy. To be Sri Lankan is to be Buddhist. As a result, Buddhist monks are given positions of power in government and often actually lead attacks on Christians, seen as the last vestiges of colonialism. Buddhism, a religion that centres around meditation and inner peace, is often seen as an unlikely candidate for aggression. But Miriam says the attitude in Sri Lanka is very different. "There is a lot of tension because of the prominence given to monks and because of this attitude towards Christianity as a colonial religion," she said. "Even if the philosophy is peaceful, in Sri Lanka it is very aggressive." As well as the link to Western rule, Christians are also treated with suspicion because of their perceived desire to proselytise. "Even if they aren't sharing their faith, there is this perception," Miriam said. "There have been a number of cases where Christians have been falsely accused of unethical or forced conversions." Persecution charity Release International supports Miriam and her organisation. Together they fear the upward trend in persecution against Christians could become worse. Militant Buddhists have for years pushed for anti-conversion laws and a ban on missionary groups. Indeed in the past there have been attempts by the Sri Lankan parliament to pass anti-conversion laws, which many Christians fear could be abused to target church activities. The current ruling party in Sri Lanka have headed a campaign entitled "A Brighter Future for Sri Lanka". The fear is it will be a long time before Christians can say the same. *false name given to protect identity. Are ISIS atrocities 'genocide'? Why the word matters Next week the House of Commons will debate whether to recognise ISIS atrocities against Christians, Yazidis and other minorities as 'genocide'. The European Parliament and the US administration have already taken this step. But little has changed. Reports continue to emerge of crucifixions, beheadings, rapes and slavery against a number of religious minorities, and many Muslims. So what is the significance of using the term genocide? Why does David Cameron appear to be so unwilling to join his allies in the White House? Lord Alton of Liverpool, the Catholic peer who has led the parliament campaign to adopt the word genocide, told Christian Today the reluctance surrounds the legal implications that follow such a declaration. "This is not just about words. There are legal obligations," he said. As a signatory to the 'convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide (CPPCG)', Britain is required to prevent and punish genocide whenever it is declared. "This is why states are hesitant and reticent to name genocide," Lord Alton said. "If you look back at Rwanda [genocide in 1994], the world did not get around to naming it as genocide until over one million people had died. "We have already repeated our mistakes with this crisis but must not delay further. This is why the European Parliament and US House of Representatives have all unanimously named it genocide." The peer told Christian Today he expected a "change in approach" from Britain if it were to make such a declaration. He said this should come "not least in how we treat those victims of genocide who have fled to our country for asylum". Until now the government's response has been that this is a matter for the "international judicial system rather than legislatures, governments or other non-judicial bodies". In essence they seem to be saying it is not a matter for politicians. On the face of it this does not seem unreasonable. However once you examine the mechanics of how these matters work it is absurd. The International Criminal Court (ICC) who would prosecute war criminals and perpetrators of genocide, cannot act in Syria or Iraq unless it receives instructions from the UN Security Council. Indeed a year ago the ICC said it "stands ready" to investigate but needs a referral from the council. The UK is one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council. As such it is in a position to exert significant influence for an investigation. Alton continued: "It is vitally important to pursuade the government to honour our commitment as signatories of the convention. "No one who has heard of the atrocities committed could deny genocide has taken place. "Words matter. And so do deeds." Bernie Sanders: Pope Francis is an 'inspirational figure' Bernie Sanders said he would always regret it if he missed a chance to meet the Pope, as he plans to leave New York just days before a key primary in order to speak at a Vatican conference. Sanders is giving a 15 minute speech in Rome and there is no guarantee that he will meet the Pontiff. "I would be kicking myself forever if I did not seize the opportunity," he said about having an audience with the Pope in an interview with the Washington Post. "It's something I would be very proud to see happen," he added. "I believe that the Pope has been an inspirational figure in raising public consciousness about the kind of income and wealth inequality we are seeing all over the world." The trip carries a political risk, as Sanders is leaving the campaign trail just days before a crucial primary in New York. "It's absolutely worth the trip to participate in a conference under a Pope who has led the world in raising consciousness on the most important issues of social, economic and enviromental justice," he said. Theologian and US politics specialist Chad Pecknold suggested that the trip might actually give weight to Sanders on the international stage. "Let's say that he is realistic and that his path to the nomination is extremely slim," the professor at The Catholic University of America told The Washington Post. "Then he must say, 'Well, what is my role after this campaign?' It seems clear that he is in a position now to highlight his new profile." Sanders' chief strategist, Tad Devine, denied there are political implications for his speech, however. "It's not going to be a political speech or event. We're not viewing this through a political lense," he said. Sanders is not the only American politician travelling to the Vatican in upcoming weeks. Joe Biden, America's first Catholic vice president, is visiting the country on April 29. Biden will address a major conference on the progress of regenerative medicine in Vatican City, speaking on his campaign to cure cancer. The gathering, championed by Pope Francis, will be part of Biden's three day trip to Rome and the Vatican. A meeting with the Pope has yet to be determined, according to his office. Climate change causing Earth to wobble in outer space, NASA researchers find out We are already quite aware of how climate change is affecting us here on Earth: long dry spells that cause food shortages, melting polar ice caps that cause sea levels to rise, and unusually powerful storms that wreak havoc on certain parts of the world. Little did we know, however, that climate change also affects the movement of our planet in space, causing it to wobble on its own axis. Researchers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Pasadena, California recently concluded that droughts and heavy periods of rain brought about by climate change are causing Earth to shake in space. Study co-author Surendra Adhikari explained that based on her team's observations, the Earth's axis has already experienced a "massive swing" of about 7 inches a year eastward since 2000. "We are going through this massive global-scale climate change to such a degree that the change in climate has been strong enough to affect the rotation of such a giant planet," Adhikari said in a report on CNBC News. The NASA researchers also examined another pattern of wobbling that occurs every six to 14 years, which has been puzzling scientists for more than a century. In their study published on the journal "Science Advances," the scientists were able to establish that when ice sheets formed and melted around the world, the distribution of mass around the planet changed, enough to shift the polar axis. The study also found out that ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctic are responsible for most of the force pulling and pushing the polar axis. "Imagine we have a perfect sphere that is rotating on an axis. If you remove a chunk of material from any location of that idealised sphere, then you are perturbing the system, and the axis tends to head toward the location where you lose the mass," Adhikari explained. Adhikari and co-author Erik Ivins were also able to chart the maximum impact these kinds of changes could have on the movement of the axis. They ultimately found out that the Earth's axis shifts when there are changes in the amount of water on land. For the love of Jesus: Oklahoma-based Christian group helps save thousands of lives from malaria Every year, 150 million people, mostly from the developing world, suffer from the mosquito-borne malaria disease. On top of this, 438,000 individuals die because of this disease80 percent of whom are children 5 years old and below. A Christian group based in Oklahoma is trying to save lives from this life-threatening disease, and demonstrating God's love to others in the process. Blessing International, a humanitarian organisation dedicated to alleviating human needs, has been leading efforts to provide quality and affordable medicine so that patients suffering from malaria will be able to effectively fight the disease. Barry Ewy, the chief executive officer of Blessings International, said many lives can be saved if malaria patients from poor countries are given access to medicine. "One of the frustrating things for those of us who are working in this area is that it's preventable," Ewy told Mission Network News. "We've seen prevention in the United States that has worked very well. But unfortunately many developing nations don't have the infrastructure that's necessary to both deal with and prevent malaria," he added. He explained that although malaria medicines are relatively affordable, some patients die because their wages are not enough to pay for these medicines. "For example, chloroquine tabletsfor a full treatment for an adultare only somewhere around a dollar and a half. Very reasonable," Ewy said. "But if you are living in a developing nation, a dollar is a day's wages. That can certainly be difficult for those people to be able to obtain." This year, as part of the observance of World Malaria Day on April 25, Blessings International is teaming up with the group Kairos 10, which sells jewellery handmade by African artisans and pours. For every piece of jewellery sold by Kairos 10 this April and May, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Blessings International, which will buy medicine and mosquito nets to prevent more malaria deaths. "We are able to purchase medicine on the international market, and we are able to source that directly from the manufacturer. So we are able to control both the amount that we receive, as well as the quality of the product we receive," Ewy explained. "With that we are able to receive it at a very discounted price and able to pass that along to the teams that are traveling." The Blessings International head explained that his group's ultimate goal is to spread Jesus' love to others. "Blessings was founded on the belief that we want to share the love and compassion of Jesus Christ throughout the world. So we do that through having supplies and medicine available to teams that are traveling," he said. Idaho governor vetoes bill allowing use of the Bible as reference material in public schools Republican Idaho Governor Butch Otter has vetoed a bill that would allow the use of Bible as reference material in public schools, saying it could result in loss of funding and lawsuits. Senate Bill 1342 was passed by the Idaho legislature last month permitting the use of the Bible in public schools "for reference purposes to further the study of literature, comparative religion, English and foreign languages, United States and world history, comparative government, law, philosophy, ethics, astronomy, biology, geology, world geography, archaeology, music, sociology, and other topics of study where an understanding of the Bible may be useful or relevant." It said no student will be required to use any religious texts for reference if the student or parents object. But Otter sees it otherwise. He said that while he has "deep respect and appreciation for the Bible as religious doctrine as well as a piece of historic literature," he cannot allow the Bible to be used in public schools. "However, allowing S1342 to become law is a direct contravention to the Idaho Constitution and it could result in the loss of funding and costly litigation for Idaho public schools," he said in his veto letter to Idaho Secretary of State Lawrence Denney. The bill passed the state Senate with a 31-3 vote and the House with a 54-15 vote. It was sent to the governor's office on March 24. In his letter, Otter said the bill violates the Idaho Constitution, which states that "no sectarian or religious tenants or doctrines shall ever be taught in the public schools nor shall any distinction or classification of pupils be made on account of race or color." It also mandates that "no books, papers, tracts or documents of a political, sectarian or denominational character shall be used or introduced in any schools ... nor shall any teacher or any district receive any of the public school monies in which the schools have not been taught in accordance with the provisions of this article." State Sen. Cheryl Nuxoll, who introduced the bill, was disappointed with Otter's veto. "People with last names like Washington, Adams, and Madison blatantly identified the Bible as that reference point. They feared not having it would result in corruption and misuse of taxpayer funds. Are they right?" she asked, as quoted by the Christian News Network. Rep. Sage Dixon said, "I am disappointed in the Governor's decision, although not too surprised." "The Bible, in particular, is indispensable to correctly understanding the foundations of Western government and law. I will continue to advocate the merits of this bill in the future," he said. Iraqi bishops warn priests against aiding Christian exodus The Church should not be involved in aiding the exodus of Christians from Iraq, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Raphael Louis Sako has said. Although individual Christians and families remain free to leave the country, the Church should not support any plan for the exodus of Christians, the patriarch said, according to Fides. He was speaking at a meeting of the Chaldean bishops in Erbil. A statement released at the end of the meeting warned priests that they should not be involved directly in programmes that organise the expatriation of Iraqi Christians to foreign countries. Anyone who ignores the reprimand will be held personally responsible, potentially in front of a patriarchal authority, the statement said. The bishops warned Iraqi Christians of the danger of exploitation by illegal traffickers and "unscrupulous organisations" that claim to resettle families in other countries. The bishops also cautioned patriarchal clergy and pastoral workers against involvement with groups that are supporting the exodus for their personal "economic, political, and media interests". "The Christian populations who have fled Mosul and Nineveh Plain with the arrival of the self-proclaimed Islamic State jihadists, and now live in precarious conditions in Erbil and other areas of Iraqi Kurdistan" are most at risk, a statement from the bishops sent to Fides read. The bishops called for action and cooperation from the international community to liberate the areas of Iraq currently controlled by Islamic State. This responsibility must not fall on the Church, political parties or the Iraqi government alone, they said. ISIS destroy ancient Assyrian 'Gate of God' near Mosul ISIS has torn down an ancient structure known as the 'Gate of God' in its ongoing destruction of religious, cultural and archaeological icons in the Middle East. The Mashqi Gate dates back to the 7th century BC, and was one of several entry points to the ancient biblical city of Nineveh, Iraq once considered to be one of the most important cities in the Assyrian empire. Activists in Mosul, which has been under ISIS control since June 2014 and parts of which are built on Nineveh's ruins, told ARA News that military equipment was used to tear down the gate. ISIS has declared ancient relics to be idolatrous, and has destroyed many religious sites in Iraq and Syria. The group has specifically targeted Christian sites, and experts claim militants have looted and sold on millions of pounds worth of artefacts from ancient churches across Iraq and Syria to fund their regime. Early last year, jihadists looted and bulldozed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq, and released video footage of militants destroying ancient artefacts in the Mosul Museum, which housed thousands of ancient Assyrian artefacts, many of them from Nineveh. A source at the British Institute for the Study of Iraq confirmed to the Independent that the 'Gate of God' had been attacked by militants. The source also cited unconfirmed reports that stone blocks from the Walls of Nineveh were being sold off by jhadists. ISIS release 'kill list' of Muslim politicians declared 'apostates' ISIS has released a "kill list" of Muslim political leaders the group considers apostates, including two senior Conservative ministers. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the former chair of the Conservative party and the first Muslim woman in the Cabinet, and Sajid Javid, the business secretary, were named as targets in the latest issue of Dabiq, ISIS' propaganda magazine. Other politicians named were US Rep Keith Ellison, who was the first Muslim to be elected to the US Congress, and Hilary Clinton's aide Huma Abedin. The individuals were chosen for being "overt crusaders" who "directly involve themselves in politics and enforce the laws of the kuffar [non-believers]" an article in Dabiq said. It was titled "Kill the imams of the kuffar in the West". The article encouraged ISIS supporters to "wage jihad by himself with the resources available to him (knives, guns, explosives etc) to kill the crusaders and other disbelievers and apostates... to make an example of them". It also praised the recent terror attack in Brussels. "Brussels, the heart of Europe, has been struck," one article said. "The blood of its vitality spilled on the ground, trampled under the feet of the mujahideen. "Paris was a warning. Brussels was a reminder. What is yet to come will be more devastating and more bitter." Warsi has spoken strongly against ISIS, calling the group "evil", and in December suggested that mosques in the UK could be designed without minarets to look more "quintessentially British". She also suggested yesterday that Muslims were more progressive than Christians in the UK. "Attitudes around women's rights and gay rights are changing. But our community in Britain is 50 or 60 years old we have moved faster than my party, which has been around much longer, or the Church," she said. Javid, meanwhile, has urged British Muslims to tackle extremism. Ellison released a statement following the threat, in which he said: "The fact that I'm on Daesh's [ISIS'] bad side means I am fighting for things like justice, tolerance, and a more inclusive world". "As millions of faithful Muslims flee Daesh's imposed nightmare they call a 'caliphate', Daesh takes the time to threaten Muslim public servants in the West, like myself and my friend Huma Abedin," he said. "Daesh is a collection of liars, murderers, torturers, and rapists. No Muslim I know recognizes what they preach as Al-Islam." The national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Nihad Awad, was also named as a target by ISIS. He said: "Our life and death are in the hands of God. I believe this threat is a reflection of the outstanding work CAIR does in opposing the anti-Islamic message and brutal actions of ISIS and other terror groups. The best response to such threats is to continue challenging extremism, whether it is espoused by organizations like ISIS or by Islamophobes who seek to demonize Islam based on that group's brutality." Lindsay Lohan and Egor Tarabasov engagement rumors 'untrue,' says LiLo's publicist While Lindsay Lohan dating Russian millionaire Egor Tarabasov is already a well-known fact, there's no truth about the lovebirds taking the next step in their relationship (at least not yet), as what media outlets have been claiming over the past few days. After reports about the two tying the knot surfaced online, Lohan's rep Hunter Frederick talked to People to put a stop to the chitchat. "The story is untrue and holds no merit," Frederick said. The publication added that a "longtime friend" of Lohan claims the same. Rumors indicated that 22-year-old Tarabasov popped the question over the weekend to Lohan, who reportedly said yes. The family of the starlet was reportedly happy about the engagement but chose to keep a lid on the intimate moment. The two have been dating for eight months now and started living together last month in London (Lohan has been keeping a low profile there since 2012). "They seem to be getting more serious. She seems really happy," a source told People Magazine around that time. Lohan hasn't responded to the rumors yet but as the engagement rumors make the rounds, the former child star even had the time to attend a Duran Duran concert in New York. The last time she talked about her romance with Tarabasov was last month, where the actress told The Sun, "I haven't known Egor for that long." Although Lohan had issues in the past, a source told Mirror that she is extremely happy because of Tarabasov. "We've been together for about seven months. He is a great guy. I met him in the summer. I'm really happy," Lohan continued. The star, however, has been using social media to keep fans up to speed of her and Tarabasov. Lohan and Tarabasov have been enjoying travelling and going on vacations in Costa Rica and in the upscale Swiss ski resort Gstaad. Martin Luther: Reformer, man of God, antisemite The Protestant Church in the Netherlands has denounced the antisemitic teachings of one of its founders, Martin Luther. The Church says it "absolutely disagrees" with Luther's antisemitism, and that it is reflective of the "dark pages" in Lutheran history. It might come as a surprise to some that Luther was antisemitic at all. He's known for the doctrine of salvation by faith alone. He is the lonely hero who stood up against the might of the Roman Catholic Church at a time when it was very dangerous to do so. Luther was a key figure in the development of Protestantism. On October 31, 1517, he nailed his 95 Theses attacking the theological and financial corruption of the Roman Catholic Church to the door of the church in Wittenburg. It marked the beginning of the Reformation and will be celebrated throughout the world next year. But the charges of antisemitism are absolutely true. In his book On the Jews and their Lies, he describes Jews as "venomous beasts, vipers, disgusting scum" and "devils incarnate". He called for their them to be expelled from their homes, saying: "Their private houses must be destroyed and devastated, they could be lodged in stables. Let the magistrates burn their synagogues and let whatever escapes be covered with sand and mud. Let them be forced to work, and if this avails nothing, we will be compelled to expel them like dogs in order not to expose ourselves to incurring divine wrath and eternal damnation from the Jews and their lies." Luther's influence on German antisemitism has been much debated, with some historians arguing that On the Jews and their Lies was largely forgotten until the Nazis rediscovered it. Most, however, agree that while it wasn't the sole cause of Nazi antisemitism, it underpinned a centuries-long hostility towards Jews that made their evil possible. Futhermore, the Nazis appealed explicitly to Luther's example: On the Jews and their Lies was displayed during the Nuremberg rallies and the city of Nuremberg presented a first edition to the Nazi propagandist Julius Streicher. In their rejection of Luther's antisemitism Dutch Protestants are following the lead of Germany's Lutherans. Last November the Evangelical Church in Germany issued a statement saying: "We do not close our eyes to the mistakes made by the Reformers and Reformation churches and their involvement in guilt." It continued: "The Reformers operated within a tradition of anti-Judaic thought patterns, the roots of which reached back to the early Church...In the lead-up to the Reformation anniversary we cannot bypass this history of guilt. The fact that Luther's anti-Judaic recommendations later in life were a source for Nazi antisemitism is a further burden weighing on the Protestant churches in Germany." Its reference to the early Church is instructive, too. St John Chrysostom, 'John of the Golden Mouth', revered for his spirituality and preaching, wrote his Against the Jews because he was fearful that Christians were too tolerant and were blurring the distinction between the two faiths. He denied that Jews worshipped God, said they were "fit for slaughter" and that their synagogues were the abode of demons. St Jerome claimed that "the ceremonies of the Jews are harmful and deadly to Christians" and identified them with Judas Iscariot, claiming that his guilt had descended to all of them. This sort of language helped shape Christian attitudes to Jews for centuries. On the other hand, it was not universally used or accepted. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) said: "For us the Jews are Scripture's living words, because they remind us of what Our Lord suffered. They are not to be persecuted, killed, or even put to flight." The official policy of the Catholic Church for many centuries was the Sicut Judaeis (Constitution for the Jews) issued in 1120. It forbade Christians to coerce Jews to convert, or to harm or steal from them, or to interfere with their cemeteries. Antisemitism grew increasingly virulent in Europe in the Middle Ages, hitting a high point in the Spain of Ferdinand and Isabella in the late 1400s. But even when the fires of religious persecution died down, there was an enduring and pervasive suspicion of a people who were seen as somehow 'other', not fitting in to the Christian world. Luther was fascinated by them, but like many before him he was adamant that their only hope was conversion. In his earlier years he had argued against treating them harshly, for that reason. "What Jew would consent to enter our ranks when he sees the cruelty and enmity we wreak on them that in our behavior towards them we less resemble Christians than beasts?" he asked. He wrote in 1523 in That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew: "If I had been a Jew and had seen such dolts and blockheads govern and teach the Christian faith, I would sooner have become a hog than a Christian. They have dealt with the Jews as if they were dogs rather than human beings; they have done little else than deride them and seize their property. When they baptize them they show them nothing of Christian doctrine or life, but only subject them to popishness and monkery... If the apostles, who also were Jews, had dealt with us Gentiles as we Gentiles deal with the Jews, there would never have been a Christian among the Gentiles... When we are inclined to boast of our position [as Christians] we should remember that we are but Gentiles, while the Jews are of the lineage of Christ." This is much more to Christians' liking today. But he turned on them when it became clear they were not going to convert no matter how well Christians treated them. Luther used his influence on German rulers to have Jews expelled from their homes. Fairness was only a means to an end; if it didn't work, brutality might. The history of Christianity and Judaism is complex and largely though not entirely discreditable to Christians. Facing up to the antisemitism of some of the Christian faith's greatest heroes might be painful, but as a matter of truth and justice it has to be done. In this post-Holocaust age, no one should be able to praise Luther unreservedly without acknowledging the dark side of his teaching, and what it contributed to. Muslim leaders converge in Turkey to call for new Israel-Palestinian peace process In the largest gathering of Muslim leaders, some 30 heads of state are meeting in Istanbul, Turkey for a five-day conference this week (April 10 15) to call for a new peace process to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The summit organised and spearheaded by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is discussing vital issues such as combating extremism within Muslim nations, countering Islamophobia in the rest of the world, and protecting the Rohingya a group of Muslims suffering persecution in Myanmar. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, King Salman of Saudi Arabia, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are among the heads of state attending the summit. "Delegations from the OIC's 57 member states are expected to focus on exceptionally critical circumstances, regionally and internationally," said OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani, according to Religion News. "The summit aims to create a collective vision for the Muslim world over the next 10 years," Madani said. "It is the only forum in which such a vision can practically be agreed on by heads of state and official delegations from across the entire Muslim world," he added. Founded in 1969, the OIC calls itself "the collective voice of the Muslim world" and holds summits every three years, Religion News reports. This year, the OIC said a new international conference on the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians should take as its starting point United Nations resolutions on the hostilities and the "Arab Peace Initiative." The initiative, which was reportedly brokered by Saudi Arabia in 2002, got some support from both the Israeli and American governments despite having decried U.N. resolutions on the conflict as unfair to Israel. The ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians dates back to the mid-20th century. It has been referred to as the world's "most intractable conflict." Accordingly, the conflictin a region rich in historic, cultural and religious interests worldwidehas always been the object of numerous international conferences dealing with historic rights, security issues and human rights, and has been a factor hampering tourism in and general access to areas that are hotly contested. North Carolina governor amends bathroom law to allow private establishments to set their own rules In the wake of the backlash against House Bill 2, or the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has issued an executive order that partially amends the law to allow private establishments to establish their own rules on bathroom use. Executive Order 39, signed by the governor on Tuesday, provides that "private businesses can set their own rules for their own restroom, locker room and shower facilities, free from government interference." HB 2 mandates that places of public accommodation that impose rules on the use of bathrooms based on biological sex will not be considered as a form of discrimination. Critics said the law targets transgenders, barring them from using bathroom, lockers and changing facilities based from their gender identity. In his order, the governor maintained that state agencies, cabinet agencies, cities, countries, schools, the University of North Carolina System and the North Carolina Community College System shall designate restrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities based on biological sex. They may make reasonable accommodation by providing a single occupancy restroom "upon request due to special circumstances." McCrory also expanded the equal employment opportunity policy for state employees to include sexual orientation and gender identity. In his video message, the governor said his decision to issue the executive order came after listening to feedback on the law. "I have come to the conclusion that there is a great deal of misinformation, misinterpretation, confusion, a lot of passion and frankly, selective outrage and hypocrisy, especially against the great state of North Carolina," he said. In keeping the provision on the use of bathrooms in government facilities based on biological sex, he said, "We have long held traditions of both ensuring equality for all of our citizens and our visitors, while also respecting the privacy of everyone." McCrory also promised that he "will immediately seek legislation in the upcoming short session to reinstate the right to sue for discrimination in North Carolina state courts." Three private individuals, the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and Equality North Carolina have sued McCrory, Attorney General Roy Cooper III and the University of North Carolina over House Bill 2, saying the law discriminate against transgenders and bars local governments from protecting the LGBT community. Business establishments such as PayPal have cancelled plans to expand in North Carolina. North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest defended the law. "We didn't initiate the issue. It was started when a local city council passed an unconstitutional ordinance opening all bathrooms and showers to all sexes at all times," Forest told CBN News. North Korea: Canadian pastor sentenced to hard labour is suffering from ill health A pastor serving a life sentence of hard labour in North Korea for subversion is suffering ill health, according to a Canadian delegation that visited him. Rev Hyeon Soo Lim, 61, who was the head pastor of one of Canada's largest churches, Mississauga's Light Presbyterian Church, has been held in Pyongyang since February 2015, after disappearing during a humanitarian trip to the country. A delegate from the Seoul office of Global Affairs Canada visited Lim last week and said his health appears to be failing, according to Lisa Pak, a family spokeswoman. Diana Khaddaj, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada said: "The Government of Canada is concerned for Mr. Lim's rights and well-being. We have been fully engaged on this case since it began. Consular officials are providing assistance to Mr. Lim and his family. We are grateful that we were able to visit him. "In the interest of Mr. Lim's case, no further information can be shared." The Lim family is hopeful the Canadian government is doing all it can to ensure the safe return of the imprisoned pastor, said Pak. In an interview with CNN in January, Lim said he spends eight hours a day digging holes at a labour camp where he has not seen any other prisoners. "I wasn't originally a labourer, so the labour was hard at first," Lim said in Korean through an interpreter. "But now I've gotten used to it." The charges against Lim had lacked specifics, but Lim said it may be connected to his open criticism of the North's three generations of leaders. "I admit I've violated this government's authority, system and order," Lim said in the interview. Asked if his biggest crime was speaking badly of the North's leaders, he said: "Yes, I think so." Very little is known about conditions in North Korea although persecution charity Open Doors estimates at least 70,000 Christians are imprisoned for their faith. "Christians face arrest, torture, imprisonment and death for daring to believe there is a higher authority than the nation's leader, Kim Jong-un," the charity claims. "Many follow Jesus in secret; parents often don't even tell their children about their faith for fear they will be revealed." For the last 14 years North Korea has topped Open Doors' World Watch List for the worst countries to live as a Christian. Obama administration plans to resettle 358 Syrian refugees per week in U.S. Syrian refugees will arrive in the United States at an average of 358 per week until September under a plan of the Obama administration to speed up the process and bring a total of 10,000 refugees this year. To date, 1,411 Syrian refugees are now living in the U.S., WND reports. The Obama administration said the Syrian refugees are the "most thoroughly vetted" of all immigrants with checks and processing taking about 18 to 24 months. But it is now processing refugees within three months to speed up the resettlement, the report said. The U.S. has set up screening centres in Jordan where about 600 Syrian refugees will be interviewed per day. More than 98 percent of the Syrian refugees are Sunni Muslims and 1 percent are Christians. FBI Director James Comey previously told the U.S. Congress that even up to 24 months, it was impossible to verify the identity of the Syrian refugees. According to Philip Haney, former Homeland Security investigator who retired last year, "whenever unilateral political actions are taken to 'speed up' a complex programme, which is already known to be fraught with uncertainty, it becomes virtually impossible for officials to conduct a reliable vetting process." Republican congressmen sent letters to President Barack Obama to oppose the Syrian refugee programme. House Speaker Paul Ryan put an omnibus spending bill to fully fund the refugee programme, which aims to resettle 85,000 refugees from different countries in 2016, half of which from Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. About 100,000 refugees are planned to be brought to the U.S. next year. For the first six months of the year, Michigan had the most number of Syrian refugees at 173, followed by California with 138, Pennsylvania with 126 and Illinois with 98. Recently, Missouri got 16 Syrians while Ohio has 14, Arizona 12, Illinois 11, Pennsylvania nine, Michigan seven and Indiana five. Gina Kassem, the regional refugee coordinator at the U.S. embassy in Amman, Jordan, told the Associated Press that while 10,000 target pertains to Syrian refugees, majority of those that will come to the U.S. are from refugee camps in Jordan. "The 10,000 is a floor and not a ceiling, and it is possible to increase the number," she said. Dozens of Republican governors refused to receive Syrian refugees, but the U.S. government said they are not entitled to stop the programme. Former Rep. Michele Bachmann accused President Obama of "doing everything within his power to advance an Islamic invasion of the U.S., primarily made up of Muslims emanating from global terror hotspots." Outgoing papal envoy urges American seminarians: Defend religious freedom 'in the face of evil' The Vatican's outgoing ambassador to the United States is urging American seminarians studying abroad to courageously defend religious freedom back home ''in the face of evil.'' Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who has attracted controversy for reportedly setting up Pope Francis' meeting with Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis and for publicly demonstrating against same-sex marriage, told some 400-plus seminarians that "great courage'' is needed now more than ever to stand up for the truth as the church in America is facing a very challenging situation. "Each one of us has a responsibility before God to bring a message of truth into this world, even if it means spending our lives for that very purposesometimes silently, but very often today publicly," Vigano told the guests at the April 7 Rector's Dinner at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, LifeSite News reports. Citing Pope Francis' U.S visit last fall, the archbishop said it meant a lot for him that the Holy Father began his history address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress by describing America as "the land of the free and the home of the brave.'' "Perhaps more than ever, this phrase should be something we continue to live for and pray for,'' said Vigano. "That the United States of America will protect our freedom, especially our religious liberty, as well as respect the human right to conscientious objection, and that we will be courageous in always defending the freedom to put our Catholic faith into practice without fear,'' he said. The prelate also called for courage and strength in the midst of persecution. He likewise encouraged the seminarians to spread the College's mission to the future Church leadership in America and for them "to be valiant witnesses to the message of Jesus.'' Archbishop Vigano, who has represented the Vatican in Washington since 2011 as the pope's apostolic nuncio, spoke on Thursday last week just days before Pope Francis named Archbishop Christophe Pierre as his successor. He was given the 2016 Rector's Award at the annual gathering supporting the Pontifical North American College, along with California attorney Timothy Busch and his wife Steph, members of the Papal Foundation and benefactors of the Napa Institute, which works to develop Catholic leaders in the U.S, according to LifeSite News. Meanwhile, the French-born Pierre, currently nuncio to Mexico, is a "Bergoglian" and someone in whom Pope Francis confides, according to Vatican expert Sandro Magister. The Vatican's new envoy to the U.S. is expected "to ensure the legacy of any pope because he is a key player in vetting the appointment of bishops by the pontiff,'' Religion News reports. Pierre's appointment was reportedly announced by the Holy See on Tuesday, April 12. He is regarded as a "seasoned" diplomat with experience in the developing world. He previously served in Uganda and Haiti. He speaks fluent English and seeks consensus a trait that will be valuable given the strains that often tear at the U.S. hierarchy. Pastor and wife die in car crash in Texas A Texan baptist pastor and his wife were killed in a road accident allegedly caused by street racers on Tuesday evening. Jesse and Maria Sabillon, who led a local baptist church in Houston, Texas, were killed while driving home after visiting a niece who had just given birth. They were less than five miles from home when a car crashed into them at a junction. "They didn't deserve this," Jesse Vladimir, the victims' son, told Khou.com. "They didn't deserve to get taken away like this." A memorial service was held on Wednesday evening. "The Lord works in many different ways and for a purpose this happened," said Ofelia Gomez, the church secretary who has known the couple since 1989. "They were loved dearly by so many," said Denise Sabillion, the couple's daughter-in-law. The driver involved in the crash has been named as 21-year-old Alexis De Larosa Sosa. Sosa was racing another vehicle when he ran a red light and hit the Sabillon's car. He, and the other driver involved fled the scene and Harris County Sheriff's Office deputies are searching for him. The Sabillons had three adult sons and five grandchildren. "You know what you did. You know who you are," said Vladimir. "You know this is going to stick to you and eat you alive." "You gotta face your consequences," said Denise Sabillon. "I'm all for someone making a mistake but this is a huge mistake where two innocent live were taken from us so soon," she added. Scarier than initially thought: CDC expert warns of Zika virus outbreak in U.S. After infecting and causing abnormalities to thousands of babies, pregnant women and even men in South America, the threat of the Zika virus spreading to the United States has become real. A medical expert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has told American states to prepare for more Zika virus infections, saying that this new menace is scarier than originally thought. Dr. Anne Schuchat admitted that the Zika virus infection could become a problem in the U.S., just like how it is affecting Latin American countries and the Caribbean at present. "While we absolutely hope we don't see widespread local transmission in the continental U.S., we need the states to be ready for that," Schuchat told CBN News. The doctor further explained that the medical community's initial impression that the Zika virus infection only brings about mild symptoms turned out to be wrong. Schuchat explained that neurologists are starting to believe that the Zika virus can indeed cause foetal brain defects and rare neurological problems in adults. Infected pregnant women in South America have also experienced miscarriages, stillbirths, and other complications to their pregnancies. Worse, the CDC expert further said that paralysis and potentially fatal brain inflammation were observed in other infected adults, not just pregnant women. In an attempt to prevent the potential spread of the Zika virus in the U.S., President Barack Obama is seeking Congress' support in allocating about $1.9 billion to help fight the virus on a global scale and to put in place ample preparations in the country for this public health emergency. The Obama administration also plans to use $589 million left over from efforts to combat the Ebola virus, this time to shield the U.S. from a Zika virus outbreak. Dr. Anthony Dauci of the National Institutes of Health, however, said these budgetary allocations are "not enough for us to get the job done." "It's just a temporary stopgap," Dauci told The Associated Press. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell: 'People are fundamentally altruistic' Last night Christians on the Left hosted its annual Tawney Dialogue in memory of the Christian socialist and historian RH Tawney. The guest speakers were shadow chancellor John McDonnell and Prof Daniel Finn, who teaches theology and economics at St John's School of Theology in Collegeville, Minnesota. In his address, McDonnell said: "At their heart, people are fundamentally altruistic... they don't just want it better for themselves, but they want it for everyone else as well." Finn opened the dialogue with an analogy from Catholic Social Teaching that recurred throughout the evening. He said the economy, rather than being a machine, is a symphony. Each part only makes sense with reference to the whole and when one part goes wrong the whole orchestra suffers. Women's budget group report shows 80% of austerity cuts fall on women - @johnmcdonnellMP in response to Q from @vicky_walker #tawney16 Chine McDonald (@ChineMcDonald) April 13, 2016 He linked this to another idea in Catholic social theory, that occupations on which capitalism places little value, such as cleaning or cooking, are in fact of immense worth because they are socially useful. He quoted Pope Francis, who once said that business should be judged by whether it performed "useful work". Common Good cannot be the sum of all individual goods... Yet there cannot be common good without individual good. They're bound up #tawney16 Andy Walton (@waltonandy) April 13, 2016 Furthermore, Christian economics asks, how would the louder parts of the 'symphony', like our banks and skyscrapers, function without the cleaners and cooks who keep it going? Christians talk a lot about 'the common good", and this came up in the questions afterwards. Finn defined this elusive term as both the "common conditions of social life", and the "achievement of the good life by everyone". No one, he said, is excluded. John McDonnell brought the discussion back down to the practical reality of British politics. In a moment of nostalgia, he lamented the England of his childhood, referring to the hope of the 1960s generation that built Britain's welfare state out of the brokenness of the war. On a number of occasions he repeated the question, "How on earth did we get to where we are now?" But McDonnell's rallying cry was resolutely socialist: we must rebuild what we have lost, he argued. He told stories of suffering from his own constituency, Hayes and Harlington. An elderly woman, who has lived in council housing for years, was wrongly accused of benefit fraud; teenagers sleep rough on park benches and young workers are on zero hours contracts. McDonnell argued that what is morally right can be matched to what is most effective, and the result is Daniel Finn's 'common good' symphony. The recent Panama tax scandal showed thiis, he said: "If people just paid their taxes, then we wouldn't need the deficit." The event finished with questions from the floor. Issue after issue was highlighted, from education cuts to taxes on sanitary products. However, as one questioner suggested, if Labour is the solution to these problems, the biggest issue is that it is not in power. McDonnell avoided a debate about electability and the next election. The event also generated the hashtag #patriotspaytax. You can't claim to love this country and its values while not paying your fair share of tax #PatriotsPayTax @ChrLeft pic.twitter.com/IKPYSFo9UE Harry Le Page (@Harry_LePage) April 13, 2016 Christians on the Left director Andy Flannagan closed the event. Jonathan Reynolds MP, who shared his remarkable testimony at the AGM, has taken over from Stephen Timms MP as Chair, and other new members were also elected last night. The organisation will be fielding candidates for forthcoming local elections, campaigning in the EU referendum, and preparing for the election in 2020. For more about Christians on the Left, visit their website. T4G conference overshadowed by row over CJ Mahaney presence A major conference on preaching in Louisville, Kentucky, has been overshadowed by a row over the presence of a pastor who has faced accusations of a cover-up of child sexual abuse at his church. The Together for the Gospel conference, which finishes today, features leading evangelical figures including Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Mark Dever, senior pastor of Washington's Capitol Hill Baptist Church, John Piper, founder of Desiring God, and Matt Chandler, lead pastor of The Village Church in Dallas, Texas. However, the participation of CJ Mahaney, one of its founders and now pastor of Louisville's Sovereign Grace Church, has led to controversy because of previous accusations that he and other leaders of Covenant Life Church (CLC) in Gaithersburg, Maryland, were complicit in covering up crimes committed by its youth leader Nathaniel Morales. Mahaney was named as a defendant in a lawsuit which alleged that he and several other leaders of Sovereign Grace Ministries conspired to "permit sexual deviants to have unfettered access to children for purposes of predation and to obstruct justice by covering up ongoing past predation". This case was dropped due to the statute of limitations. However, the case has recently been the focus of media attention in The Washingtonian and Time magazine, which have raised fresh questions about the conduct of Mahaney and others. Among those urging the conference organisers not to feature Mahaney was evangelical leader Todd Pruitt, who wrote a blog post urging his removal from the speakers list. He said: "The decent thing would have been for Mahaney to recuse himself from any more involvement in the leadership of T4G when it was clear that the various scandals of child sexual abuse first surfaced. That he did not, even though he had to know his continued involvement was attracting scandal like flies to a corpse, suggests a tangle of poor motives to which I will add no further speculation." Other critics included SNAP, an advocacy and support group for survivors of clergy sexual abuse. It said that giving "corrupt" men like Mahaney praise and visibility "contributes to the already strong sense of powerlessness that many who saw, suspected and suffered sexual abuse within churches feel. It decreases the chances they'll find the courage and hope needed to speak up about horrific wrongs. Essentially, it sanctions the concealing of sexual assaults against children." A Change.org petition urging Mahaney's removal attracted 380 signatures before the conference. Introducing Mahaney at the conference, Mohler said: "It would be very easy to get up here and just say CJ Mahaney is going to speak for us, but I think faithfulness in my responsibility this afternoon in introducing him is to say we know he has demonstrated endurance in the face of an incredible trial, and he has been a model of endurance for us." Mohler was criticised by another commentator, former Sovereign Grace pastor Brent Detwiler a frequent critic of Mahaney who said: "The appeal of thousands has been rebuffed. This is unsurprising and underscores the magnitude of the problem. The enabling and extolling of CJ continues by some of the most powerful evangelical leaders in the nation. The Lord Jesus Christ is not pleased and he won't be mocked. He reigns on high and on the earth. He will have the final word." UK guilty of 'failure of leadership and moral courage' over refugee crisis A damning report today accused the UK of "turning a blind eye to suffering on its doorstep" by failing to protect refugees displaced by war, persecution and poverty. A collective of 13 aid and refugee agencies, including Christian Aid, CAFOD, Oxfam, Islamic Relief and World Vision, on Thursday released a report, A Safe Haven?, in which they urge the British government to increase its protection for some of the world's most vulnerable people. The organisations call on the UK to "offer a safe haven to its fair share of refugees and do all it can to ensure protection for people on the move, whatever their legal status", rather than simply offer aid to refugees in countries such as Jordan and Lebanon, where millions of Syrians have fled since the outbreak of civil war in 2011. The report acknowledges that Britain has "been a leader in providing assistance to countries hosting large numbers of refugees", but says it has fallen short of its "moral responsibility to provide safe routes to protection for people seeking refuge in the UK, and has failed to advocate for an approach that protects the rights of all people on the move." The UK government has pledged to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020, but so far just 1,194 have been resettled under the Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme. A group of 84 Church of England bishops last year urged Prime Minister David Cameron to increase the number to at least 50,000. "The UK is trying to pretend that this is someone else's problem, and that refugees and migrants could and should be dealt with elsewhere. But people who are desperate will take huge risks to reach safety," said Maya Mailer, Oxfam's head of humanitarian policy. "The UK needs to accept its moral responsibility to offer a safe haven to the world's poorest and most vulnerable men, women and children who have been made homeless by war, violence and disasters." The organisations say the poor response from UK and European governments has "compounded the suffering and created a humanitarian crisis on Britain's doorstep". "It also sets a dangerous precedent: what message does it send to the world, including those countries with large refugee populations, that wealthy Europe, a continent that has traditionally championed human rights, appears so quick to erode them?" the report asks. More than a million refugees and migrants arrived in Europe last year, many of them from Syria but also Iraq, Eritrea, Afghanistan and other countries. The majority of them had risked their lives during a treacherous journey across the Mediterranean Sea at the hands of human traffickers. Thousands have died making the crossing; Pope Francis warned last year that the Mediterranean was turning into "a vast cemetery". Following the tragic deaths of 800 people who drowned while trying to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa in April 2015, a number of summits have been held on the crisis, the latest of which saw a deal struck between the EU and Turkey to deport refugees from Greece. The deal has been widely criticised; it hinges on Turkey being a "safe third country" of asylum an understanding that has been thrown into doubt by recent allegations that thousands of Syrian refugees have been illegally returned to their homeland. The coalition of 13 aid and refugee agencies today branded the deal "the latest callous attempt to shut the door on desperate people". They urged the UK to improve the humanitarian conditions faced by refugees and migrants in Europe, to tackle the causes behind forced displacement, and to ensure access to a fair and effective asylum system. They also called for an expansion of safe and legal routes to reach protection in the UK. "While European leaders demonstrate a collective failure of political leadership and moral courage, people who have escaped war and tyranny are met with barbed wire and tear gas, mums are forced to bathe their infants in dirty puddles, and yet more refugee children drown on Europe's shores," said British Refugee Council chief executive Maurice Wren. "European governments, including the UK, must take a long hard look at themselves and ask is this the best they can do? We say that it doesn't have to be this way. Today we're presenting a roadmap for change which prioritises saving lives, solidarity and safe passage." Melanie Ward, associate director of policy and advocacy for the International Rescue Committee UK, said the UK needs to "live up to its global responsibility". "As chaos continues to unfold in Europe, refugees face inhumane conditions. Thousands are losing their lives and their dignity. In the context of a rapidly growing global refugee crisis, the UK and Europe cannot turn away from protecting refugees on their doorstep," she said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The BB-8 plane from All Nippon Airways landed at Bush Intercontinental Airport Thursday morning. The Boeing 777-300 came from Tokyo. It will return to Houston on Saturday and then again in mid-May. The airplane flies between Tokyo and five airports: Bush Intercontinental, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. BB-8 is the beloved droid in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." All Nippon also has a plane with R2-D2 and a third plane with R2-D2 on one side and BB-8 on the other. "Star Wars" music welcomes passengers aboard the BB-8 plane. Head rest covers, paper cups and napkins have BB-8 embellishments, and the flight attendants wear BB-8 aprons. Yuzuru Nagawa, vice president and general manager of All Nippon's Houston office, said the "Star Wars" planes can help spread awareness of the airline, especially in North America. All Nippon began daily nonstop flights from Tokyo to Houston in June. The flights have been successful, Nagawa said, but "of course we want to attract more people to Houston." Ted Kitchens, general manager of Bush Intercontinental Airport, said it's cool to have a "Star Wars" plane because the movie franchise has inspired generations of pilots, astronauts and plane enthusiasts. "There are aviation enthusiasts all over the place who track these things," he said. Despite a second-quarter net loss, Luby's reported increased same-store sales at all but one of its brands. The Houston-based restaurant and culinary services company reported a net loss of $599,000 for the quarter or 2 cents per diluted share, improved from a loss of $1.4 million and 5 cents per diluted share one year earlier. Total quarterly restaurant sales rose 2.1 percent to $86.3 million. Among its brands, Luby's Cafeterias posted a same store sales gain of 3.1 percent, with guest traffic up 4.7 percent. Cafeterias account for 92 of the 178 company-operated restaurants. Same-store sales were flat at Fuddruckers, where the company reported lower guest traffic and customers spending less on average. The company operates 77 Fuddruckers restaurants. The Luby's/Fuddruckers combination restaurants finished the quarter with a 0.1 percent increase in same-store sales. Cheeseburger in Paradise posted the strongest same-store sales gain, 4.2 percent. In a statement, Chris Pappas, company president and CEO, called the overall same-store sales growth "solid," and said store-level profit margins increased during the quarter. That is one of the company's goals. "Our team continues to execute on our strategy to enhance store level performance across all of our brands with defined processes throughout the organization," Pappas said. Luby's continued its international Fuddruckers franchise expansion with a new location in Panama. The company reported $1.7 million in quarterly franchise revenue, up 8.4 percent from one year ago. Revenue from culinary service rose 2.6 percent to $3.9 million. Luby's provides contract food services at 28 hospital, school and corporate sites. Luby's operates 178 restaurants in the U.S. and has 147 Fuddruckers franchise locations in the U.S., seven countries and the Middle East. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate If you have $595,000 just laying around you could own a key piece of rock and roll history in the Nashville, Tenn., area. The former home of Col. Tom Parker, the man who managed Elvis Presley until the pop idol's death in 1977, is for sale in Madison, Tenn., according to a real estate agent in that area. In fact, it's been on the market for some time but hasn't found any buyers. Parker managed Presley and other artists out of the modest stone building, which has been updated only sparingly. The colors and decor have stayed largely the same as they were when Parker lived there. RELATED: 1956: The year that made Elvis Presley a star The Dutch-born talent agent, who died in 1997 in Las Vegas, left the Nashville property in 1992. Presley himself stayed there in a guest house out back when he was recording on Music Row. Presley's fan club was also run from the building. If those walls could talk... Up until Parker made a deal with representatives of Presley's home, Graceland, in the 1980s, the house contained a number of Presley items that are now in the museum in Memphis. The house has been used of late as a law office for retired attorney and judge Steve North, who kept some Presley artifacts on display to keep alive the spirit of the previous inhabitant. North would love to preserve the home as is but the booming real estate market in the Nashville area, according to broker David Watson, makes it a prime candidate to be demolished by the new owner, should one be found. RELATED: When Elvis Presley came to Houston "The property itself is worth more than the home," says Watson. Years ago the home was just one of a few developments in the area. It's now surrounded by drug stores and an auto parts dealer, with a Dairy Queen around the corner. Watson says few locals likely know the part that the home played in music history. North has fond memories of the Parker home, dating back to when he was a teenager. "We would drive by the house, and we would look to see if the pink Cadillac was there. If the pink Cadillac was there, we'd know Elvis was in town," he told the New York Post. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate With its high industrial ceilings, shiny tiled walls and elaborate coffee-making contraptions, Levure Bakery and Patisserie looks like the kind of cafe that would be squeezed between a designer boutique and an art gallery on a busy street in New York. Instead, it's neatly tucked into the American Main Street-style village center in The Woodlands' Creekside Park. Manuel and Fatima Rubiralta, the married couple who owns the cafe, live in Creekside just a three-minute drive from the bakery. Their vision was to bring a high-quality French dining option worthy of the world's metropoles to the growing, but somewhat isolated, part of the community. "I've seen all the growth going on around us and the lack of services going on with that growth," Manuel said. "Anybody that lives (in Creekside) had to drive 15 minutes to get a decent cup of coffee." Owning a bakery had been a longtime dream for the Rubiraltas before they opened Levure last March. With Fatima's background as a professional pastry chef and Manuel's entrepreneurship, the couple had the right ingredients for the project. They just needed the right spot. Having lived and worked in a number of cities - from Mexico City to Seattle - the Rubiraltas had a lot of options. They considered looking for a spot in downtown Houston, but when the Creekside Village Center opportunity opened up, they knew it was the right fit. "We wanted to build a culture where parents could ride their bikes with their kids (to the restaurant)," Manuel said. For the decor, they turned to Pinterest and Instagram for ideas from trendy cafes around the world. Black and white photography, turquoise tile, chalkboard menus, leather tufted sofas and artsy light fixtures came together to create the contemporary, but comfortable, environment. Since opening last year, the Rubiraltas, along with their chef Vanessa Lee and the rest of the kitchen staff, have worked to develop the varying menu that has kept the restaurant packed during lunch hours nearly every day. Each morning, Fatima arrives at the shop at 3 a.m. to start the painstaking process of baking the restaurant's signature breads and pastries. The croissants take three days to make. The other pastry and bread offerings change from day to day as the bakers experiment and respond to customer preferences. Striving for high quality, Levure uses organic flour, butter imported from France and cage-free eggs. "We think good food can be good for you," Manuel said. "Every single thing we make is from scratch." Lee arrives at 6 a.m. to begin preparations for the menu items of the day, which include a range of soups, salads, grilled sandwiches and pasta. Lee said that the quiches, the turkey bacon and gruyere sandwich and the tomato soup are some of the most popular lunch dishes served. With the overwhelming response from customers - Lee said the place is packed from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. every day, plus up to an hour waitlist on Fridays - the owners decided to take the restaurant to the next level: from a breakfast and lunch venue to a dinner destination. Earlier this year the bakery opened its doors past the usual 4 p.m. close to welcome a select number of patrons to sample multi-course "pop-up dinners." Chef Lee showed off her skills, whipping up gourmet dishes like asparagus risotto with gorgonzola and caramelized duck salad and crab-stuffed crepe with a Mornay sauce. A warm response from diners prompted Levure to put dinner on the permanent menu this spring. "We give our food the time it deserves," Lee said. "When you give food respect, it's going to be incredible." Levure Bakery and Patisserie Where: 26400 Kuykendahl Rd. a160 in Creekside Park When: Tuesdays through Saturdays, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Online: levurebakery.com The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Thursday the first case of Zika virus spread from an infected man to a male sexual partner through anal sex. The case occurred in January in Dallas County, Texas, and involved a man who recently traveled to Venezuela, where the Zika virus is circulating. Two days after returning, the man developed a fever, a rash on his upper body and face, and red, itchy eyes. On the day prior and day after his symptoms arose, he had unprotected anal sex, the CDC said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The anti-abortion activist accused of falsifying records to secretly videotape Planned Parenthood officials in Houston is accusing the Harris County district attorney's office of illegally colluding with the nonprofit. The allegations were raised in court documents filed Thursday seeking to dismiss the charge against David Robert Daleiden, of Davis, Calif. Daleiden was charged earlier this year with tampering with a governmental record, a second-degree felony with a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison. He was also charged with a misdemeanor charge of attempting to buy human organs. KNOW IT: What you need to know about the Planned Parenthood controversy On Thursday, his attorneys filed motions to quash the indictments, saying the Harris County grand jury that handed down the indictments was not properly empaneled. "The DA's office has chosen to wage a war on the pro-life movement," said attorney Jared Woodfill. "We believe there is clear evidence of Planned Parenthood actually colluding with and pushing the District Attorney's office to move forward with these indictments." At a press conference on the courthouse steps that Daleiden did not attend, Woodfill and attorney Terry Yates said the indictments are "fatally flawed." DEVELOPING CASE: California officials raid home of videographer in Planned Parenthood case Daleiden, 27, is accused of using a fake driver's license to hide his identity in his dealings with the women's health organization. The grand jury also charged him with the same misdemeanor he had accused the organization ofthe purchase or sale of human organs, presumably because he had offered to buy organs in an attempt to provoke Planned Parenthood employees into saying they would sell. Prosecutors have offered pretrial diversion, a form of probation, to Daleiden and his colleague, Sandra Susan Merritt, of San Jose, Calif. She was also charged with tampering with a governmental record and is apparently taking the probation offer. Pre-trial diversion is a form of probation that typically does not require a guilty plea or stringent conditions. If a suspect stays out of trouble, the charges are eventually dismissed. SENTENCED: Videographer in Planned Parenthood case to be offered probation Daleiden and Merritt were indicted by the grand jury convened to investigate whether a Planned Parenthood of the Gulf Coast clinic had sold the organs of aborted fetuses. The grand jury cleared the clinic and instead indicted the undercover videographers behind the allegations. District Attorney Devon Anderson, a Republican, has repeatedly said her office was guided by the evidence in the case. "As I stated at the outset of this investigation, we must go where the evidence leads us," Anderson said after Daleiden and Merritt were indicted. "All the evidence uncovered in the course of this investigation was presented to the grand jury. I respect their decision on this difficult case." Anderson could not be reached for comment early Thursday. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Police are questioning a person of interest in the double slaying of a transgender woman and her friend in Midtown on Sunday night. Shante Isaac and Willie Sims were killed at Dennis and Fannin at around 11:20 p.m. One of six people in a group pulled a gun and fired at Isaac, hitting Sims instead. He had been trying to pull the transgender woman from harm's way. Then, a witness said, the attackers pulled out metal pipes and began swinging. IN MOURNING: Loved ones blame deaths on 'foolishness' LGBT advocates had worried the slayings could have been due in part to "anti-gay and anti-transgender rhetoric that has engulfed Houston" in recent years. However, friends and family of Isaac dismissed that possibility and said the incident stemmed from a dispute between Isaac and one of her attackers. Police were questioning one person on Wednesday, but there has been no arrest, said Houston Police Department spokesman Kese Smith. The slayings are still under investigation. Reporter St. John Barned-Smith contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN One person was dead and 11 others were injured Wednesday afternoon after a poisonous gas leaked at high-rise apartments near the University of the Texas campus. Authorities said the name of the dead man, who was in his 20s, was being withheld pending notification of next of kin. Attempts to resuscitate him at the scene were unsuccessful, fire officials said. Austin Fire Department Batallion Chief Palmer Buck said fire units were called to the 21 Pearl Apartments in the West Campus neighborhood about 3:20 p.m. after residents reported finding a man unconscious and a strong odor permeating parts of the 136-unit building. Officials said the odor appeared to be hydrogen sulfide, a chemical that can release fatal fumes. "Crews in air packs and protective equipment went door to door" as several dozen residents were evacuated from several floors, Buck said. Those on other floors were told to shelter in place, he said. Eric Jakubauskas, an Emergency Medical Services division chief, said 11 people were treated for chemical exposure, including five who were transported to University Medical Center at Brackenridge. Buck said a warning sign was found outside the dead man's apartment that read: "Stay out. H2S" - the chemical symbol for hydrogen sulfide. He said while hydrogen sulfide "often has been used in chemical suicide we're not sure that's what we have here." Austin Police on the scene late Wednesday afternoon declined comment. Officials continued working to get the odors inside the apartment building cleared so residents could return home. "It smelled like sewer fumes, really strong, and everybody was being told to get out," said Chad Ferguson, a UT student from Austin who was visiting the apartment building to see a friend. "It was really pretty crazy, with everybody holding their breath until we could get out. It took us just a few minutes to get outside." News of the toxic-gas leak comes as the campus is still mourning the death of freshman dance student Haruka Weiser, whose body was found in a creek at UT last week. POSSIBLE CAUSE OF DEATH: Report reveals how Weiser may have died This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Chris Sevier says he's being denied his right to marry - his computer. The persistent Tennessee lawyer - who has carried his challenge to same-sex marriage to courthouses across the nation - has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Houston saying he and his 2011 MacBook were rejected for a marriage license in Harris County. He is suing the Harris County District Clerk, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, saying his 14th Amendment right to marry is being denied. Sevier has filed similar challenges for the right to marry a machine in Tennessee and Utah. Paxton's office, however, is asking U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett to hit the delete button on the lawsuit. MARRIAGE EQUALITY: Supreme Court affirms same-sex marriage nationwide His office filed court papers asking that the lawsuit be dismissed, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Obergefell decision in June allowing same-sex marriage does not extend to man and machine. "The right to marry one's computer is not an interest, objectively, deeply rooted in the nation's history and tradition such that it qualifies as a protected interest," Paxton's brief argued. For now, the suit is spinning its wheels - buffering, perhaps - in federal court. Last week, Bennett ordered Sevier to limit his pleadings to 20 pages and denied a motion asking that Sevier's $400 in court costs be covered. On Wednesday, he denied a request from Sevier to reconsider those two rulings. Sevier, who describes himself as a Christian who makes his living producing electronic music, insists he is not being silly or satirical in his quest. He said he believes "the Constitution is being hijacked" by giving same-sex couples the right to marry. Sevier said he will continue to file his lawsuits in hopes of getting two federal appeals courts judges to disagree. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Harris County deputy constable shot several times Wednesday night shot after a traffic stop is out of surgery and expected to survive. But Precinct 7 Constable May Walker said that Deputy Alden Clopton appears to have been targeted by the shooter. "It was virtually an ambush," Walker said. The incident was the second high-profile attack on a Harris County peace officer in recent months. In August, 47-year-old Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth was shot to death at a gas station in Cypress. The latest incident occurred about 11:20 p.m. Wednesday on Alabama near Briley, said Kese Smith, for the Houston Police Department, which is investigating the incident. A Precinct 7 reserve deputy constable who had pulled a driver over for a traffic violation called for backup, Greenwood said. Clopton, an 11-year department veteran who was on patrol nearby, responded and assisted with the stop. The reserve deputy, Ann Glasgow, noticed her dash camera's audio wasn't working and asked Clopton to help her fix it. "He was facing her, leaning in, giving her instruction how to fix it," Greenwood said. "That's when the suspect came up from behind and shot Deputy Clopton multiple times." Glasgow stepped out of the car and fired at the shooter, who ran away, Smith said. Clopton, who suffered "multiple bullet wounds," and was rushed to Memorial Hermann - Texas Trauma Institute. He had wounds to the abdomen and a bullet lodged near his heart. At a news conference Thursday morning, Precinct 7 Constable May Walker said Clopton was out of surgery and expected to survive. "It's going to be a long recovery," Walker said, "but he's going to be O.K." Walker said the shooter fired six times, hitting and wounding Clopton. The deputy was wearing a bulletproof vest, she added, which likely helped him survive. The county spent more than 1 million dollars making sure every law enforcement officer had bullet proof vests, including constable and sheriff deputies, said County budget officer Bill Jackson. The move came after officials found some officers had old or damaged vests or no vests at all. Since then, Jackson said, the constables and the sheriff's office has been responsible for building money for vest maintenance or new vests into their budget. "It really just boils down to 'Are they doing that?'" Jackson said. "I think that they are." Jackson said he would "double down" and make sure there were no issues with vests. Precinct 2 Commissioner Jack Morman, who was vocal in his support for vest funding in 2014, said he would be paying close attention as "new vests become old vests." He said he keeps in touch with the deputies organization and the sheriff's office and constables to see if they need things like vests. "From what I can tell right now we're doing OK," Morman said. A father of six, Clopton is married to a Harris County sheriff's deputy. Three of his brothers worked in law enforcement, including Craig Clopton, a homicide investigator for the sheriff's office who was fired last year after admitting to having consensual sexual contact with an eyewitness to the Goforth murder. Clopton's son, Todre Clopton, also works in law enforcement as a police officer in Mississippi. Clopton typically patrols the Midtown area and also works as a field training officer, colleagues said. "He's real fair with everybody out there," said Alberto Rivera, a Precinct 7 deputy and former president of the Mexican American Sheriff's Association. "Every store owner, every business, every vagrant, every homeless person, they know him," he said. "They talk to him, he's been out there so long." Soon after the shooting, authorities detained a man who walked into Houston Fire Department Station 7 at 1402 Elgin, who Smith said matched the description of the person standing across the street from the deputies at the time of the gunfire. It was not known why he presented himself at the fire station or what may have prompted the shooting. Police were still questioning the man Thursday afternoon. "He's still detained, still being questioned," said Smith. "He's not charged in this case. Were not ruling out anything, it's all part of the ongoing investigation." Law enforcement agencies from Harris County and across the country took to social media Thursday in support of Clopton and Precinct 7. David Cuevas, president of the Harris County Deputies' Organization, said the shooting was a reminder of the dangers of police work. The group's officers planned to send a letter to their members later in the day, urging them to stay alert while on the job. "It's just a reminder that no matter where you are in law enforcement, there are people who wish to do us harm regardless of the good effort we do for the community," he said. "I think the investigation will reveal the motive behind it , so I don't want to jump to any conclusions." Representatives from the sheriff's office reached out to Clopton's family, said HCSO Sgt. Cedrick Collier. "We're all taken aback, but its way too early to speculate or assume what's going on," he said. In the Goforth case, 31-year-old man with a history of mental illness has been charged with capital murder. He is currently considered incompetent to stand trial. The shooting came as other law enforcement agencies across the state dealt with similar, dangerous incidents. An officer attempting to serve a warrant in Austin Thursday morning was shot in the knee and officers in Llano County shot and killed an armed bank robbery suspect Wednesday afternoon. "The events in Houston, Austin and in the Hill Country remind Texans of what goes through the minds of all Texas peace officers and their families and friends 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," CLEAT Executive Director Charley Wilkison said, in an email. "Their duty to protect the people of their communities often puts them in grave danger. It's a duty that they willingly accepted, and they are deserving of the respect and support of the people they serve." SAN ANTONIO A woman wanted in North Texas in connection with the death of her 2-year-old grandson was booked into the Frio County Jail on Thursday. Patricia Flores, 43, was arrested on a warrant for injury to a child serious bodily injury/omission filed in Haltom City, just northeast of Fort Worth, according to the Haltom City Police Department. HCPD said Flores was brought into the facility, located in Pearsall, by a bail-bondsman around 11 a.m. Flores, the legal guardian and grandmother of the child, called officers to her residence in the 2100 block of Haltom Road just before midnight on March 30, according to police. RELATED: Police: South Texas woman found boyfriend with another woman, high-speed chase and shooting ensued First responders found a two-year-old identified as Lyfe Flores suffering from significant burns on his body. According to HCPD, Patricia Flores told investigators that the child was injured six days earlier when he was left alone in a bathtub. Police said the woman did not seek medical attention until the infant became unresponsive on March 30. He later died from his injuries on April 4. SEE ALSO: Former missionary who fled to Central America convicted of killing man in South Texas Spillane said investigators immediately questioned Flores after responding to the home on March 30, but she was not immediately arrested. He said Flores could face upgraded or additional charges after an official cause of death is determined by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner. Anyone with information on Flores whereabouts is asked to call 817-222-7027. mdwilson@express-news.net Twitter: @MDWilsonSA This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SAN ANTONIO Three MacArthur High School seniors are facing criminal charges following a senior prank that school officials say went too far. North East Independent School District spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor said school administrators arrived on campus Tuesday morning to find a fiberglass statue of the schools mascot, a Brahma bull, missing from its courtyard perch. Authorities found the bull sitting on the schools softball field with its hooves sawed off. SEE ALSO: San Antonio school officer fired after video showed him slam 12-year-old girl onto concrete Chancellor said a surveillance camera captured three people trying to take the bull overnight, but the footage was not sharp enough to make out their faces. It looked like three students were trying to put it into their car but it didnt fit, so they put it on the softball field, she said. A student came forward to identify the culprits after the principal offered a $100 reward out of his own pocket. RELATED: Records: San Antonio-area schools with the highest number of drug and alcohol seizures in 2014-15 Once identified, investigators interviewed the students and found pictures of the incident on their phones. The bull is scratched and damaged, obviously it has to be (repaired) since the hooves were cut off, she said. Initial estimates to fix the mascot came in at between $500 and $1,000. As for the students, Chancellor said they will face disciplinary action at school along with criminal mischief charges. The principal was very upset by this, she said. This really wasnt a funny joke. It went too far. mdwilson@express-news.net Twitter: @MDWilsonSA DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI-TV) A Des Moines principal has decided not to punish the girls who arranged for a male stripper to perform at their school's synchronized swimming club banquet. Officials said the girls employed the stripper as a joke and that the stripper didn't totally disrobe. Roosevelt High School Principal Kevin Biggs said Wednesday that the girls didn't do anything illegal and didn't violate the district's conduct code. Parents told Des Moines school officials Monday about the male stripper at the event. The stripper was part of the annual banquet for the Roosevelt High School's synchronized swimming club. It was held at the Des Moines Social Club last Friday. School officials told KCCI that no school employees were at the event and that the stripper was hired by ninth-grade members of the group. Social Club workers asked the stripper to leave. School officials said Roosevelt Principal Kevin Biggs will determine if any school policies were violated during the event. Graham Gillette's daughter is a member of the swimming club and says the girls employed the stripper as a joke. Gillette said the stripper appeared but didn't totally disrobe at Friday evening's event. The Sharks synchronized swimming club is run and funded by students in grades nine through 12. Story originally published on KCCI.com. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Water pistols, hoses, buckets and even elephants can be used as weapons in the worlds biggest annual water fight in Thailand READ THIS: Worlds tallest water coaster coming to Texas In the annual Songkran festival celebratimng the Thai New Year, water represents the washing away of sins and misfortunes. The event kicked off this week in the middle of Southeast Asias worst drought in decades. Officials have taken measures to try to reduce the amount of wasted water during the festivities. NBC News reported that organizers are cutting festivities from four to three days and imposing a curfew at night, which it says will save as much as 5 billion liters of water. >>>See photos from the worlds largest water fight in the gallery above Still, despite the rules and the drought, revelers seem to be having a blast. Photos of the street party show residents and tourists armed with Super Soakers of all shapes and sizes. Elephants also have taken part in the water fights, drenching onlookers in the sweltering heat. In light of the drought, Reuters notes that elephants have been trained to soak up less water and aim more carefully. The country's military leader Prayut Chan-o-cha wants Songkran to return to its more traditional roots, according to the Australian Broadcast Channel. Thai authorities have threatened "to arrest scantily clad women" and announced an alcohol ban. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN -- Allegations that Texas Agriculture Commissioner used state funds last year to take two-out-of-state trips where he conducted personal business should be thoroughly investigated, a spokesman for Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday. "The governor believes these allegations of misuse of taxpayer dollars warrant a thorough investigation by the Texas Rangers," Abbott Press Secretary John Wittman said. It was the first time Abbott has commented on the newly-announced probe into Miller's activities by the Department of Public Safety. He rarely makes public statements on such issues, spurring immediate questions about whether his remarks could telegraph his views on Miller's trip-taking. The comments came a day after officials confirmed that the Texas Rangers are investigating whether Miller abused his position as commissioner and violated state law by charging the state for two trips one to Oklahoma and another to Mississippi -- in February 2015. After the Houston Chronicle broke the story of the two trips, the liberal advocacy group Progress Texas filed a criminal complaint against Miller. The Chronicle in March disclosed Miller's trip to Oklahoma a year ago to obtain a "Jesus Shot," an anti-inflammatory injection for pain. Miller has insisted he traveled to Oklahoma to tour the Oklahoma National Stockyards and meet with state officials, but those officials told the Chronicle they had no plans to meet with him that day. The Chronicle also disclosed that Miller went to Mississippi on the state's tab and, while there, he participated in the National Dixie Rodeo in the calf-roping competition. Miller said he had intended to meet with agriculture officials there, but when those meetings fell through he repaid the state for the cost of the trip with campaign funds. Ranger officials have declined to discuss the pending investigation or a timetable for when it may be completed. Texas Democrats quickly applauded Abbott's support of an investigation of the Miller trips -- with a twist to draw attention to the pending criminal case against Attorney General Ken Paxton, an Abbott ally. "We look forward to him doing the same when it comes to calling for his indicted Republican colleague Ken Paxton's resignation," said Manny Garcia, deputy executive director of the Texas Democratic Party. "After all, following a Texas Rangers investigation, Paxton, Texas' chief law enforcement official, now faces over 99 years in jail. " As the possibility of a contested convention looms over the Republican presidential primary, an uncommon competition is heating up in Texas: the race to be a national delegate. Take, for example, Maggie Wright, a 70-year-old tea party activist in Burleson, Texas. She's polished her resume, practiced her stump speech, and lined up endorsements from her local preacher and Texas Commissioner of Agriculture Sid Miller. READ THE FULL STORY AT HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM Before the Republican Party of Texas convenes in Dallas on May 12, Wright hopes to call up to 350 party members in her congressional district, introduce herself, and announce her candidacy for national delegate. If she can't get their phone numbers she'll send postcard. "I'm not a politician, never will be," she said. "I'm still just that retired housewife grandmother that is really concerned for our country." STRIKING BACK: Republican Party leader lashes out at Trump Delegates to party conventions typically do not campaign for their posts, but exceptional circumstances in this GOP nomination cycle have raised the stakes dramatically on the aspirations of non-politicians like Wright. Delegates traditionally have not done much at conventions besides show up to have fun. This year, however, it is the delegates, not the voters, who may pick the Republican presidential nominee in a contested national convention. For the presidential campaigns, it has become crucial to stock the Cleveland assembly with delegates that are not only sympathetic, but also stubborn. DEMOCRATIC FIGHT: Sanders, Clinton battle in NY ahead of Sanders' Vatican trip "If anybody thinks that there's not going to be some bribery going on (at the national convention), they're living in a fairy tale land," said JoAnn Fleming, a veteran Republican activist in Texas and a tea party chair for the Ted Cruz campaign. "They (the delegates) will be lobbied heavily. They will probably get gift baskets at their door. They may get limousine rides." In other words, the rival campaigns of Cruz and front-runner Donald Trump will wrangle for delegate support, person-by-person, on the convention floor, if not before then. If no candidate wins a majority of votes in the first two convention ballots, the vast majority of delegates will be free to vote according to their personal preferences. -- Ted Cruz is more likely now to be the GOP nominee than he ever has been, by The Dallas Morning News Gromer Jeffers. More than 50 percent of the 2,472 delegates in Cleveland will be chosen at state party conventions. Only a minority of delegates are on election ballots, and some are chosen by the candidates. In that playground, Cruz is the most formidable choice, though others will argue that a candidate like Ohio Gov. John Kasich is a better pick to beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in November. Theres also a chance that another candidate will emerge because Trump and Cruz deadlocked and neither can get to the winning number. -- Im not at war, but I want to make it really a process where votes count, Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox & Friends that aired Thursday morning. Trump pointed to the situation in Colorado as a prime example, saying the party took the voters away with its decision to forgo the traditional public preference vote and select its delegates directly at a convention. As a result, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is likely to come away with all of the state's 34 convention delegates. And you know, there are riots going on out there, he said. And you look at whats happening in Pennsylvania where theyre taking the voters out of it, and its very unfair. And I rely on the voters. I dont rely on politicians. Im self-funding my campaign. People dont like that, because it means they have no control, but Im putting up my own money, Heather. So well see what happens. Were gonna do great in Pennsylvania, but they should give the voters real credit, not just partial credit. -- @ReincePriebus last night: Nomination process known for a year + beyond. It's the responsibility of the campaigns to understand it. Complaints now? Give us all a break -- Some Dems boiling over attacks on Castro, by The Texas Tribunes Abby Livingston. But Democratic officials from Austin to Washington say the push is the party's anti-establishment liberal base tearing down Castro to assert its will onto party frontrunner Clintons vice presidential selection process. To be sure, the former U.S. senator and secretary of state has yet to clinch the nomination, but Sanders has an uphill climb to secure enough delegates to overpower her. Within hours of the article posting on Tuesday, those jumping to Castro's defense included Democratic U.S. House candidate Pete Gallego of Texas, a left-leaning policy group called Progress Texas, the Latino Victory Fund and the Texas Democratic Party. SPEED READ DPS opens investigation into Sid Miller, Houston Chronicle SBOE considers putting math standards back on the table after Common Core complaints, Quorum Report How Texas politicians bungle the bible, Texas Observer Groups want less police at middle school after student slammed by officer, San Antonio Express-News Heidi Cruz on Ted: Hes good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, people like him, The Dallas Morning News Cruz quietly opens VP search but convention fight with Trump complicates task, The Dallas Morning News Cruz on Rubio for VP: Youd be a fool not to consider him, The Hill UTPB unveils campus carry plan, Odessa American Harris Co. sheriff to hear from critics of screening for immigrants, Houston Chronicle Jail reform tackles racial disparities, Houston Chronicle Houston lawyer loses Cruz birther lawsuit, Houston Chronicle DPS opens probe into Miller travel for Jesus shot, rodeo, Houston Chronicle Candidate tells tale of political espionage, San Antonio Express-News News conference amid reports of Trump aide wont be prosecuted, Houston Chronicle Trump visit roils town still healing from Latinos killing, Associated Press One dead, 11 injured in fumes leak near UT, Houston Chronicle CAPITOL DAYBOOK SENATE: 9:00 a.m. Veteran Affairs & Military Installations [ Corpus Christi, Texas ] QUOTE TO NOTE Commissioner Miller has been supportive and cooperative in helping the Texas Rangers fulfill their statuary requirements. Hes only sorry that their time is having been spent on a politically based complaint filed by one of the most liberal organizations in the state of Texas. -- Todd Smith, Sid Millers political consultant, on the Texas Rangers investigation RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE -- Another poll showing how unpopular Trump is, by Politicos Nick Gass. Donald Trump is the most unpopular top-tier presidential candidate over more than three decades of ABC News/Washington Post polls, except for former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. That's according to the results of the latest national ratings released Thursday, which did not carry too auspicious results for Trump's two Republican opponents, either. Two in three Americans surveyed in the poll 67 percent said they held an unfavorable view of Trump, while just 31 percent said they saw him favorably and only 2 percent said they had no opinion of him. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's favorability rating was marginally higher, at 36 percent, while 53 percent said they had an unfavorable view of him and 11 percent said they had no opinion. Ohio Gov. John Kasich made out the best in the poll, with 39 percent each responding that they had a favorable and unfavorable opinion of him, but 22 percent said they had no opinion either way. -- Sanders last shot to shake up the race, by Politicos Annie Karni. Thursday nights Brooklyn debate is Bernie Sanders last chance to shake up the race in a state where he must pull off a major upset to change the dynamics of the Democratic primary. The debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard arrives during the most contentious week of the race. Sanders claimed Hillary Clinton was not qualified to be president, citing his common refrain: that her 2002 vote in favor the war in Iraq and the Wall Street donations to her super PAC raise questions about her judgment. He also attacked Bill Clintons record on criminal justice. -- MEDIA WATCH: Megyn Kelly clears the air with Trump, by Politicos Alex Weprin and Hadas Gold. Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump met at Trump Tower on Wednesday, Kelly confirmed on her show Wednesday night. Kelly said the meeting was held at her request and was an effort to clear the air between herself and Trump. Trump has publicly attacked Kelly on a number of occasions, ever since she grilled him on his past comments about women at the first Republican primary debate last year. We met for about an hour, just the two of us, and had a chance to clear the air, Kelly said. Mr. Trump and I discussed the possibility of an interview. And I hope we will have news to announce on that soon. The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p. On March 15, Instagram posted a note on its blog that sent the internet into a frenzy: To improve your experience, your feed will soon be ordered to show the moments we believe you will care about the most. Panicked Instagram users protested, afraid their posts would get lost in the revised stream, and began posting pictures with the hashtag #turnmeon, pleading with followers to turn on notifications for their accounts. In response to the uproar, Instagram posted a tweet that amounted to, Hey, calm down. Were not changing the algorithm yet. At first glance, a tweak to the flow of narcissism and latte art is hardly a significant story. But theres more at play here. As online users, weve become accustomed to the giant, invisible hands of Google, Facebook, and Amazon feeding our screens. Were surrounded by proprietary code like Twitter Trends, Googles autocomplete, Netflix recommendations, and OKCupid matches. Its how the internet churns. So when Instagram or Twitter, or the Silicon Valley titan of the moment, chooses to mess with what we consider our personal lives, were reminded where the power actually lies. And it rankles. While internet users may be resigned to these algorithmic overlords, journalists cant be. Algorithms have everything journalists are hardwired to question: Theyre powerful, secret, and governing essential parts of society. Algorithms decide how fast Uber gets to you, whether youre approved for a loan, whether a prisoner gets parole, who the police should monitor, and who the TSA should frisk. Algorithms are like a very small child. They learn from their environment. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Theyre also anything but objective. How can they be? asks Mark Hansen, a statistician and the director of the Brown Institute at Columbia University. Theyre the products of human imagination. (As an experiment, think about all of the ways you could answer the question: How many Latinos live in New York? Thatll give you an idea of how much human judgement goes into turning the real world into math.) Algorithms are built to approximate the world in a way that accommodates the purposes of their architect, and embed a series of assumptions about how the world works and how the world should work, says Hansen. Its up to journalists to investigate those assumptions, and their consequences, especially where they intersect with policy. The first step is extending classic journalism skills into a nascent domain: questioning systems of power, and employing experts to unpack what we dont know. But when it comes to algorithms that can compute what the human mind cant, that wont be enough. Journalists who want to report on algorithms must expand their literacy into the areas of computing and data, in order to be equipped to deal with the ever-more-complex algorithms governing our lives. The reporting so far Few newsrooms consider algorithms a beat of their own, but some have already begun this type of reporting. Algorithms can generally be broken down into three parts: the data that goes in; the black box, or the actual algorithmic process; and the outcome, or the value that gets spit out, be it a prediction or score or price. Reporting on algorithms can be done at any of the three stages, by analyzing the data that goes in, evaluating the data that comes out, or reviewing the architecture of the algorithm itself to see how it reaches its judgements. Currently, the majority of reporting on algorithms is done by looking at the outcomes and attempting to reverse-engineer the algorithm, applying similar techniques as are used in data journalism. The Wall Street Journal used this technique to find that Staples online prices were determined by the customers distance from a competitors store, leaving prices higher in rural areas. And FiveThirtyEight used the method to skewer Fandangos movie ratingswhich skewed abnormally high, rarely dipping below 3 starswhile a ProPublica analysis suggested that Ubers surge pricing increases cost but not the supply of drivers. While the previous stories directly analyzed algorithmic outcomes, many more report about them. On the criminal justice beat, for example, there has been a slew of stories on proprietary algorithms used by law enforcement: A program called Beware is helping Fresno police use Twitter data to assign residents a threat score; a California man is facing charges for a nearly 40-year-old rape because of a DNA match analyzed by TrueAllele software; even scientists dont know the formula behind a test that scores suspected sex offenders; and police departments across the country are increasingly using predictive policing software like PredPol to decide where to send patrols. In one such report, The New York Times wrote about a crop of banking startups using big data to rethink lending. Part of these startups (admirable) goal is to identify populations who have traditionally been ignored by lenders. To that end, one company said that instead of credit history, it uses factors like whether applicants type in ALL CAPS, as well as how much time they spent reading terms and conditions, to determine creditworthiness. The story introduces more questions than it answers, beginning with: Is this method really more equitable? In fact, thats a question that fuels much of the talk about algorithms. Can an algorithm be racist? Algorithms are like a very small child, says Suresh Venkatasubramanian. They learn from their environment. Venkatasubramanian is a computer science professor at the University of Utah. Hes someone who thinks about algorithmic fairness, ever since he read a short story by Cory Doctorow published in 2006, called Human Readable. The story takes place in a future world, similar to ours, but in which all national infrastructure (traffic, email, the media, etc.) is run by centralized emergent networks, modeled after ant colonies. Or in other words: a network of algorithms. The plot revolves around two lovers: a network engineer who is certain the system is incorruptible, and a lawyer who knows its already been corrupted. It got me thinking, says Venkatasubramanian. What happens if we live in a world that is totally driven by algorithms? Hes not the only one asking that question. Algorithmic accountability is a growing discipline across a number of fields. Computer scientists, legal scholars, and policy wonks are all grappling with ways to identify or prevent bias in algorithms, along with the best ways to establish standards for accountability in business and government. A big part of the concern is whether (and how) algorithms reinforce or amplify bias against minority groups. Algorithmic accountability builds on the existing body of law and policy aimed at combatting discrimination in housing, employment, admissions, and the like, and applies the notion of disparate impact, which looks at the impact of a policy on protected classes rather than its intention. What that means for algorithms is that it doesnt have to be intentionally racist to have racist consequences. Algorithms are built to approximate the world in a way that accommodates the purposes of their architect. Algorithms can be especially susceptible to perpetuating bias for two reasons. First, algorithms can encode human bias, whether intentionally or otherwise. This happens by using historical data or classifiers that reflect bias (such as labeling gay households separately, etc.). This is especially true for machine-learning algorithms that learn from users input. For example, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that women were receiving ads for lower-paying jobs on Googles ad network but werent sure why. It was possible, they wrote, that if more women tended to click on lower-paying ads, the algorithm would learn from that behavior, continuing the pattern. Second, algorithms have some inherently unfair design ticsmany of which are laid out in a Medium post, How big data is unfair. The author points out that since algorithms look for patterns, and minorities by definition dont fit the same patterns as the majority, the results will be different for members of the minority group. And if the overall success rate of the algorithm is pretty high, it might not be noticeable that the people it isnt working for all belong to a similar group. To rectify this, Venkatasubramanian, along with several colleagues, wrote a paper on how computer scientists can test for bias mathematically while designing algorithms, the same way theyd check for accuracy or error rates in other data projects. Hes also building a tool for non-computer scientists, based on the same statistical principles, which scores uploaded data with a fairness measure. Although the tool cant check if an algorithm itself is fair, it can at least make sure the data youre feeding it is. Most algorithms learn from input data, Venkatasubramanian explains, so thats the first place to check for bias. Much of the reporting on algorithms thus far has focused on their impact on marginalized groups. ProPublicas story on The Princeton Review, called The Tiger-Mom Tax, found that Asian families were almost twice as likely to be quoted the highest of three possible prices for an SAT tutoring course, and that income alone didnt account for the pricing scheme. A team of journalism students at the University of Maryland, meanwhile, found that Uber wait times were longer in non-white areas in DC. Bias is also the one of the biggest concerns with predictive policing software like PredPol, which helps police allocate resources by identifying patterns in past crime data and predicting where a crime is likely to happen. The major question, says Maurice Chammah, a journalist at The Marshall Project who reported on predictive policing, is whether it will just lead to more policing for minorities. There was a worry that if you just took the data on arrests and put it into an algorithm, he says, the algorithm would keep sending you back to minority communities. Working backwards Like any nascent field, reporting on algorithms comes with some inherent challenges. First, we still dont have a coherent understanding of the effects of algorithms and, therefore, where to assign blame. If computers cant be racist, whos responsible if their output discriminates? Journalists dont have to answer these questions, but they do have to take them into account when doing analyses and reporting the conclusions. In the two examples above, on The Princeton Review and Uber, the findings are, in all likelihood, simply a result of capitalism. ProPublica calls The Princeton Review finding an unexpected result, implying that the company was not using an Asian classifier as a factor in price quotes; and even a quick look at the Uber wait-time map that accompanies the story suggests it could just as easily be a heat map for demand. The reality of price discrimination might not be pleasant, but its perfectly legal if youre not overtly discriminating against a protected class. Its a lovely analysis, says Jonathan Stray, a journalist who teaches computational journalism at Columbias Journalism School, of the Uber story, but I have trouble interpreting the results. The trouble is that its possible to stack race against any other factor and youll probably find some association, says Stray. Thats partly because many factors, like location and income, act as proxies for race, and those factors interact with each other in unexpected ways. You have to be careful with that kind of reasoning, says Stray. Even though the Uber piece doesnt assign blame, the takeaway seems to be that Uber is somehow at fault. Does Uber have a responsibility to provide equal service? This is the limitation of working with data thats spit out of an algorithm without knowing how that algorithms works. ProPublica, for instance, checked the price for online SAT tutoring in every zip code in the US, then analyzed the data to find out which of many possible factors contributed to the difference in prices. This is different from methods used in most data analysis, as with the US Census or unemployment rates. With those datasets, you know where the data is coming from and how it was collected. That allows you to ask questions about the merits of the data itself, and know the limits of what your analysis can show. With algorithm outputs, even with sophisticated analyses, the most you can do is explain that something is happening, but not how. To Jeff Larson, data editor at ProPublica and the author of The Tiger-Mom Tax, thats not necessarily a bad thing. Like disparate impact, the important story is the one in which someone or some group is being adversely affected, regardless of motive. Not all stories have a bad guy, says Larson. There doesnt have to be someone out there twirling their mustache for there to be a story. Inside the black box But of course, working with outcomes isnt the only available strategy. Instead of just looking at the effects of algorithms and trying to work backward, reporters should set their sights on the black box itself (remember, thats the actual architecture of the algorithm). Having access to the source code or the design of the algorithm provides a whole new level of insight. Thats clear from The Marshall Projects reporting on predictive policing. In the piece titled Policing the future, Chammah, together with Hansen, reported on software called HunchLab, which is similar to the more widely used PredPol, with at least one major difference: It is much more transparent. Azavea, the company behind HunchLab, shared its methodology and models with The Marshall Projects reporters.** While the piece doesnt go into the details of how the software works, it does address how both HunchLab and the police agencies implementing the software are grappling with concerns about computed policing. For example, HunchLab only maps violent crimes, not drug-related crimes, which is seen as an area of systemic racial disparity in the criminal justice system. Not all stories have a bad guy. There doesnt have to be someone out there twirling their mustache for there to be a story. The advantage of such access, says Chammah, was that it allowed for debate on the issues, rather than a meta debate on transparency. The story became about getting to explore the kind of philosophical questions that are circulating around predictive policing, he says. But the black box is difficult to access, both conceptually and literally. Most algorithms, whether used by business or government, are proprietary, and it isnt entirely clear what kinds of source codes would be available under FOIA. Several cases have gone to court, on FOIA grounds or otherwise, to access source codes or documents related to them, but most are thwarted by the trade secret exemption or security concerns. In one FOIA case, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit organization in Washington, DC, requested documents for a system that assigns threat assessments to air and land passengers traveling in the US. The Analytic Framework of Intelligence, as its called, takes in data from a large collection of both governmental and nongovernmental databases, including internet feeds, and then spits out a risk assessment. The agency that runs the system, US Customs and Border Patrol, released several heavily redacted documents to EPIC after it was ordered to by a federal court. One file was filled with page after page of blacked-out screenshots of the application because, according to US Customs, an individual knowledgeable in computer systems could use the screenshots to hack the system. EPIC is back in court fighting the redactions. Once the literal access problem is solved, then theres the task of making sense of the code. Analyzing the code may require algorithmic knowledge thats not currently part of the journalistic skill set and will require collaboration with those fluent in mathspeak or other creative formats. Computer scientists, says Hansen, are putting into code our societys values and ethics, and that process has to be out in the open so the public can participate. In whatever form it takes, reporting on algorithms will likely become more of a required skill. Journalists need to up their game, both with respect to demanding algorithmic transparency, and in augmenting the current journalistic skill set so we can deal with humanitys augmented intelligence. To get started: **An earlier version of this story stated that HunchLab is open source. In fact, HunchLab is built with open-source components but is not itself open source. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Chava Gourarie is a freelance writer based in New York and a former CJR Delacorte Fellow. Follow her on Twitter at @ChavaRisa Do your privacy policies give a clear, conspicuous and accurate statement of the companys practices? The major federal privacy statute applicable to insurers is Gramm-Leach-Bliley, 15 U.S.C. 6801 et seq., which applies to all financial services companies. A number of states have insurance privacy statutes that set more stringent standards. Aside from any statutory requirements that may govern an insurance companys privacy policy, the manner in which it is delivered may create unnecessary liabilities. Courts, for example, have enforced clickwrap agreements in breach-of-contract actions which may include provisions that an applicant has read and agreed to a hyper-linked Privacy Policy and the Terms & Conditions in order to apply on-line for a credit agreement. See Defillipis v. Dell Financial Services, 3:14-CV-00115 (2016 WL 394003, M.D. Penn. 1/29/16), appeal docked (3d Cir. 3/3/16). A recent decision from the Northern District of Illinois, on the other hand, illustrates the pitfalls that could arise from current insurance industry practices involving the issuance of privacy statements and insurance policies if done without the appropriate precautions. The process of issuing an insurance policy, either directly or through an employer group, requires care and deliberate action when it comes to issues of proper integration, documentation and transmittal. On February 23, 2016, Judge Ruben Castillo from the Northern District of Illinois issued an opinion that provides guidance on best practices for the insurance industry when it issues privacy policies to insureds. Failure to institute appropriate protocols may increase an insurers liability exposure in the event of a data breach that compromises an insureds personal identifiable information. In Dolmage v. Combined Ins. Co. of Am., (No. 1:14-cv-3089, N.D. Ill. Feb. 23, 2016), the court denied the defense motion to dismiss a breach of contract claim based on a Privacy Pledge document that was included in insurance policy documents provided to employees of Dillards department store (Dillards). The decision raises a novel theory by plaintiffs and warrants attention given the number of privacy statements consumers receive in the mail every day from banks and credit card issuers and the use of third-party vendors in the management of personal data. In denying the motion to dismiss, the court concluded that it was certainly plausible that there was a causal link between the defendants failure to ensure the confidentiality of the data and the damages alleged. Citing Remijas v. Neiman Marcus Grp., LLC, 794 F.3d 688 (7th Cir. 2015), the court held that was all that was required at this stage of the proceeding. Judge Castillo previously granted the defense motion to dismiss with prejudice the claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. 1681, state law claims of negligence, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment, invasion of privacy and violation of the Illinois Insurance Code, 215, Ill. Comp. Stats. 5/1001. Dolmage v. Combined Ins. Co. of Am. No. 14 C 3809, 2015 WL 292947 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 21, 2015). In his initial 2015 ruling, Judge Castillo noted that an implied contract claim cannot coexist with an express contract on the same subject. The plaintiff was granted to leave to replead a breach of fiduciary duty claim but chose not to pursue that claim. A Florida federal district court rejected plaintiffs attempts to bring breach of fiduciary duty claims under the theory that guardians of plaintiffs sensitive information somehow create a fiduciary relationship. Mere receipt of confidential information has not been sufficient to transform an arms length transaction into a fiduciary relationship. See, Weinberg v. Advanced Data Processing, Inc. _ F. Supp. 3d ___, 2015 WL 8098555 (S.D. Fla. Nov. 17, 2015), citing, Dolmage v. Combined Ins. Co. of America, 2015 WL 292947 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 21, 2015) and other cases. On May 14, 2014, plaintiffs filed a putative class action against Combined Insurance Company of America (Combined or the defendant) following a data breach by a third-party company. The proposed class members are employees of Dillards who purchased insurance coverage from Combined, an insurance provider of a number of insurance products, including disability, accident, health and life insurance policies, through their employer. According to the allegations in the amended complaint, Combined promised to protect plaintiffs personal information in its written Privacy Pledge to its customers. In the Privacy Pledge, the insurer allegedly indicated that it maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard its customers personal information, and that it restricts access its customers personal information to those employees who need to know such information. Combined hired a third-party company, Enrolltek, to perform insurance enrollment functions and other tasks relating to the applications. The defendant regularly provided the principal of Enrolltek with access to the personal information from the applications, including allowing the principal to copy the information to an external hard drive. This external hard drive was not secure. Plaintiffs alleged that for a 16-month period, personal information was posted online, unsecure and unprotected and was accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Upon notification of the data breach by some of the affected Dillards employees, Combined issued a letter notifying the plaintiffs and other class members that their personal information had been stored on an Internet server by a third party enrollment system vendor without the proper security measures. It offered the class members credit monitor services for a one-year period. While plaintiffs were unsuccessful in their pursuit of the majority of claims initially asserted, they survived a motion to dismiss on the issue of whether the defendant breached the promises made in its Privacy Pledge in connection with the handling of plaintiffs personal information. Plaintiffs successfully alleged, for purposes of a motion to dismiss, that the Privacy Pledge was part of the insurance policy obtained from the defendant. As is typical in litigation arising from a data breach, the plaintiff in Dolmage chose to file the lawsuit in federal court where the notice pleading requirements are more lenient. Unlike state jurisdictions which require detailed factual allegations to survive a motion to dismiss, the court in Dolmage concluded that all that is required in federal court is just enough detail to present a story that holds together. It was the plaintiffs story that prevailed, at least with respect to whether she was able to state a claim. In denying the motion to dismiss, the court rejected the defense arguments that the Privacy Pledge was not incorporated into the parties insurance policy or that it was otherwise enforceable in a breach of contract action. The court disagreed with the defendants assertion that the Privacy Pledge, as a matter of law, was not part of the insurance contract between plaintiff and the defendant. Instead, the court found that the plaintiffs claim that the insurance policy incorporated the Privacy Pledge was not implausible. The problem in Dolmage was the fact that the policy expressly incorporate certain extraneous documents. Specifically, the term policy was defined as this Policy with any attached application(s), and any riders and endorsements. Further compounding the problem was the fact that the policys table of contents specifically referred to the application and any riders and endorsements follow page 17. The documents submitted to the court included several pages after page 17, including the Privacy Pledge. The court also rejected the insurers arguments that the Privacy Pledge could not be an endorsement. The court considered the allegations that the Privacy Policy accompanied the policy that was mailed to her. As a result, the court considered that it could be read to supplement the policy by providing additional benefits to insured regarding the handling of her personal information. In addition, the policy at issue provided that any endorsements must be approved by the insurers president or one of its vice presidents. In Dolmage, the Privacy Pledge was, in fact, authored by the insurers chairman, president and chief executive officer. This fact no doubt helped buttress plaintiffs arguments in opposition to the motion to dismiss. In its opinion, the court provided important guidance on how the defendant could have avoided any ambiguity and thus, may have prevailed on its motion to dismiss. For example, if the defendant had clearly labeled the documents sent with the policy that were intended to be incorporated, that might have been enough to prevail on the motion to dismiss. The court also noted that the defendant could have drafted an integration clause that did not reference outside documents. Had it done so, the plaintiff would have been precluded from relying on outside documents to assert a breach of contract claim. Next, the court also rejected the defense argument that plaintiffs claim failed because she did not rely on or read the Privacy Pledge before she agreed to the insurance contract. Reliance is not one of the elements of a breach of contract claim under Illinois law. As noted by the court in Dolmage, the circumstances of the issuance of the insurance policy with the Privacy Pledge was directed exclusively to the defendants insureds. As a result, the court concluded that the plaintiff was not trying to enforce the Privacy Pledge as a stand-alone contract. Instead, plaintiffs argument was that the Privacy Pledge was part of the parties insurance agreement. Thus, the court had no trouble distinguishing the facts before it from those cases cited by the defendant where courts have found that a privacy policy is not an enforceable contract (i.e. a banks privacy policy, Azeltine v. Bank of America, No. CV 190-218-TUC-RCC (HCE), 2010 WL 6511710 (D. Ariz. Dec. 14, 2010), or an airlines privacy policy posted on its website, Dyer v. Northwest Airlines Corps., 334 F. Supp. 2d 1196 (D.N.D. 2004)). Enforcement of a privacy policy as a stand-alone contract may not be a viable remedy for identity theft following a data breach. As noted by the court in Dolmage, however, issuers of privacy policies must take the necessary steps to avoid any ambiguities with underlying contractual documents if they want to foreclose having to litigate a breach of contract claim. Failure to do so, may also increase liability exposure when the privacy policy, such as the one issued by the defendant in Dolmage, includes promises that third-party vendors will abide by certain privacy standards. Given the frequency of data breaches involving protected information, the Dolmage decision serves as a reminder that there are simple offensive steps insurers can take to limit their potential liability in the event of future litigation. In order to avoid a possible breach of contract claim based on a privacy policy, for example, Dolmage provides sound best practices insurers should adopt to strength their defense to such claims. As part of their ongoing review of their privacy policies and insurance contracts, insurers should consider the following: 1. Evaluate the language in any integration clauses in the policy. Avoid references to extraneous documents that may ultimately be delivered with the policy. 2. Avoid any ambiguity by clearly labeling the documents sent with a policy that are intended to incorporate by reference. In virtually all jurisdictions, if there is an ambiguity about contractual language, the courts will construe the ambiguity against the insurer. 3. Carefully review policy language: (1) what documents are included in the definition of the policy; (2) who must approve endorsements. In Dolmage, the policy required that endorsements be approved by the insurers president or one of its vice presidents. The Privacy Pledge was authored by the insurers chairman, president and chief executive officer. 4. Consider adding disclaimer language to documents that are not part of the insurance policy. In Dolmage, the court noted that one of the documents accompanying the policy included the prominent disclaimer: THIS IS A PROPOSAL AND IS NOT PART OF THE CONTRACT. The Privacy Pledge did not contain a similar disclaimer. The Dolmage court also found the plaintiffs allegations that the Privacy Pledge accompanied the policy that was mailed to her as a supplement or possibly a policy endorsement by providing additional benefits to insureds regarding the handing of their personal information. 5. Do not include other provisions in the Privacy Pledge that are unrelated to the insurers compliance with federal regulations. In Dolmage, the court noted that the insurer correctly stated that a partys promise to do what it is already legally obligated to do does not give rise to contractual rights. The court found, however, that the Privacy Pledge contained other provisions unrelated to defendants compliance with federal law. For instance, it provided that the defendant would restrict access of the insureds personal information to to those employees who need to know such information, and further, that if insureds personal information is shared with a third party, defendant will require them to abide by the same privacy standards as those indicated here. As a result, the court found that the amended complaint plausibly alleged that the defendant breached these promises when it provided class members personal information to a third party without ensuring that the third party properly limited the disclosure of that information. 6. If an insurer makes promises about the steps a third-party will take in the treatment of personal information, the insurer must take adequate steps to ensure that the third-party limits access to of the insureds personal information under the same standards it employs. adhere to the law does not give rise to contractual rights violations. By following the courts guidance in Dolmage, insurers will be better positioned to defend against claims that are likely to be raised by plaintiffs in litigation arising from data breaches. By proactively reviewing their privacy policies and practices in issuing policies, insurers will be better able to resist the laundry list of claims that plaintiffs raise in litigation arising out of a data breach. By taking adequate steps to limit access to personal information, insurers may have a strong defense on the merits of a breach of contract claim. The court in Dolmage left for another day, the issue of causation. In any data breach situation, the issue will be whether the plaintiff sustained any damages as a result of the defendants conduct. The more insurers can limit the theories that survive a motion to dismiss, the greater chance they may have to limit any ultimate exposure and/or class certification. Carol J. Gerner is counsel and Cinthia Granados Motley is partner in Sedgwick LLPs Chicago office. They can be reached at carol.gerner@sedgwicklaw.com and cinthia.motley@sedgwicklaw.com, respectively, or via the firms website http://www.sedgwicklaw.com. Toyota Motor Corp. said it will collaborate with the University of Michigan on a research base near the schools Ann Arbor campus to focus on autonomous vehicles, the third center under a $1 billion investment by the automaker. Gill Pratt, chief executive officer of the Toyota Research Institute, announced the Michigan expansion in a speech Thursday at Nvidia Corp.s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. During his remarks, he said co-opetition among automakers was key to saving the 1.2 million lives lost to traffic fatalities worldwide each year. The autonomous car field is incredibly hot, Pratt said. Its important to remember that we dont have to work alone. Co-opetition accelerates progress. Toyota hired Pratt, who was the U.S. militarys top robotics engineer, in September. The Toyota Research Institute also is creating centers in Palo Alto, California, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. The three facilities will work on artificial intelligence, materials science and robotics research. The Ann Arbor hub is scheduled to open in June, with an eventual staff of 50 people, Toyota said. About 15 employees from the nearby Toyota Technical Centers, which have been doing autonomous-car research for more than a decade, will transfer to the new facility when it opens, the company said. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. AKRON, Ohio -- A Barberton man will spend 10 years in prison for setting his neighbor's home on fire on Christmas Day, killing two dogs, including a companion dog for a child with Down's syndrome. Justin Garrett, 29, previously pleaded guilty to aggravated arson, burglary, animal abuse and abuse against companion animals. Summit County Common Pleas Judge Alison McCarty sentenced him Thursday. Garrett also must register as an arsonist with the county sheriff where he lives once he's released from prison. "This crime is inexplicable. It is tragic," McCarty said. "It is the most egregious form of the offense, as you preyed upon your own neighbors and then senselessly burned down their home and killed their beloved pets." Garret on Christmas Day 2015 broke into a home on East Ford Avenue in Barberton by prying open the back door. He set three fires in the basement of the home. The fires killed a 7-year-old Shih Tzu and a 4-year-old Maltese. One of the dogs was a companion animal for the family's 18-year-old daughter. Barberton police saw Garrett walking in the backyard of his home next door with a large flatscreen television. Officers went to question Garrett and he took off running. Police caught him about a few blocks later. Investigators found the flatscreen was stolen from the neighbor's home. They also found Garrett had other items stole from his neighbor's house that he set on fire. Garrett also had a screwdriver in his pocket that he used to pry open the backdoor. If you wish to discuss or comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section. AKRON, Ohio -- Four men are charged with running a meth lab in a home where five children lived. Kenneth Coole III, 32, of Akron; Dustin Frasier, 21, of Sandusky; Ryan Barth, 30, of Medina; and Brandon Mesecher, 20, of Akron all face eight felony charges. The charges include five counts of felony child endangering, a first-degree felony count of making meth, and felony counts of possessing chemicals used in meth making and possessing the drug. They are scheduled to make their first court appearance on Friday. Akron police about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday went to Coole's home in the 200 block of South Arlington Street after someone reported people in the home were making meth. Police found a large meth-making operation inside the home, with several active one-pot meth-making devices in two-liter bottles. Five children-- ages 3, 5, 9, 14 and 15-- were also inside the home with three women. They were left in the care of the women in the home. If you wish to discuss or comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section. AKRON, Ohio -- A man recovering from a heroin overdose faces felony charges that accuse him of growing dozens of marijuana plants. Austin Larch, 38, is charged with illegally cultivating marijuana, a second-degree felony, trafficking the drug and possessing items used to grow the plant. Larch is in the hospital but he will be brought to court when he's released. Akron firefighters about 9 p.m. Wednesday went to Larch's home in the 200 block of Pioneer Avenue after someone reported that a man overdosed. Larch was found next to a syringe and a burnt spoon with residue on it, court records say. Larch was revived with Narcan, the heroin-overdose antidote. He was taken to an area hospital. Akron police then found the marijuana growing operation in Larch's basement. They found lamps, clippers pots and plants. Police reported that the drugs produced by the plant weighed five pounds. Larch is on probation for trafficking marijuana. In that case, drug detectives in March 2015 seized a 12-pound package of marijuana shipped from Ukiah, California to Larch's then-home in the 2000 block of Akron-Peninsula Road. Akron drug detectives delivered the package. Larch answered the door and was arrested. Police found more marijuana and packaging materials in his home. They also seized $4,000 in drug money. Large pleaded guilty to third-degree felony marijuana trafficking in September and was sentenced to two years on probation and to forfeit the seized money. If you wish to discuss or comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section. PORTSMOUTH, Ohio - From the unlikely location of this Appalachian Ohio River town, Amr Al-Azm, an associate professor at Shawnee State University, is aiding the global fight against the destruction and looting of antiquities in the Syrian civil war. Outside his day job teaching Middle East history and anthropology, Azm estimates he has helped to raise $50,000 to fund site monitors who document looting carried out mainly in territories controlled by the Islamic State, or ISIS, but also in areas under government and rebel control. A photograph provided by Amr Al-Azm described as depicting looters in action at a grave site in Syria. From operatives in the field, Azm has collected thousands of digital images of mosaics, sculptures, jewelry and coins filtering out of the country through middlemen in Lebanon and Turkey. "This is an iceberg," he said. "You're still looking at this from an iceberg perspective." He's described the looting in interviews with NBC News, PBS, WNYC Radio in New York, and an article in Time magazine and other outlets. He also agreed to share dozens of images with The Plain Dealer. By documenting and publicizing the flow of objects, Azm hopes to prevent their future sale to collectors or museums in years after the civil war. Recording the looting "One day the conflict will end, and we could say this object was photographed for sale back in 2014, and we are at 2030, and even though it's been 16 years, or whatever, it's still looted," he said. Gregarious and outgoing, Azm was born in Beirut, Lebanon and educated in England, where he earned a doctorate in 1991 from University College, London. He served as director of Scientific and Conservation Laboratories at the General Department of Antiquities and Museums in Syria from 1999 to 2004 and taught at the University of Damascus until 2006. Azm was a visiting assistant professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, from 2006 to 2009, from which he was recruited to Shawnee State, Ohio's newest state university campus. Azm was a "sometime participant" in reform processes initiated by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the middle 2000s. Opponent of Assad He now describes himself as an active participant in the Syrian opposition and a board member of the Day After Project, a nongovernmental organization supported by the United States Institute of Peace and dedicated to planning a future transition from the authoritarian Assad regime. A photograph provided by Amr Al-Azm described as representing Syrian looters in action with heavy machinery. Archaeologists and art historians consider Syria one of the world's richest regions for global heritage, with everything from ancient Roman ruins to Crusader castles. "Remember, this cultural heritage is not just Syria's, it's world heritage," Azm said. "All of this is part of our world history." Since 2011, Syria's civil war has claimed 250,000 lives. Some 4.8 million people have fled the country and another 6.6 million are in exile internally. The country's territory is carved into areas under control of the authoritarian regime of President Bashar Al-Assad, rebel factions and ISIS. ISIS has destroyed numerous historic sites and museum treasures to propagandize their brand of religious fanaticism, to demonstrate power and to encourage recruits. Loot as financial resource But the ISIS destruction is selective, Azm points out. Acolytes destroy documented works of art in museum collections knowing that they can't be easily sold. However, freshly excavated treasures have the potential to be marketed with a phony provenance, or ownership history. "Pieces that are straight out of the ground fetch a higher price, because they are not known and not published yet," Azm said. Museums generally won't buy artworks that lack documented histories earlier than 1970, the year of the UNESCO convention aimed at halting the sale of looted antiquities. But the global trade in looted antiquities persists, and ISIS is feeding it. "It sees them [antiquities] as an exploitable resource, like oil or mineral wealth," Azm said. He said looting is administered by the same ISIS office that manages the sale of oil for the group, and that the activity is conducted on an industrial scale with the aid of expensive excavating equipment. Looting also occurs in government and rebel-held territories, Azm said, but without the mechanized approach ISIS is taking. Toting up the damage The losses in Syria are hard to calculate, Azm said. The country has six UNESCO World Heritage Sites, all of which have been damaged. A photograph provided by Amr Al-Azm described as depicting Syrian antiquities unearthed with a bulldozer. Archaeological sites around the ancient Roman ruins at Palmyra, recently retaken from ISIS by the government, "have been looted mercilessly," Azm said. "You look at some of the photos I've seen, really the destruction is devastating." In an interview with the UK's Telegraph, he said the damage to the city's Roman ruins doesn't appear to be as catastrophic as originally feared. "A lot of us were afraid was that in the battle to recapture the city, even more archaeological damage might occur or that ISIL [another acronym for ISIS] would blow it up as they retreated," he said. "We're relieved that doesn't appear to have happened." The professor emphasized in his Plain Dealer interview that looting predated the civil war, but is now happening at a much larger scale. "The best way to save the cultural heritage is to stop the war," he said, "but nobody's interested in doing that, so the war goes on. The solution is to try to minimize the damage, stabilize and document damage where it occurs." Fostering nationhood Azm is doing what he can to preserve Syria's heritage because he thinks archaeological treasures may help create a constructive sense of nationhood in the future. "People without their history are a lost people," he said. "They're nothing, they're nobody, they're soulless. There is no glue to bind them to who they are. They become Shiites or Sunnis or members of some other tribe, but they are not members of some country called Syria." Edwins owner nurtures chefs who were inmates Brandon Chrostowski, founder, president and CEO of EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute on Shaker Square, at the restaurant in 2015. He helped organize the Northeast Ohio Re-entry Business Summit, which will be held Friday at the Cleveland Convention Center. (Thomas Ondrey/The Plain Dealer) CLEVELAND, Ohio - Countless job seekers are still finding it difficult to land employment. Many ex-offenders have found it almost impossible. But it shouldn't be, says Brandon Chrostowski, founder, president and CEO of EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute on Shaker Square, which is dedicated to employing formerly incarcerated people in the hospitality industry. He has helped organized the Northeast Ohio Re-entry Business Summit aimed at urging employers to hire ex-offenders, also known as returning citizens. The summit will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at the Cleveland Convention Center. Interest in the topic appears to be high. The event is at capacity. "Everyone needs a fair and equal second chance," said Chrostowski, who was recently recognized as a CNN Hero for his work in hiring ex-offenders. "With good mentorship they can achieve their goals." A cross section of public and private sector entities, with extensive experience in hiring the formerly incarcerated, will be at the summit to offer their expertise to would-be employers. Representatives from some of the event's other organizers, including those from the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas & Re-Entry Courts and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, will also attend. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish are also scheduled to attend. So is Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge Nancy Russo. "As Cuyahoga County's Re-Entry Court Judge, I look forward to hearing the concerns and suggestions of our private sector citizens, and also look forward to establishing meaningful partnerships with our for-profit and non-profit employers,'' she said in a news release. Chrostowski said employing ex-offenders should be key in any discussion centered on getting jobs for Cuyahoga County residents. "We have 4,000 men and women returning home each year," he said of those being released from prison. "That is double the next largest county (for returnees), which is Hamilton County, with 2,000. We are at least double all the other counties in the state, yet we are one percent lower than the state in terms of recidivism. "In the state of Ohio, 27.5 percent of people released will go back to prison in three years," Chrostowski said. "In Cuyahoga County it is 26.5 percent. "You think that is a lot, but nationally it is like 44 to 46 percent." The partnership between government, the courts and nonprofits is part of the reason Cuyahoga has a lower recidivism rate, he said. Chrostowski said if the private sector would join-in full force it could make a big difference. "There are a lot of businesses in Northeast Ohio -- banking, hospitals and manufacturing," he said. "These are big industries. If they stood up and said, 'We're going to hire. We're re going to do something visible about that.' It would make a big difference." Robin Smalley, director of programs at Towards Employment, which focuses on ex-offenders, agrees partnerships are key. "At Towards Employment we are driven by a dual focus on participant and employer needs," said Smalley, who will be attending the summit, in an email. "I look forward to seeing businesses and nonprofits make connections on Friday." Chrostowski wants prospective employers to know that they don't need to go it alone when it comes to hiring ex-offenders. "This army has been beating the drum for a long time, so we have a lot of followers," he said of the various entities dedicated to the mission of hiring ex-offenders. Chrostowski speaks from his first-hand experience in hiring ex-offenders. "EDWINS' success is really no secret," he said. "We are offering a fair and equal opportunity and we are supporting a person's strengths. It is not that we are dragging and pushing them, we're blocking and tackling." Shaia Playhouse Square parking lot The Shaia family has control of a city-owned parking lot just west of the Greyhound station and has five years to come up with a development plan for the 1.2-acre site. (Google Maps; Google Earth) CLEVELAND, Ohio - A lease deal approved this week at the edge of Cleveland's theater district sets the stage for mixed-use development to supplant another downtown parking lot. Cleveland City Council signed off Monday on an agreement to lease and eventually sell a publicly-owned parking lot to the Shaia family's Victory Properties, Inc. The surface lot, at 1325 Chester Ave., sits north of the Playhouse Square theaters, between the Greyhound bus station and the Reserve Square apartment complex. Paul Shaia, vice president at Shaia's Parking and Victory Properties, said his family will resurface and spruce up the 140-space lot, adding lighting and landscaping. He expects that work to be finished before mid-July, when crowds are scheduled to converge downtown for the Republican National Convention. But Shaia has bigger ambitions for the site, a 1.2-acre piece of pavement flanked by other real estate that could be bundled together and built on. "I hope we have something exciting to talk about in a couple of years - or sooner," said Shaia, whose family operates downtown parking lots and has owned nearby properties for decades. Cleveland flagged the Chester Avenue lot as a development site in 2014, when the city solicited proposals from potential buyers. Victory Properties was the only bidder, but it still took almost two years to hash out a deal that involves a five-year lease and a purchase option. From the start, the city asked for long-term plans involving at least 250 parking spaces, street-level activity instead of blank garage walls and either retail, offices, residences or service businesses - or a mix of those uses. Victory will study those development possibilities, but the company doesn't have a firm plan yet. Shaia acknowledged that apartments, which are popping up all over downtown, could be a logical contender. Retail would be tougher, he said, since there are vacant stores in more visible center-city locations. But local developers have looked at ways to repurpose the 1940s Greyhound terminal as retail space, if the bus company moves to another location. At this point, Shaia's plan doesn't revolve around Greyhound's building. Transit operators, the city, developers and nonprofit groups have been talking for years about the idea of shifting Greyhound to a different site or to a combined bus-and-train hub, possibly closer to the lakefront. The Geis Cos., identified as a collaborator and potential contractor in Victory's original proposal to the city, has participated in some of the conversations about the existing bus depot. "Our thinking, right now, is that this is independent of Greyhound," Shaia said this week. "And if there are opportunities for synergies, great." He added that Geis, which redeveloped the former Ameritrust complex on East Ninth Street as a mixed-use project, helped with conceptual planning for the parking-lot proposal two years ago. But the companies don't have a development deal. "We have a general understanding that, once we had an agreement [with the city], we'd continue to talk," he said. To avoid a conflict, developer and Cleveland City Planning Commission member Fred Geis recused himself during a recent vote on the parking-lot sale legislation, before the matter moved to City Council. Victory Properties will pay the city $22,500 in annual rent. The company also will cover the real estate taxes, which are roughly $45,000 a year. The city has been paying those taxes, since the lot is used for public parking instead of city purposes. The lot will continue to be public, with extended hours and staffing. Shaia said the rates will be similar to what his family charges - $4 or $5 a day - at nearby parking facilities. Once Victory has a firmer development proposal and various approvals for its plan, the company can buy the lot for $1.5 million, minus the cost of any environmental clean-up. But those deal terms are good for only five years. The deal with the city doesn't give Victory the option to renew its lease or extend the acquisition timeline. Michael Cosgrove, assistant director of the city's community-development department, said the five-year window provides Victory with enough time to recoup its investments in the parking lot, even if a development doesn't happen. In the worst-case scenario, the city would be left with a better-maintained lot, rental income and five years of property-tax reimbursements. "Who knows what could happen five years from now?" Cosgrove said of development prospects. "I have a hard time imagining, with our environment now, that it wouldn't happen within five years." ClevelandCodes_MG_1433.jpg Student Joseph Cox attends a Cleveland Codes software development class at Tri-C on Wednesday. (Tamara London/Cuyahoga Community College) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A new software development academy launched by Cuyahoga Community College and Cleveland Codes offers residents from Cleveland's low-income neighborhoods training opportunities for high-tech jobs. The 16-week training program combines classroom and hands-on technical instruction with a community-based web development project. Participants then enter a 12-week paid internship as an entry-level software developer with a Northeast Ohio company. Fifteen students were accepted into the first session of Cleveland Codes: The Tri-C Software Developers Academy. Classes began in March at the College's Advanced Technology Training Center. The program grew out of the winning presentation by Matthew Fieldman at the Cleveland Leadership Center's Accelerate 2015 competition. Cleveland Codes is based on the highly successful training model at Edwins Leadership and Restaurant Institute in Shaker Square. "We've taken the Edwins model and adapted it to software coding," said Fieldman, board president of Edwins. "We know that when we offer intensive training and caring support to under-served communities, they will rise to the challenge and do great things." Tuition is being covered through OhioMeansJobs and workforce scholarships from the Cuyahoga Community College Foundation. Students also received a laptop, plus lunch vouchers and a bus pass to reach campus. Monique Wilson, dean and executive director of Tri-C's Information Technology Center of Excellence, said, "We're providing the necessary training to open doors to sought-after jobs with the earning potential to change lives." Entry-level software developers in Ohio can expect to earn a median income level of approximately $54,000 a year, with experienced developers earning $78,000 annually. Students will be building an app that helps public health workers better assess, communicate and hopefully mitigate the risk of infant mortality. The project builds upon the "NEO+Natal" proposal that finished second at the 2015 Cleveland Medical Hackathon, held at Cleveland's Global Center for Health Innovation. The hackathon sought solutions to health issues plaguing society. A second session of Cleveland Codes: The Tri-C Software Developers Academy is planned for the fall 2016. For more information on the program, go to Tri-C and Cleveland Codes website. police tape.jpg A Cleveland man is charged for murder after kicking another man in the testicles, rupturing one testicle leading to a gangrene infection. The man died at MetroHealth hospital in June 2013. (File photo) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 55-year-old Cleveland man is charged with murder after he ruptured another man's testicle during a failed May 2013 robbery attempt. Jackie Pierce, of Dibble Avenue was indicted Tuesday by a Cuyahoga County grand jury on charges of aggravated murder and felonious assault, in the death of Willie Cannon. Pierce kicked Cannon in the crotch during a May 11, 2013 attempted robbery near East 65th Street and Lansing Avenue, according to police. He stole Cannon's wallet and ran away, court records say. The kick ruptured Cannon's testicle, which later developed a gangrene infection. Cannon died June 8, 2013 at MetroHealth of sepsis, a complication of the infection, according to records from the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office. Pierce is not in police custody and has been summoned for arraignment April 27 in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. webster.JPG Julius Webster, at his sentencing in March 2015, spent little time in the Ohio prison system before authorities shipped him out of state, according to interviews. His case is an example of how state prison leaders use the Interstate Corrections Compact, which allows prison authorities to swap inmates to quell violence. (Lynn Ischay/The Plain Dealer) CLEVELAND, Ohio - Just months after a Cuyahoga County judge sentenced Cleveland gang leader Julius Webster to life in prison, Ohio corrections officials came to a conclusion. They didn't want him. So state officials shipped Webster, a leader of the Heartless Felons, to another state. A spokeswoman for Colorado's prison system confirmed that Webster, 30, spent time there, but she declined to say where he is now. Webster's prison travels offer a window into the Interstate Corrections Compact, a little-known system that allows prison leaders to swap inmates to quell disruptions. In all, at least 40 states take part in it. Thousands of inmates have crossed state borders in the program in an attempt to ease tensions in prisons. "That's the goal of this,'' said Betty Bernt, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Corrections. "It usually involves two states that exchange inmates. If we send someone who has notoriety to a remote area, there is less chance of a problem.'' The reasons states move inmates are many: Some inmates have testified against others, while some, like Webster, were key leaders of violent gangs. Many have extensive criminal pasts or committed violent outbursts in prison that injured guards or other inmates. "There was paperwork involved before the transfer occurred, but first there had to be a call from one (department of corrections official) to another, and typically it would happen,'' said Martin Horn, a former director of the Pennsylvania prison system who now lectures at John Jay College in New York City. "The expectation is reciprocity." Did Horn ever reach the point that he grabbed the phone because he simply needed to get rid of a troubled prisoner? "Sure,'' he said. Besides inmates who can't behave, there are several other reasons states move inmates. Some prisoners have committed crimes in far away states, and they simply seek to be closer to their families. And some have gained so much notoriety for high-profile crimes that they aren't safe. Take James Holmes. In December, Colorado officials shipped Holmes out of a prison in San Carlos as part of the Interstate Corrections Compact, according to KRDO NewsChannel 13 in Colorado Springs. A corrections official declined to say where Holmes was sent. In 2012, Holmes opened fire in an Aurora movie theater, killing 12 people and injuring more than 70 others. He was sentenced to life in prison. Among prison guards, Cornelius Harris had gained a great deal of notoriety. Harris made his name fighting officers at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, the state's super max prison, according to court records, prison documents and published reports. In 2013, a Mahoning County jury convicted him of attacking the guards and using a shank. Today, he is serving more than 50 years in a high-security federal prison in Florence, Colo. Since being shipped to Colorado, Harris has taken to the Internet to complain about the move. The federal Bureau of Prisons has separate agreements with states to swap inmates. "There are more positives than negatives,'' said Jamie Breyman, who oversees the Interstate Corrections Compact for the Oregon prison system. "The inmates aren't always pleased, but for administrators, it can be a good thing.'' Webster, the Heartless Felons' leader, faces an interesting issue. Last year, a jury convicted him of two robberies and the slaying of Curtis Marks Jr. in August 2013. Common Pleas Judge Michael Astrab sentenced him to life in prison, with the first chance of parole in 99 years. In February, his attorneys argued to have the conviction overturned, claiming several issues, including that the security in Astrab's courtroom was beyond excessive. Prosecutors said the security measures were needed, based on threats in the case. The appeal is pending before the Ohio 8th District Court of Appeals. If the appeals court rules in favor of Webster, he could make a return trip to his home state. His attorney, Erika Cunliffe, declined to comment. Ohio prison officials have refused to comment about Webster, citing security issues. "Some people call this 'bus therapy,' '' said Daniel Kennedy, who lectures on criminal justice at Oakland University in Michigan. "You put the most troubling inmates on a bus and get them out of there. It is not fun for the prisoners. Every time they are moved, they have to re-establish themselves in a new place.'' If you want to comment on this story, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section. Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager for Donald Trump, president and chief executive of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, not pictured, listens during a campaign event for Trump in Albany, New York, U.S., on Monday, April 11, 2016. Florida prosecutors will announce Thursday whether they plan to prosecute Donald Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, on a battery charge in connection with former Breitbart News Network reporter Michelle Fields, Fields said Wednesday. Politico, citing multiple sources whom it didn't identify, reported Wednesday that Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg will announce Thursday that he won't pursue the charge. Lewandowski, 42, turned himself in to Jupiter police on a charge of simple battery after he was accused of having grabbed and bruised Fields' arm when she tried to question Trump at a campaign event on March 8. Lewandowski initially said he never touched Fields, but video released by police showed that he did make contact with her. watch now If California is the land of reinvention, the small desert city of Adelanto fits the bill. Roughly a two-hour drive east from Los Angeles, Adelanto was founded in 1915 by an inventor who wanted to sell land to World War I veterans. His dream never materialized and the region was taken over by orchard farms, then poultry ranches. The nearby George Air Force Base opened and eventually closed in the early 1990s. The city more recently made a solar play, but the energy market fizzled. City unemployment hovers at 14 percent, well above the national unemployment rate of under 5 percent. And the big employers in town include prisons and the local school district. Then a year ago, community leaders and yet-to-be elected Adelanto City Council member John "Bug" Woodard started to mull the idea of transforming the city into a high-tech mecca for marijuana cultivation. The high desert community already had massive industrial buildings that could house state-of-the-art growing spaces for commercial-scale cannabis farming. Why not attract marijuana businesses and investors, and add needed revenue to the city's general fund? In November last year after months of debate, Adelanto became among the first California cities to permit commercial cultivation of medical marijuana. Other desert cities in southern California are pursuing similar strategies, including Desert Hot Springs. It's not that the arid region lends itself to outdoor cannabis farming. The area just happens to have many large, indoor industrial spaces that are ideal for controlled medical marijuana cultivation. And Adelanto needed a new revenue stream. It's very difficult for people who live outside the state to truly understand the scale of what's happening. John Kagia director of industry analytics for New Frontier Soon the flashy cars began peeling off Highway 395 into Adelanto. Population: roughly 32,000 residents. "Our little town, a lot of people just drive by, going down 395, going up to Mammoth or heading up to Nevada, Reno," said city council member Woodard. "They wouldn't stop here." But things have changed. "Every day I have to pinch myself because we're seeing Bentleys, Rolls-Royces coming to town," Woodard said. "These cars weren't coming here a year ago. They wouldn't even think about coming down this old crappy road over here," said Woodard, who moved to the city in 1998. At the time, the local air force base had closed. Unemployed families packed up. Property was cheap. Adelanto is also about 40 miles south of Barstow. This area is the high desert. Think sparse Joshua trees. Motorcycles zooming down two-lane highways. Decades later, modern Adelanto is reaching for its next act in marijuana production, entirely in indoor spaces. And there's potentially millions, if not billions, at stake for the entire state. City Councilman John Bug Woodard Jr. has led a push for medical marijuana cultivation in a small desert, California town. Source: John Woodard If California voters in November approve adult cannabis use through statewide ballot measures, analysts forecast California's total marijuana market for both medical and adult use could reach $4 billion by 2018 more than double the size of the expected $2.5 billion Colorado market, according to ArcView Market Research and New Frontier. Both are cannabis research companies. The business impact of an approval would be "tremendous," Woodard said. "A lot of these folks, they've spent literally millions of dollars to move here, to set up business here." Last year alone, medical marijuana sales in California reached $2.7 billion, nearly half the total $5.7 billion in sales for the entire country, according to the two research firms. (The 2015 annual figure was updated.) Real estate spike The potential for legalized, large-scale marijuana farming has already boosted local property values. "The price of real estate shot up so fast," Woodard said. Some local businesses not even in the cannabis market have realized their property is worth more than $1 million. The thinking is, "'Wait a minute. My property is worth a million and a half? What if I spent $250, $300 grand and move my business on the other side of town, I put a million in my pocket,' " Woodard said. "What we've seen is a lot of people becoming instant millionaires." This, in a community where the median household income is around $39,200. Cannabis celebrity tie-ins Then the celebrity connections emerged. Bob Marley's son, Ky-Mani Marley, has signed on to license a strain of cannabis that will be grown in Adelanto, said Freddy Sayegh, an attorney on the project. Sayegh has advocated for defendants charged with marijuana violations, including dispensaries, co-ops, cultivators and patients. Tweet 1 Comedian Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong fame a longtime advocate for cannabis decriminalization hopes to mass produce his brand of legal marijuana, "Chong's Choice," in Adelanto. The city's warehouses for cannabis cultivation and research will mingle with other industries. Other regional employers include General Atomics, which manufactures unmanned aerial vehicles or drones in addition to other technology. Northwest Pipe Company makes large diameter, high-pressure steel pipes used primarily for water transmission. There was a yacht maker at one point. But the production of CABO Yachts was shuttered in 2010. Some community leaders including Adelanto Mayor Richard Kerr want growers to plant their roots here. The end game is tax revenues, local job creation and an entire cannabis ecosystem centered on large-scale marijuana farming. "We have jobs coming to town," said Woodard. "From logistics to shipping receiving, to producing products, manufacturing products. You got to have people fixing machines when they break down. You'll probably be hiring a trucking company." Details are being ironed out. "A lot of this is brand new," said Woodard, who also organizes a local music festival. Yet not every resident is thrilled with the idea of Adelanto's push into the pot business. The cannabis ordinance to permit commercial cultivation wasn't a slam dunk among some local school and law enforcement officials. No one in town wanted to create a business magnet for trouble. "We got bombarded by a lot of people that were against it," Woodard said. All cannabis permitting includes a vetting process and background check. So far, under 30 companies have secured licenses to grow marijuana in Adelanto. "The majority of applicants have been scientists, doctors, attorneys and other reputable professionals with extensive backgrounds as respectful leaders, teachers and honorable members of the community," the city said in a prepared statement on the vote to allow cultivation of medical marijuana. Cannabis farming will be limited to an industrial park far from frequently visited residential and commercial areas. The ordinance does not allow for any retail sales, or point of contact with retail customers. "The City Council thoroughly weighed the pros and cons of allowing marijuana cultivation, and only after careful and deliberate consideration, discussions and debate chose to move forward believing that the positives outweighed the negatives, and, that steps would be taken to mitigate any potential negative consequences," according to the statement. watch now Ensco shares fell nearly 5 percent after the company announced that it will begin a public offering of 50 million Class A ordinary shares. The offshore drilling company intends to use the proceeds for "general corporate purposes." Baxalta shares fell more than 5 percent after the company announced a special shareholders meeting on May 27 to vote on its merger with Shire. Check out the companies making headlines after the bell Thursday: Ixia shares sunk more than 14 percent after the company reported preliminary first quarter results below estimates. The company now expects first quarter revenue of $108 million to $111 million compared to a FactSet estimate of $123.3 million. "Our topline performance was primarily impacted by an unexpected and marked slowdown in network test spending ... and we continued to experience delays in closing network visibility deals," said Bethany Mayer, Ixia's president and CEO. Shares of Viacom climbed about 1 percent after a judge denied a request to depose Sumner Redstone as a part of a lawsuit that challenges his mental competency. SunEdison shares swung back and forth on heavy volume after its internal investigation failed to find material misstatements in its past financial statements. Reuters and CNBC's Tae Kim contributed to this report. "There's a lot of rhetoric, a lot of statements around the oil market, but the fundamental thing you have to look at is money. It's revenues, and the revenues of these countries that export oil have really collapsed," said Dan Yergin, vice chairman of IHS. Oil prices have gained sharply over the past two months on high hopes that the Sunday meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC countries will result in a deal to freeze crude production at January levels. But oil analysts now say the best deal producers may agree to could be what seems more like the outlines of an eventual deal. Analysts say a freeze would do very little to change the world oil glut, but it might help producing nations buy time until the oil market stabilizes. On Saturday, sources in Doha told CNBC that expectations were building for a modest agreement that may help support oil prices and manage market expectations until June's OPEC meeting. Early Saturday morning, Iran's oil ministry said no representative would attend the meeting in Doha, Qatar on Sunday. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman reiterated in a Bloomberg interview this week that the kingdom would not hold back on oil output unless other producers, including Iran, did the same. At best, this weekend's oil producers meeting was only expected to walk away with a sketchy deal to freeze production. Now, with Iran's last minute decision to stay home, even that modest outcome appears in jeopardy. That could indeed be what brought producing nations to the table. "In 2014, OPEC revenues were about a trillion dollars. Last year, they were half a trillion dollars. This year they're on a course to be down another 20 percent," said Yergin. "This creates inordinate pressure on governments. Very difficult choices have to be made. Budgets have to be cut, credit ratings go down. There is a risk of social turmoil and problems. I think that is really weighing on producers, forcing them to find some way to stabilize things." Read MoreA Doha deal could boost prices: Survey If an agreement can't be reached and oil prices fall, analysts expect the ripple effects to be felt across financial markets Monday. "I think they're they're trying to put lip stick on this pig," said Helima Croft, head of commodities strategy at RBC Capital Markets. "They will try to make sure they don't walk away grim faced." Read MoreWhat's driving stocks in the week ahead John Kilduff of Again Capital said he had been expecting the potential agreement to fail, and without Iran it appears that it will. "The market share battle will rage on, now, with only the poorer OPEC countries and U.S. shale players paying the price," said Kilduff. Edward Morse, Citigroup global head of commodities research, said last week if there were any type of accord, it would lack detail and commitment. "I think at best, it's going to be a very soft agreement," he said. Morse said the group could also announce that it has a follow-up meeting, but no binding deal is expected. Read MoreOPEC: Oil to boost summer driving season Oil prices have risen about 55 percent since Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela agreed in February to freeze output if other producers would join them. Russia's energy minister, Alexander Novak, reportedly told a closed-door briefing of energy analysts this week that a deal would be more of a framework, without specifics. "I do not expect to see a firm agreement coming from Sunday's meeting. I think kicking it down the road to some future deal is the best we're going to get ... kicking it down the road and hoping the oil market fundamentals improve enough," said Chris Weafer, senior partner at Macro-Advisory. "When this started, the oil price had dipped below $30. They had to do something and creating optimism has worked very well, and it has had traders building long positions." Read MoreU.S. oil output drop is 'buying time' The focus in recent weeks has been on the tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and those concerns picked up when bin Salman said the kingdom would not participate in a freeze unless other nations did the same. But Iran on the other hand, has long insisted it will not abide by a production cut. Tehran is working to bring oil back on the market, now that it is no longer being sanctioned. The IEA said Iran's March output was 400,000 barrels a day higher than it was at the start of the year, and Iran has said it wants to add a total of a million barrels this year. "It would be extremely difficult for the Saudis to say 'We're absolutely freezing this hard and fast,'" Morse said. Bin Salman was also quoted by Bloomberg as saying if there is no freeze, Saudi Arabia would "sell at every opportunity." Morse said Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, made a key statement when he spoke at the CERAWeek conference in February that underscores the Saudi position. Naimi said he would support a freeze if all countries agreed but said Saudi Arabia would be ready to supply customers with whatever they want. Yergin said Iran's domestic politics do not allow for much flexibility and it would be difficult to publicly back down from its plan to return oil to the market. "If it was not for the tensions between Saudia Arabia and Iran, they might well have been able to work something out," said Yergin. Read MoreThis Saudi millennial could scuttle oil deal Barclays' head of energy commodities research, Michael Cohen, said he expects Saudi Arabia's oil officials will have a plan before they arrive in Doha. Saudi Arabia was the driver behind OPEC's 2014 decision to let the market set the price of oil, in an effort to maintain its market share and knock out high-priced producers, like U.S. shale. Read MoreThis country could drive oil demand growth "I think the likelihood is they'll have all their ducks in a row. The Saudis will all know what they're allowed to say and it will have been sanctioned all the way to the top," said Cohen last Thursday. "If the Saudis were having cold feet, this meeting would already be canceled." The stakes are high for producers to leave Doha with the appearance of an accord, so that oil prices do not collapse again. But bin Salman, who controls the Saudi oil operations, is a relative unknown and it has been unclear how much he would dig in if Iran refuses to budge on output. Read MoreThe 30-year-old prince who is changing the world He has said the kingdom would be fine with low oil prices. "As far as Saudi finances, they have plenty of room to tap the global credit markets and even sell a stake in portions of Aramco," said Kilduff. Cohen said he didn't expect the meeting to fall apart and a vague statement was more likely, but the statement will be less important than the comments from producers, Cohen said. "They have to have something so it's likely to be vague and the market has very low expectations, so our view is that given their very low expectations, it's important to keep in mind that you're getting a bunch of producers together in Doha, and if they start speaking to the press they're likely to have bullish statements about the market adjusting and their output not increasing." From Moscow to Riyadh, no producer has gone unharmed. That also includes the U.S. shale industry, which operates based on the drivers of supply and demand, and the availability of financing, as opposed to a government dictate. The hit from months of falling oil prices has finally shown up in U.S. production, which was under 9 million barrels a day last week for the first time since late 2014. The International Energy Agency on Thursday said that the expected drop-off in U.S. production was beginning to accelerate, and that the oil market could get close to being balanced in the second half of the year. The IEA also said if the producing nations do agree to a freeze, the impact would be much more limited than an output cut. The U.S. industry is also seeing stockpiles grow but it has now begun refinery maintenance season, typically a period of lower oil demand as refineries get ready to switch to summer gasoline production. It is also called the shoulder season. West Texas Intermediate futures settled down 2.8 percent Friday at $40.36 per barrel Friday, on concerns about the freeze deal after Iran reiterated its refusal to freeze output. Given the low expectations for the meeting, there are mixed projections for what will happen to oil prices after the weekend. "I think it's negative," said Kilduff. "I think the market has rewarded them richly for action and inaction will be punished." Morse said the language used by producers will make a difference to the oil price, which he said is likely to fall after the meeting. "It very much depends on the statement," he said, in a conversation last Thursday. watch now watch now watch now watch now The lack of U.S. citizens named in the Panama Papers has left Microsoft founder Bill Gates a little incredulous. A massive anonymous data dump of 11.5 million encrypted internal documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca has shed light on the hidden financial dealings of politicians and public officials around the globe. But many commentators were left wondering why so few U.S. citizens were mentioned. "I was surprised there were so few Americans," Gates quipped to CNBC in an exclusive interview in Qatar. "Whenever you file your tax return, you are asked to declare what overseas bank accounts and assets you have. It doesn't mean that everybody, absolutely answers that question correctly," he said. Bill Gates Lacey O'Toole | CNBC Preliminary reports indicate that more than 200 people with U.S. addresses are named in the Panama Papers, Forbes reported this week. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, one of the teams that has been analyzing the data, has said more than 214,000 offshore entities appear in the leak, connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories. CNBC has not been able to independently verify the assertions. Many reasons have been bandied around for the lack of Americans, with the most notable leaks so far focusing on associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, who stepped aside as head of government after his name surfaced. Some theories conclude that Mossack Fonseca wasn't a favorite law firm among Americans, while others suggest that the U.S. has its own flexible entity structures and corporate tax breaks. Many pundits also suggest that it is easy for U.S. citizens to create shell companies in certain states. BP responded to a barrage of complaints from shareholders on Thursday over CEO Bob Dudley's pay package amid falling profits and job losses at the oil major. The London-listed company reported a loss of $6.5 billion for 2015, its worst annual loss in 20 years. But it also increased Dudley's pay package (which includes pension payments) by 20 percent to $19.6 million from $16.4 million a year before. Reacting to angry investors, who voted against the pay rise at the annual general meeting taking place in London, Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said the company had always judged executive performance "not on the price of oil or bottom line profit but on measures that are clearly within management's control." "But let me be clear. We hear you," he said, according to a transcript of his speech on the company website. "On remuneration, the shareholders' reactions are very strong. They are seeking change in the way we should approach this in the future ... we will sit down with our largest shareholders to make sure we understand their concerns and return to seek your support for a renewed policy." The AGM on Thursday presented the remuneration report to shareholders, but a vote on the policy - which 59.11 percent voted against - was only advisory. The pay rise was actually voted for at the AGM 2014 and the next time shareholders can change the CEO's pay rise is in 2017. Nonetheless, any dissent or revolt could put pressure on Dudley and the company. Following are excerpts from the unofficial transcript of a CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with the Gates Foundation Founder Bill Gates and CNBC's Hadley Gamble. Following are links to the video on CNBC.com: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000509584, http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000509564, http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000509570 and http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000509580. All references must be sourced to CNBC. GATES ON TERROR FINANCING Hadley Gamble: You've just signed an agreement with the Qatar development fund. Tell us how you plan to help millions of Muslims worldwide. Bill Gates: The idea is that if we can raise 500 million we can pay off the interest and have very, very generous loans and if we raise the full 500 million than we will have a fund of with 2.5 billion and our foundation committed 100 million the bank itself has a grant facility that committed a 100 million so with the Qatar announcement today, the Qatar development fund, we are halfway to our goal of raising the 500 million so with that we can go ahead start doing grants and this year will include agriculture and health infrastructure and so the bank has a lot of country expertise we have a lot of domain expertise so we will work together and learn from each other. Hadley Gamble: Why was it so important to help the Muslim community now is it because of the migrant crisis? Is it fears they might be radicalized? What made it so important to tackle this NOW? Bill Gates: Well if you look at where the poorest of the world are, about 40 percent are in the countries covered by the islamic dev bank () The goal is that if you do dev assistance properly than you have more stability, less of these situations where you have to come in simply on a humanitarian basis to make sure food and healthcare gets managed. Hadley Gamble: So you are working with the Qataries and you're working with the Saudis - these are two countries where a lot of private money has gone to the support of radicals fighting in SYRIA and Iraq and even with the Islamic State - do you see what they're doing in terms of state action, working with your foundation, do you see that as a kind of atonement? Bill Gates: Well no, I'm not an expert on the funding sources for the bad things going on in the world I'm sure the countries will do everything they can to make sure to make sure the money isn't going to those things. GATES ON ZIKA Hadley Gamble: Do you think that the U.S. have the tools they need to tackle the Zika virus? Bill Gates: The U.S. in all medical funding spends over half of everything that is spent in world and a lot of the expertise about making vaccines and researching disease, the US expertise is very, very important and so the US is reaching out to try and help the effected countries. Of course there is a lot of discussion about that it's expected to some degree massive uncertainty how much that because we actually have the Aedes aegypti mosquito which is the carrier here along with dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya as well, that we could have cases. So the idea is about how can we use new tools to go after the mosquitoes, that's one way to conquer these diseases to go after the vector, reduce or eliminate the mosquito populations. Our foundation has some tools which we will probably want to try because there won't be a vaccine even in the best case for several years here. So there is a lot being looked at but no there is not a total solution to Zika in the world. The US is playing a disproportionate role in moving to find solutions though. Hadley Gamble: So they should be moving faster? Bill Gates: Well, you can't really criticize the US because they bare such, you know in terms of the center for disease control, the top experts in these things, the researchers, in a way the world should be thankful to the US that it is so serious about medical research and these things. GATES ON PANAMA PAPERS Hadley Gamble: King Salman of Saudi Arabia, the former emir of Qatar as well, both of them were mentioned in the Panama papers. Were you surprised at all by those revelations? Bill Gates: No, I don't have any expertise in what happened there. I was surprised there were so few Americans Hadley Gamble: Doesn't the tax system then prohibit it really or make it not worth it? Bill Gates: Well, the US citizens, whenever you file your tax return you're asked to declare what overseas bank accounts and assets you have. It doesn't mean that everybody absolutely answers that question correctly so it's not impossible that that might have come up GATES ON SAUDI ARABIA Hadley Gamble: You've just come out of Saudi Arabia, you've been doing some work with the foundation there, talk to me about your sense of where the relationship with the U.S. is today? Because President Obama of course is travelling to the region shortly, supposedly to work on that relationship. Bill Gates: There are so many challenges now whether it is related to Syria or Libya or the Gulf states working as one. Are they in alignment with each other about these various issues. Are the Gulf states aligned with Europe and the US on these issues, and these are very tough issues. I mean it's not like somebody just has the solution to ISIS and they're holding back on it and they know how to build stable governance in Libya and they're holding back on it. So the relationship is probably more critical today than it's ever been. Hadley Gamble: Given what you saw over the last several days on your visit to Saudi, and what's happening with the oil market - would you say that Saudi Arabia despite their grand vision to diversify away from oil revenues, do you think they are moving fast enough? Bill Gates: Well I think it's very hard to move away from oil and understanding what the oil price will be over a 5 or 10 year timeframe. There is massive uncertainty about that. It could go back up to very high levels and people look back and say ok what a smart thing it was to do, or it could stay at quite reduced levels. So I don't have a particular prediction on that but moving economies when they have had that type of oil dependency away is very difficult to do. Hadley Gamble: So a long road ahead perhaps? Bill Gates: Yeah. When you reform your education system, then the students will go through that and it's at least 15 years before your start to have the benefit of that. You know oil is still going to be an important part of these economies for the foreseeable future. There are investments in education but whether it's Egypt or Saudi Arabia, those education systems are not nearly at the level that they need to move away. GATES ON ISIS Bill Gates: There are so many challenges now whether it is related to Syria or Libya or the Gulf states working as one. Are they in alignment with each other about these various issues. Are the Gulf states aligned with Europe and the US on these issues, and these are very tough issues. I mean it's not like somebody just has the solution to ISIS and they're holding back on it and they know how to build stable governance in Libya and they're holding back on it. So the relationship is probably more critical today than it's ever been. GATES ON AVOIDING CORRUPTION Bill Gates: I think Saudi Arabia is always trying to make sure that their aid is constructive and a little bit we've got to make sure we aren't completely cutting off aid. That the opportunity to lift people up while we are absolutely no one wants to fund any terrorist activity that we are able to achieve both goals avoiding those negatives while continuing that generosity - and I'm sure a lot of efforts have been put to that. The areas where we work in, like buying vaccines which is a global alliance for vaccines that a number of countries including Qatar and Saudi Arabia have supported, you know that is very clear because you can track exactly what's going on. So we're quite careful and we are always offering opportunities where we have enough visibility that people can feel confident that those avoiding corruption and redirection of funds is not a risk. About CNBC: With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, CNBC World and CNBC HD, CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to approximately 386 million homes worldwide, including more than 100 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries. CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms including: CNBC.com; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides live access to CNBC programming, exclusive video content and global market data and analysis; a suite of CNBC mobile products including the CNBC Apps for iOS, Android and Windows devices; and additional products such as the CNBC App for the Apple Watch and Apple TV. Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBCUniversal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc. For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit http://www.NBCUniversal.com. Following are excerpts from the CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with United States Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and CNBC's Sara Eisen, which aired today, Thursday, April 14th. Following is a link to the video on CNBC.com:http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000509410. All references must be sourced to CNBC. LEW ON INVERSIONS JACK LEW: Let me be clear. The goal we've been doing here has been to deal with inversions as a matter of policy. I said several years ago the right way, the best way to do it is for legislation to be passed. It would do serious, comprehensive business tax reform and shut down inversions once and for all. I also said we'll use whatever administrative authority we have and it is a complicated matter because you have don't have infinite flexibility. We have worked and worked on it. This is third action we've taken. And each time we've slowed down the pipeline. And each time I've said Congress needs to act because we want to make sure that inversions are stopped. I think that it should have been no surprise to anyone that we were working on this because we've been working on it for a long time. SARA EISEN: I think how aggressive it was came as a surprise. I mean, do you understand the frustration of the companies who say, "We went about it legally. We played by the rules. And the rules got changed after the fact"? Brent Saunders, the CEO of Allergan, told us that it was un-American. JACK LEW: You know, what I think most Americans understand is here we are in tax season. Most Americans either have or will be filing their tax returns over those next few days. And they know that if you're on a salary you pay your taxes every year. And that's that. The idea that a company could take advantage of all the benefits of being in the United States, the wonderful rule of law that makes us the best environment, the innovation that is supported by publicly supported research and development, the infrastructure that is supported by tax, paid for roads, bridges and tunnels. And the education that's paid for out of our tax code as well. SARA EISEN: But I don't think it was a question of that. JACK LEW: So the question no, but that the question. The question is if you get all the benefits of being in America, doing business in America, to be able to change your address to avoid U.S. taxes is wrong. We said we wanted to stop that, and we are continuing to look at what tools do we have. So I actually don't think that anyone should be surprised. Most Americans are offended by the idea that this can be done. SARA EISEN: But the issue was sort of the way about going about it retroactively. Even your predecessor JACK LEW: No, no, it wasn't retroactive. Let's be clear. It was not retroactive. And that's very important. What we've said all along, and the way these kinds of things are done, is it affects things that are have not yet closed, have not yet taken place. You know, I don't know what else is in the pipeline. And frankly our goal is to stop the pipeline. SARA EISEN: But the idea that the serial inverters, like Allergan who had made acquisitions, those acquisitions in the previous three years did not count. JACK LEW: So this question of serial inverters is a really interesting one. It took a while for the pattern to become clear that companies plan over a multi-year time horizon to be able to build up a big enough foreign presence so that the inversion can take place where it meets the technical rules not to be subject to U.S. tax. What I'm really focused on is shutting that pipeline down so this is not available as a matter of policy going forward. And as with all policies, it's effective when you announce it. SARA EISEN: Even your predecessor Hank Paulson told us he was "troubled and disappointed by the effort." He said, "We're a nation of laws and rules. And you can't change the rules after the facts and keep changing them and changing them." JACK LEW: I think that we have a well-established practice of issuing guidance based on legal interpretation, based on legal authority. And that's what we've done here. Everyone who engages in business knows that it's subject to changes in law or rulings. And I think the important thing here is that everyone has been on notice for a very long time. It hasn't been a secret that this is an area of deep concern bipartisan concern. My only frustration is that legislation hasn't been enacted to deal with it in the best way. But we remain focused on what administrative tools do we have to stop the pipeline as much as we can until Congress acts. But Congress needs to act. SARA EISEN: Is there more to come from your office until Congress acts? JACK LEW: We are continuing to look at what options there are. I mean, we've obviously now taken a third action. And we have some of the best tax lawyers and tax analysts. And I have to say the people who work on this are the most nonpartisan people you can imagine. They are tax professionals who are broadly respected for their ability and they're integrity. SARA EISEN: So potentially more rules on inversions? JACK LEW: Yeah, I'm not going to announce anything else. I'm just saying that what we've said all along, is we will continue to look at what tools we have. SARA EISEN: And then what would you say to a business who already executive who already faces so much uncertainty right now about the global economy? They're trying to plan. And now the government can come in and change the rules in a way after the fact. How do you plan in that kind of environment? JACK LEW: You know, look, I think that to the extent that you're talking about mergers and acquisitions, or foreign direct investment in the United States, we are profoundly in favor of economically productive investments. What we're not in favor of is using tax loopholes to move income around to avoid taxation. If you're working on a deal that has real economic benefit, this is not going to be something that interferes with your plans. If you're trying to structure a deal to avoid taxation, the goal was to make that harder. LEW ON TRADE, BREAKING UP THE BANKS, PUERTO RICO AND THE $10 BILL JACK LEW: I'm making an economic and foreign policy argument that has been profoundly important in having the United States play the leadership role that's helped make us economically secure and promote our national security interests. You look at something like sanctions. Our power to influence the world with sanctions is not unrelated to our economic centrality. And we have to be aware of that because we want to have all those kinds of levers. It's not just about asking people to do the right things. SARA EISEN: I was going to mention trade, which is another big part of our engagement with the world economy. Even Democrats like Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have trashed the TPP and other trade policies. Do you worry that there could be some real damage by the next administration to our trade policies? Or is it just campaign bluster? JACK LEW: You know, I think that the Trans-Pacific Partnership is an agreement that is very much in the interest of the U.S. economy and American workers. You know, right now, we have a world where markets are more open here than they are in other places. We benefit when we open other markets. We have high standards in terms of labor protections, environmental protections. Other countries have lower standards. Raising their standards makes our products and services more competitive. SARA EISEN: But that's not the prevailing view right now. I mean, campaigns are really in America. JACK LEW: Look, we have to make the case why this is good. We accept that. I accept that. But I'm arguing the merits of something that I think are profoundly important to the promoting a strong U.S. economy and strong opportunities for U.S. workers. You know, you look at where the growth in population in the world is. You look at the growing markets in the world. I don't think we should say that we want other people to make the rules of the road. Of who can do business there and what the terms of doing business there are. We want to promote U.S. values. We want them to have high labor standards. And we want them to have high environmental standards. We also want those markets to be open for the best products in the world, which are U.S. products, and the best services in the world, which are U.S. services. SARA EISEN: On American values, Bernie Sanders recently said that General Electric is destroying the moral fabric of America. Is that problematic to have such an anti-business, negative campaign rhetoric? JACK LEW: Yeah look, I try to stay away from making comments about individual businesses and I we don't target our policies for one or another in business to be affected by it. You have to be able to SARA EISEN: But the sentiment. JACK LEW: But you have to be able to advocate policies that make sense in terms of overall, you know, where will we be as an economy and as a country. You know, I think that we've made a case for the kinds of policies that we think are the right ones. And I'm going to leave it to the political process to work through these other issues. SARA EISEN: Speaking of policy. Do you think Neel Kashkari, the newfound president of the Minneapolis Fed, has a point when he says, "The only way that the U.S. taxpayer can really avoid footing the bill in any future banking crisis is by breaking up the big banks"? JACK LEW: Look, I think that we have made enormous progress in the last seven years. Building up the capital in our financial institutions, making what they do more transparent so that they can be accountable and we can see where the risks are. And making clear that if they fail, they have to be able to work it out on their own. That there's not going to be the back stop of a government bailout. SARA EISEN: Would you ever go work for a bank again now that you've been on the other side? JACK LEW: You know, I have a full time job. I don't think about what I would do next. SARA EISEN: Well, until next year. There's currently legislation being debated by Congress on Puerto Rico to help solve its debt problems. You know, investors we talk to say that the legislation somewhat undermines the muni markets and sets this precedent that contracts aren't enforceable. Are investor rights taking a back seat in this deal? JACK LEW: No, I actually think that the argument that has been made on that regard is not a correct one in terms of the structure of the municipal markets. The municipal markets right now have a very clear understanding what the risks associated with different debt issuances are. So as you've seen trouble in Puerto Rico, it hasn't spilled over into other areas. There's a broad understanding that when you have an insolvency, there needs to be a restructuring. What makes Puerto Rico kind of unique is that it's not covered by any kind of an organized process to go through restructuring. And the legislative effort is to create a process where all stakeholder interests will be fairly treated and where there will be a viable economic plan. But everybody has to be involved and you can't have hold-outs. You have to have a process. SARA EISEN: I know you've been asked this a lot. Can you insure that Alexander Hamilton stays on the new $10? I know you're working on some sort of compromise. JACK LEW: Sara, people are trying to get me to say what we're going to do before it's all ready to be announced. It's a really exciting process. You know, when we started this conversation not quite a year ago, it wasn't clear to me that millions of Americans were going to weigh in with their ideas. We're not just talking about one bill. We're talking about the $5, the $10, and the $20. We're not just talking about one picture on one bill. We're talking about using the front and the back of the bill to tell an exciting set of stories. What I'm committed to is keeping our currency the safest in the world. So the first principle is going to be we don't do anything that undermines the security of our currency. Secondly is we can't wait. We're going to have a representation of the contribution women have made to our democracy on the next bill that's issued. And that's going to be the $10. SARA EISEN: So woman on the front, Hamilton on the back. JACK LEW: I'm not saying who's where or what's where. But it's an exciting we're going to have an exciting set of announcements. About CNBC: With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, CNBC World and CNBC HD, CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to approximately 386 million homes worldwide, including more than 100 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries. CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms including: CNBC.com; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides live access to CNBC programming, exclusive video content and global market data and analysis; a suite of CNBC mobile products including the CNBC Apps for iOS, Android and Windows devices; and additional products such as the CNBC App for the Apple Watch and Apple TV. Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBCUniversal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc. For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit http://www.NBCUniversal.com. A top surgeon is carrying out the world's first live-streamed virtual reality (VR) operation on a human patient with colon cancer on Thursday. The operation is taking place at 1 p.m. GMT (8 a.m. EST) in a London hospital. People wanting to watch it can download the "VRinOR" app from Apple's App store or the Google Play store and watch the operation via a VR viewer such as Samsung's Gear VR or Google Cardboard. Virtual reality allows people to put on a special headset and be immersed in an experience. They will be able to look around the operating theatre in 360 degrees and see what is going on. The surgeon behind the project, Shafi Ahmed, who works the U.K.'s National Health Service, said the idea is to boost medical education around the world. "Smartphones are easily accessible to most people, connectivity is improving and everything is in place to make that connection more viable and use it in a way to make that better for education," Ahmed told CNBC in a phone interview on Thursday ahead of the surgery. "Virtual reality is a simple headset with a simple app, and this will then suddenly let the world be taught and trained together. That will provide care across the globe." The bank fund set up by Italian financial institutions to help weaker, smaller lenders is a "private sector initiative" and "market-based" as far as intervention is concerned, Italy's finance minister said on Thursday, keen to stress that the deal involves no state aid. "It's not a bailout. It's a vehicle," Pier Carlo Padoan told CNBC on Thursday. The fund is a private-sector initiative to buy up struggling Italian lenders' bad loans and was set up in response to growing concern over the country's banking sector. Shares in Italian banks have fallen sharply since the start of the year as fears over non-performing loans on their books grew. The fund is an attempt at easing those fears, and Italy is keen to present it the fund as privately run to avoid scrutiny from European Union regulators who could argue that it amounts to state aid. Banks, insurance companies and "non-Italian industry people" will, on a voluntary basis, put money into a fund which will work as a backup for the recapitalization of some banks, Padoan explained. It will also "shake up" the non-performing loans market, he said. "The idea is to kick off the market with some initiative that would generate a positive leverage effect," Padoan, a technocrat who took over as finance minister in 2014 and was previously deputy secretary-general at the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development, said. JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon weighed in Thursday on an issue that dogs investors every earnings season: How to compare companies' profit and loss numbers to Wall Street estimates. With the quarterly accusations flying that companies talk down their outlook to analysts in order to beat lowered expectations, Dimon wrote in an email to CNBC: "Report two real numbers; this year versus last year." He's saying take the analyst estimate out of the equation, and hold companies accountable on how their businesses have grown or shrunk compared to the same quarter a year earlier. To be sure, Wall Street certainly gets those numbers and myriad other metrics, but generally holds companies most accountable to how their numbers compare to analyst expectations. It's worth noting that JPMorgan beat Wall Street estimates with its earnings this week. But first-quarter profit fell 6.7 percent from a year earlier. The biggest bar to implementing necessary structural reforms is the rise in political populism in Europe and the U.S., the Spanish economy minister said on Thursday. "These are not easy times for governments globally all over the world," Luis de Guindos said at a panel discussion at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hosted by CNBC on Thursday. "The biggest challenge and the biggest enemy of structural reform is populism and populism is pervasive now. Even in the (United) States, I have realized you have a little bit of populism now," he later added. Police break up skirmishes between demonstrators and supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Scott Olson | Getty Images De Guindos has served as economy minister since Mariano Rajoy's center-right government took power at the end of 2011. Shortly afterwards, the country requested international aid for its banks, which were crippled by piles of non-performing real estate loans. Spain received a loan of around $100 billion for its lenders, which de Guindos helped negotiate, as well as helping push through reforms of the country's banks and labor markets. The Spanish economy returned to growth at the start of 2014, having exited its bailout at the start of the year. The economy accelerated further in 2015 to grow by 3.2 percent. De Guindos said Spain's experience showed it was best to make reforms as soon as possible and that "the first reforms you have to implement are the hardest ones." At the panel discussion in Washington D.C., IMF Deputy Managing Director Min Zhu added: "We observe in Europe that people more and more realize that structural reform is a must." The rise in protest parties brought an end to Spain's traditional bi-party system in its elections in December 2015. Rajoy's People's Party won the most votes, but failed to gain an absolute majority, while the upstart anti-austerity party, Podemos, came a close third to the Socialist Workers' Party. Pablo Blazquez Dominguez | Getty Images The Russian government has revealed it will spend $200,000 every year to keep the body of its first Communist leader Vladimir Lenin's body on display. Lenin has lain in state in a mausoleum off Red Square in Moscow since his death in 1924 -- despite reportedly writing in his will that he wished to be buried. A notice on the State Procurement Agency website published earlier this week said the amount will be used to carry out work of a "biomedical nature" and that the bill will be charged to the federal budget. In January this year, an online poll of 8,465 people conducted by Russian tabloid, Komsomolskaya Pravda, voted nearly 2 to 1 in favor of burying Lenin. After that poll, Tass news agency reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin appealed for calm on the matter. "The way I see it, this issue [of discussing the question of the body's reburial] should be approached with utmost care so as to avoid taking any steps that might split society. On the contrary, society is to be consolidated," Putin said. The cost of admission to see Lenin's preserved body is free but queues for a 60-second look are often long, suggesting the dead communist generates strong tourist dollar for the city. Former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair joined Rick Santelli to discuss the country's "idiotic" tax code and which presidential candidate could do something about it. Bair also talks about her solution to the student debt crisis as well as the implications of banks failing their so-called living will tests this week. Editor's note: Santelli Extra is a bonus segment not seen on TV featuring Rick and his guest for that day. The interviews are longer and go deeper into the topics Santelli cares about. More premium content from CNBC Pro: Stop 'groupthink': 5 out-of-consensus buy ideas Oil surges through key threshold. Don't buy it Morgan Stanley: 3 stocks that will pop on earnings Former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair joined Rick Santelli to discuss the country's "idiotic" tax code and which presidential candidate could do something about it. Bair also talks about her solution to the student debt crisis as well as the implications of banks failing their so-called living will tests this week. Editor's note: Santelli Extra is a bonus segment not seen on TV featuring Rick and his guest for that day. The interviews are longer and go deeper into the topics Santelli cares about. watch now The key to Mark Zuckerberg's 10-year vision for Facebook : Connecting billions more people around the world to the internet, and to Facebook. It's a process that involves the social network investing in all sorts of new hardware from drones to antennas to working with partners around the world, to enable to bring them online and into Facebook's ecosystem. Leading the charge is Ime Archibong, Facebook's director of product partnerships. So far he's been keeping a relatively low profile, as he's not driving ad dollars, as Sheryl Sandberg and her team are, or M&A, like Dan Rose, or product, like Chris Cox and his team. But Archibong's role at Facebook is increasingly important to help Zuckerberg achieve his goals, and to help the company maintain its growth. He spends his year racking up frequent flier miles, traveling the world to meet with Facebook's community of 9,000 developers across 136 companies. "If your mission is to create a world where people are more connected and people have the power to share, and you're aiming to connect everyone, you can't just stop at the folks that are here in North America or the folks that are on the internet right now, because we are actually in the minority worldwide," said Archibong. "The question is how do you get those next 4.1 billion people who have never been connected online, and make sure they can get the same benefits and tools and experience that you and I are purview to, as a result of having connectivity," he said. Ime Archibong, director of product partnerships at Facebook, speaks on stage during the Facebook F8 conference in San Francisco, April 12, 2016. Stephen Lam | Reuters Archibong is focused, one, on making sure that accessing the internet is affordable; and two, on raising awareness of the benefits of being online not just Facebook. "One of the things we spend a lot of time doing is trying to think about the platforms we can build that ultimately will serve global entrepreneurs and developers, because we do think that they are the ones, they have the context, they understand the nuances, they [understand] what they should be building that's going to best serve the local communities," said Archibong. "Meeting and talking with a lot of these folks trying to get context about what's special to them, what's special about their region ... and what we can do from a Facebook perspective to arm them with the tools, the data, with the information to help serve their community a little better." Archibong dismissed backlash against Facebook's "Free Basics" program, which gives free access to certain internet services. Indian regulators said it violated network neutrality rules because there are limits set on the amount of data that can be used. Facebook countered that some internet is far better than no internet. Archibong said the stats speak for themselves, with more than 500 start-ups and services available on the Free Basics program, which is available in 37 countries. "There's millions and millions of people that have come online that otherwise wouldn't have been online," said Archibong. Nelson Peltz sat on Legg Mason's board for five years while his hedge fund, Trian, scooped up a tenth of the $3.7 billion asset-management firm's stock. The activist investor shook things up like he always does. He ousted the chief executive and got Legg to cut costs and return billions of dollars to shareholders. Naturally, when it came time to exit the investment Peltz sold his shares to Shanda Group. Wait, what? You heard right. Shanda is a Chinese investment company that started out as an interactive-gaming firm but now "seeks global opportunities that offer business growth or unique breakthrough potential." On Tuesday it spent some $340 million to buy Peltz's stake in the firm that got its start selling stocks out of a back office in the Baltimore Stock Exchange in 1899. More from Breakingviews: The big problem for Bank of America The logic of this deal is hard to follow not least because Shanda paid a premium to the market price for the Legg shares, something that almost nobody ever does for a passive minority stake. Yet such situations are hardly unique at a moment when Chinese companies and investors are going wild for assets of pretty much any color or stripe in the world's developed economies. Indeed, the Chinese ardor for overseas shopping has become so fervent that there's a new mantra making the rounds of Wall Street bankers who have an asset to sell anywhere in the world: "Who's the Chinese buyer we've never heard of?" The biggest advisory firms like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs now routinely fly China specialists across the ocean when they pitch companies for the mandate to help sell a business. The surge in Chinese buyers, many of them unknown in the West sometimes even in Hong Kong requires a new level of due diligence, and heightened vigilance, from banks, lawyers and accountants. As the curious case of Anbang Insurance's aborted and inexplicable from the start $14 billion bid for Starwood Hotels suggests, it's harder for investment banks to really get to understand their Chinese clients' motivations. The examples cross nearly every industry and region. Though head-scratchers abound, not all of them are as hard to fathom as Shanda's Legg investment. Some reflect the overarching ambitions of Chinese Communist Party leaders. Some, like Alibaba 's purchase of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, look like vanity plays. Others just take a creative stretch of industrial logic to justify. Underpinning them all seems to be a lack of confidence about prospects in the People's Republic. ChemChina's 44 billion Swiss franc ($43 billion) takeover of agro-chemicals giant Syngenta falls squarely into the first category. The state-owned enterprise was set up by the country's former Ministry of Chemical Industry. Chairman Ren Jianxin undoubtedly has a red phone linking his desk to the Communist Party's top brass in Beijing. The Syngenta deal looks designed to satisfy China's goals to boost food production in the world's largest agricultural market. Syngenta's chemicals and patent-protected seeds are a strategic asset for a nation that has 1.4 billion rice bowls to fill. China's biggest-ever foreign acquisition is a relatively logical pairing. The same cannot be said of Shandong Ruyi's surprise 1.3 billion euro ($1.2 billion) purchase last month of SMCP, the operator of second-tier European fashion chains Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot. It's hard to argue, as Shandong Ruyi does on its website, that "being involved in rabbit-hair spinning, textile & clothing, cotton textile, cotton printing and dyeing, knitting, fiber, jeans and real estate" has made it a "well-known textile-related pluralism group." Still, kudos to the enterprising banker who alerted the firm to KKR's willingness to part with the French retailer. Johnson & Johnson could have upside after its expected report Tuesday, traders Guy Adami and David Seaburg said. Adami contended the stock trades at a discount to many of its peers and may soon catch up. As the earnings season flurry picks up, "Fast Money" traders chose stocks they believe could rise after results. Seaburg also highlighted Microsoft, which he said he expects to report solid results. Its shares are nearly flat this year but have climbed more than 30 percent in the last 12 months. The tech sector also drew trader Steve Grasso's eye. He said markets have already priced slowing iPhone sales into Apple shares, which have fallen 11 percent in the last year. He believes investors should stay long in Apple unless it falls through $109 per share. It closed around $112 per share Thursday. Meanwhile, a key smartphone component supplier, Taiwan Semiconductor , warned on slowing demand and its shares fell 3 percent Thursday. Seaburg said, however, that the news was not a "disaster," adding that he would hold the stock unless it breaks below $23 per share. It closed at $25.30 on Thursday. Trader Brian Kelly noted that the Taiwan Semiconductor news, and a previous warning from Juniper Networks, may not bode well for Cisco Systems . He said he would consider taking profits in the stock. Last month, Walter Block, a libertarian professor of economics and long-time acolyte of Ron Paul, pinched his nose and co-launched a group, Libertarians for Trump. That would be Donald Trump the red-tailed hawk of border security, defender of entitlements and opponent of free-trade. Not exactly a disciple of Ayn Rand, the novelist famous for "Atlas Shrugged" who has inspired many libertarians. Block's group, he freely admits, is a strenuous exercise of realpolitik the ultimate lesser-of-evils decision. While he finds much of Trump's domestic agenda odious, Block very much likes Trump's noninterventionist foreign policy positions. Still, Block insists his group, which he says had garnered several thousand signatories, is narrowly focused. It advocates only for Trump as the Republican nominee, and it intends to promptly disband after the primary. Then, Block said, even his vote is up for grabs. "If it was Bernie [Sanders] versus Donald, I would vote for the Libertarian [Party candidate] for sure," he told CNBC.com. "If it was Donald versus Hillary [Clinton], I would have a much harder time." In this scenario, Block said, he would have "trouble deciding" between Trump and a Libertarian. His conundrum is not unique among his kind. Four years after its political awakening, and in the absence of an obvious rallying point, the Ron Paul coalition finds itself in a diffuse, conflicted and confused diaspora. Ron Paul supporters holler during the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. Lucian Perkins | The Washington Post | Getty Images Paul's devotees the so-named Paulites are now erratically strewn across the political spectrum of the 2016 election, at once attaching themselves to Trump's populism, Ted Cruz's conservatism and even Sanders' socialism. Still many others who found their political voice in the utterances of Paul, a white-haired obstetrician-turned-congressman, are trying to find a place to land. "For people who got frustrated after 2012 and [have] now left the liberty movement and activism altogether, you have to keep in mind: this is a long game," said Norm Singleton, a longtime Paul staffer who now runs Campaign for Liberty, the ex-congressman's grassroots nonprofit. "Dr. Paul was speaking out for liberty going back as far as 1971." For those seeking guidance on this presidential race, the octogenarian has provided scant direction. In numerous op-eds and cable news appearances, Paul has largely expressed just how displeased he is with the current offerings, chastising Cruz for being "owned by Goldman Sachs" and Trump for having "zero" solutions to offer. (Paul declined to speak to CNBC.com for this story, citing a busy schedule this week.) Paul's friends have learned better than trying to persuade him to pick the lesser of evils. Block recounts his tireless but fruitless efforts trying to persuade Paul to jump aboard the Trump Train. "I keep saying, suppose I have a gun to your head, who would you pick? And I still don't get an answer out of him," Block said. "He hates them all, but that's not good enough." The current state of the Paul coalition ratifies a general truism about political movements, particularly insurgent ones: They tend to go adrift without a charismatic leader at the helm. It also suggests something specific about the Paul coalition that surprised the 2012 race: its support had much more to do with Paul's outsiderism, than his libertarianism. It is this reality that dawned too late on on the presidential campaign of his son, Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, who thought he could expand on his father's base of support by appealing to establishment Republicans as well as true libertarians. Steve Grubbs, Rand Paul's chief Iowa campaign strategist, said the campaign's internal polls found that of Iowa voters who said they supported Ron Paul in 2012, only about a third identified generally as having libertarian leanings. "Two-thirds were voting for the candidate most likely to disrupt Washington," Grubbs told CNBC.com. "And that was the challenge we really had with Rand: everybody thought the Ron Paul coalition was going to fall behind him, but only a third ultimately would." Iowa was where the Ron Paul phenomenon took hold in 2012. After placing a competitive third, he eventually wound up with 22 out of the state's 28 delegates. The liberty movement took over the Iowa state Republican party with A.J. Spiker, the co-chair of Paul's campaign, becoming chairman of the Iowa GOP. But two years later, in 2014, Striker and other Paul-friendly officials were deposed by the establishment and replaced by officials loyal to the governor, Terry Branstad. We pushed that pendulum way, way, way out there. ... The law of physics mandates that the pendulum is going to swing back. David Fischer Iowa co-chair for both Rand and Ron Paul campaigns "We pushed that pendulum way, way, way out there," said David Fischer, who served as Iowa co-chair for both Paul campaigns and later as a top official with the Iowa GOP. "The law of physics mandates that the pendulum is going to swing back." That was hastened by a series of indictments against several top Ron Paul staffers, including campaign manager John Tate and chairman Jesse Benton, who were charged with trying to bribe an an Iowa state senator for an endorsement. Both Benton and Tate were eventually cleared of charges last fall, and Benton went on on to serve as the top strategist for a pro-Rand Paul super PAC this cycle. With Rand Paul out of the race, Benton last month became an advisor to the pro-Trump Great America PAC, joining Paul's former finance chairman, Eric Beach. In an interview with CNBC.com, Benton said that Trump's noninterventionism appealed to him from the start, but he was ultimately persuaded to join the pro-Trump super PAC after a late February lunch with billionaire investor Andrew Beal, a former Paul donor who has since endorsed the Manhattan mogul. Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul campaign for their candidate February 1, 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa. Getty Images "I think Trump is the only legitimate outsider," Benton said. He said that Ron Paul never tried to dissuade him from supporting Trump, but added that he had no hope of bringing his former mentor along for the ride. "Ron is not going to get there," Benton said. "Ron is a 100 percent purist and he doesn't want to compromise one single bit of principle. And that's OK." In addition to peddling a home-schooling curriculum, and doing commercials for a checkered investment research firm, Paul commits his time to leading the Campaign for Liberty and the Ron Paul Institute, a foreign policy nonprofit. But perhaps Paul's greatest political legacy is Young Americans for Liberty, a libertarian student organization that Paul is not formally affiliated with, but which grew out of his 2008 presidential campaign. It currently counts 600 college chapters and 200,000-plus members. Author and commentator Doug Wead, who served as a senior strategist to Paul's 2012 campaign, told CNBC.com: "The kids all want to cause mischief and stir up things. ... He is more patient, he's got time, he understands this may not be resolved in his lifetime, but that has been his strength all along." Cruz, despite Paul's withering criticisms, has arguably made the most consistent effort to attract his former supporters, even name-checking libertarians in his Iowa Caucus victory speech. Prior to Rand Paul dropping out of the race, Cruz had already snatched the support of Iowa state Sen. Jason Schultz, who endorsed Ron Paul in 2012, and Joel Kurtinitis, an activist who served as Paul's regional director. Cruz also won the endorsement of former Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr, who has gotten crosswise with Paul in the past. Ultimately, former Paul staffers say, the movement and the coalition has to extend beyond individual presidential cycles to flourish. "If it was confined to political circles it was doomed to failure," said Fischer. But at least one political organization sees a unique opportunity this election the national Libertarian Party. This is a year where things are so uncertain, and where the two parties are split among themselves, that it could be a very big opportunity. Wes Benedict Libertarian Party executive director Rand Paul Getty Images "This is a year where things are so uncertain, and where the two parties are split among themselves, that it could be a very big opportunity," said Wes Benedict, the Libertarian Party's executive director. Past nominee Gary Johnson's 1,275,871 votes in 2012 represented a high-water mark for the party in its 44-year history. The party sees encouraging indicators heading into November: A Monmouth University poll commissioned last month found that Johnson, again the LP's putative front-runner this cycle, received 11 percent of the vote in a hypothetical three-way race with Trump and Clinton. During the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial race, Libertarian Party candidate Robert Sarvis ended with almost 7 percent of the vote, the most a third-party candidate has netted in the South since 1970. Immediately after Rand Paul's exit from this year's nominating contest, the Libertarian Party saw notable spikes in new donors, according to figures provided to CNBC.com. The party is on the ballot in 32 states (and Washington, D.C.) the most of any third-party and Benedict says he's confident it will be on all states' ballots for November. Benedict said that while Ron and Rand Paul have "branded" libertarianism as more harmonious with the GOP, he hopes that the Libertarian Party will maintain an equidistance between the two major parties. "We need to strongly appeal to Bernie Sanders voters if we want to get a lot of support," he said. A website devoted to Colorado Wine and beyond. April 14, 2016 - Protesters with the "Fight for 15" movement briefly block traffic on Union Avenue early Thursday morning. About 60 protesters lined Union outside the McDonald's chanting and singing for higher wages. They also briefly stormed into the McDonald's chanting at the registers for about 90 seconds before being run out by police. No arrests were made. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE April 14, 2016 - Roughly 30 protesters, including Dunetra Merrett (center), stormed into the McDonald's on Union after protesting for higher wages outside the fast food restaurant for about an hour. Memphis police quickly ran the protesters out of the store. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) Related Photos Sunrise Fight for $15 Protest Gallery By Kevin McKenzie of The Commercial Appeal A group of demonstrators briefly invaded a McDonalds restaurant in Memphis on Thursday as advocates for a $15 minimum wage and union representation staged their latest national rally. About 60 protesters on the sidewalk in front of a McDonalds in the medical district at 905 Union had rallied for about an hour when roughly 30 barged into the restaurant shortly after 7 a.m. Memphis police, who had been shepherding the protest from two squad cars, quickly ordered them to leave. The demonstrators also spread across Union Avenue before scattering, with no arrests made. Police will be monitoring a second demonstration planned for 5 p.m. at another McDonalds at 5263 Poplar, according to spokeswoman Sgt. Karen Rudolph. In September 2014, several protesters blocking Poplar Avenue traffic were arrested in a similar demonstration there in September 2014. Fight for $15 organizers, including the Service Employees International Union, planned protests on Thursday in 320 cities, with support actions internationally, for a campaign that began with fast food workers in New York City in 2012. With the federal minimum wage set at $7.25 since 2009, advocates of the campaign are claiming momentum with moves by New York and California earlier this month to raise state minimum wages to $15. New Yorks governor signed a rolling plan to raise the state minimum wage from $9 to $15, beginning with large businesses in New York City by 2019. On the same day, Californias governor signed a plan raising the statewide minimum from $10 to $15 by 2022. Cities including San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles have taken their own steps toward $15, according to the National Employment Law Project. Beyond Thursdays targeted industries of fast food, home care and others, employers including Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., an early target of $15 organizers, are feeling the pressure as well. In February, Wal-Mart triggered pay increases that the company said would benefit 1.1 million hourly workers, with a $10 minimum for those hired before January. Wages would average $13.38 an hour for full-time and $10.58 for part-time workers, the company said. Still, while states in the Eastern and Western parts of the country have taken the Fight for $15 campaign seriously, states with the greatest poverty and particularly in the South have been scared of the whole issue, said economist David Ciscel, a University of Memphis professor emeritus. In general, the South has been interested in jobs, not what those jobs pay, Ciscel said by e-mail. He views the campaign as an extension of the living wage movement, with a full-time, $15-an-hour job producing about $30,000 a year. It takes $30,000 to $40,000 per year to be free of poverty-like conditions for a family of three, Ciscel said. Another aim of the $15-and-a-union campaign is to renew focus on trade unions and collective action as the solution to job problems and poverty, he said. Again, this is a very tough sell in the South, but fast food workers and health care workers have been very active in the Memphis area, Ciscel said. It is hard to tell whether or not they will be successful, but there is a strong effort among these workers to solve their own problems collectively. The role of union rights surfaced in Memphis last year with the filing of an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board involving a McDonalds worker. Filed in February 2015 against Century Management LLC, a Memphis McDonalds franchisee, and Illinois-based McDonalds USA LLC, the charged claimed that a manager had told a worker named Laquita Jackson that theyre trying to get rid of you, because of participation in union activities, federal court records show. Neither the NLRB nor officials at Century Management could be reached for comment. At the protest on Union, 44-year-old Sepia Coleman said she earns $8.25 an hour as a home care worker in Memphis and works three jobs, but reaches 40 hours only after working for two weeks. I believe that we will win, Coleman said. Memphis Police currently use the front room of the Beale substation for storage. The department plans a police museum on the first floor, where the storefront windows are covered to screen stored equipment from the view of passersby. (Thomas Bailey Jr. / The Commercial Appeal). SHARE By Thomas Bailey Jr. of The Commercial Appeal Memphis Police eventually plan to open a police museum where items are now stored on the ground floor of the police building on Beale Street, a commander told The Commercial Appeal on Thursday. Col. Gloria J. Bullock, commander of North Main Station, responded to a story posted in commercialappeal.com on Wednesday and published in Thursday's newspaper pointing out police use storefront space for storage at a time when Beale has no available room for new businesses. Assigned officers daily use the upstairs of the building at 340 Beale as their substation and roll call room, Bullock said in an email. "The downstairs is slotted for a police museum,'' she said. "Of course, funds must be made available before construction is completed. So, for the time being, we are storing equipment in the lower area, such as our bikes.'' Police have been covering the front window so passersby cannot see inside. Until Wednesday the windows were covered with brown paper. Now, closed venetian blinds block views inside, but black-out tint has been ordered, Bullock said. "We do not want this equipment exposed to public view,'' she said. Keeping windows transparent is considered an eyes-on-the-street crime deterrent among many urban planners. But Bullock said that in addition to police patrol on Beale, "you should also know that we have several cameras on Beale that I, as well as (the Real Time Crime Center) can monitor. The cameras monitor the entire street and surrounding streets,'' she said. "It is at the request of the public and the Beale Street Merchants that we (MPD) are stationed on the street. That is why the station is there,'' Bullock said. She responded to an article in which Beale Street Historic District interim manager Paul Morris noted more businesses want to be on Beale but cannot find space. All useable buildings are leased, including 340 Beale, which the MPD leases from the city of Memphis, which owns the three-block-long historic district. A rendering released by Ballet Memphis shows the design of the dance company's new Midtown space, on the corner of Cooper and Madison at the site of the old French Quarter Inn. SHARE A rendering shows the interior of Ballet Memphis' new building, slated for the corner of Cooper and Madison in Overton Square. The design of Ballet Memphis' building, shown in this rendering by archimania, aims to integrate the activity inside with pedestrians on the street in Overton Square. Related Coverage Ballet Memphis starts building Midtown headquarters By Thomas Bailey Jr. of The Commercial Appeal Ballet Memphis on Thursday unveiled the final designs for a see-through headquarters built to beckon Overton Square passersby to stop and watch the dancers move. Newly released architectural renderings show plazas and courtyards that open to the sidewalks. Transparent walls of perforated copper and glass are clear invitations: The public is welcome. "The whole purpose of being on the corner is to draw in and connect with the community and be able to put art on display,'' said LeeAnne Cox, a longtime board member who chairs the project. Construction is about to start on the northeast corner of Madison and Cooper and should be completed in 2017. The nonprofit's board this week gave the go-ahead for the $12.6 million building. The entire project totals $20.6 million, including last year's $4.2 million purchase of the old French Quarter Inn on 1.7 acres as well as demolition and soft costs. The 38,000-square-foot building is not designed as a big performance hall. However, informal and small performances are important enough to the plan that retractable bleachers are in the design. Five studios will provide rehearsal space for Ballet Memphis's professional company and accommodate Ballet Memphis School and Pilates Centre classes. The design by archimania places the biggest, professional studio -- 5,000 square feet and 45-feet-high -- at the plaza on the corner of Madison and Cooper. The ceiling is tall enough for rigging to allow Peter Pan to ''fly'' in rehearsals. Even the costume shop on the far end of the building will be part of the street show. "There's another courtyard,'' said Cox, an attorney with Burch, Porter & Johnson. "We want to draw passersby all the way to the eastern end of the building. That will be the costume designing. Incredible. You can see artisans making costumes and costumes on display. It will be an art display itself, all highly visible and engaging.'' Dorothy Gunther Pugh, chief executive officer and founding artistic director of Ballet Memphis, said in written comments that the headquarters will be more than a stunning structure. "It will help define how dance and movement can be experienced in the future, here or anywhere, she said. The building will also house offices, community spaces and even a place for a cafe. The site provides ample parking for patrons, Ballet Memphis officials said. Todd Walker, principal at archimania, said in a release, "This is one of the most exciting and dynamic creative environments we've worked on here or anywhere.'' He said the building will be another anchor for the Overton Square performing arts district, which already has four live-performance theaters, a movie theater and live music venues. "The physical space choreographs interaction between motion on the sidewalks and motion in the studios,'' Walker said. "Its incredibly compelling. Ballet Memphis is the perfect complement to all that is offered currently in Overton Square as it will be an active and high-traffic presence on the Square, seven days a week. This is the second building archimania has designed for Overton Square. The firm designed Hattiloo Theatre which opened in 2014. Grinder Taber Grinder will build the Ballet Memphis building. Ballet Memphis is in the silent phase of a capital campaign totaling $31 million, which includes support for an artistic reserve and increased endowment as well as the new building. Ballet Memphis now is headquartered at a Cordova studio that opened in 1998. Its three studios and administrative offices are at capacity. The nonprofit also operates the Pilates Centre of Ballet Memphis in a separate building on Kirby Parkway near Poplar in East Memphis, and will continue to operate a ballet school in the eastern part of the community. Ballet Memphis will celebrate its 30th season with 30 pop-up community events and guest appearances, starting with Pairings, a tent event on the Overton Square site scheduled for May 14. Pairings will match original choreography with the beer of local breweries. Tickets are $40 and may be purchased at balletmemphis.org. Ballet Memphis employs 32 dancers and has a $4.4 million operating budget. SHARE Memphis International Airport plans taller fences in some areas to guard against people trespassing on the airfield. (Wayne Risher, Commercial Appeal) By Wayne Risher of The Commercial Appeal Memphis International Airport is getting a taller fence topped by razor wire along Airways and Shelby Drive after three people trespassed on the airfield in the past six months. Airport president Scott Brockman said the airport is negotiating with federal officials over proposed fines of up to $11,000 per event. Airport police detained the individuals and charged them with criminal trespassing and entering an airport restricted area. The incidents occurred last Nov. 7 and 19 and Jan. 23, according to offense reports. One suspect was also charged with illegal possession of a .38 caliber revolver, and another with evading arrest. Brockman said the biggest problem area is the south and southwest corners of the airfield. One person reported scaling the fence to escape a drug deal gone bad, Brockman said. Another person appeared to be attempting to take a shortcut through the airfield, which is protected by a six-foot high fence topped by three strands of barbed wire. For no better reason than one guy said I just want to get over there, Brockman said. Brockman said, In todays world, security of the airport and the airfield is paramount." Airfield security concerns have been heightened nationally in recent years because of terrorism threats and incidents of people trespassing in secure areas of airports in Philadelphia, New York and Charlotte. An Associated Press investigation last year reported 268 perimeter security incidents at 31 of the nation's busiest airports since 2014. The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority voted Thursday to hire Nationwide Construction Group for $1.3 million to replace the existing 6-foot fence with an 8- to 10-foot fence. The fence replacement project, to be done in conjunction with security system upgrades on the airports perimeter, generated lengthy discussion because only two firms submitted bids and both were from out of town. Board member Darrell Thomas dissented, questioning why local firms, including minority-owned fence companies, didnt bid. About 25 percent of Nationwides job will go to subcontractor South Memphis Fence Co., a minority-owned firm that attended a pre-bid conference but did not submit a bid, director of operations Thomas Wallace said. The project involves about 22,000 feet of fence replacement, out of about 50,000 feet around the airfield. Mango Chili fruit bar at La Michoacana. April 11 2016 PHOTO BY MICHAEL DONAHUE SHARE By Michael Donahue of The Commercial Appeal Growing up, I could choose from cherry, grape, orange and those radical flavors, banana and "sky blue" when I ordered a Popsicle. And that was about it. When I go to La Michoacana for one of their homemade frozen fruit bars or paletas, I can choose from even more radical flavors, including avocado and rice pudding. I haven't tried them all, but my favorite is "mango chili," also known as "spicy mango." It's the best and maybe the only sweet and savory frozen fruit bar I've ever tried. It's sweet and salty tasting. "It's a popular one," said La Michoacana owner Rafael Gonzalez. "It's just mango, lime (juice) and Mexican chili powder. Chunks of fresh mango." They've been making that flavor for 20 or 30 years, Gonzalez said. "When you talk about Mexico, the first thing that comes to your mind is 'spicy.' We love spicy food. Hispanic people, we like to do spicy dishes. That's tradition." The chili powder they use in their fruit bars is a mix of three different chilies, he said. It's spicy, but it's not going to burn your tongue. "The peppers we use, they're not hot." His father came up with the idea of making the mango chili frozen fruit bar, but in Mexico people add chili powder to everything, including watermelon and strawberries, Gonzalez said. "They put it in a bowl and they sprinkle the chili powder and (add) lime on top," he said. That type of dish is "street food," Gonzalez said. "You don't find that in a fancy restaurant; you're going to find it in the street." La Michoacana offers other fruit bars, including "spicy cucumber" and "spicy pineapple." I can't wait to try those flavors. But the mango chili bar is, by far, one of the most delicious taste combinations I've tried. You also can order frozen mango puree with the chili powder and lime juice in a cup, which is one of La Michoacana's "sour fruit treats," Gonzalez said. I can't wait to try that. La Michoacana, 4091 Summer; 901-590-1901. A small Human Rights Campaign equality banner flies on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion in Jackson, Miss., as several hundred people rally outside the building and called on Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant to veto House Bill 1523, which many believe will allow discrimination against LGBT people, Monday, April 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) SHARE Dubbing Mississippi's so-called religious conscience law "morally reprehensible," the Oxford Film Festival a proving ground and showcase for many Memphis and Mid-South filmmakers over the past 13 years has added a category devoted to films with gay and transgender content to its next event, set to take place in late February 2017. "We've always shown LGBT films, but we're strengthening what we have to create a specific category," said Melanie Addington, 38, festival executive director. She said she was in talks with organizers of LGBT festivals around the country to help program films for Oxford. The move is a response to legislation signed April 5 by Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant that allows business owners and government officials to cite religious objections in denying services to gay people and others. The law threatens to harm the state's recruitment of film projects, and it also could hurt participation in film festivals, which traditionally attract a large number of out-of-state filmmakers, jurors and other guests. (Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed similar controversial legislation last month, after Disney and other studios vowed to pull millions of dollars in production from the state if the law were passed.) "The Oxford Film Festival is deeply troubled and disheartened by the passage of (the law)," wrote Addington, in a statement issued April 5. "The Oxford Film Festival's mission is not only to entertain with independent cinema, but to enlighten with a range of diverse voices." Some longtime festival participants already have said via social media that they might not return to Oxford if the law is not repealed. "I totally understand and honor the decision to boycott, but this is my home," Addington said. "We're trying to show there's a lot more to Mississippi than one dumb law." An immediate impact of the law is the addition of a program of Southern LGBT films that will be screened in conjunction with Oxford's first "Pride Parade," set for May 7. The program titled "LGBTQ Shorts: Struggles and Celebrations of Being Out in the Deep South" will screen at 4 p.m. May 8 at The Shelter on Van Buren, a relatively new Oxford coffeehouse, bar and restaurant located on the east side of the town square. Filmmakers will be in attendance to discuss their work. The screening is presented in partnership with the Crossroads Film Festival of Jackson, Mississippi. Meanwhile, back in Memphis, producers of "Million Dollar Quartet" fortunately do not have to deal with the moral dilemma of doing business with Mississippi. Although several of the program's key characters, including Elvis and Ike Turner, have deep Mississippi roots, the CMT television series about the 1950s birth of rock and roll is not scheduled to shoot in that state, although filming is taking place in Arkansas as well as in Memphis and other areas of West Tennessee. From Canada, with Guts Films ranging from the heartbreaking to the stomach-churning will be screened next month when the Memphis in May International Festival joins forces with Indie Memphis to host a four-movie series devoted to directors from this year's Memphis in May honored country, Canada. Read all about it here. Zach Smith Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars return to Memphis for a concert Saturday at the Buckman Arts Center. SHARE By Mark Richens of The Commercial Appeal On tour in Europe with his band in 2014, as the Syrian refugee crisis was building up to its most acute phase, Reuben Koroma saw a familiar sight. "One time, we are in Germany, in a city called Hanover, and in middle of the city, I saw that a (shelter) was constructed for refugees with plastic sheeting," Koroma, who is in his 50s, said by phone while traveling to a gig in Washington, D.C. "It just reminded me of our past lives. When we were refugees, we slept in those houses, constructed by plastic sheeting. I felt very sorry for them." Koroma is the sole remaining founding member of Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, a band founded in a refugee camp in neighboring Guinea during the brutal 1991-2002 civil war in Sierra Leone that left some 50,000 people dead and countless others wounded and maimed. A 2005 documentary film, "Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars," helped launch the band's rise from picking around the campfire to serving as global ambassadors of peace and reconciliation and one of the most popular African bands in the world. As a former refugee, Koroma grasps the delicate balance that host countries must strike between compassion and security. "(In Europe), people are having a lot of problems there just because some refugees are really bad in the sense that some of them are not really representing the refugees very well," he says, recalling when his own refugee camp, being infiltrated by rebels from across the border, was attacked by a Guinean helicopter gunship. "Some turn out to be bad people to their hosts. I feel sorry for the hosts because people are trying to express kindness." The All Stars, who play Saturday night at the Buckman Arts Center, first appeared in Memphis in 2010, but subsequent dates in 2012 and 2014 were canceled. In that time, the band released three of its four albums and underwent significant evolution in personnel and sound. "The music has changed a little bit because when we started, it was 70 percent acoustic," Koroma says. "We had a harmonica player and a traditional Sierra Leone instrument called a kongroma, but all those guys have died. The new musicians I have are used to playing contemporary instruments like bass guitar, drums kit, guitars, congas. It's a modified kind of music, but we still maintain the rhythm of the band." The message of the music has changed somewhat as well, as Sierra Leone has emerged as a relatively stable nation, still blessed with diamonds and other valuable resources that once were a something of a curse, driving corruption and violence. Koroma says his country could provide a blueprint to build a future in collapsed states like Syria and Afghanistan. "I think (Sierra Leone) can be a good example because we had the war and the war ended, and we went and had an election, we elected a president and now we have stable government, and we have started rehabilitating our country," he said. "I think the Syrians should look at our history and try to copy it. Stop fighting and try to end their war, and come back and try to develop their country." He listed steps that he described as key to reconciliation in Sierra Leone. "The first thing is to try to disarm the fighters," he says. "The fighter depends on his arm, his gun, so if you say you're gonna pay him to surrender his arm, he will do that because he needs the money for his family," Koroma says. "And then from there, people that have been disarmed, you have to bring them back into society, reintegrate them. You have to give them a form of education. Send them to school, make them learn skills so that they will come back and join the nation. Third step is try to get stable government, elect a democratic leader." Koroma says the band plans to begin work later this year on a fifth album, and he hopes to reunite with Canadian producer Chris Velan, who produced the All Stars' debut album, "Living Like a Refugee" (2006), as well as the most recent release, "Libation" (2014), both of which seem to capture the campfire vibe of the band's origins. "Chris Velan I would describe him as musical genius," Koroma says. "He is so gifted in making very perfect suggestions in our music that will make our music more powerful. He's a very patient listener." Having put his country on the world music map, Koroma sees potential in the younger generation, though Sierra Leone is far behind nearby countries like Senegal and Nigeria that have well-established recording industries. "Sierra Leone is a country that is full of talent musically. We have a lot of musicians in Sierra Leone, and they are making music, very good music. The only thing that they lack is standard recording machines. And we don't have producers who use their expertise to develop the songs guys are producing there. We don't have managers ... . The guys are just using their creativity, but there is nothing to polish." Sierra Leones Refugee All Stars 8 p.m. at the Buckman Arts Center at St. Marys School, 60 Perkins Ext. Tickets: $28 for adults, $25 for students and seniors. buckmanartscenter.com By Katie Fretland, fretland@commercialappeal.com A 30-year-old Ohio man was sentenced to more than eight years in prison Thursday on a federal weapon charge for having a gun at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Aaron Cauley pleaded guilty Dec. 16 to being a felon in possession of a firearm. "The circumstances under which he possessed the firearm are very disturbing," said Judge Samuel H. Mays, Jr., who sentenced Cauley to 100 months. Cauley's girlfriend reported March 17, 2015 to St. Jude security that Cauley had a gun. Officers searched the room and found a Sig Sauer pistol, two hunting knives and 57 rounds of 9 millimeter ammunition. Fourteen rounds of the ammunition were in a magazine in the gun, according to a court affidavit. The weapons were found inside a green backpack under clothes for children. Cauley's girlfriend said they had argued all night. She said he pointed the gun in her face, threatened to kill her, and said "They can't hold me forever and when I get out I'll kill you." She was afraid to call police, and contacted St. Jude security in the morning after Cauley left the room to smoke, according to court documents. Cauley walked out of an elevator into the lobby, and Richard Nelson, a security officer, detained him, according to the affidavit. Memphis police responded and another knife, a gold lock blade, was found in Cauley's cargo pants pocket. Cauley has a history of burglary, theft and assault, said Assistant District Attorney Dean DeCandia. Cauley also has a history of substance abuse, Mays said. Sen. Steve Southerland, R-Morristown, speaks in favor of his bill to make the Holy Bible the official book of Tennessee, Monday, April 4, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. The Senate voted in favor of the bill over the objections of legislative leaders and the Republican Gov. Bill Haslam. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) SHARE April 13, 2016 - Tony Johnson walks by a large scale rendition of the Statue of Liberty toting Christian icons at the World Overcomers Church in Southeast Memphis. Lawmakers in Nashville gave their approval to a bill that would designate the Bible as the state's official book, but it's unclear whether Gov Bill Haslam will sign the bill or veto it. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal) By Richard Locker of The Commercial Appeal NASHVILLE Gov. Bill Haslam on Thursday vetoed the bill designating the Bible as the official state book of Tennessee, but the bill's legislative sponsors said they'll try to override the veto next week. It is only the fourth veto of Haslam's five years and three months in office. He cited both a state attorney general's legal opinion that the measure violates the U.S. and Tennessee constitutions and his own personal belief that the bill "trivializes the Bible, which I believe is sacred text." The designation of the Bible would place it on a list of other several "official" designations by the legislature over the years, including the tulip poplar as state tree, smallmouth bass as state sport fish, channel catfish as state commercial fish, raccoon as state wild animal, the cave salamander as state amphibian and others. This year, lawmakers designated the Murfreesboro-made Barrett M82 sniper rifle as the state's official rifle. The two East Tennessee Republicans who sponsored the bill Rep. Jerry Sexton of Bean Station and Sen. Steve Southerland of Morristown served notice they intend to try to override the veto early next week when the legislature reconvenes from its weekend recess. The state constitution allows the General Assembly to override a gubernatorial veto with a simple majority: 50 votes in the 99-member House and 17 votes in the 33-member Senate. "According to polling, 62 percent of all Tennesseans favor making the Holy Book the state book in order to recognize its significance from a historical, economic and cultural standpoint," Sexton said in a statement, without citing the source of the polling. Southerland did not return phone calls Thursday night but he filed a formal notice of intent to override with the Senate clerk before leaving Nashville for home. It wasn't clear Thursday night whether there will be enough votes to override because a governor's veto message occasionally prompts some lawmakers to change their minds. But if everyone who voted for the bill stays with their original votes, an override attempt would succeed. The bill passed the House last year 55-38 but it was delayed on the Senate floor last year after the attorney general's opinion was released. Southerland resurrected the bill and it passed the Senate on April 4 by a 19-8 vote, just two votes more than required for passage. The governor could have signed the bill into law, vetoed it or allowed it to become law without his signature, which would have occurred next Tuesday if he had not acted before then. In his veto message to legislative leaders, the governor noted that Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery opined that designating The Holy Bible as the official state book of Tennessee would violate both the U.S. and Tennessee constitutions specifically the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article l, Section 3, of the Tennessee Constitution, which provides that "no preference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious establishment or mode of worship." Haslam also wrote: "If we believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, then we shouldn't be recognizing it only as a book of historical and economic significance. "If we are recognizing the Bible as a sacred text, then we are violating the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Tennessee by designating it as the official state book. Our founders recognized that when the church and state were combined, it was the church that suffered in the long run." Reaction to the veto was mixed. "The legislature has spoken and so has the governor. Now the ball is back in the legislature's court, and, as before, we defer to their judgment in this matter," said David Fowler, who heads the conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee. Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, said her members "applaud Governor Haslam for his leadership in sending a clear message that Tennessee values and respects the religious freedom of all Tennesseans. "Religion thrives when it is left in the hands of families and faith communities. Publicly elected government officials cannot use their official positions to favor one religious belief over another. The governor's veto of this unconstitutional legislation ensures that religious freedom can flourish in Tennessee." April 12, 2016 - Memphis Delta Preparatory school leader Mike McKenna says Shelby County Schools reneged on a deal to let the new charter school use the now vacant Lincoln Elementary in South Memphis. The charter spent $18,000, with permission from SCS, to keep up the building, and even had a short rental agreement with SCS allowing the charter to pay for utilities in the building. The charter, was told by SCS the building would not be available because they want to be more strategic about where schools open, and having a school open inside Lincoln Elementary again would deplete enrollment in an SCS izone school in the neighborhood. McKenna says that community members and parents from all 115 of its students will hold a rally outside the elementary school from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. (Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal) By Jennifer Pignolet of The Commercial Appeal A conflict with a charter operator about whether it can open a school inside closed Lincoln Elementary has prompted discussion about whether the Shelby County School board could or should deny any additional charters. Superintendent Dorsey Hopson said Wednesday night that Memphis Delta Preparatory School should not be able to lease Lincoln because of the negative impact it would have on nearby A.B. Hill Elementary. The district closed Lincoln last year and merged the students into A.B. Hill, a school in the SCS Innovation Zone turnaround program for struggling schools. "We put all these extra resources into A.B. Hill," Hopson said. "If that school opens at Lincoln, and then the kids think, OK the school is open again, then you essentially have undermined your whole effort to increase the quality at A.B. Hill." SCS currently has 45 charters operating, with five more set to open in the fall. Another 13 applied by the deadline this month to open the following year. SCS administrators have said loss of enrollment due to charters and the state-run Achievement School District is driving this year's $86 million budget gap. "If our enrollment is going down based on ASD and charters, and this is causing us to have a financial deficit, why are we continuing to approve charters in areas where there is no need?" board member Stephanie Love asked. "It seems like we're approving a charter that then, as budget time comes, we say we have to cut the budget because of a charter that we approved." Hopson said the district can legally deny a charter application if the school would create "substantial financial hardship to the district," but the state overruled when the district tried that a few years ago. But with so many charter schools now open, Hopson said they may have another shot at that argument. "Look at our enrollment we're projected to lose about $100 million over the next five years," Hopson said. "So you take that and you look at the charter sector and you think about the number of charters that don't do very well, and there's a strong case to just deny all of them." Hopson added that the issue would require additional discussion with the board. The board has already voted to revoke the charter of one operator, the New Consortium of Law and Business, and on Wednesday discussed closing another six before the next school year. As part of a plan to decrease the district's footprint, as well as to close under-enrolled and poor-performing schools, Hopson also tossed out the idea of closing four traditional SCS schools Carver and Northside high schools, Dunbar Elementary and Messick Adult Center. Delta Prep school leader Mike McKenna said previously the district did not notify him until last month that Lincoln was not available for a long-term lease. McKenna said they have been in the building for months already on a short-term rental agreement under the assumption it would become their permanent home. Board member Billy Orgel noted Wednesday that, no matter what SCS staff negotiates, no deal is final until the board votes to approve it. McKenna is in the process of finding backup locations, but said the charter will still open in roughly the same neighborhood, posing just as much threat to A.B. Hill's enrollment without the benefit to SCS of the revenue stream from the lease of the vacant building. McKenna said research of the neighborhood told him there was a need for another school. About 120 children are currently enrolled for the fall. Only nine said that they were transferring from A.B. Hill. McKenna said it makes sense in the future for SCS not to approve a charter if they don't see a need. "I get the needs going forward but this is going backwards, and that's the hard part for us," he said. SHARE In the education reform efforts taking place in public schools in Memphis and Shelby County and across the state to improve student achievement, there is one crucial element needed to make the quest a success: having a great teacher in every classroom and a great principal in every school. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation stepped up to help the legacy Memphis City Schools district in that regard in 2009 when it pledged up to $90 million over seven years to revamp the way the district hired, trained and supported teachers and principals. The gift sparked the district to launch its Teacher and Leadership Effectiveness initiative to address long-standing failures to recruit, develop and retain talent for schools and classrooms. When the MCS and the legacy Shelby County Schools districts merged to form the Shelby County Schools district, the Gates grant followed SCS. But the money had to be spent by June 30 of this year. The good news is that the foundation is giving the cash-strapped district a one-year extension to spend the roughly $11 million of the grant that remains. The extension is a rare move by the philanthropic behemoth, which has spent more than $700 million nationally on programs related to teacher quality since 2008, according to a story in The Commercial Appeal Wednesday by Chalkbeat Tennessee writer Ruma Kumar. That means, at least for another year, the district can continue its efforts to get excellent teachers and administrators in all schools. That is especially important as the district works to get scores of schools, nearly all in the inner city, off the state's list of worst schools. Since 2009, Shelby County Schools has spent a total of $173 million on the initiative: more than $74 million from the Gates award, $82 million from the district and more than $17 million from local philanthropists. While much work needs be done on the student achievement front, scores on comprehensive tests for the last couple of years have showed the positive impact an excellent teacher, coupled with innovative teaching techniques, can make in classrooms. If the foundation had pulled back the remainder of the grant and with SCS facing an $86 million budget deficit next school year, there was a strong possibility that funding for the Teacher and Leadership Effectiveness initiative would be shifted to other needs. That, of course, would be a shame, because the initiative has shown the good things that can happen on the education front when adequate financing is available. SHARE By Eli Lake Here is an irony of the 2016 election season. The candidate promising voters that he won't be influenced by Washington lobbyists is counting on the influence of a Washington lobbyist to save his presidential campaign. Late last month Donald Trump hired Paul Manafort, who has represented his organization in Washington, to make sure his delegates at this summer's convention in Cleveland actually end up voting for him. For this task, Manafort is well qualified. He ran delegate operations for the campaigns of Gerald Ford in 1976 and Bob Dole in 1996. But Manafort's real specialty is in the netherworld of international lobbying. Trump has criticized both parties as selling out the U.S. to foreign interests. Now he is counting on a man who has represented many of them. Manafort has offered his services to not one but two presidents driven from power through popular revolution Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine and Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. He has lobbied for Saudi Arabia, a Bahamanian president suspected of narco-trafficking and a former Angolan rebel leader accused of torture. For this work, Manafort has been well compensated. He told a congressional oversight panel in 1989 that his firm normally accepted only clients who would pay at least $250,000 a year as a retainer. Spy Magazine reported that his firm received $600,000 one year as compensation for his work for Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi. The Daily Beast reported that Manafort's work for the Saudis netted him $250,000 for six months of work in 1984. A Justice Department form filed in 2008 from a subcontractor to Manafort's firm said the PR work alone on behalf of Ukraine's government was paid at $35,000 a month. In 2013, Manafort surfaced in a French influence-peddling scandal involving Edouard Balladur, who was prime minister in the mid-1990s. Manafort acknowledged in a Virginia court that he was paid by an adviser to the Saudi royal court more than $200,000 for advice he provided on security issues. That adviser in turn funneled the profits of an arms sale back into Balladur's political campaign. Manafort did not respond to an email seeking comment. When asked about his Ukraine lobbying on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, he said that Trump was now his only client. Most lobbyists make their money from contracts with clients, like lawyers and other consultants. And Manafort does as well. But he has also branched out. In 1989, Manafort was hauled before Congress for a classic example of Washington double-dealing. His firm received a $326,000 fee for securing for a client a $43 million Department of Housing and Development subsidy for a block of low-income apartments in Seabrook, New Jersey. Manafort then purchased a 20 percent stake in the Seabrook subdivision that was to receive the federal subsidy for which he lobbied. When a Republican congressman remarked that the whole deal was sleazy, Manafort replied: "We worked the system as it existed. I don't think we did anything illegal or improper." This was not the last time Manafort explored real-estate deals connected to his lobbying work. Documents uncovered in 2014 from a lawsuit brought about by former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko show that Manafort attempted to set up a real-estate partnership with Dmitry Firtash, a notorious Ukrainian businessman who financed the party of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and who is wanted by the FBI on bribery and corruption charges. The documents, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, include a Nov. 6, 2008, letter to Manafort from Firtash's holding company that says it had deposited $25 million in escrow for a plan to buy a tower in Manhattan and was prepared to invest $112 million for the project with the understanding that Manafort's own Calister Investments LLC will be the project's developer. David Kramer, a former senior State Department official who worked on Russia and Ukraine and is currently a senior director for human rights and democracy at the McCain Institute in Washington, told me Manafort was "a persistent lobbyist" for Yanukovych when he was in government. "He was trying to paint Yanukovych as something he wasn't," Kramer said of his dealings with Manafort. "The Ukrainian president is a corrupt Soviet-style apparatchik who was interested in coming to power for the sake of serving his own interest and not his country. Manafort portrayed him as somebody who could reform." Given that Manafort cashed in on federally subsidized apartments and given that Firtash is accused of trying to bribe public officials, the attempted real-estate deal between the two men at the very least gives the appearance of wrongdoing the kind of appearance that most presidential candidates would try to avoid. "Someone who has had such close relations with notorious kleptocrats doesn't belong anywhere near any of our presidential candidates," Charles Davidson, executive director of Kleptocracy Initiative at Hudson Institute, told me. Indeed, in 2008, the McCain campaign considered Manafort for the job of Republican convention manager and then dropped him because of his work with Ukraine and other shadows on his resume. But Trump is an unconventional candidate. The real-estate mogul with a taste for politics has turned to a political operative with a taste for real estate. In this sense, Trump and his former lobbyist are a perfect match. Eli Lake is a Bloomberg View columnist. SHARE By Scott Maxwell The biggest story in American politics last week didn't involve the road to the White House. It involved a coffee shop in Gainesville, Florida, and a woman who called Gov. Rick Scott an "a**hole." Ever since, everyone from Fox News to the hosts of "The View" has been obsessed with the Starbucks standoff. That certainly includes Rick Scott. For understandable reasons, Scott didn't like being called any kind of hole. So, after his staffers were unable to quiet the woman heckling him about his health care policies, he scurried out coffee-less. And mad. Then, the governor of America's third-largest state sicced his $50 million campaign committee on the activist with an ad calling her a "terribly rude woman" who "clearly has a problem." Yes, Rick Scott who recently endorsed a presidential candidate who called Ted Cruz a "p*ssy," who called the Chinese "motherf***ers" and who said tax-dodging companies can go "f*** themselves" wanted the world to know how much he despised name-calling and profanity. Message delivered, governor. Scott also branded the name-calling activist a "latte liberal." (Which I guess makes him a "cafe conservative," because they were at the same Starbucks.) Normally, two people hurling insults at each other wouldn't be a news story. It'd be an episode of "Dance Moms." But this was the profanity heard 'round the world. Liberals cheered the activist for sticking it to the insulated governor. Conservatives cheered Scott for sticking it right back to the activist. I had trouble cheering for any of it largely because it underscored my belief that this is the only kind of exchange that makes headlines. Let's be honest: If this woman had delivered a calm, articulate analysis of her concerns with Scott's policies, nobody would've paid her a lick of attention. Lucid policy debates don't set YouTube on fire. Cat videos do. And skateboarders suffering groin injuries. And, yeah, someone calling a governor an a**hole. So, after plenty of people delivered polite, constructive criticism about how the governor's health care policies hurt Florida's working-class families to absolutely no avail activist Cara Jennings, a former Lake Worth commissioner, used an in-his-face tirade to up the ante. And it worked. This is part of the same phenomenon that has given rise to Donald Trump. After Trump took the stage in New Hampshire and said that tax-dodging companies should go "f*** themselves," he won the Granite State primary in a landslide. (Though it should be noted he lowered his volume when he mouthed the f-word you know, to keep things sophisticated.) People seemed to like watching Trump talk tough to corporate America the same way they liked seeing Jennings confront a normally insulated politician. Like many politicians, Scott operates largely in a bubble filled with head-bobbers and yes-men. Jennings popped that bubble with a dose of extra-caffeinated criticism. Screaming profanity at someone wouldn't earn my mother's seal of approval. Nor mine. Such tactics rarely make targets think: Boy, I'd like to hear more insights from this person screaming at me. Still, it's hard to imagine many other governors responding as Scott did with a PAC-financed attack ad against an individual citizen. Jeb Bush wouldn't have deemed it worthy of response (or wasted the money on consultants drawing up the ad). Bob Graham might've jotted her observations in his omnipresent notebook and carried on with his day. Charlie Crist would've flashed his puppy-dog eyes, told her he felt her pain and bought a round of Very Berry Hibiscus Refreshers for the whole cafe. It's an insecure man who has that much power and uses it to attack one of the few people who dared criticize him in public. So that's where we are. With Facebookers, talk-show hosts and newspaper columnists debating which video was more offensive, rather than the policies themselves. I still think that when I have beefs with the governor's policies, I'll focus more on policy than profanity. But that's also why my thoughtful and carefully worded concerns will be viewed about 2 million fewer times than Jennings' rant. Scott Maxwell is a columnist for the Orlando Sentinel. Contact him at smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com. The artist formerly known as Kanye West has tied a ribbon round his recent package of white supremacist slogans, George Floyd family agitation and anti-Semitic tropes with an agreement to purchase ... This is a guest post for the Computer Weekly Developer Networks API series written by Shahar Binyamin, CEO and co-founder at Inigo, a GraphQL security and management platform. Binyamin writes in ... This is a guest post for the Computer Weekly Developer Network written by Jason Knight in his role as chief product officer at OctoML -- the company is known for its work bringing DevOps agility to ... 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They refused to compromise the security of iPhone users by creating a backdoor that would give the FBI a way to hack into the phone used in the San Bernadino case. Then, the FBI found a workaround. Now, Microsoft has sued the U.S. government. The issue is related to how one of the largest and most well-known companies in tech (they have a market capitalization of $443B) has the constitutional right to inform customers when there is an inquiry about an email and also how they can protect all customers who store data in the cloud. According to the suit, Microsoft has received 2,600 secrecy orders in the past 18 months, blocking the company from letting those customers know they were under investigation. Most tech companies comply with these court orders, but Microsoft is suing over the issue of informing the customer about the warrant. The suit claims the demands have compromised the security of cloud storage for emails and the rights of free speech and the Fourth Amendment rights over search and siezure. The underlying complaint from Microsoft has to do with keeping customers in the dark about investigations. Its not a comment about any ongoing investigations, the suspected criminal behavior, or whether Microsoft will comply with the demands. Instead, its all about perception. If you havent done anything wrong, you might not have anything to worry about, but theres a sense that Microsoft is doing something behind the scenes with our most sensitive data without our knowledge. It was the exact same issue with Apple. Theres a perception that the FBI can demand a backdoor for which Apple would then have to comply, and that the hack could potentially fall into the wrong hands, even if thats not necessarily possible. As Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, stated repeatedly, the issue was not about helping in an investigation, it was creating new software to break the encryption on one phone that sets a precedence for other cases. Indeed, there is now a case in New York City that involves another locked phone used in a drug-related case. Tech companies are obviously crying foul. We normally think of free speech as it relates to the media or expressing a political opinion, but it also applies to software. The suit is an attempt to restore trust -- that Microsoft will comply with requests, but after a period of time, will eventually inform customers that there is an investigation. The suit, filed today in Seattle, is directly related to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986. Microsoft says gag orders for investigations are on the rise. According to Reuters, tech companies won a battle two years ago that gave them the right to disclose how many court orders they receive related to investigations. (Microsoft received 5,624 demands in the last 18 months, of which 2,600 included a gag order.) The suit follows approval this week to change the Email Privacy Act portion of the ECPA to force investigators to issue a warrant. As is usually the case, these encryption battles come in waves. Apple fought the first tsunami; now Microsoft is taking up the baton. Microsoft today asked a federal court to invalidate part of a 1986 law that it alleged has been abused by the government when authorities demand the company hand over customers' data, including documents, emails and other information stored in the cloud. In a lawsuit targeting the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Microsoft asked for a judgment that would declare unconstitutional a section of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), a 30-year-old law that government agencies increasingly cite when forcing email, Internet and cloud storage service providers to hand over data to aid criminal investigations. Microsoft didn't object to the ECPA as a whole, but to what it said had become the routine issuing of gag orders alongside the demands for data. "We believe that with rare exceptions consumers and businesses have a right to know when the government accesses their emails or records," said Brad Smith, Microsoft's chief legal officer, in a long post to a company blog Thursday. "Yet it's becoming routine for the U.S. government to issue orders that require email providers to keep these types of legal demands secret." "This is a very aggressive move on Microsoft's part," said Michael Carroll, a professor of law and director of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property at the American University Washington College of Law, in Washington, D.C. "They're essentially saying, 'I want to violate the gag orders, but I don't want to be sued for doing that.' So they're disputing the constitutionality of the gag orders." Microsoft ticked off statistics to make its point that secrecy had become habitual: In the last 18 months, the Redmond, Wash. company received 5,624 federal demands for customer information or data. Of those, 2,576, or 48%, were tagged with secrecy orders that prevented Microsoft from telling customers that it had been compelled to hand over their information. About 68% of the gag orders -- 1,752 to be exact -- had no end date. "This means that we effectively are prohibited forever from telling our customers that the government has obtained their data," Smith said. In the complaint filed with a Seattle federal court, Microsoft said that was unacceptable. "There may be exceptional circumstances when the government's interest in investigating criminal conduct justifies an order temporarily barring a provider from notifying a customer that the government has obtained the customer's private communications and data," the complaint read. "But Section 2705(b) [of the ECPA] sweeps too broadly." Microsoft asked the court to strike the section on the grounds that it violates both the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution. "I think this is a smart strategy," Chris Calabrese, vice president of policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, said of Microsoft's lawsuit. "This is important for the courts, and judges, to work out because in a lot of ways, what we need is some clarification on the secrecy [aspects of the orders]." Calling the ECPA "antiquated," Microsoft hammered on the impact of data demands and gag orders on cloud-based services, the fastest-growing part of its business. "The government ... has exploited the transition to cloud computing as a means of expanding its power to conduct secret investigations," Microsoft's lawyers asserted. "As individuals and business have moved their most sensitive information to the cloud, the government has increasingly adopted the tactic of obtaining the private digital documents of cloud customers not from the customers themselves, but through legal process directed at online cloud providers like Microsoft." "Microsoft was like the frog in boiling water," said Jim Dempsey, executive director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology at the University of California Berkeley School of Law. "[The gag orders] just got to be too routine. They saw it in individual cases, then in dozens, then hundreds, then thousands. They reached a breaking point, much like Apple did with unlocking orders." In effect, what Microsoft said in its complaint is that the law has been grossly misused by the government, either through policy or practice. "Microsoft is arguing that this is a systemic problem, and gotten to the point where gag orders are issued on a blanket basis. It's interesting that they've taken the declaratory route, which is almost like a class action. This is a systemic problem [Microsoft argued], and it deserves a systemic solution," Dempsey said. DOJ spokeswoman Emily Pierce declined to comment on the Microsoft complaint, saying, "We are reviewing the filing." and BASSEM MROUE Islamic State militants recaptured a vital border crossing in northern Syria and shot down a government warplane in the countrys west Monday as the U.N.s special envoy urged the warring parties to respect a fragile cease-fire ahead of peace talks set to resume in Geneva this week. U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Misturas plea came amid stepped up fighting around the northern city of Aleppo, Syrias largest, and elsewhere in the countrys northern and western provinces. He spoke after meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem in Damascus in preparation for the talks, set to begin Wednesday in Geneva between the government and an umbrella opposition coalition backed by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and other Western powers. De Mistura said he emphasized the importance of protecting and maintaining and supporting the cessation of hostilities, describing it as fragile and stressing that all sides need to make sure that it continues to be sustained. The U.N. envoy said the talks would focus on a political transition for Syria, where the civil war, now in its sixth year, has killed 250,000 people and displaced half the countrys pre-war population of 23 million people. About 4 million people have fled the country. We will be focusing in particular on political transition, on governance and constitutional principles, de Mistura said. We hope and plan to make them constructive . . . and concrete. Al-Moallem called for a dialogue without preconditions, a reference to opposition demands that President Bashar Assad step down and be excluded from any transitional government. He said the government delegation would arrive Friday, two days after parliamentary elections are to be held in Syria. The vote expected to be a rubber stamp of Assad loyalists will only take place in government-controlled areas as the Damascus authorities are unable to organize any balloting in territory under rebel or Islamic State control. Meanwhile, opposition activists reported clashes and government air raids near Aleppo, where rebel factions alongside al-Qaidas Syria affiliate, the Nusra Front, seized territory from the government earlier this month. Russias military announced Monday it would help the Syrian army battle back the Nusra Front, but there is no plan to storm Aleppo. Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the militarys general staff said Nusra has nearly 10,000 fighters southwest and north of Aleppo and plans to cut a strategic highway linking the city with the rest of the country. Rudskoi said the Syrian army backed by Russian warplanes is taking action to derail Nusras plan. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a telephone call Sunday, expressed concern over the recent increase in violence in Aleppo and elsewhere aimed not just at ISIS and the Nusra Front, which are excluded from the U.S.- and Russian-brokered cease-fire, but at rebel groups that are covered by it. We are concerned about plans to attack and seize control of Aleppo, when there are clearly opposition groups there that are part of the cessation of hostilities, Toner said. Russias air force was instrumental to reviving Assads military command in the months leading to the cease-fire that came into effect in late February and has brought relative peace to the country for the first time in the civil war. Meanwhile, ISIS militants shot down a Syrian warplane during violent clashes Monday west of Damascus, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It said the plane was shot down in the vicinity of the Dumayr Air Base in the eastern Qalamoun mountains, which straddle the border with Lebanon. A news agency for the extremist group said the wreckage landed inside the base, damaging three other planes. The Aamaq News Agency posted a video on social media showing thick smoke emerging from what it said was the Dumayr base. Earlier Monday, ISIS militants captured the strategic town of al-Rai on Syrias border with Turkey after intense fighting, the Observatory said. The town serves as the Islamic State groups access point to supply lines and also sits along the road to the ISIS stronghold in Aleppo province. The latest ISIS gains show the group is still capable of launching counterattacks as it comes under pressure on different fronts in Iraq and Syria. ISIS has lost wide areas in Iraq and Syria recently, including the historic central town of Palmyra that was captured by Syrian government forces and their allies. The extremists have also suffered leadership setbacks as U.S. drone strikes in Syria have killed several top ISIS and Nusra Front commanders and key figures in recent weeks. A lot of Remain supporters are reluctant but perhaps none so much so as Jeremy Corbyn. This morning, the Labour leader stood up to take the opportunity to explain why, after years of Euroscepticism, he has now opted to support staying in the EU. It was a tough gig for a man whose entire political identity is founded on the fact he hasnt changed an opinion for 40 years. Its fair to say he didnt make a wildly convincing case. There were snippets of Ed Miliband, suggesting the UK wouldnt choose to combat pollution, and elements of Neil Kinnock, implying that British voters wouldnt be capable of defending their own employment rights, but the whole tone seemed rather lacklustre, even by his usual standards. His angle to square the circle of his past remarks with his new opinion was to call for democratic reform of the EU yes, he had his concerns about how Brussels works, but all that is required is for it to change. The problem is that, over the past 40 years, the EU has demonstrated not only its unwillingness but its inability to become accountable to the people. This is a body whose executive, the Commission, is unelected, the members of which routinely sneer at any signs of disagreement from voters in a variety of nations. It is the organisation whose most prized project, the Euro, requires states to sacrifice control of the most crucial economic levers they possess, and then overrules their elections and referendums when the people who lose out object at the price they are made to pay. For a Labour leader whose whole pitch is about his inflexibility, the speech involved quite a lot of uncomfortable bending. So why is Corbyn doing it? There seem to be two reasons. The first is that even he needed some point of compromise with this unhappy Shadow Cabinet and even more miserable Parliamentary Party. Presumably, accepting the loss of whole tracts of our democracy and vast amounts of money seemed like a reasonable price for scoring some exceedingly rare party management points. The second is that Labour hope there is a partisan advantage to be gained in the referendum process. Last May, Labour lost more votes to UKIP than they anticipated, and even Corbyn must surely know that his particular brand of Islingtonism is poorly suited to winning that group of voters back. However, agreeing to lend some support to Alan Johnsons pro-EU campaign might offer an opportunity to talk to them in a different context. Im told that Labour recently put 100 paid mobilisers into the field for the Labour In campaign, answerable to Johnson and with the specific brief of targeting Labour-UKIP switchers. That way, the leadership is offering some material support to the pro-EU campaign, and in return it must hope that it may win back some votes at the same time also allowing some non-Corbynite messages to be deployed without officially compromising the leaderships position. The problem with all this is it leaves Corbyn in a deeply uncomfortable position. The pro-EU campaign may be hoping that his support will help them, but in the Q&A after his speech he showed very little promise of delivering. Asked for his views on the concern that too many EU migrants have come to Britain, he answered directly that no, he didnt think too many had. It isnt hard to imagine how that will go down with those very UKIP-Labour swing voters. And his forced enthusiasm for the topic barely lasted for the whole session. Another journalist asked him how he would respond to criticism that his EU stance was half-hearted. Instead of taking the opportunity to pitch a rallying call for the EU, or even a defence of his position, he instead recited what his leadership was about, and declared nothing I do is half-hearted. On this topic, that was visibly not the case. We have a unique situation in the Conservative Party where its members are involved in simultaneous campaigns where in one of them we are campaigning together and the other where we on opposing sides. On a Saturday morning a group of local Conservatives might be joining together on a street stall in London with balloons and leaflets where they accost passers with the plea that they vote for Zac Goldsmith for Mayor of London. Then after a spot of lunch in a convenient pub its back to the street campaigning in the afternoon. But this time on street stalls on opposite sides of the square with one decorated with bunting from Stronger IN while the other is emblazoned with the message Vote Leave. My impression is that this curious state of affairs has been greeted with equanimity by Conservative activists, despite the strength of feeling over the EU referendum. So important to retain a sense of humour. Of course the difficulty has also diminished by there being a reasonable gap between May 5th and June 23rd, the respective dates of the contests. Many Conservatives will concentrate on the local elections and then perhaps having slumped exhausted for the weekend of May 7th/8th and thus fully rejuvenated begin the EU referendum campaigning in earnest on Monday May 9th. What also helps is for senior figures in the Party to set an example. This week David Cameron sat next to Boris Johnson undertaking some telephone canvassing for Zac Goldsmith. Im assured by those present that fare from being awkward the atmosphere was convivial. Cabinet ministers on both sides of the Brexit debate joined them. John Bald is a former Ofsted Inspector, and has written two books on the teaching of reading and spelling. Nick Gibb, deputising for Nicky Morgan, did very well last week at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) conference, with a calm and reasonable Q&A session. He did not overstate the governments case, and announced that local authorities would be allowed to set up their own academy chains, a major change from the White Paper, which envisaged officials leaving the local authorities to do this. Assuming that this was not another suggestion, it would put LAs and academy chains on an equal footing, and is potentially a very good idea. The impact of this good work was limited, though, by the obvious question, Where is the boss? Nicky Morgan had had an exposed and lonely session with the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers a few days earlier, and our opponents will have drawn the conclusion that she didnt want another one. Teachers unions are not a happy hunting ground for education ministers of any party. Their impartiality is best demonstrated by the NUTs disgraceful hounding of the disabled David Blunkett, forcing him to take refuge in a cupboard. Few Conservative ministers would even consider addressing the NUT, whose man, as we saw last week, is Jeremy Corbyn. The other unions are a different matter. The late Sir Rhodes Boyson described the NASUWT as hard-headed, an ambiguous but pretty accurate compliment, and their general secretary, Chris Keates, lived up to it in her reply to Nicky Morgan. The ATL grew out of the amalgamation of the Assistant Masters and Mistresses Associations, and was, when I started teaching, the preserve of heads of department and senior staff. It has always been the most conservative of the teachers unions, and the least interested in ideology. So, its choice of Mary Bousted as general secretary, with her PhD on The Ideology of English Teaching, was a potentially radical departure. Dr Bousted did not disappoint, relishing her duty to castigate Michael Gove and laying into the government at every opportunity. Until this year, the attacks never quite struck home, as they were so obviously based on vested interest. This time, she had a field day. After giving the government credit for its reports on teachers workload, which I wrote about on this site recently, she delivered a sustained hammering on every aspect of policy, which must have persuaded many listeners that nothing the government was doing was in their interest. This left her free to unleash her ideological alternative. The national curriculum was, she said, insane, Ofsted should be abolished, and examination reform should not take place. The link between our present pseudo-examinations and the excessive workload on teachers was conveniently omitted. More worrying than the rhetoric is the proposal to move her union into the camp of the NUT. Nick Gibb, as a minister, was right to not to take view on the subject. I do, and it is that this merger would become an important victory for the Corbynistas. Teachers who are successful in their careers not just headteachers should be moving towards the Conservatives. It is dangerous to allow them to be persuaded that their interests do not lie with us, and the reason this is happening is that the governments words and actions appear to be heading in different directions. One might ask whether a White Paper was needed at this point at all. It might be better to ditch it while there is time to repair the damage. An afterthought on ideology. Harper Lees Go Set a Watchman was written before To Kill a Mockingbird, but published much later. Its appearance last year, following her reclusive life, brought a tear to the eye of the Left by revealing that the saintly lawyer, Atticus Finch, was a paternalist rather than a radical, and hence no better than a redneck. The Guardians strapline, Moral ambition sabotaged, summed up the disappointment, even if the review that followed it, by Sarah Churchwell, was more perceptive. Judge Taylor says in the more famous book that, People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for. So it is with Harper Lee. Both novels are principally concerned with the responses of Scout, a twentieth-century Maggie Tulliver, to the conflicts and contradictions of the society into which she is born. Atticus is the same in both books, but in the second, Scout has grown up. Watchman should encourage the fans of Mockingbird to look and read more closely, and to see their darling as he, or she, really is. There is no automatic relationship between leaving the EU and having lower immigration. It is possible to imagine Britain voting for Brexit and the Government then deciding to have higher immigration whether from EU countries, others or both. But what can be imagined and what would actually happen are very different. If the British people vote to leave, one of the main reasons will be to protest against recent levels of migration. Any post-Brexit settlement would be likely to see lower immigration from the EU than at present. Remain argues that this would be impossible without curtailed access to the single market. This is highly debatable, given the size of Britains economy, the trading relationship between us and our neighbours, and the mutual need for each others markets. But even if it is correct, we would be able to debate and decide for ourselves what the trade-off between immigration levels and that market access should be one which our EU membership currently prevents us from holding. It follows in the view of some supporters of Leave that less immigration would mean higher wages all round. This view holds that migration from the EU since its expansion into eastern Europe, combined with New Labour flinging the doors open to more immigration from the rest of the world too, has led to a deal between British business (especially bigger business) and foreign labour. Business wants labour. Foreigners supply it undercutting British workers and depressing wage rates. This is simplistic. The sum of the evidence is that migration as a whole raises some wages and lowers others. As Ryan Bourne wrote in a magisterial article on this site, on aggregate most studies suggest little overall effect some showing a slight average uplift as a result of immigration, some a slight fall. However, it doesnt follow that this result is uniform. As Ryan also pointed out, highly skilled migrants often compete with lower skilled Brits, keeping wages lower than they otherwise would be for that group. They may well not keep them very much lower. But the effect has been big enough to bring both Labour and Conservative politicians together to worry about the effect. Before the last election, Ed Miliband warned of the consequences of high levels of low skilled migration mostly from within the EU. James Brokenshire used his first speech as a Home Office Minister to assail employers who [want] an easy supply of cheap labour. Over at UKIP, the effects of higher immigration levels on the wages of lower skilled workers has been a leitmotif of Nigel Farage. The Governments view has been summed up by Theresa May. There is evidencethat immigration puts a downward pressure on wagesthe people who lose out are working-class families, as well as ethnic minority communities and recent immigrants themselves. The Home Secretary was quoting the research of the Migration Advisory Committee. Its report probed non-EU immigration only, but other studies have waged wider. A Bank of England report has suggested that the impact of both EU and other migration has been pronounced in recent years. The EU immigrant-native ratio appears to have been rather stable until 2006, rising rapidly thereafter notably in low skilled jobs, it wrote. It also noted that the concentration of EU immigrants has been substantially higher in low-skilled jobs in recent years, compared to non-EU immigrants where the spread is more variable across occupations. It therefore follows that restrictions on EU migration, were Britain to leave the EU, would bring upward pressure on wage rates to borrow Mays form of words for many lower earners were it properly managed. It will be said that wages for this group are going to rise anyway, because they will be receiving Georges Osbornes new Living Wage. However, this is to assume that it will actually be paid at the rates the Chancellor presently plans, surviving any downturn in the economy between now and 2020, with the pressures on employers which such an event would bring. In any event, not all workers feel its benefits. Some firms dont pay it, others miscalculate it, younger workers are paid a lower rate, and the self-employed dont get it in any event. There is a more searching objection to seeking to exclude foreign workers from lower-paid work here to help ensure that wages rise for British ones. In a nutshell, it is that employers should not be compelled to fork out higher pay for lower quality labour: this is what one what might call the Theodore Dalrymple critique of parts of Britains native workforce. Moreover, it can be argued that it would be additionally mistaken to do so given the low levels of productivity in our economy. Why should employers have to pay more money for poor quality work? But think for a moment about where the logic of this position leads. It points to giving up on Britains own unemployed and poorer qualified and relying on cheap labour from abroad instead. This would lead to more of the pressure on public services and social cohesion that the Home Secretary has warned against. But such an outcome would also be wrong in itself. We should be straining to raise the skills of our own workforce and not giving up on our own citizens. Which is precisely what Matthew Hancock and Nick Boles and a raft of other Ministers are striving to do. The Tory tradition, from Disraeli through Baldwin and Macmillan to Cameron, doesnt always privilege capital above labour. Nor does the bigger Conservative one of which it is a part: after all, one of Margaret Thatchers greatest achievements was precisely to give labour access to capital through the mass sale of council houses and shares. One of George Osbornes leitmotifs is that he wants a high wage economy. Brexit and higher wages for British workers would give the Government a chance to help prove that were all in this together. And what an opportunity it is. As Dominic Raab wrote on this site on Monday, leaving the EU would provide a framework for more growth and jobs, especially for smaller businesses, partly through the medium of more free trade deals, partly through cutting back on unnecessary regulation. So higher wages is more than simply a matter of move some jobs from some foreign workers to British ones. Its also one of growing prosperity as a whole. We are more likely to be able to do so if we leave rather than remain. Close After a long study about Zika virus and its connection to microcephaly, it is now official that the virus is indeed causing the birth defect that affects the infant's brain, according to the health officials. Although there are tons of evidence that pointing out the connection of Zika virus and microcephaly, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made official on Wednesday and quickly sent a publication to New England Journal of Medicine, NBC News reported. "It is now clear ... that Zika does cause microcephaly," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden told reporters in a briefing. "We believe the microcephaly is likely to be part of a range of birth defects." Zika virus has been spreading in Brazil since last year and the officials have noted a shocking increase in the number of microcephaly cases. No mosquito-borne virus is known to cause birth defects. The virus that they once thought to be harmless is actually causing birth defects. Doctors did not even think that it can make most people sick until Brazil started raising the alarm. After so many studies, they have discovered that Zika gets into the growing fetus' brain. It will then kill the brain cells which will stop it from developing, often, killing the fetus. It also showed that the process does not stop at the first trimester but at all stages of pregnancy. "There is no longer any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly," Frieden said. "Our previous recommendations regarding how to prevent and avoid Zika virus infection and transmission remain in place," the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said. Since the outbreak started a year ago, CDC has advised pregnant women not to go the Zika-afflicted regions such as Central America, Caribbean, the Pacific Islands and South America, including Rio. It also advised pregnant women's partners to who have been to Zika-afflicted regions to avoid unprotected sex, or better yet, abstain from sex. Mosquito experts in the U.S. are now worrying that the virus might spread in the southern U.S. as summer is coming and the temperature is rising. The Washington is preparing for the at-risk areas by reallocating the Ebola funds and use it in preventing the spread of Zika instead, Fox new said. The CDC is not changing the guidelines right after the new findings were released and said that finding a casual effect next would be imperative. "We are also launching further studies to determine whether children who have microcephaly born to mothers infected with the Zika virus is the tip of the iceberg of what we could see in damaging effects on the brain and other developmental problems," said Frieden. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Close A man who was paralyzed and was not able to use his hands for six years is now able to play video games and do simple things like picking up a bottle. He has planted a small computer chip in his brain that allows his mind to control his hands. Ian Burkhart, 24, a quadriplegic was planted with a small computer chip in his brain. It bypasses his damaged spinal cord to relay 130 electrodes on his forearms that create muscle movements in his hands and fingers, Fox News reported. Burkhart demonstrated the technology for the first time in 2014 when he can only open and close his hands. However, the scientists said that he can now do multiple tasks with the more sophisticated finger and hand movements. The technology can only be used in the laboratory at the moment. The scientists are working to its perfection and planning to use a wireless system that does not need a cable to relay the signals from the brain to the forearm. "This study marks the first time that a person living with paralysis has regained movement by using signals recorded from within the brain," said bioelectronic medicine researcher Chad Bouton of the New York-based Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, who worked on the study at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Ohio. According to Burkhart, the technology allows him to function like "a normal member of society." The technology also has the potential to help people who suffered a stroke or traumatic brain injuries, added Bouton. According to The Guardian, Burkhart had an accident in a beach that broke his neck at the C5 level. He was able to move his arms but not his hand and legs. He received a therapy from a group of doctors at the Ohio State University. He was hoping that advances in medical technology would help him improve his quality of life and said that he was interested in research and willing to be a part of new technology trials. The Ohio researchers worked on a neural bypass created by Batelle, a charity. They offered Burkhart the chance to have the implant planted. "That was the million dollar question: do you want to have brain surgery or something that may not benefit you. There are a lot of risks," said Burkhart. "It was certainly something I had to consider for quite some time. But after a meeting with all the team and everyone involved, I knew I was in good hands." See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare A Posthumous Sedition Case On Dr. BR Ambedkar? By MK Adithya 14 April, 2016 Countercurrents.org These are the days of champions of nationalism, whatever it may mean to them, and of votaries of sedition cases on all and sundry. Not only those in government and ruling party, many in the opposition, as also a frenzied section of the media are carrying on a crusade against who they believe are anti-nationals. In this context, a few glimpses of political life of Dr. BR Ambedkar (Born 14-4-1891 and died on 6-12-1956) are worth recalling. They are less known to, and much less told by, many Ambedkarites, more so from the younger generation. These things must be told to one and all as the ruling parties and governments across the country are busy celebrating his 125th Birthday on April 14. The following episode was narrated, among others, by the famous biographer Dhananjay Keer in his classic on BR.Ambedkar(1954,Revised Edition1971.) Incidentally, Keer showed his draft to Ambedkar and got many clarifications before he finalized the text. *** *** **** In the course of a debate in Rajya Sabha on September 2, 1953, Ambedkar said : People always keep saying to me: Oh, you are the maker of the Constitution. My answer is I was a hack. What I was asked to do, I did much against my will. (Oxford Dictionary says hack is a person hired to do dull routine work.) Then a Member from Rajasthan said: But you defended it. Ambedkar shot back: We lawyers defend many things. The then Home Minister Katju said Ambedkar was responsible for drafting the Constitution. And Ambedkar said: you want to accuse me of your blemishes? Then he later added: Sir, my friends tell me that I have made the Constitution. But I am quite prepared to say that I shall be the first person to burn it out. I do not want it. It does not suit anybody. A posthumous Bharat Ratna was conferred on Ambedkar as late as in 1990, 34 years after his death, as his birth centenary was then approaching, by a government led by VP Singh, a non-Congress National Front government that perhaps needed a non-Congress icon. Now, perhaps around his 125th Birthday, a posthumous sedition case is due. He certainly fits the bill, going by the above remarks and the yardsticks and ways of those in power today. But they wont do it. After all, Everyone loves Ambedkar today (as everyone loved drought as P. sainath once said.) They believe his name would rain votes, even in mid-summer. *** *** **** Why did he say so? There hangs a story of not only Ambedkar, but also of Indias Constitution. The present Constitution, of which Ambedkar is often referred to as THE architect, was born in bizarre circumstances. It was adopted by a Constituent Assembly that was conceived and elected much before 1947 August, to be precise in 1946 itself. Who conducted those polls, and under which laws? Obviously, the British colonial masters. They were held under the colonial, Government of India Act 1935. Who were the voters? There was no universal, adult franchise at the time. The 1946 elections were held with a limited franchise. Only a small proportion (around 10 percent ) of the population constituted the voters: Those who paid a certain level of taxes, those highly educated, those deputed by the princely kingdoms were the voters, in the main. That is only the elite classes of the day who represented no more than 7-8 percent of the population of those days. We the people of India give to ourselves this Constitution such words were merely formal. In fact, not true. It had no democratic credentials. It was elected not by people, but by only elite. Even those elite were not sovereign; they were subjects of a colonial regime. There was religion-based communal representation in the secular Constitution : There were representatives, besides Hindus, of Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, of scheduled castes. Then there were nominated members. Thus 292 were members indirectly elected from various provinces, by the elite. Then there were 93 who were not elected, but deputed by princely kingdoms. Thus this Constituent Assembly that had no peoples mandate, and no sovereignty, discussed a draft, came to some agreement, and that was worded and reworded into a final draft, which was formally adopted on November 26, 1949. It was this day Modi government highlighted in 2015 November and decided the day would be celebrated every year. Ambedkar was the Chairman of a seven-member Drafting Committee, that worked from 1947 August 29 to 1950 January 24, which would do the necessary word-smithy as decided by the Constituent Assembly that was NOT founded on a democratic basis. As if this was not enough, the drafting committee had an Advisor sitting on its head, Benegal N. Rao, ICS, a top expert in (British) Constitutional Law etc. The draft was nothing original. It was overwhelmingly borrowed often copied verbatim, or slightly modified from the Government of India Act, 1935, that was described by Nehru as a charter of bondage. Nehru had said we would and should have one based on adult franchise, which never happened. The 1935 Act in turn had borrowed from that of 1919. Cooperation with 1935 Act would amount to a betrayal, the AICC had said in a Resolution. At least 250 Articles were thus taken from 1935. Then there were clauses borrowed from France (ideas of liberty etc.), from Ireland (Directive Principles etc.), from Japan (Acts related to Supreme Court etc.), from Russia (planning-related), and then Mays Parliamentary practices of UK. There were borrowings from US too. One renowned expert and commentator had said: The Constitution was prepared after ransacking all the known constitutions of the world. The end product was a beautiful patchwork, said one Member in the course of discussions in the House (Durgadas vol-2, p. 613-616). It was a slavish imitation of the west said another Member. Congress Working Committee Member Sarat Chandra Bose had said: The very preamble was conceived in fraud. A popular cinemasong of Nehru era (Mera Joota hai Japani phir bhi Dil hai Hindustani, or something like that) perhaps was a reflection of this admixture. Given the above background, one can understand why Ambedkar had said he was only a hack; why he was not owning up the Constitution, and said he was ready to burn it.. (Most of these facts in this section were taken from, among other sources, Indian Constitution Unriddled : Search for Sources (2015), a 500-page volume by SG Nadgir and KS Sharma, published by Purogami Sahitya Prakashana, Hubli-580032. The volume interestingly has juxtaposed the Articles of 1935 Act on the left-side pages and relevant ones from 1950. For more details mail to : kssharmaji@rediffmil.com. Dr KS Sharma is a senior ( aged 82) and renowned expert in Constitution and law, besides being a leader of working class who successfully organized one lakh unorganized dailywagers of Karnataka Govt. who got regularized as a result of 30-year-long struggle). *** *** **** The circumstances under which Ambedkar was made the Chairman of the Drafting Committee were themselves bizarre and painful. He was not allowed to be elected as a member of the Constituent Assembly by the ruling classes of the day, represented by the Congress in the main and Hindu Mahasabha , from Maharashtra which was his original and natural constituency. He could enter the House only from the Eastern part of the then undivided Bengal thanks to the support of GS Mondal, of Bengals SC Federation, suplemented by some votes of Muslim League. And with 1947 August, partition of Bengal took place and as a result his seat from East Pakistan was lost. By that time, his significant role in the House was noted. And in the wake of partition and related strife, the congress felt it was wise to rope him in so as to impart and retain a semblance of representation to the depressed classes. Thus he was coopted, also into the cabinet, along with Shyama Prasad Mukherjee though both were non-Congressmen. Thus when the new Constitution was heralded on January 26, 1950, he was very much there. Ambedkar was keen that he should get elected to the Loksabha in the First General Election of 1952. He did not like to be coopted or nominated. But the architect as they call him was defeated by them by a considerable margin of 14000 votes through Congress candidate Kajrolkar, obviously in a seat reserved for SCs. It hurt him badly, morally also. His wife and colleagues were worried about his health, and lobbied for him and he was elected to the Rajya Sabha in an indirect election, allowed or supported by the Congress bigwigs. There came a by-election to the Loksabha in 1954 May which he contested again . And again was defeated by Congress. Thus he was not allowed on his own strength. And he was allowed only to be coopted and that he humiliation swallowed. He continued in the Cabinet until he resigned later as a protest when the Hindu Code Bill he had piloted with Nehrus support, could not be passed in the face of Hindu reactionary forces, most of them from within the Congress, in the House. Nehru developed cold feet, backed out, and Ambedkar was let down. So he resigned. Ambedkar was very much conscious of the nature of the Constitution as the following celebrated statement made in the House on November 25, 1949, just before the Final Draft was to be adopted, as he reveals and reminds: On 26th January 1950 we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality, and in economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be recognizing the principle of one man one vote, and one vote one value. In our social and economic life we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man and one value. .we must remove this contradiction at the earliest moment or else those who suffer with inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this Assembly has so laboriously built up. It was 66 years ago but the day never arrived. And the contradiction is more acute than ever. Yes, if only possible, a sedition case would have been launched posthumously against Ambedkar today. But perhaps law wont permit it, nor vote-bank politics would allow it. There are voices opposing attempts of appropriation of Ambedkar by the Sangh Parivar, rightly so. But he was earlier sought to be appropriated by the Congress that never allowed him an honorable place. It was only late in 1990 onwards , the ruling classes felt the need to create an idolatry around him, and his statues are found in most of the villages, almost all of them pointing a direction he had no conviction in, and holding the book of which he was a hack, and which did not and could not basically help resolving the contradictions he warned of , but showing the same way all the same. And many who claim his legacy as Ambedkarites are today wallowing in luxuries and wielding the state power against the oppreesed masses , and they play musical chairs grabbing seats of power from each and every party ranging from Congress , regional parties, upto BJP and Shiv Sena. It is they who celebrate a merry 125th Birthday. (This is a modified English version of two articles by the writer, a mediaperson, published earlier in Telugu media. He may be reached at : adithya.mudumbai@gmail.com. ) The Logic Of Murder In Israel: A Culture Of Impunity In Full View Of The Entire World By Ramzy Baroud 14 April, 2016 Countercurrents.org "Whether he made a mistake or not, is a trivial question," said an Israeli Jewish man who joined large protests throughout Israel in support of a soldier who calmly, and with precision, killed a wounded Palestinian man in al-Khalil (Hebron). The protesting Jewish man described Palestinians as 'barbaric', bestial', who should not be perceived as people. This is hardly a fringe view in Israel. The vast majority of Israelis, 68%, support the killing of Abdel Fatah Yusri al-Sharif, 21, by the solider who had reportedly announced before firing at the wounded Palestinian that the terrorist had to die. The killing scene would have been relegated to the annals of the many contested killings by Israeli soldiers, were it not for a Palestinian field worker with Israels human rights group, BTselem, who filmed the bloody event. The incident, once more, highlights a culture of impunity that exists in the Israeli army, which is not a new phenomenon. Not only is Israeli society supportive of the soldier behind this particular bloody incident, almost a vast majority is in support of field executions as well. In fact, the culture of impunity in Israel is linked both to political leanings and religious beliefs. According to the latest Peace Index released by Tel Aviv Universitys Israel Democracy Institute, nearly 67% of the countrys Jewish population believes that it is a commandment to kill a terrorist who comes at you with a knife. Killing Palestinians as a form of religious duty goes back to the early days of the Jewish state, and such beliefs are constantly corroborated by the countrys high spiritual institutions, similar to the recent decree issued by the countrys Chief Sephardic Rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef. While 94% of ultra-Orthodox agree with the murder edict of Yosef, 52% of the countrys secularists do, too. In fact, dehumanizing Palestinians describing them as beasts, cockroaches, or treating them as dispensable inferiors has historically been a common denominator in Israeli society, uniting Jews from various political, ideological and religious backgrounds. Rabbi Yosefs decree, for example, is not much different from statements made by Israeli Defense Minister, Moshe Ya'alon, and other army and government official, who made similar calls, albeit without utilizing a strongly worded religious discourse. Using the same logic, the quote above describing Palestinians as beasts is not divergent from a recent statement made by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. At the end, in the State of Israel, as I see it, there will be a fence that spans it all," Netanyahu said in February. In the area that we live, we must defend ourselves against the wild beasts," he added. While pro-Israeli pundits labor to explain the widespread Israeli perception of Palestinians - and Arabs, in general - on rational grounds, logic and commonsense continues to evade them. For instance, Netanyahus last war on Gaza in the summer of 2014 killed a total of 2,251 Palestinians - including 1,462 civilians, among them 551 children, according to a report prepared by the UN Human Rights Council. During that war, only six Israeli civilians were killed, and 60 soldiers. Who, then, is truly the wild beast? However, Palestinians are not made into beasts because of their supposedly murderous intent for, not once, statistically, in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict did Palestinians ever kill more Israelis, as opposed to the other way round. The ailment is not the number, but a common Israeli cultural perception that is utterly racist and dehumanizing. Nor is the Israeli perception of Palestinians ever linked to a specific period of time, for example, a popular uprising or a war. Consider this eyewitness account from August 2012, cited in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, years before the current uprising in the West Bank and Jerusalem: Today I saw a lynch with my own eyes, in Zion Square, the center of the city of Jerusalem and shouts of A Jew is a soul and Arab is a son of a , were shouted loudly and dozens of youths ran and gathered and started to really beat to death three Arab youths who were walking quietly in the Ben Yehuda street, the witness wrote. When one of the Palestinian youths fell to the ground, the youths continued to hit him in the head; he lost consciousness, his eyes rolled, his angled head twitched, and then those who were kicking him fled while the rest gathered around in a circle, with some still shouting with hate in their eyes. Imagine this graphic account repeated, in different manifestations, every day in Occupied Palestine, and consider this: rarely does anyone pay a price for it. Indeed, this is how Israels culture of impunity has evolved over the years. According to Israeli human rights group, Yesh Din, approximately 94% of criminal investigations launched by the IDF against soldiers suspected of criminal violent activity against Palestinians and their property are closed without any indictments. In the rare cases that indictments are served, conviction leads to very light sentencing. And no one is immune. Israels 972Mag wrote in December 2015 about the hundreds of violent incidents of Israeli forces targeting Palestinian medical staff. Palestinian rights group, Al-Haq, documented 56 cases in which ambulances were attacked, and 116 assaults against medical staff while on duty. How about violence meted out by illegal settlers whose population in the Occupied Territories is constantly on the increase? Armed settlers rampage daily through villages of the Occupied West Bank and the neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. The number of their violent crimes has grown tremendously in recent years, and even doubled since 2009. In August 2015, months before the current uprising, Human Rights Watch senior researcher, Bill Van Esveld, wrote: Settlers attack Palestinians and their property on a near-daily basis - there were more than 300 such attacks last year, but few attackers faced justice. In the past decade, less than two percent of investigations into settler attacks ended with convictions. In case one is still fooled by the rational argument used to justify the murder of militarily occupied, oppressed and besieged Palestinians, Batzalel Smotrich, from the Jewish Home Party, which is part of Netanyhu's ruling coalition, protested via twitter that his wife was expected to give birth in the same hospital room where Arab babies are born. His written rationale, after declaring that his wife is not a racist, Its natural that my wife wouldnt want to lie next to someone whose baby son might want to murder my son. The likes of Smotrich, and the majority of Israelis are morally blind to their own wrongdoing. They have long been sold on the idea that Israel, despite its brutality is a villa in the jungle. According to a recent Pew survey, nearly half of Israelis want to expel Palestinians Arabs - Muslims and Christians, from their ancestral homeland. The danger of impunity is not merely the lack of legal accountability, but the fact that it is the very foundation of most violent crimes against humanity, including genocide. This impunity began seven decades ago and it will not end without international intervention, with concerted efforts to hold Israel accountable in order to bring the agony of Palestinians to a halt. - Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His books include Searching Jenin, The Second Palestinian Intifada and his latest My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gazas Untold Story. His website is www.ramzybaroud.net. Handwara Sexual Assault And Killings: The Minor girl And Her Father Detained Press Release 14 April, 2016 Countercurrents.org Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society has been approached by the family of the minor girl in the Handwara sexual assault case for legal counsel and other support. On 12 April 2016, a minor girl (aged 16) from Handwara had, as per reports, accused army personnel of sexual assault. Four persons have been killed to date by armed forces personnel following protests. On the same day, a video was released of the minor girl exonerating the armed forces of sexual assault. The identity of the victim is revealed through this video that appears to have been recorded by the police and then widely circulated by army and Indian media. The family of the girl state that she has been kept in police custody from 12 April to date. Last night, around 1 am, the father of the victim was called to the Handwara police station. He was accompanied by his brother. Since then his whereabouts are not known. The family has been denied access to both the minor girl and her father. The detention of the minor girl and her father are outside the powers of the State and appears to be an attempt to further pressurize the family to withdraw all allegations against the armed forces. Further, the manner in which the video has been recorded and then circulated is a gross violation of the special protections afforded to minors particularly during investigation of sexual assault cases. The actions of the police and the army would necessarily invite criminal prosecution if investigated. The family of the victim has appealed for immediate release of the minor girl and the father of the victim and has sought legal assistance. The State under the garb of law and order is ensuring that all access to the family of the victim is denied so as to ensure protection to the armed forces personnel and seek to further distract from the crimes that have been committed from the sexual assault to the killings. Any suggestion that the State is seeking to protect the minor girl and family must be rejected in the circumstances of this case and the actions of the police. Any protection, if necessary, must be provided at the residence of the victim and not at the police station. The minor girl and her father must be immediately released and allowed access to legal counsel. Government of Jammu and Kashmir must allow immediate and unhindered access for the legal counsel team of JKCCS to the victim and her family. Spokesperson Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society Reimagining Dr. Ambedkar's Legacy On His 125th Birthday By P Victor Vijay Kumar 14 April, 2016 Countercurrents.org Ambedkar had exceptionally expended much part of his life on a society he has aspired for, unequalled by any, confronting fervently the despotism of majoritarianist rule in this country. If one glances through any of his writings, one would only find his anxiety of how majoriatarianists would run this country post-independence and how to contain them and extend due importance to the growth and developmentof minorities (Ambedkar considered untouchables as part of minorities). While acknowledging that Political Majority is only communal majority in this country, he stated that communal majority would be free to run the administration according to its own ideas of what is good for the minorities. Such a state of affairs could not be called Democracy. It will have to be called Imperialism . Essentially, he devoted whole of his life in combating this Political Majority overruling the interests of Political minorities . He abhorredMajoritarianism and observed the roots of Majoritarianism inBrahminism in this country. Fromhis role in public movement to the administrative and advisory roles are concerned, he always endeavored to contain the majoritarianism at each and every point of contact for he felt that our system would be weak not just for lack of proper strategy or proper regulation or proper statute but lack of appropriate public conscience. If majoritarianism dominates public conscience, he forecasted that it would be nothing but a chaotic life for minorities in this country. Public conscience means conscience which becomes agitated at every wrong, no matter who is the sufferer, and it means that everybody whether he suffers that particular wrong, or not, is prepared to join him in order to get him relieved , he said. Ambedkar clearly indicated that there is not even concern or sympathy on any public issue in this country.What Ambedkar wished was a clear empathy from the ruling segment of the country with that of the entire populace of the country and through his administrative and advisory roles, while he had empirically proven that it is just a mirage of hope for the same.He has been proven time and again correct in this country in the contemporary times. A society lacking appropriate public conscience would be totally handicapped to make appropriate laws and institutions.He dreamt of democracy that brings in liberty, equality and fraternity in the country amongst its citizens. He had ideologically expunged the majorianist philosophy with a commanding and self-possessed criticism against, be it caste-liberal Gandhi, or be it fundamentalist Hindu MahaSabha, or be it rightist Congress or be it a broad philosophy of Brahminism. Many Marxists allege that Ambedkar strived only for a better democracy which is longed by bourgeoisie, which is factually and blatantly wrong. In fact, Ambedkar was the only one who suggested ( Indeed, the safeguarding of individual liberty requires that )Constitution should prescribe economic shape of society but not just political structure of society ( in his bookLabour and the Constitution ). He qualified The argument that the constitution should not prescribe the economic shape of society and, if it does so, it would destroy individual liberty is a fallacious argument . It is well known that , contrarily to what Ambedkar aspired for , any bourgeoisie democracy strongly denies institutionalizing a democratic economic structure which is foundedon principle of equality. Bourgeosie Governments want only fundamental rights to be incorporated in constitution and argue that the equality in economic structure should be left to legislature. As against this, heargued that the State shall not delegate powers to private persons to govern others. This essentially formed a governing principle of his idea of State Socialism as a substitute to (Bourgeoisie) Democracy. ( Ambedkar, during his life span of 65 years, which was dedicated for studying caste and fighting against it, working tirelessly in his administrative and advisory roles, singularly, pursuing his academic studies in most abominable conditions and voraciously documenting varied ideas of his politics, was not in a position to model the means of his idea of State Socialism ) If it is observed, bourgeoisie Democracy fails to consider containing the right of people to formulate alternate institutions which do not give rise to originating the evil of violation of rights. He asserted State Socialism is essential for rapid industrialization of India. Private enterprise cannot do it, and it if did, it would produce the inequalities of wealth, which private capitalism has produced in Europe and which should be a warning to Indians. He further added Consolidation of Holdings and Tenancy legislation are worse than useless. They cannot bring about prosperity in agriculture and he continued Neither Consolidation nor Tenancy Legislation can solve their problem. Only collective farms on the lines set out in the proposal can help them . With this, Ambedkar clearly denounces concentration of wealth and argues vehemently for constitutionalizing the cooperative farming and state sponsored industries, which are two basic economic components of socialist equality.Ambedkars analysis of class in this country is mapped out in nut shell in his saying caste is an enclosure of class. He had pronounced The connection between individual liberty and the shape and form of economic structure of society may not be apparent to everyone. Nonetheless, the connection between the two is real. This is what had scared Ambedkar that lack of public conscience would eventually kill the spirit of guaranteeing the fundamental rights in the country and he advocated to constitutionalize the principle of economic equality. He appropriately explained how fundamental rights would be eventually a farce without prescribing economic shape of the country in the constitution (in his book States and Minorities) The fear of starvation, the fear of losing a house, the fear of losing savings, the fear of being compelled to take children away from school, the fear of having burden on public charity, the fear of having to be burned or buried at public cost are factors too strong to permit a man to stand out for his Fundamental Rights and he illustrates, The unemployed are thus compelled to relinquish their Fundamental Rights for the sake of securing the privilege to work and subsist . Ambedkar had a great clarity that without killing the evil which is slamming the fundamental rights , we cannot guarantee fundamental rights, else, constitution will mere remain as a document to prescribe a code of social living. Ambedkar never advocated for a bourgeoisie democracy and rather despised its hypocrisy strongly pointing out how it manipulates the gap between Constitution and Legislation. With his mark of delightful remark , Ambedkar concludes that Those who want the economic structure of society to be modeled on State Socialism must realize that they cannot leave the fulfillment of so fundamental a purpose to the exigencies of ordinary Law, which simple majorities whose political fortunes are never determined by rational causes have a right to make or unmake.For these reasons, Political Democracy seems to be unsuited for the purpose Ambedkar never had extensive dreams about the Parliamentary Democracy and the Constitution in which he was part of. Many stereotype Ambedkarites confound that unimpeachably following of constitution as the only path of emancipation he has suggested.He penetrated into the functioning of Parliament Democracy in administrative and advisory roles to continuously perforate it, but not be part of it.His enormous ideological mightiness coupled with formidable rally of masses behind him fashioned the main stream majoritarianist ( Brahminist) forces remain as frail witnesses failed to diminish his vigour. Thus, Ambedkar never remained as just a ( Bourgeois ) Democrat ( limiting to just voicing for changes of improvement) or a Liberal ( limiting to reformative attitude ) but a fighter, anti-majoritarian protagonist and a pioneer human rights philosopher. **** (PS :Ambedkar never considered conventional communists as torch-bearers of masses as he believed that they failed in their Marxist perspective to understand caste polarization and concentration of wealth in the hands of only few caste elite of this country. However, his very attempt to compare Marx with much admired and revered Buddha itself manifests that he had considered Marx as one of the prominent ideological and philosophical pioneers in the world . Ambedkar differed with principles of communism basically on two fronts (i) violence of bloodbath ; ( (ii) unending dictatorship in the name of proletariat . Marxists may like to confront him for not suggesting alternate forms of State Rule and means of achievement therefor, they need to consider the limited time and resources available to Ambedkar for he was unassisted and lone combatant expending his entire life exposing caste polarization politics and studying philosophy of Brahminism. He felt immense and immediate need to slacken off caste system to provide much needed relief for the large caste-encumbered sections of this Indian society, rather than waging an equivocating long drawn revolution needing blood sacrifice.However, certain places of history pointing out to his unfinished writings indicate that Ambedkar was breaking down the principles of socialism to deduce to an eclectic understanding of the form and means of a rightful living.) ( The writer is a CFO of a large infrastructure group based out of Hyderabad. He is a writer and critic. For any queries on the above article, he is reachable through his mail ID pvvkumar@yahoo.co.uk or face book ID P V Vijay Kumar ) India-US Military Cooperation Robust And Deepening By K. Ratnayake 14 April, 2016 WSWS.org US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and his Indian counterpart, Manohar Parrikar, announced Tuesday that Washington and New Delhi have agreed in principle on a logistics exchange agreement under which the US military will be able to routinely use Indian bases and ports for resupply, repair, and rest. A longstanding US objective, the logistics agreement has far reaching military and strategic implications for India and the world. Behind the backs of the Indian people, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and the Indian military-security establishment are transforming India into a frontline state in Washingtons drive to strategically encircle, subjugate, and if need be wage war on China. A joint Indo-US statement summarizing the outcome of Carters three-day visit to India lauded the robust and deepening bilateral military-security ties between the two countries. Carter began his visit at the Karavar naval base near Goa on Indias west coast. There he joined Parrikar in a joint inspection of the aircraft carrier INS Vikramadithya and the US Pacific fleets USS Blue Ridge warship, which was making a routine call. The US and Indian Defense Secretaries then flew to New Delhi for further talks and a meeting between Carter and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At his Tuesday press conference with Carter, Parrikar said that the expansion of Indo-US military ties meant new practical mechanisms were needed. The two, Parrikar said, had agreed to finalize a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in the coming months, with a draft agreement to be ready in a month, if not weeks. Carter, Parrikar, and their officials were anxious to downplay and distort the significance of the LEMOA. This is because they recognize that there is no support among Indias workers and toilers for harnessing India to US imperialisms predatory strategic agenda. Indian officials said the LEMOA will differ from the Logistics Support Agreements (LSA) that the Pentagon has with other countries. They claimed it will operate on a case-by-case basis, with India always having the right to refuse a US request for assistance, and that if Washington were to go to war, India would be under no obligation to allow the US military to continue using its bases for refuelling and other logistical support. For his part, Carter emphasized that the agreement is not about basing US troops in India, but about making it more routine and automatic for us to operate together, including in paying for supplies. Significantly, Carter did suggest that US troops could be deployed in India, but only for a specific missiona mission that he was careful to cast as humanitarian. Nobody, said the US Defense Secretary, is talking of stationing troops on Indian soil. As and when a situation arises, like an earthquake or natural disaster, that is when it is directed at. It will be applicable on a case-to-case basis but under the agreement. To understand the true import of LEMOA it is necessary to situate it within the broader context of the rapid expansion of Indian-US military-strategic ties and New Delhis support for the aggressive stance the US has adopted in the South China Sea. The joint statement issued by Carter and Parrikar, reaffirmed the importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight throughout the (Indo-Pacific) region, including in the South China Sea. It went on to say that the Defense Secretaries had vowed their support for a rule-based order and regional security conducive to peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean. All of this parrots Washingtons line. It depicts China as the aggressor, when it is the US that has encouraged Chinas neighbours to press their maritime claims against Beijing, and portrays the US as motivated by concern for ensuring that sea lanes remain open for trade, when its real aim is to ensure its warships have ready access to Chinas coastal waters and control over the sea lanes upon which its economy depends. Washington has been anxious to implicate India its strategic competition with China in south-east Asia and the South China Sea and to encourage India in its ambitions to become an Indian Ocean power. The LEMOA would actually facilitate this, as, under its reciprocal provisions, Indian war ships will be able to make use of US bases at Diego Garcia, Bahrain, and elsewhere for resupply. During his India trip, Carter reiterated Washingtons offer to assist India in developing economic and military-strategic ties with South-East Asia and touted the strategic convergence between the USs anti-China Pivot to Asia and Indias Act East policy. Carter also proclaimed the USs support for Indias plans to expand its fleet of warships from 130 to 166, including the addition of a third aircraft carrier, saying Washington believes that India should be a net exporter of security to the region. As a result of Carters visit, India and the US have now agreed to launch a bilateral Maritime Security Dialogue led by high-level Defense and foreign affairs officials; to commence navy-to-navy discussions on anti-submarine warfare; and continue talks on a joint aircraft-carrier design project and the transfer to India of US catapult take-off aircraft-carrier technology. Indias previous Congress Party-led government abandoned in all but name Indias traditional posture of non-alignment, forging a global strategic partnership with Washington. During its decade in power from 2004-14, the Indian military became the Pentagons most frequent partner in military exercises and the US emerged as a major weapons supplier to New Delhithe biggest in terms of new weapons deals. However, Washington became increasingly impatient with New Delhis reputed strategic dithering, especially after it launched the pivot or rebalance in 2011. Since coming to power in 2014, Modi and his Hindu supremacist BJP have moved aggressively to integrate India ever-more deeply into the USs military-strategic offensive against China in the hopes of bolstering Indias own great power ambitions and boosting investment from the US and Japan. This has included: signing on to a US-India Joint Strategic Vision Agreement for Asia Pacific Region and Indian Ocean that includes US-scripted language on the South China Sea; assisting the US in its regime change operation in the 2015 Sri Lankan presidential election; making Japan a partner of the annual US-Indian Malabar naval exercise; and otherwise expanding bi-lateral and trilateral with the USs principal allies in the region, Japan and Australia. The Modi government has also pressed forward with the implementation of a US-Indo Defense Technology and Trade Initiative, although not as fast as Washington would like. Through deals to co-produce and co-develop advanced weapon systems, the Pentagon and Obama administration are trying to secure huge arms contracts for US big business. Even more importantly, they are seeking to harness the Indian military to the US, by making it dependent on US technology and support. During his India trip, Carter promoted deals to both sell and produce in India the Lockheed Martin-made F-16 fighter jet and Boeings F/A 18, an aircraft designed to be launched from an aircraft carrier using catapult technology. At his press conference, Carter was asked how India could trust Washington when it is selling F-16s to Indias arch-rival Pakistan. In his response, the US Defense Secretary insisted that while Islamabad is an important ally of Washington in fighting terrorism, i.e. waging war in Afghanistan, the US views its relations with India radically differently. India is a global US partner, claimed Carter. Pakistan has repeatedly warned that the USs strategic partnership with India has overturned the balance of power between two nuclear-armed South Asian states. On Tuesday, as Carter was wrapping up his India trip, the head of Pakistans military, General Raheel Sharif, accused India of covertly aiding the separatist insurgency in Baluchistan so as to prevent the realization of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Chinas initial response to the impending India-US logistics support agreement and Carters visit has been cautious. A Foreign Ministry official merely noted that India has been upholding (an) independent diplomatic policy and added that Parrikar will soon be visiting China. Some press reports suggested this was a veiled way of saying Beijing intends to use Parrikars visit to make its apprehensions known. Indias big business media has been very supportive of the Modi governments pronounced pro-US shift in Indias foreign policy. India bases to open door to US warships, planes trumpeted the headline of a laudatory report in the Times of India. In an editorial published on the eve of Carters visit the Business Standard declared, Though it is true that the US sees India as one bulwark against Chinas rising power, reciprocity here can only be mutually beneficial in the light of Chinas overt tilt towards Pakistan and aggressive infrastructure expansion into Indias neighbourhood. Printer Friendly Version Ambedkar And Parliamentary Democracy By Dr KS Sharma 14 April, 2016 Countercurrents.org Parliamentary Democracy isin reality a government of a hereditary subject class by a hereditary ruling class : Ambedkar Various State Govts and ruling parties are busy preparing to celebrate 125th birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on April 14. The Sangh Parivar of course had launched efforts last year itself to appropriate him, as many have commented. Why only they, everyone sees a vote-getter in Ambedkar. But it is much more than votes and vote-banks. There is statecraft--cratfiness too--in what they do. They have larger goals. Even as the farce of electoral democracy has become a juggernaut on the four-wheels of moneybags, liquor crates, communal and caste mafias, manipulation and muscle power, all well-greased with state funds that are intended to buy votes in the name of freebies and welfare schemes, and getting increasingly exposed as a commercialized ritual, the ruling classes and their parties are out to sustain, though in vain, the dubious democratic credentials of the system. Quite often they seek to invoke Ambedkar to embellish and laud to the skies the so-called biggest democracy India has. The academic and media pundits would be waiting in the wings--covering up and ignoring the juggernaut mentioned above--to praise the great wisdom of the Indian voters, whatever the results, if only to serve the respective winning sections of the ruling class parties, by rendering them legitimacy they do not have. They claim peoples mandate, shoving under the carpet all undemocratic practices, and ascribe to themselves a democratic sanction they do not have in the real sense. In this context certain views of Ambedkar on political democracy, in particular parliamentary democracy, need to be noted, analysed and understood deeply. Then there has been an attempt in the recent past by the State agencies and a section of the polity and the media to brand and suppress the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) as an extremist organization. They are out to invoke and justify use of sedition laws to victimize them. We do not know much about the views of ASA and whether they indeed have extremist views as alleged. To the extent known, at least a section of ASA leaders, see and show Ambedkar as an architect of the Indian Constitution. Then there are leftists and so-called communists out to embellish and even to defend the parliamentary democracy, particularly as it is practised in India. In view of the above and more reasons, it is instructive to examine some of the views Ambedkar elaborated on parliamentary democracy. Ambedkar was a great scholar, perhaps the topmost among Indias political class. He was also a politician whose role was sought to be ignored and relegated by the Gandhians, Nehruites, among others. It was not until 1990 that they decided to confer Bharat Ratna on him. And that happened as a non-Congress (VP Singh Govt). was taking root at the centre, after a long gap after 1977 Janata regime. It was only around that time and later that Ambedkars writings were more promoted, translated into some other languages and published with initiatives from non-Congress (and non-BJP ) Govts. It was only since then that his statues and Ambedkar Bhavans began to be built in every state, in thousands of villages, as never before. One can not forget that there were agitations at various places some violent and some subtle opposing to name a University after Ambedkar. Now there are so many Colleges and Universities in so many states named after him. It was only in the year 1998 that a feature film was made on Ambedkar, by Jabbar Patel, first in English, then dubbed into a few other languages. Despite it being a sincere attempt and a good example of a biographical film, it was never released and promoted in a big way, in the commercial cinema circuit. The cable TV channels show it only very rarely , definitely not in their prime-time slots. It was left to the DD to show it now and then, with least publicity, and often at odd hours. Now everyone is vying to use Ambedkar, even the Sangh Parivar is not lagging behind, having failed in all their earlier dirty tricks. Arun Shourie on Ambedkar was a thing of the past. Now the Parivar is seeking to reinvent and reinterpret their own Ambedkar. It is in this background that one has to see the motives of the State and ruling class agencies in promoting Ambedkar as THE Architect of Indian Constitution. They have their own reasons for that. The gullible are made to believe as if he was the sole maker of laws and sole architect of a Constitution that are increasingly used to suppress people, stifle freedom of expression, enforce censorship, justify black laws including sections related to sedition, dismiss elected govts and invoke Presidents Rule, impose Emergency etc. This is not speak of encounters and disappearances of thousands of people all over India in a very secular manner. They do not often tell that he was only the Chairman of a Drafting Committee that had so many constraints. That the Constituent assembly was NOT elected by adult franchise, but was elected under much-despired, colonial, Govt. of India Act, 1935; that it was a child conceived much before 1947 August ritual of independence, better termed as Transfer of Power. It is well known that India had adopted the Westminster model of the British. It is made so popular in India that the common man, even among the educated, does not know that it was born and developed as a form of rule that has been inseparable from bourgeois democracy. It is not appreciated that there are, and there could be, other forms beyond the U.K model, of course apart from the US and French (Presidential) models. The following are only a few extracts from a paper presented at the XXXII Indian Social Science Congress held at New Delhi from 18'" December to 22nd December 2008.The paper by Dr K. S. SHARMA, Senior Professor of Law, was titled as : ROADLESS REPUBLIC" TO A REPUBLIC OF ENDS": Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, is popularly known as "the architect of Indian Constitution", as he was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee which prepared the Draft Constitution for adoption and approval by the Constituent Assembly. It is also known that the Indian Constitution opted for parliamentary democracy instead of a presidential democracy and to a great extent adopted the Westminster Model of Democracy. India has crossed fifty eight years experimenting and experiencing Parliamentary Democracy and with nearly a hundred amendments to its Constitution, yet finding the system inadequate to realize fully the dreams of the founding fathers. The question that is pestering us is, were we right in choosing parliamentary democracy as the model for our governance after independence? In an effort to answer this question, it is fit and apt to understand and analyse the views of Dr.Ambedkar on parliamentary democracy, which he held, before he became the Chairman of the Drafting Committee. These views are revealing and after a study of these views, there is no surprise if we begin to doubt whether it was Dr.Ambedkar, who drafted it, as Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution? The following views of Dr.Ambedkar are extracted from the speech he delivered at the concluding session of the All India Trade Union Workers Study Camp held in Delhi from 8th to 17lh September 1943 under the auspices of the Indian Federation of Labour. This historic document seems to have been lost sight of by political pundits, who are severe critics of parliamentary democracy. After a perusal of Ambedkar's views presented on the above occasion, anybody would say that it looks as if he was speaking of Parliamentary Democracy as prevalent today. In his opening remarks Dr.Ambedkar says that "as the autocracy of Despotic Sovereigns was replaced after a long and bloody struggle by a system known as Parliamentary Democracy, it was felt that this was the last word in the frame of Government. It was believed to bring about the millennium in which every human being will have the right to liberty, property and pursuit of happiness. It is therefore a matter of surprise that there has been a revolt against Parliamentary Democracy although not even a century has elapsed since its universal acceptance and inauguration". It is already past Sixty Five years since this remark was made and it is true even to this day. At that time there were revolts against Parliamentary Democracy not only in Italy, Germany, Russia and Spain but in most other countries and so Ambedkar poses the question, "why should there be discontent and dissatisfaction against Parliamentary Democracy?" and adds "There is no country in which the urgency of considering this question is greater than it is in India. India is negotiating to have Parliamentary Democracy". The remark that follows is very interesting, He said "There is a great need of someone with sufficient courage to tell Indians - beware of Parliamentary Democracy, it is not the best product, as it appeared to be". What is surprising and perplexing is that, even though Dr.Ambedkar had the courage to tell Indians that it is "not the best product" and to be "beware of Parliamentary Democracy", the question that arises is, why did he subscribe to this form of governance, as the architect of the Indian Constitution? It looks paradoxical, but the only plausible explanation that can be given is that, after all he was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, and he had no personal option, but to honestly reflect the wisdom of the Constituent Assembly, which after nearly three years of debates, by the best of elite brains who constituted the said body, had decided on this form of governance. Whatever that be, Dr.Ambedkar's incisive analysis of "why has Parliamentary Democracy failed?" is invaluable and needs a second look after nearly six decades of experimentation in Parliamentary Democracy in India. Dr.Ambedkar notes that while there was no surprise that Parliamentary Democracy was opposed in Italy, Spain and Germany, where there were dictatorships, what surprised him was that it was also unfortunately opposed in countries where Dictatorships were opposed and in spite of Parliamentary democracy progressing in three directions, ie. expanding the notion of Equality of Political Rights, recognizing the principle of equality of social and economic opportunity and also recognizing that the State cannot be held at bay by Corporations which are anti-social in their purpose. Dr.Ambedkar diagnosing the causes for the failure says: "The causes for this failure may be found either in wrong ideology or wrong organization or in both". Dr.Ambedkar instances two dominant factors in the category of wrong ideologies. Of them, one is freedom of contract and the other, lack of social and economic democracy. His remarks on these factors are absorbing. Dr.Ambedkar says, "I have no doubt that what has ruined Parliamentary democracy is the idea of freedom of Contract. Parliamentary Democracy took no notice of economic inequalities and did not care to examine the result of freedom of contract on the parties to the contract should they happen to be unequal. It did not mind if the freedom of contract gave the strong the opportunity to defraud the weak. The result is that Parliamentary Democracy in standing out as protoganist of liberty has continuously added to the economic wrongs of the poor, the downtrodden and the disinherited classes". In retrospect we find how true and prophetic this analysis is. Especially with the ushering in of Globalization, Liberalisation and Privatisation, the demonish dance of free markets and the credit system which embody neo-liberalism, the rich-poor divide has widened, leaving the working class and the poor in great despondency and desperation. Presently we are witnessing a bleeding of Dalai Street and an unprecedented global financial crisis also invading India, and these are the consequences of "freedom of contract", the laissez faire system. Indeed to-day the world is awakening to the failures of the capitalistic system. Dr.Ambedkar analyses the second cause in the following terms: "The second wrong ideology which has vitiated Parliamentary Democracy is the failure to realize that political democracy cannot succeed where there is no social and economic democracy". He elaborates this phenomenon in the following terms: "Social and economic democracy are the tissues and the fibre of a Political Democracy. The tougher the tissue and the fibre, the greater the strength of the body. Democracy is another name for equality. Parliamentary Democracy developed a passion for liberty. It never made even a nodding acquaintance with equality. It failed to realize the significance of equality, and did not even endeavour to strike a balance between liberty and equality, with the result that liberty swallowed equality and has left a progeny of inequities ". Indian experience with Parliamentary Democracy in the last six decades has established beyond an iota of doubt that despite laudable declaration of "Equality of status and of opportunity", in the Preamble to the Constitution and the various provisions relating to Equality in the Fundamental Rights Chapter of the Constitution, liberty of the Bourgeoisie and the Multi-National Corporations to exploit the people, has been the reigning phenomenon. Sixty years of Parliamentary Democracy and Twenty Years of the Policies of Globalisation, Liberalisation and Privatisation, have resulted in the widening of the gap between the rich and the poor. Social inequality has also widened, witnessing the exploitation of and violence on the Dalits by the Upper Castes. There has also been gender inequality and sexual exploitation of women. These establish beyond doubt that "liberty has swallowed equality and has left a. progeny of inequities" as described by Dr.Ambedkar. In this background, it would be most appropriate to recall the prophetic statement made by Dr.Ambedkar on 25th November 1949, while addressing the Constituent Assembly on the occasion of moving the Draft Constitution. He said - "On 26lh January 1950, we are going to enter a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life, we will have inequality we must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure and political Democracy which this Assembly has so laboriously built up". These averments of Dr.Ambedkar evidence his great concern for social and economic equality and that mere political democracy will not suffice. This view strengthens the warning held out by him in 1943 itself, "Beware of Parliamentary Democracy, it is not the best product, as it appeared to be". During this historic speech, Dr.Ambedkar also diagnosed that wrong organization is also equally responsible for failure of Parliamentary Democracy, as wrong ideologies. Let us take this up for analysis. After detailing wrong ideologies, which have been responsible for the failure of Parliamentary Democracy, Dr.Ambedkar, proceeded to analyse the wrong organization, which contributed to the failure of Parliamentary Democracy. Indeed he remarked -"I am equally certain that more than bad ideologies, it has had bad organization, which has been responsible for the failure of Democracy". In this light, let us probe into Ambedkar's views on "bad organization". Dr.Ambedkar says: "All political societies get divided into two classes - the rulers and the ruled. This is an evil. If the evil stopped here it would not matter much. But the unfortunate part of it is that the division becomes, stereotyped and stratified so much so that the Rulers are always drawn from the Ruling Class and the class of ruled never becomes the Ruling Class. People donot govern themselves; they establish a government and leave it to govern them, forgetting that it is not their government. That being the situation, Parliamentary Democracy has never been a government of the people or by the people and that is why it has never been a government for the people. Parliamentary Democracy, not withstanding the paraphernalia of a popular government, is in reality a government of a hereditary subject class by a hereditary ruling class. It is this vicious organization of political life which has made Parliamentary Democracy such a dismal failure. It is because of this that Parliamentary Democracy has not fulfilled the hope it held out to the common man of ensuring him liberty, property and pursuit of happiness". This critical analysis of Parliamentary Democracy expressed Sixty Five Years ago, and even before India became independent and much before the promulgation of the Constitution of India, holds out a clear evidence that Dr.Ambedkar had envisioned what would transpire under Parliamentary Democracy in India. How true his words are, is established by a perusal into what is happening under the umbrella of Parliamentary Democracy. Ambedkar not only identifies the class -- character of the Society but also acknowledges the Class Rule. He also exposes the exploitation of the Ruled Class by the Ruling Classes. All this reminds one of the Marxian analysis of State, which is characterized by him as an instrument of exploitation and Bourgeois Democracy as Bourgeois Dictatorship. Ambedkar identified a new dimension to the Class Rule, when he says "Parliamentary Democracy .. is in reality a government of a hereditary subject class by a hereditary ruling class". Are these words not prophetic?! We have in India Political Houses like the Business Houses. In Business, we hear of the House of Tatas, the House of Birlas, the House of Ambanis and the like and in politics, we have the Houses of Nehru - Ganndhis, the Abdullas, the Patnaiks, the Goudas, the Scindhias, the Pawars, the Karunanidhi's, and the like ie the hereditary Ruling Class. Parliamentary Democracy in India legitimizes hereditary rule of Political Houses. And with such a State in power, how can it hold out for the common man, liberty, prosperity and pursuit of happiness? In this remarkable treatise on Parliamentary Democracy, Dr.Ambedkar presents an analysis of "who is responsible for this state of affairs?" and "what is the remedy for this impending evil?" Dr.Ambedkar poses the question "who is responsible for this?" and answers it without mincing words, thus: "There is no doubt that if Parliamentary Democracy has failed to benefit the poor, the labouring and the down-trodden classes. It is these classes, who are primarily responsible for it". How true! The exploited classes have never been conscious of their exploitation and have not realized that they are the "masters" in a Democracy but have been reduced to "subjects", because of their unconsciousness and ignorance. ( Dr KS Sharma, a Retired Professor of Law based at Hubli, Karnataka, has been a leader of working class for over 45 years now, focused on unorganized labor, and as Founder- President of Karnataka State Govt. Dailywage Employees Federation, successfully organized one lakh dailywagers of Govt of Karnataka who got regularized after 30 years of struggle that included street battles and legal battles going upto Supreme Court. He is a great teacher, poet, writer, dramatist, literary critic, columnist,publisher, orator, and an activistsocial scientist who was a Vice-President of ISSA , Indian Social Science Academy, for sometime. He is the Founder President of a group of Institutions including an ITI, Institute of Naturopathy and Yoga, Dr. Da Ra Bendre (Jnana Peeth Awardee) Research Institute, Indian Institute of Marxist Theory and Practice, FMRRC- Fluorosis Mitigation Research and Resource Centre all located in Vishwa Shrama Chetana campus, Hubli. He may be contacted at : kssharmaji@rediffmail.com) Tweet WhatsApp Share Share on Tumblr Comments are moderated SHARE Continuing 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' Batman (Ben Affleck) and Superman (Henry Cavill) clash over differing philosophies about what kind of heroism is needed to protect the world, while the public they're defending is becoming increasingly mindful of the damage that superheroes and masked vigilantes cause. The duo are soon forced to confront an even greater threat created by nefarious billionaire Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg). (PG-13) 'the boss' A titan of industry is sent to prison after she's caught for insider trading. When she emerges ready to rebrand herself as America's latest sweetheart, not everyone she screwed over is so quick to forgive and forget. Stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell and Peter Dinklage. (R) 'Deadpool' A former Special Forces operative turned mercenary (Ryan Reynolds) is subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopting the alter ego Deadpool. (R) 'demolition' Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal), a successful investment banker, struggles after losing his wife in a tragic car crash. Despite pressure from his father-in-law, Phil (Chris Cooper), to pull it together, Davis continues to unravel. What starts as a complaint letter to a vending machine company turns into a series of letters revealing startling personal admissions. (R) 'The Divergent Series: Allegiant' After the earth-shattering revelations of Insurgent, Tris (Shailene Woodley) must escape with Four (Theo James) beyond the wall that encircles Chicago to finally discover the shocking truth of what lies behind it. (PG-13) 'god's not dead 2' When a high school teacher is asked a question in class about Jesus, her reasoned response lands her in deep trouble and could expel God from the public square once and for all. Stars Jesse Metcalfe, David A.R. White, Ray Wise and Melissa Joan Hart. (PG) 'gods of Egypt' Mortal hero Bek (Brenton Thwaites) teams with the god Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in an alliance against Set (Gerard Butler), the merciless god of darkness who has usurped Egypt's throne, plunging the once peaceful and prosperous empire into chaos and conflict. (PG-13) 'hard-core henry' A recently resurrected soldier named Henry must rescue his wife (Haley Bennett) from a maniacal villain in this action movie that takes place entirely from a first-person perspective. Henry has been scientifically engineered as a supersoldier, and the technology he embodies is sought after by a ruthless criminal gang. Stars Sharlto Copley, Danila Kozlovsky, Haley Bennett and Tim Roth. (R) 'the hateful eight' In the dead of a Wyoming winter, a bounty hunter and his prisoner find shelter in a cabin currently inhabited by a collection of nefarious characters. Stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh. (R) 'how to be single' New York City is full of lonely hearts seeking the right match, and what Alice, Robin, Lucy, Meg, Tom and David all have in common is the need to learn how to be single. Stars Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Alison Brie and Leslie Mann. (R) 'Kung Fu Panda 3' Continuing his "legendary adventures of awesomeness," Po must face two hugely epic, but different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to his home. Stars the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and Dustin Hoffman. (PG) 'London has fallen' After the British prime minister passes away, his funeral becomes a target of a terrorist organization to destroy some of the world's most powerful leaders, devastate the British capital and unleash a terrifying vision of the future. The only hope of stopping it rests on the shoulders of the president of the United States (Aaron Eckhart), his formidable Secret Service head (Gerard Butler), vice president (Morgan Freeman) and an English MI-6 agent (Charlotte Riley) who rightly trusts no one. (R) 'meet the blacks' A man (Mike Epps) moves his family to Beverly Hills, California, on the same day all crime becomes legal for a 12-hour period. (R) 'miracles from heaven' A young girl suffering from a rare digestive disorder finds herself miraculously cured after surviving a terrible accident. Stars Jennifer Garner, Kylie Rogers and Martin Henderson (PG) 'my big fat Greek wedding 2' A Portokalos family secret brings the beloved characters back together for an even bigger and Greeker wedding. Stars Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Elena Kampouris, Michael Constantine and Lainie Kazan. (PG-13) 'the revenant' Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a 19th century fur trapper who seeks vengeance against the companions who robbed him and left him for dead following a vicious grizzly bear attack. (R) 'ride along 2' As his wedding day approaches, Ben heads to Miami with his soon-to-be brother-in-law James to bring down a drug dealer who's supplying the dealers of Atlanta with product. Stars Ice Cube, Kevin Hart and Tika Sumpter. (PG-13) 'star wars: the force awakens' A continuation of the saga created by George Lucas and set 30 years after the events of "Return of the Jedi" (1983). Stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley. (PG-13) '10 cloverfield lane' A woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) discovers the horrifying truth about the outside world while living in an underground shelter with two men (John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr.). (PG-13) 'zootopia' In a city of anthropomorphic animals, a fugitive con artist fox and a rookie bunny cop must work together to uncover a conspiracy. Stars the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman and Idris Elba. (PG) Jon Cournoyer's work that is part of the closing reception at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art. Provided photo. SHARE Cournoyer is a St. Louis-based artist. Provided photo. Cournoyer works in silk-screen printing, with the backgrounds of his work being made up of items such as book pages, cards, photographs and more. Provided photo. Photos from a past fall Art and Antiques Stroll in New Harmony. The community hosts the event during both seasons. By Abbey Doyle of the Courier and Press The New Harmony Spring Art and Antique Stroll is from 4-7 p.m. Saturday in downtown New Harmony. The event, sponsored by the New Harmony Business Association, is free and open to the public with several of the participating venues offering free refreshments. The Hoosier Salon, University of Southern Indiana-New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, Women's Institute and Gallery and the Indiana State Museum will host exhibition receptions. The PC Pound Puppies Craft Fair is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and from 3-4:30 p.m. the Robert Lee Blaffer Foundation will host Ruth Cunningham in concert at the Granary. Later that evening, Under the Beams will present BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet in concert. University of Southern Indiana-New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art will host a closing reception for the work of Jon Cournoyer. The Hoosier Salon will host a preview of the First Brush of Spring exhibition. The Women's Institute and Gallery will have works by Janice Greene, Jule McClellan and Greg Powell. The Indiana State Museum will have the Scholle House open for the public to view works by Frank V Dudley. Extended shopping hours will be available at many community shops. For a complete list of participating venues and a map, contact the coordinator at hoosiersalon@sbcglobal.net or pick one up at a participating venue. SHARE By Kelly Gifford of the Courier and Press The Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana is accepting nominations for the 2016 Mayor's Arts Awards. The awards, given annually, recognize individuals, groups, institutions, businesses and projects that have made significant and unique arts contributions to the arts community. Nominations forms can be found at artswin.org/maa_2016 and will be accepted through May 5. The Arts council will hold a public news conference to announce the award recipients at 10 a.m. June 16 in the Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation Gallery. Winners will be honored at the Annual Mayor's Arts Awards on Aug. 18. Anne McKim, executive director of the Arts Council, said the awards are an opportunity for the community to celebrate those making a positive and significant impact on the cultural landscape of Evansville and the surrounding area. "We forget sometimes that each concert, each painting, each production, each event is the result of men and women giving of their talent and resources to create something for all of us to enjoy," she said. "There is little more important in establishing a city's quality of life than cultural philanthropy and creative expression, and the Mayor's Arts Awards are a powerful way for us to show our gratitude." Several arts organizations, donors, artists and teachers have been recognized over the last 35 years. Last year, Phyllis Grimm received the 2015 Mayor's Art Award for her contributions and support of arts organization across Evansville for more than five decades. She served on several boards and also helped start the University of Southern Indiana music program. Sharon Kazee received the Educator Award for her work trying to integrate art into STEM education programs. Others who received awards were the Mater Dei High School Marching Wildcats, Scott Wylie, Anne Dowhie and Robert Nicholls. SHARE John Albert Bivins By Mark Wilson of the Courier and Press The former boyfriend of a woman sentenced to prison for the death of their infant son was sentenced to probation Thursday after pleading guilty to neglect charges in the case. Although John Albert Bivins Jr., 34, of Evansville, had been charged with two counts of neglect as level 6 felonies, in March he pleaded guilty to the charges as class A misdemeanors. Vanderburgh Circuit Court Magistrate Michael Cox sentenced Bivins according to to the plea deal Thursday, sentencing him to one year probation on each charge to be served concurrently. Bivins also received two years of probation after pleading guilty to an unrelated charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon a charge based on a burglary conviction in Kentucky when he was 18. The neglect charges stemmed from a Sept. 30, 2014, incident at the Westbrook Mobile Home Park where Bivins was living with Beth Ann Montgomery, their infant son and their 3-year-old daughter. Montgomery, 31, was convicted of causing the death by asphyxiation of their infant son, Beau Bivins, when she fell asleep with him on a couch while on prescription pain medicine. Vanderburgh County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched their home about 2:30 a.m. Sept. 30, 2014. At the time of Bivins' and Montgomery's arrests, Vanderburgh County Sheriff David Wedding said his officers described noted the "horrible living conditions inside the residence." Law enforcement and fire department officials testified at Montgomery's trial that the home smelled of animal feces and urine, and that the kitchen counter was covered with dirty dishes, as well as food and animal waste, and there were holes in the bathroom and living room floors. Bivins has been free on bond since October 2014 and has since married. Each of these 36 knit caps represents a baby in Southwestern Indiana who died before its first birthday in 2014. SHARE By Susan Orr of the Courier and Press Throughout Southwestern Indiana, 36 babies died in 2014 before reaching their first birthday. But a new coalition of area health providers is working to improve that sad statistic. On Wednesday, the Vanderburgh County Health Department and area hospitals unveiled Healthy Baby Steps, an initiative to help reduce infant mortality rates in the region. In this initiative, the health department is teaming up with the Community Patient Safety Coalition a regional group of hospitals that works to promote best practices in patient safety. From prenatal care to smoking cessation programs, coalition members say, there's no shortage of programs and services for pregnant women and babies. What Healthy Baby Steps will do, they say, is help area hospitals share their best practices with each other, and do a better job promoting those offerings to the public. "This is like a massive educational consciousness campaign, if you will," said Beverly Walton, the Community Patient Safety Coalition's executive director. "We're hoping to make a united front and a bigger impact on the problem." The issue is especially important in this area, members say, because of the area's higher-than-average infant mortality rate. Infant mortality is defined as the number of babies who die before age 1 per 1,000 live births. Dr. Ken Spear, Vanderburgh County Health Department health officer, said the infant mortality rate in Southwestern Indiana in 2014 was 9.4 deaths per 1,000 live births. That rate is considerably higher than Indiana's statewide average of 7.2 deaths per 1,000 live births. The U.S. average is 5.9 deaths. In Southwestern Indiana, Spear said, several factors contribute to a higher-than-average infant mortality rate. Southwestern Indiana has higher-than-average rates of both smoking and obesity. Last year, 56 percent of area women who experienced fetal or infant loss were smokers; and 60 percent were overweight or obese, the health department says. Members of the Community Patient Safety Coalition include: SHARE By Zach Osowski, zach.osowski@courierpress.com INDIANAPOLIS The Indiana Republican party officially released the names of the 57 delegates representing Indiana at the GOP National Convention, including three from the Southwest Indiana area. Rick Martin and Josh Claybourn, both attorneys from Warrick County, and Brenda Goff, from Posey County, will travel to Cleveland in July to cast their vote for the GOP's presidential nominee. Claybourn is the Evansville City Council attorney and Martin serves on the Warrick County election board. Goff has previously been to national conventions and previously chaired the Posey County election board. Claybourn will be an at-large delegate and Martin and Goff will represent Indiana's 8th District. William Springer from Sullivan County is the third 8th District delegate. All told, there are three automatic delegates reserved for state chair Jeff Cardwell and two Republican National Committee members, 27 at-large delegates and three delegates from each of Indiana's nine districts for a total of 57. Per Indiana rules, the at-large delegates must vote for the presidential candidate that wins the statewide primary on May 3. The district delegates must vote for the candidate receiving the most votes in their district. For example, if Ted Cruz wins the statewide election, he would get the 27 at-large delegates. If Donald Trump wins the 8th District, he would get those three delegates despite losing the statewide race. Those voting requirements only apply to the first round of voting. If no candidate gets the necessary 1,237 delegate votes to secure the nomination, delegates could be free to vote for whomever they choose on any additional ballots. The names of all 57 delegates were released by the Indiana GOP party Thursday afternoon despite reports the group might sit on the names in light of threats against the delegates. Over the weekend, the Indianapolis Star reported some delegates received threats from Trump supporters worried the delegates might not vote the way they're supposed to. SHARE Shana Taylor By Marisa Kwiatkowski & Chelsea Schneider, IndyStar Indianapolis Public Schools officials tried to hush allegations of sexual misconduct involving a school counselor who is now charged with having sex with at least two students, according to Marion Superior Court documents. Prosecutors cited an email exchange and other evidence in bringing misdemeanor charges against two officials who they said failed to report allegations against former counselor Shana Taylor to police or the Indiana Department of Child Services. Lela "Tina" Hester, IPS human resources director, sent an email to a top IPS official on Feb. 18, a day after a student's mother presented evidence of an inappropriate relationship between her son and Taylor. "I asked that the school police stay out of it so that she is not charged and we can handle from an HR perspective," Hester wrote in her email, "but I don't know if the mom plans to file charges." Hester and Shalon Dabney, a human resources case manager, were each charged Wednesday with a misdemeanor count of failure to make a report, Marion Superior Court records state. Taylor was charged in March with nine felony counts of child seduction, one felony count of dissemination of matter harmful to minors and one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to court records. She also was fired. At least seven school officials knew about allegations against Taylor as early as Feb. 17, but no one reported them to DCS until Feb. 23, according to court records and interviews. Indiana law requires certain school officials to immediately report instances of suspected child abuse at their institutions to DCS or law enforcement. Court records indicate IPS did not report the allegations against Taylor until they knew a news outlet was aware of the allegations. IndyStar could not immediately reach IPS Superintendent Lewis Ferebee, Chief Strategist Le Boler or spokeswoman Kristin Cutler on Wednesday for comment. Mary Ann Sullivan, president of the IPS school board, declined Wednesday to comment on what she described as a personnel issue but said the district has undertaken a thorough internal reaction to the incident. My understanding is weve been very cooperative with law enforcement folks, and Im sure they would support that cooperation as well, Sullivan said. A mother met with William Jensen, assistant principal at Positive Supports Academy, on Feb. 17 to report the suspected misconduct involving her teenage son and Taylor. She showed Jensen copies of messages and inappropriate photos, according to court records. Jensen contacted school Principal Mark Cosand, who had been on medical leave but came in to address the matter, Ferebee previously told IndyStar. Jensen also contacted Deb Leser, the director of student services, who instructed him to contact Hester, the IPS human resources director, court records state. Jensen forwarded the messages and photos to Hester, who then forwarded them to Dabney, the human resources case manager handling the case, according to court records released Wednesday. Dabney met with Taylor Feb. 18, and placed her on administrative leave. That day, Hester sent the email outlining the allegations and revealing her intention to handle the matter internally. That email was sent to Boler, IPS chief strategist, who has not been charged. "We will keep you informed," Hester said in the email. "I received this news at the end of my day yesterday at 5:45 p.m., but the prior events of the day were quite 'full moon-like' as well." It's not clear what Boler said in response, but records indicate she did not report the allegations to authorities. Boler reports directly to Ferebee. She could not immediately be reached Wednesday for comment. Jensen, the assistant principal, asked Hester if he should contact the police, "and she informed him not to but rather to follow their procedure. Dr. Hester stated in her haste to make certain the kids were protected she neglected to confirm Mr. Jensen had made a DCS report." Indiana law requires anyone who suspects child abuse or neglect to report it. Meanwhile, Dabney conducted her own investigation but did not report her findings to authorities. According to court records, Dabney told a detective that following her investigation she "instructed the school via email" on Feb. 22 to file a report with DCS. However, police determined she had enough facts about the incident to make the report by Feb. 18 at the latest. Dabney told Cosand via email on Feb. 22 to file a DCS report, but Cosand told police he received the communication "after he had already gone home for the night and had none of the relevant facts with him at the time," according to court records. He reported it the following day. Ferebee, who described the situation as a "perfect storm of miscommunication," also learned of the allegations Feb. 17. He previously said school officials rightly ensured Taylor could have no further contact with students. He also said the district's failure to report the allegations to DCS wasn't discovered until Feb. 22, when Dabney was processing paperwork relating to Taylor's termination. "IPS will tolerate nothing less than the safest and most secure learning environment possible for our students, teachers and support personnel," he said in a statement late Tuesday night. "Today's announcement by the prosecutor's office in no way undermines or diminishes the progress IPS continues to make every day in our schools, and I appreciate all the support we continue to receive from parents and the IPS family." Peg McLeish, spokeswoman for the Marion County prosecutor's office, could not immediately be reached for comment. 2013 photo of the Indianapolis campus of Ivy Tech Community College SHARE By Chelsea Schneider and Stephanie Wang, IndyStar Ivy Tech Community College president Tom Snyder sees the angry, disaffected blue-collar workers. He sees the discontented college graduates saddled with debt. He believes the community college could be the answer to those concerns. But Ivy Tech was supposed to be the solution to a lot of Hoosier problems. And so far, state officials say, it hasn't really delivered. They're counting on Ivy Tech's next leader to change that. Of Ivy Tech's 170,000 students, too many take too long with their studies, experts say, and rack up too much debt with too few ever obtaining any kind of diploma at all. Ivy Tech has the potential to improve Indiana's lagging median incomes and sluggish college attainment rate. It could help people searching for a better future, and it could help employers who say too many good-paying, middle-skill jobs go unfilled. Instead, its lackluster performance has led to a state review of the institution, which has focused on holding the college accountable for student outcomes. The legacy I leave behind, Snyder said, "is there's a lot of work to be done." Snyder leaves the college this year, after a nine-year tenure overseeing explosive growth at Ivy Tech amid persistently low graduation rates. Trustees are expected to select the next college president in May, from three finalists whom the search committee has selected but declined to name publicly. Shaping the search: a sense of economic and educational urgency, paired with political intrigue. Will trustees follow the inclination of Gov. Mike Pence, who appointed them, to select his former lieutenant governor, Sue Ellspermann? Or will they look to an experienced higher educational professional, such as James King from the Tennessee technical colleges, who Snyder describes as a mentor for Ivy Tech? Whoever the pick, business leaders, educational experts and the governor himself have all called for a successor who can do better for Ivy Tech students. Theres no doubt that the lift of Ivy Tech has been incredibly heavy, that our expectations have been high... that we've made progress," said Teresa Lubbers, commissioner for Indiana higher education. "But were clearly not where we need to be in making sure more students who choose Ivy Tech reach their goals. Right-sizing the college The first challenge Ivy Tech's next president will inherit: How do you serve so many students, from so many varying backgrounds, pursuing so many different goals? Ivy Tech is the nexus of just-graduated high schoolers and working adults returning for degrees. It serves students who need just a certain couple of credits, students who intend to transfer to a four-year college, and students who need industry certificates or associate degrees. It goes into high schools to teach college-level courses. It goes into businesses to teach continuing education. Its students are largely dependent on financial aid and often unprepared for college-level courses. During Snyder's presidency, the college rocketed from about 100,000 students to 170,000 students, thanks in part to the recession. "Now everyone knows there's a community college, and it's within shouting distance of where they live," Snyder said. The way people think about college, too, Snyder said, dramatically changed. The expectation of going to college grew amid younger generations, the need for a degree increased in the workforce, and colleges began paying more attention to completion rates and affordability. But even with getting more students in the door, Ivy Tech's rapid expansion met criticism. In 2013, Ivy Tech said it wasn't sure it could financially support all of its locations, an argument Snyder tried to leverage unsuccessfully for more state funding. That's another challenge the next president will inherit: Is Ivy Tech right-sized? State Sen. Luke Kenley led the effort for a state review of Ivy Tech's performance, linked to questions over how much state funding the college deserved. He said he didnt know there would be such a great demand for education close to where people live and work. I was pretty astounded by the growth that we had and demand that was there," said Kenley, a Republican from Noblesville. "I think weve been drinking water out of a bucket rather than a glass. That sort of explains or justifies why it happened the way it has. But he worries students aren't getting their money's worth, and the state isn't getting the full performance out of students it's supporting. The Republican-controlled General Assembly declined to give Ivy Tech funding for major building projects including nearly $23 million to become part of a medical school in Evansville in the current state budget, citing concerns over the college's low graduation rates. The state worked with Ivy Tech to build a system where the college can review programs with low enrollments or graduation rates to determine if they need to be revised or eliminated. Lubbers said the review amounts to making sure that on a regular, more real-time basis were providing the kind of workforce that Indiana needs and the kind of job opportunities that individuals deserve to have. In its first report, Ivy Tech flagged 19 percent of its programs as either under review or recently restructured. This legislative session lawmakers also built a greater partnership between Ivy Tech and the state's Department of Workforce Development, so job placement data and labor market outcomes also are intertwined into reviews of the college's programs. We have to make Ivy Tech successful, and I believe the way you do that is be able to make certain that their education and training results in economic outcomes or a job, said Indiana Commissioner for Workforce Development Steve Braun. 'Doubling down' on grad rates The greatest challenge that Ivy Tech's next president faces has plagued the college for years: dismal graduation rates. Ivy Tech, stakeholders acknowledge, is a complex enterprise. The college and its students are not like a traditional four-year institution like Indiana University. But is that an excuse for just 5 percent of Ivy Tech's full-time students completing a degree within two years? After six years, according to state data, about a quarter of part-time students have graduated. Snyder said the answer is more funding, arguing the state lags behind in the money it sends to higher learning. "If you want to have more impact with low-income students, you may have to invest more money," Snyder said. "This is a state that's not investing much in higher education." "Every dollar we don't invest in this group of Indiana low-income students is going to keep Indiana low-income," he added. Some of the changes that Ivy Tech initially tried, such as mandatory orientation sessions, didn't work. But more recent strategies such as eliminating the delay in starting college-level courses because of remedial classes could yield positive results in the coming years, Snyder said. Lubbers thinks the solution is more nuanced. She said the state needs to make sure more students go to Ivy Tech prepared by identifying high schoolers that aren't college ready and remediating them. Once a student goes to Ivy Tech, they need a clearer plan to obtain their degree and the college needs to offer more counseling services for students to identify those who might leave before they finish their program. I think now we need to really double down on finding ways to be more successful for those students," Lubbers said. "I think (Snyder has) been a strong leader with strong passions that has served Ivy Tech with great commitment and now were ready to move to the next chapter. The frustration with Ivy Tech's struggles is often palpable. "I'm impatient. I think some of these things they could've adopted earlier and made more of an impact," said Stan Jones, president of Complete College America, who was also formerly an Indiana commissioner of higher education, state lawmaker and senior adviser to then-Gov. Evan Bayh. Jones calls himself "both a cheerleader and a critic of Ivy Tech." "I think Ivy Tech it frustrates me, too, very much so has a long way to go, but in several areas, they're showing real promise," he said. "With some new leadership that will embrace these changes and others, I think it would dramatically turn Ivy Tech in the right direction." Continue Reading Below Advertisement No, this article isn't going to be all Ben Affleck movies. Tom Clancy is the acclaimed author of several million stories of military intrigue, famous for his intense research. He worked hard to make sure every detail is as authentic as possible. So he was very qualified to know the many, many ways the Ben Affleck/Morgan Freeman trivia question The Sum Of All Fears is bullshit. And since he wrote the book on which the movie is based, he was even more qualified as an expert on all the correct information from his story that the filmmakers decided to change. Because the universe occasionally wishes everyone to share in its infinite joy, Tom Clancy was inexplicably asked to record a commentary track for the movie, and in it he is not shy about pointing out how much he hates it. Paramount Pictures Continue Reading Below Advertisement "And you're gonna pay me to do this? Seriously?" During a scene in which Freeman's character grills Affleck's, Clancy says: "This is bullshit. No, if the CIA was paying that much attention to its employees, Aldrich Ames would not have gotten 12 men killed." Yes, he outright says, "This is bullshit." And not just once, either. Later, when a character is dying of radiation poisoning from an encounter with nuclear bomb parts: "This is bullshit, by the way. Unless he was one of the machinists, which is how I do it in the book. You can't get sick just from looking at a sphere of plutonium." Hey, did we mention that the director of the film is sitting right next to him? This is the sort of thing that gets us out of bed every morning. Michael van der Mark says he only has eyes on putting the disappointment suffered at Aragon behind him with a return to the rostrum at his home round at Assen. The Dutch youngster has been the star of the show when the World Superbike paddock has visited 'the Cathedral of Speed' for the past two years, after taking his maiden World Supersport win in 2014 which ignited his title charge and a year later claimed his first World Superbike podiums with two third places. After crashing out of race one at Aragon two weeks ago van der Mark struggled to keep pace in the second race to finish seventh and slip to fourth in the riders' standings. The 23-year-old says he always relishes the opportunity to race in front of his home fans at Assen and wants to return to the sharp end of the grid immediately. "I'm looking forward to race again at Assen and to receive a great welcome by the Dutch fans, who are always very supportive towards me and the team," van der Mark said. "Assen is undoubtedly a very special place and it's such a great track to be racing on. "Last year we did very well and that resulted in a double podium, so this year I'm eager to do my very best once again; I'm sure we have everything we need to be back at the sharp end and to put the last round behind us." Sylvain Guintoli says mastering the Crescent Pata Yamaha's tyre wear is critical for a successful race weekend after the issue wrecked his results last time out at Aragon. The 2014 World Superbike champion stunned the paddock in qualifying at round three in Spain by taking second on the grid, with his team-mate Alex Lowes in third, to prove the Yamaha YZF-R1's outright speed over a single lap in World Superbike trim. However, his joy couldn't be replicated in the races as Guintoli badly struggled with tyre wear and duly dropped down the order, finishing ninth in race one and tenth in race two. Looking towards round four at Assen, Guintoli feels his team must get on top of its tyre woes over race distances before he can focus on translating the qualifying speed into a race pace. "In Arag?n we made a step forward with the YZF-R1's raw speed," Guintoli said. "This showed in Superpole by securing second place with a lap that was faster than the existing lap record and in race one I was able to stay with the leader for a few laps so the raw lap times are good. "Consistency and tyre wear management will be our priority in Assen, a track I very much enjoy and where I have been successful in the past, so I'm looking forward to the weekend." Guintoli has claimed race wins at Assen with Ducati and Aprilia and will be hoping to transfer his skills with the Yamaha to impress the team's factory backers who are based in Holland on the outskirts of Amsterdam. Sussex News Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Whats new? Lake Chad basin countries Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria have made welcome efforts to coordinate against Boko Haram militants through a Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF). But their inconsistent commitment to the force, funding problems and disjointed planning have hindered its effectiveness. Jihadists often regroup when troops withdraw. Why does it matter? A good strategy for tackling the various Boko Haram factions around Lake Chad depends not only on military operations but also on the four countries ability to improve conditions for and gain trust among local populations. That said, a more effective joint force can contribute to such an approach. What should be done? Lake Chad states resist fully integrating their forces into the MNJTF, but they can still boost its capacity by better sharing plans and intelligence, committing troops for longer operations and improving troops human rights compliance. They should work with the African Union and European Union to resolve funding issues. Executive Summary The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) is an effort by the Lake Chad basin states Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria to pool resources against jihadists that threaten all four countries. The joint force has carried out periodic operations, often involving troops from one country fighting in the country next door. Offensives have won victories and helped instil an esprit de corps among participating troops. But nimble militant factions have regrouped fast, and the MNJTFs effectiveness has suffered from confusion over priorities, the four states reluctance to cede command to the force itself, and funding and procurement delays. A successful response to militancy in Lake Chad will depend not only on the joint force but also on whether states can improve conditions for and inspire more trust among residents of affected areas. But an improved MNJTF could help such a strategy. Lake Chad states should boost its planning and communications capacity, intelligence sharing, human rights compliance and civil-military coordination. They should then reach consensus with donors on financing. The Lake Chad countries, plus Benin, created the MNJTF in its current form in late 2014 and early 2015. Together they committed just over 8,000 troops to the joint force. The African Union authorised the force on 3 March 2015 and envisaged that a sub-regional body, the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), would assume civilian oversight. The MNJTF established a critically important multilateral framework to combat Boko Haram insurgents, more and more of whom were launching attacks across borders. The joint force has brought some dividends. Working together has enabled forces from different countries to learn from each other, promoted the idea of cross-border cooperation and improved tactical coordination. Joint operations, mainly involving Chadian troops deploying into the other countries, helped stem Boko Harams spread in 2015 and 2016 and squeezed the group, resulting in its split into at least three factions. Short MNJTF offensives in 2017 and 2018, along with a more sustained operation in 2019, also reversed militant gains, freed civilians captured by them or trapped in areas Boko Haram controlled and facilitated the delivery of humanitarian aid. MNJTFs effectiveness has suffered from confusion over priorities, the four states reluctance to cede command to the force itself, and funding and procurement delays. Yet advances against Boko Haram and its offshoots have mostly been short-lived. Jihadist factions have consistently weathered offensives. Their resilience owes partly to their ability to escape to other areas and partly to the inability of the states themselves, particularly Nigeria, to follow military operations with efforts to rebuild and improve conditions for residents of recaptured areas. That earlier operations were not sustained likely did not help, though jihadists have bounced back from even the longer campaign in 2019 a March 2020 militant assault on a base on Lake Chad was one of the conflicts bloodiest yet, killing some 90 Chadian troops. A subsequent Chadian operation to secure the lake was conducted mainly outside the MNJTFs auspices and militants appear likely to regroup again. The MNJTF also suffers structural limitations. Its chain of command is weak, even by the standards of multilateral forces, because it comprises units of national forces fighting mainly in their own countries. Many MNJTF troops rotate in and out of the force as national commanders see fit. The under-resourced civilian oversight body, the LCBC, has struggled to exert authority over the force or curb abuses by soldiers who remain accountable to national hierarchies. The AU authorises the force but also has little oversight over it, though the body has tried to forge common practice on treatment of captured militants and their associates. Funding and procurement delays the EU funds the force through the AU, but European money was long held up in Addis Ababa have delayed critical gear and fed recrimination among the actors involved. True, the MNJTFs shortfalls only partly explain why militancy persists around Lake Chad. Efforts against jihadists depend mostly on policies of the states themselves, of which joint operations are only one component. Still, the forces flaws limit its effectiveness. Some shortcomings reflect national sensitivities. Abuja tends to see the MNJTF as a face-saving way to portray operations by other countries forces, mainly Chad, on Nigerian soil as international cooperation. But it still aims to preserve primacy in counter-insurgency efforts and regards fuller integration among the forces warily. Cameroon, Chad and Niger see the MNJTF as light-touch coordination for their offensives, and some of their officials also oppose deeper integration. Indeed, national military hierarchies resistance to greater cooperation is a reality that any efforts to reform the force will have to factor in. Chads December 2019 withdrawal of over 1,000 troops fighting with the MNJTF in Nigeria, without fully informing other capitals, dealt the force a further blow. President Idriss Deby voices increasing frustration that Chadian troops do the bulk of the fighting with what he portrays as scant support from neighbours. All four countries forces are stretched thin, dealing with multiple security challenges in addition to militancy around Lake Chad. To make the joint force a more effective part of efforts to tackle the regions jihadist insurgencies, Lake Chad countries should: Build up its planning, coordination and intelligence sharing. Governments and military leaders should lean toward sharing more information with the joint force and give senior officials greater leeway to determine what can be shared and what should be withheld for security reasons. They should commit troops for more sustained periods and clarify when national forces are acting under MNJTF command. In conjunction with the AU, step up human rights training and monitoring of abuses in order to improve MNJTF units compliance with international humanitarian law and emerging AU standards on conduct and discipline. The MNJTF should pay particular attention to the treatment of captured or surrendered Boko Haram fighters, ensuring that units hand them over rapidly to civilian authorities. Doing so will help Lake Chad states improve ties with locals who may otherwise see troops mistreating their youth. Enable the MNJTF to better support the AUs 2018 Regional Stabilisation Strategy, which aims to improve services and create new livelihoods in conflict-affected areas. This would entail boosting the joint forces and the LCBCs capacity to cooperate with civilian actors responsible for the strategy. To ensure improved oversight, especially on human rights, Lake Chad states should gradually shift the forces AU-funded civilian components, which now report to the military commander, into the LCBC. The AU and donors, principally the EU, should support the above steps. They should push for making such improvements without creating a weighty bureaucracy. Also urgent is that donors, the AU and Lake Chad states reach a lasting consensus over financial support. The regional jihadist threat shows no sign of abating and the situation in Nigerias north east is, if anything, deteriorating. An effective response will entail not only military action, but also civilian efforts to deliver public services, improve conditions for residents in hard-hit areas, regain or simply establish for the first time popular trust in public authority, offer militants paths to demobilise safely and even potentially engage some in talks. Yet military operations are critical to creating space for all these activities and a reinforced MNJTF, standing as a symbol of regional cooperation, can support such an approach. Nairobi/Brussels, 7 July 2020 I. Introduction Cooperation among Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, the four Lake Chad states blighted by Boko Harams insurgency, is a critical part of tackling the jihadist threat. Battling militant factions, rebuilding trust in public authority among local communities and restoring a degree of state control in affected areas depend mainly on the national policies of governments involved. Yet in itself, national policy is insufficient to counter jihadists operating across borders. Cooperation among the Lake Chad states is important for civilian-led issues, such as dealing with former Boko Haram militants or creating alternatives to militancy around Lake Chad. It is also vital to improving military operations. The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), in place in its current form since 2014 to help the four Lake Chad armies, plus that of Benin, coordinate counter-insurgency efforts, offers, in principle, just such a regional response to a regional threat. Those states have conducted a series of military operations, often involving troops from one country crossing into another, under the MNJTFs banner. This report examines the MNJTFs achievements and shortfalls and asks what value the force adds and what improvements can be brought to bear. To account for diverging views on the force and its future held by participating states, the African Union and donors, the report is based on interviews conducted from November 2018 to May 2020 with diplomats, government officials, military officers from the region who have served in MNJTF units, military officials from donor countries, humanitarian workers active in the Lake Chad area and other informed observers. Interviews took place in Chads capital NDjamena, where the force is based, as well as in Abuja, Yaounde, Addis Ababa, London and Brussels. The report also draws on ten years of Crisis Group reporting on Islamist militancy, and the national and international responses to it, in the Lake Chad basin. II. The MNJTFs Origins and Early Operations A. A Regional Threat The jihadist insurgency commonly referred to as Boko Haram, now fractured into at least three competing groups, emerged and evolved primarily in Nigeria. Originally a militant group exploiting discontent with secular government and political corruption, it grew partly due to Nigerias security forces alternately absent and heavy-handed responses. Efforts to contain and push back Boko Haram have overall been weak. Boko Haram always had some reach into neighbouring countries, facilitated by a vibrant cross-border economy, criminal networks, arms smuggling routes and religious ties to Islamic schools in Nigerias Maiduguri the Lake Chad basins largest conurbation. In 2013 and 2014, the group used toeholds in Cameroon, Chad and Niger to expand operations in those countries, where it recruited, rearmed, pillaged, kidnapped, carried out revenge attacks and, overall, promoted its idea of a West African caliphate. It exploited cross-border family relations, as well as ethnic, commercial and religious links, to offer its young recruits economic opportunities, usually backing them up later with religious indoctrination. The group profited, at least initially, from the distrust with which communities in border areas regard state authorities. It also exploited intercommunal tensions in those areas. Critically, its cross-border presence enabled the group to survive in periods when it was under pressure from the Nigerian army and on the back foot. Efforts to contain and push back Boko Haram have overall been weak. Data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Database (ACLED) conflict monitoring source, together with Crisis Groups own field research, confirms Boko Harams regional expansion from 2015, even while Nigeria mostly remained the epicentre of violence. The number of attacks rose steeply, both in net terms and as a percentage of all incidents in the region, in Cameroon, and to a lesser extent in Niger and Chad, between 2015 and 2017. That said, attacks in Nigerias neighbours remained largely small-scale, involving raiding and skirmishing. Nigeria itself suffered many more fatalities. Although Boko Haram remained concentrated in Nigeria, at its peak in 2014 and 2015 the group operated in all four Lake Chad countries. Militants assaulted army units in border regions of Cameroon, Chad and Niger, briefly holding small patches of territory and taking hostages. They carried out bombings in those countries, including in NDjamena in 2015. The groups expansion was uneven: Cameroon and Niger were worst affected, Chad less so. But in none of Nigerias three Lake Chad neighbours was Boko Haram able to penetrate very far beyond border regions. B. Stop-start Bilateral Initiatives As Nigeria struggled throughout 2013 to contain the burgeoning insurgency, its neighbours responded slowly and unevenly. At first, leaders in Cameroon, Chad and Niger reacted with caution and denial, for the most part seeing the group as a primarily Nigerian problem and refusing to acknowledge that it had gained a foothold at home. Gradually, however, their concerns about the insurgency mounted, with Chadian President Idriss Deby, worried that the violence was asphyxiating his countrys economy, the most vocal. Starting in 2014, the three countries gradually deployed more troops to affected areas, mobilised vigilante groups and, in Chad and Cameroon, passed draconian counter-terrorism legislation. Their greater involvement drew Boko Harams ire. Militant attacks, which Boko Haram leaders described as a response to those states decisions to join counter-insurgency operations, escalated in 2014 and 2015. The jihadist strikes, in turn, prompted the governments to further step up their efforts. Initial military cooperation consisted of ad hoc and little publicised cross-border troop movements on the basis of rapidly concluded bilateral arrangements. In 2013 and 2014, for example, Cameroonian and Nigerien troops crossed into Nigeria in pursuit of militants, while Cameroon shelled Boko Haram positions in Nigeria. These interventions received scant publicity, partly due to Nigerian sensitivities and partly because they were often arranged by local commanders in touch with counterparts operating nearby across the border. Significant mistrust among all four countries continually obstructed their ability to work together. Still, regional cooperation in this key period was patchy at best. For every successful cross-border operation, there were many requests from field commanders that superiors rejected and many manoeuvres that were poorly coordinated. Most notable was a failed attempt to mediate a hostage release from Boko Haram, led by Chad and Nigeria in 2013, which ended in acrimony between the two countries, as each blamed the other for the failure. Significant mistrust among all four countries, relating in part to the different perceptions of the threat and disagreements over how to handle it, continually obstructed their ability to work together. Historic antagonisms did not help. Nigerias border disputes with all three neighbours on Lake Chad, along with a quarrel with Cameroon on the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to the south, meant that Abuja was instinctively less inclined to cooperate. In addition, Nigerian mistrust of external intervention on its soil runs deep, informed by foreign support for Biafran rebels in the late 1960s. While these factors did not preclude the governments from working together (and, indeed, Abuja recognises that Yaounde supported Nigeria during the Biafra war), they created an undercurrent of distrust and initially curtailed deeper cooperation, especially among the countries armies. C. Increasing Regional Cooperation When the four countries entered formal arrangements governing cooperation, they did so under acute pressure to respond to a growing jihadist menace and, especially in Nigerias case, partly because of evolving domestic political calculations. The MNJTF, which emerged in its current form in 2014-2015, was the product of a delicate political consensus among those governments, all of whom had different perspectives on the nature of the threat and what the force should do to counter it. Over the course of 2014, gradual attempts at cooperation, pushed along by political developments in Nigeria, breathed new life into the MNJTF. The four Lake Chad states had in fact created a joint force much earlier, in the 1990s, to fight criminality. It had then lain dormant for years before being resuscitated in 2012 to fight Boko Haram. It was only in 2014, however, that regional governments showed any real commitment to the force and reinforced its base at Baga, on the Nigerian shores of the lake, with more troops from each country. The four countries defence and intelligence chiefs met in Yaounde in March 2014, and their heads of state attended a key meeting in Paris on regional security two months later, in both instances to hammer out the details of a new-look regional force. Nigerias then president, Goodluck Jonathan, started showing greater readiness to seek his counterparts help in setting up the joint force as Nigerias 2015 election loomed. He hoped to show progress in the fight with Boko Haram ahead of the campaign. Lake Chad states also started looking for international support for regional cooperation against Boko Haram. Events on the ground at the start of 2015, especially Boko Haram militants capture in January of the MNJTFs embryonic base in Baga, led them to redouble those efforts. Amid steeply rising violence, the loss of the base appeared to deal regional forces a devastating blow. Cameroons President Paul Biya made a rare public appeal for help from neighbours and international partners. Increased bilateral support from the U.S., the UK and France to all three of Nigerias affected neighbours followed shortly thereafter. Over the course of 2014, gradual attempts at cooperation, pushed along by political developments in Nigeria, breathed new life into the MNJTF. Regional cooperation accelerated over that period. Chad sent a large contingent to Cameroon to help secure its north-western border in early 2015. Those forces deployed for six months, often conducting offensives deep into Nigeria through Cameroon and Niger in a pincer move against militants in Borno state. Nigerien forces also took part. According to Western officials close to the file, Nigeria paid Chad directly to cover the cost of its intervention. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who had defeated Jonathan in the May 2015 vote, initially prioritised cooperation with his neighbours, reflected in early visits to Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Niger from June to August 2015. His efforts to boost morale and effectiveness among his own troops won support among otherwise sceptical officials in Yaounde, NDjamena and Niamey. D. The MNJTFs Set-up The new-look MNJTF was taking shape parallel to military operations. Ministers of Lake Chad basin countries plus Benin which agreed to join the force to further cooperation with neighbours but in fact has rarely if ever participated in operations on the ground met in Niamey on 20 January 2015 and agreed to shift the MNJTF headquarters to NDjamena. They also pledged to draw up a full Concept of Operations, or CONOPS, a document providing details of political oversight, command structures, objectives, tasks and mission support, which the states, with AU support, finalised in March. Working-level meetings on the CONOPS informed discussions between the four Lake Chad states and the AU, which authorised the force for an initial twelve months at their request at its 29 January 2015 summit. The AUs Peace and Security Committee subsequently signed off in more detail in March that year. The CONOPS identified the forces key aim as eliminating the presence and influence of Boko Haram in the region. The AUs authorisation set out the joint forces responsibilities. It outlined three key goals: first, to create a safe and secure environment in its area of operation; secondly, to support (at that time non-existent) stabilisation programs and enable the return of those displaced by fighting; and thirdly, to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Further tasks included preventing insurgents from obtaining weapons or logistical tools, freeing abductees, encouraging defections, improving civil-military cooperation, supporting justice and respect for human rights, information operations and intelligence sharing. The AU authorised the new force at a level of 11,000 troops. The AU commissioner for peace and security, Smail Chergui, opened the NDjamena headquarters in May 2015 and the force became officially operational in June. A number of early decisions would resonate throughout the joint forces operations. First, the AU authorised the force but did not mandate it, meaning that participating states retained control over the mission. In other words, the AU provided a vital legal framework, and allowed for greater donor funding, but did not obtain the oversight or management it has over, for example, the AU mission in Somalia (which it does mandate). Indeed, over the first two or three years of joint operations, the AUs role was limited to discussions on the CONOPS, providing MNJTF civilian staff and officers some training on the protection of civilians and monitoring human rights compliance through a small AU civilian team at the MNJTF NDjamena headquarters. Secondly, the CONOPS defined an operational area for the MNJTF that covers Lake Chad and extends some way along the border between Nigeria and Niger. This arrangement left out large expanses affected by the insurgency, notably parts of the Nigeria-Cameroon border zone and still larger swathes of Nigerias Borno state. It divided the area of operations into four sectors, each in one of the four countries, and each with its own headquarters. It also gave MNJTF units a standing right to hot pursuit 20km over borders. Thirdly, the Lake Chad states shelved their initial plans for a more integrated force. The four governments had considered putting in place cross-border sectors. Instead, they opted for sectors entirely within single countries, aiming to avoid legal and political complications that may have arisen from permanent cross-border deployments and to reassure Nigeria that such deployments into its territory would be limited. The four countries contingents thus operate almost exclusively on home soil, except during large-scale joint operations. The initial CONOPS provided for the force commander position to rotate among participating states, but this idea was later rejected, and Nigeria given the authority to appoint the force commander, in order to ensure Abujas full buy-in. Lastly, the AU designated the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) as the missions political component. The four Lake Chad countries set up the LCBC in the 1960s, initially to deal with environmental issues and later to coordinate the efforts to stop cross-border criminality. But it remained dormant or weakly resourced. Participating countries put it forward in 2015 as a political lead for the MNJTF due to the need to have a civilian point of contact for the AU and for donors, who were reluctant to deal exclusively with a military set-up. This move also served to assuage Nigerian concerns about mission control, as the LCBC head has always been a Nigerian national nominated by Abuja. Some AU officials saw the LCBC as a route through which they might reinforce the civilian component of the response to violence in the Lake Chad area. In reality, however, the four states had long neglected the LCBC and given it neither the resources nor the clout to play this role. E. Early Funding Decisions Decisions on funding would also have longer-term implications. At first, Lake Chad countries wanted donors to fund them and the LCBC directly. They approached the EU, which was already a major funder of African peace support operations. The EU refused to fund the force directly, obliging the states to seek the AUs blessing. Those countries then agreed that the AU would be the conduit for EU financial support. In reality, however, due to issues with the AUs procedures for dispersing funds (explored in Section IV.D below), European money channelled through Addis Ababa would not reach the MNJTF until two years later, in early 2017. Despite the lack of UN money and slow arrival of EU funds, some individual donors offered financial and technical support in 2016, reflecting their desire to keep the MNJTF afloat. Meanwhile, hopes of UN money floundered. The UN Security Council welcomed the force in July 2015. It has since held periodic briefings on Boko Haram but gone no further in authorising or funding the MNJTF. Lake Chad countries have been unable to get UN-assessed contributions, which they and some AU officials hoped for. Nor have they been able to receive funds through a UN trust fund, an idea that the AU Peace and Security Council floated in 2015. As EU funds took time to come through, Nigeria had to pay for the force in its first two years. Despite the lack of UN money and slow arrival of EU funds, some individual donors offered financial and technical support in 2016, reflecting their desire to keep the MNJTF afloat. The UK provided early funding directly to the MNJTF of 5 million. France, the U.S. and the UK have deployed officers to an intelligence liaison committee in NDjamena to act as a conduit for intelligence sharing and advice. They also provide bilateral aid to participating states militaries, which has strengthened some units subsequently deployed to the MNJTF. F. First Operations In 2016, 2017 and 2018, the MNJTF launched short operations, which saw Chadian and, to a lesser extent, Cameroonian and Nigerien troops enter Nigeria and help push back jihadists. Chadian troops were key to these operations as they went further into Nigerian territory and stayed longer than their Cameroonian or Nigerien counterparts. But even they often struggled to consolidate gains they had made due to weaknesses in the Nigerian response and to a highly adaptable enemy. The operations, Gama Aiki (Finish the Job, in Hausa) in 2016, Gama Aiki II in 2017 and Amni Faka (Peace at All Costs) in 2018, each lasted around three months. At least some of the cost was reportedly covered by Nigerian payments made directly to the Chadian government. The operations were supplemented by cross-border troop movements that had either the MNJTFs direct signoff or indirect blessing. Despite limitations, the three operations, which added several thousand troops to larger national responses from Nigeria and Cameroon, helped weaken Boko Haram, reducing its ability to hold territory or to attack towns and large military installations. Officers involved in the operations described to Crisis Group some of the gains made in dislodging insurgents from their strongholds, freeing prisoners and securing border areas, although they simultaneously pointed out that many achievements were short-lived. The operations also served to embed the principle of cross-border cooperation, which participating officers saw as a significant contribution to their counter-insurgency efforts. III. Renewed Challenges The emergence of Boko Haram offshoots and splinter groups over the past two years adds fresh complexity to counter-insurgency efforts. At least three militant groups are now active in the Lake Chad basin, at times cooperating, at times competing and occasionally fighting one another directly. Reports suggest that militant factions are seeking to gain footholds in north-western Nigeria and possibly farther west in Niger, approaching the areas of operation of Sahel jihadist groups, with whom at least one Boko Haram spin-off is reportedly seeking alliances. A sustained assault by militants on an army post on a peninsula on the lake, in which some 90 Chadian soldiers were reportedly killed, illustrates the challenges still facing Lake Chad states. It prompted President Deby to launch a major new operation. A. New Militant Factions and Chadian Operations In 2018 and 2019, a new branch of Boko Haram, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), gained strength. From its inception in 2016, it adopted a more accommodating approach than its progenitor, aimed at winning support among civilians, and it has subsequently consolidated its presence among communities in Borno state, particularly on Lake Chads islands and shores. It has also staged sophisticated attacks on military targets, killing soldiers and pillaging armaments. It poses a significant new challenge. ISWAP is not the only threat. In 2017, another Boko Haram splinter group, referred to as the Bakura faction, emerged, this time along the Niger-Nigeria border. Additionally, military officials and other close observers report that in mid- and late 2019, the original Boko Haram faction, Jamatu Ahlis Sunna Liddaawait Wal-Jihad (JAS), under Abubakar Shekaus leadership, intensified attacks in the Nigeria-Cameroon border area, operating from its base in Nigerias Mandara mountains. Evidence points to these latter two groups being linked, with the Bakura faction reportedly pledging allegiance to Shekau. In December 2018, ISWAP overran Baga town in Nigeria and a nearby military camp that hosted the MNJTF Sector 3 headquarters, forcing the joint force to move this base to another town in Borno state. The Nigerian military later recaptured Baga, but the group has attacked other lake areas of Chad and Cameroon. The on-again, off-again nature of military offensives, including by the MNJTF which, as described, carried out only one three-month operation in each of 2016, 2017 and 2018 may have created space for ISWAP. More sustained operations that would have secured areas recaptured and created space for civilian-led efforts to work with communities and improve services might have helped prevent the insurgents from regrouping, provided, of course, that those reconstruction efforts actually took place. Lake Chad states reacted by deepening cooperation in early 2019. Chadian troops reinforced their positions on the Chadian side of the lake and a contingent, eventually numbering over 1,000 troops, entered Nigeria in February. This force comprised the major component of a 2019 MNJTF operation called Yancin Tafki (Lasting Freedom, in Hausa). Lake Chad states extended that operation to the end of 2019 in an attempt to address the flaws of the previous shorter offensives. Yancin Tafki reportedly put ISWAP under considerable pressure. Although Chadian troops took many casualties, their participation boosted Nigerian forces morale and helped secure Sector 3 of the MNJTFs operational area, which covers part of Borno state. In early January 2020, however, Chad announced the withdrawal of its forces from Borno, ending the Yancin Tafki operation. Chadian authorities reportedly did not discuss the withdrawal beforehand with their MNJTF partners, or at least senior MNJTF officials were unaware of it. According to one Chadian official, NDjamena was motivated in part by the need to redeploy the units to the Chadian side of the lake, where many had previously been stationed and which has also suffered a spike in attacks, and in part by the missions ongoing costs. Reportedly, NDjamena was also unhappy with the weak support its forces received from the Nigerian army. ISWAP reacted by immediately attacking the Nigerian base at Monguno where some Chadian forces had been based. Militants failed to take the base, but the attack demonstrated their tactical awareness and ability to exploit the MNJTFs weaknesses. B. The Bohoma Attack and Chadian Counteroffensive of 2020 A bloody militant attack on a Chadian army post at Bohoma, a peninsula on the Chadian side of the lake, on 23 March 2020, offered a stark demonstration of the continued menace posed by Boko Haram factions. Several hundred insurgents approached the base by boat and attacked for eight hours, killing over 90 Chadian soldiers, according to the Chadian authorities who released the figure the next day. The attackers suffered losses, too, though it is unclear how many. They reportedly captured armaments before withdrawing. Abubakar Shekaus JAS faction claimed the attack. It appears likely that the Bakura faction, which is present on the lake, actually carried it out, allowing JAS to claim it due to links between these two groups. Chad reacted by quickly launching a major new operation, called Wrath of Bohoma. Its offensive aimed primarily to clear jihadists from the lake area, mainly on Chadian and Nigerien territory. President Deby described the 23 March attack as the greatest loss of military life he had witnessed in a single incident. His language concerning breaking Boko Haram almost certainly reflected his sense that the attack required a strong response and that striking back fast was important to provide deterrence and safeguard the Chadian armys honour. Deby directed operations himself from a forward base on the lake for over two weeks. Chadian authorities later claimed that the operation, which lasted around one month, killed about 1,000 militants, though that figure is likely unreliable, while 52 Chadian soldiers lost their lives, although Crisis Group sources indicate greater losses. The Wrath of Bohoma operation was a purely Chadian offensive agreed upon with the government of Niger, though it was supported by a smaller MNJTF-coordinated operation involving Nigerien troops. A bloody militant attack on a Chadian army post at Bohoma on 23 March 2020 offered a stark demonstration of the continued menace posed by Boko Haram factions. During the operation, on 9 April, Deby, in a seemingly unplanned outburst, criticised what he called other Lake Chad countries inaction against jihadists, which he argued left Chad doing the bulk of the work in both the lake area and the Sahel. He also declared that from today, no Chadian soldier will participate in a military operation outside Chad. After several days of confusion, the government clarified that Chad would continue to participate in the MNJTF and other international operations, notably the UN mission in Mali. Despite the Chadian presidents rhetoric and intense fighting in some areas around the lake in April, the Wrath of Bohoma operations actual impact may be quite limited. In May, one international military assessment concluded that militants were likely already returning to cleared areas, especially on the Nigerian side of the lake. Indeed, a rapid operation by one country against militants in the lake area is unlikely to have a lasting impact on the security situation, even considered purely from a military perspective. First, militant groups are adaptable and can move away from areas where they face pressure. Already in 2019, groups were seeking to move from the MNJTFs area of operation along the Nigeria-Cameroon and Nigeria-Niger borders. Secondly, Chads withdrawal, re-engagement and then second pullout suggests a pattern of ad hoc planning and insufficient agreement among the countries, as well as overstretched security forces, which stymie a more effective response. Thirdly, forceful military engagement on its own is unlikely to make much sustained difference without far better coordinated planning and intelligence sharing, which would, for example, provide a better sense of jihadists movements or, at the very least, help prevent injury and death by friendly fire. Such incidents have occurred several times in operations around the lake, and stopping them is a role that the MNJTF should, in principle, be playing. More broadly, Debys threat to withdraw his forces demonstrates the fragility of the consensus underpinning the MNJTF. Most observers saw his threat in part as an attempt to pressure donors and possibly Nigeria to pay more for Chadian deployments. But it also illustrates the limits of Chads readiness to lead MNJTF offensives without what it sees as strong support from the other three countries, and an overreliance on Chads army, which is a weakness of the force. IV. Assessing the MNJTF The fact that the MNJTF is only part of a wider response to Boko Haram makes it hard to evaluate. Any success against the various militant factions around Lake Chad depends to a large degree on the policies of each of the states themselves, of which joint operations are only one component. The MNJTFs record appears mixed. The joint force has scored some victories against militants. It has at times reversed their gains and freed civilians captured by them or trapped in areas they controlled. Moreover, working together has allowed forces to learn about and from each other, and boosted the principle of cross-border operations and cooperation. Gains have, however, tended to prove short-lived. Due partly to Boko Harams ability to adapt, partly to the operations intermittent nature and partly to the lack of subsequent security arrangements and stabilisation initiatives, jihadist factions have been able to regroup. Disagreements among officials of the four countries over whether Boko Haram is a regional or a primarily Nigerian phenomenon have not helped. Many senior military officers and seasoned observers in Chad, Niger and Cameroon see their countries as suffering collateral damage from a problem that largely stems, in their view, from Nigerian incompetence. In contrast, some of their Nigerian counterparts point to the toehold that Boko Haram has gained in neighbouring countries as an indication of complicity among security forces, customs agents and other officials. These contrasting perceptions, occasionally expressed in finger pointing, undercut the regions solidarity and the capability of its response. The MNJTFs shortcomings reflect the four countries' somewhat erratic commitment, and to some degree that of donors, to fighting Boko Haram. The diverse threat that militants pose in the four countries also hinders coherent regional action. Though the four countries are fighting a common enemy, in reality each has pursued a different set of goals, which are themselves subject to change. The Nigerian authorities have at times been battling a full-blown insurgency that controls large tracts of the countrys north east. In contrast, Cameroon has mostly dealt with a cross-border menace, even if that has at times involved repelling well-planned and equipped attacks on its border garrisons. For its part, Chad has focused on periodic skirmishes on the lake and protecting supply routes through Cameroon. Niger has also undertaken mostly containment operations along its border and, occasionally, larger counter-insurgency operations at home or in Nigeria. The divergent objectives complicate the multilateral response as officers from each country seek different things from limited containment operations in someone elses territory to sustained counter-insurgency in their own. The MNJTFs shortcomings also reflect the four countries' somewhat erratic commitment, and to some degree that of donors, to fighting Boko Haram. After the 2016 and 2017 operations, attention to counter-insurgency efforts waned for the better part of two years. ISWAPs resurgence in late 2018 prompted another more concerted response, with the prolonged 2019 campaign hailed by close observers and MNJTF officers as a departure from previous shorter operations. But it is far from clear whether that operation did in fact represent a turn toward more systematic cooperation, embedded in information sharing and joint planning. Indeed, the largely unilateral Chadian offensive in 2020 and Debys impatience with his counterparts illustrate the persistent difficulties states have faced in working together. A. The MNJTFs Added Value The MNJTF has allowed for greater tactical cooperation on the ground. At times, this cooperation occurred outside MNJTF zones and was not authorised through MNJTF headquarters but nevertheless drew on the spirit of cooperation brought about by the regional force. Officers from Lake Chad countries who have operated in or alongside MNJTF units see the force as a symbol of regional cooperation and express pride at working with colleagues from other countries. Exactly how cooperation plays out on the ground varies. In rare cases, different countries officials have integrated their command chains for MNJTF operations for short periods. At other times, units of different nationalities have coordinated to encircle militants. Most national and international officials and officers involved with the MNJTF recognise that it provides political cover to troops, especially Chadian forces, who are operating in neighbouring countries. The joint forces imprimatur allows them to pursue Boko Haram across borders and share information with neighbours. The force commander is widely seen as key to any positive impact the MNJTF can have. True, the position does not enjoy command and control over all the forces involved; one close observer argued that in reality his role was something more like coordination and choreography. He is also overburdened by a top-heavy decision-making process within the MNJTF that leaves him responsible for day-to-day management as well as strategic issues and liaison with Lake Chad governments. At the same time, contributing countries, including Nigeria, give him little room for manoeuvre and reportedly share little planning detail with him. Yet the five successive military heads, all of whom have been Nigerian generals, have encouraged coordination and joint planning through regular meetings with the four sector commanders. MNJTF has provided an institutional vessel for donor money to flow into counter-insurgency operations, as well as a vehicle through which donors and the AU can press Lake Chad governments and armies to curb human rights abuses. The MNJTF has also helped facilitate training and funding, notwithstanding disputes over the latter. It has provided an institutional vessel for donor money to flow into counter-insurgency operations, as well as a vehicle through which donors and the AU can press Lake Chad governments and armies to curb human rights abuses. Donors have paid for equipment and training beyond what they would have been ready to offer on a purely bilateral basis. The AU itself sees opportunities in the joint force beyond fighting Boko Haram. AU officials view the MNJTF as a chance to disseminate the continental bodys principles on how AU-authorised forces should function and the behaviour of troops involved, including, critically, their compliance with international humanitarian law. The AU hopes that national units fighting under the MNJTFs banner will bring home better practice to their respective armies as they rotate in and out of the joint force. Some officials hope that the AUs involvement in the MNJTF will mean that its peace and security architecture comes to incorporate other ad hoc missions, hence expanding and improving African responses to threats like jihadist insurgencies, which traditional peacekeeping operations have struggled to contain (thus far the AU plays almost no role in the other main ad hoc force on the continent, the G5 Sahel). Some in the AU and in the force itself also see the MNJTF as part of learning by doing in African-led deployments. Humanitarian actors have also found opportunities in the joint force. They have used the MNJTF as a conduit for discussions with military officers on how to deal with captured militants or other Boko Haram members and how to protect civilians, in the hope that commanders and officials at the MNJTF headquarters will relay concerns to national units. Whether commanders have actually passed along these concerns remains unclear, however, given the forces complex hierarchy. Humanitarian actors have also trained MNJTF officers. B. MNJTF Countries Limited Bandwidth The MNJTF is an expression of the willingness of the states involved to cooperate, yet their commitment to the joint force has ebbed and flowed. Nigerias commitment has proven particularly variable. The country faces a dizzying range of threats, from Boko Haram itself to herder-farmer violence largely in its middle belt, mounting banditry in the north west and a still unstable Niger Delta. In 2016 and 2017, Abujas attention to Boko Haram dwindled. Many top officials may have taken their eye off the ball, as President Buhari declared at the end of 2015 that militants were on the verge of defeat. Many military units were redeployed for law enforcement around the country. Among the criticisms diplomats, journalists and other observers in Nigeria level at the government over its response to Boko Haram is Abujas neglect of the north east and the armys weak commitment to counter-insurgency operations there. Even the longer MNJTF operations over 2019 and 2020 do not necessarily show that Abuja is taking the threat more seriously. Those operations were largely spearheaded by Chad, and the most recent offensive aimed to clear militants from the lake area along Chads border rather than entering deeper into Borno state. The attention of other Lake Chad basin capitals has also waxed and waned. Like Nigeria, they face challenges beyond Boko Haram that have sapped attention and resources. Chad has had to tackle mounting insecurity in its north and east. Since 2017, Cameroon has redeployed some units from the Far North region, where they were combating Boko Haram, to confront Anglophone separatists in its North West and South West provinces. Niger is dealing with tensions on its border with Mali, and a militant threat that goes beyond Boko Haram. Attacks by jihadists in December 2019 and January 2020 killed dozens of troops. In this light, it is striking that the MNJTF not only exists nearly five years later, but is frequently operational, including its sustained efforts in 2019. The forces activity compares favourably with some other African-led military operations, such as the G5 Sahel, which has struggled since its creation to deploy on the ground amid disagreements over funding and command chains. It is all the more remarkable given that the MNJTF has, overall, received little international funding. That operations have continued likely owes partly to the Nigerian governments and senior military officers discomfort with having to call several times on Chadian forces to fight Boko Haram on Nigerian soil. The MNJTF allows them to frame such operations as multilateral cooperation. Equally, while politicians commitment has wavered, senior officials and officers in capitals, in national units in the field, and among those deployed into the MNJTF, remain committed to joint action against Boko Haram. They are also convinced that the MNJTF provides vital opportunities for sharing experience and learning. C. Operational Constraints The MNJTFs capacity at headquarters and in the field has increased only modestly over the past five years. Trust among national forces, on which the MNJTF ultimately relies, remains weak. The mutual unease is hardly surprising given that the MJNTFs component units hail from different military cultures, adhere to different doctrines, use incompatible equipment (particularly communications gear) and speak different languages (English and French). Disputes over funding have often held up the delivery of kit necessary for operations. There are challenges with both equipment and personnel. Disputes over funding have often held up the delivery of kit necessary for operations especially boats, needed for operations on the lake, and night vision equipment. When such equipment does arrive, MNJTF units have sometimes not planned for its use, due to poor foresight and internal communications. Although participating states have committed to the MNJTF only a small portion of the total number of troops fighting Boko Haram, they have frequently failed to deploy them into MNJTF units in their respective sectors for sustained periods (with the excepti0n of Cameroon, which appears to have committed forces for longer). As a result, the MNJTFs troop numbers have fluctuated. When forces recapture territory from Boko Haram, they have been unable to consolidate gains through holding operations. Militants have often won back lost ground. National governments and military commands have rarely shared operational plans with the MNJTF, hindering both joint planning and civilian protection. Despite the existence of a regional intelligence fusion unit, funded by the UK, the U.S. and France, and staffed by Western and regional officers, intelligence sharing between MNJTF components is reportedly poor. Apparently for this reason, in early 2019 the force commander requested AU support in persuading Lake Chad states to provide the MNJTF with its own intelligence-gathering capacity (the AU denied the request). Even beyond intelligence sharing, cooperation within the MNJTF remains sporadic and personality-driven. The formal command structure is reportedly confined in large part to developing joint operations that themselves are not part of an integrated strategy. Participating armies do not always do what they have agreed to in joint plans. The MNJTF has only had a marginal impact on the capacity and behaviour of troops, whether those integrated into the joint force or those working alongside it. Since the beginning of operations against Boko Haram, security forces abuses have angered communities and, in some cases, fuelled support for militancy. The NDjamena-based AU Support Programme, the forces main civilian component, has a human rights compliance office. But it reports not to the civilian head of the Lake Chad Basin Commission but to the force commander himself. As a result, its effectiveness is limited senior officers seemingly are closed to its reporting and recommendations, which they fear will be critical. More broadly, the office has been unable to properly carry out its mandate of improving human rights compliance, including monitoring treatment of captured Boko Haram fighters. The reasons are many: its staffing levels are too low and resources too few to go into the field; development of a civil-military liaison office has been slow; it has encountered resistance from the four countries military hierarchies; and army units have sown confusion by moving in and out of the MNJTF in an unprepared manner and based on orders from national headquarters. In 2019, the MNJTF, supported by the AU, reportedly made some progress in coordinating policy toward Boko Haram fighters in detention, including plans for common procedures for reception centres and a shared database of those captured or surrendered. Whether these steps forward signal a greater role for the MNJTF in ensuring human rights compliance as some AU officials hope remains unclear. D. Financing and Procurement Problems When Lake Chad states revived the MNJTF in 2015, it confronted an immediate funding problem, with promised commitments bogged down in complicated bureaucracy that slowed procurement. Lake Chad countries have sought donor money to improve the joint forces headquarters, planning capacity, training and equipment. The EU prepared a funding package in 2015, but refused to offer funds to pay troop per diems as it does for the AU force in Somalia, and some officials from Western states have admitted that their countries offered little support in the forces first two years. Financing has been a constant source of tension throughout the MNJTFs five years. Shortfalls and delays have led participating states to pin blame for the MNJTFs failures and indeed those of efforts against other jihadists in West Africa on what they see as the Wests broken promises of financial support. In 2015, the EU promised to provide funds, but only through the AU. The continental body is the designated recipient of the EUs Africa Peace Facility funds, and the EU already had procedures in place for disbursing money to the AU that it wished to test and improve. In August 2016, Brussels and Addis Ababa signed an agreement to support the MNJTF through a 55 million additional support package. This deal allowed the EU to incorporate funds for the MNJTF into its broader support for the AU. The EU money also complemented funds already given bilaterally by European governments to the MNJTFs participating countries. Shortfalls and delays have led participating states to pin blame for the MNJTFs failures on what they see as the Wests broken promises of financial support. But the EU only started to disburse its funds in 2017, due to weaknesses in the AUs procurement processes. After several unsuccessful attempts to circumvent those processes through outsourcing procurement to third-party contractors, the EU supported a major overhaul of AU systems, which allowed funds to flow through the AU to the MNJTF and procurement contractors. The delay did lasting damage. It left member states, mostly Nigeria, to cover the initial 2016 financing for the multinational forces headquarters, and left troops in the field undersupplied. It undoubtedly goes some way toward explaining the forces weaknesses and also fed tension and recriminations, which continue today, among donors, the AU and participating countries. Even today, some EU funds remain unspent. Though European money started reaching the MNTJF in 2017, the EU has had to twice extend its deadline for spending the funds due to delays in agreeing requirements. As of late 2019, the AU had spent or agreed on spending for a little over half of the EUs 55 million. The money has been critical, paying for medical services for the force, including a hospital in NDjamena, communications equipment, vehicles, and infrastructure for NDjamena and the four sectoral headquarters. But it is unlikely that much of the remainder will be disbursed before the program draws to a close at the end of 2020, again due to disagreements over what to spend it on. Both infrastructure for the sector headquarters and vehicles were subject to long disputes among the EU, the AU and participating countries on requirements. Even with EU funding flowing, disputes between the AU and Lake Chad states have hampered the procurement of essential gear. In 2018 and 2019, the AU, EU and Lake Chad governments agreed on equipment for 1) Command, Control and Communication Information Services (a system linking sector headquarters, the forces offices in NDjamena and AU officials in Addis, referred to as C3IS); 2) aerial intelligence equipment to be attached to airplanes; and 3) air mobility, including critical medevac capacity. But in April 2019, the Lake Chad Basin Commission requested that the AU suspend the C3IS contract, voicing concerns of the four Lake Chad governments that a direct link between the MNJTF headquarters and officials in Addis would cut them out of important communications. The dispute was eventually resolved in early 2020 by creating safeguards that satisfied the participating states. The aerial reconnaissance system was settled in early 2020 following disagreements in 2019 over procurement, but has not been delivered due to COVID-19 and is now likely to be shelved. The discord has undermined the forces effectiveness. It appears that in some cases MNJTF countries have asked to use their own national procurement systems and objected to the AU being the conduit for EU funds. EU and AU officials pushed back, including in the MNJTF Joint Steering Committee that meets in Addis Ababa. They believe that using national procurement structures would weaken the force and dilute its value as a regional initiative. They also fear that governments would likely use resources to boost national armies, thus failing to strengthen the MNJTF headquarters. They continue to insist that AU financing be channelled separately to donors bilateral support to national armies, using different procurement processes. The discord has undermined the forces effectiveness. It has fuelled a sense that the joint operations are under-resourced, which filters down to the field, where most troops receive only a small nationally paid stipend, far less than what they would receive in a UN mission (the point of comparison for many), and which has not always been paid on time. These recent tensions also soured relations with international partners. In the past, donors and AU officials have been wary of demanding that the MNJTF conduct more operations or supporting roles than it can sustain, partly because they see the force as learning by doing, and partly because they doubt it can be much more effective than national responses, which remain deficient, particularly in Nigeria. They also worry that funds or equipment for the MNJTF may later bolster national armies in geographic areas where donors have no oversight. The procurement spat goes further. It jeopardises the EUs support, at a time when it and the AU are about to start discussing the future of that support. In addition, the EUs Africa Peace Facility, from which MNJTF funds are drawn, is likely to be replaced in 2021 by a range of other financial instruments, in particular the new European Peace Facility, raising further uncertainty over funding. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the dispute, the sense that all parties seek to blame others for the MNJTFs weaknesses is pervasive. It is urgent that they work out a consensual way forward. V. Improving the MNJTF Lake Chad basin states, lacking public support and offering weak service delivery, have struggled to counter jihadist groups operating in their peripheries. Militants have exploited states weaknesses, denouncing corruption and neglect, intimidating populations to whom security forces offer little protection, and offering inducements or rudimentary services such as dispute resolution. Counter-insurgency efforts must involve not only military operations but also a political strategy that aims to win support among people in areas affected. At the same time, military operations are important: to create space for civilian officials and aid organisations to help people caught up in the conflict, start to rebuild public services and offer militants ways to demobilise. Also critical is to curb security forces abuses that further alienate locals. The transnational nature of militancy in the region and the importance of securing border areas mean that cooperation among Lake Chad states through the MNJTF and the LCBC is crucial. The MNJTF cannot solve these myriad problems on its own and will only ever be an addition to national efforts. Yet the transnational nature of militancy in the region and the importance of securing border areas mean that cooperation among Lake Chad states through the MNJTF and the LCBC is crucial. Thus far, it has been held back by uneven political commitment, disputes over funding and differences among those states, and between them and the AU and EU, over the forces priorities. Given those realities, progress toward a more effective force will be incremental. As the main donor, the EU has a strong preference for working through the AU, and the forces framework driven by participating states but with international support channelled through Addis is unlikely to change. Despite the constraints, the MNJTF has made progress, both in its operations and in establishing the principle of cooperation among participating states. To build on these achievements, governments should restate their commitment to the force over the long term, aim to improve its performance and match new resources to agreed priorities. They and international partners should aim for the MNJTF to achieve a high standard in terms of cooperation, planning, mission support and respect for international humanitarian law, such that it becomes a sought-after posting for troops and officers. The MNJTF, in turn, would need to provide opportunities for leadership, and national governments would need to recognise the value of such experience in officers returning to national ranks. In seeking to improve the MNJTF, partners must not seek to build a large bureaucracy. Several informed interlocutors pointed to the danger of fostering what one called a per diem culture, or of simply multiplying administrative units with little impact on the ground in the lake area. Equally, donors and AU officials, who rightly have strong ambitions for the force, should avoid creating a centre of authority in the force headquarters that would not have capitals full support, again a risk highlighted by interlocutors closely involved in supporting the MNJTF. A light touch and learning by doing have been essential to the forces relative success so far. A. Better Information Sharing and Planning The priority for national governments and international partners should be to help the MNJTF do the basics well, starting with communications and planning. As Boko Haram factions operate in border areas and embed within the population, better intelligence sharing and analysis is not just a necessity, but the joint forces raison detre. Participating states can take a number of steps to boost the MNJTFs ability to fight Boko Haram and support reconstruction efforts that do not require significant new resources. First, they should give senior officials in both the MNJTF and national structures greater leeway to determine what intelligence the joint force requires. They should allow the MNJTFs NDjamena headquarters to receive such intelligence and analysis from units operating in the field and from national capitals. Key is to allow officials to establish what is directly relevant to the MNJTFs cross-border mission and its operational planning, while accepting that governments will withhold much intelligence, partly out of fear of it leaking and jeopardising their own operations. Participating states can take a number of steps to boost the MNJTFs ability to fight Boko Haram and support reconstruction efforts that do not require significant new re-sources. Secondly, national governments need to bolster staff involved in sharing and analysing intelligence at each of the four sectoral headquarters and in NDjamena. They should also bring in tailored training in analysis, both tactical to improve operations and political to inform wider strategy. Further language training would help internal communications and enhance shared analysis. Thirdly, national governments should allow their militaries to share operational planning more routinely and in more detail with staff at MNJTF headquarters. At present, they reportedly share no planning beyond preparations for imminent operations, which means that the MNJTF struggles to plan deployments effectively. Again, governments and military commands cannot feasibly share all planning, but they should be prepared to offer the MNJTF more details than they do at present. B. Human Rights Compliance Security forces have committed abuses in the Lake Chad basin against locals whom they believe support or associate with Boko Haram. Such abuses may boost support for insurgents and hinder intelligence gathering and reconstruction activities. It is critical that the MNJTF comply with both the AUs human rights standards and those defined in the AUs 2018 Regional Stabilisation Strategy for the area. MNJTF officers, national militaries and the AU should focus on preventing the mistreatment of civilians. Participating governments and the AU should expand training on such compliance in the MNJTF headquarters and national sectors. They also need to develop and put in place procedures for monitoring the behaviour of troops and other MNJTF officials, as well as sanctions against offenders, which are almost non-existent at present. The AU and some NGOs have established some training and dissemination through the AU Support Programme. By setting a good example, the MNJTF should have a positive impact on national armies through the units and officers who move in and out of the force. Standards should of course apply to forces conduct with civilians, but they are especially relevant for the treatment of surrendered or captured Boko Haram fighters, former members or people suspected of involvement. Governments need to both ensure that their armed forces hand suspects over to civilian authorities and boost the capacity of those authorities to give such people due process. They also need to establish and disseminate best practice in this regard and coordinate concerning the treatment of nationals who surrender or are captured outside their country of origin. This coordination has reportedly gathered pace in 2019, including via the MNJTF and the LCBC, with AU support. C. Civil-military Coordination In 2018, the AU and the LCBC drew up a wide-ranging Regional Stabilisation Strategy for the lake area. Its primary intent, according to its lead author, was to shift counter-insurgency efforts in the lake area away from exclusively military campaigns toward civilian-led activities aimed at tackling underlying problems. It emphasises in particular the improved delivery of public services and other livelihood support or development activities. For the plan to have lasting impact, authorities would need to engage with local populations on how to rebuild conflict-affected areas, counter widespread distrust of the state that militants often exploit and potentially even talk to insurgents themselves, though the stabilisation plan does not envisage that. None of this will be possible, however, unless regional security forces can work efficiently together, push back insurgents, secure at least some areas and support civilian work. The AU needs to accelerate its recruitment for a new senior civil-military liaison officer to work in the LCBC, and dedicate more resources to work on civilian-led activities in liaison with the MNJTF military structures. While progress rolling out the Regional Stabilisation Strategy has been slow, the MNJTF will have to find the right way to support it when it does take shape. The strategy primarily envisages a role for the MNJTF in helping secure areas for civilian work and support law enforcement efforts. In rare cases, MNJTF units might carry out nominally civilian work, such as building or rebuilding schools or clinics, as they occasionally do now. More commonly, they will support the civilians responsible, securing areas for reconstruction activities, sharing analysis of local situations and intervening to protect those involved if militants pose a threat. Such efforts will require close liaison between MNJTF units and force headquarters on one hand, and civilian officials and humanitarian actors on the other, where the latter request it. The AU needs to accelerate its recruitment for a new senior civil-military liaison officer to work in the LCBC, and dedicate more resources to work on civilian-led activities in liaison with the MNJTF military structures. There are challenges related to civilian officials chain of command. At present, the MNJTFs AU-supported civilian component, including its human rights office, is housed within the force. It reports only to the force commander, rather than to the LCBC executive, even though the latter is nominally the mission head, or to the AU, which authorises the force. AU and LCBC officials deny that the LCBCs lack of control over the MNJTFs main civilian offices undercuts its oversight of the force (though that seems unlikely). They also express concern that shifting oversight to the LCBC would overburden what is already a stretched commission. Yet the MNJTFs military command is prone to ignore or suppress inconvenient information concerning troop behaviour. There are compelling arguments, supported by some officials in Addis Ababa and on the ground, for taking the civilian components out of the military chain of command. The AU and donors could use their intended boost to the LCBCs capacity to incrementally transfer civilian support functions to the body as it acquires more capability. D. Reaching Consensus on the International Support Framework Tensions among Lake Chad states, the AU and the EU have undermined the MNJTFs effectiveness. The 2019 dispute between the AU and Lake Chad states over the disbursement of EU funds is only the latest in a series of differences and misunderstandings that have beset the forces international support structures. These reflect what one AU official describes as a wider problem of conflicting expectations and vested interests around the continental bodys role in supporting the ad hoc forces it authorises. In particular, Lake Chad countries want financial support but expect to manage the resources, which the AU does not accept. It is critical that all parties act quickly on their apparent resolution of the 2019 dispute. They should speed up the delivery of intelligence capacity and air support to ensure that they can evacuate injured troops; the latter is important to making the force a more attractive posting. Lake Chad states should accept and work with the AUs international procurement procedures to expedite delivery of equipment. They also should work upstream to check that equipment fits the joint forces requirements and is immediately usable, which has not always been the case in the past. If Lake Chad states and their international partners envisage the MNJTF building up its presence over five to ten years, they should aim to reach consensus about who will pay for the force and how. They will have to hash out precise details themselves. But the broad principle should be that Lake Chad states accept that the EU and AU will not fold their support for the MNJTF into bilateral European or other assistance to national armies or procured through national structures. In return, donors should commit to consistent and predictable support, potentially augmenting funds if the MNJTF states set out a credible vision for the forces future. Both sides need to be realistic about what is possible, especially regarding procurement. Foreign partners have good reasons to continue supporting the joint force, even beyond the imperative of reversing the humanitarian disaster around Lake Chad. While for now jihadists in the region do not pose an immediate threat outside it, their future evolution is unpredictable and the MNJTF provides a cost-effective way of containing the menace. It also could give the AU and donors a chance to develop their thinking about how best to support ad hoc security coalitions in the future. VI. Conclusion Regional cooperation is vital to battling Boko Haram and its offshoots, which have proven adaptable, persistent and able to thrive in remote border areas around Lake Chad. Over the past five years, the MNJTF has helped pressure militants, stemming Boko Harams expansion and leading it to fracture on more than one occasion. The joint force has brought other dividends: through it or inspired by it, troops, officers, officials and politicians have made considerable strides toward multilateral cooperation despite divergent perspectives and interests. But participating states reluctance to fully commit to the force, due partly to national sensitivities, partly to differing priorities because of the diverse threat that each country faces and partly to funding disputes, have left the force structurally and operationally weak. By being more open to sharing plans and intelligence, improving human rights compliance and civilian-military cooperation, and working with the AU and EU on sustainable funding arrangements, Lake Chad governments can improve MNJTF's effectiveness. Moreover, military action in itself is not enough. While operations are important, their impact will be limited unless the Lake Chad states and Nigeria in particular, given that militants operate across a larger area there than in any of its neighbours can establish their authority, improve their delivery of services and inspire at least some trust from communities in recaptured areas, all while offering militants paths to demobilise safely and even potentially engaging some of them in talks. A reinforced MNJTF can contribute to such a strategy. Lake Chad governments are, not surprisingly, reluctant to create a fully integrated force. But by being more open to sharing plans and intelligence, improving human rights compliance and civilian-military cooperation, and working with the AU and EU on sustainable funding arrangements, they can improve its effectiveness. It will not be easy for the joint force to secure and hold territory to create space for reconstruction, stabilisation work and peacemaking in border areas, but the right reforms would improve its prospects of doing so. Nairobi/Brussels, 7 July 2020 Appendix A: Boko Haram Factions, Areas of Sustained Presence and Influence Microsoft has published a roadmap of the features it plans to release for business users of its Windows 10 operating system. Most of the upcoming features focus on user authentication and security, but Windows 10 will also get some usability spit and polish over the coming months. Enterprise features in development for all Windows 10 devices currently include enhancements to Azure Active Directory Join and the Microsoft Passport authentication feature that replaces passwords with enrolled devices and Windows Hello biometrics. Microsoft is also working on using Windows Phone and Android devices as remote credentials stores for device unlocking and user authentication, along with companion devices such as the Band 2 wearable. A public preview of multifactor authentication for apps and websites, using Microsoft Hello as well as Passport, has already been released via the Windows Insider program. For enterprise security, Microsoft announced Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, which will draw on information the company has collected from a billion Windows devices, 2.5 trillion indexed weblinks and 600 million online reputation lookups, as well as daily vetting of a million suspicious files. WDATP is in testing with early adopter enterprise customers, but Microsoft did not say when the service will be generally released. The long-awaited Enterprise Data Protection file encryption product - which can be used to stop employees inappropriately sharing organisational information - is in public preview as of this month. EDP entered testing in November last year. Microsoft is also developing notifications from websites for the Edge web browser in Windows 10, which recently gained the ability to use extensions and tab pinning in the Insider preview version. Start menu updates, picture-in-picture, screen drawing, PC-to-PC casting and integration of the Cortana personal digital assistant with the Action Centre notifications are other features currently in development. The roadmap did not provide details on the expected release date for the features in development and public preview. Microsoft will release the Windows 10 "Anniversary Update" in July this year, with a further large update to the operating system expected in 2017. Palo Alto Networks has updated its NextWave channel program to focus on "differentiation and specialisation, profitability and loyalty". Palo Alto Networks Asia-Pacific channels vice president Keith Carter told CRN the company is simplifying the way it interacts with and support partners, helping them build sustainable, breach prevention-focused security practices. "With the new updates to the NextWave channel partner program, Palo Alto Networks is aiming to enable partners to become next-generation security innovators, which will help them create deeper relationships with their customers and increase their services attach resulting in improved profitability," he said. By analysing the practices of its most successful partners, Palo Alto Networks found the best way to help customers sift through "whats real and whats not" is through side-by-side technical comparisons, Palo Alto Networks senior vice president for worldwide channels Ron Myers said in a blog post. "Our partners who have the expertise to assist in the technical evaluations by becoming next-generation security innovators create deeper relationships with their customers and are more profitable." The vendor is offering new specialisations, including pre-sales training added to the enablement framework; comprehensive set of pre-sales, sales and post-sales individual accreditations and certifications; nine pre-sales specialisations with different levels and expertise by role, which will be foundation, associate and professional; and TRAPS advanced endpoint specialisation. The areas of expertise will include cybersecurity, platform, endpoint, mobile, data centre, platform, cybersecurity and data centre. Partners who achieve TRAPS advanced specialisation will be granted the highest deal registration protection of up to 25 percent for one year. In order to help partners close more deals with less cost, the security vendor is improving diamond and platinum partner margins to reward those who exceed the quarterly growth targets. There will be predictable NFR discounts based on NextWave levels, real-time reporting on the use of NFR equipment, NFR return-on-investment and proof-of-concept activities. Palo Alto Networks has also simplified its partner framework with new silver-level requirements, diamond-level now available globally, deal registration system upgraded, new partner learning centre and renewals platform. These changes should make it easier for partners to invest and grow their businesses, according to the vendor. Palo Alto, a US-headquartered IT security company, recently appointed Simon Green as its new vice president for ANZ. Vonexs reverse listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has come undone after the company was removed from official quotation this morning. Over the past two months, ASX and Vonex have traded words over concerns about Vonex's capital raising under prospectus in December. Due to these concerns, the Brisbane-headquartered telephony provider is obliged to offer investors a refund on their investments, which totalled $5 million for 111 million new Vonex shares. Problems began on 26 February when the ASX queried Vonex as to why the $5 million from the prospectus had not been held in a trust fund for investors. Vonex issued a supplementary prospective on 4 March that confirmed that $725,000 from the prospectus had been used as a transactional account for corporate expenses, including working capital, technology and development, marketing and expenses associated with the reverse takeover. The supplementary prospective also explained that Vonex obliged to offer investors the chance to withdraw their investment. Vonex stated it had already received and processed refunds totalling $4.1 million as of 4 April after closing the supplementary prospectus. On 14 March, ASX asked Vonex why a working capital loan facility for up to $1 million, which was established in September 2015, wasnt properly disclosed to the ASX during the prospectus. Vonex director Mark Rowbottam said at the time the loan facility was only verbally agreed to in October, and wasnt finalised until 29 February, and had not been disclosed to Vonexs other directors. On 1 April, Rowbottam who was responsible for negotiating the loan facility resigned as a director of Vonex. The following week, Vonex chief executive Brydie McKee announced she was stepping down as a director "in order to focus on growing the business". On 12 April, ASX told Vonex that after multiple unsatisfactory responses on the nature of its capital raising, the company would be removed from official quotation. Vonex spent the majority of 2015 negotiating a reverse listing with publicly listed mining company Aleator Energy. The hosted PBX provider intended to raise the $5 million in capital in order to fund the ongoing development of its multi-platform communications app Oper8tor. While the reverse listing plan has come undone, investors on share market forum HotCopper were hopeful Vonex would relist via an IPO. The company grew its revenue by 22 percent in the 2015 financial year to $4.6 million. An adventure technology vendor has put its hoverboards back on Harvey Norman shelves, four weeks after the toys were temporarily banned by the government. Kaiser Baas said its Revo Glider electric scooter, or hoverboard, was compliant with the safety specifications that were announced last month. Minister for small business Kelly ODwyer placed a 60-day interim ban on hoverboard sales on 18 March after revealing she had received advice that unsafe hoverboards create an imminent risk of death or serious injury. The interim ban sets out the safety requirements for batteries and battery control systems that hoverboards must meet in order to be sold in Australia, ODwyer said at the time. If a suppliers hoverboards do not meet those requirements, they are unable to sell the product during the interim ban period. Kaiser Baas said the Revo Glider is back on sale at Harvey Norman and other outlets after meeting the safety standards. Managing director Evan Kourambas said that while the government was right to focus on hoverboard safety, the interim ban had failed to solve the problem. The announced ban has directly affected legitimate small business operators and retailers who are credible and spend thousands of dollars to ensure all safety standards are met to all legal requirements, he said. The ban unfortunately does not affect the rogue traders who are often untraceable and sell inferior products through online channels such as eBay and Gumtree. Kourambas said all the hoverboards that had caught fire in Australia had been unbranded units that were purchased online through unknown sources. Not one has been linked to a legitimate business, he added. Absolute Software has appointed Rick Ferguson as its ANZ country manager. Ferguson has more than 20 years experience in the security, networking and storage industries, according to Absolute. Before joining Absolute, Ferguson served as Asia-Pacific vice-president for Nexsan Storage and Security Solutions, where he oversaw sales and marketing activities across the region. He previously held management positions with Cisco Systems Australia and Palo Alto Networks. Absolute provides endpoint security and data risk management solutions, and has offices in Australia, the US, the UK and Canada. Ferguson said he was looking forward to working with colleagues both in Australia and overseas. Today, organisations face critical information security challenges and constantly evolving threats. Absolutes Persistence technology is uniquely positioned to help companies in Australia and New Zealand address these risks, he said. Persistence technology is embedded in products manufactured by Acer, ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, Panasonic, Samsung and Toshiba. Absolute has reselling partnerships with these OEMs and others, including Apple. Cloud News How Will 'Sentinel' Be Greeted In Amazon's Channel? Joseph Tsidulko Share this In the decade since its launch, Amazon Web Services has nurtured a large and vibrant ecosystem around its league-leading cloud. But a product being developed to offer the largest of customers a toolkit capable of automating services traditionally provided by partners is stirring debate in the channel. As CRN first reported Tuesday, AWS is working on a new offering -- code named Sentinel -- that will let large enterprise customers manage and monitor their public cloud workloads in a self-service fashion. CRN's sources said AWS is developing Sentinel because some of its large multinational customers don't want to work with managed service providers and would rather manage their workloads independently. [Related: Sources: Amazon Web Services Poised To Enter Cloud Managed Services Market With New 'Sentinel' Product] Some partners told CRN they're worried that Sentinel could intrude on the turf of MSPs. Still others believe the product won't step on toes because it targets customers that aren't inclined to work with partners to begin with. One partner told CRN he fears Sentinel is a harbinger of greater troubles down the road. "We're starting to see some cases where conflict is not being resolved," he said of the relationship between the world's largest cloud provider and its channel. "There's conflict in pricing, support, technology delivery." Other partners have a more resigned view. Getting upset about AWS' innovations "would be like being angry about the inevitability of the ocean tide," one partner told CRN. The cloud provider is just following the market, leveraging their technology to meet the needs of their customers, he said. An insider told CRN that Amazon has been working on an MSP offering since around 2013. In October 2014, the domain "aws-sentinel.com" was created and administered by Stephen Farrell, which is also the name of an AWS cloud support engineer based in Ireland, according to his LinkedIn profile. Negotiating overlap with its partner community isn't a new challenge for AWS. There have been instances where independent software vendors built tools for the platform around instance, security and network management, and then Amazon was so impressed with their functionality that it created similar offerings. "The conflict is already there in the ISV market," one source told CRN. "The security products at Re:Invent [the annual AWS partner conference] could potentially compete with security vendors. We've seen a lot of that, where AWS created products that could be competitive." Another source told CRN: "You need to be two steps ahead of AWS if you're creating technology that lives on their platform and works in their ecosystem." While those tensions have been part of the dynamic with technology partners, the vast network of AWS channel partners -- implementation and managed service companies that have matured their businesses with the growth of Amazon's cloud -- for the most part have operated with the confidence that the provider wouldn't intrude on their province. But Sentinel raises larger questions about Amazon's core philosophy and ethos, and how those factors embedded deep in the company's DNA will ultimately reverberate through its ecosystem. "There's a cultural epidemic within Amazon of do it yourself," said one partner. "If they wanted to create a service like that, why not come to a partner?" Most partners CRN talked to agree the demand for a self-service MSP platform is real. "In the industry, if you hear Fortune 500 companies talking about it, that's what they say," one partner said. "We don't want partners to manage it but we need AWS to help us." As to whether Amazon would risk irking some in its channel by building a product to accommodate those customers, "it wouldn't surprise me at all," that source said. "That wouldn't surprise anyone in the ecosystem." "AWS is ultra-sensitive to what customers are asking for," another partner said. "Sometimes customers want you to take care of that, so AWS is trying to do that." While Sentinel potentially threatens the MSP business model, some of those partners find relief in AWS' indications that it intends to sell the product to only a handful of large customers. One source told CRN his strong suspicion is that Sentinel -- based on what he understands the technology will look like when released -- won't create channel conflict because it will appeal to the kind of customer already not particularly inclined to contract with an MSP. That customer has a profile: a large, tech-savvy enterprise with a sophisticated internal IT department that's calling the shots on hiring consultants, and seeking greater agility for its infrastructure. Such companies often want a solution provider to help them get bootstrapped by choosing the software and platform they will use for self-management, do the initial architecting and implementation, and then hand over the keys when done. "For the class of customers that don't want to hire MSPs, it makes sense they would have an MSP-grade toolkit," that partner said. "VMware provides such a toolkit and most of those customers are coming from the VMware world." But even though the service, once it debuts, will be geared and priced for an elite stratum of customers, "thats a market everyone is after," said one partner. Some partners aren't thrilled with Sentinel, but accept the presence of offerings like it in the market and the larger trend toward greater automation. While the natural tendency of tooling upgrades is to diminish the need for services, that's part of an inevitable evolution always pushing partners further up the value chain, one partner told CRN. "Its a natural consequence of our business." Another partner said the biggest threat to the channel from Sentinel is perception, not reality. "The optics are that you are competing with AWS," he said. "But I think they are terrified of having upset customers." It's important to remember that Sentinel will have its limits, some partners said, and is apparently designed for only a simple set of narrow workloads that don't involve customized software. "I see AWS focusing on automation, but there is so much customization that automation alone doesn't solve the problem," one partner said. Other partners said they believe Sentinel's capabilities could be entirely overblown. "What AWS is trying to do isn't easy," one source told CRN. "Sentinel will only service a very small percentage of the app loads out there. A lot of the workloads and products and services out there won't be able to use it effectively. It's tricky and not easy for AWS to build it correctly." Because Amazon does offer an MSP certification for partners, the provider will undoubtedly tread carefully with Sentinel, avoiding stepping on partner toes by limiting the product to a toolkit and never straying into its own brand of managed services, one partner said. The greater threat is that "the traditional MSP business model is disappearing," another told CRN. "There's just less value in providing an army of support staff to watch blinking lights." Any AWS-affiliated solution provider -- whether an MSP, systems integrator or technology partner -- should expect Amazon "to offer 80 percent of what they do, and focus on finding the 20 percent that makes them different," one partner told CRN. On Tuesday, in response to questions about Sentinel, an AWS spokeswoman told CRN in an emailed statement: "We dont comment on rumors, but will note that we always build services with our partner ecosystem in mind, enabling our partners to leverage and extend whatever we build to create unique value-added solutions for customers." Kevin McLaughlin contributed to this story. Security News Partners, Security Experts Worry New Encryption Bill Will Harm Business Sarah Kuranda Share this Solution providers and security experts say they are worried a new bill designed to give law enforcement "backdoor" access into encryption technologies will seriously hurt their businesses -- especially if they are called upon to open the backdoors themselves. The bill, proposed Wednesday by Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., under the name Compliance With Court Orders Act of 2016, says that "no person or entity is above the law," and therefore all data security solutions must comply with legal regulations and court orders, even if it means building in backdoor access. The bill covers all "providers of communications services and products," which could include manufacturers of devices, software, remote computing services, wire or electronic communication services, or "any person who provides a product or method to facilitate a communication or the processing or storage of data." [Related: Report: Optiv Security To Seek IPO In Coming Months] For partners, the critical element is the bill's impact on license distributors, which it defines as "a provider of remote computing service or electronic communication service to the public that distributes licenses for products, services, applications, or software," will have to ensure that those distributed products meet the requirements for law enforcement access. Jamie Murdock, chief information security officer at Binary Defense Systems, a Hudson, Ohio-based managed security service provider, said these types of requirements would be "challenging for our business," especially since the company offers its own endpoint detection product with secure communication capabilities. "The implications to us could mean that we could have to allow access into this system, as well as the software that runs on thousands of individual endpoints," Murdock said. "This could mean our company may have to provide access to the monitoring that we do for our customers. There are other caveats to this, such as only needing to do this if the data has been made 'unintelligible.' " While his company is bound to abiding by U.S. law and supports law enforcement efforts, Murdock said, his top priority is the security of his clients' environments. This bill would harm client information security, he said. "As [a managed security service provider], security of our clients is our main focus -- thats why were here and do what we do. This is something we are adamant about," Murdock said. "My personal hopes are that this will not pass. There have been many cases where an individual device, whether physical or application, needed to be accessed for an investigation. There becomes an issue when the access must be 'baked in.' By doing this, you are asking for malicious actors to exploit this capability." In another development Thursday with a potential impact on industry privacy, Microsoft said it had filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Justice Department, arguing that customers using cloud services should be notified when the government wants to access their data. Microsoft said nearly half of the 5,624 federal demands for data in the past 18 months have said the company couldn't tell its customers about the request. The two developments are the latest iterations in a growing debate over encryption technologies and information privacy vs. law enforcement capabilities. That debate came to a crescendo in recent months in the ongoing struggle between Apple and the FBI, though that case was settled late last month as the law enforcement agency managed to hack into the encrypted iPhone in question without the help of the technology company. Jane Wright, principal analyst at Technology Business Research, said the proposed bill could have a major impact on the ability of security technology companies to compete in an international market, as consumers will likely turn to foreign companies outside of the reach of the backdoor requirements. "If passed, the bill could make some customers wary of purchasing solutions from U.S.-based VARs, driving a portion of the U.S.' tech revenue to other countries," Wright said. "It could also dampen margins for U.S.-based VARs, because they will need to ramp up resources so they can provide decrypted data to law enforcement agencies when asked." Ajay Arora, CEO and co-founder of Vera, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based data security company, agreed with Wright on the implications the bill could have on U.S. companies. While he said Vera will see a benefit from the move, as it doesn't store the data that it encrypts, Arora said the bill is "crazy," as the amount of loopholes it creates will make it easier for hackers to attack U.S. companies. "[The bill would mean] every hacker in the world knows that there is an inherent weakness in every encryption scheme produced in U.S. or used by a U.S. company. Every piece of data used by an organization is now subject to be cracked open," Arora said. "I think this makes the U.S. fundamentally less secure than other countries, in some ways. I know the intentions of some of these things are positive, but the practical implications of covering all the use cases and scenarios are almost impossible." Arora said legislators will have to come up with some common ground with the security industry, instead of trying to dictate broad policies on technology outside their realm of expertise. That being said, Arora asserted, there likely isn't a quick-fix solution for this complicated of an issue. "You just can't legislate yourself out of this," Arora said. "There's no silver bullet. It's going to take some time." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRIDGEPORT Chief Armando Perez showed off fake IDs Wednesday from a stack of 50 police said underage Sacred Heart University students used at a Main Street bar where two off-duty cops worked security. These are very real-looking IDs, Perez said. Hours earlier, the state Department of Consumer Protection closed down the Golden Star Cafe, citing numerous liquor violations. Perez confirmed that Officer Chris Smith, who has been on the police force eight years, and Officer Andrew Talavera, an 18-year veteran who taught at the police academy, were working security at the bar on April 5, when it was raided by a police task force. Police sources said the two officers were also working at the Golden Star on March 30, when a 19-year-old college student was allegedly raped by a man she met outside the bar and thought was an Uber driver. Perez, however, said police have not confirmed the moonlighting officers whereabouts on that night. He said the citys Office of Internal Affairs is investigating reports that Smith, Talavera and perhaps other officers have been working at the bar for some time. Investigators are going through hours and hours of surveillance video because this type of conduct will not be tolerated, he said. Perez said it has been against the Bridgeport Police Departments policy for at least 32 years for officers to work off-duty security jobs at bars. Smith and Talavera certainly knew what the policy is, and they are going to be made to pay for it, he said. Both officers have been placed on administrative duty, pending further investigation. Police union President Charles Paris declined to comment. Scanner defense While the alleged sexual assault and the raid happened before Perez became police chief, he refused to cast blame on the former administration. But Police Captain Mark Straubel said that in the past, disciplinary cases against officers were allowed to languish for months on former Chief Joseph Gaudetts desk. Now a case will come up for a disciplinary hearing two weeks after all the facts are in, Straubel said. Gregory Kapetaneas, the owner of the Golden Star, had claimed that his staff scanned in the IDs for everyone who entered the bar on April 5, and that the machine verified all of them. Perez said the staff at the bar were using a handheld scanner that took a photograph of each ID presented and would verify the computer strip on the back with a database. However, he said, when police checked the scanner they found that more than 30 IDs used by students to get into the bar had not been put through the scanner. Perez said the officers Smith and Talavera had not been running the scanner. Perez said when the students were approached by the raiding officers, many of them turned over their fake IDs. The chief showed two that had the photo of the same young woman one was a drivers license from New Jersey, and the other was a drivers license from Rhode Island. These are fake IDs made by a third party that are purchased on the Internet, Perez said. They have the real name and photograph of the person but the date of birth was altered to make them older. While the students were charged with underage drinking, an infraction that could result in their drivers licenses being suspended, they were not charged with having a false ID, a felony. I think it was enough that they received the infraction, wont be able to drive, will be disciplined by the university and will have to explain all of it to their parents, Perez said. These are kids, and I didnt want them to have a felony record. State takes action Perez said the more than 80 underage people in the bar when it was raided by police were all Sacred Heart students. The bar hold parties specifically for Sacred Heart students, it even advertises them, he said. Perez said on Friday he sent a letter to the state Liquor Commission asking that they suspend the bars liquor permit. Kapetaneas declined comment. On Wednesday morning, a white sign was placed on the front window of the Golden Star Cafe by the state Department of Consumer Protection, stating the bars permit to operate has been suspended. The department finds the public health, safety and welfare imperatively requires emergency action, the sign states. We found over 80 underage drinkers to be a disturbing number, said Lora Rae Anderson, spokeswoman for the state Department of Consumer Protection. We are continuing our investigation and will bring in the owners and will have a conversation with them about their security system and make them aware of the law, she said. Thereafter, Anderson said, the department would decide what action to take against the owners. It can suspend the bars permit for a period of time, fine the owners and permanently pull their permit. Perez said he is working closely with the dean of students at Sacred Heart University to end underage drinking. We are aware there are other establishments in the city that are serving alcohol to underage students, and they are next, he said. NEW HAVEN Federal prosecutors announced new federal grant funding to bust heroin dealers in Connecticut Tuesday. In the midst of what lawmakers have characterized as an epidemic of heroin and opioid abuse and overdoses, the U.S. Attorneys Office and Drug Enforcement Administration are expecting two new cash injections for investigation and enforcement. Department of Justice officials said they will focus on drug dealers who distribute heroin, fentanyl or opioids that cause death or serious injury to users. Prosecutors said they had developed a protocol calling for local police to fast-track fatal overdose investigations an preserve evidence from them, as well as loop in DEA agents. The police protocol will allow investigators to preserve evidence critical to identifying and convicting those responsible for distributing these drugs, Deirdre Daly, the states top prosecutor, wrote in the announcement. Our aim is to prevent additional deaths and to hold accountable those who distribute these deadly drugs. Fentanyl is an opioid painkiller. Authorities in Connecticut have at least tentatively tied a recent rash of overdoses to heroin laced with fentanyl. One factor may be that heroin users do not know how much fentanyl may be mixed in with their heroin, making it impossible to dial in their high. Trumbull police Lt. Leonard Scinto, a spokesman for that department, said different samples of heroin from the same batch can turn up different levels of cutting agents like fentanyl. He said that police are facing a constant slog to beat back drug dealers. Its never-ending theyve been working drug cases for 32 years, since Ive been a cop, Scinto said. He said that heroin and opioid use had likely overtaken crack and powder cocaine use in the area. You see a lot more heroin now than you have in the past, said Scinto. Its been an ongoing issue. In March, 26-year-old Ryan Jordan of New Milford pleaded guilty to selling the heroin that killed Christopher DeFino in 2015, earning himself a four-year prison sentence. The previous month, two men in Derby died from and two Shelton men barely survived heroin overdoses. And in January a 24-year-old man died after police found him unconscious from an apparent heroin overdose in the bathroom of a White Plains Road Starbucks. All told, the state Chief Medical Examiners Office counted 723 drug intoxication deaths in 2015 a steady increase over several years from 357 in 2012. Over that time frame, most of the overdose deaths have involved heroin, either on its own or in combination with another drug or drugs. Cops have had some success using naloxone hydrochloride known as Narcan to counteract suspected heroin overdoses, but the countermeasure is not foolproof. Thomas Carson, a spokesman for Daly, said that the DEA and Dalys office had received funding from the Departmetnt of Justice Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task force to root out large-scale sources of heroin being distributed in Connecticut. The DEA, he wrote, would also get funding for overtime pay, equipment, training and investigation of seized cellular telephones as part of a National Heroin Strategic Initiative. Carson did not specify the amount of either allocation. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate So you want to get past the Hollywood velvet rope with Chris Dodd or scarf down Philly cheesesteaks with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy? Or do your best air guitar with other GOP rainmakers at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland? To whom much is given, much is being expected this year for the 99 party stalwarts who will represent Connecticut at this summers national political conventions more so than in previous election cycles when being a delegate was treated merely as a reward. In competitive races where the delegate math is discussed round the clock, the fealty of Democrats and Republicans to individual candidates such as Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz could be put to the test in a way that many party insiders have never experienced. Room to reconsider No group is more emblematic of the phenomenon than the so-called Democratic superdelegates made up of national party leaders, statewide office holders and members of Congress. Connecticut has 16 of them, 15 of whom are committed to Clinton, including Malloy and Dodd, the current head of the Motion Picture Association of America. Unlike regular delegates, they are not bound by the results of the Connecticut primary, which will be held April 26. For Malloy, who has stumped for Clinton in New Hampshire and Iowa, its Clinton or bust even if Sanders pulls an upset in Connecticut. The most recent poll showed Clinton clinging to a 6-point lead in the Nutmeg State. I will cast my cast ballot in Pennsylvania for Secretary Clinton, Malloy told Hearst Connecticut Media. Lets be very clear, I support Secretary Clinton. State and national party rules generally give Democrats greater latitude in who they back at their convention, set this year for late July in Philadelphia. But even Republicans have some wiggle room after the first ballot at their convention, which will take place a week before the Democrats, in Cleveland. Superdelegates are free to change their mind at any time and have been the subject of mounting pressure by Sanders campaign to support the winner of their states primary or caucus. That could put Clintons surrogates such as U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who went to Yale Law School with the Democratic front-runner, in a pickle. I certainly will heed and hear the will of Connecticut voters, but I regard myself as having given my word and have made a promise, Blumenthal said of his support for Clinton. Asked if hes giving himself an out, Blumenthal said he expects Clinton to win Connecticut and that it would be premature to discuss the alternative scenario. Lets wait for the election, Blumenthal said. If Trump wins Connecticut where a recent Emerson College poll had him blowing away the GOP field with 50 percent support he most likely wont have to fret about Republican turncoats the way he has in other states. The presidential campaigns get to choose their delegates under the state GOP rules, which Republican insiders say reduces the chance of poaching that has taken place elsewhere in the country. Connecticut will send 28 GOP delegates to Cleveland, all of whom will be required to support the candidate that chose them on the first ballot at the convention. I feel as though its my responsibility as party chairman to honor the results of our election, said J.R. Romano, the states top Republican and delegate. Collaborative effort If there is a second or third ballot, as many in the GOP are prognosticating with a contested convention, the state party rules allow for switching. Im sure the candidates have (a) pretty good vetting process, said state Rep. John Frey, R-Ridgefield, a Republican National Committee member and delegate. In Connecticut, Republican delegates are awarded on a winner-take-all basis at the congressional district level, and proportionally statewide. A candidate eclipsing 50 percent of the statewide vote gets all the delegates, while those with fewer than 20 percent of the vote get none. The campaigns will submit a list of delegates to the Republican State Central Committee for ratification after the primary. Based on my experience and understanding of the tradition, its a collaborative effort between the campaigns and the state party to determine the slate of delegates, said Jerry Labriola Jr., Romanos predecessor as GOP chairman. However, this time it may be a little bit more hardball. For the Democrats, 36 of the 55 regular delegates are chosen at party caucuses at the congressional district level. A dozen at-large delegates are chosen by the Democratic State Central Committee from a list of applications submitted through the partys website. Applicants are required to choose a candidate and cast a ballot for that candidate at the convention, according to the Connecticut Democrats, who award delegates on a proportional basis. Weve been encouraging folks to apply for a few weeks now, said Leigh Appleby, a state party spokesman. neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy Visit an app marketplace and search for parenting or management apps, you will find hundreds of clone apps reiterating the same benefits and features. The point is, why make same types of apps when there are so many niche gaps to fill. In this article, we have summed up four niche apps that cater to very specific but real needs of users. Take a cue from these apps, and find ideas for your own niche apps. Related: Want to Defeat Stress, Anxiety and Worry? Exercise, Say 'Thank You' a Lot and Use The Calm App. 1. pCloud In the wake of the recent Apple-FBI battle, one message was loud and clear -- if you want to keep your data secure, use the most sophisticated data storage services. This is where pCloud differs from other cloud storage players like Dropbox and Box. Whether you want to keep your data safe from prying employees or from, erm, government officials, you can use the Crypto Folder in pCloud that is encrypted locally on your device. pCloud uses 256-bit AES encryption for files and folders while the encryption key uses 4096-bit RSA, which means only people who have the key can access your files or folders. Dropbox offers 256-bit AES but not the 4096-bit RSA, which means encryption happens from Dropboxs side rather than yours, so your data is at risk. Whats more, pCloud offers flexible encryption solutions, so you can keep both encrypted as well as non-encrypted files on pCloud depending on the level of security needed. This way, you wont have to go through the trouble of creating password keys for all your files and folders. pCloud is a perfect example that even if the existing market is cluttered, there might be a gap you can fill with your niche solution. 2. CCO Companion CCO Companion is a compliance repository cum regulatory app that is geared towards investment advisers. It is designed to meet 15 most-common investment compliance challenges. It helps investment companies by providing information and resources to stay up-to-date with all their compliance obligations. Even though there are many compliance apps in the market, this app caters to the specific niche of investment regulatory compliance. It combines a number of things including a reference library which gathers all the compliance-related information curated by experts. This information can be searched by topic, type and Advisers Act rule to make information easily accessible. It also alerts you about laws and news from the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities, so you dont miss out on any important information. It comes with a number of professional compliance tools such as monthly compliance training material, compliance checklists, risk assessment and compliance testing templates and model documents. You can also import and organize your own compliance documents. Related: These 10 Tools for Remote Workers Will Make Office Life a Permanent Thing of the Past 3. PensterDocs PensterDocs is a document management app for pets -- or you can call it a pet-information repository. It allows you to keep all the important information about your pet including vaccinations, vet appointments and papers neatly organized and accessible. You can set reminders for everything from vaccination appointments to small tasks like taking your dog for a walk. We have tons of document management apps, but this one breaks through the clutter by bringing forth a well-designed and well-rounded pet document and task management app. You can store all your pet documents and show them at pet salons, boarding facilities, etc. without carrying them everywhere. If you have more than one pet (because you just cant have one), you can store multiple profiles and access all the information including allergies, vet information, shot verifications, check-up summaries, etc. just by clicking on the profile. You can easily share these profiles with people in your family, caretakers, dog-walkers and boarders to ensure no one misses out on any important information. You can even keep special notes and phone numbers, so you can call your veterinarian, find nearby animal rescue centers and kennels in a jiffy. The best part is their community is thriving, and you can find a wealth of knowledge, stories and funny anecdotes from other people using this app. 4. Voico Voico is a free communication app with many features such as audio calling, group chatting and image sharing. If you are living outside the U.S., Canada and Mexico, you can create a virtual local number and connect with people in these countries without paying the exorbitant long-distance call rates. Again, we have many voice messaging apps that offer these feature,s but Voico cuts through the noise with its unique translation feature. You can choose from over 100 languages to type and translate. For instance, if you want to connect with a seller from China or France, but you dont know Mandarin or French, Voico app comes to your rescue. It allows you to send text in English and automatically converts it to Mandarin, Chinese or any other language you want. And guess what -- the translator is absolutely free. Whether you are looking to connect with your friends and family overseas or collaborate with your team members spread across the world, Voico provides a great communication and collaboration platform. Related: 3 Mobile Apps for Converting Voice to Text Niche apps cater to the pain-points of users and hence have more viability and success rate than other me-too apps. If your app looks too much like a clone, try to find the grievances addressed against the existing apps, address those issues in your app, and you will have a successful app. With the app marketplace getting more crowded by the day -- this might be the best decision ever. Related: These App Designers Have Carved Out Niches in Areas Like the Pet and Investment Industries Now Apps Come to the Rescue During Odd Even Rule in Delhi Have You Heard About The Mega Banking App UPI Yet? Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The former money man for an international drug cartel was sentenced in federal court in Houston Tuesday for aiding in a $1 million marijuana operation. Jose Juan Banda-Corona, who was known by the nickname Cachetes, or Cheeks, admitted he was an accountant for the Gulf Cartel drug operation. BEHIND THE SCENES: Gulf Cartel show their faces in recently released photos U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison sentenced him to three and half years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. "Sir, if you are deported, which I think you will be, I hope you won't come back here," Ellison said. Banda-Corona looked at him and indicated that he understood. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Darnell Smith told the judge that Banda-Corona, 36, was the fee collector for the cartel in Mexico and the U.S., and tabulated $1 million worth of business. Defense attorney Fabian Guerrero asked the judge for leniency. "He's as pleasant a fellow as you'll meet," Guerrero said. Banda-Corona was among 52 people named in a 31-count indictment in 2013. Ellison sentenced four other defendants from the same indictment Tuesday, the majority of whom received similar advice from the judge. For the most part, their pleas were under seal, preventing the public from knowing the acts they admitted to committing. Juan Oscar Rodriguez, 34, known by the nickname Cuatro, or Four, was given a sentence of just under five years in prison and four years of supervised release. Mario Alberto Gonzalez, 41, known as Cookie, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and four years of supervised release. Julio Cesar Lerma, 36, known as El Licenciado, or the Graduate, who had pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana was sentenced time already served in federal detention. Lydea Gonzalez, 56, who was not mentioned by nickname in the indictment, was sentenced to eight months in prison and two years of supervised release. She remained free on bond and will voluntarily surrender to officials. So far, 35 codefendants have entered guilty pleas, though a number of them has yet to be sentenced. Several of the defendants remain fugitives and two have died, including the man associates referred to as Comandante, or Commander, Galindo Mellado-Cruz, the founder of the Zetas. Officials said he was killed in a shootout with Mexican federal police in the border region of Tamaulipas in 2014. The Zetas were an offshoot of the Gulf Cartel known for beheading civilians. U.S. officials have said Mellado-Cruz returned to the Gulf Cartel in a lower profile in the last years of his life. Berlin, Windber and North Star bring plenty of momentum into Week 10 Check out what we learned in Week 9 of the high school football season across Somerset County. Videos of Floridian arrests bring renewed criticism of crackdown on election fraud Law enforcement body camera footage showed stunned and confused Floridians being arrested on voter fraud charges. Advocates are calling for changes. Middle and high school students in the Memphis area will compete in the Herff College of Engineerings 10th annual Canstruction event. Herff College of Engineering Middle and high school students in the Memphis area will compete in the Herff College of Engineerings 10th annual Canstruction event. The Herff College of Engineering at the University of Memphis will host the 10th annual Canstruction competition for middle and high school students on Friday. The competition will take place from 9 a.m. to noon in the in the courtyard between the three engineering buildings or in the Rose Theater lobby, if it rains. U of M students will be able to vote on their favorite structures from noon to 1 p.m. Stephanie Ivey, associate professor in the department of civil engineering, is planning the entire event. aIt is not only a way to do a design competition, but it also gives back to the community,a Ivey said. Canstruction is a competition that allows middle and high school students from around the world demonstrate their skills in engineering. The charity was started in 1992 by Cheri Melillo and her colleagues from the Society for Design Administration, according to the Canstruction website. Students will use canned goods to build structures, which are displayed as art sculptures. After the competition, the canned goods are donated to a local food bank. This yearas competition will include 15 teams made up of 200 middle and high school students from the Memphis area. It will be the most teams that have ever participated in the Memphis Canstruction competition, Ivey said. Teams will have three hours to finish their structure and are allowed to have up to five members building at a time. There is no limit to the amount of cans each team can use, but they will have an eight cubic foot area they are allowed to use for their design. Each team will also have a professional civil engineer and a civil engineering student with their team to serve as mentors. There will be winners for the best use of labels in the design, best overall meal, structural ingenuity, peopleas choice and juroras favorite. Each school was given sponsorship funds at the beginning of the program to help purchase canned goods. Students in the competition also raised over 128,000 pounds of canned goods for the competition. While in high school, Ian Tyler, a civil engineering junior at the U of M, participated in the Canstruction competition in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. aIt was one of the coolest things Iave ever gotten to do,a Tyler said. aMy team did not win, but I learned that Iam really passionate about building stuff.a Tyleras high school teacher, Jake Upton, helped encourage him to pursue the field of engineering through the Canstruction competition, he said. They would collect cans for the food banks, then use them to practice building structures. aMr. Upton was one of the coolest dudes,a Tyler said. aHe had a whole class that all we did was build stuff. The best part was each month we would spend a Saturday delivering the cans we gathered to the food banks.a All canned good from the competition will be donated to the Mid-South Food Bank, which will distribute them to pantries, soup kitchens, day cares and the elderly Lifestyle | Daily Life | News | The Sydney Morning Herald Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Of course, rape is a terrible crime and gang-rape is one of the worst things that human beings can do to another person. So, had four young men who were arrested after a group sex session at a student ball been found guilty of sex crimes, they would have been jailed for many years. But the case against the quartet collapsed this week after detectives were accused of 'cherry-picking' evidence to support the prosecution, while 'airbrushing' anything that suggested the men were innocent. Lawyers for the four students (who had been charged after the drunken sex session during a May Ball at the Royal Agricultural University in Gloucestershire) argued that evidence had been 'withheld' by officers before the trial. This included messages taken from the victim's phone hinting that she may have consented. BARBARA HEWSON believes our criminal justice system, once insensitive to rape victims, has swung too far the other way and assumes an accusation by a woman is as good as proof of guilt. It also emerged that the alleged victim had given 'different accounts' as a witness in another rape case involving an Army officer also acquitted. How could the police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have got it so wrong? I have worked for many years as a human rights and civil liberties barrister and I'm afraid that I do not think this case can be dismissed as a one-off. Sadly, it illustrates a deeper problem in our justice system when it comes to sex crimes. Having once been deplorably insensitive to the problems that rape victims face, I believe that our criminal justice system has swung too far the other way. It now assumes that an accusation by a woman is tantamount to proof of guilt. Even worse, it has encouraged sharp tactics on the part of the police and the CPS who are keen to have a more positive image as being tough on sex offenders and winning more successful prosecutions. The most grotesque example recently involved Scotland Yard's VIP paedophile murder inquiry and investigation into claims that a string of Establishment figures were responsible for killing three boys in the Seventies and Eighties. Though the probe collapsed, the police refused to say sorry to those whose lives had been ruined or reputations shattered by a suspected fantasist called 'Nick', whose claims triggered the investigation. Most controversially, one of the investigating officers, Det Supt Kenny McDonald, had described Nick's delusional ramblings as 'credible and true'. The fact is that our criminal justice system is supposed to be founded on two critical principles. First, the presumption of innocence. Second, due process: the belief that criminal accusations must be proven beyond reasonable doubt, by fair procedures. The system has encouraged sharp tactics on the part of the police and the CPS who are keen to have a more positive image as being tough on sex offenders and winning more successful prosecutions, she writes However, when it comes to sexual assault, decades of campaigning by feminists and more strident members of the victim lobby have browbeaten judges and policy-makers into a change of approach. The prevailing attitude seems to be that it is unfair to anyone claiming to have been the victim of a sexual attack that they should have to accept that their alleged attacker is 'innocent until proved guilty' and that the case has to operate under due process. As a result, the system has been re-engineered to make it more difficult for the accused to defend himself. Even the definition of rape has been changed. Previously, it was a defence for a man to show that he honestly believed the woman was consenting. But the Sexual Offences Act 2003 passed by the Labour government introduced a so-called test of reasonable belief in consent. This means that the accused has to show he took reasonable steps to ensure that the woman consented to sex. This has led to the ridiculous situation whereby some students demand 'affirmative consent'. This means that consent has to be sought and given at every stage of any sexual encounter. Most ridiculously, students at one U.S. high school have been told that men should obtain consent every ten minutes during sexual activity. A further worrying development is that the police and CPS seem to see themselves as advocates for complainants though they should be acting impartially. The result is that they appear to shut their eyes to any evidence that might complicate their plans to bring a prosecution. This phenomenon is known as 'confirmation bias'. This was confirmed by the absurd admission of one Manchester barrister who said: 'If someone complains, we prosecute.' The fact is that our criminal justice system is supposed to be founded on two critical principles - the presumption of innocence and due process, writes HEWSON I'm sorry, but such a perverse attitude is highly dangerous. No one benefits when innocent people are wrongly accused. The fact is that this creates a new class of victim: the falsely accused, or those who are prosecuted, who are presumed guilty until they can prove their innocence. Some high-profile examples of those wrongly accused of sex offences are Nigel Evans MP, radio presenter Paul Gambaccini, war hero Lord Bramall and former MP Harvey Proctor. Significantly, the legal authorities' attitude was outlined by former Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Keir Starmer. In an article for the Criminal Law Review in 2014 written after he had left the post, he explained how changes were needed to improve the way the credibility of alleged victims was assessed. He called for 'a more sophisticated approach that starts with the assumption that the victim is telling the truth'. Sir Keir has since been elected as a Labour MP. But the pressure to believe all complainants began before he was appointed DPP. Back in 2002, the Metropolitan Police issued a Special Notice 11/02 entitled 'A policy for the investigation of rape and serious sexual assaults'. It began: 'Principle 1. It is the policy of the Met to accept allegations made by any victim in the first instance as being truthful. An allegation will only be considered as falling short of a substantial allegation after a full and thorough investigation.' This approach encapsulates the problem. When the word 'victim' is used before a crime has been proved in court, it means there is a presumption of guilt. Equally, what happened to the promise of a 'full and thorough investigation'? Some high-profile examples of those wrongly accused of sex offences are Nigel Evans MP, radio presenter Paul Gambaccini, war hero Lord Bramall and former MP Harvey Proctor I am aware of many sex attack cases in which defendants and their lawyers have complained that when they provided the police with evidence suggesting that a complaint of sexual assault was false, the police simply ignored it. For example, there was a case in which a teenager was accused by a girl of a similar age of raping her. As part of his defence, the accused boy's mother went through social media postings that her son and the girl had made during the time in question. They showed that every time the girl claimed she was being attacked, she and the boy were in different locations. Yet despite this research being given to the police, the officers later returned it as 'unused material'. Though the case went to trial, the accused's mother handed her dossier to the CPS barrister, who said they had never seen it before. Separately, it became clear that the girl's story didn't add up. Within 24 hours, the prosecution barrister told the judge that the complainant was no longer regarded as a witness of truth and the trial collapsed. However, things should never have been allowed to reach that stage. The boy's family incurred very substantial legal costs, which they were unable to recover from the CPS. I believe that such people who are falsely accused and who are put through unnecessary and traumatic experiences should be able to sue the police for damages compensation for negligent investigations. This is allowed in Canada. Should those who have been falsely accused have even more right to redress? For example, ought they be able to sue the CPS if they feel their case has been mishandled? Theoretically, it's already possible to sue public officials for misfeasance, but that requires proof of bad faith something that is a very high threshold to cross. Regardless of the redress that might be available to those who are wrongly accused, there is a much more important principle at stake. Burlesque star and model Dita Von Teese has added another feather to her cap with the design of a new cardigan for Australian brand Wheels and Dollbaby. The cardigan, which Von Teese has named 'Black Beauty', is inspired by her classic 1940s style with a peter pan collar, rose embroidery, ribbon neck tie and buttons down the front. It is also limited edition, with only around 800 being made in the colour, making it hot property for Von Teese, and Wheels and Dollbaby, fans. Scroll down for video Burlesque babe: Dita Von Teese (above) has deisgned a new cardigan for Australian brand Wheels and Dollbaby Va va voom: The cardigan (above) is called 'Black Beauty' and features black embroidered roses, a peter pan collar and velvet buttons Wheels and Dollbaby designer and founder Melanie Greensmith said that she initially met Von Teese over a decade ago, when the burlesque star was dating Marilyn Manson. 'Dita and I met in London about 12 years ago, and we got to talking and just had similar sensibility,' Ms Greensmith told Daily Mail Australia. 'I said to her, let's design something, let's do a cardigan, it will be fun.' Since then the pair have collaborated on a number of cardigans, all in different colours. Fans around the world collect the clothing items, all of which are limited edition. Close colloboration: Wheels and Dollbaby founder Melanie Greensmith (left) met Von Teese 12 years ago and said they had 'similar sensibilities' Gorgeous glam: Von Teese is heading to Australia later in the year for a tour of her burlesque show Strip, Strip, Hooray! 'We have around 20 colours, no people all over the world collect them,' the Wheels and Dollbaby designer said. 'People swap them and sell them on ebay. Every time we release a new colour it goes crazy.' There will be another clothing piece being release later in the year too, to celebrate Von Teese's Strip, Strip Hooray! Australian tour, but Ms Greensmith was tight lipped about the details. 'There'll be another cardgian in June to celebrate Dita coming to Australia,' she said. 'But obviously I can't tell you the colour!' Limited edition: Von Teese has worked with Wheels and Dollbaby before, with Greensmith saying all the pieces designed by the burlesque star become collectors items Red hot: Celebrities are a fan of the Von Teese design, with Katy Perry (above) being spotted in a piece Since the initial collaboration, the burlesque beauty has launched her only clothing and lingerie line, again focused on retro and vintage style. Celebrities have also seen to be a fan of Von Teese's designs, with Katy Perry and Deborah Harry both purchasing one of the Wheels and Dollbaby cardigans. A teenager has revealed how her former fiance launched a drunken attack that was so brutal she was left fearing for her life. Sara Dudek, 17, from Liverpool, had been dating Kane Case-Webb, 20, for two years when the violent encounter - in which he stamped on her face and left her covered in blood - took place. Case-Webb, also from Liverpool, had downed two litres of Sambuca plus bottles of wine and vodka when he lost his temper and put Sara through an ordeal that would see her slashed at with a knife. Sara Dudek, pictured with fiance of two years Kane Case-Webb, prior to the vicious attack in 2015 Sara Dudek suffered injuries to her face after Case-Webb punched and spat at her Sara says she believed she would die as Case-Webb punched and spat at her, stamping on her head and leaving her covered with blood. He hit her so hard that her contact lens was pushed behind her eye, which was pouring with blood. He also clamped his teeth onto her back, and shook his head around like a dog with a piece of meat. Case-Webb was jailed at Liverpool Crown Court for seven years in December after he admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, two counts of assault, affray and criminal damage. Sara, speaking about the incident for the first time, says: 'I thought I was going to die. Though we were young, Kane and I were so much in love and I never thought he would hurt me. 'He had a chunk of my flesh in his mouth and he shook his head around, as though he was a dog with a piece of meat. His fury was terrifying.' She and Case-Webb met through Facebook in 2013 and their relationship quickly became serious. Sara says: 'Though we were young, we just clicked. We would talk all night long on the phone and we never got bored of each other. The couple met on Facebook and quickly fell in love, moving in together in January 2015...but the relationship was destined for a brutal demise So in love...but Sara would fall victim to Case-Webb's violent side She says her former partner also clamped his teeth onto her back, and shook his head around like a dog with a piece of meat 'I really felt that Kane was the love of my life.' But although Sara was besotted, her mum, Justina, 33, was not so sure. Justina says: 'Kane was very possessive and he didn't like Sara speaking to other boys. I was worried where it would lead.' On New Year's Eve 2014 Case-Webb proposed and the couple got engaged. Sara moved in with him in April 2015. Justina says: 'I was devastated when they started living together but I had to let her do what she wanted. I couldn't stop her.' Sara was studying health and beauty at college, but Case-Webb gave up an apprenticeship with the fire service after he was victim of an attempted mugging. Sara says: 'Kane was always very caring and loving, but he could be jealous and paranoid and he blamed his anxiety on the mugging. He was always worrying about me going off with other men. 'He didn't even like me talking to his own brother. It was nothing more than a niggle between us and we were happy together.' But in October this year, after a few drinks at home, a minor argument triggered a horrific attack. Sara was besotted with Case-Webb but her mum, Justina, 33, had doubts about him early on in the relationship Bite marks: Sara's attacker had a chunk of her flesh in his mouth Now Sara, pictured with mum Justina, is rebuilding her life and despite being so traumatised that she had to have over a month off college, she's determined to be happy again Sara says: 'I asked Kane if I could borrow his phone to call a friend, and he refused. I tried to grab it, in a joking way, but as I leaned across him he bit me hard on my neck and I screamed. 'It was the first time he had ever been violent to me in any way and I was very shocked.' Case-Webb then launched a brutal attack, punching, kicking and biting Sara, and spitting at her as she lay on the floor. He also clamped his teeth onto her back, and shook his head around like a dog with a piece of meat. His brother and mother, Julie Robertson, were in the house and tried to defend Sara, but they were also injured. Case-Webb then grabbed a large kitchen knife and held it to his own throat. As Sara and Julie tried to disarm him, he sliced across their hands with the blade, leaving them dripping with blood. Sara says: 'I ran to the bedroom and hid under a duvet but Case-Webb grabbed my head and smashed it against the side of a table. It was so forceful that my contact lens slipped behind my left eye and I felt something pop in my eyeball. 'The pain was excruciating. My eye was pouring with blood and my eyelid was literally hanging off. 'I was screaming loudly but Kane just covered my face with a pillow and shouted at me to shut up. At that point, I thought my time was up. Of the attack on her eye, Sara says: 'The pain was excruciating. My eye was pouring with blood and my eyelid was literally hanging off.' 'Kane was in a rage. He threw me on the floor and stamped on my head, over and over again. I felt myself losing consciousness and I thought I was dying.' Case-Webb ran from the house and dived onto the bonnet of an oncoming taxi, cracking the windscreen and terrifying the driver and passers-by. He was arrested soon afterwards and Sara was rushed to hospital. She suffered a deep wound by her left eye, which had to be glued together, plus cuts, bruises and bite marks. Kane Case-Webb, 20, appeared before Liverpool Crown Court in December 2015. The court heard he punched, kicked and bit his girlfriend in a cocaine-fuelled frenzy leaving her covered in blood. Case-Webb - who also assaulted his brother and mum was jailed for seven years. He admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, two counts of assault, affray and criminal damage. He has no previous convictions. Judge Denis Watson, QC, said his 'rage was so fierce' that when his girlfriend took a bread knife from him he got hold of her head and smashed it against a table. He said: 'You were punching her face and kicking her and then you clamped your teeth into the flesh on her back. 'You started shaking your head around, as if trying to tear some flesh from her back.' Judge Watson made an indefinite restraining order, preventing Case-Webb from contacting his victim. He said: 'I have no doubt your intention was to commit more serious harm than you in fact committed.' Case-Webb's defence told the court he suffered with mental health issues. The judge said he believed the true triggers of the 'outrageous and sustained attack' were drink and drugs. Sara says: 'I was so traumatised that I had to have over a month off college. 'I feel so let down by Kane. We were engaged, I thought he was my soul-mate, and it is just unbelievable to think he did this to me. Looking back, I wish I'd listened more to my mum; older and wiser, and she sensed there was something wrong from the start. Overalls, backpacks and chokers are all enjoying a modern, decidedly grown-up renaissance. The latest nostalgia-tinged trend sure to bring you back to your childhood? Popsicle-stained lips. That's right - that bright, sticky film that coats lips after you've licked the last of the refreshing, sugary sweet treat, is, according to New York-based beauty brand Glossier, cool. Part of its first foray into make-up, the buzzy skin care brand recently released Generation G, a line of matte lip colors designed to give your lips what it calls a 'popsicle flush.' Sugary sweet: Generation G, A new lipstick line from cool girl brand Glossier, claims to give lips a 'popsicle flush'. But is it as good as the real thing? Femail finds out Testing, testing: To find out whether the Glossier lipstick held up to its claims, we pit two of the colors against the effects of eating cherry and raspberry popsicles The Generation G products are a cross between a stain and a balm and come in four pink-ish shades that range from an enhanced nude to a soft berry. When we gave the lipsticks a try, we could immediately see what Glossier meant by its description. The pigment kind of drags across lips, leaving a slightly uneven finish, which is especially apparent on chapped lips. But that, it seems, is the point. To be clear, the shades are subtle, so you won't look like you got ready in the dark. But this is not a product that is meant to look perfect, be used in tandem with a lip liner, applied painstakingly with a brush or even blotted. The diffused effect gives your make-up the kind of effortless vibe that off-duty models and It girls seem to naturally radiate. But the real question here is, how does Generation G compare to a real life 'popsicle flush?' We spent a blissful afternoon eating cherry and raspberry ice pops to find out. Slide me Caught red lipped: FEMAIL reporter Sarah Ferguson, 26, compares popsicle-stained lips created by Glossier's new lipstick in Crush (above) with popsicle-stained lips created by an actual cherry popsicle (swipe left) Slide me Save room for dessert: FEMAIL reporter Rebecca Carhart, 28, compares popsicle-stained lips created by Glossier's new lipstick in Like (above) with popsicle-stained lips created by an actual raspberry popsicle (swipe left) Shop Glossier's new matte lip tint: Glossier Generation G in Like ($18, glossier.com) After consuming the desserts, red food coloring had transferred onto our lips, planting itself mostly in the inside center regions. The resulting look was a playful, faded ombre not unlike that which was created by the lipsticks. If our teeth hadn't also turned an unnatural shade of red, we may have considered spending the rest of the day with sugar-tinted lips. Instead, we brushed our teeth and immediately switched back to Generation G. The tote sold out within hours of him announcing the news on Instagram Inspired by Africa, proceeds will go to He is known for designing towering heels with signature red patent soles, beloved by the likes of Victoria Beckham and Kim Kardashian. So when Christian Louboutin branched into handbags, what better way to celebrate than with a custom-made cartoon released via his Instagram page? The 53-year-old French luxury footwear designer has joined forces with his friend Valerie Schlumberger and the French charity La Maison Rose to launch the 'magic' oversized accessory, which will see 10 per cent of proceeds go to aid Senegalese women and children. The French designer is best known for designing towering heels with signature red patent soles, beloved by the likes of Victoria Beckham and Kim Kardashian - but he has now created a one-off charity handbag The fashion mogul shared two pop art-style videos on Instagram to showcase his latest creation, which he has called Africaba - and the 795 tote had sold out within less than 24 hours. The first post reads: 'Our latest collaboration is a story of friendship, creativity and reinvention. Meet Africaba, the versatile day bag made in partnership with French charity #LaMaisonRose. 'With each purchase, a portion of proceeds provide aid relief to Senegalese women and children (sic).' It shows the designer and his friend Valerie, a costume designer and boutique owner who is mother to actress Lea Seydoux, with eye-popping graphics flashing in the background. His second graphic comic-esque upload is captioned: 'True magic! Africaba is the result of a collaboration between Christian Louboutin, his dear friend Valerie Schlumberger, and the women of La Maison Rose. The 53-year-old French luxury footwear designer has joined forces with his friend Valerie Schlumberger and the French charity La Maison Rose to launch the 'magic' oversized accessory, to raise money for charity The fashion mogul shared two pop art-style videos on his Instagram page on Tuesday night to showcase his latest creation (pictured), which he has called Africaba - and it had sold out within less than 24 hours 'A beautiful pink house in Dakar, La Maison Rose is much more than a house; it is a place of hope and safety for vulnerable and marginalized women of Senegal and their children. 'Demonstrating inventiveness combined with instinctive artistic flair, the hand-embroidered work of the women of La Maison Rose is fused with the skill of the house of Christian Louboutin to create this vivid and distinctive day bag (sic).' It shows the pair in avatar from, sitting side-by-side on a bench when, out of nowhere, the colourful tote appears in a puff of smoke. Speaking of the charity, the designer said: 'A beautiful pink house in Dakar, La Maison Rose is much more than a house; it is a place of hope and safety for vulnerable and marginalized women of Senegal and their children' And fans were clearly delighted, with follower Anya gushing: 'It's so amaaaazing'. Tamika Ambush-Dickerson wrote: 'That is gorgeous!' Danielle Washington wrote: 'I went online and I was thinking about buying this.....until I saw that it was sold out!' Christian's soft-bodied shopper features bold, African-inspired prints, complete with short red leather handles, as well as an extended shoulder strap for a cross-body or over the arm carrier. Patsy also recreated her cover of one of Vogue's wedding issues as an octogenarian The writer has written a novel, St. Brigid's Cloak, which tells the story of a world-famous model and her lookalike Anna explained that in the 1970s the famous models were all tan and blonde, and she was turned down by a modeling agency in her youth despite her resemblance to her famous mother The former model's daughter Anna Murray, 49, decided to replicate her famous shoots with herself as the star Patsy Shally, 85, from New York, was a world-famous model in the '40s and '50s and has graced the covers of Vogue, Glamour, McCall's, and more Advertisement A woman whose mother was a world-famous model has revealed that it took her decades to finally feel beautiful as she teamed up with her mom to recreate her most iconic magazine covers from the 1950s with herself as the star. At the height of her career, 85-year-old Patsy Shally graced the covers of Vogue, Glamour, and McCall's, and although her 49-year-old daughter Anna Murray grew up to be the splitting image of the former model, she admitted that her peers never considered her beautiful. 'It was all in the timing,' she wrote in an essay for Vox, which she titled, 'My mom was a world-famous model. It took me decades to finally feel beautiful.' Lookalikes: Writer Anna Murray (right) recreated her mother Patsy Shally's magazine covers from the 1950s (left). The world-famous former model rose to fame in the 1940s and 1950s Spot the difference: In these images, Anna (right) looks just like her mother (left), however, despite trying to sign up with a model agency when she was a teenager, she found herself facing rejection Imitation game: After the shoot Anna (right), said that she was most proud of her recreation of her mother's McCall's cover (left) because she is a spitting image of her mom She added: 'I turned 13 in 1979. Beauty then was tan, blonde, big boobs, boyish hips, and looking great in a bathing suit. Beauty was Christie Brinkley and Farrah Fawcett.' Writer Anna, who is also the CEO of the technology consulting company eMedia LLC, admitted that she visited a modeling agency when she was a teen but nothing came of it. The writer spent her teenage years being called 'cute' because her 'baby face' made her look years younger than she was. However, her youthful appearance became an asset as she got older, and by the time she entered her 40s she had grown into her mother's stunning likeness. Anna said that for years she 'toyed' with the idea of stepping into her mother's famous shoes and starring in a recreation of her past magazine covers. 'If it was ever going to happen, it had to be soon,' she explained. 'Time was running out. Mid-2015, an alarm went off in my head. How many years had I left to resemble Mom in her youth? As for Mom, how many years had she left at all?' Logistically, Anna, who recently completed her debut novel,St. Brigid's Cloak which draws on her experiences of growing up in the shadow of her famous mother, needed a team of photographers, a stylist, hair and make-up professionals, a studio, and proper lighting equipment to just to pull off the shoot. Mother-daughter duo: Anna and Patsy (right) also posed together as they recreated one of the 85-year-old's fashion ads (left) Two generations: When Anna (left) asked her mother (left and right) what it was like to get older and see her appearance change, Patsy said she is 'thin with great hips, great hair, and great shoulders' Still stunning: Patsy (left and right) showed off her everlasting beauty by recreating a wedding-inspired Vogue cover from her youth Meanwhile, she had to search Etsy and costume shops to find the exact ensembles featured on the '60-year-old magazine pages'. And while there were small obstacles to overcome, such as the roses dropping and the yellow jacket she needed being out of stock multiple times, Anna was trying to 'restage million-dollar cover shots in a raw rehearsal space in the Atlantic Theater Company'. Anna went on to say that she was also five inches shorter, 10lbs heavier, and 25 years older than her mother was when she was at the height of her modeling career. 'Yet there was one huge factor in our favor: People still said, as they had for as long as I could remember, I was a dead ringer for Mom. Would that be enough?' she asked. While growing up in a family of eight on a street full of tenements in New York City, Patsy got her start as a model in 1944 at the tender age of 14. After visiting a modeling agency that was located across the street from her house, she started posing for catalogs, and four years later had dropped out of high school to pursue her rapidly rising career. Classic beauty: Like Patsy, Anna (right) wore a corset during the shoot, but while her mother (left) once boasted an 18-inch waist with one on, she was only able to whittled her stomach down to 23-inches Finishing touches: Anna is pictured getting her make-up done by her team before recreating her mother's Glamour magazine cover Growing up: Anna, who is pictured as a child (left) and a teen (right) , spent her teenage years being called 'cute' because her 'baby face' made her look years younger than she was Patsy was represented by Harry Conover, a top modeling agent in the 1940s and 1950s, and she later scored a contract with Eileen Ford, the famous co-founder of Ford Models. 'Mom ran in glittering circles, where she met and married my father, of the Southampton Murrays,' Anna recalled. 'Famous for their hundred-acre beachfront estates and marriages to Vanderbilts and Fords, they were known as the "golden clan".' Patsy had retired from modeling after she had gotten married, but Anna finally saw her in action when her mother and father came to visit her on set of her shoot. Anna wrote that her leg 'quivered with muscle strain' after she spend over an hour posed in the 'shoulder-arching, lumbar-torquing backbend Mom once made look easy'. Just when she thought she was done, her mom pointed out that Diane Arbus had shot the original photo, which inspired Anna's photographer Ahron R. Foster to keep going until they got it just right. Anna said that like her mom, she wore a 'back aching' corset for the shoot, but while her mother once boasted an 18-inch waist with one on, she had only whittled her stomach down to 23-inches. Rise to fame: Patsy, who is pictured in her past modeling campaigns (left and right), grew up on a street full of tenements in New York City and got her start as a model in 1944 at the tender age of 14 Cover girl: By the time she was 17 years old, Patsy (left and right) had dropped out of high school to pursue her modeling career Making money: The former model, who is pictured on the cover of Mademoiselle (left) and McCall's (right) , used her earnings to buy her mother an apartment in Queens and send her siblings to school In another shot from the shoot, both Anna and her mom posed for a replica of a wedding issue of Vogue. 'It was a big ask requesting that a dignified 85-year-old woman don a bridal crown and strip down to her slip,' Anna explained. However, when she asked Patsy if she was okay, her mom gave her a look that said she was there to work. Anna noted that watching her mother work as a model for the first time was a new experience for her, and Ahron gushed that she was 'obviously a professional'. As for her own photos, Anna said she was especially pleased with her McCall's replica cover because she is nearly a 'dead ringer' for her mom and she spent three hours making the hat she was modeling. During the project, Anna, who is turning 50 this summer, asked Patsy what was like to see her looks change, and her mother noted that she has 'big eyes, high cheekbones' and is 'thin with great hips, great hair, and great shoulders'. 'She didn't elaborate,' Anna wrote. 'But I got what she meant: You won't always be young. But you'll always be beautiful.' Super star: Patsy, who is pictured in a Martini & Rossi ad (left) and during a screen test (right) , achieved world-wide fame at the height of her career In demand: As a model Patsy (left and right) was signed by Eileen Ford, the famous co-founder of the agency Ford Models On Tuesday, he had swatches of all eight Lip Kit colors inked on his forearm under the 'King Kylie' tattoo He already had a 'King Kylie' tattoo on his wrist and a dripping Lip Kit logo on his shoulder A true superfan's love of his or her favorite celebrity never fades and nothing says 'I'll be obsessed with you until the day I die' like a permanent, never-going-away-no-matter-how-old-you-get tattoo. Or three. At least, that seems to be the thought process of Johnny Cyrus from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The 18-year-old is so confident that he'll love Kylie Jenner and her hyper-trendy and of-the moment Lip Kits forever and ever that he's gotten not one but three tattoos paying tribute to the reality star's make-up like. On Tuesday night, the teenager Snapchatted his trip to the Walkers Point Tattoo shop where tattoo artist was Josh Ebert inked him with his second Kylie Jenner Cosmetics tat. Totally permanent: Kylie Jenner superfan Johnny Cyrus got this new tattoo of Kylie Jenner's Lip Kit swatches this week In love: The 18-year-old is obsessed with the reality star, and has now met her and also messaged with her on several occasions Not a quick decision: He put plenty of planning into the tattoo, drawing it on his arm several times in the weeks leading up to his appointment Inspiration: He seems to have gotten the idea from pictures posed on Kylie's Instagram account and the account for her cosmetics company The Kylie superfan had made his adoration for the star known before, in equally permanent form. In November of 2015, he had the black crowned K, the King Kylie logo, inked on his wrist, and in December he added the Kylie Cosmetics dripping lip logo to his right shoulder. 'I'm honestly so obsessed with my tattoo. I can't stop looking at it. It's literally perfect,' he wrote on Instagram after receiving his 'King Kylie' tattoo, sharing a similar sentiment about being 'honestly so obsessed' with his second tat. Naturally, the enthusiastic teen is just as 'obsessed' with his third tattoo, which was inked just below his King Kylie one. It features swatches of all eight of the original Lip Kit colors, not including the glosses or metallics. The hues are lined up neatly on his arm, spanning from pinks to orange to nudes. The design seems to be inspired by swatches Kylie often paints on her own arm and shares on Instagram. Not his first rodeo: In December, Johnny got the brand's lip logo tattooed on his arm The process: This week, he offered social media updates as he got his new ink at a local tattoo parlor Longwear lipstick: He explained that he loves the Lip Kit colors and needed to have them on his body 'I love the colors so much I needed them on my body,' Johnny told BuzzFeed. 'I wanted the swatches tattooed since the first three shades came out but it was how was I gonna do it.' Laying out $175 (which included the price of second, unrelated-to-Kylie tattoo on his arm), the final artwork was the culmination of weeks of planning. Johnny shared several test runs on Instagram, and even seemed to get Kylie's approval when he direct-messaged her about them on Instagram. 'I'm getting the lip kits swatches tattooed...' he wrote to her. 'Can't wait.' 'Omg I knew you were going to get them tattooed!' she messaged back, in one of several private exchanges that Johnny has screen-grabbed and shared on social media. He also plans to add onto the bottom of the tat, should Kylie add more colors to her range. To build on: He said that he will add more swatches to his third Kylie tattoo if she releases more shades Showing it off: Since he got each of the tattoos, he has shown them all of on social media His go-to: He has been buying up Kylie's products, but wearing them on his lips wasn't enough In addition to updating followers on on Snapchat while he was getting inked with the swatches, Johnny narrated entire tattooing process on social media when he got his lip tat in December. The official Lip Kit by Kylie Instagram page even re-posted one of Johnny's photos. Following his many posts of the tattoo, Johnny received both praise and criticism from his followers - of which he has a whopping 27,000 - with many saying they thought the tattoo to be an example of shoddy workmanship. 'Couple things I wanna clear up,' Johnny wrote in a following post addressing the critics. 'For everyone who's saying that the artist did a s****y job, y'all are clearly blind!!! 'Second, I couldn't do the exact Candy K lip kit colors cause it was too close to my skin color and I wouldn't be able to see it.' He added: 'F*** the haters. I don't care what anyone says. I love my tattoo and I think its dope.' Hitting back: After commenters online criticized the tattoo, Johnny posted telling them, 'for everyone who's saying that the artist did a s****y job, y'all are clearly blind!' Pretty: When the color Kourt K came out, Johnny had already been planning the tat, so he made sure to add the new color King Kylie: He had this simple black crowned K inked in November A father's annotations on a list of instructions from his wife on how to look after the house and their three-month-old son in her absence may not have earned her praise when she came back from a two-night trip. But Jacob's handwritten notes - which include, 'the fish aren't coming back, RIP' next to an instruction to feed the goldfish and 'teach him to play Nintendo' instead of 'FaceTime with Mom' - has earned him thousands of fans online. Posted with the caption 'Wife made me a list for the two nights she is out of town. We are both first time parents with a 3-month old son', on Imgur, the joke-riddled list of instructions has been viewed 753,443 times on Imgur and attracted hundreds of comments on Reddit. Annotated: A father who was left to look after his three-month-old son while his wife went away for two nights wrote on her list of instructions, pictured, and shared them online Beginning by renaming the list 'Recommendations for King Jacob' instead of 'Instructions for Jacob', he then questions his wife's location, adding 'Ireland?' to Dublin, Ohio. As well as jokes, he questions her grammar, asking 'why is this not lower case?' next to 'Diaper' and mocking the length of one of her sentences. Next to 'apply diaper cream to butt', he writes 'so do I take the diaper back off?' and mocks his wife's specification of color next to different skin creams. Not one of the instructions is left unaltered. 'Dress in warm onesie with feet' is changed to 'whatever he looks awesome in', 'bottle warmer is already in the diaper bag' annotated 'aka can't screw this one up!' and 'play mat' switched to 'Xbox One'. An instruction to 'feed the fish' is crossed out and accompanied by the note 'already died, RIP.' Restroom humor: In a series of letters published from children to adults, one child offers his advice to a teacher, pictured His wife's instructions only cover Wednesday and Thursday but Jacob has added his own FAQs section with five questions underneath: when do I eat? Where is the dog? What do I eat? How do I cook? What if I don't make it?' In an additional section labelled 'Friday' he lists recovering from being a single parent, playing computer game Fallout Four, looking for 'appreciation and praise' from his wife, sleeping and watching animation series Dragon Ball Z. 'Single page? ha I wish. My wife left me a 5 page Itinerary complete with POAs and Emergency information,' wrote one Reddit user. Adding: 'I put the baby on the floor.' It comes after last year Daily Mail Online published the hilarious notes written by children to adults. The collection of letters included notes with messages such as 'thank you mom for making me food so I don't die'. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has never been one to worry about wearing the same dress twice. And on Wednesday evening it was no different, with the glamorous Princess, 44, stepping out in the stunning Jesper Hvring red gown she wore in 2013 to celebrate the Inauguration of King Willem Alexander of The Netherlands. The Australian-born royal arrived at Fredensborg Castle with her husband Prince Frederik to welcome Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and his wife, Angelica Rivera, to their country with a formal gala dinner. Radiant: Crown Princess Mary of Denmark attended a formal gala dinner at Fredensborg Castle to welcome Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and his wife, Angelica Rivera, to Demark Stunning: The Australian-born royal arrived at the Castle (left) wearing the same Jesper Hvring dress she wore in 2013 to celebrate the Inauguration of King Willem Alexander of The Netherlands (right) Formal: The Princess wore her yellow Order of the Aztec Eagle sash and her new tiara which was fashioned from a necklace she wore to the 75th birthday of Queen Margrethe in 2015 The Princess wore her yellow Order of the Aztec Eagle sash and her new tiara which was fashioned from a necklace she wore to the 75th birthday of Queen Margrethe in 2015. Hosted by the Queen, the gala dinner at the royal castle was held to honour the Mexican President and his wife who are visiting the country for a whirlwind two-day visit. The brunette beauty stunned in her formal attire and was pictured chatting to Prince Consort Henrik of Denmark throughout the banquet and laughing together during a toast. Royal duties: Hosted by the Queen, the gala dinner at the royal castle was held to honour the Mexican President and his wife who are visiting the country for a whirlwind two-day visit Old favourite: The Crown Princess first wore the tiara as a necklace (left) in 2015 before wearing it as a tiara last month (right) Celebrating: The brunette beauty stunned in her formal attire and was pictured chatting to Prince Consort Henrik of Denmark throughout the banquet and laughing together during a toast Busy schedule: On Thursday the Princess will visit a kindergarten with the First Lady to discuss the Mary Foundation's anti-bullying program Earlier in the day Princess Mary defied the cold April weather in a colourful ombre coat to welcome the President and his wife. Appearing alongside her husband she dazzled in a button-up pink and purple ensemble which she paired with a pair of pointed courts and a simple black belt. Joining Mary and Frederik were Queen Margrethe of Denmark and her husband Prince Consort Henrik, as well as Prince Joachim, Princess Marie and Princess Benedikte. Effortlessly elegant: Earlier in the day Princess Mary defied the cold April weather in a colourful ombre coat to welcome the President and his wife All eyes on Mary: Appearing alongside her husband she dazzled in a button-up pink and purple ensemble which she paired with a pair of pointed courts and a simple black belt Casual: The Princess wore her hair down and lightly waved for the occasion Family outing: Joining Mary and Frederik were Queen Margrethe of Denmark and her husband Prince Consort Henrik, as well as Prince Joachim, Princess Marie and Princess Benedikte The Danes provided a much-needed pop of colour against the grey backdrop of Copenhagen International Airport and Mary looked radiant as she received a bouquet of flowers by excited onlookers. This will be Mexico's first official state visit to Denmark. Would you let a man dictate your clothes, shade of lipstick, type of perfume and height of your heels? Probably not. But what about the length of your hair? Many women confess to keeping their locks long - years after they would have chosen to chop them off - simply because their husbands prefer it. And it seems it's a matter men are particularly opinionated about. Steve Marshall, 63, from Colchester, Essex, has always been fiercely protective of his 62-year-old partner Linda Rampling's blonde tresses A survey of 3,000 males found that 56 per cent preferred women with long hair. And the reason? Well, 79 per cent of them admitted they loved running their fingers through their wife's locks. Steve Marshall, 63, has always been fiercely protective of his 62-year-old partner Linda Rampling's blonde tresses. Before every hair salon appointment, he checks how much she intends to have cut off. 'It might have been different if her hair was short when we met 14 years ago,' says Steve. 'But it was Linda's hair that attracted me to her; the way it frames her face. 'When she's thinking about something, she'll run her hand through it or twist it around her fingers. It's very appealing to a man. She's an attractive woman, but her hair is her crowning glory - it's what I've always known her for.' Linda, however, does not view this as a compliment - 'I'd rather he liked me for my personality and humour than my hair!' - and says she 'hated it long and all one length'. So three years ago, Linda rebelled. 'It was Steve's 60th birthday party. We'd organised a huge celebration. On a whim I got my hair cut into a bob. I was so fed up with Steve badgering me about it that I decided to go for something dramatic. 'I had wanted something modern for a while and I thought it looked great. But Steve was absolutely furious. He hated it on sight. He constantly criticised it afterwards, too.' Three years ago, Linda cut her hair into a bob on a whim just before Steve's 60th birthday party. He was very disappointed - and complained that all photos f the event feature short-haired Linda rather than long hair The couple, who live in Colchester, Essex, admit it caused many an argument. 'I was very disappointed,' says retired record shop owner Steve. 'I don't associate Linda with short hair. In all our photographs of that special day she's got a bob. 'I'm incredibly proud to be with her. She's stunning, but her hair is a major part of what makes her so attractive. She reminds me of Jane Seymour - classically beautiful with long hair.' Much to Steve's relief, Linda has since let her hair grow again - despite her own reservations. 57-year-old housewife Jill Buchanan's partner, Steve Martin, 42, a 3D model maker, is very possessive of her long, dark hair. The couple are from North London and he won't let her cut her hair short 'My greatest fear is that people seeing me from behind will assume I'm much younger and will be disappointed when they see just how old I am,' she says. 'I don't like the idea of looking inappropriate for my age. But I found the bob difficult to maintain and it needed cutting every five weeks. It was easier to grow it back and makes for a quieter life at home, too.' Not that her flowing locks are low maintenance. 'I have to get the roots done every five weeks,' says the grandmother of seven. 'It costs 100 each time. 'I shampoo and condition it every two to three days with an expensive French brand - it works out at 50 every three months.' Steve says that he defines Jil by her hair, and he loves hearing other people compliment it. She cut it short in 2002 and admits that it was a huge mistake - and Steve got upset about the loss of length What irritates Linda - and Steve - is that perfect strangers feel at liberty to touch her hair. 'We were on holiday in South Africa over Christmas. Wherever we went people touched it and asked if it was real. It was a bit freaky,' says Linda. 'Women tend to give you backhanded compliments, telling you how lovely it is and what great condition it is in. Then they'll ask if it's, in fact, extensions.' Linda has made a pact with her hairdresser to tell her when she can no longer carry off long hair: 'I don't want to look like one of those awful ladies with dry, brittle grey hair.' Linda has made a pact with her hairdresser to tell her when she can no longer carry off long hair: 'I don't want to look like one of those awful ladies with dry, brittle grey hair' But it's not just the length Steve is dictatorial about. 'I've asked Steve if I can dye it red,' says Linda. 'But he's said absolutely not.' Many would baulk at such bossiness, but 57-year-old housewife Jill Buchanan can empathise. Her partner, Steve Martin, 42, a 3D model maker, is equally possessive of her long, dark hair. While many women approaching 60 might consider a shorter style more appropriate, that doesn't feature in Jill's plans. Why? Because Steve would hit the roof. 'I define Jill by her hair,' he says. 'When the sun catches it, it brings out the golden and brown tones. I love hearing other people compliment her on it, too. 'If Jill asked me today if she could cut it short, I would remind her of what happened when she last did it, back in 2002.' Steve refers to the time Jill had her waist-length hair lopped off to the collar after spotting a girl with a pixie cut on a train. 'I must admit I didn't like it,' says Jill, who lives with Steve in North London. 'I was distraught and cried. Steve was horrified - even he got upset. It was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.' Anwar Ghaith not only insists his wife Lisa, 53, both from Surrey, has long hair, but that their daughters, Fifi, 19, Mimi, 17, and Kinzi, nine, do, too Steve agrees: 'I tried to be as diplomatic as I could, but I didn't like it. Now, whenever Jill thinks about getting it cut, I remind her of that awful day.' But that's not to say Jill doesn't wish her hair - which she describes as 'fine, but there's lots of it' - wasn't quite so long. 'I went on a ladies' night out recently and it took me two hours to style my hair with curling tongs. Everyone complimented me on it, but it took such a long time to achieve. I was exhausted.' When the couple met 20 years ago, Jill was 37 and wore her waist-length hair loose. Anwar says he likes Lisa to remind him of a lion with a big mane of hair 'I thought she was about 27,' says Steve, who is 15 years her junior. 'I've only ever been in relationships with women with long, dark hair. 'There's something mysterious about a woman with big eyes and a pale face framed by long wavy hair. I fell for her straight away.' Perhaps it's no wonder Jill doesn't plan on cutting it. 'I will keep it long,' she says. 'But I do tend to wear it tied up most days to keep it off my face.' Royal hairdresser Richard Ward isn't surprised by men's reaction to long hair. 'It represents femininity,' he says. 'In some cultures it's seen as a sign of fertility in women. Lisa Ghaith and her daughter Kinzi in 2009, when Lisa had cut her hair to her shoulders. Anwar didn't like it and became distant with her, and her eldest daughter complained to her friend that it looked bad 'Some men can be slightly intimidated by short, cropped hair on women. It can symbolise emancipation and freedom from sexual stereotypes - think of the Twenties flappers. 'We rarely see overtly sexual female movie stars with short hair. That alone tells us a lot about the male psyche and the relationship between women's hair length and sexuality.' Anwar Ghaith goes one step further - not only does he insist his wife Lisa, 53, has long hair, but that their daughters, Fifi, 19, Mimi, 17, and Kinzi, nine, do, too. 'When I met Lisa she had a fantastic mane of dark brown hair,' says 60-year-old Anwar, who works as a personal trainer at a private health club. In my family, my mum and my sisters all had long hair. It's what demarcates the difference between males and females. I prefer my wife and my daughters to look feminine 'It was a big part of the attraction for me. I called her my lion. I even bought her a portrait of a pair of lions that still hangs in our hall. 'That's what she reminded me of - someone strong, feline and sexy. I like my wife and my daughters to look like women. 'In my family, my mum and my sisters all had long hair. It's what demarcates the difference between males and females. 'I prefer my wife and my daughters to look feminine.' Lisa, from Surrey, says: 'Three years ago, I had it cut to my shoulders. Anwar really didn't like it - I could tell as he was distant. 'My eldest daughter hated it and even complained to her friend. She just kept saying: 'Mum, what have you done?' ' But long hair takes a lot of maintaining: 'I regularly visit the hairdressers for colour. She's always on at me to cut my hair, but how can I tell her 'No, my husband won't like it if I do'? It sounds ridiculous in this day and age. Royal hairdresser Richard Ward says that long hair represents femininity and is a sign of fertility in some cultures 'I abide by Anwar's wishes because he fell for me due to my long hair. If I had it cut off, I know he wouldn't be attracted to me any more.' Lisa thinks a desire to maintain a youthful appearance is part of the reason she keeps her hair long. 'I'm in my 50s and probably the oldest mum at the school gate. I'm painfully aware I'm older than the other mothers, who have sensible bobs. I'm asking myself more and more: 'Am I too old for this style?' 'I dye it blonde, that's one thing I wouldn't change. I work in the creative sector and I'd worry about becoming invisible if I let it go naturally grey. 'My husband's a modern guy, but like most men, he prefers women to look like women.' Advertisement She's been dubbed the 'Kate Middleton of the Himalayas' and this morning, the Duchess of Cambridge came face-to-face with her namesake, the Queen of Bhutan, after arriving in the tiny kingdom from India. People in Bhutan are required to wear traditional dress in public and the Duchess had changed into a wraparound skirt and belted cape jacket for her meeting with Queen Jetsun Pema, 25. The Duchess had the skirt made with fabric sourced in Bhutan and mirrored the style of the Queen who wore a similar ensemble in red, and with their brunette locks the pair looked remarkably alike. Scroll down for video She's been dubbed the 'Kate Middleton of the Himalayas' and this morning, the Duchess of Cambridge came face-to-face with her namesake, the Queen of Bhutan, after arriving in the tiny kingdom from India The wind appeared to be causing problems with her skirt as the Duchess was seen holding the front of garment to prevent it being blown up, while the Queen of Bhutan wore a long red patterned skirt in a similar style However, it's likely the Queen of Bhutan was in fact wearing a dress, as the traditional clothing for women in Bhutan is a long, ankle-length gown, known as a Kira. The material for Kate's skirt was produced by local weaver Kelzan Wangmo in Bhutan and was brought back to London where it was made up to her specifications. She wore it with a 340 embroidered wool Paul & Joe cape that resembles the traditional Bhutanese light outer jacket known as the Tego, which is worn with an inner layer known as a Wonju. The wind appeared to be causing problems with Kate's skirt as the Duchess was seen holding the front of garment to prevent it being blown up. The wraparound garment appeared to fasten at the side, while Queen Jetsun Pema had no such trouble as hers appeared to fasten closer to the back. Kate's hair was swept into an elegant half up, half down style due to the blustery conditions, while the Queen of Bhutan left her brunette locks tumbling over her shoulders. Both women wore heels for the occasion, with Kate yet again relying on her trusty nude court shoes. The Queen of Bhutan added height with a pair of burgundy woven platform sandals with spiky heels and an open toe that revealed her bright red toenail polish While Kate opted for a skirt, it's likely Queen Jetsun Pema was in fact wearing a dress, as the traditional clothing for women in Bhutan is a long, ankle-length gown, known as a Kira Both women wore heels for the occasion, with Kate yet again relying on her trusty nude court shoes. The Queen of Bhutan added height with a pair of burgundy woven platform sandals with spiky heels and an open toe that revealed her bright red toenail polish. Celebrity stylist Lucas Armitage told FEMAIL that Kate had done well to tap into the local fashions, while still keeping a sense of her own personal style. 'She always embodies her chosen destination through her style choices and this trip to Bhutan was no different. The skirt is a beautiful way to show her appreciation for her hosts and real style statement in itself, while the Paul & Joe Cape top keeps the look current and very fashion forward. Naturally Kate wore her diamond and sapphire engagement ring, but a large pair of diamante drop earrings added an extra element of sophistication, while the Queen's accessories were more simple - a pair of red bead earrings and a matching necklace that looked more homespun, and her simple solitaire engagement ring Kate and William meeting Queen Jetsun Pema and King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck at the TashichhoDzong Temple in Thimpu, Bhutan on day five of their royal tour On arrival to meet the King and Queen, William and Kate were preceded by dozens of dancers and musicians in colourful national dress to the sounds of Buddhist chanting as they entered the Thimpu Dzong, a 17th Century fortress overlooking the city The couple follow a ceremonial procession after arriving at the Thimpu Dzong to meet the King and Queen 'This look is a departure to how we usually see Kate but she wears it well. Possibly the Queen of Bhutan looks a bit more comfortable in her ensemble but this is probably due to the fact the Duchess is not used to wearing this style of skirt. 'Kate has accessorised with her go to shoe, a classic nude court but I do have to say I prefer the Queen of Bhutans footwear choice as they complete the look with a more cohesive effect. 'Overall I can't fault Kate's look and she has proven once again she is worthy of her fashion crown. The whole look really taps into what's happening in fashion right now and is sure to inspire many summer wardrobes back home in the UK.' Naturally Kate wore her diamond and sapphire engagement ring, but a pair of diamante drop earrings added an extra element of sophistication. Queen Jestun Pema's accessories were more simple - a pair of red bead earrings that looked more homespun along with a matching necklace, a gold bangle, and her simple solitaire engagement ring. Dressed in a gold coat dress by Emilia Wickstead, Kate looked every inch the radiant royal as she stepped off the private plane in Bhutan this morning On the tarmac, William and Kate were greeted by the King's sister Princess Chhimi Yangzom and her husband On arrival to meet the King and Queen, William and Kate were preceded by dozens of dancers and musicians in colourful national dress to the sounds of Buddhist chanting as they entered the Thimpu Dzong, a 17th Century fortress overlooking the city. It was one only the most colourful Royal entrances ever seen on an official tour. Dressed in a gold coat dress, Kate looked every inch the radiant royal as she stepped off the private plane in Bhutan this morning. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were met by senior state representatives and members of the royal family as they arrived in the Himalayan kingdom, where they will spend the next two days. After a dazzling array of eye-catching new outfits this week, Kate opted for a demure frock by designer Emilia Wickstead that she has already worn for her flight from India today. On the tarmac, William and Kate were greeted by the King's sister Princess Chhimi Yangzom and her husband who presented them both with a ceremonial scarf called a khadhar, given as a symbol of friendship. She was joined by 50 other What the royals watch on television is one of life's great mysteries however, it appears that at least one member of the family is a soap fan. Princess Anne stepped out on the cobbles yesterday as she visited the set of Coronation Street in the ITV studios in Manchester on Wednesday. The Princess Royal, 65, visited the famous street alongside 50 senior and diverse leaders from businesses, Governments and NGOs across the Commonwealth. Scroll down for video Princess Anne attended a tour of the set of Coronation Street in Manchester on Wednesday The royal was blessed with good weather as she took a tour of the set wearing a pair of dashing shades to shield her eyes from the bright sunshine. She showcased her natural flair for tailoring opting for a two piece grey wool suit as she chatted with Commonwealth leaders. The visit to the site was part of a wider CSC Leaders 'Common Purpose' visit to Manchester. Common Purpose runs leadership development programmes that inspire and equip people to work together across boundaries in the UK. Marie Mohan, Chief Executive of Common Purpose UK, explained that as well as an interesting visit the day was important in improving boundaries. She said: 'We are delighted that Commonwealth leaders are visiting Manchester this year to explore city-wide collaboration. She joined 50 senior and diverse leaders from businesses, Governments and NGOs across the Commonwealth for the tour The visit to the site was part of a wider CSC Leaders 'Common Purpose' visit to Manchester. Common Purpose aim to help leaders to cross boundaries 'At Common Purpose, we have been helping leaders to cross boundaries in Manchester for many years, introducing them to diverse people and places and showing them how they might do things differently. 'The visit to Coronation Street in MediaCityUK is definitely a highlight for the visitors. It's fascinating to learn about how ITV works in collaboration with other sectors and industries.' Robbie Sandison, Head of Production for Coronation Street, added: 'It was a delight to welcome Her Royal Highness and leaders from across the Commonwealth to the cobbles. 'Coronation Street has worked together across various industries in the Greater Manchester community for over 50 years and together with ITV we're very proud of our place in the region's history.' Monochrome is a big trend of the moment and luckily the ever stylish Queen Letizia has a wardrobe staple to hand whenever she wants to rock the look. The Spanish royal, 43, donned one of her favourite white blazers as she attended a meeting for the Miguel de Cervantes IV Centenary with husband King Felipe VI at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid this afternoon. It was the third time the mother-of-two has worn the peplum style blazer by one of her best-loved designers Felipe Varela. Scroll down for video Queen Letizia donned one of her favourite white blazers as she attended the Miguel de Cervantes IV Centenary with husband King Felipe VI at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid this afternoon The Queen teamed the tailored design with a black maxi with an elaborate lace hemline for the traditional celebration of the Pascua Militar, a ceremony which is a long-standing tradition for the Spanish military in January, left. She also wore the jacket on her 43rd birthday in September last year during the couple's whirlwind four-day visit to the US, right For today's outing, the Queen teamed the jacket with a pair of smart, slim fitting black trousers and a white camisole top. She completed the coordinated look with a pair of black patent court shoes and wore her hair in a chic side parting with loose waves. Letizia first wore the garment on her 43rd birthday in September last year during the couple's whirlwind four-day visit to the US. She teamed the bespoke blazer with a black and white floral dress as she visited the tomb of George and Martha Washington with her husband. Letizia stood amongst officials for today's event which forms part of the commemorations to mark 400 years since the death of the famous Spanish novelist and playwright Miguel de Cervantes The blazer enjoyed another outing in January for the couple's first public engagement of the year. This time the Queen teamed the tailored design with a black maxi with an elaborate lace hemline for the celebration of the Pascua Militar, a ceremony which is a long-standing tradition for the Spanish military. Today's event formed part of the commemorations to mark 400 years since the death of the famous Spanish novelist and playwright Miguel de Cervantes. The Spanish Queen completed the coordinated look with a pair of black patent court shoes and wore her hair in a chic side parting with loose waves King Felipe VI of Spain and Queen Letizia of Spain pose for photographs at the meeting for Miguel de Cervantes IV Centenary at Zarzuela Palace The official anniversary falls on 22 April with a programme of special exhibitions and activities planned in the coming weeks. Last month the royal couple were shown around the exhibition, titled 'Miguel de Cervantes: the Myth of Life,' at the National Library in Madrid. Cervantes, who died in 1616, is best known for penning Don Quixote, considered a classic of Western literature and one of the best works of fiction ever written. In between stints as an Oscar-winning actress she has carved out a niche with her virtuous vegan lifestyle brand, but it seems Gwyneth Paltrow is keen to add yet another string to her bow - by branching into fashion. The health guru and mother-of-two has announced that her company, Goop, would be rolling out its very first clothing line in September after almost a year of speculation. Speaking at a discussion with the Hudson Union Society in New York on Tuesday, she said: 'I've been working on apparel - apparel is next. In September, we're going to launch apparel, and it's very exciting,' according to Racked. Scroll down for video Gwyneth, 43, has announced her very first clothing range with Goop will launch in September. She said: 'I've been working on apparel - apparel is next. In September, we're going to launch apparel, and it's very exciting' While there's been talk of a fashion collection since July last year, when Goop's CEO first announced that it was in the pipeline, this is the first mention of a date. Goop - which launched eight years ago - has also recently launched its own publishing imprint and skincare line, while Gwyneth has just released her third cook book, It's All Easy: Delicious Weekday Recipes for the Super-Busy Home Cook. The 43-year-old actress, who will reprise her role as Pepper Potts in Captain America: Civil War, later this month, has come under fire in the past for promoting her uber-strict detox regimes, eschewing everything from sugar to alcohol, caffeine, gluten and dairy. In 2013, Gwyneth - who is is mother of 11-year-old daughter Apple and son Moses, nine, with her ex-husband Chris Martin - was widely criticised after claiming she had banned her children from eating pasta and bread. Goop has also announced plans to launch its own publishing imprint and skincare line, while Gwyneth has just released her third cook book, It's All Easy: Delicious Weekday Recipes for the Super-Busy Home Cook The following year, she faced ridicule once again for including a 3,100, gold-plated 'Easy Health Angel Juicer' in her 2014 Christmas gift guide. But while not everyone will agree with her culinary habits, most fans will agree the star rarely puts a foot wrong in the fashion stakes. She regularly tops red carpet best-dressed lists and has previously dipped her toe in the world of fashion, taking part in several sartorial collaborations over the years - all eco-friendly, of course. In 2014 she created an 'environmentally conscious' line with American label Amour Vert made up of t-shirts and tops made from silk, wood-pulp fibers, and 'low-impact' dyes, and two years before that she created a pair of cashmere sweaters with British ethical fashion label Chinti and Parker. In 2013, Gwyneth - who is is mother of 11-year-old daughter Apple and son Moses, nine, with her ex-husband Chris Martin - was widely criticised after claiming she had banned her children from eating pasta and bread In 2013, the health and lifestyle guru faced ridicule once again for including a 3,100, gold-plated 'Easy Health Angel Juicer' in her 2014 Christmas gift guide Gwyneth recently announced she was taking a break from acting to concentrate on Goop. Explaining that the company was her '24/7 focus right now,' she added: 'We took some investment last year, so as soon as we had other people's money, I realised I really better focus on this completely. 'I'll return to acting probably, but probably not right now.' Gwyneth won't be the first celebrity to turn their hand to fashion design. Victoria Beckham, Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Jessica Parker have all launched their own successful lines in recent years. Stylish royal was joined by President of Mexico to visit Kronborg castle Crown Princess Mary has stunned while joining the Danish royals to welcome the Mexican President - but one topless protester managed to momentarily steal her spotlight. As she defied the cold April weather by donning a colourful ombre coat, Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik were joined by the President of Mexico and his glamorous wife Angelica Rivera to visit Kronborg Castle. As the group were gifted bouquets of flowers and posed for photos, police arrested a topless Femen demonstrator on the street nearby who had exposed herself during the ceremony. Scroll down for video Crown Princess Mary has stunned while joining the Danish royals to welcome the President - but one topless protester managed to momentarily steal her spotlight A topless Femen demonstrator on the street nearby who had exposed herself during the ceremony Photos show officers struggling to restrain the blonde woman, but they manage to hold her against a wall to place handcuffs on her wrists. The demonstrator did not seem to affect the royal's visit to the castle and the group later paid a visit to the M/S Museum of Maritime in Elsinore. Appearing alongside her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, the 44-year-old Australian dazzled in the button-up pink and purple ensemble which she paired with a pair of pointed courts and a simple black belt. Joining Mary and Frederik were Queen Margrethe of Denmark and her husband Prince Consort Henrik, as well as Prince Joachim, Princess Marie and Princess Benedikte. The Danes provided a much-needed pop of colour against the grey backdrop of Copenhagen International Airport, and mother-of-four Mary looked radiant as she received a bouquet of flowers by excited onlookers. As she defied the cold April weather by donning a colourful ombre coat, Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik were joined by the President of Mexico and his glamorous wife Angelica Rivera to visit Kronborg Castle The demonstrator did not seem to affect the royal's visit to the castle (pictured) and the group later paid a visit to the M/S Museum of Maritime in Elsinore Photos show officers struggling to restrain the blonde woman, but they manage to hold her against a wall to place handcuffs on her wrists Officers finally managed to pin her against a wall after a few minutes Princess Mary of Denmark defied the cold April weather on Wednesday as she donned a colourful ombre coat to welcome the President of Mexico and his wife to her home country, flanked by her husband Frederik Meeting of two countries: Frederik and Mary (left) greet Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto and his wife Angelica Rivera (right) at Copenhagan Airport, where the VIP gathering braved a 12-degree April chill This is Mexico's first official state visit to Denmark; the last time a Mexican head of state visited the Scandinavian country was in 2009. The President was accompanied by a number of ministers, including the country's foreign minister. Later on today he is expected to be received at Fredensborg Palace, where Queen Margrethe will host a glittering gala banquet. Princess Mary has been much lauded for her style choices, and last year she was voted 'most stylish royal' by readers of Hello! magazine for the second year running - taking out the Duchess of Cambridge for the coveted crown. Whether it's glittering couture gowns or slinky jumpsuits, the royal - who married into Danish royalty in 2004 after a chance meeting in an Australian bar - is certainly not shy of taking sartorial risks. The topless protester was dragged away by two police officers She had 'Femen' scrawled on her back and officers attempted to cover her up with a jacket Crown Princess Mary has stunned while joining the Danish royals to welcome the President President of Mexico Enrique Pena Nieto (right) and his wife Angelica Rivera de Pena (fourth right) are welcomed by Denmark's Queen Margrethe (second right) Prince Henrik (sixth right) Crown Prince Frederik (left) Crown Princess Mary (third left) and Princess Marie at Copenhagan International Airport The Danes provided a much-needed pop of colour against the grey backdrop of Copenhagan International Airport, and mother-of-four Mary looked radiant as she received a bouquet of flowers by excited onlookers Last month, Princess Mary - nee Donaldson - took a five-day business tour of Qatar, where she visited local schools, attended a formal soiree at the Museum of Islamic Art and met the Emir of Qatar, H.H. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. Earlier this year, she returned from a sun-kissed holiday in her native Australia where she was seen relaxing on the beach at Byron Bay and keeping active by going for a jog. On Christmas Eve, the former sales director was pictured strolling along the Byron Bay shops, and the beauty looked every bit the free-spirited local - wearing a flowing yellow blouse, tiny white shorts and sandals with her hair loosely tied back in a bun. They touched down in Perth on December 6 to visit Mary's Perth-based brother John Donaldson, who is the godfather to Prince Vincent, four, in what's been a private and understated visit to date. Appearing alongside her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, the 44-year-old Australian dazzled in her button-up pink and purple ensemble which she paired with a pair of pointed courts and a simple black belt Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto (left) and his stunning wife Angelica Rivera (second left) meet Mary and Ferderik. The last time a Mexican head of state visited the country was in 2009 Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik were joined by the President of Mexico and his glamorous wife Angelica Rivera to visit Kronborg Castle The President and his wife Angelica will be accompanied by a number of ministers, and later on today he is expected to be received at Fredensborg Palace, where Queen Margrethe will host a glittering gala banquet It was the first time the Royal had brought her children back to Australia since 2011. But she was soon forced to abandon sunnier climes as just a week after the royal family's return to Copenhagen, the mother-of-four was seen hiding her face in a scarf as she rode through the snow. Wearing a thick, fur-lined jacket, a beanie, gloves and boots, Mary cycled behind her husband Prince Frederik, who was also dressed for the frosty conditions. Their five-year-old twins - who celebrated their birthday on the day the family snaps were taken - were seen cringing against the cold wind as they sat in the front of the cargo bike with a blanket draped over their knees. Fashion pioneer: whether it's glittering couture gowns or slinky jumpsuits, the royal - who married into Danish royalty in 2004 after a chance meeting in an Australian bar - is certainly not shy of taking sartorial risks Crown Princess Mary and the First Lady of Mexico have stunned in very similar cream coloured coats while visiting children at a kindergarten. The royal and the President of Mexico's glamorous wife Angelica Rivera both donned stylish knee-length cream coats and embellished clutches as they took a tour through the school in Kokkedal, north of Copenhagen, on Thursday. The 44-year-old Australian has been defying the cold April weather to welcome Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto and Ms Rivera for their first official state visit to Denmark. Scroll down for video Crown Princess Mary and the First Lady of Mexico have stunned in very similar cream coloured coats while visiting children at a kindergarten The royal and the President of Mexico's glamorous wife Angelica Rivera both donned stylish knee-length cream coats and embellished clutches as they took a tour through the school in Kokkedal An ever-stylish Mary paired her coat with a knee-length navy blue dress, clutch and gloves and nude stilettos Mary was joined by her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, who wore a dark grey suit and navy tie Mary and Frederik were all smiles as they visited the children, who rugged up against the cold in warm coats Mary displayed her sparkling diamond ring on her right hand as she kept her left hand gloved The young children at the kindergarten all held small Denmark flags and had big smiles as the pair walked down a red carpet leading into the building. Ms Rivera stopped to greet a young blonde boy in a black vest as his teacher watched on. Princess Mary hung back clutching a small bouquet of flowers as the First Lady of Mexico spoke to the students. During a visit to Kronborg Castle on Wednesday, Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik's spotlight was momentarily stolen after a topless protester crashed the event. As the group were gifted bouquets of flowers and posed for photos, police arrested a topless Femen demonstrator on the street nearby who had exposed herself during the ceremony. It was Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto and his wife Ms Rivera's first official state visit to Denmark Mary waved to the crowd as she visited the kindergarten, her dark hair worn loosely around her face Frederik and Mary (left) greet Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto and his wife Angelica Rivera (right) at Copenhagan Airport, where the VIP gathering braved a 12-degree April chill A topless Femen demonstrator was arrested on the street after exposing herself during Wednesday's ceremony The demonstrator did not seem to affect the royal's visit to the castle (pictured) and the group later paid a visit to the M/S Museum of Maritime in Elsinore This is Mexico's first official state visit to Denmark; the last time a Mexican head of state visited the Scandinavian country was in 2009. The President has been accompanied by a number of ministers, including the country's foreign minister. Last month, Princess Mary - nee Donaldson - took a five-day business tour of Qatar, where she visited local schools, attended a formal soiree at the Museum of Islamic Art and met the Emir of Qatar, H.H. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. Princess Mary of Denmark defied the cold April weather on Wednesday as she donned a colourful ombre coat to welcome the President of Mexico and his wife to her home country, flanked by her husband Frederik As the First Lady, Michelle Obama holds one of the most powerful positions of the world, but even she can't avoid questions about what she wants to do in the future. The 52-year-old shares the cover of Seventeen magazine with Gemma Busoni and Zaniya Lewis, the two winners of the publication's essay contest that asked readers to detail the obstacles they are overcoming to find their way into their dream college or university. 'I always tell people, the question of what you want to be when you grow up is one that you will eternally be answering. I'm still asking myself that question!' Michelle told the magazine while sharing her advice for college-bound students like Gemma and Zaniya. Wise woman: Michelle Obama happily shared her advice for high school students who are heading to college in Seventeen magazine Interview of a lifetime: The 52-year-old is pictured with Gemma Busoni and Zaniya Lewis, the two winners of the publication's cover contest In less than a year, the Obamas will be leaving the White House, and the First Lady admitted that she doesn't have any set plans for the future. 'What am I going to do when I leave here? How do I want to impact the world? I've gotten used to the fact that I don't have to know,' she explained. 'I'm always going to be discovering new parts of myself, and you'll find that you will be too.' Michelle revealed that she never though she would be First Lady, noting that when she was growing up, the notion that there would be an African-American president wasn't even on the horizon. Big win: As the winners of the contest, which asked Seventeen readers to detail the obstacles they are overcoming to find their way to their dream college or university, they got to pose alongside the First Lady Long before she was in the White House, Michelle was just like any other student trying to get into his or her dream school. She recalled that when she was in high school there were some counselors who told her she 'reaching a little high' when she applied to Princeton, leaving her with a moment of self-doubt. Michelle said she ultimately decided to ignore their opinions, and use 'those doubting voices as motivation'. After graduating from Princeton, she went on to attend Harvard Law School, which is also where President Barack Obama received his law degree. Education advocate: Michelle is pictured speaking at the Let Girls Learn event at the World Bank in Washington on Wednesday Happy family: The Obamas, pictured with their beloved family dogs Bo and Sunny in their annual Easter portrait, will leave the White House when the President finishes his term at the start of 2017 With her own 17-year-old daughter Malia expected to head off to college for the first time this fall, Michelle was more than happy to share her words of wisdom for the magazine's readers, but she insisted it is all about finding the right place for them. 'The one thing I've been telling my daughters is that I don't want them to choose a name,' she revealed. 'I don't want them to think, "Oh I should go to these top schools." 'We live in a country where there are thousands of amazing universities. So, the question is: What's going to work for you?' Big plans: Malia, 17, is expected to start college this fall, although it is unclear what school she will be attending. The teen is pictured arriving in Chicago with her father last week High school seniors who filed regular decision college applications, received admissions decision letters from their chose schools in late March. In late 2015, it was reported that Malia was leaning towards two New York institutions: New York University and Barnard College. According to NBC News, Michelle said Malia wants to a filmmaker, which may make NYU's Tish School of the Arts, a program that boasts Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee as alumni, a perfect choice. Teenagers who recall seeing e-cigarettes at the point of sale in shops are more likely to use the devices, a new study has revealed Teenagers who see e-cigarettes on display in their local stores are more likely to try the devices, experts have warned. They found young people who have tried e-cigarettes in the past were more likely to intend to use them again. And those who had previously smoked tobacco were more inclined to turn to the electronic alternatives. Meanwhile their non-smoking peers were much less likely to try e-cigarettes or show intent to do so in the future, a new study shows. Most adolescents taking part in the research by a team at the University of Stirling, had only tried the devices once or twice and were not regular users. Their research is the first to examine the relationship between teenagers' recollection of e-cigarette displays at point of sale, and their self-reported past use and future intention to use the devices. It was previously known that exposure to cigarettes at the point of sale influences smoking behaviour and intentions in young people. Furthermore increased availability of cigarettes, for example through a high number of shops selling tobacco near a person's home, is linked to higher tendency to smoke and starting smoking. However, to date there has been no evidence examining the link between the display of e-cigarettes at the point of sale in shops, and their use in young people. To look at the potential relationship, researchers conducted a survey in four high schools in Scotland, involving 3,808 students between 11 and 18 years of age. The data collected was part of an ongoing six-year study designed to assess the impact of Scottish legislation banning tobacco point of sale displays on young people's smoking behaviour and their attitudes towards smoking. Scroll down from video Additional information on e-cigarette advertising exposure, e-cigarette use and smoking status was gathered through a school-based survey conducted in early 2015. Respondents were asked whether they had heard of e-cigarettes, whether they had ever used them, and whether they intended to try them in the next six months. They were also asked if they had ever smoked cigarettes and if they intended to do so in the next year. Researchers noted a strong link between recognising e-cigarette displays at the point of sale and the use of the devices, and intention to use them in future. However, the study used a cross-sectional design and so no causal relationship between point of sale recall and e-cigarette use or intention to use could be established. Therefore, it is unclear whether young people who plan to try e-cigarettes do so because they notice e-cigarettes at POS or whether they notice e-cigarettes because they intend to try them in the future. Past research has shown exposure to cigarettes at the point of sale influences smoking behaviour and intentions in young people. And increased availability of cigarettes, for example through a high number of shops selling tobacco near a person's home, is linked to higher tendency to smoke and starting smoking The sample used in this study was not randomly selected and is not necessarily representative of the Scottish population, and there was a 13 per cent non-response rate to the survey which relied on recall and self-reporting. The researchers note that collection of additional longitudinal data is needed to establish causality. Catherine Best, the corresponding author, said: 'Given that our study found an association between point of sale exposure to e-cigarettes and both their use and intention to use in young people, policy makers in the EU and elsewhere need to consider very carefully how to balance the promotion of e-cigarettes to adult smokers as an aid to help them quit, while at the same time minimizing their uptake by young people.' As of May 20, EU member states will be required to have legislation that restricts the advertising of e-cigarettes. Sally Haw, lead author of the study, said: 'We have seen considerable investment in e-cigarette advertising by the tobacco industry. 'While these new restrictions on e-cigarette advertising through broadcast and print media, sponsorship and product placement are very much welcomed, they are more limited than those that apply to tobacco advertising. 'However, individual jurisdictions will be able to extend their restrictions to include e-cigarette advertising on bill boards and at point of sale. This requires careful consideration.' An air steward who has undergone 42 operations to look like 'Barbie's Ken' is being treated for a potentially life-threatening condition after his body rejected his new nose. Rodrigo Alves, who has spent 305,000 on plastic surgery, is in hospital with necrosis - where the flesh begins to die - after undergoing a nose reconstruction. After the operation, a hole began to appear in his nose and his new septum appeared to come loose. Slowly, the hole grew and he began having trouble breathing and so was sent to hospital in Malaga, Spain, where he is now receiving antibiotics through an IV drip every eight hours. Doctors say the infection may eat through his nose into his face - which could become gangrenous - and so it may have to be removed. The 32-year-old, who is originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, but now lives in London, is desperate to fly back to the UK to receive treatment. Scroll down for video An air steward who has undergone 42 operations to look like Barbie's Ken has been rushed to hospital after his body rejected his new nose. He is pictured showing the hole that appeared (left) and after invasive surgery Mr Alves, pictured before falling ill, is suffering from necrosis - where the body's tissue dies - in his nose, and is receiving antibiotics by an IV drip every eight hours. He has spent 305,000 on plastic surgery since 2004 Speaking from the hospital, he said: 'I had nose reconstruction three months ago and it appears the new cartilage has been rejected by my body. 'It is very frightening and I'm trying to get back to London as soon as possible for help. 'My breathing has been getting worse for the last three days and now my nose is completely blocked. 'A horrible hole has appeared in my nostril and the infection is eating my nose and I've been warned if it is not stopped it could eat into my face. 'It's very hot and dusty here and I wonder whether this might have set the infection off.' The 32 year-old has undergone a transformation in recent years and is now unrecognisable from his youth Mr Alves pictured with post-surgical swelling and a blood-stained dressings while recovering in hospital Necrosis is a known complication of plastic surgery in which a loss of blood supply causes the new flesh to die. This condition can quickly trigger more severe complications including blood poisoning and gangrene. In some cases, the dead tissue must be cut away, or debrided - and so Mr Alves still does not know whether doctors will have to remove his new nose. WHAT IS NECROSIS? Necrosis is the body's cells dying prematurely due to a lack of blood supply. This tissue death can occur anywhere on the body and is usually caused by an external factor such as injury, infection, or chemicals. If a substantial area of tissue dies completely the condition is know as gangrene. This can quickly trigger blood poisoning and so is thought to be a medical emergency. Treatment involves the removal of the dead tissue, keeping the area clean and antibiotics. Advertisement He said: 'I'm very upset and very worried. I'm very hot and feverish and doctors are giving me conflicting advice. 'I first got sent to an ears , eyes and nose specialist but then I got transferred to an infections specialist. It appears the skin inside my nose has died and I may need a complete reconstruction. 'I've been feeling unwell for several days but everything in Spain happens so slowly. I really want to get home and get expert treatment but I need another session on these drips.' This is not the first time his obsession with plastic surgery has led to serious health problems. Three years ago, Mr Alves suffered dangerous complications after undergoing a procedure to enhance his biceps, triceps and shoulders with silicone. The chemical leaked into his system and within days his arms has swelled so much that he couldn't feed or bathe himself. Soon he was back in hospital having litres of fluid drained from his body. He was perilously close to death. He has undergone 42 operations to look like Barbie's Ken, including 30,000 on operations on his nose. In the past 12 months he has spent an amazing 95,000 on 20 surgeries all over the world Mr Alves decided to go under the knife for the first time in 2004 after struggling with the way he looked since childhood. Pictured (left) before surgery and during nose reconstruction surgery (right) Before turning himself into a 'real life Ken doll' Mr Alves said he was deeply unhappy with his looks. He has been diagnosed with Body Dysmorphic Disorder and is receiving treatment for it At one point doctors told him that one arm might have to be amputated. If the infection caused by the leaking fluid reached his heart he would have died. Mr Alves decided to go under the knife for the first time in 2004 after struggling with the way he looked since childhood. A horrible hole has appeared in my nostril and the infection is eating my nose and I've been warned if it is not stopped it could eat into my face Rodrigo Alves, 32 In the past 12 months he has spent an amazing 95,000 on 20 surgeries all over the world. In January he splashed out 15,000 on his sixth nose job, liposuction and a chin implant in Iran. He also had a 25,000 hair transplant at the Beverly Hills Hair Restoration Clinic and cheek fat removed last August. His long list of surgery includes 8,000 on Botox and fillers, 30,000 on three nose jobs, 3,000 on liposuction to his jaw and 10,000 on chest implants. He has also spent 22,000 on a fake six pack, 7,000 on fillers to his arms, 7,000 on hospital bills, 7,000 on laser liposuction, 6,000 on leg liposuction and 3,000 on calf shaping. He pays for his operations through an inheritance from his Brazilian grandparents, his airline job and rental income from his property in Puerto Banus,Spain The surgery enthusiast maintains his latest look with laser combs, ultra-violet teeth whiteners and resurfacers Last August, Mr Alves had a 25,000 hair transplant at the Beverly Hills Hair Restoration Clinic so he could 'attend pool parties. He calls himself 'Peter Pan' and says he will have more cosmetic surgery as he ages He also indulges in twice-yearly Botox and filler top-ups and takes a cocktail of daily pills consisting of collagen tablets, anti-water retention and hair growth tablets. Last year, he began treatment for Body Dysmorphia, an anxiety disorder that effects about one per cent of the population. It causes a person to have a distorted view of how they look and to spend a lot of time worrying about their appearance. When beginning his treatment, he said: 'I am really hoping that that is going to help me. Help me not to keep changing myself.' Mr Alves said he pays for his operations through an inheritance from his Brazilian grandparents, his airline job and rental income from his property in Puerto Banus, Spain. A common skin complaint may be the early warning sign of a serious heart condition, experts have warned. Psoriasis, a flaky skin problem which affects one in 50 people in the UK, increases the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysms, according to research. Psoriasis, which usually first strikes before the age of 35, causes red, crusty patches of skin - often at the elbows, knees, and scalp. Psoriasis, a flaky skin problem which affects one in 50 people, increases the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysms, according to researchers The process which drives the problem is little understood, but scientists are gradually realising that the skin complaint is just one symptom of an autoimmune disease which has other, potentially more serious repercussions. The new research, conducted by scientists in Denmark, found that people with severe psoriasis have a 67 per cent increased chance of developing an abdominal aortic aneurysm - a major problem which can be fatal. Abdominal aortic aneurysms occur when the main artery from the heart is weakened, leading it to swell and even burst. These aneurysms kills 6,000 people a year. The unexpected link between a relatively minor skin condition and a serious vascular disease indicates psoriasis is just one impact of a condition in which the immune system attacks healthy cells throughout the body. Abdominal aortic aneurysms occur when the main artery from the heart is weakened, leading it to swell and even burst Using Danish health records, the researchers identified 11,566 patients with severe psoriasis between 1997 and 2011. Over the next eight years, they found that these people had a 67 per cent increased risk of developing abdominal aortic aneurysm. Writing in the medical journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, the team said that people with psoriasis should be made aware of the risk of further problems. These results may warrant the need for increased awareness on higher risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm in patients with severe psoriasis, they wrote. Lead author Dr Usman Khalid, of Herlev and Gentofte Hospital in Denmark, said: Psoriasis must be considered as a systemic inflammatory disease rather than an isolated skin disease. Increased awareness on heightened risk of other cardiovascular diseases, including abdominal aortic aneurysm, in patients with psoriasis is also required. Compared to the general population, the adjusted incidence rate ratios were significantly increased for severe psoriasis at 1.67. It is a debate that provokes fierce reaction, to circumcise baby boys or not? Among the topics that occupy both those in favour and those that are against the practise, is the question of sensitivity. Will removing a baby boy's foreskin, leave him with reduced sensitivity later in life? Yet, there exists little data that concerns the consequences of neonatal circumcision on penile sensitivity in adults. But, a new study has now indicated there are no differences in sensitivity between those men who are circumcised and those who are not. A new study has found that there are no differences in sensitivity between those adult men who were circumcised as babies and those who were not In addition, the new findings challenge past research that suggested that the foreskin is the most sensitive and, in turn, most sexually relevant part of the adult penis. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Canadian Pediatric Society recently revised their policies concerning routine neonatal circumcision, reigniting this long-running debate. Focusing on health outcomes, particularly protection against sexually transmitted infections rather than penile sensitivity, the American policy statement supports routine circumcision of newborn boys, while the Canadian policy does not. Poll Would you have your newborn son circumcised? Yes No Undecided Would you have your newborn son circumcised? Yes 1029 votes No 1968 votes Undecided 186 votes Now share your opinion To assess the issue, researchers examined two hypotheses that might support decreased penile sensitivity - whether the exposed glans penis of circumcised men is less sensitive than that of intact men, and if the highly innervated foreskin is more sensitive than other parts of the penis. Lead author, Jennifer Bossio, a PhD candidate in clinical psychology at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, said: 'We directly tested whether circumcision is associated with a reduction in penile sensitivity by testing tactile detection, pain, warmth detection, and heat pain thresholds at multiple sites on the penis between groups of healthy circumcised and intact men. 'This study indicates that neonatal circumcision is not associated with changes in penile sensitivity and provides preliminary evidence to suggest that the foreskin is not the most sensitive part of the penis.' Sixty-two men between the ages of 18 and 37 - 30 circumcised and 32 intact - took part in the study. Researchers performed sensory tests, to measure touch and pain thresholds, as well as the ability to detect warmth and heat at a control site on the forearm, as well as four different points on the men's penises. They found that the pain, warmth detection and heat pain stimuli likely activate nerve fibers more relevant to sexual pleasure than touch thresholds, which has been the focus of previous research. In addition, the new findings challenge past research that suggested that the foreskin is the most sensitive and, in turn, most sexually relevant part of the adult penis Although in a past piece of research lower tactile thresholds were noted at the glans penis - at the end of the penis - in circumcised men, the current investigation found no differences in sensitivity across four stimulation types, lending no support to the widely accepted, but largely untested hypothesis that circumcision causes a loss of sensation. Researchers also found that the foreskin had similar sensitivity as the control site on the forearm for all of the stimulus types tested. Given that other genital sites, the glans penis and midline shaft, were more sensitive to pain stimuli than the forearm, removing the highly innervated foreskin does not appear to remove the most sensitive part of the penis. The scientists also measured sexual function - assessing 15 different elements of men's sexual functioning, including intercourse satisfaction, orgasmic function, sexual desire and overall satisfaction. They noted no differences between the groups on any of the measures, suggesting that sexual functioning may not differ across circumcision status. 'Methodology and results form this study build on previous research and imply that if sexual functioning is related to circumcision status, this relationship is not likely the result of decreased penile sensitivity stemming from neonatal circumcision,' Ms Bossio said. It has long been assumed that teenagers with a high body mass index (BMI) are at greater risk of early death from heart attack or stroke as adults. The link seems a logical one. But, what has eluded scientists is at what point on the BMI scale does the risk start to increase. A new study by a team of researchers in Israel set out to offer a more precise answer. Their findings suggest that the higher a teenager's BMI, the greater their risk of early death. But, more surprising is the fact that those teenagers with a BMI of 20 - considered to be well within the normal range - are at heightened risk of fatal heart attack or stroke. The higher a teenager's BMI the greater their risk of early death from cardiovascular disease is in adulthood. But now a new study has found even those teenagers with a 'normal' BMI are at greater risk The number of overweight and obese teenagers has increased substantially in recent decades. Currently one in three of the adolescent population in the UK and US are considered overweight or obese. It is an important public health concern because obesity in early life is considered a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and all causes in adulthood. The new study aimed to determine the BMI threshold that is linked to increased risk of fatality. BMI is a calculation of a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters. The result quantifies a person as being underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese. Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem assessed the BMI of 2.3 million Israeli 17 year olds from 1967 to 2010. They looked for the link between BMI in late adolescence and death from coronary heart disease, stroke, and sudden death in adulthood by mid-2011. During that time period the researchers noted 2,918 of 32,127 deaths (9.1 per cent) were from cardiovascular causes, including 1,497 from coronary heart disease, 528 from stroke and 893 from sudden death. The findings show an increase in the risk of cardiovascular death in the group that was considered within the 'accepted normal' range of BMI. And increased risk of death from coronary heart disease was found in those with BMI values above 20. The researchers concluded that even those with a BMI that was considered 'normal' - between 18.5 and 24.9 - during adolescence were at an increased risk of early cardiovascular and all-cause mortality during the 40 years of follow-up. This included increased rates of early death from coronary heart disease, stroke, and total cardiovascular causes. As BMI scores increased, adolescent obesity was linked with an even greater risk of early death. Teenager's with BMIs above 20 (normal ranges from 18.5 to 24.9) are at greater risk of early death The researchers believe there are two explanations for how adolescent BMI influences cardiovascular outcomes in adults. Firstly, obesity may be harmful during teenage years because it is linked with unfavourable metabolic conditions, including high blood pressure, impaired ability to break down glucose, insulin resistance and the formation of plaques in key blood vessels. Furthermore when a teenage becomes obese may play an important role. Secondly, BMI tends to 'track' along the life course so that overweight teenagers tend to become overweight adults. Professor Jeremy Kark of the Hewbrew University, said: 'Our findings appear to provide a link between the trends in adolescent overweight during the past decades and coronary mortality in midlife. 'The continuing increase in adolescent BMI, and the rising prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents may account for a substantial and growing future burden of cardiovascular disease, particularly coronary heart disease.' Raj Persauds novel Cant Get You Out Of My Head (11.99) is launched to coincide with National Stalking Awareness Week . . . are you reading now? Backstabbers And Bullies by Adrian Furnham, Professor of Psychology at University College London. It perfectly describes the modern NHS - and probably wherever you work, too. . . . would you take to a desert island? The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann - a classic which describes an extended stay in an exclusive Swiss sanatorium. Its meant to be difficult so I will have plenty of time to get my head around it. .. . first gave you the reading bug? The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger - a fast, witty argument about the phoniness of adult life. Perhaps it inspired me to write a novel exploring assassination as its said this book is the one most found in the hands of assassins - Chapman was reading it when he shot John Lennon. Shepherds Bushs grooviest granny makes a more-than-welcome return NO THANKS, I'M QUITE HAPPY STANDING by Virginia Ironside NO THANKS, I'M QUITE HAPPY STANDING by Virginia Ironside (Quercus 16.99) Shepherds Bushs grooviest granny makes a more-than-welcome return. Maries challenges this time include her friend Pennys binge-drinking, her over-fond ex-husband and an uncomfortable holiday in India with rich American friends. The book teems, as always, with its heroines no-nonsense observations on everything from smartphones to fashionable grasses. Ironsides humour is reminiscent of the great Sue Townsends (and I can pay no greater compliment) a combination of unpretentiousness, generosity and piercing insight. Like Adrian Mole, Marie has a tender heart and is devoted to her family, friends, cat and West London neighbourhood. She does not always stay there even so; her adventures amid the poverty of the subcontinent are as moving as they are funny, and make some brave points. I adore Marie Sharp and cant wait for the next book. OUTSTANDING by Kathryn Flett OUTSTANDING by Kathryn Flett (Quercus 16.99) Eve is the sleek, ambitious head of a posh Sussex prep school to which the seriously rich send their children. Richest of all are the Sorensens, a golden couple whose advent changes Eves life. Her beautiful daughter gets work experience in Stefan Sorensens New York office and she flies out on his private jet. But it turns out that a payback is expected and in a world where only money matters, Eve finds herself compromised on many fronts. Private education is a brilliant subject and Fletts all-seeing eye misses nothing. From Down-From-London yummy mummies to what the super-wealthy wear at cocktail parties, no style or social detail escapes her. What works less well is a plot whose moral compass seems to wobble a bit and the lack of a truly sympathetic character. I really enjoyed it, even so. SHTUM by Jem Lester SHTUM by Jem Lester (Orion 12.99) Novels about autism form their own literary genre these days, but this one stands out from the crowd. Ben is a functioning alcoholic whose wife walks out on him. To help him cope with their severely autistic ten-year-old, Ben must mend bridges with his own dad, an austere Jew with terminal cancer. Put like that, it all sounds almost comically ghastly, and in the wrong hands it would be. But Jem Lesters are the right hands and they carry off this challenging storyline with spectacular success. There are some very sad moments, but far more that are blackly funny. Lester is superb at comic cameo, and the local authority jobsworths with whom Ben must deal are hilariously drawn. As the Congress gears up for the 2017 Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, party leaders are adjusting to the methods of new political strategist Prashant Kishor. Elated with the success of the Congress-Janata Dal (United)-Rashtriya Janata Dal coalition in Bihar, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi wants Kishor to help him turn around the partys fortunes in the two poll-bound states. Kishor has got straight down to work and is already making suggestions on how to help the Congress enhance its impact. Political strategist Prashant Kishor (right) with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Adjust Local leaders are trying to adjust to the contemporary methods of the new strategist, with many considering themselves capable of winning elections without new strategic leadership. Politics in UP is crude as caste equations still matter a lot. Plus we have to strengthen our organisation, said a senior UP Congress leader. But the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has fully thrown its weight behind Kishor. Insiders said the leadership in both states has been advised to cooperate with Kishor, but local leaders are at times flummoxed by the corporate-style tips they are expected to apply to a political template loaded with social complexities. A senior AICC functionary, pondering the likely impact of Kishors strategy in UP, believes that the local leadership would have done better by itself. The past results have presented a poor picture. Let us try something new. Maybe it works fine, he said. Many Congress insiders feel the situation in UP and Punjab is different from Bihar, where the coalition was able to bring together the various caste groups under a single umbrella. The same is not the case in Punjab or UP, said a AICC functionary. The only favourable factor for the Congress in Punjab is the face of Captain Amarinder Singh, an old war horse, while in UP the party is yet to name a popular figure. UP Congress chief Nirmal Khatri will remain at the helm till a final decision is made. While the Congress hopes for a comeback in Punjab after 10 years of Akali rule, it still has a long way to go in UP. Kishor, who scripted the success of Nitish Kumar for a third term as chief minister in the Bihar Assembly elections, defeating an aggressive NDA, has been roped in by the Grand Old Party to formulate strategy for the 2017 Assembly elections to be held in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. The trailer of Aishwarya Rai-Bachchans upcoming film, Sarbjit, was launched on the same day as Salman Khans Eid biggie Sultan on Thursday. While big releases clashing at the box-office is a commonplace occurrence, the same-day launch of trailers - especially those of films starring rumoured ex-lovers - seems like a new gimmick to draw instant limelight. While the Sultan trailer launch was an online affair, the makers of Sarbjit opted for the old-fashioned live do to unveil the first sneak peek of their film before an audience including the press and selected guests at an event in Mumbai. Scroll down for film teasers... Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan's upcoming film, Sarbjit, was launched on the same day as Salman Khan's Eid biggie Sultan. The decision to release the trailers on the same day has been seen as a gimmick to draw attention. The mood at the Sarbjit do was bright and shiny - quite in contrast to the dark and disturbing vibes given out in the films trailer. Sarbjit is Omung Kumars biopic of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer who lived in a borderside village and allegedly strayed into Pakistan, when he was arrested on charges of being a spy. After a long incarceration, he was reportedly beaten to a coma by inmates in jail. He later died of his injuries in a Pakistani hospital, even as his sister Dalbir Kaur fought for his freedom. Randeep Hooda, who plays Sarabjit Singh, looked dapper in a bright red semi-formal jacket. Salman Khan's Sultan (left) sees the actor play a wrestler opposite Anushka Sharma. Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan plays Dalbir Kaur, the sister of the title character, in Sarbjit. Aishwarya plays Dalbir, through whose eyes the entire story unfolds. Unlike her intense avatar in the film, she struck sunshine poses for the shutterbugs, flaunting a shiny magenta number. Also present were director Omung Kumar, and Richa Chadha. The latter, who will be seen playing Sarbjits wife, turned out in a multi-coloured number. Darshan Kumar, who made his debut as Mary Koms husband in Omung Kumars debut film, Mary Kom, plays Sarabjits Pakistani lawyer in this film. He was also spotted striking poses for photo-ops. Meanwhile, the trailer of Salman Khans Sultan has received a mixed response online. The trailer of the Yash Raj Films production will also be attached to the banners new release, Fan, which stars Salmans friend-turned-foe-turned-friend Shah Rukh Khan and opens this weekend. Sultan is directed by YRF loyalist Ali Abba Zafar. The film also stars Anushka Sharma. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was a leader bigger than his caste struggle Over the last 70 years, our polity has cut Babasaheb Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar down to size with the cruel finesse of a bonsai master. He exists in textbooks and hoardings chiefly as a Dalit leader who patiently presided over the making of our Constitution. Ambedkar turned 125 yesterday. Surely, it is time to release him from the prison in which has served a very long sentence - the prison of his identity. For an India rising and trying to look at itself with its own eyes (and not of those who ruled it for centuries), it is crucial to touch Ambedkar, know him, feel his pain as our civilisational pain. To understand that he was a leader bigger than his caste struggle, or even his role in the freedom movement and in creating the Constitution. Narrative Those who kept and want him permanently in that prison want to keep the lineage of their chosen heroes intact. Ironically, Ambedkar, who fought bitterly against caste, is used as a rallying point by those who benefit from caste politics. He wanted caste reservation to cease after 10 years; our netas want a crippled society that seeks it forever. The architect of the Constitution never left a brick of vengeance in our laws; many make their careers exploiting caste hatred. Many of his views that went against the Nehru-Gandhi narrative have been deliberately downplayed in politics and history books. How many know that he favoured a Uniform Civil Code? Or that he opposed special status to Kashmir? Ambedkar had reportedly told Sheikh Abdullah: You wish India should protect your borders, she should build roads in your area, she should supply you food grains, and Kashmir should get equal status as India. But the Government of India should have only limited powers and Indian people should have no rights in Kashmir. To give consent to this proposal would be a treacherous thing against the interests of India, and I, as the law minister of India, will never do it. Abdullah then approached Nehru. The rest is deeply troublesome history. But the most potent of all is the systematic use of Ambedkar to exploit Indias faultlines, ensure that society stays divided. The British perfected it. A section of Indian media and intelligentsia perpetuates it without offering any solution or positive stories from the ground. Recent reportage and social media posts from Rajasthans Chittorgarh and Haryana show how we jump to attribute violent incidents to caste even when no such motive exists. It is the continuation of how the British used caste to divide and rule India. Our colonial rulers fertilised and watered the seeds of ugliness that existed in Hindu society. In 1827-28 and 1830, they identified 132-caste professions in some of the first Censuses carried out in Varanasi, Allahabad and Dhaka. Subsequent general Censuses in the 1850s and 1860s started clearly segregating Indians by their castes. The caste system extant in the late 19th and early 20th century has been altered as a result of British actions so that it increasingly took on the characteristics that were ascribed to by the British, writes Kevin Hobson, a Canadian historian of the British empire, in his essay, The Indian Caste System and the British. On the other hand, those on a mission to politically and culturally unite Hindus have not addressed Ambedkars central problem on caste distinction. Projects The RSS has renewed its efforts to reach out to Dalits through its various projects like community kitchens. It has even announced 2016 as Sewa Varsh to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of the third sarsanghchalak, Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras, who had said: If untouchability is not wrong, nothing is wrong in the world. RSS-run bookstores, the one outside Jhandewalan, for instance, give as much space to Ambedkar as their own icons Hedgewar or Golwalkar. However, the Sangh has been ambiguous. In the face of the staggering mountain of injustice, its line casteism is evil, not caste sounds like a semantic quibble, a fig leaf on a postulate from which a dark tradition has spawned. Untouchability If there is one case for throwing the baby out with the bathwater, it is caste. Which is why we must partake in Ambedkars agony. The untouchables are beaten for putting on clothes of superior quality. They are whipped because they used utensils made of metal like copper, etc. Their houses are burnt for having purchased land for cultivation. They are beaten for putting on the sacred thread on their body. They are beaten for refusing to carry away dead animals and eat the carrion, or for walking through the village road with socks and shoes on, or for not bowing down before a caste Hindu, or for taking water in a copper pot while going out in the field to ease (defecate), he said in a speech delivered to the Bombay Presidency Mahar Conference on May 31, 1936. For Ambedkar, untouchability was also a class struggle. This is not a matter of doing injustice against one man. This is a matter of injustice being done by one class against another. Babasaheb merely renounced what he regarded as an oppressive social and religious template of caste Hindus. By embracing Buddhism, which he thought was a more rational option, he neither left Hindu-ness nor severed his ancient cultural ties. Ambedkar was not just a great leader. He is a chance for a great civilisation to correct itself. With his sights set on the 2019 Lok Sabha poll battle, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is threatening to take his prohibition campaign to Jharkhand now. Speaking at a ceremony organised by the Bihar Mahadalit Mission on the 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar in Patna, Nitish announced on Thursday that he would visit Jharkhand to support the agitation against the sale of alcohol. Owing to prohibition in Bihar, liquor traders in Jharkhand are paying high prices to bid for the licence of liquor shops, he said. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is planning to take his prohibition campaign to Jharkhand But people should know that I have already received an invitation from Jharkhand, where women are mobilising support to press for prohibition. A conference is going to be held there soon. The chief minister said: Jharkhand will soon witness an agitation against the sale of alcohol. He said that others states would gradually ban the sale of booze too. The two main parties in Tamil Nadu (AIADMK and DMK) have already included promulgation of prohibition in their respective election manifesto, he stated. Nitishs remarks came close on the heels of reports that the sale of alcohol had zoomed up in districts of the neighbouring state, because of frequent visits from Bihari buyers. The chief minister said that Bihar had been witnessing a social revolution because of the enforcement of total prohibition. He said people were in full support of the decision and only liquor traders had not come to terms with it. Many people argue that the move will adversely affect the business of hotels, but do their customers go there to consume liquor only? he said. Thumbs Up: Minister of Defence Manohar Parrikar After hosting US defence secretary Ashton Carter, Minister of Defence Manohar Parrikar is preparing to visit China next week. Parrikar will fly to Shanghai where he will meet business leaders before reaching Beijing for the official talks. He will also spend time in Chengdu, one of seven military districts of China. His visit comes in the wake of concern in New Delhi over Beijings blocking a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar. Bonding time for BJP and BSP? Could a thaw be coming in the relations between the BJP and Mayawati ahead of the UP Assembly polls slated for first half of next year? In a surprising stand, when the Supreme Court agreed to hear a former BSP members plea seeking registration of a fresh FIR against Mayawati in a DA case, the Modi governments seniormost law officer Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi informed the court about the CBI's stand that Mayawati has been cleared by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and the Delhi High Court. But the court said that it would hear in detail the petition filed by one Kamlesh Verma. Prabhu's day in the driver's cabin Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who is on a five-day official trip to France and Germany, experienced the know-how of a high speed train in a unique way. Prabhu travelled in the drivers cabin from Paris to Reims, a 145 km distance, in TGV, the high speed train service of France. The Railway Ministry even tweeted pictures of the Minister travelling in the drivers cabin. 'No anonymous sex abuse complaints' The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) authorities will not accept anonymous sexual harassment complaints. The premier institute has recently said in a circular that no action will be taken in those sexual harassment cases where the complainant has not revealed her identity. Also, the complaints without proper identification will be also be considered as anonymous. Full attendance in the House The BJP has asked its Lok Sabha members, including Union ministers, to be in their constituencies on April 24 when PM Narendra Modi addresses a meeting in Jharkhand on the last day of his governments Gram Uday se Bharat Uday programme starting Thursday. The Haryana government has started pushing out senior police officers who failed to anticipate the gravity of the Jat agitation in February, it is claimed. After Dr Rajshree Singh's removal as Murthal mass rape special investigation team (SIT) chief, the state government has now shown Director General of Police (DGP) YP Singhal and CID chief ADGP Shatrujeet Singh Kapur the door. Dr KP Singh, a 1985-batch Indian Police Service officer, has been appointed the new DGP. Senior police chiefs have been dismissed after failing to anticipate the gravity of the Jat protests, it is claimed The government also suspended IGP Rohtak, Shrikant Jadhav for alleged lapses. The removal of senior police officers comes after claims the police failed to perform their duties during the Jat quota demonstrations, which left at least 30 dead. Despite the deployment of the army, paramilitary and police forces, Jat protesters were able to set ablaze private and public property alongside looting, violence, and reports of rape. The Punjab and Haryana High Court echoed criticisms of a casual nature and laxity among senior cops of the state police. The force has also been slammed for its treatment of the Murthal gang-rape case after it failed to register an FIR and handed over the SIT report to the court. It's claimed that Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was left with no option but to remove police who failed to deliver. No Indian film buff needs to be given the first part of this joke, currently in circulation - the punchline is Mere paas PanaMA hai! What is now known as the Panama Leaks is a cache of 11.5 million records that expose a global industry of law firms and big banks selling financial secrecy to politicians and criminals, as well as billionaires, celebrities, and film stars. These include about 130 major politicians, and the leak has claimed its first political victim with the resignation of the Prime Minister of Iceland. Protesters demonstrate in London against Prime Minister David Cameron following the Panama leaks The leaked records come from a powerful law firm based in Panama, Mossack Fonseca, that has branches in more than 35 places around the globe. It is one of the worlds top creators of shell companies - corporate structures used to hide ownership of wealth. For the most part, shell companies do not employ people or produce anything; they are created merely to hide the assets of the very rich. One of the reasons why this happens legally is the fact that there is no global register of corporations and the real owner of a company is not required by law to disclose his or her identity. The President of America, Barrack Obama, rightly noted that this is not technically illegal, but he also suggested that it is worse: because it shows that lawmakers and politicians have knowingly allowed the very rich to get away with hiding their wealth and evading taxes. This is also a system that allows hidden money - required, for instance, in drugs and arms trafficking, without which things like Islamist terror would be seriously crippled - to operate outside public scrutiny. And if you think all this is just a socialist reaction to extreme wealth, bear in mind that it is problematic even in capitalist terms. Because the money that is hidden away - estimated at 25 trillion dollars - falls out of the working global economy. Apart from the taxes avoided, this means that a large chunk of global capital is dead. Shell companies are not just fake companies: they are empty companies, and hence a dead-weight from both socialist and capitalist perspectives. If we just had a global register of corporations and required company owners to disclose their identities, much of the problem would be solved. That it has not been proves the complicity of many politicians. Rights are not for you to choose Religion seems to be getting even bigger in some US states. One example is the recently introduced Tennessees House Bill 1840 that, if passed, would allow mental-health counsellors to refuse services to sinners - which could be atheists, gays, or people of another religious belief. Such bills seem unimaginable to the clear-minded (and most Americans), but one has to remember that they reflect a common consumerist turn. Rights have become consumption choices; it seems that one has a right, just as one can buy the brand one prefers. A bill in the US, if passed, can allow the refusal of mental health services based on religion in Tennessee But that of course is not what human rights are. A human right is not what you want, but what everyone else (and you) needs to have. Your likes and dislikes - including your beliefs - play no role in it. Rights are not for you to pick and choose, like cans of tomato on a market shelf. They are the rights of others too. Your right exists as part of everyones right, not in opposition to it. This seems to have been forgotten in todays self-centred consumerist world. Why humans are the only truly 'stupid' animals on earth Some weeks ago, as I walked past one of those cages that butchers use to keep fowl, a friend said to me: Surely a hen must be the most stupid animal on earth'. 'Look at them, unworriedly pecking away at feed, and only trying to escape after they are grabbed to be butchered! Now, having thought of it, I am certain that my friend was wrong. There is only one stupid animal in the world, and it is human beings - us. Surprised? Well, look at it this way: if a drunk driver ran his car on to a pavement and hit a deaf and blind man, surely you wont call the victim stupid? Why not? Although human beings can see what's happening in climate change, we continue to destroy the earth a bit more each day, writes Tabish Khair Well, obviously because the victim lacked the capacity to see or hear a car driving at him. A hen which does not foresee the butchers knife, or a deer that runs only when the hunter becomes visible, and then ceases running a few metres off, such animals lack the capacity to see what is coming. To call them stupid is just as wrong as it would be to blame the blind and deaf man for not getting out of the way of a drunk driver! But homo sapiens, ah, that is another animal species all together. Human beings can see - and imagine - what is coming at them. We can see what is happening with climate change, pollution and overpopulation. We can understand why a society with less economic disparity also has a better index of individual well-being all around and far less crime, as is the case with far-from-perfect but still relatively egalitarian Scandinavian nations. We have known that hatred, xenophobia and war do not solve any problems. And yet we indulge in war and xenophobia, we celebrate greed and we destroy the earth a bit more every passing day. Surely, we must be the only truly stupid animals on earth! American taxpayers are forking out more than $300,000 every day to deport illegal immigrants on commercial flights and even on private jets, Daily Mail Online can exclusively reveal. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spent $116m in 2015 to transport 235,413 people in the United States illegally back to their home countries. More than 40 per cent of those who had violated visa restrictions were convicted criminals while more than 1,000 were identified as gang members. A group campaigning for taxpayers' rights have said the figures obtained by the Daily Mail Online are 'insane' and an 'outrageous waste of tax dollars'. The ICE revealed to Daily Mail Online that the average cost of every immigrant in 2015 was $12,213. The cost includes identifying the immigrant, apprehending them, placing them in a detention center, their process through immigration court and their subsequent removal. Scroll down for video Costly: Immigration officials hired a Gulfstream IV jet like this for so-called 'high-risk charters' on at least 34 occasions in 2015 as part of their efforts to relocate immigrants Normal interior: Gulfstream IVs are equipped for private executive travel, meaning aliens being deported fly home in the lap of luxury American taxpayers are forking out more than $300,000 every day to deport illegal immigrants on commercial flights and private jets, Daily Mail Online can reveal. Immigration officials have chartered a range of jets, including a Boeing 767-300 - a long-range, twin engine commercial jet that seats 261 passengers (file picture) To remove an illegal immigrant costs an average of $1,962. This includes both ground and air fares. When they needed to be taken abroad, ICE either used commercial flights or hired jets, including a Gulfstream IV. At one point they hired a a long-range, twin engine commercial jet that seats 261 passengers to take a single illegal immigrant to Nigeria. They had to charter flights for so-called 'high-risk charters' on at least 34 occasions, because of the number of security personnel they needed on the flight. The statistics obtained by Daily Mail Online following a Freedom of Information request. They revealed that ICE uses commercial flights to send illegal immigrants back to 190 countries. David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, told Daily Mail Online: 'This is insane.' He added: 'This is an outrageous and unacceptable waste of tax dollars. There is absolutely zero justification for spending this amount of money deporting immigrants. 'DHS needs to find a more efficient way to do this. Somebody at DHS should be held accountable for this. 'This type of wasteful spending is why the American people have such a high level of skepticism and cynicism about government. 'Leave it to the government to take a relatively simple task and make it complicated and expensive. The Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to requests for comment. The latest revelations come to just months after Daily Mail Online discovered that housing someone in the nation's largest immigration detention center costs more than a night's stay at the nearest Hilton Hotel. Table from Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows how the number of immigrants being removed from the United States has been steady since 2008 The majority of these illegal immigrants are detained at the border, but some are captured by inside the 'interior' by immigration officials, meaning they apprehended having already lived in the country illegally The government shells out $231 every 24 hours to house just one of the 2,105 foreign detainees at The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, a small town 200 miles from the Mexican border. The figure was more than a double room at the four-star Hilton Palacio del Rio 70 miles away in San Antonio, which costs $169. It was also higher than the $199 rate for a king suite at the nearby four-star Hotel Cantessa - which boasts a rooftop pool and a gym. SENDING HOME THE ILLEGALS ICE conducted 235,413 removals The leading countries of origin for removals were Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. 1,040 individuals removed by ICE were classified as suspected or confirmed gang members ICE conducted 69,478 removals of individuals apprehended by ICE officers 63,539 (91%) of all interior removals were of people previously convicted of a crime ICE conducted 165,935 removals of individuals apprehended at or near the border or ports of entry 59% of all ICE removals, or 139,368, were previously convicted of a crime ICE conducted 63,539 interior criminal removals ICE removed 75,829 criminals apprehended at or near the border or ports of entry Of the 96,045 individuals removed who had no criminal conviction, 94 percent, or 90,106, were apprehended at or near the border or ports of entry (Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Advertisement The figures are likely to be fodder for Republican front-running presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has won over voters attacking the government of Mexico and outlining a plan to charge them $100,000 for every illegal immigrant who crosses the southern border. He has attacked the Mexican government for allegedly 'pushing' undocumented immigrants to the U.S. to avoid dealing with them themselves. Trump said that Mexico had been allowed to get away with the scheme because they are 'smart' and President Obama and his administration are 'stupid' - a situation which can only be fixed if he leads the charge to 'take back our country'. A report by the National Immigration Center suggests alternate methods to detention, including ankle monitoring bracelets, would cost the government between 17 cents and $17 per illegal each day. The controversial center in Dilley, a town of just 3,650 people, was opened last May to accommodate an influx of families crossing the border and takes in around 40 immigrants every day. More than 500 protesters gathered outside when the doors opened and chanted 'shut it down'. The facility, which costs more than $178m a year to run, forms part of the enormous network of facilities operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agency which overseas the detention of illegal immigrants as an annual budget of $989m. Flat screen TVs, playgrounds and 24-hour snacks are a few of the amenities on offer inside. The 50-acre compound features 80 two-bedroom, one-bathroom cottages connected by dirt roads and newly laid grass sod. The cottages include bunk beds and cribs that can sleep up to eight, and a kitchen - although cooking is prohibited to prevent fires. Food is served in a dining hall but, according to reports, many children have rejected the food. He then gave Obama idea to create a committee of child scientist advisers In a sea of robots, homemade spacecrafts and even a test for the Ebola virus, it was a deceptively simple bubble wand that caught Obama's eye at the White House Science Fair. But this wasn't your average bubble wand. It had been created and constructed by a nine-year-old boy - and his 3D printer. Jacob Leggette, from Baltimore, already won the president's praise with his sharp bowtie, but soon Obama would be much more impressed with Jacob's drive to design. The young innovator first showed off his 3D-printed cups, bowls and cookie cutters, and a miniature replica of the The White House. Scroll down for video Obama tests out Jacob Leggette's 3D printed bubble wand at the sixth annual White House Science Fair Obama had no success on his first try, but on the next attempt was able to get two bubbles from the wand Jacob then told Obama he first got interested in 3D printing at a summer camp. He then took the initiative and got his own 3D printer after writing a letter to a company. The company donated the printer for free, and in return Jacob provided them feedback on whether their devices were kid-friendly. As Jacob explained to Obama how he sketched, designed and created the bubble wand, the president asked if the third grader had ever tested them. 'Yes, sir,' Jacob politely replied. 'Do they work?' the president asked. 'Yes, sir,' he responded again. 'Do you wanna try one?' Obama asks. 'Do you wanna try one?' Jacob adorably asks back. Obama then opens the soapy water and asks Jacob which wand works best before admitting, 'it's been a while since I did this'. The president had no success on his first try, but on the next attempt was able to get two bubbles from the wand. The president was also impressed with the miniature White House that Jacob designed and created on his 3D printer, which he showed off along with a host of other cups, cookie cutters and bowls on Wednesday Jacob then gave Obama the idea to start a whole committee of child scientist advisers 'This is kind of fun,' Obama said as he blew another. Jacob then asked the president if he had a child scientist adviser. Obama said he didn't and then told Jacob that gave him an idea. Not just one child scientist adviser, but a whole committee of them. Jacob was just one of more than 130 students who inspired the president at the annual science fair, which Obama started in 2010 and has often said is one of his favorite events of the year. Made up of students aged 9 to 18 years old, the fair is made up of the next generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and innovators. 'You remind us that together through science we can tackle some of the biggest challenges we face,' Obama told the students at the White House on Wednesday. 'You are sharing in this essential spirit of discovery that America is built on.' The president then joked that the only problem with the fair was that it made him feel 'inadequate'. But Obama was clearly having a blast as he toured the impressive exhibits, asking questions, pressing buttons, smiling with approval and, at times, ribbing the earnest presenters. Obama listens to sisters Kimberly Yeung (R) and Rebecca Yeung (L) explain their science project, the Loki Lego Launcher, while touring exhibits at the fair on Wednesday The sister's design is made of archery arrows and wood scraps which they launched into the stratosphere via a helium balloon that records location coordinates, temperature, velocity, and pressure and reports the data 'My only concern is that, you know, you may have trouble getting into college,' Obama joked with 18-year-old Sanjana Rane from Prospect, Kentucky, after listening to her detailed explanation of how she helped figure out a particular protein could be used to detect and treat renal fibrosis. Among the other impressive displays were that of Olivia Hallisey, 17, of Greenwich, Connecticut, who created a diagnostic test for the detection of the Ebola virus. Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna, 17, of Elmont, New York, found a way to improve undersea cement seals to keep offshore oil wells from leaking. And Hannah Herbst, 15, of Boca Raton, Florida, created a device to tap energy from ocean currents. As he toured the exhibits, Obama admired the sticky substance dubbed 'GlOo' by a St. Louis Girl Scout Troop, an accidental discovery after they invented a product that can dissolve Styrofoam. The president also marveled at the 'Loki Lego Launcher,' a homemade spacecraft that shot up 78,000 feet in the air before it landed in a field next to a cow pie, according to its inventors, sisters Kimberly and Rebecca Yeung, 9 and 11. Obama listens as Kimberly explains the sisters' project. When the sisters revealed it had landed next to a a cow pie, the president joked: 'But cow poop didn't get on this, you're sure?' 'But cow poop didn't get on this?' the president joked as he looked at the launcher. 'You're sure?' Also in attendance was Cedrick Argueta, who the president personally invited to the event after he found out the teen received a perfect score on his Advanced Placement Calculus Exam. Even as he discussed the importance of investing in science, Obama was also quick to point out the 'structural biases' that exist within the industry. 'A lot of them are unconscious,' he said. 'But the fact is, is that we've got to get more of our young women and minorities into science and technology, engineer and math, and computer science.' 'We're not going to succeed if we've got half the team on the bench, especially when it's the smarter half of the team.' Obama announced that tech company Oracle was donating $200m to invest in computer education that will help 125,000 students. The administration also noted that the nation is more than halfway toward reaching Obama's goal of preparing 100,000 new math and science teachers by 2021. We could not be prouder of all the students,' Obama said. 'We are counting on all of you to help us build a brighter future.' Obama, speaking during the fair in the East Room, has often said that the White House Science Fair is one of his favorite events of the year Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders cheered on striking Verizon workers on Wednesday after 39,000 landline and cable employees walked off the job. Sanders told workers at a picket line in Brooklyn they displayed courage by standing up to the telecommunications giant. 'I know your families are going to pay a price,' Sanders shouted. 'On behalf of every worker in America who is facing the same kind of pressure, thank you for what you're doing. We're going to win this thing!' Scroll down for video Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders greets a CWA worker as he arrives to join a Verizon workers picket line on Wednesday in the Brooklyn borough of New York Striking Verizon workers picket outside a Verizon office in Albany, N.Y. Sanders told workers at a picket line in Brooklyn they displayed courage by standing up to the telecommunications giant The Brooklyn-born Sanders addressed the enthusiastic crowd of striking workers from Verizon Communications Inc as 'brothers and sisters' as he thanked them for their courage in standing up to what he characterized as corporate greed. It was a scene tailor-made for the U.S. senator from Vermont, who has focused on income inequality in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Workers cheered as Sanders criticized the mammoth communications company for wanting to take away health benefits, outsource jobs and avoid federal income taxes, calling it 'just another major American corporation trying to destroy the lives of working Americans.' 'Today you are standing up not just for justice for Verizon workers, you're standing up for millions of Americans ... and you're telling corporate America that they cannot have it all,' Sanders said. Sanders paid an impromptu visit to the Verizon workers' picket line in Brooklyn after being endorsed by New York City transit workers. Sanders is trying to catch up with Clinton, the front-runner, in Tuesday's primary in New York - a state both candidates have called home. Clinton said in a statement earlier Wednesday she was 'disappointed' that negotiations had broken down between Verizon and its unions. 'Verizon should come back to the bargaining table with a fair offer for their workers,' Clinton said. 'To preserve and grow America's middle class, we need to protect good wages and benefits, including retirement security.' He said: 'On behalf of every worker in America who is facing the same kind of pressure, thank you for what you're doing. We're going to win this thing!' Sanders pictured greeting Communications Workers of America workers in Brooklyn. Workers cheered as Sanders criticized the mammoth communications company for wanting to take away health benefits, outsource jobs and avoid federal income taxes Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greets picketing Verizon workers outside of a Verizon store in New York City Later, Clinton met striking communications workers outside a Verizon store in midtown Manhattan. The two striking unions - the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - represent installers, customer service employees, repairmen and other service workers in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., for Verizon's wireline business, which provides fixed-line phone services and FiOS Internet service. Verizon spokesman Rich Young said the company was disappointed by the strike. He said Verizon has trained thousands of non-union workers to fill in for striking workers and 'we will be there for our customers.' But some customers said the strike was affecting them. Jennifer Aguirre, 27, said she and her husband had an appointment scheduled for Wednesday to install cable and Internet at their home in Washington. Her husband called to confirm and was told that systems were down and the appointment was canceled. 'We're kind of stuck, waiting to see what's going to happen,' Aguirre said. She said Verizon is the couple's only option for home Internet service. Sanders is trying to catch up with Clinton in Tuesday's primary in New York, a state both candidates have called home Verizon workers in Philadelphia pictured above. Nearly 40,000 Verizon employees walked off the job on Wednesday in one of the largest U.S. strikes in recent years after contract talks hit an impasse The two striking unions - the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - represent installers, customer service employees, repairmen and other service workers in states including Connecticut, Delaware and New York Keith Purce, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1101 in New York City, said the unions have been without a contract for eight months. Between 300 and 400 union members walked a picket line outside the company's office in downtown Albany, where workers set up an inflatable 'greedy pig' and rat. In Philadelphia, about a hundred striking workers took to the streets near the company's regional headquarters and chanted, 'Scabs, go home!' at non-union replacement workers. The unions say Verizon wants to freeze pensions, make layoffs easier and rely more on contract workers. The company has said that health care issues need to be addressed for retirees and current workers because medical costs have grown and that it wants 'greater flexibility' to manage its workers. Verizon also is pushing to eliminate a rule that would prevent employees from working away from home for extended periods of time. In a television ad, the unions said the company was trying to 'force employees to accept a contract sending their jobs to other parts of the country and even oversees.' Members of the CWA picket in front of Verizon Communications Inc. corporate offices during a strike in New York City. The unions say Verizon wants to freeze pensions, make layoffs easier and rely more on contract workers Verizon Communications Inc. has a total workforce of more than 177,000 employees 'The main issues are job security and that they want to move workers miles and miles away,' said Isaac Collazo, a Verizon employee who has worked replacing underground cables in New York City for nearly 19 years. 'We have a clause currently that they can't just lay anyone off willy nilly and they want to get rid of that,' said Collazo, a single father of three children. 'I feel if the company had the opportunity, they would just lay people off.' But Young said the unions' talk about offshoring jobs and cutting jobs is 'absolute nonsense.' 'These contracts have provisions that were put in place decades ago. ... They need to take a look at where the business stands in 2016,' he said. Some 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike for about two weeks in August 2011. The naughty toddler who captured the hearts of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge when he stamped on their feet in a special dance was told by William he reminded him of Prince George. Little Kangkan Baruah, three, stole the show and enchanted the royal couple with his footwork at Assam's Kaziranga National Park to welcome them on the third leg of their Royal Indian tour. Prince William and Kate were enthralled by the little performer, who danced alongside his parents in the Kuthuri Tishri Bihu Doll troupe - especially when he cheekily tried to step on Kate's foot. Enchanting: Kangkan Baruah (pictured, in traditional Indian attire) took part in a cultural performance in Assam's Kaziranga National Park designed to welcome the Royals Joke: The little boy's father Krishna pulled him away after he tried to tread on the Duchess' foot - but the Royal couple roared with laughter Family: Both Kangkan (left) and his mother Mala (right) were part of the 18-strong troupe that gave a 20 minutes performance for the royals at the Bihu Festival Performers: The three-year-old boy, Kangkan, performed alongside his parents Krishna (left) and Mala (right) in the Kuthuri Srishti Bihu Doll troupe 'It was the best moment of my life,' Kangkan's father, Krishna Kant Baruah, 32, who earns around Rs 3,500 (35) per performance. 'Our art was acknowledged by big people. Thankfully he understood toddlers and said that Kangkan reminded him of his son. It was funny Kangkan's father, Krishna Kant Baruah 'I felt so proud when they praised my son and told him that he was the star of the evening. '[William] asked me his name and age and was surprised to see him performing at such a young age. 'He said my son was adorable and shook hands with him. It's an absolute honour to hear things like this from a man like him.' But when little Kangkan stepped on the Duchess' foot, his parents were mortified. 'I immediately apologised and told Prince William that Kangkan is always a little naughty,' added Krishna. 'Thankfully he understood toddlers and said that Kangkan reminded him of his son. It was funny.' The royal couple have had to leave their own children George, two, and Princess Charlotte, 11 months, at home due to the hectic schedule of tour of India and Bhutan - which involves 22 engagements in just seven days. Kangkan, from Kuthori village, is a confident performer and will happily dance to any beat even without practising. 'He just loves to perform,' said Krishna, who added that the little boy has been dancing since he started to walk. I hadnt even dreamt that we would get to meet the royals, but around five days ago we were told that our dance group had been selected for the performance. Pride: 'It was the best moment of my life,' said Kangkan's father, Krishna Kant Baruah (pictured), after his son danced for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Toddler: Kangkan's father apologised to the royal couple and said he 'is always a little naughty' but Prince William and Kate laughed it off Adorable: The moment Kangkan danced for the Royals, and almost stood on Princess Kate's foot, reminded Prince William of their son Prince George back home Dream: Kangkan's mother and dancer, Mala (pictured), 30, was just as overjoyed as her husband to meet British royalty Sweet: This is the little dancing boy who captured Kate Middleton's heart by trying to step on her foot as she enjoyed a cultural performance during the third day of their Royal Indian tour 'And when we told him about performing in front of royalty he seemed very happy and clapped and cheered. He hardly needed any practice for the performance.' He added: When we were about to begin the dance, a big hailstorm started and I was so worried that we wouldnt be able to show them our dance. But thankfully God saved us and after a little while the weather became normal and we started with full gusto. He said my son was adorable and shook hands with him. It's an absolute honour to hear things like this from a man like him. Kangkan's father, Krishna Kant Baruah The 18-strong troupe gave a 20 minutes performance for the royals at the Bihu Festival, a cultural event in Kaziranga National Park, in the north-eastern state of Assam. Krishna plays the instruments in the troupe and offered his Gogona (an instrument like a Jew's harp made out of bamboo) to Prince William. 'I asked him to try to play the instrument but he could not,' he said. 'He told me I was an all-rounder because I can play several instruments. I felt very proud to have been praised by him.' Kangkan's mother and dancer, Mala Baruah, 30, was overjoyed to meet British royalty. 'I have never felt this way before and it cannot be expressed in words,' she said. 'I felt so proud to have performed before them and been praised by them. Moreover, my son was praised by them, it completed everything we could have wished for. 'We are simple performers from a corner of India, this was an amazing moment for my family.' Kangkans parents have different ideas about the future of their only son. His father insists he is too small to think about the future. Our first worry is that he should get good education and then get a job, he said. Homesick: The royal couple were entranced by the energetic dancing of the three-year-old boy at the fireside festival - and said he reminded them of Prince George when he tried to step on Kate's foot (pictured) Laughter: Little Kangkan stole the show during the celebration at the Kaziranga National Park this week, as India welcomed the British royals on their official tour All smiles: Little Kangkan made Kate and Will laugh at the Kaziranga National Park this week Showman: According to his father Krishna, little Kangkan just loves to dance, and he has been dancing since the time that he learnt to walk Praise: Kangkan's mother Mala (right) said they are 'simple performers from a corner of India' and added that meeting the royals 'completed everything we could have wished for' But for his mother Mala, the most important thing is that he grows up to be a good dancer. She said: Prince William was so impressed with this dance that he wanted his daughter Charlotte to learn Bihu dance and said I can teach her. Wei Wu has allegedly been calling Chinese international students 'pigs' online A top Australian university has launched an investigation into a head tutor who students have accused of being racist. Wei Wu, a Chinese-Australian PhD student and finance tutor at The University of Sydney Business School, has allegedly been calling Chinese international students 'pigs' online. The comments were exposed through the University of Sydney Business Associations Facebook page. The claims come after a series of posts uploaded to social networking site Weibo appear to show show Mr Wu victimising students as well as appearing to burn a Chinese passport before throwing it in the toilet. In screenshots from Wei Wu's Weibo account, he introduces himself as 'an Australian resident, Sydney University Business School finance PhD student', and says he received a 'full scholarship'. He then goes on to say that he has been told by a Chinese international student he brought shame upon the Australian-Chinese community, before calling the student an 'international pig representative'. The tutor is a finance tutor at The University of Sydney Mr Wu then posted a photo of his Australian citizenship certificate, and wrote about how proud he was to be Australian. A later post showed what appears to be a Chinese passport, being burnt whilst being held with a pair of tongs over a toilet while it was still alight. China does not recognise dual citizenship. It is unknown if the Chinese passport belonged to Mr. Wu or why the passport was destroyed Members of the Sydney University Business Society have since launched an online petition against the tutor's alleged 'racist comments'. 'It has come to our attention that International Students of the University of Sydney, particularly those of the Business School, have been subject to frequent, harmful and racist remarks made by a Head Finance Tutor at the University of Sydney,' the society posted to Facebook. This is one of the Weibo posts alleged to have come from the man - calling the international students 'pigs' He posted a photo of his Australian Citizenship certificate (left), while another post showed what appears to be a Chinese passport being burnt whilst being held with a pair of tongs over a toilet The Sydney University Business Society has started a petition against the tutor's alleged 'racist comments' 'As the liaison between our students and the Business School, the Sydney University Business Society will not tolerate such racist behaviour, and will seek to hold those responsible, accountable for their actions. Dean of the University of Sydney Business School, Professor Greg Whitwell, confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the university was investigating allegations In a later statement the Student Office Bearers of the USYD SRC said they were 'appalled'. 'We feel that it is extremely inappropriate for a University of Sydney staff to make such racist and discriminatory comments on a public platform, regardless of what ethnic background or nationality he is. 'Chinese international students community, who are the subject of Wus comments, are extremely disappointed. 'They have demanded that the University dismiss WU on the grounds that he is no longer suitable to be a tutor,' the statement said, Dean of the University of Sydney Business School, Professor Greg Whitwell, confirmed to Daily Mail Australia an investigation into the allegations was underway. 'The Business School and the University of Sydney note the allegations made against a tutor and views them extremely seriously. 'The Business School is currently investigating these allegations,' Mr Whitwell said. Arthur Anderson, the actor who gave a sprightly voice to cereal mascot Lucky the Leprechaun in TV commercials for three decades has died in New York. Anderson was 93 years old. He stopped singing that Lucky Charms are 'magically delicious' in 1992. Scroll down for video Arthur Anderson, the actor who gave a sprightly voice to cereal mascot Lucky the Leprechaun in TV commercials for three decades has died in New York. He was 93 years old Anderson stopped singing that Lucky Charms are 'magically delicious' in 1992 He was born in Staten Island on August 29, 1922, The New York Times reported. Anderson's survived by his daughter Amy Anderson, according to the newspaper. Before taking on the role of Lucky, Anderson started in the theater at the age of 10 and later on to radio shows. Anderson's friend, actor Craig Wichman, says he died Saturday in Manhattan. Wichman told NBC News: 'He did tons of radio. 'He did a show called Let's Pretend, which was the biggest children's show for 20 years.' Anderson also appeared on Broadway with Orson Welles in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, in the movies Midnight Cowboy and Woody Allen's Zelig, and on TV's Law & Order. Anderson also appeared as Lucius on Broadway with Orson Welles as Brutus in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Wichman told NBC News: 'That man had an amazing career. 'He performed with Orson Welles, he did tons of radio. 'He would say, "I've never been a star, but I worked all the time."' According to The New York Times, Zac Efron's Me and Orson Welles role was 'a composite character based partly on Mr. Anderson.' In a statement to NBC News, General Mills spokesman Mike Siemienas said: 'Lucky Charms is saddened by the loss of Arthur Anderson, the original voice of Lucky the Leprechaun. 'For more than 50 years, generations of Americans have known that Lucky Charms are "Magically Delicious!" and we have Arthur's voice to thank for that."' According to The New York Times, Zac Efron's Me and Orson Welles role was 'a composite character based partly on Mr. Anderson.' Efron (far left) is seen in a scene with Christian McKay (center) playing Welles Anderson said he was constantly stopped in public and asked to sing the tagline, but noted that he never got any free Lucky Charms himself. Speaking to ABC in 2005, he said: 'I never got free cereal. 'But they gave me lots of green money. 'And it was a fun character to play. A popular family restaurant has been destroyed by a suspicious fire in the same building where a woman jumped to her death trying to escape a blaze three years ago. The fire at Rashay's in Bankstown, south-west of Sydney, forced the evacuation of more than 100 residents from surrounding apartments in the early hours of Thursday morning. Emergency crews were called to the blaze at 3.20am and arrived to find the ground-floor pizza restaurant on West Terrace completely destroyed by the fire. Scroll down for video The fire at Rashay's in Bankstown, south-west of Sydney, forced the evacuation of more than 100 residents from surrounding apartments in the early hours of Thursday morning Large flames could be seen shooting out from the restaurant. Police said no injuries were reported but one person was taken to hospital as a precaution. The fire has since been brought under control and residents were able to return to their apartments after several hours. Police say the fire is being treated as suspicious and investigations are continuing. The popular family restaurant, located in Bankstown in Sydney's south-west, was destroyed by a suspicious fire at 3.20am on Thursday Emergency crews were called to the blaze at 3.20am and arrived to find the ground-floor pizza restaurant on West Terrace completely destroyed by the fire Large flames could be seen shooting out from the restaurant towards the apartments above causing more than 100 people to evacuate The building is the same one where 21-year-old Connie Zhang plunged to her death after attempting to escape her burning apartment building from the fifth-floor in September 2012. The fire had started on a balcony, trapping Ms Zhang and her friend Ginger Jiang. They were forced to climb out the window and then make a five-storey leap which killed Ms Zhang and left Ms Jiang wheelchair bound. The building is the same one where 21-year-old Connie Zhang plunged to her death after attempting to escape her burning apartment building from the fifth-floor in September 2012 The Beirut women's prison where 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown and Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner have been taken to is a grim, overcrowded block housing mostly murderers and drug dealers with up to 20 women per cell. Baabda Central Women's Prison is in south-eastern Beirut, where the botched child kidnap that landed Brown and Ms Faulkner behind bars took place on April 6. The small correctional facility is built to hold 50 prisoners, but Baabda holds about 90 female criminals in cramped dark cells behind the razor wire in an otherwise upmarket Beirut suburb. Scroll down for video Baabda Central Women's Prison is in Hadath in south-eastern Beirut where the botched child kidnap that landed 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown and Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner behind bars took place Handcuffed and placed in the back of an armoured police vehicle, Brown and Ms Faulkner were transported to the prison on Wednesday. Images from inside Baabda show the inmates wearing their own clothes rather than a prison uniform, but it is customary for prisoners to be strip searched following transportation from another facility. The pair were separated from the 60 Minutes crew and the child recovery operatives also held in police custody near the courthouse in Baabda because of a lack of female facilities in the police cells. A Lebanese official in Baabda told Associated Press that it would be better for Brown and Ms Faulkner in the women's jail because 'they can watch TV and they have hot water in the showers'. Lebanon's prisons are operated by the division of the Lebanese police known as Darak. A report by the Prisoner's Rights Monitor about conditions in Baabda and Lebanon's other female prisons says 'the cells are very small and 20 average women live in each'. The report says 'the cells are not equipped with adequate light, proper ventilation or clean bathrooms. There is no place to sleep, no chairs to sit on. Each prisoner has a single mattress sponge of 90 centimeters to sleep and sit'. The small correctional facility is built to hold 50 prisoners, but Baabda holds about 90 female criminals in cramped dark cells behind razor wire in an otherwise upmarket Beirut suburb Nine reporter Tara Brown (left) may have to share a cell and bathroom facilities with up to nine female inmates at Baabda Women's prison where she was taken with Sally Faulkner (right) Sally Faulkner and the 60 Minutes crew are facing charges of kidnapping after she hired a child recovery agency to snatch her two children Noah, three, and Lahela, five, from a bus stop last week A Lebanese official in Baabda told Associated Press that it would be better for Ms Faulkner and Brown in the women's jail because 'they can watch TV and they have hot water in the showers' Just one meal a day is served, although at Baabda the female inmates are allowed to have food brought in Images from inside Baabda show the inmates wearing their own clothes rather than a prison uniform, but it is customary for prisoners to be strip searched following transportation from another facility Just one meal a day is served, although at Baabda the inmates are allowed to have food brought in. The report was made from a 1999 survey by the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World. But Human rights groups in Lebanon say conditions in Baabda women's correctional centre have not improved, are worse than in men's prisons and have received little attention. Brown is married to TV producer John McAvoy and has two young sons back in Australia, Jack, 7, and Tom, 5. Ms Faulkner has a third child, a three-month-old daughter with her second husband Brendan Pierce, who remains in Australia. The two women will be held at Baabda at least until next Monday when they will again face court with 60 Minutes producer Stephen Rice, sound recordist David Ballment and cameraman Ben Williamson. Along with two Britons working for Child Abduction Recovery International (CARI) and two Lebanese citizens, they are facing charges over the alleged abduction of Ms Faulkner's children Laleh, 5, and Noah Elamine, 3, at a Beirut bus stop. It is unclear what Tara Brown's living conditions will be like and how many other women with whom she may have to share a cell and bathroom facilities at Baabda At Baabda women's prison, many female prisoners spend several years unconvicted and awaiting trial and then sentencing A program that took drama classes to Baabda's prisoners in 2012 and was filmed by CNN said many of the inmates had suffered sexual abuse as children, forced marriages, domestic violence and drug addiction Handcuffed and placed in the back of an armoured police vehicle, Brown and Ms Faulkner were transported to the prison on Wednesday The failed attempt to retrieve the children at the centre of a custody battle with their father, Surf Lebanon proprietor Ali Elamine, resulted in charges against the 60 Minutes team of child kidnap, assault, withholding information and conspiracy to commit a crime. On Wednesday Lebanese Investigative Judge Rami Abdullah remanded the TV crew, who appeared handcuffed in court, in custody and said there was 'no way' the charges against them will be dropped. The charges could lead to a 15 year jail sentence once a trial is held. A conviction could mean the male 60 Minutes crew risk ending up in Beirut's infamous Roumieh prison, one of the largest jails in the Middle East with 5,500 inmates. The severely overcrowded prison, which violates UN standards for safety and hygiene, has been the scene of rioting ISIS jihadi inmates. LEBANON KIDNAP CASE: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR THE MUM, THE TV CREW AND THE KIDNAPPING CASE Brisbane mum Sally Faulkner and a Nine Network TV crew made up of reporter Tara Brown, producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Ben Williamson and sound recordist David Ballment, are facing kidnapping and assault charges in Lebanon following a bungled abduction of Ms Faulkner's two children in Beirut. WHAT HAPPENED? The Australians have spent a week behind bars in Beirut after being arrested for the alleged abduction on April 7. The TV crew was filming Faulkner's attempt to retrieve her children Noah, four, and Lahela, six, from her ex-husband Ali Elamine, who she claims kept them in Lebanon without her permission. A professional agency, Child Abduction Recovery International, is believed to have been hired to snatch the children. Two of its members, named in media reports as Britons Adam Whittington and Craig Michael, have also been detained and charged. THE ABDUCTION Security camera footage shows masked men jumping out of a car and snatching the kids from their grandmother and another woman on a Beirut street. The grandmother claims she was attacked and hit on the head with a pistol. The TV crew and recovery agency members were arrested shortly afterwards, while Faulkner hid with her two children in a safe house. Authorities later found the family, arrested Faulkner and returned the children to their father. THE CHARGES Faulkner is facing kidnapping charges. The 60 minutes crew is accused of: - hiding information - forming an association with two or more people to commit a crime against a person - kidnapping or holding a minor even with their approval - physical assault. The offences carry penalties of up to 20 years in jail. LEGAL CASE SO FAR Judge Rami Abdullah told the Australians during a second round of interviews on Wednesday that there was no chance their charges would be dropped. However, he indicated that if Mr Elamine was willing to drop legal action and come to an agreement with his estranged wife, that would help the case against all of the accused. The accused will remain in detention until facing the Baabda Palace of Justice again on Monday. Nine has refused to comment on speculation it organised and funded the recovery operation. Advertisement Just one meal a day is served, although at Baabda the inmates are allowed to have food brought in Lebanon's prisons are operated by the division of the Lebanese police known as Darak Brown and Ms Faulkner were separated from the rest of the 60 Minutes crew and the child recovery operatives because of a lack of female facilities in the police cells Baabda Central Women's Prison is in south-eastern Beirut, just three kilometres from Hadath where the botched child kidnap took place last week The Beirut women's prison where Brown and Ms Faulkner have been taken to is a grim, overcrowded cell block housing mostly murderers and drug dealers with up to 20 women per cell At Baabda women's prison, many female prisoners spend several years in Baabda unconvicted and awaiting trial and then sentencing. Beirut-based English language newspaper Al-Akhbar reported in 2013 about the 'tragic reality' for women being held in Baabda. 'Although inhumane conditions in Lebanon's prisons have received more attention over the past few years, women's prison conditions did not receive the same kind of interest,' it said. Caritas Lebanon and the EU Commission among other agencies has tried to improve basic conditions for female inmates, most of whom in Baabda were incarcerated for murdering their husbands. The agencies highlighted a lack of basic facilities such as health care, saying Babbda had only just introduced a service in which women prisoners had access to a gynaecologist, but unlike other women's prisons in Lebanon lacked a full-time nurse. Manar Zaayter, an attorney for Lebanese women's rights group RDFL told Al-Akhbar that conditions for female inmates vary greatly from prison to prison. Tara Brown has told the media she is being kept in a barred, heavily meshed holding cell and was required to wear handcuffs each time she went outside It is eight days since Tara Brown and her three man TV crew were arrested and had their passports (pictured) confiscated before being charged with serious offences including child kidnap Veteran reporter, Stephen Rice (left), David Ballment (centre) and Benjamin Williamson (right) are also in custody in Lebanon A Lebanese court has told Surf Lebanon proprietor Ali Elamine (pictured with his children Noah, 3, and Laleh, 5) he has to decide whether to pursue child kidnap charges again his ex-wife Sally Faulkner Al-Akhbar reported that one inmate, convicted murderer Nicole, selected women to share her cell according to how she liked their company and bestowed privileges upon them such as carpet on the cement floors and an air conditioner for the summers which peak in August. At the Australians' appearance in a court on Wednesday, not far from the Baabda prison where Brown and Ms Faulkner were later taken, veteran producer Stephen Rice reportedly smiled but did not speak as he was led away in handcuffs. Another man, Greg Michael of the UK was visibly shaken and told reporters 'I'm sick', AP reported. Police said Michael was taken to a Beirut hospital the night before after feeling unwell and returned to court following treatment. Brown told News Corp from a cell in the basement of the court complex she was being treated well in police custody.'Quite genuinely we are being treated well by the standards here, it's fine, it's not crowded,' she said. Now that Brown has been moved to Baabda prison, it is unclear what her living conditions will be and how many other women with whom she may have to share a cell and bathroom facilities. A program which took drama classes to Baabda's women prisoners in 2012 and was filmed by the US TV network CNN reported that many of the female inmates had suffered sexual abuse as children, forced marriages, domestic violence and drug addiction. Beirut's Baabda women's prison (pictured) houses murderers and drug dealers with up to nine women per cell Handcuffed and placed in the back of this armoured police vehicle (pictured) Brown and Ms Faulkner were transported to the women's prison which is overcrowded with violent inmates A Beirut police officer at the bared gate to the Baabda court complex and police cells Brown and Ms Faulkner were separated from the 60 Minutes crew and the child recovery operatives also held in police custody near the courthouse in Baabda because of a lack of female facilities in the police cells Ibtissam Berri (pictured) , grandmother of Ms Faulkner's children, was assaulted during the alleged kidnap and told media she had been hit on the head during the violent incident One inmate who murdered her abusive husband at the age of 19 told Al-Akhbar that she called herself 'Khalas', which is Arabic for 'the end' because she considered her life to be over. She spent several years in Baabda before she was even sentenced to 18 years' prison. Khalas claimed 'corrupt judges' had put her in prison and women inmates were unjustly punished because they were poor. Inmates told the Beirut newspaper that if you had political or financial support, you were 'untouchable'. The humanitarian and living conditions for women inmates held in Baabda prison was the subject of a meeting in 2011 between Lebanese prisoner rights group ASPF and Mrs Randa Berri, wife of the Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri. The father at the centre of the custody battle, Ali Elamine, is Mrs Berri's nephew. Mr Elamine's mother, Ibtissam Berri, is the victim of the alleged assault charge in botched kidnap. Ibtissam Berri was waiting with her grandchildren for the school bus when the CARI operatives shoved and allegedly struck her on the head as they snatched Laleh and Noah Elamine. Deputy Prime Minister is taking on the interim role until Saturday Karl Stefanovic joked with Mr Joyce about him now 'running the country' Barnaby Joyce gets made fun of despite being acting prime minister Barnaby Joyce is acting prime minister of Australia while Malcolm Turnbull visits China this week, and even he could barely believe it as he appeared on national television this morning. While appearing on Thursday morning's Today show presenter Karl Stefanovic couldn't help but give him a big introduction. 'Hold the phone Australia, stop what you're doing. You never thought you'd hear these words Barnaby Joyce is running the country,' Stefanovic said. Scroll down for video Today presenter Karl Stefanovic couldn't help making fun of Barnaby Joyce in his new role 'I don't think I'm walking around with a briefcase with the codes to a nuclear bomb in it,' Mr Joyce replied. 'So who has got the brief case?' asked Stefanovic. Mr Joyce turned, pointed off camera and jokingly said: 'He's got the briefcase.' Both men then burst out laughing before Mr Joyce, took a more serious tone. 'It's an incredible honour, Karl. As I've said before, just to think that a kid who went to Woolbrook Public School would be the acting prime minister, I find that an incredible honour and very humbling.' 'I'm certain that the country will be here in a few days' time,' he later told Sky News. 'I don't think I'm walking around with a briefcase with the codes to a nuclear bomb in it,' Mr Joyce told Stefanovic The Deputy Prime Minister is taking on the interim role of acting prime minister until Saturday The Agriculture Minister and Nationals leader's interim job began around 9pm on Wednesday after Mr Turnbull's aircraft took off to visit Australia's biggest training partner. Mr Turnbull returns to Australia on Saturday. The 'sweaty, big gutted man from Australia' - as noted by Johnny Depp - will therefore have two days to fill in as the Prime Minister. Opposition agricultural spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon told the Courier Mail, Barnaby Joyce can risk Australia's International reputation even if he is only in charge for two days. 'I think most Australians are more than a little concerned at the prospect of Barnaby Joyce as Acting Prime Minister,' said Mr Fitzgibbon. 'It's no secret that Joyce is erratic and has said things in the past that have risked damaging our international reputation. We need cooler heads and safer hands in our national leadership than Barnaby Joyce.' Mr Joyce (second from right) will be Australia's Acting Prime Minister while Malcolm Turnbull (centre) visits China But Australia's Acting Prime Minister appeared to be humble as he downplayed the temporary role in a statement to news.com. 'Australian politics does not have a President. No-one is walking around with a suitcase with the codes to the bomb in it,' said Mr Joyce. 'Even the Prime Minister is merely the chair of Cabinet and the acting Prime Minister is the acting chair of Cabinet. 'Regardless, I am very proud that a kid from Woolbrook Public School is for a brief period of time the acting Prime Minister of Australia. Mr Turnbull left to visit China on Wednesday night and will be heading back to Australia on Saturday Mr Turnbull is visiting Shanghai before heading to Beijing during which he is expected to discuss Australia's key positions on trade, investment and regional security as well as meet China's Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping. During this time the Acting PM will spend most of his time on Friday and Saturday in Tamworth defending his seat in New England in northern New South Wales where he faces a challenge from independent and former local member Tony Windsor. But Mr Joyce is also undertaking his new role just days after coming under fire for chartering two helicopter flights to a small regional town in his electorate. On March 24, Mr Joyce reportedly caught a helicopter flight from his base in Tamworth, NSW, to the small town of Drake. The second flight was last year. Each flight believed to have cost about $4,000 and was chartered in a bid to avoid a four-hour drive from Tamworth to Drake. The Deputy Prime Minister will undertake the role as acting prime minister just a few days after coming under fire for chartering two helicopter flights in a bid to avoid a four-hour drive A father-of-two is in danger of losing his leg after a teenage jet skier with just 40 minutes of experience 'panicked' and crashed into his friend's speedboat. Shane Randall suffered horrific leg injuries following the collision near South Stradbroke Island on the Gold Coast on Saturday which also left his friend Steve Saillot with a broken leg. Mr Randall, a manager at Commonwealth Bank, is in hospital battling to keep his badly cut leg from getting infected after it was embedded with fibres from the $40,000 boat's hull. Shocking GoPro footage captured the moment of impact and showed the boat travelling inside the markers before the jet skier, 19, smashed into it, followed by loud yelling and swearing. Shane Randall is in hospital battling to keep his badly cut leg from getting infected following the boat crash, pictured with his two daughters Mr Saillot said that Mr Randall was left 'screaming in pain' after the crash and that one of the group of 11 jet ski riders nearby took him to shore. 'I just started screaming for one of them to take Shane into shore because he was in so much pain,' Mr Saillot said,' he told the Gold Coast Bulletin. 'Doctors are trying to save his leg from infection.' Mr Randall, who has two daughters, Jade, 3, and Kloe, 6, is being looked after by the girl's mother, Marie, in Gold Coast University Hospital. Shocking GoPro footage captured the moment of impact and showed the boat travelling inside the markers before the jet skier, 19, smashed into it, followed by loud yelling and swearing Mr Randall suffered horrific leg injuries following the collision near South Stradbroke Island on the Gold Coast on Saturday which also left his friend Steve Saillot with a broken leg Queensland Police said that it appeared one of the jet ski riders 'panicked' and turned away from an oncoming jet ski before turning into the kevlar Bullet 1750 boat which then sank. The jet ski rider was thrown into the water, but walked away with just a bruised hip. The owner of Gold Coast Jet Ski Safaris said he has suspended the lead guide in charge of the tour until further notice. Adrian Bond said he had 'deepest sympathies' for the men and their families, but he defended the company's training of customers. He argued that 40 minutes of preparation and a written test before they hit the water was sufficient. Despite having a broken leg, Mr Saillot stayed with the boat in the water for about an hour until water police arrived to recover the boat, which he said was an insurance write-off. 'I stayed with the boat afterwards because the nose was pointing out of the water so I didn't want anyone to hit it,' he said. A college student in his 20s committed suicide by inhaling 'sewer gas' inside his apartment located near the University of Texas at Austin campus, officials said. He was found unconscious inside a closet by emergency crew who rushed to the 21 Pearl building on the West Campus Wednesday afternoon on reports of a medical emergency. The student, who has not been identified or confirmed as a UT student, was found inside the closet which had a handwritten note on the door that read: 'Danger: Watch out' and named the chemical he is believed to have killed himself with. Scroll down for video A college student in his 20s committed suicide by inhaling 'sewer gas' inside his apartment located near the University of Texas at Austin campus, officials said Students said they smelled sulfur as hundreds were evacuated from a building on the West Campus in Austin on Wednesday afternoon When emergency crews entered the apartment, the man was in cardiac arrest before he was pronounced dead at the scene, Commander Mike Benavides, Public Information Officer for Austin-Travis County EMS, told Daily Mail Online on Wednesday night. Benavides said authorities are still investigating how the victim got the gas inside the apartment. He also noted that the six people transported to hospital included a man and woman both in their 40s, two women in their 20s and a man in his 20s. As for those treated at the scene, they included a man in his 30s, four women in their 20s and the victim before he was pronounced dead. Benavides said they attempted resuscitation measures for one hour on the victim, however they were unsuccessful in their efforts to revive him. He also said EMS initially responded to a cardiac arrest call before an assessment of the scene led to it being upgraded to a toxic exposure and hazmat call. Austin firefighters responded to a hazardous materials call from an apartment at the complex and found a man believed to be in his 20s dead at the scene, said Austin Fire Department Lieutenant Kevin Haas Emergency responders enter the apartment complex on Wednesday. It was unclear where the gas came from, although Haas said the victim likely released it from a container brought into the apartment Six people were taken with non-life-threatening injuries to a hospital, and five others refused care, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services spokesman Captain Darren Noak said It was not immediately clear if the student was the only person inside the apartment, however Austin Fire Department Lt Kevin Haas said as far as he knows the student was the only one inside at the time. Benavides also said it seemed that the victim was removed from the apartment and was taken to a well-ventilated area around the same time the building was being evacuated. It is believed the student committed suicide by inhaling the gas however medical examiners will determine the official cause of death, according to the New York Daily News. Eleven people, including the building manager, suffered from non-life threatening injuries after being exposed to the toxic fumes, according to the Austin-Travis County EMS. Firefighters in hazmat gear evacuated the building where around 300 to 400 people reside, according to the Austin Fire Department (AFD). The emergency responders decontaminated the building and evacuated residents on Wednesday The entire 136-unit building was evacuated to ensure the safety of its residents Francoise Luca, a representative for the building's management, told the Daily News that the entire 136-unit building was evacuated to ensure the safety of its residents. Luca also noted that the man was a student and had been living in the building, however it was not possible to confirm he was a UT student. Following the incident, a woman, who is the building manager, was taken to the hospital along with five others, according to KXAN. Five others were treated at the scene. Authorities were alerted on Wednesday afternoon after students said they smelled sulfur. Photos on social media showed emergency workers and vehicles including a fire truck on a street that had been blocked off from traffic. The property managers of 21 Pearl released a statement on Wednesday saying: 'Today at approximately 2:00 p.m. there was a report of a foul smelling odor at our 21 Pearl apartment complex in West Campus. The building, marked Lee Properties, is just outside the University of Texas campus in Austin and is home to around 400 people 'Our onsite management team quickly investigated and found the source of the odor. They also found a student unconscious in his apartment. 'The Austin Fire Department and police department were called and they evacuated the building to ensure the safety of all our residents. 'Tragically the student resident died and one of our staff members was taken to the hospital for evaluation. 'Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the family and friends of the deceased. Law enforcement will be conducting a full investigation of this accident. 'The Austin Fire Department will advise us when it is safe for all residents and staff to return to the building. 'The safety and well being of our residents and staff is our first priority, and we will be cooperating with the authorities to resolve this situation as quickly as possible. 'We appreciate the patience of our residents during this process.' As of Wednesday evening the building was being ventilated. Alarming numbers of migrants are poised to flood into Europe from Libya, European Council president Donald Tusk warned yesterday. He said there will be a repeat of the crisis that has seen more than a million land on the Greek islands unless urgent action is taken. But the former Polish president admitted the EU will not be able to send arrivals back to the war-torn North African nation even though most are not genuine refugees. 'Convenient and easy solutions are hard to find in politics, and in this case, they are virtually impossible,' he said. 'What we are faced with is a perpetual, tenuous and multi-dimensional effort. In fact, something like a never-ending story. Alarming numbers of migrants are poised to flood into Europe from Libya, European Council president Donald Tusk has warned 'The solutions we are putting into practice are not ideal and will not end our work.' His comments came after more than 4,000 migrants were rescued in the waters off Italy in just 48 hours. Mr Tusk, who chaired negotiations last month between the EU and Turkey for a 4.7billion deal to stop people crossing the Aegean to Greek islands, said: 'We must remember that the Balkan route is not the only one.' Speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, he said: 'I have in mind here the Central Mediterranean route. 'The numbers of would-be migrants in Libya are alarming. This means that we must be prepared to help.' He added: 'Since the start of this year, 20,000 irregular migrants have come to Europe via the Central Mediterranean route and the numbers are growing. 'But no Syrians are among them. They are nationals of African countries such as Nigeria, Somalia, Gambia, the Republic of Guinea and Ivory Coast. 'We already now have three to five times more African migrants coming through the Central Mediterranean than this time last year.' Italy's coastguard yesterday confirmed fears of a fresh push to reach Europe via Libya. On Tuesday, 2,154 migrants were brought to safety from the Strait of Sicily between Italy and North Africa, after 1,850 had been rescued in the area on Monday. More than 9,600 people arrived in Italy last month, which is more than double the previous month's total and four times the figure for the same period last year. Austria has begun building checkpoints on its border with Italy because of worries over a new influx of people aiming to reach northern Europe through Italy. Tusk's comments came after more than 4,000 migrants were rescued in the waters off Italy in just 48 hours (pictured, a boat of migrants reaches Lampedusa, Italy) Officials in Vienna have complained that the Italian government simply 'waves through' migrants heading north, and have said they expect at least 300,000 people to land in Italy this year double the number who came last year. Libya has long been a stepping stone for migrants seeking a better life in Europe, but the 185-mile sea crossing to Italy is more lethal than other routes. Mortality figures compiled by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) show that since the start of 2014, 6,175 have died on the central Mediterranean route from Libya which amounts to around one for every 54 successful crossings. Some 800 people drowned in a single sinking off the Italian island of Lampedusa last April. Only 28 passengers survived after the overcrowded fishing boat tipped over at night on its way from Libya to Italy. The sinking came days after another shipwreck in the area claimed 400 lives. It is thought both boats capsized after those on board rushed to signal to passing merchant ships. Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the tragedy showed the UK needed to change its stance. She said: 'It is immoral to turn our backs and leave people to drown in order to deter other desperate travellers and of course it hasn't worked.' In October 2014, Britain, along with other EU nations, backed Italy's decision to scale back its migrant patrol operation, replacing it with a much more limited EU 'border protection' plan. Some 1,161 people are known to have died on the Aegean route from Turkey to Greece one for every 893 successful crossings. A joint Lebanese-Australian committee will be established to look into the custody battle and kidnapping charges against the 60 Minutes TV crew and Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner in Beirut. Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has ordered the committee but it's unclear who will be involved, what role it will play in the judicial process and what, if any, influence it will have. Mr Bassil revealed his plan after a meeting with Australia's Ambassador to Lebanon, Glenn Miles, according to local newspaper The Daily Star. Scroll down for videos Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has announced a joint Lebanese-Australian committee will be set up to look into the abduction case involving Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner and the 60 Minutes TV crew The Baadba Prison for women in Beirut where 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown has been held along with Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner. They will spend at least the next five days incarcerated there before investigations recommence on Monday A prison truck believed to be transporting Tara Brown and Sally Faulkner back to the Baabda prison for women in Beirut. A joint Lebanese-Australian committee will be established to examine the case The 60 Minutes crew including Tara Brown (above) have already spent a week in detention. They are expected to know within a week whether formal charges will be laid The Australian TV crew including David Ballment (left) and Stephen Rice (right) have been accused of kidnapping and being members of a criminal gang over the botched child recovery operation last Thursday Nine Network cameraman Ben Williamson (left) and Child Abduction Recovery International representative Adam Whittington (right) are among the nine people taken into custody last Thursday Sally Faulkner pictured with her two children Noah and Lahela. Judge Rami Abdullah said 'there is no way the charges will be dropped' against her, the 60 Minutes crew and the child recovery team Ghassan Moughabghab (right) is the lawyer for Sally Faulkner, one of nine suspects in the alleged kidnapping of two Lebanese-Australian children last Thursday In a ministerial statement the Lebanese MP said he had briefed the Australian envoy on the legal process facing the five Australians; two Britons and two Lebanese nationals in coming days. Ms Faulkner, 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown, TV producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Ben Williamson and sound recordist David Ballment have all been charged over an alleged botched abduction of the Brisbane mother's two children Noah 4, and Lahela, 6 in Beirut last Thursday. The other suspects have been identified in court as Britons Greg Michael and Adam Whittington (a former police officer); and Lebanese duo Mohammad Hamza and Khaled Barbour. Mr Michael has complained of feeling unwell and required treatment at the Beirut hospital in between court proceedings. Mr Bassil said he had asked for the formation of a joint Lebanese-Australian committee to help resolve the case and that it was important this case did not affect Australian-Lebanese relations. He also urged Australians to respect Lebanon's laws and Lebanese to respect Australia's laws. However, Mr Bassil also made it clear to the ambassador that the case would not deviate from the normal legal process in Lebanon. It's unclear whether the Foreign Minister or Mr Milne will be involved in the committee. Australian Ambassador to Lebanon, Glenn Miles (left) has held talks with Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil. He's been told a joint committee will be established to look into the abduction case but the matter will continue to 'follow legal course according to Lebanese laws' Baabda Court House in Beirut where Sally Faulkner and members of 60 Minutes have appeared after the failed 'abduction' of her children from the custody of her ex-husband Mount Lebanon general prosecutor Judge Claude Karam (left) filed the original charges against Sally Faulkner and the 60 Minutes crew before referring them to investigative judge Rami Abdullah who insists the charges will not be dropped 60 Minutes followed Sally Faulkner to film the recovery of her children, Noah and Lahela, from her estranged husband Ali Zeid Elamine (pictured) whom she claims kept her children in Lebanon without her permission Ms Faulkner, 29, and her estranged husband Ali Elamine, 32, have been urged by the presiding judge to reach an agreement over the custody of their children, as criminal proceedings continue in Beirut over the bungled bid to grab the two youngsters. The group faces charges of kidnapping and being members of a criminal gang, which can attract maximum sentences of up to three years and 10 years respectively. The children, Noah, 4, and Lahela, 6, were returned to their father soon after they were snatched by a child recovery team as they were walking with their paternal grandmother, Ibtissam Berri, on a street in the southern Beirut suburb of Hadath. It is understood the 60 Minutes team was in Lebanon to report on the recovery of the children. Mount Lebanon Investigative Judge Rami Abdullah is expected to recommence his questioning of the accused on Monday. Despite the imminent establishment of a joint committee, Judge Abdullah insisted to reporters outside the Baabda Justice Palace there had been 'no political pressure' on him, reported The Daily Star. Ms Faulkner's lawyer, Ghassan Moughabghab, says if the Brisbane mother and Mr Elamine can reach an agreement, it would 'help all the accused people', including the Australian broadcasters. Sally Faulkner has denied that any force was used against her children's paternal grandmother Ibtissam Berri (pictured) who claimed she was pistol whipped and threatened with a gun during the abduction in Beirut 'The husband has to drop the charges,' Mr Moughabghab claims. 'The judge is pushing [for him] to do that.' He said until last week, Ms Faulkner had not seen her children for more than a year. The case before Judge Rami Abdullah, which began on Tuesday, is ongoing in the Baabda Palace of Justice in Beirut. Any chance of an early resolution has been dashed with the judge now likely to wait until Monday to again question the group. Brown appeared first before the judge on Wednesday, handcuffed and escorted by security officials into the courtroom. She was soon followed by Faulkner and later Williamson, Ballment and Rice, who were handcuffed to each other but appeared in good spirits. Nine's director of news and current affairs, Darren Wick, watched as his staff members were led in for questioning. He declined to comment. Nine has refused to comment on speculation it organised, and funded the recovery operation. Lebanese authorities reportedly have evidence that Channel Nine paid for the abduction. Britain should vote to stay in the EU 'warts and all' even though it lacks 'democratic accountability', Jeremy Corbyn is expected to say today Britain should vote to stay in the EU 'warts and all' even though it lacks 'democratic accountability', Jeremy Corbyn is expected to say today. In a lukewarm endorsement, the Labour leader will say his party is 'overwhelmingly' in favour of staying in the EU, but will spell out his concerns about its failings. Mr Corbyn, who voted to leave the EU in the 1975 referendum, also criticised David Cameron over the controversial decision to use 9.3million of taxpayers' money on a pro-EU leaflet sent to every home in Britain. A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said he felt it was unfair to use taxpayers' cash to promote only one side of the campaign, adding: 'Jeremy is of the view that there should have been an even approach to the information to allow everyone to make an informed decision.' Labour voters are seen as critical to the outcome of the referendum on June 23, with In campaigners fearing they cannot win unless they turn out in large numbers. Mr Corbyn has been under intense pressure from his own MPs to take a more active role in persuading the party's supporters to vote to stay in the EU. This morning, he was to make a set-piece speech in London on the issue. But the equivocal tone is likely to dismay ardent supporters of EU membership in Labour's ranks. He will say: 'When the last referendum was held in 1975, Europe was divided by the Cold War, and what later became the EU was a much smaller, purely market-driven arrange-ment. Over the years I have continued to be critical of many decisions taken by the EU and I remain critical of its shortcomings, from its lack of democratic accountability to the institutional pressure to deregulate or privatise public services. 'So Europe needs to change. But that... can only come from working with our allies in the EU. You cannot build a better world unless you engage with the world, build allies and deliver change. 'The EU, warts and all, has proved itself to be a crucial international framework to do that.' US GIANT'S 200,000 FOR REMAIN CAMPAIGN ANOTHER US lender is set to bankroll the pro-Brussels campaign. Wall Street giant Citigroup, with almost 10,000 staff in the UK, has agreed to give a six-figure sum thought to be around 200,000 to Britain Stronger in Europe. It joins Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley in issuing dire warnings about the UK's future outside the EU. Citi's sum would mean US banks have handed a total of 1.5million to the 'In' campaign. It warned last month that 'the effects of Brexit, if it happens, are likely to be large and painful in economic and political terms, both for the UK and the overall EU.' Last week the boss of JP Morgan Jamie Dimon warned that EU members could launch a trade war against Britain if the public votes to sever ties with Brussels. It came as UK surveyors warned the referendum will put the brakes on the housing market. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors said a 'climate of uncertainty' could cause house prices to slow in coming months. It said prospective housebuyers were also unnerved by the recent hike in stamp duty for landlords and second homes. They were also anxious over elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland next month, it claimed. n Up to 100,000 jobs could be lost in the City by 2020 if Britain leaves the EU, business lobby group TheCityUK has warned. Advertisement Mr Corbyn considered taking a neutral stance on the EU after becoming leader in September. But he had to back EU membership after key members of the Shadow Cabinet, including foreign affairs spokesman Hilary Benn, threatened to resign. He will say today that there is a 'strong socialist case' for remaining in the EU to help tackle issues such as climate change and the 'overweening power of global corporations'. But he will rail against the reforms championed by the Prime Minister designed to deregulate the EU and extend the single market. Instead, he will call for Brussels to make it easier for members to nationalise failing industries and 'extend workers' rights', increasing red tape on business in the EU, which is already struggling to compete in the global economy. 'We need to make the case for reform in Europe the reform David Cameron's government has no interest in, but plenty of others across Europe do,' he will say. 'That means democratic reform to make the EU more accountable to its people. Economic reform to put jobs and sustainable growth at the centre of European policy, labour market reform to strengthen and extend workers' rights in a real social Europe, and new rights for governments and elected authorities to support public enterprise and halt the pressure to privatise services.' He will also warn against the temptation 'to blame the EU, or worse to blame foreigners' for Britain's problems when the issue was 'a Conservative government that is failing the people of Britain'. Meanwhile, Mr Cameron faced fresh Tory anger after accusing a prominent Eurosceptic of spreading a scare story that Britain had lost control of its borders. Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg told him the Government's pro-EU leaflet was a 'propaganda sheet' containing 'untrue' information. He said that despite mass immigration from the EU, it claimed Britain had control of its borders. Mr Corbyn, who voted to leave the EU in the 1975 referendum, also criticised David Cameron over the controversial decision to use 9.3million of taxpayers' money on a pro-EU leaflet sent to every home in Britain Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg told him the Government's pro-EU leaflet was a 'propaganda sheet' containing 'untrue' information. He said that despite mass immigration from the EU, it claimed Britain had control of its borders 'Have we withdrawn from the free movement of people, or is that sheet simply untrue?' he asked. Mr Cameron said: 'What he has just put forward is classic of the sort of scare story we get. Sayeeda Warsi (pictured) has hit out at claims that some Muslims are failing to integrate into British life British Muslims have moved faster than the Conservative Party or the Church on social issues such as gay rights, a former Tory chairman said yesterday. Sayeeda Warsi hit out at claims that Muslims are failing to integrate into British life. And she attacked former equalities chief Trevor Phillips, who said this week that many Muslims do not accept the values and behaviours that make Britain what it is. Baroness Warsi, who served as Conservative Party chairman for two years from 2010, accused him of pandering to populist prejudice and said many religious groups had conservative social attitudes. The Muslim community is conservative in its views, but that is no different to most other religious communities, she said. If you compare attitudes to a group of evangelical Christians or Hasidic Jews you would find similarities. There is social conservatism, maybe even social intolerance, but most religious communities on the issue of homosexuality have been on a journey on this. So has my own party, so has the Church of England. There is no reason to say that Muslims are so different they have to be treated in a completely different way. Attitudes around womens rights and gay rights are changing. But our community in Britain is 50 or 60 years old we have moved faster than my party, which has been around much longer, or the Church. In an article in the Daily Mail on Monday, Mr Phillips warned that a nation within a nation was developing in Britains Muslim community and quoted research to back his claim that many Muslims are not interested in integrating. He was also concerned about the creation of Muslim ghettos and raised the possibility of a cap on the proportion of Muslim pupils in schools. But Lady Warsi said most British Muslims lived in much more mixed communities. And she said other groups were not always keen to mix with them. When I grew up in Dewsbury, white parents took their children out of my middle school because they felt there were too many Muslims there, she said. Integration is a two-way street. Lady Warsi has been a fierce critic of some attitudes in her community, but she warned that portraying British Muslims as being uniquely different was a dangerous path to go down. Tributes were paid yesterday to playwright Sir Arnold Wesker, one of the 'angry young men' of the 1950s, who has died aged 83. The prolific writer, whose best-known works include Chips With Everything, based on his two years in the RAF, died on Tuesday after suffering from Parkinson's disease. Born in London's East End in 1932 to Jewish communist parents, he worked as a carpenter, bookseller, plumber, kitchen porter and pastry cook before writing his first play The Kitchen in 1957, inspired by his stint in a Paris restaurant. His second play, Chicken Soup With Barley, drew on his working class background, and with Roots and I'm Talking About Jerusalem became an acclaimed trilogy. Tributes were paid yesterday to playwright Sir Arnold Wesker (pictured), one of the 'angry young men' of the 1950s, who has died aged 83 Described by some critics as 'kitchen sink dramas', his plays focused on working class characters and their struggles. In all, Wesker wrote more than 40 plays as well as stories, essays and poems. In the Commons, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn praised Wesker as a great playwright and 'one of those wonderful angry young men. Like so many angry young people [he] actually changed the face of our country,' he said. The 'angry young men' were a group of mostly working and middle class British writers whose work expressed disillusion with the political order of the time, including John Osborne, Harold Pinter, Kingsley Amis and Alan Sillitoe.Wesker, who later rejected the 'angry' label and had a more varied output than others in the group, was jailed in 1961 for protesting against nuclear weapons. In a five-decade career he won global fame, with plays translated into 20 languages and hundreds of thousands of copies of his works sold. Wesker had wanted to take culture to the layman and set up a theatre at London's Roundhouse in the early 1960s, helping to convert a shed used to rotate and service locomotives into Centre 42. The venue's chief executive Marcus Davey wrote online: 'So sad to hear that Arnold Wesker, founder of the Roundhouse as an arts centre 50 years ago, has died. He championed arts for all people. RIP.' Sir Arnold Wesker's (pictured in 1977) best-known works include Chips With Everything, based on his two years in the RAF Presenter and Labour peer Dame Joan Bakewell tweeted: 'Arnold Wesker made a terrific difference to theatre in the 50s and 60s.' Wesker was knighted in 2006 and released his final work The Rocking Horse the following year. On his 70th birthday, he wrote: 'And though, like most writers, I fear dying before I write that one masterpiece for which I'll be remembered, yet I look at the long row of published work that I keep before me on my desk and I think, not bad, Wesker, not bad.' A detective said he could say 'quite categorically' teenager was murdered Police investigating the murder of 17-year-old Cayleb Hough are searching for a mobile phone and a pair of shoes they believe were flung from a taxi by someone fleeing the scene where his body was dumped. Bones found at the bottom of a disused mineshaft outside Melbourne last month have been identified as belonging to Hough, who disappeared in December. Investigators have released images of a pair of black Adidas high tops and a Samsung mobile phone similar to the type they believe were discarded near where Mr Hough's body was found. 'It is believed they were discarded from a taxi between 10pm and 11.30pm on Monday 21 December 2015 between Harold Road, Springvale Road, Patterson Road and Darren Road in Springvale South,' Victoria Police said in a media release. Scroll down for video Police are searching for shoes similar to these that they believe were discarded from a taxi on 21 December Police believe someone may have picked up the shoes without realising their importance to the investigation Police believe the items could have been picked up by a member of the public that didn't realise their significance to the investigation. 'Missing Persons Squad will be conducting a door knock and handing out pamphlets to residents in the Doveton and Springvale South areas today from 9am,' the police statement said. Human remains found at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft last month were identified as those of Hough, who went missing almost four months ago. Hough, 17, was last seen in the area of The Crescent in Highett, in Melbourne's south-east, in the early hours of December 20, 2015. Police are calling on anyone in that public that may have seen or picked up a Samsun phone in the area The remains were found in a shallow mineshaft near Coimadai, in the shire of Bacchus Marsh, on Seerey Track on March 10 as police launch a murder investigation into Cayleb's death. Police have confirmed they are treating the teenager's death as suspicious. 'I can say quite categorically that Cayleb Hough was murdered,' Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Rhodes told reporters on Tuesday. A post-mortem examination has been conducted but police have declined to comment on the cause of death or if a weapon was used. 'The body took some time to identity because of the way the body was and the DNA process,' Det Sen Sgt Rhodes said. Missing Persons Squad detectives and State Emergency Services were searching the area around the mineshaft A post-mortem examination has been conducted but police have declined to comment on the cause of death or if a weapon was used. 'The body took some time to identity because of the way the body was and the DNA process,' Det Sen Sgt Rhodes said. Police are appealing to the public to come forward if they saw anything strange in and around the state park, where the mine is, between December and March. 'It is an out-of-the-way area,' the detective said. 'If someone up here may have seen anything that was unusual... anything that was out of the norm, that little bit of evidence might support us in our investigation.' Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Rhodes told reporters on Tuesday: 'I can say quite categorically that Cayleb Hough was murdered' A police investigator holds a piece a fabric alongside SES workers during the search for clues Det Sen Sgt Rhodes appealed to the public for any information regarding the case as the search for clues continued Police do not believe the teen was been mixed up with drugs or the wrong crowd. 'We have no idea why that would have occurred,' Det Snr Sgt Rhodes said. 'He was just a young 17-year-old kid who had just left home and was looking for work. There was nothing untoward at all.' The teen was known to police before he disappeared. Missing Persons Squad detectives and State Emergency Services were searching the area around the mineshaft. Hough was reportedly seen travelling in a blue 2003 Ford Falcon XR6 sedan with registration SOG 812 shortly before his disappearance. Cayleb, 17, was last seen in the area of The Crescent in Highett, in Melbourne's south-east, in the early hours of December 20, 2015 SES members form a search line to uncover clues to Cayleb's disappearance on Tuesday Police are appealing to the public to come forward if they saw anything strange in and around the state park, where the mine is located, between December and March Police released photos of the jacket (left) and shorts (right) Cayleb was wearing at the time of his disappearance The shoes Cayleb had on at the time. Police hope to find answers about Cayleb's death Police found the sedan in the car park at a Southbank entertainment complex about 1pm on January 16. The vehicle remains in police possession as the investigation continues. Det Sen Sgt Rhodes said police were 'particularly keen to speak to anyone who may have seen any suspicious activity in the Lerderderg State Park since 20 December last year'. 'Someone out there knows who is responsible for Cayleb's death and we are appealing for them to come forward and contact police,' he said. 'Cayleb's family deserve some answers in relation to this horrific tragedy.' Police have released images of clothing similar to what Hough was wearing at the time of his disappearance. Police found the sedan in the car park at a Southbank entertainment complex about 1pm on January 16 A mock-up of the number plate that was on the vehicle is pictured above Just days after an infamous mural of Kanye West kissing himself was painted over, another artwork is being daubed in its place. Last month Australian artist Scott Marsh painted an image of Kanye locking lips with himself on a building in Chippendale, Sydney, and the image was shared globally on social media. Marsh claims to have been paid $100,000 to remove the mural - which was painted over last weekend - after he was reportedly approached by someone from the rapper's management. And now, another artist has been spotted by a passer-by painting a new mural of radio host Kyle Sandilands kissing himself in the same spot. French artist Matwe paints a mural of Kyle Sandilands over a famously removed artwork of Kanye West Sydney student Shae Potter said 'tt was clear after speaking with the artist it was going to be of Kyle Sandilands' Images taken by Sydney student Shae Potter, 18, show the artist a French national known only as Matwe - scaling a ladder to paint the towering mural, which is based off the previous Kanye artwork. It was clear after speaking with the artist he was painting Kyle Sandilands,' Ms Potter told Daily Mail Australia 'It seems like a good stunt to me because Kyle is essentially Australia's Kanye - without the musical talent. Matwe told her the meaning behind the mural would be properly revealed in an upcoming media interview. An image has since surfaced showing the artist holding a piece of paper for inspiration, which appears to show Sandilands locking lips with himself. Ms Potter reportedly said there was someone linked to the popular radio show at the scene, however they requested to have their association to the show kept secret. Scroll down for video The artist said the meaning behind the mural would be properly revealed in an 'upcoming exclusive media interview' Ms Potter reportedly said there was someone linked to the Kyle Sandilands radio show at the scene, however they requested to have their association to the show kept secret It comes after Scott Marsh sold a print of a mural he painted of Kanye West on the same wall for a cool $100,000 Marsh painted this image of rapper Kanye West kissing another Kanye West on a building in Chippendale, in Sydney, earlier in March The $100,000 sale has prompted speculation West himself was the buyer after the rapper reportedly offered the artist a 'pretty decent chunk of money' to paint over the wall The image was based on this meme, which was in turn created from a photoshopped image of Kanye West and his wife, Kim Kardashian It comes days after Scott Marsh sold a modified print of his Kanye mural to a mystery buyer for a cool $100,000, before painting over the controversial artwork. The sale has sparked speculation West himself was the buyer after the rapper reportedly offered the artist a 'pretty decent chunk of money' to paint over the wall. Someone claiming to be from the rapper's management contacted Marsh to make the offer last week to which Marsh responded by asking for a six-figure payment and a lifetime supply of West's signature Yeezy Boost sneakers. Marsh asked West to buy buffed print of the artwork for $100,000, putting the print up on online art store 1xRUN with the message: 'if [Kanye] buys that print then I'll paint over the mural'. It is unknown who buyer was as Marsh said he was forced to sign a gag order preventing him from speaking to the media, reports Pedestrian TV. The artwork was based off a viral meme of a West kissing his wife, Kim Kardashian, at the Grammy Awards. The image was doctored so West is locking lips with himself in a passionate embrace. Pension pot: Mr Corbyn has accrued a pension pot of 1.6 million, which will pay him 50,000 a year when he leaves Parliament Jeremy Corbyn has banked more than 3 million in taxpayer-funded pay and pensions in 30 years. Official records suggest the Labour leader has been paid 1.5million since he was elected as an MP in 1983. His pension pot is estimated at 1.6 million, giving him an estimated 50,000 a year when he leaves Parliament. The figures show how Mr Corbyn has personally benefited from the generous pay and pension rules for MPs, with the public picking up the tab. Owen Paterson, a Tory former Cabinet minister, said: For Jeremy Corbyn to criticise David Cameron over his tax affairs while he has made millions from the state is just wrong. Nearly every penny he has earned has come from taxes raised either from business or hard-working people. Mark Littlewood, of the Institute for Economic Affairs, said: The majority of people living on low and modest incomes may find his moralising a bit rich as they struggle with the high, complex levels of tax forced upon them by politicians such as himself. Mr Corbyns tax return, which he published this week, showed his almost total dependence on the state for his income of 70,795. It showed his only declared outside earnings were 1,850, made up of lecture fees and 500 for taking part in MP surveys. Boris Johnsons tax return showed that over four years the London mayor paid nearly 1million in tax on earnings of nearly 2million. Mr Corbyn, who attacked the Prime Minister over his financial affairs this week, was fined 100 for filing his tax return late. He also failed to declare thousands of pounds of pension income on his tax return. Labour said he had paid tax on his pension earnings and had informed HMRC separately about them. Mr Cameron teased him in the House of Commons yesterday, saying: I thought that his tax return was a metaphor for Labour policy: it was late, it was chaotic, it was inaccurate and it was uncosted. Taxing: The Prime Minister and Mr Corbyn exchanged blows during Prime Minister's Questions over tax The Labour leader hit back: I am grateful to the Prime Minister for drawing attention to my own tax return, which is there to see, warts and all the warts being my handwriting, and the all being my generous donation to HMRC. I actually paid more tax than some companies owned by people he might know quite well. He has vowed to review inheritance tax rules that allow families to pass on their assets tax-free. A Labour spokesman said of Mr Corbyns earnings: It represents his wages as an MP over the last 30 years, the same as every other MP who has done the same service. He has earned what every other MP earns. Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at Hargreaves Lansdown, told the Daily Telegraph the pension scheme for MPs was one of the most generous available and would cost 1.6million to buy on the open market. Four out of five suspicious passengers arriving at one of Britain's busiest airports are not interviewed by immigration officers, a watchdog has revealed. The breakdown in official procedures runs the risk of potential terror suspects, criminals and illegal immigrants being waved into the UK unhindered. In a report, Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration David Bolt found that of 50 sample cases studied at Manchester Airport, only 10 travellers who raised suspicions were quizzed by border guards. Four out of five suspicious passengers arriving at Manchester Airport are not interviewed (file image) Staff are failing to abide by Home Office guidelines which say that where there is a concern over a person's reason for coming to the UK, they should be taken aside for further questioning. In 12 cases, entry had been granted by an officer 'despite an accumulation of negative evidence'. The report comes at a time when the UK is on high alert to stop extremists sneaking past our porous borders in the wake of the terror attacks in Brussels and Paris. Ministers are also desperately trying to crack down on the number of unlawful immigrants entering the UK. The report found that some staff were being used to supervise immigration functions without adequate training or knowledge. Inspectors examined cases where concerns were raised by staff over the reasons for a passenger wanting to enter the UK at Manchester airport. Inspectors examined cases where concerns were raised by staff at Manchester Airport (pictured in file image) Under guidelines they are supposed to provide more evidence and be interviewed. Of the sample, 50 were refused after most had been interviewed further. But another 50 were granted entry of which only 10 were interviewed. In one instance, a US national with a history of travel history in the Middle East and Africa arrived last October with the equivalent of 37 saying he had no family in the UK except an aunt. Border staff believed he lacked credibility, had insufficient funds and had lied but after an interview was still allowed in to the UK. In another case, a Chinese national who arrived on a visa changed his story as to the circumstances of his visit to the UK but was still granted entry. He went on to overstay his visa. The report also found that sniffer dogs had failed to detect any Class A drugs over eight months but had found 'cheese and sausages wrongly brought back by British holidaymakers'. A Home Office spokesman said: 'Security at the border is our priority and the Chief Inspector recognises that staff at Manchester Airport are conducting all required checks at passport control, while at the same time responding efficiently to increased passenger numbers. A cheating celebrity at the centre of a gagging order row has asked Google to remove dozens of internet links - and it appears to have succeeded Google has caved in to a cheating celebrity at the centre of a gagging order row and started to remove dozens of internet links revealing his threesome with another couple. The internet giant appears to have blocked 31 stories so far and searches for the star at the centre of the scandal bring up a message saying they are missing due to 'a legal request'. The Mail revealed an online legal firm has complained about more than 150 search links that mention the married man and his threesome. Lawyers are understood to have told Google that by hosting links to stories about the celebrity's sexual liaisons they are breaching an Appeal Court injunction hiding his identity in England and Wales. A blogger threatened with jail after he posted details of the story has said that traffic dropped 'overnight' after the links were removed by Google, who refused to comment today. A US publication is among those named in complaints lodged by the internet privacy firm Web Sheriff. It has asked Google to remove search links to articles in newspapers, magazines, blogs and websites including Facebook and Mumsnet. The gag is due to be challenged at the Court of Appeal tomorrow, meaning the ban could be overturned and the love-cheat unmasked. The court is expected to be told that worldwide coverage naming the married man and his celebrity spouse has made an earlier injunction obsolete. It comes after the star was granted the gag to stop publication of his extramarital sexual activities on the grounds of privacy. However, it has been ignored by newspapers and magazines around the world including Scotland and flouted by websites and Twitter users, prompting criticism that it was making an ass out of the law. A woman who revealed she was raped at a 'prestigious' Australian university has penned an open letting slamming authorities letting her down. Identified as Annie Dawson, she wrote that she was 'failed' by the university and the man who raped her did so because 'he knew he could get away with it'. It comes a day after widespread fury over a Facebook page which ranked female students from the University of Melbourne on their physical attractiveness alongside derogatory comments. A student from a 'prestigious' Australian university has penned an open letter about being raped 'Im writing this because you need to know how many women youve failed. 'Women who expected to attend university, go to classes and live at residential colleges on your campus,' Ms Dawson's letter - written in 2014 but republished on Thursday by Mamamia - began. The young woman wrote that she searched for help, but could not find any, and the man who assaulted her went on to do the same to others. Ms Dawson and the man in question hooked up after a night of drinking, and despite her refusal to consent, he went ahead with the act anyway. 'I can't remember if it was my idea or his, but we ended up back in my bedroom. 'And there, in the privacy of my tiny cupboard-sized college room, he changed from the cute guy I thought I knew, into an aggressive man who pretended not to hear me when I told him to stop.' She described the encounter as 'violent', said she was 'barely sober enough to stand'. 'He overpowered me physically, intimidated me verbally, and left once I was passed out naked on my bed,' Ms Dawson wrote. She said many of her friends had also been physically and sexually assaulted but had similar experiences when trying to report the crimes. The rate of sexual assaults at universities are difficult to document because of the small number of victims who report them. It comes in the same week a young woman launched a petition to have a 'degrading' page that rates female university students on their attractiveness removed from Facebook The page is filled with sexist and derogatory remarks from male users According to the 2015 National Union of Students Women's Department report just 5.5 per cent of cases of sexual assault on campus were reported to the university, and 4.8 per cent to the police. The report also revealed 27 per cent of students surveyed said they had experienced some form of sexual assault while enrolled at their current institution. Australias National Research Organisation for Womens Safety Limited (ANROWS) statistics say one in four Australian women will experience violence by a current or former partner. A more widely reported statistic is one in six women, however this only takes into account relationships that involved cohabiting, which often young couples are not. Women aged 18-24 are the most likely age group to experience sexual assault. It comes in the same week a Facebook page set up by students at The University of Melbourne has come under fire. Called 'Hotties of Melbourne University', the page posts images of female students without their permission and allows users to rate them on physically attractiveness. The page is filled with vile derogatory and sexist remarks about the women. Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale (pictured) revealed that he had a six-month relationship with a woman called Olivia King, who was a dominatrix Newspapers have often been criticised for publishing prurient stories involving the sexual shenanigans of public figures. But until this moment, I dont believe they have ever been taken to task by a supposedly enlightened body for not running such a story. That is precisely what has happened in the case of the Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale, with the revelation that he had a six-month relationship with a woman called Olivia King, who was a dominatrix. He says he ended the relationship when he discovered her line of business. In normal circumstances, if a newspaper had run a piece about this relationship, it would have attracted the opprobrium of Hacked Off, an anti-Press organisation set up for the specific purpose of protecting the private lives of public figures from prying journalists. Hacked Off would have loudly complained that since Mr Whittingdale is single (he was once married, but divorced in 2008) and since he has never assumed a high moral tone about sexual propriety, newspapers had no right to publicise his sexual adventures. And yet, aided and abetted by the BBC, Hacked Off is taking exactly the opposite line. It is berating the Press and four newspapers in particular for not carrying a story whose publication, it claims, would have been in the public interest. Furthermore, without offering a scintilla of evidence the campaign group is also alleging that the newspapers involved sat on the story because they effectively wanted to blackmail Mr Whittingdale into not introducing Press reforms. What in Gods name is going on? How can an organisation committed to privacy advocate breaching Mr Whittingdales privacy rights? And what lies behind the behaviour of the BBC, which broke the story on its current affairs programme, Newsnight, on Tuesday evening and yesterday breathlessly led countless news bulletins with it? Let me deal first with the BBC, which is normally respectful of the private lives of public figures. The prominent coverage which the BBC has given to Mr Whittingdales liaison with Olivia King has probably damaged him, as it was surely intended to. In part, the BBC was doubtless following its news sense, but that alone could not justify its near hysteria. Mr Whittingdale is its enemy. Only 18 months ago before being elevated to his present job he described the licence fee as worse than the poll tax. Now he is in charge of the so-called Charter Review, which will determine the Beebs future for the next decade. Actually, since becoming Culture Secretary in May 2015, Mr Whittingdale has proved himself somewhat more friendly towards the Corporation than might have been expected. But it will nonetheless suit the BBC if he is weakened by this scandal or, better still, replaced by someone more favourably disposed towards it. How can an organisation committed to privacy advocate breaching Mr Whittingdales privacy rights? As for Hacked Off, its motives are more devious and even more reprehensible. The organisation finds itself in the absurd position of arguing against its own most cherished values because it wants to advance its own cause and damage the Press. Examine its central charge, which has also been taken up by Labour, whose deputy leader, Tom Watson, is a founder member of Hacked Off. The charge is that newspapers frightened Mr Whittingdale into doing their bidding on Press reform. Do what we want, or we will publish an embarrassing story about your private life. It certainly appears to be the case that the Sunday People, the Sun, the Mail on Sunday and The Independent knew about his relationship with the dominatrix. I cant say for sure why they did not publish, but it seems to me likely that they were influenced by the new atmosphere of self-restraint in Fleet Street following the Leveson Report. Moreover, when Mr Whittingdale had his unusual relationship between August 2013 and February 2014 he was a relatively obscure MP, though he was admittedly chairman of the Culture, Media & Sport select committee. It is possible that if the story had come to light when he was a Cabinet minister, one or more newspapers would have published it. It doesnt occur to Hacked Off that the reason Mr Whittingdale has not introduced measures that would amount to statutory control of the Press is that he may not believe in them. He does not share the organisations dream of tightly regulated newspapers The explanation given by a former Independent reporter called James Cusick for his papers decision not to publish his piece about Mr Whittingdales sex life seems to me laughably naive. He suggests that because The Independent was a tenant in the building owned by the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail, it feared it might be jettisoned if it ran the story. That is not credible. Isnt it far more likely that The Independent did not wish to put a story in the public domain that compromised Mr Whittingdales right to privacy, the more so as he was unmarried and apparently had no knowledge of his girlfriends background in the sex business? Hacked Off, by contrast, couldnt care less about Mr Whittingdales right to privacy, and stands accused of grotesque hypocrisy. And while exhibiting its own twisted morality, it has the gall to portray the Press virtually in the guise of the Mafia. It doesnt occur to Hacked Off that the reason Mr Whittingdale has not introduced measures that would amount to statutory control of the Press is that he may not believe in them. He does not share the organisations dream of tightly regulated newspapers. Hacked Off, note, is trying to get official recognition for its own Press regulator, called Impress, which has attracted a handful of obscure publications in contrast to approximately 2,600 titles which have signed up to Ipso, the independent body with extensive new powers created by the Press. The integrity of Impress can be reasonably assessed by the source of its funding. Max Mosley, the participating host of outlandish sex orgies, has agreed to meet most of its projected budget of nearly 1 million a year. Mosley conceived his mission to reform the tabloid Press after being accused by the now defunct News of the World of orchestrating a Nazi orgy. Though blood was shed and pain inflicted, a modern Luftwaffe uniform worn and German spoken, the learned judge ruled that it was not a Nazi orgy. Hacked Off, by contrast, couldnt care less about Mr Whittingdales (pictured) right to privacy, and stands accused of grotesque hypocrisy. And while exhibiting its own twisted morality, it has the gall to portray the Press virtually in the guise of the Mafia For its part, Hacked Off apparently wants to damage John Whittingdale and demonise the Press. One of its several slightly gruesome spokesmen has identified a supposed inconsistency between newspapers not publicising the sex life of the Culture Secretary and complaining about an Appeal Court injunction which has prevented them from reporting the extra-marital activities of one partner in a famous showbiz couple. Again, the reasoning is shoddy. The pair concerned who have children present themselves as happily married. The promiscuous sex life of one of them is at odds with this carefully cultivated public image. There is no parallel with Mr Whittingdales case. Incidentally, the barrister arguing in court for the showbiz couples right to privacy was Hugh Tomlinson, QC, who is also chairman of Hacked Off. On the one hand, he is a champion of privacy rights; on the other, his organisation cheerfully trashes the privacy of the Culture Secretary. Has Mr Whittingdale been harmed? A little, of course. But by no means as much as the BBC, Hacked Off and, indeed, the Labour Party hoped would be the case. Of course, it makes no sense for Maria Eagle, the Shadow Culture Secretary, to argue that the revelations have left Mr Whittingdale vulnerable to pressure from the Press since everything is now out in the open. Unless there is much more to come out, this confected storm should quickly blow over. Donald Trump's controversial campaign manager Corey Lewandowski will not be prosecuted on a charge of battery after he grabbed a female journalist's arm according to court documents. Reports emerged Wednesday that Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg would make this announcement during a press conference Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, the journalist at the center of the incident, Brietbart reporter Michelle Fields, has announced plans to sue both Trump and Lewandowski for defamation, according to Politico. Scroll down for video Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, will not be prosecuted for grabbing former Brietbart reporter Michelle Fields (pair above in August) Police in Jupiter, Florida, had passed a charge of simple battery along to prosecutors last month alleging that Lewandowski grabbed Field's arm at a rally in the state on March 8 While the exact terms of the proposed lawsuit were not revealed, Fields has accused Trump and Lewandowski of lying about the incident in the past. After Fields filed her initial police report, Lewandowski tweeted to say he had never touched her and hadn't even met her before. During several subsequent interviews Trump also denied that Lewandowski had touched her, before going on to claim that she had grabbed him first. CCTV of the incident, provided to the police by the Trump campaign, shows Fields approaching Trump without touching him before Lewandowski reaches through the crowd to pull her away. Lewandowski was charged last month with intentionally grabbing and bruising the arm of Fields when she tried to question Trump at an event on March 8. On March 29 police charged Lewandowski with simple battery and passed evidence over to the state prosecutor, including the CCTV video. While Politico gave no reason for the state attorney's decision, they noted that the prosecutor's office have a higher threshold than the police when deciding whether to press charges. Lewandowski, 42, who was also caught on video apparently grabbing the collar of an anti-Trump protester at another rally, had been due to appear in court on May 4. Reached Wednesday evening by DailyMail.com, Lewandowski declined comment. Messaging her 102,000 Twitter followers on Wednesday night, Fields said: 'Prosecutor's office told me they would inform me of decision tomorrow. If reports true, guess they decided to leak to reporters first. Ugly. 'For those asking, office of prosecutor asked 2 weeks ago if I'd be ok with an apology from Corey. I said ya but haven't heard back about it.' When Lewandowski was charged, Trump gave unequivocal backing to his top staffer, saying he had no intention of dropping him from the campaign. However days later the billionaire businessman announced the appointment of Paul Manafort as convention adviser, leading many to speculate that Lewandowski was taking a diminished role. Speaking out on Wednesday night, Fields accused deputies of leaking the information to the press before informing her, though admitted she would be happy to accept an apology from Lewandowski When asked he if is now running the campaign, Manafort replied that 'there is only one person running this campaign, and that's Donald Trump.' Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton both weighed in on Trump over the charges, blaming the Republican frontrunner for fomenting a toxic atmosphere around his campaign. Trump, who has been engaged in a running feud with much of the media, told reporters from his plane: 'I tell him, never settle the case, go all the way.' According to a police report, Fields showed officers 'bruising from what appeared to be several finger marks indicating a grabbing type injury.' Police said their investigation found 'probable cause' to charge Lewandowski with misdemeanor simple battery over the alleged incident, which took place as the news conference was wrapping up and she followed Trump to ask him a question. At that point, she says, Lewandowski grabbed her forearm in a scene witnessed by a Washington Post journalist. 'I think if you look at it he was trying to block her, that's the way I view it,' Trump added to journalists. 'She's grabbing me and asking questions. She's not even supposed to ask questions.' A Sydney-based Islamic extremist has called on a Turkish audience to lead 'the armies of jihad that will conquer Europe and America' where their enemies have 'black hearts'. Palestinian-born Ismail al-Wahwah spoke at a 'caliphate conference' in Ankara, Turkey, in early March, a video recently translated and shared by MEMRI shows. Al-Wahwah is the leader of Australia's hardline Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir. He called on the attendants to pledge 'before Allah to restore the Caliphate, to raise the banner, to restore the Sharia, to unite the Islamic nation and to lead the armies of jihad that will conquer Europe and America so that the word of Allah will reign supreme'. Scroll down for video A Sydney-based Islamic extremist has called on a Turkish audience to lead 'the armies of jihad that will conquer Europe and America' Palestinian-born Ismail al-Wahwah (pictured) spoke at a 'caliphate conference' in Ankara, Turkey, in early March. The Sydney-based hardline Islamic leader called on the attendants to lead 'the armies of jihad that will conquer Europe and America' In his speech, al-Wahwah also warned attendants not to trust their 'enemies' in America, Europe and NATO. 'They are all enemies. Their hearts are black. They hate you, your religion, your Muhammad, and your Quran,' he said. 'Start dealing with them, before they start dealing with you. Cut of their hands before they sow corruption on the land. You in Turkey are able to do that, Allah willing.' Around 5,000 attended the speech, Hurriyet Daily News reported. The footage from March 6 was originally shared by Hizb ut-Tahrir, as well as Koklu Degisim magazine, which organised the conference, according to MEMRI. MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute) translates Arabic content for English-speaking audiences. Hizb ut-Tahrir has been lambasted in the past, following revelations the radicalised 15-year-old who shot dead police accountant Curtis Cheng had recently attended a lecture by the group. In his speech, al-Wahwah also warned attendants not to trust their 'enemies' in America, Europe and NATO The extremist group is said to reject democracy, secularism and all Western models of state 'They are all enemies. Their hearts are black. They hate you, your religion, your Muhammad, and your Quran,' he said Al-Wahwah called on attendants to pledge 'before Allah to restore the Caliphate, to raise the banner, to restore the Sharia, to unite the Islamic nation and to lead the armies of jihad that will conquer Europe and America so that the word of Allah will reign supreme' Farhad Jabar Khalil Mohammad reportedly listened to a talk by Hizb ut-Tahrir at Parramatta mosque in Sydney's west and changed into a black robe before he headed to the nearby NSW Police headquarters and shot Mr Cheng in the back of the head last September. The extremist group is said to reject democracy, secularism and all Western models of state. Al-Wahwah has previously called Jews 'the most evil creatures of Allah'. In February this year, mosques began banning the preacher who then resorted to renting halls and private spaces, Sydney Morning Herald reported. ASIO reportedly visited the mosque several times and caretaker Mohammed Elzamtar asked Al-Wahwah to 'tone down' his sermons. 'I felt that our community is under a lot of pressure and I didn't want him to get into trouble,' he said. Lindt cafe shooter Man Haron Monis reportedly attended a Hizb ut-Tahrir presentation at their Lakemba headquarters on June 27, 2014, The Daily Telegraph reported. Hizb ut-Tahrir has been lambasted in the past, following revelations the radicalised 15-year-old who shot dead police accountant Curtis Cheng had recently attended a lecture by the group The schoolgirl surfer who Tony Abbott infamously dropped in during a board ride on last this month says it was a 'bit weird' to be called 'extremely attractive' by the ex-prime minister. Audio surfaced this week of Mr Abbott describing the surfer he shared a wave with in Noosa last month as an 'extremely attractive and very, very talented surfer.' That surfer was Ivy Thomas, a 17-year-old Year 12 student and avid surfer. 'It was a bit weird, but I'm not too stressed,' Ms Thomas told Daily Mail Australia before school on Thursday. 'I didn't mind the "talented" part, but yeah, I dunno, I suppose if that's his opinion I can't really change it.' 'I was glad it was a positive remark, it could have been so much worse'. Scroll down for video In an interview with rural radio station Roccy FM, Tony Abbott blamed his poor peripheral vision as the reason why he dropped in on 17-year-old Ivy Thomas (right) in this now iconic picture The Gold Coast teenager (centre) was in Noosa with her family for the holidays and said she had heard from some locals that Mr Abbott was also in town but didn't think she would run into him Ivy, who has been surfing for two to three years, said at the time that Mr Abbott was 'not a bad surfer' but that she was 'secretly glad he wasn't wearing the budgie smugglers' The former Liberal leader was famously pictured receiving a withering stare from Ms Thomas after dropping in on her wave at Tea Tree Bay. Ms Thomas forgave Mr Abbott for the faux pas, laughing off the incident and joking to Daily Mail Australia: 'At least he wasn't wearing his budgy smugglers'. She recalled she was in Noosa on a family holiday when she had heard from locals that Mr Abbott was also in town, but she never thought she would run into him out for a paddle. 'It was awesome he was calling everyone in for waves and surfing with his daughter,' she told Daily Mail Australia at the time. 'It was good because it just makes you realise that he's a normal person - he was just out there having fun.' She said on Thursday she had been approached by some random people saying she should have 'done our country a favour and elbow him off (his board)'. 'I'd have to think about it for a sec - what are they talking about?' she said. She said the attention around the saga had died off after the first week or so until she returned to class. 'Then I came back to school and it started again all the teachers were pestering me about it'. 'A lot of my friends at school are calling me "Tony" which is great,' she joked. 'It's a bit annoying I guess I have to deal with it,' adding she 'kind of asked for it' by uploading the picture to Instagram. Ivy (pictured) said she was surprised when she looked up and noticed a man who had dropped in on her wave was actually the 58-year-old former Liberal party leader Mr Abbott (pictured) blamed his poor peripheral vision for the surfing mishap last month Prime Minister Tony Abbott made the remarks in an interview with Wes Heather, the Roccy FM host. They are pictured together wearing collared singlets known as 'colsi' Speaking to Roccy FM in an interview, the Warringah MP blamed poor eye-sight for his surfing faux pas. 'The truth is I have no peripheral vision, particularly when I'm surfing,' said Mr Abbott. 'If it's a right hand break, I just can't see out of my left eye. It's just impossible. I don't know whether it's the salt water or if it's some genetic defect but I just can't see... 'I was just catching the wave minding my own business and eventually there was this extremely attractive and very, very talented surfer on my left. 'That was caught for posterity by someone who happened to be taking a few snaps.' A Florida firefighter saved a guinea pig from a house fire last week. Polk County Fire Rescue shared snaps of the rescued critter on Facebook Friday. In wrote online that the fire happened at a Mulberry home. Scroll down for video Rodney the guinea pig was saved from a house fire in Mulberry, Florida, last week Polk County Fire Rescue firefighter John Williams (pictured) saved the furry critter Rodney belongs to Kristi Waller, who was with her daughter at the doctor Polk County Fire Rescue wrote: 'The fire apparently started in the kitchen. 'Polk County Fire Rescue firefighter John Williams rescued a guinea pig from the smoke filled home.' Rodney belongs to Kristi Waller, who was with her daughter at the doctor,TODAY.com reported. She told the website: 'My boyfriend was at home cooking french fries, and dropped the pan. 'His face was burned in the process and it caught the kitchen on fire.' Firefighters used a dog oxygen mask on the rodent, WMAR reported. Waller told the TV station of her pet: 'He is doing good! 'I'm so incredibly thankful for Polk County Fire Rescue for saving Rodney. 'They were very to him and myself. 'I have the utmost respect for firefighters in the first place, but to see them care so much for something so small because of what he meant to our family was truly moving.' Firefighters used a dog oxygen mask on the rodent so he could be cared for Kristi Waller has said: 'My boyfriend was at home cooking french fries, and dropped the pan. His face was burned in the process and it caught the kitchen on fire' A GoFundMe page has been set up help Waller and her children in the wake of the blaze. It said: 'I am Kristi and these are my girls Jyllian and Pepper. 'On Friday 4/8/2016 we had a fire at our home. 'We did not have insurance for our personal items and everything was lost in the fire. 'We will use this money to replace our clothes, furniture and other personal items that were lost.' An update on the page said: 'The girls are doing well considering what they been through. See more of the latest Melbourne news at www.dailymail.co.uk/melbourne The Victorian government have been slammed for not intervening Area has highest family violence incidents of any local council in Victoria It was approved to be built in notorious Police have protested against plans to build a liquor barn in Melbourne's most notorious family violence hot spots. Victoria's chief of police Graham Ashton and the City of Casey government made a submission to object to a 1400-square metre Dan Murphy's store in Cranbourne East, reports The Age. But on the same day the state government announced a $500 million initiative to tackle domestic violence, it approved the budget liquor store, sparking outcry from the government's opposition. Police have protested against plans to build a liquor barn in Melbourne's Cranbourne East, a notorious violence hot spot The City of Casey, where the store will be built, has the highest number of family violence incidents of any local council in Victoria, with 3829 incidents reported in the 12 months to September 2015. Casey also has the greatest number of bottle shops 70 in total which police believe is strongly tied to the rates of violence. 'In a locality which experiences high levels of alcohol-related behaviour (including family violence), the Chief Commissioner submits that it can be inferred that the negative effect of additional availability of alcohol will be more significant, and will detrimentally affect the amenity of the relevant area.' The approval of the store has been lashed by the Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy, who said he was able to intervene when he was planning minister in the previous Coalition government. The City of Casey, where the store will be built, has the highest number of bottle shops of any local council in Victoria It comes as the state government announced a $500 million initiative to tackle family violence 'I did this with alcohol venues in Chapel St, why the hell didn't this government do that when asked by the police, why didn't they do that in Casey?' Mr Guy said. A spokeswoman for Dan Murphy's said they were 'continuing our working relationship with local council, local police and the community in relation to our Cranbourne East development'. It comes as the Victorian government invested more than half a billion dollars to tackling family violence in Victoria's upcoming state budget. A former school friend of James Russouw has been charged with the 24-year-old's murder and will be extradited from Cairns on Thursday afternoon. Mr Russouw, 24, who was the ex-vice-captain of a top private school, was stabbed to death, doused in petrol and set alight in the East Burwood Reserve, east of Melbourne, in 2008. South African-born Christopher Lavery, 30, who is believed to have been three years below Mr Russouw at Whitefriars College in Melbourne was charged with murder on Wednesday. The pair are believed to have bonded over their cultural heritage at school as Mr Russouw's parents were also from South Africa, Cairns Post reported. Scroll down for video Christopher Lavery, 30, (pictured) has been charged with the 2008 murder of James Russouw Mr Russouw, 24, who was the ex-vice-captain of Whitefriars College, was found stabbed to death in the front of his torched Jeep Cherokee in the East Burwood Reserve, east of Melbourne, in 2008 Lavery, who moved to Holloways Beach in Cairns about a year ago, was arrested by cold case detectives who flew to Queensland and applied to have him extradited to Victoria. The 30-year-old appeared in Cairns Magistrates Court dock this morning and did not fight the extradition order. He is expected to board a flight back to Melbourne on Thursday afternoon and appear in court again on Friday over the murder of Mr Russouw, who was a low-level drug dealer before his death. When asked by Magistrate Trevor Black whether he wanted legal advice during his hearing, he replied saying 'absolutely'. The breakthrough in the case comes after a reward of $1 million was posted last month for information that led to any arrests in relation to the killing. Speaking at the time, Mr Russouw's parents Cecil and Lorna Russouw said that the former school vice-captain had a 'bright future' ahead of him. The 30-year-old appeared in Cairns Magistrates Court dock this morning and did not fight the extradition order Lavery is pictured being escorted through Cairns Airport by Victoria Police homicide squad detectives 'That future was taken away from him,' they said. Phone records showed contact between Lavery and Mr Russouw in the period before the murder, Fairfax Media was told. Lavery was spoken to by police in the original investigation, but provided investigators with an alibi. Mr Russouw's body was found in the front of his torched Jeep Cherokee in March 2008. Police said the drug dealer received a call from an unknown person who he picked up and took to the park before he was stabbed, doused in petrol and set alight. The call was made from a public phone outside Kmart in East Burwood at about 10.54.pm - only 25 minutes before his body was discovered. Police released security vision of the possible suspect as he called Mr Russouw from Kmart before his death. They are unable to go into further detail at this stage whether this is the man arrested The parents of Mr Russouw - Lorna and Cecil - pleaded for have any information on their son's death Detectives believe Mr Russouw - who sold marijuana - was lured to the reserve under the guise he would be conducting a drug deal with the unknown suspect before he was fatally attacked. Homicide detective inspector Michael Hughes said the audio engineering student had recently severed ties with his marijuana supplier which had left him 'vulnerable'. Mr Russouw was at a service station when he received the mystery call, but is believed to have arrived at the reserve with a passenger, the ABC reported. Police released security vision of the possible suspect as he called Mr Russouw from Kmart before his death, as well as a car that was seen leaving the park around the time of the murder. The car is described as a British racing green Ford Falcon sedan. Police could not confirm whether the 30-year-old suspect arrested in Cairns was the same individual seen in the security footage. Mr Russouw was at a service station when he received the mystery call, but is believed to have arrived at the reserve with a passenger The 24-year-old was stabbed before he was doused in petrol and set alight inside his Jeep Cherokee 25 years since the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Indigenous young people account for 6 per cent of Australia's total youth population, but make up more than half of the youths across Australia who are locked up. Prisoners aged 24 years or under made up 24 per cent of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners. Compared to 14 per cent of all non-Indigenous prisoners according to the most recent statistics. These startling figures come as Australia prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of the groundbreaking findings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991. The Royal Commission was set up in 1987 to study the underlying social, cultural and legal issues behind the deaths of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders while in custody. However, since the report, Indigenous deaths in have continued, with the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics figures shows they accounted for 18.7 per cent of all deaths in custody in Australia between 1989 to 2013. The most recent statistics prisoners aged 24 years or under made up 24 per cent of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners. Compared to 14 per cent of all non-Indigenous prisoners There were 9,885 prisoners in Australian prisons who identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in 2015 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody On the 10 August 1987 the government announced a Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody in response to a growing public concern that such deaths were too common and poorly explained. The Royal Commission examined the deaths of 99 people who had died in custody between 1 January 1980 and 31 May 1989. Looking into both the causes of the deaths and the prevention of future death. The Commissions findings were: Aboriginal people didn't die at a higher rate than non-Aboriginal people in custody. The rate at which Aboriginal people are taken into custody is overwhelmingly different compared with non-Aboriginal. They concluded that too many Aboriginal people were in custody too often and made 339 recommendations for changes. Advertisement Julian Cleary, an Indigenous Rights Campaigner with Amnesty International, told Daily Mail Australia a lack of national leadership had utterly failed a whole generation. 'The Royal Commission was set up to clearly signpost the faults in the system and fix them,' he said. 'The lack of national leadership means states and territories are repeating past mistakes. They have failed a generation already since the commission and they are at risk of failing the next one'. Mr Cleary spoke of a case in the Northern Territory in 2015 where an indigenous man named Kumanjayi Langdon died three hours after being taken into police custody under the NT Government's new paperless arrest system for 'drinking in a regulated place'. A nurse entered inaccurate health records and said Mr Langdon had 'denied health problems' before being placed in custody, despite the fact he had requested a doctor. 'These are the failures that the Commission was created to address,' said Mr Cleary. '25 years later, people are still facing the same failures.' Indigenous children account for 6 per cent of Australia's total youth population, but make up more than half of the children across Australia who are locked up Investigators have so far not found anything significant on an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino terrorists, a law enforcement source said. However the information on the seized iPhone 5c, which the FBI reportedly paid a hacker to crack, is still being analyzed, CBS reported. For months, investigators attempted to gain access to data on the locked iPhone used by Syed Farook, insisting it could contain vital evidence on the attack that left 14 people dead and 22 injured on December 2. Scroll down for video So far, nothing significant has been found on an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino terrorists, Syed Farook (pictured right with his wife, Tasheen Malik) a law enforcement source said The Justice Department in February asked a judge to force Apple Inc. to help the FBI hack into the phone used by the gunman in the mass killing. But that court fight over access to the phone effectively ended last month when the FBI said it managed to get access without Apples help. The professional hackers believed to have cracked the phone allegedly approached the government agency to report a software flaw in the PIN code system. They then built a tool which could generate the four-digit passcode Farook used to get into the device, bypassing the security feature that locks the phone after 10 failed attempts, the Washington Post reported. Sources told the newspaper they were paid a one-time fee for the work. The FBI paid professional hackers to crack the San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone, it has been reported The hackers have not been identified. However, the Post said sources confirmed they were not Israeli, despite reports to the contrary in Israeli newspapers. According to the Post they were 'gray hat hackers' - people who look for software flaws and sell the information to government agencies for surveillance purposes. Black hat hackers identify software flaws to exploit for their own use; white hat hackers report software flaws to companies so they can fix them. The Justice Department said in March it had unlocked the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone with the help of an unidentified third party and dropped its case against Apple Inc. It ended a high-stakes legal clash but leaving the broader fight over encryption unresolved. WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE HACKERS WHO CRACKED THE CELL The hackers were paid a one-time fee. They have not been identified. However, the Post said sources confirmed they were not Israeli, despite reports to the contrary in Israeli newspapers. According to the Post they were 'gray hat hackers' - people who look for software flaws and sell the information to government agencies for surveillance purposes. Black hat hackers identify software flaws to exploit for their own use; white hat hackers report software flaws to companies so they can fix them. Advertisement The researchers specialize in hunting for vulnerabilities in software and then in some cases selling them to the U.S. government, according to the Post. The challenge for the FBI was getting around the code. After 10 incorrect tries, all of the data on the device is erased as a security precaution. Now, officials in the bureau will have to decide whether to disclose the software flaw to Apple. Last week, FBI Director James Cuomo said they had 'purchased a tool' to crack into the phone. He would not reveal anything more specific, but said the software they used only worked on the iPhone 5c, which has been discontinued by Apple. Comey added that the technique would not work on the iPhone 5s and the later models iPhone 6 and 6s. As the technique cannot be used to break into newer models, law enforcement authorities will likely have to lean on Apple to help them access the devices involved in other cases. On Tuesday, Comey said he was glad the court fight was over as it was 'was creating an emotion around the issue that was not productive.' He told law school students that he is confident that lawsuits aren't the best solution for resolving the clash between privacy and national security. Comey said one benefit of the dispute has been greater public dialogue about the balance between privacy and security. The Justice Department has asked a New York court to force Apple to unlock an iPhone 5s related to a drug investigation. A 13-year-old girl has been injured in a shooting outside an east London police station. The teenager suffered a minor injury after a gun was fired at the parked car where she was sitting with a 23-year-old man yesterday evening. The man reported the shooting to officers at nearby Bethnal Green station, which was placed on lockdown as the girl received treatment for her wound. She was later taken to hospital. Lockdown: Roads were closed as police officers carried out a search of the area following the shooting Witness Sarah Woolley, 28, who works near the scene told the Evening Standard: 'I was opposite the police station when a man in a red T-shirt was assisting police officers by pointing at a car and pointing down the road. I heard something said about a shooting. 'The car was a grey Mitsubishi parked opposite the station. It was facing in the wrong direction. 'Its sides were dented in and there was a big pool of dark liquid under the car. It wasn't clear who it belonged to. 'At least a dozen police and other station staff rushed out of the building. Everyone was peering into the back window of the car and pointing at something.' Roads were closed as firearm and local officers carried out a search of the area. Police said the victim, who has not been named, and the man were 'known to each other' but would not comment on the relationship. The teenager remained in an east London hospital on Thursday morning, where her condition was said to not be serious. Response: Officers rushed out of the station after the shooting was reported. Pictured, the scene yesterday Investigation: The police station, pictured last night, was temporarily closed following the incident yesterday A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman appealed for witnesses and said enquiries are continuing to establish if her injuries were the direct result of the gun being fired at the car. She said: 'A 23-year-old man attended Bethnal police station at around 17.50pm on Wednesday, 13 April to report that a firearm had been discharged in the direction of his car. 'The man was accompanied by a 13-year-old girl, who was in the car and had received a minor injury as a result of the incident.' No arrests have been made in connection with the incident as detectives from the Met's Trident and Area Crime Command issued the appeal for witnesses to come forward. Frankel tweeted after the event; 'I don't care if ur woman, man, black, white, hispanic, green or purple. In biz & life be better than everyone else' later released a statement apologizing for to guests who were offended by Frankel Bethenny Frankel appeared as the keynote speaker at a women's entrepreneurial summit in New York and suggested that women have sex with men to secure investments for their firms. But the Skinny Girl Vodka founder didn't stop there. In a speech at Rent The Runway's and UBS's Project Entrepreneur, she then went onto advise the hundreds of women gathered, to hire men as the face of their companies. Frankel's remarks came during a New York Q&A session at the weekend, when she was asked about the challenges of raising funding for women of color. She seemed to stand by her remarks as well, writing on Twitter later in the day; 'I don't care if ur woman,man, black,white,hispanic,green or purple.In biz & life be better than everyone else.Don't complain.Don't explain.' Off-message: Bethenny Frankel, seated right, implied that women should have sex with men in exchange for capital Old fashioned: Frankel then advised the women present to hire a white man as the face of their companies Disgust: Frankel's remarks caused a firestorm on Twitter. The Project Entrepreneur even was supposed to arm women entrepreneurs with advice and inspiration in how to be successful in the marketplace No apologies: Frankel tweeted after the event; 'I don't care if ur woman, man, black, white, hispanic, green or purple. In biz & life be better than everyone else' The remarks irritated one entrepreneur called Mary Pryor who proceeded to post about her experience at the event on Twitter. Writing in the Huffington Post Pryor says she was shocked by what Frankel was advocating. 'I was stunned when Frankel implied that women should have sex with men in exchange for capital. I was offended when she expressed some kind of kinship with black women because she's 'loud,' Pryor wrote. 'And I was taken aback when she advised those of us in the room to get business advice to hire a white man as the face of our companies.' There's no recording of the event, but a number of people have commented on the ensuing storm on Twitter. Stepping out: Skinnygirl founder Bethenny Frankel gave the keynote speech at Rent The Runway Foundation's Project Entrepreneur, set up to help women create businesses, at New York's Conrad Hotel on Saturday In a series of tweets on Monday, Pryor wrote to the organizers about why she was so disturbed by the direction of the keynote Q&A. 'I applaud the diverse room of women thanks to @UBS... However @Bethenny was offensive and wrong NOT proper for a room full of female founders... 'I along with another ally of color stood up to address how offensive @Bethenny was to not just us but the entire room. For @Bethenny to insist that a young, Black female founder 'Find a white guy' to rep her biz is a racial microaggression. 'I am tired of WW telling me that I am not enough to run & rep something I have built @Bethenny's remarks are damaging esp. in room full of women (mostly white) especially to a Black female founder.' Project Entrepreneur was set up by Jennifer Fleiss and Jennifer Hyman, who co-founded couture fashion rental company, Rent The Runway in 2008. The group is supposed to offer support to other women by partnering with UBS to run Project Entrepreneur, a venture competition that helps female entrepreneurs build high-growth, high-impact businesses, but many women came away from the event with more questions than answers. A spokesperson for Project Entrepreneur said in a statement after the event; 'We understand that guests were offended during our Day 1 luncheon, following remarks made by our speaker. This was not our intention and is contrary to our goals. 'We apologize to our guests. We launched Project Entrepreneur to champion all women. We thank those of you who candidly spoke out and welcome this important dialogue. We look forward to continuing to empower women entrepreneurs as they build their businesses.' Fancy meeting you here!: Bethenny bumped into Democrat presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders backstage at the Broadway play Hamilton. 'Me apologizing to @berniesanders for the wall street guys i've dated,' she joked Frankel sold the Skinnygirl cocktail company she founded to Fortune Brands' Beam Global in 2010 for an estimated $100 million, according toForbes. One of the co-stars of the Real Housewives Of New York, Bethenny may have sold the alcohol side of the business but she retained the brand, which now sells everything from sweet treats to clothing. She is also a bestselling author of six lifestyle books, one racy novel and a children's book based on her daughter Bryn's adventures with their pooch, Cookie. Bethenny shares the five-year-old with her estranged husband, pharmaceutical sales executive Jason Hoppy. A farming couple have been fined more than $17,000 for selling raw milk through a scheme where their customers bought shares in a cow. Mark and Helen Tyler ran a herd share programme at their Moo View Dairy farm in Willunga Hill, South Australia, which was described by the magistrate as an 'elaborate and systematic sham'. In the Christies Beach Magistrates Court on Thursday, Mark Tyler was fined $13,500 and his wife $4000 for setting up the program, which was launched in 2008 and stopped in May last year. Mark and Helen Tyler stand outside Christies Beach Magistrates Court after being fined $17,000 for selling raw milk Magistrate Luke Davis told the couple their actions constituted deliberate criminal behaviour and said they had organised the elaborate scam, reports ABC. 'You, particularly Mr Tyler, devised, executed and operated an elaborate and systematic sham specifically designed to get around the act, code and regulations,' he said. The court heard the couple stopped running the program in May last year after and no longer have a source of income. Outside court Mr Tyler said he would continue to drink his own raw milk and crusading for its legalisation in Australia. 'We're just campaigning for the legalisation of raw milk and now we have the opportunity to talk to government because up until now they just had a closed door,' he told ABC. Selling raw milk is currently illegal in Australia, but producers are making a vehement push to legislate its sale. Scroll down for video An image from the Australian Alliance for Raw Milk's Facebook account, set up to campaign for the legislation of selling raw milk Herd shares allow people to buy a share in a cow and then pay a farmer to board and milk the animal (pictured) 'There's a lot of ignorance. People don't understand the facts about raw milk and how it can be done well,' Mark Tyler told ABC News in March. Raw milk is unpasteurised, which the Australian health department says can lead to the growth of bacteria like E. coli- which can be harmful to humans. 'A farmer has a choice if we can get this legalised and simplify the whole procedure so that it is something people can do and do well,' Mr Tyler said. The program allowed people to obtain raw milk for drinking via herd shares which allow people to buy a share in a cow and then pay a farmer to board and milk the animal. They then receive the milk from 'their own cow', thus it is not being illegally sold. Mark (right) and Helen (left) Tyler, on trial for selling raw milk, with supporter Rachel Tyson (centre) Mr Tyler called mass dairy farming practices into question- this photo shows dairy farm in Queensland DANGERS OF RAW MILK ACCORDING TO HEALTH DEPT. Unpasteurised milk should never be consumed as it has an increased risk of individuals acquiring gastrointestinal illness from pathogens such as campylobacter, cryptosporidiosis, shiga toxin-producing e. Coli, and listeria monocytogenes. The Department has been notified of several children contracting cryptosporidiosis and haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a rare but potentially fatal condition which can be caused by shiga toxin and verotoxin producing E.coli. All children had consumed unpasteurised milk sold as 'bath milk'. Everyone should be discouraged from consuming unpasteurised milk products or feeding these products to children. Advertisement Mr Tyler vouched for the wide range of people who drink unpasteurised milk. 'There are professional sportsmen, university professors, doctors - you name it, every profession from tradespeople to other farmers,' he said. Mr Tyler, who started his cowshare programme in 2008, believes the government banned unpasteurised milk as a way to control the dairy market and to support 'big business'. 'The more you look into it the more you realise how little facts there are about raw milk and there are problems with pasteurised milk,' he said. Mr Tyler is confident that raw milk is safe if produced in the right way. 'I've drunk raw milk all my life, I always lived on this farm. I drunk it here and certainly our children have grown up on it. Mr Tyler said he limits the risk of harmful bacteria such as E.coli - associated with unpasteurised milk and that pasteurising laws put in place 70-years-ago are now outdated. 'We've got a very modern milking machine the dangers that were there when pasteurising came in is a world apart from modern dairy equipment,' he said. 'Milk isn't squeezed into buckets surrounded by flies with 'cows flicking manure everywhere' anymore, he said, so 'the situation is so different.' In recent years the dairy farmer has noticed a surge in demand for raw milk as part of the raw food movement. Raw milk (pictured) is unpasteurised, which the Australian health department says can lead to the growth of bacteria like E. coli- which can be harmful to humans Advocates claim it is more nutritious, easier to digest and contains probiotics - and that it's better for cows and farms. Former CSIRO microbiologist and now dairy consultant, Ron Hull said it was now time to change the rules. 'Now the industry is deregulated there is much more competition on world markets,' Dr Hull told ABC News. 'There's now a real need for farmers to run their own micro-dairies and sell raw drinking milk and raw cheeses.' Raw milk farmers set up a cooperative this year and will push political parties to legalise the sale of unpasteurised milk. Warning George Osborne has flown to Washington to speak at the IMF and warn resistance to antibiotics will become an even deadlier threat than cancer Resistance to antibiotics will become an even deadlier threat than cancer without coordinated global action, George Osborne will warn today. The Chancellor is in Washington to discuss international action to tackle the growing problem of antibiotics becoming powerless against common infections. By 2050 10 million people a year could die globally as a result - more than currently die from cancer each year, experts say. Mr Osborne will warn members of the International Monetary Fund that apart from the consequences for human health, there will be an 'enormous economic cost' too. He will say that by 2050, antimicrobial resistance could reduce global GDP by up to 3.5 per cent a cumulative cost of $100 trillion. The Chancellor will say the reimbursement models for antibiotics and diagnostics are 'broken' and call for a global overhaul. He is expected to back a proposal from Treasury minister Lord O'Neill and others to create 'market entry rewards' which will pay a large prize to a pharmaceutical company, or set of companies, that successfully get a new antibiotic or diagnostic to market. Lord O'Neill, the renowned economist, has been commissioned by the UK government to lead a Review on Antimicrobial Resistance to address the growing global problem of drug-resistant infections. He and his team will publish their final set of recommendations next month. The Chancellor will appear later today alongside experts including Dr Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organisation, and Larry Summers, the former US Treasury Secretary who is Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus, Harvard University; and Chair, Board of Directors, Center for Global Development. Development: Mr Osborne believes that companies should be incentivised to produce new antibiotics to fight common infections now overpowering existing drugs 'Unless we take global action, antimicrobial resistance will become an even greater threat to mankind than cancer currently is,' the Chancellor will say. 'It is not just a health problem but an economic one, too. The cost of doing nothing, both in terms of lives lost and money wasted, is too great, and the world needs to come together to agree a common approach. 'My message here at the IMF meeting in Washington is that we need the world's governments and industry leaders to work together in radical new ways. 'We have to dramatically shift incentives for pharmaceutical companies and others to create a long-term solution to this problem, with new rewards, funded globally, that support the development of new antibiotics and ensure access to antibiotics in the developing world. 'To achieve a long-term solution we also need better rapid diagnostics that will cut the vast amounts of unnecessary antibiotic use.' Britain has taken a series of steps to push the problem of antimicrobial resistance up the international agenda. In 2014 the Prime Minister was the first G20 leader to speak out publicly about the magnitude of the threat, and asked Lord O'Neill to look at this issue globally and come up with potential solutions. The man has yet to be arrested An uninjured man resembling the gunman was later found and questioned The gunman fled; it is not known whether he was hurt Clopton was shot in the side and back. His colleague returned fire Ambushed: Houston deputy Alden Clopton (pictured), father of five, was shot in the back four times Wednesday night. He underwent hours of surgery, but is expected to be 'OK,' police said A Houston deputy constable was ambushed and shot in the back four times by an unknown attacker on Wednesday night, police announced Thursday. Father of five Alden Clopton was talking to a reserve deputy trainee through the window of their cop car outside a convenience store at 11:20pm when an unknown figure approached him from behind and fired six times said Pamela Greenwood, spokeswoman for Harris County Precinct 7. One shot hit the ground and another hit the car, but four of them ended up lodged inside the body of Clopton, who was then rushed to hospital, CNN reported. Clopton, an 11-year veteran of the police force, went into several hours of surgery for wounds sustained to his side and back, including a bullet caught near his heart, Associated Press reported. 'He's in critical care, but he's doing well,' Harris County Precinct 7 Constable May Walker said to CNN. 'It's going to be a long recovery, but we think he's going to be OK.' It is believed his protective vest may have saved his life. Scroll down for video Scene of the crime: The motive for the 'unprovoked' shooting, which took place outside this convenience store, is unknown, though a spokesperson admitted the attacker must have known Clopton, in uniform, was a cop Clopton and the trainee had parked their patrol vehicle after conducting a traffic stop when the incident occurred. He was talking to her through her passenger window when the shots rang out. She got out of the car and saw the attacker across the street. 'Fearing for her safety, and that of her partner, who had already been shot, she returned fire,' Houston police spokesman Kese Smith told CNN. It is not known whether the attacker was hit, but shortly afterward, the station reported, someone fitting the gunman's description was seen at a local fire station. 'He was not injured, but as to why he showed up at the station, homicide [investigators have] to question him to find out,' Smith told CNN. The man has not yet been arrested, she said. The motive for the attack is not clear, but when Associated Press asked Smith whether the attacker was targeting cops, she replied: 'I can't see how someone can mistake them for someone other than law enforcement.' Walker told the station that she was 'very emotional' about Clopton's shooting, as he and his brothers - also police officers - were all trained in her precinct. 'All the Clopton brothers, they grew up in my house,' the constable said. 'I've known them - some of them - since they were born.' Clopton is married to a Harris County sheriff's deputy and has five children. Clopton is the second Harris County law officer to be shot from behind in an unprovoked attack in the past year, Associated Press said. In August Texas prosecutors charged a 30-year-old man with capital murder in the killing of sheriff's deputy Darren Goforth, who was gunned down while filling his patrol car with gas in what officials described as a 'senseless and cowardly act.' They say a firm handshake is a sign of strong leadership. So from the evidence of this picture, Prince William was left in no doubt that Narendra Modi was prime minister of more than a billion people. Such was the strength of Mr Modi's embrace when he greeted the Royal couple, the Duke of Cambridge was left with a clear palm print on his right hand. Making a mark: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves a palm print on Prince William's right hand (circled) after giving him a very firm handshake when he greeted the Royal couple on their tour of India Impressive handshake: Mr Modi's palm print can be seen for some seconds as they pose for photographs It could simply have been over-enthusiasm. But it may also have been a show of authority, suspecting that Prince William was about to address the thorny issue of Britain's embattled steel industry over their lunch together. Whichever it was, he certainly left an impression. The meeting with Mr Modi and senior figures in his government was a last-minute addition to the royal tour schedule. Prince William raised the steel crisis just a fortnight after Indian firm, Tata Steel, announced it was selling its British operation with the possible loss of 40,000 jobs. The Duke of Cambridge shakes hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi A senior royal source revealed afterwards that the subject was discussed at the lunch, which was also attended by the Duchess of Cambridge. 'The pressures facing steel manufacturers in the UK and India were discussed,' said an aide, although he refused to be drawn on the finer detail. 'It was a very positive and productive occasion,' they added. It is the second time this year that William, 33, has delved into politics. In February he appeared to make a speech signalling his support for staying in the EU. One of the few men to stand up to infamous standover man Mark 'Chopper' Read, and in the process save a judge from being abducted by him, has died aged 85. Ernie Trotter was hailed as a hero when he grappled with Read who was brandishing a shotgun when he tried to kidnap County Court Judge Bill Martin, on Australia Day, 1978, in Melbourne, The Age reports. Judge Martin initially pushed the gun aside, and gave Trotter, who was the Judge's court guard, time to come to his aid. Ernie Trotter, who saved a judge from being abducted by the notorious Mark 'Chopper' Read, has died aged 85 Trotter wrestled with Read and held on to him and the shotgun until the cavalry arrived in the shape of six policemen who helped to overpower the assailant. To reflect his courage, Trotter was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal by Victoria's then governor, Sir Henry Winneke, for protecting Judge Martin and keeping him from harm. 'Old Ernest was a military fellow with a big English moustache. It took quite a bit of bravery to attack me. I was 18 stone [117 kilos] of muscle, I was bench-pressing 330 pounds [150 kilos] and I had a gun,' Read recalled in a later interview. A former soldier and military band member, Trotter said he held no hard feelings towards Read for the attack and the fact that he might have killed him. 'I bear him no ill-will, and regret his state of health.' (Read died of cancer in 2013, and was ill at the time of this interview with The Age.) 'Chopper' Read gave Trotter credit for his courage saying: 'It took quite a bit of bravery to attack me' Read's plan was to hold the judge hostage until his good mate, Jim Loughnan, was released from prison Read's plan was to hold the judge hostage until his good mate, Jim Loughnan, was released from prison, but thanks to Trotter's brave intervention a stand-off was averted. Read allegedly killed over a dozen people, but was never found guilty of murder, and instead rose to become a bestselling author whose life was turned into a big-hit movie. He spent 23 years in prison for a variety of crimes including assault and armed robbery, wrote several books detailing his long career of violence, including one entitled 'How to Shoot Friends and Influence People'. One of Australia's most notorious criminals Read died at the age of 58 after a battle with liver cancer in 2013. A Liberal MP's advertising material has mistakenly been delivered to a union in a head scratching error which saw 1,000 signs arrive at enemy offices. Staff at an Electrical Trades Union (ETU) office unwrapped a surprising delivery of the corflutes for Sarah Henderson, the Liberal MP for Corangamite, on Thursday afternoon. Her office in Waurn Ponds is about eight kilometres from the ETU Victorian branch office in Geelong, south-west of Melbourne. However, her partners office is right next door to the ETU Geelong Office, Twitter user Stephen Murray pointed out. Ms Hendersons partner is Victorian Liberal MP Simon Ramsay, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Rural and Regional Transport. Staff at an Electrical Trades Union (ETU) office on Thursday afternoon unwrapped a surprising delivery of 1,000 corflutes for Sarah Henderson, the Liberal MP for Corangamite LNP hq just delivered 1000 @SHendersonMP corflutes to ETU Geelong office. What should we do with them? #auspol, the ETU Victoria wrote on Twitter on Thursday afternoon. The tweet was posted alongside an image of the unions State Secretary Troy Gray, smiling with a stack of the advertising material. A corflute is a plastic sign often used during election campaigns, cable tied to fences and telegraph poles. The bungle makes the double dissolution election on July 2 seem even more likely. A spokesman for ETU Victoria told Daily Mail Australia staff from Ms Hendersons office had come to retrieve the corflutes after seeing the tweet. They didnt explain how the error occurred, the ETU Victoria spokesman said. I think they were a little bit embarrassed and tried to get out of here as quick as possible. The union said it was more than happy to give them back to Sarah because they looked more like Labor Party signs than Liberal Party signs. A spokesman for ETU Victoria told Daily Mail Australia staff from Sarah Henderson's office had come to retrieve the corflutes after seeing the tweet Ms Henderson said the corflutes had not been addressed to the ETU office The corflutes had the word Liberal written in a fine font, with no Liberal Party logo. Ms Henderson was pictured in the sign wearing a red shirt, the colour used by the Labor party. So its quite amusing, the ETU spokesman said. Were a bit bemused as to how such an error could have been made, to tell you the truth.' He said the package did not have a return address, but it did have a delivery docket saying it had been posted from Melbourne. The spokesman said he was surprised the Liberal Party even had the union's address, and said even if they had us listed as an enemy the error was curious. ETU Victoria said they hoped the delivery man wouldnt foot the blame. Ms Henderson responded on Twitter, saying the corflutes had not been addressed to the ETU office. 'Proud to be working hard for Corangamite jobs. Thanks for the promotion,' she tweeted in response. Daily Mail Australia is awaiting a response from Sarah Hendersons office. ISIS have published a new kill list of Muslims in positions of power in the Western world including two senior Tories. Business Secretary Sajid Javid and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi have been named as targets in the terror group's glossy propaganda magazine Dabiq. ISIS has put them on an official 'hit list' because they are 'overt crusaders' who 'involve themselves in the politics and enforcing laws of the kufr (disbelievers).' Scroll down for video Targets: ISIS have said that Business Secretary Sajid Javid, pictured with his wife Laura, and Baroness Warsi, right, are on a kill list of influential moderate Muslims Mr Javid, who has been touted as Britain's first Asian Prime Minister in the future, is the son of a Pakistani bus driver who was brought up in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. After the Paris terror attacks the minister said it was 'lazy' to claim it had nothing to do with Islam and called on British Muslims to do more to tackle extremism. He also said that Muslims who refuse to condemn extremist attacks like the one in Tunisia are 'taking' children 'to the door' of terrorism. Former Conservative chairman Lady Warsi, the daughter of a mill worker, was brought up in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and has been a fierce critic of some attitudes in her community. She also said recently that new mosques should be built without minarets to make them look 'quintessentially English' and fit in with the landscape. Lady Warsi, the first Muslim to serve on a cabinet, also claims British Muslims have moved faster than the Conservative Party or the Church on social issues such as gay rights. The British MPs appear on the kill list containing the names of a dozen high profile Muslims across the western world. Other names includes Hillary Clinton's long-time staffer Huma Abedin, who has been Clinton's top aide since the mid-1990s. Ms Abedin was named as a 'politically active apostate' alongside US Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota. ISIS has published a hit list targeting high profile Muslims including Hillary Clinton's long-time aide Huma Abedin (pictured) Abedin, who has been Clinton's (pictured together) top aide since the mid-1990s, was named as a 'politically active apostate' Political aide Abedin, who is married to New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, first began working for Clinton while she was still in college at George Washington University, being assigned to the then first lady after getting a White House internship. Since then, Hillary has rarely seen in public without Abedin by her side. The onetime junior staffer and 'body woman' has risen through the ranks to become vice chairman of the Democratic front-runner's presidential campaign. And she has been discussed publicly as a potential White House Chief of Staff in a potential Hillary Clinton presidency. While Rep Ellison, another high profile American Muslim, became the first person of Islamic faith to be elected to the U.S. Congress in 2007, when he chose to use an English translation of the Qur'an that once belonged to President Thomas Jefferson for his reenacted swearing-in ceremony. ISIS also confirmed, for the first time, that brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who blew themselves up in the attacks on the Belgian capital, were responsible for 'all preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels.' 'Paris was a warning. Brussels was a reminder,' the article warned. 'What is yet to come will be more devastating and more bitter by the permission of Allah, and Allah prevails.' The suicide attacks on the Belgian capital last month killed 34 people and wounded more than 270 others. Khalid, 27, and Ibrahim, 29, had joined ISIS while in jail for charges of carjacking and bank robbery. Their involvement provided for the first time a direct link between the Brussels attacks and the Paris massacre that killed 130 people last November. US Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota (pictured) and British Members of Parliament Sayeeda Warsi and Sajid Javid were also named on the hit list ISIS also confirmed, for the first time, that brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who blew themselves up in the attacks on the Belgian capital, were responsible for 'all preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels' Belgian bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui (centre) and explosives expert Najim Laachraou (left), both wearing black gloves to hide their suicide bomb triggers, killed 14 at Brussels airport. Their accomplice - the 'Man in White' - (right) walked out of the airport after leaving a suitcase bomb that never went off Panic: A fire caused by one of the explosions in the terminal wa tackled by airport staff with extinguishers surrounded by baggage and falling roof tiles Dabiq also confirmed Najim Laachraoui, 24, a Belgian of Moroccan descent had been the bomb maker for both the Paris and Brussels attacks. The suicide bomber had blown himself up at Brussels airport. Dabiq went onto describe Khalid, who killed 14 people when he detonated his bomb at a metro train at Maalbeek station near the EU headquarters, as a 'man of strong character, a natural leader'. Ibrahim blew himself up in the check-in hall of Brussels Zaventem Airport on the day of the Brussels terrorist attacks on March 22. The magazine claimed that Khalid had three visions before carrying out the attacks. In his first, which he said he had in jail, Dabiq claims he saw Mohammed riding a horse into battle while he acted as an archer. Following the vision and his release from jail, he began amassing bombs and weapons for the terrorist attack. Advertisement Spectacular images have captured the celebrations of Charak Puja, a Hindu folk festival held in southern Bangladesh and West Bengal. Celebrated on the last day of the last month in the Nepali calendar, people believe the festival will eliminate the sorrow and sufferings of the previous year and carry prosperity into the next. In this festival a human 'Charak' is made to satisfy the Lord Shiva. The 'Charak' is tied with a hook on his back and then he is moved around a bar with a long rope. A devotee is preparing to hang on a rope attached to the hooks in his back and then swing around the Charak tree (above) The tradition behind Charak Puja is worshipping the Charak tree. Several acts of penance are performed by Charak Sanyasis around and on the tree on 14th April every year A participant has the hooks removed from his back (above) after participating in the Charak Puja People believe the festival will eliminate the sorrow and sufferings of the previous year and carry prosperity into the next The priests are able to pierce sharp hooks at the bodies of participants with very little cut or injury The tradition behind Charak Puja is worshipping the Charak tree. Several acts of penance are performed by Charak Sanyasis around and on the tree on 14th April every year. This includes inserting hooks through devotees back. Amazingly, the priests are able to pierce sharp hooks at the bodies of participants with very little cut or injury. After years of practice, they are able to pierce the sharp hooks without damaging the veins and causing less pain. They then use these hooks to swing around the tree. The Charak tree stands around 30 to 40 feet tall and has no roots or branches. The tree is worshipped by priests before being placed in a ditch and balanced by bamboos. After the Sanyasis perform their penance acts, the tree is immersed into the river. The Charak Sanyasis then brings it back to the puja ground, which is a local ground. In this festival a human 'Charak' is made to satisfy the Lord Shiva. The 'Charak' is tied with a hook on his back and then he is moved around a bar with a long rope The festival is celebrated on the last day of the last month in the Nepali calendar and requires much preapration The participant pictured here is preparing for the ritual. Others support him as he hangs from hooks inserted into his back These devotees are hoping to eliminate the sufferings of the previous year by doing acts of penance By doing these acts of penance they hope to carry prosperity into the next year of the Nepali calendar The priests have a lot of experience inserting the metal hooks into the backs of devotees The devotee here has already had the metal hooks inserted into his back. Another participant in the festival assists One of the key traditions of Charak Puja is worshipping the branchless and rootless Charak tree Other devotees dress in colourful body paint and costumes to celebrate the Charak Puja festival Prosecutors say there is no evidence so far to take action against the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal following a 27-hour raid on its offices. Investigators swooped on the Panama City offices of Mossack Fonseca on Tuesday amid reports about the offshore businesses it created and in some cases ran for wealthy clients around the world. But the country's public prosecutor Javier Caraballo told reporters they 'don't have any strong evidence allowing us to take any sort of decision' against the company. 'The information we have collected is what will permit us to have evidence to take a decision later on,' Caraballo said. Investigators swooped on the Panama City offices of Mossack Fonseca on Tuesday amid reports about the offshore businesses it created and in some cases ran for wealthy clients around the world He said the investigation was complicated by the fact that the firm kept most of its records in digital form, on more than 100 computer servers, and not on paper. But he added that the firm had 'cooperated' with his investigators. Nearly 40 years' worth of archives from Mossack Fonseca have been pored over by hundreds of journalists around the world since being given to a German reporter a year ago. They have resulted in the so-called Panama Papers: a series of reports exposing politicians, celebrities and some criminals who used Mossack Fonseca's services to stash assets in offshore companies. Mossack Fonseca's founders, lawyers Ramon Fonseca and Juergen Mossack, insist they did nothing illegal. They stress that offshore companies in themselves are not illicit - and they were not responsible for any activities their clients did with the entities. Fonseca is a friend to Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela and, until March, served as a senior advisor on his cabinet. The Panama Papers revelations have triggered a multitude of probes around the world as authorities look for evidence people named in them might have committed tax fraud, money laundering or other criminal acts The Panama Papers revelations have triggered a multitude of probes around the world as authorities look for evidence people named in them might have committed tax fraud, money laundering or other criminal acts. Varela's government is currently fighting to prevent other countries responding to the scandal by putting Panama back on international blacklists of nations that facilitate money laundering or tax evasion. Panama's chief state prosecutor, Kenia Porcell, earlier Wednesday gave a news conference in which he noted that 'in Panama, tax evasion does not constitute a crime.' He said, however, that the country was extending 'all necessary cooperation' to address the scandal. Jeremy Corbyn flatly denied that too many migrants have come to Britain from the EU today as he made his first major intervention in the referendum campaign. The Labour leader insisted immigration was crucial to keep the NHS running and nearly 700,000 arrivals over the last five years was not too high. Instead he called for a new Europe-wide minimum wage linked to the cost of living. The remarks came after a keynote speech in which he argued that the UK should stay in the union 'warts and all', stressing that his party 'overwhelmingly' supports membership. 'Over the years I have been critical of many decisions taken by the EU, and I remain critical of its shortcomings; from its lack of democratic accountability to the institutional pressure to deregulate or privatise public services,' he said. 'So Europe needs to change. But that change can only come from working with our allies in the EU. It's perfectly possible to be critical and still be convinced we need to remain a member.' Scroll down for video Jeremy Corbyn has made his first major intervention in the EU referendum campaign, insisting in a speech that he supports Britain's membership 'warts and all' After the long-awaited speech he was asked if he believed immigration had been too high, and replied: 'No I don't think too many have come, I think that the issue has to be of wages and regulations 'There has to be a case for a minimum wage tied the cost of living all across the continent. 'There's nothing wrong with people migrating to work around the continent, but there has to be a level playing field on pay and conditions.' A report from the Migration Observatory yesterday found the number of EU nationals living in the UK had gone up by almost 700,000 to 3.3 million over the past five years. The Oxford University-based body said 49% of the 700,000 were from Poland and Romania, but Spain, Italy and Portugal accounted for 24%. UKIP DONOR DROPS HIS LEGAL BID THAT COULD HAVE DELAYED EU REFERENDUM UNTIL THE AUTUMN Wealthy Ukip donor Arron Banks (pictured) had threatened to launch a judicial review of the election watchdog's decision to overlook his Grassroots Out as the official Brexit campaign Wealthy Ukip donor Arron Banks has dropped his legal bid that threatened to delay June's EU referendum. Yesterday he said he was considering launching a judicial review of the election watchdog's decision to overlook his Grassroots Out as the official Brexit campaign. The Electoral Commission chose Michael Gove's Vote Leave group to run the official Out campaign instead. But Mr Banks said the decision was a 'stitch up' by the Tory establishment to limit the damage to the party following the referendum and said Vote Leave had made no attempts to run an inclusive campaign with key Ukip figures such as Nigel Farage. He said this could form the basis of a legal challenge. Today he dropped the threat of a legal bid, however, after Mr Farage and other members of Grassroots Out pledged to work with Vote Leave. At a Ukip event in London, Mr Farage said accepted that Vote Leave were 'now in the right place' and he was certain they 'will do a good job'. The official designation gives Vote Leave a higher spending limit of 7million when the referendum campaign officially starts tomorrow. This is ten times more than the Grassroots Out campaign will be able to spend. Vote Leave will also be handed 600,000 for admin costs, TV adverts and mailshots. The decision is also crucial for securing time on television during the referendum campaign as broadcasters must follow strict rules on who appears on air. Advertisement The Migration Observatory said there was no single 'pull factor' but highlighted the eurozone crisis and the draw from better wages and economic prospects. Just over 70% of EU citizens coming to the UK for at least a year state their intention is to work, with more than half of them already having a job lined up. David Cameron has previously said that immigration overall is 'too high', and made curbs to welfare entitlements for EU nationals a key part of his membership terms renegotiation. The government has a target of reducing net migration from the rest of the world below 100,000, but the latest official figures showed it was 323,000 in the year to September 2015. Mr Corbyn's aides prompted fury among Labour MPs yesterday by criticising the government's 9million pro-EU mailshot. A spokesman echoed Tory complaints by saying it was unfair to use taxpayers' cash to promote only one side of the campaign. Anxiety among Remain supporters has been further heightened by a new YouGov poll suggesting David Cameron's trust ratings on Europe have been plummeting. Just 21 per cent of the public regard him as trustworthy on the referendum issue, down eight points since February, according to the research for The Times. Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn's figures have risen two points to 28 per cent. The survey found the result of the crucial ballot on June 23 is on a knife edge - with those who had decided which way to vote split 50-50. Labour voters are seen as critical to the outcome, with In campaigners fearing they cannot win unless they turn out in large numbers. Mr Corbyn, who voted to leave the EU in the 1975 referendum, has been under intense pressure from his own MPs to take a more active role in persuading the party's supporters to vote to stay in the EU. Former frontbencher Chris Leslie told MailOnline yesterday that the leader had to get 'out of comment mode and into campaign mode' before it was too late. Mr Corbyn made a bizarre joke that the Senate House building where he was delivering his speech had been the model for the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's novel 1984. 'Let us see,' he added. Mr Corbyn dismissed criticism that he has not been active enough in the campaign so far, or that he has been pushed into supporting Remain. 'There's nothing half-hearted about anything that I do,' he said. Setting out a 'socialist case' for the union, the leader went on: 'In contrast to four decades ago, the EU of today brings together most of the countries of Europe and has developed important employment, environmental and consumer protections. 'I have listened closely to the views of trade unions, environmental groups, human rights organisations and of course to Labour Party members and supporters, and fellow MPs. 'They are overwhelmingly convinced that we can best make a positive difference by remaining in Europe. 'Britain needs to stay in the EU as the best framework for trade, manufacturing and cooperation in 21st century Europe. 'Tens of billion pounds-worth of investment and millions of jobs are linked to our relationship with the EU, the biggest market in the world. 'EU membership has guaranteed working people vital employment rights, including four weeks' paid holiday, maternity and paternity leave, protections for agency workers and health and safety in the workplace. YouGov research for The Times shows the referendum battle is still too close to call 'Being in the EU has raised Britain's environmental standards, from beaches to air quality, and protected consumers from rip-off charges. 'But we also need to make the case for reform in Europe the reform David Cameron's Government has no interest in, but plenty of others across Europe do. 'That means democratic reform to make the EU more accountable to its people. Economic reform to end to self-defeating austerity and put jobs and sustainable growth at the centre of European policy, labour market reform to strengthen and extend workers' rights in a real social Europe. The Labour leader addressed the audience at Senate House in central London 'And new rights for governments and elected authorities to support public enterprise and halt the pressure to privatise services. 'So the case I'm making is for 'Remain - and Reform' in Europe.' Mr Corbyn laid the blame for public concern about immigration squarely on the government. 'No doubt debate about EU membership in the next couple of months will focus strongly on jobs and migration,' he said. David Cameron, who was holding talks with the Nato secretary general in Downing Street today 'We live in an increasingly globalised world. Many of us will study, work or even retire abroad at some point in our lives. 'Free movement has created opportunities for British people. 'There are nearly three-quarters of a million British people living in Spain and over two million living in the EU as a whole. Learning abroad and working abroad, increases the opportunities and skills of British people and migration brings benefits as well as challenges at home. 'But it's only if there is government action to train enough skilled workers to stop the exploitation of migrant labour to undercut wages and invest in local services and housing in areas of rapid population growth that they will be felt across the country. 'And this Government has done nothing of the sort. Instead, its failure to train enough skilled workers means we have become reliant on migration to keep our economy functioning. 'This is especially true of our NHS which depends on migrant nurses and doctors to fill vacancies. 'This Government has failed to invest in training, and its abolition of nurses' bursaries, and its decision to pick a fight with junior doctors is likely to make those shortages worse. 'As a former representative of NHS workers, I value our NHS and admire the dedication of all its staff. It is Labour's proudest creation. But right now, it would be in even greater crisis if many on the Leave side had their way.' WEREN'T YOU A EUROSCEPTIC ONCE JEREMY? Changing views: Jeremy Corbyn yesterday Jeremy Corbyn said Labour was overwhelmingly committed to remaining in the EU. But as these quotes illustrate, the partys leader himself has been anything but: June 2015 I would advocate a No vote if we are going to get an imposition of free market policies across Europe. June 2015 If Greece leaves both the eurozone and the EU, its future would be uncertain, but at least it could be its own. There is no future for a usurious Europe that turns its smaller nations into colonies of debt. May 2005 It is morally wrong the EU pays farmers to over-produce then uses taxpayers money to buy the over-production, to be dumped on African societies. That destroys all the local agriculture. The practice is simply crazy. May 1993, during the debate on the Maastricht Treaty The treaty on the European Union takes away from national Parliaments the power to set economic policy and hands it over to an unelected set of bankers who will impose the economic policies of price stability, deflation and high unemployment throughout the European Community. January 1993 The European Central Bank will undermine any social objective that any Labour Government in the United Kingdom or any other government would wish to carry out. January 1993 Advertisement Earlier, Mr Benn denied that Mr Corbyn was lukewarm on the EU, insisting that like many Labour figures he had been on a 'journey' since 1975. But he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We have got a big fight on our hands.' Labour donor John Mills, deputy chairman of Vote Leave's board, suggested that Mr Corbyn had been pressured into backing EU membership. 'I am a bit disappointed that Jeremy Corbyn is coming out so strongly in favour of staying in, partly because I don't think that's really where quite a large proportion of Labour support is,' he told BBC Breakfast. The YouGov research found 39 per cent supported Remain and 39 per cent Leave. Once 17 per cent who were undecided and five per cent who said they would not vote were excluded, the result was tied 50-50. DARLING ACCUSES EUROSCEPTICS OF LIVING IN A FANTASY WORLD Britain must swallow EU law and comply with edicts from European judges, an official government report made clear last night. The document set out how this country is obliged to comply with laws handed down by Brussels and how decisions by EU judges over-ride UK courts. The report was put up on a government website without fanfare yesterday. Previous reports in the series which have been more helpful to the Governments case for Britain to remain in the EU have been trumpeted by ministers. The document was last night seized on by Brexit campaigners who said it showed how EU law was undermining UK sovereignty. Justice minister Dom Raab said the EU was testing the democratic contract to breaking point. The report, called Rights and obligations of European Union membership, says the UK has an obligation to comply with EU law. The document states: Member states have to make sure that any actions they take are consistent with the rules in EU law, and must adopt any legislation necessary to give effect to EU law in their national law. It also adds that some EU law has a direct effect and applies even without member states having written those specific rules into their domestic law. Governments can also face fines where the European Court of Justice judges that (EU) law is being broken if they do not then take steps to comply. Advertisement Some 30 per cent were 'definite' they will vote to stay, while 29 per cent were equally determined to back Brexit. The views of 40 per cent of the public are not yet fixed, meaning there is still all to play for. Meanwhile, it has emerged that Ukip leader Nigel Farage is due to share a platform with Cabinet minister Chris Grayling on Monday. Mr Farage said: 'This will be a historic meeting with myself and Cabinet Minister Chris Grayling sharing a platform alongside other Labour and Conservative figures, making the case to leave the European Union. 'All of those who want the United Kingdom to leave the European Union will I'm sure welcome Chris Grayling's approach of co-operating cross-party and cross-group. This is a very positive signal for the campaign ahead.' Mr Cameron was booed by his own MPs as he criticised 'scare stories' from the Brexit campaign at Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons yesterday MAN WITH NO SHAME SAYS BREXIT WOULD HIT THE NHS Boris Johnson and Michael Gove will today call for billions of pounds of taxpayers money handed to the EU to be used for the NHS in the event of a Brexit vote. On the first official day of campaigning in the referendum campaign, the London Mayor will say Britains 13billion EU contribution would be better spent on building hospitals. The move is an indication the Vote Leave campaign intends to make the Health Service a key part of the campaign. Vote Leave, which is jointly led by Mr Gove, has accused the Government of failing to give the health service the funding it needs. Instead of sending money to Brussels, it should instead be spent on other priorities like the NHS. Mr Johnson is making a speech in Manchester tonight, and will travel to Leeds and Newcastle tomorrow. Mr Gove and other leading figures in the Leave campaign will also make contributions in a 48-hour Brexit Blitz. It came as the former NHS boss who presided over one of Britains most appalling hospital scandals said Brexit would put hospitals at risk. Sir David Nicholson dubbed the Man With No Shame for his role in the Mid Staffordshire scandal said campaigners were wrong to say a Brexit would mean more money for the NHS. On the contrary, he said, it would damage the economy and that would mean less money for the NHS. Advertisement Mr Cameron faced Tory anger yesterday after accusing a prominent Eurosceptic of spreading a scare story that Britain had lost control of its borders. Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg told him the Government's pro-EU leaflet was a 'propaganda sheet' containing 'untrue' information. He said that despite mass immigration from the EU, it claimed Britain had control of its borders. 'Have we withdrawn from the free movement of people, or is that sheet simply untrue?' he asked. Mr Cameron said: 'What he has just put forward is classic of the sort of scare story we get. A retired pharmacist and his ex-ballet dancer wife have been ordered to pay more than 2,300 after they sent their daughter a birthday card addressed 'Abuser of the Year' during a bitter family feud. Steven Freedman, 76, and wife Hedy, 72, sent daughter Danielle Hampson, 46, the insulting card in a tit-for-tat correspondence exchange in a row over them wanting to see more of her children. The Freedmans, both pillars of the Jewish community in Liverpool, have now been landed with a criminal record after they admitted sending an indecent or grossly offensive letter at the city's magistrates' court this week. Retired pharmacist Steven Freedman, 76, and his ex-ballet dancer wife Hedy, 72, (together, left) have been ordered to pay more than 2,300 after they sent their daughter, Danielle Hampson, 46, (right) a birthday card addressed 'Abuser of the Year' during a bitter family feud Mr Freedman was fined 1,600 and ordered to pay costs of 235 whilst his wife was fined 400 and ordered to pay costs of 110. The court heard the family feud escalated 2014 when the Freedmans fell out with their only child, an NSPCC volunteer and psychotherapist, and she stopped them having direct contact with her two children aged seven and ten. The couple, from Crosby, had sent their daughter the card in retaliation after she sent them a cut-out of a newspaper article which reported her being given a 'Woman of the Year' award in May last year. Miss Hampson who volunteers for Jewish Women's Aid and South Liverpool Domestic Abuse Services posted a copy of the Jewish Chronicle newspaper featuring an article about her winning 'Mensch of the Year' at a ceremony in London to those who positively contribute towards the Jewish community's wellbeing. But the grandparents who had been given restricted access to Miss Hampson's children believed the article was deliberately sent to goad them. When they arrived back in the UK after one of their regular six month stints at their second home in Miami, Florida, Mr Freedman used cut-out letters from magazines as part of the couple's angry riposte. The couple had sent their daughter the card in retaliation after she sent them a newspaper article about her being given a 'Woman of the Year' award They sent the card alongside an email printed out from an American-based group called 'Alienated Grandparents Anonymous' which claims to helps those who suffer with 'alienation or isolation' from their grandchildren. Mrs Freedman wrote the address on the envelope, knowing what it contained, the court heard. Prosecuting, Hannah Griffith said: 'On December 12 2015, the complainant received a stamped brown envelope at her home address. Within that was an A4 piece of paper, split in half. There were stuck-in letters spelling out 'abuser of the year'. 'There was also an email printed out from 'alienated grandparents anonymous' with international headquarters in Naples, Florida, from Steven Freedman's email address.' After receiving the letter Miss Hampson, a trained counsellor who helps victims domestic violence victims went to police saying she was concerned because she had kept her home address a secret and her parents had found out where she lived. 'I am constantly worried I will bump into or see my parents,' she said in a statement. 'I don't go out in public or do community events regarding my Jewish faith. I feel petrified I will see them. My mother has developed an unhealthy fixated behaviour towards my children where I feel I am being stalked. 'I feel she wants to take them off me and raise them. In February my daughter approached me and said, "nanny sends her love and is asking how we are". It made me feel horrible. I just want to be left alone and for the children to be left alone.' She said she had experienced issues with her parents throughout her life and was concerned Mrs Freedman had an 'unhealthy fixation' on her grandchildren. Julian Linskill, mitigating, called it a tragic case, arguing the Freedmans greatest punishment is knowing they are unlikely to see their grandchildren again. 'In 2014 Mr and Mrs Freedman fell out with their daughter,' he said. 'They have no idea to this day why that took place.They had been everything parents and grandparents should be up to that point. 'They provided a home for their daughter, paid for her wedding, paid for a 4,000 holiday for their daughter to come to Miami where they reside for part of the year and in all respects supported throughout her childhood and through adulthood. 'Whatever her motive was, the defendants felt goaded by the document she sent. They weren't accusing her of physical abuse in their response but perhaps mental abuse in depriving them from contact with their grandchildren. 'They accept they overstepped the mark but it seems to me they deserve the lightest touch the court can possibly bring in relation to sentence. They have now given up all hope of any reconciliation either with their daughter or with their grandchildren.' Passing sentence District Judge Adam Shaw said: 'Miss Hampson can more accurately be described as a carer, not an abuser. She found the letter very hurtful. 'It's hard to say it can be sent with any other intent. Mr and Mrs Freedman both bear equal responsibly for the actual act involving the letter. 'The actions were mean. The description is obviously false and inappropriate.' An application by Miss Hampson for a restraining order was turned down. Mr and Mrs Freedman declined to comment after the hearing. But Miss Hampson said after the case: 'I was gobsmacked and devastated to get this card and it's not the first time they have done things like this. 'They have a long history towards other family members and to other people, sending poison pen letters and the like. 'I don't want any contact with them at all. There are no winners in this case. Only losers all the way round. My children don't have grandparents and I don't have my parents. I'm not going to be jumping for joy at the sentence. That's not what this was about.' The French Prime Minister believes Muslim headscarves should be banned in universities, prompting opposition from within his own government. In an interview with the daily newspaper, Liberation, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said France should 'protect' French Muslims from extremist ideology. He said the headscarf, when worn for political reasons, oppresses women and is not 'an object of fashion or consumption like any other.' French Prime Minister Manuel Valls claimed the Muslim veil should be banned from the country's universities Valls told French newspaper Liberation the ban would help protect Muslim women from extremist ideologies Citing secular traditions, France has already banned the face-covering Muslim veil and forbids headscarves and other religious symbols in schools and public buildings. Asked whether to outlaw headscarves in universities, Mr Valls is quoted as saying 'it should be done, but there are constitutional rules that make this ban difficult.' Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem and the junior minister for higher education, Thierry Mandon, say they are opposed to a ban. Former fashion mogul Pierre Berge lashed out Wednesday at designers creating Islamic clothing and headscarves, accusing them of taking part in the 'enslavement of women'. The French businessman, partner of the late fashion legend Yves Saint Laurent, took aim at the wave of big fashion chains that have followed the Italian designers Dolce & Gabbana in catering specifically to the Muslim market. 'I am scandalised,' he told Europe 1 French radio. 'Creators should have nothing to do with Islamic fashion. Designers are there to make women more beautiful, to give them their freedom, not to collaborate with this dictatorship which imposes this abominable thing by which we hide women and make them live a hidden life.' 'Renounce the money and have some principles,' he declared, lashing the new fashion for 'modest' Muslim-friendly lines. Advertisement These are the amazing scenes as marine police officers in Bali release 31 rare sea turtles into the ocean who had been captured by an illegal gang of smugglers. The languid reptiles faced an uncertain future after they were caught by an international gang of smugglers and may have been on their way to a restaurant or to be used in traditional Chinese medicine. However, authorities raided the gang's hide out and rescued the turtles before they could be smuggled out of the country. Indonesian police rescued 31 sea turtles that had been captured by a gang of illegal smugglers preparing to export them from Bali The turtles were released by a mixture of police, environmentalists and tourists at Kuta beach near Denpasar on the resort island of Bali The reptiles were helped to the ocean at Kuta beach by a mixture of police, environmentalists and several tourists It was feared that many of the turtles could have been exported to China where they could have ended up being used as food or medicine Police, aided by wildlife officials, carried the heavy turtles across the sand at Kuta beach on the island of Bali earlier today. The turtles were rescued last week. Earlier this year, Indonesian authorities foiled an attempt to smuggle more than 4,000 protected baby turtles worth tens of thousands of dollars to China. More than 3,700 pig-nosed turtles and nearly 900 snake-necked turtles were found at the weekend, hidden in containers in a building on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta. A government official said: 'Customs officials succeeded in foiling an attempt to smuggle turtles.' The turtles, worth an estimated $90,000, were concealed among clown loach fish, which can be legally exported from Indonesia. Indonesian marine police seized the turtles following a raid last week on an encampment of illegal wildlife smugglers The turtles were eased back into the ocean earlier today by the Bali Marine Police who busted the smuggling ring last week A number of volunteers inspected and logged the sea turtles before they were put back into the sea at Kuta beach on Bali Indonesia, with its thousands of islands, is constantly targeted by gangs of wildlife poachers because of its diverse range of creatures The reptiles were destined to be flown to Guangzhou, southern China, said the statement. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the pig-nosed turtle as vulnerable and the snake-necked turtle as critically endangered, and says both species are popular as pets. Some turtle species are also popular in China as exotic food or for use in traditional medicine. Indonesia, a tropical archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is home to a kaleidoscope of exotic animals and plants, but the illegal trade in wildlife is rampant and laws aimed at providing protection are often poorly enforced. Numerous endangered species, from the Sumatran elephant to the Javan rhino, have been driven to the brink of extinction, with poachers targeting them for their body parts for use in traditional medicine. Orangutans have also seen their habitats destroyed due to rapid expansion of palm oil plantations. Tourists looked on excitedly as the majestic creatures were put back into the ocean and safe from the international gang of rustlers Indonesian police face a constant battle against gangs of smugglers who steal wildlife for the traditional Chinese medicine market A marine police officer hoses down some of the green turtles before they are reintroduced back into the ocean This man is determined to release this green turtle into the ocean at Kuta beach near Denpasar on the resort island of Bali, Indonesia These police officers have started the world's least likely sprint race involving half-a-dozen turtles at Kuta beach near Denpasar, Bali Small children look on excitedly as the turtles are prepared to be sent back to the ocean in Kuta beach, Bali in Indonesia Environmentalists measured each of the turtles and noted down any unusual markings before they were returned to the sea Indonesian police have made several large seizures of endangered animals which had been poached for lucrative foreign markets Police released him at the airport but have still not returned his phone The PhD student insists he was only texting his wife about his journey He was questioned for three hours and not allowed back on the plane after a passenger accused him of sending 'suspicious' messages in Arabic EasyJet have been forced to apologise to a scientist who was hauled off a London-bound flight because a passenger suspected he was an Islamic extremist. Iraq-born Hasan Dewachi, 32, found himself at the centre of a security alert after the woman passenger on the flight from Vienna to Gatwick claimed she saw ISIS-related messages on his phone. Now the married father of two daughters, aged four and nine months, who has been studying chemistry at Sheffield Hallam University since 2010, has claimed EasyJet put him through 'terrible suffering', adding: 'I feel racially discriminated against.' Targeted: Hasan Dewachi, pictured with his daughters, was thrown off an EasyJet flight over terror fears Scientist: The Iraqi-born father is a PhD student at Sheffield Hallam University having lived in the UK since 2010 Mr Dewachi says that the airline abandoned him at the airport without a flight and without a phone, leaving him to fork out hundreds of pounds to get back to the UK. The scientist has lived in Britain for six years, studying for a Master's degree and then a PhD in biochemistry at Sheffield Hallam. In his native Iraq, he previously worked as a hospital pharmacist and an assistant lecturer at Mosul University. Mr Dewachi said he had attended a scientific conference in the Austrian town of Graz before boarding an EasyJet flight home at Vienna airport, which was preparing for take off when he was approached by a member of cabin crew. He said: 'One minute I was texting my wife on my mobile to tell her the plane was about to take off and I'd be home soon. The next a member of cabin crew came over to tell me I had to leave the plane. 'It transpired a woman passenger had seen me texting my wife in Arabic, my mother language, and for some inexplicable reason suspected I was a terrorist.' Although he denied any wrongdoing, all passengers and luggage were taken off the plane for additional screening. Meanwhile Mr Dewachi was removed by airport police for questioning. Wrongly accused: A fellow passenger thought she saw Mr Dewachi writing a terror-related message Family: Mr Dewani pictured on a day out in a British park with his two children, aged seven and four months The authorities later released him without charge, saying in a statement: 'There was nothing suspicious found and he has been allowed to continue his journey. The only thing outstanding is a detailed analysis of his mobile phone.' Mr Dewachi said: 'It was very upsetting and humiliating. I have no idea who the woman passenger was or why she thought I was acting suspiciously. 'But I had nothing to hide and answered all questions honestly, immediately handing over my phone so airport police could see for themselves there was nothing untoward on it. 'They very quickly cleared me of any suspicious activities whatsoever.' The scientist was told he could resume his journey without issue, but the EasyJet flight left three hours late without him on board, and he was not offered a replacement flight. 'I was shocked I wasn't put back on that flight or any other flight,' he said. 'In fact EasyJet made no effort to even book me on any alternative flight. 'Instead after being questioned for nothing more than innocently texting my wife, I was just dumped at Vienna airport with no phone. 'It meant I had to pay hundreds of pounds for an alternative flight. Meanwhile as I'd been forbidden to contact my wife while being questioned she was frantic with worry. She saw the flight was delayed but hadn't been able to contact me on my phone. Then it landed without me on it.' Fury: Mr Dewachi was abandoned at the airport without a replacement flight Action: The scientist has been given compensation by EasyJet over his ordeal at Vienna airport last month He added: 'I feel racially discriminated against. It is as if they have forgotten I am not only a customer but a human being as well. 'As a result I have suffered terribly. I have no idea why the woman passenger reacted as she did. I am very upset that anyone would think in any way suspicious. But terrible suffering has been increased by the way EasyJet has treated me.' Mr Dewachi was reimbursed by the company after MailOnline contacted them. A spokesman for EasyJet said: 'As was previously reported, flight EZY5352 on 26 March from Vienna to London Gatwick was delayed due to the authorities requesting additional security checks prior to departure. 'Airlines have a duty to investigate any security related reports as safety is our highest priority. The police disembarked Mr Dewachi from the aircraft for questioning. easyJet never discriminates against passengers and we take all security concerns raised seriously. 'We acknowledge that we did not do enough to assist Mr Dewachi and have been in touch with him since to apologise for his experience, reimburse him and have resolved all outstanding issues.' A spokesman for the Austrian authorities said today that Mr Dewachi's phone was still being investigated and could not be returned yet. This is the amazing moment a kayaker has a close encounter with a basking shark. The incredible footage was shot by Conor Smith of the coast of Kilkee, Ireland where local media reported that 20 of the plankton-eating sharks had been spotted. The kayaker films the giant fish's fin sticking up out of the ocean before dunking the GoPro underwater. Normally a threatening sign: The incredible footage was shot by Conor Smith of the coast of Kilkee, Ireland where local media reported that 20 of the plankton-eating sharks had been spotted Out for a swim: The kayaker films the giant fish's fin sticking up out of the ocean before dunking the GoPro underwater The beast can be seen slowly swimming towards the boat, its large mouth open wide. Smith's presence doesn't seem to faze him in the slightest. Basking sharks - who feed at about 2.3mph - are known to not evade approaching boats. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group also reported that another group was spotted feeding off Slea Head, Co Kerry at around the same time. Andrew Power, a wildlife conservationist, told RTE News about his own sighting of the school: 'They were feeding actively for about three hours. 'You could see the inside of their huge mouths very clearly under the water as the were feeding. They swam close to the rocks going in circles. It was incredible.' The basking shark's cavernous mouth can measure up to 3.3ft in width. Despite their large size and threatening appearance, basking sharks are not aggressive and are harmless to humans. The sharks are often seen close to land, including bays with narrow openings. They follow concentrations in the water column, so are often visible at the surface of the water. They are one of three plankton-eating sharks besides the whale shark and megamouth shark. Up close: The beast can be seen slowly swimming towards the boat, its large mouth open wide. Smith's presence doesn't seem to faze him in the slightest MPs have demanded the publication of the long-awaited Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War amid fears it could be delayed again because of the EU referendum. Seven years after being starting his inquiry, Sir John Chilcot is still to publish a single word of his findings. Spies are due to vet the two million word report line by line to make sure it does not accidentally reveal classified information about national security. But senior MPs today warned the checks must not be used as an excuse to delay the findings of the inquiry any further. Sir John Chilcot, pictured, heard his first evidence seven years ago and is due to hand his report over to officials befpre next week. Senior MPs today warned there must be no further delay The House of Commons will debate the continuing delays to the Chilcot Inquiry later today, demanding publication within two weeks of the end of vetting. Former Tory leadership contender David Davis said there was a 'suspicion' the Government might try to delay publication until after the June 23 referendum. He said: 'I cannot conceive why it should be delayed for that reason - it is inexplicable. 'It's got no real relevance to Europe at all. Maybe it's the Government not wanting anything to rock the boat whilst this referendum is going on.' No 10 today insisted the timing was in the hands of Sir John and his inquiry team. The Prime Minister's official spokeswoman said: 'The Prime Minister has been clear that when he receives the report, he will publish it as soon as possible.' Asked if the referendum was a bar to publishing, she added: 'Timing is for Sir John Chilcot, the Prime Minister's view is he wants to publish it as quickly as possible.' Mr Davis, who secured today's Commons debate, added: 'A lot of the reason it's delayed already is haggling over what they can and can't use. If they weren't security clearing at that time, I don't quite know what they think they were doing. 'There's really no argument for it taking any more than two weeks. 'I think we'll win the battle. If not, frankly, there will be an uproar.' Labour's Paul Flynn, who is supporting the debate, said there was 'no excuse' to continue the 'sinful and wicked' delay. He said: 'This is an attempt to keep it outside of the referendum and the political fallout from both sides. 'I think they could publish it ahead of the referendum, but they won't. Former prime minister Tony Blair gave evidence to the inquiry, pictured, and Sir John is expected to rule on his actions ahead of the 2003 invasion 'We all want to get things settled and to be informed and to know the truth about these events which took place, in our lifetimes. 'The delay is sinful, damaging and wicked. The debate will be a chance to get some answers from the Government.' Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Tom Brake said: 'Seven years on, we are still waiting to know the full facts about Iraq. 'Nothing should be used as an excuse to hold it up. People deserve the truth.' SNP deputy foreign affairs spokesman Angus MacNeil added: 'The delay in publication of the Chilcot report is outrageous. Former Tory leadership contender David Davis will lead a Commons debate on the continued delays today 'Instead of eventually clearing up why we invaded Iraq illegally, it now has the potential to become an international embarrassment. He added: 'Yet by the time the report is published it will have been thirteen years since the illegal and immoral war was waged, seven since the inquiry was launched, and 10million will have been spent on finding these answers.' On Wednesday John Bercow criticised the lengthy wait for the Iraq inquiry, insisting it has become 'exceptionally and excessively protracted'. The Commons Speaker said MPs' dissatisfaction over the delays has been heard by 'millions of people' across the country. Responding to a point of order, he told the Commons: 'I think when this issue has been aired in the House the sense of dissatisfaction across the chamber has been audible, frankly not just to the chair but to millions of people throughout the country. 'It has become exceptionally and excessively protracted.' Last October, Sir John said he expected to have finished writing the report by next week before handing it over for vetting. But in a letter to David Cameron he warned: 'The very considerable size of our report - more than two million words in total - means that it will take some weeks to prepare for printing and publication. Advertisement This series of stunning photos shows an adorable elephant calf being given a helping hand from mum after getting stuck in a watering hole. The incident took place on the Chobe River, Botswana, and was captured by Neal Cooper, 50, a professional photographer from South Africa. The young calf appeared to be having an incredible time frolicking around in the water - but when playtime was over, he struggled to get back onto dry land. But the baby's mother came to the rescue, wrapping her trunk around the youngster's body and hoisting him out of the pool before giving him a gentle kick up the backside to help him scramble up the bank. Neal said: 'The elephant family had arrived by the river and the little one wanted to play and bathe in the water. 'But the elephant calf was only a few weeks old and so the mother needed to keep an eye on him to make sure that it didn't get into any danger. 'It looked like the mum was teaching the calf how to use the mud to stay cool in the heat, but also how to get out when it got stuck. She looked like she was teaching by setting an example. 'The river is always a fantastic place to visit and photograph wild elephants because you can witness different family units and how they interact with other families as well as their own.' This series of stunning photos shows an adorable elephant calf being given a helping hand from mum after getting stuck in a watering hole The young calf appeared to be having an incredible time frolicking around in the water But when playtime was over, he struggled to get back onto the bank of the Chobe River in Botswana The calf's mother came to the rescue, wrapping her thick trunk around the youngster's body and hoisting him out of the water pool She then gave the baby a gentle kick up the backside to help him scramble up the bank Mr Cooper said: 'The elephant calf was only a few weeks old and so the mother needed to keep an eye on him to make sure that it didn't get into any danger' He added: 'It looked like the mum was teaching the calf how to use the mud to stay cool in the heat, but also how to get out when it got stuck. She looked like she was teaching by setting an example' By using her trunk and leg, the mother successfully guides her anxious calf to the nearby bank Defiant: Jessica Portelli, 24, has hit back at a 'fat shaming' shopper in a Matalan changing room who told her she was 'too big to wear a bikini' A 24-year-old woman has hit back at a 'fat shaming' shopper in a Matalan changing room who told her she was 'too big to wear a bikini'. Defiant Jessica Portelli earned widespread praise after she decided to post a selfie of her in the bikini to Facebook in a bid to promote positive body image - stressing confidence is far more sexy than being a size six. She says she took the picture in the Matalan changing room after being slammed whilst queuing to try on a bikini by a woman who told her she was 'too big to wear things like that'. In response, Jessica, who is a size 18 to 20, wrote on Facebook: 'I don't usually post such pictures of myself on Facebook however what happened today should be shared to raise some awareness. 'The girl at the store today said that 'girls like me' shouldn't wear a bikini. 'Well girl let me tell you something, I'm happy with myself and my biiiigggg tummy with tiger stripes but you could have said the same thing to the girl who finally got out there and had the courage to wear a bikini and you just killed her confidence with one stupid comment. 'You can be any size and look good. Confidence is what makes you sexy and not just being a size 6. 'Thank you for fat shaming me, thanks to you I got an awesome discount on my bikini. 'Much love. *#Fat*,*#confident*, girl. Xxx'. The post, which has been shared more than 1,300 times, was inundated with comments congratulating her for her response. Jessica, from Brighton, claims she had the last laugh after confronting the customer whilst wearing the bikini - and was later offered a discount by the store for the hassle. She said: 'When the woman said it to me I just responded straight away telling her "girls like her shouldn't be telling girls like me what they can wear". 'I'd just held up the bikini so I could have a look at it before I tried it on when she said it - she was laughing at me, too. 'I told her that I'd prove her wrong so confronted her when I had the bikini on - I told her I was happy in my own body and that I love the way I look. 'Fat shamed': Jessica claims she was slammed in the changing rooms of Matalan whilst queuing to try on a bikini by a woman who allegedly told her she was 'too big to wear things like that' Jessica, from Brighton, took the picture to send to a friend to show off the bikini but when she told her how good she looked she decided to post it on social media. The post has since been shared more than 1,300 times Jessica (left) wanted the post (right) to raise awareness of body shaming and try to inspire other people to be happy in their own skin. She said: ''The post has been shared so many times now it's amazing' FIGHTING BACK: JESSICA'S POST 'I don't usually post such pictures of myself on Facebook however what happened today should be shared to raise some awareness. 'The girl at the store today said that 'girls like me' shouldn't wear a bikini. 'Well girl let me tell you something, I'm happy with myself and my biiiigggg tummy with tiger stripes but you could have said the same thing to the girl who finally got out there and had the courage to wear a bikini and you just killed her confidence with one stupid comment. 'You can be any size and look good. Confidence is what makes you sexy and not just being a size 6. 'Thank you for fat shaming me, thanks to you I got an awesome discount on my bikini. 'Much love. *#Fat*,*#confident*, girl. Xxx'. Advertisement 'She had nothing to say to me really and I felt so powerful going back to my changing room so I took a picture, I wasn't going to let her kill my confidence.' Jessica took the photo to send to a friend to show off the bikini but when she told her how good she looked she decided to post it on social media. She said she wanted the post to raise awareness of body shaming and try to inspire other people to be happy in their own skin. After witnessing the shaming in the changing rooms, a member of staff in the Carden Avenue branch of Matalan in Brighton insisted that she got a discount for having to deal with the trolling - making the 14 bikini just 10. Jessica said: 'I'd been looking for a swimsuit when I came across the bikini, I don't normally go for bikinis but Matalan actually had my bra size so I thought I'd give it a try. 'The man in there who offered the discount was so nice to do so but I wasn't bothered by what the woman had said, it just went straight over my head.. 'I'm originally from Malta so I try to keep my family updated with what I'm doing here so I decided to post the picture so they could see what I was up to. 'The post has been shared so many times now it's amazing I never thought it would go this big.' Freedom of the press has allowed senior reporter Tara Brown to build a successful career by sharing poignant stories to inform the public about issues that she argues matter. But did she and her 60 Minutes crew cross the line when they became involved in a violent child abduction or were they simply reporting on a mother's plight to be reunited with her two children? The Channel Nine employees - including cameraman Benjamin Williamson, sound engineer David Ballment and producer Stephen Rice - await their next court date in a Beirut cell. They along with Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner stand accused of organised the kidnapping her two children - Noah, 4, and Lahela, 6 - from her former partner, Ali Elamin. Writing for Daily Mail Australia, columnist Ros Reines thinks Brown and her colleagues should be shown leniency as they were using 'the freedom of the press' to do their jobs - tell an important story about the desperate actions of a mother who felt she had nothing left to lose. Scroll down for video Ros Reines says Channel Nine journalist Tara Brown was using 'the freedom of the press' to tell an important story Journalist Tara Brown and her 60 Minutes crew will be held over the weekend in Beirut jails Veteran reporter, Stephen Rice (left), David Ballment (centre) and Benjamin Williamson (right) also remain in custody It's shaping up to be a hell of a weekend in Beirut for Tara Brown, who will spend it in the unwelcoming confines of the Baada women's prison. While she is there, she'll have plenty of time to contemplate the prospect of a lengthy sentence behind bars in a foreign country for simply doing her job and trying to tell a story. It's an important story, which affects families all over the world and it's essentially about children's rights to have access to both of their parents. It's also about the freedom of the press to bring the public's attention to situations such as this one, which affects so many people every day. They, along with Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner are accused of kidnapping her two children - Noah, 4, and Lahela, 6 - from her former partner, Ali Elamine Faulkner's two children have now been returned to their father, Ali Elamine (pictured with his children), after they were taken by a child recovery team Faulkner (centre with her children) claims the two children were taken on a 'holiday' by their father a year ago to Lebanon and never came back One can only feel immensely sorry for Brown's plight along with her 60 Minutes' team, which has virtually landed them right in the middle of someone else's nightmare. Brown - the well respected 60 Minutes reporter along with Benjamin Williamson, David Ballment and Stephen Rice - all at the top of their game, have all been remanded in custody. They became embroiled in a child kidnapping scandal, which saw two young children plucked from a Beirut street. Also in the Baada prison with Brown awaiting their court appearance on Monday is the children's Australian mother, Sally Faulkner, who was to have been the centrepiece of a 60 Minutes' piece about her daring attempt to return her children, Noah, 4, and Lahela, 6, in what she alleges to their rightful home in Australia. Tragically she has another young child awaiting her return to Brisbane. It was always going to be a dangerous story to report on but one that needs to be told as governments all over the world are at loggerheads when it comes to the rightful outcome of custody battles. The victims are, of course, the children whose access to the non-custodial parent must be heavily monitored in case they are taken back to another country. The 60 Minutes team has already paid dearly for their involvement in it. 'The 60 Minutes team has already paid dearly for their involvement in it,' writes Reines. Brown pictured left with her husband John McAvoy in 2014 A police wagon transports Australian kidnapping suspects Sally Faulkner, the mother of two Lebanese-Australian children, and Australian TV presenter Tara Brown to a women's prison Pictured is Baabda Court House in Beirut. Brown and Faulkner appeared in court on Wednesday when a judge said there was no chance the charges against them would be dropped Ali Elamine (right) leaves the courthouse where his ex-partner and the 60 Minutes crew appeared on Wednesday On Wednesday, Brown appeared in Baabda Palace of Justice handcuffed to Sally Faulkner. The rest of the crew were also brought into court in front of Judge Rami Abdullah in restraints. All of them face the serious charges of kidnapping and with being members of a criminal gang. Judge Abdullah has warned that 'there is no chance the charges will be dropped', which could attract sentences of up to 20 years. It was allegedly Faulkner, from Brisbane, who hired a British team to recover her children after their father, Ali Elamine, took them to Lebanon nearly a year ago for a holiday and did not returned them. This claim has been disputed by Elamine. It was a desperate act by a mother who felt she had nothing left to lose and everything to gain by such a dire cause of action. Her two children have now been returned to their father, Ali Elamine after they were taken by a child recovery team as they walked with their paternal grandmother in the southern Beirut suburb of Hadath. They were briefly reunited with Faulkner who was in the car and spent time with her in another location before the authorities intervened. Judge Abdullah has directed the estranged couple to reach an agreement about their children and has indicated that this would help the case and also might mitigate against judgements involving the 60 Minutes' team. But it may take some time for their release. Mr Elamine is pictured above with the two children. He lives in Lebanon with his mother Lahela and Noah pose for a family picture in Beirut, Lebanon On Wednesday, Brown (right) appeared in Baabda Palace of Justice handcuffed to Faulkner 'There was a violation of the Lebanese authority by all these people,' he said. 'It's a crime.' In the meantime, it is left to the Australian and Lebanese diplomats to try to and reach an agreement that might ultimately free the Sixty Minutes' team. On Wednesday, it has been reported that the Lebanese foreign minister, Gebran Bassil, met Australia's ambassador to Lebanon, Glenn Miles, and said a joint committee was being formed to resolve the custody of the children. 'Australians should respect Lebanese laws and the Lebanese should respect Australian laws,' Bassil said, following the meeting. Certainly this spirit of co-operation between governments when it comes to the sensitive area of the custody should be welcomed. It is one, which is unfortunately way overdue. If there was a central body, which dealt with all the disputed international custody battles - virtually an international family court, there might be fewer such desperate situations. At least this dialogue between governments in the matter of Faulkner and Elamine's children is something that the 60 Minutes' team has achieved. However this is probably cold comfort for them as they prepare to spend the weekend behind bars. Advertisement Thousands of migrants are pouring into Sicily by sea every day, sparking fears that the ancient Mediterranean isle has become the new Lesbos. Arrivals to the island have increased by 90 per cent in the first three months of the year. In the last three days alone, more than 6,000 migrants have arrived on its shores. MailOnline went aboard a Norwegian rescue ship that brought 900 migrants to the Sicilian port of Palermo. Thousands more, who had all been picked up on the Mediterranean, were taken ashore simultaneously at other ports on the island. Scroll down for video Rescue: MailOnline gained exclusive access to one of the ships tasked with heading out to sea to pick up struggling migrant dinghies Relief: The sea crossing into Europe is fraught with danger, including punctures causing the dinghies to sink or fights during the journey Future: This migrant man is among thousands of people who are pouring into Sicily by sea every day in the hope of finding better futures Welcome: Incredible footage taken of the landing shows a Norwegian soldier high-fiving migrants waiting in the queue to disembark Official figures show nearly 20,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea since January, compared to just 10,000 during the same period in 2015. Almost 90 per cent landed in Sicily. Donald Tusk, the European Council president, called the crisis a 'never-ending story'. Last night, the migrants were rescued just 30 miles off the coast of Libya by state-of-the-art European military vessels, which had sailed 750 miles to pick them up. They underwent health and identity checks while being ferried to Sicily. One navy officer dubbed the process a taxi service. When the orange Norwegian ship opened its doors, hundreds of West Africans filed ashore and were given sandals, tracksuits and food packages before being loaded onto buses and taken to reception centres known as hot spots, under police guard. Astonishing footage showed a Norwegian soldier 'high-fiving' the new arrivals as they filed off the ship, wrapped in bright orange blankets to keep them warm. Work: Among the new arrivals were 25 women and three children, but by far the majority were young men hoping to find work in Europe International: The Norwegian vessel the Siem Pilot is working under the authority of the EU border force Frontex, to help with rescue efforts Waiting: Queues of new arrivals waiting to be processed snaked around the port of Palermo, after the Norwegian vessel landed last night Hope: The arrivals were rescued just 30 miles off Libya's coast by European military vessels, which had sailed 750 miles to pick them up Journey: Military ships leave Pozallo, Sicily, and pick up migrant dinghies that have run into trouble just 30 miles from the Libya cost and taxi them back to Europe where they are dispersed around the island Among them were 25 women and three children. The vast majority were men, including one who was seriously ill and one teenager who was wheelchair-bound and blind. There are no jobs for me back home, Christian, a 23-year-old baker from Ghana, told MailOnline as he waited in the queue to be processed. I tried to get work in Libya but it didnt happen, so I had no choice but to try Italy, even though my girlfriend is pregnant with our first child. Joe, 39, a father-of-two from Nigeria, said that his life was not in danger back home. There are no Boko Haram in my area, he told MailOnline, but there are no jobs or work at all.' An unnamed man from Ghana told MailOnline: 'I started my journey from Ghana. I came to Libya - I went there to work. To make my money to travel to Italy. 'I thought I could make a lot of money in Libya. Libya was rough.' The migrants were to be dispersed around the country in an effort to share the burden and encourage integration, while preparations were made to receive the next shiploads of migrants the following day. Since last Thursday, my ship has transported 1,650 migrants here, said Torger Brenden, 45, commander of the Siem Pilot, the vessel which ferried the migrants to safety. That is the population of a small town in Norway, brought here by one single ship in one single week and the migrant season hasnt even started yet. It is overwhelming. The migrants, he added, had gone to sea in dinghies with a single air chamber meaning that one hole would cause the boat to sink and without life jackets or basic safety equipment. In the fear and panic migrants often started queue-jumping, which led to fights that threatened to capsize the flimsy vessels. It may be true that our presence is encouraging more migrants, but its not my job to talk about the big political picture. Saving almost 1,000 lives in one day is definitely a good day at the office, he added. The authorities are feeling the strain. Recently, Medicins Sans Frontieres, the global NGO, pulled out of the migration magnet Pozzallo because the soaring demand and limited resources had made it impossible for the team to carry out its job. Safety: Volunteers and workers from various NGOs, wearing protective suits, welcomed the migrants as they disembarked from the ship Trouble: Donald Tusk, the European Council president, called the migrant crisis a 'never-ending story' as numbers rise following the winter Port: The small Sicilian town of Pozzallo, in the south of the island, has already taken in the highest number of migrants so far this year Operation: Seven of the boats were unloaded onto this vessel, while the remaining 10 were rescued by Maltese, Romanian and Italian ships Saviour: Skipper Torger Brenden (left), commander of the Siem Pilot, said his ship has brought 1,650 migrants to Palermo since Thursday Concern: Commander Brenden already described the situation at Palermo as 'overwhelming', even though 'migrant season' hasn't started The overcrowding, the lack of legal information, the lack of protection and the all-round precarious and undignified conditions in which people are received in Sicily continue, said Stefano di Carlo, MSF Head of Mission in Italy. Flooding in: Sicily is bracing itself for 'migrant season' this spring and summer when floods of refugees will arrive at its shores. Sicily receives around 2,000 new arrivals a day and is being nicknamed 'the new Lesbos' as alternative routes to the Balkans are sought The UNHCR stresses that Sicily is, so far, much less chaotic than in Lesbos, and migrants are still being absorbed systematically. The Italian island is the largest in the Mediterranean, so the effect on the local population is cushioned. But the spike in numbers is alarming, with approximately 6,000 arriving in the last three days. 'This hasn't been happening every day in the last month, and it is too early to say if the trend will continue. But we are definitely in a state of emergency,' a spokesperson said. The surge in arrivals may be due to the renewed fighting in Libya, the closure of the Balkan route or the arrival of better weather. The Siem Pilot was part of an international operation to rescue 17 dinghies about 30 miles off the coast of Libya. Seven of the boats were unloaded onto this vessel, while the remaining 10 were rescued by Maltese, Romanian and Italian ships. A total of 270 were taken to Pozzallo, a small port town in southern Sicily which has received the highest number of new arrivals this year. The vast majority of the migrants arriving at Sicily are African. Those aboard the Siem Pilot, huddled in orange blankets and clutching regulation packages of food, were from Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Niger, Ivory Coast and Benin. Many believe that the closure of the Balkan route through Greece will force Syrians to brave the dangerous sea passage to Italy, which would multiply the numbers of newcomers. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, warned that the EU-Turkey deal would magnify pressure on Sicily. After closing the Balkan route, he said, the focus must move to the central European route. We must get ready to show solidarity with Italy and Malta, he said. The coming spring and summer months known as the migration season are likely to exacerbate the situation, with fair weather encouraging more migrants to attempt the hazardous journey. The last time that large numbers of Syrian migrants were recorded in Sicily was in 2014, before their focus moved to the more accessible Balkan route. We think the Syrians are taking some time now to arrange a new route from Turkey to Sicily, said Commander Brenden. Next month is when we really think the problems will start. Picked up: Among those who disembarked from the ship yesterday was a teenage boy who was unable to see and had to be helped off Disembark: The majority of arrivals were men, including one seriously ill and one teenager (right) who was wheelchair-bound and blind Braced: Many worry that the coming spring and summer months - known as the 'migration season' - will exacerbate Europe's situation Help: Although there were some 25 women among the new arrivals, the vast majority were men, including one who was seriously ill Handouts: These women were among the first to disembark in the port of Palermo, Sicily, after they were rescued by the military vessel Exhausted: Authorities are feeling the strain as efforts get underway, with Medicins Sans Frontieres recently pulling out of Pozzallo Struggle: The MSF head in Italy blamed the 'overcrowding, lack of legal information and lack of protection' for their decision to leave Renewed: Meanwhile, Commander Brenden suggested 'Syrians are taking some time now to arrange a new route from Turkey to Sicily' Last year there were numerous fatalities at sea, but now the European border agency, Frontex, together with the Italian coastguard and other organisations, ensure that the migrants are picked up well before they approach the Italian coastline. Andreas Lassen, the Frontex co-ordinator in Sicily, told MailOnline that in recent weeks, a number of migrant vessels had managed to make it all the way to Sicily without being intercepted by European ships, highlighting the huge number of migrants that are setting their sights on Italy. Medea Savary, the UNHCR spokesman for Sicily, told MailOnline that although Italy has a well-oiled system for processing and relocating migrants, the sharp increase in numbers is proving a monumental challenge. In Lesbos it is more spontaneous and disorganised, and the island is much smaller, but dont think there isnt an emergency in Sicily, she said. Despite our search and rescue efforts, there are still deaths at sea. And despite our more organised system, the figures tell a different story. It is not a normal situation here. It is an emergency. Prevention: The aim to to ensure that migrants are picked up well before they approach the Italian coastline, to reduce fatalities this year Hazardous: Last year saw numerous fatalities as desperate people tried to make the crossing into Europe in dilapidated dinghies Mohamed Abrini (pictured) was seen in CCTV moments before the two men he was with detonated bombs murdering 16 people at Brussels Airport The 'man in the hat' seen walking next to two suicide bombers in the Brussels Airport terror attacks has said he 'wouldn't hurt a fly', a court heard. Mohamed Abrini was seen in CCTV footage wearing a white jacket moments before the two men he was with detonated bombs murdering 16 people at the terminal last month. But despite becoming one of the most wanted men in Europe ahead of his arrest on Friday, the terror suspect has reportedly played down his role in the attacks and even claimed he had not been radicalised. In written statements handed to a judge ahead of his court appearance today, he reportedly said 'I didn't want to do it - I would never hurt a fly'. He told police that the plan was to explode three bombs - one in front of a check-in desk for a US airline, and the other two at the check-ins for an Israeli and a Russian company. 'But I never intended to explode my bomb. I waited until the other two bombs were detonated and then I slipped away. 'I threw away my jacket and hat and I bought a cap in a second-hand shop to hide my face.' A Belgian judge today ordered Abrini and five other suspects arrested in connection with the attacks in Paris and Brussels to be held for another month. Swedish-born Osama Krayem, 23, who was involved in the bomb explosion which wrecked a tube train near the EU headquarters, has also claimed to be innocent under police interrogation. He is accused of preparing the rucksack bomb which fellow terrorist Khalid el Bakraoui used to blow up the train in Malbeek underground station. 'I didn't know there was a bomb in it,' he said. 'I thought it was empty.' Krayem has since been identified by a man who overheard him speaking on his mobile phone on a Brussels tram three days before the attacks were launched. He heard him say: 'There are three things we must do before the attack.' The passenger reported the conversation to police and was able to identify Krayem from a picture taken by a security camera on board the tram. Abrini grew up with another arrested terror suspect, Salah Abdeslam, in Molenbeek along with several other suspects, who all share a similar story of getting on the wrong side of the law and then becoming radicalised. Today, it was claimed that Abdeslam, a prime suspect in the Paris attacks last November, had documents about the German nuclear research centre Juelich in his apartment in the Molenbeek area of Brussels. Juelich is near the Belgian border and atomic waste is stored there. Mohamed Abrini was seen in CCTV footage wearing a white jacket moments before the two men he was with detonated bombs murdering ** people at the terminal last month Police officers stand in front of a vehicle at Brussels courthouse, before the hearing of top Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini The centre said in a statement there was no indication of any danger and that it was in contact with security authorities and nuclear supervisors. The Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) group cited sources within the parliamentary control committee, whose meetings are confidential, as saying Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV), had told the nine-person committee at the end of March that Abdeslam had the documents. It said Maassen had told the committee, which is in charge of monitoring the work of German intelligence agencies, that printouts of articles from the internet and photos of Juelich chairman Wolfgang Marquardt had been found in Abdeslam's apartment. RND said it was unclear whether Maassen had passed this information on to the chancellery or the interior ministry. It said several members of the Bundestag lower house of parliament and a terrorism expert at the BfV said they knew of this information and Maassen had confidentially informed them. Amid high security, a Belgian judge is deciding whether to keep Abrini and a half-dozen other suspects in the Paris and Brussels attacks in preventive custody Salah Abdeslam (left and right on his arrest), a prime suspect in the Paris attacks, had documents about the German nuclear research centre Juelich in his apartment in the Molenbeek area of Brussels Neither the BfV nor the BND foreign intelligence agency were immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters. Abdeslam, who born and raised in Belgium to Moroccan-born parents, was arrested on March 18 in the Belgian capital and four days later, suicide bombers killed 32 people in Brussels airport and a rush-hour metro train. A pair of migrants who were trying to row across the Channel in a dinghy were rescued after the light coming from their mobile phone was spotted by a ferry. The duo, one aged in his late 50s and the other in his 40s and thought to be Iranian nationals, were rescued by the P&O vessel Pride of Canterbury after the crew saw the light flashing in the water. The ferry had only just left Dover in Kent and diverted towards the light and saw it was two men in a 10ft long inflatable dinghy holding up a mobile phone. It came after they sparked an international search by phoning 999 and telling the emergency services they were lost in the English Channel. The dinghy from which the two migrants were rescued after being in the English Channel for eight hours The Pride of Canterbury, pictured, rescued the men after spotting the light coming from a mobile phone Ferry crew alerted the RNLI lifeboat station in Dover who launched a boat to rescue the pair. The two men told the crew they had been at sea for eight hours and had not eaten for two days. They were given first aid by the lifeboat crew before being handed over to Kent Police. Police detained the two men who were then handed over to Border Force immigration officers, and they are being interviewed at an immigration centre in Dover. A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The security of our border is paramount, and we always work with our partners to detect and deter people who attempt to reach the UK illegally. 'We have invested tens of millions of pounds to further increase security at our controls in France, while targeting the criminal gangs behind illegal attempts to enter the UK.' Andy Roberts of Dover RNLI said: 'The P&O ferry Pride of Canterbury was leaving Dover harbour when they saw a very weak light flashing occasionally. 'They slowed down and diverted towards the light. It was a mobile phone being held up.' A spokesman from the RNLI added: 'Two RNLI lifeboats were launched in the early hours of this morning to rescue two men located approximately one and half miles off Dover Harbour in an inflatable. 'RNLI lifeboats from Dungeness and Dover were launched around 2.30am following reports from Police that two people had been spotted in the English Channel. Both lifeboats embarked on an extensive search. 'The two men were spotted by a local ferry and the search was diverted to their exact location. The men, in a 10ft dinghy and were soon reached by RNLI crews. 'They were taken aboard Dover's Severn class RNLI lifeboat and were extremely cold. The casualties were given first aid.' A Kent Police spokesman said: 'Kent Police was called at 12.48am to reports of two men in a small dinghy in the Dover Strait. 'The Coastguard coordinated the search and rescue and the men were located approximately one mile off the coast. 'They were brought to shore by the RNLI Lifeboat where they received medical attention before being transferred to the Home Office Immigration Enforcement.' One lifeboat volunteer who did not want to be named, said: 'One of the men was able to call 999. He got through to the police and told them he was lost in the middle of the English Channel. 'They contacted Dover Coastguard and a search was launched. But it was pitch black. 'The coastguard helicopter was grounded due to fog so the search would have been like looking for a needle in a haystack. RNLI crews from Dover, pictured, and Dungeness were sent to aid the migrants, who were then handed over to Kent Police 'But fortunately just over an hour after the search began, the captain of the Pride of Canterbury spotted the light from the mobile phone and diverted towards it.' International law gives anyone the right to seek asylum in another country if they are at genuine risk of being persecuted in their homeland. Refugees can apply under the 1951 Geneva Convention as long as they can prove they have a well-founded fear they are at risk because of their race, religion, nationality, politics or membership of a social group. Even if the claimant has suffered in the past, they will not be granted asylum unless the risk still exists in their future. They can also claim under the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights, arguing it would be a breach of their rights to remove them from the UK. Most of these claims are based on breach of Article 3 the right not to be tortured or suffer degrading treatment in their homeland, as well as Article 8 the right to respect for family and private life. The coastguard in Kent, pictured, coordinated the rescue of the men, who were around one mile off shore Under EU law, people can also apply for asylum through the Asylum Qualification Directive so long as they meet criteria for people in need of protection. If successful, they are entitled to a minimum level of benefits in EU states. Decisions on asylum are made by the Border Force, which is a division of the UK Home Office. Claims should be made as soon as possible after entering the UK, with claimants often held in detention centres while their applications are processed. The process can take weeks or even months to complete, with an initial screening interview followed by a meeting with their case officer. A substantive interview then follows where the claimant has the opportunity to put their case forward and describe what they fear will happen to them if they are sent back to their home country. Some applications can be fast-tracked and heard within seven-to-nine days if their case is deemed serious enough. If the claim is approved, the claimant will receive refugee status for at least five years, with a review to follow to determine whether it is still unsafe for them to return home. A Victoria Cross awarded to a First World War soldier who single-handedly stormed an enemy trench leading to the capture of 180 Germans has sold for more than 300,000. Corporal Lawrence Weathers, who was an undertaker before the war, died in action four weeks after the mission on September 2, 1918, and his widow, Annie, accepted the award on his behalf. The VC has remained in the Weathers family ever since and they have now sold it at auction in Sydney for 266,000. With fees added on the overall price paid was 318,000. Corporal Lawrence Weathers, (pictured) who was an undertaker before the war, died in action four weeks after the mission on September 2, 1918, and his widow, Ellen, accepted the VC on his behalf. His award has now been sold for more than 300,000 Cpl Weathers was born in New Zealand but moved to South Australia when he was a child and as a result served in the 43rd Battalion of the Australian Army. He stared death in the face when he rushed alone under heavy fire towards the German lines soon after the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin but later told colleagues how he had merely 'put the wind up' the enemy. When he got there he stood on the parapet and threw several hand grenades into their trench, killing the commanding officer, before rushing back to his position. He repeated his heroics before urging his comrades to join him in taking control of the trench. The action resulted in the capture of 180 prisoners and three machine guns and also helped his unit take an enemy position on the outskirts of the town of Peronne, which was liberated on the same day after four years of German occupation. Cpl Weathers married his wife at her father's home in the Adelaide suburb of Unley and the couple were to have two children. After enlisting on February 3, 1916, he trained on Salisbury Plain in England and was sent to the Western Front later that year. The VC (above) remained in the Weathers family until it was sold recently. Weathers told colleagues he had merely 'put the wind up' the enemy He was wounded at the Battle of Messines in 1917 and in May 1918 needed hospital treatment after a gas attack near Villers-Bretonneux. Less than a month after his VC-winning action on September 2 he was mortally injured during an artillery barrage north east of Peronne. He died three days afterwards on September 29, 1918. He was posthumously gazetted on December 24, 1918. His brother Thomas was killed at Gallipoli in 1915. His citation for his VC was for his 'most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty' and 'regardless of personal danger'. It added: 'His valour and determination resulted in the successful capture of the final objective, and saved the lives of many of his comrades.' His VC was sold by Sydney-based auctioneers Noble Numismatics. Auctioneer Jim Noble said: 'Victoria Crosses still in private hands are so rare that they can command such strong prices. 'This was the first time this one has been sold.' Noble auctioneers holds the record price paid a Victoria Cross at auction which stands at 678,000 for Pte Edward Kenna's award for an action in new Guinea during the Second World War. The record for a British VC sold at auction stands at 408,000 for the one awarded to Lt John Grant for the British campaign in Tibet in 1904. But the overall record price paid for a VC privately is believed to be 1.5million the Tory peer Lord Ashcroft paid for Capt Noel Chevasse's two VC awards from the First World War. Former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party Lord Ashcroft is famous for his collection of VCs and purchased his first medal in 1986 at an auction held by Sotheby's in London. He now has a reported collection of more than 140 medals, believed to be the largest in the world. A sixteenth century fresco depicting the Madonna with Saint Peter has been damaged by a next door neighbour who accidentally drilled through it. The fresco is located inside the Basilica of San Giovanni Maggiore, in Naples' historic centre. It is thought to have been painted by an artist named Tomasso Assan Paleologo, between 1522 and 1533. A sixteenth century fresco depicting the Madonna with Saint Peter and a donor has been damaged by a next door neighbour who accidentally drilled through it It is thought to have been painted by an artist named Tomasso Assan Paleologo, between 1522 and 1533 Luckily the drill narrowly missed St Peter's face, however it did cause a piece of the painting to come away from the wall, from just above the saint's shoulder,The Local reported. The church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist and has a simple, wooden roof - inserted after an earthquake in 1970 dismembered the previous roof. The Madonna and St Peter fresco is positioned by the Chapel of Santa Maria di Costantinopoli. It is a damage caused to a work of great value that attracts visitors from abroad Luigi Vinci The incident interrupted a graduation ceremony for students from the University of Naples' School of Oriental Studies, who had hired out the church for the occasion. Luigi Vinci, president of the Order of Engineers of Naples, told Italian newspaper Il Mattino that there are 'no words' to describe what had happened. He said: 'It is a damage caused to a work of great value that attracts visitors from abroad.' The fresco is located inside the Basilica of San Giovanni Maggiore, in Naples' historic centre The incident interrupted a graduation ceremony for students from the University of Naples' School of Oriental Studies, who had hired out the church for the occasion This is not the first time that DIY has been to blame for damaging a precious fresco. In 2012, a pensioner was vilified after ruining a 120-year-old fresco of Christ by covering it with a thick layer of paint, with some accusing her of carrying out the work without permission. Volunteer church worker Cecilia Gimenez, 81, insisted she did have the priest's blessing to carry out repairs on the Elias Garcia Martinez artwork Ecce Homo (Behold The Man). But the image of Christ wearing a crown of thorns, displayed at a church near the city of Zaragoza, was described as resembling a monkey after Cecilia's bid to restore it. Riot police have used tear gas on rampaging school pupils protesting over labour reforms after a march through Paris descended into violence today. Masked demonstrators hurled rocks and glass bottles near the Stalingrad metro stop in Paris while baton-wielding officers charged at protesters who stormed the Gare du Nord train station. High school and college students are playing a prominent role in weeks of protests over a bill to relax the work week and make lay-offs easier. Youths scuffle with riot police officers during a protest in Paris today as a march descended into violence Masked demonstrators hurled rocks and glass bottles near the Stalingrad metro stop in Paris while baton-wielding officers charged at protesters who stormed the Gare du Nord train station Riot police have used tear gas on rampaging school pupils protesting over labour reforms after a march through Paris descended into violence today Most of the demonstrators are peaceful, and many students are more worried about upcoming exams than labour reform, but a few hardcore protesters have blocked entrances to schools and resorted to violence. Pictures from France show police using batons and launching teargas canisters as protesters scattered during the unrest. The SNPDEN school administrators' union said two deputy principals were lightly injured after being punched and hit by gravel at Voltaire High School in Paris on Thursday. A protestor lies on the ground during a clash with police after a high school protest in Paris, Thursday, April 14, 2016. Protesters across France are again marching to voice their anger at labour reforms being championed by the country's Socialist government Most of the demonstrators are peaceful, and many students are more worried about upcoming exams than labour reform Taking a stand: High school students face riot police officers during a protest in Paris this afternoon SNPDEN deputy chief Michel Richard said that as the protest movement has gained steam in recent weeks, one school's principal suffered three fractured ribs when a protester jumped on her. Another was punched in the face and a third was bruised by garbage cans piled on by protesters. 'We ask the state to intervene as fast as possible,' he told The Associated Press. Trade unions were expected to join students on Thursday afternoon for a larger protest against the draft labour bill. The government argues it will boost hiring and reduce chronically high youth unemployment, but opponents say it cripples hard-won worker protections. The government argues it will boost hiring and reduce chronically high youth unemployment, but opponents say it cripples hard-won worker protections Pictures from France show police using batons and launching teargas canisters as protesters scattered during the unrest Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg today warned a more fragmented Europe would be 'bad for Nato' following Downing Street talks with David Cameron. The alliance secretary general insisted he did not want to comment on the specific question of Britain's EU referendum. But Mr Stoltenberg warned a 'strong UK in Europe' was important for international security. The talks with Mr Cameron focused on stability in Europe and the fight against terrorism. David Cameron welcomed Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to No 10 today, pictured, for talks on European stability and the threat from terrorism Mr Stoltenberg said: 'I will not comment on the ongoing debate in the UK on whether the UK is going to stay or not in the European Union. 'That is up to the people of Britain to decide. 'But what I can do is to say what matters for Nato. 'A strong UK in Europe is good for our security, it is good for Nato and I welcome that. 'A more fragmented Europe is bad for our security and it is bad for Nato.' Mr Stoltenberg said the EU and Nato were 'complementary' in crises such as Russia's aggression towards Ukraine, when the EU implemented economic sanctions while Nato delivered military deterrence. The Secretary General added: 'All of these measures are of great importance delivered by Nato and the EU. 'We also see the importance of the UK being so supportive both inside Nato and inside the European Union promoting increased co-operation between Nato and the EU.' Welcoming Mr Stoltenberg to Number 10, Mr Cameron said the EU plays an 'important' role in maintaining Britain's security and strength. The PM said the talks, ahead of a Nato summit in Warsaw in July, were focused on the fight against terror, the migrant crisis in the Aegean, the need to 'stand up strongly and firmly against Russian aggression' in Ukraine, and the situations in Libya and Afghanistan. While he did not mention the UK's upcoming referendum on EU membership, Mr Cameron made a point of stressing the 28-nation bloc's role in preserving stability. Mr Cameron said: 'I'm sure we will be talking about the co-operation between the EU and Nato, because these are both important for our security and for our stability, for Britain's strength and power in the world and indeed for fighting the terrorism we face from Daesh.' After the meeting, Mr Cameron's official spokeswoman said: 'They talked about the role the EU and Nato play alongside each other tackling some of the challenges that we face - whether that is looking at migration where we have been able to use Nato resources to help support numbers in the Aegean but it is a EU-led Naval mission that is currently working in the Central Mediterranean.' Mr Stoltenberg, left in No 10 today, warned a more fragmented Europe would be bad for security but declined to give British voters a specific recommendation ahead of the June 23 referendum Security concerns have been a focus of debate in the referendum campaign to date. Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn yesterday raised fears that Brexit would leave Britain at risk from terrorists and 'infiltrators'. He insisted the security case for remaining in the European Union at June's referendum was clear. For the Leave campaign, Tory defence minister Penny Mordaunt has insisted quitting the European Union would 'risk nothing' and could enhance Britain's security - echoing calls for Brexit from Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6. Speaking to the BBC last week, Ms Mordaunt said: 'We risk nothing by taking back control of our borders and our laws that underpin this framework. 'It's not a gamble. Staying in is a gamble, because this is only going to get worse. We have to take back control. That is what is required to keep our nation safe.' 'Jeremy Corbyn is going to make a major speech on Europe this week, so you will see us now really taking the lead in this campaign because it is such a serious matter and it is about Labour voters, but it's also about large numbers of young people who want to look to the future.' Australian journalist Peter Greste says Tara Brown and the 60 Minutes news crew currently detained in a Lebanese jail must face prison as a mind game. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the veteran correspondent who was detained in an Egyptian jail in a highly publicised case said public opinion and awareness would play a major role in the outcome of the case held in Lebanon. Brown, three other members of the 60 Minutes television crew and mother Sally Faulkner have been remanded in custody after they were individually questioned by a judge on Wednesday over their involvement in the alleged kidnapping of the Brisbane mother's two children Noah, four, and Lahela, six, from a Beirut bus stop last week. Scroll down for video 'Prison is all about psychology and to mess with your head' - Australian journalist Peter Greste has a message for Tara Brown and the 60 Minutes news crew currently detained in a Lebanese jail The veteran correspondent who was detained in an Egyptian jail in highly publicised case said public opinion and awareness would play a major role in the outcome of the case held in Lebanon 'Prison is all about psychology and to mess with your head,' Mr Greste said. 'The message (for the 60 Minutes news team), would be to focus on the short term, rather than the long term - deal with the hurdles that are in front of them, rather than look beyond that. 'Because in the long term there are so many unknowns, the only thing you can do is work toward the next challenge. '(When you're at) the centre of the storm there is very little you can do except for be psychologically strong. 'It took me a while to figure this out, this is principally a mind game.' The Al Jazeera English correspondent was detained with two colleagues in an Egyptian jail convicted of aiding a terrorist organisation while reporting in Cairo in December 2013. He was released after 400 days in prison which included one month in solitary confinement. Brown, her colleagues and mother Sally Faulkner have been remanded in custody after they were individually questioned by a judge on Wednesday Veteran reporter, Stephen Rice (left), David Ballment (centre) and Benjamin Williamson (right) are also caught up in the kidnapping scandal The group stand accused of kidnapping Ms Faulkner's two children Noah, four, and Lahela, six Brown and Ms Faulkner have been shuffled between cells at Baabda Women's Prison The Al Jazeera English correspondent was detained with two colleagues in an Egyptian jail convicted of aiding a terrorist organisation while reporting in Cairo in December 2013. Mr Greste expected the detained news crew would receive adequate treatment in prison, compared to that of Lebanese imprisoned counterparts Brown, who has reported from dangerous hot spots such as Syria, has been charged along with her crew of child kidnap, criminal conspiracy, assault and witholding information. Mr Greste expected the detained news crew would receive adequate treatment in prison, compared to that of Lebanese imprisoned counterparts. 'In the short term, if Lebanon is like Egypt in any respects, the degree of public attention will guarantee and put a lot of pressure on Lebanese authorities (to look after them),' Mr Greste said. 'We were certainly treated better than most Egyptian prisoners, by Egyptian standards, it wasnt a catwalk by any standards. 'But they will probably get a better run than your average Lebanese prisoner.' Mr Greste's highly publicised case with the two other Al Jazeera journalists, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, prompted widespread global outcry. The #freeajstaff hashtag received more than three billion impressions on Twitter. Brown, who has reported from dangerous hot spots such as Syria, has been charged along with her crew of child kidnap, criminal conspiracy, assault and witholding information A police wagon transports Australian kidnapping suspects Sally Faulkner, the mother of two Lebanese-Australian children, and Australian TV presenter Tara Brown to a women's prison Ms Faulkner and the 60 Minutes crew have been questioned twice by a judge at Baabda Court House (pictured) Faulkner's two children, Noah and Lahela, were returned to their father, Ali Elamine (pictured) He said the case would only affect diplomatic relations between the two nations if it was seen to be held entirely independently Mr Greste's highly publicised case with the two other Al Jazeera journalists, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, prompted widespread global pressure He said public debate and opinion will play a major factor in the 60 Minutes case, but noted that Channel 9 have so far chosen to solely cooperate with the investigation. 'The public opinion is more complicated than my case. There will be a lot of very vocal opinions, that will make it a highly politicized case and will complicate things. 'But if your reputation is strong, and your professional ethics have been sound, you are much more likely to get strong public support.' He said the case would only affect diplomatic relations between the two nations if it was not seen to be held entirely independently. Pointing towards Brown's seniority as a journalist who has covered stories that have involved a degree of peril he said all journalists assess the possibilities of something going wrong. 'I've always said to my family that if something goes wrong, that Im aware of the possibility of something going wrong, and I'm prepared for it.' A high-profile Donald Trump supporter has claimed he has evidence that Bill and Hillary Clinton 'murdered' John F Kennedy Jnr because he had planned to run for the same senate seat in New York as the former First Lady. Roger Stone, who has written books attacking the Clintons in the past, said his next piece of work will prove the involvement of Bill and Hillary in the demise of JFK jnr. Kennedy was flying his wife Carolyn Bessettee Kennedy and her sister Lauren Bessettein his Piper Saratoga II aircraft on July 16, 1999 when it crashed into the ocean near Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. Scroll down for video Trump supporter Roger Stone, who was a former political aide to Richard Nixon said his new book would feature evidence linking the death of John F Kennedy Jnr in July 1999 to Bill and Hillary Clinton Roger Stone, pictured, claimed the Clinton's murdered JFK Jnr because he was planning a senate campaign in the same New York seat that had been identified by Hillary and the former first lady feared she would lose Former President Bill Clinton, pictured left campaigning in Maryland, and Hillary, right, pictured campaigning in New York at separate events have so far not responded to Stone's outlandish conspiracy theory The National Transportation Safety Board reported that Kennedy lost control of the aircraft in challenging conditions at night while flying over the ocean. The official report said: 'The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during a descent over water at night, which was a result of spatial disorientation. Factors in the accident were haze and the dark night.' However, conspiracy theorist Stone claimed: 'I have a book coming up, in which I make the case that John F. Kennedy Jr. was murdered and he was murdered by the Clintons, because he was in the way. Now, I have extraordinary new evidence that nobody else has seen.' According to Salon, Stone made the claim to fellow conspiracy theorist James Fetzer. Stone had previously written 'The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ' and 'The Clintons' War on Women'. In a series of tweets, Stone claimed 'The murder of JFK Jr will be the subject of my next book. JFK Jr was planning on running for NY senate seat @hillaryclinton wanted. Poor b******.' However, the NTSB, which investigated the crash looked into JFK Jr's flying qualifications. John F Kennedy Jr, right, and his wife Carolyn, left, along with her sister died in the July 1999 crash Roger Stone is well known among US right-wing conspiracy theorists for his outlandish claims He told his fans that his next book will show how Kennedy's plans to run for the senate prompted her move Kennedy sought weather forecasts and planned to fly to Martha's Vineyard during the day but departed at night. He flew approximately 30 miles over water. He was a relatively inexperienced pilot with only 310 hours in the cockpit - 55 hours of which were at night. Experts believe Kennedy, who had only completed about 50 per cent of an instrument rating course, lost his bearings and unable to see the horizon spiraled out of control into the ocean. Inspectors could not find any prior problems in the aircraft's airframe, systems, avionics and engine which could help explain the catastrophe. The Clinton campaign has not responded to a request from MailOnline to comment on the allegations. Earlier, Stone claimed he knew how to guarantee Trump's success in July's Republican convention, preventing the party hierarchy from scuppering the billionaire businessman's presidential plan. Stone wants to send peasants with pitchforks to the hotel rooms of delegates. Appearing on a podcast, Stone claimed he wanted to 'disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates who are directly involved in the steal. Kennedy was flying in a Piper Saratoga II when he lost control of the aircraft and spiraled into the ocean 'If you're from Pennsylvania, we'll tell you who the culprits are. We urge you to visit their hotel and find them,' he said on Freedomain Radio. 'You have a right to discuss this if you voted in the Pennsylvania primary, for example, and your votes are being disallowed. Stone, a longtime aide to the late U.S. president Richard Nixon, was a Trump insider until early August when he left the real estate tycoon's campaign, but has been an outspoken supporter ever since. His books include a lengthy expose of 'The Clintons' War on Women' and a nonfiction title that explores whether President Lyndon Johnson had John F. Kennedy killed. He was also the only person quoted last month in a National Enquirer story that linked Trump rival Sen. Ted Cruz with allegations of five extramarital affairs. Cruz vehemently denied the charges, and openly questioned whether Stone and Trump ever really parted ways. 'Roger Stone remains the henchman, the hatchet man, the enforcer for Donald Trump,' the second-place White House hopeful said March 27 on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'Hes pushing these attacks. And by the way, hes been pushing them for many months.' President Bill Clinton, left, invited JFK Jr, right, into the Oval Office several times while president A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Stone sketched out a scenario in Monday's interview that would see Trump falling short of the 1,237 delegates he needs in order to clinch the presidential nomination before the Cleveland, Ohio convention. 'If Trump does not run the table on the rest of the primaries and the caucuses, we're looking at a very, very narrow path in which the kingmakers go all out to cheat, to steal, and to snatch this nomination from the candidate who is overwhelmingly selected by the voters,' he told host Stefan Molyneux. 'I have urged Trump supporters: come to Cleveland. March on Cleveland. Join us in the Forest City,' Stone continued. 'We're going to have protests, demonstrations.' Media Matters for America, an aggressive liberal message group that tracks news reports and interviews which are favorable to Republicans, first surfaced the interview on Tuesday. The Republican National Committee has said no plot exists to sideline Trump, pointing instead to an established procedure that could throw open a 'contested' convention to a floor fight for delegates if the billionaire fails to cinch the prize on the first vote. As Cruz makes headway, winning state-level elections and deploying a strong ground game to collect delegates in states without traditional popular voting, Trump's window for an early victory has become progressively more narrow. Should the Texas senator claim a majority of delegates in Wisconsin on Tuesday, for instance, Trump would need to win more than 56 per cent of the remaining delegates that are up-for-grabs in order to reach his goal before the July convention. Insider close to Russian leader said the pair's relationship was 'serious' Appearance came after rumours Deng had been dating Vladimir Putin Wendi Deng dazzled alongside stars on the red carpet at the opening night of the Tribeca Film Festival. The 47-year-old Chinese businesswoman stunned in a metallic dress as she posed for pictures with Vogue editor Anna Wintour and American socialite Derek Blasberg at the world premiere of the 'The First Monday In May'. Her appearance comes just days after reports emerged claiming she was in a relationship with Vladimir Putin. Dressed in a floor-length metallic floral gown, Deng (right) posed up a storm alongside Vogue editor Anna Wintour (left) and Vogue director of special events, Sylvana Ward Durrett (centre) She stunned in her floor length iridescent Christopher Kane gown and eye-catching royal blue feathered stilettos (right) Anna Wintour opened the festival with the premiere of 'The First Monday in May', a behind-the-scenes film which documents the preparations for the annual Met Gala. Dressed in a floor-length metallic Christopher Kane gown, Deng posed up a storm alongside writer and socialite Derek Blasberg and Vogue director of special events, Sylvana Ward Durrett. She paired her stunning iridescent dress with a pair of royal blue feathered stilettos. It was her first public appearance following rumours she was in a 'serious' relationship with the Russian leader. Earlier this month, US Weekly reported that Deng and Putin, 63, were dating after speaking to an insider close to the Russian leader, who said the relationship between the two had become 'serious.' Her appearance comes after reports the businesswoman was in a relationship with Vladimir Putin Wendi Deng with writer and socialite Derek Blasberg (left) and Vogue director of special events, Sylvana Ward Durrett (right) Deng has just returned from a holiday on the Caribbean island of St Barts aboard the yacht of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich - a close friend of Putin. The pair are both divorced, after Deng and her husband Rupert Murdoch split in 2013 and Putin separated a year later from his wife of 30 years, Lyudmila Putina. Deng and her ex have two daughters,Grace, 14, and Chloe, 12, while Putin and his wife also have two daughters, Maria, 30, and Yekaterina, 29. Putin was linked to Russian gymnast Alina Kabaeva after his split, and there have been claims that he fathered two children with her, but the Kremlin and Kabayeva have strongly denied these claims. Earlier this year, Deng's ex-husband media mogul Rupert Murdoch married Jerry Hall (pictured) in an idyllic ceremony in London's Fleet Street There were also allegations the two had been together since as early as 2008, but those claims were also strongly denied. Murdoch filed for divorce from Deng after 14 years of marriage citing irreconcilable differences, with some reports at the time claiming he had grown suspicious of his wife's relationship with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is the godfather of their daughter Grace. At least one woman has died and several others remain trapped under rubble after a building collapsed at a Tenerife tourist resort next to a tapas bar popular with Britons. The four-storey block in Los Cristianos gave way around 9.40am and emergency crews are at the scene as part of a major rescue operation. Rescuers with dogs were still at the scene late tonight searching the debris for survivors - officials said nine people are still unaccounted for out of the building's 28 occupants. A local said he heard an explosion before the building collapsed, prompting speculation there had been a gas leak, although other reports said there had been work going on in one of the flats. Scroll down for video The four-storey block in Los Cristianos gave way around 9.40am this morning and emergency crews are at the scene as part of a major rescue operation A local said he heard an explosion before the building collapsed, prompting speculation there had been a gas leak, although other reports said there had been work going on in one of the flats Firefighters work through debris after a building partially collapsed in the village of Los Cristianos, Tenerife Witness Tino Ponte said: 'Everyone was covered in dust. People were running all over the place and some were crying. Everyone appeared desperate and terrified. 'When I reached the scene a few minutes after the collapse, it looked like a bomb had gone off. People thought at first that it had been a terrorist attack. It was total chaos.' The block is understood to include some flats which are let out to holidaymakers. Police confirmed an elderly woman had been found dead among the ruins of the collapsed building. A Police spokesman said: 'We don't know her nationality yet. She appears to be around 75.' It is not yet known if any British tourists are involved, but it is believed a number of foreigners may have been inside the building because it is a tourist area. A spokeswoman for local firefighters said families had tried and failed to contact missing relatives. 'These are people who are not answering the telephone, we can't say that they are in the building, but the truth is that right now their families have not been able to contact them,' she said. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: 'We are in contact with local authorities and urgently seeking more information following a building collapse in Tenerife.' A man who was in a neighbouring jewellery shop and a 50-year-old woman are thought to be among those who have been rescued and taken to nearby hospitals. One witness told a local radio station: 'We heard a creaking noise and this huge cloud of smoke appeared from nowhere.' Another claimed to have smelt gas before hearing an explosion. The block is understood to include some flats which are let out to holidaymakers. Javier Velazquez, 58, owner of the Hide Away pub who lives in a flat above his bar next to the affected building, said: 'My whole terrace has been obliterated. A man who was in a neighbouring jewellery shop and a 50-year-old woman are thought to be among those who have been rescued and taken to nearby hospitals The building that collapsed is near the centre of Los Cristianos. It is currently high season in the Canary Islands 'No-one was on the terrace because I don't open till 5pm but if this had happened in the evening, it would have been far worse. 'Around a third of my customers are British and 95 per cent are Europeans from places like Italy, Belgium and Scandinavia. 'The noise when the building collapsed was tremendous. There was work going on in an old commercial premises on the first floor and I fear what's happened could be something to do with that. 'There were three separate collapses with the second being the loudest. After the third - and when the huge cloud of smoke cleared - I saw a woman shouting in Spanish who appeared trapped and who I've subsequently been told has died. 'I'm not aware of any Britons living permanently in the block affected but there's a lot of British people who use a supermarket nearby and would have to pass by it to reach the supermarket. 'I've decided to leave the area with my wife and pet dog. It's been a tremendous shock.' The building that collapsed is near the centre of Los Cristianos. It is currently high season in the Canary Islands. A military emergency response unit sent sniffer dogs to the scene who were working inside the building this afternoon Two people are feared dead and others trapped under rubble after a building collapsed at Los Cristianos in Tenerife Los Cristianos, located in the municipality of Arona, is like its bustling neighbour Playa de las Americas one of the islands' most popular tourist resorts. A police spokesman, speaking at 12.10pm local time, said: 'I am aware of the local reports talking about two dead but all we can confirm at the moment is that three people have been slightly injured and have received medical attention. 'I have no information on any fatalities from the emergency workers who are at the scene. 'They are trying to secure a wall which is part of the building that has remained in place and specialised firefighters will enter when it is secured. 'Only then will we know for sure if there are any fatalities or anyone trapped inside.' Arona mayor Jose Julian Mena said he was unable to confirm anyone was trapped inside the collapsed building, although nine people were said to be unaccounted for. A military emergency response unit sent sniffer dogs to the scene who were working inside the building this afternoon. Los Cristianos, located in the municipality of Arona, is like its bustling neighbour Playa de las Americas one of the islands' most popular tourist resorts (file picture) Three people confirmed as injured included two women aged 57 and 55 and a 28-year-old man. Their nationalities are not known. The 55-year-woman was treated for a panic attack. One local resident, who asked to to be named, said the wife of a friend of his was inside the building but not answering her mobile. He said the 35-year-old had returned to her flat after taking her children to school. Several hotels in the area have offered to put up residents affected by the collapse, which has prompted the evacuation of neighbouring buildings as a precaution. Witness Tino Ponte said: 'Everyone was covered in dust. People were running all over the place and some were crying. Everyone appeared desperate and terrified. 'When I reached the scene a few minutes after the collapse, it looked like a bomb had gone off. A runaway chimpanzee in Japan was shot with a tranquiliser gun only to hang precariously from a power line before falling to the ground and surviving in a drama shown live on national television. The chimp, 24-year-old Chacha, escaped from Sendai Yagiyama Zoological Park with keepers in hot pursuit but climbed up an electricity pole. Zoo officials shot the chimp with the tranquiliser which eventually kicked in and caused him to lose his footing, though he managed to grab hold of a power line with one hand. Chacha, the male chimp, screams at a worker as he desperately to avoid being captured Chacha really did not look pleased at the situation A runaway chimpanzee in Japan was shot with a tranquiliser gun only to hang precariously from a power line before falling to the ground and surviving in a drama shown live on national television Bid for freedom: The chimp escaped from Sendai Yagiyama Zoological Park with keepers in hot pursuit but climbed up an electricity pole Seconds later however Chacha lost his grip and fell, live footage on Japanese TV showed. Chacha bounced off a lower cable before plummeting headfirst towards the ground where waiting rescuers tried to break the fall with a plastic sheet. He was then wrapped in a blanket before being placed into a zoo ambulance. 'Chacha is coming to from the tranquiliser,' Zoo staffer Toshikazu Abe told AFP. 'Despite the fall, he was unhurt and there is no threat to his life,' he added. 'We are investigating why he escaped.' Every year a Tokyo zoo stages a drill where a keeper dresses as an animal and stages an escape, giving zoo workers the opportunity to hone their techniques. Chacha was more fortunate than a zebra which escaped from a Tokyo zoo last month, its bid for freedom ending in death when it collapsed in a water trap after also being shot with a tranquiliser. Fire! Zoo officials shot the chimp with the tranquiliser which eventually kicked in and caused him to lose his footing, though he managed to grab hold of a power line with one hand. Chacha falls off an electric pole, after being hit by a sedative arrow Enraged: Seconds later however Chacha lost his grip and fell, live footage on Japanese TV showed Falling: Chacha bounced off a lower cable before plummeting headfirst towards the ground where waiting rescuers tried to break the fall with a plastic sheet The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were furious to hear a rhino was gunned down by poachers with AK-47s just hours after they visited an Indian reserve to raise awareness of endangered species. Poachers killed the male rhino in Kaziranga National Park in Assam using high-powered assault rifles - and 88 empty cases fired from AK-47s were found lying near the slain creature. Forest officials said they heard a burst of gunfire at about 11:10pm on Wednesday, just hours after the royal couple had driven through the park in an open jeep, with security vehicles escorting them. Scroll down for video Poachers shot dead a rhinoceros at Kaziaranga National park hours after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge went on safari there to raise awareness about the endangered animals The rhino was killed about 20km (12.5 miles) away from the Diphlu River Lodge where Prince William and Princess Kate stayed on Wednesday night, before leaving for Bhutan on Thursday morning Forest officials said they heard a burst of gunfire at about 11:10pm on Wednesday, just hours after the royal couple had driven through the park in an open jeep, with security vehicles escorting them Following the callous shooting the Royal couple released the following statement: 'The Duke and Duchess were angry to hear about the killing of this rhino during their visit. 'They hope their time in Kaziranga encourages others to support the brave rangers that are protecting animals that are so important to the communities that surround the national park.' The rhino was killed about 20km (12.5 miles) away from the Diphlu River Lodge where Prince William and Princess Kate stayed on Wednesday night, before leaving for Bhutan on Thursday morning. Poachers killed a female rhino just two days before the royal visit. The horns of both that female and the male killed on the day of the Royal visit were hacked off by poachers. The poachers shot the female rhinoceros and, while it was still alive, sawed off its horn before fleeing before dawn Sunday, wildlife official Subasis Das said. A forest official shows the empty AK-47 cartridges, which were recovered near the dead rhino A forest official makes the shape of a rhino using the empty cartridges of the weapons used to kill it Once the dying animal was discovered, park officials rushed to try to save it but were unsuccessful, he said. Six rhinos have been poached at the sanctuary so far this year, after 20 were killed in 2015. M.K. Yadava a former director of the Kazrianga Park said: 'It is war against poachers and sometime we win, but many times we lose due to scarcity of resources.' The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were hoping for an encounter with rhinos and elephants as they set off on Safari at the Kaziranga National Park in Assam on the fourth day of their week-long tour to Indian and Bhutan All five of the world's rhino species are under constant threat from poachers seeking their horns to sell on the black market. Demand is high in countries such as China and Vietnam, where people mistakenly believe consuming rhino horns can increase male potency. The 480-square-kilometer grassland park is home to the world's largest population of rare, one-horned rhinos, as well as other endangered species including swamp deer and the Hoolock gibbon. The Royal pair travelled in an open-air jeep on their safari trip around the National Park Look over there! Prince William and the guide appear to be pointing out a passing creature to and excited Kate One cheeky rhino blocked the royal procession's pathway as they made their way through the reserve Armed with large bottles of milk, the The Duke and Duchess fed the hungry animals during a trip to a sanctuary in Kaziranga National Park in Assam. The calves were clearly impatient to get their meal and bellowed when they first saw rangers approaching with the flasks. The couple were touring Kaziranga National Park home to elephants, water buffalo, the endangered swamp deer, tigers, and two-thirds of the world's population of Indian one-horned rhinoceroses. Poachers killed a female rhino just two days before the royal visit. The horns of both that female and the male (pictured) killed on the day of the Royal visit were hacked off by poachers Poachers shot the rhinoceros and, while it was still alive, sawed off its horn before fleeing before dawn Sunday, wildlife official Subasis Das said The park in the state of Assam, in the north east of India, is a unique mix of grasslands, wetlands and forest and is more than 800,000 square kilometres in size and has designated a Unesco World Heritage Site. William, who is a passionate conservationist, and Kate were introduced to the group of young animals at Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC). It provides emergency care and rehabilitation for wild animals that have been injured, displaced, or orphaned. Prince William (centre) feeds baby elephants as a rhino calf looks on at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation The Duke and Duchess were touring Kaziranga National Park, home to elephants, water buffalo, the endangered swamp deer, tigers, and two-thirds of the world's population of Indian one-horned rhinoceroses The park in the state of Assam in the north east of India is a unique mix of grasslands, wetlands and forest and is more than 800,000 square kilometres in size and has designated a Unesco World Heritage Site In a large area of grassland and sparse woodland the baby animals had gathered under the shade of a tree waiting for the royal couple who walked towards them. The maternal instincts of the Cambridges - who left their two children at home before setting off on their Indian tour - came to the fore during the encounter. Kate admitted that she was 'terribly missing' her own children after four days away, adding that Prince George was 'too naughty' to bring on the trip because the two-year-old 'would be running all over the place'. The maternal instincts of the Cambridges - who left their two children at home before setting off on their Indian tour - came to the fore during the encounter Learning on the job: William and Kate chat to forest officials about the national park Conservation: The Cambridges are shown information about the work done at the park by their guides David Cameron has joined forces with Labour and Liberal Democrat grandees to campaign for Britain to stay in the European Union. The Prime Minister engaged in some phone canvassing with former party leaders Neil Kinnock and Paddy Ashdown at the headquarters of Stronger In. The session - which also included Labour ex-minister Dame Tessa Jowell and the Green Party's Darren Johnson - came as the referendum battle intensified ahead of the formal start of the campaign tomorrow, when spending limits and other rules kick in. David Cameron and former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Paddy Ashdown do some phone canvassing at the Stronger In heaquarters Ex-Labour leader Lord Kinnock, right, takes some notes as Mr Cameron admires the efforts of his colleague Lord Ashdown Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has ruled out sharing a platform with the premier in the run-up to the crucial ballot on June 23. But he did make his first major intervention in the campaign today, giving the EU a fairly grudging endorsement during a speech in central London. Arguing that the UK should stay in the union 'warts and all', Mr Corbyn stressed that his party 'overwhelmingly' supports membership. 'Over the years I have been critical of many decisions taken by the EU, and I remain critical of its shortcomings; from its lack of democratic accountability to the institutional pressure to deregulate or privatise public services,' he said. Mr Cameron donned his spectacles as the cross-party team began their work in earnest 'So Europe needs to change. But that change can only come from working with our allies in the EU. Its perfectly possible to be critical and still be convinced we need to remain a member.' The Labour leader dismissed concerns that immigration was too high, saying it was crucial to keep the NHS running. 'No, I don't think too many have come,' he said. Mr Corbyn's aides prompted fury among Labour MPs yesterday by criticising the government's 9million pro-EU mailshot. The Prime Minister celebrated the cross-party effort with a post on Twitter A spokesman echoed Tory complaints by saying it was unfair to use taxpayers' cash to promote only one side of the campaign. Anxiety among Remain supporters has been further heightened by a new YouGov poll suggesting Mr Cameron's trust ratings on Europe have been plummeting. Just 21 per cent of the public regard him as trustworthy on the referendum issue, down eight points since February, according to the research for The Times. Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn's figures have risen two points to 28 per cent. The survey found the result of the crucial ballot on June 23 is on a knife edge - with those who had decided which way to vote split 50-50. Mr Cameron shares a joke with Lord Ashdown Lord Kinnock during the session British lecturer Hilary St John Bower, who went missing in China more than two weeks ago, was murdered hours after crossing into the country, police have confirmed A British lecturer who was murdered after he crossed the border from Hong Kong into China may have been killed because of his tangled love life. Hilary St John Bower, 60, was travelling home to the city of Shenzhen, where he lived with his girlfriend and six-year-old son Matthew on March 22, when he disappeared. Police were not notified of Mr Bower's disappearance until March 30 - more than a week after he was killed. It is unclear exactly why the lecturer at Hong Kong's Polytechnic University was killed, but it is believed his death was linked to a property deal or his complex private life. He had recently closed a deal on an 800,000 property deal in the former British colony. A number of local media outlets have reported Mr Bower's murder could be due to his complicated personal relationships. Along with his girlfriend, who is in her thirties, the lecturer had close relations with three Chinese women, with whom he drank with at Shenzhen nightclubs, the Times reported. Richard Charles, a colleague of Mr Bower, described police on both sides of the border as 'shoddy and shambolic' in their handling of the case so far, the South China Morning Post reported. 'I find it unbelievable that Hilary's friends and colleagues have had to find out from the media about this. We are in shock and are extremely upset,' he said. Mr Charles suggested the death could have been over a 'complicated' deal, which was reportedly over a property in an industrial district in Shenzhen. He said: 'I do know that after buying at the bottom of the property market a good few years ago, he was expecting to be paid somewhere in the region of 821,000.' Mr Bower is not believed to have ever received any of the cash from his deal. Mr Bower, who was originally from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, had been employed at the Polytechnic University since 1996. He was due to finish work at the institution when he went missing more than three weeks ago. Mr Charles told The Telegraph Mr Bower had been 'very, very happy to be retiring' and added: 'He was really looking forward to being able to spend more time with his son.' The 60-year-old, who recently closed a 820,000 property deal, was travelling from Hong Kong to visit his girlfriend and six-year-old son Matthew at the end of March when he disappeared Officers have not yet given a motive for the murder, which they believe happened shortly after 5pm near Shenzhen, which is just across the Chinese border, on March 30. Above, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where Mr Bower worked Following his disappearance, Mr Bower's brother, Robin, who is based in the UK, alerted the police in Britain, according to The Telegraph. A UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said: 'We are providing assistance to the family of a British national reported missing in southern China and are urgently seeking further information from local authorities.' 'Police have received notification from mainland relevant authorities that he was killed on the night of March 22,' a Hong Kong police statement said. A police source told AFP it was 'possibly a murder' but there had been no confirmation from mainland counterparts. The Hong Kong police are seeking further details from Chinese authorities and investigations are continuing. Murders of foreigners are extremely rare in China, though the murder in 2011 of another British man, Neil Heywood triggered one of the country's biggest political scandals in decades. Ismet Porcic (pictured) alleges his former best friend Gabriel Zacharia stole and claimed his winning lottery ticket in September 2014 A man who supposedly missed out on a $3.5 million lottery fortune after losing his ticket has accused his former best friend of swiping his winning docket. Ismet Porcic, from Melbourne, claims he purchased the winning Tattslotto ticket from Essendon Roundabout Newsagency on the night of the jackpot on September 20, 2014, The Age reported. The plasterer alleges he is one of the six punters who won the $21 million division one prize pool but his former fishing buddy Gabriel Zacharia had taken his entry and claimed it. Mr Porcic has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court against Tattersalls, demanding the gaming giant to release CCTV footage from the newsagency of where he bought the ticket. The Preston man claims he was helping his friend renovate the A1 Bakery in Essendon when he placed the ticket on the table of Mr Zacharia's office. He didn't realise the ticket was missing until he saw a television news bulletin report claiming one of the winners had purchased the ticket from the same newsagency. Claims he purchased the entry from Essendon Roundabout Newsagency (pictured) on the night of the jackpot The plasterer alleges he is one of the six punters who won the $21 million division one prize pool (stock image) Mr Porcic has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court (pictured) against Tattersalls, demanding the gaming giant to release CCTV footage from the newsagency where he bought the ticket Mr Porcic claims be remembered leaving his ticket at the bakery, in which he returned to see his friend so he could show him the security footage from the day he was in the store. 'Gabriel told me that the security camera in his office was not working that evening. At this point, I started to become suspicious of Gabriel,' the affidavit said. Mr Porcic alleges he grew suspicious that his friend of almost 10 years stole his ticket when he noticed 'Gabriel's strange behaviour'. He claims when he lodged a form to the gaming giant about the lost ticket, Tattersalls said he was not the buyer of the winning ticket following an investigation. Judges have issued a landmark ruling preventing a mother calling her baby daughter Cyanide because it was the poison that killed Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wanted to call her baby daughter 'Cyanide' - because that was the poison that killed Hitler. The mother - who also chose the name 'Preacher' for the girl's twin brother - insisted that she had a human right to name her own children. 'Cyanide', she said, was a 'lovely, pretty name' and had positive connotations as the poison which ended the lives of both Hitler and Goebbels. Judges in the Court of Appeal, pictured, made a landmark ruling to prevent a woman naming her child Cyanide Lady Justice King, pictured, said that naming a little girl after a 'notorious poison' was simply unacceptable But, in the first case of its kind, Appeal Court judges ruled that it was too 'extreme' and that the mother's 'unusual' choices might harm her children. The twins, who are eight months' old, and two of their half-siblings are now living with foster parents - who call them 'Harrie' and 'Annie' - after they were removed from their mother's care. WHAT'S IN A NAME? UK'S LIBERAL RULES Compared to the rest of Europe, the UK has fairly liberal rules on what you can and can't name a child. General Register Office rules say the only restrictions parents face are names that are deemed so offensive that a person responsible for registering it would refuse to do so. Therefore parents can, and do, call their children a variety of weird and wonderful names, from car makes like Mercedes and Porsche, to fictional characters like Gandalf and Superman, and even after football clubs. But countries including Iceland, Germany and Spain all publish lists of approved names from which parents can select. The most common reason for names being banned is Europe is to save a child potential future embarrassment, although it can also be down to causing confusion or to ensure they are gender specific. Many countries also ban children from having numbers in their names, such as when a New Zealand couple were prevented from calling their son '4real'. But in the UK numbers are permitted, with Queen Mary University of London's Prof Perri 6 being one of the most famous examples. Advertisement When Powys County Council social workers learnt of the names the mother had chosen for the twins, they took the case to court in an unprecedented step. And, in June last year, a judge issued an injunction against the mother, forbidding her from formally registering the twins' unorthodox forenames. Her lawyers appealed, insisting that the refusal to let her name her own children violated her right to respect for family life. But Lady Justice King, sitting with Lady Justice Gloster and Lord Justice David Richards, said that naming a little girl after a 'notorious poison' was simply unacceptable. Although there was nothing seriously objectionable about the name 'Preacher', she ruled that both twins' names should be chosen by their older half-siblings. The judge said that, 'even allowing for changes in taste, fashion and developing individual perception', 'Cyanide' was a very odd name to give to a baby girl. The mother said 'Preacher' was a 'rather cool name' which sent a 'strong spiritual' message and which would 'stand my son well for the future'. Cyanide, she said, was linked with flowers and plants and was 'responsible for killing Hitler and Goebbels and I consider that this was a good thing'. Due to the impasse, it had been impossible to formally name the twins so their foster parents fell back on calling them 'Harry' and 'Annie' or just by 'terms of endearment'. Lady Justice King said the courts would intervene to prevent a parent naming a child 'in only the most extreme cases'. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wanted to call her child Cyanide because it killed Nazis Adolf Hitler, left, and Joseph Goebbels, right But she ruled: 'This is one of those rare cases where the court should intervene to protect the girl twin from emotional harm that I am satisfied she would suffer if called 'Cyanide'. While growing up, the girl would anyway 'have to come to terms with the fact' with the fact that her mother had tried to 'name her after a notorious poison'. 'Preacher', although unusual, was not as bad as 'Cyanide', but the judge ruled it was in both twins' interests that that names should be chosen by their half-siblings. The mother has a chaotic history of mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse and relationships with abusive men, said Lady Justice King. A builder who did up the 315,000 flat bought in his girlfriend's name is suing for the 60,000 value of his work following their breakup. Gareth Powell, 31, and Chloe Thomas, 28, had planned to do up the flat they shared near London's Wandsworth Common and sell it for a healthy profit. Advertising executive Miss Thomas had the available funds to buy the flat in 2012, and self-employed Mr Powell had little cash, but it was agreed he would do the work to make the 'uninhabitable' property fit for sale. Builder Gareth Powell, 31, (left) who did up the 315,000 flat bought in his girlfriend Chloe Thomas's name is suing for the 60,000 value of his work following their breakup. Miss Thomas, 28, is pictured with her mother Heather, who encouraged the couple to sign a contract protecting their interests if their relationship ended However, because the apartment was in Miss Thomas's sole name, Mr Powell was left without a penny for his efforts when the couple split up in 2014. She still owns the flat, which is now worth around 450,000. He is now suing for payment of the 60,000 he says he is owed, claiming his former girlfriend betrayed him by going back on an agreement that he would be entitled to a third of the profit if their relationship ended. 'The discussions we had were that we would embark on this venture together,' he told Judge Heather Baucher at Central London County Court. 'We were going to do up this property and sell it to acquire another one.' The court heard the couple, who had been together for eight years, decided to buy the flat towards the end of 2012. They agreed that, because he was unable to contribute to the purchase price, Mr Powell would use his skills to renovate the apartment. He told the judge the flat was 'uninhabitable'. There was very poor water pressure, no heating, and the couple suffered a freezing winter when they moved in. Advertising executive Miss Thomas had the available funds to buy the flat near Wandsworth Common (pictured) in 2012, and it was agreed that self-employed Mr Powell would do the work to make the 'uninhabitable' property fit for sale Using cash loaned by his parents, he spent more than 14,000 on materials, which he then used to bring the flat up to scratch. A brand new kitchen was installed and a dilapidated bathroom was converted into a wet room, he told the court. He said he had been approached by Miss Thomas's mum, Heather, in February 2013 and asked to sign a contract to protect both of their interests. He had discussed the contract with Miss Thomas and they had decided it would be in their interests to sign. But, giving evidence, Miss Thomas denied ever having done so. She said her mother had suggested the contract, but that she was vehemently opposed to it. When she found out it had been drawn up and Gareth had signed, she was livid. 'I was angry that he would get any share, because it was entirely my property,' she told the judge. Mr Powell's barrister, Robert Deacon, accused Miss Thomas of lying in the witness box, putting to her that she knew about the contract because they had discussed it and she had signed. 'That's not true, I didn't,' she replied. 'Why would I sign something I was completely against? The only person that was for this was my mother. 'I didn't see the need for it. I didn't think Gareth would ever claim any part of the property.' Miss Thomas's mother told the judge she had arranged for the contract because she wanted to protect her daughter, saying it was an 'option if things went bad'. However, Miss Thomas was against it, did not sign and, when it caused friction in the family, she tore up the copy that Mr Powell did sign. Mr Deacon suggested that she had only torn up the document because she did not want the contract coming to light after the couple's breakup. But she responded: 'I tore it up about a year before because I was trying to get the relationship back on track.' Miss Thomas's barrister Nicholas Trompeter said Mr Powell was a 31-year-old man, now living with his parents, who had not worked full-time since 2010. 'One of the issues in this case is who paid for the materials used in order to improve the flat,' he said. 'There is some doubt as to whether you were ever in a position to pay for anything.' Mr Powell said he had received the cash from his parents as a loan. Police are now investigating the firm over an allegation of fraud Lisa Purdon, 27, has not had her 695 dancefloor delivered two days before her big day Louise Fagan, 25, paid 550 for wedding services which were not provided Women claim they have been let down by La-Belle-Mariee Weddings Several brides claim they have been left in the lurch days before their weddings after the company they hired to plan their big days apparently disappeared. La-Belle-Mariee Weddings is under investigation by police over allegations that the firm has defrauded customers who handed over hundreds of pounds for services that were never provided. One woman said her experiences had 'turned her wedding joy to misery' and another said her celebrations were 'totally ruined'. Among a large number of disappointed brides-to-be are Louise Fagan, who gave the company 550, and Lisa Purdon, who spent 695 on a dancefloor which was not delivered. Let down: Louise Fagan, pictured with fiance David Reilly, booked her wedding through La-Belle-Mariee Anger: The couple claim that they paid hundreds of pounds for services which were never delivered Miss Fagan, 25, from Coatbridge in Lanarkshire, is set to marry her fiance David Reilly, 32, at Airth Castle in Falkirk on July 1 this year. The couple booked a number of services including dance floor, lighting, chair covers and bridesmaid dresses from La-Belle-Mariee, which is based in Falkirk and run by Niki Burton. Miss Fagan, a digital account manager, hired the company after she saw Ms Burton working at Airth Castle and found out that she was offering budget services. She said: 'We had already booked the venue and we had a wee nosey into the room that we were going to have the wedding in. 'Niki was in dressing the hall for a wedding which was happening that day. It was lovely so I was talking away to her and she gave me her business card. 'She gave me a quote for chair covers, sashes, LED dance floor, LED backdrop, mood lighting, candy carts - everything I needed. 'But the price was unbelievably cheap compared to what I had been quoted elsewhere. I jumped on it straight away and I booked it.' Investigation: Police have now launched a probe into allegations of fraud against the company She also arranged to have three bridesmaid dresses made by Ms Burton, who advertises her services as a dressmaker, and paid a total of 550 in deposits for the services. However, she grew suspicious when she was asked to pay the full cost of the dresses in advance, even though she had not been given a receipt for her earlier payments. Miss Fagan left a negative review on La-Belle-Mariee's Facebook page - and the page was then taken down, leaving no trace of the firm, while Ms Burton has stopped responding to her messages. She added: 'I thought it was all legit at the time but now I feel like a total idiot. 'I had people who had been recommended to me and I was ready to book someone else but she came in with her low-ball prices. 'It is a nightmare. Everything has been going right up to now. It's totally ruined my wedding planning experience because this is all I am going to remember. 'The brides are all upset. Some are getting married in a few weeks - she has ruined people's weddings.' Couple: David and Lisa Purdon also say that the company has pulled out of the services they'd paid for Mrs Purdon, 27, married husband David, 24, in a low-key family ceremony last year so the groom's terminally ill father could attend. They are holding a blessing and celebration at a Glasgow hotel this Saturday, and three months ago the bride booked a dancefloor and lights from La-Belle-Mariee after seeing a number of positive reviews online. She told MailOnline: 'I paid the deposit of 110 through a bank transfer that same day and was told that my paperwork for the booking would be set to me via post and that my invoice would be emailed to me. 'I got the invoice straight away but the paperwork never appeared. However I was assured several times by Niki that everything was still OK for my booking, and I paid my remaining balance of 585 as requested. 'As the weeks went on I knew she still hadn't contacted the hotel and I had a gut feeling that something wasn't quite right, so on April 2 I messaged Niki and asked her to contact the hotel to arrange delivery. 'I also explained to her that I was getting nervous about my wedding and just wanted to make sure that everything and everyone would turn up on time, to which I was told that she would take care of it and not to worry.' But the next day, Mrs Purdon discovered serious complaints posted on the company's Facebook page - and another day later, the page had disappeared completely. Venue: Miss Fagan is due to be married at Airth Castle, pictured, which is not involved in the allegations She added: 'I tried to call both the numbers I had for Niki. One didn't work at all and one went straight to voicemail.' The bride a string of strange messages purporting to be from Ms Burton's teenage daughter, only for the businesswoman to say later that her Facebook account had been hacked. The wedding planner promised to refund Mrs Purdon's money, but did not send the cash and has stopped replying to her messages. The bride said: 'I am absolutely devastated as 695 is a lot of money to lose, especially less than two weeks before my wedding. 'Luckily I have managed to find another company who are free on the day of my wedding to provide me with a dancefloor and lights. 'This has totally ruined the run-up to my wedding. I should be looking forward to my big day but instead I am in pieces. 'I don't know how anyone could do this to people on what is the biggest day of their lives. Not only have we lost money but our wedding joy has now turned to misery.' Several other women have detailed similar complaints online after booking their weddings with the company. Business owner Thomas Callaghan says he has been waiting for payment for six months after providing La-Belle-Mariee with dancefloors for weddings at the last minute. 'The business is still going on and she has mistreated brides,' he said. A spokesman for Police Scotland said: 'We are aware of an allegation of fraud against a wedding and events company. Enquiries are ongoing.' A judge in North Carolina kicked a mother out of a courtroom for breastfeeding her son during a custody hearing. Stephanie Rhodus, 25, was feeding her eight-month-old boy Archer in a Henderson County courtroom when Judge Peter Knight blasted her for her 'absolutely ridiculous' conduct. A recording of the hearing shows the judge raising his voice at the mother and forcing her to leave the room - despite breastfeeding in court being perfectly legal. Scroll down for video 'Button up': A judge in North Carolina kicked Stephanie Rhodus out of a courtroom for breastfeeding her son, Archer, during a custody hearing Ms Rhodus (left, with Archer), 25, was feeding her son when Judge Peter Knight (right) blasted her for her 'absolutely ridiculous' conduct Five minutes into the custody case for Ms Rhodus' older, eight-year-old son - who is in the care of her mother - Knight suddenly demanded she stop nursing her baby. 'Ma'am you need to cover up. For you not to realize that is absolutely ridiculous,' the judge is heard saying on the official recording, obtained by ABC 13. 'Step outside, and cover up right now. Stand up, and go,' Knight added. The judge said he did not mind the baby being in court, but said 'to nurse the child in the courtroom is just absolutely inappropriate. Step outside and button up'. Ms Rhodus, from Forest City, said all she had done was breastfeed Archer while she was waiting for her case to be heard. She then continued to feed her son as she walked up to the bench to take a seat. North Carolina state law says women can breastfeed on any public or private property - including the Henderson County courtroom (pictured) The mother said she was 'shocked' by the judge's behavior, which caused her son to cry. 'After I stopped feeding him, he became distressed and fussy and agitated. It made the rest of the proceedings pretty difficult,' Ms Rhodus said. The judge ruled that she could not see her older child for the next six months. When the mother continued to protest against the judge's decision, he threatened her with contempt of court. Ms Rhodus, who also has a four-year-old son, feels the dispute over breastfeeding had an affect on Knight's decision. Judges are the authority in their courtroom, but their orders do not supersede state law. North Carolina state law says women can breastfeed on any public or private property that they are entitled to be on, meaning Ms Rhodus should have been free to feed her son and that Knight was in the wrong. Ms Rhodus has another hearing on Tuesday and intends to bring her son with her. 'I know as a person who breastfeeds, I get looks and comments all the time from people who have no right to say that to me,' she told the Citizen-Times. 'Im doing something very natural. Its not sexual. 'Theres people who say breastfeeding is fine; just cover the baby or feed him in the bathroom - be a lady. To me, I am being a lady in the utmost form of being a woman. This is what a woman's body is physiologically designed to do.' Sen. Bernie Sanders called a comment made from his rally's stage last night in New York City 'inappropriate and insensitive' after being criticized for it by Hillary Clinton's campaign. Healthcare activist Paul Song labeled those who chose to keep the current private healthcare system intact, like Hillary Clinton, instead of advocating for a Medicare-for-all plan, like Sanders, 'Democratic whores.' Sanders responded this morning with a tweet: 'Dr. Song's comment was inappropriate and insensitive. There's no room for language like that in our political discourse.' His wife Jane was also asked about the comment this morning on CNN and seemed miffed. 'I'm sorry, I didn't hear it at all,' Sanders said. 'It's a strange choice of words and I can't imagine anybody was speaking about Secretary Clinton that way.' Scroll down for video Jane Sanders appeared miffed when asked about comments made onstage at last night's Bernie Sanders rally when one speaker labeled Democrats holding Hillary Clinton's position on healthcare 'Democratic whores' Healthcare activist Paul Song tweeted out this statement after his comments at the Bernie Sanders rally started making waves Song had gotten ahead of the story by sending out a tweet last night apologizing for the remark. In full he had said, 'Medicare-for-all will never happen if we continue to elect corporate Democratic whores who are beholden to big pharma and the private insurance industry instead of us.' On Twitter he remarked that, 'I am very sorry for using the term "whore" to refer to some in congress who are beholden to corporations and not us. It was insensitive.' But by this morning the Clinton campaign was already asking for an apology. 'Very distressing language to say the least,' wrote Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton's communications director, on Twitter. 'Bernie Sanders should disavow,' she added. Instead, Jane Sanders said, 'I don't know who said that.' Cuomo made clear that Song's speech was delivered before Jane and Bernie Sanders arrived at the packed New York City park, which attracted thousands, in advance of Tuesday's primary in the state. Hillary Clinton's communications director Jennifer Palmieri tweeted about the comments this morning, suggesting Bernie Sanders should apologize Jane Sanders told Chris Cuomo that a 'mischoice' of words isn't as bad as 'trying to carry out a strategy of trying to disqualify people' - aiming her ire at the Clinton campaign Asked about whether the campaign should own the comments and react, Sanders said yes, but also went on the attack. 'Well, I think all campaigns really need to take some responsibility for what surrogates said,' Jane Sanders replied. 'A mischoice of words is not as important as trying to carry out a strategy of trying to disqualify people or try to make them feel less-than.' Here Jane Sanders seemed to be bringing back up a tiff between the two Democratic camps that began when Clinton refused to say whether Sanders was qualified to be president during an interview on Morning Joe. Clinton, in the aftermath of Sanders' embarrassing New York Daily News editorial board interview, suggested the senator 'hadn't done his homework.' 'And he'd been talking for more than a year about doing things that he obviously hadn't really studied or understood,' she continued. 'And that does raise a lot of question,' the former secretary of state added. A Washington Post headline suggested that Clinton had questioned Sanders' qualifications and the spat snowballed from there. Jane Sanders indicated she would not soon forgive those digs from Clinton in her comments this morning. A 90-year-old jeweller died less than a year after a brutal doorstep attack by a knuckleduster-wearing thug that left him too terrified to leave his house, an inquest heard today. Colin Butlin was 89 when Slovakian thug Viktor Lakatos attacked him as he opened the door to his home in Halifax, Yorkshire, on November 21, 2014, during a robbery. The inquest into Mr Butlin's death heard 'blows were raining down upon him and he was defenceless' and that he was left on the ground 'bleeding heavily'. Mr Butlin passed away last August after becoming accidentally asphyxiated in the bath, the inquest heard. Colin Butlin (before and after the attack) was 89 when Slovakian thug Viktor Lakatos attacked him as he opened the door to his home in Halifax, Yorkshire, on November 21, 2014, during a robbery. He passed away last August after becoming asphyxiated in the bath, an inquest heard Lakatos, 42, was later handed an 18-year-extended sentence for the vicious beating, which left the dad-of-three with wounds to his forehead as well as extensive bruising and a fractured nose. Mr Butlin was hospitalised for two days. A silver knuckleduster, which held Lakatos' DNA, was found at the scene of the attack. An inquest heard today that the attack had a lasting effect on Mr Butlin. In a statement read in court his daughter Linda Butlin, 52, said: 'It definitely affected him, he was really stressed out because of it.' The college lecturer added: 'He turned into more of an old man.' Halifax Coroner's Court heard that Mr Butlin, who was 90 when he passed away at his home, didn't like to leave the house, became less sociable, and had contracted shingles in the months following the assault. Lakatos, 42, (shown) was later handed an 18-year-extended sentence for the vicious beating, which left the dad-of-three with wounds to his forehead as well as extensive bruising and a fractured nose It was Miss Butlin who found her father lying half out of a partly run bath on the day of his death, after she brought him round his dinner. Mr Butlin had most likely started to run a bath when he got into it, slipped, knocked himself unconscious and then became asphyxiated because of the position he fell, the inquest heard. The post mortem into his death stated that while the attack may have left Mr Butlin less sociable and depressed it 'did not play a direct part in his ultimate demise'. Passing a verdict of accidental death, coroner Oliver Longstaff told the court 'no gentleman his age should suffer such a vicious and calculated assault'. 'The years of peace and safety were shattered by a cowardly and brutal assault,' he said. Mr Longstaff added: 'The vicious assault he suffered played absolutely no part in his death.' The post mortem into Mr Butler's (above) death stated that while the attack may have left Mr Butlin less sociable and depressed it 'did not play a direct part in his ultimate demise' The cause of death was given as positional asphyxia. Speaking after the hearing, Miss Butlin said she was happy with the outcome of the proceeding but added that she felt her dad was emotionally different after the attack. 'Oh yeah, he was a feisty old bugger my dad, you know he had had pneumonia twice but still gone back to work, but after this attack he went back for about three weeks. 'Then the house was in darkness and he would warn us about things. 'It did turn him into an old man, I mean he was an old man but he was so bright and funny, but it turned him into a doddery old man. 'It changed him.' Speaking about the sentence her father's brutal attacker was handed, she said: 'The sentence was quite a shock but I think fair enough if it keeps the guy off the street.' Lakatos went on the run after the barbaric attack and the case even appeared on Crimewatch as police sought to track him down. The sickening criminal had previously served a six-year jail term in native Slovakia for grievous bodily harm before coming to this country. Lakatos pleaded guilty to the robbery charge at the last minute as he claimed he had only been acting as the getaway driver. During his case, the court was told father-of-two Lakatos was desperate for money after problems with his benefits. Sentencing him last year for 14 years with a four-year extended licence period, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC branded his version of events as incredible. Speaking through a Slovakian interpreter, he told Lakatos: 'As robberies go it is within the category that may be described as the worst examples of its kind. 'For you targeted, attacked at his front door, gratuitously and excessively beat with a knuckle-duster an 89-year-old gentleman. 'Not just cruel, not just wicked, not just gratuitous and uncivilised, certainly by our standards, it was cowardly in the extreme. It was barbaric.' Police fear that a Santa Clarita couple accused of molesting eight children aged three to 17 over the past 15 years may have more victims and are asking them to come forward. Jacqueline Wadsworth, 32, and Francisco Avendano, 42, were arrested March 31 on suspicion of abusing two children under the age of 14, according to The Santa Clarita Valley Signal. Since then, police say they have identified six more possible victims in what they say is 'a horrific story' - and are hoping that others will be brought forward. Accused: Jacqueline Wadsworth (left), 32, and Francisco Avendano (right), 42, were arrested on March 31 on three counts of abuse of a minor each. Since then Avendano has received six more felony molestation counts Couple: Police say the pair traveled around the Santa Clarita Valley area and believe other victims have still yet to come forward. Between them, they are accused of abusing children between three and 17 years of age Sergeant Brian Hudson of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Departments Special Victims Bureau told the Signal, 'Our fear is that there are other children victimized by this couple. Its a horrific story.' Police say they have uncovered abuses of both boys and girls by Avendano stretching back as far as 2001. The victims ages are between three and 17, ABC 7 said. The station added that this investigation began after a 12-year-old boy told his mother he was abused during a sleepover at the couple's home. Avendano and Wadsworth, who have children together, are alleged to have 'typically' instigated abuses at such sleepovers. They also say that the suspects lived in various locations around the Santa Clarita Valley over the 15-year period, and are concerned they might have assaulted children across the area within the last ten years. 'They lived in Canyon Country at a mobile home park on the 30000 block of Sand Canyon Road, and theyve lived in Castaic,' Hudson told the Signal. '(Avendano) would befriend neighborhood children and the friends of family members, and then sexually assault them.' He told ABC 7: 'Many times they've threatened the kids that "If you say something, I will harm you, I will harm your family."' Both Avendano and Wadsworth originally faced two felony counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 and one count of a lewd act on a child aged 14, the Signal said. Avendano also faces six more felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14 and one felony count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14. Avendano and Wadsworth's own children were taken into custody when they were arrested. His bail has been set at $2million and Wadsworth's at $200,000. Both pleaded not guilty to the first charges on April 4. They will appear in court Thursday to hear the latest charges. Those with information related to the investigation are asked to contact the Sheriffs Department Special Victims Bureau at 877-710-5273. Alternatively, anonymous tips can be reported to Crime Stoppers on 800-222-TIPS (8477), texted to TIPLA at CRIMES (274637), or reported on the LA Crime Stoppers website. Despite budget cuts, TSA is increasing checks after Brussels bombing American Airlines joined a list of critics blasting the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for long lines, closed checkpoints and missed flights yesterday, when it branded the organization's service 'unacceptable' and said it had gotten 'exponentially' worse. The remarks came after it was revealed that a shocking 6,800 of the airline's customers had missed their Spring Break flights in just one week last month, NBC reported. 'The lines at TSA checkpoints nationwide have become unacceptable,' American spokesman Ross Feinstein said in a statement Wednesday. 'Unacceptable': The TSA's service isn't up to scratch, according to American Airlines, which blames the struggling authority for 6,800 of its customers missing flights last month due to waits of more than an hour Troubled: The TSA has been fighting budget cutbacks, and has had to close some checkpoints - while at the same time wanting to increase security in the wake of the Brussels bombings As a result, he said, 'our customers are waiting in TSA lines greater than one hour.' And the company is 'concerned that these lines will grow even longer,' as 2016 moves out of the traditionally quiet early period and into summer. It's not just airlines that are troubled by the long lines caused by TSA checkpoints. Both Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta have said they may get private security contractors to replace the authority, NBC says. In a February letter on WSBTV, Hartsfield-Jackson's general manager called the organization 'woefully understaffed'. And Seattle-Tacoma has already hired extra security staff with a view to dropping the TSA altogether, CBS Baltimore said. The TSA has been under attack on a series of fronts lately, with budget cuts leading to reduced staff and checkpoints being closed, the station reported. Despite this, the authority said last week that it planned more security checks in the wake of the Brussels bombing, and warned of even longer waits. 'This is one of the highest-volume travel years we've ever seen,' TSA administrator Peter Neffenger told reporters, according to the Washington Post. 'That means we're going to have lots of people moving through the airports,' he continued. 'Get to the airports early, because even if I can move you efficiently through the line, you're still going to find long lines there.' 'Concerned': American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein (left) is 'concerned' that the TSA can't handle the summer rush of holidaymakers. TSA head Peter Neffenger (right) warned people to get to airports 'early' The TSA has requested money to hire 300 more screeners, NBC said, a tiny 0.7 percent increase on its existing 42,525 workers. It also plans to use sniffer dogs to check entire lines of passengers for explosives, and increase overtime scheduling for existing staff. This isn't the only bad press the TSA has encountered lately. Last week it emerged that it had paid $47,000 for an app that randomly told passengers to walk either left or right - something that developers say could have cost just $20 to make. And last summer the TSA's acting head was ousted after 95 per cent of undercover Homeland Security agents made it through security carrying weapons and fake explosives. The authority says that it has tightened up operations since that test. The 6,800 passengers who missed their flights last month were affected from March 14-20, during Spring Break, American Airlines said. Sister Miller's blood alcohol level was later registered as a .16, twice the legal A nun, who has been charged with Driving Under the Influence, claims that she had no idea what happened the night she crashed her car into a building over 20 miles away from her convent - because she took a sleeping pill. Sister Kimberly Miller was arrested in November after being pulled over by police and failing two field sobriety tests at 2am in Washington Township, New Jersey. A breath test was also administered that later revealed she had a blood alcohol level of .16 - twice the legal driving limit. Prior to her arrest, witnesses called police to report that she had been driving erratically and shattered the glass door of a Meinke Auto Repair shop when she backed into the business while trying to turn around her car. Her two lawyers argued in court however Wednesday that Sister Miller, who is also facing charges of leaving the scene of an accident and failure to report an accident, had no recollection of any of this because she took an Ambien that night to help her sleep. Scroll down for video Trouble: Sister Kimberly Miller (above in court on Wednesday) was arrested in November and charged with DUI after police puller her over and she failed two field sobriety tests Not good: Sister Miller's blood alcohol level was later registered as a .16, twice the legal driving limit (above in the police station on the night of her arrest) The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the trial lasted approximately six hours, with the defense arguing that Sister Miller's Ambien, along with a glass of altar wine she had consumed that evening, caused her to suffer an adverse reaction. 'She did not have any knowledge that taking Ambien would have this effect,' said attorney Jeffrey Lindy. 'She doesn't remember.' Sister Miller, 41, said during her testimony; 'At first I thought it was a dream, because I had handcuffs on. I was in my habit. I'm a nun.' She later added; 'I don't understand how I got to New Jersey. I couldn't figure out where all the time went.' The defense also said that Sister Miller has a history of sleepwalking, which they said was the result of her being molested by her grandfather as a child. A fellow nun from the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary testified that she once saw Sister Miller appearing to sleepwalk in the middle of the night, with the nun only waking up after she tripped the alarm while trying to walk out the front door of the convent. 'My sense was that she wasn't awake,' said Sister Frances Mary Murray. Many of her fellow sisters joined her in the courtroom on Wednesday, watching the proceedings from the gallery. Prosecutors meanwhile called the arresting officer to the stand who testified that Sister Miller had bloodshot eyes and was staggering when she was asked her to get out of the car, all of which was captured in dashcam footage from the night. 'She kind of stumbled out of the car. She kept losing her balance. Her speech was very slow,' said Officer Paul Crozier. Explanation: In court on Wednesday, her defense team argued that she had taken an Ambien and had a glass of wine that night, resulting in an adverse reaction (above in dashcam footage from field sobriety test) Claims: Sister Miller said on the stand she had no recollection of the crash or driving, and the judge said he would announce his verdict next week (above in dashcam footage from field sobriety test) Police also found a half-drunk bottle of wine in Sister Miller's backseat, but a defense witness testified that she had given it to the nun in that condition the previous day while the two were at a book fair. Sister Miller told one officer at the time of her arrest she had no wine and another she had two small glasses. She also made no mention of taking an Ambien at that time, but did reveal that she was on two other medications. On Wednesday she said that she did in fact have two small glasses at the book fair, part of the reason the bottle in her backseat was not full, and then a glass of altar wine with her Ambien. The prosecution then received a big setback when Municipal Court Judge Martin Whitcraft said that the results of the breathalyzer would be thrown out because police failed to observe Sister Miller for 20 continuous minutes as is required by law, with the nun being out of their sight for less than three minutes. Judge Whitcraft said at the end of the trial he would announce his verdict next Wednesday. If found guilty, it is unclear what will happen to Sister Miller, who was placed on administrative leave by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Evidence: Police also found a half-drunk bottle of wine in Sister Miller's backseat, but a defense witness testified that she had given it to the nun in that condition the previous day (above in dashcam footage) Bad move: Sister Miller is also charged with leaving the scene of an accident and failure to report for crashing into an auto repair shop just prior to being pulled over (broken glass door above) Sister Miller had been working as a librarian and teaching the logy at Little Flower High School for Girls in Philadelphia, and a petition to reinstate her has received over 2,000 signatures. 'Sister Kim has served the Little Flower community and it's students for many years. 'She has helped her students blossom into the women they are today with her selfless devotion and dedication to her faith and job as a teacher. 'She has been a fine educator and a shoulder to cry on for many of her students. Her wisdom and love has helped many of her students get through the most difficult times of high school. 'In light of recent events, all of the positive things she has done should not be overshadowed by one negative wrongdoing. 'If Sr. Kim has had a significant affect on you during your years at Little Flower, help to reinstate her job by signing this petition.' Archdiocesan spokesman Ken Gavin said in November that the petition had been noted by officials and that no decision had been made about Miller's future. The tension that has been building between the two Democratic presidential candidates may finally explode tonight as Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton come face-to-face for the first time in weeks. Sanders angrily accused Clinton of saying he's unqualified to man the White House last week after she implied that he's not up to the job, unofficially dissolving an agreement between the two Democrats not to engage in negative campaigning. The Clinton campaign concurrently launched an assault on Sanders' delegate-poaching strategy and said his attacks on the former secretary of state reached a 'new low.' The candidates will finally have an opportunity to air their grievances against one another tonight at Brooklyn's Navy Yard. Scroll down for video The tension that has been building between the two Democratic presidential candidates may finally explode tonight as Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton come face-to-face for the first time in weeks It's been more than a month since the candidates last squared off, and even tonight's debate was for weeks an uncertainty. The campaigns couldn't agree on a place and time as each had pre-planned events to work around. Sanders eventually capitulated, placing his desire to address Clinton one last time before New York's April 19 primary above his belief that the ex-New York senator should be the one to change her plans. His excuse for ruling out tonight as an option was that his campaign had obtained a permit to use Washington Square Park, near the campus of New York University, as a rally site and it was expecting a large crowd. Clinton-backing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio stepped in to help Sanders move the event so his candidate could have her preferred debate day. The Sanders rally went on as planned except on Wednesday, and more than 27,000 college-aged young people showed up hear Vampire Weekend, Rosario Dawson, Spike Lee and Tim Robbins talk up Sanders. Previewing a line he's likely to use against Clinton in tonight's debate, Sanders again brought up the ex-cabinet member's $225,000 speeches to the billionaires that work just down the road on Wall Street. To get that kind of pay day, Sanders said, 'It must be an unbelievably, extraordinary speech. It must be a speech that could solve most of the world's problems. 'It must be a speech written in Shakespearean prose,' he said to laughter from his audience, who had waited three hours in the evening cold to hear him do the bit. Sanders told them, 'I kind of think if that $225,000 speech was so extraordinary, she should release the transcripts.' But he said the differences between she and he go beyond that - it's also about her support for America's 'disastrous trade policies, which are costing us millions of job.' The Clinton campaign launched an assault on Sanders' delegate-poaching strategy last week and said his attacks on the former secretary of state and her qualifications reached a 'new low.' The candidates will finally have an opportunity to air their grievances against one another tonight at Brooklyn's Navy Yard Campaign manager Jeff Weaver downplayed the potential for a blow-up between the candidates, who have been warring over qualifications for the last week. He told DailyMail.com, 'I think its an opportunity for the candidates, for the senator to contrast his position with Secretary Clinton on a host of issues....fracking, campaign finance, the death penalty.' Sanders has repeatedly said he wants to have a policy debate, and his campaign last week wrote off as 'political gossip' the dust-up with Clinton, who capitalized on the senator's stumbles in a New York Daily News interview as she contended that he hadn't done his 'homework' and wasn't prepared for the job he's But he's continued to put the screws to Clinton. 'She may have the experience to be president of the United States. No one can argue that,' he said Sunday on Meet the Press. 'But in terms of her judgment, something is clearly lacking.' Appearing today on Morning Joe, Sanders' wife, Jane brought the kerfuffle back up as she was asked about a surrogate saying Clinton was one of the 'corporate Democratic whores.' 'Well, I think all campaigns really need to take some responsibility for what surrogates said,' Jane Sanders said, adding that, 'A mischoice of words is not as important as trying to carry out a strategy of trying to disqualify people or try to make them feel less-than.' A Sanders win in New York on Tuesday is a long shot, but he is refusing to give up hope. 'When I look out at the thousands of people who are here tonight, the thousands of people we saw in Buffalo and Syracuse and Rochester, I think weve got a surprise for the establishment,' he said last night. 'I think that if we have a large voter turnout on Tuesday, were gonna win this thing.' A Sanders win in New York on Tuesday is a long shot, but he is refusing to give up hope. 'When I look out at the thousands of people who are here tonight, the thousands of people we saw in Buffalo and Syracuse and Rochester, I think weve got a surprise for the establishment,' he said last night. 'I think that if we have a large voter turnout on Tuesday, were gonna win this thing' Weaver told DailyMail.com on the sidelines of the rally that he expected his candidate to do 'well' in Tuesday's primary, though he wouldn't specify what that means in the context of the campaign. 'It's just a question of getting as many votes as possible. We fight in every state obviously to win,' he said. 'We're certainly on a path to winning New York. Certainly we're closer to winning New York than we have been in other states at the same time where we've won.' The senior Sanders aide said, 'Obviously you can see tonight, tremendous amount of excitement and enthusiasm. 'We're fighting here to win.' Sanders has not fought in every state to win, however, and he is way behind Clinton in both pledged delegates and super delegates perhaps as a result. He needs to pick up 251 pledged delegates to catch up with Clinton on top of any additional delegates she earns in upcoming contests. That means he needs to win in New York, where he's down by 13 points on average, and take home the prize in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California. His campaign believes that neither candidate will score a majority of pledged delegates, leaving the decision up to the superdelegates that are currently backing Clinton. 'I dont think anybodys gonna get the amount of pledged delegates they need when you walk into the convention. And if that happens, then I would expect that people would be looking and saying whos the stronger candidate, and every poll says that Bernies the stronger candidate against all of the Republicans, and thats only going to get better,' Jane Sanders said this morning on MSNBC. More than 27,000 college-aged young people showed up hear Vampire Weekend, Rosario Dawson, Spike Lee and Tim Robbins talk up Sanders last night If Sanders can build enough momentum at the back end of the race, his team hopes the superdelegates will swing their support to him, even if he trails Clinton in pledged delegates, shifting the balance in his favor to win the nomination at the July convention in Philadelphia. Weaver wouldn't say on Wednesday how that outreach is going. But he assured reporters that the campaign is in 'communication with super delegates all the time' as it is now the 'center of their campaign.' 'Ultimately these superdelegates want what every Democrat wants - which is to win in November - and Bernie Sanders is the strongest candidate,' he said. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was skeptical this morning that the party's nominee would be picked at the convention. 'I still think that we are likely on track, as we go through the rest of the primary and caucus season, to result in an election at the end that will have a presumptive nominee, that becomes the presumptive nominee prior to the convention without the need for superdelegates, that will have the majority of unpledged delegates going into the convention,' she said on CNN. This is the shocking moment two builders leapt out of their vehicle and hurled bricks at a police car after being pulled over for dangerous driving. Carl Foley, 33, and Karl Waring, 22, both of no fixed abode, smashed the vehicle's windscreen in an attack that left a police officer with minor injuries after he was showered in glass. The pair, dressed in high-vis jackets and hard hats, jumped out of their Volvo estate car after being pulled over on Cherryfield Lane in Kirby, Merseyside, on February 2 this year. Shocking: Builders Carl Foley, 33, and Karl Waring, 22, leapt out of their vehicle and hurled bricks at a police car after being pulled over for dangerous driving. The pair smashed the vehicle's windscreen in the attack Bricks were thrown before Foley and Waring fled the scene. The Merseyside Police officer gave pursuit despite the damage to his car but the Volvo had fled at speed and was lost on the M57 motorway. Both Waring and Foley were later arrested and charged. Waring pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to charges of affray as well as possession with intent to supply cannabis while Foley admitted affray, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified. The pair were both jailed at Liverpool Crown Court on March 23. Waring was handed a prison term of five years and six months and Foley jailed for two years and nine months. The pair, dressed in high-vis jackets and hard hats, jumped out of their Volvo estate car after being pulled over on Cherryfield Lane in Kirby, Merseyside, on February 2 this year. Bricks were thrown before the pair fled The Merseyside Police officer, who was injured when he was showered in glass by the shattered windscreen, gave pursuit despite the damage to his car but the Volvo had fled at speed and was lost on the M57 motorway Jailed: Waring (pictured left) pleaded guilty to charges of affray as well as possession with intent to supply cannabis while Foley (right) admitted affray, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified. Both were jailed Merseyside Police Inspector Mike McFall, of the serious and organised crime roads policing unit, said: 'We welcome these sentences, which should serve as a warning to anyone else considering taking such reckless action against police. 'These two dangerous offenders believed in using violence to aid their escape from police, and in doing so showed complete disregard for the safety of police and towards other road users. The Prime Minister grinned briefly as she entered Downing Street after a run in the central London fog this morning as MailOnline can reveal that all her 'In Liz we Truss' merchandise was expunged. The party's cups, travel mugs, bags and T-shirts celebrating her election 45 days ago, each costing between 14.95 and 24,95, have been deleted from the website and pulled from sale. Wearing her gym kit and muddy trainers, the outgoing Tory leader, now considered the most disastrous in party history, gave a wry smile at police as she skipped into the back door of No 10 at around 8am. She will spend her last weekend as PM at Chequers, No 10 has said. The UK's shortest serving PM will still receive severance pay to the tune of 18,860 - equal to 419.11 for each of the 44 days she served. She also earned 10,000 in that time because he ministerial salary went up. Ms Truss is beginning her final week as Prime Minister as her rivals circle to take her job - but there is also increasing anger about the cash and benefits she is leaving with and demands for her to forgo them. She will now also be entitled to claim up to 115,000-a-year in an allowance for former Prime Ministers. Her predecessors Sir John Major, Sir Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson are all believed to have claimed it. Ms Truss will also benefit from a taxpayer-funded pension as a former minister and Prime Minister. Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer today joined calls for Ms Truss to reject her allowance and hand back any payout, declaring that she had 'not earned the right' to keep it. He said: 'She should turn it down. I think that's the right thing to do. She's done 44 days in office, she's not really entitled to it, she should turn it down and not take it'. A shocking surveillance video which showed two dogs being battered with a wrench has caused a bitter dispute between a homeowner and a gas company - but now there is a new twist to the story. Footage showed a CenterPoint Energy worker enter the backyard in Kingwood, north of Houston, before beating the two Weimaraner dogs with a wrench. David Mimun, who contracts for CenterPoint, said his worker was disconnecting the natural gas service at the house - which had not been paid - so the residents unleashed the dogs on the man as he went into the yard. However homeowner Mike Wilcox has now released new security camera footage to refute the firms claim that he set the dogs on the worker. Surveillance footage shows the pick-up pull up to the home in Kingwood, north of Houston, Texas However homeowner Mike Wilcox has now released new footage which shows the worker entering unsupervised through an open gate Mr Wilcox claims he, his family, and his dogs, were all caught by surprise when the worker showed up unannounced on March 23 and entered their property through an open fence. The video is now the focus of an investigation. It shows a truck arrive before the contractor gets out and immediately walks toward the fence through the empty yard holding a yellow disconnect notice. He walks past a 'Beware of Dog' sign and through the fence that Willcox says was open for landscapers. Mike Wilcox (pictured with his wife) claims his family witnesses the attack and says he now faces vets bills of around $2,000 Attack: This is the moment the contractor hits one of the two dogs in the yard of the home. The footage was released by the owner of the dogs, however the worker's boss now says he didn't have a choice Posting the security footage on Facebook last week, Mr Wilcox wrote: 'My wife and kids watched all this from about 5 feet away. 'We filed a complaint with Centerpoint about this and have yet to hear back from them. 'Anyone who has ever met our pets can tell you how they are non aggressive and never bitten anyone! Hoping by post this video we can get them to change their policy on how they handle pets and save the lives of other pets. 'Please share and tag others to make them aware of how Centerpoint will deal with your pets if they come into your yard.' Footage: Taken around 9:45 a.m. March 23, the owner said the CenterPoint Energy contract worker entered his yard unannounced and was approached by his two dogs, Flash and Shutter However David Mimun supported the staff member, claiming he had no choice but to defend himself. He explained to KHOU: 'He only had a split second to think what he should do: let himself get mauled or should he try and keep the dogs away from him, so he tried to keep the dogs away from him. 'He tries to do a professional job on every order that he goes to.' Mimun said that while the owner's had made it look like the worker had attacked their dogs, it was the other way around. 'Once you use those pets as a weapon to hurt somebody, they're not family pets anymore,' Mimun said. 'They're actually vicious animals.' The company also said it was going to review staff training, claiming workers were regularly subjected to threats and abuse upon entering properties - and were even faced with guns on regular occasions. Star Corporation owner David Mimun, who contracts for CenterPoint, said his worker was disconnecting the natural gas service at the house because the residents hadn't paid their bill, and that they unleashed the dogs The shocking video shows the man wielding a wrench - however it has caused a dispute between the staff member and the homeowner Injured: Flash suffered a concussion, a cut below the eye and a lost tooth after being hit with the wrench CenterPoint Energy released a statement about the video, clarifying the worker is not a company employee but a contract worker. Willcox told Click 2 Houston that Flash suffered a concussion, a cut below the eye and a lost tooth. According to the family, Shutter must undergo surgery for his injuries. 'Honestly, I'm really upset [at] the fact he stepped into our backyard like that and he was swinging to kill my family pets,' Willcox said. 'It just made me wonder how many other times that guy's done that.' Escamilla said it sent a message to abuser that: ' My life is not worthless' Payout is the biggest ever awarded to a domestic abuse victim in the U.S. Arreola was jailed for 28 years in 2013 over the vicious five hour assault She was also beaten so badly she had to have metal plates in her head A domestic abuse victim has been awarded a $40million payout against her then-boyfriend after he stabbed and violated her for hours before leaving her for dead. Maria Escamilla knows she is unlikely to ever see a penny of the compensation - the biggest payout ever awarded to a domestic violence victim. Her attacker Jose Arreola, who was jailed in 2013, had little in the way of assets. But she says the just being awarded the sum means much more to her than the actual money. Scroll down for video Maria Escamilla has been awarded a $40million payout after her boyfriend stabbed and violated her for hours before leaving her for dead 'To me, it means that man who tried to kill me and mutilated me and tortured me for five hours deemed me worthless,' Escamilla, 46, told The Dallas Morning News. 'But the jury disagreed. My life is not worthless.' Escamilla still carries the scars, both physical and emotional, from the night of the brutal assault at her home in Lancaster, Texas in March 2011. Arreola has attacked Escamilla with a lamp and a knife, stabbing her multiple times in the face, breasts and genitals. Escamilla was brutally attacked by her boyfriend Jose Arreola in March 2011 who stabbed her repeatedly (she is pictured in hospital after the assault) The victim suffered horrific injuries and needed more than 500 stitches across her stab wounds Her face was so badly beaten that her eyes were swollen shut and she had numerous fractures She was also raped and sodomized during the assault which lasted for five hours until he abandoned her for dead. Escamilla's injuries were horrific. She needed 500 stitches for stab wounds all over her body while the knife had also punctured one of her lungs. Her face was so badly beaten that her eyes were swollen shut and she had numerous fractures. She had to undergo surgery to insert permanent plates in her face, yet bones still protrude which will require plastic surgery. The 46-year-old, who suffered from PTSD, has also permanently lost the full use of her right hand while vision in her left eye has been affected. Arreola, 37, was spared a life sentence but was jailed for 28 years following his trial in 2013. Maria Escamilla, pictured with her attacker Jose Arreola, who was jailed for 28 years in 2013 over the attack She says that while the assault made her feel 'worthless', the jury's decision to award her $40million sent a message that 'my life is not worthless' Arreola's lawyer Michael Todd, who also represented him in the criminal case, claimed that the victim had brought the civil case because they 'wanted a do-over from the criminal trial.' Escamilla's attorneys, Michael Pezzulli and Doug Mulder, insisted the case was never about the money. 'People don't give a $40 million dollar verdict every day,' Pezzulli told CBS. 'I think this jury understood they had an opportunity to make a statement that could be heard throughout the country.' The civil suit had sought damages for the pain, suffering and medical costs she suffered. Medical bills have already reached more than $1million. But Escamilla was realistic about the likelihood of ever receiving that payout. 'I have no illusions of ever seeing a penny,' said Escamilla, whose injuries and disabilities mean she is unable to work. Arreola (pictured at his trial in 2013) was spared a life term but was ordered to pay $40million after he attacked Escamilla with a lamp and a knife The bloody knife he used was later presented as evidence in the case against Arreola who was described as a psychopath by his victim's lawyers 'If this stops one perpetrator from hurting one victim, it was worth it for me.' The judge had ordered Arreola to be brought to Dallas from prison for the civil trial. Pezzulli said that, to this day, he has never apologized to his victim. 'I think he's a psychopath,' he said. Escamilla is now an inspiration speaker about domestic violence and has traveled all over the world to share her harrowing story. The Ohio businessman who started specialty food company Hickory Farms that sells sausage sticks and cheese trays has died. The Toledo-area-based company says Richard Ransom, 96, died on Monday in Sylvania, Ohio. Ransom started selling cheeses at home shows and fairs in 1951 and soon began Hickory Farms, adding sausage, crackers and mustards to its product line. 'The rich flavor and uncompromising quality were an immediate hit, and would become the hallmark of the company,' according to the company's website. 'Never one to rest, Mr. Ransom soon added his now famous Beef Summer Sausage to the offering. Tasty mustards and crackers soon followed. Richard Ransom, the Ohio businessman who started specialty food company Hickory Farms that sells sausage sticks and cheese, trays has died Ransom started selling cheeses at home shows and fairs in 1951 and soon began Hickory Farms, adding sausage, crackers and mustards to its product line 'Quick to give a hearty sample or handshake, he soon was selling at county fairs all over Michigan and Ohio. 'By 1959, Hickory Farms was expanding and opened its first retail store outside Toledo. 'This taste of the American Heartland was so special that word spread. And so did Hickory Farms stores throughout the country.' It grew steadily and once had 600 stores, mainly in shopping malls in the United States and Canada. Sales dropped steadily during the 1990s in its year-round stores, and the company has focused on catalog and Internet sales. Ransom, who was a WWII veteran who served in Okinawa and other areas of the Pacific and, sold the company in 1980 for $40 million to the General Host Corp., according to The Blade. The Bronze Star recipient then went on to start the Adopt America Network, which helps hard-to-adopt children find forever homes. Ransom contributed financially to 100 charitable organizations. He also served on several charitable boards including the American Cancer Society of Northwest Ohio and the National Muscular Dystrophy Assn. According to his obituary, the organization has found homes for more than 4,300 children to date. 'I think his big love was his philanthropy,' Tony Knight, a close friend and Toledo-area business associate, told The Blade. In addition, Ransom contributed financially to 100 charitable organizations. He also served on several charitable boards including the Jamie Farr LPGA Tournament (two-time Chairman of the event), American Cancer Society of Northwest Ohio, National Muscular Dystrophy Assn., St. Vincent Hospital, Riverside Hospital, The Medical College of Ohio, The University of Toledo Corp., The MS Society of NW Ohio, and the Toledo Zoo. A statement on the company's Facebook page mourns his passing. 'Hickory Farms mourns the passing and celebrates the life of our founder Richard K. Ransom,' it reads. Hickory Farms posted the above statement about his death to their Facebook page 'He was a retail visionary and an advocate for giving back to the community. 'His care for the customer and passion for providing delicious products that people enjoy sharing is the foundation of what we do today. Our sincere sympathies go out to his family and friends.' Ransom's wife of 63 years, the former Elizabeth 'Betty' Meinert, died on March 14, 2009, The Blade reported. He is survived by his daughters, Carol Batdorf, Lynn Connolly, and Janet Sarieh; son, Robert; nine grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. According to his obituary, the family requests that memorials be made to Adopt America Network in lieu of flowers. Two drivers have been violently attacked by a gang of British-bound migrants at a motorway rest area near Calais. A group of around 20 Eritrean immigrants armed with sticks and rocks are said to have mistaken their victims for Afghan people traffickers. The vicious assault - which left the two Frenchmen with fractures, cuts and bruises - illustrates the war between rival migrant gangs to control motorway service areas, which have become the main points for sneaking aboard vehicles heading to the UK. Two drivers have been violently attacked by a gang of British-bound migrants at a motorway rest area near Calais A group of around 20 Eritrean immigrants armed with sticks and rocks are said to have mistaken their victims for Afghan people traffickers. Pictures show the damage that was caused One of the victims was attacked as he pulled into the rest area on the A26 autoroute near Choques in a utility van while the other was already parked up. Pictures of the smashed up cars were shared on Facebook and on a petition set up to end such acts of violence. British drivers are now being urged to avoid stopping at motorway rest areas within 20 miles of Calais. A police source told Le Figaro newspaper: 'It's the first time we have seen such an act of violence towards ordinary motorists outside of Calais itself. 'The victims have pressed charges but so far none of the attackers have been identified.' British hauliers unions have long raised fears about violence towards drivers, with numerous reports of migrants armed with sticks and knives trying to break into their trucks. There are currently around 5,000 migrants sleeping rough in Calais, all hoping to sneak aboard lorries, cars and ferries to the UK. Two drivers have been violently attacked by a gang of British-bound migrants at a motorway rest area near Calais (file picture) British hauliers unions have long raised fears about violence directed towards their drivers (file picture) Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart recently blamed Britain's 'black market economy' and 'cushy benefits system' for the illegal immigrant crisis in her town. She said the UK should be forced to abandon border checks for travellers arriving from Europe to help move the migrants away. Ms Bouchart said: 'They want to go to England because they can expect better conditions on arrival there than anywhere else in Europe or even internationally. 'There are no ID cards. They can easily find work outside the formal economy, which is not really controlled. 'Calais is a hostage to the British. The migrants come here to get to Britain. Schools should consider introducing gender-neutral toilets to help trans children feel more comfortable, the head of Ofsted has said. Sir Michael Wilshaw said he supported introducing new facilities for pupils who have changed gender as long as they are well-policed and well-supervised. During a phone-in session with LBC radio, he said he expected head teachers would accommodate requests as circumstances change and perhaps more parents want this. But the regulator chief said he could not envisage a dramatic change in the traditional boys and girls toilet rules in most schools. Sir Michael Wilshaw (above) said he supported introducing new facilities for pupils who have changed gender as long as they are well-policed and well-supervised in a radio phone-in show His comments come after a number of schools adopted new toilet and changing room arrangements to help trans children. Under equality laws, transgender pupils must not be discriminated against in schools and transphobic bullying must be dealt with by staff. Responding to a caller who said she had a gender fluid sibling, Sir Michael admitted he had not given gender-neutral toilets a second thought but said he was in favour of the idea. He said: I dont see why schools should not have that if its well-policed and well-supervised and well-monitored. But you know most schools have boys and girls toilets and I dont see that changing very much. The caller told Nick Ferraris show that gender-neutral toilets would make it easier because it would save her sibling having to explain why they were going in to the boys or girls toilets on different days. Sir Michel responded: Well Im sure head teachers deal with this sort of thing sensitively. And if there are particular cases where they need to provide toileting arrangements which are suitable for that individual Im sure head teachers would handle that well. I think you know head teachers want to do well by all their children and if theres a special pleading by a parent for a particular child, head teachers will go out of the way to try and meet those needs. He conceded that it is not the case that schools are set up to accommodate trans pupils at the moment. But he said: As circumstances change and more parents, perhaps more parents want this then obviously head teachers will try and accommodate that where possible. During the wide-ranging phone-in, Sir Michael also said he supported the governments controversial plans for scrapping compulsory parent governors. He said more 'professional' governors were needed such as retired heads and could be paid if necessary. But the regulator chief said he could not envisage a dramatic change in the traditional boys and girls toilet rules in most schools (File photo) He added that failing schools sometimes have the worst governors who just take 'the word of the head' at face value. Sir Michaels comments on trans pupils come after it emerged single-sex schools are now breaking decades of tradition to accommodate trans pupils who have switched to the opposite gender. Members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers union said earlier this month that trans students were the issue du jour and many schools are now supporting those changing gender. For all-girls schools, it can mean having their first ever boy if a female pupil decides to come out as trans during their studies and vice versa for all-boys schools. Some schools are now making toilets gender neutral while others are creating special changing room arrangements. In March, several parents at a village primary school took their children out of class in protest at a 'transgender day' for pupils as young as four. The series of workshops, organised by St Mary the Virgin Church of England primary school in Hartfield, East Sussex, was aimed at helping children to gain a better understanding of the trans community. In February, 13-year-old Jordan Morgan became the only boy at Gloucester High School for Girls after changing his gender. Leaving court: Mitchel Britten (pictured), 23, helps run a farm which has more than 16,000 free range hens and sells eggs to M&S and The Happy Egg Co A farmer has denied head-butting a stranger and breaking his nose during a night out at a Cuban-themed nightclub in London's West End. Mitchel Britten, 23, helps run a farm which has more than 16,000 free range hens and sells eggs to M&S and The Happy Egg Co. Britten travelled to the capital for a night out at the opulent Embargo Republica club in Chelseas Kings Road where he allegedly head-butted Neil Brotherston in the face on May 25 last year. Mr Brotherston suffered a broken nose which required surgery and he spent two days in hospital recovering. Britten appeared at Isleworth Crown Court today wearing a white chequered shirt, chinos, a red striped black tie and a tweed jacket. He denied inflicting grievous bodily harm and one charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The bright green Embargo Republica club is accessed through a cigar shop along with live music and the largest rooftop bar in the area. Britten, with the help of girlfriend Elizabeth Barber, run a pedigree Charollais sheep flock alongside the farm's commercial flock of Lleyns sheep in the sprawling Norfolk countryside. The Barber family have been running the farm since the 1970s, when Elizabeth and sister Annabels grandfather took up the tenancy in 1973. Their parents Julie and David then purchased the land, and now sell their hand selected eggs to a range of premier clientele, including Noble foods, M&S and The Happy Egg Co. Judge John Denniss bailed Britten and ordered him to stand trial on November 7 at Isleworth Crown Court. Britten, of Wymondham, Norfolk, denies inflicting grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. 'Affluenza' teen Ethan Couch reckons his two-year jail term will be slashed to just six months, his family have exclusively told Daily Mail Online. Couch dodged prison for a 2013 DUI crash that killed four people but was belatedly handed four consecutive 180-day jail terms on Wednesday for breaching his probation by partying and fleeing to Mexico. The new punishment kicked in because Couch turned 19 while in custody. He appeared before Texas Judge Wayne Salvant as an adult rather than a juvenile. But Couch's half-brother Steven McWilliams told Daily Mail Online that Ethan and his lawyers are confident they can challenge that decision and have his 720-day sentence dramatically slashed. 'It was a surprise but I think it will work out in our favor in the end,' predicted McWilliams, 29. 'I guess the best we can hope for is just one sentence of 180 days.' SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Ethan Couch dodged prison for a 2013 DUI crash that killed four people but was belatedly handed four consecutive 180-day jail terms on Wednesday for breaching his probation by partying and fleeing to Mexico Ethan Couch's half brother Steven McWilliams (left) spoke to DailyMail.com after Couch was sentenced to do another two years in prison. At right McWilliams speaks with his wife Misty at the courthouse Judge Salvant asked for further written arguments before Couch's next court date in two weeks offering a glimmer of hope to the teen runaway by saying his sentence wasn't 'set in stone'. 'There was just some confusion,' added McWilliams, who attended the hearing. 'The judge made a ruling but he said we can argue it, you can come back and prove me wrong.' Couch was just 16 when he got drunk and went for a spin in his dad Fred's truck before hitting a stationary car and wiping out the driver and three people who had come to her assistance as she had a flat tire. The coddled reprobate escaped with ten years' probation after his lawyers successfully argued that he didn't understand the consequences of his actions because of his privileged background - an affliction they coined 'affluenza'. Judge Wayne Salvant asked for further written arguments before Couch's next court date in two weeks offering a glimmer of hope to the teen tearaway by saying his sentence wasn't 'set in stone' McWilliams told Daily Mail Online, however, that his half-sibling now recognizes how much suffering he has heaped on the families of the dead and the nine other people he left injured. 'They want him in there for 20 to 30 years. He understands that,' McWilliams said outside his Fort Worth home, where Couch's mom Tonya, 48, is also living under house arrest for arranging his bungled flit to Mexico. 'He's gotten over this but when it first happened he was beside himself. He felt sick. He's just a normal person and of course he felt bad for them. 'It's a double edge, of course he know he deserves something. He doesn't want to just sit in there forever but he does realize he deserves something.' Couch has been locked up in solitary confinement at the maximum security Lon Evans Correctional Center in downtown Fort Worth for up to 23 hours a day since being transferred there in February. Authorities have isolated him for his own protection because they fear the slightly-built offender could be targeted by other inmates because of his infamy. McWilliams, his wife Misty, 29, and Ethan's father Fred Couch, 50, all visited him on Monday for a somber 19th birthday celebration behind bars - but were barred from taking any cards, cakes or gifts. 'It's a room the size of my car almost. He just sits in there,' said McWilliams. 'But mentally he is fine.' 'People are threatening him but I think there's a lot worse people than him in the world. He gets letters in jail but it's all people supporting him. 'We were going to visit every day but now we go a couple of times a week. It wasn't an ordinary birthday but he just took it as 'it is what is it is'. Fred Couch was in court yesterday as the judge ruled that his son would serve another two years in prison. Tonya Couch faces up to ten years in jail herself for helping her son flee to Mexico McWilliams declined to go into further detail on the threats but he said his entire family had been subject to abuse in the past few months. Tonya Couch faces up to ten years in jail herself for allegedly helping her son flee to Mexico last year after he violated his probation by attending a boozy beer bong party. The pair drove 1,200 miles and hid out at the Pacific beach resort of Puerto Vallarta but were located and brought back to the US in January after they used one of their cellphones to order a pizza. The case against Tonya, who is charged with hindering apprehension of a fugitive, is also being dealt with by Judge Salvant. Her continuing house arrest meant she was unable to attend Wednesday's hearing at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center but she was doing 'pretty good' despite learning her son had been given nearly two more years behind bars, according to McWilliams. 'My stepdad is taking it in is stride,' he added. 'I think we all know it won't end up that way.' Dan Poulter today launched a stinging attack on the Government for failing to help the most disadvantaged An NHS doctor personally brought into politics by David Cameron today blasted the Prime Minister for leaving the worst off behind. Dan Poulter, who served as a health minister in the last parliament, said he had been persuaded to join the Tories and run for the Commons by Mr Cameron's promises of compassionate Conservatism. He said the Mr Cameron had impressed him on a visit to a care centre at which he was volunteering in 2006. But he said today a recent career move to working on mental health had laid bare to him how the most disadvantaged people in society were being being left behind by the government. Writing in the Guardian, Dr Poulter said: 'Twice a week, I look after a very vulnerable group of patients who are not only unwell, but often face some of the most appalling housing and social circumstances. 'The results of that are revealing. 'As I reflect on what has changed since that meeting with David Cameron in 2006, I struggle to see much improvement in the situation of some of the most disadvantaged people in our society.' Dr Poulter warned 'Westminster too often feels a world apart from reality' and said while the Government had to be financially responsible it also had duty to be compassionate. And he said: 'Our first priority must be to look after and protect the most vulnerable, and the genuinely disadvantaged. 'When there is so much still to be done to improve the life chances of the most vulnerable, it is difficult to justify putting middle-class tax cuts before the needs of the working poor, and the socially disadvantaged.' Dr Poulter urged the Government to plough more money into the NHS and local authorities to make sure those worst off in society were best helped. The stinging criticism of Mr Cameron, seen in Downing Street yesterday, came despite a visit by the PM as leader of the opposition drawing Dr Poulter into politics in 2006 Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith launched a savage attack on the Government's austerity agenda when he quit as work and pensions secretary in the wake of last month's budget. He said: 'The truth is yes, we need to get the deficit down. 'But we need to make sure we widen the scope of where we look to get that deficit down and not just narrow it down on working age benefits 'Because otherwise it just looks like we see this as a pot of money, that it doesn't matter because they don't vote for us.' Four members of a 60 Minutes television crew have also been arrested She organised a child recovery team to snatch them from the streets The Australian mother being held in Lebanon after going through with an ill-conceived plan to kidnap her two children from Beirut has told her loved ones not to visit her in prison. Sally Faulkner has been remanded in custody at the Baabha Women's Jail, in Beirut, facing charges of kidnapping, physical assault, hiding information and criminal conspiracy after hiring a child recovery agency to snatch her two children Noah, three, and Lahela, five, from a bus stop last week. The Brisbane mother is expected to face court for the third time on Monday where she may get bail, according to the Guardian. The report claims a judicial source with knowledge of the case says that is dependent on a reconciliation agreement being reached with the childrens father. Scroll down for video Sally Faulkner is expected to face court for the third time on Monday, but has urged her parents and partner Brendan Pierce, who is looking after their three-month old baby, not to come to Lebanon for the proceedings She has been remanded in custody at the Baabha Women's Jail, in Beirut, alongside reporter Tara Brown facing charges of kidnapping, physical assault, hiding information and criminal conspiracy Ms Faulkner has urged her parents and partner Brendan Pierce, who is looking after their three-month old baby, not to come to Lebanon for the proceedings, the Daily Telegraph reported. She said they each had 'priorities and commitments back home' and did not want to concern them with her legal battle, which could see her locked up in a Lebanon prison for up to 20 years. 'I would leave Beirut in a heartbeat, but events have to follow their course,' she told the Daily Telegraph from her cell. Ms Faulkner said she wanted her partner and parents to know that she is being treated well and holding up under the harrowing circumstances. 'I am fine but my loved ones need to know that,' she said. Ms Faulkner is sharing a cell with 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown who travelled to Lebanon with a Channel Nine television crew to record the 'child recovery operation'. She is facing charges over her involvement in hiring a child recovery agency to snatch her two children Noah, three, and Lahela, five, from their father Ali el-Amien last week Senior journalist Tara Brown has been moved to a female only detention centre outside Beirut with the children's mother Sally Faulkner ahead of an expected court appearance on Monday Veteran reporter, Stephen Rice (left), David Ballment (centre) and Benjamin Williamson (right) are also in custody The two women, along with producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Benjamin Williamson and sound technician Stephen Rice were individually questioned by Judge Rami Abdullah at the Baabda Palace of Justice on Wednesday. Judge Abdullah told Ms Faulkner that she needed to 'reach an agreement' with her estranged husband Ali Elamine over the custody of their young children, but said there was 'no chance' the group of Australians would avoid charges. 'There is no chance the charges will be dropped. It is a violation of the Lebanese law by all of these Ms Brown has told the media she is being kept in a barred, heavily meshed holding cell and was required to wear handcuffs each time she went outside. Despite the daunting conditions, Ms Brown - whose partner John McAvoy has been recommended to stay in Australia - said she has had visitors and been treated well. Judge Abdullah told Ms Faulkner that she needed to 'reach an agreement' with her estranged husband Ali Elamine over the custody of their young children, but said there was 'no chance' the group of Australians would avoid charges Ms Brown has told the media she is being kept in a barred, heavily meshed holding cell and was required to wear handcuffs each time she went outside 'We are being treated well by the standards here - it's fine, it's not crowded,' she told the Daily Telegraph from her cell. This comes as Lebanese authorities allege they have proof a child recovery agency was hired by Channel Nine to snatch Ms Faulkner's two children from her estranged husband. International legal experts have urged Channel Nine to make a formal apology to Lebanese authorities over the botched 'child recovery operation', as Judge Abdullah said he will investigate who from the station signed off and paid for the scheme. Channel Seven correspondent Hugh Whitfeld, reporting from Beirut, said the judge is confident that Channel Nine funded the child recovery operation and claimed he would be trying to ascertain who from the television station paid for and approved the segment. International legal experts have urged Channel Nine to make a formal apology to Lebanese authorities over the botched 'child recovery operation' (pictured) 'He wants to find out who signed off on it all and who was the main person in charge of paying for it because he says he understands the TV crew are just employees,' Mr Whitfeld said on Wednesday. The 60 Minutes crew had followed Ms Faulkner to the Middle East to film the recovery but they were arrested alongside Ms Faulkner shortly after the children were snatched from their paternal grandmother at a bus stop by a group of masked men and bundled into a car last week. The kidnapping plan appeared to be doomed from the beginning with the children's father having access to emails that showed the sting being organised. The senior oncologist stood down from a Sydney hospital after it was revealed he gave 78 cancer patients the wrong dosage of a chemotherapy drug has returned to Australia to participate in an investigation. Dr John Grygiel was stood down from his position at St Vincent's Hospital, in Darlinghurst, inner-Sydney in February after the ABC revealed that he had given 78 patients suffering with cancer of the neck or head low doses of the chemotherapy drug carboplatin between 2012 and 2015. An interim report by Cancer Institute NSW CEO Professor David Currow found that 30 of the 78 patients involved in the scandal have died since receiving treatment at the hospital, with 23 deaths being related to their cancer. Dr Grygiel was overseas when the report was handed down but is now back in Australia and said he would 'co-operate fully' with Prof Currow's inquiry and provide 'clinical evidence' to support his treatment methods, the Daily Telegraph reported. Dr John Grygiel stood down from his position at St Vincent's Hospital in February after the ABC revealed that he had given 78 patients suffering with cancer of the neck or head low doses of the chemotherapy drug An interim report by Cancer Institute NSW CEO Professor David Currow found that 30 of the 78 patients involved in the scandal have died since receiving treatment at St Vincent's (pictured) 'Throughout my professional life, I have always been concerned about the wellbeing of my patients and I remain concerned for them and their families,' he said in a statement to the newspaper. 'I intend to co-operate fully with the inquiry and look forward to the opportunity to state my case and present clinical evidence to support my decisions.' The inquiry will now expand to look at Dr Grygiel's treatment of patients in Orange and Bathurst since 2006. When handing down his report last week, Prof Currow said the 30 deaths at St Vincent's could not be directly linked to Dr Grygiel's treatment, with fatality being the expected outcome of their diagnosis, however his failure to follow treatment protocols likely resulted in 'higher rates of local recurrence and higher overall mortality'. The scathing report also found that there was a 'significant delay' in notifying the patients involved and that the under dosing scandal may have started as far back as 2005. Staff interviewed by Prof Currow said nursing staff and doctors challenged Dr Grygiel about his dosing from at least '2005', but were persuaded that his actions were medically acceptable. The report, which made 20 recommendations, found that senior staff at the hospital did not take responsibility for addressing the incident and showed 'no sense of urgency' when the scandal came up during a review which delayed 'advising and supporting patients and their families'. All of Dr Grygiel's head and neck cancer patients were prescribed 100 milligrams of the drug, a third of the recommended dose 'The response by St Vincent's, when it realised there was an issue, failed to demonstrate an understanding of the distress this issue was likely to cause patients and their families,' the report read. Patients were notified after the scandal became public in February, despite having knowledge of the error since at least August last year. The NSW Cancer Institute recommends a varying dosage of carboplatin depending on the patient's kidney tests, age and sex, but it is most commonly prescribed in doses between 200 and 300mg. Of Dr Grygiel's 138 head and neck cancer patients, 78 were prescribed 100 milligrams of the drug, a third of the recommended dose. St Vincent's CEO Toby Hall has apologised for 'acting too slowly' when the issue was first flagged and has vowed to implement all of the recommendations made in the interim report, the ABC reported. St Vincent's CEO Toby Hall has apologised for 'acting too slowly' when the issue was first flagged and has vowed to implement all of the recommendations made in the interim report The investigation into St Vincent's staff has not found any evidence of a cover up, however the report suggests false and misleading claims were made by the hospital once the scandal became public. 'The hospital's public statement that 'no patients appeared to have suffered any negative impact as a result of the dosage issue' is not accurate because the internal and external reviews did not examine any patient-level outcome data from this off-protocol prescribing,' the report said. A 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania student committed suicide earlier this week, marking the tenth self-inflicted death at the Ivy League school in three years. Ao 'Olivia' Kong, a junior studying finance in the Wharton School, was killed on Monday at about 7am after she was struck by a train on SEPTA's Market-Frankford Line. Kong grew up in Philadelphia and was a member of the Phi Gamma Nu business fraternity and Alpha Phi Omega co-ed service fraternity. Ao 'Olivia' Kong was killed on Monday at about 7am after she was struck by a train on SEPTA's Market-Frankford Line. The 21-year-old was a junior studying finance at the Wharton School She was also a Mayor's Scholar and studied abroad last semester at the University of Melbourne in Australia, according to CBS Philadelphia. University President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price released a statement following Kong's death. 'We are deeply saddened to report that a Penn undergraduate student was struck and killed this morning by a SEPTA train at the 40th Street Station,' the statement said. 'She was a bright, well-liked and successful member of our junior class. 'We have been in contact with her family and have conveyed our deepest sympathies to them at this very sad and tragic time.' Students mourned Kong at a vigil on Monday night, and friends organized a gathering in her honor on Wednesday, during which they raised awareness for mental health and discussed resources at the school. 'We want to break the silence and we want to lift the stigma of mental health,' student Sophie Phillips said at end of the event, according to Philly.com. 'Outside of this gathering, we want to continue sharing these stories. 'Not just because we talk about hard things like depression and anxiety and suicide and mental health, but because they're also stories about hope, bravery, resiliency, and courage,' Phillips published a change.org petition on Tuesday asking the university to take six steps that would address mental illness on campus. Steps include easing the process of withdrawing from classes, requiring mental health training for residential advisers and increasing counseling services and resources. Since Monday, students have criticized the way in which the university handled the announcement of Kong's death, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian. Kong grew up in Philadelphia and was Mayor's Scholar, a member of a business fraternity and a member of a co-ed service fraternity. Last semester, she studied abroad at the University of Melbourne in Australia Kong's death was first announced in an email from the President's Office sent at 2.22pm. The email reported the incident and shared several resources for students, but did not release Kong's name. Twenty minutes later, Wharton sent out an email to its own undergraduate community, sharing Kong's name and details about her life. The email, which was sent out before it had been ruled a suicide, described Kong's death as an 'accident'. Wharton provided information in the email that was 'from what was reported in the media or sent in emails to the Penn community', Wharton spokesperson Peter Winicov told the Daily Pennsylvanian in an emailed statement. Vice President for University Communications Steve MacCarthy supported the decision to only release Kong's name to Wharton students, but not the entire university, which has a student body of 21,000. 'Given all the media attention that had been focused on the death, we felt it was important to acknowledge that a student was involved,' MacCarthy wrote in an email to The Daily Pennsylvanian. 'At the time it was being drafted we were respecting the wishes of the family regarding the release of her name.' He said that at the time the announcement was made by the President's Office, Kong's name 'was not being publicly revealed'. 'The school email goes to a much smaller group of people who were likely to have known the deceased. It occurs as efforts are being made to personally contact roommates, friends, those who knew her in clubs, etc.,' he wrote. Students mourned Kong at a vigil on Monday night and have since pushed the school's administration to give students more mental health resources 'At that point the name is well-known within that campus community, so those messages always include the name,' he added. Students criticized Wharton for calling Kong's death an accident. 'Mental health is the elephant in the room no one wants to talk about,' College and Wharton freshman Freddy Chang told The Daily Pennsylvanian. 'The University has euphemized the situation by claiming it was an "accident" and only sending an email to Wharton students rather than bringing the conversation to the forefront.' After Phillips' petition gained thousands of signatures, several students involved in drafting the petition met administrators on Wednesday. 'We were open and listened and found the students really well-meaning. They were smart and they care deeply,' said Bill Alexander, the director of Penn's counseling services. Gutmann and Price sent out an email on Wednesday announcing steps the university will take immediately before meeting again with the students who drafted the petition. 'We are extending the hours of counseling and psychological services (CAPS) in the evenings and on weekends. We are also reaching out to other mental health experts here on campus to solicit their ideas for action,' they wrote. The announcement said the university is willing to provide more mental-health resources on campus. The statement said: 'We have also instructed our central support services, including CAPS, to inform us if they require any additional resources to meet student needs during these challenging days. 'We have not and will not let resources stand in the way of protecting the mental health needs of our community.' Studies show that a suicide at Penn occurs on average twice every three years. But in recent years, the number has increased tremendously. After two undergraduate students died within two weeks of one another in 2014, the university created a mental-health task force made up of administrators and professionals. Gutmann and Price asked the task force's chairs - Director of Education for the Department of Psychiatry Anthony Rostain and former School of Arts and Sciences Dean Rebecca Bushnell - to reconvene the group immediately on Wednesday. Friends organized a gathering in Kong's (pictured bottom left) honor on Wednesday, during which they raised awareness of mental health issues They said they hope the meeting will 'determine as expeditiously as possible what additional steps can be taken to help ensure the health and well-being of our students'. The group will evaluate how the previous actions recommended by the task force affected students and will look into further changes to improve the effectiveness of mental-health programs at the university. The most recent suicide before Kong's was that of engineering graduate student Stephen Kyle Wilshusen. The 25-year-old first-year computer science Ph.D. student died on December 31 in Philadelphia. Including Kong and Wilshusen, ten Penn students have committed suicide since February 2013. Arya Singh, 20, committed suicide in her dorm room on February 8, 2013. She had ingested soluble cyanide crystals. In August 2013, Wendy Shung, a second-year graduate student in the School of Education committed suicide. Just months later, Alice Wiley, a graduate student in social policy committed suicide in December 2013 over winter break. Penn track star Madison Holleran, 19, jumped to her death from atop a Philadelphia parking garage in January 2014, leaving behind a note and gifts for members of her family. Just three weeks later in February 2014, 18-year-old Elvis Hatcher, a fraternity treasurer and IT expert, hanged himself. Theodric Reed, a 22-year-old senior who studied English, committed suicide in August 2014, just weeks before he would have returned campus for his final year Weeks later, 20-year-old Amanda Hu's death was ruled a suicide after she was found dead in her room in September 2014. At the time of her death, she was on a voluntary leave of absence from the university and working in a biochemistry lab. The body of Timothy Hamlett was found in May 2015, after he had gone missing in December 2014 and was last seen near New York City's George Washington Bridge. Hamlett, a philosophy major and member of the track and field team, was on voluntarily leave from the university at the time. His body was found in the Hudson River below the bridge and his death was ruled a suicide. For confidential support in the United States, call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255. For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or see www.samaritans.org. Two Mexican army soldiers face military charges after a video surfaced of them helping a federal police officer torture a female suspect. A female military police officer is seen in the video interrogating the woman. She pulls her hair and places the muzzle of her rifle against the woman's head. Within minutes the torment escalates as a blue-uniformed federal police officer puts her head inside a plastic bag and pulls it tight. Scroll down for video Horrific: Two Mexican army soldiers face military charges after a video (screen grab pictured) surfaced of them helping a federal police officer torture a female suspect. They torment her then suffocate her The Defense Department says the events occurred February 4, 2015 in Ajuchitlan, a small mountain town in southern Guerrero state. Opium poppy plantations are common in the area where drug cartels operate. The federal police officer placed a plastic bag over the woman's head until she almost passed out. It is unclear if the police officer apparently also female faces charges. Mexico's army said Thursday that the two soldiers are in a military prison facing charges of failure to obey orders. The Defense Department said that civilian prosecutors had been advised of the incident. Under Mexican law, civilian prosecutors are supposed to investigate army abuses against civilians, but soldiers can also face simultaneous charges in military tribunals. The chilling, four-minute video shows the handcuffed woman sitting in the dirt, crying, outside a rural cinder-block house. The female soldier asks her repeatedly during and after the torture, 'Are you going to talk? Yes or no? Now do you remember?' 'Do you want more? Who is this damn Maria?' As the suspect lies inert on the ground, the female soldier asks her 'Do you remember now? Or do you want the bag again? Or water? Or (electric) shocks? Tell me what you want.' The military justice system acted much more quickly in the case than civilian prosecutors. The army said it found out about the video apparently taped by a police officer or soldier at the scene in December, and arrested the two soldiers in January. Civilian prosecutors could not say whether any charges had been filed against anyone in civilian courts. Raul Benitez, a security specialist who teaches political science at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said 'the military justice system tends to be very strict in such cases, because (the soldiers in the video) are casting the institution in a bad light.' The chilling, four-minute video shows the handcuffed woman sitting in the dirt, crying, outside a rural cinder-block house as the female soldier asks 'Are you going to talk? Do you want more? Who is this damn Maria?' But Benitez also noted the case was unusual in that the proof is so obvious and unarguable. 'There are abuses by soldiers, but there often isn't this kind of solid proof,' said Benitez. 'They are not accustomed to acknowledging such cases, unless the evidence is overwhelming.' The Americas director for Human Rights Watch, Jose Miguel Vivanco, said that 'torture and inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment continue to be the traditional methods of 'investigation' and punishment in Mexico.' 'As long as those directly responsible for these practices, and those who cover up for them, aren't brought to justice, there will never be any chance to combat or eliminate' torture, Vivanco said. Police are investigating the slaying of a Kentucky teenager who was found fatally shot in a rural area of Mercer County. Kentucky State Police Trooper Robert Purdy said detectives are conducting a murder investigation after the body of 17-year-old Tristan Cole of Harrodsburg was found Wednesday night. Cole was pronounced dead at the scene, and his body was taken to the State Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy. Scroll down for video Kentucky State Police Trooper Robert Purdy said detectives are conducting a murder investigation after the body of 17-year-old Tristan Cole of Harrodsburg (pictured) was found Wednesday night Cole's body 'was found off of Deep Creek Road, west of Harrodsburg in rural Mercer County,' according to Purdy The trooper said Cole's body was found near his vehicle in a rural area west of Harrodsburg. Cole's body 'was found off of Deep Creek Road, west of Harrodsburg in rural Mercer County,' according to Purdy. Authorities have charged a juvenile with murder and robbery, Lex 18 reported. Gary Devine is Cole's father and had said to the TV station: 'For this to happen, to shoot him in the back. 'It just isn't right and I hope they find him and they better hope before any of my family or any of his other family and that's all I got to say.' Mercer County Schools said in a statement issued: 'This loss is sure to raise many emotions, concerns, and questions for our entire school, especially our students' Mercer County Schools said in a statement issued to The Advocate Messenger: 'This loss is sure to raise many emotions, concerns, and questions for our entire school, especially our students. 'Our school and district have a Crisis Intervention Team made up of professionals trained to help with the needs of students, parents, and school personnel at difficult times such as this. 'At our school, we have counselors available for any student who may need or want help or any type of assistance surrounding this loss. Eric Aspden, 43, was charged with five felony counts of passing counterfeit bank notes A former pharmacist was busted Tuesday for allegedly running a one-man counterfeit operation out of his California apartment, using a store-bought printer to peddle fake cash that reached dozens of states. For at least 18 months, the brazen man is believed to have sent out over 2,000 packages a year containing fake $20 bills to recipients around the country, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Police first caught on the scheme allegedly concocted by Eric Carl Aspden, 43, after fake $20 bills began circulating in Fairfax County, Virginia a year and a half ago, investigators with the Santa Clara County sheriff's office said, according to Mercury News. Fairfax police bought fake bills in an undercover sting - in one instance, investigators purchased over $1,000 worth of twenties in a single package - and cooperated with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Santa Clara County sheriff's department to track the money to Aspden's apartment. Police said Aspden used a laptop computer, a printer, and paper cutter to produce the fake bills. He was said to have printed the money on pure cotton paper, as opposed to the official blend of three-quarters cotton and a quarter linen. Scroll down for video Counterfeit cash allegedly produced by Eric Aspden on display during a press conference at the Santa Clara County sheriff's office in San Jose, California Police obscured the serial numbers printed on the counterfeit bills before showing it to reporters Wednesday Police said Aspden used ordinary printing equipment to run his counterfeit operation. Pictured, ink cartridges The entire scope of Aspden's alleged operation is not yet known, but police said the fake bills could have reached as many as 30 states. 'This guy was able to operate for a very long time without being detected,' and his scheme led to 'likely hundreds of thousands of dollars of counterfeit currency being flooded into our economy,' said Santa Clara sheriff's detective Justin Harper, according to KRON TV. Harper said Aspden made at least $100,000 a year from selling the fake cash at a price less than face value. The bill on top is fake, the one below the real deal. Aspden used material made of 100% cotton, whereas official currency is made from a cotton-linen blend, police said Pictured, a paper cutter allegedly used by Aspden to separate the fake bills from each other Police said Aspden's operation was especially harmful to small business owners, who don't routinely inspect money being paid in small denominations. 'The impact on local merchants is huge, in the loss of product and revenue,' Harper said, according to Mercury News. 'They're drastically affected. They lose their livelihood.' Aspden formerly worked as a pharmacist. His license, which he held for seven years, expired in 2011, according to public records. Eventually police arrive on the scene and take the woman away This is the troubling moment a half naked Chinese woman was filmed begging a white man for sex in the street. Wearing just a thong and high black boots - her other clothes scattered on the floor - she presses herself against the tourist, her arms around his body. Allegedly she had stripped in the busy Shanghai road and was begging the man for sex promising him an 'exotic experience' if he agreed. Art of seduction? Wearing just a thong and high black boots - her other clothes scattered on the floor - she presses herself against the tourist, her arms around his body Please? Allegedly she had stripped in the busy Shanghai road and was begging the man for sex promising him an 'exotic experience' if he agreed The two eyewitnesses filming the incident are astounded at the sight. How can the woman throw herself at the man? one asks. 'Shes probably desperate and is willing to risk everything, the other replies. She even tries to hoist her leg up around his waist at one point. Local reports reveal the woman was incredibly drunk. The man however shows no interest and can be seen looking around for help and later seems to be forcing her off him. A second clip sees the girl sitting, still undressed, on the pavement as a policeman approaches her. Shameless: He grabs her as she tries to walk away, encouraging the topless woman to face the the fence. She stumbles and tries to leave again but he catches up with her and pulls her back He grabs her as she tries to walk away, encouraging the topless woman to face the the fence. She stumbles and tries to leave again but he catches up with her and pulls her back. Another officer strides forward and the pair drag her into the police car. It is not known whether she was a prostitute or not, but exchanging money for sex is illegal in mainland China. However since the loosening of government controls over society in the early 1980s, prostitution in mainland China as become more visible in both urban and rural areas. It forms a large industry in the country, producing considerable economic output. Prostitution has also become associated with organised crime and government corruption. Many Russian women also work as prostitutes in China in venues such as hotels, beauty salons and karaoke bars. Former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy left an estate of almost 900,000 in his will to his son. The 55-year-old was found dead in his cottage in Fort William in the Highlands on June 1 last year, less than a month after he lost his Commons seat. The ex-MP died after suffering a major haemorrhage as a result of his long battle with alcoholism. Mr Kennedy was found by his new partner Carole MacDonald, the widow of his best friend Murdo MacDonald who was his rock as he battled alcoholism. Mr MacDonald died aged 49 in 2007. His recently-published will has revealed he had an estate valued at 882,426 at the time of his death. Kennedy left instructions left instructions that his estate should be held in a trust until his 11-year-old son Donald reaches the age of 25 He left instructions that his entire estate should be held in a trust for his 11-year-old son Donald until he reaches the age of 25. His ex-wife Sarah Gurling was not left any money. He had wed the PR executive in 2002 but the couple divorced in December, 2010. Mr Kennedy nominated Mrs MacDonald and his sister Isabella Ferguson as executors of his estate. Mrs Ferguson, who lives in Canada, declined the appointment. Mr Kennedys estate included a 610,000 property in Londons Westminster near the Houses of Parliament. He had personal belongings worth 5,000, a 14,000 Toyota car and around 10,000 held in various bank accounts. He was also due a resettlement payment of 32,304 from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority for leaving Parliament last year. The politician held shares in Royal Mail worth 1,191 and was due a contributor payment of 250 from the BBC. In the will, which was written in August, 2012, he also instructed that his son should become the tenant of three crofts he had in Lochyside when he turns 21-years-old. The crofts and their common grazing shares were valued at 210,000. Mr Kennedy was devastated and heartbroken after losing his Ross, Skye and Lochaber seat at the General Election last year and the death of his father during the campaign. Mr Kennedy was found by his new partner Carole MacDonald, the widow of his best friend Murdo MacDonald who was his rock as he battled alcoholism. Mr MacDonald died aged 49 in 2007. His grieving relatives said that the ex-MP had been unable to conquer the illness which forced him to quit as leader in 2006, despite all the efforts he and others made. Kennedy with ex-wife Sarah Gurling. The couple divorced in 2010 and she was not left anything in the will News of Mr Kennedys death sent shockwaves through British politics, with those closest to him acknowledging the role that alcohol played in his death. Former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell had been in regular contact with Mr Kennedy in the weeks before his death, fearing his demons and drink would put his health at risk. Speaking in June last year, Mr Campbell said: None of us are surprised that alcoholism played a part in his tragic death but what has been great about the tributes is that they have focused on so much more than this. I also hope that politicians of all parties develop a better understanding of alcoholism, take it more seriously and devise policies to treat it as a disease on a par with the other major diseases. Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said he hoped one legacy of Mr Kennedys untimely death would be a better public understanding of the dangers of excessive drinking. A memorial service for the former politician was held at St Georges Cathedral in London in November and was attended by Prime Minister David Cameron and Commons Speaker John Bercow. Miss Gurling and Donald were also present. Under Mr Kennedys leadership, the Lib Dems won a record 62 seats in 2005 but he resigned eight months after the election after revealing he had been receiving treatment for a long-standing drink problem. The country that gave the world Kafka, sugar cubes and Pilsner Urquell beer is to get a rebrand. Officials at the Czech Republic's foreign ministry believe a new name - Czechia - is more practical and flexible when referring to the state. Unlike most European countries, the Czech Republic has lacked a one-word version of its name in foreign languages. Officials at the Czech Republic's foreign ministry in the capital Prague (pictured) believe a new name - Czechia - is more practical and flexible when referring to the state Now, the country wants people to use the name Czechia in English, Tschechien in German or Tchequie in French when speaking about the state. Much of the trouble comes from the fact there is no English translation of Cesko, the shortened Czech word for the country. Lubomir Zaoralek, the Czech foreign minister, said: 'Its not good when a country does not have any clearly defined symbols or cannot say clearly what its name is. 'We have a chance to tell the world that here in the Czech Republic we use the abbreviated name and, in our opinion, there is only one way to translate it,' he added. Neighboring Slovakia is officially the Slovak Republic and similarly the Russian Federation is shortened to Russia in everyday conversation. President Milos Zeman regularly uses the name to refer to his country and said on a trip to Israel in 2013: 'I use "Czechia" because it sounds nicer and its shorter than the cold "Czech Republic".' A foreign ministry spokesperson, Michaela Lagronova, told MailOnline: 'What the Czech minister of foreign afffairs is planning to do is to put an end to distorting our country's name in English (and some other languages, too) where many people use incorrect "Czech", "Czecho", "Czechland" and other wrong terms.' Much of the trouble comes from the fact there is no English translation of Cesko, the shortened Czech word for the country It is also believed that some people still mistakenly use the term 'Czechoslovakia' to refer to the country. That name was consigned to the dustbin of history more than two decades ago, when the country peacefully separated into the two new states of Slovakia and the Czech Republic at the beginning of 1993. Czechoslovakia had been in existence since 1918 when it declared independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Leaders are meeting later to officially endorse the new name. And to make it official, the Foreign Ministry will ask the United Nations to include the option in its databases. A hotel which was the setting for the 1980 horror cult classic 'The Shining' may be haunted after all. The Children's Museum of Houston Public Relations and Promotions Director Henry Yau was visiting The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado when he decided to take some photos of the historic interior. He took a panoramic photo with no people in the shot and didn't notice a ghostly figure at the top of the stairs until looking at his picture of the grand staircase in the lobby the next day. Scroll down for video Sighting: Henry Yau took this photo of the staircase in the lobby of the notoriously haunted Stanley Hotel in Colorado. Circled in red is a ghostly figure he noticed standing at the top of the stairs the next day 'When I took it, I didn't notice anything,' Yau said. Pictured here is the original panoramic photo from the hotel lobby.'By golly! I think I may have captured a #ghost at #StanleyHotel. #Estespark,' he wrote 'When I took it, I didn't notice anything,' Yau said. When he finally had a glimpse of the 'ghost' he circled it in red and posted the image to his Facebook page. 'By golly! I think I may have captured a #ghost at #StanleyHotel. #Estespark,' he wrote. Yau told Dailymail.com in an email that he took the photo after having dinner at the hotel and also reported feeling some kind of mysterious illness. 'When I took it, I didn't notice anything. Overnight, I felt strangely sick and queasy and had stomach problems. The thing is, I rarely get sick. It wasn't until the next morning that I saw the figure in my pic,' he told Dailymail.com. Yau's sighting was first reported by Click2Houston. THE STANLEY HOTEL'S HAUNTED HISTORY The glamorous Colorado hotel first opened in 1909 and was said to be haunted in the 1970s Rumor has it, the creepy kids featured in the movie 'The Shining' can actually be heard giggling and running around on the fourth floor of The Stanley Hotel - especially around room 418 It's also rumored that the hotel's founder and his wife are also often seen passing through the lobby or heard playing piano in the music room There's also said to be a ghost of a housekeeper who died on the grounds, often spotted in room 217 Steven King stayed just one night at the hotel and that was enough to inspire him to write the book that inspired his hit film Advertisement Rumor has it, those creepy kids featured in the movie 'The Shining' can actually be heard giggling and running around on the fourth floor of The Stanley Hotel - especially around room 418. It's also rumored that the hotel's founder, inventor Freelan Oscar Stanley, and his wife Flora are also often seen passing through the lobby or heard playing piano in the music room. There's also said to be a ghost of a housekeeper who died on the grounds, often spotted in room 217. The hotel first opened in 1909 and was said to be haunted in the 1970s.The hotel has been featured as one of America's most haunted hotels and with the numerous stories from visitors and staff. Steven King stayed just one night at the hotel and that was enough to inspire him to write a book that inspired his hit film. 'After a century of collecting spirits, the hotel has become renowned by specialists and experts in the field of paranormal investigation as one of the nations most active sites,' according to the hotel website. 'Chief amongst the hotels eternal guests are F.O. and Flora Stanley who continue to go about the business of running their beloved establishment as though they were still alive; Floras antique Steinway can be heard playing in the dead of night and Mr. Stanley has been captured in photographs surveying the goings-on in the Billiards Room, once his favorite place,' the website continues. Those who wish to stay overnight at the hotel can pay between $200 and $300 per night to do so. Sleep is not guaranteed. Steven King stayed just one night at the hotel and that was enough to inspire him to write his book 'The Shining'. Pictured here is the exterior of the hotel. The interior was used in the film but the exterior was not Rumor has it, those creepy kids (pictured) featured in the movie 'The Shining' can actually be heard giggling and running around on the fourth floor of The Stanley Hotel - especially around room 418 The hotel has been featured as one of America's most haunted hotels and with the numerous stories from visitors and staff. Pictured here is a tour guide at the hotel The super PAC responsible for the nude Melania Trump Facebook ad has put out a new radio spot accusing Donald Trump of wanting to sleep with his daughter Ivanka Trump. The ad, entitled 'stupid stuff,' showcases some of The Donald's more questionable quotes including one from 2006 when he said on The View, 'if Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her.' 'He told Rolling Stone that if he weren't happily married and his daughter's father, he'd ... well, he didn't finish the thought, but you can guess what he meant,' the minute-long spot says. Scroll down for video A new radio spot accuses Donald Trump (right) of wanting to sleep with his daughter Ivanka Trump (left) pointing to comments he's made in the past about how attractive she is The spot, a product of the Make America Awesome anti-Trump super PAC, will air on seven radio stations in Western New York state, including in Buffalo, New York, where The Donald will hold a rally on Monday, one day shy of the Empire State's primary. The Real Clear Politics polling average has Trump leading in his home state by 31.9 points. Similar to the Melania Trump ad, the new spot encourages voters to support Sen. Ted Cruz instead. Make America Awesome's Liz Mair (pictured) said the ad's purpose is to out Donald Trump for being the 'creepy old man' that he is 'Obviously, in this political environment, there's a demand for "authenticity," so we figured we'd give the voters what they want and put on display the real, authentic Donald Trump: A creepy old man who, apparently, would totally be up for screwing his kid if only 50 percent of her DNA weren't his,' said Republican strategist Liz Mair, the brainchlid behind Make America Awesome. Besides Trump's bizarre quotes about Ivanka, who has been one of his strongest surrogates on the campaign trail, the ad also features some of the Republican frontrunner's misfires on the economy. 'Here's some other stupid things Trump has said,' the spot continues, pointing out that Trump 'thinks Americans get paid too much.' The ad points to a quote Trump made during the November Fox Business Network debate when the businessman said that 'wages [are] too high ... we're not going to be able to compete against the world.' The spot points to hypocrisy in Trump's rhetoric as he rails against illegal immigration, but then hires foreign workers for his Palm Beach resort because Americans 'want full-time jobs.' The ad also whacks the real estate tycoon for his support of eminent domain: 'using government power to take ordinary peoples property so people like him can make more money.' Trump, Mair continued, is a 'guy who's padded out his inherited fortune by screwing average working people like those he's begging to vote for him, financially, on a regular basis for decades now.' 'Trump. Stupid Stuff. Make the smart choice, and support Ted Cruz,' the ad concludes. Family members of the crew have questioned Channel Nine bosses The distressed family members of a 60 Minutes crew being detained in Lebanon over their involvement in a botched child recovery agency have asked Channel Nine bosses for answers. Channel Nine chief executive Hugh Marks was questioned by the family and loved ones of senior reporter Tara Brown, producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Benjamin Williamson and sound technician David Ballment on Wednesday following the team's arrest in Lebanon last week. The wife of one of the imprisoned Channel Nine employees demanded answers during the meeting at Nine's Willoughby office, asking 'since when is Channel Nine in the business of child stealing?' Scroll down for video Channel Nine executives were questioned by the family and loved ones of Tara Brown and her 60 Minutes crew on Wednesday following the team's arrest in Lebanon last week (Pictured Tara Brown with her husband television producer John McAvoy) A wife of one of the detained men - including producer Stephen Rice (left), cameraman David Ballment (centre) and sound technician Benjamin Williamson (right) - asked 'since when is Channel Nine in the business of child stealing?' Inside sources have revealed there was a 'distinct lack of information' coming from the television station during the meeting, but that everyone involved appeared quite concerned for the crew who face up to 20 years in jail if convicted, the Daily Telegraph reported. 'Nine management is out of their depth. They have never encountered anything like this before,' they said after the meeting on Wednesday. A source said they felt the television executives were trying to stop them from launching legal proceedings against them for failing to protect their family members before they were sent overseas. The group, including the Brisbane mother at the centre of the operation, face charges for kidnapping, physical assault, hiding information and criminal conspiracy. Nine Entertainment chief executive Hugh Marks told the family Nine was doing everything they could to get the team out of Lebanon The group, including Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner who is at the centre of the operation, face charges for kidnapping, physical assault, hiding information and criminal conspiracy Lebanese police beleive the crew paid for and filmed the attempted kidnapping of the Brisbane mother's two children Noah, four, and Lahela, five, after their father Ali el-Amien moved them to Lebanon without her permission Brown will remain in custody at the Baabha Women's Jail, in Beirut, in a shared cell with Ms Faulkner until their next court appearance on Monday Brown told the media she is being kept in a barred, heavily meshed holding cell at Baabha Women's Jail (pictured) and was required to wear handcuffs each time she went outside Lebanese authorities claim to have proof that Channel Nine were involved in funding the kidnapping scheme. Channel Nine have not responded to allegations that they planned to pay $115,000 to Adam Whittington's agency Child Abduction Recovery International. The Sydney Morning Herald reports Mr Whittington's personal charity Project Rescue Children was given a 'donation' from another Australian media organisation - Pacific Magazines - after its outlet New Idea profiled him last year. This reveals a way for him to receive money from news outlets without being directly paid by them. It is understood Channel Nine have not yet launched an internal investigation into how the segment was approved, however a memo has been issued that claims the station 'will get to the bottom of it when everyone gets back', the Daily Telegraph reported. The story was initially pitched to A Current Affair, but was forwarded on to producer Stephen Rice and reporter Tara Brown to follow up on. The story was initially pitched to A Current Affair, but was forwarded on to producer Stephen Rice and reporter Tara Brown to follow up on It has been reported that Nine's bosses would have had to approve the segment if significant funds were going to be used to cover the story It has been reported that Nine's bosses would have had to approve the segment if significant funds were going to be used to cover the story. Brown will remain in custody at the Baabha Women's Jail, in Beirut, in a shared cell with Ms Faulkner until their next court appearance on Monday. The two women, along with the rest of the crew were individually questioned by Judge Rami Abdullah at the Baabda Palace of Justice on Wednesday. Judge Abdullah told Ms Faulkner that she needed to 'reach an agreement' with her estranged husband Ali Elamine over the custody of their young children, but said there was 'no chance' the group of Australians would avoid charges. 'There is no chance the charges will be dropped. It is a violation of the Lebanese law by all of these Brown told the media she is being kept in a barred, heavily meshed holding cell and was required to wear handcuffs each time she went outside. Police in Texas arrested a grandmother who is accused of leaving her two-year-old grandson in scalding hot bath water where he suffered severe burns and died days later. Haltom City police officers apprehended Patricia Flores, 43, Thursday after issuing a warrant for her arrest and setting her bond at $75,000. She first told police that she left her grandson, Lyfe 'Gabe' Flores, alone in the bathroom with water running in the bathtub, NBC Dallas reported. Scroll down for video Tragic: Police in Texas arrested Patricia Flores Thursday. She is accused of leaving her two-year-old grandson, Lyfe 'Gabe' Flores, in scalding hot water bath water. He suffered sever burns and died April 4 Patricia Flores originally told authorities that she left her grandson alone in the bathroom with water running in the bathtub. Police say Flores she waited six days until the toddler became unresponsive before calling for medical assistance When officers responded to a call for medical assistance at her home on March 30, they found the child with significant burns to his body. Police say Flores waited six days until the toddler became unresponsive before calling for medical assistance. 'That's probably what angers me and just breaks my heart the most,' maternal grandfather Mike Hamilton told NBC Dallas. 'Bad enough it had to happen but to go through the pain for six days before you call medical treatment? There's no excuse for that.' Due to the severity of his burns, the toddler was transported to Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth before being taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Due to the severity of his burns, the toddler was transported to Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth before being taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas The toddler's maternal grandfather Mike Hamilton (above left) told NBC Dallas that when he went to visit him in the hospital he was 'swollen, scratched, bruised, burned from his waist down, and his hands were burnt' 'He's swollen, he's scratched, he's bruised, he's burned, he's burned from his waist down, his hands were burnt,' Hamilton told the television station in reference to a hospital visit when he went to see his grandson. Tragically, the toddler died April 4 and police say the lack of medical treatment for the burns led to an infection that possibly contributed to his death. An exact cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner's office. Police first issued an arrest warrant April 7 for the Flores for injury to a child and launched a search for her until she was apprehended Thursday. 'I want her brought to justice and I want everything that she deserves for the law to give her,' Hamilton told NBC Dallas. Zookeepers in Berlin Zoo were forced to transfer two male king penguins from their breeding programme after they noticed the two birds only ever had sex with each other. The penguins, named Stan and Olli have been moved to Hamburg zoo, which is already home to a pair of gay penguins. Zoo keepers were intrigued by the lack of fertilised eggs after Stan and Olli joined the breeding programme. King penguins Stan and Oli, not pictured, were introduced to Berlin Zoo to participate in the breeding scheme Stan and Olli, not pictured, have been moved to Hamburg Zoo where they will live with other gay penguins Berlin Zoo spokeswoman Christiane Reiss told The Local.de: 'They're gay, as far as we know. They never bred. And when it came to courtship, they only mated with one another.' The birds were chosen specifically to participate in the programme to ensure the survival of the species, but their lack of interest in the opposite sex proved a major problem. She said: 'Stan and Olli were brought to Berlin under the European Conservation Programme (EEP) in a bid to bring more baby king penguins into the world and ensure the future of the species. But now they're acclimatising to their new life in Hamburg where they'll be exclusively in the company of other males including another homosexual couple, Juan and Carlos and free to be themselves.' Since their move to the northern port city, keepers have changed their names to Kalle and Grobi. Earlier, it was reported that two male lions were seen mating in a Botswana game reserve. Berlin Zoo, pictured, is conducting a special breeding programme involving king penguins, centre Figures suggest that up to one-fifth of all king penguins Lawyer Nicole Cambre, who took the pictures during a safari trip, said she saw the two male lions 'mating' and was told by her guide that this behaviour had been evident for a week. She said: 'These males had pushed out the resident males earlier in the year and the other female lions had headed into the Mopani woodlands; an area difficult to access with a safari vehicle. 'Only one lioness was seen in the centre of the concession where the male lions were and the lions showed no interest in the lioness leading to the assumption that she may have been pregnant. 'It is the first time I have seen homosexual behaviour in lions, but when reading about it upon my return, it is not that uncommon. With the light just around sunset, it gave some spectacular images. but Ms Fitzsimmons sure it gave father extra year of life A mother claims that feeding her dying father breast milk gave him an extra year of life after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Helen Fitzsimmons, 40, said she expressed and froze her baby son's milk to give to her 72-year-old father Arthur after reading numerous studies that found breast milk can boost the immune system. She also spoke to her father, who was suffering from myeloma cancer and prostate cancer, and the pair decided it was worth trying. Helen Fitzsimmons, left, said she expressed and froze her baby son's milk to give to her 72-year-old father Arthur, right, after reading numerous studies that found breast milk can boost the immune system Ms Fitzsimmons spoke to her father, who was suffering from myeloma cancer and prostate cancer, and the pair decided it was worth trying out her breast milk Arthur had been diagnosed with myeloma cancer in 2009, a slow-moving but terminal cancer which raises protein levels and in turn lowers the immune system and weakens bones, according to the Daily Mirror. Four years later he was diagnosed with prostate cancer while already undergoing treatment with chemotherapy drugs. The pensioner began drinking 2fl. oz of breast milk a day and his daughter claims it stopped his protein levels rising almost immediately. Arthur had been diagnosed with myeloma cancer in 2009, a slow-moving but terminal cancer which raises protein levels and in turn lowers the immune system and weakens bones Arthur died in Easter last year, 16 months after first drinking the breast milk. At one point Ms Fitzsimmons had even enlisted a breastfeeding friend to donate her milk too Ms Fitzsimmons, of Cheltenham, said: 'The first time dad tasted my milk from a glass he drank it down in one go. He looked at me and smiled, then said "this tastes fine". 'I know there are some people who may find this all a little strange but when someone you love is suffering you would do anything to help them. 'I'd found a way to help my dad and I took it. It gave him hope and he lived 16 months after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.' Arthur died in Easter last year, 16 months after first drinking the breast milk. At one point Ms Fitzsimmons had even enlisted a breastfeeding friend to donate her milk too. She said her father's doctors were sceptical of alternative therapies, of which they said there was no proof actually worked, but the family are certain breast milk made a big difference. They believe it added an extra 12 months to Arthur's life. Ms Fitzsimmons said her father's doctors were sceptical of alternative therapies, of which they said there was no proof actually worked, but the family are certain breast milk made a big difference Katehi was also criticized for sitting on the board of a textbook company UC Davis has defended its decision, saying it wanted a 'fairer depiction' The University of California, Davis, and its chancellor, Linda P.B. Katehi, are under attack for spending at least $175,000 to hide a 2011 incident in which a campus security officer pepper-sprayed peaceful protesters from Google, it emerged Wednesday. In documents obtained by The Sacramento Bee under the California Public Records Act, the university was revealed to have paid companies to combat what one consultant described as 'venomous rhetoric about UC Davis and [its] chancellor.' The money was intended to be used to make sure the incident did not appear in Google searches for the university or Katehi herself, among other aims. Scroll down for video Incident: In 2011 UC Davis campus security officer Lt. John Pike was filmed pepper-spraying Occupy protesters. The result was a furor that the university is paying big money to hide from Google Chancellor: Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi said she told police not to respond to protesters with force. UC Davis defended its use of social media companies, saying it wants a 'fair portrayal' of its achievements Katehi took over at the university in 2009; the companies were hired between 2013 and 2015. She was in charge when campus security officer Lt. John Pike was filmed and photographed calmly walking along a row of peacefully seated Occupy protesters, blasting each one in the face with pepper spray, in November 2011. She apologized for the incident, saying that police had acted against her orders not to use force, but the incident remained a black spot on the university's reputation after the images went viral. According to a proposal obtained by the Sacramento Bee, in January 2013 UC Davis started paying Maryland company Nevins & Associates $15,000 per month for the 'eradication of references to the pepper spray incident in search results on Google for the university and the Chancellor.' The university also awarded three contracts to Sacramento-based ID Media Partners between 2014 and 2015: the first for $82,500, the second for $8,000 a month up to a maximum of $96,000, and the third for $22,500 a month to a maximum of $67,500. Both companies were hired to affect search results for UC Davis, as well as other communications functions. The decisions have angered some. Doug Elmets, a Sacramento public affairs consultant, said it is 'common' for individuals to try to scrub Google of unwanted attention. 'But,' he continued, 'for a public university that is funded through taxpayer funds, who has repeatedly stepped into a vast hole, it is surprising that they thought this could be done without the light of day shining on the act. 'It is one more example of how out of touch the leadership at UC Davis is when it comes to their public perspective,' he added. Criticism: Pictured is a student protest against Katehi's management at UC Davis from April 1. Katehi also faced complaints after it emerged March 3 she was paid $420,000 to sit on the board of a textbook company And Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, who chairs the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance and has previously called for Katehi to resign, is concerned that the uni's communications budget increased from $2.93million in 2009, when she was hired, to $5.47million in 2015. 'It is troubling that the administration chose to spend scarce public dollars and to nearly double its PR budget when tuition soared, course offerings were slashed and California resident students were being shut out,' he told the Bee. 'These findings just raise more questions about university priorities.' But UC Davis spokeswoman Dana Topousis defended the decision to the paper. 'We have worked to ensure that the reputation of the university, which the chancellor leads, is fairly portrayed,' she said. She confirmed that the money came from the Communications Department's budget. 'We wanted to promote and advance the important teaching, research and public service done by our students, faculty and staff, which is the core mission of our university,' she added. This isn't the only criticism Katehi has faced recently: On March 3 it emerged that she had received $420,000 to sit on the board of a university textbook company from 2012-2014, the Bee reported. She was also a member of board of the for-profit DeVry Education Group until March 3 when she resigned under pressure, The Bee said. The company is currently under 'federal scrutiny' for allegedly deceiving students about job and income prospects, the paper wrote. Student protesters have been occupying the reception outside Katehi's office since March 11, demanding her resignation. Members of the Facebook group Fire Katehi were upset by news of the Google scrubbing contract. 'Lots of us remember,' wrote Dawn Grove of the 2011 incident. Meanwhile Lawrence M. Wold wrote: 'Katehi should be scrubbed... from her position as chancellor. 'I'm very disappointed that taxpayer/student dollars were used to try to save one individual's reputation - especially when that individual claims to be a proponent of transparency.' After the pepper-spraying incident, Lt. Pike was awarded $38,000 in 'worker's compensation' benefits for 'psychological pain and suffering.' Everyone seems to know something about Justin Ross Harris in this county, a fact that is making jury selection in his first-degree murder trial move as fast as molasses in January. Selecting a jury for Harris' first-degree murder trial may take longer than anticipated, if Wednesday's questioning of possible jurors is any indication of the tedious process still ahead. Harris, 35, is charged with the hot-car homicide of his toddler son Cooper in June, 2014. Police believe Harris deliberately left his son strapped in a car seat for seven hours in 90-degree heat while he worked at his technology job at a Home Depot corporate office. Investigators said Harris was unhappy in his marriage and wanted a child-free lifestyle. Harris insists his 22-month-old son Cooper died because he forgot to take him to a nearby daycare center before work. Justin Ross Harris is escorted by sheriff's deputies into the Cobb County Courthouse TODAY, the second day of individual questioning of prospective jurors for Harris' first-degree murder trial Everyone in the jury pool seems to know something about Justin Ross Harris, a fact that is making jury selection in his first-degree murder trial move as fast as molasses in January Here in court TODAY, Harris is accused of intentionally leaving his toddler son Cooper locked in a car for seven hours while he worked. His son died of hyperthermia Finding local citizens who weren't familiar with the case or haven't already formed an opinion will take significantly longer than the original estimates of one or two weeks, court observers noted. Most of the eight potential jurors questioned Wednesday already had an opinion: guilty, unless proven otherwise. The court needs 12 qualified jurors and four alternates who can set aside whatever they may have heard about the case and render a verdict solely on the evidence. Prospective Juror Questionnaire *Are you addicted to sex? Do you have a family member who is? Have you ever looked at a pornographic website? *Have you ever met someone online through sites such as Kik, Skout, Whisper. Backpage or Craigslist and developed a romantic or sexual relationship as a result? *Do you watch Nancy Grace, Dr. Drew or Anderson Cooper on television? *Do you like to watch crime dramas like CSI or Law and Order? Do you read murder mysteries? *Maybe you've separated from your spouse and considered divorce, but then you reconciled? *Did you ever forget even for a moment -- that your child or pet was still in the car after you parked and locked it and walked away? Advertisement 'Your starting point is guilt. That's your starting point and then you got to kind of work back from there and see how the evidence goes to work back from there?' Harris defense attorney Maddox Kilgore asked one prospect, an IT contractor. 'I'm saying a child died in a car seat,' the prospective juror replied. 'There's a defendant sitting over there that was arrested for this alleged crime, so I'm more biased to guilty coming in.' Another county resident admitted he was 'lining towards guilty,'while a third said she didn't want to serve on the jury because the case was 'disturbing.' Each side is allowed nine strikes, excusing the possible jurors because of their opinions. Counsel may be allowed to strike several of the potential jurors later today. The probing and personal questioning of potential jurors may continue for possibly two more weeks, court officials said. There are 240 local residents still in the jury pool who could be interviewed. The answers to the questions will play a large part in determining how you spend the next six weeks of your life if you happened to be among the pool of Cobb County residents summoned for jury duty in this town north of Atlanta, Georgia. Jury selection in the case of Justin Ross Harris, charged with locking his son Cooper inside his hot car in June 2014, continues today Those questions and dozens more are critical to both prosecution and defense strategies as 'Voir Dire' or jury selection continued today. Jury selection in the case of Justin Ross Harris, charged with locking his son Cooper inside his hot car in June 2014, could continue for weeks. Harris is with his team of lawyers in court yesterday Harris claimed he forgot the boy was in the SUV and that is was an accident Nearly 250 Cobb County residents have been summoned for jury duty in the case of Harris. They were each handed a 17-page questionnaire that probes into their life experiences Nearly 250 Cobb County residents who had been summoned for jury duty were each handed a 17-page questionnaire that probes into their life experiences. Under penalty of perjury, each of them were instructed to answer with all honestly and candor. 'There are no right or wrong answers to these questions,' the court's questionnaire stated. 'You have taken an oath promising to give truthful answers. The integrity of the process depends upon your truthfulness,' it continued. Potential jurors were strictly warned not to consult, confer or talk with any other person' in answering the questions. Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary E. Staley hears the case in the Justin Ross Harris murder trial Twelve jurors and several alternates will hopefully be selected in the coming weeks to hear the first-degree murder case against Justin Ross Harris, 35, on trial for the death of his 22-month-old son Cooper. Police said Harris intentionally left his blonde son inside the family SUV for nearly seven hours in 90-degree weather, secured in his car seat and unable to move or be heard, while the dad worked inside his air-conditioned office. Harris insisted to police that he simply forgot to take his son to a company-operated daycare facility less than a mile way. Police said he was busy texting as many as six women that morning while at work as his son baked to his death in the car park. They are convinced Harris was miserable in his marriage and wanted to live a childfree life. The prosecution has evidence that includes nearly 40,000 text conversations with women, including pictures of their breasts and his erect penis. Harris' defense team might just agree that their client was indeed focused on texting his online girlfriends -- perhaps to the point where he forgot his son was still in the car, legal observers have suggested During an interview with investigators, he admitted he researched 'child deaths inside vehicles and what temperature it needs to be' Leanna Harris, he mother of deceased babyCooper, has divorced her accused husband. Prosecutors said Harris was messaging six women the day Cooper died This is the SUV - evidence in the trial - where Harris allegedly left his son Cooper to die If any of the questions were considered to be sensitive or private, the jurors were to mark it as such and answer them directly with the attorneys during voir dire in the courtroom. Beyond the expected background questions such as marital status, dating history, work experience, military service, contact with police, courts, psychologists and mental health counselors, the court wanted to know if prospects attended church, what their free-time hobbies were, their favorite newspapers and websites, interest in legal or crime matters, or legal-related television dramas such as '48 Hours,' and 'Forensic Files.' Attorneys for both prosecution and defense wanted to know if the jurors had ever watched 'People vs. O.J. Simpson' or 'American Crime,' and if anyone had experience related to the death of a child. They wanted to know if the prospects ever had the responsibility of transporting a child to and from a daycare facility or if they had ever personally been falsely accused of a crime. The lawyers want to know if a prospective juror or anyone they know has ever left an animal or child somewhere. Noting the extensive nature of media and social network coverage of young Cooper's death, his father's arrest and first-degree murder indictments, identifying prospective jurors who have no knowledge of the case will be extremely challenging, legal observers noted. The selection process that began by questionnaire today may continue well into next week or beyond, court officials said. Armed with the answers to the probing questions, both the state and Harris' defense attorneys will further question each person individually in Judge Mary Staley's Superior Court beginning Wednesday morning. Opening statements by counsel will start once the jury has been selected. The boy's condition was so poor that he was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital where he had emergency life-saving surgery Bruises were found all over the boy's body, doctors said at the time The mother-of-two was in her basement with the boy and her daughters doing the chicken dance in February when the young boy began vomiting She faces two child abuse charges after allegedly beating the boy, who was not related to her, in her home Erica Duchemin, 29, of Bushkill, Pennsylvania, was arrested on Tuesday in Milford A babysitter and mother-of-two in Pennsylvania was arrested for allegedly beating a two-year-old boy so badly that he nearly died. Erica Duchemin, 29, of Bushkill, faces two child abuse charges after allegedly beating the boy, who was not related to her, in her home in the Poconos. She was arrested in Milford on Tuesday and is being held at a Pike County jail on $100,000 bail. An investigation began in February when the boy was taken to Pocono Medical Center in February because he was vomiting and turning gray and his lips were blue, court papers say. Duchemin babysat the boy three times a week, and experts believe she could be at fault in the horrific abuse case. The mother-of-two was in her basement with the boy and her own daughters, aged two and four, doing the chicken dance in February when the young boy began vomiting. Bruises were found all over the boy's body, and doctors say his injuries came from 'direct blunt force trauma to the abdomen, from adult force and would have been immediately symptomatic'. The boy's condition was so poor that he was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital where he had emergency life-saving surgery. According to court papers, Duchemin met the boy's mother through a Facebook group titled 'Moms helping moms'. In December 2015, the boy was also taken to the hospital because he suffered a broken arm. Doctors reported that the incident showed signs of possible child abuse, but Pike County Children and Youth Services dismissed the case before reviewing key medical records. 'It's very probable that something could have been done sooner, yes,' Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin told WNEP. Duchemin faces two child abuse charges after allegedly beating the boy, who was not related to her, in her home (pictured) Duchemin's neighbor, Frank Balzno, was shocked to hear of the child abuse charges. 'Nice people, nice family, nice kids, very well behaved. I have nothing but good things to say about them,' Balzo said. 'I was devastated,' he later added. 'I can't believe it and I still don't believe it, the charges.' Duchemin has been charged with aggravated assault of a child under 13, endangering the welfare of children, intimidation, retaliation or obstruction in a child abuse case, all felonies, and recklessly endangering another person, a misdemeanor, according to the Pocono Record. Tonkin said that Duchemin is the first person in the county to be charged with obstruction in a child abuse case after she allegedly lied about getting the child medical help. 'It turned out they were not, indeed, a medical professional and the defendant had originally met that individual while they were incarcerated in New Jersey,' Tonkin told WNEP. This is not the first run-in with the law that Duchemin has faced. His article claimed that Poles killed more Jews that the Germans in WW2 Accused: Jan Tomasz Gross stands accused of 'publicly insulting the nation' for his claim that Poles killed more Jews than the Germans during WWII An American-Polish professor who stands accused of 'publicly insulting the nation' has been questioned for five hours by Polish government lawyers. Princeton academic Jan Tomasz Gross was grilled over his 2015 article that said Poles killed more Jews than the Germans during the WWII occupation. If found guilty of the state's charges, Gross faces up to three years in prison - raising questions over Poland's commitment to the freedom of speech. Gross said that he was questioned for five hours by Polish prosecutors in the southwest city of Katowice after multiple complaints by Polish citizens over the article's assertions. His claim challenges a widespread conviction in Poland that the Polish response to the German terror was almost exclusively honorable. Poland's case against Gross also involves a presidential threat to strip him of a state honor. The country's ruling conservative and nationalistic Law and Justice party, controls both the presidency and parliament, is also centralizing power in a way that has raised concerns about its commitment to democracy more broadly. Gross made the comparison in an article published by Project Syndicate in September critical of how Poland and other Eastern European countries have reacted to the migrant crisis. He decried the region's opposition to accepting refugees as 'heartless' and argued that the attitude is rooted in the region's 'murderous past.' In the most controversial section, Gross wrote: 'Consider the Poles, who, deservedly proud of their society's anti-Nazi resistance, actually killed more Jews than Germans during the war.' Scroll down for video The prosecutor's office said that it could not divulge what was said during the questioning, citing the secrecy of the investigation. However, Gross said he was asked to provide information backing up that historical assertion and was also asked if he had intended to insult Poles. 'I told him straight that I was not trying to insult the Polish nation. I was trying to raise awareness about the problem of refugees in Europe,' he said. 'I am just telling the truth and the truth sometimes has a shocking effect on people who are not aware of what the truth is.' Insult: Polish President Andrzej Duda is also considering stripping Professor Gross of an Order of Merit he received in 1996 in a move that calls his party's commitment to freedom of scholarship into question Jacek Leociak, a historian with the Polish Center for Holocaust Research, said it is difficult to establish exactly how many Jews were killed by Poles during the war but that the number is significant. He said Gross's comparison could be correct if one speaks about Germans killed by Polish underground forces in occupied Poland, and not the Polish army fighting on the Western and Eastern fronts. 'The claim that Poles killed more Jews than Germans could be really right - and this is shocking news for the traditional thinking about Polish heroism during the war,' he said. He said Gross's comparison has merit because it 'reveals this dimension of the Polish war experience which was always covered, hidden and suppressed.' A gunman killed a man outside a creche in a case of mistaken identity before cycling away from the scene. The man, in his twenties, was shot in the head on the streets of Dublin after an attacker fired off 10 rounds in broad daylight, as part of an alleged gangland feud. The victim was taken to hospital in a serious condition but sadly never recovered from his injuries. Murder: Garda officers and detectives, one in a forensics suit, gather evidence at the scene of the shooting Link: It is believed the shooting could be linked to an ongoing war between two gangland families in Dublin It is thought the attack is linked to an ongoing war between the Hutch and Kinahan families in the Irish capital, reports the Irish Mirror. However, Garda, the Irish police, has not confirmed this was the cause. Witnesses say that the victim was with a group of people just 100 yards away from the North Wall Community Development Project (CDP), home to the creche and a community centre, when he was shot. Youngsters were due to arrive at the nursery just 15 minutes after the shooting took place at 12.30pm. Reports claim the gunman, who police say was wearing dark clothing and is of strong build, continued to fire as he cycled away from the scene and towards Dublin's north inner city. A handgun was later found in a wheelie bin nearby and police believe this was the murder weapon. Some reports say that the victim was shot because he was wearing a similar jacket to one often worn by the intended victim. Detectives think that the man could have been homeless and a drug user - but was not known for being involved in organised crime. Shots: Witnesses say that the gunman fired off rounds as he cycled away from the attack and pictured, police officers assemble a forensics tent at the scene Detectives later found a handgun in a wheelie bin close to the scene, pictured, which they believe to be the murder weapon A Garda spokesman confirmed that the victim died just two hours after he was shot on the street. Geraldine Comerford, manager at the North Wall CDP, told the Mirror: 'It's really tragic. It was obviously very, very bad, but it could have been worse.' A similar attack took place in July 2007 when Stephen Byrne was fatally shot on the same street by a gunman riding a bike. The 33-year-old Washington state man who reportedly raped and murdered a boy's emotional support dog is out of jail, after posting $50,000 bail. James Leroy Evans was arrested on Sunday, after police received a tip from a relative of the dog's owner. A mountain biker found the body of the three-year-old pit bull mix named Diamond hanging from a tree in Thurston County on March 22, with scratch marks where the dog had struggled. A veterinarian later determined that the dog had been severely sexually abused and had died of asphyxiation. Scroll down for video James Leroy Evans, 33 (pictured), was released from Thurston County, Washington jail on Wednesday after posting $50,000 bond Evans stands accused of raping and murdering a three-year-old pit bull mix named Diamond (pictured), who he was looking after for a relative 'This is probably one of the worst cases Ive ever seen,' Thurston County animal control officer Erika Johnson said. 'The degree of violence that animal went through before her death, I really couldnt wrap my mind around it.' After Evans was arrested, he told copped to killing the dog because it ate his pet iguana. 'I did it! I hung her,' he said, according to court documents obtained by The Olympian. The paper also reported that in court records, authorities said Evans, who was arrested in Grays Harbor County, 'seemed pleased with himself' over killing the dog. Evans faces a charge of first-degree animal cruelty. He's pictured above appearing in court via a live video A mountain biker found the dog's body hanging from a tree on March 22. The cause of death was asphyxiation A veterinarian later determined that the dog had been severely sexually abused Thurston County Joint Animal Services has been assisted by a Pasado's Safe Haven's investigator, who said: 'What this man allegedly did to Diamond is unspeakable,' according to the statement. The investigator added that the dog suffered tremendously before she died and that the case is 'burned into my mind and my heart'. Evans was charged with first-degree animal cruelty, and booked into the Thurston County Jail. He was released on Wednesday after posting $50,000 bail. His next court date in April 26. The dog had been working as a therapy animal for the eight-year-old son of the owner. Diamond was temporarily staying with Evans, while her owner looked for a permanent residence that allowed dogs, according to a Thurston County Animal Services statement. The dog had been with the Evans, who is a relative of the family, for four days before Evans carried out the alleged rape and murder. 'What I know from family members is that hes got an explosive personality,' Johnson said. 'Hes got some real anger issues.' Bernie Sanders reminded a group of black activists of his 1988 endorsement of Jesse Jackson in that year's presidential race as he sought their backing today for his own White House bid. 'I supported Jesse Jackson running for president. That wasn't a popular thing to do. I had to take on the whole Democratic establishment in the state of Vermont,' he said today at Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference. He said, 'I stood up, I'll never forget this, in a meeting in Burlington, Vermont, people turned their backs on me, that's how much they disliked what I was doing, alright?' The Vermont senator boldly told attendees of the conference, if they believe in the establishment's proposals, 'you've got a very good candidate to vote for, but it's not Bernie Sanders.' 'That's the truth,' he said. It was an apparent jab at Hillary Clinton, who spoke at the conference yesterday. Sanders has classified Clinton and the organizations propping up her bid as part of the establishment as he advocated on behalf of a political revolution. Bernie Sanders reminded a group of black activists of his 1988 endorsement of Jesse Jackson in that year's presidential race as he sought their backing today for his own White House bid. Jackson has not returned the favor and is staying neutral in the race. He was seen talking to Sanders after this afternoon's speech, however, and shaking the politician's hand Speaking to the civil rights group today, Sanders said: 'If you think, and I don't mean to be disrespectful here, that you can run for office, have a Super PAC and raise tens of millions of dollars from wealthy special interests, and then go out and take on the big money interests and protect working family, well if you think that, you've got a very good candidate out there, but it is not Bernie Sanders. 'But if you believe that now is the time for real change,' he said. 'that you believe that now is the time that millions of people, black and white and Latino and Asian-American and Native American, that our people come together, and we tell the Donald Trumps of the world, "Sorry, you're not gonna divide us up, we're coming together." Sanders told them he was there guy if 'you want a candidate who has stood up to every special interest, throughout his political career.' The 25-year veteran of the House and Senate noted in his speech that he voted against the 1994 welfare reform bill - eventually signed into law by Hillary Clinton's husband, Bill - that 'scapegoated the poorest people in America.' 'So what this campaign is about is whether we go with the status qou,' he started to say, then interrupted himself to make an aside about Hillary Clinton. Sanders told them he's known the former first lady for the length of his career in Washington and said, 'I mean this very seriously...She's a truly intelligent woman, with a wonderful resume, a whole lot of experience. 'I've known her, and we've been friends for 25 years. You know what, campaign, things get heated up, but I've got a lot of respect for her.' Back on the topic at hand he said, 'But that is what this campaign is about... whether we bring people together to tell the people on top that they cannot have it all.' 'So, here's where it is, you elect me president, you're gonna have a president who is prepared to take on the billionaire class, not take their money.' Sanders and Clinton have been sparring for the last week on the topic of qualifications, and the Vermont senator's explicit mention of the topic this afternoon suggests he won't go in for the kill during tonight's presidential debate. But his remarks to Shapton's group showed an understanding that he needs black Democrats' support to win New York in next Tuesday's primary and other states that have not voted yet in the election. The Vermont senator boldly told attendees of Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference, if they believe the establishment has the correct prescription for the ills of America, 'you've got a very good candidate to vote for, but it's not Bernie Sanders' As Clinton campaigned hard against her rival in the South, playing up his opposition to parts of President Barack Obama's agenda and promoting herself as a the real champion for the poor, Sanders kept the endorsement to himself Sanders has steered clear of making regular mention of his Jackson endorsement, even in areas where it may have boosted his appeal to black voters. But today, with Reverend Jackson in the audience, he talked it up. Not only did Democrats in the room turn their backs on him in 1988 as he advocated on behalf of Jackson at a Democratic caucus site, one woman reportedly slapped him across the face when he returned to his seat. As Clinton campaigned hard against her rival in the South, playing up his opposition to parts of President Barack Obama's agenda and promoting herself as a the real champion for the poor, Sanders kept that to himself, though. He talked to his traveling press about it once in Nevada as southern states began to vote but didn't make it part of his pitch in the south. Sanders told reporters, according to Politico, 'There were very, very, very few white public officials at that point, but I thought what he was saying made sense, I had the courage to do that.' Sanders went on to lose Jackson's native state of South Carolina to Clinton by nearly 50 points. Blacks made up 61 percent of the vote and 86 percent aligned with Clinton, exit polling indicates. Clinton made a clean sweep of the South as Sanders turned his focus after the South Carolina blowout to states with a large population of white, working class Democratic voters and strong union ties. His remarks to Sharpton's group showed an understanding that he needs black Democrats' support to win New York in next Tuesday's primary and other states that have not voted yet in the election. His senior strategist brought up the Jackson endorsement at the National Action Network conference yesterday as he pitched Sanders during an election panel, foreshadowing the candidate's message to the group today. Sanders was one of a few, white officials to 'cross the color line,' as Jackson said at the time, and campaign for the black civil rights activist. Not coincidentally, Vermont was one of 13 states that Jackson won that year as he went up against Michael Dukakis. Then mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Sanders said in a speech in support of Jackson, 'The candidate we are supporting tonight has stood for us and fought for us for the last 25 years of his life. Along with Martin Luther King Jr., he put his life on the line so that all Americans, regardless of color, could receive their basic democratic rights. 'He was there when we needed him. Our candidate has stood with the farmers being thrown off the land. He has stood with the workers on the picket lines being thrown out of their jobs.' Documentary follows unemployed couple out for revenge on former boss France's richest man Bernard Arnault, who is said to be worth about 27billion France's richest man Bernard Arnault has condemned the hit documentary in which two of his former workers claim he ruined their lives - adding he is yet to watch it. The Louis Vuitton and Dior boss is the main target of 'Merci Patron!' (Thanks Boss!), a documentary which features an unemployed middle-aged couple who are now in debt having worked for Arnault. In the film, former textile workers Jocelyne and Serge Klur blame LVMH chief Arnault for 'ruining their lives' by moving their jobs to Poland. Asked by a shareholder to give his opinion on the film, Arnault said he had yet to see it. He added: 'For many years now, for 20 years, we have been the object of criticism by groups from the extreme left. We are used to this kind of criticism. 'LVMH is the illustration, the incarnation of the worst, according to these extreme-leftist observers, of what the market economy produces.' Switching to irony, he said: 'We have it all wrong. First of all we are a big company in the CAC 40 (stock market index), we have strong results and we're making things worse for ourselves by hiring people.' The documentary has become a hit in its country of origin and its theme song a rallying cry for people protesting against French labour reforms. It was produced against the odds, after having half of its 32,000 budget slashed when state funding was withdrawn at the last minute 'without explanation'. It has since been watched by more than 300,000 people in France since coming out in February and it is expected by some to be the most profitable French film of the year. LVMH's annual AGM features in the film when the jobless couple warn that it will be disrupted by a 'crack squad' of trade union militants if Arnault didn't pay off the couple's debts and give Serge a minimum wage job in a supermarket. The film's director Francois Ruffin attempted to disrupt the AGM in 2014 to bring attention to the couple's plight when there were on the point of losing their home. Shareholders complained to Arnault at last year's meeting of the heavy police presence at the meeting, with riot police searching them at the entrance. Protestors who have taken to the streets against reforms of France's labour laws have taken up the film's title as a slogan on marches, and sung its 'Merci Patron!' theme song - a 1970s comic skit urging bosses and workers to swap places. The billionaire has until now remained tightlipped about the affair, with nobody at LVMH - which owns such fabled brands as Dior, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton - willing to comment. The billionaire has until now remained tightlipped about the affair, with nobody at LVMH - which owns such fabled brands as Dior, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton - willing to comment Arnault sparked the wrath of the French left in 2012 when he applied for Belgian nationality after the government proposed higher taxes on the rich, prompting the Liberation newspaper to run the front page headline, 'Clear off, rich loser!' Like its protagonists, the film faced an against-the-odds battle to get made, losing half of its tiny budget when state funding was withdrawn 'without explanation' at the last minute. Journalists working at France's highest-selling national newspaper, Le Parisien - which is owned by Arnault - claimed they were banned from writing about it. Some 230,000 people have seen the film, which cost 40,000 euros ($45,000) to make, since it hit cinemas in February. French culture magazine Telerama said this put it on course to become the most profitable French film of the year. Some cinema goers felt that Arnault, said to be worth around 27billion, did not actually come over too badly in the film. 'Arnault is the bad guy of course - and the sting is at his expense - but he doesn't come out of it all bad. He clearly has some kind of a conscience,' said John Baxter, an American who saw the film in Paris. Catherine's mother has called it the 'Sisterhood of the traveling prom dress' That was the last time most of her friends saw her, and now the girls are all wearing her dress to their proms to attend her junior prom, where she wore her dream dress and saw all her friends Catherine did get four days out of the The friends of a Massachusetts high school student who died just months after learning that she had cancer are honoring her memory by wearing her prom dress to their own year-end formal dances. Catherine Malatesta was just 16 years old and had never even missed a day of school when she learned in December 2014 that she had epitheliode sarcoma, an aggressive cancer that had already spread to her lungs and spine. She entered the hospital in mid-May with fluid in her lungs, and stayed there until she tragically died in August. Catherine did however manage to get released on May 28 for a few days, and on May 29 she attended the prom in her dream dress. Now, all her friends will get the chance to wear the dress for their big night. Tragic: Catherine Malatesta (above with her prom date, friend Peter Clifford) was just 16 and had never missed a day of school when she learned in December 2014 that she had epitheliode sarcoma Amazing: Catherine did get four days out of the hospital to attend her junior prom, where she wore her dream dress and saw all her friends 'The last time most of her friends saw her was at prom,' Jennifer Goodwin, Catherine's mother, told The Boston Globe. 'The last thing they saw her in was her dress.' Catherine told her mom about the dress, which she had seen online, while in the hospital, and they immediately decided to buy it for her. Shortly after her death is when what her mother refers to as 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling prom Dress' was born. 'Her prom dress was still hanging on her closet door, and her friends started trying it on. They said, "We should all wear Catherines dress,"' said Goodwin. 'I think that prom was a very special time for Catherine last year, with everything she was going through,' said Catherine's friend from camp Carly. 'By wearing her dress, its a way to connect with her, and have some closure and shine as bright as she did at prom.' Her friend Jillian Danton will be the first to wear the dress this year when she attends the Arlington High School junior prom - the same event where Catherine first wore the dress. Her mother thinks her daughter would have loved the idea, saying; 'I know my daughter would be overjoyed that her friends wanted to honor her memory in this way. Honoring: That was the last time most of her friends saw her, and now the girls are all wearing her dress to their proms (Catherine above with Peter Clifford, Callie Sofis-Scheft and a friend) Moving: Catherine's mother Jennifer Goodwin (above) has called it the 'Sisterhood of the traveling prom dress' 'She will be with them at their prom.' Goodwin will take care of the dress in between each of the girl's proms, and have appropriate alterations and dry cleaning done for each time it is worn. She also spoke to WBUR about her daughter last month, saying that Catherine walked in the cancer benefit Relay for Life every year until she got sick. Instead, on that year, she went to speak to her fellow students at an assembly and encourage them to walk in the race and raise money for cancer. 'I like to think I raised a really strong daughter,' said Goodwin. She then shared two journal entries she found in Catherine's notebook shortly after her death. The last one, written while she was in the hospital, read; 'Im going to get out of bed and put on my wig or hat, even if Im feeling sick as a dog, with a smile on my face, hoping and praying Im inspiring someone else to get out of bed on a tough day. A man accused of killing three relatives in a triple murder is blaming their deaths on an unknown 'stranger' who he says 'must have broken in and shot them,' according to court documents released Thursday. Robert James LeCou, 39, has been charged with killing his wife, her sister and a brother-in-law on April 5 in their shared home in Belfry, Montana. Police say he then fled to Washington state, where he was arrested on April 8. But he claims that he is innocent and that the murders were committed by an unknown party. Scroll down for video Triple murder: Three people were killed in the tiny town of Belfry, Montana, April 5; Robert James LeCou was arrested for their murders in Washington state April 8, but says a stranger 'must have' killed them According to an affidavit from Carbon County District Attorney Alex Nixon, LeCou told police that the stranger must have grabbed a pistol stored in a back bedroom to commit the murders. The murders were discovered when Gary Hill, a neighbor of LeCou's in the tiny agriculture-oriented town, noticed that the house was unusually quiet. He went by the house on April 6 and noticed the television was on, but nobody was answering the door. When he say the television was on at 5am the next day, he called police. 'It was right then I said, "He killed those people and left." I told my wife I'm calling the sheriff,' Hill told The Independent Record. Inside were the bodies of Lloyd Lamb, 76; Lamb's wife, Sharon Hill-Lamb, 72; and LeCou's wife, Karen Hill-LeCou, 54. All had been shot to death. The killing shocked the town of 200, CBS reported at the time. 'This doesn't happen here,' Theresa Kokkeler, who lives three doors down from the Lambs' house, told CBS. 'This only happens on TV. I've been here 55 years. Never.' Discovery: Gary Hill (pictured) found the bodies of LeCou's wife, her sister, and her sister's brother-in-law after he noticed the house had been vacant for days. LeCou says the killer must have found a handgun in the home LeCou was banned from owning firearms due to a prior violent conviction, so his wife had bought two boxes of 9mm ammunition for him about three weeks before her death at a sporting goods store in Billings, Montana, according to a witness cited in the affidavit and the store's CCTV. A 9mm handgun that Lloyd Lamb apparently owned and kept at the residence has not been found. Numerous 9mm shell casings were found in and outside the house, inside a camper-trailer on the property and in a dumpster, the affidavit said. LeCou told authorities he left the house at noon April 8, the day of the slayings, the affidavit said. Neighbors confirmed with The Associated Press that they had seen LeCou leave around 8 pm April 5 - around the same time another Belfry resident reported hearing gunshots in the neighborhood, the affidavit said. LeCou arrived at his mother's house in the Washington state community of Nine Mile Falls early April 6. Authorities on Wednesday added a charge of tampering with evidence to the three counts of deliberate homicide LeCou faces. He was not fighting extradition to Montana, prosecutors said. LeCou was previously convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 10 years in prison for the 1999 beating death of a homeless man in Fort Worth, Texas. He was paroled in 2009. LeCou arrived in Belfry roughly six months ago to help care for Lloyd Lamb, who used a wheelchair, according to several neighbors. He was described as unusual by Kokkeler. 'He was a strange duck,' she told CBS. 'He would ride his bike by and not say a word to you. And here, everybody's friendly.' His public defender in Washington has not responded to requests for comment. Around 1981, Ponvert's client says, he went into Simonds' apartment, photographed pages from the teacher's albums for his own 'safety' The photos allegedly showed students having sex with each other, masturbating and smoking marijuana The man's attorney, Antonio Ponvert, said his client alleges that a now-dead English teacher, Christopher Simonds, took photographs of students The man, who has not been identified, is one of several men who claim they were molested at the school A former student of Indian Mountain School in Lakeville, Connecticut said he hid the photographs himself A former student of a Connecticut boarding school says a buried coffee can containing pornographic photos from more than 30 years ago holds proof against a child-molesting teacher. Lawyers descended on Indian Mountain School in Lakeville with shovels last fall, and may do it again when the ground thaws this spring in search of the can. The dig is just the latest development in a cluster of sexual abuse allegations against the 250-student school that are now making their way toward trial. Antonio Ponvert, an attorney for several men who claim they were molested at the school, said that one of his clients alleges that a now-dead English teacher, Christopher Simonds, took photographs of students having sex with each other, masturbating and smoking marijuana. Scroll down for video Antonio Ponvert, an attorney for several men who claim they were molested at Indian Mountain School in Lakeville, Connecticut, said that one of his clients alleges that a now-dead English teacher, Christopher Simonds, took photographs of students having sex with each other, masturbating and smoking marijuana To keep the children silent, Ponvert said, Simonds threatened to show the pictures to their parents. Around 1981, Ponvert's client says, he went into Simonds' apartment, photographed pages from the teacher's albums and buried the developed pictures in the woods on school grounds. 'It was a little bit like "my safety", like "I can get Simonds if I need to",' Ponvert said. The man has not been publicly identified and has not filed a lawsuit. Ponvert also represents two former students who are suing the school, including one who says he was abused by Simonds and a headmaster and was gang-raped by members of the maintenance department. That case is set for trial in July. Indian Mountain settled five similar lawsuits in the 1990s. No criminal charges were ever filed. A 50-page police report filed in 1992 detailed abuse by Simonds and the former headmaster, Peter Carleton, but concluded the statute of limitations had expired. Simonds, who was fired in 1985, and Carleton are dead. Steven Carver, a former assistant headmaster, said he confiscated child porn from Simonds' apartment in 1977 and informed other administrators. But he said the allegations were hushed up. In a brief interview this week, Carver, now 72, declined to discuss the scandal in detail, saying: 'I have been working hard to not allow it to rent space in my head.' A 50-page police report filed in 1992 detailed abuse by Simonds and the former headmaster, Peter Carleton (pictured), but concluded the statute of limitations had expired 'There's no joy in it. It's all negative. Everything about it is negative. People behaved badly - very, very badly,' he said. 'Young, innocent students were injured, some of them probably for life.' The school in Salisbury enrolls students in pre-kindergarten through ninth grade and charges up to $54,500 a year. A school spokeswoman said this week that an independent investigation it commissioned in 2014 is continuing. The school has also asked alumni to come forward with any information. The dig, authorized by a federal judge, took place in November. The man who claimed to have buried the porn participated, but Ponvert said they later realized they were in the wrong spot on the 600-acre campus. Ponvert said he has been waiting for the ground to thaw before deciding whether to pursue another dig. Indian Mountain said in December that it supported the dig, without specifying what anyone was looking for. The long-awaited report into the Iraq war will be published as soon as Sir John Chilcot delivers it to the Government even if that is before the EU referendum, a minister pledged yesterday. Concerns that Downing Street could exploit strict election rules to prevent the dossiers release until after the June 23 poll were dismissed by John Penrose. Bereaved relatives desperate to learn the truth about why Tony Blair sent their loved ones to die in the disastrous 2003 war are worried Prime Minister David Cameron is seeking to delay the findings to ensure the fallout does not influence the crucial vote. Scroll down for video The Chilcot Report, headed by Sir John Chilcot (pictured), chairman of the Iraq Inquiry, could now be out before the EU referendum Mr Penrose responsible for the Governments response to the dossier also made clear embarrassing details about how Tony Blair handled the war would not be deleted during national security vetting. Families of British troops killed on the battlefield said it was a massive, massive disappointment that a firm date had still not been set for publishing the two-million-word report. But the minister would only say that Sir John, a retired civil servant, expected to release it in June or July seven years after the 10million Iraq Inquiry began. Mr Penrose spoke out during a Commons debate in which MPs said the Government must honour the UKs 179 war dead, and bring closure for their loved ones, by publishing the report in May. Peter Brierley, from Leeds, whose son Lance Corporal Shaun Brierley was one of the first to die in Iraq, said: 'Every single MP who spoke, whatever colour rosette, made clear that the report should be published at the beginning of next month. So it was a massive, massive disappointment that ministers have refused to set a date. Surely it can't be difficult now to ease our pain and give us a date on when the report is going to be released. Grieving families are concerned that Prime Minister David Cameron is seeking to delay the findings of the report to ensure the fallout does not influence the crucial vote on Britain's membership of the EU The report is expected to criticise senior figures including Mr Blair, Mr Campbell, spy chiefs, military leaders and civil servants. Last October Sir John, 76 - accused by MPs of lacking a conscience for failing to end the families' pain committed to hand the report to the Cabinet Office next week. Mr Cameron said at the time he hoped national security checks, to ensure it does not contain sensitive military intelligence, would take two weeks. After the checks, the document will be returned to Sir John to be proofread and typeset before it is delivered to the Cabinet Office. Relatives are angry that he has not brought forward the timetable, meaning preparations for publication could take three months. Mr Penrose said there was nothing in the rules of purdah for the EU referendum that would provide a reason to delay the publication of Sir Johns report after he hands it to ministers. The two million page report is set to criticise senior figures including former Prime Minister Tony Blair He said: We will publish the report as soon as it is delivered to us in its final form by the inquiry team whenever that may be. But he stressed the timing for that was in Sir Johns hands. Responding to concerns about national security vetting, he added: I want to reassure everybody that it will not and cannot be used to redact or censor material which does not need to be secret or which might prove embarrassing to ministers or officials from the time covered by the inquiry. Senior Tory MP David Davis, who led the debate, said it would be incomprehensible and unacceptable if preparations for publication dragged on beyond next month. He said: The families have suffered for years as this inquiry has dragged on and on. It would be disgraceful to make them wait months longer, just because the Government is worried about what, if any, impact the report may have on the referendum. The 179 families who have lost sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, loved ones, wives, and in some cases mothers and fathers. Deaths: Britain lost 179 troops while fighting in the 2003 Iraq War and grieving families hope the report will explain why their loved ones were sent out to die (file photo) We owe them a debt, we call ourselves honourable, right honourable, sometimes gallant this is a matter of honour, let's give that closure to those families. He also said it was vital to publish the report because politicians had not learned from the mistakes of the war when making recent decisions about intervening in Libya, Syria and Iraq. Matthew Jury, of McCue & Partners solicitors, representing 29 families who are taking legal action, said: While the families are relieved that the Government will keep its commitment to vetting the report within two weeks, the elephant in the room is how can the inquiry seriously be claiming that it needs three months to prepare it for publication. This is not the era of hot lead typesetting on printing presses. This is the 21st Century. Sir John can just hit send. The families deserve an explanation of why there will be a hold-up. Rose Gentle, whose 19-year-old son Gordon was killed in Iraq in 2004, said: I am disgusted at the length of time this has taken, to be let down again and again. Sen. Ted Cruz put his weight behind a controversial North Carolina law that makes people use the bathroom that correspondents with their biological sex. 'Men should not be going to the bathroom with little girls,' Cruz said during a taping of an MSNBC town hall today. 'As the father of daughters I'm not terribly excited about men being able to go alone into a bathroom with my daughters.' 'That is a perfectly reasonable determination for the people to make,' he told Meet the Press host Chuck Todd. Gay rights groups were in an uproar over the law, saying in unfairly targets the LGBT community, especially transgender citizens. Scroll down for video Sen. Ted Cruz today backed a controversial bathroom bill in North Carolina that has gay rights groups up in arms for targeting the transgender community Sen Ted. Cruz said that 'men should not be going to the bathroom with little girls,' explaining why he supported a controversial North Carolina law that is perceived to be anti-LGBT Cruz explained that he approved of the law because he's a 'constitutionalist' and 'the state has the power to pass their own laws.' Todd asked the senator if he thought the law had gone too far. 'Listen, the political correctness that we have embraced. Enough already,' the senator swatted back. 'Listen, the Obama education department is going against a Junior High. Insisting that the Junior High must allow a teenage boy to shower with teenage girls,' Cruz noted. 'Now, that's just nuts. I mean, that's not a reasonable position, that's crazy,' he added. The Texas senator made the comments in Buffalo, New York, as he vies for votes in the Empire State in advance of Tuesday's primary. In a more lighthearted moment during the town hall, Cruz said he hadn't had the region's delicacy, the buffalo wing, for breakfast, but it was one of his dinnertime staples. As for the bathroom comments, Cruz has often relied on social conservatives to give his candidacy a boost, though has often been routed by frontrunner Donald Trump who has done unexpectedly well with evangelical voters. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, signed the bill into law three weeks ago and already rolled a portion back. The bathroom aspect of the law, however, was kept in place. 'After listening to people's feedback,' he said in a YouTube video. 'I am taking action to affirm and improve the state's commitment to privacy and equality.' McCrory signed an executive order on Tuesday, which would expand the state's non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The governor has been put in an awkward position politically, as the bill was well-received by conservatives, but more business-minded Republicans, including a number of companies that had promised the state jobs, pulled those commitments once the law hit the books. Cruz said he supported the conservatives over the businesses in this scenario. 'Listen, I think big business gives into political pressure and has been willing over and over again to trample on religious liberty,' Cruz said. 'One of the saddest things we've seen is the retreat of the Democratic party from religious liberty,' he added. Democrats have come out against the law. Bruce Springsteen, along with Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr, made high-profile concert cancellations in response as well. Cruz wouldn't comment on the governor's pseudo-reversal, 'to protect privacy and equality' for many state workers 'to cover sexual orientation and gender identity.' The presidential hopeful told MSNBC town hall attendees that he wasn't familiar enough with the details of what was signed. The remainder of the town hall will air on the network at 8 p.m. tonight. Cruz's willingness to take a side on this issue is not surprising as he was a vocal advocate for Kentucky clerk Kim Davis who refused to administrator same-sex marriage licenses due to her faith in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage in all 50 states. Workers poked female's tail with pole to help stimulate her desire to mate A pair of captive giant pandas have finally mated after workers poked the female with a stick to help get her in the mood. Breeders at a base in southwest China's Sichuan Province employed the strange technique to help coax a female named Su Shan into mating with a male called Yang Yang. To assist with the mating process, park keepers played pre-recorded sounds of Yang Yang into Su Shan's den ahead of placing them in the same enclosure. The pair of captive giant pandas have finally mated to the relief of workers, who poked the female with a stick to help get her in the mood A breeder gives a helping hand to giant pandas Yang Yang and Su Shan at the Bifengxia base of the China Conservation and Research Centre Soon after they were introduced together, breeders used a pole to touch Su Shan's tail, stimulating her desire to breed, and sure enough the pair mated. Su Shan, a five-year-old panda, was originally paired with another male called Yi Bao, however the pair rejected each other. The 10-year-old was replaced by Yang Yang, who at 17 years of age is considered old for the species. Breeders at a base in southwest China's Sichuan Province employed the strange technique, involving a stick and an apple, to help coax a female named Su Shan into mating with a male called Yang Yang Soon after they were introduced together, breeders used a pole to touch Su Shan's tail, stimulating her desire to breed, and sure enough the pair mated At this point it is not clear whether or not the act will lead to Su Shan becoming pregnant, with park keepers expecting to find out in two months' time. The moment was a big one for staff at the China Conservation and Research Centre in Ya'an. The base's director Zhang Guiquan said 15 of the 26 females selected for mating this year had carried out their 'duties'. 'Male captive pandas capable of natural mating are extremely rare, accounting for less than five percent of the whole population,' Zhang told Shanghai Daily. 'So female pandas do not have much choice.' The moment was a big one for staff at the China Conservation and Research Centre in Ya'an, shown here stimulating Su Shan's tail The partner of a British mother who disappeared from her Algarve home with her young children says she has made contact with him - but still won't tell him where they are. Christine Davies, 28, vanished nearly two weeks ago with daughters Lily, 18 months, and three-month-old Ruby while their father Aaron Rodwell was out running errands. He returned home to find their rented bungalow 'ransacked' while his children's birth certificates, Lily's passport and more than 5,000 Euros (4,000) were said to be missing. Police in Portugal are searching for British mother-of-two Christine Davies (left) who has disappeared from her Algarve home with her young children, Lily and Ruby. Her partner Aaron Rodwell has now launched a search Last night, Mr Rodwell, Ms Davies' partner, launched a public appeal for information, saying he was worried about her emotional state of mind. But the 29-year-old said today that Ms Davies had since made contact to confirm she was 'alive' - but had not specified where she had gone. He said: 'She emailed me last night to say they are alive but she would not say where they are. I'm still very worried about them and the police are still very keen to find them. 'I'm very happy to have heard from her but it's important for her to bring the babies home.' It also emerged that Ms Davies had spent three days at a campsite on the Algarve with the two children after leaving home. A police source said: 'We have spoken to witnesses at the campsite who said the children were being well looked after. Christine was with some other adults at the campsite. 'She left the campsite on April 7 and we are investigating her current whereabouts.' The couple, originally from Southport, Merseyside, moved to Boliqueime, near Loule, for a fresh start one year ago. Ms Davies recently began working at a local tapas bar while Mr Rodwell looked after the children. Mr Rodwell spoke of his concern for his children's wellbeing last night as he revealed all his efforts to contact his partner (pictured) had failed But, earlier this month, she disappeared from their home and failed to turn up at the bar. Neighbours later reported seeing a man arrive at the property in a car to help with her belongings. Police interviewed the bar owner as well as twice quizzing Mr Rodwell, who is from Liverpool like his partner. Mr Rodwell had said last night: 'I have no doubts Christine has left voluntarily but I'm concerned for her emotional wellbeing and obviously our children. 'She loves them and I'm sure wouldn't do them any harm but that doesn't mean they're not at risk if she's emotionally not in the right frame of mind.' He added that the couple had previously argued but said on the whole their relationship was steady. 'Im not going to lie, we had our ups and downs and arguments. But the situation wasnt that bad that she needed to run off like she has,' he said. 'Im pretty certain she is being sheltered by people in the community. Somebody has helped her without having any background information on our relationship.' He explained that the pair had argued after she started working as a waitress at the pub. 'She'd taken on a poorly-paid job about a month ago which I didn't feel she needed to be doing because we didn't need the money,' he said. 'I rang her the night before she disappeared asking her to come home early so she could be with the children because I needed help. 'She was supposed to finish about 10pm that night but came back about 7pm. 'I left early the following day to go into Albufeira and run some errands and that was the last time I saw her or heard from her. 'A neighbour has told me she saw a man in a hire car coming to pick up her and helping her load the vehicle up while I was gone. He has put posters (pictured) up in widows across the Algarve in a bid to track down the missing trio Ms Davies, originally from Liverpool, had recently started working at the Barrica Restaurant (pictured) as a waitress but failed to turn up there 'The house was in a bit of a mess so it looks like she's packed in a hurry.' He added that Lily had an active UK passport which had been taken but that the young child did not have one. He said: 'I'm beside myself with worry. I can't sleep at the house anymore. To be honest, I've had to check into a hotel because I just can't stand looking at the walls and the children's toys that are still on the floor.' Locals who knew Ms Davies say her disappearance is completely out of character. One resident John Evans told the Mirror: 'I used to have a drink with her in the bar she worked at. 'She was a lovely, down to earth girl, who seemed to be loving her new life in the sun. She certainly never seemed to complain about anything and seemed like she really enjoyed her time out here. Cash was also missing from their rented bungalow in Boliqueime near Loule along with the children's birth certificates and Lily's passport. Above, a stock photograph of the Algarve 'It is so strange, everyone has an eye out for her but no one seems to have seen a thing, it is a complete mystery, you would have a thought a mum and two babies would not be too hard to find would you?' Another local said: 'The police have been contacted by a witness who says they saw Christine getting into a car driven by another person with the children. 'It's something I understand they're looking into.' A spokesman for the local GNR police force said: 'I can confirm we are investigating the disappearance of a British woman and her two young children.' A source close to the case added: 'Police were contacted by the father of the children about a week after his partner and the kids disappeared. 'He says he left the house early on April 4 and they weren't there when he returned a couple of hours later. 'Officers are actively searching for them and keeping an open mind on the disappearance, including the possibility it was voluntary and she was helped to leave the property. 'The children's wellbeing is paramount and police are obviously anxious to track them and the mother down as soon as possible.' But the film was axed after other filmmakers threatened to pull De Niro insists there is more to MMR controversy: 'let's find out the truth' Carrey and Kennedy and a filmmaker who was with them are all anti-vaxx Their meeting came before De Niro said he regretted pulling anti-vaxx film Robert De Niro has been socializing with a bevvy of anti-vaccine celebrity protesters including Jim Carrey and Robert F Kennedy Jr. A picture of the activist trio hit Twitter on Wednesday - hours before De Niro admitted he 'regretted' pulling a controversial movie which linked the MMR jab to autism from the Tribeca Film Festival. Carrey made headlines last year with a lengthy Twitter rant about the 'toxins' in vaccines, and Kennedy repeatedly makes statements claiming there are links between vaccines and autism. They were stood with Eric Gladen, the director of a 2015 anti-vaccination documentary Trace Amounts who is hosting an event with Kennedy and fellow anti-vaxxer Alicia Silverstone in June. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO A photo of anti-vaxxers Jim Carrey (second left), Robert F Kennedy (center right), Robert De Niro (second right) and Eric Gladen (right) emerged on Wednesday before De Niro said he 'regretted' pulling autism film Robert De Niro says he regrets pulling a controversial film linking the MMR vaccine to autism after his son changed 'overnight' following the jab De Niro was joined by fellow Tribecca Film Festival founder and producer Jane Rosenthal on The Today Show as he discussed his decision to pull the documentary THE ANTI-VAXX SQUAD: JIM CARREY AND RFK JR ON VACCINATIONS Jim Carrey The Mask actor went on a rant about vaccines on Twitter last year, telling his followers: 'Take the neurotoxins out of vaccines!' He also dated Jenny McCarthy, who has been dubbed the face of anti-vaccine activism. She claims, like De Niro, that an MMR jab gave her son autism. Robert F Kennedy Jr The activist is the author of a book titled Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak: The Evidence Supporting the Immediate Removal of Mercury--a Known Neurotoxin--from Vaccines. He also endorsed last year's anti-vaccination movie Trace Amounts, by Eric Gladen, and screened it at a film festival in Salem. Advertisement De Niro, founder of the Tribeca Film Festival, came under fire last week after announcing he would screen Vaxxed: From Cover-up To Catastrophe. He reversed his decision on Saturday, saying he did not want the backlash to affect the film festival - but insisted that 'the movie is something that people should see.' Meanwhile, he has been socializing with fellow anti-vaxxers. Carrey posted a picture of the group together, with the message: 'Save our vaccines! Save our kids! Let the truth be known!' De Niro has since appeared on the Today show to clarify the situation. He insisted he was not anti-vaccine but was 'pro-safe vaccine' as he admitted part of him regretted axing the movie. 'All I wanted is for the movie to be seen and people can make up their own judgement but you must see it,' he said during an appearance on The Today Show. 'Let's find out the truth, let's just find out the truth.' He added that he hadn't yet 'fully explored' the fierce backlash against the documentary 'and I will.' De Niro, who has an 18-year-old Elliot son with autism, said he had hoped that screening the film could have started a 'discussion' about the alleged link between the vaccine and autism. 'There's a lot of things that are not said. Nobody seems to want to address that, or they say they've addressed it and it's a closed issue. 'But it doesn't seem to be because there are many people who say they saw their kid change overnight. 'My wife says that (is what happened to my son). I don't remember. But my child is autistic. 'I, as a parent, of a child who has autism, I'm concerned, I want to know the truth.' De Niro also suggested that people should watch another documentary, Trace Amounts, which focuses on the now disproved link between autism and vaccines. 'There's a lot of information about things that are happening with the CDC, the pharmaceutical companies, there's a lot of things that are not said,' De Niro added. De Niro admitted he was 'not too sure' about the disgraced former British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, who is at the center of the documentary. While saying he had played no part in the selection of the film for the festival, he said he hoped it would foster discussion about alleged links between common childhood vaccines and autism. His son Elliot, 18, is autistic Discredited: Andrew Wakefield directed the documentary in which he sets forth his own theories about an alleged link between the MMR vaccine and autism. His 1998 study was widely discredited But he wanted to help overcome the reluctance to talk about the issue, both in the scientific community and in the general public. He felt that people were trying to 'shut down' discussions around vaccines and autism. 'Theres more to this than meets the eye, believe me,' he warned. 'Theres something that people arent addressing. And for me to get so upset here, on the Today show, with you guys, means theres something there.' The actor said he simply had not anticipated the 'knee jerk' reaction from filmmakers - many of whom had threatened to pull out the festival. 'Part of me does (regret pulling it), and part of me says let it go for now and I'll deal with it later in another way. 'Because I didn't want the festival to be affected.' De Niro told the presenters he was skeptical of the scientific community's findings that there is no link between the vaccine and autism. 'I believe it's much more complicated than that. I'm not a scientist but i know because I've seen so much reaction. 'I'm not anti-vaccine, but I'm pro-safe vaccine.' The 72-year-old went onto compare the reactions of some children to medications such as penicillin - and claimed it could be the same with vaccines. He even questioned the rise in cases of preventable diseases, such as measles, across the country since the MMR controversy. 'There's a kind of hysteria, a knee jerk reaction. Everybody should have choice whether to take vaccines or not. But it does benefit big drug companies.' The actor and producer had first announced he would be screening the documentary at the festival in a personal statement last week. De Niro, pictured here with his autistic son Elliot (center) and his wife Grace Hightower (right), said he watched Vaxxed with members of the scientific community and that it doesn't 'further' discussion on autism Parents: Robert De Niro and his wife Grace (pictured together) are the parents of an autistic child 'Grace and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined,' he said, referring to his wife of 18 years, Grace Hightower. The statement continued: 'In the 15 years since the Tribeca Film Festival was founded, I have never asked for a film to be screened or gotten involved in the programming. 'However, this is very personal to me and my family and I want there to be a discussion, which is why we will be screening Vaxxed. 'I am not personally endorsing the film, nor am I anti-vaccination; I am only providing the opportunity for a conversation around the issue.' However, he later said that after reviewing the film alongside Tribeca organizers and members of the scientific community, the decision to screen the movie had been reversed. He continued: 'The Festival doesn't seek to avoid or shy away from controversy. However, we have concerns with certain things in this film that we feel prevent us from presenting it in the Festival program. We have decided to remove it from our schedule.' The documentary claims that US health authorities 'sliced and diced' data linking the triple jab for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) to rising autism rates. It was directed by Wakefied, who began the MMR controversy 18 years ago with an article published in British medical journal The Lancet. That report said that there was a link between a bowel disease, autism and the MMR jab, and kick-started a suspicion of vaccinations that, according to the Associated Press , led to immunization rates in the UK dropping from 92 percent to 73 percent, and as many as 125,000 US children not being immunized. That triggered outbreaks of measles - a potentially deadly disease - across Europe and the US on a scale not seen in decades. Wakefield's article was savaged by critics, who questioned his methods and results, and he was found guilty of gross lapses of medical ethics by the UK's General Medical Council, which removed his doctor's license - the strongest punishment it can inflict. The former doctor has always protested his innocence and the value of his research, and Vaxxed was his attempt to reignite the controversy. In Vaxxed he claims the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention manipulated data, adding: 'The CDC had known all along there was this MMR/autism risk.' Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, England's chief medical officer during the MMR scare, said: 'Wakefield can't appear to accept he has been wrong, wrong, wrong.' Spoke out: Robert De Niro issued a statement on Friday defending the decision to screen the controversial anti-vaccine documentary Vaxxed at the Tribeca Film Festival, that he co-founded. He reversed it the following day De Niro has said previously that he decided to star in David O. Russell's film Silver Linings Playbook because he has a child with 'special needs.' While promoting the film in February 2013, he teared up during an appearance on NBC's Today as he talked about why he chose to do the movie, in which he played the father of a bipolar man played by Bradly Cooper. 'If you're a father, you certainly understand what it's like to go through the worry about your kids, especially if they've got issues like Bradley's character has,' he explained. 'Sometimes it can be overwhelming. It can be nightmarish and upsetting. There's nothing much you can do but deal with it.' De Niro and Hightower also have a young daughter Helen Grace, five, and the Raging Bull star also has four older children from previous relationships. The Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 13-24. A couple in Nampa, Idaho, are fighting to evict a squatter who moved into their vacant home after they sold it to an elderly woman from California. Renea and Brian Prindle moved out of their home in December 2015, and were recently in talks to sell the house after making renovations to the property. Sometime in mid-March, the couple was driving by to check on the property when they saw the lights on in the home, sheets covering the windows and children playing in the yard. They went up and knocked on the door and found out that Debbra Smith, a 46-year-old single mother, had moved in. Scroll down for video Renea and Brian Prindle say a squatter moved into their house after they moved out to put it on the market In mid-March, the couple drove by the property to check in and found that a stranger woman, Debbra Smith (pictured), had moved in Smith, who had allegedly been evicted from a nearby home recently for not paying rent, told the couple that she was renting the property from a man name Daniel Brink. She even provided an address for the man, but the address turned out to be the location for the Portland Rescue Mission shelter. They called police, but there was not much that law enforcement could do. As a squatter, Smith had a right to stay on the property and the Prindles were banned from entering their own home. 'The cop said we had to respect her privacy and we weren't allowed to go into our home. We couldn't get past the front door. We were standing in the doorway but we weren't allowed in, and we could smell the cigarette smoke. It was horrible. We could smell marijuana, and we weren't allowed to search our property. We asked the police if they would search our property, and they said they couldn't,' Mrs Prindle told KIVI. The couple were recently in talks to sell their home to a woman from California, 72-year-old Nancy Billings Smith claims that she is renting the property from a man named Daniel Brink, but the address she gave the Prindles was for a homeless shelter in Portland, Oregon The couple said they made an agreement with Smith that she would be out of the house by a certain date, and when that date came they changed the locks. But Smith just broke back into the house, after calling police, who advised her that she was in her rights to reenter the building. 'Someone broke into our house, changed our locks and is living there. This is a criminal matter! It's not a civil matter! We've basically been told that there is no section of the law that exists for this scenario. We've been forced to take on the role as landlord and we've been forced to move forward as if we were landlords,' Mrs Prindle said. The Prindles recently attempted to kick Smith off the property through an expedited eviction process. The couple tried to get an expedited eviction based on drug paraphernalia they found in the home, but a judge denied their request because the samples had not been tested and proven to be drugs While they were changed the locks, the couple found drug paraphernalia, which they took pictures of. According to Idaho law, homeowners have a right to immediately evict their tenants if they are using, selling or producing drugs in the home. But a judge denied their motion since the paraphernalia wasn't checked for actual drug residue. Now the couple's lawyer is initiating the longer eviction process which could take 30 to 90 days. It's a time the couple are worried the potential new owner, 72-year-old Nancy Billings, can't wait, since Billings' home in California has already sold and the new owner wants to move in. 'I'm basically homeless after Friday,' Billings told KIVI on Tuesday. 'I have to leave [my house] here and I don't have any place to go. Everybody's suffering from this except the woman who moved into it. I wonder if that's the way she lives; going from empty house to the next empty house. ' Meanwhile, Smith was arrested Tuesday for violating her parole by failing to complete a court-ordered sheriff's labor detail work program. She will be required to spend the next eight days in jail for the violation. A father in Florida has filed a police complaint over facial and abdominal wounds his five-year-old suffered while 'playing' at school. Steven Stallone says that his son, Aidan, was the victim of severe physical bullying. Stallone posted pictures of the boy to his Facebook, along with videos detailing what he alleges happened at KinderCare in Wesley Chapel. 'I picked my son up from school and as I picked him up his face was completely smashed,' Stallone explained in one of the videos. Physical bullying: Steven Stallone says that his son, Aidan, was the victim of severe physical bullying at KinderCare in Wesley Chapel, Florida, and police are now investigating Five-year-old Aidan suffered cuts and bruises to the face. His father says the school played-down what happened to his son Aidan also suffered some scratches to his abdomen. Police are now investigating the incident Stallone continued: 'My son was shaking when I picked him up.' In a post on Monday, Stallone wrote that his son had been bullied by a 10-year-old boy who wanted to 'play the tripping game with my son and threw him to the ground'. Stallone said that he immediately went back into the school and questioned them over what happened, WFTS-TV reported. When I went back in the school, I said, ''What is this tripping game my son tells me that a 10-year-old boy wanted to play, the tripping game?'' Stallone explained. The teacher maintained the children were playing and that Aidan was not being bullied, but agreed to keep the boys separated going further. However, according to Stallone, the trouble persisted. 'I picked my son up from school and as I picked him up his face was completely smashed,' Steve Stallone explained in one of the videos he posted to Facebook Stallone wrote on Facebook: 'They told us they would be separating the children. Then again today the kids were in the same class again and an older kid pushed him down again and hurt his stomach.' In a statement sent to WFTS-TV, a spokesperson for KinderCare said that an incident report had been filed. 'We know some scrapes and scratches are a natural part of childhood. Of course, we understand that any injury to their child can be upsetting for a parent,' the statement said. Stallone wrote that he'd lodged a complaint with the Department of Children and Families, the agency that oversees the center, and with the local sheriff's department. The Pasco County Sheriff's Office confirmed they are now investigating. Donna Krupp, 53, from Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania, has been jailed for up to 20 years for burning down the house of neighbor and police officer Ernie Morris A mother has been sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in jail after she was filmed settling light to her police neighbor's house because she blamed him for her son's legal troubles. Donna Krupp, 53, from Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania, showed no remorse as she was given 10 to 20 years in jail Thursday for burning the house of Ernie Morris in a fire which also killed his cat, Bandit. Montgomery County Judge Gary S. Silow told Krupp: 'What kind of person does something so vile, so twisted? You burned down their home. Youre the neighbor from hell.' Krupp's sentence means she will serve a minimum of 10 years before being considered for parole, and will be under supervision for the remainder of the sentence after she is released. Judge Silow ordered another five years to be added to Krupp's supervision, and ordered her to pay more than $500,000 in restitution to the victims. During Krupp's trial the court heard that Morris had been attempting to help her and husband Michael deal with her son Joshua Beauseigneur, a heroin addict who had been in and out of jail. In June 2014 Beauseigneur was arrested again for evading police on his motorcycle and violating his probation, and in December the same year Krupp learned he would not be home for Christmas. Krupp was found guilty of using a grill lighter and newspaper to set fire to a small Christmas tree on the porch of Morris's family home (pictured) in December 2014 amid a disagreement about her son Krupp, who harbored a hatred for the police according to court testimony, blamed Morris for her son's incarceration. In a letter to his mother, which was found opened inside Krupp's house after the fire, Beauseigneur also blamed Morris for 'ruining his life'. Morris was not directly involved in Beauseigneur's arrest, but Krupp became convinced he had told officers where to find the boy. Morris had been trying to help Krupp with the behavior of her son, Joshua Beauseigneur, a heroin addict who was frequently in jail, the court was told At around 2am on December 4, police said Krupp went next door to Morris's house and used a long grill lighter to set fire to a small Christmas tree sitting on his porch. Morris was away at the time on a family vacation with wife Christine, and teenage daughters Katelyn and Carly at Disney World. The fire quickly tore through the two-story family home, completely destroying the property along with an art portfolio one of Morris's daughters had completed for school, and destroying a violin belonging to the other daughter. The exact value of the property is not known, but according to Zillow homes on the street are worth an average of $192,000. Krupp was arrested the day of the fire and charged with arson and reckless endangerment, among other charges. Krupp denied the charges, saying she never set the fire and citing a case of mistaken identity, pointing out that the arsonist's face is not visible in the CCTV footage. But a jury at her trial was told detectives who searched her house following the blaze found a gray sweatshirt and gray tracksuit pants matching those seen on the footage. Distinctive grill lighters matching the tape were also found in Krupp's home, and lawyers pointed out that the figure in the tape had the same hairstyle, was the same height, and had the same 'rocking gait' as Krupp. Krupp blamed Morris (pictured) for her son's arrest in June 2014, despite him not being involved, and when she learned Beauseigneur would not be home for Christmas that year, she decided to get revenge The blaze completely gutted Morris's home, killing the family cat Bandit, destroying an art portfolio one of his daughters was working on for school and a violin belonging to the other daughter Jurors were also told of Krupp's well-established hatred of police, and Morris in particular, saying she had been harassing him since her son's arrest in June. Police say they warned Krupp to stay away from Morris, but she continued to confront the officer whenever she ran into him. Despite her sentence Krupp continues to deny she is responsible for the blaze. to shut down due to 'gross incompetence,' Department of Human Services said A Pennsylvania daycare was ordered to shutdown due to 'gross incompetence, negligence and misconduct in operating a facility' after a three-month-old baby girl died on her mother's first day back to work. Sharon's Day Care in Lehigh Township was issued an emergency closure order by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) on April 5, according to ABC News. Four days earlier, a daycare employee reportedly left McKenna Rose Felmly unsupervised for about 25 minutes while she napped before returning and finding her unresponsive and her lips blue. Her death has left her parents, Adrienne Kromer and Bryan Felmly, heartbroken. Scroll down for video A Pennsylvania daycare was ordered to shutdown due to 'gross incompetence, negligence and misconduct' after three-month-old McKenna Rose Felmly (pictured left and right) died earlier this month Sharon's Day Care in Lehigh Township (pictured) was issued an emergency closure order by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) on April 5 According to the removal order, McKenna had been placed in a crib 'outside of a measured child care space' on April 1 for a scheduled nap. She was reportedly left alone for 'several periods throughout the day' and placed on her stomach to sleep, another violation. It was at the end of McKenna's two-hour nap period when the employee told DHS she left the room to tend to other children for almost half an hour before returning and finding the infant unresponsive. The employee then alerted a colleague, who called 911 while the employee attempted to revive the baby girl. McKenna was then taken to Palmerton Hospital where she was pronounced dead. The Carbon County Coroner's Office confirmed that there were no external signs of trauma found on the baby girl's body, according to ABC. However, the cause of death has not yet been determined. Sharon's Day Care, which is run and operated out of Sharon Ballek's home, was issued the emergency removal order and closed two days after a complaint was filed with DHS on April 3. Ballek told WFMZ-TV she had no comment. Meanwhile, her husband Paul Ballek has started a Gofundme page for 'help with medical fees', saying he and his wife have suffered a tragedy at their home following the incident, the station reported. The daycare is run by Sharon Ballek (pictured) and is operated out of her and her husband's home DAYCARE OWNER'S HUSBAND CREATES GOFUNDME AFTER HE SAYS HIS WIFE SUFFERED A HEART ATTACK FOLLOWING THE TRAGIC EVENT 'My wife and I suffered a tragedy at our home which is also my wifes business,' Paul Ballek wrote in a Gofundme post on April 10. 'A 3 month old baby was found unresponsive at the daycare and later died. Needless to say we are beyond being devastated at this tragic event. 'It has so greatly impacted many lives, the greiving parents, ourselves and daycare children and their parents. Our world has been turned upside down. 'As a result of this unfortunate event my wife suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized. 'I am the only support of income that we have and it is not nearly enough to pay our normal bills let alone our medical bills. 'Please if you would pray for ALL the persons so affected by this event. We kindly thank all who could donate to our cause and help us with our most difficult time. 'Thank you for taking the time to read this story. God bless all.' Advertisement 'Needless to say we are beyond being devastated at this tragic event. It has so greatly impacted many lives, the greiving parents, ourselves and daycare children and their parents,' he wrote. 'Our world has been turned upside down. As a result of this unfortunate event my wife suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized. 'I am the only support of income that we have and it is not nearly enough to pay our normal bills let alone our medical bills. 'Please if you would pray for ALL the persons so affected by this event.' So far the account has raised $735 since it was created on April 10. DHS said the daycare was closed as a result of 'gross incompetence, negligence and misconduct in operating a facility likely to constitute an immediate and serious danger to the life or health of the children in care,' according to ABC News. The daycare also failed to have an individual record for the baby girl and allowed her to attend the daycare anyway without the required necessary documents, according to the order. McKenna's autopsy showed no signs of trauma, and police say her death does not appear suspicious at this time. However, a cause of death won't be determined until toxicology tests are finished Kromer (pictured with McKenna) was heading back to work following three and a half months of maternity leave. She called the daycare center three times to check on McKenna It was also noted that the daycare should have had more employees supervising the children based on their ages. Investigators are now trying to determine if the day care center's violations are connected to the infant's death, according to ABC. Following the incident, police have collected the crib McKenna was placed in as evidence as well as anything else she might have touched. On April 1, McKenna's mother had been nervous about dropping off her baby girl at the daycare. Kromer was heading back to work following three and a half months of maternity leave. She called the daycare center three times to check on McKenna, who showed no signs of illness or distress when she was dropped off in the morning. The mother became more nervous when she received a call from the daycare center saying that McKenna was having trouble taking a bottle and that she had fallen asleep rather quickly, which was rare for the baby girl. Kromer decided to leave work early to go pick up her daughter, when she received a call from the center saying she wasn't breathing. Kromer decided to leave work early to go pick up her daughter, when she received a call from the center saying she wasn't breathing. Daycare workers found the baby unresponsive in her crib After she was found unresponsive, McKenna was taken to Palmerton Hospital where she was pronounced dead McKenna had already been transported to a hospital when Kromer and the baby's father arrived at the center. 'When we arrived at the hospital, they wouldn't let us back,' Bryan Felmly wrote on a GoFundMe page about the tragic death of his daughter. 'They put us in a room and said the doctor would be out to talk to us. The doctor came in and said, 'it's not looking good momma'... Adrienne screamed. I lost it. 'About ten minutes later they tell us they couldn't save her.' Police say her death does not appear suspicious at this time, according to the Allentown Morning Call. A cause of death will not be determined until toxicology tests are finished and other aspects into the investigation are completed. 'We are continuing to conduct interviews with family, friends, and employees of the daycare,' the police chief told LeHigh Valley Live on Wednesday. 'We still have some work to finish yet. I can't say when we will determine manner of death.' McKenna's parents are heartbroken about her shocking death. McKenna's father, Bryan Felmly (left) said: 'I'm not sure how we are supposed to go on'. McKenna is pictured with her half sister right 'Meanwhile, our family is now broken. I have lost my first child, Adrienne's daughter (from a previous relationship which is just as much my daughter as McKenna was) has lost her only sister and Adrienne has lost the baby that she's been waiting for for over 8 years,' Bryan Felmly wrote on GoFundMe. 'I'm not sure how we are supposed to go on ... Parents, please hold your babies a little longer today and hold them close. Life is too precious. Cherish every moment of every day. 'Be patient with your babies. Enjoy those sleepless nights because it's additional time spent with your baby. 'We would take a million sleepless nights for the rest of our lives just to have her back with us.' Sharon's Day Care has a valid certificate of operation and was last inspected in January. Washington police are hunting statewide for a couple who 'suspiciously' disappeared and have been missing since Monday afternoon. Arlington couple Patrick Shunn, 45, and his wife, Monique Patenuade, 46, were reported missing on Tuesday by neighbors who found their pets and livestock unattended, according to FOX News. Snohomish County detectives and the Major Crimes Unit said the couple's disappearance is considered 'suspicious and unusual'. Scroll down for video Washington state couple, Patrick Shunn, 45 (left), and his wife, Monique Patenuade (left and right), 46, were reported missing on Tuesday by neighbors who found their livestock unattended Court records say the couple are currently involved in a legal dispute with neighbors whom Shunn and Patenaude claim to have repeatedly trespassed on their property (pictured) near the Stillaguamish River with recreational vehicles and unleashed dogs Shunn went to work as usual at an aircraft-interior refurbishing firm in Kirkland on Monday but failed to show up on Tuesday. Court records say the couple are currently involved in a legal dispute with neighbors whom Shunn and Patenaude claim to have repeatedly trespassed on their property near the Stillaguamish River with recreational vehicles and unleashed dogs. Shunn's brother Erik noted on Facebook on Wednesday that a neighbor had 'harassed Monique and is not a good guy.' 'He is squatting on a property adjacent to Pat and Monique's,' Erik Shunn's post added. 'He is missing too and I think if they can find him, we will get some answers.' Shunn's uncle, who is also named Patrick, told the Seattle Times that family members from Oregon were on their way to the couple's home Wednesday morning. 'Both vehicles are gone from the house and both cellphones have been shut off,' he said. Detectives are searching for the couple's vehicles: a tan 2000 Land Rover Discovery and a black 1995 Jeep. Sheriff's spokeswoman Shari Ireton said investigators are looking into everything but 'we don't have any suspects at this point'. Advertisement You can barely get a two-bedroom former council home in Kensington for under a million these days. But if you've got that kind of cash and you fancy some space and privacy this house could be the answer. For the 950,000 asking price, you get a contemporary three-bedroom house and the four-acre island it sits on. Rudh-A-Chruidh off Scotland's west coast is linked to the bigger isle of Kerrera by a causeway at low tide. Most visitors are likely to turn up by boat. The four-acre island of Rudh-A-Chruidh, off Scotland's west coast, is linked to the bigger isle of Kerrera by a causeway at low tide. The island - and its only property - has now gone on the market. It is is regularly passed by the Oban to Mull ferries For the 950,000 asking price, you get a contemporary three-bedroom house (pictured) and the beautiful four-acre island it sits on The home's sitting room (pictured) has a wood burning stove and French doors to the decked terrace, which has sea views However, for those with a few extra pounds to spare, there is a helipad which could cater for an arrival by air. The current owner commissioned architect Norman Hickson to build a contemporary home which would blend into its environment. Built in 2014, it has an American beach house style with an open-plan drawing room, dining area and kitchen. The sitting room has a wood burning stove and French doors to the decked terrace, which has sea views and is regularly passed by the Oban to Mull ferries. There is also a Mark Wilkinson designed kitchen, underfloor heating, steam room, sauna and master suite with vaulted ceiling and balcony. Mr Hickson described the property as 'traditional but dynamic, with a maritime influence'. He said: 'The relationship between the building and the water was the most important consideration and I wanted the occupants to stand in the kitchen, look out of the window and feel like the building had its feet in the water.' Built in 2014, the property has an American beach house style with an open-plan drawing room, dining area and kitchen The current owner commissioned architect Norman Hickson to build a contemporary home which would blend into its environment There is also a Mark Wilkinson designed kitchen, underfloor heating, steam room, sauna and master suite with vaulted ceiling and balcony The island's coastline is a blend of shingle beach and rugged rocks with rich grassland making it a haven for birdlife. Porpoises, dolphins, otters and seals can sometimes be seen in the water. Last time the island went on the market in 2010 it attracted global interest with a Scottish businessman eventually winning the bidding battle. He paid 426,000 for it when the only property there was a bungalow. Rudh-A-Chruidh is launched onto the market today, with Savills looking after the property. Andrew Perratt, head of Savills residential, said: 'This is a rare opportunity to buy an exceptional, contemporary home, on its own island, in a particularly beautiful part of Scotland. 'Rudh-A-Chruidh sits proudly above Oban Bay on the west coast, with breathtaking views of the Sound of Kerrera and beyond. 'Not only are the interiors stylish, and the house and grounds beautifully designed, opportunities to enjoy sailing, fishing, the countryside and its amazing wildlife are endless.' Meanwhile a historic Scottish castle with 40 bedrooms has gone up for sale for just 900,000. Carbisdale Castle in Sutherland, north west Highlands, was originally put on the market after it was discovered the castle would require extensive repairs. A developer had planned to spend 6.5million on transforming the 40,000 square feet property, which comes complete with a grand hall, ballroom and billiards room, into a luxury hotel. But the sale recently fell through and now the castle has been relisted for 900,000 - less than some one-bedroom flats in London. Rudh-A-Chruidh off Scotland's west coast as shown above is linked to the bigger isle of Kerrera by a causeway at low tide Mr Hickson said: 'The relationship between the building and the water was the most important consideration and I wanted the occupants to stand in the kitchen, look out of the window and feel like the building had its feet in the water' Or how about owning your own Scottish castle for under a million? A historic Scottish castle with 40 bedrooms has gone up for sale for just 900,000. Carbisdale Castle in Sutherland, north west Highlands, was originally put on the market after it was discovered the castle would require extensive repairs. A developer had planned to spend 6.5million on transforming the 40,000 square feet property, which comes complete with a grand hall, ballroom and billiards room, into a luxury hotel. Carbisdale Castle in Sutherland, north west Highlands, which boasts 40 bedrooms, has gone up for sale for just 900,000 The impressive property is available for less than the 1m raised by selling off the collection of statues and paintings at auction last year But the sale recently fell through and now the castle has been relisted for 900,000 - less than some one-bedroom flats in London. The new owner will gain 16 acres of land and a loch when they take over control of the B-listed castle, as well as various freestanding marble statues which were not sold off. The castle also features a library and a minstrel's gallery - a raised balcony where musicians would play during a feast or ball. The 40,000 square feet castle was put on the market after it was discovered the castle would require extensive repairs A developer planned to spend 6.5million on transforming the property, which comes complete with a billiards room (left) and a grand staircase (right), into a luxury hotel In 1945 the castle was gifted to the Scottish Youth Hostel Association and became known as one of the most eccentric UK locations open to backpackers travelling on a shoestring. In 2011 the hostel was closed for repairs - but workers discovered further water damage, resulting in it being put up for sale for 1.2m in 2014. Harry Maitland of Savills said: 'Carbisdale is a magical property, rich in history. It will either make an incredible trophy home for a buyer from Scotland or much further afield, who is keen to restore the interior to its former glory. Kidane Cousland will become one of only a handful of mixed-race officers to be awarded the prestigious sword of honour At the age of 11, Kidane Cousland could still not read, and by 15 he had left school. But now the officer cadet, who grew up on a housing estate in Tottenham, north London, is to graduate from Sandhurst at the top of his class having even beaten Oxbridge graduates in the academic challenges. The 24-year-old, who served in Afghanistan, will today become one of only a handful of mixed-race officers to be awarded the prestigious sword of honour for being the best in his 200-strong intake. He will be presented with the sword in a graduation ceremony at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy today, when he will officially become a senior under officer. Last night Officer Cadet Cousland known as Danny to his comrades told the Mail that had it not been for joining the Army, he would have been dead or in prison. I went to school, I was completely disconnected, I didnt get on ... I was in a bad way really, he said. But something I always wanted to do since I was a child was join the Army. 'And it felt like a bit of a pipe dream when I was in Tottenham, but then I said to myself if Im good enough, theyll pick me. I either did that or my anger issues and frustration would actually see me move in a different direction, and probably end up killing me or Id be in prison. On coming top of his class, he added: All I have done is tried to be the best that I can be every day. I was told I wouldnt be able to be an officer because of my educational background I only had three GCSEs. It just hasnt had time to set in. His platoon commander, Captain Lucy Mason, said he was one of the relatively few former ordinary soldiers to have been selected to be an officer and go on to win the accolade. He is incredibly professional, determined, and a great team player, she said. Hes one of the few ex-ranking soldiers to get the sword of honour. He doesnt have a degree like many of the others here. OCdt Cousland revealed his mother had initially refused to sign his Army application because she was absolutely terrified by the prospect of her young mixed-race son joining the Army which she saw as a predominantly white organisation made up of some potentially quite aggressive working-class men ruled by some upper-class sorts. The officer cadet, who grew up on a housing estate in Tottenham, north London, is to graduate from Sandhurst at the top of his class having even beaten Oxbridge graduates in the academic challenges However, she later relented, and aged 16 he came top of the Army selection board, later coming top of his Commando course at 18. At 19, he was deployed to Afghanistan, where he served as a bombardier for six months in the 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery. After being recommended for officer training, he started at Sandhurst in May 2015. After graduating he will be commissioned into the Royal Artillery, and hopes to complete a Bachelors degree in war studies before doing a Masters. Only a handful of black, Asian, minority ethnic people have received the sword of honour. A Chinese traveller and her photographer have come under fire after she posed naked for a controversial shoot at a famous holy lake in Tibet. The traveller, whose pictures were posted by user 'Youchum Dolkar' on Weibo, was branded 'disrespectful' to the culture of the country on social media, according toPeople's Daily Online. Several reports state that the photographer will be detained by police for 10 days following the events at southern Yamdrok Lake, although this has been disputed by the Tibetan authorities. Racy: The traveller, who is unnamed, had the controversial shoot taken on the edge of Yamdrok Lake, Tibet Inappropriate? The suggestive images were captured by photographer Yu Feixiong, and were accompanied by the caption, 'A good photographer and a good model have broken cultural and ethnic barriers.' Debnte: Images were uploaded to the website Weibo by an admirer on Monday evening to a mixed reaction The suggestive images were captured by photographer Yu Feixiong, and were accompanied by the caption: 'A good photographer and a good model have broken cultural and ethnic barriers.' They were uploaded to the popular website by a Weibo admirer late on Monday evening. It is reported that the photographer, accused of disrespecting local customs, has violated the Law of Punishment for Public Security and Administration and faces a 10-day detention. However police in Tibet have denied this, saying in a statement: 'So far, Tibet police have still not taken compulsory measures of administrative detention against any person involved in the event.' In each of the photos, which have received 800 'likes', the unnamed traveller faces away from the camera and wears either a revealing red dress or nothing at all as she relaxes on the water's edge. The viral collection has sparked a heated debate on local social media, with some saying their actions were inappropriate while others say people should have a more relaxed attitude to 'art'. One well-received comment from user SunshineWheat on the post reads: 'Why can't they do this shoot? The human body is a natural gift to humankind. Why can we not face our own bodies?' Illegal? Some reports have said that the photographer faces 10 days in detention for defying local customs Denial: However Tibetan police authorities refuted these claims and said that no action had been taken so far However another commenter Timor took a different stance, writing: 'Your self-obsessed social media pictures are violating the privacy of a holy place... please keep it to yourself.' Yamdrok Lake is one of three large sacred lakes in the mountainous areas of Tibet, and is typically populated by hoards of tourists although seemingly not on the day of the infamous photoshoot. News of plans to launch a daily tourist cruise around the highly spiritual lake in summer 2012 were met with a strong backlash online and the project was swiftly cancelled. Naked tourists defiling sacred sites have made headlines on several occasions recently, including a tourist detained for nude bike riding along a road in 2014. A Chinese four-year-old was taken on the adventure of a lifetime by his father as they travelled over 330 miles of the country on simple roller skates. Zhang Junguang, a 39-year-old trucker from Puyang in central China's Henan province, decided to take his son on the epic journey to strengthen his character, according to People's Daily. They completed the voyage from their hometown to Beijing in under two weeks on just rollerskates, setting off on March 22 and returning to Puyang by bus this week. Father and son: Trucker Zhang Junguang, 39 from Puyang took 4-year-old away to strengthen his character Serious endurance: They completed the 300 mile voyage from their hometown to Beijing in under two weeks The dose of physically-difficult 'tough love' was described by the enterprising father as an effort to make sure his son 'grows into a stronger and more determined person' in the future. The pair skated during the day - so the infant child could get to sleep before sundown - and hit the road early in the morning, covering as many as 18 miles every day until they got to the capital. They faced winds, powerful rain storms and bumpy rural roads on their remarkable quest, and the father admitted that the child had struggled to keep pace the entire way. Zhang said: 'My son fell and he cried a few times during the trip, especially during times of extreme fatigue and on tough roads.' 'While skating on rough roads, we experienced ups and downs - but life is full of ups and downs too.' 'I hope the tough experience on this tour will leave a deep impression on my son in his childhood.' Under scrutiny: The pair faced winds and rain, and now face the scolding of disapproving social media users Before the 'character-building' trip, Zhang said his son first strapped on roller skates at the age of two and that the pair had done some degree of physical training before they set off on their journey. The father then took his son to some famous Beijing tourist hotspots, including Tiananmen Square, the Birds Nest Stadium and the Great Wall of China, as a reward for the young boy's endurance. Far from being admired for their efforts, the pair's endeavour proved unpopular on social media in China and the father was criticised for the cruel treatment of his son. He was the 15th century king who stole the throne of England, is blamed for the disappearance of his nephews and was left languishing under a car park in Leicester for hundreds of years. Now Richard III's remains have been turned into modern art. A series of portraits based on X-ray images of the king's skull taken after the discovery in 2012 are set to go on display in London. Alexander De Cadenet is a British artist, best known for his skull portraits. He has now created a series of portraits based on the X-ray analysis by the University of Leicester after the discovery. The pictures will go on display from tomorrow until Monday 25 April at a gallery in London Alexander De Cadenet is a British artist, best known for his skull portraits. He has now created a series of portraits based on the X-ray analysis by the University of Leicester following the discovery. THE KING IN THE CAR PARK Richard III's remains were uncovered in August 2012 under a city council car park in Leicester, with archaeologists finding the bones in the first days of the dig. Now a new computer model of his grave reveals just how careless the king's burial was. Archaeological analysis shows the grave was hastily dug, with sloping sides and an uneven base, and was too short for the king. This, said the team, would have made it awkward for the burial party to lay the body out neatly in the grave, which would explain why it was slumped on one side. These rushed rites match historical accounts that claim Richard III was buried without pomp or solemn funeral. Advertisement The first in the series will go on display from 14 April until Monday 25 April at a gallery in London. 'For me, Richard III is one of the ultimate skull portraits and I feel honoured to be able to present him using this concept as he is a part of our country's history,' De Cadenet said. 'I am extremely grateful to the University of Leicester for allowing me access to the X-ray scans, without which this creation would not be possible. 'His remains have been discussed and analysed in such scientific detail, I felt he was an extremely appropriate subject to present as his skull is likely the most recognisable and iconic in the world today.' De Cadenet has produced six portraits of the king. The first will be on display at the Andipa Gallery, a modern art gallery in South Kensington known for its contemporary art displays featuring the likes of Damien Hirst and Banksy. Archaeological analysis shows the grave uncovered in 2012 was hastily dug, with sloping sides and an uneven base, and was too short for the king. This would've made it awkward for the burial party to lay the body out neatly in the grave, which s why it was slumped on one side with the head propped up (pictured) The king's remains were found during the ground-breaking archaeological excavation of 2012, revealing his burial was far from fit for a king. They were uncovered in August that year under a city council car park in Leicester in the first days of an archaeological dig at the site, which had been a Medieval friary. Following extensive DNA analysis, in February 2013 the team from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) publicly announced its finding to the world, confirming it had found the Plantagenet king. '[Richard III's] remains have been discussed and analysed in such scientific detail, I felt he was an extremely appropriate subject to present as his skull is likely the most recognisable and iconic in the world today,' De Cadenet said. One of his works is pictured Richard III's remains were uncovered in August 2012 under a city council car park in Leicester in the first days of an archaeological dig at the site, which had been a Medieval friary. Following extensive analysis, in February 2013 the team from the University of Leicester publicly announced its finding. Another artwork is shown However, the monarch's remains were kept at the university for further analysis, which revealed his battle wounds as well as a curved spine, known as scoliosis. Although the king was famed for having a hunchback, largely thanks to Shakespeare's infamous depiction of him, historians believe he may have used clothes and armour to disguise his deformity. They said the condition, which caused one of his shoulders to be slightly higher than the other one, may have only been discovered after his death. Richard III's remains were finally reburied at Leicester Cathedral in the centre of the city in March last year. 'For me, Richard III is one of the ultimate skull portraits and I feel honoured to be able to present him using this concept as he is a part of our country's history,' artist Alexander De Cadenet said. Two psychedelic images based on the king's skull are pictured This is not the first time Richard III has been recreated in an art form. A facial reconstruction was commissioned by the Richard III Society and, more recently, a large photo-mosaic portrait was unveiled on the first anniversary of his reinterment. 'Alexander's bold and inventive interpretations of King Richard III break the mould of traditional portraiture by using University of Leicester X-ray scans with personalised elements relating to his character including a crown,' Dave Hall, Registrar and Chief Operating Officer at the University of Leicester, said. THE BLOW THAT KILLED KING RICHARD III AT BATTLE OF BOSWORTH The blow that killed King Richard III in battle was so powerful that it went up through the base of his brain and left an indentation on the inside of his skull, scientists studying his remains have revealed. Forensic pathologists at University of Leicester, discovered two wounds at the base of the king's skull along with a large indentation inside the cranium. The findings suggest that a weapon such as a sword or a spike had been thrust upwards through the base of the king's neck so hard that it had gone straight through his brain to the other side of his skull. Genetic analysis of the battle scarred skeleton, discovered under a council car park in Leicester three years ago, has confirmed that it did belong to Richard III. Scientists studying the remains believe the king was surrounded by a mob of enemy soldiers and hacked to death after he had lost his helmet. Using modern medical scanners, they established that the English monarch suffered 11 devastating injuries at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. Advertisement 'The discovery by the university has been represented in many different forms including college plays and graphic illustrations. 'We are pleased that it has had such a profound effect, not just on the scientific and historic communities, but in the arts as well.' De Cadenet added 'the discovery of Richard III is one of the most fascinating and historically significant discoveries of our time. 'For the University of Leicester to also have been able to prove the remains were his from the genetic information still present in the bones was a scientific triumph of extraordinary magnitude. 'The discovery has contributed in an unprecedented way to the ongoing legacy and story of this subject from history and that is exactly what I would like my skull portraits to do.' Matthew Morris (pictured), an archaeologist at the University of Leicester and site supervisor for the university's Archaeological Services, was first to discover the skeletal remains of King Richard III, which were found under a car park in Leicester in August 2012 WHAT DID RICHARD III LOOK LIKE? The genetic analysis showed Richard III almost certainly had blue eyes and likely had blonde hair - although it may have darkened with age. Richard III was depicted by William Shakespeare as a tyrannical hunchback who murdered two princes in the Tower of London. But scans of the king's skeleton show he wasn't a hunchback, but only had a slight deformity that would have barely affected his appearance or prowess on the field of battle. The notorious description by Shakespeare of a 'hunchback toad', a Machiavellian villain suffering a twisted body, a limp and withered arm, was almost certainly an attempt to blacken his reputation, experts claim. Instead, a 3D reconstruction of the king's spine shows 65 to 85 degrees of 'scoliosis', or sideways bending of his spine to the right. The condition, which would have developed in his early teens, means he was very far from being a hunchback. Despite having one shoulder slightly higher than the other and a short trunk in comparison with his arms and legs, there is no evidence he walked with a limp. Advertisement Findings may explain why failures in the control of bed bugs are common Bugs with the highest resistance to insecticides had the thickest cuticles Scientists used scanning electron microscopy to test the skin of the bugs They live in the cracks and crevices of beds and crawl out a night to suck blood by detecting our body heat and carbon dioxide. And now the global resurgence in bed bugs over the past two decades could be explained by the fact the much loathed critters have developed a thick skin. It's been long thought bed bugs survive because of their resistance to insecticides, and now this thicker cuticle reveals why. Using scanning electron microscopy, researchers studied the thickness of cuticles taken from specimens of bed bugs (stock image) resistant to insecticides and from those more easily killed. Comparing the results, revealed that the thicker the cuticle, the more likely the bed bugs were to survive exposure to the insecticides The research was carried out at the University of Sydney and published in the journal Plos One. Bed bugs are blood suckers that produce intense bites and cause significant financial heartache in the hospitality and tourism sectors. Understanding why they have again become so common may help develop new strategies for their control. 'The new findings reveal that one way bed bugs beat insecticides is by developing a thicker 'skin', said David Lilly from the university. WHERE INFESTATIONS BEGIN In 2014, genetic tests revealed that a single undetected pregnant bed bug is all it takes to start an entire infestation. A DNA study at Sheffield University showed colonies of bed bugs come from a common ancestor or a few of the female bed bugs. The pregnant bed bug could rapidly create a colony of thousands that feed on humans. Researchers told the BBC that bed bugs' ability to generate a new colony from such small numbers might be a 'clue to their recent success'. 'If you just miss one, they can grow very quickly,' Professor Roger Butlin said, adding it takes only a few weeks for this to happen. Bed bugs are capable of surviving without feeding for a month as they wait for a human. In the late 1880s, an estimated 75 per cent of households were affected, but by the outbreak of World War II, that figure had dwindled to 25 per cent, Their recent resurgence has been blamed by some experts on resistance to commonly used insecticides and international travel. Advertisement Bed bugs, like all insects, are covered by an exoskeleton called a cuticle. Using scanning electron microscopy, the team studied the thickness of cuticles taken from specimens of bed bugs resistant to insecticides and from those more easily killed by those same insecticides. Comparing the cuticle thickness of the bed bugs revealed a stunning difference - the thicker the cuticle, the more likely the bed bugs were to survive exposure to the insecticides. The new findings could explain why failures in the control of bed bug infestations are so common. They may also unlock new pathways to developing more effective insecticides for bed bug control. 'If we understand the biological mechanisms bed bugs use to beat insecticides, we may be able to spot a chink in their armour that we can exploit with new strategies,' said Mr Lilly. But measuring the thickness of bed bug cuticle wasn't an easy task, he said: 'The findings are exciting but collecting data was frustrating. 'Taking microscopic measurements of bed bug legs requires a steady hand and patience, lots of patience.' The study builds on research earlier this year that found the parasites have developed a tolerance to neonicotinoids, or neonics, because of their widespread use. It was the first study to show the overuse of certain insecticides has led to an increased resistance to the compounds, making them much less effective than advertised. In the US alone, millions of dollars are spent on the most widely used commercial chemicals to kill bedbugs, but their overuse has led to an increased resistance to the compounds. Bed bugs, like all insects, are covered by an exoskeleton called a cuticle. The researchers measured each cuticle using 12 different points (marked) The blood-sucking bed bug (pictured) that's attracted to our body heat and carbon dioxide is threatening to become even more of a pest because it is resistant to a common insecticide, scientists warn Assistant professor Troy Anderson, from Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences said: 'While we all want a powerful tool to fight bed bug infestations, what we are using as a chemical intervention is not working as effectively it was designed and, in turn, people are spending a lot of money on products that aren't working. 'Unfortunately, the insecticides we were hoping would help solve some of our bed bug problems are no longer as effective as they used to be, so we need to re-evaluate some of our strategies for fighting them.' Products developed to eradicate infestations in recent years combine both neonics with pyrethroids - another class of insecticide. Assistant Professor Dr Alvaro Romero from New Mexico State University added: 'If resistance is detected, products with different modes of action need to be considered, along with the use of non-chemical methods. 'Companies need to be vigilant for hints of declining performance of products that contain neonicotinoids. Seperate research found the parasites have developed a tolerance to neonicotinoids, or neonics, because of their widespread use. A stock image of fumigation is pictured 'For example, bed bugs persisting on previously treated surfaces might be an indication of resistance. 'In these cases, laboratory confirmation of resistance is advised, and if resistance is detected, products with different modes of action need to be considered, along with the use of non-chemical methods.' The study, published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, is the first to confirm the resistance. Researchers collected bed bugs from homes in Cincinnati and Michigan and exposed them to four different neonics: acetamiprid, dinotefuran, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. In the US alone, millions of dollars are spent on the most widely used commercial chemicals to kill bedbugs (microscopic image shown) but their overuse has led to an increased resistance to the compounds They also used the chemicals on a bed bug colony kept free of insecticide exposure for more than 30 years and to a pyrethroid-resistant population from Jersey City that had not been exposed to neonics since they were collected in 2008. Those that hadn't been exposed to the neonics died after contact with very small amounts of the pesticide, while the Jersey City bed bugs showed moderate resistance to acetamiprid and dinotefuran, but not to imidacloprid or thiamethoxam. The Jersey City colony's resistance could be due to pre-existing resistance mechanisms. When exposed to insecticides, bed bugs produce 'detoxifying enzymes' to counter them. Researchers collected bed bugs from homes in Cincinnati and Michigan and exposed them to four different neonics - acetamiprid, dinotefuran, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. A stock image of fumigation is shown THE CHEMICALS AND BED BUGS The levels of detoxifying enzymes in the Jersey City bed bugs were higher than those of the susceptible Harlan population. The Michigan and Cincinnati bed bugs, which were collected after combinations of pyrethroids and neonicotinoids were introduced, had even higher levels of resistance to neonics. It only took 0.3 nanograms of acetamiprid to kill 50% of the non-resistant bed bugs from Dr Harlan's lab, but it took more than 10,000 nanograms to kill 50% of the Michigan and Cincinnati bed bugs. Just 2.3 nanograms of imidacloprid was enough to kill 50% t of the Harlan bed bugs, but it took 1,064 and 365 nanograms to kill the Michigan and Cincinnati bed bugs. The numbers were similar for dinotefuran and thiamethoxam. Compared to the Harlan control group, the Michigan bed bugs were 462 times more resistant to imidacloprid, 198 times more resistant to dinotefuran, 546 times more resistant to thiamethoxam, and 33,333 times more resistant to acetamiprid. The Cincinnati bed bugs were 163 times more resistant to imidacloprid, 226 times more resistant to thiamethoxam, 358 times more resistant to dinotefuran, and 33,333 times more resistant to acetamiprid. Advertisement The levels of detoxifying enzymes in the Jersey City bed bugs were higher than those of the susceptible Harlan population. Professor Romero explained: 'Elevated levels of detoxifying enzymes induced by other classes of insecticides might affect the performance of newer insecticides.' The Michigan and Cincinnati bed bugs, which were collected after combinations of pyrethroids and neonicotinoids were introduced, had even higher levels of resistance to neonics. It only took 0.3 nanograms of acetamiprid to kill 50 per cent of the non-resistant bed bugs from Dr Harlan's lab, but it took more than 10,000 nanograms to kill 50 per cent of the Michigan and Cincinnati bed bugs. Just 2.3 nanograms of imidacloprid was enough to kill 50 per cent of the Harlan bed bugs, but it took 1,064 and 365 nanograms to kill the Michigan and Cincinnati bed bugs, respectively. The numbers were similar for dinotefuran and thiamethoxam. Compared to the Harlan control group, the Michigan bed bugs were 462 times more resistant to imidacloprid, 198 times more resistant to dinotefuran, 546 times more resistant to thiamethoxam, and 33,333 times more resistant to acetamiprid. Advertisement A student at the University of Portsmouth has produced a stunning digital reconstruction of how a famous ruined castle would have looked if it hadn't been destroyed almost 400 years ago. Ciprian Selegean's footage of Corfe Castle in Dorset is so realistic it looks as if someone has filmed the medieval hilltop fortress in its prime today. The 22-year-old used computer animation technology to digitally rebuild the castle that was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarian army in the English Civil War. Use the slider below to see how the castle looks today and after its digital reconstruction Slide me A University of Portsmouth student has produced a stunning digital reconstruction of how a famous ruined castle would have looked if it hadn't been destroyed nearly 400 years ago. Ciprian Selegean's footage (grab pictured) of Corfe Castle in Dorset is so realistic it looks as if someone has filmed the medieval hilltop fortress in its prime today. Use the slider above to see how the castle looks today, and the reconstruction The 22-year-old used computer animation technology to digitally rebuild the castle (ruins pictured) that was blown up by Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarian army in the English Civil War. Corfe Castle sits on a hill on the Isle of Purbeck, in Dorset. It was originally built in wood sometime in the 10th century but was rebuilt in stone by William the Conqueror in the 11th Century Selegean spent months researching the history of the important monument and studying drawings of it to determine exactly how it used to look. He then brought it to life using several software programmes to create a realistic moving 3D representation. The historical reconstruction makes it look as if the impressive stronghold was never destroyed and even has a period guardsman standing watch outside the impressive castle gate. As the footage rolls, the digital reconstruction is morphed with real images today to reveal how it actually looks. Staff at the National Trust, which owns the historic tourist attraction, are so impressed with Selegean's work they are showing the video in their ticket office to help visitors understand what the castle looked like when complete. This view of the digital reconstruction would have been similar to the imposing view faced by the Parliamentarians when they seized the castle from Chief Justice Sir John Bankes and his family in February 1646 Selegean spent months researching the history of the important monument and studying drawings of it to determine exactly how it used to look. He then brought it to life using several software programmes to create a realistic moving 3D representation (model pictured) Selegean said the biggest challenge was making the castle look accurate and blending the CGI model with the real footage. The entire project took about four months and two field trips to create. The castle - a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument - is open to the public and receives about 190,000 visitors a year Selegean, who is from Romania but moved to Britain to study in September 2012, is doing a masters degree in computer animation and the Corfe Castle project is part of it. He said: 'I'm interested in medieval culture anyway and wanted to reconstruct a castle. 'I found out about Corfe Castle and thought it would be perfect because it is in ruins but it is still a really beautiful castle with great views. It really captured my attention. 'I started gathering material about the history of the castle and found some illustrations but the problem was all of them were different in some way. I managed to find more detailed descriptions in a few history books.' The historical reconstruction makes it look as if the impressive stronghold was never destroyed and even has a period guardsman standing watch outside the impressive castle gate (pictured) THE TURBULENT HISTORY OF ONE OF ENGLAND'S MOST IMPRESSIVE STRONGHOLDS Corfe Castle sits on a hill on the Isle of Purbeck, in Dorset. It was originally built in wood sometime in the 10th century but was rebuilt in stone by William the Conqueror in the 11th Century. It was a royal fortress for almost 500 years until Queen Elizabeth I sold it to Sir Christopher Hatton, her Lord Chancellor, in 1572 and in 1635, Lord Chief Justice Sir John Bankes bought it as a private residence. Corfe Castle (illustrated) was a royal fortress for almost 500 years until Queen Elizabeth I sold it to Sir Christopher Hatton, her Lord Chancellor, in 1572 Lady Bankes and her supporters successfully withstood a six-week siege by Parliamentarians in 1643 and by 1645 Corfe Castle was one of a few remaining strongholds in southern England under royal control. But a garrison officer colluded with the Parliamentarians and they seized the castle in February 1646. The family was allowed to leave but the castle was then destroyed. The Bankes family regained their properties with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, but decided not to rebuild the castle. It remained in their ownership until it was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1982. Advertisement He admitted he struggled to determine what kind of battlement the castle had from pictures, so visited the castle and found a small area that still contains preserved battlements. 'I wanted to combine real live action film with digital effects, it's the same techniques they use in films,' Selegean continued. 'The biggest challenge was making it accurate and blending the CGI model with the real live action footage. It took about four months and two field trips to create but I'm really pleased with it.' Corfe Castle, which sits on a hill on the Isle of Purbeck, was originally built in wood sometime in the 10th century but was rebuilt in stone by William the Conqueror in the latter half of the 11th Century. It was a royal fortress for almost 500 years until Queen Elizabeth I sold it to Sir Christopher Hatton, her Lord Chancellor, in 1572. As the footage rolls, the digital reconstruction is morphed with real film shot today to reveal how it actually looks (storyboard shown). Selegean, who is from Romania but moved to Britain to study in September 2012, is doing a masters degree in computer animation and the Corfe Castle project is part of it The designer admitted he struggled to determine what kind of battlement the castle had from pictures, so visited the castle and found a small area that still contains preserved battlements. This image shows part of the castle being digitally constructed The castle was bought in 1635 by Lord Chief Justice Sir John Bankes as an occasional private residence, but the family moved in permanently when the English Civil War broke out. Lady Bankes and her supporters successfully withstood a six-week siege by Parliamentarians in 1643 and by 1645 Corfe Castle was one of a few remaining strongholds in southern England that remained under royal control. But a garrison officer colluded with the Parliamentarians and they seized the castle in February 1646. The family was allowed to leave but the castle was then destroyed. The castle (early stages of the animation pictured) was bought in 1635 by Lord Chief Justice Sir John Bankes as an occasional private residence, but the family moved in permanently when the English Civil War broke out. Lady Bankes and her supporters successfully withstood a six-week siege by Parliamentarians in 1643 and by 1645 Corfe Castle was one of a few remaining strongholds that remained The Bankes family regained their properties with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, but decided not to rebuild the castle (animation model pictured). It remained in their ownership until it was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1982. The castle was one of the most important strongholds of its day, but less than 40 per cent remains now The Bankes family regained their properties with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, but decided not to rebuild the castle. It remained in their ownership until it was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1982. The castle - a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument - is open to the public and receives about 190,000 visitors a year. Pam White, from the National Trust, said: 'We are absolutely delighted with the video. It really shows the castle as it would have been in medieval times as a castle and then a massive country house. It's brilliant the way it then falls away to show it as it is now. 'One of the problems we have is trying to get people to envisage what it would have looked like. Ciprian has done a very good job of it, the reconstructed castle looks very authentic.' The castle was one of the most important strongholds of its day, but less than 40 per cent remains now. Women can make the right groans at just the right time to convince their lover they're having an orgasm when they're not, but for men it's a little more difficult to hide when sex hasn't hit the spot. But while the fake orgasm is a well-established female phenomenon, a proportion of men will also own up to faking it - and for many of the same reasons women do. In fact, Canadian researchers focusing on the under-reported trend suggest up to a quarter of men may have faked it at some point. A new study suggests up to a quarter of men may have faked orgasm at some point. The results of a survey of 230 young men revealed that, on average, participants owned up to faking orgasm at least 25 per cent of the time in their current relationship. Stock image Researchers quizzed a sample of 230 men aged 18 to 29, recruited through online platform Mechanical Turk, who had identified as feigning orgasm in their current relationship on at least one occasion. They found that on average, participants owned up to faking orgasm at least a quarter of the time in their current relationship. Writing in the journal Sexual and Relationship Therapy, the authors explain: 'Men do feign orgasm, and motivations for doing so are associated with sexual and relational outcomes.' According to the findings, the main reasons for the pretense was due to poor sexual experience or not making the best choice of partner, both of which resulted in lower levels of desire and sexual satisfaction. Men who were sexually and romantically satisfied with their relationship (stock image) reported feigning climax in order to coincide with their partner's orgasm. While others reported feigning on grounds of making their partner feel better about themselves MEN WHO FAKE IT Canadian researchers suggest up to a quarter of men may have faked orgasm at some point. In a study, researchers quizzed a sample of 230 men aged 18 to 29, who identified as feigning orgasm in their current relationship on at least one occasion. The main reasons for the pretense was due to poor sexual experience or not making the best choice of partner, both of which resulted lower levels of desire and sexual satisfaction. Some respondents reported feigning on grounds of making their partner feel better about themselves. But overall, the study found that the more a man faked it, the higher his reported levels of satisfaction were. Advertisement For those who reported being sexually and romantically satisfied with their relationship, many reported feigning climax mainly in order to coincide with their partner's orgasm, in order to experience a 'mutual orgasm'. But the fakers were most satisfied when they faked for reasons of being intoxicated, were having sex with someone undesirable, or just wanted to improve a sexual encounter or feel better about themselves. According to Psypost.org, study participants reported feigning in 30 per cent of encounters. And while vaginal sex was the most common scenario to fake it, men also reported faking orgasm during oral sex, anal sex and manual stimulation. Interestingly, other than boosting their own sexual experience or avoiding intimacy with a poorly chosen partner some men owned up to more supportive reasons. Some respondents reported feigning on grounds of making their partner feel better about themselves. But overall, the study found that the more a man faked it, the higher his reported levels of satisfaction were. This feedback helps them to adjust based on time of day and keep heading in a A threatened species of butterfly could be saved after scientists cracked the neurological secrets of how it finds its way. Researchers believe they have discovered how the butterflies use an 'internal compass' to determine their south-west flight when they migrate each autumn. Exactly how the butterfly's brain processes information about its location and where they should fly has been poorly understood, but now it is hoped this discovery will help scientists understand how the insects navigate and locate their food. A new study has tapped into the brains of monarch butterflies (pictured) to reveal how they navigate during their annual migrations. US researchers found that the animals use their internal compass to determine their south-west flight when they migrate from the north-eastern US to Mexico each autumn Each autumn monarch butterflies head south from their North American habitats and migrate over 2,000 miles (3,220km) to the warmer wintering grounds of central Mexico. Despite dwindling numbers due to loss of milkweed - their sole food source - this innate knowledge is still passed on to each generation as the insects beat their orange, black and white wings on their epic journey south. In the latest study, researchers zeroed in on the insect's brains to show exactly how the monarch's navigate, using their 'internal compass'. By measuring the activity of the animals' brain cells, and monitoring the rates at which cells in their antennae and eyes fired, they were able to model how the insects stay on track. Each autumn monarch butterflies head south from their North American habitats and migrate over 2,000 miles to the warmer wintering grounds of central Mexico (pictured). But exactly how the butterfly's brain processes information about its location and where they should fly was poorly understood until now HOW THE MONARCH FINDS ITS WAY Researchers in the US believe they have discovered how monarch butterflies use their 'internal compass' to determine their south-west flight when they migrate each autumn. Monarchs use their large, compound eyes to track the sun's position in the sky, combining the information with the time of day to know where to go. This information is combined with their internal body clocks, based on the rhythmic expression of key genes which maintain a daily pattern of physiological processes and behaviour - centred in their antennae. By measuring the activity of the animals' brain cells, and monitoring the rates at which cells in their antennae and eyes fired, they were able to model how the insects stay on track. The butterflies have a unique separation point - which controls whether the monarch turns right or left to head in the south-west direction - which changes location in their visual field throughout the day. Advertisement 'Their compass integrates two pieces of information - the time of day and the sun's position on the horizon to find the southerly direction,' explained Dr Eli Shlizermanof, a mathematician at the University of Washington in the US and lead author of the study. 'We wanted to understand how the monarch is processing these different types of information to yield this constant behaviour, flying south-west each autumn.' Monarchs use their large, compound eyes to track the sun's position in the sky, combining the information with the time of day to know where to go. The clever insects also tap into their internal body clocks, based on the rhythmic expression of key genes that maintain a daily pattern of physiological processes and behaviour. Most animals have a dedicated area of the brain to regulate their internal clock, but in the monarch butterfly the clock is centred in the antennae. 'We created a model that incorporated this information - how the antennae and eyes send this information to the brain,' said Dr Shlizerman. 'Our goal was to model what type of control mechanism would be at work within the brain, and then asked whether our model could guarantee sustained navigation in the south-west direction.' Scientists think the monarchs use their large, compound eyes to track the sun's position in the sky, combining the information with the time of day - as judged by their body clocks - to know where to go. Combining this information provides an updated internal compass so the animals know when to adjust. Stock image Based on their model, it also appears that during course corrections monarchs do not simply make the shortest turn to get back on route. Their model includes a unique feature - a separation point that would control whether the monarch turned right or left to head in the south-west direction. Dr Shlizerman added: 'The location of this point in the monarch butterfly's visual field changes throughout the day. 'And our model predicts that the monarch will not cross this point when it makes a course correction to head back south-west. 'In experiments with monarchs at different times of the day, you do see occasions where their turns in course corrections are unusually long, slow or meandering. Monarch numbers have been threatened in recent years, mainly due to loss of their food source, milkweed, due to herbicide use. Pictured is a north American monarch butterfly feeding on milkweed flowers 'These could be cases where they can't do a shorter turn because it would require crossing the separation point. 'And when that happens, their compass points north-east instead of south-west. It's a simple, robust system to explain how these butterflies make this remarkable migration, generation after generation.' The findings are published today in the journal Cell Reports. Steven Reppert, a neuroscientist at the University of Massachusetts and senior author of the study, added: 'The biggest thing we need to do now is define, in biological terms, what the model describes. 'We can use its parameters to help us dissect the circuitry involved in monarch navigation.' Astronaut managed to capture Mount Everest, saying it's 'harder to spot from space than you might think' Last week he shared night time snaps of UK, France, Italy and o British astronaut is three months into his six month mission living 225 miles (410km) above the Earth Major Tim Peake took a photograph of Earth before sunset from the International Space Station Advertisement It is a view that most people will never get to experience in their lifetime, but even astronaut Tim Peake admits the scene outside the window of the International Space Station can look a little unreal at times. Major Peake, who is half way through his six month mission in orbit, has said his latest image taken from the space station orbiting 255 miles (410km) above the Earth looks 'more like a movie scene' than real life. Captured just before sunset, the latest image to be shared by the British astronaut on Twitter, looks more like a Hollywood rendering of an alien world than of our own planet Earth. Tim Peake posted this picture on Twitter on Thursday with the caption: 'I love this picture taken just before sunset - looks more like a movie scene than planet Earth'. Major Peake is three months into his six month mission living on the International Space Station (ISS) that completes an orbit of Earth every 92.91 minutes and moves at 17,100mph (27,600km/h) per hour It is the latest in a series of impressive scenes captured by Major Peake, ranging from night-shots and weather events to selfies that have been taken more over the first three months of his six month mission. Last week, the British astronaut snapped a stunning picture of the UK from his current base on the International Space Station (ISS) as it orbited 255 miles (410km) above the Earth. The image shows the lights of cities such as London blazing into space, with major roads like dazzling tentacles reaching out into the darkness and was shared on Twitter by Major Peake. Major Peake had plenty of opportunities to take an impressive shot of his home country on 8 April because the ISS passes over the same spot a total of 16 times in the day. The ISS completes an orbit of Earth every 92.91 minutes and moves at 17,100mph (27,600km/h) per hour. He has also shared incredible images of Italy, France and other neighbouring European countries on Twitter, alongside the odd seflie of Major Peake himself. There's no place like home: Tim Peake snapped this stunning picture of the UK on 8 April (shown) from his current base on the International Space Station (ISS) as it orbited 255 miles (410km) above the Earth. The image (pictured) shows the lights of cities such as London blazing into space, with major roads like dazzling tentacles reaching out into the darkness The bright lights of Europe: Major Peake had plenty of opportunities to take an impressive shot of his home country because the ISS passed over the same spot a total of 16 times on 8 April, when the photo was taken. He also shared a pretty shot of France (shown) with Paris burning brightly n the north of the country, and other parts of Europe on Twitter Upon sharing the snap of the curved 'boot' of Italy (shown above) Major Peake tweeted: 'Been some great night passes over Europe recently...I am waving' Last week he also managed to capture Mount Everest from his space lookout. While the mountain in Nepal is the highest on Earth, at 29,029 feet (8,848 metres) above sea level, Major Peaks tweeted it's 'harder to spot from space than you might think.' Last week, Major Peake managed to capture Mount Everest from his space lookout (right). While the mountain in Nepal is the highest on Earth, at 29,029 feet (8,848 metres) above sea level, Major Peaks tweeted it's 'harder to spot from space than you might think' Tim Peake shared a photo of Ireland (pictured) from 255 miles (410km) above the Earth on the ISS to celebrate St Patrick's Day last month He asked Dave MacLean at the Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS) to confirm he snapped the right mountain. Last month, Major Peake celebrated celebrating St Patrick's Day by sharing a photograph of Ireland. He tweeted: 'The Emerald Isle is looking lush and green from space...Happy St Patrick's Day to all down there!' Two months ago he captured storms raging across Europe and Africa in all their mesmerising beauty. The British astronaut tweeted a timelapse of the footage, explaining that it's 'amazing how much lightning can strike our planet in a short time.' The photograph of the UK is one of many impressive scenes, ranging from countries and weather events to selfies, taken by Major Peake (pictured left), who is more than three months into his mission on the ISS (right) Earlier this year, as storms raged across Europe and Africa, Tim Peake captured them in all their mesmerising beauty from on-board the International Space Station. The footage was filmed as the ISS travelled over North Africa, Turkey and towards Russia (pictured) STATS AND FACTS: THE ISS Construction of the ISS began on 20 November 1998. It supports a crew of up to six, with crews split into groups of three. The station orbits at a height of about 255 miles (410km). It has a total mass of about 990,000 pounds (450,000kg) and has living space roughly equivalent to a five-bedroom house. It completes an orbit of Earth every 92.91 minutes and moves at 17,100 miles (27,600km) per hour. It has now been in space for more than 5,900 days, during which time it has completed more than 92,000 orbits of Earth, and has been continuously occupied for more than 13 years. Advertisement It was filmed as the ISS travelled over North Africa, Turkey and towards Russia. The ideal conditions for lightning and thunderstorms occur where warm, moist air rises and mixes with cold air above. These conditions occur almost daily in many parts of the Earth and rarely in other areas, making certain regions more prone to strikes. For example, parts of Africa including the Democratic Republic of the Congo have the highest frequency of lightning on Earth. This is caused by air from the Atlantic Ocean hitting mountains as it blows across the region. Nasa tracks lightning strikes using satellites fitted with sensors and information from these satellites is sent to staff on Earth. During the 33-second clip, a spattering of flashes is seen on the horizon. As the ISS soars towards Eastern Europe, the flashes become more intense and centralised and the cloud cover thickens. More lightning occurs over land than water because the sun heats the land surface faster than the ocean. The heated land surface warms the air above it and that warm air rises to encounter cold air. Researchers recently found that regardless of where in the world a person is, lightning bolts are at their most powerful at 8am. This is because there are fewer particles in the atmosphere overnight so it takes a more powerful charge to overcome the extra distance between these particles and release the bolt of power. The ISS completes an orbit of Earth every 92.91 minutes and moves at 17,100 miles (27,600km) per hour. It typically visible as it flies over the regions in the clip between 6pm and 7pm local time. Lightning strikes are shown by the bright flashes in the centre of this image Major Peake, who is three months into his mission, has sent hundreds of photographs back to Earth, including the odd selfie. The astronaut is shown somersaulting during an interview at the start of his mission in the animation above By comparison, more storms occur in the afternoon as solar heating charges a higher number of particles, but these storms are weaker. Typical afternoon lightning might vary from 6,000 to 20,000 amps per ground flash but powerful morning lightning to ground strokes can average 30,000 amps. Urbanised areas are also five per cent more likely to be hit by thunderstorms, on a given day, than rural areas of the same size. Storms were more likely to hit these urbanised areas during warmer months, in July and August, in the late afternoon and early evening. During the 33-second clip, a spattering of flashes is seen on the horizon. As the ISS soars towards Eastern Europe, the flashes become more intense and centralised and the cloud cover thickens (pictured) These findings add further weight to the fact rising temperatures increase the frequency of storms, but also that increased pollution levels in urban areas play a major role. In addition to pollution, urbanised areas cause more storms because they create 'urban heat-islands'. Concentrations of buildings can increase temperatures causing low pressures to form above cities, compared to high pressures in rural areas. This causes a so-called 'low-level atmospheric convergence', which forces air up into thunderstorms. Android emojis are about to get a much awaited makeover. Some of the personified yellow blobs currently found on the emoji keyboard are set to be swapped for a more human-looking set of characters, Android N developers revealed this week. The changes will be seen on Google Android devices and will support the designs from Unicode 9, meaning the face-palm and bacon emojis may finally be on the way. Android emojis are about to get a much awaited makeover. Some of the personified yellow blobs currently found on the emoji keyboard are set to be swapped for a more human-looking set of characters, Android N developers revealed this week WHO WILL SEE THE NEW EMOJIS? This update will give Android N users the ability to change emoji skin tones, which iOS users can already do, and will include a slew of sought-after characters, including bacon, a selfie arm, and face-palm. Developers who use Android N can access the preview updates by enrolling in the Android Beta Program. Otherwise, those already in the program will soon receive the update automatically. The program is intended for developers, so it is not yet built for optimal performance and battery life. But, the blog explains that feedback from the developers will help speed the progress in bringing these features to life. Advertisement In a recent post from Android Developers Blog, engineers revealed the new features coming with the release of the second Android N Developer Preview. Among these will be the new emoji design, which supports Unicode 9. This update will give Android N users the ability to change emoji skin tones, which iOS users can already do, and will include a slew of sought-after characters, including bacon, a selfie arm, and face-palm. 'We are introducing a new emoji design for people emoji that moves away from our generic look in favour of a more human-looking design,' the post says. 'If you're a keyboard or messaging app developer, you should start incorporating these emoji into your apps. 'The update also introduces support for skin tone variations and Unicode 9 glyphs, like the bacon, selfie, and face palm. You can dynamically check for the new emoji characters using Paint.hasGlyph ( ).' The post gives a glimpse at what the new emojis will look like. Straying far from the bulbous slugs featured in the current emoji set, the new designs bear similarity to those seen on iOS devices. The new human and activity emojis feature human-looking characters each with a nose, a defined head, and even a chin. Developers who use Android N can access the preview updates by enrolling in the Android Beta Program. Straying far from the bulbous slugs (pictured above) featured in the current emoji set, the new designs bear similarity to those seen on iOS devices. This update will give users the ability to change emoji skin tones, and will include a slew of sought-after characters, including bacon, a selfie arm, and face-palm Otherwise, those already in the program will soon receive the update automatically. According to the post, the N Developer Preview works with Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 9, and Pixel C devices, as well as General Mobile 4G [Android One] devices. The program is intended for developers, so it is not yet built for optimal performance and battery life. But, the blog explains that feedback from the developers will help speed the progress in bringing these features to life. 'The sooner we're able to get your feedback,' the post says, 'the more of it we will be able to incorporate in the next release of Android.' Along with the launch of the new emojis, Developer Preview 2 will also fix bugs pointed out by the community, and will include Multi-window, bundled notifications. Two mass graves containing 80 ancient bodies have been discovered in the Faliron Delta region of southern Athens. The 7th Century BC bodies, belonging to young men, were placed side by side with their arms shackled above their heads. One skeleton had arrow stuck in its shoulder, which suggested the young men may have been murdered prisoners. Researchers believe they may have been captured for being followers of ancient would-be tyrant Cylon of Athens. Two mass graves containing 80 ancient bodies have been discovered in the Faliron Delta region of southern Athens. The 7th Century BC bodies, belonging to young men, were placed side by side with their arms shackled above their heads. Researchers believe they may have been captured for being followers of Cylon WHY WERE THEIR ARMS TIED? The skeletons were found lined up, some on their backs and others on their stomachs. A total of 36 had their hands bound with iron. One of the men, the last one to be found in March, also had his legs tied with rope. It remains a mystery as to why the men had their arms tied above their heads rather than behind their backs. But one theory is they were prisoners, captured and killed for being followers of ancient would-be tyrant Cylon of Athens. This theory is backed up by the dates of the burial, which is estimated to have happened between 675 and 650 BC during a period of great political turmoil in the region. Cylon, a nobleman whose failed coup in the 7th century BC is detailed in the accounts of ancient historians Herodotus and Thucydides. Advertisement The findings, presented by chief archaeologist Stella Chrysoulaki, where made when builders were preparing the ground for the new Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC). Given 'the high importance of these discoveries,' the council is launching further investigations, the culture ministry said. Two small vases discovered amongst the skeletons have allowed archaeologists to date the graves from between 650-625 BC, 'a period of great political turmoil in the region,' the ministry said. The skeletons were found lined up, some on their backs and others on their stomachs. A total of 36 had their hands bound with iron. One of the men, the last one to be found in March, also had his legs tied with rope. It remains a mystery as to why the men had their arms tied above their heads rather than behind their backs. Archaeologists found the teeth of the men to be in good condition, indicating they were young and healthy. This boosts the theory that they could have been followers of Cylon, a nobleman whose failed coup in the 7th century BC is detailed in the accounts of ancient historians Herodotus and Thucydides. The findings, presented by chief archaeologist Stella Chrysoulaki, where made when builders were preparing the group for the new Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC). Given 'the high importance of these discoveries,' the council is launching further investigations, the culture ministry said. Two small vases (one pictured in this image) were discovered among the skeletons. They have allowed archaeologists to date the graves from between 650-625 BC, 'a period of great political turmoil in the region,' the ministry said Cylon, a former Olympic champion, sought to rule Athens as a tyrant. But Athenians opposed the coup attempt and he and his supporters were forced to seek refuge in the Acropolis, the citadel that is today the Greek capital's biggest tourist attraction. The conspirators eventually surrendered after winning guarantees that their lives would be spared. But Megacles, of the powerful Alcmaeonid clan, had the men massacred an act condemned as sacrilegious by the city authorities. HORSE BURIAL DISCOVERED IN FALIRO DELTA This isn't the only significant find found in the region. So far, a total of 136 burial sites dating back to the archaic era had been found in the 840 square metre ancient cemetery. During the excavations of 2012-2013, scientist found 1,063 graves. Earlier this year, a burial which contained an unusually well preserved skeleton of a horse, was discovered during landscaping works around the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre. 'In the Faliro necropolis we have found four complete horse burials, as well as parts of other skeletons, therefore it is not something rare for the area,' Stella Chrysoulaki, the head of the West Attica, Piraeus and Islands Ephorate who is in charge of the dig. Earlier this year, a burial which contained an unusually well preserved skeleton of a horse, was discovered during landscaping works around the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre 'What is rare and surprised us was the degree of preservation of the specific skeleton, which even has its hooves. 'For zoo-archaeologists or a university, this find could be an excellent opportunity for a study. 'Having such a large number of skeletons four is quite a number such a study could reach a number of conclusions on races and the evolution of species. 'From this point of view, this find is very important. She noted that a horse burial in a graveyard for people sometimes occured, but the Faliro necropolis was an area where 'where unbelievable things happen.' Advertisement Historians say this dramatic chapter in the story of ancient Athens showed the aristocracy's resistance to the political transformation that would eventually herald Athenian democracy 2,500 years ago. The skeletons were found in an ancient necropolis at around two and a half meters from the surface. So far, only half of the Faliron Delta has been excavated so far. The site served as a port for Athens in classical age. Archaeologists said the excavation will continue, and the culture ministry is set to make a decision on whether to build a museum on the site. The findings, presented by chief archaeologist Stella Chrysoulaki, where made when builders were preparing the group for the new Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC). Pictured is a view of the site Mass grave discovered in ancient necropolis Cramped cabins, lost luggage and delays mean airlines often generate grumbling among passengers, but sometimes they push the, well, boat out and do something that makes everyone's heart soar. The captain who turned the plane around to pick up a grieving family and the airline who flew a teddy bear 4,600 miles home after it was lost in an airport are just two examples of positive PR being pushed forward at full throttle. Here MailOnline Travel rounds up the ultimate examples of airlines turning on the charm. Scroll down for video Delta Air Lines pilot turned plane around and returned to gate to pick up family... so they wouldn't miss their father's funeral Rick Short's father Jay died of lung cancer aged 56 on December 16. His wish was to be buried with his family in Bolivar, Tennessee. A Delta aircraft went back to the gate to pick the family up so they could make the funeral A Delta Airlines pilot was hailed a hero after he turned a plane around and picked up a family to ensure they made it to their fathers funeral. The pilot made the decision after he spotted distraught family members, who were gathered at the gate after they arrived late due to an earlier delay, from his seat in the cockpit at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport. If not for the act of kindness, the Short family would have missed their connecting flight to Memphis If not for the act of kindness, the Short family would have missed their connecting flight to Memphis the last flight of the day and likely would have missed the funeral the following morning. Rick Short's father Jay died of lung cancer aged 56 on December 16. His wish was to be buried with his family in Bolivar, Tennessee. The bear necessities: British Airways documents Pooh the teddy bear's extraordinary journey home to an eight-month-old boy after being left 4,600 miles behind in Buenos Aires Once the family realised he had gone missing during their trip last month they took to social media to try and find their furry family member These adorable pictures show the moment a baby boy, who was devastated after leaving his beloved cuddly teddy bear 4,600 miles away in Argentina earlier this year, was reunited with his toy. When Woody Cranmer left his treasured teddy 'Pooh' in Buenos Aires, the eight-month-old thought he would never see his lovable companion again. The toy had been passed down from his father Scott, 30, from Wakefield, who was given Pooh as a baby. Once the family realised he had gone missing during their trip last month they took to social media to try and find their furry family member. And thankfully within days, Mr P Bear - now the owner of a gold executive club card - was located by the British Airways team and flown back to Leeds Bradford Airport, West Yorkshire, to be reunited with his anxious family. When Woody Cranmer left his treasured teddy 'Pooh' in Buenos Aires, the eight-month-old thought he would never see his lovable companion again Lost... and found! Airport documents Ra Ra the teddy bear's extraordinarily cute journey home to a four-year-old girl after being left 1,800 miles behind in Toronto RaRa the bear soon began his long journey back to Saskatchewan in Canada after being lost in Toronto One small teddy made the journey of a lifetime in September after it was accidentally left 1,800 miles behind at Toronto Pearson International Airport by four-year-old Phoebe Steel. After discovering the much-loved stuffed toy was not with the family on the airplane, mother, Jen Heuvelmans Steel, messaged staff in a bid to track down Ra Ra the bear. One day later Mrs Steel was informed that the toy, which was given to Phoebe as a baby, had been discovered in lost and found - and it was soon to begin a long journey back to Saskatchewan in Canada. After discovering the much-loved stuffed toy was not with the family on the airplane, mother, Jen Heuvelmans Steel, messaged staff in a bid to track down Ra Ra the bear Now THAT'S a pizza party! Airline orders takeaway for five planes full of stranded passengers who were diverted due to bad weather Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport said that the weather - and a radar-confirmed tornado near the airport - was the reason behind the delays at the worlds busiest airport Passengers on a delayed plane were treated to takeaway pizza by an airline when their flight was diverted last November. The travellers on-board the Delta Airlines flight to Atlanta were given margherita and pepperoni pizzas while they waited to be given the all clear following a diversion to Columbia in South Carolina. Photos of the takeaway feast, which was delivered to five of the airlines planes diverted to the airport, were posted on social media. Flight attendant wins the hearts of thousands online after photograph emerges of him feeding an elderly passenger Thomas Lim, who snapped the photo and shared it on Facebook, wrote online that he was touched by the act A flight attendant won the hearts of people around the world after he was photographed feeding an elderly passenger on a Thai Airways flight. The photo, captured by a fellow traveller on a flight from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur, went viral on the internet. Passengers who witnessed the moment were moved by flight attendant Chakkrit Ratanawethins kind gesture and heaped praise on him for helping the disabled man, who was unable to feed himself when a meal of garlic chicken and rice was served. Canadian pilot diverts packed passenger jet to save the life of a dog in the hold after the cargo heating system broke at 38,000ft Pilot decided to lose altitude and divert to Frankfurt International Airport, which is a major hub for Air Canada An Air Canada pilot was declared a hero after he decided to divert a packed passenger jet to save the life of a pet dog being carried in the aircraft's hold after the cargo area's heating system failed. The jet was travelling between Tel Aviv and Toronto last September when a warning light flashed in the cabin that the heater in the cargo hold was not functioning. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was about to cross the Atlantic when the system failed, meaning temperatures in the cargo hold could drop below freezing. It is understood that the decision to divert the jet would have cost an additional $10,000 (7,000) in fuel, but the French bulldog, Simba, 7, would have probably not survived the long ocean crossing in sub zero temperatures. JetBlue erects hilarious interactive advert and surprises unassuming New York locals with FREE flight tickets The virtual woman present on the advertising board put the unassuming locals through their paces first before making their day Budget airline JetBlue surprised a number of New York locals last June with free flight tickets as part of a humorous campaign. The commercial featured an interactive advertising board designed to showcase the level of customer service provided by the company. However, the virtual woman present on the advertising board put the unassuming locals through their paces first before making their day. Some seem a bit dubious at first but before long they all follow the command and are instantly informed that they have received a free travel certificate. The virtual woman then walks away from the screen before emerging through a door in person and presenting the people with their tickets. Now that's a front row seat! Pilots circle over North Atlantic near Faroe Islands to give passengers ultimate view of total eclipse For some eclipse chasers, a final destination wasn't required as a number of private charters set off for the sole purpose of seeing the phenomenon which won't happen again in northern Europe until 2026 Forget sanding in a clearing and squinting through the clouds for a glimpse of the eclipse, passengers on flights en route to Iceland got the view of a lifetime of the natural phenomenon in March 2015. The flight path taken by the pilot of EasyJet's flight 6747 from Belfast shows an amusing squiggle as it approaches the Faroe Islands, one of just two places on Earth along with Norway's Svalbard archipelago where a total eclipse could be observed. With a cluster of planes appearing to linger around the archipelago between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, EZY6747's pilot gave those on board the Airbus A319 the best possible chance to capture the moment after taking off at 8.05am. Advertisement Most hitchhikers have had scary moments on their travels, but this one claims he came face to face with a member of the Taliban in Afghanistan and not only lived to tell the tale, but posed for a selfie with him - while holding his gun. Timotei Rad, from Romania, met the fighter after setting off on a trip around the world armed with just his rucksack, a sleeping bag and $80 (55) in cash. Incredibly Rad managed to travel through most of Europe as well as parts of South America, Asia and the US by catching lifts from strangers. He only caught two flights in three years' worth of trips. During his trip Rad hitch-hiked in Afghanistan where three strangers took him to meet a man he claims was a member of the Taliban In certain parts of Afghanistan, Rad claims he was forced to wear a disguise in the car, to make him look like a local Timotei Rad set off to Mongolia armed with just his rucksack, a sleeping bag and $80 (55) in cash. He's pictured here mimicking Christ the Redeemer in Rio The 30-year-old had some incredible experiences, but perhaps his most memorable was in Afghanistan. While in the country, three men offered him a lift. After a while one of the men asked if he wanted to see something. Stopping the vehicle, the driver climbed out and whistled - and an armed fighter emerged from the forest carrying a machine gun. Although his appearance suggested he was a member of the Afghan Local Police, Rad claimed he was a member of the Taliban. He said he was excited when the fighter appeared and posed for a photo with him. Incredibly Rad managed to travel through most of Europe as well as parts of South America, Asia and the US by catching lifts from strangers. He only caught two flights in three years' worth of trips. He's pictured here in the Amazon Rad even managed to hitch-hike a ride in a helicopter while visiting Argentina on his trip Rad sits with two police officers who after hearing his story gave him a lift and provided him with a meal The 30-year-old jumps excitedly while visiting Machu Picchu high in Peru's Andes Mountains He told MailOnline Travel: I was excited and happy to be having such a crazy photo but I didn't know if the gun was loaded. I took the AK47 carefully, and tried not to get close to the trigger. 'While walking towards him I thought and expected that he may kill me but he wasn't mean, he was like a father. He was a warm hearted man. We then took a photo together and I was very relaxed around him. The adventure-seeker, who lives off of donations and sleeps in a tent or couch surfs during his expeditions, smiles at Ushuaia - the 'end of the world' Rad, who claims his favourite country is Russia due to the 'sincerity' of the people, smiles in Ecuador The adventure-seeker is pictured on a camel after getting lost in the desert in Mongolia Rad, whose favourite country is Russia, claims that he also faced other difficult situations on his journey. He said: 'In Venezuela people said to me not hitch-hike at night, but I did it for five nights in a row. 'On the fifth, the road was clear but suddenly a motorcycle with two men came up to me and the guy on the back got off and told me to not move because if I did he would shoot me. 'He tried to take my backpack but I grabbed it and told him I have only my clothes, tent and sleeping bag. At this point he said he would kill me. 'I tried twice to calm him down, then I lost my mind. I swore in Romanian and at the same time cars were finally coming down the road. The men drove away and I never saw their gun.' As well as the dangerous incident in Venezuela, Rad said he was also forced to protect himself by pulling out a knife when two men broke into his tent and pepper-sprayed him in the eyes in Iran. Rad, who has so far travelled to more than 80 countries and trekked an enormous 146,000 miles during his journey, pictured kissing Copenhagen's Little Mermaid Rad - who had to ask fellow tourists to take pictures of him as he didn't have a camera - does a handstand on the Salt Flats in Bolivia Rad poses outside a bus as he prepares for a 330 mile long journey from Vienna to Arad in Romania The 30-year-old, who has so far travelled to more than 80 countries and trekked an enormous 146,000 miles during his journey, said he has always dreamed of being a hitch-hiker. Catching only two flights from Madrid to Rio and from Georgetown (Guyana) to London using money saved from donations, the traveller hitch-hiked for the remainder of the three-year trip. As well as having very little money, Rad also struggled in the photography department, having traded two cameras for rides across Europe and losing another down a drain, so he relies on people in each country to take photographs of him and email them over. Making his money for food and water through donations, Rad said today he receives around 220 a month from people who've read his online advice and posts. On the left Rad is pictured going down the world's tallest waterslide in Kansas City and right, he poses with the Leaning Tower of Pisa After getting home, Rad paid to have a tattoo of the world created on his upper back He added: 'One of my most memorable stories was when I visited Iraq. I asked the police for directions and after telling them my story they saw I was just an innocent dreamer, and they gave me a meal and then a free ride. Hitch-hiking is my dream and I am living it, just like anyone else with aspirations, mine is to travel. The adventure-seeker, who sleeps in a tent or couch surfs during his expeditions, said the next destinations on his wish list are Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. Rad, who has 2,270 followers on Facebook, is now set to travel to Budapest to continue with his journey. Making his money for food and water through donations, Rad said today he receives around 220 a month from people who send him funds after reading his online advice and posts Pictured outside Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Rad puts his thumb up to a stranger, who is taking the image on their phone As well as having very little money, Rad also struggled in the photography department, having traded two cameras for rides across Europe and losing another down a drain. Pictured in the Amazon The traveller smiles as he perches in the back of a truck in Colombia during his three-year-long trip Japanese media is calling for Chinese-only zones at tourist attractions after the poor behaviour of a group of visitors last week, spoiling the mood of the annual blossom viewing season. A woman gatecrashed a forbidden area at Ueno Park in Tokyo while others were seen at Osaka Castle Park breaking off flowers to decorate their hair and man-handling the branches. Their destructive actions have caused outrage in the country leading to one unnamed talk show presenter suggesting that designated photography areas should be set up for tourists from China. Scroll down for video Chinese visitors to Japan behaved badly this year while viewing cherry blossoms in Tokyo and Osaka by damaging the trees while taking photographs People were seen climbing the trees, shaking the branches and picking the flowers, causing outrage in Japan Seeing the trail of destruction caused, like the branch being stamped on above, one Japanese talk-show presenter called for there to be a 'Chinese-only' zone in tourist areas According to Huanqiu, a guest on the talk show then suggested that the Japanese government should step up their guidance of customs in the country. There are already signs in English, Japanese and Chinese at some sites advising visitors to keep noise levels to a minimum, avoid jostling and not to climb the trees, pick the flowers or to shake the branches. The trees are said to be extremely delicate and any damage could cause the entire tree to die due to bacterial infection. However, these have clearly not been heeded by enthusiastic visitors. The actions seen at popular Hanami, the Japanese tradition of flower viewing, venues, has caused the Chinese tourists to be widely ridiculed by Japanese media since the reports first appeared. Japanese media cited a woman who gatecrashed a forbidden area at Ueno Park in Tokyo while others were see at Osaka Castle Park breaking off flowers to decorate their hair (above) and man-handling the branches. The cherry trees are said to be extremely delicate and any damage could cause the entire tree to die due to bacterial infection A guest on the talk show suggested that the Japanese government should step up their guidance of customs in the country HANAMI ETIQUTTE Check the local customs of the park you're going to Don't touch or damage the cherry tree - including the exposed roots Don't take up too much room if you're having a picnic - and check if it is permissible to light fires Avoid getting drunk Remove your rubbish when you leave Source: Wa-Oh! Japan, Japan Guide Advertisement Some have even coined the phrase 'Chinese-style flower viewing' to describe the unruly behaviour seen by locals. The issue has been widely debated in China with more than 3.6million web users reading and debating the issue on Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter. One user, ClaretWoo, wrote: 'Behaving badly at home is ruining your own reputation but doing it in other countries is destroying the reputation of the whole of China.' Another user, Yang Xiao Qing, added: 'Honestly, the worst calibre of international tour groups is Chinese. This is a fact Chinese people have to face and admit.' It's not just within Japan where Chinese tourists have been criticised for their actions while viewing cherry blossoms. Last month, MailOnline reported that several visitors to tourist areas in Changsha and Nanjing, in China, were seen shaking, climbing and even kicking the trees to get the perfect photograph. Rude: One woman climbed a cherry blossom tree in China wearing stilettos before seemingly getting herself stuck there The designs for the world's largest airport terminal by the late Zaha Hadid has been likened to a vagina by Chinese web users. Designs for Beijing Airport's Terminal 1 were originally unveiled in April 2015. However, when a photograph of a 3D model of the design was posted online this week by a prominent Chinese author, comments flooded in about how it resembled the female body part. Author Yang Jinlin posted a picture of a model of Zaha Hadid's design for Beijing Airport Terminal 1 (above) Chinese web users were quick to point out that it resembled a vagina and one even posted his version of the picture (above) Yang Jinlin posted the innocent image on his Weibo account, China's equivalent of Twitter, on April 11. Accompanying his post, he wrote: 'Heres a birds-eye view of the design for the new Beijing Airport. Do you know the name of the designer?' While some put forward the correct answer of Zaha Hadid, several were quick to ridicule the design by calling ti 'reproductive organ worship'. One user, who goes by Bai Li Xiong, wrote: 'Was it inspired by the form of the human body?' One Weibo user asked whether the new terminal will be used to lure the People's Daily building (right), which resembled a penis while it was being built (left) Another user, known as Da Hai Lan, questioned whether the design was intended to 'seduce the People's Daily building', referring to how the structure resembled a penis when it was being built. However, the design was also defended by some, including Han Yue Ba Ba, who commented: 'Obscene people see obscene things.' MailOnline Travel reported in April last year that the terminal designed by the British-Iraqi architect is set to be opened in 2018. An estimated 45 million passengers will pass through the 700,000 square metre building. The six tier space will be focused on the user experience and will feature elements of Chinese culture. MailOnline Travel has reached out to Zaha Hadid Architects for comment. Designs for the new Beijing Airport Terminal 1 were originally unveiled in April 2015 (above). It's set to be finished in 2018 The six tier space will be focused on the user experience and will feature elements of Chinese culture A Jet2 plane bound for Lanzarote from Newcastle this morning was forced to divert to Manchester when a fault with the landing gear was detected. Only minutes after take-off, the pilots noticed there was an issue, and the aircraft circled for around an hour before heading on to Manchester Airport. Jet2 flight LS545 took off just after 9.30am but the pilot took the decision to circle in the skies above before diverting to the north west. A Jet2 plane was forced to make a diversion to Manchester Airport this morning when a fault with the landing gear was detected This graphic shows how the Boeing 737 circled above Newcastle before heading to Manchester There were reports the plane began burning fuel as it flew at a constant altitude of 10,000ft. The unscheduled landing at around 11.20am did not affect other flights coming into or leaving Manchester. Airlive, a twitter account tracking UK and worldwide flights in real time, tweeted: 'Confirmation Jet2 LS545 safely landed at Manchester runway 05R. We suspect landing gear or flaps issue.' A Jet2.com spokesperson told MailOnline Travel: 'The captain took the decision to divert to Manchester as a precautionary measure due to an indicated fault with the landing gear. 'The aircraft has landed safely and passengers are currently being transferred onto a waiting aircraft. We apologise for the delay to the start of our customers' holidays but their safety is our absolute priority.' The unscheduled landing of the Jet2 plane at Manchester is not believed to have disrupted other flights WHY DOES FUEL HAVE TO BE 'BURNED' OR 'DUMPED?' Aircraft have two major types of weight limits: the maximum takeoff weight and the maximum structural landing weight, with the maximum structural landing weight almost always being the lower of the two. This allows an aircraft on a normal, routine flight to take off at the higher weight, consume fuel en route, and arrive at a lower weight. Fuel dumping operations are coordinated with air traffic control, and precautions are taken to keep other aircraft clear of such areas. Fuel dumping is usually accomplished at a high enough altitude where the fuel will dissipate before reaching the ground. Fuel leaves the aircraft through a specific point on each wing, usually closer to the wingtips than the engines. Advertisement On Sunday another passenger jet was forced to make an unscheduled landing at Manchester with a problem with the landing gear. Thomas Cook flight MT2152, with 219 passengers on board, set out of the north west airport at 1.10pm, but was forced to turn back to where it had set out from, landing at 4.05pm. After take-off, the pilots noticed a fault with the aircraft, and so to ensure safe landing, they were forced to burn fuel by circling in the air for more than two hours. It was supposed to arrive in Paphos, Cyprus at 8pm. Scott Walker, who was on the flight with his girlfriend told MailOnline Travel: 'There was something a bit odd about the take-off. A bit bumpy. 'Half an hour into the flight the pilot announced we would have to head back due to a possible hydraulic issue with the front landing gear. Bird strikes represent one of the most acute dangers to aircraft, but one European airport believes it has a solution a robotic falcon. Robird which is propelled by flapping wings - will take to the skies above Dusseldorf Weeze airport in Germany to help protect aircraft as they take off and land. The Dutch designers say that there are two species of Robird, a falcon, which can be used to chase off birds up to three kilograms and an eagle, which can see off any type of bird. Scroll down for video Bird strikes represent one of the most acute dangers to aircraft, but one European airport believes it has a solution a robotic falcon (pictured) Robird which is propelled by flapping wings - will take to the skies above Dusseldorf Weeze airport in Germany to help protect aircraft as they take off and land The Dutch designers say that there are two species of Robird, a falcon, which can be used to chase off birds up to three kilograms and an eagle, which can see off any type of bird A video made by the designers shows how the birds are controlled by a pilot on the ground. Flocks in the vicinity will be scared off by the combination of silhouette and wing movement. In essence, the manufacturers say, the birds really do believe that one of their natural enemies is eyeing them up, as the Robirds have the realistic appearance and weight of a real falcon and eagle. Birds have been known to grow accustomed to scare tactics at airports time will tell if they adapt to Robird. Bird strikes can bring down aircraft so millions are invested at airports around the world in an effort to keep them at a safe distance from runways. The birds are controlled by a pilot on the ground, with flocks in the vicinity scared off by the combination of silhouette and wing movement HOW BIRDS COST AIRPORTS MILLIONS Millions are invested in bird control at airports because the effect of a collision with an aircraft can be fatal. A common problem is that birds are smart - they quickly get used to existing bird control solutions, and simply fly around them. The high-tech Robird, however, convincingly mimics the flight of a real peregrine falcon. The flying behaviour of the Robird is so true to life that birds immediately believe that their natural enemy is present in the area. Because this approach exploits the birds instinctive fear of birds of prey, the fear factor should always remain. Advertisement 'Strikes are occasionally dangerous,' author and pilot Patrick Smith wrote in Cockpit Confidential. 'This is especially true when engines are involved, as we saw in 2009 when US Airways flight 1549 glided into the Hudson River after colliding with a flock of Canada geese.' In this incident Captain Sullenberger courageously landed an A320 in the Hudson River after the plane lost thrust in both engines following the bird strike, which occurred moments after take-off. 'Modern turbofans are resilient, but they don't take kindly to the ingestion of foreign objects, particularly those slamming into their rotating blades at high speeds,' said Smith. 'Birds don't clog an engine but can bend or fracture the internal blades, causing power loss.' Robird has been designed by Dutch researchers at the University of Twente, who then set up the company Clear Flight Solutions. In a release from the university, Nico Nijenhuis, master's student at the University of Twente and the CEO of Clear Flight Solutions said: 'Finally, this is a historic step for the Robird and our company. We already fly our Robirds and drones at many locations, and doing this at an airport for the first time is really significant. 'Schiphol Airport has been interested for many years now, but Dutch law makes it difficult to test there. The situation is easier in Germany, which is why we are going to Weeze. Clear Flight Solutions is benefiting from more relaxed rules at Weeze, as well as the relatively limited amount of air traffic there. Nico Nijenhuis, CEO of Clear Flight Solutions, shows off his robotic bird scarer Weeze was selected by Clear Flight Solutions for Robird as it was 'easier' to introduce in Germany than the Netherlands HOW DANGEROUS IS A BIRD STRIKE? 'Strikes are occasionally dangerous,' author and pilot Patrick Smith wrote in Cockpit Confidential. 'This is especially true when engines are involved, as we saw in 2009 when US Airways flight 1549 glided into the Hudson River after colliding with a flock of Canada geese.' In this incident Captain Sullenberger courageously landed an A320 in the Hudson River after the plane lost thrust in both engines following the bird strike, which occurred moments after take-off. 'Modern turbofans are resilient, but they don't take kindly to the ingestion of foreign objects, particularly those slamming into their rotating blades at high speeds,' said Smith. 'Birds don't clog an engine but can bend or fracture the internal blades, causing power loss.' Advertisement The airport handles around 2.5million passengers annually, most of whom come from the Netherlands, where Schiphol Airport handles 55million passengers annually. Clear Flight Solutions was recently the beneficiary of an investment of 1.6million from Cottonwood Euro Technology Fund. Clear Flight Solutions said this investment has enabled it to become a global leader in the field of bird management. We have grown tremendously and we now employ 15 people, said Nijenhuis. Dramatic footage has emerged of the moment the wheel of a Boeing 737 locked upon landing. The clip shows a Blue Air passenger plane from Bucharest approaching the runway at Birmingham Airport on Tuesday and then touching down - but it soon disappears in a cloud of smoke. The airport told MailOnline Travel that the wheel of the aircraft had 'locked' upon landing, while the carrier explained that the tyre subsequently overheated and had to be replaced. Dramatic footage has emerged of the moment the wheel of a Boeing 737 locked upon landing The clip shows a Blue Air passenger plane from Bucharest approaching the runway at Birmingham Airport on Tuesday and then touching down - but it soon disappears in a cloud of smoke The airport told MailOnline travel that the wheel of the aircraft had 'locked' upon landing, while the carrier explained that the tyre subsequently overheated and had to be replaced The video was shot by YouTuber Ryan Kirkpatrick, with the aircraft shown at the beginning making a perfectly normal approach on runway 33. However, a split second after the wheels hit the tarmac smoke billows out. It quickly engulfs the back of the plane. Kirkpatrick pulls back, showing that the amount of smoke that had been generated was visible from quite a distance. The plane eventually emerges and taxis to the gate. Shockingly, after landing, a FlyBe aircraft is also recorded touching down on the same runway - which Kirkpatrick claims was not checked for debris until two other flights were on the ground. Cameraman Kirkpatrick claims the runway was not checked for debris until two other flights were on the ground One pilot, who did not wish to be named, speculated that the Blue Air pilot may have hit the brakes too hard in a bid to show off and exit the runway mid-way down The pilot added that it's also possible that there was a technical fault with the anti-skid brakes, or that the tyres were badly worn Footage shows how the smoke completely concealed the aircraft. A spokesman for Blue Air said: 'The Blue Air aircraft that operated the flight from Bucharest to Birmingham on April 12 landed in normal conditions, all passengers arrived safely at the destination' Replying to a comment on his YouTube channel, which read 'surprised they didn't close the runway to check for debris', the cameraman said: 'I was surprised as well. Two more landed after this and then the runway was checked.' A spokesperson for Birmingham Airport told MailOnline: 'An aircraft belonging to Blue Air experienced a locked tyre upon landing at Birmingham Airport. 'As a result there was no debris. A precautionary runway inspection took place before any aircraft departed. No debris was reported.' A spokesman for Blue Air said that the tyre had overheated. He said: 'The Blue Air aircraft that operated the flight from Bucharest to Birmingham on April 12 landed in normal conditions, all passengers arrived safely at the destination. 'Immediately after landing, a tyre overheated causing an emanation of smoke when braking. 'The crew together with a technical team evaluated the situation and decided that the wheel needed to be replaced for safety reasons. 'Blue Air thus sent to Birmingham another aircraft to transport passengers on the return flight. 'They also brought the necessary wheel. Following tests after the wheel was changed, the aircraft returned to service and is back in normal operation.' Ask the Pilot author Patrick Smith said that a locked wheel is more of a 'hazardous issue' during take-off One pilot, who did not wish to be named, speculated that the drama may have been caused by the pilot showing off. He explained that there's a runway exit located half way down and the pilot may have hit the brakes too hard in a bid to slow down in time for it. Pilots, he said, often try to taxi off at this mid point to show those watching that they've made an impressive landing. He said the hard braking may have caused the wheel to lock. The pilot added that it's also possible that there was a technical fault with the anti-skid brakes, or that the tyres were badly worn. Dai Whittingham, the chief executive of the UK Flight Safety Committee, said: 'It would appear from the video that a main landing gear tyre failed under braking during the landing run. 'The aircraft are all capable of stopping in these circumstances and you can see that on this occasion there was no problem with taxing to the stand area. 'A blown tyre will reduce braking efficiency but there are safety margins built in to the performance calculations to cater for this. If the crew is aware beforehand that a tyre has failed then an additional margin will be added when calculating the required landing distance.' It's no secret she's got a body of dreams. And Ashley Greene stuck to what she knows as she paraded her lean legs in a casually chic ensemble while running errands in Beverly Hills, California, on Tuesday. The American actress and model looked in fine form as she was pictured sauntering around her local neighbourhood. Scroll down for video Summer chic: Ashley Greene paraded her lean legs in a pair of ripped denim hot pants which she styled with a striped T-shirt as she ran errands in Beverly Hills, California, on Tuesday Ashley, 29, nailed summer style in a pair of denim hot pants which were made from blotched denim and featured ripped ladders. Her lean legs looked in great shape and incredibly smooth in the thigh-skimming pants. The Twilight star styled them with a striped T-shirt which clung to her toned upper-body and was tucked into her high-placed waistband. Top style marks: The Twilight star styled the pants with a striped T-shirt which clung to her toned upper-body and was tucked into her high-placed waistband Ashley prioritised comfort when it came to her footwear, slipping on a pair of two-tone running trainers which featured brightly-coloured laces and a matching sole. She looked fresh-faced on her latest outing, allowing her skin a break from make-up, while her bronde locks were styled in a middle parting and left loose. The Florida-born star is best known for playing vampire Alice Cullen in the film adaptations of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight book series. Her latest screen role sees her portray Mia - ex-NSA contractor - in TV series Rogue which also stars Thandie Newton and Cole Hauser. Talking about her new turn recently, she said: 'It's different for me to be the new kid on the block. 'The show is basically...authority verses criminal activity - whether or not you would "go rogue" depending on your situation. 'I come in as Mia... she comes off as this victim but she might not be as innocent, as vulnerable as she says.' It's been eight long months since Geoffrey Edelsten and Gabi Grecko split. But the 72-year-old businessman insists he's happy being single and is talking to 'numerous' twentysomethings as he continues his quest to find love. Speaking from his Melbourne home, Geoffrey told Daily Mail Australia: 'I don't know why these 25 and 25-year-olds like me so much and want to be in a relationship with me? Scroll down for video On the hunt: Geoffrey Edelsten, 72, insists he's happy being single and is talking to 'numerous' twentysomethings as he continues his quest to find love 'It's amazing how many young women cross my path. I like intelligent, beautiful women... I'm really enjoying my freedom.' The former medic split with wife Gabi Grecko, 26, in September after a roller coaster ride which saw them split countless times before finally marrying in a Chinese registry office in Melbourne in June. That marriage, however, lasted all of three months as they continued to row. The way it was: The former medic split with wife Gabi Grecko, 26, in September after a roller coaster ride which saw them split countless times before finally marrying in a Chinese registry office in Melbourne in June Gabi was seen storming off the set of Celebrity Apprentice in tears insisting her beau's autobiography Enigma, which details the time he lost his virginity, too much to handle. Geoffrey has since been linked with 24-year-old American actress Rachel Currence whom he took to see Mariah Carey perform at Melbourne's Crown Casino on New Year's Eve. He denied the pair were a couple telling Daily Mail Australia: 'She's not my girlfriend. This is somebody I have a light relationship with. We are not involved romantically.' The ex: Gabi, who now lives in new York, moved on with 30-year-old Jason Skrobe after meeting the businessman in Miami For her part Gabi, who now lives in new York, moved on with 30-year-old Jason Skrobe after meeting the businessman in Miami. They dated for one month before Gabi announced two weeks ago she was in love with reality star Angelique 'Frenchy' Morgan, who lives in Miami. The former Celebrity Big Brother star and Geoffrey fell out yesterday after she fired off a counter attack at his comments that she was 'plump' and 'not his type.' The former model and exotic dancer, known as Frenchy, told Daily Mail Australia she prefers to date sexy young doll-like men. The 40-year-old said: Thank you Geoffrey for your blessing. But you are not my type neither, as I like and date sexy young doll like men. 'I don't usually date grandpa age men': Gabi Grecko's bisexual lover Angelique 'Frenchy' Morgan has hit back at Geoffrey after he claimed 'she's not my type' I actually never dated someone older than me. I like young sexy men and sexy young woman. He is probably offended that he got dumped for a younger woman sexier than him. Once you go Frenchy, you never go back. The former Celebrity Big Brother star - who confirmed her romance with the busty American model last month - also took a swipe at Geoffreys age. No longer an item: Gabi and Geoffrey tied the knot in Melbourne in June last year, but the former lovebirds announced their split months later I'm French and when it's come to cooking or f***ing I have no competition, God bless you Geoffrey, she added. I usually don't date men who are my grandpas age - not my style. Earlier on in the week, 72-year-old Geoffrey took a bitter swipe at the model's new lover, telling Daily Mail Australia that he doesnt find her attractive. 'In a romantic sense shes not my type, he explained. I dont find her attractive, shes plump and shes not very pretty. Although he 'certainly couldn't date' the busty blonde, he gave his blessing to her blossoming romance with Gabi, by saying: 'Each to her own. It's up to Gabi who she dates now.' 'It's not my style': The former Celebrity Big Brother star - who confirmed her romance with the busty American model last month - took a swipe at Geoffreys age She's a superstar of the public relations world with her own business, while being married to the son of a mining magnate and has a wardrobe that would put the cast of Gossip Girl to shame. But despite Roxy Jacenko seeming like the perfect candidate for a role on the upcoming reality series Real Housewives of Sydney, the 35-year-old says she's not interested. Speaking with OK! magazine in an article published on Thursday, the mother-of-two said she was offered the role on the show but she turned it down because 'girls can get really catty'. Scroll down for video 'It's not something I'd ever do': PR maven Roxy Jacenko says in an OK! interview published on Thursday she turned down role as Real Housewife of Sydney 'I've actually been asked to do it, but it's not something I'd ever do,' she says. 'I enjoy watching The Real Housewives Of Melbourne but girls can get really catty and I don't want to get involved with that.' She noted that though she's close friends with Lydia Schiavello who has been a mainstay on the Melbourne-based series from the beginning, it's not something she'd consider. Thanks but no thanks: The 35-year-old says despite her friendship with RHOM Lydia Schiavello, she wasn't interested in the cattiness of the cast Wardrobe envy: As the founder of mutli-million-dollar company Sweaty Betty PR, Roxy's wardrobe would put the cast of Gossip Girl to shame Roxy runs her own PR company Sweaty Betty, which she started when she was just 24 years old and has since expanded it into a multi-million-dollar business. Her entrepreneurial tendencies go beyond herself, having launched a children's headwear company called Pixie Bows which is named after and on behalf of her four-year-old daughter. Exceptionally career-driven, Roxy has drawn the line at two children, revealing that she initially never had plans to have a family. Expanding the business: Roxy also runs a children's headwear company Pixie Bows named after and on behalf of her four-year-old daughter Loved up: She is married to Oliver Curtis, a stockbroker and the son of mining magnate Nick Curtis 'I actually thought I'd never have children - I was so career-oriented - but Pixie showed me it could work,' she says. The blond beauty also has a son, two-year-old Hunter Curtis whom she shares with her stockbroker husband Oliver Curtis. Such is the commitment to her work that Roxy was back sending emails and updating Instagram less than an hour after giving birth. She found success on the hit series Gilmore Girls before she became one of Hollywood's leading funny ladies. But Melissa McCarthy has admitted she continues to feel lucky just to consider herself 'a working actor' despite her massive success. Speaking to News Corp Australia the 45-year-old revealed while getting her big break wasn't easy, she was determined to make a point to those who said she couldn't do it. Scroll down for video Feeling lucky: Melissa McCarthy has revealed that despite finding fame in Hollywood she continues to consider herself lucky she's 'a working actor' 'The odds of you really making your living at it seem so far-fetched,' Melissa told the publication. 'It's a lot of: "You're not right", "You'll never work". Everybody at every stage tells you all the reasons it can't work.' 'If you really want it you have to put your head down and go: I'll break right through that wall,' she concluded. Melissa believes it's this attitude that made her love playing Michelle Darnell in her new movie The Boss. 'If you really want it you have to put your head down': The 45-year-old said that while it wasn't easy to get her big break she was determined to prove those wrong who said she couldn't do it 'She's no tearing people down as much as she's saying: "If you want it and you want to work for it, you can get it."' Last month the Bridesmaids actress and husband of 10 years Ben Falcone, 42, were in Australia for the premiere of the film. Ben, an actor in his own right, also directed and wrote the comedy, in which his wife's character plays a business mogul who is determined to rebuild her empire after a stint in prison for insider trading. Loved up: Last month the Bridesmaids actress and husband of 10 years Ben Falcone (pictured) were in Australia for the premiere of their new film The Boss The couple - who shared two daughters together, eight-year-old Vivian and six-year-old Georgette - also worked together on a number of films together Bridesmaids, Tammy, The Heat and Spy. During their first trip Down Under Melissa and Ben spoke to Daily Mail Australia on the red carpet, saying the key to their successful marriage was having 'patience and kindness.' 'We have always been lucky that we have worked together for so long but we see the same thing and we have had the same goals,' the Spy star explained. Her husband agreed with the sentiment, saying mutual love and respect was also important to them. 'I think that how we met, writing and performing together, and we love each other and respect each other and we give each other lots of breaks,' Ben said before jokingly adding: 'I guess there is lots of secrets!' New role: In the comedy the Bridesmaids actress plays Michelle Darnell a business mogul who is determined to rebuild her empire after a stint in prison for insider trading She had her own taste of pageant royalty last year when she was crowned Miss Universe Australia. And now Monika Radulovic has weighed in on the debate around who should be the next king of England. Appearing on Channel Seven's Sunrise on Thursday, the 25-year-old model said she preferred Prince William, Duke Of Cambridge, to reign as opposed to his father Charles, Prince Of Wales. Scroll down for video Having her say: Monika Radulovic has weighed in on the debate around who should be the next king of England Royals: The Australian model says she would prefer Prince William, Duke Of Cambridge (L) to reign as opposed to his father Charles, Prince Of Wales (R) 'I personally think that William would make a great king and I'm not surprised that he is favoured over Charles,' the Australian beauty began during a segment on the Australian breakfast program. 'I think we've got more of a connection with him. We've watched him grow up and I was thinking about it and I thought to myself, "If Charles and William both had an Instagram, who would I like to follow?" and William wins hands down,' she continued. Guest Sunrise host Mike Amor responded: 'That's one way of looking at it. Can you imagine poor Charles waits all this time and then gets skipped over'. Meanwhile, Ryan Phelan, who was sitting on the panel alongside Monika and Angela Cox, took the opportunity to impersonate Prince Charles, saying 'How do I work this Snapchat?'. Panel discussion: Monika appeared on Channel Seven's Sunrise on Thursday morning alongside Ryan Phelan and Angela Cox Popularity: According to a Daily Mail survey conducted last year, 43 per cent believed Charles should ascend to the throne compared with an almost identical number having said he should stand aside in favour of Will Psychology graduate Monika has quite a social media presence herself, with over 114,000 fans following her on Instagram. Meanwhile, Prince Charles, 67, and Prince William, 33, are not particularly active on social media, though Kensington Palace's Twitter account attracts over 624,000 followers. The on-air discussion comes after a new survey conducted by OmniPoll for The Australian Women's Weekly, revealing many Australians favoured Prince George, two, to take the throne. The results of the survey revealed only 25 per cent of respondents preferred Prince Charles as King, while Prince William attracted 49 per cent of the votes and Prince George, 32 per cent. Meanwhile a survey conducted by Daily Mail in April last year revealed England was completely split on whether Charles should become king at all. Only 43 per cent believed he should ascend to the throne compared with an almost identical number having said he should stand aside in favour of his elder son Prince William. Brothers: Prince William pictured with his younger brother Prince Harry Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt may have to take a break. Ellie Kemper revealed she is expecting her first child while appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday night. The 35-year-old also revealed that she told Tina Fey about the baby before her own mother. Fallon responded to the big baby news by bending over and talking to Kemper's bump, saying; 'Hi, baby! Hi! I can't wait until you see the show. Your mommy's very funny and very talented.' Kemper responded by joking; 'In fact, you're the first one to bless him or her. And now I reveal it's actually just a disco ball.' Scroll down for video Big news: Ellie Kemper is expecting her first child, which she kept a secret from the cast and crew on her hit comedy by pretending she had a back injury Celebration: She enjoyed some Ben & Jerry's ice cream to celebrate the news Kemper is expecting the child with husband Michael Koman, who she married in 2012 Fallon then gave Kemper a pint of his Tonight Dough ice cream to celebrate the news, which she revealed she has been enjoying almost nightly since getting pregnant. 'Anyone who knows me, I love Ben & Jerry's. And I'm not just saying this because it's your show, Tonight Dough is my favorite flavor. I've been having a pint every other night,' said Kemper. She then joked; 'I will probably fall asleep while I eat this because it's like a Pavlovian response. I fal asleep eating this every night.' Fallon then informed her;'Every baby turns out to be a genius if you eat it while you're pregnant. We haven't proved that yet, but I think so." Kemper jokingly said, "We're going to in a few months!' She then explained having to tell Tina Fey about the pregnancy with filming Kimmy, and keeping it a secret from everyone else on set. 'We had a table read and I saw that my character was supposed to be on a roller coaster, actually, the Rip Ride Rockit, which you have been on,' said Kemper to Fallon. 'I was Googling pregnant women on roller coasters. Some women do. Some real thrill seekers. It was still very early on, but I felt like a pregnant lady on a roller coaster is not ideal. 'So, I had to tell my boss,Tina Fey. Maybe you've heard of her. She knows every secret. I told her before I told my mom. You can trust her and you cannot trust my mom. 'Because it was still so early on, we decided I would just tell people I have a back injury and that's why I can't ride the roller coaster. Makes sense. I could not act like I had a back injury. 'I'm an actress, presumably. Someone said, "Oh, what's wrong?" And words escaped me. 'I sprained my spine.' You can't do that! I'm a bad liar. 'I kept forgetting I had one, so I kept doing things someone with a back injury can't do. Like, they would yell "Lunch" and I'd leap up and cartwheel to catering. You're not supposed to do that. 'At the wrap party, I completely forgot. You saw me dance! I was dancing and my friend Ali came up and she was like, "How's your back?" and I was like, "It's OK. The doctor said dancing could be good." It was terrible. I think everyone could see right through it.' Big news! The 35-year-old made the announcement on Tuesday while taping an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Seen in New York in March) In this image released by Netflix, Kemper appears in a scene from the second season of, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," streaming on Netflix beginning Friday. (Eric Liebowitz/Netflix via AP) The actress, who came to national attention on The Office, is married to Michael Koman, who she wed in 2012. Meanwhile, after a successful first season 13 new episodes continue the tale of Kimmy, a plucky, wide-eyed believer who has taken up residence in New York City after her rescue, back at the series' start, from 15 years of imprisonment by an Indiana doomsday prophet. Kimmy continues her adventures with her flat-mate, a flamboyant musical-star wannabe (played by Tituss Burgess), a dotty landlady (Carol Kane) and a fallen socialite (Jane Krakowski), who, having been discarded by her wealthy husband, is comically struggling to keep up plush appearances. In the hands of 30 Rock creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, Kimmy Schmidt carries on the daffy ethos of their smashing first success, but with a welcome added element: its cockeyed optimism. Kemper recently explained to the Associated Press' Frazier Moore how she found her way into comedy through an improv company she joined while attending Princeton University 'It was my defining experience in college,' she says. 'Then, when I graduated, I felt like, 'I don't particularly know what it is I'm after, but I want to keep improvising because I love it so much.'' After a few years performing with New York improv groups, she landed a role in Los Angeles as Erin Hannon, the new Dunder Mifflin secretary on 'The Office.' They joined a number of famous faces from across the media world in Sunderland for the funeral of beloved Agony Aunt Denise Robertson, on Wednesday. And following the moving service for the This Morning stalwart, Eamonn Holmes and his wife Ruth Langsford raised a toast to their departed colleague as they headed back home to London. Taking to their Twitter accounts the TV favourites, both 56, shared a series of snaps of them toasting Denise, who died in March aged 83. Scroll down for video To Denise: Following the moving funeral service for Denise Robertson on Wednesday, Eamonn Holmes and his wife Ruth Langsford raised a toast to their departed colleague as they headed back home to London Obviously with Denise still on their minds as they sped back down the East Coast mainline, the pair decided to honour her memory once more with a small toast. In one photo Eamonn can be seen sat in his chair, with his black tie slightly askew, holding a glass aloft as he stares into the camera lens. Sharing the photo with his 904,000 followers his message was simple and succinct, as he captioned the picture: 'Heading Home after saying our goodbyes to Denise ...... Here's to you Mrs Robertson. #ThisMorning.' 'Here's to you Mrs Robertson!': Taking to their Twitter accounts the TV favourites, both 56, shared a series of snaps of them toasting Denise, who died earlier this month aged 83 'Sad day but happy memories': Obviously with Denise still on their minds as they sped back down the East Coast mainline, the pair decided to honour her memory once more with a small toast And sharing the same snap on her own account, Kate echoed the sentiment, sharing a heartfelt memory of Denise's thoughts on the couple's relationship. 'Denise always told me that I had a good man in @EamonnHolmes,' she wrote touchingly. 'And she was SO right....cheers Mrs Robertson x.' Obviously deeply moved by the funeral service, and the sad passing of her friend, Ruth tweeted a series of other pictures. One snap showed the presenter dressed all in black with a melanchollic smile on her face, as she raised a glass (mimicking her husband's toast). Raising a glass to her: Obviously deeply moved by the funeral service, and the sad passing of her friend, Ruth tweeted a series of pictures from the couple - showing them toasting their late colleague Captioning the picture, she wrote: 'On train back from Sunderland and raising a glass to our friend Denise....sad day but happy memories @itvthismorning.' And in another snap the husband and wife duo can be seen clinking their glasses, with Kate writing beside the photo: 'Raising a glass to Denise on the train from her beloved Sunderland.....here's to you lovely lady x @itvthismorning.' The duo had been two amongst numerous guests who turned out in force in Sunderland to bid a final farewell to the show stalwart, who had been with the program since its first episode in 1983. The pair joined the likes of Holy Willoughby and Phillip Schofield in the North East, as stars, family and friends gathered to say goodbye to Denise. The trailer for Cleverman, an upcoming ABC show about an Aboriginal Australian superhero, was released on Thursday - sparking a flurry of excitement on social media. The six-part series takes place in a dystopian near future where an ancient mythological species is locked up in a district called 'The Zone' - and their only hope is a self-interested young man, played by Hunter Page-Lochard, who is gifted with super-powers. Meanwhile, as Twitter erupted with praise for the trailer, Hunter - who is of Aboriginal and American descent - told The Sydney Morning Herald about his role in the hyped TV drama. Scroll down for video Rising star: Hunter Page-Lochard, the star of ABC's upcoming Aboriginal superhero drama Cleverman, said he enjoyed working with a mostly Indigenous cast, as Twitter reacted positively to the trailer unveiled this week As of Thursday afternoon, the two-minute trailer has attracted almost universal praise across Twitter - as fans took to social media to give their views on the 'history making' show. One Twitter user remarked that Cleverman seemed unconventional for the genre, comparing it positively to NBC's Heroes. 'That Cleverman show looks sweet,' wrote @whoissyntax. 'I like the face it hasn't gone down the superhero route. It looks more X-Men/Heroes than anything'. 'Looks sweet': One Twitter user, @whoissyntax, remarked that Cleverman seemed unconventional for the genre, comparing it positively to NBC's Heroes Positive response: Social media user @Legible_M tweeted, 'Not gonna lie, I got chills' after watching the trailer Leading man: Hunter, 22, previously said Cleverman takes a unique approach to portraying Aboriginal lives - admitting his new role is very different to 'the poor, troubled black kid who drinks' character he's played before Meanwhile, @Legible_M tweeted, 'Not gonna lie, I got chills' after watching the trailer. And @dannynitv branded it 'a history making series', before adding: 'Can't wait to see it!' Social media fan @KetanJ0 also reckoned the upcoming series 'looks amazing' - before praising the way Cleverman uses superhero tropes to reflect upon important socio-political issues. 'History making series': Another Twitter user had very high praise for Cleverman Powerful message: Several Twitter users praised how Cleverman uses superhero tropes to reflect upon important socio-political issues A new approach: Hunter - who is of Aboriginal and American descent - said, 'It was beautiful not to see the stereotypes' in Cleverman. He played an Indigenous teenager in 2013 drama Around the Block (pictured) At the series' premiere at Berlin Film Festival back in February, 22-year-old Hunter spoke of the 'fun' working alongside what the Guardian has claimed is an 80 per cent Indigenous cast. 'I like it because it doesn't seem to be thrown in your face, it's just how we are,' began Hunter - who has previously starred in Aussie films Spear and Around the Block, opposite Christina Ricci. 'The one thing I loved was seeing these characters just in normal society, living in a house where the daughter has a nice room,' he also told the Herald. 'It's not the state normally painted for our culture. Cast: Hunter (centre) is joined by an impressive line-up, including Iain Glen (left) and Rob Collins (right) Gift: While at first a self-interested young man, Hunter's character Koen West grows to understand his super-human gifts as The Cleverman and how he can use them to save his fellow citizens 'The number of times I've played the poor, troubled black kid who drinks! It was beautiful not to see the stereotypes in this and to see a platform for our Indigenous actors,' he concluded. Cleverman - which is set in Australia and influenced by Aboriginal mythology - also stars Game of Thrones actor Iain Dale and critically-acclaimed Aboriginal actress Deborah Mailman. The episodes are directed by Indigenous filmmaker Wayne Blair, who previously helmed successful musical comedy The Sapphires, starring ex-Australian Idol star Jessica Mauboy. Collaborators: Cleverman director Wayne Blair (left) and Hunter, who previously worked together on Aussie musical-comedy The Sapphires, posed for photographers at the Cleverman premiere at Berlin Film Festival International cast: Among the acclaimed ensemble of Cleverman is Scottish actor Iain Glen (pictured) Meanwhile, 54-year-old Iain told The Hollywood Reporter last year that Cleverman 'is unlike anything (he's) ever done, or ever read'. 'The world that they created is very eerie disturbing, very intriguing,' he continued. 'And there's a sci-fi element to it, which makes a nice change from riding horses and swinging swords.' Iain plays the role of enigmatic Jarrod Slade, a rich media mogul who at first claims to want to help the oppressed people in Australia - but may have his own agenda. Hero or villain? Iain plays the role of enigmatic Jarrod Slade, a rich media mogul who at first claims to want to help the oppressed people in Australia - but may have his own agenda Familiar face: Iain is known to audiences around the globe for his role as Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones 'We used Richard Branson as the blueprint,' he said of the character. 'He has the same easy style and charisma but also is definitely anti-government.' The ABC series is scheduled to begin airing on June 2 and has been described by the broadcaster as 'smart, sexy, thought-provoking and startlingly original'. Cleverman launches on ABC and ABC iview on June 2. American audiences can watch on SundanceTV on June 1. Spectacle: The trailer unveiled on Thursday promises a slick, big budget Australian superhero drama John Cusack has been granted a restraining order against a woman who has repeatedly shown up at his house uninvited during the past three months. Not only that but, the actor said in his court documents, Marieretno Subali threatened to perform a 'black candle spell on him,' which, according to her, would render him impotent. A judge granted the order to protect Cusack, 49, from the stalker, TMZ reported Wednesday, ordering Subali to stay 100 yards away from him and have no contact with him. Scroll down for video Took legal action: John Cusack, pictured in February, has been granted a restraining order against a woman who has shown up multiple times, uninvited, at his home in the past three months The restraining order was also granted to Cusack's brother and sister-in-law, who was the recipient of 'creepy emails' from the stalker. The High Fidelity and Con Air star described in court papers how he believes his stalker is monitoring his movements through social media. So far, though, when she has shown up at his home, he has not been home. For sale: The Hollywood actor also recently listed his gorgeous Malibu beachfront house for sale. The three-bedroom property, which he bought in 1999, is listed for $13.5 million Meanwhile, the Chicago native and brother of actress Joan Cusack has listed his beautiful beachfront house in Malibu, that he purchased in 1999, for sale for $13.5 million. The home went on the market late last month with the agents keeping the property and its owner a bit of a mystery. But Variety has confirmed that the Serendipity star is the owner of the three-bedroom, three-and--half-bath home which sits right on the sand. The Spanish-style property has a multi-level design with 4,660-square-feet of living space that features lots of glass doors and windows, a large living room and deck with expansive beach views. There's also a gourmet kitchen, a large master suite and a gym. As one of the main stars of The Real Housewives Of Melbourne, she's known to enjoy the finer things in life. But for the 45-year-old Australian reality star, a recent visit to Dubai has helped redefine luxury in her eyes. Speaking about her travels alongside her co-stars for Luxury Escapes magazine, the brunette described the city in the United Arab Emirates as 'Disneyland on steroids'. Scroll down for video She loves it: The Real Housewives Of Melbourne star Lydia Schiavello (centre) has described Dubai as 'Disneyland on steroids' - pictured with co-stars Pettifleur and Gina Liano during their recent visit to the city 'I describe Dubai as Disneyland on steroids. It can cater for almost any fantasy or luxury one can imagine!' the television personality said The wife of property investor Andrew Norbury revealed she visited an array of extravagant shopping complexes, and even bought a watch for her man. She was joined on the trip by co-stars Gina Liano, Jackie Gillies, Chyka Keebaugh, Janet Roach, Gamble Breaux, Pettifleur Berenger and Susie McLean, and the group of ladies no doubt enjoyed sightseeing in style. First class: The cast of the reality show stayed at five-star hotel at Atlantis The Palm Good times: Lydia pictured enjoying the culture of the city in the United Arab Emirates They sure don't have the hump: The Real Housewives Of Melbourne stars enjoyed a camel trek through the desert A well-travelled woman, Lydia has no doubt stayed at some of the most luxurious hotels, but it seems a stay at Dubai's Atlantis The Palm has exceeded the standards of previous experiences. 'It is the biggest non-casino hotel Ive ever been to,' she gushed about the five-star hotel. As well as visiting Dubai Mall, Mall of Emirates, Jumeirah Plaza and Al Ghurair Centre, Lydia and the other ladies enjoyed browsing at the traditional Souks, the market experience giving them an authentic taste of the culture. She likes what she sees: 'I describe Dubai as Disneyland on steroids. It can cater for almost any fantasy or luxury one can imagine!' the television personality said Group activities: Lydia revealed the ladies visited an array of extravagant shopping complexes Thrilled with the experience: Opening up about her Dubai travels on her own website , Lydia said: 'Dubai is about adventure, amazing cuisine, culture and of course, shopping Meanwhile, also opening up about her Dubai travels on her own website, Lydia said: 'Dubai is about adventure, amazing cuisine, culture and of course, shopping. 'And in Dubai, no one does luxury better than them'. She added: 'There is no question, Dubai is all about luxury, extravagance and glamour. It has a real wow factor to it and is absolutely one of my favourite places to travel to'. The stunning RHOM castmates jetted off to Dubai at the end of last year to shoot the popular reality TV series. Fine dining: The eight reality stars seen enjoying a meal at underwater restaurant Ossiano Alden Ehrenreich is now touted as the favorite to play young Han Solo in Star Wars spinoff, according to Deadline. Previously some big names had been circulating around the young Han Solo Star Wars spinoff. Early on many insiders were touting that Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort and Dave Franco were in the running to play the young version of the interstellar gunslinger made famous by Harrison Ford. However, a report in March claimed the list has narrowed down to a handful of very lucky and lesser known young actors. Scroll down for video Fresh faces: Disney has shortlisted: Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!), Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Jack Reynor (Transformers: Age of Extinction) The Hollywood Reporter claimed last month Disney shortlisted Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Alden (Hail, Caesar!), Jack Reynor (Transformers: Age of Extinction), and Emory Cohen (Brooklyn). Disney declined to comment on the casting at the time of THR's report. The news comes after Disney announced a fifth Indiana Jones film starring Harrison Ford, and directed by Steven Spielberg, is set for release in 2019. Previously Miles, 28, Ansel, 21, and Franco, 30, were rumoured to be the frontrunners in the race. See Star Wars updates as Disney narrows Han Solo casting shortlist for Star Wars spinoff The force was weak with them? Early on many insiders were touting that Miles Teller and Ansel Elgort were in the running to play the young version of the interstellar gunslinger made famous by Harrison Ford Miles recently appeared in the critically panned reboot Fantastic Four, as well as dystopian action saga Divergent. Ansel starred alongside Miles in the adaptation of Veronica Roth's series, also appearing in the drama Men, Women & Children and the upcoming Billionaire Boys Club. Dave - younger brother of actor James Franco - has recently appeared in comedies Neighbors and Unfinished Business, and is working on Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. Gritty: Harrison Ford reprised his role as Han in Star Wars: The Force Awakens He's a force to be reckoned with: Ford certainly leaves some big shoes to fill Scott Eastwood of The Longest Ride and the upcoming Suicide Squad - and son of Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood - is another vying for the role. Logan Lerman, 23, appeared in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and alongside Brad Pitt and Jon Bernthal in Fury before setting his sights on the role of Han Solo. Reportedly, the new Han Solo could have a small cameo in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is set to take place between Episode III and Episode IV. If the new Han does have a cameo in Rogue One, he would make his debut as the film hits theaters December 16, 2016. She was on the red carpet with bona fide Hollywood heavyweights Jennifer Aniston and Julia Roberts. But Shay Mitchell certainly held her own against her fabulous co-stars as she rocked up to the premiere of Mother's Day at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday in a striking outfit. The 29-year-old actress looked truly sensational as she walked the red carpet at the late afternoon movie launch. Scroll down for video Pretty Little Liar done good! Shay Mitchell arrived at the premiere of Mother's Day at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday in a striking outfit She wowed in a pale nude gown with a perilously plunging neckline, revealing a sizeable amount of her ample and very eye-catching cleavage. The floor-length dress was complete with a wrapover-style skirt, the split on the side reaching to her upper thigh and allowing Shay to flaunt her slim, silky pins with ease. Tied neatly at her tiny waistline, the gorgeous garment only amplified her toned hourglass frame, while the feminine pale shade was a perfect match for her warm colouring. Glitzy embellishments across the nearly sheer fabric upped the glamour of the racy item for the A-list event, and she tied it all together with a pair of shiny strappy sandals and a smattering of bling-tastic jewellery. Stunning: The 29-year-old actress wowed in a pale nude gown with a perilously plunging neckline, revealing a sizeable amount of her ample and very eye-catching cleavage She's got some front! The Pretty Little Liars appeared to be going without a bra in her stylish blush-coloured plunging gown The Pretty Little Liars actress stunned as she flaunted her bare decolletage, her brunette mane teased into a half-up do, long tendrils of waves framing her face and tickling her collarbone. Canadian star Shay looked in fantastic spirits as she chatted to press on the red carpet before taking her moment in the spotlight, easily competing with the likes of Jennifer and Julia. In Mother's Day, Jennifer and Julia appear alongisde Kate Hudson, Jason Sudeikis, Jack Whitehall, Timothy Olyphant and a litany of other big names. The movie follows a bunch of different mothers and their intersecting stories with Jennifer playing a single mom of two who learns her ex-husband (Olyphant) has married his much younger girlfriend, played by Shay. Leggy display: She also showcased her perfect pins thanks to the gown's wrapover-style skirt Having fun! The actress, who appears in the ensemble film, gave it her all during an interview on the red carpet Meanwhile, Shay's run in Pretty Little Liars as Emily Fields, an openly-gay character, is coming to an end soon after seven seasons. She appears in the hit teen drama series alongside Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale and Troian Bellisario, and has since its inception in 2010. 'Out of all the girls on Pretty Little Liars, I was the greenest,' she said in an interview with Flare magazine, on how the role pushed her into the limelight. 'It was really great that people were willing to take a chance on me.' Despite this, Shay said she is ready to walk away, as she added: 'Its been great, getting to exhaust all the different things a character can do. Now its time for me to find another one.' A-list talent: Jennifer Aniston is one of the leading stars of the new film, and she looked incredible in a tiny tuxedo-style playsuit and heels All white: Julia Roberts, another star of the film, looked lovely in a crisp white jacket and shorts In the interview, the beautiful star also confessed to editing her images posted on Instagram, along with the likes of many other famous faces. 'Sure, I'm guilty of taking out a blemish here and there. And I'm also not afraid to tell people, ''Oh, to get that one good photo, I took 5000''. These photos are going to be out there forever.' She said this is something young girls in particular need to remember, especially when it comes to suggestive snaps. Shay said while people like Kim Kardashian may post raunchy snaps that does not mean younger girls should follow suit. 'Kim is a grown woman, and she can make her own decisions. I'm not about to judge her for her nude selfie. 'What I do have a problem with is young girls doing it for attention or to get more likes. They don't realize it's going to be on the Internet for all time.' Gwyneth Paltrow is often imparting her nutritional advice with the world but her latest admission may be her most shocking yet. The health-conscious actress revealed she would rather smoke crack than eat spray cheese during a Q&A on her Goop website before heading out to sign copies of her new cookbook in New York City on Wednesday evening. Gwyneth, 43, shimmered in metallic co-ords for her appearance at Williams-Sonoma in celebration of the release of her latest kitchen tome, entitled It's All Easy. Scroll down for video Shining bright: Gwyneth Paltrow shimmered in metallic co-ords at a cookbook signing event in New York City on Wednesday after admitting she'd rather smoke crack than eat spray cheese She was the star of the low-key evening in her simple but chic ensemble, comprising shimmering crepe culottes and a matching long-sleeved top which featured a slashed neckline and elasticated sleeves. The Avengers star heightened her fine form with a pair of silver strap stilettos while keeping her accessories to a minimum - she sported a silver pendant and a matching band ring on her little finger. She extended her colour theme to her make-up with light bronze tones highlighting her Hollywood beauty. Metallic miss: Gwyneth, 43, was the star of the event at the Williams-Sonoma store in her simple but chic ensemble, comprising shimmering crepe culottes and a matching long-sleeved top which featured a slashed neckline and elasticated sleeves Standing tall: The Avengers star heightened her fine form with a pair of silver strap stilettos while keeping her accessories to a minimum - she sported a silver pendant and a matching band ring on her little finger Gwyneth's outing came days after she unashamedly told her fans that she would take crack over spray cheese. She first made the admission that she was more comfortable with the idea of sampling the Class A drug than eating artificially-made 'canned cheese' when appearing on Jonathan Ross' chat show in 2012 and Goop's editorial director was keen to know if that was the case in the latest grilling session. Elise Loehnen asked: 'Would you still rather smoke crack than eat cheese out of a can?' It's All Easy: The mother-of-two extended her colour theme to her make-up with light bronze tones highlighting her Hollywood beauty Gwyneth replied: 'Hell yes. You know, crack might be extreme, but spray cheese is not my kind of party.' She was also promoting the new release on CBS This Morning on Wednesday - during which she was quizzed about her busy life as an actress, author, entrepreneur and a mother. On the subject of how much time she devotes to being a businesswoman, she said: 'Right now it's about 100 percent, 100 percent of my time. You know at Goop.com, we are growing very quickly and we are launching new product, both digital and physical product, and we have an ad sales business that is growing pretty quickly and content. So we have a lot going on.' As host Charlie Rose asked her if she would be able to squeeze in more acting to her busy schedule, the mother-of-two said it would be tough to film a project that would take months of commitment. She said she has looked at doing smaller, more interesting products but explained: 'Right now at this particular juncture it's hard. We are growing, as I said, very quickly and I need to concentrate on scaling the business but I'll go back to it. I'm still an artist in my heart.' She's one of the most iconic models in the industry and Miranda Kerr showed off her incredible good looks when she attended a drinks launch in Tokyo on Wednesday night. The 32-year-old showed off her endless legs as she worked her magic at Japanese beverage giant enterprise Suntory's KURO (Black Ooo-long Tea) campaign. Held at a community center located downtown in Tokyo, Japan, the former Victoria's Secret model bit on a piece of croquette; a French style fried mash potato mixed up with vegetable and meat. Scroll down for video Showstopper: Miranda Kerr showed off her incredible good looks when she attended Japanese beverage giant enterprise Suntory's KURO (Black Ooo-long Tea) campaign launch in Tokyo on Wednesday night All eyes were on Miranda as she posed for photographers at the event, wearing her monochrome outfit which had a floral skirt section. With frilly sleeves and a contrasting top half, the Australian model gave a wave to the crowds as she made quite the entrance. She wore her recently bobbed locks up in a slicked back do and added a pop of colour to her ensemble with a slick of ruby red lipstick. Stunner: All eyes were on Miranda as she posed for photographers at the event, wearing her monochrome outfit which had a floral skirt section Adding some extra inches to her statuesque figure, she slipped on a pair of sky high stilettos in black which added some class. Later in the day, Miranda posted a super cute video of herself on Instagram as she received a present from the drinks company behind the scenes. She captioned the clip with the words: 'Thank you #Suntory #Kuro for my mini birthday bento box! It's so cute.' Natural beauty: She wore her recently bobbed locks up in a slicked back do and added a pop of colour to her ensemble with a slick of ruby red lipstick The Australian beauty is visiting Japan purely for the promotion of Suntory's Kuro Oolong Tea. Miranda is mother to five-year-old Flynn, who she shares with ex-husband actor Orlando Bloom, 39. She is now dating Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, 25, while Orlando is enjoying a romance with pop star Katy Perry, 31. They found love as dancing partners on Strictly Come Dancing back in 2013. And three years on, Rachel Riley and dancer beau Pasha Kovalev look as strong as ever as they headed for a day of shopping in London on Monday. The pretty Countdown presenter, 30, looked lovely in a pale pink turtleneck top, which she teamed with a chic tweed coat. Scroll down for video Keep dancing: Strictly Come Dancing couple Rachel Riley and dancer beau Pasha Kovalev look as strong as ever as they headed for a day of shopping in London on Monday Holding hands with her Russian beau, 36, as she meandered down the street, the Oxford University graduate showcased her toned pins in a pair of black skinny jeans. Rachel added height to her 5ft 7in frame with a pair of nude patent heels, and toted her belongings in a small satchel shoulder bag. Keeping her make-up to a bare minimum, the pretty blonde wore her locks scraped back her face in a low-key bum. Pasha kept up appearances for the couple's daytime outing, looking smart in a tailored navy wool jacket and indigo jeans. Cute couple: The pretty Countdown presenter, 30, looked lovely in a pale pink turtleneck top, which she teamed with a chic tweed coat Happier than ever: Holding hands with her Russian beau, 36, as she meandered down the street, the Oxford University graduate showcased her toned pins in a pair of black skinny jeans In an interview with the Daily Mail in March, the Essex native admitted she was learning Russian to help her communicate with Pasha's family better. Rachel said: 'His mum doesn't speak English, and his brother isn't that confident speaking it - the first time I met them alI couldn't understand a word. It's a bit unnerving. 'But now when he Skypes his mother in Siberia I can say a few words, or work out what they're talking about.' Rachel was married to her university sweetheart Jamie Gilbert when she was partnered alongside Pasha on Strictly Come Dancing in late 2013. Dancing duo: Rachel was married to her university sweetheart Jamie Gilbert when she was partnered alongside Pasha on Strictly Come Dancing in late 2013 Speaking of her decision to end her union with Jamie, she admitted: 'I don't feel I've failed, no. It's not nice splitting up with somebody. It never is. 'There are two families that have come together as one - I was, am, very close to his family - but it was the right thing to do.' The former Channel 5 beauty has kept herself busy this year with six part ITV series, It's Not Rocket Science. Presenting alongside Ben Miller and Romesh Ranganathan, the maths whizz showed audiences what what the future would look like with a heap of gadgets. Not meant to be: Speaking of her decision to end her union with Jamie (pictured together in 2010), she admitted: 'I don't feel I've failed, no. It's not nice splitting up with somebody. It never is.' They fell head-over-heels for each during a lengthy email exchange. And it appears Teresa Palmer and Mark Webbers love story is still going strong, with the cute couple putting on a very amorous display at the Green Room premiere on Wednesday evening. The director couldn't keep his hands off his gorgeous Australian wife as they canoodled at the star-studded red carpet event, held in Los Angeles. Scroll down for video Can't keep his hands to himself! Mark Webber and Teresa Palmer packed on the PDA at the Green Room premiere in Los Angeles on Wednesday Teresa cut a casual figure in a white crepe top teamed with matching trousers and black heels. She styled her luscious blonde locks into a messy ponytail, while keeping her makeup neat and tidy. The I am Number Four actress accessorised the outfit with two gold chains around her neck and studded earrings to give her crisp white outfit a pop of colour. Meanwhile, her hubby looked relaxed in a charcoal T-shirt teamed with black jeans and completed his off-duty look with a tan watch. Smitten: Mark wrapped his muscular arms around his wife shoulders as they looked loved-up as ever Mark revealed in the June issue of Marie Claire Australia that he fell in love with the stunning Australian actress long before the couple even laid eyes on each other. After meeting on Twitter, when Teresa got in touch about a movie the 34-year-old had directed, the pair soon began writing letters to each other over email, while on opposite sides of the US. 'We made a pact that we weren't going to speak until we met each other in person [back in LA],' Mark explained. 'So for 40 days all we did was write.' Admitting that in less than five letters in he knew he was in love, the actor/director told her so via email. While 29-year-old Teresa wanted to take it slow with Mark, at the time a single dad to six-year-old Isaac from a previous relationship, she admits it was the perfect start to their romance. Email exchange: The happy couple met over Twitter 'I wish I could tell all my single girlfriends to fall in love over email,' she told the magazine. 'Not only are you forced to look at yourself, but you really get to know a person without physicality or sex getting in the way.' The couple began dating in late 2012, which Mark described as an 'out of body experience' and that he could 'barely speak' when he first laid eyes on her. The handsome bearded actor confessed to the magazine he thought he'd be a single dad the rest of his life, imagining it would be too much for a woman to take on. But similarities in the pair's upbringing brought them very close, very fast, and Teresa says seeing Mark in his role as a dad was the moment she knew he was the one. The couple married in December that year just a few months before their son Bodhi Rain was born. The young family celebrated Bodhi's second birthday in February this year with a party surrounding by friends and family. Rhian Sugden is putting her sext scandal with Vernon Kay behind her as she heads back to work. The Page 3 model shared a behind the scenes snap as she prepped for a lingerie shoot in Krakow, Poland on Thursday, The blonde posed in nothing but a pair of red lace knickers as the finishing touches to her barely-there look were completed. Scroll down for video Working nine to five: Rhian Sugden is putting her sext scandal with Vernon Kay behind her as she heads back to work, sharing a behind the scenes look at her lingerie shoot on Instagram on Thursday Rhian covers her ample assets with one hand as she snaps the selfie in the mirror. Meanwhile an assistant is seen adjusting the model's underwear, while it looks like she has already had her stint in the hair and makeup chair as she rocks voluminous curls and glam eyeliner. 'Tweaked #obsessivelingerie #poland #bts,' Rhian captioned the shot. She also shared a selfie with fiance Oliver Mellor, as she joked it was 'bring the Boyf to work day!' Her man: The Page 3 model also shared a selfie with her fiance Oliver Mellor, as she joked to her followers that it was 'bring the Boyf to work day!' Rhian has been concentrating on work and her relationship with Oliver amid the latest drama between her and TV star Vernon Kay. Meanwhile the Page 3 model is expected to reveal her steamy affair with a Hollywood A-lister who could make Vernon look 'Z-list' in her new tell-all book. According to The Sunday People, the woman behind the DJ's sex text scandal - who insists she's not a homewrecker is 'not ashamed of her past and wants to tell her story'. Model: Rhian has been concentrating on work and her relationship with Oliver amid the latest drama between her and TV star Vernon Kay A source told the newspaper: 'Vernon is a Z-lister compared to the Hollywood star she did hook up with and is prepared to write about in her book.' Rhian is currently engaged to actor Oliver, though the Hollywood hook up has been described as a 'known as a ladies' man' who is 'not someone fans would immediately think of.' The insider continued: 'Rhian is now happy with Oliver and they are getting married, but she's not ashamed of her past and wants to tell her story.' The blonde bombshell returned to public consciousness last month when it was claimed that television personality Vernon had been sending her more messages. Secrets to tell: The model is expected to reveal her steamy affair with a Hollywood A-lister who could make Vernon look 'Z-list' in her new tell-all book It appeared that the pair had reignited the tryst that threatened to end his marriage to Strictly Come Dancing host Tess Daly in 2009. Rhian and Vernon's daily contact came to light in 2010 after he pursued her on Twitter, text and email for four months. Rhian claims that she exchanged hundreds of messages with Kay and said he also tried to set up a secret liaison with her in a hotel room. Scandal: The blonde bombshell returned to public consciousness last month when it was claimed that television personality Vernon had been sending her more messages She revealed the pair had a secret code for sex acts that they used in their lewd exchanges when they first met in 2010, including the words 'gravy' and 'fountain'. After the latest scandal, Rhian was keen to set the record straight for trolls who called her a 'homewrecker'. Giving her side of the story, the topless model wrote on Instagram: 'I am NOT a home wrecker, Porn star, escort, gold digger OR Stripper! 'I get paid to model and have done for 10 years. I own two cats and live a two up two down, minding my own business!' He plays Iron Man, but there's one person for whom he's a big softie. Robert Downey Jr shared a rare picture of his 17-month-old daughter Avri, during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday night. The 51-year-old actor proudly showed the picture of his tot - who was dressed up in a romper clutching his giant hand from his Avengers armor. Scroll down for video Proud papa: Robert Downey Jr shared a rare picture of his 17-month-old daughter Avri, during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday night 'Clearly, she's made a choice,' he said, indicting she's more team Iron Man than team Captain America. 'She is definitely team Iron Man. 'I gave it [the costume] to her and said, "Here's a shield and here's a gauntlet. It's up to you. 'And she just naturally gravitated towards [it],' he boasted. Team Iron Man: The 51-year-old actor proudly showed the picture of his tot - who was dressed up in a romper clutching his giant hand from his Avengers armour Mini-me: 'Clearly, she's made a choice,' he told host Jimmy Kimmel, indicting she's more team Iron Man than team Captain America Looking sartorially on point in a charcoal pin stripe suit with black shirt and grey tie, the Sherlock Holmes star clearly impressed host Jimmy with his paternal instincts. 'You've got an Iron Baby there', Jimmy said, adding: 'That is adorable.' 'She is something else,' Robert proudly agreed. Smart: The Sherlock Holmes star looked sartorially on point in a charcoal pin stripe suit with black shirt and grey tie Jimmy joked: 'I know we're almost the same age, but is there any chance you would adopt me Because I would love to be a part of the Downey Jr. family.' The star was later joined by Captain America: Civil War's Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle and Emily VanCamp on the couch. 'Would it be fair to say that you take being Iron Man very seriously?' Comeback kid: He's made his mark playing comic book character Tony Stark, as he made his way from the badboy of Hollywood to one of the most respected actors of his generation Thumbs up: The Kiss Kiss Bang Bang actor also gave his seal of approval to new Spider-Man Tom Holland 'I don't take myself too seriously', Robert replied, explaining: 'I take that character, Tony Stark, very seriously.' The Kiss Kiss Bang Bang actor also gave his seal of approval to new Spider-Man Tom Holland. Speaking of the 19-year-old Brit who is being revealed in the role for the first time in the new Captain America film, Robert said: 'He is fantastic...I like him.' He's made his mark playing comic book character Tony Stark, as he made his way from the badboy of Hollywood to one of the most respected actors of his generation. Reformed man: After making headlines for substance abuse and legal troubles, Robert has been happily married to wife Susan for eleven years this August - pictured on Wednesday After making headlines for substance abuse and legal troubles, Robert has been happily married to wife Susan for eleven years this August. As well as Avri, they have four-year-old son Exton, and Robert is father to 22-year-old son Indio from his first marriage. His co-stars let slip that he celebrated his 50th birthday in true movie star fashion last year. During a playful quiz on the show, it was revealed that bands Duran Duran and Steely Dan both played live at the private party for family and friends. Captain America: Civil War is in theaters May 6. The actor, who is now starring on the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, faces serious jail time of convicted. TMZ reports Pretty Little Liars star Brandon Jones was arrested and has now been charged for allegedly threatening his neighbour with a gun. The 27-year-old star allegedly got into an argument with a male neighbour and during the fight brought out a firearm and pointed it at the man. Scroll down for video Legal tourble: Pretty Little Liars star Brandon Jones (oictured 2014) was arrested and has now been charged for allegedly threatening his neighbour with a gun The star did not fire the weapon or strike the man with it, police sources claim. Gun Involved: The 27-year-old star (pictured May) allegedly got into an argument with a male neighbour and during the fight brought out a firearm and pointed it at the man According to the website the fight occurred on March 24 and while the star was arrested, the District Attorney has now moved forward with a felony charge against the actor. The actor - who also started on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - has been charged with one felony, assault with a firearm as pointing a gun at someone constitutes an assault. The star was also charged with two misdemeanors, the first of which is exhibiting a deadly weapon. While the second misdemeanor, exhibiting a concealable firearm in public, is related to what appears to be an other incident back in happened in October 2015, according to TMZ. The actor faces up to five and half years in prison if convicted. Brandon's rep confirmed the actor was charged but said he felt he and his girlfriend were under threat. The rep said they were confident Brandon will be exonerated: 'It is our understanding that the gun in Mr. Jones' possession was fully legal and registered. 'He was on his girlfriend's private property, and that he and his girlfriend felt that they were under threat in a dispute with neighbours.' Serious charges: The actor - who starred in Pretty Little Liars - has been charged with one felony, assault with a firearm, as well as two misdemeanors They revealed in January they had sadly parted ways after three years of marriage. But it seems Nick Knowles, 53, could have reunited with his estranged wife Jessica Rose Moor since the glamorous blonde was the DIY SOS presenter's date to the Golden Years premiere in central London on Thursday night. The 28-year-old beauty looked incredible in a plunging salmon gown as she showed her support for beaming Nick, who has penned and executive produced the comedy. Scroll down for video Reunited: Nick Knowles and Jessica Rose Moor sparked speculation they had reunited by attending the Golden Years premiere in London together on Thursday evening The pair - who have 20-month-old son Edwin together - certainly looked happy together, grinning from ear-to-ear as they celebrated the upcoming release of the John Miller directed flick. Nick was looking dapper in a dark suit with quirky silver embellished shoes, while Jessica showed off her slim figure in her low-cut gown featuring ruching at the waist. This marks the first time the pair - who tied the knot in Rome in September 2012 - have been seen together since announcing their separation. Beaming: TV favourite Nick was toasting the upcoming release of OAP comedy Golden Years, which he wrote and executive produced Show of support: Jessica, 28, turned up to support the father of her 20-month-old son Edwin, despite the pair recently announcing they had called time on their marriage Dapper chaps: DIY SOS star Nick posed with director John Miller at the star-studded premiere Love story: The couple first met when Jessica's parents asked Nick to help kick-start her career in 2009, and romance blossomed despite their 25 year age gap. They welcomed son Edwin (pictured) in 2014 and relocated to Spain as a family Amicable split: Nick and Jessica released a statement reading, 'It is with sadness that we announce we are separating. Our focus continues to be the happiness of our son Eddie' They released a statement reading: 'It is with sadness that we announce we are separating. Our focus continues to be the happiness of our son Eddie.' The couple first met when Jessica's parents asked Nick to help kick-start her career in 2009, and romance blossomed despite their 25 year age gap. Nick - who also has Nick three grown-up children, Charles, TJ and Tuesday with his ex-wife - and Jessica had relocated to Spain in 2014 in an attempt to maintain a healthier lifestyle following the TV host's health scare. Stricly loved-up: Aljaz Skoranec and Janette Manrara were also attending the Golden Years premiere ahead of the film's April 29 release Casual look: Strictly Come Dancing ballroom professional Janette was rocking a crop top and skinny jeans Runs in the family: Veteran actress Virginia McKenna leads an all-star British cast, including her granddaughter Lily Travers Making a comeback: Nick convinced Born Free star Virginia, 84, to return to the silver screen for his project Fun-filled comedy: The film - also starring Simon Callow - focuses on a retired couple who turn to a life of crime after losing their pensions Night out: BGT violinist Lettice Rowbotham (R) was enjoying an evening at the VIP screening MailOnline has contacted Nick's representatives for comment. The pair were joined by a host of stars at the Golden Years premiere ahead of the film's April 29 release. All profits from the film will go to Virginia McKennas charity The Born Free Foundation in order to help protect endangered species. Floral fancy: Former Hollyoaks actress Ali Bastian was looking lovely in a patterned dress Date night: Phil Davis was joined by his wife Eve Matheson as he celebrated the film's release All together now: Simon Callow, Lily Travers, Virginia McKenna, Phil Davis, Ellen Thomas, Brad Moore, Richard Cambridge and Nick posed on the red carpet Stepping out: The One Show presenter Matt Baker was joined by his wife Nicola Mooney Fifty years since the iconic Born Free film about Elsa the lioness, Knowles convinced veteran actress Virginia, 84, to make a return to the film industry. She joins a star-studded cast including Sue Johnston (The Royle Family), Simon Callow (Four Weddings and a Funeral) and Bernard Hill (Lord Of The Rings) in the comedy about a retired couple who turn to a life of crime after losing their pensions. Enlisting the help their friends, the pair embark on a mission to win back what is rightfully theirs - by robbing banks. Nick commented: 'I think everyone will see their favourite mischievous uncle, granny or grandad in this movie. Its a great cast and a great film; I know, I wrote it!' Hitting the town: Ex On The Beach's Naomi Hedman and Megan Rees put in an appearance at the after-party Joint appearance: Nick headed on to the after-party with Jessica, lacing an arm around her waist Just friends? The couple - who parted ways on good terms - refrained from holding hands She donned a recycled vinyl dress to promote the Junk Kouture awards last year. But Vogue Williams, 30, opted for a less dramatic look to attend the ceremony at Dublin's 3Arena on Thursday, slipping into a white midi gown. Putting her impeccably toned frame on display, the figure-hugging frock featured a risque cut out across the abdomen whilst a high neckline ensured her outfit remained demure. Looking all white! Putting her impeccably toned frame on display in figure-hugging frock, Vogue Williams 30, dazzled as she headed to the Junk Kouture competition in Dublin's 3Arena on Thursday Clinging to her slender curves, the dress flared out just below the knee, revealing a hint of her tanned and toned pins which were elongated by a pair of nude heels. Wearing her blonde locks in loose waves, she styled her glossy tresses in a side parting, framing her heart shaped face. Allowing her natural beauty to shine through, she wore minimal make-up on the evening, merely accentuating her stunning features with a sweep of mascara lining her hazel eyes and a slick of nude gloss on her plump pout. Abs-outely fabulous! She donned a recycled vinyl dress to promote the contest last year. But Vogue kept it more casual this time around, putting her impeccably toned frame on display in the cream gown She donned a recycled vinyl dress to promote the Junk Kouture awards last year. But Vogue Williams, 30, opted for a less dramatic look to attend the ceremony at Dublin's 3Arena on Thursday Beaming broadly at the event, the star seemed in good spirits as she cosied up to Louis Walsh and presenter Glenda Gilson. Clad in a lacy red mini dress, Glinda put on a leggy display in her thigh-skimming ensemble, which also flashed a hint of her toned stomach. Donning a navy velvet jacket, Louis also looked dapper as he prepared to judge the competition, which showcases recycled clothing created by young designers. Three's company: Beaming broadly at the event, Vogue seemed in good spirits as she cosied up to her fellow Irish stars, The X Factor's Louis Walsh and presenter Glenda Gilson Dynamic duo: Clad in a lacy red mini dress, Glinda put on a leggy display in her thigh-skimming ensemble, which also flashed a hint of her toned stomach whilst Louis looked dapper in a navy blazer Having judged the quirky event last year, Vogue was ready to show her support again as she stepped out in her glamorous ensemble. Cutting a striking figure on the evening, the Irish star dazzled following the recent comments she made about her ex-husband's band. Vogue - who was married to boybander Brian McFadden for three years - was asked her thoughts about the rumoured Westlife reunion, but claimed she wasn't that much of a fan. 'I never really followed Westlife when I was younger,' she explained. 'I'm sure they will figure something out. I'd be more pushing for an Oasis reunion if I'm honest.' The luck of the Irish: Louis and Glinda were visions of elegance as they headed into the quirky competition They stepped out for the first time together earlier this week after rumours they had re-sparked their relationship. And on Thursday Liam Hemsworth was spotted leaving Miley Cyrus' home in Studio City, Los Angeles after claiming to Australia media that he isn't engaged to the singer. The 26-year-old actor looked fresh faced as he left the premises while dressed casually in a white printed T-shirt and black skinny jeans. Scroll down for video Can't stand to be apart: Liam Hemsworth was spotted leaving Miley Cyrus' home in Studio City, Los Angeles on Thursday He matched his down cast attire with a pair of black leather sneakers. While showing off a slight smile for bystanders, Liam rocked an unshaven face while his golden locks were spiked high. Miley was no-where to be seen as the Hunger Games actor made his way towards an awaiting black vehicle. See Miley Cyrus updates as Liam Hemsworth leaves her home after stepping out together Smiling about something: The 26-year-old Australian actor looked fresh faced as he left the premises as he dressed casually in a white printed T-shirt and black skinny jeans According to TV WEEK magazine the actor shut down the speculation that he and Miley were about to walk down the aisle to say their 'I dos'. 'I am not engaged, no,' he told the publication. Liam went on to explain that he has been keeping a low profile the past three months because of a back injury which has kept him restricted within the walls of his Malibu home. 'I just dont leave my home...For the last few months because I had a back injury I really couldnt do much. So I have honestly been at my house most of the time.' Liam's representatives refused to comment to Daily Mail Australia on the matter. Back on: Liam's visit comes three days after he and Miley stepped out for the first time together after rumours they had re-sparked their relationship The comments from Liam came after he and Miley were seen arm-in-arm during a night out in California after attending the premiere for The Huntsman: Winter's War in secret. Following the function the Last Song stars were spotted in Brentwood where they dinned at the Baltaire Restaurant with Liam's older brother Luke and his wife Sam as well as some other friends. A source told Hollywood Life: 'They were whispering all through the movie. Liam was rubbing Mileys leg and they were holding hands the whole time. Its no question these two are still head over heels for each other.' Miley and Liam were rumoured to be back on after she spent New Years in the actor's native of Australia with his brother's Luke and Chris and their wives. Closing in: On Friday the actor shut down the speculation that he and Miley were engaged, telling Australian media: 'I am not engaged, no' Mix feelings: Miley and Liam were rumoured to be engaged after she was seen wearing her 2012 engagement ring weeks after spending New Years in Australia with him and his family Keeping it casual: Liam's brother Chris Hemsworth donned a lightweight top with a palm tree design when he made his way to Jimmy Kimmel Live! in Hollywood on Thursday Shortly afterwards, the pop star was seen sporting the engagement ring Liam originally gave her when he proposed in 2012. The couple began dating in early 2010 after meeting on the set of the Last Kiss, while Liam still had a girlfriend. The then spent the next three years in and on and off again relationship before they announced their engagement in June 2012. However, their engagement was short lived as they called off the wedding in September 2013. Face in the crowd: The actor was surrounded by people as he continued on his way The fans love him: Hemsworth took time to sign autographs Making her day: Chris brightened one fan's day as he took a snap with her US 'affluenza teen' sentenced to two years in prison A US judge on Wednesday sentenced a teenager who used "affluenza" as a defense in a deadly Texas drunk-driving accident -- and then fled to Mexico to evade his probation officer -- to two years in prison. Ethan Couch, 19, was ordered to serve four consecutive sentences of 180 days in prison, or a total of 720 days -- one for each person killed in the 2013 accident in Texas. Judge Wayne Salvant, whose verdict was televised, said he could revise the sentence in two weeks after prosecutors and defense attorneys submit written arguments. Ethan Couch, 19, was ordered to serve four consecutive sentences of 180 days in prison, or a total of 720 days In 2013, Couch -- who was 16 at the time -- crashed his pickup into a group of pedestrians and another vehicle. Beyond the dead, several others were seriously injured. He had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit for an adult. The son of millionaire parents made headlines during his trial when a psychologist testifying on his behalf claimed he suffered from "affluenza." The term, coined from affluence and influenza, implied that financial privilege made him unable to understand the consequences of his actions. Couch pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter. Prosecutors at the time had sought a 20-year prison term, but the court handed him a surprise sentence of mental health treatment and a decade of probation. The leniency caused outrage among many Americans. After he missed a mandatory meeting with his probation officer last year, Couch and his mother fled to Mexico, where they were arrested in the resort of Puerto Vallarta in December. Couch was sent home in January and has been detained since. UN 'deeply concerned' for 35,000 displaced people in DR Congo The United Nations on Wednesday said it was "deeply concerned" for around 35,000 people forced to flee camps in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo following clashes between the army and rebels. Five camps for internally displaced persons in North Kivu province have been emptied since March 27, forcing thousands to take refuge in surrounding villages in the Mpati area, around 100 kilometres south-west of the provincial capital Goma, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said in a statement. The past days have been difficult for those internally displaced people forced to leave the sites, prevented by the clashing forces from returning to those sites, and unable to get the humanitarian assistance that they need. I am deeply concerned by the situation, the humanitarian coordinator in DR Congo, Dr Mamadou Diallo, said. Displaced Congolese residents from the southern districts of Brazzaville take shelter in a church after fleeing intense clashes between security forces and unknown assailants on April 4, 2016 Stringer (AFP/File) Since late March, the Congolese army has been battling a coalition of Hutu rebels from the eastern Congo-based Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and two local militia in the Mpati area. In January, the OCHA chief in the country, Rein Paulsen, condemned as "unacceptable" the sudden dismantling of a camp in North Kivu after a firearm was discovered. Paulsen described the dismantling of the camp as "collective punishment imposed on these vulnerable displaced people". In December 2014, authorities forcibly closed a camp in Kiwanja, north of Goma, that was holding some 2,300 people, after discovering six firearms and announced plans to close all other camps for the displaced in the province, citing security concerns. PNG plane crash leaves 12 dead: reports Twelve people, including an Australian, were killed when a light aircraft crashed just short of a landing strip in remote Papua New Guinea, reports said on Thursday. The aircraft was flying in the rugged west of the Pacific nation on Wednesday afternoon when its engine failed mid-air, sending it into a nose-dive, the PNG Broadcasting Corporation said. It crashed into a swamp close to Kiunga airstrip. Twelve people have been killed in the crash of a light aircraft just short of a landing strip in remote Papua New Guinea, reports say Aris Messinis (AFP/File) "Yesterday we encountered a tragedy, a plane crash," Kiunga's police commander Joe Puri told local media. "A small plane that arrived from Oksapmin just before landing crashed into the swamp, with all the passengers, including the pilot, dead." The broadcaster said three children were among those killed while Australian media said the Australian on board was the pilot. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed one of its nationals was on the Sunbird Aviation flight and that it crashed on approach to Kiunga. "We continue to work closely with Papua New Guinea authorities," a department spokesman told AFP, without confirming whether or not he was the pilot. Somali pirates jailed by French court for fatal hijacking Seven Somali pirates were sentenced to between six and 15 years in prison by a French court for the hijacking of a French yacht and killing of its owner in the Gulf of Aden in 2011. Christian and Evelyne Colombo were on a round-the-world trip when their "Tribal Kat" catamaran was hijacked by pirates in the Arabian Sea. Christian was killed and his body dumped in the water, while his wife was held hostage for 48 hours before being rescued by the Spanish military. A court sketch made on March 29, 2016 shows seven suspected Somali pirates attending their trial in the courthouse in Paris, over the hijacking of a French yacht Benoit Peyrucq (AFP) Two members of the gang identified as the "recruiters", Farhan Abdisalamn Hassan and Ahmed Abdullahi Akid, were handed 15-year sentences. Farhan Mohamoud Abchir, a minor at the time of the hijacking who has developed schizophrenia while in prison, according to his lawyer, was given the lightest six-year jail term. The prosecutor had sought terms of up to 22 years for the seven. "It's hard to understand the range of the penalties, the motivations of the court. Fifteen years is a very heavy sentence," said Augustin d'Ollone, lawyer for Akid Abdullahi. The Colombo family cried as the sentence was read out. "It has been four years that we have sought life sentences. This verdict does not satisfy us," the family said in a statement posted on social media. Before the sentence was read out, the Somalis asked for "forgiveness" for a crime they said haunted them "every day". - 'War, hunger' - The Colombos had sold everything before embarking on a dream round-the-world trip. They left the Yemen port of Aden in early September 2011 and were heading for Oman -- a journey that took them through notoriously pirate-infested waters -- when naval authorities received a distress signal from their "Tribal Kat" catamaran. A German frigate found the boat several hours later. There were bullet holes in the deck and a pair of glasses lying in a pool of blood. No one was onboard. Two days later, a Spanish warship located the skiff believed to belong to the pirates. They tried to approach but turned away when the attackers dragged Evelyne Colombo into view, a gun to her head. The Spanish military prepared a raid and attacked a few hours later, leaving two pirates dead and the remaining seven under arrest. Evelyne Colombo told her rescuers that her husband's body had been dumped into the sea. It was never found. She had spent a nightmarish 48 hours with the pirates, kept under a tarpaulin, drenched by waves and in constant fear of death. The defence team sought to present the seven Somalis as unwilling criminals forced into piracy by the hardships of life in Somalia. "War... hunger... for these men to be properly judged, the court must understand the hell from which they have come," one of their lawyers, Martin Reynaud, previously told AFP, saying this could only explain rather than excuse their actions. The dramatic decline in piracy off the Somali coast means the trial could be the last in Europe for some time. China revokes rights lawyer's licence over criminal conviction Authorities have revoked the licence of one of China's most celebrated human rights lawyers, he confirmed Thursday, in the latest move to suppress critics of the ruling Communist Party. Pu Zhiqiang posted a Beijing government statement on social media declaring his licence to practise law was withdrawn due to a December conviction over online comments that criticised the Party. Pu, who has represented labour camp victims and dissident artist Ai Weiwei, was handed a three-year suspended prison term for "inciting ethnic hatred," and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," in case which drew international condemnation. Authorities have revoked the licence of one of China's most celebrated human rights lawyers, in the latest move to suppress critics of the ruling Communist Party Ed Jones (AFP/File) "I was a lawyer for 19 years, and from today I am one no longer," he wrote in a post on the WeChat messaging service. "I believe in the future, and I believe that in the future there will be change." The revocation of his license was the latest episode in a widening crackdown on civil society under President Xi Jinping that has seen more than 200 lawyers and legal activists detained or called in for questioning since last summer. Pu, who is under surveillance in Beijing, told AFP he received the notice on Thursday. The lawyer spent more than a year and a half in police custody before he was convicted. Rights groups, the US and the EU condemned his sentence. In the comments for which he was tried, Pu said China did not need Communist rule, writing: "Other than secrecy, cheating, passing the buck, delay, the hammer and sickle, what kinds of secrets of governance does this party have?" He also condemned government policy in the mainly Muslim far-western region of Xinjiang as "absurd". For the next three years Pu will be subject to police monitoring and will need permission to leave the capital, his lawyers have said. If he breaks the law, or any conditions of his release, he will be sent to prison. Israel approves plans for more than 200 new W.Bank settler homes Israel has approved plans for more than 200 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, adding to a sharp increase in settlement projects so far this year, an Israeli NGO said Thursday. Israel's government has given the green light for the plans for at least 229 homes to move forward and they are now at various stages in the technical process, said Hagit Ofran, a spokeswoman for settlement watchdog Peace Now. Settlement building projects must pass through five administrative stages before winning final approval from Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon. A Palestinian flashes a victory sign in front of Israeli security forces in the West Bank town of Hebron Hazem Bader (AFP/File) There was no immediate response from Israel's defence ministry. Peace Now said this week that the number of West Bank settlements Israel plans to build more than tripled in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period last year. Between January and March, projects for 674 housing units passed at least one of the steps in the planning approval process, up from 194 in the first quarter of 2015, it said. The new plans bring the total to at least 903. The settlements are considered illegal under international law and are seen as major stumbling blocks to peace efforts since they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state. "This policy is killing the two-state solution," Ofran told AFP. Iraq PM to attend parliament for cabinet vote: speaker Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will attend parliament on Thursday for a vote on a new cabinet lineup, after two previous sessions ended in chaos, the speaker's office said. Abadi has called for the current cabinet of party-affiliated ministers to be replaced by a government of technocrats, but has faced significant resistance from the powerful parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds. The political row comes at a critical time for Iraq, which is battling to regain more ground from the Islamic State jihadist group, while also facing a major financial crisis. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has called for the current cabinet of party-affiliated ministers to be replaced by a government of technocrats, but has faced significant resistance An emergency session on Wednesday ended with lawmakers shouting, shoving and throwing punches in the parliament hall, leading speaker Salim al-Juburi to call a recess. Juburi, political bloc leaders and Abadi agreed "on the prime minister's attendance of the scheduled parliament session (Thursday) to present final adjustments to the ministerial cabinet and put the candidates to a vote," the speaker's office said in a statement. Abadi only occasionally attends parliament sessions. He presented a first list of cabinet nominees at the end of March, but the political blocs put forward their own candidates, and most of the premier's original list was replaced on a second presented to MPs on Tuesday. Some MPs demanded the opportunity to vote on Abadi's original list -- from which at least two candidates had already withdrawn -- but the session was adjourned Tuesday without a vote. Dozens of lawmakers then began a sit-in and spent the night at parliament. MP Iskander Witwit said the sit-in was still ongoing as of Thursday, but that could not be independently confirmed. "Undermining, further discrediting Abadi, and Juburi for working with him, was the goal," said Kirk Sowell, a Jordan-based political risk analyst who is the publisher of Inside Iraqi Politics. Muslims 'annoyed' by support for Trump, says Islamic scholar A leading Islamic scholar has claimed Muslims are "annoyed" by the level of support among Americans for US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Ali Qara Daghi, Secretary-General of the Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), told AFP late Wednesday that Trump was also using "attacks on Islam" to try and secure his bid for the White House. "This is really annoying us so much that he has these levels of support," he said. Donald Trump called for Muslims to be banned from entering the US following the San Bernardino attack last December Darren Hauck (Getty/AFP/File) "We do not want this for the American people or America, which was founded on democracy, freedom and pluralism. "His remarks are not consistent with common sense or moral values because he is not honest and exploits attacks on Islam in order to gain access to power," Qara Daghi added. The IUMS is an influential but controversial organisation based in Doha. It is headed by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, considered a spiritual guide to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, who were ousted from power in the North African country in 2013 and later blacklisted. During his campaign, Trump notably called for Muslims to be banned from entering the US amid concerns over security. He initially made the proposal following the San Bernardino attack last December, when Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people in California before they died in a shootout with police. Despite widespread condemnation, Trump's contentious proposal has not impacted on his electoral chances. He leads the Republican race with the backing of 743 delegates, some 200 ahead of his closest rival Ted Cruz. A total of 1,237 delegate votes are needed to secure the Republican nomination. The next primary takes place on April 19 in Trump's native New York. US, Philippines launch joint South China Sea patrols The US said Thursday it has launched joint South China Sea naval patrols with the Philippines, escalating its presence as it accused Beijing of "militarising" a region which is locked in territorial disputes. In a show of strength, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter also announced that 275 troops and five A-10 ground attack aircraft currently in the country for annual war games will remain in the country temporarily. China warned deployments must not damage "regional stability", but Carter said Washington's efforts to strengthen its military role in the region was not done "in order to provoke". US Navy personnel raise their flag during a bilateral maritime exercise with the Philippine Navy in the South China Sea in 2014 Noel Celis (POOL/AFP) The Pentagon chief said the US was responding to regional anxiety over China's muscular actions in the South China Sea, including building artificial islands over disputed reefs. "Countries across the Asia-Pacific are voicing concern with China's land reclamation, which stands out in size and scope, as well as its militarisation in the South China Sea," Carter said. The joint naval patrols, which began last month, "contribute to the safety and security of the region's waters," he said after meeting with Philippines President Benigno Aquino. Manila has been improving its defence ties with the United States to help boost its ability to defend its territory. China's foreign ministry reacted coolly to the US deployment. A statement read: "The military activities of the relevant countries should not be targeted at a third country, and moreover should not support the efforts of some countries to provoke China on issues of sovereignty and security, adding to regional contradictions and damaging regional stability." China claims most of the South China Sea, even waters and rocks close to the coasts of several neighbours that overlap with their claims. Beijing has reclaimed several reefs claimed by Manila and built structures on them that the Philippines says are designed for military use -- a charge China denies. Earlier this month Chinese state media reported China has switched on a lighthouse atop a reconstructed reef in the Spratly chain, which also contains technology to monitor passing ships. - 'Shoulder to shoulder' Carter announced that 275 American troops, among about 5,000 military personnel taking part in the annual Balikatan (shoulder to shoulder) war games, are to stay behind after the exercises end on Friday. Five A-10C Thunderbolt ground attack planes and four other aircraft will also remain until the end of the month. Some 200 of the US personnel are to train Filipino soldiers, as well as "conduct flight operations in the area, including in the South China Sea", Carter said. These activities will "lay the foundation for joint air patrols to complement ongoing maritime patrols," he added. The remainder of the US personnel will be stationed at a Manila military base on an unspecified "rotational" basis to form a "command and control" unit to support increased activities between the two allies, Carter said. The deployments are part of a deal under which Manila has allowed American forces to rotate through five Philippine bases -- some of them close to the South China Sea. Philippine Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin welcomed the US announcement, adding he hoped the increased presence will "deter uncalled-for action by the Chinese". The US has campaigned on freedom of navigation in the strategic waterway. To drive home its point it has sent bombers and warships on patrol close to the Chinese construction activity in recent months, angering Beijing. As part of the Balikatan exercises in the northern Philippines, US forces on Thursday fired missiles at long-distance targets as part of a simulated assault of imaginary enemy-held territory. "The truth of the matter is we are allies and as allies, we need to work together," Lieutenant-General John Toolan, the US Marine Corps Pacific commander told reporters. Carter's announcement Thursday came ahead of a decision this year by a United Nations-backed tribunal on a legal challenge by Manila to China's territorial claims. China in the South China Sea Philippine President Benigno Aquino (R) welcomes US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter in Manila on April 14, 2016 Romeo Ranoco (Pool/AFP) US Marines fire a rocket during a live fire exercise as part of the "Balikatan" joint military exercise in the Philippines on April 14, 2016 Ted Aljibe (AFP) Israel to 'approve' more than 200 new settler homes Israel has approved plans for more than 200 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, adding to a sharp increase in settlement projects so far this year, Israeli campaigners said Thursday. Israel's government disputed the claim, saying nearly all approvals involved "upgrading existing structures" and not new construction, without providing a more detailed breakdown. Settlements are considered illegal under international law and are seen as major stumbling blocks to peace efforts since they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state. The settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law Ahmad Gharabli (AFP/File) Hagit Ofran, a spokeswoman for settlement watchdog Peace Now, said the government had given the green light for at least 229 new homes, which are at various stages in the planning process. The new units were also reported by Israeli newspapers. The projects must pass through five administrative stages before winning final approval from Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon. An Israeli government statement said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yaalon had "not approved new construction". "Almost all of the permits are for upgrading existing structures," it said. "The small proportion of them pertaining to new construction are for the community of Ganei Modiin, which abuts the fence and which will be part of Israel in any future agreement." Peace Now however later hit back, saying its "aerial photos illustrate that this is not the case, and much of the planning is for new housing units." The NGO said this week that the number of West Bank settlements Israel plans to build more than tripled in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the same period last year. - 'Killing two-state solution' - Between January and March, projects for 674 housing units passed at least one of the steps in the planning approval process, up from 194 in the first quarter of 2015, it said. The new plans would bring the total to at least 903. "This policy is killing the two-state solution," Ofran told AFP. The United States and the European Union, among others, have strongly criticised Israeli settlement construction. Palestine Liberation Organisation secretary general Saeb Erekat said in a statement that "the continued Israeli colonisation of Palestine is a war crime under international law." According to Peace Now and Israeli media, the new plans call for additional homes in a range of settlements. They include Har Brakha (54 units) near Nablus in the northern West Bank; Revava (17), also in the northern West Bank; Ganei Modiin (48), northwest of Jerusalem; Tekoa (34), south of Jerusalem; and Givat Zeev (76), north of Jerusalem. Around 2.8 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem in near constant tension with more than 500,000 Israeli settlers. - Push for UN resolution - Ofran said the new plans "will allow approximately another 1,000 people to move to the settlements, people that we will need to evict in order to get a peace deal." Earlier this week, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told AFP in an interview that there is an "urgent" need for a UN resolution on Israeli settlements. He made the comments just before he left on a multi-country diplomatic tour that may be among the 81-year-old's last chances to renew peace efforts. The Palestinians are discussing a UN draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Abbas's two-week tour will end in New York. The United States has repeatedly vetoed resolutions opposed by Israel at the UN Security Council, but there has been speculation that President Barack Obama may change tack in the waning days of his administration. Peace efforts have meanwhile been at a standstill since a US initiative collapsed two years ago. A wave of violence that erupted in October has killed 201 Palestinians and 28 Israelis. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities. Others were shot dead by Israeli forces during protests and clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip. The attacks have steadily declined, though an incident on Thursday ended a three-week lull in deadly violence. According to the Israeli army, a Palestinian armed with an axe attacked an Israeli soldier in the southern West Bank and was shot dead. The soldier was lightly wounded. There are concerns that the Jewish Passover holiday beginning April 22 will lead to a new upsurge in violence. Four revellers held after Bangladesh bans 'rainbow rally' Police detained four revellers attempting to hold a banned "rainbow rally" to mark Bengali New Year in the Bangladeshi capital Thursday, amid heightened security threats from Islamists. Officers said they held four young men who joined revellers at the main new year parade at Dhaka University seeking to hold a rally in support of gay rights, which had been denied permission. Authorities had cancelled the rally, being organised by activist group Roopbaan -- which says it promotes freedom of love and gender equality -- at the last minute, after Islamists threatened to beat up participants. Revellers attend a rally in celebration of the Bengali New Year in Dhaka, on April 14, 2016 Munir Uz Zaman (AFP) "We've held them after they attempted to hold a rainbow rally in support of homosexuals," local police chief Abu Baker Siddique told AFP. "The rally did not have permission from Dhaka Metropolitan Police and the Dhaka University authorities," he said. He said the four were expected to be released in the evening. Gays and lesbians suffer discrimination and worse in Bangladesh where homosexuality is a crime punishable by a maximum life term, although prosecutions are rare. However, the Roopbaan rally, which was denied permission late on Wednesday, had been allowed to go ahead in the previous two years. "We did not hold the rainbow rally although some 60 people came to the spot where we were scheduled to meet," a Roopbaan organiser said on condition of anonymity, adding he did not know why the four men were detained. Police have stepped up their hunt for Islamic militants as Bangladesh reels from a series of deadly attacks on religious minorities, secularists and foreigners in recent months. Hardline clerics have branded the Bengali new year celebrations, in which people carry masks of animals and colourful garlands, as "un-Islamic and Haram (forbidden)". As the sun rose Thursday hundreds of girls wearing traditional red and white saris, sang and danced to mark the Bengali year of 1423 at Dhaka's colonial-era Ramna Park. Thousands later joined the main street parade, carrying the colourful replicas of animals, hats and garlands. Security was tight with hundreds of police guarding the main venues. Authorities also this year banned outdoor evening concerts and masks, commonly worn during the new year parades, as part of increased security. Palestinian with axe attacks Israeli soldier, shot dead: army A Palestinian armed with an axe attacked an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank and was shot dead on Thursday, the Israeli army said, ending a three-week lull in deadly incidents. The soldier was lightly wounded in the attack, which occurred near the Al-Arroub refugee camp between Hebron and Bethlehem. The Palestinian health ministry identified the man killed as Ibrahim al-Gharooz Baradeah, 45. An Israeli soldier guards a security cordon at the site where a Palestinian -- armed with an axe -- was shot dead at the entrance of the Al-Arroub refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, on April 14, 2016 Hazem Bader (AFP/File) A wave of violence that erupted in October has killed 201 Palestinians and 28 Israelis. Two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have also been killed. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities. Others were shot dead by Israeli forces during protests and clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip. Israel has faced accusations of using excessive force in response to some of the attacks, charges which it has firmly denied. The last deadly attack on March 24 saw an Israeli soldier caught on video shooting a Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay on the ground wounded after stabbing another soldier minutes earlier. The soldier who fatally shot him has been arrested, with the Palestinian posing no apparent threat at the time. The attacks have steadily declined in recent weeks, though there are concerns that the Jewish Passover holiday beginning April 22 will lead to a new upsurge. Many analysts say Palestinian frustration with Israeli occupation and settlement building in the West Bank, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have fed the unrest. Iraq MPs vote to sack speaker, deepening political turmoil Iraqi lawmakers voted Thursday to remove the parliament speaker and his deputies from office, increasing political turmoil as the country battles jihadists and struggles with a financial crisis. The chaos at parliament is a significant setback for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, overshadowing his efforts to replace the current cabinet and preventing nominees from being brought to a vote. The turmoil has escalated over three successive sessions this week: the first ended in a sit-in, the second with a fistfight among lawmakers, and the third with the vote to remove parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi. Iraqi lawmakers decided to remove parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi, in a vote held in his absence Haidar Hamdani (AFP) Juburi, one of the country's leading Sunni Arab politicians, said in televised remarks that the session was marred "by many legal and constitutional errors," and called for a normal session on Saturday. An earlier statement from his office also asserted that Thursday's session was "unconstitutional and lacked the necessary quorum." But Niyazi Oghlu, the official responsible for taking roll at parliament, put the number of lawmakers present at 173, while two MPs also said more than 170 attended. The main Sunni bloc condemned the effort to remove Juburi. "These calls will lead to the end of the concept of political partnership and the principle of consensus on which the political process was based," it said in a statement read out by MP Ahmed al-Misari. The vote was "very likely not valid" due to the lack of a quorum, said Kirk Sowell, a Jordan-based political risk analyst who is the publisher of Inside Iraqi Politics. Juburi was targeted "mainly because of his alliance with Abadi, more than anything he had done himself," and the episode was "very bad for Abadi despite (him) not facing a direct challenge," Sowell said. Abadi has called for the cabinet of party-affiliated ministers to be replaced by a government of technocrats, but has faced significant resistance from the powerful parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds. An "emergency" session on Wednesday ended with lawmakers shouting, shoving and throwing punches in the parliament hall, leading Juburi to call a recess. - Cabinet dispute - The speaker's office said earlier in the day that Abadi was to give a revised list of nominees to parliament on Thursday, but the move to sack Juburi stole the spotlight. Abadi presented a first list of cabinet nominees at the end of March, but the political blocs put forward their own candidates, and most of the premier's original list was replaced on a second presented to MPs on Tuesday. Some MPs demanded the opportunity to vote on Abadi's original list -- from which at least two candidates had already withdrawn -- but the session was adjourned Tuesday without a vote. Dozens of lawmakers then began a sit-in and spent the night at parliament. Iraqi ministries have for years been shared out between powerful political parties that run them as their personal fiefdoms, relying on them for patronage and funds. But even if the current cabinet line-up is replaced with independent, technocratic ministers -- a change that faces major obstacles -- that would only be the beginning of the process. Ministries are packed with lower-level employees appointed on the basis of party and sectarian affiliation, and replacing them would face serious resistance. Technocrats would also lack the cover afforded by party affiliation, and could face threats by armed groups opposed to changes they proposed. Abadi called in February for "fundamental" change to the cabinet so that it includes "professional and technocratic figures and academics". That kicked off the latest chapter in a months-long saga of Abadi proposing various reforms that parties and politicians with interests in the existing system have sought to delay or undermine. The political crisis comes as Iraqi forces battle to regain more ground from the Islamic State group, which seized swathes of the country in 2014. And on Thursday the Counter-Terrorism Service completed the recapture of the town of Heet from IS, officials said. Iraq has also been hit hard by the plummeting price of oil, revenues from account for the vast majority of government funds. Iraqi security forces stand guard outside the parliament in Baghdad on April 13, 2016, during a sit-in by lawmakers Sabah Arar (AFP) Nigeria's kidnapped schoolgirls: gone two years Here is a snapshot of main events since the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from the remote town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria two years ago. - Snatched from school - On April 14, 2014, gunmen from the Islamist group Boko Haram seize 276 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state. Boko Haram fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in 2014 as they were preparing for end-of-year exams in the remote northeastern town of Chibok Ho (Boko Haram/AFP/File) The girls are forced from their dormitories onto trucks and driven into the bush. Fifty-seven girls manage to flee. An international media campaign is launched, backed by personalities including US First Lady Michelle Obama and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. The hashtag #BringBackOurGirls underpins a social media storm that ultimately achieves little. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claims responsibility for the mass abduction in a video released on May 5, and vows to sell the girls as slave brides. One week later, a second video shows about 100 of the missing girls. Boko Haram says they have converted to Islam and will not be released unless militant fighters held in custody are freed. - Global response - On May 17, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria vow to fight Boko Haram together in what Cameroon President Paul Biya terms a "declaration of war". The UN Security Council says the kidnappings "may amount to crimes against humanity" and Britain, China, France, Israel and the US have offered help. US military specialists deploy to neighbouring Chad but later move elsewhere after Nigeria stops requesting their services. On May 26, Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff Alex Badeh says the girls have been located but warns a rescue operation would put their lives at risk. - 'Married off' - On October 31, Shekau quashes rumours of a deal with Nigerian authorities and says the girls have converted to Islam and been "married off". - One year on - On April 14, 2015, Nigeria's president-elect Muhammadu Buhari warns he "cannot promise that we can find" the girls, as vigils are held in many countries to mark their first year as hostages. Amnesty International believes the girls have been separated into three or four groups and are being held in camps, some of which might be in Cameroon or Chad. Buhari says in late December he is willing to negotiate with any "credible" Boko Haram leadership, a week after claiming the country has "technically" won the war against Boko Haram. - Others freed - Throughout 2015, the Nigerian military announces the rescue of hundreds of people, most of them women and children, who have been kidnapped by Boko Haram. But the missing schoolgirls are not among them, despite several unconfirmed sightings. Suicide attacks using women and young girls increase against "soft" civilian targets such as mosques, markets and bus stations, fuelling fears about Boko Haram's use of its captives. In March 2016, it emerges that Boko Haram also seized 500 women and children from the Borno town of Damasak just months after the Chibok abduction. The kidnapping had been denied at the time. - 'Proof of life' - On April 13, 2016, US television station CNN reports that Boko Haram has sent a "proof of life" video which shows 15 of the girls, the first concrete indication that at least some are still alive. Nigeria 2014 kidnapping AFP (AFP) US 'very concerned' about Syrian regime offensive near Aleppo The United States is "very concerned" about reports of a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive near the country's second city Aleppo, a senior administration official in Washington told AFP on Thursday. "Such actions could well violate the cessation of hostilities, which has held for nearly seven weeks but has been under increasing pressure in recent weeks," the official said, reiterating a call for Russia to "cease any provocative actions in Syria." Syrian government fighters, rebels and jihadists are battling for control of swathes of Aleppo province. Syrian government forces patrol the town of Khan Tuman, south of Aleppo on April 11, 2016, following clashes in the area with opposition fighters George Ourfalian (AFP/File) Regime loyalists backed by Russia's air power pressed a fierce offensive just north of the provincial capital of Aleppo city, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, straining the landmark ceasefire and a nascent round of peace talks in Geneva. US officials "expressed our strong concerns" to all members of the 17-nation International Syria Support Group (ISSG), including Moscow, the Washington official said, urging the Kremlin to lean on Syrian President and ally Bashar al-Assad to commit to talks about a political transition. "Now is the time for all sides to follow through on their commitment to the cessation of hostilities and to refrain from any further destabilizing actions," the official added. In Geneva, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura criticized Assad's government for hindering efforts to deliver life-saving assistance to Syrians in need. Microsoft sues US over secret warrants to search email Software titan Microsoft on Thursday sued the US government, arguing that secret warrants to search people's email violate the US Constitution. Microsoft filed the suit against the Justice Department in federal court in Seattle, near the company's headquarters in Redmond. "Microsoft brings this case because its customers have a right to know when the government obtains a warrant to read their emails, and because Microsoft has a right to tell them," lawyers for the company said in the court filing. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act lets courts order Microsoft or other email service providers to remain silent about warrants for data Stephen Lam (Getty/AFP/File) The Electronic Communications Privacy Act lets courts order Microsoft or other email service providers to remain silent about warrants for data on the overly general grounds that there is "reason to believe" tipping people off might hamper investigations, according to the suit. That power violates constitutional protection of free speech and safeguards against unreasonable searches, Microsoft argued in the suit. In the past 18 months, federal courts have issued nearly 2,600 secrecy orders gagging Microsoft from saying anything about warrants and other legal actions targeting customers' data, according to the filing. "We believe that with rare exceptions consumers and businesses have a right to know when the government accesses their emails or records," Microsoft chief legal officer Brad Smith said in a blog post. "Yet it's becoming routine for the US government to issue orders that require email providers to keep these types of legal demands secret. We believe that this goes too far and we are asking the courts to address the situation." - Snooping in the cloud - Internet giants have railed against secret search warrants, contending they erode trust in US technology companies while trampling on the rights of citizens and businesses. The situation has become more urgent as computing and data storage services shift from software packages loaded onto individual computers to servers running in the Internet cloud. "Today, individuals increasingly keep their emails and documents on remote servers in data centers -- in short, in the cloud," Smith said. "But the transition to the cloud does not alter peoples expectations of privacy and should not alter the fundamental constitutional requirement that the government must -- with few exceptions -- give notice when it searches and seizes private information or communications." - iPhone encryption battle - Microsoft's legal challenge follows a high-stakes battle over FBI demands for access to an iPhone used by one of the gunmen in a December 2 rampage that left 14 dead in San Bernardino, California. The government wanted iPhone-maker Apple to create a new tool to bypass the smartphone's security systems, but the company refused. Although that showdown ended with investigators saying they had extracted the data from the iPhone on their own, the Justice Department rejoined the battle last week in a separate case involving someone accused of trafficking in methamphetamines. In a filing in the US District Court in New York, the Justice Department told a federal judge it wants Apple to extract pictures, text messages and other digital data from an iPhone used by the defendant in that case. Although the defendant has confessed and is set to be sentenced, the Justice Department wants the data to be extracted anyway for sentencing purposes, according to Apple's lawyers. They plan to press the government in court on whether it has done everything possible to get the data without the company's help. The US government has based its demands in both the San Bernardino case and the New York drug trafficking case on the All Writs Act -- a 1789 law that gives wide latitude to law enforcement. Earlier this year, a lower court judge in New York sided with Apple, saying law enforcement lacked the authority to compel the company to comply. Apple argues that the government is overstepping its authority and is intent on establishing a troubling legal precedent, contending that lawmakers should decide the degree to which third parties can be compelled to work for the government. Prosecutor drops battery charges against Trump aide Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump's campaign manager will not be prosecuted over a run-in with a reporter last month, a Florida state attorney said Thursday, citing insufficient evidence to proceed. The decision to dismiss the case against Corey Lewandowski marks a legal victory for Trump who defended his close aide after he was accused of roughly grabbing former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields at a press conference in Jupiter, Florida. "This office will not be filing charges against Corey Lewandowski for battery," Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg told reporters, noting that Jupiter police had filed the initial charges of simple battery against Lewandowski. Corey Lewandowski, pictured on March 11, 2016, will not be prosecuted over a run-in with a reporter from Breitbart Joe Raedle (Getty/AFP/File) "While the evidence in this case is legally sufficient for the police to have charged Mr. Lewandowski, it is not strong enough to meet the burden of a reasonable likelihood of a conviction," Aronberg said. "It is unethical to file cases when we believe there is not a good faith basis to proceed." Lewandowski, 42, was accused of grabbing Fields so hard that it left bruises on her arm. The hard-nosed, controversial campaign manager has vehemently denied that account of the incident, which took place as Trump fielded questions while leaving the news conference. Trump's campaign quickly issued a statement after charges were dropped, saying Lewandowski was "gratified by the decision" and appreciated "Mr. Trump's loyalty." "The matter is now concluded." Aronberg said his office spoke with Fields Thursday and that "it was clear to us she was disappointed with the decision." Fields may still pursue a defamation case against Lewandowski, according to Politico which cited a source with knowledge of the situation. Lewandowski and Trump were criticized for the virulence with which they disputed Fields' accusations. At one point Lewandowski took to Twitter to call Fields "totally delusional," adding: "I never touched you." - 'He grabs her arm' - While Aronberg highlighted it was clear that Lewandowski grabbed Fields, he said the false claim was insufficient to proceed with the case. "Although these factors might undermine Mr. Lewandowski's potential defense, they do not outweigh the reasonable hypothesis of innocence based on the real-time facts and circumstances recorded on the video." The chief assistant state attorney for Palm Beach County, Adrienne Ellis, said Fields had violated press protocol by entering a protective bubble established by US Secret Service officers guarding the candidate. She also said surveillance video shows Fields touching Trump first, "and you see Mr. Trump recoil his arm." That is when Lewandowski "reaches in and he grabs her arm to pull her to the side," she said. Ellis also suggested that Lewandowski's role as a political aide allowed him an added security role in the campaign. "We're not charging him because he was reacting to what he perceived as a potential threat to someone that he is in charge of protecting, so to speak," Ellis said. Rory Cooper, a Republican strategist in the anti-Trump movement, said that regardless of the prosecutor dropping charges, the behavior of Trump "thugs" speak to a culture of aggression that make Trump unelectable. "There is a fabric of indecency that permeates the Donald Trump campaign... and that is not what people want representing America," Cooper told MSNBC after the decision. Oxfam: US firms stash $1.4 tn in offshore tax havens US corporate giants like Apple and General Electric have stashed nearly $1.4 trillion in dozens of offshore tax havens, denying the US and other governments needed tax income, Oxfam America said Thursday. A new report by the US arm of the global anti-poverty group Oxfam said that the funds amassed by 50 top US companies offshore between 2008 and 2014 demonstrate the extent to which tax havens allow firms to avoid taxes. Between them the companies made use of more than 1,600 subsidiaries in tax havens to store and move money around outside the reach of fiscal authorities. An activist performs as a client of an offshore company during a protest by 'Oxfam' and 'Transparency International' in front of the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, on April 12, 2016 John Thys (AFP/File) At the same time, the companies continue to benefit from government support in their home countries, with individual citizen taxpayers bearing the cost. The report came out less than two weeks after the publication of leaked documents from a Panamanian law office showed how it had created thousands of anonymous shell companies, many for wealthy and powerful public figures around the world, in countries where they can be used to avoid taxes. "Multinational corporations that benefit from trillions in taxpayer-funded support are dodging billions in taxes," said Oxfam American president Raymond Offenheiser in a statement. "The vast sums large companies stash in tax havens should be fighting poverty and rebuilding America's infrastructure, not hidden offshore in Panama, Bahamas, or the Cayman Islands." The report counted up the huge profits that major companies have reported they are holding offshore, in part because of the high taxes they say they would have to pay for repatriating the profits into the United States. General Electric has $119 billion, Microsoft $108 billion, Pfizer $74 billion, and Google parent Alphabet $47 billion, for example. "When corporations don't pay their fair share of taxes, governments - rich and poor - are forced to cut services or make up the shortfall from working families and small businesses. Neither is acceptable," Offenheiser said. The report was released on the opening day of the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, where the Panama Papers and the issue of tax havens were in focus. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said tax evasion and other illicit transfers of money through tax havens undermine the fight against global poverty. Obama in fence-mending trip to see Saudi king US President Barack Obama will visit King Salman and the Saudi royal court in Riyadh next week in a bid to mend increasingly frayed ties between the allies. Before his election, Obama famously dismissed Saudi Arabia as America's "so-called ally" and relations have remained tense through both his two terms. Although Wednesday's visit will be his fourth to the kingdom, the Saudis were dismayed by his outreach to Iran and support for some Arab Spring revolts. US President Barack Obama (L) shakes hands with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud following a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey on November 15, 2015 Saul Loeb (AFP) The countries work together in the fight against the Islamic State group but the kingdom feels Obama could have been tougher on Syria's Bashar al-Assad. And eyebrows were raised last year when King Salman decided not to join a summit of Gulf leaders hosted by Obama at his Camp David country residence. But senior Obama adviser Rob Malley said that since then, there has been real progress in the relationship. "On the security front, over the last 12 months, there have been countless meetings at all levels," he said. After Wednesday's royal audience, Obama and Salman will meet leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the powerful Saudi-dominated regional grouping. "There has been much deeper cooperation between us and the GCC," Malley argued, citing efforts to stabilize regional conflicts in Libya and Yemen. "There is still much more work to be done. But in Yemen, the situation is far better than it was a year ago," he said, citing a ceasefire that began Sunday. "Likewise in Syria, there is a fragile cessation of hostilities but it has held so far for seven weeks," he said, admitting: "Much more needs to be done." Father of boy taken from mom in 2002 gets 4 years in prison CLEVELAND (AP) A teenager who learned last fall while applying for college that his life had been based on lies and deceit asked a judge in Cleveland on Wednesday to not send his father to prison for abducting him from his mother's Alabama home in 2002 when he was 5. The father, 53-year-old Bobby Hernandez, received four years, but his sentence could have stretched for decades. He pleaded guilty last month to kidnapping and other charges for taking Julian, now a high school senior, to Cleveland where he created new lives and new identities for them both. With his mother sitting in the courtroom, Julian Hernandez acknowledged that growing up without her in his life was painful, but taking away his father would be "doing the same thing all over again." Bobby Hernandez stands during his trial for the kidnapping of his son Julian when he was 5 years old in Judge Cassandra Collier-Williams' courtroom at the Cleveland Justice Center in Cleveland, Ohio on Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Hernandez's attorney is Ralph DiFranco, left. Hernandez was sentenced to four years for kidnapping. (Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer via AP) NO SALES He said he was told his mother and father had broken up and he knew she lived somewhere else. "I never questioned it any further because I didn't really care. My father was there and he was all I ever needed," Julian said. "Even if other people can't, I forgive him." Bobby Hernandez, wearing an orange jail uniform and his wrists cuffed, cried as Julian spoke. The two hadn't seen each other or even spoken since a judge issued a no-contact order in December. Hernandez struggled to control his emotions when he spoke just before his sentence was announced. He told Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Cassandra Collier-Williams that he took "full responsibility" for what he'd done and apologized to his son and to the teen's mother. By all accounts, Hernandez was a model father who pushed and supported Julian, an honor student, in his studies and pursuit of the martial arts. Julian still lives in his father's Cleveland home with Hernandez's fiance, her three children and a 3-year-old step-sister. "Whenever I needed something, he made it happen," Julian told Collier-Williams. His mother was not as forgiving. In a statement read on her behalf by celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, she said not knowing where Julian was or whether he was safe had a physical and emotional toll. She didn't ask that Hernandez receive a specific sentence, which Allred said after the hearing was done out of respect for Julian. Julian's mother, who asked not to be identified, still lives in the Birmingham, Alabama, area where Julian was abducted. The day Julian was abducted, August 28, 2002, remains the worst day of her life, and in her "darkest moments," she contemplated suicide, she said. But she also never stopped looking for her son and left his room untouched for years. "As the weeks went by, I felt completely and utterly alone," Julian's mother said. "I didn't know if he was gone forever." Allred also read statements from Julian's maternal grandparents that detailed how they chased false leads about Julian's whereabouts across the South. The grandmother said she'd buy a Christmas ornament every year for Julian while awaiting his return. Julian visited his mother and her family in Alabama at Thanksgiving and at Christmas after his father's arrest last November. Allred said after the hearing that Julian and his mother are building a relationship. Most details surrounding the abduction and lives of Julian and his father in Cleveland remain unknown. Prosecutors continue to refuse to provide any details about how Hernandez managed to pull off his deceptions. What was revealed Wednesday was how the FBI became involved in the case. After Julian discovered a discrepancy with his Social Security number while starting the college application process, he told a school guidance counselor that he'd been kidnapped. It's unclear how he learned of that. The guidance counselor contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which had listed Julian as missing since 2002. Bobby Hernandez's legal travails may not be over. An Alabama prosecutor, Shawn Allen, has said authorities would meet with Julian's relatives to determine whether to extradite the father to Jefferson County, where he could face prison time for interfering with custody. ___ Associated Press writer John Seewer in Toledo contributed to this report. Fox anchor Megyn Kelly meets with Trump to 'clear the air' NEW YORK (AP) Fox News Channel's Megyn Kelly said she met privately with Donald Trump on Wednesday to "clear the air" following the Republican candidate's repeated attacks on social media. Kelly said the two met for about an hour at Trump Tower in Manhattan. Speaking on her show Wednesday night, she gave no details of the conversation, other than to say they discussed a potential interview and that "we hope to have news on that soon." "Yes, the doormen appeared stunned when I walked in," Kelly said. FILE - In this April 12, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Rome, N.Y. Its a new game for the big-money outside groups trying to stop Donald Trump. Anti-Trump super PACs tore through more than $200 million worth of ads trying to persuade presidential primary voters to pick someone else. That didnt have much effect. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File) Trump confirmed the meeting during an hourlong interview on Fox's Sean Hannity show, where a gathered audience at a Pittsburgh auditorium booed at the mention of her name. "She was very, very nice," Trump said, noting that Fox had requested the meeting. He offered no details of what was discussed. "I give her a lot of credit for doing what she did," he said. "Let's see what happens." Trump began criticizing Kelly on Twitter last August following the first Republican debate on Fox, when he was angered by a Kelly question about statements he had made about women. In an interview with CNN, Trump said that "you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever." In the intervening months, Trump boycotted another debate when Fox refused to remove Kelly as a moderator, then appeared at another debate with her. He brings her up periodically on his Twitter feed, calling her a "lightweight reporter" and "second-rate" and suggesting people boycott her show. Fox, in turn, criticized Trump for having a "sick obsession" about Kelly and engaging in conduct unbecoming of a presidential candidate. While Kelly recently criticized both CNN and her Fox colleague Bill O'Reilly for not being more supportive after Trump pulled out of the debate, she said Trump is welcome on her show. Fox said that its chief executive, Roger Ailes, has been trying to get Trump to appear on a prime-time special Kelly is hosting on the Fox broadcasting network on May 23. Investigators end search at offices of Panama Papers firm PANAMA CITY (AP) Prosecutors on Wednesday wrapped up their search of the Mossack Fonseca law firm looking for evidence of any illegal activity in the company at the center of a document leak that revealed details of offshore financial accounts. Lead organized crime prosecutor Javier Caraballo emerged from the offices after 27 hours of searching to say investigators had seized 100 computer servers that they would begin reviewing. "We cannot so far establish if we have elements that show some kind of tie (to illegal acts), but we are satisfied with the quantity of information that we have been able to collect," Caraballo said. A police officer stands outside Mossack Fonseca law firm while Organized crime prosecutors raid the offices, in Panama City, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. Organized crime prosecutors raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm looking for evidence of money laundering and financing terrorism following a leak of documents about tax havens it set up for wealthy international clients. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco) Earlier in the day, Attorney General Kenia Porcell said it was too early to talk about what might have found in an investigation that she described as very complex. She said investigators were checking the firm's computers and noted it had servers in multiple locations. Prosecutors are also checking the server of the telephone company that provided the firm's service. "I'm not saying there is a crime," Porcell stressed. Mossack Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing. The search started Tuesday, 10 days after news reports began emerging about the document leak known as the Panama Papers. Stories reported that the millions of documents contained details on secretive offshore accounts and shell companies set up by Mossack Fonseca for wealthy clients around the globe. About 30 demonstrators gathered outside Mossack Fonseca's office Wednesday to demand a thorough investigation. "We demand justice. We cannot allow that a law firm cast doubts on the country," said Luis Gonzalez, leader of the country's powerful construction workers union. "Investigate these scoundrels and lock them up." Some legal observers questioned the government's delay in investigating the offices. "The day after the revelations came to light the public ministry should have intervened immediately in Mossack Fonseca, should have collected the data, the computer, gotten all of the evidence," said Italo Antinori, an expert in constitutional law at Complutense University in Madrid. "A lot of evidence could have been diluted, altered." Police officers stand outside Mossack Fonseca law firm while Organized crime prosecutors raid the offices, in Panama City, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. Organized crime prosecutors raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm Tuesday looking for evidence of money laundering and financing terrorism following a leak of documents about tax havens it set up for wealthy international clients. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco) Construction workers protest outside the Mossack Fonseca law firm, demanding the government punish anyone involved in financial crimes in Panama City, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Organized crime prosecutors raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm on Tuesday, which continued into Wednesday, looking for evidence of money laundering and financing terrorism following a leak of documents about tax havens it set up for wealthy international clients. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco) Senators: Cut off money over sex crimes by UN peacekeepers WASHINGTON (AP) Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday expressed disgust over dozens of sexual abuse allegations against United Nations peacekeepers and called on the State Department to help end the abuse by cutting off foreign aid to countries that won't hold their troops accountable. At a Foreign Relations Committee hearing, panel chairman Sen. Bob Corker called the allegations "moral depravity" and said he'd rush home to Tennessee to protect his family if he learned that U.N. peacekeepers were being sent there. U.S. laws make it unlikely that peacekeepers would ever be dispatched to the United States. The U.N. in recent months has faced a series of allegations of sexual abuses, including child rapes, by its peacekeepers, especially those based in Central African Republic and Congo. The U.N. reported 69 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers in 2015. Corker and other senators demanded to know why U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other senior U.N. officials have allowed the persistent problem to fester. A 2005 U.N. report documented episodes of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers, including the exchange of sex for money or food. The United States, the largest financial contributor to U.N. peacekeeping operations, should exercise its leverage more aggressively if the U.N. continues to drag its feet, the senators added. "How do we put up with such inept leadership at the United Nations?" Corker asked. Isobel Coleman, the U.S. representative at the U.N. for management and reform, said it's not ineptitude but a reluctance by countries contributing troops to peacekeeping missions "to deal with this issue in the transparent way that it must be dealt with." Corker and other committee members pressed State Department officials on whether they have used a U.S. human rights law known as the Leahy amendment to refuse foreign aid to countries whose peacekeepers sexually abuse the people they are sent to protect. For more of the latest California news visit www.dailymail.co.uk/california Federal investigators are trying to figure out how to bust the nut thieves International crime rings targeting California's booming agriculture industry are increasingly stealing truckloads of high-value nuts, prompting authorities and the firms falling victim to ramp up efforts to break the spree costing millions. The sophisticated organizations in many cases use high-tech tactics, hacking into trucking companies to steal their identity. Armed with false shipping papers, they pose as legitimate truckers, driving off with loads of nuts such as almonds, walnuts or pistachios valued at $150,000, and some worth $500,000 each. Days later, when a shipment fails to arrive to its intended destination, the nuts may already be in another state or on a ship destined for Europe or Asia, where they fetch top dollar on the black market, authorities say. It's nuts! Organized nut-thieving gangs have cost California nearly $7.6 million in the last four years. Todd Crosswell, general manager of Caro Nut Co, pictured, says he has lost $1.2 million High value: Thieves with international ties use fake shipping papers to assume the identity of legitimate firms to steal truckloads of nuts worth between $150,000 and $500,000 each Last year, nut thefts hit an all-time high in California with losses totaling $4.6 million from 31 reported cases, more than the three previous years combined, according to CargoNet, an alliance of cargo shipping firms and law enforcement agencies aimed at preventing losses. Losses for all four years combined were nearly $7.6 million, the group reports. 'It's made my life miserable,' said Todd Crosswell, general manager of Caro Nut Co. Caro was victimized six times last year for a total loss of $1.2 million. In each case, thieves stole cashews imported from Vietnam and Africa that were roasted, salted and packaged in Fresno. 'You get hit with that kind of loss it hurts,' Crosswell said. The value of nuts grown and processed in California, the nation's leading agricultural state, have soared in recent years as global demand for the health-food snack grows in places such as China and emerging economies. California produces more almonds, walnuts and pistachios than any other state with a combined value of $9.3 billion in 2014. Almonds alone were valued at $5.9 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Health nuts: The value of nuts grown and processed in California, the nation's leading agricultural state, have soared in recent years as global demand for the health-food snack grows The high value of nuts grabbed the attention of criminal organizations, who are exploiting weaknesses in the cargo shipping industry to reap big profits, said Dan Bryant, supervisory special agent for the violent and organized crimes programs of the FBI Sacramento office. Bryant declined to identify any organizations under suspicion, citing an ongoing criminal investigation. 'It's not just some teenage kids ripping off nuts,' he said. 'These are sophisticated people.' Expensive: In 2015, six loads of almonds and pistachios were stolen at a loss of $1.6 million Local authorities are also taking action. One state lawmaker has introduced a bill to fund a statewide taskforce targeting all types of cargo thefts. And law enforcement officials and nut processors are meeting Thursday to share information to help prevent more nut thefts. Alarmed by a spike in large-scale nut thefts, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux last year beefed up his agriculture crimes unit from two to six detectives. In 2013, his office investigated a $189,000 pistachio theft. No cases were reported the next year, but in 2015, six loads of almonds and pistachios were stolen at a combined loss of $1.6 million. Investigators tracked at least one load to Los Angeles and made one arrest. Boudreaux declined to name the suspect due to the ongoing investigation. 'They do tend to have some overseas connections,' said Scott Cornell, an investigator for Travelers Insurance and an expert on cargo thefts. 'Wherever they can sell it and move it they're going to.' Crosswell said he's put in place new safeguards with hopes he doesn't fall victim once more, taking photographs and finger prints of the roughly 25 truck drivers each day that pull up to the shipping docks. Despite these effort, Crosswell said he fears the criminals will strike again. Australia premier praises China ties, skirts touchy subjects SHANGHAI (AP) Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull hailed business ties with China but skirted sensitive political issues Thursday, on the first day of an official visit to his country's key trade partner. In a speech to business leaders in the financial hub of Shanghai, Turnbull praised a bilateral free trade agreement signed last year as offering important new opportunities for Australian exporters. China absorbs about one-third of Australia's exports, but China's slowing demand for iron ore, coal and other resources has taken a major toll on Australia's economy. Two-way trade between them totaled 150 billion Australian dollars ($115 billion) in the last financial year, down 6.3 percent. While that dealt a massive shock to Australian trade, the country is now "most of the way through" the crisis and looking for new opportunities in China's efforts to stimulate personal consumption among its citizens, Turnbull said. "It is with these objectives in mind that we embrace all of the extraordinary opportunities presented by China's own economic transition toward a more consumption-driven economy," Turnbull said, according to a copy of the speech provided by his office. The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement will eventually eliminate tariffs on almost all of Australian products sold to China. Turnbull singled out exporters of beef and dairy products, cherries, crayfish and wine as particular beneficiaries. The pact will also ease employment terms for Australian service providers, including lawyers, educators, and financial professionals, while encouraging investments in Australia by major Chinese firms such as Baosteel, Bright Foods and property developer Greenland Group, he said. China is also Australia's most important tourism market with more than 1 million visitors last year. Australia will further smooth the way for its firms to enter the Chinese market with the establishment of a "landing pad" in Shanghai that will provide physical space for Australian entrepreneurs and access to networks and expertise, said Turnbull, who is leading a large delegation of government officials and about 1,000 business leaders. Turnbull made no mention in his speech of concerns that Australia, a close-U.S. ally, has about Chinese activities in the highly disputed South China Sea, where Washington and others have accused Beijing of creating political instability by building man-made islands. Turnbull is expected to touch on political issues with Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing later Thursday and again with President Xi Jinping on Friday. China responded harshly to critical comments on the South China Sea contained in Australia's recent Defense White Paper, highlighting Canberra's difficult task of striking a balance in its relationships with China and the U.S. "These pose an acute policy dilemma for Australians, because while they know that their economic future depends on a strong relationship with China, they still believe that their security depends on their long-standing alliance with the U.S.," Hugh White, a professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University, said in an editorial published in China's official English-language Global Times newspaper on Thursday. Trump visit roils town still healing from Latino's killing PATCHOGUE, N.Y. (AP) By all accounts, tensions between Latino newcomers and whites have eased in the nearly eight years since a vicious hate-crime stabbing left an Ecuadorean immigrant dead. Enter Donald Trump. Trump's appearance at a GOP fundraiser on Thursday just blocks from the site of the attack has ignited protests from Latinos, who fear the billionaire's tough talk against immigrants could open old wounds and undo the progress that's been made in the Long Island community. A sign sits near the site where Marcelo Lucero was killed in Patchogue, N.Y., on Wednesday, April, 13, 2016. The Rev. Alan Ramirez, an adviser to the family of Lucero, has called for Donald Trump to cancel a planned appearance at a Suffolk County Republican Committee fundraiser on Thursday, April 14, in Patchogue, because it is being held at a nightclub just blocks from where a gang of teenagers killed Lucero in November 2008. (AP Photo/Frank Eltman) "If he comes, there might be a toxic environment again. Maybe something bad happens," 23-year-old Jocelyn Fajardo, who was born in New York City to Ecuadorean parents, said before the event. "Trump puts U.S. people against us, Latinos. He divides people." Joselo Lucero, whose brother was killed in the 2008 attack, says Patchogue is the wrong place for Trump to visit. "My community has suffered so much discrimination." So far, there's been no comment on the controversy from Trump, who caused a firestorm on the first day of his campaign when he labeled illegal immigrants from Mexico as rapists and criminals, and he has repeatedly promised to build a massive wall along the border. "I feel like that's the only thing he talks about," said businessman Angel Zhicay, 50, who is from Ecuador. Thursday's gala to raise funds for Republican candidates across eastern Long Island was held in a nightclub about 200 yards from the intersection where 37-year-old Marcelo Lucero was confronted by a gang of teens who admitted they regularly targeted Hispanic immigrants. They called the altercations "beaner hopping." Lucero was walking with a friend when the teens began yelling ethnic slurs and approached them. Lucero hit Jeffrey Conroy, then 17, in the head with a belt. Conroy lost his temper, took out a folding knife and fatally plunged it into Lucero's chest. Conroy was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The six others pleaded guilty to lesser crimes. At the time of Lucero's slaying, police acknowledged there had been a tense atmosphere in the town of nearly 12,000, including attacks on immigrant day laborers, but they say tensions have noticeably subsided. Last month, the top prize in the town's annual St. Patrick's Day parade went to a group of Ecuadorean step dancers. "As much as one might hear that hateful echo in Trump's words today, it does not negate his right to speak," Long Island newspaper Newsday said in an editorial Wednesday. "More important, his trip is a chance for Patchogue to tell the story of its progress." Activists held protests leading up to and during Trump's appearance. About 100 people gathered outside the event holding signs decrying Trump and shouting. Several hundred also attended a vigil for Lucero held about an hour before Trump took the stage. This week at the site of the slaying, a sign reads: "Hate is not welcome in Patchogue. Make America Love Again." Trump made no mention Lucero or the protesters during his 20-minute speech Thursday evening. Speaking about his plan to build a build a massive wall along the border, Trump told his supporters: "I have great relationships with Mexico and Hispanic people." John Jay LaValle, chairman of the Suffolk County Republican Committee, said Thursday's event was scheduled more than two months ago and he invited every Republican candidate. He said Trump, who was recently endorsed by the county GOP, accepted only last week. "While we offer the greatest empathy possible to the family of Marcelo Lucero," LaValle said, "we can't help but to be suspicious of the motives of those leading the charge to connect that vicious hate crime with Mr. Trump's commitment to enforcement of immigration laws that have gone largely ignored by both parties for 30 years." Felix Diaz, 47, an emigrant from El Salvador who owns his own landscaping business, said he hopes Trump cancels. "He talks about separating families", Diaz said of Trump. "I have two kids who are here undocumented, but I am not speaking for them only. I am speaking for the whole Latino community. Even if someone would pay me to go, I would never go and listen to him." ___ Follow Eltman and Torrens on Twitter at @feltman41 and @ClaudiaTorrens In this circa 2000 photo taken with the camera's self timer and provided by Joselo Lucero, Marcello Lucero, top, playfully hugs his brother Joselo in Patchouge, N.Y. In 2008, a gang of racist white youths out hunting "Mexicans" killed Marcello Lucero blocks from where Republican GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is planning an appearance at an upcoming Republican fundraiser on Thursday, April 14, 2016. Some say the visit is opening old wounds, but others simply oppose the billionaire's positions on building a wall on the Mexican border and other immigration stances. (Joselo Lucero via AP) Afghan mineral wealth being looted by strongmen, experts say KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) The brilliant blue stone lapis lazuli, prized for millennia, is almost uniquely found in Afghanistan, a key part of the extensive mineral wealth that is seen as the best hope for funding development of one of the world's poorest nations. Instead, lapis has become a source of income for the Taliban, smugglers and local warlords, emblematic of the central government's struggle to gain control over the resources and rein in corruption. Afghanistan is missing out in millions of dollars in revenues from lapis as illegal miners extract thousands of tons from the mines in northeastern Badakhshan province, according to experts and officials. A local police commander named Abdul Malik has control over a major mine, charges illegal miners to use it and pays the Taliban to allow him to operate, according to an internal memo to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani from his top adviser on mines, seen by The Associated Press, and a top official. In this Monday, March 28, 2016 photo, an Afghan businessman checks lapis lazuli at his shop in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan. The brilliant blue stone lapis lazuli, prized for millennia, is almost uniquely found in Afghanistan, a key part of the extensive mineral wealth that is seen as the best hope for funding development of one of the world's poorest nations. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) Smugglers bribe local officials to turn a blind eye as they transport the gems to Kabul and to neighboring Pakistan for sale, they said. Stephen Carter, Afghanistan campaign leader at international advocacy group Global Witness, said the country's mining sector "funds armed groups and is a major source of instability and corruption, not just in Badakhshan but across the whole country." Describing lapis lazuli as a microcosm of the mining sector, he said that without fundamental safeguards, especially to increase transparency and security in mining areas, "there is a real risk Afghanistan could face a chronic, resource-driven conflict." Javid Mujadidi, a Badakhshan lawmaker, estimates that 70 percent of the proceeds from the lapis lazuli "goes to the Taliban, who have a presence at the mine," located in the province's Kuran-wa-Munjan district in the mountains near the border with Pakistan. The extortion has helped fund the insurgency's spread from the southern heartland to the previously peaceful northern provinces. Afghanistan has reserves of coal, copper, iron ore, zinc, mercury, rare earths, gems such as rubies and emeralds, gold and silver, and much more. True values are difficult to assess, but Afghanistan's mineral and petrochemical deposits have been valued at up to $3 trillion. But little of that wealth is mined legally. Homegrown expertise in exploration, extraction and processing is poor. Inadequate infrastructure and lack of security keep international miners out, and recent ventures with foreign companies in iron ore, copper and gold have collapsed. Afghanistan has a virtual monopoly on lapis, which has been mined in Badakhshan for thousands of years. Egypt's pharaohs treasured lapis jewelry. Renaissance artists ground it to powder for ultramarine pigment. Today it is used for jewelry and ornaments. Legal mining peaked in 2014 at near 5,500 tons. Rough lapis lazuli ranges in value from $4 to $2,000 a kilogram (2.2 pounds), depending on quality. Illegal mining was rampant and, in an effort to stop it, Afghanistan's National Security Council banned all lapis lazuli mining in early 2015. But the mines themselves were not secured to prevent illegal exploitation, so Malik was able to take control with apparent impunity, said the official. Malik pays the Taliban in the area about $440,000 a month in protection money, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals from those involved in the illegal trade. Malik could not be reached by the AP to comment on the accusations. Afghan media have also identified him as controlling lapis mining, and he has not responded. Malik charges enormous rents to illegal miners allowing them to mine for 24 hours at a time, according to a Dec. 19 memo to Ghani from his senior adviser on construction, mines, water and energy, Mohammad Yousuf Pashtoon. The mines are being damaged by the high explosives that the miners use in an effort to get out as much as possible in their short permitted time, he wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the AP. Pashtoon also said Malik's son works for the Badakhshan branch of the national intelligence agency and warns his father of any intended operations against illegal mining or smuggling. He also wrote that 5,000 tons of lapis mined illegally from Kuran-wa-Munjan was being stored in four districts Keran wa Menjan, Juram, Barak and Angam, where the Taliban have long had a presence by the miners, transporters and traders who plan to profit from it. He wrote that 1,000 tons had already been moved to China. Lapis with an estimated market value over $1 billion had been under-declared and tax paid on stone valued at only $230,000. The contraband lapis is transported to Kabul, hidden in trucks carrying fruit, coal or other commodities. In the capital, it is sorted for global markets and from there most is taken to the Pakistani city of Peshawar, though some is flown to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, or the Indian city of Jaipur. Throughout the process, the central government receives nothing in taxes, and instead all along the route, local authorities and powerbrokers benefit, extracting payments from smugglers. In Peshawar, most of the lapis is bought by Chinese gem traders. With their purchases of precious stones, "the Chinese are funding the war in this country," said the official. The NSC, the president's office and the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for security forces, refused requests for comment. For traders who wish to work within the law, the ban has been financially debilitating. Jurm businessman Qari Abdulwadood has had 2.5 tons of legally extracted lapis in storage for two years at a cost of $8,000 a month. He said has already paid the pre-ban 15 percent royalty and would pay the 9 percent export tax. "Now they want us to take it to Kabul, to a central storage facility, but there is no security on the way or once we get there. How can we find the foreign buyers who will be able to cover all our costs?" said another local businessman, Ahmad Jan, who has 120 tons of lapis stored in Badakhshan. ___ Associated Press Writer Humayoon Babur in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report. In this Monday, March 28, 2016 photo, an Afghan man walks in front of a lapis lazuli shop in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan. The brilliant blue stone lapis lazuli, prized for millennia, is almost uniquely found in Afghanistan, a key part of the extensive mineral wealth that is seen as the best hope for funding development of one of the world's poorest nations. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) In this Monday, March 28, 2016 photo, an Afghan man works at a lapis lazuli factory in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan. The brilliant blue stone lapis lazuli, prized for millennia, is almost uniquely found in Afghanistan, a key part of the extensive mineral wealth that is seen as the best hope for funding development of one of the world's poorest nations. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) In this Monday, March 28, 2016 photo, an Afghan lapis lazuli shopkeeper waits for customers in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan. The brilliant blue stone lapis lazuli, prized for millennia, is almost uniquely found in Afghanistan, a key part of the extensive mineral wealth that is seen as the best hope for funding development of one of the world's poorest nations. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) In this Monday, March 28, 2016 photo, Afghan businessmen check lapis lazuli in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan. The brilliant blue stone lapis lazuli, prized for millennia, is almost uniquely found in Afghanistan, a key part of the extensive mineral wealth that is seen as the best hope for funding development of one of the world's poorest nations. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) Oscar-winning 'Spotlight' star says reporters deserve praise TOKYO (AP) Rachel McAdams, the actress who portrayed a Boston Globe reporter in the Oscar-winning "Spotlight," believes journalists should be praised as "unsung heroes," although nothing is easy about their jobs except for the frumpy clothes they get to wear. "It really is a dying art, and not for the faint of heart either," she told reporters in Tokyo Thursday. "They keep institutions on their toes and keep people accountable." "Spotlight," directed and written by Tom McCarthy, depicts how newspaper reporters uncovered how dozens of priests in the Archdiocese of Boston had molested and raped children for decades, while church higher-ups covered it up and shuffled abusive priests from parish to parish. Actress Rachel McAdams poses for photographers after a press conference in Tokyo, Thursday, April 14, 2016. McAdams, the actress who portrayed a Boston Globe reporter in the Oscar-winning Spotlight, believes journalists should be praised as unsung heroes, although nothing is easy about their jobs except for the frumpy clothes they get to wear. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) The film, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Screenplay, opens in Japan Friday. The cast includes Mark Ruffalo and Micheal Keaton. McAdams acknowledged that when she first read the script she wasn't sure anyone would come to see the film because it lacked the cinematic flash associated with blockbusters. McAdams, who also starred in "The Notebook" and "Southpaw," was happy it brought out crowds. "People were interested in seeing something that was just about the truth, that is the story that needed to be told, and gave voice to the voiceless," she said. McAdams worked closely with the reporter she portrayed, the Pulitzer-winning Sacha Pfeiffer, to build her character. She saw that reporters have a hard job because they never know if they will get a story, the hours are long, they rarely get encouragement and pressures are high from powerful interests. The one good thing about the job is that you can put on a pair of pants and a T-shirt like "a uniform" every day, and not have to think about clothes, she said, appearing at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in an elegant mini-dress splashed with colorful flowers. "I liked that about playing this character. She was comfortable, which is not usually what actresses are," she said. ___ Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/yurikageyama Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/yuri-kageyama Actress Rachel McAdams smiles before a press conference in Tokyo, Thursday, April 14, 2016. McAdams, the actress who portrayed a Boston Globe reporter in the Oscar-winning Spotlight, believes journalists should be praised as unsung heroes, although nothing is easy about their jobs except for the frumpy clothes they get to wear.(AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) Actress Rachel McAdams poses for photographers after a press conference in Tokyo, Thursday, April 14, 2016. McAdams, the actress in the Oscar-winning film "Spotlight," talks about the significance of the film on the eve of its opening in Japan. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) Actress Rachel McAdams arrives a press conference in Tokyo, Thursday, April 14, 2016. McAdams, the actress in the Oscar-winning film "Spotlight," talks about the significance of the film on the eve of its opening in Japan. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) Actress Rachel McAdams poses for photographers after a press conference in Tokyo, Thursday, April 14, 2016. McAdams, the actress in the Oscar-winning film "Spotlight," talks about the significance of the film on the eve of its opening in Japan. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) Actress Rachel McAdams poses for photographers after a press conference in Tokyo, Thursday, April 14, 2016. McAdams, the actress in the Oscar-winning film "Spotlight," talks about the significance of the film on the eve of its opening in Japan. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) Actress Rachel McAdams arrives a press conference in Tokyo, Thursday, April 14, 2016. McAdams, the actress in the Oscar-winning film "Spotlight," talks about the significance of the film on the eve of its opening in Japan. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) Actress Rachel McAdams smiles before a press conference in Tokyo, Thursday, April 14, 2016. McAdams, the actress in the Oscar-winning film "Spotlight," talks about the significance of the film on the eve of its opening in Japan. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) Actress Rachel McAdams poses for photographers after a press conference in Tokyo, Thursday, April 14, 2016. McAdams, the actress in the Oscar-winning film "Spotlight," talks about the significance of the film on the eve of its opening in Japan. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) US sending commandos, combat aircraft to Philippines MANILA, Philippines (AP) In a military buildup certain to inflame tensions with China, the United States said Thursday it will send troops and combat aircraft to the Philippines for regular, more frequent rotations, and will conduct more joint sea and air patrols with Philippine forces in the South China Sea. The announcement by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter in a news conference with Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin was the first time the U.S. disclosed that its ships had carried out sea patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, a somewhat rare move not done with many other partners in the region. Carter insisted that the U.S. did not intend to be provocative and was "trying to tamp down tensions here." But Gazmin said he expected that U.S. forces, "with their presence here, will deter uncalled-for actions by the Chinese." U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, left, talks with his Philippine counterpart Voltaire Gazmin during their joint press conference at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines on Thursday, April 14, 2016. The United States on Thursday revealed for the first time that American ships have started conducting joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, a somewhat rare move not done with many other partners in the region. (Romeo Ranoco/Pool Photo via AP) The increased troop presence is part of a broader U.S. campaign to expand its assistance to the Philippines as America shores up its allies in the Asia-Pacific that are roiled by China's building of man-made islands in the South China Sea. While the military boost does not include permanent basing for U.S. troops, China views any increased U.S. military presence and activities in the region as a threat. "Military exchanges by relevant countries should not target third parties, much less support a few countries in challenging China's sovereignty and security, inciting regional contradictions and sabotaging regional peace and stability," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement in response to Carter's announcement. Carter said the U.S. will keep nearly 300 troops, including Air Force special operations forces armed with combat aircraft and helicopters, in the Philippines through the end of the month. The U.S. will increase troop rotations to strengthen training and support increased military operations in the region. Speaking in the guest house of the presidential complex, Carter said the joint patrols will improve the Philippine navy and "contribute to the safety and security of the region's waters." Two patrols have taken place since March. The U.S. also has conducted joint patrols with Japan in the region. Carter has said that China's increased aggression in the region is compelling more countries to reach out to the U.S., strengthening their military ties with Washington. The increase in military support comes days after the Philippines' ambassador to the U.S. asked the Obama administration to help persuade China not to build in the nearby Scarborough Shoal, which is viewed as important to Philippine fishermen. Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. said the Philippines cannot stop China from building there. China has built man-made islands in other contested spots in the South China Sea. Charlito Maniago, the leader of a northwestern Philippine village where many fishermen lost access to the disputed Scarborough Shoal after China seized it in 2012, said the joint patrols will bring hope that fishermen can again sail freely to the rich fishing ground. "This will boost the confidence of our fishermen because they think the U.S. has the capability to defend them," Maniago told The Associated Press by telephone from the coastal village of Cato in Pangasinan province. "The presence of America will make China think twice." The Pentagon said the U.S. forces that will remain in the Philippines are already participating in the Balikatan, or shoulder-to-shoulder combat exercises, that will end Friday. About 200 airmen, including special operations forces, will remain at Clark Air Base, along with three of their Pave Hawk attack helicopters, an MC-130H Combat Talon II special mission aircraft and five A-10 combat aircraft. This initial contingent will provide training to increase the two militaries' ability to work together, laying the groundwork for forces to perform joint air patrols. Up to 75 Marines will stay at Camp Aguinaldo to support increased U.S. and Philippine combined military operations. The troops and aircraft are expected to leave at the end of April, but other U.S. forces and aircraft would do similar rotations into the Philippines routinely in the future. Carter would not say how frequently those rotations would happen, but called it a "regular periodic presence." Last week the Pentagon announced that the U.S. will give the Philippines about $40 million in military assistance to bolster intelligence-sharing, surveillance and naval patrols. Carter said the aid will include an enhanced information network for classified communications, sensors for patrol vessels and an unmanned aerostat reconnaissance airship to help the Philippines keep watch over its territory. The U.S. will get access to five Philippine military bases to house American forces that will rotate in and out of the country for training and other missions. Scarborough Shoal is at the center of a case that Manila filed with the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international panel, in January 2013 after Chinese coast guard ships took effective control of the disputed land following a tense standoff with Filipino ships. The shoal sits about 145 miles (230 kilometers) west of the Philippines, and 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the Chinese coast. The court has agreed to take the case. Beijing says the panel has no jurisdiction in the matter. ___ Associated Press writers Jim Gomez in Manila and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report. U.S. military armored personnel carriers take their positions during the 11-day joint US-Philippines military exercise dubbed "Balikatan 2016" (Shoulder-To-Shoulder 2016) Thursday, April 14, 2016 at Crow Valley, Tarlac province north of Manila, Philippines. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrived in the country Wednesday for talks with President Benigno Aquino III and other top defense and military officials and to visit two military camps which are being utilized for the exercise.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, left, discusses with his Philippine counterpart Voltaire Gazmin during their joint press conference at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines on Thursday, April 14, 2016. The United States on Thursday revealed for the first time that American ships have started conducting joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, a somewhat rare move not done with many other partners in the region. (Romeo Ranoco/Pool Photo via AP) A U.S. military V22 Osprey Tiltrotor aircraft maneuvers during the 11-day joint US-Philippines military exercise dubbed "Balikatan 2016" (Shoulder-To-Shoulder 2016) Thursday, April 14, 2016 at Crow Valley, Tarlac province north of Manila, Philippines. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrived in the country Wednesday for talks with President Benigno Aquino III and other top defense and military officials and to visit two military camps under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement or EDCA.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter gestures during a joint press conference at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines on Thursday, April 14, 2016. The United States on Thursday revealed for the first time that American ships have started conducting joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, a somewhat rare move not done with many other partners in the region. (Romeo Ranoco/Pool Photo via AP) Belgian judge orders Abrini, 6 others held for another month BRUSSELS (AP) A Belgian judge on Thursday ordered Mohamed Abrini and six other suspects arrested in connection with the attacks in Paris and Brussels kept behind bars for another month, prosecutors said. Abrini, 31, has acknowledged being the "man in the hat" seen leaving Brussels Airport the morning of March 22, when two suicide bombers detonated explosives-laden suitcases there, killing 16. Sixteen other people died that same morning when another bomber blew himself up on a Brussels subway train. A police officer patrols outside the federal court building in Brussels on Thursday, April 14, 2016. Suspects from the Brussels and Paris attacks appeared in court Thursday for a court hearing to decide whether or not to extend their detention. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) Osama Krayem, 23, a Swedish national suspected of being the accomplice of the subway bomber, was also kept in custody for another month, Belgian prosecutors said. Krayem's defense attorney told reporters his client has been talking to Belgian investigators. "He said he assumed responsibility," Vincent Lurquin said. "We'll see what responsibility he will assume, but he has assumed in any event some responsibility, and that's why he's talking and being questioned." Belgian investigators are especially eager to learn what happened to a backpack Krayem was wearing the morning of the Brussels attacks that resembled one carried by subway bomber Khalid El Bakraoui. "There's a bag, he has said what he knew about it," Lurquin said of his client. "He didn't avoid the problem. He answered." Lurquin said that he couldn't make public any details about the investigation. The others ordered held in custody by the judge included four more suspects charged in the Brussels attacks, and one man accused of helping key Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam escape from France to Belgium. Abrini, who was arrested in Belgium last week, also had close ties to the attackers who killed 130 victims on Nov. 13 in Paris, and is believed to have traveled to Syria and to have met with suspected Muslim extremists in England. France's BFM television reported Abrini has claimed to investigators he "wouldn't hurt a fly." Belgian and French authorities have detained dozens of suspects in their investigations of the attacks, which were claimed by Islamic State group extremists. Separately Thursday, Belgian national media said an influential recruiter for armed Islamic groups in Syria was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Khalid Zerkani was handed the sentence by a Brussels appeals court. Among his recruits were two Brussels residents, Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Chakib Akrouh, who helped staged the Paris attacks. Abaaoud and Akrouh themselves died soon afterward in a police siege. Belgian Army soldiers patrol as they wait for convoys thought to be carrying suspects from the Brussels and Paris attacks arrive at court in Brussels on Thursday, April 14, 2016. Six suspects from the Brussels attacks and two from the Paris attacks appeared in court Thursday for a court hearing to decide whether or not to extend their detention. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) Police officers check the identification of a lawyer outside the federal court building in Brussels on Thursday, April 14, 2016. Suspects from the Brussels and Paris attacks appeared in court Thursday for a court hearing to decide whether or not to extend their detention. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) Convoys thought to be carrying suspects from the Brussels and Paris attacks arrive at court in Brussels on Thursday, April 14, 2016. Six suspects from the Brussels attacks and two from the Paris attacks appeared in court Thursday for a court hearing to decide whether or not to extend their detention. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) AP Analysis: S. Korea ruling party defeat a test for Park SEOUL, South Korea (AP) South Korean President Park Geun-hye has long been known as the "Queen of Elections" for a decades-long track record of steering her party to sometimes unlikely victories. Now, a crushing, shocking defeat in parliamentary elections sets up the fight of her political life. In the last two years of her five-year presidency, Park must stave off lame duck status and keep a disintegrating party intact even as she tries to push an ambitious domestic policy through a hostile parliament. Her conservative Saenuri Party's failure to gain a majority in the 300-seat National Assembly, where its 122 legislators will be one less than the main opposition Minjoo Party, likely threatens her much-criticized economic reforms, including plans to make it easier for companies to lay off workers. It also blows open next year's presidential race, which could shape up to be a referendum on her presidency. Kim Chong In, a chairman of the main opposition party, the Minjoo Party of Korea, looks at the cameras as he places a sticker onto one of the party's winning candidates' photographs for parliamentary election in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. South Koreans voted in parliamentary elections Wednesday that were expected to hand a decisive win to President Park Geun-hye's conservative party, and enable her to push ahead with controversial economic reforms. Exit polls, however, indicated her party would not regain its majority in the National Assembly. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, Pool) Before Wednesday's vote, pollsters had predicted Saenuri would soundly beat a divided opposition and so open up a path to taking the presidency in December 2017 elections, as Park's single term expires. The lackluster showing now likely deprives the party, at least temporarily, of any bankable candidate to field in next year's election. Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung, considered by many as a favorite to succeed Park, has offered to resign to take responsibility for the poor results. Former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon had been considered another potential presidential candidate for Saenuri, but he couldn't even win a lawmaker's seat on Wednesday in a city he once governed. Saenuri's defeat may be partially attributed to voter reaction to Park's leadership style, which critics describe as heavy-handed and uncompromising. Voters may also be frustrated with the sluggish economy. Household debt has reached new highs and the unemployment rate for people under 30 is at levels unseen since the late 1990s, when millions lost their jobs during a crippling financial crisis. Throughout her presidency, Park has continuously clashed with opposition lawmakers over laws and policies. She has also showed an inability to tolerate dissent within her own party, which has often inspired factional rifts. She openly accused former Saenuri floor leader Yoo Seung Min of "betrayal" in a Cabinet meeting last year as she vetoed a bill aimed at giving lawmakers the authority to review government ordinances. She blamed Yoo for conceding to the opposition's push to pass the bill. Park's loyalists in the party then pressured Yoo to step down from his post, something he reluctantly did weeks later. The conservative Dong-A Ilbo newspaper said in a front page article on the election that an "angry" public "laid judgment on the Queen of Elections." It argued that the party's appeal was damaged by the intense infighting between Park's loyalists and reformists. That resulted in the departure from the party of several lawmakers, including Yoo, who ran as independents. Yoo won a seat. Yul Shin, a politics professor at Seoul's Myongji University, said that growing anger over joblessness might have driven more young people to polling stations. The National Election Commission said 58 percent of the country's 42 million voters participated in Wednesday's election, a higher level than four years ago, when 54.2 percent of the electorate turned out. It wasn't immediately clear whether larger participation by younger voters contributed to the increase in turnout. Park's government over the years has been held back by legislative gridlock, despite having the backing of the majority party in parliament. To get anything through an opposition-controlled assembly, Park now needs to find a way to engage and communicate with lawmakers and cooperate with them when needed, something critics say she has previously been unwilling to do. Kim Chong In, a chairman of the main opposition party, the Minjoo Party of Korea, places a sticker onto one of the party's winning candidates' photographs for parliamentary election in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. South Koreans voted in parliamentary elections Wednesday that were expected to hand a decisive win to President Park Geun-hye's conservative party, and enable her to push ahead with controversial economic reforms. Exit polls, however, indicated her party would not regain its majority in the National Assembly. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man,Pool) South Korean National Election Commission officials sort out ballots in the country's parliamentary elections as they begin the counting process in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. President Park Geun-hyes conservative party seemed headed for a shocking setback after South Koreans voted in parliamentary elections on Wednesday, with early vote counts suggesting it would not regain its majority in the National Assembly. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) Lawyer of Indonesia cleric says his jail conditions inhumane JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) A lawyer for the spiritual leader of the militants who carried out the 2002 Bali bombings is urging Indonesian authorities to end his "inhumane" treatment in prison. The radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has been confined to a tiny isolation cell on the Nusa Kambangan prison island as part of a broad tightening of security in the wake of the Jan. 14 suicide bombings in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. Authorities say isolation measures, which are also being applied to other top convicted militants, are needed to stop the ailing 77-year-old Bashir from radicalizing prisoners and to cut him off from extremist networks. FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012 file photo, Indonesian militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir arrives at a hospital to undergo medical treatment, in Jakarta, Indonesia. A lawyer for the spiritual leader of the militants who carried out the 2002 Bali bombings urges Indonesian authorities to end his inhumane treatment in prison, saying that Bashir has been confined to a tiny isolation cell in the wake of the Jan. 14 suicide bombings in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File) Lawyer Mohammad Mahendradatta said Thursday that Bashir is kept in his 2 square meter (22 square foot) cell for 23 hours a day and sleeps on thin mats over a cement floor without blankets. He is denied reading materials and personal items, regularly awakened from his sleep because of mosquitos, and consultations with medical staff take place behind barriers. "The condition of his cell is simply shocking and inhumane treatment against him is causing his health to deteriorate," Mahendradatta said. The claim of mistreatment comes amid heightened concerns among the public and rights groups about possible extrajudicial killings following the recent death in custody of an alleged militant. Police said the militant, known as Siyono, had concealed a handgun and attacked officers. But an autopsy conducted last week at the request of Siyono's wife and backed by Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second-largest Muslim group, revealed that the 34-year-old died from trauma to the chest and had no defensive wounds on his body. The findings prompted Indonesia's parliament to summon the national police chief and the anti-terrorism agency chief to a hearing next week. Bashir, known as the spiritual leader of al-Qaida-linked militants behind the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2011. Prosecutors said he was a key player in supporting a militant training camp in Aceh that brought together men from almost every known extremist group in predominantly Muslim Indonesia. A higher court later cut the sentence to nine years. Akbar Hadi Prabowo, spokesman for the directorate general overseeing prisons, said Bashir has appropriate facilities for an isolation prisoner. "The information we have is that Bashir is in a state of good health," he said. "There is no mistreatment against Bashir, he gets proper facilities for the inmate who is placed in isolation." Putin says no agreement yet on restoring air link to Egypt MOSCOW (AP) President Vladimir Putin says Russian and Egyptian officials have so far failed to agree on security procedures needed to restore direct flights between the two countries. Moscow halted the flights after the downing last October of a Russian passenger jet over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula that killed all 224 people on board. Russia says the plane was brought down by an explosive device, and a local branch of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for planting it. The crash and Russia's decision to cut the air link has dealt a severe blow to Egypt's vital tourism sector. Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking during his annual call-in show in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 14, 2016. The Kremlin has been sifting through more than 1 million questions from across the country to get Putin ready for the television marathon. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Putin said on Thursday that Russia and Egypt must agree on enhanced airport security checks to make it safe for the Russians to travel to Egypt. Romania discusses Black Sea drilling with Russia's Lukoil BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) Romania's energy minister has discussed a Russian-U.S.-Romanian drilling project in the Black Sea where more than 30 billion cubic meters (1,060 billion cubic feet) of natural gas have been discovered. The office of Energy Minister Victor Grigorescu said Thursday that he met this week with Vladimir Nekrasov, a senior official with Russia's Lukoil, to discuss the site some 170 kilometers (105 miles) off Romania's coast. Lukoil, Romanian company Romgaz and U.S. firm PanAtlantic Petroleum Ltd are partners in the project. Missing Florida priest's car found, driver arrested MIAMI (AP) South Carolina law enforcement authorities said Thursday that a "person of interest" was arrested while driving a car belonging to a missing Roman Catholic priest 300 miles from where he disappeared in St. Augustine, Florida. Steven James Murray, 28, was arrested in Aiken, South Carolina, on Wednesday night, authorities said. The car belonged to the Rev. Rene Robert, 71, who has not been seen since Sunday. Inside the car were numerous weapons, including a rifle with a scope, said Sheriff David Shoar of St. Johns County, Florida. Shoar said Murray had threatened "to kill as many cops as he could" but that no one was injured during the arrest. In this arrest photo made available by the Aiken County Sheriff's Office, SC., shows Steven James Murray of Jacksonville, Fla., on Thursday, April 14, 2016. Murray is a person of interest in the disappearance of a 71-year-old Catholic priest from St. Augustine, Fla. Murray was taken into custody while driving a car in Aiken, SC., belonging to Rev. Rene Robert. (Aiken County Sheriff's Office via AP) An emotional Shoar called Robert a personal friend, and said he fears the worst has happened to the priest who was known around St. Augustine for helping the poor and destitute. "Father was a gentle soul," Shoar told reporters at a news conference. "A Franciscan, he always wore sandals no matter how cold it was out. A great man." Agencies "are starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together" but still don't know Robert's whereabouts, Commander Chuck Mulligan of the St. Johns Sheriff's Office said in a phone call. He said Robert's disappearance is considered foul play. Aiken County Sheriff's spokesman Eric Abdullah wrote in a statement that deputies and U.S. marshals responded to Murray's last known location Wednesday afternoon. As they approached the 2012 blue Toyota Corolla with Florida license plates, Murray drove away and crashed into a tree, then fled on foot, Abdullah wrote. Bloodhounds and a helicopter tracked Murray down and he was arrested, according to the statement. Police said neighbors and friends of Robert said the priest had been helping Murray who was recently released from jail. Murray is charged with aggravated fleeing and attempting to elude. No charges have been filed against him in Florida related to Robert's disappearance. Records don't indicate whether he's hired an attorney to contact for comment on the case. Robert is a senior priest for the Diocese of St. Augustine. Shoar said his office is doing everything it can to locate the priest whom he said often gave money to people in need. "He dealt with people addicted to drugs, hard lives," Shoar said. "I'd call him one of our better angels. He never went looking for credit." ___ In western town, Iraqi forces uncover remnants of IS rule HIT, Iraq (AP) After clearing a street of Islamic State fighters, Maj. Salam Hussein began moving house to house. Rifling through drawers in living rooms and bedrooms, he pulled out a handful of papers, pamphlets and books all printed by the Islamic State group. "We find this (stuff) is every house," he said using a profanity. "Look, this is for children, secondary school," he said holding up an exercise book with a child's drawing of an IS flag on the front cover. Maj. Hussein is with Iraq's Special Operations Forces, the country's elite counterterrorism troops. His men are leading the fight against IS in the western Iraqi town of Hit along the Euphrates river valley. While Iraqi forces say they're now in control of most of the town, the operation has been painfully slow going. Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces fire towards extremist positions during fights between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State group during a military operation to regain control of Hit, 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Iraqi forces were met with tens of thousands of trapped civilians, making it difficult to call in airstrikes, and fierce resistance from IS fighters. Commanders on the ground say they've killed and captured more foreign fighters and the skill of the fighters they have been up against in Hit far outweighs what they saw in the battle for Ramadi earlier this year. Hit is poised to be the most recent territorial victory for Iraqi forces battling IS under close cover of coalition air support. After overrunning Iraq's second largest city of Mosul in 2014, Islamic State militants swept across northern and western Iraq, linking the group's territories in Iraq and Syria and declaring a caliphate. The group still controls large swaths of territory straddling the Syria-Iraq border. "Hit was a Daesh capital, it was their capital city in Anbar," said Gen. Abdel Ghani al-Asadi, the head of Iraq's counterterrorism forces, using the Arabic acronym for IS. In chatter that Iraqi forces overheard from intercepted IS radio communications, IS fighters were saying that "this is our headquarters and we will never leave this area," said Gen. al-Asadi. While Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar which was retaken by government forces in February, may have been a more symbolically important victory, al-Asadi said that Hit was always considered a higher priority by IS. Hit sits along a highway that connects IS fighters in Iraq to the group's forces in Syria and was the last major town west of Ramadi fully under IS control before the Syria border. Consolidating gains there will help pave the way for future operations further north, according to Iraqi and coalition officials. On Thursday, Iraqi forces on the southern edge of Hit moved down the street of residential blocks, calling for coalition air support before advancing just a few dozen meters at a time. A handful of Humvees provided cover as a bulldozer erected a roadblock from rubble and abandoned vehicles to prevent potential suicide car bombings. Shops along all the town's streets were shuttered. Some blocks appear to have been completely leveled by the fighting. The only civilians in the streets were groups of people fleeing, holding white flags and carrying bags of food, blankets and clothing. "Toward the end, there was nothing here, no doctors for my children or my mother. We just stayed in our houses," a resident identifying himself as Abu Muhammed said as he fled through the ruined streets with his family. "We just had tea and sugar left in the kitchen at the end." On the edge of another main street, an Iraqi officer freed song birds from a pet shop. "If we leave them in the cages they'll just die," another officer explained. Initially Maj. Hussein and other counterterrorism commanders thought the operation to retake Hit would only take a matter of days. Now, the push is entering its seventh week. Hussein said he's dealt with the long mission by upping his intake of energy drinks; he keeps a full cooler of them in his Humvee and said he now averages more than 20 a day. Inside another abandoned home along the frontline, Maj. Hussein pulled out handfuls of clothing, long shirts and trousers in central Asian style, the strictly enforced dress code in IS-ruled cities and towns. "See this, it's the uniform of Daesh," he said, pulling out a child-sized garment. "These people wanted to create a whole new generation ... that's why they were focusing on the children." ___ Associated Press writer Khalid Mohammed in Hit, Iraq contributed to this report. People flee their homes during fighting between Iraqi security forces and the Islamic State group during a military operation to regain control of Hit, 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) An Iraqi soldier instructs displaced people to raise their hands to check for suicide bombers during fighting between Iraqi security forces and the Islamic State group during a military operation to regain control of Hit, 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) People flee their homes during fighting between Iraqi security forces and the Islamic State group during a military operation to regain control of Hit, 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces advance their positions in their fight against the Islamic State group during a military operation to regain control of Hit, 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Iraqi security forces arrest a suspected fighter with the Islamic State group during a military operation to regain control of Hit, 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces celebrate as they hold a flag of the Islamic State group they captured during a military operation to regain control of Hit, 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) A woman shoulders a duffel bag as she flees home along with other civilians during fighting between Iraqi security forces and the Islamic State group during a military operation to regain control of Hit, 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Fast food workers protest in front of Disneyland Paris PARIS (AP) Fast food workers and union members have held a protest at a McDonald's restaurant at Disneyland Paris to demand higher wages and an end to the use of tax havens by multinational corporations. About 100 people, many waving red union flags, gathered peacefully for the protest Thursday as customers slipped behind them to buy hamburgers. The workers are demanding a monthly minimum wage for fast food workers of 1,800 euros ($2,033). Unionists and fast food workers demonstrate outside the McDonald's fast food restaurant at the Disneyland Paris theme park, in Marne la Vallee, outside Paris, Thursday, April 14, 2016. In the United States, protesters calling for pay of $15 an hour are expected to hold demonstrations at McDonalds stores around the country Thursday. McDonalds said it gives American workers access to a program that helps them with education and is raising starting wages. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) CGT union representatives also evoked anger at revelations of offshore accounts and suspected tax dodging by companies. McDonald's France said in a statement that it "deplores" the protest and hopes for peaceful dialogue. It said the company has reached about 100 labor agreements with unions in the Paris region since 2008, but didn't provide details on wage negotiations. Protester Amel Ketfi said they want "1,800 euros, which is a minimum for a decent living, in order to pay its rent and eat. It is a minimum for all of us, not only fast food employees." In the U.S., protesters calling for pay of $15 an hour are expected to hold demonstrations at McDonald's stores around the country Thursday. McDonald's said it gives American workers access to a program that helps them with education and is raising starting wages. Unionists and fast food workers demonstrate outside the McDonald's fast food restaurant at the Disneyland Paris theme park, in Marne la Vallee, outside Paris, Thursday, April 14, 2016. In the United States, protesters calling for pay of $15 an hour are expected to hold demonstrations at McDonalds stores around the country Thursday. McDonalds said it gives American workers access to a program that helps them with education and is raising starting wages. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) Czech policeman drinks and drives, hits 51 parked cars PRAGUE (AP) Czech police say one of their officers drank too much and crashed his Jeep Grand Cherokee into a total of 51 parked cars in Prague. Police say officer Karel Kadlec was detained after the incident Tuesday in Prague's Vinohrady district and an alcohol test revealed he was under the influence. No injuries were reported. There is a zero alcohol tolerance for drivers in the Czech Republic. Kadlec had already been suspended because he crashed into another car while drunk a year ago. Authorities say headless body belonged to escaped inmate WINDSOR, N.C. (AP) Authorities say a headless body found in North Carolina last week belonged to a prisoner who escaped from a jail last month. News outlets report that 26-year-old Kelvin Singleton's partially decomposed body was found April 7 in a remote Bertie County field. Less than two weeks earlier, and about 10 miles away, authorities say Singleton had formed a weapon from a sharpened toothbrush and forced a deputy at the Chowan County Detention Facility to set him free. Chowan County Sheriff Dwayne Goodwin says Singleton wasn't killed where the body was found. His body was identified by his fingerprints. His head has not been located. The State Bureau of Investigation has been called in to investigate. 900 police officers raid Berlin brothel BERLIN (AP) Berlin police say some 900 officers have raided one of the German capital's biggest brothels and arrested six people following a months-long investigation into human trafficking, tax fraud and withholding of social security contributions. Police said Thursday the raid at Artemis brothel late Wednesday was conducted by police officers as well as customs office employees and tax fraud investigators. Prosecutors said that sex workers at Artemis were forced to pretend they're self-employed so their bosses did not have to pay social security contributions. Ex-Manson family member seeks parole for 1969 murder CHINO, California (AP) Leslie Van Houten, the youngest of Charles Manson's followers to take part in one of the nation's most notorious killings, is trying again for parole. The homecoming princess who descended into a life of drugs before joining Manson's cult in the 1960s is scheduled for her 21st hearing before a parole board panel on Thursday at the California Institution for Women in Chino. Van Houten, 66, has spent more than four decades in prison, completing college degrees and demonstrating exemplary behavior. FILE- In this June 5, 2013, file photo, Leslie Van Houten appears during her parole hearing at the California Institution for Women in Chino, Calif. The youngest of Charles Mansons followers to take part in one of the nations most notorious killings is trying again for parole. Van Houten is scheduled for her 21st hearing before a parole board panel Thursday, April 14, 2016, at a womens prison in Corona, Calif. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) She was convicted for her role in the 1969 murders of wealthy grocer Leno La Bianca and his wife Rosemary in their Los Angeles home. The La Biancas were stabbed numerous times and the word "WAR" was carved on his stomach. The couple was killed a day after other so-called "Manson family" members murdered actress Sharon Tate, pregnant wife of director Roman Polanski, and four others. The killings were the start of what Manson believed was a coming race war. He dubbed it "Helter Skelter" after a Beatles song. Van Houten's lawyer, Rich Pfeiffer, said she presents no danger to the public and should be freed. "The only violent thing she has ever done in her entire life was this crime and that was under the control of Charles Manson," he said. "She is just not a public safety risk, and when you are not a public safety risk, the law says you shall be released." The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office declined to comment ahead of Thursday's hearing. Sharon Tate's sister, Debra, has started an online petition opposing parole for Van Houten, saying she failed to show remorse for years after the crimes and can't be trusted. At her last hearing in 2013, a parole commissioner told Van Houten she had failed to explain how someone as intelligent and well-bred as she could have committed such cruel and atrocious crimes. Van Houten told the panel she had been traumatized by her parents' divorce when she was 14, her pregnancy soon after and her mother's insistence she have an abortion. During the hearing, she apologized to everyone she had harmed. Van Houten did not participate in the Tate killings but went along the next night when the La Biancas were slain. She was 19 at the time. Her defense lawyers portrayed her as a young woman from a good family who had been a homecoming princess and showed promise until she got involved with drugs and was recruited into Manson's cult. During the penalty phase of her trial, she confessed to joining in stabbing Rosemary La Bianca after she was dead. Van Houten's conviction was overturned on appeal. She was retried twice and convicted in 1978 of two counts of murder and conspiracy. Manson, 81, and other followers involved in the killings are still jailed. Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles "Tex" Watson have each been denied parole multiple times, while fellow defendant Susan Atkins died in prison in 2009. Former Manson follower Bruce Davis was approved for parole but Gov. Jerry Brown blocked his release in 2014, citing the gravity of his offenses and his refusal to fully accept responsibility for his role in the murders of a stunt man and a musician. Pope, patriarch to highlight refugees' plight in visit ATHENS, Greece (AP) Just as Europe starts sending would-be migrants back to Turkey, the leaders of the Catholic and Orthodox churches are heading to a Greek island to voice solidarity with those who have streamed in fleeing war, poverty and persecution. Saturday's high-powered visit to Lesbos by Pope Francis, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, and Athens Archbishop Ieronymos, the head of the Church of Greece, could embarrass EU leaders already under fire from human rights groups. The Vatican said Thursday that Francis' five-hour visit to Lesbos was purely humanitarian and religious in nature, not political, and wasn't meant as a criticism of the deportation program. But spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi acknowledged that Francis has previously told Europe it had a "moral obligation" to welcome refugees, and that it was "evident" that the humanitarian crisis in Europe only exists because political solutions to regional conflicts haven't been found. FILE - In this Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014 file photo, Pope Francis, left, arrives with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to attend an ecumenical prayer at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in Istanbul. On Saturday, April 16, 2016, Pope Francis heads to Lesbos island along with the spiritual leader of the worlds Orthodox Christians and the head of the Church of Greece to voice their solidarity with the refugees and migrants who have streamed into Europe fleeing war, poverty and persecution for better lives in its prosperous heartland - a trip that could embarrass EU leaders already under fire from human rights groups over the deportations. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File) On Wednesday Francis said he and the Orthodox leaders intended "to express closeness and solidarity both to the refugees and to the Lesbos citizens and all the Greek people who are so generous in welcoming (refugees)." All three have been outspoken on the refugee issue, and the Church of Greece has mounted a massive aid effort for those flowing through Greece as well as caring for Greeks impoverished by their country's financial crisis. And while no official statements have directly linked their visit with the deportations, the timing is certainly significant. The son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, Francis made his first papal visit outside Rome nearly two years ago to Lampedusa, a rocky Italian island near Africa and the main landing point for migrants smuggled across the Mediterranean from Libya or Tunisia. There, he denounced the "globalization of indifference" shown to migrants. Bartholomew has been just as outspoken. In his Christmas message, he said the fact that children are forced to flee their homes in fear of their lives was "a disgrace for humankind." For his part, Ieronymos on Tuesday blasted European countries' decision to build border fences to prevent refugees from entering and said Greece didn't have the capability to offer shelter to all those fleeing their homelands and shouldn't become "a warehouse of people." The Lesbos visit, announced last week, was instigated by a suggestion from Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based "first among equals" in global Orthodoxy who has made forging closer ties with the Catholic Church a cornerstone of his tenure as patriarch and enjoys good relations with Francis. The visit "will encourage and strengthen the thousands of suffering refugees, while inspiring the implementation of appropriate actions for the protection of the afflicted Christian communities as well as the proper response to the critical refugee situation," the patriarchate said. Their presence on Lesbos, where more than half of all those heading to Europe first landed, will certainly be highly symbolic at a time of growing criticism of the March 18 EU-Turkey deal, which stipulates anyone arriving clandestinely on Greek islands on or after March 20 will be returned to Turkey unless they successfully apply for asylum in Greece. For every Syrian sent back, the EU will take another Syrian directly from Turkey for resettlement in Europe. In return, Turkey was granted concessions including billions of euros to deal with the more than 2.7 million Syrian refugees living there, and a speeding up of its stalled accession talks with the EU. Rights groups have blasted the deal as one trampling on the human rights of desperate people. And the Vatican has been just as clear in its criticism. "It's not like Turkey is an example of liberty or democracy," Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio, the Vatican official in charge of migration issues, told Vatican Radio, warning that those returned could be sent back to Syria or their families split up. "In addition, Turkey is getting something financial out of this accord. And it will do anything to get into the European Union." The agreement, he said, treated refugees like merchandise. "These poor migrants aren't things to be sent by mail, a kilo of merchandise: 'We'll take 80 kilos here and we'll send them there.' These are people!" Veglio said. The religious leaders' first stop on Lesbos will be Moria, a refugee camp through which hundreds of thousands have passed on their way north. On March 20, the doors of the reception and registration center were locked and those living there prevented from leaving after it was turned into a detention center as part of the deal. Bartholomew, Francis and Ieronymos will spend nearly an hour individually greeting about 250 refugees, and then have lunch inside a cargo container nearby with eight refugee representatives, the Vatican said. Short speeches and a joint declaration are planned. They will then head to the island's capital and main port of Mytilene to meet residents, the small Catholic community, and lead prayers for the many refugees who drowned trying to get to Europe. Each of the leaders will toss a floral reef into the sea in memory of migrants who have died. ___ Nicole Winfield reported from Vatican City. US: IS group could be emboldening Filipino militants MANILA, Philippines (AP) U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday that the violent influence of the Islamic State group could be emboldening militants in the southern Philippines who last week killed 18 Filipino troops. Carter expressed condolences and compared the slain Filipino soldiers to U.S. troops buried at an American World War II cemetery in Manila where he laid a wreath Thursday. "Like those buried at the American cemetery, these fallen Philippine allies have made the ultimate sacrifice," Carter said at a news conference with his Filipino counterpart, Voltaire Gazmin. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, left, talks with his Philippine counterpart Voltaire Gazmin during their joint press conference at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines on Thursday, April 14, 2016. The United States on Thursday revealed for the first time that American ships have started conducting joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, a somewhat rare move not done with many other partners in the region. (Romeo Ranoco/Pool Photo via AP) The Philippine deaths were another reason why the Middle East-based group should be destroyed, he said. Gazmin said the Abu Sayyaf militants who clashed with the Filipino troops were trying to affiliate with the IS extremists in Syria and Iraq but there has been no evidence that the group had a presence in the country. "It is a worldwide phenomenon of others who have associated themselves with ISIL and that maybe what we are seeing here by groups in the Philippines," Carter said, using another acronym for the IS. The slain soldiers were among troops carrying out a major offensive against the Abu Sayyaf. They died in a clash Saturday on southern Basilan island. At least 24 militants, including a Moroccan bomb-expert, have been killed in the ongoing offensive, the Philippine military said. Trump's inexperienced supporters hamstring delegate hunt COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) First Steve Barlock figured out how to join the Republican party so he could support Donald Trump in the Colorado GOP caucuses. That was the easy part. What followed was a misadventure that could plague the GOP front-runner in more states unless Trump's grass-roots supporters, often political outsiders themselves, get more help navigating the inside battle for delegates. Trump's national campaign is largely staffed by an insular circle with little experience in the complexities of presidential politics. The Colorado debacle has revealed another factor holding back the billionaire front-runner as he tries to lock down enough delegates to clinch the nomination: the inexperience of his supporters. In this photo taken April 13, 2016, Steve Barlock, a supporter of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, stands near Union Station in Denver. First Barlock discovered he had to join the Republican Party to support Donald Trump in the Colorado GOP caucuses. That was the easy part. What followed was a misadventure that could plague the GOP front-runner in states to come unless Trumps grassroots supporters, often political outsiders themselves, get more help navigating the inside battle for delegates. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) After signing on to the GOP, Barlock had to attend a series of caucus-style events, known in Colorado as "assemblies," as he tried to become a delegate for Trump to the Republican National Convention this summer. The paralegal printed reams of rules and forms. He began hand-searching party websites for lists of people eligible to vote at the statewide assembly so he could contact them and ask for their support. In return, his inbox flooded with emails promoting the slate for Ted Cruz, a Trump rival. When Trump supporters countered with their own list, it was riddled with typos and occasionally listed people ineligible to serve. In the end, Barlock and others like him were overwhelmed. Cruz swept all 34 delegates elected at the state's assemblies. Barlock had to be content with becoming one of Trump's seven alternates to the convention. "We were really doing it by the skin of our teeth, and no idea how to do it," said Barlock, 44. Cruz has been steadily winning caucus states or other small-scale gatherings that yield delegates, running up enough that the Texas senator may deny Trump the 1,237 needed for the nomination at the Cleveland convention in July. Colorado proved his biggest coup yet. Trump tweeted a video of a supporter burning his Colorado GOP registration and contended "the system is rigged" in an interview. The Colorado GOP chairman, Steve House, said he's received 30,000 complaints and some death threats. Trump increasingly needs to lock down every last delegate to be assured of the nomination. Knowledgeable and motivated ground-level volunteers are essential in caucuses and state party conventions where delegates are selected. Without them, Trump has often been beaten in caucuses or even in states where he's won at the polls. Trump is expected to lose 14 delegates to Cruz this weekend in Wyoming, where the state GOP will select its remaining delegates after Cruz beat Trump in caucuses in the state last month. Similar gatherings ahead in Arkansas and Minnesota also look ominous for Trump. Trump's delegate guru, Paul Manafort, complained in a Fox News interview this week of "a pattern at the local levels abusing the amateurness of the enthusiasm of Republicans who want to participate in the process and are being cut out by backroom tactics." In Colorado, the state party removed its presidential preference poll from its March 1 caucuses. Delegates were chosen based on their speeches or how well-known they are. They were not required to reveal which presidential candidates they backed, though some did. The winners of those contests went to county-level meetings that selected a roster for meetings for each of the state's seven congressional districts and the statewide convention. That's where delegate slates run by the Cruz campaign prevailed. Led by elected officials and seasoned party activists, Cruz's Colorado supporters began plotting strategy in December. As other presidential candidates dropped out, Cruz consolidated support in the state. "There was not a single paid staffer from the Cruz campaign," said Kendal Unruh, a high school government teacher and veteran of Colorado's nominating process who successfully ran on the Cruz slate. "There was no money from the Cruz campaign dumped in the state." She added: "We reward hard work here." The 3,800 delegates who made it to the statewide convention in Colorado Springs on Saturday were overwhelmingly Cruz backers. Trump supporters had little idea of the machinations at work. Erin Behrens had watched with alarm when some Trump supporters left her neighborhood caucus in the Denver suburb of Arvada out of frustration with the confusing process. But Trump won an unofficial straw poll at Behrens' caucus site and she assumed plenty of Trump backers would make it to the state convention. She woke up Sunday to the news that Trump had been swept. She planned to organize a protest at state party headquarters on Friday. At the convention, Connie and George Rosel were flabbergasted at the parade of elected Republicans giving speeches while wearing Cruz stickers. The Trump slate was hastily arranged: The campaign sent only one staffer to Colorado, fired him 48 hours later, then hired a local operative three days before for the state assembly. Also, the state was plagued with errors, and so was the state party ballot, which was adjusted from the stage. The Rosels and other Trump supporters suspected the fix was in. Connie Rosel had wanted to run as a national delegate, but she said her county caucus leader, a state party official, gave her the wrong information. She knew Trump was doomed in Colorado when his backers couldn't even figure out how to get together until the morning of the assembly. "Everyone I came across for Trump, they were like me," Rosel said. "We were willing. We just didn't know what to do." ___ Follow Nick Riccardi at https://twitter.com/NickRiccardi In this photo taken April 13, 2016, signs adorn the crown of the hat worn by Steve Barlock, a supporter of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump as he stands near Union Station in Denver. First Barlock discovered he had to join the Republican Party to support Donald Trump in the Colorado GOP caucuses. That was the easy part. What followed was a misadventure that could plague the GOP front-runner in states to come unless Trumps grassroots supporters, often political outsiders themselves, get more help navigating the inside battle for delegates. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) Sanders says comments by campaign surrogate 'inappropriate' NEW YORK (AP) Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Thursday disavowed remarks made by a campaign surrogate who said during a large New York City rally that voters should not "continue to elect corporate Democratic whores." Sanders said on Twitter that the comment by Dr. Paul Song "was inappropriate and insensitive. There's no room for language like that in our political discourse." The comments reflected a harsher tone that has recently enveloped the Democratic presidential contest between front-runner Hillary Clinton and Sanders, who will face off in a high-profile Thursday night debate in Brooklyn ahead of Tuesday's crucial New York presidential primary. Clinton, a former New York senator, holds a 250-delegate advantage over Sanders, putting pressure on the Vermont senator to pull off an upset in Clinton's home state and narrow her lead among delegates. Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and his wife Jane appear on stage during a campaign rally at Washington Square, Wednesday, April 13, 2016 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Song, a California health care activist, was among several speakers to warm up the crowd before Sanders addressed a massive Wednesday night rally in New York City's Washington Square Park. The physician said that Clinton had said the Vermont senator's Medicare for all universal health care proposal would never come to fruition. "Well, I agree with Secretary Clinton that Medicare for all will never happen if we have a president who never aspires for something greater than the status quo," Song said to cheers. "Medicare for all will never happen if we continue to elect corporate Democratic whores who are beholden to Big Pharma and the private insurance industry instead of us." Jennifer Palmieri, the Clinton campaign's communications director, responded on Twitter that it was "very distressing language to say the least" and urged Sanders to disavow the comments. Global finance leaders seek to bolster growth WASHINGTON (AP) The leaders of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank pledged Thursday to redouble efforts to bolster shaky global growth prospects and combat increasing political attacks on free trade and other hallmarks of globalization. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said stronger policies are needed to combat a growing array of risks to the world economy. The two officials sought to address the political backlash against globalization, which has helped propel the presidential campaign of Republican front-runner Donald Trump in the United States and has triggered an upcoming vote in Britain in June over whether that country should exit from the European Union. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim speaks at the Turning the Paris Climate Agreement into Action panel discussion, Thursday, April 14, 2016, during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings at the World Bank in Washington. (AP Photo/Sait Serkan Gurbuz) The two leaders spoke at the start of three days of meetings among top finance officials, beginning with discussions Thursday and Friday among the Group of 20 major economies, which include traditional economic powers like the United States and Germany and emerging economies such as China and India. Both Lagarde and Kim said the answer to stagnant wages in many industrial nations and complaints about jobs being lost to trade competition was to pursue policies that will ensure stronger growth. Kim said lowering trade barriers has helped lift millions of people around the world out of poverty. Trump, in his presidential campaign, has charged that reducing trade barriers has cost American jobs and he has vowed to impose penalty tariffs if countries such as China and Mexico do not stop their unfair trade practices. "This movement toward isolationism and the movement away from trade is very bad for poor people," Kim told reporters. "It is very bad for our efforts to reduce poverty." At a separate news conference, Lagarde insisted things have improved since the financial crisis, although she said growth has been too slow and uneven. "The recovery remains too slow and too fragile," she said, noting that the IMF in its new economic forecast has once again reduced its estimate for global growth to 3.2 percent for 2016, down from a 3.4 percent forecast made just three months ago. She said growth at this rate was not enough to lift living standards or create sufficient job opportunities for the nearly 200 million around the world who are officially unemployed and looking for jobs. And she said anemic growth puts added strains on middle-class families and the poor and "emboldens the voices of protectionism and fragmentation." Kim, asked about the leaked documents from a Panama law firm that have revealed details of offshore financial accounts, said such tax havens can have a devastating effect on global poverty. "I want to stress that when taxes are evaded, when state assets are taken and put into these havens, all these things can have a tremendously negative effect on our mission to end poverty," Kim said. The finance ministers of five leading European nations Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain called on the international community to do more to fight tax fraud and money laundering by sharing ownership and tax data, helping establish the true beneficiaries behind companies and other entities and prevent the use of tax havens. "No single country can tackle international tax evasion alone," Britain's Treasury chief George Osborne told reporters Thursday. "Strong words of condemnation are not enough, populist outrage doesn't by itself collect a single extra pound or dollar in tax or put a single criminal in jail. What we need is international action." Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen are representing the United States at the finance discussions, which will wrap up Saturday with meetings of the policy-setting panels of both the 189-nation IMF and its sister lending organization, the World Bank. Kim told reporters there were not many "bright spots" at the moment for the global economy and he warned of growing problems from such risks as the Syrian refugee crisis, climate change and pandemics. The World Bank leader urged developed nations to open borders and embrace migrants from conflict zones and low-income countries. EU urged to drop membership offer from Turkey migrant deal BRUSSELS (AP) The European Union parliament wants to decouple the commitment to speed up EU membership talks with Turkey from last month's agreement with Ankara to deal with the migrant crisis. Lawmakers said in Thursday's non-binding resolution that "EU-Turkey cooperation on migration should not be linked to the calendar, content and conditionality of the negotiation process." In the March 18 EU-Turkey agreement, both sides agreed that irregular migrants who came across the Aegean to Greece would be sent back to Turkey. In exchange, some Syrian refugees in Turkey would be sent on to the 28-nation bloc, the EU would give Turkey billions of euros in aid to deal with refugees and it would boost Turkey's EU membership talks. The legislators also criticized the Turkish government's takeover of a leading newspaper and other moves to muzzle freedom of expression, key elements for any nation seeking to join the bloc. Parliamentary rapporteur Kati Piri said instead of going forward toward more democracy, "there has been a regression (in Turkey), which is particularly worrying." The resolution also referred to a previous call that urged Ankara to recognize the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago as genocide. Turkey rejects the term genocide to describe those mass killings. Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed and experts say it was the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey's EU affairs minister, Volkan Bozkir, said Ankara had declared last year's report "null and void" because it called on Turkey to recognize genocide. "This year, the same reference features in the European Parliament's report," Bozkir said. "For that reason we will also declare this report null and void." ___ Nigerians march for Chibok girls on kidnapping anniversary LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) Angry over lack of progress to resolve one of the highest-profile mass kidnappings in the world, Nigerians marched in their country's major cities on Thursday to demand the safe return of girls who were abducted by Boko Haram extremists two years ago from a school in Chibok. Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was expected in the northeastern town of Chibok for the anniversary of the kidnappings, said Yakubu Nkeki, leader of a support group of parents of the kidnapped girls. He said the community is angry that their only school remains in ruins. Boko Haram firebombed buildings as they took off with girls. Some 20,000 children in the town and its surroundings have no school to attend, Nkeki said Thursday as parents gathered at the ruins of the school to pray for the safe return of their daughters. FILE- In this Monday, May 5, 2014 file photo, women attend a demonstration in Lagos calling on the government to rescue kidnapped school girls of a government secondary school in Chibok, Nigeria. A school mate says she cried with joy when she saw a Boko Haram video appearing to show some of Nigeria's kidnapped Chibok girls, with images of tearful parents recognizing their daughters, who have not been heard from since the mass abduction by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram two years ago. (AP Photo/ Sunday Alamba, File) "Boko Haram has achieved its aim. They say they don't want us to have Western education and our children don't," Nkeki said. Two years ago, the Islamic extremists seized 276 girls who had gathered for science exams at the Government Girls Secondary School in the northeast town of Chibok. Some managed to escape, jumping off pickup trucks as the Islamic extremists drove them toward the Sambisa Forest. A total of 219 remain missing. On Wednesday, CNN broadcast parts of a Boko Haram video of girls wearing the Islamic hijab, and CNN also aired its own images of tearful mothers, including one reaching out to a computer screen as she recognized her kidnapped daughter. The video shows 15 of the girls one with a mischievous grin, one looking uncompromising, downright defiant, and one downcast. One can feel the pain that shows in the eyes of many of them. They give the date of the video as Christmas, Dec. 25, 2015. While Boko Haram is thought to have abducted thousands of people over the years, the mass abduction brought the extremist group to the world's attention. The campaign hashtag #BringBackOurGirls went as far as the White House, used by U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. CNN reported that the video was sent in December to negotiators trying to free the girls. CNN's report included Information Minister Lai Mohammed saying the government is reviewing and assessing the video, which it apparently demanded as "proof of life" from Boko Haram. Sen. Shehu Sani, who has been involved in past negotiations with Boko Haram about the Chibok girls, told The Associated Press he found the video credible. Nkeki, leader of the support group for parents of the Chibok girls, said he briefly saw part of the CNN video, in between power blackouts frequent in Nigeria, and "those are definitely our girls." There's been no word from the Chibok girls since May 2014, when Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said they had converted to Islam and threatened to sell them into slavery or forced marriage with his fighters. FILE - In this Monday, May 19, 2014 file photo, Martha Mark, the mother of kidnapped school girl Monica Mark cries as she displays her photo, in the family house, in Chibok, Nigeria. A schoolmate says she cried with joy when she saw a Boko Haram video appearing to show some of Nigeria's kidnapped Chibok girls, with images of tearful parents recognizing their daughters, who have not been heard from since the mass abduction by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram two years ago. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File) Students protest over Spain's education law, university fees MADRID (AP) Thousands of high school students have staged demonstrations in cities across Spain to protest over the country's education law, changes in the duration of university degrees and university fee hikes. The protests Thursday were called by the Students Union, with the biggest marches taking place in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. The demonstrations came at the end of a two-day strike by the students that had uneven support. Students shout slogans against the Spanish government during a demonstration in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, April 14, 2016. Thousands of university students opposed to increased costs for higher education programs, took part in different protests in Madrid and Barcelona. Banner on the right reads "Not to the LOMCE (Spanish education legislation)" (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) The education bill was brought in 2014 by the conservative Popular Party. Opposed by most other political parties and many teacher and parent groups, it increases the number of annual exams and reintroduced religion as a subject. The government claimed it was aimed at stemming Spain's school dropout rate. Students shout slogans against the Spanish government during a demonstration in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, April 14, 2016. Thousands of university students opposed to increased costs for higher education programs, took part in different protests in Madrid and Barcelona. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) North Carolina mom afraid when told to cover breastfeeding HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (AP) A North Carolina woman says she was "terrified" when a judge told her to cover herself while breastfeeding or leave his courtroom. Stephanie Rhodus, 25, of Forest City, said she was trying to breastfeed her 8-month-old son, Archer, on Monday during a case involving an older child when the judge gave the order. "He was extremely condescending, threatening. He was aggressive," she told WHNS-TV. "Ma'am, you need to cover up," District Court Judge Peter Knight said, according to an audio recording obtained by local news media. "For you not to realize that is absolutely ridiculous. "Step outside and cover up, right now. Stand up and go," Knight said. As he continued to speak to the woman, he told her she could be seated and continue to read her complaint if she buttoned up. Rhodus can be heard saying that she is finished reading the complaint. North Carolina law says "a woman may breast feed in any public or private location where she is otherwise authorized to be." Rhodus later told news outlets she didn't want to use a blanket because her son doesn't like to be covered while she's breastfeeding. "I do apologize for the breastfeeding," Rhodus said after she finished reading the complaint. "We as a court routinely accommodate women who are nursing, including while they are waiting for a case to be called in the courtroom," Knight said in a statement emailed to The Washington Post. "When a case is called and a party is participating in a formal hearing before the court, all litigants are expected to respect the same rules of procedure, decorum and dress." "I was terrified, I never expected anything like that," Rhodus told the newspaper. Knight ruled against Rhodus in the case involving her mother, who has custody of Rhodus' 8-year-old son. ___ Official: FBI reviewing SC couple's cavity search case COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Federal authorities are reviewing the case of a black South Carolina couple who say they were subjected to an illegal cavity search at the hands of white officers. The FBI is among several agencies reviewing the case of Lakeya Hicks and Elijah Pontoon, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the inquiry said Thursday. The official spoke with The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the case. The official said that the FBI reviews all allegations concerning potential civil rights abuses and could ultimately launch an official investigation after consultation with the U.S. Department of Justice. HFM April 13 In this April 12, 2016, photo, Lakeya Hicks and Elijah Pontoon stand outside their home in Aiken, South Carolina. The couple is speaking out about the 2014 traffic stop they say ended in public humiliation over an invasive cavity search for drugs that didn't exist. Hicks and Pontoon are suing the Aiken Department of Public Safety for illegally searching them on the side of a busy road. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard) Hicks, 31, was pulled over by Aiken police in October 2014 while driving a new car with paper tags, and officers searched the car for drugs. Pontoon, who was a passenger, says police searched his anal cavity on the side of the road. Officers found no drugs, and the couple was never charged with a crime. There is no video of the search, but a dash camera recorded audio. The city has stood behind its officers, saying they did nothing illegal. In a statement, the Department of Public Safety said no cavity search was performed and that the stop was legal and "part of an ongoing narcotics investigation." The couple has filed a federal lawsuit over the ordeal, which comes after several high-profile incidents sparked a nationwide debate about how white officers treat African-Americans. In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in November, the couple says they were pulled over because the car had a paper license tag, though the officer said later that he knew Pontoon, 40, because of previous arrests. In dash cam video, which has been widely circulated online in recent weeks, their car is then searched with dogs trained to sniff out drugs, and the couple is put in police cars before being searched themselves. The lawsuit says Hicks' breasts were exposed as she was detained and searched by a female officer. During a search of his anal cavity, Pontoon explains that a mass the officer felt was not hidden drugs but was actually a hemorrhoid. The officer is heard telling Pontoon that because of "your past history," he summoned a police dog to check the car. When Pontoon who has prior drug arrests but none in recent years objected to what he described as harassment, the lawsuit says the officer told him: "You gonna pay for this one boy." "I felt very humiliated," Hicks said earlier this week in an exclusive interview with AP, the first time she and Pontoon have spoken publicly about what happened. "We don't want this to happen to anybody else." ___ The vast majority of Americans say they prefer lower prices instead of paying a premium for items labeled 'Made in the USA,' even if it means those cheaper items are made abroad, according to a new poll. With Donald Trump and Bernie Saunders pledging to bring back American jobs that have been outsourced to lower cost economies such as China, consumers in the US seem to prefer bargains to patriotism. According to the survey conducted by the Associated Press, consumers want bargains because income levels have remained fairly static. Americans, regardless of income, are more likely to pick the bargain over a product made in the United States Also, many US employers now want workers who have college degrees rather than those who have simply graduated high school. The survey claimed three in four would prefer to by US-made goods, but complain they are often too expensive of difficult to source. Only nine per cent boasted they only buy American. The pollsters used the example of a $50 pair of pants made abroad or the same style and fabric made in the US for $85. Almost 70 per cent admitted they would by the cheaper pair. The survey showed the reluctance to pay more money for American made goods was similar between poor families and those who are earning more than $100,000. Sonya Grob, a middle school secretary from Norman, Oklahoma said: 'Low prices are a positive for US consumers it stretches budgets and allows people to save for their retirements, if they're wise, with dollars that would otherwise be spent on day-to-day living.' But Trump and Sanders have galvanized many voters by attacking recent trade deals. Donald Trump, right, has appealed to voters with his campaign theme 'Make America Great Again' From their perspective, layoffs and shuttered factories have erased the benefits to the economy from reduced consumer prices. 'We're getting ripped off on trade by everyone,' said Trump, the Republican front-runner, at a Monday speech in Albany, New York. 'Jobs are going down the drain, folks.' The real estate mogul and reality television star has threatened to shred the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. He has also threatened to slap sharp tariffs on China in hopes of erasing the overall $540 billion trade deficit. Economists doubt that Trump could deliver on his promises to create the first trade surplus since 1975. Many see the backlash against trade as frustration with a broader economy coping with sluggish income gains. 'The reaction to trade is less about trade and more about the decline in people's ability to achieve the American Dream,' said Caroline Freund, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. 'It's a lot easier to blame the foreigner than other forces that are affecting stagnant wage growth like technology.' Democrat challenger Bernie Sanders, pictured, has also promised to bring back US jobs to America But Trump's message appeals to Merry Post, 58, of Paris, Texas where the empty factories are daily reminders of what was lost. Sixty-eight percent of people with a favorable opinion of Trump said that free trade agreements decreased the number of jobs available to Americans. 'In our area down here in Texas, there used to be sewing factories and a lot of cotton gins,' Post said. 'I've watched them all shut down as things went to China, Mexico and the Philippines. All my friends had to take early retirements or walk away.' Sanders, the Vermont senator battling for the Democratic nomination, has pledged to end the exodus of jobs overseas. 'I will stop it by renegotiating all of the trade agreements that we have,' Sanders told the New York Daily News editorial board earlier this month, saying that the wages paid to foreigner workers and environmental standards would be part of any deal he would strike. Still, voters are divided as to whether free trade agreements hurt job creation and incomes. Americans are slightly more likely to say free trade agreements are positive for the economy overall than negative, 33 percent to 27 percent. But 37 percent say the deals make no difference. Republicans (35 percent) are more likely than Democrats (22 percent) to say free trade agreements are bad for the economy. Religion news in brief Franklin Graham: Christians should deepen political work JACKSON, Miss. (AP) Evangelist Franklin Graham has brought his state capitol prayer rally tour to Mississippi, where lawmakers passed a bill that would let churches and some private businesses deny services to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Graham said Wednesday that he wasn't in Jackson to endorse or oppose any particular legislation, but made it clear to reporters after the 40-minute rally that he supports legislation to allow Christians to live out their faith, and in his view that includes disapproval of same-sex marriages. Evangelist Franklin Graham greets people after speaking at his prayer rally at the state Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy) The son of Billy Graham is telling people who attend the rallies that Christians need to get more involved in politics and bring biblical principles to public office. He says Christians must push back against secularism, which he describes as the "enemy." ___ 26 states urge appeals court to uphold Md. cross ruling RICHMOND, Va. (AP) More than half of the states have filed a legal brief supporting the constitutionality of a Maryland war memorial in the shape of a cross. The monument honoring 49 men who died in World War One stands in a state-owned highway median in Bladensburg, Maryland, just outside Washington. An atheist group claimed in a 2014 lawsuit that the so-called "Bladensburg Cross" amounts to unconstitutional government sponsorship of religion. A federal judge disagreed, but the American Humanist Association appealed his ruling. In their friend-of-the-court brief, 26 states say if the appeals court upholds the judge's ruling it would set an important precedent protecting other memorials, including those at Arlington National Cemetery. A hearing date has not been set. ___ Sanders defends decision to speak at Vatican amid NY contest NEW YORK (AP) Bernie Sanders says he would regret refusing an invitation to attend a Vatican conference this week, even though it takes place just days before the critical New York presidential primary. Sanders has a 10-minute speaking slot Friday at the conference organized by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which serves a role at the Holy See similar to a think-tank. Dozens of speakers will commemorate the 25th anniversary of "Centesimus Annus," a teaching document by Pope John Paul II on the economy and social justice. Sanders says he wouldn't be leaving the campaign trail if it wasn't what he called "an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime." The chancellor for the pontifical academy, Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, has said he invited Sanders because the Democratic senator from Vermont was the only U.S. presidential candidate who showed deep interest in the teachings of Pope Francis. The pope is not expected to attend the conference. ___ With migrant mission to Greece, pope cements Orthodox ties VATICAN CITY (AP) When Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, visit migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos this weekend, they'll be doing more than sending a political message about the need to welcome refugees. Christianity's two most important leaders, still officially divided by a thousand-year schism, will be speaking with an increasingly unified voice that has gone beyond the realm of religion to confronting pressing issues such as climate change and humanitarian crises around the globe. The visit, which comes on the heels of Francis' historic meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, is evidence of an increasingly important Catholic-Orthodox partnership that has been strengthened by shared concern for Christians being exterminated by Islamic extremists in the lands of Jesus' birth. Francis has called these indiscriminate attacks on Christians Catholic, Orthodox and others an "ecumenism of blood." ___ French premier favors Muslim headscarf ban at universities PARIS (AP) France's prime minister says he'd favor a ban on Muslim headscarves in universities, prompting criticism from within his own government. In an interview with the daily newspaper Liberation, Prime Minister Manuel Valls (vahlts) said France should "protect" French Muslims from extremist ideology. He said the headscarf, when worn for political reasons, oppresses women and is not "an object of fashion or consumption like any other." Citing secular traditions, France banned the face-covering Muslim veil and forbids headscarves and other religious symbols in schools and public buildings. Asked whether to outlaw headscarves in universities, Valls is quoted as saying "it should be done, but there are constitutional rules that make this ban difficult." France's education minister and the junior minister for higher education said they are opposed to a ban. ___ Mexican experts find early burial in 1st colonial cathedral MEXICO CITY (AP) Archaeologists have found a massive stone slab covering what appears to be the tomb of one of the first Catholic priests in Mexico following the 1521 Spanish conquest, a grave sunk into the floor of what appears to be an Aztec temple. The discovery suggests the extent to which the Spanish re-used the temples of the Aztec capital in the first years after capturing it. The huge slab was uncovered in recent days at the site of the now-disappeared first cathedral of Mexico City, built in 1524 a few yards from the current cathedral that replaced it in the 1620s. The slab was sunk into the same level of the stucco floor of what appears to be an Aztec temple. The cathedral was simply built over the temple and apparently used the same floor. The Spaniards apparently gave the floor only a thin coat of lime white-wash before using it for their church. The name of priest Miguel de Palomares was found carved on the slab. Archaeologists hope to find his remains when they lift the stone slab in the coming weeks. ___ Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a campaign rally at Washington Square, Wednesday, April 13, 2016 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) FILE - In this photo taken on Sunday, Nov. 30. 2014 Pope Francis, left, and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I hug each other after a holy liturgy at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in Istanbul. On Saturday, April 16, 2016, Pope Francis heads to Lesbos island along with the spiritual leader of the worlds Orthodox Christians and the head of the Church of Greece to voice their solidarity with the refugees and migrants who have streamed into Europe fleeing war, poverty and persecution for better lives in its prosperous heartland _ a trip that could embarrass EU leaders already under fire from human rights groups over the deportations. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File) Md. House race no easy comeback for ex-lieutenant governor WASHINGTON (AP) Eighteen months after he lost a bid for the state's highest office, Maryland's former lieutenant governor is finding that a safely Democratic seat in Congress is no easy consolation prize. Anthony Brown is locked in a tough three-way battle with a former prosecutor and a state delegate for the open seat in the state's 4th District. He'll have to persuade Democrats who were either disappointed he lost the race for governor or didn't turn out to vote for him. He also has to ask for fresh contributions from donors who helped him raise $21 million only to see him lose to Republican Larry Hogan in a blue state. Brown, 54, isn't shying away from the comeback narrative. FILE - In this Nov. 5, 2014 file photo, Maryland Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, walks offstage after conceding to Gov.-elect Larry Hogan during an election night gathering in College Park, Md. Eighteen months after he surprisingly lost his bid for the state's highest office, a safely Democratic seat in Congress will be no easy consolation prize for Brown, who is locked in a tough three-way battle. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) "Whether you're an athlete, a doctor, a surgeon, a corporate lawyer, or even an elected official, if you lose but you believe in what you do and what your calling is in life, then you pick yourself up, you brush yourself off, you stay in the fight," Brown said. "I think voters look at me in a completely different way today than ever before. 'Here's a guy who hasn't had a straight-line trajectory to success.'" But donors haven't responded to Brown the way he might have hoped. He's third in fundraising, trailing former Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey and Delegate Joseline Pena-Melnyk. He's also still burdened by more than $400,000 in debt from his gubernatorial campaign. Brown isn't the only failed gubernatorial candidate making a comeback bid for Congress this cycle. In Florida, former Gov. Charlie Crist is seeking an open House seat after losing to Republican Gov. Rick Scott in 2014. Crist, who served one term as governor as a Republican, is now a Democrat and is favored to win. The Maryland primary race has attracted little attention beyond the borders of its suburban Washington district because, no matter who wins, it won't represent much of a political shift. Incumbent Donna Edwards, a liberal African-American Democrat who's running for Senate, will almost certainly be replaced by another liberal Democrat of color in the district, which is 53 percent black. The candidates have similar policy priorities and have mostly refrained from criticizing each other, and all three have endorsed Edwards in her U.S. Senate race against another suburban Washington Democrat, Rep. Chris Van Hollen. Each has tried to make the case that he or she is the best-qualified for the job. Ivey, 55, highlights his time on Capitol Hill as a former House and Senate aide in addition to his nine years as state's attorney, during which he addressed the use of excessive force by police while also overseeing reductions in crime. Brown, who was a state delegate before his two terms as lieutenant governor, points to his mix of legislative and executive-branch experience. And Pena-Melnyk, 49, has worked as a legislator, a prosecutor and a public defender. She also argues that, an Afro-Latina, she'd bring needed diversity to the state's delegation, which has just two women and no Hispanics. Brown and Ivey are African-American. At the end of last year, Ivey had raised $718,000, Pena-Melnyk had brought in $509,000 and Brown had raised $455,000. Ivey's campaign said it brought in $280,000 in the first quarter of 2016, bringing his total haul to more than $1 million. "I think we've made a convincing case to donors that we'd be a good investment, that it would make sense to support us, that we'll do a good job when we get there and that we've got the best path to victory," Ivey said. Ivey's resources, name recognition and well-run campaign make him the favorite, said John Gallagher, a Washington-based political consultant who has worked on campaigns in Maryland. Ivey also benefits from being part of a high-profile political family: His wife, Jolene Ivey, is a state delegate who ran for lieutenant governor in 2014. "Brown doesn't have any kind of organization," Gallagher said. "He hasn't raised the type of money that Glenn has and he certainly isn't deploying it as smartly and professionally as the Iveys are." All three candidates have pledged to protect Social Security and the nation's new health insurance system and to bring federal aid to the area, which includes poor communities bordering the nation's capital. Pena-Melnyk was endorsed by The Washington Post editorial board, which noted the lack of policy differences between the candidates and gave her the nod based on her work ethic in Annapolis. Gallagher said he's been impressed with Pena-Melnyk, even though he doesn't think she has the resources to win. "Anthony Brown and Glenn Ivey are heavyweights, and she's punching above her weight class," he said. "She's probably run the best campaign of the three." ___ Associated Press writer Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed to this report. ___ Follow Ben Nuckols on Twitter at https://twitter.com/APBenNuckols. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/ben-nuckols. Cables tie Pakistan to 2009 hit on CIA; official says not so WASHINGTON (AP) Recently declassified U.S. government cables suggest Pakistan's intelligence service paid a U.S.-designated terrorist organization $200,000 to carry out one of the deadliest attacks against the CIA in the spy agency's history. But a U.S. intelligence official said the information was uncorroborated and inconsistent with what is known about the 2009 suicide bombing at Camp Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border. Seven CIA employees were killed when a Jordanian doctor and double agent gained access to the base after tricking the Americans into believing he would lead them to Ayman al-Zawahri, then al-Qaida's No. 2. The correspondence released by the National Security Archive at George Washington University dates to the weeks after the attack. FILE - In this July 25, 2009 file photo, an Afghan police officer looks at a guard post which was damaged in an attack in Khost, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. Recently declassified U.S. government cables suggest Pakistans intelligence service paid a U.S.-designated terrorist organization $200,000 to carry out one of the deadliest attacks against the CIA in the spy agencys history. But a U.S. intelligence official said the information was uncorroborated and inconsistent with what is known about the 2009 suicide bombing at Camp Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border. (AP Photo/Nishanuddin Khan, File) A Jan. 11, 2010, document says the head of the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied group the U.S. considers terrorists, held two meetings with senior officials of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence the month of the bombing. "The first discussed funding for operations in Khowst province" and "funds were later provided to tribal elders in Khowst province for their support of the Haqqani network," the cable says, using an alternative spelling for the area. At the second meeting, Pakistani intelligence officials gave "direction to the Haqqanis to expedite attack preparations and lethality in Afghanistan." A Feb. 6, 2010, cable, which like the other was heavily redacted, is more specific. Network leader Siraj Haqqani and another individual were provided $200,000, it says, "to enable the attack on Chapman." The document refers to several individuals involved in the plot, including an Afghan border commander, "to enable a suicide mission by an unnamed Jordanian national." The Jordanian would have been Humam al-Balawi, the supposed al-Qaida turncoat whom the CIA codenamed "Wolf." As the CIA ushered him on to its base on Dec. 30, 2009, al-Balawi detonated a suicide bomb. A Jordanian intelligence official and an Afghan driver also died, while six people were injured. It was the most lethal attack against the CIA in the 15-year Afghanistan war and possibly since the 1983 embassy bombing in Beirut. The reports aren't authoritative. Each one states: "This is an information report, not finally evaluated intelligence." The U.S. intelligence official described the information as a "raw, unverified and uncorroborated report" that clashes with the general consensus of the attack as primarily an al-Qaida plot, and not one that involved the Haqqani network. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Pakistan's embassy in Washington had no immediate comment on the cables. The U.S. has long cited the links between the Pakistani intelligence and the Haqqanis, a group that includes criminal and insurgency elements, and which uses Pakistani territory as a rear operating base. When Adm. Mike Mullen stepped down as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 3 1/2 years ago, he went so far as to call the network a "veritable arm" of Pakistan's ISI. But no evidence of Pakistani funding of the group for the Camp Chapman attack had previously surfaced publicly. The source of the information on both cables is unclear. The National Security Archive received the documents after a Freedom of Information Act request. ___ Online: Vatican conference urges end to doctrine of 'just wars' VATICAN CITY (AP) Participants at a Vatican conference called Thursday for the Catholic Church to renounce its "just war" doctrine and for Pope Francis to write an encyclical on nonviolence and "just peace." Church teaching has long allowed for "just wars" the use of force to stop an unjust aggression as long as certain conditions are met. They include that other peaceful means have been exhausted, that the force is appropriate and won't produce worse effects, and that there is a reasonable chance for success. But participants at a conference sponsored by the Vatican's justice and peace office and Pax Cristi International, the Catholic peace movement, said in a final communique Thursday that too often the doctrine had been used to justify and endorse military action rather than prevent it. They called for the church to no longer use or teach "just war" theory, for the church to instead develop a new peacemaking framework "consistent with Gospel nonviolence," and for Francis to articulate it all in a new encyclical. "The time has come for our church to be a living witness and to invest far greater human and financial resources in promoting a spirituality and practice of active nonviolence and in forming and training our Catholic communities in effective nonviolent practices," the statement said. Francis, named after the peace-loving St. Francis of Assisi, has echoed his predecessors in condemning wars and promoting peace. He hosted a marathon prayer vigil to stave off threatened military action in Syria, brought the Israeli and Palestinian presidents together for a peace summit, and issues near-weekly appeals for peaceful ends to conflicts around the globe. But he has also endorsed military action to stave off the Islamic State group advance in Iraq and Syria, where Christian minorities have been slaughtered by Islamic extremists. In comments to reporters in 2014, Francis said it was "licit to stop the unjust aggressor," but said such military action must be endorsed by the international community and that the type of force must be evaluated. Francis issued an opening greeting to the Vatican conference in and of itself a sign that he endorsed its goals. He didn't mention the "just war" theory, but made clear his position, saying the "ultimate and most deeply worthy goal of human beings and of the human community is the abolition of war." ___ Suspect in Ohio officer's killing passes on initial hearing COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The man charged in the death of an Ohio police officer gave up his right to an initial court hearing, a prosecutor said Thursday, giving both sides more time to research the case, including whether the death penalty is appropriate. The decision by Lincoln Rutledge means the state now has nearly two months before an indictment must be issued. The extra time will allow Columbus police to complete their investigation and Rutledge's attorneys to present evidence they believe argues against a death penalty, said Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien. FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Columbus Division of Police shows police SWAT Officer Steven M. Smith. The Ohio police officer died Tuesday, April 12, 2016, two days after he was critically wounded when a man opened fire on a SWAT team trying to arrest him. (Columbus Division of Police via AP, File) "Then we have the best information available to us in order to make that decision," he said. Ohio law includes killing a police officer as a factor that can lead to capital punishment. In recent years, O'Brien, a Republican, has only sought the death penalty for cases he believed were strong enough that a jury would vote for death. Rutledge, 44, was charged Thursday with a preliminary count of aggravated murder, on top of a previous charge of felonious assault filed after Sunday's shooting of SWAT officer Steven Smith but before Smith died Tuesday. A message was left with the public defender's office representing the Rutledge. He'll likely receive a new lawyer once an indictment is filed. Thursday morning, dozens of police cruisers escorted Smith's body from the Franklin County coroner's office to a funeral home. Smith, 54, a 27-year veteran of the department, died Tuesday, two days after being shot. Smith's funeral is set for Monday at a Roman Catholic church in suburban Westerville. Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther and other city officials stood at attention with their hands over their hearts as the procession went by City Hall. Smith was an organ donor for eight people upon his death, according to the Franklin County coroner's office and Columbus police chief Kim Jacobs. "He lived to serve others, he was dedicated to that. He lived with passion," Jacobs said. "There was an enthusiasm for life that everybody sensed in him and that will never be forgotten." Smith was shot in the head while inside a SWAT vehicle early Sunday outside Rutledge's apartment in a neighborhood north of Ohio State's campus. Officers were attempting to arrest Rutledge on an aggravated arson charge alleging he tried to set his estranged wife's home on fire the day before. Rutledge's mental health is bound to be an issue in the case and would weigh heavily on a decision whether to seek the death penalty. Rutledge told an Ohio State University co-worker last month he was not taking his medication, made a comment about "eating a Glock" and accused his co-worker of being a federal agent, according to a March 22 report from the OSU police department. During the co-worker's visit, "it became apparent that Rutledge may have been in the midst of a mental breakdown," the report said. On March 28, Rutledge's wife told Columbus police he had been diagnosed with depression and "lately has been 'increasingly detached from reality,'" according to a Columbus police report. A Franklin County judge had ordered that Rutledge receive mental health treatment, the report said. Ohio State said Rutledge, a computer network engineer, had not been at work since Feb. 1 when he requested and was granted a leave of absence. His access to buildings was revoked March 23 "when he began to behave erratically while on leave," the university said. Jacobs said community support has been overwhelming, including the man who pulled up to police headquarters, got out and played Taps. "Steve didn't hear it, but we did," Jacobs said. ___ Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/andrew-welsh-huggins This photo provided by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office in Columbus, Ohio, shows Lincoln Rutledge. Rutledge is accused of opening fire on a SWAT team trying to arrest him and critically wounding an Ohio police officer who remains on life support. A Franklin County judge on Tuesday ordered the 44-year-old Columbus resident held without bond on charges including felonious assault and aggravated arson. (Franklin County Sheriff's Office via AP) SWAT team members of slain Officer Steven Smith escort his body in a procession as it passes by the Joseph P. Kinneary U.S. Courthouse and Columbus Police headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday, April 14, 2016. The officer died Tuesday after he was critically wounded when a man opened fire on a SWAT team trying to arrest him days earlier. (Eric Albrecht/The Columbus Dispatch via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Members of a SWAT team line the route for the procession of slain Officer Steven Smith in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday, April 14, 2016. The officer died Tuesday after he was critically wounded when a man opened fire on a SWAT team trying to arrest him days earlier. (Eric Albrecht/The Columbus Dispatch via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Columbus Police officer Kevin Halbur, right, salutes as SWAT team members of slain Officer Steven Smith escort his body in a procession in Columbus, Ohio., Thursday, April 14, 2016. The officer died Tuesday after he was critically wounded when a man opened fire on a SWAT team trying to arrest him days earlier. (Eric Albrecht/The Columbus Dispatch via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT US man changes plea to guilty in Islamic State case MINNEAPOLIS (AP) One of five men due to go on trial next month for conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group changed his plea Thursday to guilty, saying he succumbed to propaganda videos that preached jihad. Adnan Abdihamid Farah, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Three other counts were dropped, including conspiracy to commit murder outside the United States. Farah faces a maximum of 15 years in prison but avoided a possible life sentence by taking the plea deal. "I take responsibility for myself and actions I committed," Farah told U.S. District Judge Michael Davis, who didn't set a sentencing date. FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Sherburne County, Minnesota, Sheriff's Of fice shows Adnan Abdihamid Farah. Farah, one of five Minnesota men due to go on trial next month for conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group, changed his plea Thursday, April 14, 2016 to guilty, saying he succumbed to propaganda videos that preached jihad. Farah faces a maximum of 15 years in prison but avoided a possible life sentence by taking the plea deal. (Sherburne County Sheriff's Office via AP, File) The hearing was interrupted for about 45 minutes after Farah's mother, Ayan Farah, 39, collapsed with chest pain as proceedings got underway. Security personnel hustled her son out of the courtroom, and medics took her to a hospital for treatment. There was no immediate word on her condition. Adnan Farah's brother, Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 22, is among the other four defendants who are scheduled to go on trial May 9. Adnan Farah's attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, said the stress of the case has been weighing heavily on the mother. Altogether, 10 Minnesota men have been charged with conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State group as part of the investigation. Five have pleaded guilty, one remains at large. About a dozen Minnesota residents have traveled to Syria to join militant groups there in recent years. Unlike the other defendants, Adnan Farah wasn't accused of trying to travel to Syria to fight for the Islamic State. But he told Davis that he applied for an expedited U.S. passport with the intention of doing so. He said his parents confiscated the passport when it came in the mail early. He then put a $100 down payment on a fake passport and also tried to help a co-defendant get one. "I'm more than sorry for the pain I caused my parents," Farah said, his voice choked with emotion. "If I had listened to them I wouldn't be here today." Outside the courtroom, Udoibok said he was confident Davis would treat Farah fairly. The U.S.-born Farah, who is of Somali ancestry and lives in an area with a large Somali population, said he watched "at least 100" Islamic State propaganda videos with other defendants on YouTube, including some that showed atrocities committed by Syrian government forces on Sunni Muslim civilians. "Taking it in with an open heart. That's how, I guess, I formed my conclusions," he said. Farah also said his faith and his comfortable life in Minnesota led him to believe he was obligated help other Muslims in need. According to court documents, Farah intended to plead guilty after his arrest last year, and urged two co-defendants to do so, too, but changed his mind after an imam persuaded his family that the defendants should stick together and go on trial. Conviction stands for ex-NYPD officer in stairwell shooting NEW YORK (AP) A manslaughter conviction against a former police officer who accidentally shot an unarmed man in a public housing project stairwell will stand, a judge decided Thursday, ruling that a juror didn't intentionally withhold information about his father's criminal history during jury selection. Peter Liang was convicted in February in the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Akai Gurley in the darkened stairwell in 2014. Gurley was walking down to the lobby and Liang was patrolling the inside of the building. Liang opened a door to the stairwell and fired his weapon once accidentally. The bullet ricocheted and struck Gurley. Liang's attorneys argued that Juror No. 9, Michael Vargas, had a bias against police and withheld information about his dad's criminal record that would've seen him kicked off the jury. FILE - In a Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016 file photo, Police officer Peter Liang, center, exits the courtroom during a break in closing arguments in his trial on charges in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. The manslaughter conviction against Liang, who accidentally shot the unarmed man in a public housing project stairwell will stand, a judge decided Thursday, ruling that a juror didn't intentionally withhold information during jury selection. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File) Vargas had been questioned as part of a different jury pool on the same day Liang's jury was chosen. He told a judge that his father had been arrested when asked whether "anyone in his family" had been arrested or convicted of a crime. "My father was arrested, I was a young child, I never knew the truth because they tried to hide it from me but I guess it was manslaughter," Vargas said. He was dismissed from that case and later was brought in as a member of the prospective pool in Liang's case, where he was asked: "Have you or anyone close to you been accused of a crime?" And he said no. Vargas testified at the post-trial hearing that he answered no in part because he wasn't close to his father and it didn't come to his mind. He had been raised in group homes and hadn't seen his dad in decades. But after the verdict, he told a local newspaper that his father was sent to prison for accidentally shooting a friend to death. Judge Danny Chun said Thursday that he believed Vargas, did not knowingly withhold the information during jury selection. He said Vargas had "rambled on" during the empanelment. "The court finds he has a rambling way of answering questions and it is entirely conceivable he could not think of his father because he felt distance from his father, or he searched his mind and it didn't enter his mind," the judge said. "It was not a deliberate withholding." Vargas also was questioned about posts he wrote and shared on Facebook, including some that were critical of police and others where he was complimentary of law enforcement. "I'm disappointed," Liang's attorney, Paul Shechtman, said. "I think we showed this person lied about his father's manslaughter conviction." Scott Rynecki, an attorney representing Gurley's family, said there was no legal basis to throw out Liang's verdict and that it "was the result of a fair and impartial jury." Liang is scheduled to be sentenced April 19. Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson has recommended Liang serve no prison time based in part on the uniqueness of the case. Thompson said Liang had no criminal record and posed "no future threat to public safety." He said the incarceration was not necessary to protect the public. The recommendation outraged some members of Gurley's family, who said they felt betrayed. Chun could still send Gurley to prison; a manslaughter conviction could carry up to 15 years behind bars. Federal police present at Mexican students' disappearance MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexico's national human rights commission said Thursday it had found a witness to the 2014 disappearance of 43 students who reported that two federal police and a third municipal police force were present when 15 to 20 youths were taken off a bus and disappeared. The new evidence suggests two federal police officers at the least allowed local police to take the students away and may have even participated in their disappearance, said Jose Larrieta Carrasco, the commission member leading the case. Investigators had already known that cops from two local forces the city of Iguala and the town of Cocula had turned the students over to a drug gang that allegedly killed and burned them. But the witness said members of a third town's police force, Huitzuco, also participated. FILE - In this Dec. 26, 2015, file photo, relatives of the 43 missing students from the Isidro Burgos rural teachers' college march and hold pictures of their missing loved ones during a protest in Mexico City. Mexico's national human rights commission said Thursday, April 14, 2016, that it had found a witness to the 2014 disappearance of the college students who reported that federal and municipal police were present when the youths were taken off a bus and disappeared. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File) The report suggested the control of the drug gang known as Guerreros Unidos was even wider than previously thought, saying the gang bought off or intimidated more local police, federal officers and even private companies that the commission said were loath to share evidence with investigators. The witness, whose identity is being concealed, said that far from stopping the abduction of the students on the side of a highway, the federal police went along with it: "What's going on with those kids?" the witness heard a federal policeman ask an Iguala cop. "We're going to take them to Huitzuco, the boss will be the one who decides what to do with them," the cop answers. "Ah, OK, OK, that's fine," the witness quoted the federal officer as saying. Larrieta said the federal officers should be investigated to see whether they also were in the pay of the drug gang. He also said investigators had asked private companies to supply information, but they hadn't complied. He would not identify the companies, but investigations so far have focused on the bus companies whose vehicles had been hijacked by the students and phone companies who had records of their calls. "Representatives of the companies involved have hidden information, or may have covered up for those responsible for these acts," Larrieta said. He said the firms should be investigated "to see whether they were cooperating with the criminal gang responsible for these acts, or whether they made a decision based on private interests." In some parts of Mexico, companies have been coerced into not reporting crimes by drug gangs who threaten to attack their vehicles, offices or employees. "The facts released today could constitute clear evidence of the coopting of municipal institutions by criminal organizations in Iguala, Cocula and, now with the information being released, probably Huitzuco," with the participation of municipal police officers from those towns in the disappearance of the students, Larrieta said. "In the same way it could be an example of the alleged involvement of federal police officers." On Sept. 26, 2014, 43 students from the radical teachers' college known as Ayotzinapa disappeared in Iguala after hijacking buses, a common tactic they used to acquire transportation. Municipal police from Iguala and Cocula kidnapped some of the 43 students at one location inside Iguala. But another bus made it to a federal highway leaving Iguala when lguala police in pursuit shot out its tires, forcing it to stop under an overpass known as the Chipote bridge, Larrieta said. Iguala police surrounded the bus and began breaking its windows with rocks and sticks. Students responded with their own rocks until police tossed tear gas into the bus, forcing them to exit. Police pushed them to the ground and handcuffed them. They were loaded into Iguala police patrol trucks. When no more would fit in the pickups, the Huitzuco police trucks, and federal police, arrived. There had been talk of involvement of Huitzuco police before. Larrieta said the witness' account was corroborated by other statements from Iguala police already in custody. The federal Attorney General's Office said it had placed the new witness under protection and pledged to follow up on the lead. Man who walked into fire station quizzed on constable ambush HOUSTON (AP) Investigators questioned a man Thursday fitting the description of a gunman who authorities say ambushed a Texas deputy constable from behind following a traffic stop and critically injured him. The man showed up at a nearby fire station following the shooting, Houston police spokesman Kese Smith said. No other information was released about him including what he may have told fire personnel when he appeared. The man has not been arrested or charged, Smith said, adding that authorities were not actively looking for anyone else. In this undated photo released by Harris County Sheriff's Office, Harris County Deputy Constable Alden Clopton is seen. Clopton was shot multiple times from behind late Wednesday, while talking to another constable following a traffic stop in Houston. Clopton was wearing a protective vest when he was shot and is expected to recover after undergoing several hours of surgery. (Harris County Sheriff's Office via AP) Authorities said Harris County Deputy Constable Alden Clopton was wearing a protective vest when he was shot four times from behind late Wednesday as the assailant stood on the other side of a four-lane road in a neighborhood just northeast of Texas Southern University. The vest likely saved Clopton's life, Constable May Walker said. A motive for the shooting is unknown. Asked if authorities believed the shooter was targeting law enforcement, Smith said that Clopton and another deputy constable he was assisting in the traffic stop were in uniform and had marked vehicles. "I can't see how someone can mistake them for someone other than law enforcement," Smith said. The suspect fired six shots, four of which hit Clopton, Walker said. "It was virtually an ambush is what it was," she said. Physicians at Houston's Memorial Hermann Texas Trauma Institute said Clopton was in intensive care Thursday afternoon after surgery to address six injured areas to his abdomen and chest. Some of the bullets would not be removed, Dr. Joseph Love said. "He's doing quite well," Love said. "We don't anticipate further surgical procedures at this time." He expected the deputy to remain in the hospital "for a week or so" and anticipated Clopton would make a full recovery. Constables in some regions are tasked with serving warrants and providing court security, but in the Houston area they generally provide the same policing coverage as other law agencies. Clopton is an 11-year veteran of the force who is married and has five children, said Pamela Greenwood, spokeswoman for the Harris County Precinct 7 constable's office. He comes from a law enforcement family, with three brothers who are law officers, and Walker said he's married to a Harris County sheriff's deputy. According to Smith, the shooting happened after a female reserve deputy constable made the traffic stop and called Clopton to assist. The vehicle that was pulled over had left and Clopton was standing outside the window of the female's officer's vehicle when he was shot. After Clopton was shot, the female deputy constable got out and shot back, but it was unknown if she hit the fleeing suspect, Smith said. The person who later appeared at the fire station did not have any injuries, Smith said, adding that the shooting was not related to the traffic stop. Clopton's son, Todre, a police officer in Biloxi, Mississippi, said his father was coherent, understood what was going on but for now was unable to talk. Doctors had Clopton on a ventilator. "He's a dad just like any other dad in America," Todre Clopton said in response to a question about his father. "He works for what he owns. He provides for his children and makes sure they have everything they need in life. He's shown due diligence and dedication to the community that he serves." Clopton is the second Harris County law officer to be shot from behind in an unprovoked attack in the past year. Texas prosecutors in August charged a 30-year-old man with capital murder in the killing of sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth, who was gunned down while filling his patrol car with gas in what officials described as a "senseless and cowardly act." ___ Associated Press writers Sarah Rankin in Chicago, Bernard McGhee in Atlanta, and Diana Heidgerd and David Warren in Dallas contributed to this report. In this frame from video provided by KTRK, an officer walks on the the scene after a late Wednesday, April 13, 2016, shooting in Houston. A deputy constable was rushed to a hospital after a suspect shot him from behind multiple times, authorities said. (KTRK via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT In this undated photo released by Harris County Sheriff's Office, Harris County Deputy Constable Alden Clopton is seen. Clopton was shot multiple times from behind late Wednesday, April 13, 2016, while talking to another constable following a traffic stop in Houston. Clopton was wearing a protective vest when he was shot and is expected to recover after undergoing several hours of surgery. (Harris County Sheriff's Office via AP) Amazon Studios to theater owners: Here to work together LAS VEGAS (AP) Amazon Studios plans to work together with theaters, not against, says studio exec Bob Berney. The burgeoning movie studio presented to the CinemaCon audience Thursday afternoon in Las Vegas. Berney and Amazon Studios head Roy Price stressed that their primary goal is to provide theatrical audiences with quality films. Price added that "almost all" will have traditional theatrical windows before being made available on streaming services the threat of which is perhaps the biggest elephant in the room at the annual gathering of theater owners. Since releasing Spike Lee's "Chi-Raq" last year, Amazon Studios has been aggressively diving into the movie acquisition and production business and have a number of high profile theatrical releases planned this year including Kenneth Lonergan's "Manchester By the Sea." Director James Cameron addresses the audience during the 20th Century Fox presentation at CinemaCon 2016, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), at Caesars Palace on Thursday, April 14, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Adam DeVine, left, Anna Kendrick, center, and Zac Efron, cast members in the upcoming film "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates," banter onstage during the 20th Century Fox presentation at CinemaCon 2016, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), at Caesars Palace on Thursday, April 14, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Rapper Vanilla Ice performs during the 20th Century Fox presentation at CinemaCon 2016, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), at Caesars Palace on Thursday, April 14, 2016, in Las Vegas. After the rapper's performance, the studio presented a clip from the upcoming film "Ice Age 5." (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Europa: Stoppage winner for Liverpool, Sevilla wins shootout LIVERPOOL, England (AP) What the Europa League lacks in glamor it more than made up for in late drama on Thursday. Sevilla's pursuit of a hat trick of titles was kept alive with a shootout success and Liverpool reached the semifinals through a stoppage-time winner. Shakhtar Donetsk and Villarreal joined Liverpool in scoring four goals in their quarterfinal second-leg wins, but the English Premier League club needed every one of them to complete an exhilarating 4-3 comeback against Borussia Dortmund. "I can't explain," Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel said. "It was not logical." Liverpool's Dejan Lovren, left, and Liverpool's head coach Juergen Klopp celebrate after winning the Europa League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Liverpool FC and Borussia Dortmund in Liverpool, England, Thursday, April 14, 2016 . (AP Photo/Jon Super) Liverpool was facing elimination on away goals until Dejan Lovren's header earned a 5-4 aggregate win on an epic Anfield night to give manager Juergen Klopp a victory to savor against his former club. "We never stopped believing in ourselves," Lovren said. "We said at halftime we had nothing to lose, we just had to believe. It was a great effort from everyone." Not only can Klopp's first season in charge of Liverpool still end in silverware, but lifting the cup would secure Champions League qualification. Sevilla is also relying on winning the Europa League to return to the continent's elite competition, unlike Shakhtar Donetsk and Villarreal, who are better placed to qualify through their domestic league positions. Shakhtar Donetsk reached a European semifinal for only the second time by crushing Sporting Braga 4-0 to advance 6-1 on aggregate. Villarreal will be in Friday's draw after winning at Sparta Prague 4-2 to go through 6-3 on aggregate. The tables were turned on Sevilla after winning 2-1 at Athletic Bilbao last week, with its Spanish rival winning the return leg 2-1 to force the game into extra time and a shootout. Sevilla scored all five penalties to win 5-4. Liverpool had the edge going into the second leg after drawing 1-1 in Germany, but threw that advantage away in the opening nine minutes as the hosts were ripped apart and the talents of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang proved too hot to handle. In the fifth minute, Philippe Coutinho conceded possession deep inside opposition territory and the visitors launched a rapid counterattack. Aubameyang's shot was parried by goalkeeper Simon Mignolet but Mkhitaryan followed with the opener. Four minutes later, again the ball was given away, this time by Divock Origi, who was preferred up front in favor of Daniel Sturridge. Liverpool's sloppiness was countered by Dortmund's precision, with Marco Reus sending a crossfield pass to Aubameyang, who sent the ball high into the net. It seemed game over. Liverpool had other ideas. "At halftime, the coach said we had to create the moment where we could tell our grandchildren, our children about, make a special night for the fans," Origi said. "We believed." The fightback began 150 seconds into the second half. Emre Can slipped the ball through for Origi to slot into the bottom corner of the net. Dortmund restored its two-goal advantage when Mat Hummels' defense-splitting pass reached Reus, who finished coolly. Liverpool wasn't giving up hopes of progressing, with Philippe Coutinho netting in the 66th after being played in by James Milner. Coutinho turned creator 11 minutes later in an engrossing second half, whipping in the corner that Sakho headed in. And a minute into stoppage time, another Liverpool defender Lovren found the target again with his head. "That's what European football can be at its best," Klopp said. "It was a wonderful experience and it's hard to believe it really happened." A night that ended with Liverpool fans delirious started on a somber note at Anfield. A mosaic was held up in the Kop to read "96" and a minute's silence was held to mark the eve of the 27th anniversary of the Hillsborough stadium disaster when 96 Liverpool supporters were killed at an FA Cup semifinal. Friday's memorial inside the ground comes as a jury at fresh inquests into the deaths is still considering the verdicts. Liverpool's Dejan Lovren, left, celebrates after scoring the winning goal during the Europa League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Liverpool FC and Borussia Dortmund in Liverpool, England, Thursday, April 14, 2016 . (AP Photo/Jon Super) Liverpool's Dejan Lovren heads the ball to score during the Europa League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Liverpool FC and Borussia Dortmund in Liverpool, England, Thursday, April 14, 2016 . (AP Photo/Jon Super) Villarreals Samuel Castillejo celebrates his goal during the Europa League quarter final second leg soccer match between Sparta Praha and Villarreal in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, April 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) Marcus Rashford and Marouane Fellaini send Manchester United to Wembley Marcus Rashford and Marouane Fellaini fired Manchester United to Wembley as West Ham's last ever FA Cup tie at Upton Park ended in a 2-1 defeat. The Hammers went into the quarter-final replay as favourites to see off a United side enduring another tough season amid rumours of dressing room disharmony and mounting criticism of boss Louis Van Gaal. But second-half goals from youngster Rashford, his sixth since bursting onto the scene in February, and the much-maligned Fellaini booked a semi-final clash with Everton a week on Saturday. Manchester United's Marouane Fellaini (left) celebrates the second goal against West Ham James Tomkins set up a grandstand finish with a brave header with 11 minutes remaining, and Cheikhou Kouyate had a last-gasp equaliser ruled out for offside. But United held on to keep Van Gaal in with a chance of finishing a turbulent campaign with some silverware - their first for three years. The Hammers move to the Olympic Stadium next season but are determined to say goodbye to the Boleyn Ground with a bang. They swarmed all over the visitors in the opening stages with Michail Antonio and Enner Valencia forcing saves from David De Gea. But United soaked up the early pressure and actually created the best chance of the first half, Jesse Lingard finding Fellaini in the area only for Darren Randolph to tip his shot over. Valencia should have done better after getting in behind Chris Smalling but once again his shot was too close to De Gea, while Randolph made another smart stop to deny Lingard. Nine minutes into the second half United made the breakthrough after Antonio gave the ball away inside his own half and Anthony Martial slipped in Rashford just inside the penalty area. The youngster still had plenty to do, but he stepped inside James Tomkins before curling a superb shot beyond Randolph and into the top corner for a 54th-minute opener. West Ham felt they should have been awarded a penalty moments later when Daley Blind blocked Dimitri Payet's run in the area but referee Roger East was unconvinced. Instead they fell two behind when Lingard's cross was blasted back across goal by Martial and diverted into the net by the knee of Fellaini (67). West Ham should have been down and out but they at least made a game of it when Andy Carroll nodded Payet's corner into the six-yard box and Tomkins bravely stooped to head past De Gea with 11 minutes left. In a frantic finale Carroll headed narrowly over and De Gea made a superb save to deny Kouyate, before the midfielder's header was ruled out by a narrow offside decision. TWEET OF THE MATCH "See you soon, @WembleyStadium! #mufc'' - Manchester United's official account (@ManUtd) PLAYER RATINGS WEST HAM Darren Randolph: 6 Aaron Cresswell: 6 James Tomkins: 6 Angelo Ogbonna: 6 Michail Antonio: 5 Chiekhou Kouyate: 6 Mark Noble: 6 Manuel Lanzini: 6 Dimitri Payet: 6 Enner Valencia: 5 Andy Carroll: 6 Subs Victor Moses (for Valencia, 62 mins): 6 Emmanuelle Emenike (for Lanzini, 74 mins): 6 MANCHESTER UNITED: David De Gea: 8 Marcos Rojo: 6 Chris Smalling: 7 Daley Blind: 6 Timothy Fosu-Mensah: 7 Michael Carrick: 6 Ander Herrera: 6 Marouane Fellaini: 8 Jesse Lingard: 7 Anthony Martial: 7 Marcus Rashford: 7 Subs Antonio Valencia (for Rojo, 69 mins): 6 Morgan Schneiderlin (for Herrera, 76 mins): 6 Wayne Rooney (for Rashford, 90 mins): 6 STAR PLAYER Marouane Fellaini. The much-maligned midfielder's name on the team sheet was not met with much enthusiasm from many of a Manchester United persuasion but he put in a fine display full of aggression with some neat touches, and grabbed the decisive second goal. MOMENT OF THE MATCH Herrera was taking his time, shall we say, to get off the field after receiving treatment for an injury. Hammers skipper Noble decided to give him a helping hand by lifting the midfielder up and carrying him off the pitch. VIEW FROM THE BENCH Louis Van Gaal turned to United fall guy Fellaini to toughen up his midfield and it did the trick, while Rashford shone as the lone striker again. Hammers boss Slaven Bilic used cup keeper Darren Randolph again and the Irishman pulled off some fine first-half saves. MOAN OF THE MATCH This was the 155th, and last, FA Cup tie to be played at Upton Park. The old place may be a bit rough around the edges these days but there is no chance of replicating that special atmosphere when West Ham move to the Olympic Stadium next season. WHO'S UP NEXT Leicester v West Ham, Premier League (Sunday, April 17) Nothing half-hearted about Labour's EU campaign - Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn insisted there was "nothing half-hearted" about Labour's pro-EU campaign as he made his first major speech of the referendum battle. The left-winger - who voted Out in the 1975 referendum and has expressed Eurosceptic views over subsequent decades - has been accused of making only a lukewarm contribution to the Remain argument so far. But he said it was clear that the party was "overwhelmingly convinced" that being part of the bloc was in the best interests of the country on issues such as workers' rights and the environment. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a speech on the EU referendum campaign There remained serious "shortcomings" that needed to be addressed by Brussels, such as the proposed trade deal with the US which gave "huge cause for concern" about the potential for privatisation of public services, he warned. All of those could be better dealt with, however, by remaining in the EU "warts and all" rather than by pulling out and leaving the country at the mercy of the Conservatives , he argued. "We have had a very big debate within the party and within the trade unions. Overwhelmingly, the Labour Party and the trade unions have come to the view that they want to campaign for a social, just Europe to protect the workers' rights that we've got, to extend them and extend that degree of justice. "That is the position we have reached. That is the position that has been adopted by the party. That is the party that I lead and that is the position I am putting forward." He went on: "There is nothing half-hearted about what we are doing, there is nothing half- hearted about our campaign, there is nothing half-hearted about our alliances. "I have attended a number of meetings of the Party of European Socialists, I have had lengthy conversations with prime ministers and party leaders all across Europe on the social justice case, the environmental case, the issues of climate change, trade and steel and all those issues. "I have made numerous speeches on all these subjects. There is nothing half-hearted about what we are doing." Mr Corbyn said: "Over the years I and many others have been critical of many decisions taken by the EU. "And I remain very critical of its shortcomings, from its lack of democratic accountability to the institutional pressure to deregulate or privatise public services. "So Europe needs to change. But that change can only come from working with our allies in the European Union. "It's perfectly possible to be critical and still be convinced we need to remain a member," he said, suggesting his own election as Labour leader - after years at loggerheads with the direction of the party - showed what could be achieved. "I've had a few differences with the direction the Labour Party's taken over the past few years as some people may have noticed," he joked. "But I have been sure that it was right to stay as a member of the party. I joined the Labour Party when I was 16 and I am very proud of that. "Some might say I've even managed to do something more recently about changing the direction of the Labour Party and I'm enjoying that as well. "In contrast to four decades ago, the EU of today brings together most of the countries of Europe and has developed important employment, environmental and consumer protections. "I have listened very closely to the views of trade unions, environmental groups, human rights organisations and of course to Labour Party members and supporters and fellow MPs. "They are overwhelmingly convinced that we can best make a positive difference by remaining in Europe. "Britain needs to stay in the EU as the best framework for trade, manufacturing and co-operation in 21st century Europe. "But we also need to make the case for reform in Europe - the reform David Cameron's Government has no interest in, but plenty of others across Europe do." Mr Corbyn said he did not believe "too many" EU nationals had come to live and work in Britain - and said higher wages, not curbs on free movement, were the key to immigration questions. "I don't think too many have come. I think the issue has to be of wages and regulations," he said. "It is employers that try to undercut industry-wide agreements in the construction industry and others that are the problem. "There has to be a case for a minimum wage tied to the cost of living all across the continent. "There is nothing wrong with people migrating to work around the continent but there has to be a level playing field on pay and conditions." He said he did not "recant on everything I've ever said and done" on the EU issue but was fighting for the chance to change it from within. TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "The Labour leader is absolutely right to warn that Brexit is a danger to workers' jobs and rights. "The broader labour movement is united behind the benefits of EU membership for working people. "Many of the biggest cheerleaders for Brexit have spent years dismissing rights like paid leave and maternity protections as 'red tape' to be binned. "So we know from their hostility that the threat to workers' rights if we leave the EU is very real." Mr Corbyn dismissed claims by pro-Brexit campaigners that the EU was to blame for the collapse of the UK steel industry - instead accusing the Government of blocking proposed tariffs on Chinese imports. "The Conservative Government has blocked action on Chinese steel dumping. It has cut investment in infrastructure that would have created demand for more steel and had no procurement strategy to support British steel," he said. "The European Union - 28 countries and 520 million people - could have made us stronger, by defending our steel industries together. The actions of the Conservative Government weakened us." He also accused David Cameron and Tory MEPs of seeking to "undermine" EU efforts to expose tax avoidance. "Labour has allies across Europe prepared to take on this global network of the corrupt and we will work with them to clamp down on those determined to suck wealth out of our economies and the pockets of our people," he said. "Left to themselves, it is clear what the main Vote Leave vision is: for Britain to be the safe haven of choice for the ill-gotten gains of every dodgy oligarch, dictator or rogue corporation. "They believe this tiny global elite is what matters, not the rest of us, who they dismiss as 'low achievers'." Asked whether David Cameron welcomed Mr Corbyn's intervention, the Prime Minister's official spokeswoman said: "What we are increasingly seeing as we get closer to the vote on June 23 is a number of people from different backgrounds - be they political, from business backgrounds, from different walks of life - coming out and setting out why it is in the interests of the UK to remain in the European Union. "The Prime Minister thinks it is important that people hear those arguments, because we will be stronger, safer and better off if Britain remains in the EU." Questioned at a regular Westminster media briefing over whether Mr Cameron a greed that migrant workers were "undercutting" wages, the spokeswoman said: "We are taking steps to make sure we are, as a Government, doing what we can to increase wages in this country, to make sure we have got more and more British people trained up to with the right skills to fill the jobs we have here, while recognising that migrants can make an important contribution to our economy." The PM joined former Labour leader Lord Kinnock and ex-Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown on a visit to a Britain Stronger in Europe call centre and met pro-Remain campaigners. Government turning a blind eye to refugee crisis, say aid agencies The Government is turning a "blind eye" on the "world's poorest and most vulnerable" by failing to provide an "adequate response" to the European migrant crisis, according to a group of aid agencies. In a damning report, 13 aid and refugee agencies accuse Britain and other EU member states of failing to live up to their "moral responsibility". In an open appeal to the Government, Oxfam, the British Refugee Council and 11 other agencies called on the Home Office to recognise its "obligation" to offer asylum to a "fair share" of refugees. The agencies set out five key points they say must be addressed to solve the humanitarian crisis (AP) Oxfam's head of humanitarian policy, Maya Mailer, said: "The UK is trying to pretend that this is someone else's problem, and that refugees and migrants could and should be dealt with elsewhere. "But people who are desperate will take huge risks to reach safety. "The UK needs to accept its moral responsibility to offer a safe haven to the world's poorest and most vulnerable - men, women and children who have been made homeless by war, violence and disasters." The agencies also warn that the Government's strategy of providing foreign aid to the countries neighbouring war-torn Syria and Libya is inadequate, and should be focused on "protection for people on the move". In their report the agencies set out five key points they argue must be addressed to solve the humanitarian crisis. They include expanding legal routes to reach the UK, improving conditions at border crossings between European countries, and ensuring that refugees are given the opportunity to request asylum on arrival. The report also calls for Britain and the EU to better assist in the improvement of conditions in sprawling refugee camps that have been set up in countries including Jordan and Lebanon, as well as tackling the cause of displacement. Maurice Wren, chief executive of the British Refugee Council, accused European leaders of lacking the "political leadership and moral courage" to tackle the crisis. "Today we're presenting a roadmap for change which prioritises saving lives, solidarity and safe passage," he said. "European governments, including the UK, must take a long hard look at themselves and ask is this the best they can do? We say that it doesn't have to be this way." Next week will mark the one-year anniversary since 800 people drowned attempting to reach Lampedusa, the largest of the Italian Pelagie Islands. George Osborne: Antibiotic resistance could become greater threat than cancer Resistance to antibiotics will become "an even greater threat to mankind than cancer" without global action, Chancellor George Osborne will warn today. The latest evidence suggests 10 million people a year could die globally by 2050, as a result of antibiotics becoming powerless against common infections - more than currently die from cancer, he will say. The Chancellor will tell delegates at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington that there will be an "enormous economic cost" too: by 2050, antimicrobial resistance could reduce global GDP by up to 3.5% - a cumulative cost of 100 trillion US dollars (70 trillion). George Osborne is addressing delegates at the International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington He will say: "Unless we take global action, antimicrobial resistance will become an even greater threat to mankind than cancer currently is. "It is not just a health problem but an economic one, too. The cost of doing nothing, both in terms of lives lost and money wasted, is too great, and the world needs to come together to agree a common approach. "We have to dramatically shift incentives for pharmaceutical companies and others to create a long-term solution to this problem, with new rewards, funded globally, that support the development of new antibiotics and ensure access to antibiotics in the developing world. "To achieve a long-term solution we also need better rapid diagnostics that will cut the vast amounts of unnecessary antibiotic use." In 2014 the PM was the first G20 leader to speak out publicly about the magnitude of the threat, and asked the Treasury minister and economist Lord O'Neill to come up with potential solutions to the growing global problem of drug-resistant infections. The UK has implemented two of his initial recommendations: to increase Government funding for early stage research and to help build capabilities in low-income settings to monitor the development and spread of drug resistance. The Chancellor is expected to back a proposal from Lord O'Neill and others to create "market entry rewards" which will pay a large prize to a pharmaceutical company, or set of companies, that get a new antibiotic or diagnostic to market. Barry Hearn: My dog could've negotiated better Olympic Stadium deal for taxpayer Former Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn says his dog could have negotiated a better deal than the one which will see West Ham play at the Olympic Stadium for 2.5million per year. The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), the publicly-funded authority which owns the stadium, on Thursday published its full deal with West Ham, who will take up their 99-year tenancy in August. And the 48,000 per week deal shows the LLDC must provide the goalposts and corner flags and is responsible for costs associated with maintenance, policing, cleaning and pest control at the 60,000-seat arena. The details of West Ham's deal to lease London's Olympic Stadium, built for the 2012 Games, have been published Hearn, who failed in a bid for Orient to share the stadium, told BBC Sport: "It's a hugely beneficial deal to West Ham and good luck to them. They've negotiated a good deal. "I can't say the same for the LLDC who should go back to negotiation school. My dog could have negotiated a better deal for the taxpayer." An Information Tribunal on Monday rejected LLDC's appeal against a London Assembly ruling that the contract between it and the Premier League club should be made public. LLDC, responsible for transforming venues used for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, did not appeal and the contract was published in full on Thursday. A redacted version was made available last October. TaxPayers' Alliance chief executive Jonathan Isaby said the contract was "ludicrously generous" and "the deal of the century". He added: "Those of us footing the bills deserve a proper explanation." Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who oversaw the Gunners' move from Highbury to the 390m, 60,000-seat Emirates Stadium and the accompanied straitened spending, last week compared West Ham's deal to winning the lottery. Speaking prior to the full publication of the contract, Wenger said: "I say 'well done, you have won in the lottery, and you do not need to sweat like I did for long years, and fight for every pound'." Tottenham lost their bid to be lead tenant of the Olympic Stadium and are now building their own stadium adjacent to their White Hart Lane home at an estimated cost of 750m. And football finance expert Rob Wilson, of Sheffield Hallam University, says it is clear why some of the Hammers' Premier League rivals might complain about the deal. Wilson told Press Association Sport: "They've really got it for a steal. Anything 5m and upwards would have been an appropriate figure that would probably give better value to the taxpayer. "The costs to Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur will be far, far greater and you can probably understand why some of West Ham's closest competitors in the Premier League are saying this is competitively unfair. They've got much more disposable income." LLDC's objection to the publication of the contract was based around securing future business for the multi-purpose venue on the 340 days a year when West Ham are not playing. That would include hosting music concerts, for example. An LLDC spokesperson said: "We were concerned that the publication of this contract and the precedent it may set for future agreements could make it harder to do this." The stadium will host the 2017 IAAF and IPC Athletics World Championships and there is a 50-year agreement for British Athletics to use the venue each July. The transformation of the venue from its Olympic and Paralympic condition cost 272m, with West Ham contributing 15m. The Hammers will pay an annual rent of 2.5m for 25 matches - or 1.25m if they fall out of the top flight - with a 100,000 fee for any additional match. Performance-related payments are in place for finishing positions in the Premier League (first to fifth place costs 100,000) and winning the FA Cup and Europa League (both 100,000). Qualifying for the Champions League would incur a fee of 250,000, while winning it would cost 1m. The Hammers, who are the sole beneficiaries of ticket sales, are currently sixth in the Premier League. The contract also showed the first 4m of any naming rights for the stadium would go to LLDC, with any figure above that split 50-50 between LLDC and West Ham. Wilson believes the Hammers could command 8m to 10m per year for naming rights. LLDC would receive between 9m and 90m if West Ham were sold, although co-chairman David Sullivan and David Gold have no intention of offloading the club. Revenue from catering and stadium tours would also go to LLDC. The Hammers are due to move into the arena in time for the start of the 2016/17 Premier League season. In a statement on their website, West Ham made it clear they had no objection to the contract being made public. "The club has nothing to hide," the club statement said. "We firmly believe it is a great deal for both West Ham United and also the taxpayer." Olympic Stadium Coalition, a coalition of 14 supporters' trusts and groups, had been campaigning for the contract to be published. Andy Murray digs deep to avoid Monte Carlo exit British number one Andy Murray avoided following Novak Djokovic in making an early exit from the Monte Carlo Masters after swerving a third-round defeat to world number 21 Benoit Paire. On the day after top seed Djokovic suffered a surprise three-set loss to Czech player Jiri Vesely, world number two Murray was forced to launch a late comeback against fiery local hopeful Paire. The first ever meeting between the two men finished 2-6 7-5 7-5 in Murray's favour and he will next face Milos Raonic, who beat Tomas Berdych's conqueror, Damir Dzumhur, in the last eight. Andy Murray, pictured, had to battle past Benoit Paire in Monte Carlo (AP) Paire gained the upper hand after only three games in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, the plucky 26-year-old breaking his Scottish opponent before pushing on to take a 5-1 lead. Unforced errors from the Frenchman helped Murray claw a game back but the unpredictable Paire managed to wrap up the first set inside 30 minutes. Avignon's Paire - employing his smooth backhand and visibly boosted by his aggression on the second serve - rattled off three more games before Murray broke back and held to stem the tide. The 2013 Wimbledon champion was struggling to combat Paire's incessant drop shots and took a long time to win a protracted tussle when 4-3 down, finally wresting a one-game lead in the match. Murray then channelled the grit that saw him rally to beat low-ranking Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the opening round. As the temperamental Paire began to implode, Murray clinched the second set 7-5. The Frenchman's sharp decline did not carry through to the decider, though, and he matched Murray blow for blow until, at the end of the ninth game, he emerged victorious from a long battle at deuce. It was not enough. In the end Murray's top-level experience paid off and after two-and-a-half frenetic hours, the Scot powered his way into a fourth-round meeting with Canadian number one Raonic. Australia warns its citizens of increasing tensions around 1916 Rising centenary Australia has warned its citizens about increasing tensions in Ireland between dissident republicans and unionists around the 1916 Rising centenary. In updated travel advice issued this week, people travelling to the country have been warned of the risk of protests turning violent, including those associated with Northern Ireland. "Tensions between dissident republicans and unionists have increased in the lead up to the centenary of the Easter Rising (24-29 April - Proclamation of Irish independence)," Australian diplomats said. Australians have been warned of the risk of protests turning violent "You should avoid all protests and demonstrations, including those associated with Northern Ireland, as they may turn violent. Instances of civil disorder can rapidly escalate into violence and you should avoid them wherever possible, including through careful monitoring of the media and following the advice of local authorities." The notice was added to the advice on the Australian government's smartraveller online portal, run by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Its general advice on Ireland is to exercise normal safety precautions - essentially using the same common sense you would when at home. It says there is a moderate incidence of serious and violent crime, car theft and break-ins are increasing, especially in Dublin, and tourist locations and rental cars are particularly targeted. On its specific advice for travel to Northern Ireland it said the threat of terrorism was severe, compared with moderate in England, Wales and Scotland. "In recent years, Northern Ireland-related terrorist groups have used firearms and explosives to target police and military, and occasionally commercial interests such as banks and local businesses. Civilians have been injured in these attacks," it said. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport said it would not comment on the travel advice issued by another government. But a spokesman said: "When compared to the number of tourists entering the country, Ireland is a very safe destination and the rate of crime against tourists is quite low. Delay to Chilcot report 'unacceptable' and 'probably cost lives' The Iraq Inquiry report must be published before the "incomprehensible and unacceptable" expected date of June or July because people have already "probably" died as a result of the ongoing delays, MPs have been told. Conservative David Davis wants the Chilcot report published as soon as national security vetting is complete - expected to be in early May after the Government promised the process would take a fortnight or less. Cabinet Office Minister John Penrose said the report into the Iraq War should be handed next week to officials for security checks, which will be completed within two weeks as promised by David Cameron. The Chilcot report into the Iraq War should be handed to the Government for security checks next week But Mr Penrose stressed that inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot will still need to prepare the "very large" report for publication and will announce a firmer release date after vetting. The minister told a backbench debate on the inquiry: "I should make clear that at that stage, even when the national security checking process is complete, the report will still be in Sir John Chilcot's hands and will not be released to the Government until everything is ready. "The inquiry has said that it will complete the remaining work as swiftly as possible, and as Sir John Chilcot indicated in his letter to the Prime Minister last October, that he expects publication in June or July this year." Responding to speculation that the report may be delayed until after the EU referendum on June 23, Mr Penrose that there is nothing in the "purdah" rules for the poll to stop the inquiry's publication beforehand. But Mr Davis said waiting until June or July to publish the report would be difficult to understand for many, including the families of the British war dead. And he said recent decisions about intervention in Libya, Syria and Iraq were made without proper knowledge of the controversial 2003 choice to go to war. As a result bad decisions have been made which have probably cost lives, the former foreign minister added. Mr Davis told the Commons: "There are lessons to be learned from the Iraq War about our foreign policy, about our political decisions to go to war and about our military operations. "The longer we leave it the less useful these lessons will be and the more likely it is that we will make the same mistakes. "A decision such as those that were made in Libya, Syria and Iraq are made without the knowledge or facts, mistakes are made, and sometimes people die as a result. "It's not hyperbole to say delay to the Iraq Inquiry could cost lives because bad decisions could be made - I would go further, I'd say it probably did cost lives because bad decisions were made." He later added: "I want to say through the minister to Sir John Chilcot that June/July is incomprehensible and unacceptable." Several other MPs called for the publication of the report as soon as possible. The SNP's Angus MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) said: " The UK risks becoming an international laughing stock by this infinite and eternal delay that's tied with this report." Former British Army officer Bob Stewart, Tory MP for Beckenham, said: "I think we could sum up what the military families feel by the fact that the longer this takes, the more jiggery-pokery they think is going on with actually the results of the inquiry. "If we keep going on and on like this there will be total loss of faith in what it produces." Labour's Graham Allen (Nottingham North) said the publication would be good for the party: " The publication will be part of what is necessary to purge our own party of the fault line that occurred around the time of the Iraq War and continues to this day." The SNP's Martin Docherty-Hughes (West Dunbartonshire) said: " The longer we wait, the more unstable our position becomes and this has led successive British governments to continue with this same failed philosophy without ever learning from the mistakes or looking at a different set of responses to the situation in which we now find ourselves." Labour's Paul Flynn (Newport West) said: "It is absolutely crucial we understand that mindset that drove us into war - and that mindset is one that we heard recently in other debates here, with going into Libya, or into Syria, and is this myth, that affects English MPs rather than Scottish or Welsh or Irish MPs, and it's the idea that the UK, our country, must punch above its weight militarily." Aston Villa put club captain Gabriel Agbonlahor on two-week fitness drive Aston Villa have axed Gabriel Agbonlahor from the first team and put him on a fitness drive. Caretaker boss Eric Black made the call in a meeting with the striker on Monday after deeming the club captain was out of condition. Agbonlahor will not feature for Villa, who could be relegated from the Barclays Premier League on Saturday, for two weeks during his personal boot camp. Gabriel Agbonlahor will not be considered for selection until he proves his fitness at Aston Villa The forward will train partly with the under-21s, with the first team and individually to prove his fitness. It is the latest embarrassment for Agbonlahor, the club's record Premier League scorer, after he was dropped from the squad to play Chelsea this month and investigated by the club for his conduct on a trip to Dubai in March, before they opted to take no further action. Black said: "After last week I sat down with Gabby on Monday and we agreed to put in place a fitness regime to get him up to speed. I can only control the elements I can control. I have to try to get the best out of the squad I have got and we agreed he wasn't in a condition to be involved. "I can only assess people in training and in matches, I can only control those elements. "I can't do the running, that'll be up to Gabby, it's his responsibility. In the last 10 days I have identified various things and that's one of them. When I'm in this position I'm going to treat it the way I want to, if they don't want to train properly, be part of the group or be ready to perform that's the only sanction I've got. "We've come to the conclusion we need to move forward with it and he's not at the level to contribute the way he should." Agbonlahor was also ruled out of last week's 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth after calling in sick with a virus 24 hours before the game. Rock bottom Villa go to Manchester United 15 points from safety with just five games left and will be down before they kick off if Norwich avoid defeat at home to Sunderland in the early game. The club have lost their last eight games and have won just three times in the league all season. Black added: "The preparation won't change. Our preparation is to beat Manchester United. This has been a slow thing. This won't be a fall off the cliff 'oh my, Aston Villa have been relegated' moment, this has been happening for some time." Before defecting, North Korean waitresses shopped for backpacks By John Ruwitch and Joseph Campbell NINGBO, China, April 13 (Reuters) - Two days before they sought asylum in South Korea, the North Korean waitresses in the Chinese coastal city of Ningbo shopped for backpacks at a nearby store and paid relatively expensive full prices. "I asked them 'Are you going on a trip?', and they said yes," said one of the workers at the shop, who declined to give his name. "They seemed happy." Another shop worker, surnamed Gong, confirmed the story. Four waitresses from the Ryugyong Korean Restaurant visited the nearby store on April 5 and bought three backpacks, each for the listed 199 yuan (about $31), even though they were often known to bargain, the workers said. Two days later, 12 of the restaurant's waitresses and one manager arrived in Seoul, the South Korean capital, in the biggest mass defection case involving North Koreans in several years. How they planned and executed their trip remains a mystery, but more details have quickly emerged of this defection than most others. South Korea has said it has admitted 13 defectors, North Korean restaurant workers who arrived on April 7, on humanitarian grounds. The North has called it a "hideous" abduction of its workers by the South. The South Korean government's public acknowledgement of defections is unusual. It also said this week that two senior officials from the North had defected, but that they came over last year. The government denied the announcements were aimed at influencing voters in Wednesday's parliamentary election. China has said a group of 13 North Koreans used valid passports to leave the country normally on April 6, but did not say where they went. China is North Korea's main ally and is known for sending defectors back to the North. About 29,000 people have fled North Korea and arrived in the South since the 1950-53 Korean War, including 1,276 last year, with numbers declining since a 2009 peak. SECRETIVE AND A CURIOSITY In Ningbo, shopkeepers nearby considered the North Korean restaurant and its pretty but secretive waitresses a curiosity. The restaurant, now closed, sits on a newly developed pedestrian street for tourists that opened for business in late September last year. Across the lane at a cosmetics shop, Jiang Jiang recalled the noisy, patriotic North Korean music sung by the waitresses, a routine deployed at many of the around 130 North Korean restaurants around the world. Most remit revenues back to Pyongyang. "Not my style," she said. Moving her computer cursor between April 5 and 6 on a calendar, she added: "This is about when I stopped hearing the music. It was really loud music." Some shopkeepers nearby said the restaurant appeared to have been closed for renovations several months ago, but stories varied. Business did not appear to be great. An employee of the company that manages the vintage-looking grey brick and wood buildings that line the pedestrian street, including the Ryugyong, said the workers were very secretive, and generally only seen outside when they were coming to and from work. "They were under military-like management, and not free to go anywhere," she said. Shopkeepers said sometimes they would shop for small items like hair bands. Typically, North Koreans working overseas are chosen for their loyalty but are subject to many restrictions. They usually live together and are guarded by security officials. Xue Bin, one of the Chinese businessmen behind the restaurant, said he pulled out of the venture after a disagreement with a partner about six months ago. Corporate records indicate that Xue is the legal representative of the venture, which is wholly owned by a man named Wang Qianqian. Wang declined to comment when reached by phone. Xue confirmed that all the workers were imported from North Korea via Korean businessmen. Their salaries were paid directly to the workers in half-yearly increments. The North Koreans lived in a dormitory and were provided food, he said. "We provided good conditions," he said by telephone from Beijing. "They had enough food. They had enough free time." Xue declined to say what the business disagreement had been about. He also said he had no idea how the staff had defected. "Maybe they paid someone. I don't know," he said. U.N. chief was 'inept' on peacekeeper sex abuse -key U.S. senator By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, April 13 (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Wednesday accused United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of ineptitude for failing to halt sexual exploitation and abuse by blue-helmeted peacekeepers. The criticism from Senator Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, comes as candidates to replace Ban when he leaves the post after two 10-year terms have been holding town hall meetings with diplomats from U.N. member states this week. Ending U.N. peacekeeper abuse has been a major topic of discussion during the meetings at U.N. headquarters in light of a slew of rape allegations leveled against international peacekeepers in Central African Republic. Corker asked a committee hearing on ending sexual abuse by U.N. peacekeepers why some recommendations included in a 2005 report on the problem to the U.N. General Assembly were only now being implemented. "What is wrong with the secretary-general of the U.N.?" Corker told the hearing, which was broadcast live. "This report ... the one that you refer to, is 10 years old." "How do we put up with such inept leadership at the United Nations?" he added. Ambassador Isobel Coleman, who oversees U.N. management and reform issues at the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said countries that contribute troops to the United Nations were often unwilling to hold troops who commit abuses accountable. "I don't think it's ineptitude," Coleman said. "I think it is a reluctance to take on the opposition of troop contributing countries that don't want to deal with this issue in the transparent way that it must be dealt with." She added that the United States was monitoring follow-up actions in troop-contributing countries to ensure people accused of sexual abuse are prosecuted. Republicans are traditionally more critical of the United Nations than Democrats. The United States contributes 27 percent of the United Nations' $8.3 billion peacekeeping budget. The United Nations did not have an immediate response to Corker's criticism, but it has pledged to crack down on allegations of abuse to avoid a repeat of past mistakes. The United Nations has started to "name and shame" countries whose troops are accused of sexual abuse. The previous head of the U.N. mission in Central African Republic, Babacar Gaye, resigned last August and some 800 Congolese peacekeepers were repatriated earlier this year over alleged sex crimes. DEALTALK-McDonald's targeting buyout firms as it seeks to sell North Asia stores By Denny Thomas HONG KONG, April 14 (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp is targeting private equity firms, including Bain Capital, MBK Partners, TPG Capital Management and Chinese state-backed conglomerate China Resources (Holdings) for its planned sale of 2,800 restaurants in North Asia, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The U.S. fast food giant is adopting a new business model in Asia, which is now the most intense battleground for global restaurant chains, by planning to bring in partners to own the restaurants within a franchise operation. Several other global restaurant operators have switched to the so-called franchise model and McDonald's has also set a long-term aim of being 95 percent franchised, the company said in a statement on March 31. Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's has hired Morgan Stanley to run the sale of the restaurants in China, Hong Kong and South Korea, the people said. A formal sales process is expected to kick-off in about three to four weeks, one of the people said. Ahead of that, McDonald's and its advisor are drawing up a list of likely partners who will be approached to participate in the auction, the person added. The franchise partners would likely end up owning a majority stake in the restaurants in each market, or even as much as 100 percent, and be responsible for future capital spending. The precise structure of the deal is still to be decided, the sources said. In return, McDonald's will get a one-time franchise payment and ongoing royalty fees, which usually range between 3-5 percent of annual turnover. Asia-focused Baring Private Equity Asia is the other buyouts firm likely to be invited to the auction process, banking sources familiar with the process said. McDonald's declined to add to the March 31 statement. China Resources, MBK, Bain, TPG and Baring all declined to comment. Morgan Stanley didn't respond to an email seeking comment. McDonald's does not break out country-by-country revenue details. It is China's No. 2 fast food chain behind YUM Brands Inc, which operates the KFC and Pizza Hut chains. McDonald's is leaning towards finding separate partners in all the three markets and would likely offer a majority stake to make the deal appealing to buyers, the people added. The private equity firms are attracted to the rapid growth opportunity available in the so-called quick-service restaurants' (QSR) business in Asia. "In recent years, even though formal dining may have been impacted by the austerity measures, QSR as a format is growing pretty rapidly," said Kiki Yang, a Greater China partner at consulting firm Bain & Co. "QSR has the format that a lot of investors like because of the growth of the segment, standardized procedures and it's easy to expand." China Resources (Holdings), which is the parent of brewing company China Resources Beer Holdings, and operates Pacific Coffee chains in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Macau, has previously expressed interest in expanding its retail footprint. "This will attract a lot of sponsor interest," said one senior Hong Kong-based M&A banker familiar with the McDonald's process. "For one, it's an established business and second such assets rarely come to market in Asia." Buyout firms from KKR & Co to Carlyle Group and others have raised billions of dollars in new funds in Asia to benefit from the region's growth potential. But the lack of opportunities to gain control of businesses and stiff asking prices have left the Asia private equity industry sitting on about $140 billion of "dry powder" or unemployed capital, according to data provider Preqin. Apart from the proceeds from a sale, a deal would lower McDonald's capital spending needs, which totaled $2.6 billion last year. McDonald also plans to open 1,500 more restaurants in China and Hong Kong over the next five years, to tap the region's rapid growth. However, McDonald's and Yum, have been facing increasing competition from cheaper local rivals, particularly in China, where they are both trying to recover from food safety scares. Yum is also in the process of spinning off its 6,900 China restaurants, and is in talks with buyouts firms, including KKR and Hopu Investments to sell up to a 20 percent stake after battling sliding sales over the past few quarters.. Bruised by food safety scandals and changing tastes, McDonald's is also selling a big stake in its Japanese arm. Buyout firms, including Bain Capital, Permira and MBK, were among those who submitted bids for the McDonald's Japan stake earlier this year, though it was unclear if a deal is close. All three buyout firms declined comment. McDonald's has struggled in Japan over the past two years, closing more than 150 restaurants last year, remodeling almost 3,000 and posting a $310 million net loss in 2015. McDonald's owns 49.99 percent of its Japanese arm McDonald's Holdings, according to the company's website, and intends to cut that to about 20 percent. Media watchdog calls on Turkey to catch IS killers of Syrian journalist By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL, April 13 (Reuters) - A prominent media advocacy group on Wednesday called on Turkish authorities to protect journalists after a Syrian reporter was gunned down in broad daylight by Islamic State militants in southeastern Turkey - the fourth such attack in six months. Zaher al-Shurqat, an online broadcaster for Aleppo Today who regularly travelled to Syria to report from the front-line in the fight against Islamic State, was shot in the neck on Sunday by a masked attacker in Gaziantep near the Syria border. He died in hospital two days later, Turkey's Dogan News agency reported. Islamic State's Amaq news agency, in a statement from the group claiming responsibility for Shurqat's killing, said his journalistic work had been "antagonistic" to Islamic State. "Turkish authorities must urgently demonstrate that killing journalists on the streets of Turkey is unacceptable and will not go unpunished," Nina Ognianova, a senior representative of the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement. In a statement in Washington, the U.S. State Department condemned the "vicious murder" and said it stood "ready to support Turkey as it works to bring to justice those responsible for attacks on the media." NATO-member Turkey has increasingly become a target for Islamic State which is blamed for two of four suicide bombings this year that have targeted its capital Ankara and its biggest city Istanbul. Gaziantep, where Shurqat was based, is a hub for Syrian activists and journalists documenting the war. It is also home to one of the largest Syrian refugee populations in Turkey, and lies just across the frontier from the IS-controlled Syrian town of Jarablus. Police frequently target Islamic State networks in the city. Shurqat's killing comes three months after Naji Jerf, a Syrian activist and documentary maker who made a film about Islamic State, was gunned down on the street in Gaziantep. Previous to that, two Syrian activists who worked for Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, a campaign group against Islamic State, were shot in the head and beheaded in the nearby city of Sanliurfa. Jerf and the two activists had appealed to the Turkish police after they received death threats, their friends and fellow activists in Istanbul and Gaziantep told Reuters earlier this year. The Islamic State statement said: "A group of militants belonging to Islamic State shot down yesterday the media personality Zaher al-Shurqat, who had been presenting a show antagonistic to IS." CPJ's Ognianova said: "We call on security officials to hunt down Zaher al-Shurqat's killers, bring them to justice, and ensure journalists can work safely throughout the country." Copper edges back from two-week high; China optimism supports By Melanie Burton MELBOURNE, April 14 (Reuters) - London copper eased on Thursday, but prices held near a two-week high on the back of this week's better-than-expected Chinese trade data, which has raised hopes that the world's No. 2 economy may be stabilising. Asian markets were still basking in the afterglow of Chinese exports that jumped 11.5 percent year-on-year in March, the first increase since June and well above market forecasts, which has sparked hope for a brighter reading of first quarter growth on Friday. "The proof is in the pudding. We have seen a steady improvement in China's economic numbers for six months or so now," said analyst Dan Hynes of ANZ in Sydney. China will report industrial production for March on Friday. "We see the environment as being broadly positive. There will be some ups and downs over the next few months, but it's certainly trending upwards and that will obviously be supportive for commodity prices in the shorter term," Hynes added. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange had eased 0.3 percent to $4,817 a tonne by 0846 GMT, after gaining 1.4 percent in the previous session and striking its highest since April 1 at $4,855. Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) copper ended up 0.41 percent at 36,850 yuan ($5,681) a tonne. China imported a monthly record for copper stocks in March, as the price gap between LME and ShFE stocks favoured imports, which were also encouraged by cheaper storage terms in China, rather than revealing a surge in consumer demand, traders said. "The hefty increase of ShFE stocks is actually the results of the arb window opening before Chinese New Year," said a copper trader in Shanghai, referring to the window for arbitrage. "People locked in the ratio and booked the cargo before (Lunar) New Year but did the imports in March. I do not think real demand is extraordinarily strong at the moment." ShFE zinc rallied 1.8 percent, adding to 5-percent gains in the session before on bets that improving demand will outstrip fragile supply. Elsewhere, CME Group Inc will shut its New York trading floor at year's end as computerized trading claims another victim from the world's old-school financial system. The LME operates the last open outcry floor in Europe. Alcoa Inc has agreed to a new power deal for its 279,000 tonne-per-year Intalco aluminium smelter, according to a statement from its power supplier, potentially staving off closure of one of the last remaining U.S. aluminium plants. PRICES Three month LME copper Most active ShFE copper Three month LME aluminium Most active ShFE aluminium Three month LME zinc Most active ShFE zinc Three month LME lead Most active ShFE lead Three month LME nickel Most active ShFE nickel Three month LME tin Most active ShFE tin Swiss Re, Legal & General set to bid for Deutsche's Abbey Life -sources April 14 (Reuters) - Britain's Legal & General Group PLC and Swiss Re AG are among firms said to be weighing bids for Deutsche Bank AG's Abbey Life Assurance Co, sources familiar with the matter said. In September, Reuters reported that the German lender was exploring the possible sale of its British insurance unit Abbey Life. Phoenix Group Holdings, Britain's largest consolidator of closed life funds, was set to bid for Abbey Life, Sky News reported last month, citing sources familiar with the matter. Phoenix Group said it does not comment on market speculation. China's Anbang Insurance Group is also said to be considering a bid for the insurance unit, a source familiar with the matter said. Anbang declined to comment. Deutsche Bank has been considering options for Abbey Life, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters last month, adding that a new regulation was making the business unattractive. Abbey Life, which closed to new business in 2000, is composed mainly of unit-linked life and pensions policies and annuities. Deutsche Bank, which bought Abbey Life from Lloyds TSB for 977 million pounds in 2007, at that time around 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion), was not reachable for comment. A royal encounter for Britain's William and Kate in Bhutan By Sunil Kataria THIMPHU, April 14 (Reuters) - Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived on Thursday in the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, where they will meet its glamorous young royal couple for the first time. Prince William and wife Kate touched down at Bhutan's only international airport, nestled deep in a river valley, to be welcomed by members of the royal family and receive flowers from a boy and girl wearing traditional dress. Bhutan's fifth king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, and Queen Jetsun Pema will meet the British royals in a private audience and later host them to dinner, besides treating them to a display of archery, the national sport. The 25-year-old queen, born a commoner, as Kate was, is viewed as a style icon across much of Asia. Both couples have started families, with Jetsun Pema giving birth to her first son, the crown prince, this February. "The prince and princess of England have never visited Bhutan, so, I think it is a great moment for Bhutan," said Tsering Pem, a resident of the capital, Thimphu, where the 16th-century seat of government was given a fresh coat of paint before the visit. "Two of the best royal couples in the world are meeting, so I think it is pretty exciting," she said. During their two-day stay the British royals, who have been touring India, will trek to the Tiger's Nest, an ancient Buddhist monastery perched 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) up a mountain. William's father, Prince Charles, failed to complete the steep ascent to the Tiger's Nest during a visit in 1998, opting instead to paint a watercolour of the scene. Czech Republic - Factors To Watch on April 14 PRAGUE, April 14 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Czech financial markets on Thursday. ALL TIMES GMT (Czech Republic: GMT + 2 hours) ===========================ECONOMIC DATA======================== Real-time economic data releases................... Previous stories on Czech data............ Overview of economic data and forecasts......... Updates on CEE currencies........................... ] ==========================EVENTS================================ PRAGUE: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico arrives for an official visit, his first after he formed a new government. Presser scheduled at 0835 GMT. Related news ==========================NEWS================================== NWR: Private equity investor Arca Capital, a minority shareholder in Czech coal miner New World Resources (NWR) NWRR.PR, said on Wednesday it had offered to buy NWR's main operating unit OKD. Story: Related stories: GAMBLING: The Czech lower house on Wednesday gave its final approval to a bill that will raise taxes on betting firms from next year. Story: Related stories: CEE MARKETS: The zloty gave up most of Wednesday's gains as Poland posted a surprise current account deficit in February, while data showing export growth in China helped most Central European assets rise or stay steady. Story: Related stories: ---------------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT ------------------------ Index/Crown Currency Latest Prev Pct change Pct change close on day in 2016 vs Euro 27.012 27.027 0.06 -0.05 vs Dollar 23.987 23.89 -0.41 3.52 Czech Equities 895.62 895.62 0.97 -6.35 U.S. Equities 17,908.28 17,721.25 1.06 2.77 Pvs close or current levels vs prior domestic close at 1500 GMT For Instant Views of key economic data click on For summary of economic data and forecasts For diary of forthcoming Czech events For calendar of east European economic indicators TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets TOP NEWS -- Convergence watch For an economic indicator diary for the euro zone, the United States and other Group of Seven countries see For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX Prague Newsroom: +420 224 190 477 E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (Reporting by Prague Newsroom) PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - April 14 SOFIA, April 14 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. -- The vigilante group that tied up three Afghan migrants close to the border with Turkey, has also tried to rob them, prosecutors said after one of the men, who posted a video of the detention on social media, was arrested. (Capital Daily, Trud, Telegraph, Standart, Monitor) CAPITAL DAILY - The receivers of Corporate Commercial Bank have put an a arms plant for repair of military airplanes for sale with an initial bidding price of 29 million levs ($16.70 million). Stock Spirits highlights Polish profit amid shareholder revolt By Aastha Agnihotri and Martinne Geller April 14 (Reuters) - Vodka maker Stock Spirits Group Plc , under pressure from its largest shareholder, said its key Polish operations swung to a profit in the first quarter, reassuring investors that its turnaround efforts were paying off. The surprise announcement from the distiller, which does not usually report first-quarter results, underscored Chief Executive Chris Heath's efforts to boost sales and regain market share in Poland, the company's biggest market. "We wanted to give an indication that things are returning to normal," Heath told Reuters in an interview. Shares of the company, which operates mostly in Poland, Czech Republic and Italy, were up 6 percent at 1320 GMT on the London Stock Exchange. Western Gate Private Investments, the largest individual shareholder in Stock Spirits, last week called for Heath's ouster and said the company needed "fresh perspectives" to tackle the decline in its Polish business. Western Gate is the private family office of Portuguese businessman Luis Amaral, who is also the CEO of Eurocash , Stock's biggest customer in Poland. Stock Spirits' market share in Poland has declined significantly due to increased competition, weak demand and the devaluation of the Polish zloty. Amaral also nominated two European drinks industry veterans to stand as independent directors at Stock's next annual meeting. Templeton Emerging Markets Group, which controls 4.2 percent of the company on behalf of its mutual fund clients, said it supported Western Gate's proposals as it believes they "are in the best long-term interests of all shareholders." The company said revenue rose 29 percent to 55.3 million euros ($62.27 million) in the three months ended March 31. In Poland, which accounts for more than half of the company's total sales, revenue jumped 71 percent, compared with what the company called a very weak year-earlier period. It reported an operating profit in the quarter in its Polish operations, versus a loss a year earlier. "To an extent, it shows that the strategy of the management ... is proceeding reasonably to plan," Numis Securities analyst Wyn Ellis said. Heath said Stock Spirits would not expect a 71-percent sales gain moving forward but added that he expects the strong momentum to continue and the Polish business to turn in a profit for the year. The CEO dismissed Amaral's claims that the London-based company was operating its Polish business by "remote control", saying he hoped to announce a new permanent managing director for the region soon. PRESS DIGEST - RUSSIA - April 14 MOSCOW, April 14 (Reuters) - The following are some leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. VEDOMOSTI www.vedomosti.ru - The Kremlin has invited former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin to work in the presidential economic council which is set to meet in May. Time has come to work out an economic programme for Vladimir Putin's next election campaign, the daily says citing some members of the council. - Activists had collected by Wednesday almost 40,000 signatures of citizens protesting against what they consider as an illegal decision by the Moscow city authorities to allow the construction of houses on the territory of test fields of the Timiryazev agriculture academy. KOMMERSANT www.kommersant.ru - Last year cyberattacks hit almost 92 percent of Russia's private and state-run companies, causing damages worth 203.3 billion roubles ($3.05 billion), or 0.25 percent of the country's gross domestic product. - Crimea's chief prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya issued on Wednesday an order to suspend the activities of the Majlis of Crimean Tatars, saying she had enough evidence proving "the extremist character" of the work of this public organisation. IZVESTIA www.izvestia.ru - Belarus is seeking support from its allies within the Eurasian Economic Union in its bid to join the World Trade Organization, the daily says, commenting on the meeting of the heads of the governments of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Moscow on Wednesday. - At least two U.S. and six European banks are bidding to take part in the privatisation of Russia's state assets scheduled for this year, the daily says. NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA www.ng.ru - The Kremlin has highlighted key points ahead of Vladimir Putin's annual televised phone-in on Thursday, the daily says, commenting on the remarks of presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday that people were more worried about wages arrears, bad roads and high prices than the causes of the economic crisis. Finland's TVO seeks licence for delayed nuclear plant HELSINKI, April 14 (Reuters) - Finland's Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) applied for an operating licence for the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor on Thursday, taking aim at a 2018 start-up, nine years later than planned. "This (application) is a significant milestone. The project is moving from installations to tests," project director Jouni Silvennoinen told a news conference. The country's fifth plant has been delayed due to problems in construction and planning and has sparked a dispute between TVO and supplier Areva-Siemens . TVO is seeking 2.6 billion euros ($2.93 billion) from the Franco-German consortium over the delays in an arbitration filed with the International Chamber of Commerce. Areva-Siemens has filed a 3.5 billion euro counter-claim. Both sides declined to comment on Thursday on the project's costs or the arbitration process. French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron recently said he hoped the conflict would be settled by April. The dispute has wider significance in France where state-controlled utility EDF is planning to take over reactor builder Areva but does not want to be responsible for Olkiluoto claims. Areva-Siemens' turnkey contract for building the reactor has a price tag of 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) yet costs are estimated to have ballooned to around 9 billion euros. TVO's owners include Finnish utility Fortum and paper companies UPM and Stora Enso. Pakistani gang kills six policemen, takes 24 hostages By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE, April 14 (Reuters) - Pakistani gangsters on Thursday killed six policemen and took hostage 24 people, including police, during a raid to clear an island hideout in the south of prosperous Punjab province, authorities said. The operation to flush out the gangsters entered its ninth day as 1,600 security officials, including police officials and paramilitary Rangers, battled for control of the island in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's power base of Punjab. "Police killed four top criminals of Chotu Gang and wounded eight, while six police officials are dead and seven injured," Punjab police spokeswoman Nabeela Ghazanfar told Reuters. "The gang has held 24 persons hostage, including police officials. We are not sure how many civilian and police officials are among the hostages." Authorities suspect the gang is behind hundreds of cases of kidnapping for ransom, murder and robberies. "It is a very difficult operation, because the gang has made its hideout on a small island, surrounded by water and dense jungle," Ghazanfar added. Authorities identified the leader of the gang as Ghulam Rasool, also known as Chotu, who is active in the border areas of the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. Pakistan launched an armed crackdown in Punjab after an Easter Day bombing in the eastern city of Lahore killed 72 people last month. While Pakistan's attention has for years been focused on the Taliban and al Qaeda threat on the Afghan border in the remote northwest, militants and criminals have quietly expanded their influence and won recruits in the country's heartland of Punjab. Most of the militants belong to banned organisations such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Sipah-e-Sahaba. Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence establishment have long been accused of tolerating or even supporting such groups. Pakistani authorities deny supporting any militants. GE interested in German offshore wind, eastern Europe FRANKFURT, April 13 (Reuters) - General Electric, fresh from taking on the offshore wind business of rival Alstom , is positioning itself in Germany's expanding offshore wind sector and looking at eastern Europe. "German offshore wind has become very important for us," Carlos Haertel, chief executive for GE Germany & Austria, told Reuters in an interview. "Onshore wind in eastern Europe and the Balkan countries is currently interesting, especially in Poland and Romania," he said. GE, the world's third-biggest wind turbine manufacturer by market share after Denmark's Vestas and China's Goldwind, expects to complete a high-profile offshore wind link called DolWin3, which is likely to lead to further ventures. DolWin3 involves converter stations and connecting cable systems for a platform operated by grid firm TenneT which clusters 900 megawatt of wind farms and links them with the mainland. Haertel confirmed that completion was expected in 2017. Once Germany's specific problem of long distances between turbines and the mainland has been resolved and transmission technology shown to be manageable, its ambitious programme to build 6.5 gigawatt (GW) of offshore capacity by 2020 can roll. The country's programme to decarbonise its energy sector means there is no longer a market for conventional power stations, Haertel said. However, there is rising demand for components and IT to produce, transmit and operate power from wind and solar energy and integrate it with thermal energy, where GE's wide portfolio will come into play, he said. GE completed its purchase in November of Alstom's energy business, announced 18 months earlier, and merged it with its power and water unit and renamed it GE Power. Renewable energy accounted for $6.3 billion, or 5 percent, of GE's sales in 2015, down from $6.4 billion a year earlier. The company derives 14 percent of its total revenues in Europe, but does not break them out on a country-by-country basis. "Energy is central for us in Germany and accounts for a big share of total sales," Haertel said. GE Germany is also active in medical technology, research and financial services. Kenya seeks more private investment in public infrastructure plans By Duncan Miriri and George Obulutsa NAIROBI, April 14 (Reuters) - Kenya is seeking more private investment in state infrastructure to maintain the pace of spending on new railways and other vital assets while reducing the budget deficit, senior government officials said. East Africa's biggest economy aims to cut the deficit to 6.9 percent of gross domestic product in the fiscal year starting in July from a forecast 8.1 percent for 2015/16, in a bid to reassure investors unnerved by the large gap. Finance Minister Henry Rotich said the government had initiated several Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects to build roads, energy plants and housing. He did not give a value. "The whole intention is to get most of the projects that private investors can take up so that we can reduce pressure on our domestic resources," he told reporters. PPPs have been touted as a valuable route to fund new roads, airports, seaports, railways and power plants across Africa, a continent that struggles with creaking infrastructure. But analysts say such financing has often stumbled over government guarantees and revenue sharing arrangements. Irungu Nyakera, the principal sectary at the ministry of transport and infrastructure, told Reuters Kenya and others had to make such plans work to sustain investment. "We just have to come up with other creative ways of raising funds other than through the exchequer," he said. The transport ministry has one of the highest budgetary allocation this fiscal year, at 280 billion shillings ($2.77 billion), after decades of underinvestment. "It is a huge leap from where we were, it is nothing close to what we need, but at the end of the day we still work within our budget," Nyakera said. He did not give comparative figures. The ministry is working on projects that include expanding Kenya's main port in Mombasa and the Nairobi international airport, as well as new road projects around the country. Kenya, which acts as a trade gateway for land-locked neighbours, is also building a new standard gauge railway, replacing the slower narrow gauge line, between Mombasa and Nairobi at a cost of 327 billion shillings. The line is expected to open in June 2017, Nyakera said. Investors from South Africa, the United States and Asia had expressed interest in parts of a $12.4 billion transport corridor linked to a planned port on the north coast, Nyakera said. Three initial berths are being built by a Chinese firm. Turkey expects next migrant wave from Greece within days - minister VIENNA, April 14 (Reuters) - Ankara expects the next wave of migrants returning from Greece to Turkey to start within a "few days" and to consist of around 250 people, Turkish EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir said on Thursday. EU says new Ukraine PM "crucial", calls for reforms BRUSSELS, April 14 (Reuters) - The European Union said on Thursday that Ukraine's parliamentary approval of Volodymyr Groysman as prime minister was "crucial" and urged speeding up reforms. "Today's appointment of a new government in Ukraine, headed by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, is a crucial development at a time when new momentum in the country is badly needed," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and European Commissioner Johannes Hahn said in a joint statement. Britain's eurosceptic opposition leader backs EU but attacks Cameron By Kylie MacLellan and Elizabeth Piper LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - The leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party urged voters on Thursday to back a campaign to remain in the European Union "warts and all", but his appeal did little to conceal his lingering euroscepticism. Underlining the challenges for a referendum that is blurring Britain's traditional political divisions, Jeremy Corbyn spent more time attacking Prime Minister David Cameron, who is leading efforts to remain in the EU, than praising the bloc. Corbyn used his first official speech on the EU to call on voters to participate in the referendum on June 23, trying to spur enthusiasm among pro-EU, left-leaning young people who may hold the key for the "In" campaign. "You cannot build a better world unless you engage with the world, build allies and deliver change. The EU, warts and all, has proved itself to be a crucial international framework to do that," he said. But the veteran left-wing lawmaker gave only scarce evidence that he had truly converted to the European cause, saying he was still critical of its shortcomings. These included a lack of democratic accountability and pressure to privatise public services, he said. "Many people are still weighing up how they will vote in this referendum. And I appeal to everyone, especially young people...to make sure you are registered to vote. And vote to keep Britain in Europe this June," he told Labour members. He said he had voted against membership of the then European Economic Community, the forerunner to the EU, in a 1975 referendum, but had been swayed by members of his party and the trade unions to now support staying in the bloc. But it must do more to protect workers' rights, he said. "Overwhelmingly the Labour Party and trade unions have come to the view that they want to campaign for a social, just Europe...That's the party that I lead and that's the position I'm putting forward." EVENLY BALANCED While more than half of Labour voters favour "In", opinion polls suggest that Britain as a whole is evenly divided over whether it should stay in the European Union. With older voters, who largely support leaving the bloc, more likely to turn out, the "In" campaign wants to spur enthusiasm among younger Britons, many of whom backed Corbyn as Labour leader last year on a groundswell of desire for change. With Cameron's popularity suffering as he struggles with questions over his personal wealth, a steel industry crisis and divisions in his ruling Conservative Party, Corbyn is for the first time in weeks seen as a safer pair of hands. The YouGov poll published on Thursday found that public trust in Cameron had fallen 8 percentage points to 21 percent since February, while Corbyn's rating had risen 2 percentage points to 28 percent. Corbyn attacked the prime minister's failure to save the ailing steel industry and to bring tax dodgers to justice. "We also need to make the case for reform in Europe -- the reform David Cameron's government has no interest in, but plenty of others across Europe do," Corbyn said, underlining the differences with Cameron in his approach to the EU. Nevertheless, Cameron welcomed Corbyn's speech, saying the referendum overcame traditional political differences. "The truth is this there are lots of things we disagree about between Labour, Liberals, Greens and others but the fact is we all come together to support the idea of Britain staying in a reformed European Union," he said at an "In" campaign office. "Britain stronger in Europe," the campaign group to remain in the bloc, said Corbyn had made "a compelling case for our continued membership of the EU". Corbyn initially refused to rule out campaigning to leave the bloc when he was elected leader last year. On Thursday, though, he denied he would be half-hearted in his push to remain in the bloc. "You'll hear plenty from us on this. There's nothing half hearted about anything I do," he said. Iraq's Kurds declare independence in cyberspace with .krd domain name By Isabel Coles ERBIL, Iraq, April 14 (Reuters) - Denied their own state in reality, Iraq's Kurds have declared independence in cyberspace with a new domain name that has provoked the ire of a neighbour hostile to their aspirations. The new top-level domain ".krd" gives Kurds a separate space in the virtual world at a time when they are gaining legitimacy on the ground through their alliance with the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. Often described as the world's largest ethnic group without their own state, the Kurds consider themselves victims of a pact that partitioned their homeland between Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq after World War One. "Those who imprisoned us within these geographical boundaries do not have the same leverage in cyberspace. In the internet we choose our own borders," said Hiwa Afandi, who got international recognition for the domain that opened this week for private companies, organisations and individuals to use. "We would rather live in a country called Kurdistan, be it physical or in cyberspace," said Afandi, head of the department of Information Technology in the Kurdish region of Iraq. The Kurds were granted the ".krd" domain name in 2013 by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a U.S.-based non-profit organisation that manages internet addresses. It is a "generic" name, not a two-letter "country code" name reserved for sovereign states. The region's presidency and government already use it for their websites in Kurdish, Arabic and English at www.presidency.krd and www.gov.krd. OBJECTIONS FROM IRAN Baghdad, Tehran, Ankara and Damascus have historically sought to contain the ambitions of Kurds, banning education in their mother tongue and quelling uprisings, but they have been gaining international recognition. A Kurdish leader in Iraq, where Kurds have achieved the highest degree of autonomy, is vowing to hold a non-binding referendum on independence this year as they battle Islamic State militants. In neighbouring Syria, Kurds have driven the insurgents back in the north of the country to create their own zone. Afandi said he had expected Turkey, which is home to the largest number of Kurds and has a fraught relationship with them, to veto the application, but the only country to object so far was Iran. In an official complaint to ICANN, Iran cited the risk of "serious political conflicts" and "concern ... about the problems resulting from creation of the new gTLD (generic top-level domain) '.KRD'." "Some of the radical Kurdish communities ... have recently started a movement pushing for the creation of a Kurdish nation state which is toward separation of Kurdish lands from Iran and Turkey," it said. "The government of Islamic Republic of Iran is seriously concerned about these movements." Afandi said Iran had lodged the complaint too late to prevent the Kurds from obtaining a domain, joining other aspiring states such as Spain's Catalonia, which had earlier obtained the ".cat" domain name from ICANN. Catalonia guided Kurdistan through the application process, he said. Even before the ".krd" domain was registered, few institutions in the Kurdish region used the Iraqi code ".iq". France, Italy urge propping up of euro zone bank fund -document By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS, April 14 (Reuters) - The euro zone bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, should provide a credit line to a new European fund for troubled banks to offset risks of a fresh banking crisis, France and Italy said in a joint document seen by Reuters. European countries have long debated how to give the new Single Resolution Fund enough firepower to weather a large banking crisis, but are divided on where to find the resources to bolster the fund in the short term. Germany is opposed to a government-funded backstop for the SRF, because it fears this would expose its taxpayers to unfair costs. It wants measures to make euro zone banks less risky, such as limits on their government debt holdings, before agreeing any new financial commitment. "A credit line from the European Stability Mechanism to the SRF is the simplest and most consistent option," the French-Italian document said. The ESM has a total lending capacity of 500 billion euros. The paper was circulated among European Union national representatives ahead of a monthly meeting of the bloc's finance ministers in Amsterdam on April 22-23. The SRF, operational since January, is to be gradually financed by banks to reach a total capacity of 55 billion euros by 2024. The problem is that if a new major banking crisis struck earlier, the SRF may find itself under-capitalised, Italy and France warned. They called for the establishment of an EU working group to advance planning for an SRF backstop. "FISCALLY NEUTRAL" The group should set a date of entry into force for the common backstop and its amount, which should be calculated on the basis of banks' recapitalisations in past financial crisis, the joint document said. The backstop would be "fiscally neutral" as public funds used to prop up the SRF would be reimbursed over time by banks in a "realistic" period, according to the paper. The SRF backstop is seen by its supporters as a necessary step within the EU flagship project of a banking union, which includes a single supervisor for euro zone banks, a common resolution procedure for troubled lenders and a joint insurance on banks' deposits. EU finance ministers will discuss next week how to strengthen the banking union and they will focus on reducing banks' exposure to sovereign debt with options including caps and higher costs for holding public debt. Germany supports limits on banks' holdings of public debt because it says this measure would break the "doom loop" of debt dependency between states and banks. A royal encounter for Britain's William and Kate in Bhutan By Sunil Kataria THIMPHU, April 14 (Reuters) - Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan on Thursday, meeting its glamorous young royal couple for the first time and trying their hands at a national dart-throwing sport. A procession of traditional musicians and dancers led the British royals into the Thimphu Dzong, an ancient Buddhist monastery and fortress that overlooks the capital of the nation of less than a million people. Bhutan's fifth king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, and Queen Jetsun Pema received the British royals for a 45-minute private audience. The 25-year-old queen, born a commoner, as Kate was, is viewed as a style icon across much of Asia. Both couples have started families, with Jetsun Pema giving birth to her first son, the crown prince, this February. "Two of the best royal couples in the world are meeting, so I think it is pretty exciting," Tsering Pem, a resident of the capital, said of the visit. William and Kate later wielded a bow and arrow at the Changlimithang Archery Ground and attempted the traditional game of Khuru, in which players throw large darts at a target about 10 metres (yards) away. Neither managed to score a hit, but they made light of their poor aim in blustery weather that at times ruffled Kate's outfit. Kate wore a patterned cape from Paul & Joe over a purple wraparound skirt of Bhutanese cloth that blended with the traditional style of guests at the sporting show. William wore a navy blue suit and dark red tie. During their two-day stay the British royals, who have been touring India, will trek to the Tiger's Nest, an ancient monastery perched 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) up a mountain. William's father, Prince Charles, failed to complete the steep ascent to the Tiger's Nest during a visit in 1998, opting instead to paint a watercolour of the scene. France, Italy urge propping up of euro zone bank fund -document BRUSSELS, April 14 (Reuters) - The euro zone bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, should provide a credit line to a new European fund for troubled banks to offset risks of a fresh banking crisis, France and Italy said in a joint document seen by Reuters. European countries have long debated how to give the new Single Resolution Fund enough firepower to weather a large banking crisis, but are divided on where to find the resources to bolster the fund in the short term. "A credit line from the European Stability Mechanism to the SRF is the simplest and most consistent option," the French-Italian document said. Iraq central bank manager arrested over bonds trading in Kurdistan ERBIL, Iraq, April 14 (Reuters) - An Iraqi central bank manager in the autonomous Kurdistan region was arrested as part of a probe into an alleged illegal bond trading scheme that may have cost the cash-strapped government more than one billion dollars. Adham Karim, the head of the Iraqi central bank in the Kurdish regional capital Erbil, was taken into custody on Wednesday along with his deputy, a police spokesman said. The two men are being investigated in relation to the alleged illicit trade of government-issued financial instruments, according to the head of the Kurdistan region's integrity commission Ahmed Anwar. "This is a very big case in the Kurdistan region," Anwar told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. "It is a case involving the trading of bonds that the government had given to contractors. The investigation will reveal the details". Anwar said the arrest of the central bank manager Karim did not necessarily mean he would be charged with a crime. Reuters could not immediately reach Karim or his office for comment. The office of the central bank governor was unable to immediately comment on the matter when contacted. The arrests are the first high-profile action since the region's President Masoud Barzani vowed last month to fight corruption with the same determination its peshmerga forces have battled Islamic State militants. An economic crisis induced by low oil prices has put renewed focus on corruption in Kurdistan, which enjoyed an oil-fuelled boom in the decade following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Deeply in debt, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has been implementing austerity measures and seeking financial aid abroad, but at home, people are questioning how a decade of oil riches were spent. Turkey failing on rights, press freedoms, European Parliament says By Robin Emmott BRUSSELS, April 14 (Reuters) - Turkey faced heavy European criticism of its human rights record on Thursday that could further strain relations at a time when the EU needs Ankara's help in stemming record numbers of refugees and migrants. The European Parliament approved its annual progress report on Turkey, a candidate for European Union membership, that lambasts the country's record on human rights and media freedoms during 2015. Ankara swiftly rejected the report. "(Lawmakers) urge Turkey to act against intimidation of journalists in all its forms, condemn its violent and illegal take-over of several newspapers ... and highlight its serious backsliding on freedom of speech," the parliament said. Turkish authorities have seized or shut down several newspapers and taken broadcasters off the air in recent months, while a German TV comedian is facing a Turkish legal complaint for insulting President Tayyip Erdogan. Nevertheless, international rights groups have accused Brussels of turning a blind eye to such developments because it needs Erdogan's cooperation in curbing the flow of migrants and refugees passing from the Middle East via Turkey into the EU. Under a deal agreed in March, Turkey will take back all migrants and refugees who cross the Aegean to enter Greece illegally, including Syrians, in return for more funds, moves to scrap the visa requirement for Turks visiting Europe and an acceleration of Ankara's long-stalled EU accession talks. The EU issues annual reports about the state of countries seeking to join the bloc. Turkey's record on press freedom has raised such concerns among some EU politicians that they question whether it is a suitable candidate for membership. "The rule of law, press freedom and freedom of expression are core values of the European family," said German Liberal lawmaker Alexander Lambsdorff. "Re-assessing the entire accession process ... and the refusal to link the negotiation process with the refugee crisis, are among the most important messages to the Turkish government in this report," he said. The European Parliament does not control the bloc's foreign and enlargement policy and the significance of the report is primarily symbolic. CRITICISM REJECTED Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir, speaking in Vienna, said his government considered the report "null and void" and would return it to the European Parliament. Bozkir made clear Ankara was particularly angry about a reference in the report to the mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 as "genocide". Turkey accepts that many Armenians were killed at that time but denies that hundreds of thousands perished or that they constituted a genocide. "We are proud of having freedom of speech and press freedom in Turkey," Bozkir also told reporters. Also on Thursday the human rights commissioner of the Council of Europe - a rights and democracy watchdog to which Ankara belongs and which is separate from the EU - expressed concerns over the situation in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, where security forces are battling Kurdish militants. "Respect for human rights has deteriorated at an alarming speed in recent months in the context of Turkey's fight against terrorism," Nils Muiznieks told reporters in Ankara after visiting Diyarbakir, the biggest city in southeast Turkey. U.S. House Speaker Ryan backs continued aid to Egypt By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday he backs continuing the $1.3 billion in annual military aid that Washington sends to Egypt, but that its human rights record makes it "more difficult" to support the Cairo government. "We give $1.3 billion a year to Egypt. I don't think we should take that away," Ryan said during a meeting with foreign policy reporters at his U.S. Capitol office after a visit to Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region. He said he had raised the rights issue with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The aid package for Cairo has been in focus in Washington because of growing unease among both Ryan's fellow Republicans and Democrats that Sisi's government is exploiting security concerns to crack down on dissent. Ryan said he told Sisi: "You make it more difficult for us to be supportive of you when you have so many human rights violations," adding that every U.S. official who visited Cairo should make that case. However, he stressed that it is essential that Washington not allow Egypt to become a failed state. Ryan also told reporters it was "too soon" to weigh in on an emergency funding "Marshall Plan" that some lawmakers have proposed to boost countries in the region socially and economically rather than only focus on military aspects in the fight to counter Islamic State and other militant groups. Heavy machinery collapses in south China factory, killing 18 SINGAPORE, April 14 (Reuters) - Eighteen people were killed and more than 30 injured when machinery collapsed at a China Communications Construction Co Ltd's factory in southern China, the company said on Thursday. The machinery collapsed at the factory in Dongguan city on Wednesday due to bad weather, China Communications Construction said in a filing to the Shanghai stock exchange. As well as the 18 dead, 18 more people were hospitalised. A further 15 people had slight injuries, the company said. A number of people had also been trapped. "Currently, all rescue operations have completed. The company will actively assist relevant authorities to investigate the reason behind the accident," it said. Czech exporters suffer from lack of workers, trade group says MLADE BUKY, Czech Republic, April 14 (Reuters) - Czech exporters want their government to simplify bringing in foreign workers, as the Czech Republic's strengthening economy leads to a growing shortage of labour. A Czech Exporters Association survey of around 100 members in March found 90 percent of them had trouble finding workers in the Czech market, even forcing some of them to turn down orders. Czech job vacancies soared last year as the economy expanded 4.3 percent, making it one of the fastest-growing in the European Union, thanks to rising trade, domestic demand and a record flow of EU development funds. Unemployment meanwhile is also among the lowest in the EU, at 6.1 percent, or 443,000 people, in March, according to the Labour Ministry. Some 117,000 jobs were left unfilled. The Industry Ministry has tried to make it easier for companies that can't fill positions with domestic workers to look elsewhere. A programme begun in March, for example, eased the way for hiring up to 500 technicians from Ukraine. However, Industry Minister Jan Mladek said the priority was still to get unemployed Czechs back to work. "It is not that easy from the point of view of the state. It is better to find programmes to get (unemployed Czechs) back; 400,000 is still a high number," Mladek told a seminar organised by the association. The survey said that some of the respondents are already under pressure from lack of workers. "It is becoming a problem, because there is a potential which you cannot use," Roman Zalud from Alex Fox, which makes promotional textiles, told Reuters on the sidelines of the seminar. Kuwait oil workers to push ahead with strike, reject compromise KUWAIT, April 14 (Reuters) - Kuwaiti oil workers will go ahead with a strike starting on Sunday, their union head said, rejecting an offer from the state oil company to suspend the implementation of public sector pay reforms. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and its subsidiaries agreed to temporarily freeze a planned government overhaul of the payroll system and seek a compromise through a joint committee with the workers union, said the spokesman for Kuwait's oil sector, Sheikh Talal al-Khaled al-Sabah. The union head, Saif al-Qahtani, called that "playing with words". "The KPC statement is talking about 'freezing' the decisions, while our demand is to cancel them," Qahtani, head of the Oil and Petrochemical Industries Workers Confederation, told Reuters. "The strike is still on and on time." The union has not said how long the strike, involving thousands of workers at state-owned oil, gas and petrochemical companies, would last. Workers fear the payroll overhaul would reduce salaries and affect other benefits. Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), a subsidiary of KPC and one of five state-owned companies that would be affected, has said there is a contingency strategy to ensure production and exports would not be affected. KPC called on the unions to work with it to find a way out of the dispute, and warned that under Kuwaiti laws it was illegal to obstruct work in public facilities in areas such as oil, gas and petrochemicals. "There is no doubt that the commotion contains a direct and major threat to the stability of the oil sector which represents the main economic artery for the country's revenues and is the source of its wealth and prosperity," the statement said. It said that anyone inciting a work stoppage risked "subjecting himself to legal questioning". Other firms whose workers plan to join the strike include Kuwait Oil Company, Kuwait Oil Tanker Company, Equate Petrochemical Industries Company and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company. Strikes are relatively common among public sector workers in Kuwait - one of the world's richest countries per capita - compared to other Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates, where unions are banned. Polisario urges U.N. to keep pressure on Morocco over Western Sahara By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Reuters) - The leader of Western Sahara's Polisario Front separatist movement on Thursday wrote to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him and the Security Council to pressure Morocco to stop interfering with U.N. peacekeepers. Last month, Ban used the word "occupation" to describe Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara in 1975, when Rabat took it over from colonial power Spain. Infuriated by what it saw as a shift away from a neutral position, Morocco expelled dozens of U.N. staff working for the mission there known as MINURSO. "We warn that the absence of real and direct pressure on the occupation state of Morocco ... will be considered a green light to a military aggression by the Kingdom of Morocco against the Sahrawi people," Polisario President Mohamed Abdelaziz wrote to Ban in a letter seen by Reuters. Morocco has said its decisions were irreversible but it was still committed to peace. Abdelaziz said the 15-nation Security Council should pressure Morocco to enable "the return of MINURSO to resume its work and mandate regarding organizing a referendum on self determination to the Sahrawi people." If that does not happen, Abdelaziz wrote, the Sahrawi people "will find itself, again, obliged to defend its rights by all legitimate means, including armed struggle." The letter was sent as Ban's office prepares its annual report for the Security Council on Western Sahara before a council vote this month to renew MINURSO's mandate. The report, which was due last week, has been delayed because of the dispute over Ban's remarks in March, council diplomats said. Polisario says Morocco is putting the ceasefire at risk by expelling MINURSO staff and trying to scuttle the plan for a referendum on independence. Morocco has offered an autonomy plan as the only way forward. Several diplomatic sources familiar with the issue said that Morocco wants the council to change the mandate of MINURSO so that it will no longer include the goal of organizing a referendum. The majority of council members are opposed, the sources said, though they added that Morocco has some diplomatic support from veto power France, Rabat's traditional ally, and African council member Senegal. Poland summons Russian ambassador over 'simulated attacks' in Baltic Sea WARSAW, April 14 (Reuters) - Poland's Foreign Ministry summoned Russia's ambassador over the incident in the Baltic Sea earlier this week when two Russian warplanes flew simulated attack passes near a U.S. guided missile destroyer, the ministry said on Thursday. During his meeting with ambassador Sergey Andreyev on Thursday, Poland's deputy foreign minister Marek Ziolkowski expressed his concern about the incident, the ministry said in a statement. "But first of all he (the minister) stressed that Poland is trying to promote a dialogue to counteract such incidents," the ministry said. Air strikes hit Islamic State in Afghanistan under new rules - U.S. By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - The United States has carried out 70 to 80 air strikes against Islamic State in Afghanistan in the three months since U.S. forces were given broader authority to target the militants, a U.S. military spokesman said on Thursday. Before January, the U.S. military could only strike Islamic State in Afghanistan under narrow circumstances, such as for protection of troops. Military spokesman Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said the air strikes had decreased the capacity of the group in Afghanistan, where fighters loyal to Islamic State have emerged to challenge the larger Afghan Taliban in pockets of the country. Cleveland said about 70 to 80 percent of the air strikes between January and the end of March were in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar. "The capacity of Daesh, we believe has been lessened and their overall footprint in Nangarhar, we do believe, has been lessened as well," Cleveland said. Daesh is an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The U.S. military has previously said there are between 1,000 and 3,000 Islamic State members in Afghanistan. Cleveland said that number was now probably closer to the lower estimate. He said the group controlled about six to eight districts a few months ago, but that number was now closer to two to three districts. "We do think that they still pose a potential real threat and again just based on their past performance, they have got the ability to catch fire very quickly," Cleveland said. He also said that the southern province of Helmand was not on the verge of falling into the hands of the Taliban, but it was a "difficult, contested area." In February, Afghan forces pulled out of some parts of the province after months of heavy fighting with Taliban insurgents. Helmand, a mainly desert region bordering Pakistan, is of strategic and symbolic importance as a heartland of the Taliban. The province sits along major smuggling routes for drugs and weapons. It accounts for the biggest share of opium cultivation, a principal source of revenue for the Taliban. American troops have fought in Afghanistan since a U.S. invasion in 2001 that toppled the Taliban government that harbored the al Qaeda network responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed about 3,000 people. Cleveland added that there were still between 100 and 300 al Qaeda members in Afghanistan. Macedonia prosecutor to pursue wiretap probe despite presidential pardons By Kole Casule SKOPJE, April 14 (Reuters) - Macedonia's special prosecutor said on Thursday she would continue investigating a wiretapping scandal, including alleged large-scale misappropriation of government funds, despite 56 officials being granted a presidential amnesty. Prosecutors said they had not been consulted about President Gjorge Ivanov's decision, first announced on Tuesday, to pardon prominent politicians alleged to be involved in the affair, including former prime minister Nikola Gruevski and opposition leader Zoran Zaev. "I am firmly convinced that justice will prevail. We will continue to work according to the law by which this office was established," said special prosecutor Katica Janeva, who was appointed last year to investigate the scandal. Janeva, speaking at a news conference attended by ambassadors from European Union countries, said her office had information that a large amount of money from the state budget had ended up in private pockets between 2008 and 2015. Although the pardons prevent her from bringing charges against any of the 56 officials, Janeva said she would keep investigating whether wealth had been taken illegally and, if so, seek to confiscate it. Ivanov's decision to pardon the government and opposition figures drew protests at home and abroad, with the United States warning it could protect "corrupt politicians". Demonstrators held a third night of protests in the capital Skopje on Thursday night. Thousands of government and opposition supporters held separate rallies to protest at the pardoning of officials from the other side. Buses brought people in from other towns to join them. Pro-opposition protesters, holding signs saying "No justice, no peace", briefly jostled police who blocked their way and threw stones at them but it was calmer than on Wednesday night when one of Ivanov's offices was ransacked. Britain's Europe Minister David Lidington said on Thursday that Ivanov's pardon was a "matter of considerable concern" and he urged him "to find a way to reverse the decision". Macedonia, a poor Balkan country of two million people on the front line of Europe's refugee crisis, has been in turmoil since Zaev accused Gruevski and his counter-intelligence chief, Saso Mijalkov, in February last year of orchestrating the wiretapping of more than 20,000 people. The opposition said the phone-taps exposed government control over journalists, judges, public sector recruitment and the manipulation of elections in Macedonia, which aspires to join both the EU and NATO. Under an EU-brokered deal reached last year to try to end the crisis, a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate the wiretap revelations and Gruevski agreed to an early election, expected in June. Idaho State University faces concerns over Islamaphobia By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho, April 14 (Reuters) - Idaho State University's president said on Thursday he had been in talks with Saudi and Kuwaiti education officials seeking to allay concerns about students from those countries facing anti-Muslim harassment in the college town of Pocatello. The discussions with officials from the two Gulf states, which together account for about 1,000 of the foreign students enrolled at Idaho State, were disclosed as school officials sought to determine the origin of anti-Muslim propaganda being distributed anonymously via DVDs on campus. Separately, police in Pocatello have opened a hate-crime investigation into an attack on a man of Middle Eastern descent who was stabbed in the arm earlier this week for no other apparent reason than his appearance, Police Chief Scott Marchand said. The off-campus assault was reported to police by the hospital where the man, who was not a university student, was taken for treatment, Marchand said. Idaho State President Arthur Vailas said he was unaware of any individual complaints of anti-Muslim discrimination or harassment other than those cited in recent media accounts, such as a New York Times story last month about campus tensions faced by Saudi and Kuwaiti students. "I expect all students to bring forth their concerns. The only way we can help is for people to come forward and we can look into the cases," Vailas told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. But Vailas said the university was consulting with higher education officials from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, whose students account for nearly 10 percent of the school's 11,000 undergraduates, to address concerns about Islamaphobia. The Arabic-language Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al Qabas and English-language outlet Gulf News reported on Thursday that the two Gulf nations were suspending scholarships earmarked for Idaho State and transferring their respective students at that school to other universities. Kuwait's higher education minister was quoted as saying some 400 students were facing racial discrimination at the Pocatello campus Vailas said he had no indication that the 535 Kuwaiti students or 481 Saudi students were being transferred elsewhere. On April 6 when Jammu and Kashmir Police lathi-charged non-Kashmiri students inside the NIT campus in Srinagar, the public felt outraged at the magnitude of brutality done on "patriotic" students. They demanded stern action against the erring cops. "How can they be so brutal?" people asked. This public outcry reached to such an extent that many police officers took to social media expressing their sorrow and surprise as to how could people challenge their patriotism and nationalism. In the many news debates which followed the incident, this question was asked umpteen times. The answers, always vague and elusive, kept complicating the issue. There were subtle attempts to brandish the J&K police as pro-Pakistan, something the Indian media, until very recently, tried to pass off PDP as. The actual reason and this can be empirically verified as well, lies in the training which J&K police go through in riot-control. They are both physically and mentally trained to lathi-charge and shoot at, with impunity, any assembly of people; be it students at Kashmir University, traders or teachers at Lal Chowk, mourners carrying dead bodies, or "patriotic" students inside NIT. A policeman looks from distance as they clash with protesters in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. Over the years, they have internalised this routine. They rehearse it each day. Since they have only Kashmiris to confront, which they have been told can be tamed by force only, such "brutal" force has become their natural response to any sloganeering mob. When the situation in NIT erupted, involving non-Kashmiri students, they could not alter their systems as demanded by the situation. They went in and delivered to the best of their training. Here, presumably, someone at the top of police hierarchy displayed foresight and sent in forces with lathis only and not guns. In case guns were carried in by police, we would have had an entirely different situation before us. Maybe by now J&K police would have been permanently disbanded. (Too optimistic!) The better demonstration of their skill and training was exhibited in Handwara six days later. Protests erupted in Handwara after an Indian Army personnel allegedly followed a teenage student inside a public toilet. Within no time, two boys were shot dead. The armed forces had fired with precision, hitting one, Mohammad Iqbal Peer, in his head and another, Nayeem Ahmad Bhat, in his abdomen. A stray bullet, perhaps wandering in search of some life, hit a woman, Raja Begum, working in her fields. That is some skill, some training. People gather around bodies of two youth killed in Army firing in Handwara, Jammu and Kashmir. Next day, in protests following the two deaths, a teargas shell, again shot at a well-measured trajectory, hit a youngster, Jehangir Ahmad Wani, on his head and killed him too. The face of the outrage over the NIT lathi-charge was majorly a section of Kashmiri Pandits. A Sushil Pandit or a Rashneek Kher in newsrooms and also an Anupam Kher, an Ashoke Pandit trying to reach to campus to show some solidarity. "The entire NIT has been turned into some kind of jail," Sushil Pandit said on Times Now. He is alright with police killing people outside the NIT campus but objects to their presence inside it where the majority of students are non-Kashmiris. Their liberal class want Kashmiri students shouting freedom slogans in Delhi booked under sedition. But they feel a moral urgency to issue a solidarity statement for the same anti-nationals when J&K police beats up "nationalists" in Srinagar. One cannot even call them hypocrites. The Kashmiri outrage over the cold-blooded murders, on the other hand, cannot afford a face. This outrage is conveyed in slogans, parcelled in stones and is directed at the Indian state. For the consumption of the public, the mainstream media part of the state's paraphernalia fine-tunes this outrage into a law and order problem which, for them, erupted due to an "alleged" molestation charge. The police supply a video of the victim, staying true to their definition of what is legal, and shift the entire focus from killings to the "false" charges of molestation. Many people have given vent to their outrage on social media. They pointed out at the double standards of media while reporting on Kashmir. This question was succinctly addressed by a Facebook user, Nayeem Mohammad, who wrote: "Having any expectations from Indian media to get 'outraged' over the murder of Kashmiris at the hands of Indian military apparatus is as foolish as expecting 'justice' from the Indian state. Indian media is Indian state." On the Sabrimala temple issue, the Supreme Court of India observed on April 13, 2016: "In Hindu dharma there is no denomination of a male or female. A Hindu is a Hindu." And just like that a constitutional body has, probably for the first time anywhere in the world, become the interpreter of religious texts. In this it is protected by Article 25 (2) that deals with the right to religious freedom but allows the courts to intervene on social welfare and reform, but only on Hinduism. This inability to separate faith and state is now the definition of Indian secularism. What this becomes is not just a ruling on access to a temple, but a reorder of the entire Hindu faith itself. The source of Hinduism is its Vedas. The Vedas contain entire texts devoted to women. While much is made of that favourite of the book-burners - the Manusmriti, which is not even a Vedic text but a second century code now overwritten by 18 centuries of lawmaking that left much of it behind, much like amendments to the current Constitution leave regressive laws behind - this ruling impacts the core texts of Hinduism, the ones that its philosophies are actually composed of. To say Hindus have no gender and are but Hindus, makes a mockery of much great philosophy. Women offer prayers at the sanctum sanctorum of Shani Shingnapur temple for the first time in 400 years. The Hindu epics The entire Ramayana revolves around Sita's abduction. And who wages war on the purity or abduction of a man? The entire Mahabharata was wrought upon the Pandu clan because of Draupadi laughing at Duryodhana in the palace of illusions. Kunti, Shakuntala, Maitreyi, Sati, Sita, Parvati, Gargi, Savitri, Ahalya and of course Sabari occur with various catalytic roles throughout Hindu literature. Their roles may be questioned or derided as sexist, and debated, but many texts are metaphorical, contain sub texts that a competent guru could explain, and are subject to interpretation, and they may not be arbitrarily removed from the religion by a non-religious body, and that too one that gives its followers the right to question it. For example, my guru explained the Ramayana, as a metaphor: Sita as the mind, the deer as material wealth, Rama as the self, and Ravana as the ten senses who must be conquered else will be ruled by ego, ahamkara, and the subjugation of Sita in the purity ritual as the return to one-minded focus. Others have other versions. Some take it at face value. Are we to toss out our texts and their interpretations because a judge decides it is a sexist story? The feminine principle Within Hinduism, the issue of gender is complex and nuanced. Rites and rituals are defined in various parts of the Vedas. The principle of Shakti, the feminine principle of energy, is integral to understanding Vedic lore and, at once empowered with creation itself as well as destruction, is a very distinct energy from male avatars. Lord Ayyappa, at the centre of the Sabrimala debate, is born of Hara and Hari - Vishnu in the form of Mohini, both male principles. So while the Supreme Court, if it so chose to reduce a spiritual union of male energies to physical form, may be well within its right here to ask why Hindus must be deprived of a law that decriminalises homosexuality, when it is in fact rich with religious precedent as evidenced here, sadly, the honorable court, unable to question the human rights' curtailing provisions of its own personal laws, is unable to bring up the real progressive questions of India for debate. Instead, it reduces Hindu gender to binaries. The principle of Shakti is also not restricted to women, it is permeable in men. Hence entire sects of male yogis devoted to female energies. Durga puja is the worship of the Goddess Durga as the feminine principle. So, as far as any Hindu knows, principles of male and female are not as distinct as the Honorable Judge would make them out to be. Neither is male or female a physical only form, nor is its energy restricted by the gender of the worshipper. Shiva lies in the Sahasrahara chakra and Shakti in the muladhara chakra, so all Hindus are in fact composites of both energies.These are nuanced positions most Hindus understand easily and are intrinsic to our religious ethos. The legends of Sabarimala The legends of Sabarimala, though there are many, one romantically portrays the ban on women as Ayappa's loyalty for the penance of a beautiful woman released from her curse by his slaying her demon form of Mahishi, also have to do with harnessing the inner male energies. Devotees at Sabarimala temple. Ayappa is the god of discipline. Mahishi symbolises the ego. It is in him that Hari and Hara, creation and destruction, come to harmony. The rigorous vows of celibacy, the 40 days penance, ironically, are a tribute to womanhood: they symbolise one day of penance for each week spent in a mother's womb. Woman, the symbolic Prakriti energy, or vehicle of creation is not available to man for these 40 days. Man must pull himself back from his function as procreator and the procreated. The black symbolises the nullifying of the colour spectrum, absorbing all differentiation into one. Devotees do not even address each other by name during the pilgrimage. The physical state is forgotten, and the pilgrim must subsist on alms. The 18 steps symbolise 18 exercises to remind the student or the householder, of his need to transition to a state of detachment. Women may go up the hill all they want, Lord Ayyappa will survive the seduction of women pilgrims plenty. He is too advanced a master of the mind not to. One may not be so sure of the men who make the climb though. The penance is for them. To remind themselves that they are one half of a whole, where they come from, who they depend on, and why balance is their function. That it is seen as rigorous penance, is indicative of why men need to probably do this more often, but once a year is enough. No single Hindu philosophy The Supreme Court also seems to be reducing Hindu philosophy to a single absolute certainty. Something Hindu sages, the progenitors of the philosophy themselves, never did. There is, contrary to popular opinion, no arbitration on who a brahmin should be. Ram was a kshatriya, Krishna was a Yadava, Shiva a tribal, a kirata, none of them brahmins. Rishi Aiterya, Vishwamitra, VedaVyasa, Matanga, Nammalvar... Ravana. Many material states in Hinduism are mutable. The sages even in their expositions mark nothing but the highest truths as certainty. In Chapter II, brahmana 4, Brihadaranyaka Rishi Yajnavalkya asks of his wife Maitreyi who asks him for knowledge instead of the settlement of property he was about to give her before he left for the forest: Yatra tv asya sarvam atmaivabhut: "Where everything is the Self of knowledge, what does that Self know, except its own Self?" This conversation with the most woman-friendly of Vedic sages - there is a later conversation with brahmavadini Gargi also in the same Upanishad - becomes the core of what is to be Advaita. Basically, that philosophy which says that, simply put, all soul, matter, energy, forms, are one. Kumbh mela. It is pertinent that Yajnavalkya was himself disowned by his guru, who annoyed by his constant questioning, asked for the knowledge he gave him back, which he vomited out and which was consumed physically by birds (tittiri), now forming the Taittirya Upanishad (and that's just one version of that story). Yajnavalkya then proceeded to seek the sun as his guru, and procured his own knowledge, which became the Shukla Yajur Veda. All Hindus do not follow the Shukla Yajur Veda, and much of the caste distinctions are not merely whom you can choose to oppress, but is built on which school of Vedic study you traditionally follow. So when Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi propounded what was to be the base of Advaita philosophy, let's be clear, they were not following convention. That they were free not to do so, is the beauty of the space the religion lent them even at that conservative period of time. Why this monotheism? No doubt, this entire body of knowledge and way of thinking is what the learned judge of the honorable Supreme Court was encapsulating and taking into account when he began to arbitrate what Hinduism says. He had clearly studied it, decoded all the caste links and structures, schools of knowledge, expounded it, and was only thus explaining it in open court. Which is an amazing feat, considering all commentaries and bhashyas on Hindu texts differ, even from sage to sage and commentator to commentator on the same line of Hindu text. Yajnavalkya warns Maitreyi: it is impossible to know the essence of finite beings. Yet, the honorable judge, has defined all of Hindu Vedic dharma with the clear exposition of advaita, non differentiation. Where do the Visishtadvaitins, and the Dvaitins, who believe in differentiation, and other things, from Yogins to Nastikas, which Hinduism allows them to, apart from several other schools of thought, go? The judicial arbitration of Hinduism's intrinsic principles reduces an entire religion to a monotheism and ignores the multiple layers of consciousness that form its spiritual temperament. The pantheon of Hindu gods exists so a devotee may adopt that which suits his form of bhakti, or adoration, which again is not the only path. Even wealth, duty, study take you there. One is not imposed on another. The myths and stories exist so Hindus lower down the plane of spiritual evolution may comprehend higher truths more easily, in the form of life lessons. The stories of avatars exist to exemplify ways of living and behaving. The Vedic texts exist for those who seek to question on higher planes. This ascent is not ordained by pundits but is open to each member of the faith as and when he or she finds himself seeking it. The multi-layered multi-faceted expansiveness of Hinduism is its fabric. Ganesh Chaturthi. Meaningless myths So, yes, the women may enter Shani Shingnapur and the women may enter Sabarimala. Just like Maitreyi may have her own Upanishad. But to do so for the sake of a court-ordained mandate, by which every woman in Yajnavalkya's time may write their own Upanishad, betrays a lack of understanding of the religion. Of all religions on earth, it is Hinduism that refuses to apply a blanket formula for all spiritual growth and understands that every person finds their own ways of spiritual growth, through devotion, through duty, through study, through learning, through meditation, through yoga, through rebirth, and allows multiple channels to do so. To force ascension is against the inbuilt progression of the religion itself. The Supreme Court, in adjudicating on matters it has no religious punditry over, and in doing so under the protection of the law, and the Constitution of India reduces Hinduism to a bunch of meaningless myths. Without this spiritual understanding to back them, our temples are just stone houses, and our texts just myths we will never be able to explain. Hinduism's greatest temples have survived sieges, been shut, abandoned, looted, idols taken underground and protected against being misused, desecrated rather than their essence be lost. And Hinduism has survived it all. But these were mere physical attacks. The current attack works against the essence of what constitutes the religion itself. By pandering to popular thought rather than any deep philosophical study of the religion or its tenets, it reduces it to its material facade.It is better, that rather than Hinduism suffer this fate, temples be shut down, rather than propagate this unthinking version of myths and stories that then hold no meaning intrinsic to the religion, and Hinduism recede to the space of private spiritual study. Else Hinduism, under the protection of the Constitution of India, faces a fate worse than death. It disintegrates into meaningless ritual. Shut the temples down. Madison County High School students will now have the opportunity to graduate with both a diploma and an associate's degree thanks to a new partnership between the school and Germanna Community College. On Wednesday, Madison County Public Schools Superintendent Matt Eberhardt and Germanna President David A. Sam signed a memorandum of understanding solidifying the schools early college program, which will begin this fall. Similar to a program already in place in Culpeper County and Eastern View high schools, rising juniors will be able to enter into a two-year program combining high school and college courses to obtain both a high school diploma and an associate's degree simultaneously. Students in the program will take the college-based classes at Madison County High School. Students are also required to take any end of the course Standards of Learning tests associated with graduation requirements including the English 11 Reading and Writing tests and the Virginia/U.S. History test. They must also maintain at least a C in each class in order to continue in the program. Failure to do so will result in academic dismissal from the program and could also negatively impact the student's progress towards their high school diploma. Entry into the program requires a student to have completed Algebra II or higher by the end of their sophomore year along with five verified credits, be pursuing an advanced studies diploma, have excellent attendance and be in good academic standing with a B or better cumulative average. Eligible students must also complete the online application for GCC and pass a college readiness assessment or submit qualifying SAT or ACT scores. Tuition and fees will be paid to the college. Those completing the program will be awarded college and high school credit for English 111 and 112 (English 11 at the high school); Math 166 and 173 (pre-calculus with trigonometry and calculus with analytical geometry); History 121 and 122 (U.S. History I and II); Communication 110 (Introduction to Communication); Business 100; Chemistry 111 and 112; English 210, 243 and 244 (English 12); PLS 211 and 212 (U.S. Government I and II); and Humanities 100 (Humanities). Any other courses taken as part of the program will only appear and be awarded credit on the GCC transcript. This is a conversation that began years ago and Im thankful it has taken place, Eberhardt said. There are few [high schools in] Virginia or America that can claim this opportunity. Our students already enjoy a plethora of Germanna courses and enjoy the greatest number of dual enrollment courses of the nine high schools in the region. Eberhardt said the partnership furthers the countys educational mission and celebrates its heritage as one of the first places to offer free education. The Hebron School, founded in Madison in 1748, enabled students to attend school long before state-funded public education began in Virginia in 1880. This is a great day, he said. Meanwhile, Sam said Germanna, which is celebrating 50 years, is a baby compared to Madison County Public Schools, but the early college program is an ideal combination of the two. This partnership is truly a model for how public school systems and colleges should work together, Sam said. If [a student] can leave high school with a college degree, they will have less loan debt. If they can leave high school with a degree and a diploma they'll be two years ahead of where they [would have been]. Germanna board member Joseph Daniel called the MOU a big opportunity It will pay dividends, said Daniel, who graduated from Madison County High School in 1961. The first students in the Madison Early College Program will graduate from Germanna in 2018, two years after the first students graduate from the Culpeper program. Gracie Hart Brooks writes for the Madison Eagle. Its supposed to be a day on which dreams are made of, but instead it consists of one hilarious disaster after another. For some its customary to always cry at weddings, but everyone (even the cold hearted), should bring some tissues for One Slight Hitch as uncontrollable tears of laughter are certain to occur. Written by comedian Lewis Black, One Slight Hitch is about a womans wedding day and her familys preparation for the big event. Its supposed to be a day on which dreams are made of, but instead it consists of one hilarious disaster after another. Theres nobody more excited about the pending nuptials than the brides mother, Delia (Rita Rehn), who wants to provide the elaborate ceremony & celebration that she never had. Every detail, including the shrimp boats, must be perfect. Things begin spiraling out of control though with the unexpected visit of Ryan (Alex Curtis), who is the most recent ex-boyfriend of the bride to be, Courtney (Dana Berger). Sight of Ryan at this most inopportune time would send Delia over the edge and also cause Courtney more stress. So it becomes the rest of the families job to keep Ryan hidden within the house. He cant just leave because due to a series of events, Ryan is left without a stitch of clothing, other than his boxers. All of that happens in the first twenty minutes. Things get worse, or for the audience funnier, when Ryans presence is revealed to all including the groom whose name is.ummm.Harper (Kyle Nunn). The majority of the time the Harpers future in-laws call him Ryan by mistake. The confrontation with Ryan causes Courtney to reevaluate her future. Will she go through with the wedding? Re-ignite things with Ryan? Somebody has to get married, no matter what, as theres fresh lobster to be served. The whole cast is splendid, but Rehn gives perhaps the most emotionally driven, spot-on performance, as the high anxiety, stressed out, on the verge of a mental breakdown mother. Her counterpart (husband) is Doc, played by Brian Dykstra who embodies the father who sees dollar signs for all the pomp and circumstance. Dykstra provides a number of the laughs and has an endearing stage presence. While One Slight Hitch revolves around the wedding of Courtney and Ryan, errr I mean Harper, it seems that the other characters get the most attention. At the center of it all is Ryan, and Curtis masters the wayward drifter in search of a plot for a book about his lifes adventures. Ryan might be a little dimwitted but has a really sharp sense of humor. Serving as narrator, at least for the beginning in end is PB (Cecily Dowd), a high schooler who brings a lot of spirited energy, particularly through some fun dance moves. Last, but certainly not least is the other daughter, Melanie (Alex Sunderhaus), a bit of a vixen with her eyes, and hands set on Ryan. When Melanie first appears, wearing a nurses outfit, I was left breathless and nearly in need of some medical attention to cure my hot flashes. A nice added touch to the show are some local references, its set in Cincinnati and included are jokes about Ohio and a mention of Dayton. Special credit goes to the wardrobe department, just not for the nurse outfit, but also for everything worn, including T-shirts of the Reds and Kings Island for more localism. Everyone also looked radiant in their clothes for the wedding. Being a rather new show, nobody knows how One Slight Hitch is going to end, which makes it more intriguing. Im not going to tell how it ends, but its probably not like you expected. Only one thing is known for sure, youll laugh until you cry. One Slight Hitch continues at the Loft Theatre through April 24. For more information, click here. All photos are courtesy of Scott J. Kimmins. Hyderabad: Union minister Y. Sujana Chowdary on Friday said that he was in no way connected with the defaulting of a Rs 106 crore loan given by Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd to a step-down subsidiary of Sujana Universal Industries Ltd, for which the minister was issued a non-bailable warrant on Thursday by the Hyderabad High Court. Mr Chowdary said that he had relinquished all responsibilities from the company in 2010 whereas the loan was taken in 2012. He said that he was in no way related to the issue and is not connected to the company in any manner other than having one per cent share in it. Read: Non-bailable warrant against union minister YS Chowdary for loan default Mr Chowdary said, It is a pressure tactic by the lawyers of the Mauritian bank to involve me in the issue. Sujana Universal Industries Ltd has to take responsibility along with local bankers who are on the board of directors in the company. It is a civil matter and the company management along with the local bankers will together decide on how to discharge the liability. Bengaluru: With the state reeling under a severe drought, Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, Digvijay Singh, on Wednesday passed on an unambiguous message from party president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi that ruling party legislators must provide succor in their respective constituencies than rush to New Delhi to lobby for a berth in the ministry. Mr Singhs plain speak came after he witnessed hectic activities by different groups of legislators seeking a reshuffle of the ministry. Through such a terse statement, Mr Singh shrunk the hopes of those who were aspiring to join the ministry. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior legislator said: Mr Singh held a series of meetings with different groups of legislators but he saved his last word for like-minded legislators who met him on Wednesday evening. During this meeting, he said that they should concentrate on drought relief work as desired by Mrs Gandhi during a recent seminar on Dr Ambedkar in Nagpur. There was no need for them to come to Delhi when the state is reeling under drought. Instead, I will discuss with party central leaders and fix an appropriate time to decide on the suitable date for carrying out a cabinet reshuffle. Till then, all MLAs must focus on drought relief. However, several MLAs including S. T. Somashekhar, Dr A. B. Malaka Reddy, Eshwar Khandre and others claimed after their meeting with Mr Singh that the leader assured that their demand for a cabinet reshuffle would be met soon. We have explained about immediacy of carrying out such an exercise, and Mr Singh responded positively, Mr Somashekhar added. Siddaramaiah still hopeful of reshuffle Within hours of Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, Digvijay Singh, pouring cold water on ministerial aspirants by asking them to focus on drought relief works, Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, on Wednesday revived hopes of a reshuffle saying he would leave for New Delhi to discuss the issue with senior central leaders of the party. Speaking to the media after meeting Mr Digvijay Singh, Mr Siddaramaiah said I have discussed with Mr Singh about cabinet reshuffle, and we will finalise the dates after my meeting with central leaders in New Delhi. He categorically stated that there was no problem in carrying out such an exercise but said it would not be possible to please everyone as the ministry would get a new look based on caste and region. Ahead of the Assembly polls in 2018, getting caste and region combination right will be our first priority, and I hope to complete this exercise this month end, he added. In response to a question, Mr Siddaramaiah disclosed that he would focus on stepping up drought relief work across the state. I will be touring all four divisions in the state and also appoint division wise ministers to keep track of the drought relief works being carried out, he added. Tiruchy: Coming down heavily on both the DMK and AIADMK, which have been ruling Tamil Nadu for the last 50 years, BJP national president Amit Shah on Wednesday charged that their corrupt deeds, had fully affected Tamil Nadus development. Mr Shah, who was here to address an election meeting and also introduce all the 234 candidates of the BJP-led front for the May 16 Assembly elections, told a press conference on Wednesday, the States present growth was only due to the farming community. He said that in every Assembly election, the people of Tamil Nadu instead of choosing who should rule the State, are instead using it to decide who should be sent out from the government. Mr Shah urged that in the coming May 16 polls, people should rather decide who should rule Tamil Nadu. The leaders of both DMK and AIADMK and the formers alliance partner Congress, faced several corruption charges, he reminded. But the BJP government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had achieved several good things in the last two years. This was despite bottlenecks to implement several good schemes including the establishment of an AIIMS-like health institute, Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) in Tamil Nadu due to the non-cooperation of the Tamil Nadu Government. Referring to the fishermens issue, Mr Shah claimed that the Modi Government saved the lives of five fishermen of Tamil Nadu from death penalty, and there was no firing against the Tamil Nadu Fishermen now by the Sri Lankan Navy personnel. Further, it was securing the release of Indian fishermen from Sri Lanka. Now official level talks were on for a permanent solution to the fishermens issue, added Amit shah. EOM. Progress on ridding the world of nuclear weapons, not an apology, is what Hiroshima would want from a visit by US President Barack Obama to the Japanese city hit by an American nuclear attack 71 years ago, survivors and other residents said. US Secretary of State John Kerry said during a visit to the city on Monday that Obama wanted to travel there, though he did not know if the president's schedule would allow him to when he visits Japan for a Group of Seven summit in May. No incumbent US president has ever visited Hiroshima. A presidential apology would be controversial in the United States (US), where a majority view the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and of the city of Nagasaki three days later, as justified to end the war and save US lives. The vast majority of Japanese think the bombings were unjustified. "If the president is coming to see what really happened here and if that constitutes a step towards the abolition of nuclear arms in future, I don't think we should demand an apology," said Takeshi Masuda, a 91-year-old former school teacher. "It has been really tough for those who lost family members. But if we demand an apology, that would make it impossible for him to come," he said. Masuda's mother died a few weeks after being caught in the nuclear attack. At schools where he taught after World War Two, some students had been orphaned, others severely burnt. A US warplane dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing thousands of people instantly and about 140,000 by the end of that year. Nagasaki was bombed on August 9, 1945, and Japan surrendered six days later. Miki Tsukishita, 75, remembers watching something shiny falling from the sky over Hiroshima that morning. He ran back into his house shouting: "The sun is falling down". That shielded him from direct exposure to the blast, heat and radiation. Tsukishita was among those who placed an advertisement in the Washington Post in 1983 urging then-President Ronald Reagan to visit Hiroshima. Tsukishita wants Obama, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in part for his push for nuclear disarmament, to use his influence to persuade leaders of other nuclear-armed countries to visit Hiroshima too, so they understand the inhumanity of atomic weapons. "What really matters is not repeating the tragedy. I want him to say to other nuclear states 'I've come to Hiroshima, so should you'," he said. Hiroshi Harada, a former head of the atomic bomb museum Kerry visited this week, was six when the bomb was dropped. "At that moment, we saw people burned black, having their skin melted or limbs blown apart. It is unlikely that survivors would be in a cheery, welcoming mood," Harada said. "But President Obama would be making a very delicate political decision to come to Hiroshima. I would want to accept his visit with hopes that it will lead to the next action (for the abolition of nuclear arms)." The younger El Bakraoui blew himself up in a rush-hour Brussels subway train, killing 16 victims. That same morning, his older brother was one of two suicide bombers who detonated explosives-laden suitcases at Brussels Airport, killing another 16. (Photo: AFP) Paris: The Islamic State fighters who carried out the attacks in Brussels honed their skills through combat in Syria, and the sibling suicide bombers were also crucial to planning the Paris attacks, according to the extremist group's magazine released on Thursday. In the English-language magazine Dabiq, the group drew a direct line between the two attacks and made no mention of the key suspects captured in Belgium. "All preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels started with" brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El-Bakraoui, the group said. Brussels was home to many of the attackers who struck the French capital November 13 with suicide bombings and volleys of assault weapons fire that left 130 people dead. According to Belgian and French investigators, the same cell was behind the suicide bombings that killed 32 people in Brussels on March 22. The younger El Bakraoui blew himself up in a rush-hour Brussels subway train, killing 16 victims. That same morning, his older brother was one of two suicide bombers who detonated explosives-laden suitcases at Brussels Airport, killing another 16. The other airport bomber was Najim Laachraoui, the bomb maker for both the Brussels and the Paris attacks, who left for Syria in 2013 and was an early recruit for the Islamic State group. It is "firstly due" to the El Bakraouis that the attacks in the French capital occurred, Dabiq said. Subsequently, it said, Khalid El Bakraoui had a dream to carry out another attack. The magazine also prominently mentioned Mohamed Belkaid, the IS fighter who was killed covering Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam's escape from a hideout "during the final stages of preparation for the raid in Brussels." It said Belkaid, who had Swedish residency, took part in some of the extremist group's most important battles, including the capture of Ramadi, and decided to return to Europe with Laachraoui for an attack. Although it was light on new details, the magazine article offered a glimpse of how the attack cell was constructed and how the plot formed among supporters in Belgium and Syria. Abdeslam, who returned from France to Belgium after his brother blew himself up in the Paris attacks, is entirely absent from the narrative, as is Mohamed Abrini and Osama Krayem. All three were captured in the Brussels area, Abdeslam just a few blocks from the Molenbeek home where he grew up. A Belgian television network today released previously unknown footage from Molenbeek of Abdeslam, whose role in the Paris attacks has never been defined and who is not formally linked to the Brussels bloodshed. That Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is in large part thanks to a retired Oxford schoolteacher. Honorary Consul Michael Rutland calls himself a mere facilitator, but a British diplomat said he had played a crucial role in arranging the royal visit to the country sandwiched between the world's two most populous nations: China and India. Bhutan has never had diplomatic relations with the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, including China and Britain. That made the assignment a delicate one for the 78-year-old Rutland. "How can a retired physics teacher be a threat to anyone?" he asked Reuters in a telephone interview from the capital Thimphu, before Prince William and wife Kate start their two-day trip on Thursday. The British royals, who have been touring India, will for the first time meet the fifth king and the queen of Bhutan. They will also trek to the Tiger's Nest, an ancient Buddhist monastery perched 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) up a mountain. William's father, Prince Charles, failed to complete the steep ascent to the Tiger's Nest during a visit in 1998, opting instead to paint a watercolor of the scene. It's a crowning moment for Rutland, who was once asked at a dinner party in Oxford whether he wanted to teach in Bhutan. After initial hesitation - he didn't know where the country was - he accepted the job in 1971, only to discover he had been appointed tutor to the crown prince of Bhutan. The prince became the fourth king, going on to end his own absolute rule before abdicating. The current king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, ascended to the throne in 2008. "It was a new constitutional democracy, a new monarchy and a new face," recalls Rutland, who now lives full time in Bhutan, has adopted a son there and has five grandchildren. Long ago, Tolstoy acidly observed: The abolition of slavery has gone on for a long time. Rome abolished slavery. America abolished and we did, but only the words were abolished, not the thing. Babasaheb Ambedkar, himself a mahar (untouchable caste), fought this malignant degradation and tried his best to set his brethren free as equal members of the Indian society. He battled and wrote into the Constitution purposeful provisions annihilative of caste victimisation and promotion of their socio-economic status. The Constitution, however, uses the colourless terminology, Scheduled Castes, which hardly expresses the terrible lot and traumatic humiliation. Were they mere words, or calculated to catalyse a transformation, which would establish a dynamic human solidarity so necessary for a progressive nation on the march? If they were really summons to action, how far have we succeeded? And if we have failed, what is the reason for this failure? What is the prognosis for a vibrant Dalit egalite? Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy. What does social democracy mean? It means a way of life, which recognises liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles of life. These principles of liberty, equality and fraternity are not to be treated as separate items in a trinity. They form a union of trinity in the sense that, to divorce one from the other is to defeat the very purpose of democracy. Liberty cannot be divorced from equality; equality cannot be divorced from liberty. Nor can liberty and equality be divorced from fraternity. Without equality, liberty would produce the supremacy of the few over the many. Dalit identity, crushed for centuries, now re-asserts its right to be treated as human. No more subaltern submission but a chapter of goal-oriented democratic march! The marginalised shall no longer surrender. But there are two ways of achieving the end. One peaceful, agitational and by converting the majority to their obligation to the lowly minorities: the other is the desperate and violent methodology whereby terrorist operations may be the only means of securing justice. In a democracy the peaceful means can win if only there is an inclination to listen and act on the part of those who command public opinion. It requires dissemination of information, presentation of views and appeal to the finer sensibilities of the people as a whole. Untouchability is an offence and atrocities on the Dalits are grave offences. But the law in the books has no locomotion unless the bugle of battle demands justice through social movements and judicial action. India can have social stability and claim human justice only if the Dalit sector is guaranteed social and economic status consistent with an egalitarian ethos. The pain, privations and frustrations of the Dalits in our country must make every sensitive citizen hang his head in shame. The tragedy is that not only have we not eradicated untouchability in the last 60 years, but also we have created newer and subtler forms of untouchability. Ambedkar rightly believed political democracy without social and economic democracy is a double deception. Almost all political parties have showered only lip sympathy to the plight of the Dalits in order to get their votes, but with no intention of doing anything to ameliorate their conditions. Leaders of Dalits must campaign to liquidate the lowliest castes among them and consolidate themselves into one united Scheduled Caste. Why tolerate sub-castes among Harijans themselves? The upper layers among the Harijans and Girijans swallow the jobs and admissions to professional courses. The tragedy is that Ambedkars legacy, which ought to operate outside Hindu religion, has also not succeeded in breaking the status quo. Ambedkar felt that organisation, education and agitation would enable the Dalits to reverse caste prejudices. As it has turned out, Dalit political groups are totally disorganised. Education has only led to the emergence of a Dalit elite class, which has slowly distanced itself from agitational Dalit politics. Dalit movements have been absorbed within mainstream parties or have degenerated into negative militancy. The deitification of Ambedkar by building statues appears to have taken precedence over any fight for equal rights. What shall we do to change this sorry scheme of things and remould it nearer to our Hearts desire? Mother and brother of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide at Hyderabad Central University in January sparking strong protests across the country, today embraced Buddhism on the occasion of Dr B R Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary. Rohith's mother Radhika and brother Naga Chaitanya Vemula, also known as Raja Vemula, were given 'deeksha' at a function in Dadar here in the presence of Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar. Ambedkar, Dalit icon and architect of the Indian Constitution, coverted to Buddhism at a grand ceremony in Nagpur in 1956 as he was strongly opposed to the caste system in Hindusim. At the venue of the deeksha ceremony, the mother-son duo paid tributes to Dr Ambedkar and bowed before his portrait. Raja Vemula said, "My brother Rohith was a Buddhist at heart although he did not convert. He took his own life as he was discriminated because he was a Dalit. We performed his last rites according to Buddhist traditions, honouring his love for Buddhism." "Rohith used to talk of Buddhism a lot. He had also written a letter to the Vice Chancellor about how Dalits are discriminated against on the campus. My mother feels that we should honour Rohith by embracing Buddhism," he said. "We are against the caste system in Hinduism and have, therefore, decided to embrace Buddhism which does not have such an oppressive system of castes," Rohith's brother said. Prakash Ambedkar said Buddhist monks gave 'deeksha' to Rohith's mother and brother at a function on the sidelines of a programme marking the birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar. "The function to covert the duo to Buddhism was organised after Radhika Vemula approached me and conveyed their wish to embrace Buddhism when I visited Hyderabad recently," he said. Raja and Radhika Vemula, along with Rohith's childhood friend Riyaz Shaikh and Hyderabad university student Charbad Raju, had left for Mumbai from Hyderabad yesterday. Rohith's elder sister, who is married, has not converted to Buddhism. Rohith Vemula, 27, committed suicide on January 17 in a hostel room in Hyderabad Central University where he was a PhD scholar after he and four others were suspended from the hostel last year and restrictions were put on their movement by the university administration as part of disciplinary action for allegedly assaulting ABVP leader N Susheel Kumar. Abuses by police and security forces are the most significant human rights problem in India, the US State Department said today in a report which also raised civil society concerns over the failure to hold accountable those responsible for the 2002 Gujarat riots. "The most significant human rights problems involved police and security force abuses, including extra-judicial killings, torture, and rape; corruption remained widespread and contributed to ineffective responses to crimes, including those against women, children and members of scheduled castes or tribes; and societal violence based on gender, religious affiliation, and caste or tribe," the US State Department said in its annual 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The report was released by Secretary of State John Kerry at the headquarters of the State Department here. "The frequently grim examples detailed in this report strengthen our resolve to promote fundamental freedoms, to support human rights defenders and to document and promote accountability for violations of human rights," Kerry wrote in the preface of the report. In its detailed Congressional-mandated report on India, the State Department continues to raise its concerns about the victims of Gujarat riots not receiving justice so far. "Civil society activists continued to express concern about the Gujarat government's failure to hold accountable those responsible for the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 persons, the majority of whom were Muslim," the report said. "On September 16, the Gujarat High Court's acting Chief Justice assembled a new bench to hear the appeals from Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi, along with others who authorities had sentenced to imprisonment for their role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. This was the fifth bench to hear these petitions," the State Department said. In its report, the State Department alleged that "lack of accountability" for misconduct at all levels of government persisted, contributing to widespread impunity. Investigations and prosecutions of individual cases took place but lax enforcement, a shortage of trained police officers and an overburdened and under resourced court system contributed to infrequent convictions, it said. "Separatist insurgents and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, the northeastern states and the Maoist belt committed serious abuses, including killings of armed forces personnel, police, government officials and civilians. Insurgents were responsible for numerous cases of kidnapping, torture, rape, extortion and the use of child soldiers," the report said. Among other human rights problems the report stated included disappearances, hazardous prison conditions, arbitrary arrest and detention and lengthy pretrial detention. The report said court backlogs delayed or denied justice, including through lengthy pretrial detention and denial of due process. "There were instances of infringement of privacy rights. The law in some states restricted religious conversion, and there were reports of arrests but no reports of convictions under those laws. Some limits on the freedom of movement continued," the State Department said. Rape, domestic violence, dowry-related deaths, honour killings, sexual harassment, and discrimination against women remained serious societal problems, the report said, noting that child abuse and forced and early marriage were also prevalent. Trafficking in persons, including widespread bonded and forced labour of children and adults and sex trafficking of children and adults for prostitution were serious problems, the report said. "Societal discrimination against persons with disabilities and indigenous persons continued, as did discrimination and violence based on gender identity, sexual orientation and persons with HIV," the report said. The State Department noted that tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus) have fled the Kashmir Valley to Jammu, Delhi, and other areas in the country since 1990 because of conflict and violent intimidation, including destruction of houses of worship, sexual abuse, and theft of property, by Islamic separatists. Societal violence based on religion and by religiously associated groups continued to be a concern, the State Department said while citing Ministry of Home Affairs' estimation that between January and October, 561 incidents of communal violence took place, which killed 90 persons and injured 1,688. Civil society representatives estimated 139 acts of communal violence occurred in Mangalore, Karnataka from January through August. The body of Major Amit Deswal, who was killed in an encounter yesterday, was today recovered from a remote place in Tamenglong district in Manipur and being flown to Imphal, army officials said. The body will then be taken to Surheti in Jhajjar district of Haryana via New Delhi, Army officials said. Maj Deswal of 21 Para SF was killed in a gunbattle with ZUF militants in densely forested Nungba area during a combing operation undertaken by Rashtriya Rifles and Special Forces personnel. One militant was also killed in the encounter.Deswal is survived by wife and a three-and-a-half years old son. For the time being, the combing operation which was going on for the last few days has been called off by the Army, the officials said. Family members of a man, who is an accused in an attempt to murder case, thrashed two police personnel when they entered the accuseds house in east Delhis Geeta Colony. Family members also broke a policemans cellphone when he tried to record the event, police said. Police detained three family members of the accuseds family and later arrested one of them. An investigation has been ordered in the case. We have arrested one person for assaulting a public servant and for obstructing him from discharging his duty, said Rishi Pal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East). The incident happened on Monday night when sub-inspector Gaurav and constable Sunil went to the house of one Raman in Shastri Park to arrest him. According to police, Raman had attacked a youth with a knife last year for which police had booked him in an attempt to murder case, among other charges in the IPC. Raman, however, has been absconding since the incident. The court issued a non-bailable warrant against Raman a few days back. Following this, the police went to the accuseds house. Sources said Ramans family members helped him flee the house. When police started questioning teh accuseds parents of his whereabouts, an argument ensued. After some time, Ramans father, mother and wife attacked the two men with fists, said police. They tore down their uniform and slapped them on their faces, said a police officer. Torn uniform In a dramatic turn of event, seeing the police officers torn uniform, Ramans father Satpal started beating himself in a bid to injure himself, said sources. It was apparent that they wanted to use the injuries to frame the cops; however, sub inspector Gaurav took out his mobile and started recording the incident, the police officer added. Seeing the policeman recording the event, a scared Satpal and his relatives rushed towards him and snatched the phone away. They then smashed the phone on the ground. The officers called for help from the police station and soon a police team turned up at the spot. Police are now questioning the family members and neighbours. Ward number 225, Anand Vihar hosted the lone mohalla sabha that went against the odd-even car curbs in a referendum conducted by Delhi government in 276 such community gatherings. Aam Aadmi Party is blaming rival BJP for `sabotaging this mohalla sabha. But the local Bharatiya Janata Party MLA O P Sharma claims that it was AAP which had been manufacturing consent in mohalla sabhas elsewhere. The second phase of odd-even scheme is starting from Friday. Out of the 15 people who participated in the government-organised public meeting in ward 225, eight voted against the proposal to reintroduce the odd-even road-rationing scheme, a government report reveals. AAP workers alleged that Sharma sent BJP workers to sabotage the public meeting ordered by the AAP government, after the successful implementation of the odd-even trial in January. Sharma withheld publicity material for the government referendum so that his party workers could tip the scales against the odd-even formula, alleged AAP member Ashutosh Saxena, who managed the partys electoral campaign in February 2015 Assembly polls. He didn't distribute the handbills inviting local residents for discussion on the odd-even rule. The handbills indicated when and where mohalla sabhas were being organised, Saxena said. He claimed that the delayed information resulted in a low turnout for mohalla sabhas in four civic wards of Vishwas Nagar Assembly constituency. Preet Vihar (ward 228) and IP Extension ward (ward 227) in that constituencies decided in favour of the second phase odd-even car curbs, but only by a thin margin, according to Saxena. AAP volunteers in Vishwas Nagar (ward 226), however, managed to foil BJP's attempt to sabotage the referendum. Ward 226 saw a healthy turnout because of our alertness, Saxena said. Over 43,000 people participated in the ward-level mohalla sabhas organised in February across the city. BJP MLA O P Sharma denied any foul play and said, I am not a Delhi government employee. Mohalla sabhas are organised by the SDMs. Sub-divisional magistrates of revenue department hold mohalla sabhas with the help of local lawmakers. The AAP government is manufacturing consent by bringing in bus full of people. Along with SDMs, come 10-12 government officials and Civil Defence volunteers, who are essentially AAP workers. the Vishwas Nagar MLA said. But local AAP workers also alleged partisan conduct by SDMs. Saxena claimed he has voice recordings to indicate that SDMs connived with the BJP workers in three of the four wards in Vishwas Nagar Assembly constituency. He further alleged that mohallah sabha in ward 225 was organised in a hush-hush manner. Do homework first Delhi and the entire country are grappling with pollution, people of Delhi want roads to be congestion free. But until that time when public transport can cater to city population properly, the odd-even formula can't be successfully implemented, the BJP MLA told Deccan Herald. We're not against the odd-even scheme, but the government should do its homework first, he said. But when asked whether it was not his responsibility to conduct mohalla sabhas, he said, Kejriwal government never treated us like city MLAs. He said the Delhi government has a plan outlay of Rs 350 crore for mohalla sabhas, whose constitutional validity is suspect. This is an illegal spending. Can you tell me whether our Constitution allows states to organise mohalla sabhas with public money? he added. Earlier in March, the Delhi Assemblys Committee on Ethics recommended expulsion of the controversial BJP leader from the House, saying he was guilty of making derogatory remarks last year against AAP MLA Alka Lamba. Cautioning dalits and backwards against BJP's designs, former UP chief minister Mayawati today said its leaders will only act as a "bonded labourers of RSS" and claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi could do little for the OBCs though he claims to belong to the community. "BJP or RSS can make any dalit or backward as the prime minister or chief minister of any state but he cannot do any thing good for his people...he will always remain a bonded labourer of BJP or RSS," the BSP supremo said taking on her political rivals at a meeting to pay homage to Dr Ambedkar on his 125th birth anniversary.Her remarks came in the backdrop of BJP appointing Keshav Prasad Maurya, a backward, as the UP unit president. "This is clearly evident in the government of Narendra Modi who moves around saying that he is an OBC...leave alone doing anything for his caste people, he has not not done anything for tea sellers though he has had free tea from them," Mayawati said. Virtually sounding the bugle for 2017 assembly election, Mayawati targeted ruling Samajwadi Party accusing it of "failing on all fronts" and promised a society free of fear and corruption if she is voted to power. The BSP supremo also hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for "not taking cognisance" of suicides by Dalit students when his party was in power. "Now that the Congress is out of power, the 'yuvaraj' (prince) is going around in states ruled by other parties and indulging in theatrics," she said referring to Rohith Vemula suicide in Hyderabad. Training her guns at BJP, Mayawati said Maurya has been appointed by BJP as state unit president though he has a criminal record and earlier its Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, who too belonged to backward community, could do nothing and all along toed the line of RSS on Ayodhya temple for which he had to also lose power. Criticising Modi, she said although he spoke publicly on the issue of reservation because of "political compulsion", it appears to be a "mere eye wash and a mischievous move". "Had Modi's intentions been clean, before allying fears on any move to do away with quota, he would have taken action against his partymen and RSS workers who have been issuing wrong statements on making reservation ineffective," she said. She warned that any move in the direction of ending reservation will have a serious impact and her party will not take it silently. "If the need arises, I will personally lead the agitation by coming out on the streets," she said. She also cautioned people against possible moves to rake up Ram temple issue by igniting religious feelings before the coming elections in UP, Uttarakhand and Punjab. "They might resort to this tactic after failing to lure people on sensitive issues like love jehad and Hindu rashtra among others to serve their political interests. "The real God and messiah of dalits, backwards and other deprived people all over the country is only Babasaheb Ambedar and not in Ayodhya, Mathura or Kedarnath," she said. Mayawati said though a lot is being said about erecting memorials on Ambedkar, Modi has not taken action against his minister V K Singh "who made derogatory comments" against the followers of Ambedkar. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi does exactly opposite of what he says," Mayawati alleged and recalled his promises made in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. "During the election meetings in UP and other states, Modi and his party made big promises and showed a dream to the people and the biggest dream was depositing Rs 20 lakh in the accounts of all within 100 days of coming to power by bringing back black money," she said, adding no one has got it though two years have passed. "In fact, they are also following the footsteps of Congress and are facilitating those having black money to turn it into white by making arrangements for capitalists," she said. She alleged Congress and BJP government at the Centre have always favoured capitalists. "Loans given by government banks worth Rs 1.14 lakh crore have been waived although farmers and small traders are being harassed for loan realisation, forcing some of them to commit suicide," she said. Referring to Modi's rally in Madhya Pradesh today, the BJP chief said she has been told that in order to gather crowd, college students "are being forced to attend it and people are being brought on rent to lure dalit votes". She, however, said dalits will not fall prey to their plan. Thousand of crores of rupees being spent for bullet train in Ahmedabad which could have been used for betterment of the deprived sections of society, Mayawati said and accused the Prime Minister of squandering the country's funds to build his image abroad. India has expressed concern over the hike in visa fee by the US, saying it is "discriminatory" and largely affects Indian IT professionals. During a bilateral meeting with US Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also underlined the need for early conclusion of Totalisation Agreement which would benefit Indians working in America. Referring to the visa issue, he spoke about "India's concern over the hike in the H-1B and L1 visa fee, which is discriminatory and in effect is largely targeted at Indian IT companies". Last year, the US Congress imposed a special fee of up to USD 4,500 on H-1B and L-1 visas -- popular among Indian IT companies -- to fund a 9/11 healthcare Act and biometric tracking system. While agreeing on the USD 1.1 trillion spending Bill, Congressional leaders decided to impose a special fee of USD 4,000 on certain categories of H-1B visas and USD 4,500 on L-1 visas. Jaitley expressed India's keenness in early conclusion of a Totalization Agreement with the United States, a finance ministry statement quoting him said. As per Industry estimates, Indian professionals contributed more than USD 25 billion to the US Social Security during the last decade, without being able to retrieve their contributions. The US has entered into agreements called 'Totalization Agreements' with several nations for the purpose of avoiding double taxation of income with respect to social security taxes. Under these, professionals of both the countries would be exempted from social security taxes when they go to work for a short period in the other country. The two countries are also engaged in negotiations for a Bilateral Investment Treaty to protect investments. The finance minister emphasised on sustained engagement and a rapidly increasing trade and investment partnership between India and the US as key elements, saying India looks forward to strengthening and deepening this economic engagement. Jaitley is currently on an official trip to Washington DC to attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and other sessions. He is accompanied by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian and other officials. Former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa today assumed charge as state BJP President and set an ambitious target of having an absolute majority by winning 150 seats in the 224-member House in the 2018 Assembly polls. Taking over the mantle of Presidentship for the fourth time, he termed the Congress a "sinking ship" and asked his party men to work hard to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of "Congress-free India" by achieving the goal of "Congress-free Karnataka". "I assure you, I have no personal matters here on...I will not let you sit silent, we all party workers have to put in our best efforts. At present we have 47 MLAs, we have to make it 150," Yeddyurappa, known for his combative style of leadership, said. Speaking at a party event organised to commemorate 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar after assuming charge, he said in nine districts, BJP has no prominence, in 13 districts it has one MLA and in Bengaluru and Belagavi 21 MLAs. "Think about it, where we are and where we have to reach...," said Yeddyurappa, who was largely credited for having brought BJP to power in 2008, the party's first government in the South. The Lingayat strongman, whose appointment was announced by the party leadership on April 8, took charge from Prahlad Joshi, a Lok Sabha member, in the presence of Union ministers Ananth Kumar and Siddeshwar, party's state in charge Muralidhar Rao, Opposition Leader Jagadish Shettar and other state leaders. Yeddyurappa alleged that Sangh Parivar workers were being killed in Kerala and said, "There is not even a single MLA but despite all this, best efforts are being put in to strengthen the organisation. We will have to take Kerala as an example." "There is no Kerala-like situation in any of our districts. If we make up our mind and put in efforts and work together we can reach our goal," he added. Yeddyurappa was forced to resign as Chief Minister in 2011 over graft charges, following which he quit the party to form his own outfit, Karnataka Janata Party, which failed to make a mark except to cause damage to BJP in 2013 polls. He returned to BJP following the announcement of Modi as party's prime ministerial candidate ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Yeddyurappa announced that BJP would contest all 224 assembly seats and said, "There is not much time...Under collective leadership we will work in unity to strengthen the party." While listing the "failures" of Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, he said, "We will have to make people aware of achievements and programmes of the central government." Congratulating Yeddyurappa, outgoing President Joshi said his assuming charge on the birth anniversary of Ambedkar was a "good sign...Let us all pledge ourselves to work hard to bring the party back to power under Yeddyurappa's leadership". Recalling Yeddyurappa's "struggle" for justice for downtrodden and bonded laborers during his early days of politics in Shivamogga, Union Minister Ananth Kumar said it is befitting that he is assuming charge today. Calling for uprooting of Congress from Karnataka, Muralidhar Rao said under Yedyurappa's leadership, there is no other goal or political objective other than making Karnataka free from Congress' "misrule...We are ready for the fight". Rao also congratulated Joshi for providing "able" leadership to the party during his tenure. The US has started hitting the ISIS with "cyber bombs" as part of its new arsenal of tactics against the dreaded terror group, a top Pentagon official said. "We are dropping cyber bombs. We have never done that before," Deputy Secretary of Defence Robert Work said."Just like we have an air campaign, I want to have a cyber campaign. I want to use all the space capabilities I have," Work said. He said that the entire counter-ISIS campaign was putting "enormous pressure" on the organisation. "Right now it sucks to be ISIL," Work was quoted as saying by CNN. "Every time we have gone after one of their defended positions in the last 10 months, we have defeated them," he claimed. Earlier, Defence Secretary Ash Carter had said that the cyber effort was focused primarily on ISIS terrorists in Syria and that the campaign's goal was to "overload their network so that they can't function" and "interrupt their ability to command and control forces there, control the population and the economy." Carter has said that by disrupting ISIS' communications, these cyberattacks risked hindering US intelligence collection. But he said that such "trade-offs" did not detract from the need to disrupt ISIS' networks. "We have to attack their command-and-control," Carter said in February. Carter added that Cyber Command "was devised specifically to make the US proficient and powerful in this tool of war."But the head of Cyber Command warned last week that ISIS may be able to mount cyberattacks of its own on the US. Meanwhile, Admiral Michael Rogers, Commander of the US Cyber Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that ISIS had "harnessed the power of the information arena" to propagate its ideology, recruit, move money and coordinate activity and that it "would not be difficult" for ISIS to conduct future cyberattacks on the US should they seek to develop that capability. ISIS is an al-Qaeda splinter group which has captured a large swaths of Iraq and Syria and declared a caliphate led by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. The Islamic State militants, known for their brutality, have executed a number of Westerners. The group also publishes a sleek monthly online English- language magazine, Dabiq, with religious lessons, plus news about its activities. Sporadic incidents of clashes between stone-pelting mobs and security forces were reported from a number of places in Kashmir today even as curfew-like restrictions continued for the second day and mobile internet services were suspended in some areas in view of tension. A policeman and two civilians were injured in violence and clashes in different parts of the Valley. As tension prevailed in Kashmir which saw death of four civilians since Tuesday in clashes with security forces, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti held a meeting with top police and intelligence officials of the state here to review the situation and directed that no harm should come to civilians while dealing with law and order issues. Mehbooba, who arrived here from Delhi after a three-day visit, will be camping in the Summer capital of the state to monitor the law and order situation "as long as necessary", official sources said. In fresh clashes today, a Constable Bilal Ahmad was injured after being hit in the face by a stone hurled by protestors in Magam area of Handwara town, which is about 70 kms from here, a police official said. The cop was shifted to a hospital here for treatment. A civilian was also injured earlier at the same place when he was hit by a teargas shell in the left leg, the official said, adding he was admitted to a local hospital where his condition is stated to be stable. Handwara in Kupwara district is the epicentre of the ongoing unrest that was triggered following allegations of molestation of a college girl on Tuesday. A cab driver was injured in a stone-pelting incident in Kulgam, the official said. Reports of stone-pelting were also received from various areas of Srinagar city but no casualties were reported in these incidents, the official added. The incidents occurred even though curfew-like restrictions continued for the second day in Kupwara town, Kralgund, Handwara, Magam and Langate areas in north Kashmir. Four civilians, including a woman, died on Tuesday and yesterday in clashes between protesters and security forces in Kupwara district where Handwara falls. Restrictions also continued in six police station areas of Srinagar city, the official said. Mobile internet services were also suspended in north Kashmir areas to curb the menace of rumour mongering, the official said. Separatist groups had also given a call for strike since yesterday due to which markets remained closed and public transport was off the roads. Soon after arrival here, Mehbooba met top police and intelligence officials of the state including Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar at her official residence. "The Chief Minister directed the police officials to strictly follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and ensure that civilians are not harmed while dealing with law and order situations," official sources said. The state government also sought the help of civil society in restoration of normalcy in Kupwara district where Rural Development Minister Abdul Haq Khan is camping to monitor the situation. "I am in constant touch with the civil and police authorities at Handwara to ensure that normalcy is restored in the area at the earliest," he said. Khan last evening visited the families of those who died in action by police and security forces in Handwara and assured them that the guilty would be punished. Expressing solidarity with the bereaved families, the minister said while no amount of compensation would be enough to alleviate the grief of the bereaved families over the loss of their dear ones, the government would, however, try to reach out to them with whatever can be done for them. The Minister also convened a high-level meeting with the civil and the police administration to review the overall situation in the area. "The police and other security forces have been asked to exercise maximum restraint while dealing with the public protests," the spokesman said. The Hrithik-Kangana row intensified today with the actress questioning why police was selectively calling witnesses and the actor asking her to cooperate in "everyone's interest" so that the truth can come out. In a letter to the cyber crime cell of Mumbai police, Kangana alleged that police personnel were giving "false and misleading statements" to the media. "I have in my letter to the DCP, questioned the police on various aspects... the first thing that I have asked them is that when Hrithik Roshan in his complaint made to the Police in December 2014, claims to have gained knowledge of an imposter from many people including his fans and people from the film industry then why has no one has been questioned till now in the said matter," Kangana's lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee said in a statement. "This could mean only one thing i e either Hrithik Roshan publicly lied about various people giving him information about an imposter or the police did not do their job diligently as was required under Section 154 of CRPC, and close the matter by filing an appropriate report in time," he said. When contacted, Hrithik's lawyers said, "It's in everyone's best interest to cooperate with police, so the true facts come out. What is true, what is false, is to be decided by police and the courts and not through the media. As a law- abiding citizen, Kangana should cooperate with authorities like Hrithik is doing." Hrithik, 42, had sent a legal notice to Kangana, 29, asking her to tender a public apology for having purportedly referred to him in an interview as "silly ex" and refuted her claim of the two having had a relationship. The actor had accused the "Queen" actress of sending up to 50 e-mails a day, some of them explicit in nature, whereas Kangana has alleged that he had hacked into her email account to delete mails that could have complicated his divorce proceedings with his then wife Suzanne Khan. In her response Kangana charged him of a clumsy attempt to cover up their relationship. The actress said she was not "some dim-witted teenager who has been smitten and that whatever happened between the two of them was with full consent of both parties." In a letter to the police, Kangana's lawyer has written, " "Hrithik has otherwise claimed in his notice that he had gained knowledge of an imposter in the month of May 2014. "Therefore, in the last two years there was no hurry to find any imposter, so suddenly why is there so much chaos. It is obvious that these are efforts to deviate media attention from the main subject matter." The lawyer claimed the police is yet provide them a certified FIR copy as per the law. "I have in my letter to the DCP also made a complaint against anonymous police source who is giving false and misleading statements to the press. "Recently there have been media reports that my client has been called upon to hand over her laptop. I am shocked by these reports as my client has never given any statement that she ever used her laptop to communicate with any alleged imposter therefore where are these reports coming from," Siddiquee said. Pakistan's notorious spy agency ISI paid a whopping USD 200,000 to the dreaded Haqqani Network for a suicide attack on a CIA camp in Afghanistan in 2009 that killed seven American agents and contractors and three others, according to a just declassified State Department cable. The explosive information is contained in a series of State Department cables from January 11, 2010 and February 6, 2010 which has been obtained by the National Security Archive of the George Washington University under the Freedom of Information Act. Significant portions of these cables have been redacted. "During discussions at an unknown date between Haqqani, Salar and an unidentified ISI-D officer or Officers, Haqqani and Salar were provided USD 200,000 to enable the attack on Chapman," says the cable dated February 6, 2010. The cable shows Haqqani attacks are still provided by the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate, including USD 200,000 for the December 30, 2009, attack on the CIA facility at Camp Chapman, NSA said in a blog post. "Haqqani provided the money to Salar who then communicated the planning details to Mullawi (Sakh). Sakh then contacted (Arghawan), Afghan Border Commander of the Khost Provincial Force. Arghawan was promised USD 100,000 by Salar for his assistance to enable a suicide mission by an unarmed Jordanian National," the cable says. "Following the attack, Salar was believed to have kept the 100,000 promised to Arghawan because Arghawan died during the suicide attack," the cable said. According to another cable of January 2010, "as of late December 2009, at the end of every month, senior Haqqani network leadership met with the ISI-D in Islamabad. The meetings were attended by Siraj Haqqani and Badruddin (Haqqani). ISI-D Col (Nasib) chaired the meetings. ISI-D Major (Daqud) and Sobedar (Zarim) were also in attendance." An unknown amount of funding was provided to the Haqqanis for use in unspecified operations during these meetings. "There were two meetings between the ISI-D and the Haqqani network leadership in December 2009. The first discussed funding for operations in Khost province. These funds were later provided to tribal elders in Khost province for their support of the Haqqani network," the cable said. "The second meeting involved ISI-D direction to the Haqqani networks to expedite attack preparations and lethality in Afghanistan," the cable said. The Embassy of Pakistan in the US did not respond to a question on the allegations made against ISI in the US cable. The Haqqani Network has carried out a number of kidnappings and attacks against US interests in Afghanistan, as well as Afghan government and civilian targets. The group is also blamed for several deadly attacks against Indian interests in Afghanistan including the 2008 bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul that killed 58 people. Indias relations with Maldives and its President Abdulla Yameen have remained problematic since the arrest and imprisonment of former president Mohammed Nasheed in February 2015. This led to the cancellation of Prime Minister Narendra Modis scheduled visit in March 2015. Strangely enough, Yameens just-ended two-day visit to Delhi comes at a time when there is hardly any sign of a thaw. Yameens style of functioning has earned him huge opposition within the country and abroad, particularly in the Commonwealth. His election to the presidency in November 2013 was mired in controversy with a partisan judiciary seen to be thwarting the clear expression of popular mandate. Within a year of coming to power, President Yameen got the Peoples Majlis to impeach two judges of the Supreme Court - those who did not support the repeated postponement of presidential elections - and sacked the Assistant Attorney General for revealing disproportionate assets of his Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb and his Defence Minister Nazim on the grounds of plotting a coup. Then Yameen went about systematically clipping the wings of his main rivals. Nasheed was detained under terrorism charges and is sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment. The second most important rival Gasim Ibrahims business interests were targeted and he was hit with a $100 million fine for delay in developing the islands that were leased out to him. His bank accounts were frozen, disabling him from paying salaries to thousands of his employees. Gasim was forced to make a deal with then tourism minister, later elevated to the post of vice president Mohd Adheeb. Adheeb, who was regarded the closest confidant, was later implicated in an assassination attempt on the president and was impeached in November 2015. Yameen wanted unchallenged power within the country and sought new geo-political equations outside. But there was one major hitch. The required legislations could not be passed without the support of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the main Opposition Group in parliament led by Mohammed Nasheed. So, Yameen made a deal with the MDP: They support him in passing a few critical pieces of legislation such as limiting the age of presidential candidates (to block Gasims future ambition); leasing out islands to foreigners (read: the Chinese) and he in turn would commute Nasheeds prison sentence to house arrest. Further, he promised talks with the Opposition parties to end their 3 month-long protests. The MDP agreed in good faith and passed the legislations as Nasheed was shifted home on July 19, 2015, but barely a month later Yameen reneged on his promise. Nasheed was sent back to prison with no hope of appeal nor of remission. In September 2014, Yameen hosted the first ever visit by a Chinese head of state President Xi Jinping, who invited Maldives to join the Maritime Silk Route. Yameen signed a MoU with Xi Jinping awarding the Integrated Development Project of Ihavandhippolu or Ihavan in the northern most atoll of Maldives. The strategic significance of the island lies in the fact that it is the closest point to India and that it lies on the 7 degree channel that connects the main East-West shipping routes of China, South East Asia to the oil producing nations of the Persian Gulf. In June 2015, Tourism Minister Adheeb announced that Maldives would borrow $400 million from China Exim Bank to develop the runway and expansion of the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport in Male, a contract that was originally awarded to an Indian company the GMR Group that was terminated soon after the coup in 2012 that overthrew Nasheed. Last week, on April 6, 2015, President Yameen inaugurated the expansion project of the airport awarding the contract to the Beijing Urban Construction Group. In January 2016, Yameen, under pressure from the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group that includes India, permitted Nasheed to travel to London for spinal surgery and the latter has sought further extension of his leave from prison. Nasheeds political future remains uncertain. Thanksgiving visit It is clear from President Yameens speech at the Hyderabad House on April 11 that he was here to offer his sincere thanks and appreciation for the very steadfast way India has protected the Maldives from the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. Now we know who was preventing the US and UK from taking tough action against this dictator who had suppressed all civil liberties, arrested several journalists, ordered raids on a TV station that showed some independence, had humbled and humiliated his main opposition leaders to submission either through the judiciary or through arbitrary executive orders. And to think that the Modi government came to power on the promise of a muscular foreign policy, the current political machinations with our neighbours, be it with Pakistan or Maldives, seem so bizarre. Modis foreign policy tagline: Sab ka saath, Sab ka vikaas actually has a new meaning. It does not matter if your neighbour is not with you but we will still work towards his progress. Our policy makers fail to understand that Maldives does not want our Saath. President Yameen was on a visit apparently for inking a counter-terrorism agreement, among other agreements. It was under the Prevention of Terrorism Act that Yameen had his former President Mohammed Nasheed arrested and had him sentenced to 13 years imprisonment by his most malleable judiciary. Knowing this, it would be foolhardy to strengthen Yameens hands. For under this agreement, India would be treaty-bound to handover any Maldivian residing in India who is charged with terrorism by the Government of Maldives. (The writer is a former diplomat who served in the Maldives) For Amazon, no country is more important to its global growth ambitions than India, the second-most-populous nation in the world behind China, where online shopping is in its infancy and growing explosively. But Amazons India plans just ran into a hitch. Late last month, the Government of India issued additional rules governing foreign ownership of e-commerce companies operating in the country. The government added regulations related to pricing and the sourcing of sales on sites that Amazon and several rivals appear to violate. What is more, the new policy was effective immediately, giving Amazon and others no time to comply. Theyve not given any timeline for enforcement, Satish Meena, an analyst at Forrester Research in India. Theres no proper instruction to companies about how to implement these things. Thats a very open-ended question the government has left. A trade group representing the internet companies is considering sending a letter asking the government for clarification or to delay enforcement of the rules until September. Analysts and internet executives in India say they do not expect an immediate government crackdown on Amazon and others, and it is not yet clear what the consequences would be for breaking the new rules. But the regulations were at least helpful to Amazon and its rivals because India finally clarified its murky policies regarding foreign-owned e-commerce companies. Uncertainty is part of the tumult of doing business in India, which has had a flood of foreign investment in its internet commerce sector and a corresponding wave of opposition from politically powerful domestic retailers. Online spending in India is expected to jump to nearly $75 billion by 2020 from a mere $12.1 billion last year, as more of the countrys 1.25 billion people get on the internet, according to Forrester. The stunning growth projections have led executives at Amazon, the e-commerce giant, to predict that India could be its second-largest market after the United States within a decade. In 2014, the companys chief executive, Jeffrey P Bezos, stood atop a bus in Bengaluru wearing a Jodhpuri-style coat and holding a giant check for $2 billion, representing the amount Amazon pledged to plough into its business in the country. With a growing middle class and propensity to shop online, the revenue potential there is enormous, said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Robert W Baird & Co. As in the United States, in India brick-and-mortar retailers have expressed alarm at the growth of e-commerce, and they have sued the government to compel it to place more restrictions on the industry. For Amazon, there is a special urgency to get India right after fumbling attempts to crack the e-commerce business in China, another huge emerging market dominated by domestic players. From the day it started in India in 2013, Amazon had to make big changes to comply with its restrictive rules governing retailing. India essentially bars companies with substantial foreign ownership from operating retail outlets that sell from their own inventories of goods. Although American multinationals like Amazon, Walmart and Apple have sought to overturn or soften those restrictions, the government has made few changes. To work around the restrictions, Amazon and competitors billed themselves as e-commerce marketplaces, eBay-like websites that matched buyers with independent sellers. Amazon owns no inventory of its own in India, though it handles the warehousing and delivery of goods for many of its independent sellers, a model it also employs in the United States. Last week, Indian regulators confirmed that online marketplaces, which had operated in a grey era, are legal. But they added a rule saying that no single seller can account for more than 25% of sales on such an e-commerce marketplace. It also limited the influence that online marketplaces can exert over the prices set by their sellers. Grey era The new regulations appear to make Amazons dependence on one large seller on its site, Cloudtail, illegal, according to industry officials and analysts. While Amazon says it has more than 80,000 sellers on its India site, Cloudtail is estimated to account for 40-50% of the sites sales, according to Meena of Forrester. The parent company of Cloudtail is a partnership between Catamaran Ventures, the investment firm of business magnate, N R Narayana Murthy, and Amazon, which owns 49%. Indias leading e-commerce company, Flipkart, also works closely with an affiliated large seller and faces a similar problem. The agency that issued the new rules, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, declined to comment on whether any violations had occurred. Ishtiyaque Ahmed, a director of foreign collaboration at the agency, said he was not familiar with the details of the two companies business arrangements so I cannot discuss a hypothetical situation. Amazon is still evaluating the new rules, said Craig Berman, a company spokesman. Through our amazon.in marketplace, we will continue to help small and medium businesses in India connect with consumers, Berman said in a statement. Flipkart declined to comment. One obvious course of action for Amazon is to form more joint ventures with Indian companies to reduce its reliance on any single seller like Cloudtail. Arjun Narayan, managing director of Catamaran Ventures, Amazons partner in Cloudtail, said in an email that he did not expect any abrupt business changes for Cloudtail. Snapdeal, one of the largest e-commerce companies, which has no large sellers, welcomed the regulations. International New York Times The metro station opposite the Vidhana Soudha will be named as Ambedkar Metro Station, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced on Thursday. Addressing the gathering during the celebrations of B R Ambedkars 125th birth anniversary in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah also said a proposal would be sent to the Centre to rename the Yeshwantpur railway station after the architect of the Indian Constitution. He said an educational institution Ambedkar London School of Economics would be also set up in Bengaluru. The chief minister said it would appropriate to name the metro station near the secretariat after the Dalit icon, as the stretch was called Ambedkar Veedhi. Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, too, had earlier mooted this proposal. While a study chair in the name of former minister B Basavalingappa would be established in Bangalore University; Ambedkars debates in the Constitutional Assembly would be translated this year. Announcing that Ambedkars 125th birth anniversary would be celebrated as Ambedkar Year, he said a decision would be taken on according reservation to the SC/STs in government contract works. The city celebrated Dr B R Ambedkars 125th birth anniversary in a significant manner, on Thursday. While the district administration had organised a formal function, special lectures, procession, cleanliness campaigns and an exhibition of rare photos were also organised to mark the day. After inaugurating the stage programme at Kalamandira, District In-charge and Revenue Minister V Srinivas Prasad said, Ambedkar was the voice of the voiceless. He struggled and suffered for the uplift of deprived classes. Even though he was a victim of harassment and discrimination, he drafted the Constitution for the welfare of the people irrespective of caste or community. He was a Knowledge Hub and owned a library with 2.25 lakh books. He can be compared to Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln, who fought for the rights of the deprived class of people, the minister said. Today, if Dalits are trying to join the mainstream of the society, its only because of Ambedkar. Ambedkars effort and determination made him a successful man. With the United Nations celebrating Ambedkars birth anniversary at its office for the first time, Ambedkar is now popular across the globe, said Prasad. Recalling Ambedkars struggle for social justice, the minister said, even in the 21st century, Dalits are facing discrimination and are being harassed for no fault of theirs. MLAs M K Somashekar, G T Devegowda, MLC R Dharmasena, Zoo Authority of Karnataka Chairperson Rehana Banu, Mayor B L Bhyrappa, Deputy Mayor Vanitha N Prasanna, Deputy Commissioner C Shikha and others were present. Earlier, Srinivas Prasad, Mayor Bhyrappa, MLAs M K Somashekar, Vasu, Tanveer Sait and other peoples representatives paid floral tributes to the statue of Ambedkar in front of the Town Hall. Several artistes, along with officials, took out a portrait of Ambedkar in a procession from Town Hall to Kalamandira. Artistes performed a variety of folk arts and tableaux joined them. Ambedkars original voice What was interesting during the stage programme was, the playing of a speech by B R Ambedkar, by the Department of Information and Public Relations. Even though the auditorium was jam packed, there was pin-drop silence, when the original audio was played. Photo expo The Department of Information and Public Relations had organised an exhibition of rare photos of B R Ambedkar at Suchitra Art Gallery in Kalamandira. Nearly 300 photographs of significant occasions, like Ambedkar addressing a public function, greeting the first President of India Rajendra Prasad, Ambedkar with his wife Savita Ambedkar, Ambedkar with the members of the Indian Constitution Draft Committee, Ambedkar with E V Ramasamy Naicker (Periyar), were on display. Various organisations, educational institutions and political parties paid tributes to Ambedkar. To mark the birth anniversary, H V Rajeev Balaga had organised a cleanliness campaign at Ashokapuram. Hundreds of volunteers, including students, cleaned the streets of the area. Sarada Vilas Educational Institution and University of Mysore (UoM) B R Ambedkar Research and Extension Centre and SC/ST Special Cell and Karnataka State Gangubai Hangal Music and Performing Arts University had organised special lectures about Ambedkar and held felicitation programmes. The mother and brother of Rohith Vemula embraced Buddhism on the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on Thursday, and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modis silence on the circumstances that led to the suicide of the Dalit scholar . Late Rohith Vemulas mother Radhika Vemula and brother Raja Vemula had their initiation ceremony at Chaityabhoomi at Dadar here, and were given the deeksha by Buddhist monks in the presence of former MP and Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh founder-President Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr Ambedkar, the Dalit icon. Rohith Vemula, 27, a PhD student at the University of Hyderabad, committed suicide on January 17, 2016. Later, in a statement, Raja Vemula said: Together, all the people fighting for justice for my brother are asking just one question why doesnt Prime Minister Narendra Modi say a single word about the University of Hyderabad Vice Chancellor P Appa Rao? When he can shed tears for my brother, why cant he make a single statement about the people responsible for his death. He also targeted Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani and described her as a political culprit. "From today, my mother and I will start a life that Rohith always dreamt of. From today, my mother and I will be truly free, free from shame, free from daily humiliation, free from guilt of praying to the same Gods in whose name our people have been tortured for centuries, he said. We know our fight is going to be long and hard. But we feel strong and hopeful because the spirit of Ambedkar, Buddha and my brother Rohith Vemula is with us, he said. At the venue of the deeksha ceremony, the mother-son duo paid tributes to Dr Ambedkar and bowed before his portrait. Ambedkar had converted to Buddhism at a grand ceremony in Nagpur on October 14, 1956 as he was strongly opposed to the prevailing Hindu caste system. We decided to organise the deeksha ceremony after the family requested us, said Prakash Ambedkar. Blazing fire from numerous yagnas and homas vie the scorching sun, while hundreds line the temples on spiritual processions as the ruling AIADMK seeks divine intervention to retain power in Tamil Nadu. Hundreds of party functionaries, ministers and even their beloved leader Amma never forget their rituals and appeasement of gods and goddesses to ensure the divine power matches with peoples might, as they seek the second consecutive mandate, unprecedented in recent times. Personal worships apart, functionaries organise Sudharsana Yagam, Chandi Maha Yagam, Maha Rudra Yagam, Saha Chandhi Yagam and various vedic rituals, while women members carry milk pots to temples and men tonsure their heads or pull temple chariots as they ask gods to restore Amma in power. Even Jayalalithaa never forgets the divine touch as flowers and water are being offered to gods when she enters venues of rallies or campaign stopovers. Almost all senior leaders including ministers O Panneerselvam and P Valarmathi are taken to pleasing the gods not only for their personal victories, but the return of Amma to Fort Saint George, Tamil Nadus seat of power. Panneerselvam seemingly never forgets to offer prayers at Lord Ganesha temple before leaving home for campaign duties, while others like B Valarmadhi, Gokula Indira, Sundararaj, P Thangamani, R B Udhaya Kumar and Sellur K Raju organise grand prayers for their partys good fortunes at the hustings. The 'Thiru Vilakku' pooja involving large number of women were also organised at various Amman temples across the state each Friday where women light up thousands of lamps and offer pooja. The rituals also get gruesome as activists pierce their tongue with the lander with prayers of an AIADMK victory. Special archanas were also conducted in prominent temples in the states such as Aarupadai Veedu or the six aboards of Lord Muruga, Arunachaleshwara in Tiruvannamalai, Srirangam Ranganathaswamy and Kanyakumari Bagavathi temples. Prayers have also been held in mosques and all prominent churches in Chennai and other parts of the state. A Constitution bench of the Supreme Court may examine the issue of setting up National Court of Appeal with benches at Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and the northern region to declog the apex court from 80% routine cases. Hearing a PIL by lawyer V Vasanthakumar, a three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur on Wednesday asked Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi to look into the issues formulated by Senior Advocate K K Venugopal as amicus curiae. Among the questions framed by Venugopal is if it would not satisfy the requirement of access to justice to all litigants across the country. Such division of the exclusive jurisdiction between the SC and the National Court of Appeal would enhance the justice delivery system without affecting independence of judicial wing of the state, he contended. Any such proposal would need an amendment to the Constitution and would it lead to violation of the basic structure theory, stated another question framed by the eminent lawyer. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asked farmers to embrace modern technologies to increase farm output and also aim for fulfilling demands for food grains from other countries. Speaking at a function to launch the National Agriculture Market, Modi also asked farmers to diversify to increase their income from farming and allied activities. I recently visited Saudi Arabia and the UAE. They are ready to invest in cold storage and warehousing. A huge opportunity awaits farmers to diversify into food processing, he said. The prime minister asked farmers to take up cultivation of pulses in water scarce regions and not insist on harvesting water guzzling crop. He exhorted farmers to grow more pulses so that the country need not depend on imports to meet its domestic demand. The Saudis clearly told me that they were looking to import food grains from India in the future to meet their domestic needs. A huge market awaits us in the Gulf, Modi said. Earlier, Modi launched the e-trading portal of the e-National Agriculture Market (eNAM) that linked 21 wholesale markets across eight states. Farmers across eight states will now be able to sell 25 farm products online. The government plans to link 585 major wholesale markets across the country by March 2018 as a part of its efforts to help farmers double their income by 2022. To join the eNAM, state governments need to amend their Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act to allow for a single trading license valid across the state, single-point levy of market fee and provision for electronic auction as a mode for price discovery. As many as 12 states have done so and eight of them joined the eNAM on Thursday. The Gujarat government has decided to deploy jawans of State Reserve Police (SRP) along Sardar Sarovar Narmada canals to prevent pilferage of water. The decision comes in wake of severe water scarcity staring the state in wake of depleting water levels across dams in Saurashtra and Kutch regions. Due to two subsequent weak monsoons, dams have not been filled to capacity in various parts of state. In Saurashtra and Kutch, only 10 to 11% water is left in dams, while some of them have gone dry, State Water Supplies Minister Vijay Rupani said. He said that to begin with, it has deployed 147 jawans of SRP along Narmada canals and would initiate more steps to cope with the situation. The jawans of SRP have been deployed to stop theft of water from the canals as they would carry out round-the-clock patrolling. There are districts like Surendranagar and Dahod where water theft is rampant, Rupani said. Beginning from April 15, residents found wasting potable water, washing cars or watering lawns in the morning hours in Le Corbusier designed capital city Chandigarh will be fined Rs 2,000. The drive by the city municipal corporation is aimed at conversing water in summer. The ban would remain in place from 5.30 am to 9 am each day till June 30. The practice of imposing Rs 2,000 fine has been in place since the last four years. At least 16 teams have been set up that will randomly visit sectors in the city, or act on a tip-off by residents, to challan people misusing potable water. Residents have been advised to get all water leakages repaired to avoid penalty. Chandigarh has over one lakh houses and has a high penetration of cars with each house having more than one car. The municipal corporation wants residents to wash cars using a water bucket instead of water pipe in the morning hours. They have also been advised not to use booster pumps on the main water supply line. In 2009, the corporation issued only 16 challans for water wastage. The number rose to 52 the next year. The drive suffered a casualty in 2011 when the corporation issued only two challans in the entire summer. In 2012, it peaked in its drive issuing 1,002 challans. Last year, as many as 248 challans were issued. Before 2009, the civic body issued only notices. Later, a fine of Rs 500 was introduced which was increased to Rs 2,000 in 2012. Violators have the option of paying the fine on the spot or get it added to their water bills. Jawaharlal Nehru University students leader Kanhaiya Kumar was on Thursday attacked with shoes at a function in Nagpur where he launched a scathing attack on the Sangh-parivar. Nagpur is not Sangh-boomi but deeksha-bhoomiNagpur is Ambedkars land not Golvalkars.Sangh headquarters is not Parliament and manu-smriti is not Constitution, Kanhaiya said at a function organised by the Progressive Students Youth Action Committee coinciding with the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. Kanhaiya went to the historic Deekshabhoomi to pay homage to Dr Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Constitution. Several right-wing organisations have threatened to foil Kanhaiyas meeting in Nagpur, that also houses the headquarters of the RSS. As he headed for the meeting after landing at the airport, his car was attacked by right-wing activists, who pelted stones and also shouted slogans. Several members of the Bajrang Dal stormed the event and started shouting Kanhaiya Kumar Murdabad Kanhaiya Traitor, Go Away and condemning the JNUSU president, who in public fora, had been speaking against the Sangh-parivar. As soon as the footwear were hurled on him, Kanhaiya asked, What kind of patriotism is displayed by throwing slippers?. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the village self-governance Gramoday se Bharat Uday campaign on Thursday - Dr Ambedkars 125 birth anniversary from his birthplace at Mhow in Madhya Pradesh. Slamming the Congress, Modi accused it of getting restless over his governments efforts to develop the legacy of Baba Saheb Ambedkar. Detailing his initiatives towards this direction, Modi said that some people are perturbed over why he is doing so. Addressing a rally at Mhow, the Prime Minister said that the Congress did nothing to develop five holy places (Panchteerth) associated with the life of Ambedkar. He said that the Congress should repent for it. Successive governments during 60 years did nothing. We had not stopped them from doing it. When we are doing it, why are they getting disturbed, he said. For us, this is a matter of dedication and conviction. We believe that social unity, social harmony and social justice can be achieved only by following the path shown by Baba Saheb. I feel proud to work at his feet, he said. He said that Ambedkar had the vision of future India. Speaking about Gramoday se Bharat Uday, he described the governments efforts to uplift the poor and downtrodden. In a policy decision that signals a change, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said the Ministry of Defence was considering offloading the repair of warships to private shipyards as a part of the MoUs with Ministry of Shipping. Currently there is no shortage of orders in defence sector and Ministry of Defence (MoD) has its own mechanism to acquire and construct ships. The ministry has already included many private shipbuilders in the production of warships. Due to financial constrains certain private shipyards are unable to deliver these orders in time, Parrikar said at the Maritime India Summit 2016. In order to enhance participation of private sector in warship building, MoD has to partner with Ministry of Shipping, he said. He explained that the aim of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) would be to improve the financial situation of private shipyards. The rich maritime heritage of India was on display at the first-ever Maritime India Summit (MIS) in Mumbai. Right from the days of Lothal, the earliest known dockyard of the world, to the modern technological prowess depicted in form of a scale-down model of the indigenous aircraft carrier, the exhibition housed models of a wide variety of ships of various class and types. Before Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally inaugurated the event at the Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre at Goregaon here, he visited a maritime heritage museum built in the shape of a ship and a maritime exhibition. Modi also interacted with top global CEOs of the port and shipping sector. The heritage museum - which showcases 5,000 years of maritime heritage - has been created by noted Bollywood art director Nitin Desai. Port capacity increases Pitching Indias strategy for the maritime sector before the international community, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the governments vision is to increase port capacity from 1400 million tonnes to 3000 million tonnes by 2025. The government wants to mobilize an investment of Rs one lakh crore so as to increase the port capacity of the nation. Five new ports are planned to meet the increasing demand of the Exim trade which will rise in proportion with the fast-growing Indian economy, he said adding that new ports are also being developed by several coastal states of India. The Centre has set up a high-powered committee to find out how the corruption-ridden Medical Council of India (MCI) can be overhauled to improve the quality and number of doctors in India, as recommended recently by a Parliamentary panel. The committee, which would have to submit its report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in two months, is now collecting information from doctors and health officials, some of whom have also written to Modi, requesting him to act on the clean up. We have helplessly witnessed successive governments inability in handling compromised individuals in the MCI even after being prosecuted and their integrity seriously questioned by no less than the Supreme Court, says the letter signed by five former health secretaries and at least half-a-dozen eminent doctors. The three panel members are P K Mishra, additional secretary to the prime minister, Arvind Panagariya, vice-chairperson of the Niti Aayog and Amitabh Kant, chief executive officer of Niti Aayog. For the first time, the Parliament has taken cognisance of what MCI is doing suo moto. It is an extraordinary development, K Sujatha Rao, former health secretary and one of the signatories, told Deccan Herald. Last month, the regulator came under heavy fire from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health that accused the MCI of being a corrupt and inefficient outfit, which failed to improve the standards of medical education in India. From sliding standards at under-graduate and post-graduate medical education to succumbing to the pressure from pharmaceutical industries, the regulator failed to satisfy lawmakers, who asked the health ministry to stem the rot and reform the council. In their letter, the doctors and former bureaucrats describe MCI as highly corrupt and shameful organisation that brazenly allows private medical institutions to run as business ventures with ghost faculty and fake patients. They gave a number of suggestions to the panel on how the medical education system would function if MCI is suspended by the government. Public health officials, however, are curious to know whether Mishra panel would tackle the powerful lobby of the private medical college owners involving several politicians. While applauding the Parliamentary panel for its report, an editorial in the prestigious British Medical Journal, however, says: The report overlooks the complicity of ruling politicians, many of whom own private medical colleges. A previous exercise by the UPA government to replace the MCI with another regulatory body came to a nought after lawmakers rejected the National Commission for Human Resources on health bill that seeks to create the regulatory body. With a healthy growth in tiger population in the last five years, India is now ready to export them to other nations that are short of the big cats. At the Asian ministerial conference on tiger conservation here, Cambodia explored the possibility and received positive response from the Indias side, though the final decision has not been taken. India is ready to help all non-tiger country. We are in a position to export. But we have not taken any decision on sending tigers to Cambodia, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said here at the conclusion of the conference attended by 13 nations. A new global tiger report highlighted the first ever worldwide growth in tiger population in a century riding high on increased Indian tiger count. Out of 3,890 wild tigers in the world, India houses as many as 2,226, almost 60% of the global population. Released earlier this week, the report notes no tiger is left in the wild in Cambodia. The claim, however, has been challenged by a Cambodian official who attended the conference. We have about 20 tigers in the jungle, but we are looking forwards to India to receive its tigers to increase the population in two Cambodian landscapes, Ty Sokhun, secretary of state at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Phnom Penh told Deccan Herald. Sokhun said talks on tiger export from India have begun with the objective of improving the big cat count in two Cambodian landscapes of the eastern highlands and western mountains. An increase in tiger numbers would also aid in tourism. Since most of the wild tigers in Cambodia lost their breeding potential, their numbers can increase only with external help. Some of the Indian reserved forests like Corbett National Park is densely populated with tigers while the Mudumalai-Bandipur-Nagarhole-Wayanad complex holds the world's largest tiger population, currently estimated at over 570 tigers. To ensure better protection for the striped cats, the environment ministry now plans to notify important tiger corridors for implementing better conservation measures. Initially three corridors in central India (Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh); South India (Karnataka-Tamil Nadu-Kerala) and north (Uttarakhand-Uttar Pradesh) may be notified with state support. The ministry also plans to rope in business houses in tiger conservation as they can spend a part of their corporate social responsibility fund for tiger protection. The budget for Project Tiger has also been doubled from Rs 185 crore to Rs 380 crore in 2016-17. On Wednesday, the Cabinet approved India's membership of the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network to control trans-boundary wildlife crime involving tigers, elephants and rhinoceros. Karnataka BJP president B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday predicted that the countdown for the fall of Siddaramaiah as the chief minister had begun. Speaking at a well-attended public meeting at the Palace Grounds in Bengaluru after taking charge as the state BJP chief, Yeddyurappa and his senior colleagues remained focused: attack the Siddaramaiah government and devote as much time as possible to discuss the scams involving the chief minister. Yeddyurappa said Siddaramaiah would find himself in such a situation that it would be impossible for him to continue in office. He said severals scams involving Siddaramaiah and his government would tumble out in a months time. However, he did not mention the nature of the scams. Yeddyurappa said Siddaramaiah allowing his son Dr Yathindra to set up a hi-tech laboratory on the premises of Victoria Hospital in violation of rules was just the tip of the iceberg. Show of unity It was a show of unity at the public meeting with the BJP leaders, including Ananth Kumar, Jagadish Shettar, R Ashoka and K S Eshwarappa saying that Yeddyurappa would be the partys chief ministerial candidate for the 2018 Assembly election. This is Yeddyurappas fourth innings as the party president. Thousands of supporters attended the meeting and a large number of them could not enter the auditorium as it was jam-packed. Yeddyurappa said a lot of ground had to be covered to achieve the set target of winning 150 seats in the 2018 polls and make Karnataka a Congress-free state. Today, we have only 47 MLAs. In nine districts, we have no representatives. In 13 districts, we have only one legislator each. My target is to concentrate where we are weak. We cannot afford to be lazy as we have only two years left, he said. Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar said the party would tirelessly work for the next 700 days to ensure the BJP gets a record majority. Today we have a divided Congress and a united BJP under Yeddyurappa, Ananth Kumar said, expressing confidence that it was a matter of time before the party came back to power. He said the immediate task before the new state leadership would be to pressure the government in ensuring relief work is taken up in the 136 drought-hit taluks in the state. We have to be with the people 24/7 and make our presence felt in all the 224 Assembly constituencies, he said. Former deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa said the BJP would bring in a stringent anti-cow slaughter legislation if it came to power. The Home Department is all set to expand the Student Police Cadet Project (SPCP) to the entire state. SPCP is a youth development initiative by the state government. The project aims to develop a student community that is physically and emotionally healthy. The government is impressed with the success of the first phase of SPCP and hence a decision has been taken to expand to the SPCP all over the state, SPCP state nodal officer and additional commissioner of police (East), Bengaluru, P Harishekharan told Deccan Herald. The government is likely to issue an order in this regard very soon. The Home department launched the SPCP in December 2014 in association with the departments of Education, Transport, Forests and Excise and local bodies. The Chief Minister officially launched it in March 2015 and Rs 1.60 crore has been earmarked for three-year-pilot project. The Home department covered 25 government/government-aided high schools in Bengaluru, five each in Kodagu, Shivamogga and Mysuru districts in the first phase. Karnataka is next only to Kerala, Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan in the country to start the SPCP. At present, Karnataka is ranked number two after Kerala. We will surely become the number one state soon, Harishekharan added. The Home department is planning to select one school from each taluk and three schools from district headquarters in the second phase, he added. Any high school with a strength of over 500 students and having an independent ground spread over two acres of land will be eligible for the selection. We plan to have two platoons, each comprising 22 students, from each of these schools, he said. The committee comprising a local police inspector, community police officer, assistant cadet police officer, drill instructor and assistant drill instructor will select the schools and students. A government medical officer will test the students physical abilities and issue a fitness certificate. The selected students will have to submit the acceptance letter, said the police and added that there will be separate platoons of boys and girls. The training will be held for about two hours every Saturday after school hours. Students are expected to participate in indoor and outdoor activities and will be taken to police stations, local bodies, traffic management centres, courts, Vidhana Soudha and fire stations as part of field visits. The students will be given shoes and uniforms, Harishekharan added. The additional SP will be the district nodal officer, while the SP will supervise the SPCPs implementation. Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah, son of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on Thursday categorically said he would not resign as a director of Matrix Imaging Solutions in the wake of charges of nepotism against his father. The code of conduct to be followed by the ministers applies to their minor children, family members who are dependent on them and wife/husband. Though I am living with my father (Siddaramaiah), I am not dependent on him. I am a doctor by profession. Hence, the code of conduct does not apply to me, he told Deccan Herald. The contract to establish a superspecialty laboratory at Victoria Hospital was awarded after a transparent tendering process. It has been politicised unnecessarily. It would send a wrong message if I resign. I dont like to politicise it, he said. He said his company had no intention to make a profit. The company will conduct medical examinations at 20% less than what Victoria Hospital charges. The aim is to help poor patients, he said. When contacted, Medical Education Minister, Dr Sharan Prakash Patil, said the question of cancelling the contract awarded to Yathindras company did not arise. We will be going ahead with the inauguration, but the date has not been fixed. The contract has been awarded through a transparent bidding process, he said. DH News Service An embarrassed Congress high command has summoned its party chief in Karnataka G Parameshwara to seek details about the latest controversy surrounding Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs son, whose firm was given a contract to run a lab in a government hospital. Parameshwara, who will arrive in Delhi on Friday, is expected to meet the party top brass and explain the situation. It is also learnt that the party has sought details from Karnataka in-charge General Secretary Digvijay Singh about the row. Incidentally, Singh was in Bengaluru on Wednesday when the controversy broke out. The latest controversy over alleged nepotism came at a time when a large number of MLAs have been demanding a reshuffle of the Cabinet while another section of leaders was pitching for leadership change. The MLAs had earlier complained to the high command that the state government was busy addressing its own controversies, instead of tackling the unprecedented drought, which the state is facing now. The party top brass is worried about the frequent controversies surrounding the chief minister and about the state leadership being forced on the backfoot to defend him. Earlier, the party had expressed serious concern over the row involving an expensive watch worn by Siddaramaiah and the setting up of the Anti-Corruption Bureau. Party senior leader and former chief minister S M Krishna recently met party national president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi and complained against Siddaramaiah. Even senior party leader Mallikarjuna Kharge had urged Siddaramaiah to drop the proposal of setting up the Anti-Corruption Bureau in the state. After Ugadi, the BBMP is now focusing on ensuring that garbage generated during Fridays Ramanavami festival is disposed of properly. The higher officials in the Palike have directed zonal joint commissioners to ensure that temples use donne (leaf cups) to serve prasadam, instead of plastic bowls. BBMP joint commissioner (solid waste management and health) Sarfaraz Khan said, About 1,200 metric tonnes of wet waste is generated every day and during festivals, there is a 30% increase. This Ugadi, we had dug up compost pits to dump the festival waste and the initiative was successful. During Ramanavami, we are continuing with our zero-waste movement and have written to temple managements to co-operate with us. He said that the staff in most of the temples had agreed to give up the use of plastic cups. Pits were dug in most of the wards prior to Ugadi. The same method will be used for dumping festival waste on Friday and it will be turned into manure later, Khan said. To ensure that temple managements follow the directions, Palike has turned to Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and citizen activists, called the Bangalore eco group by the civic agency. Shashikala P, member of Shantinagar Resident Welfare Association (SRWA), one of the eco-volunteers from East zone, said that the volunteers along with ward health inspectors had been urging the temple authorities in the last few days not to use plastic items. We have 20 to 25 volunteers in our zone and most of the temples have been covered, she said. A staff member from Sri Rama Sannidhi temple in Shivajinagar said that they will be using banana leaves to distribute prasadam to people this year. Adamya Chetana Foundation - which had rolled out a first-of-its-kind plate bank scheme three years ago - will rent out its steel cutlery items for Ramanavami programmes scheduled on the premises of the Byatarayanapura government school premises and at Hanumanthanagar. We will supply hundreds of tumblers, spoons along with other cutlery for the two programmes. More than 3,000 people are expected to take part and the objective is to minimise plastic waste, said Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, chairperson of the foundation. The metro station opposite the Vidhana Soudha will be named after Ambedkar, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced on Thursday. Addressing the gathering during the celebrations of B R Ambedkars 125th birth anniversary in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah also said a proposal would be sent to the Centre to rename the Yeshwantpur railway station after the architect of the Indian Constitution. He said an educational institution Ambedkar London School of Economics would be also set up in Bengaluru. Announcing multiple schemes for the welfare of Dalits, the chief minister said it would appropriate to name the metro station near the secretariat after the Dalit icon, as the stretch was called Ambedkar Veedhi.Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, too, had earlier mooted this proposal. While a study chair in the name of former minister B Basavalingappa would be established in Bangalore University; Ambedkars debates in the Constitutional Assembly would be translated this year. Announcing that Ambedkars 125th birth anniversary would be celebrated as Ambedkar Year, he said a decision would be taken on according reservation to the SC/STs in government contract works. The SC/ST communities will be also extended loans from the Karnataka State Finance Corporation and other banks, at four per cent rate of interest, up to Rs 10 crore. The government conferred the B R Ambedkar Award 2016 on former Central Public Works Department engineer S Chinnaswamy Mamballi. Colorado is prodding the Environmental Protection Agency to pick up the pace and make good on promised cleanup at the Gold King and other inactive mines contaminating Animas River headwaters in southwestern Colorado. Gov. John Hickenlooper, Sens. Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner and Rep. Scott Tipton this week asked EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy for extra support emphasizing the EPA role triggering the Aug. 5 Gold King disaster. EPA officials on Wednesday made no commitment. Colorado leaders are demanding that the EPA ensure sufficient funding for cleanup as promised, that Silverton and nearby communities get a seat at the table as promised, and robust interim cleanup of creek water as promised. We urge you to prioritize funding for this project as soon as possible to restore the health of the Animas River watershed, protect public health, and maintain the local recreation and tourism economy, Hickenlooper and the lawmakers said in a letter to McCarthy. While EPA officials have proposed a priority listing of mine sites around Silverton and say theyll treat the Gold King cleanup like any other site, the Colorado leaders insisted that the EPA must recognize its role in the most recent spill and its subsequent obligation to this community. They contend a temporary treatment plant on Cement Creek may not operate beyond this fall and that this facility has the ability to treat more of the acid mine drainage in the watershed. They asked EPA officials to expand the scope of those water-cleaning operations, to be continued until overall cleanup is done, and to speed up reimbursement of costs that towns, counties, tribes and businesses incurred due to the 3 million-gallon deluge caused by botched EPA efforts to drain the Gold King Mine. We also have heard significant concerns from local communities that the current water quality monitoring on the Animas River is not sufficient, the letter said. It is likely that spring runoff will remobilize the sediments and metals deposited during the spill. The EPA must provide adequate funding. The funds pledged to date by EPA for these needs are insufficient. EPA officials on Wednesday said they appreciate Hickenlooper and the Colorado congressional delegations interest in their process for designating National Priority List sites. We look forward to working with the states, tribes, local governments and other interested parties as the process moves forward, agency spokewswoman Christie St. Clair said. The agency is forming a community advisory group, which will play a key role to help inform the agency during the NLP proposal process and any future next steps. Hickenlooper and the lawmakers are united in supporting the local communities and wanted to make it clear that this is a priority for our state, gubernatorial spokeswoman Kathy Green said. The letter also makes clear that the we will hold the EPA accountable to make sure they do it right, provide adequate funding and reimburse the communities. The proposal of Bonita Peak Mining District to the national register is just the beginning and we are committed to working with the EPA throughout the process. Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700, bfinley@denverpost.com or @finleybruce Members of Colorados congressional delegation slammed U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald this week for touting his agencys reform accomplishments during a Denver speech. The VA has overhauled its construction practices, shortened patient-care waiting lists, become more efficient at meeting veterans needs and made other improvements, McDonald said during a speech Monday. His comments about how the agency has responded in the wake of its Aurora hospital construction debacle, struck a particular nerve with some in the Colorado delegation. I was deeply disappointed in McDonalds speech and it says everything about why he has not made a difference in cleaning up the VA, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, wrote in an e-mail to The Denver Post on Monday. Pure spin. No substance. He is merely a place holder. McDonald spoke before about 400 people Coffman and several other politicians among them at a United Veterans Committee of Colorado banquet on April 10. The VA did not respond to several efforts seeking reaction from McDonald to the lawmakers comments. On Sunday, McDonald spoke of issues that have marred his time since taking charge in July 2014, including the $1.6 billion construction project at the VA medical center in Aurora which is $1 billion over budget and years behind schedule. An internal investigation found rampant mismanagement, but the VA has said no one currently with the agency will be disciplined. You cant fire your way to excellence, McDonald said after describing how those responsible had already left the agency or were demoted. Coffman said McDonald has refused to acknowledge the depth of the problems at the VA. Other federal elected officials at the banquet struck a similar note. The VAs conclusion that no further personnel action was necessary to hold individuals accountable is an abdication of its responsibility, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said in an e-mail to The Post. Particularly troublesome to the Colorado delegation was McDonalds characterization of the agency working in tandem with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in finishing the long-overdue VA center. Since we discovered errors in construction, weve made major reforms, McDonald said. We changed how we design, bid and construct facilities. And were shoulder-to-shoulder with the Army Corps of Engineers. Coffman said McDonald has it wrong. The reality is that the VA has been kicked off the project and permanently stripped of their ability to manage any construction projects in excess of $100 million which puts them out of the hospital building business altogether, Coffman said. Bennet agreed: We stripped the VA of construction authority because the VA should devote its resources and personnel to improving the delivery of care to veterans and because it demonstrated incompetence building several medical facilities. U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Arvada, also at the event, said the Army Corps was now in charge of the project. The VA Medical Facility has been woefully mismanaged from the start, which is why we passed legislation to strip the VA of its construction authority, he said in an e-mail to The Post. Another at the event, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, said he appreciates McDonalds zeal, but noted little substance in VAs handling of own construction mismanagement. I remain concerned about the continued lack of accountability at the VA, Gardner wrote in an e-mail. I look forward to learning the results of the VA Office of Inspector Generals review and I expect decisive action against anyone who is found responsible. McDonald confirmed a criminal investigation was ongoing into the projects mismanagement, but reiterated that those responsible are already gone. The evidence simply does not support actions against any individual still employed by VA, McDonald told the UVC gathering. We dont administer punishment based on opinions, recycled and embellished media accounts, or external pressure. Coffman, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, also fumed when McDonald described a waiting-list scandal that erupted in the VAs Veterans Health Administration in Phoenix in 2014 and spread nationwide as having stemmed from a lack of training. I cant believe he said that, Coffman wrote. It had nothing to do with a lack of training but was fundamental to a culture of corruption. VA employees manipulated their appointment wait records to show that they were meeting specific goals in order to receive cash bonuses. David Migoya: 303-954-1506, dmigoya@denverpost.com or @davidmigoya A pitched partisan battle in Colorado about the federal Clean Power Plan that enveloped the $25.8 billion state budget bill ended Wednesday with a face-saving compromise. Democratic and Republican budget writers agreed to cut $112,000 from the states air quality division, a move far less drastic than the original spending bill, which eliminated $8.5 million and jeopardized the equivalent of 95 employees in the division. The final reduction is an estimate of the expenses associated with the Department of Public Health and Environments work on the tougher emissions regulations proposed by the Obama administration. The U.S. Supreme Court blocked the plan this year, but Gov. John Hickenlooper pledged to push forward on the new standards, triggering an effort by Republican lawmakers to cut off funding. The Democratic-controlled House restored money for the division left out of the initial budget bill, but the Republican-led Senate cut about $340,000 forcing the chambers to reach a compromise. Rep. Bob Rankin, a Republican budget writer from Carbondale, acknowledged the earlier cuts went too far. But he called the compromise a small victory. I think we fired a shot across the bow, and we are going to be watching very carefully, said Rankin, who represents three coal mines on the Western Slope. Democratic budget writers called it a fair compromise, al though how it will impact the division remains unclear. But Colorado environmentalists remained disheartened. Our air quality should not be held hostage for a game of chicken over climate change, said Conservation Colorados Pete Maysmith. The final budget which takes effect July 1 is essentially the version that won approval in the House with the addition of $100,00 for a suicide prevention program and $490,000 more for tax fraud investigators. A provision added by the Senate related to the sale of fetal tissue from unborn children did not make the final bill. The House and Senate are expected to approve the compromise version this week and send it to the governors desk. John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or @ByJohnFrank Specification defines policy for product OEMs to mitigate risks from non-compliant devices Shenzhen, China and Beaverton, OR, USA April 13, 2016 The USB 3.0 Promoter Group today announced the USB Type-C Authentication specification, defining cryptographic-based authentication for USB Type-C chargers and devices. Using this protocol, host systems can confirm the authenticity of a USB device or USB charger, including such product aspects as the descriptors/capabilities and certification status. All of this happens right at the moment a wired connection is made before inappropriate power or data can be transferred. USB Type-C Authentication empowers host systems to protect against non-compliant USB Chargers and to mitigate risks from maliciously embedded hardware or software in USB devices attempting to exploit a USB connection. For a traveler concerned about charging their phone at a public terminal, their phone can implement a policy only allowing charge from certified USB chargers. A company, tasked with protecting corporate assets, can set a policy in its PCs granting access only to verified USB storage devices. USB is well-established as the favored choice for connecting and charging devices, said Brad Saunders, USB 3.0 Promoter Group Chairman. In support of the growing USB Type-C ecosystem, we anticipated the need for a solution extending the integrity of the USB interface. The new USB Type-C Authentication protocol equips product OEMs with the proper tools to defend against bad USB cables, devices and non-compliant USB Chargers. USB-IF is unwavering in our mission to solidify USB Type-C as the single cable of the future, said Jeff Ravencraft, USB-IF President and COO. USB Type-C Authentication is an important contribution to enable a thriving ecosystem of compliant, interoperable products. Key characteristics of the USB Type-C Authentication solution include: A standard protocol for authenticating certified USB Type-C Chargers, devices, cables and power sources Support for authenticating over either USB data bus or USB Power Delivery communications channels Products that use the authentication protocol retain control over the security policies to be implemented and enforced Relies on 128-bit security for all cryptographic methods Specification references existing internationally-accepted cryptographic methods for certificate format, digital signing, hash and random number generation "With its long experience and success in embedded-device security, STMicroelectronics, a USB-IF Board member and Promoter, knows how important authentication, validation, and protection is to the success and fast adoption of USB Type-C," said Joel Huloux, Director Standards & Industry Alliances at STMicroelectronics. "Consumers and the entire industry can rest-assured knowing strong authentication for USB Type-C is the key security pillar of this specification. Developer Update To further enable USB Type-C Authentication and the USB Type-C ecosystem, the USB 3.0 Promoter Group also released one revision and one new specification. The following updates are developer-only; the recommended consumer and end-user terminology for USB Power Delivery (USB PD) is unchanged. USB Power Delivery 3.0, the new revision of the USB Power Delivery specification, adds incremental features to the existing USB Power Delivery 2.0 specification. These features include enabling authentication message exchange over the USB PD communications channel for standard USB Type-C to USB Type-C cables. The new USB Type-C Bridging specification provides the necessary method for bridging messages to and from a USB PD link over the USB data bus. USB Type-C Bridging enables a USB host to communicate with the USB PD interface of a downstream port in a connected USB hub, among other capabilities. About the USB 3.0 Promoter Group The USB 3.0 Promoter Group, comprised of Hewlett-Packard Company, Intel Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Renesas Electronics, STMicroelectronics, and Texas Instruments, developed the USB 3.0 Specification that was released in November 2008. In addition to maintaining and enhancing this specification, the USB 3.0 Promoter Group develops specification addendums (USB Power Delivery, USB Type-C, and others) to extend or adapt its specifications to support more platform types or use cases where adopting USB 3.0 technology will be beneficial in delivering a more ubiquitous, richer user experience. About the USB-IF The non-profit USB Implementers Forum, Inc. was formed to provide a support organization and forum for the advancement and adoption of USB technology as defined in the USB specifications. The USB-IF facilitates the development of high-quality compatible USB devices through its logo and compliance program, and promotes the benefits of USB and the quality of products that have passed compliance testing. Further information, including postings of the most recent product and technology announcements, is available by visiting the USB-IF website at www.usb.org. Amy Jackson To Join Sets Of Rajinikanths 2.0 Again In May Will European Customers Trust You With Their Data? There has been much talk the past six months or so around the striking down of the existing Safe Harbor transatlantic data-transfer agreement. And while an agreement was ultimately reachedknown as the EU-U.S. Privacy Shieldthere are still hurdles to overcome before everything is finalized. There may also be confusion around how this new agreement relates to other shifts in customer data privacy and security recently announced across the pond. What are these shifts? The rules and regulations regarding how merchants and retailers capture, store, share, and process customer (and staff) data are changing in Europe. These will apply to all European Union (EU) member states without a need for local legislation. At the start of this year the European Commission unveiled a draft of its European Data Protection Regulation, which is anticipated to take the place of its previous Data Protection Directive. The purpose of the change is to align and update data protection across the EU. One continent, one law. This impacts not only those businesses within the EU, but also businesses that target goods or services at EU consumers, too. The Regulation is anticipated to be implemented and enforceable by 2018. At that point, all businesses will have to be ready for key changes to how personal data is collected, stored, and processed; there will also be changes to how data breaches are reported. The consequences of non-compliance will increase greatly as well. The current draft outlines that fines could be as significant as 4 percent of global annual turnover. This alone is enough of an incentive for merchants and retailers to sit up and pay attention. Perhaps you are thinking this doesn't apply to retailers and service providers in the U.S., particularly with the new framework. However, I'd be cautious with that assumption. As stated, businesses that target goods or services at EU consumers will be expected to comply. One thing is certainthe rules and regulations around all of this are a bit unclear at the present time, to say the least. Regardless of how this all shakes out, there is a high level of mistrust among European consumers when it comes to U.S. businesses protecting their data. My take on the situation: Whatever the ultimate outcome of these new and forthcoming data security requirements, they actually offer a great opportunity for U.S. merchants. By complying with European standards, you are demonstrating to European prospects and customers that you are a trustworthy business and that you will protect their data. It may all seem overwhelming, but if you work with service providers with data centers in your target European markets, they will have the local knowledge and resources required to help your company be compliant. The investment is fairly small, at least from a customer payments point of view, and in fact is likely less costly than transferring customer data back to the U.S. Your brand name can be easily ruined in Europe if there is a data breach in the market. It is very hard to regain trustespecially where there is already a strong lack of trust among European consumers who are sensitive to the protection of their personal data given the revelations from the Edward Snowden leak about big providers that let the U.S. government tap into their data. It can take a long time to earn a positive reputationand very little to quickly lose it. There are many Europeans who feel that even with the new EU-U.S. framework, promises are bound to be broken. If a breach should happen, the public outcry in Europe will be substantial. Those merchants that comply with EU law will have a significant advantage. If you are a retailer seeking to extend your global reach and/or retain your position in Europe, I recommend you take these new rules seriously and move toward adoption now. The regulations present a good opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to European consumers and to protecting their privacy. If you don't, your competitors may beat you to the punch, and you could risk losing market share moving forward as a result. Andre Malinowski is head of international business at Computop. He is responsible for driving and growing Computop's international business in the U.S., U.K., and China. His area of expertise lies in payment services, in particular international credit cards, local debit cards, and alternative payment methods available around the globe. In October 2015 he joined Computop from ModusLink, where he was the global director for ModusLink's financial management solution. Contrary to previous reports, the Israeli firm Cellebrite was not the third party that assisted the FBI in unlocking an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernadino shooters, it has been confirmed. The US government has noted that the unidentified company is not American, and also noted that it is highly unlikely that the company in question will reveal its identity as it holds exclusive rights over the unlocking technique used to access the iPhone 5C. It is believed that the technique only works on this model of iPhone, running a specific version of iOS. In February, the FBI won a court order that would oblige Apple to help with cracking the security on the iPhone. However, the tech firm refused to create software that would allow the FBI to bypass standard security features, arguing that any back door could be exploited by hackers. Apple received the backing of many major tech companies, but the FBI ultimately dropped the case as it had found a third party willing to help it hack the phones security. It is unlikely that even the FBI fully understands how the security bypass was achieved, making it unlikely that either the government or the FBI will share the technique with Apple to allow them to create a patch for it. While the White House has a protocol in place wherein it will reveal any security vulnerabilities that it discovers to tech firms providing the benefits outweigh the risks, in this situation it is not applicable as the technique is essentially owned by the private third party reportedly professional hackers who were paid a one-off fee to gain access to the device. Warid Telecom is leveraging Syniverses IPX Network Solution and Diameter Signalling Services to enable its subscribers to access LTE services around the globe. Under the agreement, Warid Telecom will also provide LTE service to visiting inbound roamers throughout Pakistan. LTE roaming has emerged as a critical mobile service in Pakistan and the rest of the world as the number of subscribers has steadily been increasing. Pakistan had over 26.1 million 3G and LTE subscribers as of February, up from just 24.7 million in January, according to the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority. Moreover, the number of LTE connections worldwide is expected to reach nearly 3 billion by 2020, according to the GSMA. "LTE service has quickly moved from a next-generation technology to a mobile-service standard, and our customers are coming to expect LTE speed and capacity anywhere they go, said Asma Khan, Director International Business, Warid Telecom. Syniverse will help us take an important step forward in implementing LTE on a global basis and in ensuring we meet customers expectations for smooth, consistent LTE service wherever they travel. Syniverses IPX Network Solution and Diameter Signalling Service interconnect the worlds networks to make LTE possible anywhere and at any time. A crucial part of LTE involves the deployment of an IPX network, the network backbone that makes LTE and LTE roaming possible, and Diameter, the industry-standard signalling protocol for proper routing and delivery of messages. Syniverse provides operators with a comprehensive solution for global LTE enablement with a carrier-grade connection to the companys all-IP network, which currently serves more than 2,300 LTE roaming routes with connections that reach more than 320 operators in 66 countries. With GSMA projecting that LTE connections will exceed 2.5 billion and reach over 60% of the world by 2020, mobile service providers cant afford any mistakes in rolling out LTE, said Mahesh Prasad, Executive Vice President of Sales for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India, Syniverse. Well help ensure that Warid Telecom launches LTE roaming service as quickly and flawlessly as possible to provide the highest level of LTE service to customers. LG made a big deal out of its K-day launch in India today. The two phones, LG K7 and K10, however, make little sense in an uber-competitive smartphone market. LGs main goal today was to establish the fact that it has joined the Make In India bandwagon, but theres a troubling question here. Why do Make In India phones need to be cheap? The company has said on multiple occasions that its serious about India, but the K7 and K10 just do not belong in this market. Who puts an FWVGA (480x854-pixel) display on a phone that costs Rs. 9,500, today? Sure, LG has a wider distribution network than Chinese brands, but does that mean people in remote areas of the country should be buying sub-standard devices? Even the demo devices at launch were laggy, and felt cheap. The displays are really fingerprint-intensive, especially on the 5.3-inch HD display of the LG K10, which costs Rs. 13,999. The message here seems to be that making in India is so expensive that LG cannot afford competitive specs. The textured plastic back on the LG K7 looks cheap. For the most part, making phones in India is quite expensive, which is why phones are assembled here, and not actually manufactured. That said, a company serious about this market would at least try to compete better. Even Samsung has increased the number of affordable smartphones it sells in India, and the market leader does compromise on specs often, but not as much as LG. Also, Samsung has focused more on design on its cheapest phones, at least making them look and feel decent. The 2.5D Arc display makes no difference on the LG K7 and K10, neither do the low-end textured plastic backs on these devices. Sure, LG will cater to a market that Xiaomi hasnt been able to reach, but isnt this taking advantage of the buyer? LG K10 looks and feels better, but still doesn't compare to its competition. Micromax has spent the past month or so revamping its brand, and came up with the Canvas 6 and Canvas 6 Pro smartphones yesterday. They dont match up to the Chinese competition, but given the fact that theyll sell both online and offline, Micromax has a much better shot at capitalising on the Indian market than LG. The Canvas 6, frankly, is a stunning smartphone for its price bracket. It costs about Rs. 2,000 more than a Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, but looks much more premium than any of our favourite budget performers right now. The LG K7 and K10, on the other hand, look like they belong to a different generation of smartphones. Its disappointing that a company thats capable of producing a phone as innovative as the LG G5, or as functional as the Nexus 5X, refuses to acknowledge the competition in the market. Shares in PZ Cussons were in the red on Thursday as Numis reiterated its reduce rating after the company warned of difficult conditions in its main market of Nigeria. In an update for 27 January to 13 April, Cussons said overall trading has been in line with expectations and the company is on track for the full year but cautioned on trading in Nigeria. The Imperial Leather soap maker said the performance in Europe and Asia offset more difficult trading conditions in Africa. More specifically, in Nigeria, whilst the official naira exchange rate continues to be stable, a lack of availability at that rate is resulting in the majority of dollars being purchased at a premium of 50-70%. The resultant cost impact is being managed through changes to relative pricing in an environment where trading conditions remain challenging and consumer disposable income is under pressure, the company said. Trading in Nigeria has been slightly worse than was expected in January and the repercussions of a lack of liquidity here will run on too into next full year, according to Numis. We made very cautious estimates at the first half stage but have lowered pre-tax profit projections slightly more. Numis cut this full years pre-tax profit estimate from 101m to 100m and have lowered the following full year results by 1m. The broker left the target price unchanged at 262p. Societe Generale downgraded Tesco to sell from hold and cut the price target to 150p from 180p following the companys full year results. It said managements cautious guidance for 2016-17 showed additional heavy investments are required in the UK. Despite the improved top-line momentum, the margin recovery will likely take time and last longer than the three years it took French peer Carrefour, SocGen said. The French bank also highlighted growing concerns over the entry of Amazon into fresh online. Tesco is the leading online UK player and is the most at risk. SocGen said it was more cautious on the medium-term UK margin recovery and pointed to a still stretched balance sheet. Assuming no dividend and capex of around 1.3bn (which means no expansion), we see the company reducing net debt by just 600-700m per annum over the coming three years. In addition, the bank said there was scope for a de-rating and recommended switching into buy-rated into Carrefour. Speciality chemicals group Johnson Matthey got a boost on Thursday as Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to outperform from neutral and lifted the price target to 3,100p from 2,850p. It said the market underestimates the strength of JMAT portfolios and undervalues the structural growth opportunity in automotive catalysis and battery materials. In the same note, the bank added outperform-rated Umicore to its European Focus List and highlighted its preference for the Belgium-based company. It said Umicore has greater potential valuation upside, a better diversified portfolio and lower-risk growth options in battery materials. Credit Suisse said JMAT has a leading position in catalysis but requires significant investment in battery materials to hedge the portfolio further. CS noted JMAT has acquired a position in lithium ferrous phosphate cathodes and a power tools battery business, although it aims to pursue acquisitions into mainstream nickel manganese cobal technology. We believe Umicore has the more favourable market position in mainstream technology and has expertise in scaling NMC cathode material production. JMAT is a credible entrant, although we think it should move quickly to carve out a sustainable market share. Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. No power, no hot water, bedbugs at apartment towers near Downtown Residents at the Latitude Five25 apartment towers on the Near East Side said they've had no hot water, no power at times. The city is going to court. Seattle U to start 10-story dorm/office project in 17 Office space on the first two floors will be occupied by the Enrollment Services Department, with a 285-bed residence hall for juniors and seniors above. Courtesy Ankrom Moisan Architects [enlarge] Ankrom Moisan Architects is designing the project. Seattle University is preparing to start construction next spring on a 10-story dorm and office building that would open in fall of 2018 at 1107 E. Madison St. on Capitol Hill. Office space on the first two floors will be occupied by the university's Enrollment Services Department. Above that will be a 285-bed residence hall for juniors and seniors, said university spokesman Dean Forbes. There will also be nine parking spaces. Ankrom Moisan Architects is designing the project, which according to a document filed with the city will seek at least LEED gold certification. Forbes said the university has a pre-development agreement with Capstone Development Partners of Birmingham, Alabama, to finance, construct and own the building. Capstone would have a ground lease from the university for the site, which is now a parking lot. The Jesuit Catholic university has 7,400 students. Forbes said it had a record-setting 1,000 new freshmen students for the 2015-2016 academic year, and expects another large freshman class in the upcoming academic year. Forbes said that attests to the university's success at attracting students. But the students need housing if they are going to stay and rents have been rising near the campus. If students can't live in Seattle or live on campus, they may decide to move on, he said. As it becomes more expensive, where are students going to live? The university requires freshmen and sophomores to live on campus. Officials hope the new dorm will free up some on-campus housing occupied by juniors and seniors for lower classmen, said Forbes. The Enrollment Services Department is now in the University Services Building on 12th Avenue at East Marion Street. Forbes said that building will be demolished to make way for the Center for Science and Innovation. No construction date has been set. The development site for the 10-story dorm/office building is next to a building the university leases to a storage company, Forbes said. News of the development first appeared in the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. So who uses offshore accounts and why? The accounts are used by the ultra-wealthy, but regular people also use them for business, family and sometimes distasteful reasons. By SARAH SKIDMORE SELL AP Business Writer Offshore accounts conjure images of bad behavior by the rich and shady, and for good reason: they have been used to dodge taxes, fund organized crime and facilitate corruption. But many people use offshore accounts for more than just hiding bribes and laundering money. Really. And offshore accounts can be financial tools for more than just the ultra-wealthy, too. Regular people use them to simplify transactions with relatives overseas, or to keep money in places where they travel often or for more distasteful reasons, like to hide money from a soon-to-be ex-spouse. These accounts and trusts, and the shell companies sometimes set up to control them, have come under scrutiny this week after a massive leak of confidential documents from a Panamanian law firm has shown how some of the world's richest people hide assets to avoid paying taxes. It is impossible to say how many accounts are for legitimate purposes rather than illicit ones, according to Mark Matthews, an attorney and former IRS deputy commissioner. My sense is there is a vast majority of people who have legal reasons, he said. An offshore account is simply a financial account or trust held somewhere outside of that person's home country. Americans can hold them overseas and many foreigners hold them in the U.S. They can be set up by companies or individuals. Regulators, particularly the U.S., have cracked down on them in recent years. An exact measure of how many offshore accounts exist and who they are held by is tricky because of their nature: many are specifically designed to offer account holders anonymity. Here are a few common reasons an individual who isn't among the world's superrich might hold an offshore account: FAMILY Immigrants often maintain accounts in their home country to make things simpler to manage when back home or to help care for relatives who stay behind. Financial ties can last for generations through inheritances. It's not the mega-rich, you see other people who were otherwise middle class, Matthews said. There can be confusing or tricky situations, of course. Matthews said these can come up if a family business is maintained in a home country or if there are family secrets. Matthews tells of a case where a woman never told her husband of an account established years before by her father because he didn't want her to marry that American. I wish I could sell the movie rights, the stories of these families are amazing, Matthews said. The U.S. has made several efforts to force and encourage citizens to reveal their offshore holdings, including a voluntary disclosure program that started in 2009 that has brought more than 54,000 disclosures and $8 billion in taxes. CONVENIENCE There are an estimated 8 million Americans living abroad. That means there are that many people who might want easy access to local banks to deposit their paycheck, pay bills or get cash. There seems to be the presumption that if you have an account in a foreign country you are trying to hide money from the government, said Jane Bruno, whose Florida-based tax consulting and preparation business specializes in helping Americans living overseas. The easy access abroad can create some thorny problems at home, though. Bruno said efforts to crack down on wrongdoers holding offshore accounts have made it daunting for people living overseas who try to follow the law. Unlike most other countries, the U.S. taxes its citizens on all income, regardless of where it is earned or where they live. That can make for some anxiety-producing tax paperwork. There is a lot of angst around the whole thing and there is a lot of fear about what the IRS can do, Bruno said. ASSET PROTECTION Some people move assets offshore to protect them from a future lawsuit, divorce or other attack by a third party. Barry Engel, an attorney specializing in asset protection, said some people feel they are a target because of their wealth or their profession, or maybe they have seen a friend ensnared in costly disputes or other problems. In many cases, assets in an offshore trust cannot be touched in a legal dispute. And as long as the money is reported to the IRS, the whole arrangement can be above board. People outside the U.S. may also put money in offshore accounts if they feel the political or financial climate in their own country isn't stable. And while the U.S. is outspoken about its fight against offshore abuses, it has become a popular place for many global companies and wealthy to park their money thanks to laws in some states that make it easy and cheap to establish businesses and accounts, and do so anonymously. BUSINESS Small business owners, especially Internet-based ones, can have customers all around the world, and they may have little or no operations in the country where the owners live. These businesses often find it much simpler and cheaper to incorporate the company abroad where registration fees or taxes are low, or where it's easier to process payments coming from several countries. There are also financial products only available in certain countries that may require an account in that country to access. Often, offshore accounts are just plain practical. There's been a lot of press and coverage of all the wrong uses because, let's face it, the right uses aren't very exciting, Engel said. Fliers beware: new rule on fares could cost you Travelers visiting several cities on one trip, especially those flying for business, are seeing airfares six or seven times the normal price. By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ AP Airlines Writer NEW YORK The three largest U.S. airlines have changed the way they price multi-city trips, forcing those who book such itineraries to pay hundreds of extra dollars in airfare. Most fliers buy simple roundtrip tickets and won't be affected. But travelers visiting several cities on one trip, especially those flying for business, are seeing airfares six or seven times the normal price. Many might not know of the new policy or that there is a way to avoid the higher fares. The simultaneous adoption of new pricing rules by all three carriers has led the Business Travel Coalition to accuse the airlines of illegally coordinating on this complicated and comprehensive scheme. The advocacy group asked the Department of Justice to add this to its ongoing investigation of possible airline collusion. The group's chairman, Kevin Mitchell, said fliers and will no doubt be blindsided by this new policy and pay dearly when shopping at airline websites. To get the best prices, fliers stopping at two or more cities now need to book several individual tickets. The change came about because American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are starting to match low-cost carriers like Spirit Airlines on more routes. Some savvy fliers figured out that booking a multi-city ticket instead of one connecting ticket could save them money. Multi-city tickets contain several one-way legs under the same reservation. For instance, flying American one-way from New Orleans to Los Angeles with a connection in Dallas might cost $289. But breaking those two legs up into a multi-city ticket would cost $79 for the first leg and $94 for the second, for a savings of $116. To halt that practice, American, Delta and United stopped allowing individual nonrefundable tickets to be combined. Their websites now only offer fully refundable tickets when combining one-way legs, which are often several times more expensive than the non-refundable tickets most people buy. American spokesman Joshua Freed said the change was made in mid-March to stop fliers from paying fares lower than the airline had intended for certain markets. However, the new booking rule was broader in some cases than we wanted it to be and the airline has since made some changes because of customer feedback and are watching it closely. United offered a similar explanation and Delta refused to comment. Brett Snyder, who runs an air travel assistance company called Cranky Concierge, put it differently: They haven't found a way to solve it eloquently so they solved it with a sledgehammer. They're making you overpay, Snyder added. Airlines for years have made it clear that when you book a roundtrip it would be cheaper or the same price as a one way. Now they are flipping that, penalizing you and not even telling you. Sometimes the differences can be extreme. Take a mid-May trip from Orlando to Detroit, then two days later to New York followed with a flight two days later back to Orlando. Priced as three separate one-way flights, Delta Air Lines wanted a total of $282.30 for the itinerary. But try to book it as one ticket as most travelers do and Delta was charging $2,174.70 for the exact same flights. The airline's website automatically offered the more-expensive fully refundable tickets and no other option. A similar search on American Airlines for a trip from Miami to Chicago to San Francisco and back to Miami yielded similar results. Booked at three one-way trips, American was charging a total of $664.30. But if booked on one ticket, American wanted $1,064.70. United Airlines was also charging extra for trip from New York to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Chicago and back to New York. Bought as one ticket, it cost $507.70, compared to a total of $308.30 if purchased as three separate tickets. And if travelers need to modify their trips, they are going to pay even more. If booked as a traditional multi-city trip, there would be a $200 change fee. But if fliers choose to book three one-way segments instead, that change fee could skyrocket to $600. Uber to pay $10M to settle suit over background checks By JUSTIN PRITCHARD Associated Press LOS ANGELES Ride-hailing company Uber will pay at least $10 million to settle allegations by California prosecutors that the ride-hailing company misled passengers about the quality of its driver background checks. The settlement was signed Thursday in San Francisco, where Uber is based and where the district attorney led a lawsuit that said Uber falsely claimed its criminal screening of would-be drivers was the most comprehensive available. San Francisco and Los Angeles prosecutors sued in 2014, saying Uber's background checks were inferior to what taxi drivers undergo because they did not include fingerprint checks for past convictions. Instead, Uber's process relies on a name search of other criminal databases and motor vehicle department files going back seven years. Uber has defended the safety of its service despite a steady stream of allegations that its drivers have assaulted passengers, or, in the case of a driver in Michigan earlier this year, killed people. The app lets passengers share their location in real time, Uber points out, and the person who booked the ride is required to rate the driver after each trip, helping weed out unsavory characters. In settling the California case, Uber did not admit wrongdoing and said it already has made many changes prosecutors sought. For example, Uber stopped claiming its background checks were industry leading when it settled a separate case brought by riders. Under that $28.5 million settlement reached in February, Uber also renamed its safe ride fee as a booking fee. The district attorneys in San Francisco and Los Angeles said that if Uber does not comply with the settlement's terms, the company would have to pay an additional $15 million. Prosecutors ratcheted up pressure on the company in August, expanding the lawsuit with claims that Uber failed to uncover the criminal records of 25 California drivers, including several registered sex offenders and a convicted murderer. The result we achieved today goes well beyond its impact on Uber, San Francisco District Attorney George GascAn said in a written statement. It sends a clear message to all businesses, and to startups in particular, that in the quest to quickly obtain market share, laws designed to protect consumers cannot be ignored. Originally, the district attorneys also filed a claim against Lyft, another ride-hailing company. Lyft settled its case last year by agreeing to pay $250,000 and stop claiming its background checks were among the industry's best. The deal also touched on airport trips. Under it, Uber agreed to more clearly disclose surcharges related to airport rides and to operate its lower-cost UberX service only at airports where it has been granted permission. We're glad to put this case behind us and excited to redouble our efforts serving riders and drivers across the state of California, Uber said in a written statement. Sea level rise threatens U.S. historic sites Many threatened sites lie along the East Coast, but experts say any coastal town with historic properties faces damage from rising seas and more storms. By MICHELLE R. SMITH Associated Press AP Photo/Richard Drew [enlarge] The Statue of Liberty was closed for repairs in 2012 after Superstorm Sandy submerged most of the low-elevation Liberty and Ellis islands. Ellis Island was closed for nearly a year. With scientists forecasting sea levels to rise by anywhere from several inches to several feet by 2100, historic structures and coastal heritage sites around the world are under threat. Some sites and artifacts could become submerged. Scientists, historic preservationists, architects and public officials are meeting this week in Newport, Rhode Island one of the threatened areas to discuss the problem, how to adapt to rising seas and preserve historic structures. Any coastal town that has significant historic properties is going to be facing the challenge of protecting those properties from increased water and storm activity, said Margot Nishimura, of the Newport Restoration Foundation, the nonprofit group hosting the conference. Federal authorities have encouraged people to elevate structures in low-lying areas, but that poses challenges in dense neighborhoods of centuries-old homes built around central brick chimneys, Nishimura said, especially ones where preservationists are trying to keep the character intact. Many of the most threatened sites in North America lie along the East Coast between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and southern Maine, where the rate of sea level rise is among the fastest in the world, said Adam Markham, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a speaker at the conference. We're actually not going to be able to save everything, he said. A look at some of the historic areas and cultural sites that are under threat from rising sea levels: STATUE OF LIBERTY AND ELLIS ISLAND Situated in New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are some of New York's most important tourist attractions. In 2012, Superstorm Sandy submerged most of the low-elevation Liberty and Ellis islands. After the storm, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France in 1886, was closed for eight months. Ellis Island, the entry point for about 12 million immigrants to the United States from 1892 to 1954, remained closed for nearly a year. A report by the National Park Service looked at how several parks would be threatened by 1 meter, or around 3 feet, of sea level rise. It found $1.51 billion worth of assets at the Statue of Liberty National Monument were highly exposed to sea level rise. HISTORIC BOSTON Much of historic Boston is along the water and is at risk due to sea level rise, including Faneuil Hall, the market building known as the Cradle of Liberty, and parts of the Freedom Trail, a walking trail that links historic sites around the city. Boston has seen a growing number of flooding events in recent years, up from two annually in the 1970s to an average of 11 annually between 2009 and 2013, according to a 2014 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists. If sea levels rise by 5 inches, the group reported, the number of floods is projected to grow to 31 annually. If seas rise by 11 inches, the number of flooding events is projected to rise to 72 per year. NEWPORT The Point neighborhood in the Rhode Island resort town has one of the highest concentrations of Colonial houses in the United States, and it sits 4 feet above mean sea level. Tidal flooding is already occurring in the neighborhood, and that is expected to increase as sea levels rise, Nishimura said. The smell of sea water already permeates the basement of some homes. ANNAPOLIS Maryland's capital, on Chesapeake Bay, boasts the nation's largest concentration of 18th-century brick buildings. The city briefly served as the nation's capital in the post-Revolutionary War period, and the Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the war, was ratified there. The city is also home to the U.S. Naval Academy. The city already sees tidal flooding dozens of times a year, and scientists have predicted number could rise to hundreds annually in the next 30 years. JAMESTOWN Established in 1607, it is the first permanent English colony in North America. It sits along the tidal James River in Virginia, and most of the settlement is less than 3 feet above sea level. A large part of the settlement has already eroded because of wave action, Markham said. Storms have also damaged the site, including Hurricane Isabel in 2003, which flooded nearly 1 million artifacts. A rising water table at the site also poses a threat to archaeological remains, Markham said. He called the loss of archaeological artifacts an urgent problem along the U.S. coastline. HAWAII Reports by the National Park Service and others have found that rising sea level rises threaten archaeological sites at various historic places in Hawaii. Those include ancient fish ponds at Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site and a Great Wall at a sacred site in Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park. It is considered the best-preserved such wall in Hawaii. INTERNATIONAL SITES Dozens of UNESCO World Heritage Sites are under threat from sea level rise, according to a 2014 report by climate scientists Ben Marzeion, of the University of Innsbruck in Austria, and Anders Levermann, of the Potsdam Institute in Germany. Among those are: the Tower of London; Robben Island in South Africa, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years; Venice, Italy, and its lagoon; Mont-Saint-Michel, home to an abbey built atop a rocky islet in France; the Kasbah of Algiers, Algeria; the historic district of Old Quebec, Canada; Old Havana in Cuba; and archaeological areas of Pompeii, Italy, and Carthage in Tunisia. The authors wrote that their findings indicate that fundamental decisions with regard to mankind's cultural heritage are required. Men and women are different when it comes to investing Kathleen Murphy of Fidelity Investments says once women get more confident about investing, they tend to outperform men. By SARAH SKIDMORE SELL AP Business Writer Kathleen Murphy is president of Personal Investing, a Fidelity Investments company that provides retail brokerage and other financial services to millions of individual investors. She spoke with the Associated Press about women, investing and more. Q: You come from a large family, how did that shape your view on finances? A: I am one of six kids three boys, three girls just like the Brady Bunch of old-fashioned days. My dad died at the age of 57, which really helped inform my view of what we need to do from a personal finance perspective. My mom, who is a nurse, had to really deal with both a lot of issues associated with carrying on without him, including how to put kids through college while simultaneously saving for her retirement. Watching that up close and personal has made me passionate that women of all ages are both well educated about saving and investing as well as preparing themselves for the retirement they deserve. Q: What challenges are specific to women? A: We have found through our research that women lack confidence in terms of investing. Why? My firm view is that the financial services industry has underserved women. It feels impenetrable to women. They don't focus on the highs and lows of the market on a particular day. They focus on their goals, how to get long-term to a secure retirement, how to take care of their family. So our efforts are all about making sure women gain confidence by getting educated so they can feel confident taking the first step in the investing process. Q: There's evidence that when women do invest, they tend to outperform men. Is that correct? A: That is absolutely true. Women want to understand things before they take the first step. Men, in general, are willing to learn as they go. When women do take the first step, they feel informed and they have a goal-based approach to investing, so they tend to buy and hold. They come up with a plan and they stick with it. And I think over time evidence suggests that a long-term plan with a buy-and-hold (strategy) outperforms people coming in and out of the market. Q: What concerns do you hear about from investors? A: For context, I listen to about 20 hours of calls each month as I am commuting. I do that to really understand more deeply what is on the minds of our customers and to make sure we stay ahead of the curve in terms of meeting their needs. Some of the calls that stick with me the most are, for example, a fellow who has multiple sclerosis and daughters 10 and 12. And he turned to Fidelity for a managed account solution and said, You know, I'm counting on you to get my daughters through college. When you hear calls like that you get a sense of the deep responsibility we have to our clients to make sure we do everything we can for them. Legacy Partners wants to buy site at 23rd & Union for apartments, grocery Journal Staff Reporter By NAT LEVY Journal Staff Reporter Courtesy Kidder Mathews [enlarge] This image from 2015 shows the sites proximity to downtown and close-in neighborhoods. Legacy Partners has plans for about 400 apartments and 40,000 square feet of retail on the MidTown Center site at the southeast corner of 23rd Avenue and East Union Street in the Central District. Kerry Nicholson of Legacy Partners said he has a high-end grocer in tow that wants to take most of the retail space if Legacy gets the property. Nicholson said a drug store could also go in, as well as smaller tenants that would reflect the diversity of the neighborhood. Nicholson said Legacy had the nearly 2.5-acre site under contract but ran into an issue with the property. A hard-money deadline was coming up, so Legacy Partners pulled out of the contract so it could try to solve the problem. Nicholson would not elaborate on the issue but said it is costly and needs to be worked out with the sellers to make his project viable for institutional investors. Late last month, Legacy Partners submitted another offer for the property. The price is the same $23.5 million but some of the terms have changed, Nicholson said. Legacy Partners is awaiting a response from the owner. Nicholson said Legacy Partners would seek a rezone to 65 feet for its project. Runberg Architecture Group is working with the developer. Jason Rosauer and Rob Anderson of Kidder Mathews are listing the site for sale. The property has been embroiled in a lawsuit filed late last year between members of the family that own it. Longtime manager of the property Tom Bangasser sued his family's partnership after he was removed as the controlling member, according to court documents. Court documents in the case revealed Legacy Partners' interest in the site. Nicholson said he likes the area because it is close to everything: University of Washington and state Route 520 to the north; Interstate 90 to the south; and Capitol Hill and downtown to the west. The area has sort of been passed over and is now almost like a bull's eye with all these good things going on around it, and now even on the other corners of the intersection, Nicholson said. Legacy Partners has done other projects in the neighborhood. In 2009, it opened Legacy at Pratt Park, a 248-unit complex where the old Wonder Bread factory used to be at 18th and Jackson. Legacy Partners has two other projects opening this year: Bowman, a 278-unit complex in Wallingford that opens in May, and Hadley, a 209-unit complex on Mercer Island that opens in September. Next spring, Legacy Partners will finish a 228-unit project called Burien Town Square. First 13 homes at Fort Lawton sold; last 13 go on the market this year Photos courtesy of Rise Properties [enlarge] The 13 homes in Montana Circle at Fort Lawton all have sold in about three months, and prices on the ones that have closed average $484 a square foot. Prices ranged from $799,000 to $1,050,000. Nine sales have closed and four are pending, according to Gary Blakeslee of Rise Properties. Four of the houses are two-bedroom and nine are three-bedroom. There are 12 attached homes and one single detached home. Four are brick and the other nine are wood. Rise is a private real estate investment fund that buys and repositions properties in the Seattle area. It bought the 26 single-family houses and townhouses that once housed officers at Fort Lawton in Discovery Park for $9.5 million. The seller was Pacific Northwest Communities, a subsidiary of Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises and the U.S. Navy. Rise said it has started restoring homes in Officer's Row, which is up the hill from Montana Circle. Officer's Row has 13 colonial revival style homes that were built in 1900. Exteriors will be restored to meet landmark guidelines, and the interiors will be renovated by a team led by GGLO. These houses range from 4,027 to 6,600 square feet. They will have new two-car garages and terraces with views of Puget Sound and the Olympics. Blakeslee said the first home in Officer's Row will be available for sale in July, and all will be on the market by the end of the year. Here is the rest of the project team: project manager Thrive Developments; historic preservation BOLA Architects; civil engineer KPFF; structural engineer I.L. Gross; marketing Realogics; sales broker Realogics Sotheby's International Realty and preferred lender Caliber Home Loans. A county councillor has refused to condemn the murder of a prison officer in Northern Ireland after he proposed a motion calling for the British government to end its claim over Northern Ireland. Independent councillor Micheal Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig was speaking after his motion was defeated at last Tuesday's meeting of the council. Speaking last week on Highland Radio he refused to condemn the murder last month of 52-year-old Adrian Ismay, a married father-of-three who died 11 days after sustaining serious leg injuries in an under-vehicle bombing. The murder was claimed by a group calling itself the New IRA. Speaking on the Shaun Doherty Show the councillor refused to condemn the murder following a question posed by a listener. Im not a pacifist in any shape or form, he said. For me, I just do believe while England holds jurisdiction over a part of the country, unfortunately this will happen. Donegal County Council rejected the motion from Cllr. MacGiolla Easbuig on 1916 which urged it to call on the British government to end all claims of jurisdiction over Ireland. The motion spilt the council equally with 11 votes for and 11 against. Cathaoirleach Ciaran Brogan had the deciding vote but he chose not to vote and the motion fell. The motion was seconded by Fianna Fail councillor Liam Blaney, but was not supported by the majority of Fianna Fail councillors in the vote. Independent councillor Nicholas Crossan opposed the motion, which in turn brought about the vote. Cllr Crossan said it went against the principles of the Good Friday Agreement which was based on the principle of consent. He said all major political parties on the island had bought into the agreement. Its not perfect, but it is working and we have peace, he said. I would love to have a united Ireland but we can only have it with the consent of the majority of the people in the North, he said. He criticised the motion as a total waste of time. Who are we going to write to from Donegal County Council to ask the British to hand back the six counties? Let's be real. Michaella McCollum, the Dungannon woman who was released from a Peruvian prison last week on parole, will now spend time working with a Garrison priest who has devoted much of his life working with AIDS sufferers and the underprivileged in Columbia. Fr. Cathal Gallagher, a native of Garrison in Fermanagh, has spent the last 25 years in Peru working in some of the countrys poorest areas. Fr Gallagher, a member of the Colombian Order, had been working in one of the poorest suburbs when he received a phone call to come and visit a local clinic where two brothers had just died from Aids. At the time he said, I knew nothing about HIV/AIDS, it was a taboo subject where people only talked about it in whispers. The organisation that I work with, Si, da Vida was founded by a group of affected people , friends and relatives of people who had died. We met with community leaders and a group of people living with HIV and AIDS to consider what we could do as Christians in the face of a crisis that we saw unfolding. The programme now trains volunteers in how to help those in the various stages of the illness and help them to lead positive lives. Fr. Gallagher said, I see men and women suffering with this disease as being treated as lepers our job is to move them from exclusion to inclusion. An Irish born Bishop, Dr. Sean Walsh, who is based in Lima has spent considerable time with the Dungannon woman since her arrest and played a part in helping her secure her parole. Reports now suggest she has adapted well to life in Peru, and according to Bishop Walsh, McCollum will volunteer at the Eastern Catholic Church in Lima and will be working with the Garrison priest to help people who are HIV positive . After attending McCollum's hearing, Dr Walsh said she has been an exemplary prisoner, had learnt Spanish and also did a course in hairdressing, adding that she was extremely level headed when others could have fallen to pieces. The bishop focuses on helping ex-prisoners, after he saw a group of European looking men 'on parole' rummaging through bins because they had no money. An affluent five star hotel in Switzerland which is often frequented by royalty and high society played host to a group of talented musicians from Ballyshannon and Ballintra during the recent St. Patricks day festivities. The talented group, the Rockhill Ramblers, which is made up of musicians from both Ballyshannon and Ballintra were invited to attend the event by Ballyshannon native Oliver Donagher who now resides in Geneva. Mr. Donagher became involved with the Geneva Irish Association last year and quickly became recognised for his talent and ability and became the Vice President of the association over a very short period of time. This year he organised a St. Patricks Day Black Tie Gala Ball which was held on March 19th in a five star hotel, called The Beau Rivage. The theme of the night was The Geneva Irish Association and Friends of Ireland. Geneva is the European headquarters of the United Nations and a major financial services institution, the event catered for almost two hundred nationalities from as far away as Russia and Nepal, Iran to Italy and from the United States of America to Australia. Many people from Ireland who are now living in Switzerland attended the event as well. Mr. Donagher said: In order for the night to be a complete success, I knew we would have to have a good band. He recalled his hometown and the evenings he spent with friends in Whoriskeys Travellers Rest, Cashelard where he heard the Rockhill Ramblers play and decided that this was the band that he would like to see play at The Beau Rivage. He contacted Darren Meehan from the band and discussed having them perform during the festivities. Darren and his band members were delighted with the invitation and flew to Geneva ahead of the event. The organisers also managed to secure the band a gig in the Spring Brothers the night before. Darren said: It was an excellent night. We all really enjoyed it. Id like to go back again. It was a lovely place. The performance went down well, it was well received. The Rockhill Ramblers were formed in 2009. The band was initially a group of brothers and later other band members joined. The band played in the diamond in Donegal town on the night that the Donegal players returned having won the Sam Maguire in 2012. They have also supported the nationally renowned band the Sawdoctors. The performance in Geneva marked one of their bigger overseas performances and they proved to be such a success that they have been invited to come back and perform next year. We were delighted with how things turned out. The six of us were flown over and everything was organised. Everything was done for us and we would like to thank Oliver Donagher and the members of the Geneva Irish Association. The family of British agent Denis Donaldson are taking an action in the High Court over the failure to hold an inquest into his murder in Donegal ten years ago. Members of the family walked out of the inquest yesterday which was adjourned for the 19th time. The family's solicitor told the inquest in Letterkenny that he has been instructed not to return to the inquest until the legal proceedings had been resolved. Mr Donaldson was murdered near Glenties in April 2006 at a cottage he was staying in following his exposure as a British agent. His murder was later claimed by the Real IRA. The family are taking a judicial review against the coroner, Dr. Denis McCauley, the Garda commissioner, the attorney general, the director of public prosecutions and the minister for justice to challenge the continuing delay of the inquest. Superintendent Michael Finan of the Letterkenny Garda district made an application for a four-month adjournment. He said that following a mutual assistance request, investigating officers had travelled outside the State early last month and obtained evidential material. The adjournment was sought to allow the evidential material to be processed, he said. It is not the intention of An Garda Siochana to delay or hinder the inquest, but priority must be given to the criminal investigation, he said. Ciaran Shiels of Madden and Finucane Solicitors in Belfast told the coroner that the family had requested him not to return to the inquest until there is a final ruling from the High Court or whatever court may follow that. Mr Shiels said the family have the greatest of misgivings regarding the bona fides of the application because of the point blank refusal of An Garda Siochana to assist the Police Ombudsman's office in Northern Ireland. He said there had been a steadfast refusal by the Garda to interview a British agent handler, known as Lenny, who had been in contact with Mr Donaldson in Donegal before he died. Mr Shiels said the Garda had also refused to hand over Mr Donaldson's journal to the Ombudsmans office, which had been found in the cottage in Glenties by gardai. He said the Garda had put it in writing that security reasons were the reason that it wouldn't be provided. But Mr Shiels said that Mr Donaldson was an agent for The PSNI, the RUC and the British, so the security reasons could not be the security of the 26 counties. Counsel for the Garda Commissioner, Stephen J Byrne, said that An Garda Siochana could not release any information that could contaminate the trial. The investigation had to be allowed to do its job, he said. That's why the superintendent is restrained by the amount of information he can impart. That is not a disrespect to the Donaldson family, he said. Animal welfare and pet rescue groups around the county may set up a new umbrella group, a meeting in Letterkenny has heard. In the wake of the closure of the Donegal Pet Rescue group, up to 70 people attended a meeting in The Station House Hotel in Letterkenny recently to discuss the situation and how to progress offering animal rescue and welfare services locally. One of the event organisers, Michael Forde, said there was an exceptional turn out for the meeting and among the discussion was the possible formation of a new group, as well as working with other groups under to form an animal welfare co-operative. We had a turn out of over 70 people including representatives from other pet rescue groups, including Donegal Town and Burtonport, showing up to share their views. Everyone wanted the same outcome regarding animal welfare in Donegal and they had no problem putting their names forward to help out in anyway they could, he explained. He said the feedback was very positive and one of the main issues raised was the need for a re-homing centre in Donegal. Another outcome was the idea that we need to organise a co-op to act as an umbrella for all animal welfare groups in Donegal he added. Michael added that offers of help for an umbrella group spanned more than just animal welfare services but included administration assistance. The strength in numbers is a testament to the caring nature of local people who want to help and care for animals as much as possible. Support was offered in more ways than one, he added. A woman who is walking the entire Wild Atlantic Way in aid of the RNLI has been overwhelmed by her first ever visit to Donegal. Jane Volker, a native of Limerick who has been living in the UK for the last 27 years, is currently finishing what might be called her 'test run' for the big hike this summer. The special needs assistant spent a week walking in Inishowen in February but quickly discovered that she has a back problem which means she can't carry a backpack. This didn't put her off, though. Jane came back to Donegal on Good Friday to spend a fortnight hiking the Wild Atlantic Way route here, taking in some of the Ireland's most spectacular scenery. Although Jane was initially concerned about getting her backpack from one stop to another, she needn't have worried. The people of Donegal have been amazing, she told the Donegal Democrat on Tuesday. Everyone has been so friendly and helpful. Clifford Taylor of Ionad Siul in Glencolmcille deserves special mention. When an exhausted Jane arrived on Monday evening, he invited her to join him and the staff for dinner, and didn't even charge her for the meal. Cliff also came to the rescue when he heard about Jane's back problem, offering to deliver her backpack and collect it wherever she needed over the next few days. Jane commented, One of the things that I'm continually impressed with is the lengths that people here will go to to help me out. It's humbling and it shows me every day how much goodness there is in people. The three weeks in Donegal is my 'practice bit', as I didn't want to take money off people sponsoring me unless I knew I could do the whole walk, Jane said. Until last August, I was a couch potato. I think part of why I decided to take on this challenge is that I've lived away so long. I felt the need to come back and reconnect. Also, I will turn 50 later this year, and that might have something to do with it, she laughs. Jane says she would definitely come back on a holiday. The scenery is spectacular, with vista after stunning vista and the people have such generosity of spirit! xDid you ever have one of those moments sitting alone at home and memories of a deceased relative somehow comes to mind. My Auntie Rosie died in January 2001, in her 72nd year at Donegal Hospital. She never made any news headlines, was not known outside of her home town of Donegal. She never married or had children of her own. The youngest of her own siblings, she was left to look after her aged mother, my grandmother Catherine Griffith, who in 1918 was one of the first State Registered Nurses at the then Donegal District Hospital. When my grandmother died in the late 1960s, Rosie lived alone in an old four storey house in the towns Bridge Street. She never married or had children of her own ,but at times a surrogate mother to her many nephews and nieces. She ruled the lot of us with an iron fist and a generous heart. If any of us needed ten pence to go to the cinema or in later years, a half crown to go to a dance she would say: Right you can have it, but I want it back next week, which of course she never did receive the many loans to be repaid. She bombarded us with holy medals, Holy Water, Blessed red flannel (which I could never understand what purpose it served). Each Sunday evening Mass for years she sat in the back pew of St Patricks, holding court over all she surveyed. Particularly her nephews and nieces, if they were to make an appearance. Her first words each Monday evening: Were you at Mass yesterday? Aw indeed I was, came the lying reply, which she could see through right away. Who said Mass? Er Ah, dont know, couldnt see, the pillars were in my way. In 1990 six of us from Donegal , five of one religious persuasion and one of another, cycled from Paris to Nice over six days. Rosie presented us all with religious medals, prayer sheets to St Anthony and little bottles of Holy water to keep us safe on our journeys. Just before Christmas 2000 she was in rapidly failing health and on a frosty Sunday evening she collapsed at home and unable to open her front door for assistance. By chance I came to visit and heard her calling from inside the door. I had to break in through a back window via the overgrown backyard and called an ambulance. Im sure many of you readers had an Auntie Rosie, all who rightfully deserved their special place in Heaven. I know my Auntie Rosie does! Who do you think you are? As reported in the International news media ,over the Easter period the hospitals of Jerusalem were on high alert for religious hysteria and choc a bloc busy with new cases of what is known as the Jerusalem Syndrome. Apparently this has been happening at Easter for the past two hundred years. This well documented phenomenon in which foreign visitors suffer psychotic delusions that they are figures from the Bible or harbingers of the End of Days. Examples include an Irish schoolteacher who arrived at a Jerusalem hospital convinced she was about to give birth when in fact she was not even pregnant. A Canadian tourist who believed he was the biblical Samson and tried to tear stone blocks out of the Wailing Wall. Apparently 50 cases a year are recorded, the majority hospitalised had suffered mental problems in their own countries. And apparently some Japanese visitors to Paris go manic when they realise this city idealised as the most romantic on earth is full of rubbish, traffic and overcrowding. Come to think of it, when we were kids, after a Cowboy movie, we all thought we were the Lone Ranger riding imaginary horses down Main Street. Last week Phil Lane and Luke Newman from In the Long Run (ITLR), Oasis Belgium addressed a morning workshop on Human Trafficking hosted by Donegal Youth Council and facilitated by Donegal Anti-Human Trafficking Group ( DAHTG). ITLR raises awareness and campaigns against human trafficking through its unique format of undertaking long distance, endurance runs along major international human trafficking routes. Phils key message was Firstly, treat women as your equals. Secondly, do not let anyone be isolated, be that in school, college, workplace or your community. Phil began by talking about his work in Mumbai, India many years ago. Here despite an economic boom and thriving garment industry, absolute poverty was affecting huge numbers of people. Phil worked in a day centre that offered refuge for children and young people who lived in neighbouring slums or on the platforms of the Thane train station. Phil became concerned about a 7 and 9 year older brother and sister who lived with their parents on Thane station. They had become regular visitors at the day centre but then suddenly stopped attending. After a number of days, Phil went to find out from their parents if the children were alright. After a discussion with the father, Phil learnt that the man had sold his two children for the equivalent of 20 dollars, to a man who had promised him drink. These children have never been seen since. Nobody knows for sure what had happened to them. In that area of Mumbai children often disappear. They are kidnapped, sold and trafficked into sexual exploitation, adoption and even child sacrifice. Phil was deeply affected by this event and knew he had to do something to prevent it happening to other children. At the same time a number of UK organisations with a global reach wanted to commemorate the 2007 Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Together. Stories and passions from around the world came together and STOP THE TRAFFIK www.stopthetraffik.org/our-story was born. This is a global movement against human trafficking and building resilient communities. Phil shared the personal story of a Thai woman who was sold into sexual exploitation so that money could be raised to educate her brother. He described in detail all that has to be overcome to get access to women who have been taken into and around brothels. The many years of support, education and health care that is required before they can see a value in themselves. Phil related how Roma children in Belgium are vilified and hated. How when the Roma families brought their children to play in the playground, the community came with dogs We dont want these type of people here. Phil linked how people who are vulnerable and isolated are more easily preyed upon by traffickers. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. When Luke Newman, a 23 year old Primary Teacher from England and volunteer with ITLR spoke, he referred to Phils experience of twenty years, his depth of compassion and understanding that holds any audience totally captivated and truly inspired. 1.2 million children trafficked every year The fact that 1.2 million children (UNICEF ) are trafficked worldwide every year, is what motivates Luke to be so involved with ITLR. We have to take it on; there are millions of stories that havent been told. Young people like me, like you, must turn our anger at all that we have heard this morning into fighting the cause. Together we will have a louder voice. Luke stressed the importance of young people been educated around human trafficking in schools. We need to hear, we need to be educated and we need to be motivated. We must get the message how to stay safe out there and to ensure children arent isolated. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the enormity of human trafficking but if we keep turning a blind eye nothing changes. A very uplifting moment during the discussion on Action for Change, was when Phil came in to the conversation and spoke about how people collectively can make an important difference. Along the Ivory Coast, West Africa thousands of young children are trafficked, enslaved and abused to harvest the cocoa that makes over a third of the worlds chocolate. To eradicate the worst forms of child labour on the cocoa farms STOP THE TRAFFIK campaigners put pressure on the big chocolate manufactures around the world, an industry that is worth approximately 60 billion pounds. By getting people to simply write letters, send emails, text messages and twitters, make phone calls wear T shirts and most importantly, refuse to eat anything other than traffik-free brands STOP THE TRAFFIK has made that difference. Ten of thousands of people responded and as a result Dairy-Milk fair-trade certification is been produced and Mars Galaxy range will have their whole product range traffic free by 2020. These changes are directly due to the pressure STOP THE TRAFIK has exerted at community level. In the Long Run aims to support the efforts of local anti-human trafficking groups in the locations it visits to effectively campaign against human trafficking, to provide and support the provision of information to communities and individuals about how and where they might receive support in regard to human trafficking, and/or how to report trafficking. For the past few weeks they have travelled north and south of Ireland doing just this. Donegal Anti Human Trafficking group has been truly inspired by the work of ITLR and very much appreciates Donegal Youth Council who hosted a morning workshop on human trafficking; Donegal Travellers Project and the Loft who organised the Be Well Week, Letterkenny last week and incorporated In the Long Run into a number of their events. Important contact information: Crimestoppers: Tel: 1800 25 00 25, E-mail: Blueblindfold@garda.ie Web info: www.blueblind There was a series of events recently to celebrate International Women's Day in Ionad An Mhachaire, Dungloe. March 8th each year since 1911, is the date chosen to recall the struggle by women for equality. The women who fought for these rights also took on the establishment to demand the right to vote. The evening of the 8th March 2016 was an opportune time to view the recently released movie about the suffragette movement. A group of 23 women gathered to view the movie and discuss the various topics that were so movingly covered by the film. On Saturday 12th March there were five talks covering a variety of topics and delivered by excellent invited speakers. (These talks were organised by Emer McGee, Frances Boyle, Delia Given, Alice Roskowetzova and Maria Coleman.) Moira Ni Ghallachoir from Fiontar mng told her audience about what its like for a young woman today to set up her own business. Her enthusiasm and enterprising character was an inspiration to all present. Dr. Fiona Hardy's illustrated talk was about issues faced by women in the developing countries where she has worked. The multiple threats to women and girls was grim and harrowing to hear and was a reminder that things have only improved for women in the west and for women with independent wealth. Health issues at home also came up for discussion, especially maternity care. Liz Sheppard gave a talk about what she and her husband have done with their farm in east Donegal. Since 1980, they have planted 25,000 native trees, mostly for biodiversity and to benefit the environment. Anyone concerned about flooding, climate change and wildlife would be inspired by their activities. Finola Brennan from the Donegal Womens Network presented a fascinating slideshow on the Women of 1916. These women were politicised by the treatment of the workers in the 1913 Lockout and inspired by the English Suffragettes. Many more women other than Countess de Markievicz played a significant role in Easter 1916. We saw for example, nurse Elizabeth O'Farrell, who delivered the surrender for Pearse in the Easter Rising and how she was literally airbrushed out of the photograph that captured that event. Donegal Women's Centre representative, Mary Maguire, outlined the impressive range of services provided by their center in Letterkenny. Her energy and warmth came across clearly and demonstrated the ethos of the center towards the whole range of women they cater for. Since overwhelming need dictates, their mental health services are also provide for men. The quality of the talks and the delivery by the speakers was first class. There are still plenty of issues for women to strive to improve. Women's health issues, equality in the workplace, childcare needs, political representation and the rights of women in developing countries. Former president Mary Robinson's focus is now on climate change and its impact on poor regions, particularly for women in these regions. Things in Ireland have changed for the better for women over the last 100 years. These days we have a different set of challenges to tackle in order to maintain and improve the lives of women over the next 100 years. There will be plenty of items for discussion for next year's International Womens Day. Don't miss it. Saturday 19th saw a great turn-out to a Holistic Fair organised by Rosses Healing Hands (Maire Gallagher). Maire herself did Reiki, John King did Angel Card Readings, Heike Kemmerer did Tapping, Mary Boyle did Reflexology, Rosie Doherty did Reiki and Sharon McKelvey did Kinesiology. Charlie Cullen also did a Tai Chi and Qigong demonstration. Huge thanks to all therapists, who gave freely of their time for charity. Thanks also to Linda Ni Ghallchoir, Frances Boyle, Karen Marshall, Francie Gallagher and Maria Coleman for helping on the day and to all those who attended and contributed. Monies raised by these events will go to Donegal Womens Domestic Violence Service and the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland. Our pictures shows Liz Shepphard who contributed to the events. The Donegal Youth Orchestra are making their first trip of the year with a visit to Dublin this Sunday to play a concert in Rathfarnham. Up to fifty musicians from around Donegal will make the journey to renew musical friendships with young players from the Rathfarnham Jazz Band and the Intermediate Rathfarnham Concert Band. Martin McGinley of the Donegal Music Education Partnership, which organises the orchestra, said its a valuable performance opportunity for the young musicians. Our orchestra members are busy rehearsing away right through the winter every second Friday night and its important that they get opportunities to show what they can do, he said. This is the first in a series of concerts for the orchestra during the summer, including a performance during the Earagail Arts Festival. The link-up with Rathfarnham is through the orchestras conductor Vincent Kennedy, who lives in Dublin and is also music and artistic director of the Rathfarnham Concert Band Society. Vincent said: Weve been developing the relationship between Donegal and Rathfarnham for several years and its great to have concerts in both places. The young musicians really enjoy meeting up and playing together. The concert at St Marys Boys School in Rathfarnham starts at 2.45pm. Our pictures show: Concentration - members of the Donegal Youth Orchestra pictured during the DMEP (Donegal Music Education Partnership) concert at Christmas in An Grianan. The orchestra are in concert in Dublin on Sunday. Conductor Vincent Kennedy in action at a recent rehearsal of the Donegal Youth Orchestra at the Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny. The orchestra play a concert in Dublin on Sunday. The new government must implement the findings of a report on the All Ireland economy which says the full potential of north-south economic cooperation is not being achieved, a county councillor has said. Cllr. Albert Doherty (SF) made the call at the April meeting of Donegal County Council. The All Ireland Economy report was published in January by the all party Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Cllr. Doherty said the report has highlighted the importance of strengthening links between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The report said that the full potential of the North-South economic co-operation is currently not being fully achieved. The whole island has a population of just 6.4 million people smaller than many international cities yet there exists two separate tax regimes, two currencies and legal systems, two public service systems and two separate competing economies. The report notes that great social disadvantage exists along the border and states that a Border Development Zone would offer an opportunity to redress that disadvantage. Cllr. Doherty had also highlighted an international report that identifies the economic benefits to the island of Ireland in the event of unification. The Modelling Irish Unification report by Dr. Hurt Hubner, concludes that there would be a sizable economic boost in economic output and incomes in the North and a smaller boost in the Republic if there was political and economic unification. Dr. Hubner, Director of the Institute for European Studies at the University of British Columbia, states that in the short-run unification would result in the Norths adoption of the euro, which would effectively devalue the currency for the North (depending on the prevailing exchange rates). Pointing out that Donegal is still the poorest county of the country, Cllr. Doherty said we want to work with our neighbours to establish a better economy. He noted how through North-South cooperation, there had been cuts in roaming charges for mobile phones. We are not competitors; we are complementing each other, he asserted. Cllr Gerry McMonagle (SF), seconding the motion, felt it was crazy to have two systems and to be doubling up in many areas. He said it was time to started looking at reports by eminent economists about the benefits that could accrue through unification. Consulting enginners are to be appointed to three of the biggest road projects in the county, it has emerged. Donegal County Council says it has got the go-ahead from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), formerly the National Roads Authority, to appoint a consulting engineer to advance three major projects. The three projects are: the Letterkenny Outer Relief Road/Dual Carriageway improvements; the N15/N13, Ballybofey-Stranorlar Bypass; and the N14 Manorcunningham to Lifford road, including the new link and bridge near Lifford to connect into the soon to be upgraded A5 from Derry to Aughnacloy. The news was welcomed at Aprils meeting of the county council by Cllr. James Pat McDaid, who says that its embarrassing to see how neglected Donegal is regarding motorways in comparison to the rest of the country. The Fianna Fail councillor tabled a motion at the meeting calling on the council to make strong representations to TTI to get improved road links, and for the Letterkenny to Lifford route to be redesigned and built. He said that with the economy coming around it is imperative that the road issue is addressed. He said that when travelling from Letterkenny to Dublin, the worst part is the section from Manorcunningham to Lifford which is very slow and dangerous with narrow sections and frequent use by agricultural vehicles. Fianna Fail councillor Gerry Crawford agreed that it must be one of the top priorities for the council. Director of Roads and Housing Capital, John McLaughlin. said that the local authority will continue the process of participating in region wide delegations to ministers on both sides of the border as the A5 gains momentum and the need for the vital roadway connection to Letterkenny becomes more evident. The hypocrisy is enough to make you boke. Day in day our there are sound bites of our so called leaders talking of how they are working in the 'national interest' to form the next government when it's obvious it's their personal interests that really concerns them. Here's what's really going down. Micheal Martin will support a Fine Gael led minority government because from the opposition benches he can simultaneously not only control the government but also the opposition. It's very cynical, and very clever. I would actually contend that the real objective of the strategy is they want to keep control of the opposition more than they actually want to be in government. The prospect of Sinn Fein, as the main opposition, getting a free run into the 2021 General Election is the one thing that scares the bejaysus out Fianna Fail as SF would definitely be capable of stealing their electoral clothes. Like myself too I'm sure you are well aware there are some pundits out there spouting rubbish about how the Independents and the left wing parties - which have a combined numbers of about 40 seats - have run away from power. This is demonstrably crap. Fine Gael has 50 seats, Fianna Fail 44 so they have the numbers and, what's more, the same right wing ideology in that both backed the austerity measures demanded by the IMF and the ECB. What impact would a leftist party, totally opposed to austerity, have against this stacked deck? So it's either the above or another election. The roads we take Shane Paul O'Doherty was the IRA man who sent letter bombs to senior British politicians way back in the 1970's. He spent a long time in jail for that. He even spent an afternoon in my house in Derry in the early 1990's shortly after his release, but thats a different story for a different day. This week he was on the Ray D'Arcy radio show and Ray seemed to want something from him that he couldn't give. The conversation went something along the lines that Ray suggested many people grew up in Derry at a bad time but they didn't join the IRA. Why did he? Shane Paul tried to explain that he lived through a time when the unionist government had ruled in a totally sectarian, discriminatory manner; that their police force, the RUC, was 93 per cent Protestant/Unionist; that Catholics were discriminated in jobs and housing and that a lot of young, idealistic Catholics didn't want to live like that any more. They rebelled. He now is anti violence, has apologised to his victims but felt in the context of the time and place and the injustices all around him back then that circumstances led him down that particular path. That others took a different road was a matter for them. It was clear from the reaction there are some people who totally understand why Shane Paul did what he did, and that others, the majority I would think, who did not. How to hide 50m. It's been alleged over the weekend that an Irish developer hid 50m. in assets from NAMA before they took over his business interests. Is this possible? Do they not have forensic accountants who can follow complex money trails? And, surely, hiding 50m. can't be that easily done. The reason I mention this I would think if you or I got a 100,000 in the morning the Revenue would be all over it before it even got resting in your account. Gold in them thar hills! When I first started going out with the missus she used to tell me in the 1800's there was a gold mine not far from her home in Glentogher, outside Carndonagh. It was sort of hard to believe. Now this week it's been confirmed that a mining company has made a number of potentially interesting discoveries of gold seams in a number of locations in Inishowen. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's not on her family's land. Only the little people The proverbial you know what hit the fan in Britain in the wake of the broadcasting of a Panorama programme on the Panama Papers. It would seem the trail goes right up to the Prime Minister, David Cameron, who benefited from a little scheme his millionaire dad hid from the tax man. I keep saying I find it amazing why working people in Britain vote Tory. Chancellor George Osborne, according to Iain Duncan Smith, who resigned from government last month, deliberately targeted the poor for tax cuts in the recent budget on the basis 'they don't vote for us'. The Tories also blatantly introduced a Mansion Tax break for the millionaire class while at the same time introducing a bedroom tax for those living in Council houses. It would seem morals or principles have no longer have any role in British politics. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. ''The 'Bally Boys'' from left Matthius McCosker, Thomas Cleary and Gabriel Timoney from Ballyshannon who will set out on 8th July on a 659 km charity cycle for '24 Hours Non Stop Cycle' from Mizen Head to Malin Head, in aid of North West Hospice. ''The Bally Boys'' are carrying out the cycle in memory of all those we have lost to cancer who are close to our hearts and those who are bravely fighting cancer every day. The three cyclists are all members of local MSC Tri Club and are currently training hard in the lead up to the main event and are well supported during their training sessions by fellow cyclists in the area. All monies raised by the main event and other fundraising events leading up to the 8th July will go directly to the North West Hospice. ''The Bally Boys'' have already had great support from local businesses with a number of Gold Sponsors on board. Main sponsors for the event are JPT Carpentry Ltd. based in London has said ''the event is important to so many people. Lives are affected every day by cancer and the North West Hospice are there to support those that need it most. It's important we do all we can to support them in return''. Next event The next fundraising event 'Laps of the Lake' took place on Saturday 9th April. For more information find us on our facebook page ''The Bally Boys''. Photo Thomas Gallagher INDD 070316 Bally Boys Cycle TG1 As the new show and run season is now getting into full swing, The Mid West Donegal Vintage club would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank everyone involved in our fundraising activities to date. Recently the club handed over a cheque for 3135 euro to the Tractor Action group in conjunction with the Irish Red Cross flood appeal. The event was organised over a period of only 6 days and we are assured the money will be well spent helping those in severe distress after the natural disaster which occurred within our own country. At our Christmas function Down Syndrome Donegal was the beneficiary to the sum of 3250 euro, proceeds from our Inver road run and fundraising initiative, with the Carrick Day Care Centre and sheltered housing receiving 360 euro each which was proceeds from the Kilcar road run. To all those who took part, attended, sponsored tractors, donated or assisted us in any way we are very grateful and we hope to see you all this summer for our packed calendar of events, whether you have a vintage vehicle or not everyone is very welcome to come along and enjoy the craic ! We aim to preserve our heritage and to assist worthy charities as we go along. Thanks again, Daniel Moy club secretary. More UK visitors are expected in Donegal this year, thanks to Flybe's introduction of flights from Birmingham and Edinburgh to Ireland West Airport, Knock. The company, which is Europes largest independent regional airline, says the new services will provide 70,000 new seats to and from Knock this year. There will be six weekly flights to both Birmingham and Edinburgh, operating every day except Saturday. This expansion of Flybe services represents the biggest seat capacity announcement for the West and North West in 2016, which will come as welcome news for leisure, business and tourism interests in the region. Edinburgh and Birmingham have long been popular destinations for passengers in this region, a company spokesperson said. The routes are expected to generate strong inbound tourism numbers given the airport's location as the central gateway for the Wild Atlantic Way. In a further boost, the airline is also increasing flights to and from its Manchester hub, adding an additional 8,000 seats this summer. There's now a choice of up to six weekly flights from which passengers can connect seamlessly to further Flybe destinations or to the many others offered through Manchester with its interline partners. Welcoming the news, Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said, The new Flybe flights from Edinburgh and Birmingham, and the expansion of services from Manchester, is more good news for tourism to the West and North West of Ireland in 2016, expanding travel options for British holidaymakers wishing to visit this part of Ireland. We look forward to working closely with Flybe and Ireland West Airport to maximise the promotion of the new services. As an island destination, the importance of convenient, direct, non-stop flights cannot be overstated they are absolutely critical to achieving growth in inbound tourism. Ireland West Airport MD Joe Gilmore added, We are delighted to welcome the launch of these two new services to key UK markets in Birmingham and Edinburgh with Flybe. This further cements the airport's position as the premier UK gateway for the West of Ireland as we now service nine different access points, the biggest selection of UK services from the West and North West of Ireland. Halloween creatures owls, crows and bats all live at Crossroads, and that makes us very happy, for these scary animals make a positive contribution to the habitats of the preserve. We don't even mind black cats, IF they are kept indoors. Feral and outdoor cats are exceedingly harmful to wildlife ... and that's not a superstition! But to tamp down superstitions, we at Crossroads will spend the week demystifying Halloween creatures. On October 28, 2022, at 6 p.m. will be our Evening with Owls. The Open Door Bird Sanctuary will be at Crossroads, offering a one-hour presentation followed by the opportunity to meet and greet live birds. Learn all about owls and the other incredible birds in the care of the Sanctuary! Down through the centuries, in many cultures throughout the world, owls have been associated with evil and death. Truth is, owls probably are not smart enough to be evil. But researchers agree that owls are about as dim as the nighttime forests in which they hunt. Owls don't need to be smart. They have everything else going for them. They are muscular. They fly silently. Their huge eyes enable them to see in the dark. Their beaks and talons are strong and wickedly sharp. But their sensitive ears are what make owls extraordinary hunters. Most people assume that the plumicorns (a.k.a. "horns) of an owl are its ears. Not so. The actual ears lie under feathers on the sides of the head, and they aren't symmetrical. Because one ear is higher than the other and the ears are unequal in size, sound is different from different directions, helping owls locate prey, which they do almost unfailingly, even in total darkness. Owls do not smell their prey. As with most birds, the sense of smell is insignificant, if it exists are all. Great Horned Owls frequently prey on skunks. Enough said. But well-developed intelligence? Researchers have observed owls beating their wings on bushes to try to flush out little birds. Is this learned behavior? Is it problem-solving? Maybe. For the most part, owls do not have a lot of problems to solve. They appropriate abandoned nests of other birds, so they don't need building skills. They are stealthy by nature, and they pounce on and usually catch anything they hear, so they don't need hunting techniques. In spite of ghost stories, legends of American First People, and superstitions from Europe and India, hooting owls do not foretell impending death, although their nocturnal calls are spooky. We hear them now and then this time of year, but we will regularly hear those eerie calls at Crossroads in January or February. In contrast to owls, crows are noisy all year round and they are amazingly intelligent. They can learn. They can remember. They can solve problems. They can even identify individual humans. And they detest owls, though whether this is innate or learned behavior is not clear. Those curious about crows will want to attend the Crossroads Book Club on Wednesday, October 26, at 10:00 a.m. This month, the book Crow Planet, Essential Wisdom for the Urban Wilderness by Lyanda Lynn Haupt will explore the fascinating world of these remarkable birds. The program is free and open to all, whether or not they have read the book. So bring the family to our program on owls, learn about crows at the Crossroads Book Club, or learn about bats at our pre-school Junior Nature Club on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. or our Family Science Saturday program at 2:00 p.m. Costumes are encouraged but not required at Junior Nature Club and Science Saturday, and adult visitors are welcome. dpa ElectionsData With dpa ElectionsData you get access to a unique collection of data. Via a programming interface (Rest-API), your developers can access detailed information, candidate profiles and live results for all national elections in the European Union and important international elections, like the US Midterm elections etc. The data pool also includes all heads of state and government as well as about 20,000 elected members of parliament throughout the EU. In addition to their data (name, party, constituency or list position), we collect social media profiles and official websites of individuals and parties. Twenty-four extra garda officers have been assigned to The Dundalk Garda Division since last October, after the tragic death of Garda Tony Golden. The Dundalk Municipal District Local Police Forum was told last week by Superintendent Gerry Curley and the new head of the Louth Garda Division, Chief Superintendent Sean Ward, that extra garda resources have been deployed to the area and that there has been a significant drop in crime in Dundalk and north Louth. Burglaries for the first three months of the year are down by more than a third on the same period of 2015 while the number of robberies had fallen by 73 per cent and thefts by 25 per cent. There has also been a significant increase of the number of arrests for drugs possession, up over 300 per cent, and a 150 per cent increase in detections of having drugs for sale or supply. Cllr Maeve Yore had previously raised the issue of garda resources at a meeting of Louth County Council and had requested that the council write to the Minister for Justice demanding extra Garda resources are made permanent in Louth. I am delighted that there are 24 extra permanent gardai assigned to Louth and there is a decrease already in relation to crimes committed, she said. Let's hope this trend continues and we can start reclaiming our communities. And Fine Gael deputy Peter Fitzpatrick is to press the Minister for Justice to increase the number of gardai in the Mid-Louth garda district. At a meeting of the Ardee Local Policing Forum, deputy Fitzpatrick said he will be meeting Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald, to discuss increasing the garda presence in Mid-Louth. I will be proposing an increase of three sergeants and eight garda officers, deputy Fitzpatrick said. Despite the current uncertainty about the formation of a new government it is important that we continue to fight for resources. Councillors on Ardee Municipal District want the pedestrian crossings at Bank of Ireland and John street moved because they are dangerous. The problem was raised at a meeting of Ardee Municipal District. Cllr Dolores Minogue raised the problem of the crossing at the Bank of Ireland which she said was really dangerous and several accidents had occurred there. Council engineer Gerry Kelly said that if the crossing is moved it should be north of the road junction at the bank. Cllr Jim Tenanty said the pedestrian crossing at John Street is also a problem as it is too close to the junction with the Drogheda Road. There have been two accidents there recently, he said. In one case, a bus had to stop to let people cross and two cars collided behind it. Mr Kelly said he would like the councillors to draw up proposals to move the crossings to a different location. Cllr Liam Reilly said all local community groups could first be contacted about proposed relocations. The meeting also heard that 5.3 million has been spent on buying up land to build the Ardee by-pass but there is no sign of the 15 million coming throgh to built the road. Engineer Gerry Kelly said it is not on the Government's capial investment plan and it will only go ahead of larger schemes in the country fail to use up all their funding. Cllr Pearse McGeough said a delegation of Ardee councillors should seek a meeting with the minister to press home the need for the by-pass. Cllr Com Markey said 15 million is not an insurmountable amout and Cllr Dolores Minogue said she would agree with the propsoal that the councillors lobby the minister. All councillors agreed that a by-pass would transform the town and improve the lieves of residents. CASE Conference organizers Dot Swift and Denise DiPaolo, RN go over plans for the May 11 Shining the Light on Mental Health conference to be held at the American Legion Post 1451. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO) Check out East Niagara Post videos on YouTube, Vine and Periscope. The Coalition of Agencies in Service to the Elderly (CASE) will hold its 27th Annual Spring Professional Networking Conference, Shining the Light on Mental Health from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 11 at the American Legion Post 1451 at 6525 Ward Road in Sanborn.The conference will feature specialists who will discuss current mental health issues affecting the senior population, as well as their caregivers and professional service providers. Community mental health resource information will also be provided. Registration for the event includes a continental breakfast, professional resource fair, boxed lunch, basket auction, a door prize and networking opportunities.Keynote speaker for the conference is Dr. Eileen Trigoboff, RN, PMHCNS-BC, DNS, DABFN. Trigoboff is the Director of Program Evaluation at Buffalo Psychiatric Center, Office of Mental Health. Following the keynote address there will be a discussion of current mental health issues of interest to anyone caring for seniors in the community. Speakers include Mental Health Association of Niagara County executive director, Cheryl Blacklock and Community Education Team member Heather Jones.CASE Chairperson Denise DiPaolo, RN said: We look forward to bringing mental health issues to the forefront, recognizing that it is far too often a taboo subject. DiPaolo said mental health awareness and available resources are essential components in the health and well-being of the senior population.The Shining the Light on Mental Health conference is recommended for professionals who work with the aging population including physicians, pharmacists, nurses, social workers, community service providers, service coordinators, and health and community care professionals. Registration is $20 and open to professionals throughout Western New York.For more information and to register, visit www.CaseNiagara.com or contact Colleen Osborn at Colleen.Osborn@Daemen.edu or 523-6179. Registrations can also be mailed, with payment made payable to CASE, to Colleen Osborn at 377 Roncroff Drive, North Tonawanda, NY, 14120. EBRD at 25: companies are at the forefront of job and wealth creation Support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is at the core of the EBRDs mandate. These private companies are at the forefront of job and wealth creation and represent the foundation of a prosperous society. In many successful advanced economies the small business sector is the backbone of the economy. EBRD at 25 We celebrate 25 years of investing for change SMEs stand at the cradle of the development of sound market economies. New firms usually start small. Some of them grow into global enterprises. But the vast majority remain close to the markets they were initially established to serve. This means that they are often more efficient, flexible and responsive to market developments. For an economy to succeed it needs a fine balance between a few global champions and the big mass of smaller companies. Huge modern car manufacturers need a wide web of small supportive suppliers, often spanning many countries and even continents. It is the interaction between the various actors which makes an economy successful. The small business sector is particularly important because it represents the advantages of a market economy in a nutshell. It stands for ownership, personal engagement and responsible risk taking. A vibrant private sector thrives on competition and inspires participants to keep improving their performances, innovation and creative solutions. While state-owned enterprises under communism floundered under the absurdities of central planning and the lack of ownership, private companies are at the foundation of a society formed by stakeholders. It is no coincidence that communism all but destroyed the private sector. One of the major tasks for the EBRD in its first 25 years of supporting its countries of operations was to re-build the small business sector. As Lech Waesa, the former leader of Solidarnosc and President of Poland, put it in a speech in 1996: It is easy to make fish soup from the aquarium with living goldfish, but just imagine what challenge it is to try to make the aquarium with living goldfish out of the fish soup. No matter how difficult it sounded at the time, there has been huge progress. Today, the SME sector in central and south-eastern Europe is on a scale with the advance economies of western Europe. In countries at an earlier stage of development, micro enterprises (with up to 10 employees) dominate. Where the medium-sized sector remains underdeveloped, economists have demonstrated the negative impact of this missing middle on the wider economy as is, for instance, the case in Russia or Kazakhstan. The EBRD has played a major role in supporting the development of a viable and sound small business sector. About a third of the Banks investment of more than 107 billion since 1991 has been directed towards micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Over the years the Bank has developed many initiatives and products to support this sector, ranging from direct credit lines under facilities to dedicated credit lines to financial institutions for on-lending, trade finance facilities and risk-sharing support. With the global economy stuck in sluggish growth, the SME sector faces challenges that stand in the way of its development. Last year, the Turkish G20 presidency identified three critical Is: investment, inclusion and implementation. Investment is about money, but is also about advisory services and helping entrepreneurs to translate a genius idea into a sound business. Inclusion stands for the effort to widen economic participation. The EBRD, together with partners, has developed highly successful Women in Business programmes. The impact of such initiatives goes beyond the economy. Similarly, the Bank is engaged in efforts to fight youth unemployment and support the economic integration of disadvantaged groups. Implementation, finally, is key. Here the EBRD not only has the benefit of long-standing experience and close cooperation. Recognising the importance of the sector, the EBRD launched its Small Business Initiative in 2013 which combines and simplifies the EBRD approach to make it even more far-reaching and effective. Donor support has been vital for the success of this programme. It remains all the more important as analysis shows that small business and private sector support is particularly important for new EBRD countries like Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey. PRESS RELEASE ECB appoints Anne-Sylvie Catherin as Director General Human Resources Anne-Sylvie Catherin to become Director General Human Resources Appointment effective as of 1 September 2016 at the latest The European Central Bank (ECB) is to appoint Anne-Sylvie Catherin, 46, as Director General Human Resources. She will take up her new role at the latest on 1 September 2016 and will report to Michael Diemer, Chief Services Officer. Ms Catherin currently heads the Human Resources Department of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, where she has worked since 1996 in managerial and professional positions. Before joining CERN, she worked as a Legal Advisor for the International Labour Organization Administrative Tribunal in Geneva and as a Humanitarian Officer for the Centre for Peace and anti-war actions, a non-governmental organisation, based in Zagreb, Croatia. The ECB has split the budget and human resources functions to create a Directorate General Human Resources and a Directorate General Budget and Finance, following a review of its organisational set-up. Together with the Directorates General Administration and Information Systems, the four areas fall under the direct responsibility of the Chief Services Officer. Michael Diemer said: Anne-Sylvies extensive experience in the development of a strategic human resources function and at intergovernmental organisations will be invaluable to the ECB. I look forward to working with her to attract and retain the best talents. As a trained lawyer, she has spent her professional career building up an impressive set of skills and knowledge that will serve the ECB well in its future development. For media queries, please contact Eva Taylor, tel.: +49 69 1344 7162. The current University of Michigan student body president filed a lawsuit Friday saying a former assistant state attorney general stalked him and inflicted emotional distress last year by posting alleged defamatory statements on a blog as part of a bizarre personal obsession that included calling him a Nazi, Ku Klux Klan member and a radical homosexual activist, according to a lawsuit. Chris Armstrong, the first openly gay student body president at U-M, filed the suit against Andrew Shirvell in Washtenaw County Circuit Court. He is asking for more than $25,000 in damages. ~SNIP~ At this point, its not about the money, [Armstrongs attorney Deborah] Gordon said. Mr. Shirvell has refused to retract any of his bizarre and untruthful points. We want to set the record straight. Shirvelling has its consequences and its price Over the past two years, Ive been following the story of former assistant Attorney General and confirmed stalking homophobe Andrew Shirvell as he made a mockery of our legal system. To recap, he was stalking University of Michigan student body president, Chris Armstrong, posting offensively Photoshopped images on an anti-Armstrong website, writing defamatory things about Armstrong (an openly gay man) and conducting one-man protests outside the home of Shirvell and his friends and family. It got so bad the Shirvell was eventually banned from campus. Armstrong obtained a personal protection order from Shirvell. He asked for a new judge because the judge he had was the sister of someone who didnt like him. That was denied. He was fired from his Asst. AG job and then counter-sued Armstrong for that. He tried to have his deposition sealed but was denied that. Armstrong eventually sued him. Yesterday, a jury awarded Armstrong $4.5 million. A federal court jury Thursday awarded $4.5 million to an openly gay former University of Michigan student body president who accused a former state attorney of stalking and defaming him. {} Standing outside federal court in downtown Detroit shortly after the verdict, Armstrong said he was elated. This is not just a victory for myself its a victory for a lot of other people, Armstrong said. It sends a message to bullies. {} Attorney Deborah Gordon said the jurys decision came down to holding someone accountable for unacceptable behavior. It means the community is not going to stand by and watch this happen to another person, she said. Armstrong said all along that he would withdraw his lawsuit if Shirvell would simply apologize and retract his statements. That was too much to ask for, apparently, so now Shirvell owes him $4.5 million. Shirvell will obviously not be able to pay that. Hes unemployed and, arguably, unemployable. Hes vowing to take it to the Supreme Court, claiming his 1st Amendment right to defame, stalk, and harass another citizen is being trampled. Its not over for this pathetic man. Armstrong also filed an ethics complaint seeking his disbarment. According to LGBTQNation, the state bars Attorney Grievance Commission is still investigating Shirvells actions. I know Chris Armstrong. Hes the local staff person in Ann Arbor for the Obama campaign and, in fact, is scheduled to speak at a precinct delegate organizing meeting and training session Im running tomorrow morning. Hes a kind, caring and energetic activist, a stark contrast to the hateful, small Shirvell. His family has set up a scholarship for bullied students and, should he ever be able to collect on his award, the money will go to that. As Chris said, this is a victory for bullied students, LGBT or otherwise, across the country. It proves that the 1st Amendment does NOT protect bullies and hateful people when they engage in these types of threatening, demeaning and harmful activities. Score one for the good guys. [CC image credit WalkInBoston | Flickr] The following guest post was written by my friend Chris Armstrong, Partnerships and Government Affairs Director for Small Business Majority. Chris was the former student body president of University of Michigan and experienced first hand the corrosive impacts of anti-gay bigotry at the hands of former state Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell who stalked and harassed him during his time at U of M. Armstrong sued Shirvell and ended up winning a $4.5 million judgment against him. You can learn more about Small Business Majority HERE. Enjoy. Around the country, were seeing a troubling trend of states passing laws that effectively legalize discrimination against LGBT people, sometimes known as religious exemption or religious freedom laws. The consequences of these laws are deep, and not just for members of the LGBT community. These laws pose a real threat to small businesses by making entire states inhospitable to loyal customers and talented employees. In Michigan, we need to protect our small businesses by putting a nondiscrimination policy in place and promoting a fair and open business community. For small business owners, revenue is a primary concern. From restaurants to small accounting firms, small businesses depend on paying customers and hard-working employees to turn a profit each month. But small business owners know that discriminatory policies can cost them their best customers and employees, as they relocate to more welcoming areas. Plus, larger national corporations with diverse operations can be reluctant to work with small businesses in states that have passed anti-LGBT laws. From Indiana to North Carolina, states are already seeing the broad economic impacts of discriminatory laws. After passing a religious exemption law, Indiana quickly lost nearly $60 million in revenue as major entertainers and industry groups canceled events in the state. In North Carolina, PayPal canceled the creation of 400 new jobs, and thats surely only the beginning of the states economic fallout from a new anti-LGBT law. In Mississippi, more than 50 major business executives have signed an open letter in protest of a new religious exemption law in the state. These consequences make it clear: anti-LGBT laws are damaging to state economies. And small business owners understand this fact polling from Small Business Majority found two-thirds of small businesses say business owners shouldnt be able to deny goods or services to LGBT individuals, and eight in 10 entrepreneurs support a federal law to protect LGBT individuals against discrimination in public accommodations, such as restaurants, hotels and other businesses that are open to the public. Additional polling found six in 10 Michigan small business owners believe their state should have a law prohibiting employment discrimination against LGBT people. In Michigan, a statewide nondiscrimination policy would differentiate us from states that have anti-LGBT laws in place and show were a state that opens its doors for everyone. For small businesses, this means more customers and employees. It will also help us compete with our neighboring states, like Illinois, that have already adopted nondiscrimination laws. The bottom line is that we cant afford to go down the same path as states like Indiana and North Carolina. Its time for us to say no to discrimination and say yes to prosperity by passing a nondiscrimination law and helping our small businesses thrive. This transgender womans advocacy helped her lifelong dream come true. This is part of a story series about the lives of transgender people. Read the introduction here. When Michelle Fox-Phillips first realized she wanted to be a girl, she was only two or three years old. She and her male cousin were very close, like brothers, and one day they were taking a bath together. Curious in the way most kids are, they tucked their tiny penises between their legs and said they were girls. It probably didnt mean much to Fox-Phillips cousin, but it did to her. Something clicked in my brain, but I didnt know what it was, she says. The feeling didnt go away. Even though she didnt have a name for it and she couldnt talk about it to anyone, because people generally didnt speak of such things in the 1950s and 60s when she was coming of age Fox-Phillips couldnt shake the feeling that she was really female, not the male gender she was assigned at birth. Around puberty, I started cross-dressing in my room, because I felt I needed it. I was fantasizing that I was Annette Funicello or Shelley Fabares from The Donna Reed Show. All through high school, I fantasized and cross-dressed in my room, wearing my mothers clothes and lingerie. I dreamed of getting married the white gown, Daddy walking me down the aisle, the white picket fence. It was my fantasy for my whole life. Fox-Phillips was closeted until after she separated from her first wife. She hid her cross-dressing from her wife and two sons, expressing her feminine self only when the children were asleep and her wife was out. But her wife came home unexpectedly one day and that, Fox-Phillips says, was the straw that broke the camels back. She started screaming at me, You pervert! I want nothing more to do with you. That played into my internal transphobia. I hated myself for being a cross-dresser, which was the only name I had for it. Why couldnt I be normal? It took me many years to work through that, but I finally did five or 10 years ago. After her first marriage ended, Fox-Phillips began identifying as a woman. She started taking hormones when she was 40 years old and was seeing a gender therapist. But she still didnt necessarily think of herself as being transgender or queer, until her gender therapist wrote the report recommending her for sex reassignment surgery (SRS). Fox-Phillips didnt have SRS until she was 50 years old, partly because of financial constraints and partly because she was afraid of surgery. She was a heavy smoker and had a family history of heart disease. I was afraid Id go under the knife and not wake up, she says. But she felt so strongly that she needed the surgery that she put her fears aside and went forward. It was a courageous move, especially since Fox-Phillips didnt really have a support system in place in 1998 to guide her through her transition. A friend mentioned Affirmations, and when she called about support services for the transgender community she was told they didnt have any. What happened next was significant on many levels. They asked me if I wanted to start a support group for transgender people and I said yes. I went through helpline training and facilitator training. I wanted to be on the helpline in case anyone called. Thats when I came out of the closet and began identifying as trans. I had my surgery in October of that year and started my support group two months later. I continued that support group until about four years ago, and I was the first trans volunteer at Affirmations. Im still very involved with Affirmations, particularly training new staff on trans issues. Fox-Phillips involvement in Affirmations for which she has been honored with the Jan Stevenson Award was a catalyst for her doing much, much more to support the transgender community in Michigan. She served on the Board of Transgender Michigan, which she helped establish, and later co-founded Transgender Detroit. She also served on the Board of Crossroads and worked with the Triangle Foundation on their Equality Pride PAC (now all part of Equality Michigan), began a transgender support group for parents and allies at PFLAG Detroit, which is ongoing. Plus, she started hosting holiday dinners for people who didnt have anywhere to go a tradition that began in her living room and is now carried on at Affirmations. About four years ago, Transgender Detroit evolved into Gender-identity Network Alliance (GNA), with Fox-Phillips as its Executive Director. The organization not only continues the Transgender Day of Remembrance that Transgender Detroit began back in 2001, but its also introducing new programs to support the transgender community. This includes initiatives to offer a holistic approach to transitioning, and support for people who are already in the process of transitioning. GNA also started the Queer Legal Project, which launched with a two-hour program on the process of getting a legal name change. Fox-Phillips hopes to add other legal programs, in addition to services like a voice clinic. GNA wants to make it as easy as possible for people to transition, Fox-Phillips says. We want to be a service activists organization. Theres no doubt that Fox-Phillips activism has created a support network for the transgender community that didnt exist before she started pushing for it. She didnt do it alone, but one person in particular was her helpmate in much of her work going back to her early days at Affirmations. It wasnt long after she came out that Fox-Phillips met Jamie Marie Phillips, who also identified as a woman. They served on the Board together at Transgender Michigan and co-founded Transgender Detroit. While they were doing so much good work for the transgender community, the couple fell in love. They were married in 2003, a day Fox-Phillips will never forget. My dream came true. I got married. I had my Daddy walk me down the aisle and my oldest son was my best man. I even got to wear a beautiful dress. I lived out my dream. Tragically, Fox-Phillips wife died just three years later. But by that time, Fox-Phillips had an entire community behind her including her father and two sons, who fully accepted her transition. No matter what, I will always be your dad, I told my sons when I came out to them when they were 11 and 13, she says. Today, Fox-Phillips continues her advocacy for the transgender community and is engaged in many endeavors, including the Trans* Visibility Art Gallery Opening on April 14. She has two pieces of her artwork in the gallery, which is sponsored by Affirmations and GNA. Fox-Phillips has some good advice for the transgender community. People shouldnt be afraid to transition they should be proud of who they are, whether or not they want to put the label transgender on themselves, she says. Dont let society beat you down. There are so many resources now for transgender people. Just be proud of who you are. Read all the stories in this series HERE. [Photos courtesy of Michelle Fox-Phillips.] Amazon on Wednesday launched the Kindle Oasis the latest upgrade to its popular line of e-readers. Along with features that are arguably revolutionary, it comes with a price point that may shock more than a few customers. The Oasis is the thinnest and lightest e-reader it has ever produced, Amazon said. Without the cover, it weighs in at just 4.6 ounces and is only 3.4 mm at its thinnest point, making it 30 percent thinner on average and 20 percent lighter than any other Kindle. It has a featherweight polymer frame, thanks to structural electroplating, which makes it both extremely light and tough enough to operate in any environment. Its available in WiFi-only and 3G models. The Oasis is designed for extended reading, with a dual battery charging system that provides months of battery life. Its reimagined form factor allows users to hold it in one hand while reading and turn the page with either a touchscreen or buttons. It has a built in accelerometer that automatically detects whether users are reading with their right or left hands, and automatically rotates the page and page turn buttons to accommodate. To lean back and read for hours, you need a sanctuary from distraction, said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. We want Kindle to disappear, and Kindle Oasis is the next step in that mission. Speculation Rampant Bezos last week tweeted that the all-new, top-of-the-line Kindle was almost ready, and promised further details would be forthcoming this week, which set off a frenzied amount of speculation, including numerous reports carrying images leaked in Asia and Canada. What is really revolutionary about the Oasis is the dual-charging system, which has a battery inside the leather charging cover. It begins recharging as soon as the cover touches the Kindle. The cover comes in black, merlot or walnut, and has 12 magnets that make sure it remains closed when not in use. The Oasis has a 300 ppi Paperwhite display that includes 60 percent more LEDs, for the brightest light display ever on a Kindle. The display uses a 200-micron display backplane that is as thin as a sheet of foil, Amazon noted. The e-reader is available for pre-order at a hefty US$289.99, and will begin shipping on April 27th. Due to popular demand, some configurations of the device will not ship until later, according to Amazon. The market for tablet sales has been slowing in recent years, especially for pure e-readers. Many consumers are content to use smartphones, which have grown in size and versatility. However, there remains a hardcore following for pure e-readers. Thanks to their low prices, relatively long-lived batteries, and easy-on-the-eyes displays, many dedicated book readers consider them indispensable. Refreshing the Category Those are the consumers Amazon is appealing to with the Oasis. Amazon is taking a clear, new tack on the Kindle, in terms of both ergonomic design and energy efficiency, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. Keeping the category fresh is important, he told the E-Commerce Times, as dedicated e-readers still face significant competition from 7-inch tablets such as Googles Nexus, as well as the smaller iPads and even Amazons own line of Fire tablets. Widening and thickening the bezel and extending the battery life will help consumers see that they can still get additional features from the e-reader category, King noted. However, the price point could hinder wider adoption, he said. The $290 price tag will take it out of the impulse buy category, Tirias Research analyst Kevin Krewell told the E-Commerce Times. Im not sure they hit the right mix here, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. The ePaper products typically have been toward the bottom of the price range not toward the top, he pointed out. With the Oasis $290 price point, a screen larger than the standard 6 inches would be in order, Enderle told the E-Commerce Times. He considered the Kindle Voyage, priced at $199, a better deal. 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EIB President Werner Hoyer told an audience of policymakers in Washington DC that the EU's bank, as one of the biggest providers for ICT investment globally, would not only provide financing but also advisory services and expertise to help meet the goal. The Global Connectivity Initiative is led by the US State Department and the World Bank Group. In line with long-standing EU policy goals, the initiative aims to mobilise Multilateral Development Banks like the EIB and key political actors to focus in particular on rural communities in developing countries who are not able to take advantage of the services and connections as well as economic opportunities that the internet has to offer. Speaking at the Global Connect Initiative event in Washington DC, on the margins of the IMF/World Bank Group Spring meetings, EIB President Werner Hoyer said, We at the EIB are fully committed to support the global community to bridge the digital divide. It remains a real challenge. Today, in spite of important advances in improving connectivity, too many people, in particular, in rural regions of the world continue to be left behind." "Connectivity is a crucial factor in the future prosperity of developing nations. It is also one of the Sustainable Development Goals which we are committed to help realise. Broadband access in developing countries often functions as a substitute for non-existent physical infrastructure and transport links. Its also a way to extend financial services to people who cant reach a bank. The same is true of agricultural, social security, health and educational services." President Hoyer added, "I congratulate John Kerry and his team for this Global Connectivity Initiative. Today, alongside our partners in the Development community, we offer our financing support-and our experience and expertise. This is as important as the financing itself: tailored advisory services that help access finance and get digital projects off the ground." The EIB is currently finalising a ground-breaking new facility called the Broadband Investment Fund. In the context of the European Investment Plan, the aim is to bring together public and private funds across Europe to put $570 million into small broadband investments, mostly in infrastructure for rural areas. The EIB believes this could provide a useful model for larger scale investment out of Europe as well. See Werner Hoyer's full speech here on the Global Connectivity Initiative: http://www.eib.org/attachments/press/20160414_global_connectivity_event_hoyer_speech_en.pdf More information: The EIB supports the ICT and broadband sectors through a combination of financing and advisory support. With a current global ICT investment portfolio of EUR 15 billion, the EIBs commitment in 2015 to ICT projects was EUR 1.6 billion - part of its overall EUR 18.7 billion financing for the innovation/knowledge economy. Over the past 5 years, the EIBs total lending for innovation/ knowledge economy was EUR 65 billion. Of that total, EUR 12 billion financed capital investment in ICT projects, of which EUR 8.9 billion was for broadband. The EIB's financing for the digital sector is focused on three main areas: broadband infrastructure; the ICT equipment industry mostly for RDI projects; digital operating software and applications in industrial RDI projects such as in the automotive and engineering sectors. The EIBs strategic objectives include a continued increase of investments to improve broadband connectivity both the support the sector itself as well as to improve growth and productivity of the wider economy. The EIB is committed to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through risk-based financing and in addition , through collaborating with other MDBs as well as national financial institutions and by providing advisory support to increase the investment readiness of public-private investments, with a particular focus on rural areas and on high development impact investments , within and outside the EU. Background The EIB is active in 160 countries around the world. As a key player in the world of development finance, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is participating in the 2016 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) taking place in Washington DC. As the EU bank, the EIB provides long-term finance for sound, sustainable investment projects in support of EU policy goals including the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We are one of the the largest multilateral lenders and in the world and are owned by the EUs 28 member states. The EIB invests in four priority areas in support of growth and job creation: innovation and skills; access to finance; climate action and environment; and strategic infrastructure As the worlds largest climate financier, the EIB is playing a particularly important role in helping to tackle climate change. Last year around 27% of all lending went towards climate action. The Bank is committed to raising the proportion of climate investment to 35% in developing countries by 2020, and placing a greater emphasis on helping regions in the frontline of climate change to adapt. For more information For projects and news, as well updates on EIB activities in Washington : www.eib.org/globalcooperation European Strategic Fund for Investments www.eib.org/efsi President Hoyer on IMF/World Bank Group Spring Meetings: video Oct. 13, 2022 Prior to this summer, the memorial garden had lost its shine and perhaps had gone forgotten. That was when 18 year old Annabelle Smith, daughter of an Eielson Airman and a Girl Scout for 13 years, decided to take on a renovation project as a part of a Gold Award project, one of the highest awards in Ely, Cambridgeshire is best known for its majestic cathedral dubbed the 'Ship of the Fens' because it dominates the flat landscape. The city, which is the second smallest in England, is about 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles by road from London. 08:11, 22 OCT 2022 Minister 'destroying' agriculture claim MNFU Brian Brumby Farmers on the Isle of Man are not being listened to at a time when the industry is facing a "huge crisis". That's the accusation from the Manx National Farmers Union which has launched a blistering attack on the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture. The outburst comes after a consultation was launched to look at integrating farming and fisheries grant schemes - Minister Richard Ronan has been accused of "destroying" Manx agriculture. Brian Brumby is the president of the MNFU - he says the department needs to realise it delivers much more than just "niche food products": Media Brian Brumby Re: Language barrier Quote: Valentino miki Which language is good for the long run?? French or swiss french. Standard german, swiss german, or swiss standard german. And in how many years can I be fluent in both languages, hence german and french?? I am moving to $swissCity, will $language work? (example. "I am moving to Zurich. Will French work?"= Can I get by with $language in $location? Do people in $location speak $language? ... Basically, it goes like so: Learn the local language The Swiss are quite the territorial bunch. People from Geneve occasionally refuse to understand anything but French. People from Zurich might run at the sound of French, if they understand it. Despite Swiss Germans learning French at school and Romandes learning German at school, there's no guarantee that they are fluent in or even understanding that language. Here's a map The only exception here is Rumantsch (aka. Ratoromanisch). As it is a dying language, it might be the official language of a few places in the country, but it doesn't function in a societal context. So learn German if you end up in a Rumantsch area. French French and Swiss French are largely identical. Italian Italian and Swiss Italian are largely identical. German, however... About Swiss German There are massive differences between German German and Swiss German. The Swiss understand the Germans, apart from the extreme dialects, without a problem. The Germans usually only understand a fraction of what the Swiss are saying Germans report that it's easy to learn to understand Swiss German, but difficult to learn to speak it. When you end up in a German part of Switzerland, learn standard high german. There are plenty courses at places like the Migros Klubschule. I know a few Germans who are learning Swiss German and they all say that there's no smart way of learning it. They all do it the hard way: Replace a German word with a Swiss word. One at a time. Can I get by with English? Probably. You will be able to survive not speaking any local language. But especially in the Swiss German part of the country, people will not accept you if you don't make the effort to share a language with them. So you will be able to survive, but you won't be one of the locals and socializing will be incredibly difficult. How long does it take to learn a language? That is quite the question. It depends on a variety of factors, that are all highly individual. It depends on how good a learner you are, your knack for languages and so on. It is highly unlikely that you'll be fluent within a few months, so we're talking years here. The best way to learn the language is immersing yourself in it. Luckily, there's a rich culture for each language spoken in this country. So go for it: Watch movies and listen to songs, write texts and read papers and so on. Also, do take language courses at Klubschule or somewhere else. Basically, get as much foreign language into your life as you can and take the official language diploma tests. The Goethe ones or the DELF. I hope I have helped. That's really all there is to learning a language. Immersion. So have fun! The general rule for this question and many questions like it:Basically, it goes like so:The Swiss are quite the territorial bunch. People from Geneve occasionally refuse to understand anything but French. People from Zurich might run at the sound of French, if they understand it. Despite Swiss Germans learning French at school and Romandes learning German at school, there's no guarantee that they are fluent in or even understanding that language.The only exception here is Rumantsch (aka. Ratoromanisch). As it is a dying language, it might be the official language of a few places in the country, but it doesn't function in a societal context. So learn German if you end up in a Rumantsch area.There are massive differences between German German and Swiss German.When you end up in a German part of Switzerland, learn standard high german. There are plenty courses at places like the Migros Klubschule.I know a few Germans who are learning Swiss German and they all say that there's no smart way of learning it. They all do it the hard way: Replace a German word with a Swiss word. One at a time.Probably. You will be able to survive not speaking any local language. But especially in the Swiss German part of the country, people will not accept you if you don't make the effort to share a language with them.So you will be able to survive, but you won't be one of the locals and socializing will be incredibly difficult.That is quite the question. It depends on a variety of factors, that are all highly individual. It depends on how good a learner you are, your knack for languages and so on.It is highly unlikely that you'll be fluent within a few months, so we're talking years here.The best way to learn the language is immersing yourself in it. Luckily, there's a rich culture for each language spoken in this country. So go for it: Watch movies and listen to songs, write texts and read papers and so on. Also, do take language courses at Klubschule or somewhere else. Basically, get as much foreign language into your life as you can and take the official language diploma tests. The Goethe ones or the DELF.I hope I have helped. That's really all there is to learning a language. Immersion. So have fun! Re: Where to find a place to stay for 2 weeks? If you request well, then you might find several hosts, so you could stay with four or five different sets of people, each for two or three days, which would probably make your stay very interesting. Also: you could try ums.ch, for example http://www.ums.ch/moeblierte-wohnung...4391/6.143158/ Although these particular two ads both specify "at least one month", they are cheaper than some other options, even if you used such a room for only your two weeks. You could also join couchsurfing (a website for free hospitality) and try there. Just be aware that people are much more likely to want to host you if you take the trouble to fill out your profile, so that they get a sense of who you are, what interests you, what you consider important, what you like to do in your free time, and some contents of your work. Since you still have some months, you can read lots of profiles to see how people do it and what works (= leads to happy visits). You could also try to meet some couchsurfers near where you live, now, and ask them for advice on how they did it, and ask them to write you a reference, so your profile is filled out and becomes a true represenation of the kind of person you are.If you request well, then you might find several hosts, so you could stay with four or five different sets of people, each for two or three days, which would probably make your stay very interesting.Also: you could try ums.ch, for exampleAlthough these particular two ads both specify "at least one month", they are cheaper than some other options, even if you used such a room for only your two weeks. Re: Migrants, Refugees, Asylum Seekers or Other terms? We're going in circles now - you condradict yourself and you are in fact against any and all border controls... Quote me on that. where did i say abolish border controls? We need borders, but its stupid to think we can shut them down, keep everyone out, and pretend as though nothing is going on. Sooner or later, Europe will need to deal with the thousands of people. It would also help if the people of these 'shitholes' would also prevent them from turning into 'shitholes' to begin with. How is this all Europe's fault and responsibility? The greatest help would have been if we hadnt helped those people make the shitholes by selling them and giving them bulelts and bombs with which to reduce those places to shitholes. European nations (the UK most of all) sold and are still making money by supplying the regimes in those areas. What do we think will happen to the guns and bombs we sell? Will they be put in storage for a rainy day? No, they will be used, and likely against those with no means to respond Damaging itself by trying to prevent the inevitable? That's like saying Rome should have just invited all of it's enemies over for a day at the zoo, petting rainbow unicorns together- the republic would have held up really well, no? You're blind if you think the Syrian war has nothing to do with ethnicity - the Sunnis are just waiting to kill off the Alawites. Same with the Kurds. This is why Assad has been allowed to remain in power for so long - if not, they'll likely be a genocide. Do you not follow the news? And yes, all of these things could be solved with a national identity - it's the modus operundi of the development of democracy - and the reason that the Ticinese, Romandie, and Swiss Germans aren't still at each other's throats after all these years. Rome? As in, Ancient Rome? riiight. Because the modern EU is, in every way, identical to the Roman Empire. PS, the roman empire actually did accept refugees and migrants, and gave them purpose. You should research what the auxilia units of the roman empire consisted of and the benefit they conferred. People have wanted to hurt and harm each other since day one but lacked the ability to do so - but when we give them guns and bombs, that restriction suddenly disappears. Saddam never made any secret of his plan to kill the kurds - yet we still sold him millions of arms. The same applies to the saudis and the rebels. Russia still sold Iran and Sirya weapons - despite there being no secret about who they would be used on. Assad has remained in power because of his Russian allies, Its a bit simplistic to put it down to ethnic sensibilites, and implies you have a very poor understanding of what actually kicked off the process. Who's saying 'go home'? You repeatedly suggest that i'm against humanitarian cause of granting asylum to those in need - because that's just what you want to believe. Does it make you feel better? What is your solution, anyway? Another Iraq or Libya? Would that be better for the people of Eritrea? God, no. The last thing we need is yet another Iraq/Libya. I am no international statesman or diplomat, but i'llgive it a shot. I would concentrate on Eritrea itself - use diplomatic means to force the government to change. They wish to portray themselves as a legitimate government, give them the opportunity to do so. We have a UN - use them to administer emergency accommodation and support to people fleeing Eritrea. People fleeing Eritrea need to go through either Ethiopia or Sudan - both countries which could be diplomatically engaged. UN Administered accommodation and help for those fleeing Eritrea in neighbouring nations, without those same people needing to carry on going to Europe. If necessary, protected by UN Peacekeepers. It is far easier to settle people from Eritrea in Sudan and Ethiopia rather than in Europe. Some could go across the red sea, but i doubt many make that journey considering there is another warzone on the other side. Help Sudan and Ethiopia settle these people and a large majority wont continue making the journey to Europe. Currently, Sudan and Ethiopia offer little better than Eritrea - change this. Work with the African Union to get the whole continent pulling in the same direction. Again, im no statesman, and these plans would need a lot of work. But its surely better then the current situation continuing ad nauseum. It wont be easy, but then again, real diplomacy never is. They are not 'stranded' FFS, Idomeni is not an island even if it is on one. Sources? Haven't you been reading the news? I can't be bothered to search for it right now - though i've read it more than 5 times now in various mainstream new outlets. If they go to the reception centers, they will have to register. And in registering, they might not be able to make it to Germany or Sweden. If they stay right at the border, they have a chance of rushing through if it opens (or storming it if it doesn't open) So, no reputable sources. e should just take your word for it. Ok. Sorry, but i'm not swayed by an image of a dead child - This mentality of yours, and Merkel's policy, encouraged a surge of dangerous rubber dingy boat trips, human smugglers, etc - and the deaths of hundreds of more children at sea . It's like waving a million dollars at a poor person - who only needs to survive a round or two of Russian roulette to win it from you. So kind. No, the war, death, murder, destruction, rape, genocide, chemical warfare, terrorism, and chaos did that. If what you say is true, this would have happened decades ago. Why is this crisis only now unfolding? And im not ashamed to admit, the lifeless body of a child on a beach did affect me. It angered me that in the 21st century, in this day and age, we still stand for situations that allow dead little boys to wash up on beaches. Let me get this straight - you're against border controls, but think that people who have already been granted asylum should be deported? OMG, not even Orban would suggest something like that. Did you forget to drink your V8 this morning? No, dunce. let me bold it again: Where it makes sense, for security or for judicial reasons, they should be deported In other words, if they pose a direct physical threat to us, or if they are judged to have committed crimes so serious they no longer warrant the new life they have been offered, then they have given up their life here, and i have no qualms about deportation. Nowhere did i say i am against border controls, so stop peddling that myth. And the rest of the EU? What's wrong with it? No options to build a better life than in war-ravaged Syria? what a joke of an argument - they want the money. The handouts. Who can blame them - if you offer a free buffet to strangers, don't be surprised when they prefer the lobster to the frozen fish sticks. It's not their fault, it's the EU's for being so naive. As in, paying Afghans 3+ years of average Afghani salary as a payoff to return home. That'll stop them from coming... Nothing - and while they may believe they have the right to settle where they like, they do not have that right, and nor have i claimed that they do. As long as they are given a real chance to better themselves, they can settle where there is space. They may have a first choice, but Europe does not need to offer that luxury. It can offer them a safe space, and security, without pandering. That argument, that they are here for handouts - is poisonous. I have yet to see a reputable source suggest that this is the case. I have yet to meet a refugee who was unwilling to work. I seriously doubt that many refugees are coming here to take advantage of the truly enormous 21CHF they get. I have, on the other hand, met many Europeans who believe they are entitled, because they had the good fortune of being born within certain arbitrary geographical lines. Where is your reputable source for this claim? Re: JK Rowling on tax evasion- good on her Quote: fatmanfilms Prentend austerity, not the real austerity that the UK had after the war for 35 years. I guess your too young to remember. Actually, this is a very good example of why austerity is pushing public spending up. By cutting her 40 a week independance allowence, she has cost the NHS, HMRC and the local economy (loss of taxes, spending power) a lot more. Yes there was austerity after WWII but the money the government spent was spent on things like building the NHS and puuting in place safety nets. People could see good coiming out of austerity in the 40's. People could see that there was a future. Sure, there was rationing well into the 50's, but then on the other hand, falling ill was not fatal to the poorest anymore, so people might grumble, but carried on. Try telling that to my disabled friend who has had her DLA cut so is now unable to get to work, who had to wait for over an hour for an privitised ambulence because she can no longer afford taxis, waiting so long she missed her morphine injection and nearly had to spend another night in hospital.Actually, this is a very good example of why austerity is pushing public spending up. By cutting her 40 a week independance allowence, she has cost the NHS, HMRC and the local economy (loss of taxes, spending power) a lot more.Yes there was austerity after WWII but the money the government spent was spent on things like building the NHS and puuting in place safety nets. People could see good coiming out of austerity in the 40's. People could see that there was a future. Sure, there was rationing well into the 50's, but then on the other hand, falling ill was not fatal to the poorest anymore, so people might grumble, but carried on. Re: Basic Income Referendum June 5 Quote: Phil_MCR The whole point of universal/basic income is that it is given unconditionally. Even if you are earning billions. Quote: So you can quit your job and still receive the 2'500 each month. Of course, net-net, you have no advantage for high earners since your taxes need to increase by more than this to pay for everybody else's 2'500 and the extra admin on top. It does appear that this scheme's proponents crunched their numbers so that funding would not be too expensive, but they've made quite a few presumptions too - just as you presumed many would claim the 2.5k, they seem to have presumed far fewer would. Truth is we have no clue - any research on the effects of such a policy is patchy and I don't believe there's been any pilot in Switzerland. Personally, I think it's an interesting idea, but opinion on it seems polarized on ideological grounds. Some oppose it making sweeping statements on how it won't work, others underplay and massage some of the flaws that are raised and espouse some of it's more dubious benefits. I've not read the above Guardian article, but I'd imagine it's probably very pro and very much full of holes once examined with a cynical eye - much like the Mail, but the holes are better hidden. My understanding is that is not exactly what is being proposed. What is 'guaranteed' is everyone will be guaranteed a basic income, so if they're not earning it, the government steps in - if they do, well they've superseded that basic - good for them. I can be corrected if wrong.There would be some admin (to deal with fraud), but significantly less than before. Having said that, social payments cover more than poverty or long term unemployment, but physical and mental health and other issues and I've heard few details on how this would be dealt with and it's continued administrative costs.It does appear that this scheme's proponents crunched their numbers so that funding would not be too expensive, but they've made quite a few presumptions too - just as you presumed many would claim the 2.5k, they seem to have presumed far fewer would. Truth is we have no clue - any research on the effects of such a policy is patchy and I don't believe there's been any pilot in Switzerland.Personally, I think it's an interesting idea, but opinion on it seems polarized on ideological grounds. Some oppose it making sweeping statements on how it won't work, others underplay and massage some of the flaws that are raised and espouse some of it's more dubious benefits.I've not read the above Guardian article, but I'd imagine it's probably very pro and very much full of holes once examined with a cynical eye - much like the Mail, but the holes are better hidden. If put into effect, economic analysis, such as it is in fisheries, will have more influence and fewer fish will be caught because economists are better fish conservationists than biologists. NOAA Fisheries Service is proposing to modify the guidelines that help fishery managers implement National Standard 1 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. National Standard 1 requires fishery managers to prevent overfishing and rebuild stocks in federal waters - from three to 200 miles off U.S. coasts - while achieving the optimum yield from each fishery. Overfishing is a level of fishing that threatens the long-term health and sustainability of a fishery. Optimum yield is based on the maximum sustainable yield a fishery can produce, as reduced by ecological, economic and social considerations. The National Marine Fisheries Service (I can't seem to wrap my head around their new name, NOAA FIsheries) is proposing major rule changes designed to reduce overfishing more quickly. From the NMFS fact sheet : First, the basic economic analysis of the fishery. As more people fish more hours with more gear (all called "effort" in fisheries jargon) catch and revenue increases. That is, up to a certain point. Somewhere along the way people catch too many fish and "recruitment" (baby fishes being born) falls and fish stocks fall. At this point, more effort actually decreases catch and revenues. Now for the costs. The costs of fishing increase with more effort. Done. So, imagine an unregulated fishery. Boats fish until there is no more profit to be earned. This occurs when the catch, revenues, and stock of fish are at low points. Fishers don't make much money. Biologists try to improve on this by regulating for the "maximum sustainable yield" (MSY) MSY is the maximum catch that can occur every year. In effect, MSY maximizes revenues. When economists enter the picture they scratch their heads and wonder why biologists regulate to maximize revenues instead of profits. In other words, why do biologists ignore the costs of fishing? Economists promote the "optimal sustainable yield" (OSY) where the effort level is set where the difference between revenues and costs is maximized. As it turns out, the OSY effort level is usually below the MSY effort level. Lower effort leads to less catch and healthier fish stocks. That is why I think I can get away with saying that economists are better fish conservationists than biologists. So back to the NMFS proposed rule. The OSY part of it is this: Councils would set the target catch, called the optimum yield, for a given fishery at less than the maximum sustainable yield. The current guidelines allow the Councils to set optimum yield equal to the maximum sustainable yield. This change would reduce the risk of overfishing by providing a buffer between the target fishing rate and the rate that would produce the maximum sustainable yield. This part of the proposed rule, and others, are generating lots of heat. From NMFS's weekly Fishnews email: This month "Bill's Corner" sets the record straight on NOAA Fisheries' proposed changes to the National Standard 1 Guidelines to end overfishing and the misrepresentation of these important changes that have appeared in the press. "Bill" is Bill Hogarth, NMFS Director. He says: Since the proposal is primarily scientific and technical in nature and has been misunderstood and therefore misrepresented in the press, I want to be very clear about our goal and what we would achieve. Our goal is an end to overfishing, resulting in healthy, sustainable stocks and fisheries. So, if you like efficiency and/or healthy fish stocks, here is your chance to have some impact: The conditions imposed by the amendment to the panchayati raj law in Haryana have not only excluded a large section of the population from contesting elections but have also deprived voters of their right to choose. All appropriate measures must be undertaken to ensure that these exclusionary conditions are withdrawn. The panchayati raj elections in Haryana were held in January under the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015 brought about by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. The amendments impose rather regressive conditions for contesting elections. The candidates educational qualification is one such criterion; failure to repay loans taken from cooperative societies, electricity bill arrears, not having a pucca functional toilet at ones residence and being chargesheeted in criminal cases that specify imprisonment up to 10 years are some others. The Rajasthan government also led by the BJP had imposed similar conditions in 2014 just before the panchayat elections in that state. Narendra Modi recently described himself as an Ambedkar bhakt and also assured Dalits that he would never dilute reservations even if B R Ambedkar himself were to come back to life and demand their revocation. The faux pas reveals the desperation of the Hindutva forces to woo Dalits by misrepresenting Ambedkar and the critical role reservation plays in the political schema of the ruling classes. Reservations, which are assumed to be a boon for Dalits, have actually been the tool of their enslavement. I am no worshipper of idols. I believe in breaking them. B R Ambedkar1 While the Bharatiya Janata Partys political experiment in making inroads into Assam over the past decade has been discussed at length, surprisingly little attention has been devoted towards understanding the contribution of the social and cultural wings of Sangh Parivar in deepening the roots of Hindutva in the state. This analysis becomes important primarily because Assam (like her other north-eastern sister states) does not provide a particularly fertile territory for the growth of Hindutva, an ideology which finds a natural point of entry in the Hindi heartland states, with its invocation of Ram Mandir, cow protection or the propagation of Hindi and Sanskrit languages. Given the complexity of the demography of this region that consists of a melange of races, ethnicities, faiths, customs and cultures, and the multiplicity of issues, it becomes extremely difficult for an ideology riding on religious nationalism to identify common ground that enables it to make a dent in the region. This essay makes an attempt to understand how Hindu nationalism navigated through this difficult terrain to establish itself both institutionally and ideologically at the social and cultural realm in Assam. Dear Reader, To continue reading, become a subscriber. Explore our attractive subscription offers. Click here The students of the University of Hyderabad have passed a resolution unanimously at their Students' Union's general body meeting on 12 April 2016 demanding a Committee Against Prejudice and Discrimination on campus. This committee is seen as a way to institutionalise their struggle against prejudice and discrimination, which saw an intensification in the past few months. This proposed CAPD will comprise all sections of the university community and will focus on redressing complaints of prejudicial treatment and discrimination within campus. Modelled on the anti-sexual harrassment committee, it is also expected to create awareness about overt and covert forms of discrimination and prejudice. We, the Students Union of University of Hyderabad, believe that Rohith Vemulas decision to take his own life is a symptom of a larger problem that plagues institutions of higher education in India. The University of Hyderabad (UoH), considered a premier institution of India, has not taken adequate steps to support and protect students from socially underprivileged castes, even after students have raised grievances repeatedly, and some had even taken their own lives in despair! To address caste-based, and other forms of discrimination in higher educational institutions, the institutions must accept that discrimination on the basis of caste and other identities, in overt and covert ways, is a reality on our campuses. The Students Union of UoH would like to suggest an institutional mechanisms that shall ensure that these deep-seated social practices are addressed head-on. We demand that each higher educational institution establish a Committee Against Prejudice and Discrimination (CAPD). It must be in keeping with Article 15 and Article 21 of the Constitution of India, which together protect citizens from discrimination by the state or fellow citizens on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, and ensures the right to live with human dignity. The main focus of the CAPD must be to look into complaints regarding acts of prejudice and/or discrimination against Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), religious minorities, sexual minorities, women, transgenders, racial, and ethnic minorities. The CAPD must be structured on the lines of the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GS-CASH). The CAPD must be widely representative (women, OBCs, religious, sexual, racial, and ethnic minorities, etc), while ensuring that at least half the committee comprises SC and ST members and it is headed by a person from SC/ST background. Student representatives must be part of the committee. Higher educational institutions must collectively constitute a high-level committee to formulate rules for the CAPD immediately. And the committee must be given a clear briefing, and a deadline to submit its report. A course should be introduce for all students in universities and colleges to increase their knowledge and understanding about the problem of caste ,ethnicity ,gender and other issues .This course should be compulsory. Many countries such as USA, Scotland and UK have introduced courses on civic learning or Citizenship Education for students. A Module and administrative guidelines should be prepared to sensitize administers and teachers in universities and colleges. Reform the present Remedial Coaching schemes of UGC to make it effective with increased funding. An Ombudsman must be appointed for each university for redressal of grievances of students as per the University Grants Commission (Grievance Redressal) Regulations, 2012. We believe that this will help the campus communities and institutions address issues of prejudice and discrimination, which otherwise have no dedicated forum to redress these kinds of grievances. It is, we hope, understood that creating awareness about prejudiced practices, and acts of discrimination will be one of the main roles of the CAPD. This is the only way that a dialogue about prejudice and discrimination can be brought about in our educational institutions. We hope that the heads of the higher educational institutions will act immediately on our proposal, and help build prejudice- and discrimination-free campuses and institutions. Younited Italia, Nicola Manzari e il nuovo Coo, Luca Faccini e Head of Growth e Domenico Petraroli e General Counsel HOUSTON - (April 14, 2016) - One in 5,000 babies is born missing a small amount of genetic material from the tip of chromosome 1, a region called 1p36. Missing genes in the 1p36 region is a relatively common cause of intellectual disability. These children may also have delayed development, seizures, heart and kidney defects, and problems with vision and hearing. The number and severity of these medical conditions varies greatly among children with 1p36 deletions. Scientists think that one reason for this variability is that the genes that are missing from the 1p36 region are not the same in each individual. Knowing which genes are actually involved in the development of this syndrome would help physicians predict the type of medical conditions a child with a 1p36 deletion might encounter and would make it easier to create individualized care plans for these patients. In a paper published today in the American Journal of Human Genetics, a multidisciplinary team including Baylor College of Medicine researchers has determined that mutations in one gene, RERE, can cause many of the features associated with 1p36 deletions. "This discovery is important for the parents of the children with this syndrome because it answers one of their most pressing questions, what are the problems that my child is likely to have?" said Dr. Daryl A. Scott, associate professor of molecular and human genetics and molecular physiology and biophysics at Baylor and one of the two senior authors of this report. Scott worked closely with Dr. Elliot H. Sherr, the other senior author of the paper, Sherr's team from the department of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, and other physicians and scientists from around the world to identify 10 patients with mutations in RERE, which is located in the 1p36 region. These patients had medical problems that were very similar to those of patients in which dozens of 1p36 genes are deleted. "We are the first to provide evidence that RERE mutations alone can cause developmental problems typical of 1p36 deletions. RERE is important in early development," said Scott. This discovery is the culmination of 10 years of research in mice and other animal models. Scott and colleagues demonstrated that, in mice, Rere mutations alone result in the animals having many of the characteristics observed in patients with 1p36 deletion syndrome. However, it was impossible to prove that RERE could play the same role in humans. "One of the big surprises of our paper is that just one gene can cause many of the problems observed when the tip of chromosome 1 is deleted," said Scott. "We anticipate that this finding will be of particular interest to the parents in the 1p36 Deletion Support & Awareness group." In addition, the research is a boon to families of children with RERE mutations, who know for the first time the reason their children share this group of developmental disabilities. "Just having an answer can be hugely beneficial for families," said Sherr, a practicing neurologist who works closely with these patients and their families. "Of course, getting a genetic answer is just the first step, but for the longest time we didn't even have that much. It gives these families hope that we can move forward." Sherr is also with the department of pediatrics at UCSF. The next step in Scott's research will be to focus on the role of RERE in the development of the brain, heart, eye and other organs. ### The following researchers also contributed to these research: Brieana Fregeau, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco; Bum Jun Kim, Andres Hernandez-Garcia, Jill A. Rosenfeld, and Seema R. Lalani, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor; Valerie K. Jordan, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor; Megan T. Cho, Rhonda E. Schnur, Kristin G. Monaghan, and Jane Juusola, GeneDx, Gaithersburg, MD; Elizabeth Bhoj and Elaine H. Zackai, Division of Genetics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Stephanie Sacharow, Division of Medical Genetics, Boston Children's Hospital; Kristin Baranano, Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Danielle G.M. Bosch and Bert B.A. de Vries Department of Human genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, The Netherlands; Kristin Lindstrom, Philip James and Peggy Kulch, Division of Genetics and Metabolism, Phoenix Children's Hospital; Dani?lle G.M. Bosch, Bartimeus Institute for the Visually Impaired, The Netherlands, and the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Medical Center, The Netherlands; Mieke M. van Haelst, Koen L.I. van Gassen and Ellen van Binsbergen, Department of Genetics, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands; A. James Barkovich, Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco; and Audrey Schroeder, division of genetics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY. This work was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke grant R01 NS058721, The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development grant 912-12-109 and ODAS Stichting. Sherr is a member of the clinical advisory board of InVitae and consults for Personalis. Cho, Schnur, Monaghan, and Juusola are all employees of GeneDx, which provides exome sequencing on a clinical basis. The Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine derives revenue from clinical laboratory testing conducted at Baylor Miraca Genetics Laboratories, which provides exome sequencing on a clinical basis. PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] --Many doctors and scientists think they could improve the diagnosis and understanding of autism spectrum disorders if they had reliable means to identify specific abnormalities in the brain. Such "biomarkers" have proven elusive, often because methods that show promise with one group of patients fail when applied to another. In a new study in Nature Communications, however, scientists report a new degree of success. Their proposed biomarker worked with a comparably high degree of accuracy in assessing two diverse sets of adults. The technology, principally developed at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International in Kyoto, Japan, with the major contributions from three co-authors at Brown University, is a computer algorithm called a "classifier" because it can classify sets of subjects -- those with an autism spectrum disorder and those without -- based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans. By analyzing thousands of connections of brain network connectivity in scores of people with and without autism, the software found 16 key interregional functional connections that allowed it to tell, with high accuracy, who had been traditionally diagnosed with autism and who had not. The team developed the classifier with 181 adult volunteers at three sites in Japan and then applied it in a group of 88 American adults at seven sites. All the study volunteers with autism diagnoses had no intellectual disability. "It is the first study to [successfully] apply a classifier to a totally different cohort," said co-corresponding author Yuka Sasaki, a research associate professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences at Brown. "There have been numerous attempts before. We finally overcame the problem." The classifier, which blends two machine-learning algorithms, worked well in each population, averaging 85 percent accuracy among the Japanese volunteers and 75 percent accuracy among the Americans. The researchers calculated that the probability of seeing this degree of cross-population performance purely by chance was 1.4 in a million. "These results indicate that although we developed a highly reliable classifier using the training data only in Japan, it is sufficiently universal to classify [autism] in the U.S.A. validation cohort," wrote the team of clinicians and basic researchers led by Mitsuo Kawato of ATR. Further validation In another way of validating the classifier, the researchers asked whether the differences it notes in the 16 connections were predictive not only of whether a person had an autism diagnosis at all, but whether they relate to performance on the main diagnostic method currently available to clinicians, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. ADOS is based not on markers of biology or physiology, but instead on a doctor's interviews and observations of behavior. The classifier was able to predict scores on the ADOS communications component with a statistically significant correlation of 0.44. The correlation suggests that the 16 connections identified by the classifier relate to attributes of importance in ADOS. When the researchers examined where these 16 connections are and what brain networks they affect, they found that 41 percent of the specific brain regions in which the 16 connections reside belonged within the cingulo-opercular network, which matters to brain functions such as conceiving of other people, face processing and emotional processing. Difficulties with such social and emotional perception tasks are important symptoms in autism spectrum disorders. Finally, the team looked to see whether the classifier appropriately reflects the similarities and differences between autism spectrum disorders and other psychiatric conditions. Autism, for example, is known to share some similarities with schizophrenia but not with depression or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as indicated by a previous genome study. Applied to patients with each of these other disorders compared to similar people without the conditions, the classifier showed moderate but statistically significant accuracy in distinguishing schizophrenia patients, but not depression or ADHD patients. Eventual clinical usefulness? The MRI scans required to gather the data were simple, Sasaki said. Subjects only needed to spend about 10 minutes in the machine and didn't have to perform any special tasks. They just had to stay still and rest. Despite that simplicity and even though the classifier performed unprecedentedly well as a matter of research, Sasaki said, it is not yet ready to be a clinical tool. While the future may bring that development, refinements will be necessary first. "The accuracy level needs to be much higher," Sasaki said. "Eighty percent accuracy may not be useful in the real world." It's also not clear how it would work among children, as the volunteers in this study were all adults. But if the classifier's accuracy can be improved further, the researchers hope that it can be used not only as a physiology-based diagnostic tool but also for monitoring treatment. Doctors perhaps will be able to use the tool someday to monitor whether therapies produce changes in brain connectivity, Sasaki said. ### The study's co-lead authors are Noriaki Yahata, Jun Morimoto and Ryuichiro Hashimoto. In addition to Sasaki, the paper's authors at Brown are Professors Takeo Watanabe and Kazuhisa Shibata. Other authors are Giuseppe Lisi, Yuki Kawakubo, Hitoshi Kuwabara, Miho Kuroda, Takashi Yamada, Fukuda Megumi, Hiroshi Imamizu, Kiyoto Kasai and Nobumasa Kato. This research was conducted under the "Development of BMI Technologies for Clinical Application" of the Strategic Research Program for Brain Sciences supported by Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development. Mutations accumulate in human mitochondrial DNA with age, reports a study published April 14 in Cell Stem Cell. The finding has implications for potential therapies using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are generated from patient skin cells and may be used to repair damaged tissue or organs. IPS cells derived from an elderly patient's cells could contain faulty mitochondrial DNA that could undermine the iPS cells' therapeutic value. As a result, iPS cell lines intended for therapeutic use should be screened and checked for mitochondrial DNA mutations, say co-senior authors Shoukhrat Mitalipov, director of the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy at Oregon Health & Science University, and Taosheng Huang, a medical geneticist and director of the Mitochondrial Medicine Program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. "People tend to look just at the nuclear genome," says Huang. "But if you want to use iPS cells in a human, you must check for mutations in the mitochondrial genome." Mitochondrial DNA contains genes that support basic needs, such as energy production for the cell. While each cell stores two copies of nuclear DNA, there may be a thousand copies of the mitochondrial genome in a single cell. Those copies can contain both mutated and healthy mitochondrial DNA. "We call it the freckled effect," says Huang. "Every single cell can be different. Two cells next to each other could have different mutations or different percentages of mutations." These mutations can be replicated in iPS cells. Prior to the creation of a therapeutic iPS cell line, a collection of cells is taken from the patient. These cells will be tested for mutations. If the tester uses Sanger sequencing, older technology that is not as sensitive as newer next generation sequencing, any mutation that occurs in less than twenty percent of the sample will go undetected. But mitochondrial DNA mutations might occur in less than twenty percent of mitochondria in the pooled cells. As a result, mutation rates have not been well understood. "These mitochondrial mutations are actually hidden," says Mitalipov. But in the process of making iPS cell lines, researchers expand clones of individual cells from a patient's biopsy. Every cell in the iPS cell line will contain the same mitochondrial DNA mutations as that initial adult cell. So rather than studying one iPS cell line, Mitalipov and Huang derived and sequenced ten iPS cell clones from each patient tissue sample to get a better understanding of mitochondrial DNA mutation rates. They took samples of blood and skin from people ranging in age from 24 to 72. When they tested the samples for mitochondrial DNA mutations, the levels of mutations appeared low. But when they sequenced the iPS cell lines, they found higher numbers of mitochondrial DNA mutations, particularly in cells from patients over 60. They also found higher percentages of mitochondria containing mutations within a cell. The higher the load of mutated mitochondrial DNA in a cell, the more compromised the cell's function. Since each iPS cell line is created from a different cell, each line may contain different types of mitochondrial DNA mutations and mutation loads. To choose the least damaged line, the authors recommend screening multiple lines per patient. "It's a good idea to check the iPS clones for mitochondrial DNA mutations and make sure you pick a good cell line," says Huang. The mitochondrial genome is relatively small, containing just 37 genes, so screening should be feasible using next generation sequencing, says Mitalipov. "It should be relatively cheap and do-able." ### This work was supported by the Leducq Foundation, Oregon Health & Science University institutional funds and Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Research Foundation. Cell Stem Cell, Kang and Wang et al.: "Age-related accumulation of somatic mitochondrial DNA mutations in adult-derived human iPSCs" http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2016.02.005 Cell Stem Cell (@CellStemCell), published by Cell Press, is a monthly journal that publishes research reports describing novel results of unusual significance in all areas of stem cell research. Each issue also contains a wide variety of review and analysis articles covering topics relevant to stem cell research ranging from basic biological advances to ethical, policy, and funding issues. Learn more: http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com. Liver transplantation has become a common treatment of liver disease over the past 30 years; however long-term patient outcome data has been scarce April 14, 2016, Barcelona, Spain: A new study presented today shows that 20-year survival after childhood liver transplantation can be expected for almost 80% of patients. The study, presented at The International Liver CongressTM 2016 in Barcelona, Spain, shares long-term outcome data from medical records of children who received liver transplants over a five-year period, with a mean follow-up of 22 years. Pediatric patients currently account for approximately 12.5% of liver transplant recipients1 and in Europe approximately 6,973 people received a liver transplant in 2012.2 "Until now there has been no good answer as to how long children could be expected to live after liver transplantation," said Josefina Martinelli, Paediatric Liver Unit, AP-HP and lead author of the study. "While each child receiving a transplant is unique and every procedure is different, this study provides robust evidence on the average expected survival rates, an important consideration for the parents of children who undergo this complicated procedure." The authors retrospectively analysed the medical records of 128 consecutive children who underwent cadaveric transplantation (whole liver n=47, partial n=77, split n=4) in Bicetre Hospital, France from 1988 to 1993 at a median age of 2.5 years. According to the study, patient survival rates recorded at five, 10, 15 and 20 years were 84%, 82%, 80% and 79%, while graft survival rates were 73%, 72%, 67% and 65% respectively. The most common complications experienced by patients were infection (59%), followed by acute (44%) and chronic (37%) rejection. Chronic kidney disease stage 2 or more was present in one third of patients. A total of 100 patients survived 20 years or more after transplantation. "This study is evidence of the great progress the medical community is making as we continue to learn more about how the body deals with transplanted organs," says Professor Laurent Castera, EASL Secretary General. ### About The International Liver Congress This annual congress is the biggest event in the EASL calendar, attracting scientific and medical experts from around the world to learn about the latest in liver research. Attending specialists present, share, debate and conclude on the latest science and research in hepatology, working to enhance the treatment and management of liver disease in clinical practice. This year, the congress is expected to attract approximately 10,000 delegates from all corners of the globe. The International Liver Congress takes place from April 13 - 17, 2016, at the Fira Barcelona Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain. About EASL Since EASL's foundation in 1966, this not-for-profit organisation has grown to over 4,000 members from all over the world, including many of the leading hepatologists in Europe and beyond. EASL is the leading liver association in Europe, having evolved into a major European Association with international influence, with an impressive track record in promoting research in liver disease, supporting wider education and promoting changes in European liver policy. Contact For more information, please contact the ILC Press Office at: Email: ILCpressoffice@ruderfinn.co.uk Telephone: +44 (0)7841 009 252 Onsite location reference Liver transplantation, Hall 8.0-B3 Thursday 14 April, 16:00 - 18:00 Presenter: Josefina Martinelli, France Abstract: PS038, Long-term outcome of liver transplantation in childhood: A study of 100 patients surviving for 20 years or more Author disclosures of interest None References 1 Medscape. Paediatric Liver Transplantation. October 2015. Available from: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1012910-overview. Last accessed: March 2016. 2 European Commission. Journalist Workshop on Organ donation and transplantation Recent Facts & Figures. Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/health/blood_tissues_organs/docs/ev_20141126_factsfigures_en.pdf. Last accessed: March 2016. The European Research Council (ERC) has announced today the awarding of its prestigious Advanced Grants to 277 senior researchers. The funding, worth in total 647 million, will enable them to pursue their most promising ideas and carry out frontier research with potentially ground-breaking impact on science and society beyond. The grants are awarded under the 'excellent science' pillar of Horizon 2020, the EU's research and innovation programme. On this occasion, Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: "Through EU funding, the European Research Council is enabling the best minds in the world to create a better future for us all. These talented researchers are an integral part of what keeps us globally competitive. Their work will lead to new knowledge, it will fuel innovation and it can bring about market-creating innovation ? generating employment opportunities and economic growth for Europe. Most importantly, the ideas developed by ERC grantees can lead to better, healthier, more innovative societies, if we engage Europeans in realising their potential." The President of the ERC, Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, commented: "It is inspiring to see both the quality and ambition of the projects submitted by the distinguished researchers to whom these grants have been awarded. The ERC was given the task to support cutting-edge and risky research to allow scientists to push the frontiers of knowledge. I look forward to seeing what breakthroughs and major advances will come out of these projects whose main driver was scientific curiosity." The research projects proposed by the new grantees cover wide range of topics from physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, and social sciences and humanities. For example, a German grantee will take on the challenge of genetically endowing magnetism to living organisms, opening new opportunities in medicine. A scientist in Slovenia will carry out a pioneering study of quantum particles with potential applications in superconductivity and quantum information systems. A researcher in Italy will study the aspirations of disadvantaged people in the context of anti-poverty policies. (See more examples) ERC grants are awarded to researchers of any nationality based in, or willing to move to, Europe. In this competition, researchers of 29 different nationalities received the funding, with British (47) and Germans (47) on par, followed by Italians (26), French (25) and Dutch (20). The new ERC projects will be hosted in 21 countries across Europe, with the United Kingdom (69 grants), Germany (43) and France (30) as top locations. In this competition the ERC received 1,953 grant applications - more than 14 per cent of which were successful. (See statistics) List of all selected researchers by country of host institution Statistics - Advanced Grants 2015 Discover more projects in this Advanced Grant competition The ERC Advanced Grants in brief For well-established top researchers of any nationality or age, scientifically independent and with a recent high-level research track-record and profile which identifies them as leaders in their respective field(s). Based on a simple approach: 1 researcher with his/her team, 1 host institution, 1 project, 1 selection criterion: scientific quality aiming for excellence. Host institution should be based in the European Research Area. This can be the institution where the researcher is already working or a new one. The Host institution can be changed in the course of the project if the researcher so wishes ("portability of the grant"). No consortia or co-funding are requested. Funding: up to 2.5 million per grant (that can exceptionally be increased to 3.5 million, in case of purchase of major equipment, mobility from another continent, etc.). ### About the ERC The European Research Council, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the first European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It runs three core grant schemes: Starting, Consolidator and Advanced. Every year, it selects and funds the very best, creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based in Europe. The ERC also strives to attract top researchers from anywhere in the world to come to Europe. To date, the ERC has funded some 6,000 top researchers at various stages of their careers. The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council, and, since January 2014, the ERC President is Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon. The ERC has a budget of over 13 billion for years 2014 to 2020 and is part of the EU research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020, for which European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Carlos Moedas is responsible. ERC website How did the eruptions of Katmai, Taupo and Santorini grow into a massive blast that spewed fine ash, sulfur and crystal-poor magma into the atmosphere? New research from Georgia Institute of Technology and Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zurich (ETH) suggests they occurred due in part to how light vapor bubbles migrate and accumulate in some parts of shallow volcanic chambers. The findings are published online by Nature. Volcanic chambers are a maze of crystal-rich and crystal-poor regions, especially in the last place where magma stalls and builds before eruption. The Georgia Tech-ETH team used lab experiments and computer models to focus on how bubbles move to and through these shallow reservoirs, which are typically about three to five miles below the surface. "We know that bubbles control the style and power of eruptions, but we don't fully understand how they behave," said Georgia Tech Assistant Professor Christian Huber, a faculty member in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. "It's probably like opening a soda and watching the bubbles race to the top of the bottle." According to their study, Huber and his colleagues believe these bubbles maneuver their way through crystal filled magma until they settle in these open-spaced reservoirs -- areas without many crystals -- and build up the necessary energy for an impending eruption. "When we started this project, we thought that the bubbles, as they moved through compact, crystal-rich areas, would be significantly slowed down on their way to the reservoirs," said Huber. "Instead, these seem to be the best conditions for their ascent through the chamber." The team's experiments indicate that bubbles squeeze through the narrow openings to create finger-like paths. These long paths allow the bubbles to merge and form connected pathways that transport low density vapor efficiently through the crystal-rich parts of magma chambers. "Once they reach the end of this crystal-rich area and get more space, the water vapor fingers transform back into their usual, spherical bubble shape," said Andrea Parmigiani, who led the study during his postdoctoral work in Huber's group at Georgia Tech and in Olivier Bachmann's group at ETH. "Once vapor forms these bubbles, the ascent of the light vapor bubbles is slow and bubbles accumulate." The team says the bubbles, once free to move around in their natural, spherical shape, settle into crystal-poor areas of the reservoir. That's where their accumulation provides additional potential energy that can drive large volcanic eruptions that release large amounts of sulfur to the atmosphere and result in voluminous crystal-poor deposits. The Georgia Tech team also included Salah Faroughi and Yanqing Su, who are both co-authors on the paper and Ph.D. candidates in Huber's group. Faroughi's lab experiments demonstrated the accumulation of bubbles in the crystal-poor areas. Su's calculations measured sulfur releases. ### The paper, "Bubble accumulation and its role in the evolution of magma reservoirs in the upper crust," was published online by Nature on April 13, 2016. Prestigious award honors an academic who has contributed significantly to the field of osteoporosis and musculoskeletal science through original and outstanding scientific contributions Malaga, Spain - April 14, 2016 - Professor John A Kanis, Emeritus Professor in Human Metabolism, was announced the winner of the ESCEO Medal of Excellence. The prestigious award honours an academic who has contributed significantly to the field of osteoporosis and musculoskeletal science through original and outstanding scientific contributions. ESCEO President Jean-Yves Reginster, Co-Chair of the World Congress, said, "I have had the privilege of collaborating with John Kanis for nearly two decades. Over this period, he contributed significantly to advances in the field including in the general management of osteoporosis and musculoskeletal disorders. As one of the bone field's most highly respected researchers and key opinion leaders, John Kanis continues a long career marked by outstanding and influential scientific scholarship." Prof. John A. Kanis received his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh. After a MRC Clinical Research Fellow position at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre he became Wellcome Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. He was then appointed Reader in Human Metabolism and Clinical Biochemistry at the University of Sheffield, where he is currently the Emeritus Professor in Human Metabolism. He is Editor of Osteoporosis International and serves on the editorial board of several journals. He is the author of more than 1200 papers, chapters and books on bone disease and metabolism. His current major interest is in the development of risk assessment algorithms and the formulation of practice guidelines in many regions of the world. Professor Kanis stated: "It is an honour and privilege to receive this Award. It is also testimony to the hard work of so many excellent team members and collaborators who have contributed to our research programme, as well as the institutions that have provided such welcome support. We shall continue our efforts to understand the causes and develop preventive strategies against the consequences of osteoporosis and other disabling musculoskeletal conditions." ### About the World Congress on Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis & Musculoskeletal Diseases (WCO-IOF-ESCEO 2016) : Held jointly by IOF and ESCEO, the Congress is taking place in Malaga, Spain from April 14-17,2016 is the world's largest annual forum for the presentation of clinical research and new advances in the prevention and management of bone, muscle and joint disorders, including sarcopenia and frailty. The next Congress will be held in Florence, Italy from March 23-26, 2017. For complete information visit http://www.wco-iof-esceo.org #OsteoCongress About IOF : The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) is the world's largest nongovernmental organization dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and related musculoskeletal diseases. IOF members, including committees of scientific researchers, leading companies, as well as more than 234 patient, medical and research societies in 99 locations, work together to make bone, joint and muscle health a worldwide heath care priority. http://www.iofbonehealth.org / http://www.facebook.com/iofbonehealth / https://twitter.com/iofbonehealth About ESCEO : The European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis (ESCEO) is a non-profit organization, dedicated to a close interaction between clinical scientists dealing with rheumatic disorders, pharmaceutical industry developing new compounds in this field, regulators responsible for the registration of such drugs and health policy makers, to integrate the management of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis within the comprehensive perspective of health resources utilization. The objective of ESCEO is to provide practitioners with the latest clinical and economic information, allowing them to organize their daily practice, in an evidence-based medicine perspective, with a cost-conscious perception. http://www.esceo.org Immune system cells linked to allergies also turn out to direct healing of mouse muscle wounds when paired with biologic "scaffolding" to support them, researchers from Johns Hopkins and the Kennedy Krieger Institute report. The finding, described in the April 15 issue of Science, adds to evidence that the immune system is key not just to fighting infectious and other diseases but also to kick-starting healing after an injury. They also indicate that so-called biomaterial scaffolds can more effectively spur healing if designed to "partner" with immune cells, the researchers say. "In previous research, we've seen different immune system responses to the same biomaterial implanted in different tissues or environments, and that got us interested in how biomaterials might stimulate the immune system to promote regeneration," says Jennifer Elisseeff, Ph.D., professor of ophthalmology and biomedical engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "We still have a lot to learn, but this study is a step toward designing materials to elicit a beneficial immune response." Elisseeff's research group designs biodegradable scaffolds, made of materials such as collagen, that have shown promise in promoting regrowth of damaged tissue, in part by giving the body's own stem cells a place to anchor and begin their work. But in the past few years, she says, other research groups have found evidence that such scaffolds could also spark healing activity from immune cells. To learn more about the immune cells involved and their response, then-graduate student Kaitlyn Sadtler, Ph.D., worked with other researchers in Elisseeff's lab and specialists in cancer immunology. They surgically removed part of the thigh muscles of mice and implanted scaffolds known to promote healing in animals. After a week, wound sites with scaffolds had more white blood cells than did wounds without scaffolds, and many of those cells were churning out a chemical signal, interleukin-4, that is frequently produced by so-called type 2 helper T cells. To see what the role of those cells might be, the team did the same procedure on mice genetically modified to lack T cells and found that their wounds didn't ramp up interleukin production or heal as well as those of the normal mice. Further investigation revealed that one role of the type 2 helper T cells was to activate and train another type of immune cell, called macrophages, at the wound site. "The T cells tell the macrophages how to behave, making them pro-regenerative macrophages," says Sadtler. Previous studies suggest several key healing roles for the macrophages: cleaning up dead or damaged cells and other debris, recruiting and supporting adult stem cells that regrow tissue, and sparking the construction of new blood vessels to fuel new tissue in the area. But the pivotal role of type 2 helper T cells in scaffolds comes as a surprise, Elisseeff says: Those cells help fend off intestinal worms, but in the developed world, they're most often associated with triggering "bad" immune responses, such as allergies. "It's interesting to see something useful coming out of this pathway," she says. Elisseeff notes that there is still much to learn about how immune cells respond to various kinds of biomaterials that might be used as scaffolds -- an area her team continues to investigate. "This study, in demonstrating for the first time the central role of T cells in mediating the tissue regenerative process, is truly groundbreaking," says Drew Pardoll, M.D., Ph.D., the Martin D. Abeloff Professor of Oncology in the Johns Hopkins' Kimmel Cancer Center and director of the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, who collaborated with Elisseeff on the study. "I predict it will be viewed as an inflection point, where regenerative immunology goes from an idea into a field of serious study. And it opens the door for totally novel strategies to significantly enhance tissue regeneration." ### Other authors on the paper are Kenneth Estrellas, Brian W. Allen, Matthew T. Wolf, Hongni Fan, Ada J. Tam, Chirag Patel, Brandon S. Luber, Hao Wang, Jonathan D. Powell and Franck Housseau of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Kathryn R. Wagner of the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Sadtler, Housseau, Pardoll and Elisseeff are inventors on provisional patent application No. 48317-502P01US, filed by The Johns Hopkins University related to regenerative immunology. Elisseeff holds equity in Aegeria Soft Tissue, a company that has licensed Johns Hopkins University intellectual property not directly related to the materials used in this study but similar enough that it may benefit from the results. The conflict is being managed by the Johns Hopkins Office of Policy Coordination. This work was funded by the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (grant number 113345), the Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the U.S. Department of Defense (grant number W81XWH-11-2-0022), a postdoctoral fellowship from the Hartwell Foundation, the National Cancer Institute (grant number P30CA006973), and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (grant number R01AI077610). Archaeologists from the Lomonosov Moscow State University studied the objects made of bone, antler and ivory, that were found at the Sungir archaeological site. They managed to learn how the Homo sapiens processed solid organic materials and produced tools and ornamentals. The work was published in a specialized digest Hugo Obermaier Society for Quaternary Research and Archaeology of the Stone Age. Scientists from the MSU studied the objects found on the Sungir site. The work has allowed to establish that Sungir was the base camp for an ancient man -- in contrast to the encampement Rusaniha located 8 km away from Sungir. One of the authors, Taisiya Soldatova (Ph.D., Faculty of Foreign Languages and Regional Studies, MSU), also reports that further study of the items found in the standmay help to determine the place of the monument in the Upper Paleolithic of Europe. The open-air Upper Paleolithic site Sungir is located near Vladimir city. It was discovered in 1955, during preparation works for construction of a plant, and investigated by an expedition under the leadership of a famous Soviet archaeologist Otto N. Bader. There was found a complicated funerary complex, consisting of two graves each containing two burials. The burials were accompanied by rich inventory including a large amount of products made of ivory- beads, bracelets, spears etc. Radiocarbon analysis, allowing to determine the biological age of the fossils and biological materials, showed that the Sungir findings are probably from 28,800 240 to 25,500 200 BP. According to others data, the siteis about 30 thousand years old. During the collaborative work Taisiya Soldatova conducted a study of 171 item of bone, antler and ivory (including working and hunting tools, blanks for various purposes and waste materials), while Vladislav Zhitenev (Ph.D., associate professor of historical archeology Faculty of Moscow State University) focused his attention on the ornamentals: pendants made ofan arctic fox teeth and beads of ivory. "The main objective of the study is to examine the products made of solid organic materials (bone, antler and ivory) from the Sungir Upper Paleolithic site. Together with stone tools, workingbone is an important indicator of cultural attribution, and can also play a significant role in addressing some of the relative chronology issues", says Taisiya Soldatova. According to the specialist, technological analysis of the Upper Paleolithic sites of the Vladimir region showed that Sungirian man had mastered quite a wide range of techniques for processing bone material -- longitudinal and transverse fracture, transverse break with preparatory sawing, cutting, sawing, planing/scraping. All of these techniques have been used to create collections of bones, antler and ivory, so it is possible to call it a rather uniform treatment of solid organic materials by Sungirian man. On the other hand, the study showed that there are some differences between bone- and antler-working and ivory industry: ivory tools and ornaments the better well-formed than bone and antler. Moreover, no ivory tools used in household activity: just hunting weapons, art objects and ornaments. In the collection contains three items of ivory that can be attributed as tools: a "retoucher" and two "shaft straightener". However, it should be emphasized that these instruments of ivory were found in burials and may have a symbolic meaning. These peculiaritiesof ivory processing allow to draw some parallels between Sungir and early Aurignacian sites (European Upper Paleolithic culture), from this raw material served forornaments and smallfigurines, and, in rare cases - point with massive base. Thus, it can be assumed that the bone industry of Sungir was culturally influenced by early Aurignac, which resulted in similar categories of tools, as well as the nature of the ivory material use. On Sungir also a high percentage of objects from antler (16%) was found, which also brings the site close to the ones of the Upper Paleolithic, found in Central and Western Europe. Among the investigated items there are finds of varying completion - from blanks to finished products. Therefore, the researchers suggest that the treatment of bone material happened on the site. In addition, functionalvariety of findings proves that Sungir, covering an area of over 4,000 km2, most diverse economic activities were conducted: the fact of manufacturing clothing from animal skins was confirmed by awls and pin; and hoe-like tools allow assuming excavation. Archaeologists also found chisels and points - this may mean that Sungir people paid attention to productive activities and hunting, particularly deer, mammoths, wolves and wild horses. In other words, Sungir was probably the base primitive peoplecamp, as opposed to the near Rusanikha, 8 km away from the study area. The head of the Rusanikha excavations - L.A. Mikhailova - suggests that the stand was an encampement of mammoth hunters because of the predominance of stone hunting tools and animal bones. "Comparing bones, antler and ivory objects from Sungirwith European collections of the Early Upper Paleolithic sites can help identify the cause of differences in methods of treating various bone material, and finding the similarities may help define common features in the nature of bone industries of this age and determine the place of the researched site in the Upper Paleolithic of Europe", Taisiya Soldatova comments. ### PORTLAND, Ore. - For the first time, scientists have confirmed the long-standing hypothesis that as people age, they accumulate gene mutations in their mitochondria -- cells' energy source. A team led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D., director of the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy at Oregon Health & Science University, has discovered that induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells, a type of stem cell derived from patients' skin or blood cells contain faulty mitochondrial DNA. The study was published today in the journal Cell Stem Cell. "Pathogenic mutations in our mitochondrial DNA have long been thought to be a driving force in aging and age-onset diseases, though clear evidence was missing. Now with that evidence at hand, we know that we must screen stem cells for mutations or collect them at younger age to ensure their mitochondrial genes are healthy," said Mitalipov. "This foundational knowledge of how cells are damaged in the natural process of aging may help to illuminate the role of mutated mitochondria in degenerative disease." Mitochondrial genes reside outside of the nucleus and have been known to be prone to damage. Mutations in mitochondrial DNA, which arise randomly within individual cells as we age, can limit cells' ability to create energy, produce signals and function properly. Potential therapies using stem cells hold tremendous promise for treating human disease. However, defects in the mitochondria could undermine the iPS cells' ability to repair damaged tissue or organs. To avoid impairing IPS cells' therapeutic value, Mitalipov and colleagues recommend screening the cells for mitochondrial DNA mutations. "If you want to use iPS cells in a human, you must check for mutations in the mitochondrial genome," said Taosheng Huang, M.D., Ph.D., a medical geneticist and director of the Mitochondrial Disorders Program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "Every single cell can be different. Two cells next to each other could have different mutations or different percentages of mutations." "This collaborative multi-disciplinary effort identifies 'mitochondrial genome integrity' as a vital readout in assessing the proficiency of patient-derived regenerative products destined for clinical applications", adds study co-author Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine. Every individual has trillions of cells and thousands of copies of mitochondria in each cell. As cells age, thousands of different mutations in each mitochondrial genome are possible. Because each cell has its own unique mutation, when researchers examine a pinch of skin or drop of blood containing millions of cells, most mitochondrial mutations are hidden. The mutation would only be visible if every cell has the same mutation. However, these mutations become detectable in iPS cells. In the process of making iPS cell lines, researchers expand clones from each individual patient skin or blood cell. As a result, every cell in the iPS cell line will contain the same mitochondrial DNA mutations as that initial adult cell. In this study, rather than studying one iPS cell line, the researchers derived and sequenced 10 iPS cell clones from each patient tissue sample to get a better understanding of mitochondrial DNA mutation rates. They took samples of blood and skin from healthy people and people with degenerative diseases, ranging in age from 24 to 72. When they tested the pooled skin or blood cells for mitochondrial DNA mutations, the levels of mutations appeared low. Then they profiled 20 iPS cell lines per patient - 10 from their blood cells and 10 from their skin cells. When they sequenced the iPS cell lines, they found higher numbers of mitochondrial DNA mutations, particularly in cells from patients older than 60. They analyzed 130 iPS cell lines and discovered 80 percent showed mutations. They also found higher percentages of mitochondria containing mutations within a cell. The higher the load of mutated mitochondrial DNA in a cell, the greater the cell's function is compromised. The authors recommend producing and screening multiple lines per patient and then choose the least damaged line. In May 2013, Mitalipov was the first scientist in the world to demonstrate the successful use of somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT, to produce human embryonic stem cells from an individual's skin cell. That breakthrough was one of a six-year chain of discoveries that included his 2007 work demonstrating the nuclear transfer method to create embryonic stem cells from a nonhuman primate. OHSU scientists have also demonstrated that SCNT allows replacement of mutated mitochondrial genes with healthy donor egg mitochondria while retaining the patient cell's nucleus. ### The study, "Age-Related Accumulation of Mitochondrial DNA mutations in Adult-Derived Human iPSCs," was supported by the Fondation Leducq, Oregon Health & Science University institutional funds and Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Research Foundation. About OHSU Oregon Health & Science University is a nationally prominent research university and Oregon's only public academic health center. It serves patients throughout the region with a Level 1 trauma center and nationally recognized Doernbecher Children's Hospital. OHSU operates dental, medical, nursing and pharmacy schools that rank high both in research funding and in meeting the university's social mission. OHSU's Knight Cancer Institute helped pioneer personalized medicine through a discovery that identified how to shut down cells that enable cancer to grow without harming healthy ones. OHSU Brain Institute scientists are nationally recognized for discoveries that have led to a better understanding of Alzheimer's disease and new treatments for Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and stroke. OHSU's Casey Eye Institute is a global leader in ophthalmic imaging, and in clinical trials related to eye disease. About a quarter of American adults reported that they were notified about their personal information being part of a data breach in the previous year, but only 11 percent of those who have ever been notified say they stopped doing business with the hacked company after the event occurred, according to a new RAND Corporation study. The findings are from one of the first examinations of consumers' experiences with data breaches and the impact it has on their relationships with the companies that lose their personal information. "While data breaches have become an alarmingly common part of American life, most people appear satisfied with companies' responses to data breaches and few decide to take their business elsewhere," said lead author Lillian Ablon, a cybersecurity and emerging technologies researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. "It's unclear whether this response will induce companies to improve their breach notification practices." The RAND survey found that among those who remembered receiving a data breach notification at any time over their lifetime, about 44 percent said they were aware of the hack even before they received notification. About 10 percent discovered the breach by identifying suspicious activity themselves. Surprisingly, 62 percent of consumers reported they accepted offers of free credit monitoring. This counters claims made by others that consumers are experiencing "breach fatigue" -- where consumers become desensitized to the notices and either discount them or ignore important information contained in the notices. The three main reasons for declining such offers were the time and effort required to register for the service, concerns about the hacked company or the breach notification service, and whether the offer duplicated services the victim already had. More than three-quarters of those surveyed (77 percent) said they were highly satisfied with the company's post-breach response. However, ethnic minorities were less likely to report being satisfied with the company's breach response, placed a higher dollar value on the inconvenience caused by the breach and were more likely to cease doing business with the related company. "Our research shows the importance of legislation that requires companies to notify individuals when a breach occurs," Ablon said. "Data breach notification laws empower consumers to take quick action to reduce risk and create incentives for companies to improve data security. Unfortunately, data breach laws are not uniform or even present for every state." While most states have laws requiring that consumers be notified of data breaches, three states -- Alabama, New Mexico and South Dakota -- have no such legislation. Survey participants in those three states reported lower rates of having ever received a data breach notice as compared to people from states with notification laws, although the difference was not statistically significant. The survey questioned a nationally representative sample of 2,038 adults who participate in the RAND American Life Panel, an Internet-based survey panel. The survey was fielded between May 15 and June 1, 2015, and designed to provide a snapshot of the frequency of breach notifications and the types of data compromised, as well as consumer reactions to the breach, the notification process and the affected company. The survey also examined estimates regarding the perceived personal cost of the breach, as well as suggestions regarding future notifications and data protection measures. Among those experiencing a data breach during their lifetime, people with higher income and those with more education were more likely to recall being notified of a breach, as compared to younger adults (ages 18-34) and senior citizens (ages 65 and older). More than 12 percent of those surveyed received two or more notifications in the year preceding the survey. Ablon said the low proportion of consumers who penalized a company for a data breach may highlight that while a consumer always can to choose to shop at another retailer, it is more difficult to make a switch when a data breach hits a person's health insurer, mortgage company or employer. Among survey participants who estimated a dollar-equivalent cost for the inconvenience caused by a data breach, the median amount was $500. Thirty-two percent felt the breach imposed no dollar loss to them. Median dollar values were higher if health information ($1,000), social security numbers ($1,000) or other financial information ($864) was compromised. Just under 6 percent of those who had ever received a data breach notification (or an estimated 6 million U.S. adults) felt that the inconvenience cost them $10,000 or more. Of those who experienced an extreme inconvenience, the breach typically involved credit card or health information. Respondents recommended several steps companies could take to better protect personal information. The steps that would highly satisfy most respondents included taking measures to ensure a similar breach cannot occur in the future, offering free credit monitoring to make sure lost data is not misused and notifying consumers immediately. All three were valued more highly than receiving compensation for financial loss or an apology from the company. ### The study, "Consumer Attitudes Toward Data Breach Notifications and Loss of Personal Information," can be found at http://www.rand.org. Other authors of the study include Paul Heaton, Diana Lavery and Sasha Romanosky. The study was funded by and conducted within the RAND Institute for Civil Justice, a program that is dedicated to improving the civil justice system by supplying policymakers and the public with rigorous and nonpartisan research. Its studies identify trends in litigation and inform policy choices concerning liability, compensation, regulation, risk management and insurance. Joachim Weickert, professor of mathematics and computer science at Saarland University, is to receive the Jean Kuntzmann Prize 2016. Jean Kuntzmann, a mathematician who died in 1992, was not only a pioneer of computer science, but he also transformed the Universite Grenoble Alpes and the city of Grenoble into prestigious locations of applied mathematics and information technology. Therefore, research institutes PERSYVAL-Lab and Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann have awarded an internationally renowned, interdisciplinary research-based mathematician and computer scientist with the Jean Kuntzmann Prize every year since 2014. Joachim Weickert is considered as one of the world's leading experts on math-based image analysis. "I am very happy about this award. It is one of most important awards in my research career so far," says Joachim Weickert, professor of mathematics and computer science at Saarland University and head of the Mathematical Image Analysis Group. The requirements for the Jean-Kuntzmann Prize are to be an outstanding international scientist whose research is original, interdisciplinary, excellent and significant for society. Weickert recently caused a stir by using principles of nature to solve complex problems of image processing solving and computer graphics. In this way, processes occurring in osmosis, electrostatics and thermal conduction help not only to refine digital images automatically, but also to compress them in a highly efficient way. Thus, they can be reconstructed from the greatly reduced image data without visible loss. "We believe that these new methods have the potential to beat JPEG and other common standards of image compression," Weickert says. Weickert also investigates how to teach computers to see like humans. Algorithms he has developed are used both in driving assistance systems of modern automobiles and medical imaging methods used by physicians and radiologists to examine patients. Six years ago, the German Research Foundation awarded Joachim Weickert with the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, one of the most prestigious and most lucrative research awards in Germany. Furthermore, Weickert is one of the most cited scientists at Saarland University. On April 14, Professor Joachim Weickert will receive the Jean Kuntzmann Prize at 17:30 in a public ceremony at the Museum of Grenoble. ### Press photos are available at http://www.uni-saarland.de/pressefotos Media Inquiries: Prof. Dr. Joachim Weickert Mathematics and Computer Science Tel .: 0681 302-57340 Email: weickert (at)mia.uni-saarland.de Editor: Gordon Bolduan Computer science competence center Saarland Phone: +49 681302-70741 Email: bolduan(at)mmci.uni-saarland.de A global, collective action including private, public, social and philanthropic organizations will be announced to find and accelerate proven solutions that address the unmet need to improve mental health WASHINGTON, D.C. - April 14, 2016 - Today, the Mental Health Now, or mhNOW, initiative will launch at the inaugural Financing and Innovation in Global Health (FIGH) conference. Led by mental health experts Chris Underhill, founder and president of BasicNeeds, and Moitreyee Sinha, head of health at the Global Development Incubator (GDI), mhNOW is a global, collective action including social entrepreneurs, organizations and companies that are working together to innovate and identify mental health solutions on a global scale, and systemically implement in communities at a local level. In doing so, mhNOW is delivering on its mission to increase economic stability by improving mental - and total - health around the world. According to World Health Organization (WHO), mental illness is increasing worldwide. Between 1990 and 2013, the number of people suffering from depression and/or anxiety increased by nearly 50%, from 416 million to 615 million. The mhNOW initiative aims to do more than just treat mental illness. The initiative will effectively address mental health in a way that encourages total health and supports the whole person, their families and their community. Beyond the community level, better health equates with more years of productivity, and greater productivity over a long period can lead to growth for economies. In doing so, this initiative has the potential to save the global economy trillions of dollars every year. "We are excited to launch the mhNOW initiative because the time is now to spark a mental health revolution," said Chris Underhill, founder and president of BasicNeeds. "Our goal is to create and employ tools on a global level that can be adopted and replicated by local city leaders so that they are able to bring best practices in mental health to their own communities. Many of these resources and solutions exist, and mhNOW is helping unify a fractured system to create a movement that will bring proven mental health solutions to those most in need." Together, with a growing list of global mental health thought leaders and founding partners - GDI, Johnson & Johnson, Grand Challenges Canada (funded by the Government of Canada), BasicNeeds, StrongMinds - mhNOW will use technology, entrepreneurial zeal and civic engagement to bring together leaders from public and private sectors that can challenge, disrupt and create new ways to fund treatment and improve development skills in communities around the world. "We have the opportunity to fundamentally transform the story of mental health around the world and create a culture that will support the 'whole' person," said Moitreyee Sinha, head of health at the Global Development Incubator. "Effectively addressing mental health is about more than just treating mental illness - it's about realizing the intricate link between our bodies and our minds, and driving solutions that promote total health for all. Investing in mental health isn't only the right thing to do, it's also the smart thing to do." The launch of mhNOW follows the World Bank and WHO's co-hosted meeting, Out of the Shadows: Making Mental Health a Global Development Priority, where the two organizations encouraged international leaders to bring mental health to the forefront of the global health agenda and invest in cost-effective, affordable and feasible interventions. Mental health was also recently added to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to transform the world by 2030. Implementing mental health solutions at scale by 2030 has the potential to save $6 trillion and increase the ability of citizens to lead more positive and economically productive lives. The mhNOW initiative urges donors, private sector, NGOs and civil society to invest in and commit to mental health, and join the growing list of founding partners to optimize resources and leverage assets to improve total health for all. ### A livestream of the mhNOW announcement will be broadcast on Thursday, April 14 at 3:45 p.m. EDT at http://www.globalhealthforum.com/live. A video describing the mhNOW initiative is available online at https://youtu.be/17q8RLc4l24 About the Global Development Incubator The Global Development Incubator (GDI) launches start-ups focused on social impact, incubates partnerships to spark collective change, and lays the foundations for promising organizations to reach their potential. We take a hands-on approach and partner with innovators over 2-3 years to design structured pathways proven to transform ideas into lasting change. We have a track record of taking on complex issues with many moving parts and always prioritize the collective vision to move the needle on important issues. Learn more at http://www.globaldevincubator.org. Digital archives track the evacuation patterns of 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake victims between the time the earthquake and tsunami struck The laboratory of Hidenori Watanave in the Faculty of System Design at Tokyo Metropolitan University and Iwate Nippo Co., Ltd have put together a digital archive tracking the evacuation patterns of Great East Japan Earthquake victims between the time the earthquake struck and the time the tsunami made landfall. It is exploring new possibilities in integrating digital technology with print media. The archive is titled We Shall Never Forget: Behavior Patterns of Victims of The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquakeand is being released five years after the disaster struck in March 2011. Various positional information was collected from surviving family members detailing the location of victims at 2:46PM on March 11, 2011 when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck as well as their location when the tsunami made landfall. The research team then constructed a 3D aerial photograph of the affected area and used it visually track the evacuation behaviors of the 1326 victims whose detailed locations are identified immediately following the earthquake. Permission was granted from the families of 687 victims to record their names and specific movements; these can be seen on the map as well. This movie shows the positions of earthquake victims as points on a map and then tracks their evacuation movements between the earthquake and the approach of the tsunami by showing those points in motion. Blue points and trajectories are used to indicate males and red points and trajectories are used for females. The long lines show movement in a car or other vehicle. Points showing no movement indicate victims who died without evacuating after the earthquake. Also tells us that some people died when they traveled back to their homes or other locations after the earthquake and those ended up being submerged in the tsunami. With the permission of the surviving families, detailed information was added for some of the victims, which can be seen by clicking on the points. By integrating with the Google Street View function, viewers can also check the recovery status of each area. Google is a registered trademark of Google Inc. (USA) This movie tells us that many of the victims headed for the civic gymnasium in Rikuzentakata when the earthquake struck, and there lost their lives. We will make use of this archive to analyze evacuation behaviors -- encouraging people, for instance, to avoid overestimating evacuation sites and head to higher ground. Watanave assumed the post of visiting scholar at Harvard University in April 2016, plans to utilize the behavior record map in disaster archives of the university. By creating a visual record of these victims' silenced voices, our team hopes to leave a record that can educate future generations on how to prepare themselves for earthquake disasters. ### (Philadelphia, PA) - The Pincus Family Foundation is partnering with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM) to establish the Pincus Family Foundation Urban Health Fellowship. The two-year Fellowship, made possible by a nearly $600,000 grant from the Pincus Family Foundation, will provide selected junior level health care professionals with the tools needed to implement innovative, community-driven, population-based health programs that improve the overall health of children living in the urban, distressed communities in and around North Philadelphia. "The Pincus Family Foundation has a long history dating back to its creation by noted Philanthropist David N. Pincus of supporting causes and initiatives focusing on the health and education of children and families," says Larry R. Kaiser, MD, FACS, Dean of LKSOM, President and CEO of Temple University Health System and Senior Vice President for Health Affairs at Temple University. "We are proud and humbled to be able to partner with them on this novel fellowship." "The Pincus Family Foundation is pleased to be the catalyst for this groundbreaking endeavor at Temple," says Andrew Epstein, MD, Trustee of the Pincus Family Foundation. "Our founder, David Pincus, grew up on North Broad Street and was deeply impressed by the care offered and mission carried out by Temple in North Philadelphia. Our organization is already funding global projects in places like Botswana and the Dominican Republic that are similar in scope to what we plan to accomplish with this fellowship; we look forward to funding an initiative that will be a big step forward in developing the healthcare delivery model used in urban environments." The Pincus Urban Health Fellowship will provide health care professionals with a well-rounded education about the state of pediatric health in urban communities, as well as the skill set needed to develop and implement innovative projects that address defined problems, the tools needed to measure the outcomes and the platform necessary to advocate for sustainability and portability of successful programs. The Fellowship will reside in the Center for Bioethics, Urban Health and Policy (CBUHP) at LKSOM and will be granted to two selected physician Fellows. The Fellows will earn a Masters of Arts Degree in Urban Bioethics and, upon completion of the Fellowship, will be offered Temple Faculty positions with academic appointments in CBUHP and their clinical department. CBUHP houses the only Masters of Arts degree in Urban Bioethics in the country. "The delivery of health care in urban, distressed communities needs to look different than health care delivery looks today, and we must provide health care providers with the tools they need to help people in urban communities truly have the capacity to be healthy," says Kathleen Reeves, MD, Senior Associate Dean of Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; Director of CBUHP; and Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at LKSOM. "Training health care providers in true, neighborhood engaged care is the only way we can ever hope to address the crisis that urban health disparities create and the only way we can work to reduce the overwhelming financial burden that results." During the first year, the Pincus Fellows will be versed in multiple educational experiences, which will give them a clear understanding of the health disparities that urban children face every day. The coursework will be provided by CBUHP. They will also learn how social determinants of health, exposure to adverse experiences, violence, food insecurity and poverty affect children's long-term health. The course work will include a year-long, longitudinal, community engagement course that is founded on community-driven project development. Fellows will also take part in experiential and mentorship learning opportunities through the Temple Center for Population Health. During the second year of the Fellowship, the Fellows will identify a specific pediatric, urban problem evident in North Philadelphia and work with academic, medical and community mentors to develop, implement and evaluate an innovative intervention with the goal of improving pediatric health in a fiscally sustainable way. "A significant outcome of this fellowship will be a cohort of highly trained health care professionals who understand the complex integration of social and economic elements that create inequities in health outcomes," says Susan L. Freeman, MD, MS, Chief Medical Officer of Temple University Health System, President & CEO of Temple's Center for Population Health and Vice Dean of Health Care Systems for LKSOM. "These professionals will be dedicated to creating, implementing and sustaining population health-based initiatives in North Philadelphia that will address these inequities and improve health in our community." The first two Fellows are in the process of being selected and will begin their Fellowships this fall. ### About Temple Health Temple University Health System (TUHS) is a $1.6 billion academic health system dedicated to providing access to quality patient care and supporting excellence in medical education and research. The Health System consists of Temple University Hospital (TUH), ranked among the "Best Hospitals" in the region by U.S. News & World Report; TUH-Episcopal Campus; TUH-Northeastern Campus; Fox Chase Cancer Center, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center; Jeanes Hospital, a community-based hospital offering medical, surgical and emergency services; Temple Transport Team, a ground and air-ambulance company; and Temple Physicians, Inc., a network of community-based specialty and primary-care physician practices. TUHS is affiliated with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. The Lewis Katz School of Medicine (LKSOM), established in 1901, is one of the nation's leading medical schools. Each year, the School of Medicine educates approximately 840 medical students and 140 graduate students. Based on its level of funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Katz School of Medicine is the second-highest ranked medical school in Philadelphia and the third-highest in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to U.S. News & World Report, LKSOM is among the top 10 most applied-to medical schools in the nation. Temple Health refers to the health, education and research activities carried out by the affiliates of Temple University Health System (TUHS) and by the Katz School of Medicine. TUHS neither provides nor controls the provision of health care. All health care is provided by its member organizations or independent health care providers affiliated with TUHS member organizations. Each TUHS member organization is owned and operated pursuant to its governing documents. About Pincus Family Foundation The Pincus Family Foundation's mission is the well-being of children. Established by Philanthropist David Pincus, PFF views itself as a conduit that engages and partners with 501 c3 charitable institutions dedicated to improving the quality of life for children living in underserved populations. The biggest library of bat sounds has been compiled to identify bats from their calls in Mexico - a country which harbours many of the Earth's species and has one of the highest rates of extinction and habitat loss. An international team led by scientists from UCL, University of Cambridge and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), developed the reference call library and a new way of classifying calls to quickly and accurately identify and differentiate between bat species. It is the first time automatic classification for bat calls has been attempted for a large variety of species, most of them previously noted as hard to identify acoustically. The researchers say the method can be used to monitor biodiversity change and complete information on bat species distributions in remote and understudied regions in Mexico. It could also be expanded for use in other areas across the Neotropics, which incorporates South and Central America, and the Caribbean Islands and Florida. "Audio surveys are increasingly used to monitor biodiversity change, and bats are especially useful for this as they are an important indicator species, contributing significantly to ecosystems as pollinators, seed dispersers and suppressors of insect populations. By tracking the sounds they use to explore their surroundings, we can characterise the bat communities in different regions in the long term and gauge the impact of rapid environmental change," explained lead author Dr Veronica Zamora-Gutierrez, from UCL and the University of Cambridge. "Before now it was tricky to do as many bat species have very similar calls and differ in how well they can be detected. We overcame this by using machine learning algorithms together with information about hierarchies to automatically identify different bat species." For the study, published today in Methods in Ecology and Evolution, the researchers ventured into some of the most dangerous areas of Mexico, primarily the northern deserts, to collect 4,685 calls from 1,378 individual bats representing 59 of the ~130 species found in Mexico. Most of the areas hadn't been sampled before and the data collected, along with additional information from collaborators, provided calls for 69% of species, 79% of genera and 100% of the families of bats in Mexico. The classifier covered 43% of the species, 51% of the genera, and 100% of the families. The team tested the accuracy of the call classifier at grouping bats and found it to be 72% accurate at species level, 91.7% accurate at family level, 77.8% accurate at genus level, 82.5% accurate at guild level - a species grouping reflecting the bats' preferences for foraging habitat and food. It is the first time guilds have successfully been used instead of species to identify functional groups. Co-author, Professor Kate Jones, UCL and ZSL, said: "We've shown it is possible to reliably and rapidly identify bats in mega-diverse areas, such as Mexico, and we hope this encourages uptake of this method to monitor biodiversity changes in other biodiversity hotspot areas such as South America. Our ability to readily map ecological communities is imperative for understanding the impact of the Anthropocene and implementing effective conservation measures." The team now plan on developing a citizen science monitoring programme for Mexican bats to collect further information on bat calls. They will also develop more robust tools for bat identification using the Bat Detective website which will allow them to refine the machine learning algorithms used by the software. ### The study also involved researchers from the IPN CIIDIR Durango (Mexico), Universidad Veracruzana (Mexico), Western University (Canada), University of Bristol, University of Ulm (Germany), Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (Panama), Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University (Germany), University College Dublin and University of Warwick. It was kindly funded by CONACYT, Cambridge Commonwealth European and International Trust, The Rufford Foundation, American Society of Mammalogists, Bat Conservation International, Idea Wild, The Whitmore Trust and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). A new book titled Connecting Analytical Thinking and Intuition urges scientists to become better at combining analytical thinking and intuition. 'This is necessary in order to successfully meet the major global interdisciplinary challenges,' says the author of the book, Anders Omstedt, professor of oceanography at the University of Gothenburg. In the book, Omstedt proposes a method to more effectively train students and teachers in communication and in the art of thinking. 'Since we researchers and teachers can be said to be in the business of thinking, it surprises me how little we have discussed how to systematically improve our thinking and our ability to solve interdisciplinary problems,' says Omstedt, professor at the Department of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg. Striving for improved thinking Analytical critical thinking constitutes the very foundation of higher education and consists of elements such as analysing, evaluating, problem-solving and identifying incorrect arguments, according to Anders Omstedt. This thought process is slow and often requires extensive training, he points out. 'Intuition is an insight, a hunch that you know something without having any evidence or explanations based on your own experience. This can also be trained and is theory-free and fast,' says Omstedt. He means that connections between analytical thinking and intuition imply being able to listen, evaluate, summarise and appreciating both of these human traits, which leads to a broader and deeper understanding and therefore improved thinking. Sharing personal experiences In the book, Omstedt shares his own experiences and describes his work to develop both his analytical and his intuitive thinking as a scientist and as a human being. He says that scientists have to become better at listening and asking open questions and that they can learn a lot from other disciplines, such as literature, psychology, philosophy and art. 'The benefit for us scientists, when we connect science and art, is precisely that we can improve our ability to think. Today, with competition at all levels and major global challenges, scientists need to change their approach and improve their thinking,' says Omstedt. Interaction between critical thinking and intuition Analytical critical thinking and intuition should go hand in hand and are beneficial in research, Omstedt claims. The book's subtitle, And the Nights Abound with Inspiration, alludes to the author's involvement in dream groups and work to combine analytical thinking with intuition and emotions. 'Since dreams are sensitive material, the participants in dream groups have to learn to show each other respect. Participants in dream groups also improve their memory, identify with each other's stories, ask open questions and learn to better understand symbols and the meaning of emotions. These things are also very beneficial to scientists and during interdisciplinary communication. The same method can be used in other types of groups, for example in research groups. The book is meant to encourage students and scientists to study themselves and their motives in order to better understand what drives them. 'Private life and professional life are interlinked, and we need to connect different fields of knowledge. Today most research takes place in separate buckets without communicating vessels, which limits the researchers' ability to contribute to solving the global challenges. Instead they are competing with smart arguments.' ### The book Connecting Analytical Thinking and Intuition, And the Nights Abound with Inspiration is published by Springer forlag. Contact: Anders Omstedt Professor at the Department of Marine Sciences University of Gothenburg. 46-0-31-786-28-81, 0-709-49-24-77 anders.omstedt@marine.gu.se Falling asleep and waking up are key transitions in everyone's day. Millions of people have trouble with these transitions - they find it hard to fall asleep or stay asleep at night, and hard to stay awake during the day. Despite decades of research, how these transitions work - the neurobiological mechanics of our circadian rhythm - has remained largely a mystery to brain scientists. Now, however, scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) have identified the workings of a key pathway for these processes. The pathway that appears to play a key role in regulating the "switch" between wakefulness and sleep. This is the first study to elucidate this process in such biophysical detail. Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor of Physiology at UM SOM, focused on a particular brain area, the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus. This region acts as the brain's internal clock, determining when we feel like going to sleep, how long we sleep, and when we feel like getting up. Within the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which is known as the SCN, she focused on certain ion channels, proteins that conduct electrical current, relaying information from one neuron to another. She focused on a group of channels known as BK potassium channels, which seem to be particularly active in the SCN. In the paper, which appeared recently in Nature Communications, Dr. Meredith examined mice, whose schedule is opposite to humans - they sleep during the day and are awake at night. She found that BK channels are active during waking, which for the mice was at night; during the day the BK channels were inactive. She found that in this daytime context, the role of the BK channels is to inhibit wakefulness. Prof. Meredith examined normal mice, along with mice that had been genetically altered so that their BK channels could not be inactivated. She then recorded activity in these channels, via electrodes placed in SCN neurons. In the brains of the genetically modified group, the animals that could not inactivate their BK channels, she found lower levels of neuronal activity, which was associated with more daytime wakefulness. This was unusual, because mice generally sleep during the day. The new findings are surprising, for several reasons. The researchers didn't know of any physiological process in the body that relied on BK channel inactivation as a mechanism. Scientists had known that the channel acted in this way, but didn't know how neurons used this mechanism to regulate information coding in the brain. This is the first study to show that BK channel inactivation is critical for encoding circadian rhythm in the brain. Previously, BK channels had been known to be important for regulating other physiological functions. They are important for activating muscles, and play a prominent role in controlling blood pressure, heart rate, and bladder function. In the brain, BK channels have been known to be involved in regulating neuronal excitability, and play a role in motor control, learning and memory. In the brain, dysfunction in BK channels is associated with tremors, seizures, addiction, and problems with learning and memory. "We knew that BK channels were widely important throughout the body," says Prof. Meredith. "But now we have strong evidence that they are specifically and intrinsically involved in the wake-sleep cycle. That's really exciting." Also, in the past, scientists had thought that the day-night pattern of firing was largely driven by a different mechanism, the number of ion channels that exist on the surface of SCN neurons. The new paper showed that this model is too simplistic. The new study shows that the key is not the number of channels, but the fact that the channels are being activated, and more importantly, inactivated, at specific times of day. The discovery has clinical implications. Prof. Meredith says the new understanding of the inactivation mechanism could potentially be used to develop drugs that target circadian rhythms. Such a medication could be used to treat sleep disorders, jet lag, and seasonal affective disorder, all of which involve problems with the SCN circadian clock. ### About the University of Maryland School of Medicine The University of Maryland School of Medicine, chartered in 1807 and as the first public medical school in the United States, continues today as an innovative leader in accelerating innovation and discovery in medicine. The School of Medicine is the founding school of the University of Maryland and is an integral part of the 12-campus University System of Maryland. Located on the University of Maryland's Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine works closely with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide a research-intensive, academic and clinically based education. With 45 academic departments, centers, programs and institutes and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians and research scientists, along with more than $400 million in extramural funding, the School is regarded as one of the leading biomedical research institutions in the U.S. with top-tier faculty and programs in cancer, brain science, surgery and transplantation, trauma and emergency medicine, vaccine development and human genomics, among other centers of excellence. The School is not only concerned with the health of the citizens of Maryland and the nation, but also has a global presence, with research and treatment facilities in more than 35 countries around the world. University of Oregon research identifies 3,000 genes that are busy after exercise, including 795 that are altered by strong doses of histamine blockers EUGENE, Ore. -- April 14, 2016 -- After vigorous exercise, some 3,000 genes go to work to aid recovery by boosting muscles and blood vessels, but in the presence of high doses of antihistamines almost 27 percent of the gene response is blunted, according to University of Oregon researchers. Whether the antihistamine effect on 795 affected genes might suggest a problem for competitive athletes and devoted exercisers, however, is not known, said John R. Halliwill, professor of human physiology. He was one of 10 co-authors of the study now online ahead of print in the Journal of Physiology. Histamine is a substance in the body that responds to pollens, molds, animal dander, insect bites and other allergens. Too much response in some people fuels uncomfortable allergic reactions, prompting the use of antihistamines. Halliwill discovered in 2005 that histamines also relax blood vessels, increasing blood flow that aids post-exercise recovery. That emerged from his original focus on why some people, including athletes, pass out after vigorous physical exertion. He later found a link between an over-activation of two histamine receptors to drops in blood pressure. The new study -- led by doctoral student Steven A. Romero and in collaboration with Hans Dreyer, a departmental colleague who studies muscle physiology -- expanded the research to a wider genetics level. Researchers sequenced RNA, molecules essential for protein synthesis and signaling among genes, with state-of-the-art equipment in the UO's Genomics Core Facility. "We were looking for pathways associated with the growth of new blood vessels," said Halliwill, who is director of the department's Exercise and Environmental Physiology Lab. "We saw evidence of that, but we also saw gene expression associated with glucose uptake by muscles, restructuring of muscle in response to exercise, immune responses and intercellular communications." In the research, 10 men and six women, all 23-25 years old, physically fit and active, performed an hour of knee-extension exercise at 60 percent of their peak power, about 45 kicks per minute. Biopsies were done before and three hours after exercise to obtain samples of the quadriceps (vastulus lateris), skeletal muscles on the side of the thighs. Eight participants took 540 milligrams of fexofenadine and 300 milligrams of ranitidine -- levels nearly three times the recommended dosages of the over-the-counter antihistamines. Each target one of the two known histamine receptors involved in recovery responses. During exercise, blood flow, blood pressure and heart rate were monitored. The three-hour recovery window allowed the team to study gene transcription slightly beyond previous work that had found histamine improved blood flow for two hours after exercise. The antihistamines had no effect prior to exercise and little influence on gene expression at the conclusion of the workout. Three hours after exercise 88 percent of the 795 genes affected by the antihistamines mostly responded with lower levels of expression. "Histamine, a substance that we typically think of negatively and is most often associated with seasonal allergies, is an important substance contributing to the normal day-to-day response to exercise in humans," said Romero, who is now at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas on a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health. In their conclusion, the authors noted that the research highlighted only a small fraction of genes likely involved in signaling pathways influenced by histamine receptors activation during recovery. "Our data really highlight that there remain many unanswered questions regarding the use of exercise to promote beneficial adaptations in humans, Romero added. "Integrative physiologists from across the world have spent a great deal of effort conducting elegant studies in humans and yet we still have much work left to do." A key question is whether people should avoid taking antihistamines when they exercise. It's too early to make that call, Halliwill said. "We've got more work that we have to do," he said. "We need to do a training study in which we put people on histamine blockers and see if their adaptations to exercise training are as robust or diminished. There are a lot of redundancies in physiological systems. I wouldn't be surprised if blocking histamine receptors ends up being overcome by something else, but I also wouldn't be surprised if we can demonstrate that some responses to exercise training do become blunted if you take high doses of histamine blockers." ### Co-authors with Halliwill, Romero and Dreyer were Meredith J. Luttrell, a postdoctoral researcher, Douglas W. Turnbull, director of the Genomics Core Facility, former UO graduate student Adam J. Struck, now at Oregon Health and Science University, and UO doctoral students Austin D. Hocker, Joshua E. Mangum, Matthew R. Ely and Dylan C. Sieck. The NIH (grant R01 HL115027) and American Heart Association supported the research. Source: John Halliwill, professor of human physiology, 541-600-4337, halliwil@uoregon.edu Note: The UO is equipped with an on-campus television studio with a point-of-origin Vyvx connection, which provides broadcast-quality video to networks worldwide via fiber optic network. There also is video access to satellite uplink and audio access to an ISDN codec for broadcast-quality radio interviews. Links: Paper abstract: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/JP272177/abstract Halliwill faculty/lab page: http://eeplab.uoregon.edu/ Department of Human Physiology: http://physiology.uoregon.edu/ University of Oklahoma Professor Joseph M. Suflita will receive a national award, the 2016 DuPont Industrial Biosciences Award in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, at the American Society for Microbiology annual meeting in Boston in mid-June. Suflita is George Lynn Cross Research Professor and MAPCO Professor of Environmental Quality in the OU College of Arts and Sciences and the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy. "The University of Oklahoma is extremely proud that Professor Suflita, one of OU's most outstanding researchers, has been named as the recipient of this prestigious national award," said OU President David L. Boren. The prestigious DuPont award is a national award recognizing an individual for distinguished achievement in research and development in applied (non-clinical) and environmental microbiology. Suflita will present a special lecture titled, "Reflections on the Anthropocene, Societal Energy Challenges and a Career in Microbiology" at the annual meeting. "I am humbled and extremely pleased by this recognition. It was a complete surprise to me, and I fully recognize this is not an individual award. I will always be extremely grateful to all the students, post-doctoral graduates and collaborators who worked with me over the years and to OU for allowing me to develop my career and the Institute for Energy and the Environment," Suflita said. A unifying thread in Suflita's research is his concern over the fate of important environmental pollutants, the rates of contaminant biodegradation, the ecological boundaries of the metabolism and the types of microorganisms that catalyze critical transformations. His early work proved instrumental for understanding the role of anaerobic microorganisms in governing the fate of halogenated organic contaminants, while his later work focused on the anaerobic bioremediation of spilt hydrocarbons--a process previously dismissed as environmentally insignificant. In recent years, Suflita has sought to prevent the environmental release of hazardous materials through a greater understanding of the biocorrosion processes throughout the energy infrastructure. His work helped lead to the recognition that the complex anaerobic consortia responsible for the mineralization of hydrocarbons can result in the formation of substantial quantities of methane -- a process that is important for clean energy recovery and addressing global atmospheric emission issues. Currently, Suflita directs three institutes and centers at OU, including the Institute for Energy and the Environment, the Biocorrosion Center -- a research consortium designed to explore fundamental issues surrounding the diagnosis and mitigation of corrosion in the upstream oil and gas sector--and a multi-institutional, Multidisciplinary University Research Institute, which focuses on downstream energy issues and seeks to understand the environmental compatibility of biofuel formulations. Suflita served as an associate editor for the leading interdisciplinary environmental journal in the world -- Environmental Science and Technology -- until December 2015. He is a member of the American Society for Microbiology, American Academy of Microbiology, American Chemical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation Society and Sigma Xi. Suflita joined the OU faculty in 1982 following his post-doctoral and Ph.D. studies at Michigan State University and Penn State University, respectively. ### Space technology opportunities are to be opened up to emerging nations in a project between the UK and Mexico, led at the University of Strathclyde. The programme will offer researchers, entrepreneurs and established space companies the prospect of gaining scientific insight or securing a new space market over short periods - of a few months or years - without the extensive investment required for a traditional space mission. This will be achieved by building on the experiences of the development of UKube-1, the UK's first national CubeSat, which was launched in 2013 and was developed by Clyde Space with support from Strathclyde. The new feasibility project, entitled NANOBED-MX: Mexico Nanosatellite Missions Laboratory, will be carried out in partnership with Clyde Space Ltd, the Satellite Applications Catapult, MXSpace, its affiliated companies, and Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua. The UK element of the project has now received a grant from the UK Space Agency, through its International Partnerships Space Programme. Dr Malcolm Macdonald, Director of the Strathclyde-based Scottish Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications, said: "Space technology is a sector offering vast commercial opportunities but typically requires vast expenditure. As such, it has largely been dominated by nations which are prosperous or populous -- or both -- while in developing nations, space capability and related infrastructure may be less available or accessible. "This programme is designed to enable the rapid realisation of projects; this will unlock new applications, present opportunities for wider international collaboration, remove barriers to accessing technology and knowledge, and engage with a new generation of engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs." MXSpace has identified the NANOBED Missions Laboratory concept as a focal point for engaging with local technology suppliers, developers and end users. A resulting lead-in payload developer and mission application, SpaceCloud, has been identified for Mexico. The NANOBED Missions Laboratory supports future payloads and application development, with facilities at the Strathclyde-based Satellite Applications Catapult Missions Laboratory and at the Harwell Space Cluster in Didcot, Oxfordshire. The funding will enable the UK-Mexican consortium to develop the NANOBED Missions Laboratory, taking into account the requirements of the nascent Mexican Space Industry, spearheaded by MXSpace, which will work with Clyde Space to integrate the NANOBED to the laboratory environment at Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua. The NANOBED Missions Laboratory will be used both for international collaboration with Strathclyde and for wider engagement in Mexico. The success of the collaborative project will be measured, among other benefits, by the creation of future UK export growth enabled by the development of Mexico's national space goals. ### Tsukuba, Japan -- Researchers have been unclear on how bacteria form and release certain extracellular components involved in cell adhesion and multicellular structures that also contribute to antibiotic resistance. However, a recent study from a multinational team of researchers identified a previously unknown phenomenon, explosive cell lysis, as crucial in the production of membrane vesicles and biofilm formation. The study was reported in Nature Communications. Membrane vesicles are tiny spheres that develop from bacterial membranes and contain a mixture of proteins, DNA, and RNA. They are important for the virulence of the bacterium--its ability to cause disease--as they play vital roles in invasion, secretion, and signaling. They also contribute to the formation of biofilms, the slimy three-dimensional structures that form when bacteria adhere to moist surfaces such as teeth or wounds. Extracellular (e)DNA is a key structural organization of biofilms, yet it was not known how certain structural proteins or eDNA are released. To answer this, the researchers used live cell microscopy of the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa to reveal that cells quickly changed from rod- to round-shaped, and explode. "Cells lose their structural integrity in 5-10 seconds," corresponding author Cynthia Whitchurch of the University of Technology Sydney explains, "and the explosion releases cellular content including eDNA, proteins, and membrane fragments into the surrounding environment." Using super-resolution microscopy to follow the explosions, they found a surprising observation described by first author Lynne Turnbull: "We observed that membrane fragments produced by exploding bacteria curled up to form membrane vesicles that captured eDNA and other cellular components released by the explosion." Co-corresponding and co-first author Masanori Toyofuku of the University of Tsukuba and University of Zurich explains that, "this was completely unexpected as until now bacterial membrane vesicles were thought to form from membranous protrusions at the cell surface." The team found that the explosions are caused by an enzyme (Lys) used by bacteria-infecting viruses (phages) and phage-like elements to disrupt the cell wall of their hosts. Using a mutant bacterial strain incapable of producing Lys, they discovered that the enzyme was needed to produce eDNA and membrane vesicles. Through a range of experiments, the team also demonstrated that exposure of cells to different forms of stress, such as antibiotics or DNA damaging agents, stimulated expression of the gene encoding Lys and induced explosive cell lysis. "This shows that the bacterial 'SOS' response triggers explosive cell lysis in response to unfavorable environmental conditions," co-corresponding author Leo Eberl of the University of Zurich says. This mechanism may enable bacteria to release important cellular factors for use by bacterial communities as public goods, and knowledge of its control could be used to interfere with biofilm formation of pathogenic bacteria. ### Each fall, monarch butterflies across Canada and the United States turn their orange, black and white-mottled wings toward the Rio Grande and migrate over 2,000 miles to the relative warmth of central Mexico. This journey, repeated instinctively by generations of monarchs, continues even as monarch numbers have plummeted due to loss of their sole larval food source -- milkweed. But amid this sad news, a research team believes they have cracked the secret of the internal, genetically encoded compass that the monarchs use to determine the direction -- southwest -- they should fly each fall. "Their compass integrates two pieces of information -- the time of day and the sun's position on the horizon -- to find the southerly direction," said Eli Shlizerman, a University of Washington assistant professor. While the nature of the monarch butterfly's ability to integrate the time of day and the sun's location in the sky are known from previous research, scientists have never understood how the monarch's brain receives and processes this information. Shlizerman, who has joint appointments in the Department of Applied Mathematics and the Department of Electrical Engineering, partnered with colleagues at the University of Michigan and the University of Massachusetts to model how the monarch's compass is organized within its brain. "We wanted to understand how the monarch is processing these different types of information to yield this constant behavior -- flying southwest each fall," said Shlizerman, who is lead author on the team's recent paper in the journal Cell Reports. Monarchs use their large, complex eyes to monitor the sun's position in the sky. But the sun's position is not sufficient to determine direction. Each butterfly must also combine that information with the time of day to know where to go. Fortunately, like most animals including humans, monarchs possess an internal clock based on the rhythmic expression of key genes. This clock maintains a daily pattern of physiology and behavior. In the monarch butterfly, the clock is centered in the antennae, and its information travels via neurons to the brain. Biologists have previously studied the rhythmic patterns in monarch antennae that control the internal clock, as well as how their compound eyes decipher the sun's position in the sky. Shlizerman's collaborators, including Steven Reppert at the University of Massachusetts, recorded signals from antennae nerves in monarchs as they transmitted clock information to the brain as well as light information from the eyes. "We created a model that incorporated this information -- how the antennae and eyes send this information to the brain," said Shlizerman. "Our goal was to model what type of control mechanism would be at work within the brain, and then asked whether our model could guarantee sustained navigation in the southwest direction." In their model, two neural mechanisms -- one inhibitory and one excitatory -- controlled signals from clock genes in the antennae. Their model had a similar system in place to discern the sun's position based on signals from the eyes. The balance between these control mechanisms would help the monarch brain decipher which direction was southwest. Based on their model, it also appears that during course corrections monarchs do not simply make the shortest turn to get back on route. Their model includes a unique feature -- a separation point that would control whether the monarch turned right or left to head in the southwest direction. "The location of this point in the monarch butterfly's visual field changes throughout the day," said Shlizerman. "And our model predicts that the monarch will not cross this point when it makes a course correction to head back southwest." Based on their simulations, if a monarch gets off course due to a gust of wind or object in its path, it will turn whichever direction won't require it to cross the separation point. Additional studies would need to confirm whether the researchers' model is consistent with monarch butterfly brain anatomy, physiology and behavior. So far, aspects of their model, such as the separation point, seem consistent with observed behaviors. "In experiments with monarchs at different times of the day, you do see occasions where their turns in course corrections are unusually long, slow or meandering," said Shlizerman. "These could be cases where they can't do a shorter turn because it would require crossing the separation point." Their model suggests a simple explanation why monarch butterflies are able to reverse course in the spring and head northeast back to the United States and Canada. The four neural mechanisms that transmit information about the clock and the sun's position would simply need to reverse direction. "And when that happens, their compass points northeast instead of southwest," said Shlizerman. "It's a simple, robust system to explain how these butterflies -- generation after generation -- make this remarkable migration." ### In addition to Reppert, other co-authors on the paper were James Phillips-Portillo at the University of Massachusetts and Daniel Forger at the University of Michigan. Shlizerman's work was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Washington Research Fund. Additional information can be found at the project's blog. For more information, contact Shlizerman at 206-543-6658 or shlizee@uw.edu. Grant number: DMS-1361145 Written by ACM *Strasbourg/Angelo Marcopolo/- By adopting a series of Last Minute Amendments, with a Strong Majority, EU Parliament Droped twice the "Accession" Wording for Turkey, at key issues, and slamed Ankara's "Casus Beli Threats" against Greece at the Aegean Sea, in the context of its Votes for the Annual EU Report on Ankara. In addition, it supported the Continuity of the Republic of Cyprus in view of its Future Evolvement into a Federation. MEPs prefered the Neutral Term "Negotiations", instead of "Accession", regarding both the "Framework" of EU - Turkey Talks, as well as their overall "Process", (which became "Negotiation Process", instead of "Accession Process", notoriously Controversial and Unpopular among EU Citizens, particularly as far as it concerns Ankara's EU aims. Moreover, it's with an exceptionaly Strong Majority of about 479 against only 116 Votes, that EU Parliament expressed officialy its "Regrets" for the Fact that the Turkish Government hasn't yet withdrawn its "Casus Beli Threats (War Threats) against Greece" at the Aegean Sea, (f.ex. in case Athens tries to use the Rights given by the International Law of the Sea in order to start exploiting Mineral and/or Oil/Gas Natural Resources in its Exclusive Economic Zone. Meanwhile, the Resolution which was adopted makes it crystal-clear, as far as the latest EU - Turkey Deal on Mass Migration is concerned, that Ankara's desiderata for "Free Visa" of 75 Millions Turkish Citizens into the EU, face a "Merit-Based" issue, which works "Only when Standards have been met". Last, but not least, EU Parliament's Majority also Rejected an attempt by some "Green" MEPs to contest the Continuity of the State of the Republic of Cyprus, in case of a Political Solution on the issue of the ReUnification of the island in the foreseable Future, prefering to speak about an "Evolvement of the Republic of Cyprus" into a Federation, instead of mere "Formation" of such an entity, as those "Greens" had asked vainly. ---------------------------------- The adopted Resolution also "alls on Turkey to begin to withdraw its troops from Cyprus and to transfer the sealed-off area of Famagusta to the UN", as well as to "grant Access" to the "Committee of MISSING Persons" to all areas, both "Military" and to "relevant Archives". MEPs in addition endorsed in Plenary a series of strong appeals for Press Freedom respect, (particularly about freing many jailed Journalists of the opposition), as well as for Cease-Fire and Peace Talks at the South-East regions of Turkey, where the mainly Kurdish Minority's a.o. inhabitants face violence from the resumed conflict, hard restrictions, etc., many being obliged to become Displaced Persons recently. Moreover, EU Parliament maintained, during Today's Votes, its crystal-clear demand for a "Thorpugh and Objective Investigation of Journalists' allegations regarding the Transport of Weapons" from Turkey "to Syria". But, as famous RWF prize winner, (subsequently jailed, and only recently freed) Dissident Turkish Journlist Dundar had told "Eurofora", earlier in Strasbourg, the current Ankara Government, instead of denying Arms Traffic towards Terrorists gangs-held Syrian territories, on the contrary, prohibits such queries by claiming that all such matters would be "State Secrets".. Written by ACM *Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- Can "Dialogue" and "Culture" help restore much needed "Trust" at the PanEuropean area through CoE, as New Russian Ambassador/Permanent Representative Ivan Soltanovsky told "Eurofora" that he hoped to help develop in Strasbourg ? He said that after opening, earlier Today, together with CoE's Secretary General Thornbjorn Jagland, a landmark Exhibition resuming 20 Years of PanEuropean dimension for the CoE, since the Historic accessionn of Russia, back on 1996, (to which "Eurofora"s co-Founder had the chance to assist : See relevant Publications at "TCWeekly" from those unfprgetable events, including a brief but topical statement that gave us the f. Foreign Minister Yevgeni Primakov, etc). On this occasion, official letters exchanged between Jagland and the Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Lavrov, were made public, in which CoE's re-elected Chief, a former Prime Minister of Norway and Nobel Peace prize Committee Chair, stressed Russia's role as "an Indispensable member" of the "Pan-European Community" for "Dialogue and Cooperation", as well as the "Vital role" it played "over the years" "in shaping CoE's responses to New Realities on the Continent"., since its accession, which "was an important milestone in the Pan-European reach of our organisation", (and "not just a Romantic" but also a Real-Politic issue, as he added, smiling). Lavrov reminded from the outset that CoE's enlargement to Russia "eliminated Dividing Lines inherited from the "Cold War" era", and expressed the "Hope" that, "in the present Challenging situation of our Continent", CoE's role could be "Strengthened", as "one of the Pillars of European Architecture", also in view of "creating a Common Economic and Humanitarian space, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean", with "Equal and Integral Security". In particular, CoE's activities are demanded mainly in 3 Fields: "Human Rights, including Protection of National Minorities and eradication of statelessness" ; "Countering Extremism, Aggressive Nationalism, Racial and Religious Intolerance" ; and "developpment of Youth Cooperation, InterCultural Dialogue", as well as "preservin the Identity of European Civilisation". Both didn't elude critical points for discussion : F.ex. Jagland mentioned "NGO Legislation", while Lavrov pointed at "double standards and selective attitudes that undermine (CoE's) ...principles". In this context, the experienced New Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Russia, who served for several years also as Head of the Foreign Ministry department for European/International Organisations, (including, f.ex., OSCE, etc), stressed to "Eurofora" that his main aim in coming tp serve at the CoE in Strasbourg is, most of all, to contribute into "Restoring Trust". In parallel, Ivan Soltanovsky would also like to "Open a Dialogue", including "with the ECHR", including both Human Rights and other CoE's key issues Today. At another, differend point, he didn't shy away from an "Eurofora"s question about the current prospects for an eventual rapprochment or cooperation of PanEuropean CoE also with China, at least in certain areas of common interest, (which is the only UNO Security Council's permanent member without an official Status at the CoE, while, on the contrary, both USA and Canada, etc. have been granted a Special Status, precisely, since Russia's Accession, already as early as since back on 1995-1996). In this regard, "I know that I have to pay an official visit", as New Ambassador, "also to the Japanese representation", he observed, and smled surprized when "Eurofora" reminded him that he should also do the same about Mexico... But, perhaps one among the most Important Factors for the Saint-Petersbourg born, European-minded Russian diplomat, was, Today, "Culture", (as also his Wife enthousiasticaly agreed). Indeed, already, it's 2 superb Musical pieces of Piano (one from a Western and another from a Russian compositor), played by the Young Galina Zhukova, a Professor of Music at Saint Petersburg, whch opened the official Inauguration of the Exhibition for the 20th Anniversary of Russia's accession to the CoE, (after a weekly tour of concerts that she was invited to hold mainly in France). And it's a beautiful, Modern Painting picturing a cosy Moscow square full of Lights and Trees, where People could feel good to meet and exchange after daily work, as it was pointed out, that Russia gave as a Gift to the CoE. Obviously, all this Fits well with Lavrov's above mentioned, concluding reference on CoE's particularly "demanded" potential, also about "Preserving the Identity of the European Civilisation". (+UPDATED:) A move which was, later-on, spectacularly boosted also by the subsequent Liberation of Palmyra, a key UNESCO's World Cultural Treasure, from the Extremist Islamist Terrorist of ISIL's atrocious BeHeaders, even of Defenseless and innocent Civilian People, which was notoriousy obtained by Syria with the Help of Russian special forces. Evenmore when the Restoration of the (partly Destroyed by Explosions) Historic Monuments of Palmyra is due to be realized by the World-Famous Saint Petersburg "Hermitage" Museum Experts, as it was anounced shortly afterwards. ------------------------ Meanwhile, the 1996-2016 Exhibition opened Today at CoE's Committee of Ministers' anti-chamber, added, in parallel, a spectacular Historic overview of Key Events and Political Personalities who marked, in one way or another, the End of the 20th and the Beginning of the 21st Century by developing a real and fully-fledged Pan-European Dimension through the CoE: Artfuly associating Authentic Documents, Texts and Original Photos (from Press Agency "Tass" or CoE's Archives) on Historic Pan-European events, with High-Tech "3D" Digital Representations of nowadays Russia, this Exhibition on the "20th Anniversary" of what was probably the Longest ever Accession process in CoE's History, topicaly revives Memories of Hopes for Stable Peace, really fruitful Cooperation (including on High-Tech, Air-Space, Education or other Strategic areas), and a Strong "Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals" Mountains, as former long-time French President De Gaulle notoriously used to say. From Grobatchev's dreams about the creation of "a Common European House", together with the then CoE's Secretary General Catherine Lalumiere, (with whom "Eurofora"s co-Founder started to work at the PanEuropean Press Sector), to former Foreign Minister Primakov's sober but sharp figure during and after Russia's Accession into the CoE, (which brought us also the USA, with a Special Status : Comp. Supra), through Yeltsin's jokes with Chirac and Kohl, particularly at the 2nd Heads of State/Government Summit back on 1997 in Strasbourg, which eyed the creation of a "Trilateral" Top Link between Franco-German and Russian Leaders, (both accompagnied by Lenni Fischer's Presidency of CoE's influential Parliamentary Assembly : Comp. various Fischer's INTW to "Eurofora"s co-Founder, published then mainly at "TCWeekly"), followed, long afterwards, up to the 1st ever Presidency of the CoE by Russia on 2006-2007, with the unforgetable Ambassador Alexander Orlov, and Foreign Minister Lavrov in full diplomatic action, from Strasbourg to Moscow and vice-versa, as well as to the 2008-2009 etc. cooperation of so Differend Political Personalities such as CoE's former Secretary General Terry Davis (a Socialist) and CoE Assembly's President Rene Van der Linden (a ChristianDemocrat) with Russian President Vladimir Putin, followed by his notorious Friend Dmitry Medvedev after the beginning of the Jagland era at the Head of the CoE, (including on 2011, etc), which extended until now to various Jagland - Putin meetings (f.ex. on 2013, etc) until recently, (with the omni-present Vladimir Loukine, inter alia also Human Rights' representative of Russia, almost always strolling around several key events, from Strasbourg - both at the CoE and EU Parliament- to Paris, Moscow or Kiev, etc: Comp. various Loukine statements to "Eurofora"s co-founder through the years), without forgetting Dumas' President Naryshkin's 2015 Hommage to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the Liberation from NAZIsm on 2015, which was celebrated both in Moscow and at the CoE in Strasbourg, (Comp. Naryshkin replies to "Eurofora" Questions at another occasion and NewsReport on the 2015 Liberation Anniversary event here), etc. ------------------------------------------------- However, the most unforgetable Human figure for us is that of someone that we were positively surprized to find among the 20th Anniversary Exhibition's Photos : The 1st Ambassador/permanent Representative of Russia to the CoE, Yevgeny Prokhorov, who had been atrociously killed in an ill-elucidated crash of his car against a Tree in his way Home after several CoE and Embassy meetings, including one with the then Secretary General Daniel Tarschys from Sweden, to which we had participated, together with a few other Journalists, and where Prokhorov was so kind that he had even offered us his own chair, that we obviously declined, thanking him. Prochorov was a hard nut to crack and start speaking to, before mutual Trust could be established, but after that, he was a Wonderful and Efficient Diplomat for useful Press Contacts, with a good Human personality, and he had just been elected as future ECHR Judge for the next 9 Years. But, back on 1998, in the middle of the so-called "S300" Defensive Sol-Air Missiles' Crisis between Cyprus and Turkey, (particularly disliked by the Turkish Military for their Long range Radar capacities, able to cover all Cyprus, without being Hindered by the continuing illegal Occupation of part of its Territories by Ankara's Foreign Invasion Army since 1974), which had been bought from Russia by the long-time former Cypriot President Clerides, (an experienced ChristianDemocrat who promoted the island's Accession into the EU and afterwards supported a "Yes" Vote for a controversial Plan attributed to former UN SG Koffi Annan, but in fact prepared by others in teh aftermath of 9/11, even if it was rejected by a 2/3 Majority at a Popular Referendum), i.e. in an exceptional Context of Tension, when even CoE's Officers asked us, (as simple Journalist in Strasbourg !) if we knew how Cyprus planned to Import the S300 Defense Missiles, while turkish Warships were Blocking Transports, at the same moment that a Turkish collegue from Strasbourg, visiting the Island had just published that Nicosia would try to bring those Machines in small pieces due to be re-assembled afterwards, (etc), the Russian Ambassador was burn alive in strange circumstances. It was a unique and unprecedented incident, without anything similar ever happening neither in Strasbourg, nor in Brussels or in Geneva, etc. We knew well the Road where he was killed : It was just a very Quiet and Safe pathway, to the point that, in the Past, we had used it in order to show to our Small Child how to drive a Bicycle ! But it was also quite Isolated, and, overNight may be a bit spooky. What is important were the many interesting and accurate Facts about the concrete circumstances in which the deadly car incident really took place, which were described to us, in an exclusive INTW, by the only known then 1st Hand key Witness : the Chief of the FireFighters' team which arrived on the spot to erase the Fire and try to get the Driver out of the Burning Car which had, for Unknown yet reasons, crashed on a Tree at the side of the road, curiously without even leaving any traces of attempts to put a Brake in order to avoid that, (something which, nrmaly, was easy and natural). Most of this INTW (which took place even Before any Official Investigation from the local Authorities starts, the Firefighters' Chief having told us that we were the 1st person to whom they spoke on that incident) was published at the Press Agency MPA. But what wasn't yet ever published at all, was a Strange Event which followed, shortly afterwards : Suddenly, in the Biggest Local Newspaper of Strasbourg, the "DNA", was published a Short mention of that Tragic Incident, exceptionaly, not by one of its own Journalists, but signed by a former Collegue, a Free Lance Journalist from Bulgaria, who was sometimes covering the CoE here, sometimes working in Brussels or elsewhere, either for the Press or in the Translation business. Astonishingly, that small Article claimed, (without any known proof), that the Victim would have been too "drunk", clearly insinuating that this might explain everything. However, when we had seen Ambassador Prokhorov, some Hours before, he was absolutely sober and efficient-looking. Moreover, when we asked the Writer of that Strange Article how she knew whether the Victim has been "drunk" as she claimed, or not, she revealed us that, in fact, she personaly didn't know, neither had ever seen anything of that kind, but, that, on the contrary, she had been told that by a former Director of CoE's protocol, who was, then, the most High-graded CoE Official from ...Turkey ! I.e. the Country whose regime was, then, notoriously ready to do Anything in order to Hinder that Russia - Cyprus cooperation on the Defensive Missiles "S300", including in Strasbourg or anywhere else, (Comp. Supra): An obvious Contradiction of Interests, (a "Crisis" at that moment), which obviously makes the Lobby which spread such Rumors against the Victim, particularly Untrustworthy and even Suspect. Naturaly, we don't know art all whether any key information related to that "S300" Defensive Missiles' Crisis of 1998 might have arrived, or not, in Strasbourg, but these Strange Facts (which have not been published before), deserve to be known by the Public and all those interested in that exceptional Tragic and ill-elucidated affair, do that it was our Duty not to conceal them. The Canadian government has proposed its new euthanasia bill and as expected, it will be the most radical in the world. Since the death doctor need not be present at the demise, the bill creates an unprecedented license for family members, friends heck, a guy down the street to make people dead. From the bill: Exemption for person aiding patient (5) No person commits an offence under paragraph (1) (b) if they do anything, at another persons explicit request, for the purpose of aiding that other person to self-administer a substance that has been prescribed for that other person as part of the provision of medical assistance in dying in accordance with section 241. 2. Reasonable but mistaken belief (6) For greater certainty, the exemption set out in any of subsections (2) to (5) applies even if the person invoking the exemption has a reasonable but mistaken belief about any fact that is an element of the exemption. Once the lethal drugs are obtained, this means there are zero meaningful safeguards and protections for vulnerable people, since anyone can kill at the request of the patient. How will authorities know that actual consent was made to do the deed? Coercion happens behind closed doors. Indeed, even if there was a mistake, the killer is protected from culpability by claiming good faith. In short, this provision is the perfect defense for the murder of sick and disabled people who requested lethal drugs. The George Delury case is an example of what I mean: Delury said he assisted his wife Myrna Lebovs suicide out of compassion and at her request due to MS. But his real hope was not only to be free from care giving, but to become famous by writing a book about her death. (He did, What If She Wants to Die?) It almost worked. But because assisted suicide was a criminal offense, authorities conducted an investigation and discovered his diary. It showed that contrary to the compassionate face Delury was conjuring, in reality he emotionally pressured Myrna into wanting to commit suicide, telling her, for example, that she was a burden and ruining his life. He also withheld full dosage of antidepressants so he could use those drugs to kill her. And, he but put a plastic bag over her head to make sure she died. If euthanasia Canadas bill had been the law of New York when Delury killed Myrnov, he might have been able to coerce her into asking for lethal drugs. At that point, he could have killed her any time he wanted and there wouldnt have been a criminal investigation to find his diary. Canada has just paved the way for a person hungry for an inheritance or ideologically predisposed to get away with the perfect murder. Image: Canadian Parliament via Wikicommons. Cross-posted at Human Exceptionalism. If you follow conservative journalism at all, you know that a mostly online splinter called the alternative right or alt-right is currently a subject of bitter and voluminous indignation. At The Federalist today, Cathy Young has an interesting analysis (You Cant Whitewash the Alt-Rights Bigotry), taking issue with two other journalists at Breitbart who tried to explain the phenomenon in a sympathetic, even admiring manner. There is great worry about the conservative brand image, and the alt-right figures prominently in that. Cathy Youngs piece, youll notice, has some intriguing references to evolution, human biodiversity, race-related genetic cognitive and behavioral differences, and related subjects. On that, she and other mainstream conservatives could have said much more. Though this has escaped focused attention, the alternative right draws heavily on themes of evolution-based racism. And that is significant. Miss Young notes retired California State University-Long Beach psychology professor Kevin MacDonald, who has some peculiar theories about Jews: namely, that Judaism is an evolutionary strategy by which Jews seek dominanceIts The Protocols of the Elders of Zion dressed up as evolutionary psychology. Another writer cited by Young raises eugenic, or rather dysgenic, concerns: The Pro-Life Temptation by Aylmer Fisher presumably a pseudonym stolen from the innocent British geneticist which cautions the alt-right against adopting an anti-abortion stance in knee-jerk opposition to liberals. The pro-life position is dysgenic, since it encourages breeding by the least intelligent and responsible women. If you think you know where this is going, youre right. Fisher argues that, firstly, the pro-life position is dysgenic, since it encourages breeding by the least intelligent and responsible women who are most likely to have abortions and who are disproportionately Black, Hispanic, and poor. Taken from the Radix Journal (more on it in a moment), thats ugly stuff and Miss Young does a service in pointing it out. In her article, our old nemesis John Derbyshire, scrubbed from National Review, makes an appearance, along with the alt-right movements online hubs such as Richard Spencers AlternativeRight.com and Steve Sailers VDARE. (Actually VDARE is edited by Peter Brimelow, not Steve Sailer, who has his own blog at another alt-right hotspot, The Unz Review. Once upon a time, I enjoyed editing them both as writers for National Review.) But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Weve reported here in the past on the evolutionary preoccupations of Derbyshire and another race-realist outlet, Jared Taylors American Renaissance. But not till reading Cathy Youngs post did I recognize that the mother lode of pseudo-conservative, pseudo-scientific racism is Richard Spencers AlternativeRight.com, which as she points out has been rebranded as Radix Journal, dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of European people in the United States, and around the world. Here, the vein of evolutionary thinking is particularly rich. We read, Darwinian Evolution Revolutionized the Natural Sciences. The Social Sciences Have Been Immune for Too Long. In What Is Identitarian Religion?, writer Alfred W. Clark tells of a long-standing Trad Catholic I know [who] told me recently that he had left the Church. [H]is conservative priest had become obsessed with [among other things]denouncing evolution because its racist. More: And what of identitarian atheists and agnostics? Can they co-exist with identitarian religion? Since identitarian religion is not at odds with nature, and thus not at odds with evolutionary science, it does not threaten secular knowledge but offers itself as an additional societal glue. Another writer wonders why few women seem enthusiastic about race-realism: The evolutionary basis for this doesnt seem too hard to figure out. As a prehistoric man, you have to decide the best way to find food and kill the members of the other tribe. There is sympathy for eugenics, and much fretting about the dysgenic menace. A writer notes an antisocial Darwinism where Society favors the broken at the expense of the fixed. The result isnt so much that the fixed are crushed, but that the broken proliferate and become permanent dependents of the state. Richard Spencer shares his Foreword to a new annotated edition of [racial eugenicist] Madison Grants Conquest of a Continent [1933], explaining that Darwinism offers a compelling and rational justification for Whites to act on behalf of their ancestors and progeny and feel a shared since of destiny with their extended kin group. Again, Alfred W. Clark asks, What Is the #Altright? He explains: Michael Brendan Dougherty recently called the alt-right race obsessed. A better phrase might be: race realists. Most alt-righters actually take Darwinism seriously. (If you are at a loss of what taking Darwinism seriously means, you might want to read this book.) Young alt-righters are comfortable with modern science which shows that human biodiversity is a facet of life. The fact that so many today in Conservatism Inc. want either to ignore or deny human biodiversity, shows how untethered from reality modern conservatism has become. And much more along these lines. The Right has periodically sought to purge itself of tendencies like this, and its engaged in such a purge right now. I prefer understanding to demonizing. Darwinian conservatives operate with a particular picture in mind of what a human being is a very different picture from the one posited by the Judeo-Christian tradition on which conservatism has drawn in the past. Its either man the animal or man in the image of an intelligent designer. Those are the choices. From such a stark dichotomy, everything else is downstream. Recognizing as much would be a first step to restoring the health of a fractured and troubled movement. Image credit: Caspar David Friedrich [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. The National Aquarium of New Zealand does not seem to be shedding any tears over the celebrated great escape of its octopus Inky, which is garnering worldwide acclaim. On the contrary the loss is no doubt greatly offset by the fine publicity in the wake of Inkys deed. And its hard not to applaud what seems to be the beasts will to be free. After hours, via a series of contortions, he hoisted himself out of a carelessly secured aquarium, lured by the sounds of the ocean from a narrow drainpipe across the floor, which he made his way across, and slipped down and out. Almost no squeeze it too tight for an octopus. The authorities are not searching for Inky to return him to captivity. He is permanently at liberty. From CNN: An enterprising octopus spotted his chance to escape from a New Zealand aquarium and took it. Squeezing out from a gap at the top of his tank, the inquisitive octopus, Inky, slithered across the floor of the aquarium and down a seawater runoff pipe to Hawkes Bay, and freedom. Octopus are very intelligent, very inquisitive and like to push the boundaries, said Rob Yarrell, the manager of the National Aquarium of New Zealand. This particular one was very friendly and intelligent and obviously found a weak spot in the top of his tank. Inky, a common New Zealand octopus who had been caught by a local crayfisherman off the coast of Napier and donated to the aquarium, appears to be a credit to his species. Review these videos of octopus escapes the most striking being the guy that on being confined in a jar with a screw-top lid immediately unscrews it from within. Evolving the ability to do that is impressive when you consider that threaded screw tops are an invention of the 19th century: They are impeded only by the size of their parrot-like beak, which is the sole hard part of an octopus. All else is almost infinitely malleable: Another: Heres one at our local aquarium that tried but failed to get free: Weve noted in the past some of the evolutionary enigmas of these beautiful animals. See: Its not a mistake to attribute will or wiliness to an octopus, or a love of freedom. Animals are not robots. Our ability to recognize, appreciate, and admire qualities we share with them is among the things that makes human beings exceptional. Image credit: National Aquarium of New Zealand via Facebook. Margaret369 said: Hello, my husband and I are thinking on retiring to Spain in the near future, we have been looking at property on line and seem to be drawn to the camposol area, does anyone have any advise on where the best expat community is in the Murcia are! Thank you in advance Margaret Click to expand... If you Google Camposol you will get loads of sitesOn this forum you can use the search facility and there are many threads on itYou will see many negative views, which I urge you to take with a pinch of saltMany people spout forth on Camposol, based on a programme many years ago called Homes from hellBear in mind that there are about 5000 properties, and only a few have any problems, just as you would expect in any urbanisation of this sizeMany of those who run the place down have never been there, and their opinions harm an urbanisation that has everything you could wish forMany things have been improved, and of course there are things waiting to be improvedThe best thing you can do is to go to the Camposol Residents Association site to get an idea about it, and also Murcia Today for a flavour of the area.On Camposol ,you have all the facilities of doctors, dentists, supermarkets, restaurants, hairdressers etcThere are beautiful villas, many with pools, at great pricesVery near are traditional Spanish villages, lovely beaches, national park , and a short drive from the cities of Cartagena and Murcia, with their history to exploreI don't work for the Tourist Information by the way, but I did live there 14 years, and many have lived there much longer.Visit Camposol and the surrounding area, and don't listen to the inevitable doom mongers! Trade links are being strengthened between the UK and Mexico which could open up business opportunities for expats and would be expats.Lord Price, the UK's recently appointed Minister for Trade and Investment, has had a series of meetings with senior business leaders in Mexico and with key senior Mexican government officials.The main points of discussion have been how the UK and Mexico can forge closer trading links. He also pointed out that through the Exporting is GREAT campaign, the government is providing to businesses looking to export."The UK and Mexico have a strong trading relationship, they are our largest food and drink trading partner in Latin America. I am pleased to be in Mexico to look at ways of building on the trade ties between our two countries," said Price."This visit is a great opportunity to hear first-hand from business about how the government can further support those looking to export and look at ways to continue to attract investment from Mexico into the UK," he added.He had explained that the Senior Business Leaders Group, formed during the Mexican President's State visit to the UK last March, brings together senior executives from leading British and Mexican companies to identify opportunities and ways to overcome barriers to trade.The visit also provided an opportunity for Lord Price to discuss the government's support for exporters, as it works towards its target of getting 100,000 more companies exporting by 2020.He also explained that as the second largest economy in the region, with a market of 112 million people, Mexico offers huge trading opportunities for the UK. Bilateral trade for 2014 stood at over 3 billion and British exports of goods have increased by 55% between 2011 and 2015.During his visit, Lord Price met with a number of key Mexican government ministers including those for transport and communications, economy and finance.Among the companies involved in the meetings were HSBC (UK), BP, Diageo, Shell, Petrofac, ArcelorMittal Mexico, HSBC Mexico, AMAFORES, Grupo Bal, Grupo Azucarero Mexicano and Korn Ferry. March did not go out like either a lion or a lamb. In fact, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its Prospective Plantings report midday March 31, the month as well as the 2016 corn market highballed it into history faster than a runaway train. The coal was USDAs forecast that farmers intend to plant 93.6 million acres of corn this year. That figure is 2 million acres more than anyone had dared to even think and 3.5 million acres more than the average best guesser had guessed. Market sages stared at the number as if it was the sun: blinding, searing, killing. Soon, though, most began to scour record books for a historical fact or figure that might put the number into a more hopeful light. The search hit pay dirt when, Alan Brugler, a contributing analyst at DTN, uncovered a gem: Corn, he offered, has seen final acreage below the March intentions in 13 of the past 20 years. The largest swing in the last 20 years was 3.073 million acres. A drop of that size this year, he noted, however, would cut trendline production by just 500 million bushels. Supply issue Nothing can be done, though, to reduce the 1.8 billion bu. well still have in the bin when the 2016 harvest begins. The world feedgrain picture is worse; 21 percent of the previous crop, or 207 million metric tons, will remain when the new marketing years begins. And, yikes, now the U.S. might plant 93.6 million acres of corn this year? Yes, of course, thats crazy. For more than 20 years, though, American farm policy often has encouraged farmers to produce first, then figure out what to do with the market-splattering surplus. Over those years, the handiest, most universal fix has been ethanol. Creative policy solutions to encourage and, short of that, mandate domestic ethanol usage have redirected American acres toward corn (and its rotational complement, soybeans) and away from other crops like cotton, wheat and oats. More corn acres Indeed, as U.S. corn-based ethanol production ballooned from 848 million gallons in 1990 to 14.8 billion gallons in 2015, American corn acres soared from 74.5 million to this years anticipated 93 million-plus. Across those same 25 years, however, all wheat acres have plunged from 77.3 million to 2016s forecasted 49.6 million, and oats have virtually disappeared, dropping from 10.4 million acres in 1990 to just 2.7 million this year. Cotton has been affected, too, with acreage swinging from 12.4 million in 1990, to 15.5 million in 2000, to an anticipated 9.5 million acres in 2016. Ethanol policy, also, changed between 1990 and 2016. Mandating ethanol Federal and a patchwork of state tax breaks, as well as tariff protection against imports, were traded for an escalating, mandated Renewable Fuel Standard. The number of ethanol plants nationwide, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, has gone straight up, from a handful in 1980 to 214 last year. And, those plants, claims the RFA, supported 85,967 direct jobs (whatever that means) as well as 271,440 indirect and induced jobs. All these ethanol-related numbers with the exception of the RFAs squishy jobs numbers are inarguable. Ethanols impact Also inarguable is ethanols dominating role in U.S. ag production. No matter where you farm or what you farm, ethanol now drives many of your farms choices and decisions. Where would the nation, its farmers, livestock growers, and rural America be today had ethanol not been given such a protected, oversized role in U.S. farm and energy policy during the last 25 years? Low profits More to the point, as farmers, their bankers and input suppliers stare blankly at another year of record-shattering corn production and bleak corn prices, what role should it play in the future? Those are fair questions and, sooner or later, someone will ask them. As such, maybe we in agriculture should do the asking since were going to be the ones needing the answers. Hello from Hazard! Wendell Cole, from Lisbon, Ohio; Dale Foor, Pataskala, Ohio; Eli Miller, Mesopotamia, Ohio; Earl Corron, Dorset, Ohio; Thomas C. Douglas, Millersburg, Ohio; and Deborah Thomas quickly identified Item No. 1051 as a bed warmer. And, Cole explains, the reason that the magnet didnt stick is because its probably made of soapstone with a wire handle. The warmer was placed in the fireplace or stovetop to get hot, and then used to warm those cold sheets of your bed. Cole adds that the Lisbon Historical Society museum has several examples. John Svoboda, Rome, Ohio, believes it is a foot warmer. Our thanks to Diane Reiber for submitting the photo! Our newest item comes from Joe Singleton, of Exchange, West Virginia. He says it measures 14 inches when extended. Theres writing on it, which well share next week if we stump our distinguished panel of all you readers. Well, OK, well at least share that it is inscribed Chicago, Ill. Singleton confesses he doesnt know how it was used, so its our Hazard-ous readers to the rescue. If you know how it was used, email responses to editorial@farmanddairy.com; or respond by mail to: Hazard a Guess, c/o Farm and Dairy, P.O. Box 38, Salem, OH 44460. If you have an item in your basement, shed or barn that you think would be a great Hazard item, send us a photograph by mail or via email (no Polaroids or photocopies, please). Include a detailed description of the item and its measurements, as well as any distinguishing factors and how the item was used. You can use the email or mailing address listed above. Cmon, we know you have something you can send! HARRISBURG, Pa. A program to put food grown by Pennsylvania farmers into the charitable food system that was established six years ago but never funded will finally get off the ground thanks to first-ever funding through the 2015-16 state budget. $1 million allocation Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding announced April 12 the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank as the winning bidder to implement the program, known as the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System. The commonwealths final budget makes $1 million available to implement the program statewide. There is healthy and nutritious food available in the fields that never makes it into the food supply, Redding said, and we want to see it put onto the plates of people who need it. Ive often said that you cannot have a charitable food system without a food system that is charitable. This program makes it easier for more of the states producers to contribute to the cause. About the program The Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System, or PASS, was created in 2010 following a 2008 pilot program in southcentral Pennsylvania. Under the pilot program, the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank was able to acquire 128,740 pounds of Pennsylvania-grown surplus apples with a retail value of $188,604 for an actual cost of only $41,180, or about 32 cents per pound. The apples were then packed in three-pound bags that were distributed among the Central Pennsylvania Food Banks 27-county service region. In February of this year, the department issued a competitive request for proposals to implement PASS. The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank was the winning bidder. With the funding appropriated through the states 2015-16 budget, the food bank and the states charitable feeding organizations will secure a variety of surplus agricultural products produced in Pennsylvania. Producers, packers and processors participating in PASS may be reimbursed for costs involved in harvesting, processing and/or packaging, and transporting donated product. We view the PASS Program as a win-win-win situation: a win for Pennsylvania agriculture, a win for local food sourcing, and a win for Pennsylvanians in need that will receive this healthy bounty, said Joe Arthur, executive director of Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. Want to be involved? As part of the PASS implementation process, the department is developing a database of producers who want to be considered as sources of product for the program. This database will include farmers who offer products such as fruits and vegetables, eggs, dairy, beef, pork and poultry. Pennsylvania producers interested in participating in PASS can contact the departments Bureau of Food Distribution at 800-468-2433. "I'm up before dawn to tend to the cattle, then I work in my transport or mobile mechanic businesses and then check the cattle and do what has to be done when I get back home," he said. An event at George Washington University on May 4 will take a close look at a real-world story of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. FCPA Blog contributing editor Richard Bistrongs strange journey from the front-lines of international business, to cooperation with law enforcement, and incarceration will be the focus. Hell keynote the event, followed by a discussion by business, legal, and compliance leaders wholl draw lessons from his experience, with a particular look at how to handle business opportunities in higher risk markets. Panelist will include James Koukios from Morrison & Foerster. He spent six years at the DOJ and was a lead prosecutor in United States v. Esquenazi and United States v. Duperval. Jonathan Drimmer is vice president and general counsel at Barrick Gold Corp. He previously served as deputy director in the DOJs Office of Special Investigations. Frances McLeod is co-founder and managing director of Forensic Risk Alliance. The panel moderator will be Evelyn Suarez, founder of The Suarez Firm. The program is called A Journey To The Dark Side of International Business and Steps To Protect Your Organization (more information is here). Wednesday, May 4, 2016 Time: 4:00 pm 6:00 pm Location: Jack Morton Auditorium GW School of Media and Public Affairs, 805 21st St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20052 The registration page for the event is here. As I spent some time this morning trolling through a few dozen articles and opinion pieces about the Unaoil scandal, I was drawn to a Huffington post article detailing the roles of two large commercial banks. It was not the involvement, in and of itself, of these banks that drew my interest but the discussion about how Unaoils bank accounts could be shielded from outside disclosure pursuant to third party audit rights. The article notes: Unaoil deliberately structured bank accounts to obscure its dealings from other companies and legal authorities. In September 2008, for instance, the firm was negotiating a contract with Weatherford, a U.S. chemical company that was paying Unaoil to help it get business with the Iraqi government. Unaoil finance manager Sandy Young sent an email to the firms leadership explaining why the firm wanted to shield as many bank accounts as possible from Weatherford, which was required to perform due diligence on Unaoil under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Unaoil eventually secured a lucrative deal with the Iraqi government on behalf of Weatherford that involved paying kickbacks to senior Iraqi officials. Restricting the audit rights to the bank account where [Weatherford] monies have been transferred into is certainly preferred with advance warning and inspection during normal working hours, Young wrote. As it stands today we use such several sub-accounts only to collect money from principals (we do not make payments from these sub-accounts other than to transfer funds out to our main account from which all payments are made). So with such restrictions all Wfd. would be able to see will be their payments coming in and subsequent transfers of funds out of this account to our main account. It is unclear what Weatherford ultimately agreed to in terms of audit right language and whether it may have actually executed those audit rights at all. This would be interesting to know. What is clear however is that audit right language is often nebulous and does not always adequately encapsulate the basic notion that the auditing party needs to be in the position to review any and all transactions that may be relevant to its business dealings. In the case of Unaoil, the company was trying to suppress access to the most important and high-risk component of the relationship: money leaving the auditee party on behalf of the auditing party. Limiting Weatherfords access to the account receiving funds and blocking its access to accounts from which money flowed to third parties essentially had the effect of rendering the audit rights useless, at least in terms of a transactional accounting review. In drafting effective audit rights, companies should strive for broad language that does not unnecessarily restrict its access to relevant information. As important, companies need to be smart (and firm) when executing those audit rights, and agreeing with the target company on the scope of the review and the access to data. Companies should consider making use of forensic accounting experts with real world experience at ferreting out the ways companies move money around internally and how they conceal transactions in their books and records. Obtaining this level of audit access and cooperation out of third parties might not always be easy but failure to obtain should be recognized as a potentially significant red flag. _____ Jean-Michel Ferat,CPA, CFF is a Managing Director in the Washington D.C office of the Claro Group and has over eighteen years of experience in the specialized fields of forensic accounting and fraud detection. He has applied his skills in a variety of cases involving financial statement fraud, high-level corruption, terrorist financing, collusive bidding rings, money laundering, embezzlement, asset misappropriation. He has undertaken dozens of corruption investigations around the globe including a lead role in the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program investigation. Christian Louboutin has launched new handbag. Christian Louboutin The 53-year-old French luxury footwear designer - who is recognised for his signature red patent sole footwear- has joined forces with his friend to Valerie Schlumberger and the French charity La Maison Rose to launch the "magic" oversized accessory called Africaba, which will see 10 per cent of proceeds go to aid Senegalese women and children. The fashion mogul shared two pop-art styled videos on Instagram to showcase his latest creation. The first post read: "Our latest collaboration is a story of friendship, creativity and reinvention. Meet Africaba, the versatile day bag made in partnership with French charity #LaMaisonRose. With each purchase, a portion of proceeds provide aid relief to Senegalese women and children. (sic)" Whilst his second graphic comic-esque upload read: "True magic! Africaba is the result of a collaboration between Christian Louboutin, his dear friend Valerie Schlumberger, and the women of La Maison Rose. A beautiful pink house in Dakar, La Maison Rose is much more than a house; it is a place of hope and safety for vulnerable and marginalized women of Senegal and their children. Demonstrating inventiveness combined with instinctive artistic flair, the hand-embroidered work of the women of La Maison Rose is fused with the skill of the house of Christian Louboutin to create this vivid and distinctive day bag. (sic)" Christian's soft-bodied shopper features a bold African design, complete with short red leather handles, as well as an extended shoulder strap for a cross-body or over the arm carrier. The envelope tote is decorated with beads and spikes, in keeping with his iconic designs, as well as the designers initials engraved, as well as an large embroidered logo, which retails at 795 online. Paul McCartney last night (April 13) kicked off his brand new world tour in Fresno, California, performing for the first time ever Beatles classic 'A Hard Day's Night' solo, last performed by the group in 1965. Credit: MPL Communications / MJ Kim The Beatles' first single 'Love Me Do', originally released in 1962, also got the solo treatment for the first time by McCartney, whilst the entire show consisted of an incredible showcase of 38 songs total. Credit: MPL Communications / MJ Kim Taking fans through many generations of his hits, not only did he perform Beatles tracks, but pre-Beatles material with the inclusion of The Quarrymen's track 'In Spite Of All The Danger', and his collaboration with Rihanna and Kanye West, 'FourFiveSeconds'. A review from Mercury News who were at the Fresno concert tells of how the 38 songs are performed in a set just under three hours long, adding: "He never seemed to get tired, but rather seemed to grow stronger - more passionate about the music - as the night progressed." Continuing through the US this month, the tour will move to South America in May before hitting Europe in June, with McCartney still amongst the stars in the business able to attract the biggest crowds. by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Britain's Duchess of Cambridge is looking forward to bringing her children to India one day. Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge The 34-year-old royal admitted that she and her husband, Prince William, are missing their two children, Prince George, two, and Princess Charlotte, 11 months, as the pair toured a remote village in Kaziranga National Park on Wednesday (13.04.16). When asked by locals why her kids hadn't joined them on their visit, she reportedly said: "Because George is too naughty. He would be running all over the place. The next time we come we will definitely bring them." Meanwhile, Prince William previously revealed he is keen for his children to experience the natural wildlife of Africa but joked his son would look like "a bit of a bum ... with his bangles and his sandals". He said: "I'd definitely like to see George and Charlotte in Africa, they'd have a wonderful time. "I can see George being a bit of a bum sometimes out in the conservation world with his bangles and his sandals. But I think I'd love them to be interested in the subject and pursue the same sort of ideas and aims that I am." Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are safe after India was hit by a 7.0 earthquake. Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge The royal couple were caught up in the tremors during their visit to Kaziranga National Park on Wednesday (13.04.16). A spokesperson for Kensington Palace said: "Tremors were felt across the region. Everyone is OK." The epicentre of the earthquake was near the city of Monywa, around 800 kilometres from the royals' lodge. Journalist Victoria Murphy, who is India covering the royal's tour, told the Daily Mirror: "We were checking into the hotel and there was a little tremor. People were saying, 'Did you feel that?' "I couldn't feel anything initially but then there was a significant movement of the ground and everything shook. Everyone just grabbed each other and said, 'Get outside!' We all ran far away from any buildings and stood and waited. "A few minutes after we felt some more tremors and then there was a power cut for a few minutes. It was very frightening. I've never felt anything like that before." It is not yet known whether the earthquake caused any casualties across the country. Four Indian designers for womenswear and one for menswear are among India, Pakistan and Middle East regional nominees announced by The Woolmark Company for the International Woolmark Prize, one of the most coveted designer awards in fashion.The award ceremony will be held on July 15, 2016 in Mumbai, The Woolmark Company. Four Indian designers for womenswear and one for menswear are among India, Pakistan and Middle East regional nominees announced by The Woolmark# Indians among the 11 womenswear designers are Nachiket Barve, Sahil Kochhar and Eka. There are three Pakistani, two Mid-Eastern and a Lebanese designer among the nominees.There are four nominees for menswear including India's Bounipun. Two designers from the Middle East and one from Pakistan are also among the nominees.First launched in 1953 by the International Wool Secretariat, the prize was famously awarded in 1954 to Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent in Paris. Today the International Woolmark Prize continues to recognise outstanding design talent from around the world.A total of 80 designers have been selected from 62 countries to participate in this year's award, which showcases the qualities of Australian Merino wool.Apart from Mumbai, India, there will be five other regional events which will be held during July in Hong Kong, Sydney, Milan, London and New York. Nominees will present one look in Merino wool and a six-piece capsule concept to industry experts for the chance to represent their region at the final awards. Twelve finalists will each receive a $50,000 (Australian) financial contribution towards their next collection and an invitation to participate in the international global finals.The six menswear finalists will meet in London in January 2017 and the six womenswear finalists will meet in Paris in March 2017. The winners of the menswear and womenswear finals will receive a further $100,000 (Australian) to assist with fabric sourcing and marketing of their collection and mentoring from industry experts.In addition, both international winners will have the opportunity to have their collection distributed through prestigious international retail partners including Harvey Nichols in the UK, Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, David Jones in Australia, Boutique 1 in the UAE, Verso in Belgium, Leclaireur in Paris, Boon the Shop in South Korea, The Papillion in Indonesia and online through mytheresa.com (womenswear) and Matchesfashion.com (menswear). (SH) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Italy has become the first European country to take steps to help its fashion industry build a stronger presence in Iran following the lifting of Western sanctions.The two countries signed an agreement on Wednesday during a two-day visit by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi with a delegation of business leaders to increase trade between Italy and Iran and reinforce industrial cooperation, according to an agency report The deal was signed by the National Textiles and Fashion Association Sistema Moda Italia (SMI), which represents a sector worth more than 52 billion euros ($59 billion) in revenues, and its Iranian counterpart the Tehran Garment Union (TGU).It aims to cut red tape and make it easier for Italian companies to obtain the TGU licence required to operate in Iran.Some analysts estimate that Iran has more than 3 million high net worth individuals who are major and regular buyers of luxury goods.The sanctions on Iran over the past decade did not apply to cosmetics and many other consumer goods, but they made it difficult for European companies to own stores in Iran.Executives and consultants say setting up businesses in Iran is also no easy task due to a lack of appropriate retail infrastructure, high tariffs and banking restrictions.A lack of enforcement of international trademark protection agreements also means Iran is flooded with counterfeits. Italian firms appear to have adopted a more proactive attitude than their French luxury and fashion rivals. In February, Florence-based fashion house Roberto Cavalli opened its first shop in Iran after leather goods maker Piquadro and men's shirt company Camicissima. Versace is due to open a flagship boutique in Tehran soon, in franchise with a local commercial partner. In contrast, several French groups, including Chanel, Kering and LVMH have been adopting a "wait and see" attitude until the evolution of Iran's international relations became clearer. Some French brands such as the family-controlled handbag maker Longchamp and crystal maker Lalique, are looking for distribution partners but have no plans to open boutiques. (SH) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Aishwarya Rai Bachchan today unveiled the trailer of her upcoming movie Sarbjit. At the trailer launch, she was asked by a journalist about the Panama Paper leaks. When she was asked the question, Aishwarya's co-star Randeep Hooda immediately said, "Sarbjit Sarbjit". Later, the actress said, "The statement has been made to all of you already. Hope you all are aware about it." Click On VIEW PHOTOS To See Some MOST BEAUTIFUL Pics Of Aishwarya When asked by a leading news agency about the Panama papers, the actress said, "Why are you acting so desperate? You are the only one asking for it." Oh My God! See Leaked Pictures Of Priyanka Chopra That Were Sent For The Miss India Contest Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's manager was also present at the event and he told the media that, ''The statement is there in the Indian Express take it from there." If you aren't aware, let us tell you that Panama Papers, contains the names of about 500 Indians, including megastar Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya among other politicians and businessmen. Coming back to Sarbjit, the trailer of the movie released today and has already got many positive reviews from the fans. And there is no doubt that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Randeep Hooda and Richa Chadda have given mind-blowing performances in the movie. Sarbjit is based on the life of an Indian farmer Sarbjit Singh, who was convicted in Pakistan on charges of terrorism and spying and was sentenced to death. Randeep is playing the titular role in the movie, while Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is playing his sister Dalbir Kaur. Directed by Omung Kumar, Aishwarya and Randeep's Sarbjit will hit the screens on May 20th 2016. Katrina Kaif and Sidharth Malhotra wrapped up the shooting of their film Baar Baar Dekho recently. On the last day of the shoot Sidharth and Katrina clicked pictures with each other and the entire crew of the movie. And do we need to say that Katrina is looking beautiful in these pictures even without the make-up? Also, we noticed one more thing; Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif do make a very smart pair...(hope Alia is not jealous!). This film was also the reason why Sidharth Malhotra could not spend valentine's day with Alia Bhatt as he was busy in the shooting. Click On VIEW PHOTOS To See Katrina's Pics With Sidharth Baar Baar Dekho is extensively shot in places like Glasgow in Scotland, Krabi in Bangkok and even the capital city New Delhi. And Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif are working together for the first time in this film and we are super excited to see this fresh pairing on-screen. It's Complicated! Even After Announcing Separation, Maliaka Arora Khan Will Not Divorce Arbaaz Khan? Talking about the story of his film, Sidharth Malhotra told a news agency, "It's a very unique story... What happens in the life of a person from 18 years to 60. It's not a time travel or science fiction, it's a fictitious story. I have done prosthetics for a 60-year-old character in the film. The handsome actor further added, 'It's a very difficult role, but the writing in this film is wonderful. It's an adapted screenplay; it's a love story with a twist, where the universe gives you an option to do something different." Directed by Nitya Mehra, Baar Baar Dekho will release on September 9th. Shahrukh Khan is a doting dad and loves to talk about his three children Aryan, Suhana and AbRam. Recently, Shahrukh made a shocking revelation about his elder son Aryan Khan. In a recent interview, Shahrukh Khan revealed that if Aryan is ever "spotted" in public and asked if he is superstar Shahrukh Khan's son, Aryan immediately denies it. Click On VIEW PHOTOS To See Aryan Khan's Hot Pictures Shahrukh also shared the reason why Aryan does that. According to SRK, Aryan acts like this to be able to behave normally around his friends and to make sure he is not judged for no reason or treated differently. Oh No! After Malaika & Arbaaz, Soha Ali Khan & Kunal Khemu's Marriage In Trouble? Also, this is also the reason why Aryan was sent to London for further studies, so that he can have as normal a childhood as possible. On the professional front, Shahrukh Khan is busy with the promotions of Fan, which will hit the screens this Friday (April 15th). The actor is playing a double role in the movie of a superstar and his crazy fan. So it's but obvious to think that the character of Aryan Khanna is inspired by SRK's real life. Talking about the same, the actor told IE, ''Aditya Chopra and I were very clear that it won't be a replication of my private life. It is not over-the-top in terms of showing what super stardom is. I wanted to give Aryan enough dignity. Gaurav is loveable. But Aryan needed to have the dignity that deserves the love of his admirer.'' ''In this story, no one is right or wrong. You will probably choose Gaurav, but that doesn't mean that Aryan has done anything wrong. Finding that balance was difficult,'' he added. Citigroup on Thursday named Gerry Keefe as head of corporate banking Asia Pacific. In this newly created role, Keefe will assume responsibility for all corporate banking activities in the region including the financial institutions, public sector group, and global subsidiaries group franchises. Keefe, now Citis Japan corporate bank head, will will move to Hong Kong during the second quarter to assume his new role. He will report to Mark Slaughter, head of Asia Pacific corporate and investment banking, and Michael Roberts, global head of corporate banking. Keefe joined Citi in 2006 from law firm Dechert LLP where he was a partner in the structured finance practice. He became a managing director in 2009 and in 2010 was named the head of banking and origination for Citis securitised products business in the US. In 2014, Keefe was appointed to his current role as corporate banking head in Japan. Citis corporate bank provides financial services to multinational clients across the world, from cash management, foreign exchange, trade finance, custody, clearing and loans, to capital markets, derivatives, and structured products. Corporate bankers also partner with Citis investment bankers to deliver investment banking capabilities to clients. The corporate bank is part of the institutional clients group at Citi, which reported a 2015 income of $2.21 billion, up 8% from $2.04 billion a year earlier. Loans in Asia fell by 9% to $62 billion in 2015 from $68 billion a year earlier. Nomura cut around 30 jobs in its Asia ex-Japan equities business this week, the latest investment bank to cut costs in the region, a source familiar with the situation told FinanceAsia on Thursday. The job losses in Asia follow much deeper cost cuts in its European and US operations announced earlier this week as the Japanese brokerage looks to stem years of losses at its overseas operations. Nomura is not alone in its efforts to slim down in Asia. Thursday's job cuts follow a much deeper retrenchement by Barclays and Standard Chartered from the region since last year. The Japanese bank's Asia ex-Japan layoffs involve both senior and junior staff in the cash equities, equity sales and trading, equity research as well as equity syndication departments. Some of the senior departures include Michael Kurtz, global head of equity strategy and chief Asia ex-Japan strategist, as well as Stanley Wong, head of North Asia equity distribution, according to separate internal memos seen by FinanceAsia. The Japanese brokerage also cut staff in its Asia ex-Japan investment banking team last month, which includes corporate finance as well as equity and debt origination, by around 12 people. Mark Williams, Nomura's Asia ex-Japan head of investment banking, was among those who left. Sources said the reductions are a result of Nomuras annual strategic review for the last financial year which ended March 31. The reductions were mostly decided after individual performance reviews, a source familiar with the situation said. Restructuring The vacancy created by Kurtzs departure will be filled by regional heads of the equity research team, which includes Wendy Liu for Greater China, Michael Na for Korea, Prabhat Awasthi for India and Mixo Das for Southeast Asia. Going forward, our equity research strategy franchise will be increasingly regionally and country focused, Nomura said in one of the internal memos co-signed by head of Asia ex-Japan equity research Jim McCafferty and head of Asia Pacific equity research Jun Konomi. For sales and trading, Nomura has appointed James ONeile as head of Asia ex-Japan equity sales on top of his current role as head of Japan equity sales in Asia ex-Japan. Meanwhile, Wongs role will be mostly filled by Miriam Chan, who was appointed head of Hong Kong and China cash equities sales. She will be joined by Yuki Saito, who heads Asian cash equities sales to Japanese institutional clients. The equities division will continue to be led by Daisuke Mototani, head of equities in Asia ex-Japan. Falling numbers Nomuras headcount reductions underscore the difficulties in equities in the region, which has witnessed falling trading volumes and stiffer competition from local players particularly the Chinese brokers. In its annual report, the Japanese bank has not disclosed the exact profit breakdown by region but sources familiar with the company said the Asia ex-Japan business as a whole has been unprofitable since it acquired Lehman Brothers Asia operations in 2008. For the last two financial years, though, Nomura's Asia ex-Japan business has turned profitable. In the 2014/15 financial year it reported a pre-tax income of 34.6 billion ($316 million), while in the first nine months of the 2015/16 financial year pre-tax income was 22 billion, according to the bank's financial statements. In terms of revenue, Asia ex-Japan made the smallest contribution in the 2014/15 financial year among the four major regions. Japan accounted for the most revenue, followed by EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and Americas, according to the bank's annual report. Nomuras pre-tax income for the wholesale division (global markets and investment banking) declined 26% year-on-year to 82.2 billion globally in the same year. Earnings for the 2015/16 financial year will not be disclosed until April 27, but former chief financial officer Shigesuke Kashiwagi has already decided to postpone the target to achieve pre-tax income of 50 billion for its overseas operations. The bank originally planned to reach the target by the end of March. Group CEO Koji Nagai also revised the bank's wholesale net revenue target for the 2019/20 financial year to $7.9 billion from $9.8 billion previously. The decision to reduce Asia headcount came shortly after Nomura decided to close its equity research, underwriting and derivatives businesses in Europe, leading to a loss of around 500 to 600 jobs in the region. At the same time it also scaled back its operations in the Americas. Nomura is the fifth bulge-bracket bank that have decided to shrink the Asia-Pacific equities business. Standard Chartered closed the Asia equities franchise earlier last year, followed by Jefferies which reduced headcounts in cash equities by around 20 people in December. Malaysia's CIMB laid off 32 employees from its cash equities and investment banking divisions in Hong Kong in January this year. The latest withdrawal was Barclays, which exit its cash equities in Asia towards the end of that month and left at least 230 people jobless. Washington DC--(Newsfile Corp. - April 13, 2016) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced insider trading charges against a research analyst who allegedly reaped more than $1.5 million in February through trades he made in his mother's brokerage account based on nonpublic information he learned at work. The SEC alleges that John Afriyie found out about an impending acquisition of home security company The ADT Corporation when prospective acquirer Apollo Global Management approached the Manhattan-based investment firm where he was employed and discussed potential debt financing for a public-to-private deal. Afriyie subsequently accessed several highly confidential, deal-related documents on the firm's computer network and purchased thousands of high-risk, out-of-the-money ADT call options in his mother's account in anticipation that ADT's stock price would rise when the transaction was publicly announced. The ADT deal was announced on February 16, and afterwards Afriyie sold all of the ADT options in his mother's account to obtain his illicit profits. In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York today announced criminal charges against Afriyie. "Insider traders should have learned by now that trying to hide their illegal activity in a relative's account ultimately won't work," said Jina L. Choi, Director of the SEC's San Francisco Regional Office. "On behalf of the millions of traders in our markets who play by the rules, we will continue to detect and expose those who don't." Today's charges are the latest example of SEC staff thwarting the efforts of insider traders to avoid detection by trading in a relative's brokerage account. Other cases include: A group of Northern California men allegedly conducted an insider trading scheme in which the primary trader used his brother-in-law's account to trade on nonpublic tips about Ross Stores leaked by his friend who worked there. A then-employee at Goldman Sachs was charged with insider trading after SEC enforcement staff utilized data analysis tools to detect his unusual trading activity in two different accounts, including one belonging to his father. A New York City investment banker was charged with insider trading in his father's account as well as an account belonging to the mother of his young child to generate illegal proceeds in lieu of formal child support payments. A Chicago-based accountant was charged with secretly using his wife's account to illegally trade in advance of financial reporting announcements by the company where he worked. A systems administrator at Green Mountain Coffee allegedly used his mother's account for insider trading based on confidential data he obtained shortly before the company made its quarterly earnings announcement. The SEC's complaint against Afriyie, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charges him with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. The complaint also names his mother as a relief defendant for purposes of recovering ill-gotten gains that Afriyie generated by trading in his mother's name. The SEC's continuing investigation is being conducted by Walker Newell and supervised by Jennifer J. Lee of the San Francisco office with assistance from John Rymas of the Market Abuse Unit. The SEC's litigation will be led by Mr. Newell and Marc Katz. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and the Options Regulatory Surveillance Authority. MARGARET RIVER, Australia, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- An executive delegation led by Hao Hongfeng, chairman of China's largest online alcohol retailer Jiuxian.com, paid a visit to the McHenry Hohnen winery located in the Margaret River wine region of Western Australia on April 12, 2016. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/355118 McHenry Hohnen owner David Hohnen and partner Murray McHenry gave the delegation a warm reception at which Mr. Hohnen said, "We are pleased to welcome the management team of Jiuxian.com to McHenry Hohnen. We are fully aware of Jiuxian.com's reputation as China's largest vertical alcohol e-commerce company and one that hastens of millions of members. We are pleased to reach a strategic cooperation with Jiuxian.com, a firm which has rich experience in the Chinese alcohol market and proven brand promotion capabilities. We believe that the partnership with Jiuxian.com will serve to widen McHenry Hohnen's fan base in China." Mr. Hao explained some of the retailer's background: "Founded six years ago, Jiuxian.com is now a leading Chinese vertical alcohol e-commerce company with rich experience in management and a strong channel strategy. Jiuxian.com expects to build a bridge connecting Chinese consumers with fine wines from Australia. Our win-win cooperation starts now." Through the partnership with McHenry Hohnen, Jiuxian.com plans to introduce the wine maker's popular Rocky Road category to Chinese wine lovers. Rocky Road was rated a 94 by Australia's leading wine expert James Halliday, who, in his review of the wine, categorized it as an excellent value as a result of the high quality at a manageable price, and as one that merits being among the offerings at a sophisticated wine tasting event. The visit to Australia is a key step in the execution of Jiuxian.com's global wine direct purchase strategy. Since 2015, Jiuxian.com has been developing its wine business rapidly by choosing among high-quality wine products worldwide and enriching its production lines as a result of the initiation of the strategy of dealing directly with leading wine producers around the world. In 2016, Jiuxian.com's wine business is expected to contribute to 20 percent of the retailer's total annual revenue. Jiuxian.com decided to develop a global direct purchase strategy once the retailer noticed the continuing increase in the consumption of wine by the Chinese public. Data from China Customs show that the country imported nearly 600 million liters of wine in 2015, a rise of 44.58 percent over the numbers for 2014. The import value of wine grew by 34.30 percent year-on-year, setting a new record. Jiuxian.com expects to reach a strategic partnership with more than ten five-star wineries during the visit to Western Australia. Jiuxian.com plans to bring these fine wines to Chinese consumers by purchasing wine products directly from wine producers all over the world, providing Chinese wine lovers the opportunity to buy affordable foreign fine wines in their own country. CARDSTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- American Creek Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: AMK) ("the Corporation") is pleased to announce that it has successfully negotiated and has entered into an amended agreement with an arm's length third party that holds an NSR interest ("NSR Holders") related to the Corporation's 51% interest in the Treaty Creek property located in NW British Columbia. The amended agreement reduces the prior $6 million payment obligation which was potentially triggered by entering into a deal in which the Corporation reduced its 51% interest in the property, or granted access for development and tunnel construction. The Corporation is seeing a resurgence of interest in the "Golden Triangle" region of British Columbia and several parties have identified the Treaty Creek property as noteworthy and have expressed an interest in the project. The amended agreement allows the Corporation to better position itself to take advantage of the increased activity and awareness associated with Seabridge Gold and Pretivm Resources advancing their respective projects located adjacent to and very near the Treaty Creek property. The terms of the amended and restated agreement are as follows: 1) The NSR Holders will be issued 15,000,000 common shares of the Corporation. 2) The NSR Holders will hold a 2% NSR on certain Treaty Creek property mineral tenures ("Group I") and a 1% NSR on the remaining Treaty Creek mineral tenures ("Group II"). The NSR interests apply only to the Corporation's 51% interest in the Treaty Creek property. Within 30 days of a Treaty Creek property feasibility study being completed, the NSR Holders will be paid an aggregate sum of $1,500,000 in order for the Corporation to collectively buy out 0.75% of the Group I NSR and 0.25% of the Group II NSR. At any time the Corporation may buy out a further 0.75% of the Group I and 0.25% of the Group II NSR for the aggregate sum of $1,500,000. The NSR Holders will retain a 0.5% NSR on the Group I and Group II mineral tenures. 3) The NSR Holders will be entitled to 25% of any cash payments or securities the Corporation may receive related to the Corporation entering into an agreement with a third party to advance the Treaty Creek project such that it disposes directly or indirectly of any of its current 51% interest in the Treaty Creek property. 4) The Corporation will pay the NSR Holders 25% of any consideration the Corporation may receive from any non-governmental party for access, easement or right of way over, on, under or through any part of the Treaty Creek property for a mining infrastructure purpose, or fees for the use of the Corporation's own infrastructure facilities. 5) The Corporation will pay the NSR Holders 25% of any compensation proceeds the Corporation may receive from any governmental or quasi-governmental agency for the loss of any rights resulting from the expropriation of access, easement or right of way over, on, under or through any part of the Treaty Creek property for a mining infrastructure purpose. Darren Blaney, President & CEO stated: "We are very pleased to have negotiated and finalized this deal as it opens up many more possibilities in advancing the Treaty Creek Project. Interest in the region in and around Seabridge and Pretivm's projects is picking up considerably and the Treaty project is poised to benefit from that interest". The shares issued under this agreement will be subject to the statutory four month and a day hold period. This Agreement is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange. American Creek Resources Ltd. is a Canadian junior mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral deposits within the Province of British Columbia, Canada. Information relating to the Corporation is available on its website at www.americancreek.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: American Creek Resources Ltd. Kelvin Burton 403 752-4040 info@americancreek.com www.americancreek.com STOCKHOLM (dpa-AFX) - LM Ericsson (ERIC) said that the proposed dividend of SEK 3.70 per share was approved by the Annual General Meeting. The record day for dividend was set to Friday, April 15, 2016. Payment from Euroclear Sweden AB is expected to take place on Wednesday, April 20, 2016. The AGM resolved to adopt the Profit and Loss Statement and the Balance Sheet for the Parent Company as well as the Consolidated Profit and Loss Statement and the Consolidated Balance Sheet for the Group. The members of the Board of Directors and the President were discharged from liability for the fiscal year 2015. As per the proposal of the Nomination Committee, Leif Johansson was reelected Chairman of the Board of Directors. Nora Denzel, Borje Ekholm, Ulf J. Johansson, Kristin Skogen Lund, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Hans Vestberg and Jacob Wallenberg were re-elected to the Board and Kristin S. Rinne and Helena Stjernholm were elected new Board members. The AGM approved the Nomination Committee's proposal to enable payment of part of the fees to the members of the Board for the Board assignment, in the form of synthetic shares. The AGM re-elected PricewaterhouseCoopers AB auditor for the period up until the end of the AGM 2017. The AGM resolved to amend the articles of association in accordance with the Board of Director's proposal. In accordance with the Board of Directors' proposal, the AGM resolved to approve the guidelines for remuneration to Group management. The AGM authorized the Board of Directors to, prior to the AGM 2017, resolve on an acquisition offer of the 26.1 million C shares at a price per share of SEK 5. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Public Relations Department, Eisai Co., Ltd. +81-3-3817-5120 TOKYO, Apr 14, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, CEO: Haruo Naito, "Eisai") announced today that its subsidiary in the Philippines, HI-Eisai Pharmaceutical Inc., has received approval for a new indication for the symptomatic treatment of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) for anti-Alzheimer's agent Aricept (donepezil hydrochloride) in the Philippines, and has commenced information provision activities. Following the approval of Aricept for DLB in Japan in September 2014, this marks the second country in which Aricept has been approved for DLB.Since it was first launched in the Philippines in March 1999 as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease, Aricept has widely contributed to patients through additional approval for vascular dementia, and other formulations including orally disintegrating tablets. An application seeking approval for DLB based on clinical trial data from Japan was submitted in November 2015 and subsequently approved in February 2016. An application seeking approval of Aricept for the treatment of DLB is currently undergoing regulatory review in Thailand.DLB is considered to be one of the major types of dementia worldwide, alongside Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. It is pointed out that DLB is difficult to be diagnosed because the disease presents characteristic symptoms such as cognitive fluctuations, visual hallucinations and parkinsonism in additionto progressive cognitive impairment.The number of dementia patients in the Philippines is estimated to be approximately 400,000. Eisai will use this additional indication for DLB as an opportunity to enhance information provision activities on dementia diagnosis, treatment and care, as well as to further contribute to improving the quality of life of dementia patients in the Philippines, including those with DLB.About Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB)DLB is a degenerative form of dementia discovered in Japan that is pathologically characterized by decreased neurons in the brain and brainstem and the appearance of vast numbers of Lewy bodies. In neurochemistry, DLB is characterized by a loss of acetylcholine-producing neurons in the brain similar to that seen in patients withAlzheimer's disease. In addition to obligatory symptoms associated with progressive cognitive impairment, the disease also presents with behavioral and neuropsychiatric symptoms, motor disturbances, and dysautonomia. In particular, cognitive fluctuations, visual hallucinations and idiopathic parkinsonism have a high rate of incidence and are considered to be core symptoms of the disease. In Japan, DLB constitutes one of the three major types of dementia diagnosed, alongside Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, affecting between 4.3% (based on epidemiology) to 41.4% (based on autopsy) of elderly patients with dementia, according to various studies(1),(2). While there are no reliable statistics available on the incidence of DLB in the Philippines, the number of patients with dementia is reported to be approximately 400,000.(1) MHLW Grants System - Prevalence of dementia in urban areas and measurements for living impairment in dementia: The Report for Scientific Research, 2013(2) Wakisaka Y, Furuta A, Tanizaki Y, Kiyohara Y, Iida M, Iwaki T. Age-associated prevalence and risk factors of Lewy body pathology in a general population: the Hisayama study. Acta Neuropathol 2003; 106:374-382About EisaiEisai Co., Ltd. (TSE:4523; ADR:ESALY) is a research-based human health care (hhc) company that discovers, develops and markets products throughout the world. Eisai focuses its efforts in three therapeutic areas: integrative neuroscience, including neurology and psychiatric medicines; integrative oncology, which encompasses oncotherapy and supportive-care treatments; and vascular/immunological reaction. Through a global network of research facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, Eisai actively participates in all aspects of the worldwide healthcare system. For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit www.eisai.com.Source: EisaiContact:Copyright 2016 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. Corporate Communications Division Mazda Motor Corporation, Japan +81-3-3508-5056 [Tokyo] +81-82-282-5253 [Hiroshima] mailto: media@mazda.co.jp TOKYO, Apr 14, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - Mazda Motor Corporation has announced the introduction of its unique Aqua-tech Paint System at Changan Mazda Automobile Co., Ltd. (CMA), the company's vehicle production facility in Jiangsu, China. The technology was first introduced at the Ujina Plant No. 1 in Japan, where installation of the system was completed in 2012. CMA becomes the company's second plant and first overseas facility to feature the innovative low-impact paint technology.Reducing volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions from vehicle body paint shops is a long-standing issue for the automobile industry, which has traditionally favored VOC-heavy oil-based paints and thinners. Automakers moved toward water-based paints in an effort to reduce VOC emissions, but the energy-intensive evaporative drying process required for these paints resulted in increased CO2 emissions. Mazda's unique Aqua-tech Paint System overcomes this trade-off by simultaneously reducing emissions of VOC and CO2, and makes far more efficient use of energy and paint materials than traditional paint systems.Even after completing installation of the Aqua-tech Paint System at Ujina Plant No. 1 in 2012, Mazda continued to develop the technology to enhance system performance and usability. The company is aiming to achieve high-quality and efficient vehicle manufacturing at its global production bases by developing technologies such as Aqua-tech in Japan before rolling them out at overseas facilities. Mazda worked with CMA to efficiently introduce the Aqua-tech Paint System at Japanese standards, and minimized installation work and paint development in China. The transition was achieved quickly and without stopping the line or interrupting production of vehicles using traditional oil-based paints. The Aqua-tech Paint System at CMA is used for all body colors, and the quality of the finish is as high as that of vehicles painted in Japan, even for designer colors such as Soul Red."As an automaker, we have an obligation to not only make high-quality cars, but also reduce our impact on the environment," said Kiyotaka Shobuda, Senior Managing Executive Officer. "Our painting technologies, which have helped KODO design gain recognition worldwide, represent Mazda's efforts to meet that obligation. Moving forward, we'll continue to develop innovative technologies at our parent factories in Japan before introducing them at the same high standards overseas. In this way, we'll provide customers around the world with high-quality cars and contribute both to preserving the environment and enriching society."Mazda will continue its efforts to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society through a variety of technological innovations. The company aims to enrich people's lives and become a brand that has a special bond with customers.About MazdaMazda Motor Corporation (TSE: 7261) started manufacturing tools in 1929 and soon branched out into production of trucks for commercial use. In the early 1960s, Mazda launched its first passenger car models and began developing rotary engines. Still headquartered in Hiroshima in western Japan, Mazda today ranks as one of Japan's leading automakers, and exports cars to the United States and Europe for over 30 years. For more information, please visit www.mazda.comSource: MazdaContact:Copyright 2016 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. EUR 6.8 million in revenue, a 15% increase over the first quarter 2015 (EUR 5.9 million) Cash position of EUR 64.2 at March 31, 2016 Regulatory News: Adocia (Paris:ADOC) (Euronext Paris: FR0011184241 ADOC) today announced first quarter 2016 revenue and its cash position ending March 31, 2016. "This quarter has provided a very strong start to an exciting year. Over the next months, we expect to report on the four ongoing trials, including the Phase 3 clinical trial of BioChaperone PDGF-BB to treat diabetic foot ulcers," said Gerard Soula, President and Chief Executive Officer of Adocia. "With a strong cash position and the development of our partnership with Eli Lilly we are looking forward to a major development of our company Detail of revenue for the first quarter of 2016 In K IFRS rules (unaudited) 03/31/2016 03/31/2015 (3 months) (3 months) Licensing revenue 2 687 2 687 Research and collaborative agreements 4 112 3 196 Revenue 6 799 5 883 Revenues for the first quarter of 2016 were primarily derived from the ongoing Eli Lilly licensing agreement for the development of the ultra-rapid insulin analog, BioChaperone Lispro. Specifically, revenues included EUR 2.7 million in licensing revenue from Eli Lilly, reflecting the up-front payment received on signing the deal. Under IFRS rules, the total up-front amount of EUR 40.8 million (USD 50 million) is recognized as revenue linearly over the expected duration of the program at the time of the signature of the agreement. Additionally, as per the 2014 agreement, the company invoiced Eli Lilly EUR 4.1 million for internal and external expenses related to the co-development of the project. These expenses are accounted for as research and collaborative agreements revenue. This 30% increase compared to the first quarter 2015 reflects a particularly high activity carried out under this partnership over the period. Cash position On March 31, 2016, cash and cash equivalents amounted to EUR 64.2 million, compared to EUR 72.1 million as of January 1, 2016. Total operating cash flow for the first quarter 2016 was EUR 7.5 million, compared to EUR 5.7 million during the first quarter 2015. This increase, in line with the 2016 operational plan, reflects the maturation of our projects leading to intensified clinical development as well as an increase in staff to support program advancement and the growth of the company (108 Full-time equivalent (FTE) on average in this quarter compared with 82.5 FTE on average in the first quarter 2015). Of note, the reimbursement of the research and tax credit on 2015 expenses should increase by EUR 6.8 million the cash position of the Company in the coming months. Debt at March 31, 2016 and at December 31, 2015, totaled EUR 0.9 million and is comprised mainly of a reimbursable advance received from the French agency for Innovation (BpiFrance Financement) related to our HinsBet project. Key events in the first quarter 2016 During the first quarter, core activities in the Eli Lilly partnership were related to the clinical development of BioChaperone Lispro in advance of the Phase 3 clinical study: Announcement of positive topline results from a Phase 1b study (launched in October 2015) of repeated administration of ultra-rapid BioChaperone Lispro in patients with type 1 diabetes Launch of a Phase 1b clinical study in healthy Japanese subjects, comparing the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles of BioChaperone Lispro to that of Humalog Continuation of two clinical studies: a Phase 1b study of repeated administration of ultra-rapid BioChaperone Lispro in patients with Type 2 diabetes and a Phase 1b study evaluating ultra-rapid BioChaperone Lispro in patients with Type 1 diabetes using insulin pump therapy. Results for three new or ongoing studies are expected during the second quarter 2016. Across Adocia's proprietary programs, three clinical studies are being planned for the second quarter: Two studies of BioChaperone Combo, the unique combination of long-acting insulin glargine and fast-acting insulin analog lispro. One study on HinsBet, BioChaperone human insulin U100, which launch has just been announced on 11th of April 2016. Additionally, for a wound healing product, the Phase 3 clinical study conducted in India for BioChaperone PDGF-BB in diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) is ongoing, with results expected mid-year. Adocia formed a Global Diabetes Medical Advisory Board (MAB) composed of nine respected endocrinologists from the US and Europe. The MAB, chaired by Dr. Jay Skyler, Professor at the University of Miami, will focus, in the near term, on the further development of BioChaperone Combo. Adocia signed a preliminary agreement in January 2016 to acquire the building in which its headquarters are located. The purchase price of this 7,120 m property was fixed at EUR 5 million (excluding VTA and registration fees) and will be financed through a bank loan. The signing of the bill of sale is expected in April 2016. About ADOCIA Adocia is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that specializes in the development of innovative formulations of already-approved therapeutic proteins. Adocia's insulin formulation portfolio, featuring four clinical-stage programs and one preclinical program, is among the largest and most differentiated in the industry. The proprietary BioChaperone technological platform is designed to enhance the effectiveness and/or safety of therapeutic proteins while making them easier for patients to use. Adocia customizes BioChaperone to each protein for a given application in order to address specific patient needs. Adocia's clinical pipeline includes a unique formulation of PDGF-BB for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcer and four novel insulin formulations for the treatment of diabetes: two ultra-rapid formulations of insulin analogs (BioChaperone Lispro U100 and U200), a rapid-acting formulation of human insulin (HinsBet U100) and a combination of insulin glargine and a rapid-acting insulin analog (BioChaperone Combo). Adocia is also developing a concentrated, rapid-acting formulation of human insulin (HinsBet U500). In December 2014, Adocia signed a partnership with Eli Lilly for the development and commercialization of the BioChaperone Lispro programs. Adocia's extended, early-stage programs include innovative monoclonal antibody formulations, featuring two ongoing collaborations programs with major pharmaceutical companies in the field, and the delivery of anticancer drugs using the proprietary DriveIn nanotechnology platform. Adocia aims to deliver "Innovative medicine for everyone, everywhere." To learn more about Adocia, please visit us at www.adocia.com Disclaimer This press release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Adocia and its business. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that Adocia considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that the estimates contained in such forward-looking statements will be verified, which estimates are subject to numerous risks including the risks set forth in the 'Risk Factors' section of the Reference Document filed by the French Autorite des marches financiers on April 8, 2016 (a copy of which is available on www.adocia.com) and to the development of economic conditions, financial markets and the markets in which Adocia operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to risks not yet known to Adocia or not currently considered material by Adocia. The occurrence of all or part of such risks could cause actual results, financial conditions, performance or achievements of Adocia to be materially different from such forward-looking statements. This press release and the information contained herein do not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy Adocia shares in any jurisdiction. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413006403/en/ Contacts: For more information please contact: Adocia Gerard Soula Chairman and CEO contactinvestisseurs@adocia.com Tel.: +33 4 72 610 610 or Adocia Press Relations France ALIZE RP Caroline Carmagnol and Florence Portejoie caroline@alizerp.com adocia@alizerp.com Tel.: + 33 1 44 54 36 61 or Adocia Press Relations Europe MC Services AG Raimund Gabriel raimund.gabriel@mc-services.eu adocia@mc-services.eu Tel.: +49 89 210 228 0 LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Persimmon plc. (PSN.L), in its trading update, said that the Group is in a strong position to continue to make good progress over future periods. The company noted that it will hold its Annual General Meeting at 12.00 noon at York Racecourse when the Chairman will make statement regarding current trading, financial performance and the outlook for the current financial year. This statement covers the period from 1 January 2016 to date and supplements the update given with the 2015 Final Results on 23 February 2016. Consumer confidence is being supported by the continued progress made by the UK economy. The Group remains focussed on delivering family housing across the UK, excluding central London, to meet the continued demand for new homes at affordable prices. The number of customers visiting our development sites across the UK in the period was c.12% ahead of last year. Mortgage lenders remain keen to offer customers the opportunity to access mortgage credit on very attractive terms. Cancellation rates have continued to run at historically low levels. We brought forward a healthy order book into 2016 and our strong sales performance over the period has resulted in total forward sales revenue, including legal completions taken so far in 2016, being 8% higher than last year at 2.15 billion (2015: 2.00 billion). Our weekly private sales rate per site over this period was 6% ahead of last year. We have 7,598 new homes sold forward into the private sale market for 2016 with an average selling price of c. 220,000, an increase of 5.8% over the prior year. We are currently developing 370 active outlets across the UK, having opened 75 of the 100 new sites planned for the first half of the year. The Group continues to build new homes on all sites where an implementable detailed planning consent has been secured. Planning delays continue to erode the total number of active outlets being developed by the industry, hindering the drive to increase the volume of newly built homes delivered to the market. We are working hard to increase our active outlet numbers towards c.400 by the end of 2016 and will continue to focus on increasing our output to meet market demand. The Group has continued to invest in high quality new land in support of its future growth. The Directors are pleased to announce that the Company has recently concluded an amendment of its 300m Revolving Credit Facility with the Company's five relationship banks, extending its maturity date to 31 March 2021. Growing the business as market conditions allow whilst exercising capital discipline through the cycle is at the heart of the Group's strategy launched in early 2012. An important aspect of this capital discipline is our commitment to return surplus capital to shareholders over the long term. The fourth payment of the Capital Return Plan of 338 million, or 110p per share, was brought forward and paid as a dividend on 1 April 2016. In addition, on 23 February 2016 the Board announced an increase of 860 million, or 45%, to the original Capital Return Plan, increasing the total value of the plan to c. 2.76 billion or 9.00 per share to be returned to shareholders by the end of 2021. Since the launch of the new strategy in early 2012 the Group has delivered a 56% increase in new homes completed, invested over 2,200 million in new land, and opened 812 new development sites. We have also returned a total of 1,071 million of surplus capital to shareholders, over 550m higher than was originally planned. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Mothercare plc (MTC.L), a retailer for parents and young children, reported Thursday that its fourth-quarter group sales increased 1.4 percent, while full-year sales declined 4.4 percent. Worldwide sales for the quarter, meanwhile, declined 6.7 percent. In its trading update, which covers the 11 week period to 26 March, the company said that total UK sales were up 0.8% and UK like-for-like sales were up 2.1% with support from online sales which were up 5.6%. International retail sales fell 10.8 percent on a reported basis and was down 9.7 percent in constant currency. All four regions saw a reduction in sales. In the Middle East consumer sentiment was impacted by the sustained lower oil price, resulting in a significant decline in constant currency sales. In Asia, China in particular, was affected by weakening consumer confidence. Europe and Latin America were impacted by adverse currency moves. The company further said overall Group underlying profit for fiscal 2016 is within the range of current market expectations. Mark Newton-Jones, Chief Executive Officer, said, 'In the year ahead, we expect to make further progress in the UK. However, our international markets are likely to remain challenging with the current trends in space, sales and currency continuing into the new financial year.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Regulatory News: Skanska (STO:SKAB) has signed a contract with Johns Hopkins Medicine All Children's Hospital to build a research and education facility on the hospitals campus in Florida, USA. The contract is worth USD 63M, about SEK 530M, which will be included in the order bookings for Skanska USA Building in the first quarter 2016. The 21,000 square meter facility will consist of research and laboratory spaces, an educational space that will have an auditorium with 400 seats, collaboration space, office/administration space and a biorepository. Skanska began construction in March 2016. The project is slated for completion in March 2018. Skanska USA is one of the leading development and construction companies in the country, consisting of four business units: Skanska USA Building, which specializes in building construction; Skanska USA Civil, specialized in civil infrastructure; Skanska Infrastructure Development North America, which develops public-private partnerships; and Skanska USA Commercial Development, which develops commercial projects in select U.S. markets. Headquartered in New York, Skanska USA has more than 10,000 employees and its 2015 revenues were SEK 54.5 billion. Skanska AB may be required to disclose the information provided herein pursuant to the Securities Markets Act. Skanska is one of the world's leading project development and construction groups with expertise in construction, development of commercial and residential premises, and public-private partnerships projects. Based on its global green experience, Skanska aims to be the clients' first choice for Green solutions. The Group currently has 43,100 employees in selected home markets in Europe and North America. Skanska's sales in 2015 totaled SEK 155 billion. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413006749/en/ Contacts: Skanska USA Pamela Monastra, +1-404-946-7533 Senior Director Communications or Skanska AB Andreas Joons, +46 (0)10-449-04-94 Press Officer or Direct line for media, +46 (0)10-448-88-99 ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwired - April 14, 2016) - A new e-book, Know the Early Warning Signs of Dementia, provides information to help families who believe a loved one may have dementia. The Arbor Company, which operates state-of-the-art assisted living and memory care communities, published the guide to assist family members in understanding the signs of dementia and steps to take to address dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The free guide is available for download at http://info.arborcompany.com/lp-dementia-guide. For many people, the signs that a loved one is slipping away are heartbreaking and scary. A common reaction is to deny that dementia or Alzheimer's disease is the cause, but that can come with serious consequences because any delay prevents the senior from getting necessary care. The Arbor Company's e-book helps families evaluate when medical attention might be necessary for a loved one displaying memory issues. Among the guide's features: Descriptions of different types of dementia Advice in seven key areas on how to distinguish dementia from normal aging Care options for dementia patients "The prospect of dementia can be understandably troubling for seniors and their families," says Chris Harper, The Arbor Company's Director of Communications. "The best thing to do if a loved one is showing symptoms of age-related dementia is to arm yourself with as much information as possible. Our new e-book offers an introduction to dementia and is a great resource for families who recognize some early signs of the condition in their loved ones." To download this e-book or to learn more about The Arbor Company's senior living communities, visit www.arborcompany.com. About The Arbor Company The Arbor Company is an Atlanta-based operator of more than 25 independent living, assisted living, and memory care communities, serving seniors in nine states. With nearly 30 years of dedication and experience, The Arbor Company strives to deliver the highest-quality care and service to residents and their families. The company's innovative Engaged Living program creates meaningful moments through structured activity programs and spontaneous interactions, filling each day with the right balance of purpose and fun. More information about The Arbor Company is available at www.arborcompany.com. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/4/13/11G093220/Images/ebook-dementia-warning-signs-92db1a8156b3ad8ab14db8df8fca6413.jpg Contact: Chris Harper Director of Communications (678) 539-8966 Email contact 14 April 2016 Capita's Urban Vision joint venture extended for three years Salford City Council has announced that Urban Vision, an award-winning joint venture between itself, Capita and Galiford Try, has been extended by three years to 2020. Urban Vision was formed in 2005 to provide technical services to the Council, efficiencies, improved capacity and capability, access to new markets, innovation and to grow and safeguard jobs. The extension is worth up to 90m in total to the joint venture, of which Capita will see total revenues of 60m over three years. To date Urban Vision has delivered significant costs savings and income generation initiatives including in excess of 12.5m secured over the last five years. The extension will see Urban Vision continue to deliver all existing services to the Council, prioritising the needs of the fast growing City on a "Salford First" principle. Services include property, regulatory planning, engineering infrastructure, and design and highway operations. Salford and the Greater Manchester area are currently undergoing a period of substantial regeneration and growth, and the partnership will play a key role in supporting the Council through this process. The partnership extension provides a platform for the further growth of Urban Vision's services into both the Council and new and existing clients UK-wide. The partnership currently delivers services to over 240 clients across both the public and private sectors and will continue to deliver additional revenue for Salford City Council, allowing it to invest in and protect frontline services. Jim Taylor, Salford's City Director, said: "Urban Vision has been a valuable partner since we first formed the alliance. The partnership extension will provide further efficiency gains and more savings for the Council, without affecting service quality and performance. Working with our joint venture partners, we are committed to supporting the unprecedented growth within the City through the continued provision of excellent services on a "Salford First" principle." Andy Parker, Capita's Chief Executive, said: "When Urban Vision was founded it was the first joint venture of its kind in the UK. Over the last ten years it has delivered some fantastic outcomes for the Council. This extension gives us the opportunity to build on that success - we look forward to three more years of excellent service delivery and close working with our joint venture partners. "Capita's breadth of experience in local government means it is ideally positioned to meet the needs of councils across the Northern Powerhouse and rest of the UK. These needs are increasingly being driven by a 'place-based' agenda, ensuring that services create new opportunities around the development of the local economy, land, assets and skills. Urban Vision has already begun to incorporate elements of this agenda into its work in Salford and Greater Manchester, and this extension will allow us to put 'place' at the heart of everything the partnership does." -ENDS- For further information: Capita plc Tel: 020 7799 1525 Andy Parker, Chief Executive Officer Shona Nichols, Executive Director, Communications Andrew Ripper, Head of Investor Relations Media enquiries David Hendy Tel: 020 7654 2399 David.Hendy@capita.co.uk Note to editors Capita is a leading UK provider of technology-enabled customer and business process services and integrated professional support services. With 75,000 people at over 500 sites, including 94 business centres across the UK, Europe, India and South Africa, Capita uses its expertise, infrastructure and scale benefits to transform its clients' services, driving down costs and adding value. Capita is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (CPI.L), and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 with 2015 revenue of 4.7 billion. Further information on Capita can be found at: www.capita.com. LONDON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading UK insurance brand Columbus Direct has further extended its product offering with the launch of a brand new Pet Insurance product. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160316/345232LOGO ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160414/355321 ) The launch this week sees Columbus collaborate with online specialists Surewise.com to deliver a comprehensive Columbus-branded solution underpinned by Surewise's engaging and responsive insurance platform with an easy-to-use, customer-centric interface. Recent figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) found that the number of pet insurance claims rose by 9% in 2015 compared with the previous year. However, most of Britain's nine million dog owners and 7.9 million cat owners do have insurance cover. Rob Thomas Head of Brand, Columbus Direct said: "The pet insurance market is ripe for growth and as an established provider of travel insurance over many years we have built an enviable reputation of trust among our customers which we plan to replicate within the pet insurance space. We are very much looking forward to introducing some further competition into this market, supported by Surewise - as another niche specialist - who we know can deliver the superior customer experience we demand for our customers." Stuart Bensusan, Director at Surewise.com said, "We are delighted to be partnering with an established and innovative brand like Columbus on its newest venture. We believe that its focus on customer satisfaction, combined with our unique approach to combining insurance rating matrices with technology to allow rapid product deployment and on-going flexibility, will prove a winning combination for the customer." Notes to editors Columbus Direct is a leading travel insurance specialist which was established in 1988 selling both online via http://www.columbusdirect.com and offline via call centre channels. We have a history of innovation in the industry, including being the first company to sell travel insurance direct to the consumer in the UK and also the first to fully sell a policy online. Customer satisfaction and value for money are the driving forces behind Columbus Direct and we pride ourselves on providing a quick, efficient and hassle-free service. We have covered over15 million holidaymakers since 1988 and our latest customer surveys show that over 95% of customers would recommend us to their friends and family. Columbus has won multiple awards including Best Online Travel Insurance Provider in the Your Money awards 2014 and 2012, ITIJ Travel Insurance Intermediary of the year 2013, 2012 and 2010, 13 Which? Best Buy awards, The Best Customer Focus Award from the Best Business awards, and also the Best Travel Insurance Provider award from the Personal Finance Awards 2011 and 2012. Columbus Direct is a specialist travel insurance intermediary which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. About Surewise.com Surewise.com is a relatively new insurance brand which launched in May 2014. It has quickly become a leading provider of several niche insurance products aided by in-house systems which allow rapid deployment of new insurance products across multiple platforms. Working closely with insurance underwriters to provide innovative insurance products at leading prices for both B2B & B2C markets is at the heart of its business model. In 2014 Surewise.com was shortlisted for the "Best Use of Technology to Improve End-client Experience" Award from Insurance Times and the "Customer Experience" Award from the Insurance Post. For more information please visithttp://www.surewise.com. DUBLIN, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Fungicides China News" newsletter to their offering. In March 2016, eyes of most Chinese pesticide manufacturers were caught by the CAC2016 and the CAC conference week. At the conference, Zhang Wenjun, director of ICSD, ICAMA, introduced China's exports of pesticides in 2015 and pointed out that it was the first time to see downturns in both imports and exports of pesticides over the past 5 years. Specifically: Export - Volume: 1.51 million tonnes, down by 8.06% YoY - Value: USD7.28 billion, down by 16.87% YoY Import - Volume: 57,600 tonnes, down by 14.21% YoY - Value: USD678 million, down by 8.88% YoY Moreover, the list of China's top 20 pesticide exporters in 2015 were unveiled at CAC2016, which demonstrated the manufacturers' ability and achievements in expanding overseas market, as well as their excellent quality of pesticides and capability of supply. This also helped to further these companies' influence. Notably, there were still some highlights in the overall pesticide export market. According to Zhang Wenjun, since 2011, exports of technical have decreased year by year, while more high value-added formulations have been exported and become a new driving force. This manifests China's successful structure adjustment in the pesticide industry. China's export volume and value of fungicide formulations both increased over 2014. However, due to the downturn in the overall pesticide market, the rise in value was much smaller than that in volume. This report contains detailed analysis on China's exports and imports of fungicide formulations and the top 20 pesticide exporters in following report. Key Topics Covered: - Phenamacril, another independently developed fungicide to make sales of "RMB100 million" - Market price of chlorothalonil to keep high in 2016 - China's top 20 pesticide exporters in 2015 - More Chinese carbendazim producers resume production - IPP, CAAS signs with ALS a distribution licensing agreement on China's first plant immunoprotein biopesticide with ALS - Limin Chemical to raise funds to strengthen leading position in fungicide market - China's exports of tebuconazole technical: YoY falls in both volume and price in 2015 - China's export volume of fungicide formulations increases by 10.24% YoY in 2015 - China's import volume of fungicide formulations falls by 22.09% YoY in 2015 - Fifteen fungicide technical registered in China, Feb. 2016 - Lianhetech to invest USD45.99 million into fluxapyroxad intermediate project - Nissan Chemical's amisulbrom first to register in China - Shenzhen Noposion: net profit reaches USD34.80 million in 2015 - Jiangsu Huifeng: large rise in online sales of pesticide formulations - Another two enterprises voluntarily give up pesticide production qualifications - Nantong Weilike to launch 3,400 t/a pesticide formulation expansion project - Shanghai Heben-Eastsun: first domestic enterprise obtains "Three Certificates" of pyraclostrobin TC - Lanfeng Bio-Chem: rise in net profit in Q1 2016 - Jiangsu Province: 86,000 tonnes of fungicides exported in 2015 - Jiangsu Province: rape sclertiniose to strike moderately on the whole and heavily in some areas - China's market price of mancozeb likely to rise in the short run - China's market price of propiconazol technical falls in March - Ex-works prices of main fungicides in China, Mar. 2016 - Shanghai Port prices of main fungicides in China, Mar. 2016 - FOB Shanghai prices of main fungicides in China, Mar. 2016 Companies Mentioned - The Institute of Plant Protection - Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences - Limin Chemical Co., Ltd. - Lianhe Chemical Technology Co., Ltd. - Shenzhen Noposion Agrochemicals Co., Ltd. - Jiangsu Huifeng Agrochemical Co., Ltd. - Shanghai Heben-Eastsun Medicaments Co., Ltd. - Jiangsu Lanfeng Biochemical Co., Ltd. For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/w6xh22/fungicides_china Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 XING AG buys eqipia the leading technology for intelligent employee referrals in Switzerland The purchase price is set at CHF 3.2m and can be increased by up to CHF 4.8m. XING CEO Vollmoeller: "XING asserts its position as the leader in innovative recruiting solutions with this acquisition." XING AG (O1BC/ISINDE000XNG888) has acquired the Zurich company BuddyBroker AG and its product eqipia effective immediately. eqipia is the leading intelligent and automated employee referral programme in Switzerland. The purchase price is set at CHF 3.2m. An earn-out payment of up to CHF 4.8m may also take effect if the operative goals are reached. BuddyBroker AG has seven employees who will all continue working for the company. Both founders, Flurin Muller (30) and Patrick Mollet (39), will stay on board to drive the product's further development. Companies like Migros, Swisscom, SBB, Zuhlke, BKW (Bernische Kraftwerke) and EMC have already begun using eqipia successfully. Employee referrals are on the rise in HR. In the USA, around 40 percent of all new hires can be attributed to referrals from employees. Employee referrals are already the most effective recruiting tool in the German-speaking world today. Most companies have implemented a bonus programme in order to make use of employee referrals. This, however, is a manual process that is inefficient and time-consuming for both HR and employees. The "eqipia ReferralManager" digitalises and automates this complex process. It analyses employees' networks, which it can access via their XING profiles, and identifies suitable colleagues using a matching algorithm. These potential candidates can then be contacted automatically via the tool, significantly reducing the workload in HR. The employees concerned receive all the important information about the vacancy and can pass this on to their contacts. HR departments then receive transparent reports about the success of the recruiting tool. They also have the option of awarding a bonus for the successful referral of a contact. XING CEO Vollmoeller: "XING emphasizes its position as the leader for innovative recruiting solutions with this acquisition." XING CEO Thomas Vollmoeller: "An automated solution for employee referrals is the superior recruitment tool. The advantage for companies: They can find better qualified candidates at much lower costs and much more quickly than with traditional methods. Their own employees serve as ambassadors for the company and the process of approaching candidates is personal, reliable and purposeful. As a result, the proportion of employees recruited on the basis of referrals is very high. eqipia is an outstanding product in this area. It offers typical Swiss precision and fits perfectly with XING. The acquisition of eqipia asserts XING's position as a leader in innovative recruitment solutions." Founders Flurin Muller and Patrick Mollet are looking forward to the integration with XING: "With XING we can implement our product visions even faster and achieve even better results for our customers. XING's established distribution network enables us to offer eqipia in the German speaking region in one fell swoop." The eqipia ReferralManager is available immediately as a part of XING's e-recruiting range at recruiting.xing.com/eqipia. For the launch, XING is offering a special on the eqipia ReferralManager. XING is also developing a solution that is completely integrated into the XING platform. This will be presented at the "HRM Expo" (Zukunft Personal) in Cologne. About XING The leading online business network in German-speaking countries supports its members in mastering the transformations taking place in the world of work. XING helps its more than 10 million members to balance their professional and private life as well as possible within an environment defined by a lack of skilled workers, digitalisation and changing values. To this end, members can visit XING Jobs to look for vacancies that appeal to them, stay up-to-date with news offers by XING, or browse the German-language portal XING spielraum to find out about the trends and changes taking place in the new world of work. At the start of 2015, XING added Jobborse.com, the largest jobs search engine in German-speaking countries, to its portfolio. Before that, XING had acquired kununu, which as the principal employer review platform in German-speaking countries served to strengthen XING's leading position within the field of social recruiting. XING was founded in Hamburg, Germany, in 2003, has been publicly listed since 2006, and listed on the TecDAX since September 2011. Members can meet and exchange views in over 70,000 groups, while also getting together at more than 150,000 business-related events every year. More than 10.5 million people use the XING platforms in the core German-speaking market, and over 10 million of them are XING members. XING has almost 800 employees at offices in Hamburg, Munich, Aschaffenburg, Barcelona and Vienna. Visit www.xing.com for more information. Language: English Company: XING AG Dammtorstrae 30 20354 Hamburg Germany Phone: +49 (0)40 419 131-793 Fax: +49 (0)40 419 131-44 E-mail: investor-relations@xing.com Internet: www.xing.com ISIN: DE000XNG8888 WKN: XNG888 Indices: TecDAX Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich, Stuttgart; Terminborse EUREX View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005704/en/ Contacts: Patrick Moller Tel: +49 (0)40 419131-793 Email: patrick.moeller@xing.com or Press contact: Marc-Sven Kopka Vice President of External Affairs XING AG, +49 40-419131-763 presse@xing.com https://www.xing.com/profile/MarcSven_Kopka/Marc-Sven_Kopka AMSTERDAM, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Altyn Bank's digital offering was built by Backbase, the omni-channel banking leader Altyn-i, a new digital bank in Kazakhstan, announces its launch today. A subsidiary of the Halyk Bank, one of Kazakhstan's largest financial organizations, Altyn Bank's digital platform Altyn-i goes live with its online and mobile banking offering, powered by Backbase. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121002/567102 ) Altyn-i, like the traditional bank, aims to offer a full range of financial services, including account opening, debit cards, deposits and payment services - and at a later stage - consumer loans, mortgages, credit cards. The digital-only model sits on top of new, customer-centric business processes in order to appeal to younger audiences as well. The main advantages are the 24/7 availability, the flexible management of funds and the innovative digital features. To offer a seamless customer experience via all digital touchpoints, Altyn Bank has decided to partner with Backbase, the omni-channel digital banking leader, according to Forrester. Backbase has supported more than 60 financial institutions across the world and has helped to successfully launch new digital-only banks such as CheBanca! and Touch Bank. Askar Smagulov, CEO of Altyn Bank, said: "We are truly committed to offering our customers the flexibility, convenience and fast service, so we created a digital banking model to enable just that. Thanks to our new technology and structure, we now have the ability to react quickly to customer demand, so we're excited to launch Altyn-i today to allow our clients to progress with online banking, and keep on top of their finances wherever they are, and at all times." Jouk Pleiter, CEO of Backbase, added: "Altyn Bank is taking full advantage of the potential of online and mobile channels, and working with a bank that shares our vision for digital transformation is incredibly exciting. Altyn-i is a solution to increasing demand for customer-centric, omni-channel experiences, and we're delighted that the visionary Altyn team partnered with Backbase to build a solid digital banking platform to win the battle for the millennial market." About Altyn Bank Altyn Bank JSC is the largest subsidiary of Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan's #1 financial services group. Altyn Bank JSC, previously known as HSBC Bank Kazakhstan, was established in 1998, and has since been acquired by and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Halyk Bank in November 2014. For more information see: http://www.altyn-i.kz About Backbase Backbase empowers financial institutions around the world to become digital leaders, enabling them to place digital channels at the core of their business model. The Backbase Omni-Channel Banking Platform is created around customer-centric design principles and delivers seamless digital experiences across multiple devices and customer touchpoints. Backbase, a privately funded company, was founded in 2003 and has operations in New York, Atlanta, Amsterdam and London. For more information see: http://www.backbase.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Global Remote Technologies Ltd. (CSE: RGT)(FRANKFURT: GR9) (The "Company" or "Global Remote") is pleased to announce it has entered into a service agreement with Basic Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: BAS) a leader in the US oil and gas well servicing industry. This significant service agreement will allow BAS to utilize Global Remote Technologies' patent pending "Helix" downhole well stimulation technology for their multitude of oil and gas clientele from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf Coast and California to the Appalachian Region. Global Remote Technologies states: "We are excited to be working with a leader in the US oil and gas well servicing industry such as Basic Energy Services. This is a significant milestone for Global Remote Technologies, not only in establishing strategic relationships with major players in the oil and gas sector but also towards achieving our goal of substantially increasing our customer base throughout 2016. We feel our Helix tool will significantly increase oil flow rates for BAS as well as open multiple new opportunities in the US marketplace for Global Remote Technologies." The Company's "Helix" tool uses a patent pending design and engineering method to achieve a unique flow pattern that is more effective for wellbore stimulation and cleanouts than any other designs on the market. The Helix Tool is a downhole cleaning and stimulation technology that combines traditional oscillation and pulse jetting structures into a single pattern. Helix technology has been tested and utilized by several major oil companies in the US and in Canada, the results of which have shown consistent oil flow increases of 35-92% post-clean out and stimulation. Basic Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: BAS) is a public company with its main office in Forth Worth, TX and several satellite offices throughout the US, http://www.basicenergyservices.com/. BES provides a comprehensive range of well site services that support the entire lifecycle of a well to a diverse group of over 2,000 oil and gas companies in the major onshore oil and gas producing regions of the United States. BES is deploying the Helix tools and technologies in the United States lower 48. About Global Remote Technologies The Company focuses on the deployment of emerging technologies for the energy sector. The Company has licensed multiple patent pending tools for the oil and gas industry. Using its advanced engineering and leadership experience, the Company brings cutting edge processes and technology to the oil patch. Its remote sensor packages transmit telemetry from drilling and production sites in real time to a central server where it is viewed in the cloud. The systems are designed to provide key personnel an early warning system to avoid equipment failures or costly compliance fines. The Company collects and communicates vital information on the status of equipment, tanks, and pipelines for exploration, production, and transmission of oil, gas and water. In addition, the Company recently acquired a Helix downhole well stimulation tool and related technology. The tool uses a patent pending design and engineering method to achieve a unique flow pattern for wellbore stimulation. The Company is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, with offices in Denver, Colorado and Houston, Texas. Further information about the Company is available under its profile on the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com), on the CSE website (www.thecse.com) and on its corporate website (www.grtcse.com). On Behalf of the Board of Directors GLOBAL REMOTE TECHNOLGIES LTD. Chris Dorris, CEO and Director Forward-Looking Information: This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. The forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of the Company. Although the Company's management believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward- looking information because the Company cannot provide any assurance that it will prove to be correct. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws. Contacts: Howe & Bay Financial 604-449-5302 info@howeandbayfinancial.com BRUSSELS, BELGIUM -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE: WBC) (www.wabco-auto.com), a leading global supplier of technologies that improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles, today disclosed that - from Q2 2015 to Q1 2016 - it has entered into contracts in local currencies with customers across the globe that total $918 million of expected cumulative incremental business. These awards include $612 million in new business to be realized from 2016 through 2020 inclusive. These contracts represent new incremental business for WABCO that is separate from replacement and renewal of existing contracts. It comprises orders for WABCO products that improve vehicle safety and efficiency, mostly in vehicle dynamics systems, air management and vehicle electronic systems, transmission automation technologies, and electronic suspension and braking technologies on commercial vehicles as well as car components and systems. It also includes fleet management solutions that enhance connectivity between the truck, trailer, driver and fleet hub. "These new contracts underline WABCO's continuing ability to generate sales growth that outperforms the commercial vehicle market relative to global truck and bus production," said Jacques Esculier, WABCO Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Indeed, two thirds of this new business is anchored in high-growth emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil where WABCO is solidly the market leader and increasingly augmenting WABCO content per vehicle." "WABCO expects that its sales growth will continue to outperform global market expansion of new truck and bus builds on average above 8 percent through 2020 and beyond," said Esculier. "WABCO's differentiating strategies of technology leadership, globalization and excellence in execution continue to create further value for customers - original equipment manufacturers and fleet operators alike - in mature as well as emerging markets." About WABCO WABCO (NYSE: WBC) is a leading global supplier of technologies and services that improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles. Founded nearly 150 years ago, WABCO continues to pioneer breakthrough innovations for advanced driver assistance, braking, stability control, suspension, transmission automation and aerodynamics. Partnering with the transportation industry as it maps a route toward autonomous driving, WABCO also uniquely connects trucks, trailers, drivers, cargo, and fleet operators through telematics, as well as advanced fleet management and mobile solutions. WABCO is regularly recognized among "the best of the best" companies. Forbes named WABCO "America's Best-Managed Capital Goods Company." For four consecutive years, Institutional Investor named WABCO among the "Top 3" in its sector for "Best CEO." WABCO reported sales of $2.6 billion in 2015. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, WABCO has 12,000 employees in 39 countries. For more information, visit www.wabco-auto.com. Forward-Looking Statements This document contains certain "forward-looking statements" as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on management's good faith expectations and beliefs concerning future developments. Statements preceded by, followed by or that otherwise include the words "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "strategies," "prospects," "intends," "projects," "estimates," "plans," "may increase," "may fluctuate," and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "should," "would," "may" and "could" are generally forward looking in nature and not historical facts. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations as a result of many factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, the actual level of commercial vehicle production in our end markets, adverse developments in the business of our key customers, pricing changes to our supplies or products, our ability to successfully integrate any acquired businesses or our acquired businesses not performing as planned, the outcome of any appeal by Belgium and/or the company of the European Commission's decision to invalidate the Excess Profit Ruling Program, and, if the decision is not overturned, the methodology the Belgian tax authority employs to calculate the amount of the clawback, the company's ability to claim alternative tax relief for prior and current periods, or the success of any other avenues the Company pursues to mitigate the impact of the European Commission's decision, and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section and the "Information Concerning Forward Looking Statements" section of WABCO's Form 10-K, as well as in the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Information Concerning Forward Looking Statements" section of WABCO's Form 10-Q Quarterly Reports. WABCO does not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking statements. All market and industry data are based on company estimates. Contacts: Media, investors and analysts contact: WABCO Holdings Inc. Christian Fife +1 732 369 7465 christian.fife@wabco-auto.com www.wabco-auto.com NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- PVBLIC together with AIESEC International, UN-Habitat, Asian Development Bank and Plan International launching their Youth4GG campaign through featured displays of billboards on the Digital Tower at Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia through a partnership with Moving Walls. The billboards launched on April 4th and will play throughout the month of April. The displays promote Youth 4 Global Goals to encourage youth to speak up and voice their opinion about pressing world issues through the YouthSpeak survey. AIESEC together with their media partner PVBLIC Foundation has been working on a campaign to create awareness and to inspire young people around the world to take actions that will positively impact their communities. AIESEC, being the world's largest youth-led organization, committed to shoulder the responsibility of leading the youth movement around the Sustainable Development Goals, and launched the campaign "Youth for Global Goals" in February 2016. As of today, the YouthSpeak Survey, the global vehicle to gather the youth opinion on how they want to shape their world as a part of the campaign gathered more than 160,000 responses from around the world. The complete report of the YouthSpeak Report shall be released by AIESEC on May 3, 2016 at the special panel at the ADB Annual Meeting in Frankfurt and aims at influencers to understand the direction of the global youth voice and lend support to ideas that need to be turned into actions. The Youth 4 Global Goals campaign has roped in cross-sector stakeholders, namely PVBLIC, UN-Habitat, Plan International, Asian Development Bank, who are working with AIESEC with a mission to reach one billion young people. The campaign in Kuala Lumpur was possible thanks to the partnership with Moving Walls, a technology LED media group who believes the disruption of Real World with Digital provides tremendous opportunities for Media Innovation and Leadership. The organization pioneers interactive digital campaigns in Malaysia using one or a combination of Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Gamification and Social Media engagement. About Youth 4 Global Goals Youth 4 Global Goals is an initiative that supports the achievement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by engaging and mobilizing young people through purposeful and cross-cultural projects. These projects will be designed to support the implementation of the SDGs in local communities. Currently, AIESEC is partnering with organizations such as ADB, UN Habitat, PVBLIC Foundation, and Plan International to lead this multinational initiative. For more information, please visit: http://youth4globalgoals.org About AIESEC AIESEC is an international non-governmental not-for-profit organization that provides young people with leadership development and cross-cultural global internship and volunteer exchange experiences across the globe, with a focus to empower young people so they can make a positive impact on society. For more information, visit: http://aiesec.org About PVBLIC Foundation PVBLIC Foundation is an innovative non-profit media organization that harnesses the power of media to drive social change. An aggregator of media across all platforms, PVBLIC works strategically to pair media space with key non-profits at the local, national and global levels. We utilize existing and emerging technologies to increase issue awareness around important causes and help non-profits amplify their message. At PVBLIC, we believe that media is the new currency. @PVBLICF or visit www.pvblic.org * News, Media, PR and Content distribution provided by 1-800-PublicRelations, Inc. Embedded Video Available Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2992376 Embedded Video Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2992380 Media contact Karolina Piotrowska Communications Manager PVBLIC Foundation press@PVBLIC.org LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Plandai Biotechnology, Inc. (OTCQB: PLPL) ("Plandai" or "the Company"), producer of the highly bioavailable Phytofare catechin complex, today announced that Callum Cottrell Duffield, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, has recently given a video interview for Proactive Investors. Proactive Investors is a UK-based online investor services company that provides analytics, market reports, and company and industry profiles. In the interview, Mr. Cottrell-Duffield addressed recent sales of the company's flagship product, Phytofare, stating, "Sales have thus far been focused in Europe, where we have first-rate distributor representation, and in South Africa, where we have strong support for local companies. With our new distribution partner in AIDP, we also now have excellent representation in North America and Asia." With respect to customer preferences, Mr. Cottrell-Duffield added, "Consumers are now beginning to understand the importance of bioavailability in their nutriceutical products. While other products may claim bioavailability, Phytofare is the only catechin complex on the market that can support that claim with double-blind human clinical trials. This is a tremendous market advantage for Plandai." Mr. Cottrell-Duffield was then questioned about the company's research into medical cannabis applications, to which he responded, "Plandai is not currently nor has it ever produced cannabis extracts or tested any cannabis extracts. The legal environment in the United States is currently such that, as a listed company, doing so would be problematic. We have received a license from the Uruguay government to produce a cannabis extract and conduct animal trials, but, as their cannabis legislation is so new, there is still no clear path for moving forward. As soon as possible, we plan to produce a cannabis extract and prove that we can make a non-psychoactive product that retains the medical benefits of cannabis without the associated 'high.'" The full video interview can be accessed online at http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/ or alternatively can be found on the following YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHvbc3v7Z1E. For trade inquiries please email: info@phytofare.com About Plandai Biotechnology, Inc. Plandai Biotechnology, Inc. and its subsidiaries develop highly phyto-available extracts. Plandai Biotechnology controls every aspect of the process, from growing the raw materials on its farms in South Africa, to producing its proprietary Phytofare extracts in-house, allowing the Company to guarantee the continuity of supply as well as quality control throughout the entire process. Targeted industries for the Company's products include beverage, cosmeceutical, wellness, nutriceutical, anti-aging, and pharmaceutical. For more information, please visit http://www.plandaibiotech.com. Safe Harbor Statement This release contains forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, we can give no assurance or guarantee that such expectations and assumptions will prove to have been correct. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by the use of words like "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "intend," or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to numerous factors and uncertainties, including but not limited to: adverse economic conditions, competition, adverse federal, state and local government regulation, international governmental regulation, inadequate capital, inability to carry out research, development and commercialization plans, loss or retirement of key executives and other specific risks. To the extent that statements in this press release are not strictly historical, including statements as to revenue projections, business strategy, outlook, objectives, future milestones, plans, intentions, goals, future financial conditions, events conditioned on stockholder or other approval, or otherwise as to future events, such statements are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. Readers are advised to review our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that can be accessed over the Internet at the SEC's website located at http://www.sec.gov. Contact: Hannah Merrill (917)900-6829 info@plandaibiotech.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - BlackRock Inc. (BLK) Thursday reported a sharp decline in first quarter net income attributable to the company to $657 million from $822 million in the prior year. Earnings per share were down 19 percent to $3.92 compared to $4.84 last year. The result included restructuring charge of $76 million from initiative to streamline and simplify organization. On an adjusted basis, earnings $711 million or $4.25 per share. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $4.29 per share. Analysts estimates usually exclude special items. Revenue for the quarter declined 4 percent to $2.624 billion from $2.723 billion in the prior year. Total AUMs were down one percent to $4.737 trillion from $4.774 trillion a year ago. Laurence Fink, chairman and CEO said, 'BlackRock generated long-term net inflows of $36 billion in the quarter, driven by positive global flows across both active and index products. Over the last twelve months, we saw $118 billion of long-term net inflows, muting the impact of $148 billion of market and FX headwinds over the same period.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Dear shareholder of Arco Vara AS,Notice is hereby given that the annual general meeting of Arco Vara AS (registry number 10261718; registered office at Ravala Avenue 5, Tallinn) will be held in the meeting room Lubeck+St Peterburg of Radisson Blu Sky Hotel in Tallinn at Ravala Avenue 3 on 10 May 2016 at 10.00 am.The agenda of the annual general meeting:1. Approval of the annual report for 2015The Supervisory Board proposes to the shareholders:To approve the annual report of Arco Vara AS for 2015.2. Distribution of ProfitThe Supervisory Board proposes to the shareholders:To distribute the net profit for the year ended on 31 December 2016 in the amount of 467 thousand euros as follows: to pay dividends to the shareholders 0.01 euros per share, in the total amount of 61 170.12 euros. The list of shareholders entitled to dividends shall be fixed as at 25 May 2016, 23:59 PM. Dividends shall be paid to the shareholders by transfer to the bank account of the shareholders on 30 May 2016; to allocate 406 thousand euros to retained earnings.3. Issuance of a convertible bond (in connection with the incentive scheme of the Management Board member)The Supervisory Board proposes to the shareholders: to increase the share capital of Arco Vara AS conditionally by issuing one convertible bond with the nominal value of 1,000 euros in accordance with the conditions of the convertible bond which are found among the materials of the AGM made available to the shareholders; the convertible bond will give its owner the right to subscribe up to 390,000 shares of Arco Vara AS for 0.7 euro per share starting from 10 May 2019 until 31 December 2019; in case of subscription the Management Board of Arco Vara may increase the share capital up to 273,000 euros, i.e by 390,000 shares; the existing shareholders will give up the right of privileged subscription of the convertible bond as well as the right of privileged subscription of the shares issued after the exchange of the convertible bond.4. Issuance of convertible bonds (in connection with the incentive scheme of the division managers)The supervisory board proposes to the shareholders: to increase the share capital of Arco Vara AS conditionally by issuing up to 12 convertible bonds with the nominal value of 500 euros in accordance with the conditions of the convertible bonds which are found among the materials of the AGM made available to the shareholders; provided that the net profit of Arco Vara group for the years 2016-2018 is at least 5.5 million euros, the convertible bonds will give the owners the right to subscribe for all together up to 200,000 shares of Arco Vara AS for 0.7 euro per share starting from 10 May 2019 until 31 December 2019; in case of subscription the Management Board of Arco Vara may increase the share capital up to 140,000 euros, i.e by 200,000 shares; the existing shareholders will give up the right of privileged subscription of the convertible bonds as well as the right of privileged subscription of the shares issued after the exchange of the convertible bonds.5. Appointment of AuditorThe Supervisory Board proposes to the shareholders:To appoint an auditor for one year (until the next annual general meeting of shareholders) and appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers AS as the auditor. To pay the auditor for auditing the 2016 annual report according to the agreement concluded between Arco Vara AS and PricewaterhouseCoopers AS.The materials of the annual general meeting will be available on the website of Arco Vara AS at www.arcorealestate.com and in the registered office of Arco Vara AS at Ravala Avenue 5, Tallinn on business days from 9 am to 5 pm.Questions regarding the agenda items may be sent by email to info@arcovara.ee. The questions together with the answers will be published on the website of Arco Vara AS. All shareholders have a lawful right to obtain information from the Management Board about the operation of the company. Shareholders whose shares represent at least 1/20 of the share capital of Arco Vara AS may request that additional items be added to the agenda provided they submit their request at least 15 days before the general meeting, i.e. by 25 April 2016 at the latest, and they may propose a resolution on any or all agenda items, provided they submit the proposal at least 3 days before the general meeting, i.e. by 7 May 2016 at the latest. Shareholder requests and proposals have to be submitted by email to info@arcovara.ee and they will be published in line with legal requirements.The list of shareholders eligible to vote will be fixed 7 days before the general meeting, i.e. on 3 May 2016 as at 23:59.Registration of attendees begins on 10 April 2016 at 9:45 am. For registration, please bring an identity document. A proxy must have a written proxy document or other documents verifying the right to act as a proxy. A shareholder may notify Arco Vara AS before the meeting of the appointment of a proxy or the revocation of a proxy appointment by sending relevant digitally signed notice to info@arcovara.ee on 9 May 2016 at the latest.The notice of the annual general meeting will be published in Postimees on 15 April 2016.Yours sincerely, Management Board of Arco Vara AS +372 6144630 info@arcovara.ee WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (SNTA) and private firm Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Thursday announced a definitive merger agreement under which Madrigal will merge with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Synta in an all-stock transaction. The combined company will be known as Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, and Paul Friedman will become chairman and chief executive officer. The corporate headquarters will be located in the Philadelphia area. As perthe merger agreement, Synta will acquire all outstanding shares of Madrigal in exchange for approximately 253.9 million newly issued shares of Synta common stock. Existing Synta shareholders will own 36 percent of the combined company at the closing and Madrigal shareholders will own 64 percent of the combined company. The new company will focus on the development of novel small-molecule drugs addressing major unmet needs in cardiovascular-metabolic diseases and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and the shareholders of Madrigal. The deal will be closed by the end of the third quarter of 2016 The investor syndicate that includes Bay City Capital, Fred Craves, Founder of Bay City Capital, and SQN LLC, a corporation held by Friedman and Rebecca Taub has committed to invest up to $9 million in Madrigal prior to the closing of the Merger. The combined company intends to use these proceeds, in addition to Synta's cash balance at the closing of the merger, to fund the development of MGL-3196 through Phase 2 clinical studies in NASH, HeFH and HoFH. Madrigal's lead compound, MGL-3196, is a Phase 2-ready once-daily, oral, liver-directed selective thyroid hormone receptor- agonist for the treatment of NASH and heterozygous and homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. MTS Health Partners, L.P. and ROTH Capital Partners, LLC served as financial advisors, and Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. served as legal counsel to Synta and Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, P.C. served as legal counsel to Madrigal with respect to the transaction. After the signing of the agreement, Friedman has stepped down from Synta's Board of Directors and will join Madrigal as an executive. Taub will assume the newly created role of Chief Medical Officer, Executive Vice President, Research & Development, following the closing of the Merger. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. IRVING, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- DynaResource, Inc. (OTCQB: DYNR) ("DynaUSA", and "the Company") is pleased to announce that Mineras de DynaResource S.A. de C.V. ("DynaMineras"), the 100% owned subsidiary of DynaUSA and the exclusive operator of the San Jose de Gracia Property in northern Sinaloa, Mexico ("SJG"), is reporting the deliveries for sale, on March 21 and April 11, 2016, of an approximate 700 Oz gold contained in concentrates (exact weights in gold and silver oz. to be determined at final settlement). DynaMineras further reports March 2016 production from the Pilot Mill Facility at SJG of an approximate total of 900 Oz gold contained in concentrates (exact weights in gold and silver oz. to be determined at final settlement). DynaMineras further reports the below summary of March pilot mill operations at SJG, with assays reported according to internal lab reports: 1. 3,075 tons: Feed material processed; 2. 11.55 g/t Au: Average grade of mill feed; 3. 900 Oz Gold: Gold concentrates produced (exact weights in gold and silver Oz to be determined at final settlement of sale); DynaMineras further reports that the contract mining at San Pablo mine, and test mill runs of the pilot mill facility at SJG are continuing. And, DynaMineras further reports it is currently implementing equipment changes to the pilot mill facility which are designed to increase throughput. DynaMineras - Mine Plan and Mill Operations (Pilot Operations) DynaMineras is conducting operations at SJG according to internally developed mine plans for San Pablo (compiled by Company VP- Director of Exploration and Resource Development, Pedro I. Teran Cruz, using Surpac software), and through the internally designed SJG Pilot Mill facility (consisting of a basic gravity-flotation circuit) which was previously operated by DynaUSA during the 2003-2006 period. There is no preliminary economic assessment report completed for SJG so the precise cutoff grade for underground mining has not yet been determined. The operations are being funded internally by DynaMineras and DynaUSA. The mine plan was developed from the block model of resources as defined in the DynaMexico NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate; and from the analysis of underground mining works conducted in 2003-2006. SJG Ownership DynaResource de Mexico SA de CV ("DynaMexico") owns 100% of the SJG Project. DynaUSA currently holds 80% of the total outstanding Capital of DynaMexico, and, DynaUSA currently holds 100% of DynaMineras. General Manager appointed at San Jose de Gracia Project On February 4, 2016 DynaUSA announced the appointment of Mr. Rene L.F. Mladosich as General Manager of the San Jose de Gracia Project, effective February 1, 2016. (See DynaResource, Inc. news release dated February 4, 2016). On behalf of the Board of Directors, K.D. DIEPHOLZ; DynaResource, Inc.; Chairman and CEO IMPORTANT CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING CANADIAN DISCLOSURE STANDARDS The Company is an "OTC Reporting Issuer" as that term is defined in Multilateral Instrument 51-509, Issuers Quoted in the U.S. Over-the-Counter Markets, promulgated by various Canadian Provincial Securities Commissions. Accordingly, certain disclosure in this news release or other disclosure provided by the Company has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of United States securities laws. In Canada, an issuer is required to provide technical information with respect to mineralization, including reserves and resources, if any, on its mineral exploration properties in accordance with Canadian requirements, which differ significantly from the requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") applicable to registration statements and reports filed by United States companies pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. As such, information contained in this news release or other disclosure provided by the Company concerning descriptions of mineralization under Canadian standards may not be comparable to similar information made public by United States companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of the SEC and not subject to Canadian securities legislation. This news release or other disclosure provided by the Company may use the terms "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources". While these terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations (under National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects), the SEC does not recognize them. United States investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted to reserves. In addition, "inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian securities legislation, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, although they may form, in certain circumstances, the basis of a "preliminary economic assessment" as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that part or all of an inferred mineral resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This News release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27 A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Certain information contained in this news release, including any information relating to future financial or operating performance may be deemed "forward-looking". All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that DynaResource expects to occur, are "forward-looking information". These statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the Company's expectations regarding the future growth, results of operations, business prospects and opportunities of DynaResource. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current internal projections, expectations or beliefs and are based on information currently available to DynaResource. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "projects", "potential", "scheduled", "forecast", "budget" or the negative of those terms or other comparable terminology. Certain assumptions have been made regarding the Company's plans at the San Jose de Gracia property. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of DynaResource and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct. Such factors include, without limitation: capital requirements, fluctuations in the international currency markets and in the rates of exchange of the currencies of the United States and Mexico; price volatility in the spot and forward markets for commodities; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, between actual and estimated reserves and resources and between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries; changes in national and local governments in any country which DynaResource currently or may in the future carry on business; taxation; controls; regulations and political or economic developments in the countries in which DynaResource does or may carry on business; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits, diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; competition; loss of key employees; additional funding requirements; actual results of current exploration or reclamation activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; accidents; labor disputes; defective title to mineral claims or property or contests over claims to mineral properties. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining, including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and gold bullion losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks) as well as those risks referenced in the Annual Report for DynaResource available at www.sec.gov. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and actual results and future events could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information. All of the forward-looking information contained in this news release is qualified by these cautionary statements. Although DynaResource believes that the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on reasonable assumptions, readers cannot be assured that actual results will be consistent with such statements. Accordingly, readers are cautioned against placing undue reliance on forward-looking information. DynaResource expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise. For further information on DynaUSA, DynaMineras, and DynaMexico, please visit www.dynaresource.com or contact: Brad J. Saulter DynaUSA V.P. Investor Relations US Telephone: 972-868-9066 K.D. Diepholz DynaUSA Chairman / CEO DynaResource de Mexico-Presidente; Mineras de DynaResource-Presidente TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Monarch National Insurance Company ("Monarch"), in which Crosswinds Holdings Inc. (the "Company") (TSX: CWI) has an indirect equity interest, has been notified by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation that it has approved Monarch's requested rate decrease for its homeowners' insurance program within the State of Florida. The rate decrease, which is effective April 15, 2016, will result in an average premium decrease of approximately 11.9% statewide for new and renewal business. The Company, based on discussions with Federated National Holding Company, the joint venture partner with whom it formed Monarch, believes that this rate decrease will make Monarch more competitive in the Florida homeowners' market. It is not possible at this time however, to assess the impact of this rate decrease on the Company's results of operations. Crosswinds Holdings Inc. Crosswinds is a publicly traded private equity firm and asset manager targeting strategic and opportunistic investments in the financial services sector with a particular focus on the insurance industry. Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information This release includes certain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "should", "plans" or "continue" or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Reference should be made to the risk factors in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form, Management's Discussion and Analysis and in our other filings with Canadian securities regulators. Additional important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, among other things, general economic and market factors, ability of the Company to execute its strategies from time to time. Crosswinds Holdings Inc. 365 Bay Street, Suite 400 Toronto, Ontario, M5H 2V1 Telephone: 1-800-439-5136 Contacts: Crosswinds Holdings Inc. Colin King 1-800-439-5136 info@crosswindsinc.com www.crosswindsinc.com PsiOxus Therapeutics Ltd. (PsiOxus), the immuno-oncology company, and the newly launched Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy today announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a planned collaboration using the Tumor-Specific Immuno-Gene Therapy (T-SIGn) platform developed by PsiOxus. The MoU confirms PICI and PsiOxus's interest in working together to develop and test novel "armed" oncolytic viral constructs utilizing PsiOxus' proprietary T-SIGn platform and manufacturing capabilities. Under the anticipated collaboration, the Parker Institute would convene key scientific and clinical thought leaders from its network to prioritize novel virus designs, including genetic payloads intended to prime or otherwise beneficially modify the tumor microenvironment for immune infiltration. PsiOxus would then manufacture the candidate viruses and make them available for research use by Parker Institute researchers, including for Parker Institute supported clinical trials and other types of studies, as well as in combination with other clinical agents. The commercial terms of this agreement remain subject to further discussion and agreement. Commenting on the PICI launch, Dr. Beadle, CEO of PsiOxus, said: "We are proud to be a part of this very exciting period of advancement in immunotherapy for cancer patients. It is our hope that the combination of our T-SIGn platform with the world class expertise and resources of the Parker Institute will result in fundamental steps forward in the understanding of cancer immunology as well as the development of future generations of cancer immunotherapies that will provide lasting benefits to patients for many years to come." Dr. Brian Champion, senior vice president of R&D for PsiOxus, will present the T-SIGn technology at the upcoming AACR meeting in New Orleans (Abstract 4875) on 20 April 2016. About PsiOxus Therapeutics, Ltd. PsiOxus Therapeutics, an Oxford, UK-based development stage biotechnology company focused upon immune-oncology, has developed a patented platform for delivering tumor-targeted oncolytic immune therapeutics systemically. The Tumor-Specific Immuno-Gene (T-SIGn) therapy platform is based on the company's oncolytic virus, enadenotucirev, which has unique properties that allow it to be delivered systemically via intravenous administration and to replicate only in tumor cells. The anti-cancer capability can be further enhanced through "arming" a process that involves the addition of new genes into the virus. The armed T-SIGn platform makes possible creation of a broad range of systemically delivered oncolytic immune therapeutics including oncolytic viruses that express one or more antibodies, cytokines, immunomodulatory proteins, or nucleotide (RNA) based payloads. The T-SIGn platform is in preclinical stage, while phase I/II clinical trials are ongoing with enadenotucirev in different tumor types and with different combinations including checkpoint inhibitors and conventional chemotherapeutics. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005559/en/ Contacts: PsiOxus Contacts: PsiOxus Therapeutics Dr. John Beadle, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0) 7810 770 310 John.Beadle@psioxus.com or US Media Enquiries: Chempetitive Group Erik Clausen +1 781-608-7091 PsiOxus@chempetitive.com or UK Media Enquiries: BioStrata Dr. Paul Avery +44(0)1223 828202 pavery@biostratamarketing.com Built on the success of Accenture and Alcatel-Lucent relationship the strategic alliance combines technology and services expertise to build and monetize modern networks Accenture (NYSE:ACN) and Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) have established the Nokia Accenture Business Group, a new strategic alliance which is focused on helping communication service providers (CSPs) and other enterprises rapidly transition to modern digital networks, capitalizing on the inherent operational benefits and new business opportunities. The expanded group is the result of the recent acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent by Nokia and built upon the success of the Accenture Alcatel-Lucent Business Group, announced in September 2014. In its first year and a half, the Accenture Alcatel-Lucent alliance exceeded the goals of both parties and helped achieve its ambitious development and commercial objectives. The cooperative relationship has helped a variety of CSPs-including Telefonica, TIM, and WIND Telecom and other large enterprises enhance the customer experience and optimize their networks across the globe. In addition to continuing to help CSPs, the Nokia Accenture Business Group will also jointly develop, sell and deliver new industry solutions in the five following areas: Customer experience and analytics , leveraging Accenture's Service Experience Engineering Management and Field Installation and Repair Service Transformation network solutions, powered by Nokia's Applications Analytics technologies portfolio; , leveraging Accenture's Service Experience Engineering Management and Field Installation and Repair Service Transformation network solutions, powered by Nokia's Applications Analytics technologies portfolio; Network and business transformation , consisting of network legacy decommissioning and migration to Internet Protocol (IP); , consisting of network legacy decommissioning and migration to Internet Protocol (IP); Next-generation enterprise services for CSPs , leveraging software-defined network (SDN) technologies powered by Nuage; , leveraging software-defined network (SDN) technologies powered by Nuage; Software-defined data center solutions for large enterprises , powered by Nuage; and , powered by Nuage; and Next-generation IP and digital solutions for the mining, oil and gas industries This group will deliver unique value to clients by combining Nokia's leading IP networking software products and services with Accenture's business services, technology consulting and transformation capabilities. The Nokia Accenture Business Group will develop sales and delivery capabilities focused on a combination of Nokia solutions and Accenture offerings. Accenture will be Nokia's preferred ally to complement Nokia's software integration and network services and Nokia will be a preferred provider for the customer experience, SDN and network services and solutions that Accenture provides to its clients. "Today's pace of technological change, driven by the transition to 5G, the Internet of Things and the cloud, is demanding extraordinary new capabilities from the network," said Kathrin Buvac, chief strategy officer at Nokia. "Working with a strong, complementary partner like Accenture enables us to extend our reach to new customers and markets and to truly drive what we consider to be a transformational era in networking. Nokia has the global scale, innovation muscle and end-to-end portfolio to lead this change and, ultimately, to expand the human possibilities of the connected world." Bob Sell, group chief executive of Accenture's Communications, Media Technology operating group, said, "We look forward to working with Nokia to help companies rapidly transition to modern digital networks. While software-defined networks provide great operational efficiency, even more importantly, they offer tremendous potential for developing new services and revenue streams. This new business group which combines Nokia's world-class technology with Accenture's deep experience in building and monetizing modern networks will help fulfill the ever-increasing demand for broadband services over wireless networks. The collaboration is consistent with our strategy of working at the heart of the digital ecosystem and growing our network services to enable communications service providers to undergo the transformation they need to thrive." About Accenture Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions underpinned by the world's largest delivery network Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With approximately 373,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com. About Nokia Nokia is a global leader in the technologies that connect people and things. Powered by the innovation of Bell Labs and Nokia Technologies, the company is at the forefront of creating and licensing the technologies that are increasingly at the heart of our connected lives. With state-of-the-art software, hardware and services for any type of network, Nokia is uniquely positioned to help communication service providers, governments, and large enterprises deliver on the promise of 5G, the Cloud and the Internet of Things. http://nokia.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005143/en/ Contacts: Accenture Doug Free, 1 408 817 2173 doug.free@accenture.com or Nokia Wendy Zajack, 1 703 943 6298 wendy.zajack@nokia.com iBasis, a KPN company, and MessageBird today announced a definitive agreement to sell the iBasis A2P P2P SMS hubbing business to MessageBird, an innovative communications services company based in Amsterdam. The agreement also establishes a partnership for future business opportunities. The transfer of iBasis' SMS business, including customer and vendor relationships, expands MessageBird's global reach in the messaging landscape. iBasis, a leading international provider of wholesale voice and mobile data services, has over the last two years increased its focus on emerging 4G services such as LTE roaming and VoLTE. Robert Vis, CEO of MessageBird said: "This accelerates our already rapid growth and strengthens our strategic position in global messaging. We are excited to offer iBasis' customers our cloud-based messaging solutions, through which we provide scalability and global deliverability to over 10,000 existing customers in 60 countries." "We are pleased to be able to find a strong partner to ensure continuous high-quality service for existing and future SMS customers, while enhancing our focus on the development of new mobile value added services," said Feddo Hazewindus, CEO of iBasis. About MessageBird MessageBird builds innovative Telco Communication APIs. The company enables developers and companies to communicate via SMS, Voice and Chat on a global scale through their APIs or web interface. MessageBird has offices in Amsterdam, London and Hamburg, and will soon open offices in Sydney and Shanghai. About iBasis A wholly-owned KPN company, iBasis is a leading international voice carrier and a provider of data services and solutions for mobile operators. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of voice termination services and data services, including messaging, signaling and roaming, for many of the world's largest fixed and mobile operators, as well as "over-the-top" and voice-over-broadband service providers. iBasis and KPN are registered marks. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005846/en/ Contacts: iBasis, Inc. Chris Ward, +1 781-505-7500 or MessageBird B.V. Robert Vis, +316 5477 0063 The SaaS company launches a new series of competitive and business intelligence reporting services to support the strategic growth initiatives of law firms and professional service organizations alike. SAN FRANCISCO, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Manzama today announced the release of Manzama Intelligence Services - a suite of daily and weekly reports aimed at helping professionals to gain critical insights into executive and competitor movement and change at companies and organizations around the world. "Being able to have a first mover advantage as it pertains to an understanding of executive movement and change across companies and industries is of paramount importance to professional service organizations which serve those companies and industries," said Mark Hinkle, Manzama's COO and Co-Founder. "Our goal since day one has been to give our clients an unfair advantage as it pertains to actionable intelligence and knowledge, and the Manzama Intelligence Center is our latest manifestation of this underlying goal." To learn more about Manzama and its new Intelligence Services, visit http://manzama.com/intelligence-services/ to sign up for a 30-day trial of any one of Manzama's Intelligence Services Reports. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/355034LOGO Manzama Intelligence Services will initially be comprised of three report offerings: The daily Manzama Executive Movement Report which tracks senior level executive movement and change across leading companies in the top industries, the weekly Manzama Corporate Counsel Movement Report which tracks new hires and departures of in-house counsel at companies across the globe, and finally the daily Manzama Lateral Movement Report which tracks the hiring and departures of partners and attorneys at law firms around the globe. The company has plans to add many more reports around a variety of topics to the Manzama Intelligence Center as the offering grows. "These initial report offerings delivered by Manzama Intelligence Services, as well as those to come, will give our clients the ability to be proactive in their approach to business development, both in their outreach to potential new clients and to potential new lateral hires," said Peter Ozolin, CEO of Manzama. "Organizations can no longer afford to lack an understanding of which organizations are gaining or losing key executives. Being armed with this knowledge gives these organizations an upper hand when it comes to an awareness of these changes, and a newfound ability for outreach to those involved that helps to position them to benefit from the opportunity that executive change can provide." Manzama recently published a blog series detailing the importance and benefits of monitoring movements of attorneys, general counsel, and executives. You can view the blog series here: http://manzama.com/bd-blog-series-with-peter-ozolin/ Manzama also sees the launch of Manzama Intelligence Services as a first step in a long line of new products and features that will allow professionals to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the marketing landscape for their firms and organizations to help inform strategic growth initiatives. "With Manzama's Lateral Movement Report, firms can now see on a weekly basis which firms are growing and receding in various practices and regions across the USA and globe," said Peter Ozolin. "Access to these data points can be critical for any firm considering an expansion of a practice or office opening in a given part of the world." About Manzama: Manzamais a next-generation content intelligence platform, specifically designed for legal professionals, that mines and analyzes vast amounts of business and legal-related news and information and delivers customized, consolidated, and highly relevant intelligence to each individual across the firm. Manzamagives its users a knowledge advantage by making the process of finding and sharing powerful insights easy. Visit www.Manzama.com to learn more about the Manzama platform and how it can be a valuable tool for your organization's business intelligence initiatives. Contact: Cynthia Leonard, Media Relations, Manzama, Inc. (T) 541-306-3271 Element Amsterdam Offers Travellers a Completely Reimagined Extended Stay Experience with an Open, Free Flowing Design alongside Eco-Centric Sensibilities Marks the Brand's Second Hotel in Europe with Demand on the Rise Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) today announced the launch of its eco-incubator Element brand in The Netherlands. The opening of Element Amsterdam marks the second Element hotel in Europe, following Element Frankfurt Airport Hotel which opened in 2014. Offering bright, modern design and eco-minded sensibilities, the hotel is located in the vibrant Zuidas area of Amsterdam, one of the city's main business districts. An adaptive re-use project, the hotelis located in a former office building at the Gelderlandplein shopping mall. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005622/en/ Studio Bedroom (Photo: Business Wire) "Together with Bari Gruppe, we introduced the Element brand into Europe in 2014 with Element Frankfurt Airport Hotel, shaking up the traditional extended stay experience for healthy active global travellers. We are thrilled to expand our collaboration with the debut of our second Element Hotel," Michael Wale, President, Starwood Hotels Resorts, Europe, Africa Middle East. "Element Amsterdam offers a fresh new option for travellers who want a bright, energizing environment, great design and everything they need for smart, sustainable living." Element Amsterdam features 160 spacious studios and suites, all featuring a fully-equipped kitchenette, flexible living space, the signature Westin Heavenly Bed and spa-inspired bathroom. The hotel's two restaurants My Place and Carrots &Co. focus on sustainable ingredients and provide a range of healthy options throughout the day. Open 24/7, the grab-and-go gourmet food pantry allows guests to buy everything needed to make delicious meals in the comfort of their rooms. Guests can also fuel their day with the healthy Rise breakfast and wind down with the Relax evening wine reception both complimentary. As the first major hotel brand to mandate that all properties pursue sustainable certifications, Element is recognized as an industry leader in the eco-space and offers travellers a reimagined interpretation of the traditional hotel experience with natural light, modern design, healthy options and eco-minded sensibilities. Providing an atmosphere that fuels life in balance and on the move, this reimagined experience is perfect for the traveller who is visiting for a few days or a few weeks. "We are delighted to open a second Element Hotel in Europe and to work with Starwood Hotels Resorts once again," Marco Bari, Managing Director CEO, Bari Gruppe GmbH Co. KG added. "One of the industry's most innovative brands, Element appeals to business and leisure travellers with its emphasis on clean, sustainable living and long-stay accommodation." Element Amsterdam also boasts a 24/7 fitness centre, two meeting rooms and a business centre. Guests can stay on the move and explore Amsterdam with Element's complimentary bikes, as well as catch up with loved ones or work using the complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the hotel. The hotel will also feature SPG Keyless the industry-first keyless entry system enabling guests to use their smartphone or Apple watch as a room key. "We are thrilled to introduce Element to the vibrant and forward-looking city of Amsterdam-an ideal fit for the brand," said Brian McGuinness, Global Brand Leader, Starwood's Specialty Select Brands. "On track to more than double its global portfolio in the next three years, Element fills a much-needed niche in the market and caters to travellers who seek a smart and sustainable experience when they are on the move." Starwood has four hotels in The Netherlands: the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel; Hotel Des Indes, The Hague, a Luxury Collection Hotel and the recently opened W Amsterdam. For more information on Element Amsterdam Hotel, please visit: www.elementamsterdamhotel.com. About Element Hotels Element Hotels offers long-stay comfort for those who are passionate about the planet and their own wellbeing. Stylish and sustainable throughout, Element's bright design defies convention, bathing guest rooms and public spaces in natural light. To date, there are 22 Element Hotels worldwide, with 19 in North America, two in Europe, one in Asia Pacific with new domestic and international hotels in development. To learn more, visit www.elementhotels.com/experience. Stay Connected to Element on facebook.com/ElementHotels and @ElementAmsterdam on Twitter and Instagram. About Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with nearly 1,300 properties in some 100 countries and over 180,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences under the renowned brands: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Westin, Le Meridien, Sheraton, Tribute Portfolio, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft, Element, along with an expanded partnership with Design Hotels. The Company also boasts one of the industry's leading loyalty programs, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG). Visit www.starwoodhotels.com for more information and stay connected @starwoodbuzz on Twitter and Instagram and facebook.com/Starwood. About Bari Gruppe Bari Gruppe GmbH Co. KG is a Munich based company specialized in development, leasing and operating mid and upscale branded hotels in Germany and other European countries. The company is established in 2011 by Marco Bari and has now 80 employees in Europe. To date there are four hotels that are property of the Bari Gruppe with five more hotels planning to open up until 2020. Visit www.barigruppe.de for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005622/en/ Contacts: Media Enquiries: For further information on Element Hotel Amsterdam please contact: Maison PR Lorena Trako, Phone: 020 723 9682 E-mail: lorena@maison-pr.nl or Element Amsterdam Ellen Bruens, Phone: 06 248 061 68 E-mail: ellen.bruens@starwoodhotels.com or Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide Ashley Chapman, Phone: +1 212 380 4015 E-mail: ashley.chapman@starwoodhotels.com MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- The Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Stella-Jones Inc. will be held at: Oval Room Ritz-Carlton Montreal 1228 Sherbrooke Street West Montreal, Quebec Thursday, April 28, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. Management will be available to speak with the media immediately following the meeting. WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE. Stella-Jones Inc. (TSX: SJ) is a leading producer and marketer of pressure treated wood products. The Company supplies North America's railroad operators with railway ties and timbers, and the continent's electrical utilities and telecommunication companies with utility poles. Stella-Jones also manufactures and distributes residential lumber and accessories to retailers for outdoor applications, as well as industrial products for construction and marine applications. The Company's common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Visit our website: www.stella-jones.com STELLA-JONES WILL HOLD A CONFERENCE CALL TO DISCUSS ITS FIRST QUARTER RESULTS OPEN TO: Analysts, investors and all interested parties DATE: Thursday, April 28, 2016 TIME: 1:30 PM Eastern Time CALL: 647-788-4922 (For all Toronto and overseas participants) 1-877-223-4471 (For all other North American participants) THE PRESS RELEASE WILL BE PUBLISHED BEFORE MARKET OPENS THE DAY OF THE CONFERENCE CALL THROUGH MARKETWIRED. Please dial in 15 minutes before the conference begins. If you are unable to call in at this time, you may access a tape recording of the meeting by calling 1-800-585-8367 and entering the passcode 86832448 on your phone. This tape recording will be available on Thursday, April 28, 2016 as of 4:30 PM until 11:59 PM on Thursday, May 5, 2016. MEDIA WISHING TO QUOTE AN ANALYST SHOULD CONTACT THE ANALYST PERSONALLY FOR PERMISSION. Stella-Jones' 2015 Annual Report is now available on the Company's website at: http://stella-jones.com/pdf/annual/STE_2015_Annual_Report.pdf Contacts: MaisonBrison Martin Goulet, CFA (514) 731-0000 TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- NewCastle Gold Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: NCA) (the "Company" or "NewCastle") and Catalyst Copper Corp. (TSX VENTURE: CCY) ("Catalyst") are pleased to announce that they have entered into the definitive agreement (the "Agreement") providing for the previously announced combination of their respective businesses to create a new company, anchored by the substantially permitted Castle Mountain Gold Project located in California, with the goal of creating a new mid-tier gold company. The combined company will provide shareholders with exposure to a significant, substantially permitted gold resource at NewCastle's Castle Mountain Gold Project, including 0.48 million measured ounces of gold at 0.86 g/t, 3.7 million indicated ounces at 0.57 g/t, and 0.76 million inferred ounces at 0.58 g/t(1), as well as a strengthened management team led by Richard Warke, as Executive Chairman. The post-merger board of NewCastle will consist of Richard Warke, David Adamson, Mark Wayne, David Reid, Jim Gowans, Frank Giustra and Colin Sutherland. The combined company will continue to be named "NewCastle Gold Ltd." The merger will be effected by way of a statutory plan of arrangement under which shareholders of Catalyst will receive one common share of NewCastle for each common share of Catalyst held (the "Arrangement"). On a post-merger basis, the outstanding shares of NewCastle will be held, as to approximately 60%, by the shareholders of NewCastle and, as to approximately 40%, by the former shareholders of Catalyst. The Arrangement will be subject to approval by at least two-thirds of the votes cast by the shareholders of Catalyst and at least two-thirds of the votes cast by the shareholders, warrantholders and optionholders of Catalyst (voting together) at a special meeting of the Catalyst securityholders. In addition, the Arrangement will be subject to approval by the Supreme Court of British Columbia and by the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSX-V"). Certain directors and officers of Catalyst have entered into agreements to vote all securities of Catalyst owned or controlled by them in favour of the Arrangement (representing in aggregate 66.48% of the outstanding Catalyst common shares and 73.05% of the outstanding Catalyst common shares, options and warrants). The Agreement includes customary provisions including, among other things, non-solicitation covenants, a fiduciary out of the Catalyst board and a right of NewCastle to match any superior proposal. In the event that Catalyst wishes to terminate the Agreement in order to support a superior proposal, Catalyst is obligated to pay to NewCastle an amount equal to C$1.5 million as a termination payment. It is a condition of the Arrangement that Catalyst will have not less than C$3,750,000 of net cash at closing (less any amounts invested by Catalyst in NewCastle pursuant to the private placement described below). Certain directors and officers of Catalyst have agreed to exercise certain of their warrants and stock options to provide Catalyst with cash prior to closing. In addition, Catalyst has agreed to complete a private placement of shares if Catalyst will not have sufficient net cash to satisfy the condition. Such private placement will be at a price of C$0.275 per Catalyst common share. Catalyst agreed to subscribe for up to C$600,000 of common shares of NewCastle by way of a private placement at an issue price of C$0.275 per common share. The first tranche of C$100,000 closed on March 28, 2016. The second and final tranche of $500,000 is expected to close later today. In connection with the Arrangement, Catalyst agreed to issue a C$400,000 convertible note to a third party investor, subject to approval of the TSX-V. The convertible note has a term of one year and is convertible into units at a price of C$0.275 per unit, with each unit comprised of one Catalyst common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant. A whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Catalyst common share at an exercise price of C$0.41 per common share with an expiry date that is two years after the date of issuance of the convertible note. The convertible note will automatically convert into Catalyst shares and warrants immediately prior to the closing of the Arrangement. In connection with the Arrangement, NewCastle engaged GMP Securities L.P. ("GMP") to provide a fairness opinion to the NewCastle board of directors. As consideration for its services under this engagement, GMP will be issued, subject to approval of the TSX-V, 357,143 common shares of NewCastle. The Catalyst securityholder meeting to approve the Arrangement is expected to be held on May 18, 2016 and the Arrangement is expected to close before the end of May 2016. Further details of the Arrangement will be provided in the information circular to be mailed to securityholders in connection with the meeting. About NewCastle NewCastle has 100% of the right, title and beneficial interest in and to the Castle Mountain Venture, a California general partnership, which owns the Castle Mountain property (the "Project") in San Bernardino County, California. The Castle Mountain heap leach gold mine produced over one million ounces of gold from 1992 to 2001, when mining was suspended due to low gold prices. The Mine and Reclamation Plan, under which the mine operated, was authorized by the County of San Bernardino as the Lead Agency and remains in effect. Water for the drill programs was accessed from existing patented wells on the Project. An updated NI 43-101 resource for the project was announced December 2, 2015 which includes Measured Mineral Resource of 17.4 million tonnes grading 0.86 g/t containing 0.48 million ounces, Indicated Mineral Resources of 202.5 million tonnes grading 0.57 g/t gold and containing 3.71 million gold ounces along with Inferred Mineral Resources of 40.8 million tonnes grading 0.58 g/t gold and containing 0.76 million gold ounces. The Project hosts a disseminated low sulphidation epithermal system. Gold is primarily hosted by late-stage rhyolite volcanic units within zones of silicification and brecciation associated with northeast-southwest trending/southeast dipping fault structures which are interpreted to have developed within a collapsed caldera environment. Eleven gold domains are represented by both steep and shallow-dipping orientations. Ian R. Cunningham-Dunlop, P. Eng., the Company's Vice President Exploration, is the designated Qualified Person for this news release within the meaning of NI 43-101. He has reviewed and verified that the technical information contained in this release is accurate and has approved of the written disclosure of the same. About Catalyst Catalyst is a copper and base metal company with a focus on copper mining projects in Mexico. Catalyst's 60%-owned La Verde Copper Project (remaining 40%-owned indirectly by Teck Resources Limited) is situated in the Sierra Madre del Sur, approximately 320 kilometres west of Mexico City in Michoacan State and has excellent infrastructure. The amended September 30, 2012 Preliminary Economic Assessment contemplates La Verde to be an open pit producing over 200 million pounds of copper per year over a 20 year mine life. The Mineral Resources2 at La Verde include 57.5 million tonnes grading 0.45% copper Measured, 350.4 million tonnes grading 0.40% copper Indicated and 337.8 million tonnes grading 0.37% copper Inferred. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements Certain information contained in this news release, including any information relating to the Agreement and completion of the transaction involving NewCastle and Catalyst and any other statements regarding NewCastle's and Catalyst's future expectations, beliefs, goals or prospects, constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements in this news release that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential" and similar expressions) should be considered forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements are subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond NewCastle's and Catalyst's ability to control or predict. A number of important factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated or implied by such forward-looking statements, including without limitation: the parties' ability to complete the transaction contemplated by the Agreement, including the receipt of shareholder approvals, court approval or the regulatory approvals required for the Arrangement may not be obtained on the terms expected or on the anticipated schedule; the parties' ability to meet expectations regarding the timing, completion and tax treatments of the Arrangement; the volatility of the international marketplace; and other risk factors as described in NewCastle's most recent annual information form and annual and quarterly financial reports and as described in Catalyst's publicly available information. Neither NewCastle nor Catalyst assumes any obligation to update the information in this communication, except as otherwise required by law. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in NewCastle's filings with the various provincial securities commissions which are available online at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations, beliefs and plans of the managements of NewCastle and Catalyst relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. Readers are also cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this communication. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States of America. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons (as defined in the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration is available. Cautionary Note Concerning Estimates of Inferred and Indicated Resources This news release uses the terms "Inferred Resources" and "Indicated Resources", which have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an Inferred and/or Indicated Mineral Resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of Inferred Resources may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. NewCastle advises U.S. investors that while this term is recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize it. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that part or all of an Inferred and Indicated resource exists, or is economically or legally minable. 1. The NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Castle Mountain Project, San Bernardino County, California, USA" (the "Report"), dated January 15, 2016, prepared by James N. Gray, P.Geo. of Advantage Geoservices Ltd., R. Bob Singh, P.Geo. of North Face Software Ltd., William J. Pennstrom, Jr., Registered Member/SME of Pennstrom Consulting Inc., Kevin Kunkel, P.Geo. and Ian R. Cunningham- Dunlop, P.Eng., in accordance with disclosure and reporting requirements set forth in the Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"), "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects". Mr. Gray, Mr. Singh and Mr. Pennstrom are independent Qualified Persons as defined by NI 43-101. Garth D. Kirkham, P.Geo. of Kirkham Geosystems Ltd. performed a third-party peer review of the Mineral Resource estimate and the Report prior to filing. This report is available at www.sedar.com. 2. On January 18, 2013 Catalyst announced delivery of a NI 43-101 Technical Report; including a Preliminary Economic Assessment Study ("PEA") completed by AMC Mining Consultants (Canada) Ltd. (effective date September 2012). This Technical Report was based in part on the Tetratech Technical Report. Both technical reports are available under Catalyst's profile at www.sedar.com Contacts: NewCastle Gold Ltd. Marty Tunney 416-572-0151 mtunney@newcastlegold.ca Catalyst Copper Corp. Paul Ireland 604-687-1717 info@catalystcopper.com Phase I first-line Tagrisso data show an objective response rate of 77%, and progression-free survival of 19.3 months in patients with EGFRm NSCLC1 Updated results in pre-treated patients with EGFR T790M mutation-positive NSCLC further support recent approvals in the US, EU and Japan AstraZeneca today reported new Phase I extended follow-up data on osimertinib in both first- and second-line treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), at the European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC) 2016. Late-breaker presentations reinforced the efficacy and safety profile for osimertinibpreviously seen in the AURA clinical trials programme. Phase I data from the AURA trial on osimertinib investigated as first-line treatment in 60 patients (pooled 80mg and 160mg dose cohorts) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation-positive advanced NSCLC showed an objective response rate (ORR, a measurement of tumour shrinkage) of 77% (95% confidence interval (CI): 64%-87%) and a progression-free survival (PFS) of 19.3 months, with 55% of patients remaining progression-free at 18 months (95% CI: 41%-67%).1 Median duration of response (DoR) was non-calculable (NC) (95% CI: 12.5 months to NC) at the time of data cut off, with 53% of patients continuing to respond at 18 months (95% CI: 36%-67%).1 Of the 60 first-line patients, five had tumours also harbouring the T790M mutation at diagnosis (known as de novo patients) and all five of these patients showed durable responses.1 The most common adverse events were rash (78% overall; 2% =Grade 3), diarrhoea (73% overall; 3% =Grade 3), dry skin (58% overall; 0 =Grade 3) and paronychia (50% overall; 3% =Grade 3). All of the Grade 3 or above events in these categories occurred at the 160mg dose.1 Klaus Edvardsen, Vice President, Clinical Oncology and Interim Head of Oncology, Global Medicines Development at AstraZeneca said: "In a Phase I study with osimertinibas first-line therapy in EGFR-mutation positive NSCLC, we are seeing consistently durable responses. In many cases, responses continue for at least 18 months including in a small group of patients with the T790M mutation detectable at diagnosis. The ongoing Phase III FLAURA trial will further characterise the potential of osimertinib80mg in the first-line EGFRm setting." Updated pooled results from AURA Phase II studies in 411 pre-treated patients with EGFR T790M mutation-positive NSCLC treated with osimertinib80mg showed a median PFS of 11 months (95% CI: 9.6-12.4 months), an ORR of 66% (95% CI: 61%-71%) and a median DoR of 12.5 months (95% CI:11.1 months to NC).2 Pooled treatment-related adverse events data from the AURA Phase II studies included rash (41% overall;<1% =Grade 3), diarrhoea (38% overall; <1% =Grade 3), dry skin (30% overall; 0% =Grade 3) and paronychia (29% overall; 0% =Grade 3). Interstitial lung disease was seen in 12 patients (3% overall; 2% =Grade 3), hyperglycaemia in 1 patient (<1% overall; 0 =Grade 3) and QT prolongation in 14 patients (3% overall; 1% =Grade 3).2 Osimertinibrecently received accelerated approval as the first indicated treatment for patients with EGFR T790M mutation-positive metastatic NSCLC in the US,3 EU4 and Japan.5 The ongoing confirmatory Phase III trial, AURA3, is assessing the efficacy and safety of osimertinib versus platinum-based doublet chemotherapy in patients with EGFR T790M mutation-positive, locally advanced, or metastatic NSCLC who have progressed following prior therapy with an EGFR-TKI.6 AstraZeneca is also continuing studies in the adjuvant and locally-advanced/metastatic first-line EGFRm settings,7,8, in patients with and without brain metastases,9 in leptomeningeal disease, and in combination with other compounds.10,11 - ENDS - NOTES TO EDITORS About Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women, accounting for about one-third of all cancer deaths, and more than breast, prostate and colorectal cancers combined.12 Patients who have the EGFRm form of NSCLC, which occurs in 10-15% of NSCLC patients in Europe13 and 30-40% of NSCLC patients in Asia,14 are particularly sensitive to treatment with currently available EGFR-TKIs, which block the cell signaling pathways that drive the growth of tumour cells.15 However, tumours almost always develop resistance to treatment, leading to disease progression.16 In approximately two-thirds of patients treated with approved EGFR-TKIs such as gefitinib and erlotinib, this resistance is caused by the secondary mutation, T790M.16 About osimertinib Osimertinib 80mg once-daily tablet is the first medicine indicated for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic EGFR T790M mutation-positive NSCLC.3,4,5 Non-clinical in vitro studies have demonstrated that osimertinibhas high potency and inhibitory activity against mutant EGFR phosphorylation across the range of clinically relevant EGFR and T790M mutant NSCLC cell lines with significantly less activity against EGFR in wild-type cell lines.17 Osimertinib is being compared with platinum-based doublet chemotherapy in the confirmatory AURA3 Phase III study in patients with EGFR T790M mutation-positive, locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC who have progressed after EGFR-TKI therapy.6 It is also being investigated in the adjuvant and metastatic first-line settings,7,8 including in patients with and without brain metastases,9 in leptomeningeal diseases, and in combination with other compounds.10,11 About AstraZeneca in Oncology AstraZeneca has a deep-rooted heritage in Oncology and offers a quickly growing portfolio of new medicines that has the potential to transform patients' lives and the Company's future. With at least 6 new medicines to be launched between 2014 and 2020, and a broad pipeline of small molecules and biologics in development, we are committed to advance New Oncology as one of AstraZeneca's six Growth Platforms focused on lung, ovarian, breast and blood cancers. In addition to our core capabilities, we actively pursue innovative partnerships and investments that accelerate the delivery of our strategy as illustrated by our investment in Acerta Pharma in haematology. By harnessing the power of four scientific platforms -- immuno-oncology, the genetic drivers of cancer and resistance, DNA damage repair and antibody drug conjugates -- and by championing the development of personalised combinations, AstraZeneca has the vision to redefine cancer treatment and one day eliminate cancer as a cause of death. About AstraZeneca AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical business that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines, primarily for the treatment of diseases in three main therapy areas respiratory, inflammation, autoimmune disease (RIA), cardiovascular and metabolic disease (CVMD) and oncology as well as infection and neuroscience diseases. AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries and its innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide. For more information please visit: www.astrazeneca.com. 1 Ramalingam SS, et al. Osimertinib (AZD9291) as first-line treatment for EGFR mutation-positive advanced NSCLC: updated efficacy and safety results from two Phase I expansion cohorts. Abstract LBA1_PR [Oral Presentation]. Presented at the European Lung Cancer Conference, 13-16 April 2016, Geneva, Switzerland. 2 Yang JCH, et al. Osimertinib (AZD9291) in pre-treated patients with T790M-positive advanced NSCLC: updated Phase I and pooled Phase II results. Abstract LBA2_PR [Oral Presentation]. Presented at the European Lung Cancer Conference, 13-16 April 2016, Geneva, Switzerland. 3 AstraZeneca PLC. TAGRISSO (AZD9291) approved by the US FDA for patients with EGFR T790M mutation-positive metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Issued on November 13th 2015. Available at: https://www.astrazeneca.com/our-company/media-centre/press-releases/2015/TAGRISSO-AZD9291-approved-by-the-US-FDA-for-patients-with-EGFR-T790M-mutation-positive-metastatic-non-small-cell-lung-cancer-13112015.html. Accessed April 2016. 4 AstraZeneca PLC. TAGRISSO (osimertinib) approved in EU as first-in-class treatment for patients with EGFR T790M mutation-positive metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Issued on February 3rd 2016. Available at: https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2016/tagrisso-osimertinib-approved-in-eu-as-first-in-class-treatment-for-lung-cancer-03022016.html. Accessed April 2016. 5 AstraZeneca PLC. Tagrisso (osimertinib) approved in Japan for patients with EGFR T790M mutation-positive metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Issued on March 29th 2016. Available at: https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2016/tagrisso-approved-in-japan-for-patients-with-egfr-t790m-mutation-positive-metastatic-non-small-cell-lung-cancer-29032016.html. Accessed April 2016. 6 National Institutes of Health. AZD9291 Versus Platinum-Based Doublet-Chemotherapy in Locally Advanced or Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (AURA3). Available at: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02151981?term=AURA3&rank=1. Accessed April 2016. 7 National Institutes of Health. AZD9291 Versus Placebo in Patients With Stage IB-IIIA Non-small Cell Lung Carcinoma, Following Complete Tumour Resection With or Without Adjuvant Chemotherapy (ADAURA). Available at: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02511106?term=AZD9291+Versus+Placebo+in+Patients&rank=1. Accessed April 2016. 8 National Institutes of Health. AZD9291 Versus Gefitinib or Erlotinib in Patients With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (FLAURA). Available at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02296125?term=FLAURA&rank=1. Accessed April 2016. 9 National Institutes of Health. Oral Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors, AZD3759 or AZD9291, in Patients Who Have Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (BLOOM). Available at: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02228369?term=AZD9291+brain+met&rank=1. Accessed April 2016. 10 National Institutes of Health. Study of AZD9291 Plus MEDI4736 Versus AZD9291 Monotherapy in NSCLC After Previous EGFR TKI Therapy in T790M Mutation Positive Tumours (CAURAL). Available at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02454933?term=CAURAL&rank=1. Accessed April 2016. 11 National Institutes of Health. AZD9291 in Combination With Ascending Doses of Novel Therapeutics. Available at: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02143466?term=azd9291&rank=1 Accessed April 2016. 12 GLOBOCAN (2012). Estimated cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence worldwide in 2012. Available at: http://globocan.iarc.fr/Pages/fact_sheets_cancer.aspx. Accessed April 2016. 13 Szumera-Cieckiewicz A, et al. EGFR mutation testing on cytological and histological samples in non-small cell lung cancer: a Polish, single institution study and systematic review of European incidence. Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2013;6:2800-12. 14 Ellison G, et al. EGFR mutation testing in lung cancer: a review of available methods and their use for analysis of tumour tissue and cytology samples. J Clin Pathol. 2013;66:79-89. 15 Langer CJ, et al. Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Inhibition in Mutation-Positive Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: Is Afatinib Better or Simply Newer? Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2013;31(27);3303-3305 16 Yu HA, et al. Analysis of Tumour Specimens at the Time of Acquired Resistance to EGFR-TKI Therapy in 155 Patients with EGFR-Mutant Lung Cancer. Clin Cancer Research:2013:19(8):2240-2246 17 Cross DAE, et al. AZD9291, an Irreversible EGFR TKI, Overcomes T790M-Mediated Resistance to EGFR Inhibitors in Lung Cancer. Cancer Discov. 2014;4:1046-61. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005762/en/ Contacts: AstraZeneca Hugues Joublin +1 301 398 3041 +1 862 812-7980 or Anthonia Aboyeji +44 78 8473 1627 Copenhagen, 14 April 2016 - Zealand announces that Hanne Heidenheim Bak, Senior Project Director and Rasmus Just, Director of External Sourcing and Research Partnerships have been elected as new employee elected members of Zealand's Board of Directors. Hanne Heidenheim Bak holds a M.Sc. Pharm. and has been employed at Zealand since 2006. Rasmus Just holds a PhD and MBA, and has been employed at Zealand since 2003. Both employee elected members are appointed for a four-year period with effect from Zealand's Annual General Meeting 2016 to be held on 19 April 2016. The two new members will replace Helle Strum and Christian Thorkildsen who both have completed their terms and will resign from the Board with effect also from the Annual General Meeting. There are in total three employee elected members on Zealand's Board of Directors. Besides the two newly elected members, also Jens Peter Stenvang, Senior Application Specialist is member of the Board. He has also been appointed for a four-year period, however shifted with two years so it runs until Zealand's Annual General Meeting in 2018. As first and second substitute employee representatives, the following have been elected: Christian Thorkildsen, Project Director and Helle Strum, Director of Business Development. Attachment: https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=556353 Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Texas teenager Ethan Couch, who avoided jail over a fatal drink-driving crash by claiming he suffered from 'affluenza,' was sentenced to nearly two years in jail on Wednesday, two days after he turned 19. The case dates back to June 15, 2013, in Burleson, Texas. Couch was speeding while on a drive after a drinks-party, when he lost control of his vehicle, and plowed into a gathering of pedestrians, killing four. Couch was sentenced to 10 years of probation for recklessly driving drunk. He was 16 years old at the time of committing the crime, and avoided a harsher punishment because he was sentenced in juvenile court. In December 2013, Judge Jean Hudson Boyd sentenced Couch to therapy at a long-term, in-patient facility, after his attorneys successfully argued that the teen suffered from 'affluenza' and needed rehabilitation instead of prison. His sentence set off what the New York Times called 'an emotional, angry debate that has stretched far beyond the North Texas suburbs'. A portmanteau of affluence and influenza, the term 'affluenza' has been used to refer to an inability to understand the consequences of one's actions because of financial privilege. Ethan Couch is said to have drove himself to school at the age of 13, and when the head of the school questioned it, Fred Couch threatened to buy the school. Couch became the subject of a manhunt and was listed in the National Fugitive Database after he failed to report to his probation officer. Couch and his mother Tonya were taken into custody from a Pacific beach resort in Mexico in December. On Wednesday, District Court judge, Wayne F. Salvant, ruled that Couch must spend 720 days in Tarrant County Jail for intoxication manslaughter. The judge said the court would reconvene in two weeks to consider modifying the terms after each side submitted additional written arguments. Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, reportedly showed no emotion as the sentence was read. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de TYLER, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Wisdom Homes of America, Inc. (the "Company") (OTC PINK: WOFA) concentrates on licensing products and technology benefiting the cannabis patient and consumer. See Corporate Update below. In California's race to legitimize recreational marijuana, at least 10 legalization initiatives are vying to appear on the state's November 2016 ballot. California is arguably the cultural and economic nucleus of the country's cannabis industry. Its numerous marijuana farms are estimated to produce 60 to 70 percent of all marijuana consumed in the country. What's more, legalization there would launch a cannabis market in what is the world's eighth largest economy according to IBTimes.com. Separately but related, Gov. Jerry Brown has imposed statewide rules on the growth, transport and sale of cannabis. Signing three bills in October 2015, the governor created a regulatory system for medical cannabis that could be adapted for widespread use if voters make it legal by passing a 2016 ballot initiative. WOFA believes the potential legalization and the statewide rules increase the overall value of the non-exclusive licensing rights that the Company has to CannaStrips. In the past five months the Company refocused all of its efforts back into the medicinal cannabis industry. After significant due diligence it identified a specific market segment, oral strips (similar to breath strips), providing an exacting and controlled dosage of cannabis, without the health risks associated with smoking or potential chemical inhalation associated with some smokeless inhalers. It has executed a licensing agreement with Canna Delivery Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Lifestyle Delivery Systems, Inc. in which the Company has the non-exclusive license to market CannaStrips throughout northern California. And it has secured manufacturing and distribution relationships, as well as received orders. Corporate Update As a result of discontinuing operations in the housing market and re-focusing on the cannabis industry, as well as the large number of equity transactions in 2015 during the transition, the Company has experienced a significant increase in the number of accounting transactions which has caused a delay in filing our 10-K within the extended timeline. The Company is aggressively working to complete the filing and will provide an update within ten days if the filing has not been completed. Subsequent to the filing the Company plans to perform a variety of corporate changes including file for its name change and the re-location of corporate offices. Wisdom Homes of America, Inc., located in Tyler, Texas, has discontinued its manufactured housing retail centers. The Company concentrates on licensing products and technology that benefit the cannabis patient and consumer. The Company's common stock trades on the OTC Pink market under the ticker symbol "WOFA". Safe Harbor Notice Certain statements contained herein are "forward-looking statements". Wisdom Homes of America, Inc. cautions that statements made in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and makes no guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management at the time statements are made. These statements may address issues that involve significant risks, uncertainties, estimates and assumptions made by management. Actual results could differ materially from current projections or implied results. Wisdom Homes of America, Inc. undertakes no obligation to revise these statements following the date of this news release. Wisdom Homes of America, Inc. (800) 727-1024 VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Canada Carbon Inc. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: CCB)(FRANKFURT: U7N1) is pleased to announce that it has filed on SEDAR the National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") technical report for the Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA"), disclosed in the Company's news release dated March 4th, 2016, for its flagship 100% owned Miller hydrothermal disseminated and lump vein graphite and architectural marble Project located 80 kilometres ("km") west of Montreal, near Grenville, Quebec. The PEA technical report was prepared in accordance with the Canadian Securities Administrators' NI 43-101 regulations by the independent engineering firm Tetra Tech of Vancouver, British Columbia, in conjunction with SGS Canada Inc. ("SGS") of Blainville, Quebec. SGS is co-author of the technical report, and is responsible for the Miller graphite and marble Project's mineral resource estimates contained therein. Canada Carbon Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mr. R. Bruce Duncan stated, "We are pleased to be filing our PEA which will provide the investment community with a thorough review of the Miller project and its robust economics." The report is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR and on the Company's website via the following link: http://www.canadacarbon.com/docs/Miller-PEA.pdf Dr. John Huang, P.Eng., of Tetra Tech, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") guidelines, and has reviewed and approved the technical related content of this news release. About Canada Carbon Inc. The 100%-owned Miller hydrothermal disseminated and lump-vein graphite and architectural marble Project is located approximately 7 km from the centre of the town of Grenville, Quebec. The Miller Project, which is the subject of the PEA and resource estimate, occupies less than 1/4 km2 surrounding the historic Miller Pit, within approximately 100 km2 of the mineral claims package held by the Company. In addition to the Miller Pit, numerous other historic graphite mines, exploration pits, and showings lie within the Company's mineral claim package and will become the subject of prospective exploration activities. Geophysical anomalies similar to the Miller Pit signature also add a significant number of exploration targets in additional to the historical showings. The Miller Project has exceptional infrastructure already in place, situated within 2 km of major highways, rail, power and water. Paved roads come within 800 metres of the Miller Project development area, and abut or cross the claim boundaries in many places. Existing forestry roads crisscross the property, permitting vehicle access with very low impact on the environment. All mineral claims lie on private land. A pilot plant scale flotation concentration program was conducted by SGS Canada (Lakefield), based on a blended 127 tonne sample obtained from all known graphite exposures at the Miller Project. The pilot plant concentrate graded 95% Cg or higher, and a run of mill concentrate sample was upgraded to 99.9998% Cg by commercially available thermal upgrading techniques. The Company thereafter received a pricing letter for the 99.9998% purity graphite, assigning a market value of US$12,000-14,000/tonne for the high purity material. Upon request by ASTM International, a US based international standards organization, the Company submitted samples of the thermally upgraded Miller graphite (99.9998% purity), for the development of a new nuclear standard test method for natural graphite. Four international laboratories, with membership in Subcommittee D02.F0 on Manufactured Carbon and Graphite Products of ASTM International, have completed the round-robin testing of the Miller graphite. The Company currently awaits the final ASTM report, certifying both the material and the new test method. On November 16th, 2015 the Company signed a comprehensive agreement to sell 75,000 tonnes of architectural-quality marble material from the Miller property. This agreement was signed subsequent to an independent market assessment of architectural blocks of the Miller marble, which is the host rock of the Miller hydrothermal disseminated and lump-vein graphite. The agreed base valuation for marble blocks or slabs is $14 per cubic foot, which is approximately $184 per tonne. On behalf of the Board of Directors CANADA CARBON INC. R. Bruce Duncan, CEO and Director "Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release." FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com). Contacts: Canada Carbon Inc. (604) 685-6375 (604) 909-1163 (FAX) info@canadacarbon.com www.canadacarbon.com 28 EU Transport Ministers Experience Self-Driving Cars on Public Roads TomTom today announced its participation in a historic self-driving car event, which culminated in 28 EU Transport Ministers being driven in autonomous vehicles in real traffic conditions in Amsterdam. The cars were provided by a range of car manufacturers. The EU Transport Ministers were gathered in the Dutch capital, under the Dutch EU presidency, to work toward eliminating regulatory and technical barriers around autonomous driving. Speaking before the event, Willem Strijbosch, Head of Autonomous Driving at TomTom, said: "We are very excited to be part of such a historic occasion, the coming together of 28 EU Transport Ministers, experiencing first-hand the future of self-driving cars. It's great that TomTom is playing such an important role with its highly-detailed maps and precise localisation." TomTom's BANDIT action cameras have been following the story of the day, with TomTom sharing the resulting footage on its social channels. - Ends - About TomTom At TomTom (TOM2) our mission is to make technology so easy to use, that everyone can benefit from it. We created easy to use navigation devices, helping millions of people to get where they want to be. Today, we continue to simplify the complex, making technology more accessible for everyone. We have four customer facing business units: Consumer, Telematics, Automotive and Licensing. We make easy to use navigation devices, sport watches and action cameras for consumers. We enable businesses with vehicles to more easily manage and improve fleet efficiency whilst increasing overall business performance with our Telematics solutions. We also offer a world leading real-time map platform that is powering innovative location based services and helping to make automated driving a reality for the automotive industry. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Amsterdam, we have over 4,600 employees and sell our products worldwide. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005825/en/ Contacts: TomTom Global Press Office: Greg Morrison Global PR Manager greg.morrison@tomtom.com or Investor Relations: Bisera Grubesic Head of Treasury and Investor Relations +31 (0)20 757 5194 ir@tomtom.com Experts from Everest Group and London School of Economics to deliver online presentation on market and potential of automation in the enterprise Blue Prism, the developer of scalable, enterprise-strength software robots and pioneer of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software, will host a free webinar for senior IT, operations and shared services executives seeking to learn how to gain productivity through RPA. What: Sarah Burnett, global lead for automation research at analyst firm Everest Group, will share her analysis of the automation market, the technology adoption trends and the outlook for the future. London School of Economics Professor Leslie Willcocks and Professor Mary Lacity from the University of Missouri will also present their research on early adopters of RPA-many of whom are Blue Prism customers-collected in their new book, Service Automation: Robots and the Future of Work. When: Wednesday, April 20, 2016, from 11:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m. EDT To Register: Visit Blue Prism's registration site. During this webinar, Sarah Burnett will explain and define the automation market, providing clarity around its boundaries and a view into where it will evolve in the future. Professors Willcocks and Lacity will then provide a view into what RPA looks like in the enterprise based on their in-depth research on how 14 early adopters have used automation to increase productivity and streamline their back-office processes. "As workplace technology advances, robotic process automation is becoming a prominent part of the conversation," said Pat Geary, Blue Prism CMO. "As a company committed to helping organizations increase efficiency and reduce their spend, we think it's important to help industry professionals explore all of the options available to them." About Blue Prism Blue Prism is the developer of scalable, enterprise-strength software robots which can be combined in to a Virtual Workforce of Digital Labor, the first administrative alternative to human workers. With offices in Manchester, London, Miami and Chicago, Blue Prism has pioneered robotic process automation software which is transforming businesses through mass automation. The company's technology is used to automate back office tasks in sectors ranging from banking, telecoms, energy, BPO, government, financial services, retail and healthcare sectors. For more information, visit www.blueprism.com/, or follow Blue Prism on Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005859/en/ Contacts: Media: Version 2.0 Communications for Blue Prism Melissa Mahoney, 617-426-2222 blueprism@v2comms.com MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Graduate students and post-doctoral fellows looking to combine technical research training with professional workplace-oriented skills received a boost today, with new funding announced by Greg Fergus, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, on behalf of the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science. The funding comes from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through its Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) initiative. CREATE projects, including the 13 new ones, support training environments that allow young researchers to make the transition from trainees to productive employees. Courses emphasize professional skills development to complement collaborative and integrative research environments and internships with potential employers. The announcement was made at McGill University where a CREATE team lead by Dr. Jake Barralet will receive $1.65 million to lead a team of researchers and provide nearly 90 graduates with cross-disciplinary training to prepare them for high skill jobs in the surgical devices industry. The McGill-led team will emphasize innovation-oriented teamwork, pioneering for the first time in Canada a training model originally developed in the Biodesign program at Stanford University. By providing Canadian industry with highly skilled innovation-oriented graduates, this program can help position our country as a global leader in healthcare technology. Quotes "This investment will give some of this country's best and brightest natural sciences and engineering graduate students and postdoctoral fellows a strong foundation of life skills, with an emphasis on team-building, communications, and successful scientific collaborations." -- The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science "CREATE delivers on NSERC's strategic vision by fostering a collaborative environment where discovery and innovation reinforce each other. The result is a new generation of Canadian research leaders that will have impact across the innovation spectrum." -- Dr. B. Mario Pinto, NSERC President "This award provides a unique opportunity for teams of surgeons, scientists, engineers, and business students to work together to improve patient care by applying the process of needs-based clinical innovation. The McGill University Health Centre provides a fertile environment to expose this multi-disciplinary team to a variety of clinical problems, challenging them to create innovative solutions." -- Dr. Jake Barralet, scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre and Vice Chair (Research),Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University "Today's announcement is wonderful news for the 13 recipient research teams across the country, and also for the future of academic and industry educational partnerships in Canada. Dr. Jake Barralet's newly funded project at McGill, Innovation at the Cutting Edge, will be a model program of industry partnership in the area of surgical devices. The project's participants will benefit from unparalleled preparation for career opportunities in healthcare technology." -- Dr. Rosie Goldstein, Vice-Principal of Research and International Relations, McGill University Quick Facts This year's CREATE teams cover a wide variety of research areas, including hybrid electric cars, aerospace and planetary science, optics, geoscience and mining, computer gaming, medical technology, zoo/aquarium biodiversity conservation, and marine ecosystem preservation. This diversity reflects CREATE's four priority areas: -- Environmental science and technologies; -- Manufacturing; -- Information and communications technologies; and -- Natural resources and energy. Associated Links The complete list of the 2016 CREATE grant recipients. Information on CREATE. Where NSERC Invests and Why A Vision of NSERC in 2020 About NSERC NSERC invests over $1 billion each year in natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. Our investments deliver discoveries - valuable world-firsts in knowledge claimed by a brain trust of over 11,000 professors. Our investments enable partnerships and collaborations that connect industry with discoveries and the people behind them. Researcher-industry partnerships established by NSERC help inform R&D, solve scale-up challenges, and reduce the risks of developing high-potential technology. NSERC also provides scholarships and hands-on training experience for more than 30,000 post-secondary students and post-doctoral fellows. These young researchers will be the next generation of science and engineering leaders in Canada. Contacts: Veronique Perron Press Secretary, Minister of Science Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada 343-291-2858 veronique.perron@canada.ca Martin Leroux Media and Public Affairs Officer Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada 613-943-7618 media@nserc-crsng.gc.ca Rethink Robotics' Sawyer Robot to Be Distributed by World-Class Automation Providers in France, the U.K. and Israel BOSTON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Rethink Robotics today announced four major distribution partnerships with leading automation providers around the globe. Humarobotics in France, Active8 Robots Ltd. and Cobotix, Ltd. in the U.K., and iCobots in Israel will help manufacturers gain flexibility and improve production processes by deploying Rethink's smart, collaborative Sawyer robot. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160414/355340 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140423/77847 Led by its new high-performance Sawyer robot, Rethink Robotics is driving a new norm in manufacturing around the world, with its family of smart, collaborative robots that adapt to real-world variability, change applications quickly and perform tasks like people do. Having pioneered the category of collaborative robots from its headquarters in Boston in 2012, the company is now focused on driving innovation and growth in EMEA and beyond. These new partnerships further expand Rethink's global network of distributors after the company signed recent agreements with leading automation providers in Germany, China, Japan and Mexico. Based in Bordeaux, Humarobotics, together with its parent company, Generation Robots, has been providing leading technologies to industrial clients throughout France since 2008.Bringing together a powerful mix of robotics expertise and the highest levels of customer service, Humarobotics is helping manufacturers add efficiency and flexibility into their operations. A full service provider in the U.K., Active8 Robots leverages more than a century of experience in industrial robot design, integration and, more recently, collaborative robots to deliver superior products and services to their customers. Also based in the U.K., Cobotix, Ltd. has more than 35 years in the machine tooling market, and has assembled a dedicated team offield personnel strategically stationed throughout the British Isles. iCobots was founded on the principle of importing the latest technology to boost the global competitiveness of Israeli manufacturers.With a strong technical acumen and ties to major multinational clients in the electronics, metal fabrication, plastics, consumer goods industries and more, iCobots is poised to meet the growing demand for collaborative robot solutions in Israel. "For countries around the globe, the race to smart manufacturing is on, and our smart, collaborative robots are playing a major role in that race," said Scott Eckert, president and CEO of Rethink Robotics. "The demand we have seen for Sawyer around the world clearly demonstrates the value manufacturers place on a robot that can help them be more efficient and responsive to customer demand. These four new distribution partners will help manufacturers in France, the U.K. and Israel rise above the competition in the global manufacturing landscape." For more information please visit www.rethinkrobotics.com. About Rethink Robotics Rethink Robotics is transforming the way manufacturing gets done, with smart, collaborative robots able to automate the 90 percent of tasks that until now, have been beyond the reach of traditional automation. Its Baxter and Sawyer robots, powered by the Intera software platform, adapt to real-world variability, can change applications quickly and perform tasks like people do. The result: manufacturers of all shapes, sizes and industries get the fast-to-deploy, easy-to-use and versatile automation solution they need to increase flexibility, lower cost and accelerate innovation. Based in Boston, the Rethink product suite is available in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America. The company is funded by Bezos Expeditions, CRV, Highland Capital Partners, Sigma Partners, DFJ, Two Sigma Ventures, GE Ventures and Goldman Sachs. For more information about Rethink Robotics, please visit www.rethinkrobotics.com and follow us on Twitter @RethinkRobotics. CONTACT: Gil Haylon 1-617-969-9192 ghaylon@corporateink.com Adform's modular approach removes the inefficiencies of waterfalling, entirely eliminates price tiers and eases setup for publishers Adform, the independent and open ad tech platform, has announced the launch of Adform Header Bidding, which is designed to give publishers greater control over demand and afford advertisers better access to a publisher's entire inventory. Adform Header Bidding features a number of industry firsts designed to give publishers more control over revenue optimization and to improve industry transparency. Built on an open and unbiased framework, it scraps price tiers entirely in favor of a real price system while putting all SSP, Exchange and Open RTB demand on an equal footing and leaving issues of preference or priority in the hands of the publisher. As new technology continues to flood the ad tech scene and with the growth in uptake of channels such as mobile and video, the traditional ad server 'waterfall' as we know it is breaking down. The playing field that was once designed to deliver impressions in line with perceived value is now leveling out, leaving publishers in search of new, better ways to drive increased yield and optimize revenue. When used with its Programmatic Publisher Ad Server, Adform replaces the need for convoluted pricing tiers with a powerful real price based system. This delivers key efficiencies for publishers, saving them time while also ensuring that the fastest and best demand partner wins, with no exceptions, special rules, or obstacles to get in the way. Adform Header Bidding is also the first solution on the market to make Perfect Priority available to publishers. Perfect Priority puts the best Open RTB price drawn from Header Bidding in direct competition with the best Guaranteed price, taking into account delivery requirements and deadlines to ensure publishers get the absolute best price for their inventory. This solution is built upon a completely unbiased open platform, which integrates with all leading ad servers and supply side platforms. Built around a modular approach, it can be used with as much or as little of the Adform tech stack as a publisher desires. Header Bidding also offers one simplified container tag for setup and installation, making initial setup and ongoing updates fast, easy and painless for publishers. Once installed, future updates occur within the Adform platform, meaning no additional changes are required to the publisher's code. "Both publishers and advertisers have long been hoping for an unbiased and transparent solution to the challenges presented by the waterfall process, which is inefficient, costing impressions and resulting in missed demand," commented Julian Baring, General Manager North America of Adform. "With the launch of Header Bidding, we are providing publishers with a simple, easy-to-implement solution that gives them complete access to the sum of the market's demand for their inventory. They are able to gain exciting new controls and strip away limitations that have previously forced them to silo demand sources." "With Adform's Header Bidding solution installed we've seen immediate results," said Ricco Zuschlag, Director, Boliga. "We're excited by the new demand we're seeing and how it is translating into immediate revenue. Setup was straightforward and Adform's attentive technical staff made the process quick and efficient. What's more, having one simplified container tag is a fantastic feature and we're very happy with Adform's open and unbiased approach when integrating with external partners." About Adform Adform is the independent and open full stack ad-tech platform that encompasses creativity, data and trading, servicing media agencies, trading desks, brands and publishers globally. All of our solutions are modular, and easily interoperate with all major technologies used throughout the digital advertising ecosystem. Adform was founded in Denmark in 2002 and is among the world's largest private and independent advertising technology companies. We have over 700 employees globally, with offices in 17 countries throughout Europe, North America and APAC. Visit http://www.adform.com or http://join.adform.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005306/en/ Contacts: Media Dana Casalino, 646.760.2038 dana@kitehillpr.com LONDON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- All the places are now filled for the 18th Engineers of Tomorrow competition IFSEC International, organised by UBM EMEA, have today announced that all places on the prestigious Engineers of Tomorrow annual competition are now filled. 64 of the fire and security industry's brightest young engineers will head to IFSEC International over the 21-23 June 2016 to put their skills against each other in a live installation challenge at Europe's largest security exhibition. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130723/629764-a ) (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150714/236178LOGO ) Engineers of Tomorrow is part of Apprenticeships for Fire & Security, an initiative that places apprentices into careers in the security industry and supports their development. Supported by IFSEC, CSL DualCom, NSI, SSAIB and Skills for Security,the schemehas already helped launch the careers of more than 3,000 young apprentices. At the heart of the installation apprentice and young engineer industry, the competitionwill provide participants witha global stage to competeagainst their peers and represent their company. Companies involved included: Fidelity Integrated Systems, Abel Alarm Co, Highgrade fire&security, Chubb F&S, CBRE, Tyco, Red Alert, VocalVale, H+J Martin, Ambush Security, Wessex Alarms, Captstan Security, Secure One, CIA, SES Yeovil, William Hale, Custom Alarms and the defending champions Tel Cam Security Systems and Kings Security. The apprentice engineers will participate in the 90-minute live challenge that takes place on the lively exhibition floor at IFSEC International. They will then be assessed by a leading panel of judges from the security inspectorates, NSI and SSAIB, and points are allocated based on performance in the various disciplines. Heat winners and their employers will be invited to the prestigious Security & Fire Excellence Awards, taking place on Wednesday 23 November2016 where the final winner will be announced and awarded a 1000 cash prize. Commenting on the competition, Simon Banks, Group Managing Director at CSL DualCom Group - "The huge take-up for IFSEC's Engineers of Tomorrow competition is in line with the Industry's demand for better skills. The Fire and Security sector is committed to apprenticeships providing results for their businesses quickly, whilst creating a lasting professional workforce for the future. The competition allows employers and apprentices to showcase theirskill sets on a world stage." IFSEC International will host over 600 global leading suppliers under one roof across the three days at London's ExCeL this summer, with the likes of Tyco, Milestone, UTC, Texecom, Salto, Paxton, Hikvision, Dahua, Assa Abloy, AXIS, Canon, CAME and Marshalls to name a few already confirmed. The year the show will also welcome more than 65 new exhibitors. IFSEC & FIREX International will once again be presented as part of UBM EMEA's Protection & Management Series, the UK's largest event dedicated to protecting and managing property, people and information. The series incorporates major events including IFSEC International along with FIREX International, Facilities Show, Safety & Health Expo and Service Management Expo. The series of events annually attracts more than 40,000 attendees over three days to ExCeL London and is the centre of excellence across security, fire, safety and facilities. Find out more information about IFSEC and register to get your badge to see the Engineers of Tomorrow Competition in action here: http://www.ifsec.co.uk/Watch_EoT/. As entry is now closed we are not accepting new entries for this year's competition, but if you want to register your interest for 2017, complete this short form. The competition is the perfect opportunity to raise your company's profile and prove your skills on a global stage by competing at IFSEC 2017. Notes to editor: About UBM EMEA: UBM EMEAconnects people and creates opportunities for companies across five continents to develop new business, meet customers, launch new products, promote their brands and expand their markets. Through premier brands such as Routes, CPhI, IFSEC, Ecobuild, Seatrade, and many others, UBM EMEA exhibitions, conferences, awards programs, publications, websites and training and certification programs are an integral part of the marketing plans of companies across seven industry sectors. About Protection & Management Series: UBM Live's Protection & Management Series unites business professionals across the fields of security, fire, safety, facilities and service management at IFSEC International, Safety & Health Expo, Facilities Show, FIREX International and Service Management Expo. In 2016 the events will take place at the ExCeL London from 21-23 June. 14 April 2016 Karoo Energy plc ("Karoo Energy" or the "Company") Appointment of Non-Executive Chairman Karoo Energy is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Allen Zimbler as a Non-Executive Chairman of the Company with immediate effect. Dr Zimbler retired from Investec Bank plc at the end of March 2016, having held the positions of Chief Integration Officer of the group, member of the group executive, and executive director of Investec Bank plc. Alan first started at Investec Bank plc in September 2001. Prior to 2001, Dr Zimbler ran his own strategic management and organisation development consultancy over a twenty-year period. During this time he consulted to numerous organisations internationally, including Investec Bank plc, in the fields of culture, strategy formulation and implementation and organisation development. He specialised in the retail, financial services and information technology sectors. Dr Zimbler studied at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where he obtained the degrees of B.A. Honours (Psychology), M.B.A., and a PhD in Organisational Psychology, focused on the themes of leadership and authority. He spent 15 years as an academic staff member at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where he was, for the last four years, a full Professor and Head of Department at the Graduate School of Business Administration. Dr Zimbler has also served as a non-executive director of public companies in South Africa and the United Kingdom. Current Directorships and Partnerships South Kendal Limited 15 Hyde Park Square Limited 14 Hyde Park Square Freehold Limited 14 Hyde Park Square Management Company Limited Past Directorships and Partnerships over the last five years The Northview Group Investec Bank plc There is no further information that is required to be disclosed pursuant to Paragraph 21, Appendix 1 of the ISDX Growth Market - Rules for Issuers. Noel Lyons, Chief Executive Officer of the company, commented: "We are delighted to have Dr Zimbler join the board of Karoo Energy as a Non-Executive Chairman. Dr Zimbler brings a wealth of experience from his success at Investec Bank and we believe he will make an invaluable contribution to the continued success of Karoo Energy. We look forward to having Dr Zimbler work alongside the other board members of the Company." The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the content of this announcement. ENQUIRIES: Company Karoo Energy plc Noel Lyons Telephone: 020 3130 0674 Corporate Adviser Peterhouse Corporate Finance Limited Guy Miller / Mark Anwyl Telephone: 020 7220 9795 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 14, 2016) - Evrim Resources Corp. (TSXV: EVM) ("Evrim" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results from an exploration program on its 100% owned Cerro Cascaron project in Chihuahua, Mexico. Cerro Cascaron is an early stage target covering 69 square kilometres of ground prospective for epithermal gold-silver deposits. The property is favorably situated in the dissected volcanic terrains of the Sierra Madre Occidental in Chihuahua, approximately 55 kilometres southeast of Goldcorp Inc.'s past-producing El Sauzal gold mine. Cerro Cascaron represents one of the few untested targets in the trend. Exploration Program Highlights Gold-silver mineralization outlined over a 10 square kilometre area to date on the eastern third of the property Fourteen structurally-controlled epithermal gold-silver systems identified with strike lengths ranging from 70 to 800 metres with a cumulative strike length of over 3000 metres delineated to date. Most structures remain open along strike. Significant gold or silver epithermal vein mineralization sampled in eleven zones, including: 9.24 g/t gold and 134 grams per tonne (g/t) silver over 2.0 metres 6.18 g/t gold over 1.5 metres 1.19 g/t gold over 5.0 metres 1.80 g/t gold and 516 g/t silver over 0.8 metres 0.499 g/t gold and 231 g/t silver over 3.8 metres The exploration program comprised property-scale and detailed geologic mapping and rock chip sampling at selected targets identified from Evrim's previous reconnaissance-scale programs. Geologic mapping has better defined the controls on mineralization that occurs in Cretaceous andesite volcanic rocks and extends upwards into younger Tertiary rhyolite and andesite volcanic rocks. The mineralized structures comprise quartz veins, vein-breccias, quartz veinlet and stockwork zones with finely crystalline, drusy, locally banded and lattice textures that are common in low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver systems. The mineralized structures range from 0.3 to 10 metres in width and follow two dominant orientations, east-west and north-south with higher-grade gold mineralization preferentially hosted in the north-south structures. A vertical zonation has been identified in the vein systems that have a vertical extent of at least 900 metres. The veins exposed at lower elevations have higher silver and base metal values and higher gold values are present at higher elevations with boiling-level textures and high-grade gold present at, or near, the top of the exposed system. Additional work in the Serpiente Dorada zone confirmed widespread anomalous gold, including 1.19 g/t gold over 5.0 metres, that is associated with north-south and northeast striking quartz veining and fractures. Alain Charest, Vice President Exploration, Mexico commented, "The Sierra Madre Occidental hosts some of the most important gold-silver deposits in Mexico and Cerro Cascaron shares a similar geological setting as some of these deposits. The mineralization at Cerro Cascaron is abundant and high-grade, and its vertical extent and zonation demonstrate a well-developed system. In addition, local textures suggestive of the higher levels of gold mineralization indicate that significant gold mineralization could lie beneath." About the Cerro Cascaron Project The Cerro Cascaron project covers a historic Colonial-era mining district that contains numerous gold and gold-silver prospects with evidence of small-scale artisanal mining. The Company has identified a number of low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver targets at, or near, the unconformity between the Cretaceous to Tertiary Lower Volcanic Sequence andesites and the Tertiary Upper Volcanic Sequence rhyolites. Most epithermal gold-silver deposits found in the Sierra Madre Occidental, including El Sauzal, Mulatos and Ocampo, occur at, or near, this unconformity. Exploration work to date has outlined a primary zone called Serpiente Dorada. The Serpiente Dorada zone comprises a 200 metre by 300 metre area with multiple sub-parallel mineralized structures and breccias that cut the lower part of the rhyolite sequence. The gold-mineralized structures and breccias are associated with a sub-vertical north-striking fault, parallel secondary faults and a younger northeast-striking fault. The zone remains open along strike to the north and south. Individual mineralized structures range from one metre to ten metres in width and are silicified with quartz veins and veinlets, stockworks and quartz infilling breccia matrices. A total of 157 rock samples have been collected from this zone, ranging from <5 parts per billion (ppb) gold to 1,670 g/t gold and with nineteen samples exceeding 1.0 g/t gold with anomalous silver and pathfinder elements. Local coarse visible gold mineralization is associated with manganese oxides and occurs along north striking, sub-parallel fracture planes within the footwall rhyolite breccias. Property-wide prospecting on the Cerro Cascaron project has identified twelve other zones of gold-silver mineralization, three of which have rock samples exceeding 10 g/t gold. A total of 191 rock samples have been collected outside of the Serpiente Dorada zone ranging from <5 ppb gold to 39.7 g/t gold with 18 of these samples exceeding 1.0 g/t gold. These showings, including Serpiente Dorada, have yet to be tested by drilling or modern exploration techniques. Evrim's plan for the project in 2016 is to continue to define the extents of, and controls on, mineralization identified to date and to explore for additional systems on the underexplored property. This project is an excellent opportunity for the Company to make a new discovery in this proven district. The core claims containing a large portion of the Serpiente Dorada zone were staked by the Company in late 2015, and three surrounding claims were acquired under two separate agreements with a third party. Under the terms of each agreement, the Company will pay CDN$140,000 over a five year period to acquire a 100% interest. Each agreement is also subject to a 2% Net Smelter Royalty of which 1% can be purchased for US$1.25 million. All figures are available in the News Release posted on the Company web page www.evrimresources.com. ArcelorMittal Sonora S.A. Alliance The Company also announces that the iron ore exploration alliance with ArcelorMittal Sonora S.A. has ended. The Company wishes to thank ArcelorMittal's exploration team for their valuable contribution over the past two years. Qualified Person Statement Evrim's disclosure of technical or scientific information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Stewart Harris, P.Geo. Vice President, Technical Services for the Company. Mr. Harris serves as a Qualified Person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101. About Evrim Resources Evrim Resources is a mineral exploration company whose goal is to participate in significant exploration discoveries supported by a sustainable business model. The Company is well financed, has a diverse range of quality projects and a database in Mexico and portions of southwestern United States. The existing projects, and generation of quality exploration targets and ideas, are advanced through option and joint venture agreements with industry partners to create shareholder value. Evrim's business plan also includes royalty creation utilizing the Company's exploration expertise and existing projects. On Behalf of the Board EVRIM RESOURCES CORP. Paddy Nicol President & CEO To find out more about Evrim Resources Corp., please contact Paddy Nicol, President or Mahesh Liyanage at 604-248-8648, or visit www.evrimresources.com. Forward Looking Information This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward looking statements". All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that Evrim Resources Corp. (the "Company") expects to occur, are forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Regulatory News: EMAS Offshore (OSE:EMAS) 1. The transaction, the background and the parties EMAS Offshore Production Service (Vietnam) Pte. Ltd ("EOPS"), a fully owned subsidiary of EMAS Offshore Limited ("EMAS"), had on 14 April 2016 accepted a non-binding letter of intent (the "LOI") to sell its 41.7 equity share in PV Keez Pte Ltd ("PV Keez") to an international energy infrastructure fund (the "Fund"). PV Keez offers floating production, storage and offloading and related services and is based in Singapore. The Fund is a global infrastructure investment firm exclusively focused on energy. PV Keez owns the FPSO Lewek EMAS, which is chartered to Premier Oil Vietnam Offshore BV ("POVO") as operator of the Chim Sao field offshore southern Vietnam. The aforementioned transaction is part of a larger contemplated transaction whereby Ezra Holdings Limited ("Ezra") may also sell its ownership in PV Keez of at least 36.7 to the Fund (together the 'Transaction'). Ezra is the holding company of EMAS, controlling 76.19 of the issued shares in EMAS. Subject to the entry into formal and binding agreements, it is contemplated that closing of the Transaction will be subject to several conditions, including but not limited to (i) the satisfactory completion of due diligence by the Fund; (ii) an agreement on the provision of an indemnity by Ezra and EOPS to the Fund and (iii) other customary conditions and approvals for a transaction of this nature. 2. Transaction Consideration It is contemplated that the consideration for the Transaction will be agreed upon on a willing buyer-willing seller basis, and is to be based on the balance sheet of PV Keez and with reference to the book value of PV Keez as at 31 December 2015 (the "Effective Date") and assumes a Locked-Box mechanism between the Effective Date and the closing of the Transaction which is expected to take place no later than 30 June 2016 ("Closing"). The Fund will conduct financial due diligence on the Effective Date balance sheet and lock-box period and retains the right to make adjustments to the purchase price based on potential due diligence findings. It is contemplated that at Closing, each of EOPS and Ezra will transfer their respective shareholdings in PV Keev to the Fund for an aggregate consideration that is expected to be satisfied by a combination of cash and a seller's credit. 3. Additional information about PV Keez PV Keez is a single purpose company which owns the Lewek EMAS FPSO (the "Vessel"). The Vessel is EMAS Production's largest FPSO vessel. The Vessel is currently on a charter contract operating on Vietnam's Chim Sao oil project with Premier Oil Vietnam Offshore B.V. The board directors of PV Keez are: Lai Kai Jin Chairman Chia Hock Chye, Michael Board Member Pham Viet Anh Board Member The top senior management are Joseph Azran Alemberg, Chief Projects Officer. The key financial numbers are (all numbers in MUSD): Year Revenue Profit Assets Debt 2013 75.4 5.4 421.0 240.2 2014 97.7 17.6 396.7 200.5 2015 84.6 12.7 384.0 177.3 4. The transaction's significance for EMAS The Transaction is consistent with EMAS' strategy of moving away from the ownership of FPSO assets and instead to leverage on the experience in FPSO conversion to provide value-added services to third parties. The Transaction will also enable EMAS to strengthen its financial position and refocus the company's business in the offshore support sector during the current challenging times in the oil and gas sector. 5. Agreements with senior management or board of directors There are no agreements entered into, or that are planned to be entered into, in connection with the Transaction for the benefit of senior employees or members of the board of directors of EMAS and Ezra or for the senior employees or board of directors of PV Keez. EMAS is dual listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and the Singapore Stock Exchange, with the former as its primary listing place. Further announcements will be made as and when there are further developments in this respect or as required by relevant laws, regulations and guidelines. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414006087/en/ Contacts: EMAS Hsu Chong Pin Chief Financial Officer +65 6800 1202 According to the latest market research report by Technavio, the data center construction market in South East Asiais expected to reach over USD 66 million by 2020. In this report, Technavio covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the data center construction market in South East Asia for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the building of new data centers (including modular data center facilities) and the renovation of data centers. "Liquid immersion cooling offers uniform and adequate cooling apart from high thermal efficiency in cooling high-density computing equipment. Traditional cooling technologies such as air-cooled systems are inefficient and consume a significant amount of energy. These systems also lack the capability of addressing heating problems at the IT equipment level," said Abhay Sinha, one of Technavio's lead industry analysts for data center research. "Techniques such as cold plates and spot cooling are also inefficient and do not comply with the requirements of modern data centers. During the forecast period, it is expected that data centers in Southeast Asia will employ high-density computing infrastructure, paving the way for the adoption of liquid cooling systems," added Abhay. Market segmentation by countries for the data center construction market in South East Asia: Request sample report: http://bit.ly/1N8a28C Singapore The data center construction market in Singapore was valued at $1.8 billion in 2015. All global CSPs, enterprises, colocation service providers, and telecommunications organizations in Singapore are operating data centers in the country. Data center operators in Singapore offer advanced data center services to enterprises in the neighboring regions. Also, these operators are planning to expand their operational presence with the help of the government. Malaysia The data center construction market in Malaysia was valued at USD 840 million in 2015. The adoption of cloud-based services is growing in Malaysia among government agencies, financial sectors, and other organizations. Also, the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) in the country is offering hundreds of acres of space for the construction of data centers to support both local and global enterprises. According to the government of Malaysia, the cloud and data center sectors are expected to contribute significantly to the gross national income in the future. Thailand The data center construction market in Thailand was valued at USD 660 million in 2015. The construction of data center facilities in Thailand are anticipated to increase considerably over the forecast period, owing to the rise in adoption of cloud-based services and increased support from the government. TCC Technology is among the leading data center operators in the country. The presence of data centers owned and operated by global organizations is low in Thailand. This scenario is expected to change during the forecast period, with the construction of data centers by corporations headquartered in neighboring regions. Also, many global organizations will likely collaborate with local data center providers to establish and operate data center facilities in the country during the forecast period. Indonesia The data center construction market in Indonesia was valued at USD 405 million in 2015. The requirement for data center operations has increased significantly in Indonesia over the past three years. This requirement is likely to increase further during the forecast period. The growing use of the internet is a major factor fueling the demand for data centers in the country. In 2015, there were around 95 million internet users in the country, accounting for around 35% of the population. Also, increased adoption of smart devices and social media services will facilitate market growth. In addition, the adoption of cloud-based services will support data center construction in the country during the forecast period. Other Southeast Asian countries The data center construction market in other Southeast Asian countries was valued at USD 300.8 million in 2015. Other Southeast Asian countries include Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, and Vietnam. Myanmar, Philippines, and Vietnam will grow faster in terms of data center construction compared to other countries. For instance, Apple is planning to invest USD 1 billion in Vietnam for building a data center. Increase in Internet penetration and the need for high-performance computing infrastructure by enterprises in these countries will support market growth during the forecast period. Also, the concerned governments are likely to contribute to the development of data centers to enhance network connectivity. Browse related reports: Global Data Center Market 2015-2019 Global Data Center Power Market 2015-2019 Global Data Center Construction Market 2015-2019 Global Data Center Rack Market 2015-2019 Data Center Construction Market- Global Report Analysis and Forecast 2015-2019 Global Data Center IT Equipment Market 2015-2019 Purchase any three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005028/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com media@technavio.com VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - Multinational online transportation network company Uber Technologies Inc. said it has been providing trip data to agencies such as California Public Utilities Commission, New Orleans Department of Safety and Permits. The company said it is in compliance with law enforcement requests and proper legal process. Uber that connects riders and drivers said it has received 33 trip data requests from authorities in the last six months, that involves 12 million drivers and riders. Out of the total requests, 11.64 million riders and 583 thousand drivers are affected. California topped the list with 5.419 million riders and 299 thousand drivers. The company has shared trip data of 2.871 million riders in New York and 37 thousand drivers and 1.697 million riders in California and 95 thousand drivers. Further, the company said airport authorities also requested for data of pickups at airports and not about drop offs at home or elsewhere. In relation to criminal investigations, Uber has received law enforcement requests for information about specific trips riders and drivers. Such requests were from local, state and federal authorities. In case of subpoena, court order or a search warrant, the company responded with relevant information. Uber said it has attempted to limit agencies from disclosing commercially or personally sensitive information. In its transparency report, the company said, 'agencies may disregard our requests and complaints, collecting and exposing far more data than necessary to fulfill their obligations. For instance, this data can be exposed when regulatory agencies receive freedom of information requests and respond by producing data we shared with them. In addition, agencies occasionally inadvertently disclose the confidential information in their possession.' The company said they have a trained team of experts to manage these requests from authorities and they ensure that the information disclosed are consistent with its policies and applicable law. Further, Uber said it is committed to protecting the privacy and security of its riders and drivers. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- "We are asking every MP to oppose Bill C - 10 and keep these jobs in Canada," said IAM Transportation District 140 President and Directing General Chairperson Fred Hospes. Hospes was on Parliament Hill this morning to denounce Bill C-10, which amends the Air Canada Public Participation Act. The amendments allow Air Canada to control the type and the volume of any aircraft maintenance work of its fleet in Canada. "Under these amendments, Air Canada is under no obligation to perform any of its maintenance work in Canada," said Hospes Under the Act formed in 1988, Air Canada was obligated to keep aircraft heavy maintenance facilities in Winnipeg, Mississauga and Montreal. But Air Canada sold its heavy maintenance to Aveos Fleet Performance 2007 who continued operations in the three centers until in went bankrupt in 2012 and 2,600 IAM members lost their jobs. Air Canada then moved most of its heavy-maintenance work out of the country. "When we called upon the Harper government to intervene in 2012 to save this important employer and those 2,600 jobs, they refused," explained Hospes. "We were pleased when the Quebec government, supported by Manitoba, took up our case," said IAM Quebec coordinator David Chartrand. "In November 2015, the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled the Act still required Air Canada to perform its heavy maintenance and overhaul work in Montreal, Mississauga and Winnipeg." The IAM was shocked on February 17, 2016 when Quebec announced it would drop its litigation. "At the same time, the Trudeau Liberals, who in opposition denounced the Harper government for its inaction, were now going even further," explained Chartrand. "The Government said that it planned to modernize the Act to remove any real requirement for Air Canada to do any of its maintenance work in Canada, in exchange for vague promises of future work at Centre's of Excellence tied to the Air Canada purchase of 45 C Series airliners." "If Air Canada believes that Bombardier's C-Series aircraft makes operational and financial sense for them, there should be no need to bribe them with a free pass to offshore all of their maintenance work,: explained Chartrand. "We will be bringing forward a petition and will aggressively lobby all parties to kill Bill C-10," said Hospes. "We want to meet with the minister. We need to be building industries like aircraft maintenance in Canada, not inviting them to leave." Contacts: Fred Hospes - IAM Transportation District Lodge 140 President and Directing General Chairperson 604-448-0721/778-829-8140 David Chartrand - IAM Quebec Coordinator 514-336-3031/514-231-9100 Bill Trbovich - IAM Director of Communications 416-386-1789 Ext# 6331/416-735-9765 OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- The federal government recognizes that, for all Canadians, medical assistance in dying is a difficult and deeply personal issue. It is important to defend people's choices and freedoms in a way that protects the most vulnerable, and also supports the personal convictions of health care providers. Today, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Jody Wilson-Raybould, together with the Minister of Health, Jane Philpott, announced that proposed legislation has been introduced that would give dying patients, who are suffering intolerably from a serious medical condition, the choice of a medically-assisted death. The proposed legislation has been developed following the Supreme Court of Canada's unanimous decision in Carter v. Canada to strike down the criminal laws against physician-assisted dying. It is the result of extensive consultations with individuals, groups and experts, at home and abroad, and takes into account a range of interests, including personal autonomy and safeguards to protect the vulnerable. This is a compassionate approach that considers all these interests. The proposed approach was carefully designed to recognize and respect the individual choice of a medically assisted death for adults who are suffering intolerably and are on a foreseeable course toward the end of their lives. Safeguards have also been proposed to protect against errors and abuses in the system. The proposed legislation was developed in line with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It would ensure a consistent approach to medical assistance in dying across Canada while recognizing the jurisdiction of provinces and territories over the delivery of health care services. The proposed measures would revise the Criminal Code to exempt health care practitioners who provide, or help to provide, medical assistance in dying, from otherwise applicable criminal offences.Moving forward, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Health will appoint one or more independent bodies to study how medical assistance in dying could apply to the issue of advance requests, mature minors, and individuals with mental illnesses. Quotes "Medical assistance in dying is a sensitive, complex issue and many Canadians have deeply-held views on the subject. Recognizing the inherent dignity and equality of all Canadians, we are proposing the choice of a peaceful death for patients with a serious medical condition who are irreversibly declining and suffering intolerably. After the Supreme Court of Canada's (SCC) unanimous decision in Carter, it was no longer a question of whether we would have medical assistance in dying in Canada, but how it would be made available. Based on the current evidence, we believe this is the best approach to ensure that dying patients who are suffering unbearable pain have the choice of a peaceful death and that the vulnerable are protected." Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada "Every Canadian deserves access to timely and high-quality health care, including at the end of life. The Government of Canada is grateful for the work of the Special Joint Committee, and will engage with the provinces and territories to support consistency in the delivery of medical assistance in dying, as well as to develop a pan-Canadian monitoring system to collect and analyze data, monitor trends and publicly report on the new regime. To implement our commitment to support a full range of end-of-life care options, we will continue to work with provinces and territories to improve palliative care as part of discussions on a new Health Accord. We will also explore options to support access to medical assistance in dying, while supporting the personal convictions of health care providers. Jane Philpott, Minister of Health Related Products -- Backgrounder: Medical Assistance in Dying Associated Links Medical Assistance in Dying Follow Department of Justice Canada on Twitter (@JusticeCanadaEn), join us on Facebook or visit our YouTube channel. Follow Health Canada on Twitter (@HealthCanada), join us on Facebook or visit our YouTube channel Backgrounder Medical Assistance in Dying In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Carter decision that sections of the Criminal Code that make it illegal for anyone, including a doctor, to cause the death of another person who consents to die or to assist a person to end their own life, are unconstitutional. To respond to this court decision, the federal government has proposed a framework to provide access to medical assistance in dying to those who are eligible. This approach has been informed by consultations that have taken place across the country, including the federal External Panel on options for a legislative response to Carter v. Canada and the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying. The proposed approach was carefully designed to: -- recognize individual choice of a medically assisted death for adults who are suffering intolerably and for whom death is reasonably foreseeable; -- affirm the inherent and equal value of every person's life; -- avoid encouraging negative perceptions of the quality of life of persons who are elderly, ill or disabled; -- protect vulnerable people from being encouraged to die in moments of weakness; -- re-affirm society's goals with regard to preventing suicide; and -- encourage a consistent approach to medical assistance in dying across Canada. What the legislation would do To enable access to medical assistance in dying in Canada, the Criminal Code would be changed so that: -- Physicians, nurse practitioners - and those who help them - can provide assistance to die to eligible patients without the risk of being charged with assisted suicide or homicide. -- There will be safeguards to make sure those who receive medical assistance in dying are eligible, can give informed consent, and voluntarily request it. -- The foundation is laid for the Minister of Health to make regulations to establish a process for monitoring and reporting on the use of medical assistance in dying. Who would be eligible A person who wants access to medical assistance in dying would have to: -- Be a mentally competent adult (18 years or older); -- Make a voluntary request and give informed consent to receive medical assistance in dying; -- Have a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability; -- Be in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability; -- Experience enduring and intolerable suffering as a result of their medical condition; and, -- Be on a course toward the end of life. Death would have to be reasonably foreseeable in all of the circumstances of a person's health, but there would not have to be a specific prognosis or prospected time period before death. Protective measures The following safeguards would ensure that patients are eligible and have given informed consent: -- Patients would have to make a written request for medical assistance in dying (a designated person can do so if the patient cannot write), and have it signed by two independent witnesses; -- Two independent physicians or authorized nurse practitioners would be required to evaluate the request; -- There would be a mandatory period of at least 15 days of reflection, unless death or loss of capacity to consent is imminent; -- Patients would be able to withdraw a request at any time. Implementation Health is an area of shared federal-provincial-territorial jurisdiction, but provinces and territories hold primary responsibility for delivering health services in Canada. They may choose to adopt additional laws and regulations around medical assistance in dying or set out more requirements for health professionals. The federal government will work with the provinces and territories to support a consistent approach to medical assistance in dying across Canada. Access The government is proposing to work with provinces and territories on the development of mechanisms to coordinate end-of-life care for patients who want access to medical assistance in dying. This system would help connect patients with a physician or nurse practitioner willing to provide medical assistance in dying, and support the personal convictions of health care providers who chose not to participate. It would also respect the privacy of those who are willing to provide this assistance. This system could also offer other end-of-life care options to both patients and providers. Monitoring The government is proposing to develop a system to collect and analyze data, monitor trends and report on medical assistance in dying in Canada in order to ensure there is transparency and openness around its use. The government would work with provinces and territories to discuss criteria and protocols for collecting data so that reporting would be consistent across Canada. This system, and the obligations on providers to submit the necessary data, would come into force when the detailed regulatory measures are ready. Palliative care The government is committed to supporting quality end-of-life services. To this end, the government will work to improve palliative and end-of-life care during discussions with provinces and territories on a new Health Accord. Existing end-of-life medical practices Patients can already choose to accept palliative care, refuse or withdraw voluntarily from any life-saving treatment, or have intermittent or terminal sedation. These choices will not be affected by new provisions allowing for medical assistance in dying. Quebec Legislation Legislation that recently came into force in Quebec limits medical assistance in dying to patients who are at the end of their life, and allows only voluntary euthanasia. The proposed federal law is quite similar to the law in Quebec, except that individuals who meet all of the criteria and whose "death has become reasonably foreseeable" would be eligible for medical assistance in dying, while under Quebec's law, an eligible person needs to be "at end-of-life". The proposed federal law would also allow both assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia as part of medical assistance in dying. Further study The government proposes to appoint one or more independent bodies to study the issues surrounding mature minors, people who suffer only from mental illness, and advance requests in the context of medical assistance in dying. Coming into force The Criminal Code prohibition on medical assistance in dying remains in effect until June 6, 2016 or until legislation is passed in Parliament and comes into effect. Contacts: Joanne Ghiz Minister of Justice Spokesperson Office of the Minister of Justice 613-992-4621 Media Relations Department of Justice 613-957-4207 Christina Lazarova Minister of Health Spokesperson Office of the Minister of Health 613-957-0200 Media Relations Health Canada 613-957-2983 MADISON, WI--(Marketwired - April 14, 2016) - Alto-Shaam, a global leader in commercial foodservice equipment has selected the Widen Media Collective for its digital asset management (DAM) needs. The company, headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wis., will use Widen's cloud-based DAM solution to store and share a variety of marketing, communications and sales materials essential to providing top-notch customer service and internal support. Until now, the marketing team at Alto-Shaam had a difficult time finding the digital assets they needed because files were being stored in multiple places. Marketing Manager Jody Rahoy says her team was frustrated by the lack of an easy process for sharing assets with both internal and external stakeholders. "We'd heard of all of the benefits Widen could provide," she explains, "like increased team productivity, streamlined workflows, reduced labor costs from time spent searching and reformatting digital assets, brand consistency and data reporting to ensure we are only providing valuable and useful assets and content." They needed a single, centralized source of truth for all assets with controlled levels of access. Alto-Shaam conducted research of similar solutions, finding some products online and receiving a suggestion from an agency partner about another. But Rahoy says from her first phone call with Widen, she's had nothing but a positive experience. "[Our DAM advisor] was very easy to talk to, knowledgeable and provided a lot of information to help with our evaluation," Rahoy says. "The process was easy and not anything like the typical pushy sales process you many times go through when buying new products or services." Alto-Shaam's Creative Services Manager Jennifer Means also praises the on-boarding process as being streamlined. "It's clear Widen is very experienced in the DAM world," Means said. Alto-Shaam plans to implement the new Widen system first with the marketing department, and then eventually integrate other teams currently storing assets on shared network drives and communicating through extranets. "We look forward to building the relationship and partnering with a fellow Wisconsin-based company," says Rahoy. "Widen is excited to welcome Alto-Shaam to our user community," stated Brenna Hale, senior advisor with Widen. "Providing an easier way for internal and external teams to share and access content was key to the team, but opportunity for integrations, streamlined experiences and efficiencies are exciting topics we will continue to explore as they grown their site." About Alto-Shaam, Inc. Alto-Shaam's corporate headquarters, worldwide manufacturing facility, Culinary Institute and Technical Institute are based in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. For more than 60 years, Alto-Shaam has been a recognized leader and innovator in the global commercial foodservice equipment industry. With a core business in primary cooking equipment, Alto-Shaam offers an expanded product portfolio that includes award-winning Combitherm ovens, Halo-Heat cook & hold ovens, smoker ovens, heated holding technologies, heated display and merchandising solutions, Xcelerate hi-speed ovens, QuickChiller' rapid chill units, FryTech' high-efficiency fryers, rotisserie ovens, convection ovens, and drop-in heated and refrigerated fixture components. Alto-Shaam is also the industry leader in providing integrated food production systems for cook/chill, banqueting and rethermalization applications. About Widen Enterprises, Inc. Widen is a marketing technology company that powers the content that builds your brand. Leveraging cloud-based resources, Widen delivers configurable, scalable, and cost-effective digital asset management solutions to help you easily store, search and share your digital content. Organizations of all sizes use Widen's SaaS DAM solution, the Media Collective, to streamline their marketing and creative workflows and make their content work harder. Widen is trusted by hundreds of thousands of users around the world at organizations like LG, Roche, Trek, Cornell University, New Orleans Tourism Marketing, The Atlanta Falcons, Red Gold Tomatoes, Electrolux, and Yankee Candle. To learn more about Widen, go to http://www.widen.com. Jake Athey Marketing Director Widen 608-443-5472 jathey@widen.com Zendesk Plans Integration of Crowdsourced Volunteer Model into its Software Zendesk, Inc. (NYSE: ZEN) today announced a partnership with Be My Eyes to provide business mentorship, resources and a financial contribution to the socially conscious startup, which connects the blind with a network of sighted people through live mobile video. The companies also committed to integrating Be My Eyes' model of crowdsourced volunteering into Zendesk's customer service platform. "Be My Eyes represents a new generation of startups that is putting social responsibility at the core of the company at its founding," said Mikkel Svane, Zendesk founder and CEO. "We want to share our resources and experience so that even more socially minded entrepreneurs around the world can mobilize people to help others through technology and new business models." Zendesk co-founders Mikkel Svane, Morten Primdahl and Alexander Aghassipour, along with Adrian McDermott, Zendesk senior vice president of product development, all have committed to one-to-one office hours with Be My Eyes in addition to making separate, individual financial investments in the company. Be My Eyes is based in Copenhagen, where Zendesk was originally founded in 2007 and today has a local product development and sales office. The new initiative for socially conscious startups falls under the umbrella of the Zendesk Loves Startups program, which assists qualified startups with free Zendesk software for a year. Starting with Be My Eyes, select startups can also qualify for a $25,000 financial contribution, office hours with Zendesk's executive team, and office hours with key personnel to help you build and scale their socially minded business. "Our partnership with Zendesk will help us expand our mission of making the world more accessible," said Christian Erfurt, CEO of Be My Eyes. "We will be working together to improve the user experience and product features so even more people can help others through technology." Be My Eyes launched a mobile app last year that allows people with a visual impairment to get in contact with sighted helpers via a direct video call. It has connected more than 26,000 blind people with more than 350,000 sighted helpers in more than 140 countries. The planned integration of Be My Eyes' crowdsourced volunteer model into Zendesk products advances both companies' belief that the today's workforce is motivated to give back through micro-volunteering opportunities. The integration will use a ticket routing feature that will prompt Zendesk's customer support advocates to log into the Be My Eyes' app after they've completed a certain number of support tickets. In the future, Zendesk will integrate additional volunteer opportunities into its products. Startups interested in Zendesk's new initiative can apply at http://www.zendesk.com/startups. About Zendesk Zendesk provides a customer service platform designed to bring organizations and their customers closer together. With more than 69,000 paid customer accounts, Zendesk's products are used by organizations in 150 countries and territories to provide support in more than 40 languages. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in San Francisco, Zendesk has operations in the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. Learn more at www.zendesk.com. Source: Zendesk, Inc. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414006133/en/ Contacts: Zendesk Maja Hauke, +44 7969 150795 press@zendesk.com Technavio's latest global hospital stretchers market report highlights three key emerging trends predicted to impact market growth from 2016-2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as something that has potential for significant impact on the market and contributes to its growth or decline. In 2015, the global hospital stretchers market was dominated by the Americas, which accounted for a share of 46.18%. The US was the largest revenue contributor to this region. One of the major factors that contributed to the growth of the market was the rise in older population that increased the prevalence of chronic diseases including cardiac and gastrointestinal diseases, osteoporosis, and obesity," said Barath Palada, one of Technavio's lead industry analysts for orthopedics and medical devices research. "Advances in technology (in product design, structure, and usage) and shift from non-motorized to motorized hospital stretchers have also contributed to the growth of the market in the Americas. Vendors in the US market are adopting new strategies such as technology innovation and development of lightweight models with better ergonomics for hospital stretchers," added Barath. Technavio's market research study identifies the following three emerging trends expected to propel the growth of the global hospital stretchers market: Growing importance of advanced hospital stretchers Shift from conventional non-motorized stretchers to motorized hospital stretchers Rise in medical tourism Growing importance of advanced hospital stretchers Technological advancements in patient handling and equipment have led to the introduction of new products with innovative platforms and enhanced durability. It has increased the ease and transport of patients from one place to another. Advanced hospital stretchers are designed to reduce staff injuries and provide maximum comfort for critically ill patients. Advanced hospital stretchers are widely used in inter-hospital transfer of patients for therapeutic or diagnostic interventions. However, moving a critically ill patient carries its own risk, as poorly and hastily conducted transfer might lead to adverse events. Transporting a critically ill patient requires a special team that is well trained to anticipate any possible adverse medical or technical event. Advanced hospital stretchers have innovative features such as powered hydraulics, power loss backup, readily available battery, retractable head section, high-speed retract, and platforms that reduce spinal load. These advances are expected to dramatically reduce the strenuous lifting and associated injuries, and provide superior performance and outstanding ergonomic features with maximum versatility. For example, the Lifeguard series from ArjoHuntleigh has versatile features with highly advanced specification and is compatible with most conventional X-ray and C-arm imaging systems. The advances in design will give caregivers better maneuverability. It will provide a wide range of flexible features to support patient management in the healthcare environment over the course of the forecast period. Shift from conventional non-motorized stretchers to motorized hospital stretchers The shift from conventional non-motorized stretchers to motorized hospital stretchers will provide maximum comfort to the patient and the transport team to carry the patient with less hassle and risk. These motorized stretchers are quick and easy for shifting with better maneuverability. Market trend suggests, most bariatric stretchers have already witnessed a shift to motorized mobility, with many new features compared to conventional non-motorized hospital stretchers. Changes in hospital settings like large inpatient room and wide corridors have also aided the shift toward motorized hospital stretchers. According to a research study by Stryker, it was identified that the number of musculoskeletal injuries committed by hospital staff and nurses are significantly high while administering patient transfer. This study indicated that the use of the motorized stretcher for patient transport has reduced unnecessary lifting of patients, overexertion and physical stress, and non-fatal occupational injuries. According to another study conducted in seven hospitals in Massachusetts, US, 18% of sprain and strain injuries to healthcare workers resulted from repositioning and 11% resulted from the transport of patients. Thus, the presence of advanced features in motorized stretchers will encourage healthcare centers to adopt them over conventional non-motorized stretchers during the forecast period. Rise in medical tourism Countries such as India, Israel, South Africa, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines, and the Czech Republic are fast becoming medical tourism hotspots. Although hospital infrastructure in developed countries offers high-quality medical care, but high cost and inadequate reimbursement compel patients to opt for cost-effective treatment offered in developing countries. In 2014, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) reported that South Korea witnessed more than 150,000 medical tourists in 2012, and estimated that more than 300,000 medical tourists visited South Korea in 2015. People from the US and Western Europe are seeking surgeries such as CVDs, bariatric surgeries, orthopedics, and other cosmetic surgeries in emerging countries. For example, the Raffles Medical Hospital in Singapore offers fixed price medical packages (USD 100-USD 17,500) for each procedure like screening, total knee replacements, and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). These surgeries require transport of patients from one medical facility to the other for various medical needs and sometimes would require inter-hospital transport as well. The rise in medical tourism, improvement in healthcare infrastructure, and high quality of medical services will therefore likely increase the demand for hospital stretchers during the forecast period. Browse related reports Global Operating Room Integration Market 2016-2020 Global Dental Diagnostics and Surgical Equipment Market 2016-2020 Global Neurosurgery Market 2015-2019 Global Thoracic Surgery Market 2016-2020 Global Medical Composite Materials Market 2016-2020 Purchase any three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005036/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 http://www.technavio.com/ media@technavio.com Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - April 14, 2016) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges and an asset freeze against a Vermont-based ski resort and related businesses allegedly misusing millions of dollars raised through investments solicited under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. The SEC's case was unsealed today in federal court in Miami, and the court has appointed a receiver over the companies to prevent any further spending of investor assets. The SEC alleges that Ariel Quiros of Miami, William Stenger of Newport, Vt., and their companies made false statements and omitted key information while raising more than $350 million from investors to construct ski resort facilities and a biomedical research facility in Vermont. Investors were told they were investing in one of several projects connected to Jay Peak Inc., a ski resort operated by Quiros and Stenger, and their money would only be used to finance that specific project. Instead, in Ponzi-like fashion, money from investors in later projects was misappropriated to fund deficits in earlier projects. More than $200 million was allegedly used for other-than-stated purposes, including $50 million spent on Quiros's personal expenses and in other ways never disclosed to investors. According to the SEC's complaint, Quiros improperly tapped investor funds for such things as the purchase of a luxury condominium, payment of his income taxes and other taxes unrelated to the investments, and acquisition of an unrelated ski resort. "The alleged fraud ran the gamut from false statements to deceptive financial transactions to outright theft," said Andrew Ceresney, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "As alleged in our complaint, the defendants diverted millions of EB-5 investor dollars to their own pockets, leaving little money for construction of the research facility investors were told would be built and thereby putting the investors' funds and their immigration petitions in jeopardy." The SEC's complaint charges Quiros, Stenger, Jay Peak, and a company owned by Quiros called Q Resorts Inc. as well as seven limited partnerships and their general partner companies with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. Four other companies are named as relief defendants in the SEC's complaint for the purpose of recovering investor funds transferred into their accounts. The SEC seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions, financial penalties, and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest. The agency also seeks conduct-based injunctive relief against Quiros and Stenger along with an officer-and-director bar against Quiros. The SEC's investigation was conducted by Brian Theophilus James, Trisha D. Sindler, Michelle Lama, and Mark Dee, and the case was supervised by Chedly C. Dumornay of the Miami Regional Office. The SEC's litigation will be led by Christopher Martin and Robert K. Levenson of the Miami office. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Office of the Vermont Attorney General and other authorities in Vermont. According to the latest research study released by Technavio, the global iron castings market is expected to grow at a CAGR of close to 7% until 2020. This research report titled 'Global Iron Castings Market 2016-2020', provides an in-depth analysis of market growth in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments, including automotive, industrial machinery, infrastructure and construction machines, power and energy sector, and others. Request sample report: http://bit.ly/1SaJNj8 "Foundries are switching to automated molding methods. Significant advances have been seen in induction furnaces, and in the methods used for melting, mechanized DISAMATIC molding for sand molding, and continuous casting for chemical sand binding. Eco-friendly techniques such as cold casting, which does not emit hazardous particles, are also been introduced in many regions. Unlike traditional casting methods, 90% of molds are recycled, generating less waste and requiring minimal raw materials," said Chandrakumar Badala Jaganathan, one of Technavio's lead analysts for metals and mineralsresearch. "Further, cold casting resins with metallic powders provides a product that gives the appearance of solid metal. These castings are, however, lighter and easier to ship and handle. Metal cold castings find applications in automotive parts, accessories, and other articles, which are not subject to frequent wear and tear. Most process changes within the foundry industry will have environmental impacts. Therefore, technical innovation will often require a close partnership with regulatory agencies even if changes reduce emissions or solid wastes," added Chandrakumar. Global iron castings market by end-user segment 2015 Automotive 41% Industrial machinery 20% Infrastructure and construction machines 16% Power and energy sector 7% Others 16% Source: Technavio research Global iron castings market in automotive segment: largest market The global iron castings market in the automotive segment was estimated to be close to 34.37 million metric tons in 2015. The automotive industry is one of the prime consumers of iron castings due to the increased use of CI components in light trucks and cars. The steady rise in demand for passenger cars, particularly in developing markets such as India and China. India produced nearly 23 million vehicles in 2015, which was an increase of 8.7% over the production of 2014. On the contrary China produced 24 million vehicles in 2015. This rise is fueling the demand for a range of automotive parts and components, production of which will need iron castings. Modernization and advances of assembly line equipment and machinery in automotive plants will also create demand for iron castings. Further, the rise in traveling will increase the wear and tear of these components, fostering the need for these components in the replacement market. Global iron castings market in industrial machinery segment: second largest market Foundry industries in developed countries are facing two issues. First, their domestic markets are changing as a result of technology; for example, new generations of machines containing microelectronics do not use as many castings compared to those based on mechanical processes. Second, competition is growing gradually stronger from developing countries, who are endeavoring to industrialize. Those developing countries are building modern casting plants operated by low-cost labor and are exporting some part of their production to increase their revenues and also to promote further industrialization. The global iron casting market in the industrial machinery segment was estimated to be 16.76 million metric tons in 2015. Gray CI is increasingly used in industrial machinery such as lathe machines due to its high compressive and tensile strength. The rise in the establishment of new manufacturing facilities will drive the market for iron castings in the industrial machinery segment during the forecast period. Global iron castings market in infrastructure and construction machines The global iron casting market in the infrastructure and construction machines segment was estimated to be close to 13.41 million metric tons in 2015. The growth of infrastructure in developing countries will fuel the demand for iron castings in this segment. Crankshafts, gear drives, pull hooks, carriers, and liner plates are the prevalent iron cast components that are used in the infrastructure and construction machinery segment. Browse related reports: Global Cloud Email Security Market 2016-2020 Global Cloud Security Software Market 2015-2019 Cloud Security Market in the UAE 2015-2019 Purchase any three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform. About Technavio Technaviois a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005042/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com media@technavio.com Famille Hugel's most iconic family representative, and tireless ambassador for all Alsace wine, Etienne Hugel, died on April 8. He was 57 years old. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414006478/en/ Etienne Hugel (Photo: Business Wire) An ardent world traveler and voice for Alsace wine, Etienne worked alongside his two brothers, Jean-Phillipe and Marc, and oversaw the business side of the firm. Along with the 13th generation, Etienne secured Famille Hugel wines in retail shops, restaurants and hotels around the globe with, not only a passion for wine, but with tremendous wine and cultural knowledge, wit, humor and a charming personality. "Both Richard and I wrote at length in Hugel Riesling old and new about the three generations of Hugels. I see I described Etienne as 'irrepressible.' I cannot express strongly enough how sad I am that he has now been repressed forever," expressed Jancis Robinson on Facebook, after learning of his demise. Etienne was born on October 8th 1958, in Riquewihr, home to Famille Hugel. He received a Degree in Commerce from the University in Strasbourg, in 1979 and spent, thereafter, one year studying viticulture and oenology in Burgundy and then moved to the other coast of France and worked the vineyards in the Sauternes appellation of Bordeaux. In May 1982, he joined the family business in Riquewihr (established 1639). By 1989, Etienne was fully integrated in the family business which had just celebrated its 350th anniversary. Etienne's responsibilities included receiving visitors to the winery/vineyards, and waving the "HUGEL" flag in most overseas markets: U.K., U.S.A., Canada, Holland, Japan, Iceland etc...He was spokesperson for the Hugel brand and had his hands in every aspect of the business: marketing, export and Public Relations. "Etienne will be greatly missed by all in the wine industry," said John Sellar, President of Frederick Wildman and Sons, importers of Famille Hugel wines since 1993. "He was not only a great ambassador for Hugel but also for the entire region of Alsace. For us at Frederick Wildman, Etienne's steadfast support through the years as a shareholder was unwavering." Etienne is survived by his wife, Kaoru Hugel and his two children: Charlotte, born 1991, and Jean-Frederic, born 1989, who is now working full time in the family business-conducting tastings at the winery, participating in the harvest and promoting the brand abroad, including in the United States where he spends more than four weeks per year. Etienne's after-hours passion was the internet, always very active on social media, and was in charge of establishing and updating the company's website www.hugel.com ABOUT FREDERICK WILDMAN AND SONS Importers of fine wines and spirits since 1934 Frederick Wildman and Sons, Ltd., is committed to excellence. The familiar Wildman oval found on every bottle sold is recognized around the world as a symbol of quality assurance. Note to Editors: Additional Photos available upon request. For more information, please contact Odila Galer-Noel at (212) 230 0911 and visit www.frederickwildman.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414006478/en/ Contacts: Frederick Wildman and Sons, Ltd. Odila Galer-Noel, 212-230-0911 WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Under fire from members of Hillary Clinton's campaign, Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., disavowed remarks made by a supporter at a campaign event Wednesday night. Speaking before Sanders at a massive rally in Manhattan, health care activist Dr. Paul Song noted Clinton's opposition to providing Medicare for all. 'Well, I agree with Secretary Clinton that Medicare for all will never happen if we have a president who never aspires for something greater than the status quo,' Song said. He added, 'Medicare for all will never happen if we continue to elect corporate Democratic whores who are beholden to big pharma and the private insurance industry instead of us.' Song's use of the word 'whore' was quickly condemned by Clinton supporters, who viewed it as a sexist attack against the former Secretary of State. In a post on Twitter, Clinton Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri called Song's language 'very distressing' and urged Sanders to disavow the comments. Song later claimed he was referring to members of Congress and not Clinton, although Sanders still criticized his remarks. 'Dr. Song's comment was inappropriate and insensitive. There's no room for language like that in our political discourse,' Sanders said in a post on Twitter on Thursday. Sanders has recently stepped up his attacks on Clinton's ties to Wall Street in the lead up to the New York primary next Tuesday. (Photo Credit: Michael Vadon) Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Dundee Sustainable Technologies Inc. ("DST" or the "Corporation") (CSE: DST) is proud to announce that EcoMetales Limited ("EcoMetales", a 100% Codelco subsidiary) has selected DST, amongst other companies, to test the DST technology in order to go ahead with a collaboration agreement (as mentioned in, and referring to, DST press release dated September 15th, 2015) and process residues that contain sulphides species/elements as flue dusts (the "Flue Dusts") produced by Chilean operations, using DST's proprietary Technology. DST received one Tonne of Flue Dusts from EcoMetales, in March 2016, to be used for the testing program. This program is to demonstrate that Flue Dusts can be successfully treated, to recover the metallic units contained as sulphide in the Flue Dusts and to stabilize the arsenic using DST's vitrification technology as a complement to EcoMetales Technology (scorodite). Flue Dusts from roasters are produced through copper concentrates roasting. During the process, most of the arsenic is volatilised and reports in the Flue Dusts as arsenic trioxide sulphide along with finely divided metal or metallic compounds. This program is part of a phased approach established between DST and EcoMetales with the objective of implementing a processing facility, utilizing DST's patented technology, in Chile, given that the results are positive, suitable and convenient with others that EcoMetales is studying. About EcoMetales Limited, a Chilean state-owned company EcoMetales Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Codelco Technologies Ltd, providing environmental solutions and metal recovery processes for the mining industry. The company was founded in 2001 to contribute to resolving the problems created by the disposal of mining waste. Using applied research, EcoMetales creates innovative and environmentally sustainable solutions. With facilities in northern Chile, which are the major industrial plants worldwide to treat and transform arsenic to scorodite, (technology patented by EcoMetales), EcoMetales currently processes residues from Codelco's Divisions, recovering value and transforming the arsenic as scorodite and disposing at their own landfill. About Dundee Sustainable Technologies, a company controlled by Dundee Corporation The Corporation is engaged in the development of environment-friendly technologies for the treatment of materials in the mining industry. Through the development of patented, proprietary processes, DST extracts precious and base metals from ores, concentrates and tailing, while stabilizing contaminants such as arsenic, which could not otherwise be extracted or stabilized with conventional processes because of metallurgical issues or environmental considerations. At present, DST most advanced proprietary processes are associated to the extraction of precious metals using a chlorination process which provides a cyanide-free alternative for the exploitation of gold deposits. The primary benefits of this innovative technology are shorter processing times, a closed-loop operation eliminating the need for costly tailings pond, and a reduced environmental footprint related to the inert and stable characteristics of the cyanide free tailings. The chlorination process developed by DST is a recognized "green technology" for which it was awarded a $5 million grant by the Government of Canada for the construction and operation of a demonstration plant. The plant will serve as a demonstration platform for the chlorination process on an industrial scale and under continuous operating conditions. In addition to this chlorination process, DST completed the construction of a pilot plant designed to demonstrate its arsenic stabilization process which is designed for the sequestration of arsenic in a stable glass form. This process is becoming an attractive technique to segregate the arsenic and is therefore opening opportunities for materials considered to contain too much of this toxic material to be exploited or stabilized using conventional approaches. DST has filed, published and was granted patents for these processes in several countries. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This press release contains forward-looking statements that address future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of numerous factors, some of which may be beyond the Corporation's control. These factors include: general market and industry conditions, risks related to continuous operations and to commercialization of new technologies and other risks disclosed in the Corporation's filings with Canadian Securities Regulators. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Corporation's management on the date the statements are made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward - looking statements. The Corporation expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward- looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Dundee Sustainable Technologies Inc. John W. Mercer President and CEO (514) 866-6001 # 239 (514) 866-6193 (FAX) info@dundeetechnologies.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (TSX: BAM.A)(NYSE: BAM)(EURONEXT: BAMA) - 2016 First Quarter Conference Call Annual Meeting of Shareholders ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Friday, May 13, 2016 Date: Friday, June 17, 2016 Time: 11:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) Time: 10:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) First Quarter Conference Call You are invited to participate in Brookfield Asset Management's 2016 First Quarter Conference Call & Webcast on Friday, May 13, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss with members of senior management our results and current business initiatives. These results will be released on May 13th before 8:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) and will be available following the release on our website at www.brookfield.com under "Press Releases." The Conference Call will also be Webcast live on our website, where it will be archived for future reference. To participate in the Conference Call, please dial 1-800-319-4610 toll free in North America, or for overseas calls please dial 1-604-638-5340 at approximately 10:50 a.m. The Conference Call will also be Webcast live at http://services.choruscall.ca/links/bam20160513.html. For those unable to participate in the Conference Call, the telephone replay will be archived and available until midnight June 13th, 2016. To access this rebroadcast, please call 1-800-319-6413 or 1-604-638-9010 (password: 00433#). Annual Meeting of Shareholders Brookfield Asset Management's Annual Meeting of Shareholders will be held on Friday, June 17, 2016 at 10:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) at the Design Exchange, 234 Bay Street, Toronto, Canada. If unable to attend in person, you are invited to participate in the live Webcast presentation at http://services.choruscall.ca/links/bamagm20160617.html. This presentation will be archived for future reference. Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is a global alternative asset manager with over $225 billion in assets under management. The company has more than a 100-year history of owning and operating assets with a focus on property, renewable energy, infrastructure and private equity. Brookfield offers a range of public and private investment products and services, and is co-listed on the New York, Toronto and Euronext stock exchanges under the symbol BAM, BAM.A and BAMA, respectively. For more information, please visit our website at www.brookfield.com. For more information, please visit our website at www.brookfield.com. Contacts: Brookfield Asset Management Inc. Media: Andrew Willis Media (416) 369-8236 andrew.willis@brookfield.com Brookfield Asset Management Inc. Investors: Linda Northwood Investor Relations (416) 359-8647 linda.northwood@brookfield.com LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Magento Commerce, the leading provider of open omnichannel innovation, today honored the winners of the 2016 Imagine Excellence Awards, recognizing the exceptional creativity, innovation and success of merchants across the global Magento ecosystem. Magento also unveiled the Inaugural Magento Trailblazer Award to recognize exceptional leaders in digital transformation who set a bold vision, empower teams and marshal technology to chart the course to commerce success. Vandy Santos, Global Omnichannel Solutions Leader for Nestle and A.J. Nahmad, President of Watsco, Inc. were the recipients of the Inaugural Trailblazer Award for B2C and B2B respectively. Magento announced the 2016 Excellence Award honorees from the keynote stage of the Imagine 2016 conference in Las Vegas, applauding achievements across nine award categories: Frankfurt Airport was awarded the Best Omnichannel Experience: Already one of Europe's largest travel hubs and the biggest shopping mall in Germany, Frankfurt Airport has created a first-of-its-kind omnichannel commerce experience for customers. Now, travelers easily shop on the aircraft or taxi, purchase, and quickly schedule home or gate-side delivery or pick up of dinner, gifts, etc. as they speed thru the airport mall area. Rite Aid was awarded the Growth Award for demonstrating extraordinary year-over-year growth across all channels, powered by Magento Commerce. During the 2015 holiday season, Rite Aid experienced triple-digit growth in transactions and revenue. Factors driving this growth include Magento's open architecture that allows for rapid development cycles and iteration as well as site performance enhancements through enterprise features including full-page caching and sophisticated marketing facilities. Barbeques Galore was awarded the Commerce Marketer of the Year honor for maximizing its multi-channel marketing across its Magento Enterprise Edition site and 100+ stores, driving a 350 percent increase in conversion rate and a 360 percent uplift in year-over-year sales. Nestle BabyNes was recognized as the Most Innovative brand delivering an immersive omnichannel experience through Internet of Things connectivity. Nestle's smart baby nutrition system is integrated into a complete omnichannel experience (across Web, mobile app, point of sale and social channels) and serves multiple geographies including the US, Europe and China. Successfully launching new international business operations in Ireland and Germany, with additional delivery from its online business shipping to over 20 EU markets, Screwfix was given the honor of the Great Explorer Award for International Expansion. Setting an industry standard of excellence, Le Creuset won the Best Web Design award for its new website, which balances compelling content and crisp design with a user experience carefully tailored to reduce bounce rates while maximizing sales and average order value. Launched in the United States in October 2015, the new website exceeded expectations in the fourth quarter and continues to drive record revenue for the company in 2016. Le Creuset is now rolling out the website globally to more than 29 countries. For usability and design on a portable handheld, Sunspel earned the award for Best Mobile Experience. The new, flexible website provides a fast, usable, and attractive experience, regardless of device. This is vital to serving Sunspel's loyal customer base, around 50 percent of whom shop via tablet or smartphone. The results have been outstanding. A combination of improved conversion rates, increased sales, and higher order values, has almost doubled revenue year-over-year. The impact is even more pronounced for smartphone users, where the optimized design has achieved a 200 percent revenue increase. St. John Knits claimed the Best Commerce Launch award for seamlessly extending its consultative, in-store experience online. St. John connected customer interests and behaviors by deftly blending content and commerce. The result: 35 percent of ecommerce customers are new to the brand and 30 percent were once lapsed customers for a year or more. Gallagher Europe was awarded Best B2B User Experience for creating a best-in-class, self-serve user interface, including dynamic and bulk pricing and product content for syndication. As a global market leader for electric fencing in animal management, Gallagher services The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Sweden. The site offers several advanced features like an innovative product wizard, an advanced dealer locator and dynamic pricing based on visitors' choices, helping its customers find tailored solutions for electric fencing. In a conference first, Washington-based SaltWorks tied for Best B2B User Experience. SaltWorks developed their exclusive "Salt Portal" to extend the highly engaging experience of their consumer site to serve the exacting needs of its business customers. The company's new B2B portal features a responsive mobile-friendly design, convenient product discovery and offers instant access to customer-specific pricing. For the first time, Magento is also acknowledging executives for its Trailblazer Awards. These recipients exemplify leadership within their companies and empower their teams to reach their goals. Nestle's Global Omnichannel Solutions Leader Vandy Santos received the award for his five-year commitment to innovation and transformation by championing change within a large multi-national corporation. CEO A.J. Nahmad of Watsco, Inc. was also recognized as a Trailblazer for setting a bold vision for the company and encouraging his incredible team to achieve success in the wholesale distribution industry. "The winners of the 2016 Imagine Excellence and Trailblazer Awards embody the relentless commitment of our clients and partners taking commerce to the next level," said Mark Lavelle, CEO of Magento Commerce. "From the omnichannel and technology innovators to the explorers carving out new ways of doing business, it is because of the continued innovation of our community that Magento is at the forefront of global commerce. On behalf of everyone at Magento Commerce, congratulations to all the finalists and winners of the 2016 Excellence Awards." The 2016 Imagine Excellence and Trailblazer Award finalists and winners were showcased at the Wynn Las Vegas, April 11-13, during Imagine 2016. About Magento Commerce Trusted by more than 250,000 businesses worldwide, Magento Commerce is the leading provider of open omnichannel innovation to retailers, brands and branded manufacturers across retail B2C and B2B industries. In addition to its flagship open source digital commerce platform, Magento Commerce boasts a strong portfolio of cloud-based omnichannel solutions empowering merchants to successfully integrate digital and physical shopping experiences. With over $50B in gross merchandise volume transacted on the platform annually, Magento Commerce is the foremost provider to the Internet Retailer Top 1000 and the Internet Retailer B2B 300, counting more than double the clients to the next closest competitor. Magento Commerce is supported by a vast global network of solution and technology partners, a highly active global developer community and the largest eCommerce marketplace for extensions available for download on the Magento Marketplace. More information can be found at www.magento.com. Media Contacts Margaret Farrell magento@highwirepr.com (415) 963-4174 LUGANO, Switzerland, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Inclusion of one-time consent " crucial " for future of cancer research Regulation will aim to harmonise public health research across all 28 EU member states ESMO - the leading European professional organisation for medical oncology - has today welcomed the European Parliament's adoption of the EU General Data Protection Regulation, which it describes as being "crucial" for the future of cancer research. Creating a uniform set of rules governing how personal data can be used in today's digital age, the Regulation will aim to harmonise the different frameworks governing health research across the EU's 28 Member States. In particular, the Regulation includes provision for a 'one-time consent' from patients allowing their data and tissues to be used for future research, which will also ensure the viability of bio-banking. "The inclusion of a one-time consent for retrospective research on clinical data and biological tissues is crucial because it means the oldest form of medical research - going back to patient records to analyse and correlate data - can continue to make a contribution today, to solving the challenges of tomorrow," said Dr Paolo G. Casali, Chair of the ESMO EU Policy Committee. ESMO had previously expressed concern that an earlier draft of the Regulation could have made retrospective clinical research impossible because it stipulated the need for 'explicit and specific patient consent'. This would have required researchers to approach patients every single time new research was planned, to obtain their agreement to consult their personal data or tissue samples stored for research purposes. The new Regulation also ensures that researchers have access to high-quality, population-wide data, which by definition must include the entire population, and therefore cannot be subject to patient consent. This exemption from consent is important because it allows disease-based registries to continue to exist and benefits not only cancer research but medical research in general. In the case of cancer, this data is collected and stored in cancer registries, which are used by governments to formulate new cancer control policies and update national cancer plans and ultimately improve patient outcomes. "Under ESMO's leadership, the European cancer community has achieved a tremendous success, ensuring that crucial aspects of cancer research can flourish in the years ahead," continued Casali. "I would like to express my gratitude to all our partners and colleagues who have supported us throughout this long and complex process." ESMO President Fortunato Ciardiello, added: "We want to thank the EU legislators for the diligence, dedication and the openness with which they listened and responded to the concerns of the cancer community and have successfully managed to strike the right balance between protecting personal data and encouraging progress in cancer research." The General Data Protection Regulation is an essential component of the European legislative framework which will underpin research in the field of cancer on a pan-European basis and beyond in the future. The Council Presidencies and everyone else involved should be congratulated for their outstanding work and achievement. About ESMO ESMO is the leading professional organisation for medical oncology. With more than 14,000 members representing oncology professionals from over 130 countries, ESMO is the society of reference for oncology education and information. We are committed to supporting our members to develop and advance in a fast-evolving professional environment. http://www.esmo.org Contact: Vanessa Pavinato +41(0)91-973-19-07 Golden Ocean Group Limited ("Golden Ocean" or "the Company") announces that it has filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2015 with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S. The report may be accessed on the Company's website, www.goldenocean.bm , or in the link below. It is also available on the website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, www.sec.gov (http://www.sec.gov/). Shareholders may request a hard copy of the Annual Report, which includes the Company's complete 2015 audited financial statements, free of charge, by sending an email to: ir@goldenocean.no April 14, 2016 Golden Ocean Group Limited Hamilton, Bermuda Contact Person: Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal: CFO, Golden Ocean Management AS +47 22 01 73 53 LINCOLNSHIRE, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Bentley's Pet Stuff, a family-owned healthy pet foods business founded by Lisa and Giovanni Senafe, along with entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis, host of CNBC's reality series The Profit, announce the acquisition of Dogaholics, a successful pet products store located in the Chicago Lakeview area. Over the coming months, the location will be remodeled to refresh the storefront and will offer a wide array of products catering to both dogs and cats. Dogaholics was opened by Candace D'Agnolo in 2006 at 3657 N. Southport Ave in Chicago, IL, and has been known for their friendly service, expertise and quality of natural pet products carried in the store. The location pledged to offer high protein, premium meat varieties of dry, wet and raw foods completely free of corn and by-products for all of their four-legged friends, which aligns with the Bentley's Pet Stuff mission. Following the acquisition, the management and support team of Dogaholics will continue to work at the newly merged business to assist with the expansion of the Bentley's Pet Stuff brand. D'Agnolo has plans to continue running a separate pet service center in the nearby vicinity that provides doggy daycare, boarding, dog and cat grooming and training classes. "With this pivotal acquisition, we continue to expand the opportunity of introducing many more customers to the Bentley's Pet stuff experience," said business partner, Marcus Lemonis. "While we plan to continue our focus on growing the brand, we look forward to investing locally with this exciting expansion and can't wait to show customers what Bentley's Pet Stuff has to offer." Bentley's Pet Stuff sells natural food, pet care essentials, toys, grooming products and treats for their four-legged friends. The company focuses on the three critical elements in caring for pets: to nourish, energize and reward. Specialty pet food brands such as Fromm, Orijen, Zignature, Honest Kitchen and Stella & Chewy's can be obtained at all Bentley's Pet Stuff locations. In addition, seasonal products and holiday gift items are available for purchase throughout the year. Lisa Senafe, CEO and Founder of Bentley's Pet Stuff, stated, "Dogaholics is an excellent strategic fit for the Bentley's brand and the acquisition provides many benefits for the pet community in both the short- and long-term. This acquisition adds to our portfolio of leading brands and increases our consumer presence, while enabling us to capitalize on the growth of the natural pet food sector." For more information regarding Bentley's Pet Stuff visit online at www.petstuff.com. About Bentley's Pet Stuff Bentley's Corner Barkery opened its doors in 2008 with a mission to feed animal lovers' pets genuine real meat products made in the USA. Their dedication to customers' animals is why they hand pick and research every item stocked on their shelves, allowing customers to be at ease when making a purchase at any of their retail stores throughout the Chicagoland area. Started from a single retail store eight years ago, Bentley's Corner Barkery grew to encompass seven locations offering natural pet food, a variety of treats, toys and more! In November 2015, Bentley's Corner Barkery acquired Pet Stuff and the newly formed company, Bentley's Pet Stuff, now features 15 locations across Chicagoland. http://www.petstuff.com/ For business opportunities, contact Giovanni Senafe at 708-214-4197 or giovanni@bentleyspetstuff.com. About Marcus Lemonis Marcus Lemonis is an entrepreneur, investor, television personality, and chairman and CEO of Marcus Lemonis LLC as well as Camping World and Good Sam Enterprises. Camping World is the nation's largest RV and outdoor retailer, and Good Sam is the world's largest RV owner's organization. Visit www.campingworld.com for more information. Lemonis is known as the "business turnaround king" and host of CNBC's prime time reality series, The Profit, in which he lends his expertise to struggling small businesses around the country and judges businesses based on a "Three P" principle: People, Process, and Product. The Profit returns on Tuesday, August 23rd at 10pm ET/PT on CNBC. More about Marcus Lemonis can be found at http://www.marcuslemonis.com, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/marcus.lemonis and Twitter @MarcusLemonis. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2992936 For media, contact: Karen L. Porter Director of Media Services Email Contact Deutsche Bank (XETRA: DBKGn.DE NYSE: DB) has reached an agreement with Macquarie Infrastructure Partners III ("MIP III"), a fund managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets ("MIRA"), to sell Maher Terminals USA, LLC, a 454-acre multi-user container terminal in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey. Under the transaction, MIP III has agreed to acquire 100% of Maher Terminals USA, LLC. This is subject to Port Authority and other regulatory approvals. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but are not expected to have a material impact on Deutsche Bank's financials. Maher Terminals in New Jersey currently moves more than 2 million twenty-foot-equivalent containers per year and provides a vital transport link between land and water for the global marketplace. Since acquiring the asset in 2007, Deutsche Bank has managed this vital transport link through the financial crisis and recovery. This is a legacy asset held within the Bank's Non-Core Operations Unit (NCOU). In 2015, Deutsche Bank sold Maher Terminals' Canadian operations Fairview Container Terminal in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, to DP World. "This sale marks another important step in Deutsche Bank's commitment to the reduction of legacy assets," said Pius Sprenger, Deutsche Bank's Head of the NCOU. About MIRA Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) is the world's leading infrastructure asset manager with growing portfolios in real estate, agriculture and energy. MIRA manages more than $100 billion of assets under management invested in more than 120 portfolio businesses, 300 properties, 3.6 million ha of farmland. MIRA is part of Macquarie Group, a leading financial services provider across a diverse range of sectors around the world. Founded in 1969, Macquarie Group is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and has operations in 28 countries and has a total of $370 billion in assets under management. MIP III is a diversified, closed end infrastructure investment vehicle that focuses on investments in infrastructure and related assets in the US and Canada. About Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank provides commercial and investment banking, retail banking, transaction banking and asset and wealth management products and services to corporations, governments, institutional investors, small and medium-sized businesses, and private individuals. Deutsche Bank is Germany's leading bank, with a strong position in Europe and a significant presence in the Americas and Asia Pacific. This release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they include statements about our beliefs and expectations and the assumptions underlying them. These statements are based on plans, estimates and projections as they are currently available to the management of Deutsche Bank. Forward-looking statements therefore speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly any of them in light of new information or future events. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could therefore cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Such factors include the conditions in the financial markets in Germany, in Europe, in the United States and elsewhere from which we derive a substantial portion of our revenues and in which we hold a substantial portion of our assets, the development of asset prices and market volatility, potential defaults of borrowers or trading counterparties, the implementation of our strategic initiatives, the reliability of our risk management policies, procedures and methods, and other risks referenced in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Such factors are described in detail in our SEC Form 20-F of 11 March 2016 under the heading "Risk Factors". Copies of this document are readily available upon request or can be downloaded from www.db.com/ir. Issued by the press department of Deutsche Bank AG Internet: db.com Taunusanlage 12, 60325 Frankfurt am Main https://www.db.com/media Phone +49 (0) 69 910 43800, Fax +49 (0) 69 910 33422 E-mail: db.presse@db.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414006623/en/ Contacts: Deutsche Bank Press and Media Relations Amanda Williams (New York) +1 212 250 1499 Amanda.williams@db.com or Klaus Winker +49 (69) 910-32249 (Frankfurt) klaus.winker@db.com or Investor Relations +49 69 910 35395 (Frankfurt) db.ir@db.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Revelo Resources Corp. ("Revelo" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: RVL) is pleased to announce that it has delineated a new system of quartz veins and hydrothermal breccias that are related to a precious metal bearing epithermal vein system extending over about 3 kilometers in an approximately north-south direction, at its wholly-owned Loro project (the "project") in northern Chile. The project is located along trend and just 25 kilometers due south of the multi-million ounce series of precious metals veins of the El Penon mining camp owned and operated by Yamana Gold. Key aspects of this discovery include: -- Several narrow (approx. 20 cm), sub-parallel, low sulphidation quartz veins defined by in-situ quartz veins, hydrothermal breccias, and linear trends of float blocks, extending over approximately 3 km -- Rock-chip samples from sporadic outcrops range from zero to 2.34g/t Au and from zero to 89.2g/t Ag -- The mineralized structures follow a north-south to north-northeast trend, in alignment with regional structures -- Key pathfinder elements in rock-chips such as arsenic (low to 293 ppm) and antimony (low to 336 ppm), together with silver values, suggest the outcrops represent the typical upper, relatively un-eroded portions of an epithermal precious-metals bearing system -- Geological mapping, rock-chip geochemistry and soil geochemistry suggest at least two sub-parallel belts of mineralized structures within the overall trend Tim Beale, President and CEO of Revelo, had the following comments: "Revelo has been carrying out basic exploration focused on geological and hydrothermal alteration mapping, and rock and soil geochemistry, on several of its projects including Loro. The Loro project shows no physical signs of having been explored historically, and so can be classified as a new discovery. Although an early-stage exploration project, results to date are very encouraging and further work including more detailed geochemical sampling, trenching and possible geophysical studies would be recommended prior to drill testing. Revelo is fulfilling its role as a prospect generator, and is the sole owner of 6 precious metals focused exploration projects at Loro, Las Pampas, Limbo, Reprado, Magallanes and San Guillermo. San Guillermo is already optioned to a subsidiary of Austral Gold (see news release dated February 8, 2016), and we will look for a partner to continue the exploration work at Loro and our other projects." Please visit the Loro project page on Revelo's website (http://www.reveloresources.com/projects/loro) for further information, project fact sheet (http://www.reveloresources.com/content/423/Loro_2016-04.pdf), and project presentation (http://www.reveloresources.com/content/423/RVL_PresentationLoro_2016-04web.pdf). ABOUT THE LORO PROJECT Loro is located along the highly productive "Paleocene" Mineral Belt in northern Chile that contains several important gold, silver and copper mines and projects. Important indications of gold and silver mineralization occur at Loro, including small outcrops of veins. The project is located along trend and just 25 km due south of the multi-million ounce gold-silver district of El Penon, owned and operated by Yamana Gold. The project also lies just a few kilometers east of Revelo's important Las Pampas project, also prospective for low-sulphidation, epithermal precious metals veins. The project area is at relatively low altitudes (1,800m to 2,000m), has subdued topography, and is easily accessed, being located within a short driving distance from the Pan-American Highway along a well-maintained dirt road, some 2.5 hours' drive from Antofagasta and 2 hours from Taltal. Loro consists of approximately 5,500 Ha of 100% owned tenement comprising exploration concessions, all of which were acquired from BLC SpA, a 49%-owned Chilean subsidiary of Altius Minerals ("BLC" - see news release dated July 6, 2015). BLC is the beneficial owner of a 2% NSR royalty from commercial production of precious metals and a 1% NSR royalty from commercial production of base metals from Loro. Revelo has the right to purchase one-half of the royalties for CDN$5 million, at any time up to a period of five years following the commencement of commercial production of mineral products from the project. The geology of the Paleocene belt in northern Chile is dominated by Late Cretaceous to early Tertiary calc-alkaline bimodal volcanic rocks that range from basaltic andesite to rhyolite, and by sub-volcanic porphyritic intrusions and granitoid stocks. Loro is located along the western slopes of the Perla-Cebada range of hills that make up the southern extension of the El Penon-Cerro Tostado area within the El Penon district. Rock sequences within the Loro claim block are likely to be similar to, and correlated with, the El Penon volcanic stratigraphy. Rhyolite and dacite flows and minor pyroclastic and volcaniclastic rocks at Loro are associated with a rhyo-dacitic dome complex that seems to extend for at least 2 Km east-west and 4 Km north-south along the western slopes of the Perla-Cebada range. WORK COMPLETED TO DATE Mapping of the Loro project area by Revelo geologists has resulted in the recognition of several narrow (approx. 20 cm), sub-parallel, low sulphidation quartz vein systems defined by in-situ quartz veins, hydrothermal breccias, and linear trends of float blocks, extending over approximately 3 km, which appear to follow a north-south to north-northeast trend, in agreement with regional structures. Most of the in-situ quartz veins, hydrothermal breccias and float blocks display banded, colloform, comb, saccharoidal and massive textures, typical of low-sulphidation, epithermal precious metals veins. Some of the float blocks display partially brecciated textures, with vein and wall-rock clasts encrusted with cockade quartz or enveloped in a matrix of fine-grained grey quartz. Veins found in outcrop are associated with red hematite and clays - also typical of the upper portions of low-sulphidation, epithermal precious metals veins. Several parallel trends of vein and breccia outcrops and float occur, indicating the probable existence of several, sub-parallel mineralized structures within the property. Rock chip geochemistry of the veins (41 samples) indicates moderate values of gold (up to 2.34 g/t Au) and highly anomalous values of silver (up to 89.2 g/t Ag), coupled with, in some samples, elevated arsenic (up to 293 ppm As), antimony (up to 336 ppm Sb), lead (up to 1,410 ppm Pb), and zinc (up to 1,570 ppm Zn). These preliminary results are comparable to early published surface samples for El Penon epithermal low sulphidation veins ((i)). Rock samples were analyzed at ALS Chemex Chemical laboratories for gold (AA24) and for multi-elements following four acid digestion and ICP-AES protocol (ME-ICP61). 548 colluvial and soil (sieved fines) samples were collected along eight 500 m spaced east-west lines crossing the core of the anomalous area, with samples every 25 m along each line. Of these samples, 341 samples were analyzed at ALS Chemex Chemical laboratories for multi-elements following four acid digestion and ICP-AES protocol (ME-ICP61). Two principal anomalous trends have been delineated by a combination of geological mapping, rock-chip geochemistry and sieved fines geochemistry. The western anomaly at Loro shows highly anomalous antimony values (up to 26.7 ppm Sb in sieved fines) coinciding with the presence of outcropping veins and hydrothermal breccias and the highest gold and silver values obtained to date. This anomalous trend disappears towards the north under gravels and talus debris. High arsenic values (up to 134 ppm As in sieved fines) within the eastern anomaly, which splits into at least two sub parallel belts, likely represents the classical "arsenic cap" or envelope above sub-cropping veins and hydrothermal breccias. The anomalous geological and geochemical zone delineated at Loro coincides with a magnetic low feature derived from regional airborne magnetics data acquired from the Chilean geological survey, which likely reflects a combination of the large, proposed rhyo-dacitic dome complex and hydrothermal alteration related to the mineralized structures. ABOUT REVELO Revelo is a prospect generator that has consolidated an outstanding portfolio of 21, wholly-owned projects prospective for copper, gold and silver located along proven mineral belts in one of the world's top mining jurisdictions - Chile. Multiple targets are ready for drill testing within the portfolio, and two projects are subject to option and joint venture agreements with subsidiaries of Newmont Mining (Montezuma Project) and Austral Gold (San Guillermo Project). In addition, Revelo is developing a nascent royalty portfolio and retains a 2% royalty interest in the Victoria Project, an important copper-gold-silver exploration project in northern Chile. Revelo has a goal of building a sustainable exploration business focused on securing prospective land along the prolific mineral belts of northern Chile, and by implementing effective exploration and capital management strategies to grow, advance and de-risk its portfolio to provide shareholders with multiple opportunities for exploration success. Revelo is actively looking for partners to advance other projects within its portfolio. Revelo is a Canadian company and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX VENTURE: RVL). For more information please visit Revelo's website at www.reveloresources.com. ((i)) See Sillitoe R.H.; 2000 - El Penon, Chile - Exploration & Discovery of Base- & Precious-Metals Deposits in the Circum-Pacific Region - A Late 1990s Update (Metal Mining Agency of Japan) Dr. Demetrius Pohl, Ph.D., Certified Professional Geoscientist (CPG), an independent consultant, is the Company's Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosures for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators, and has approved the written disclosure of the technical information contained in this news release. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Timothy J. Beale, President & CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that Revelo expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "indicate" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although Revelo believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Contacts: INVESTOR CONTACT: Revelo Resources Corp. Chiara Orrigoni, Investor Relations Manager +1 604 687-5544 info@reveloresources.com www.reveloresources.com CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Canadian Energy Services & Technology Corp. ("CESTC" or the "Corporation") (TSX: CEU)(OTCQX: CESDF) announced today that it will pay a cash dividend of $0.0025 per common share on May 13, 2016, to the shareholders of record at the close of business on April 29, 2016. The Corporation will conduct a conference call on May 13, 2016 following the upcoming release of its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016. The Q1 2016 results are expected to be released after the close of market the day before the conference call. Tom Simons, President and Chief Executive Officer of CESTC, will host the call. Date: May 13, 2016 Time: 9:00 a.m. MT Dial-in: (877) 291-4570 or (647) 788-4922 Online: http://www.gowebcasting.com/7477 A replay of the conference call will be accessible on CESTC's Investor Relations website at www.CanadianEnergyServices.com by selecting "News Releases". About Canadian Energy Services & Technology Corp. CESTC is a leading provider of technically advanced consumable chemical solutions throughout the lifecycle of the oilfield. This includes solutions at the drill-bit, at the point of completion and stimulation, at the wellhead and pump-jack, and finally through to the pipeline and midstream market. CESTC's business model is relatively asset light and requires limited re-investment capital to grow. As a result, CESTC has been able to capitalize on the growing market demand for drilling fluids and production and specialty chemicals in North America while generating free cash flow. Additional information about CESTC is available at www.sedar.com or on the Corporation's website at www.CanadianEnergyServices.com. THE TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE Contacts: Canadian Energy Services & Technology Corp. Tom Simons President and Chief Executive Officer 403-269-2800 Canadian Energy Services & Technology Corp. Craig Neiboer, CA Chief Financial Officer 403-269-2800 cesinfo@ceslp.ca PEMBROKE, Bermuda - April 14, 2016 - Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:ENH), a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, today announced that it expects its first quarter 2016 investment portfolio total return to be approximately 98 basis points and its net investment income to be approximately $11 million. The Company's net investment income was impacted by approximately $28 million of mark to market losses in its other investment portfolio from ongoing financial market volatility and lower than expected alternative manager performance. These losses partially offset increased net investment income from the Company's available for sale and trading securities which was approximately $39 million for the first quarter. The Company will report its full first quarter 2016 results on May 2, 2016 as previously announced. About Endurance Specialty Holdings Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. is a global specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance. Through its operating subsidiaries, Endurance writes agriculture, casualty and other specialty, professional lines and property, marine/energy and aviation lines of insurance and catastrophe, property, casualty, professional lines and specialty lines of reinsurance. We maintain excellent financial strength as evidenced by the ratings of A (Excellent) from A.M. Best (XV size category) and A (Strong) from Standard and Poor's on our principal operating subsidiaries. Endurance's headquarters are located at Waterloo House, 100 Pitts Bay Road, Pembroke HM 08, Bermuda and its mailing address is Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd., Suite No. 784, No. 48 Par-la-Ville Road, Hamilton HM 11, Bermuda. For more information about Endurance, please visit www.endurance.bm . Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements Some of the statements in this press release may include, and Endurance may make related oral forward-looking statements which reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance. Such statements may include forward-looking statements both with respect to us in general and the insurance and reinsurance sectors specifically, both as to underwriting and investment matters. Statements which include the words "should," "would," "expect," "intend," "plan," "believe," "project," "target," "anticipate," "seek," "will," "deliver," and similar statements of a future or forward-looking nature identify forward-looking statements in this press release for purposes of the U.S. federal securities laws or otherwise. We intend these forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements address matters that involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, there are or may be important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the effects of competitors' pricing policies, greater frequency or severity of claims and loss activity, changes in market conditions in the agriculture insurance industry, termination of or changes in the terms of the U.S. multiple peril crop insurance program, a decreased demand for property and casualty insurance or reinsurance, changes in the availability, cost or quality of reinsurance or retrocessional coverage, our inability to renew business previously underwritten or acquired, our inability to maintain our applicable financial strength ratings, our inability to effectively integrate acquired operations, uncertainties in our reserving process, changes to our tax status, changes in insurance regulations, reduced acceptance of our existing or new products and services, a loss of business from and credit risk related to our broker counterparties, assessments for high risk or otherwise uninsured individuals, possible terrorism or the outbreak of war, a loss of key personnel, political conditions, changes in insurance regulation, changes in accounting policies, our investment performance, the valuation of our invested assets, a breach of our investment guidelines, the unavailability of capital in the future, developments in the world's financial and capital markets and our access to such markets, government intervention in the insurance and reinsurance industry, illiquidity in the credit markets, changes in general economic conditions and other factors described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. The foregoing review of important factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included herein and elsewhere, including the risk factors included in Endurance's most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and other documents of Endurance on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements made in this material are qualified by these cautionary statements, and there can be no assurance that the actual results or developments anticipated by Endurance will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, Endurance or its business or operations. Except as required by law, Endurance undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. The contents of any website referenced in this press release are not incorporated by reference herein. Contact: Investor Relations Phone: +1 441 278 0988 Email: investorrelations@endurance.bm This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd via Globenewswire HUG#2003818 TORONTO, ON -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- The Board of Trustees of Brookfield Canada Office Properties (TSX: BOX.UN) (NYSE: BOXC) announced a distribution of $0.1092 per trust unit payable on May 13, 2016 to holders of Trust units of record at the close of business on April 29, 2016. The distributions are declared in Canadian dollars. Registered unitholders resident in Canada will receive payment in Canadian dollars and registered unitholders resident in the United States will receive the U.S. dollar equivalent unless they request otherwise. The U.S. dollar equivalent of the distribution will be based on the Bank of Canada noon exchange rate on the record date or, if the record date falls on a weekend or holiday, on the Bank of Canada noon exchange rate of the preceding business day. Beneficial unitholders will receive payment in Canadian dollars unless they request to receive the U.S. dollar equivalent. About Brookfield Canada Office Properties Brookfield Canada Office Properties is Canada's preeminent Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). Our portfolio is comprised of 26 premier office properties totaling 20 million square feet in the downtown cores of Toronto, Calgary, and Ottawa, in addition to a development site in Calgary. Our landmark assets include Brookfield Place and First Canadian Place in Toronto, and Bankers Hall in Calgary. Further information is available at www.brookfieldcanadareit.com. Important information may be disseminated exclusively via the website; investors should consult the site to access this information. Brookfield Canada Office Properties is the flagship Canadian REIT of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $225 billion in assets under management. For more information, go to www.brookfield.com. Contact: Sherif El-Azzazi Manager, Investor Relations & Communications Tel: (416) 359-8593 Email: Email Contact BELLEVUE, WA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Esterline Technologies (NYSE: ESL) Members of the Investment Community, Esterline Technologies (NYSE: ESL) plans to announce financial results for its 2nd quarter 2016 on Thursday, May 5, 2016. Esterline will host a conference call featuring remarks by Curtis Reusser, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Bob George, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Following these remarks, there will be a question and answer session. The call is scheduled to start at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (2:00 p.m. Pacific Time) and will last approximately 45 minutes. A news release announcing the earnings results will be issued at market close on the day of the call as well. To ensure that you are on the call when it begins, we suggest that you access the call approximately 5 to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. Date: Thursday, May 5, 2016 Start Time: 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (2:00 p.m. Pacific Time) U.S. Dial-In Number: 1-877-307-0078 Outside U.S. Dial-In Number: 1-531-289-2890 Passcode: 92658389 Conference Call Host: Julie Albrecht The conference call will be replayed for one week, starting approximately one hour after the call ends. For callers within the United States, the replay number is 1-877-290-4159. For callers outside the United States, the replay number is 562-912-2627. The passcode for both of these numbers is 92658389. A live webcast and replay of the conference call also will be available on the company website at www.esterline.com. If you have any questions, please call Investor Relations at Esterline Technologies at 425-519-1872. About Esterline: Esterline Corporation is a leading worldwide supplier to the aerospace and defense industry specializing in three core areas: Avionics & Controls, Sensors & Systems, and Advanced Materials. Operations within the Avionics & Controls segment focus on high-technology electronics products for military and commercial aircraft and land- and sea-based military vehicles, secure communications equipment, systems and components, specialized medical equipment, and other industrial applications. The Sensors & Systems segment includes operations that produce high-precision temperature and pressure sensors, electrical power distribution equipment, harsh-environment connectors and other related systems principally for aerospace and defense customers. Operations within the Advanced Materials segment focus on technologies including high-temperature resistant materials and components used for a wide range of military and commercial aerospace purposes and combustible ordnance and electronic warfare countermeasure products. TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. ("Kirkland Lake Gold" or the "Company") (TSX: KGI) provides details of the First Quarter Earnings Call for 2016, advises shareholders of the date for the 2015 Annual Meeting of Shareholders and provides clarification to its press release dated April 14, 2016. Q1 2016 Earnings Results and Conference Call The Company will release its first quarter 2016 results on Monday May 16, 2016, at 7:00 am EDT and will hold a conference call to discuss these results at 11:00am EST, the same day. The Company invites you to participate via teleconference, the details of which are outlined below. Participant Dial-In Numbers Toll-Free North America: +1 (877) 291-4570; Local and International: +1 (647) 788-4919 Local from Switzerland: (0-800) 835-354; Local from the United Kingdom: (0- 800) 051-7107 Conference ID: 93207658 Replay Dial-In Numbers Local and International: +1 (416) 621-4642 Toll Free North America: +1 (800) 585-8367 Conference ID: 93207658 Replay Available Until: June 16, 2016 at 11:59PM ET Annual Meeting of Shareholders The Company will hold its Annual Meeting of Shareholders for the Stub Year of 2015 on Monday June 13, 2016 at 11:00am EDT, in Toronto. Full details including the meeting location will be made available on the Company's website (www.klgold.com), and filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR in due course. Clarification to Press Release dated April 14, 2016 The Company released its first quarter production results on Thursday April 14, 2016, and notes a grammatical error in the press release which stated that total gold production for Q1 2016 excluded 7,189 production ounces from the East Timmins operations during the first 25 days of January, 2016. As clarification, Q1 2016 of 69,464 ounces included 7,189 production ounces from the East Timmins operations. This clarification should be read in conjunction with the press release dated April 14, 2016, filed on the SEDAR profile of the Company at www.sedar.com. The corrected press release is also available on the Company's website at www.klgold.com. About the Company Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. is a Canadian focused, intermediate gold producer with assets in the historic Kirkland Lake gold camp, and east of the Timmins gold camp along the Porcupine-Destor Fault Zone, both in northeastern Ontario. The Company is currently targeting annual gold production of between 270,000 to 290,000 ounces from its cornerstone asset, the Macassa Mine Complex and the recently acquired East Timmins Operations. The Company is committed to building a sustainable mining company that is recognized as a safe and responsible gold producer with quality assets in safe mining jurisdictions. The Toronto Stock Exchange has neither reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Contacts: Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. George Ogilvie, P.Eng Chief Executive Officer +1 416-840-7884 or Toll Free: 1-866-384-2924 gogilvie@klgold.com Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. Suzette N. Ramcharan, CPIR Director of Investor Relations Direct: +1 647-361-0200; Mobile: +1 647-284-5315 sramcharan@klgold.com www.klgold.com BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - China will release a raft of data on Friday, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are Q1 figures for gross domestic product, plus March data for industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment. GDP is expected to expand 1.5 percent on quarter and 6.7 percent on year after rising 1.6 percent on quarter and 6.8 percent on year in the three months prior. Industrial production is expected to gain 6.0 percent on year, up from 5.4 percent in February. Retail sales are called higher by 10.3 percent after gaining 10.2 percent in the previous month. FAI is expected to rise 10.4 percent, up from 10.2 percent a month earlier. Japan will see final February numbers for industrial production, with little change expected from the previous reading that called for a decline of 6.2 percent on month and 1.5 percent on year. Capacity utilization was up 2.6 percent. Indonesia will provide March figures for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to fall 11.8 percent on year after shedding 11.71 percent in February. Exports are called lower by 13.92 percent after falling 7.18 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $550 million, down from $1.140 billion a month earlier. Singapore will release February data for retail sales, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.6 percent on month and 4.0 percent on year. That follows the 1.2 percent monthly contraction and the 7.5 percent yearly gain. Finally, the markets in Thailand remain closed through Monday for the Songkran Festival. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/14/16 -- Tellza Communications Inc. (TSX: TEL) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of 33% of Rightway Holdings LLC ("Rightway") from two existing shareholders (the "Vendors") for USD $5.5 Million. Rightway (http://rightwayfunding.com/) is a US based structured settlements firm which assists its clients, through a court approved process, to convert their structured settlements and lottery winnings into a lump sum payment. Of the $5.5 Million purchase price payable by Tellza, $2.0 Million will be a direct investment in working capital to enable Rightway to expand its marketing and business development initiatives. The $3.5 Million balance of the purchase price will be payable by Tellza to the Vendors, together with interest at a rate of 1.8% per annum, pursuant to a five year promissory note (the "Note"), subject to extension if not fully repaid at maturity. The Note is repayable from Tellza's 33% portion of profits of Rightway until fully repaid and will be secured by Tellza's investment in Rightway, but shall not be subject to any further recourse. Tellza's percentage ownership interest in Rightway shall be reduced to 10% if Tellza fails to deliver in full the initial $2.0 Million of purchase price within 120 days of closing. Tellza's ownership interest will increase to 43% if, for any reason, Rightway fails to earn a cumulative $15.2 Million in EBITDA(i) between 2016 to 2018. Rightway earned EBITDA(i) of $0.6 Million in 2014 and EBITDA(i) of $1.2 Million in 2015. "With the investment in Rightway, Tellza has now made a solid footprint into the Financial Product Support Service Industry. Tellza expects to continue to leverage its cash flows from its Communications business into more Financial Product Support Service businesses," said Gary Clifford, Executive Chairman. The Company's financial statements and other disclosures are available on SEDAR. The Company's corporate profile is located at www.tellza/investors. About Tellza Tellza is a Technology Company operating in the Communication market. The business is organized into three business units: Tellza Communications, Tellza Technologies and Tellza Investments. Tellza Communications is a global communications company operating under several brands: Route Dynamix, Phonetime, Tel3, and MatchcoM. Tellza Technologies provides real time big data management tools for the telecommunications market. Tellza Investments seeks portfolio investment opportunities in various market places. Tellza is a public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TEL). Caution Regarding Forward Looking Information: This press release contains forward-looking statements, which may be identified by words like "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "intends", "indicates" or similar expressions. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties. Tellza's actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors set forth in reports and other documents filed by the Company with Canadian securities regulatory authorities from time to time. See www.sedar.com which contains all securities files. (i)We define EBITDA and Cas h Profits as earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock based compensation, and interest. EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, it is a standard measure used in the telecommunications industry to assist in understanding and comparing operating results. EBITDA is reviewed regularly by management and our Board of Directors in assessing performance and in making decisions regarding the ongoing operations of the business and the ability to generate cash flows. Generally, a non-GAAP financial measure is a numerical measure of a company's performance, financial position or cash flows that either excludes or includes amounts that are not normally excluded or included in the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS. EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance nor does it have a standardized meaning under IFRS. In evaluating these measures, investors should consider that the methodology applied in calculating as such measures may differ among companies and analysts. Contacts: Tellza Communications Inc. Gary Clifford Executive Chairman +647 281 1831 gclifford@tellza.com Tellza Communications Inc. Michael Vazquez Chief Executive Officer +954 608 5058 mike@tellza.com Israeli venture capital firm Aleph Venture Capital added Aaron Rosenson as the first partner outside of the founding team. Rosenson has joined Aleph as its third equal partner from Insight Venture Partners where he was an associate responsible for identifying some of Insights most promising investments, including deals such as Docker, HelloFresh, Moat, Gainsight and Illuminate Education, led M&A strategy and business development efforts on behalf of portfolio companies, and served as an advisor to a number of CEOs. As an equal partner, he will lead investments in startups and bring them to more mature stages. Co-founded in 2013 by Eden Shochat and Michael Eisenberg, Aleph manages a $154m early stage fund partnering with Israeli entrepreneurs looking to build companies that are scalable global change agents. The firm has made 10 investments including Wework, Windward, Nexar, Meerkat, Colu, Freightos and Honeybook. Most recent investment was in Lemonade, the peer to peer insurance startup. FinSMEs 14/04/2016 Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN), an Atlanta, Georgia-based worldwide provider of payment technology services, completed the acquisition of eWAY (Web Active Corporation), a payment gateway provider in Australia and New Zealand. The amount the deal was not disclosed. Established in 1998 by CEO and founder Matt Bullock, eWAY is a global merchant and omnichannel payment services provider, allowing businesses to accept secure credit card payments 24/7 from customers around the world. It allows businesses to accept and process payments online and face to face with a full suite of eCommerce and SmartPOS payment solutions linking to all major banks in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. The company currently has over 25,000 active merchants. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with approximately 4,500 employees worldwide, Global Payments is a Fortune 1000 Company providing payment technology services to clients in 29 countries throughout North America, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and Brazil. FinSMEs 14/04/2016 The European Investment Fund (EIF) and development agency PPM Oost are launching a second 200m venture and growth capital fund-of-funds for SMEs in the Netherlands. The Dutch Venture Initiative II (DVI-II) will invest in funds investing in fast growing and/or innovative companies. The Fund-of-funds will target companies in sectors like ICT, clean-tech, med-tech, renewable energy and life sciences, through primary investments in Dutch oriented Venture Capital funds. Similar to the investment strategy of the predecessor initiative DVI-I, DVI-II will invest in venture and growth capital funds (including hybrid debt/equity funds). DVI-II will hold a first closing of 200m and will target up to 20 investments in funds in the next 4 to 5 years. After the first closing in March 2016, fundraising will continue with other institutional investors aiming to reach a final size of 300m. The contribution of PPM Oost to DVI-II is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Netherlands Investment Agency (NIA). FinSMEs 14/04/2016 Nexthink, a Lausanne, Switzerland-based provider of End-user IT Analytics platform, raised $40m in venture capital funding. The round was led by Highland Europe, with participation from the Bertarelli familys Waypoint Capital and existing investors Auriga Partners and Galeo Ventures. The company, which has raised $65m to date, plans to use the funds to expand its global presence, including the recent opening of its US sales headquarters in Boston, and increase hiring across all roles and functions, especially sales and engineering (read here). Founded in Switzerland in 2004 by Pedro Bados, CEO/President, Nexthink provides an End-user IT Analytics platform for security, ITSM and transformation. The companys software provides enterprise-wide, real-time analytics covering all endpoints, users, applications and network connections as well as visualization of IT infrastructure and service delivery. The solution allows IT departments to connect, communicate and collaborate to optimize endpoint security, operations, support and workplace transformation projects and extend help desk, server monitoring, APM (application performance management) and PCLM (PC lifecycle management) tools. Today, the company has over 600 customers worldwide. FinSMEs 14/04/2016 Onfido, a London, UK-based identity verification and background checking provider, closed a $25m Series B funding round. Backers included Idinvest Partners, Wellington Partners and CrunchFund. The company intends to use the funds to scale its U.S. operations as well as continue to develop its machine-learning based technology. Founded in 2012 by Husayn Kassai, CEO, and Eamon Jubbawy, COO, Onfido delivers next-generation background checks, allowing global businesses to run adverse history searches such as Criminal or Driving Checks to verify anyone in the world within seconds via machine-learning technology. Today, the company works with over 1,000 clients globally in North and South America, Europe and Asia. It also has offices in San Francisco. FinSMEs 14/04/2016 RefleXion Medical, a Hayward, CA-based medical equipment company developing biology-guided radiotherapy system for targeted, personalized cancer treatment, closed a $46m Series B round of funding. The round was led by new investor KCK Group, a family investment fund, with participation from existing investors Pfizer Venture Investments, Venrock and Sofinnova Partners, RefleXions largest shareholder. In conjunction with the financing, Nael Kassar and Greg Garfield from KCK Group will join the RefleXion Board of Directors. The company intends to use the proceeds to expanding its Engineering, Regulatory and Commercial organizations. Led by Dr. Samuel Mazin, Co-Founder/President and inventor of core technology, RefleXion provides a biology-guided radiotherapy system (BgRT) that utilizes both anatomic (Computed Tomography) and functional (Positron Emission Tomography) imaging data to guide personalized radiotherapy. Delivering targeted treatment based on the patients individual biology, PET-CT guided radiotherapy has the potential to deliver a higher dose of therapeutic radiation to cancerous lesions while sparing surrounding healthy tissue. In addition to improve treatment efficacy for primary lesions and track multiple tumors, the RefleXion biology-guided radiotherapy system may also enable several applications of precision medicine including the use of novel PET tracers to adapt treatment based on relevant biological tumor characteristics such as tumor hypoxia, cellular proliferation, DNA synthesis and genetic markers. FinSMEs 14/04/2016 The Hrithik Roshan-Kangana Rananut legal spat, which came to public attention in March this year, shows little sign of fizzling out. Just a day after reports that the Mumbai polices cyber crime cell had traced the fake email ID among the many points of contention in the fight between the two actors to a location in the US, Kangana has fired another salvo through her lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee. On the offensive In a new letter of complaint to the Cyber Crime Cell on Wednesday, 13 April, Kangana has alleged some police personnel are giving loose statements to the media and in the process tarnishing her name, image and reputation. Among these false statements, Kangana says, are those about her being summoned to the department, and about the summons letter being emailed to her on 7 April. The police department has been asked by Kanganas lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee to immediately issue a clarification in this regard. What Kangana has to say Kangana, as mentioned in this letter to the deputy commissioner of police M Raj Kumar, Cyber Police Station, has denied using any laptop to communicate with any alleged impostor. (In Hrithiks complaint, the actor has said that Kangana was communicating with someone operating a fake email ID under the assumption that she was chatting with Hrithik himself). Kanganas letter questions on what grounds has the Cyber Crime Cell issued a statement claiming that they have asked her to hand over her laptop, going on to add: It therefore appears that some anonymous police officer from your department is leaking such news to help Hrithik Roshan in image cleaning whilst thereby making malafide and mischievous efforts to prove to the world that my client has been communicating with some impostor. Kanganas letter also asks that such immoral, unethical and illegal actions be probed by the department and disciplinary action be initiated against such officer(s). What prompted this missive? It was on 5 March that Hrithik filed an FIR with the Cyber Crime Cell of the Mumbai police against an unknown person, for creating a fake email id in his name and misleading his fans, including Kangana. On 2 April, the police withdrew its first witness summons to Kangana, asking her to fix a date, time and place of her convenience to record her statement. But on 7 April, Kanganas lawyer sent a letter to the Mumbai police chief seeking the arrest of her Krrish 3 and Kites co-star for willfully imputing a lack of chastity to her. Siddiquee then wrote a second letter to Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar, seeking disciplinary action against the senior inspector of the Cyber Crime police station, Crime Branch, for not furnishing a copy of the FIR dated 5 March and Hrithiks statement, as sought by his client. Allegations and counter-allegations The letter sent by Kangana on 13 April to the Cyber Cell, states that Hrithik had as per his own claim information about the alleged impostor in May 2014. Therefore, if he filed an informal complaint with the Cyber Cell after a delay of seven months in December 2014, stating that a lot of people are communicating with the impostor under the assumption that it was Hrithik, then the police should have investigated the matter as per the provisions of Section 154 of CrPc. Further, they should have summoned other witnesses and concluded the case. In his complaint of December 2014, Hrithik had alleged that an unidentified person had created a fake email account in his name and had been misleading his fans as well as people from the film industry. He requested the cops "to take corrective steps as well as block the fake email account". The actor had also stated that a young girl has sent a lot of photographs and film clips to the fake email address believing it to be his, and the material, if used wrongly, could ruin both his and the girls reputation. However, Kanganas letter of 13 April states that Hrithik only gave her name as a witness on the date of filing the FIR (5 Mrch 2016) after a duration of almost two years. Then it is prima facie evident that the alleged impostor as per the claim of Hrithik Roshan, was only dealing with my client Kangana Ranaut and no one else, it adds. Why wasnt action taken earlier? Kanganas lawyer further reasons that when Hrithik learnt about Kangana sending pictures and emails to the said impostor (believing she was sending those to Hrithik), then he should have immediately, in May 2014, taken the details of the said impostor from Kangana and communicated the same to the police. Instead, the letter alleges that Hrithik failed to do so and did not stop Kangana from sending mails, photos and videos to his correct email address (which he gave her in May 2014). Siddiquee claims that he (Hrithik) saved all such material collected from my client and is now using the same to threaten my client and blackmail her. Kangana has further alleged that Hrithik hacked into her emails and blocked her account more than six months ago, and he then with malafide intentions and ulterior motives lodged a FIR after almost two years and named my client (Kangana) and her sister (Rangoli) as a witness therein to cause harassment to them and conveniently clear his image by falsely circulating messages that my client Kangana Ranaut was dealing with an impostor. If theres an impostor who has Kanganas photos it would have come out by now. Where are those photographs? Siddiquees letter asks. An impostor is a fraud and cheat who by now would have used and misused those photos. Kangana and her lawyer have now asked the Cyber Crime Cell to hand over a copy of Hrithiks FIR and all related documents to enable her to determine the truth. Neither Hrithik nor his lawyer was available for comment. It has been over a month since Balika Vadhu actress Pratyusha Banerjee allegedly killed herself, but there is still no clarity on the reasons, or the sequence of events. Amid several claims and press conferences from Pratyusha's friends, boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh, who was booked by the police for abetment of suicide, filed a petition for anticipatory bail in the Bombay High Court and was granted interim relief. Meanwhile, several claims have been made as the reason behind Pratyusha's suicide. Apart from financial strains and depression, it was alleged that Rahul Raj Singh's affair with TV actress Saloni Sharma, who is allegedly Singh's ex-girlfriend, caused Pratyusha much grief. Pratyusha's friends Kamya Punjabi, TV producer Vikas Gupta and wedding planner Leena Dias have claimed that Saloni used to harrass and abuse Pratyusha. However, in an interview with Mumbai Mirror, she has come clean on her stance. "Contrary to what is being written, it wasn't me but Pratyusha who was the other woman in Rahul's life. She knew about our affair and manipulated Rahul to leave me, urging him to even break all professional ties," she said. She further stated that she met Rahul 5 years ago and invested in two event management companies with him. However, they started dating only in the last 3 years of their association, and broke up with him after she learnt that he has started seeing Pratyusha. She would only meet Rahul to collect her remaining dues. Saloni claims that it is in one of those meetings that an inebriated Pratyusha barged into the Kandivili flat that she shared with Rahul, and abused Saloni, demanding she leave immediately. This was followed by a scuffle between the three in the lobby of the apartment. Saloni filed a complaint about this Bangur Nagar police station in Goregaon, but was asked to withdraw her complaint by the couple as well as the police officers. That was the last time she met Pratyusha. "I didn't think it's in good taste to talk ill of the dead. But after these allegations I had no option but to speak up," said Saloni to Mumbai Mirror, about why she remained silent all this time. Read the full interview here. It may be called Sarbjit, but the trailer for Omung Kumar's film shows that it as much about Dalbir Kaur, and her fight for justice, as it is about Sarabjit Singh himself. The trailer starts off with the moment when the lives of Sarabjit (Randeep Hooda) and his family changed irrevocably the time he claimed to have crossed over the (unmarked) Pakistan border in an inebriated state and was captured by Pakistani forces. We see his family hunting frantically for him, unaware that he has already been placed under arrest, beaten and tortured. A 'confession' that he is responsible for the Lahore and Faisalabad terror attacks of 1990 is extracted from him, and when his family finally hears of him, it is from a Pakistani prison, facing a death sentence. We see vignettes of Sarabjit's happy days with his family sister Dalbir (Aishwarya Rai), wife (Richa Chadda) and their little daughter and have a sense of how limited their time together is, how carefree and unaware they are of the tragedy that is to colour their lives. The trailer is a marvelous showcase for the histrionic skills of its cast. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan transforms herself from beauty queen to a woman struck by grief but not willing to give up the fight for her brother's freedom, and life. Her fight ages her, but does not break her. A quibble if any, would be that her accent sounds a little unconvincing and she relies on shouting her dialogues, veins in her throat popping, during the dramatic moments. She is much better in the quieter scenes in the trailer, when she has to let her face do the talking. Richa Chadda gets a smaller portion of screen time, but is impressive, if only for the haunting, expressive quality she brings to the frame. But the revelation the trailer unveils is Randeep Hooda. Reports of his startling physical transformation to play the incarcerated Sarabjit, have been doing the rounds for a while now, but to see him in action is at a whole different level. We'll let you discover the power of his performance for yourself. Sarabjit Singh's story, as well as Dalbir's fight to free him, makes for dramatic telling. Omung Kumar could perhaps have done well to underplay some of the more filmi touches like the dialogues for instance and let the tale enthrall viewers on its own steam. Still, the trailer looks very promising, and hints at a film that will make for riveting viewing. Take a look: https://youtu.be/q1kYpWU7apI FRANKFURT German banks and their chief supervisor, the European Central Bank, don't speak the same language -- in most cases literally. Almost all German banks directly supervised by the ECB have chosen to communicate with the watchdog in German rather than English, the ECB's working language, according to information obtained by Reuters from the ECB and the lenders. The refusal to speak English, the lingua franca of international finance, illustrates continued resistance from the euro zone's most economically powerful country to the ECB's project to establish itself as the bloc's main bank supervisor -- one of the pillars of Europe's response to the financial crisis that began in 2008. "To a certain extent it has to do with the sense of importance of the German banking system," a German corporate lawyer who works with banks said. "They say, 'We're the biggest jurisdiction in the euro zone and the seat of the ECB - why can't the ECB communicate in German with us?'" The ECB and its Italian president, Mario Draghi, have come under renewed criticism in Germany over the central bank's cheap-money policy. German lenders, equally, resent instructions from Frankfurt and many hope that maintaining German as the language for communication will give them the upper hand in dealing with supervisors. "We outsource the risk of a wrong translation to the ECB," a German bank executive said. Banks have the right to choose the language in which they communicate with the ECB. English, the language of international business, has been the natural choice for most of them across the euro zone. In Germany, however, English has been selected by just as few as three, including Deutsche Bank, which operates in more than 70 countries and has a British chief executive, and the local subsidiary of Sweden's SEB. By contrast, just 14 of the remaining 107 banks supervised by the ECB in other euro zone countries opted for their local language. Part of the reason for picking German has to do with the domestic or even regional focus of many German banks, whose staff may not feel comfortable drafting highly sensitive documents in a foreign language. "We communicate in German because we are a German bank," Hans-Joerg Vetter, chief executive of regional lender LBBW, said. "We make use of the legal opportunities we have." But this is not the whole story because even some of the more internationally oriented firms have opted for their local language. "You want it in German so that you understand all the nuances and so that you can challenge it in court in your language," said the German corporate lawyer, who asked for anonymity because of his sensitive bank dealings. "Although, it's good to see the English original because there may be errors in the translation." Their case for choosing German might even be strengthened if Britain decides to leave the European Union at a June referendum as this would erode the status of English in European politics. VOCAL CRITICS German banks have been among the most vocal critics of the ECB since it took over supervision of the euro zone's largest lenders in late 2014, with the aim of creating a single watchdog for the currency bloc after a raft of bank collapses during the financial crisis. One of them, state-backed Landeskreditbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, even tried to escape the ECB's supervision altogether. The case -- in German -- is still pending before the European Court of Justice. Germany's own financial watchdog Bafin has also criticised the ECB for overburdening small German banks with requests for data and the central bank's project to launch a euro-zone wide loan database has caused a backlash in the country. The banks' insistence on using German is also causing some trouble to the watchdogs themselves as at least some members of each ECB's supervisory team -- typically the coordinator -- are not from the same country as the bank they watch. "It's a huge headache," one supervisor said. "I can't be constantly asking my colleagues and the translation service just takes too long sometime." For this reason some banks allow staff-level communication with the supervisor to take place in English, for instance for the upcoming stress tests, but they still expect official documents to be in German. An ECB spokeswoman said native speakers on supervisory teams can help colleagues who are not fluent, while the institution also uses internal and external translators, as well as interpreters for more formal proceedings. (Additional reporting by Andreas Kroener; Editing by Mark Heinrich) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. MONTE CARLO Andy Murray avoided following Novak Djokovic out of the Monte Carlo Masters exit door after surviving a scare against local favourite Benoit Paire to reach the quarter-finals with a 2-6 7-5 7-5 victory on Thursday. A day after world number one Djokovic suffered a stunning defeat by 55th-ranked Czech Jiri Vesely, Murray looked in trouble against Paire before subduing his opponent to set up a meeting with Canadian Milos Raonic. World number two Murray was 5-4 down in the third set when Paire cracked under pressure and lost the remaining three games to hand victory to the Briton. "I panicked. It's the biggest disappointment of my career," said Paire, who won the first set easily and was two breaks up in the second before Murray fought back. Eight-times Monte Carlo champion Rafa Nadal was made to work hard by Dominic Thiem before advancing to the last eight 7-5 6-3 after the Austrian wasted 15 of 16 break points in the opening set. The Spaniard will next face Stan Wawrinka after the Swiss, who won the claycourt Masters in 2014, demolished Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-1 6-2. "From the start I was very strict with myself. I had to keep my tactics, be patient, attack him whenever I had the opportunity," said fourth seed Wawrinka. "My concentration was very good. This is important against Gilles. From the start I needed to dominate and be very present on the court. I succeeded in doing that." Third seed Roger Federer, back in action after a 10-week layoff, eased past Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2 6-4. The Swiss will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after he beat fellow Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6-4 6-4. France's Gael Monfils, the 13th seed, ended the run of Djokovic's conqueror Vesely with a 6-1 6-2 win. (Writing by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ed Osmond) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra on Thursday said that he didn't need Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to enhance his life. "I did not need Priyanka to enhance my life, I think I had enough. My parents gave me enough," said Vadra. In an exclusive interview with ANI, Vadra spoke on various issues ranging from his nationalistic values to how the Modi government at the Centre "will witness a major revolt" in the near future. Vadra has been quite conspicuous off late on social media with his Facebook posts on important political and social issues. Refuting rumours about him leaving the country, Vadra said, "I am born and brought up here, would never leave my country, no pressure, even if I am humiliated. No matter what the government says, I have the ability to sustain and to absorb. I have a very strong and good family which gives me strength." In my time 50-60% was enough, now I tell my children nothing less than 90% is acceptable: Robert Vadra pic.twitter.com/1URvOLPlhb ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 No matter if I am in politics or not, I write on what I believe are sensitive issues on social media: Robert Vadra pic.twitter.com/LznYEht0bB ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 I have a very strong and very good family. No matter what I read about myself I know the truth: Robert Vadra pic.twitter.com/2GZpRPsPxc ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 I did not need Priyanka to enhance my life, I think I had enough. My parents gave me enough: Robert Vadra pic.twitter.com/MuDSuzUa85 ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 To a question that has been asked umpteen number of times whether he would take the plunge into active politics Vadra said, "I would not say never, lets see what future has in store for me." Vadra, in the past, has campaigned for his brother-in-law and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and party chief Sonia Gandhi but he has never addressed a rally. "When people will call for me, when they think I can make some change, then only will I think of joining politics. I understand my responsibilities. I know with which family I am associated, what they have done for generations. I have to make sure that I respect it." Vadra, who is under scanner for his land deals in Haryana, asserted that the people of the nation are wise enough to comprehend the veracity of the present circumstances enveloping the country, Robert Vadra on Thursday said that in the near future the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government "will witness a major revolt." "I wish the government all the best, but I think people will revolt against it as they know what is right and what is wrong," he said. He further said, "We are a diverse nation and have to be neutral in all the spheres and treat people equally regardless of their religion. We have to learn to accept all sorts of opinions." A one-man commission is probing Robert Vadra's land deals in Haryana. A one-man commission is probing Robert Vadra's land deals in Haryana. The CAG had blamed Haryana's previous Congress government, led by then chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, for showing undue favours to Robert Vadra, in his multi-million rupee controversial land deal with realty giant DLF. Adding that the youth of India cannot be distracted and "we have to listen to them", Vadra said, "I dont say go against the nation. I am a proud Indian and I will abide by the norms but at the same time I have thoughts, I have ideology. I have the right to decide (what is) wrong and right. We cant dictate to the youth. They are our future. We have to listen to them, understand them but we cannot threaten them or intimidate them." While the BJP reacted sharply saying "a people's revolt" had already happened in 2014 when the "corrupt" UPA government was voted out of power, Congress declined to comment. The controversial businessman, whose land deals are being probed by BJP governments in Haryana and Rajasthan, said people will soon realise when their day-to-day life was better and they were happy. "As far as communal issues are concerned, we (country) take all religions along." He said he can "absorb" a lot and people will get to know the truth about him. "The nation should know the truth about me and I think in time people will know," he said. At the AICC briefing, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma chose to ignore questions over the interview. BJP attacked Vadra saying the government was "pro-common man" and the only people feeling the heat were those who had committed "fraud" and made money at the expense of poor farmers. "As far as people's revolt is concerned, it has already happened. It happened in 2014 when people threw Congress out of the power due to its corruption and mal-governance," party's national secretary Shrikant Sharma said. In a reference to Vadra's other comments, the BJP leader said he was expressing "his anguish with his in-laws" and his attack on the government could be a ruse. New Delhi: State-run HAL is in talks with Swedish aerospace major Saab, makers of single engine Gripen fighter planes, to collaborate on the upgraded version of the indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft 'Tejas' which will replace IAF's aging fleet of MiG combat jets. Senior defence sources said that while the first round of talks have been completed, a high-level team from Saab will arrive in India next week to carry forward the discussion. "India needs about 300 aircraft of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) type. Saab's Gripen is a good fighter jet and hence exploratory talks are on to see if they can be a technical collaborator for the upgraded Tejas," they said. The defence ministry has set 2018 deadline for making the first upgraded Tejas aircraft. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), manufacturer of Tejas, is likely to hand over the fourth aircraft to IAF by June end. The four aircraft will make up for the first squadron of IAF which will be used for training and familarisation. Rather than waiting for LAC Mk II, IAF had decided to go in with an upgraded version of the existing Tejas with over 40 modifications. IAF currently plans to acquire 120 Tejas aircraft, with 100 of these having major modifications. The force wants Active Electrically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Unified Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite, mid-air refueling capacity and beyond the vision range missiles. As per the production plan, six aircraft will be made this year (2015-16) and HAL will subsequently scale it up to eight and 16 aircraft per year. Saab had offered JAS39 Gripen-E light fighter to India when the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender was announced. The bid was finally won by French firm Dassault Aviation. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had a few years ago sought Saab's help in the Mark-II version of Tejas, which will eventually be inducted into the air force. Saab is likely to insist on a government-to-government (G2G) deal if they step in to assist India in developing and manufacturing a light fighter plane. The Swedish aerospace major has already submitted a proposal to make Gripen in India under the 'Make in India' initiative. PTI By Manupriya There are more environmental conflicts in India than any other country, and more clashes are over water (27%) than any other cause, according to the recently released Global Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas). India has 222 listed conflicts in proportion to population, there are many more followed by Colombia and Nigeria with 116 and 71 conflicts, respectively, according to the EJAtlas, an interactive map of 1,703 global ecological conflicts, categorised by cause, such as water management, waste management, fossil fuels and climate justice, and biodiversity conservation. With India currently facing the worst crisis in a decade and on course to becoming water-scare within nine years, as IndiaSpend reported last month, the scale of the conflicts listed in the Atlas further indicate a worsening situation. The EJAtlas is a work-in-progress and hopes to add more cases over the coming years. Most water conflicts in Himachal Pradesh, most over hydroelectric projects The conflicts over water are most evident in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, and most are related to hydroelectric projects, often planned without considering needs and consent of local communities. Similar conflicts have been recorded in Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Orissa and Sikkim, among other states. There are other kinds of water-management conflicts. In Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, locals objected to a municipal corporation partnership with a private company to build a pipeline and augment water supply, because prices were to be decided by the company. Another example involves use of groundwater by Coca Cola, a beverages company, involved in five conflicts with local communities protesting bottling plants (one in Jaipur, Rajasthan, one in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, one in Plachimada, Kerala, and two in Mehdiganj, near Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh). Dams are persistent sites of conflicts, especially when they are being built and commissioned, said Sailen Routray, an independent researcher based in Bhubaneshwar. He has worked extensively on water issues and conflicts. Almost all inter-state conflicts in India over river waters surround dams, and the consequent water allocations to warring states, said Routray. There should be no more investments in big- and medium-sized dams in India. Similarly, work should stop on the river interlinking plan, as this plan has the potential to increase inter-state water conflicts manifold. Other environmental conflicts arise from expanding economy Most Indian conflicts listed in the EJAtlas appear to be a consequence of the countrys expanding economy. For example, the raging underground fires in the Jharia coal mines in Jharkhand an exclusive storehouse of prime coking coal were first seen a century ago, started spreading in the 1970s and, currently, more than 70 mine fires are underway, polluting air, water and land and devastating the health of locals. Several conflicts centre around garbage dumping sites, such as Deonar in Mumbai, Sultanpur and Bandhwari villages near the national capital region, Kodungaiyur near Chennai, Eloor in Kerala and villages around Bangalore. Across India, more than 3 million truckloads of garbage is dumped without being treated, as IndiaSpend has reported, a manifestation of growing urbanisation. Conflicts have also erupted at construction sites of new airports, seaports and other big infrastructure projects. The common theme running through most conflicts is loss of right to land or livelihoods of local communities. More conflicts in India than the Atlas lists Although the EJAtlas lists 220 environmental conflicts in India, there are many more. You should realize that 220 is in proportion to population, said Joan Martinez-Alier, Professor of Economics and Economic History at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and director of the EJAtlas project. India has more cases than any other country because good work has been done on the EJAtlas by our partners at JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) and also obviously because India is the country with the largest population in the world. India is average in terms of environmental injustice and conflicts, we would say, said Martinez-Alier. The situation regarding environmental injustice is bad overall. He attributed conflicts to a growth in social metabolism, prompted by economic expansion. Materials and energy are extracted from new places and transported far away. Mining expands and reaches new frontiers. Hydroelectricity expands and reaches villages in the Himalaya, said Martinez-Alier. The high environmental costs in states that supply raw material Environmental conflicts are global, but India differs from other developing countries in South America or Africa on one crucial point: External trade. Despite being a large country, India does not import or export too much, said Martinez-Alier. Most of the extraction of materials in India is for internal consumption. But there are conflicts between states. Sometimes, about water rights. And, sometimes because some states (like Odisha, Jharkhand) become providers of raw materials for the rest of the country at very high internal social and environmental costs. A comparison of the states shows that some of them have indeed borne a larger share of environmental conflict. The national green tribunals successes arent enough to stem the tide In recognition of rising environmental disputes, the Government of India in 2010 established a National Green Tribunal to serve as a fast-track court for such disputes, but the tide of environmental conflicts is not ebbing. NGT has played a good role (in delivering environmental justice), said Swapan Kumar Patra, one of the Indian contributors to the EJAtlas. In an unrelated paper, Patra and V V Krishna, professor at JNU and the other Indian contributor to EJAtlas wrote: Since its inception, NGT has given many fast-track judgments in various cases and has passed several orders to the respective authorities like ban on illegal sand-mining, against noise pollution in Delhi, preservation of biodiversity of Western Ghat Mountains, wildlife protection in Kaziranga National Park in Assam, suspended many environmental clearance and so on. However, despite NGTs intervention and rising participation from affected locals, environmental injustice in India is on the rise. The problem lies in the way our governments perceive environmental issues, said S Ravi Rajan, faculty member in the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz. The Indian government (present and past) has failed to understand that economic growth is not inimical to environmental justice. In India, the laws are good, with a robust rights regime, and yet we have failed to deliver. China, in comparison, has a weaker rights regime, but they seem to have done a much better job at bringing down environmental abuses than India has. The question, however, is not how to avoid the conflicts, said Martinez-Alier, but how to profit from the awareness of so many conflicts in order to move to an economy which is more sustainable and also more socially just. (Manupriya is a freelance science writer based in Bangalore) (IndiaSpend.com is a data-driven, public-interest journalism non-profit) Jammu: The Armies of India and China on Thursday expressed resolve to maintain peace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as their senior commanders held two border meets in Ladakh region as part of efforts to build cordiality in ties. Both the armies agreed to uphold the treaties and agreements signed between the governments of the two sides during two ceremonial Border Personnel Meetings (BPM) in Eastern Ladakh today, a defence spokesman said here. The BPMs, held on the occasion of 'harvest festival', took place in Chushul and Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) in Eastern Ladakh, the spokesman said. "The delegation parted amidst feeling of friendship and commitment towards enhancing the existing cordial relations and maintaining peace along the LAC. Both sides also sought to build on the mutual feeling to uphold the treaties and agreement signed between the governments of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquility along the LAC," he said. The Indian delegations were led by Brigadier Rajender Rai in Chushul and by Col BS Uppal in DBO. The Chinese delegations were led by senior Col Wang Jun Xian in Chushul and by Lt Col Duan Yu Gangin in DBO. The ceremonial border personnel meeting was marked by saluting the national flags by the delegation members of both the country. It was followed by the ceremonial address by both delegation leaders which was composed of exchange of greetings and wishes and reflected the mutual desire of maintaining and improving relations at functional level at the border, he said. A public meeting in Nagpur saw high drama as JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar was attacked with slippers and shoes as he began a speech in the city. The incident took place at the Dhanwate Hall in the city, where he addressed a gathering, as per a report in The Hindu. About 15 men entered the hall and shouted slogans, after which they were evicted, according to the report. After he was attacked, Kanhaiya Kumar remarked, "What sort of patriotism is displayed by throwing slippers?," as reported by India Today. During his speech, he also said that Nagpur is Ambedkar's land, not Golwalkar's. He also said that the Sangh headquarters is not the Parliament, and the Manu Smriti is not the Constitution, according to the report in The Hindu. Earlier, some members of the Bajrang Dal also attacked Kanhaiya Kumar's car when he arrived in Nagpur, according to the India Today report. At the speech, members of the right-wing organisation also stormed the venue and shouted slogans of 'Kanhaiya Kumar Murdabad,' according to a Zee News report. Kanhaiya Kumar, facing sedition charges for allegedly organising a programme commemorating Afzal Guru, is currently on bail. This is not the first time the controversial JNUSU president has faced physical attacks. In February, he had been attacked by a group of lawyers when he was being produced in court in Delhi in relation to the sedition case. An all party meet in Kerala, held in the backdrop of the Kollam tragedy, on Thursday decided not to impose a total ban on fireworks display during festivities but advocated adherence to strict controls and checks and avoiding high-decibel crackers. The meet was called by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to discuss whether or not to ban fireworks display during festivities in places of worship in the aftermath of the 10 April Puttingal Devi Temple fireworks tragedy at Kollam which left 114 people dead and more than 350 injured. "It was not a ban on fireworks that was necessary, but a strict control and checks during its display was the opinion which emerged at the all party meet," Chandy told reporters. The meet suggested avoiding high decibel crackers and instead encourage colourful low-intensity fireworks, he said. However, the Chief Minister said under no circumstances competitive fireworks would be allowed and warned of stern action against those indulging in such acts. On the demand for a CBI probe into the tragedy, Chandy said the government has an open mind on the matter. While banning high-decibel crackers, the Kerala High Court had on 12 April asked the state government to examine whether a CBI probe is necessary to go into the temple tragedy. Chandy said the meeting was of the opinion that as the Crime Branch probe was progressing, it can continue under court's supervision. "If in the course of time, the court wants a probe by any other agency, including CBI, the government is ready to co-operate," he added. State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, who was also present, said directions had been given to raid illegal cracker units and godowns storing fireworks in excess of the quantity sanctioned. Similarly, stern action would be taken if banned chemical mix were found used for making crackers, he added. To a question on growing demand for a total ban on fireworks display in the wake of Puttingal temple tragedy, Chennithala said "We cannot ban fireworks. But, it would be allowed with control. "The present laws are sufficient to ensure a strict control the fireworks. It has to be implemented strictly and that we will ensure," Chennithala added. On the Home Secretary's recommendation for action against Kollam City police Commissioner and two other police officials, Chennithala said the government had forwarded the Secretary's report to the DGP T P Senkumar for opinion. "The government will take necessary action after getting the opinion of the DGP," he added. Meanwhile, a three-member committee of state Ministers visited the Paravoor accident site for an on-the-spot inspection to assess the damage caused there and review the steps taken for rehabilitation of victims. Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash, Labour Minister Shibu Baby John and Health Minister V S Sivakumar are the members of the committee. Prakash later told reporters that the local people said the government should ensure that their damaged houses were repaired before the onset of the monsoon. The government would take steps in this regard, he said. Meanwhile, according to The Times of India report, the Kerala Dewasom Board had refused to ban firecrackers at any of the over 1,200 temples it controls. On Thursday the Kerala HC gave the conditional nod for the Thrissur Poorum event. According to CNN IBN, the court said that there should be a restriction on high decibel fireworks. But they banned the use of certain chemicals in fireworks. The Kerala Home Minister said that they will ensure all norms are followed for the Thrissur event. Kerala Government will not support complete ban of fireworks: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy pic.twitter.com/gXIEWCVuYa ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 State Govt will approach Kerala High Court to get relaxation to conduct Thrissur Pooram:Chief Minister Oommen Chandy pic.twitter.com/9kQnIUjwII ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 We have decided to formulate funds for helping people affected by #Kollam fire tragedy: Kerala HM Ramesh Chennithala pic.twitter.com/PmCbYNuGcl ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 It has been unanimously decided,this incident be declared a national calamity- Kerala HM Ramesh Chennithala #Kollam pic.twitter.com/piOxKk1iHO ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 With inputs from PTI Born into an untouchable caste, educated himself and went on to study law in England and America; became leader of the untouchables during the Raj; opposed Congress, which he saw as representative of the upper caste; pressured by Gandhi into pact with Congress in 1932; instrumental in drafting Indian Constitution; served as Law Minister in Nehrus Cabinet , but finally distanced himself from the government; shortly before his death, converted to Buddhism in anger to Hindu caste practices , and urged his followers to do the same -Index: Page 243 The Idea of India by Sunil Khilnani Sunil Khilnani further writes in his book, Born to parents of untouchable Mahar caste in Maharashtra...who lifted himself out of the near universal illiteracy of his caste to gain doctorates from Columbia and London universities, pass the bar at Grays Inn, and become the leader of Indias most oppressed groups. A thinker of lucid and focused anger, and one of the main drafters of Indias Constitution, he was until his death in 1956 a perpetual thorn to the upper-caste pieties of the nationalist elite. 14 April will be celebrated as Dr BR Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary. United Nations (UN) has also decided to celebrate Dr B R Ambedkar's birth anniversary at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday. As India celebrates the anniversary of the great social thinker and reformer, here are some glimpses of the major milestones in the journey extraordinaire of the man who continues to inspire millions to struggle for their rights. Life and times of BR Ambedkar Born on 14 April 14, 1891 in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, to Ramji Sankpal and Bhimabai Murbadkar Sankpal, BR Ambedkar was the fourteenth and last child of his parents. Born to the family of the untouchable Mahar caste, his struggle began at a very early age. A detailed analysis of Ambedkars life on the website of Columbia University reads, When Bhimrao's father retired from his career with the British Army in 1894, he settled for a time in Dapoli (in Ratnagiri District). The young Bhimrao had his earliest education there." At Dapoli in Bombay Presidency, however, there was a government-aided school, and the elder Ambedkar insisted his boys be allowed to attend on the ground that he was an army officer. It was finally arranged that they and four other "untouchables" might go to the school on the condition that they stay in a room by themselves and never come in contact with the caste children, and above all that they never take a drink from the school water supply. Those terms were accepted, and the future Doctor of Philosophy of Morning side Heights had his first conscious experience in ostracism and in learning at the same time. He was then 6 years old, reads a report published by New York Times, 30 November, 1932. The same report says, "His second experience was at Satara, where he was the only untouchable pupil. He was allowed to sit in the same room with other boys, but always on the floor by himself in a remote corner. None could play with him or speak to him. At the age of 13 he went to the government high school at [sic] Elphinstone, becoming its [one] untouchable student. Here also he was ostracised, but was allowed to sit alone on a back bench. By this time his abilities with his lessons began to attract attention." Dhananjay Keer in his book Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission writes, "One day it so happened that the class teacher called upon Bhim to come to the black board to solve an example. Instantaneously, there was an uproar in the class. The caste Hindu children used to keep their tiffin-boxes behind the blackboard. Since they feared that their food would be polluted by Bhim's presence near the board, they dashed to the blackboard and hurled their tiffin-boxes aside before Bhim could reach and touch the blackboard. In 1907, on passing his matriculation after facing a host of prejudices, Ambedkar went to Elphinstone College. Meanwhile the Gaekwad of Baroda decided to offer scholarships to send students for higher education at Columbia University. Young Ambedkar grabbed this three-year scholarship and joined the department of political science at Columbia University as a post-graduate student. There he met John Dewey; one of the most influential proponents of the concept democracy and was greatly influenced by him. In October 1916, Ambedkar was admitted to Gray's Inn for Law and subsequently to the London School of Economics and Political Science. Politics of Change His political ideas started taking concrete shape since his early twenties. In 1920, he started a Marathi weekly called "Mooknayak". According to Dhananjay Keer, in the first issue of the magazine he called India a "home of inequality," and described the Hindu society as "a tower which had several storeys without a ladder or an entrance. One was to die in the storey in which one was born." The Depressed Classes must be saved "from perpetual slavery, poverty, and ignorance"; herculean efforts must be made "to awaken them to their disabilities." In 1920, Dr Ambedkars fight against the caste oppression took a major turn and came on national stage when he addressed a depressed classes conference in Mangaon in Kolhapur. He emerged as the national leader for the depressed class of the Indian society. In 1924, Ambedkar founded the "Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha" with the aim of mobilizing the depressed classes. Even after being nominated in 1926 as member of the Bombay Legislative Council, he carried on his fight for the rights of the depressed classes and in December 1927, while addressing the second depressed classes conference in Mahad, he famously burnt a copy of Manusmriti, a religious text. The year 1932 marked a major shift in the politics of India when Ambedkar demanded separate electorates for depressed classes. This was vehemently opposed by Mahatma Gandhi, who was lodged in the Yerawada jail and started a fast onto death against the demand for separate electorates granted to the depressed classes by Ramsay MacDonald's communal award. Ambedkar, under pressure, accepted the Poona Pact which agreed on joint electorates but with reserved seats for the depressed castes. He then formed the Independent Labour Party in 1936, giving a concrete shape to his political ideas. In 1942, Ambedkar founded another party -- the All-India Scheduled Castes Federation. Struggle for the outcasts In 1935, Dr Ambedkar was invited by the Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal of Lahore to preside over its annual conference in the spring of 1936. However, after becoming aware of the content of the speech that Ambedkar was to deliver, the invitation was withdrawn. Ambedkar published the speech which is now known as The Annihilation of Caste, the most radical criticism of Hinduism and the caste system. Architect of Modern India After India gained independence from the British rule in 1947, on the invitation of Jawaharlal Nehru, he joined the government as the law minister and subsequently on 29 August was appointed Chairman of the Drafting Committee for the Constitution. Disillusionment with the Congress A major political rupture occurred in 1951. Early that year he had introduced in Parliament the 'Hindu Code Bill', that talked about equal property rights for women among others things and faced stiff opposition from the conservative section of the cabinet. In September, Dr. Ambedkar resigned from the cabinet, upset over the failure of Nehru's government and the Congress to back the Hindu Code Bill. Later in Life, two new companions: Buddhism and Sharda Kabir While in the process of drafting the constitution he suffered serious health issues and in that course met Dr Sharda Kabir,a Saraswat Brahmin whom he married in 1948. Meanwhile he got inclined towards Buddhism. After resignation from the cabinet, Ambedkar engaged himself with Buddhism and in 1954 "while dedicating a new Buddhist vihara near Poona, Dr. Ambedkar announced that he was writing a book on Buddhism, and that as soon as it was finished, he planned to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. In the last year of his life in 1956, he formally adopted Buddhism along with thousands of his followers. Famous quotes by Ambedkar Constitutional morality is not a natural sentiment. It has to be cultivated. We must realise that our people have yet to learn it. Democracy in India is only a top dressing on an Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic." On the 26th of January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be recognising the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which is Assembly has to laboriously built up. The love of the intellectual Indian for the village community is of course infinite, if not pathetic.What is a village but a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrow mindedness and communalism? For a successful revolution it is not enough that there is discontent. What is required is a profound and thorough conviction of the justice, necessity and importance of political and social rights. Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man's life is independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone, but for the development of his self too. Under the work of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan which aims to bring proper sanitation to all households and communities, there was a growth of nearly 70 percent in household level toilets in 2015-16, increasing to 97.73 lakh individual toilets from 58.54 lakh in 2014-15, said Swachchata Status Report 2016 by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). The survey for the report was conducted between July 2014 and June 2015 to measure the progress of the Swachchata Bharat Mission. Over 1.09 crore toilets were built across the country in the first 11 months of 2015, quoted Business Line from the report. However, 52.1 percent of the rural residents, from the 3,788 villages that were surveyed, did not choose to use them. The facilities were used more by residents in urban areas with only 7.5 percent people choosing to openly defecate. Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan has yielded varied outputs across the country, said a The Times of India report it was found that over 42 percent toilets in rural India and 88 percent toilets in urban areas have access to water, a crucial factor in achieving complete sanitation under the mission. Over 90 percent of rural households in five states: Kerala, Sikkim, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, have sanitary toilets. However, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan are lagging behind. The report also pointed out that an improvement was required in the urban areas of these states. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand and Mizoram became two states to achieve sanitary toilets in all urban households. The report mentioned that 46 percent of urban residents in the country who did not have household sanitary toilets have turned to community toilet complexes. According to The Indian Express, Rajasthan, among all states and union territories is in the lead, having built 19.63 lakh toilets out of the total 97.73 lakh individual toilets. West Bengal is in the second position with construction of 12.96 lakh individual toilets, while Madhya Pradesh is third with 9.14 lakh individual toilets. In 2014-15, West Bengal had topped the list among states having constructed 8.47 lakh toilets. Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 2 October 2014 noting the need of proper sanitation in households and public places. The data, which calls for the need of behavioural change and better infrastructure for sanitation, has come just ahead of the NDA government completing two years in office with plans to enlarge the scope of the Swachchata Bharat Abhiyaan. Haridwar: Accusing Congress and other political rivals of indulging in politics in the name of B R Ambedkar, BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday claimed that Modi government alone has truly imbibed the Dalit icon's inclusive vision by taking development to people on the lowest rung of the social ladder. Noting that the contribution of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel and Ambedkar was the biggest in building integrated India post Independence, he said if one facilitated the merger of over 350 princely states with India, the other gave the country a beautiful Constitution which envisioned equal development of all sections, communities and regions. Charging political adversaries with only using the name of Ambedkar to serve their political interests and doing nothing to promote his vision, Shah especially targeted Congress, saying it did nothing to develop places associated with the great leader's life and times despite being in power at the Centre for nearly 50 years. He said it was during the previous BJP government at the Centre that Ambedkar was conferred with the much-deserved Bharat Ratna and it was during Modi's regime that his memorial was built at his birthplace in Mhow in Madhya Pradesh. "Narendra Modi government alone truly imbibed Baba Saheb's inclusive vision of growth reflected in the Constitution. "Like him, we (BJP) also believe that development, in the real sense of the word, cannot be brought about until we take development to people on the lowest rung of the social hierarchy," Shah told a public gathering at a programme organised here to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar. He said by conducting a country-wide drive titled 'Gram Udaya-Bharat Udaya' from 14 -24 April, the BJP will create awareness among people all over the country about the Centre's schemes meant for Dalits. "The BJP's emphasis on rural development, connectivity and empowerment of the impoverished sections reflects its commitment to implement Ambedkar's vision which is basically about bringing forward the poor and the downtrodden and helping them join the mainstream of development. "This is the reason why Rs 80 lakh has been given to each village for construction of roads under PMGSY. This is the reason why Modi government is paying so much attention to taking electricity to every village. As many as 15,000 villages across the country were without electricity even decades after the independence. "Modi government was the first to view the problem with as much seriousness as it deserved and the rsult is that 5,500 villages out of those 15,000 have already been connected with electricity and the rest will also get electricity by May 2018." The maddening competition between the BJP and the Congress to appropriate Dr BR Ambedkar for bolstering their fortunes will go down in Indian history as arguably the most delicious paradox of all. This is because for much of his life the Dalit icon bitterly contested the ideas the BJP and the Congress represented or still do. Ambedkars ideological opposition to the Congress even spilled out in the electoral arena. He took on, of all leaders, Mahatma Gandhi, prompting the Congress to plot his defeat in elections. Their first battle took place in the 1937 election. Its backdrop was an acrimonious debate over the issue of separate electorate for Scheduled Castes that is, they voting exclusively to elect Scheduled Caste legislators, as was the case with Muslims. Ambedkar insisted on it, Gandhi was opposed to it. Ultimately, he acquiesced because of the pressure Gandhi brought to bear on him through his fast unto death against the separate electorate. Ambedkar signed the 1932 Poona Pact, which provided for a joint Hindu electorate, but reserved seats for Scheduled Castes. When the 1937 election drew near, the Congress decided to teach Ambedkar a lesson for having the temerity to oppose Gandhi, who claimed to represent all Indians, regardless of their caste and religion. The details of the 1937 election campaign are vividly described in historian Ramachandra Guhas A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport. In 1937, there were three seats to be contested in the E and F Wards of the erstwhile Bombay one of which was reserved. Ambedkar filed his nomination for the reserved seat, obviously. In what was then deemed as a masterstroke, the Congress fielded Palwankar Baloo against Ambedkar. Baloo was a spinner of great repute, and had bagged over 100 wickets in Indias unofficial tour of England in 1911, turning into a Dalit icon overnight . In a felicitation ceremony for Baloo, it was Ambedkar who delivered the welcome address to him. In 1932, Baloo had publicly endorsed Gandhis line for a joint Hindu electorate. It was he who persuaded Ambedkar to accept reserved seats instead of insisting on the separate electorate. Baloo was among the two who brokered the Poona Pact, which Ambedkar was to later publicly regret. Fielding Baloo against Ambedkar is said to have been Sardar Vallabhbhai Patels idea. The contest was bitter. This is borne out from portions Guha quotes from the statement released by the publicity committee of the Congress. For instance, it said Ambedkars opposition to the Congress was as good as opposing the forces of freedom and progress and that he was being supported by all reactionary and anti-national forces. While campaigning, Congress leader KM Munshi said that a vote for Baloo is a vote for the Poona Pact. The seat for E and F wards should be fought for tooth and nail. On polling day, Patel even gave a call to the electorate that voting for the Congress Harijan candidate was a matter of duty. Still, Ambedkar sailed past the finishing line by as many 2,020 votes. From the perspective of todays psephologist, it could be said that Ambedkar won because another candidate in the fray polled 10,000 votes, a point noted by a local daily. The voting pattern suggested that Ambedkar could be vanquished even in a reserved constituency, unlikely as he was to garner a substantial chunk of upper caste votes. In 1946, Ambedkar, once again, failed to win in the election to the Bombay Provincial Assembly. It was a blow to Ambedkar as it squashed his chances of entering the Constituent Assembly members of which were to be elected by the provincial assemblies. However, Jogendranath Mandal, a member of Ambedkars Scheduled Castes Federation in Bengal, came to the rescue of his leader. He had Ambedkar elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal. It is most likely the Dalit icon received votes of the Muslim League. (Mandal migrated to Pakistan, became its first Law Minister, and once that country was declared an Islamic Republic, returned to India in disgust) As a member of the Constituent Assembly and Indias first law minister, Ambedkar and the Congress buried the hatchet. On 27 September, 1951, however, Ambedkar quit as law minister over the Hindu Code Bill. He released a statement accusing Jawaharlal Nehru of colluding with the Hindu Right as he had allowed the Bill to lapse. Ambedkar lost in Indias first General Election, to the Congress candidate Narayan Sadoba Kajrolkar, who belonged to the Chamar caste, which competed with Ambedkars social group of Mahars. Ambedkar tried his luck in a 1954 Lok Sabha by-election, but failed again. It is this history of differences and conflicts between Ambedkar and the Congress that the Sangh Parivar seeks to exploit for establishing its claims on Ambedkar. But this claim is preposterous. The Sanghs ideology and Ambedkars are like chalk and cheese For one, the Hindu Right, of which the Sangh remains the spearhead, was bitterly opposed to the Hindu Code Bill, on which Ambedkar had set his heart upon. Sangh cadres took to the streets in protest. Swami Kapatriji Maharaj, the rabble-rouser of his times, spoke against the Bill in RSS-sponsored functions. It was indeed the pressure from the Hindu Right that prompted Nehru to let the Bill lapse, though it was subsequently split into four parts, and passed after the original version had been diluted. For this, Nehru incurred the ire of Ambedkar, but it is a delectable fact of history that both were in the Sanghs crosshairs then. Ambedkar wasn't exactly enamoured of the Sangh ideology. About the Hindu Raj, Ambedkar said, If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country. No matter what the Hindus say, Hinduism is a menace to liberty, equality and fraternity. On that account, it is incompatible with democracy. Hindu Raj must be prevented at any cost. In his Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar even went to the extent of saying that Hinduism as a religion must be destroyed. This was because Hinduism to Ambedkar was largely a compendium of laws which viewed caste discrimination, including untouchability, as a virtue. Quite irreverently, he went on to declare, There is nothing irreligious in working for the destruction of such a religion. He thought the word religion was a misnomer for Hinduism. Such statements in these times would seem seditious to those out warring against anti-nationals! Given their ideological differences with Ambedkar, why have the BJP and the Congress entered into a mad scramble to appropriate him? Ambedkars steadfast opposition to the Congress notwithstanding, the party did indeed corner the largest chunk of votes of Schedules Castes, who were popularly known as Harijans in the early decades after Indias Independence. The Congress simply didnt need Ambedkar for electoral purposes. However, Indira Gandhis hold over the Scheduled Caste constituency began to weaken in the mid-1970s. Socioeconomic reasons apart, her weakening grip was symbolised by the departure of Jagjivan Ram from the Congress before the 1977 election. He was the tallest of Harijan leaders in the Congress and boasted an all-India appeal. That decade was also the time the word Dalit began to gain currency, replacing the very patronising nomenclature of Harijan. It reflected a deepening of the Dalit movement as well as its growing militancy, not the least because of the frequency of caste massacres. An indicator of it was the birth of the radical Dalit Panthers in 1971. To counter this trend, to ensure that the Dalits still voted the Congress in significant numbers, the rediscovery of Ambedkar became an imperative. It was not just a case of cynical manipulation of Dalits, but also signified the response of the Congress to Dalit assertion. This assertion was manifest in the rise of Kanshi Ram and Mayawati and their Bahujan Samaj Party in the late 1980s. They took to not only extolling Ambedkar, but also past reformers such as Jyotiba Phule. A generation was now reading more about Ambedkar-Phule in newspapers than they had in their history school textbooks. The BSPs celebration of Ambedkar couldnt be matched by any other political outfit. As a party representing Dalits and their interests, the BSPs claim to Ambedkar was regarded as paramount, unquestionable and authentic. It was also the time Ram and Mayawati popularised the already existing narrative of Ambedkar having been mistreated by the Congress. It is this narrative the BJP has picked up now, drawing inspiration from Mayawatis poor performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Her failure to win even a seat in Uttar Pradesh has the BJP believe her Dalit votes can be cannibalised there. Lacking a prominent Dalit leader of its own, the BJP is relying on Prime Minister Narendra Modis praise of Ambedkar to woo the Dalits in the months before Uttar Pradesh has its Assembly election, due early next year. This is also why the Congress challenges the BJPs attempts to lay claim to him. They want to harness Ambedkars iconic status, not his ideas, to which they had been opposed during his lifetime. The author is a journalist in Delhi. His novel, The Hour Before Dawn, has as its backdrop the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Kolkata: It is a check box election for voters in Kamarhatty and there is really only one candidate in the contest. People inside the polling booths will decide on the innocence or guilt of Madan Mitra, the infamous Trinamool Congress candidate. If they press the button with the grass flower symbol, then it will be a positive endorsement of Madan Mitras innocence or maybe it will be a positive endorsement of Mamata Banerjees leadership. If the majority decides that Madan Mitra is not innocent, then it will also mean a loss of faith in Didi. By nominating Madan Mitra as the partys candidate, as an act of both defiance and challenge to the Opposition Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Mamata Banerjee has chosen to go to the peoples court to get a verdict of not guilty against both Mitra and her party, because many more of the leaders are implicated in the Saradha chit fund scam and the Narada.com sting videos. The Opposition has very little to do, because Mamata Banerjee has taken the fight to the people and their decision is what will determine the future of Madan Mitra. As a minister forced to resign because of his prolonged custody while Central Bureau of Investigation carries out its interminable inquiry into what Saradha Chit Fund and its many avataars did with money collected from mostly poor people, Madan Mitra is a controversial candidate. When Mamata Banerjee announced her list of candidates in March, that was the only scam with which Madan Mitras name was linked. Within days, the Narada.com sting videos surfaced and there he was again, seen reclining and taking the cash in hand offered by Mathew Samuel. With one CBI investigation and a sting video footage dogging his chances, Madan Mitra as a candidate in absentia is more a symbol than a presence. His family is campaigning on his behalf, since the court has refused to grant him parole to plead his own case with his constituents. As a candidate, he confirms a widely held public perception that there is a nexus between power, politics, money and musclemen. If the public votes to ensure Madan Mitra wins, it would be the end of values in politics and the acceptance of the illegal as the legitimate way of surviving. The voter who said this has been a life long critic of the CPI(M), but is now walking in every procession, reaching out to his neighbours and planning his activities over the next week to make sure that other people in his locality understand what is at stake. He vividly described the choice: Will the girl next door talk about corruption in high places in admiration or will she react with shock or revulsion? The Kamarhatty election is therefore unlike the contest in other constituencies. It is a fight between the idea of the Trinamool Congress and its leader Mamata Banerjee and the perception that the reality is very different. The choice for voters will be between believing Mamata Banerjee and disbelieving her, between deciding that she is telling the truth when she says that her candidate Madan Mitra is not a crook and thinking that she lies. Once upon a time, Kamarhatty was a blip on the busy industrial landscape of West Bengal. As the states connection to industry has unravelled, so too has the prospect of people living in the area. Instead of living near their place of work, the working population of this town today has either migrated to other cities and towns across India or commutes to Kolkata to work. It has become a feeder town to Kolkata and other metros. As a constituency with industries busy producing jute or engineering goods, Kamarhatty was a trade union controlled town where the CPI(M) held sway. De-industrialisation hurt the residents of the constituency and eroded the CPI(M)s support, as the trade unions were reduced to bargaining over small change rather than battling over working class rights. Economic reforms and globalisation hastened the processes of change and Kamarhatty moved from being a working class dominated constituency to a middle class neighbourhood. For Kamarhatty and its bhadralok population, that is, the quintessential Bengali Babu, educated, cultured, politically conscious, high-minded and most often progressive, the shift of loyalty in 2011 to the Trinamool Congress was a radical departure. The new party, unlike the old Congress and the CPI(M), was disorganised, disorderly and driven by the indomitable will of the leader, instead of an ideology or a set of values. In 2016, the voter is faced with a different choice abandoning the characteristics that identified him/her as a bhadralok or seeking an alternative in the CPI(M)s Manash Mukherjee, who has not been associated with a CBI investigation into fraud, caught on camera taking cash for influence and is not behind bars. Ten days after Mehbooba Mufti took over as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, security forces allegedly gunned down four people in the northern district of Kupwara, but her predecessor Omar Abdullah was less fortunate. On the second day after he become Chief Minister, Army gunned down a hearing impaired men on 7 January, 2009. Investigations revealed that Abdul Rashid Rishi, a resident of Veer Saran Pahalgum was killed when he entered camp near the main gate of the Commander 31 sub area residence. Army personnel fired at him, killing him on the spot. Rishi had crossed the boundary wall and entered the camp, before crossing two gates hearing no warnings, when the troops fired upon him, resulting in his death. Following the killing Abdullah too ordered a magisterial inquiry, and army followed up with its own. No one knows what happened to that inquiry and the probe. The word [probe], sociologist, Ajaz Ahmad Lone, a research scholar in Kashmir University, who collects data on unfinished probes, say is the most brutalized and overused word by State in Kashmir, even if you go beyond an armed conflict that erupted in early 1990s. The meaning of the word, he says, has lost its relevance in the vocabulary of Kashmir, because it is a synonym for the denial and delay in justice. Four people have been killed in two days, including a woman, who was working in her fields when a stray bullet hit her head. As dead bodies were being lowered in the graves, another probe was ordered in the incident by the state government. Protests erupted in Handwara, 69 kilometers from Srinagar, after reports of an alleged molestation bid by an Army man in a public toilet surfaced in the town. The claim was later rebuffed by a school girl in a video clip that surfaced in the evening on social media networks. But was immediately removed from video sharing website YouTube. The girl claimed she was not molested; instead, some boys from the town instigated the trouble. Mehboobs father and former CM of state, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, said in the State Legislative Assembly on 8 April, 2015 that there are 35 magisterial and judicial probes underway against security forces for alleged human rights violations in the state. As many as 22 magisterial inquiries and 13 judicial inquiries against security force personnel for alleged human rights violations are at different stages of inquiry in the state. But advocate Parvez Imroz, a noted human rights defender in Kashmir says weather it is an administrative or judicial probe, around eighty-five percent probes ordered by the government have failed even to come up with a report. In the rest of the cases, there have been less indictments, and when you go to the Army with the findings, they categorically deny jurisdiction of civilian courts. If these probes would have done something previously, today people in Kashmir would not have been so apprehensive about this word. he told Firstpost. Historian says the first probe in Kashmir valley was order in 1963 when Indias first Prime Jawaharlal Nehru sent his intelligence chief, BN Mullick, to valley to probe the theft of holy relic of Prophet Muhammad from Hazratbal shrine on 27 December 1963. Fida Hussain, a renowned historian of state says, the theft of the relic had triggered crises in valley and beyond, but the relic was soon recovered and identified. A few days after the incident, the Home Minister in the Central government, Gulzari Lal Nanda, said on the floor of the Parliament that the investigation would take a week to complete and guilty will be punished. But the culprit were never brought to justice, since then these probes have served as eyewash when the state wants to divert the attention, Hussain, told Firstpost. In Kashmir the massacre of 35 Sikh at Chittisinghpora in south Kashmir is still fresh in the minds of people. Police killed five foreign militants, for the killings, when people contested the claims, the state government took away their DNA samples to ascertain their identity. The then Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah, said that Justice G A Kuchey will hold inquiry into the matter and submit his report within two months and a special session of the legislative assembly would be convened and probe report tabled in the house. Neither was the special session convened, nor were the findings made public. For the movement, Kashmir is on the boil, again. Mobile service and Internet has been snapped, all the roads leading toward Handwara town have been closed, and anger is seething under the surface, and if the previous instance are any thing to go by, it could well spill beyond the boundaries of this border town and engulf Kashmir. That is preciously what happened on Wednesday, when clashes erupted in Drugmulla village of north Kashmirs, 13 kilometers from Handwara town, and Jahangir Ahmad Wani, was killed after being hit by a teargas shell fired by police and paramilitary forces. His killing took the death toll to four, in less than 24 hours, in the frontier district. The Army has said that it has asked for an early completion of the inquiry, which has already been ordered. But in Kashmir, people hardly believe that someone would ever be punished for these human rights violations. When the case goes to the court the judge asks the Army if they want to take up the case. Even if it takes up the case and hands out punishment , the Defense Ministry invokes the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). We will set a precedent this time. You will see justice being dispensed and in less time, says the spokesperson of People's Democratic Party, Waheed ur Rehman Para. No one would be allowed to go scot-free. This government will ensue that if someone has committed a crime, including the Army, we will take the fight for justice to the logical conclusion, he adds. At the heart of this is the question of how the new Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, would deal with situation. Mufti has in past been critical of former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for failing to book the culprits behind the killings in Kashmir. Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir government has said they have taken action against a police officer by putting him under suspension. Disciplinary action will be taken against erring police officials under the law. One officer namely ASI Mohd Rafiq stands placed under suspension for his alleged negligence of duty and a magisterial inquiry by the under signed into the matter will be completed within the stipulated time, an order by Deputy Commissioner Kupwara, Rajiv Ranjan, read. When police arrested two promoters of Team Solar, a Kochi-based firm that promised to end Keralas power woes by offering solar power solutions, in 2014 many thought it may pass off as one of the numerous cheating cases that the state is all too familiar now. Instead the case has grown in dimensions with regular revelations of hoary tales of sleaze and corruption by the too ambitious entrepreneurs Saritha S Nair and Biju Radhakrishnan and now offers to add enough spice to the campaign for the Assembly election slated to be held on 16 May. The Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF), which used the Suryanelli and Kozhikode ice cream parlour sex scandals to prevent the rival United Democratic Front (UDF) from retaining power in 2006 and to contain its majority to one of the lowest in the states poll history in 2011, has taken it up along with the bar bribery scam as its most potent weapon to beat UDF's development and care poll plank. The two scams together have put nearly one third of the UDF ministry, including Chief Minister Oommen Chandy himself, in the dock over charges ranging from bribery to sexual exploitation. While Saritha accused Chandy and a former Union Minister of raping her, Biju, who is also her former live-in partner, added two more ministers, an MLA, son of a minister and a senior police officer to the list. The duo also accused the Chief Minister and two of his ministerial colleagues and a host of MLAs and ruling front leaders of accepting bribe for supporting their business. Saritha alleged that she had paid Rs 1.9 crore to Chandy for making available government land at Palakkad to set up a solar power farm. The bar bribery scam involved mainly two ministers. While K M Mani resigned as finance minister over the allegation leveled by bar owner Biju Ramesh, Excise Minister K Babu is staying in power on the strength of a stay granted by the High Court into the vigilance court proceedings against him. Never before in the history of Kerala have so many ministers faced such grave charges of corruption and sexual exploitation. Normally, the scandals of this magnitude are enough to spell the downfall of a government. However, the Oommen Chandy government has survived the storm and nurses the hope of retaining power. The major reason for the confidence is a victory in a by-election in July last year and the impressive show they put up in the last Lok Sabha election amid the raging scandals. Does this indicate a rejection of the allegations by the electorate, who are normally very sensitive to corruption, and an endorsement of the UDFs development and care slogan? Political observers believe it is a mix of the two. Political commentator Jacob George said that people may have taken the allegations raised by the solar scam accused with a pinch of salt as they sought to build their empire by cheating and blackmailing people. They are accused in 36 cases related to solar scam alone. Besides, Biju Radhakrishnan is also serving a life-term for murdering his first wife. Even the High Court has questioned the credibility of Saritha, who has been making contradictory allegations. The court expressed lack of faith in her when she sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against the Chief Minister. The sexual allegation she made against the Chief Minister raised eyebrows in the state as she had described Chandy father-like only three months ago, when her partner leveled sexual charges against him. Though Biju offered to produce a CD to prove his charge, he could not do so far. Saritha had also denied Bijus allegations when he cross-examined her at the judicial commission probing the scam in February. The Chief Minister pointed out that her lawyer had also not raised any reference to the charge during his cross-examination before the Justice Sivarajan Commission. Chandy believes that Saritha has come out with the allegation after the poll notification at the behest of forces that do not want the UDF to retain power. He has turned the accusing finger at the bar owners, who suffered huge loss following closure of all bars below five-star category under the governments phased prohibition policy. Curiously, Chandy spared the Opposition even though Saritha had at one time alleged that Communist Party of India (Marxist) that heads the LDF had offered her Rs. 10 crore for raising allegations against the government. Big money centres and interests are behind Sarithas allegations. Those who can make gains if the UDF suffered in the upcoming Assembly elections are behind it, said the Chief Minister, who has already filed a defamation suit against Saritha and two television channels which aired her allegations. Jacob thinks that the Opposition's attempt to portray Chandy as an immoral man may not yield them any electoral dividend to them as the latter has not faced any corruption or sexual allegations in his political career spanning more than five decades. N P Chekutty, another political commentator, thinks such attempt could even boomerang on the Opposition. He said that the type and manner of the allegations against the Chief Minister clearly showed that they were inspired by forces with ulterior motives. Chandy was never tainted by personal compromises in his long political career. He was too open always. That was perhaps the only mistake he committed. He has admitted it. No level-headed person in Kerala will believe that Chandy has committed any financial or sexual misdemeanor, says Chekutty. He says that it would be difficult for anybody to swallow Sarithas allegation that she had handed over about Rs. 2 crores to one of his aides in a public place in Delhi. She could not produce any visual or other evidence regarding the bribe so far, he added. Chekutty said he would not be surprised if the Opposition avoids the solar scam in their election campaign. They have already started playing down the allegations leveled by Saritha and Biju Radhakrishnan. Chekutty pointed out that there was no dip in the popularity of Chandy despite all these allegations. People throng him wherever he goes. I dont think there is any other leader like Chandy who has contacts everywhere from the northern tip of the state to the southern tip. In fact, a recent Mathrubhumi-Axis My India pre-poll survey showed that Chandy was the second most popular leader after Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan. He was only one point below Achuthanandan in the survey, which was conducted between 26 February and 13 March. The survey predicted 68 to 74 seats for the LDF and 66 to 72 seats for the UDF. Both Chekutty and Jacob do not think that the Chief Minister and the UDF are on a safe wicket with regard to the bar bribery charges. They believe that the Opposition has a strong case in not only the bar bribery scam, but also the land scam, which came to the fore towards the fag end of the UDF regime. The LDF need not work hard to take home the issue since state Congress Chief V M Sudheeran himself has done their job. His dogged insistence on denying ticket to two ministers and a sitting MLA involved in the scams in itself is a strong indictment of the government, says Jacob. The UDF is trying to counter the corruption charges by focusing on the development and welfare measures implemented by the government in the last five years. Kochi Metro, Kannur airport, Vizhinjam container transshipment terminal, Smart City are some of the projects are being flaunted by the UDF. But with caste and religious combinations changing with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sowing the seed for a Hindu consolidation by stitching together a third front with the help of caste organisations like the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, it is not easy to say whether Kerala will go by the trend of alternating power between the two rival fronts for more than last three decades or buck it. It's unusual when BJP leadership and the RSS mouthpiece Organiser act in tandem. The situations have to be compelling to make a public display of their meeting of minds. Commemoration of 125th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar has provided that occasion to indicate that the Modi government and its ideological fountainhead are thinking alike on arguably the biggest social political Dalit icon of modern times. They are also making fresh attempts to revive what they earlier called social engineering. The latest issue of Organiser has BR Ambedkar on its cover, with the title, "Ultimate Unifier, Dr Ambedkar is erroneously projected as divisive figure by certain vested interests but recognition of his contributions will finally prove to a unifier for Bharat." The publication of 17 April issue coincides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Ambedkar's native place Mhow in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday to pay respect on his 125th birth anniversary. Modi government has already announced that it will be hosting various programmes for the next 11 days at village, block and district levels in different parts of the country. All aimed at singular purpose preserve and perpetuate iconic status to Ambedkar, also to "Jai Bhim" greetings, at least during the period. Some could take it as a mere symbolism by Modi government. But in politics, symbolism do matter to create a certain perception about a political leader and about a party or parties concerned. The Congress for last seven decades remained focussed on Gandhi-Nehru family and conveniently forgot other national icons. The BJP-RSS, which did not have any icon of its own, with exception of a surviving but virtually mute Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has been attempting to appropriate icons outside of Nehru-Gandhi family like Sardar Patel, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, BR Ambedkar and few others. Ambedkar stands apart from the rest because he has a demi-God status among Dalits and has a sizeable following across India, sufficient to tilt electoral balance in several regions. Kanshi Ram and Mayawati used Amedkar's statues and perceived legacy well to emerge as a formidable political force in politically important Uttar Pradesh and mark its presence in some other parts of the country. It's now Narendra Modi's turn to project himself as ultimate champion of Ambedkar's legacy and as some kind of messiah to Dalit social and economic advancement cause. In last parliamentary elections BSP couldn't win even a single seat in UP and the BJP won 73 out of 80 seats from the state. That perhaps has made Modi to put his focus on Dalit and its biggest icon. The community, after all accounts to huge number of votes, varying from one-seventh to one-fifth in different states. Ambedkar's hardships and his conflict with Nehru and Congress has often been highlighted by the top BJP leaders. In next eight-nine months the BJP will face a huge political test in UP, in a super high stake assembly elections. It's anybody's guess as to why Modi and his party has taken so much fancy on a person, titled to be architect of Indian Constitution. By talking about Ambedkar and his contribution, Modi is essentially talking about Dalit pride and confidence. The term "social engineering", has for long been used by the BJP and RSS. In year 2000 the BJP leadership under Vajpayee-Advani dispensation experimented with Bangaru Laxman, a Dalit, by making him party president. Bangaru fell victim to Tehalka expose. Even then the BJP would claim to have highest number of Dalit and tribal MPs in its fold. Neither Modi nor BJP president Amit Shah uses the term social engineering but are vigorously pursuing the same in states. Few days back when Shah appointed five state party chiefs, it was apparent that the BJP was actively wooing non-Yadav OBCs and Dalits. Out of five state party chiefs, three were OBCs, one Dalit and one tribal. The BJP is trying to claim that theirs is the party which cares for Dalits and other marginalised sections of society. The BJP and the RSS are on same page on issue of social engineering, whether or not they like to use that term any longer. The Organiser's cover story on Ambedkar providing glue for nation building, written by Ramesh Patange says, "Our nation was a victim of Muslim aggression and ruled by foreign rulers time and again. This political slavery was analysed in the phase of renaissance in various ways, especially in Maharashtra. Agarkar, Lokhitvadi, Bhandarkar, Telang, Mahatma Phule, etc was the first tradition while Justice Ranade, GK Gokhale, Tilak, etc was the other. Dr Babasaheb's analysis is different from all of them. He said, `If untouchables would not have been deprived of weapons, this nation would not have been ruled by the foreigners.' A person born in an untouchable community was disconnected from the national life and were the victim of the Muslim aggression. Many from these communities embraced the other religion on their own. They never felt that they also have a role to play in the nation building.'' The Sangh Parivar is attempting for long attempt is to integrate Dalits in broad Hindutava brigade. Modi's thrust on "Stand Up India" program and blessing 'Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI)' to promote job creation and entrepreneurship among members of this underprivileged community has its own significance. The DICCI website opens with a series of banner pictures of Modi participation in its programs. Modi had also began his much hyped Swachh Bharat campaign from a Dalit basti in New Delhi and had picked up long broom generally used by safai karamcharis. Incidentally, Modi launched Stand Up India program from Noida in UP on birth anniversary of another dailt icon Babu Jagjivan Ram. It didn't matter to him whether Jagjivan Ram had for better part of his life remained associated with Congress. Besides these, it would be interesting to note the sheer number of programs which Modi conceived or participated to restore or lift glory of BR Ambedkar. Some of them are as follows: In December last year, Modi, released two commemorative coins Ambedkar. The coins "Rs 10" and "Rs 125" denomination, were issued on the 60th Mahaparinirvan Divas of Dalit icon. In November, last year Modi along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis acquired and inaugurated Ambedkar memorial in London. The idea was to transform the three storied 2050 sq ft property on King Henry's Road in London where Ambedkar lived in London into an international memorial cum research centre. Later in same month, Modi took the initiative to commemorate first Constitution Day on 26 November and dedicate first two days of Winter session of Parliament to remember contribution of framers of Indian Constitution. Needless to say the entire, debate, which for a change was rich in content, revolved round Ambedkar and Modi using his own speech, with his gifted oratorical skills to highlight Amedkar's contribution and take a dig at Congress for completely forgetting his legacy. The BSP chief Mayawati struggled hard to make her presence felt in Rajya Sabha. She didn't have anyone in Lok Sabha. In October, 2015 Modi, visited Chaitya Bhoomi in Mumbai to pay respects to Ambedkar and lay foundation stone for a memorial in his name. In March, this year at Ambedkar memorial lecture, Modi attempted to draw a parallel between his some of his governments initiatives and Ambedkar's vision. "Wherever we have got the opportunity to serve, we have taken decisions out of shraddha (respect) for Dr. Ambedkar." He likened Ambedkar with Martin Luther King Jr, both voices of marginalised sections of their native countries. Exactly a year ago, Modi had began Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary celebrations with laying a foundation stone for BR Ambedkar International Centre 15, Janpath, New Delhi (incidentally in close proximity of 10 Janpath, Sonia Gandhi's official residence) at an estimated cost of around Rs 200 crore. What Modi had then said incidentally finds a resonance in Organiser cover story on Ambedkar: "Babasaheb united society, and India must make sure that the whole world recognizes his immense contribution to mankind. He represented a combination of Samata (equality) and Mamata (motherly love), which brought about Samrasta (social harmony)." Mhow, Madhya Pradesh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that Congress should "repent" for "undermining" B R Ambedkar's legacy for 60 years as he reached out to dalits, saying he is working to fulfil the vision of the dalit icon. Modi, who had faced attack from Congress for trying to "approporiate" national icons, hit back asking why the successive governments of Congress did not develop the five places associated with Ambedkar during their tenure. Listing a number of measures that his government is taking to carry forward the vision of Ambedkar including on maritime projects and the empowerment of weaker sections, Modi said,"for so many years, the vision of Ambedkar was undermined." "Some persons are distressed why Modi is doing all this. This is a matter of our dedication and conviction. We believe that social harmony can be achieved only by following the path shown by Babasaheb. I feel proud to work at the feet of Babasaheb." Referring once again to his humble origins, Modi said that if the son of a woman, who used to fetch water in others' houses could become Prime Minister, the credit for it goes to Ambedkar. On his government's decision to construct a memorial at 26 Alipur Road in Delhi, which was the last home of Ambedkar, the Prime Minister asked the Congress why did it not do so in the last six decades. "Why did you not do it in the last 60 years? When we are doing it, you are getting uneasy. You should repent over why you did not do this all these years," the Prime Minister said stepping up his offensive against the Congress. "Those engaged in vote bank politics thought of nothing else than dividing the society," he said. Making a pro-poor pitch, the Prime Minister accused the Congress of doing nothing on this count. "Some people have been calling themselves the messiah of the poor for the last six decades. The account of what they have done for the poor in last 60 years is shocking even as they keep talking of the poor day and night," Modi said as he highlighted the steps taken by his government in the last two years like giving LPG connection to the poor and Jan Dhan Yojana. Modi, whose government has often been accused by Congress of having a corporate bias, stressed that India's development won't happen through five or 50 cities and industrialists and that foundation of villages will have to be strengthened for sustainable development while also reiterating his commitment to doubling farmers' incomes by 2022. Puducherry: Even as most political parties in this Union Territory have announced their strategy for the 16 May assembly polls, the ruling AINRC is keeping everyone guessing as it is yet to spell out its plans. The Congress-DMK combine has already reached a seat- sharing pact and AIADMK has announced candidates for all 30 seats, while the five-party People's Welfare Alliance has also finalised the number of seats to be contested by them. But Chief Minister N Rangasamy is yet to announce the strategy of his All India N R Congress and is on a pilgrimage for the last two weeks visiting various shrines in Tamil Nadu seeking divine blessings. He has also visited a temple dedicated to his spiritual guru Appa Pythiasamy in Salem district as he always does before taking crucial decisions. AINRC stormed to power in 2011 Assembly polls in alliance with AIADMK months after it was founded by Rangasamy, who broke away from Congress. However, the alliance did not last long as Rangasamy ditched the AIADMK and formed the government with the outside support of the lone Independent member V M C Sivakumar. AIADMK has now announced its candidates for all the 30 constituencies virtually shutting its doors on AINRC. Incidentally, AIADMK had won the recent Rajya Sabha election from the Union Territory with the support of AINRC, as Rangasamy agreed for the understanding facing a rebellion in his party then. BJP which contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election in alliance with AINRC is likely to contest the poll on its own. Congress, eyeing to capture power, is contesting in 21 seats leaving the remaining nine to DMK. The run-up to the polls also witnessed some key personalities switching their loyalties to other parties. Former Home Minister P Kannan, who had contested the polls in the past on Congress ticket, has joined the AIADMK. He has been fielded in Raj Bhavan constituency, where Congress veteran and former union minister V Narayanasamy or senior leader K Lakshmi Narayanan is likely to contest. Sivakumar, who annexed the T R Pattinam seat in Karaikal as an Independent in the 2011 polls, has also joined the AIADMK and seeks re-election from the same segment. Mumbai: Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's family on Thursday converted to Buddhism nearly three months after he committed suicide that unleashed a firestorm of protests with his brother declaring they want 'azadi' (freedom) from the "oppressive" caste system. On a day that marked Dr B R Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary, Rohith's mother Radhika and brother Naga Chaitanya Vemula, also known as Raja Vemula, were given 'deeksha' by Buddhist monks at a function in Mumbai in the presence of the Dalit icon's grandson Prakash Ambedkar. Rohith, 27, a student of Hyderabad Central University (HCU), had committed suicide on 17 January inside the campus. Raja hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government for trying to "suppress" people who are raising their voice while at the same time invoking Baba sahib's (Dr Ambedkar) name using his birth anniversary events. "We are against the caste system in Hinduism and have, therefore, decided to embrace Buddhism which does not have such an oppressive system of castes," Raja said, adding, "We want 'azadi' (freedom) from the caste system." "From today, my mother and I will be free from shame, free from the daily humiliation, free from the guilt of praying to the same god in whose name our people have been tortured for centuries," he said at the function. Dr Ambedkar, architect of the Indian Constitution, had converted to Buddhism at a grand ceremony in Nagpur in 1956 as he was strongly opposed to the caste system in Hinduism. "My brother Rohith was a Buddhist at heart although he did not convert. He took his own life as he was discriminated because he was a Dalit. We performed his last rites according to Buddhist traditions, honouring his love for Buddhism." "Rohith used to talk of Buddhism a lot. He had also written a letter to the Vice Chancellor about how Dalits are discriminated against on the campus. My mother feels that we should honour Rohith by embracing Buddhism," he said. Prakash Ambedkar said the function for the duo was organised after Radhika Vemula approached him and conveyed their wish to embrace Buddhism when he visited Hyderabad recently. He said for the first time liberty and the way of living is being "challenged". "Even Dr Ambedkar admitted during his days when he was in Cabinet that right wing leadership will create difficulties later on to impose their views on the society," Prakash said. Raja and Radhika Vemula, along with Rohith's childhood friend Riyaz Shaikh and Hyderabad university student Charbad Raju were present at the function. Rohith's elder sister, who is married, has not converted to Buddhism. "My brother wanted to be a Buddhist. He tried to take up Buddhism but couldn't make it," Raja said. In a statement, Raja said, "Had my brother been alive, he would have been proud of the steps we have taken today." "From today, my mother and I are going to start the kind of life that he always dreamt of." Kolkata: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday charged the principal opposition parties in West Bengal with only lodging complaints against her and said that a political vendetta was on against a "particular party". "From morning to night, the Congress, CPI-M and BJP leaders are lodging complaints against me. I will seek answer inch by inch. It is my fundamental right. I don't need a certificate from them. I only need certificate from people. The people will given them a befitting reply through ballots," she told election meetings in Birbhum district. In an apparent reference to the Election Commission, she said, "City police commissioner was removed, a large number of OCs were changed. It is being done at the behest of the Congress, CPI-M and BJP". "A political vendetta is on against a particular party," she said. On the Opposition demand for arrest of TMC leader from Birbhum Anubrata Mandal, she retorted, "Why should Anubrata be arrested? Why Md Selim, Biman Bose, Sujan Chakrabarty and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee should not be arrested?" The Election Commission, which had earlier showcaused Anubrata Mandal, also censured him. Pointing out that people could not vote during the 34 years of Left rule in the state, Banerjee asked where were those people who were now shouting. The TMC supremo said that Congress, BJP leaders come to the state during election time after five years and talk big but they did nothing for the people. PTI There is one constituency in West Bengal that is truly exceptional. Domjur, in Howrah district, is the battle ground against Syndicate Raj, the elaborate network of illegal enterprise with a legal front that in turn controls a private force of mercenaries to assist in the extortion, supplies, intimidation and violence rackets that have burgeoned in the past five years. Challenging the syndicates is a woman, a widow, from a family that was once a flag-bearer of the Trinamool Congress. The soft spoken but infinitely courageous Pratima Dutta is a former member of the Jagaccha Panchayat Samity. She is a victim of the nexus between crime and power. Pratima's husband Tapan, who was the vice president of Trinamool Congresss Bally-Jagacha block unit, died because he took on the land mafia. Tapan Dutta was shot by assailants on 6 May, 2011, close to his home. Various TMC leaders including the now-expelled Howrah party secretary, Satish Gayen, and his brother Asit were picked up by the police. Flawed investigation by the states Criminal Investigation Department complicated and ultimately stonewalled the process of finding the killers and prosecuting them. The killing made headlines in 2011, a sensational announcement of sorts that Syndicate Raj has come of age. Tapan paid the price for trying to protect a 750 acre wetland Jaipur Beel from syndicates that wanted to fill it up and sell off to developers. He had formed the Jalabhumi Bachao Committee (Save the Wetlands Committee) to fend off the syndicates. Pratima is not scared to assert that she is fighting to protect the wetlands from the land mafia on the one hand and for restoration of law and order on the other. It is also a battle against the idea that development is just a collection of shoddily constructed infrastructure that serves to percolate cash into the hands of unemployed youth with nothing to look forward to. Her fight is bigger than battling the land mafia or the racketeering over supply of construction materials. It is an unequal fight. Pratima is pitted in a straight contest against the powerful TMC minister Rajib Banerjee, who has every resource to convince voters that it would be a bad idea if they do not vote for him. Domjur is one of the two constituencies where the Congress-CPI M alliance did not put up a candidate, making Pratima an independent contestant supported by both parties. The support, however, is more moral than substantive as the resources needed to cover a constituency as spread out as Domjur is not easy for a lone crusader with limited means. Finding Pratima in Domjur is one way of uncovering how difficult the contest will be. People avoided giving directions, claiming they did not know the locations she mentioned as landmarks. Very few people admitted to knowing that she was the candidate from Domjur. And even fewer admitted to knowing the approximate direction in which she resides. The claims of ignorance, the confusing directions were all part of a larger design; to pretend that there was no such challenge to the idea of the Trinamool Congress. Of the two people sitting in a shop, one person pointed in one direction and the other in the opposite. In any other election in West Bengal, searching for an independent candidate in a semi-rural constituency would have been a nightmare. In this election, not knowing who Pratima Dutta is and where she lives is very strange because she and her cause have been constantly in the public domain. Akranto Amra, which literally translated means, 'We, The Victims', is a platform that has projected itself successfully as the Save Democracy forum. And, Pratima is a very visible member of it. From Kamduni (the brutal gang rape and murder of a college student on her way home) to the Kolkata flyover collapse, Akranto Amra and Pratima Dutta have been part of the public protests against the TMC government and Mamata Banerjee as the Chief Minister. If Domjur pretends not to know who Pratima is, then it is more than simple ignorance. It can mean that the ruling party is dismissive of her as a challenger. It can mean that the TMC is uneasy about her as a dark horse, the unknown quantity that can pose a challenge to its dominance. Both possibilities are intriguing, because with very little resources and no organisation of her own, Pratima's fight becomes meaningful only and only if there is a hidden undercurrent of public support that will manifest itself on polling day, provided the Election Commission can create the conditions for free and fair elections. Kanshi Ram claimed himself to be the true progenitor of Ambedkars legacy. In one of his conversation after acquiring power in Uttar Pradesh in 1993 in alliance with Mulayam Singh Yadavs Samajwadi Party, he called Ambedkar his guru or father figure but painted him as more of a theoretician than a practical practitioner of politics. There is no doubt that Uttar Pradesh over decades has become a veritable crucible of politics of social underdogs. A strong current of backward class politics and an equally strong wave of Dalit emergence in the form of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have staved off the Hindutva onslaught in the countrys largest state which used to be the Congress fiefdom till early nineties. Though such change in political texture appeared all over the country, Uttar Pradesh was unique in many ways. This is the first state where Dalits on their own acquired power by forging a social coalition with upper castes and at times even with a minority community. Mayawati cobbled up coalitions according to her convenience and convinced her core voters about the desirability and genuineness of her political approach that often bordered on opportunism. If Kanshi Ram laid the foundation of Dalit assertion, Mayawati translated her mentors efforts at creating formidable political capital purely on the legacy of Ambedkarism into reality. Yet the story has apparently gone haywire for the disciples of Ambedkar after acquiring power. A cursory visit to Lucknow and Noida in Uttar Pradesh would prove that those claiming to bear the legacy of Ambedkar are practicing contrary to his teaching. For instance, huge statues of Kanshi Ram and Mayawati are erected in many places in Lucknow to conjure the halo of immortality and infallibility of these leaders. Similarly, Ambedkar is being worshipped like a deity and any critical scrutiny of his conduct and formulations is seen as anti-Dalit. In this context, the race of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and the Left parties to usurp the legacy of Ambedkar seems comical and self-serving in equal measure. Let us look at one of his brilliant exposition that defines the man in many ways: I am no worshipper of idols. I believe in breaking them. I insist that if I hate Mr Gandhi and Mr Jinnah-I dislike them, I do not hate them- it is because I love India more. That is the true faith of a nationalist. I have hopes that my countrymen will someday learn that the country is greater than men, that the worship of Mr Gandhi and Mr Jinnah and service to India are two different things and may even be contradictory of each other. In an extraordinary lecture he delivered on 18 January 1943 in memory of social reformist and noted jurist justice Govind Ranade in Pune, Ambedkar emphasised that social reforms were more important than political reforms. The lecture titled as Ranade, Gandhi and Jinnah draws a neat comparison between Ranade, a low profile social reformer, and two political giants of Ambedkars time - Gandhi and Jinnah. The manner in which Ambedkar describes Jinnah and Gandhi is quite eloquent and gives an insight to his irreverent attitude. He says, They wall themselves off from their equals. They prefer to open themselves to their inferiors. They are very unhappy at and impatient of criticism, but are very happy to be fawned upon by flunkeys. Both have developed a wonderful stagecraft and arrange things in such a way that they are always in the limelight wherever they go. Each of course claims to be supreme. If supremacy was their only claim, it would be small wonder. In addition to the supremacy, each claims infallibility for himself. In this lecture Ambedkar was equally critical of the Indian press that contributed to hero-worship in the country. Never has the interest of the country been sacrificed so senselessly for the propagation of hero-worship. Never has the hero-worship become so blind as we see it in India today, he commented while talking about Jinnah and Gandhi. Ultimately he held both responsible for introducing a political culture in the country in which to become a politician is like going to work in the drain. Politics in the hands of these two great men has become a competition in extravaganza. If Mr Gandhi is known as Mahatma, Mr Jinnah must be known as Quaid-I-Azam. If Gandhi has the Congress, Jinnah must have the Muslim League. In contrast, Ambedkar pointed out that Ranade with his low-profile and reformist zeal contributed enormously to enrich society though he might not be a great achiever. This brief lecture of Ambedkar bears significance in todays context when a determined attempt is being made by the political class to make an inviolable icon of a die-hard iconoclast. Ambedkars strength lay in his arguments that challenged the most powerful but defended people with modest background. He never insulated himself from facing critical scrutiny of his intellectual positioning. In such a setting, the mindless eulogy of leaders like Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Mayawati for him appears a caricature of Ambedkars own political philosophy. Probably in his last rally at Agra just before his passing, Ambedkar had the premonition of todays politics and pointed out in his prescient observation I do not have any dangers from others, but I feel danger from our own people. His words seem prophetic when one looks at the distortion of his legacy in politics. Islamabad: A top Pakistani official said that Indian intelligence agency, RAW has established a special cell at its headquarters in New Delhi to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and is being executed via Afghanistan. "RAW and Afghanistan's NDS (National Directorate of Security intelligence agency) have launched joint secret operations against Pakistan by using three Indian consulates in Jalalabad, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif, said Secretary Defence Alam Khattak on Wednesday. "The three consulates in Afghanistan are providing weapons, money, training and other logistical support to agents for subversive activities in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), Balochistan and Karachi in Pakistan," he said. The remarks were made while he briefed the Senate defence committee at Parliament House, Dawn online reported. RAW has also set-up a cell at NDS headquarters in Kabul for coordinating anti-Pakistan activities, the secretary defence said. Referring to the recent arrest of Kulbushan Jadhav, a deep cover RAW operative arrested from Balochistan, Khattak elaborated that his entire network has been dismantled by Pakistani security agencies. Law enforcement agencies announced the arrest of Jadhav during an intelligence-based raid in Balochistan's Chaman last week. Jadhav was later shifted to Islamabad for interrogation. New York: An 18-year-old woman in the US has been accused of filming the sexual assault of a minor girl and uploading it in the social media, prompting a grand jury to indict her and her boy friend on several charges including rape. The woman, Marina Lonina from Ohio, is charged with streaming the rape of the 17-year-old girl via Twitter's live video app Periscope, US media reported. The case came to light when authorities were contacted after an out-of-state friend of the woman saw the images, Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said. Marina Lonina and co-defendant Raymond Gates, 29, have been both charged with rape, kidnapping, sexual battery and pandering sexually-oriented matter involving a minor, NBC News reported. O'Brien said Lonina and the victim, who were friends, were socialising with Gates at a home when Gates raped the girl. Lonina used the Periscope app to livestream the assault, said to have occurred on 27 February in the city of Colombus. Periscope is an app for smartphones which uses a video function to allow users to stream events live. Meanwhile, Lonina's lawyer said that she "categorically" denies the charges. The duo can face up to 40 years in prison each, if convicted. Washington: Pakistan's notorious spy agency ISI paid a whopping $200,000 to the dreaded Haqqani Network for a suicide attack on a CIA camp in Afghanistan in 2009 that killed seven American agents and contractors and three others, according to a just declassified State Department cable. The explosive information is contained in a series of State Department cables from 11 January, 2010 and 6 February, 2010 which has been obtained by the National Security Archive of the George Washington University under the Freedom of Information Act. Significant portions of these cables have been redacted. "During discussions at an unknown date between Haqqani, Salar and an unidentified ISI-D officer or Officers, Haqqani and Salar were provided $200,000 to enable the attack on Chapman," says the cable dated February 6, 2010. The cable shows Haqqani attacks are still provided by the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate, including $200,000 for the 30 December, 2009, attack on the CIA facility at Camp Chapman, NSA said in a blog post. "Haqqani provided the money to Salar who then communicated the planning details to Mullawi (Sakh). Sakh then contacted (Arghawan), Afghan Border Commander of the Khost Provincial Force. Arghawan was promised USD 100,000 by Salar for his assistance to enable a suicide mission by an unarmed Jordanian National," the cable says. "Following the attack, Salar was believed to have kept the 100,000 promised to Arghawan because Arghawan died during the suicide attack," the cable said. According to another cable of January 2010, "as of late December 2009, at the end of every month, senior Haqqani network leadership met with the ISI-D in Islamabad. The meetings were attended by Siraj Haqqani and Badruddin (Haqqani). ISI-D Col (Nasib) chaired the meetings. ISI-D Major (Daqud) and Sobedar (Zarim) were also in attendance." An unknown amount of funding was provided to the Haqqanis for use in unspecified operations during these meetings. "There were two meetings between the ISI-D and the Haqqani network leadership in December 2009. The first discussed funding for operations in Khost province. These funds were later provided to tribal elders in Khost province for their support of the Haqqani network," the cable said. "The second meeting involved ISI-D direction to the Haqqani networks to expedite attack preparations and lethality in Afghanistan," the cable said. The Embassy of Pakistan in the US did not respond to a question on the allegations made against ISI in the US cable. The Haqqani Network has carried out a number of kidnappings and attacks against US interests in Afghanistan, as well as Afghan government and civilian targets. The group is also blamed for several deadly attacks against Indian interests in Afghanistan including the 2008 bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul that killed 58 people. UNITED NATIONS The chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Wednesday accused United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of ineptitude for failing to halt sexual exploitation and abuse by blue-helmeted peacekeepers. The criticism from Senator Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, comes as candidates to replace Ban when he leaves the post after two 10-year terms have been holding town hall meetings with diplomats from U.N. member states this week. Ending U.N. peacekeeper abuse has been a major topic of discussion during the meetings at U.N. headquarters in light of a slew of rape allegations levelled against international peacekeepers in Central African Republic. Corker asked a committee hearing on ending sexual abuse by U.N. peacekeepers why some recommendations included in a 2005 report on the problem to the U.N. General Assembly were only now being implemented. "What is wrong with the secretary-general of the U.N.?" Corker told the hearing, which was broadcast live. "This report ... the one that you refer to, is 10 years old." "How do we put up with such inept leadership at the United Nations?" he added. Ambassador Isobel Coleman, who oversees U.N. management and reform issues at the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said countries that contribute troops to the United Nations were often unwilling to hold troops who commit abuses accountable. "I don't think it's ineptitude," Coleman said. "I think it is a reluctance to take on the opposition of troop contributing countries that don't want to deal with this issue in the transparent way that it must be dealt with." She added that the United States was monitoring follow-up actions in troop-contributing countries to ensure people accused of sexual abuse are prosecuted. Republicans are traditionally more critical of the United Nations than Democrats. The United States contributes 27 percent of the United Nations' $8.3 billion peacekeeping budget. The United Nations did not have an immediate response to Corker's criticism, but it has pledged to crack down on allegations of abuse to avoid a repeat of past mistakes. The United Nations has started to "name and shame" countries whose troops are accused of sexual abuse. The previous head of the U.N. mission in Central African Republic, Babacar Gaye, resigned last August and some 800 Congolese peacekeepers were repatriated earlier this year over alleged sex crimes. In December, an independent review panel accused the United Nations and its agencies of grossly mishandling allegations of child sexual abuse by international peacekeepers in Central African Republic in 2013 and 2014. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Alistair Bell) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. U.S. health officials have concluded that infection with the Zika virus in pregnant women is a cause of the birth defect microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities in babies. "It is now clear, the CDC has concluded, that Zika virus does cause microcephaly," Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. "There isn't any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly." U.S. and world health officials have been saying for some time that mounting scientific evidence points to the mosquito-born virus as the likely cause of the alarming rise in microcephaly in Zika-hit areas of Brazil. It had not been declared as the definitive cause until now. Never before in history has a bite from a mosquito been seen as the cause of birth defects, Frieden said. The announcement comes at a critical time for the Obama Administration, which has been trying to get Congress to come up with funding to fight the Zika virus, which is already affecting Puerto Rico and is expected to hit parts of the United States with the coming of mosquito-friendly warmer weather. (Full Story) The administration has requested about $1.9 billion for Zika prevention and fighting efforts, but the CDC has been forced to divert funds intended for Ebola while awaiting new funding from Congress. The removal of any lingering doubt about the cause of the birth defects may help spur more intensive efforts to develop diagnostics and vaccines specific to Zika, which is closely related to dengue and other mosquito-borne viruses. The CDC said it believes that microcephaly, characterized by unusually small head size that can lead to developmental problems in babies, is likely part of a range of serious birth defects being caused by Zika. It also said the microcephaly cases it has reviewed in Brazil is a particularly severe form with devastating brain abnormalities. Brazil has confirmed more than 1,100 cases of microcephaly, and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. It is investigating more than 3,800 additional suspected cases of microcephaly. The latest conclusions came after all necessary scientific criteria had been met to make the official call, the CDC said. "The data are there. The evidence is there. The pieces of information we have now makes us confident," said Sonja Rasmussen, director of the CDC division of public health information and lead author of a New England Journal of Medicine article outlining evidence. CDC travel and sexual transmission guidelines remain unchanged. Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant are advised to avoid travel to the at least 41 countries and territories where Zika has spread, and men who have been to those areas are advised to abstain from sex or use condoms with partners who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant. Now that the causal relationship has been established, several important questions must still be answered with studies that could take years, Frieden said. Among answers being sought are what percentage of babies born to Zika-infected mothers are likely to suffer birth defects, or whether infected pregnant mothers who did not have symptoms of the virus pose a danger to their babies. Researchers also want to discover the full range of brain and developmental issues that may crop up later in life for infected babies, Rasmussen said. CDC officials said they expect to start seeing cases of microcephaly in Colombia soon, based on when reports of infections began in that South American country. (Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Bernard Orr) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Harvards acceptance rate for the class of 2020 is only 5.2%, but if you think that is competitive, the acceptance rate at the for-profit college startup Minerva Schools is only 1.9%. What makes this school so difficult to get into? The schools tough admissions policy and unique take on education so says Minerva CEO Ben Nelson. We are an institution that is set up to find and then train people who are going to make what we refer to as decisions of consequence. Those types of decisions that have impact on others much more so than they have impact on themselves. To find people who have the intellectual curiosity, the raw intellectual horsepower, the humility, the passion around having to be able to succeed in those kinds of environments is extremely hard to find. So we reject something like 10 valedictorians for every 1 that we admit. Nelson told the FOX Business Networks Maria Bartiromo. Nelson talked about the unique qualities that are attracting students to the school. Minerva is an extremely intensive environment, so all of our classes have fewer than 20 students in them, you get personal attention throughout, not just your class environment, also in career support, immersion in the city, students live in 7 different cities across the next four years, they start in San Francisco and then they live all over the world, Nelson said. Nelson then weighed in on another important factor for students and their families, the cost. Tuition at Minerva is only $10,000. Now you still have to pay for room and board, you have to live and you have to eat, so the total price tag is about $28,000. But thats well under half the total price tag of a traditional Ivy League university where the majority of your classes will be lectures. Nelson also discussed how not having a sports program allows the school to keep its costs lower than many of its counterparts. Universities got into this crazy amenities race where everybody has to build a nicer football field, lawn and everything else, said Nelson. He then discussed the schools unique teaching style. We teach differently in a couple of different ways. So, number 1, lectures are banned at Minerva, professors cannot talk for more than 4 minute at a time because the idea is that you want to engage students in fully-active learning, Nelson continued, The other way we do it differently is that we do our courses on a proprietary platform that weve built, so even though all the students live together we dont go to a physical classroom, they are actually in a very immersive environment which makes the teaching much richer. The push for free college is a topic resonating with many students across the U.S., especially as the current total student loan debt in America continues to rise. According to recent figures from the Federal Reserve, the current student loan debt total is more than $1.3 trillion. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education announced they would be helping nearly 400,000 disabled Americans get their student loans forgiven. Students nationwide have been protesting for free college, and debt forgiveness, which is playing a key role in the 2016 presidential race. Were going to do the right thing for disabled Americans because it's the right thing to do. https://t.co/1Lnhs3eXYy pic.twitter.com/JaLaM7NS2M US Dept of Education (@usedgov) April 12, 2016 Darletta Scruggs, the organizer of Million Dollar Student March, argues some politicians have forgotten about those causes. Politicians like Hillary [Clinton] dont prioritize things like education, quality education, affordable education, which is why I participated in this Million Student March, she told FOX Business Networks Neil Cavuto. What we are seeing as a crisis where millions of students are being faced with the question of debt and how theyre going to pay for education. I, myself, being one of those young people that dont know what to do around the question of going to college, receiving a degree. I am told as a young person that is a requirement in order to get a good job, in order to have a quality life, but yet it has become so inaccessible for a large majority of young students. Scruggs said she believes the government should focus more attention and funding on education, instead of investing in nuclear weapons. When asked how the governments $19 trillion plus debt would impact the ability to finance education, Scruggs said: Well, thats always the excuse that is often being told. We dont have the money for anything What the system has shown us, and particularly the system of capitalism, [is] that it cannot produce any substantial quality of life no matter how hard you work We see one million students last year alone default on their student loans. $176 million were garnished from working peoples wages to pay back student loan debts maybe we need a new system because it isnt working. The Million Student March organizer discussed raising taxes on high-income earners. Statistics show the higher you go up the economic food chain, the less theyre paying in taxes anyway. So theres plenty of room to actually raise taxes. The 0.01% are not paying the same amount of taxes as a working class person is paying. We need to acknowledge that. Scruggs also wants the government to acknowledge that student debt is a quality of life issue, in her opinion. We live in a system of capitalism where the idea is to make money. If it doesnt make money its not a priority. We need to restructure our society and how its set up and reprioritize what we value as important. Money and profits should not be more important than education and human life. The fact that it is, is a problem. Two months ago, A-10 Warthog supporters were cheering. Now the cheers have fallen silent. One by one, the Air Force keeps peeling off planes from the A-10 Warthog force. Image source: Northrop Grumman. In a Feb. 2 speech in Washington, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter committed the U.S. Air Force to postponing "final retirement" of the A-10 Warthog fighter-bomber "until 2022," putting an end to years of contentious debate over the future of the aircraft -- and that of the Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter meant to replace it. As Carter explained, the A-10 will be replaced "with F-35 Joint Strike Fighters on a squadron-by-squadron basis, so we'll always have enough aircraft for today's conflicts." Fans of the A-10 cheered Carter's announcement as a victory for the A-10, for common sense, and for economics. (The A-10 is one of the cheapest planes to operate in the U.S. arsenal.) But now it appears they may have celebrated too soon. The seeds of a fiascoRep. Martha McSally, a well-known backer of the aircraft -- and a former A-10 pilot herself -- hailed the SecDef's decision, though she had gone one step further to insist in a Jan. 28 letter to him and the president: "The U.S. Air Force needs a next-generation A-10 before attempting to mothballanyfurther A-10s." McSally's remark puts a finger on the most crucial word in Carter's concession: The A-10's retirement would be final in 2022. But retirement might begin much sooner. This proviso became clear last month, when the Air Force made the shocking announcement that it will pull 49 A-10s from the fleet as early as 2018 -- then retire 49 more in 2019, and 64 in 2020. In 2021, the Air Force would consign 96 aircraft to the boneyard. Subtracted from the 291 A-10s reported to be in the USAF inventory at the start of this year, that would leave just 33 A-10s -- barely one squadron -- to "finally" retire in 2022. Who benefits? It probably goes without saying that fans of the A-10 are hopping mad at the Air Force's apparent volte-face. Cynics, on the other hand, will recognize that this has been the Air Force's plan all along, to "stand down" A-10 squadrons as quickly as possible, diverting money and manpower to buying F-35 stealth fighters from Lockheed Martin instead. Viewed in that light, Carter's commitment to final retirement in 2022 was less a change in policy and more an exercise in PR. At the same time, it's worth noting that for as long as the Air Force has tried to kill the A-10 Warthog, it's failed. Past plans to retire the A-10 have been consistently shot down by Congressional opposition to a plan that would deprive U.S. soldiers of "thebest CASplatform mankind has ever designed" -- and it's likely this latest plan will fare no better. But what if it does? Follow the moneyIf the A-10 Warthog is indeed retired in the mass numbers posited by the Air Force's latest plan, this would pose a sizable financial setback to two companies in particular. Northrop Grumman inherited the A-10 program from maker Fairchild Republic in 1987. In cooperation with Lockheed Martin (maker of the F-35), it forms the "A-10 Prime Team" responsible for keeping the A-10 flying and modernizing the aircraft as it ages. The other big loser from an A-10 retirement is Boeing Company . In 2007, Boeingwas awarded a contract worth up to$2 billion to replace up to 242 sets of wingson older Air Force A-10s. (Actual orders come in periodically, with the latest installment being a 2013 contractfor 56 sets of wings valued at $212 million.) According to Boeing, the contract will come close to paying for itself by saving the Air Force $1.3 billion worth of maintenance costs over the next 30 years. The new wings are designed to upgrade each plane and give it as much as 10,000 flight hours of new lifespan. But here's the thing: If you're planning to retire an airplane in 2022 or 2021 (or 2018!), then it doesn't make much sense to add 10,000 flight hours to its service life. (To put that in context, the average A-10 flew fewer than 300 hoursin 2014, according to a report from the U.S. Air Force that I obtained via a FOIA request. 10,000 flight hours would thus extend the life of the A-10 fleet by about 33 years per plane.) In other words, if the Air Force's planned phase-out of the A-10 Warthog comes to pass, then Boeing's billion-dollar contract to upgrade the plane will almost certainly be grounded as well. The article Air Force Reneges on A-10 Warthog Commitment originally appeared on Fool.com. Rich Smithdoes not own shares of, nor is he short, any company named above. You can find him onMotley Fool CAPS, publicly pontificating under the handleTMFDitty, where he's currently ranked No. 283 out of more than 75,000 rated members.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Image source: Starbucks. Giving people what they want to eat and drink is big business, and both Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) have made it their business for decades. Starbucks helped bring the coffeehouse culture into the mainstream in the U.S. and has become a global giant in the coffee industry, all the while looking to offer food items to patrons, as well. PepsiCo is known best for its namesake cola, but its Frito-Lay division is also a giant in the snack-food industry. Investors looking at both companies are curious whether one offers a better value than the other right now. Let's look at how Starbucks and PepsiCo compare on some key metrics to see which one might be a smarter pick for investors. Valuation and stock performance In terms of giving investors healthy returns, both Starbucks and PepsiCo have been good picks for shareholders. Over the past year, PepsiCo has had a decided advantage: Its stock produced a 21% return for shareholders since September 2015. Starbucks is also up, but its gains have been limited to just 7%. Consumer goods stocks have been in the limelight lately as good prospects for a solid economy, so valuations for both Starbucks and PepsiCo have been fairly rich. Starbucks currently trades at almost 32 times its trailing earnings, which isn't inconsistent with its past valuation, but nevertheless represents a premium to the overall market. PepsiCo weighs in with a price-to-earnings ratio of 30, giving it only a minimal advantage over its coffee counterpart. When you look at forward earnings expectations, however, Pepsi takes a slight lead. Starbucks' forward earnings multiple falls to 26, based on the belief that its profits will rise in the immediate future. But Pepsi stock trades at just over 20 times forward earnings. That makes PepsiCo the better bargain from a valuation standpoint, even though its stock has already risen more than Starbucks recently. Dividends One area in which Starbucks fails the Pepsi Challenge more clearly is in considering dividends. PepsiCo features a dividend yield of almost 3%, which is roughly double the 1.4% yield that Starbucks investors receive currently. To some extent, that disparity is a bit misleading. PepsiCo is a more mature company, and it has made a corporate decision that involves paying out about 80% of its earnings in dividends right now. That's not uncommon, but it's quite a bit greater than the roughly 40% of earnings that Starbucks dedicates to dividends. As we'll see below, Starbucks is more committed to faster growth opportunities, and that limits the amount of capital it wants to use for dividends. Nevertheless, PepsiCo has an impressive dividend history. The company is a Dividend Aristocrat, with 44 consecutive years of annual dividend increases. Its most recent $0.05 per share increase in July marked a 7% rise. By contrast, Starbucks only started paying a dividend at all in 2010, and although it has boosted that payout significantly over that span, it still can't match the record that PepsiCo has established. For dividend investors, PepsiCo has a clear edge. Growth prospects and risk When it comes to growth, Starbucks has been extremely strong for a long time. In its most recent quarter, the coffee giant reported record results in revenue, profits, and customer traffic. Yet even though the company boosted sales by 7% and sent net income up by more than a fifth, some investors remain concerned that the coffee specialist's growth rates could be moderating. Comparable-restaurant sales for company-owned locations were up just 4%. The opportunity to grow its store network with new locations should continue to sustain overall growth rates at a healthy rate, and Starbucks even has PepsiCo to thank for some of its growth, with a joint venture allowing for distribution of ready-to-drink coffee beverage products in Latin America. Between mobile ordering, successful promotions, and customer loyalty, Starbucks has plenty of potential left in the tank. PepsiCo faces larger challenges in the beverage portion of its business, which has been under assault on multiple fronts from government entities and health officials arguing that sugary soft drinks are a primary cause of certain chronic illnesses. Yet CEO Indra Nooyi has done a good job of getting out in front of the anti-soft-drink trend, finding a balance between meeting the needs of health-conscious consumers while also appealing to a younger audience that is only now establishing its consumer preferences. In particular, having the snacks business under the same corporate umbrella gives PepsiCo a big advantage over its beverage-only rivals, and investors have rewarded PepsiCo with greater confidence in its future than its industry peers. PepsiCo's growth isn't likely to be staggering, but it's doing a good job of withstanding downward trends in part of its business. Starbucks and PepsiCo both serve food and beverages, but they are very different stocks. Both companies have growth prospects, and Pepsi's dividend history makes it more appropriate for income investors. For those seeking maximum potential price appreciation, Starbucks presents a prettier picture despite its somewhat pricier shares. A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. Dan Caplinger owns shares of Starbucks. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends PepsiCo and Starbucks. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. From left to right: The BlackBerry Priv, Passport, and Classic. Image Source:Flickr user WEI WEI. BlackBerry CEO John Chen is known in the industry both as a software guy and a turnaround specialist. Chen took the reins of software company Sybase in 1998 in the wake of a Japanese accounting scandal that led to the ouster of previous CEO Mitchell Kertzman. Under Chen, Sybase grew from a $362 million company with no profits to a successful entity. Sybase was eventually acquired by Germany's SAP in 2010 for $5.8 billion. Needless to say, investors are hoping Chen -- who took the CEO job at BlackBerry in 2013 -- can attain similar success with BlackBerry. However, a successful BlackBerry may no longer include the signature BlackBerry device. Chen, true to his reputation, has decided to focus on software and services with an emphasis on BlackBerry's reputation for security. Perhaps the largest step away from BlackBerry's device and BlackBerry OS 10 was the company's partnership with Alphabet's Android OS in last year's BlackBerry Priv. In a recent interview with The National, a United Arab Emirates-based newspaper, it appears Chen is doubling down on Android-powered smartphones. 2 Android units this yearOn the heels of BlackBerry's fourth-quarter earnings, where the company reported lower-than-expected handset sales, Chen pointed toward price as the reason for underperformance. In the interview, Chen admits the Priv was "too high-end" for enterprise-focused buyers. Overall, BlackBerry reported selling 600,000 devices versus analyst expectations of 850,000 units. Shares of the company sold off 9% as investors reacted unfavorably to the news. One thing Chen is not blaming for the poor performance is the Android operating system. BlackBerry's CEO told The National that BlackBerry would be launching two new Android-powered smartphones this year, "one with a physical keyboard and one with a full touchscreen," according to the post. While Chen did not go into great detail in the interview in regards to the new devices, he mentioned both units would be priced in the mid-range and also singled out a $400 price point as one enterprise-focused consumers would be comfortable paying. What about BlackBerry 10?Earlier this year, Facebook dealt a huge blow when it announced it would "discontinue support" of BlackBerry's APIs by the end of the year. After a social-media-inspired campaign, Facebook relented and allowed BlackBerry 10 fans to have a web-based app of Facebook's site. The problem is web-based apps generally present a poorer user experience than native apps, especially with device-specific integration like push notifications, calendars updates, and photo-sharing functions. Web-based apps are akin to bookmarking a website on your device's browser. Curiously absent from Chen's device talk in the interview is a new BlackBerry-powered smartphone. BlackBerry continues to sell BlackBerry 10 devices, but has not announced a new BlackBerry 10 OS release since bringing the Android-powered Priv to market. In response to Facebook's initial announcement, BlackBerry reaffirmed its commitment both to BlackBerry 10 OS and its developers, but the company's silence in regards to a new BlackBerry 10 model appears antithetical to long-term commitment. The article BlackBerry Continues to Cozy Up With Android originally appeared on Fool.com. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Jamal Carnette owns shares of BlackBerry. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares) and Alphabet (C shares). Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Source:Flickr user Khalid Albaih. Packing your things and starting a new life in a different country doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to avoid Uncle Sam's tax bill. In fact, doing so is against the law. Taxes can be a complicated matter, and for Americans living abroad, it's important to know what the tax authorities expect of you so that you don't run into any issues on Tax Day. The expat and tax treatmentIt's safe to assume that if you're a resident of the U.S., any kind of income you generate throughout the world is subject to U.S. taxation. Uncle Sam won't excuse you from your patriotic duties just for living in another country. And you'll still need a Social Security number or an individual taxpayer identification number to file your taxes. If you're a U.S. taxpayer living or traveling abroad, regardless of the length of time, we'll call you an expat for the sake of simplicity. But technically, to be considered an expat for tax purposes, you are either a 1) U.S. citizen, 2) resident alien, 3) green card holder, or 4) member of the U.S. military on active duty. For tax purposes, resident aliens are those who satisfy either the green-card test or the substantial-presence test. Expats are automatically given a two-month extension from the normal April 15 deadline for filing taxes. However, they still have to payany taxes owed byApril 15, lest they rack up interest charges on the amount they owe the IRS. For couples living abroad, the general joint-filing rules apply. However, the IRS grants some leeway to couples who have individually separate alien statuses. For instance, let's say you're a resident alien and your spouse is a nonresident alien. You would have the option of filing jointly as a married couple and treating your spouse as a resident alien. Exchange ratesThe figures you report on your tax return must be expressed in U.S. dollars, so if you receive your income in a foreign currency, you must use the local exchange rate. Those rates can sometimes be tricky, especially in smaller countries, where the rates can fluctuate rapidly, but for income received throughout the year, the IRS deems it acceptable to use an annual average exchange rate for these reporting purposes. The IRS requires you to make all tax determinations in your "functional currency," which is the currency you conduct most of your financial activities in. For example, if you lived and worked in Chile and receive your paycheck in Chilean pesos, then you would want to 1) calculate all of your reportable figures in Chilean pesos, 2) translate that amount into U.S. dollars using the USD/CLP annual average exchange rate, and 3) use that U.S. dollar figure to report on your tax return. Foreign accounts and double taxationUnder certain conditions, bank accounts held overseas must be accounted for in your tax filing. The Bank Secrecy Act requires you to file a form called the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) if you control any type of financial account overseas that contained more than $10,000 at any point during the year. Although the form is due by April 15, it's not a tax return, so it should be submitted separately from your 1040. Note that the FBAR can only be filed through the BSA E-File System. Finally, the U.S. holds tax treaties with various nations that affect how you're taxed by both governments. Depending on the country and its treaty with the U.S., you may be able to reduce your income taxes through foreign tax credits, which are designed to avoid double taxation. Be sure to do your due diligence by learning the tax implications of living in a particular country. Your research should include tax laws at the federal level, those of your state, and those of the country you're traveling to or residing in. If you're ever unclear about your taxpayer category, visit the International Taxpayers section of IRS.gov and use the interactive tools to clarify your situation. The article What You Should Know as an International U.S. Taxpayer originally appeared on Fool.com. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. On May 25, Whole Foods Market is set to launch its first 365 By Whole Foods concept store in Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood. This will provide investors with the first glimpse into a store format the company says it dreamed up to appeal to technology-oriented, tightly budgeted millennials. From the first mention of the 365 concept in May of last year, company executives have repeatedly emphasized the "curated" nature of the upcoming shopping experience. This seemingly innocuous descriptor may play a significant role in the success or failure of the new stores. "Curated" is a word that seems to hold much currency at the moment on the Internet, where it implies that a connoisseur or subject matter expert has placed interesting content, or perhaps a boutique shopping experience, at your disposal. It's a term that millennials, who seem as a group to have an aversion to the uniform and mass-produced, know well. But what could curation mean inside the walls of a grocery store? The idea of promoting a specialized product selection seems to acknowledge a competitive strength of privately held Trader Joe's. That company excels in marketing its private-label merchandise, which is colorfully presented and economically priced. You can often find a narrative element on the packaging of Trader Joe's products, and unexpected ingredients are regularly added to spice up basic shelf items. Reinforced by a deliberately kitschy Polynesian theme in its stores, Trader Joe's merchandise, however engineered to appeal to its customer base, is most usually presented as a "find." Here's a representative example, taken directly from the company's April "Dig In / What's New" section of its website. Be sure to read the copy under the picture: Image source: traderjoes.com. That image presents the essence of curation. It's unlikely that Whole Foods will actually mimic aspects of Trader Joe's fun and often irreverent approach. But the mission will be very similar economically: to convince customers that its private-label goods are more desirable than competing national brands, while being simultaneously cheaper. Curation also frees the new stores from the explicit promise of wide selection, which Whole Foods' management identifies as a competitive advantage. As co-CEO John Mackey asserted in an earnings conference call late last year: "First and foremost, the Whole Foods Market brand stands for the highest quality, selection, and service." This quote provides a rationale for why customers shouldn't abandon Whole Foods for competitors of behemoth scale such as Kroger and Wal-Mart, which can easily undercut the company on selected national brand items. Along with the aforementioned quality and service, a typical Whole Foods store has a wider selection of natural and organic goods than any other retailer, and it makes sense for management to market this strength. But the statement also reveals why a new store format is an ideal way to fight back on price. Management can't break its selection promise, but the promise isn't implicit under a totally separate banner. So promoting curation as a virtue prepares customers to give up that wide selection in exchange for price, convenience, and novelty. What's the risk for Whole Foods in this approach? The grocer will have to strike a balance in 365 stores between high-demand staples also found in the flagship locations, its private-label 365 Every Day offerings, and unique third-party products that substantiate the claim of curation. Too many private-label goods will make the stores seem generic and undifferentiated, regardless of eye-catching features such as the outpost of New York's vegan restaurant, called "by CHLOE,"which is set to open within the Silver Lake store. In other words, if loyal customers equate Whole Foods' promise of a specially procured selection with simply a bevy of discounted 365 Every Day items, they may be ironically inclined to skip the 365 experience to shop at a flagship Whole Foods store, perceiving the latter to hold better overall product quality. The 365 format would still draw in new value-oriented customers, but Whole Foods will benefit the most if it can persuade existing customers to visit both concepts each month. The magic will be in featuring a product mix that's differentiated enough to engage existing patrons but loaded with enough private-label goods to hit the operating margins that are promised to be as good as, or better than, a typical Whole Foods store. Curation indeed. The article Whole Foods Market Hones Its Product Selection originally appeared on Fool.com. John Mackey, co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Asit Sharma has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Whole Foods Market. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Whole Foods Market has set the date. The company that pioneered the organic grocery space will open its first budget-priced 365 store next month. The new supermarket concept will be unveiled on May 25th in Los Angeles's Silver Lake neighborhood. Whole Foods describes the store as bringing "fresh, healthy food to a broader audience with a streamlined quality-meets-value shopping experience." Image source: Whole Foods. Investors initially dismissed the idea when it was introduced a year ago, sending the stock tumbling as analysts saw the move as capitulation to new competition in the organic space. Whole Foods can't keep growing through its traditional format, they argued, so it's developing a cheaper option, but fragmentation is a typical strategy for targeting different demographics and income levels. Rivals like Kroger, which has several brands ranging from high-end chains like Harris Teeter to more mainstream banners like King Sooper's, have long employed such a strategy. Beyond the need to reach out to a new demographic, there are several other reasons the new 365 concept should be a hit. Let's take a look at a couple of the big ones: 1. Following a successful footprintMore than any other supermarket chain, the new 365 seems to resemble Trader Joe's, the alternative grocer that has grown to nearly 500 stores nationwide. The company is privately held so hard numbers on its financial performance are unavailable but its annual revenue is estimated at about $10 billion. Over the years, Trader Joe's has developed a cult-like following and its sales per square foot, the best indicator of how efficiently a company uses its real estate, are the tops in the industry at around $1,750.That's nearly double Whole Foods at $930 and close to triple Kroger at $672.Wal-Mart, the country's No. 1 grocer is even further back at just over $400 per square foot. Clearly, Trader Joe's is doing something right. Customers seem to like its combination of low prices, convenient packaging, and wide variety and selection of organic and natural foods. In many ways, 365 seems like a combination of Whole Foods' full-line stores and Trader Joe's. The new stores will take up less space than a typical Whole Foods, mirroring Trader Joe's smaller footprint, and carry a more limited selection of items. It will also rely more heavily on its private-label brand 365, much in the way Trader Joe's products are almost entirely private label. Finally, 365 will reduce labor costs by nixing butchers and cheesemongers and having such items prepackaged, much like Trader Joe's.Mixing the Whole Foods brand with the Trader Joe's operational model should be a winning combination. 2. Attracting trendy partnersWhen Whole Foods first announced its Friends of 365 program, it was mocked for suggesting the idea of tattoo parlors in its stores, but its plans for the first store make it clear that the company will include mostly food and beverage concepts in the new stores, which seems to be the most logical addition. Whole Foods named the popular vegan restaurant By Chloe as its first Friend of 365. By Chloe will have its own dedicated space inside the Silver Lake store, where it will serve core items from its menu such as pesto meatballs and burgers. Other Friends of 365 at the new location include Allegro Coffee Company and TeaBot. Allegro already has a fancy outpost in Whole Foods' Brooklyn store , and the Silver Lake location will include a craft brew bar as well as cold beer. TeaBot, Whole Foods says, is a Toronto-based start-up that provides self-serve custom tea kiosks that prepare tea in under 30 seconds. Whole Foods has yet to name any Friends of 365 at other upcoming stores, but based on submissions, potential partners could be a shea butter skincare line, a Mexican restaurant, small-batch jewelry, and bone-broth beverages. Despite its recent struggles, Whole Foods is still an excellent business. With a profit margin of 3.4%, it outperforms virtually all of its major rivals, including Kroger at just 1.8%. The company has also maintained its goal of opening 1,200 stores nationwide, a number that will only increase with the addition of 365. The new chain won't have an immediate effect on the bottom line as only three 365 stores are expected to open this year with 10 more slated for next year. However, a successful launch last month should provide a much-needed boost for the stock as investor optimism returns. The article 2 Reasons Why Whole Foods 365 Will Be a Hit originally appeared on Fool.com. John Mackey, co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Jeremy Bowman has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Whole Foods Market. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Down 47% in 52 weeks, 3D Systems Corporation has had a rough past year. And yet, in early Thursday trading, 3D Systems stock surged 15%, despite releasing no news of note. So what's the story behind this amazing turnaround in one of the two hottest 3D printing stocks? The news Basically, investors have just one person (or rather, bank) to thank for 3D Systems stock's surge today: Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. Early Thursday morning, analysts at Merrill Lynch did a complete 180in their thinking about the stock, spinning from an underperform rating to end with a clear endorsement that the stock is now a buy. Here are three reasons why. 3-Dimensional printers from 3D Systems... are a bit bigger than your average printer. Image source: 3D Systems. Thing No. 1: Things have been badMerrill Lynch began its note by admitting the obvious. As TheFly.com put it, in recounting the analyst's recommendation: 3D Systems has endured "two years of underperformance." (Actually, a bit more than two years. At the end of 2013, 3D shares were selling for north of $96. Today they cost $18 and change). Thing No. 2: But things are getting betterThat said, Merrill Lynch has high hopes for new 3D CEO Vyomesh Joshi, a former executive at Hewlett-Packard. According to Merrill, Joshi has laid out a plan to "align the cost structure with revenue growth to drive improving profitability." After a year that saw operating costs surge 32% versus just a 2% climb in revenue in 2015 (according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence), that realignment will be critical to getting profits growing again -- or indeed, earning any profits whatsoever (which last year, 3D didn't do). Thing No. 3: Albeit maybe not right awayAt the same time as Merrill Lynch makes happy noises about the company's long-term prospects, however, Merrill may have jumped the gun in recommending 3D Systems today. In a bow to 3D skeptics, the analyst admits that "secular demand for 3D printers is weak," and this is a point that hasn't been lost on other analysts, either. In fact, at the same time as Merrill was pulling its 180 on 3D this morning, analysts at rival investing house Piper Jaffraywere warning that 3D printing demand in Q1 was weak. Citing the results of a recent 3D printing survey, Piper observed that "significantly" more 3D printing resellers told it that sales came in below expectations in Q1, than said their expectations were exceeded. The month of January in particular is described as having been "extremely challenging." Piper's data actually seems to suggest that Q1 will look better for 3D Systems rival Stratasys than for Merrill Lynch's favored stock.One final thingAnd yet, for small investors wondering which way to jump, I have to say that the view looks pretty bleak for both these stocks. While both Merrill Lynch and Piper Jaffray entertain long-term hopes for a revival at 3D Systems and Stratasys, respectively, both analysts tend to agree that Q1 results could look quite ugly. Meanwhile, from a fundamental perspective, there seems to be little to recommend either stock based on recent trends. In 2015, both 3D and Stratasys reported negative GAAP earnings, and both burned cash. 3D Systems reported $25 million in negative free cash flow; Stratasys burned $105 million. Unless we see a significant uptick in forecasts from both these stocks when earnings come out next month, 3D Systems shareholders could have more to lose after this morning's 15% price spike. Stratasys shareholders, up 9% in sympathy to the 3D upgrade, can expect losses as well. 3D Systems is scheduled to report earnings May 4. Stratasys will report five days later, on May 9. The article Buy 3D Systems Stock After a 15% Price Surge? 3 Things You Need to Know originally appeared on Fool.com. Fool contributorRich Smithdoes not own shares of, nor is he short, any company named above. You can find him onMotley Fool CAPS, publicly pontificating under the handleTMFDitty, where he's currently ranked No. 290 out of more than 75,000 rated members.The Motley Fool recommends 3D Systems and Stratasys. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. McDonald's is targeting private equity firms, including Bain Capital, MBK Partners, TPG Capital Management and Chinese state-backed conglomerate China Resources (Holdings) for its planned sale of 2,800 restaurants in North Asia, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The U.S. fast food giant is adopting a new business model in Asia, which is now the most intense battleground for global restaurant chains, by planning to bring in partners to own the restaurants within a franchise operation. Several other global restaurant operators have switched to the so-called franchise model and McDonald's has also set a long-term aim of being 95 percent franchised, the company said in a statement on March 31. Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's has hired Morgan Stanley to run the sale of the restaurants in China, Hong Kong and South Korea, the people said. A formal sales process is expected to kick-off in about three to four weeks, one of the people said. Ahead of that, McDonald's and its advisor are drawing up a list of likely partners who will be approached to participate in the auction, the person added. The franchise partners would likely end up owning a majority stake in the restaurants in each market, or even as much as 100 percent, and be responsible for future capital spending. The precise structure of the deal is still to be decided, the sources said. In return, McDonald's will get a one-time franchise payment and ongoing royalty fees, which usually range between 3-5 percent of annual turnover. Asia-focused Baring Private Equity Asia is the other buyouts firm likely to be invited to the auction process, banking sources familiar with the process said. McDonald's declined to add to the March 31 statement. China Resources, MBK, Bain, TPG and Baring all declined to comment. Morgan Stanley didn't respond to an email seeking comment. McDonald's does not break out country-by-country revenue details. It is China's No. 2 fast food chain behind YUM Brands, which operates the KFC and Pizza Hut chains. McDonald's is leaning towards finding separate partners in all the three markets and would likely offer a majority stake to make the deal appealing to buyers, the people added. The private equity firms are attracted to the rapid growth opportunity available in the so-called quick-service restaurants' (QSR) business in Asia. "In recent years, even though formal dining may have been impacted by the austerity measures, QSR as a format is growing pretty rapidly," said Kiki Yang, a Greater China partner at consulting firm Bain & Co. "QSR has the format that a lot of investors like because of the growth of the segment, standardized procedures and it's easy to expand." China Resources (Holdings), which is the parent of brewing company China Resources Beer Holdings, and operates Pacific Coffee chains in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Macau, has previously expressed interest in expanding its retail footprint. "This will attract a lot of sponsor interest," said one senior Hong Kong-based M&A banker familiar with the McDonald's process. "For one, it's an established business and second such assets rarely come to market in Asia." Buyout firms from KKR & Co to Carlyle Group and others have raised billions of dollars in new funds in Asia to benefit from the region's growth potential. But the lack of opportunities to gain control of businesses and stiff asking prices have left the Asia private equity industry sitting on about $140 billion of "dry powder" or unemployed capital, according to data provider Preqin. Apart from the proceeds from a sale, a deal would lower McDonald's capital spending needs, which totaled $2.6 billion last year. McDonald also plans to open 1,500 more restaurants in China and Hong Kong over the next five years, to tap the region's rapid growth. However, McDonald's and Yum, have been facing increasing competition from cheaper local rivals, particularly in China, where they are both trying to recover from food safety scares. Yum is also in the process of spinning off its 6,900 China restaurants, and is in talks with buyouts firms, including KKR and Hopu Investments to sell up to a 20 percent stake after battling sliding sales over the past few quarters. Bruised by food safety scandals and changing tastes, McDonald's is also selling a big stake in its Japanese arm. Buyout firms, including Bain Capital, Permira and MBK, were among those who submitted bids for the McDonald's Japan stake earlier this year, though it was unclear if a deal is close. All three buyout firms declined comment. McDonald's has struggled in Japan over the past two years, closing more than 150 restaurants last year, remodeling almost 3,000 and posting a $310 million net loss in 2015. McDonald's owns 49.99 percent of its Japanese arm McDonald's Holdings, according to the company's website, and intends to cut that to about 20 percent. (Reporting by Denny Thomas; Additinal reproting by Gaurav Dogra in Bangalore, Elzio Barreto in Hong Kong, Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Junko Fujita in Tokyo; Editing by Martin Howell in Singapore) Artificial intelligence (AI), sometimes described as "machine learning," is quickly becoming a key component of several tech leaders' growth ambitions. To its credit, IBM recognized early on that the key to the fast-growing cloud market lies with the data, not the hosting platform, a fact Alphabet is beginning to take to heart as it explores the expansion of its own AI, data-centric solutions. For Microsoft , its industry-leading cloud business is as much about offering off-site data hosting utilizing its Azure platform to grow its software-as-a-service (SaaS) suite of products. Most pundits agree that SaaS delivered via the cloud is where the real opportunity lies. That said, Microsoft's recently completed BUILD conference in San Francisco made one thing abundantly clear: Its future includes utilizing AI to enhance a person's interactive experience. And if that includes adding machine learning to Microsoft's list of cloud-based solutions, all the better. Source: Microsoft. The future is nowMuch was made of the fiasco that was the unveiling of Microsoft's AI-driven chatbot Tay, particularly how relatively simple it was for some tweeters to manipulate the bot to spew racial slurs. Microsoft immediately took Tay "off the shelves" to rework its security. Alas, a week after it was reintroduced to the masses, Tay went off track again. This time hackers caused Tay to repeat the same tweet over and over again. Finally, Microsoft stepped in, deleted thousands of annoying tweets, and went "back to the drawing board." But if investors think Tay's misfortunes were enough to cause Microsoft to put the brakes on AI, CEO Satya Nadella put that to rest on day one of BUILD. Nadella kicked off BUILD with a three-hour keynote that began with, and largely consisted of, all things AI. Despite Tay's needing a rebuild, it's clear Microsoft isn't done with bots, AI, or delivering an improved interactive user experience using machine learning. As Nadella put it, AI is "about taking the power of human language and applying it more pervasively to all of our computing." Microsoft envisions a world in which people interact with "smart" bots, the growing number of digital assistants -- including Microsoft's Cortana -- and even bots communicating with other bots and computing assistants: all using AI to continually improve the experience. It's not hard to imagine Microsoft's AI solutions delivered through its Azure platform, including the incorporation of machine learning to provide cloud customers with detailed data analytics and, ultimately, actionable results. As one pundit said, "All these new conversation canvases need cloud as the delivery platform." The transition to a data-centric approach to growing Microsoft's already impressive cloud seems natural. Already a crowded fieldAlphabet's initial foray into the cloud was largely focused on data hosting. In addition to having just three data centers around the world -- though plans are for 12 more by year-end 2017 -- Alphabet seemed content conducting a cloud data-hosting price war with most anyone. No more. Alphabet recently opened its AI doors to developers to improve its functionality and capabilities. At an annual run-rate of $4.5 billion last quarter, IBM is hardly a slouch in the cloud market. IBM can't match Microsoft's nearly $9.5 billion cloud business, but that's to be expected. Microsoft solutions, including Dynamics CRM and its flagship Office 365, are ideally suited for a smooth, easy transition to the cloud. IBM, on the other hand, has spent over $5 billion the past year to not only improve its SoftLayer cloud platform but also, and just as importantly, to enhance its AI cognitive-computing product suite. Microsoft has already won over many investors and pundits with its augmented-reality headset HoloLens and strong cloud position, and now with AI-driven bots and analytics on the horizon, Nadella has the cloud king moving back up the list of the world's leading tech innovators. The article Microsoft Corporation Dives Headlong Into AI originally appeared on Fool.com. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Tim Brugger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares) and Alphabet (C shares). The Motley Fool recommends Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Oil steaded at around $44 per barrel on Thursday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) trimmed its forecast for demand growth but said a fall in oil output in the United States was speeding up. Brent crude futures were up 12 cents from their last close at $44.30 a barrel by 1138 GMT. U.S. crude was up 4 cents at $41.80 a barrel. The IEA trimmed its estimates for 2016 global demand growth from last month to 1.16 million barrels per day, but said a much-anticipated slide in production of light, tight oil in the United States was gathering pace. The market was choppy ahead of a keenly anticipated producers' meeting on Sunday in Doha of the world's biggest oil exporters, including Saudi Arabia and Russia. They are set to finalize a deal reached in February to freeze oil output at January levels, aiming to bolster oil prices. But many analysts think there is scope for disappointment after the meeting. "There is hope going into the talks that supply will be frozen, and there will be lots of volatility in the next two days, but there is potential for disappointment," said Frank Klumpp, analyst at LBBW in Stuttgart. Russian oil minister Alexander Novak told a closed-door briefing of energy analysts in Moscow on Wednesday that the deal would be loosely framed with few detailed commitments. "The agreement will not be very rigidly formulated, it is more of a gentlemen's agreement," one of those present said, paraphrasing Novak's words at the briefing. "There is no plan to sign binding documents," another person at the briefing said. This suggests producers are unlikely to formally agree to rein in production, which now stands at about 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in excess of demand. (Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore; editing by Susan Fenton and David Clarke) Another coal business has fallen victim to increased regulations on the industry. On Wednesday, Peabody Energy, one of the largest U.S. coal producers, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, following a similar recent trend. Robert Murray, CEO of Murray Energy, said this development is a prime example of what has been happening to the coal industry as of late. The bankruptcy of Peabody Energy puts 70% of the United States coal industry into financial default, Murray told Neil Cavuto. Five years ago our industry was worth $69 billion. As of today its $4.8 billion. Weve lost 94% of our market capitalization in five years. Murray, whose company produces about 65 million tons of high-quality bituminous coal every year, according to its website, blamed the industrys struggles on two factors. The largest reason for the decline of the United States coal industry is the Obama Administration and the Democrat Party and the Democrats in Washington, D.C., he said. There is no question, however, that the increased use of natural gas through fracking and the use of gas from shales has taken away much of our market. So its a combination of both the overregulation from the Obama Administration and the increased use of natural gas. The coal company executive also issued a warning. What is happening that should be of alarm to all Americans is that reliable, low-cost electricity in America is being destroyed People on fixed incomes are not going to be able to pay their electric bills, he said. Murray commented on the 2016 presidential race and which candidate he sees as the best choice for U.S. coal companies and the energy industry overall. By far the strongest presidential candidate who has shown concern about low-cost electricity for people on fixed incomes or people who manufacture a product for the global marketplace is Ted Cruz, he said. Donald Trump may be favorable to our problem, but so far Ted Cruz has articulated his position better He gets it, he understands it Not to say that Donald Trump might not be there, but he has not articulated it nearly as well as Ted Cruz. Canada has introduced a new assisted suicide law that will only apply to Canadians and residents, meaning Americans won't be able to travel to Canada to die. Visitors will be excluded under the proposed law announced Thursday, precluding the prospect of suicide tourism. Canadian government officials said to take advantage of the law the person would have to be eligible for health services in Canada. The law provides a choice "for adults who are suffering intolerably and for whom death is reasonably foreseeable." It says the person must be mentally competent, 18 or older, have a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability and be in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability. Canada's Supreme Court last year struck down laws that bar doctors from helping someone die, but put the ruling on hold while the government came up with a new law. The proposed law still requires approval in Parliament, but is expected to pass as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government controls the majority of seats in Parliament. Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, Germany, Albania, Colombia, Japan and the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico and Montana. California lawmakers also passed legislation, expected to take effect later this year, where proof of California residency is required. Germany's law applies to Germans and foreigners alike. Switzerland's law is valid for everyone in Switzerland, and people who take part in assisted suicides are not required to be residents or citizens, according to Justice Ministry spokesman Bernardo Stadelmann. The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg allow doctors, under strict conditions, to euthanize patients whose medical conditions have been judged hopeless and who are in great pain. Canada's Supreme Court declared last year that outlawing that option deprives dying people of their dignity and autonomy. It had been illegal in Canada to counsel, aid or abet a suicide, an offense carrying a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. Quebec already passed legislation last year after the court's decision. And since the top court ruling, Canadian judges elsewhere have given individual patients permission for assisted deaths. To get a doctor's help under the law, a written request is required, either from the patient or a designated person if the patient is incapable, and the request would need to be signed by two independent witnesses. Two independent physicians or authorized nurse practitioners would have to evaluate it and there would be a mandatory 15-day waiting period unless death or loss of capacity to consent was imminent. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said the law will ensure that dying patients who are suffering unbearable pain have the choice of a peaceful death and that the vulnerable are protected. "This will have a positive, significant impact on the lives of Canadians," Trudeau said. "It is important to respect the choices made by Canadians." Last year's ruling immediately triggered emotional responses from both sides of the debate. The court's decision was spurred by cases brought by the families of two British Columbia women, who have since died. The decision reversed a Canadian Supreme Court ruling in 1993. At the time, the justices were primarily concerned that vulnerable people could not be properly protected under physician-assisted suicide. But the top court said last year that doctors are capable of assessing the competence of patients to consent, and found there is no evidence that the elderly or people with disabilities are vulnerable to being talked into ending their lives. It has been more than 20 years since the case of another patient with Lou Gehrig's disease, Sue Rodriguez, gripped Canada as she fought for the right to assisted suicide. She lost her appeal but took her own life with the help of an anonymous doctor in 1994, at the age of 44. Amid a prescription opioid abuse and heroin use epidemic largely fueled by overprescribing among doctors, President Obama has suggested allocating $1.1 billion to expand affected individuals access to care a proposal that has garnered bipartisan support. Although some experts question whether throwing money at the issue will be enough, many believe that, if used properly, the funding has the potential to save lives. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly half a million Americans died from drug overdoses between 2000 and 2014. Opioid overdose deaths, including those from heroin, hit record highs in 2014 and saw a 14 percent increase in only one year. Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen, who has worked as an emergency room doctor in one of the nations opioid addiction hotspots, said the proposal signals a shift in thinking about addiction as an individuals problem best controlled with law enforcement, to a chronic medical condition like diabetes or heart disease that can be prevented and treated. That science has been around for decades, and societys perception has caught up, Wen told FoxNews.com. A pill for every pain In 2014, 259 million opioids or enough for every American adult were prescribed, according to the CDC. The most commonly prescribed opioid pain relievers were natural or semi-synthetic opioids like oxycodone and hydrocodone, which are involved in the most overdose deaths among opioids. The CDC recorded 813 more deaths, a 9 percent increase, from these types of opioids in 2014 than 2013. Over the last decade, overall deaths resulting from opioid abuse and abuse of illegal narcotics like heroin have quadrupled. A study published in the November 2015 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggested overdoses from drugs like opioids is one of the main reasons why deaths of middle-age white Americans are rising while the overall death rate in the United States has fallen. There are people in suburban and rural areas who are dying of overdose, Wen said. Unfortunately, its taken this level of people dying to get us to where we are, but I do think a sea of change is occurring, and we are seeing how overdose kills. Although multiple factors have contributed to the epidemic, Wen and other experts have argued that a culture of a pill for every pain has played a key role. Dr. Melinda Campopiano, a medical officer at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), who both prescribes opioids and treats patients who have become addicted to them, said when she was in medical school in the 90s, professors taught students using the sickest of patients. That approach may have skewed the risk-benefit factor for stronger drugs like opioids versus over-the-counter medication like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or acetaminophen, she said. An assumption at the time that pain was undertreated in America overall led many doctors to readily prescribe opioids as it was. Campopiano added that the trend of overprescribing opioids may also have emerged from a well-intentioned effort to standardize care across the board. At that point, evidence emerged that pain in minorities particularly was being undertreateda bias that data suggest still affects minority and less-wealthy patients today. You want professionals to overcome their inherent biases, but you cant count on that, so by being systematic in treating pain, the intention was to eliminate the suffering that was the result of racial and ethnic biases that people had, Campopiano told FoxNews.com. That systematic approach persisted through the 1990s and 2000s, and was accompanied by a push from the federal government for doctors to better address their patients pain in its Pain as the Fifth Vital Sign campaign. Researchers at Brandeis University, New York University and others, argued in the January 2015 edition of The Annual Review of Public Health that Big Pharmas campaign throughout those decades downplayed the risks of long-term opioid abuse and encouraged their use. In 2007, OxyContin producer Purdue Pharma paid $634.5 million in fines for harmful advertising of the drug. Data shows opioids are among the most addictive drugs on the market. Although experts dispute their efficacy for chronic pain and theres no perfect pill for every type of pain, the drugs change the way the brain and nervous system respond to pain, generating a euphoric or relaxing effect. But the longer and more frequently an individual takes an opioid, the more theyll need to take to get the same sense of relief. Despite increased public knowledge of opioids risks, ideals pushed by Big Pharma and the federal government still persist in doctors offices. All too often, doctors dont offer patients alternatives to opioid prescriptions, nor do they always ask about their mental health or addiction history, Campopiano said. Patients want to get better and trust their doctors, so they often dont challenge their judgment. A big downfall in provider education is we dont teach health professionals to ask about and address mental health and substance use disorder issues consistently and effectively, Campopiano said. On that side of the issue, I would include informed consent of patients so that patients have the opportunity to make fully informed decisions about their treatment options. Educating the public about opioid risks In May 2015, the CDC urged doctors to prescribe fewer painkillers and encouraged patients to ask questions themselves about alternatives. Another question some doctors may not ask is what other drugs patients are taking. One out of every three unintentional deaths involved a harmful combination of opioids and benzodiazepine, a medication that can help relieve everything from muscle spasms to anxiety and sleep problems, Wen said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already added a boxed warning, the most serious type, to immediate-release opioid painkillers, but it hasnt yet added warnings to benzodiazepines and opioids to warn doctors and the public of their harmful reactions. Wen and other health officials have petitioned the FDA to do so. Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), which are used in 49 states, can help doctors monitor what their patients have been prescribed, effectively helping prevent patients from experiencing harmful drug reactions or racking up pills. The CDC considers them one of the most effective tools for preventing opioid abuse, but states havent yet fine-tuned these systems. "There isn't yet a single state in the country that has an optimal prescription drug monitoring program that works in real time, actively managing every prescription," CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden said in a press conference in March. Brendan Saloner, assistant professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said states could use the proposed funding to better integrate pre-existing programs like these. What we have now is not really a system so much as a fragmented network of specialty providers who oftentimes dont work that well with physical health providers, with human service providers, and with the criminal justice systems all of these entities that we know are very closely aligned with these populations, Saloner told FoxNews.com. He added that one of the administrations most promising propositions for the funding would be to subsidize physician training in areas of need. If passed, Obamas proposal would allocate $920 million to expand their treatment capacity and make services more affordable, $50 million in National Health Service Corps funding to expand access to substance use treatment providers, and $30 million toward researching the efficacy of treatment programs in place and then improving them. Overcoming stigma That opioids are often a bridge to heroin abuse has made the epidemic even more pressing for health officials to address. Eighty percent of people who use heroin started doing so by using prescription pain medication, according to government data. This may happen when a patient can no longer obtain pricier opioids and turns to the street for potentially tainted painkillers or heroin. CDC data suggests deaths linked with illegal fentanyl, a strong, less expensive opioid commonly added to or disguised as heroin, are increasing. In Baltimore, where 527 people died of heroin-related causes in the first nine months of 2015, combatting the epidemic has involved expanding availability of anti-overdose antidotes narcan and naloxone. Wen has issued a blanket prescription to everyone in Baltimore, where residents can take a 10-minute online training course to learn how to administer them. The most important thing is if a patient is given an opioid, they should be given naloxone, Wen said. There should be clearer guidelines about combining the two. In Vermont, officials use a state dashboard to monitor capacity in addiction treatment centers and send alerts when more resources are needed. Saloner said integrating the criminal justice system to help individuals start treatment upon incarceration or to continue treatment after they leave jail could be another interesting prospect for affected cities. Whether that treatment is adhered to is one of the strongest predictors of a patients recidivism, Saloner said. Many experts like Saloner argue that criminalizing addiction, which is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as part of the nations war on drugs has failed, leading to recidivism and wasted tax dollars. We tried criminalizing addiction, and we didnt make a dent in the epidemicand in some ways, we made it worse by driving a lot of harmful behaviors in the ground, Saloner said. You dont make a meaningful or sustained impact on this problem until you create a collaborative and person-centered model, until you recognize this is someone with a medical condition. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) required plans in the Health Insurance Marketplace to cover substance use disorder services, but overcoming stigma is one of the biggest hurdles faced by doctors and patients affected by opioid addiction. What our best evidence would suggest is that using rhetoric that really stigmatizes or creates a kind of a moralistic set of overtones about addiction is not helpful in getting those people into treatment, Saloner said, so if were really serious about getting those people into treatment, we need to focus on a more positive and inclusive message. Officials in Baltimore have implemented a 24/7 hotline that residents can call to seek treatment, and the city is starting a stabilization center to provide around-the-clock emergency room care for addiction and mental health. They also are aiming to prevent addiction from happening in the first place and reduce stigma through ad campaigns, like the citys Dont Die campaign, online and on billboards. Leveling the playing field For officials like Wen, who have been fighting this epidemic long before it surpassed the bounds of inner cities, the governments proposed funding offers promise for more equality in health care. Weve had people of color dying in inner cities for decades, and its often been said that if theyre poor and insured, that it is their choice and that becomes a criminal justice issue, but if someone is wealthy and insured, then it becomes a medical issue, Wen said. Its reached jurisdictions across the country, but at the same time were glad that there is national attention for this public health crisis. Ultimately, combatting the epidemic will mean arming doctors and patients with the right resources and knowledge. Ive yet to meet a doctor or any provider of any kind who wants to get their patients addicted to drugs or wants their patients to overdose, Wen added, So its not about keeping doctors in check, its about giving them the tools they need to allow them to make the best decisions for their patients. Forty-eight-year-old Christine Jagde thought she had tried everything to relieve her debilitating migraines, until she stumbled upon a simple holistic therapy: floating in a tank. "When I walked out of the float the first time, I felt relaxed, my headache felt better, and I thought, OK this is something that I can do as a practice," Jagde, who works as an attorney in New York City, told FoxNews.com. Floating, or flotation therapy, is one of the latest alternative medicine trends, and it works by depriving the senses to ease stress and aches. Over the past few years, more businesses that offer the therapy have emerged, and some companies are now selling personal tanks that can be used at home. At Lift Floats in New York, clients float naked for one hour in a water tank filled with 250 gallons of water at body temperature and 1,000 pounds of Epsom salt. [Its] a concentration of salt greater than the Dead Sea so clients float effortlessly, Lift Floats co-owner David Leventhal, told FoxNews.com. "Most of our clients have the sensation of not being able to feel hot or cold. They literally can't tell if their limbs are above or below the water line." While growing in popularity, floatation therapy isnt exactly new. Behavioral scientist John C. Lilly started experimenting with an isolation tank in 1954. In 1972, the first commercial tanks hit the market thanks to computer system programmer Glenn Perry. Dr. Paul Hokemeyer, a psychotherapist based in New York City and Malibu, said when the mind is deprived of senses, it goes into a state of hyper-arousal. It generates a barrage of thoughts, feelings and emotions that emanate from both the conscious and unconscious state of being, Hokemeyer told FoxNews.com. Questions that an individual may have during this heightened state of awareness include Where am I, Why am I doing this? as well as questions with deeper conflicts of being like Who am I?, and Am I safe, loved and lovable? Research on floatation therapy has been limited to small study groups, but some reports suggest floating can relieve muscle tension, enhance creativity and induce instant relaxation. Dr. Teo Mendez, an orthopedic surgeon from Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, has floated three times before and said he was skeptical about its mental health benefits at first. "For about 20 minutes, I was pretty bored, but then I started to get a little bit in-tune with my body, Mendez told FoxNews.com. I felt very creative afterwards, like I was easily able to solve problems. A lot of times in surgery, what were doing is trying to solve problems, and being able to think outside the box and think of new ways to do things is critically important, so its helped me in that way. Some floaters have reported the pitch-black and sound-proof environment can put them into a deep meditative state. Its really allowed me to become more self-aware and to visualize things, Jagde said. Ive been able to visualize things from my past, from wonderful childhood experiences. Busy professionals and entrepreneurs have also flocked to float centers across the nation in hopes of finding new ways to relieve stress. Mackie Yakaitis, founder of 11lemons.com, an on-demand dry cleaning and virtual closet app he launched last month, went to Cloud Aquatic Float Parlor in Waldwick, New Jersey, for a chance to get away and refocus. Launching a business can be stressful. It required me to be connected around the clock, so I was really looking forward to being able to completely unplug and disconnect from my devices for a bit," Yakaitis told FoxNews.com. An hour without interruption felt extremely relaxing. Even famous athletes like Tom Brady and Stephen Curry reportedly float for muscle recovery, and a boost of focus and concentration. I get asked a lot by athletes and by patients about this, and I think the thing that really benefits them first and foremost is the lukewarm water that loosens up your muscles, Mendez said. Magnesium also the Epsom salts dissolves into magnesium and sulfate, and magnesium is extremely important for your body. Theres a theory that some of the magnesium gets absorbed into your skin when youre floating, and this can potentially aid recovery [and] decrease muscle soreness, whether its from working out or just from low back pain, stress, [or] tension in your shoulders. A study published in May 2006 in the International Journal of Stress Management found that participants with stress-related pain who floated for 12 sessions showed a decrease in pain, stress, anxiety and depression. Float center owners suggest that people with certain mental illnesses or medical conditions like epilepsy, infectious diseases or open skin wounds talk to their doctor before floating. It holds the potential to traumatize people who suffer from a host of chronic to acute mental health challenges like anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, Hokemeyer said. In addition, for people who struggle with an active borderline personality disorder, it holds the potential to cause great stress and is counter indicated. An hourlong float session typically costs between $60 to $100. At Lift Floats, a single session costs $99. In a first-of-its-kind clinical trial, researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine are using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in an attempt to slow or reverse the symptoms of Alzheimers disease. The team is aiming to enroll 30 patients who will be tested and observed for cognitive function, memory, quality of life and brain volume over the course of a year. This is a phase 1 study; we want to prove that its safe, Dr. Bernard Baumel, principal investigator and an assistant professor of neurology at the Miller School of Medicine, told FoxNews.com. We minimally would like to see that it slows down the progression of the disease. Baumel and his team began investigating MSCs because of their anti-inflammatory properties and because they have shown the ability to develop into many different types of cells. The cells are also thought to promote neurogenesis, which allows the brain to produce new cells in the hippocampus, which is where new memory forms and Alzheimers disease begins. [MSCs] are anti-inflammatory and they promote indigenous stem cells in your body to proliferate, Baumel said. They stimulate cell growth and have a lot of attributes that are very advantageous for using them in humans. One such attribute is the ability to migrate to areas in the body in which they are needed. Baumel explained that if you were to inject stem cells into the body of someone who had no need for them, they would simply wither away and die. However, for the patients enrolled in the trial, due to the pathology of Alzheimers Baumel and his team hope to see the MSCs cross the blood brain barrier and help reduce inflammation, stimulate neural stem cells to proliferate and repair damaged areas. In a best case scenario, Baumel said the team would see MSCs remove the brain inflammation associated with Alzheimers altogether. The approach has previously been tested in mice with promising results. Researchers pathologically altered the mouse to replicate Alzheimers disease, which saw an increase in amyloid plaque build-up and caused them to struggle to move through a maze. Mice treated with MSCs had a marked reduction in plaque and showed improved behavior. Its the first time it is being done [in humans], Baumel said. Theres been no successful study done therapeutically since 2002, so were very excited that this is a new approach to Alzheimers therapy, and hopefully it will work. There currently is no cure for Alzheimers, a progressive disease that is the most common form of dementia. More than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimers, with symptoms including memory loss, confusion, disorientation and mood and behavior changes. The Allogeneic Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell Infusion Versus Placebo in Patients with Alzheimers Disease study is being conducted in collaboration with Joshua M. Hare, M.D., founding director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Louis Lemberg, professor of medicine. I bet you never thought this whole delegate thing would become the story going into the Republican National Convention this July. Nope, neither did we, but now were busy learning ourselves how each state operates. Well, let me throw another ringer at you today. Yesterday on "The Real Story, we had John Yob on the show. Hes a delegate from the United States Virgin Islands. He said hes also been elected to the all-important rules committee, but hang on! Right after the show, we heard from John Canegata, the chair of the Republican Party in the Virgin Islands. He sent us a press release claiming Yob and his slate of delegates are ineligible, in part because of residency rules, and that his nine delegates will be the ones going to the convention. So, which slate of delegates will actually be the real one? Well, we reached out to the RNC and heres what they said: "The RNC must accept the slate the state party submits. If someone wants to challenge a delegate or the slate they file a complaint with the contest committee. The RNC must accept the slate the state party submits. If someone wants to challenge a delegate or the slate they file a complaint with the contest committee. The rules require us to accept the delegation the party certifies." All I can say is, whoever thought nine delegates from the Virgin Islands would be so important? Turns out, they are hot commodities. When 276 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram on April 14, 2014, the world looked on in horror. The mass kidnapping instantly garnered international media attention, and ignited a Twitter campaign of epic proportions. (In less than three weeks, #BringBackOurGirls was used more than a million times on social media.) Yet as I sat in a dusty courtyard across from the fathers of the kidnapped Chibok girls in Nigeria a few months ago, I witnessed a different reality for the families from those early days of international outcry: broken promises, unanswered questions, and crushing silence. On April 14, two years will have passed by since the girls disappeared. For the families of those kidnapped, these have been years of sleepless nights, worried days, and profound sorrow. With an ever increasing number of deadly suicide bombings perpetrated by teenage girls in recent months, it has become clear that Boko Haram is using some captives as human explosives. And horrifically, as violence spreads throughout northern Nigeria, the government has been compelled to admit that, in fact, they have no real idea of the location of the kidnapped Chibok girls. In my travels throughout Nigeria, I realized that the Chibok fathers arent alone in their grief and fear. Their plight is tragically representative of the situation facing thousands of Nigerians, including marginalized Christians. Although the Chibok girls remain among the most high profile victims, UNICEF estimates that more than 2,000 girls have been abducted by Boko Haram since 2011. Churches and schools have been destroyed, and entire villages wiped out. Crushed But Not Defeated, a new report by Open Doors about the impact of recurrent violence against Christians in northern Nigeria, estimates that 11,500 Christians have been killed between 2006 and 2014. At least 13,000 churches have been attacked, destroyed or abandoned and 1.3 million Christians have been internally displaced since 2000. So what can be done to protect and assist persecuted people of all faiths in Nigeria? Open Doors is working on the ground in this countrynot only with the families of the kidnapped Chibok girls, but also with thousands who have suffered violence at the hands of Boko Haram and other groups. By providing physical, spiritual and emotional aid and encouragement, we are working to strengthen those who remain in-country, even as more persecution looms on the horizon. This year, as we approach the second anniversary of the kidnapping of the Chibok girls, Open Doors is launching an advocacy campaign asking President Obama to take a strong stance against the ongoing persecution of Christians and other victims of violence in Nigeria, and to urge Nigerian President Buhari to do everything possible to protect those facing this onslaught of terror. Were asking President Obama to make a presidential visit to Nigeria, as we believe a visit would lend greater weight to the administrations recommendations to the Nigerian government that it ensures the rights of Christians and other minorities are protected and the current climate of impunity for religious discrimination and persecution is ended. As Buhari works toward tackling corruption, Open Doors is also urging him to support investigations into allegations brought against prominent Nigerian politicians of providing financial support for Boko Haram. We are asking Buhari to follow through with the promises he made during his election campaign. These recommendations are only a start. As the second anniversary of their tragic kidnapping comes and goes, we must speak out again for Nigerias Chibok girls and other victims of Boko Haram violence, and hold our leaders accountable to protect those who are facing persecution. Even as we take action on behalf of those who are suffering, we can learn from their faith. While in Nigeria, I was struck by the strong faith of the Chibok fathers. In the midst of their daily misery, many have found a way to give their pain over to God. Pastor Ayuba, whose daughter Amina was kidnapped that fateful day, describes the agony he and his family continue to endure. "We waited and waited, receiving many fresh promises. Up to now, we are still waiting. I shed tears, but what can I do? The only thing I can do is give it to God. When I asked where he thinks his daughter is, he shakes his head, looking down at his hands. He says simply, She is in the hands of God. My hope is that the people of the United States can assure Pastor Ayuba that his daughter has not been forgotten. Two years is too long for any parent to wait. Now more than ever, let us demand of those with the power to do it: #BringBackOurGirls. It was the right decision. A no-brainer. A Florida State Attorney announced Thursday that he would not prosecute the criminal case against Donald Trumps campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, for grabbing the arm of a reporter. It makes perfect sense. Misdemeanor battery is the intentional touching of someone against their will or harming someone. Technically, Lewandowski committed a battery. But there are degrees of offensive touching and harm. Some are major, others are minor. It was clear the prosecutor felt this was a minor incident which, under inflamed political circumstances, had been blown out of proportion. Go figure. The surveillance video of the encounter is instructive. In fact, it is the star witness. Lewandowski clearly grabs the arm of the reporter, Michelle Fields. He pulls her away from Trump. Was it done forcefully? It appears so. But did he throw her to the ground or do something other than restrain her? It doesnt look that way. If prosecutors were to bring to trial every instance in which peoples arms are grabbed, courts would be clogged like a Los Angeles freeway. The physical harm is also a consideration. How injured was the alleged victim? The State Attorney confirmed there were bruises in the form of finger imprints. Thats it. No broken bones or sprained wrists. No head injury. No blood. Just a couple of faint bruises. Some people bruise easily, and the defense would surely bring this up. But on balance, was Fields really hurt? Enough to spend taxpayer resources in bringing a criminal case to trial? In making a decision, prosecutors must use their common sense. In this case, they did. A Viable Defense The State Attorney was persuaded that Lewandowski was trying to protect Trump. It is a good and viable defense. Similar to self-defense, the law allows the accused to claim defense of another to excuse his otherwise criminal conduct. A good prosecutor will examine the totality of the circumstances. That is, why did it happen? What events led to the physical touching? In a phone call to the State Attorney, Trump said his campaign manager was trying to protect him from an overly-aggressive reporter who was getting too physically close to him. One Secret Service agent confirmed that Fields touched Trump before Lewandowski pulled her away. The video proves both accounts. Cameras dont lie. They are more reliable than most fallible and biased eyewitnesses. The legal standard for defending someone else is defined by one word: reasonableness. Was it reasonable for Lewandowski to fear for the safety of Trump? Maybe. But maybe is good enough in a court of law. Remember, prosecutors must prove their case beyond a reasonable doubtwhich is an extremely high burden. Maybe is enough to cast doubt on the merits of the states case. Beyond that, the accused could also avail himself of whats called imperfect defense of another. What is it? An honest but mistaken belief that someone is about to be harmed. It is known in legal circles as the oops defense. Lyle and Erik Menendez employed a comparable imperfect self-defense during their double murder trial. They claimed they killed their parents because they genuinely believed mom and dad were going to harm them. At trial, the brothers acknowledged they were probably mistaken in that belief. Oopssorry mom and dad! Of course, it was a preposterous claim and they are now serving life sentences. But Lewandowski could have employed successfully a similar defense in arguing that, perhaps, he overreacted or misjudged the situation. He made a mistake. The oops defense gives him a legal out. If Fields feels aggrieved, she has only herself to blame. At least thats the view of the State Attorney. He seemed highly critical of the reporter for defying instructions to move to the back of the ballroom. Instead, she worked her way forward and wove through a phalanx of Secret Service agents, reached Trump and touched his arm. Again, it is depicted on the videotape. Trump, according to the prosecutor, recoiled. At that point, his campaign manager intervened to pull Fields away. Why would police charge Lewandowski, only to have the prosecutor decline to bring the case to trial? The answer is fairly simple. Police have a lower legal standard of probable cause in deciding to charge someone with an offense. For prosecutors, the standard is much higher. They must decide whether they can win the case at trial. How will jurors react to these facts? If public opinion is any barometer, it would have been extremely difficult for the state to convince unanimously 12 jurors beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecutors hate to lose cases, which is why they only prosecute winners. And even then, they dont always win. A Defamation Case Fields can still sue Lewandowski for defamation. She would have a fairly strong case against him because the standard of proof for the plaintiff is lower in a civil lawsuit for money damages a preponderance of the evidence. In plain terms, it means shed have to prove her case by the greater weight of the evidence. That is a lot easier than the criminal burden. So, how was Fields allegedly defamed? After their interaction, Lewandowski called her delusional and insisted he never touched her. In essence, he was calling Fields a liar. But the videotape belies his statement. He seems like the liar. He is seen grabbing her and pulling her away. Defamation is a false statement which damages someones good name and reputation. Has Fields been damaged? Judging from the social media commentary and her precipitous job departure, Id say yes. Her damages could be considerable. There is one more twist to a defamation case. So-called public figures have an extra burden in court. They must prove malice. In other words, they must demonstrate the defendant knew his statements were false. It is debatable whether Fields would be regarded as a public figure but it doesnt matter. Again, the videotape takes care of that. Lewandowski knew he grabbed her. Hes shown doing it on the video. It was foolish for him to pretend otherwise. But its always the cover-up, not the crime... Of course, Lewandowski might try to claim amnesia. Its a common affliction among politicians and their sycophants. They say the devil is in the details, and that is true when trying to figure out how the delegate system works. We just focused on delegates Marco Rubio won before bowing out of the race. He has 172. However, the 17 delegates he won in Minnesota are bound to him only. In Oklahoma, his 12 will be free to vote for whomever they choose. Here's where it gets really interesting. The nine delegates Rubio picked up in Tennessee are bound to him through the first two ballots at the convention. In Nevada, Rubios entitled to hold onto his seven delegates throughout the convention - to free them to do what they wish -- or to release them proportionally to the remaining candidates. Its all up to him. In Alabama, Rubios one delegate is bound until he or she is formally released or until two-thirds of the state's delegates vote to release he or she. Got it? And that's just looking at some of Rubios delegates. Theres a religious liberty standoff underway in Middleton, Wisconsin. On one side is a group of Christian moms armed with Chick-fil-A sandwiches and 400 homemade brownies. On the other side are public school administrators who believe that Jesus and plump juicy chicken breasts are divisive. The controversy surrounds an off-campus lunch event involving students at Middleton High School known as Jesus Lunch. Click here to join Todds American Dispatch: a must-read for Conservatives! The high school allows students to eat lunch off-campus. In 2014 a small group of parents began meeting with their children in a nearby park providing home cooked meals along with a Christian-themed, inspirational message. The small weekly gatherings in the fall and spring eventually morphed into a popular gathering spot for hungry kids with nearly 500 turning out for all sorts of goodies ranging from Chick-fil-A sandwiches and fresh fruit to hundreds of homemade brownies. We show up every week just to show the love of Jesus, parent Beth Williams told me. Our mission statement for Jesus Lunch is food for the body, nutrition for the soul. Superintendent Donald Johnson and Principal Stephen Plank called the off-campus religious gatherings divisive and they want the weekly non-denominational meetings shut down. We believe that religious or political events do not have a place in our school or on our campus, except when sponsored by a student group in accordance with our rules, which require prior approval, the pair wrote in an email sent to parents on April 12. The district accused the moms of violating all sorts of rules especially in the area of food preparation. They implied the parents are putting their children in danger by hosting the weekly picnics. The policies in question include food handling, visitors to campus, and expectations around student organized events, the administrators wrote. We are in no way interested in opposing religious practice in otherwise legal circumstances. The district said parents are ignoring food handling standards. Food of any kind that is served to students must be approved by the school/district to ensure food safety, cleanliness and health, they wrote. In addition, many students are subject to food allergies, so additional protocols must be followed to safeguard students with these conditions. I grew up in the Deep South. Had a school administrator slandered the great homemakers in my town like they did in Middleton -- they wouldve been facing a mob armed with cast iron skillets. These are mothers, attorney Phillip Stamman told me. they are spending all their time and effort to show love for these kids and now they are being attacked by a superintendent and principal trying to intimidate them. Stamman is representing the moms as they figure out how to respond to the school districts hostility towards home-cooking and Jesus. The [school district] is going after them because they are spreading a religious message, Stamman tells me. They are upset because they are sharing Christianity. The attorney has a valid point. What if it had been a gathering of students protected under non-discrimination laws? I suspect the district would not only have approved the gathering -- but also endorsed it. And their argument over the safety of the food is a bit of a stretch. The district doesnt seem to have a problem with kids going to McDonalds or Taco Bell. So why are they so bothered by youngsters gathering off campus in a public park? Well, the district is arguing that the public park is technically on campus. They have a lease agreement with the city that allows them to use the park during school hours. So the district contends the moms and their offspring are technically on school property. The parents contend that it is their First Amendment Right to provide free food and hold a religiously oriented event on this property during school hours, the administrators wrote. The District believes that we have jurisdiction of this leased property, which is part of our campus. The moms believe that even though there is a lease agreement that doesnt make the public space off-limits. Fireman's Park -- a public park owned by the City of Middleton -- remains accessible to everyone in the public for the purposes of assembly and free speech, they wrote in a statement. By law, the lease agreement between the city and the School District of Middleton does not privatize the park. The City of Middleton has sent us a letter this week and acknowledged our rental agreement of the pavilion at Fireman's Park. So hence, the standoff between the goodhearted moms and a bunch of public school administrative bullies who dont under the concept of free speech or religious liberty. I suspect the principal and superintendent are about to discover a valuable life lesson. You dont tug on Supermans cape and you dont mess with a bunch of moms armed with homemade brownies. President Barack Obamas recent remarks to my Fox News colleague Chris Wallace about Hillary Clintons email issues were either Machiavellian or dumb. It is difficult to tell from them whether he wants the mountain of evidence of her criminal behavior presented to a federal grand jury or he wants her to succeed him in the White House. He cannot have both. His efforts to minimize his former secretary of state's diversion of emails from government-secured servers to her own non-secure home server by calling it careless may actually harm her in the eyes of the public or even serve as a dog whistle to the FBI. Thats because carelessness is a species of negligence, and espionage, which is the failure to safeguard state secrets by removing them from their proper place of custody, is the rare federal crime that can be proved by negligence -- to be precise, gross negligence. Gross negligence is the failure to perform a high legal duty with the great probability of an improper result -- for example, driving a car 90 miles per hour in New York's Times Square. The high legal duty Clinton had was to safeguard state secrets; the improper result is the exposure of those secrets contained in her emails. What did she do that was criminal, and who was harmed by her behavior? Clinton knowingly diverted all of her governmental emails from secure government servers to her own non-secure server in her New York residence. Among the 60,000 emails she diverted were 2,200 that contained state secrets. Because the essence of espionage is the removal of secrets to non-secure venues, the crime is complete upon removal. So Obamas statement in the Wallace interview that Clinton caused no harm is irrelevant. In espionage cases, the government need not prove that the defendant caused any harm. Obamas further effort in the Wallace interview to minimize the classification of secrets into the statutory categories of confidential, secret and top secret by snarkily commenting that theres classified and then theres classified is not what one would expect from someone who has sworn to take care that all federal laws are enforced. Obama has interpreted that duty so as to permit his Department of Justice to prosecute for espionage both a sailor when he took a selfie inside a nuclear submarine and sent it to his girlfriend and a Marine lieutenant who correctly warned his superiors about an al-Qaida operative masquerading as an Afghan cop in an American encampment but mistakenly used his Gmail account to send the emergency warning. The evidence of Clintons failure to safeguard state secrets is overwhelming because of the regularity of its occurrence. The evidence is well-grounded, as some of the secrets were too grave for the FBI to review and all came from her own server. And the evidence is sufficient to indict and to convict because it was obtained legally and shows a four-year pattern of regular, consistent, systematic violation of the laws requiring safeguarding. Obamas suggestion that some secrets were not really secret is also irrelevant, because Clinton, like the president, swore to recognize secrets and to keep them secret, no matter her opinion of them. The FBI knows this and is taking it far more seriously than the president or Clinton. Just last week, the team investigating Clinton sought and received the extradition to the U.S. of a man who was imprisoned in Romania for computer hacking. One of those he hacked is Clintons confidant Sid Blumenthal, to whom she sent many emails containing state secrets. What will the hacker tell the feds he saw? Clintons surrogates began taking her legal plight seriously in the past few weeks by arguing that her behavior was no different from that of other former high-ranking executive branch officials who occasionally and accidentally took top-secret documents home or discussed top-secret information in non-secure emails and that the consequences for them were tepid or nonexistent. Yet there is no comparison between these occasional lapses and the planned and paid-for four-year diversion of secrets that Clinton orchestrated. Moreover, there is no instance of unprosecuted behavior that her supporters can cite that involves the sheer volume and regularity of the failure to safeguard that we see here. Though the government need not prove intent, there is substantial evidence of Clintons intent to commit espionage from three sources. One is Clintons email instructing an aide to remove the secret designation from a document and send it to her from one non-secure fax machine to another. The second is the Blumenthal hacking incidents, which occurred during her tenure as secretary of state and which did not stop her from emailing him from her home server. The third is a federal rule that permits the inference of intent from a pattern of bad behavior, of which there is ample evidence in this case. On the same weekend that the president was damning Clinton with faint praise and cynically offering what he must have known were irrelevant legal defenses, Clinton continued her pattern of persistent public laughing about and dismissing the significance of the FBI investigation of her. That attitude -- which is recorded and documented by the FBI -- must have caused many of those investigating her to conclude that she understands the predicament she is in but is minimizing it. Or she may be a congenital liar who is lying to herself. Either way, they await with eager anticipation their interrogation of her, should she foolishly submit to one. An electronic device that tricks cellphones into revealing a user's location is becoming a key weapon for law enforcement in its battle against drug traffickers, terror suspects and other dangerous criminals -- but its potential misuse against innocent Americans and the secrecy surrounding which agencies have the devices is of growing concern by civil liberties watchdogs and lawmakers. Cellular site simulators known as "StingRay tracking" basically are fake cell towers that use digital signals to trick a cellphone into revealing its location and other information. Law enforcement typically places the device near the location of a known suspect -- but they also have been used at large gatherings such as rallies, where the digital information of hundreds, even thousands, is scooped up. And while law enforcement agencies turn to the courts for permission to deploy the devices, the requests typically are generic applications called "pen register applications," which only require the agency to affirm that the device will be used in a criminal investigation, without having to name a specific individual. That legal vagueness is what concerns lawmakers. "If you can track somebodys location 24/7, you know the content of their life," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. "I think innocent Americans have a reasonable expectation of privacy." Chaffetz last November proposed the Stingray Privacy Act, which would toughen the warrants needed to deploy the devices and make their use without a court order illegal and punishable with a fine or up to 10 years in prison. Since introducing the bipartisan legislation, Chaffetz said his ongoing investigation into which agencies use StingRay devices and why has yielded few answers. "Its still highly secretive," Chaffetz told FoxNews.com Wednesday. "Theyre not very candid about how theyre using them." "For instance, the IRS has this technology," he said. "What in the world are they doing with it? It raises questions as to why they would need to track people as they move around the country." Cell site simulators are currently used by 13 federal agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service and Drug Enforcement Administration, and at least 50 local and state police departments, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Places where the devices are used by local and state police include California, Texas, Minnesota, Florida, Maryland and New York. The Balitmore Police Department reportedly used the devices more than 4,300 times since 2007, and agreed with the FBI -- which loans out the devices to local law enforcement agencies -- to drop cases rather than disclose its use, according to an article published last year by Scientific American. The FBI, meanwhile, on Wednesday told FoxNews.com that the stingray devices are designed to provide only general location information. "They are not able to triangulate a phones location, nor do they provide precision location data such as latitude/longitude data or GPS data, as they do not obtain or download any location information from the device or its applications," the agency told FoxNews.com in an email response to questions. "The FBI only collects and maintains information that has investigative value and relevance to a case, and such data is retained in accordance with controlling federal law and Attorney General policy," the agency said. "If the records obtained are deemed relevant, the specific records are made part of the investigative case file." The Justice Department says it instituted a policy last fall that requires law enforcement agents to "obtain a search warrant supported by probable cause before using a cell-site simulator." "There are limited exceptions in the policy for exigent circumstances or exceptional circumstances where the law does not require a search warrant and circumstances make obtaining a search warrant impracticable," the DOJ said in a statement Wednesday. "Department components will be required to track and report the number of times the technology is deployed under these exceptions," the department said. The policy applies to law enforcement within the DOJ -- such as the FBI, DEA, ATF and U.S. Marshals -- and also applies when such agencies are working on task forces with state and local law enforcement. The U.S. Marshals Service also confirmed that the technology is used based on "pre-established probable cause in arrest warrants issued for crimes such as murder, sex offenders, robbery, drug offenses, kidnapping, escape and other criminal activities which negatively impact public safety." But Chaffetz and other lawmakers question the guidelines under which local police departments are using the technology. "What weve confirmed is that the standards set forth by the FBI are not shared by these other departments and agencies," said Chaffetz, who is chairman of the House Oversight Committee. "There needs to be limitations and there should be a probable cause warrant and at the very least, articulable suspicion. "Right now, theyre left to make it up as they go along," he said. When asked if it has set guidelines for the many state and local agencies that use the technology, the FBI said it "defers to the local agency for information concerning their policies for use." The use of Cell site simulators raises several legal questions, but most immediate is "probable cause" -- sufficient evidence that a crime has been committed, the baseline for law enforcement to make an arrest, search or seize without a warrant. "The idea of police, acting without any judicial oversight, mining the cellphone data of a large group of people, the majority of which the police have no cause to believe have committed a crime, in a 'virtual dragnet' sounds Orwellian and raises serious Fourth Amendment issues," said Mark Bederow, a criminal defense attorney and former New York prosecutor. "Obtaining internal cellphone data generally requires some form of legal process or judicial permission, such as a subpoena or warrant," Bederow told FoxNews.com. When it comes to crimes unrelated to the intended purpose of the simulators, Bederow said, "Police acting lawfully are not required to avert their eyes or ears to criminal activity that occurs in their presence." Meanwhile, the secrecy behind the use of stingray devices extends to the manufacturers. Scientific American reported last year that Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla., a major manufacturer of the devices, petitioned the FCC to block Freedom of Information Act requests for detailed information about the devices. Harris reportedly also requires local agencies to sign non-disclosure agreements before allowing them to use their equipment. Cristina Corbin is a reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaCorbin. The Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic Party joined Thursday to sue Arizona over voting problems in last months presidential primary, including long lines that had residents waiting hours to cast their ballots. A senior party official confirmed the voting rights lawsuit to Fox News. The Washington Post first reported on the suit, which comes after thousands were stuck waiting hours to vote in the March primary. The suit is a response to decisions that caused extremely long lines and needlessly disenfranchised voters, especially minority voters, during the states March 22nd presidential primary election, and includes affected voters the Arizona Democratic Party, and the Ann Kirkpatrick for Senate campaign as plaintiffs, the official said. The suit, filed in federal court, names as defendants Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell. According to the official, the suit faults the state for a decision to drastically reduce the number of voting locations, forcing thousands of voters to wait in lines for up to five hours, as well as the states arbitrary rejection of provisional ballots at alarming rates, especially those cast by Hispanic voters. Reagan earlier this month certified results of the presidential primary, which Donald Trump and Clinton won. As the state's top election official, Reagan didn't have the ability to reject the official canvass from the 15 counties, despite acknowledging problems that led some voters to be incorrectly left off rolls. The certification did, however, clear the way for court challenges. Reagan said her office and the Legislature may consider proposed changes in the way counties run future elections. Such changes previously required federal approval, but a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision threw out that portion of the Voting Rights Act. Fox News' Ed Henry and The Associated Press contributed to this report. With Tax Day right around the corner, a federal agency is facing criticism for approving more than $600,000 to study wait for it why some people cheat on their taxes. Maybe its because of projects like this? Whatever the researchers discover, one Republican lawmaker is fuming that the National Science Foundation felt the need to fund such a report. Its inconceivable that the NSF decided to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayers dollars to study why some individuals cheat on their taxes, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, told FoxNews.com. The National Science Foundation green-lighted the 2015 proposal which set out to advance basic understanding of how tax compliance behavior emerges, including by trying to determine if there is a link between taxpayers feeling like tax policies are unfair and trying to skip out on paying Uncle Sam. NSF, an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950, repeatedly has drawn the ire of politicians and fiscal hawks like Smith who claim it blows through money on questionable research grants. NSF has an annual budget of $7.5 billion for fiscal 2016 and funds about 24 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted in colleges and universities. Smith, who chairs the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, has aggressively gone after the NSF for what he argues are careless spending practices. Our government wastes too much money, including funding redundant research projects like this one, Smith said. NSF, though, told FoxNews.com it thoroughly vets projects before issuing grants and is transparent about them. Nearly every proposal is evaluated by a minimum of three independent reviewers consisting of scientists, engineers and educators who do not work at NSF or for the institution that employs the proposing researchers, a spokesperson said. The project in question is not expected to be finished until 2018. Rand Corporation, apparently in the lead on the research, pitched their project as a way to study the problem of income tax evasion. The abstract for the project says researchers also will address how audit, penalty, and taxation policies, and changes in those policies, influence perceptions and ultimately reduce tax evasion. It says: Project findings therefore should help nations like the United States reduce the occurrence of tax evasion. Still, there have been more than a dozen NSF-funded analyses of tax-cheating practices and theories in the past three decades. In 1988, $347,000 was spent on four separate studies looking into the subject. They included research on the effects of auditing on tax compliance, effects of penalties on compliance and on the effects of tax enforcement on compliance. In 2009, $137,000 was doled out to study tax evasion and corruption around the world. In 2010, $243,000 was spent on checking out behavioral responses to taxation and tax enforcement. There have been several similar reports on taxpayer attitudes by the Internal Revenue Service, the IRS Oversight Board and the Tax Foundation. A 2014 Taxpayer Attitude Survey by the IRS Oversight Board showed that the tax-collecting agency itself estimates 83 percent of Americans file and pay the amounts they owe on time. In July, Smith introduced legislation that would require each NSF public announcement of a grant award be accompanied by a non-technical explanation of the projects scientific merits and how it would enhance national interest. The deadline for paying taxes this year is April 18. Majorities of American voters think Republican front-runner Donald Trump lacks the knowledge, temperament, and the likeability to be an effective president. On the other hand, majorities feel Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Ted Cruz do possess those traits. Most voters believe Clinton (63 percent), Sanders (58 percent), and Cruz (55 percent) have the knowledge to serve effectively, according to a new Fox News national poll. In contrast, 60 percent say Trump doesnt. In addition, most feel Sanders (68 percent), Clinton (62 percent), and Cruz (61 percent) have the temperament to serve, while most think Trump does not (65 percent). Clintons advantages over Trump on knowledge and temperament are striking, comments Democratic pollster Chris Anderson, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Republican pollster Daron Shaw. That could provide a very good foundation for a general election campaign. CLICK TO READ THE POLL RESULTS In the 2008 Democratic primary, then-candidate Barack Obama famously told Clinton, Youre likeable enough, Hillary. Voters agree: 52 percent say she is likeable enough, while 47 percent say she isnt. Cruz does a bit better on this measure: 52-45 percent. Sanders wins the congeniality award: 71 percent feel hes likeable enough to serve effectively. Trump is in negative territory, as 41 percent say he is likeable enough, but over half -- 57 percent -- disagree. Meanwhile, majorities say Sanders (70 percent) and Cruz (56 percent) have the integrity to serve effectively. Its the opposite for Trump, as 58 percent think he lacks the integrity to serve. Voters split over whether Clinton does: 48 percent say yes vs. 51 percent no. The biggest question mark for all four is whether they can be an effective chief executive. When asked if the candidate could get things done as president to solve the countrys problems, slightly more voters disagree than agree for each. "If you simply look at these trait evaluations, you'd think that Sanders is the run-away top choice," says Shaw. "The front-runners, on the other hand, garner scores ranging from mediocre to abysmal." The new poll also asked voters how proud they would be to have the top 2016 contenders as president. About 3 in 10 would be proud (14 percent extremely and 17 percent very) to have the Vermont senator in the White House. Thats more than feel the same about Clinton (28 percent), Trump (24 percent), and Cruz (22 percent). The two front-runners, Trump (56 percent) and Clinton (48 percent), have the largest numbers saying they would not be proud to have them as president. Views among partisans Among Democrats, Clinton gets her best score on knowledge (88 percent) and her worst on can get things done (76 percent). Democrats rate Sanders highest on likeability (85 percent) and integrity (85 percent) and lowest on effectiveness (66 percent). Trump does best among Republicans on effectiveness as president (73 percent) and his worst on temperament (58 percent). Its the reverse for Cruz: Republicans give him his highest marks on temperament (76 percent) and integrity (76 percent) and his lowest on getting things done (62 percent). Pollpourri Who would voters put across the table from Russian President Vladimir Putin? They trust Clinton more than Trump (53-40 percent) or Cruz (48-44 percent) to negotiate with Putin. Also, more voters trust Sanders than Trump (53-39 percent) or Cruz (48-45 percent). Men are more likely to pick Cruz and Trump over Clinton. Most women would put the former Secretary of State across the table with Putin in both instances. One in five Republicans trusts Clinton more than Trump against Putin (20 percent). The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,021 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from April 11-13, 2016. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters. President Obama touted the U.S.-led coalitions air campaign against ISIS Wednesday, even as political turmoil in Iraq and flares of violence in Syria threaten to jeopardize hard-fought gains. Speaking at CIA headquarters in Virginia, Obama said it had been a few bad months for ISIS and gave a detailed account of areas where U.S.-backed forced have regained territory from the militant group. Though he acknowledged the fight remains difficult and complex, he said ISIS was on the defensive and that the U.S. intends to "keep that momentum." "Every day, ISIL leaders wake up and understand that it could be their last," Obama said, using an alternate acronym for the extremist group. Obama didnt detail any new steps about how the U.S. will beef up the fight against ISIS, although U.S. officials have suggested those steps are in the works. Defense Chief Ash Carter has said the Pentagon is looking at new ways to increase military support for the fight, including a likely increase in U.S. forces and the possible use of Apache helicopters for Iraqi-led combat missions. "They are working around the clock to keep us safe," Obama said, adding that CIA operatives had thwarted terrorists repeatedly without being able to acknowledge it publicly. "They don't get a lot of attention." The fragile cease-fire that the U.S. and Russia brokered in February has seen violations as both government forces and moderate Syrian rebels have threatened to break it. Peace talks resumed Wednesday in Geneva aimed at resolving Syria's civil war, though deep disagreements about who should participate have continued to plague that process. The uptick in violence in Syria has raised difficult questions about how to proceed if the truce falls apart and frees President Bashar Assad and his Russian backers to resume attacks on U.S.-supported opposition groups. Russia, which had been bolstering Assad with an air campaign against his opponents, recently ordered a drawdown in warplanes, but said strikes would continue against IS and the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. Both of those groups are excluded from the cease-fire. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday the U.S. is considering providing weapons systems to the moderate rebels, in case the cease-fire fails. However, the CIA made it clear that the backup plan would only be put in place if the truce collapses. In Iraq, Obama pointed to the Iraqi military's preparations to retake the ISIS stronghold of Mosul as an example of increased momentum in the fight. Yet modest signs of progress have been tempered by ongoing sectarian challenges and a political crisis in Baghdad that have threatened to further destabilize the country. Obama's remarks at the CIA came the week before he travels to Saudi Arabia for a summit with Persian Gulf leaders focused largely on the threat from the Islamic State. Previewing his request to countries attending that summit, Obama said "the entire world" must step up to help Iraq restore stability "so that ISIL cannot return." The Associated Press contributed to this report. ISIS has featured several prominent Western Muslims on a hit list in its terror magazine, including top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. The New York Post reported that the list, published in the latest edition of Dabiq, also includes Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and British politicians Sayeeda Warsi and Sajid Javid. ISIS called the Muslims placed on the list overt crusaders and politically active apostates, who involve themselves in the politics and enforcing laws of the kufr (or disbelievers). Glen Caplin, a Clinton spokesman, told The Post he had no comment about the ISIS hit list. The terror group also celebrated last month's Brussels bombings in its latest edition. The extremists warned What is yet to come will be more devastating and more bitter by the permission of Allah, and Allah prevails. ISIS praised the brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui for blowing themselves up in the Belgian capital. The magazine said the pair were responsible for all preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels. The magazine also credited Najim Laachraoui as the bomb maker for both the Paris and Brussels attacks. He blew himself up at the Brussels aiport. Click for more from The New York Post. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Wednesday that his proposed wall across the U.S.-Mexico border would be completed within two years. "I would say it would be complete within two years from the time we start, we'll start quickly," Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity at a town hall in Pittsburgh, Pa. "We'll start quickly, and it will be a real wall. It will be a real wall." The self-imposed deadline was the most detail Trump has offered about his controversial proposal aimed at preventing illegal immigration. At one point, the crowd at the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall began chanting "Build the wall! Build the wall!" Trump followed that outburst with a call-and-response, asking the crowd "Who's gonna pay for the wall?" After the crowd responded, "Mexico!", Trump told Hannity, "They'll pay in one form or another." Trump also accused Colorado Republican officials of changing the rules of the states convention to select delegates for this summer's national convention in Cleveland in response to his candidacy. When I went into the race, which was in the middle of Juneafter that, they changed the whole thing in Colorado, Trump said. I wouldve done great in Colorado [if they didnt] have this arcane [delegate] system that nobody understands. My delegates went there, they wouldnt put them on the list, then they even did Never Trump, Never Trump, the real estate mogul added, referring to a now-deleted tweet from the state partys official Twitter account that included the hashtag popular among Trump's detractors. The Colorado GOP blamed the miscue on unauthorized access in a later tweet. Trump also criticized April 26s Pennsylvania primary. Voters there will award 17 delegates to the statewide winner and 54 additional delegates will be elected directly by the voters. But ballots will not identify which candidate each of the additional 54 delegates have pledged to support. Some of the delegate names will be recognizable local officials, while others may be less-identifiable to voters. I could win Pennsylvania by a landslideget 17 delegates, and somebody else could get 35 or 40, and they didnt even winbut they have connections to the machine. Its not right, Trump said. "We have to bring the voter back into it." Trump also touched on his meeting earlier Wednesday with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, with whom he has carried on a months-long dispute. "She was very, very nice," Trump said. "Maybe it was time or maybe she felt it was time. I give her a lot of credit for doing what she did." Next month, as temperatures warm, billions of cicadas will begin to emerge from the ground as their internal clocks hit the 17-year mark. Soon, their numbers will swell in locations in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia and West Virginia, making a racket as the males call for the females. These red-eyed bugs began their lives in 1999, spent over a decade and a half underground, and soon will complete their life cycles as they crawl aboveground, mate, and then die after a month or a month and a half. The cicadas in this 17-year group are called Brood V, and are actually comprised of three different species. Other cicada species follow a 13-year cycle, or an annual one. Related: Bolivia park is a butterfly paradise In Ohio, the milestone in the bugs lives is even cause for celebration among humans gift shops will sell a commemorative t-shirt. "It's going to be a wild ride," Wendy Weirich, who directs outdoor education for Cleveland Metroparks in Ohio, told the Plain Dealer. "It's like Rip Van Winkle for insects. Cleveland Metroparks which will host a number of special cicada events, including one called Cicada Invasion summed up what to expect from the broods emergence this way: Overall, there will be a lot of bugs and a lot of noise. In fact, the bugs will be so numerous that their density can hit 1.5 million critters per acre. Related: San Diego Zoo hatches near-extinct 'tree lobster' insects The black and orange bugs wont emerge this year until the soil hits 64 degrees. After the females lay their eggs this season, nymphs that hatch from them eventually make their way underground where, like their parents, they will stay for another 17 years. Scientists have found the oldest-known manmade evidence of an exoplanetary system and its been sitting in a basement for almost a century on a piece of glass. In 1917 at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, an astronomer used a 60-inch telescope to record data from a star now known to be a white dwarf. In the pre-digital era, scientists used glass photographic plates to record elemental information about the stars they observed. They didnt know it at the time, but that old form of technology contained telltale clues that that star once probably had planetary bodies or asteroids around it. Related: Exploding stars leave radioactive clues beneath Earth's oceans Nearly a century later, a scientist named Jay Farihi, of University College London, reached out to the current director of the Carnegie Observatories, John Mulchaey, and asked for that specific photographic plate. Luckily, an archivist was able to locate it among the quarter million or so plates the observatory has in its basement. Sure enough, the spectrum captured on that plate long ago revealed the presence of calcium and other heavy elements that a white dwarf star wouldnt have had implying that planetary bodies, asteroids, or maybe even a comet fell into it. Likely this system had multiple planets, Mulchaey told FoxNews.com. We dont know what fell in. But it certainly implies that there were planets there. Related: 'Bone scars' reveal the varied growth of dinosaur cousins Scientists now refer to this kind of star as a polluted white dwarf. Its the evidence of the calcium captured with the old technology that made this inference possible. This is not just a tiny little bit of calcium, Mulchaey said. This is a pretty significant detection I mean, were seeing this in data thats 99 years old. The star, a white dwarf, is what happens when a star begins to die and only the inner core is left. In billions of years, our Sun will do the same. Related: Archaeologists discover rare incense shovel in Israel We certainly had the technology to detect this evidence of this planetary system almost a hundred years ago, Mulchaey added it was only when the old data was analyzed in the current day, with its vastly better scientific understanding, that its true meaning was illuminated. Canada experienced a very high number of reported UFO sightings in 2015, according to an annual survey released by Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Ufology Research. Chris Rutkowski, one of the researchers that compiled the survey, told CBC that reported sightings in Canada last year were the second highest since the survey began in 1989. There were 1,267 reported sightings of UFOs in 2015, according to the report, up from 1,021 in 2014. The highest number of reported sightings was 1,981 in 2012. Survey researchers note that 2012 was the year of the so-called end of the world event associated with the ancient Mayan calendar, potentially fuelling interest in UFOs. Related: Real-life 'X-Files'? CIA posts trove of UFO documents The survey compiles data from multiple sources, including Transport Canada, media and investigative organizations such as the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) and Groupe d'Assistance et de Recherche sur les Phenomenes Aerospatiaux Non-identifiees (GARPAN). Last year also saw an unusual number of cases in Quebec, Rutkowski told CBC. The province accounted for 35 percent of all Canadian UFO reports, compared to between 5 and 15 percent in previous years. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland had more reported UFOs in 2015 compared to 2014, according to the survey. The study also found that more than half of UFO sightings were of lights in the sky, with the typical sighting lasting approximately 16 minutes in 2015. Related: Stephen Hawking joins bid to seek life with tiny spacecraft Some 88 percent of the sightings can be explained by stars, planets, fireballs and aircraft, Rutkowski told CBC, with the remainder still unexplained. The survey, for example, cites an April 2015 sighting of four fast-moving square grey lights shaped as a triangle in Iroquois Falls, Ontario, as unexplained. Earlier this year the CIA offered a peek into its X-files, shining a spotlight on a series of once-classified UFO documents. The UFO documents, which date primarily from the 1940s and 1950s, are among hundreds that the CIA declassified in 1978. The search for alien life continues to fascinate. Earlier this week, for example, celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking joined forces with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and investor Yuri Milner in an ambitious plan for seeking life in outer space. Related: 'Laser cloak' could hide Earth from evil aliens Milner announced the $100 million project Tuesday. Its aimed at establishing the feasibility of sending a swarm of tiny spacecraft, each weighing far less than an ounce, to the Alpha Centauri star system. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Concerned about the fate of the imperiled North Atlantic right whale, a group of over two dozen scientists has written an open letter to President Obama asking him to stop the possible use of seismic surveys in the Atlantic. The surveys, used to search for oil and gas deposits, use equipment towed behind boats to blast sounds into the oceans. The scientists are concerned that the noise pollution could threaten the endangered right whales, which are estimated to number only about 500. The mammals decimated by whaling long ago can grow to be almost 60 feet long. Related: 17-year cicadas set to invade the Northeast In the letter, the scientist say that they have profound concern about the vulnerability of the whales, and argue that despite conservation efforts over the past four decades, the North Atlantic right whale population may actually be shrinking. The researchers attribute this possible decline to the large amount of human activity on the east coast, and argue that noise pollution and hazards like fishing gear threaten the cetaceans. As whale health declines, so too does their ability to reproduce, the scientists report. In March, the Interior Department said that new oil and gas leases wouldnt be offered in the Atlantic, but the scientists who hail from Cornell University, the New England Aquarium, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Duke University are worried that seismic surveys could still continue. Related: Orphaned bear cubs settle in at animal sanctuary in new photos The North Atlantic right whale has managed to survive centuries of past whaling, and a host of recent threats such as ship strikes, fishing gear entanglement, and chronic noise from a range of human-generated sources, Dr. Howard Rosenbaum, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Societys Ocean Giants Program, said in a statement. Even with the proposal for oil and gas drilling off the table, potential impacts from seismic surveys are still of great concern, especially given the endangered status of these whales and the threats they already face. UC Davis spent a lot of money trying to scrub pepper spray from online search results after peaceful protesters were pepper-sprayed in the faceonly to generate more pepper-spray headlines for the institution. Documents obtained by the Sacramento Bee reveal that the university paid "reputation management" experts Nevins & Associates $15,000 a month for a campaign to "clean up" the "venomous rhetoric" directed at UC Davis and Chancellor Linda Katehi after the 2011 incident. Other companies were also paid to improve the university's online image, using a strategic communications budget that almost doubled, to $5.47 million, in the six years after Katehi became chancellor in 2009. The company, which was paid nearly $100,000 through July 2013, gave UC Davis a proposal for "eradication of references to the pepper spray incident in search results on Google," with strategies including a "surge of content with positive sentiment." Experts say such efforts to bury bad press tend to backfire. "It's inconceivable that they thought this was either a good idea or something that wasn't going to be seen or recognized eventually," a PR expert tells CBS Sacramento. Katehi is already the target of sit-ins calling for her resignation over her acceptance of seats on the corporate boards of a textbook publisher and a for-profit university, the Bee notes. (The campus cop who pepper-sprayed the student protesters was awarded $38,000 in workers' compensation.) This article originally appeared on Newser: UC Davis Tried to Wipe Pepper Spray News From Google More From Newser A Houston man staying at one of the nations most famous haunted hotels has an unusual souvenir from his trip. Henry Yau, the public relations director for the Childrens Museum of Houston, was staying at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo. with his wife for a weekend getaway. During his stay, Yau took pictures around the historic propertywhich served as the inspiration for Stephen Kings The Shining. But he hadnt planned on seeing anything out of the ordinary. I had read about it being haunted but little did I imagine I would capture something, Yau told FoxNews.com. While Yau was in the lobby, he used the panoramic feature on his iPhone to capture a full view of the grand stairwell. I don't like when people are in my shots, so when I took this photo, I had waited until the grand stairwell was cleared of people before taking the pic, he recalled. That night when Yau went to bed he says he became strangely ill. Feeling uncharacteristically queasy, he didnt sleep well. But the real surprise came when he was scrolling through his hotel shots the next morning. When he looked at the photo the next morning, Yau was startled to see a figure at the top of the stairs. Yau posted the photo on Facebook with a red circle around the unidentified mass, captioning the creepy image "By golly! I think I may have captured a #ghost at #StanleyHotel. #EstesPark. I honestly don't know who this figure could be, said Yau. When I was there, I took a historic tour and they said all ghosts who roam there are happy ghosts. So I'm hoping this one was a happy one. Built in 1909, the legendary hotel hosts different ghost tours after gaining a reputation for being haunted in the 1970s. "After a century of collecting spirits, the hotel has become renowned by specialists and experts in the field of paranormal investigation as one of the nation's most active sites," according to the Stanleys website. After Yaus spooky vision, he concurs that the property is definitely a hub for unusual activity. The Stanley Hotel is a hotspot for anyone interested in ghosts. There really is something there and I'm now a true believer. Do you think that mysterious figure is a real Stanley Hotel ghost? Let us know. Federal authorities say a Liberian war criminal who allegedly lied about his past to enter the U.S. is being detained on immigration charges in suburban Philadelphia. U.S. Attorney Zane Memeger announced Wednesday that 49-year-old Mohammed Jabbateh is charged with lying on his immigration forms while seeking asylum and residency nearly two decades ago. An indictment says Jabbateh was a high-ranking officer in a Liberian rebel group for much of the 1990s. It says he committed or ordered others to commit war crimes including the murder of civilians, sexual enslavement of women, conscription of child soldiers, rape, torture and corpse abuse. Jabbateh had been living in East Lansdowne. He made a brief court appearance and has a bail hearing set for Monday. His lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 The Latest on Campaign 2016 ahead of the Democratic presidential debate on Thursday and the New York State primaries April 19 (all times Eastern Daylight Time): 9:20 p.m. A Donald Trump rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, drew thousands to a downtown convention center Wednesday evening as well as hundreds of protesters who gathered outside the venue, chanting and waving signs. As Trump's supporters filed out at the end of the rally, the two sides engaged in heated verbal confrontations, with supporters chanting "USA!" and "Build that wall!" and protesters shouting profanities. Police in riot gear separated the sides. Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Emily Schaffer said there were some minor injuries, including to police officers, but she did not have additional details. Among those hurt was an 18-year-old Trump supporter who was observed being led to an emergency medical services van and receiving treatment after he was pepper-sprayed in the face by a man his friends identified as a protester. __ 9:15 p.m. Ted Cruz says he is looking at possible running mates and says "someone would be a fool" to not seriously consider Marco Rubio. Cruz had nothing but nice things to say about his former presidential rival during a CNN town hall broadcast live Wednesday night from New York City. Cruz says he thinks very highly of Rubio, calling him an "amazing communicator" who ran a race that inspired millions, including him. Cruz says, "I think the world of Marco." Cruz also calls the Florida senator "a terrific person to consider for vice president." Rubio secured 171 delegates before he dropped out of the race. Donald Trump has 743 while Cruz has 545. Rubio has not endorsed anyone since he dropped out. __ 8:40 p.m. Bernie Sanders is staging a large rally with thousands of supporters in New York City's Washington Square Park in a show of force before the state's presidential primary. Sanders says looking at his "unbelievable crowd" makes him believe "we're going to win here in New York." Celebrities at the event near the campus of New York University include actor Tim Robbins and director Spike Lee. Sanders says his campaign is about the notion that real change can only come from the bottom up, not the top down. He notes that rival Hillary Clinton has the support of several super PACs, drawing boos at the mention of her name. New York holds its primary next Tuesday. ___ 8:30 p.m. Hillary Clinton is keeping her eye on the general election despite a heated primary race, taking shots at Republicans Donald Trump and Ted Cruz at a rally in the Bronx Wednesday night. Clinton did not mention Democratic rival Bernie Sanders during an appearance before about 1,300 cheering supporters packed into a community center. Instead, she said Trump "wants us to build walls, I want us to build bridges." She also referenced Cruz's criticism of "New York values," saying, "I think New York values are at the core of American values." Clinton spoke for roughly 15 minutes, stressing her support for the Bronx and her commitment to improving education, boosting wages and creating jobs. She repeated her promise to fight for tougher gun laws and offered support for Puerto Rico. __ 6:31 p.m. A handful of former contestants on Donald Trump's reality show "The Apprentice" say he's not worthy of becoming president. Half-a-dozen of the show's past contestants, including Season 4 winner Randal Pinkett and Season 1 runner-up Kwame Jackson are planning a press conference Friday in New York to denounce the GOP front-runner's bid ahead of the state's April 19 primary. In statements, the contestants slam Trump's rhetoric as divisive and filled with hate. Pinkett says that after having the opportunity to work with Trump and observing the campaign, "we do not believe he is worthy of becoming President of the United States." ___ 5:54 p.m. Striking communications workers are getting a lot of attention from Democratic presidential candidates ahead of the critical New York State primary. Hours after Bernie Sanders joined a picket line of Verizon workers in Brooklyn, Hillary Clinton met striking communications workers outside a Verizon store in midtown Manhattan Wednesday. Clinton told a reporter from a local cable news channel that Verizon needs to "engage in real negotiation" and must "come to the table and reach an agreement." Verizon workers walked off the job across the east coast earlier in the day after contract negotiations broke down. About 100 workers chanted slogans like "what's disgusting, union busting" and held signs that read "CWA on Strike." Communications Workers of America has endorsed Sanders. Dennis Trainor, vice president of the union's district that includes New York, says that if Sanders doesn't win, "We're going to be with Hillary." ___ 5:21 p.m. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz likes to talk in his stump speech about how the campaign has been a roller coaster. For Cruz on Wednesday the analogy became reality. Cruz and some campaign aides took a ride on the Ravine Flyer II, a hybrid wooden roller coaster located at an amusement park in Erie, Pennsylvania. Cruz posted video of his ride on Twitter, and then referred to it during his rally in the park in the shadow of the roller coaster. He says the ride was "awesome" and that seeing Lake Erie was the top of one hill was "breathtaking." Cruz says, "My travel aide, I thought he was going to scream like a girl, but he didn't." Cruz jokes that if that had happened, the video would have been on every computer screen in America. ___ 5:08 p.m. Republican Donald Trump is further professionalizing his campaign operation with another new hire as he works to try to lock down his party's nomination. Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski confirms that strategist Rick Wiley will serve as the campaign's new national political director. The campaign last week announced another experienced hand, Paul Manafort, would be serving as convention manager. Wiley previously served as campaign manager for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and has held top positions with the Republican National Committee, with which Trump has been sparring. Trump says in a statement that Wiley brings decades of experience and deep ties to political leaders. ___ 2:44 p.m. Bernie Sanders is defending his decision to leave the campaign trail to attend a Vatican conference on the economy days before next Tuesday's New York presidential primary. He says the chance to speak at the Rome event was the opportunity of a lifetime and he'd be kicking himself later if he refused. Sanders has a 10-minute speaking slot Friday at the event organized by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. The academy is like a think-tank for the Vatican. The chancellor for the academy has said he invited the Democratic Vermont senator because he has invoked Pope Francis' teaching on the campaign trail when other candidates hadn't. Sanders says he will speak at the conference about how greed is destroying people and the environment. The pope is not expected to attend the event. ___ 12:38 p.m. Hillary Clinton says she's disappointed that negotiations have broken down between Verizon and 39,000 workers on the East Coast who walked off the job Wednesday over job security and pensions. Deep in competition with Sanders for support from labor, Clinton is siding with the employees and slamming Verizon for trying to "outsource more and more jobs." That, she says in a statement, would mean "walking away from... the workers who install and repair our phone and cable service, and who respond to customer needs day and night." She added that Verizon should return to negotiations. Sanders walked the picket line on Wednesday. __ 12:00 p.m. In Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders joined striking union workers on a picket line outside a Verizon office. He was showing solidarity with 39,000 workers on the East Coast who walked off the job earlier Wednesday. Sanders said the workers were displaying courage for standing up against the telecommunications giant. "I know your families are going to pay a price," he bellowed into a microphone at a raucous gathering. The Vermont senator thanked the workers "on behalf of every worker in America who is facing the same kind of pressure." An alleged Liberian war criminal was detained on immigration charges near Philadelphia after he lied about his past to enter the U.S., federal authorities announced Wednesday. U.S. Attorney Zane Memeger said that Mohammed Jabbateh, 49, is charged with lying on his immigration forms while seeking asylum and residency nearly 20 years ago. During the asylum-seeking process, Jabbateh was interviewed by an immigration officer to determine whether his application should be granted, according to a news release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Jabbateh responded no when he was asked whether he had committed a crime or harmed anyone else. According to the indictment, Jabbateh was a high-ranking officer in a Liberian rebel group for much of the 1990s. It said he committed or ordered others to commit war crimes including the murder of civilians, sexual enslavement of women, conscription of child soldiers, rape, torture and corpse abuse. The indictment claims that Jabbateh knew he was lying to immigration officers and he knew he had procured asylum in the U.S. by fraud and willful misrepresentation of material fact. The United States has always welcomed refugees and those fleeing oppression, but we will not be a safe haven for alleged human rights violators and war criminals, said Jack P. Staton, acting Homeland Security Investigations Philadelphia special agent in charge. Jabbateh had been living in East Lansdowne prior to his arrest. He made a brief court appearance and has a bail hearing set for Monday. If convicted, he faces a maximum 30 years in prison. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A National Guard soldier in California expressed disbelief after she found the American flag outside her home ripped from its spot along with its flagpole bracket. Christina Sudtell, a specialist who lives in Folsom, said in a Facebook post, This especially hits me hard because Im a soldier, and this flag represents all I stand for. Lisa Bowden, who lives in the neighborhood and has a flag outside her home, told Fox 40 that her boyfriend recently shipped off to Army basic training in Georgia and it would be heartbreaking for him if something happened to their flag. Sudtell has since removed the posting from her Facebook page. Federal agents can obtain cellphone records that reveal a callers location without a warrant, a Cincinnati-based federal appeals court said on Wednesday in the latest ruling to tackle the scope of privacy protections for data transmitted by personal devices. The records obtained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation from wireless carriers in 2011 showed that two Detroit men were near the scene of several robberies at the time they were committed. Timothy Carpenter and Timothy Sanders, who were ultimately convicted of participation in nine armed robberies, sought to exclude the records, saying they were protected by the Fourth Amendment. A 2-1 panel of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that location records created when a mobile phone connects to a nearby cell tower were the equivalent of the writing on the outside of an envelope, rather than the letter inside. Cell-site datalike mailing addresses, phone numbers, and IP addressesare information that facilitate personal communications, rather than part of the content of those communications themselves, wrote Judge Raymond Kethledge. The governments collection of business records containing these data therefore is not a search. Harold Gurewitz, a lawyer for Mr. Carpenter, said he and his client were considering their next move. They could ask the Sixth Circuit to rehear the case or petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review it. Until the high court steps in, Mr. Gurewitz said, I think the issue is just going to be unclear. The ruling aligns the Sixth Circuit with two other regional appeals courts and means that law enforcement officers in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee can obtain a court order for location data by showing merely that the records are relevant to an ongoing investigation. A warrant requires a showing of probable cause. A three-judge panel of a fourth federal appeals court ruled in August that police need a warrant to obtain such records. That ruling is under review by the full court. In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has erred on the side of privacy in disputes over whether the Fourth Amendment protects against the installation of a global positioning system tracker on a suspects vehicle or a search of his phone during an arrest. The cell records obtained by the FBI showed that Mr. Carpenter and his half- brother, Mr. Sanders, were nearby the scene of four robberies in Warren, Ohio, and Detroit in 2010 and 2011. Mr. Carpenter was sentenced to more than 116 years in prison, while Mr. Sanders was sentenced to about 14 years. Click for more from The Wall Street Journal. A deputy constable in Houston who was shot four times Wednesday night after a suspect approached him from behind and opened fire in an apparent ambush is expected to survive after undergoing emergency surgery on Thursday morning. Alden Clopton, an 11-year veteran of the force who is married and has children suffered wounds to the abdomen and had a bullet lodged near his heart, authorities said. "It was completely unprovoked," a constable spokeswoman said. Both deputy constables were in uniform and had marked vehicles. Asked if authorities believed the shooter was targeting law enforcement, Houston police spokesman Kese Smith told The Associated Press that both deputy constables were in uniform and had marked vehicles. "I can't see how someone can mistake them for someone other than law enforcement," Smith said. Deputy Constable Alden Clopton facing continued hours of surgery. He was shot in the back 6 times last night. pic.twitter.com/3WlhVdO0Gb FOX26Houston (@Fox26Houston) April 14, 2016 The suspect fired six shots, four of which hit Clopton, Walker said. Officials had said earlier that Clopton had a bullet lodged near his heart, plus abdominal wounds. The other shots hit the other deputy constable's car and the ground. "It was virtually an ambush is what it was," Walker said, according to the Houston Chronicle. Clopton's protective vest likely saved his life, and Walker said he faces a long recovery. Authorities were questioning a male who showed up a nearby fire station after the shooting and matched the description of the suspected shooter, Smith said. The person had not been arrested or charged, he said, but authorities also were not currently looking for anyone else. According to Smith, the shooting came after a female reserve deputy constable made a traffic stop and called Clopton to assist. The vehicle that was pulled over left and Clopton was standing outside the window of the female's vehicle when he was shot. The female deputy constable got out and shot back, but it was unknown if she hit the fleeing suspect, Smith said. The person being questioned at the fire station did not have any injuries, Smith said, adding that he didn't think the shooting was related to the traffic stop. Clopton is the second Harris County law officer to be shot from behind in an unprovoked attack in the past year. Texas prosecutors in August charged a 30-year-old man with capital murder in the killing of sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth, who was gunned down while filling his patrol car with gas in what officials described as a "senseless and cowardly act." The Associated Press contributed to this report. A 24-year-old man who was wounded in a shootout that killed two 19-year-old Southern University students has been released from a Baton Rouge hospital. Baton Rouge Police Sgt. Don Coppola said he was notified Thursday that the man had been released from Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. Police said the 24-year-old exchanged gunfire outside an apartment complex with 22-year-old Ernest Bernard Felton, a part-time Southern student. Felton was arrested Sunday on an attempted second-degree murder charge related to the 24-year-old man's shooting. A witness told police that Felton initiated the shooting. Investigators were awaiting results of a ballistic analysis to determine who's responsible for fatally shooting Lashuntae Benton, of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Annette January, of Gary, Indiana. Coppola said the women appeared to be "innocent bystanders." A student who claimed she was kicked out of her University of Nebraska Omama sorority over a Tinder photo deemed "risque" said Wednesday she can't tell what could be so offensive about it. Girl booted from Neb. sorority says 'risque' Tinder pic was innocent: 'I didn't do anything' https://t.co/EMoaYbyVyI pic.twitter.com/Oyvo4G3Jgr New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) April 13, 2016 I see happiness. A bid day for a sorority girl is like Christmas, Shannon Workman told ABC News. The photo posted to the app shows Workman smiling with two sorority sisters, each wearing a Chi Omega tank top. The student claims her sorority gave her the shirt. Workman told WOWT she posted the photo last summer. She claimed that when sorority leaders asked her to take it down, she did. But by the end of a meeting on Sunday, she was out. Workman claimed she'd recorded the meeting on her phone. Executives said the photo violated the sorority's "human dignity rule." At one point, an advisor is heard saying, "What you believe in doesn't align with what we believe in." The sorority denies it forced her out. "Shannon opted to voluntarily resign her membership," Chi Omega's national chapter told ABC News. Workman says many of her former sorority sisters are supporting her. "I'm hoping to get the word out there just to spread the word and hope girls stand up for themselves for whatever they believe in." next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 An 18-year-old Ohio woman is accused of using a social media app to film the alleged rape of her 17-year-old friend. Marina Lonina and Raymond Gates, 29, were charged Wednesday with rape, kidnapping, sexual battery and pandering sexually-oriented matter involving a minor. The indictment said the alleged rape involved intercourse by force and the charge was not related to the alleged victim's age. Lonina was also charged with illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material or performance, related to the alleged use of the social media livestreaming app Periscope. Periscope, an app for smartphones, uses a video function to allow users to stream events live. O'Brien said Lonina and the victim were socializing with Gates at a home in Columbus on Feb. 27 when Gates raped the 17-year-old girl. Lonina used the Periscope app to livestream the assault, O'Brien said. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said the motive for the livestreaming was unclear, but he said alcohol was a factor. Lonina is also accused of taking nude photographs of the victim the night before the rape, according to WTTE-TV. The case came to light when authorities were contacted after an out-of-state friend of Lonina saw the images. "People need to know and understand that the use of a smartphone to video events can constitute serious felony crimes," O'Brien said. "They should think twice before they use their smartphones to either photograph or video anything that's of a sexual nature." Lonina "categorically denies these charges," said her attorney Josh Bedtelyon. Gates is scheduled for arraignment Friday. He and Lonina each face up to 40 years in prison, if convicted. The Associated Press contributed to this report. One person died and 11 others were injured Wednesday after being exposed to hydrogen sulfide gas in what authorities said was likely a case of chemical suicide. Emergency crews initially responded to an apartment complex near the University of Texas at 2:30 p.m. local time after getting a report of a person suffering cardiac arrest. When they arrived, they found a male victim with a sign on his apartment door that said, "Stay out: Hydrogen sulfide present." "A lot of people call it sewer gas, it often has been used in chemical suicide," Austin Fire Department Division Chief Palmer Buck told reporters. "We do feel pretty comfortable that is what this is. We have some final chemical analysis being done to verify that's what this is." A statement from the management of the 21 Pearl complex confirmed the victim was a male student. It was not immediately possible to determine his identity or whether he attended UT. The complex is situated in Austin's West Campus district and caters largely to student tenants. The Austin American-Statesman reported that six people were hospitalized for exposure to the deadly gas. Five other people, including the complex's property manager, were treated at the scene. The complex was evacuated while first responders ventilated the scene. The building was cleared for residents to re-enter at around 7:30 p.m. local time. The incident occurred eight days after the murdered body of 18-year-old UT dance student Haruka Weiser was found near a creek on campus. A 17-year-old has been accused of sexually assaulting and strangling her. Click for more from the Austin-American Statesman. A husband and wife from Washington state who vanished Monday afternoon are the focus of a search by Snohomish County detectives and the Major Crimes Unit, Q13Fox reported. Patrick Shunn, 45, and his wife, Monique Patenaude, 46, were reported missing Tuesday afternoon. The disappearance is considered suspicious and its unusual for Shunn and Patenaude not to contact anyone for such a prolonged period, investigators say. Shunn went to work on Monday but did not show up Tuesday. Patenaude was last seen around 1 p.m. on Monday near the couples home in Arlington. Pat did not show up for work nor did he call in, Shunns brother, Erik Shunn, wrote on Facebook Tuesday. That is very uncharacteristic of him. Pat and Monique have pets and livestock and they havent been taken care of the last day and a half. Detectives are also searching for the couples vehicles: a tan 2000 Land Rover Discovery and a black 1995 Jeep. A half-naked 24-year-old woman was found dead inside a truck parked in a Texas Walmart parking lot on Wednesday and police were investigating the incident as a homicide. The unidentified woman, from Baytown, was reported missing by her boyfriend on April 10, FOX6 reported. Surveillance cameras show the woman leaving the Mont Belvieu Walmart at 1:20 a.m. on Monday and entering the truck, which belonged to her boyfriend, KHOU reported. Mont Belvieu is about 15 miles northeast of Baytown. But the surveillance camera was positioned at such an angle that it could not capture any activity inside the vehicle and authorities couldnt see what happened next. There was no sign of blunt force trauma or other injuries on the woman when investigators found her. She reportedly was naked from the waist down. There are some things that are very suspicious, Sheriff Brian Hawthorne told FOX6. Click for more from FOX6. Two young children were killed in a fire that tore through a New York City apartment building after their mother left them home alone so she could do laundry across the street. Authorities say 18-month-old Amanda Jabie and 2-year-old Jannubi Jabie died at a nearby hospital after firefighters removed them from their burning apartment in a Bronx public housing complex. Authorities said at least eight other people were injured in the blaze, the cause of which is under investigation. Witnesses told the New York Post they saw the children's mother run out of the laundromat when she heard the sirens from the fire trucks. They say she collapsed outside of the building when she was unable to get inside. Another neighbor, identified as Shaquinn Cromedy, told the Post he and a friend tried to reach the girls. "We tried to get into the apartment but it was too hot," Cromedy said. "The smoke was too thick and we couldnt breathe. "I saw the babies on stretchers. It was bad. They looked seriously burned." According to the Post, the complex where the blaze broke out was the scene of a major arson in February 2015 after an 18-year-old man attacked his mother and brother before setting their apartment on fire. Click for more from the New York Post. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The speaker of the Ukrainian parliament was elected prime minister on Thursday in what could mark an end to a months-long government crisis in a country crippled by a separatist war in the east. In recent months, political tensions have risen and some respected reformers have resigned, citing disenchantment with the government's cronyism and entrenched corruption. The Supreme Rada on Thursday voted 250-57 for Volodymyr Groysman, who was nominated by President Petro Poroshenko. The outgoing prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, resigned earlier this week after weeks of pressure for him to step down. Yatsenyuk's cabinet survived a no-confidence vote in February, but two parties left the governing coalition to protest the failure to oust the prime minister, who was under fire over the worsening economy and slow pace of reforms. Yatsenyuk became prime minister after Ukraine's former Russia-friendly president was chased from power in February 2014 following massive pro-European protests. Poroshenko was elected several months later with broad support and a seal of approval from Western leaders. Groysman has been perceived as a conciliatory figure after the governing coalition refused to back U.S.-born Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, who has been lauded as a West-friendly reformist untainted by cronyism and corruption. In his acceptance speech, Groysman said Ukraine faces three major challenges: corruption, poor governance and populism that he described as "a no less threat than the enemy in the east." Fighting between Russia-backed separatists and government troops which engulfed swathes of eastern Ukraine in April 2014 has claimed more than 9,100, and a political settlement remains a dim prospect. While presenting Groysman's nomination at the parliament Poroshenko mentioned that he originally wanted a "technocrat government" in an apparent reference to Jaresko but the governing coalition opposed. Jaresko helped to negotiate a deal to restructure Ukraine's $15 billion debt and has been negotiating a bail-out with the International Monetary Fund. Many of Ukraine's backers in the West have said Jaresko's appointment would signal Kiev's commitment to much-needed structural reforms that could help Ukrainian oligarchs. Groysman's acceptance speech was often greeted by shouts and murmur of discontent. Oleh Lyashko, leader of the right-wing Radical Party which exited the coalition earlier this year, dismissed the vote as an oligarchs' coup to secure their vested interests. Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister and a leading figure behind Ukraine's 2005 revolution, announced after the vote that her party will oppose the new government. After a crushing defeat in the 2014 presidential vote, Tymoshenko largely disappeared from public view before being elected into parliament later that year. The latest opinion polls show Tymoshenko as the nation's second-favorite politician, gaining ground on Poroshenko. Ukrainian reformers fear that Groysman's appointment will give the oligarchs a free hand in running the entire economy without government supervision. Others, however, welcomed the new government as a chance to bring a painful political crisis to a close. "The new prime minister and the cabinet help to bring the government out of a months-long lethargy which is fraught with an even deeper crisis and early elections," Kiev-based analysts Vadim Karasyov said. In Germany, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier lauded Groysman's appointment as a "chance to end the phase of political uncertainty in Kiev" and urged to speed up the pace of reform, saying that Ukraine "has no time to lose." Police have released video of the moment officers were attacked with bricks after they stopped two men in car in Kirby, Merseyside. The dashboard camera shows a Volvo estate being pulled over by police over before the car's driver and passenger jump out and begin throwing bricks at the patrol car, smashing the windscreen. The officers were showered with glass but gave chase, pursuing the Volvo around Kirby before losing it on the M57. A police investigation later identified the attackers as 33-year-old Carl Foley and 22-year-old Karl Waring, both of no fixed abode. The men pleaded guilty and were sentenced to a total of eight years for affray, dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified and possession of cannabis with intent to supply. Inspector Mike McFall of Merseyside Police said: "We welcome these sentences, which should serve as a warning to anyone else considering taking such reckless action against police. "These two dangerous offenders believed in using violence to aid their escape from police, and in doing so showed complete disregard for the safety of police and towards other road users. "Unfortunately for Waring and Foley, they only succeeded in raising their profile as a risk to the public, which resulted in substantial terms of imprisonment." Click for more from Sky News. Officials brought a 60-year-old Indonesian Christian onto a high platform and stood around her as one person whipped her with a cane -- all for selling alcohol in violation of Sharia law, local officials said Wednesday. She was the first non-Muslim punished in such a way in Aceh province, the only region of Indonesia that operates under the strict Islamic law, AFP reports. It's unclear how the woman was caught. She was whipped nearly 30 times before a couple accused of committing adultery was whipped 100 times. A rule that passed last year now allows officials in that region to enforce Sharia law on non-Muslims, prosecutor Lili Suparli told AFP. Indonesia's central government granted Aceh the right to implement a version of Shariah law in 2006 as part of a peace deal to end a separatist war. People convicted of adultery, gambling and consuming alcohol also face caning, as well as women wearing tight clothes and men who skip Friday prayers. Homosexuals could face up to 100 cane lashes or a maximum fine of 1,000 grams of fine gold or more than 8 years in prison. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Pakistani police say six policemen were killed and 24 were captured during a police raid on a criminal gang's hideout in eastern Punjab province this week. Police spokeswoman Nabela Ghazanfar told reporters on Thursday that the bodies of the policemen have been retrieved and that security forces are searching for the captured officers. She says a notorious criminal, the Chutto, is behind the abductions. The raid took place on Tuesday. Ghazanfar says members of the gang also wounded four officers in a shootout on Wednesday, as the police were searching for the captured colleagues. Earlier this month, Pakistani police launched an operation against militants and criminal gangs in Punjab, especially in remote areas of Rajanpur district, where militants and criminals have for years challenged the government. Greece's military is carrying out unscheduled exercises along the country's northern borders, with fighter jets flying over an informal tent city of 11,000 migrants next to the border with Macedonia. Greek military officials say the drills, which foresee activation of rapid-response ground units and aircraft, as well as air defense units in parts of the eastern Aegean Sea, were ordered early Thursday. Over the past few days, Greece has reported a rise in violations of its airspace in the eastern Aegean Sea by Turkey's air force, and Greek fighter pilots have engaged in a series of simulated dogfights with Turkish fighter jets. Relations are also testy with Macedonia, which closed its borders to thousands of refugees and other migrants trying to move on from Greece to Europe's prosperous heartland. The Israeli military on Thursday said prosecutors have announced their intention to file a manslaughter charge against a soldier who was caught on video shooting a wounded Palestinian attacker in the head. The soldier appeared in a military court, where his detention was extended until Monday. The military said that prosecutors informed the court that they plan on charging the soldier with manslaughter, but are still working out some technical details before formally indicting him. The shooting took place last month in Hebron, a West Bank city that has been a focal point of a seven-month wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence. At the time, the military said two Palestinians stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier before troops shot and killed the pair. But in a video later released by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, one of the attackers was shown still alive after the initial shooting. The video, taken by a Palestinian volunteer for the group, shows the wounded attacker lying on the ground, slowly moving his head before a soldier raises his rifle and fires. Blood is then seen streaming from the Palestinian's head. An autopsy determined the bullet to the head was the cause of death. The incident has triggered uproar in Israel, with the country's defense minister, military officials and many Israelis calling it contrary to the army's values. That has led to widespread support for the soldier, with many calling his actions appropriate for a country reeling from months of Palestinian attacks. During that time, 28 Israelis and two Americans have been killed in Palestinian attacks, while at least 189 Palestinians have been killed. Israel says most of the dead were attackers, with the rest killed in clashes with troops. In the latest violence, the military said a Palestinian man attacked a soldier with an ax in the West Bank before he was shot and killed. It said the incident occurred near al-Aroub, a village in the southern West Bank. The army said the soldier was lightly wounded. Jordan raided and shut down the headquarters of the country's original Muslim Brotherhood group on Wednesday. Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood split in March 2015 over whether to remain a branch of the mother movement in Egypt. The group that cut ties is now licensed, while the "old" Brotherhood is outlawed, despite severing ties with the Cairo movement earlier this year. Badi al-Rafayaa, a spokesman for the "old" Brotherhood raid on the Amman headquarters was "illegal." A Jordanian official said the headquarters were shuttered because the group is not licensed. The official added that the group had secretly held internal elections, which was also illegal. Another senior official said the judiciary had ruled that property be transferred from the "outlawed" Brotherhood to the legal one. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. The Muslim Brotherhood, the region's oldest Islamist movement, and its affiliates won a series of electoral victories following the Arab Spring uprisings but provoked a backlash in several countries. Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohammed Morsi, hailed from the Brotherhood, but was overthrown by the military after a divisive year in power. Egypt later outlawed the group, branding it a terrorist organization. In another embarrassing setback for the North Korean communist regime, a senior U.S. defense official told Fox News late Thursday that North Koreas test of a new intermediate-range ballistic missile failed spectacularly. It blew up on launch, the official said. South Korea's Defense Ministry also said it had failed. North Korea was prepared to launch a new intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of hitting Guam and the Philippines as soon as Friday to celebrate the 104th birthday of the late North Korean founder and leader Kim Il Sung, two U.S. defense officials told Fox News. U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is currently visiting the Philippines to finalize plans to station U.S. troops there for the first time since 1992, when the Subic Bay naval base closed. The U.S. military has moved thousands of troops onto Guam recently. April 15 is a national holiday in North Korea, known as Day of Sun." The Musudan ballistic missile has a range of nearly 2,500 miles, but it has never been tested by North Korea. Officials say this particular Musudan has been seen on a road launcher, which is a concern to the Pentagon because of its mobility and potential concealment in the future. For the past few years, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has paid respects to his father and grandfather, founder of the communist country, at Kumsusan Place of the Sun on April 15. Last month, despite claims by North Korea that it fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, two U.S. officials told Fox News that one blew up shortly after liftoff in an embarrassing new development for the North Korean military. Both missiles were Nodong medium-range ballistic missiles, based on the Soviet-era Scud-C missile. North Korea has also launched a series of short-range rockets recently that landed in the Sea of Japan. In February, North Korea launched a satellite into space on Super Bowl Sunday in the United States. The concern among Pentagon officials is that the components used to launch the long-range rocket into space are the same used for an intercontinental ballistic missile. The U.S. Air Forces top officer, Gen. Mark Welsh, told reporters in March that North Korea did not possess the capability to put a nuclear warhead atop one of its long-range ballistic missiles. North Korean leaders a day later said they did. The recent launches of North Korean missiles coincide with annual military exercises between the United States and South Korea involving more than 10,000 troops. Three nuclear-capable B-2 bombers were sent to the region as part of the exercise in a show of force to the North Koreans. North Korea appears to be preparing a missile launch to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the country's founder Kim Il-Sung. One or two Musudan ballistic missiles were deployed around the eastern port of Wonsan some three weeks ago, according to Yonhap news agency which quoted an unnamed Seoul official. The move came as U.S. intelligence warned the North's ballistic missile capability is expanding. The founder's birthday is an annual spectacular for North Korea, which celebrates with huge military parades featuring its most impressive-looking weapons or with missile launches. "There is an ample possibility that the North would launch them around Kim Il-Sung's birthday," Yonhap quoted the South Korean official as saying. The nuclear-armed state has staged several short- and mid-range missile launches but has yet to test the Musudan missile, known to have a range of up to 2,485 miles. Seoul's defense ministry spokesman also said there was a "possibility" the North would carry out such a missile test around Friday's anniversary. On Tuesday, senior U.S. politician Brian McKeon told a U.S. Senate hearing that North Korea's nuclear and missile program posed a growing threat to the United States and its allies in East Asia. He said North Korea was trying to develop longer-range nuclear ballistic missiles capable of hitting the U.S. and was working to make its KN-08 road-mobile ICBM operational. At the same hearing, Admiral Bill Gortney, the officer in charge of defending U.S. air space, said current assessment showed it was unlikely that North Korean missiles could hit the U.S., but it was prudent to assume it had the capability. "We don't base our readiness levels on that low probability ... We are prepared to engage that particular threat," he said. "Eventually, we assess that this low probability will increase, that's why the investment to have us outpace that technology is absolutely critical." Gortney said he agreed with a South Korean assessment that North Korea was capable of putting a nuclear warhead on a medium-range missile that would reach all of South Korea and most of Japan. Tension has been running high on the divided peninsula since the North conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and a rocket launch a month later that was widely seen as a disguised ballistic missile test. Click for more from Sky News. A politician in Rome is letting the cat out of the bag 500,000 cats, that is. Mayoral candidate Antonio Razzi announced plans Tuesday to deploy an army of hungry felines to solve the citys rat infestation, The Local reports. Razzi claims time is running out to battle the rat invasion, the media outlet reports. "Every day there are more and more." The cats would be imported from Asia and be deployed in strategic areas throughout Rome to target the rodents. While the cats would get free reign of the city streets, Razzi assures theres little risk of a feral feline takeover. In fact, the politician has a heartwarming and cost-effective proposition to keep the cats in check. "They could live with Rome's lovely old cat ladies. We could even offer a subsidiary for taking them in," Razzi said. Rome has been a hub for cats since ancient times, but the population has fallen dramatically over the past three decades following a neutering policy for the citys feral cats and dogs. Since the laws enactment, Romes rat population has skyrocketed. Experts now estimate there are more than two rats for each of the citys 2.6 million residents. Russian defense officials Thursday rejected U.S. criticism of two Russian pilots who buzzed an American guided-missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea earlier this week. A defense official told Fox News that two Russian Su-24 attack aircraft approached the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) at an unsafe speed and altitude as a helicopter was taking off from the flight deck. The jets came within 1,000 yards of the destroyer in their initial encounter Monday. The following day, a Russian jet came within just feet of the destroyer. "As a safety precaution, flight operations were suspended until the Su-24s departed the area," said the U.S. European Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in that area. A spokesman for the Russian defense ministry said on Thursday that the pilots of Russian Su-24 jets saw the ship and turned back "while using all measures of precaution." Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said he was baffled by what he described as the "distressed reaction of our American counterparts." The U.S. European Command statement said Wednesday that officials are using diplomatic channels to address the matter. It was unclear when or if the U.S. government would formally protest the Russian actions, which come at a time of tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia's annexation of Crimea, its military intervention in eastern Ukraine and fears among former Soviet states in eastern Europe that Russian aggression could threaten their independence. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the incident was part of a pattern of unsafe Russian aircraft action. "This incident ... is entirely inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries operating in proximity to each other in international waters and international airspace," Earnest said. "There have been repeated incidents over the last year where the Russian military, including Russian military aircraft, have come close enough to each other or have come close enough to other air and sea traffic to raise serious safety concerns. We continue to be concerned about this behavior," he said. European Command released a Navy photo showing one Su-24 soaring past the Cook at close range. A Navy video clip shows another low-altitude pass with a U.S. sailor shouting, "Below the bridge wing," meaning the Russian plane was flying below the level of the Cook's navigation bridge. "We have deep concerns about the unsafe and unprofessional Russian flight maneuvers," European Command said in its written statement. "These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries, and could result in a miscalculation or accident that could cause serious injury or death." The U.S. believes the Russian actions may have violated a 1970s agreement meant to prevent unsafe incidents at sea. The agreement was between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union but remains in force with Russia. Russian jets buzzed the USS Donald Cook in the Black Sea in similarly provocative fashion in April 2014. More recently, a Russian fighter jet intercepted a U.S. Air Force spy plane over the Black Sea in January. Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson, Jennifer Griffin and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Move over, German shepherds. A new police dog is coming to town. Russian police are hoping to turn Welsh corgis the preferred breed of Britain's Queen Elizabeth into bomb-sniffing hounds that can squeeze into tight spaces during search operations, state news agency RIA Novosti reports. It is not certain that they will be able to join the ranks of service dogs, but even if they dont the experiment will be interesting for everyone. We will try out the breed in search operations, said Elena Haikova, head of Moscows canine unit. Haikova believes the low height of the corgis will make them effective in sniffing out contraband or bombs in tight spaces. We have two pups, one of whom is two months old, the other is six months old, she said. Both dogs will undergo a series of tests and will be compared with other medium-sized breeds in assisting police work, Newsweek reports, citing RIA Novosti. Click for more from Newsweek. Two Russian warplanes buzzed a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea in what a defense official called a "simulated attack profile," one of several close encounters between the destroyer and the aircraft this week. The USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) was conducting flight operations with a Polish helicopter Monday when two Russian Su-24 attack aircraft approached at an unsafe speed and altitude and buzzed the Navy destroyer as the helicopter was taking off from the destroyers flight deck, the defense official told Fox News. The Russian jets came within 1,000 yards of the destroyer, flying just 100 feet off the ground, a defense official said. The next day, a Russian jet came within just 30 feet of the destroyer, the defense official said. The United States and Russia have an agreement that dates back to 1972 that is supposed to prevent this type of behavior, according to the defense official. Turkey shot down a Russian jet of the same type in late-2015 after the aircraft entered Turkish airspace. The defense official tells Fox News the Russian jets conducted 20 passes in the Baltic Sea incident Monday, ignoring repeated radio calls from the Navy destroyer. The U.S. Navy was able to take photographs and video of the incident and plans on releasing the footage soon. The USS Donald Cook came no closer than 70 nautical miles of Kaliningrad, Russia. The defense official suspects the Russian aircraft flew from Kaliningrad. This is not the first time this U.S. Navy destroyer has seen Russian planes up close. In April 2014, Russian jets buzzed the USS Donald Cook in the Black Sea in a similar provocative fashion. It comes as comes as the U.S. and Russia take part in talks to end the Syrian civil war. The State Department also thanked Russia last week for helping to secure the release of a U.S. citizen from Syria. According to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Poland, the USS Donald Cook arrived in the port city of Gdynia on Friday. This latest provocation from the Russian military comes over two months after a similar dangerous incident took place in the Black Sea in late January, when a Russian fighter jet intercepted a U.S. Air Force spy plane. The U.S. Air Force has seen more flights of Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers in the past year off the coast of Alaska in recent months. Air Force F-22s remain on alert in Alaska to scramble when these Russian nuclear-capable bombers appear on radar heading near the U.S. coast. Fox News recently showed one such F-22 intercept drill in Alaska during a one-hour special Fox News Reporting: Rising Threats --Shrinking Military hosted by Bret Baier. On July 4th, as Americans were celebrating Independence Day, a flight of two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers was intercepted by U.S. Air Force F-15s 39 miles off the coast of Mendocino, Calif. Russian President Vladimir Putin called President Obama at some point that day to wish him a happy Independence Day. The Russian bombers did not enter U.S. territory during the incident. The Wall Street Journal first reported the Baltic Sea encounter. Fox News' Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report. Russian law enforcement raided the offices of a billionaire tycoon whose newspaper published the Panama Papers, a series of leaked financial documents detailing the offshore assets and illegal activities of international leaders and members of President Vladimir Putins inner circle. Russia has a history of hitting back at tycoons who challenge the Kremlin. In Thursday's incident, security and tax inspectors raided Mikhail Prokhorovs offices at Onexim Group, which manages the 50-year-old businessmans assets, Reuters reports. Some of the inspectors wore ski masks. Prokhorov owns the Brooklyn Nets and the newspaper RBC Media. He's Russias 14th richest person, worth $7.6 billion, according to Forbes. The searches reportedly were associated with suspected tax evasion, a source told Interfax news agency. According to an Onexim spokesman, the company is in full compliance with the law and prepared to cooperate with authorities. Despite RCB Medias publication of the Panama Papers, Russians have largely remained nonplussed about accusations that Putin's friends, particularly leading cellist Sergei Rodulgin, were engaged in an offshore scheme. Putin has publicly defended Rodulgin. In 2000, masked men raided the offices of media mogul Vladimir Gusinsky as part of a fraud investigation. And in 2004, tax officials raided YUKOS, an oil firm owned by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Putin critic. Khodorkovsky was later jailed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Anger and outrage in Washington over sexual abuse by United Nations and other international peacekeepers has reached a new boiling point, with more ugly revelations of assault surfacing even as members of both Houses of Congress pondered ways -- including the withholding of U.S. money -- to do something about it. The legislators drew no conclusions, while U.S. diplomats, U.N. whistle-blowers, think tank experts and staunch U.N. advocates universally deplored the charges of sex crimes and abuse and offered suggestions, sometimes at cross-purposes, about what to do about them. Even as the lawmakers pondered, an independent watchdog organization charged as many as 41 previously unreported cases of alleged sexual abuse by U.N. and non-U.N. international military forces had been discovered during recent U.N. investigations in the Central African Republic, but were being downplayed in what the group AIDS-Free World called exercises in evasion. The new allegations came atop nearly 100 cases, stretching back as far as three years, that the same group revealed less than two weeks earlier. AIDS-Free World, which has published numerous confidential U.N. documents on the sex crime issue over the past year, cited a coded U.N. cable, which it said came on April 7 to U.N. headquarters from its peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic. The cable, which AIDS-Free World said its sources quoted, but did not send to us in its original form, allegedly summarized finds from an integrated team of U.N. investigators in a remote corner of the country. Though the message was in U.N. hands, its contents, the organization charged, had not been revealed in subsequent U.N. briefings on the sexual assault issue. Questioned about the allegations, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moons press spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, denied withholding any information about them, but tacitly acknowledged delays in reporting new charges. With allegations of sexual abuse that we take extremely seriously, one also has to be as meticulous as possible in handling numbers, in handling and interviewing victims, and it's exactly what we are doing, he told a press briefing. Dujarric put the total number of recently-uncovered sexual abuse allegations at 108, and said, I would not be surprised if that number goes up a bit. Dujarric added that we have been keeping Member States, including the United States, very much up to date on where we are. However the U.N. says it is handling the sex crimes charges, the level of frustration in Washington with what one U.S. official called the cancer of blue-helmet sexual abuse is clearly rising fast among the lawmakers, who are keenly aware that the U.S. is the largest contributor to U.N. peacekeeping expenses, to the tune of $2.37 billion this year alone. If I heard right now that a U.N. peacekeeping mission was going to North Chattanooga today, which is where my wife is, I would be on the first plane out of here to go home and protect her, declared Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, during a three-hour hearing on the issue. I am disgusted by the actions of U.N. peacekeepers that American taxpayers are paying for, and I hope that somehow well figure out a way to reel this in, he said. Protectors can never be predators, declared Congressman Chris Smith, R-N.J., who chaired a simultaneous hearing of a House International Affairs subcommittee on the U.N. sexual abuse issue issue -- while recalling that he had taken part in a virtually identical hearing on the same problem ten years ago. If I heard right now that a UN peacekeeping mission was going to North Chattanooga today, which is where my wife is, I would be on the first plane out of here to go home and protect her. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. The legislators were joined by a chorus of U.N. critics and supporters, some of whom brought testimony of longstanding cover ups, bureaucratic lethargy, persecution of whistle-blowers, and a culture of impunity among peacekeepers that have contributed to fostering such crimes -- amply documented in the recent past. Where they differed was on what to do about it. According to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Isobel Coleman, the way to deal with what she called the urgent, and shameful, sex abuse issue was largely to stay the course in bolstering U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, as he struggles, so far without impressive results, to confront the problem. Coleman, the point person for the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in dealing with the issue, pointed to Bans recent decision to name countries that contribute peacekeepers where allegations are firmly established. (The most frequently named countries put forward by Ban for last year: Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, South Africa.) She also pointed to new authority Ban has gotten from the U.N. Security Council to send home all troops or police whose native country dawdles in investigating sex crime allegations, or fails to take action against perpetrators. If countries do not take appropriate action, they should not be included in peacekeeping, she told the Senate committee. She called full implementation of the Security Council measure a means of powerful prevention for ending once and for all the culture of impunity in peacekeeping that has persisted for too long. Whether and how Ban will use those powers is still open to skepticism, especially in light of the ongoing spate of allegations and even Coleman called Bans name-and-shame policy long overdue. Coleman was backed up before the Senate committee by Tracey Jacobson, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizational Affairs in Washington, and Maj. Gen. Michael Rothstein, a top official in the State Departments Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. The duo emphasized continuing diplomatic pressure and the leverage of U.S. peacekeeper training efforts in some 50 countries as additional tools for clamping down on abuse. Nonetheless, Rothstein declared, greater efforts must be undertaken. Maybe a lot greater. A sobering counterpoint came from Miranda Brown, a former senior official at the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), where sexual abuse allegations are often compiled. According to Brown, sexual abuse in peacekeeping missions -- pure U.N. forces, joint forces with regional organizations, and non-U.N. forces operating under U.N. mandate -- is vastly under-reported, with bottlenecks for reporting at various stages inside and outside the U.N. Bottlenecks could also be an understatement. Brown told senators that U.N. human rights staffers attached to peacekeeping missions have their own fears, both about their physical safety as well as their own job security, in investigating sex abuse charges. Among other things, she noted, security within and outside [refugee] camps is often maintained by the peacekeepers -- meaning that human rights investigators -- who receive little specific training-- may depend on the colleagues of people they are investigating for protection. Peacekeeping mission leadership is also part of the problem. Top mission officials frequently ignored reports of sexual abuses for political reasons, Brown testified, including fears of withdrawal of troops that are needed by the mission. As a consequence, Brown said, human rights officers have often appeared as troublemakers to the mission leadership -- and beyond. Brown knows well what she is talking about. As she testified, she lost her own job at OHCHR, and is still seeking reinstatement, after supporting Anders Kompass, her OHCHR superior, who brought the sexual abuse swamp back into the public eye in December 2014. At that time, he passed on to French diplomats unredacted testimony from children as young as 9 about their abuse by French and African peacekeepers in the Central African Republic in 2013 and 2014. Kompass was suspended for violating U.N. protocols, then reinstated by a U.N. tribunal while an investigation against him went forward. Eventually, an independent panel appointed by Secretary General Ban last December blasted the U.N., including specific high-level officials, for its inaction and deliberate cover up of the abuse accusations, a major reason, along with the outpouring of revelations ever since, for the U.N.s current scrambling to reform. Even so, said Brown, I am convinced that the very public pillorying of Mr. Kompass is having and will continue to have a serious chilling effect on the reporting of abuses in peacekeeping missions. Very similar, and even more sinister, tales of cover up and retaliation, were presented by different witnesses at virtually the same time before a House International Affairs subcommittee. One of those testifying was Aicha Elbasri, a longtime U.N. staffer who was posted to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur in 2012 and 2013, where, she said, she discovered what I strongly believe is the U.N. cover up of crimes that may well amount to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the Sudanese government, along with equally grave crimes by Sudanese rebels. According to Elbasri, officials of the U.N. mission on the ground, among other things, imposed a total news blackout on a government massacre of civilians, told U.N. staffers not to report bombings of civilians unless they could actually see the bomb craters -- an impossibility -- and described civilians attacked by government forces as being caught in a crossfire with rebels. The same cover up occurred on a broader scale back at peacekeeping headquarters in New York, she declared, where the U.N. Security Council itself was deprived of information about the atrocities. Worried about her safety after airing complaints about the dire situation, Elbasri resigned in 2013, and eventually passed on her revelations to Foreign Policy magazine. My experience of the U.N.s attitude toward accountability is that it is inconsistent and the attitude of senior officials toward the risk of misconduct is one of denial, testified Peter Gallo, a former U.N. investigator with the U.N.s watchdog Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS). In addition, he observed, the U.N.s own investigative arm at OIOS has been compromised, since it is effectively controlled by the same senior management that it is supposed to be investigating for wrongdoing. So, what needs to be done? Whistle-blower Elbasris solution is similar to one that has been offered for months by AIDS-Free World: investigations carried out by a truly independent entity that is not part of the U.N. Secretariat, but reports directly -- and separately -- to the [U.N.] Member states. She also suggested an external independent mechanism for claims of retaliation against U.N. whistle-blowers. Elbasri further advocated that the U.S. start making aggressive use of a law passed by Congress in 2014 and again in 2015 that mandates 15 percent cuts in U.S. funding to U.N. agencies that are not implementing best practice whistle-blower practices to ensure that wrongdoing comes to light. So far, she noted, the law has been invoked once, for a token amount. That medicine did not go down well among strong U.N. supporters at the hearings, including Jordie Hannum, a senior director of the Better World Campaign, one of the major non-government vehicles for bolstering support in the U.S. for the U.N. He advocated a course of diplomatic pressure and greater efforts to improve the quality of peacekeeping forces that was similar to what U.S. Ambassador Coleman advocated in the Senate -- and likewise urged no cuts in U.S. support for the U.N. While the U.S. must demand reforms on abuse and exploitation, one must not lose sight of the importance of peacekeeping missions, he told legislators. Similarly, Coleman told members of the Senate committee, not one of the abuse victims or their families she had personally interviewed on a recent trip to the Central African Republic wanted U.N. peacekeepers as a whole to go away. That is not surprising, given the horrifying and violent conditions that usually inspire U.N. peacekeeping missions in the first place. But by the same token, observed Brett Schaefer, a U.N. expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, a U.N. peacekeeping operation may not be the best option for addressing every situation, particularly where there is no peace to keep. In other words, maybe the U.S. should not be as eager as it has been in the recent past to approve such missions in the first place. As Schaefer put it, The pressure to do something must not trump sensible consideration of whether a U.N. presence will improve or destabilize the situation or partner the U.N. with a morally repugnant government. One way of doing that would be to return to an agreed-on 25 percent cap on U.S. contributions to peacekeeping expenses -- a portion that has quietly swelled to more than 28.5 percent during the two-term Obama administration. While agreeing that more pressure needs to be put on countries that supply peacekeeping troops to ensure that sexual wrongdoers are actually investigated, tried and punished, Schaefer also argued that the U.N. itself could do with some similar pressure, beyond the recently touted efforts of the Secretary General. One way of doing that: make the U.N. itself actually pay when its actions, or those of its peacekeepers or staffers, cause pain, suffering and damage to civilians. Currently, Schaefer observed, the U.N. gives the appearance of avenues of redress for damages caused by U.N. action or inaction through a so-called standing claims commission, which is included in every U.N. peacekeeping agreement with countries where the blue helmets operate. No such commission, however, has ever been created, he noted. To overcome that evident inertia, he suggested that they be established automatically whenever a peacekeeping force is first created. Financial carrots and sticks have been effective in the past in spurring [U.N.] reform, Schaefer observed. Congress and reform-minded member states should not be reluctant to use such tactics. Especially, perhaps, when the full dimensions of the sex abuse problem seem to be expanding weekly. George Russell is Editor-at-Large of Fox News. He is reachable on Twitter at @GeorgeRussell and on Facebook at Facebook.com/George.Russell Crowne Plaza Hotel Opens in Saddle Brook, NJ Hotel Just Eight Miles From New York City Offers A Prime Location For Business Travelers April 13, 2016 // Franchising.com // ATLANTA InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), one of the worlds leading hotel companies, announces the conversion of the 148-room Crowne Plaza Saddle Brook hotel in New Jersey, located only eight miles west of New York City. Situated near major New York and New Jersey area airports as well as key local businesses, venues and attractions, this hotel is ideal for hosting business travelers who need convenient access to the city while also having ample space for large corporate meetings and events. Guests at this New Jersey hotel will experience the Crowne Plaza brands new Always On enhancements that are focused on connectivity, wellness and productivity. The 24-hour business center features the Be On program which offers single Internet sign-on, free and reliable Wi-Fi, one-click secure wireless printing and easy access to power outlets and charging cords. The hotel also features anEnergy Essentials Wellness Station with healthy snacks and drinks to help guests stay energized and balanced to perform at their best. Gina LaBarre, Vice President, Crowne PlazaHotels & Resorts, IHG said: The Crowne Plaza brand is all about making business travel work and we know our guests are looking for a hotel brand that caters to their business needs. The Crowne Plaza Saddle Brook hotel offers the latest brand enhancements designed to provide our guests with the balance they are looking for to not only stay productive but also feel inspired and restored while traveling for business. The Crowne Plaza Saddle Brook hotel offers continental cuisine at the on-site restaurant, SKY. Located on the 12th floor, the restaurant serves breakfast and dinner. Additionally, the 12-floor hotel offers over 6,500 sq.ft. of meeting space across three rooms, the largest of which can accommodate 240 people in a reception style layout. As a major draw for business travelers, the hotel offers the comprehensive Crowne Plaza meetings program, which includes a two-hour response guarantee to RFPs, a dedicated meetings director and a daily meeting debrief. The hotel features the Crowne Plaza Sleep Advantage program, which encompasses the entire sleep experience, from training staff on how to create and maintain a restful environment to providing innovative products and services such as signature bedding, designated quiet zone floors and aromatherapy kits. Orlando Machado, General Manager said: The Crowne Plaza Saddle Brook hotel gives guests convenient access to major airports and businesses making this property an ideal choice for business travelers. We look forward to welcoming our guests with the service and unique amenities they have come to expect at a Crowne Plaza hotel. The hotel, located at 50 Kenny Place, is owned and managed by Unique Saddle Brook Hospitality LLC. The Crowne Plaza brand is part of IHGs diverse family of brands in nearly 100 countries and territories. The scale and diversity of the IHG family of brands means that its hotels can meet guests needs whatever the occasion whether an overnight getaway, a business trip, a family celebration or a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Reservations can be made by calling 1-877-2 CROWNE or by going toIHG.com/CrownePlaza. Crowne Plaza hotels participate in IHG Rewards Club. The industrys first and largest hotel rewards program is free, and guests can enroll at IHGRewardsClub.com, by downloading the IHG App, by calling 1-888-211-9874 or by inquiring at the front desk of any of IHGs more than 5,000 hotels worldwide. The hotel also participates inIHG Green Engage and offers unique programs to ensure sustainability. About Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts Part of the IHG global portfolio, the Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts brand is a dynamic upscale hotel brand located in nearly 65 countries around the world in major urban centers, gateway cities and resort destinations. As the fourth largest upscale full-service hotel brand in the world and one of the fastest growing, the Crowne Plaza brand has a solid foundation for future growth. The portfolio has doubled since 2003 to more than 400 hotels, and the global pipeline has increased fourfold to more than 80 hotels. At Crowne Plaza hotels, we help our guests feel energized and productive, and our Sleep Advantage program ensures our guests get a great nights sleep to power through their day. For reservations at Crowne Plaza properties, visitwww.ihg.com/crowneplaza or call 1-877-2CROWNE. Connect with us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/crowneplaza or Facebook:www.Facebook.com/crowneplaza. About IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of hotel brands, including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo, EVEN Hotels, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites andCandlewood Suites. IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns more than 5,000 hotels and 744,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries, with more than 1,300 hotels in its development pipeline. IHG also manages IHG Rewards Club, the worlds first and largest hotel loyalty programme with more than 92 million members worldwide. InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Groups holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales. More than 350,000 people work across IHGs hotels and corporate offices globally. Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, www.youtube.com/ihgplc. SOURCE IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) Media Contacts: Lindsay Cameron Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts lindsay.cameron@ihg.com +1(770) 604-8686 Abby Jensen Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts abby.jensen@ihg.com +1(770) 604-2475 ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Home Care Assistance Denver Partners with Holiday Retirements The Courtyard at Lakewood to Host Family Caregiver Educational Workshop The Family Caregiver event will be held April 28th, 2016 from 5pm 7pm at The Courtyard at Lakewood and is open to the public free of charge. April 13, 2016 // Franchising.com // Denver, CO Home Care Assistance Denver, a leading provider of non-medical, in-home care for seniors, has partnered with Holiday Retirements The Courtyard at Lakewood to offer a family caregiver workshop on Thursday, April 28th from 5 7pm. The event will be hosted at The Courtyard at Lakewood which is located at 7100 W 13th Avenue, Lakewood, CO 80214. This event is free, open to the public and will offer valuable information and resources for family caregivers. Light refreshments will be served. We are very excited to be partnered with Holiday Retirement to bring this event to the community because family caregivers need to educate themselves on the legal and financial issues and care options available to them, said Samantha, Co-Owner of Home Care Assistance Denver. We see this workshop as a means to arm family caregivers with the knowledge they need to make the difficult decisions required when caring for a loved one and the importance of caring for themselves along the way. The Family Caregiver Educational workshop will include the following: 10 Sanity Saving Tips for Caregivers Financial Options to Pay for Care 10 Signs Your Loved One Is Ready for Home Care Legal Documents That Need to Be in Place Ahead of Time With a mission to change the way the world ages, Home Care Assistance helps seniors live well at home through innovative offerings such as their proprietaryBalanced Care Method, which emphasizes scientifically studied lifestyle behaviors of the longest living people on Earth, and the Cognitive Therapeutics Method, an activities-based program designed to delay the onset and progression of cognitive decline. For more information about Home Care Assistance Denver, call 720-443-3371 or visit them online at www.HomeCareAssistanceDenver.com. The office is located at 4990 Kipling Street, Suite B11 in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. About Home Care Assistance Home Care Assistance, founded in 2002, is a leading international provider of non-medical, in-home senior care with franchises throughout the United States, Canada and Australia. Serving as a comprehensive alternative to a nursing home or assisted living facility for older adults, our mission is to provide the highest quality and most reliable in-home care service. Home Care Assistance successfully operates as North Americas preferred brand for in-home care and maintains an intimate and personal rapport with each client. Here at Home Care Assistance we are dedicated to finding the highest caliber caregivers that we expertly match with the right recipient based on his or her needs. In addition, we do not require long-term contracts for services and remain on-call 24 hours a day. For more information, please contact Home Care Assistance at 778-279-3634, or visit online at: www.homecareassistance.com. SOURCE Home Care Assistance Media Contact: Kathryn Zakskorn Director of Franchise Marketing 650-462-9501 kzakskorn@homecareassistance.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Mershon Looks to Help Families with New Caring Transitions Business Caring Transitions of West Arlington serves Arlington, Kennedale, Fort Worth, Mansfield and the surrounding communities. ARLINGTON, TX (PRWEB) April 13, 2016 - Kathryn Mershon has built her career on helping people, so when she decided to open her own business, she knew she wanted to stay true to that personal mission. Thats why Mershon decided to launch Caring Transitions of West Arlington, which is now open for business. Caring Transitions is Americas largest resource for managing senior relocations as well as downsizing and estate liquidations. In addition to organizing, packing, de-cluttering, moving and resettling, Caring Transitions can handle estate sales, liquidations, and preparing homes for market. Caring Transitions of West Arlington serves Arlington, Kennedale, Fort Worth, Mansfield and the surrounding communities. Prior to opening Caring Transitions, Mershon worked in another kind of transition industry catastrophe recovery. A graduate of the University of Texas Arlington, she traveled the country during community disasters including hurricanes, floods and fires to help business owners and managers get back on their feet. Within that role she also worked with a franchisor helping with accounting, office management, human resources and even information technology. I always wanted to run my own business and, with my experience working for a franchisor, I understood the benefits of a franchise. I knew I wanted a franchise that would allow me to be out in the community helping people and then I found Caring Transitions. Im a problem-solver and Caring Transitions really empowers me to combine my skills and my passion into something that can thrive and have a positive impact, Mershon said. Whether your situation is planned or unexpected, Caring Transitions services are perfect for seniors moving in with family or into a safer living situation as well as busy families and people clearing out the home of a loved one who has passed. All of Caring Transitions services are customizable, so clients only pay for the services they need whether that means managing the entire move and estate-clearing or just getting someone resettled into their new place. For Mershon, Caring Transitions is different because shes focused on honest, top-notch customer service. I want to be the solution to your challenges, but if we meet and discuss your needs and Caring Transitions is not what you need, Ill let you know. I want our customers to be thrilled with our services and that doesnt happen when you arent honest about the expectations and options. If our services can be customized to suit your situation, I will do everything in my power to make sure you have a wonderful experience with Caring Transitions, Mershon said. In addition to her work with Caring Transitions, Mershon who has two rescue golden retrievers and three rescue cats is an active volunteer with the Johnson County Humane Society, where shes also on the board and serves as the treasurer. Shes also a member of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. Mershon is a Certified Relocation and Transition Specialist, a designation bestowed by an independent organization that evaluates providers of senior relocation services. Caring Transitions of West Arlington is bonded and insured and all employees are background-checked. For additional information about Caring Transitions and to learn how the company can help you and your family, call (817)496-9383, email KMershon@CaringTransitions.com or visit http://www.CaringTransitionsWestArlington.com. About Caring Transitions Caring Transitions, founded in 2006, is the first national franchising concept specializing in senior relocation and transition services. With more than 160 locations throughout the United States all owned and operated by Certified Relocation and Transition Specialists, Caring Transitions provides clients with supportive moves, auctions, rightsizing and transitions. This includes expert advice plus a well-executed transition plan beginning with the initial sorting of personal belongings through packing, shipping and selling of items to the final clearing and cleaning of the property. For more information, visithttp://www.caringtransitions.com or visit us on Facebook. SOURCE Caring Transitions Contact: Sean Mulcahey Caring Transitions +1 (513) 489-2026 ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Two Growing Minuteman Press Franchises Expand Digital Print Capabilities with Help from Konica Minolta April 13, 2016 // Franchising.com // SELDEN, N.Y. & DELRAY BEACH, Fla. - Two Minuteman Press franchises have recently expanded their print capabilities thanks to equipment upgrades made possible by Konica Minolta. In Selden, NY, Bill Passeggio has utilized Konica Minoltas digital print technologies to increase speed and turnaround times for his customers. Meanwhile, in Delray Beach, FL, Minuteman Press franchise owner Matthew Perry relies on the latest Konica Minolta solutions to help meet his centers high demand for fast and efficient print runs. Need for Print Speed in Selden The Minuteman Press franchise in Selden, NY, is a full-service digital print, design and marketing center helmed by Bill Passeggio. It has five employees including a full-time pressman and graphic designer and has been around for 13 years. It churns through at least one million sheets of paper per year. But to stay competitive, it needed faster digital machines in black and white as well as color with high-quality printing and problem-free bindery functions such as booklet finishing, including tight fold, saddle stitching and trimming. It contacted four vendors, including Konica Minolta, and chose Konica Minolta, according to Passeggio, because of its relationship with Minuteman Press International, its pricing, quality output and dependable service. Passeggios clients include large institutions such as Suffolk County Community College and Stony Brook University, who use Minuteman Press of Selden for high-volume jobs such as course outlines and PowerPoint presentations. Over the past eight years, Passeggio has used various Konica Minolta bizhub models, including (most recently) the C7000, C8000 and C1085 digital presses. We were able to become extremely competitive in the marketplace due to our ability to rapidly turn around jobs with a quality product at reasonable prices, Passeggio said. At the end of the day, he concluded, Konica Minolta has proven itself to be the most honorable and reliable company of its kind that I have ever dealt with during my printing career. We work hard to support all of our franchise owners including negotiating some of the best possible lease rates on digital printing systems from manufacturers like Konica Minolta, says Brian Sisti, Minuteman Press International Area Manager for Long Island. He adds, Our mass purchasing power and long term relationships allow us to make sure our owners get the best deals that they could not get on their own. Check out Minuteman Press in Selden at www.selden.minutemanpress.com. Turning up the Print Volume in Delray Beach Matthew Perry owns his Minuteman Press franchise in Delray Beach, Florida. With 13 employees and a growing center that pumps out everything from postcards to manuals, Perry was looking for new digital printing solutions to help manage high volume. According to Perry, he chose Konica Minolta for four reasons: His belief that Konica Minolta, though a large company, would work more intimately with his small company Reliable and knowledgeable service technician who helps resolve issues even after hours Konica Minoltas respected reputation Competitive prices Perry purchased two bizhub PRESS 1100s and one each of the bizhub PRESS 1250, bizhub PRESS 1050 and bizhub PRESS C7000 over the past five years. We purchased the 1250 because of how robust its booklet-maker options are, Perry said. The post inserters hold a plethora of paper; the booklet maker can staple an unbelievable amount of pages and it can still face trim it. Konica Minolta also includes staples, which is nice because, when you are printing more than 300,000 black-and-white prints each month on each machine, the cost of copy machine staples can surprise you at the end of the month. Matthew Perry and his team at Minuteman Press in Delray Beach have done a fantastic job purchasing the right equipment at the right time, notes Jeff Robey, Minuteman Press International Regional Vice President for Florida. He adds, We are proud to make the latest innovations by Konica Minolta more affordable for owners than they would be if they were independently owned and not part of the Minuteman Press franchise system. According to Perry, the implementation of the Konica Minolta solutions has produced several benefits for his company. These new machines cannot be compared to their older models, he said. Huge improvements have been made. We practically eliminated reruns due to streaking or erratic registration, and machine down times have been drastically improved. All this has significantly decreased our need to rerun jobs, which can be very costly in a busy shop. Perry foresees future opportunities to continue working with Konica Minolta. I am considering purchasing the envelope printer for both our black-and-white and color machines, he said. His overall assessment of his partnership with Konica Minolta has been excellent, Perry said. The company works very hard for you like a partner which is really great. Check out Minuteman Press in Delray Beach at www.delray.minutemanpress.com. For more information on Konica Minolta, visit http://kmbs.konicaminolta.us. For Minuteman Press products and services, visit www.minutemanpress.com. Learn more about Minuteman Press franchise opportunities at www.minutemanpressfranchise.com. SOURCE Minuteman Press Contact: Chris Biscuiti (631) 249-1370 cbiscuiti@mpihq.com> ### Add to Request List Added Request Information Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Carvel Kicks Off Ice Cream Season With Annual Free Cone Day on April 21 Carvel Guests Invited for a Free Soft Ice Cream Cone in Support of the American Red Cross on National Day of Giving ATLANTA, GA - (Marketwired - Apr 14, 2016) - Carvel... America's Freshest Ice Cream, is kicking off ice cream season by celebrating their annual Free Cone Day next Thursday, April 21, from 3-8 p.m. EDT. Carvel guests will be treated to a free junior cone filled with their choice of freshly made vanilla, chocolate or the limited-time, OREO cookie inspired soft ice cream made with real OREO cookie pieces at participating Carvel shoppes. Making Carvel's Free Cone Day more special, guests will be invited to support the American Red Cross National Day of Giving. Beginning today until supplies last, Carvel will offer a $1 coupon book worth more than $20 in savings throughout the day with all proceeds going towards a $20,000 donation to support American Red Cross disaster relief efforts. Since first partnering with the organization in 2012, Carvel's total contributions will exceed $145,000. "This will be the fifth year we have partnered with the American Red Cross on Free Cone Day. It is our way of saying thank you to our loyal guests and raising money for a wonderful cause," said Scott Colwell, president of Carvel. Carvel's new OREO cookie soft ice cream will be available in participating shoppes through May 31, along with an array of other OREO cookie ice cream treats, including hand-scooped ice cream, a Sundae Dasher, an OREO shake, OREO Lil' Rounders and an OREO Cake. As the first retail ice cream franchise operation in the country, Carvel has become one of the most recognized names in ice cream. Since it began in 1934, Carvel has expanded its menu to include an extensive line of hand-dipped and soft ice cream, take-home novelty treats and premium ice cream cakes. All Carvel treats are handcrafted at local Carvel Shoppes daily and are made with only authentic soft ice cream. For more information, visit www.carvel.com. OREO is a registered trademark of Mondel?z International group, used under license. About Carvel Ice Cream Carvel Ice Cream, the first ice cream franchise in the United States has become one of the best-loved and most recognized names in its industry. The company is a leading provider of premium soft ice cream and hand dipped ice cream products, as well as uniquely shaped ice cream cakes, including its signature Fudgie the Whale and Cookie Puss cakes. Atlanta-based Carvel currently operates over 400 franchised and food service locations. Visitwww.carvel.com for more information, follow us on Twitter @CarvelIceCream or become a fan at http://facebook.com/CarvelIceCream About FOCUS Brands Inc. Atlanta-based FOCUS Brands Inc., through its affiliate brands, is the franchisor and operator of more than 5,000 ice cream shoppes, bakeries, restaurants and cafes in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 60 foreign countries under the brand names Carvel, Cinnabon, Schlotzsky's, Moe's Southwest Grill, Auntie Anne's and McAlister's Deli, as well as Seattle's Best Coffee on certain military bases and in certain international markets. Please visit www.focusbrands.com to learn more. SOURCE Carvel Ice Cream ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus CKE Restaurants Signs Impressive Domestic Franchise Development Deal with Pavilion Restaurant Group Agreement will develop 124 Hardees restaurants throughout Ohio and Florida over the next nine to 12 years CARPINTERIA, Calif. - April 14, 2016 - (BUSINESS WIRE) - CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. (CKE), parent company of Carls Jr. and Hardees restaurant chains, announced today that they have signed an impressive domestic franchise development deal with Pavilion Restaurant Group (PRG), an affiliate of Pavilion Development Company. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based restaurant operating company, is set to develop and open 124 Hardees restaurants throughout Ohio and Florida over the next nine to 12 years. The Pavilion deal is structured under one agreement with two development schedules. In Ohio, Pavilion will build 84 Hardees restaurants in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, Youngstown and Dayton. In Florida, the company will develop 40 Hardees in Orlando, West Palm Beach and Fort Myers. With their unparalleled expertise in the built-to-suit space, along with their plans for creative land use design and tenant demand aggregation, we are confident that Pavilion will help to further solidify our Hardees franchise footprint in these two key states, said Jim Sullivan, executive vice president of domestic development for Carls Jr. and Hardees. We are excited to be able to expand franchises in Ohio and Florida and introduce more young, hungry guys to our bigger, better burgers and other innovative menu items. Pavilion will handle all aspects of this new development process from site selection to right-to-build research to leasing and construction for both Carls Jr. and Hardees. Of further note, the Hardees division will be led by Dick Campbell, a restaurant veteran who has held senior executive level positions at KFC and who was formerly the CEO of Bojangles. We were attracted to the Hardees brand for several reasons. The brand is owned and managed by a successful team, CKE Restaurants and Roark Capital, and offers cook-to-order premium quality food, including the only line of 100 percent Black Angus Thickburgers in the QSR space, explained Dick Campbell. Hardees also has a well-defined target market of males aged 18-34 and those who desire to eat like an 18-34 year old young, hungry, guy! The Hardees brand also provides best-in-class customer service. When you combine these key elements with the brands major growth potential, specifically in the agile markets of Ohio and Florida, you have an attractive and winning real estate development deal. For more information about CKE, please visit www.ckr.com or its brand sites at www.carlsjr.com and www.hardees.com. About CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. (CKE) is a privately held company headquartered in Carpinteria, Calif. Through its subsidiaries, CKE owns and licenses Carls Jr. and Hardees quick-service restaurants. CKE operates Carls Jr. and Hardees as one brand under two names acknowledging the regional heritage of both banners. After opening its first restaurants in New York and New Jersey this spring and recent international openings in Canada, Colombia and Guatemala, CKE now has a total of 3,674 franchised or company-operated restaurants in 44 states and 38 foreign countries and U.S. territories. Known for its one-of-a-kind premium menu items such as 100 percent Black Angus Thickburgers, Made from Scratch Biscuits, Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders and Fresh Baked Buns, as well as an award-winning marketing approach, the Carls Jr./Hardees brand continues to deliver substantial and consistent growth in the U.S. and overseas. The Carls Jr./Hardees system is now 92 percent franchised, with international restaurants representing 19 percent of the system. For more information about CKE, please visit www.ckr.com or its brand sites at www.carlsjr.com and www.hardees.com. About Pavilion Restaurant Group Pavilion Restaurant Group (PRG) is a privately held company headquartered in Charlotte NC. Through its affiliates, PRG will own and operate restaurants under the licensing of the Hardees brand and other restaurant concepts. PRG is an affiliate of Pavilion Development Company, also headquartered in Charlotte, NC. Pavilion Development Company was founded by Richard Davies in 1997, a third-generation real estate developer. Pavilion Development Company is a real estate investment and development company with expertise in single-tenant build-to-suit development for successful multi-location operating companies. For more information about Pavilion Development Company, please visit www.paviliondevelopment.com. SOURCE CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. Contact: Kate Franklin On behalf of CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. Coast Public Relations 818-606-9784 kate@coastprgroup.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Leading S.T.E.M. Education Franchise Ranked No. 3 in Top New Franchises by Entrepreneur Engineering For Kids Jumps Seven Spots from 2015 Solidifying Its Strength in Franchising April 14, 2016 // Franchising.com // Fredericksburg, Va. As engineering careers continue to rise as some of the fastest growing and highest demand careers available in the world today, Virginia-based Engineering For Kids (EFK), a leading supplemental education business designed to provide S.T.E.M. education and inspire students ages 4-14 by offering hands-on, discipline specific engineering activities, proved its strength for meeting demand in the marketplace. Just recently, the company landed an impressive ranking in Entrepreneurs annual Top New Franchises list, coming in at No. 3 for 2016, up seven spots from 2015. The exclusive Top New Franchises list is known for highlighting some of the newest stars that began franchising since 2010, and each year Entrepreneur pulls from submissions for its Franchise 500 ranking. Companies are ranked based on Entrepreneurs objective and quantifiable criteria, including system size, growth rate and financial strength and stability. EFKs recognition reinforces its strong system and relevance in a competitive franchise landscape. This ranking continues to prove hard work pays off, says Dori Roberts, founder of EFK. Our team is comprised of extraordinary people who have made such an honor possible, and its the mission behind EFK that keeps us all going - to see the youth of the future thrive as they change the landscape of engineering and science-related fields. EFK began franchising in 2011 and since then has grown to a multi-million dollar company with more than 145 locations worldwide, with plans to open 25 franchises each year, in the United States. The company has been crushing its development goals and recently signed a 70-unit deal in China. There is no sign of slowing down, and the demand for STEM education at a young age serves as a testament. EFK offers a proprietary curriculum that is extremely diverse with many opportunities to learn S.T.E.M. through content and technology based programs. Some examples of content-based programs include aerospace, mechanical, environmental, civil and chemical engineering. Technology-based programs include robotics, electronic game design, software and hardware engineering. With international success in 21 countries, representing more than 250,000 students, EFK is bringing a plethora of knowledge and experience to youth around the globe. To find out more about franchise opportunities, please visit www.engineeringforkids.com/franchising. About Engineering for Kids Engineering for Kids offers over 300 lessons in 19 different curricular enrichment classes ranging from Aerospace, Chemical, Civil and Industrial Engineering. The lessons are aimed to help children ages 4-14 develop STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills using hands-on learning through fun and exciting challenges. Founded by Dori Roberts, the Fredericksburg, Virginia-based franchise operates across 145 locations in 21 countries, with plans to open 25 franchises in the United States each year. Workshops are delivered in after school programs, evening classes, in-school field trips, birthday parties, home-school programs, and more. For more information, visit http://www.engineeringforkids.com. SOURCE Engineering for Kids Contacts: Doris Obranovic Fishman PR DObranovic@fishmanpr.com 847-945-1300 Mike Cavanaugh Engineering For Kids Mike@engineeringforkids.net 540-940-2910 ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus School Of Rock Boca Raton Ready To Rock N Roll Musical Education Franchise Opens Newest Location in Florida April 14, 2016 // Franchising.com // BOCA RATON, Fla. School of Rock, leader in performance-based music education, is opening its newest location in Boca Raton at 141 NW 20th St. Suite F1 and F2 Boca Raton, Fla. 33431. To celebrate, a grand opening will be held at the school on Saturday, April 16 at 1:30 p.m. The event will feature performances by School of Rock students and instructors. U.S. Congressman Ted Deutch who happens to be a musician himself - will lead a ceremonial guitar smashing along with Mayor Susan Haynie of Boca Raton and Mayor Michael Udine of Parkland. Community members are invited to stop by all day and enjoy snow cones, cotton candy, popcorn and refreshments with School of Rock. For over a decade, School of Rock has been successful in providing students of all ages with high-caliber musical instruction. The program creates a unique team dynamic, putting focus on the band as a team rather than the individual. Franchisee Stacy Kagan and her husband Richard are actively involved in Broward and West Palm Beach counties, and Stacy currently serves as city commissioner in Parkland. Kagan continues to contribute to the growth of the community with the opening of School of Rock Boca Raton, marking the franchises eighth location in Florida. Her highly qualified team of instructors is prepared to enhance the skills of aspiring rock stars of the area. My husband and I are greatly inspired by the School of Rock experience. We both have come to develop a strong connection to the brand and are eager to spread its mission to Boca Raton, said franchisee, Stacy Kagan. We believe School of Rocks cutting-edge program will be an impactful addition to the citys vibrant atmosphere. Stacy has shown a passion for improving communities in multiple leadership positions in Parkland. Along with a team of seasoned musicians, she now makes a significant contribution to the city of Boca Raton by introducing School of Rock, said CEO Dzana Homan. Students at School of Rock Boca Raton will have access to the facilitys state-of-the-art equipment and professional instruction as they prepare performances that are sure to wow the community. For more information on School of Rock visit www.schoolofrock.com. About School of Rock The music school your mom and dad wished they had when they were kids, School of Rock is an ingenious concept that gets kids and adults rocking out to the classics and up and performing with their peers. With more than 180 locations in nine countries, the franchise proves that rock and roll is here to stay. SOURCE School of Rock Media Contacts: Erin Morrissey emorrissey@konnect-pr.com Madison Jones mjones@konnect-pr.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Snap-on to Webcast Annual Shareholder Meeting Live Via the Internet April 14, 2016 // Franchising.com // KENOSHA, Wis. - Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE: SNA) announced today that it will webcast its 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders live via the Internet on Thursday, April 28. The webcast will be available on the Snap-on website beginning at 10:00 a.m. Central Time on April 28. The archived presentation will also be available on the Snap-on site for a period of time following the live webcast. To attend this event, visit www.snapon.com/sna and click on the link to the webcast. To ensure that you gain access on the day of the presentation, please go to the site at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the event to download and install any necessary audio software. About Snap-on Snap-on Incorporated is a leading global innovator, manufacturer and marketer of tools, equipment, diagnostics, repair information and systems solutions for professional users performing critical tasks. Products and services include hand and power tools, tool storage, diagnostics software, information and management systems, shop equipment and other solutions for vehicle dealerships and repair centers, as well as for customers in industries, including aviation and aerospace, agriculture, construction, government and military, mining, natural resources, power generation and technical education. Snap-on also derives income from various financing programs to facilitate the sales of its products. Products and services are sold through the companys franchisee, company-direct, distributor and internet channels. Founded in 1920, Snap-on is a $3.4 billion, S&P 500 company headquartered in Kenosha, Wisconsin. For additional information on Snap-on, visit www.snapon.com. SOURCE Snap-on Contacts: Richard Secor Media Relations 262/656-5561 Leslie Kratcoski Investor Relations 262/656-6121 ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Starwood Hotels & Resorts Eco-Wise Element Brand Soars into The Netherlands with the Opening of Element Amsterdam Element Amsterdam Offers Travellers a Completely Reimagined Extended Stay Experience with an Open, Free Flowing Design alongside Eco-Centric Sensibilities Marks the Brands Second Hotel in Europe with Demand on the Rise AMSTERDAM - April 14, 2016 - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) today announced the launch of its eco-incubator Element brand in the Netherlands. The opening of Element Amsterdam marks the second Element hotel in Europe, following Element Frankfurt Airport Hotel which opened in 2014. Offering bright, modern design and eco-minded sensibilities, the hotel is located in the vibrant Zuidas area of Amsterdam, one of the citys main business districts. An adaptive re-use project, the hotel is located in a former office building at the Gelderlandplein shopping mall. Together with Bari Gruppe, we introduced the Element brand into Europe in 2014 with Element Frankfurt Airport Hotel, shaking up the traditional extended stay experience for healthy active global travellers. We are thrilled to expand our collaboration with the debut of our second Element Hotel, said Michael Wale, President, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Europe, Africa & Middle East. Element Amsterdam offers a fresh new option for travellers who want a bright, energizing environment, great design and everything they need for smart, sustainable living. Element Amsterdam features 160 spacious studios and suites, all featuring a fully-equipped kitchenette, flexible living space, the signature Westin Heavenly Bed and spa-inspired bathroom. The hotels two restaurants My Place and Carrots &Co. focus on sustainable ingredients and provide a range of healthy options throughout the day. Open 24/7, the grab-and-go gourmet food pantry allows guests to buy everything needed to make delicious meals in the comfort of their rooms. Guests can also fuel their day with the healthy Rise breakfast and wind down with the Relax evening wine reception both complimentary. As the first major hotel brand to mandate that all properties pursue sustainable certifications, Element is recognized as an industry leader in the eco-space and offers travellers a reimagined interpretation of the traditional hotel experience with natural light, modern design, healthy options and eco-minded sensibilities. Providing an atmosphere that fuels life in balance and on the move, this reimagined experience is perfect for the traveller who is visiting for a few days or a few weeks. We are delighted to open a second Element Hotel in Europe and to work with Starwood Hotels & Resorts once again, Marco Bari, Managing Director & CEO, Bari Gruppe GmbH & Co. KG added. One of the industrys most innovative brands, Element appeals to business and leisure travellers with its emphasis on clean, sustainable living and long-stay accommodation. Element Amsterdam also boasts a 24/7 fitness centre, two meeting rooms and a business centre. Guests can stay on the move and explore Amsterdam with Elements complimentary bikes, as well as catch up with loved ones or work using the complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the hotel. The hotel will also feature SPG Keyless - the industry-first keyless entry system - enabling guests to use their smartphone or Apple watch as a room key. We are thrilled to introduce Element to the vibrant and forward-looking city of Amsterdaman ideal fit for the brand, said Brian McGuinness, Global Brand Leader, Starwoods Specialty Select Brands. On track to more than double its global portfolio in the next three years, Element fills a much-needed niche in the market and caters to travellers who seek a smart and sustainable experience when they are on the move. Starwood has four hotels in the Netherlands: the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel; Hotel Des Indes, The Hague, a Luxury Collection Hotel and the recently opened W Amsterdam. For more information on Element Amsterdam Hotel, please visit: www.elementamsterdamhotel.com. About Element Hotels Element Hotels offers long-stay comfort for those who are passionate about the planet and their own wellbeing. Stylish and sustainable throughout, Elements bright design defies convention, bathing guest rooms and public spaces in natural light. To date, there are 22 Element Hotels worldwide, with 19 in North America, two in Europe, one in Asia Pacific with new domestic and international hotels in development. To learn more, visit www.elementhotels.com/experience. Stay Connected to Element on facebook.com/ElementHotels and @ElementAmsterdam on Twitter and Instagram. About Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with nearly 1,300 properties in some 100 countries and over 180,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences under the renowned brands: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Westin, Le Meridien, Sheraton, Tribute Portfolio, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft, Element, along with an expanded partnership with Design Hotels. The Company also boasts one of the industrys leading loyalty programs, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG). Visit www.starwoodhotels.com for more information and stay connected @starwoodbuzz on Twitter and Instagram and facebook.com/Starwood. About Bari Gruppe Bari Gruppe GmbH & Co. KG is a Munich based company specialized in development, leasing and operating mid and upscale branded hotels in Germany and other European countries. The company is established in 2011 by Marco Bari and has now 80 employees in Europe. To date there are four hotels that are property of the Bari Gruppe with five more hotels planning to open up until 2020. Visit www.barigruppe.de for more information. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160414005750/en/ SOURCE Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Contacts: Lorena Trako Media Relations Maison PR For Element Hotel Amsterdam 020 723 9682 lorena@maison-pr.nl Ellen Bruens Media Relations For Element Hotel Amsterdam 06 248 061 68 ellen.bruens@starwoodhotels.com Ashley Chapman Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide 1 212-380-4015 ashley.chapman@starwoodhotels.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Wienerschnitzel Signs Multi-Unit Deal with New Franchise Group Worlds Largest Hot Dog Franchise to Expand Texas Footprint April 14, 2016 // Franchising.com // IRVINE, California Wienerschnitzel, home of Americas favorite chili dog, has inked a three-unit development agreement with PBA Properties to build Wienerschnitzel restaurants throughout San Antonio, Texas. With a significant presence throughout the Southwest, including 39 Texas locations, PBA Properties will further expand the brands statewide footprint in the target growth market of San Antonio. PBA Properties, with a combined 24 years of experience, plans to open its first location in early 2017. With a proven track record of success in Texas, we saw tremendous opportunity for Wienerschnitzel to thrive in the San Antonio market, said franchisee, Patrick Alba of PBA Properties. We were looking to diversify our franchise portfolio and recognized Wienerschnitzel as a smart business investment for a multitude of reasons including low food costs, ease of operation, unique product offerings, and a forward-thinking marketing strategy. Not to mention Wienerschnitzel is backed by a more than 50-year legacy, this made us feel extremely secure in our decision. With a refreshed focus on franchise expansion, Wienerschnitzel has overhauled its franchise marketing tools and increased its industry trade presence as the company pursues national growth. In addition, both new and existing Wienerschnitzel franchisees will have the opportunity to adopt the recently introduced Heritage building design, which features a smaller footprint and, at a lower cost of entry, takes advantage of real estate where most competitors will not go. Based on the growing AUV numbers weve consistently seen coming out of our Texas stores, its clear that there is a real demand for the Wienerschnitzel concept throughout the entire state, said Ted Milburn, Director of Franchise Development at Wienerschnitzel. We are primed for nationwide expansion and were proud to add PBA Properties to our growing Wienerschnitzel family. Wienerschnitzel currently has 320 locations in 10 states. The company is recruiting passionate franchise partners with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, and is awarding a variety of franchise opportunities including area development, single unit, and non-traditional venues such as convenience stores. To learn more about the benefits of owning a Wienerschnitzel franchise, please visit http://franchising.wienerschnitzel.com/ About Wienerschnitzel Founded by John Galardi in 1961 with a single hot dog stand in Wilmington, California, Wienerschnitzel (www.wienerschnitzel.com) is a bona fide pioneer of the limited-service food industry. Today, Wienerschnitzel is the worlds largest hot dog franchise and home of Americas favorite Chili Dog. Based in Irvine, California, the parent company, Galardi Group, franchises restaurants throughout the U.S., including Wienerschnitzel, Hamburger Stand, and Tastee Freez. An iconic American brand with a devoted following for over 50 years, Wienerschnitzel is poised for exponential growth, both domestically and internationally. With a refreshed marketing focus, Wienerschnitzel has received tremendous media attention and accolades including Franchise Times 20 to Watch and voted Best Fast Food in Southern California by the readers of Los Angeles Daily News for five years and running. In 2016, Wienerschnitzel was ranked #146 in the coveted Entrepreneur Magazine Franchise 500. Additionally, the company recently introduced a unique next generation store design featuring a smaller footprint and a lower cost of entry; while the simple menu allows for easy execution and lower food costs. As a family owned and operated company, Wienerschnitzel is in a unique position to always put its franchise partners first and is actively recruiting passionate franchise candidates to grow with the brand during this very exciting time. For more information on owning a Wienerschnitzel, visit franchising.wienerschnitzel.com or contact Ted Milburn - Director, Franchise Development at franchising@wienerschnitzel.com. SOURCE Wienerschnitzel Media Contact: Samantha Tyson For Wienerschnitzel Powerhouse Public Relations, LLC (949) 261-2216 samantha@powrhousepr.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus President Barack Obama lauded new Treasury regulations last week aimed at curbing so-called corporate inversions, in which U.S. companies merge with foreign firms to ease their tax burdens. Although the practice is legal, the president said companies effectively renounce their citizenship and stick the rest of us with the bill by performing such maneuvers. The new rules have already scuttled a proposed $160 billion merger between Pfizer, based in New York City, and Allergan, a former U.S. firm now headquartered in Ireland. The merger was expected to save Pfizer, a pharmaceutical giant, about $35 billion in taxes. What should the U.S. government do to discourage companies like Pfizer from moving overseas? Are more rules the answer? Ben Boychuk and Joel Mathis, the RedBlueAmerica columnists, weigh in. BOYCHUK: TAX TOO HIGH Two numbers help shed light why a corporation such as Pfizer would want to merge with a company like Allergan and end up based in Dublin instead of New York: 35 and 12.5. The United States has a corporate income tax rate of 35 percentthe highest in the developed world. Irelands tax is just 12.5 percent. True, no American corporation with halfway competent tax attorneys and accountants will ever pay the full 35 percent. Pfizers effective tax rate was around 25.5 percent in its 2014 filings. Why wouldnt Pfizer go for the more favorable rate? Wouldnt you? The handwringing over corporate inversions is really a conflict over fundamental principles. President Obama and many Democrats treat paying taxes almost as a moral act. For a corporate giant like Pfizer to use existing laws to get a better deal is repugnant to them. But for Pfizers corporate officers, its simply a matter of doing whats best for companys shareholders. If you have a 401(k) or a government pension, you might be one of them. Companies want to remain competitive. They seek every possible advantage. Thats simply what corporations do. Remember: What Pfizer tried to do is perfectly legal under U.S. tax code. Less clear, however, is whether the new Treasury regulations are legal. They probably arent. In order to find out, a company would need to challenge the rules in court. And in order to have standing to sue, that same company would need to spend several years and risk tens of millions of dollars tussling with the IRS. What does seem clear, however, is that the rules will make it increasingly difficult for U.S. firms to do business. Perhaps instead of punishing companies, the Obama administration should seek to make the tax code more competitive. Obvious, right? Even some Democrats believe the U.S. corporate tax rate is too high. But the lowest rate Obama will entertain is 28 percent. Better to stick it to the corporations and settle for anemic economic growth than to entice companies to leave Dublin for New York with a better deal. MATHIS: A FAIRNESS ISSUE Heres one underlying conundrum on the issue of business taxes: Are corporations people or arent they? We already know the Republican answer to this question: Corporations are people, my friend, as Mitt Romney famously said in 2012. That point of view often means that corporations have the same rights as you or Iincluding the right to free speech, which in practice means that corporations have just as much right as you or I to spend thousands or millions of dollars to influence the workings of government. Oddly, though, corporations rarely bear the same responsibilities as people. Case in point: Crossing borders and adopting a new nationality is, in most cases, quite hardand often illegalfor real people. Corporations, though, increasingly act as persons without a country, able to contort themselves to pick the country in which they can pay the lowest wages while picking another in which to pay the lowest taxes. The result: Big corporations can make millions in profits in the United States while doing relatively little to contribute to the communitys upkeep. And, oh yeah: Many of the companies still keep their top executives in the United States making the whole thing a bit of a fiction. The equivalent? If your family adopted a Canadian child and declared Canadian citizenshipall while staying snug at home in Peoria. Its absurd. No wonder Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have made a dent in this election year. Republicans will tell you that companies flee or do corporate inversions to transfer their citizenship abroad because of Americas high corporate tax rate of 35 percent. Dont believe them. A Reuters analysis last year of six such companies found they had an average effective tax rate of just 20.3 percent. Is it wrong for companies to move overseas for tax breaks? Its certainly unfair. Lets give big corporations a choice. They can keep the tax advantages and international flexibility that real people dont have, or they can have the legal personhood that gives them an outsized say in our politics. They shouldnt have both. Ben Boychuk is the associate editor of the Manhattan Institutes City Journal. Joel Mathis is the associate editor for Philadelphia Magazine. But other health experts including the professor who alerted the public about Flints crisis have advised more drastic measures when water becomes tainted. If tap water is found to contain a known or suspected carcinogen, consumers should consider temporarily switching to bottled water or drinking from another source, said Dr. Beti Thompson, a member of the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Yes, better not to drink any contaminated water, Thompson said. Cancer usually takes a lengthy time to develop and may also require sustained exposure. People should check with their local water safety group to determine what to do. Immediate cancer is unlikely but prolonged exposure is inadvisable, Thompson said. It depends on the contaminant [found, but] brushing teeth and washing hands is a definite stop bathing, maybe. How risky is tainted water? One fundamental question surfaces when tap water harbors a cancer-causing substance: Just how real is the risk? Unlike the fluids gushing into our sinks, the answers arent always clear. A hard question, said Craig Mains, an engineering scientist with the National Environmental Services Center at West Virginia University. We are talking about an individuals risk of cancer [being] increased a small amount over their lifetime. We also have to keep in mind that ingestion of carcinogens through drinking water is only one route. People are also exposed to carcinogens in food and by inhalation [during showers], Mains said. The EPA sets limits on more than 90 contaminants in public water, including 31 pollutants it lists as potentially increasing cancer risk. Through scheduled water testing, each state is responsible for ensuring federal water standards are met. If any tested levels outstrip the federal maximums, water suppliers are required to notify the public. But the number of suspected carcinogens on tap has grown, in part, due to the very process cities and towns have long used to cleanse pathogens from public supplies. Is disinfection helping or hurting? Treating water with chlorine creates two byproducts regulated by the EPA as possible cancer-causing agents haloacetic acids, like those just detected in North Carolina, and a group of chemicals called trihalomethanes, or THMs. Scientists suspect THMs in water may cause thousands of cases of bladder cancer every year, according to a 2013 report by the Environmental Working Group, a non-partisan outfit that researches chemicals in products. Under federal regulations, the peak level of THMs allowed in drinking water is 80 parts per billion. That ceiling has recently been exceeded by several cities. In Seattle, one test of public water in August 2015 found THMs at 90.7 parts per billion, according to Washington State Department of Health records. In Temple, Texas, the city notified its 66,000 residents in late March that local drinking water had topped the EPAs limit on THMs for six months with readings as high as 105 parts per billion. Yet THMs also offer a helpful case study of the moving targets that can exist within water-safety rules eliciting the question: Do we really know how much is safe? Several international studies found that people unwittingly boost their bladder cancer odds by drinking THM-contaminated water at levels far below what the EPA allows as low as 21 parts per billion, according to an Environmental Working Group analysis. The EPA considered lowering the legal limit for THMs from 80 to 40 parts per billion a decade ago, calculating the move "would prevent nearly 1,300 bladder cancer cases each year, the Environmental Working Group also has reported. Instead of tightening that cap, the EPA opted to improve how government officials measure THMs for compliance with the existing standard. But beyond the legal limits of known pollutants, a different health mystery lurks in the water. Some disinfection byproducts (DPBs) are not monitored or measured by federal or local governments and yet are thought to be even more harmful to health than EPA-regulated byproducts like THMs or haloacetic acids, water experts say. This new crop of DBPs is rising as many water utilities drop chlorine disinfection for cheaper techniques, including the use of chloramine, a derivative of ammonia. Many emerging, unregulated DBPs are much more toxic, said Dr. Marc Edwards, the Virginia Tech water engineering professor credited with blowing the whistle on the crisis in Flint, Michigan. About 25 percent of U.S. water utilities have now switched from chlorine to chloramine, Edwards said. Water filters may be a workaround One irony in that shift: utilities also chose chloramine because it generates fewer THMs, Edwards said. But alternative disinfectants like chloramine are known to produce other troubling chemical compounds, including some called nitrosamines, says the Water Research Foundation, a water-science nonprofit. Nitrosamines are the compounds people warned you about when they told you you shouldnt be eating those nitrite-cured hot dogs, Dr. David Sedlak, a University of California environmental engineering professor, told National Public Radio. Theyre about a thousand times more carcinogenic than the disinfection byproducts that wed been worried about with regular old chlorine. The growing list of regulated and unregulated carcinogens in public pipelines may cause some consumers to consider buying handheld water filters or even whole-house filtration systems. Before large purchases are made, however, water experts suggest first reading water quality reports published annually by utilities. Heres an example posted by officials in New York City. If contaminants are still suspected, consumers can buy a personalized water test the EPAs Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 800-426-4791 helps link people to certified labs. Filters run the gamut from $20 pitchers kept in the refrigerator to faucet-attached devices to large systems that treat all water entering a home. Most pitcher-type filters use granular-activated carbon and resins to bond with and trap contaminants, and many will lower the amount of lead and other contaminants in water, according to the EPA. An activated carbon filter will remove THMs and haloacetic acids, said Mains, of the National Environmental Services Center. For those willing to spend several hundred dollars, reverse osmosis units which attach beneath sinks are effective in eliminating all disease-causing organisms and most chemicals, the EPA says. When it comes to blocking carcinogens, that pricey filter type may be a safe bet, said Edwards, the Flint whistleblower. Reverse osmosis, he said, will remove almost everything from water. Minnesota Water Damage Repair & Restoration Experts Site Launched Minneapolis Restoration Pros, a Minnesota based company specializing in water, fire and smoke damage repair and restoration, servicing businesses and home owners in the Minneapolis and the wider area, has launched its new website. -- Minnesota based Minneapolis Restoration Pros, a company specializing in water, fire and smoke damage repair and restoration, servicing businesses and home owners in the Minneapolis and the wider area, has launched its new website. More information can be obtained from: http://minneapolisrestorationpros.com. Minneapolis Restoration Pros specializes in flood restoration, disaster recovery and mold remediation, including flood and water damage, damage from water heaters, toilets and pipes, water extraction, as well as fire and smoke restoration, and carpet cleaning. Each team member is an expert, having a background in restoration, with the latest tools and technology to contain and repair problems correctly. It is estimated that Minnesota State has been affected by 80 percent of the most land-damaging hurricanes experienced in the United States. Minneapolis Restoration Pros is established to handle damage caused by storms, water and fires as well as treat and prevent for the long term harmful effects of mold, providing: smoke damage restoration, water removal and advanced drying technology and services. Minneapolis Restoration Pros technicians can usually arrive at a residence or business premises within an hour of being called and are skilled at removing moisture quickly from a variety of surfaces to prevent any secondary damage to the property. They can reduce a building's humidity if the water damage isn't major and perform treatment and removal of mold. Just some of the health issues that mold is known to cause are: runny nose, itchy eyes, allergy-like symptoms, increase in irritability in those suffering with asthma, allergic broncho-pulmonary aspergillosis, athlete's foot and thrush. Even though prospective clients are not required to use the restoration company that their insurance provider recommends, Minneapolis Restoration Pros does encourage that in the event of a storm or damage that they do make contact with their insurance provider to understand their policy and options, as the first step. Minneapolis Restoration Pros is a licensed and insured business, helping home owners and business premises in Minneapolis and surrounding areas restore their home or property back to original condition following a storm or other damage involving flooding or fires. The business works with customers, during what can be a stressful time, to assess damage and assist with planning out the restoration process one step at a time, providing free in-home quotes including removal of present mold, so that all the costs involved are understood. For more information about us, please visit http://minneapolisrestorationpros.com Contact Info: Name: Chuck Rummel Organization: Minneapolis Restoration Pros Phone: 612 315 9048 Release ID: 110667 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Muddy Waters Coffee Donates to CPOA From Coast Guard Dark Roast Sales Specialty coffee roaster, Muddy Water Coffee Company, pledges 5 percent of profits from sales of its Coast Guard Dark Roast to the US Coastguard Chief Petty Officers Association (CPOA), available as whole beans or in a number of grind settings to suit various brew methods. -- Specialty coffee roaster, Muddy Water Coffee Company, is donating 5 percent of profits to the US Coastguard Chief Petty Officers Association (CPOA) from sales of its Coast Guard Dark Roast, available in 12 oz packaging, as whole beans or in a number of grind settings to suit various brew methods. More information can be found on the website at: http://ilovemud.com. Muddy Waters Coffee Company, began as cafe in 1999 where owner operator and master roaster Chris Nichols commenced work as a barista, then in 2003 started roasting and by 2006 he'd turned it into a wholesale roasting business based out of Eureka, California. Since 2010 it's operations have moved to McKinleyville following four years of preparation and turning into a two-man show, whilst with the online store he supplies small batch roasted coffee to customers all over the US, and aims to ship worldwide. Muddy Waters' Coast Guard Dark Roast is a Fair Trade certified and USDA Organic blend, as many of the Muddy Waters coffees are, with tasting notes described as having full body, rich and smooth with a nutty flavor. Most of the coffees are available as a whole bean, or espresso, drip, French press or percolator grind profiles. The Coast Guard Dark Roast sales will contribute 5 percent of the profits to CPOA. The online store range of coffee provides a series known as "Wake Up Your Soul" and features a host of single country origin beans from various South American countries and Indonesia, and some interesting blends with varying roast profiles such as: House Blend, Holiday Blend, Humboldt Blend, Infinity Blend, Midnight Express, Fire House Blend, Breakfast Blend, Crossroads Organic Blend and the recent Deep Blues Blend. Currently there are also some exciting single origin organic blends such as Ethiopia Banko, Congo Kivu, Nicaragua Jinotega and a Hondura Grainpro. Chris roasts all the coffee within 48 hours of shipping to ensure optimal freshness and he creates the blends by applying three or four different roast profiles to a single origin. The website blog features interesting stories behind the blends. For more information about us, please visit http://ilovemud.com Contact Info: Name: Chris Smith Organization: Muddy Waters Coffee Co Release ID: 110666 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) The Virtual CEO Review Publishes Exclusive Insights Into Eben Pagan's New Flagship Course Eben Pagan, online marketing authority, has created a new course to help people live the CEO lifestyle entirely in the cloud, and The Virtual CEO Review has published first insights on the course. -- Millions of people aspire to lead the life of a CEO, making the big decisions for big money and spending as much time at leisure and with their families as they do in the office. But many people, including CEOs, want to get rid of the office altogether. That is the objective of online marketing legend Eben Pagan's new course: The Virtual CEO. The Virtual CEO Review is a website (http://thevirtualceo.net/) published in response to the course, in order to help people find our more information and see how the new course stacks up. The website (http://thevirtualceo.org/) has been launched to offer exclusive insights into the new course Eben Pagan is in the final stages of developing, with one of a kind previews ahead of publishing designed to whet the appetites of anyone with ambition. The product is designed to help people set up and run a successful company online using the power of the internet, in just a few hours a week. This leaves them free to prioritize the quality of their life and their social standing. The website offers an analysis of the ideas the course is based on, the aims it wants to help people achieve, and how it will help people to achieve them. A spokesperson for The Virtual CEO Review explained, "We have created our website to be the number one resource available to those who want to know more about The Virtual CEO. The course is one of the most exciting of its kind, following on from Eben Pagan's many other big successes as a business and lifestyle educator. Details of the new course, its methodology and approach can be found on our website, together with a full review of the product to be published upon its eventual release." About The Virtual CEO Review: The Virtual CEO Review is a website created to help people find actionable information and independent reviews of The Virtual CEO, a new online course by Eben Pagan. The website has been created to offer insightful review content on the course as details are released, and help consumers make informed decisions. For more information about us, please visit http://virtualceolifestyle.net/ Contact Info: Name: Ziga B. Email: ziga@virtualceolifestyle.net Organization: VirtualCEOLifestyle Phone: (323) 937-1244 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/the-virtual-ceo-review-publishes-exclusive-insights-into-eben-pagans-new-flagship-course/110723 Release ID: 110723 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Qeepr Announces New Episode of TalkDeath Series: Eco-Burial and Human Composting Episode four of Qeepr's #TalkDeath webseries to feature Katrina Spade of the Urban Death Project and Joe Sehee of the Green Burial Council. The public is asked to submit their questions on green burial and eco-friendly alternatives via social media using #TalkDeath in their message. -- Online memorial platform and death positive community leaders, Qeepr, has announced the fourth instalment of their acclaimed #TalkDeath live web series where the public is given the chance to ask their questions to death professionals. Founder of the Urban Death Project, Katrina Spade along with the founder of the Green Burial Council, Joe Sehee will join hosts Mandy and Jeremy on April 28th, 2016 at 4pm EST/1pm PST for Episode 4: Eco-Burial and Human Composting. Qeepr founder, Mandy Benoualid, explains that "the mission of #TalkDeath is to promote discussion about life's big questions on death and dying from different perspectives." #TalkDeath hosts professionals whose approaches to death and dying come from varied backgrounds, providing the public with the opportunity to ask their questions via social media. Benoualid expresses that "the discussion on green burials, human composting and other eco-friendly funeral alternatives is important because our current traditions are undergoing a drastic shift, largely due to the public's awareness of its devastating effects on the environment. The Qeepr team is very excited to host Katrina and Joe as this edition's panelists as they are at the forefront of this important shift." The #TalkDeath web series has become a venue for death professionals and the general public to come together in conversation. #TalkDeath aims to change the reality that the public should only speak with death professionals when they are forced to do so by circumstance. Past #TalkDeath panelists include New York Times bestselling author and mortician, Caitlin Doughty, and About.com's Death & Dying editor, Chris Raymond. #TalkDeath Episode 4: Eco-Burial and Human Composting, with Katrina Spade and Joe Sehee can be streamed live via Google+ and YouTube on April 28th at 4pm EST. The public is invited to start asking their questions to the panel immediately via Twitter, Facebook or Instagram by including the hashtag '#TalkDeath' in their message. About Qeepr Qeepr is an online memorial platform and cemetery wayfinding app allowing one to preserve, share and discover life stories of the departed. The first of its kind, Qeepr's social memorials provide families with the tools to preserve the memories a loved one online. Friends and family can leave condolences, upload photos, like, share, comment, connect, and remember those who are dearly missed. Qeepr's latest mobile application allows one to geotag and receive directions to any monument in a cemetery. Create a Free Memorial or Free Business Page Today: www.Qeepr.com For more information about us, please visit http://www.qeepr.com Contact Info: Name: Greg Gascon Organization: Qeepr Release ID: 110459 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Mikah Fashions Launches Campaign Featuring Miss Southeast Florida Mariana R. Silva, Adriana Jansen PR, Mikah Bags, Salvatore Domina and Miss Southeast Florida: Bianca Silva launched a joint fashion collaboration for the new campaign featuring -- Mariana R. Silva, Adriana Jansen PR, Mikah Bags, Salvatore Domina and Miss Southeast Florida: Bianca Silva launched a joint fashion collaboration for the new campaign featuring Italian Leather and handcrafted accessories. The campaign was photographed in Bal Harbour. Mikah Bags is known for showcasing fresh talent and new faces. Bianca will compete for the tittle of Miss Florida this year, a subsidiary of Miss Universe. Miriam Grunhaus, CEO of Mikah said: " Mikah Fashion (Mikah Bags) Is so proud to announce that Bianca Silva is our Brand Ambassador. Bianca is Miss South East Florida, gorgeous inside and out. We are honored to have BWI sharing our story and I encourage all my friends to check out Beautiful World International, an amazing magazine that I am sure you will love! Always grateful to Adriana Cabral for all her assistance in our publicity efforts " The photos will be published on the Luxury Magazine BWI Facebook Page. Adriana Jansen a NJ based publicist which represents Fashion Brands, Models, Actresses, Celebrities and other Talents organized the campaign shot by Italian photographer: Salvatore Damina. Mikah Fashions introduces a brand of unique fashion accessories that are truly wearable art. Miriam says: "Mikah's unique collections combine modern influences with old-world craftsmanship. Mikah's intention is to provide quality products that are unique and unforgettable as the women who wear them". Most of the styles are handmade with 100% recycled aluminum. It is good for the environment and the fact that they are handmade in Africa is the icing on the cake. These jewelry are providing a source of income to a much needed area. Aluminum is also extremely light material, therefore even very bulky and large pieces are light and comfortable. See images for the new campaign featuring Miss Southeast Florida on BWI page bellow: https://www.facebook.com/BeautifulWorldItnl/?fref=ts For more information about us, please visit http://www.mastermindsucess.com Contact Info: Name: Adriana Jansen Email: adri_jansen@hotmail.com Organization: Adriana Jansen PR Phone: 5517953533 Release ID: 110686 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) New Christian Family Bedtime Reading ebook Project for Children Launched Today Anastasia, Maroussia & Nicholas Troubetzkoy are launching their brand new ebook, "Princess Alana Becomes a Bride," available through Amazon Kindle KDP for the Christian family readership, ideal for children preschool & ages 6-8. More information is available at the website: http://alulineles.jimdo.com/ -- Nicholas Troubetzkoy and his two daughters, Anastasia and Maroussia, launched, today, their brand new ebook, "Princess Alana Becomes a Bride." The title is available through Amazon KDP and it's expected to be a hit among Christian families with preschool age children thru age 8. And, it's not only for girls. More information on the book can be found at: http://alulineles.jimdo.com/ This is the first children's book the father-daughter team has co-authored. Unlike many contemporary books that contain inappropriate language or aggressive behavior, the present title has the aim of helping children develop sound reading skills and expand vocabulary while learning proper upbringing. Of particular interest, a discussion section links verses in the story to scripture, providing Christian parents an unimposing alternative for introducing biblical teachings. "Princess Alana Becomes a Bride" contains themes that include: helping the poor and the meek; obedience and honoring the wishes of parents; the value of prayer in times of need and in thanksgiving; the definition of a noble character; never seeking revenge and looking ahead in life; never giving up; and the definition of true friendship. Readers will likely find a particular interest in how a king helps his daughter, Princess Alana, determine the worthiest of ten suitors courting her. The king introduces challenges for her admirers that reveal their true characters, leaving but one at the end - one whose actions confirm that he truly loves the princess and is worthy of her hand in marriage. The book's cover art was created by renowned painter Vladislav Nagornov and the publisher is Once Upon a Time Publishing. Of noble lineage, the authors share a personal experience through the project. They draw from a time when a father read or invented bedtime stories, on the fly, to two eager listeners considering the scarcity of acceptable, children's books. Their family background helps shape the book considering that nobility is all about proper education, faith, and service to country and family. When asked about why they wrote the book, Nicholas Troubetzkoy said: "Children love for parents to read to them at bedtime. It's when they're most receptive to new thoughts making it the ideal time for introducing Christian teaching." The three authors have the hope that the book will contribute to restoring Christian values and teachings that were more widely taught, yesteryear, and that are much lacking in today's society, particularly, with respect to the upbringing of children. The positive objective, testifies to the authors' optimism considering the many distractions and temptations that children face in this electronic age, including information overwhelm, which leaves many children stressed and unable to get a good night's sleep. The authors thank all of the persons who helped with the technical aspects of creating this book. They also add: "We are eternally grateful to Princess Marie Troubetzkoy, who would have been very proud that her son and grandchildren have launched this publishing project. " Those interested in learning more about the book can visit, Once Upon a Time Publishing: http://alulineles.jimdo.com/ For more information about us, please visit http://alulineles.jimdo.com/ Contact Info: Name: Anastasia Troubetzkoy Email: onceuponatimepublishing@outlook.com Organization: Once Upon a Time Publishing Phone: +7 978 109 69 05 Release ID: 110453 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Watchmakers gather for the Baselworld fair against a gloomy economic backdrop. The luxury timepieces industry is weathering not just sluggish world growth and a Chinese economic slowdown. It also faces particular difficulties in Hong Kong, the industrys most important marketplace, and a strong Swiss franc which has sharply sent up the cost of producing luxury watches in Switzerland. With sales dependent on economic optimism, there is nervousness about the rest of 2016. The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development expects the world economy to grow by just 3 per cent the same as in 2015, which was the slowest pace in five years and well below long-run averages. Demand for luxury watches in energy-exporting economies has been hit by the precipitous fall in oil prices. It looks like the outlook may even have worsened since the end of 2015, says Julie Saussier, consumer industries analyst at Credit Suisse. Hong Kong is still faring badly, and in Europe you have had the effects of Novembers terrorism attacks in Paris. What matters crucially will be demand from Chinese consumers. The industry has been hit by the crackdown on gifting as part of the countrys anti-corruption drive. From peak to trough, watch sales in mainland China fell by about 30 per cent, according to industry estimates. The good news is that the one-off effect of the clampdown has fed through. Year-on-year growth in Swiss exports to mainland China turned positive at the end of last year. Even if Chinas economy expands at a slower rate, luxury watches still have cachet with the countrys consumers. The problem is that Chinese spending patterns are shifting. Most under pressure are operations in Hong Kong, long a hub for sales across Asia. Hong Kong is feeling the effects of overstocking, which have yet to be worked through, as well as a stronger US dollar, to which the Hong Kong dollar is pegged. Swiss watch exports to Hong Kong in January were 33 per cent lower than a year earlier, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. A turnround in Hong Kong may be some way off. Thomas Chauvet, luxury goods analyst at Citigroup, reports a profound change in Chinese perceptions of Hong Kong. It does not seem to be an attractive tourist and shopping destination any more, he says. Chinese peoples natural inclination for travel, rising purchasing power and greater ability to travel individually and further out internationally are likely to continue to encourage them to discover other parts of Asia as well as Europe. Reflecting the shifts in demand, the Geneva-based Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie announced in February that its Hong Kong-based Watches & Wonders exhibition would in future be held biennially, with its organisers examining other destinations which could alternate with Hong Kong. The one-off effect of Chinas clampdown has fed through Weaker sales in Hong Kong have been offset by improvements elsewhere. While US watch sales disappointed last year on the back of the stronger dollar and probably the rise of smartwatches Japan and South Korea have benefited from Chinese tourist flows. There is a bottoming out in global luxury watches but a lot of the business is wholesale, which tends to lag behind the pick-up in the cycle, says Scilla Huang Sun, a sector specialist at GAM Investment Management in Zurich. In Switzerland, the effects of the tougher conditions have been exacerbated by the strength of the Swiss currency since January 15, 2015, when the countrys central bank gave up trying to cap its value against the euro. Swatch complains that the appreciation of the franc has caused significant shifts in sales in the markets, as well as a marked distortion of the international product pricing structure. Swatchs sales fell 3 per cent last year to SFr8.45bn (6.1bn) at current exchange rates. Despite headwinds, Swatch said it had actually increased the number of employees in Switzerland. Meanwhile, Richemont, whose brands include Cartier and Montblanc, has warned its 9,000 employees in Switzerland that it is looking to cut up to 350 watchmaking jobs locally over the next 12 months. The positive interpretation of job cuts at Richemont is that they show a greater nimbleness. They are being more proactive and flexible with costs, and it doesnt mean that prospects for the industry have changed, says Ms Saussier at Credit Suisse. Amundi has appointed Fannie Wurtz as managing director of its ETF, Indexing and Smart Beta business line under the supervision of Valerie Baudson, a member of Amundis Executive Committee. Talbot and Muir, the SIPP and SSAS specialist, has appointed Michael Hurley as business development consultant for Central London. He joins from Friends Provident International and has more than 25 years experience in the financial services sector. Legal & Generals Pension Risk Transfer business has appointed Matt Wilmington as director of strategic transactions, leading on strategic longevity, buy-in and buy-out transactions. He joins from Aon Hewitt. Smith & Williamson Investment Management has boosted its intermediary sales team with the appointment of Tim Rea as a partner to be responsible for pooled funds sales. He joins from Capital Group, where he carried out a number of sales roles since joining in 2008. Tees Valley chartered accountants and business advisers Waltons Clark Whitehill has promoted George Hardey, head of tax at the firm, to its board of directors. He joined Waltons as a tax senior in 1999 from HMRC where he was a Revenue Officer. Hargreave Hale has appointed Hazel Larkin as head of the firms Carlisle office. She takes over from Marilyn Salkeld, who is to retire after more than 20 years with the firm. Ms Larkin moved to Hargreave Hale in 1990 after a career at stockbrokers Stancliffe Todd & Hodgson, Nationwide and Cumbria County Council. Argonaut Capital has made several changes to its business, with Liontrust buying its European income arm and Barry Norris taking full ownership of the boutique fund house. The firm announced it will take over Standard Life Investments minority stake, meaning it will become a fully independent business with its founder Mr Norris at the helm. Once the deal is completed, European income fund manager Oliver Russ will leave the business and move over to Liontrust Asset Management. Mr Norris hopes the agreement will give Argonaut an opportunity to focus on the core of its business, which include its European Alpha, pan-European Alpha and Absolute Return franchises. This ownership agreement demonstrates my belief in Argonaut and my long term personal commitment to the business. Barry Norris In light of this, Liontrust has agreed to acquire a number of Argonauts funds, including 169m European income and 131m enhanced income offerings. These will be merged into two soon-to-launch funds: the Liontrust European Income and Liontrust European Enhanced Income funds. Mr Norris said: This ownership agreement demonstrates my belief in Argonaut and my long-term personal commitment to the business, our people and our unit holders. In addition, Argonaut Capital has named Sanlam chief executive Jonathan Polin who helped establish Argonaut as its chairman. After long being associated with Argonaut, Mr Polin said he is extremely pleased to witness its strong growth, particularly since the business became operationally independent, adding that its investment process has stood the test of time. Argonaut was formed as a joint venture between its founders and Ignis, previously known as Britannic Asset Management, in 2005. Standard Life Investments kept a passive minority stake in Argonaut after it purchased Ignis in 2014. The arrangement is subject to regulatory approval. In a side note, Liontrust saw a 7 per cent boost in assets under management for the 2015/16 financial year, reaching 4.8bn. Net inflows hit 255m in the financial year, which is strong given Investment Association figures found that 437m had been withdrawn from all UK-authorised funds in January, followed by 399m net outflows in February. John Ions, chief executive of Liontrust, said: The focus of our fund management teams on applying robust investment processes to the management of our funds also ensures the way we run money is predictable and repeatable, which provides reassurance to investors at times of market volatility. Adviser View Dan Farrow, director of Essex-based SBN Wealth Management, said: I think well be seeing many more consolidation moves such as this in the next 12 to 24 months. Boutiques running funds with less than 500m will struggle to make money, especially if performance is mediocre and advisers continue the shift to low-cost passives. katherine.denham@ft.com Old Mutual Global Investors (OMGI) is to launch an absolute return fund later this month focusing primarily on UK stocks outside the FTSE 100. The Ireland-domiciled Old Mutual UK Specialist Equity vehicle, which will launch on April 28, is based on an existing Cayman Islands strategy run by Tim Service since 2003. The aim of the new portfolio, to be run by manager Mr Service and deputy fund manager Luke Kerr, is to achieve capital appreciation via long and short positions in UK equities. It will target a low net exposure to equity markets. The fund aims to deliver absolute returns in all market conditions and will hold between 80 and 110 positions. A company spokesperson said OMGIs existing 394m UK Dynamic Equity offering, managed to a similar objective by Mr Kerr, differed because it was very much long biased as a result of its FTSE 250 benchmark. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) should have been more alert to the risks posed by the ARM bonds distributed by Catalyst Investment Group, advisers have claimed. This comes after the regulator on 11 April fined and banned the chief executive of the company which distributed the bonds to advisers. Some IFAs questioned whether the Catalyst issue, which the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) said is among the biggest incidents which led to its levy going up , could have been picked up sooner. Simon Webster, managing director of Kent-based Facts & Figures Chartered Financial Planners, said: There are cranks in every walk of life, but the FCA only deals with this stuff after millions of pounds has been lost by investors. Instead it [the FCA] is worried about what sort of information we should put in a suitability report; it spends all its time looking at the minutiae. That we have to pay more levy is irritating, but the full failure is the lack of imagination at the FCA if it regulated properly we wouldnt have these problems. Catalyst was the primary UK distributor of ARM bonds, sold to the public from about October 2007 to October 2009. They were structured products issued by a Luxembourg entity, ARM, the underlying assets of which were senior life settlements purchased in the US. In July 2009, the FSA told Catalyst that ARM did not appear to be authorised. That month, ARM formally applied for authorisation in Luxembourg and also took steps to transfer to Ireland in May 2010. Ultimately, the Irish and Luxembourg regulators did not authorise ARM. Paul Howard, a financial adviser with Reading-based Box Financial Planning, asked why the FCA allowed Catalyst to promote ARM bonds to UK advisers. He said: I have worked for a firm which did give advice on the ARM life settlements, and they were generally not aware it was unregulated. But Clayton Cumming, a partner in Glasgow-based Advice & Wealth Management Solutions, said the FCA could not be expected to pick up every single issue before it blew up. He added: It is probably hard for the FCA to be on the front-foot all the time and to be on top of everything. I think controls are getting a lot tighter around unauthorised investments, but they need to look at the FSCS levy system, because firms that have good processes and dont get involved in things such as Keydata are still getting hit. Small-scale and tenant farmers are taking to the streets of London on Sunday 17 April to protest against the sell-off of council farmland. The farmers will drop a banner over an iconic London building and hold public speeches to highlight the issue. The protest is being organised by the Landworkers Alliance (LWA), which represents small-scale producers and family farmers and is being supported by the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA). See also: Council accused of misleading tenants on estate sell-off The LWA said it was holding the action to highlight the recent reduction in the number of council farms as a result of pressure from the governments austerity measures. Over the past 30 years the number of county council farm tenants had halved and about one-third of the acreage of council farmland had been lost, said George Dunn, chief executive of the Tenant Farmers Association, who will be speaking at the event. We believe the county council farm system continues to provide a very important place for new entrants. We think councils that have sold off their farms are guilty of bad management, which not only affects the agricultural industry, but does not provide best value for money for taxpayers, said Mr Dunn. As of the 31 March 2014, there were 61,621ha of land let by county councils in England, bringing in 17.93m in rent, according to Defra. This was a 1.25% decrease in the area let compared to the year before. There were 1,464 tenants during 2013-14 a 12.5% decrease on 2012-13. Council-owned farms have traditionally played a vital role in providing successive generations with a first step on the farming ladder, said LWA member and farmer Humphrey Lloyd. The loss of 8% of the public farm estate over the past five years has had a massive effect on new entrants into farming. It has turned public resources for the many into private wealth for the few. We would like to point out that the continued privatisation of this essential public resource is proceeding with no public consultation whatsoever and shockingly little media attention. Farmers who wish to participate should meet the LWA at 3pm on Sunday. The venue of the meeting will be announced shortly. The protest will form part of an annual international day of action by members of La Vie Campesina, a global small producer movement, which the LWA is a member of. Farmers in different countries will be protesting about issues most pertinent to them. Shadow Defra secretary Kerry McCarthy has called for international action to reduce the amount of antibiotics used in livestock production. Speaking at the Antibiotics and Farming Conference in London, Ms McCarthy said the unnecessary use of antibiotics in farming was undermining their effectiveness in human medicine. But farm industry representatives disputed the assertion, arguing that antibiotic resistance was largely attributed to human medical use, rather than their use in livestock production. See also: Huge threat from farm antibiotics to human health Ms McCarthy said it was illogical for the government to set measurable antibiotics reduction targets for human medicine but not for veterinary use. We need strong international action to prevent antibiotics being given to animals who do not need them, alongside parallel efforts to reduce their use in human medicine. The government must show leadership and ambition to secure an effective EU strategy after MEPs voted to ban routine preventative use, she told conference delegates on Thursday (14 April). Without concerted action, we risk losing effective antibiotics, which could severely affect our agricultural industry and our food security, said Ms McCarthy. She added: Some argue that preventative antibiotic use in intensive farming improves efficiency and helps consumers to access cheap meat. But it is clear that this is now coming at an unaffordable cost. Voluntary schemes rarely drive action at the pace needed, said Ms McCarthy. The government and regulators should act now to put the principles of responsible use into practice, she added. The Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA), which represents the livestock supply chain, said it was wrong to point the finger solely at farming. We recognise concerns about growing resistance to antibiotics; but in humans, resistance is largely attributed to human medical use, it said. A recent study had confirmed farm animal use could be responsible for as few as one in every 370 clinical cases, said RUMA. Despite this, resistance is a threat in animals too, and the farming industry as well as those looking after the health of horses and pets must do its bit to control spread. The concept that food companies work sustainably with their supply chains to reduce the need for antibiotics use in farm animals is welcomed by RUMA; this is already happening. Use of antibiotics as growth promoters had been banned in the EU since 2006 and antibiotics were available in the UK only on prescription from vets, RUMA said. The industry has already opted for restrictions to use a number of antibiotics classed as critically important for human health, it added. Ms McCarthy claimed that MRSA of a livestock origin found in British retail pork for the first time last summer was likely to be well-established within the UK pig herd. If left unchecked, the spread of MRSA could cause very real problems, she said. A few years ago in the Netherlands, the type of MRSA found in UK retail pork was found to cause 42% of human cases, but this figure is now falling because the Dutch have cut farm antibiotics use. Just before Christmas, it was discovered that resistance to colistin a last-resort antibiotic for humans had transferred from farm animals to humans. MEPs voted a few weeks ago in favour of amendments to proposed EU veterinary medicines legislation to ban routine preventative use, said Ms McCarthy. This included a ban on group treatments where there was no diagnosis of disease in any of the animals, she added. It is now up to the Council of Ministers and the EU Commission to support this European Parliament vote, and for the UK government to take a lead in these discussions. Brussels is considering an extension to the deadline for 2016 Basic Payment applications amid growing fears that farmers will be unable to submit claims on time. The deadline for claims is 16 May. But with just one month to go, IT issues and the knock-on effects of delays to payment verifications for last year have left UK farmers and their agents concerned that it might be missed. It is likely any extension would be Europe-wide. EU farm commissioner Phil Hogan said: In view of the problems which were created last autumn by the earlier postponement of the applications deadline, I want to reflect further on the request for a similar derogation this year. See also: Fears raised over BPS claims deadline The NFU is encouraging farmers to submit their 2016 applications as soon as possible and to the best of their ability even if they have not been paid for 2015, or believe they were underpaid. Any extension to the claims deadline would again cause payments to be delayed, it said. NFU vice-president Guy Smith said about 10,000 farmers in England including himself were still waiting to receive their BPS 2015 payments. Therefore it was questionable to expect people who hadnt received their 2015 payment to submit claims for 2016, he added. We just want them to tell us what the problem is. RPA boss Mark Grimshaw [pictured] is not a chief executive on top of his game. He has some explaining to do. Mr Smith warned that extending the application deadline would have significant, negative consequences that would shorten the window for processing claims and cause delayed payments and disallowance penalties for Defra. Mr Grimshaw said he had every sympathy for farmers yet to be paid. I want to reassure the industry we are handling many issues that are specifically related to year one of the new scheme and 2016 will be different, he added. Exeter-based chartered surveyors Townsend said many farmers had found the online application system easy to use and had submitted claims. But others with transfer entitlements were starting to experience problems with the system. In Wales, about 96% of claimants had now received part-payments for BPS 2015 roughly 80% of the total value of claims. Others have received balance payments, but some 4% of claimants havent received a penny. NFU Cymru head of policy Dylan Morgan said: If they havent been paid, they dont know if there were any issues with their claims. Effectively, these people are being asked to complete their 2016 forms in the dark. The Scottish government said it would always encourage farmers to submit their BPS 2016 applications as soon as they can. The system had been operating well so far and applications were being successfully submitted, it added. Prime minister David Cameron has confirmed his government would continue to offer financial support to farmers if the UK votes to leave the EU in the forthcoming referendum. In a letter sent to landowners group the CLA, Mr Cameron said: As long as I am prime minister, I would make sure that an agricultural support system would be properly maintained. (Read a PDF of the PMs letter). But Mr Cameron warned: However, I can obviously not make the same guarantees for future governments. See also: Government must come clean on Brexit farm subsidy plan It is unclear, for example, where some of my opponents, including Jeremy Corbyn, stand on the issue. We should remember that previous Labour governments have been in favour of either reducing key agricultural subsidies or abolishing them altogether. Mr Cameron was responding to a request from the CLA to set out the governments position on UK farm subsidy support if the country were to vote to leave the EU in the referendum on 23 June. Defra has come in for strong criticism from farmers for openly admitting it has No Plan B for farming in the event of a Brexit. In his letter, Mr Cameron also does not detail any measures his government would introduce to support farmers if the UK left the EU. Brexit is leap in the dark In the letter, Mr Cameron warns farmers that leaving the EU would be a leap in the dark. The prime minister warned that a UK exit from the EU would call into serious question jobs and investment in the rural economy. He said: Only today, the International Monetary Fund warned that Britain leaving the EU would pose major risks for our economy. Respected organisations like the London School of Economics have in recent weeks shown that being outside the EU would reduce the size of the UK economy and seriously hit economic growth. This would inevitably mean less public money spend and any future government would have to make its own decisions on what level of farm support it could afford. Mr Cameron said staying in the EU would guarantee farmers could continue to sell their products without quotas and tariffs to a market of 500 million people. Trade tariffs But if the UK left the EU, continued access to the market would be a matter for the remaining 27 member states to decide. Mr Cameron said: We know that no existing alternative to EU membership whether Norway, Switzerland, Canada, or WTO offers full access to the EU single market for farmers. All involve tariffs and additional costs. He added: For example, if we adopted a Canada-style deal, British beef exports would face a 12% tariff if they exceeded a certain volume. We still do not sell any beef to America because of restrictions that are nearly 20 years old. Our farmers would also face years of uncertainty as we negotiated a new arrangement with the EU. Mr Cameron acknowledged that the UK must work closer with the EU to cut red tape for farmers. Finally, he concluded that UK farmers and the countryside would be stronger, safer and better off inside a reformed European Union. CLA adopts neutral stance Responding to letter, CLA president Ross Murray said: The prime minister is a clear and passionate advocate of the case for remain. He is making the case that farmers that want greater certainty can play their part by voting for remain in the referendum. We respect his arguments and many farmers will agree with him It is a significant reassurance about how seriously he takes the implications of this decision for rural people and the rural economy. But he added: What he has not done is provide the reassurance we asked for in our letter that government has a plan for how it will manage all outcomes of the referendum. The CLA, which will remain neutral on the question of whether the UK should stay or leave the EU, published a report last month Leave or Remain: The Decisions That Politicians Must Make to Support the Rural Economy, which sets out the four priority areas for farming and rural businesses concerning the EU referendum. Story Highlights 57% say they pay too much in federal income taxes Highest percentage since the 2001 tax cut 47% say their taxes are unfair, highest since 1999 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the deadline looms for filing federal income taxes, 57% of Americans say they are paying too much in taxes -- a six-percentage-point increase from last year and the highest percentage in 15 years. The results, from an April 6-10 Gallup poll, mark the first time since a major tax cut was enacted during the Bush administration in 2001 that more than 53% of Americans have said their taxes are too high. In three years during that time (2003, 2009 and 2012), Americans were more likely to say they were paying the right amount than to say they were paying too much. This is something that had not occurred in the 28 times Gallup asked the question from 1956 to 2001. Partisan Gap Widens as More Republicans Say They Pay Too Much The partisan gap in views of the fairness of taxes widened this year, as the percentage of Republicans saying they pay too much increased 10 points, to 73%, while the percentage of Democrats increased only three points, to 44%. The changes among age groups went against the grain of typical views on political issues. Though those under 30 typically move in tandem with Democrats and those 65 and older with Republicans, the opposite is happening with views on taxes. In 2015, a minority of those under 30 (38%) thought that they were paying too much -- the lowest of all age groups -- but now a majority in this age group (55%) feel that way. Meanwhile, those 65 and older went from 46% saying they were paying too much last year to 39% saying the same now. This year also saw a closing of the gender gap on the issue. Forty-seven percent of women last year said they paid too much, nine points less than men (56%) who said the same. But while men stayed about the same this year (55%), the percentage of women who think they pay too much jumped 11 points to 58%. Fewer Feel Their Tax Bill Is Fair A separate question included in the April survey asks Americans to say if the amount they are paying in taxes is fair or unfair. This year, the 47% who say their tax bill is unfair is the highest Gallup has measured since 1999, when 49% felt that way. This year's figure is a seven-point increase from last year's 40% and a 13-point increase from 10 years ago. Bottom Line Americans clearly have grown unhappier about their taxes in the past year, and the presidential candidates' various proclamations about tax fairness may be a major factor. The candidate who has made the most news with his tax plans is Bernie Sanders, an independent running as a Democrat. Sanders has charged that the current system gives huge breaks to the rich at the expense of everyone else. His Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, agrees that the rich pay too little in taxes, though her proposed solutions are not as far-reaching. On the Republican side, both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have complained about the unfairness of the current system and have called for tax cuts. In looking at this year's increase in the number of people who think they pay the federal government too much in income taxes, it's important to remember that it comes after a period of historically low unhappiness with tax payments. The 57% who this year say they pay too much is only one point higher than the 56% average for the 43 times Gallup has asked the question. The change in views on tax payments, and the fact that they align so closely with the historic average, raises the question of whether this year's results are simply an adjustment back toward attitudes of the past. The political season ahead should provide some answers as, almost certainly, the Republican nominee will push for tax cuts while the Democratic nominee will emphasize the unfairness of the current tax laws and call for tax hikes for the rich. Survey Methods Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted April 6-10, 2016, with a random sample of 1,015 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. View survey methodology, complete question responses and trends. Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works. Fans who attended the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2022 can renew their ticket orders for next year beginning Monday, Oct. 24. Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021. University parking in Bonn : 200 cars towed away Bonn University expansion in Poppelsdorf brings a new transportation concept with parking fees. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Parking that was once free of charge is not anymore. Anyone who didnt get that message might have had trouble finding their car when they returned to their parking spot in Poppelsdorf. Since December 1 of 2015, the University of Bonn began charging for some 2,500 parking spaces on its properties. A warm-up phase to create awareness of the new parking fees began in October. Signs were erected to instruct people they were parking on University property and needed to buy a parking ticket. On Nussallee alone are 45 such signs. Nevertheless, authorities have towed away 200 cars which did not display a parking ticket. For employees of the University, monthly parking tickets can be purchased for 18 euro or they can buy a daily ticket for 1.20 euro. All other parkers pay a minimum of 2 euros for 2 hours. Parking on Carl-Troll-Strae and in the big parking lot behind Clemens-August-Strae now require fees, as does parking at the Institutes. Klaus Herkenrath, deputy spokesperson for the University warns that the parking spaces are controlled and enforced around the clock; they have rotating shifts to cover all hours of the day. Is the University trying to cash in? University spokesperson Andreas Archut says its not about money. Because the University is growing its Poppelsdorf campus with three additional buildings and a cafeteria re-opening, it was obligated to come up with a transportation concept. Before the University could be granted a building permit from the city, it had to submit a plan as to how it would address the extra traffic generated with more people coming to work or study in the area. By charging for parking, their hope is to increase the percentage of people who come via public transport, walking or biking. The city hopes to reduce vehicular traffic by 20 percent in this area. Telekom : Union agrees to new contract Bonn. Telekom and Verdi meet in the middle in a day of successful negotiations. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Deutsch Telekom and workers union Verdi agreed to a new contract in the fourth round of negotiations on Wednesday. It applies to 63,000 employees and trainees of Telekom. Workers will receive a raise of 2.2 percent, retroactive from April 1, 2016 and a second raise of 2.1 percent on April 1 of 2017. This gives them a total of 4.3 percent over two years. Verdi had initially negotiated for a 5 percent raise in one year, and Telekom had offered a total raise of 2.8 percent over two years. Another part of the new contract was centered around lay-offs. A stipulation was agreed upon that will protect workers from any company lay-offs through the end of 2018. Lead negotiator for the employer, Martin Seiler says the agreement will give more security to workers for the next years. Verdi negotiator Michael Halberstadt was satisfied with the result as well. It represents a real increase in wages for all employees and gives them needed security for the future. Coalition Focuses on Dismantling, Fragmenting ISIL, OIR Spokesman Says By Lisa Ferdinando DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, April 13, 2016 The coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has successfully degraded the enemy, with military efforts now focused on dismantling and fragmenting ISIL, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve said today. In a briefing from Baghdad, Army Col. Steve Warren told Pentagon reporters the coalition has made significant progress since the start of the campaign in August 2014. "A year and a half ago, we saw images of ISIL convoys moving freely into Mosul and throughout Iraq," Warren said. "Those days are gone. Our enemy has been weakened and we are now working to fracture him." ISIL has lost more than 40 percent of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and Syria, and has been routed from most of the Turkish border, Warren said. "While ISIL can still put together some complex attacks, they have not been able to take hold of any key terrain for almost a year now," he said. Focus on Enabling Partners, Dismantling ISIL Phase One of the military campaign, which was to degrade the enemy, was successful in stopping ISIL from advancing, Warren told reporters. "This was an effort to eliminate ISIL's ability to operate as a conventional force," he said. The counter-ISIL military efforts are now in the second phase, the colonel said. "During this phase, we will enable our partners to dismantle the enemy, fragment his forces, isolate his centers of gravity and liberate the terrain he holds," Warren said. This strategy, he said, requires well-equipped and trained partners on the ground. "We've seen that with effective training, proper equipment and devastating coalition air power, Iraqi forces can win," Warren said. "We've seen this in Tikrit, Beiji, Sinjar, Ramadi and most recently in Hit." Progress in Iraq Warren said an estimated 75 percent of Hit is now clear. Iraqi forces are expected to push ISIL out of the city in the coming days, he said. The Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service has evacuated an estimated 7,000 civilians over the last several days, Warren said. The coalition, he said, has conducted 21 airstrikes against 108 separate enemy targets, resulting in more than 500 enemy deaths. In Fallujah, Iraqi forces are in defensive positions preparing for future operations, Warren said. In the Tigris River Valley, operations are heavily contested, according to the spokesman. ISIL knows that once it loses that territory, the Iraqis will be able to position themselves for the eventual liberation of Mosul, he explained. "We are seeing ISIL put up some of its toughest fighting in the Kara Soar area, but we are also seeing the ISF dig in and successfully repel attacks," he said. Liberated Areas in Syria Since the start of April, local forces in Syria have liberated more than a dozen small villages to the northwest in the Mara area, Warren said. The spokesman said that although that area does not make up a significant amount of territory, it is "critically important terrain for ISIL." He described it as ISIL's "last best route to move people, money and supplies into Syria and Iraq." There is now less than 100 kilometers of uncontested border crossing in the Manbij pocket, according to Warren. "Since the first of April, the coalition has enabled operations in this sector with 16 airstrikes that have resulted in several dozen dead terrorists and much equipment destroyed," he explained. In Hassakah province, to the east near Shaddadi, the Syrian Democratic Forces have secured approximately 6,200 square kilometers, which is roughly the size of Delaware, the spokesman said. "These most recent gains are the result of successful Syrian Arab Coalition and Syrian Democratic Force operations to stabilize the forward line of troops and further fragment the enemy's position between Mosul and Raqqa," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S., Tunisia work to improve counter terrorism operation US Marine Corps News By Staff Sgt. Chris Bias | April 13, 2016 U.S. Marines completed a three-week training exercise with the Tunisian special forces in Bizerte, Tunisia, April 8, 2016. U.S. Marines with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa, trained their counterparts with Tunisia's Groupement des Forces in vehicle maintenance and convoy operations, making this the first training engagement between the two military units. In order to increase the GFS' capabilities to support counter terrorism efforts, the Marines were in Tunisia at the request of the host nation government in coordination with the U.S. Embassy in Tunis. Motor transportation operators and maintainers with SPMAGTF-CR-AF team spent their time training with the Tunisian soldiers on basic high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle components, preventative maintenance and various motor transportation operations. This expertise is an essential skill to the GFS which conduct counter terrorism operations. Tunisia, a major non-NATO ally, has experienced recent terrorist attacks, their worst being in June of last year when an Islamic State terrorist killed 38 people at a popular beach frequented by tourists. Shortly after the attack, Tunisia closed extremist mosques and parliament passed an 'anti-terrorism' law that could impose the death penalty for offenses. On April 7, 2016 the interior ministry announced Tunisian security forces shot dead a suspected militant near the border of Algeria. With the increase in violence and the country's stance on combating terrorism, the GFS receive this training with a focus on the future. A December 2015 BBC article stated Tunisia was one of 34 countries from Africa, Middle East and Asia that joined Saudi Arabia's Islamic anti-terrorism coalition, "amid international pressure for Gulf Arab states to do more in the fight against so-called Islamic State." "We have lots of missions going on and we always utilize the HMMWV's," said Adjutant-Chief Hlel Monji. "Our armies have been utilizing the HMMWV's since the 1980s, so we have plenty of experience with them, but we wanted to learn new ways to fix problems and issues." Tunisians are well-trained and competent with their vehicles so the Marines looked for ways to build on the skills they already had. "We discovered a few things that we could offer them, such as, breaching techniques and night operations," said Sgt. Aaron Mossor, a motor transportation operator with the VMAT. "This is especially helpful to this group because a majority of their missions are special force operations, and these two tactics will undoubtedly help better their ability to complete a mission." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Fort Worth Slated for Gas Turbine Transit, Repair Period in San Diego Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160413-21 Release Date: 4/13/2016 3:51:00 PM From U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- The littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) will make preparations to get underway from Singapore on its own power and transit to San Diego this summer. Fort Worth experienced an engineering casualty to the ship's combining gears January in Singapore that will require an extensive repair period. Preparations are expected to take several months to complete necessary inspections, conduct lube oil system flushes, and configure the engineering plant for safe operations. The ship will use its gas turbine engines to transit from its current location in Singapore where it has been rotationally deployed since December 2014. The Pacific Ocean transit to homeport in San Diego is expected to take about six weeks with several underway replenishments and planned fueling stops along the way. The decision to complete full repair of Fort Worth's combining gears in San Diego was based on several factors, including maintenance timelines, efficiency of repairs, and shipyard capabilities. Repairs will be conducted during Fort Worth's previously scheduled selected restricted availability with docking (SRA(d)) maintenance period, reducing the overall cost to the Navy. It has yet to be determined whether the SRA(d) duration will be extended due to the combining gear repair work. As Fort Worth demonstrated through continuous operations in 2015, littoral combat ships provide an important capability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region and planning continues for future LCS deployments. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US commander raps Russia's 'old tricks' in the Baltic Sea Iran Press TV Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:49PM A top US commander has censured Russia for its "old tricks" in the in the Baltic Sea, in reference to flyover of Russian military jets near a US Navy destroyer in the sensitive region. At a daily briefing via satellite on Wednesday, Colonel Steve Warren reacted to earlier allegations by an unidentified US official in regard to the move. "I hear the Russians are up to their old tricks again in the EUCOM [US European Command] AOR [area of responsibility]," said Warren (pictured below), who serves as the spokesman for the so-called Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) that targets Daesh Takfiris in the Middle East. Speaking on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press, an official said earlier in the day that once a jet got as close as 30 feet to the USS Donald Cook. "This was more aggressive than anything we've seen in some time," the official said According to the report, the move was considered by guided missile destroyer's commander as "a simulated attack profile" and a "highly unusual maneuver." White House press secretary Josh Earnest reacted to the move, which he described as "entirely inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries operating in proximity to each other in international waters and international airspace." In one occasion on Monday, unarmed Russian Su-24 planes made 20 close passes over the destroyer, coming as close as 1,000 yards at an altitude of about 100 feet, the official claimed. A Russian KA-26 submarine-hunting helicopter made a similar move Tuesday, circling the Cook seven times, while taking photos. Later in the day, two Su-24 attack planes buzzed the Cook 11 times, with one approaching it as close as 30 feet. The US has not yet provided any evidence, including photographs and other information, in regard to the move, which Washington deems as violation of a 1973 treaty, aimed at avoiding escalation at sea. Moscow-Washington ties have been in tatters since the Crimean Peninsula rejoined Russia in a referendum in March 2014 and Ukraine commenced a military crackdown on pro-Russia forces fighting for greater autonomy in the Russian-speaking Luhansk and Donetsk regions in the east of the country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Donald Cook reports 'simulated attack' by Russian jets Iran Press TV Wed Apr 13, 2016 5:22PM Two Russian fighter jets have made "simulated attack" passes near a US navy guided missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea, says a US official. The incident took place on April 11, when USS Donald Cook was confronted by two Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes in international waters off Russia, a senior military official told CBS News on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Donald Cook had left the Polish port of Gdynia and was about 70 nautical miles from Kaliningrad in the Baltic Sea and the Russian jets made 20 passes of it while flying within 915 meters (1,000 yards) at an altitude of just 30 meters (100 feet). Describing the move as one of the most aggressive acts in recent memory, the official said the Russian bombers were flying so close that caused "wakes in the water." The aircraft had no visible weaponry. A similar incident happened the next day when two Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter made several circles around the US warship, taking pictures of it, according to the official. The two SU-24s then reappeared, making numerous close passes in what the official described as "Simulated Attack Profile." According to CNN, "there is an intense discussion about releasing video and still photos of the Russian encounter to demonstrate the danger the jets posed to the ship." Such close encounters between Russian jets and US warships patrolling near Russian territorial waters are not unprecedented. Last year the Pentagon said that a close-flying Russian jet flew within a few thousand feet of the USS Donald Cook which was conducting a "routine mission" at the time. The unarmed Russian plane made at least 12 passes over a period of about 90 minutes. The event ended without incident. US army Colonel Steve Warren called the action "provocative and unprofessional." Also in June 2015, US navy released footage that purported to show a Russian SU-24 flying in close proximity over USS Ross in the Baltic Sea. Washington believes the overflights breach a 1970s agreement which was designed to prevent such unsafe incidents at sea. The incidents come as tensions are on the rise between the US and Russia over the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Clashes kill pro-Hadi commander in Yemen: Report Iran Press TV Wed Apr 13, 2016 2:6PM The commander of an army brigade loyal to Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, Yemen's resigned president, has been killed in clashes with Houthi Ansarullah fighters while a shaky truce is in place in the war-torn country. According to loyalist military sources and medics, a Houthi sniper fatally shot Major General Zaid al-Huri, early Wednesday in the northeast of Sana'a Province. They said the Houthi fighters fired a mortar round in the same area, wounding six loyalist soldiers. Pro-Hadi Major Abdullah Hasan said two militants were killed and seven injured in several hours of overnight clashes with Houthis in Ma'rib Province. At least one Houthi fighter was also killed and several hurt and captured during the Ma'rib fighting, Hasan added. The confrontations came as the ceasefire between Yemen's warring sides took effect at midnight (2100 GMT) on April 10. The truce was announced by the UN special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, as a step to calm the situation ahead of peace talks scheduled to be held in Kuwait on April 18. In a statement, a Houthi military official accused loyalist forces and Saudi Arabia of "violating the ceasefire" on Tuesday in the provinces of Ma'rib, Jawf and Ta'izz. In breach of the truce, Saudi mercenaries hit several areas in Sana'a's Nihm District with Katyusha missiles. They further targeted positions held by the Yemeni army and Popular Committees in areas across the provinces of Jawf, Ta'izz, Shabwah and Bayda while Saudi fighter jets also violated the airspace of the same regions. Saudi Arabia has been engaged in a deadly military campaign against Yemen since March 26, 2015 in a bid to reinstate Hadi and undermine the Houthi movement, which took over state matters after Hadi resigned. Over 9,400 Yemenis, including 4,000 women and children, have lost their lives in the Saudi airstrikes. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nigeria Army killed 100s of Shias: Report Iran Press TV Wed Apr 13, 2016 5:17AM Nigeria's Army mowed down as many as 347 Muslims last December while swooping on the followers of the country's leading Shia cleric, a special investigation has found. A report released late Monday by the government of Kaduna state, where the killings occurred, found that the army fired at supporters of Sheik Ibrahim Zakzaky, who is currently detained. The military and government declined to comment on the report on Tuesday. The report said Zakzaky's supporters had taken over a highway, blocking a military convoy; and attacked police with improvised explosives. Those attacked maintain they were parading peacefully. "There are families who lost children," the Wall Street Journal quoted Ibrahim Musa, spokesman for Zakzaky's Islamic Movement in Nigeria, as saying on Tuesday. "The government is trying to justify the unjustifiable." Leading human rights groups have decried the military's attack as "disproportionate" and reported systematic crackdown on Nigerian Shia Muslims. According to New York-based rights body Human Rights Watch (HRW), Nigerian forces committed several instances of bloodshed against the country's Shia community in mid-December 2015. The organization says the Army slew Shia children and opened fire on the unarmed youngsters with no provocation. The killing of the children, HRW reported, was followed by another incident, in which Nigerian forces killed as many as 1,000 Shias in raids on three Shia centers in the city of Zaria in the Kaduna State from December 12 to 14. The military has previously said it was acting in self-defense. The Army's version "just doesn't stack up," Daniel Bekele, the HRW's Africa director, said. "At best it was a brutal overreaction and at worst it was a planned attack on the minority Shia group." The HRW's fellow UK-based rights group Amnesty International has said it would soon release its own investigation into the Army's treatment of Nigerian Shias, adding that "anyone suspected of criminal responsibility for these crimes must be brought to trial." Last December, Nigerian forces raided Zakzaky's house, arresting him after reportedly killing individuals attempting to protect him, including one of the movement's senior leaders and spokesman. Zakzaky suffered four bullet wounds during the attack, which also saw the detention of scores of others. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expressed his anger over the army's conduct in a phone call with Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Developing New Capabilities to Counter Russia's Alleged INF Violations Sputnik News 22:53 13.04.2016(updated 23:27 13.04.2016) The United States is developing improved air defense and other capabalities to counter Russia's alleged violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, US Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Brian McKeon said on Wednesday. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The Pentagon is also working with allies to improve anti-cruise missile capabilities, and "investing in technologies that are most relevant to Russia's provocations." "In light of Russia's INF Treaty violation and overall aggressive behavior, we are developing and implementing a strategy to address Russian military actions that includes modifying and expanding air defense systems to deny Russia offensive capabilities," McKeon said in written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Since 2015, the United States has alleged that Russia is developing a weapons system in violation of the INF Treaty. Previously, the Pentagon said it would respond using countermeasures to deny any possible advantage. The State Department also threatened to use economic measures to discourage alleged violations. Moscow has denied accusations that it is violating the treaty, which bans the development or deployment of ground-based cruise missiles with a range of 310 to 3,400 miles. In turn, Russia has claimed that the United States ballistic missile defense system violates the terms of the treaty. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Jets Flying Over US Warships May Escalate Tensions - EUCOM Sputnik News 22:13 13.04.2016 Flyovers by Russian jets in the proximity to US Navy ships could escalate tensions between the two countries. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Flyovers by Russian jets in the proximity to US Navy destroyers could cause greater tensions between the two countries while potentially causing incidents, the US European Command (EUCOM) said in a press release on Wednesday. "These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries, and could result in a miscalculation or accident that could cause serious injury or death," the release stated. Two Russian Su-24 bombers jets flew over the US Navy destroyer Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea in manner that resembled an attack and ignored safety advisories, US European Command said in a press release on Wednesday. "The Russian aircraft flew in a simulated attack profile and failed to respond to repeated safety advisories in both English and Russian," the press release stated. US officials are addressing maneuvers by Russian aircraft in close proximity of a US destroyer through diplomatic and military channels, the US European Command (EUCOM) said in a press release on Wednesday. "US officials are using existing diplomatic channels to address the interactions, while the incidents are also being reviewed through US Navy channels," the release stated. USS Donald Cook operating in the Baltic Sea experienced several close interactions by Russian aircraft on April 11 and 12, according to EUCOM. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Aggressive': Pentagon Decries 'Simulated Attack' by Russian Jets in Baltic Sputnik News 21:59 13.04.2016(updated 23:40 13.04.2016) A minor incident in the Baltic Sea has the Pentagon up in arms over what they're calling a "simulated attack" by Russian jets. While sailing through the Baltic on Tuesday, the USS Donald Cook reported that Russian aircraft performed repeated flybys within 30 feet of the destroyer. Several of these passes were low enough to "create a wake in the sea waters surrounding the ship," stated officials, also describing the maneuvers as "unsafe and unprofessional," according to Defense News. "This was more aggressive than anything we've seen in some time," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official described Russian Su-24s as displaying a "simulated attack profile." The Pentagon is investigating whether such flights can be considered a violation of a 1973 treaty between Washington and Moscow. If true, the US government may file a formal complaint against Russia. "I hear the Russians are up to their old tricks again in the EUCOM [US European Command] AOR [area of responsibility]," Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Steve Warren said during a briefing on Wednesday. Washington's reaction to the incident seems in contradiction to its own actions in the South China Sea. In response to Beijing's construction of artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago, the US Navy has conducted several aggressive patrols within the 12-mile territorial limit of the islands. The Pentagon has also launched numerous surveillance flights through Chinese airspace to monitor the progress of the land reclamation projects. Beijing has similarly warned Washington against these aggressive actions. "The United States is not an involved party in the South China Sea issue. That's why it should act and speak on this issue carefullyWe oppose resolutely the flexing of muscles by other states and attempts to impinge on Chinese sovereignty and security under the pretext of freedom of navigation flights," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in February. Both the South China Sea and the Baltic Sea are far from US territorial waters. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK and Lebanon discuss tackling Daesh threat 13 April 2016 The Defence Secretary has reaffirmed the UK's commitment to help Lebanon protect itself against terrorism, including the threat from Daesh. Michael Fallon today met with Lebanese Minister of Defence Samir Mokbel in London to strengthen the Defence relationship between the two countries, as Lebanon plays a role in the counter-Daesh coalition. Mr Fallon, while discussing common interests including regional security, reassured Mr Mokbel of the UK's commitment to Lebanese stability. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: "The spread of terrorism from Daesh represents a threat to us all, and Lebanon is on the front line." "Lebanon is an important Defence ally and we have increased our support to help develop the Lebanese Armed Forces so they are able to strengthen their borders and protect their people." The UK is supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in a number of ways: - Providing more than 25 million to date for equipment, mentoring and training to help them build and equip three Land Border Regiments (LBRs) operating along the border with Syria. This has been funded by the Conflict Stability and Security Fund (CSSF). - Deploying around 20 Short Term Training Teams to Lebanon each year, to train the LAF in counter terrorism, search and rescue and military intelligence. - Committing an additional spend of more than 20m to further bolster LBRs from the threat of the Syria and Iraq conflicts. - Funding Internal Security and Urban Operations Training, delivered by former UK military, at Hamat Air Base. The UK has spent around 7m on this training and committed a further 4.5m over the next three years. To date, around 7,000 LAF personnel have been trained. - Offering a range of training courses in the UK including at the Royal College of Defence Studies, Staff Courses at Dartmouth, Sandhurst and Lympstone. Some 30 members of the Lebanese Armed Forces have attended training courses in the UK over the last year. During his visit, Mr Mokbel was accompanied by British Ambassador to Lebanon Hugo Shorter, and also met with Minister for Reserves Julian Brazier, Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Nicholas Houghton, Defence Senior Advisor for the Middle East General Thomas Beckett, and Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Jets Fly Near US Destroyer in Baltic Sea by VOA News April 13, 2016 Several Russian military aircraft flew a series of simulated attack passes near a U.S. destroyer in the Baltic Sea over the course of two days this week, a U.S. defense official said. The first of the two incidents, which the U.S. official called "more aggressive than anything we've seen in a long time," took place April 11. Two Russian attack aircraft flew around 20 passes near the USS Donald Cook, coming within 1,000 meters at 30 meters in altitude close enough to create a wake in the water. The following day, the warplanes did 11 more simulated attack passes just nine meters above the Donald Cook. This time, the jets were joined by a military helicopter that took pictures of the U.S. destroyer. Both incidents took place while the Donald Cook was located in international waters. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described the aircraft as "wings clean," which means they didn't have any visible weapons.According to the official, sailors aboard the ship attempted to reach the Russian planes by radio, but there was no response. At the time of the incident, the Donald Cook was positioned off the coast Kaliningrad a Russian territory on the Baltic coast between Lithuania and Poland. "The commanding officer [of the Donald Cook] his assessment was that this was unsafe and unprofessional," the U.S. official said. He said a formal U.S. military review of the incident is underway. At a briefing Wednesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest echoed those sentiments, calling the incident "entirely inconsistent with professional norms of militaries." Earnest said the White House continues to be concerned about repeated incidents over the past year of Russian jets flying too close to U.S. ships in international waters. "We have seen a pattern on the part of the Russians in undertaking these kinds of actions that they at least intend to be provocative," he said. "They are a source of some irritation. That is something that we have expressed both privately and publicly to the Russians." The Donald Cook had just come from a port visit in Gdynia, Poland, when the flyovers occurred. It was headed out to sea with a Polish helicopter on board. NATO has been asked to provide a permanent presence of battalion-sized deployments of allied troops in the Baltic states. A NATO battalion typically consists of 300 to 800 troops. Moscow denies any intention to attack the Baltic states. VOA national security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Accuses Countries Across Globe of Human Rights Abuses by Ken Bredemeier April 13, 2016 The U.S. accused authoritarian regimes around the world Wednesday of suppressing their people with "increasing vigor and viciousness" to control any activities that might threaten their power. In its 40th annual human rights report, the U.S. State Department said, "In 2015, this global crackdown by authoritarian states on civil society deepened, silencing independent voices, impoverishing political discourse, and closing avenues for peaceful change." The report said that "authoritarian governments stifle civil society because they fear public scrutiny, and feel threatened by people coming together in ways they cannot control." The State Department singled out numerous governments for criticism, including what it described as "historically authoritarian regimes" in North Korea, Cuba, China, Iran, Sudan and Uzbekistan. IS denounced The report also denounced Islamic State terrorists for their brutal attacks on civilians. "It is no surprise that one of the first things the terrorist organization [Islamic State] did when it took over the Syrian city of Raqqa was to kill or drive away civil society activists working to defend human rights and provide community services there," the report said. Even as the U.S. has normalized diplomatic relations with Cuba and President Barack Obama recently visited the island nation off the U.S. southern coast, the State Department said Havana "continued its practice of arbitrary, short-term detentions to impede the exercise of freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly. The government also re-arrested several political prisoners it had released in January 2015 who had continued their activism during the year." It said that in China "repression and coercion markedly increased during the year against organizations and individuals involved in civil and political rights advocacy. The crackdown on the legal community was particularly severe." Russia's actions The State Department said Russia "instituted a range of measures to suppress dissent. The government passed new repressive laws and selectively employed existing ones systematically to harass, discredit, prosecute, imprison, detain, fine, and suppress individuals and organizations engaged in activities critical of the government." The report said in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow seized in 2014, Russia has engaged in "systematic harassment and discrimination" against Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars by curbing their ability to speak out against the occupation. The State Department said Malaysia, Tajikistan and Turkey, a NATO ally of the U.S., stifled civil society activity through "overly broad counterterrorism or national security laws," or stiff interpretation of the laws. The report said governments in Iran, Egypt, Kenya, Cambodia, Uganda, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Ecuador all "deployed burdensome administrative and bureaucratic procedures as a means to restrict freedom of association." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Amnesty Demands Trials After Nigerian Mass Grave Revealed by Aline Barros April 13, 2016 Human rights group Amnesty International is calling for trials following revelations that Nigeria's Kaduna state government secretly buried the bodies of nearly 350 slain Shi'ite Muslims in a mass grave. Kaduna state officials told a panel of inquiry Monday that the bodies were buried in the bush after clashes between army troops and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) in the town of Zaria in December. "The horrific revelation by the Kaduna state government that hundreds of Shi'ites were gunned down and dumped in mass graves is an important first step to bringing all those suspected of criminal responsibility for this atrocity to trial," M.K. Ibrahim, the director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said in a statement Tuesday. "It is now imperative that the mass grave sites are protected in order that a full independent forensic investigation can begin," Ibrahim said. Kaduna officials said army raids on the Shi'ite group were ordered after the IMN allegedly attempted to kill Nigeria's army chief. The IMN has denied the accusation. Muhammad Namadi Musa, director-general of the Kaduna State Religious Affairs office, said Monday that he was ordered to travel to Zaria with the Kaduna state police commissioner to "find out the number of corpses and how they would be buried." "Most corpses were covered with black materials and they included women and children," Musa said at the hearing. Musa said 156 bodies were counted at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, while 191 were collected from the army base in Zaria. The Nigerian army, which has been accused of human rights abuses against civilians in the insurgency by Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, denies wrongdoing. Chief of Army Staff General Tukur Yusuf Buratai said in January that soldiers "acted in accordance to the rule of engagement" and their orders. Human Rights Watch said "at least 300" people were killed in the Zaria clashes, although no official death toll has been released. One medic at the Ahmadu Hospital told the French news agency that he counted at least 400 bodies in the morgue on December 12. Local residents said just as many bodies were scattered on the streets. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Obama: US-led Coalition Has Momentum, Islamic State on 'Defensive' by Aru Pande April 13, 2016 U.S. President Barack Obama says the U.S.-led coalition has momentum and plans to keep that momentum in the fight against the Islamic State militant group. "Today on the ground in Syria and in Iraq, ISIL is on the defensive," Obama said Wednesday, using an acronym for Islamic State. "Our 66-member coalition, including Arab partners, is on the offensive." Flanked by top U.S. military and intelligence leaders, the president noted progress in the fight, including more than 11,500 strikes that have taken out the Sunni militant group's top leaders and thousands of fighters. "The ISIL core in Syria and Iraq continues to shrink. The ranks of fighters are estimated to be at the lowest levels in about two years, and more and more of them are realizing that their cause is lost," Obama said. The president spoke after talks with his national security team at the headquarters of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Virginia, the third such meeting in recent months, following similar discussions at the Pentagon and State Department. In his statement to the press Wednesday, Obama said IS's leadership has had a "bad few months," citing the capture of Abu Dawud the leader of the IS chemical weapons program and the killing of Abu Salah Islamic State financier in Iraq. "In the days and weeks ahead, we intend to take out more. Every day, ISIL leaders wake up and understand it could be their last," Obama said. With the help of U.S.-led coalition forces, the president said Iraqi forces have consolidated gains in Ramadi and pushed up the Euphrates River valley, retaking several villages that were held by Islamic State militants. In Syria, the president noted local forces have pushed the group out of al-Shadadi, severing what Obama called a critical supply line between IS strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul. Obama also outlined how the U.S.-led coalition has disrupted Islamic State's command and control, its communications and its financial infrastructure, including the group's oil wells, refineries and supply lines. Syria's civil war The president repeated that the only way to defeat the Islamic State group is by ending the civil war in Syria. As U.N.-led talks on the conflict resume in Geneva, the U.S. noted the six-week cessation of hostilities so far has reduced violence in the country, but not eliminated it. "The cessation has saved lives, but as we are seeing around Aleppo and other areas, the cessation is tenuous and under strain. We have seen repeated violations by the Assad regime, continued attacks by al-Qaida's al-Nusra affiliate," Obama said. The Syrian civil war will be a focus of talks next week when Obama travels to Saudi Arabia to meet with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, before heading to Britain and Germany. Obama began his remarks Wednesday referencing the recent IS attacks in Brussels, Istanbul and Baghdad. He also had a message for both Americans and the greater international community. "With attacks like these, ISIL hopes to weaken our collective resolve. And once again, they have failed. Their barbarism only stiffens our unity and determination to wipe this vile terrorist organization off the face of the earth." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Senate Committee Threatens to Reduce UN Funding Over Abuse Cases by Margaret Besheer April 13, 2016 The chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee threatened Wednesday to reduce funding to the United Nations over peacekeeper misconduct. "What is wrong with the secretary-general of the U.N.?" Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, asked a hearing on ending sexual abuse in U.N. peacekeeping. "I think the U.N. is in great jeopardy of building enough critical mass around here where severe penalties should be taken against them with withholding of funds from them because of their ineptness." Corker and other senators are angry over the string of sexual abuse and misconduct allegations against both U.N. and non-U.N. military and police personnel, mostly in Africa. The United States contributes about a quarter of the $8 billion annual U.N. peacekeeping budget. Several senators expressed their disapproval of continuing to send taxpayer dollars at that level if sexual abuse cases do not dramatically decrease. Protectors as perpetrators In a report last month, the U.N. acknowledged that allegations of sexual abuse rose in 2015, despite the institution's "zero tolerance" policy. Peacekeepers were implicated in 69 cases, while there were 30 allegations against civilian staff members. Many of their victims were children. More than half the peacekeeper-related allegations were made against just two U.N. missions in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. "If I knew right now that a U.N. peacekeeping mission was going to go into North Chattanooga today, which is where my wife is," Corker said referring to his Tennessee neighborhood, "I would be on the first plane out of here to go home and protect her from the U.N. peacekeepers especially if they came from certain countries." New allegations The U.N. has been implementing new tougher measures against accused peacekeepers, including sending at least two entire contingents of troops back home. Countries of implicated troops are now publicly "named and shamed," and the salaries of accused troops are withheld, in some cases to be added to a trust fund to support victims and the babies that often result from the rapes. But despite these efforts, new allegations continue to surface. On Wednesday, advocacy group AIDS-Free World, which has been instrumental in bringing abuse allegations to light, said it had information about 41 additional cases of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric would not confirm that number, but said that he "would not be surprised" if the current reported number of cases "goes up a bit." He said the U.N. takes such allegations "very seriously" and is being "as meticulous as possible" in interviewing alleged victims. The U.N. has more than 100,000 troops and police from 122 countries, working in 16 operations, most in very difficult and dangerous environments. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Uganda's Main Opposition Leader Charged With Disobeying Police Order by Peter Clottey April 13, 2016 The defense attorney for Uganda's main opposition leader, Dr. Kizza Besigye, says new criminal charges against his client appear to be part of a plan to discredit him following the disputed outcome of the February 18 presidential poll. Besigye, who is with the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), was charged Wednesday with disobeying lawful police orders before the Kasangati Magistate's Court in Wakiso district. Police spokesman Fred Enanga told local media that Besigye was detained last week while on his way to the FDC party headquarters in Najjanankumbi to attend weekly protest prayers. "We have footage showing that Dr. Besigye stood atop his vehicle and spoke to the crowd at Kalerwe without any police notice. That amounts to illegal assembly, which is contrary to public order management Act," Enanga said. Besigye's defense attorney, Peter Mukidi Walubiri, disagreed saying the police are to blame for constantly violating his client's rights as guaranteed in the constitution. He says the administration came up with trumped-up charges against the opposition leader with the aim of preventing him from meeting his supporters in any part of the country. "It obviously will be one of the very many charges pending against him in court which is part really of the abuse of the process of court because after they charge him they never proceed to [provide] any evidence and to really prove to court that he committed any offense. It's just harassment," Walubiri said. 30 cases, no conviction "That is why I think the over 30 cases they have referred against him in the last two or so years, they have never secured a single conviction. They will come to court saying investigations continue. At the very best, they can bring one witness until the charges are dismissed by court," he added. "When you are charged you have to get bail then you have to continue reporting to the police and to court, and you don't really have time to concentrate on your ordinary work. Meantime, they portray you in the media as somebody who is running against the law." The police also accused Besigye of refusing to sign a criminal summons he was served on April 8. Walubiri rejected the accusation as yet another trumped-up charge. "The accusation that they took criminal charges against him and he refused to sign it is not correct. It is just something concocted because every day they arrest him. They take him to police" he said. "The court records are there to show that it is now part of his routine to report to police; it is part of the routine to go and answer all kinds of charges. Why wouldn't he sign a mere criminal summons?" Walubiri says the government's continual charges against Besigye amount to harassment and a demonstration that the administration is toying with the country's judicial system. He insists that the opposition leader has not broken any lawful order from the police. Police surrounded Besigye's home and erected road blocks along the route leading to his house shortly after the February 18 general election. Leading FDC party leaders were initially prevented from visiting the presidential candidate at his home, which they said thwarted their efforts to legally challenge the disputed presidential election. The electoral commission declared incumbent President Yoweri Museveni winner of the presidential vote. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Counter-ISIL Strikes Hit Terrorists in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 14, 2016 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Strikes in Syria Attack and fighter aircraft conducted four strikes in Syria: -- Near Hawl, two strikes produced inconclusive results. -- Near Raqqah, a strike destroyed an ISIL oil pump jack. -- Near Mara, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position. Strikes in Iraq Attack, ground-attack and fighter aircraft conducted 17 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government: -- Near Hit, four strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units, destroying four ISIL machine gun positions, an ISIL boat, an ISIL boat dock, seven ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL vehicle and an ISIL command and control node and denying ISIL access to terrain. -- Near Kisik, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL bunker. -- Near Mosul, three strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed four ISIL assembly areas, an ISIL vehicle-borne bomb, and an ISIL storage facility. -- Near Qayyarah, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit, an ISIL headquarters and an ISIL financial headquarters and destroyed an ISIL assembly area. -- Near Sinjar, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL assembly areas. Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes destroyed seven ISIL boats and an ISIL mortar position and denied ISIL access to terrain. -- Near Tal Afar, a strike suppressed an ISIL mortar position. Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Part of Operation Inherent Resolve The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New Video Shows 15 'Chibok Girls' But Parents Wary by Chris Stein April 14, 2016 Two years after Islamist militants kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria, a new video purporting to show the missing girls just four months ago has given parents hope that their children are still alive. A mother said she recognized several of the girls. They lived in her neighborhood. "It is real. They are the ones in that video. They have changed. Two years ago, they were not like this. But today, they are two years older. I know them. They have changed," said Esther Yakubu, visibly holding back tears as she prepared to march with the Bring Back Our Girls movement in Abuja Thursday, the two-year anniversary of the abduction. Until now, there has been almost no news on the 219 girls taken by Boko Haram militants in 2014 from a school in the town of Chibok, which sparked global condemnation, street protests in Nigeria and offers of help finding the girls from the country's allies. A video that emerged on Wednesday, which shows 15 of the girls and may have been filmed in December, is the first sign of the abductees since they appeared in a Boko Haram propaganda video shortly after their kidnapping. The new video shows the girls, speaking in the Hausa and Kibaku languages, responding to questions from an unseen interrogator, who asks their names and where they were taken from. But Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed said he was wary of the video, which was first broadcast by CNN. False leads The government has received numerous false leads on the girls' whereabouts since their abduction, including a similar video last July. While a girl in the video says they are being filmed on December 25 of last year, Mohammed says it's unclear when the video was actually shot. "We are also a bit worried and concerned that, two years after captivity, they would be under no stress whatsoever, they would not have changed physically," he said, referring to the girls shown in the clip. "But despite that, we are still reaching out We would want more evidence that this video is credible." The new video is not the only recent sign of the girls. Since January, two parents of missing girls have received phone calls from their abducted daughters' cellphone numbers, according to Yakubu Nkeki, chairman Abducted Chibok Girls Parents Movement for Rescue. On the other end of the line on both calls were unknown men, who told the parents that the phone belonged to their wives, Nkeki said. But in Chibok, some relatives are suspicious of the recent development. The past two years have been filled with rumors that the girls had turned up somewhere in Nigeria's northeast or in one of the neighboring countries, said Philip Yama, whose sister Margaret Yama was abducted. "I can't believe it until I saw these girls with my own eyes," said Yama, who hasn't seen the video. Feel neglected Many in the northeastern town say they feel neglected. While the insurgents burnt some of the dormitories in the course of the raid, the school was later demolished by the government, which told them they'd build them a new one. Two years later, they still have no school, and students have either dropped out or relocated elsewhere to continue their studies. That scene has played out across the northeast, which has been ravaged by fighting between Nigeria's military and Boko Haram. A Human Rights Watch report released earlier this week says Boko Haram has destroyed more than 2,000 schools, killed 611 teachers and deprived more than one million children of education since 2009. In recent years, the group has started relying on children to fill the ranks of its suicide bombers. A report from the U.N. Children's Fund released this week says 44 children were involved in suicide attacks last year, up from only four in 2014. Chibok is no stranger to these bombings. A triple suicide bombing in the town killed at least 10 people in January. The stress of the kidnapping and insurgency has taken a toll on the community. Nkeki said 18 parents of abducted girls have died the since kidnapping. Boko Haram killed some, while Nkeki said others succumbed to illnesses or stress-related ailments brought by the pain of waiting for their daughters' return. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Philippines Relying on Global Support in S. China Sea Dispute by Simone Orendain April 14, 2016 As an international arbitration ruling draws near on the Philippines' case against China's claim to almost the entire South China Sea, Manila is relying on international support to bolster its cause. When the Group of Seven (G-7) nations, without naming China, officially expressed concern Monday over activities that it said raised tensions in the South and East China Seas, the Philippines welcomed the move, saying it "once again upholds the principles of international law." It also highlighted the G-7's stated support for the use of legal dispute settlement mechanisms such as arbitration. Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Cuisia said the statement gave a boost to Manila's arbitration case against Beijing. 'Abide by decision' "It is important for us precisely for the international community to keep saying that they would like to see the parties, both parties, abide by the decision of the arbitral tribunal," Cuisia said. But China took exception to the statement and on Wednesday Beijing announced it had summoned top diplomats from the G-7 member states and "solemnly clarified" its stance. The Philippines filed a case with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in 2013 questioning what it called China's "excessive claims" to practically the entire sea. It also sought clarification on whether certain disputed outcroppings in the sea were rocks or islands. China opted out of arbitration when it signed onto the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and said it rejects the case, which Philippine officials expect will be decided in weeks, if not the coming month. In the past two years, China has turned seven outcroppings, most of which are listed in the Philippine case, into artificial islands. Some of these islands have docks and airstrips capable of supporting military craft. 'Militarization' of disputed waters A growing number of nations, led by the United States, have become more vocal about alleged "militarization" of the disputed waters, which are heavily traversed and rich in natural resources. Emphasizing this vocal global support of the Philippines' call for upholding "the rule of law" has been a tactic of the island nation, whose military budget is minuscule compared to China. During an academic talk at Philippine military headquarters last month, Philippine Supreme Court Justice and South China Sea historian Antonio Carpio pointed out recent statements of support from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), along with the United States at in a recent summit in California. "We've been trying to convince our friends abroad to support us in the arbitration case and the European Union declared a few days ago the EU, through it's high representative, called on all parties to abide by the legally binding ruling of the tribunal. This is the mantra that we want the world to say," Carpio said. Analysts have said they expect the five-member panel to render a partial decision in favor of the Philippines. Although the decision is binding, there is no international enforcement mechanism. International support Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Washington-based Center of Strategic and International Studies, said the growing international support will have an impact on China. "When you add reputational damage to China, when you name and shame, of course it does not have an immediate effect upon Chinese behavior necessarily but it does undermine China's long term interests," Poling said. "Other nations do not want to work with you if you're seen as a bad player in the international system." Maritime law professor Jay Batongbacal of the University of the Philippines Institute of International Law Studies said having other countries' backing is an effective way to put pressure on China. But no one should expect China to suddenly start changing its statements and do an about face. "At minimum we hope that its subsequent behavior will be moderated because it will have some kind of standard to contend with as far as law and the international community is concerned, with respect to what actions it can legitimately take in pursuit of its claim," he said. But analysts said such changes in behavior could take years, if not decades. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address AU: Despite Irregularities, Chad Poll Credible by Moki Edwin Kindzeka April 14, 2016 Opposition politicians in Chad have claimed fraud during Sunday's presidential election, but African Union (AU) observers say the poll, while flawed, was fair. Former Malian president and head of the AU observer mission to Chad, Diouncounda Traore, said issues included the late opening of polling stations in hard-to-access areas and poorly trained polling officers. He said he doesn't know what will happen after the proclamation of the results, but the AU is urging all candidates and their followers to accept the verdict. He said those who are not satisfied with the results should contest them in the courts. Kamalloh Salifou Tourabi, leader of the Pan African Institute for Election Assistance observer mission, said that despite irregularities, voter participation was estimated at 85 percent. The opposition said there was fraud, including ballot stuffing. Chadian president Idris Deby is widely expected to win a fifth term in office. The country faces continued threats from the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram. Social issues like the high cost of living sparked unprecedented protests in the run up to the poll. Five rights activists have been in jail for the last three weeks. Chad has cracked down on the media, in particular the foreign press, since the vote. The French broadcaster, TV5 Monde, said its crew was forbidden from filming. Mahamat Abdoulaye Issa, Chad's official in charge of press accreditation, said journalists were not authorized to report as the country waits for results. Issa said journalists wishing to report on non-election related issues must apply for new accreditation to remain in Chad. He said that does not infringe on press freedom. The electoral commission has two weeks from the April 10 vote to declare results. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood (JMB) On April 13, 2016 Jordanian police shuttered the main office of the Muslim Brotherhood group in the capital, Amman, saying its leadership, affiliated with the now-banned Egyptian branch, had not applied for a license. The group split into two competing factions several months earlier. Jordanian police and security forces officially shut down the main headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood group, sealing its doors with red wax. Officials and employees of the pro-Egyptian faction were asked to leave the facility before it was closed. A new rival faction, which has broken with the now-banned Egyptian branch, had applied for a license. The Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood (JMB) is an umbrella organization which oversees and controls the political, charitable, and spiritual activities of the Islamist movement in Jordan. The Islamic Action Front (IAF), its political wing, is directly controlled by the JMB through governance structures and financial ties. An internal review board within the JMB enforces message discipline throughout the movement. On the financial front, the JMB uses its steady stream of membership dues to directly fund IAF activities. As the IAF lacks a core of donors independent of the JMB, fund transfers are often withheld as a way to limit the party's political ambitions. The JMB is not wholly independent of the international brotherhood leadership, deferring to the guides in Cairo about larger questions of policy and spirituality. End Summary. The JMB is the organizational and ideological heart of the Islamist movement in Jordan. Its members and executive board (known as the Shura Council) guide the spiritual, political, and charitable course of the movement. The JMB is officially registered as a charitable organization, yet it is widely recognized (even in government circles) that the brotherhood has a special status due to its long relationship with the government and deep roots in Jordanian society. Despite the protections afforded by its official legal status, the JMB prefers to pursue charitable and political activities through subsidiary organizations. Beneath the umbrella of the JMB lay two organizations which were akin to wholly owned subsidiaries. The Islamic Action Front serves as the organization's political wing, pursuing elected office for its members through a legally recognized party structure. Up until 2006, the Islamic Center Society served as the organization's charitable wing. Since the government takeover of the organization, JMB control over its activities has been effectively frozen (See Ref A for a detailed rundown of the society's operations and legal woes). The Islamic Center Society was founded in 1963 as the charitable wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan. One of the largest NGOs in the country, the ICS takes care of over 20,000 orphans, runs 55 schools, and has over 3,500 employees. The flagship charitable concern of the ICS is the Islamic Hospital in Amman, which in turn oversees more than thirty smaller clinics. The ICS has large property holdings, largely as a result of bequests and zakat donations (charitable donations required of all Muslims) over the years. Islamist press statements have put the value of ICS assets at over 1.5 billion dollars. In 2006, the Ministry of Social Development dissolved the ICS board of directors and brought charges of financial corruption against several board members under orders from Prime Minister Ma'arouf Al-Bakhit (Ref A). It has been widely recognized since then that the charges were political in nature and were used as an excuse to liquidate the ICS board for political reasons. None of the corruption cases have been followed through to completion -- a small number are still being appealed, others have been reported in the media as not moving forward due to lack of evidence, and some have not been filed by prosecutors in the hopes of an out of court settlement. The lack of movement on ICS corruption cases has been criticized by Human Rights Watch and other activist groups. The corruption cases gave the government legal authority to appoint "temporary" directors to manage the society's operations in the absence of an elected board. While the government takeover brought in a new management team, the legal mandate caused by the corruption allegations did not extend to the ICS general assembly, which in normal circumstances selects the board of directors. The ICS assembly, still dominated by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, has been effectively sidelined in its oversight role over the organization since the 2006 government takeover. The Islamic Center Society was a key part of the Islamists' political strength before it passed into government hands. Beyond the use of ICS facilities and personnel to dispense patronage and services to its target populations, the JMB used the ICS as an employment agency for its supporters. Even though the connections between ICS jobs, ICS services, and the political goals of Jordan's Islamists were rarely overt, it was widely acknowledged in Jordan that medical care in the Islamic Hospital or a job in an ICS charity came with the expectation of a vote for the Islamists at election time. Most estimate that the membership of the JMB is around 10,000, with some placing the number slightly higher. In contrast, IAF membership is probably closer to around 4,000. The IAF is by far the largest political party in Jordan. Most parties struggle to put together the required 500 "founding members" needed to maintain legal party status. Almost all IAF members are simultaneously part of the JMB, but there are a few exceptions. Several Christians joined the party over the years, many out of sympathy for the Palestinian cause which the IAF champions. The IAF Shura Council is composed exclusively of JMB members who are usually not concurrently on the JMB Shura Council. The IAF Secretary-General is chosen by the party's Shura Council from a list of candidates supplied by the JMB Shura Council. The JMB Shura Council has the de facto power to dismiss the head of the IAF, although it is unclear whether this is in the organization's official bylaws or not. An example of JMB intervention in the leadership of the IAF is the case of Zaki Beni-Irshaid, who was forced out of the top job in the IAF in May 2009 by moderate members of the JMB Shura Council. While the JMB is currently seen as the dominant player in Jordanian Islamist circles, this was not always the case. From the return of parliament in 1989 through the mid-1990s, the IAF was the primary actor. At the time, the IAF boasted a strong plurality in the parliament and was represented by several governmental ministers. Over time, however, the number of IAF MPs diminished due to government intervention in the political process and natural lack of support in the party's base when it failed to deliver on electoral promises. The IAF was also weakened by its financial dependence on the JMB, which increased as the party's political clout declined and its relationship with the government soured. Both JMB and IAF members are subject to disciplinary proceedings by an internal review board should they step out of line in their public statements or pursue actions detrimental to the movement. The review board was created in the early 1990s as the split between moderates and hardliners began to create inconsistencies in the movement's public stances (Ref B). The review board is composed of JMB Shura Council members and actively pursues cases against errant Islamists from the movement's many branches. Moderates within the JMB Shura Council have used the threat of an internal review board (described as an "internal court" by Jordan's media) to force a debate on Beni-Irshaid's electoral tactics as leader of the IAF. Hardliners started to use internal review boards to their advantage as well -- moderate leader Ruhail Gharaibeh was banned from appearing in the press for a time by an internal review board decision. The move came as the movement tried to paper over the increasingly public nature of its internal divide. The JMB receives a regular income stream from membership dues, which are levied at a flat five percent of the member's income. JMB dues come in addition to zakat, the charitable donations required of all Muslims. The JMB also commands financial support from several large Islamist-oriented business conglomerates, many of which are owned by prominent Palestinian businessmen. The most visible example is the eponymous national furniture chain owned by Islamist Sa'ad Al-Din Zumelei, which our contacts claim provides extensive support to JMB activities and charitable works. In addition to domestic sources of financial support, the JMB also reportedly receives funds from adherents of the international Muslim Brotherhood organization. These sources of funding are generally not used for the day-to-day expenses of the movement. Instead, they are generally used for special projects which will advance the JMB's position within Jordan. The most visible example of such a project is the Islamic Hospital in Amman, which was built with funds provided by MB members in the Gulf and elsewhere through a special appeal from Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo. The IAF is poor in comparison with the JMB. The IAF does not charge membership dues and relies heavily on direct support from the JMB for most of its operating budget. The JMB is often stingy with its political wing, giving it only the support it needs to survive. Many see this as the JMB's way of keeping ideological control over the IAF and limiting the ambitions of its leadership. The IAF reportedly has occasional difficulty paying the rent on its headquarters building due to insufficient transfers from the JMB. The IAF does occasionally receive funds from individual donors, but these are the exception rather than the rule. Government efforts to isolate the IAF and the party's increasingly radical political stances have combined to alienate potential donors. While the JMB is a broadly respected organization whose political stances are only a part of its larger raison d'etre, donating directly to the IAF is seen as politically risky, particularly with the worldwide focus on the finances of Islamist groups. It is fairly well known that the JMB tightly controls its subsidiary organizations in Jordan. What is less clear, however, is the extent to which the JMB is itself controlled by the international Muslim Brotherhood organization. Interchange between JMB leaders, the movement's guidance council in Cairo, and other brotherhood affiliates like Hamas rarely advances beyond the stage of website rumors, leaving many to speculate as to where the JMB fits in the brotherhood's organizational chart. The Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood is "not 100% independent" from the international Muslim Brotherhood when it comes to political matters. While the JMB has a great deal of ideological autonomy when it comes to domestic concerns, there are certain critical issues of international policy and practice that are dictated from the central organization rather than the individual country branches. The war in Iraq was an example of MB headquarters taking the lead on defining the movement's stance, albeit with input from members throughout the Middle East. As for the JMB's alleged ties to Hamas, there were no direct organizational links. The relationship was spiritual influence rather than a political alliance. In September 2009, the JMB said the same thing in its public statements. Government-influenced media in Jordan occasionally suggested that JMB leader Hamam Sa'id was also a member of the Hamas Shura Council, but Islamist observers deny that this is indeed the case. The structure of the JMB and its subsidiaries is designed to facilitate organizational harmony and impose message discipline. The division of labor and responsibility has proven quite effective over the years, keeping the often divergent political and social currents within the JMB operating more or less on the same page for decades. While the personalities who occupy leadership positions within the JMB and its proxies may change, the JMB still derives strength from strong corporate governance designed to survive ideological threats from within, along with legal and political challenges from outside. There are as many as four groupings competing for influence in the Brotherhood in Jordan. The traditional hawks and doves, led by the first and second generation of MB figures, are largely divided by the degree of their focus on Palestine, versus internal Jordanian issues, and their willingness to confront the regime. A third trend, the Centrists, emerged in the 1990s, and the fourth trend, is a harder-line reaction to the centrists. Both of these trends emerged from the younger (third and fourth) generations of MB members and are a reaction to the hawk-dove polarization and to the intra-MB stresses created by the resumption of parliament and party activity in the late 1980s and 1990s. The distinction between the two is that the centrists, while identifying less with the state when compared with the doves, are more pragmatic than the hawks and believe in political participation. They are said to view Turkey's AKP party and Prime Minister Erdogan as potential models for the IAF's future. They do not seek a confrontation with the Government of Jordan and are aligned in the Shura Council with the traditional doves. The fourth trend, however, is said to be clearly allied with Hamas and welcomes confrontation with the Government of Jordan. This fourth trend has aligned in the Shura Council elections with the traditional hawks. this four-way split in the MB is significant in that it underlines the generational change within the MB and its demographic evolution. The hawkish and pro-Hamas wing is dominated by Palestinian-origin Jordanians, while the dovish wing is made up of East Bank-origin Jordanians. Meanwhile, both of the "younger-generation" streams are more ambivalent about their relationship with the state than the doves who have long led the MB. Struggles over the shape of the Shura Council election have been caused by this dynamic. These divisions affected more than simply the distribution of seats, but have had a profound effect on the MB's internal structure. By 2009 a real debate appeared to be taking place regarding tactics: the MB's role in Jordan and its relations with the government. The doves and centrists, against open conflict with the government, faced the hawks and "fourth trend" who appear to welcome the confrontation on the assumption that Jordan's Palestinian-origin majority, and possibly East Bankers as well, will look to the Islamists to soothe their troubles in hard economic times and in the context of outrage at the continuing plight of their brethren in the West Bank and Gaza. Representatives from the international MB movement tried to try to broker an agreement between the various Jordanian factions, telling the Jordanian MB leaders that they "had it good" (especially as compared with the MB's situation in Egypt) and that they shouldn't opt for a confrontation with the King and the regime. While many observers draw the analytical distinction between hawks and doves, the key players in the Government of Jordan, see the MB fissures as only between "extreme, or a little less extreme." Government of Jordan officials, in considering the threat posed by the movement and its long-term intentions, do not see a material difference in the two wings and that any distinction is cosmetic. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey Proposes Anti-Terrorism Body at OIC Summit by VOA News April 14, 2016 Turkey's president has called for closer cooperation among Western and Muslim counties in the fight against terrorism, as he urged the leaders to tackle the problem from the security and financial fronts. In his opening address Thursday at the 13th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan also called for examining the root causes of Europe's migrant crisis. "Once again I am calling on international community to revise their stance on terrorist organization. We need to combat terrorism by blocking financial support and stopping more people joining the terrorist organizations as well as by carrying operation on the field against them," he said. Erdogan criticized the West for what he called an "ambivalent" approach in dealing with militant organizations. "This ambivalent behavior saddens us," he said. "There should be full determination to fight against all terrorist organizations. Those [Western] countries who do not pay attention to our warnings will have to go through this experience personally; as a matter of fact, they are." As it plays host to the gathering, Turkey's standing in the Muslim world is controversial, due in part to President Erdogan's ties to former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, who was removed from office in 2013. Egypt's current president, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, is not attending the event. Terrorism and the migrant crisis are two central issues being discussed at the OIC meeting. Erdogan announced that a Turkish proposal to establish an Istanbul-based body to combat terrorism has been accepted by the 57-member Islamic bloc. Other areas expected to be discussed at the two-day summit include the Palestinian territories, Libya, Yemen, Syria and the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, which has been the scene of renewed violence between Azeri and ethnic Armenian forces. During the summit, Turkey is due to assume the presidency of the OIC from Egypt. Representatives from some 56 nations, including 33 presidents and prime ministers, are at the meeting. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hyten announces Space Enterprise Vision By Air Force Space Command Public Affairs, / Published April 13, 2016 PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFNS) -- Gen. John Hyten, the commander of Air Force Space Command, announced the command's Space Enterprise Vision April 12 at Peterson Air Force Base. The SEV is the result of an AFSPC-commissioned study that looked at how to make the nation's national security space enterprise more resilient. The August 2015 SEV study addressed the findings of several previous studies that identified the U.S. space enterprise is not resilient enough to be successful in a conflict that extends to space. The SEV also recognizes that acquisition and programmatic decisions can no longer occur in mission area stovepipes, but must instead be driven by an overarching space mission enterprise context. "In the recent past, the United States enjoyed unchallenged freedom of action in the space domain," Hyten said. "Most U.S. military space systems were not designed with threats in mind, and were built for long-term functionality and efficiency, with systems operating for decades in some cases. Without the need to factor in threats, longevity and cost were the critical factors to design and these factors were applied in a mission stovepipe. This is no longer an adequate methodology to equip space forces." The SEV accounts for the increasing threat to space systems, and provides a vision for how the Air Force should build a force responsive to that threat. The vision describes an integrated approach across all space mission areas, coupling the delivery of space mission effects to the warfighter (such as communications, positioning, navigation and timing, missile warning, and weather data) with the ability to protect and defend space capabilities against emerging threats. Consistent with U.S. National Space Policy, the vision enhances U.S. space forces' ability to deter others from interference and attack, defend our space systems if deterrence fails and contribute to the defense of allied space systems. "The future space enterprise will maintain our nation's ability to deliver critical space effects throughout all phases of conflict," Hyten said. "Operating as an enterprise as opposed to a set of independent platforms improves resiliency and is critical to the ability to survive and deliver effects in a contested environment." Since the study was commissioned, AFSPC and the National Reconnaissance Office have worked together to incorporate principles of the NRO vision as well, with additional work ongoing to fold in the remaining facets of the Defense Departments' space capabilities and the key linkages with the intelligence community. "Ultimately, the SEV must incorporate requirements from across the U.S. government's space enterprise," Hyten said. "By incorporating interagency space visions, the SEV will fold requirements into a single-enterprise vision that addresses the unique needs of each agency." To guide the development of this future enterprise, the SEV proposes using a new optimizing concept called "resilience capacity" to characterize and evaluate space capabilities. Resilience capacity will measure how well space enterprise forces can respond to the full range of known threats, and how quickly they can adapt to counter future threats, while continuing to deliver space effects to joint and coalition warfighters. It will replace the traditional "functional availability" metric used for decades to plan and manage individual constellations, but which does not account for emerging threats. "The future space enterprise will be built by changing how we architect, develop, acquire, and operate our space systems," Hyten said. "Going forward, we will rigorously focus on a clear definition of warfighter requirements with programs acquired using greater horizontal integration across the space enterprise. We will also move toward shorter program life cycles and decreased time between constellation updates, which improves the availability of new technology on-orbit." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US to Build Long-Range Radar in Alaska to Eye North Korea's Rockets Sputnik News 21:41 13.04.2016(updated 21:53 13.04.2016) The United States plans to begin construction next year of hyper-sensitive radar in the state of Alaska to monitor North Korean missiles, Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Director Vice Admiral James Syring stated in a congressional testimony on Wednesday. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Syring explained that there continues to be a "clear intent" by North Korea to produce mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States. "Among our planned homeland defense improvements to identify and track lethal objects, we will begin construction in fiscal year [20]17 of the Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) in Alaska to improve system performance against the stated Pacific theater threats," Syring told the US Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. The US timetable for deploying missile defenses in Alaska is based on estimates that North Korea will perfect it ability to deliver weapons of mass destruction by 2020, Syring explained. North Korea has been regularly conducting missile tests in recent months and a nuclear bomb test last January. Eventually, the radar system in Alaska will be paired with US interceptor rockets that are designed to destroy North Korean missiles in flight. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN sanctions alone cannot rein in DPRK's ambitions People's Daily Online By Wang Junsheng (Chinadaily.com.cn) 13:29, April 13, 2016 To implement Resolution 2270 passed by the UN Security Council on March 2 against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has published a list of goods that cannot be imported from or exported to the DPRK. The list, however, has sparked a debate, especially because it makes exceptions for goods the DPRK people need as basic necessities and those that are for humanitarian aid. China believes sanctions on the DRPK are aimed at preventing Pyongyang from developing nuclear weapons and bringing it back to the negotiations table. But China is opposed to the use of sanctions while excluding dialogue, or "full sanctions" that will harm the interests of ordinary people in the DPRK and could lead to a humanitarian crisis. The denuclearizing of the Korean Peninsula is linked to the easing the DPRK's normal concerns, its security concerns in particular. It is thus unrealistic for the United States and the Republic of Korea to propose that the DPRK abandon its nuclear program before talks can be held on other issues. The US and ROK have been pushing for full sanctions on the DPRK in the hope that Beijing would pressure Pyongyang into accepting all the conditions to hold a multilateral dialogue. Their aim, in other words, is to push Pyongyang toward collapse. China opposes such moves, because it knows they will lead to a humanitarian crisis in the DPRK and could endanger the interests of other countries. In this sense, the publication of the list of embargoed goods is a pragmatic move by China to protect not only the interests of ordinary people in the DPRK but also the security of all the countries in Northeast Asia. Some Western media outlets have deliberately misinterpreted China's list or focused on Pyongyang's dissatisfaction with Beijing in a bid to sour China-DPRK ties. The fact is, the essence of Beijing-Pyongyang ties has not changed. There are no essential disputes between Beijing and Pyongyang except for their difference on the Korean Peninsula's nuclear issue. China boasts the best record among all countries when it comes to the implementation of UN sanctions on the DPRK. For example, after the UN passed Resolution 2094 in the wake of the DPRK conducting the third nuclear test in 2013, China published a list of embargoed goods and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs pressured Pyongyang to meet the demands of the sanctions. In fact, the US, Japan and the ROK lost patience and secretly sent representatives to the DPRK or established contacts with it through other channels to fulfill their goals. The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, to a certain extent, is the result of Pyongyang's misguided security policy, which is perhaps based on the outdated Cold War mentality. Also, continuing security pressure exerted by the US-ROK military alliance on the DPRK has heightened tensions on the peninsula. So, to settle the nuclear issue once and for all, the countries concerned have to not only help the DPRK correct its erroneous security policy by imposing sanctions, but also respond to its top security concerns. This makes it necessary for the countries concerned to hold sincere talks. And since the Six-Party Talks have proven the most viable platform to resolve the nuclear issue, concerned countries should try to create favorable conditions for its revival. In its efforts to create a positive environment for the talks, China has proposed the setting up of a peace mechanism aimed at gradually eliminating the remnants of the Cold War on the Korean Peninsula. And because this constructive approach can help resolve the peninsula nuclear issue, it should be supported by all countries. The author is an associate researcher at the National Institute of International Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address North Korea accuses South of abducting 13 of its citizens Iran Press TV Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:52AM North Korea says Seoul has "lured" and "kidnapped" 13 of its citizens who worked in a state-run restaurant in China and demanded their repatriation. A spokesman for North Korea's Red Cross Society said on Tuesday that intelligence agents from the neighboring South abducted the North Korean nationals by using "all sorts of appeasement, deception and gimmicks." "Unless they apologize for the hideous abduction and send those abductees back, they will face unimaginable serious consequences and severe punishment," the the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted the spokesman as saying. South Korea claimed last week that 13 North Koreans who worked for an overseas restaurant run by the North had defected to the South. Officials initially did not give information about the location the 13 had worked and how they went to Seoul. Reports said that the 13 North Korean nationals had worked in a restaurant in China's southeastern port city of Ningbo and that they decided to defect after watching South Korean televisions and distrusting North Korea's propaganda. They had reportedly left China on April 6 and arrived in Seoul a day later. China said the North Koreans left its border with valid passports. Pyongyang reportedly runs some 130 restaurants abroad. About 100 of them are in China and the rest are in Russia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. The country makes USD 10 million a year from the restaurants. Many of those who go to the restaurants are South Korean tourists. Some 29,000 people have fled from the North since the Koreas were divided at a war in the 1950s. On Monday, a South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman said that a high-ranking North Korean intelligence officer defected to the South last May. The defections come at a time of heightened tensions in the Korean peninsula. Pyongyang condemns Seoul and Washington for pushing UN sanctions against the North's nuclear and missile programs and has also reacted severely to the joint annual military drills staged by the US and the South. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia confirms delivery of air defense system S-300 to Iran ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Wed 13 Apr 2016 - 15:07 TEHRAN (ISNA)- Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin confirmed Tuesday the delivery of missile-aircraft S-300 to Iran. He added that the delivery of other shipments will continue until the end of 2016, in an interview with radio "Echo of Moscow". "We are in full compliance with the terms of the contract with Iran. The Iranian side paid the total price of the sale contract of the S-300 system, and Russia guarantees delivery of S-300 missiles to Iran ", he said. Rogozin added that Russia has begun delivery of the first shipment of complete systems for ground-air S-300 missiles, without specifying the number of battery packs shipped to Iran. "At the moment, we are not able to say more about the features of the contract with Iran, but what is certain is that the first delivery took place, and was confirmed by Iranian experts and Russian, "said the Russian Deputy Prime Minister. He added, in this interview, that after this first shipment, the Iranian side will withdraw its complaint against Russia before the international justice. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Certain regional states helping terrorism spread to Iran: Military cmdr. Iran Press TV Wed Apr 13, 2016 4:2PM A senior Iranian military commander says several regional countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, are helping Takfiri terrorists move closer to Iranian territory, Press TV reports. Commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan made the remark in an exclusive interview with Iran's English-language Press TV news channel on Wednesday. "We know that some reactionary regimes of the region, including Saudi Arabia which sponsors Takfiri terrorism and sort of supports the terrorists both financially and spiritually and its puppets, who all enjoy help from the US and Israeli intelligence services are planning to get terrorist groups into our neighboring countries," Pourdastan said. Iran has defined a 40-kilometer perimeter around its borders as a red line, he added, warning that any attempt by terrorists to cross the line will be met with a firm response. Back in 2014, the Takfiri Daesh militants reached Iraq's eastern Diyala Province, which borders Iran's western Kermanshah Province, seeking to carry out some terror acts along Iran's frontiers, Brig. Gen. Pourdastan said, adding that Iran's "armed forces intervened in a timely manner and took decisive action." Elsewhere in his comments, the commander cautioned that terrorism will backfire on those governments that are supporting it. Commenting on the military exercises that Iran holds, Brig. Gen. Pourdastan said the drills are aimed at strengthening Iran's defensive capabilities and deterrence in the face of any foreign threat. "Defensive doctrine means that we do not intend to invade any country. And deterrence-based doctrine means that our effort to boost our operational capabilities is aimed at deterring those governments that may fancy an attack against Iran," he said. Iran has repeatedly assured other countries that its military might poses no threat to other states. Earlier, Chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour made similar remarks about support by certain regional countries, including Saudi Arabia, for anti-Iran terrorist groups. "Right now, countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are engaged in organizing and equipping these groups, but the reason why no [terrorist] act occurs [against Iran] is our preparedness," Brig. Gen. Pakpour said. The Islamic Republic has conducted a number of drills to enhance the defense capabilities of its Armed Forces and to test modern military tactics and equipment. On April 12, the IRGC started large-scale security drills, codenamed "The Great Prophet (PBUH)," in the southeastern Sistan-and-Baluchestan Province. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Japan Self-Defense Forces 'Ready' for Possible N Korea Missile Launch Sputnik News 10:56 13.04.2016(updated 14:07 13.04.2016) Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) have implemented all readiness measures for a possible intercontinental ballistic missile launch by North Korea, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday. TOKYO (Sputnik) US media reported Tuesday that US satellites gathered data suggesting Pyongyang may launch a ballistic missile from a mobile platform, constituting its fifth nuclear test, as soon as Wednesday. "As to the SDF, of course we instructed them to be ready to address any situation, but we will not give any details what specifically they will do," Suga addressed a daily briefing. The Japanese Defense Ministry said in a February 3 statement it had issued orders to shoot down a North Korean missile that posed a threat to Japan's security. "The Japanese government has to be ready to protect the people's lives and security, and we will be fully ready to respond to any situation, which is critical. And we will engage in monitoring and surveillance," Suga stressed. The cabinet secretary reaffirmed that Tokyo was monitoring closely preparations for the North's possible nuclear test and cooperating with the United States and South Korea. The sides are scheduled to meet in Seoul to address the North Korean nuclear program on April 19. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula escalated after Pyongyang successfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test in early January and put a satellite into orbit a month later, violating UN Security Council resolutions and triggering condemnation from the international community. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was claimed to have directly supervised the successful test of a new engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile over the weekend, a month after launching multiple short- and medium-range rockets. The next North Korean missile, as reported by the CNN broadcaster, is capable of striking either the US Pacific coast, the state of Alaska or the Pacific island of Guam. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address S.Korea rejects return of 13 defectors to DPRK People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 14:51, April 13, 2016 SEOUL, April 13 -- South Korea on Wednesday rejected the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s demand to return its 13 nationals, said to have defected to South Korea, back home, Seoul's unification ministry said. The ministry said in a statement that the group defection of DPRK nationals to South Korea was made in a sheer accordance with their free will, urging Pyongyang to stop unreasonable insistence and threats of provocations. It called for the DPRK to give up its nuclear and missile programs that provide no benefit for DPRK people. The DPRK demanded Tuesday that South Korea return 13 DPRK nationals who Seoul claimed were defectors to the South, saying that Seoul's spy agency lured and abducted the 13 individuals who worked at a state-run restaurant in China. Seoul's unification ministry said last Friday that the group defected to South Korea last week, marking the first time that a group of DPRK citizens working at the same overseas restaurant fled to South Korea. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang confirmed Monday that 13 DPRK nationals entered and left China legally with valid passports last week. He made the remarks at a briefing when asked to comment on a report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia Defends Warplanes That Flew Close To U.S. Naval Vessel April 14, 2016 The Russian Defense Ministry has defended the actions of the crews of Russian warplanes that flew near a U.S. guided-missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea. Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on April 14 that the crews of the Su-24 jets had respected all safety rules. The U.S. military said that the warplanes had simulated attack passes near the USS Donald Cook, with one official describing them as one of the most aggressive interactions in recent memory. The U.S. official said the Russian SU-24 jets were not armed in the April 12 incident, but flew so close to the U.S. destroyer and at such a low altitude that they created a "wake in the water." The official also said a Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter flew seven circles around the U.S. destroyer and took pictures. According to the U.S. Navy's 6th Fleet website, the USS Donald Cook is now in the Baltic Sea after leaving the port of Gdynia, Poland, on April 11. The USS Donald Cook encountered similar close passes by a Russian fighter jet in the Black Sea in April 2014. Based on reporting by Reuters Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia- us-fighters-pass-very-close-guided- missle-destroyer/27674383.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address During Call-in, Putin Airs Views on US, Syria, Economy, Potholes by VOA News April 14, 2016 Russian President Vladimir has accused the United States of having "imperial ambitions.' Speaking Thursday during his annual television call-in show, Putin was asked which U.S. presidential hopeful was "worse for Russia" Democrat Hillary Clinton or Republican Donald Trump. The Russian president responded that it was not a question of "particular people," but whether the United States proceeds "from the false premise of its exclusivity," which, he said, will mean it will always claim "special status and special rights." "It is necessary to look at the root of the problem and act not from a position of force and dictate, not from the perspective of imperial ambitions, but to act respectfully with all partners, and. of course, with Russia," Putin said. Syria Commenting on the Syrian conflict, he said the Syrian people must engage in talks to agree on a new constitution for their country, and that the solution to Syria's problems is not to be found in military action. Putin also said the so-called Panama Papers report on offshore accounts allegedly held by international public figures, including world leaders and their friends and relatives, were a "provocation." Some of the accounts detailed in the report allegedly belonged to close Putin associates. The Russian leader blamed U.S. officials for leaking the Panama Papers information to the media. At the same time, he characterized that information as "reliable." Russian economy Putin blamed rising food prices in Russia on Western sanctions for its intervention in Ukraine. But he said a solution to the country's faltering economy lies in changing the nation's economic structure. Kremlin officials say the television show provides a way for Putin to assess the country's mood, listen to direct appeals and explain policies. The hours-long broadcast has been an annual tradition since 2001. Russian state media say Putin's 13 Q&A sessions since that time total more than 45 hours. In 2013, Putin stayed on the air for nearly five hours. During the show Putin said Russia considers Turkey a friendly nation, despite the current strain in their relations. But when asked which of his foes he would rather save from drowning, the president of Turkey or the president of Ukraine, he quipped, "If someone wants to drown, you can not save them." Putin's love life Putin, who is divorced, dodged a question about his love life, saying it is "not important." And proving that some problems are universal, the first question Putin took was from a woman in Siberia who asked about getting some local potholes repaired. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkish army shells 'Daesh positions' in northern Syria Iran Press TV Wed Apr 13, 2016 10:31AM Turkish military forces have shelled northern Syria, claiming to have targeted positions of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the war-torn Arab country. The Wednesday shelling, according to the Turkish army, came after Daesh elements fired rockets into the southern Turkish border town of Kilis for the third straight day. The mayor of Kilis, Hasan Kara, told Reuters that there were no casualties in the town after multiple rockets landed in an empty field. "We go to sleep to the sounds of rockets and we wake up to the sound of rockets," Kara said. On Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said 21 people had been injured this week in the shelling in Kilis. Last month, two people, including a child, were killed by rocket fire into the Kilis. Daesh seizes Syrian town On Monday, Daesh terrorists took control of Syria's northern town of al-Rai along the Turkish border after intense fighting with Turkish-backed militants in the town, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said. Syria is currently observing a ceasefire brokered by Russia and the United States, which entered into force on February 27. The truce was reached between the Syrian government and dozens of militant groups operating in the country. The ceasefire does not apply to Daesh and al-Nusra Front terrorist groups. Turkey and some other regional allies of the West who have been actively seeking the overthrow of the Syrian government are widely believed to be sponsoring militant groups, including Daesh, wreaking havoc in the war-ravaged Arab country. The country has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to the SOHR, at least 270,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Some reports, however, put the death toll at as high as 470,000. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran advisors helped kill 200 terrorists in Syria: Commander Iran Press TV Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:48AM Commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan says four military advisers recently "martyred" in Syria had helped kill as many as 200 terrorists. The commandos were from the Army's Brigade 65, who had taken on a mission of advising Syrian forces in their battle against terrorists. "In an operation against several thousand terrorists with the al-Nusra Front and [other] Takfiris carrying out a sweeping attack south of Aleppo, these soldiers staged devoted and decent courage and bravery, which resulted in the martyrdom of four of them," he said. He made the remarks in Tehran on Tuesday during a funeral ceremony for one of the advisers. "Prior to their martyrdom, they managed to destroy a number of tanks and personnel carriers belonging to al-Nusra and kill 200 of the terrorists, documents attesting to which are at hand," he said. Militancy began in Syria in March 2011, and has killed at least 270,000 people, according to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Some reports, however, put the death toll at as high as 470,000. Throughout the past two years, al-Nusra has joined the sowing of death and destruction across the Arab country alongside Daesh, another Takfiri terror group. Commenting on the Iranian advisory mission in Syria, Pourdastan said, "We have a duty to be at hand if there is a mission and perform our responsibility." He, however, said, "We do not perceive Daesh to be so big that would entail us sending in a military regiment. Our main enemy is the United States and we prepare ourselves in proportion to that." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US readies 'Plan B' to supply heavy weapons to militants: Report Iran Press TV Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:38AM The United States and its regional allies have prepared plans to supply more-powerful weapons to militants fighting the Syrian government, amid concerns that a landmark ceasefire is threatening to fall apart. US officials said the so-called Plan B is aimed at providing vetted "moderate" militant units with weapons system that would enable them to launch attacks against Syrian government aircraft and artillery positions, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. US-backed militants carried out a series of attacks in central and southern Syria on Monday even as the Damascus government was observing a ceasefire and holding talks with opposition groups to end the years-long conflict. A ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia went into effect on February 27 across Syria. The truce agreement does not apply to Daesh and al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front. A new round of discussions is to resume between the two sides in Geneva this week. Concern has been growing that the recent uptick in violence is putting intense strain on the fragile truce. US Secretary of State John Kerry floated the idea of a "Plan B" for the first time late in February, stressing that partitioning of Syria was on the table if the ceasefire collapsed. The preparations for the "Plan B" were discussed at a secret gathering of intelligence chiefs in the Middle East before the ceasefire went into effect and in exchanges between intelligence services, the Journal said. During those sessions, the CIA gave assurances to allies that they would be given approval to expand arms shipments to Syria's "moderate" militants. Coalition members reportedly agreed to the outlines of the plan, but the White House must approve the list of proposed weapons systems before they can be sent to Syria. "The agreement is to up the ante, if needed," a senior US official said. The plan for introducing more sophisticated weapons into the Syrian battlefield is perceived as being part of a broader behind-the-scenes effort by the US to counter its adversaries in the conflict. US officials have privately warned their Russian counterparts that the armed opposition will persist in Syria and that a return to full-scale fighting could put further strain on Russian pilots there, according to the Journal. In addition, Pentagon officials said in recent weeks that the White House was looking to "greatly increase" the number of special forces deployed in Syria. The US military also said that it had resumed training new units of militants operating in the country. The discussions for a possible escalation of the proxy war in Syria have been fueled to a large extent by a relatively successful Russian campaign in the country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address CIA Prepares to Arm Syrian Rebels With Lethal Weapons if Truce Collapses Sputnik News 09:38 13.04.2016(updated 12:00 13.04.2016) The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prepares to supply Syrian rebels with more lethal weapons should the fledgling cessation of hostilities in the Arab republic collapse, US media reported, citing officials. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The message that "all bets will be off" and the so-called Plan B will come into force should the truce collapse and negotiations lead nowhere was reportedly relayed by CIA Director John Brennan and State Secretary John Kerry in private meetings with Russian counterparts. "The outside patrons will double and triple down, throwing everything they can into Syria, including much more lethal weaponry," a senior US President Barack Obama administration official told The Wall Street Journal late Tuesday. The CIA and its regional partners are considering various types of anti-aircraft weapons for deliveries to Syrian rebels, although US and Mideast officials declined to specify the precise systems, citing the program's sensitivity and concerns with Syrian government backers' possible countermeasures. "The agreement is to up the ante, if needed," a senior US official conveyed the CIA's message to the US coalition backing Syrian rebels. The so-called Plan A cessation of hostilities between Syrian government forces and rebel groups, with the exception of terrorist networks operating in the country, took effect on February 27 and has been described as largely holding despite violations. The day after Russia and the United States negotiated the ceasefire, on February 23, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said the United States was "not ruling out a plan B" in case the truce did not hold. Russia questioned US commitment to the cessation of hostilities with its contingency plan. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Al-Qaeda Attempts to Launch Offensive in Syria Sputnik News 23:15 13.04.2016(updated 23:40 13.04.2016) In a violation of the Syrian ceasefire, the al-Nusra Front, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, has fired on settlements and Syrian Army positions in Aleppo, Homs, and Latakia. "Militants from the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group continue shelling populated areas and the government forces' positions in order to disrupt the cessation of hostilities in the regions of Aleppo, Homs and Latakia," the Russian Defense Ministry wrote on its Facebook page. Militants were forced to withdraw in Latakia after suffering heavy losses, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Seven were killed, with another 27 injured, during the attack in Homs. Despite these attacks, the Defense Ministry said that most Syrian regions appeared to be observing the ceasefire. "The ceasefire regime has been observed in most provinces of the Syrian Arab Republic," the ministry wrote. "Within the last 24 hours, 3 ceasefire violations have been registered in the Latakia province." The ceasefire was agreed upon following peace talks in Genevea in February. Both the United States and Russia agreed to act as direct guarantors and monitors. Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov expressed concern that al-Nusra Front is endangering the peace process. "Yes, unfortunately, once again the talks are starting, that the cessation of hostilities is unstable, that there are risks of failureWe, unfortunately, see that in some areas in Syria al-Nusra Front and groups linked to it are on the offensive," Ryabkov said. "It is understandable that the government forces cannot avoid responding in these conditions. There is no violation of the ceasefire here." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey Conducted Nearly 4,000 Artillery Strikes on Syria - Defense Minister Sputnik News 20:14 13.04.2016 The Turkish Armed Forces have conducted nearly 4,000 strikes since January on Syrian territory, controlled by Daesh, Turkey's Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said Friday. ANKARA (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Yilmaz arrived in the Turkish southeastern town of Kilis, which has repeatedly been shelled from the Syrian territory. On Tuesday, local media reported that several rocket-propelled projectiles fired from Syria and targeting Kilis, had landed on the Turkish territory, injuring up to 20 people, according to various estimates. "Following the rocket shelling of Kilis, the Turkish Armed Forces immediately opened fire in response 48 artillery pieces, 115 tanks and 187 armored carriers are involved in the shelling [from the Turkish side]. Since January, our troops have conducted 1,117 firings with 3,998 strikes from Firtina howitzers against 146 targets [in Syria]," Yilmaz told journalists, adding that the Turkish military use unmanned aerial vehicles and radars in order to find out the location of Daesh positions. According to the defense minister, 362 Daesh militants, 36 rocket launchers, 40 shelters and 6 warehouses with weapons have been destroyed since January. The city of Kilis, which hosts a large number of refugees, has previously been shelled from the part of Syrian territory, seized by the Daesh. The notorious jihadist group is in control of vast territories in Syria and the neighboring Iraq. It is outlawed in Russia, the United States and numerous other countries. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan protests as Kenya cites 'one China' policy in deportations ROC Central News Agency 2016/04/13 23:02:15 Taipei, April 13 (CNA) Taiwan issued a strong protest Wednesday after Kenya cited the "one China" policy as grounds for deporting several Taiwanese citizens to China after they were accused of phone fraud. In a statement, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested against Kenya's decision to deport the Taiwanese suspects to China and demanded that the African country give a "reasonable explanation" for its actions. The statement came after international media reports citied the Kenyan government as saying that the fraud suspects were in Kenya illegally and were being sent back to where they had come from. "We don't have official relations with Taiwan. We believe in the 'One China' policy. We have diplomatic relations with China," Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed was also quoted as saying in a Reuters report. "We haven't seen the official protest (from Taipei), we are actually hearing it from the media," Mohamed said, according to Reuters. To date, the Kenyan authorities have handed over to China a total of 45 Taiwanese nationals who allegedly were members of various Kenya-based telecommunications fraud rings that targeted Chinese victims. The first incident occurred April 8, when eight Taiwanese were put on a flight to China, three days after they were acquitted by a Kenyan court on charges related to setting up telecommunications equipment without a license and were released on the spot. On Tuesday, Kenyan police brandished submachine guns and tear gas canisters as they forced another 37 Taiwanese to board a plane bound for China. The group of Taiwanese included 22 who were arrested April 8 and 15 others who were also acquitted April 5. On Wednesday, Taiwan's foreign ministry said it had filed a suit against Kenya's interior minister, police inspector general and attorney general. Taiwan is arguing that those officials allowed Kenyan police to forcefully detain Taiwanese citizens for more than 24 hours, ignoring a court injunction, and were working illegally with China's embassy in Kenya to deport the Taiwanese citizens. The detentions and deportations were a violation of the human rights of the Taiwanese citizens, MOFA said. In turn, China has said that the Taiwanese were part of a telephone fraud ring, which included Chinese living in Kenya and was targeting people in China. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said Wednesday that it was arranging for a delegation to leave for China in two or three days to deal with the issue. There have been speculations that Kenya's apparent pandering to China may be related to its growing dependence on Beijing for financial support, especially as financing from its traditional foreign creditors Japan and France has stagnated or declined. (By Elaine Hou) ENDITEM/pc NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan suing Kenya over illegal deportation of its nationals ROC Central News Agency 2016/04/13 12:08:12 Taipei, April 13 (CNA) Taiwan has taken legal action against Kenya for what it called the illegal deportation of its nationals to China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday. In a written statement to the Legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, the ministry said that in addition to lodging a strong protest over Kenya's deportation of 45 Taiwanese since April 8, it has initiated legal action in the country. The head of Taiwan's representative office in South Africa, who went to Kenya after the first deportations on April 8, asked a lawyer that day to file suit against Kenya's interior minister, police inspector general and attorney general. Taiwan is arguing that those officials allowed Kenyan police to ignore a court injunction in forcefully detaining Taiwanese citizens for more than 24 hours and illegally working with officials from China's embassy to deport them to China. Because the detentions and deportations violated the Taiwanese citizens' human rights, Taiwan also appealed for help to Kenya's National Commission on Human Rights, which transferred the case to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority for further investigation. The case originated in 2014 when Kenyan police investigated a fire in a Nairobi suburb in which a Chinese man died and arrested people on charges of setting up telecommunications equipment there to commit transnational fraud. Police later arrested a total of 38 Taiwanese citizens in three separate moves. Ten of them were found not guilty of the charges in a court and returned to Taiwan after paying a fine for illegally being in the country. Twenty-three of the other 28 are at the center of the controversy. They were acquitted by a Kenyan court on charges related to setting up the telecommunications equipment without a license and were released on the spot. But China's embassy in Kenya intervened with Kenyan police to have them taken from the court to the police station to be illegally detained, according to the Foreign Ministry's statement. Eight of the 23 were put on a China Southern Airlines flight to China on April 8. On the same day, Kenya police arrested another batch of telecommunications fraud suspects, among whom were 22 Taiwanese. The 22 were later put on a flight to China with the 15 other Taiwanese who were previously acquitted by a Kenyan court, prompting further protests from Taiwan. China has argued that the Taiwanese were part of a fraud ring with Chinese stationed in Kenya that was cheating people in China through telephone fraud. Fraud rings trying to scam people in China have increasingly resorted to setting up equipment outside of the region to avoid the reach of Beijing authorities as they crack down on telephone fraud. Another five Taiwanese, who were among the 38 arrested after the building fire in 2014, are scheduled to go on trial in June, and Taiwan's government is doing all it can to ensure they will not be sent to China, the Foreign Ministry said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said, meanwhile, that Taiwan could not accept China's contention that the incident be handled under the "one China" policy. The Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign state and has full jurisdiction over its nationals, the MAC said. Kenya's acquiescence to China's demands could be related to its growing dependence on Beijing for financial support, especially as financing from traditional foreign creditors Japan and France has stagnated or declined. Just last week a new loan of 530 million euros from China was finalized to cover Kenya's budget deficit, according to an RFI (Radio France International) report on April 11. That came not long after the World Bank warned in March that more Chinese loans could bring Kenya's heavy debt burden to unsustainable levels. (By Tang Pei-chun, Justine Su and Lilian Wu) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukrainian Parliament Approves Government Shake-Up April 14, 2016 by RFE/RL Ukraine's parliament has approved Volodymyr Hroysman as prime minister and his cabinet in the biggest government shake-up since a 2014 uprising brought in a pro-Western leadership. Lawmakers on April 14 approved Hroysman and accepted the resignation of his predecessor, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, by a vote of 257 to 50. "I will show you what leading a country really means," Hroysman, a 38-year-old loyalist of President Petro Poroshenko, told parliament ahead of the vote. He vowed to "ensure the permanence of our course toward European integration" and to oversee a government "that does not tolerate corruption." Hroysman, who has been serving as speaker of parliament, was backed by a ruling coalition made up of both Poroshenko's and Yatsenyuk's parties, as well as independent lawmakers. He was replaced as speaker of the 450-seat parliament by first deputy speaker Andriy Parubiy. Lawmakers also approved Hroysman's government lineup, with 239 votes cast in favor, as well as its program, with 243 votes in favor in a third attempt. Oleksandr Danylyuk, deputy head of Poroshenko's staff, becomes finance minister, replacing U.S.-born Natalie Jaresko, who oversaw last year's $15 billion debt restructuring. Former central bank Governor Stepan Kubiv, the president's representative in parliament, will be first deputy prime minister and economy minister. The defense and foreign ministers, who are both appointed by the president, retain their positions. EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini called the new government's appointment "a crucial development at a time when new momentum in the country is badly needed." "The European Union remains committed to supporting Ukraine politically and through financial and technical assistance in its efforts to implement key reforms, modernize the country, and fight corruption," she added. "The momentum offered with the appointment of the new prime minister and government must be seized now," Mogherini said. Ukraine's economy and currency have been pummeled over the past two years as the country grapples with rampant corruption and its military battles Moscow-backed separatists in its east. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed Hroysman's appointment as a "chance to end the phase of political uncertainty in Kyiv." He also urged Ukraine to speed up the pace of reform, saying that Ukraine "has no time to lose." Speaking during an annual televised question-and-answer session, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed hope that the new Ukrainian cabinet will "act pragmatically, in the interests of the people, their own people, without being guided by some phobias or trying to please some foreign structures." Yatsenyuk submitted his resignation earlier this week after weeks of pressure for him to step down. His cabinet survived a no-confidence vote in February, but two parties left the governing coalition to protest the failure to oust the prime minister, who was under fire over the worsening economy and slow pace of Western-backed reforms. The political crisis threatened to trigger early elections and jeopardized the flow of billions of dollars in international financing. Yatsenyuk had been in office since former Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted by protesters angry in February 2014 over his decision to abandon plans for a landmark pact with the EU, and instead forge closer ties with Moscow. Yanukovych's downfall was followed by Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and a drawn-out conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine that continues to dominate Ukraine's economic and political life. "I understand the threats we are facing. I would like to highlight three of them: corruption, poor governance, and, dear colleagues, populism, which is as big a threat to our country as the enemy in the east," Hroysman said on April 14. Calling his nominee "a politician of a new generation," President Poroshenko told parliament that the next government would "pursue a relentless course toward European integration." He also said fighting corruption was crucial to improving the investment climate in Ukraine. Poroshenko said on April 10 that $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees would be approved once the new government was formed. More aid would follow, he added, including 600 million euros ($680 million) from the European Union and $1.7 billion from the International Monetary Fund. Hroysman was thrust onto the national scene after the Euromaidan unrest that toppled Yanukovych. He has been parliament speaker since November 2014 and previously served as a deputy prime minister under Yatsenyuk. With reporting by Reuters, AP, and Bloomberg Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-hroysman- approved-prime-minister/27674344.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address North Korean Hwasong-13, KN-14 In the 2017 New Year's address to the nation, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country was finalizing preparations for another intercontinental ballistic missile test. On January 8, the North's state-run news agency, KCNA, reported that the country can launch an ICBM anytime and anywhere, reiterating the position that the communist state is bolstering nuclear arms capabilities for self-defense against the US. On 19 January 2017, Roh Jae-cheon, South Korea's defense ministry spokesman, said at a Seoul news conference that the ministry believes North Korea may be able to launch an ICBM anytime, anywhere, if the leadership decides to do so, and thereby we are currently maintaining the military readiness posture. The South Korean and U.S. governments believe North Korea has built two new prototypes of intercontinental ballistic missile. The United States detected activity in North Korea indicating a possible ballistic missile test, including positioning of two mobile missile launchers. that is, there were two individual missiles, rather than two separate designs. The KN-08 and KN-14 missiles were revealed during parades in 2013 and 2015, respectively, but neither is 20 meters in length. Perhaps this reflects a misidentification of intermediate range or shorter range missile, placing a small missile on a large TEL. Composite Design Study KN-14: The semi-mobile Limited Range ICBM No-dong-D By C. P. Vick, 2012-2016 Senior Technical & Space Policy Analyst Globalsecurity.org 3-16-31 thru, 11-18-2015 / 4-9-16 / 8-3-2016 Rev 18 The KN-14 prototype ICBM design analysis is a derivation on the original KN-08 prototype ICBM design study now discarded in favor of this more advanced design July 25, -August 3, 2016 We have to be aware of the DPRK deception and physiological warfare operations Image projection at the Taesong (Tae-sung) Machine Factory. South Korean officials have stated publicly the DPRK has not demonstrated a full range ICBM, cancelled KN-08 now known as the KN-14 prototype semi-road mobile limited range ICBM system of the Soviet SS-11 class, still in development with an RV similar to the No-dong-B warhead design or the new RV design to full range and appears to be some years from accomplishing that milestone requirement. Though this could potentially happen within the present DPRK midterm Five Year Plan or sooner but this remains to be seen. The DPRK is in fact now emphasizing a standard RV design built around the HS-10/No-dong-B RV tested design. DPRK State Planning Schedule: Reading the DPRKs, Five Year Plan suggest that they are aimed for perfection of those technologies within the new 2016-2020 Five year plan to the extent possible but only time will see if this occurs within that Military State. Typically things with in the DPRK mature early in the beginning or middle or near the end of their five year Plan and this years events have been no exception to that rule as expected. They are however in the process of accelerating the Science and Technology development for strategic geopolitical purposes with emphasis on strategic ballistic missile delivery systems for their nuclear weapons for regime survival of the authoritarian military state. Potential Ongoing Technology Transfer It is very evident that in the past and possible even now that there is continuing technology transfer from the Russian Federation Makeyev OKB as well as the training education provided to the DPRK scientist engineers back during the Gorbachev era well documents under the Globalsecurity.org No-Dong-A, A1 reports on line. This was reconfirmed by South Korean Intelligence statement ruffling the Russian Federation diplomatically. Intelligence Find Confirmed: The Makeyev OKB (SKB-385) in the form of the new version of the cancelled KN-08 now called KN-14. The New KN-14 is literally a stretched airframe tankage version of the R-29 / SS-N-8, Sawfly, RSM-40 Vysota utilizing a No-dong-B/NK-07/SS-N-6, NK-11 warhead inside the top tank of the second and third stages with its highly refined nose maneuvering post boost bus package and guidance system. Instead of utilizing the R-29 propulsion engines it utilizes clusters of two of the Soviet Serb, Zyb, R-27. (RSM-25) sea level thrust RD-4 D 10 engines in the first stage but which engine is utilized in the second stage remains uncertain but is probably a derivative of the RD-4D10V vacuum thrust engine. It indicates that the DPRK got the R-29 airframe and tankage designs but not the full engines that have been substituted by the obtained Soviet Serb, Zyb, R-27, (RSM-30), RD-4D10 engines. This is final proof positive that the total missile program of the DPRK is founded on the Makeyev SKB-385 direct personnel and technology transfer that has been suspected for years. Now there can be no doubt about that fact as exemplified in the hardware displayed recently. The Soviet era R-29 / SS-N-8, Sawfly, RSM-40 Vysota Planform for the new KN-14 airframe design KN-08 Block-II now known as the KN-14 The KN-08 has been revised to the KN-14 lengthened the first stage with its two main engine nozzle and four steering Verniers now confirmed from imagery from the displays. The second stage has been greatly extended eliminating the Block-I third stage configuration. The warhead is greatly reduced in length and overall dimensions suggesting considerable nuclear device mass and size reduction. The entire design reminds of the former Soviet Unions UR-100/SS-11 mods in both range performance and design approach. By eliminating the KN-08 Iranian based design third stage revising the stages arrangement length as well as the payload has enhanced the overall performance suggest that this limited range ICBM prototype is much closer to becoming operational versus the previous KN-08 Block-I design with its many revisions observed. It suggests that the Block-1 was merely a R&D model that has now been supplanted by the Block-II, now called KN-14 LRICBM. It certainly reflects why the flight test of this system has been delayed to accommodate the upgraded design and existing in hand rocket engine systems development for completion with in this Five Year Plan 2016-2021. KN-08 Block-II now known as the KN-14 October 2015 military parade display. KN-08 Block-II now known as the KN-14 October 2015 military parade display. KN-08 Block-II, No-dong-C now known as the KN-14, No-dong-D design details Based on the known warhead actual size and launch vehicle externally observed design details strongly implies it is based on the nearly identical Soviet era R-29 / SS-N-8, Sawfly, RSM-40 Vysota airframe tankage design with a different series of engines. The Block-II, KN-08 now known as the KN-14 utilizes two main thrust chambers in its first stage, from the Soviet era Serb, Zyb, R-27, (RSM-25) cluster of two RD-4D10 engines and a separate group of four steering Verniers as one engine for steering in flight and the second stage has a similar main engine arrangement for altitude to vacuum thrust version of a similar engine. The KN-14 has a third stage Bus design utilizing packages of multiple thrusters mounted on the outside of the stage for precision delivery of the warhead on target. The bus is still in the R&D stage systems development. KN-14 first stage closed cycle main engine Soviet heritage Serb, Zyb, R-27. (RSM-30) RD-4D10 design and a closed cycle second stage engine design. The KN-14 Composite systems design study DPRK Reentry Technology Yes the DPRK is aware of the required technologies and materials for the re-entry vehicles RVs and it may have demonstrated them in rocket engine static test firings but it has not flown them to range under real flight conditions. Utilizing the right material and having them properly supported as well as design properly are very different critical technology demonstration requirements requiring repeated testing success in real flight conditions to become operational. Yet another example of the DPRK deception and physiological warfare operations image projection operation while carrying out technology development. Knowing as we believe that this so called re-entry heat shield nose cone was in fact nothing more than the KN-14 nose cap for the ballistic ascent trajectory without the actual warhead hanging below it that will do the actual reentry on its ICBM ballistic trajectory suggest that this was not what it was presented to be and intelligence knows this reality. One can clearly see the extended bolts below the nose cap for the warhead attachment. The 650 kilogram nuclear warhead mass is documented from Soviet design specifications requirement for the SS-N-6, Soviet Serb, Zyb, R-27. (RSM-25) published the Russian Federation books. It is not a small nuclear weapon being in the 600-650 kilogram range. If it is a two stage nuclear weapon design then it could potentially produce 15 kilotons according to the DPRK Soviet educated, trained nuclear scientists the North Korean Central News Agency reported. Lets us remember that it is believed that the DPRK has already demonstrated out of Iran over the Indian ocean the in excess of 3,200-3,860 kilometer range No-dong-B warhead. These kinds of reality have been discussed under the globalsecurity.org web site on the No-dong-B/KN-07 and KN-11 as well as the KN-08 missile systems. KN-14 Second Stage Propulsion: Could the R-27, RD-4D10 Isayev engine in some variant be utilized as the KN-14 second stage engine in a vacuum thrust version with four Vernier thrust chambers? It is clear that those studying this issue have modeled the KN-14 second stage unknown engine after the Kosberg RD-3D38 optimized engine used in the Sawfly, SS-N-8, RSM-40, Vysota. However that Kosberg engine is unavailable to the DPRK thus the driving design change to the KN-08 for the larger diameter second stage of the KN-14 design to accommodate alternative design approach utilizing what they have in hand. They only have the Isayev RD-4D10 closed cycle engine sea level thrust version not the altitude vacuum thrust version. In all probability they are indeed developing that new RD-4D10V or RD-4D18V of the R-27K variant engine design for second stage vacuum thrust operations. In all cases the RD-4D10 variant engine are derivative versions of the same original first stage engine of the Soviet era R-27, SLBM. That makes the second stage rocket engine development the controlling driver for the progress in the KN-14 LRICBM program pacing. That is in addition to the KN-14s BUS third stage thruster package only seen in mock-up form that is still in R&D like its second stage engine variant. This really tells us why the second stage was enlarged to the size seen in the KN-14 from its original smaller diameter seen in the now cancelled KN-08. That is to accommodate the engine change requirements. Recognizing that the RD-4D10 closed cycle staged combustion engine was developed by the Isayev OKB but was put into production and testing at the Makeyev OKB dedicated production infrastructure and static testing center suggest that the engine variants would be available to the DPRK from the Makeyev OKB only. Following the Soviet design practice the main thrust chamber would have its own closed cycle turbo-machinery while the two or four steering Verniers thrust chambers would utilize their own turbomachinery for their operation. The DPRK in all probability may have adapter the first stage two RD-4D10 engine cluster and four separate steering Vernier thrust chamber with its independent engine pump system in a modified one RD-4D10V or possibly the R-27K vacuum thrust variant of the sea level thrust RD-4D18 engine to which there is no evidence as having had its technology transferred to the DPRK. This one RD-4D10V with one main thrust chamber and a standard four steering Verniers engine second stage that is more likely than not is anticipated to be the design approach utilized. This is verses the excessive thrust cluster of two RD-4D10V engine, with a standard four Verniers installed in what would be a very cramped spacing, vacuum thrust higher expansion area ratio bell of limited optimization utilized for the second stage propulsion system is not anticipated. This engines main thrust chamber optimized vacuum thrust expansion area ratio bell nozzles would in all probability not be fully sized because of the limiting diameter inter-stage space available cutting into the performance somewhat but the one engine plus four vacuum thrust Verniers combination would be close to the Kosberg, RD-3D37 or RD-3D38 single chamber closed cycle vacuum thrust engine approach. The optimization process of utilizing a low thrust longer burn second stage single main engine not two main engines allow the second stage and payload to gain altitude as well as range before adding the needed acceleration part way through the stages burn before the BUS third stage completes the velocity requirement payload deployment operation. Again like the first stage two engine cluster the second stage engine would submerge the main thrust chamber and its two separate turbo-pump machinery systems within the stage propellant tank. There is no way to confirm or veto this probability except through reverse engineering estimation and imagery from ground level HUMINT or in SIGINT-TELINT received in development testing. The DPRK has released no imagery of the second stage engine that has been identified. Further the DPRK static testing infrastructure mobile covers its hardware as it is being processed for static test firing greatly reducing its capability to define those hardwares surveillance issues. KN-14: Launch thrust 263.3 KNs x 2=526.6 KN Sea Level Vacuum Thrust 2 nd. stage 285.7 KNs x 1 for a single upper stage engine or x 2=571.4 KNs Vacuum max or less that optimum excessive thrust option Propellants: UDMH/N2O4 so called storable, highly toxic, very corrosive, propellant also utilizes inhibitors to cut down their corrosive impact on the missile systems. Isp. Sea Level 200 seconds Isp. Vacuum 220 seconds approximately Note: Iran got the RD-4D10 engine technology around 2005-2006 a derivation of which was applied to the Safir-1, 1A, & 1B launch vehicle and now the second stage of the Simorgh (3) launch vehicle that recently underwent its first test flight. Known as the KN-14, No-dong-D nose design details Based on the known standardized warhead design sizes and the KN-14 external upper stages details and its known Soviet R-29/SS-N-8, Sawfly, RSM-40 Vysota heritage it was possible to develop the internal systems design layout. Some of the hardware on display is strictly prototype hardware at the Taesong (Tae-sung) Machine Factory. The block-II, KN-08 known as the KN-14, warhead is a common design from the KN-11 SLBM SS-N-6 (warhead design) No-dong-B KN-07 design utilizing a forward bus stage from the Makeyev OKB of the extended SLBM Soviet era R-29, D, U, RSM-40, SS-N-8 Vysota. The KN-14 utilizes a second stage closed cycle main engine of Soviet heritage origin while above the second stage is the Bus third stage for warhead delivery. This is the opposite side view not normally seen during the military parade displays in North Korea that shows some of the unseen bus stage sub systems KN-14 warhead separation sequence operation DPRK nuclear warhead designs as presently understood KN-11 & HS-10 Launch Failures Reasons Focus on Several Issues That Directly Impacts the KN-14: Some of the problems the DPRK has experienced in recent missile firings are not easily explained in the face of the same similar systems success in the post flights known. The design bureau may be under such pressure for a full range strategic rocket demonstration as to literally launch for broke as many missiles as possible hoping both to succeed close enough but also get at the vehicles systemic problems defined through accelerated flight testing operational environment observed All three missiles KN-11, HS-10 & KN-14 are using the same first stage closed cycle RD-4D10 engine variants. 1. It literally blew up on its launch pad destroying the TEL vehicle: Answer B: The hard start is an improper mixing of the propellants at the wrong time or place which is a flow control issue of the propellant manifold issue. That has apparently been resolved by precise presetting programming of the flow control valve system. Typically Soviet era engines are started run and shut off as the only programming required but this has required more homework for the setting parameters. 2. It suggests its single stage main engine fueling apparatus plumbing closed cycle turbo-machinery suffered a catastrophic failure causing the repeated explosions. Answer D-E: Its single stage main engine fueling apparatus plumbing closed cycle turbo-machinery suffered a catastrophic failure causing the repeated explosions. This kind of failure could occur anywhere in flight but they are systemic of a common issue and failure in design specification requirement. The near max-Q failures seem to relate to the maximum dynamic loading failure of the internal plumbing its single stage main engine fueling apparatus closed cycle turbo-machinery suffered a catastrophic failure causing the repeated explosions. If the propellant lines whether the main flow line or those associated with the closed cycle turbo-machinery are breached rupture anywhere along the separated flow controlled process the mixing of the propellants cause an instantaneous internal explosion of the hypergolic propellants and launch failure. This is indicative of a propellant line seal failure possible precipitated by propellant/tankage control stabilization short coming or outright seal/weld stress failures. The propellant slosh baffling or stronger welds of the plumbing are typically required to resolve these hard to identify and resolve issues that require repeated flight testing to resolve. Alternatively the use of simulated ground static testing of the full systems based on the flight test loading inputs. Additionally the static test firings that do not immerse the full engine turbomachinery in the propellant tanks for the test that if it is breached as suspected will severely damage the test stand from the explosive failure. Careful internal TV imaging during static test firings would be required to identify the failure areas. The DPRK has clearly walked away from this finality test stressing another more tedious approach. DPRK welding quality does not impress at all from what has been observed. 3 .. veered off course suggesting steering issues The flight is stated to have veered deviated from its normal flight trajectory 5-6 seconds after launch liftoff exploding at about 300 feet breaking up in a fiery catastrophic failure collapsing back on the TEL as it disappearing from the radar systems of the South Korean Defense Ministry Answer C: The veering off course is directly due to the two steering Verniers somehow not doing their job properly or outright failure in some element of the proven system. 4. .the second launched around 7:26 PM seems to have failed midair after flying up several kilometers for about a minute before exploding. This seems to have repeated the April 15 failure mode in the Max-Q region. Answer D-E. See item2 answer 5. At least one suffered from a launch hard start of the main engine with the catastrophic results clearly displayed and this may have repeated itself in the land based version this time. Yet static test firings have shown it works correctly in a cluster of two engines seen successfully demonstrated for the KN-14 first stage recently. At least two now have suffered from a launch hard start of the main engine with the catastrophic results clearly displayed. Answer B: See item 1 answer 6. That hard start if survived through initial launch may leave the lingering turbo machinery damage that soon catches up causing the explosive failures observed. Answer B: See item 1 answer 7. It suggests its single stage engine fueling apparatus closed cycle turbo-machinery suffered a catastrophic failure causing the inflight explosion. Answer D-E: See item2 8. .experimental launch ejection test operations resumed successfully on December 21, 2015 after its failed launch ejection attempt test on November 28, 2015 according to the Bill Gertz, Washington Free Beacon 01-05-2016 information. DPRK engineering technical personnel along with it Russian Federation Makeyev OKB acquired personnel clearly have defined the expected launch problems with the known snubber solutions applied to the external missile skin to assist with a clean launch from it launch tube via its solid motor burn hot gas pressure release and ejection to get the rocket above the ocean surface for rocket engine startup. A. The first problem was the SLBM ejection snubbers issue easily resolved already NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address As several companies from around the world of telecoms share their Q3 results, here is a financial round-up with all of the key points. SHARE Tom Green judge reasons, 'We're just pretty frugal' By Matthew Waller At times Bill Torres wonders if the buildings he cleans for Tom Green County get better treatment than county employees. At a pay rate of $7.55 per hour, 30 cents higher than minimum wage, the full-time custodian has five buildings he cleans from 4 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. He also holds a second job, working from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the X-ray department at San Angelo Community Medical Center, where he is paid almost $10 an hour. "The county buildings are nice, but who is going to keep them clean?" asked Torres, who has worked for the county for about three years. "They don't put as much money into the employees themselves." Torres isn't alone at the bottom of the pay scale. On average, the entirety of Tom Green County's workforce is at the bottom when compared with counties of similar size and population. The Abilene Reporter-News collected information on salaries in six counties comparable in size and the number of employees: Wichita, Smith, Tom Green, Taylor, Midland and McLennan. Tom Green has the lowest average pay of the lot. In addition to its low tax base, Tom Green County Judge Mike Brown said the reason pay is low is because, "We're just pretty frugal." The average salary for a Tom Green County employee is about $33,460. Brown, who has been judge since 1995, is paid about $105,000, the third lowest among the six county judges. Taylor County's judge, Downing Bolls, ranks the lowest. He makes about $76,000, and he joined the county in 2010. About 61 percent of Tom Green County employees earn less than $30,000 per year. The highest average pay for the six counties is McClennan County, at about $42,700. Taylor County is about $600 per employee higher on average than Tom Green County, at about $34,000. "The biggest factor is the revenue that the county collects," said Terry Mobley, the Tom Green County human resources director. "Similar-sized cities have better tax bases than we do." Tom Green County has the smallest tax base of the counties with about $4.5 billion of taxable property. That amount is taxed at the second-highest rate among the six counties, 52.5 cents per $100 valuation. Wichita County has the highest tax rate, more than 53.4 cents per $100 valuation. Its taxable property is more than $6.1 billion. Midland County, with more than $13 billion in taxable property, has the lowest rate, 19.8 cents per $100 valuation. The higher-than-average tax rate in Tom Green County has stayed the same for years, but last year's budget did not include a cost-of-living raise. This year, employees received a 3 percent raise. "I try to build a five-year projection, and I try to build in a 2.5 percent (pay) increase in our long-term projection," Brown said. Last year was the first time he had been unable to do that because of the poor economy, he said. The primary labor force competitor for the county isn't other governmental entities but the private sector, Brown said. "It is a struggle, because they're trying to do it by keeping taxes level," said Elna Christopher, a spokeswoman with the Texas Association of Counties. "It's a difficult situation. You don't want to lose employees when they've been there. Turnover is always a problem. ... You'll never be competitive with the private field." Benefits supplement the low pay scale, Mobley said. Overall, Brown takes issue with comparing salaries with other counties. He prefers to compare with other government employees in the county, although he acknowledges that the county still ranks behind the city, whose workers earn an average of $38,164 per year. "Employees should not compare themselves with any taxing entities outside their own counties" because those are different taxes being collected, Brown said. "Government is government is government. We shouldn't compare ourselves. They're not paying our taxes." tax rates & tax bases Smith County ? 31.394 cents per $100 valuation. $13.67 billion in taxable property value. Population 210,512. Midland County ? 19.8207 cents per $100 valuation. $13.04 billion in taxable property value. Population 136,975. McLennan County ? 44.271 cents per $100 valuation. $11.42 billion in taxable property value. Population 236,028. Wichita County ? 53.4395 cents per $100 valuation. $6.12 billion in taxable property value. Population 131,685. Taylor County ? 47.22 cents per $100 valuation. $6.49 billion net taxable in 2010. Population 131,896. Tom Green County ? 52.5 cents per $100 valuation. $4.54 billion in taxable property value. Population 110,679. Tom Green County payroll top 20 Name Total salary (including supplements, if applicable) Position Nolen, Charles $153,615 court-at-law judge Roberts, Penny $153,615 court-at-law judge Gossett, Tom $140,000 district judge Weatherby, Jay $140,000 district judge Lupton, Stephen $140,000 district attorney McCrea, George $140,000 district attorney Walther, Barbara $139,056 district judge Woodward, Garland $137,984 district judge Taylor, Christopher $107,031 county attorney Brown, Mike $104,809 county judge Cradduck, Corey $89,970 auditor Justiss, Larry $80,691 department head V Palmer, Allison Lou $79,752 attorney III Williams, Mark $72,761 director, juvenile probation Aycock, Kathlene $67,588 extension agent Hunt, Joe (since retired) $66,552 sheriff Howard, Benjamin $65,438 justice of the peace Bredemeyer, Sharla $65,296 court reporter Clayton, Jeffrey $65,208 attorney III Richey, Truman (now sheriff) $65,110 chief deputy Top paid official in each county McLennan County ? County Judge James H. Lewis: $153,565.32 Midland County ? District attorney (1) and district court judges (5): $140,000 Smith County ? Court of Appeals Judge Jim Worthen: $143,000 Taylor County ? Civil Appeals Judge Jimmy Wright: $141,775 Tom Green County ? Court-at-law judges (2): $153,615 Wichita County ? District court judges (3): $131,000 Comparison of selected offices by county Sheriff Constable Commissioner Justice of the Peace McLennan $108,539 $63,992 $97,818 $37,005 Midland $91,770 $46,340 $47,176 $65,918 Smith $79,353 $62,727 $63,099 $65,074 Taylor $61,966 $42,735 $66,378 $50,203 Tom Green $66,552 $37,379 $51,529 $65,438 Wichita $79,276 $52,063 $58,056 $54,324 *All include extra compensation except Wichita County commissioners, which is data from 2010. Amounts shown for multiple positions are the highest paid in the range. SHARE By Staff Report Christoval ISD gave the "all clear" after a bomb threat forced the evacuation of its high school campus Thursday morning. About 9:05 a.m. the school's administration received a call in reference to a bomb threat. Principal John Choate evacuated the facility and all students, including elementary students who were at the high school for a field day, said Lt. Christina Lopez, with the Tom Green County Sheriff's Office. Parents were instructed to pick up their elementary children at Christoval Baptist Church and high school students at the Community Center, she said. Superintendent David Walker said the school grounds were cleared of any threat about 1:30 p.m. During the investigation, officers learned that a 16-year-old boy posted a video on a social media website with what he described as an explosive device. He was arrested and charged with hoax bomb, a Class A misdemeanor, and false alarm or report emergency, a state jail felony. He was taken to the Tom Green County Juvenile Detention Center, Lopez said. The Sheriff's Office was assisted by the Goodfellow Air Force Base 17th Security Forces Squadron, Christoval and Pecan Valley volunteer fire departments, the Texas Rangers and the Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Special Rangers Unit. The school remained closed for the rest of the day, and students will not return back until Tuesday. Friday is a teacher work day, and Monday students have off as a bad weather day, Lopez said. Kerry presents the 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights. SHARE U.S. says the Middle East, Syria suffering By Tracy Wilkinson, Tribune Washington Bureau (TNS) WASHINGTON The Obama administration castigated China and Russia on Wednesday for their attempts to use legislation to criminalize basic expressions of free speech, religious practice and other civil liberties. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, in releasing the State Department's annual report on human rights in countries around the world, said the Middle East also ranked among the worst regions for civilians facing war, violent extremism and the forced displacement of millions of people. "The most widespread and dramatic violations in 2015 were those in the Middle East where the confluence of terrorism and the Syrian conflict caused enormous suffering," Kerry said. "Given the horrors of these past five years, I cannot imagine a more powerful blow for human rights than putting a decisive end to this war," Kerry said. A partial cease-fire in Syria is beginning to unravel, and peace negotiations in Geneva, sponsored by the United Nations and backed by the United States, are in doubt. Syria's embattled president, Bashar Assad, held elections Wednesday that many in the international community viewed as a farce. Washington wants Assad to step down. "Syria is by far the greatest crisis on our mind," Tom Malinowski, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, said in elaborating on the report, the 40th produced by the State Department based on information from its diplomats abroad. "In Syria, we see how human rights abuses in one small country can have consequences far beyond that small country's borders: from a refugee exodus that is altering the politics of Europe, to the spawning of a terrorist group that threatens us all," he added. Malinowski said China and Russia came in for special criticism because as major countries, they have influence on entire regions. The report noted that Moscow and Beijing have stepped up repression of dissidents, citizens protesting against torture, journalists critical of the government, religious minorities and others. In many cases, new legislation has been used to institutionalize restrictions on free speech and assembly. Malinowski said other repressive countries are likely to imitate Moscow and Beijing. Some U.S. allies also were condemned, most notably NATO member Turkey. "The government has used anti-terror laws as well as a law against insulting the president to stifle legitimate political discourse and investigative journalism," the report says. SHARE High courts 2013 decision aids Texas rule By David G. Savage, Tribune Washington Bureau (TNS) WASHINGTON Hours after the Supreme Court in 2013 struck down a core part of the Voting Rights Act, Texas put into effect a law that threatened to disenfranchise more than 600,000 registered voters. The Justice Department had blocked the law two years earlier as discriminatory, and a three-judge panel in Washington agreed that it put "unforgiving burdens on the poor." Texans who lacked driver's licenses had to take certified copies of their birth certificates to motor vehicle offices to obtain new photo ID cards, sometimes a trip of more than 100 miles. Even though the high court's ruling ended the department's ability to prevent the law from taking effect, a federal-district court judge in 2014 struck it down for discriminating against minorities. Last year, a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld that decision in a 3-0 opinion, written by a judge appointed by President George W. Bush. Yet the Texas law still stands. Seemingly untouched by numerous legal defeats, the voter ID law serves as an example of how difficult it can be to halt potentially discriminatory voting rules in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder. "This is a perfect illustration of what we lost," said Jon Greenbaum, chief counsel for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. "We have seven judges who looked at this and all found a violation. Yet the law is still in effect." The Supreme Court has refused to intervene so far. On the eve of the 2014 elections, the justices by a 6-3 vote declined to block enforcement of the photo ID rule pending the state's appeal, as did the 5th Circuit, despite its own panel's ruling. Now, as the nation heads toward the first presidential election since the high court struck down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, opponents are again asking the court to put the Texas law on hold. A decision is expected in the coming week. Section 5 of the 1965 landmark voting law had barred Texas and other states with checkered histories on voting rights from changing their election rules without first winning approval from the Justice Department or from a federal court in Washington. Since that provision of the act was struck down, eight of the nine states that were subject to federal "pre-clearance" have adopted or enforced laws or restrictions that altered voting procedures in ways that have made it more difficult for poor, minority and mostly Democratic voters, voting rights groups say. "We are seeing stark evidence of a resurgence in voting discrimination," said Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers Committee. In North Carolina, the state cut back on early voting and ended same-day registration. Voters in Phoenix spent hours waiting in line to vote in late March after county officials reduced the number of polling places from more than 200 to 60. Alabama adopted a new photo ID law similar to the one in Texas and then announced that, for budget reasons, it was closing dozens of motor vehicle offices in rural counties. The Justice Department has filed suit against three such laws, one in North Carolina and two in Texas, including the photo ID law. "While the Shelby County decision has certainly made it more difficult to ensure that new practices do not unlawfully discriminate against eligible voters, our commitment to protecting the rights of voters has not wavered and we continue to use every tool at our disposal to work to protect the voting rights of every eligible American," said Vanita Gupta, head of the department's civil rights division. This pre-clearance provision was often described as strong medicine for an especially virulent disease. The Constitution was amended after the Civil War to forbid racial discrimination in voting. But that command proved ineffective in the South as long as state lawmakers could change rules and local officials controlled the voting rolls. Texas proved especially inventive in devising ways to prevent blacks from participating in elections, voting rights advocates say. Four times during the 20th century, the Supreme Court struck down Texas laws that it found barred blacks from voting in primary elections. The Voting Rights Act was seen by many as the most effective civil rights measure in the nation's history. And in 2006 the House and Senate, in a rare bipartisan move, extended the full law for another 25 years. But Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. had other ideas. "Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions," Roberts said in the 5-4 decision that held the special scrutiny for the South was outdated. SHARE Fight over state GOP similar to recent party battles By Ross Ramsey Houston's Jared Woodfill is trying to win control of the Republican Party of Texas, challenging the current management and saying it has been too quiet in the face of legislative defeats in a state government dominated by Republican officeholders and appointees. The contest between Tom Mechler, of Amarillo, the party's current chairman, and Woodfill, who once led the Harris County GOP, is a fight about purity, about which kinds of conservatives the Texas GOP represents and about what the party is supposed to be doing. They don't run as combined tickets, but former state party Chairman Cathie Adams is running for vice chair in tandem with Woodfill while current vice chair Amy Clark is seeking re-election, along with Mechler. The outcome of the elections, to be held at the GOP's state convention in Dallas next month, probably isn't going to change your life, but it's interesting. Mechler wants the party to bring in more voters he's talking about minorities and millennials, among others who have generally eluded the charms of the GOP. He doesn't think it's his job to tell the state's Republican officeholders what to do. "Every Republican should be comfortable within the party," he says. "My vision is and will be that is that this party is welcoming and embracing all conservatives from all over the state of Texas." Woodfill is a bully-pulpit guy, a political figure whose effectiveness depends on everything from actual microphones on actual podiums to social media, news media and advertising. He is appealing for the support of others who, like him, think the state political party should be whipping the Legislature to keep it in line with the GOP platform and the beliefs of Texans in its voting base. His pitch against the current party leadership seems aimed more at the House than at anyone else. An example from the Facebook page promoting his candidacy: "Friends, we are engaged in a cultural war and our Republican Party of Texas leadership is running from the fight! One need only look at the 2015 legislative sessions to find evidence of the RPT surrendering our values." Woodfill focuses on a list of issues that met their demise, he contends, in the Texas House, including bills outlawing references to Sharia in courts, requiring Texas cities to enforce federal immigration laws, allowing the use or diversion of tax dollars for private school tuition, repealing in-state tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants/noncitizens who graduate from Texas high schools, and enacting new ethics legislation. That plays into existing divisions among the Republicans in government, however they are characterized: establishment against insurgents, social conservatives against social moderates, chamber of commerce against grass roots. Some legislators and outside groups have endorsed in the race, but the state's top elected officials have stayed out of the fray. They don't want to get cut up in a family fight, and there is little to gain by taking part even if they wanted to. This particular chairman's election is not as important as it would be in a state where November elections are truly competitive. Political parties don't play in their own primary elections, endorsing one candidate from their party over another, except in the most extreme situations. Woodfill's attack on the status quo hints at a change to that particularly with his displeasure over the work of the Texas House. But the operations of the parties have generally been available to everyone running under their banners. In Texas, that means they don't play in the most important elections the primaries. The state's redistricting maps are drawn poorly or excellently, depending on your preference so that they are nearly invulnerable to candidates outside of a particular party. The numbers are familiar to candidates, consultants and political mavens of all stripes: Of the 36 congressional seats, only one the 23rd can and has been won by candidates of both parties under the current maps. Of the other 35, 24 are safe Republican seats and 11 are safe Democratic seats. In the Texas Senate, you'll see a few new faces after the elections, but it's entirely safe to say that no matter how the names change, that body will have 20 Republicans and 11 Democrats in it. The House has more uncertainty, if you can call nine seats out of 150 uncertain. The rest are firmly Republican or Democratic. The point: Texas elections are decided in the primaries, where the intraparty factions do battle and party officials don't play. They're rarely decided in the general elections in which the state parties would ordinarily be most important. A race for state party chair puts someone in the position to comment on the events of the day (usually as criticism of people in the other party), in charge of fundraising, and in place to maintain the operational machinery of politics like the voter files that contain everything from who voted and who gives money to how to contact them. Normal humans have no real reason to worry about who runs the state's political parties. This is not the sort of office that registers as important in the span of an average Texan's day or life, for that matter. It is, however, the sort of post that makes a small part of the political machinery work. A state party is one of the zillion things that together form the organizations underlying this democracy. The position at the top is boring but important. The candidates running are unknown even to many of the other political players. You don't know their names unless they are flamethrowers people who use their positions to excoriate their enemies. Mechler is the big-tent candidate, trying to make room for new constituencies within the Texas GOP. Woodfill wants the party to emphasize the fundamentals, pressing candidates and officeholders to toe the party line. It's a fight between a candidate who says he would welcome those who don't agree on every single thing in the platform and a candidate who finds real fault with a series of the most conservative legislative sessions in Texas history. It mirrors some of the debates in last month's Republican primaries and last year's legislative session. Ross Ramsey is executive editor of The Texas Tribune, where this article originally was published, at www.texastribune.org. The former presidents time in France changed him, and changed America. From haute culture to a silly spat over freedom fries, the two countries are inextricably linked. Every summer, staff at the nonprofit Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis spends the majority of their time in painful conversations with low-income families whose oldest child has been accepted to a college they cant afford. The families bring their financial aid offers to these meetings with the hopes that the foundation will help them find a way to make it work.But what they often learn, says Faith Sandler, the foundations executive director, is that paying back the loan would strain them to the breaking point. Its crushing news. The Scholarship Foundation, she says, cant award to a needy student if thats the kind of situation were contributing to. Its a really difficult position for us to be in.Thats why the foundation jumped at a chance to partner with Missouri when it began offering matching grants in 2011 to lower-income families that start an account in MOST, the state's 529 college savings plan. The foundation set up and began contributing money to savings accounts for needy eighth graders. The idea wasnt necessarily to significantly offset the cost of college for those kids, but was to set their families expectations and get them to start planning. I think what we really want to do is to try and have smarter conversations earlier so we can avoid those horrible moments, Sandler says.The lower-income match program for MOST started at a time when many cities and states were looking at ways to encourage families to save for college. San Francisco, for example, targeted kindergarteners, opening up and contributing $50 to a college savings account for every kid entering the public school system. The movement was spawned from research, much of it by Washington University in St. Louis, which found that if children know their family is saving for college, then they might be more motivated to attend.But what Missouri Treasurer Clint Zweifel found after starting the match program was that setting up the account was only part of the picture. Research says the accounts matter, says Zweifel, I believe that, but I dont think thats enough. We need a program where theres something more underneath the hood than simply the promise of an account.Other organizations have partnered with the states 529 program to provide the additional support lower-income kids need to get in and stay in college. Wells Fargo Advisors and the United Way of Greater St. Louis, for instance, created matching grant programs that also provide families with financial advice on things like budgeting, saving and investing for education.The Scholarship Foundations web of support for its students is perhaps the most involved. It provides tutoring services, mentoring and college guidance from eighth grade through the second year of college. In high school, when participating students meet certain benchmarks for things like attendance and grades, the foundation deposits more money their savings account.All told, the efforts are helping 1,400 lower-income families in the St. Louis area and Zweifel predicts the idea will catch on in other areas across the state. The programs wont necessarily build extensive savings for students. Kids in the Scholarship Foundations program, for example, will probably have about $2,000 in their accounts upon graduating high school (unless their families make additional deposits).But money isnt the whole point, says Sandler. Its one piece albeit a key piece -- in a college prep toolkit. We see it as strongest tool to begin working with students and families to ensure they make the best transition possible. Racial minorities and lower-income Americans are often more likely to have their driver's licenses taken away, according to a new report from a civil legal aid group.Motorists can have their drivers licenses suspended for a variety of reasons, many of which are unrelated to any traffic violations. In most states, for example, licenses can be suspended for failure to pay child support. Some jurisdictions may take away licenses from drivers who fail to attend school, or even drivers who fail to keep up with their student loan payments.But some of the most common suspensions result from failing to pay fines or appear in court. And it's those suspensions that led to stark disparities among racial minorities and poorer groups across California, according to the new study by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. The report makes the case that drivers licenses are too frequently suspended for reasons unrelated to protecting public safety, often imposing detrimental consequences on those living in poverty.The report is the latest in a growing chorus of groups calling for governments to reevaluate court practices following revelations of unfair treatment in Ferguson, Mo. Last month, the Department of Justice issued guidance to state courts throughout the country, advising municipalities to cease suspending licenses in order to collect unpaid court fines and fees, among other reforms.The legal aid group compiled data from different state and local California law enforcement agencies, finding that rates of license suspensions from failing to pay fines or appear in court were strongly correlated with poverty indicators. Similar correlations were found across racial groups. Of California ZIP codes where blacks account for more than a fifth of the population, 95 percent recorded license suspension rates exceeding the state average.Some neighborhoods in relatively close proximity were shown to have vastly different rates of license suspensions.Similar demographic groups were disproportionately arrested for driving on licenses suspended for reasons unrelated to public safety. Arrests were concentrated in predominantly black or Latino neighborhoods where poverty and unemployment rates were highest, the study found.Low-income people are getting into very serious debt problems, and are then expected to make payments they simply cant afford said, said Mike Herald, a Western Center on Law & Poverty policy advocate who contributed to the report.Suspensions of licenses for reasons unrelated to public safety arent confined to California. The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) conducted a survey of state laws , finding that all responding states suspended licenses for social nonconformance reasons. Data suggest these suspensions account for an increasing share of all license suspensions. AAMVA recommended that states repeal laws requiring suspensions for non-highway safety-related violations in a 2013 report The Department of Justice also recently weighed in on the matter. An agency letter published in March outlined policy guidance related to enforcement of court fines and fees, encouraging state and local courts to avoid suspending drivers licenses as a debt collection tool, and instead reserve it only for cases that would increase public safety. The agency also announced a competitive grant program to assist jurisdictions in developing new strategies in enforcing court fines and fees.The consequences of the criminalization of poverty are not only harmful -- they are far-reaching, said Attorney General Loretta Lynch in a news release. They not only affect an individuals ability to support their family, but also contribute to an erosion of our faith in government.Traffic tickets and court fees have drawn scrutiny for the large amounts of revenue they generate for select smaller municipalities. Ferguson and at least two other nearby jurisdictions rely on fines and fees for more than 20 percent of general fund revenues. Missouri lawmakers responded by passing legislation lowering the maximum that municipalities in the state could collect from 30 percent to 20 percent of general operating revenue, but a judge struck down the law last month.Herald said fine costs have compounded over time, accelerating when municipal revenues plummeted following the recession. Traffic tickets became a bipartisan way to raise money for government programs in lieu of raising taxes or having money funded by regular tax dollars, he said.Licenses dont have to be suspended; California law allows for waivers for low-income individuals or completion of community service instead of paying off fines. But such alternatives typically are not utilized. With so many cases to hear, few judges have time to ask defendants whether they have the means to pay their fines, Herald said.Lauren-Brooke Eisen, a senior counsel in the Brennan Center's justice program, views license suspensions as unintended consequences resulting, in part, from states underfunding court systems. More recently, some state legislatures moved to amend laws permitting license suspensions.There are small pockets of reform happening, Eisen said, but, unfortunately, its still a very common practice.The Missouri Department of Revenue reinstated all licenses that had been suspended strictly for failing to pay fines or appear in court. And last month, the Massachusetts legislature repealed a law mandating automatic license suspensions for convicted drug offenders.In California, Gov. Jerry Brown has initiated a statewide ticket amnesty program allowing some drivers to obtain reductions in traffic tickets and civil fees owed. The legal groups report called for expansion of the program to make it more accessible to poorer individuals. Last fall, in an effort to curb racial profiling, the state also passed a law requiring law enforcement agencies to collect and report data on traffic and pedestrian stops.Court fines can quickly add up. The report notes that, in California, a citation with a $100 base fine costs $490 once all state and local assessments are added, and another $300 may be added if a court hearing is missed.Suspending licenses places a heavy burden on those unable to pay. Revoking driving privileges may limit ones ability to commute and maintain a job. It further acts as a barrier to employment as job training programs frequently require drivers licenses, and some employers screen out applicants with suspended licenses."All of these fees and fines make it much harder for poorer individuals to break out of the system, Eisen said.SOURCE: "Stopped, Fined, Arrested: Racial Bias in Policing and Traffic Courts in California," Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area On Wednesday, in the morning, overnight guests departed Government House. Following, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey hosted a morning tea for the official presentation to Government House of Recruit Dog Gavel, where the Governor addressed guests. In the afternoon, at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Governor delivered the opening address at the 8th General Assembly and International Conference of the Asian Pacific Organisation for Cancer Prevention. Following, at Government House, the Governor received Chancellor, James Cook University, Mr Bill Tweddell. (TNS) -- The Tennessee Valley may be a long ways from Silicon Valley, but Tennessee is attracting more of the investments in startup businesses that have fueled the growth of California's computer industry and other tech centers around the country.Launch Tennessee, the state-funded venture capital fund and agency that tries to promote and seed more business startups in the Volunteer State, announced Tuesday that private investment in early stage companies based in Tennessee has surpassed $1 billion in the past four years. The billion-dollar milestone was reached well ahead of the 2017 goal that LaunchTN set when it was formed in 2012.Although Tennessee's biggest cities have captured a majority of the seed capital and venture funding, Chattanooga has added or started four new venture funds since 2012 which collectively plan to pump more than $20 million into startup ventures."We've got a perfect storm that combines organic benefits like low cost of living and an extremely talented workforce produced from our world class universities, with a significantly enhanced early stage capital scene and a commitment from the highest levels of state government to make Tennessee the best place to start a new business," said Charlie Brock, CEO of LaunchTN and a former managing partner for FourBridges Capital in Chattanooga. "Our seven publicly funded entrepreneur centers offer in-depth industry knowledge in specific sectors like music, logistics, healthcare, 3-D printing and media, which broadens the scope of ideas and ingenuity that can find success here."LaunchTN, which grew out of the Tennessee Technology Development Corp., created 18 years ago, is a nonprofit agent of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. The state-administered TNInvestco and INCITE were seeded by monetizing a state insurance premium tax credit and and have combined with a growing number of private funds to top the billion-dollar funding level for startup companies.LaunchTN officials attributed much of the local startup success to partnerships that had been cultivated with established organizations to offer mentorship at its accelerators."Domain expertise from the music industry in Nashville and companies like FedEx in Memphis and Scripps in Knoxville gives our entrepreneurs real advantages in succeeding in those sectors," Courtney Corlew, director of communications for LaunchTN, said in a statement Tuesday.Chattanooga doesn't have the dominant corporate or educational facilities to foster the innovation and tech startups that manh other cities boast about. But with EPB's high-speed Internet, Chattanooga has adopted the "Gig City" label and The Company Laborator aided by Brock before he joined LaunchTN piloted the first accelerator program that Tennessee has since spread to a dozen other communities across the state.Both the National League of Cities and the Kauffman Foundation also have touted Chattanooga's entrepreneurial ecosystem and the city's new downtown Innovation District as examples of what cities can do to boost their tech and startup business climate.Chattanooga also is trying to capitalize on its trucking and logistics tradition with a new $12 million venture capital fund being organized by the founders of Access America, who merged their company with Coyote Logistics which was acquired by UPS last year for $1.8 billion. The new fund, known as Dynamo, is hosting 10 logistics startups in Chattanooga this summer to help the startups grow and gain seed capital."Transportation and logistics is a blue-collar industrystill relying on aging technology and infrastructurethat has been overlooked by venture capital for decades, which presents Dynamo with the perfect storm," said Ted Alling, managing director of Dynamo. "More freight passes through Chattanooga every day than any other metropolitan area in America. As a result, Chattanooga has become a major logistics hub for the eastern United States, with large-scale shippers, carriers, warehousers, barge operators and rail yards in our backyard."Dynamo is the latest and biggest of the venture funds that have been added in Chattanooga. But a number of angel financiers and funds have been added in Chattanooga in recent years, hoping to replicate the success of companies like Access America or Quickcue, a Chattanooga startup backed by Blank Slate Ventures that was sold in 2013 for $11.5 million to Open Table.David Belitz, chief financial officer of the Lupton Co., and a partner in the Chattanooga Renaissance Fund, said Chattanooga and other cities in the Southeast are investing more in early stage businesses in the region."When we started looking at the whole environment in 2009, I would say that angel capital was largely nonexistent," Belitz said. "Since then, however, that has changed dramatically and there are now a whole group of active angel investors after seeing the results of what is happening with CoLab, GigTank, the LampPost Group and what we're doing with the Enterprise Center now. It's not just here, it's happening across all of the Southeast. But there is still plenty of room to grow." First Place and Audience Choice Second Place Third Place SACRAMENTO, Calif. After six weeks of code and caffeinated nights, the Sacramento County Hack4Sac competition finished with three winning apps to confront a gamut of maladies.On April 13, a crowd of technologists and government officials filed into a downtown administration building to present 13 tech solutions that solve county problems. The contest, sponsored by Code4Sac, e.Republic Labs* and the county, formed nine teams to generate the apps. All relied on data from the countys open data portal, and each was judged on a rubric that grounded ingenuity and innovation alongside real-world impacts and feasibility.Team SacHomeless received the first place prize of $5,000 and audience choice for its app SacSOS , which guides the homeless to food, shelter and social welfare services. Team Polling Accessibility received second place and $3,000 for an app that identifies accessible polling stations for disabled voters. And the third place spot, and its accompanying $2,000, went to team HARE, for creating the Human Assistance Resource Exchange , a crowdsourced platform that inventories local resources for use between county departments.Sacramento County CIO and Hack4Sac Judge Rami Zakaria credited the homespun apps and their creators for the quality and quantity of their solutions. He said that based on the participation alone, he and fellow county staff hope to turn the contest into an annual affair.I was thinking that if we could get five apps, we would be ecstatic, and we got 13, Zakaria said. So that, by far, exceeded my expectations.Fellow judge Timothy Potter, an open source advocate and senior software engineer at Lucidworks, likewise credited the teams for their informative uses of open data and open source collaboration. Potter lauded the fact that after the contest, the open source or publicly available code projects could be duplicated, customized and iterated upon by others on sites like GitHub.One of the things I appreciate about open source is that you dont know at the start where youre going to end up, Potter said. And I think tonight showed that. Its one thing to put open data up on a website, and its another to make it accessible and apply creativity.His sentiments were shared by Todd Sander, VP of research and executive director at e.Republics Center for Digital Government (CDG). Sander said that out of the many city, state and county IT initiatives the CDG has organized to better public services, the Hack4Sac competition represented one of the finest."Weve watched a lot of contests, weve sponsored many ourselves, weve been tracking this space for a long time, Sander said. And I have to tell you that the participation here in Sacramento County and the quality of applications is on par or better than anywhere else weve seen in the country."Below is a list of the teams, apps and winners.SacHomelessSacSOSSacSOS is a Web and mobile app that serves as a homeless resource locator. It identifies local food stamp restaurants, shelters, health facilities and other resources to assist Sacramentos homeless population. The app is coupled with a set of flyers that can be distributed to the homeless people who lack cellphones.Joanne Werneke, CaptainKevin FriesHillary GainesKayla GrandersonMichael TelEmily Quinn FinneyJeff Roush: Polling Accessibility: Polling Place Accessibility App: A Web app that allows voters with special needs to identify local polling places by accessibility features like ramps, curbside assistance and support for visual impairment.Rasheed Bustamam, CaptainHans ChunNate CornellBrooks NewberryHAREHuman Assistance Resource ExchangeThe Human Assistance Resource Exchange is a Web platform for departments, organizations and individuals to provide or request resources that others have in surplus like clothing, furniture, non-perishable foods, computers and more. It supports civic open data by collecting anonymous resource data and releasing it through an application programming interface ( API ).Christine Feaster, CaptainKoni DaviesNeal FennimoreErik OlsonJoanne Wu In 2010, Colorado became the first state to appoint a chief data officer (CDO). A year later, New York City pioneered the position in local government. Allegheny County, Pa.; Boston; Chicago; King County, Wash.; Los Angeles; New Orleans; New York City; Minneapolis; Pittsburgh; San Diego; the city and county of San Francisco; and Seattle. The public sector has the unfortunate reputation of being slow to adopt new innovations and meaningful solutions. It isnt for lack of trying, of course. Its more tied to the tar-like pace of bureaucracy and the fact that information sharing is often absent between like-minded individuals divided by departments, organizations and geography.Despite the quickly recognizable limitations placed on those in the greater government space, one project is looking to reduce some of these barriers and open up information sharing that could equate to some good being done on city streets across the country.Since the summer of 2015, a handful of local governments and academia have been looking at how to best and most effectively share their respective data and solutions to problems like homelessness and urban blight. Behind the effort is the burgeoning role of the chief data officer Weve seen sharing networks happen at the CIO level to great effect. But now those in charge of city data visualization tools and the data sets behind them will have a chance to meet the challenges posed by so many urban environments.On Monday, April 11, the Civic Analytics Network (CAN) -- a nationwide network of urban chief data officers from the Harvard Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation -- went from conversation to an implementable reality, thanks to a grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. And on April 11 and 12, city officials from across the country gathered at Harvard University to discuss next steps.Professor Stephen Goldsmith, director of the Innovations in American Government Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, has been involved in the project since discussions kicked off last summer.Weve watched the emergence of a lot of good work," he said, "but we also noticed that it wasnt replicating quickly."While the overarching goal of the collaboration is to address social issues using available data sets, Goldsmith said the focus of the CAN group will be making sure the resources are in place to enable governments to successfully intervene in these issues in the first place.By identifying valuable use cases, Goldsmith and others involved it the project hope to empower information sharing with other cities grappling with the same problems.One issue everyone is facing is how do we make city services in a way that leads to better interventions? Another issue is how do we get the community more involved using all the data How can we encourage thoughtful questions to be asked and answered because of the quality of the data? he said. Then there are issues of transit, jobs, homelessness, affordable housing, the substantive issues, which we will take up a couple of. But our main purpose is to support the replication of work that is being done in one city to another city.Thus far, 12 local and municipal governments are involved in the project:Tom Schenk Jr., chief data officer for the city of Chicago and one of the organizers behind the CDO network movement, said once completed, the project will act as a clearinghouse for ideas and solutions, and will remove unnecessary barriers to communication.Weve been around for some time and have been able to work with other cities for a number of years, so it was very natural for us to come together so we could share ideas, share solutions and work together to find things that are common between our cities, he said. As we work to create solutions within our own cities, try to find things that we can share among each other to help reduce the overall amount of work that we are all responsible for.In Chicago, Schenk said the ultimate goal is delivering the solutions and refined data to the city staff who will be able to turn the intelligence into action and improve upon services.We all have problems around social services and challenges that we all must meet," he said. "So how do we deliver social services better? As every one of our cities are being challenged on that front, we can come together and find areas where we have common ground and not have to reinvent the wheel."Once the network is in place and is better defined, Goldsmith and Schenk say they would like to see the tools deployed in an open and accessible way for those not included in the initial project. Home Motorcycles & Bikes Top 10 Best Motorcycle GPS Trackers Of 2022 Reviews & Buying Guide Motorcycles & Bikes Top 10 Best Motorcycle GPS Trackers Of 2022 Reviews & Buying Guide This article may contain affiliate links. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Motorcycles are excellent vehicles for travel and adventure both on and off-road. It is an investment you need to keep safe from those who would love to take that treasure off your hands. Wheel-locking systems may not be enough for those with enough mechanical ability to hot-wire it, and in some cases, one or two people could simply load it onto a truck without unlocking anything. You dont want to wait months for the police to try to get it back. You want to know where it is right now. A GPS tracking system is the perfect security investment for your motorcycle, and we have reviews of the best motorcycle GPS trackers here for you. Top 10 Best Motorcycle GPS Trackers You Should Buy Of 2022 Reviews 1 AMERICALOC GL300W Mini Portable Real-Time GPS Tracker. XW Series Leta start with this Americaloc mini portable GPS tracker. This is a mid-range GPS tracker both regarding cost and ability. It comes in about the size of a heavy keychain, so if you are looking for something tiny, this is not it. It is detectable by someone who knew what they were looking for but depending on where you attached it to your motorcycle, it may take them a bit of time to identify it. There are diverse opinions in the reviews about its battery life. It appears that it will last at least 3-4 days, but there are sometimes problems when recharging it. Make sure to follow the instruction guide that comes with this tracker. You also need to recognize that this service is run by a tech that is not as widespread as most cellphone GPS trackers. While is advertises real-time the reality is that it updates once per minute, thirty, or ten seconds depending on your setting. This setting will affect battery life, and depending on where it is, the updates may not be entirely accurate. It is not a bad tracker, but you need to have realistic expectations for it. Pros GPS Tracker for vehicles, people, assets GPS Tracker for vehicles, people, assets This GPS tracker has the longest battery life version with extended multicarrier coverage. Battery life is measured in weeks. This GPS tracker has the longest battery life version with extended multicarrier coverage. Battery life is measured in weeks. Alerts: movement, parked, speeding, device on/off, low battery, entering or leaving zones Alerts: movement, parked, speeding, device on/off, low battery, entering or leaving zones Real-Time Tracking and 1 year of tracking history. Track from any computer, tablet or phone or just download our Android and iPhone APP. Real-Time Tracking and 1 year of tracking history. Track from any computer, tablet or phone or just download our Android and iPhone APP. Works in the US, Canada, Europe and in almost every country in the world Works in the US, Canada, Europe and in almost every country in the world 1-minute location updates while moving. Can be configured for location updates every 60, 30 or 10 seconds with no additional cost. Cons Slightly bigger than something described as mini. Slightly bigger than something described as mini. Sometimes faces battery charging issues Sometimes faces battery charging issues Behind cellphone GPS technology and occasionally is off a block or so in tracking Behind cellphone GPS technology and occasionally is off a block or so in tracking No mobile app and website can be buggy 2 Spy Tec STI GL300 Mini Portable Real-Time Personal and Vehicle GPS Tracker Spy Tecs GL300 GPS is about the same size as the Americaloc, but about half the price. As with most GPS devices, there is a monthly subscription fee that can quickly add up over time. In practice, this GPS seems to function a little more smoothly than others, with many short-term satisfied customers. For this GPS to work well for you, you need three things. First, you need to be using it in an area covered by T-mobile, or else you may have accuracy problems. Second, you need to be able to recharge it every few days. Finally, this is a short-term solution. The charging cable seems to break down over months, not years, and the customer and tech service can be a pain to deal with. If you are looking for a long-term GPS, you may want to take a pass on Spy Tec. Pros Perfect for tracking vehicles, people, or assets Perfect for tracking vehicles, people, or assets Compact size can go anywhere Compact size can go anywhere Tracks with Google Maps in real-time over the Internet Tracks with Google Maps in real-time over the Internet Get text or email when a person leaves an area (geo-fencing) Cons Inconsistent customer service Inconsistent customer service Works primarily in T-mobile coverage areas Works primarily in T-mobile coverage areas Problems with charging cable Problems with charging cable Short life span 3 Amcrest AM-GL300 V3 Portable Mini Real-Time GPS Tracker for Vehicles Here is another low-end GPS tracker for your motorcycle. What makes this one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers is that it works with mobile apps from Google and Apple, so you can track your motorcycle from your phone and not just your computer or a webpage. It comes with lots of tracking options as well. You can create zones and be alerted if your motorcycle moves outside of it. You can set speed alerts or other proximity alerts, which will be pushed to your phone via text and email. The Amcrest is a solid package for taking care of your needs, and there is no contract required to use it. How you use it will determine the battery strength, and, like other devices in this low-cost range, the batteries are a weak point, particularly if not re-charged correctly. Also, it relies on 2G coverage and does not connect with all carriers. To get your moneys worth out of this motorcycle GPS tracker, make sure to inquire about coverage in your area and this tracker, and be sure to read the instructions about recharging your GPS. Pros Works with apps from Google and Apple store Works with apps from Google and Apple store This GPS device allows you to create zones that you specifically want to monitor, such as your home to you know when your loved one leaves or returns. Set maximum speed alerts and proximity alerts for your vehicles to suit your needs. This GPS device allows you to create zones that you specifically want to monitor, such as your home to you know when your loved one leaves or returns. Set maximum speed alerts and proximity alerts for your vehicles to suit your needs. Receive text, push and email notifications straight to your personal device. Receive text, push and email notifications straight to your personal device. Long-lasting Stay connected with a longer battery life of 10-14 days on a full charge. Long-lasting Stay connected with a longer battery life of 10-14 days on a full charge. Access the reports from your GPS device from your PC, Mac or smartphone. Access the reports from your GPS device from your PC, Mac or smartphone. No contract required Cons GPS Tracker is limited to 2G and will only work in areas where there is 2G coverage. GPS Tracker is limited to 2G and will only work in areas where there is 2G coverage. Batteries can be faulty leading to short lifespan of the device 4 GPS Tracker Optimus 2.0 This low-end tracker has a better performance record than some of the others, making it one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers on the market. This GPS has a monthly subscription fee but no contract required and it comes with apps you can use to track your motorcycle from your phone. There is no limit to how much data you can save on the secure databases, and so will update you every 30 seconds while your motorcycle is moving, or you can upgrade it to update you every 10 seconds. Fortunately, there are only two reported issues from the reviews of this GPS tracker. It is slightly larger than some of the other models, making it a bit more challenging to hide securely. It also sends out false reports occasionally if the cell service is interrupted. Pros No Contract No Contract Adjustable position report frequency from 30 Seconds while moving. Adjustable position report frequency from 30 Seconds while moving. iPhone and Android App iPhone and Android App Email and Text Message notifications for Movement, Speeding, Leaving or Entering Areas, etc. Email and Text Message notifications for Movement, Speeding, Leaving or Entering Areas, etc. Unlimited Tracking Data Saved During Service Unlimited Tracking Data Saved During Service SIM Card and Data Plan all Included SIM Card and Data Plan all Included Easy to install and use Cons Will occasionally send out false reports if it loses cell service Will occasionally send out false reports if it loses cell service Slightly larger than other models Which of the best motorcycle GPS trackers have the best batteries? 5 Trackmate Mini 3G H GPS Tracker for Vehicles Unlike the previous models of the best motorcycle GPS trackers, the Trackmate does not rely on a rechargeable lithium battery. Instead, it is hardwired directly into the motorcycle battery itself. This has the benefit of preventing the GPS from turning off when the battery dies at inopportune times. The downside of this setup is that installation is more difficult, and while the device is easily concealable, it also has wires running between it and the battery. This connection can cause your motorcycle battery to run down if you do not monitor it closely, causing both the device and motorcycle to fail to operate. This is a 3G tracker and has better accuracy than the previous 2G GPS trackers, making this one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers on the market. Pros On/Off Detection, Speed Indicator, and Live Map Tracking. On/Off Detection, Speed Indicator, and Live Map Tracking. Numerous alerts such as low-battery, tampering and towing. Historical location reports available. Numerous alerts such as low-battery, tampering and towing. Historical location reports available. All-Weather Resistant and Waterproof. All-Weather Resistant and Waterproof. STAY IN TUNE: Unique system Tracks via AT&T and T-Mobile networks, simultaneously. STAY IN TUNE: Unique system Tracks via AT&T and T-Mobile networks, simultaneously. EASILY CONCEALABLE: 3.4 X 1.75 X 0.50 , 2oz. No visible external light. Cons Can drain the motorcycle battery Can drain the motorcycle battery Challenging to install since it is hardwired to the motorcycle battery 6 MotoSafety Mwaas1P1 Wired 3G GPS Car Tracker The MotoSafety Mwaas1P1 is another hardwired GPS tracker that you can use on your motorcycle. It also uses 3G service and, as long as you are in the United States, typically does an excellent job of tracking through mobile apps. It sends detailed reports, particularly useful for tracking teen drivers, such as speeding, hard braking, and curfew notices. You must subscribe to a monthly fee, but there are no contracts. Overall, this is one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers. There are about 10% of customers though who encounter significant issues trying to get this GPS to function properly. Many of these are being used in cars, rather than motorcycles. However, since this GPS is hardwired into the vehicle system, the fault seems to be a compatibility issue, between the GPS and the vehicle. There are no reports of which vehicles are incompatible or why. You take a small risk with this GPS that it may not be compatible with your motorcycle. Otherwise, this is one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers. Pros Monitor driving activity using Google Maps. Monitor driving activity using Google Maps. Use GPS to review driving routes, set geofences around key locations and know when the vehicle is in use after curfew. Use GPS to review driving routes, set geofences around key locations and know when the vehicle is in use after curfew. No contracts or cancellation fees. No contracts or cancellation fees. Track anywhere with free GPS tracking mobile apps with real-time email & text message alerts. Cons Has some issues updating consistently Has some issues updating consistently Only works in the United States 7 ATian Vehicle Car personal GPS/GSM/GPRS/SMS Tracker The ATian GPS Tracker is one of the less expensive of the best motorcycle GPS trackers available. It comes with both a Lithium-ion battery and power supply to be installed to the motorcycle battery. Be warned though, that it will drain both rather quickly if you use it continuously. The lithium-ion battery, for example, is only rated up to 29 hours of continuous use, meaning you have to recharge it daily. This GPS is not waterproof so some kind of external cover may be necessary to keep it working correctly. It comes with a remote control though, to turn it on and off without getting on the motorcycle yourself. The biggest challenge with this GPS is that they do not provide a SIM card in it. Being foreign made, they have adapted to the global cellular service challenge by forcing you to get your own SIM card for it. This means that, although there is only a minimal service fee for using this GPS, you have to pay a cell service company to use it. With the frequent false alerts reported in the reviews on this GPS, that cell service bill can cost you a pretty penny. Pros Single Locating Single Locating Auto track continuously Auto track continuously Track with limited times upon time interval, Smart track upon time and distance interval Track with limited times upon time interval, Smart track upon time and distance interval The tracker will update the positions automatically to web server once the vehicle changing driving direction over preset angle value to form a smooth trajectory consistent with the actual road, this function works only in GPRS /GSM mode Cons Drains motorcycle battery Drains motorcycle battery May often send false alerts May often send false alerts Requires a SIM card and the additional cost of that cellular service. Looking for a higher end GPS for your motorcycle? 8 AES RGT90 GPS Tracker The difference (besides the price) between the AES RGT90 and some of the other best motorcycle GPS trackers that operate with a lithium-ion battery, is that the folks over at AES implemented a sleep mode into their device. That saves you hours and hours of battery use wasted when your motorcycle is simply sitting in your garage. That is how they are able to get 90 days worth of use out of their battery. The other reason that this GPS tracker costs so much is that it has the broadest range of the best motorcycle GPS trackers extending all through North America and over 100 other countries as well. By comparison, most other trackers have difficulty even covering the USA alone. Pros Works Anywhere in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, plus over 100 other countries Works Anywhere in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, plus over 100 other countries Internal battery Operates GPS tracker up to 90 days on a single charge. Recharges by Micro USB for better convenience. Charge using any USB Charger. Internal battery Operates GPS tracker up to 90 days on a single charge. Recharges by Micro USB for better convenience. Charge using any USB Charger. Covert, Discrete, Waterproof Magnetic Case Covert, Discrete, Waterproof Magnetic Case Goes to sleep when the vehicle is parked for 5 minutes or more. Displays the last location before going into Sleep Mode. Access anytime via text. Goes to sleep when the vehicle is parked for 5 minutes or more. Displays the last location before going into Sleep Mode. Access anytime via text. Track on your phone or on the website. You can also receive GPS coordinates via SMS Text. Cons Phone app is not the easiest to use Phone app is not the easiest to use Relies on magnetic attachment What is the best reviewed of the best motorcycle GPS trackers? 9 Goome 3G/WCDMA/GSM/GPS GM36W The Goome has the least amount of negative reviews of the best motorcycle GPS trackers on the market. It also has the fewest reviews in total, so take that with a grain of salt. Many of the reviews commented that they got more value than they expected from this GPS. It is easy to install and very accurate, and the company offers global service. The only problem the reviews have reported is that the app associated with this tracker is in Chinese and can be difficult to navigate. Even so, most customers were able to use this GPS quite well directly through SMS communication between their phones and devices. Pros Support 3G/WCDMA/GSM/ Network Support 3G/WCDMA/GSM/ Network Waterproof features, level IP67 will prevent water damage the inter electric components. Waterproof features, level IP67 will prevent water damage the inter electric components. Geo-fencing, playback history tracks, speeding alarm, low power &battery alerts, etc. Geo-fencing, playback history tracks, speeding alarm, low power &battery alerts, etc. OTA Upgrade Program, Anti-theft OTA Upgrade Program, Anti-theft One year free trial for North America customers Cons App is Chinese and hard to navigate App is Chinese and hard to navigate Can be difficult to find to purchase What is the least expensive best motorcycle GPS tracker on the market? 10 MOTOsafety OBD GPS Tracker Device Here is the least expensive of the best motorcycle GPS trackers you can find. This GPS, like several of the others reviewed, was made with teen drivers in mind. It gives comprehensive reports on driving stats, but it is not meant to be long-lasting. If you are looking for a short-term GPS tracker, and you are living in the US, this is an inexpensive option for you. If you are looking for a GPS for security reasons, you may want to see another option. Pros Monitor driving activity using Google Maps. Monitor driving activity using Google Maps. Get a complete driving report cards that score safe driving habits such as speeding, harsh braking, and rapid acceleration to improve driving habits. Get a complete driving report cards that score safe driving habits such as speeding, harsh braking, and rapid acceleration to improve driving habits. 3G vehicle tracking coverage that updates every minute in the US, Canada, and Mexico 3G vehicle tracking coverage that updates every minute in the US, Canada, and Mexico Track anywhere with the free GPS tracking mobile apps and real-time email & text message alerts. Track anywhere with the free GPS tracking mobile apps and real-time email & text message alerts. Use the GPS tracking to review reports such as driving routes, set geofences around key locations (school, home, or friends house) and know when the vehicle is in use after curfew. Cons Inconsistent updating Inconsistent updating Only works in the US So, how do these reviews line up? Best Motorcycle GPS Trackers Buying Guide Best Value The MOTOSafety OBD GPS Tracker is the least expensive option if you are looking for a short-term tracker for your motorcycle. It is made for tracking the driving habits of teenage drivers. The Trackmate is a more expensive device, but it has a lower monthly subscription cost and is hardwired into your motorcycle, so you dont have to worry about recharging the battery. The ATian GPS tracker is inexpensive as well, but you may end up paying more for your SIM card (not included) usage. Accuracy The AES is the most expensive of the best motorcycle GPS trackers but can provide you with some of the best accuracy across the greatest number of countries. The ATian is one of the least expensive devices but can offer service in any country you can get a SIM card to use in it. The Goome GPS also provides excellent service if you can navigate the Chinese app or use SMS to connect to the device. Durability How long do the best motorcycle GPS trackers last? The most durable of these trackers are the ones that are hardwired into your motorcycle battery. The lithium-ion battery is one of the earliest failing points on these devices, and if it doesnt have one, it lasts that much longer. You also want one that is waterproof, to prevent moisture from damaging the electronics. The Trackmate is a great hardwired GPS that is recommended for motorcycles and is waterproof. It is one of the more durable of the best motorcycle GPS trackers. There is one exception to the battery rule, and that is the AES RGT90 GPS tracker. This tracker, because of its sleep mode, causes less wear on the battery and ends up lasting much longer than any other GPS with a lithium-ion battery. Conclusion You can get inexpensive GPS trackers if you are only interested in short-term use. If you want something to last longer, you need to spend a little more money. You also need to be able to install it to your motorcycle battery. It is also important to watch for the subscription costs. The device may be inexpensive, but most subscriptions are around $20 each month. Some may require cell phone contracts (although most do not). Also, the more expensive GPS trackers have better service (3G instead of 2G) and a much wider area of coverage. If youre looking for the best motorcycle GPS trackers, the reviews suggest checking out the AES RGT90 and the Trackmate Mini 3G H GPS Tracker. The Adgero KERS unit consists of a bank of five high-power Skeleton Technologies SkelMod 50F 160V ultracapacitors, working alongside an electrically driven axle to capture energy loss and use this energy to re-power the vehicle. Adgero has signed a 3.5-million (US$4-million) distribution agreement to ensure modules from ultracapacitor manufacturer Skeleton Technologies, are part of its Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) for road freight. ( Earlier post .) Under the agreement, the French transport technology developer will now source SkelMod 160V modules exclusively for the Adgero hybrid system pioneered to increase efficiency for the truck transport industry. During braking, the unit becomes a generator, recovering kinetic energy that would otherwise be lost as heat and storing it in the ultra-capacitors. The technology is controlled by an intelligent management system mounted in the truck that tracks driver input in order to automatically control the regenerative braking and acceleration boost. The KERS is projected to reduce fuel consumption and associated CO 2 emissions by up to 15-25%, depending on terrain and traffic profile, while the regenerative braking system significantly reduces brake wear and associated maintenance costs. The Adgero KERS system with Skeleton Technologies modules will be road tested next month by UK transport company, Eddie Stobart, ahead of Adgeros expected series production this year. The truck company will test the KERS system in a curtainsider trailerbuilt by one of the largest manufacturers in Europe, SDC Trailersand to be unveiled at the Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham later this month. The Adgero-Skeleton Technologies exclusivity agreement covers the SkelMod 50F 160V ultracapacitor product developed for the KERS road transport application only and does not affect Skeleton Technologies commercial relationships with other customers. Under the deal for 2016 and 2017 Adgero will purchase hundreds of SkelMod units in a deal worth approximately 3.5 million. The distribution agreement covers markets in the member states of the European Union, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Israel, Iceland, Canada, the United States of America, Mexico, Brazil, Taiwan and the Peoples Republic of China. The Electric Mobility Showcase program is a joint initiative of the German government and the automotive industry. Four ministries lent their support to 90 individual measures in four regions of Germany. Audi was one of the first vehicle manufacturers to sign up to the program; when Audi entered in 2012, it was involved in six projects for which it provided a fleet of 80 Audi A1 e-tron prototypes. Audi gained a wealth of experience from the 1.4 million kilometers (869,919.7 mi) driven as part of the four-year Electric Mobility Showcase in Germany. ( Earlier post .) Ahead of the closing conference in Leipzig today, Audi revealed some of the electric driving results for its two models involved: the A1 e-tron prototype and the production A3 Sportback e-tron. The vehicles were equipped with data acquisition equipment. The objective was to determine what expectations the trial participants had of electric mobility and to what extent these were met in everyday use. The first phase of the project with the Audi A1 e-tron lasted one year and covered more than 550,000 test kilometers (341,754.2 miles). Specific issues were investigated in the individual locations of Berlin, Nuremberg, Munich, Stuttgart, Ingolstadt and Garmisch-Partenkirchen. These included a new system for the charging and communications infrastructure and how electric mobility can be coordinated with the supply of green electricity to homes. With the Audi A1 e-tron, a prototype electric car with range extender, users quickly learned to trust in the technology, with the result that they were able to make extensive use of the cars all-electric range. By the end of the trial, 87% of the distances traveled by the participants were being covered using electric power alone. In April 2015, Audi stepped up its involvement in the Electric Mobility Showcase, with 40 production models of the Audi A3 Sportback e-tron taking to the road in Berlin, Munich and Stuttgart. As of March 2016, they have covered around 805,000 kilometers (500,203.8 miles) in total, gathering findings on issues such as the charging infrastructure on public roads and the usage patterns of commuters and commercial delivery services. In this second phase of the Electric Mobility Showcase program, the trial participants in the 40 Audi A3 Sportback e-tron cars used all-electric mode for 70% of the distances traveled. Though the compact models with their plug-in hybrid technology are also well suited to long journeys, the test drivers usually covered less than 50 kilometers (31.1 miles) a day. As a result, they stayed within the vehicles electric range. Around half of all routine trial trips made by the users were shorter than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). One participant, who had a particularly fuel-efficient driving style, refueled only once during a five-month period, despite covering 7,700 kilometers (4,784.6 miles) in his Audi trial car. Audi concluded that the participants experience with electric mobility was a very positive one. However, the degree of satisfaction depended greatly on how conveniently they had been able to charge their vehicles. Most users want to see a widespread infrastructure and generally greater promotion of electric mobility by the political bodies. Audi is pushing for the charging infrastructure to be expanded into customers garages as well as workplace car parks. Audi is also working with partners to develop a Europe-wide network of public rapid-charging stations which use direct current. At the same time, Audi is also expanding its range of e-tron models. Charles Farmer, IIHS vice president for research and statistical services and the author of the study, looked at deaths per billion miles traveled by state and roadway type. Taking into account other factors that affected the fatality rateincluding changes in unemployment, the number of potential young drivers (ages 16-24) and per capita alcohol consumptionhe found that each 5 mph increase in the maximum speed limit resulted in a 4% increase in fatalities. The increase on interstates and freeways, the roads most affected by state maximums, was 8%. A new Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) study shows that increases in speed limits over two decades have cost 33,000 lives in the US. In 2013 alone, the increases resulted in 1,900 additional deaths, essentially canceling out the number of lives saved by frontal airbags that year. Comparing the annual number of fatalities in the 41 states with the number that would have been expected if each state's maximum speed limit had remained unchanged since 1993, Farmer arrived at the estimate of 33,000 additional fatalities over the 20-year period. That number is approximately equal to the nationwide annual tally of fatalities during recent years. Although fatality rates fell during the study period, they would have been much lower if not for states decisions to raise speed limits. Charles Farmer As large a number as it is, 33,000 is likely an underestimate, Farmer says. In his analysis, he considered only increases in the maximum speed limit, which often applies only to rural interstates, but many states also increased speed limits on urban interstates. Other states increased speed limits on one section of road and later extended the higher limit to other sections. Those subsequent changes weren't factored in. The study doesnt include the increases of the past three years. In 2013, only Texas and Utah had limits above 75 mph. Five more have joined that club since then, and others have abandoned 65 mph limits for 70 mph. Maximum speed limits January 1993. Click to enlarge. Maximum speed limits Januaary 2003. Click to enlarge. Background. Maximum speed limits are set by the states, and they have been on the rise since 1995. However, during most of the 1970s and 1980s, the threat of financial penalties held state speed limits to 55 mph. In 1973, Congress required that states adopt 55 mph as their maximum speed limit in order to receive their share of highway funds. Concerns over fuel availability, rather than safety, had prompted Congress to pass the measure, known as the National Maximum Speed Limit, but the most significant result was a decrease in fatalities. In 1987, with energy concerns fading, Congress relaxed the restriction, allowing states to increase speed limits to 65 mph on rural interstates. The law was completely repealed in 1995. Proponents of raising the speed limit often argue that such increases simply bring the law in line with reality, since most drivers exceed the limit. Once the limit is raised, however, drivers go even faster. IIHS researchers found that travel speeds increased following the repeal of the National Maximum Speed Limit. They also found that fatalities went up, first on rural interstates with the laws partial repeal and later on all interstates after the full repeal. The increases have continued apace. Today, six states have 80 mph limits, and drivers in Texas can legally drive 85 mph on some roads. The new study looked at the effect of all speed limit increases from 1993 to 2013 in 41 states. Nine states and the District of Columbia were excluded because they had relatively few vehicle miles traveled each year, leading to wide fluctuations in their annual fatality rates. TECAT Performance Systems has introduced the WISER 2030-S, the first version of the companys wireless torque sensor ( earlier post ) to feature shunt calibration. The new WISER 2030-S will simplify instrumentation verification for users while allowing them to check calibration of the system in the field. The 2030-S is the result of listening to and implementing feedback from our customers. Many have expressed the need for a cost-effective indirect calibration feature to be integrated with our high-speed, high-quality wireless torque sensor. Its now available. Even better, we are adding this value without increasing our base pricing. This is the first of four product enhancements well be announcing leading up to our participation in the Automotive Testing Expo next month in Stuttgart. Don Keating, vice president, new business development, at TECAT Performance Systems TECATs WISER systems are the smallest, lightest, and most power-efficient solutions available for the measurement of torque, acceleration, pressure, and temperature. The WISER Model 2030-S comprises three subsystems. The base unit plugs directly into a PC USB port and houses an antenna, transceiver, and up to two analog outputs. The WISER Data Viewer software is used for system configuration and calibration, live monitoring, and data logging. The WISER 2030-S enables positive and negative shunt calibration with two independent shunt calibration legs using 100 k resistors. In addition to measuring torque, the WISER 2030-S has the optional ability to measure 3-axis acceleration, barometric pressure, and ambient temperature, all within a small footprint measuring 36 mm x 23 mm x 4 mm. On-board high-speed data logging with triggering capability allows high-resolution data to be collected on the remote unit without PC or DAQ connectivity, while remote flash enables firmware upgrades without removing the system from the unit under test. The WISER 2030-S is available now and will be demonstrated for the first time at Automotive Testing Expo Europe 2016, 31 May to 2 June at Messe Stuttgart in Stuttgart, Germany. Total TME sales for the first quarter of 2016 were 241,600 Toyota and Lexus vehicles, an increase of 5.1% from Q1 2015, in a European market still split between growth in the West and Central Europe (+7.9%) and further decline in the East (-10%). Total market share for the group stood at 4.8%. Toyota Motor Europe (TME) reported a 38% increase in its Q1 2016 hybrid sales (Toyota and Lexus brands) versus the same period last year, representing 30% of total sales, compared to 24% for the full calendar year 2015. The Toyota brand hybrids accounted for 59,608 units (+43% year-on-year) for a hybrid mix of 27%; Lexus brand hybrids posted 12,141 units (+15% year-on-year), for a hybrid mix of 67%. TMEs sales in the EU+EFTA region grew by 6.8% year-on-year. Sales in the rest of TMEs Europe region (including Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Caucasus, Turkey and Israel) were stable at -0.8% versus a market down by 10%. This resulted in an increase in share of 0.8 percentage point at 8.41% in the area. TME plans to sell more than 270,000 hybrids in CY2016 and has a mid-term plan to sell achieve 50% hybrid sales by 2020. We have put the emphasis on two major strategic directions: hybrid, and the Lexus premium brand. We continue to beat records in hybrid sales, and premium customers are responding to Lexus new design and powertrains. We are also extremely pleased with our sales in Eastern Europe where our network is performing heroics in a difficult market, and gaining share. Karl Schlicht, Executive Vice President, Toyota Motor Europe The top 3 hybrids for the Toyota brand in Q1 were the Auris Hybrid (24,021); Yaris Hybrid (21,320); and RAV4 (8,117). The top 3 hybrid gainers were Prius (+66%); Auris Hybrid (+33%); Yaris Hybrid (+14%). The top Lexus hybrids in Q1 were the NX Hybrid (4,672); RX Hybrid (2,362); and CT200h (2,445). The top 3 hybrid gainers were RC Hybrid (new); RX Hybrid (+92%); and GS Hybrid (+20%). Within the Prius family Prius Family for Q1, TME reported 5,949 total units: 3,744 for the Prius; 2,066 for the Prius+; and 139 units of the Prius plug-in hybrid. TME also reported 12 units of the Mirai fuel cell vehicle sold. GREENSBORO A distribution and supply company based in New Jersey said Thursday it will move into the 1.6 million-square-foot distribution warehouse that Kmart closed in 2015, creating 60 new jobs. NFI, based in Cherry Hill, N.J., is a privately held company with $1.2 billion in revenue, according to a written statement. The company employs 8,000 people and operates 27.5 million square feet of warehouse and distribution around the world with 2,300 tractors, 8,800 trailers and 2,600 company drivers. The company release said its services include transportation, warehousing, transportation management and global transportation programs. NFI said it has been looking for a year for a location in the Carolinas. We started this project knowing we needed a location in the Triad, Michael Landsburg, NFI vice president of real estate, said in the news release. This location in Greensboro also gives us access to major highways which is essential for our business. The building at 300 Penry Road has been vacant for a year since Kmart closed its distribution center in April 2015, laying off about 130 workers. The company said potential workers can call (866) 634-5627 for more information. In a journey filled with steps, some more meaningful than others, the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite took an important one this week as the North Carolina Railroad Co. closed on a portion of the land it plans to buy. Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan said the company spent $8.5 million for 630 acres of the 875 it has pledged to buy for $13 million. The purchase Wednesday brings the total land under control of the railroad or the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite Foundation to about 1,200 acres enough to attract an automaker or other major manufacturer. They made a significant investment in the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite, Vaughan said. Putting together the patchwork of properties has sometimes been a tenuous process. In 2015, Randolph County spent $10 million to buy 421 acres. Still, that wasnt enough to hold the attention of the remaining property owners who had signed options to sell their land to the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite Foundation, an arm of the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation. For awhile, it looked as if the project would remain in limbo. Then the North Carolina Railroad Co. came out of nowhere to announce plans to buy 875 acres. The North Carolina Railroad is a private company but owned by taxpayers. The company earns all its money from a long-term lease to Norfolk Southern Railway, which uses its rail to haul freight, including two lines through downtown Greensboro. Five drops of blood allowed investigators to make an arrest in the double homicide of Troy and LaDonna French. It would take deputies and forensic investigators in three states nearly three years to make the determination that someone very close to the Frenches had left blood on the stairs of their house on Pinewood Road. Analysis of those blood drops would confirm that deputies should be looking for a relative of John Sanford Alvarez, the husband of Whitley French, the only person to see an intruder shoot her parents dead in the early morning of Feb. 4, 2012. The deaths of Troy French, 48, and LaDonna Moseley French, 45, would become one of the most discussed and analyzed murder cases in the recent history of Rockingham County. For four years investigators, their case once seemingly cold, have tried to determine exactly what happened that night and the identity of a hooded intruder who Whitley French said fired those lethal shots. Finally there was a suspect. Investigators and crime-scene specialists discovered those blood drops as they combed the house at 791 Pinewood Road, in the bucolic community of Bethany, after Whitley French called 911 at 2:12 a.m. Rockingham County Sheriffs Detective Jason Joyce went to the magistrates office to obtain a warrant to enter and search the house. North Carolina Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Kelly Cummings and Rockingham County Detective Bobby Richardson processed the scene, even while Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page held a press conference in front of the house. Investigators found Troy French lying on his back, next to an island in the kitchen, toward the back of the house. LaDonna French lay dead at the base of the stairs, where she had fallen with her head against the front door. A drop of blood was discovered on the stair rail above her body. Four more drops were found on the stairs. By October 2012, preliminary tests by the North Carolina State Crime Lab would confirm that the blood did not belong to Whitley French, her dead parents or numerous other members of the French and Moseley families. Those tests also confirmed the blood belonged to a man, but further identification would have to come from out-of-state labs because the capabilities in North Carolina had been exhausted. Those additional tests would take years. DNA found Investigators have released few details about the direction of the investigation, and numerous warrants and investigative records have been sealed by judges, including four known sealed warrants. One was sealed by Superior Court Judge Moses Massey on May 2, 2012, a second by District Court Judge Tony Grogan on Nov. 1, 2012 and a third by Superior Judge Ed Wilson on Aug. 25, 2015. A fourth was sealed on Sept. 9, 2015, by a judge whose identity has was not on the document. There are no known public records documenting these warrants having been sealed. Employees of the Rockingham County Clerk of Courts Office found them in a vault within the courthouse in Wentworth. Sheriff Page, former Rockingham County District Attorney Phil Berger Jr. and former Chief Assistant District Attorney Julia Hejazi have refused repeatedly to discuss the investigation. But some details of how the investigation unfolded can be found in Page's public remarks at the four press conferences he has conducted since that night. At one of them, on Oct 30, 2012, Page said DNA had been found. He would not elaborate on the source of the DNA. In the hours after the shootings, Whitley French was transported to Annie Penn Hospital in Reidsville and treated for a cut on her arm. Sheriff Sam Page told reporters that Whitley French, John Alvarez (then her boyfriend) and Whitleys brother, Hunter French, were no longer suspects. Sheriffs investigators later would contradict his statement. Page also told reporters that Troy French's gun, a 9-mm Hi-Point handgun, was used in the shootings and that the weapon had not been found. And with the television cameras rolling, Page told reporters he had a message for the suspect: You can run, but you cant hide from your DNA. Controversial test Detectives took DNA samples all simple swabs from inside cheeks from numerous family members and friends who had told investigators they had been inside the house where the Frenches had lived for 14 years. None of those samples directly matched the blood drops detectives found that Saturday morning. Detectives also had found a second male profile from DNA captured from skin fragments found on a house key hidden under the deck behind the house. The test confirmed the key was handled by another male. Unfortunately, a sheriff's investigator also handled it, without wearing gloves, while helping process the homicide scene. Analysts uploaded profiles of the blood drops and the skin fragments along with a sample from Whitley French into a database of known samples maintained by the FBI. They found no match. Investigators then decided to send the DNA samples out of state for what the warrant called familial DNA testing, a type of analysis that allows scientists to match DNA samples to a parent, child or sibling. According to warrants, the samples were sent to the University of North Texas For Human Identification Lab. But they do not appear to have gone to that lab. And Rockingham County District Attorney Craig Blitzer said that, although a lab did that test, it was not North Texas. He declined to say where. According to county payment records, a lab at Marshall University in Huntington, W. Va., charged the sheriffs office more than $1,000 for several DNA tests. The lab's invoice does not specify whose DNA samples were tested, but it does note the kind of DNA testing that was done. According to warrants, that type of testing was completed on John Alvarez, Whitley French's boyfriend in 2012 and now her husband, and several of his relatives. Crime labs in nine states do familial DNA testing. North Carolina is not one of them. Two governments Maryland and Washington, D.C. banned familial DNA testing all together because of ethical concerns. Some law enforcement officials believe familial DNA tests violate privacy laws under the Fourth Amendment because law enforcement agents can test someones DNA without their knowing. Popular in the United Kingdom, familial DNA testing typically is used by investigators to run samples into a database of known criminal DNA in search of partial matches. When a familial DNA test is performed, a scientist takes a DNA sample found on a crime scene and looks for a match to a known criminal in the FBIs database. If there isnt a match, the unknown DNA profile can be put into a second software that looks for profiles that could be related to the suspect sample. That program then will rank the DNA profile to the strongest familial tie. Scientists then perform a short tandem repeat test on the Y-chromosome, which allows investigators to examine the Y-chromosome the male chromosome of the DNA. If the DNA sample came from a woman, they would perform a mitochondrial test, which focuses on the portion of the DNA provided by the mother. These tests determine if the two DNA samples are related. Expert analysis Mitch Morrissey, the district attorney in Denver, in 1988 became the first prosecutor in the United States to develop and use software for familial DNA searching. There is no more effective law enforcement tool out there if youre going to invest a dollar on law enforcement than DNA and the DNA database, Morrissey said. He believes so strongly in the technology he provides other agencies with the tools they need to perform the tests, free of charge. But North Carolinas crime lab does not have the capability to perform this test. Its really kind of disappointing that they dont, Morrissey said. I guarantee there are unsolved cases, rapes and murders that they potentially could solve with familial DNA searching. But its been awfully hard to get them to understand that they can do it, they can do it easily, they can do it with very little costs, and they can get incredible results. Morrissey said that between the states lack of familial testing and the way deputies describe the test, he believes the wrong term was used in the warrants issued by investigators in Rockingham County. People misuse the terms all the time, Morrissey said. Its my understanding North Carolina does not do familial searching, and if they did, they wouldnt need to go to Marshall to do it. They would just do it on their system. I would call what they did the partial DNA match investigation. A partial DNA search takes a known suspects DNA and searches for similarities between the DNA sample found on the crime scene. In this case, the sample was compared with John Alvarezs for similarities. Through DNA analysis, investigators already had enough information to focus on John Alvarezs family. Instead of using a database, a scientist closely looks at the two DNA samples to see if there are enough similarities to prove two people are related, Morrissey said. You then have the question: Is he related to who committed this crime? Focus on the Alvarezes On Oct. 31, 2014, results from DNA tests returned to investigators revealed a partial match to John Alvarez. A partial match shows that there are enough DNA strands to confirm a family relationship. This test confirmed a parent or child of his most likely left those drops of blood at the scene of the crime. But more analysis was needed. According to a warrant, one of the labs used by the county recommended a Y-STR test. The best way to tell this (if the DNA is a brother or father) is to run a forty-dollar Y-STR test from him and the sample, Morrissey said. What that does is tell you youre not barking up the wrong tree. That test changed this nearly three-year process of trying to determine who might have killed Troy and LaDonna French. John Alvarez has not fathered any children, and the Y-STR results excluded his parents as sources for the blood drops. These tests concluded that it was more likely the DNA strand came from a second-order relative of John Alvarez. Scientists consider parents, children and siblings first-order relatives. Second-order relatives are grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and half-siblings. Elaine and Jose Alvarez Sr. married on Feb. 6, 1987. Two weeks later, Jose Alvarez Jr. was born. John Alvarez was born in 1992. The brothers have two other brothers, ages 14 and 7. The test could have confirmed if the DNA profile came from John Alvarezs brother. Deputies wrote in a search warrant that the next test performed was called phenotyping, which breaks down an organisms genetic makeup. The sheriffs office paid $3,500 to Parabon Nanolabs, in Reston, Va., for a snapshot analysis, which includes mitochondria DNA tests. The results of those tests proved two things: The DNA was of a Caucasian male who was half-Latino and that the DNA came from someone related to Elaine Alvarez, the mother of John Alvarez and his three brothers. But not to Jose Alvarez Sr., their father. DNA experts began searching for a male relative on Elaine Alvarezs side of the family (a half sibling of John Alvarez, an uncle, a grandfather or a son of a sister). A final twist On May 11, 2015, Rockingham County Detectives Marcus Marshall and Ed Smaldone visited the Alvarez house in Stokesdale and obtained DNA samples from Jose Silvano Alvarez Sr. and Jose Silvano Alvarez Jr., John Alvarezs father and older brother. Detectives swabbed inside the cheeks of both men. Their DNA samples, along with samples from John Alvarez and Elaine Alvarez, were sent to the lab at Marshall University for further analysis to support earlier findings. The DNA profile also was sent to the state crime lab for confirmation. Thats when investigators found their match. On June 9, 2015, detectives learned the five drops of blood came from Jose Silvano Alvarez Jr. By default, the tests also confirmed something heretofore unknown: that Jose Alvarez Sr. was not the father of his namesake. Detectives spoke again with Jose Alvarez Sr., who said his oldest son had moved to an apartment on Cottage Place in Greensboro just seven days after detectives swabbed him and the same week that John Alvarez would marry Whitley French. The wedding had been planned for months. Jose Alvarez Jr. served as a groomsman for his brother even as detectives were planning to arrest him on charges that he murdered his new sister-in-laws parents. On Aug. 25, 2015, nearly 43 months after Troy and LaDonna French were killed in their home, he was taken into custody. Thanks to Margaret Moffett for her coverage of the Medicaid hearing (April 8). North Carolina is one of a number of states in which Republican-controlled legislatures have opted not to accept federal money for the expansion of Medicaid. It has been well documented how this policy has cost North Carolina billions of dollars, caused our private and employee insurance premiums to go up and resulted in hundreds of deaths each year. The question is, why would the McCrory administration pursue such a disastrous, inhumane course of action? I have come to the conclusion that it has much to do with racism. GREENWICH The Board of Selectmen has pushed the New Lebanon School project forward, voting to abandon the towns right of way on portions of Church Street, Richard Street and New Lebanon Avenue. The move, which also requires approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission, affects 23,058 square feet of town-owned roadway to be used as an access route for delivery and maintenance trucks to reach the school. The roadway, which is currently used for parking, is to be limited to truck traffic. Nick Macri, a member of the zoning commission and the New Lebanon School Building Committee, told the selectmen before they voted Thursday that zoning would not move forward with other needed approvals without the right of way being abandoned. We need to maintain our schedule for the project with funding and the approvals process, he said. The new route would allow for daily deliveries of food and milk, twice-weekly visits by maintenance trucks, twice-monthly school supply dropoffs; and four weekly trash pickups. The truck traffic would occur during school hours, but the route would be fenced off to prevent through traffic. A few residents have expressed concern about the trucks. The selectmen have receives three emails from residents opposed to the change. First Selectman Peter Tesei read them into the record before the vote. The greater Byram community needs to understand the consequences of giving up land for a roadway, Suzanne Wahba wrote. Judy Crystal wrote that she was concerned additional traffic posed an accident waiting to happen given heavy pedestrian activity in the area with the school and Byram Shubert Library. Wahba attended the meeting and talked with Macri about the scope of the project. He said the impact would not be what residents fear. Selectman Drew Marzullo, a member of the projects building committee, said he understands the concerns but said the change is necessary for the school project to go forward and he trusts the assessment that the community will not be disrupted. kborsuk@scni.com Two ramen burgers, coming up. Photo: Brendan McDermid/Reuters/Corbis Seamless has long been the go-to name in online food delivery, but recent competition from companies such as Caviar, Maple, Postmates, and even Uber have made the market very crowded in New York. Plus, more are on the way: David Chang will soon launch a delivery-only Momofuku brand, and theres even Good Bytes, a brand-new group delivering vegetarian lunch boxes to buildings in Dumbo, with a portion of the proceeds supporting Brooklyn public schools. So now Seamless, which is owned by GrubHub, has begun rolling out a new service in New York that it hopes will help the company maintain its position as the market leader. The current crop of delivery start-ups all have slightly different models and features. Maple, where David Chang is also involved, has its own kitchens. Caviar has been building a network of eateries since 2013 and has more than 400 restaurant partners in New York. Postmates takes a more laissez-fare approach by not officially partnering with restaurants and instead just getting their food to customers as quickly as possible (though over the past year it has added some official partners by featuring their food on Postmates Plus and offering lower delivery fees). And Seamless, of course, doesnt actually deliver food in New York; it merely connects customers to restaurants who use their own couriers. Thats going to change with the companys new turnkey service, which it first launched in other cities last year and is now debuting in Brooklyn and Queens. (The company has been pumping resources into delivery infrastructure as of late. In 2015 alone, Seamless bought three regional restaurant-delivery outfits: Delivered Dish, Restaurants on the Run, and DiningIn. At the same time, it also expanded the service from just one city Chicago to nearly 50 others.) Seamless lists ten New York restaurants using its service so far, including Original Ramen Burger and Cemitas El Tigre in Queens, along with No. 7 North, Mighty Quinns, and Gladys in Brooklyn. Delivery will take about 30 minutes with an additional fee of 99 cents.* Currently, UberEATS does not charge a fee but will be adding a flat fee at some point in the future. Caviars fee runs from $1.99 to $6.99. A rep for Seamless says the company also expects to scale up quickly, meaning Manhattan delivery should arrive sooner rather than later. By sending its own messengers to restaurants, Seamless might also finally be able to stamp out the so-called ghost restaurants that still (possibly) haunt the sites traditional listings. *This post has been updated. The information originally provided by Seamless indicated the delivery fee started at $1.50, which is what the company charges in markets outside of New York. The post has also been edited to clarify that Postmate does partner with certain restaurants. Boca Kitchen Bar is one of the restaurants critic Laura Reiley called out. Photo: Joseph Victor Stefanchik/The Washington Post via Getty Images Farm-to-table is mostly fiction. Thats the thesis of todays most compelling newspaper story, anyway. Veteran Tampa Bay Times restaurant critic Laura Reiley takes a thoroughly impressive, deeply compelling dive into Tampa Bays farm-to-table restaurant scene and found fraud, mistakes, and misrepresentation across the board. The reality, the journalist writes, is a fairy tale, sold to consumers who want to feel better about what theyre eating, by sometimes-sketchy restaurants that dont mind stretching the truth. Over the course of two months of reporting, the critic discovered a litany of offenses: a restaurant selling prized Florida blue crab that was actually from the Indian Ocean, tilapia being sold in place of grouper, and offenses that go way beyond seafood fraud (which is now depressingly common). Another restaurant claims its quail, pork, and dairy comes from local farms, when its all acquired from big-time purveyors. One spots menu boasts food free of hormones, antibiotics, chemical additives, genetic modification, and virtually from scratch. Its staff touts homemade cheese curds that actually come from a box, and the main ingredient in fish and chips is preservative-treated Chinese pollack being passed off as wild Alaskan. Most amusingly, that restaurant, Mermaid Tavern, sells a Fuck Monsanto Salad that supposedly stands against GMOs. But when Reiley contacted the restaurants wholesaler, the critic learned that Unless youre buying from Sanwas small organic section, theres no way to assure youre getting non-GMO. Even some certified organic foods have been found to contain GMOs. Whats so impressive about the story is the way in which Reiley systematically goes restaurant by restaurant, and even chef by chef, confronting them directly on their fraudulent claims for roughly 6,000 words. The most common excuse when an operator is confronted with the truth about their non-local ingredients: The menu is simply out of date and needs to be refreshed. Yet many of the local farmers name-checked by these trendy restaurants say their work is being taken advantage of, and, as one put it to the critic, their names on the menu are used as billboards the restaurants advertise the provenance of their ingredients but often swap them out for something cheaper, ensuring the real farmers dont see any actual benefit. Part of the problem is customers dont want to pay for food that is truly local, but another is that theres very little government oversight: just 191 inspectors for the states 40,000 or so restaurants. As you might expect, this problem is definitely not isolated to Florida. San Diego magazine published a similar story last year also called Farm-to-Fable about similar problems in that citys food scene. Farm-to-table was maybe once an admirable goal, but now its just a co-opted image used to up-sell stuff thats not any better then whatd you get at a restaurant that admits to using commodity products. [Tampa Bay Times] This is huge. Photo: Tim Ho Wan Hong Kong hole in the wall Tim Ho Wan made waves in 2009 when it received a Michelin star for dim sum that, at the time, all cost around $5 or less a plate. The restaurants reputation and mystique has only grown since then, with Anthony Bourdain recently naming it to his personal dream list of vendors for his forthcoming Bourdain Market. Now the restaurant will come to New York this September but chef Mak Kwai Pui, who worked at the three-Michelin-starred Lung King Heen before opening his restaurant, will be doing it on his own terms. In recent months, Gor has expanded beyond Hong Kong, where he runs five Tim Ho Wan restaurants, with a slew of outposts now open or opening in Australia, Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Thailand. The New York location will be his first in the United States, and Gor tells the Village Voice that hes looking for a local Chinese face to helm the kitchen. Throughout expansion, he says, hes sought chefs that understand the local clientele, and while the Tim Ho Wan here will maintain the dim sum format, look for it to embrace New Yorks beef obsession. Assuming Gor finds the right chef, this could be huge news for the city and its dim sum scene, which has long lagged behind har gow hot spots like Vancouver and Hong Kong, of course. [Village Voice] Earlier last month, there were reports that Samsung is shutting down its Milk Music radio service. Later that month, the shutdown was confirmed, at-least by the Australian Milk Music team. However, looks like Samsung hasn't yet completely given up on the service, as it has now been launched in China. Focusing on local content (over a million tracks accessible) at the moment, the app is currently only available for download on the Galaxy S7, the Galaxy S7 edge and the A9 Pro smartphones in China. However, reports say that international content as well as availability on more devices will follow. Via Haitians in New York City are flocking in great numbers to the campaign of challenger Bernie Sanders, hoping to give leading Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton a little payback for her meddling in Haitis 2010-11 election when she was the U.S. Secretary of State. On the evening of Apr. 12, about 15 Haitians gathered at the Sanders mobilizing office at 1300 Flatbush Ave., corner of Foster Ave., to plan canvassing routes and lawn sign distribution for the campaign. We had a good meeting, and everyone is very motivated, said Marlene Jean-Noel, a veteran Haitian activist who had proposed a Haitian march and rally with Sanders the day before to Nadya Stevens, NY State Director for Bernie 2016. Jean-Noel had gone to the Sanders campaign headquarters in Gowanus with a delegation from a recently formed Haitians for Bernie Sanders coalition, one of at least three which have popped up in the New York Haitian community. If Haitians unite in a strategic alliance behind the Sanders campaign, this can influence large sectors of the black American Democratic Party base who are either fooled by the Clinton campaigns propaganda or, if they sympathize with Sanders message, as many do, are fearful that he cannot win, Jean-Noels coalition wrote in a statement which was given to Stevens. If Sanders wins New York State [in the Apr. 19 primary], this will be a crushing blow to Hillary Clinton, not just in terms of its large number of delegates, but symbolically and psychologically, because she was the states senator. Haitians are primarily angry that Hillary intervened in Haitis sovereign elections to make Haitian President Michel Martelly president in 2011. But they also condemn her for fighting the Haitian Parliaments efforts in 2009 to raise the Haitian minimum wage to $5 a day (winning $3 instead), impeding exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristides return home in 2011, and, after the 2010 earthquake, unilaterally deploying in Haiti without permission 22,000 U.S. troops, who brought more guns than gauze. Clinton also always supported MINUSTAH, the hugely unpopular UN military occupation of Haiti, first deployed after the 2004 coup detat against Aristide. Haitian ire also comes from the record of Bill Clinton, who is blamed for hijacking the post-earthquake Interim Haiti Recovery Commissions $13 billion in international aid to build sweatshops and luxury hotels and for destroying Haitis rice production by dumping cheap Arkansas rice on the country. (Clinton now publicly admits that this was a terrible mistake, the consequences of which he must live with for the rest of my life.) On Sun., Apr. 17 at 3 p.m., Haitians will join in a rally outside Clinton campaign headquarters at 1 Pierrepont St. in Brooklyn to denounce her role not only in Haiti, but in Honduras, Libya, Syria, and the Ukraine as well. Always a hawk, she was a fervent supporter of the attack on Iraq and not only supported the invasion of Afghanistan but pushed for even greater involvement, the international coalition organizing that rally wrote. With perfect timing, on Apr. 11, Counterpunch published an account of how Clinton used her soft power to shoehorn Martelly into office. The article was an excerpt from the recent book International Crossroads and Failures in Haiti by Ricardo Seitenfus, a Brazilian law professor who was the Organization of American States (OAS) Special Representative to Haiti from 2009 to 2011. After the earthquake, Hillarys idea was to transform Haiti into a Taiwan of the Caribbean, with maquiladoras, an apparel industry, tourism, and call centers, Seitenfus explained. These would be the niche sectors that would guide the new cooperation framework. In this plan, the particularities of Haiti itself didnt matter much. Seitenfus explains how in a December 2010 diplomatic meeting on Haitis election crisis, he and then Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive turned back the U.S. Ambassador and his allies who had plotted a coup against Haitian President Rene Preval. However, the coup would come a month later, Seitenfus explained, when on Sunday, January 30, 2011, the unavoidable foreign actor in the recurring Haitian political crisis decided to put an end to the dispute. Hillary Clinton had arrived in Port-au-Prince. Seitenfus masterfully relates how, with the couched euphemisms of a Mafia don, Hillary commanded Preval, without doing so, to withdraw his protege, Jude Celestin, from the presidential race if he wanted to reserve for himself a special place in the pantheon of Haitis history and the struggle for democracy in the continent. Preval replied with an emotive, albeit enigmatic smile, Seitenfus concludes. It was only him who knew that the crisis had reached its epilogue at that moment. Clinton has a few Haitian-American elected officials supporting her, like New York State Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte. However, those endorsements dont count for much among the Haitian grassroots, where influential radios, like Radio Panou, are running pro-Sanders spots. Bernie Sanders has beaten Hillary Clinton in seven out of the past eight primaries, but if she loses New York, it could be her Waterloo. Haitians are pushing hard to make it just that. Haiti - FLASH : A tanker truck collided with a Tap-tap Wednesday afternoon, on the National Road #2, in the area of Chavannes (Dufort), commune of Leogane, a tanker truck filled with fuel collided with a public transport vehicle (Tap-tap). Following impact, the tanker burst into flames and exploded, killing several people and causing important damage. It is unclear at the moment how much the Tap-tap carrying passengers who mostly died in the flames. Emergency workers of the National Ambulance Center (CAN) quickly intervened to rush the injured to hospital. TB/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Diplomacy : Official visit of the Haitian Chancellor in DR Wednesday Dominican Chancellor Andres Navarro received the official visit of his Haitian counterpart Pierrot Delienne, in order to initiate the revival of the bilateral political dialogue between the two nations. Chancellor Delienne was received at first by Navarro in private audience. Following the closed session, during a joint press conference Navarro declared aside Delienne "We appreciate this official visit to the country of Mr. Chancellor Delienne, the Dominican Republic remains open to a political dialogue with the Haitian authorities and in the best disposition to resume talks that will allow to boost bilateral relations and to facilitate the common work for the well-being of our two peoples." After the private meeting between the two Chancellors, the two ministers held an enlarged meeting to the "Salon Los Espejos" of the Chancellery, with Dominican and Haitian delegations. The Haitian delegation led by Chancellor Delienne, was composed of the Chief of Staff of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Madelain Fils-Aime; the Special Adviser to the Chancellor Dorothy Senatus; the Director of Political Affairs, Jean C. Augustave; the Director of Dominican affairs, Idalbert Jean Pierre and the technical secretary for the Haitian part of the Joint Binational Commission (CMB) dominicaino-Haitian, Leon Charles. The Dominican delegation led by Chancellor Navarro was composed of the Deputy Minister Alejandra Liriano, responsible for foreign policy; Deputy Minister Cesar Dargam, in charge of economic affairs and trade negotiations; Vice Minister Nelly Perez in charge of consular Affairs and the Dominican Ambassador in Haiti, Ruben Silie. Also participated in that enlarged meeting. Alberto Despradel, Chief of the Haitian Affairs; Julio Santana, Director of Mirex cabinet; Arlette Palacios, Director of Cooperation; Roberto Martinez Villanueva, Executive Director of CMB and Kenia Angeles, Director of Migration. At this meeting were discussed common problems of vital importance for the development of both countries to be included in the agenda of the Commission, such as, among others: cooperation, trade, investment, environment, energy, migration and energy. Following the expanded meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Andres Navarro declared "We have officially received the new Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierrot Delienne to dynamize, through the CMB the development of the binational agenda. We are very optimistic that this will be a space for open dialogue, espectful, understanding and with an attitude of good neighborly relations between all." See also : https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-17148-icihaiti-diplomacy-soon-a-visit-of-the-haitian-chancellor-in-dr.html SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Diplomacy : The Consulate General of Haiti in Montreal outraged ! In a press release dated April 12, the Consulate General of Haiti in Montreal informs the Haitian community in particular and the public in general "having became aware of statements unworthy, shameful and displaced of the former Canadian deputy Andre Arthur, on Radio CHOI 981 Radio X Quebec, on April 7, 2016, during the show "Moreault en jase" with Roby Moreault broadcasted 9h00 to 11h30. Faced with this slanderous slippage, the Consular Mission is committed to take its responsibility and will do everything in its power to restore the dignity denied, of the Haitian people and the Haitian community in Quebec in particular. Assured of the deep friendship between Quebec and Haiti, and the hospitality of the host society, which allowed the Haitian community to participate in the construction and development of Quebec, the Consulate recommends everyone to keep calm, waiting for repair be done. We learned that a meeting was held at the Consulate of Haiti in Montreal between the Consul General, Kurdy Lareche and Anastisia Marcelin, Vice President of the League of Blacks of Quebec around the remark made by Mr. Arthur. Recall for those who do not know that Andre Arthur (71 years old) who is called in the world of Quebec radio "King Arthur" has a long career as radio host, which has a reputation to make controversial comments on all subjects without distinction, without concession, corrosive and often provocative.... Statments of Andre Arthur in the Show "Moreault en jase" of April 7 : HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping politics... First Council of Government of PM Wednesday, Prime Minister, Jean-Charles, presided his first Council of Government On the agenda: the report on the ban on imports by road of 23 Dominican products, Customs control contracts, the preparation for the hurricane season and the state of the situation and the ongoing projects in the ministries and the prospects and finally the amending budget. Privert met with members of the CEP Wednesday at the National Palace, President a.i. Jocelerme Privert, met with members of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) "We discussed the elections and also the question of the establishment of the Verification Commission. We received a draft, but it is not yet the final terms of reference [...] We also had the chance to listenthe small working group which is currently planning the terms of reference of the Verification Commission," declared Leopold Berlanger, President of the CEP. The OAS received at the National Palace Wednesday at the National Palace, Jocelerme Privert, received an OAS delegation headed by the Secretary General Luis Almagro. The Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, also met in turn the Senate President Ronald Lareche, and the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Cholzer Chancy, in Haiti. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17152-haiti-elections-the-oas-secretary-general-will-meet-privert.html The Head of State will not participate in the lunch of the Haitiano-Dominican friendship Contrary to rumors circulating in several Haitian media, President a.i. Privert will not travel to Santiago, Dominican Republic for the lunch of the Haitiano-Dominican friendship April 17, in the framework of the Week of the diaspora organized by an interagency committee of the Haitian community under the coordination of the Foundation Zile. Note that the Diaspora Week in the Dominican Republic is sponsored by Western Union / Vimenca, UNIBANK Foundation and the Haitian government through the Ministry of Culture and Communication. Courtesy visit of the US Ambassador Tuesday, Aviol Fleurant, the Minister of Planning and External Cooperation received in his office the Ambassador of the United States accredited to Port-au-Prince, Peter F. Mulrean who was accompanied by Jene Thomas, the Director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The Minister Fleurant took advantage of this courtesy visit, to evoke some key points of the Haitian-American cooperation. HL/ HaitiLibre Published on 2016/04/14 | Source 'Descendants of the Sun' has ended. Advertisement The last episode of KBS 2TV's Wednesday & Thursday drama, 'Descendants of the Sun' depicted the happy ending for Yoo Si-jin (Song Joong-ki) and Kang Mo-yeon (Song Hye-kyo) couple and Seo Dae-yeong (Jin Goo) and Yoon Myeong-joo (Kim Ji-won) couple. In the previous episode, while Kang Mo-yeon were living her daily life on the verge of tears because she thought Yoo Si-jin was dead. However, Yoo Si-jin appeared alive in front of Kang Mo-yeon, when she went to Albania to work as a volunteer as a way to commemorate the first year anniversary of his death. Seo Dae-yeong was also alive. Seo Dae-yeong showed up in front of Yoon Myeong-joo, who was dispatched back to Uruk. The two shared a tearful kiss. Seo Dae-yeong said, "I'll never leave you" answering the question from Yoon Myeong-joo one year ago. What happened was that High Rank Ahn (Ji Seung-hyun) saved the two soldiers. Yoo Si-jin and Kang Mo-yeon, Seo Dae-yeong and Yoon Myeong-joo enjoyed the lovely time. The love between Yoo Si-jin and Kang Mo-yeon became even stronger while they enjoyed the sweet dates. Seo Dae-yeong and Yoon Myeong-joo whispered sweet nothings through phone calls between Korea and Uruk. Yoon Myeong-joo's father Lieutenant General Yoon (Kang Shin-il) approved their relationship. Yoo Si-jin and Kang Mo-yeon attended convocations of Korea Military Academy and a medical school respectively. And Kang Mo-yeon's narration overlapped the scenes, "We shall not yield to any disasters although we might face threatening. We will endeavor to keep peace in this world from any ammunition and alike. Today, numerous Yoo Si-jins and numerous Kang Mo-yeons pledged. I cheered for them so their pledge will be realized in all lands under the sun". Yoo Si-jin and Kang Mo-yeon went back to Uruk to place a rock. The two shared a passionate kiss. Watch on Viki Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby. 09:00, 23 OCT 2022 lier this month, Air Frances head of HR responded to uproar from female flight attendants who refused to don headscarfs on the airlines Paris Tehran route by presenting staff with an opt-out clause.Any flight attendantswho didnt wish to comply with the airlines request to wear trousers and a headscarf on the flight to Iran would be reassigned to another flight, the French airline said.Australian employers should take note of how Air France handled this issue and be mindful that discrimination claims could arise if they request their staff to wear certain clothing, says lawyer Bianca Mazzarella from McDonald Murholme.A staff member can refuse to wear an item of clothing if the direction is not reasonable and it is discriminatory, Mazzarella told HC Online.Any request from an employer must be deemed reasonable and lawful in order to protect the employer from unwanted legal action, such as an unfair dismissal, adverse action or discrimination claim, she says.Employers should make sure that all directions are lawful, reasonable and do not discriminate on any basis, Mazzarella says.They should take care to accommodate employees who refuse to do so on the basis of their own religious/political beliefs. This will prevent any future claim against the employer, she says.HR professionals can implement clear policies in relation to dress codes and ensure all employees are aware of and agree to the terms of the policy, Mazzarella says.It is widely accepted that there is nothing to prevent employers from setting uniform standards and require their employees to comply, provided that the direction is reasonable and does not discriminate against employees, she says.And if the employee refuses to wear the item of clothing, employers may then take steps to terminate their employment, usually by way of the employer issuing warnings and requesting meetings in relation to same.If there is a reasonable and lawful direction from an employer for their employee to wear head scarfs and the employee refuses to do so, they may take disciplinary action including termination against the employee, Mazzarella says.If the employee feels that such a termination was unjust, unfair or unreasonable they may exercise their work place rights under the Fair Work Act 2009 and lodge an unfair dismissal application with the Fair Work Commission , she says. use of unpaid student workers in Victorias public hospitals is part of a greater trend among the Australian workforce which could ultimately expose employers to exploitation claims, employment lawyers say.Employers who exploit student workers could be exposing themselves to unnecessary legal consequences, including investigation by the employment watchdog and a damaged reputation.The use of students in public hospitals without payment is further evidence of a worrying trend devaluing young peoples skills and humiliating them, says McDonald Murholme Managing Director, Alan McDonald.The government encourages young people to extend their study programs, so it is important for hospitals not to exploit them just because they are students, McDonald says.Nothing good flows from this, the students are forced to be financially dependent for an extended period and others including parents are forced to support them, he says.The Victorian Government has recently come under fire for allowing students and interns to carry out high-level clinical tasks such as x-rays, physiotherapy and occupational therapy, the union representing allied health professionals says.The Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association says patient care could be compromised because the hospitals didnt have enough resources to train students.And its not just hospitals that have come under fire for using student labour the issue is endemic within the Australian workforce, McDonald says.The exploitation of student workers in Australia has become a real problem, he says.Employers who use students and interns as a source of cheap labour could be faced with a bill for wages down the track, McDonald warns.The risk is that because the labour is free, the employer will lose track of the amount of time provided, but of course the student will not, McDonald told HC Online.The employer may find that later the student claims to be an employee demanding payment for a large number of hours that the employee has logged, he says.The employer may have no official record and the rate of pay will be calculated according to the Fair Work Act and may be at a rate much higher than the employer expected, McDonald says.The employer may face an ombudsman investigation and no one wants to bare the embarrassment of a regulator investigating their conduct,The employer is unlikely to win any sympathy from the courts and may even be subject to penalties in addition to the unpaid wages. Possibly, adverse publicity may follow as well.Employers who engage students and interns, even on work experience, must be aware that a token payment should be made where short periods of work are involved.A statement of acknowledgement of service is very helpful to the student or intern and can confirm the volunteer nature of the work at the same time, McDonald says.Where longer periods of work are involved (e.g. more than one month), a letter of engagement describing the training offered by the employer to the student-intern, together with the duration of the work should be described.The student-intern would come to appreciate the value of the opportunity, the relationship should not sour by the student or intern failing to appreciate the opportunity and later demand payment for the privilege enjoyed, McDonald says.However, employers should ensure that the work done by the student or intern must include a benefit to both the employer and employee and not merely be a substitution for paid employees. Blowing Rock School Reading Intervention Specialist Dr. Laurie Nelson-Gill has been selected for Special Honors for the national Winslow Coyne Reitnouer Excellence in Teaching Award, the only teacher in North Carolina to receive this recognition. The Reitnouer Award honors teachers for leadership in using best practices to help students with disabilities become better readers. It is sponsored by Learning Ally, a national non-profit organization dedicated to helping blind, visually impaired and dyslexic students succeed in education. Learning Allys Jenny Falke stated that Dr. Gill was nominated for the award for making a profound difference in the lives of students with print disabilities, for encouraging a love of reading, and for her commitment to driving student success. Gills recognition in part reflects her advocacy for using Dragon tablet devices and specialized reading software to help students overcome barriers to proficient reading. The purchase of the devices was funded by a grant of $1,000 from the Watauga Education Foundation (WEF) and a donation from a school family. Gill and four of her Blowing Rock School colleagues wrote the grant to the WEF, a local non-profit that supports enriched learning in the Watauga County Schools through grants that fund innovative instruction for students and professional development for teachers. The new tablets and software offer crucial advantages to help struggling readers. One especially important feature is synchronized voice text highlighting that allows students to follow along with highlighted print as they listen and to adjust the speed of the real human voice (not synthesized speech) on the recording. Gill says these advances can revolutionize the educational lives of challenged readers. It allows them to read independently like their peers, and the sooner they can do that, the sooner and more successfully they can prepare for middle school, high school, and college. Gill praised the work of her colleagues and their rapid embrace of new tools for helping students. She took special note of the pioneering work of Doug Herman and Marcia Winkler in applying the approaches at Blowing Rock, Lee Carter at Bethel Elementary, and the success of Tracy Markland in using the program at Watauga High School. While deeply appreciative of the work of school system colleagues in adopting new approaches, Gill believes that accelerating the progress of print-challenged students cant be done just during the school day. It really requires a communal effort. I like to keep parents informed about what were doing and how we can do more, and I keep up with research and new developments to find where I can plug it in to strengthen instruction. Gill believes in a two-pronged approach for working with students. We will only transform the lives of the print-challenged when we move mountains to make sure they are being taught on both their reading level and their listening level. This allows them to develop ideas and vocabulary at the highest level possible while learning to read at an appropriate instructional level. One students mother wrote a letter that vividly illustrates the value of Gills work, stating that She combines her clinical understanding of how to teach struggling students to read with advances in understanding dyslexia and instructional technology. Ms. Gills expertise combined with her gentle tone was the perfect combination. This mothers son had struggled with reading in first grade and is now a proficient reader unaware that he had a reading problem when younger. The letter says that Ms. Gills expertise and knowledge of reading curriculum and print book awareness were the cornerstones of his achievement, but her personalityone of understanding and carewas also pivotal to our sons success and love of reading. She has bottomless faith that all students can learn to read. I cant say enough about how well-deserving she is of this award. Gill has taught in the Watauga County Schools for six years and was 2012-13 Teacher of the Year at Green Valley School. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket Blue Ridge Conservancy is pleased to welcome Wendy Patoprsty to the team as the new, full-time Project Director for the Middle Fork Greenway. Wendy moved to Watauga County in 2000 after receiving a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture from the University of Georgia. She started with Watauga County Cooperative Extension in 2001 as a grant funded Water Quality Technician and was hired as a Natural Resource Extension Agent in 2003. In this position Wendy collaborated in community development projects including stream restoration, urban stormwater projects and community environmental education. In 2014 Wendy received her Masters degree in Geography from Appalachian State University. Being a part of Blue Ridge Conservancy is a dream come true for me, said Patoprsty. I am grateful for my 15 years of service working as the Natural Resource Extension Agent in Watauga and Avery counties as it gave me a great foundation for community development and environmental stewardship. I am thrilled to work with the Middle Fork Greenway team to establish the greenway trail linking the Boone and Blowing Rock communities. I believe this project is another step towards improving the quality of life for the residents and visitors of the High Country. It is so exciting to visualize riding a bike safely down the Hwy 321 corridor while getting to experience the beauty of our mountain headwater streams. Ann Browning has served as the Middle Fork Greenway Interim Director for the past two and a half years. Ann built tremendous momentum for the Middle Fork Greenway with her experience building the Carolina Thread Trail, a 15 county initiative to connect trails, open space and regional attractions in NC. With Anns leadership and the dedicated Middle Fork Greenway Task Force, one mile of the greenway has been completed. Anns involvement with the Middle Fork Greenway will continue as Blue Ridge Conservancys Board of Trustees President. The Middle Fork of the New River Greenway will connect the towns of Boone and Blowing Rock with about 7 miles of trails. The path will follow along the Middle Fork of the New River, rising in Blowing Rock and flowing north to Boone, where, joined by the East Fork and Winklers Creek, it empties into the South Fork of the New River. The greenway is landscaped with native trees, shrubs, and grasses that absorb rainwater runoff, filter pollution, trap sediment, shade and stabilize streambanks, and ultimately improve water quality. These benefits to the environment and the community will lead to a stronger economy by increasing property value, promoting eco-tourism, and expanding opportunities for established and new businesses. Wendy plans to integrate her experience with the cooperative extension with the development of the Middle Fork Greenway to protect the natural resources along the Middle Fork of the New River for future generations to enjoy. She is confident that the project will ultimately be a success due to the incredible outpouring of support from local businesses, residents, the towns of Boone and Blowing Rock, Watauga County, NC DOT, and a multitude of agencies, funders, and non-profits. A $168,750 donation by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina provided the matching funds for a $196,192 grant received by Blue Ridge Conservancy from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund. The combined funds will be used to purchase a 12 acre tract along approximately two-thirds of a mile of the Middle Fork of the South Fork New River, enabling an extension of the existing greenway and the connection of two pocket parks. Funds to construct the greenway on the 12 acre tract are being pursued. Once the trail is constructed, almost two miles of the 6.5 mile greenway will be completed. Other current priorities for the MFG include securing funding to complete construction on the Chestnut Ridge and National Park Service properties near Blowing Rock and advancing the Boone section through the Wellness District to connect to the Boone Greenway. About Blue Ridge Conservancy BRC is a private, non-profit, non-governmental organization incorporated in North Carolina. BRC has protected over 18,500 acres in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey Counties. In addition to protecting working farmland, BRCs efforts have resulted in the creation of state natural areas like Beech Creek Bog, Bear Paw State Natural Area and Bullhead Mountain. We continue to help Elk Knob State park expand its borders and established Pond Mountain Game Land in Ashe County. More information about Blue Ridge Conservancy is available at www.blueridgeconservancy.org. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket There were enormous concerns even overstated ones, also in the media that the people who are crossing the border to Finland to apply for asylum, that there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of them in Russia, he stated during his visit to Ivalo, Eastern Lapland. President Sauli Niinisto has dismissed the criticism levelled against the agreement reached by Finland and Russia to reduce cross-border traffic into Eastern Lapland. Of course we had to take action. The second option would've been not to pursue an agreement and see where that'll take us. Both I and the Government determined that this isn't the approach we should take, he added. The agreement, he reminded, was born out of the initiative of Finland. Russia had no need to make an agreement. Even though the end result of our willingness may not follow our proposal to the letter, it doesn't mean that the agreement isn't absolutely necessary for us, said Niinisto. Heidi Hautala (Greens), a Member of the European Parliament, suggested in an interview with Iltalehti on Wednesday that the bilateral agreement only protects the interests of Russia. The establishment of a passport union of three countries Belarus, Finland and Russia is really a questionable concession. Finland has neglected the fact that it's an EU country and that also EEA [European Economic Area] citizens fall within the scope of the freedom of movement. We've unjustly restricted the right of the union's citizens to cross borders, she stated. The agreement to reduce cross-border traffic was unveiled after Niinisto sat down with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow in late March. Niinisto also revealed that he and Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre) discussed the issue with other EU member states before making the agreement and that the member states expressed their hope that Finland would seek a bilateral solution to the issue. Not a single member state voiced their doubts about the proposal to close the two northernmost border-crossing points to other EU citizens, according to a bulletin from the Office of the President. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Otto Ponto Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi Actress Aoibhin heads to the States next with Gate Theatre (Arthur Carron) Former Fair City actress Aoibhin Garrihy for missing the Iftas - she was on holiday with fiance John Burke. Despite being a regular attendee at the event, she turned down an invite to walk the red carpet at the Mansion House in favour of flying over to Tenerife to top up her tan for the week. The happy couple were no doubt delighted to enjoy some time away together ahead of their summer wedding, which will take place at John's hotel in Co Clare. In-demand Aoibhin (28) will also be heading over to South Carolina in June as the Gate Theatre continues its tour of The Importance of Being Earnest. This comes after her two-week stint as spoiled southsider Sorcha in Ross O'Carroll Kelly's stage comedy Breaking Dad. The actress said she was now "back into the corsets" for Oscar Wilde's famous play Work "It's going to South Carolina for the Spoleto Festival," she said. "Every second year the Gate Theatre bring a production to the festival over there so we're going this year - and I can't wait." When Aoibhin returns from her work trip to the States, she won't have long to add the final touches to her wedding. She will walk down the aisle in her dad's native Doolin before a bash in fiance John's Armada Hotel in nearby Spanish Point. The actress was turning heads on Tuesday night as she cut a chic figure at the fun-filled launch of Frockadvisor's third annual Fashion Independents Day at the trendy new Zozimus Bar at Anne's Lane. The event will be hosted by well-known Irish fashion figures Sonya Lennon and Brendan Courtney. Taking place this year on April 21, the annual event is aimed at supporting independent boutiques. The gang boss is the chief suspect in the disappearance and suspected murder of Willie Maughan A feared gang boss - who is being investigated for three gruesome murders - is said to be "furious" after another gang moved in on his turf, taking advantage of the fact that he has been locked up in jail since early January. The 34-year-old mobster is the chief suspect for ordering the double murders of Willie Maughan (34) and his partner Anna Varslavane (21), who disappeared without trace from Gormanston, Co Meath, on this day last year. The Traveller criminal, who is suspected of being behind their murders, has been held on remand in Cloverhill Prison for over four months, and last night sources revealed that a rival gang has taken over his lucrative drug and stolen car rackets. They are a family-based organised crime gang with strong links to Blanchardstown and Cavan town. "This crew would have never dreamed of moving in on this lad's territory, but he is in jail awaiting trial, as is his right-hand man, so it seems that they have seen an opportunity and taken it," a source explained. "The gangster in jail is going nuts about it, but what can he do, he is facing being locked up for many more months before his case comes to trial. "He had a very lucrative patch, which included areas like Balbriggan, Lusk and Swords," the source added. However, gardai have had some recent success against the up-and-coming mob, with at least two of its members being arrested for stolen-car offences. Notorious Meanwhile, the Herald has learned that the volatile gang boss has "teamed-up" with a notorious INLA figure while on remand at Cloverhill Prison, in what sources describe as a "sinister" development. The INLA figure, who is on remand in relation to a serious crime incident in the CityWest area of the capital last summer, has made a number of attempts to be transferred to Portlaoise Prison, which houses dissident Republicans, but has so far been unsuccessful. The Traveller gang boss, who is suspected of being behind the murders of Willie Maughan and his partner, was also previously arrested in relation to the murder of Benny Whitehouse who was shot dead at Clonard Street, Balbriggan at 9am on September 25, 2014, in front of his partner. Just before the feared gangster was locked up in January, he was hit with a 170k bill from the Criminal Assets Bureau. Just days earlier, the paranoid criminal had built a 12-foot-high wall around his home compound, but did not realise at the time that senior gardai were actively formulating a plan to have him remanded in custody. Sources said that, prior to him being locked up, gardai were becoming increasingly concerned about the dangerous activities of his gang. Bomb The gang are the chief suspects for an early-morning pipe-bomb attack, which led to a van exploding outside a house in late November, 2015. This attack was the second explosion in less than two months in Dublin that has been linked to the ruthless mob. The same gang are being investigated for a pipe-bomb attack at the home of missing Willie Maughan's sister, Martina, in Rathfarnham, last October. The Herald previously revealed that the gang boss taunted and laughed at gardai as they carried out searches for the missing couple last summer. Misuse of prescription opioids has been ravaging the nation over the last several years, and our state has not been spared. Prescription overdoses are responsible for killing more Montanans than cocaine, meth and heroin combined, according to the attorney generals office. Even those of us who have not been affected directly probably know someone who has. For chronic pain sufferers, opioid misuse is a near-constant threat. Even worse, taking prescription painkillers over a long period of time can have debilitating side effects, especially as the patients tolerance increases with ongoing use. Thankfully, some of the most vulnerable patients in our state have access to another option medical marijuana. Montanas medical marijuana program provides patients with conditions like cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV/AIDS a safer treatment plan than prescription opioids. Medical marijuana presents a much lower risk of dependence, and there has never been a lethal overdose. Prescription risks Unfortunately, Montanas veterans, numbering 100,000 in this state, are not given the same options. In fact, VA providers are prohibited from discussing the benefits of medical marijuana, even in states where it is legal. Veterans who struggle with painful injuries have little choice but to try prescription opioids. A recent study of more than 140,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans revealed they are more likely to engage in high-risk opioid use and, therefore, are more susceptible to overdoses. Despite this knowledge, veterans continue to be prescribed opioids at a rate that far surpasses the rest of the nation. We also know that veterans suffer from high rates of PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, and that studies show medical marijuana can help alleviate their symptoms. It is cruel to place additional obstacles in the way of vets who wish to treat their condition with healthier alternatives. VA providers are unable to recommend medical marijuana due to a directive from the Veterans Health Administration. Though this directive expired in January, it continues to be enforced until a new directive is issued. Daines advocates for vets Realizing that our veterans deserve better, Sen. Steve Daines co-sponsored an amendment last year in the United States Senate Appropriations Committee that would permit the VA to discuss and recommend medical marijuana treatment options. Although it did not make it to the presidents desk, Daines penned a letter earlier this year urging the VA to enact a change in policy. Its our hope that he continues to do right by our states veterans and work toward making medical marijuana an option for them. Our veterans have been through so much. Why are we making things harder for them once they return home? In light of all the ailments that our veterans struggle with, it is a tragedy that the federal government is preventing them from receiving treatment that could help them. With Daines help, we can enact change soon. Every day that passes puts more veterans at risk. Until we give them the benefits they need and deserve, we are doing an incredible disservice to our countrys finest. Motoring fans and Friends addicts will have their pulses racing as Top Gear is coming to Ireland this weekend. Presenters Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc will be filming in Kerry in the coming days. Speaking on his BBC Radio show this morning, Chris said he is looking forward to the Irish adventure. "Matt and I are going to Ireland on Friday to make a couple of Top Gear films that will be combined," Chris said. "We're thinking of going to the Dingle area." Evans spoke to his newsreader, who is from Ireland, about where to visit and asked her about Dingle. "It's beautiful, wonderful food, lovely pubs," she said. "We won't have time for any of that," he replied, "Technically we'll be working. We'll try and eke out some time for a bit of socialising." Coast Evans also mentioned visiting the neighbouring village of Killorglin and asked about driving further south along the coast of the Wild Atlantic Way. "We don't want to go inland, we want to go on the coast road," he said. "It's better for shots." 2FM's Tracy Clifford first picked up Evans' revelation and asked listeners for recommendations for the team during their trip. Netflix confirmed on Tuesday that the new series will be streamed internationally and it will premiere on BBC One in May. Meanwhile, Matt LeBlanc has addressed rumours suggesting he has fallen out with his co-host. The Friends star insisted that despite reports suggesting the pair's relationship has broken down following a disastrous Cenotaph stunt, they are still "pals". The actor tweeted: "I'm at war with @chrisevans? That's funny, I thought we were pals." So far, Chris has not commented on the matter. It was reported that the radio host blamed the former Friends actor for it turning the stunt into a PR disaster. A Lewistown man suspected of making meth in Grass Range denied federal drug charges on Wednesday in Billings. David Lawrence Schein, 49, pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging him with three counts including conspiracy to manufacture meth, possession with intent to distribute meth and manufacturing meth. Prosecutor Colin Rubich said in court records that the activity occurred from April 2015 until Sept. 29, 2015, in and around Grass Range and other locations. If convicted, Schein faces a maximum 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine on each of the counts. U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Ostby ordered Schein to remain in custody. The case will be heard by U.S. District Judge Susan Watters. BRISTOL, Va. Jan Rainero climbed into the attic of the two-century-old Preston House with the wonder of a 12-year-old. "Frazier, we're still at it," she said, whimsically, on Monday afternoon. With a smile, Rainero admitted she was talking to the late Frazier King, a historian in Bristol and one who shared Rainero's enthusiasm for restoring the Robert Preston House called "Walnut Grove" near I-81's Exit 7. King is gone, and so is Dr. Kermit Lowry, Jr., another man who once walked on the shaggy grass outside the Preston home. Still, Rainero keeps pressing on as a member of the Bristol Historical Association. For more than decade, the association has pursued the restoration of the Robert Preston House, believed to be one of the oldest frame houses in Washington County, Virginia. This house stands just a few yards outside of the Bristol Virginia City Limits. Its property adjoins vacant land that has been planned, for years, as a commercial development. This residence was the homestead of Robert Preston and his descendants, who were some of the earliest settlers of Southwest Virginia, according to Tim Buchanan, the president of the Bristol Historical Associa-tion. Walnut Grove was built sometime during the late 1700s or early 1800s, Rainero said. In recent months, the association has wrapped up restoring the outside of the home. We have completed our outdoor phase with the exception of the steps, Rainero said. Now the focus turns to the interior and even the attic, where we find Rainero still standing, showing off wooden pegs that are part of the ceiling support system. Though King and Lowry may be gone, Rainero has her own support system in Isabelle Ladd, who co-chairs the Bristol Historical Association's project to restore the house at Walnut Grove. "Extraordinary progress is being made," Ladd said on Monday. The house restoration project has won financial support from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), which has a tradition locally and nationally to support and lead the preservation of historic proper-ties, Buchanan said. The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution awarded the Bristol Historical Association $10,000 in 2015 with funding made possible through the sponsorship of the DAR's Fort Chiswell Chap-ter, located in Bristol, Buchanan said. "Due to their matching grant, we have completed the replacement of exterior siding, interior doors with hardware and placement of storm windows to protect restoration glass. Our progress continues with the repair of four fireplaces, hearths and mantels, Buchanan says in a release. Buchanan called it "significant" to win funding from the DAR, adding, "They have partnered in each of the restoration phases which will result in preservation of a significant landmark." Rainero hopes to see the project complete in two years. Then she hopes to open "a survey museum," paying respect to Robert Preston's role as an early surveyor for Washington County. Ladd, for one, said the "survey museum" idea "puts a different slant on it rather than just a typical house museum." Buchanan, in turn, suggests the house could focus "on colonial and post-colonial life, migration along the Great Valley Road and the homesteads connection to the Lewis & Clark Eastern Legacy Trail. LARAMIE The University of Wyoming is making a special effort to support current or prospective students affected by layoffs in the energy industry. UW President Dick McGinity has appointed former Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Alyson Hagy to serve as his special adviser to coordinate efforts to provide timely information about UW's services and programs to individuals and families affected by the recent layoffs. Hagy and representatives of UW's Office of Financial Aid, Office of Admissions, and the Center for Advising and Career Services are scheduled to be at Gillette College next Tuesday and Wednesday. They will answer questions about financial aid, admissions, academic programs and pathways to four-year degrees. UW currently enrolls 300 students from Gillette and about 300 more from other communities in northeast Wyoming. Kind of a drag if you miss The Buckinghams concert Wednesday The Buckinghams, a Chicago-based pop rock band that exploded onto the charts in 1967 with Kind of a Drag, are coming to the Maryland Theatre. Of the nine children Joseph and Ottilia Hoff raised on a farm in Richardton, all six sons joined the military. Every one of my brothers was a veteran, the youngest, Cornell, said. The Hoff brothers Edwin, Richard, Herman, Joseph, Donald and Cornell served a combined 82 years in the military. Their dates of service span over three wars: World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam. The brothers served in the U.S. Army, all starting as privates and three moved up higher in rank: Two retired as majors and one a colonel. Three of the Hoff brothers saw combat, one was wounded twice during the Korean War and received two Purple Hearts. All but one brother joined the Dickinson North Dakota National Guard. Cornell, now 78, was 18 years old when he was drafted. He went to basic training camp at Camp Carson, Colo., then transferred to Germany, where he served with the 8th Infantry Division until December 1957. He joined the North Dakota National Guard 815th Engineering Company in February 1958. On June 23, 1960, Cornell married Delores Messer, a nurse, who would later travel with him to Germany. While attending an officer basic orientation course at Fort Eustis, Va., his unit was mobilized during the Berlin Crisis of 1961. After his unit was released at Fort Riley, Kan., he stayed on extended active duty and served a second tour of duty in Germany. He served another two tours at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. He received the bronze star medal, the Vietnam service medal and the Vietnam campaign medal. Edwin Hoff The eldest Hoff brother, Edwin, was drafted on Dec. 10, 1944. He served at Pearl Harbor and in the Philippines, where he was assigned to the 6th Army, 33rd Division, Field Artillery Battalion, as a liaison corporal. He also spent time in Japan as a military policeman. He was selected as a special squad member and entered all public and private buildings to search for weapons. Later, he was assigned to the 555 Military Police Escort Guard Unit in Yokohama, Japan. He was a guard at the Sigamo Prison, where Japanese war criminals were held. Among the prisoners was Japanese Gen. Hideki Tojo, from whom Edwin secured an autograph. Tojo was later executed. Richard Hoff Richard Hoff, now 88, was 18 years old when he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in October 1945. In 1950, he enlisted in Company A, 164th Division of the North Dakota National Guard. He was called to active duty as a corporal in 1951. While stationed at Fort Rucker, Ala., he was promoted to staff sergeant before being ordered to South Korea in September 1951, where he served with Company E and later Company G, 15th Infantry, 3rd Division. He went to Korea on the same ship as his brother, Herman. In Korea, Richard was promoted to sergeant first class before being awarded a battlefield commission. Richard visited Herman when he was first wounded. The pair met at a U.S. Army hospital in Korea, nearly 11 months after they had arrived in Korea. Their reunion was later published in a local newspaper, a photo depicted the brothers sharing a cup of coffee and chatting with a cute Red Cross nurse, who they later tried to track down. Upon returning home from Korea, Richard married Elvira Berger, a country school teacher, who was with him at the following stations for 18 years: Camp Polk, La.; Fort Hood, Texas; El Paso, Texas; Fort Benning, Ga.; Paris; Fort Ord, Calif.; Fort Carson, Colo.; Grafenwohr, Germany; and Bismarck. Herman Hoff After serving a year in the U.S. Army, Herman enlisted in Company K, 164th Infantry of the North Dakota National Guard. In 1951, he was called to active duty as corporal with this unit. He trained at Fort Rucker before being ordered to Korea as an infantry replacement. While serving in Korea with the 5th Cavalry and the 180th Infantry, 45th Division, he was promoted to sergeant first class. On Nov. 10, 1953, Herman married Delores Wolf. Upon release from active duty in 1978, he was commissioned from the ranks and attended numerous engineering courses at Fort Belvoir, Va., and Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. After 30 years of Army and National Guard service, he retired as a lieutenant colonel in the engineering corps. Joseph Hoff Joseph was drafted into the U.S. Army and inducted on July 15, 1953, at Fort Riley. After basic training in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., he was transferred to Fort Lewis, Wash., into the 16302 Quartermaster Company. From there, he was transferred to Indian Springs Air Force Base during the atomic tests in 1954 and 1955. During that time, he serviced and ran generators for a laundry company that was doing laundry for the people on the base. Joseph said he saw and felt the power of the atomic blasts; he even kept a photo of one of the bombs detonating. He was released from active service at Fort Lewis on June 17, 1955. In 1956, he married his wife Joan Gress, a banker and hard-working farm wife. Joseph, now 83, retired with his wife and they live in Richardton. Donald Hoff In January 1955, Donald began three years of service in the U.S. Army. He did basic training at Fort Leonard Wood then transferred to Fort Campbell, Ky., to serve in an engineer group assigned to an airborne division. His duties included water purification and Jeep driver for the company commander. From there, he was transferred to Ernest Harmon Air Force Base in Newfoundland, where he was assigned to a motor pool. After 16 months, he returned to Fort Devens, Mass., and was discharged on Dec. 19, 1957. He died in 2014 at the age of 78. Insider: A QB change won't save IU's season. It's already lost. IU quarterback Connor Bazelak's struggles have IU fans suggesting change, but at this point change might not make much difference. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. This domain has expired. If you owned this domain, contact your domain registration service provider for further assistance. If you need help identifying your provider, visit https://www.tucowsdomains.com/ As the worlds financial leaders gather in Washington, DC, for the annual spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund, their hopes and fears centre on China. After all, China is the one country that might be able to jump-start the sputtering global economys recovery; and yet its own economic growth is based on a foundation that is increasingly showing signs of strain. The dilemma is that both Chinese failure and success carry risks for the world economy. A failure scenario would be unique in post-World War II history. Because Chinas economy is so large, the consequences would reverberate worldwide. But, unlike in 2008, when the US dollar appreciated, allowing emerging markets to revive quickly, the renminbi would likely depreciate should Chinas economy experience a serious downturn, spreading deflation far and wide. Other currencies might depreciate as well, some as a result of deliberate policy. Consequently, a China-failure scenario could resemble the events of the 1930s, characterised by competitive devaluation and plummeting real economic activity. But what if China succeeds in its current transition to a consumption-based economic model? When the Chinese current-account surplus reached 10% of GDP in 2007, saving exceeded 50% of GDP and investment surpassed 40% of GDP. These numbers seemed far too high to be dynamically efficient or welfare-enhancing. As a result, a consensus rapidly emerged: Saving and investment should be reduced and brought into better balance. Investment should be reined in by imposing greater financial discipline on wayward public enterprises, while the social safety net should be strengthened, so that households would not have to save so much to meet the costs of having children and growing old. Fast forward a decade, and what do we see? The government has built safety nets, and the current-account surplus has receded, exactly as hoped. Last year, the surplus amounted to less than 3% of GDP, a fraction of its 2007 level. READ: US-China ties will shape 21st century: Obama But this hardly validates the theory. About half of the reduction in the current-account surplus has occurred because investment has actually increased as a share of GDP. Meanwhile, there has been some decline in national saving, by perhaps 3.5 percentage points of GDP compared to 2007 (according to IMF estimates, as official data end in 2013). But this reduction is quite modest compared to the 15-percentage-point increase that occurred during 2000-07. Even more striking, all of this modest reduction in saving seems to have come from the corporate sector; household saving is roughly the same, relative to GDP, as it was in 2007. In other words, what went up during the boom has failed to come down. This is a real puzzle, and resolving it is important not only for Chinas future, but for that of the world. There are two broad possibilities. It could be that the theory is basically correct, but needs more time to show results. In that case, as long as Chinas rulers continue to strengthen social safety nets, the decline in saving could match the envisaged decline in investment, keeping the current-account surplus low. But what happens if the theory is wrong, or incomplete? For example, the beneficial effects of safety nets on saving may have been overestimated. Or those effects may be offset by the negative effects of population aging. Over the next 15 years, the Chinese population aged 60 and above will increase by two-thirds. These aging workers might now be saving as much as they possibly can, to build up a financial cushion for impending retirement. If some version of this scenario is realised, the household saving rate may continue to decline only gradually. In the meantime, the government would be closing unprofitable plants, which might boost corporate saving. As a result, overall saving could remain high, even as investment falls sharply, causing the current-account surplus to surge again. READ: Concerned IMF cuts worlds growth forecast, warns over Brexit This would not be a pleasant prospect for the world economy. As China slowed, so would global growth, and the remaining demand would be redistributed toward China, aggravating other countries already severe shortfalls. This would be very different from the previous episode of global imbalances when large Chinese current-account surpluses were at least offset to some extent by rapid Chinese growth. In short, whereas a hard economic landing for China could spur global deflation, avoiding that outcome could mean the return of global imbalances. These are the stark possibilities that leaders need to ponder as they gather gloomily at the IMF in Washington. Arvind Subramanian is chief economic adviser to the Union finance ministry Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2016 The views expressed are personal A few days after the Puttingal temple firecracker explosions that killed 113 people, the tragedy is fast taking a political colour with opposition parties baying for governments blood alleging serious lapses on its part. Ahead of the state assembly election, charges are flying thick and fast. While the CPI(M)-led opposition is busy emptying its armoury to corner the ruling dispensation, the BJP is planning to highlight Prime Minister Narendra Modis quick response to the disaster. Though it enjoyed a slight edge in south Kerala, the Congressled UDF is on the back-foot trying to counter the opposition barrage. Citing strictures passed by the Kerala high court while hearing a PIL on Tuesday, the LDF alleged there were attempts by the government to silence Kollam district collector M Shainamol when she tried to prevent the temple authorities from holding the fireworks show that fateful night. The government should take responsibility for the worst-ever tragedy the state has witnessed. There are clear indications that intervention from high-ups, including a minister, neutralised police efforts eventually leading to the disaster, said CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. The high court had criticised the police, questioning why a case of culpable homicide should not be filed against the errant officers. Balakrishnan also alleged that two Congress candidates from the area exerted undue pressure on the police to allow the fireworks display a major attraction of the week-long temple festival in order to garner votes. The party also played recordings of speeches by certain leaders, who can be heard vowing to facilitate the fireworks display against all odds. Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan sought the arrest of local Congress leaders who had allegedly pushed for the district collectors order to be ignored. The court has made it clear that the government machinery failed miserably in stopping those adamant on the fireworks display. The home minister has lost the moral responsibility to continue in power, he said. However, chief minister Oommen Chandy decried the oppositions attempts to politicise a major tragedy. When the Left was in power, 110 people lost their lives in the Sabarimala stampede and many others died in the Thekkady boat tragedy. We never sought the resignation of any minister then, Chandy said. The Congress-led UDF is now planning to approach the Election Commission over some posters linking its leaders with the tragedy. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modis act of rushing to the spot with a team of specialists from Delhi had taken both the ruling party and the main opposition by surprise. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 13-year-old newspaper vendor in Bhopal is the focus of an ongoing game of one-upmanship between Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Union HRD minister Smriti Irani. The story began about three years ago, when Kaushal Shakya sold the Congress leader a newspaper during the politicians visit to the state Congress office in Bhopal in April 2013. When Gandhi offered him a Rs 1,000 note, Shakya graciously declined and gave him the newspaper for free. During a brief chat with Gandhi, the boy revealed how he wished to become a doctor. The next month, then state Congress president Kantilal Bhuria announced that the party would pay Rs 1,000 per month for the boys education. Congress leader Naresh Gyanchandani was instructed to provide the money while Syed Sajid Ali assured a job to his father. The story took an unexpected turn when the money stopped coming and the boy, who lives in a Roshanpura slum, had to stop attending classes at Dr Radhakrishnan School. They are making fun of our poverty, said Shakyas mother, Shayama Bai. First they assured financial assistance for studies of my son and later they withdrew support. He had to waste one year as he couldnt continue his studies. Congress, however, denies the allegation. I gave admission to the boy in Class 6 in my higher secondary school and I also gave job to the boys elder brother, who is still getting Rs 6,000 per month...Later, the boy withdrew himself saying that the school was far away from his house and got admission in another school near his locality, said Ali. Gyanchandani said he gave the boy Rs 12,000 and the state Congress was to continue future payments. Anyway, the boys family is supported by the Congress, he said. Nonetheless, Congress leaders allege that in a move to trump Gandhi, Irani stepped up, offering support to the boy. I am to convey the approval of HRM and chairman KVS Smriti Zubin Irani for grant of admission to Master Kaushal Shakya s/o Dulichand Shakya in Class 6 in KV no. 1, Bhopal, wrote Anjana Hazarika, assistant commissioner (academic), Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan, HRD ministry, in a letter on April 6. Repeated calls to Irani went unanswered. The boy, on the other hand, knows nothing about this political game. All he knows is that he still wants to become a doctor. Shah Rukh Khan, who has carved his niche in the Bollywood industry for almost 25 years, says if one cant take the burden, then dont be a star. The 50-year-old, who is gearing up for the release of his film Fan, says he has seen enough ups and downs during his over two-decade-long career and he never gets bogged down with his work as an actor. I personally feel if you cant take the burden then dont be a star. Its as simple as that. I dont get bogged down by the kind of films I do. I have done the best off-beat films and they succeeded. If you have a career of 25 years, then you have seen enough downs and enough highs, said Shah Rukh. Read: Fan: What makes Shah Rukh Khan a marketing genius Read: Aryan or AbRam could star in my biopic: Shah Rukh Khan As an actor you have to keep on reviving yourself. It should be satisfying for you as an actor, he added. Fan, directed by Maneesh Sharma, will feature Shah Rukh in a double role of a superstar and his obsessed fan. However, the actor also reveals he has never been a fan of anyone in his life, because he simply didnt get time for that. I have not been a fan... I like people, but I have never been a fan. I became a star before I could be a fan. (Becoming a) fan is a luxury... You have to love someone selflessly in whichever way. I never had that luxury... I started working at a very young age. I just didnt get time to be a fan. I was just too distracted, Shah Rukh said. He also said that it wouldnt have been possible to make a film like Fan six-seven years ago, because of the requirements for high quality VFX. Watch: The making of Shah Rukh Khans Fan No, it would not have been possible to make it six-seven years ago because its very easy to make someone look aged, but its difficult to de-age... You also need VFX of high quality. You need a 3D clean up . Hollywood has tried it, but to do a full film takes three years and we did it in one and a half years. It is the first time, SRK asserted. The Dilwale star, who has been experimenting with a new generation of directors, says they come with new ideas and have nothing to lose. New people come with new ideas... Also, success leads you on to where you just want to retain that success... I am not saying you kill your creativity, but you try to wrap your creativity around the success. New people have much less to lose, he said. Read: Haryana Ka Sher: Shah Rukh Khan hails Sultan Bhaijaan Read: Shah Rukh Khan assures his fans that Fan is not a ripoff of The Fan Very few people like Yash Chopra keep on making edgy stuff. His subjects were different. The young guys have some nice ideas. Follow @htshowbiz for more. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan is all praise for actor Ranbir Kapoor and called him a huge star of Bollywood. Bachchan, 73, mentioned the Tamasha star in a tweet while writing about his film Ajooba, which also starred Ranbirs father Rishi Kapoor. Did you see little Ranbir Kapoor in one of the Ajooba pictures... !! so cute .. 25 years later, huge star! the National Award-winning actor said. T 2224 - Did you see little Ranbir Kapoor in one of the Ajooba pictures .. !! so cute .. 25 years later, huge star ! pic.twitter.com/S9mtKLf0wu Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) April 12, 2016 While Bachchan has worked with Rishi in many films, he and Ranbir have so far shared screen space only in one movie, Bhootnath Returns, where the 33-year-old actor had a cameo. Read: Amitabh Bachchan painted Delhi Pink and no one came to know On his own work front, Bachchan is currently shooting for Shoojit Sircars upcoming thriller Pink, where he is playing the role of a lawyer. The film also stars Taapsee Pannu. Follow @htshowbiz for more. Could Randeep Hooda and Aishwarya Rais Sarbjit, the biopic of an Indian farmer sentenced to death in Pakistan on charges of terrorism and spying, prove to be the best Bollywood film of 2016? If the films trailer, released on Thursday, is any measure, this Omung Kumar-directed biopic is sure to raise the bar a few notches. Starring Hooda in the lead and Aishwarya playing his sister Dalbir Kaur, the trailer focusses on the plight of Sarbjits family, especially his sister. It also showcases the life inside Pakistani jails and how inmates are treated there. Hooda is in his elements and looks every bit the character he is playing. He has lost weight and the cynical attitude that seeps in after spending many years in a claustrophobic space is quite visible on his face. Watch: Randeep Hooda, Aishwarya Rai in Sarbjit trailer Aishwarya too looks stunning in her de-glammed avatar. She has been shown fighting for justice in Delhi and other places. Read: Shooting of Aishwarya-starrer Sarbjit hits real sister hurdle Though Kumar, who earlier directed Mary Kom, preferred a dramatic trailer, he still manages to give the feeling of a biopic. Its clear that the spotlight will be on Aishwarya, but Randeep Hooda is difficult to ignore. Sarbjit will hit the screens on May 20, 2016. Follow @htshowbiz for more. With more money being pumped into film productions, the budget of Bollywood films is soaring. However, this should not be our focus, says filmmaker Shoojit Sircar. We cant compete with Hollywood budgets and we dont even need to go for multimillion budgets. So, lets not focus on that. Instead, work on clever planning of a film so we can deliver great cinema. Our script is our strength, and we should give complete attention to that. Only then can we make films at par with world cinema, says the National award-winning filmmaker. Read: Good cinema and big hits: 2015 was an extraordinary year for Bollywood Sircar, who has helmed films such as Vicky Donor (2012), Madras Cafe (2013) and Piku (2015), encouraged new talent such as Ayushmann Khurrana, Yami Gautam and Nargis Fakhri in his films. He believes that with the right vision, they can be as bankable as the big stars in the industry. I dont think we need to rely only on an A-lister to get a blockbuster. A film like Vicky Donor was made with a small budget had almost 300-400% profit margin. A film like Piku, which was made on an out-of-the-box subject, got great recognition. Its pure content that takes the film ahead, so I think producers should not be afraid. They should come forward and cast young actors. I feel star-driven films are more risky, says the filmmaker. Read: Delhi has absolutely quirky characters: Shoojit Sircar on Piku Sircar has also noticed a change in the attitude of young actors, nowadays. The new lot of actors has also become quite sincere. Earlier, theyd do several projects at the same time, but now, theyre doing one thing at a time and are concentrating on character and script, and taking workshops, he says. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON IDBI Bank has transferred and suspended nearly 75 employees after the large strike that was called in March to protest against the privatization of the state-owned bank. Employee unions have objected to the action against the officers, precipitating a situation that threatens to derail the process of privatisation. The government plans to showcase the IDBI Bank as a model of its plan to gradually reduce the governments shareholding in the bank to below 50%. C H Venkatachalam, general secretary of the All-India Bank Employees Association said, There have been 15 suspensions and about 60 officers have been transferred last week. They were participating in the trade unions protest and led the strikes. This action could be in retaliation to the strike. We have already spoken to the management and written to the MD on revocation of the suspensions. Opposing the governments move announced in the Union Budget to dilute government stake in IDBI Bank to less than 50%, the AIBEA and All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA) had given a strike call on March 28. Union leaders claim that the suspension and transfers were taken against officers up to Scale VI on the grounds that the officers misbehaved and were spreading messages against the management. The bank management did not respond to queries sent by HT. R S Athalye, general secretary, All India IDBI Officers Association said, Technically suspensions are not illegal but this has been a precautionary action against more such strikes against the interest of the management. We have objected to this action though the management claims they are not vindictive transfers. Some suspended officers have approached us and we will go through the details of their charge sheet notices and take it up with the bank again. In his Budget speech, finance minister Arun Jaitley had said that the government would reduce its stake in IDBI Bank to below 50% and would also look at consolidating existing banks. Shares of IDBI Bank had started rallying after the announcement and there were media reports suggesting that the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, was keen on bidding for a share in the bank. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON As India grapples with a threat of dumping from China, commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman vows to protect domestic industry. Excerpts from an interview: When do you see a reversal of the sustained decline in exports? Thats a question all countries have to answer. Its not peculiar to India. Its not that demand for our goods and services has fallen. Demand globally has fallen. Have you identified sectors for a special push? I can only answer your question in a roundabout way, which is SMEs (small and medium enterprises), units which have potential for intensive employment, as opposed to [those which are] capital-intensive. Indias exports have benefitted over the years from hubs of small-scale, exportoriented manufacturing, such as, Tirupur. One gets to hear disturbing news about them. The ills that hurt SMEs are inadequate electricity, the price of that electricity, and the water supply drying up. We will work with the states. You may have surplus power, but the state must be willing to buy it. Units in the Tirupur-Coimbatore-Erode belt, which became famous for garment and yarn, have invested in solar capacities. They now produce more power than what they need. China has built up huge capacities, which are not being consumed. It seems determined to sell its produce in other countries. But having created excess capacities, it is going to push it at any cost. And there are huge subsidies involved. They raise issues at the World Trade Organisation about the extent to which subsidies can be used to distort trade. India will have to study the situation and take appropriate action. Read | Govt will not poop e-commerce party this festival season Which sectors will need protection? Sectors that have substantial investments in capacities in India... whether they are competitive or not is a different issue... we have to take a call on protecting them. If these capacities are going to be swamped, we cant allow that. Which are those? Steel is a classic case. There are others, such as, aluminium, stainless steel... But protection from imports to a sector hurts other domestic companies that buy from that sector. Downstream industries are raising a legitimate concern. If they can buy raw material from a cheaper source, why should they be forced to buy it from a domestic source only because it is domestic? These industries have to become lean and mean. The US and UK visa norms are hurting our services industries. On the US visa issue we have approached the WTO. About the UK issue, on the sidelines of the recent European Union summit, I met the immigration minister. I spoke not just about the visa fee, but also about the cap on the income, where unless a person earns a particular amount he cannot come to the country. Indians cannot train locals and pay a fee so that tomorrow onwards the same job is not taken over by others. This is a colonial approach, where you rip off the colony because it can give you the resource. That you do not have that talent and you will have to ask people to come in to do that job is part of fair trade. In todays times, services are traded, and you are telling me that I do not have the service capability and to build that you will have to pay me. So we said that all these are absolutely unacceptable. We have raised each such concern with the minister, they have heard me out. We hope to see a response. Apple has sought permission to import refurbished cellphones. I havent taken a call yet. They havent approached me. Air India (AI) CMD Ashwani Lohani has said that employees leaking stories to media should be identified and counselled to work in the interest of the airline. Negative media reports are the handiwork of some of our disgruntled employees who unfortunately are unfaithful to their own organisation, Lohani said in an internal communication. Lohanis letter comes in the wake of a recent media report that an international flight out of Chennai had been delayed on April 6 as the Captain insisted on flying with a particular woman co-pilot. The story turned out to be false and a subsequent inquiry revealed that the Captain, despite being sick, was forced to fly after five pilots had refused to operate the flight. The inquiry also found that the woman co-pilot had in fact reported for the said flight 15 minutes before the captain so there was no question of the pilot delaying the flight for her. All these things are digitally recorded. The story was planted to damage the pilot and AIs reputation, said an official. AI, Lohani said in the letter, would launch non-stop flights to Washington DC by August this year and follow it up with flights to new destinations in Europe and Africa. The airline was aiming for an operational turn around in this fiscal or the next, he said. He, however, said that this was just the first milestone and AI still had a long way to go to meet its total costs. Even after meeting basic operational costs, a gap of almost Rs 4000 crore per annum towards debt servicing remains to be covered. Unless and until we are able to do that, our survival would always remain at stake, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The three year old Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) has its days numbered. This bank was positioned as the only lender for and of women. The Rs 1,000 crore experiment of the previous UPA government has remained a non-starter, sources said. However the issue could turn into a political war between the BJP and the opposition Congress. While the present Narendra Modi government is keen to merge it with another public sector bank and the hunt for an appropriate match is underway, former UPA finance minister P Chidambaram, who was also part of the launch team, said it was a terrible desicion. I hope the idea is not being killed because it was launched by the UPA, Chidambaram told Hindustan Times through a text message, when asked about the present governments decision. Soon after the launch of BMB, most other lenders both public and private, introduced branches with only women staff and even came out with special products for women. The uniqueness of BMB was lost soon after its launch as most other banks came up with the same model within their own business space..however it wasnt possible for these banks including BMB to continue with this model..BMB has customers who are men, employees who are men..so how do you differentiate, said Ashvin Parekh, managing partner, APA Services said. Top officials of the bank have urged the government to take the final call on the fate of the bank at the earliest as the uncertainty is impacting business and the morale of the employees. A final decision on the banks fate needs to be taken very quickly, as reports of the merger is impacting our employees and customers as wellwho will come to the bank, if there is uncertainty, SM Swathi, executive director, BMB said. For the bank board bureaus (BBB), which came into operation from April 1, the immediate focus would be to look for a match for the lender. Launched in 2013 by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, BMB currently has about 100 branches. We are looking at options and a decision will be taken soon, said a senior finance ministry official. While, the bank, first of its kind in India was launched with great fanfare in Mumbai has not been able to make much of a dent in the market. The banks total advances stood at Rs 446 crore by the end of September 30, 2015, while deposits amounted to Rs 920 crore. The bank also offers insurance products for women like Nirbhaya primarily a maternity cover and Sakhee targeted at the rural women, besides Komal Kali a recurring deposit scheme for the girl child. While there have been reports that it may be merged with the State Bank of India (SBI), sources said the merger proposal of BMB would be examined carefully before taking any decision. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy and Coca-Cola India president Venkatesh Kini on Thursday co-signed a petition to make sign language an official language of India. The petitioners also urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment to include sign language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The petition read that the Prime Minister's dream of accessible India could only be fulfilled if sign language became the official language of the country. This will bring millions of people to the mainstream and further enable our society to become an inclusive society, the joint petition said. Speaking at the annual event to felicitate Special people of the year, organised by the Limca Book of Awards in India, Murthy said that the government and corporates must come together to accomplish the vision of an accessible India. It is difficult to imagine India becoming a strong economy without becoming an inclusive economy, which is inclusive in gender, ability, ethnicity, and all other social parameters, he said. This year, the Limca Book of Records team felicitated 15 specially-abled persons from various spheres of life. A first ever Braille edition of the Limca Book of Records was also launched on the occasion. It will enable the visually challenged to browse through the existing records and challenge themselves to create new records, Venkatesh Kini said. On May 4, 2003, two days after Sunita Chadhas murder in a road rage incident, her daughter Rashmi told a morning daily, ...My mothers death will not deter us from being helpful. True to her words, over the years Rashmi continued to volunteer as a help at a gurudwara in Manikaran, Himachal. It was during one such trip in 2014 when the idea to start her own travel company, catering to women and by women, first struck her. She had then met a Canadian woman who needed a guide. A regular at Manikaran, she offered to double up as a guide and both hit it off very well. She realised women travellers were more comfortable with a woman guide. The Canadian woman sent her friends to India and she got her first clients. My mother loved to travel. During the early 90s, not many women went alone for long drives. My mother took me and my sisters on a drive to Nainital. Later she even took us 19 kids and 15 women to Goa. It was an all-women trip. This is what inspired me. Women love to travel alone but they cannot so I decided to do something, she said. What Happened? On May 2, 2003, Sunita was returning to her mothers house in Rohini when she tried to stop three men assaulting a girl. The girl escaped but they shot Sunita twice. Ajay Raj Kamal, Deepak and Amit Kumar Bansal were arrested. The court is yet to decide on the case. After 13 years, Sunitas family waits for justice. Read | Road rage: A murder that shook Capitals public consciousness Two months ago, Rashmi launched her own company wovoyage.com. I have 20 women guides. Five are registered with the government and work in Mumbai and Delhi. A German woman approached me and she later thanked me for the experience. She toured the whole city, she said. Rashmi said all her guides know at least 4-5 foreign languages, which is a must because they deal with mostly foreigners. They are all students who passed out from language schools. In another two months, she plans to start a all-women cab service. Two weeks ago, she hired a driver. I was passing Rohini when I spotted a woman driving an e-rickhaw. I approached her. She is now set join my company. Nine years ago, Rashmi and her sister Pooja helped police arrest a man who had hit a young boy stuck in his cars bonnet. We are our moms daughters. When we saw the boy being dragged, we chased the car. We called the police and alerted residents. We stopped him from escaping. Police came and took him away. I dont know what happened to that case. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A Delhi court has ordered a verification of nursery admissions made under the economically weaker sections (EWS) category by private schools in the last one year after it was told that parents had allegedly used forged documents to abuse the benefit meant for the poor. Issuing directions to the Delhi government, chief metropolitan magistrate Ashish Aggarwal on April 11 asked for a detailed report on children whose parents faked income certificates to qualify under the economically weaker sections category. Under the right to education act, schools have to set aside 25% seats for students from economically weaker sections but some parents in Delhi, where nursery admissions are fiercely fought, often resort to illegal means. Fake documents were allegedly used in 22 schools to secure admissions in 2015, special public prosecutor Pankaj Bhatia told the court hearing a criminal case against a group of parents charged with conspiracy to commit forgery and fraud. The case was registered in March 2015 by the crime branch after a school complained of receiving a fake EWS certificate. Police investigation is still on. The government of Delhi shall also submit before this court as to whether it is aggrieved by any of the conclusions arrived by Delhi Police in filling police reports..., the court said. It asked the government to share its report with the investigating officer. Hindustan Times was the first to write about the rampant use of fake documents. A gang of forgers was working closely with some parents and schools staff, HT wrote in May. Bhatia told the court only three schools had filed their replies though the investigation had been going on for a year. A few other schools had replied but not on an affidavit, which would take a month. In their reply, the three schools said all the students whose documents were fabricated were expelled. The process of verification was to be done to identify the people who had filed false certificates, the court said, adding the government was free to call school records. The case will now be heard on May 16. All private schools built on government land in the Capital have to reserve 20% seats in all classes for EWS students but the RTE rules takes precedence in entry level classes. Around 150,000 children vie for 125,000 nursery seats in the city every year. The fight is to get into the top 100 of the 1,300 private schools. The Delhi government has stuck to its stand on not relaxing the odd-even restriction for fathers. Fathers will be exempted only if a child in school uniform is accompanying them. But they will be penalised while coming back from school after dropping the kids or while going to pick them up during the restriction period. Women are exempted if they travel alone,with women or child a male companion below 12 years. Various suggestions were made to the government over the past week, seeking exemption for parents taking their children to school. It was said schools could issue stickers to parents. People violating the odd-even rule will be fined Rs 2,000. Delhi transport minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said this relaxation could be misused, just like CNG stickers, so it could not be implemented, he said. Some had suggested that the restriction be relaxed for an hour or two in the afternoon for parents, picking up their children from school. However, the government didnt agree and asked fathers to carpool. According to our assessment, in the morning, it is mostly fathers who drop their children to school and then go to the office directly. We request them to carpool, take public transport and share rides. In the afternoon, 85% of the children, who dont use school transport, are picked up by their mothers. I will request mothers to extend a helping hand and offer to pick up other children in their neighbourhood as well, Rai said. Parents have already started to make arrangements for the scheme. Sanhita Sensarma is a lawyer. She lives at CR Park. Her daughter studies at Mirambika School. The school does not provide transport. Generally, parents take their children to school and so do I. Earlier, just one more parent and I were carpooling. Now, we are trying to rope in more parents. So parents from CR Park, GK 2 and Kalkaji are working out a plan to take our children to school. If need be, we will also use public transport or pool cabs, which are affordable, she said. In 2003, when her murder hit the headlines, journalists stood outside her house reporting every detail for two weeks. 13 years later, Sunita Chadhas death has been pushed to oblivion. It was Delhis first case of anger spilling on to the road -- an incident that shook public consciousness and sparked discussions on road rage. As part of the special series on road-rage deaths, when the HT team set out to meet the family of Sunita, who was 36 years old then, nobody remembered where she lived. Police records were misplaced when police districts were being carved out. It will take some time to find her address, a police officer said. A few old crime reporters remembered standing outside her bungalow in Rohini. Somehow we found the address where her family lives. But it is not a bungalow any more. Sunitas mother, 65-year old Kamala Zutshi opened the doors to her two-room flat above a real estate agents office in Rohini. She led us to a room with a framed photograph of her daughter on the wall. Times have been difficult. We sold the bungalow and shifted here. Sunita had three daughters, all in their teens. I had to take care of them, she said. Read | After mothers death in road rage, girl opens women-only travel company The call Sunita never answered It was the night of May 2, 2003. Sunitas eldest daughter Rashmi was waiting for her to return home and drop her sisters Pooja and Rachana to the nearby DAV School. The two had a field trip to Shimla. They were getting late. My mom called saying she had left her friends house. We waited. When she did not come, I called her but there was no answer, Rashmi said. Rashmi, who was 16 then, dropped her sisters in a taxi with a relative. About an hour later, she called her mother again. A man answered the phone this time. There was a police officer on the line, Rashmi said. He said my mom had an accident. He told me to rush to hospital. I ran for at least half-an-hour but by the time I reached, she had died. They shot her twice in the chest, she said. That night... Returning home that night in her Maruti Esteem car around 10, Sunita saw three men assaulting a girl on a scooter. There was an accident involving their car and the girls scooter. According to police records, Sunita stopped her car and intervened. The girl fled. The two shot her dead point blank. No closure yet Kamala barely remembers the first year after her daughters death. She read about the men who were arrested but does not remember their names. My daughter is gone. I know I would never get her back. I dont even remember their faces. Their rage took my daughter away. Sunita paid a heavy price for helping others, she said. The case is under trial. Last year, Sunitas ex-husband Joginder Chadha was called to give his statement to the Rohini court. There is no justice. The court is still looking at the evidence. Those men are roaming free. I have nothing more to say, Joginder told HT. Kamala Zutshi shows the family album and old photos of Sunita. (Arun Sharma/HT Photo) Chadha said road rage cases continue to remind him of his wife. I wonder when we will get justice. Some years ago, I shouted at a public prosecutor who was defending the three men who killed her. The kids lost their mother while they continue to roam the streets freely, said Chadha. Nothing to lose Kamala has no one to look after her now. Her younger son lives in Japan. She visits him regularly but prefers to stay in Delhi. Rashmi meets her regularly and drives her when her grandmother has to step out. I love this city. In Japan, neighbours do not talk to each other. I was 15 when I was married and brought here. There are bad people in this city but this is where I belong. I will never leave this city, she said. In a city, infamous for senior citizens safety, we advised Kamala not to open the door to strangers without verifying. The 65-year-old said, Kaun kya leke jayega, Sab toh leke gaye. (Who will take anything? Everything has been taken already. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON As an increasing number of women enter the workforce, HT meets three South Delhi residents who have chosen non-traditional professions It is still a rare sight to see a woman fill up your fuel tank, help you park the car or stop a vehicle for violating traffic norms. Even as men snigger or ignore their authority, these women go about their jobs unfazed. While the number of women joining the service sector, traditionally considered a male domain, has grown, challenges remain. Wage equality is an issue, safety is another. Last month, a woman cop in Mumbai was assaulted by a group of men for pulling up a man who was talking on the phone while driving. Ranjana Kumari, director of Centre for Social Research, said: The challenge is to upscale the womens skills to move up in the job ladder. Employers hire women because they have to pay them lesser and are considered less demanding. Chander Kanta, 51, traffic inspector A traffic inspector (TI) is out in the field from 8am to 10pm. Chander Kanta is one of the few on-field women TI in the 800 personnel-strong Delhi traffic police (southern range). She is posted in RK Puram traffic circle. At around 9am, at Bhisham Pitamah Marg crossing in Lodhi Colony, she stops a motorist without a helmet, educates him on the subject and issues a challan. I am mostly on ground all day. I come across all kinds of people; most dont care about following traffic norms. But when they see a woman in uniform, they suddenly stop and obey. Making rowdy drivers comply with rules is a challenge, said the cop. A 1988 batch officer, Chander Kanta said a large part of her tenure was spent handling media at the Police Headquarters at ITO. However, it was a blessing in disguise, when a senior officer encouraged her to work in the field. At first I was hesitant, but little did I know that I would enjoy being out in the field and managing a staff of over 100. Despite having been an inspector for a long time, it is only now that I feel empowered as a woman, she said. After graduating from Kirori Mal College, she was stuck between taking up a teaching job in a government school and the police services. I wanted to do something different, as at that time most women took to teaching jobs. I chose the latter and was supported by my parents, she said. She lives with her architect husband and two sons in Jangpura, who support her new endeavour. Initially, I was OK with the desk job as my children were young. But now they have grown up and I dont have to worry about home while I am on the field. My sons want me to take up a posting as a station house officer (SHO). They believe a woman in the job can change the dynamics of crime and policing, she said. It has been a year and a half in her new role, and she feels there is nothing in the world she cannot do as a woman. I now take decisions and pass orders. When I go for department meetings I am the only woman in a room full of men, but I feel totally comfortable. I have gained this confidence being out in the field. It was a refreshing change from the past 20 years, she said. The new responsibility has inspired Chander Kanta to take steps to smoothen traffic in the area. She introduced pole blockers at a pedestrian crossing in INA which was being misused by motorists for taking wrong U-turns. She has also made attempts to encourage people to take subways instead of cutting through in the middle of the traffic. She regularly monitors traffic volume for introducing more road safety measures. Vibha Singh has recently moved to the city from Lucknow and wants to work, but there were not many job options for her back home. (Sanchit Khanna/ HT Photos) Vibha singh, 20, petrol pump employee Working at one of the citys busy petrol pumps in Moti Bagh would not have been an easy choice for 20-year-old Vibha Singh, had she not been living in the Capital. Singh, who has recently moved to the city from Lucknow and wants to work, but there were not many job options for her back home. Being in Delhi and working at a petrol pump is a complete change from living in a two-tier city. There it is still not possible for women to move out of conventional jobs such as teachers, beauticians or taking up tailoring work. I did not want to do any of these. I wanted a job where I can apply my mind and also pursue studies alongside, said Singh. She is studying law and lives in Satyaniketan. A friend told me about this job and I applied. My parents were slightly apprehensive about me working at a place mostly frequented by men. However, they were convinced when I told them that there are other young women working here, she said. The station has six women attendants who were trained for a week in reading the metre and learning about diesel and petrol vehicles before being put on duty. Now more than six months in the job, Singh is more confident in dealing with any kind of customer. She has a fixed eight-hour duty from 10am to 5pm. She said her co-workers are warm and helpful. Against popular perception, petrol pumps are safe places for women to work. Most customers behave nicely. Also, since I am off by evening I dont have to deal with drunken motorists. But there have been instances when there are long queues and some customers lose patience and start yelling at us. We are free to deal with them in our own way or call the supervisor for help, said Singh. Station owner Manjit Singh Randhawa said, We were among the first few stations to employ women in 2003-04. They are more sincere than their male counterparts and take work seriously. Also, customers behave well when they come across women attendants. (Sanchit Khanna/ HT Photos) Renu, 18, parking attendant If you think petrol pump attendant is an unusual choice for a woman, wait till you see Renu issuing parking tokens. Sitting at the cash kiosk, Renu expertly issues receipts and guides vehicle owners to the right parking slot. She is among the fleet of over 20-25 women who are employed as attendants at a private malls parking facility in Saket. While some guide the vehicles to enter and exit, the others manage cash counters. Renu, 18, is happy to be one of them. I started working to earn and study further. Some of my friends who used to work here referred me. One has to have at least a class X education to qualify. I recently completed school, she said. She believes it is a dignified job and that more women must join the sector. Till some years ago you wouldnt have seen a single woman working at a parking lot. It is still difficult to work at a public parking, as those places are not well-organised. But here we have a fixed pay and eight-hour duty, which is like working in any other office, said Renu who comes from Khanpur village. After seeing her, many other young girls in the village have followed suit. At the beginning everyone in the family was sceptic about the job. But I showed them the place and they are now proud of me, she said. She also wants to learn driving so that she can park vehicles on her own. I will enrol for a driving class once I have saved enough, she said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON US First Lady Michelle Obama has praised the recent steps taken by India to educate and empower girl students through various programmes that break down the cultural barriers that keep them out of school. I am thrilled that countries like Ghana and India and Rwanda are already doing such important work as part of this effort -- from scholarships and mentorship opportunities, to innovative programmes to break down the cultural barriers that keep girls out of school, Michelle said. We need you to work with the Bank to develop programmes that will meet the needs of girls in your countries. And if your country has already reached gender parity in education, then we need you to step up and support countries where disparities still exist, she said in her remarks at a Special Event at the World Bank titled Let Girls Learn!. During the event, the World Bank announced $ 2.5 billion in support of adolescent girls education over the next five years. That is truly amazing, Michelle said. The Indian Government has taken a series of steps including Beti Bachao Beti Padhao towards education and empowerment of girls in the country, the Indian Ambassador to US Arun K Singh said. Indias National Campaign for Secondary Education aims to make quality education for adolescent girls accessible and affordable, enhancing the enrolment by providing a secondary school within a reasonable distance, improving the quality of education by ensuring compliance to prescribed norms and removal of gender, social-economic and disability barriers, he said. Read more: Delhi to host Miss Earth India to support Beti Bachao Beti Padhao The goal is to achieve an enrollment of 90% by 2017, and universal retention by 2020. In five years, enrollment of Girls has improved from 58.70 to 78.94. Gender Parity Index has increased from 0.88 to 1. And there is sharp reduction in Gender gap, Singh said. India, he said, has rolled out a national incentive scheme that gifts money to young women from disadvantaged backgrounds when they turn 18 and have passed their 10th grade exams. Separate toilets have been built for girls in over 96% of secondary schools. Hostels were constructed close to schools to serve girls from remote areas. In one particular scheme, bicycles were given to girls who completed elementary school, making it easier for them to go to schools, he said adding that more and more female teachers are being hired. According to Michelle, the World Bank funding was not just a breathtaking investment of resources but also a powerful statement of mission. Its an expression of our belief in the power of education to transform the lives and prospects of millions of girls worldwide, as well as the prospects of their families, their communities, and, of course, their countries. And its also an affirmation of these girls extraordinary promise, she said. A private school in Bhopals Kolar area is facing parents ire for not allowing an aspiring Class 11 student to attend class allegedly citing low marks in the Class-10 pre-board examination. The school has also recently told eight Class 8 students that they would be issued transfer certificate because of poor performance. The school management, however, claimed that the parents had not approached them over the issues. The matter assumes significance in view of the rising number of students committing suicide this year over academic stress. Over 30 students chose to end their life due to the fear of their failure in examinations this year across Madhya Pradesh. Sanjeev Gupta, father of Class 11 student Anirudhh, said the administration of the Vindhyachal Academy, a CBSE-affiliated school, did not allow his son to attend the classes for commerce stream citing low marks in the pre-board examination. The CBSE is likely to declare its Class 10 results in May. I was told that my child cannot sit in the class because he got less marks in the pre-boards, whereas the final result, that is, the board result, will decide if my child has got less marks or moreIt is very irrational on the schools part to do this after a child has studied in the school for 10 years, he said. According to a Supreme Courts 2015 order students who study up to Class 10 in any school, whether aided or non-aided, are entitled to get admission in Class 11 in the same school unless he or she declines before the admission is closed. However, in which stream they are to be admitted, depends upon their merits and performance which shall be decided by the school authority. The school is also facing ire after it told eight Class 8 students to take transfer certificate after they got a supplementary in their final examination. Parents have alleged that the school administration told students that they did not deserve to sit in the school. The school conducted an improvement examination and told parents that they (the students) failed in the improvement test also. This is unbelievable as 25% marks are required to pass the examination, said Dharmendra Saxena, a parent. Saxena contended that even if all the eight students secured less than 25% marks in the improvement examination, according to the CBSE norms, a second test should be conducted. Vindyachal Academy management, however, has denied all the allegations and said that the parents did not approach them to resolve the issues. We are ready to consider the supplementary cases. As far as the admission of the Class 11 student, we didnt have a problem in giving him commerce stream, though his parents demanded science, which could not be given because he secured less marks, said the academy manager Uday Kumar. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Four engineering students from Zakir Hussain College of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, have developed a unique prototype using electrical properties of the blood cells that will help count the red blood cells (RBC) and white blood cells (WBC) without a needle prick. The innovative model will give the blood cell count using a laser when placed on superficial veins, especially the lower lip. The students also claimed that it is the first time that such a blood test will be conducted without a needle prick. B Tech students Rohan Maheshwari, Simran Kaur, Somya Agarwal and Vani Dayal Sharma took around four months to build the device. While Rohan and Simran are from electrical engineering, Somya and Vani are pursuing computer engineering. Their digital solution for domestic health check-up also won these students Rs 10 lakh prize money at the GE Edison Challenge 2016, an open innovation challenge for the university student community in India. The event organised by the GE India Technology Centre (GEITC) was held recently wherein they received an award of Rs 2 lakh and incubation grant of Rs 8 lakh for their university. Talking about the significance of their innovation city gynaecologist Dr Jyotsna Mehta said, Increase in the WBC count is indicative of acute bacterial infection. The prototype can be of great help in detecting such infections. Once the data is collected it will be transferred to a software that analyses and compares the blood cell count with the standard data. Using the concept of cloud computing, the software will send a text message to the patients phone. If it detects some considerable deviation, the doctor concerned will receive the acquired data. The doctor will be able to treat the patient from home and notify the pharmacy about the prescribed medicines that have to be delivered to the patients home, explained Rohan Maheshwari, a second year student of electronic engineering. According to these engineering students the physical, chemical, structural and other properties of the blood have been studied in detail but not the electrical properties. So we tried to explore this particular property, said Simran. During their research they visited paediatricians and pathology labs to which they referred their patients for blood tests. Simran said, We found that only few patients actually go to the laboratories recommended by doctors to get these tests done. We decided to solve this problem. It took us four months to complete the research. After winning GE Edison, the students are now working on the execution of their concept. Read more: Make in India could hold key to innovation of immunisation technologies The competition was tough because the second engineering students competed with Indias finest technical minds. We also got the opportunity to prove our mettle before senior scientists and engineers from GE, as well as innovation leaders from the industry, said Somya. Shukla Chandra, MD, Global Research Centre said: The team from Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh, UP impressed the judges through their digital solution for Domestic Health Check Up. The innovation involves counting blood cells, using only their electrical properties. We are extremely proud of what these young minds have come up with; it has the potential to create a revolution in the healthcare sector. This bears testimony to the kind of talent, platforms like GE Edison Challenge is able to reap. The winners also got an opportunity to visit GE John F Welch Technology Centre in Bengaluru and see the R&D laboratory. They also interacted with GE experts and attended a Predix platform workshop during their visit. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After the Haryana governments decision to rename Gurgaon as Gurugram, social fronts pushing for the name change now want the state to develop a tourism circuit connecting temples and places associated with Guru Dronacharya, after whom the district has been renamed. The organisations want the tourism circuit to connect historical places in Gurgaon Gaon, an area in Old Gurgaon, which has inspired the new name. Gurgaon Gaon was originally called Gurugram (teachers village). According to the Hindu mythology, the place got its name after Mahabharata era princes Pandavas and Kauravas donated the land to Dronacharya, their archery teacher as gurudakshina (teaching fee). The area has a temple dedicated to Dronacharya and a pond where he is believed to have taught his disciples, a temple of Lord Shiva (believed to have been set up by Pandavas), a temple dedicated to Eklavya (another character from Mahabharata) and the famous temple dedicated to Goddess Sheetla (believed to be the wife of Dronacharya). The area has a rich historical value but no attention has been paid to it. We will submit a letter to the government demanding that a tourism circuit be developed here to connect all these areas. Gurugram should have something else to offer apart from malls and Cyber Hub said Rishi Agarwal, president of Gurugram Gaurav Sanstha, a front pushing for renaming of the area. Agarwal, who is an engineer with an MNC in Gurgaon, said once developed, these areas could be connected through hop-on, hop-off bus service for tourists. Another member of the front, Arun Kataria, said the previous governments did not pay attention to these sites and so they are in ruins. According to the belief, the 10-acre pond was developed by Dronacharya. But it is now encroached upon. The pond is located in Bhim Nagar, named after prince Bhima. The temple dedicated to Dronacharya is near the pond. Locals claim that the city has the only temple in India dedicated to Eklavya in Khanda village. Eklavya is believed to have severed his thumb and offered it to Dronacharya as gurudakshina. It is believed that Eklavya wanted to learn archery from Dronacharya, but the guru refused to teach him. He then learnt the art by watching the lessons imparted by Dronacharya to Pandavas and Kauravas. The ancient Shiva temple is believed to have been constructed by Pandavas. The area was earlier known as Pandwala but is now called Prakashpuri Ashram. Experts, however, have expressed doubts over the idea of tourism circuit. There is nothing in Gurgaon that can be of interest to tourists. As far as Mahabharata era is concerned, there is nothing to see on ground here, said Atul Dev, convener, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Gurgaon chapter. Dev said it is doubtful that people will now come to see these places because the district has been renamed. Historian professor Kripal Chand Yadav said there are stories associated with the area but they are just stories without verifiable facts. For tourism, the place should have a historical value, which can be established only with facts, he said. The pond where Guru Dronacharya trained Pandavas and Kauravas in Gurgaon. (Parveen Kumar/HT photo) The locals claim the city has lone temple of Eklavya at Khanda village. Eklavya got famous after he severed his thumb and offered it as gurudakshina (teachers fee) to Dronacharya. Eklavya, a great archer, was denied archery lessons by Dronacharya after which he learnt the art by watching lessons imparted by the Guru to his royal students Pandavas and Kauravas. There is an ancient Shiv temple believed to have been constructed by Pandavas. The area was known as Pandwala and is now Prakashpuri Ashram. Those dealing with cultural heritage and history are, however, suspicious of the idea. There is nothing in Gurgaon which can be of interest to tourists. As far as Mahabharata is concerned, there is nothing to see on ground here, said Atul Dev, convener INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage), Gurgaon Chapter. Dev said it is doubtful that people would come to see these because it is renamed. Historian Prof Kripal Chand Yadav is doubtful of the historical value of the place. Yadav said there are stories associated with the area but they are just stories without verifiable facts. For tourism to develop there has to be historic value which comes with facts, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Women, now you have another reason to breastfeed your newborn. According to a new study, babies who are breastfed for at least the first six months of their life have low chances of developing liver disease during adolescence. The findings showed that pre-pregnancy BMI within the normal range was shown to decrease risk of adolescent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by half. Also, a minimum of six months of exclusive breastfeeding can further cut down the risk by a third. We wanted to see if there was any association between adolescent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, maternal factors and infant nutrition, said lead researcher Oyekoya Ayonrinde, clinical senior lecturer at University of Western Australia. Read: Sorry mothers! Breastfeeding is not protecting babies from allergies In the long-term, NAFLD can lead to scarring (fibrosis) of the liver and a potentially life-threatening condition called cirrhosis in some individuals. Our results demonstrate the grave impact maternal factors can have on the risk of developing liver disease in adolescence, Ayonrinde added. Recent studies suggest that it has become the most common liver disease in people aged two to 19-year-old, with half of obese children suffering from the condition. Excessive childhood weight gain is believed to be a key contributor to this rise. The study demonstrates the importance of proper infant nutrition and the benefit of exclusive and extended breastfeeding for six months, the researchers suggested. If the pre-pregnancy BMI of the mother is within the normal range, it decreases the risk of adolescent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the child by half. (Shutterstock) The team collected data such as maternal pregnancy, birth, childhood and adolescent characteristics through questionnaires, direct interviews, physical examinations and blood tests. The team conducted liver ultrasounds in 1,170 17-year-olds to diagnose NAFLD. The results revealed that over 15% of teenagers, out of the study cohort, were diagnosed as having NAFLD. Read: Moms be warned! Breastfeeding may expose babies to chemicals Individuals who were exclusively breastfed as infants for six or more months, showed lower prevalence of adolescent NAFLD when compared to those who were breastfed for less than six months. The findings were presented at The International Liver Congress 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more. The Jump Street and Men in Black crossover film is officially in works, Sony confirmed at the CinemaCon being held in Las Vegas. The crossover film has been hilariously titled MIB 23, reported Digital Spy. MIB 23 is the name of the JUMP STREET / MEN IN BLACK sequel. Steven Weintraub (@colliderfrosty) April 13, 2016 Comicbook.com has posted a picture of the logo. However, the plot details are not revealed yet and its not yet known whether Men in Black stars Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones or Josh Brolin will return as the alphabetically named government agents but Jump Street stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are reportedly returning. Read: The Men in Black are moving in at Jump Street, confirms director Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller recently teased the new film with Lord saying, Its still a crazy idea, and we only do things that seem like theyre going to be terrible. Were really focusing on whats a great story for Schmidt and Jenko and how to tell the next chapter in their lives. And perhaps use creatures from another world at the same time!. Now that it's official, I will say that @rodneyrothman's script for Men In Black/Jump Street is really, really good. Chris Miller (@chrizmillr) April 13, 2016 Alice Throught the Looking Glass director James Bobin is in early talks to direct the film. Heres the logo for the film (Twitter) Follow @htshowbiz for more An activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a right-wing student organisation, was beaten up by a mob after he hurled a slipper at the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar in Nagpur on Thursday. The incident occurred when Kanhaiya had started his speech after paying a tribute to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar at Deekshabhoomi on the occasion of his 125th birthday. Although the activist missed the target, the organisers and Kanhaiyas supporters took on the attacker, identified as Haridas Shinde, who is a Dalit . Earlier, when Kanhaiya shared the dais with other dignitaries, several Bajrang Dal activists shouted slogans against him and tried to disrupted the meeting. They were also roughed up by organisers and handed over to the police. Police detain Bajrang Dal acitivists who hurled slipper at Kanhaiya Kumar. (PTI) The activists wanted to know why someone like Kanhaiya, who supported terrorists like Afzal Guru and JNU students who had shouted anti-national slogans, was being allowed to share the stage with others. Continuing his speech, Kanhaiya dubbed such attackers undemocratic and intolerants. Is prakar joote aur patthar marne se main darne wala nahi, he said. Kanhaiya and two other JNU students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, were arrested on sedition charges in February. They were released on a six-month interim bail last month. The incident had sparked a nationwide debate on nationalism and led to a face-off between the BJP and opposition parties, particularly the Congress. Earlier, the city police detained six Bajrang Dal activists after they tried to attack Kanhaiyas car when he arrived at the Nagpur airport in the morning. They also hurled stones at vehicles of the event organisers, who went to receive Kanhaiya. Kanhaiya Kumar and others pay tribute to BR Ambedkar on his 125th birth anniversary at Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur (PTI) This is Kanhaiyas first visit to Nagpur--the home of national headquarters of RSS-- after he was charged with sedition for allegedly organizing and participating in an event at JNU where anti-national slogans were raised. Firing a salvo against the RSS-BJP ideologies in the NDA government, Kanhaiya accused the government of attack the democratic set up in the country and said there was a direct assault on the Constitution authored by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. The JNU SU head said the Modi government was damaging the credibility of the educational institutions, like the JNU, and imposing its own ideology and harassing the students for acts they did not commit. Strongly refuting that any anti-India slogan was raised in the JNU campus, Kanhaiya said there was no need for doubting our integrity. The army is yet to recover the body of a major who was killed in an encounter in Manipur on Wednesday. The security forces have called off the combing operation in Tamenglong district and are trying to bring back the officers body from the remote area. Army officials said Nungba area in Tamenglong district is densely forested and they have not been able to bring the body of major Amit Deswal of 21 Para SF. We are trying to secure the area first and build an approach route so that our choppers can go there safely to recover the body. Due to dense vegetation it is not possible to go there on foot, an official said. Deswal, a resident of Surehti in Haryanas Jhajjar district, is survived by wife and a three-and-a-half years old son. A militant was also killed in the gunbattle. She had waited 11 years for this day, when the balance of justice would finally tilt in her favour. And she wasnt going to spend it hiding behind a veil. When the victim of the Ashiana gang rape arrived at the All India Democratic Womens Association office in the state capital on Wednesday, she seemed dressed for a celebration. Clad in a saree with her hair flowing glamorously down her shoulders, the woman sat on a chair with her fists clenched breathlessly waiting for the phone to ring and deliver a long-awaited message that would finally liberate her from years of pent-up anger. But when the call did come around 4.30 pm, she remained seated in silent acknowledgment. Only the most observant of eyes would have noticed the shadow of a smile that flickered across her face, followed by a slight tremble of her body. Then the moment passed, and she regained her composure. Over a decade has passed, but memories of that fateful night continue to haunt the gang rape victim. I still remember how, on May 2, 2005, Gaurav Shukla and his friends pulled me into a moving car and pinned me to a seat. They stripped me and subjected me to every kind of brutality, from inserting a gun into my private parts to stubbing me with cigarette butts. I kept crying for mercy, but they wouldnt listen. It was party time for them... they took turns to rape me amid loud music, liquor and laughter, she says, running her fingers through her hair. She pauses. Its my turn to celebrate today. The years leading up to Shuklas conviction have been hard. I suffered every single day through these years, and the judicial delays only added to my anxiety. I want nothing less than life imprisonment for Shukla. I want him to suffer for yearsthe way I have been suffering for more than a decade, she says. Read: Ashiana gang rape: 11 yrs on, main accused held guilty And from now on, the veil that covered her face would be cast aside. I want to show the world that I never committed any wrong, and the one who did are now behind bars. I want to face the world as a fighter, not hide as a victim of rape, she exclaims. The woman, who was just 13 at the time of the incident, is now a Class 11 student. She wants to become a judge, and for a very specific reason too. If I succeed, I will first scrap the practice of taking multiple statements from a rape victim. Her statement should be taken just once, and a recording must be used for future references. The law must understand that each time a rape victim is made to narrate her experience, she is made to undergo it all over again, she says. According to her, the inordinate delays that plague the judicial system should also be done away with. I had to wait 11 years for justice, she says. The present system of delayed justice lets the perpetrator move around freely while the rape victim is forced to suffer. Happiness has been a distant dream for the womans family ever since the incident occurred. They were fed up. They would sometimes suggest packing up and going back to our village in Assam. But I always refused. I had decided to fight till the end, no matter how many hurdles came my way, she says. Four of the accused were convicted earlier, and two of them even died, but the woman couldnt be satisfied until Shukla was punished. But now that her tormenter is convicted, she plans to go to Ajmer Sharif and offer prayers to the Almighty. The judgment , she says, goes to prove a simple fact of life. No lie, no degree of influence can overpower the truth. Money cannot save a rapist either, and Shuklas conviction has shown just that. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A Dalit research scholar was allegedly evicted from a university in Hyderabad on Thursday, sparking anger among students attending a function to mark the 125th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar. Koonal Duggal said he may have been targeted by the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) for participating in the agitation seeking justice for Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula whose suicide in January sparked a debate over caste bias on campuses. The moment I finished my speech and song, three security guards pushed me and tried to forcibly take me to (the) chief security officer, Koonal told HT. He quoted the security officer as saying that university proctor Kona Prakash Reddy had barred his entry into the campus. They did not give any reason for this. They, in fact, disrupted the event, he added. University officials were not available for comments. Read | Rohith Vemulas brother, mother embrace Buddhism Koonal, who hails from Delhi, is pursuing his PhD on caste and religious politics in contemporary Punjab. Associated with the Dalit Adivasi Bahujan Minority Association (DAMA), Koonal is also working as a guest faculty at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) where Vemula studied. Koonal also participated in protests after the rustication of three Dalit students by the administration. Some students alleged that the proctor had called the police on Wednesday night when they were cleaning and re-painting Ambedkars statue. However, the police left the campus without any action. Koonal lodged a complaint with Osmania University police station against the proctor, saying he was harassed and humiliated in front of the student community. The university security guards also lodged a complaint against Koonal, saying he trespassed into the campus. The security official says Koonal is no longer a student of the university, said V. Ashok Reddy, inspector at the Osmania University police station. The official said they have registered cases on both the complaints and would take further action after an inquiry. Read | Tension in Hyderabad university as students go on protest The Supreme Court has refused to terminate an army officers service for calling his subordinate lady officer a whore and prostitute, saying he was punished with a reprimand and that was enough. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur said the officer cannot be punished twice. It rejected the Centres contention that the reprimand was too meagre for the Colonel who allegedly sexually harassed his immediate subordinate, a Lieutenant Colonel. Army rules allow reprimand as a form of punishment that is entered in an officers confidential report. Though the officer continues to be in service, a reprimand can affect his chances of promotion. In all there were 12 charges of sexual harassment, including physical molestation, against the officer. But the General Court Martial (GCM) exonerated him of all the charges except the charge of calling the woman a whore and prostitute. Despite the exoneration, armys confirming authority issued the officer a termination notice, which the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) quashed. Challenging the AFTs order, additional solicitor general Maninder Singh told the court that the confirming authority had administrative power to issue the termination notice despite a GCM clearance. He said the accused was never punished for the offence. But the court did not agree. Isnt reprimand a punishment? Your appeal seems to be more in the name of making it hype. Your own court martial has held him not guilty. Somebody wants to go after him, the court said as it dismissed the appeal on the ground of delay. The appeal was delayed by more than 13 months. Singh repeatedly argued the GCM had erroneously recorded a finding of not guilty against the officer in 11 out of the 12 charges framed against him. He argued an officer who does not respect a junior woman officer cannot be part of a force. Singh cited two SC judgments in support of his argument that the army can initiate disciplinary action. However, the bench wondered how the army will get evidence against the officer who has been absolved of the charges. How will you press the same charges against him? Your own officers have held him not guilty, it said. The officer faced two GCM proceedings. He was first tried in 2005 on 12 charges but the GCM found him not guilty. The GCMs finding was not held valid and the confirming authority asked it to review its decision. On a re-trial, the GCM reiterated its finding but modified the earlier order to the extent it declared the officer guilty of using un-parliamentary language. Reprimand was imposed on him as punishment. Not satisfied with the decision, the Chief of Army Staff issued him a notice on March 17, 2009, which AFT, Kolkata, quashed on July 20, 2010. The army had challenged the AFT order before the SC. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The renaming of Gurgaon to Gurugram may have been a shock to its two million residents but the name has been used for years by local members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The RSS office Madhav Bhawan at sector 12-A has used Gurugram in its address for a long time and Gurgaons deputy mayor Parminder Kataria admits he got the idea for Gurgaons new name from RSS branches. What is new in it? The area was named Gurugram and we have been using this name. In Sangh shakhas and meetings, we introduce ourselves as being from Gurugram. We always wanted the area to have its original name Anil Kashyap, the Gurgaon district RSS chief, told HT. Gurgaon changed its name to Gurugram on Tuesday with the district administration saying the land was given to Guru Dronacharya by his disciples as gurudakshina (teaching fee) in the Mahabharata era. Hence, it was known as Gurugram (teachers village). Kataria-led Gurugram Gaurav has been campaigning for the name change for two years. Read | A walk down memory lane: The many changes Gurgaon has seen Gurugram Gaurav was launched in June 2014, after which the Gurgaon municipal corporation (MCG) passed a resolution for a name change. After passing the resolution, we started a signature campaign and pitched in Surender Pal who acted as Dronacharya in the TV serial Mahabharata, said Kataria. Always clad in saffron, Kataria said Gurugram represented the originality of the area and needed to be restored. Madhav Bhavan, the RSS office, in Gurgaon. The deputy mayor of Gurgaon has admitted he got the idea of the name change from the RSS branch. (Praveen Kumar / HT Photo) In March, Gurgaon deputy commissioner TL Satyaprakash wrote a letter to the finance commissioner (revenue) with representations he received from resident welfare associations and groups, including the Gurugram Gaurav. Lokesh Ahuja, a representative of the resident welfare association of Sector 7-extension, said RWAs of old Gurgaon started discussions on renaming Gurgaon about three years ago. They sent representations to the district administration over the issue several times. Read | From Gurgaon to Gurugram: Here are 20 funny tweets we shouldnt miss But opposition parties have criticised the name change, with Congress leader Ajay Singh Yadav saying the BJP government was using such handiworks to cover its lack of governance. Gurgaon has gained international repute now. Renaming it is just a ploy to divert attention of the public he said. Objecting to the word gram (village) in Gurugram, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said authorities should used the name Gurugaon as gaon (village) connects with local people. Raising a similar issue, Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda tweeted, Changing Gurgaon to Gurugram is attack on culture, dialect and history of Haryana. Gram is not our word. Why has this been done? Gurgaon could also be renamed as Gurugaon he said in another tweet. Sanjay Colony resident Sardar Singh, 70, who served in the Gurgaon deputy commissioners office, remembered his father and grandfather using the name Gurugram. They used to call it Gurugaon, but I have never seen the name in official documents, he said. Read |Gram isnt our word: Randeep Hooda is unhappy with Gurgaons new name Read | Gurgaon becomes Gurugram, but whats new about that anyway? SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Time and again, people in the heritage city of Gaya have proved their credentials in spreading communal harmony. Setting yet another example of religious tolerance, city mosques here on Friday will offer water to devotees taking part in Ramnavami processions and help them beat the heat. The imams of all important mosques conveyed this decision to Gaya senior superintendent of police (SSP) Garima Mallik during a meeting here. The SSP had called a meeting with imams, maulavis and intellectuals of the minority community to seek their cooperation in maintaining law and order during the religious processions. It is not for the first time that such a goodwill gesture would be seen here. About two years ago, Jagadguru Swami Raghwacharya, then Mahanth of Vaishnavite Ramanujacharya Math, had offered accommodation and food to Haj pilgrims arriving at Gaya to board Jeddah-bound flights. Reciprocating the gesture, imams had offered similar facilities to Hindu pilgrims coming here during the Pitrapaksh Mela. During the meeting with the SSP, the imams not only agreed to the proposal of the police to maintain the social fabric of Gaya, but also offered khidmat (service) to devotees. We will ensure drinking water facilities to devotees, they said. When Muslims prepare Ramnavami flags and incensed sticks for the festival, why should they shy away from extending cooperation to the procession, said Nauagarhi Khankah imam Ahamad Sujail. Almost similar views were expressed by maulana Farooque Kasmi of Munni Masjid and Sawarat Hussain of Peer Mansoor mosque. The imams also agreed to remain on roads during the procession to maintain peace and harmony. The SSP, who has been holding meetings of peace committees on a regular basis, said close vigil would be kept on trouble-makers during the processions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday his government wants to mobilise an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore to enable development of ports and invited global investors to explore opportunities in Indias 7,500-km long coastline. Modi said his government plans to modernise ports to restore Indias position of eminence in the global maritime sector, while inaugurating the first Maritime India Summit (MIS) aimed to attract potential global investors for huge opportunities in the maritime sector. We Indians are inheritors of a glorious maritime heritage. Maritime transport can be the most extensive mode of transport. It is also the most eco-friendly, he said in Mumbai. Our vision is to increase port capacity from 1,400 million tonnes to 3,000 million tonnes by 2025. We want to mobilise an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore in the port sector to enable this growth, the Prime Minister said. Modi said India plans to add five new ports to meet the increasing demand of Exim trade, which is expected to rise in line with the fast-growing Indian economy. New ports are also being developed by several coastal states of India. The Prime Minister said the Indian shipping sector is ready for a long haul and called upon investors not to miss out on the pleasant journey and great destination. It is even better time to come through the sea route ... Once you are here, I assure you that I will personally hold your hands to see that your berthing is safe, secure and satisfactory, Modi added. Elaborating on the governments plans for the sector, Modi referred to the shipping ministry showcasing some 250 projects with an investment opportunity in the maritime sector. These projects include various infrastructure development opportunities in 12 major ports, projects in eight maritime states and other agencies, of which over 100 projects have been identified under the ambitious Sagarmala programme. With more than 14,000 kilometres of navigable inland waterways in the country, there is tremendous potential for development in this sector. My government is committed to integration in infrastructure. We are also committed to creating an enabling environment for investors and facilitating investments with an open mind, he added. On the need for collaboration, the Prime Minister said it not just creates and facilitates economic activity, but connects countries and civilisations. He termed it as the cleanest and cheapest carrier of global trade. However, in this sector, no country can achieve the desired results in isolation. Nations have to collaborate to realise this potential and overcome challenges in this sector. The objective of this summit is to provide a platform and a forum for such cooperation, he stressed. Modi also paid a tribute to BR Ambedkar on his 125th birth anniversary and said that the architect of Indias Constitution was also the architect of the countrys water and river navigation policy. MIS will showcase to a global audience sectors like existing port development and modernisation of berths and terminals, Greenfield ports, port-led development under Sagarmala, shipbuilding, repairs and breaking, coastal shipping, inland water transport, cruises, lighthouse tourism, hinterland connectivity and logistics handling. Deals worth over Rs 80,000 crore are expected to be signed during the event in which delegates, CEOs and experts from 41 countries will participate. Gurgaon may not officially be Gurugram yet but that hasnt stopped hundreds from making a dash to book website domains featuring the proposed name. Over 1,000 new website domains the name of a particular site, such as google.com have been booked with the word Gurugram in them since Gurgaon was renamed on Tuesday. This is unusual, Noida-based entrepreneur Amit Bhati told HT, as only nine websites had registered domain names with Gurugram as the choice name before the renaming announcement. Read: Gurgaon to Gurugram: The RSS connect in the name change A choice name is what websites use before the dot in the domain. For example, abc is the choice name in the domain abc.com. Domain registration with Gurugram as choice name went up to 32 within 20 minutes and to 58 in one hour of announcement. More than 90 domains were registered with Gurugram choice name by Wednesday morning said Bhati. He said he booked domains such as gurugram.news, gurugram.property and others. According to web hosting experts, reselling domain names can fetch at least Rs 1 lakh. The district administration said the land was given to Guru Dronacharya by his disciples in the Mahabharata era, and hence renamed the district as Gurugram (teachers village). Read: Gurgaon will turn Gurugram, Haryana govt says people want new name The new name is outstripping even Gurgaon in popularity on the web. Bhati said only 86 domains were registered with Gurgaon as choice name in the past two years . But the name switch has worried those whose websites have Gurgaon in their names as they fear becoming redundant. Website developers feel they will have to work from scratch as it will not be easy to get domain names with Gurugram in them. Booking a domain name can cost from Rs 300 to Rs 4,000 depending on the name and those who booked Gurgaon domains in bulk are in the lurch now, said Bhati. Deepali Chugh, a resident of south Delhis Greater Kailash who booked gurugram.net, said domains with Gurgaon will not become obsolete immediately but lose usage with time. A Gurgaon-based web developer Raj Gupta said all important domains with Gurugram in them have been taken. The name change is also effecting changes on Facebook, where at least 10 new pages devoted to Gurugram have come up. Read: A walk down memory lane: The many changes Gurgaon has seen SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Some MPs have united to tackle a common adversary of many lawmakers: the Capitals simians. And its no monkey business. For years, efforts to make Lutyens Delhi a monkey-free zone have all but failed. The simians managed to enter, literally, the corridors of power in various Bhavans, North and South Block, and other government offices apart from finding shelter in New Delhis green cover. The House committee of the Rajya Sabha, responsible for allotment and maintenance of its MPs accommodation, wants to take a different approach to tackle the problem of monkeys and also stray dogs. It has sought public opinion and experts views to prepare a report after studying in detail the issue. To start with, panel chairman VP Singh Badnore refused to dub the unwanted presence of monkeys as a menace. I am an animal lover and a conservationist. It is not a menace. It is all about management, he told HT on Thursday. Badnore is flooded with complaints from MPs against the animals. Stealing food, attacking family members, scratching and biting people the animals have done it all. We want to take a comprehensive view on how to stop the problems faced by MPs from simians and dogs. I have also spoken to the wildlife board and NDMC. I am hopeful that the panels report will not only be helpful for Delhi but also come in handy for cities like Jaipur or Bangalore, Badnore, a BJP MP from Rajasthan, said. Delhi authorities had identified the Aravalli hills to relocate the monkeys caught from the Lutyens zone. But the experiment failed as the simians grew in numbers and fanned out in search of fruits. Locals objected to the place being used for relocation as they faced animal attacks, too. The monkey menace is not entirely a new experience for the MPs. In 2004, when Mani Shankar Aiyar became a minister, he refused to go to his allotted bungalow on Kamaraj Marg as the unused accommodation had become a night shelter of choice for monkeys. In 2012, the then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee once lamented that monkeys were eating his home-grown pumpkins. Mukherjee had suggested that more fruit-bearing trees be planted in the outskirts of Delhi so that the simians did not have to visit government offices or ministers houses in search of food. In another innovative idea, the BJP-led New Delhi municipality had hired young men disguised as langurs to keep rival monkeys away. The NDMC pays between Rs 6,000 and Rs 9,000 to the head of the group who hires other men for the job. To tackle stray dogs, urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu had earlier said a team of catchers had been hired to visit Parliament House and surrounding areas twice a week. A 25-year-old woman is pinning her hopes on a contempt petition filed at the Delhi high court to bring back the body of her husband who was allegedly beaten to death by his Saudi employer more than a year ago. Noushaba Bano, hailing from Jharkhand, filed the petition in the first week of April after the Centre failed to act on an order from the same court in December, directing the Indian government to ensure that Mohammed Afsars body was transported to India within four weeks. The earlier order had come on a separate petition by Bano. Saudi Arabia has the largest number of Indian passport holders outside India, most of them employed as blue collar workers. The oil-rich country is often criticised for human rights violations and difficult working conditions for migrant workers, a charge its government denies. The government has done nothing (so far). So we have moved a contempt petition, Banos lawyer Jose Abraham told HT on Wednesday. Taking up the petition on April 8, the court sought a status report from the Centre before April 19. Afsar was working as a bulldozer operator in Riyadh for two years before he was allegedly assaulted by his employer, leading to his death on March 3 last year. The Saudi employer was allegedly angry at Afsar for seeking to return to India. In her petition, Bano quoted her husbands co-workers as saying they were shown a video in which the employer was beating him mercilessly. By showing the said video, he threatened them of consequences which they (co-workers) may face if they ask for any leave, the petition said. Abraham said the Indian Embassy had issued a no objection certificate (NOC) to the employer, instead of the family, for release of the body from the mortuary. The family fear the employer may bury the body of the deceased in Saudi Arabia in order to erase further evidence related to his death, Abraham added. The Kerala state government announced on Thursday that it would not support a complete ban on fireworks, according to chief minister Oommen Chandy. The CM was speaking at an all-party meeting organised after a fireworks competition held at the Puttingal Devi temple in the coastal town of Paravur, Kollam district started an inferno that killed more than a hundred people and injured more than 300 on Sunday, April 10. Kerala home minister Ramesh Chennithala announced that the government instead would ban competitions to prevent the use of fireworks in Kerala, adding that it was the responsibility of the police and security agencies had to enforce norms. Read: Kerala temple blaze: HC imposes conditional ban on fireworks in temples Chennithala also said that the government was unable to completely ban fireworks, and that the impetus laid on state police to check the chemicals used in firecrackers, and sanction the use of disastrous materials. Read: Kerala blaze: Locals accuse temple officials of using political clout Chandy had also approached the Kerala high court to allow fireworks to be used during Thrissur Pooram, which is one of the largest Hindu festivals in the country. The high court granted the use of firecrackers for the festival on Thursday. The scale of the tragedy led to locals and other bodies seeking a ban on the practice of bursting crackers during temple festivities. Read: Smoke after blaze: Kerala temples, churches to skip fireworks While temple trust president SL Jayalal, secretary J Krishnankutty and three other members Shivaprasad, Surendran Pillai and Ravindran Pillai surrendered before Crime Branch officers, two more Surendranathan Pillai and Murugesan were picked up by the police. A case was registered against at least 20 people, including managing committee members and the contractors responsible for the fireworks display. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that the Congress should repent for undermining BR Ambedkars legacy for 60 years as he reached out to Dalits. Addressing a rally in Madhya Pradeshs Mhow, Modi, who has faced attack from the opposition party for trying to approporiate national icons, asked why the successive governments of the Congress did not develop the five places associated with Ambedkar during their tenure. Listing a number of measures that his government is taking to carry forward the vision of Ambedkar, a Dalit icon, including on maritime projects and the empowerment of weaker sections, Modi said, for so many years, the vision of Ambedkar was undermined. Some persons are distressed why Modi is doing all this. This is a matter of our dedication and conviction. We believe that social harmony can be achieved only by following the path shown by Baba Saheb. I feel proud to work at the feet of Baba Saheb. Referring to his humble origins, Modi said that if the son of a woman, who used to fetch water in others houses could become Prime Minister, the credit for it goes to Ambedkar. On his governments decision to construct a memorial at 26 Alipur Road in Delhi, which was the last home of Ambedkar, the Prime Minister asked the Congress why did it not do so in the last six decades. Why did you not do it in the last 60 years? When we are doing it, you are getting uneasy. You should repent over why you did not do this all these years, the Prime Minister said stepping up his offensive against the Congress. Those engaged in vote bank politics thought of nothing else than dividing the society, he said. Making a pro-poor pitch, the Prime Minister accused the Congress of doing nothing on this count. Some people have been calling themselves the messiah of the poor for the last six decades. The account of what they have done for the poor in last 60 years is shocking even as they keep talking of the poor day and night, Modi said. He highlighted the steps taken by his government in the last two years like giving LPG connection to the poor and Jan Dhan Yojana. Modi, whose government has often been accused by Congress of having a corporate bias, stressed that Indias development wont happen through five or 50 cities and industrialists and foundation of villages will have to be strengthened for sustainable development and reiterated his committment to double the farmers income by 2022. Also Read | Ambedkar Jayanti brings little joy to his flock Also Read | PM promises to change lives of tribals, Dalits with Stand up India Also Read | United Nations describes Ambedkar as global icon for marginalised people Union HRD minister Smriti Irani has rejected the demand to shift the unrest-hit NIT campus from Srinagar. A group of students met Irani on Wednesday to press for their demands including the shifting of the campus. Students said that while the minister rejected their primary demand to shift the campus by saying that Kashmir is an integral part of India, she assured them of support in addressing academic issues. Irani also assured the group that if any of the faculty or staff of the institute has induldged in any wrong-doing, action would be taken as per the due process. NIT, Srinagar, has been at the centre of a row since April 1 when clashes had erupted out between outstation and local students on the campus following Indias defeat to West Indies in the World T20 Cup. The situation worsened on April 5 when outstation students tried to take out a march outside the campus but were stopped by the police, leading to violence including vandalism by students and lathicharge by police. Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said on Thursday that the door was open for negotiations with India, contradicting high commissioner Abdul Basits remarks that talks had been suspended. He also favoured interaction and engagement between the neighbours with troubled ties, and said both sides were in contact with each other. Yes, dialogue is the best option, Zakaria said at a weekly media briefing in Islamabad, reacting to a question whether negotiations between India and Pakistan were possible. Foreign secretary-level talks scheduled for the middle of January were derailed after a terror attack on an Indian Air Force base in Punjabs Pathankot. The strike blamed on Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed killed seven Indian security personnel. A week ago, Pakistan high commissioner Basit said in New Delhi that no meeting was scheduled for now and the present peace process had been suspended. Basits remarks came after a Pakistani probe teams visit to the Pathankot base and the arrest of alleged RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav in Balochistan. Basit also said the Pakistanis teams visit was not based on reciprocity. Read: Pakistan says talks with India suspended, hints wont allow NIA visit In December, the two countries agreed to start a bilateral dialogue at a meeting between external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Sartaj Aziz, the advisor to Pakistan prime minister on foreign affairs. Ties got a boost when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Lahore on way back to New Delhi from Kabul on Christmas Day on the occasion of Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharifs birthday. Zakaria said it was decided during Modis visit that foreign secretaries from the two sides should meet soon. It is hoped that both sides would work out modalities for the FS-level talks. We need to look ahead and not think in terms foreclosing any options, he said. Zakaria also said Pakistan was evaluating the information shared by India on the Pathankot attack. When asked about Kirpal Singh, an Indian prisoner who died in Pakistan following what authorities claimed was a heart attack, Zakaria said it was not appropriate to see everything through the prism of suspicion and conspiracy. Kirpal, 54, died at a hospital in Pakistans Kot Lakhpat Jail on April 11. He was alleged to have been involved in a bombing at Faisalabad Railway Station in 1991, and was sentenced to death for spying and terrorism in Pakistan. (With IANS inputs) BR Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, was at the centre of a national discourse on Thursday as politicians vied with each other to claim the Dalit icons legacy on his 125th birth anniversary. He was given credit for Narendra Modi becoming the Prime Minister, for the creation of Telangana and for the countrys faith in democracy, among a host of other achievements. The scramble by politicians to project themselves as champions of the Dalit cause comes in the midst of crucial assembly elections in West Bengal with 23.5% lower caste population and ahead of voting in Tamil Nadu with 20% scheduled caste, besides Kerala and Puducherry. Seven more states are going to polls next year and Dalits constitute a major chunk of voters in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Read: Mayawati at Ambedkar rally: Centre, SP govt failed on all fronts Modi, who went to Ambedkars birthplace Mhow in Madhya Pradesh, asked the Congress to repent for allegedly undermining the Dalit leaders legacy for 60 years. Listing measures taken by his government to carry forward Babasahebs vision, he said, Some persons are distressed why he is doing all thisWe believe that social harmony can be achieved only by following the path shown by Babasaheb. I feel proud to work at the feet of Babasaheb. He also credited Ambedkar for his the son of a woman who fetched water in others households -- becoming the PM. His attack on the Congress came three days after opposition leaders, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, attacked the BJP and the RSS at a meeting to mark what the party claimed was the end of yearlong celebrations on Ambedkars anniversary. Rahul had attacked the Sangh Parivar for professing and practising Manus ideology, a reference to the author of Manusmiriti that sought to justify the caste system. Sonia accused the BJP and RSS for putting reservation system under threat and saying that those who opposed Ambedkar until now were trying to appropriate his legacy. Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati cautioned Dalits and backwards against the BJPs designs. The BJP or RSS can make any Dalit or backward the prime minister or chief minister but he cannot do anything good for his people...he will always remain a bonded labourer of the BJP or RSS, the BSP supremo said at a meeting in Lucknow to pay homage to Ambedkar. Mayawati said Modi has not taken action against his minister V K Singh who made derogatory comments against the followers of Ambedkar. She also attacked Rahul Gandhi for not taking cognizance of suicides by Dalit students when his party was in power. Now that the Congress is out of power, the yuvaraj (prince) is going around in states ruled by other parties and indulging in theatrics, she said in an apparent reference to Gandhis visit to Hyderabad to meet students and the family of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula who committed suicide in January. Vemulas mother Radhika and brother Naga Chaitanya embraced Buddhism on the birth anniversary of Ambedkar, who had himself converted to the religion propagated by Buddha. We are against the caste system in Hinduism and have, therefore, decided to embrace Buddhism which does not have such an oppressive system of castes, said Rohiths brother in Mumbai in the presence of Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of the Dalit icon. In Vijayawada, Andhra Pradeshs new capital, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu launched year-long celebrations of the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar to make his life and message a guiding spirit for all. The CM also announced that his government would build a 125-ft tall statue of Ambedkar at Amaravati. Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao laid the foundation stone for a 125-ft bronze statue of Ambedkar near the Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad. We got Telangana because Ambedkar argued in the Constituent Assembly and made the Act that Centre should stand by the weak..., Rao said. JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, arrest on sedition charges sparked a debate on nationalism, visited Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur, the place where Ambedkar embraced Buddhism in 1956. Read: Mayawati at Ambedkar rally: Centre, SP govt failed on all fronts Journalist: Hamas is Poisoning the Minds of Palestinian Children | Main | I Say Terrorist, I Say Militant: The Washington Post Talks to Itself April 14, 2016 Jordan Closes Muslim Brotherhood Headquarters On April 13, 2016, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan closed the Amman headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood. Arab News, an English language daily published in Saudi Arabia, reported that Jordanian security services sealed the entrance to the Brotherhoods main office after thoroughly searching and evacuating the building (Jordan closes Brotherhood HQ,? April 14). Abdelkader al-Khatib, the groups lawyer, claimed that the Jordanian governments actions were, clearly a political decision in line with what is happening in the region.? Khatib also said that the effort, has the sole purpose of influencing the upcoming elections and results.? Arab News pointed out that, authorities view the Brotherhood as an illegal organization because its license was not renewed in accordance with a political parties law adopted in 2014.? As CAMERA has noted (Egypts Muslim Brotherhood in Its Own, Original Words,? July 11, 2013), the Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 to repel Western influence and restore the Sunni Muslim caliphate that ended shortly after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. The groups credo is Allah is our objective, The Prophet is our leader. The Koran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.? Unlike other Salafist jihadi groups, the Brotherhood does not eschew electoral politics. Rather, it seeks to win elections with the goal of implementing sharia (Islamic) law and taking steps towards an Islamic society? after its ascendance. In contrast to terrorist groups like al-Qaeda or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which have origins from the Brotherhood, the movements strategy is one of patience; it professes non-violence and burrows? into political systems, claiming moderation. However, its objectivesincluding Islamic supremacismare the same as its terrorist brethren, who it frequently spawns. The Muslim Brotherhood has been increasingly expansive in the last decade. In 2006, Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group and a Muslim Brotherhood derivative, won elections in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has since refused to hold new elections and has instituted draconian measures against women, homosexuals and non-Muslim minorities in accordance with its interpretation of Islam. More recently, in June 2012, a Brotherhood-connected political party came to power under President Mohammed Morsi in Egypt. Shortly after Morsis election, in keeping with Brotherhood doctrine and stated objectives, moves were made to Islamize society. As The Daily Beast, an online newspaper, noted in August 2013 one month after Morsi was ousted by Egypts military under General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi: The Muslim Brotherhood is showing the world its true colors. The groups that renounced violence in an effort to gain political power is engaged in a full-scale campaign of terror against Egypts Christian minority. Brotherhood leaders have incited their followers to attack Christian homes, shops, schools and churches throughout the country. Samuel Tadros, an Egyptian scholar with the Hudson Institute, told me [Kristen Powers, political analyst and commentator] these attacks are the worst violence against Coptic Christians since the 14th century (The Muslim Brotherhoods War Against Coptic Christians,? Aug. 22, 2013).? The Brotherhood has long posed a threat to the Kingdom of Jordan, where it operates under the Islamic Action Front (IAF). In the wake of Hamas 2006 victory in Palestinian elections, analyst David Schenker of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a D.C.-based think tank, wrote, despite the kingdoms surprisingly good economic performance, Islamists may yet increase their political influence in the kingdom (Jordanian Islamists and Municipal Elections: Confirmation of a Problematic Trend,? July 30, 2007).? The IAF later boycotted elections in 2010 and 2013. Yet, concerns over the Brotherhoods capabilities in a monarchy ruled by the last of the Hashemite dynasty that once ruled large portions of the Middle East, remain unabated. Posted by SD at April 14, 2016 01:14 PM Guidelines for posting This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material. Post a comment The home ministry has spent more than Rs 5000 crore in security related expenditure (SRE) in Jammu and Kashmir over the last two decades, with Rs 286.13 crore being spent in the fiscal year of 2015 (till December) alone. Releasing these details in its annual report, the home ministry also said insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir had declined, reducing the number of civilian casualties. From paying police personnel under SRE to reimbursing state government expenses in providing cash assistance and ration to migrant Kashmiri pundits in Jammu (SRE-relief and rehabilitation), the central ministry spent Rs 5,021.64 from 1998 to 2015, the report noted. The security situation in the state is closely monitored by the home ministry with the state government and the ministry of defence. The ministry also incurred charges by reimbursing the states expenditure on different security-related measures, including carriage of constabulary, material supplies, accommodation, honorarium to Special Police Officers (there are 24,068 SPOs in the state), raising the cost of India Reserve Battalions, transport, alternate accommodation for security forces, etc. But where the numbers went up, there seemed to be an indirect proportionality to the numbers on violence. The report stated there was a decline in terrorist violence and civilian causalities, with 108 terrorist and 17 civilians being killed last year. In 2014, these numbers were at 110 terrorists and 28 civilians. Since militancy began in the state in 1990, up until 2015, there have been 13,921 civilian and 4,961 security force (SF) personnel deaths. The report also stated that infiltration attempts substantially decreased in 2015 until November, there were 118 attempts made, of which 36 were successful. In 2014, there were 209 attempts made of which 69 were successful. Apart from surveillance, many counter-terrorism strategies have been adopted to neutralise militant efforts and capabilities and policies have been drafted to discourage local youth from joining militancy. With militants continuing to change infiltration routes, measures have been adopted to strengthen border infrastructure, such as a multi-tiered deployment along the border. There are about 40,000 registered Kashmiri migrants in Jammu, about 18,250 families, each of who are given Rs 2,500 per month with dry ration. A maximum of Rs 10,000 is given per family per month. Poachers pumped 80 bullets into a rhinoceros in Assams Kaziranga National Park and cut off its horn on Wednesday night after security guards were allegedly diverted for Prince William and Kate Middletons visit. This is the second rhino killed in the past three days, underlining that lax rules and bureaucratic slips were hurting Indias fight against a thriving network of animal parts smugglers who use the Myanmar border to drive their illegal trade. A male rhino was killed and its horn was taken away by armed poachers last night, said Subhasish Das, divisional forest officer. Empty cases of AK -47 rifle were found from the spot. Poachers were allegedly given a free run with forest guards busy making arrangements for the British royal couples stay at a resort inside the park, sources told HT. In pics: Kate Middleton, William attend a royal Bollywood reception Britain's Prince William (2nd L), Duke of Cambridge, and Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, meet a rhino calf at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Panbari reserve forest in Kaziranga. (AFP) The poachers cut off the rhinos horn a coveted item in Chinese medicine that sells for millions when the animal was alive, the sources added. Just hours before the killing, the royal couple came within 50 metres of a rare one-horned rhino and fed a baby rhinoceros at the Centre for Wildlife Conservation and Rehabilitation. Prince William also interacted with the parks anti-poaching guards at Dipholu in Bagori range, about 15 km from the Burapahar range where the poaching took place. The 430 square kilometer Kaziranga National Park is home to the worlds largest concentration of rare one-horned rhinos. The Unesco World Heritage Site has around 2,500 one-horned rhinos, over two-thirds of the global population of the animal. But the park has struggled with poaching allegedly driven by extremists and black money in recent years as poorly equipped park guards are unable to match hunters fire power. Seven rhinos have been killed since January, adding to the 20 shot the previous year. Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, prepares to touch a rhino calf during a visit to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) near Kaziranga National Park. (PTI) Read: A dosa in Mumbai: William, Kate have royal fun on India trip As many as 93 cases of rhino poaching using sophisticated weapons including AK-47 and AK-56 assault rifles was reported since 2009, a right to information reply by the state government revealed. One of the rarest mammals in the world, the one-horned rhino is vulnerable to poaching due to the high prices at least Rs 50 lakh -- fetched by its horn in southeast Asian black markets. Assam forest minister Atowa Munda said the poachers used an M -16 rifle, a weapon generally used by militant outfits in neighbouring Nagaland and Manipur. We have armed guards but they have no such M-16 like sophisticated weapons. We are seeking more support from Centre to stop rhino poaching in Kaziranga, Munda said. Most of the poaching cases in Kaziranga were reported from parts of the park bordering the Karbi Anglong hills district of Assam. The hill district is a hub of many ethnic militant outfits that maintain close ties with militant outfits of Manipur and Nagaland. A state police report in 2014 said extremists in the Karbi Anglong side of the park were helping poachers. The foundation for rhino conservation in Kaziranga was laid in 1905 at the initiative of Lady Curzon, the wife of the then viceroy of India. The forest area had only five rhinos then but the animal thrived after independence. Kaziranga became a national park in 1974. In Pics: William and Kate have a royal time in Delhi The family of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide over alleged discrimination by the University of Hyderabad authorities, converted to Buddhism on Thursday in a symbolic condemnation of the Hindu caste system. The conversion ceremony of Vemulas brother, Raja, and mother, Radhika, was organised in Mumbai on the occasion of social reformer BR Ambedkars 125th birth anniversary. Speaking to ANI after the conversion ceremony, Raja said, My brother wanted to be a Buddhist... he tried to take up Buddhism, but couldnt make it. Even we like Buddhism and its teachings, so we are accepting it, he added. Raja had told HT on Wednesday that although they held no ill-feelings towards Hinduism, their conscience wouldnt allow them to follow it anymore. It is because of the Hindu caste system that my brother was harassed, humiliated and forced to take his own life, he said, adding that it had subjected millions of Dalits like Vemula to untold suffering over thousands of years. My brother wanted to be a Buddhist, he tried to take up Buddhism but couldn't make it: Rohith Vemula's brother pic.twitter.com/1Hqio2knRc ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 According to Raja, Vemulas last rites were conducted as per Buddhist traditions. Although he did not formally convert, my brother was a Buddhist at heart, he said. The family had learnt about Vemulas inclination toward Buddhism in November last year when he visited Guntur to attend a friends wedding. Read: Freedom from caste: Rohith Vemulas mother, brother to embrace Buddhism Rohith came dressed in white robes. When my mother asked him why he was dressed like that, he said this is how Buddhists dressed. He spoke to her for a long time about the religion, Raja said. He kept repeating that this is the only religion where everybody is treated equal. He also said conversion to Buddhism was the way out of the caste system, as shown by Babasaheb Ambedkar. Radhika, who has been at the forefront of protests against the government, said she decided to convert to set an example for the Dalit people. When Rohith was alive, I didnt take his talk about Buddhism very seriously. But now I understand the importance of what he was trying to say. He was more enlightened than all of us. We have decided to convert not just to honour his memory but also to set an example for Dalits across the country, she said. Vemula had committed suicide on January 17, spurring ignited a wave of protests at campuses across the country. He and four other Dalit students were suspended from the hostel and allegedly ostracised following a complaint by an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad member. The second special train carrying around five lakh litres of water has reached Latur district in Marathwada region which is battling its worst drought ever. The 10-wagon water train left from Miraj on Wednesday morning and took 10 hours to traverse a distance of around 350km. The ten wagons, each with a capacity of around 50,000 litres, were filled with water at Miraj railway station in Sangli district, said chief spokesperson of Central Railway Narendra Patil. The first such train reached Latur on Tuesday. Read | Supreme Court may monitor drought relief work in affected areas The district administration has acquired a huge well located near the Latur railway station to store the water. On April 8, the train had left from Kota workshop for Miraj in Pune division. The second train consisting of 50 wagons is expected to be ready for water loading around April 15, a railway official had earlier said. In pics: A 10-wagon respite for drought-hit Latur As per instructions from the ministry of railways, Kota workshop received two goods trains consisting of 50 tank wagons each for deployment in drought-affected areas of Latur during the summer season and the trips of the trains will be arranged as per the requirement, he said. The carrying capacity of these wagons is 54,000 litres of water per wagon. The body of Major Amit Deshwal, killed in an encounter on Thursday, was on Friday recovered from a remote place in Tamenglong district and flown to Jorhat from Imphal. The body will then be taken to Surheti in Jhajjar district of Haryana via New Delhi for the last rites. Major Deshwal, who belonged to 21 Para SF, was paid tributes with full military honours. His father, Subedar (Retd) Rishi Deshwal, was the first to lay the wreath on the coffin, a Defence spokesperson told PTI. Manipur governor V Shamunagathan, chief minister O Ibobi Singh, deputy chief minister Gaikhangam and other senior army officers, including the GOC of Nagaland-based III Corps, paid tributes and laid wreaths on the coffin. Major Deswal was killed in a gunbattle with ZUF militants in densely forested Nungba area during a combing operation undertaken by Rashtriya Rifles and Special Forces personnel. The post-mortem on his body was conducted at Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, army officials said. He is survived by his wife and a three-and-half-year old son. One militant was also killed during the gunfight. For the time being, the combing operation which was going on for the last few days has been called off by the Army, the officials added. Kanhaiya Kumar, the JNU student union president charged with sedition, was attacked by Bajrang Dal activists in Nagpur on Thursday. Workers of the sangh organisation pelted stones at the car Kumar was travelling in, leading to police detaining five people. The student leader is in the city to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar, a Dalit icon Kumar regards as his role model. Bajrang dal workers pelt stones at Kanhaiya Kumar's car as he arrived in Nagpur. Police detain five persons. pic.twitter.com/uZ60ath5f6 ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 Kumar, who was scheduled to address a public meeting on the occasion, brought him in conflict with the right-wing organisation that dubbed him a traitor. Several such organisations, led by the Bajrang Dal, earlier said they would foil the meeting, which organisers say was planned months in advance. Read more| JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar in RSS bastion Nagpur today Kumar travelled to Nagpur on an invitation from the Progressive Students Youth Action committee. The Maharashtra city is also home to the Rashtriya swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters. The JNUSU president is the centre of the nationalism debate that snowballed into a major controversy since February when Kumar was arrested on sedition charges. A JNU event where alleged anti-national slogans were raised pitted the students against the BJP-led centre, and even disrupted parliamentary sessions. Kumar has also been a vocal supporter of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit PhD scholar who committed suicide at the University of Hyderabad in January. (With inputs from ANI) Bhoomata Ranragini Brigade (BRB) leader Trupti Desai on Thursday accused the people who allegedly attacked her at the Mahalaxmi temple in Kolhapur of attempted murder. The activist was hospitalised after she suffered injuries in a scuffle with priests and devotees at the temple on Wednesday night. They were reportedly trying to prevent Desai and other BRB activists from entering its sanctum sanctorum dressed in a salwar kameez, instead of the recommended sari. Read: Desai defies sari dress code during Mahalaxmi darshan in Kolhapur They pulled our hair, tore my clothes, abused us. I think the attackers planned to kill me, Desai told ANI from her hospital bed. She also asked Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to look into the matter, and take action against the people concerned. There were people who came to attack us... even the priest was abusing us, Desai alleged, adding that the attackers were heard yelling that she shouldnt be allowed to get out alive. The attackers said "dont let Trupti Desai get out alive". Doctor said I could've got paralysis attack: Trupti Desai pic.twitter.com/Omys23eM85 ANI (@ANI_news) April 14, 2016 Speaking on the activists condition, Dr Arjun Adnaik said she suffered from low water intake, besides decreased blood pressure and sugar levels. Earlier on Wednesday, Desai and her followers had organised a Vijay rally to celebrate the hard-fought right of women to enter the temples sanctum sanctorum. Police stopped them at Tararani Chowk and took them into preventive custody for allegedly violating prohibitory orders. Desai, however, returned to the temple at night. Describing BR Ambedkar as a global icon for marginalised people, a top UN official has voiced the world bodys commitment to working closely with India to help realise the noted Indian social reformers vision of empowerment and social and economic equality. On behalf of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), I commend India on celebrating this important anniversary at the UN, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said in her keynote address at a special event organised by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN to commemorate Ambedkars birth anniversary for the first time at the world body. We are committed to continuing our very close partnership with India to help realise the vision of the 2030 Agenda and ensure that Ambedkars vision becomes reality for the poor and marginalised around the world, said Clark who is among the candidates for the post of the next UN Secretary General. Also Read | Ambedkar Jayanti brings little joy to his flock The 125th birth anniversary of the principal architect of Indias Constitution was observed on Wednesday at the world body. The event was organised in association with civil society advocacy groups Kalpana Saroj Foundation and Foundation of Human Horizon. Clark who is Chair of the UN Development Group, addressed a packed audience of diplomats, scholars and Ambedkars followers and said the occasion commemorates the legacy of a very great man who understood that rising and persistent inequalities pose fundamental challenges to the economic and social well-being of nations and people. Emphasising that Ambedkars ideals are as relevant today as they were 60 years ago, former New Zealand prime minister Clark said his work on the empowerment and inclusion of excluded groups, reform of labour laws and promotion of education for all made him an icon for marginalised people in India and in other countries. Uncertainty looms large for students even as the culprits of the Vyapam scam rejoin society after serving their jail terms. Before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had even concluded its investigation, several students were evicted on suspicion of being beneficiaries of the multi-layered scam. An accused in the Vyapam scam and jailed till three-and-a-half-months ago, Laxmikant Sharma may resume his political career and another accused may be at the helm of his mining business, said an MBBS student of Gajra Raja Medical College (GRMC), Gwalior. But our future is bleak. We have been punished even before the court pronounces its judgement. Being thrown out of college has hit students with education loans particularly hard. I cant pay fees of Rs 35,000 annually but the investigative agency says I had paid lakhs of rupees to an impersonator to get through PMT, said 2009 batch medical student. I have been expelled. Now, the bank is seeking repayment of the loan. I am shattered. Affected students claim to be innocent victims of the slow-progressing probe. The scam broke in July 2013, but the investigation continues almost three years later. The ramifications of the scam go beyond the education of those accused. A girl suspected to have benefited from the scam was set to be married when the scam broke. Her to-be husband called off the marriage until she is cleared by the investigating agency. The future of my daughter is at stake but even after two-and-a half years, we are waiting for the completion of investigation, not to say of the courts verdict, which may take several years, said the girls mother. Punish us or allow us to study After being suspended from college, several students moved the Jabalpur high court and were allowed to resume studies. However, the colleges sought and the students signed affidavits that they would not act against the college administrations decision, whatever that may be. We didnt know the college administration was playing a trick, said a student of GMRC who was expelled on March 4. After about a month or so, we were expelled from the college saying that the special investigation team, Gwalior, looking into the scam found some concrete evidence against us. The signed affidavit is now a security blanket for the college, preventing the students from filing a contempt petition in court. We believe in justice but when will it be delivered? said another student. If we are found guilty, punish us. But if we are not guilty, who will be responsible for this irreparable loss caused to our career. The students are demanding that they be allowed to complete their education, but their degrees be held until a final verdict. More than 100 medical students and junior doctors have even sought permission from the government to kill themselves because they were denied justice due to the slow pace of the probe. Trauma still fresh The trauma of persecution still haunts the lucky few who were suspended but later cleared by the special investigation team. In the probe of the college-level committee, my photo was found mismatched with that on the admit card and registration form, said a third-year medical student at GMRC. When SIT called me for interrogation, I had collected all my photographs from 10 years. I got a clean chit from SIT, but I still keep photographs with me as I cant trust the college administration. Students said being cleared of the charge has not stopped the harassment. I am going to sit on hunger strike from Monday as harassment by the college is not coming to end, said Raghvendra Singh, an MBBS student. Now, the college has withheld my result. When I got clearance once, why are they questioning the validity of my admission? A large number of students were expelled if their names appeared in a list released by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, or Vyapam. Many others were removed on the findings of a high-level committee set up by the medical colleges. The college-level committees were formed in 2009, four years before the Vyapam scam broke. They found some students guilty on the basis of their photographs not matching with those on their admit cards or registration forms. But after the Vyapam scam, the Directorate of Medical Education decided to carry out a separate probe of the admission process during the 2008-12 academic years. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, have received an invitation to visit Cafe Sheroes Hangout, which is being run and managed by the survivors of acid attack, during their visit to Agra on April 16. The lead campaigner of Stop Acid Attacks, Laxmi, 27, was selected to brief Prince William during a personal interaction at the British High Commission on Tuesday. The meeting was convened at the personal request of Prince Williams, who wanted to hear directly from women working to support other acid attack victims. It was very encouraging to meet Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton. They asked about the problems faced by us while running this campaign. They wanted to know how the royal family can lend a wholehearted support to the mission during their visit in India. The agenda of the meeting was to highlight the issue, which is emerging as a big challenge in the present times, said Laxmi while talking to HT. During the meeting, Laxmi also gifted them the Sheroes Calendar modeled by the survivors of acid attacks. Laxmi was delighted to meet Kate and William for the first time and expressed her gratitude to them for inviting her and also bringing the issue of acid violence in the larger public domain. Excited about the meeting with the royal couple, Laxmi said that the couples gesture will give her the courage to run her campaign with a new vigour. Prince William shared the pain and agony that a victim of acid attack goes through and also praised the courage shown by acid attack survivors to become independent, added Laxmi, who is also the director of Chaanv Foundation that works for acid attack survivors. Laxmi was attacked with acid in 2005 in a busy marketplace when she was only 16-years-old by a man more than twice her age, whose advances she rejected. She has been fighting a lonely battle since 2006 in the Supreme Court, and in the process, succeeded in getting the Indian Penal Code amended to make acid attack a special offence. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON New York Post Editorial Exposes Truth about BDS | Main | Jordan Closes Muslim Brotherhood Headquarters April 13, 2016 Journalist: Hamas is Poisoning the Minds of Palestinian Children Officials from the Hamas-controlled Waqf (Islamic trust) Ministry in the Gaza Strip are brainwashing? Palestinian children, according to an Arab Israeli journalist, Khaled Abu Toameh. Writing for the Gatestone Institute (Hamass New Way of Poisoning the Minds of Palestinian Children,? April 8, 2016), Toameh noted that the Waqf is using exorcism to indoctrinate children in Gaza schools. Islamic preachers called The Ship of Missionary Salvation are entering schools to ensure that through the exorcism rite? children are being repentant and faithful to Islam.? The Ship of Missionary Salvation is overseen by the Waqf Ministrys General Administration for Preaching and Guidance. Toamehs article links to a video showing children kneeling and crying at the Al-Nil School in Gaza City while Hamas preachers hold microphones and shout Allahu Akbar [God is Great)]? Toameh noted that the Gaza City school video captures on camera the Palestinian leaders brainwashing and abuse of their own children.? The reporter described the children as hysterical.? The video has caused consternation among some Palestinian Arabs, including members of rival groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Fatah, the movement that dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA). Toameh reported that Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) member Hanan Ashrawi expressed revulsion over the video, noting that the preachers sermons were full of intimidation and horror.? PFLP, a Marxist-oriented terrorist group that has traditionally been more secular than Hamas or Fatah, referred to the exorcism rite as an inhumane practice.? Such outrage by fellow terrorist groups seems selective. As CAMERA has noted (Leaders Encourage Palestinian Children to Murder Jews, Use Sing-Alongs,? Nov. 24, 2015), Palestinian officialsincluding those in Fatah and the umbrella organization of the PLOhave used perverse methods to indoctrinate children before. Among other examples, Tawfiq Tirawi, a member of Fatahs Central Committee and the former head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, recounted teaching his 2-year old son a sing-along song with lyrics such as, Daddy, buy me a machine gun and a rifle, so that I will defeat Israel and the Zionists? and escort the Martyr to his wedding? (referring to the Islamic belief that those killed while waging holy war marry 72 virgins in Paradise). Both Fatah and Hamas routinely glorify children killed committing terrorist attacks. On Jan. 7, 2016 Palestinian Arab children celebrated Fatahs 51st anniversary in a huge ceremony? at which they dressed as suicide bombers (Palestinian Children Wear Suicide Belts to Celebrate Fatahs Anniversary,? CAMERA, Jan. 12, 2016). As Toameh noted in his report, this is how new generations of Palestinians are raised on the glorification of suicide bombers and jihadists.? Noting the long lasting damage incurred by Palestinian indoctrination in anti-Jewish hatred, Toameh concluded that the use of exorcism rites in the Gaza Strip, captures the march of Palestinian society towards endorsing the tactics and ideology of radical Islam and groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda. Now the peace process in the Middle East awaits an exorcism of its own.? Posted by SD at April 13, 2016 04:45 PM Guidelines for posting This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material. Post a comment India and France are likely to close the purchase of 36 Rafale multi-role fighters from Dassault Aviation by the end of April or the first week of May, with the countries signing an inter-governmental agreement and the commercial contract. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar said he was positive about the deal. It should be finalized soon, he said on the sidelines of the Maritime India Summit. The deal is expected to cost between 7 and 8 billion euros (Rs 60,000 crore Rs 65,000 crore). Once closed, the 36 fighter aircraft will reach India by 2019, defence ministry sources said. The initial price of 11.6 billion euros (Rs 85,000 crore) with 2015 as the base year was brought down by Dassault to 8 billion euros (Rs 65,000 crore), with 2011 as the base year for fixing the price for each aircraft manufactured. Sources said negotiations are underway between the countries and Dassault to come to a mutually-agreeable price. When the defence ministry floated a tender to procure 126 multi-medium role combat aircraft (MMRCA) and a Request for Proposal (RFP) in 2007, Rafale had for competition Swedish Saab Gripen, Eurofighter Typhoon, Russian Mikhoyan MiG-35, American F-16 and F/A-18IN Super Hornet. In 2015, the government officially withdrew the RFP floated for MMRCA and had instead opted to buy 36 Rafale fighters off the shelf, keeping in mind the depleting squadrons of the Indian Air Force. After Prime Minister Narendra Modis France visit in April 2015, and it was bilaterally decided the cost of each fighter aircraft was much less than what was being offered in the MMRCA deal. Dassaults Rafale could also bid for the crafts to be made in India under the Make in India scheme, sources said. History produces few people who leave such an indelible mark on the society that their life comes to be seen as a metaphor for liberty, as an icon for progress and change. One such person who was a rare combination of immense knowledge, exceptional political prowess and an unwavering commitment to social change, was Dr BR Ambedkar. Trained as an economist and a lawyer, he is credited to be the key ideologue of institutions that form the backbone of India, of institutions such as The Reserve Bank of India (which was based on the ideas that he presented to the Hilton Young Commission), and of nothing less than edifice of this nation - the Constitution of India - the drafting committee of which he chaired. Still, his greatest achievements are in the sphere of ideas, politics and social change that shaped the character of the nation, India and of democracy as conceived by the world at large. On the occasion of the 125th anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, or dearly known as Baba Saheb Ambedkar in India, it is apt to understand his contributions in the domain of ideology, politics and social reform so that in these perilous times, we can draw inspiration from this fountainhead of equality and justice and make this world a better place. Read | Archives released by LSE reveal BR Ambedkars time as a scholar Ideologically, one can place Ambedkar in the leftist traditions, though not in its traditional forms. He was one of the few people in modern India who had developed a home-grown genre of Marxism and for Ambedkar this stood in comparison with the ideology of Buddhism - a peculiar, yet profound blend that is characteristic of an Indian philosopher. In his essay titled Buddha or Karl Marx, Ambedkar compared the common ideals of Buddha and Marx and submitted an ultimate analysis that socialism can only be sustained if it walks on the path laid out by the Buddha. According to him, Buddhism was an ultimate aid to sustain Communism when force is withdrawn and so he criticised Lenin because he failed to deliver liberty and fraternity in the pursuit of equality. He declared that: Equality will be of no value without fraternity or liberty. It seems that the three can coexist only if one follows the way of the Buddha. Communism can give one but not all. It is indeed the contribution of Dr Ambedkar that the commitment towards liberty, fraternity and equality through the means of non-violence and democracy, has become a central characteristic of our constitution. He categorically stated while addressing the constituent assembly (November 25, 1949) that, Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy, which means, a way of life which recognise liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles of life. It was this ideology that was transmitted in institutions of higher learning which absorbed from him just as a fertile land absorbs from a fountain-spring. Especially those with which Dr Ambedkar was directly associated with, such as the Elphinstone College and Sydenham College in Mumbai, Ramjas College at the University of Delhi and even internationally, the Columbia University and the London School of Economics, have ever-since celebrated the intellectual prowess of Dr Ambedkar from the times he was associated with them. Globally, where liberal student activism meets politics, often Dr Ambedkar is recalled as a source of eternal inspiration. Read | Evolutionary course correction for all Dalits In the domain of politics, Dr P Kesava Kumar has aptly described that one can see Ambedkars association with the grand political streams such as liberal, radical or conservative through his writings At the same time he differentiates himself with these three dominant political traditions. The core of political thinking of Ambedkar is contained in two of his statements: 1. The rights are protected not by law but by social and moral conscience of society, and 2. a democratic form of government presupposes a democratic form of society. For him, society preceded politics and it is therefore unsurprising why Dr Ambedkar found himself at odds with the Nationalists of the Indian National Congress on more than one occasions. Hence, in 1932, despite the fierce opposition of Gandhiji regarding the British proposal of a separate electorate for untouchables, for the latter feared that such an arrangement would divide the Hindu community, Ambedkar held steadfast his own position that political equality cannot be achieved unless socially backward groups or the depressed classes are not given an equal footing in the political arena. Gandhi protested by fasting while imprisoned in the Yerwada Central Jail of Poona and yet had to eventually give in (which was exceptionally rare for the person of Mahatma Gandhi) to the demands of Ambedkar, and this resulted in the Poona Pact which gave 148 seats to the depressed classes in the provision legislatures. Indeed, the political liberation of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in modern indian history owes much to the determination and commitment of Ambedkar to their cause. Yet, the most radical avatar of Dr BR Ambedkar can be seen in his role as a social reformer, while at the same time it can be observed that his radicalism was never devoid of the spirit of intellectual reasoning and liberty. This becomes evident in his undelivered speech - The Annihilation of Caste - prepared as the presidential address for the annual conference of a Hindu reformist group Jat-Pat Todak Mandal, which he later got published at his own expense which thereafter became an instant classic in the Indian intellectual history. Here again, he only agreed partially with Gandhis mantra of inter-dining and intermarriage. He found inter-caste dining an inadequate remedy as he pointed that there are many castes which allow inter-dining But it is a common experience that inter-dining has not succeeded in killing the spirit of Caste and the consciousness of Caste. Read | United Nations describes Ambedkar as global icon for marginalised people According to him, inter-marriage was the only solution to the problem and that fusion of blood can alone create the feeling of being kith and kin, and unless this feeling of kinship, of being kindred, becomes paramount, the separatist feeling-the feeling of being aliens-created by Caste will not vanish. However, on further analysis, he found even inter-marriage an impracticable idea. He objected that: Caste is not a physical object like a wall of bricks or a line of barbed wire which prevents the Hindus from commingling and which has, therefore, to be pulled down. Caste is a notion; it is a state of the mind. The destruction of Caste does not therefore mean the destruction of a physical barrier. It means a notional change. Finally, Ambedkar submitted that The real remedy is to destroy the belief in the sanctity of the Shastras. Hence, in 1927, he is seen ceremonially burning copies of the ancient text Manusmriti invoking the imagery of an anti-thesis to Sir Thomas More (who burnt reformist texts to protect Catholicism as British Chancellor in the early 1500s) bringing the circle of history to a just consummation. His message to his followers educate, organise, agitate! still resounds the corridors of Indian socio-political world right from the Hyderabad Central University to the villages of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan where the scheduled castes are still discriminated against and are forced to live in segregated localities in the villages. The embers of the permanent revolution he has talked about in his various writings still burn in our minds as we commit ourselves to keeping his teachings alive, in spirit and in action. The author is a member of Parliament from Nizamabad constituency in Telangana. The views expressed are personal. After a 42-day protest, city jewellers finally called off their strike on Wednesday. The jewellery shops received a lukewarm response from customers on the first day after strike, and the jewellers were expecting heavy orders in the coming days, said a shop owner. The strike was called off temporarily till April 24 after the traders received an assurance from the national-level action committee that the matter will be taken up with the government. Jewellers were seen carrying out their routine activity in College Road and Sarafa markets on Wednesday. Customers heaved a sigh of relief and were seen placing orders. Anand Sikri, president of the Ludhiana Jewelers Association, said, All India Jewelers Action Committee, which was recently formed to take up the matter with finance ministry, has instructed us to call off the strike temporarily. The action committee has given an ultimatum to the union government to resolve the excise duty issue on priority. If they fail to do the needful, the strike will be resumed from April 25. Jewellers strike that continued for more than six weeks had incurred losses worth crores. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The entire Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership was conspicuous by its absence from the politically significant Baisakhi rally of its alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which was held here on Wednesday. Read more: Badals target AAP, term it bigger threat than Congress In what is called the Baisakhi conference, this was the last important political conference coinciding with the religious fair of Baisakhi before the upcoming assembly polls. Punjab goes to polls in early 2017 and Wednesdays rally was high on symbolism. The absence of the BJP was in sharp contrast to the leaders of the saffron party on previous similar occasions. This led to the raising of hackles in the Akali Dal camp as in the past even senior central BJP leaders used to come to attend the Baisakhi rally of the SAD. Even the local BJP leadership of Bathinda district gave a miss to the conference. However, it is reportedly learnt that the BJP had conveyed that the newly appointed state party president and Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment Vijay Sampla would attend the rally. But he didnt turn up at the rally. Meanwhile, the SAD had deployed volunteers from Youth Akali Dal and Student Organisation of India (SOI) at the venue to ensure a large audience for the speakers. Lashing out at Congress, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal held the party responsible for the plight of Punjab and Punjabis. He said people should remember that every person who supported Congress was actually supporting Operation Bluestar, which he said was a direct assault on the Sikhs. Earlier, Rajya Sabha MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder compared the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with the Mughals. Even the Mughals had not dared to enter Punjab and AAP leaders from Delhi are daydreaming of ruling the state, Bhunder said. He added that no party could match Badals dedication and service towards Punjab and his courage and boldness in handling Punjab issues in his long political career. Bhunder also compared the rule of SAD under Parkash Singh Badal with that of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. After Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Badal saab has brought Punjab back on the world map. He is a true worker of the Panth and we have to make the next year historic by winning the elections for him, said Bhunder. On the other hand, Union food processing minister and Bathinda MP, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, kept her speech apolitical. Harsimrat exhorted people to take a firm pledge for foiling the nefarious designs of anti-Punjab forces which were hell-bent on ruining the state. Other speakers, cabinet ministers Sikander Singh Maluka and Janmeja Singh Sekhon appealed to SAD workers to gear up for the 2017 assembly elections. We should overcome factionalism and fight assembly elections in unity to defeat the opposition parties, who are trying to gain importance by telling lies to the people of Punjab, Maluka said. Prominent among others present on the occasion were cabinet minister Daljit Singh Cheema, chief parliamentary secretaries Sarup Chand Singla, Mantar Singh Brar, Sant Balbir Singh Ghunas and Talwandi Sabo MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu and other MLAs from Malwa. Read about the AAP and Congress rallies in Talwandi Sabo here: Mann takes centrestage as AAP state leaders show strength Will arrest Badals after becoming CM: Captain SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Border Security Force (BSF) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Amritsar, on Thursday seized 31-kilogram heroin in 1-kg packets, besides a pistol and some ammunition, near the Barreke outpost along Pakistan and arrested two Indian men in this connection. Parkash Singh Mintu (24) of Barreke and Angrej Singh (20) of Ali Kee village nearby are the accused. Based on a secret input, a joint team of the DRI and the BSFs 105 battalion carried out this special search operation in the Ferozepur sector village, said BSF officiating deputy inspector general YP Singh, adding: Apart from the drug, we seized a .9mm pistol, besides its four magazines and 61 bullets. The BSF claims the amount of drug seized to be the highest in the region by any security agency this year. Last January, the DRI had seized 41-kg heroin in Amritsar from a man named Jagdeep Singh, who had jumped parole after being caught with 13-kg heroin at Harike in 2009. Last month, Delhi Police had seized heroin worth `20 crore in raids across north India and arrested five people, including a woman from Nowshera in Punjab. In February, the BSF killed four drug smugglers and seized 10-kg heroin in Punjabs Khemkaran sector near the Pakistan border. Two of the smugglers were Indian. Protesters outsmarted Punjab Police by sneaking into the Shiromani Akali Dals Baisakhi rally here on Wednesday and raised anti-government slogans soon after deputy chief minister and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal began his address. Read more: Talwandi Sabo rallies: Fiery speeches but no vision for Punjab The protesters, including unemployed linemen, were spread out in groups across the venue despite the tight security. They sprang up to raise slogans and wave banners at short intervals, causing a flutter among the police and Akali leaders on the dais. Jobless linemen in the front row were the first to hold up posters. They were overpowered by the police, while Akali supporters raised pro-government slogans. Minutes later, another group was on its feet at the centre of the venue. Interrupted six times during his 25-minute speech, a visibly upset Sukhbir asked SAD workers to ignore the protesters. He called the them topiwalas, referring to supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party. Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal was also interrupted thrice in five minutes. Sit down and listen, an exasperated Badal said as policemen dragged the protesting linemen out of the venue. The protests left the police embarrassed. Five district police chiefs of Malwa were at the venue led by DGP (law and order) HS Dhillon. Policemen in plainclothes were also deployed yet the protesters had a field day. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Communist Party of India (CPM) district secretary Pargat Singh Jamarai is among the 10 people booked for beating a Dalbir Singh, 56, of Deep Avenue locality here. The victim is reportedly a nephew of Khadoor Sahib MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura. In his complaint Dalbir alleged that at around 10pm on April 8, when he was out for a walk near the SSPs office, Jamraj and others attacked him. I was passing by the SSP office, where Jamarai and other CPM activists were staging a dharna. They pounced at me saying I belong to Brahmpuras family, he stated in his complaint. He alleged Gopi, Bhag Singh of Tur village and several others thrashed him with weapons. He said he got his leg fractured, besides sustaining other injuries. The accused have been booked for voluntarily causing grievous hurt and other sections of the Indian Penal Code. Members of Left bodies had staged a three-day protest outside the SSP office against false cases being registered against people who dont follow the ideology of the ruling party. Jamarai said it was another false case against him and other activists. How the attack was possible in the presence of police personnel? It is a deep-rooted conspiracy against us as we expose the excesses of the police, he said. Three days after he died under mysterious circumstance in a Pakistani jail, Indian prisoner Kirpal Singhs anguished sister met Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking his help to get his body back at the earliest. A day after she made a similar plea to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, Jagir Kaur called on Kejriwal at his residence and urged the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chiefs help in seeking a probe into the death of her brother who was in the Kot Lakhpat Jail of Lahore for the last nearly 25 years. She said she suspected foul play and cast doubts over Pakistani claims that her brother died of cardiac arrest, a Delhi government official said. The official said Kejriwal expressed sympathies with Jagir Kaurs family and assured all possible support in securing justice and an early repatriation of his body. Jagir Kaur was accompanied by Dalbir Kaur, the elder sister of another Indian, Sarabjit Singh, who also died in the same Pakistani jail in 2013, allegedly after being beaten up by some Pakistani prisoners. Kirpal Singh, 54, a resident of Gurdaspur in Punjab, was reported to have died on Monday. His body was shifted to the Jinnah Hospital a day later for autopsy. But it was still lying in the morgue on Thursday. The delay in the post-mortem examination has raised doubts in India whether the prisoner indeed died of heart failure. Kirpal Singh was arrested in 1992. Pakistan claimed he was caught spying for India, an allegation New Delhi denied. India has been insisting that Kirpal Singh had strayed across the border between the two countries. India has already sought more details on how the prisoner died suddenly. Our acting high commissioner met the director-general (South Asia) in (Pakistans) ministry of foreign affairs and asked for the earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains (of Kirpal Singh), External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Wednesday. We await further details. On Wednesday evening, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj met Kirpal Singhs family and informed them that the government was making efforts to get his mortal remains back as early as possible. Comforting a family in grief, Swarup tweeted, regarding the ministers meeting with Kirpal Singhs kin. Kirpal Singhs family earlier staged a protest demonstration at the Attari-Wagah border, raising anti-Pakistan slogans and demanding his body be returned for his last rites and cremation in his homeland. Also read: Pakistan says Kirpal Singh died of heart attack as India takes up issue Indian national languishing in Pakistan jail for 20 years found dead Finally, as many as 10 families of the Bathinda district farmers, who had committed suicide in distress, will get their ex-gratia amount of Rs 2 lakh from the district administration after their long wait for around three years. Blame it on the government apathy; the families were denied the ex-gratia amount despite their names having figured in the government list of beneficiaries. On one hand, the state government had been making tall claims to providing immediate relief to families going through the trauma after suicide by their family member, while on the other, the aggrieved family members of the Bathinda district were being compelled to make rounds of the government offices to get the compensation since around three years. The revenue and rehabilitation department had failed to release the compensation even after repeated reminders from Rampura sub-division office to the department concerned in the past three years. The reason cited was that the revenue department then had erroneously mentioned names of the above aggrieved families as residents of other villages. Nine of the families from Pitho village and one family from Rampura village in Bathinda district were to get the compensation as per the list prepared by the state government on the basis of the data of the victims families released by three state-run universities in 2012. It may be mentioned that on the basis of universities report, the Punjab government in 2013 had ordered the deputy commissioners across state to disburse financial assistance of `2 lakh each to the families of farmers who had committed suicide. Mothu Singh Kothada, senior vice-president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), said the revenue department had even corrected the record after victims families submitted their residence proofs added with written testimonies by village panchayats in families favour. Despite appropriate corrections in the official records, the administration has been denying pensions to these families for no reasons for the past three years. We had even met the deputy commissioner several times, but the families only got false assurances. The funds have now been released after the families threatened to sit on hunger strike, he said. Sub-divisional magistrate Narinder Singh Dhaliwal said the senior revenue officials were informed and repeated reminders were sent to the deputy commissioner and the revenue department to release payments of the victims families at the earliest. The revenue department has recently released the amount and the cheques for the same will be disbursed on Monday, the SDM said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Former Punjab BJP president Kamal Sharma, who handed over the charge to Union minister Vijay Sampla on Tuesday, is the likely party candidate from Ferozepur in the coming assembly polls. For the past four years, Sharma, 46, has been actively working in the constituency and is behind development activities in the border town. Denying that he is preparing for the polls, but at the same time accepting that he is devoting full time to the town, Sharma said, I was born and brought up in Ferozepur and it is my duty to do something for the town. If Sharma is declared the party candidate, he would replace partys two-time MLA Sukhpal Singh Nannu, who is also in the race. Nannu was elected as the party MLA in 2002 and 2007 but lost to Congresss Parminder Singh Pinki in 2012. Nannus father, Girdhara Singh, was MLA in 1967, 1977 and 1997. After his death the BJP gave ticket to Nannu. How far Nannu becomes a challenge to Sharma, only time will tell. I have left the decision to the party high command but am an aspirant, Nannu, who is said to be in the Sampla group, told HT. A close aide of Sharma said, Sharma is a fresh face and is locally based. Anti-incumbency factor in his case would have a lesser effect. Political scenarios change fast and there are still nine to 10 months for elections. Among his achievements for Ferozepur, Sharma cites sanctioning of PGIs satellite centre, highways connecting the town to Amritsar and Malout, a rail link to Chandigarh and a government college. Party leader Arun Jaitley, who was the Punjab affairs incharge then, had made Sharma general secretary of the state unit in 2007. Sharma took over as state president in January 2013. However, the area falling in Ferozepur Cantonment with around 25,000 votes is a challenge for the BJP as in the last cantonment board polls, the party could win only one ward out of eight; the SAD had won six and the Congress one. With the constituency turning Hindu dominated after delimitation, our party has a good chance of winning from here, said a local BJP leader. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed re-instatement of a Kapurthala teacher dismissed by the Punjab government following an FIR against him of allegedly raping a girl student. The teacher was working at a Kapurthala school on contract basis since 2006 and days after regularisation of his services, an FIR was registered against him in July 2011. He was suspended and later dismissed. However, even after his acquittal in the case, the teachers appeal against termination of service was dismissed by the department on account that sanctity of the relation between teacher and disciple had been violated and it would cause adverse affect on the educational atmosphere to keep him in the education department. The teacher then moved high court seeking his re-instatement. The bench of justice GS Sandhawalia held that there was no departmental inquiry and the dismissal was only on the basis of the FIR being registered. Hence the order of dismissal is set aside. The petitioner is entitled for reinstatement and all consequential benefits. It is, however, clarified that it is always open to the respondents to hold a departmental inquiry for the alleged misconduct and to take further action in pursuance of the same, if so desired, the bench said in its order. His services could have been terminated with an innocuous order but the order dispensing his services is stigmatic in nature, on account of the lodging of the FIR and on the ground that he committed an offence of moral turpitude, the high court bench observed. It further stated that the petitioner was gravely prejudiced and if the government had to pass an order it was necessary for them to hold a departmental inquiry. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A city-based industrialists 14-year-old son, who was kidnapped from here on Monday, was found dead at Fatehabad village of Goindwal Sahib in Tarn Taran district on Wednesday afternoon. The body of Jaskirat, son of Narinder Singh, who owns a metal factory in the city, was found partly decomposed in a plastic gunny bag in the fields, indicating that he might have been murdered on the day of his kidnapping. As there were no marks of sharp-edged weapon on the body, the police suspect that the kidnappers might have strangulated him. On Wednesday afternoon, the Kapurthala police got a call from Goindwal Sahib cops about the body. A team headed by senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rajinder Singh went to Tarn Taran and brought the body back. As the news of the boys murder broke out, a pall of gloom descended in the city. There was evident anger against the police and residents blamed them for being lax in probing the case. They said the family was ready to give the ransom to the kidnappers the same day, but the police reportedly intervened and assured them that they would get the child back safely and there was no need to pay any money. Police officials said they thought that the kidnappers would make another ransom call but it did not happen. The police had not even formed a special team to trace the boy. They did not even seek help from police from other districts, sources in the police department said. The victims grandfather Baldev Singh said Jaskirat had gone to attend tuition classes on his Activa scooter on Monday evening at 4.45pm, but did not return home. When the boy did not turn up even after the sunset, we started searching for him and approached the police. After a while, we received a phone call from the kidnapper who demanded Rs 30 lakh ransom, said Singh. When contacted, the SSP said the police have taken a migrant Sham Lal in custody as the SIM used for ransom call was registered in his name. We were working on several angles, he said, adding that the accused would be behind the bars soon. Inspector general of police (IGP) Lok Nath Angra denied that the police were waiting for the second ransom call. Learning no lessons from the diarrhoea outbreak in Preet Nagar on Tajpur Road last year, the municipal corporation (MC) has failed to ensure safe drinking water to the area. Claiming that the water supplied by the MC is not clean, many people have even stopped drinking it. More than 100 people had fallen ill after consuming contaminated water supplied by the MC, last year. Four deaths were reported due to diarrhoea and gastroenteritis in Preet Nagar, Baba Jeevan Singh Nagar and adjoining areas. When HT team visited the area, residents were seen queuing up near a private water tank outside the Satsang Bhawan to fill their buckets with water. Residents claimed that political leaders and MC officials had visited the area, but they failed to ensure safe drinking water supply to the homes. We are still getting contaminated water. Two people had died here due to diarrhoea, last year. Most of us cannot afford water purifiers at homes and are forced to drink this water, said Joginder Singh, a resident of Preet Nagar. Another resident, Vajinder Singh, said, If the MC provides us safe drinking water, there will be no need to stand in queues to get water from a private water tank outside the Satsang Bhawan. Moreover, a person can get two buckets of water from the pump three times a day. Summer has just begun, and we are already facing problem in getting water. The government should pay attention towards our area. A team of health department had also visited the area a week ago and residents had complained to them about the problem. District epidemiologist Ramesh Kumar said, Residents were advised to drink boiled water and take preventive measures to keep diseases at bay. Earlier, health department used to collect water samples for testing. But now, the government has given the responsibility of collecting and testing samples to the MC, he said. The civic body here has been claiming that the water supplied by it is safe. MC zone-B commissioner Kamlesh Bansal said, We have not received any complaint regarding contaminated water supply. We are supplying clean water. Even a new tubewell was installed to supply water to the houses. But, I will direct the staff concerned to visit the area for inspection. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to lead the second edition of International Day of Yoga in Chandigarh on June 21, sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have said. More than 30,000 people are expected to be a part of the programme during the PMs visit his third to Chandigarh since assuming power. He had first visited the city on September 11, 2015, to attend the PGI convocation and hand over keys of Chandigarh Housing Board flats in Sector 63 to successful applicants. Modis second visit to the City Beautiful came during French President Francois Hollandes India tour on January 24 this year. The first International Day of Yoga was observed world over by millions on June 21, 2015. In India, the PM led about 35,000 people, including a large number of dignitaries from 84 nations, who performed 21 yoga asanas (postures) for 35 minutes at Rajpath in New Delhi. While declaring the day during his address to the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2014, Modi had said, Yoga is an invaluable gift of Indias ancient tradition. This tradition is 5,000 years old. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfilment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change. Let us work towards adopting an International Yoga Day. Final arguments in the case of rape registered against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh will be heard again in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court at Panchkula as the Punjab and Haryana high court had transferred CBI special judge RK Yadav just before the pronouncement of the final order. Yadav left the charge on April 11. It is the oldest rape case pending at the Panchkula district courts, which involved two victims. The case has been dragging on for around 14 years now, as the FIR was registered in 2002. For the past close to a year, no hearing could take place in the trial court as the matter was pending before the high court over the examination of specimen handwriting and signatures of one of the two victims before forensic labs other than the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh told the high court that specimens of handwriting should have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Madhuban, or CFSL, CBI, New Delhi. While dismissing the application on March 31, justice Anita Chaudhary observed: In my considered view, the attempt by the petitioner (Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh) is only to delay the trial in every possible way and nothing more. The high court dismissed another application of Ram Rahim on March 31 for calling the victim again to give more handwriting samples. The court said, The prosecutrix (victim) cannot be summoned again and again on the asking of the accused. It is often stated that when a women is raped she undergoes two crises, the rape and subsequent trial. First wounds her dignity, the second not less potent forces her to relive the traumatic experience and brings her in the glare of publicity with the paraphernalia of criminal justice system focused on her. The high court also dismissed third application of Ram Rahim on March 31 where he wanted to tender some documents despite closure of defence evidence. Before that, the case remained tied up in the high court from 2010 to 2013, as the victims father had challenged the trial courts order for calling her to give her specimen writing samples. The application was dismissed. The matter has already been delayed as the accused had been filing a number of applications before the trial court and then revision applications before the high court. The final arguments will have to be started again now, said CBI counsel HPS Verma. Earlier, only half of defence arguments were completed. The next date of hearing is May 7. With the change of judge, the arguments have to start again, said Vishal Garg Narwana, counsel for the dera chief. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A security guard was arrested by the SAS Nagar police on Thursday for conspiring with his friend to loot an ATM at Phase 10. The security guard at Bank of Baroda ATM at Phase 10, SAS Nagar, has been identified as Varinder Singh, alias Vicky, a resident of Kumbra, while hunt is on to trace his aide Parmod, who works as a patient caretaker and is a resident of Kumbra. According to the police, Varinder was employed as the ATM security guard of Bank of Baroda on March 23 and had facilitated entry of Parmod into the ATM on Tuesday night. As per their plan, Varinder sneaked in his friend Parmod before closing the ATM booth at 10pm. Parmod was to break the ATM during night and was to be allowed safe exit by Varinder before 8am the next morning before other security guard comes to take charge of the duty. However, Parmod failed to break the ATM despite repeated attempts. As planned, Parmod was removed from the ATM booth. Meanwhile, the ATM developed a technical snag, for which an engineer was called. The engineer then pointed out that there has been an attempt to break the ATM that had led to the snag. The police was called and the CCTV footage nailed Varinder. The ATM was having Rs 10 lakh and as per the agreement, the booty was to be shared in two equal parts among the accused. Parmod was to pay additional Rs 10,000 to Varinder for allowing him access to the ATM. A case under Section 457, 380, 511 and 120 B of the IPC has been registered against Varinder and Parmod at the Phase 11 police station. This is second attempt to loot an ATM in the city this week. Earlier, an alert security guard had foiled a bid to loot an ATM in Sector 70 on April 12. Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered his guard a fraction about his private life on Thursday, saying he may one day tell the Russian people if he is in a romantic relationship. Since he divorced his wife Ludmila in 2013, rumours have swirled around Putin. One Russian newspaper report said he was in a relationship with Alina Kabaeva, a former Olympic gymnast, though Putin rejected the assertion. During a televised phone-in, an annual event where Putin fields questions from ordinary Russians, one woman asked Putin if he was going to re-marry. A visibly uncomfortable Putin avoided giving a direct answer, saying he believed Russians were more interested in his performance as president than they were in his private life. But at the end of his answer, he softened, saying: Maybe one day I will be able to satisfy your curiosity. Reuters last month reported that a businessman with ties to associates of Putin had transferred ownership of properties to Alina Kabaevas sister and grandmother. Read: Putin admits Panama Papers accurate, blames US for leak A small, picturesque Australian village has been listed for sale, attracting interest from China and Singapore, with its new buyer set to own dozens of homes, a lake full of fish and 35 Highland cattle. Property agents said they hoped the 145-hectare (358.3-acre) Tarraleah village in the heart of Tasmania state would fetch up to Aus $13 million (US$10 million). Ive never sold a town before, property agent John Blacklow, who has been selling hotels for more than three decades, told AFP. Since the village was placed on the market late last week, it has attracted prospective buyers -- individuals as well as companies -- from Australia and also China, Hong Kong and Singapore, Blacklow said. The village in the Central Highlands was originally built in the 1920s and 30s to support 2,000 hydroelectric workers, but as the dams and power stations servicing southern Tasmania became automated, staff were no longer required. Tarraleah clifftop spa and massage. (tarraleah.com) Property developer Julian Homer eventually bought the entire village, which had become run down, restoring the art-deco buildings to turn it into a tourism-focused site. Hes finally finished his programme of renovation, which has taken him 13 years, so the whole of the town -- all the 33 buildings and infrastructure -- have been done up to a very high-class standard, Blacklow said. Now its ready for an operator to actually take over and continue the operations as a tourism village for accommodation, mainly. Tarraleah Tasmanian walking trails. (tarraleah.com) Tarraleah, which agents said brings in an annual revenue of Aus$2.1 million, currently has no permanent residents, only tourism-related staff. Visitors can fish at a lake with trout and salmon, go bushwalking, play golf, have a drink at a bar and stay in cottages -- while enjoying the company of ducks, geese and native animals such as kangaroos, wallabies and Tasmanian devils. Tarraleah hydro pipes tasmania (tarraleah.com) Former resident Ingrid Mitchell, who lived in the village in the 1960s when her father worked at the station, said she was very sad to hear Tarraleah was for sale and wanted it to remain in local hands. It was a thriving community, we had a normal butcher, shopping centre, the school was always busy, the post office, the swimming pool, she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Tarraleah guided kayak tours. (tarraleah.com) We used to have a Christmas party at the hall every year -- great times. The sale of residential property and farmland to foreigners, including Australias largest trading partner China, is a sensitive issue, with Canberra knocking back some sales on national interest grounds. Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency provided $200,000 to the Haqqani Network for a 2009 suicide bombing at a CIA base in Afghanistan, according to a newly declassified State Department cable. The suicide attack on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Chapman on December 30, 2009 killed seven CIA operatives and contractors, a Jordanian intelligence officer and an Afghan security official. Among the dead was the chief of the base, Jennifer Lynne Matthews, who was considered among the top American experts on Al Qaeda. The attack was the second deadliest one on the CIA since the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Lebanon. The heavily redacted cable, sent more than a month after the attack, reported on a meeting between operatives of the Haqqani network and unidentified officials of the ISI. The cable was released on Wednesday by the National Security Archive, a non-governmental research body at The George Washington University that publishes classified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. It details the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence directorate and Haqqani Network involvement in the 30 December 2009 suicide attack on Forward Operating Base Chapman. The cable states that during discussions at an unknown date between Haqqani, Salar, and an unidentified (ISI) officer or officers, Haqqani and Salar were provided 200,000.00 USD to enable the attack on Chapman. Salar, about whom no further details are available, communicated the planning details to one Mullawi alias Sakh. Sakh contacted Arghawan, the Afghan head of external security at Chapman, who was promised $100,000 for his assistance to enable a suicide mission by an unnamed Jordanian national. Arghawan was among those who died when Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian, detonated his explosive belt inside the CIA base an incident that featured in the movie Zero Dark Thirty and former CIA chief Leon Panettas memoir Worthy Fights. The CIA planned to use al-Balawi who was recruited by the Jordanian intelligence to infiltrate Al Qaeda as part of the search for Osama bin Laden. He was not searched at the CIA base because the Americans had come to trust him. Another secret cable dated January 11, 2010, which too was released by the National Security Archive, reported on meetings between the leaders of the Haqqani Network and the ISI in Islamabad. As of late December 2009, at the end of every month, senior Haqqani Network leadership met with the ISID in Islamabad, the meetings were attended by Siraj Haqqani and Badruddin (Haqqani). ISID Colonel (Nasib) chaired the meetings. ISID Major (Daoud) and Sobedar (Zarim) were also in attendance, an unknown amount of funding was provided to the Haqqanis for use in unspecified operations during these meetings, the cable said. There were two meetings between the ISID and the Haqqani Network leadership in December 2009. The first discussed funding for operations in Khowst province, these funds were later provided to tribal elders in Khowst province for their support of the Haqqani Network, the second meeting involved ISID direction to the Haqqanis to expedite attack preparations and lethality in Afghanistan. The ISI has for long been accused of backing the activities of the Haqqani Network, which has bases in Pakistans semi-autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The Haqqani Network has also been linked to several attacks on Indian interests in Afghanistan, including a 2008 suicide bombing at the Indian embassy in Kabul. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON North Korea has been making preparations to launch mid-range ballistic missiles, possibly to mark the birthday of the countrys late founding president on Friday, South Korean media reported. The North deployed one or two Musudan ballistic missiles around the eastern port of Wonsan about three weeks ago, Yonhap news agency said Thursday, citing an unnamed Seoul official. There is an ample possibility that the North would launch them around Kim Il-Sungs birthday, Yonhap quoted the official as saying. The North lavishly celebrates Kims April 15 birthday, often with massive military parades featuring its most impressive-looking weapons or with missile launches. The nuclear-armed state has staged several short- and mid-range missile launches but has yet to test the Musudan missile, known to have a range of up to 4,000 kilometres (2,485 miles). Seouls defence ministry spokesman said there was a possibility the North would carry out such a missile test around Fridays anniversary, but declined to elaborate. On Tuesday, CNN reported US intelligence satellites had spotted signs North Korea may be preparing for an unprecedented launch of a longer-range mobile ballistic missile. Seoul military declined to confirm the report. A US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that North Korea had been moving several vehicles in recent days, including mobile missile systems called transporter erector launchers. But he said it was unclear if Pyongyang was actually readying a launch, or if it was just posturing. We are always concerned about this type of activity and we will continue to monitor it, but we are confident in our missile defense capability, the official said. Nobody actually knows if -- or when -- they are going to launch. He added that the United States does not believe North Korea has Intercontinental Ballistic Missile capability, and any potential launch would likely be to test an intermediate-range weapon. Tension has been running high on the divided peninsula since the North conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and a rocket launch a month later that was widely seen as a disguised ballistic missile test. The UN Security Council responded with its toughest sanctions to date, angering the North, which has since made repeated threats of attacks targeting Seoul and Washington. They have been accompanied by claims of success in miniaturising a nuclear warhead to fit on a missile and developing a warhead that can withstand atmospheric re-entry. Outside experts treat the recent claims with scepticism, suggesting leader Kim Jong-Un is seeking to talk up his achievements ahead of a key convention of the ruling Workers Party in May. Pakistans parliament has passed a controversial cyber crimes bill that gives authorities sweeping powers to tackle offences but has been criticised by the opposition, which believes it could be used to punish critics of the government. The bill was passed by the National Assembly or lower house on Wednesday and will now be debated in the Senate or upper house. Opposition members have said the bill is vague in its definition of terms and will be used by law enforcement agencies to punish those who criticise the government or the armed forces. One of the clauses empowers the government to remove, block or issue directions for access to any information perceived to be against public order, decency, morality, the glory of Islam, or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan. This is a vague area when we start to define what is public order, decency or morality, and can be used to clamp down on any party or group that criticises the government, said lawmaker Arif Alvi. Alvi objected to several clauses but the treasury benches chose to ignore most in a House that had barely 30 of its more than 300 members present. It is a shame that such an important bill was not debated and passed with little interest, said Farieha Aziz, a cyber rights activist who works with the NGO Bolo Bhi. The bill proposes rigorous penalties for creating fear or panic and stoking sectarian discord. It exempts children less than 14 years of age from such offences. Minister of state for IT Anusha Rehman, the force behind the bill, has been accused by civil society activists of succumbing to pressure from intelligence agencies. Journalist Abid Hussain said many controversial clauses were introduced in the bill to address the concerns of security agencies. The bill was introduced in the House by the IT minister in January 2015 but it was referred to the standing committee on information technology and telecommunication to address concerns voiced by opposition lawmakers and stakeholders. The debate lingered for more than a year as some provisions and penalties were described by opposition lawmakers as highly controversial. Rehman insisted the bill safeguards civil liberties guaranteed in the 1973 Constitution. We do not have any mechanism to stop the misuse of cyberspace, she said, adding the legislation is part of the National Action Plan to counter terror. The bill says whoever coerces, intimidates, or creates a sense of fear, panic or insecurity in the government or public, including fomenting religious, ethnic or sectarian discord, will be punished with a 14-year jail term or a fine of up to Rs50 million, or both. This would mean that people who post on a website or on social media any news that goes against the state and is seen as creating fear would be liable to a jail term, say critics. Glorification of an offence and hate speech, including its dissemination, can be punished with a five-year jail term or a fine of up to Rs10 million. The bill also proposes a two-year prison term or a fine of up to Rs500,000 for misusing mobile phone SIMs. Anyone who intentionally and publicly exhibits or superimposes a photograph of a person over any sexually explicit image can be sent to jail for 10 years or subjected to a fine of Rs10 million. The proposed law also allows the government to establish an investigation agency for cyber offences. The agency will have the power to issue warrants for search and seizure of offensive or controversial content. Pakistani gangsters on Thursday killed six policemen and took hostage 24 people, including police, during a raid to clear an island hideout in the south of prosperous Punjab province, authorities said. The operation to flush out the gangsters entered its ninth day as 1,600 security officials, including police officials and paramilitary Pakistan Rangers, battled for control of the island in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs power base of Punjab. Police killed four top criminals of Chotu Gang and wounded eight, while six police officials are dead and seven injured, Punjab Police spokeswoman Nabeela Ghazanfar told Reuters. The gang has held 24 persons hostage, including police officials. We are not sure how many civilian and police officials are among the hostages. Authorities suspect the gang is behind hundreds of cases of kidnapping for ransom, murder and robberies. Read: Easter Day suicide bombing: The grisly fallout of intolerance It is a very difficult operation, because the gang has made its hideout on a small island, surrounded by water and dense jungle, Ghazanfar added. Authorities identified the leader of the gang as Ghulam Rasool, also known as Chotu, who is active in the border areas of the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. Pakistan launched an armed crackdown in Punjab after an Easter Day bombing in the eastern city of Lahore killed 72 people last month. Read: Pakistan to launch paramilitary crackdown after Easter bombing kills 72 While Pakistans attention has for years been focused on the Taliban and al Qaeda threat on the Afghan border in the remote northwest, militants and criminals have quietly expanded their influence and won recruits in the countrys heartland of Punjab. Most of the militants belong to banned organisations such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Sipah-e-Sahaba. Pakistans powerful military and intelligence establishment have long been accused of tolerating or even supporting such groups. Pakistani authorities deny supporting any militants. Read: Pakistani Taliban tweet taunts at PM Nawaz Sharif after Easter attack Attacks such as the Easter bombing show that ties between Punjabi groups and the Pakistani Taliban fighting to overthrow the government help boost the groups capabilities, while giving the Taliban cover to operate outside traditional strongholds. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday acknowledged the accuracy of the Panama Papers revelations, but claimed funds had been spent on musical instruments even as he blamed the leak on the United States. The Papers revealed that Putins associates, notably cellist Sergei Roldugin, secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). During Putins annual phone-in with the nation, a male caller asked the President why he did not react to slander in Western media and unreliable information about offshores. Putin replied that strange as it may seem, they are not publishing unreliable information about offshores. The information is accurate. I get the impression it (the report) was put together not even by journalists but most likely by lawyers, Putin said of the leaked information. They do not specifically accuse anyone of anything. The leaks just serve to muddy the waters by raising the possibility that money from these offshores goes to some officials, including to the President, Putin said. Those who investigated the Panama papers were wide of the mark, he insisted. He alleged that staff of US official institutions were working on the disclosures, which he called acts of provocation ahead of Russias parliamentary elections in September. We should not expect any repentance from them, they will keep doing it anyway and the closer the elections, the more smear campaigns there will be, Putin said. In patriotic rhetoric, Putin boasted that Russia cannot be manipulated and must be spoken to with respect. He reiterated his defence of his cellist friend, insisting Roldugin spends all his money on costly musical instruments and is not corrupt. In Russia you can just about imagine a bribe paid in Borzoi puppies, but in violins and cellos? Thats a new one to me, Putin said. Roldugin has now spent all his money on instruments and is in debt, Putin added. Sergei Pavlovich (Rodulgin) has nothing left because he has spent more money on those instruments than he had, Putin said, using a respectful patronymic. Roldugin bought two cellos and two violins, Putin said. The last one he bought ... cost around $12 million, Putin said, calling it a Stradivarius cello known as Stuart from 1732. The Pleaides satellites have captured shocking high-resolution images of how tropical glaciers in the Pacific have retreated over the past decade. West Papua New Guinea's Carstenz Glacier, for instance, has nearly disappeared, while the East Northwall Firn has broken up into a number of much smaller fragments. Led by scientists at Plymouth University and the Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth (BRNC), this discovery underscores the global impact of climate change and record-breaking temperatures reported in recent years. "The years 2011-2015 have been the warmest five-year period on record, with many extreme weather events influenced by climate change. So it is not surprising then that the present observed speed of glacier retreat world-wide has been historically unprecedented," explained Chris Lavers, lecturer in Radar and Telecommunications based at BRNC. "This is visual confirmation of the ablation of equatorial glaciers, with the Carstenz Glacier revealed to have almost completed melted away in the last 15 years." To get a better picture of glacial retreat in the Pacific, researchers arranged for the Pleaides satellites to take the images in June 2015 as it passed over Papua New Guinea. These images were then compared to similar pictures taken between 2000 and 2002. Remote sensing of West Papua New Guinea is a useful tool for monitoring glacial retreat, as the area is considered too dangerous or difficult to visit. While the Carstenz Glacier - first discovered in 1623 - has nearly disappeared, the satellite images revealed the once expansive 1.33-million-square-meter East Northwall Firn has split into a number of smaller fragments, the largest of which is only 313,334 square meters. To make matters worse, the Grasberg mine - the world's largest gold and copper mine - has continued to grow in the area, causing further damage to the already unstable glaciers. "A combination of large-scale open cast industrial mining, high rainfall and enhanced glacial melt is having a profound impact on mineral and sediment transport in the local river systems upon which both the local Amungme tribe and wildlife depend," Lavers added. Mountain peaks near the equator in South America, Africa and tropical Asia have supported glaciers for thousands of years, but many have lost more than half of their ice in the last few decades. "Tropical glaciers can be considered as 'canary in the cage' sensitive markers, responding in near real-time to rapid temperature change trends, and as such, they provide a window to look at consequent environmental impact," Lavers said. "Societal change is likely to reflect, on a much magnified scale, some of the local changes, such as water scarcity and deforestation, which will affect the Papuan Amungme tribe." Their findings will be published in the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society quarterly publication Sensed. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Tuesday was supposed to herald the beginning of a new chapter for Ubisoft's "The Division," with players having been enticed with the promise of new content, new weapons and various bug fixes for the past few weeks. The promised day has come and gone, and while players have certainly been gifted with new content and weapons, the same can't be said for the bug fixes. On the contrary, these bugs might even be worse than before and allude to a greater problem: Ubisoft and developer Massive can't seem to get their priorities straight. Beforehand, Massive had promised to punish people who were reported and caught cheating. This was perfectly in line with past actions as well, as the developer has made a habit of removing exploits quite quickly. It was more of the same come Tuesday when players discovered that completing the daily Challenge mode gifted them with four high-end drops, instead of the one guaranteed drop for killing a named enemy that was expected. Massive kept true to its word and swiftly killed it with a headshot. Fair enough, but that same level of vigor that was applied to this situation should have been brought to three other bugs which are far more serious, the first of which were mass character deletions on Xbox One, resulting in hundreds of hours lost. It might be unreasonable to expect a fix for this so soon, but it seems outrageous that it took less than a night to fix a minor bug but no headway has been made in fixing a bug that prevents a large percentage of the community from playing. The next glitch comes with the new mission, "Falcon Lost." As you might remember, "Falcon Lost" is similar to horde mode that you would see in other games, where players are tasked with fighting 15 waves of enemies with no checkpoints. The mission works well enough, but everything will go downhill if someone leaves your team of four, as there is no way for others to take their place. Those who try will find themselves stuck in a loop that could last up to 20 minutes before being kicked out of the group. Simply put, matchmaking once "Falcon Lost" has started doesn't work. The third glitch takes us back to where we began: Challenge mode. Massive killed the mode off but forgot to incorporate a respawn mechanic, and now the mode is gone entirely. Granted, the official Twitter account for "The Division" says the mode will be back tomorrow, but the mode shouldn't have been removed to begin with - even if it was accidental. We are aware of the missing Daily Challenge mode. While we wont be able to fix it today, we can confirm that it will be back tomorrow The Division (@TheDivisionGame) April 13, 2016 These are just the more serious problems that "The Division" is faced with after Tuesday. There are reports of crashes and disconnections, but those are the standard affair in MMOs. In time, these will all certainly be fixed and everyone can go back to fighting looters in New York. However the situation begs the question of what Massive's priorities are. It fixed a minor bug while leaving serious ones to be fixed at an undisclosed date. If it takes as long as the infamous backpack glitch to fix, then fans have a tough road ahead of them. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. With widespread poaching throughout Borneo, Sumatran rhinos are running out of time and space. Worse, the fragmented, isolated populations that remain suffer from low rates of reproduction. "Females do not find a mating partner within the small isolated populations any more," explained Petra Kretzschmar, scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW). "The long non-reproductive periods lead to the development of reproductive tract tumors." Scientists therefore urge that a combined effort of protective measures and breeding stimulation is needed to save the species from extinction. To do this they recommend relocating remnant populations of less than 15 individuals to highly protected areas, where conservationists can improve female fertility. Until now, reasons behind the catastrophic decline of Sumatran rhinos have been rather obscure. While poachers have been known the kill rhinoceros for their valuable tusks, low reproduction among isolated females adds to a growing list of threats. For the recent study, researchers specifically compared historical data with recent developments about the Borneo rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni). Today, only two subspecies of the Sumatran rhino exist: D. s. sumatrensis in Sumatra, Indonesia, and D. s. harrissoni, in Borneo in the states of Sabah, Malaysia, and Kalimantan, Indonesia. While there are an estimated 100 individuals in Sumatra, Borneo rhinos are nearly extinct. In fact, one of the last Borneo rhinos was recently captured in the state of Kalimantan. "The captured animal was one of the last females of its species," Kretzschmar added. "It died right after capture due to an infection of a snare wound." Using mathematical models, researchers reconstructed the decline of the rhino population in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve (TWR) in Borneo. This, coupled with a recent study on preferred habitat use, helped researchers paint a clearer picture of Sumatran rhino history. They conclude that monitoring reproductive health is vital to the species' long-term success. When females are relocated to protected areas, fertility (conception) should be optimized with the use of assisted reproduction techniques. The recent study provides the data necessary to improve decisions regarding conservation management. Researchers believe their findings could be applied to other species of similar ecological standing. Their study was recently published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Baltic Sea played host to a dramatic encounter earlier this week, as Navy officials announced on Wednesday that two Russian warplanes, together with an attack helicopter, initiated a series of simulated attack runs close to the USS Donald Cook, an American destroyer. Though the aircrafts were unarmed, the activities of the Russian aircrafts were nonetheless enough to disrupt the U.S. Navy warship's operations. In one of the simulated attack runs, a Russia Su-24 flew as close as 75 feet away from the destroyer, enough for the ship's crew to clearly make out the details of the jets. The incidents reportedly happened on Monday and Tuesday, as the USS Donald Cook was conducting a routine patrol in the area. Josh Earnest, White House press secretary, described the incident in a statement. "This incident, as you won't be surprised to hear, is entirely inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries operating in proximity to each other in international waters and international airspace," he said. "Any peacetime military activity must be consistent with international law and norms and conducted with due regard for the rights of other nations and the safety of other aircraft and other vessels," Earnest added. The statement released by the Navy described the incident in more detail. The first flyby, which occurred Monday afternoon, happened as a Polish military helicopter was conducting landing drills with the U.S. warship. The Russian planes flew so low that the drills were immediately stopped. "One of the passes, which occurred while the Allied helicopter was refueling on the deck of Donald Cook, was deemed unsafe by the ship's commanding officer. As a safety precaution, flight operations were suspended until the SU-24s departed the area," the statement said. The incidents happened again on Tuesday, with a Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter and two more Su-24s flying very close to the U.S. destroyer. Poland's Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz expressed his aggravation about the incident, stating that the close flybys were a clear act of provocation. "We cannot treat this as anything else than provocation, yet another example of aggressive intentions towards NATO, towards the United States, towards Poland," he said. Close encounters between Russian warplanes and American ships have become commonplace in recent months, with similar incidents happening back June and October last year. This recent incident, however, involved the closest flybys the Russian forces made to date. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. If his recent rally is used as a benchmark, Bernie Sanders is right when he declares that his campaign has the momentum. In a mammoth rally in Washington Park on Wednesday, almost 30,000 people crammed themselves in the area to show their support for the Democratic presidential hopeful. In fact, the impressive figures are a rather conservative estimate, since there were far more people who were not able to go into the park. Indeed, during the event, rumors were circulating that the candidate's supporters inside and outside the park numbered far beyond 30,000. The outpouring of support has appeared to give the 74-year-old candidate a massive boost in spirit and confidence. Standing in front of the iconic Washington Square Arch, Sanders expressed his gratitude to his supporters. "When I look at an unbelievable crowd like this, I believe we're going to win here in New York," he said. A win in New York is very important for Sanders, who has gained ground against Hillary Clinton, the current Democratic front-runner. Despite his consecutive wins in several states, Sanders still lags by about 300 pledge delegates. Thus, with 247 delegates at stake, New York has become a must-win state for Sanders. Sanders' speech was appreciated by the crowd, who cheered for the candidate as he outlined his plans and attacked his political enemies. Speaking about the state of the nation's economy, Sanders assured his supporters that he would promote a better standard of living for the average American. "I grew up in Brooklyn. The American dream was alive and well. My father and my mother, their dream was for my brother and I to have a better standard of living than them. Together we will not allow that American dream to die. Together, we are going to create an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1 percent," he said. For many of those who attended the massive rally, their stance on the elections is set, with their support solely for Sanders. Isabel Madden, a 68-year-old writer, stated that among the current candidates, Bernie Sanders is the only viable choice. "I think Bernie Sanders is a national treasure. I wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton. I would write in Bernie Sanders. I don't trust her, plain and simple. And I'm 68, so I'm a Baby Boomer just like she is. And it's not true that Bernie Sanders is supported only by young people. Look around here," she said. Indeed, there were a lot of older people in the crowd, as well as a lot of young people and middle-aged people. On Wednesday night, Bernie Sanders' supporters made their presence felt. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A tragic fire in an apartment complex located in the Bronx claimed the lives of two young girls Wednesday night. The two kids, 2-year-old Jannubi Jabie and her 18-month-old sister Amanda, were alone in the apartment when the blaze started. The kids' mother left them alone for a bit in order to wash clothes at a laundromat across the street. Robert Rivera, who witnessed the incident, described how the kids' mother rushed out of the laundromat and screamed. "My kids! My kids are up there!," the mother yelled as the windows to her apartment were engulfed in flames. Firefighters who responded to the scene reportedly allowed the woman to enter the burning building. Despite the firefighters' best efforts, the two children were already badly burnt by the time they were retrieved from the inferno. Kay Wilkins, a fellow resident of the building, stated that after the kids' mother entered the apartment, firefighters soon emerged cradling two toddlers in their arms. The rescuers then placed the little kids on a stretcher. "That hurt me to witness. This is my building. This is my home. I've never seen a fire like this. I couldn't even speak," she said. Another witness, Adrian Dozier, described the condition of the kids as they were taken out of the building. "The flames were coming out of the bedroom window. They brought two kids out. They were badly burned. Their faces and hands were disfigured. One was so badly burned I couldn't recognize him, so you couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl," Dozer said. The mother reportedly collapsed after seeing her children. She was also taken to a local hospital. Rescuers immediately took the children to the nearby Bronx Lebanon Hospital. Despite their best efforts, the children were soon pronounced dead. The deadly blaze broke out at the third floor of the 21-story, NYCHA-run tower on Webster Ave. near E. 170th St. at about 6:30 p.m. local time. Overall, the fiery blaze claimed the lives of the two girls and injured 10 people, two of them being firefighters. The injuries of the 10, however, were not considered life-threatening. Investigators are currently looking into the possible causes of the fire. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Marina Alexeevna Lonina, 18, along with with 29-year-old Raymond Boyd Gates, were indicted on multiple charges Wednesday. The charge? Gates is suspected of raping a 17-year-old girl, and while the assault was going on, Lonina decided to film and broadcast the rape through popular social networking live-streaming app Periscope. The Ohio court decided to indict the duo on charges of rape, sexual battery, kidnapping and illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, according to a statement by Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Ron O'Brien. If convicted, both Lonina and Gates could face up to 40 years in prison. The assault allegedly happened on Feb. 27 when Lonina, her friend and Gates were gathered in a house. It was in this house where Gates "forced sexual intercourse with the victim and Lonina started Periscoping," according to O'Brien. Despite the Ohio woman's shocking acts, the signs that she was prone to posting compromising images of her 17-year-old friend in social media were evident the night before. Before her friend got raped, Lonina took a number of nude photos of her friend and posted them online through Periscope. The teenager's rape came to light after one of Lonina's friends, who lives out-of-state, saw the uploaded images and the live stream of the assault. Lonina's friend promptly called the authorities. Roger Soroka, who is representing Lonina in the case, has announced that the she "categorically denies" all the charges against her. So far, he has not announced any other comments from the accused. Gates, on the other hand, does not seem to have hired a lawyer as of writing. He is scheduled to appear for arraignment on Friday. O'Brien has stated that as of the moment, the real motive behind the sexual attack remains unclear. Considering that Gates, Lonina and the 17-year-old girl had been drinking, however, alcohol seems to have played a very significant factor in the incident. Speaking on the issue, O'Brien has warned people about the inherent dangers of social media, as well as the possible legal repercussions of questionable content that are uploaded online. "People need to know and understand that the use of a smartphone to video events can constitute serious felony crimes. They should think twice before they use their smartphones to either photograph or video anything that's of a sexual nature," he said. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Two Russian attack jets simulated low-level attacks on a U.S. Navy warship operating in the Batlic Sea in two seperate incidents this week. The "attacks" were described by a senior American defense official as "simulated attack profiles" - a claim which Russia denies. It's more of the same from Russia, which has often pulled stunts like this in the past. One notable incident occurred on July 4, 2015, when U.S. fighter jets intercepted Russian fighters off the coasts of California and Alaska. At the time, the Russian fliers claimed that they came close to U.S. shores to wish America a happy Fourth of July. The most recent incidents started on April 11, both involving the USS Donald Cook after it left the Polish port of Gdynia. The first round of harassment came at the "hands" of a pair of Su-24 "Fencer" strike jets that buzzed the warship 20 times, reportedly flying so low that they were able to leave wakes in the water. The second came the following day when two Ka-27 "Helix" helicopters flew circles around the Donald Cook while taking photographs. The Fencers from the previous day returned soon afterward, making several more close passes near the warship before leaving. Thiis isn't the first time that the USS Donald Cook has found itself targeted by Russian fighters. In 2014, the Donald Cook was buzzed by Su-24s in the Black Sea. Fortunately for both sides, the jets weren't armed, so the situation didn't evolve into anything greater. As with all encounters of its ilk, Russia and the U.S. have very different perceptions of what happened. For example, Russian defense ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov downplayed the incident, saying that the Su-24 pilots turned back upon seeing the ship, adding that he was surprised at America's distressed reaction over the event. "The principle of freedom of navigation for the U.S. destroyer, which is staying in close proximity to a Russian naval base in the Baltic Sea, does at all not cancel the principle of freedom of flight for Russian aircraft," Konashenkov said. On the other hand, Evelyn Farkas, a former Russian policy expert for the Pentagon, classified the fly-bys as undeniably "dangerous behavior." "They're playing with fire here," she said. "I'm sure that U.S. ships and other non-Russian ships have been just as close in the past. And even if they haven't, again, they're in international waters; there's nothing provocative about what we're doing. Unlike the Russians, we actually telegraph very transparently what we're doing." Had the situation been hostile, the Donald Cook would have repelled the attack by the Cold War-era Su-24s. While the jets do carry Kh-35 "Kluv" anti-ship missiles, the destroyer is armed with Evolved Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles and Phalanx CIWS close-in weapon systems, both of which could have been brought to bear on the Russian aircraft or any missiles in its possession. The warship's ability to shoot down the Russian jets is besides the point. The issue at hand is Russia's insistence on flexing its military might by harassing other countries with its fighters. As evidenced by Turkey shooting down a Su-24 in November 2015, its clear that some countries aren't willing to take the harassment anymore, and its only a matter of time before a country with serious firepower decides to retaliate. Check out a video of the Su-24s below: @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. China might receive some flak from the U.S. for its poor human rights policies, but China is firing right back and says the U.S. is no better, according to a report issued by the state council and reported by the official Xinhua news agency. Human rights has been a source of contention between the two nations, especially since 1989, when the U.S. imposed sanctions on China after the incidents in Tienanmen Square. This disagreement reached a boiling point on Wednesday after the U.S. released a report which criticized Beijing's crackdown on local lawyers and law firms handling cases China deems politically sensitive. China, which has long rejected criticism of its rights record, citing its success at lifting millions out of poverty, said enough is enough and issued a report of its own. "The United States made comments on the human-rights situation in many countries while being tight-lipped about its own terrible human-rights record and showing not a bit of intention to reflect on it," Xinhua said. "Since the U.S. government refused to hold up a mirror to look at itself, it has to be done with other people's help." Specifically, the report referenced the "wanton infringement" of civil rights and "rampant gun-related crimes" in the United States, which apparently left 13,136 dead and 26,493 others injured. The report goes on to allege that 965 of those deaths came at the hand of cops. "The frequent occurrence of shooting incidents was the deepest impression left to the world concerning the United States in 2015," the news agency said. The report continued to cite other numbers as evidence of the U.S.'s poor human rights policies, such as the fact that 560,000 people were homeless and 33 million Americans don't have health insurance. China put one last nail in the coffin by pointing out America's actions overseas which it referred to as a "gross violation of other countries' human rights." The report tallied more than 6,000 airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, allegedly causing "between 1,695 and 2,239" civilian deaths. The numbers are quite eye-opening, but their veracity remains dubious, especially since China's report was clearly a retaliatory one. At the very least, it's a well-known fact that gun violence was the highlight of 2015, especially in its latter half. The report also begs the question of whether China and the U.S. are using the same definition of human rights in their reports. Fore example, it's one thing for "human rights violations" to occur by accident or through the acts of a regular citizen, but it's a different thing entirely when they come at the hands of the government itself. It appears at least one user on China's Twitter-like Weibo social network sees a distinction between these as well. "If America has no human rights, why are rich Chinese going there?" one user asked. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home Centara has seen a great deal of positive change thus far in 2016 and with that has also brought in some new faces. Centara Hotels&Resorts (CHR) is pleased to introduce a number of new members to the General Managers team. Centara Ceysands Resort&Spa, Sri Lanka is pleased to welcome Mr. Riaan Drever as General Manager. Drever is a South African national with over 19 years of experience in the hospitality industry, having worked for various properties in countries across Africa, America, Middle East and Asia within groups such as Orient Express, Fairmont, Movenpick, Jumeirah and Six Senses Soneva. He was in the Maldives at Centara Ras Fushi Resort and Spa as Resident Manager before taking up the role in Sri Lanka. InterContinental Hotel Lusaka QG Africa Hotel LP, a Mauritius-based fund managed by QG Investments Africa Management Ltd, a company of the Quantum Global group, has acquired 100% interest in the InterContinental Hotel Lusaka from Kingdom Hotel Investments for a gross consideration of USD 35.9 million. The transaction closed on 31 March 2016. Considered a city landmark, the InterContinental Hotel Lusaka is situated at a prime location in Zambias capital. The 244-room hotel benefits from a strong image amongst international travellers, and offers significant repositioning and expansion potential. Commenting on the acquisition, Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais, Founder of Quantum Global said Im very pleased with this first acquisition of QG Africa Hotel LP. It underlines our commitment and investment strategy for the hotel sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. The InterContinental Lusaka is strongly established locally and will benefit from the planned refurbishment that will expand and reposition the asset, thereby generating value added returns for our investors. Strong economic growth supported by a more transparent and relatively stable political climate has been attracting an increasing number of international business travellers to Africa, while also boosting cross-regional business traveling. These trends are driving up steady demand for increased and better business hotel accommodation across sub-Saharan Africa. QG Africa Hotel LP is a USD 500 million investment vehicle, which aims to capitalize on the emerging opportunities in the hospitality sector. As a long-term direct equity investor in hotel projects across sub-Saharan Africa, the investment structure targets real estate and real estate-related investments in midscale to upscale business hotels. These are built to high quality international standards, with modern construction and design, and aim to respond to the growing need for hotel accommodation in sub-Saharan Africa. The investment structure seeks investment opportunities in established growth markets, with a particular emphasis on prime locations within the continents major cities and airports. Element Amsterdam Hotel Opens Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) today announced the launch of its Element brand in The Netherlands. The opening of Element Amsterdam marks the second Element hotel in Europe, following Element Frankfurt Airport Hotel which opened in 2014. The hotel is located in the Zuidas area of Amsterdam, one of the citys main business districts. An adaptive re-use project, the hotel is located in a former office building at the Gelderlandplein shopping mall. Together with Bari Gruppe, we introduced the Element brand into Europe in 2014 with Element Frankfurt Airport Hotel, shaking up the traditional extended stay experience for healthy active global travellers. We are thrilled to expand our collaboration with the debut of our second Element Hotel, Michael Wale, President, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Europe, Africa & Middle East. Element Amsterdam offers a fresh new option for travellers who want a bright, energizing environment, great design and everything they need for smart, sustainable living. Element Amsterdam features 160 spacious studios and suites, all featuring a fully-equipped kitchenette, flexible living space, the signature Westin Heavenly Bed and spa-inspired bathroom. The hotels two restaurants My Place and Carrots &Co. focus on sustainable ingredients and provide a range of healthy options throughout the day. Open 24/7, the grab-and-go gourmet food pantry allows guests to buy everything needed to make delicious meals in the comfort of their rooms. Guests can also fuel their day with the healthy Rise breakfast and wind down with the Relax evening wine reception both complimentary. As the first major hotel brand to mandate that all properties pursue sustainable certifications, Element is recognized as an industry leader in the eco-space and offers travellers a reimagined interpretation of the traditional hotel experience with natural light, modern design, healthy options and eco-minded sensibilities. Providing an atmosphere that fuels life in balance and on the move, this reimagined experience is perfect for the traveller who is visiting for a few days or a few weeks. We are delighted to open a second Element Hotel in Europe and to work with Starwood Hotels & Resorts once again, Marco Bari, Managing Director & CEO, Bari Gruppe GmbH & Co. KG added. One of the industrys most innovative brands, Element appeals to business and leisure travellers with its emphasis on clean, sustainable living and long-stay accommodation. Element Amsterdam also boasts a 24/7 fitness centre, two meeting rooms and a business centre. Guests can stay on the move and explore Amsterdam with Elements complimentary bikes, as well as catch up with loved ones or work using the complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the hotel. The hotel will also feature SPG Keyless - the industry-first keyless entry system - enabling guests to use their smartphone or Apple watch as a room key. We are thrilled to introduce Element to the vibrant and forward-looking city of Amsterdaman ideal fit for the brand, said Brian McGuinness, Global Brand Leader, Starwoods Specialty Select Brands. On track to more than double its global portfolio in the next three years, Element fills a much-needed niche in the market and caters to travellers who seek a smart and sustainable experience when they are on the move. Starwood has four hotels in The Netherlands: the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel; Hotel Des Indes, The Hague, a Luxury Collection Hotel and the recently opened W Amsterdam. In year-over-year comparisons, the industrys occupancy remained flat at 68.2%. Average daily rate for the week was up 3.9% to US$122.90, and revenue per available room increased 3.9% to US$83.83. The U.S. hotel industry recorded mostly positive results in the three key performance metrics during the week of 3-9 April 2016, according to data from STR. In year-over-year comparisons, the industrys occupancy remained flat at 68.2%. Average daily rate for the week was up 3.9% to US$122.90, and revenue per available room increased 3.9% to US$83.83. Four of the Top 25 Markets posted a RevPAR increase of more than 20.0%: Chicago, Illinois (+27.3% to US$100.88); Atlanta, Georgia (+27.3% to US$85.07); Dallas, Texas (+25.6% to US$91.01); and Detroit, Michigan (+22.1% to US$63.48). Overall, 12 markets experienced double-digit growth in the metric. Two markets saw a double-digit drop in RevPAR: Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia (-15.7% to US$48.09), and Miami/Hialeah, Florida (-10.9% to US$171.60). Nine markets recorded a double-digit rise in ADR, three of which eclipsed +15.0%: Atlanta (+20.1% to US$110.94); Houston, Texas (+17.7% to US$123.82); and Chicago (+16.5% to US$142.37). Of the four markets to report a decrease in ADR, Miami (-8.4% to US$211.21) showed the largest drop in the metric. Three markets experienced a double-digit lift in occupancy: Dallas (+13.5% to 82.8%); Detroit (+12.1% to 65.8%); and Phoenix, Arizona (+10.3% to 80.4%). Norfolk/Virginia Beach (-14.1% to 55.2%) reported the only double-digit decline in occupancy. View weekly U.S. hotel performance review About STR STR provides clients from multiple market sectors with premium, global data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a presence in 10 countries around the world with a corporate North American headquarters in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and an international headquarters in London, England. For more information, please visit str.com. Parkside Motel North Bend, Oregon Joseph P. Kennedy, President of Crystal Investment Property, has negotiated the sale of the Parkside Motel located in North Bend, Oregon. The 16-key property, which fronts Highway 101, sold for $550,000. Crystal Investment Property, LLC, a member of Hotel Brokers International, announced the successful sale of the Parkside Motel in North Bend, Oregon. Crystal Investment Property, LLC, a licensed Oregon broker, exclusively represented the Seller in the sale. Joseph P. Kennedy, President of CIP, worked closely with the Seller, Buyer and Buyers Broker as well as lenders and other professionals, to negotiate a mutually acceptable sale. The final sale price was $550,000. The 16-key property fronts Highway 101 at the gateway to the Oregon Dunes recreation area and fishing town of North Bend, in a burgeoning retirement community offering excellent quality of life and amenities. Located at 1480 Sherman Avenue in North Bend, Oregon, the hotel is in excellent proximity to the town of Coos Bay and its popular casino, which offers gaming and live-music, as well as a wide array of exceptional outdoor recreational activities on waterways throughout the region including Ten-Mile Lake and the beautiful Pacific Ocean. The Coos Bay area is an easy 2 hour drive to Eugene, Oregon (home of University of Oregon and the Oregon Ducks). Joseph Kennedy, President of Crystal Investment Property said, We had the opportunity to present several competing offers to the Seller through our aggressive marketing of the asset to our wide clientele base. We are happy to have been able to bring together the Buyer and Seller in a transaction which maintains the current operations of the property and allows for continuing service to the sportsmen and seasonal workforce served by this nice motel. Crystal Investment Property, a premiere hospitality investment advisory and brokerage company located in the Pacific Northwest, maintains the most cutting-edge technological, online and social media presence as well as a full range of traditional and web-based marketing reaching local, regional, national and international clientele. The firms core services of hospitality asset acquisition/disposition are supported by innovative and creative solutions to maintain position as the most active and successful hotel broker in the region. Crystal Investment Property represents the full spectrum of hospitality real estate owners and their experience covers all hospitality assets types, including: full service hotels, boutique hotels, select service hotels, limited service hotels, as well as development projects, and leasehold transactions. Crystal Investment Property may be accessed online at www.crystalip.com. Founded in 1959, Hotel Brokers International members lead the industry in hotel real estate sales. HBI hotel brokerage specialists have successfully negotiated more than 10,000 hotel real estate transactions and consistently account for the largest share of all select-service and economy hotel sales in the United States. The organizations database currently comprises more than 100 property listings and the HBI website attracts more than 55,000 monthly site visitors. Founder and host of the popular Hotel Investors Marketplace Webcast, HBI also developed the Certified Hotel Broker professional designation program. In addition to hospitality real estate advisory services, HBI offers affiliate membership to professionals in allied fields, including franchising, lending, appraisals and investment services. For more information about HBIs hotel listings or to become a broker or affiliate member, visit www.hbihotels.com. For more information contact: Joseph P. Kennedy, President Crystal Investment Property, LLC Portland, Oregon 503.530.1316 joe@crystalip.com Glenda J. Webb, Managing Director Hotel Brokers International Kansas City, Missouri 816.505.4315 gwebb@hbihotels.com Hotel room rates in the top-25 most popular U.S. destinations are averaging $213.85 this April, up from $197.08 in March, according to trivago hotel price indices (tHPI) released today. Hotel room rates in the top-25 most popular U.S. destinations are averaging $213.85 this April, up from $197.08 in March, according to trivago hotel price indices (tHPI) released today. The U.S. online average daily rate (oADR), the industrys best analytic for competitive pricing, currently ranges among the top-25 destinations from a high of $381 to a low of $125 this April. Based on industry surveys, eforecasting.com estimates that in 2016 about 65% of all reservations are made online via brand websites and travel agent merchant websites, compared with only one-fourth eight years ago. On year-over-year basis, the U.S. average online ADR is up (+12.2%) in April from a year ago, higher than the previous month's year-over-year growth rate of (+4.8%). This April, the average trivago online room rate in Boston, after rising (+19.8%) from last year, hit $381 a night, making the city the most expensive destination among the top-25 U.S. hotel markets. Washington D.C. takes the second place in April with an online room rate of $364, after an increase of (+18.2%) from a year ago. In New York, the online room rate in April is shrinking (0.3%) from last year to $321 a night, ranking the city in the third place of the most expensive destinations in the United States. At the bottom of the list, the three least expensive, or most affordable, cities to visit this April are: Orlando recording a trivago online ADR of $145 a night after a (+5.1%) change from a year ago; San Antonio posts an online ADR of $132 following a (+8.2%) change from last year; and lastly, the most affordable popular destination in the country is Salt Lake City with an online ADR of $125 after a nil change from a year ago. With a median online ADR of $187 amongst the top-25 most popular U.S. destinations, Atlanta is the country's average affordable city to visit this April. Moving from data to hotel-biz-analytics, eforecasting.com's Smoothed Seasonally Adjusted (SSA) U.S. average online room rate has hit $197.41 in April. On a month-over-month basis - the hoteliers' analytic for tracking changes of what's now vs. what's happened in comparison to twelve months ago - the SSA online ADR this April is up (+0.4%) from the previous month, which is the same percent change as in the previous month. Looking at the top-25 hotel destinations, the month-to-month percent change in April ranges from a high of (+3.5%) in Phoenix to a low of (1.3%) in Atlanta. Amongst the top-25 destinations, the SSA online monthly room rate is growing in 17 cities; and is falling or staying flat in 8 cities. "The latest US Monthly Hotel Forecast predicts profits per online room rates to decline on a year-over-year basis in the second half of 2016," said Maria Sogard, CEO of eforecasting.com. For a complimentary copy of the full US Monthly Hotel Forecast with two-year predictions of occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, online ADR, costs per room, profitability and predictive analytics for investing in hotel properties, email us at info@e-forecasting.com with subject: USHOTfcast. Looking at profitability, hoteliers' ultimate gauge for decision-making, profits per room are up (+9.9%) on a year-over-year basis in April, since U.S. trivago's average online room rate has gained (+12.2%) while eforecasting.com national unit (per room) cost index is up (+2.1%). For U.S. hoteliers, year-over-year profit margins posted a reading of (+3.3%) in the previous month (March), compared to a mark of (4.2%) a year ago (April 2015). Using trivago's online hotel room rates for the top-25 U.S. destinations and eforecasting.com's city-centric hotel unit (room) cost indices, year-over-year percent change in profits per room currently range from a high of (+21.0%) in Minneapolis to a low of (2.4%) in New York in April. Amongst the top-25 destinations, profits per room are up in 22 cities; they are down or are flat in three cities. On tracking monthly the risk for business losses in providing services per room, the probability for U.S. hoteliers being in a negative profits (losses) phase of the industry's business cycle hit 31% in April, which is lower than March's reading of 36%. In the top-25 hotel destinations, the risk for hoteliers being in a period of losses per room in April ranges from a high of 100% in Seattle to a low of 1% in Phoenix. The probability of losses per room is above 50% in 10 cities; it is 50% or below in 15 cities. About e-forecasting.com Founded in Durham, NH in 1994, e-forecasting.com is a predictive intelligence consulting firm offering to clients customized solutions for whats next. For over 15 years, its hotel insights division has focused on hotel predictive analytics and forecasting products for the top destinations around the world to enhance its clients competitive advantage and improve their bottom line. About trivago Founded in Dusseldorf in 2005 with operations in 39 countries, trivago is the worlds largest online hotel search site, comparing room rates from over 700,000 hotels on over 200 booking sites worldwide. Each month, more than 45 million visitors use trivagos unique online technology, which compares 5 billion hotel deals a day - more than a trillion a year - and saves them an average of 35% per booking. Visit online http://www.trivago.com. Late last week we broke news that Ian Connor Yeezy model, A$AP stylist and self-proclaimed King Of The Youth had been accused of sexual assault. Not even an hour after the accusations were posted on the Malika Andersons blog, Ian Connor was posting on Twitter to half-defend himself. However, these accusations were only hearsay on the internet at the time, and the Police Department had already closed for the weekend when the accusations were made. Today, Broadly obtained records from the DeKalb County Police Department in Georgia that show a report was filed regarding the sexual assault on December 16, 2015. You can find that report here. This gives credence to accusers statement that she waited until the investigation was (at least temporarily) closed before going public with the accusations. Broadly reports that the case is now open, according to a source within the police department. It also disproves Ian Connors theory that he was only being accused because he had just appeared on a magazine cover. Shortly after Anderson posted her accusations, Chicago artist Jean Deaux posted her own personal story accusing Ian Connor of rape in 2013, the year before Anderson was allegedly raped. Both accusers have called Ian Connor a serial rapist. According to Broadly, they were able to reach Ian Connor via phone but he refused to make any comment. Instead, he posted a series of tweets further defending himself and categorically denying hes a rapist. IanConnor-DPD Applications for unemployment benefits have dropped to the lowest level since 1973, a clear signal that the U.S. economic recovery is gaining traction. You wouldn't guess it, though, from the pessimistic mood in the financial markets or the depressing rhetoric on the presidential campaign trail. Weekly applications for jobless benefits totaled 13,000 in the latest report from the Department of Labor, for a seasonally-adjusted total of 250,000. The four-week average is 265,000, a 4.9 percent drop from a month ago. The number of people applying for benefits has been below 300,000 for 58 consecutive weeks, the longest streak since 1973. And for those who like to dig deeper into the data, the number of people who are working part time, but want full time work, is also down.There is also upward pressure on wages for the first time since the Great Recession ended. "In the fourth quarter of 2015, average hourly earnings jumped by 2.5 percent compared to a year ago; this was the biggest quarterly increase in more than six years," the data analysis firm FactSet reported. "Even though this economic recovery has been slow to reach large numbers of discouraged workers and long-term unemployed, it appears that we may have turned the corner for a broader group of American workers." And yet, the national mood remains slightly sour. The recovery from the 2008 recession began on Wall Street long before it reached Main Street, and the financial markets may be running out of steam. Corporations reported a 7.8 percent drop in profits in the 4th quarter of 2015. But about 75 percent of those losses were due to the drop in oil prices, according to consulting firm IHS Global Insight, but a weak stock market always worries investors and traders. Political rhetoric also paints a dismal picture. Donald Trump says the country is going down the drain and only he can make it better. Bernie Sanders has convinced his supporters the whole system is corrupt and the average worker is the loser. As a result, the consumer confidence index remains negative, despite recent gains in jobs and wages. "On balance, consumers do not foresee the economy gaining any significant momentum in the near-term, nor do they see it worsening," Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board, said in a statement. Perhaps we're becoming a nation of pessimists. Or maybe once we all get raises, and the fire and brimstone talk fades after the election, we'll lighten up. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-14 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] PM Tsipras meets EU Council President Schulz [02] 'Idomeni cultural centre', a school for children refugees [01] PM Tsipras meets EU Council President Schulz "Meeting with (European Council President Martin) Schulz, with whom we have shared beliefs in matters of principles concerning Europe," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday posted on Twitter. In another tweet, the Greek prime minister said: "The right of elected governments to choose the means of meeting the agreed targets is a matter of democracy and sovereignty." "We departed from Greece's friend, France, with satisfaction. The future of Europe is not a matter for technocrats," he had earlier posted on Twitter. [02] 'Idomeni cultural centre', a school for children refugees An independent group of volunteers at Idomeni set up a school for children refugees and migrants. The sign outside the big tent set up by volunteers from different countries reads "Idomeni cultural centre" and the lessons are held every day. The teachers are refugees that have studied maths or science or languages. According to the programme, breakfast is served at 9 am, followed by Maths lessons, Kurdish and Arabic language lessons while there are also courses for adults. On their part, the volunteers try to learn to the children languages such as English and German that will need in their new lives. "Many of the children do not know how to write or read due to the war. There are 11 or 12 year old children that have never been to a school," Daniel, one of the volunteers, said to ANA-MPA. "We need paper, pencils and books in the Arabic language," because the number of the children increases day after day, he added. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article quo;Culture is the most overused and often least understood concept in business, Stan Slap , management consultant and founder of global organisation SLAP, told HRM.This is a statement borne from experience with Slaps firm working with clients in over 70 countries to show them how much they can gain from changing their culture.I realised that if I was really going to change the standard, Id have to find something that was of compelling interest to people, he said. Thats what led me to culture because culture is where the humans gather in business.When working with clients, he focuses them on three key areas: manager culture, employee culture and customer culture.I knew if I would reposition these three cultures back to the enterprise as newly precious workable assets, the enterprise would protect them, he explains.By tapping into this instinctive business need, he said businesses will then protect the humanity encased within these three cultures.One of the biggest challenges here is getting organisations to see the true value of what cultures hold. Put in simple terms, culture is the source of a lot of key business goals.If you dont understand what culture is, you dont understand the manifestations of real cultural impact, he said. You wouldnt understand leadership, you wouldnt understand strategic execution and you wouldnt understand branding all of those things are purely cultural play.While some companies have stubbornly resisted cultural change, the ones that do have experienced some true rewards, he said.There have been a lot of beautiful moments weve had in companies where you can see the epiphany come together and say: My God, we can actually treat humans with empathy and respect and make a tonne of money from doing it!Doing this saves the soul of a lot of companies, he added, an achievement which Slap is obviously very proud of.Im in business to make the business case for humanity, he said. If we lose it in business, were all doomed. If we save it company by company, manager by manager, then we save ourselves. loyers across New Zealand may have to update their approaches to overseas recruitment after one government minister reprimanded organisations for taking shortcuts and turning to international labour hire companies far too soon.Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse told Morning Report that employers first port of call should now by Work and Income rather than the international market."We saw too many occasions when an employer would perhaps first go to an international labour hire company in order to meet their labour needs, apply for approval to recruit them with Immigration New Zealand and then have them scurry off to Work and Income to check the check that's always been in place, he revealed.Now, he said, employers must establish if there are any suitable local candidates before testing the international waters."First you've got to do the skills check and find out who might be available before accessing the international labour market, he stressed.He asserted that it has always been policy that Kiwis were first in line for New Zealand jobs."I can't help thinking that there are some who might have gone to that [international market] too readily and we have got to make sure that our young New Zealanders and all New Zealanders are selected to do the job before overseas workers are, he said.On a positive note, the changes are expected to speed up the application process for cases were overseas workers are essential. Canadian Press Former Halifax MP Megan Leslie has announced that she won't run for the leadership of the NDP. The party's ex-deputy leader confirmed she wasn't vying for the job in an interview on CBC's The House podcast on Wednesday. (Start at the one-minute mark.) "I'm tired. My energy is gone. I don't have the passion in me right now for politics ... I want to be away from it and gather my strength and my energy." Advertisement She added she hasn't ruled out politics altogether, but said the two-year time frame for leadership was too rushed. "The NDP deserves a leader that has that passion that wants it and I don't want it." Leslie was unseated by the Liberals' Andy Fillmore in October as the Grits swept Atlantic Canada. Leslie was later hired as a senior consultant with World Wildlife Fund Canada. Over half of NDP party members voted to replace current leader Tom Mulcair over the weekend. However, the leader said Wednesday that he fully intends to stay put until the party chooses his successor. Also on HuffPost: Sean Kilpatrick/CP OTTAWA The Senate Liberals are extending an open hand to the new independent members of the upper chamber, inviting them to join their caucus or work with them informally. Since January 2014, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kicked his senators out of his caucus almost a year after taking over as party leader Liberal members of the red chamber havent had a whipped vote, the head of the group, James Cowan, told The Huffington Post Canada Wednesday. Advertisement We are completely independent. All the Senate Liberals votes are free, on any bill and any motion, and the caucus is just a collection of like-minded people who enjoy working together, their leader said. James Cowan, flanked by other newly declared Independent Senators, speaks to reporters on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2014. (Photo: CP) Cowan wrote to the seven new independent senators, who were appointed by Trudeau and sworn in Tuesday, to let them know how his caucus operates. Advertisement I dont think any of them are going to come and join our Liberal caucus, right now at least, but I hope that as they look around and they see in the chamber people who share their values and approach to things, that some of them might feel comfortable working with us, he said. New Quebec Senator Chantal Petitclerc told HuffPost it is wonderful that people are extending a hand and she is open to working with anyone of common interest or conviction, but she has no interest in joining a party caucus. Very honestly, I arrive here as an independent senator who has never had any political affiliations in the past, and Im not interested in that, for all types of reasons. Quebec Senator Chantal Petitclerc said she's not interested in joining a party caucus. (Photo: Patrice LaPointe/fotosports.ca) Advertisement Petitclerc plans to vote and make decisions first and foremost as a citizen, guided by her convictions, expertise and competence, the former paralympian said. I wont be engaging in any politics, she added, with a big smile. Im told Im being very naive and that eventually were in a certain world, a certain system, with all that. I want to do a good job; I want to do this work well. I believe in it. So I want to take the time to figure out how it works, how this critter [the Senate] works, she said. Her remaining an independent senator, however, wont change, she added. It was one of the reasons why I wanted to do it. So its certain, Ill remain that way. Liberal Senator Mobina Jaffer thinks the new independents should take their time and find their own path. Advertisement Very honestly, I arrive here as an independent senator who has never had any political affiliations in the past." Quebec Senator Chantal Petitclerc A long-time Liberal, she has been a vice-president of the Liberal party and the head of the Liberals womens commission, and she said shes pleased to be part of a party caucus because she can accomplish more work there than she could on her own. I like to work with people I can trust, who like to work on issues and have the same values as I do, she said. This place is really lonely, Jaffer added. This isnt a place to go solo, this is a place to work as a team. Two members of her team, however, have recently headed for the doors: B.C. Senator Larry Campbell and New Brunswick Senator Pierrette Ringuette. Advertisement The institution has to rise above partisan politics; that is the demand of the Canadian population." New Brunswick Senator Pierrette Ringuette Ringuette left the Liberal caucus because it is a Liberal caucus, she said. The institution has to rise above partisan politics; that is the demand of the Canadian population, she told HuffPost. This institution can no longer tolerate the status quo. Too many people are more interested in the little powers that they can give themselves because of outdated rules, she said, adding that the place needs a revamp. The future of the Senate relies on the total chamber being independent, she said. More independence, less partisanship Seven independents, including Ringuette, have formed a working group. They and other Liberal and Conservative senators are engaged in trying to modernize the red chamber to ensure that independents can sit on committees and vote, take part in proceedings in a more equal manner, and that the chamber finds new purpose as a more independent less partisan body. The Conservative caucus has also lost many members to the lure of independence. Harper appointees Diane Bellemare, Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, Jacques Demers, Michel Rivard and John Wallace all now sit as independents. Advertisement Longtime Conservative Senator David Tkachuk said the list of groups is getting confusing. There are Liberal independents, Trudeau independents, independents who left Liberal caucus, [and] the Conservatives who also left, he said. Five groups on the other side and none of them are organized to run the place. Conservative Senator David Tkachuk. (Photo: CP) Tkachuk said Cowan can ask all he wants for the independents to join his Liberal team, but hes more surprised that the new independents havent asked the old Liberals to join their team. In the end, I think the Liberals will all come together, this was all just a sham anyway. Cowan said hes aware some people think the Senate Liberals are not really independent because they usually vote with the notable exception of Bill C-51, which the Senate Liberal opposed along with their Liberal cousins in the Commons. Were Liberals, whether you call us big L Liberals, or small l liberals, or progressives, that is what we are and that is why we work together, because we generally share the same outlook on life and generally vote the same way on most things, he said. Advertisement Independent senators could work in 'perfectly legitimate way' The big difference is that, unlike how the Conservatives ran the Senate during the past decade, when the perception, if not the reality, was that the Senate majority was being controlled out of the prime ministers office, this is no longer the case. The Senate Liberals have to call themselves Liberals, Cowan added, because the rules of the upper chamber stipulate that a caucus has to have the same name as a recognized party with Elections Canada. You cant use the name Canada First Caucus or something like that and be formally recognized, he said. But that might change. For now, though, Cowan is content if Canadians and the new independents know that there is a perfectly legitimate way in which senators can operate independently, outside of anyones control or direction, while still being part of a team. And perhaps, he suggested, as the weeks and months wear on, the new independents will realize they have a lot in common with the Liberals. Advertisement I would hope, for the sake of the country, obviously, that they are progressives, and that they are going to be as we move to undo some of the more extreme measures, like the anti-union stuff. I hope theyll vote as we do, but I dont know. Related On HuffPost: A huge traffic jam is wreaking havoc across the world and it's not happening on any major highway. Sea routes used for shipping oil are clogged with more than 100 tankers that are just sitting and waiting to deliver about 200 million barrels of crude, Reuters reported. If the congested tankers were lined up bow to stern, the lineup would be about 40 kilometres long. To put that in context, that's about the distance from Toronto to Pickering. Or Calgary to Okotoks. Or from Vancouver to Maple Ridge. Advertisement The reason for the jam is that the world simply has too much oil. Increased production has led to a dramatic fall in oil prices, but it has also brought more demand from refineries based in China and Asian ports can't keep up with traffic. One tanker has been anchored off of Qingbao, China for over three weeks. Workers stranded aboard have been passing the time by watching movies and playing music. Sky-high cost The jam is costing as much as $6.25 million per day based on ship hire rates, Reuters reported. Matt Smith, director of commodity research at oil tracker ClipperData, told CNN that he first noticed tanker traffic jamming up near Singapore in October. Advertisement He said it was a strange scene because Asia handles up to one-third of international oil demand. Smith later noticed similar jams in China and the Arabian Gulf. "There just appears to be more oil than can be dealt with," he told CNN. "They haven't got anywhere to put it." Oil prices dropped once again on Wednesday after Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi ruled out the possibility of a production cut, Agence France-Presse reported. His remarks came before OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers are set to meet in Doha, Qatar on Sunday to talk about capping production at levels seen in January. Advertisement Also on HuffPost: Barry McNamar/Facebook UPDATE - March 21, 2017: The claim Barry McNamar filed against the Wildrose Party has since been settled, according to his lawyer Jonathan Denis. Denis sent The Huffington Post Canada the following statement on behalf of McNamar: The dispute between the Wildrose and Barry McNamar has been resolved and the allegations arising from that dispute have been withdrawn. Both parties are pleased to put this matter behind them. Advertisement The co-founder of a conservative political action committee (PAC) with a mission to unite the right in Alberta is suing the Wildrose Party. Barry McNamar has filed a civil claim against Alberta's official opposition for $27,300, according to Metro News. McNamar claims the Wildrose Party failed to pay him for consulting on political fundraising for the party. However, the Wildrose's defense statement alleges that McNamar's "unacceptable conduct" including inappropriately directing funds to an unnamed third-party organization voided his contract with the party. Advertisement It's unconfirmed whether the PAC is the unnamed organization mentioned in the Wildrose defense statement. When asked for a statement on the court filing, Wildrose executive director Jeremy Nixon told The Huffington Post Alberta the party doesn't comment on legal matters. Alberta Prosperity Fund McNamar is the co-founder of the Alberta Prosperity Fund, a group founded in November with a mandate to take down Alberta's NDP government in the next election. According to his LinkedIn profile, he became president of the prosperity fund one month after leaving his position with the Wildrose Party. He previously worked with The Fraser Institute and The Manning Centre. Advertisement The PAC wants a united alternative to the NDP on the right either by merger or a new party. And the party is tapping into some real feelings Albertans have about its fractured right, according to a poll it released in February. The Mission Research poll found that voters would be a split choice between the Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose if an election was held that day. Mission Research conducted the poll among 1,500 randomly selected Alberta voters between Feb. 5-7. The sample has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Little scrutiny into PACs actions The Alberta Prosperity Fund is a non-profit without charitable status, meaning there's little oversight into the group's actions in contrast to the scrutiny political parties face. PACs like the prosperity fund have come under fire in Canada for allowing third parties to enter the political conversation. Advertisement Alberta Wildrose leader Brian Jean speaks to the crowd after being declared the official opposition in Fort McMurray, on May 5, 2015. (Photo: Jason Franson/The Canadian Press) Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean denied any involvement when the organization was funded last year, according to CBC News. CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this story said the PAC was split between forming a new party by uniting Alberta's right or throwing all their support behind the Wildrose. That was part of feedback from a survey of grassroots attendees at town hall meetings, and not the position of the fund. Also on HuffPost: Police-reported hate crimes against Muslim Canadians have more than doubled in the past three years, Global News reported Wednesday. There were 99 religiously-motivated hate crimes against Muslims in Canada in 2014, up from only 45 in 2012. Year after year were seeing a significant increase, Amira Elghawaby, the communications director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), told The Huffington Post Canada. The country is in a ramp-up phase of these types of crimes, she said. Advertisement Usama Zahid removes the Quran and other books from shelves, on Nov. 15, 2015, as congregation members clean up debris after the only mosque in Peterborough, Ont., was deliberately set on fire. (Photo: Christopher Katsarov/Canadian Press) According to the NCCMs own data, these crimes almost tripled from 2014 to 2015, too, despite police forces reporting that hate crimes in general are decreasing. High-profile terrorist attacks and anti-Muslim rhetoric may be partially to blame, Elghawaby said. She noted that after the shootings in Paris last year, there was a spike in hate crimes targeting Muslims, including the fire that was deliberately set at a mosque in Peterborough, Ont. Advertisement Even just last week, there were a number of assaults and vandalisms that may constitute hate crimes, the NCCM pointed out in a press release. Two fathers both newly arrived refugees from Syria said they were attacked in Calgary over the weekend. Then, another Alberta man woke up to find go back spray painted across his garage. His trucks, which were his familys livelihood, were also set on fire. A Muslim mother in Windsor, Ont. was called a terrorist while driving her children to school, and then an Islamic school in Ottawa was vandalized overnight Sunday. Its difficult to create a direct correlation, between these crimes and what goes on in the media, Elghawaby said. But when a womans niqab became an election issue last year, there was a spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes, she said. And when certain politicians in another election speak about Muslims in a racist way, it can affect the attitudes of Canadians, she said. All of this creates a climate of fear, Elghawaby said. When Donald Trump says something in New York, seventh graders here hear about it. Advertisement My niece's first response to the Paris attacks: "should I tell people at school I'm not Muslim anymore?" She is seven. SEVEN. Azita Rahman (@azitatoprahman) November 14, 2015 Bystanders have an important role to play in preventing these types of crimes and more casual racism Elghawaby said. "As members of a country that is so diverse and really built through a celebration of that diversity, we really have to step up ourselves." Also on HuffPost Bloomberg via Getty Images John Chen, chief executive officer of BlackBerry Ltd., speaks during the unveiling of the Classic smartphone at an event in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014. BlackBerry Ltd. is going back to its roots with a keyboard-equipped phone that looks like the original 'crackberrys' that made the Canadian smartphone maker a household name. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images UPDATE 4/18/2016: BlackBerry CEO John Chen is defending his company's involvement in an RCMP probe that cracked the encryption on BlackBerry PIN-to-PIN messages. "We have long been clear in our stance that tech companies as good corporate citizens should comply with reasonable lawful access requests," Chen said in a blog post published Monday. Advertisement Chen said the police investigation "resulted in a major criminal organization being dismantled," and added that at no point was BlackBerry's enterprise server [BES] for business clients compromised. "Our BES continues to be impenetrable also without the ability for backdoor access and is the most secure mobile platform for managing all mobile devices." Original story follows below. Just days after BlackBerrys CEO stressed the company's network has no back doors for law enforcement, a news report alleges the RCMP obtained the ability to decrypt communications on BlackBerry devices. Vice reports that the RCMP was able to crack PIN-to-PIN messages related to Operation Clemenza, a large-scale probe into organized crime in Quebec. The investigation launched in 2010 and resulted in dozens of arrests in 2014. Advertisement The RCMP isnt keeping it a secret that it used BlackBerry communications to crack the case. It states on its website that its use of these messages marked the first time that this technique was used on such a large scale in a major investigation in North America. Over one million private messages were intercepted and analyzed as evidence using the PIN to PIN interception technique, the RCMP said. But according to Vice, court documents show the RCMP had access to a BlackBerry decryption key a piece of code that would allow any communications between two BlackBerry devices to be hacked and read. It's unclear if BlackBerry handed the key to the RCMP, but it is known that BlackBerry, along with Rogers Wireless, was under a court order to help police in the investigation. Advertisement Communications on BlackBerrys, as on many other devices, are encrypted. Police can collect metadata on those communications (when, where, who) but without the ability to decrypt it, the content would be meaningless gibberish. The decryption key reportedly affected communications between individual BlackBerry messaging users but not communications on the companys enterprise servers for business communications. It would mean that police enjoyed years of access to Canadians' personal cellphones without the public being any the wiser, Vice reports. "Our privacy commitment does not extend to criminals. BlackBerry CEO John Chen BlackBerry CEO John Chen played up the companys privacy features in a TV interview last week, saying the companys servers are secure and there are no back doors that would allow someone to tap into the encrypted network. But Chen has taken a more co-operative approach to working with police than some other companies. He has criticized Apple for its refusal to decrypt iPhones at the request of the FBI, saying, We are indeed in a dark place when companies put their reputations above the greater good. Advertisement Privacy and security form the crux of everything we do, Chen wrote in a blog post last December. However, our privacy commitment does not extend to criminals. Many observers in the tech world say BlackBerry has lost its advantage as a brand for secure communications perhaps because its encrypted BlackBerry Messenger service was too good at keeping exchanges secret. Governments around the world in recent years threatened to ban BlackBerry if it didnt give them access to its encrypted communications. In the past several years, BlackBerry has given the Indian government access to communications on its networks, and has even built a server in Saudi Arabia so the local government can access Saudi users communications. Advertisement However, BlackBerry did not fulfill a request by the Pakistani government for unfettered access to the company's enterprise servers for business. After BlackBerry threatened to leave the Pakistani market altogether, the government backed down from its demands. Also on HuffPost: East Stroudsburg University graduate and Easton resident Colleen Sullivan (ESU Class of 2015) will travel to Kyrgyzstan as a Peace Corps volunteer. Colleen Sullivan is heading to Kyrgyzstan as Peace Corps volunteer. (Courtesy photo) The international service organization of the United States sends Americans abroad to tackle the most pressing needs of people around the world. Sullivan's interest in the Peace Corps stemmed from her aunt who spent time in the Peace Corps and her career working as a Foreign Service Officer and living in a different country every three years. Sullivan will be spending the next two years teaching English in Kyrgyzstan, while living with a host family she has never met. Once she arrives in Kyrgyzstan she will meet 25 other volunteers from around the country. Moving to a developing country, Sullivan will need to adjust to living without running water and learning a language that she has never spoken. She spends hours each day studying Kyrgyz and skyping with the volunteer hosts from Kyrgyzstan who have taught her the basics of the language. Next month ESU will welcome Carrie Hessler-Radelet, the director of the Peace Corps, as the keynote speaker for the spring commencement ceremonies, which will be held on Saturday, May 7 at 8:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. in Koehler Fieldhouse. OTTAWA The Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal over the voting rights of expat Canadians who are currently prevented from casting federal ballots. The case is led by Gillian Frank, a former Canadian Forces member from Toronto who has lived in the United States since 2001 and teaches at Princeton University, and Jamie Duong, who left Montreal for high school in Vermont and now works at Cornell University. Advertisement In 2014, they won the right to vote after the Ontario Superior Court ruled it was unconstitutional to prevent Canadians, who have been away from the country for more than five years, from voting. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states: "Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein." The court's decision meant one million expats would have the right to vote in the 2015 federal election. But, the Conservative government appealed that ruling. And in 2015, the Ontario Court of Appeal sided with the government in a two-to-one decision. Advertisement Vote for expats would be unfair Ontarios top court said that extending the right to vote in federal elections to non-residents would be unfair since it would give them the power to affect the lives of people actually living in Canada with no practical consequence for their own daily lives. This would erode the social contract [between citizens and the state] and undermine the legitimacy of the laws, wrote Ontario Chief Justice George Strathy. Strathy said Frank and Duong had voluntarily severed their connections with Canada in the pursuit of their own livelihoods. We are very hopeful that the Supreme Court justices will consider the voting rights of expats Canadians and that we will have a chance for a more neutral body to consider carefully the constitutional issues involved. Gillian Frank Frank told The Huffington Post Canada at the time that the unjust decision reduced him to a second-class citizen. Advertisement On Thursday, he was jubilant over news of the Supreme Court hearing. Im thrilled. Im so thrilled, he told HuffPost. We are very hopeful that the Supreme Court justices will consider the voting rights of expats Canadians and that we will have a chance for a more neutral body to consider carefully the constitutional issues involved. Case could be heard this year Two of the justices on the Ontario Court of Appeal were appointed by former prime minister Stephen Harpers government, he noted. Frank and Duong called on the new Liberal government to stand by an election promise to support voting rights of Canadians and urged them not to defend the current voting ban. During the election, Liberal party president Anna Gainey wrote to The Canadian Expat Association telling them the Grits believe that "all Canadians should have a right to vote, no matter where they live, and we are committed to ensuring that this is the case." Frank said he expects the case will be heard late this year or early in 2017. The Supreme Court, as is customary, gave no reasons for deciding to hear the case. With previous files and a file from The Canadian Press Also on HuffPost: A key Liberal cabinet minister's jab at a younger Conservative MP earned a scolding from the House Speaker Thursday. Tory deputy justice critic Michael Cooper a 32-year-old rookie has pressed Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould in question period all week over her recent participation in a controversial, $500-per-ticket fundraiser held at a Toronto law firm. Advertisement Cooper frequently accused Wilson-Raybould of accepting "pay-to-play" cash from lawyers and lobbyists, even though she maintains the event was cleared in advance by the federal ethics commissioner. Tory MP Michael Cooper and Liberal Dominic LeBlanc are shown in question period on April 14, 2016. (Photo: Screengrab/CP) Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc, a parliamentary veteran, has fielded many of the barbs on Wilson-Raybould's behalf. He accused Cooper of "feigned indignation" and fake allegations, and invited the MP to repeat his charges outside of the House where he isn't protected by parliamentary privilege. Advertisement On Thursday, LeBlanc got personal. Cooper, who wants a copy of the full guest list for the event released, rose to say that Wilson-Raybould broke the "prime minister's own ethics code," and alleged she raised funds from department stakeholders. And yes, he used the "pay-to-play" catchphrase. "He's confusing his Saturday night at the arcade with a very legitimate fundraising activity." "The honourable member keeps repeating these silly phrases, pay-to-play," LeBlanc said. "Mr. Speaker, he's confusing his Saturday night at the arcade with a very legitimate fundraising activity." The remark sparked guffaws and some irritability from Tory benches. House Speaker Geoff Regan took some time to "encourage ministers to use judicious language" and cautioned against bringing disorder to proceedings. But it seems nobody on planet Earth has ever found anything as funny as Transport Minister Marc Garneau found that joke. Advertisement ALSO ON HUFFPOST: After 15 years working at an Ottawa office being addressed as Mr., Zoe sent an email to her co-workers in March to announce her transgender transition. Unsure of what her colleagues reactions would be, she took time off, worked from home and after two weeks, returned to the office as a woman. Advertisement Zoe at home. (Photo: Amanda Jette Knox) A flood of supported messages had been delivered to her inbox, but she was still nervous about her eventual return to work. On a chilly April morning, she walked into the building like she had down countless times, bracing for the unknown. What greeted her was a complete surprise. And a really good one, at that, Zoe tells The Huffington Post Canada. (Photo: Amanda Jette Knox) Advertisement (Photo: Amanda Jette Knox) (Photo: Amanda Jette Knox) (Photo: Amanda Jette Knox) One of her co-workers handed her a small gift-wrapped package. Inside was a framed copy of Oscar Wildes famous words: Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. The co-worker had done the calligraphy himself, she explained. (Photo: Amanda Jette Knox) Zoe was moved by the kindness and warmth her co-workers showed her. The 10 a.m. meeting scheduled that day turned out to be a coming out/welcome party organized by the office to celebrate her return to work as her true self. Advertisement Someone brought cupcakes. Needless to say, I cried, Zoe said. I never expected anything even remotely like the reception they gave me. Also crying was Zoes wife, Amanda, who accompanied her to the office that day. Zoe and Amanda. (Photo: Amanda Jette Knox) The pair met 23 years ago at a party. Amanda had been sitting at a table with her roommate when she got up to leave for a few minutes. When she came back, Zoe was there, sitting at the table. It truly was love at first sight, Amanda told HuffPost Canada. The pair talked for hours and made a date for the following day. Fast forward to today, the two women are proud parents to three children: 19 year-old Aerik, 13-year-old Alexis, nine-year-old Jackson. It was eight months when their worlds changed, when Zoe came out to her wife in the family car. I didn't feel like I would be able to get over the feeling of betrayal, Amanda explained. Logically, she said she understood why Zoe kept her secret to herself after all these years. Advertisement I just put one foot in the front of the other. But unfortunately, emotions aren't logical. I didn't know if I could come back from feeling like my entire life had been a lie, she said. Amanda, a vocal LGBTQ advocate, wrote in her blog about the feeling that swept over her at the time: The life I knew the life I had with my husband died that night. Theres no other way to describe it. Her daughter Alexis had come out as transgender a year earlier, and now her spouse was doing the same. In the first few weeks, I just put one foot in the front of the other, took good care of myself, saw a therapist, and supported Zoe as much as I could while also honouring my emotions, she said. Advertisement Zoe and Amanda. (Photo: Amanda Jette Knox) Zoe credited their middle child Alexis who came out to her parents as trans at age 11 in an email, saying she felt like a girl stuck in a boys body as her inspiration. I had really given up on the idea of ever coming out because I thought it would be impossible - that I would lose everything, she said. Watching her daughter blossoming into the girl she was always meant to be gave her hope. Amanda with her daughter Alexis and son Jackson. (Photo: Amanda Jette Knox) The dissonance between watching her daughter transition and the effort it took to keep her own secret secret eventually came to a head. It became unthinkable to keep living a lie, she said. For those who secretly identify as trans, Zoe has some advice: yes, coming out can be a scary, but theres a huge sense of relief just to have the secret out. Advertisement Now eight months later, Amanda and Zoe say their marriage is stronger than ever with the immense secret that once shrouded and separated them was lifted. The couple wanted to share their story to counter the negative stories some people may read about transgender issues. It feels fantastic. We want to show how positive it can be if a family and a community choose to support the trans people within it. We want to say, Hey, world: this is how you do it right. Choose love. It's really not that hard. At the office, Zoe says there have been few slips with her name and proper pronoun use, but aside from that, her colleagues have handled the change beautifully. I'm back to my daily grind of meetings, budgets and tight schedules, but now I get to do it as the real me, she said. It feels fantastic. Advertisement (Photo: Amanda Jette Knox) Also on HuffPost: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not name a single country whose human rights record would disqualify it from trade with Canada when pressed about the Saudi arms deal Thursday. Trudeau is facing criticism after it was revealed that Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dionsigned export permits Friday covering $11 billion of a $15-billion deal for a fleet of armoured vehicles between Saudis and a London, Ont. company. Advertisement Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a press conference following a tour of Fanshawe College in London, Ont. on April 14, 2016. (Photo: Geoff Robins/CP) The contract, signed under the previous Conservative government in February 2014, is expected to create 3,000 jobs in southern Ontario where the vehicles will be produced by General Dynamics Land System. Dion said he was comfortable letting the deal proceed because there was no evidence the vehicles would be used against Saudi citizens. Advertisement At a press conference in London on Thursday morning, the prime minister was asked if that was a line he'd drawn for other nations. "That you'd sell or export anything to another country as long as that equipment wasn't used on their citizens, regardless of other decisions by those governments?" asked local radio host Andrew Lawton. "Fundamentally, this issue is a matter of principle," Trudeau said. "The principle at play here is that Canada's word needs to mean something in the international community." "The principle at play here is that Canada's word needs to mean something in the international community." Trudeau said he has been clear all along that Liberals plan to respect the contract, but would exhibit more transparency than the previous Tory government going forward. Advertisement "There is not one party in the House of Commons that has suggested we tear up this contract," he said, noting that the NDP also committed to honour the arrangement on the campaign trail. However, a day earlier, Tory foreign affairs critic Tony Clement told iPolitics that the federal government should scrap the deal. Lawton then asked if there were any countries that would be barred from trading with Canada because of their human rights record. Trudeau did not offer an example. "We have a very, very nuanced and robust engagement with the world," he said, pointing to the government's efforts to re-establish diplomatic relations with Iran. "There's an understanding that we need to engage commercially but also around human rights in order to create good outcomes, not just for Canadians but for people around the world." Advertisement Mulcair: 'Our good name includes standing up for human rights' In question period on Wednesday, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair accused Liberals of misleading Canadians about the controversial deal. "For months the government has been telling us that it was a done deal under the Conservatives," he said. But Dion's signature just a few days ago tells a different story. Explain that one, the NDP leader demanded. NDP Leader Tom Mulcair speaks in question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on April 13, 2016. (Photo: Adrian Wyld/CP) The prime minister said his story hasn't changed, and noted that people in London are counting on the jobs the deal will create. Trudeau also highlighted how Mulcair said, during the campaign, that "you don't cancel a commercial accord retroactively." Advertisement Canada's good name is at stake, Trudeau suggested. "Our good name includes standing to defend human rights around the world, Mr. Speaker," Mulcair shot back. "The situation in Saudi Arabia has only become worse, and the prime minister knows it." With a file from The Canadian Press ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Matthias Pahl via Getty Images Blue It's a Boy! This week the news broke, again. Female feticide is occurring in Canada. According to new research released April 11 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the normal birth ratio of about 105 boys for every 100 girls is skewed for Canadian mothers born in India. After having two girls, the ratio at birth for the third child is 138 boys for every 100 girls. It gets worse from there. In 2006, I broke this news in a piece called "Canada's Lost Daughters." I examined the birth data in communities with high percentages of immigrants from communities where this is culturally acceptable and found skewed ratios. Advertisement In 2010, the Economist did a cover story about the world's missing 100 million women. In 2011, Maclean'sdid the same thing. In 2012 the Toronto Star reported about a new study suggesting that Canadians mothers born in South Korea and India were significantly more likely to have a boy as their second child. At some point this story ceases to be new. We've just reached the point of accepting this is a problem in Canada. I have tried to alert Canadian women to the fact that abortion does not serve women's rights, to little avail. Canada has no criminal laws restricting abortion whatsoever, much to the joy of many who call themselves feminists. Neither would a law necessarily help here. The sex of a child should not be denied to women for whom it is valuable information not just in planning, but also in bonding with their children in utero. Advertisement If a law is only a partial answer, this necessitates a discussion about widespread culture change. Culture change is easier said than done. I speak from personal experience: for about eight years I have tried to alert Canadian women to the fact that abortion does not serve women's rights, to little avail. What can be done in this dialogue of the deaf between activists on both sides? We can find the areas where we agree. For one, we can all condemn abortion wholesale in certain instances, as in the case of sex-selection abortion. Next, we can recognize that abortion is not only a private decision, as we are so often told. It is also a public tragedy. Skewed sex ratios show this in clear relief. Ten years ago I interviewed Heather Stilwell, a school trustee in Surrey, British Columbia, who had an interest in encouraging kindergartners to read. She found over time she didn't need to make as many book bags for little girls as little boys. This picture of classrooms in Canada filled with boys is startling -- and public. As defenders of women's rights, we need to begin to recognize that equality for women has a ways to go precisely because we offer women abortion as an easy solution. We love the idea of empowering women. Yet oddly we preach that young women cannot be fully fledged members of society if they don't function as men do, having sex but never getting or being pregnant. Advertisement Finally, in examining and considering the crime against women of sex-selection abortion, we should recognize that our own western cultural blindness partners with India's cultural blindness. Here, Canadian culture that supports abortion-on-demand partners with Indian culture that supports son preference to eliminate women. We cannot point fingers unless they are turned inward. In the middle of writing this piece, I got an urgent email. A woman with an in-utero diagnosis of trisomy aborted her second trimester child. She is now suicidal. Did I know of anyone who could help? This is the modern face of abortion that few publicize, though suicide and suicidal ideation are known risks when abortion is chosen for wanted pregnancies. (There's a new documentary coming out called Hush that explains this. It is being pre-screened April 16, 2016.) Canada loses roughly 280 human beings to abortion every day. Annually, that's like losing the number of people in Waterloo, Ontario. Advertisement What bothers us about this number, what bothers us about the post-abortive suicidal woman is basically... nothing at all. We care only that when abortion happens, that females and males die in equal numbers. It's not Indo-Canadians alone who have a problem. Cultural change is needed in many more communities and homes across Canada. We can start by re-evaluating our own openness to abortion at any time, for any reason. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: RomarioIen via Getty Images studio photography of syringe, spoon and lighter on black background On April 19-21, New York City will host a meeting that could be the beginning of the end of international support for the war on drugs. A United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) will convene to review various treaties and policies that govern national and international commitments to the control of drugs. Such oversight is still mostly characterized by prohibition: producing, selling, buying and possessing drugs for non-medical -- recreational -- purposes is pretty much forbidden and backed up by heavy criminal sanctions (including the death penalty in some countries). Advertisement That rigidity has left us with a trail of misery. The War creates huge human and social costs: misuse of police and public resources, excessive imprisonment haunted by racism, a rapacious and abounding black market, adulterated substances, and the blunting of efforts to reduce the harms that drugs can do. The list of the costs is long and mournful. Some Latin American countries became so upset with the chaos caused by the War, especially to their societies, that they demanded that the UN meet to review the treaties that commit societies to such rigidity and to fantasies of a drug-free world. After a certain amount of turbulence, agreement was reached and we find ourselves on the eve of UNGASS 2016. What might be accomplished? Some advocates of drug policy reform are optimistic that UNGASS 2016 would lead to significant change. Some public figures, such as Nick Clegg of the U.K., also urge substantial modification. But others are less hopeful of the outcome. Wainwright, himself an author of a book on the drug trade, fears stonewalling by countries like Russia who remain "drug warriors" so that little would come of UNGASS 2016. Advertisement We await the outcome. Whatever the result, the fact is that many societies are moving ahead with experiments in ending criminalization of non-medical use of drugs. Instead countries interested in drug reform, such as Canada, will continue to subvert the international order in various ways so as to continue with experiments in criminalization/legalization. Another document, sponsored by the United Nations University, is more optimistic, but also calls for caution. It suggests that UNGASS 2016 will reaffirm the existing regime but recognize "flexibility" in implementing it. That approach would allow space for drug reform even as it would permit "drug warriors" to continue and even intensify strong punitive approaches. We await the outcome. Whatever the result, the fact is that many societies are moving ahead with experiments in ending criminalization of non-medical use of drugs. In 2001 Portugal decriminalized personal use of all recreational drugs. Switzerland and some other countries have experimented with providing medical-grade heroin at safe injection sites to those who are dependent. New Zealand has legalized and regulated significant elements of New Psychoactive Substances (party drugs). Advertisement Several states in the United States and Uruguay have legalized and regulated pot. Canada will shortly follow. There will be many issues and problems along the way. But the direction is clear. The War may suffer a slow and prolonged demise, but the end will surely come. Canada can be a leader on these issues. It can steadfastly promote the winding down of the War. Our country should reclaim its position on the international stage, not as a nation of power, but one of humanity. Happily we are already seeing glimmers of this reemergence. The War has been a magnificent gift to the thugs who preside over a flourishing trade in a dark underworld that treats human life as the cheapest of commodities. Canada's response should be clear: It must end. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dean Bennett The speech Alberta Premier Rachel Notley gave to over 1,000 federal NDP delegates on Saturday in Edmonton's Shaw Convention Centre was a stunning thing to behold. In a mere half-hour, she received around a dozen standing ovations, cracked a pretty solid joke about Donald Trump and delivered a unabashed appeal for the approval and construction of pipelines "that are built by Canadians, using Canadian steel." Advertisement But even more stunning was the fact that she completely failed to mention the rights or interests of First Nations, Metis and Inuit people. Oil and Gas Industry Currently Critical to Alberta Economy The Alberta government clearly has a reason for wanting to facilitate the export of more oil and gas via the proposed TransCanada Energy East and Kinder Morgan Trans-Mountain pipelines. Notley emphasized in her speech that "hundreds of thousands of Canadians work in resource industries -- here and across Canada" and "we need to be able to get the best possible world price for the oil we produce here" via "pipelines to tidewater that allows us to diversify our markets and upgrade our products." Advertisement Alberta NDP Pledged to Implement UNDRIP, "Ensure Respectful Consultation" Those are very nice ideas, supported by many political pundits and Alberta NDP supporters. But unfortunately for such boosters, the NDP committed in its election platform to implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and to "work with Alberta Indigenous Peoples to build a relationship of trust and ensure respectful consultation." Article 32 of the declaration states that "Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories." Many First Nations and other indigenous groups have voiced opposition to Energy East and the Trans Mountain expansion -- the two projects considered most likely to be approved and constructed. And free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) underpins much of the document, requiring that Indigenous peoples are consulted with in a way that ensures a process free of manipulation, conducted well in advance and with plenty of information provided. Eriel Deranger, communications manager of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) suggests the NDP's push for the development of pipelines and oil and gas resources simply doesn't respect the principle of free, prior and informed consent. Advertisement "Where's the consent?" asks Deranger. "If communities want to say 'no,' then we're talking about a government that's willing to respect communities' right to say 'no' and to uphold that right," she says. Many First Nations Oppose Energy East and Trans Mountain Expansion Many First Nations and other indigenous groups have voiced opposition to Energy East and the Trans Mountain expansion -- the two projects considered most likely to be approved and constructed. A letter sent by Mohawk Kanesatake Grand Chief Serge Simon to Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard in early March stated: "The Mohawk Council of Kanesatake as well as the rest of the Iroquois caucus has made its choice. Other First Nations are making the same choice." Mike Hudema, climate energy campaigner at Greenpeace Canada, says: "Not only have First Nations not given their consent but they have said very strongly that they don't want these pipelines going through their traditional territory." Advertisement Federal Government Positioning to Implement Pipeline Strategy On Monday, the National Post's John Ivison reported (while vaguely citing "people with knowledge of the matter") that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has instructed cabinet ministers to prepare a pipeline strategy to "make Energy East and Trans Mountain expansion in British Columbia a reality." The TRC also emphasizes the concept of free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples "before proceeding with economic development projects" and the requirement of "recognition and integration of indigenous laws and legal traditions in negotiation and implementation processes involving Treaties, land claims, and other constructive agreements." Many First Nations Desire Co-management of Resource Development Deranger emphasizes that First Nations communities are not anti-development: "There's this really, really antiquated notion that if you give First Nations the right to say 'no' we're going to end up back in teepees and sending smoke signals or something really ridiculous," she jokes. Rather, she says First Nations are asking for co-management of resource development, something that has been done in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Northern Quebec and Manitoba (ACFN has been petitioning for a similar arrangement for 20 years). Advertisement "Co-management is not asking for everything," she says. "It's asking to be partners. Our ancestors signed our treaty agreements believing that we were signing nation-to-nation agreements, to be given equal say in the development of our lands and territories." There has been no public indication that such conversations are on the radar of the provincial or federal government. Alberta's Push for Pipelines "Flies in the Face of These Commitments" After all, truly engaging with documents like UNDRIP and the TRC would require a complete overhaul of how development is conducted, could potentially pose a threat to corporate profits and prove difficult to explain to voters. But the Alberta NDP perhaps shouldn't have promised to implement such policies if it just wanted to continue rapid oilsands development in Treaty 8 territory and ram pipelines through other sovereign territories without ensuring free, prior and informed consent beforehand. "I do think the Alberta government pushing so hard for pipelines really flies in the face of these commitments," Hudema says. "A lot of First Nations communities are looking to see how the government deals with this situation to know how serious the government really is to its commitments to First Nations people." Advertisement - James Wilt, DeSmog Canada Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Steve Russell via Getty Images EXERCISE LION ROYAL---11/30/03--Canadian Soldiers clean their weapons prior to going out on patrol in a LAV III. Canadian Forces participate in Exercise Lion Royal in Sherbrooke, PQ, November 30, 2003. In January 2004, the 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigrade Group (5 CMBG) based in Valcartier will go to Kabul to participate in Operation ATHENA. The military is using Sherbooke as a training ground for that exercise. (Photo by Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images) The Canadian Forces are heading toward another decade of darkness. Former Chief of the Defence Staff Rick Hillier expressed his concerns over the years of budgets cuts under the Chretien Liberals in the 1990s. More than 15 years later, the Canadian Forces are still suffering from the deep cuts Chretien made. Modernization of military equipment was stalled and has been ageing ever since. Our fighter aircraft are still flying by swapping spare parts with "replacement" aircraft, our submarines are leaking, our Navy is in a desperate need of new ships and our army barely has ammunition to train. Advertisement Meanwhile, the Trudeau Liberals have decided to review the whole Canadian defence policy and delay more than $3.7 billion in military spending over the next five years. According to them, delaying military spending enables the Canadian Forces and the Department of National Defence to overview the current needs and spend the money towards it. With our current commitment, Canadian soldiers will not be able to sustain such a high operational tempo, let alone if we slash our military numbers. Although I wholeheartedly disagree with delaying military spending, mostly because our soldiers are desperately in needs of new equipment, I can understand this attitude. As a matter of fact, Canada's role on the international scheme is constantly evolving and so does our defence spending. That said, saying the $3.7 billion will be available when needed is not true. So, basically, the Liberals have slashed $3.7 billion in military spending, not delayed it. "(The government) said it'll come back later," Hillier said. "I never believed that as chief of defence staff. If it's not in the fiscal framework, it's not there. So that's a $4-billion cut that occurred. That came mostly out of the acquisition capital funding, where we desperately need to spend even more." Canada needs a military that can defend its territory and fulfill its commitment to NATO. Adding to that, the Liberals wants to redeploy soldiers on peacekeeping missions with the United Nations. To do so, you need equipment capable of withstanding long periods of deployment and have enough replacements in case of destruction or breakdown. By delaying military spending, I don't believe Canada will have the ability to deploy more troops abroad. We already have deployed soldiers around the world, and replacement vehicles such as the LAV 6s have been constantly delayed. The LAV 6 is the workhorse of the Canadian ground troops. It is replacing the LAV III, a vehicle that got a serious beating in Afghanistan. However, the timeline has not been respected once again,and it leaves our ground soldiers vulnerable. Canadian-made LAV 6 are replacing the LAV III The campaign in Afghanistan clearly depleted our equipment, and the Canadian Forces are struggling to receive replacements. So while I agree with a defence policy review, the Liberals are denying the Canadian Forces of reinforcements. "Every time we run operations now we're strained and we're stretched and we're scraping from other places," Hillier said. "I use fragility in that way. The funding issue makes everything fragile. You can't hire enough people, you can't get the equipment." That said, Canada's main priority is to replace our CF-188 Hornets and start building ships to slowly replace the Halifax-class frigates. The defence policy review will definitely address those two priorities. However, going through a policy review takes time and means the Canadian soldiers, airmen and sailors will have to be patient once again. With our current equipment state, I believe Canada is once again moving toward another decade of darkness. It is almost impossible for the Liberals, especially with the defence policy review and the defence budget cuts, to put back the Canadian military back on track on a short notice. By the time the review is done, it will be time to undergo the procurement period. This means another few years before the Canadian Forces get much-needed modern equipment. So yes, I believe the next decade will be really bad for the Canadian Forces. The Liberals promised a "leaner, more agile" military, raising concerns over the size of the military. With our current commitment and the promised renewal of UN peacekeeping missions, Canadian soldiers will not be able to sustain such a high operational tempo, let alone if we slash our military numbers. The same applies for the equipment and vehicles. "Right now we're trying to do too much with too few people," Hillier said. "Because of our unwillingness as a nation to fund the Canadian Armed Forces with more resources, we are asking the people in uniform to carry more than their fair share of the burden." A leaner Canadian Forces will hurt the defence industry It is also a major concern to the Canadian defence industry that employs more than 109,000 workers. By downsizing our military -- already very small -- the Canadian government is putting a lot of jobs at risk and cuts billions in revenue. A smaller military also means a smaller amount of equipment. Many will argue that the revenues are lower than the defence budget, but don't forget that part of this budget is to pay Canadian soldiers. The same soldiers spends money in many local businesses. Courtesy of CADSI Unless the Liberals reinstate the "delayed" military spending, the Canadian Forces will definitely go through another decade of darkness. If that's the case, I believe Trudeau can forget Canada's bid to get a seat at the United Nations Security Council in 2021. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: The saga of Lucy the Asian elephant at the Edmonton Valley Zoo is drawing international attention, with almost 50 world renowned celebrities, including Canada's own Hollywood actor William Shatner, and Canadian authors Margaret Atwood, and Michael Ondaatje calling for independent health assessment. In this video from March 2015, a consulting veterinarian hired by the zoo confirms that Lucy has arthritic and foot problems. Dr. Jim Oosterhuls says, he also has serious concerns about her airway passage in the trunk that is narrowing and causing respiratory ailments. "She has to end up breathing through her mouth to maintain her oxygen levels. This is absolutely abnormal for an elephant. An elephant should only breathe through its trunk. And in this case she has a lot of wheezing when she breathes through her trunk." But he's quick to point out that Lucy cannot be moved from the zoo, dismissing calls to transfer her to a warm place. He says, it would be too stressful and worsen her breathing problems. It's unnatural for Asian Elephants to walk on the snow Photo Credit: Mary-Ann Holm Lucy was kidnapped from the tropical Sri Lankan jungles and brought to Edmonton. Even after 40 years, she doesn't seem to have adapted to Canada's cold weather. Is it even remotely possible that the bone chilling temparatures could be exacerbating Lucy's health problems? Dr. Philip Ensley, a renowned veterinarian, has been assessing Lucy's health as of 1994, and concludes: "The frigid cold regional weather will continue to impact Lucy's husbandry program, regardless of what changes or modifications are made to her enclosures." An affidavit from "Free living Asian and African elephants are on the move 20 out of every 24 hours actively engaged in foraging, exploring, socializing and searching for conspecifics." But sadly, there isn't adequate space at Edmonton zoo for Lucy to roam freely. She's in solitary confinement most of the time, made to stand on hard concrete floor inside the enclosure. She displays her distress and boredom through odd behaviours such as psychotic swaying and reclusiveness. Frigid weather, solitary confinement, little exercise and no social life -- it's a far cry from the vast hot expanses of elephants' natural environments. Everything is unnatural for Lucy, and she's lonely and depressed in this strange land. Lucy has spent 40 years in solitary confinement, Photo Credit: Sam Whincup Over the years activists have documented numerous violations. As required by the Alberta provincial zoo standards, Lucy's social needs aren't being met. The zoo authorities are also endangering people's lives by allowing close interactions with the 8,000 pound gigantic animal. Section III B. 1, states, "All animals must be maintained in numbers sufficient to meet their social and behavioral needs (unless a single specimen is biologically correct for that animal)." "And Section II. H. of the Alberta Zoo Standards sets safety measures including "Animals in areas where direct contact with visitors is possible must pose no danger to the public". This kind of close interactions with the public in unprotected proximity is dangerous. Photo Credit: Sam Whincup Edmonton residents, animal-welfare groups and people across Canada have protested and demanded to move Lucy to a warmer place. The popular television host, Bob Barker, even offered to foot the bill for Lucy's transfer to the PAWS sanctuary in California. But the City of Edmonton has rejected such offers, denied the facts provided by zoo's own consulting veterinarians, and ignored blatant violations. Not surprisingly, one of the animal welfare organizations in California has inducted the Edmonton Valley Zoo in the "Hall of Shame". Given Lucy's respiratory, arthritic, foot problems and emotional distress, it's unfair to expose Lucy to the long frigid winters, and deprive social interactions with her own kind. It's unconscionable to exploit an ailing elephant for profit under the guise of education at the Edmonton Valley Zoo. "It is vital that Lucy be given the opportunity to develop socially with other elephants of her species. The treatment program does not recognize the importance of the species typical biology and behavior of Asian Elephants." - Dr. Phil Ensley Lucy needs to be released into a sanctuary where she can wander freely at least in her fading days. It's time for Alberta's Environment Minister, the Hon. Shannon Phillips to step up to the plate and do what's best, not only for Lucy, but also for the people of Edmonton before a tragedy occurs. Advertisement Activists take action against the DSEI arms fair in London. This week, Stratford Magistrates Court in East London sees the trial of eight political activists, charged for disrupting the set-up of DSEI, one of the world's biggest arms fairs, when it was in the London Docklands last year. DSEI, which is organised with the support of the UK government, brings some of the world's biggest arms companies together with some of the most oppressive regimes in the world. It exists for one purpose: to sell weapons. Advertisement Among those in the dock for peaceful protesting is Isa Al-Aali, a 21-year-old Bahraini human rights activist, who came to the UK in 2013 after being beaten, tortured and detained by the Bahraini police for taking part in pro-democracy activism. Last September, Isa was arrested for his part in peaceful protests outside the Excel Centre during the setup of DSEI. Only a few days later, the regime he was protesting against, the one that had caused him seek asylum in England; leaving his family, his friends and his home, was among those being glad-handed and greeted by arms dealers and civil servants. Despite thousands of stories like Isa's, the UK government has gone out of its way to cement its relationship with the Bahrain, a country that the foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, has insisted is "heading in the right direction." The oppression has only intensified since the 'Arab Spring' in 2011. Since then, Amnesty International has charted five years of "torture, arbitrary detention and a widespread crackdown against peaceful activists and government critics." Advertisement In December 2014, following a long series of high-end diplomatic visits and pleasantries, a Defence Agreement was agreed between the two nations. One outcome is that the UK will open a naval base in Bahrain, the majority of which has been paid for by the Bahraini government. In the UK, the news was proudly welcomed by cabinet ministers, who boastfully proclaimed it to be "just one example of our growing partnership," but in Bahrain it was met with angry protests outside the British embassy. Unfortunately, Bahrain is far from the only dictatorship that can count the UK government among its friends. Since David Cameron took office in May 2010, there have been photo-ops galore for human rights abusers. The arms sales and military support is a political boost for those they are sold to, but they can also have deadly consequences. In the last few years UK arms have been linked to repression and human rights abuses in Egypt, Hong Kong, Gaza and beyond. Advertisement The impact of British weapons has been felt nowhere more so than in Yemen, where for the last twelve months UK fighter jets and bombs have been central to the Saudi-led bombardment and the humanitarian catastrophe that it has created. Despite the scale of the destruction, the arms sales have continued unabated. Since the bombardment began, the UK has licensed over 2.8 billion worth of arms. It is this double standard, and these abuses that Isa and the other defendants were campaigning against. There is a rampant hypocrisy at the heart of UK foreign policy, and, as usual, it is civilians that are paying the price. Whatever the verdict in the courts this week, it is impossible for the government to claim that it respects the human rights of people like Isa while arming and supporting those that have tortured him. Advertisement How can it be the case that peaceful protesters and campaigners are arrested for blocking a road, yet regimes that systematically oppress their own citizens and kill others in wars of aggression are given the red carpet treatment and plied with weapons? We've barely had a chance to get our breath back since Erinsborough High burnt down late last year, when last week our favourite Ramsay Street residents were faced with another disaster of epic proportions. As part of what was hailed as the biggest week of Neighbours ever, Lassiters Hotel blew up disrupting the prestigious 'Erinsborough Citizen of the Year' ceremony and lives were placed in danger, again. Lassiters, the hotel complex that has seen so many explosions and fires it's a wonder that anyone stays there. It can't rate too highly on Trip Advisor? Advertisement 'Great place to stay. Loved the food. Close to the pub. Just make sure your smoke alarm is working. LOL' But still people don't listen and flock to the tourist hotspot that is Erinsborough, risking their lives to do so. This time it was a sabotaged boiler behind the destruction, causing the hotel to partially collapse. People died, old faces returned, new characters arrived and secrets as well as the survivors emerged from the carnage during Neighbours Hotel Death Trap Week. Catchy name eh, just rolls off the tongue. Advertisement Copyright Channel 5. Lassiters goes kaboom, but not for the first time... With same-day transmission in the UK and Australia this was a real chance for the show to deliver some surprises. But did it live up to the hype? So much happened during the action-packed week it's difficult to write about it all without writing something as long as 'War and Peace', so I'll stick to the highlights. The Deaths We were promised a death as emotional as the passing of Madge Bishop. Strong words considering that this was the death of a Neighbours legend, a character so iconic she was brought back as a wise old ghost for last year's 30th anniversary episodes. Her last scenes are some that I will never forget, so the victims of Hotel Death Trap Week had a lot to live up to. So who was the first fatality? Josh Willis, a young man who clearly did not understand the rules of soaps. No one can leave Ramsay Street in good circumstances, so making plans to have a happy ending away from Erinsborough with ex-girlfriend Amber and their baby Matilda was like waving a red flag to the Grim Reaper, practically begging him to come get him. Neighbours went primetime for Josh's death and we were treated to what every Neighbours fan cries out for, blood. Oh yes, us Neighbours fans are a bloodthirsty lot. When Kate Ramsay was gunned down two years, the only crying that could be heard were the cries of 'Where's the blood?! She's been shot in the back!' So this time Neighbours went all out and stuck a pole in Josh's lung, a scene so gruesome it warranted a warning of distressing scenes before the episode started. A first for Neighbours. Was the death as emotional as Madge's? Well yes, and then some. Josh died a hero, letting the emergency services rescue Daniel Robinson even though it meant his inevitable death. We were treated to a prolonged and tearful goodbye as his mother, father and two of his sisters said their farewells. Advertisement Just as I thought the Willis family had pulled on every heartstring I had, Neighbours pulled out the big guns and their first real surprise of the week, a video call from ex Amber and daughter Matilda. Even my tears had tears by this point. Viewers online complained that Adele ruined Josh's last moments by singing too loud over his final words. (Geez that woman gets everywhere.) But in my household, it was my uncontrollable sobs that drowned out Josh's parting words to his daughter. It was certainly a death of Madge proportions. Copyright Channel 5. Josh Willis said his goodbyes in the rubble. Could they of not given him a pillow?! The second death of the week was not as hyped but was equally as moving. Doug Willis, grandfather to Josh, collapsed and passed away after reuniting his son Brad with his estranged son Ned. Yep, it was a pretty big week for Brad. He had to watch both his son and father pass away in front of him and then try to reconnect with his long lost son. Advertisement Doug Willis had been living with Alzheimer's for the past couple of years in what was most often a very moving and touching storyline. So it seemed strange for this story to be cut short by such an abrupt ending. However, continuing the Neighbours tradition of coming back as a ghost, Doug appeared briefly standing over a reunited Brad and Ned, smiling, free of the disease and at peace. A more fitting and poignant ending for a character associated with the show for over 20 years, rather than the continued decline of his Alzheimer's disease. The Returns We were treated to a number of returns during Hotel Death Trap Week, but it was one familiar face that emerged from the rubble that got the Ramsay Street gossips in a flap. Sarah Beaumont, the woman responsible for tearing the Kennedys apart in the Nineties was back. This was the woman who caused Susan to give Karl 'the slap' that is now part of Neighbours history forevermore. Sarah was my university 'beard', the girl on TV I pretended to fancy, when really I probably wanted to be her, being all sassy and seducing Dr Karl Kennedy. Overshare? She returned once before in 2013, in a story that reunited Karl and Susan who were going through their hundredth separation, but it seems this time her return is all about friction rather than reconciliation. Mystery surrounds why she is back and so desperate to speak to old flame Karl, but one thing's for sure, Susan is not happy and she wants her to crawl back in to the rubble where she came from. Copyright Channel 5. The iconic Nineties love triangle is resurrected from the rubble of Lassiters. What does Sarah want from old flame Karl? Advertisement The Surprises Social media and the press gave away or alluded to most of the surprises during this big week. So it was great when Neighbours managed to shock their audience. For me the biggest gasp came from fan favourite Toadie, who was in trouble again. Just how many times can one man find himself in mortal danger? The man can't even go on a bouncy castle without ending up in hospital! Predictably he was saved, but there was a twist. Thinking his luck had finally run out, Toadie asked a favour of best friend Steph Scully. If he should die, destroy the red folder in the bottom drawer of his desk and do not let his wife Sonya see the contents. Now this was a curve ball that I did not see coming, what is Toadie hiding from his beloved wife? Could it be the truth about the whereabouts of first wife Dee, last seen being swept out to sea after Toadie drove them off a cliff on their wedding day? Who knows, but this is certainly one story that has got the fans talking. Copyright Channel 5. Invincible Toadie faces another life-threatening situation. The Future I've only touched upon some of drama from Hotel Death Trap Week, there was so much more that happened. It truly was a big week for Neighbours and it most felt like the show was pressing a reset button with so many new stories exploding quite literally on to our screens. You could tell that the whole production team had poured everything they had in to these episodes and they should quite rightly be proud of the results. A huge shout-out must go to Rebekah Elmaloglou, who plays Terese Willis, whose stellar acting shone bright throughout the week amongst a number of other standout performances. Advertisement Similar to last year's Neighbours Inferno Week, Hotel Death Trap Week has left us with more questions than answers. But whilst most people are wondering who caused the explosion, I'm left wondering, just who the hell was meant to win 'Erinsborough Citizen of the Year'?! Over the past month, there has been a series of independent but bizarrely similar news stories regarding the castigation of evangelical Christians in the UK, for advocating the belief in their religion. Each incident has involved a self- professed Christian attempting to convert or discuss their religion with a friend or relative, and each has culminated in a court ruling and/or appeal. On 27th March, a British father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, went to the media after a court order by Derby County Court banned him from bringing his son to church and feeding him non-Halal meat. The father is a British-Pakistani convert from Islam to Christianity, who was taken to court by his devoutly Muslim ex-wife and son's mother, who wished for her son to be raised strictly Muslim. The father has now launched an appeal to have the order overturned. A few weeks prior, Social Work student at Sheffield University, Felix Ngole, was expelled from his university course for posting on Facebook "I stand with Kim Davis"- the US county clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. The University "fitness to practise" panel expelled him on the basis that his post "may have caused offence to some individuals". Ngole is now appealing the ban. Advertisement Then, a couple of days ago, NHS Occupational Therapist Victoria Wasteney lost her appeal against East London NHS Foundation Trust who suspended her for giving a Muslim colleague a book about a Muslim woman's conversion to Christianity, and inviting her to church. Wasteney was found guilty of "harassing and bullying", although the Muslim colleague never gave any evidence about her allegations to the NHS or subsequent employment tribunal. These consecutive incidents raise some fundamentally important questions about our socio-legal position as a country. Are Christians breaking the law by trying to convert vulnerable civilians? Or is the legal system discriminatory against evangelical Christianity? There are two principals at play in these complex socio-legal cases: the right to proselytise and the right to offend. The Right to Proselytise Two of the above cases involve Christians attempting to convert others to belief in their religion- something that has clearly offended people to the point of litigation. Should Christians have right to try to convert people to their religion? I think that the affirmative case is compelling. As part of the medical profession, I have spent much time in writing, conversation and on picket lines, trying to inform members of the public about why Junior Doctors are striking, and why the new contract the Department of Health is threatening to impose is both unfair on doctors and dangerous for patients. My aim in these conversations is to persuade people to come to the same conclusion as me, and support the Junior Doctors. Advertisement In a sense, Christians attempting to convert people around them to Christianity is very similar to me trying to persuade people to support the Junior Doctors. I think the vast majority of the British public would defend my right to champion the cause of the Junior Doctors, and my right to try to persuade willing listeners. People may not agree with me, and may choose not to engage with me on the picket line. However, providing one is not coercing or intimidating others, and providing one does not incite violence, the right to publically proselytise is an immensely valuable right that many take for granted. The right to publically proselytise allows political parties to campaign in the media and on the doorstep, pressure groups and trade unions to champion causes even when they are opposed to government policies, and for ordinary people to enforce change to their country. If we did not have the right to publically proselytise, there would have been no abolition of slavery, no ending of apartheid, no votes for women, no weekends, no NHS and no democracy (to list just a few). And given the Christian message is one of eternal life in Heaven available to everyone, it seems logical to at least want to hear their beliefs out. Therefore, I would avidly defend the right of Christians to proselytise without fear of castigation. Providing they are not coercing or intimidating others, and not inciting violence, I believe that everyone should have the right to champion beliefs and attempt to persuade others of them, including religious beliefs. To deny that right to a section of society simply because others do not like their beliefs would be discriminatory at best and detrimental to society at worst. The Right to Offend The case of the Sheffield student involved the allegation that his Facebook status was homophobic and thus offensive. Should Christians have the right to offend others and use their religion as justification? I think prosecution is difficult to defend. On 7th January 2015, following the tragic terrorist shootings at the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, the world came together in emotional solidarity with the people of France, and also in united defence of the freedom of speech. With respect to the satirical cartoons that Charlie Hebbo published that were deemed offensive to the Muslim terrorists, the view of many was to echo the words often attributed to Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". Many people in this country and around the world disapproved of the offense Charlie Hebdo caused to Muslims (as well as other religions) in their magazines. However, I think the vast majority would also passionately defend their right to freedom of expression and speech, even if offensive is caused to some. I agree with Sir Salman Rushdie when he said "Nobody has the right to not be offended. That right doesn't exist in any declaration I have ever read. If you're offended it is your problem, and frankly lots of things offend lots of people". Advertisement And so, if we as a society would defend the right of a magazine to print cartoons that were deemed offensive by some, we should surely defend the right of a student to post a Facebook status that others found offensive. I may find his views wrong and offensive- but I would firmly defend his right to hold and voice them. Christian Evangelism: Should the Law Intervene? The health of our children should not be trivialised, and neither should serious conditions like asthma, so I was deeply disappointed to read in the news that doctors are giving out inhalers 'like fashion accessories'. The claim, off the back of an editorial published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, is based on an Australian study that looks at one sub-group of children presenting with cough alone. But whilst this study is useful in the grand scheme of understanding asthma and informing clinical guidelines, it is just one study and its findings should not be taken as gospel. Asthma affects as many as one in 11 children, and when not controlled, symptoms do include a cough, but also wheeze, breathlessness and disturbed sleep. Advertisement All in all, it is an extremely distressing condition for the children affected, and their families and it is essential that an accurate diagnosis of asthma is made in children, to avoid unnecessary treatment, but also to identify children who might be suffering with untreated asthma. But to suggest that GPs - and other healthcare professionals - do not take the identification and management of this disease seriously, is inappropriate and insulting. As a practising GP myself, I can assure you that any decisions GPs make to prescribe inhalers - or any other medications for asthma - will always be made in the best interests of the patient in front of them. Family doctors are highly trained to identify symptoms, prescribe appropriately and monitor treatment to help patients of all ages manage their condition. With that in mind I'd like to reassure our young patients - and their parents - who might have been panicked by the sensationalist headlines, that the majority of asthma cases are managed well with the right treatment and appropriate monitoring. Advertisement The diagnosis and treatment of asthma is an incredibly difficult task in primary care, as some common symptoms are similar to those of other illnesses, and there is no black and white test to differentiate whether someone is suffering from asthma, or not. But still, we wouldn't prescribe medication to a child unless we really thought it necessary - but an initial diagnosis of asthma isn't a diagnosis for life. We might initially recommend the blue 'puffer' inhaler if a patient presents with an irritating cough that has persisted for several weeks, and then monitor the condition, see how it changes and adjust the diagnosis and treatment accordingly. This is made possible due to the unique relationships that GP teams have with their patients - and it is particularly important with long-term conditions such as asthma. It allows us to work with the parents of children to develop a management plan, to ensure that the patient is not taking something unnecessarily over a prolonged period of time. Beyond the headline - which even one of the authors himself has since admitted was 'facetious' - the authors of the editorial make a valid point; taking an inhaler when it isn't necessary isn't good for your health and overdiagnosis is an issue that GPs - indeed doctors across the health service - should be mindful about. Advertisement But underdiagnosis is a serious issue too, and it remains the case that asthma is still underdiagnosed and undertreated, which as the National Review of Asthma Deaths found two years ago, has tragic consequences. In fact the paper doesn't actually say that asthma is overdiagnosed; it advocates that doctors use objective tests, wherever possible. And here lies the biggest problem for GPs. There is no single test that can definitively diagnose the disease in primary care. Some useful tests, such as the FeNo test that is recommended in new NICE guidelines are available for GPs for children over five years of age, but access is limited as these are very costly. McDonald's is one of the world's most recognisable brands in the world. It employs 1.9 million people globally making it the world's second largest private sector employer. Many of those people are employed on precarious contracts (such as zero-hours contracts) and have few guaranteed workers' rights. It also avoids paying up to 1 billion in taxes each year. The EU has a vital role to play, and, on behalf of the 82,800 McDonald's staff on zero-hours contracts earning minimum wage in the UK, Labour MEPs are leading the fight. To tackle both precarious work and tax evasion there needs to be a vehicle which can deliver results in both areas. This is no easy task given the size and power of a multinational corporation such as McDonald's. Fortunately the European Union has both instruments and organisation to take a top-down and bottom-up approach to tackle these issues at the same time. Advertisement The Panama Papers stands to reconfirm what the LuxLeaks revealed: multinational corporations and wealthy individuals will go to great lengths to avoid, and sometimes evade, paying their share of tax. Tax dodging is not a victimless crime: research reveals that 18.5bn is lost to offshore tax havens every year from the UK alone. To put this into context, austerity cuts to North East council budgets from 2010 to 2019 are set to withdraw 828m of local funding. Tax dodging strips vital resources from our public services and support for the most vulnerable. Tackling this problem requires coordinated intergovernmental cooperation to end this industrial scale tax dodging. The EU has been at the forefront of this fight. This week the European Commission announced a new proposal to tackle multinationals' tax avoidance and evasion with proposals to force them to publish exactly where they make their profits and where they pay their taxes. This comes off the back of a European Commission's investigation into Luxembourg's tax treatment of McDonald's. On the basis of two tax rulings given by the Luxembourg authorities in 2009, McDonald's Europe Franchising has paid no corporate tax in Luxembourg since then despite recording large profits (more than 250 million in 2013 alone). If all tax was collected at the full corporate tax rate between 2009 and 2013, McDonald's would owe around 1 billion. Commissioner Vestager's preliminary view is that a tax ruling granted by Luxembourg may have granted McDonald's an advantageous tax treatment in breach of EU state aid rules. We will have to wait and see what the full outcome is, but the current arrangement is clearly unfair and unjust. Advertisement This top down approach is not the only route to raising concerns around unfair trading and tax practices. Three consumer organisations in Italy have urged the EU to launch an investigation into the franchise model McDonald's has adopted. The groups say the way the fast-food chain is operating in the country is anti-competitive. Companies caught breaking EU anti-trust laws face fines of up to 10% of global turnover. The EU has other mechanisms to fight injustices practised by big multinational corporations. The European Parliament's Petitions Committee gives power to grassroots organisations and individuals voice their concern at the highest level of the European Union. Three Trade Union organisations from Belgium, France and the UK (including the UK's Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union) have launched petitions to call for an end to abusive zero-hours contracts. Hidden behind the guise of flexibility, these 'contracts' trap workers in a cycle of precariousness, poverty and dependence; it is no coincidence that the sharp rise of zero-hours work since 2010 has been mirrored by a more than tripling of food bank use in the UK. Over the coming months, the Petitions Committee, on which I represent Labour MEPs, will receive testimonies from the trade unions and workers from McDonald's to explain how working conditions contravene the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights, which guarantees "fair and just working conditions". Or how under EU law employers are required to inform employees of the conditions applicable to the contract or employment relationship, including normal working hours. With up to 90% of McDonald's UK workforce on zero-hours contracts without guaranteed working hours or a stable income these petitions are shining a spotlight on often unseen exploitation. The European Commission is obliged to respond to petitions lodged. Advertisement The power of people to unite and take action against unfair wages and working conditions has been displayed fervently in the United States. McDonald's workers have spearheaded the campaign Fight for $15 to raise the minimum wage to a living wage for fast food and service sector employees. The campaign has taken social media by storm and has wide spread global recognition and support. That movement has spread to the UK with rallies and action days are taking place today in Wakefield, Glasgow, Scarborough, Cambridge and Leicester. Using the hashtags #fastfoodglobal and #wakeyfor10 fast food workers are calling for the minimum wage to be raised to 10. Over the past few weeks in Iceland there has been increased volcanic activity from Orfajokull to Katla and Bararbunga volcanos. While Orfajokull would not be a major eruption, Katla poses a great threat to the region according to many experts. Jon Frimann tracks the volcanic and minor earthquake activity in Iceland as the fallout from volcano eruption is well documented from glacier floods which have wiped out vast tracts of agricultural fields in the country to the devastating losses of the glacier and the ecological disaster that ensues. Iceland's volcanos are part of a larger ecological chain reaction that link ecological change to geological disasters. The volcano Katla is location is located in the south of Iceland in the Myrdalsjokull glacier and it last erupted in1918 lasting three weeks with a cubic kilometre of material having exploded through its vent. Historical records in Iceland show that the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in 920, 1612 or 1613, and 1821-1823. The last eruption of Eyjafjallajokull lasted for 14 months with intermittent bursts throughout this time. In all cases the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull volcano occurred simultaneously to or was followed by the eruption of Katla with is located 25 km to the east. The volcano Eyjafjallajokull, located under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, erupted in January 2010 followed by clusters of small earthquakes. By March 2010 earthquake activity had increased in intensity and frequency such that by 21 March, fountains of lava began exiting the 500-metre-long vent in the Fimmvorduhals Pass which separates the Eyjafjallajokull glacier from an even larger glacier to the east, Myrdalsjokull. The heat from the lava melted the glacier above vaporising some of the meltwater while flooding farmland, swelling local rivers and streams, (especially the Markarfljot River), damaging roads, and sending a 30,000-foot-tall plume of ash into the sky as a result of the rapid vaporisation of ice which sparked a series of phreatomagmatic explosions. Many people remember this event because most of Europe's airports mid-April 2010 were shut down for approximately one week due to an ash cloud in the sky which was driven across the North Atlantic Ocean to northern Europe by prevailing winds. Then in 2014 there was a similar threat posed by the Bararbunga volcano located under the Vatnajokull glacier which ultimately has not yet erupted. Advertisement What is worrying to scientists and Icelanders is that the seismic activity beneath the country's volcanoes is significant and there is a causal relational between the arrival of fresh magma and volcanic activity and seismic disturbances or full on earthquakes. Bararbunga last erupted in 2014-2015 and is located at the junction between the eastern and northern rift zones where the centre of the mantle hot spot underneath Iceland is believed to be. One of the major risks from Bardarbunga exploding is the jokulhlaup, a glacier outburst flood (GLOFS) that would be hazardous for populations and wildlife as flood waters have been known to carry ice floes that weigh up to 5000 tons with icebergs between 100-200 tons with the ability to strike a tsunami of 4 metres high and 600 metres wide as was the case in 1996 with the eruption of Grimsvotn volcano situated under the Vatnajokull glacier. The Grimsvotn volcano has erupted several times since in 1998, 2004 and 2011 and the dangers resulting from another such eruption are multiple: an avalanche of rock or heavy snow, an earthquake or cryoseism (and ice or frost quake), volcanic eruptions under the ice leading to jokulhlaup, or if a large enough portion of a glacier breaks off other water bodies can be drastically displaced. Our status as a nation of animal lovers has been a proud hallmark of Britain for centuries. Animal welfare is undoubtedly important to the UK. The country is home to 65 million pets and supporters of the two biggest animal charities in the country, the RSPCA and the RSPB, happily donate almost 200m a year. One of the most frequent enquiries I receive, as a Member of the European Parliament, is how animal welfare would fare if the UK voted to leave the EU in the upcoming referendum. Advertisement It was the EU that first recognised animals as sentient beings: The Lisbon Treaty stipulates that, as sentient beings, full regard should be paid to animals' welfare requirements. This recognition ensures that European animal protection laws are frequently stronger than those applied in other parts of the world. Working together with our neighbours, the EU has improved conditions for animals in areas where national governments, including the UK, have failed to act. Crucially, the influence of these improvements has been felt beyond European borders too. Advertisement The EU banned the use of veal crates for calves and narrow sow stalls for pigs that cruelly restrict movement, giving millions of farmed animals a higher quality of life. It also banned the use of barren battery cages for hens, a measure the UK egg industry lobbied to postpone. These measures are now paving the way for the implementation of similar laws across the world. The EU also overwhelmingly passed a motion to crackdown down on the squalid trade in illegal ivory. Just 14 MEPs opposed the resolution while 647 supported it. Six of those opponents, clearly indicating their lack of regard for animal welfare, were Nigel Farage and his UKIP colleagues. That's leading Leave campaigner Nigel Farage, whose party claims to "take animal health and welfare very seriously". It is Nigel Farage who has often repeated the erroneous claim that the UK has to conform to lower EU animal standards. The UK is often able to introduce and enforce welfare standards for animals that are higher than EU minimum requirements. In fact, the UK banned veal crates in 1990. The EU followed suit in 2007. The UK banned animal testing for cosmetics in 1998. Similar, stronger, EU regulations followed in 2009. The UK banned sow stalls in 1999. The EU did the same in 2013. However, this is proof that rather than lowering our standards, Britain has the potential to promote higher welfare standards across the EU. Although Britain is a nation of animal lovers, it would be a mistake to think that leaving the EU would help protect animals. We create far more opportunities to improve animal welfare standards working with our neighbours in the European Union. Advertisement As a passionate animal welfare advocate and the Green Party's Animals' spokesperson, I recognise the that the EU is not perfect. I know there is a desperate need to campaign for better standards, and I am aware we still face challenges. There is, at least, one area of EU policy that poses a particular challenge to animal welfare campaigners like me, and that is the trade in live exports. I have stood alongside campaigners demonstrating against the trade. I have also written to the Commissioner demanding progress on the issue. It is an issue I am passionate about and have spoken with campaigners who believe that leaving the EU would allow us to ban the trade. Unfortunately, I have also spoken with many experts who have explained why it's not that simple. It's true that attempts to ban the trade outright have failed due to EU rules on the free movement of goods. However, in the most likely post-EU scenarios, the UK would still be bound by European trade rules preventing the adoption of a full ban. A situation that is unlikely to be challenged by a government committed to free trade at all costs, a commitment enshrined in the Conservatives' election manifesto. It's not just our trade agreements with Europe which affect our ability to ban live exports. According to animal welfare experts, the World Trade Organisation also has the potential to overturn any such restrictions. While the measures fall short of our goals, the EU has implemented strict rules ensuring animals are given regular rest, food and drink when being transported. Following an EU court judgement last year, these rules now apply to journeys that continue outside the EU. In the UK, those rules helped convict a transporting company of animal cruelty for frequently failing to comply with the regulations at the Port of Ramsgate. Advertisement Live exports is an issue that I will continue campaigning on and will strive to eradicate in a reformed EU. My fellow Green Party MEPs and I share a Green vision for a Better Europe. I'm not pretending it would be easy, but we have seen progress in the right direction in several policy areas. For example, striving for sustainable development, tackling climate change and safeguarding fundamental rights are now included in the Treaties. These changes have happened because grassroots organisations have campaigned and engaged with politicians. Across Europe, I see animal welfare movements growing in strength and calling for reform. One thing is for sure, we need to be a part of the EU to change it. At home, we are faced with a Tory government obsessed with deregulation. A government that has already tried to weaken UK laws protecting lab animals and repeal the fox hunting ban. In recent weeks, it also emerged that Ministers were planning to appeal an array of official guidance on animal welfare standards. Thankfully, under pressure, they have been forced to abandon their proposals, but the move is a worrying indicator of the government's agenda. Just yesterday, an extensive analysis of the impact of a vote to leave the EU on various policies concluded that the Tories' zeal for deregulation is likely to put at risk a host of EU regulations. Lately I've had a surge of new attendants coming to my yoga and meditation classes. As it's their first introduction to the discipline, I've had some interesting, yet not surprising feedback on the symptoms they've experienced - symptoms like nausea and getting headaches during or after the class, asking me if 'this was normal'. Yoga releases toxins on so many levels. As a science that dates back five-thousand years, it works on healing through all the layers - especially for those just starting the discipline. Each person will have a different experience of this. There's a lot that goes on inside our bodies during a class, most of which we are unaware of. Yoga doesn't simply attend to the physical body, which is what makes it a spiritual practice as opposed to a glorified workout - this is not my style of teaching! It works on healing every aspect of the human mind, body and spirit, including the parts we can't see. This is why yoga is so special to me - it nurtures every part of us. Advertisement When we begin a new discipline that works on a deep level, we may experience what is known as 'the healing crisis'. To put it simply, our body has to break down before it builds itself up. Think of turning on an old tap that hasn't been used in years. At first, the water that comes out will be undrinkable - dirty and polluted. After running the tap for a while, the crisp, clear water is revealed. The same goes with eating habits. We can't pile a whole lot of healthy food on top of a backlog of junk food. The junk food has to leave our body first, in order for us to reap the benefits of the healthy food. Yoga is no different. It allows us the chance to detoxify before we can heal. If you're carrying negative emotions from your past which were formed and made into bad habits form a young age, these will sit in your energetic body - and if you don't release them, they can manifest into physical forms such as disease. Negative emotions must leave us, before healthy ones can heal us. Yoga wakes you up, encouraging you to live life more consciously. For me, it was like turning up the volume of awareness. Yoga is a way of being, a lifestyle which can be applied to all areas of life - an emotional release that may catch you off-guard is the beginning. It's never nice to feel sick after a session, but take comfort in this: it is a part of the healing process, so that with some commitment, we can feel our very best. Working subtly through our many layers, yoga delivers powerful results over time. I'm living proof of this! Yoga focuses on stretching and compressing every part of the body and keeps the waste-removal departments of the body functioning well. In a well-rounded session, every part of the body is pushed, pulled, twisted and turned. Waste products such as carbon dioxide, lactic acid and lymphatic fluid from the deep tissues and extremities of the body are removed. Yoga gets to places that other forms of exercise just don't reach. Advertisement Breathing ( pranayama ) also plays an imperative role in cleansing. Bad habits prevent the lungs from inflating fully, and chronic stress often leads to a clenched diaphragm. As a result, we don't take in as much oxygen when we inhale, or expel as much carbon dioxide when we exhale. Some yoga postures, such as twists, will help to cleanse the body. These positions have a variety of benefits, such as squeezing the abdominal organs to stimulate digestion and elimination, aiding in the circulation of blood and lymph, stimulating the digestive organs and soothing the nervous system. It's like ringing out a wet towel to get the water out and then shaking it out again. My very first yoga class was extremely emotional. I literally cried like a baby all the way to the car park, and felt annoyed that the other yogis weren't having the same emotional experience as me. After the class, all the women looked happy and were chatting amongst themselves -- I wondered why it wasn't as sacred to them as it was to me. Why isn't anyone else having an emotional release? I thought angrily to myself. Somebody cry with me! Of course, the more you practice, the lighter you become as the toxins start to break down in the body. Now, I am indeed one of those chatty ladies who feels amazing after a class, and bounces off with a spring in her step to embrace the euphoric highs of life. When anyone sits down to write a blog or opinion piece, if they are anything at all like me, they will be thinking about a point they want to make to drag readers in, if you will an angle to provoke and promote debate and interaction. For the first time ever a story has so affected me that I'm sitting down writing this today with absolutely no idea of a hook or a way of engaging readers. I'm writing this because I want to make a point, a point in which I want to downplay anything which could even come close to sensationalising the story. It's quite possible that the length of this column is too long, that it is too boring. I completely get that. I'm writing it precisely as a counter to anyone who wants to score points. Advertisement I hope you stay with me. I am sure that there is not one single right thinking person out there who cannot fail to have been dismayed and horrified at the tragic death of toddler Ayeeshia Jane Smith and last week's conviction for her murder of her mother, Kathryn Smith, and for failure to intervene by her ex-partner Matthew Rigby. There cannot be one of us that have not questioned how a parent could ever commit such a heinous crime? There cannot be one of us that have not asked how could the authorities have allowed this to happen? Both of those questions are absolutely right and both questions have to be answered. We absolutely have to understand what can drive a mother to cold bloodedly kill her child and just as importantly, perhaps even more so, we have to understand what lessons can be learned to make sure that given the same circumstances such a tragedy could not happen again. The sad and inevitable truth however is that at some point in the next two or three years, just as there was never supposed to be another Victoria Climbie or Peter Connelly or Daniel Pelka, there will be another Ayeeshia Jane Smith. Advertisement I hope and pray that I am wrong, that there is never another child murdered at the hands of callous parents, but I won't be. Three years ago I was elected as a councillor to Leicestershire County Council. A number of vagaries and a set of fortuitous circumstances meant that straight away I became Chairman of that local authorities Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the body charged with seeking assurances on how the council dealt with what was left of education and the increasingly important area of looking after vulnerable children. It was the first time I had ever chaired such an important committee but it struck me straight away that protecting children was no place for party politics. They were far too important for such trivialities. I spoke with my Conservative and Liberal Democrat counterparts and I explained my idea that we would have unfettered access to the department, access that meant we could truly ask questions, scrutinise and be assured that we were doing things right. In return I proposed that we wouldn't go running to the newspapers when we found minor things that needed fixing, we would give the administration time to put them right. To my eternal gratitude my counterparts and officers agreed straight away and have been as good as their word. Advertisement The only way, however, in which such an understanding can be built is one in which we can all agree that even with the best social work practice in the world we can never say with certainty that a tragedy will never happen. It's true that throughout the country referrals to social services have rocketed. It's true that more and more children have been taken into care. It's true that budgets have grown nowhere near in line with caseloads and Children and Families departments up and down the country are being expected to do more with less. None of this seeks to minimise the trauma of a tragedy or the questions that need to be asked but rather to contextualise the position that local authorities throughout Britain are in. It may well be that there are lessons to be learnt from the death of little Ayeeshia. It may well be, although I have no knowledge of the case, that mistakes were made. One would expect the Serious Case Review to identify such issues and professionals to act upon them. At the same time I have absolutely no doubt that social workers and colleagues in councils across the country, people who regularly go above and beyond anything that could be reasonably expected of them, will be mortified that their profession will be dragged through the mud once more. Advertisement And that is the point of what I am writing today. Sadly we know in the face of a tragedy some politicians and some of those who want to be, I am purposely not naming them but I have already seen comments being made, will use a child's death to score easy political points. There will be those who, despite the fact that we all know circumstances are much more complicated, seek to vilify a profession because to do so chimes with a base instinct. There will be those who choose to scapegoat people who care when the ones who should be highlighted are those manipulative individuals who commit horrific crimes. I have been extremely fortunate. I am assured that the department I scrutinise is a good one with some exceptional staff but that doesn't mean to say a tragedy couldn't happen. If it did, just like many others, I would want answers but I would want nuance and an expectation that lessons really had been learned. I hope to God I wouldn't be seeking to make political capital. Advertisement Climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon mean millions of people are struggling to grow the food they need to survive. In Somaliland drought is causing harvests to fail and turning fields to dust. In Bangladesh flooding rivers and rising seas are swamping crops and robbing people of their livelihoods. Women and girls living on the margins of survival are finding it ever more difficult to get food and water. Floods and droughts are becoming more frequent and more intense. Advertisement Three-year-old Nimo in Somaliland goes to bed hungry Photo credit: Jennifer Huxta/Actionaid Somaliland: dust and drought El Nino has caused the lowest recorded rainfall across parts of Southern Africa in decades. Crops and livestock are dying as drought takes hold. El Nino has already made more than 34 million people hungry in Eastern and Southern Africa. That number is set to double in the next 12 months. It is in Africa - where an estimated one million children are already malnourished - that the destructive effects of El Nino are doing the most damage. In Somaliland alone more than 800,000 people are in a state of crisis because their crops have failed and they do not have enough food. Malyuun Ahmed Omer is a mother-of-eight living in western Somaliland. Most nights, she has to listen to her children including three-year-old Nimo, pictured above, cry themselves to sleep from hunger. They are sick but she can't afford to take them to the clinic. Advertisement "When the children fall asleep without eating something, they wake up so weak. You can see from their face and their body." Malyuun holds her one-year-old son, Sakeriye-Ahmed Photo credit: Jennifer Huxta/Actionaid The family has lost 15 sheep during the drought. Her two remaining cows are a lifeline because they provide her with milk. But she is worried they will die as the drought continues. In December 2015 ActionAid gave food and water to 400 vulnerable families, including Malyuun's. We distributed rice, wheat flour, dates, sugar, powdered milk, and oil. In the longer term we are helping to build wells, develop innovative farming methods and supporting women to gain access to land to grow food for their families. Advertisement But it's not enough. More needs to be done. Bangladesh: torrential rain and floods The picture is very different in Bangladesh. Climate change is causing ever more extreme weather, With more than 700 rivers, rising sea levels and extreme weather like cyclones, flooding is becoming ever more severe and frequent. The chaos this brings is making it ever more difficult for families to feed themselves. Fatema is 21 and lives with her two children, Reeath and Janratul. Their village was regularly inundated by floodwater. Reeath contracted diarrhoea from the dirty water and couldn't get medical aid. "I felt fear because we were surrounded by water," she said. "I tried to breastfeed my son and give him my share of food. I was thinking 'what will happen? I can't get to a doctor. Will he live or die?'" Fatema playing with her Reeath outside their flood-proof home Thankfully Reeath survived and the family now live in a new village built by ActionAid. It is constructed on stilts, above the murky flood waters. Fatema can now feed her children, sell crops and save money for the future. Advertisement "I don't feel fear now," Fatema said. "Since moving here I dream about my son's future. I didn't have that hope before. The weather shapes millions of people's lives. It can bring fortune, but it can also bring hardship and hunger. Portland, Oregon -- AXA Advisors, LLC, a leading provider of financial services for consumers and businesses, has announced that Hannah Allison, a high school senior who is home schooled, will receive $10,000 as the Oregon state winner of the 2016 AXA Achievementsm Scholarship. Allison is one of 52 students - one from each state, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico - that have been awarded scholarships of $10,000. Winners - known as AXA Achievers -are graduating high school seniors who demonstrated ambition and drive, determination to set and reach goals and the ability to succeed in college. AXA is proud to feature these students on our website and present a video highlighting their inspiring personal stories. The scholarship program is administered by Scholarship Management Servicessm, a program of Scholarship America sm, one of the nation's largest nonprofit private sector and educational support organizations. Hannah spent two years making a documentary to raise awareness about an important social justice issue related to children with rare medical diagnosis. The film won Best Documentary at a Hollywood film festival. Since its release, the trailer has been viewed in over 100 countries and she receives requests for DVD orders from around the world. As a result, lawmakers in 2 states are currently working to pass laws to help improve this issue. "AXA Advisors and the Portland community share a common goal of providing resources that help make college possible for students like Hannah," stated Amy Schlager, west region executive vice president for AXA Advisors in Portland, Oregon. "By supporting their educational success we are making an investment in their futures and the success of our communities." AXA Achievement is funded by the AXA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of AXA Advisors. Through AXA Achievement, the company is one of the nation's largest corporate providers of scholarships -- awarding more than $1.4 million a year -- and is a comprehensive resource for information to help students and parents take the next step to college. Financial services offered through AXA Advisors, LLC (NY, NY 212-314-4600), member FINRA, SIPC. Investment advisory products and services offered through AXA Advisors, LLC, an investment advisor registered with the SEC. Annuity and insurance products offered through AXA Network, LLC and its insurance agency subsidiaries/ AXA Network, LLC does business in California as AXA Network Insurance Agency of California, LLC and, in Utah, as AXA Network Insurance Agency of Utah, LLC. About AXA Foundation The AXA Foundation is the philanthropic arm of AXA Advisors, LLC, the retail distribution subsidiary of AXA. The Foundation directs the company's philanthropic and volunteer activities, working to improve the quality of life in communities across the United States where AXA has a presence. The AXA Foundation's multifaceted signature program, AXA Achievement, supports the company's strong commitment to Corporate Responsibility and AXA Group's flagship theme of "Risk Research and Education," by providing America's youth with the access and advice to help them succeed in college and beyond. Since its inception, AXA Achievement has awarded over $25 million in college scholarships to more than 6,000 students, known as AXA Achievers. For more information go to www.axa-achievement.com or AXA's Facebook page. About AXA "AXA" is a brand name of AXA Equitable Financial Services, LLC and its family of companies, including AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (NY, NY), MONY Life Insurance Company of America (AZ stock company, administrative office: Jersey City, NJ), AXA Advisors, LLC, and AXA Distributors, LLC. In business since 1859, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company is a leading financial protection company and one of the nation's premier providers of life insurance, annuity, and financial products and services distributed to individuals and business owners through its retail distribution channel, AXA Advisors, LLC (member FINRA, SIPC) and to the financial services market through its wholesale distribution channel, AXA Distributors, LLC. AXA S.A. is a Paris-headquartered holding company for a group of international insurance and financial services companies, including AXA Equitable Financial Services, LLC companies. AXA S.A. is a worldwide leader in financial protection strategies and wealth management with 103 million clients in 59 countries as of Dec. 31, 2014. AXA S.A. has been ranked the No. 1 insurance brand in the world by Interbrand for seven consecutive years as of Oct. 5, 2015. The obligations of AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company and MONY Life Insurance Company of America are backed solely by their claims-paying ability. Find AXA on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. For more information, visit www.axa.com. Media Contacts Young Kim-Mitowski, 503-243-4314 Young.kim-mitowski@axa-advisors.com Jennifer Recine, 212-314-2009 Jennifer.recine@axa.us.com GE 112007b(02/16)(Exp.02/18) Cameron is on probation - his community service order is a clean-up of offshore corruption. I had a lot of sympathy with the protesters marching on Saturday on Downing Street calling on David Cameron to resign. But I didn't join them. And that wasn't just because I had an event with Another Europe is Possible, an exciting campaign that's offering a different vision of a social Europe, a people's Europe, at the same time. One reason was practical - what difference would it make if David Cameron resigned? We'd have a Prime Minister Osborne, Johnson or May. No real change there then. And more, the issues raised by the Panama Papers would be seen to be dealt with, at least in Britain, then that would be an excuse to leave the massive systematic problems that they expose to remain. Advertisement There's no doubt that this is a story that goes to the heart of the British financial and political systems - more than half the companies in the Panama Papers are based in Britain, and it's clear that systems we are responsible for are allowing corrupt politicians and officials around the world to rob their people on a massive scale. It's our system that's robbing health services of essential funds, taking food out of the mouths of children. That's not to say that we should allow the pressure off the prime minister. David Cameron demonstrated through five days of obfuscation that he himself acknowledged he had something to hide about his financial affairs - and he is a man who has been proclaiming his intention to crack down on tax-dodging and offshore havens while failing to act. So I'm regarding him as a prime minister on probation - his community service order being to take big, effective steps to clean up on the offshore mess. Next month we have what David Cameron has himself been proclaiming as a critically important global summit on shutting down the tax havens. One that Cameron will now be under immense pressure to make effective. Advertisement That should be regarded as a test. A further argument against immediate resignation is the political context. We have in less than a month important elections on these islands - elections to the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and many local authorities around the nation. These deserve proper attention and focus, not the distraction of a prime ministerial departure. And in around 11 weeks we have a referendum on our membership of the EU - a single vote on a critically important issue that will have massive potential impacts for decades into the future. That should not be held in the immediate aftermath of the turmoil of a prime ministerial resignation. Yet it's clear that we now have a government on borrowed time. Another of David Cameron's many problems is that he doesn't have a stable majority in parliament - that's been clear on the Sunday Trading Bill, on the Personal Independence Payment cuts, on the Human Rights Act. And we've now got the unlikely champion of the people - the House of Lords - flexing its muscle. This week it's likely to be giving the government another bloody nose over the attempt to abolish social housing that is the Housing Bill. And David Cameron's been presiding over a government that's clearly failed to be less than clear on issues far beyond financial holdings, and that's failing to deliver competent, effective government for the country. Advertisement Jeremy Hunt as Health Secretary has tried to impose a contract on the junior doctors that they clearly are not going to accept. He's headed the plan to abolish student nurse bursaries that threatens to enormously grow our already acute nursing shortage. And he's been exposed as a man who wants to transform healthcare from our much-loved free at the point of use to an American privatised system - which was not the policy the Tory party presented to voters at the last election. Nicky Morgan as Education Secretary has continued the disastrous, damaging policies of Michael Gove, and gone further, planning to enforce the privatisation of our entire school system through forced academisation. Again, this was not a policy presented to the British people when they went to vote last year - there is no democratic mandate for it. Iain Duncan Smith is presiding over the hideous - and possibly criminal - mistreatment of the most vulnerable in our society, with benefit sanctions and mismanagement of disability benefits now on an industrial scale, while there's no evidence that his grand plan of Universal Credit can even be delivered. This is a government in turmoil - its head has lost the public's confidence, its policy programme has no legitimacy, it doesn't have a stable majority. We need a new general election, but before we get to that we have to allow space for proper debate in other important elections and for the critical European decision to be made. Advertisement Then we can have a proper debate about the future of Britain - and elect a government that has the people's trust, and will implement the programme that it has offered to the people. We recently went to the new Turkish Bath in Liverpool and were surprised to find that it is the only one in the north west of England. Considering how awesome a Turkish bath experience is, and how popular they are among tourists in Istanbul, I can't understand why there isn't one in every town - as there used to be in ancient times. We found it by chance. My girlfriend Manuela went for a haircut on Lodge Lane in Toxteth and her hairdresser said "you should come to our new Turkish bath. It's only 45 for an hour and a half session". En-route to the Adam and Eve Turkish Bath we walked through the vast Toxteth cemetery and discussed the history of the area: in the nineteenth century Toxteth was where ship's captains and the prosperous middle class would build big, sprawling houses surrounded by trees and parks; by the 1970s the wealth had left and relations between the black community and the police were in freefall. In 1981 three days of bloody rioting blazed the name Toxteth (and Brixton) across the nation's consciousness. Advertisement Remembering the Toxteth Riots "When I set up my hairdresser's 27 years ago," recalls the owner, Carol Dermus, "Lodge Lane had been destroyed. It was the centre of the Toxteth riots and every shop had been looted and burnt. There used to be a Tesco here, restaurants and a swimming pool. I was one of the first to open a business here. It's only recently that the area started picking up." I asked her how she financed her start-up in such a difficult time and she told me about the local NatWest bank manager who was impressed by her local credentials: "I grew up on Lodge lane, knew everyone in the area and had black hairdressing experience." Based on her word of honour, but no business plan, NatWest loaned her 1,000. She told the bank manager she expected to earn 100 in the first week but the place was mobbed from the word go and she raked in 1,500 during that timeframe. She hired staff, bought more equipment and paid back the loan in 3 months. By the early 1990s Carol's business was growing steadily. Love in Turkey Fast forward to 2013 and Carol was on holiday in Marmaris, on Turkey's stunning Turquoise Coast. "I had a sore back", she told me, "as hairdressers do, from all that standing-up and leaning over." She was sent to the resident masseur - Adam Dermus - and before long they were in love. Advertisement The following year Carol was back and Adam showed her round his home city of Tarsus, where Cleopatra visited two millennia ago. It's a historic town, not far from the Syrian border. Soon they were engaged to be married and Carol was welcomed into the family. "I stayed with the mothers and sisters," she explained, "and although we didn't understand a word of each other's language we got on famously. The wedding lasted two days and thousands of people came to our street party. I'd never seen anything like it." With Turkey's economy in a shambles, their plan was to return to the relative security of Toxteth and set up the first Turkish Bath in the north west of England. But the first problem was getting Adam into the country with a proper visa. Even though he's a qualified masseur his initial application was rejected. They had to fork out over 5,000 to get him a three-year visa. Then they shelled out ten times that amount to renovate their new building in Toxteth and turn it into a proper Turkish Bath, a Hamam. I asked Adam what's so special about a Turkish bath? "It's not just a massage and a sauna," he said. "It's a detox. The skin scrub gets rid of toxins and lets the skin breathe better. It also helps the muscles, the colon, the stomach and the nervous system." We spent an hour and a half experiencing the Hamam and can confirm that it is awesome. The main feature is a huge stone bed that is heated and where you lie down to get massaged and doused with water. I left with a glowing feeling. I was also impressed with Manuela's masseuse, a noble Spanish-looking woman who works in Carol's hairdresser by day and the Turkish Bath in the evening. She told Manuela that she has Spanish heritage ("from the Armada running aground in Ireland") and is the only non-Spanish member of a flamenco dancers troupe in Liverpool. Advertisement Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Why would a news article be tested on animals? But wait, if this article wasn't tested on animals, what about the next one I read? That didn't have any kind of disclaimer. It's as if I starting selling shampoo with a clear label telling people that my product wasn't made by killer robots. I mean in a world where we have drone warfare, an AI Go Champion, and a lengthening list of Terminator films, is it so entirely implausble? I mean which would you buy? Advertisement Yet this same trick is played on British (and European) consumers with cosmetic testing on animals. A quick trip to your local high street will find products with "not tested on animals" or "cruelty free" written on them - this is true, but many consumers read this to mean that other products are tested on animals. Let us be clear. It is illegal to test cosmetics or their ingredients within the UK (or elsewhere in the EU) - it has been illegal in the UK since 1998. Since March 2013 it has also been illegal to sell cosmetics products within the EU which have been, or which contain ingredients, newly tested on animals. These facts are not well known. A recent internet quiz by Understanding Animal Research, of over 4,000 people, revealed that only 38% of respondents were aware that cosmetic testing is illegal in the UK. Respondents were asked to select from a list which shops they believed used animals to test the cosmetic products they sold in the UK. Boots, Tesco and Sainsbury's were all picked by over 40% of people; The Body Shop was selected by 30% and Lush by 14%. Advertisement So why the confusion? Recently, I spoke to seventy students at a London school; when I asked them how many animals were used in the UK to test cosmetics each year only two got the right answer - most thought there were around one million animals used. When I asked students why they thought this, a number pointed to Lush's "Fighting Animal Testing" advertising. Clockwise from top left: The Body Shop, Superdrug, Lush, The Body Shop When brands like Lush put "Fighting Animal Testing" or Superdrug write "Superdrug is against animal testing" on the back of their cosmetics, it can leave consumers with the mistaken idea that other brands might do such tests. According to Wendy Jarrett, CEO of Understanding Animal Research: "The proliferation of 'Not tested on animals' or 'Cruelty-Free' logos has led many to believe that other cosmetic products sold on the UK market are tested on animals - something which has not been the case for 18 years. While animals continue to play a small but key role in medical developments, the UK has successfully eliminated such testing for cosmetics and, more recently, household products." Now some of these brands have reasons to write these things. Lush supports animal rights groups for their work opposing biomedical research. Yet when a message is reduced to "Fighting Animal Testing" in a shop full of cosmetics, it is unsurprising if many consumers are left with the wrong impression. One might express more surprise for Superdrug, who claim to be against animal testing despite often containing in-house pharmacies which provide medicines and treatments developed and tested using animals. Advertisement Other high street brands should fight back. Understanding Animal Research has written to all major supermarkets and cosmetic retailers, urging them to put additional information in their stores to help inform the public. Such actions would help clear a misconception which is affecting over half of the British public. A Bristol parish council's move to charge participants of a weekly running event is the latest decision to erode the principle that our parks are free. The organisers of the timed Parkrun in Little Stokes Park, who've set up a petition on change.org, have said that it will mark the end of the community event. But it's not the first time a group like this have come under threat from parks introducing fees. Three years ago I had the toughest softball season that I've ever faced. But the challenge didn't come from any of the dozens of teams that make up the London Charity Softball League. Instead my fight would be against the Royal Parks themselves, in 18 month battle involving legal action to remove charges from Hyde Park and keep it free for the public to play sport. The argument at the centre of both cases seems to be that because groups are using an area, they should be asked to pay. Which might sound reasonable until you realise we already have paid, it's what some of our tax goes towards. Advertisement Parks are a vital part of our community and they are there to be used. Barely a week goes by without a story about the need to tackle the increasing rates of obesity in the UK, with the WHO reporting in 2014 that more than 28% of adults in the UK where clinically obese. Even the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, earlier this year described rising childhood obesity rates in the UK as a 'national emergency'. So anything that's successfully getting people out of bed every weekend to be a bit more active should be encouraged and celebrated. And it's not just our physical health that is improved when we get outside, there's numerous studies linking exercise to better mental health. It also enables people to meet others and get involved in their community. Issues councils are spending money on elsewhere desperately trying to tackle. Parkrun is a globally successful initiative which has got millions of people around the world regularly running 5K. What makes it work is it's ethos of being free and open to everyone. Each one is set up within a community, staffed by local volunteers who get up early every Saturday to make it possible for others to take part. However the growing trend seems to be, if you create something that is successful and popular, others see it as a justification to charge for it. A senior member of the Royal Parks even once told me in a meeting that, people often don't really appreciate something unless they pay for it. It was a point they soon backed down on when challenged. Advertisement But even a small charge creates a barrier to people taking part, and once the principle has been established it'll be difficult stop it increasing in future. Not only that, it discourages anyone from creating similar schemes as the costs will stop them as soon as it becomes successful. Fairfax Media In the wake of the Arrium troubles at the Whyalla steel mill, and the collapse of Clive Palmer's Queensland Nickel refinery, the Labor Party has announced it would push to increase the use of local steel in government projects and tighten anti-dumping laws to support Australian industry. Bill Shorten was in Wollongong, NSW, on Thursday to announce Labor's Plan for Australian Metals Manufacturing and Jobs. The announcement was made at the Port Kembla steelworks, hit hard by the recent downturn in steel prices and demand for Australian products. Shorten, accompanied by shadow minister for industry Kim Carr and local Labor MPs, outlined his "six point plan to secure metals manufacturing industries." Advertisement "A Labor Government led by myself will do everything we can to make sure that we keep making steel in Australia," Shorten declared. "We will seek to maximise Australian-produced steel as part of our Australian infrastructure spend." Responding to a reporter's question, Shorten said Labor would not set concrete minimums for the use of Australian steel in infrastructure projects, but would encourage and help facilitate the use of local products. Labor would seek to halve the threshold for projects required to have Australian industry participation plans, which compels projects to consider local businesses, manufacturers and products. Shorten made particular mention of plans to strengthen anti-dumping laws, to restrict the ability to import foreign steel into Australia at low or below-cost prices, which has been a particular concern of industry groups as Australian manufacturing takes a hit. "Let me make this perfectly clear to anyone who thinks they can come to Australia and run around our laws and dump foreign manufactured steel in Australia. A Labor Government will make sure that our anti-dumping laws are enforced in a fast and aggressive manner," Shorten said. Advertisement "Our promise in metal manufacturing and steel is I and my Labor team will do everything we can do make sure we still make steel in Australia. Australians have seen for too long in the last three years the car industry gone, the mining industry, the jobs are in free-fall, we have seen the terrible demise of Queensland Nickel. Enough's enough. Australians want a government in Canberra who will fight for Australian steel and we are up for that fight." "There are 30,000 plus jobs directly reliant upon steel production in Australia, not just in the Illawarra but right throughout Australia. There's 100,000 of our fellow Australians, families, small businesses, who directly depend upon steel production and steel manufacturing and distribution." Shorten has been pushing plans to mandate targets for the use of local steel in Australian infrastructure projects, in the wake of the Arrium and Queensland Nickel woes. Channel Nine Barnaby Joyce is Prime Minister, and it's a great day to be an Australian. The Nationals leader, usually the deputy PM, has taken a temporary promotion to the top job as Malcolm Turnbull makes a state visit to China. Joyce is leading the country for the next few days, and has immediately stamped his own mark on the prime ministership in a morning media blitz during which he claimed to have misplaced the briefcase with the nuclear codes, threatened to cancel Turnbull's visa so he had to stay in China, was spotted having a great time at the pub with a few beers, and tried to assure Australians that "the country will be here in a few days time". Appearing on Channel Nine's TODAY on Thursday morning, Joyce did initially set out to appear Prime Ministerial. TODAY host Karl Stefanovic immediately turned things silly, asking where the codes for the nuclear weapons were. Advertisement Australia is not believed to possess any nuclear weapons. "I don't think I'm walking around with a briefcase with the codes to a nuclear bomb in it," Joyce said. He attempted to bring some seriousness to his first interview as leader of the country, talking up the "collegiate experience of Cabinet and that abundance of opinions, knowledge and acumen that resides in it". It didn't last long. "So who's got the briefcase?" Stefanovic cut over. "....he's got it," Joyce said, pointing to a staff member off-screen. Sort of... @Barnaby_Joyce is acting PM, but doesn't have the nuclear codes briefcase. Old mate has it. #9Todayhttps://t.co/xGr2wgHD5k The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) April 13, 2016 "As Ive said before, just to think that a kid who went to Woolbrook public school and grew up in Hills of Danglemeyer would be the acting Prime Minister. Of course, I find it an incredible honour and humbling. I hope those who grew up in a little town and village like me get something out of the day," Joyce said, trying to bring it back to the serious again. Advertisement It soon got away from him, though. "What's the first thing you're going to do as acting Prime Minister, apart from find the briefcase with all the codes in it?" Stefanovic pressed again. "Well I'm going to see if I can cancel Malcolm's visa so he stays over there [China] for a little while," Joyce said, with a giggle. Stefanovic dissolved in laughter. Joyce also told Sky News he was "certain that the country will be here in a few days time." The new acting PM was spotted on Wednesday night having a laugh and a beer at the local bowling club, no doubt toasting his new promotion. Overnight Barnaby Joyce became Acting PM and went to the bowlo. No word on which he enjoyed more.@TheTodayShowpic.twitter.com/V1z8XL7wOe Charles Croucher (@ccroucher9) April 13, 2016 Advertisement Damir Sagolj / Reuters Gammy, a baby born with Down's Syndrome, is kissed by his surrogate mother Pattaramon Janbua at a hospital in Chonburi province August 3, 2014. According to Pattaramon, his Australian parents, through a local surrogate agency, asked her at her 7th month of pregnancy to terminate it because of his Down's Syndrome but she refused and kept the baby. The Australian parents instead took with them Gammy's twin sister who was born healthy. More than 3 million Thai baht ($93,360) was raised through an online campaign in Thailand in less than a day for the medical treatment of Gammy who suffers from potentially life threatening heart conditions and a serious lung infection, local media reported. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj (THAILAND - Tags: SOCIETY HEALTH) Baby Gammy and his twin sister Pipah will grow up apart after Western Australia's Family Court ruled in favour of the controversial surrogacy. Twins Gammy and Pipah were born via surrogate and egg donor in Thailand in 2013 for a Perth couple, who took Pipah home but Gammy was left behind, allegedly because he had down syndrome however a friend of the couple said they were told he would not survive. Advertisement The surrogate mother, Pattaroamoun Chanuba, adopted Gammy and sought orders to have Pipah returned citing concerns over the treatment of Gammy and the fact that father David Farnell is a convicted sex offender. Farnell was jailed in 1997 for molesting several girls under the age of 13. David and Wendy Farnell. Source: 60 Minutes In making his ruling, the ABC reported Chief Judge Stephen Thackray Thursday said Pipah had "settled into her new home" and was "thriving in the care of a loving network" while Gammy "appears to be thriving" in Thailand". Advertisement Pattaroamoun Chanuba and Gammy in Thailand. Getty Images via Getty Images FRANKFURT, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 13: In this photo released today, co-pilot of Germanwings flight 4U9525 Andreas Lubitz participates in the Airport Hamburg 10-mile race on September 13, 2009 in Hamburg, Germany. Lubitz is suspected of having deliberately piloted Germanwings flight 4U 9525 into a mountain in southern France on March 24, 2015 and killing all 150 people on board, including himself, in the worst air disaster in Europe in recent history. (Photo by Getty Images) Families of victims killed when co-pilot Andreas Lubitz crashed a Germanwings plane into the French Alps are attempting to sue the U.S. flight school where he trained. More than one year has passed since 150 people lost their lives on board Germanwings Flight 4U9525 when Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit and flew the plane into a mountain in the French Alps. Advertisement Lubitz had a long history of mental illness and investigators found the co-pilot was urged to attend a psychiatric hospital weeks before the crash. But the airline was never alerted. The federal lawsuit, filed by law firm Kreindler & Kreindler in Phoenix, Arizona, argues the U.S. flight school Airline Training Center of Arizona was negligent of the co-pilot's mental health problems. Germanwings' parent company Lufthansa also owns the flight school. The complaint filed on Wednesday representing 80 victims' families says Lubitz was "a man with a history of unresolved problems" and the flight school neglected to recognise this in the screening process. "ATCA was negligent, careless and reckless and breached its duty of care to the passengers of Germanwings Flight 4U9525 in failing to properly screen Lubitz when he applied for admission to its commercial airline training center," the filed complaint stated. Advertisement "Proper screening would have revealed his history of severe depression, suicidal ideations, hospitalisation on account of such mental disorders, his dishonesty and untrustworthiness, making him unqualified to become a Lufthansa commercial airline pilot. "The company missed several readily apparent red flags, including that Lubitzs German medical certificate had a restricting legend on its face specifically because of that mental illness history, which included severe depression and suicidal ideations." Kreindler & Kreindler partner Brian Alexander said the goal of the lawsuit extends beyond the isolated incident, but is a call for more regular mental health screenings for pilots around the world. Electrical Trades Union Election season is hotting up and a prominent trade union is betting on an early double dissolution election in July, after receiving an unexpected package in the mail -- 1000 corflute signs for Victorian Liberal MP Sarah Henderson. LNP hq just delivered 1000 @SHendersonMP corflutes to ETU Geelong office. What should we do with them? #auspolpic.twitter.com/46IqukSZlN ETU VIC (@ETUVIC) April 14, 2016 Advertisement The Electrical Trades Union's Geelong branch took delivery of 1000 election signs for their local member for Corangamite, Sarah Henderson, on Wednesday. Troy Knight, branch organiser for the Victorian ETU, said couriers had dropped off the eight packages to their office. "The receptionist signed and I went in to open them up, and realised they were Sarah Henderson's," he told The Huffington Post Australia. "I presumed they were ours." A quick Google Maps search shows the Geelong ETU's office is not exactly close to Henderson's -- it's a 20 minute drive, eight kilometres away on the other side of town. Knight said he was baffled as to how they arrived at the union office accidentally. Advertisement While holding the signs hostage could have been a campaigning tactic, he said the signs had since been returned safely to their rightful owner. "They've got them back now," he assured us. Henderson herself has responded to the error, claiming the packages weren't addressed to the union but thanked them for the publicity. These were not addressed to ETU office! Proud to be working hard for Corangamite jobs. Thanks for the promotion. https://t.co/lDUyUSycvt Sarah Henderson MP (@SHendersonMP) April 14, 2016 But while the case of mistaken delivery is a bit of fun, Knight and the ETU think it hints at something more serious. While questions linger over whether Australia will have a July election, or a national poll at some point later in the year, Knight says the delivery of the signs all but locks in an early election. Advertisement "Without a doubt. Why would they order that many, if they were not going to have a July election?" he said. The passage or failure of the Australian Building and Construction Commission bills will determine whether Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull asks for parliament to be dissolved and an early election to be called. Parliament resumes next week to debate the bills. Stay tuned. UPDATE: This may be the reason the signs were delivered to the union rather than to Henderson. Taliban Fighters (Photo: outlookafghanistan.net) The Afghan Taliban just announced the launch of a spring offensive against the National Unity Government (NUG). This spring offensive, dubbed "Operation Omari," is named to honor the late Taliban leader Mullah Omar who died in 2013, but whose death was kept a secret until last year. The fighting pattern in Afghanistan, at least since the Taliban became resurgent circa 2006, has followed a predictable pattern: a fighting lull in the winter due to inclement weather and the resumption of Taliban attacks in the spring. However, 2016 saw a change in this predictable pattern as the Taliban continued relentless military pressure on the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). It is curious that almost a month into the spring season they announced a new spring offensive, but not so surprising as the Taliban will grab headlines any time they can. Also interesting is the name of this year's operation: Omari. The new Taliban leader, Mullah Mansoor, has had an uphill battle trying to consolidate his grip on the terrorist group. He was opposed by a number of Taliban commanders including the brother, Mullah Abdul Manan and the son, Mullah Yaqoob of Mullah Omar. But of late he has been able to bring both men into the fold by appointing them to the Quetta Shura, the Taliban's leadership council. Among other initial dissenters, Mullah Zakir recently pledged allegiance to the new leader, and Mullah Dadullah was killed during a fight with Mansoor's supporters last year. So Mullah Mansoor uses Mullah Omar's name and his legacy to give himself legitimacy as the new undisputed Taliban strongman. Advertisement While the Taliban leader is consolidating power, the Taliban's nemesis the NUG is in disarray. This situation, along with several bold Taliban incursions throughout Afghanistan, shows the precarious state of affairs in Afghanistan. The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, made a surprise visit to Afghanistan this past week. As the architect and the implementer of the idea of the NUG, he urged the Afghan leadership to keep the status quo. This means retaining Ashraf Ghani as the president of Afghanistan and Abdullah Abdullah, the loser of 2014 elections, as the chief executive. John Kerry drew criticism from some Afghans for advocating the continuation of the NUG until the next presidential election. The critics called it interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country. The question becomes: why are they protesting now when no one was critical as the NUG was put in place in 2014. John Kerry & Afghan Foreign Minister, Rabbani (Photo: washingtontimes.com) The answer to this question is that the NUG has been an utter failure to address the woes of Afghanistan. Eighty-one percent of Afghans have no confidence in their government. Young people are leaving the country in droves, undertaking perilous journeys with uncertain future in Europe. But they bet on uncertainty over the chances of Afghanistan becoming a viable nation state any time soon. Corruption and the culture of impunity perpetuated by those well connected to the NUG continue unabated. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan (SIGAR) called the endemic corruption in Afghanistan as an existential threat. Not to mention the ever increasing brazenness of Taliban attacks. The Taliban even launched a few rockets on Kabul during John Kerry's visit. Beggers in Kabul (Photo: BBC) The Afghan leadership knows exactly what words to use to appease the donor countries. They tell the same story while engaging the US and officials from other countries. Afghan officials, at all levels, know what we like to hear so we can paint a rosy picture for public consumption back home. They, Afghan interlocutors, pretend to know more than anyone else about the virtues of democracy, human rights, women's rights, transparency, good governance, the rule of law, and so on. In reality and practice, these are nothing but empty words which they forget as soon as the meetings and press conferences are over. I witnessed this type of behavior time and again during my two stints in Afghanistan through the US Departments of State and Defense. Advertisement Buoyed, despite infighting, by the recent gains in Helmand and other provinces, Operation Omari is designed to rally the fractious Taliban movement. A more united Taliban is bad news for the Afghan government and the international community trying to keep the NUG in place. But, at the same time, it could prove useful in pushing the peace talks along. It would be easier for a more powerful Mullah Mansoor to make decisions. However, it is too early to tell whether he is favor of peace with a weak NUG. The other factor is how Pakistan will react and use the new dynamics relative to its Afghan policy. Young Afghan Refugees Detained in Hungry (Photo: theatlantic.com) By Jack Carrington, Strategist, 18 Feet & Rising And so it should be. The economists argument in favour would be that sugary drinks, like many consumer goods, have negative externalities and ought to be taxed accordingly. That way we can keep a degree of choice, whilst reducing demand and covering the cost of the consequences. But the real issue is whether we believe advertising has the power change the world - for better or worse. Its essentially an argument between those who believe that advertising can stimulate demand that wouldnt otherwise exist, and those who believe people are purely rational agents and that their choices are free, by moral necessity. The latter view is self-serving and empirically wrong. People didnt want heavily sugared, fizzy water before it was advertised to them at huge scale and expense. Of course much of that advertising has been brilliant, creative and hugely effective. Yet many of us in the industry seem to want to disavow that power, and duck the subsequent responsibility. Thats bad for our credibility, and our moral compass. We of all people should respect the power of words and images to change behaviour and shape consciousness. Advertisement So instead of trying to turn back the tide, why not embrace the opportunity to do something better? Part of the answer lies in bringing less harmful products to market and the further upstream creative agencies can get involved, the better we can help do so in a way thats culturally relevant. The manufacturers also have to invest heavily in these properties. A choice strategy is a cop-out; you cant just show your existing range and pretend that the stupendous equity built into your unhealthiest product wont win out. The sugar tax is a strong signal that its not enough to cover off different segments of the market with various takes on diet, light and reduced sugar sub-brands, whilst the real damage is being done by your main product. In short, make the good thing the main thing. Not a defensive afterthought or worthy gesture. As an industry, we should be looking to reimagine what soft drinks - and the branded giants that define the category could mean. We need to ask ourselves how fundamental sugar is to the identity of these brands and try to imagine how things might be different. For manufacturers and brand managers, that means taking bigger risks with the both the recipes and equity of long-established brands that havent changed in far too long. An airplane can depart from the Los Angeles Airport, the closest large airport to where I live, and land 16 hours later in Doha, Qatar (the trip is a bit longer, but not much longer, if you stop in Istanbul). In an inland section of the west of Doha, strategically removed and preserved from the bustle of the Gulf coast a few miles east, Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service (SFS) has a small branch-campus inside what is called Education City. In this City, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris, Texas A&M, Weill Cornell Medical School and Northwestern University each has a modest representation. In Doha, having lost 11 hours of my life due to the 'time zone' convention (hours I will, of course, regain a week later), I submitted to my task. In one of the classes at the SFS, a former student of mine, now a professor at SFS, invited me to sit with a mix of mostly non-Qatari students (who grew up in Qatar) and a few American students. Bright students, easily on par with my own at the University of California; in certain respects, more alert and responsive to some of my puns and obscure points. The discussion went in multiple directions, including a revisiting of some basic questions in Islamic legal history, such as how Islamic law was made, where and when it was made (to simplify things for those who want a short line, it was made in Kufa Iraq, circa 800 CE), and like questions. On two nights, I gave two public lectures, one titled 'The Crisis of the Sharia' and one titled 'Islamic Law Today.' The midsize room was full on both days, but not with the same people. In the first lecture, I defined the crisis of the Sharia as the absence of a professional class of legal scholars or jurists with whom the buck (of authority in the religious law) used to stop. The crisis hid an opportunity, where the tasks of old Islamic jurisprudence had to be discharged by a group of specialists and laymen. Complexity in authority by itself does not constitute an additional crisis, I maintain. The challenges facing the Sharia, when it functions as a personal, national, or transnational law, today have multiple angles that may be, or rather must be, considered patiently. Advertisement In the second lecture I spoke about these diverse manifestations of the Sharia in today's life. These include situations where individuals make life and death and other ethical decisions in areas where national laws are silent or accommodating of the Sharia as a religious (personal) law, cases where national laws (in Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, etc.) build on modified versions of medieval legal doctrines that were developed the previous century and a half or so, and cases of transnational laws, such as Islamic finance and cyber jurisprudence--or fatwa-case laws that create, for the first time in Islamic history, global communities with no shared local custom or social standards. On the side, I met many residents and visitors from diverse affiliations and callings, some educational, some technical, some political. The trip itself, I should not forget to mention, was enjoyable. On the plane I watched 'The End of the Tour,' a fairly unfair representation of David Foster Wallace, and a delightful-cum-sad movie about Dalton Trumbo. The latter reminded me of a famous slogan of the past (The Only Good Communist is a Dead Communist)--something Ted Cruz might want to adopt as one of his campaign slogans, mutatis mutandis, making it The Only good Muslim is a dead Muslim. One thing you notice everywhere you look, at any moment of the trip, especially in airports: There are many, many people in the world. Business class lounges are too busy. Expensive hotels and restaurants are busy. The quality of service, even at the highest and most expensive end, does falter from time to time, overweighed by the heavy weight of the users. Advertisement Where are the non-overlapping circles? Everywhere is the short answer. Even inside the small Doha (which is playing catch up with Dubai, but is clearly a decade or so behind), there are communities that are closed off to outsiders. There are multiple types of secular, religious, economic, and political clerisies unable to communicate outside of their groups. Perhaps out of a sense of self-importance, I thought my two lectures brought some of these non-overlapping folks into one room. On the one hand, there were people on my 'right' (the right of piety and religious reverence) who reprimanded me for using the word crisis (in relation to the Sharia) and rhetorically asked whether I would have used this word if I were not coming from where I was coming from (the US, that is). On the other, there were those who did not like what I pretended was a matter-of-factual statement, clearly un-attentive to the historical bent dominant in Islamic studies in the US, that the Sharia may just be having its heyday and enjoying its largest presence today, having conquered areas unknown to it in its history (you are welcome to disagree, if you can show me the evidence of a medieval equivalent of global Islamic finance or cyber fatwa-case laws). The room where I spoke, I want to argue, was just a microcosm mirroring a larger version of it in the outside world. Outside in the world, there are diverse people of diverse voices. This, perhaps surprisingly, is what makes it safe to say nothing and pretend to be saying something and just as easy to talk nonsense. And this has been going on for long. So long, in fact, that irresponsible ideas have circulated everywhere and built acceptable forms of common sense (or common nonsense), such that thoughtful ideas do seem unbalanced, extreme, or worse. The global community, and this is not limited to Doha, is fragmented, consisting as it were of non-overlapping circles. Stephen Jay Gould once tried to argue that religion and science were non-overlapping magisteria. I am not sure I buy that. But there are communities of diverse commitments, social or intellectual, ideological or factional (and I don't mean religious factions), which cannot overlap. Whole nations and even whole geographic regions also fail to understand their neighbors in the next nation or region, due to this or that commitment, choice, or way of being. I am not about to give potent weapons to those who want to argue that 'unreasonable' religious commitments may be responsible for the failure of all liberal, democratic nostrums to heal the world from its addiction to conflict. This cannot be a point I make, at any rate, because I think it is clear that conflicts are an additional element, on top of the inability or unwillingness to converse, and has its own causes. The fragmentation of the global village is bound to get worse. I mean that social circles will likely overlap less and less. Global trends are less and less truly global; in reality, they are more and more regional. This is good news, at least on one front. The solution to the irking burden of America's global missionizing about democracy and human rights is to realize that the conditions for its success are not there. There is no point in talking, when no one is listening. It is not only democrats and republicans who do not listen to one another in the US; no one listens to anyone they don't want to listen to. On a trip back home two weeks ago, my Dad put on the trailer for a new National Geographic series, The Story of God. Narrated by the almighty voice of Morgan Freeman, I felt almost compelled to watch it on its inaugural night. The pilot episode explored the subject of death and the quest of religion, as well as science, to understand this elusive and terrifyingly uncertain concept. The point of the story is not for you to start watching the show (though I highly recommend it), but to paint a picture. One of a journey to investigate, learn about, and understand the various religions which make up the central beliefs people around the globe hold so close to them. So many different concepts, frameworks, and ideas, related to faith, religion, and the supernatural exist that it is nearly criminal to ignore their place in our world. To the contrary, to know them is a thing of beauty and enlightenment . While discussing religion, Max Muller, a German scholar of language and religions, once said, "He who knows one, knows none." Quite simply, to experience and understand a singular creed is to be blind to the multiple religions from around the world, many of which are interrelated and interconnected. Advertisement Echoing the belief of Muller, I have taken learning more about as many faiths as I can. On Friday evenings, I attend a weekly Shabbat dinner which features keynote speakers and interesting conversations. Wednesdays, I join a Bible study of college women who study weekly passage of the text and try to incorporate lessons into their daily lives. I tend to top it off with daily practices of mindful meditation. I tend to top it off with daily practices of mindful meditation. Though I mean to, I've been slow to visit the Synagogue for services as well as the nearby Islamic Center. I have not always been this way; rather, I feel like I simply happened upon this lifestyle. Nevertheless, it has opened my eyes to new worlds and I am truly grateful it. Like most Latins, I was born into a Catholic household and raised by somewhat practicing parents. We would only go to Mass for major holidays, family events, or after Sunday school when my brother and I studied for our First Communions. Beyond that, it was unusual for us to be involved in religious activities or services. When it came time for middle school, instead of following the pipeline to a public school like all my classmates, I was enrolled in an all-male, Jesuit prep school. Here, Catholic theology was part of the daily coursework, with 45 minutes set aside specifically to learn about the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. Every now and then we would also have "homeroom mass" (the class was chosen to attend mass in the chapel) plus the occasional school-wide mass for major Church holidays like Lent. I continued this routine of content and youthful religiosity, like a happy little Catholic boy until 10th grade. This attitude changed once I started taking history of the Catholic Church and learned more about the "darker" side of organized religion. Without delving too deeply into it, learning more about the history of organized Christianity weighed heavy on the preexisting doubts I had already succumbed to. Advertisement I ended up renouncing my Catholic faith and prescribing to the simple religion of "I have no clue." To be as concise as possible, I have not ruled out any possibilities and leave all possibilities open, no matter how ridiculous. Despite losing my faith, I was still fascinated by the beliefs people hold, the tenets they adhere to, and how they influence people's lifestyles. This allure was bolstered by the Jesuit style of teaching, which encouraged critical and independent thought even if it I did not necessarily coincide with their viewpoints. Once I got to college, I began exploring outside the perimeter of basic knowledge I already had. Seven years of theology classes had creaked open the door to a world of various faith systems. And I hungered for more. I've been able to partially satisfy this curiosity by going to the different religious activities mentioned before. I also started taking Arabic during my freshman year discover more about the universe of Islam. Through all these additions to my weekly routine and life experiences, I've learned more about a topic which, otherwise, I would have been a complete stranger to. Religion, from the perspective of an outsider, is a perplexingly beautiful thing. Speaking for myself, when someone speaks about what they believe, it is almost like gazing on a lion at the zoo for the first time. Learning about religion gives one access to knowing more about historical events, lends principles of altruism and goodwill, and usually provides most non-believers with an interesting tale unique in nature or paralleling a previously heard story. The benefits of religious education are not limited to the scholastic. A discussion about one's religious identity and beliefs, or lack thereof, is an extremely personal lens into the inner attitudes and mindset of an individual. To be given the gift of seeing them first-hand is an insightful and scarce opportunity. Remember the last discussion on religion you had. Whether it ended in a fiery argument or beautiful message, passion was a key ingredient in the experience. Advertisement I am a curious person; I tend to ask personal questions when I feel the circumstances allow for it. You may find me probing with many "whys" and "what ifs" as well as the occasional "tell me more." Questions like these are not present enough during discussions of faith and religion, so I would encourage people from all walks of life to call on them more often. It's been said - if you own fossil fuels, you own climate change. Both as individuals and as directors of the Hanley Foundation, we have been Divest Invest signatories since 2014. Here's our story that will hopefully inspire you to join the movement as well. For the past 10 years, I've been an impatient climate activist. To keep the ball rolling, I've protested, marched, blogged, testified, lobbied and donated to countless projects and politicians. Through the foundation my husband and I created (focused on advancing environmental, educational and empowerment solutions), we've supported climate policy and advocacy campaigns, Beyond Coal, clean energy innovation prizes, environmental education, art exhibits and so on. But it's been really frustrating at times. For years climate policy was a no-go. Let me take you back to November 2012. This was before Pres. Obama had a climate agenda and Pope Francis was even the pope. I went with a group of activists to the Do the Math tour stop in Chicago. There, Bill McKibben explained that physics demands we keep 80% of fossil fuels in the ground to avert planetary catastrophe. He fired up college students to begin apartheid-style divestment campaigns at their universities to fight back against the reckless fossil fuel industry. Suddenly, the clouds started to part. I began to see that divestment might just be the ultimate disrupter. I was so excited! I went straight home to my husband and told him all about it. This time, I said, we might actually be able to influence real change. We're donors at the University of Dayton (UD), you're an alum, on the board and on the investment committee. You've got to do this. He nodded along and then said, Amanda, I will get laughed out of the room if I bring this up. I was crushed. That sleepness night I kept rehashing all the reasons why this made absolute sense. Universities get climate science. The Catholic church does too and is active on moral grounds. UD has made climate commitments and major sustainability initiatives.They comply with other mission aligned investment screens. And aren't universities supposed to be investing in their students' future? I would not let up. To make a long story short, after a year of due diligence and steps forward and back, George and visionary university leaders gratefully came through. In July 2014, the board unanimously voted to divest from Carbon Underground 200 and Filthy 15 companies from their $670 million endowment. This is the first and only Catholic university to do this. They did so because of their commitment to environmental sustainability, human rights and their religious mission. Advertisement After the divestment announcement buzz, we often don't hear what happens next. First of all, the endowment is fine. If anything the returns have been positively impacted by divesting. But more importantly, there have been SO many other fringe benefits. First students and faculty were thrilled with the decision, seeing their university doesn't just talk the talk, but walks the walk. There has been record enrollment and record donations. The decision has attracted top talent in recruiting. For example, after a national search to replace the retiring president Dan Curran, who championed divestment, we are excited about the fabulous incoming president Eric Spina. He's coming from Syracuse where they coincidentally divested fossil fuels from their $1.18 billion endowment last year. Meanwhile, the university has ramped up investing in renewable energy funds and green bonds. Since they were rethinking the endowment, they also created a green revolving fund for energy efficiency retrofits on campus. Divestment has also given students hands on experience. Business students manage $25M of university's endowment and now have familiarity investing outside of coal, oil and gas. A new student managed impact investment fund is about to launched any day. Several new research partnerships relating to sustainability have also emerged. For example, business students are helping As You Sow analyze cleantech companies to build an interactive web tool. This partnership didn't happen with Harvard or Boston College because they are still clinging to fossil fuel investment despite student outcry. UD students now have cutting edge clean job skills. Overall, student engagement is at an all time high - sustainability is the most popular minor, learning living community and event focus. Beyond Dayton, I have a much bigger dream to spark a larger Divest Invest wave across the entire Catholic community all the way to the Vatican. Through the Hanley Sustainability Institute, last fall we sponsored the first Catholic divest invest conference for universities, health care institutes and religious orders. It was an incredible conference that started a critical dialogue on how to invest in line with Pope Francis' encyclical. Advertisement I started with this UD example because divesting from our individual and foundation portfolios was pretty simple. It doesn't make sense for us to support climate protections on one hand and fund opposition with the other. We have a smart, responsive money manager at HighTower that has been helping us invest consistently with our values and mission for years. Our portfolios are fossil free - meaning there are no companies that extract, process, refine or distribute fossil fuels. When it comes to the investing side, it helps that my husband has a markets background and has been taking an an active role with impact investing. We have a range of clean energy and sustainable investments, including funds with Generation (through RBC), DBL Partners and Great Point Ventures. Our financial strategy is evolving. For example, on the grantmaking side, we've partnered with the Acumen Fund's Energy Portfolio for several years. It's tackling poverty through supporting clean energy start-ups such as dLight, M-Kopa Solar, Orb Energy, Husk Power and others that have improved more than 20 million lives. On the MRI side, we are now looking to invest in a fund scaling up off grid solar in E. Africa. Merging both sides, I'm part of a team developing a campaign (launching next year) that will call on philanthropy and faith groups to commit 1% of their investments toward clean energy access. When it comes down to it, we want to make sure that across the board ALL of our philanthropy dollars - grants and investments - are being used to advance our mission, not undermine it. Every argument against divestment is weak. There's no better time than now to join this important movement that includes individuals, foundations, universities, faith groups, non-profits, pensions, cities and others that represent more than $3.4 TRILLION in assets. . . . For someone who's likely to win the Democratic nomination and get elected President this year, Hillary Clinton's got problems. But they may turn out to be short-term problems. For one thing, she has become the candidate of the status quo. A lot of voters, including a lot of Democratic voters, are not satisfied with the status quo. In this month's McClatchy-Marist poll, two thirds of Americans -- and half of Democrats -- say things in the country are going in the wrong direction. Clinton may have competed with Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination eight years ago, but having served in his Administration for four years, she has become thoroughly identified with President Obama's record. Advertisement In Wisconsin last week, only about half of Democratic primary voters said the next President's policies should continue President Obama's policies. They voted for Clinton. Democrats who wanted a new direction went overwhelmingly for Bernie Sanders. His supporters look at Hillary Clinton and see "triangulation'' -- her husband's record of accommodation and compromise: free trade, welfare reform, budget balancing, deregulation of Wall Street, the Defense of Marriage Act, the crime bill. Former President Bill Clinton said this week, "Sometimes I get the feeling that the gentleman who's running against Hillary is running harder against President Obama and me than he is against the legacy of the Bush Administration and trickle-down economics.'' That's true. But the Bush Administration's record is not an issue in the Democratic primaries. The Clinton record and the Obama record are. Week after week, we've been seeing the same pattern: Bernie Sanders does much better among self-described Independents than among more partisan Democrats. In Ohio for example, Sanders took two thirds of the vote among Independents voting in the Democratic primary but only about one third of the vote among those who identified as Democrats. Clinton's weakness with Independents is the main reason why polls show Sanders as the stronger Democratic candidate for November. In the McClatchy-Marist poll, Sanders leads Donald Trump by 20 points. Hillary Clinton leads Trump by nine. The main reason for the disparity: among Independents, Sanders runs 24 points ahead of Trump while Clinton leads Trump by just three. Advertisement And with Ted Cruz at the top of the Republican ticket? Same thing: Sanders leads Cruz by 12 points while a Clinton vs. Cruz race is a tie. Again, the key is Independents. They go for Sanders over Cruz but Cruz over Clinton. Clinton supporters tend to be loyal Democrats. She said this week, "I will take Bernie Sanders over Donald Trump or Ted Cruz any time.'' Sanders has said he will support Clinton if she wins the nomination, but his supporters are less reliable. Right now, a quarter of Sanders voters say they will not back Clinton in November if she's the nominee. Fourteen percent of Clinton voters say they would refuse to back Sanders. Would so many Sanders supporters actually vote for Donald Trump or Ted Cruz? No, but some of them may not vote or vote for an independent candidate rather than Clinton. On the other hand, Sanders' weakness with partisan Democrats may make it tough for him to win the nomination. His main argument to try to persuade superdelegates to switch sides and support him is momentum. He has won seven out of the last eight Democratic contests. But his momentum may draw to a halt very soon. Four big states have yet to vote, and three of them -- New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey -- allow only registered Democrats to participate. (The California Democratic primary on June 7 is open to Independents.) Those states also have large minority constituencies, and minorities have been going strongly for Clinton. Moreover, because Democratic Party rules require states to divide their convention delegates in proportion to the vote, Sanders would have to win overwhelming victories in the remaining states to catch up with Clinton's delegate lead. The Democratic Party's proportional rules also have the effect of keeping ailing candidates alive. The primaries are supposed to be a killing field. The idea is to kill off candidates and get their bodies off the field as fast as possible. As long as Sanders can keep winning delegates, he will remain a contender. Advertisement His people will be a major force at the Democratic convention in July. They will demand a change in the party rules to get rid of unelected superdelegates. Superdelegates right now are supporting Clinton over Sanders by 15 to 1. Ironically, party rules are creating the opposite problem for Republicans this year. Republican rules allow states with later primaries to award delegates winner-take-all or winner-take-most. The idea was to shut the contest down quickly and allow the party to close ranks behind the frontrunner. Republicans never expected the frontrunner to be Donald Trump. The legitimacy of the process has become an issue in both parties this year. Sanders objects to unelected superdelegates. Trump objects to the fact that his chief rival, Ted Cruz, has been outmaneuvering him in the selection of actual delegates by party insiders. Trump calls it :a crooked deal'' and "a rigged system'' run by the Republican establishment. He keeps threatening to bolt the party if he wins more primary votes than anyone else but is denied the nomination. Republicans seem to have two options for November. They can nominate Trump and lose. Or they can nominate someone else, in which case Trump will make sure they lose. Right now, Clinton's ties to President Obama are a problem for her. But they may turn into a strength. The latest polls show Obama's job approval inching up to 50 percent as voters begin to acknowledge the improving economy. When an incumbent President's job approval rises over 50, it's good news for his party even if the President can't run for re-election. It means the status quo looks better, and the candidate of the President's party has a good chance to win. FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2015, file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad gives an interview with the BBC in Damascus, Syria. On Wednesday, March 30, 2016, Assad said in an interview with Sputnik, a Russian state news agency, that Syria needs a national unity government that would secure the transition to a new constitution, rejecting the "transitional body" demanded by the opposition, which wants him to step down. Assad said Syrian refugees will begin returning home when they see hope for improvement, adding that one of the main causes of migration is Western sanctions against Syria. (SANA via AP, File) The shaky six week-old Syrian truce has created some space to breathe. Although armed groups Al-Nusrah and ISIS are not included in the ceasefire, and plenty other groups haven't actually stopped fighting completely, Syrian doctors tell me civilian casualty figures have fallen sharply. Peace talks are supposed to resume in Geneva this week, aimed at finding a political solution to the conflict which has seen hundreds of thousands of people killed and more than half the country's population displaced. Perhaps the single biggest question to resolving the war is what will happen to Syrian President Bashar al Assad. Washington's changing line and deepening opacity on whether he must go as part of a solution has been exasperating to Syrian human rights activists. Advertisement There is now talk of Assad being allowed to stay on for a while in a face-saving, interim arrangement. Syrian civil society activists based here in Gaziantep, on the Turkish side of the Syrian border, unanimously agree that he shouldn't be even a temporary part of any new politics, and that he should go. Quite what Assad's going means isn't entirely clear - some say he needs to leave the country in disgrace, be put on a plane to Russia, Iran, or somewhere else along with his family and the other cronies who are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths over the last five years. Others want him to be tried in the Hague or another court for his crimes. Others want something harsher still. But the dictator shows no sign of stepping down, and is threatening to end the fragile ceasefire now that his soldiers have had a chance to rest. Assad's prime minister, Wael al-Halaki, warned on Sunday that regime forces "are preparing for an operation to liberate Aleppo and to block all illegal armed groups which have not joined or have broken the ceasefire deal." It's a re-declaration of war, despite peace negotiations due to resume in Geneva this week. Given the mountains of evidence documenting his crimes, maybe Assad thinks his one remaining chance of political and perhaps even physical survival is to win the conflict outright so he can avoid facing justice. Advertisement There's an horrific logic to this - that the only way to escape justice for war crimes is to commit more. This kind of thinking would obviously be a tragedy of epic proportions - for Assad to try and massacre his way to safety. But he has few escape routes left. He could flee to another country, but there's no guarantee he'd be able to live out the rest of his life quietly. No doubt Assad occasionally thinks of what happened to his predecessor Syrian President Adib Shishakli, another repressive leader whose security forces shelled the country's Druze minority. Shishkali was forced out of office and out of Syria in 1954, seeking refuge in South America. Ten years later he was found and assassinated in Brazil by a man whose parents had been killed in the shelling. He may also think of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic who was recently convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity in a Hague court room, more than twenty years after he committed his atrocities. Follow me on Instagram as I cover the New York primary on the ground. When Bernie Sanders arrived at his Manhattan rally, most of his 30,000 supporters could not actually see the Senator. Washington Square Park, which consists of 9.75-acres, had to be split into two sections due to the historic number of people who came to rally for Sanders less than a week before the New York primary. Outside of the park, thousands more stood waiting in a maze of side streets, listening to the Senator's raspy voice over the loudspeakers that had been scattered throughout the vicinity. When then-Senator Obama held a rally in the same location in 2007, 24,000 people attended. At the time, The New York Times called the rally, "clearly one of the largest of the year." In 2016, Sanders would attract the largest crowd the park has ever seen. Prior to Sanders' record-setting mega rally in Manhattan, the Senator earned kudos from the city's union workers when he joined the Verizon strike picket line in Brooklyn. Sanders spoke about corporate greed, taking on special interests and raising the minimum wage. Some of the excitement he sparked in the picket line carried over to his rally in Washington Square Park, where hundreds, maybe thousands of Verizon employees gathered after walking off the job earlier that day. Advertisement At the rally, Sanders took another opportunity to stand up for those workers. He honored the Verizon employees who bravely went on strike and praised the Communications Workers of America union for combatting grotesque inequality. "Tonight, I want to take my hat off to the CWA. They are standing up to a greedy corporation that wants to cut their health care benefits, send decent paying jobs abroad and then provide $20 million a year to their CEO." Here are some photographs that capture the passion that radiated from the rally: The World Water Day 2016 was flooded with high hopes and a celebratory mood. Last year, the world leaders committed to the Sustainable Development Goals, yet there are no significant changes on the horizon. Are we going to achieve clean water and sanitation for all by 2030? The World Bank estimates that to achieve universal coverage in the water and sanitation sector by 2030 will cost between US$ 14 and US$ 47 billion per year - and that's just to extend water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services to the unserved. This amounts to up to three times the current investment levels. What's more, these figures do not take into account recurrent costs for maintaining existing services - which is estimated to add up to more or less the same yearly investment as the capital expenditure (i.e. new systems). Clearly, present levels of investment will not allow us to reach universal coverage for water or sanitation by 2030. The problem goes beyond the absolute amount of funding and where it is directed, and also includes the rate of growth of investments. With the notable exceptions of Bangladesh and Thailand, inequalities in access to WASH services have not decreased since the 1990s. Advertisement The missing pieces At the Sanitation and Water for All Ministerial meetings in Addis Ababa where 40 ministers from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East met to discuss funding the sector for the next 15 years, taxes and domestic resource mobilisation were rarely mentioned. Yet, in the US, UK and South Korea sustained services for all became possible through injections of public finance and subsidies. In the US, national and local governments were the driving force behind water and sanitation provision. Municipal bonds, and we are talking year 1840, were the major source of finance for investments. In cities, property taxes and tariffs for connection charges also played a role, but were still insufficient to meet investment requirements. For rural water supply, still today, government grants (subsidies) are the norm. More recently, in South Korea, there was a nation-wide push and leadership for better well-being and modernity. The initial injection of funds in the 1960 (mainly from the US) was followed by rapid industrialisation and economic development. After the grants, taxes became an important source of fund for infrastructure investments and finally, tariffs have allowed the national water company to achieve full cost recovery in 2004. Nothing is a stronger showcase of government leadership than being able to raise domestic sources of finance for providing basic universal services which are taken for granted in many of the richest countries. In fact, that may be the only way to reach to the Sustainable Development Goals. It is easier said than done and it does require fixing the systems and the institutions that allow taxes to be collected fairly and used efficiently in providing water and sanitation for all NOW. Advertisement Checking the numbers Historical data tells us that countries have typically achieved (near) universal rural water coverage when they reached a GDP per person of between US$ 5,000 and 8,000. Many low income countries which are not on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals are well below these targets. Given the low levels of GDP of some countries, 0.5% of GDP target for sanitation - as per the Ngor declaration commitments - will not, in absolute terms, be enough to pay for basic services. However, for lower middle income countries taxation will generate significant amounts, enabling for instance a shift from aid grants to leveraging other financing sources and accessing loans. This would also imply that grant funding would need to shift and focus on the poorest countries or the areas where inequalities are higher. Following the money The other aspect that contributes to my pessimism is the general lack of accountability for funding spent in the sector. How can countries say they need more money when very few can track existing budgets, financing for the sector or demonstrate that sustained services are being achieved? Most countries which are off track to meet the universal goals don't even know how many service providers they have, where the water and sanitation infrastructure is located and if its working properly. In countries where there is no accountability for the levels of service being provided over time (for instance Tanzania with a decrease in rural coverage despite massive injections of funds over the last 10 years), civil society organisations will need to be more vocal and use evidence to collaborate and support national and local governments and help them fulfill their mandate. At IRC we are supporting countries and organisations developing their monitoring systems both at national and district level, including tracking finance and understanding value for money of investments in water and sanitation. Advertisement O'Reilly Factor, Fox News The last several weeks haven't been particularly great for Donald J. Trump. While the billionaire continues to lead Sen. Ted Cruz in the delegate count (as of April 13, the Associated Press delegate tracker places Trump with a 743-545 lead) and has won more states in the Republican primary contest than any other candidate, Trump would need to claim approximately 57% of the remaining delegates to reach the 1,247 delegate threshold to clinch the nomination on the first ballot at the GOP convention this summer. The math is increasingly working against him as the race is getting more competitive; if the first two months of the primary season were dominated by Trump sweeps in the south and talk of Trump being the inevitable Republican nominee, the last month has provided anti-Trump forces among the traditional conservative establishment with a small amount of hope that the party might be saved at the very last moment. Beginning with a 13-point loss in Wisconsin on April 5 and continuing with Cruz's delegate sweep in Colorado's convention last weekend, the Trump campaign is experiencing the most difficult period of the race to date. For the #NeverTrump movement, the goal remains the same: deprive "the Donald" from reaching 1,237 delegates when Speaker Paul Ryan opens up the GOP convention in July. In this scenario, once the delegates get through the first round of voting, most will be able to switch their allegiances to another candidate, thereby effectively keeping the nomination away from Trump and handing it over to one of his competitors. It's the sort of speculation that political gurus like Chuck Todd, John King, and Dan Balz have been reporting on for months -- an event equivalent of the Super Bowl for politicos. Advertisement Donald Trump has long known that this is how the Republican Party operates their presidential conventions. Indeed, it has operated in this fashion for decades. And yet, instead of building a core group of campaign veterans who understand how the delegate selection process works and devoting more time to placing Trump loyalists into the delegate slots (Paul Manafort only recently joined the Trump campaign as the chief delegate strategist), Donald Trump has spent a good portion of his time taking to the airwaves and to social media in his best impression of Frank Constanza during Festivus. Donald Trump's entire brand is built on his business acumen -- the man, after all, made billions of dollars for himself and his family. Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that; the United States, after all, is a capitalist society where innovation and competition are welcome and indeed encouraged. But when Trump no longer wins, he has a tendency to lash out like a two-year old, accuse his political rivals of illegality without foundation or proof, and blame the system rather than take his licks and accept fault for underperforming. Trump, to be blunt, is more likely to throw a hissy-fit like a child in a supermarket instead of an acting like the statesman he is seeking to become. One can certainly understand why Trump is frustrated. He has won 22 of 35 contests, 1.9 million more votes than his second-place competitor, and more pledged delegates than everyone else. When someone like Cruz sweeps all of Colorado's delegates (most of those who were running to be Republican delegates in Colorado's state convention were party activists) and is unable to get Trump supporters into the national convention as elected delegates in a variety of states (even in those states where he won overwhelmingly), Trump's temperature begins to rise and his rhetoric returns to the mix of righteous indignation, petty insults, and juvenile antics that parents with teenagers know all too well. When teenagers don't get what they want, they tend to complain and blame that the system as being "rigged" or "unfair" -- the very same words that Trump himself used on Fox News and CNN this week when asked to react to his loss in Colorado. Advertisement Donald Trump may not like how the system is working for him right now. He may strongly believe that it's unfair, and that the delegate selection process is a game that is dominated by big money interests, super PAC's, political operatives, and establishment elites. And, to tell you the truth, it wouldn't be surprising to learn that many Americans agree with him. But this is the way the game is played. Trump and his people signed up to play the game as soon as the billionaire strolled down that escalator last summer to announce his candidacy. To complain about the rules now is not at all dissimilar from a professional baseball player complaining to the umpire that he is not getting enough hits because he keeps striking out. Is this a sign of the future? For those in any doubt whether hatred, ignorance, or intolerance exists in America...here's an example in black and white and red. Are we meant to be taken in by the lurid, blood-dripping visual or the blatantly bigoted language? I for one won't sit quietly by while this sign of hate is displayed in my backyard, my city, or my country. I live in Saint Augustine, Florida - the nation's oldest continuously occupied European city, the site of the first Catholic mass celebrated on our continent, and the town where Native Americans, Spanish settlers, and free black people co-existed for one brief shining moment. It was also the epicenter of brutal Ku Klux Klan confrontations with non-violent demonstrators in the months prior to the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Saint Augustine is now witnessing intolerance and hatred yet again. A large billboard recently erected on the major thoroughfare A1A on Anastasia Island in Saint Augustine Beach broadcasts an Islamophobic message which echoes the rhetoric of certain presidential candidates. The definition of Islamophobia is attributing the actions of an individual or a group of individuals upon the entire population without any distinction. Newsweek ran a story by senior writer Kurt Eichenwald on February 4, 2016 titled 'Right-Wing Extremists Are A Bigger Threat To America Than ISIS' which included this quote, "'Law enforcement agencies in the United States consider anti-government violent extremists, not radicalized Muslims, to be the most severe threat of political violence that they face,' the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security reported this past June, based on surveys of 382 law enforcement groups." Even UNC Professor Charles Kurzman and Duke Professor David Schanzer wrote last July in the NY Times that Islam-inspired terror attacks "accounted for 50 fatalities over the past 13 and a half years." Meanwhile, "right-wing extremists averaged 337 attacks per year in the decade after 9/11, causing a total of 254 fatalities." Advertisement Yet we continue to see our populace whipped up into near hysteria by those who intentionally link peaceful, mainstream Islam to violent, extremist groups who wrap themselves in the banner of Islam. Malicious misdirection of our attention leaves us scared, blind, and easy prey. Several hijab-wearing residents report an uptick in verbal abuse and physical intimidation when they are out in public, so this 'open-season' on Muslims is clearly impacting their daily lives. Even a Muslim grandmother, born and bred in St. Augustine, sadly accepts the company of her teenage grandson for her weekly grocery shopping! Reverend Ken Wilcox, Senior Minister at the Center for Spiritual Living in Saint Augustine, states, "Our nation was founded on the premise that all God's children are equal and deserving of freedom and liberty. Right now we are seeing the onslaught of fear being fanned by politicians for their own purposes. People of faith are being called to challenge fear with love, hate with compassion, and ignorance with understanding." A petition, begun by Becky Williams, asking for the removal of the billboard clearly states, "We should always stand up for those in our community who are shown hatred and intolerance. We should be outraged that a billboard with this message could in any way represent our community as a whole." Over 1,500 signatures were collected in less than 24 hours, with some signers also posting comments such as these: "This is a deplorable sight here in St. Augustine. We are BETTER THAN THIS, people! WWJD??--He loves EVERYONE!" "I am completely offended by this horrible hate speak. Take this down! This is not advertising anything but hate." "Jesus would sign this petition." Caren Goldman, Executive Director of Compassionate St. Augustine says, "Members of Compassionate St. Augustine are saddened that this is taking place in our community. Our diverse organization is part of a worldwide network known as the Charter for Compassion International. Locally, CSA includes men, women and children of all faiths who work tirelessly to make our community a more compassionate one through advocacy, awareness and action. In light of the Islamaphobic message expressed on a local billboard, we have strongly encouraged St. John's County residents and others nationally and internationally to sign a petition to remove the message. Our Muslim brothers and sisters are doctors, lawyers, businesspersons, teachers, law enforcement officers, parents, grandparents and children -- who are outraged by acts of terrorism and deeply hurt by blatant Islamaphobia. We stand with them in their sorrow." Advertisement In 1961, President John F. Kennedy quoted parliamentarian Edmund Burke who said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." What are you going to do? Libyan soldiers manning a military outpost, stop a car at a checkpoint in Wadi Bey, west of the city of Sirte, which is held by Islamic State militants, February 23, 2016. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny The list of places in Europe and Africa that have suffered from jihadist terrorism is rapidly growing: the seaside town of Grand-Bassam in Cote d'Ivoire, nightspots in Paris, and transport hubs in Brussels, to name just a few. In Europe, recent investigations suggest that the Islamic State (ISIS) has established a network of terror cells that is far wider and deeper than authorities had believed. In Africa, the number of deaths from jihadist violence has nearly tripled from 2013 to 2015, as Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, ISIS, and others have launched attacks across the continent. With competition among groups affiliated with ISIS and Al Qaeda heating up, the violence is likely to grow further. Advertisement The challenge for policymakers on both continents is to contain the rise of terrorism without eroding hard-won freedoms. Facing that challenge is our common calling; indeed, tackling it together is the only sustainable solution. To this end, two security platforms are collaborating on a unique intercontinental partnership. The Munich Security Conference Core Group Meeting will take place in Ethiopia on April 14-15, followed by the Fifth Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa on April 16-17. In the face of transnational, global security threats - including jihadist terrorism, but also the spread of pandemics and the consequences of climate change - the need for much closer and more effective European-African cooperation has become increasingly clear. The unprecedented number of jihadist attacks in multiple countries in recent months has demonstrated how vulnerable our societies have become and how transnational the threat is. No group illustrates the nature of the challenge more clearly than ISIS. From its origins as a terrorist group capitalizing on state failure in Iraq and Syria, it has spread like a virus from Afghanistan to Nigeria and carried out or inspired attacks as far abroad as the United States and the Philippines. And, in addition to its territorial conquests and physical networks of followers, ISIS has established a firm foothold online - far more so than any other jihadist organization. Combating ISIS and similar groups will require a strategy for both battlefields - physical and digital. Such an approach will have to include military components, improved intelligence work, and better information sharing. But we need to do more than just suppress the jihadist virus; we must eradicate it. To that end, we must address the root causes of jihadism, and the conditions that allow it to thrive.The recent series of setbacks that ISIS has suffered in Iraq and Syria should not be interpreted as a sign of its impending demise. On the contrary, ISIS and other groups are seeking new hosts and conditions that are favorable to their spread; all too often, they are finding them. African countries are at particular risk: Jihadist groups have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to exploit disorder and weak state structures. ISIS's advances in Libya are only the latest example. Advertisement Al Qaeda and ISIS may have global aspirations, but their ability to penetrate a society is strongly influenced by local conditions. Jihadist organizations attempt to exploit discontent among marginalized groups in unstable societies. Thus, counter-jihadist strategies must focus on strengthening vulnerable states and eliminating the conditions that allow jihadist groups to take root. This effort is particularly urgent in North Africa, East Africa, and the Sahel, where jihadists are currently operating; but, over the medium to long term, other parts of the continent will also require attention. According to United Nations projections, Africa's population is expected to more than double during the next 35 years, from 1.19 billion to 2.48 billion. This presents both enormous opportunities and significant challenges. If countries are able to provide their citizens with the infrastructure and institutions needed to thrive, they will be among the twenty-first century's most dynamic societies.Should they fail to accomplish this, however, the result could be widespread, accelerated state collapse and the impoverishment and potential radicalization of millions of people. Among the many horrific consequences of such an outcome would be mass migration toward Europe and other Western countries and the creation of fertile recruiting grounds for new generations of jihadists. The importance of Africa's development to the entire world should be self-evident. And yet, despite the high stakes, Europe - and the international community more broadly - have not devoted the attention and resources that the issue merits. Today, more than ever, it would be extremely unwise to allow that to continue. A stronger partnership between Africa and Europe can make the difference. When you first meet Wes, he has a cool brother vibe that puts you at ease. Once you start talking to him there is a bit more of an intense curiosity. This man is upfront an open with a gaze that communicates he is present. I know a few things about him that make me want to put him in the "Renaissance Man" category but with all his independence there is an equal balance of responsibility and family loyalty. Wes is raising a family, being a community leader and growing a business in the deep South. The diversity of his being made me want to ask a few questions and learn more... EP - Hey Wes, for those who have never met you, can you give a quick run down bio? WD - Born in the Tennessee mountains, but spent my youth on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Studied Literature and got a Master's at LSU, then gave myself 5 years to teach, write, and travel. Took 2 extra, then closed that chapter, relocated to Pensacola and joined the family business. EP - Ok, there is a lot on your personal resume. Can you rank by priority who you are by the hat you are wearing at different times with a little reason behind the motivation? WD - When we had multiple locations, I loved overseeing operations, having the right personnel in place and making sure they had the tools they needed to run efficiently and succeed. In the wake of the oil spill, we made the decision to consolidate into our current downtown location, which was thriving. Now we have multiple concept stores, but all under one roof. I quickly settled in, and now more than anything I really enjoy working with and helping individual customers. Getting to know the amazing people that walk through our doors every day. As an extension, I love the buying hat: picking out specific items that I know my customers will love as much as I do. I love to product test, and my customers have come to expect that I believe in what I sell. I still have an operation to run, top to bottom, but I run it as part of the team, not someone popping in to manage. EP - Why did you write the book "HORN ISLAND DREAM"? Advertisement WD - I was sitting on a park bench in Savannah, Georgia waiting on my wife while she was in a job interview. I was struck with an idea. I had paper, but no pen. I looked down, and there was a pen on the ground. I started scribbling ideas and about 2 months later had a manuscript. The story just kept coming. It was an amazingly fun process that I didn't see coming. It just happened. EP - Back to daily business....why a bricks and mortar store in Pensacola? WD - I never had any interest in retail. Hate shopping more than anyone I know to this day. But love sales. So there was this shoe store in Pensacola that had been neglected and was in pretty bad shape, but I loved the location and thought I could turn it into an outdoor lifestyle store. I had traveled all over Florida up until this point, never finding anywhere I would want actually move to--until I found Pensacola. It felt like a place I would want to raise my children and live. EP - You could go into many business models but choose retail. What are you trying to say and who is your client? WD - I choose retail because I enjoy it, and because I truly value the legacy my family has built and want to continue it. What am I trying to say? We are all well aware that at any moment, consumers today can purchase anything they want with the click of a button--from their phone now not even their computer! Our clients, though, still enjoy the shopping experience. Our staff loves working with customers. Connecting customers with products that will enrich their lives. It's not the kind of experience you can get online, and that's why we continue to succeed despite the ever-changing retail environment. EP - What are some of your favorite things about living and doing business in Pensacola? Advertisement WD - I love the fact that there is water, literally everywhere. I love the fact that for most of the year I can work a full day and still have time on the water with my wife and kids. I love that we are a small beach town, but still have enough amenities of a larger city to keep things interesting. EP - What is the most adventurous thing you have ever done and give me the ROI? WD - That's a tough one . . . When I was doing character research for my book, I paddled to a remote island, buried my boat, then hiked around the island for a week alone. Dug up my boat, paddled home, then wrote about it but through the voice of the main character. Although I must say flying to Paris a week ahead of my college program and navigating the city alone (I was as fluent as an American student can be in French . . . ) is tough to beat. The ROI of landing in such a chaotic environment and making your own way is pretty thrilling. EP - Tell me how that passion for adventure relates to your business choices? WD - Outfitters in general have the reputation for having a condescending attitude. Customers have always remarked how much they appreciate the vibe in my store because it's the opposite of that. I don't think you have to climb a mountain or kayak offshore or do anything crazy to have that sense of adventure. It comes in many different forms, and so we try to treat every customer's adventure with respect and connect them with products that will make it better. EP - There are a lot of people who share your ideas but do not have the platform to do what you are doing. What advice do you have for those who dream about having a lifestyle brand like Intracoastal Outfitters? WD - I read an article recently where the author said being an entrepreneur was harder than running Merrill Lynch, and she knew that because she used to run Merrill Lynch. If you really dream of starting your own business, just make sure it is your dream because the reality will require you to put everything on the line, all the time. But just like with any adventure, high risk = high reward! EP - Lastly, WHAT IS NEXT??? Where are you headed and what catches your eye? WD - We are celebrating 10 years in business in Pensacola, so it's an exciting time for our business. For me personally, I've got a book that I really want to get out there because I think readers will really enjoy it. Between running a business and raising 3 kids, we will see what kind of time I can carve out for that here soon! Advertisement NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 13: People walk into the offices of Al Jazeera America, a cable news channel that debuted in August 2013 on January 13, 2016 in New York City. Al Jazeera America announced today that they are shutting down. Employees of the struggling news network known as AJAM were informed of the decision during an all-hands staff meeting on Wednesday afternoon. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Al Jazeera America has closed but I am proud that the station's exceptional staff made a powerful impression on the American media landscape through their impact journalism. The station drew strong praise in the United States and around the world. The Nation called Al Jazeera America's work "extraordinary," praising it effusively even as it closed on Tuesday evening after a three-year run. Likening its quality to the BBC, The Nation wrote that Al Jazeera America produced "some of the best fact-based, socially liberal TV reporting in the United States in recent years." Advertisement Al Jazeera America said in January it would stop broadcasting in April because "our business model is simply not sustainable." Still, staff should feel proud that Al Jazeera now has a reputation in the United States of a respected maker of unbiased, provocative, hard-hitting news. They also transformed the U.S. perception of Al Jazeera. In its final days, the station aired a four-part documentary "The Limits of Hope: Inside Obama's White House," featuring interviews with President Obama and members of his inner circle -- a testament of the respect for the channel even among the highest echelons of Washington's elite. Equal to the Best American TV Shows including America Tonight Presents and Fault Lines were equal to the best American TV journalism. Having led the launch of the station, hired hundreds of staff, opened 12 U.S. bureaus and brokered deals with cable operators, I am proud of the achievements of the hard-working people who made all this possible. And I thank all of them for their tireless efforts. After the closure was announced in January, The Wall Street Journal wrote, "The channel hoped to differentiate itself from other cable and broadcast news outlets by doing investigative journalism. The channel steered clear of the traffic chases, celebrity gossip and political shouting matches. Its on-air look was stripped of the graphics that fill the screens of CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other outlets. The strategy paid off in awards for its work." Al Jazeera America won more than 70 honors, including an International Emmy, prestigious Sigma Delta Chi awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and Peabody Awards. More acknowledgment should come once 2016 honors are handed out. The work of these remarkable journalists was available to more than 60 million American homes because the quality of their journalism impressed cable operators. Advertisement Making an Impact To be clear, Al Jazeera America was not about chasing ratings above all else. The initial goal was producing impact journalism -- telling stories that shine a light on the world's oppressed. Impact journalism does not chase ratings by reporting on salacious celebrity gossip or by engaging in the political shouting matches that have become all too common on American cable news channels. Great impact journalism would eventually bring a loyal, growing audience. It takes seven years to fully establish a brand in any new market and Al Jazeera made incredible strides in less than three years in the United States. Judged on impact, Al Jazeera America was a success. For example, Al Jazeera America was among the earliest to extensively cover Flint's poisoned water crisis. Media Matters notes that Al Jazeera covered the story extensively whereas Fox, CNN and ABC's top news shows all ignored the Flint crisis until 2016 and CBS, NBC and PBS only covered it briefly. By contrast, in 2015 Al Jazeera published one online article about Flint in March, followed by at least seven online articles between September 2015 and the end of the year, and also aired at least seven segments on America Tonight Presents during that period. Impact journalism like this is important now more than ever because too many Americans have lost faith in the news media. According to Gallup, only four in 10 Americans have "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of trust and confidence in the media to report the news accurately and fairly. That low level of trust matches historic lows set in 2014 and 2012. Confidence in the media among Americans has dropped from a high of 55% in 1998 and 1999. Advertisement Another impact of Al Jazeera America was changing the reputation that Al Jazeera had in the United States when it launched. In August of 2013, the newspaper of the American everyman, USA Today, wrote that there was a "lingering perception that Middle East-based Al Jazeera is anti-U.S. and a mouthpiece for terrorists." Harsh words indeed. Today, few Americans who have spent time watching Al Jazeera America's news could retain such prejudice. While the station has now gone dark, we should thank the staff of Al Jazeera America for giving America a taste of quality, impact journalism at a time when so much of cable news is hot air. As the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote, "Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." This post is adapted from a speech delivered at a Fireside Chat between Arianna Huffington and Andre Iguodala on April 11, 2016 at Stanford University. You can watch the event here. Before introducing our famous guests, as director of the Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine, I have been asked to introduce the topic of sleep and sleep disorders and why we should bother to study sleep. This is not difficult for me as sleep is my passion. The first reason for studying sleep is simply that sleep is one of the last remaining mysteries in biology. We still don't understand why a typical human has to spend 25 years of life sleeping. Or why sleep deprivation is still such a powerful force that can lead people to collapse or make terrible errors of judgment. It is also a magical moment that allows us to disconnect from the world, hunger, worries, etc. "Sleep is death without commitment," says the humorist, and I guess this is why it is so stressful not to be able to sleep when you have problems in your life. As I will discuss toward the end of this presentation, I believe these answers are within our grasp with relatively limited investment thanks to advances in big data and genetics. Advertisement At the practical level, we know that two distinct processes, circadian timing and "sleep debt" regulate sleep. Sleep debt is what we feel when we stay awake for a longer and longer period of time. Day after day, people become more and more tired so that after three nights a person would literally kill just to catch a wink. Our brain keeps track of how much sleep we have and makes it imperative to catch up. Randy Gartner was able to stay awake for 264 hours (11 days), which is the world record. This is strange as sleep makes us vulnerable to predators, and in fact carnivores on top of the food chain sleep the most. Literally nothing is known regarding what controls sleep debt and sleep needs in individuals or how the brain keeps tracks of it. We just know that sleep needs varies a lot with age and between people and that sleep makes us feel restored. But exactly what it restores in the body and the brain is unknown. Could you imagine a world where you could take a pill, fall asleep quickly, sleep for only a few hours and awaken fully rested? We are far from it. Independent of our sleep debt, we feel much worse at certain times of the day and night. For example, even when we do not sleep for several days, it is much easier to stay awake in the early evening while in the early morning we feel very sleepy. This feeling parallels change in our body temperature and are what we experience during jet lag. Unlike sleep debt, we do know how circadian rhythms are generated; the problem is that no one has been able to simply apply this complex knowledge to help people. What has been discovered is that almost every cell in the body has an internal clock that allow it to get ready for the new day, and that this clock works by producing factors that cascade into regulating other factors. This process takes exactly 24 hours to complete and reset. We also know that all these clocks are regulated by a master clock located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus or SCN. The SCN is a part of the brain located above the optic nerve that is directly connected to the eyes so that light can reset our clock to the right timing everyday, which is important because otherwise our timing would drift everyday. It is also what helps us adjust to jet lag when we are travelling across time zones. For all of you world travelers I hope you know that the most efficient way to reset your clock is to stay outside and get as much daylight as possible. Advertisement What is also interesting is that circadian rhythms don't simply make you more awake during the entire day and sleepier during the entire night; they cleverly work together with our sleep debt to optimize the 24hr cycle. For example, in the morning, people are awake mostly because they just slept and have no sleep debt, but as the day progresses and the temperature rises so does sleep debt and in the evening people are awake because the circadian clock is making us alert, fighting the sleep debt we have accumulated since the morning. The opposite occurs at night, we sleep when the sleep debt is too high, and then stay asleep longer in the morning because temperature drops and the circadian clock makes us sleep a few hours longer. This is why in the middle of the day or the night we have vulnerability zones when we can nap or have the tendency to wake up. As you can tell, a lot of things happen during sleep, and to top it all, we actually have two different types of sleep that we need, slow wave sleep and Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. During a typical night, the normal sleeper will first fall asleep in a stage of sleep where the cortex rests and generates increasingly big synchronized waves-this is why it is call slow wave sleep. This stage of sleep is associated with a disconnected cognition, so that if one wakes up the subject during slow wave sleep, he would be confused and not thinking much. This is also the stage of sleep people are half in when they sleep walk or have night terrors. After about 1.5 hours, something strange happens and the brain switches to a state called paradoxical sleep or REM sleep. This is a strange state as the sleeper is completely paralyzed, but his eyes move furiously, and he dreams so that the cortex is as active as when awake. Amazingly, this state of being was only discovered 70 years ago. In fact, our prior director, Dr. William C. Dement, witnessed the phenomenon and reported REM's association with dreaming. Dement is often considered as the father of sleep medicine. In REM sleep, the most basic parts of the brain that regulate automatic functions are disconnected. For example, temperature or muscle tone, are switched off. In contrast, the cortex is over activated, possibly to increase random connections and also to increase our creativity. Whereas we have some idea about the function of SWS as we rest and save calories, REM sleep is still a real mystery. The second reason why we need to study sleep is that approximately 20% of the population has serious sleep problems and currently we don't have very good solutions to offer. The most common problem is sleep apnea, which affects 10% of the population, especially men and is linked to being overweight or having a small chin that makes the airway narrower. I know that you may think it does not apply as much to you, but you might be surprised as we also see it in people of both sexes and even children. In sleep apnea, the negative pressure we produce when we breathe makes the airway collapse. Sleep apnea produces two problems: bad sleep and being tired all the time; and more worryingly, when the oxygen drops a lot during the night, increased risk of stroke, heart attacks and even death. Sleep apnea is a difficult diagnosis because the main treatment, continuous pressure airway therapy-CPAP-is for many worse than the disease. It is a very simple treatment; a pump pushes the air gently into a mask that prevents the airway from collapsing. The problem with CPAP is that half of the patients cannot tolerate it. Although we have other effective therapies such as surgery or dental appliances the problem is that it is impossible to know for sure who can benefit from which of these and, of course, there is a great need for precision in this area. Advertisement A second common problem, this one more often affecting women, is insomnia. Insomnia is often considered as a hopeless condition, which is really wrong. We made a lot of progress in treating insomnia without medications. Indeed, a subset of insomnia patients develops a bad pattern where they try too hard to sleep, staying in bed for too long and worrying too much about it. In these cases, cognitive behavioral therapy and sleep restriction can be very effective and life changing. We simply ask them to log in how many hours they sleep for about 2 weeks and calculate the mean. We then reorganize their schedule so that they end up with a slightly lower total amount of sleep thus that sleep stays consolidated. This breaks the vicious cycle and they can relearn to sleep soundly. Beside sleep apnea and insomnia, we also see a whole array of more uncommon problems, for example restless syndrome a condition where a person feels the need to move their legs in the evening and at night. It is a genetic disorder that is also linked to iron deficiency. We also see patients who have the opposite of insomnia, they struggle to stay awake during the day and have very vivid dreaming experiences, such as in narcolepsy. Others have strange behaviors during sleep, such as kicking or acting out their dreams, or walking or talking in their sleep. Some patients with sleepwalking have jumped out of windows, slept in the wrong bed, etc., which I am sure you can imagine, can have devastating consequences. The third reason why we need to study sleep is that sleep is involved in everything we do. And yet, as our invitees will illustrate, it is dangerously underappreciated. An increasing number of people work night shifts, have 2 jobs or in your case study too hard at the expense of sleep. To cheat on sleep increases risk for all kinds of problems - obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular problems and even cancer, not to mention marital problems or car or industrial accidents. Car accidents may be one of the most tragic consequences, and because sleep is so much stronger in younger individuals, you all are particularly at risk. Falling asleep at the wheel is even more deadly than accidents involving alcohol. When we fall asleep at the wheel, it lasts several seconds and I am sure you can imagine what it does when a car is traveling at sixty miles an hour on the freeway without even attempting to brake. Personally, I cannot wait for self-driving cars so that I can nap on my way home after a party. Unfortunately it is also macho for high-powered executives and leaders to underreport on their sleep and this has a bad influence all around. There are countless examples of people bragging they only sleep a few hours. Napoleon, for example claimed to only need a few hours of sleep. On another hand, he clearly made an error of judgment in closing the Louisiana Purchase deal with Jefferson; otherwise, you, the audience, and not me would be the ones with a strange accent. My passion is now to use genetics and machine learning on large datasets of sleep studies or sleep devices to crack open the mystery of the molecular mechanisms of sleep and the causes of sleep disorders. With all this in mind, I could not believe how lucky we were when I was first contacted by Arianna and found that we could work together to improve sleep for all Americans. Who could have dreamt of a better champion! I would not want to steal Arianna's thunder and explain how she got interested in sleep, and what she does to make sure it is optimized. Suffice it to say that she has lived and continues to live a passionate life full of hard and creative work, and that she has been rewarded by many successes. She is an incredible role model for all of us and I am thrilled she called her book the Sleep Revolution since as a French man; I understand the power of revolution. Statistically speaking, many of you suffer from sleep problems. The revolution that Arianna is bringing to you is that you can start today to do something about it. About a week or so ago, ESPN sports journalist Bomani Jones caused a ruckus by wearing a provocative T-shirt on television. The "offensive" shirt was a spoof of the Cleveland Indians mascot and branding. Instead of a feather-wearing, red-faced man, Jones' shirt featured a blond-haired white man with a dollar sign adorning his head. Instead of "Indians," the mascot represented a fictitious team called the "Caucasians." Advertisement On social media and in the blogosphere, white people (mainly) were outraged. To which Bomani replied: "If you're quiet about the Indians and now you've got something to say about my shirt, I think it's time for introspection." Yes, I think it is time for some introspection. It's time for all of us to give some real thought to America's racist and destructive history, beginning as far back as our country, as we know it, begins - with Native Americans. Once a year we celebrate Christopher Columbus, an invader and plunderer with a bad sense of direction. But there's really no disputing that Columbus didn't find this country. Indigenous people already were here, working the land, in community with the animals, thriving. But after the Europeans arrived, and the Native Americans were hoodwinked, massacred and eventually conquered, slowly but surely their history began to be rewritten. Advertisement Today, of the diminished numbers of Native American people left on this continent, many suffer from shockingly disproportionate rates of alcoholism, suicide, diabetes, tuberculosis and other diseases. Their struggles, however, are all but invisible. The "Indians" and their problems have been relegated to far-flung reservations. Sadly, African Americans know that story all too well. Our African ancestors were bamboozled and brutalized too. We understand the cry of our Native American brothers and sisters, because we also bear the scars of America's sins. Today, while America sits captivated by the presidential debates and nonstop election year campaigning, 3.5 million educators valiantly attempt to educate the nation's schoolchildren and youth. All the while, millions of children and their families, in cities or urban and rural centers, struggle with the challenges of poverty. The potential of unfulfilled dreams looms large in a cycle that seems never to be broken. Author Charles Murray made the startling prediction in 1994 that in thousands of neighborhoods across the United States, "the underclass will become even more concentrated spatially than it is today." In his book The Bell Curve, Murray proclaimed that by "custodial state, we have in mind a high-tech and more lavish version of the Indian reservation for some substantial minority of the nation's population while the rest of America tries to go about its business." Twenty-two years later, Murray's prediction has become a reality. As with Native Americans, too many Americans have turned a blind eye to the consequences of concentrating poverty, crime and despair in disadvantaged communities while not affording all children a pathway to educational achievement. Instead, indifference has built ramps to the newest "reservation" that breeds crime, community blight, poor health and an education system that prolongs these inequalities. Advertisement Compare the statistics on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to those of African Americans living in Detroit, Jackson, Miss., or Baltimore. Our urban cities are shinier, perhaps, but our problems are the same. In fact, our urban "reservations" grow larger every day. If this election is to stimulate a shift in American values, we must begin where change is often forgotten first and yet where it is needed most - on the reservations. All of them. If the promise of America is to be realized, then the hope of those who struggle with poverty must be addressed. The future of American democracy is framed by how, as a nation, we respond and come to terms with both race and poverty, and the vestiges of our country's first crimes. The organization I support, the National Urban Alliance of Effective Education, is moving toward a partnership with the Onamia/Osseo schools in Minnesota, where half of the student population is Native American. The pedagogy we teach may be as crucial there as it is in New York City, Buffalo, NY, Minneapolis or Eden Prairie, Minn. Using culturally appropriate strategies, educators create opportunities to "get off the reservation." With district educators who take the lead, work is underway to spotlight the way to bring more dynamic peoples to the proverbial American table. But these efforts alone can't solve what hundreds of years of brutality, theft, discrimination and segregation have created. Advertisement While there is no one simple answer to education and social reform, there is indisputable proof that an educator with high expectations supported by exemplary research, engaged students, supportive family and community engagements are critical ingredients to educational achievement and improved life stories for our young. Future programs - and bigger and well-funded initiatives - must support American teachers, the public school system, its staff and the surrounding community where "reservations" continue to flourish and grow. To get beyond rhetoric, we must continue to foster the belief that public education should combine policies, programs, practices, data and beliefs that lift and accelerate all student achievement. Not to do so will ultimately imperil the elusive American dream. All students matter--even the ones we conveniently forget about. This election must reassert our commitment to education, equity and freedom of opportunity in America. There is no reason for society to continue to place Native Americans, Black people, Latinos and poor people on "reservations" without the chance of escape, when we have found an effective way, through education and through dynamic socio-cultural-economic partnerships, to reach today's youth and to give them the hope for leaving these "reservations" forever. The data in support of this is there. It is high time for the vestiges of institutional racism to be eliminated so that we never relegate Americans into "minority" categories -- those which are lesser than, not equal to the false, long-standing myth of white supremacy. Yes, let's continue to make America great, shall we? Let's write better life stories for all of America's citizens, not just those whose ancestors came here willingly, but also - perhaps even especially - those whose forebears were forced here, or were here long before any of us ever were. Time to reconcile America's "original sin." Advertisement This land is your land...this land is my land... What if terrorists in Belgium had employed a crude nuclear or radiological device? Those who have followed news from the attacks know that the premise is not really that far-fetched. The two brothers alleged to have carried out the attacks are also thought to be the same men found surveilling a top Belgian nuclear official at his home in late 2015. While their intent isn't fully understood, this incident and previous ones underscore that the threat of nuclear terrorism is alive and well. In the coming weeks, Congress will consider funding for nuclear terrorism prevention. Prospects for adequate funding look quite dim. In a preview of what's to come, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water just released its draft bill for fiscal year (FY) 2017 spending. Like the President's own budget request, the Committee's bill decreases spending on nuclear security programs by over $100 million from last year. Moreover, projected funding levels will be approximately 50 percent lower than what was anticipated in Obama's FY 2013 budget requests, as the Harvard Belfer Center explains in a new report. While historic U.S.-Russia cooperation on nuclear security has been virtually cut off and the Department of Energy has maintained carry-over balances from previous years, neither explanation justifies such an extreme drop in funding, especially given the increased threat. Rather, intense competition for resources seems to play an outsize role. Nuclear weapons programs and nuclear security are funded out of the same Department of Energy allocation, and with a $1 trillion plan to maintain a nuclear arsenal indefinitely, nuclear weapons are winning the day. At least some Members of Congress are paying attention. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, pointed out at a hearing recently that nuclear weapons funding enjoys "unrestrained growth." Indeed, at an expected $27 billion in FY 2017, funding for U.S. nuclear weapons sustainment and upgrades dwarfs global nuclear security spending. Moreover, these nuclear weapons costs are only projected to rise over the next decade. During her opening statement, Senator Feinstein aptly asked, "Where does it end? How much is enough?" Make no mistake, the Islamic State, al Qaeda, criminal organizations, and rogue operators are trying to get their hands on nuclear material, according to open source reporting. For instance, smugglers have been caught with nuclear material in Bulgaria, Paris, and Moldova in 1999, 2001, and 2011, respectively, all from the same Soviet-era cache according to the Center for Public Integrity. Adding to the gravity of the problem, Russian officials have refused to acknowledge that nuclear materials are missing. Even a grapefruit-sized amount of weapons-grade material used in a bomb could kill hundreds of thousands of people and cause global panic. The $1 trillion nuclear weapons program takes away from addressing real threats to society, like terrorism - conventional or nuclear - advanced cyber weaponry, and faltering domestic needs while only increasing tensions with Russia and China. Those countries may be spending their own resources on maintaining and bolstering nuclear weapons capabilities - though not comparable to U.S. spending; however, such activity does not justify the U.S. program. In fact, a Department of Defense report on Russian nuclear forces concluded that Russia "would not be able to achieve a militarily significant advantage by any plausible expansion of its strategic nuclear forces, even in a cheating or breakout scenario..." For its part, China reportedly has hundreds of weapons, not the thousands still held by the United States. April 14 marked the second anniversary of the abduction of 276 female students by Boko Haram from a Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Northeastern Nigeria. While the #BringBackOurGirls campaign mobilized support for the girls globally, not all abduction cases have received the same attention as this particular tragedy. It is estimated that more than 2000 women and girls have been abducted by Boko Haram since the beginning of the conflict. Those that are freed from Boko Haram face numerous challenges reintegrating into their communities. The Nigerian military, in turn, is responsible for the disappearance of many children, especially boys, as a result of counter-insurgency operations. In early February, Watchlist visited Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state in the Northeast of Nigeria. The city has been the epicenter of the conflict in Nigeria and the birthplace of Boko Haram in 2002. The visit offered an opportunity to follow up on the findings and recommendations presented in the report Who Will Care for Us? Grave Violations against Children in Northeastern Nigeria released by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict in September 2014. Children are disproportionately affected by the conflict. Forced recruitment through abduction during targeted raids by Boko Haram remains one of the most significant threats to their safety and security. Abducted boys are trained for fighting or are used as informants and messengers. Girls are used for domestic work and subjected to rape, torture, forced marriage and religious conversion. Since late 2014, girls have increasingly been used as suicide bombers and some of them are reported to take part in hostilities. Children are also reportedly used as human shields. Advertisement Despite some progress in its fight to defeat Boko Haram, the Nigerian government's counter-insurgency measures raise human rights concerns, in particular with regard to arrest, detention, and fair trial guarantees for persons deprived of their liberty. Amnesty International has documented grave human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and acts of torture, committed by the Nigerian government's security forces with support from local self-defense groups, commonly labelled as the civilian Joint Task Force (JTF). In particular, children who are suspected or found to be members of Boko Haram are apprehended and detained, often outside of the protection of the law, in military detention facilities that are known for the mistreatment of detainees. The government's military campaign against Boko Haram has also freed women and children from captivity. Child survivors have gone through serious trauma and are often highly stigmatized by their communities, making their reintegration very challenging. Recent research by UNICEF and International Alert found that many women and girls are being labelled 'Boko Haram wives' and 'annoba' - meaning epidemics. Children born of rape are often perceived to have 'bad blood' which translates into discrimination and even persecution. The Nigerian government's response to these challenges has been limited. As part of the national counterterrorism strategy, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) established a 'de-radicalization' program to facilitate the rehabilitation of non-combatant women and children associated with Boko Haram, including children born of sexual violence. For approximately six months, women and children, some of them unaccompanied, were kept in a military facility in Kaduna state. Here they were reportedly provided with medical care, psycho-social support, counselling for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), vocational training and other educational activities. While investing in non-military strategies to counter extremist violence is commendable, little is known about how the program was implemented, and access to the participants has been limited by the government. A unilateral decision by the ONSA to interrupt the program prevented appropriate cooperation with protection actors planning to facilitate the survivors' reintegration into their communities. As a result, the participants' current whereabouts, or their ability to cope within their respective communities is unknown. By late 2015, the program was shut down and it remains unclear how the government plans to rehabilitate or reintegrate women and children freed from Boko Haram. Advertisement In the years 1987 and 1991, Martin Bernal, professor of government at Cornell University, published two hefty volumes of "Black Athena." The purpose of this audacious if problematic account was no less than dethroning the Greeks from the primacy they have had since the Renaissance - that Western civilization has Greek foundations in science, politics, literature and the arts. Perhaps influenced by the rosy African picture of Bernal, in 1988, Jesse Jackson, the black preacher with presidential ambitions in late 1980s, joined Stanford University black students demanding the end of courses in Western civilization. Shamelessly, Stanford University complied. It set aside texts and classes exploring the wisdom not merely of Greek thinkers like Homer and Plato, but European intellectuals like Voltaire, St. Augustine and Marx. Stanford replaced Western thought with thoughtless exercises in multiculturalism and pseudohistory. The 1980s and 1990s raged against the Greeks and other old dead white men. In fact, an industry of anti-Greek and politically correct academics became vociferous. The historical fantasies of Bernal were a symptom of a countrywide malaise with reason, history and democracy. Advertisement But first of all, some one had to demolish the mythology of Bernal. That person was Mary Lefkowitz, professor of the humanities at Wellesley College. The "Black Athena" books of Bernal outraged her. In 1996, she wrote "Not Out of Africa" where she demonstrated Bernal was wrong about ancient Egypt and ancient Greece. She denounced the misuse of evidence by Afrocentrists in building their fictional ancient Egypt and its alleged influence on ancient Greece. Socrates and Cleopatra and, of course, goddess Athena were not black but white and Greek. Nevertheless, American blacks wanted to believe their history was as great as that of white Europeans. Afrocentrists cooked the books and gave them a glorious if manufactured past. But in addition to the demand of blacks for subverting the Greek past, the ruling elite of America and its academics also manipulated the Greek past. They distanced the country from the virtues of the Greek tradition embedded in America's political culture. Democracy, after all, has always been the most difficult of all politics. And since America has traveled deep into the realms of plutocracy and oligarchy verging on tyranny, it has made official democracy almost undemocratic but, in popular speech, all-inclusive. It means all things to all people. An American billionaire like Donald Trump running for president, for example, can proudly say he is living in a democracy. And the real President, Obama, in charge of nuclear bombs and private armies also proudly proclaims he is the head of a democracy. This behavior has remade American society, including intellectuals and academics. Philosophers, for example, have become the enemies of real philosophy. They have cleansed themselves of the Greek passion for the truth. They are largely footnote builders, adding mountains of largely meaningless commentaries on Plato, other thinkers, and other phenomena of their own making. However, they remain silent on what is happening in their own society. Advertisement Robert Frodeman and Adam Briggle, professors of philosophy at the University of North Texas, bemoan the metamorphosis of philosophy into a science-like entity bereft of the skills of science. Philosophy, they say, "fell prey to physics envy and feelings of inadequacy." The aping of science by philosophy took place within the modern research university. Philosophers became specialists and, like scientists, they divorced knowledge from virtue. This made philosophy a technical enterprise manipulating "words rather than genes or chemicals.... The point of philosophy now [in 2016] is to be smart, not good. It has been the heart of our undoing," they write. Scientists also stay clear of what is happening in America. Nevertheless, they work furiously in coming up with formulas and molecules for new drugs and new chemistry as well as gadgets for entertainment and enrichment of the industry and weapons for the military. Certainly, this America is not merely the result of not reading Homer or Plato. And neither did Afrocentric myths bring deformed politics. But working in the absence of virtue and documented history makes the road to ruin all the more slippery and attractive. The manipulation of the Greek past is not a small thing. Two academic classicists, Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath, thought it had seismic effects on the American mind and society. In 1998, they were compelled to write "Who Killed Homer?" This is a book about the "murder" of Homer at the hands of elite philologists and theorists who prefer "therapeutics, moral relativism, blind allegiance to progress, and the glorification of material culture" to Greek ideas and values. Advertisement The murder of Homer in America has got to cease. The Western world's greatest minds have written hundreds of books on the values and virtues of Greek thought. We must pose for a moment and think of our children and grandchildren. What exactly are we leaving them for inheritance? A ruined world full of toxins? Is that enough? Should we not change course and, like the Greeks, mix knowledge with the good, the livable and the beautiful? Rereading the classics might just be the perfect medicine for remaking this violent era. My friend recently told me an ethnic joke. In the original version, the butt of the joke is Jewish -- or, in a substitution that usually reflects anti-Semitism, a New Yorker; the internet suggests Israelis offer this as a sly self-portrait. But my friend changed the identity. He made the laughingstock Chinese. Before I repeat his jest, a preface. My friend is himself Jewish; his partner is Chinese. His mentor as a historian was a leading scholar of humor -- yes, there are people who are serious about studying what is funny. He and I also have a relationship such that he knew I, a Chinese-American, would take no offense at his anecdote. To the contrary, as he expected, I was very much interested in the quip. Advertisement A public opinion pollster is outside the United Nations headquarters. He is interviewing people: "Excuse me, what is your opinion of the meat shortage?" A Saudi replies, "Excuse me? What is the meaning of 'a shortage'?" A Russian replies, "Excuse me, but what is 'meat'?" A North Korean replies, "Excuse me, but what is 'an opinion'?" And a Jew (or New Yorker), or in the contemporary rendition, a Chinese, replies, "What is the meaning of 'excuse me'?" The fascinating aspect is the change in the stereotype. I am old enough -- almost at the half-century mark -- to remember when Chinese, and Asians in general, were portrayed not as rude but as polite. They were regarded as excessively deferential, virtually submissive. As we are told, Asians all "look alike," and what is said of Chinese is said of Japanese, Koreans, and all East Asians. At the 1987 Los Angeles convention of the Asian American Journalists Association, for example, I witnessed the conventional image casually being recited to an audience that turned out to be anything but courteous -- to their credit. I attended the convening, the first national event for the new professional organization, as a student who had won a scholarship. Consistent with the ethics of reporting, I swear the below story is true. (Perhaps someone else in attendance was there and will confirm my account.) Advertisement A senior editor who happened to be Caucasian was the featured speaker. He opened his remarks with an attempted pleasantry. He announced it was great to be talking to Asians, because they were always so polite. At that point, he was hissed -- loudly and at length. More than one person listening to him expressed their displeasure at an apparent compliment. He was surprised. His error was to make an assumption about all Asians, a generalization that can be turned on its head. To be "polite" is to know one's place, to be docile, to obey. The reverance for etiquette is taken as a sign of weakness. To be called polite is to be reminded of exploitation: the coolie, the gardner, the geisha. Polite constitutes the opposite of what ambitious Americans are told is needed for workplace advancement. You're supposed to show a take-charge attitude. "Man up." I am quite delighted, not disappointed, that two icons of Asian American pop culture, which it turns out can attract a significant following, are the "Angry Little Asian Girl" and "Angry Asian Man." The former, with a comic strip and merchandise (she has many angry friends), has what would be called a potty mouth, as she reviles racism and sexism alike. The latter, a blog and podcast, is relatively more earnest. The creators of the two irate figures, true to their alter egos, have been at odds over who has priority to use the angry Asian persona. (Like many others, I cheer them both.) Within my lifetime, Asians, Asian immigrants, and Asian Americans -- despite blurriness in the lines, these are distinct categories -- have come to be seen differently. They have proceeded from bowing and smiling to shoving their way to the front in disregard of lines. I am not sure why. It may be the rise of Chinese, greater awareness that Asians have always been capable of vulgarity and lack of manners, or contact with Chinese tourists arriving by the busload at upscale boutiques and national parks. Other people see nose-picking, spitting, children taught to pee in the subway or on the street, and even respectable people shouting and shoving one another. Advertisement Yet it also is possible that the contradictory sentiments have been there together all along, fraternal twins. The polite conceals the rude. It is a temporary disguise. The master of light verse, the all but forgotten Ogden Nash, wrote a poem about "The Japanese" in 1938. The ditty describe "how courteous is the Japanese" as he says "excuse it, please," and "I beg your pardon,"before he grins and takes over his neighbor's property -- "so sorry, this my garden now." That is how Asian rituals have been interpreted. They are insincere. The people who practice them are inscrutable. Hence the treachery of Pearl Harbor three years after Nash's rhyme. Japanese diplomats were negotiating, with the utmost in genteel propriety, even as Japanese generals and admirals were plotting to launch a total war in the Pacific theatre. Everything started with the rising tide of injustice in my country, Azerbaijan. My father's involvement in politics meant that I was exposed to these issues from a young age. When I was 15, I started going to rallies with him and joined demonstrations to voice opposition to the government's attempts to stifle political pluralism. In 1998, when my father was arrested for the second time, I attended his trial and my involvement in domestic politics deepened. After his conditional release in 1999, he was forced to leave the country for his own safety. If he had stayed, he would have been either killed or imprisoned again, this time for good. As his son, I faced blackmail and harassment - and so in 2002 I left the country as well. I have built a new life as a political exile in Germany. From the day I arrived in Berlin, I remained closely engaged with the political developments in Azerbaijan, sharing my observations and views mostly on two websites, "pur.gen.az" and "elsever.biz". The administrators of these websites were eventually arrested, and after their release they never got back in touch with me. Realizing that I could not rely on other websites to publish my work, I created my own blog, Tin Sohbti (Conversations on the Street Corner) in 2005. Advertisement Aware of the total absence of political satire in Azerbaijan, I saw a gap in public discourse. Satire is a very powerful weapon for shaking up society and destroying the pillars of a totalitarian regime. The country's first online platform for political satire, Tin Sohbti rapidly gained popularity, despite limited public access to the internet at that time. In a single week following the launch, there were more than 5000 unique users accessing the blog. I was sharing the most interesting multimedia content, caricatures, collages and other social and political news - and of course, there were consequences. The government soon blocked the site, though users continued to try to gain access via proxy servers and other tools. I was managing the site anonymously. There were numerous rumors and stories about the site. Some thought Tin Sohbti had been created by members of the Azerbaijani opposition living abroad. Others believed the government had established it in order to see who was accessing the site. Hardly anyone thought it was the work of just one person. The site spread by word of mouth and quickly became very popular. A government ban only added to the site's credibility. When I revealed my identity after two years, no one believed that I had built and managed the site all on my own. Advertisement With the rise of social networks, along with the repeated blocking of Tin Sohbti. I decided to move over to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. I was able to retain and grow my audience, because people knew me as the creator of Tin Sohbti. As I shared posts via social networking platforms, this popularity increased: 25,000 followers and 5000 friends on Facebook; 12,500 Twitter followers, and on YouTube, over 37 million views and 65,000 subscribers, making mine the most followed channel in the Caucasus. Having discovered this demand for video content, I created my amateur video channel FRQ TV (Difference TV) through Bambuser. During the Arab Spring, ten thousand people in Azerbaijan tuned in simultaneously to my live broadcasts. They joined debates and participated in live discussions through Skype. Trying to gain the people's confidence, to become a companion to their trouble and sorrow, to express what they cannot, and to expose the truth with facts, can be as elusive as looking for water in the desert. Criticizing the political status quo has been one of the ways I have managed to get the people's attention -and sometimes, their curses, even their hate. But for me, satire remains the most influential and powerful tool, both in gaining public trust and in exposing official wrongdoing. In 2013, I came together with another Azerbaijani blogger and a former political prisoner, Emin Milli, to launch Meydan TV. Our aim was - and is - to provide the truth-deprived public with independent, neutral and objective reporting. I started to learn how to become a professional journalist, studying codes of media ethics, attending trainings and striving to develop my skills in this field. And now, three years after Meydan TV's launch, I am engaged in the most fulfilling work imaginable - the profession I desired so long ago, and one that is so desperately needed in my home country. In the past year alone, in Azerbaijan the independent media community has experienced murder, politically-motivated imprisonments, illegal detention, torture, and at least one death threat against a dissident in exile. As the Social Media Manager, I see my role as facilitating the dialog between journalists and citizens in our collective quest for truth. Habib Muntezir (Abdullayev) As the Social Media Manager for Meydan TV, an independent media outlet in Azerbaijan, Habib has developed the organization's substantial Facebook and YouTube presence, and engages directly with the audience on a daily basis. He is the architect of Meydan TV's citizen journalism program, News from the People, through which citizens send in content via WhatsApp. Many of them have said they would never run if I run, so well see whether or not that turns out to be true, the former president said Friday. This article was originally posted on Inverse. By Ben Guarino It's been a bad few months for small, photogenic sea creatures. In February, death by selfie claimed a La Plata dolphin, passed around an Argentinian beach until it was discarded like nothing more than a deflated volleyball; a week later, a beachcomber manhandled a blacktip shark to shore to snap a photo and once again prove the Law of Florida Man; that same day, reports surfaced of a Chinese peacock whose ticker gave out after visitors to its wildlife park snatched the bird up for an impromptu photoshoot. Let's give the little defenseless creatures a rest, yeah? But that does not mean we have to give up on all wild animal selfies. In fact, we can go after more dangerous photo game -- the type of creature you couldn't just hoist by the scruff of the neck, not without 5-inch claws performing exploratory surgery on your abdomen -- it's possible. It's not easy, and not even suggested, not really, but if you must photograph an animal in close proximity why not make it an apex predator. Here's a guide to snapping those hunters as safely as possible. Advertisement Lions A great lion photo requires more than a selfie stick and the burning desire to be the Annie Leibovitz of your own personal Instagram universe. Award-winning lion photographer Nick Nichols uses tiny drones, the infrared spectrum, and telephoto lenses. As he tells National Geographic, he takes all of his photos from the protection of a car because lions are "dangerous predators.". Perhaps you're going the more traditional safari route and you happen upon a pride of lions. It's exciting, but keep your wits about you and, just as importantly, your windows rolled up. A South African photo op went tragically wrong last June, when a lion fatally bit a young American woman through an open jeep window. Hippos If you're familiar with the image of hippopotamus as giant grass eater, you may be wondering why the semiaquatic mammal is on a list of dangerous animals. As it goes, there's evidence that hippos eat meat, including the flesh of other hippos; scientists aren't sure if the flesh-eating hippos are compensating for a lack of nutrients or they've been eating animal tissue all along and we've just noticed. Either way, to photograph the hippo, stay out of the water: The animals are notoriously defensive of their territories, though you can't really blame a species that shares an ecosystem with Nile crocodiles. If you need to get a view from above, stick with boats. This footage, from January 2015 in Botswana, is a great advert for keeping your hands and feet inside the watercraft all times while in hippo country. Advertisement Grizzly bears Here's a lil motto for you would-be grizzly photogs: Speak loudly and carry a long lens. A surprised bear is an unhappy bear, which is why grizzly experts like The International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Lana M. Ciarniello recommends traveling with a soup tin filled with rocks if you believe an ursine encounter might be in your future. A good rule-of-thumb is staying 100 yards away. The bears aren't bloodthirsty, but why risk a mauling? Sharks First off, if you're going to photograph sharks, leave them in the water. Secondly, sharks aren't monolithic but a diverse group of some 470 species, and you can safely photograph the vast majority. Only a comparative handful of species have been reported in shark attacks. That being said, there are some things you can do to minimize a shark's curiosity in your presence -- don't flail or wear shiny, metallic jewelry. Also, if you're considering a shark cage, know that they're controversial among some conservationists who take the argument that introducing cages and chum into sharks' ecosystems is detrimental. Rather, dive with a buddy and if you're worried about encountering a larger shark, there's chain mail for that. Humans If you believe Time, for every one shark bite there are 10 New Yorkers biting other people. (Though given about a hundred shark attacks reported in 2015, there are suspiciously few reports of 1,000 annual human-on-human bites in the Big Apple.) But the point remains that people are much more a danger to you than sharks, which brings us to: It was us all along -- we're the most dangerous critter! To photograph a human, you're not going to want to make any sudden moves. Friendly eye contact and warm smiles, on the other hand, go a long way. You don't have to ask for permission on public streets and spaces in the United States -- you can shoot it if you see it -- but experts are split on Advertisement " target="_hplink">if asking for permission is the way to go. For more tips, that "Humans of New York" guy talks about his approach for 15 minutes but somehow forgets to include techniques on how to not get bit by a roving pack of Goldman Sachs bankers: MORE FROM INVERSE: Foundations, Families and Funds can play a very important role in helping to redirect capitalism toward a more fair and just application, while also finding the right social enterprises to support. By playing a more comprehensive role in the creation and support of Community Capital Markets, these funding sources can build impact into a systemic approach. In addition to investments they make into the social enterprises either directly or through other intermediaries, they can also facilitate opportunities for the 90% of households that are prevented from participating in the private capital markets by investing in the structures that form alternative capital markets open to everyone. We are better informed today than ever before about the rapidly expanding wealth and income gaps. Many recent studies show the top 10% of U.S. households now have over 75% of all the wealth in America. The next 24% of American households make up almost all the rest of all the wealth, leaving the bottom 40% with 0% wealth, and the bottom 60% with a whopping 3%! And the gap is growing fast, not shrinking, which portends many new challenges to our society. Advertisement Clearly we need to think about whether the current approaches are working, and if not, shift the paradigm. As economists like Thomas Piketty have thoughtfully surmised, this growing gap will not improve without either government intervention or opportunities similar to what the wealthy have had - i.e. the same chances to invest and to begin to grow some wealth of their own. For anyone out there who follows the current dysfunctional state of our government, I would not hold out much hope for the first option anytime soon. Regardless of the causes, our current state of affairs seems to point toward us having to right this very serious problem ourselves, and right it we must. In the U.S., our government actually limits 90% of households from having any access to the private capital markets, leaving their investment options only in either the public capital markets, or alternatives that I've written about here, via Direct Public Offerings, or perhaps through the new state and federal crowdfunding options. Advertisement The irony is that, in the interests of protecting the 90%, only the very wealthy 10% continue growing their wealth. They have access to opportunities that far surpass anything found in the public capital markets. The 10%er's may also use the public capital markets to hedge, speculate, or even arbitrage if they like, but their real wealth generation comes mostly from those private markets. But neither of these kinds of markets helps us to form the systemic structure we need to build healthier communities. Which leads me back to how Foundations, Families and Funds can help. The list of impact investors is growing every day, and we will all continue to work toward better identification of who is truly acting as a social enterprise, e.g. companies building business models to tackle some of the most difficult and seemingly intractable social and environmental problems, including climate change, poverty, water, energy and real estate, etc. I refer to the entrepreneurs above as our new community of social enterprises, which includes those with a clearly defined mission, who are focusing on achieving impact at scale for all stakeholders (workers, customers, community, environment), but who also understand the importance of connecting via deep impact into their local populations. These kinds of entrepreneurs place a high degree of importance on the generation of mission aligned revenues (from clients or others who's mission is aligned), and tracking/publicly reporting on their impact on a regular basis (transparency). It's encouraging to know that many investing organizations are now looking to make real impact via their investments by seeking out these entrepreneurs, even if we're still in the nascent stages of trying to square that with the goal of getting back "market rate returns." Leslie Christian just posted a great blog on this conflict here. However, supporting those entrepreneurs with an investment is only one of two key components we need to have a healthy Community Capital Market. Focus also needs to be provided to the 90% of households so they can participate as well, even if half or more of them currently have no wealth to employ as investments into a market. These households need opportunity, which they are now starting to see with the alternative investment vehicles mentioned above, but even more important, they need experience, education and understanding in terms of what it means to be an impact investor - one that may not need those "market based returns," whatever that means. Advertisement We need a whole system approach in place for community investors and community entrepreneurs to be able to find each other, which is what a Community Capital Market can be. 10 years ago, my good friend Don Shaffer (now at RSF Social Finance) and I embarked on a project to develop Local Stock Exchanges. I wrote about the need for these in several publications and even took a position at the Boston Stock Exchange to mirror a national exchange at a local level. But looking back, there is one critical element I got wrong. We don't need to replicate the public capital markets with a lively secondary trading component that fosters speculation and arbitrage (using the need for liquidity to justify the madness they have become). We need a much more simple system in place that allows for the efficient transfer of individual's savings into socially responsible companies, allowing for modest healthy returns, and some reasonable offerings of an exit if necessary. We need to power it with the right tools, education and mentors to help guide the ones that have not had access until now. We also need to reconsider what a capital market needs to be today, and not fall for the trap of manic returns and unlimited growth. NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 13: Attendees await the start of a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (not pictured) at Washington Square Park on April 13, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by D Dipasupil/WireImage) My few friends who support Hillary Clinton seem to be confused by my many friends who support Bernie Sanders. The following are the five questions Hillary fans seem most befuddled by: 1. Why are Bernie fans attacking Hillary when Berners' (and all Democrats') #1 priority should be defeating Trump or whoever is the Republican nominee? 2. Why are Bernie fans so angry at Hillary when Hillary fans aren't angry at Bernie? 3. Why are Bernie fans so mean to Hillary fans? 4. If Hillary fans are so willing to support Bernie if he's the Democratic nominee, how come some Bernie fans say they won't do the same for Hillary? 5. Don't Bernie fans want America to have its first female president? To me, all of these questions stem from the fact that Hillary supporters assume that they and Bernie supporters are fundamentally on the same team. While Bernie and Hillary fans may be rooting for different candidates now, both sides are Democrats with the same goal of beating the Republicans, right? Doesn't the fundamental rule of "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" still apply? But here's what Hillary fans need to realize -- the enemy of your enemy may not be your friend if A) they are fighting a different, bigger, and more pernicious enemy than you are, and B) they think your leader, your enemy, and their enemy have too much in common. So let's start with... Question #1: Why are Bernie and his supporters attacking Hillary when defeating the republicans should be the #1 priority? Hillary fans need to realize that a lot of Bernie's supporters are not registered as Democrats or even Republicans, but as independents like Bernie himself. In fact, independents are America's fastest-growing political party, and there are so many independents that they may soon outnumber both Democrats and republicans combined. That's because an ever-increasing number of Americans feel that neither party is truly fighting for them, represents their values, or delivers on their promises, which is probably why an embarrassing percentage of Americans -- somewhere around 50 percent -- don't bother voting at all. Some independents lean Republican while some (like Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats) lean Democratic, but not enough to consistently support either party or whomever they nominate. In addition, a lot of young, first-time, and infrequent voters have no party affiliation simply because they aren't politically interested and only vote for a candidate they identify with who truly inspires them. Advertisement For a lot of Berners, defeating the Republicans isn't the #1 priority. Defeating the rigged economic/political system is. Besides, there are plenty of reasons to not like Hillary. Which brings us to... Question #2: Why are Bernie's fans so angry at Hillary when Hillary's fans aren't angry at Bernie? Lots of left-leaning Berners don't think Hillary is progressive enough, is essentially a lite Republican, and is at least partially responsible (along with her husband) for selling out progressive ideals. Right-leaning Berners probably don't like or trust Hillary at all. And nearly all Berners see Hillary Clinton as yet another embodiment of the rigged-for-the-rich economic/political system Bernie Sanders has raged against as his #1 campaign issue. Conversely, Hillary fans aren't angry at Bernie because he's a true progressive and is their second choice for achieving most Hillary supporters' #1 priority -- defeating Trump and the Republicans. So why does a lifelong liberal like me not trust Hillary's claim that she's a real progressive? Here's my personal top 10 of Hillary's most un-progressive moments: When I bring up that there's a lot about Hillary's claims of being a progressive that I don't trust, I've been accused by Hillary supporters of being duped by Republicans' decades-long propaganda campaign of character assassination against her. However, if you look at my list, you'll notice that Whitewater, Benghazi, and Hillary's personal email server aren't there. That's because, as a liberal, I've always known that those "scandals" were nothing more than cynical political fishing expeditions invented by Republicans to tarnish Hillary's image. So I don't hold them against her. But as dishonest as these Republican attacks have been, Hillary supporters must accept the fact that they've been effective on a huge percentage of American voters, particularly ones who aren't politically-aware liberals. This includes Democrats, Republicans, and independents, especially ones who don't follow the news closely but have seen the headlines about various Clinton-related investigations for years. Because of this, Hillary is largely seen as untrustworthy by voters across the political spectrum, earning her sky-high disapproval ratings that would make her the most unliked Democratic nominee in recent history. Yes, that's unfair and largely undeserved, but that doesn't stop it from being true -- and it makes her a real liability if your #1 priority is stopping republicans from winning the 2016 election. Hillary supporters don't have any animosity towards Bernie because Bernie is a true progressive who is to the left of Hillary on nearly every issue, with the notable exception of gun control. Hillary fans, like a majority of Americans, probably want universal single-payer healthcare, but they've been told by Hillary that it can't be done, along with the lie that fighting for it would somehow lead to the destruction of Obamacare, even though "Medicare for all" would be an expansion of one of Obamacare's key elements. They probably share Bernie's desire for a $15 minimum wage (Hillary will only ask for $12), more paid family leave, more vacation time, guaranteed sick leave, free college tuition, and a ban on fracking. In fact, the biggest complaints Hillary supporters seem to have against Bernie is that he wouldn't be able to defeat the Republican nominee, his ideas are too idealistic and unachievable, and that his supporters are mean -- even though nearly every poll shows Bernie beating any Republican nominee by much wider margins than Hillary would, and most of what Bernie is calling for is already enjoyed by nearly every industrialized nation. As to whether Berners, as a group, are mean, that brings us to... Advertisement Question #3: Why are Bernie supporters so "mean" to Hillary supporters? I can only speak to the fact that the Berners I know are amongst the most kind, generous, caring, thoughtful, and compassionate of all my friends -- and the most fired up ones are women, not mythical "Bernie bros". However, I will definitely admit that Berners seem to be way more passionate, vocal, and motivated than the Hillary supporters I know who, with only one or two exceptions, are a curiously quiet bunch. It doesn't surprise me that emotions tend to run higher on the Bernie side -- after all, Bernie is calling for a revolution. I wouldn't characterize any of my Berner friends as mean, nor do I think it's "mean" to point out a candidate's flaws, inconsistencies, and what you don't like about their record and platform. If you find your Berner friends to actually be mean, maybe that says more about the quality of your friends than the character of all Berners. And if Hillary supporters are referring to the meanness of anonymous Bernie fans on the internet, it's well known that being able to say whatever you want while hiding your identity has made the comment sections of the internet pretty cruel places. But for the sake of argument, let's say that Berners are "meaner" to Hillary supporters. This might have something to do with my answer to Question #2, that Bernie fans see Hillary as a part of the problem of the corrupting influence of big money on our political system, while Hillary supporters don't see Bernie as part of the problem of a potential Trump presidency. Since Hillary and her husband are two of the biggest money raisers in politics while claiming to uphold progressive values, they're seen as both increasing and legitimizing the role of big donors in our political system. So for Berners, Hillary supporters are like people at a casino who root for the house to win. There are also Berners who simply dislike Hillary for a mix of other legitimate, illegitimate, and personal reasons -- and if the enemy of your enemy is your friend, the supporter of your enemy is going to catch some heat. However, while Berners display a lot of passion that can cross over into anger, what I often see from all levels of the Hillary side -- including Hillary, her campaign, her surrogates, and her supporters -- is what I would describe as dismissive condescension. In fact, dismissive condescension is the cornerstone of Hillary's argument against Bernie, and it has been from the very start. Advertisement First, Hillary's campaign (aided by the Democratic National Committee) pretended that Bernie's campaign didn't even exist, since everyone knew Hillary would be the nominee before a single vote was cast. When that failed, Bernie's candidacy was simply dismissed since someone calling himself a "democratic socialist" could never win in a general election. When Bernie's campaign became competitive, his goals and prescriptions for what America needed were given a pat on the head and dismissed as well-meaning but naive idealism. Later, Hillary characterized Bernie's proposals as "pie in the sky stuff" meant to trick young people to vote for him with promises of free stuff, continuing the characterization of Bernie supporters as mostly dumb children (literally or just intellectually) who don't do their research, think for themselves, or understand politics, the issues, or how the "real world" works, and are thus deserving of Hillary's pity. And, of course, there was the infamous double-barrel blast of feminist icon Gloria Steinem and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright -- both Hillary supporters -- who respectively characterized young women who support Bernie as simply being boy crazy (since, as Steinem said, "The boys are with Bernie,") and earning themselves "a special place in Hell" for not supporting another woman (both later apologized). And, for dessert, there's the implication by some Hillary supporters that those critical of Hillary are simply misogynists or those duped by Republican propaganda. In light of all that, can you imagine why a Berner might get a little steamed? Question #4: If Hillary fans are so willing to support Bernie if he's the Democratic nominee, how come so many Bernie fans (like Susan Sarandon) dare to say that they won't do the same for Hillary? Personally, I am more than prepared to set aside my misgivings about Hillary and vote for her should she win the Democratic nomination, and nearly every Bernie supporter I know feels the same. While both Democrats and Republicans share the trait of relying on the same dodgy, corrupting campaign finance system, it doesn't mean that there are no differences between the parties, and Republicans have become so extreme, unhinged, and divorced from reality that those differences are more stark than ever. I also think that a lot of people who now claim that they won't vote for Hillary in the general election will find themselves holding their noses and checking her name on the ballot when faced with the reality of a Donald Trump or Ted Cruz presidency. But not all Berners will, which enrages and confounds Hillary supporters. However, I think this again stems from Hillary fans not fully understanding who Bernie fans are. Advertisement If Berners were all Democrats, this anger and confusion would make sense. But they aren't -- they're a mix of Democrats, hardcore liberals, left- and right-leaning independents, first-time voters, embarrassed/disaffected Republicans, swing voters, young people, unaffiliated voters, infrequent voters, anti-establishment voters, single-issue voters, etc. It's an incredibly wide and diverse coalition of groups -- the kind needed to win elections in an age when simply turning out your party's base is no longer enough. Few of those groups hold any allegiance to the Democratic party or Hillary in particular, who some of them downright loathe. So Hillary supporters shouldn't expect Berners to fall in line and unite with the Democratic party's nominee when so many Berners aren't traditional Democrats and don't necessarily share the same enemy. This is not to say that Berners would necessarily vote for the Republican nominee instead of backing Hillary -- unless your sole issue is being anti-establishment, I find it hard to believe that someone who likes Bernie Sanders would vote for Trump or Cruz, who Sanders has nothing but disdain for. But without a candidate who they believe in who truly inspires them, some Berners may simply do what a huge percentage of Americans do on Election Day -- stay home. This is especially true for young, first-time, infrequent voters, or anyone who's never developed the voting habit. But more importantly, as my buddy Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks pointed out, Hillary is not entitled to the votes or support of Bernie's supporters -- she needs to earn them. The passion and enthusiasm of Berners can't simply be signed over to Hillary because she's the Democratic nominee, especially if Berners see her as merely the lesser of two evils. She needs to commit to some of the same progressive goals and ideals Bernie champions, and in a way that doesn't feel like lip service, empty promises, or simply pandering for votes. This is a tall order considering how many voters find Hillary to be fundamentally untrustworthy, but it's also why Berners' support for Hillary shouldn't be treated as a given. Question #5: Don't Bernie supporters want to see America elect its first female president? With a few of my female friends who support Hillary, the discussion of Hillary's pros and cons has quickly given way to the fact that these women really want America to have its first female president. A few of those arguments have been "It's time America had a woman president," "I'm sick of men always being in charge," "A woman president will be an amazing example for my daughter," and "I want my mother/grandmother to see America's first woman president before she dies." If I respond with something like, "I also want America to have its first female president, but Hillary being a woman isn't enough for me," I've gotten a response like, "That's easy for you to say. You're a man." There's really not much to discuss after that. Advertisement It's true -- I'm a man, and I've never lived through the sexism, inequalities, and discrimination that women are faced with every day. While I am a staunch feminist and very much want America to have its first woman president, I understand that it could never mean as much to me as it would to most women. I also have no daughters, both of my grandmothers are dead, and I'm optimistic that my mom will see a female American president in her lifetime. I will totally concede that Hillary is more of a woman than Bernie could ever be, and I think Hillary would probably be slightly better on women's issues than Bernie would. But I also think it's true that being the first of something isn't always a good thing. Take a look back at the George W. Bush administration. Condoleezza Rice was the first woman to ever hold the position of National Security Advisor and is the first black woman to be Secretary of State. Are these impressive achievements celebrated by women, black people, or those who support diversity? Alberto Gonzales is not only the first Mexican American to ever be the US Attorney General, but is currently the highest-ranking Latino American to ever hold a position in the executive branch. Do any Latinos celebrate him with pride as a trailblazer? Last I heard, Gonzales was having trouble finding a job. Are Indian Americans proud of Bobby Jindal, America's first Indian-American governor? And what would a Sarah Palin presidency do for women? Would she be a good role model and example for America's daughters? Simply being the first of something shouldn't be a goal in and of itself, even something as overdue as having a woman elected president of the United States. As you can see from the examples above, context and what the person actually achieves ultimately trumps being first. Believe it or not, I very much want every person's mom, grandmother, daughter, and myself to see America's first female president -- but I want that woman to be an amazing progressive president who I can be proud of. And I'm not sure if Hillary would be that president. Advertisement During previous debates, the presidential candidates have staked out positions on how they would take executive action on a broad range of controversial issues from immigration to the environment. Before this week, though, neither Bernie Sanders nor Hillary Clinton had discussed how they would use the power of the presidential pen to help America's workers win higher wages and organize unions. Now Bernie Sanders has come out in support of the "Model Employer Executive Order," a proposal that would help transform millions of poorly paid jobs into good jobs that pay living wages and respect workers' rights. Hillary Clinton has so far avoided taking a position on the issue. Clinton's "cautious politician" hedging on the Model Employer order should concern progressives, because for more than a century the strategic use of presidential executive power has played a key role in shaping U.S. labor relations for good or ill. In 1981, Ronald Reagan famously issued an order to fire and permanently replace 12,000 striking members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO). Inspired by Reagan's example, CEOs went on to make the permanent replacement of strikers commonplace in the private sector, devastating unions and thereby contributing to the wage stagnation workers face today. Advertisement If Reagan's decisive executive action weakened worker bargaining power, then an equally bold application of presidential power could help us reverse course. Indeed, given a dysfunctional U.S. Congress, tackling the forces that have disempowered workers, undermined collective bargaining, and exacerbated inequality will require courageous executive action. Both Clinton and Sanders promise to raise workers' wages and protect the right to organize. In truth, neither will be able to overcome Republicans' ability to block labor reform legislation unless they use executive action. Since 1959 every effort to reform U.S. labor law has been blocked by a Senate filibuster. There is no reason to believe that this pattern will soon end. Even if Donald Trump's candidacy badly splits the Republican Party in November, Democrats have virtually no chance of winning both control of the House of Representatives and a filibuster-proof Senate majority. Yet significant action reversing declining labor standards and eroding bargaining power is still within reach. Previous Democratic presidents used executive power to advance worker rights when Congress could not - or would not - act. Advertisement Woodrow Wilson created the National War Labor Board during World War I and supported its recommendation that defense workers be allowed to bargain collectively. In 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt used an executive order to challenge racial discrimination in employment. And in 1962 John F. Kennedy issued an order introducing collective bargaining to the federal government, thereby triggering a wave of public sector unionization. Each of these presidential actions became templates for later legislation. The right to collectively bargain set forth by Wilson's War Labor Board in 1918 was written into the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act in 1935; FDR's prohibition of racial discrimination in the defense industry in 1941 was embodied in the 1964 Civil Rights Act; and the principles of JFK's 1962 executive order allowing government workers to bargain collectively were adopted by dozens of state legislatures and then written into the federal Civil Service Reform Act in 1978. The next president can build on these precedents to put us on a new course. With the stroke of a pen, he or she can transform the federal government from the nation's biggest, most influential creator of low-wage jobs into a good job creator. Many workers employed by federal contractors--including food service, janitorial, and other service workers--do not earn a living wage; in fact, some earn so little that they qualify for public assistance. Their employers, meanwhile, resist these workers' efforts to unionize and bargain collectively. The Model Employer Executive Order would give preference in government contracts to employers who pay living wages, grant paid sick days and family leave, offer full-time employment, and respect workers' rights to bargain collectively. It would transform the lives of millions of Americans, even those who do not work for federal contractors. Just as Reagan's decisive action did, it would broadly influence patterns of private sector labor relations, and, like the orders issued by Wilson, FDR, and JFK, it would serve as a foundation for new labor laws. NEW YORK CITY, NY, UNITED STATES - 2016/02/23: Commissioner Bratton speaks during announcement of CompStat 2.0 for public use in New York. Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Bratton announce the New York City Police Department is taking the unprecedented step of making much of the crime data developed in the CompStat model available to the public. This new advancement, called CompStat 2.0, will provide greater specificity about crimes through an interactive experience. (Photo by Louise Wateridge/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) "Bullsh*t." That was NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton's response to questions from reporters last month about the department utilizing an illegal, but often cited, quota system. A few weeks later, 10 active police officers went on television two nights in a row to speak out against the pressure they say they feel to write summonses and make arrests -- primarily in communities of color. One of the cops described the department as a "mafia" that used intimidation to keep officers in line. An active NYPD lieutenant came forward the next day to confirm what many retired cops have long said. Fearing retribution, he hid his identity and his voice was altered during an interview. Advertisement The story had all the makings of an expose of a shadowy criminal underworld. City officials naturally denied everything. An active NYPD lieutenant had to conceal his identity to speak with NBC4 Then, a bombshell. Tabloids began to report news of federal investigation into members of the NYPD. Two high-ranking police officials were placed on modified duty and others were transferred after a front page story revealed that federal wiretaps had uncovered cops allegedly accepting gifts and trips from two prominent jewish supporters of Mayor Bill de Blasio in exchange for favors. The ever-expanding story had it all: fancy dinners, tickets to the Super Bowl, trips to Vegas, Rome and Israel. One senior police official had reportedly even received diamonds in exchange for providing a police escort for one of the men. And these were well-known political donors. In a seeming evolution of police corruption, it was no longer patrol cops being paid off by drug dealers, but rather Chiefs and Borough Commanders hobnobbing with wealthy, real estate-oriented political operatives. Bratton insisted that the investigation, while news to the public, was not news to him. The federal probe, he told reporters, preceded his appointment as commissioner, though he was made aware of it upon his appointment. That meant that Bratton had known since at least December of 2013. While he downplayed the swirl of media attention, lecturing reporters that "the first story is not the last", it was a parade of front pages that had forced Bratton to concede that corruption may have been happening on his watch, involving senior members of his department. Advertisement A 31-year veteran, Deputy Chief Andrew Capul, is the latest cop to get caught in the corruption scandal It's not the first time Bratton has had to manage the public relations mess of a corruption scandal. In 1994, Bratton opposed allowing the Mollen Commission, the historic investigation into police misconduct and abuse of power stemming from news of drug-dealing cops, to conduct its own independent investigations. He and Rudy Giuliani would ultimately opposed the Mollen Commission's findings. The next year, Bratton forced out the head of Internal Affairs, Walter Mack, who was pushing hard to root out corruption at the department. Too hard, perhaps, for Bratton. Most telling during that time was Bratton's analysis of the previous high-level commission created to unearth police corruption in the 1970's: the Knapp Commission. That commission's work, Bratton said, had "handcuffed cops" and led to "the fall of civilized behavior" by making police officers hesitant, allowing criminality to flourish. In other words, discipline and accountability of the NYPD would lead to mayhem. That seems to be a consistent theme as Bratton and others have made similar claims about police brutality protests. In his latest stint as commissioner under de Blasio, Bratton had vowed to root out "the brutal, the corrupt, the racist, the incompetent" cops who are "poisoning the well", as he put it. And yet he has dragged his feet. Perhaps he simply meant he would transfer the brutal, the corrupt, the racist, the incompetent. Advertisement Or maybe even promote them? Deputy Inspector Michael Grant, on modified desk duty because of the scandal, had previously headed up the 72nd precinct in Sunset Park where numerous incidents of police brutality led to a tense town hall with outraged residents. And yet Bratton moved Grant, the enterprising cop who got diamonds for a police escort, according to authorities, to Manhattan's 19th precinct, in what has been described as a "climbing the ladder." This was even at the time that Bratton would have known about the federal investigation. There are now questions over whether Bratton promoted others who he knew were under investigation. Internal Affairs apparently doesn't investigate anyone above the rank of Captain But, as Bratton suggests, perhaps these things just take time. Years, maybe. The next commissioner may find him or herself with some of these same brutal and corrupt cops (like Richard Haste and Daniel Pantaleo) still on the payroll. And of course the office of the commissioner has raised its own eyebrows in recent years by using a private nonprofit favored by the city's wealthy, the Police Foundation, as its own "piggy bank." Bratton has been accused of getting jobs for friends. The key point here is that this isn't just a few bad apples or a lapse in judgement. It's systemic. It's also highly political not only because donors to the Mayor are involved, but because the NYPD has grown so powerful that no oversight agency or city or state officials will touch it. If beat cops are above the law, then it goes without saying that top brass are too. The feds just happened to have stumbled onto this scandal while they were investigating Norman Seabrook, the correction officer's union boss. If the NYPD has nothing to hide then a deeper and more transparent gaze into what makes the department tick shouldn't be a problem. A federal investigation alone does little in this regard, playing out behind the scenes and scrutinizing only a handful of cops. Most frustrating is that the investigation creates an excuse for silence from police officials who are relieved to say they can't comment because of an ongoing investigation. And while some have chosen to suggest that the corruption is foremost a product of the Mayor (who certainly is implicated not only here but also a luxury condo controversy in the Lower East Side) or retired Chief of Department Philip Banks (an easy scapegoat no longer with the department), Bratton and the rest of the department must not be allowed to sweet talk their way out of this one. These allegations are likely the tip of the iceberg and another Mollen-like investigation is warranted. Advertisement Bratton promoted Joe Reznick to head Internal Affairs even as Reznick has reportedly called a whistleblowing cop a "rat" Standing at the podium of Police Plaza last week as Bratton answered questions about the corruption scandal was current NYPD Internal Affairs chief Joe Reznick. Reznick was named in a lawsuit filed by a retired NYPD detective alleging that Reznick had called the whistleblowing cop a "rat" when he resisted helping other cops in the 83rd precinct "thwart an investigation." Equal pay for equal work: it's not just the law, it makes sense financially and ethically. But just because something is sensible doesn't make it standard operating procedure. Every country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has a gender pay gap, ranging from Korea's 36.6% pay gap to New Zealand's 5.6%. According to the OECD, the U.S. gender pay gap is 17.9%. These pay gaps aren't fading anytime soon; at current rates of progress, gender wage equality will take another 70 years to materialize. In the U.S., women's wages have been stagnant for more than a decade, and the gender pay gap has remained the same since about 2001. What would happen if women and men participated equally in the economy? Lots of good things. According to the European Commission, closing the gender pay gap makes the entire economy more profitable. A recent study from McKinsey made a plausible case that if women participated equally in the global economy, global GDP would rise by 26% - the size of the U.S. and Chinese economies combined. There is more, of course, to full gender equality than pay parity, but that's a significant piece of the puzzle. At the company level, there is also evidence that closing the pay gap benefits everyone. All companies have a workforce, and it is logical to think that a better, more talented and motivated workforce is more of a help than a hindrance to companies' financial performance. That, in turn, makes workplace management material for investors. This is borne out by recent research from Harvard, showing that human capital is positively correlated with financial performance. Investment consultant Mercer has found that active management of pay equity is a crucial driver of gender diversity and notes that "If all organizations were aligned on the importance of pay equity in ensuring access to the right talent, we would be much further along on our journey toward the equal representation of men and women in the workforce." Advertisement There will always be pushback from people who just know that women are paid less because they do less, work less, or have learned less. Yet this does not stand up against actual facts. Women outnumber men in college in the U.S., as well as globally, both in enrollment and in graduation, and that's been true for quite some time. Women do leave the workforce to care for children and family members in greater proportions than men, but even taking that out of the equation still leaves a gender gap in pay that cannot be explained by skill, learning, or experience -- only by discrimination. One of the best ways to set about solving this problem is through the disinfecting power of sunlight. Would we put up with discrimination if we knew it was happening? Probably not. That is why companies should report on pay ratios by gender. This is material information that helps inform investors of the quality of a company's management, and we think it should be reported publicly. That is why Pax Ellevate recently petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission to require companies to disclose gender pay ratios and has asked companies to start voluntarily reporting pay ratios now. Several states, including California, are already moving on this issue, and in the United Kingdom new laws will require companies to report on gender pay ratios -- around 8,000 of the largest companies there will have to state how many men and women are in each pay range. Advertisement While working on the current issue of Sinister Wisdom -- and thinking about the fortieth anniversary of Sinister Wisdom in 2016, the song "Anniversary" has been playing in my mind. When Meg Christian and Cris Williamson sang "Anniversary" at Carnegie Hall on November 26, 1982, they were celebrating the tenth anniversary of Olivia Records--and the launch of the womyn's music movement. Then, Olivia and the womyn's music movement had flowered beyond anyone's wildest expectations. In the song, Christian and Williamson open with this verse: I know, you know just how happy we ought to be the mother of invention has lead us here tonight step into the light get the spirit you can hear it in the land They continue with the chorus: anniversary anniversary anniversary ten years we are changers in the making we are changed face the music it's a night dream turning it over turning it over again Williamson said about the concert, "History was made that night in that legendary hall filling up and spilling over with an audience -- mostly women -- from all over the world." On that night in 1982, who would have imagined Sinister Wisdom, then seven years old, would still be publishing the best in lesbian literature, art, and culture over thirty years later? Even without imagining this future, Sinister Wisdom continues to thrive. Sinister Wisdom is one element of a long history of lesbian culture--and a bold reach to the future with each issue published. I am pleased to be the steward of Sinister Wisdom during this auspicious year. In a country like Nepal that has endured long-term political hardships, there's nothing more devastating than for the 2015 earthquakes to rock the nation. At a magnitude of 7.8 that hit on 25 April, then 7.3 on 12 May - just two weeks apart from each other - the disastrous impact left close to 9,000 people killed and tens of thousands injured. A further 850,000 homes were damaged and over 2.5 million of the population were left without homes. Advertisement This inevitably meant that healthcare and education facilities were left in tatters, with local agriculture suffering from lack of power to operate water pumps and irrigate crops. As the country continues to struggle with the effects of the natural disasters, climate change and political instability, renewable energy is providing both light and hope for a nation of people renowned for their resilience. Over 80% of Nepal's population live in rural mountainous regions that lack access to electricity, and it is this lack that remains one of the biggest barriers to the country's economic development. Kerosene lamps are currently the only reliable source of light, leading many businesses to run privately-owned diesel generators for backup. Still, they suffer from increasing fuel costs, frequent shortages and pollution from fumes and noise. In August, crisis struck again with political conflicts on the border of Nepal and India leading to a complete economic blockade. Goods were not allowed to pass from India into Nepal, the primary path of trade for the country. Residents have been running on fuel to cook and heat their homes, and hospitals warned of an impending humanitarian crisis as medicines started to run short. In the post-earthquake situation, businesses have been forced to shut down and are actively seeking out clean, reliable and alternative energy solutions. Solar, therefore, has become a very feasible and viable answer to power Nepal and provide a path towards energy independence. One organisation that is actively providing solar energy to Nepal is SunFarmer a non-profit that installs solar panels for health facilities, schools, farms and community centres in the developing world. With Nepal as the first country of focus, Co-founders Andy Moon and Jason Gray started SunFarmer and have powered over 100 solar projects in Nepal. With their tagline "Solar is the Solution," the team has partnered with the Government of Nepal and health-care provider Possible Health with an aim to power 21 reconstructed health posts with solar in the Dolakha district, one of the hardest hit disaster zones in Nepal. Advertisement With energy partner Renewable World, SunFarmer has also implemented a water irrigation project that uses a solar MUS (Multiple Use System) for drinking and micro-irrigation. In areas like Sirubari, farmers like Dilli Ram Regmi are benefiting from wells above the village that are filled with water that are in turn powered by solar water pumps at the base of the mountains. In the same community, 16 distribution taps have been fitted to provide drinking water to 32 households in the village. Besides healthcare and agriculture, education is also in the pipeline. One of these projects is the SOS Children's Village in Jorpati, a village just outside Kathmandu, which provides care and schooling to children with disabilities, whose families can no longer care for them. A total of 1.89 kW of solar energy installed on the rooftops are currently powering computers, wireless routers, lights and a refrigerator for 42 children, 30 youths, 24 full-time staff and 35 volunteers. This short multimedia documentary and series of photos were taken six months after the earthquake, where local spots like the Citizen's Awareness Centre in Dolakha have quickly become a meeting point for people to discuss ways to facilitate change with renewable energy - all this to better the livelihoods of its community. A bright future awaits the nation as solar becomes more affordable and economically viable for developing countries like Nepal, who may not have the financial resources to exploit the potential of renewable energy. Clearly, we see that the opportunity of bringing electricity to poorer regions in a cleaner, cheaper and more efficient method is already underway. While 2015 was a difficult year, on February 5, 2016 the blockade came to an end and goods are now moving freely between Nepal and India. Whilst the earthquakes devastated much of the country, more than half of the nation's districts were left relatively intact. Tourism, one of the main sources of economic stability for Nepal, is returning to the country with travel, sight-seeing and trekking open for the season. Advertisement Take a 15-year-old girl and add in divorced parents, an estranged and likely unstable mother, an exploitative 18 year old boyfriend, drugs and sex and what do you have? A sadly far too common story familiar to and lived by countless families across this country. This time the family was that of Jay Silverman, an accomplished film and TV producer, director and writer, and he has brought his keen skills to this semi-fictionalized movie. Silverman directed and co-wrote Girl On The Edge. His admiration for his traumatized daughter, (second) wife and the clinicians who helped them is palpable, lends pathos and provides hope for others traveling a similar path. Hannah (Taylor Spreitler) is fifteen and looking for love in all the wrong places. She attaches herself to a self-absorbed eighteen year old, Tommy (well played as a villain by Shane Graham), who soon drugs her at a party. She becomes not just the victim of his sexual assault but a disgrace among her peers as her naked photos wind up on the smart phones of everyone she knows. The clouds of Hannah's life grow even darker and soon she is using drugs, cutting herself and at risk to give it all up to suicide. Advertisement Her father, Jake (Gil Bellows), and step-mother (Amy Price-Francis) try and try but the problems prove too intractable and the dangers too great. Collecting other members of the family they organize what is called an "intervention," a moment when the family says we love you too much to allow your life to be destroyed. They take necessary action. In their case, it was arranging for their daughter to be admitted to a rural, residential program for adolescent girls. The fictional ranch in this film is called Maheo and was modeled after the two programs the Silverman's daughter did attend, one in Utah and one in Hawaii. Led by an avuncular Hank (the iconic Peter Coyote) and staffed by psychologists and counselors, including an equine therapist, Maheo becomes the venue for Hannah's passage to a life of safety and trustworthy relationships. The horses, a former shelter horse in particular, mirror each girl's struggle and become an essential medium for their recovery. The Silvermans are privileged people and did the right thing for their daughter, and that was very hard. But few families will be able to afford a private ranch for months of treatment; others may but only by having to mortgage their home or accrue large debt. However, the Silverman's story need not be for those of financial means alone: what the film illustrates are the necessary elements for any troubled teenager, or adult, to rebuild a life after trauma or with a mental or addictive disorder. The principles of recovery I have seen work in settings as varied as ranches, wilderness settings, group homes, therapeutic schools and hospitals, day programs, or living with relatives committed to helping them are, I believe, universal. What can work are a dedicated family and friends; a non-stigmatizing community; good treatment (counseling, medications for some, and expressive therapies like music, art, writing, or horses - or some of all of these); perseverance by the person affected and their loved ones - for the course is always marked by ups and downs; repeated exposure to others who are further along in their recovery; the tincture of time; and keeping hope alive - for all concerned, including the professional caregivers. Never give up. And don't go it alone because there are many others experiencing what you are, and who want to help. Advertisement Recovery from trauma and mental and addictive disorders is built on trusting relationships, protecting people from their own shame and the shaming of others, and small but clear steps that can be observed and used as anchors and reassurance when the going gets rough. We see that portrayed with care in Girl On The Edge. That's a message so many families need to see, and this film offers them a story to believe in. Girl On The Edge will Premiere on Showtime April 17th at 11:05pm For more info, please go to www.girlontheedgethemovie.com ............. The opinions expressed herein are solely my own as a psychiatrist and public health advocate. I receive no support from any pharmaceutical or device company. My book for families who have a member with a mental illness is The Family Guide to Mental Health Care (Foreword by Glenn Close) -- is now available in paperback. Advertisement My new book about some essential secrets of psychiatric practice will be available later this year. My website is www.askdrlloyd.com My son and I at the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba seconds before we were harassed by the authorities. My #CordobaPrayer 8th April 2016 An open letter to Pope Francis, Sovereign of the Vatican City. Your Holiness, In the aftermath of the atrocities in Paris and Brussels, and the daily outrages against humanity in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, it is easy to forget the religious tolerance is under siege from a tiny minority of extremists. But their ultra-violent methods aim to provoke social segregation and retribution, a clash of civilisations. They hijack religion in an attempt to make their movement look vast, when it is in fact extremely small. Advertisement Knowing this, your commitment to interfaith dialogue and understanding has taken on a deeper meaning as Daesh (aka ISIS/ISIL) turn greater attention to attacking the social fabric of Europe. Daesh depend on a highly simplistic narrative of Christian versus Muslim, Shia versus Sunni and Muslim versus Jew. They are supremacists who wish to destroy any Muslim sects who differ from their crazed vision. Unless we actively fight this narrative, the extremists can cause lasting distrust and division within our societies, and challenge the essence of democracy. It is this division that can manifest itself not only in violence, but in attitudes of hostility against Muslims and Christians alike. Unfortunately, it is this social division that I encountered on a family holiday in Spain earlier this month, when a peaceful trip to the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba ended in my family being harassed off the premises by security guards. Advertisement The incident happened at the end of a beautiful week long family holiday in Spain, and like thousands of other tourists, we decided to visit the famous multi-faith site, that was for a time both a Mosque and a Church. Unfortunately, some people in Spain are determined to erase the multi-faith heritage of this site, and it is now clear that my family had a very unpleasant encounter with some of these people, who wish to uphold a ban on Islamic prayer there. While attempting to pray, I was forcibly pushed by a security guard who then proceeded to harass my family, call for backup (despite our perfectly polite response) and follow us intimidatingly out of the building. On my part, it was a small act, in a corner of a vast room, 200 yards from where Christians were allowed to pray, and was done so silently and discretely. Nobody would have heard the prayer. With my family present, it should have been clear that we were no threat to anyone. But even my wife, resting on the floor after a long day of sightseeing, was aggressively told to move on and security ensured that we leave the area. Many other women in the building were also resting on the floor, but my wife was singled out. Advertisement As the security guard pushed me, my 3-year-old son asked him to "leave daddy alone, he is praying." I only hope that the discrimination that he saw that day does not become a formative memory of his first trip to Spain. It certainly isn't the Europe I know. An easy victory for inter-faith harmony My experience and that of others (which may have gone unreported) may constitute a positive opportunity for His Holiness to emphasise interfaith relations. Now is the time to act decisively on the issue of inclusiveness of prayer in all houses of worship. To that end, allowing Islamic prayer at Cordoba Mosque-Cathedral would be highly symbolic, something extremists across the political spectrum would fear. At this critical juncture in our collective history, it would be an important victory for peace. This is because when faiths display tolerance of each other in symbolic acts, it is the polar opposite of what Daesh want. It also damages the cause of the terrorists' best friends: the Far Right in Europe and North America, and the Far Right "lite" of Donald Trump. Yes, it is right to say the Far Right are their best friends. Without the Far Right mobilizing after every atrocity, be it in Paris, Brussels or London, the extremists' work is only half done. Segregation is their narrative, and there are few symbols more powerful than faiths united in a place of prayer. Advertisement So when St. John's Church in Aberdeen opened its doors to the local Muslim community in 2013, it was another blow to terrorism. When no less than 80 Mosques in the UK opened their doors to the British public, it was yet another stab at the terrorists' stupidly simple narrative of inter-communal warfare. And in Iraq, my home country, when tens of thousands of Christians fled the Daesh offensive of June 2014, they could find safe haven in the Shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf, one of the Holiest sites in Shi'a Islam. This is the polar opposite of what Daesh want. Delegations of Iraqi Sunnis have also been welcomed at our Holiest sites, a highly damaging image for Daesh and al Qaeda. And of course, it would be historically fitting to allow Islamic prayer in the Mosque-Cathedral. Certainly, Cordoba in the 10th century enjoyed a fascinating cultural period which saw the Jewish diplomat Hasdai Ibn Shaprut (d 970 AD) establish an enduring relationship with caliph Abd al-Rahman III. This was a time that witnessed an astonishing cross-pollination of Hebrew and Arabic literature, the kind of religious overlap that had previously been seen in Iraq in the 5th century, in the form of the traveling Jewish writer "Ezra the scribe" (Uzair in the Quran) who has a shrine today in Al Amarah, Iraq. Of course, Cordoba is more famous than Ezra's tomb, being a World Heritage site since 1984. Built in 784 AD, the Mosque reached its heyday in the 10th century during the Umayyad caliphate which stretched into southern Spain, until Ferdinand III transformed the Mosque into a Cathedral in the 13th century, preserving its magnificent Moorish architecture, a forest like internal structure of hundreds of pillars and arches. But while in Cordoba, I believe my family encountered people who want to erase some of this history. In November, a local Far Right party called Vox held a demonstration arguing that unless the word "Mosque" was removed from the name of the Cordoba Cathedral Mosque, it would be a "victory for Jihadism." Advertisement The reality is quite the opposite. Therefore, if His Holiness does not distinguish between houses of God and the freedom for all faiths to worship in those houses, then why should I be prevented from worshipping in Spain or indeed any other country where the predominant faith is Christian? It is sad that things have come to this, but it I believe that the efforts of an international campaign to preserve the multi-faith status of the site, which has won 400,000 signatures on Change.org, is a positive step forward. Furthermore, the local council has recently rejected a claim of ownership of the site, affirming its World Heritage status as a priceless historical structure beyond the concept of ownership by one organization. I believe we are far beyond the times of religious discrimination, something I witnessed on my family outing that was not reflective of the Europe I know. The Abrahamic religions subscribe to the unity of God, so prayer in any house of worship must surely be a fundamental human right. Certainly, it should be upheld as a right in Spain; in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, Article 16(3) states that "No religion shall have a state character. The public authorities shall take into account the religious beliefs of Spanish society and shall consequently maintain appropriate cooperation relations with the Catholic Church and other confessions." Perhaps it was for this reason that authorities were afraid to write a sign instructing Muslims not to pray at Cordoba Mosque-Cathedral. Entering the Mosque-Cathedral, I noticed that the authorities clearly did not have any legal authority to stop you praying pursuant to you accepting the terms of admission to the site. In fact, the only three "NOs" on the visitors leaflet were, "No revealing clothes, No Pets, and No Food and Beverages are allowed inside the site." Advertisement So what is banned is an act of free thought, and thought crime belongs in Europe's dark past; let's keep it that way and keep Europe an open, free society, making Cordoba not only a symbol of European tolerance, but a symbol of our times. I hope one day to return to Cordoba and complete my unfinished prayer, which was incidentally, for peace on Earth and greater understanding among mankind. What is American Sign Language? Is it a culture? Is it an identity? Is it a foreign language? Is it an art form? Is it for Deaf people only? ASL fills a variety of roles in different people's lives, but most importantly: it is a communication tool. ASL is emotional expression, it is connection; it is a way for humans to build meaningful relationships. The use of sign language has been discovered all around the world in areas where groups of Deaf people have had the opportunity to interact with one another. Nicaraguan sign language spontaneously emerged in the 1970s, after it was developed by deaf Nicaraguan school children. In Martha's Vineyard, MA, from the early 18th century until the mid-20th century, there was an unusually large deaf population among the island's residents. This led to the development of Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL), a unique form of sign that all island residents knew and utilized, regardless of whether they were deaf or hearing! Last month Stacy Abrams, a Family Mentor Program Coordinator at Arizona Schools for the Deaf/Blind and the Arizona Early Intervention Program, launched the viral video campaign called Why I Sign #WhyISign. According to Abrams, she started the campaign "to inspire families everywhere to share their personal stories of why they elect to sign with their Deaf children." Advertisement #WhyISign quickly caught on with the Deaf community as parents, children, and whole families shared what ASL means to them. These personal and passionate videos depict hundreds of members of the Deaf community explaining in their own words why they choose to use ASL with their family and friends. The campaign also appealed to a number of hearing individuals such as parents of Deaf children, Children of Deaf Adults (CODAs), Deaf school employees, and sign language interpreters; all of whom consider ASL an important part of their lives. #WhyISign was so powerful because of the community pride it generated and the incredible diversity of ASL users that it showcased. The campaign also brought an important issue to the forefront: giving deaf children access to signed languages. Research has shown that learning to sign improves cognitive and linguistic development skills in both deaf and hearing infants. Because babies develop basic motor functions before they are able to orally communicate, knowing certain signs can help children express their wants and needs, thus reducing frustrations. Unfortunately, this seems less clear-cut for parents who decide to go the oral or cochlear implant route for their child, as these parents tend to worry that teaching their child signs will prevent them from acquiring spoken language skills. Recent studies however have shown that this fear is unfounded, and in fact learning ASL "may mitigate negative effects of early auditory deprivation for spoken language development." Advertisement Peter Hauser, a deaf clinical neuropsychologist and associate professor in the American Sign Language and Interpreting Education Department at NTID, has been studying how exactly deaf people's brains are wired. Hauser's research indicates that not having comfortable access to language from a very early age can delay the development of executive functions in the brain-- this includes emotions, impulse control, memory, and thought organization. Sign language provides deaf/ HoH children who are learning to communicate orally with another (potentially more effective) way to sort through their own thoughts while they learn English. Language Equality and Acquisition for Deaf Kids (LEAD-K) is a national campaign by ASL4Deaf Kids, which aims to end language deprivation amongst Deaf children in the United States. This growing movement, which features celebrity spokesperson Nyle DiMarco, recently helped pass SB 210 in California: a bill designed to help assess and support literacy amongst deaf young people. LEAD-K promotes an integrated approach where deaf/ HoH children are offered both ASL and English, and not made to choose between the two languages. Some people believe that signed languages will die out as medical technology alters the social landscape of deafness. Members of the Deaf community and deaf allies are working hard to change this perception. As the previously mentioned research suggests, teaching ASL to deaf/ HoH children is actually beneficial to language acquisition, as well as their emotional development, and it has been linked to long-term educational success. April 15 is celebrated as National ASL Day and marks the last day of Deaf History Month. On April 15, 1817, the first school for the deaf in the United States opened and the language we know as ASL began to form-- born from a mix of Native American Signs, French Signs, and Martha's Vineyard Sign Language. If there is any consistency among the views of those who earn their living by prognosticating about elections, it is that Donald Trump's path to become the Republican presidential nominee is fraught while Hillary Clinton's win is virtually assured. "Will Trump Be Dumped?" read the headline of Maureen Dowd's Sunday New York Times column, while her colleague Jeremy Peters wrote, "Even if super-delegates did not exist... [Sanders'] hopes of catching [Clinton] in the traditional delegate race are looking increasingly thin." Trump's lead over Cruz and Clinton's over Sanders, however, are virtually the same -- 237 pledged delegates in the case of Trump/Cruz and 219 in the case of Clinton/Sanders. So what explains the difference in attitudes towards the contests? Some pundits say that the difference in their assessment of the two contests is that Clinton also has the advantage of an additional 469 super-delegates to Sanders' 31, while FiveThirtyEight blog's David Wasserman argues that though Sanders' advocates talk about the "will of the people," if you tally all the actual votes cast, Clinton has won 2 million more actual votes and therefore represents that will. Advertisement Yet, if you are plotting an electoral victory in November -- which is, after all, what counts -- Wasserman has it wrong. While Clinton has an apparent "popular vote advantage of more than 2 million votes," that advantage may be illusory, as much of her votes come from states that have not voted for a Democrat for president in years. Sanders has won 16 contests to Clinton's 20 (including the Marianas, American Samoa and Dems abroad) but looking more closely, Clinton has won in only seven states where Obama prevailed in 2012 (Iowa, Nevada, Massachusetts, Virginia, Ohio, Florida, Illinois) while Sanders has won nine states where the democratic nominee won (New Hampshire, Colorado, Minnesota, Vermont, Maine, Michigan, Hawaii, Washington State, Wisconsin). If you subtract the votes of the states which went Republican in the 2012 and 2008 elections from each candidate's totals and subtract the number from the candidates' total popular vote the result is quite different. Instead of Clinton having a 1.5 million vote advantage over Sanders (9,412,426 to 7,834,497) in states that have gone democratic in the past years and which Democrats need to win, Sanders turns out to have a 1.5 million vote advantage over Clinton - 7,534, 744 for Sanders to Clinton's 5,867,998. Does this matter? Is this more than simply counting angels on the head of a pin? Yes, because each party faces the same dilemma: how to put forth a candidate that can unite the factions of their party, bring out their base while attracting the third of Americans who are independent. Sanders' numerical strength is in the states that Democrats must win if they are to prevail in November. Clinton's numerical strength is in the South -- which is less than helpful in a November contest. Advertisement Whatever happens in the next weeks in California and New York, and whether or not Sanders can secure enough pledged votes to equal Clinton's, if Democrats are to win in November, the party must take Sanders' numbers and states seriously. As to the super-delegates and whether they would swing to Sanders if he prevails in pledged votes. Despite assurances that the super-delegates would never abandon their party leaders, as the old adage says, all politics are ultimately local. With every member of the House of Representatives up for re-election, while the super-delegates may owe their loyalty to the party, they will be looking over the shoulders at how Clinton and Sanders fare in their local polls -- and ergo, how they will fare as well. FILE -- In this file photo released by the Egyptian Ministry of Interior on Thursday, Mar. 24, 2016, personal belongings of slain Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni, including his passport, are displayed. On Sunday, April 3, 2016 the editor of Egypt's top state newspaper called on Egyptian authorities to seriously deal with the case of an Italian student tortured and killed in Cairo, saying officials who didn't realize the gravity of the case are risking Egyptian-Italian relations. Italian Premier Matteo Renzi has insisted Italy will settle for nothing less than the truth. (Egyptian Interior Ministry via AP, File) On April 8, the Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni recalled his Ambassador to Egypt. The decision came on the heels of a meeting held in Rome with an Egyptian delegation on the investigation into the murder of Giulio Regeni, the Italian PhD student whose tortured corpse was found in Cairo on February 3. Burns and cuts scarred his body. His mother stated that when she saw his dead body, she saw "all the world's evil" on his face. It is strongly suspected that Egyptian security services may have tortured and killed him. In 2015 alone, 625 cases of torture and 1,411 cases of forced disappearances were documented in the country. What does the unexpected dip in Italian-Egyptian diplomatic relations imply for the stability of President al-Sisi? Advertisement In fact, right after the identification of Giulio Regeni's lifeless body, the Italian government seemed ready to deal with the matter practically. Giulio's case embarrassingly surfaced amidst the final explorations of the supergiant Zohr offshore gas field that had been discovered by Italian oil company Eni last year, and which is expected to significantly increase business ties between Egypt and Italy. However, amid exceptional mobilization by Italian and international activists and scholars, Rome expected -- at the very least -- an admission that the Egyptian security services had been involved. Behind these considerations lay the perennial dilemma for Western powers dealing with authoritarian regimes in the Middle East: the calculation that -- no matter how brutal their abuse on populations or flagrant their violations of human rights -- there is a need to support friendly dictators as long as they guarantee (Western) security and stability, thwart terror groups and popular uprisings, and stem the flow of migrants to Western shores. This view was demonstrated in the Italian parliament's discussion of the Regeni case, when MPs of two right-wing parties, Lega Nord and Fratelli d'Italia left the session, arguing: "Egypt is our ally." Ironically, the brutalized corpse of Giulio Regeni has forced the entire world to acknowledge the everyday reality of Egyptian prisons and regime impunity. In fact, Arab authoritarian leaders are largely responsible for producing the very conditions in which all three of the aforementioned phenomena proliferate. Economic mismanagement has created and fostered unemployment and poverty. Brutal repression has destroyed the political opposition and, together, these developments have exacerbated the migration of people from the civic space to either the religious space (which may be politicized and/or violent) or a foreign country. Advertisement Egyptian President al-Sisi is not an exception. In his arrogance and belief that the West considers him to be an indispensable pillar of stability, al-Sisi appears to have been overconfident that the Regeni case was "not going to affect Italian-Egyptian relations," as he put it. He went on to blame Rome for "politicizing the matter" after Ambassador Massari was recalled from Cairo. What al-Sisi dramatically overlooks is that since February 3, this case has been an inherently political issue (Giulio disappeared on January 25, the anniversary of the Egyptian revolution), and that the truth about Giulio will be essential. Even in an age of political expediency and more complex geopolitics, there are lies that simply cannot be swept under the carpet. However, the Egyptian regime has engaged in a global display of its own ineptitude, immorality and irresponsibility -- and in the process, risks compromising key alliances. Over the past few weeks, Egyptians officially released several different and contradictory "truths" on the murder of Regeni. First, they said Giulio died in a car accident -- his body was found alongside the highway connecting Cairo and Alexandria. Later, they stated his murder was connected to a love affair. And then they insinuated that Giulio was tortured and killed by a "gang specialized in kidnapping foreigners." This story was plainly absurd, and Egyptian security services went on to claim that all five of the suspected kidnappers had been killed in a shootout with the police, leaving a conveniently closed case for investigators and denying the alleged kidnappers any chance to defend themselves. The Egyptian state nonchalantly deprived other families of their dear ones, without reason nor a credible explanation. By fabricating surreal and ridiculous versions of the "truth," the Egyptian regime has embarrassed even those who usually indulge its flagrant brutality, such as the current Italian government. Last but not least, Italian authorities have discovered that Egypt has spied on their investigators during the eight weeks they spent in Cairo trying to shed light on the disgraceful murder of Giulio. There have been multiple attempts to divert their enquiries and obstruct their work. By fabricating surreal and ridiculous versions of the "truth," the Egyptian regime has embarrassed even those who usually indulge its flagrant brutality, such as the current Italian government. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has been one of the most enthusiastic champions of President al-Sisi in his "fight against terror," ignoring the fact that his counter-terror strategy has mostly amounted to repressing and randomly brutalizing actual and imagined opponents of his regime, including liberal and leftist activists. The Egyptian regime has dramatically underestimated Italian and European persistence. Particularly in Italy and the UK, civil society has been incredibly vocal. More than 10,000 citizens signed a petition pushing the government to demand more thorough investigations into Giulio's murder. Italy may now even call for EU sanctions against Egypt if al-Sisi does not come forth with a credible response. In line with the need to project an image of power to his domestic and international detractors, al-Sisi has reacted by turning attention to his major patron-ally, Saudi Arabia. In an official meeting with King Salman, the Egyptian president announced the construction of a bridge over the Red Sea, connecting the two countries. In a theatrical move, al-Sisi gave two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia as a sign of "gratitude." The announcement ramped up propaganda on new Saudi-Egyptian projects and investments. This show was meant to demonstrate that Egypt is prepared to compensate for the potential loss of Italian contracts -- Italy being Egypt's third commercial partner, after the U.S. and Germany. However, the move infuriated Egyptian streets. Further, while Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have become major allies of al-Sisi, the drop in oil prices and the financial shortcomings Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries are facing domestically indicate a scaling back of funding to Egypt. Advertisement Beyond the rosy picture General al-Sisi is trying to project around Egypt's stability and economic growth, the country is undergoing a major security and financial breakdown. Internal rivalries within the regime itself are rising to the surface, jeopardizing stability. Al-Sisi may actually have more enemies inside his establishment than outside the country he rules. Moreover, Egyptian and international observers increasingly suggest there may be another revolution in the country in reaction to the unbearable wave of repression and state dysfunction. Against this backdrop, even external allies may find the traditional 'support-dictators-in-exchange-for-security' policy inadequate in dealing with the current regional problems. Media commentators and U.S. senators are increasingly wondering whether it is worth it for Washington to spend $1.3 billion a year of taxpayers' money in military aid to Egypt, without getting much in return, not even a slight improvement with regards to human rights. While it seems unlikely that the U.S. will scale back its relationship with Egypt in the immediate future, Cairo may eventually witness increasing pressure with the policy of U.S. disengagement from the Middle East. As the Middle East is falling apart, ravaged by civil wars and political turmoil, Western citizens are also paying the price of the long-standing policy of supporting illiberal, corrupt powers. Even realpolitik pundits in the West may start realizing that the narrow idea that dictatorial friends can provide stability is a chimera. This assumption is still widespread amongst world leaders: David Cameron, for instance, recently explained that, although undeniably poor in its human rights records, the Saudi alliance helps to safeguard the security of UK citizens. What he did not say is that this happens at the expense of Saudi citizens' security -- which is growing disappointed with the royal family and may eventually turn Saudi Arabia into the newest pocket of instability in the Gulf. Incidentally, as the Middle East is falling apart, ravaged by civil wars and political turmoil, Western citizens are also paying the price of the long-standing policy of supporting illiberal, corrupt powers. Advertisement Europe is facing an unexpected wave of terrorism, carried out by European Muslim extremists that have established bridges between Europe and the Middle East, capitalizing and taking advantage of historical resentment of Western domination, exploitation, and devastation of the Muslim world. There is a large Middle Eastern population, frustrated and brutalized by their regimes (and external invasions), that for decades has been considering Western governments as the external legitimizers of their largely illegitimate rulers. Amidst current social and ideological tensions, this deep-rooted resentment can be easily exploited by terror groups in order to expand their base amongst disillusioned Muslims living in states of terror and elite impunity -- just like in Egypt. Ironically, the brutalized corpse of Giulio Regeni has forced the entire world to acknowledge the everyday reality of Egyptian prisons and regime impunity. Voter's hand holding election ballot for the U.S. Democratic Party, inserting the vote into the ballot box. Concept image of American democracy and the U.S. election process. Voters making their selection and putting in the voting ballot for the liberal Democratic Party. Photographed in horizontal format. In the first few months of 2016, the year of the next US presidential election, much of the talk has been regarding the Republican Party, the battle between Donald Trump and the other candidates, and just Donald Trump in general. In fact, every time the news comes on there is a new story about Donald Trump whether it regards his campaign or not. As a result, although it has been discussed, the Democratic Party has been left somewhat in the cold. Hilary Clinton, the former First Lady and Secretary of State, was the first to announce that she was in the running to be the lead candidate for the Democratic Party. However, just 18 days later and nearly a year ago, a formal announcement was made that saw Bernie Sanders enter the frame. Since, many have come and gone in the shape of Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee and Martin O'Malley leaving Clinton and Sanders as the two main candidates. Advertisement In recent months we have seen the toing and froing between the two with both claiming a number of primaries. 'Super Tuesday' saw Clinton win seven of the eleven primaries including Alabama, Georgia and Texas with Sanders claiming four which included Colorado and Oklahoma. Some have been extremely one sided and some have gone down to the wire; Clinton claimed a big victory in Iowa after winning by just 0.3%. Everyone has been hearing about Donald Trump's past, present and future, Hilary Clinton is well-known but how did Bernie Sanders reach the point where he is now? Of course, he is a well-known figure but lets take a look at his career to date and at the journey which could end with his becoming the President of the United States of America. Born on September 8th, 1941 in Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders graduated at the University of Chicago before moving to Vermont to pursue carpentry as well as being a documentary filmmaker. His political career started 35 years ago in 1981 as he scraped the Mayor of Burlington election. This was a big step for Sanders as it was the largest city in Vermont and it could have so easily been so different as he won the election by just 10 votes. Burlington was transformed and began a number of programs to reduce prices of housing, change tax laws, protect the environment and even progress women's rights. In 1990, Sanders made the move to become Vermont's member in Congress after lecturing at the John F Kennedy School of Government. He won with 56% of the votes becoming the first independent candidate to do so before then going on to win the next seven elections meaning that he held the post for 16 years. Instead of going for an eight time, he decided to turn his attentions to the Senate where he became the United States Senator from Vermont in 2007. Advertisement At 74 years of age, Sanders still holds this post today although obviously attempting to become the next President. His successful career means that he now has a net worth of $750,000 and is thought to earn around $175,000 per year. Much of his time in politics has been spent attempting to bridge the income and wealth gaps as well as shrinking the middle class. Sanders is also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, which saw him pass an important legislation regarding the reform of the VA health care system in 2014, as well as serving on the Environment and Public Works Committee. The latter has seen him focus on rebuilding important infrastructure in addition to tackling the ever-growing problem of global warming. His work doesn't stop there though as he also has a hand in energy, health, education and pensions where his work on fossil fuels and affordable health care has been complemented. This warm-hearted story about religious tolerance has the shape of a Shakespearean romance, the insight of a Michael Frayn drama and the soul of a fairy tale. Director Brian Kulick hasn't quite woven all these strands into a cohesive evening of theater; the scenic design by Tony Straiges is especially indifferent. But a fine cast and the probing intelligence on display in this piece from 1779 make it an enjoyable one. Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham is the wry center of the story as the Jewish merchant Nathan The Wise, a man too modest to call himself such a name but deserving of it nonetheless. After a long and profitable business trip, he arrives home in the Jerusalem of 1192, a city overseen by the tolerant Muslim Saladin. And before he's even shaken the dust off his cloak, Nathan is beset by problems to solve. His adopted daughter Rachel (Erin Neufer) was almost killed in a fire but thankfully was rescued by a Templar Knight (Stark Sands). Despite repeated entreaties, this orphaned knight refuses to receive her thanks and shrugs off Nathan as well. Meaning well, her Christian nurse reveals to the tempestuous young man that Rachel is not Jewish but in fact was baptized a Christian. She thinks this will smooth the way to an expected romance. Instead, the Templar is outraged. While professing tolerance to Nathan, he is aghast, imagining the worst and blurts out the "crime" without naming names to the Christian Patriarch (Caroline Lagerfelt). Furious, the Patriarch plans to have the offending Jew burned at the stake, once he can figure out who that is. Advertisement Meanwhile, the Sultan is broke but too proud to borrow money from Nathan. So he puts the man to a test: tell the Sultan which of the three Abrahamic faiths is the greatest. Is it Judaism, Christianity or Islam? It's impossible to answer without giving insult or betraying your own faith, at which point the Sultan will be able to demand money under better terms and save face in the bargain. So Nathan must properly thank the Templar, calm the young man's blood and perhaps wed him to Nathan's daughter, avoid the wrath of the Christians, appease the Sultan, answer his riddle of religion without giving offense and loan the Sultan the money he needs without embarrassing the ruler. It's a tall order, but he is Nathan the Wise, after all. The play was written by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and is performed here in a recent translation by Edward Kemp. It has an elemental appeal, thanks to revelations peppered throughout the show and the storytelling prowess of Nathan. Clearly, its appeal for today lies in seeing this 18th century play imagine a more tolerant world where people of good faith might live side by side in respect, even in Jerusalem. Advertisement That comes through loud and clear here, with religious text displayed on the back wall throughout much of the show and act two beginning with two actors performing salat, the daily prayer that Muslims enact five times a day. (According to my phone's compass, they were not facing Mecca, but it was done respectfully and added nicely to the gravitas of the show.) In general the scenic design did the story no help. That text was superimposed on what I assume is a modern day image of Jerusalem. [Actually, it turned out to be a photo of a neighborhood in Syria, for no good reason.) It included crumbling homes (from rocket mortars?) capped with a satellite dish. That modern intrusion with its mixed message distracted throughout. The stage featured ten chairs in the back so the cast was mostly present throughout, observing the others, while the floor was casually filled with rugs and pillows. One rug was spread out while two others were rolled up. Of course, you waited for them to be unrolled and one finally was. Instead of being joined right away by the other, the second one remained unfurled. Then in a scene of anger almost all the carpets were hurled this way and that...except for the unrolled carpet which now, inexplicably, was unrolled. Now? After the rest have been put in disarray? Since the rugs were almost the central element of the set, this was a confusing and arbitrary choice. The acting was similarly slapdash in style. As a friend of Nathan, the appealing George Abud seemed to be arriving from a musical comedy, while the often compelling Stark Sands was at a furious boil throughout as the Templar. The women had less interesting parts, though Lagerfelt had fun as the righteous Patriarch. Austin Durant had presence as Saladin. Still, you'd be hard-pressed to know they all inhabited the same world. Also, a certain clarity was lacking in the ending, filled as it was with last-minute reprieves and unexpected revelations. One should approach the final scenes with pleasure as all the pieces lock into place. Yet instead of going, "Oooh!" as all was made clear, one grappled with the genealogy of various people and new information. You left thinking, "OK, so if this person was the father of that character, then who....?" and so on, rather than glowing with satisfaction. Advertisement But it was Abraham who dominated, not by dominating but by quietly anchoring the performances of everyone around him. As the story grew more serious, Abraham's dignity and wisdom shone through. You never doubt he'll have an answer for the Sultan about which faith is the greatest. Thanks to Abraham and the text, you are never in doubt as to the thrust of the story and its eagerness to encompass all faiths in their complexity and contradictions. And no one is in doubt that Abraham can still hold a room in the palm of his hand simply by saying, "Let me tell you a story...." THEATER OF 2016 _____________ Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the founder and CEO of the forthcoming website BookFilter, a book lover's best friend. Trying to decide what to read next? Head to BookFilter! Need a smart and easy gift? Head to BookFilter? Wondering what new titles came out this week in your favorite categories, like cookbooks and mystery and more? Head to BookFilter! It's a website that lets you browse for books online the way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal recommendations every step of the way. It's like a fall book preview or holiday gift guide -- but every week in every category. He's also the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog. Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes. Co-Author Zuzana Palovic - CEE and Migration Expert The 2016 EU Presidency country is a little known, landlocked country often confused with its region Cousin Slovenia. You will be hearing more about this region in the years to come. Get ahead of the trend, and discover Europe's "forgotten" country. Located right in the heart of Europe, Slovakia is a high-income economy that boasts one of the youngest populations in Europe. Its strong industrial heritage and developed infrastructure has led to an advanced and booming manufacturing industry. Dubbed the 'New Detroit of Europe', Slovakia is the largest car producer in the world per cap. With a production output of over a million cars per year, Jaguar Land Rover is the most recent investor to join a stack of foreign companies, including Kia, Peugeot and Volkswagen, including the exclusive Porsche Cayenne brand. The country's automobile prowess builds on cold-war era skills sets. The 1989 collapse of the communist regime resulted in the simultaneous collapse of the defense industry as a result of the termination of Warsaw Pact contracts. Both a blessing and a curse, the country's destitute industrial sector was quickly resurrected thanks to foreign investment. Mass unemployment was interrupted, and the automotive industry continues to represent the largest single aspect of the Slovak economy. Advertisement Seemingly in contrast to its heavy industry base, the country recently introduced a world-leading start-up strategy. The government's initiative to help drive the innovation ecosystem strongly supports the business trends of country, whose biggest success stories are IT brands, such as ESET - the leading cyber-security company. Additionally, several of the world's largest IT companies, including IBM, DELL, HP and Lenovo, have opened large shared-services centers in the capital city, Bratislava. Since its accession to the European Union, Slovakia has been the fastest growing member in the Eurozone for the past decade (2004-2014), in addition to being awarded the accolade for Best Conditions for Doing Business in the CEE (2012) by the World Bank. A full member of the OECD, WTO, NATO, Slovakia is the only Central European and Visegrad-4 country to employ the Euro currency. Slovakia is a regional leader, which consistently outperforms its neighbors in productivity per hour worked. How is it that such a small and youthful country just a quarter of a century into its new-found sovereignty, has become such an over-achiever? Let's dig a little deeper to demonstrate why this region is Europe's best kept secret. Strategically located at the junction of East and West, the country is a natural gateway that unites the once stark geopolitical rift that divided the continent between communist planned economies and free-enterprise capitalism. However, the regional strength expands beyond its spatial coordinates, and can be found in its adaptability across time. In less than 100 years, the country has transitioned through six different political regimes that have shaped and influenced the people and the land. The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918 introduced a wave of changes, including the establishment of Czechoslovakia (1918-1938), followed by the first Slovak state under German hegemony (1939-1945), the post-war coup and imposition of communist rule (1948-1989), the collapse of the Iron Curtain and inauguration of independence in 1993, and the 'return' to the European family via European Union membership in 2004. The resurrection and survival of Slovakia continues to defy all odds, as well as many international expectations. Advertisement Moreover, these rapid transitions have given rise to a highly dynamic and flexible labor force that is not constrained by the same dependencies of some of its western European neighbors, whose labor forces have experienced the perks of democracy across multiple generations, but who nevertheless show complacency in the face of innovation and resistance to change. The CEE context is further enriched through the dynamic of return migration of East Europeans who return to the former Eastern Bloc. Made possible by the acquisition of supra-national citizenship rights and the principle of freedom of movement , these returning migrants infuse local markets with enhanced knowledge and skills gained in their years abroad. Armed with this globally competitive human capital, they are quickly snatched by the foreign multinationals that currently employ over 25,000 professionals. The recent scale-up of home-grown businesses into global enterprises, such as Pixel Federation and Sygic add further impetus to Slovakia's growth. Most remarkably, the country is the proud home of the world's leading flying car, Aeromobil. The inventor and founders, having grown up under a regime that discouraged imagination, dreamed of being free. Born out of duress, the seeds for innovation were sown, very much mirroring the journey of a country now spreading its wings and taking flight. In July this year Slovakia will assume the Presidency of the Council of the EU. This will put Slovakia in the spotlight and enable people to get to know the country better as well as explore the many opportunities that this dynamic little country has to offer. Slovakia's President Kiska, himself a former finance magnate and entrepreneurial success, is a key role-model for a nation whose vision is to embody economic and not just political self-sovereignty. The establishment of an innovation ecosystem that looks to support home-grown SMEs expand globally is nevertheless a large feat that must be approached from multiple angles. This includes top-down structural reform, in addition to bottom-up transformation of local mindsets. The former Minister of Economy, Vazil Hudak, is the visionary behind this strategy. Hudak is an international Slovak success - a former Vice-President of Citibank and JP Morgan in London who returned home to spearhead this vision (with his Innovation Department deputies Zuzana Nehajova and Peter Balik). In an economic sense, much attention has been given to the BRIC countries in recent years. Many big companies have quite rightly focused on their own Chinese and Indian strategies. Companies should,however, refresh their European strategy, and Slovakia is an excellent starting point - the new West-East Gateway. Advertisement Illustration and Painting A few of us have been at this "'notable person on the spectrum writes book'-thing" for some time. And whether it's me, Temple Grandin, Liane Holliday Willey, Jerry Newport, John Elder Robison, or Donna Williams...etc. I'm going to guess that we all, as oldsters, see a tremendous number of young, next-gen spectrumites who are writing, or who are seeking to write books about what life is like on the autism spectrum. GOOD! When we write, we express. Writing makes sense of things for us, as well as for readers. But I see that some of you also seem to have the expectation that this will turn into a career. I say, "Go for it! But..." At the risk of appearing to be a cranky, old man (happy Autism Acceptance [no, not "Awareness"] Month!)...If "big-fish-in-a-small-pond" fame is what you want? Then shut up and listen, you ambitious, punk kids; because despite whatever fairy-tale advice you're getting, you have some serious ^%&$ obstacles ahead of you. Advertisement First off, the real bad news is that when you're in your 20s, you're not really an expert on anything (nope, not even your autism). Secondly, Temple was first in line, and John had a famous brother -- the rest of us aren't likely to make their money. And third, because there are so many of us authors now, our stories -- if not the uniqueness of our circumstances -- have been significantly diluted. When Temple Grandin first (figuratively) put pen to paper, our numbers were around 300,000. Now we're at 4.6 million,* and the majority of that increase represents people who are quite capable of writing. The disability website, The Mighty, actually brags that they've published over 1,000 authors. You think that's a way to get noticed as a writer? How do you then separate yourself from all those peers, when all you have to showcase is your diagnosis? Answer: Unless you can write like Marquez, Karr, or Kazantzakis; do something. Like Delmer Berg, just drop what you're doing, and go do something amazing. "'Delmer Berg'? Who the heck was/is Delmer Berg?" Glad you asked... *1 in 68 in a nation of 319,000,000 = *** Delmer Berg was not thought to be on the autism spectrum. Delmer Berg was thought to be the last known survivor of "The Abraham Lincoln Brigade;" a disorganized group of roughly 3,000 Americans who between 1936 and 1939 dropped whatever they were doing to journey across the Atlantic, and risk their lives fighting for a socialist cause that, at face value, was no concern of theirs. Advertisement This past February 28, at the age of 100, Berg passed away. Sadly, the "Spanish Civil War" is not familiar to many of us. But in 1936 a Nationalist, fascist General, Francisco Franco, overthrew the democratically elected, leftist government of Spain. A brutal civil war then ensued wherein bombing campaigns were fierce, and few prisoners were taken. The overthrown, socialist "Republicans" (or "loyalists") continued to fight, and were backed by the Soviet Union -- as well as by the tens of thousands of volunteer soldiers swarming in from every country on earth. Franco, however, was backed by Hitler, Mussolini, and Spain's Catholic clergy. Add loyalist disorganization, greedy Soviets, and maybe even idealistic naivete into the equation, and Franco won the war in 1939. He ruled Spain until his death in 1975. I was once privy to the stories of Berg's comrades. For ten years before my diagnosis I worked for Veterans for Peace (VFP), a politically left-of-center version of the VFW or American Legion. I could have worked anywhere else and gotten paid better, but for a youngster who'd lost a father to the Vietnam War, and who sought adventure, the men and women of VFP satisfied many a burning curiosity. At the time, VFP's membership had a much higher percentage of combat veterans (as opposed to rear-echelon troops) than many of the other veterans groups, and this contributed to how rich they felt as a collective. You could be at a gathering and hear the beautiful story of someone who threw away their medals...only to talk to someone else ten minutes later, and hear an equally beautiful story about why their medals were still so important to them. Yes, they could be emotionally explosive, but.... The abundance of oral history I got to surround myself with was worth more than a six-figure salary. In my 20s and early 30s, I got to sit down and hang out with Daniel Ellsberg, a much younger Bernie Sanders, Hugh Thompson (the guy who heroically stopped the My Lai Massacre), Global Green's Paul Walker, Paul Wellstone, the Winter Soldier Investigation's Scott Camil; and through them I got to know the heroes of other organizations, like Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Kathy Kelly, of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, or like a certain Nobel Peace Prize winner, who shall remain nameless because he/she was such a %$& pill... Motivational speaker, Phil Butler, was in a Viet Cong prison for eight years, and was tortured numerous times. I got to have several one-on-ones with him wherein I once asked, "How did you get through it?" "Love. The love we had for each other as fellow prisoners." And get this: The organization was so amazing that in the mid-90s, the membership elected a cross-dresser, Air Force veteran Sissy Goodwin, to the Board of Directors. Despite my criticisms of Sissy's "Betty Crocker" fashion choices, he was perhaps my most loyal supporter on the Board. Was he universally embraced by all within VFP? No. It was tough. But Sissy was tougher. Lastly, I also got to spend time with, and even got to relay the story to others of the Reverend John Oishi, who during World War II was in one of those Japanese units in the Philippines that did not hesitate to massacre. One night, his Commander told Oishi's squadron to get some rest, as early in the morning they would go to a nearby indigenous village, with the orders of "no survivors." Oishi snuck out, warned the village, and Oishi's squadron entered a figurative ghost town the next morning. (On a cruise in the late 1960s, a villager recognized Oishi, and that reunion may be the most beautiful story I've ever heard.) Advertisement But if we were to judge these men and women's stories by the wars they fought, then the tales told by the Spanish Civil War vets were my favorites. No recruiters talked them into it, no pressure to fight came from their neighbors, no one else was paying for their boat trip to Spain...they just went. From countries all over the planet, men and women--black, brown or white--those that were inspired by anti-fascist ideals just left their homes and comfort zones, to go fight (like a "good person Mujahedeen") for people they had never met. This made for vastly different stories than those told by Vietnam or World War II vets. I heard stories of fighters sleeping in large caves, and when they would all sing their countries' songs, utilizing different languages, the music would meet and collect in the tunnels, forming a cacophonous yet beatific sound mosaic. This force then reverberated off the walls, and ran all through the cavernous trenchways as it made its way into the ether outside. One vet passed away back then, and only after his funeral did I hear from his daughter that he'd been a fairly notable psychologist after the war (he'd never let that on to me). She recounted for me a two-line piece of dialogue that he had during the war while sharing a foxhole with the writer, Ernest Hemingway. As the bullets flied above them, Hemingway reportedly told her father, "You're the best soldier I've ever seen;" and her father reportedly replied to Hemingway, "You really need help." *** Sorry kids. I got a little distracted. This was all supposed to be advice to you, as you embark on your writing careers, and yet I got lost in the memory of these incredible people. But that's kind of the point. Temple Grandin revolutionized the cattle industry, John Elder Robison survived a dysfunctional family depicted in his brother, Augusten Burroughs's, best-seller, "Running with Scissors." They aren't notable people simply because of their diagnosis. And whether you think I rate or not, I always sought out risk and adventure long before I wrote non-fiction, I helped provide clean water to 81,000 people near Basra during the time of Saddam Hussein, I lived out of my car for 5 months, bummed around Eastern Europe for another 3 months, even got shot at myself (ok-just twice), and I made sure to surround myself with people twenty times more amazing than I. Advertisement Was I just lucky? No, I was greedy. I wanted great experiences, and you should too. But competing for "views," "likes," or "retweets" will never be those great experiences that you can get lost in later on. You need those experiences, kiddos. No one wants your book on employment if you haven't been employed. No one wants your book on friendships if you haven't had lots of friends. No one wants your book on sex when...you get the idea. Republicans, 1936. Source: El Periodico de Canarias Should you all go off to war somewhere? Probably not. In my personal opinion, justifiable conflicts are increasingly rare, and pacifists are better people than the rest of us anyway. But you could invent something, anyone can dedicate their life to their community's poor, maybe someone could end a war?...just so long as it inspires your readers, and infuses even your banal experiences, with a rich understanding and writing, that transcends the pedestrian nature of the experience. Find amazing people, find amazing happenings, and don't let them out of your sight. Or... Do something no one has done. However hampering your disability might feel to you, even the most challenged of our spectrum brothers and sisters are capable of doing something that's never been done. Advertisement *** Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (once a fellow prisoner in Vietnam with Butler) also noticed Delmer Berg's passing, and it inspired him to write a loving eulogy to Berg that was recently published in the New York Times. What struck me herein was that in this era of divisive, obstructionist, Trump-induced, violently-partisan politics; a well-known Republican Senator, who once risked his life to fight the Communists, was tortured by them during years of imprisonment, who once ran for President...This person defied his party's tone, and went out of his way to praise an avowed, lifelong Communist. My thanks to the Senator for restoring some faith in bipartisanship, if not humanity; but that's also the kind of heart-healing passion that the Abraham Lincoln brigade inspired, or inspires. Those people were very special. I miss them. Berg's obituary, I admit, hit me hard. *** So...Young, spectrum authors? Rebel, and embrace more risk. We can't be "outside of the box" thinkers until we've seen a little of what's outside. Unless you are truly studying writing, write after an accomplishment, not before. Show (not tell) that you care about more than just being famous. Gain depth. Find that cause that fills your heart--one preferably outside the (important, but messy-headed) world of autism--and then for God's sake, stop worrying about social media, following your script, or being charming; and in proportion to your abilities, just fucking do something. Your lives (and later your writing) need to be beautiful, not just successful. Delmer and comrades? Thank you. Iraq, 2001 (Photo: Kathryn Herzog) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FYI: If you actually have three hours to kill (gag), "The New Look: Old Ways of Looking at Autism vs. New Ways of Looking at Autism," is now on YouTube. Click here to view. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the world continues to recover from the Great Recession and further unites against global threats to our security and the safety of our citizens, the importance of growing and bolstering the global economy is an increasing priority for many nations. It is a logical conclusion for those who recognize that an invigorated economic foundation is vital and is in the best interest of the entire planet. In that light, France has made it a top priority to create an environment that is welcoming to business--whether startups or established, French created or multinational. To shine a spotlight on the latter, Business France recently released its "2015 Annual Report: Foreign Investment in France--The International Development of the French Economy." Findings from the report demonstrate that the efforts we are making in France to attract foreign business are working. For example, in 2015 we saw a 27 percent increase in jobs generated by foreign investment over 2014 figures, and 53 different countries invested in 2015, up from 47 in 2014. Broadly, we have 19 new investment decisions per week. As a reminder, 20,000 foreign companies are operating in France and employing almost 2 million people. Though European countries accounted for 60 percent of all foreign investment decisions, the U.S. remained the leading source country, accounting for 18 percent of the total and responsible for one-quarter of all inward R&D investments. Intel for example which designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world's computing devices, has decided to open two research and development centers in France. France and the U.S. have long had a strong and prosperous relationship, and France continues to value the many great attributes the U.S. has to offer--its business opportunities being near the top of that list, along with the warm friendship the two countries have shared for centuries and a mutual emphasis on creativity. (And, in fact, our great push for creativity is a primary driver of many of France's competitive advantages in growing its own business and in drawing foreign industry into its borders.) Advertisement Though foreign companies invested primarily in production/manufacturing operations in France, last year saw many groundbreaking transactions for U.S. businesses in the French tech sector. First, Facebook made the monumental decision to choose Paris as the location for its first artificial intelligence research center outside of the U.S. But that was, by far, not the only major U.S. investment in our country. Also choosing Paris, Alexion Pharmaceuticals will bring us its first research lab outside of the U.S., dubbing it the Alexion R&D Center, Paris. Concordia Fibers, with a client base primarily in the aerospace sector, will build its first production facility outside of the U.S. in our Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine region. And Matter, an incubator for health and e-health startups, has partnered with Paris City Council's network of health-sector incubators in order to provide easier access to the European market for American health startups, to attract European companies to Matter's home city of Chicago, and to encourage even greater interaction and collaboration between health-sector startups from our two countries. It is interesting to note the increase in activity in the tech/STEM sectors--and know that this is no accident. France has been making fantastic strides to open its doors to digital startups, tech and STEM companies and, in fact, innovators of all stripes. Just look at Bloomberg's 2015 Innovation Index, in which France ranks ninth overall, with very robust showings in R&D, high-tech companies and number of patents, among other measures. France ranks also third in the world and first in Europe in the Top 100 Global Innovators index of Thomson Reuters in 2015 with 10 French corporations listed. Advertisement France is a nation long renowned for its creativity in such sectors as gastronomy, design, scientific and mathematical exploration, and it has extended that propensity for the creative to even more fields--industry, biotech, digital and many, many more. Our recent positive results in attracting businesses can be linked not just to political and macro-trends toward globalization but also to this strong focus on creativity and innovation. Our vigorous presence at CES in Las Vegas for the past several years is a good indicator of how France is sending a loud and clear message that innovation is very high on our list of goals to ensure that we continue to grow as an international hub for multinational businesses. Additionally, the French government has set policies and created programs that demonstrate its support for making France's business environment welcoming for innovative startups and established companies. It's been a strategy that French officials, business leaders and policy makers have all rallied behind, and we're beginning to see the fruits of their labor. I always had an interest in environmental conservation and protection. I wrote about it in a previous post, "The Beginnings of an Environmental Educator". It was not until I was in the seventh grade, though, that my interest in learning and teaching about the environment began to mature. We all have a small handful of teachers to whom we feel changed how we thought about some issue or whose passion for the subject was contagious. For me, it was my Life Science teacher who initially taught me both the natural and social science of the environment. This passion infiltrated my career goals and life plans. I do a lot of work with K-12 schools, mostly providing professional development opportunities to teachers and administrators on infusing a land and place-based educational curriculum. Working this closely with teachers gives me a chance to improve the trainings I offer because I receive direct and constructive feedback. This is in addition to my own observations I decipher as part of my self-reflection process. What I have learned is that teachers are concerned with ensuring what they teach is aligned with state and/or federal academic standards and whether they themselves have the proper knowledge, and sometimes sensitivities, to teach certain content. Teachers understand the important roles they play in education and the communities in which they work. Their participation in relevant professional development activities is a testament to their commitments. In a society where we have placed such great emphasis on teaching to set academic standards, good professional development for teachers also will include a discussion on designing lessons that fit within these standards while affording teachers time to work in-session on lesson ideas. For those of us who do not work in K-12 education: professional development provides opportunities for teachers to enhance their teaching practice through learning new content and teaching methodologies. This training is in addition to maintaining their primary teaching responsibilities, further stressing the reality of the busy educator. Advertisement Environmental education, as it pertains to understanding the dynamic relationships between the natural, physical, and social sciences, is sometimes overlooked in current education. It most certainly is not well-represented in our state and federal academic standards. Why do you think this is the case? Teacher education programs in American colleges and universities have a difficult time including an environmental education component in any or all of their content concentrations. This is not for lack of interest; for the teaching accreditation standards are both specific and strict on what should be included in a fully vetted teacher education program. We, as a society, have not yet determined this to be an essential component. And this is why that is a problem: our students are not given enough opportunities to understand how humans affect environmental change. That is not to say that some teachers are not covering this content because there are those who do well teaching scientifically-based information about the environment (natural and physical science) and how humans fit within the environment (social science). Non-formal student learning opportunities also have increased dramatically throughout the past two decades. These opportunities are not typically standards-aligned or accredited programs, but let that not minimize the importance of non-formal environmental education. After-school programs, summer camps, and field trips, to name a few examples, are vital to reaching diverse populations of students. At the same time, these programs should not be the only source of environmental learning. Advertisement Kobe Bryant has had one of the most storied careers in the NBA. As a twenty year veteran, his stats are on another level. To name a few: five-time NBA champion seventeen time All-Star team member four-time All-Star MVP two-time Olympic gold medal winner career high 81 point game in 2006 the youngest player in league history to reach 30,000 career points all-time leading scorer in Lakers franchise history 60 point final career-ending game The list goes on! What's more impressive than his list of feats is his attitude, work ethic, and his expectation of success. Basketball is a tough game, but so is entrepreneurship. Here are five all-time great Kobe quotes from which entrepreneurs can draw inspiration and motivation. Advertisement Quote #1 "I'm chasing perfection." Whatever it is that you inspire to do, push the boundaries of what you THINK is your best effort. Decide to be better than you were the last time. Despite winning championships, Kobe was known to be found in the gym the very next day putting in work. Why? Becuase he wanted to be the most perfect version of himself that he could be. As an entrepreneur, you have to be willing to do everything that's required to be successful. And when you think you've arrived, you have to get right back out there, because the bar just got raised. Quote #2 "I can't relate to lazy people. We don't speak the same language. I don't understand you. I don't want to understand you." Kobe realized that who he chose to associate himself with and spend time with affected him. His work ethic was so intense that he didn't even want to entertain the idea of laziness nor be associated with it in any way. Advertisement In the same way, every entrepreneur has a team or inner circle of people (colleagues, friends, family) around them that they entrust with their time and dreams. Keep close those who share your vision, inspire you, and push you. Don't waste precious headspace on nay-sayers. Quote #3 "...It's just a matter of the pieces that you have around you and what you can do to elevate everybody else." Kobe understands that winning isn't about himself, it's a team sport. Success in business is no different. Entrepreneurs should look for opportunities to put others (employees, customers, vendors) in a position to win. Great leaders understand that they will often get the best from their people when they give their people the best opportunity for success. When your team is winning, you are winning. Quote #4 "Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise." Nothing worth doing comes without its share of challenges and disappointments. All-star players understand this more than most, but their perspective is keenly different. Negativity and challenge for some is often framed as opportunity for others. As an entrepreneur, your focus becomes critical for pushing through difficulty. If Kobe misses a free throw with seconds left in the game, he has to let it go, mentally focus, and rise to the occasion, so he can hit the game-winning shot on his next possession. Advertisement Being "always on", in pursuit of accomplishment, leaves no room for lingering in regret. The opportunity is still in front of you. Go get it! Quote #5 "The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do." For Kobe, there will be life after basketball. For entrepreneurs, there will be life after your current endeavor. At the end of the day, whether athletes, business owners, or stay-at-home moms, our goal should be to inspire people around us to discover what they are truly great at and help them live out their passion. Go after your entrepreneurial dream with an unrelenting pursuit of accomplishment. Surround yourself with people who will elevate your game, not bring you down. Last Summer, when the Hermione, Lafayette's reconstructed frigate, crossed the Atlantic from Rochefort, France, to travel up the US East Coast from Virginia to Maine, we were reminded of the great ideas from the Enlightenment that united France and America in the 18th century, which France later carved on all its frontispieces: Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. As French Historian and Visiting Professor at Yale Patrick Weil noted in his book Etre Francais, this "positive memory of the Revolution" is the cornerstone of French cultural identity. Similarly, in times of trouble, America goes back to the legacy of its Founding Fathers to explore- with numerous biographies- the philosophy of these revolutionary times. Of course, seen from this side of the Atlantic, French cultural identity is synonymous with the French language (and for those who still doubt it, yes, it is helpful to know how to speak French), and a few other usual suspects including good food, good wine, and great writers such as Albert Camus, who came to New York 70 years ago and is celebrated for the entire month of April in the city. Still these wonderful things are not enough. Not anymore, at least. In a rapidly changing word, the notion of national identity is easily questioned. Borders are porous; wars are forcing people to flee and emigrate. More than ever the idea of identity, and more precisely that of cultural identity, is at stake. France has a high opinion of its cultural identity to the point that in 1993 during the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) talks on trade, it imposed the idea that cultural goods and services should be exceptions to general treaties on free trade. In other words, a country should be free to protect its culture with discriminating measures, a concept seen by the US as a form of protectionism. In 2005, "Cultural exception" was replaced by "cultural diversity". Consequently this change raised significant questions. How can France welcome this newly acquired cultural diversity and still keeps its cultural exception ? In France, the debate has been raging over the last years. What is it to be French in 2016? As a bilingual school where students are French, American, both or more, the Lycee Francais de New York (LFNY), believed it was worth asking the question bluntly. Thus, on Saturday, April 16, at an all-day free conference on Le Francais Oui, But Why ?, invited panelists will endeavor to give nuanced answers to a complex question. Different voices such as Patrick Weil, already mentioned, Rokhaya Diallo, a journalist and activist on anti-racism, Francophile writer Adam Gopnik, or French author Alain Borer, to name just a few, will tackle this issue: Does speaking French make us look at the world differently ? In choosing a bilingual education for their children, most parents wish for them to learn another language. Yet, beyond such a gift, they open them up to another culture. In the case of the French language, it is also a virtual passport to the Francophile world. According to the International Organization of the Francophonie, 272 million people over 5 continents speak French worldwide. With the expansion of bilingual French classrooms in New York, spurred by the French Cultural Services , many parents are concerned by the debate. As a French-born individual living in New York, I have my own opinion. The French language is an ever-surprising link between different worlds, through a jazz musician coming from Senegal, a Haitian-born taxi driver, or a colleague from Quebec. Of course, there is also French cuisine, noticeably acknowledged by Adam Gopnik in his book The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food, and in other books that we can now find in New York at Albertine book store. All of which make French matter. But being a Frenchie sometimes comes with heavy burdens. Like all, I was devastated by the recent attacks in Paris. They urge me to ask myself the same questions as most French citizens: Where is all this anger coming from? Did we fail to integrate? Is our sacrosanct separation of church and state, our beloved "laicite", an illusion in a world under ideological stress? Evidently, these are fundamental questions I still do not have answers to. Thus, I am looking forward to hearing intellectuals and passionate activists share their meaningful point of view. In the end, as a diehard fan of Lafayette (and proud of it!), I hope the idealistic and generous ideas of the 18th century can remain a source of inspiration. Salaries for full-time college faculty are at an all-time high, and the 4-year graduation rate for U.S. college students as of 2013 stood at 39 percent, the lowest 4-year graduation rate ever recorded. Who's to blame for abysmal graduation rates according to the AAUP's recently released Report on the Economic Status of the Profession? Adjunct faculty, of course. According to the recently released AAUP Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, full-time faculty pay rose by 3.4 percent this year and 2.7 percent adjusted for inflation. That's a modest drop from 2.9 percent last year, adjusted for inflation. In 2015, the AAUP's survey showed that full-time faculty salaries rose by more than 2 percent for the first time since the recession. "Higher education appears to be a crossroads," says the report. "Administrators and faculty members must decide whether they will travel down the familiar road, investing resources to maintain the status quo, or take a road less traveled, reinvigorating academic units and institutions with longer-term strategies that produce measurable improvements in instructional quality." Advertisement But while all ranks of continuing, full-time faculty enjoyed a 2.7 percent average salary increase in 2015-16, adjusted for inflation, the AAUP continued to argued--as the union has in each of its salary surveys over the past several years--that the salary increases are insignificant. The AAUP's latest Report does contain data for non-tenured faculty and the facts are these: After almost three decades during which adjunct faculty have payed hundreds of millions of dollars in union dues and agency fees, the highest paid full-time faculty members earn $260,000 per year and the highest paid non-tenured/adjunct faculty earn $26,000 per year. As the AAUP report has done in past years, researchers there used the release of the Report to take a swipe at non-tenured faculty, including the approximately 5,000 whom the AAUP represents and from whom the AAUP collects dues: "The increasing reliance on faculty members in part-time positions has destabilized the faculty by creating an exploitative, two-tiered system; it has also eroded student retention and graduation rates at many institutions." Rather than work aggressively on issues of pay equity, as Canadian faculty union leaders have done, American higher education unions have chosen to scapegoat their own adjunct faculty members. The assertion made in the latest AAUP Report has been used since 2002 to justify a variety of programs and strategies aimed at convincing state legislatures and colleges to increase funding for full-time faculty hiring, salaries and benefits. Unions have trumpeted studies that conclude increasing reliance on part-time faculty members has also eroded student retention and graduation rates at institutions around the country. The truth is that the majority of studies that have examined these questions since 2006 have concluded the employment of part-time faculty does not erode student retention or graduation rates. Advertisement A look at the use of academic studies (and their authors) by national faculty unions to justify limiting the numbers, pay and work opportunities of their own part-time faculty union members is chilling. In 2006, University of Washington faculty member Dr. Dan Jacoby used cross-sectional analysis to estimate the graduation rates for all public community colleges based on data from a single year. The result of his Washington Federation of Teachers-backed project was the 2006 study titled, "Effects of part-time faculty employment on community college graduation rates," published in The Journal of Higher Education, 77(6), 1081-1103. Jacoby used IPEDS data from 1,209 community colleges to examine how adjunct faculty employment in community colleges impacted student graduation rates in the 2001 academic year. His conclusions were damning: community college graduation rates decreased as the proportion of part-time faculty employed at institutions increased. Just months after the Journal of Higher Education published Jacoby's study, Dan Jacoby's name appears on a February 13, 2007 list of speakers in support of State Senate Bill 5514, a higher education Bill sponsored by a group of Washington State Senators that included long-time Sen. Karen Keiser. The Bill, crafted in support of the AFT's FACE (Faculty and College Excellence) program called for Washington State legislators to mandate the following: Each institution formulates a plan on how to meet the goal of having at least 75 percent of the FTE faculty positions held by full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty in each department with at least 8 FTE faculty positions. The plan must address how the institution intends to meet this goal by creating new full-time tenure track positions, rather than by eliminating positions for current employees. If departments do not meet the 75 percent goal, the share of full-time tenured and tenure-track must be increased to meet the goal by 2013. The governing boards must request funds for the projected costs. In 2006, the Washington Education Association was among Keiser's top campaign contributors. In fact, between the 2006 and 2008 election cycles, the Washington Federation of Teachers and the Washington Education Association appeared as top campaign donors in the campaign finance records of all of the Washington State Senators who co-sponsored SB 5514. In the January/February 2007 issue of The Adjunct Advocate magazine, adjunct faculty activist Keith Hoeller addressed the so-called 75 percent staffing goal: "The AFT wants state legislatures to set a goal of having 75 percent of all courses taught by full-time faculty by 2013, but only in departments where there are at least the equivalent of 8 full-time professors. As noted by Doug Collins, ESL professor at South Seattle Community College, this goal could be met in part by having more full-timers teach overloads, thereby taking courses away from current adjuncts. This goal-setting strategy has failed in the past. The California legislature passed AB 1725 in 1988, which also mandated that 75 percent of community college courses should be taught by full-timers. Twenty years later, this bill has had little effect on part-time faculty, whose numbers have continued to increase." Two years after Keith Holler's piece was published, the results of a 2009 study by A.J. Jaeger and M. K. Eagan indicated that the proportion of adjunct faculty at an institution did not have an impact on associate degree completion. The study's authors pointed out that their results were inconsistent with the results of the 2006 Jacoby study. The authors criticized Jacoby's analytical methodology: "By analyzing both student-and institution-level variables, this study appropriately separated multilevel variance and suggested that the reduced likelihood in graduation rates likely has more to do with individual student exposure to part- time faculty members than it does with the overall proportion of part-timers employed by a community college." A 2015 doctoral dissertation titled "The Relationship Between Adjunct Faculty Staffing and College Student Retention and Graduation" by Seton Hall Ph.D. candidate Stephen R. Deutsch suggests that the percentage of disadvantaged minority students enrolled and the preparedness of students entering a college or university (SAT Math scores, for example) have the greatest impact on an institution's student retention and graduation rates. Deutsch writes: Advertisement In summary, the variable, part-time faculty, was not found to be statistically significant for the overall sample, nor was this variable significant in the subsample models that were limited to a single institutional control category. Also, the impact of part-time faculty was not found to be different between public and private institutions....The variable with the greatest absolute coefficient value in the overall sample, percent of disadvantaged minority students, exhibited a different impact for public and private institutions. At public institutions, the retention rate was found to decline by 6% for each point increase that an incoming cohort of freshmen was composed of students from disadvantaged minorities (beta = -0.0596, p < 0.01). But at private institutions, the impact was found to be greater, with a 13% decline in the retention rate (beta = -0.1340, p < 0.001). Deutsch, unlike the other researchers who examined whether part-time faculty had a negative impact of student retention and graduation rates, "focused on characteristics of an institution, particularly the proportion of part-time faculty at institutions." Deutsch observes that all the other studies on the topic (Calcagno et al., 2008; Eagan & Jaeger, 2008; Jacoby, 2006; Jaeger & Eagan, 2009; Jaeger & Eagan, 2011; Jaeger & Hinz, 2009; Johnson, 2011) have focused, instead, on "student-faculty interaction framework" as "the most common framework for studies linking the impact of adjunct instruction on student outcomes." In 2013, Pamela Hutto completed a doctoral dissertation titled "CORRELATIONAL ANALYSIS OF COURSE RETENTION AND FACULTY STATUS IN A COMMUNITY COLLEGE SETTING." In other words, would increasing the number of full-time faculty increase student retention? Since 2006, AAUP, AFT and NEA union members and leaders have testified before state legislators across the nation that such a change would, indeed, improve student outcomes. Hutto's study not only contradicted the results of Jacoby's 2006 study, but Hutto's analyses of student retention data gathered at Florida Community College led to this revelation: Finding a correlation between course retention and faculty status was expected based on previous research associating faculty employment status with job performance (Schultz, 2002), student performance (Kezim et al., 2005), faculty/student interaction (Jaeger, 2008), and faculty morale (Hagedorn, 2010). However, the difference in course retention between the faculty groups was surprising. Based on a review of the literature, higher levels of retention in courses taught by permanent faculty members were expected. Previous researchers had reported that permanent faculty have higher morale (Sutherland, 2001), more institutional support (Wickrun & Stanley, 2000), and they are more available to students and entrenched in the campus community than their adjunct faculty colleagues (Hagedorn, 2010; Schuetz, 2002). However, findings in this study revealed the opposite. Results indicated that adjunct faculty members had higher course retention than permanent faculty members. Deutsch and Hutto writing in 2013 and 2015, respectively, confirm research done by the American College Testing group years earlier. I wrote this about that research in a piece published in 2011: Research by the American College Testing group into the percentage of students who move from freshman year into sophomore year is really where Bousquet loses any remaining credibility. According to the ACT study, the percentage of freshmen who move onto sophomore year has fallen from 74.5 percent to 74 percent. According to a recent study by the American Federation of Teachers, part-time faculty typically staff first and second-year courses, about half of the courses offered nationally, in fact. The ACT study attributes the fall in student retention between those surveyed freshmen and sophomore students to open enrollment policies at two-year colleges, and declining student preparedness. In short, the ACT researchers conclude that when colleges chose to increase overall enrollment levels by relaxing standards for incoming students, it should have been understood that there would be an increase in first-year student attrition. That the attrition rate has risen only .5 percent in 14 years is, I think, a testament to the excellent work of the nation's non-tenured faculty, to their reliability, devotion to their students, and their skill in the classroom even under the duress of poor institutional support. The persistence of the AAUP, AFT and NEA and their allies in perpetuating the myth that student retention and graduation rates have deteriorated because the number of adjunct faculty employed within higher education has increased, is nothing short of political maneuvering. The AAUP's annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession is widely written about in the mainstream media and the mainstream media often repeat verbatim included misinformation about the supposed destabilization of higher education by the two-tier sysstem under which adjunct faculty are employed. Democratic voters in Maryland's 8th Congressional District have decisions to make as they look to replace an incredibly successful and effective Congressperson. The first is to decide how they feel about one candidate, David Trone, apparently trying to buy a seat in Congress. While on the other end of the political spectrum it reminds some of Donald Trump trying to buy the Presidency. Both are businessmen who have used the system they now decry for their own benefit for years. The Washington Post reports "Wine retailer David Trone... has contributed more than $150,000 to Republicans in states across the country since 2000, according to a nonpartisan site that tracks money in politics. Most went to candidates and officeholders in states where he sought legislation or regulatory changes favorable to his company, Total Wine & More. Among the Republicans who received funds were Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas and North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory." The same Pat McCrory who signed anti-LGBT legislation and Greg Abbott who wants to close all Planned Parenthood sites in Texas. Trone is spending millions of his own money trying to replace Chris Van Hollen who is running for the Senate. He is making the basis of his campaign not taking any money from PACs, lobbyists and big donors. Seems hypocritical considering he thought it was ok to influence others to build his own business. To give Trone credit he seems like a nice guy running on a very liberal agenda which is pro- LGBT, pro-women and pro-equal and human rights for all. But then so is every other Democrat in the race. Advertisement He recently took out a couple of full-page ads in the Washington Post saying he has spent $9.1 million of his own money on his campaign and complaining "unfortunately, the press and the politicians are focused on my decision to fund my own campaign. They act like it's a bad thing." He goes on to claim he had to spend all this money "because he was running against three candidates who've served 56 years in public office and another one who's been a local media celebrity for almost four decades." It took me until seeing maybe his hundredth commercial and the full-page ads to decide it was offensive to see someone try to buy a seat in Congress. Citizens United is terrible and should be overturned. There is definitely an excess of money in politics and it is my belief we should have publicly financed campaigns. However being rich and trying to buy an office seems to hark back to the days when only landowners could vote. Having worked in the legislative and executive branches of government as well as the non-profit sector for the last thirty-five years I can attest not every politician is swayed by PAC money or donations. Can a PAC contribution possibly help to get a hearing for your point of view, yes, but that is far from getting support for it. As a CEO of organizations that didn't have PACs my positions got hearings in Congress without one even with legislators who took PAC contributions. It was important to bring an intelligently thought out position/or piece of draft legislation to the table and highlight how voters in the District who shared the position would benefit. Trone says "I'm self-funding because it's the right thing to do. It's better than taking money from PACs, lobbyists or big donors. It will make me a more effective Congressman." Actually who you take or don't take money from has nothing to do with how effective you will be in Congress. Effectiveness in Congress has to do with how well-crafted the legislation you introduce is; how well you understand the rules; and how well you are able to rally support from the public and negotiate with other members to support and move your legislation forward. It has never been shown self-funded politicians have better records of effectiveness than those who accepted donations. Advertisement Making blanket statements about donors, lumping them all in one basket, is wrong. Based on Trone's platform there are many PACs funded by groups with positions he believes in. Workers, women's organizations, teachers, and those pushing legislation for immigrants, and the LGBT community. Interestingly I couldn't actually find any proposed new legislation he promises to introduce on his website. An man in ancient Chinese costume walks next to a camel while participating in the Silk Road Cultural Journey, in Jingyang, Shaanxi province September 19, 2014. Organized by Shaanxi government and a local tea company, the journey, started on Friday in Jingyang, Shaanxi province and was expected to finish in Kazakhstan more than a year later. A total of 136 camels, eight horse-drown carriages and more than 100 people in ancient Chinese costumes will travel an estimated 15,000 kilometers (9,321 miles) along the Silk Road with tea leaves while giving performances and promoting the tea products on the way, local media reported. REUTERES/Rooney Chen (CHINA - Tags: TRAVEL SOCIETY BUSINESS POLITICS) At the start of his final State of the Union address in January this year, President Obama struck a somber note. "We live in a time of extraordinary change," he said, "change that's reshaping the way we live, the way we work, our planet, our place in the world." This should not be a cause for alarm, he went on, for "America has been through big changes before -- wars and depression, the influx of new immigrants, workers fighting for a fair deal, movements to expand civil rights." Citing the famous words of Abraham Lincoln, who warned that it was dangerous to adhere to the "dogmas of the quiet past," he urged Americans to once again think anew, and act anew -- to make "change work for us." Advertisement President Obama could equally well have referred to other figures in history who warned of the same perils of failing to adapt in a changing world. "A talent for following the ways of yesterday," declared King Wu-ling of Zhao in northeastern China, in 307 BC, "is not sufficient to improve the world of today." Leaders in the past have always understood how important it was to keep up with the times. George Yeo explains how trade and cultural inroads are forged not through force, but through a sort of osmosis and persuasion. (Berggruen Institute) To many living in North America and Europe, today's world looks unfamiliar, threatening and ominous. Sluggish economies, the closure of once-proud industries -- like motor manufacturing and the steel industry -- and rising levels of inequality have led the Financial Times to conclude that twenty-somethings in the Western world are part of a uniquely unlucky vintage, all but guaranteed to be worse off than the generation before them. Advertisement At home, elections are being fought out in terms of pessimism, exclusion and the raising of barriers. Literally. Talk of walls being built on the border between the United States and Mexico matches the reality of barbed wire being erected across the frontiers of the European Union. Anxiety about the future role of religious fundamentalism and the prospect of terror attacks strike fear into the hearts and minds of commuters, travelers and politicians alike. Marco Rubio even claimed to have spent his Christmas Eve buying a handgun "to protect [his] family" from the so-called Islamic State. The age of the West is all but at an end when it comes to taking the lead and planning for the future. The international picture is no less worrying. The dawn of the Arab Spring promised a wave of liberalism and a surge of democracy but has given way to a failing state in Libya, military dictatorship in Egypt and intolerance, suffering and fear across the Middle East. ISIS and its adherents seek to take control not only of territory and oil, but also of history -- destroying monuments from the past that clash with a censored vision of what the past should have looked like. Few seem able to work out how to best engage with Moscow, whose interventions in Ukraine and Syria have proved deeply unsettling to governments in London, Berlin, Washington and elsewhere. After a long period of isolation and apparent confrontation, Iran is now being welcomed back into the family of nations, and not to universal applause -- the most unlikely of fellowships has united Israel and Saudi Arabia into a front that opposes Tehran's rehabilitation. A carriage of a metro train in Ningbo, China, painted in a Silk Road theme, on May 20. (ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images) And then there is China, a rising source of alarm in the West even at a time of slower economic growth than in the recent past. The creation of artificial islands in and territorial claims over the South China Sea have resulted in the dispatch of a U.S. carrier strike group to monitor China's activities, raising the specter of potential military confrontation and escalation. And yet, on the other hand, the massive program of investment known as the "One Belt, One Road" initiative -- in which nearly $1 trillion has been committed to infrastructure projects that will generate energy, pump gas and oil, connect cities with super-fast railways and create and upgrade existing highways -- shows that the age of the West is all but at an end when it comes to taking the lead and planning for the future. In today's world, hopes for growth have dramatically shunted east. Very few of the world's fastest growing economies in the last two decades are located in the Western hemisphere. But where hopes for what tomorrow will bring have evaporated in many places in the West, they are still alive and well elsewhere. Those living along the arteries and veins that weave across the spine of Asia are seeing a renaissance. The web of routes known as the Silk Roads once carried merchants, missionaries, travelers and conquerors. They are now rising again. Iran is cash rich thanks to the end of sanctions; massive investment from China promises to transform the fortunes of Pakistan and many of the states of Central Asia. And even despite low oil and gas prices that have tempered exuberance, state-of-the-art airports, rail links and even new cities like Astana are rising up from the steppes. Populations got along with each other despite linguistic, religious and ethnic differences in ways they did not in the world that views itself as the cradle of democracy. The states of the Silk Roads -- a loose term for the land bridge that connects the eastern Mediterranean with the Pacific coast of China and Southeast Asia -- do not look, feel or function like countries in the West. Although elections are held in almost all the states -- from Turkey to Kazakhstan, from Russia to China, from Pakistan to Vietnam -- power lies in the hands of the few, not the many. Elites with interests and loyalties closely aligned to those of the leader are the real powers behind the throne. They provide the driving force when it comes to making decisions across business and industry, domestic politics, investment and international relations. Freedom of speech, government transparency and basic human rights do not mean the same thing as they do in the West. And yet, looking back on the sweep of history, with surprisingly few exceptions, the peoples living across the spine of Asia have experienced different rhythms to those of Europe and the worlds that Europe colonized. In place of warfare and violence one finds cooperation and mutual understanding; by and large, populations got along with each other despite linguistic, religious and ethnic differences in ways that they did not in the world that views itself as the cradle of democracy. In Europe in particular, we have learned at horrific cost what persecution because of skin color, religion, race or gender can result in: slavery, exclusion, even genocide. We learned the benefits of democracy not through enlightenment, but rather through aggressive exploitation. Perhaps it is no surprise, therefore, that we are also experiencing something of an existential crisis and concern for the safety of our own assumptions and norms. The first Qingdao-Central Asia freight train, about to leave the station, on July 1, 2015. (Feature China / Barcroft Media via Getty Images) The poisonous battle to secure the presidential nomination in the United States, along with the serious prospect of the dissolution of the European Union later this summer, betray a dismaying fall in self confidence. In the 19th and 20th centuries, it was the dream of many to move to Europe or to the United States -- the land of the free, the home of the brave -- where there were no barriers to advancement, no ceiling to where hard work could lead. That is no longer the case; Mexicans and Muslims find themselves the butt of rhetoric that borders on racial hatred. Fear breeds hatred and hatred brings suffering, to paraphrase a certain character from Star Wars. Advertisement Those who study the fall of empires recognize the pattern of introspection and self-satisfaction that creates a world of "us" and "them" in which our way is "superior" to those of other cultures, other peoples and other ways of functioning. Historians tend to be poor forecasters of the future. But looking at the present day through the lens of the recent and not so recent past provides food for thought, if not grounds for pessimism. Failing to adapt to a changing world, as Presidents Lincoln and Obama noted, has consequences. But we've known that for millennia. Also on WorldPost: GERTZ: China is a major proliferator of nuclear weapons technology. Back in 2003 when Libya gave up its nuclear programs, among the documents that were discovered were Chinese language documents showing how to make a small nuclear warhead. CHANG: China transferred all that Pakistan needed for a splendid nuclear weapon; and then the Pakistanis merchandised that around the world, including to the Iranians. We did nothing about it. KARBER: China stole some of our nuclear designs and helped Pakistan develop its own nuclear weapons in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. And we know that because Pakistan then gave those designs to the Libyans, and we found them in Libya. It was our designs with Chinese characteristics. FRIEDBERG: So China perhaps has gotten a little tougher about proliferation than it was 20 years ago. But most of the major proliferation problems in the world right now track back to China. GERTZ: So secrets were stolen by China in the 1990's. Those secrets were then passed on to China's ally Pakistan and proliferated around the world, including to the most dangerous rogue states today, Iran and North Korea. Oil refinery - via Flickr Earlier this month, Saudi Arabian Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced that the Kingdom is in the process of building a US$2 trillion Public Investment Fund (PIF) funded, in part, by an IPO of the state-run oil company Aramco. The goal of this fund will be to wean the kingdom off oil and turn the oil major into an industrial conglomerate. According to the deputy prince, this could happen as soon as next year. "[W]ithin 20 years," he claims, "we will be an economy or state that doesn't depend mainly on oil." According to the deputy prince, the fund will supposedly raise an extra US$100 billion per year by 2020. In order to raise the funds (and restructure the economy along the way), the kingdom will make reforms including a restructuring of energy subsidies that is expected to save US$30 billion, a house-building initiative dedicated to alleviating the kingdom's shortage of living quarters, the kingdom's first-ever international sovereign dollar bond issuance, and a value-added tax of 5%. The PIF has already made small but significant steps towards the Kingdom's goal. The fund holds stakes in Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and National Commercial Bank, two of Saudi Arabia's largest companies. It obtained a 38% stake in South Korea's Posco Engineering & Construction Co. and has forged an agreement with Russia for a significant partnership in its Direct Investment Fund. And according to the deputy prince, the Fund is looking at two more deals outside the kingdom as well. Advertisement The deputy prince's commitment is indeed laudable, and two trillion U.S. dollars is nothing to sneeze at (that's enough cash to buy the world's top four publically traded companies outright). With an economy slated to double by 2030 (adding roughly $800 billion), mostly by prioritizing non-oil sectors, Saudi investment will most likely look for outlets. At this point, 90% of the Kingdom's $600 billion worth of exports come from oil and oil-derived products, a windfall that will have to be replaced by expanding the reach of other sectors. As such, it's highly likely that the Saudis will head to their traditional trade partners, like the UK - the source of some $130 billion of investments in Saudi - and capitalize on the roughly 200 joint ventures established there. Unlike the US, with its pesky CFIUS to block foreign investments, London would put up no such roadblocks. The plan is a courageous move especially since history is not on Saudi's side. According to an International Monetary Fund study in 2014, the failures of countries seeking to kick the oil habit are many, whereas the successes are few. Saudi Arabia doesn't improve its odds by starting now, when oil hovers around US$40 a barrel instead of a few years ago when it was up over US$100. Can the Saudis save the world? Throwing money at the problem is only part of the solution. For eight long decades, the Saudis have been one of the world's major dealers of oil, feeding the addiction of countries far and wide, while denying the toll that the addiction takes on the planet. Although the obstinate could live in denial of anthropogenic climate change in times past, those days have gone the way of $100-a-barrel crude. Man-made global warming is a fact, COP21 has shown that the nations of the world are committing themselves to limiting the damage, and it is therefore time for the Saudis to become a part of the solution. Advertisement There's a very persuasive argument that the harm done is irreversible, and that anything the Saudis may choose to do is too little, too late. Global temperatures are on the move at speeds never before seen in Earth's history. Dapper and dour scientists are more emphatic about the dangers that lie ahead than ever, freely using terms like "alarming," "emergency," and "insane." According to recent reports, the pace of Antarctica's melting is projected to raise sea levels far beyond previous predictions. A recent study projects global sea levels to rise by between 1.5 and 2.1 meters (59.1" and 82.7") by the year 2100 - a year that children in diapers today are likely to live to see. If the deputy prince's plan is to have any hope of success, the fund should therefore focus on renewable energy. As the kingdom's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi rightly pointed out, "I don't think there is a more ideal country for renewables than Saudi Arabia," as it has the requisite sunshine, land in abundance, and more sand than it could ever use to make solar panels. By throwing a part of the $2 trillion fund behind renewables (especially solar), the Saudis could probably play a pivotal role in driving energy prices and making a CO2-free economy well within reach. Many years ago, I spent a few days testifying in a funding equity case in Alabama. At the end of my testimony, the main lawyer for the plaintiffs drove me to the airport. "I think we're going to win this case," he said, "But will it help my clients?" The lawyer's question has haunted me ever since. In Alabama, then and now, there are enormous inequities in education funding in rich and poor districts due to differences in property tax receipts in different districts. There are corresponding differences in student outcomes. The same is true in most states. To a greater or lesser degree, most states and the federal government provide some funding to reduce inequalities, but in most places it is still the case that poor districts have to tax themselves at a higher rate to produce education funding that is significantly lower than that of their wealthier neighbors. Funding inequities are worse than wrong, they are repugnant. When I travel in other countries and try to describe our system, it usually takes me a while to get people outside the U.S. to even understand what I am saying. "So schools in poor areas get less than those in wealthy ones? Surely that cannot be true." In fact, it is true in the U.S., but in all of our peer countries, national or at least regional funding policies ensure basic equality in school funding, and in most cases I know about they then add additional funding on top of equalized funding for schools serving many children in poverty. For example, England has long had equal funding, and the Conservative government added "Pupil Premium" funding in which each disadvantaged child brings additional funds to his or her school. Pupil Premium is sort of like Title I in the U.S., if you can imagine Title I adding resources on top of equal funding, which it does in only a few U.S. states. Advertisement So let's accept the idea that funding inequity is a BAD THING. Now consider this: Would eliminating funding inequities eliminate achievement gaps in U.S. schools? This gets back to the lawyer's question. If we somehow won a national "case" that required equalizing school funding, would the "clients" benefit? More money for disadvantaged schools would certainly be welcome, and it would certainly create the possibility of major advances. But in order to maximize the impact of significant additional funding, it all depends on what schools do with the added dollars. Of course you'd have to increase teachers' salaries and reduce class sizes to draw highly qualified teachers into disadvantaged schools. But you'd also have to spend a significant portion of new funds to help schools implement proven programs with fidelity and verve. Again, England offers an interesting model. Twenty years ago, achievement in England was very unequal, despite equal funding. Children of immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh, Africans, Afro-Caribbeans, and other minorities performed well below White British children. The Labour government implemented a massive effort to change this, starting with the London Challenge and continuing with a Manchester Challenge and a Black Country Challenge in the post-industrial Midlands. Each "challenge" provided substantial professional development to school staffs, as well as organizing achievement data to show school leaders that other schools with exactly the same demographic challenges were achieving far better results. Advertisement Today, children of Pakistani and Bangladeshi immigrants are scoring at the English mean. Children of African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants are just below the English mean. Policy makers in England are now turning their attention to White working-class boys. But the persistent and substantial gaps we see as so resistant to change in the U.S. are essentially gone in England. Today, we are getting even smarter about how to turn dollars into enhanced achievement, due to investments by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and Investing in Innovation (i3) program in the U.S. and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in England. In both countries, however, we lack the funding to put into place what we know how to do on a large enough scale to matter, but this need not always be the case. It's a story similar to a juggling act, once you get the hang of it you can do it with your eyes closed. My day starts at 5:45am which allows me 15 quiet minutes to myself where I am able to plan out the day which inevitably comes with a long to-do list. As a wife, mother to 3 very active children & a French Bulldog, as well as a CEO to a budding empire, I wouldn't change my madness for anything else in the world. I wake the house up at 6:00am, my husband helps feed the kids and packs their lunches and in turn I help the kids get dressed and then it's time to get myself dressed and made up for an exciting day at work. Now, no two days are ever the same. After all who likes monotony? I approach the running of our organization as a fourth child, something I am truly passionate about and pour my heart and soul into. One of the most difficult jobs in life with huge reward, after all nothing in life comes easy. Each day brings with it excitement and challenges, new problems to solve, new lessons to learn. This keeps me on my toes, constantly motivated. Many people ask, how do you do it all? I smile saying, Advertisement "I believe in myself, and with that belief I know that I am halfway there". Sienna just turned 9 and was the California state champion last year in gymnastics. She is fierce and determined and has set the bar high, no pun intended. Oliver is 7, has the kindest soul and loves to play sports, strum his guitar and to cook. Mila is 4 going on 15 and is passionate in just about all she does. She especially loves to accessorize and relates to all princesses. My husband, Daniel, was both a businessman and a former professional rugby player in Fiji, where he was born and where we met 10 years ago, on a remote sun soaked-island. He has always been a constant pillar of strength, a reliable sounding board and he had my back when I was left to make one of the most important decisions of my life. You see, I had spent 20 years in the carrying case industry, and after my second child was born I decided to take maternity leave, something I opted not to do with the first. I felt I owed both my family and me some focused family-time. When Oliver was 3 days old, my employer called to tell me I no longer had a job. This couldn't be real? I was their top sales rep and sacrificed so much of my life to give them all I humanly could. I had decisions to make, either stay down and let depression take hold, or jump back up and start my own business. I chose the latter, despite some well-intentioned naysayers who advised against the huge task at hand. I decided to build my own dreams or someone else was going to hire me to build theirs. I launched Eco Trend Cases, LLC 7 years ago, a small certified woman owned business. I decided I was going to conquer the world knowing how much harder we as women need to work given the man's world we are living in. I leveraged the existing relationships I had cultivated over the years and took on a monumental task with limited resources, wearing many hats and I have never looked back. I am the proud CEO of a business operating under 2 dynamic brands, ECO STYLE & Sandy Lisa. I design, create and develop fashionable yet functional bags which have become a "must have" for any woman or man on the go. Our innovative line of bags are made to take you from day to night and night to day effortlessly at a price affordable to all. We have a strong presence as the case standard in a list of growing Fortune 500 Corporations as well as retail and eCommerce. Advertisement I wouldn't trade the life I have built for anything else in this world even though I am constantly on the go with minimal downtime. From ensuring I am hands on with my children, running the day to day operations at headquarters and getting on a plane at least 3 times a month. I have learned that with a strong sense of self belief, the proper organizational tools, a great family support system and the belief and realization you can achieve your goals, anything is possible. Just remember IMPOSSIBLE is simply I'm possible. Frances Chung has danced with San Francisco Ballet since 2001. She was promoted to soloist in 2005 and raised to principal dancer in 2009. During the past decade, whenever Frances has appeared in the company's grand Galas or in first performance casts throughout the season, I have been taken by her determined spirit - what I suggested to her as Warrior Energy. "At the end of the day," said Frances, "it's all about the music. I want to see the music infused into the dancer." "A couple of years ago I saw Justin Peck's Everywhere We Go at New York City Ballet. It was in combination with some other ballets. Very American. It opened my eyes. I know the company is different now than it was ten years ago. Between the dancers and what I observed in terms of dynamic dancing - I'd never seen anything like it. Every Balanchine ballet I approach now is so different than the way I would have even just several years ago. I go on YouTube, I try to do as much research as possible before I dance something. I used to look waist-down a lot more than I do now. For me, what's more important is waist-up. Generally, we work in class everyday on waist-down - and granted, co-ordination and port de bras [carriage of the arms] is very important. But after class and before going into rehearsals and performances - by the time I'm onstage, I only think about waist-up." Advertisement I met with Frances shortly after the run of Program 4 - Balanchine's Coppelia. As the love interest, "Swanilda", she was teamed with Vitor Luiz as "Franz" and Pascal Molat as "Dr. Coppelius". She had just been rehearsing Alexei Ratmansky's Seven Sonatas (music by Domenico Scarlatti) - a part of Program 6 and a premier for SF Ballet. She was also in preparation for the three ballets of Program 7 - Balanchine's Theme and Variations, Christopher Wheeldon's Continuum and the premiere of Justin Peck's first work created for the company, In the Countenance of Kings. It's a short time between the first rehearsal and first performance. The dancer will not only absorb the separate visions and styles of these wildly diverse choreographers, but undergo a crash course in musical styles as well. Whether played by a pianist or cued from a recording, this group of scores stretches over two-and-a-half centuries. The music and the muscle memory will become One. Like - Frances' relationship with "Swanilda" in Leo Delibes' Coppelia. It goes way-back to her early training. A native of Vancouver, Frances was enrolled at the Goh Ballet School. Did she want to go? Had she been inspired by another dancer, perhaps a production? "My older sister was in ballet before me. I remember being forced to practice piano, which I quit three times, but I don't remember any struggle with ballet class. I was super shy! But I was energetic and I think I was very physical. I'm sure my parents did not have a ballet career in mind for me." "You must have had some finished product in mind," I said. "Something that linked what you were doing at the bar and by the mirror to an end. Were you competitive?" Advertisement "I was very short-sighted. My end was probably the show we were doing that month or that weekend, a competition, or one of the local festivals in Vancouver. I got my first plastic trophy when I was twelve! That was exciting. As a school, we toured to China several times to perform. I got to travel a lot as a child - specifically, for dance. It was very enticing - having this thing that would take me around the world, that would take me out of school. And, yeah! - I am competitive. I love the very technical stuff. I did the Gamzatti variation from La Bayadere, also Paquita and the Don Quixote variations. I did a Coppelia solo at my Genee Awards - not the Balanchine version. I want pieces that are technical, virtuosic. I enjoy the more dramatic roles - because they come to me as a challenge. In the latter years, my teachers took me to the international competitions and I got a little taste of the world. The only thing I was lacking was some American ballet. So, in terms of rep, coming to San Francisco Ballet was a little bit of a shock. Among my first few ballets was Symphony In C. I'd never seen anything so fast in my life. Before coming here, I would say I was more of a European dancer. But now I feel like I've become an American dancer." "Since I wasn't in Swan Lake this year, I had a lot of time to focus on Swanilda. I almost had a little grieving period after it was all over because I spent a lot of time in the studio with Vitor and our balletmaster. All the hard work we put into building a strong connection with the ballet and with each other. I was sad afterwards. But - there's no time to grieve! Even after we opened Coppelia we were already rehearsing for the next two programs. Those first rehearsals in the studio are about going through the steps and you're not yet as emotionally invested in everything. I try not to overthink it too much and to just stay focused on the piece itself. And Coppelia is over! That being said, I love all the abstract works. Maybe because you are yourself in these ballets - which could be about anybody and anything - and will differ from one performer to another." I asked Frances about the advice she would give an aspiring ballerina today. The hidden challenges that go with 'you have to give up this if you want to be that'. Or learning how to negotiate with various people if you want to stay on stage and how to deal with a whole lot of temperament. Advertisement "You just said it all! I think I'd have advice for one day and something else the next. These days, because I'm here from 9:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night - I have to remind myself 'it's just ballet' and there are a lot of frustrations that come with putting something onstage. Other days, I see young dancers and I see myself when I was young. I specifically remember seeing balletmasters or choreographers at the front of the room telling me I had to get out of my skin and dance as though my life were depending on it. Those things come with experience. But seeing the kids now - it's that thing of wishing you knew then what you know now." "At this point in my career, it's not too hard to see the end. I think the idea that I can't do this forever and that I should really enjoy each moment - because I know I'm going to miss it. Helgi came to class one morning and announced that Gennadi was leaving. It was such a shock, I just started balling. Another factor is just knowing that people I'm dancing with, that I have special connections with onstage - that's not going to last forever either." The month of March is not an easy one for pro-Israel activists around the US and the world. It is usually marked with a variety of anti-Israel events on campuses, as activists and members of the Boycott Movement take to the stage to paint the complex shades of the Middle East and Israel with a one-colored brush, mainly blaming the State of Israel for all of the region's malaise. This movement, opposed to the very existence of a Jewish state and to the mere idea of a peaceful co-existence between Israel and the Palestinians, makes heavy use of the South African experience and narrative in order to smear Israel's reputation by employing simplistic portrayal of the current situation. In addition, as if to make things worse, in October 2015, a Hamas (!) delegation (yes, the same organization responsible for suicide terror attacks and rockets targeting innocent Israelis) paid "an official" visit to South Africa and as recently as last week, South Africa denounced Israel again at the United Nations Human Rights Council. So, what's new?! Well, you might be surprised. Apparently there's much that's hidden from the media's eye and public attention. A few weeks ago, in the course of the anti-Israel "March Madness", I had the opportunity to visit the "belly of the beast", Johannesburg/South Africa, speaking at the Israel Advocacy Conference of South African Friends of Israel (SAFI). StandWithUs' global mission is Israel Education around the world and South Africa is one of the places we work in, sending students on dialogue missions to campuses and work with the wider pro-Israel community to educate, inform and enrich public discourse about Israel. In the course of my short visit, I learnt that behind the smokescreen of empty words and shallow slogans and statements, there is a steady stream of positive engagement with Israel in South Africa, not only on the governmental level, but also with the general public. During March Israel's Director General of the Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Dore Gold, visited South Africa for official meetings with his counterparts in the government. In the course of the visit, both parties announced they would strengthen their bilateral ties in the fields of agriculture, science and technology and improve their diplomatic relations. Mutual trade between Israel and South Africa amounts to about one billion dollars and keeps on growing. It is worth noting also that both countries are already engaged in various fields of cooperation, mainly on medical technologies, agriculture and water (South Africa is going through a terrible drought this year), bettering the economy and local living conditions and health of the general public. Yes, Israel is making South Africans' life better, as it does in so many other corners of the globe. Even on campus, my visit to South Africa provided insight into some interesting and telling moments. One such moment was when earlier in March, the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) "Palestinian Solidarity Committee" in Johannesburg hanged black mannequins they said were supposed to represent "Zionist oppression", but instead provoked tremendous ire from groups claiming their insensitive display was "racist" for hanging black mannequins and "dangerously increases racial tensions" in South Africa. On another instance, the anti-Israel movement had to call off a planned boycott protest against local businesses, due to lack of participants. It is clear: when the pro-Israel community comes together, results are evident. The agenda of the anti-Israel movement in South Africa is clear: (Ab)use the historical context of South African struggle for human rights, and create a baseless analogy to Israel, with no real facts to back it, thus resorting only to name calling and falsehoods to "sell" their story. It is in this context that the SAFI advocacy conference was so important. We, at StandWithUs, understand that a major enemy we need to tackle is not only animosity but rather the ignorance on the issues and the lack of proper education. South Africa is a very tough arena indeed, but a significant factor is that education is lacking in large portions of the population. Therefore the anti-Israel movement attempts to fill the vacuum with a machine of deception and lies about Israel, to reframe the South African state of mind against Israel. Education is key to making a difference and turn the tide in the opposite direction, and this is a path we, along with the local pro-Israel community, are heavily engaged in, continuously and tenaciously with proven results. The SAFI Conference was a sight for sore eyes: more than 500 pro-Israel activists gathered together, most of whom were non-Jews, all coming to be inspired and learn of innovative ways to carry the message and pave Israel's way into the hearts and minds of people. Israel's Ambassador to South Africa, Arthur Lenk, opened the event with tremendous optimism about Israel's place in the world and her growing and developing ties with South Africa and the African continent in general, urging attendees to use social media and make their voices heard. South Africa's Zionist Federation National Chairman, Ben Swartz, mentioned that SAFI has gone a long way since their first conference only a few years ago. "Then", he said, "We had just 100 delegates as Jews were under fire. But a very different story played out last week, as Israel Apartheid Week on South African campuses had been a `dismal failure". This Conference was a unique opportunity to inform and empower South Africans to carry the pro-Israel message, give them the tools of how to stand with Israel. This crucial experience was especially important there, bearing in mind South Africa's symbolism on issues of justice and morality. It is their voices that need to be heard. Ordinary South Africans re-claiming their heritage. When local parliament member, Rev. Kenneth Meshoe speaks beautifully of Israel, you hear the message loud and clear, and when his daughter, Olga Meshoe, COO of DEISI (Defend Embrace Invest Support Israel, a pro-Israel Christian grassroots organization) takes the podium, you are just happy to be on her side and the right side of history. There is passion in truth and true devotion for Israel in South Africa. A tectonic shift? Maybe not just yet, but we'd better be ready for it, as its coming. Unique Jewelry Designs from Around the World Discovering unique local treasures is one of the many pleasures of travel. Brought home from overseas, handicrafts, implements, ethnic costumes can evoke memories of new cultures and happy times on vacation. For those who can't get away right now, there's a chance for one-stop global shopping at New York City's Museum of Arts and Design. Curators have explored the world for unusual pieces of wearable art displaying unique technique and creativity. The artists have traveled with their work to New York City for a show -- and sale -- running all this week. Without packing a bag, browsers and shoppers can experience a round-the-world trip discovering investment-worthy souvenirs from many countries in the annual show: "Loot: MAD About Jewelry." Australia Melbourne designer Jo Hawley integrates shape, form, line, and color in wearable explorations of interior versus exterior space. Taiwan Inspired by plants and insects from Taiwan, Ching-Chih Wu employs pliquea-journ, enameling, chasing, repousse, and patina in creating organic forms. England British jeweler Jed Green crafts one-of-a-kind pieces from silver, wood, pearls, and from lampblown glass which she paints inside the shapes. Sweden Stockholm is home base for German artist Thomas Raschke who has discovered that iron wire is an ideal material for creating filagree forms. Scotland In the Scottish highlands village of Plockton, Gilly Langton transforms elastic and silver into forms she find reminiscent of the local sea and shore. Paris In their Atelier Paulin, Anne-Sophie Baillet and Matthias Lavaux invite customers to chose words to be fashioned into handmade-on-demand metal "thread" bracelets and pins. Vermont Right up in Middlebury, Vermont, Danielle Gori-Montanelli transforms tactile felt into flowers, ruffs, bouquets of pencils. Berlin Berlin-based Alena Willroth traces pencil drawings to foil and uses a surgical knife, heat and pressure to create polyethylene lace. France Plant and marine life inspire silicone and fiber pieces by Paris-based Tzuri Gueta who studied in Tel Aviv. Italy Italian jeweler Myriam Bottazzi fashions smokey, sparkley, opaque cellulose acetate -- simple -- sequins (!) into ornaments inspired by nature. Denmark Working in Copenhagen, goldsmith-trained Gerda and Nikolai Monies create distinctive oversize acrylic and poly neckpieces. Switzerland Doris Berner puffs silk and microfiber into almost weightless necklaces and bracelets. Colombia The flight of birds and aerial landscapes inspire Bogata artist Nuria Carulla's layered silver jewelry. Venice Versatile steel springs and aluminum express a modern Venetian spirit in the work of Adreina Brengola. Ireland Classically trained musician Genevieve Howard folds Japanese linen into three-dimensional forms that recreate music scores in her graphic notation. Japan Silver and aluminum are dynamically translated into themes expressing the softness, strength, and grace of organic forms forms by designer Tomoyo Hiraiwa. 1800 ft above the sea level, I was happily canoeing across the twists and turns of the Rio Grand River, seamlessly flowing through the Santa Elena canyon. I parked the canoe at a ghost town, called Terilingua and hopped into my car for a scenic drive of almost 150 miles to the Chihuahuan desert, 3900ft above the sea level, in the Big Bend National Park. I parked my car at the Panther Junction, in the National Park and hiked up to the magnificent Chisos Mountains, fully contained within the National Park, at 7900ft above sea level. This range of elevation and the diversity of landforms is a truly remarkable experience, uniquely offered at the Big Bend National Park in West Texas! Chisos Mountain Range The Big Bend National Park is the only park in the United States that contains an entire mountain range - The Chisos Mountian. The Chisos mountain range extends for over 20 miles, with the highest point, Emory peak, at 7800 ft above sea level. I drove about 10 miles further from the Panther Junction to the Chisos Basin trailhead, which leads to at least 5 different trails. The Emory Peak trail offers a superb 360 view of the entire mountain range; the Lost Mine trail is for those who love to explore the diversity of flora and fauna; and the Window View trail, my favorite one, gives you a panoramic view of the mountains and the surroundings and it's accessible by wheelchair. Don't be surprised if you spot the tracks of black bear, mountain lions or deer on these trails. As it gets a little dark, late in the evening, the stars begin to appear in the crystal clear sky overhead and the view from the Chisos Mountain range becomes even more glorious! If you plan on spending the night at the mountains, check out the availability of the camping sites available at the Chisos basin well in advance. Here are some of the views that I captured on my trail: Advertisement Rio Grande River The Rio Grande River, 1850 miles long, rises from Colorado and flows into the Gulf of Mexico, serving as part of the national border between Mexico and USA. One thing you should definitely do on your trip to Big Bend is a float across the Rio Grande, cutting through the Santa Elena canyon. Here am I, steering a Canoe for the very first time: We canoed in a large group with 2 members paired up on each canoe and the group was lead by 2 adventurous girls, one leading us from the front and the other one from behind. For novices like myself, clear instructions were given on maneuvering the canoe left and right and most importantly, safely steering through the rapids! The wild and scenic view across the river left some truly memorable and lasting impressions on my mind. The weather was pretty hot during the spring time and canoeing got a bit tiring towards the end, so we found a legitimate excuse to stop at the Mexican side of the border for some snacks and fruits and replenished ourselves. Here are some of the views that I captured while canoeing through the Rio Grande River: Chihuahuan Desert While most part of the Chihuahua desert lies in Mexico, Big Bend represents the most prominent portion of the desert in the United States. The range of elevation of the desert extends from 3000-5000 ft and the desert rarely receives more than 10 inches rainfall every year. Over 1000 species of plants, 450 species of birds, 75 species of mammals, 56 species of reptiles and 3500 species of insects can be found in the desert. I was most intrigued by the fact that there are 65 different species of cactus alone that can be found in the big bend desert area, sotol cactus being the most commonly found species. One of the most characteristic plants of the Chihuahuan desert is Agave Lechuguilla, which blooms only once after storing enough nutrients up to 30 years. The desert gets dry during the time of spring and you must carry enough bottles of water with you to prevent dehydration. Here are some of the views that I captured at the desert and you can read more about it on this post. Advertisement High-rises and hotel buildings in Panama City, Panama. Gerardo Pesantez/World Bank The so-called "Panama Papers" scandal reminds us that concealing wealth and avoiding tax payments is neither uncommon nor in many cases illegal. But the embarrassing leak exposes something else: The public trust is breached when companies, the rich and the powerful can hide their money without breaking the law. If this breach is left unaddressed, those who aren't rich enough to hide money will be less willing to pay and contribute to the social contract in which taxes are exchanged for quality services. As finance minister in my home country of Indonesia, I saw firsthand how a weak tax system eroded public trust and enabled crony capitalism. Shadow markets arose for highly subsidized fuel, family connections secured jobs, and bribes helped public servants beef up their salaries. Tax avoidance among the elites was common and the country couldn't mobilize the resources we needed to build infrastructure, create jobs, and fight poverty. Introducing the concept of transparency and accountability into that broken system was hard and came with political opposition and setbacks. We worked on technical improvements that might seem basic but did not then exist, including better audits, stronger internal controls, and new computer systems to minimize personal interaction and the opportunity for taking bribes. We also created incentives for civil servants, boosted their morale, and imposed discipline. Advertisement Indonesia is just one example of how a broken social contract hampered development. In fact, mobilizing resources for services and development is a global challenge in which many countries lack both a strong tax base and the capacity to create one. Fifty percent of developing countries raise less than 15% of their gross domestic product in taxes, and many of them are highly dependent on natural resources. By contrast, the OECD average is about 34%. Five years after starting our reforms, the number of taxpayers in Indonesia went from 4.35 million to nearly 16 million. Tax revenues grew by about 20% each year. With this income, we bolstered our budget, decreased our debt, and increased Indonesia's capacity to provide essential services like roads, clean water, and health care. A strong economy helped, but we also built the trust the private sector needed to invest and create jobs. The fallout from the Panama Papers could inspire a stronger and fairer international tax system based on sound tax systems, good institutions, and integrity. There are encouraging efforts by the G20 and other international fora to create solid tax reforms and promote binding international cooperation. Now may be the moment to turn words into action. To meet our global goals of ending poverty and promoting shared prosperity, we need to help countries to overcome extraordinary challenges in tax policy and administration. Our clients grapple with a wide range of problems: businesses both foreign and domestic that don't comply with tax regulations, large numbers of informal businesses that aren't on the books, weak revenue administrations, poor governance, and the public's mistrust. Advertisement The World Bank supported the reforms I led in Indonesia, and the institution is increasing its capacity to do more. A recently formed Global Tax Team is gathering insights into the specific problems our clients face and is working with them to find solutions. We hear that they would like assistance with international tax issues, such as transfer pricing a practice that international companies can use to shift profits between subsidiaries and minimize their tax burden. They are also looking for help with tax policy, including for value-added tax, and issues related to transparency, including tax data collection and disclosure of natural-resource incomes. Our teams are already working with the governments of Pakistan, Colombia, and several countries in Eastern Europe to make improvements. We will feed our findings into joint initiatives with the IMF, the OECD, the UN and others. These initiatives are designed to help countries strengthen their tax systems, coordinate global tax-related aid, and ensure that the interests of developing countries are heard in the growing international dialogue on tax reform. As a former finance minister, I know too well that trust is a vital part of the equation. Nobody likes to pay taxes and that aversion only grows if people feel their contributions are wasted or stolen. Tax reforms are a vital piece of building equitable societies in which elites follow the rules. They can enable governments to spend efficiently, protect the poor and vulnerable while fighting corruption. We may not make people and companies enjoy paying taxes, but we should create systems that make it a lot harder to hide wealth and avoid paying their dues. It is a critical part of the fight against poverty. Lady Gaga's performance of Til it happens to you at the 2016 Academy Awards drew worldwide attention to sexual violence, and specifically the recent increase in sexual assault on American university campuses. It resonated elsewhere in the world, too. Stellenbosch University in South Africa has set up a task team to "investigate issues around gender violence" on its campus. About 50km away, students at the University of Cape Town organised a campaign to draw attention to sexual violence and rape culture on their campus. A similar campaign has also been launched at Rhodes University, in the country's Eastern Cape province. These incidents are further evidence that "rape culture" is a reality in South Africa. The term was coined in the 1970s and refers to the pervasive ideology that supports or excuses sexual assault. In this culture, it is primarily women who experience "a continuum of threatened violence" that ranges from sexist remarks to unwanted sexual touching - and to rape itself. Advertisement University campuses are prime locations for rape culture. In the 1980s Mary Koss, an expert on gender-based violence, did a seminal study at 32 university campuses in the US. She found that university campuses are the perfect site for "sexual aggression and victimisation" of women because they are closed institutions, much like the military and prisons. People live, study, work and play in the same environment. A university campus is a closed environment with particular norms and practices to which its community is constantly exposed. Within such settings it is very hard to counter whatever is considered normal and acceptable. South Africa faces a particularly pernicious problem given the country's high levels of violence against women. Universities can take a decisive step by addressing the widespread prevalence of rape culture on their campuses, drawing from the experience of others, particularly in the US. The broader South African context South Africa has high rates of rape, though these are incredibly underreported. The headlines are sickeningly common: the atrocious treatment of a four-year-old rape victim, or the gang rape of a 16-year-old while her mother is forced to listen. Every day there's a report about sexual violence somewhere in the country. But rape culture is about far more than rape. Rape culture is created and enabled by patriarchy, which empowers men at the expense of women. It supports a hegemonic, idealised version of masculinity that does not easily allow for alternative expressions of being a man. This is why not only women and girls are victims of rape culture - men and boys are sometimes, too. Advertisement Discussing rape culture involves talking about the societal attitudes regarding sexuality and gender that normalises sexual abuse. Society normalises sexually violent acts in various ways. Through jokes, song lyrics, advertising billboards and bestselling novels, among others, a culture is created where sexual violence becomes permissible. Not all sexist societies manifest high levels of violence against women. But research has showed that rape in South Africa is "deeply embedded in ideas of manhood". Researchers and gender activists have also argued that the violent repression of apartheid has played a role in cementing rape culture. Rape culture in South Africa manifests in the highest levels of government: President Jacob Zuma accusing women of complaining about harassment too quickly, or stating that single women are a problem in society. It's also revealed in the way elected male leaders respond to their female counterparts. When the female then-leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance and premier of the Western Cape province installed an all-male provincial cabinet, they were called her "boyfriends and concubines". Another woman opposition politician was dismissed as a "tea girl", and her dress and hairstyle were criticised in the country's parliament. South African universities exist within this context. This arguably makes it even more likely for rape culture to pervade their campuses. All of this is not to suggest, though, that universities can do nothing about it. Universities can do a great deal At other universities, especially in the US, various interventions have been launched to address rape culture. Some launch semester-long rape education courses with the aim of developing rape consciousness among students. Some focus on mobilising bystanders to address rape culture. At some universities, faculty members have become involved as researchers, teachers, advocates or policy reformers. Advertisement South Africa's universities can draw from this existing hard work in addressing their own rape cultures. It will have to be contextualised, though, especially keeping in mind how violent South African society is. Universities are also in the fortunate position of being educational centres. This means they are well placed to educate students in a myriad ways about identifying and tackling rape culture. An enclosed university environment also arguably makes for an easier setting in which to challenge the broader issue of rape culture - compared to, say, South Africa at large. But addressing rape culture will require long-term prioritising and commitment from university management. This is something that has been lacking on many, if not most, campuses. A cautionary note, though: while people are rightly shocked about rape at a university, institutions should be careful that their interventions are about addressing this rather than about restoring their own reputations. It has been sad to realise that there is not the same outcry when rape culture is seen in action in South Africa at large. Why are so many people only dismayed when these things happen at a prestigious university? Elisabet le Roux, Researcher, Unit for Religion and Development Research, Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University Woman inhaling cocaine with rolled 100 dollar bill. By Tessie Castillo Looking out at the trail of devastation and death that the heroin epidemic has left in its wake, it's hard to imagine that not long ago one could purchase the drug from a Sears catalogue. Heroin was created by German chemists during the late 1890s and marketed through Bayer, the company best known for selling aspirin. For decades, suburban housewives could peruse pages of flashy advertisements for Bayer Heroin, the cure for sore throats, coughs, headaches, diarrhea, stress and menopause. In fact, until recently the percentage of Americans using opium-derived medicine was higher at the turn of the 20th century than at any other time in history. Advertisement The majority of illicit drugs we see today were once legal, popular and used for medicinal purposes. Cocaine made its debut in toothache drops marketed to children. Cannabis was recognized for its ability to relieve pain and nausea long before it became associated with youthful vagrancy. As the world grapples with the fallout from the War on Drugs -- and heads towards UNGASS 2016, a possible opportunity to put things right -- it's important to know the history of these drugs and their journey from medicine to menace. We didn't suddenly discover that they were far more addictive or dangerous than other medicines. In fact, the reasons that drugs like heroin, cocaine, marijuana and others are illegal today have far more to do with economics and cultural prejudice than with addiction. "The reasons that drugs like heroin, cocaine, marijuana and others are illegal today have far more to do with economics and cultural prejudice than with addiction." Heroin was the first to fall from pharmaceutical darling to a demonized, black-market street drug. Long used as a cure for aches and pains, it wasn't until Chinese immigrants came to the United States to work on the railroads and mines that opium-based products such as heroin were perceived as dangerous. American settlers were not happy with the Chinese arrivals, who brought with them a cultural tradition of smoking opium for relaxation in the evenings. The settlers accused the Chinese of "taking our jobs," and economic resentment morphed into rumors of Chinese men luring white women into opium dens and getting them addicted. Rumors turned to fear, which turned to hysteria, which politicians seized upon. In 1875, California passed the first anti-opium law, enforced by raids on Chinese opium dens. Other states soon followed. The first federal law regulating heroin was the Harrison Act of 1914, which eventually led to its criminalization. Advertisement Cocaine was criminalized for similar reasons, only this time the backlash was directed against black Americans. After the Civil War, economic resentment simmered over the freed slaves gaining a foothold in the economy. White Southerners grumbled about black men "forgetting their place," and fears spread about a drug some of them smoked, which was rumored to incite them to violence. In the early 1900s, New Orleans became the first city to slap down laws against cocaine use and the trend quickly spread, dovetailing with efforts in Latin America to criminalize the coca leaf, an ingredient in cocaine, which was used for religious purposes among indigenous populations. Marijuana was next in the firing line. During the 1920s, tensions sprang up in the South over the influx of Mexican immigrants who worked for low wages. By the 1930s, the Great Depression had bred panic among people desperate for work and they directed their angst towards immigrants. The media began propagating stories about Mexicans and their mysterious drug, marijuana. The first national law criminalizing marijuana, the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, passed thanks to a strong push from Harry Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, who referred to marijuana as "the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind." While such claims of marijuana inducing violence may sound ridiculous to those of us who know marijuana as a drug that does precisely the opposite, it goes to show that the criminalization of drugs has little to do with relative risk or danger. Instead, the main impetus for criminalization is fear over certain groups seen as an economic or cultural threat to established America. Recognizing this fact does not mean ignoring or minimizing the very real harm that drugs can cause. Most illicit drugs carry risks and serious potential for problematic use. But so does glue. So do gasoline, cough syrup, shoe polish, paint thinner, nail polish remover, cleaning fluids, spray paint, whipped cream cans, vanilla extract, mouthwash, nutmeg, prescription pills and countless other household items that are not only addictive, but potentially fatal if misused. Advertisement Scientists have now demonstrated that illicit drugs are pharmacologically equivalent to any other medicines on the market. We could easily declare OxyContin or Adderall illegal tomorrow, demonize the drugs and the people who use them, and in a few decades no one would remember that those street pills were once marketed by pharmaceutical companies and prescribed by doctors. It was President Nixon who took these economic fears that had driven drug criminalization and turned them into masterful political opportunity. Elected shortly after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Nixon faced a large population of Americans who were fearful and angry about these reforms. A wily man, President Nixon knew that one of the best ways to gain political support was to turn the majority of voters against the minority using fear, false narrative, and the idea of moral or cultural inferiority. One of his first acts as president was to declare a War on Drugs despite the fact that drug use was not significantly worse than at any other time in history. "Scientists have now demonstrated that illicit drugs are pharmacologically equivalent to any other medicines on the market." John Ehrlichman, White House counsel to President Nixon, captured the rationale behind the War on Drugs in an interview with reporter Dan Baum: "The Nixon campaign in 1968 and the Nixon White House after that had two enemies: the antiwar Left and black people... We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black. But by getting the public to associate hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." Witnessing the effectiveness of Nixon's War on Drugs, other presidents in both political parties took up the mantle. Using an unparalleled influence over the media, President Reagan launched a period of mass hysteria over the drug du jour, which during the 1980s was crack cocaine. Advertisement Although studies showed white and black people using crack cocaine at similar rates, the media painted crack users as a black, poor, and urban. In less than a decade the U.S. implemented some of the most draconian anti-drug laws in the world, all aimed squarely at the "crack-fiends," the mothers of "crack-babies," and others who were deemed criminal and worthy only of prison. The trend continued with George Bush and later Bill Clinton, who signed an omnibus crime bill in 1994 that included mandatory minimum sentences and federal three-strikes laws. The US prison population swelled from 500,000 people behind bars in 1980 to 2.2 million by 2010 -- all with no change in the rates of crime or drug use. Such a hike was made possible by gutting social programs and reallocating the money towards law enforcement through a variety of incentivizing programs, including generous government grants, civil asset forfeitures, and donations of military equipment. Politicians benefited immensely, sweeping up votes with their "tough on crime" rhetoric and assurance that drug use was the result of moral bankruptcy. Scientists have now confirmed that there is no such thing as a "crack baby," only babies who are undernourished due to poverty, and crack cocaine is no different than its powdered form--except that smoking any drug creates a faster, stronger high than snorting it. But science and fact have little hold in a system driven by fear. Despite some recent criminal justice reforms, today we still warehouse more prisoners than any country in the world, mostly for drugs. We still arrest 1.5 million people a year for marijuana, 90 percent just for possession. Law enforcement has become so addicted to drug grants and drug money that it is hard to imagine scaling back to the pre-Reagan days. And every time a new drug is introduced, whether it be bath salts, K2, or even vaping, the old impulse to criminalize first, investigate later, still reigns supreme. We have seen some bipartisan reforms lately and calls for treatment over incarceration. However these changes are hardly a cause to celebrate, not only because they barely scratch at the hide of the beast we have created, but also because we have not learned from our history. Advertisement Today, as always, the decisions over whether to help or imprison people who use drugs has more to do with the perceived users than with the drugs themselves. Drugs were legal as long as white, suburban housewives were using them to treat menopause. It was not until drugs became seen as the vice of poor or immigrant minorities that we decided to tackle the issue with guns, tanks and prison bars. We cracked down, criminalized and demonized the drugs -- and by extension, the people who used them. "Drugs were legal as long as white, suburban housewives were using them to treat menopause." The calls for mercy and reform of today are happening at a time when drugs are once again perceived to be creeping into those suburban neighborhoods. Suddenly people in power have a family member with a pill addiction and white mothers across the land are weeping over the loss of their children. And while calls for treatment over incarceration may benefit all races (though not equally), by holding up stories of white straight-A students as reasons why we should go easy on drug addiction, we are using the same "deserving" vs. "undeserving" narrative that created the War on Drugs in the first place. Without addressing the root cause of drug criminalization, it will take very little to turn back the narrative towards fearing, blaming and locking up whatever new minority we decide we don't like. Change will not be easy. All over the nation people are still insisting that the drug war is not about race. But acknowledging the true history of the drug war is not the same as declaring that people of color who use drugs are the only people who matter. We can create a system to address the health consequences of addiction without leaving out or over-emphasizing any particular group, and we can do that while still acknowledging the true roots of racism in the drug war and taking steps to prevent history repeating itself. The first step is to admit that our current drug laws are not grounded in science and public health, but in racial and ethnic prejudices driven by economic and cultural fear. Science has long debunked the false narrative that illicit drugs are more addictive than medicines or common household items. We are starting to understand the social and environmental contexts that can make people more vulnerable to addiction. Advertisement The second step is to "just say no" to the politics of hatred and fear. Anyone who doubts the political effectiveness of basing an entire political career on vitriol against other races or religions need look no further than our current presidential race. It will take strong efforts from both parties to fight back against a political strategy that is still effective today. Third, we need to caution against the hysteria that so often erupts every time a new drug appears of the scene. If criminalization comes up for discussion, we should place the burden of proof on the party who wants to criminalize. Science and fact, not political rhetoric, should be the basis for deciding how to address each new challenge appropriately. We have to do these things before we can even begin to undo the damage caused by mass incarceration, cartel violence and widespread addiction. Without acknowledging our history, we are doomed to repeat it. -- Tessie Castillo is the communications and advocacy coordinator of the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition (NCHRC): @NCHarmReduction. Her last piece for The Influence was How to Talk to White People About Race in the Drug War, in Four Simple Steps. Scientists have warned that severe drought and precipitation are among the risks of greenhouse-gas-induced climate change, but a study published in the journal Nature finds that extremely warm temperatures do not always translate into record wet and dry extremes. Highlighting the complexities in predicting the effects of planetary warming on precipitation, lead author Fredrik Ljungqvist of Stockholm University said that more dramatic wet-dry weather extremes had occurred in centuries cooler than the 20th century. "Several other centuries show stronger and more widespread extremes," he said. "We can't say it's more extreme now." In this first hemispheric-scale, centuries-long water availability assessment, the researchers statistically analyzed evidence for changes in precipitation and drought, compiling hundreds of precipitation records across the Northern Hemisphere from historical accounts as well as archives on such things as tree-rings and lake sediments. Advertisement They detected a pattern of alternating moisture regimes throughout the last 12 centuries, suggesting that "the instrumental period is too short to capture the full range of natural hydroclimate variability." Their finding that the last century's temperature rise may not have affected the hydroclimate as much as previously thought challenges the conclusions of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In a News and Views article published in Nature, Matthew Kirby of California State University at Fullerton suggested that current climate models should not be discarded because their results, which indicate that "dry gets dryer and wet gets wetter," do not match the Ljungqvist team's proxy results, which indicate no difference in the water dynamics of the 20th century and those of the pre-industrial era. "Do their results invalidate current predictive models?" Kirby asked. "Certainly not. But they do highlight a big challenge for climate modellers, and present major research opportunities both for modellers and for climate scientists who work with proxy data." Advertisement Study: Climate Change Causing Earth to Shift A study published in the journal Science Advances reveals that climate change affects how Earth tilts on its axis. Although scientists have known that Earth's spin axis has been drifting due to ice cap melt in Greenland and Antarctica, the new research suggests that changes in terrestrial water storage also play a role in the planet's decadal axis swings. The finding is based on data collected from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite, which can detect changes in the mass of Earth's ice sheets and oceans. Before 2000, Earth's spin axis was moving westward toward Canada, but since then, climate-change-driven ice loss has pulled the direction of drift eastward approximately seven inches a year--a shift that lead researcher Surendra Adhikari of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory described as "very dramatic" and that scientists say is meaningful. "This is the first time we have solid evidence that changes in land water distribution on a global scale also shift which direction the axis moves to," said Adhikari. Although the study data doesn't indicate whether the most recent shift in the pole is the result of human activities, the study authors think they will be able to use them to tease out man-made climate change later this year. Because polar motion and climate variability appear to be linked, scientists can examine historical records of the pole's motion in relation to changes in Earth's climate. If those changes are less dramatic than the ones evidenced today, scientists could assert that global warming has a controlling influence on Earth's poles. U.N. Climate Agreement Terms Studied, Launch Pegged Early Next week on Earth Day (April 22), 130 countries are expected to sign the Paris Climate Agreement, which has a goal of limiting average surface temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius. But already the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is looking into the feasibility of what U.N. Climate Chief Christiana Figueres describes as "a moonshot": limiting global emissions to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Advertisement Figueres believes the Paris agreement will take effect in 2018--two years sooner than currently slated. The agreement will come into force once 55 parties representing 55 percent of the world's total emissions have both signed and ratified it. Silhouette of Female Muslim praying in mosque during sunset time Following the way of Jesus asks of us to support and learn from people of other faith traditions. This may sound counterintuitive at first. At its best, the Christian tradition asks us to listen for where the Divine is speaking, in whatever surprising places we may find it. We need others as a reminder of how much greater the Divine is than any one religious tradition's ability to fully capture it. This is especially important in a religiously plural country where many religious minorities face discrimination and violence from what we might call Christian supremacists. For most of America's history, Christianity has been the dominant tradition, whether as a cultural identity marker or as a religious practice. We have a long legacy of actively instigating, condoning or remaining apathetic to violence against those outside our tradition. Only in the last few generations have Christians begun to constructively wrestle with the implications of a religiously plural world after centuries of animosity. Advertisement Affirming religious pluralism is at least a twofold process, what we could call a descriptive and a normative move, respectively. The first respects the right of diverse religious communities to exist and thrive in our pluralistic democracy. It takes this pluralism as a given, without necessarily saying whether one agrees with the content of their tradition. But others, like progressive Christians, go one step further: we seek to learn from other traditions that can provide insights that we ourselves lack or underemphasize. Whether one takes this second, bolder stance, all Christians of conscience need to look for ways to support religious minorities in the United States that feel besieged in 2016. Hate crimes are increasing at an alarming rate against Muslims in particular. Muslim students are being bullied in schools, taunted as "ISIS." Sikhs are being assaulted for how they dress, fueled by stereotypes over what a Muslim (indistinguishable from a terrorist in their eyes) looks like. The fear of Muslims that leads to acts of hatred is a greater threat to our country than ISIS could ever pose. In the past, it has taken the shock of unimaginable violence against religious minorities to snap people out of their collective slumber. We must say, loudly and unequivocally, we will not tolerate outbreaks of violence in our country. Whether that means supporting local efforts of Muslim communities to build a mosque, or calling out Christian siblings spouting anti-Muslim hate, we all have something we can do. We will not sit by and let Muslims be banned from entering our country. We will not allow patrols to roam the streets of Muslim neighborhoods. We will not permit Anti-Semitism, the dismissal of indigenous spiritualities, or other long-standing religious biases to continue to infect our society. Religious discrimination has no place in our country, and Christians make a mockery of the name of Christ when they act in such a way or stand by and do nothing. Advertisement We are most faithful to the Christian tradition when we stand alongside those to whom others in our tradition condemn. After decades of dictatorship, mismanagement and isolation, Burma has caught the eye of corporations and investors seeking new markets, opportunities and other links in their supply chains. The Burmese people welcome investment to stimulate the economy. However, they are right to be wary of private initiatives--as well as the return of international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, whose engagement will come with terms of their own making. With a more democratic government coming to power, Burma can and should set conditionalities on IFI agreements to ensure civil society voice and protection of environmental, labor and indigenous peoples' rights. The World Bank and other IFIs have an egregious record in these areas. For example, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reported last year that, "over the last decade, projects funded by the World Bank have physically or economically displaced an estimated 3.4 million people, forcing them from their homes, taking their land or damaging their livelihoods." The World Bank's ostensible purpose is to alleviate poverty and promote shared prosperity. Yet the bank is currently reviewing lending requirements for its projects, including "safeguard policies" for communities, labor and the environment, that many see as weakening protections for the poor and likely to leave workers vulnerable to unsafe working conditions, child labor and denial of their internationally recognized rights. A lack of protection of labor standards in World Bank projects and policies is inimical to promoting worker rights. That's why it's so important for Burmese labor activists and organizations to focus on the World Bank and use the opportunity of its spring meetings in Washington, D.C., this week to ask the hard questions and set standards for what any new investment and engagement should look like. Advertisement The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), representing 168 million workers in 155 countries, has developed some key recommendations that its members and Burmese unions and civil society organizations endorsed in the lead-up to the ITUC's own meetings with IFIs in March. The first and most important is to base labor standards on core ILO conventions, such as the prohibition on child labor, forced labor and workplace discrimination, and the protection of workers' right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. A second is to include government civil servants in labor rights protections, and a third is the requirement adopted by the Asia Development Bank and other development banks that, whatever be the recognition of those rights in national law, the borrower "shall not discriminate or retaliate against workers who participate or seek to participate in [workers'] organizations and engage in collective bargaining." Other Asian countries going through political transition in the past couple of decades have faced a similar situation--Cambodia and Indonesia, for example. In Burma's case, unlike Cambodia when it emerged from its long national nightmare, decades of human rights activism by organizations inside and outside the country means a cadre of organizations have already started playing a watchdog function with regard to both investment and international financial institutions. At a workshop in Rangoon conducted by the Bank Information Center and the Natural Resource Governance Institute in March, 55 participants from 39 different civil society organizations (CSOs), including the Solidarity Center, came together to set the stage for greater engagement with the IFIs and a plan to demand more accountability from them. These organizations are learning more about the IFIs' re-engagement in Burma, what new issues are emerging and, crucially at this juncture, to find ways to expose parliamentarians and media to the work of the IFIs and show them how they can help shape IFI investments and the Burma country strategy. Advertisement The Elusive Truth About the American Military Role in Iraq Cross-posted with TomDispatch.com At the moment, there are a maximum of 3,870 U.S. military personnel (or 7,740 actual boots on the ground) in Iraq supporting the war against the Islamic State. That's the "official cap" imposed by the Obama administration, because everyone knows that the president and his top officials are eager to end American wars in the Middle East, not expand them. Of course, that number doesn't include the other 1,130 American military types (or 2,260 boots) -- give or take we don't know how many -- who just happen to be there on what's called... er, um... "temporary deployments," or are the result of overlap from rotating deployments, but add up to perhaps 5,000 trainers and advisers, or maybe, for all we know, more, including 200 Special Operations forces whose numbers are officially acknowledged by no one but mentioned in press reports. And naturally that 5,000 figure doesn't include the American private contractors also flowing into Iraq in growing numbers to support the U.S. military because everyone knows that they aren't either troops or boots on the ground and so don't get counted. Those are the rules. Do keep in mind that this time around the whole American on-the-ground operation couldn't be more limited. Though the numbers of U.S. trainers, advisers, and Special Ops types continue to creep up, they are, at least, helping the Iraqi military reconstitute itself on Iraqi bases. In other words, this round of Washington's Iraq wars bears no relation to the last one (2003-2011), when the Pentagon had its private contractors build hundreds of U.S. bases, ranging in size from American towns to tiny combat outposts. This time, the U.S. military has no basses of its own, not a single one... er, um... at least it didn't until recently when an American Marine, a specialist in firing field artillery, died in an Islamic State rocket attack on what turned out to be an all-American Marine outpost, Fire Base Bell, in the northern part of the country. The artillery operations he was involved in supporting the Iraqi army in its (stalled) drive on the country's second largest city, Mosul, are not, however, "combat operations" because it's well established that no American troops, Special Ops units possibly excepted, are in combat in that country (or Syria). In fact, U.S. officials point out that artillery doesn't really count as combat. It's more like U.S. air operations against the Islamic State except... er, um... it takes place on the ground. Advertisement And by the way, according to Nancy Youssef of the Daily Beast, the U.S. actually has two bases in Iraq (the other in al-Anbar Province) and is planning to add more in the future, but these will most certainly not be old-style "fire bases." In fact, the one where that Marine died has already been renamed the Kara Soar Counter Fire Complex and it seems that any future... er, um... post established in Iraq will also be a "counter fire complex," not a base, and will only engage in air-strike-style operations on or just above the... um... ground. And the reason for that has nothing to do with the possible reaction of Americans to the new realities of Iraq. As Youssef points out, it's the fault of the touchy Iraqis: "The new name notably did not include the word 'base,' as some Iraqis fear the return of any U.S. footprint that resembles the eight-year war that began with the 2003 invasion." In this spirit of renaming, the Pentagon and the Obama administration follow in a proud American linguistic tradition. As the Bush administration was completing its invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq in April 2003, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon was planning to build at least four major installations for the future garrisoning of that country, though "permanent bases" was a phrase being avoided at all costs. ("[T]here will probably never be an announcement of permanent stationing of troops," wrote the Times reporters.) At the Pentagon, these massive outposts were instead labeled "enduring camps." And tradition matters. So all is well in... er, um... that country in the Fertile Crescent. You know the one I mean. Advertisement It's time to be bold and visionary. Only a massive grassroots movement can build the political power necessary for taking back our democracy and ousting the plutocrats who've stolen it. That's why I'm thrilled to be one of thousands rallying this weekend at Democracy Awakening -- supporting calls to restore voting rights and repeal Citizen's United. I'm proud that Food and Water Watch is one of the more than 200 groups coalescing to demand that people and the environment are prioritized over profits. Over the past forty years the right-wing has rammed their political agenda through Congress and the courts by consolidating power in the hands of wealthy elites and corporations. Elections are corrupted through a system of legalized bribery that has diminished the voice of everyday Americans in our political process. Fighting Right-Wing Influence Over Our Democracy It is only by organizing a broad-based coalition that includes civil rights, economic justice, labor, the environmental and climate movements among others that we can undo the devastation caused by gutting environmental laws, restricting voting rights, deregulating the financial services industry and privatizing everything from education to water. Koch Brothers-funded think tanks have funded a long-term disinformation campaign that includes an irresponsible attack on climate science, even as the effects of climate chaos are worsening. Advertisement At the same time, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has pushed a right-wing agenda in the media and in state houses across the country that have devastated communities, the planet, and our democracy. Take voting rights. From Texas to Wisconsin and Alabama to Pennsylvania (and elsewhere) conservative state legislatures, at the behest of ALEC, have moved to restrict the right to vote. Similarly, through ALEC, companies like Monsanto, ExxonMobil and American Water have helped develop model state legislation in service to their financial interests. Whether it's promoting water privatization, attempting to thwart popular GMO food labeling measures, or stopping local initiatives to ban fracking, ALEC is behind many undemocratic policies to help corporations and wealthy interests at the expense of our communities and the environment. ALEC has even called for the dissolution of the Environmental Protection Agency. It is no wonder that organizations fueled by billionaires are working to restrict the vote -- their agenda is unpopular and they can only continue to push their policies by harming our democracy. How Grassroots Pressure Can Make Change Democracy Awakening is coinciding with a major shift in progressive politics, thanks to grassroots pressure to address climate change and keep fossil fuels in the ground. For example, for the first time ever, the leading Democratic candidates for president are having a meaningful discussion about the fate of our planet and the role of big oil and gas money and its influence in our political process. This is only possible because of grassroots organizing happening across the country. Advertisement One crowning achievement of the movement has been New York's fracking ban. Five years ago, a ban on fracking was seen as politically naive; there was skepticism about the approach of taking on the industry and the Democratic establishment so forcefully. But activists hit Governor Andrew Cuomo hard on the issue -- showing up at public appearance after public appearance, demanding that he protect New Yorkers, not the fossil fuel industry. The pressure resulted in the Governor banning fracking in the state in 2014. Activists continue to target the Democratic establishment elsewhere -- from Maryland to Colorado to California. Now, even Governor Brown is feeling the pressure in California to ban fracking. We can and must do the same when it comes to protecting our voting rights and addressing big moneyed interests' disproportional sway in our politics. Corporate influence over our democracy is one of the biggest threats to our food, water and climate. That's why Democracy Awakening is a wake up call that not only can we take on big money in politics -- we must. And while it won't be easy, we must keep up sustained pressure on our decision makers to reinstate the Voting Rights Act and repeal Citizens United. Pressuring our decision makers to do the right thing takes committed leadership of individuals taking bold stands. Simon Rawles via Getty Images A farmer picks ripe red chillies which will be sold as fairtrade chillies. The Morning Wrap is HuffPost India's selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning. Essential HuffPost There is no earth-shattering reason why Gurgaon district should not be renamed Gurugram, but what is more intriguing is why renaming Gurgaon to Gurugram was even a poll promise of the Mahohar Lal Khattar government, writes Sandip Roy. Advertisement Shivam Vij writes about a Delhi-based transsexual, who wants her name and gender changed in official documents, but her case is testing the boundaries of legal procedure. Manoj Pandey, owner of the missing bull Badshah, has announced a reward of Rs. 50,000 for anyone with credible information about his pet. "Badshah is not merely an animal for us, but like a family member having access to our kitchen and bedroom," said Pandey, a resident of Sarnath. Good news. Shaktiman, the police horse from Uttarakhand, is now able to stand on his own. Three IIT students have made the perfect spoof of matrimonial ads - the kinds that require tall, thin, and light-skinned girls who make round chapatis. Main News On the 125th birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian constitution, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is launching an e-market platform for farmers to sell their produce online. Advertisement Maharashtra is the first state to pass a law against social boycott, which seeks to crack down on extra-judicial bodies such as caste and community panchayats. In view of the acute drought situation in the state, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the BCCI to shift IPL matches out of Maharashtra. The court said IPL matches cannot be held in the state after April 30. Poor quality of materials is one of the key reasons behind the collapse of the Vivekananda Road flyover in Kolkata, according to a preliminary report by two professors from IIT Kharagpur. Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani has rejected the demand of shifting the National Institute of Technology out of Srinagar, but she has agreed to facilitate external evaluation of the final exam. Women cannot be denied entry into Sabarimala temple in Kerala based on traditions which violate principles of the Constitution, said the Supreme Court. "In Hindu religion, there is no denomination of a Hindu male or female. A Hindu is a Hindu," said the three-judge bench. Advertisement A Kashmiri schoolgirl, who was allegedly molested by an Indian Army soldier, has told the police that it was actually a local who molested her. In a video released by the Indian Army, the girl is seen recounting the episode. Farzana, the wife of NIA officer Mohammed Tanzil Ahmed who was shot dead by assailants in Uttar Pradesh, succumbed to her injuries on Wednesday. Off The Front Page Dalits can't draw water from a well in Bechar village in Mehsana, Gujarat. "This rule was made by our forefathers that lower caste people should not be allowed to touch the well as the water would get polluted," said Geeta Bharwad, who belongs to dominant OBC community. The name Gurugram has been used for years by local members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. "What is new in it? The area was named Gurugram and we have been using this name. In Sangh shakhas and meetings, we introduce ourselves as being from Gurugram," Anil Kashyap, the Gurgaon district RSS chief, told the Hindustan Times. In the footsteps of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to implement measures to protect inter-caste couples, who are hunted down and killed by their own relatives in the name of family honour. Advertisement Opinion Several democracies aspire to the famous principles of the French Revolution (liberty, equality and fraternity) writes Ram Madhav, but India hasn't come far enough in its quest for fraternity. "One single biggest challenge to fraternity today is the hierarchical caste system," Madhav writes in The Indian Express. "Fraternity cant be achieved through rules and laws in the Constitution. It requires a persistent education of the people through public and private initiatives." On the 125th birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, D. Raja writes that his ideas of nationalism was different from the BJP's "coercive and recurrent" brand. "This elevated notion of nationality cannot be generated and achieved by mere sloganeering based on a violent masculinist approach," Raja writes The Hindu. The Kollam temple disaster that claimed the lives of 111 people was not a tragedy, but a crime for which responsibility should be fixed, writes Rajeev Chandrasekhar in The Times of India. Simply banning fireworks is a "lazy approach" that ducks "the whole issue of responsibility of government in enforcing laws and safety guidelines," he writes. Advertisement FaberrInk via Getty Images Deal handshake sign NEW DELHI -- The Securities Appellate Tribunal today asked Sebi to re-investigate whether Independent Media Trust, related to Reliance Industries, acquired control over Network 18 from Raghav Bahl even before inking the share purchase pact in 2014. The tribunal gave the direction to Sebi while deciding on an appeal which alleged that the open offer price fixed by the acquirers of Network 18 was much less. Advertisement In February 2012, an investment agreement was entered into between Independent Media Trust -- of which Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary -- and six holding companies of Raghav Bahl and the Bahl Group. Under the pact, Independent Media Trust was to invest in the six holding companies by subscribing to Zero Coupon, Optionally and fully Convertible Debentures (ZOCD). Meanwhile, the Share Purchase Agreement between the parties was inked in May 2014. "Perusal of various clauses contained in the ZOCD agreement... led us to believe, prima facie, that by executing ZOCD agreement on February 27, 2012 the Bahl group sought to divest its control over the six holding companies and consequently sought to divest control over target company and TV18 without receiving any consideration which is rather strange and unusual to say the least," the tribunal said. Two shareholders of Network 18 -- Victor Fernandes and Sangeeta Fernandes -- had filed the appeal against Sebi, Independent Media Trust, Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings, Reliance Industries, JM Financial Institutional Securities and Network 18. Advertisement In the present case, the tribunal said that divesting the control over the target company prima facie falls within the meaning of the word 'control' as defined under Sebi's Takeover Regulations. According to SAT, Sebi has failed to give reasons as to why various clauses contained in the ZOCD agreement do not amount to divesting control over the target company to Independent Media Trust. The tribunal said that in public interest it was directing Sebi to "re-investigate the question as to whether the respondent No 2 (Independent Media Trust) in the guise of executing ZOCD agreement, indirectly acquired control over the target company without following the procedure prescribed under the Takeover Regulations, 2011". In case, it is found so, the tribunal said appropriate action should be taken against the concerned person or persons for violating takeover norms "so that such violations are not committed again". In July 2014, Reliance Industries had announced taking control of Network 18 and its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast Ltd. Advertisement SAT said the appellants' argument that Sebi should have approved the open offer price at Rs 5,68,430.32 per share of Network 18 instead of Rs 41.04 apiece is without any merit. As per the share purchase agreement, purchase of 60,000 shares of the six holding companies by Independent Media Trust constituted acquisition of 100 per cent shares of the six entities. Since that amounted to Independent Media Trust indirectly acquiring shares having voting rights in excess of 25 per cent in Network 18, the open offer was triggered. If the gross amount paid under the share purchase agreement dated May 29, 2014 for acquisition of shares of the six holding companies and RB Holdings Pvt Ltd is segregated, then Independent Media Trust has paid less than Rs 41.04 per share of Network 18. "Therefore, in the facts of present case, decision of Sebi in approving the open offer price at Rs 41.04 per share, by taking into consideration the amount invested under the ZOCD agreement cannot be faulted," the order said. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also See On HuffPost: Dean Murray via Getty Images Oops! Looks like this old smarphone has seen better days. no more social networking on this phone. Google has had a lot of incredibly successful products since it launched in 1998. Six of their products -- Search, Gmail, Android, Play store, YouTube and Maps have more than 1 billion users worldwide. Search is always synonymous with Google. But there were times the company had launched products that tanked. Here are some. 1. Orkut: Before Facebook and Twitter ruled the social media, Orkut was the biggest name in networking. The product was named after the Google employee Orkut Buyukkokten. He played a key role in developing the social network and launching it in 2004. Orkut was largely popular in developing countries like Brazil and India. The features like attractive profiles, scrapbooks, testimonials and communities made it one of the most used social network. Advertisement The website had its fair share of controversies too. The website was filled with fake profiles as anyone could just sign up with any name or email ID. Also, there were a lot of hate groups and communities formed. Eventually due to the rise of Facebook and other social networks, the popularity of Orkut dropped and it was discontinued in September 2014. 2. Google Reader: Google reader was one of the most celebrated RSS and Atom feed aggregator across the web. Google engineer Chris Wetherell worked on it as a side project and then launched it in 2005. He was a part of blogger team that was trying to aggregate the blogs because the good aggregators were only paid windows applications. There were web platforms such as Bloglines, but the often items disappeared from the list and there was no easy way to aggregate. So Chris came up with the solution of through a JavaScript implementation. In 2013, the product was shut down due to declining usage, a reason cited by Google. Advertisement 3. Google Buzz: Google has made many attempts to ace a social network. But on most of the occasions, they have not reached the potential expectations of the users. Google Buzz was one of such instances where the search giant tried to implement a microblogging social network in people's inboxes. The users could share links, videos, photos and media in a stream called conversations. Once you register it automatically followed all the accounts from your Gmail contacts. The Biggest security flaw in Google Buzz was that it made the contacts you followed public with Email IDs. Apart from that, it felt like a bad clone of Twitter, the product was discontinued in 2011. 4. iGoogle: iGoogle was a dashboard for Google services. Launched in 200,5 it was known at Google Personalized Homepage. It also had widgets that you could pin on the dashboard. Some of the popular widgets were Framed Photo which displayed a series of photos, Sidebar for chat rooms, YouTube Channel to display videos from a channel and so on. Google even allowed third-party developers to create widgets for iGoogle which made extensions of websites like eBaye and live score very popular. Later even RSS readers were integrated to iGoogle and users were also allowed to choose a theme. The product went defunct in November 2013 so Google can focus on Google+. 5. Google Latitude: Integrated with Google maps, Latitude offered location sharing services before the social networks such as Waze and FourSquare. In Latitude, people can choose a set of friends who can see their current location on the map. Launched in 2009, this was an extension of a similar SMS service called Dodgeball which Google acquired. Users were in control of the accuracy and information visible to the other friends. Later on, they added services like location history, Latitude API, and leaderboard. In 2013, the product was shut down. Advertisement 6. Google Answers: Google launched Google questions and answers in 2001 but the service was only live for 24 hours. Later, in April 2002 Google Answers was born, where Google's researchers gave answers to people on the email with fee charged based on the question. Google hired contractors to give well-phrased answer to the people who didn't want to do the search work. There was criticism around the service by the librarians. It was even accused of encouraging plagiarism. And due to the limited userbase, it was discontinued in 2006. It was replaced by Google Question and Answers which was a collaborative answering system like Yahoo Answers. Other notable services which were discontinued: Google Labs: An experimental service which was started to test out the Google features. It was shut down in 2011. Google Offers: A service offering discounts and coupons, integrated with maps and wallet which was discontinued in 2014. Advertisement Google Friend Connect: A free service which was active from 2008 to 2012 was aimed to compete with Myspace and Facebook. This website allowed users to create profiles and share it on third party websites. A lot of these services had a dedicated fan base and a lot of people were disappointed to see the sunset of these products. Tell us which discontinued Google product you miss the most. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India ASSOCIATED PRESS Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard near the main gate of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), in Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, April 7, 2016. A clash took place between students of Kashmiri origin and others during the West Indies-India World Cup T20 semi-final match, after Kashmiri students allegedly celebrated India's loss. Classes had to be suspended after several students sustained injuries. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) HRD Minister Smriti Irani met a group of students from unrest-hit NIT, Srinagar, who put forward various demands including the shifting of the campus but she rejected the plea for shift. Emerging from the over two-hour meeting which ended late this evening, students said that while the minister rejected their "primary" demand to shift the campus by saying that Kashmir is an integral part of India, she assured them of support in addressing academic issues. Advertisement Law and order is not an issue of MHRD, its a state issue: HRD Minister Smriti Irani #NITSrinagarpic.twitter.com/jDaHyCvwb8 ANI (@ANI_news) April 12, 2016 Irani also assured the group of 9-10 students that if any of the faculty or staff members of the institute has induldged in any wrong-doing, action would be taken as per the due process. "We spoke to the HRD Minister about the situation on the campus and she assured us to look into our demands. However, on the demand to shift the campus, she said Srinagar is an integral part of India, NIT won't be shifted," Ankit, a 3rd year NIT, Srinagar, student who was a part of the group that met the minister, said. NIT, Srinagar, has been at the centre of a row since April 1 when clashes had erupted out between outstation and local students on the campus following India's defeat to West Indies in the World T20 Cup. Advertisement The situation worsened on April 5 when outstation students tried to take out a march outside the campus but were stopped by the police, leading to violence including vandalism by students and lathicharge by police. The delegation of NIT Srinagar students was also accompanied by some Delhi-based ABVP student leaders including JNU student union joint secretary Saurabh Sharma and DU student union president Satender Awana. "About the issue of security on campus, the minister said that law and order is not under her purview but she will raise the matter with the Home Ministry. She also assured that a commitee will be set up to inquire into allegations against the administration and those found guilty will not be spared," said Sharma after the meeting. Advertisement After hearing their concerns, Irani also promised that the placements from NITs Srinagar would be encouraged and that the process of appointing permanent faculty expedited, another student, who attended the meeting, said. Another demand flagged with the minister was about external evaluation of the students' marksheets, one of the students told reporters after the meeting. Among other issues raised in the meeting were infrastructure of the institute, issue pertaining to the timings of girls' hostels and lack of extra curricular activities on the campus, the students said. The group of NIT students earlier today staged a protest at Jantar Mantar here demanding shifting of their campus from Srinagar after clashes in the institute between local and outstation students. They also met Union Minister Jitendra Singh and apprised him of their demands. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also on HuffPost: Twitter There's no denying the fact that the Pratyusha Banerjee case is getting murkier by the day. While Rahul Raj Singh has been booked for abetting Banerjee's suicide (the Balika Vadhu actress was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her apartment on April 1), he is yet to be arrested. According to ABP News, the Bombay High Court, which heard Rahuls pre-arrest bail plea, restrained the police from arresting him on a surety of 30,000 and directed him to attend the police station everyday till April 18. However, Saloni Sharma, Singh's ex-girlfriend who had been in news for allegedly creating a ruckus at Singh's residence and harassing the couple, has now given an interview to Mumbai Mirror addressing the allegations of assault. Advertisement Rahul Raj Singh's ex-girlfriend Saloni Sharma In the report, Sharma has said that she met Rahul five years ago through a common friend and they started two event management companies. "We started dating only in the last three years of our association," the actress-turned-entrepreneur told the newspaper. She further added that Rahul started two-timing her with Banerjee, a fact that she wasn't aware of until recently. "He started dating her in May 2015 and I only discovered this in July through a few industry friends. When I went to his place to confront him, an inebriated Pratyusha barged in later and told me to get out of their lives. We had a huge argument after which I left them alone," Sharma said. I didn't think it's in good taste to talk ill of the dead. But after these allegations I had no option but to speak up. She even goes on to call Banerjee the 'other woman' in Singh's life but adds that when she saw Banerjee's parents with Singh at their apartment one day, she decided it was time to move on and broke up with him, keeping in touch only for business. It was during one such business-related meeting, where Sharma had gone to collect her share of the money, when the assault happened. Sharma said, "Pratyusha refused to give me any money and turned violent, urging Rahul to join her in assaulting me. They threw me out of the house. She even took my purse, dupatta and glasses, so I asked the neighbours for help. I banged on the door and Pratyusha eventually opened it wearing my dupatta. She returned my stuff and I left." She claimed that Rahul chased after her and in a moment of rage, she hit him in the building's lobby. "Pratyusha followed and then I hit her too." Sensing that she's talking about a person, who isn't here to defend herself, Sharma said, "I didn't think it's in good taste to talk ill of the dead. But after these allegations I had no option but to speak up." If you struggle with suicidal thoughts or attempts, call any of these helplines: Aasra 91-22-27546669, Sneha 04424640050, Jeevan 0091 6576453841, Pratheeksha 0484 2448830. Contact HuffPost India Also On HuffPost: Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - FEBRUARY 26: Mother Radhika of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula with Prasanth Dontha, a student expelled from Hyderabad University, at a press conference on HRD Minister Smriti Iranias speech in Parliament on Rohith Vemula suicide on February 26, 2016 in New Delhi, India. Rohith Vemulaas family and friends today attacked Union Education Minister Smriti Irani, calling her speech in Parliament on the research scholar's suicide a set of absolute lies. (Photo by Virendra Singh Gosain/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) Research scholar Rohith Vemula's mother and brother will embrace Buddhism on the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, a Dalit icon and the principal architect of the Indian Constitution, at a ceremony in Mumbai on Thursday. Vemula's suicide at the Hyderbad Central University in January had led to nationwide protests both on the streets and at other universities. "She expressed this idea to me sometime in March. Rohith's friend, Prashanth, told me that she would like to officially convert on Babasaheb's birth anniversary. Her son's last letter where he mentioned that he would prefer to live in the stars rather than living in this society, may have prompted her to take the decision," Prakash Ambedkar, Babasaheb Ambedkar's grandson and the head of Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, told Times of India. Advertisement The Buddhist Society of India will carry out the conversion ceremony and Radhika and Raja will be giving "deeksha" by Buddhist monks, Ambedkar said. The ceremony will be held at noon at Ambedkar Bhavan in Dadar, according to PTI. "We have organised the deeksha ceremony as the family approached us," he added. Raja, Rohith's younger brother whose name is Naga Chaitanya Vemula, told PTI "it is true that we are going to embrace Buddhism. We are on the way to Mumbai." Ambedkar told the Indian Express that "when Rohith started pursuing his Ph D, he was disheartened to face similar discrimination in institutes of higher education." Raja told the Express that Rohith used to talk about Buddhism a lot and his last rites were performed according to Buddhist traditions. My brother Rohith was a Buddhist at heart although he did not convert. He took his own life because as he was discriminated because he was a Dalit," he said. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also on HuffPost: The trailer of a biopic on Sarabjit Singh, the Indian national who was convicted of spying and terrorism-related activities by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, was released to much acclaim on social media. Directed by Omung Kumar, the maker of 'Mary Kom', 'Sarbjit' is the story of a man largely believed to be the victim of a mistaken-identity. The SC decision remains controversial. The film features Randeep Hooda, Aishwarya Rai and Richa Chadha in pivotal roles. While Hooda plays the titular role, Rai essays the part of Dalbir Kaur, Singh's fiery sister who fought a relentless yet unsuccessful battle to get her brother released from Pakistani prisons. Advertisement According to facts listed on Free Sarabjit Singh, a website started in Singh's support, he was kept in solitary confinement for 19 years in a cramped room that didn't even allow him any space to stand upright. Innumerable protests, mass-campaigns, mercy petitions, most of them mobilised by Dalbir and a few Human Rights activists, yielded nothing and Singh was allegedly murdered in cold-blood in April 2013 by jail inmates. An autopsy conducted by Indian doctors revealed a broken skull and vital organs missing. The film's trailer manages to elicit anger at the supposed injustice and torture suffered by Singh and his family members. Particularly impressive is Aishwarya, who appears to be in top-form after a disastrous turn in 'Jazbaa', her comeback vehicle from last year. It's possible that two members of the film's cast might just nail the National Awards as the film is bound to resonate widely with the Indian audiences and members of the film-fraternity. 'Sarbjit' releases on May 20. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also See On HuffPost: 'Affluenza' Teen's Lawyers Have 2 Weeks to Argue Against 2-Year Sentence A Texas judge sentenced Ethan Couch to a tentative 720-day jail sentence related to the "Affluenza" teen's probation conditions stemming from his 2013 drunken driving accident that killed four people and injured two more. Couch celebrated his last teenage birthday in the maximum security Lon Evans Correctional Center in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, and could spend his remaining teenage days there. But District Judge Wayne Salvant did give Couch's attorneys two weeks to come up with an argument to reduce the jail sentence. Can they do it? Hey Nineteen A little background first: Couch was 16 when he drunkenly plowed his father's truck into pedestrians and a car on the side of the road. After arguing that he was too rich and spoiled to understand the consequences of his actions, Couch was sentenced to 10 years of probation along with the possibility that he could serve jail time when his case was moved from juvenile to adult court. That move happened this week, after Couch turned 19 on Monday. Under Texas state law, juvenile offenders on probation can receive a minimum of 120 days in jail when transitioning to the adult system, and the maximum for offenses like Couch's is 180 days. Judge Salvant gave Couch 180 days for each manslaughter count relating to the four deaths, for a total of 720 days, ten short of two years. Couch's attorneys will argue that the deaths should be counted as one case, rather than four, and that Couch should serve no more than 180 days in jail. "Nothing is set in stone," Judge Salvant said, "so I might reconsider." His ruling is expected in two weeks. My Old School In an unrelated matter that could also cost Couch some jail time, he failed to adhere to the conditions of his probation as they were. In December of last year, video surfaced on Twitter (tagged with the Tarrant County, Texas District Attorney) showing Couch drinking at a party even though the court prohibited him from consuming alcohol. After the video's release, Couch and his mother hightailed it for Mexico, worried the violation would send the teen to jail. Both were captured after three weeks on the lam: Couch's mother Tonya was deported back to California, and though his lawyers in Mexico initially fought against extradition, Couch was returned to Texas a month later. While Couch can no longer be punished for violations of his juvenile probation, Judge Salvant can take his juvenile record into account when setting the conditions of his adult probation. We'll see how much Couch's flight to Mexico will cost him in a couple weeks. Related Resources: Reno County sees a spike in drug and alcohol overdoses during October The 27 overdoses through Oct. 21 is an average of more than one a day, the highet average since officials began tracking the data real time. Uproar this year over an Internet Kill Switch bill has largely subsided because the legislation has stalled in the Senate. The summer controversy focused on a proposed presidential power to declare a national emergency and shut down parts of the Web dealing with critical infrastructure, for up to four weeks which under a willing White House legal adviser, critics said, might lead to Chinese-style Web censorship for political enemies. Actually, the bill was never so specific. Sen. Joe Lieberman and its other sponsors in the Senate have argued the Protecting Cyberspace As a National Asset Act has no kill switch provision, only a sort of emergency-brake feature for the president in case of cyberwar. Or something. What authority the government would have is not laid out at all in the law, said Michelle Richardson, an ACLU lawyer tasked with tracking the bill. Adam Cohen was right last month when he argued in Time that the bills language had to be far more precise before people start to freak out (on one hand) or Congress allows it to become law (on the other). But Chinese-style censorship already exists in the West. Germany has blocked Holocaust-deniers from its patch of the Internet since the 90s. In February, the Berlin government passed a more sinister law meant to keep child pornography away from German screens. The law allows the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), a sort of German FBI, to compile secret lists of outlawed sites. The law will be reviewed for its effectiveness after one year. Needless to say, German free-speech advocates hate the law for its lack of transparency. They accused Ursula von der Leyden, then-Minister of Family Affairs, of passing a dangerous censorship law under cover of protecting kids. The Family Affairs ministry has a record of hassling legitimate sites for the protection of young minds: A site called Body Modification Ezine, or BME, was pursued in 1999 because it refused to ask visitors for their ages. The site has graphic snapshots of tattoos and piercings and naked flesh; it had a large following in Germany, and the owner (who lived in Canada at the time) openly refused to comply with a detail of German law. In the meantime, BME hasnt landed on a government blacklist it can be viewed from Germany but its URL is invisible to Google Deutschland. Opponents of the new German law came up with a more effective method of erasing child-porn sites from the Web: They sent e-mails to various ISPs that were (unwittingly) hosting the content. These ISPs took down over 60 websites containing child pornographic content in 12 hours, according to netzpolitik.org, a German forum for online free speech. The protesters argued that the BKA was being lazy as well as underhanded by filtering these sites on its own. Other European governments maintain child-pornography blacklists, including Denmark and Finland, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. American laws to shield kids (like the Childrens Internet Protection Act) tend toward blocking porn on certain computers at certain locations, like libraries and schools, instead of sending all Internet traffic through a central filter, which has become the European way. National security, for some reason, is a more effective political lever than child pornography for passing Internet restrictions in America. The cybersecurity bill moving through the Senate therefore needs to be watched carefully for its language on the kill switch especially since the bills backers in the Senate want to piggyback it onto a defense bill that probably will pass this fall. Its hard to get a measure like cybersecurity legislation passed on its own, said Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., last week, explaining to Government Information Security that attaching the Protecting Cyberspace act as a rider on the defense bill may be the way to pass it before midterm elections change the complexion of Congress. Source: https://psmag.com/internet-censorship-here-and-over-there-a12b8e4bdad Leading insurer The Hartford has expanded its portfolio of insurance products and services for US businesses with global operations or activities.The company has added new policies to its International Choice, a comprehensive insurance package for global risks.Global business dealings can bring a wide range of risks, said Joe Coray, vice president of The Hartfords international practice.Agents and brokers play a critical role in helping business leaders understand the challenges they may face and the specific insurance coverages that can help them protect their business interests in the US and abroad.The Hartfords Exporters Package Policy is designed for US businesses that are engaged in international commerce but do not have permanent employees or physical worksites overseas.The new Master Policy caters to US businesses that have a physical presence in one or more locations abroad.Meanwhile, the new Controlled Master Program packages the Master Policy with local policies offered through AXA Corporate Solutions network in a single coordinated insurance program for a US companys international risks.The Hartford has partnered with AXA Corporate Solutions to offer local insurance coverage in up to 150 countries.As more US companies pursue global growth opportunities, we continue to expand The Hartfords capabilities, expertise and geographic reach to be our customers first choice for comprehensive global insurance protection, said David Carter, executive vice president of The Hartfords Middle Market business.A recent survey conducted by the insurer found that 21 per cent of US midsize businesses had engaged in international activities in 2015.Hartford expects the number to grow this year when 42 per cent of midsize businesses are at least somewhat likely to engage in overseas activities while 23 per cent are very likely to do so. IND vs PAK: 'It Has to be One of India's Best Knocks Not Just His' - Rohit Sharma Hails Virat Kohli 'He Is a Big Player Because He Overcame That Pressure'- Babar Azam Praises Virat Kohli After India's Win 'It Was Undoubtedly the Best innings of Your Life': Sachin Tendulkar on Virat Kohli's Knock Against Pakistan Watch: Rohit Sharma Lifts Virat Kohli After India's Nerve-shredding Win Over Pakistan in T20 World Cup Hope for the Wrongfully Convicted: Exonerations Are on the Rise Last year more than 151 people were exonerated after spending an average of 15 years in prison, despite being innocent. Some were sentenced to death and pardoned before the ultimate punishment. This reveals something about the criminal justice system. That is why, according to the National Registry of Exonerations at the University of Michigan Law School, increasingly even prosecuting offices are focusing on innocence to regain public trust. What does that mean for all of us or you individually if you've been falsely convicted? Innocence Is Important When an innocent person is imprisoned or killed for a crime they did not commit, it is a stain on society as a whole, not just the prosecutors who pursued the conviction. And increasingly prosecuting offices around the country are working as defenders and exonerations are reportedly on the rise. University of Michigan law professor Samuel Gross, who runs the school's exoneration registry, told NBC News that the record 2015 exoneration numbers show recognition by prosecuting offices that convicting the innocent is seen as bad for the justice system as a whole. He says that 24 offices around the country are now actively focusing on innocence, undoing their own past work. For example, Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson is focusing on a Conviction Integrity Unit in his office in New York. Imprisoning the innocent, he says, undermines "the public's confidence and trust in our criminal justice system." Although no one knows, according to Professor Gross, just how many people are falsely convicted annually or how exactly it happens, experts do have a sense. There is pressure on police to make arrests and prosecutors to show results and get wins; they then apply the pressure on defendants, forcing false confessions or ignoring evidence of innocence. It happens in plea bargaining efforts and in trial cases. Blackstone's Ratio "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer," wrote British jurist Sir William Blackstone in the 1760s. This is known as Blackstone's Ratio and stands for the principle that authorities must err on the side of innocence. A zealous prosecutor seeks truth, not a conviction in the name of a win. So what does that mean to you if you are innocent but have pled guilty to a crime you did not commit or been convicted after trial? Can you rely on the good will of the overworked prosecutors who got you in this predicament? No. Talk to a Lawyer If you are now accused of a crime or were convicted despite your innocence, talk to a lawyer about defense or post-conviction relief. Many criminal defense attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to discuss your case. Related Resources: Coverage for Car Accidents With Uninsured Motorists It is commonly know that you can't squeeze blood from a stone, and the same could be said for getting money for injuries from uninsured or underinsured drivers. Of course everyone is technically liable for the injuries they cause due to negligence, which is one reason that state minimum insurance requirements exist. But cases have to be proven and you must successfully sue to collect damages, and there may be little point to suing someone who cannot afford any insurance, although a negligence case shouldn't be ruled out entirely. Still, you do have some options. So let's take a look at cars, insurance, and accidents. State Insurance Requirements According to the Insurance Research Council, one in seven motorists is uninsured. Although every state -- besides Virginia and New Hampshire -- has minimum insurance requirements for motorists, the coverage amounts will vary from state to state. Even in a place like New Hampshire, which does not require insurance for most motorists, there are "financial responsibility" laws requiring evidence of the ability to handle an accident financially. Meanwhile, in Missouri, uninsured drivers are barred from suing an insured motorist for non-economic losses arising from accidents. Even though the insurance requirements exist to protect drivers, not everyone follows the rules. As a result, you could find yourself in an accident with that one in seven drivers who is insufficiently covered or has no insurance at all. Here's how to handle it. Uninsured Driver Liability If you do get in an accident with an uninsured or underinsured driver, you should be extra vigilant about your own insurance claim. There are a few ways you might be able to recover all of your expenses. For example, if you're injured and have health insurance, you may get treatment coverage through your health insurance and payments for car repair from your own insurer. But you can also file an uninsured or underinsured driver claim with your auto insurance. Some people prepare for all eventualities by actually paying for this and having this be an element of their policy. If you have that, then you should be good. But even if you do not, you may be able to attempt recovery through your insurer under this provision. Be warned, however, that if the claim is denied and you were contemplating suing your insurer for coverage, that's probably impossible because chances are good that you have already entered into a binding arbitration agreement. Talk to a Lawyer Although lawyers don't know the secret to squeezing blood from a stone, an attorney may have alternative options for you to consider pursuing based on the details of your case. It's always worth your while to talk to someone and get guidance. Many personal injury attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to talk to you about your accident and any potential claims. Related Resources: How Much Is Your Pet Worth, Legally? Priceless. That's what most of us pet owners would tell you about the value of our dogs, cats, and other furry, feathered, or scaly pets. (Well, maybe not cats, though as a dog owner, I might be biased.) But the Georgia Supreme Court might soon attach a dollar figure to your favorite non-human -- in an upcoming case, the court will decide whether, and how much, a family should be compensated for the loss of their dog. So how much do you think Fido is worth? Kennel Liability The Monyak family had two dogs -- Lola, an 8-year-old dachshund mix, and Callie, a 13-year-old, arthritic Labrador retriever -- but couldn't bring either on vacation to France, so checked both into The Inn, a luxury kennel in Atlanta. Along with the dogs, the family gave the kennel Callie's arthritis medication, Rimadyl, with strict instructions for use. The rest, as reported The Washington Post, is just too sad: "The Monyaks said in an interview that when they picked the dogs up, Lola had no appetite. The next day, she was trembling. A veterinarian diagnosed acute renal failure, almost certainly from an overdose of Rimadyl. Nine months later, after treatment from Atlanta veterinarians and multiple dialysis treatments in Florida, Lola died." Kennel Damages Aside from determining whether The Inn or owners Barking Hound Village are at fault for Lola's death, the court is being asked to determine how much Lola is worth, or how much the Monyaks should be compensated for her loss. Before she passed, the family spent some $67,000 on veterinary costs and treatment trying to save her. The Monyaks are asking for that money, along with non-economic damages like loss of companionship. Barking Hound Village countered, saying that, as a free mutt, Lola is essentially worth nothing. In its filing, the kennel argued, "The mixed-breed dachshund had no special training or unique characteristics other than that of 'family dog.'" But shouldn't "family dog" be enough? After all, this particular family spent hundreds or maybe thousands to give Lola the best possible home away from home, money that was based on their affection for the dog and that Barking Hound Village was happy to accept. So where are courts on the matter? Most have refused to award emotional damages in pet death cases, leaving it up to juries to award "reasonable" veterinary expenses. And some states have enacted caps on how much a plaintiff can recover for the loss of a pet. We'll see what the Georgia Supreme Court has to say, but it's unlikely to change how pet owners feel about their best friends. Related Resources: A migrant youth wakes up early to bake and sell pandesal at the Caltex-Pugad Manna from Heaven training bakery at the Don Bosco parish grounds in Makati City. Self-value, empowerment, a chance to fulfill dreams, and most of all, an opportunity to give back to others. These are what the migrant youths gain, and what some have achieved at the Caltex-Pugad Foundation training centers. Founded in 1987, the Parish Urchins at Don Bosco (PUGAD) is a drop-in center for street children and migrant youth. Its apostolate is to rehabilitate street children, prevent them from returning to the vagrant life, and eventually reunite them with their families. The center also offers skills training to migrant out-of-work youth, aged between 18 22 years old. A donation of a professional bakers oven to the center and seed money for a skills training program from Chevron Philippines in 2003 evolved to become one of the most sustainable skills training program ever established by the partnership between the energy company and the NGO. From the popular Pugad pandesal, the training bakery had quickly expanded its output to various pastries like its bestselling malunggay or ashitaba cookies, carrot pandesal, and pan de coco. These are baked and sold at the Manna from Heaven bakeshop, a project spin off, located at the Don Bosco parish grounds by underprivileged migrant youths of Pugad, who at the same time, are taking up vocational courses at Don Bosco Technical Institute (DBTI). Spreading Wings One of the proud products of the training is Ricky Madiw, originally an out-of-school youth from the Ifugao province who found a refuge in the Pugad as one of the bakers. Madiw, now 25 years old and a qualified holder of NC2, a national certification for technical-vocational and livelihood skills for completing culinary training from the Technical Education and Skills Development Academy (TESDA), is set to do unto others what he gained: teach other migrant youths employable skills such as baking and cooking. He at the same time inspires other migrant youths, and has an assistant now named David Francis Bacuta, who has expressed his desire of becoming a baker and follow the footsteps of Madiw. My life changed when I entered the Caltex-Don Bosco Pugad training programs. From being a migrant youth, I learned to feel that I could be a contributor to society and have a bright future to look forward to. While I was at the Manna from Heaven, I learned to love baking and thought baking might really be destined for me. Now that I have a chance to impart to others what I know, I didnt have to think twice and decided Ill teach here to give back, shared Madiw. Fr. Dave Buenaventura, executive director of the Don Bosco Pugad Center of Makati, was the one who offered Madiw the opportunity to teach. Fr. Dave shares, There is nothing more rewarding than knowing that we have helped transform the life of a former migrant youth who would possibly have faced child labor, abuse or poverty, to someone who has all the opportunities to succeed in life instead. A great example is Ricky, who wants to selflessly give back to his fellow beneficiaries. His desire to share what he has learned and achieved will forever serve as inspiration to everyone here at Pugad. The Caltex-Pugad training bakery is only one of three livelihood projects that Chevron has established under the Caltex Energy for Learning program. Coffee & Saints, a training cafe located immediately outside the Don Bosco parish church is also run by Pugad boys who have graduated from the bakery and are learning restaurant management and waiter service. The third project, the Mobile Mechanics (MM), is a call-a-mechanic service that can accommodate clients from the nearby Makati villages and central business district. MM is run by Pugad youths who have completed automotive mechanic courses at DBTI and also offers car wash and vehicle maintenance services at the parish grounds. Back to top Meritorious promotions are platforms which allow commanders to entrust the most qualified Marines with more responsibility, resulting in a more efficient, well-trained fighting force. Giving Marines an opportunity to excel results in more Marines excelling, said Sgt. Maj. David A. Wilson, I MEF Headquarters Group sergeant major. When there is incentive to excel, you are creating an environment in which youre going to have Marines striving to be their very best. Meritorious promotions do more than to honor those who go above and beyond what is expected of them as Marines, they allow the Corps to expedite the promotion process for qualified Marines putting them in positions where they can best serve, noted Wilson. One of the newly promoted Marines, Staff Sgt. Kurtis Carpenter, said Marines shouldnt solely strive to be recommended for meritorious promotion, rather, they should consistently strive to become better Marines, and eventually they will be rewarded for their dedication. Being surrounded by all these talented and hard-working Marines was a very humbling experience for me, said Carpenter, an armorer with 1st Intelligence Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group and a native of Louisa, Virginia. The experience reinvigorated me and reminded me what being a Marine all is about. I joined the Marine Corps because I knew they were the best. I still believe that, and I still believe that Marine Corps is an organization that remains great because of the people in it. Meritorious promotions have proven effective in highlighting, motivating, and retaining capable men and women within its ranks. In the Marine Corps, with all that is at stake, losing years of service from talented Marines who are ready for advanced positions earlier on, is something that we are not willing to accept, said Wilson. More Media IMF Survey : How to Achieve Durable Development Despite Hard Times Resilient and inclusive growth remains key to development of low-income countries Infrastructure gaps must be closed, while maintaining debt sustainability Countries should tap both domestic and external resources to sustain growth Low-income developing countries need to diversify their economies, promote inclusion, and close infrastructure gaps by tapping both domestic resources and foreign funding to sustain growth. Conference on Low-Income Developing Countries This was the main lesson of the conference Sustainable Economic Development in a Challenging Global Environment on low-income developing countries organized as part of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. on April 14. The global environment is clearly causing some real difficulties in low-income and developing countries. This is partly due to lower commodity prices, which have been declining for more than a year and a half. For countries which are reliant on the extraction of resources, this is a major problem, said IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde in her opening remarks, adding that low commodity prices are here to stay. She also noted the economic slowdown of Chinaa significant client of and direct investor in many low-income and developing countriescreated further difficulties. A weaker external environment and tighter financing conditions are exacerbated by longer-term mega trends in climate change, demographic changes and technology, IMF Deputy Managing Director Min Zhu remarked. DMD Min Zhu (photo: IMF) Resilient growth remains the key to the sustainable development of low-income countries, according to Harvard University Professor Lant Pritchett. Such growth is still lacking in many developing countries: severe growth collapse episodes hit low-income and developing countries frequently and with devastating effect. Cumulative losses in growth decelerations in the 90 recent episodes were larger than 20 percent of GDP, Pritchett said. This means 90 Greek tragedies, he said in reference to a 22 percent drop of Greek output between 2008 and 2012. Moral imperative of equality Setting the stage for a debate about how structural or macroeconomic policies could contribute to growth, Harvard University Professor Larry Summers noted that resilient growth must be maintained through rainy day buffers, inclusiveness, public investment, and structural reforms in low-income countries the same way as in advanced economies. MD Christine Lagarde and Professor Larry Summers (photo: IMF) Almost all economic policy errors take the shape of doing today what you wish you had done yesterday, Summers noted. Things are likely to get worse in the next couple of years and the tools available in the last two recessions are not going to be available on the scale they were. Otherwise, the greatest victims will be the worlds poorest countries. Its a moral as well as an economic imperative, he said. Inequality and a lack of resilience, a lack of sustained growth may really be the two sides of the same coin, said Jonathan Ostry, Deputy Director of the IMFs Research Department. When inequality is rampant, all sorts of individuals are excluded from education, credit markets, adequate health, and nutrition. Inequality does not have a single solution, Ostry emphasized. Not doomed to be poor Fighting inequality on a micro level works, as long as help comes in a big enough push, underlined Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, in his presentation of efficient ways to help the poorest. Cash to buy assets, with some training and hand-holding brings results. The poor are able and willing to grab real opportunities, he said, citing positive examples from Indonesia and India. Minister Okonjo-Iweala (photo: IMF) Former Nigerian Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said diversification of economies, a political will to save in good times to be able to tap buffers during bad times, and mobilizing domestic resources were essential to ensure resilient growth in low-income and developing countries. Manufacturing in Nigeria is 9 percent of GDP, which is nothing. If we dont struggle to process the goods that we produce and create jobs for our young people, we cannot build a diversified economy. I dont believe we can have resilience unless we encourage manufacturing, services, and agriculture. Job creation is the best way to fight inequality, she added. The Governor of the Bank of Tanzania, Beno Ndulu, also underlined the need to diversify.In Nigeria, oil accounts for 10 percent of the economy, but 90 percent of exports, and 70 percent of revenues. Thus, what one has to deal with is the current account balance and taxes, and that the rest of economy contributes proportionately to the revenues, he said. Better tax administration, a larger tax base, removal of tax incentives, financial inclusion and increasing transparency and improving governance are essential to better mobilize internal resources, speakers agreed. That, in turn, has to feed into building high quality infrastructure that allows diversification, while keeping an eye on debt sustainability, noted Antoinette Sayeh, Director of the IMFs African Department. Infrastructure development without jeopardizing debt sustainability Africa is hungry for infrastructure, said Cameroonian Minister of Finance, Alamine Ousmane Mey. IMF Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa added that, besides infrastructure, developing countries also have other priority spending needs to achieve their sustainable development goals, such as in health and education. Development areas must be prioritized, bringing in long-term concessional resources to finance the projects in a time when low-income and developing countries sovereign bond issues are no longer feasible due to high risk premiums, Mey added. Indeed, a recent United Nations report put the total investment need at $3.3$4.5 trillion annually. To be able to develop infrastructure without jeopardizing the sustainability of debtand in a global context which will be much less favorable than in the last decadeaffordable sources of external financing should be made available for low-income and developing countries burdened by an overstated perceived risk, argued Oxford Professor Paul Collier. In addition, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries should change regulations on their pension funds, which are not allowed to invest into African infrastructure as an asset class, he said. Convergence with a vengeance While challenges to maintain growth abound, some consider pessimism out of place. One should not forget about the exciting heavy development in Africa in the last 20-25 years, said Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor in the Indian Ministry of Finance. It was what I call unconditional convergence with a vengeance: many emerging countries are catching up, he added. The recent crisis has not changed that narrative fundamentally. In relative terms, the growth decline has not been as dramatic as suggested, he noted, but cautioned about seeking a balanced approach to the inequality agenda so it does not come at the cost of proven policies to enhance growth. California Wildlife Officers Receive States Highest Honor, Medal of Valor Sacramento, California - California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) officers Ryan Stephenson and Timothy Little received awards today at the 2016 Governors State Employee Medal of Valor Award Ceremony in Sacramento. The awards acknowledge state employees for acts of heroism and bravery. Officer Stephenson and Little will both receive the Gold Medal for their Special Acts defined by the program as, an extraordinary act of heroism by a state employee extending far above and beyond the normal call of duty or service performed at great risk to his/her own life in an effort to save human life. Wildlife Officer Ryan Stephenson: On September 12, 2015 approximately 3 p.m., Stephenson was patrolling Lake County when the Valley Fire ignited. The fire had just consumed the small town of Cobb and was now headed toward Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake. Stephenson raced ahead of the inferno to warn people about the fire and help them evacuate so they wouldnt be trapped by the flames. Working door to door, he had evacuated several homes and escorted eight people to safety when one of the residents realized their neighbor had been overlooked. The neighbor, an 88-year-old wheelchair bound woman, was still in her home, lying on the couch, unaware of the approaching fire. Officer Stephenson quickly returned to her street, which was now engulfed in flames, identified the womans house, entered, and found her asleep on her couch. She was unable to get out on her own, so Officer Stephenson carried her in his arms to his patrol truck. As he was getting ready to leave, the woman told him she was worried about her dog. Officer Stephenson then went back into her home and returned to the truck with her dog, driving them all to safety just minutes before her home became engulfed in flames. The fire subsequently destroyed the womans home. Stephensons heroic act saved the life of an elderly woman and her dog. Wildlife Officer Timothy Little: On September 12, 2015 approximately 3 p.m., Little was working as a safety patrol in the town of Cobb as he and other first responders scrambled to evacuate or assist residents during the Valley Fire. As the fire began to consume the small town of Cobb, an emergency call went out about an elderly woman trapped in her home and in need of immediate rescue. Hearing radio calls from other rescue personnel saying they were unable to respond because of fire and debris in the roadway, Little immediately headed toward the womans home. Driving his patrol vehicle through raging flames and burning road hazards, Little found the house and entered the home where he found an elderly woman trapped with her 11-month old granddaughter. Little rescued both the woman and child, getting them out of their home safely just minutes before fire incinerated her home. Shortly afterward, Little learned that another elderly woman was trapped in her house and needed serious medical attention. He also learned that no medical transport crews would be able to make it there in time. He raced to provide aid. After locating the house, he found the woman trapped on the second floor, unable to walk. Little carried her down a flight of stairs to a waiting vehicle and escorted them to the hospital. Little then continued to assist in other searches. Littles heroic acts saved the lives of two women and one infant. Our more than 400 wildlife officers understand and accept their roles as peace officers, caretakers, guardians and public servants, said CDFW Chief of Law Enforcement David Bess. They are well trained and prepared to not only deal with wildlife law enforcement, but general peace officer work and first responder duties. The brave and selfless acts by these officers exemplify the outstanding force of CDFW wildlife officers. Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Issues Consumer Alert Advising Students What to Look Out for when Applying for Student Loans Los Angeles, California - As students prepare to enroll in college this year and take out loans to pay for higher education, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris issued the following tips, encouraging Californians to know all the factsand avoid potentially harmful scamsbefore taking on or paying off substantial student loans. In advance of enrolling in a college or university, students should thoroughly research the types of financial aid they may qualify for and determine which loans, scholarships, grants, or work-study programs would be most beneficial to their personal situation. Student borrowers should be aware of factors that may impact their ability to repay student loans, such as changing the status of student enrollment, future job prospects, the amount of interest accruing on loans, and any loan prepayment penalties. Students should also be cautious of private companies that charge for what would normally be free student loan services. Certain companies may impose fees for assisting with federal student loan consolidation or in submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), without disclosing that such services are actually free. Student borrowers are strongly encouraged to use free student loan resources to avoid being charged unfair and unnecessary fees. Consumers who take on student loans should be sure to make their payments on time. Contact the student loan servicer promptly to discuss options if repayment of loans becomes difficult. Eligible borrowers may be able to lower monthly payments or may be eligible for loan deferment, forbearance, or cancellation. Late payments could adversely affect credit scores and harm future ability to make purchases or qualify for additional credit. What to look out for The Attorney General offers student borrowers the following tips in order to educate themselves and take advantage of resources regarding student loans: Before taking on a student loan, research the types of financial aid that are available and consider ways to lower the cost of higher education programs. To the extent possible, carefully consider job prospects, including salary information, in deciding whether and how to take out student loans. Do not sign a loan document electronically without first reviewing and understanding the terms of the loan agreement. Make sure to understand how much money is being loaned, the interest rate of the loan, and when the loan will need to be repaid. Inquire about the available options if loan payments cannot be made on time (which can come up during periods of unemployment, economic hardship, or enrollment in a graduate program). Be aware of the differences between federal and private student loans. Federal student loans may offer lower, fixed interest rates, while private student loans may have higher, variable interest rates. Additionally, federal student loans generally do not need to be repaid until the student graduates and loan consolidation and income-based or other more flexible repayment plans may be available. In contrast, private student loans may need to be repaid while the student is still in school and may not offer deferment or forbearance options. Be wary of private companies that charge a fee for assisting with filling out and submitting the FAFSA. Such companies are unaffiliated with the government. The U.S. Department of Education provides free assistance with filling out the FAFSA. Beware of companies that charge an application fee and monthly fees for assisting with consolidating federal student loan debt. Consolidating federal student loans is FREE through the Federal Direct Consolidation Program. The loan consolidation process combines several federal student loans into just one loan. Consolidated loans may be eligible for various repayment plans, including income-driven repayment plans. Ask about the student loans grace period and be aware that the grace period may change depending on circumstances. Engaging in active military duty, returning to school, and consolidating loans may alter grace periods. Make sure to stay in contact with student loan servicers to stay informed regarding the repayment time frame. Defaulting on student loans will adversely affect credit and will impede the ability to make purchases down the road. It is important to stay in touch with student loan servicers, especially if there is a difficulty in making timely payments. HELPFUL RESOURCES The U.S. Department of Education provides information on the types of federal aid available to students. The website includes basic eligibility requirements for federal aid. Additionally, the FAFSA4caster assists consumers with calculating the amount of federal student aid for which they are eligible. The U.S. Department of Education offers a comparison of federal student loans and private student loans. The Federal Student Aid website also helps student borrowers learn about federal loan consolidation before applying for consolidation. Students who have questions regarding the loan consolidation process can contact the Loan Consolidation Information Call Center at (800) 557-7392. Finally, the Federal Student Aid website has information on scholarship opportunities that may help students fund their educational goals. What to do if you are the victim of a STUDENT LOAN scam The Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Education investigates education programs and collects complaints regarding fraud or schemes related to the misuse of federal student aid. If you are the victim of a student financial aid scam, please contact the Office of Inspector Generals hotline. The California Department of Justice protects the rights of consumers and collects complaints on student loan scams in order to identify patterns of wrongful activity. To submit a complaint to the California Department of Justice regarding a student loan scam, please use one of the following complaint forms: On Wednesday, former Reuters.com social media editor Matthew Keys received a two year prison sentence for computer hacking. That's a sentence of 24 months, for a website defacement that lasted only 40 minutes, which Keys himself didn't even execute. Earlier today in an unrelated high-profile case, the "affluenza teen" who actually murdered people also got two years in jail. From Sarah Jeong at Vice: Keys, who once worked for Tribune Company-owned Sacramento television station Fox 40, left that job in 2010 and went on to copy and paste login credentials for the Tribune Company's Content Management System (CMS) into a chatroom where members of the hacking collective Anonymous planned out their operations. (Keys still denies all allegations.) An unknown person under the username "sharpie" then went on to log into the CMS and deface a Los Angeles Times article. The article's headline and dek (the subtitle beneath the headline) remained defaced for about forty minutes before an editor noticed and changed it back. In October 2015, a jury found Keys guilty of three counts of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), a conviction that carried with it a maximum sentence of 25 years. A presentence report prepared by the probation office recommended 87 months (about seven years). The US Attorney's Office ended up seeking a lower sentence of five years. Keys's attorneys asked for probation instead, claiming that the defacement did not result in enough loss to the Tribune Company to warrant any prison time. "Former Reuters Journalist Matthew Keys Sentenced to Two Years for Hacking" [motherboard] BREAKING: @MatthewKeysLive has been sentenced to two years in prison. sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) April 13, 2016 Two years for a web defacement lasting 40 minutes. https://t.co/7sQFxm1fpH Edward Snowden (@Snowden) April 13, 2016 Keys is to surrender on June 15, 2016. sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) April 13, 2016 Wait, was the LATimes actually there to argue for a harsh jail sentence? Messed up if so. https://t.co/YGDJmrJUQm Trevor Timm (@trevortimm) April 13, 2016 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices Washington, DC - Secretary of State John Kerry submitted the 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (commonly known as the Human Rights Reports) to the U.S. Congress. The reports, now in their 40th year, document the status of human rights conditions in 199 countries and territories around the world. Mandated by Congress, the Human Rights Reports help inform U.S. foreign policy and congressional allocation of foreign aid and security sector assistance. They also serve as a reference for other governments, international institutions, non-governmental organizations, legal professionals, human rights advocates, scholars, interested citizens, and journalists. The 2015 Reports highlight the intensified global crackdown by an increasing number of states on members of civil society. Government efforts to stifle civil society were achieved through overt or direct means including through harassment, intimidation, detention, and restrictions on their ability to operate; through the implementation of overly broad counterterrorism or national security laws to control the freedom to assemble and to suppress dissent; and through more nuanced yet burdensome bureaucratic procedures such as the passage of NGO legislation that restricts the operating space for human rights organizations. The collective result of these measures has led to the silencing of independent voices, a growing impoverishment of political discourse, and diminishing avenues for peaceful expression and change. The 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are available at State.gov/humanrightsreports and HumanRights.gov/reports. Macedonian President's Decision To Pardon Those Investigated for Government Wrongdoing Washington, DC - The United States is deeply concerned by the announcement by Macedonian President Ivanov to pardon persons subject to investigation in connection with the wiretapping scandal. If implemented, this decision will protect corrupt officials and deny justice to the people of Macedonia. It will also further undermine Macedonian rule of law, the integrity of its judicial institutions, and the credibility of its leaders commitment to the fundamental values of NATO and the European Union. As a friend of Macedonia, the United States strongly urges President Ivanov to reconsider his decision, and to let the Special Prosecutors Officeestablished as part of the Przino Agreementinvestigate serious allegations of government wrongdoing, and to allow the courts to do their jobs. We also encourage the government and parties to continue working on reforms that will strengthen democratic institutions and return Macedonia to a path to credible elections and Euro-Atlantic integration. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken Travel to Japan, the Republic of Korea, Vietnam, and Indonesia Washington, DC - Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Tokyo, Seoul, Hanoi, and Jakarta to participate in the third round of U.S.-Japan-Republic of Korea (ROK) Deputy-level trilateral consultations and discuss a range of regional and global issues with allies and partners in the region, April 17-22. In Tokyo April 17-19, Deputy Secretary Blinken will meet with senior Japanese government officials. He will also engage with students, young entrepreneurs, and scientists to highlight the importance of innovation to both the United States and Japan. In Seoul April 19-20, the Deputy Secretary will meet with ROK Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam and Japan Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki for the third round of Deputy-level trilateral consultations. He will also discuss U.S.-ROK strategic coordination on North Korea policy with ROK Deputy National Security Advisor Cho Tae-yong and meet senior Blue House and Foreign Ministry officials. In Hanoi April 20-21, he will meet with entrepreneurs, members of civil society, students, and senior Vietnamese government officials. He will also give a speech on U.S. policy towards Vietnam and the Asia-Pacific region to students and faculty at Vietnam National University. In Jakarta April 22, Deputy Secretary Blinken will meet with senior Indonesian government officials, civil society leaders, and entrepreneurs. Secretary of State John Kerry's Call with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura Washington, DC - Secretary Kerry spoke with United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura this morning to discuss todays resumption in Geneva of UN-led Syria negotiations. Secretary Kerry reaffirmed strong U.S. support for the talks to focus on political transition in accordance with the 2012 Geneva Communique and UN Security Council resolution 2254. We look to the parties to respond seriously and in a constructive manner. The Secretary expressed our serious concerns about fighting in several areas of Syria. The Secretary also relayed to Special Envoy de Mistura our continued concerns about regime efforts to hinder humanitarian access. We reiterate our call for the regime to fulfill its commitments under the Cessation of Hostilities and allow immediate, unimpeded, and sustained humanitarian access to all Syrians in need. And we look to all parties with influence on the regime, including Russia, to do everything possible to ensure that these commitments are immediately met. Death of Mohammed Zahir al-Sherqat Washington, DC - The United States condemns Daeshs vicious murder this week in Gaziantep, Turkey of television journalist Mohammed Zahir al-Sherqat, who courageously worked to expose Daeshs hypocrisy. We express our heartfelt condolences to the family of Mr. al-Sherqat, who is survived by his wife and young son. This is the latest alarming attack by Daesh on Syrian journalists in Turkey, and we stand ready to support Turkey as it works to bring to justice those responsible for attacks on the media. Freedom of the press, including ensuring that journalists can safely report on the crisis in Syria, remains critical as reporters keep working to expose the truth about this brutal conflict and Daeshs atrocities. As Secretary Kerry said earlier this year, To those who try to intimidate or imprison reporters, we need to stand up and say loud and clear that committing journalism, reporting on the truth, is not a crime. It is a badge of honor. It is a public service. 'We Got Robbed': Pakistani Twitter Had a Meltdown Over 'Controversial' No Ball to Virat Kohli "There's classified, and then there's classified," President Barack Obama recently told Fox News anchor Chris Wallace in response to a question about the now-classified material on Hillary Clinton's private email server from when she was Secretary of State. "There's stuff that is really top-secret Top Secret," Obama continued, "and there's stuff that is being presented to the president or the secretary of state that you might not want on the transom, or going out over the wire, but is basically stuff that you could get in open-source." Freedom of the Press Foundation director Trevor Timm writes that in that Fox interview, President Obama basically admitted what's been obvious for a long time: The information classification system the U.S. government uses is a secrecy sinkhole. From Trevor's Columbia Journalism Review op-ed: What makes Obamas statement so infuriating rather than refreshing is that advocacy groups and news organizations often make the exact argument in court that Obama made on televisionthat material considered classified is actually not that secret at all. Yet time and again theyre met by intringent resistance from the Obama administrations Justice Department. The DOJ has convinced judges to rarely, if ever, even entertain the notion that the government has improperly classified somethingeven when its obvious. And the agency is actively fighting FOIA reform legislation that would give judges more latitude to do just that. The record number of sources and whistleblowers who have been prosecuted under the Espionage Act during the Obama administration have also tried unsuccessfully to make the argument that what they revealed to journalists should have never been classified or wasnt a secret at all. The Justice Department has continually convinced judges this information should be inadmissible and juries should never hear it; lives of whistleblowers have been ruined and sources of reporters languish in jail because of the Justice Department's position. As secrecy expert Steven Aftergood put it this week: Obama failed to grapple with the fact that a bunch of people in his administration have been caught up in a meat-grinder as a result of classification policy. "Obama admits that 'Top Secret' is not always so secret" [CJR] Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Man Booker International Prize has revealed its 2016 shortlist, with 6 books in contention for the Prize, spanning from war-torn Angola to the burgeoning urban centre of Istanbul. The award recognises the finest entries in global fiction, helping to bring acclaim to works and novelists sometimes neglected by the English-centric canon. The Booker Prize Foundation first announced on 7 July 2015 that it would be changing the format of the Prize to recognise fiction in translation as opposed simply to works in a language other than English; the aim being to encourage the publishing of translated works in the hope more readers will be able to access international material. Five of the authors in the list have been nominated here for the first time, with Chinese author Yan Lianke having previously appeared on the list of finalists in 2013; two have previously been nominated for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, Jose Eduardo Agualusa in 2007 and Orhan Pamuk in 1990. Turkish author Pamuk had previously won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006. Joining forces with The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the award will now also celebrate a single work of fiction, as opposed to awarding the Prize every two years for an author's entire body of work. The judging panel will be headed by Boyd Tonkin, senior writer at The Independent, with a further four judges soon to be announced. The overall winner will be announced 16 May, at a formal dinner held at the V&A; the 50,000 prize will then be divided equally between the author and translator of the winning entry. "This exhilarating shortlist will take readers both around the globe and to every frontier of fiction," Tonkin stated. "In first-class translations that showcase that unique and precious art, these six books tell unforgettable stories from China and Angola, Austria and Turkey, Italy and South Korea. In setting, they range from a Mao-era re-education camp and a remote Alpine valley to the modern tumult and transformation of cities such as Naples and Istanbul." "In form, the titles stretch from a delicate mosaic of linked lives in post-colonial Africa to a mesmerising fable of domestic abuse and revolt in booming east Asia. Our selection shows that the finest books in translation extend the boundaries not just of our world - but of the art of fiction itself." The full list can be found below: Jose Eduardo Agualusa's A General Theory of Oblivion (Angola); translated by Daniel Hahn Elena Ferrante's The Story of the Lost Child (Italy); translated by Ann Goldstein Han Kang's The Vegetarian (South Korea); translated by Deborah Smith Yan Lianke's The Four Books (China); translated by Carlos Rojas Orhan Pamuk's A Strangeness in My Mind (Turkey); translated by Ekin Oklap Robert Seethaler's A Whole Life (Austria); translated by Charlotte Collins Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} What you are about to read is a detective story. We have uncovered an ancient writing that is encrypted with a hidden meaning. In the process of decoding it, well take you on a journey into the world of this mysterious text. What the Vatican fearedand Dan Brown only suspectedhas come true. There is now written evidence that Jesus was married to Mary the Magdalene, and that they had children together. More than this, based on the new evidence, we now know what the original Jesus movement looked like and the unexpected role sexuality played in it. We have even unraveled the politics behind the crucifixion, as well as the events and the people that took part in it. Gathering dust in the British Library is a document that takes us into the missing years of Jesus life. Scholars believe that Jesus was born around 5 BC, and that he was crucified around 30AD. But there is a huge gap in his biography. We know absolutely nothing about Jesus from the time he was eight days old (his circumcision, according to Jewish law), until he was in his early thirties. There is one exception. According to the Gospel of Luke (2:412:51), when he was twelve years old, Jesus traveled with his parents to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Thats it. Thats all we have. Otherwise, thirty years of absolute silence. Isnt this incredible? Here is arguably the most influential individual in human history and we know nothing about him until after he starts his ministry (i.e., his public activism) at most three years before his crucifixion. A day in the life of Hollywood Jesus Show all 10 1 /10 A day in the life of Hollywood Jesus A day in the life of Hollywood Jesus A day in the life of Hollywood Jesus A day in the life of Hollywood Jesus A day in the life of Hollywood Jesus A day in the life of Hollywood Jesus A day in the life of Hollywood Jesus A day in the life of Hollywood Jesus A day in the life of Hollywood Jesus A day in the life of Hollywood Jesus A day in the life of Hollywood Jesus But the fact is that we simply have no information about Jesus early yearshis upbringing, friends, schooling, or his interaction with family members. We have no knowledge of Jesus as a young adult. How did he gain access to the writings of the Hebrew Bible? Did the synagogue in Nazareth, a very small hamlet at the time, have scrolls of the Law and the Prophets? Who were his religious teachers? How well versed was he in Hebrew, in addition to the Aramaic that we know he spoke? Did he speak Greek, the lingua franca of the Roman world? Jesus appears on the stage of history suddenly in the late 20s c.e. At this point, the mature Jesus announces the Kingdom of Godthat is, the advent of a qualitative transformation in human history, prophesied by the Hebrew Bible, in which justice will reign upon the earth and the worship of the one true God will be universal. What marriage would be like if we followed the bible But what happened to Jesus before this sudden appearance? According to the document that we uncovered, sometime during this period he became engaged, got married, had sexual relations, and produced children. Before anyone gets his/her theological back up, keep in mind that we are not attacking anyones theology. We are reporting on a text. Theology must follow historical fact and not the other way around. Having said this, for the moment, we are not asserting that our text is historical fact. So far, we are merely stating that the Christian Bible tells us nothing about Jesus early years, and that we have discovered a text that claims that he was married and fathered children. On a purely historical level, this really shouldnt surprise us. Marriage and children were expected of a Jewish man, then and now. If he hadnt been married, that would have caused consternation to his family, possible scandal in the community, and the New Testament certainly would have commented on itif for no other reason than to explain and defend Jesus unusual behavior. But now we have a document that claims that he was indeed married and fathered children. Not only this, our document indicates that for some of his original followers, Jesus marriage was the most important aspect of their theology. This extract was published in The Independent with permission from the authors. 'The Lost Gospel' by Profeessor Barrie Wilson and Simcha Jacobovici is out now via Pegasus America's military forces are dropping "cyber bombs" on Islamic State terrorist groups for the first time, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work told reporters accompanying him on a military flight on Tuesday. The ISIS internet attacks, whatever the particulars really may be, are part of a stepped-up coordinated effort to put increasing pressure on the militant organization. "Those guys are under enormous pressure. Every time we have gone after one of their defended positions over the last six months, we have defeated them. They have left, they have retreated," Work told reporters on a military plane en route to a Colorado air base. He said U.S. and coalition forces were putting pressure on Islamic State from all directions, using every possible military capability, including cyber attacks, to defeat the group. And that's all the detail we have, which isn't much. "U.S. military says using cyber capabilities against Islamic State" [reuters] PHOTO: "Robert Work, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, speaks at a christening ceremony for the autonomous ship "Sea Hunter", developed by DARPA, in Portland, Oregon before its christening ceremony April 7, 2016. REUTERS/Steve Dipaola" Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} I love Tom Cruise. I think hes a fantastic actor and just insanely watchable. If Im four tiny glasses of red wine deep on a long haul flight and ready for a movie, Im going straight for the Cruiser and whatever completely bananas sci-fi/action film hes most recently made. Dont get me wrong, Im not disparaging this current phase of his career. I enjoyed the hell out of Mission: Impossible and still get a kick out of the sequels no matter how much Simon Pegg might try and ruin them. Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow were fun, and if nothing else, these type of Cruise vehicles allow space for one of his best attributes to shine: running really fast and purposefully. Its sad however, that he seems to have given up working on films that deal with the frayed wiring of the human heart. His good run started in 1988 with Rain Man. He had shown a talent for playing arrogant, abrasive characters in Top Gun and Cocktail, but with this film he used bravado to wounding, attritive effect, Charlie Babbitt softening from major asshole to fairly good guy who stands by his brother. Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (1988) Cruise was transformative the following year in Born on the Fourth of July, magnetic in 1996s Jerry Maguire and in 1999 collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on Eyes Wide Shut, a beguiling erotic film that explored the wandering eyes of husbands and wives and a pretty brave choice for Cruise who was married to co-star Nicole Kidman at the time. His apotheosis came the same year with Paul Thomas Andersons Magnolia. Lets bask in that performance for a second: Cruise showed incredible range in this movie, playing an abhorrent motivational speaker with such panache, using movement to convey character just as much, if not more so, than his voice. This macho super confidence and stoicism would be eroded later in the movie in an interview with a probing journalist, then completely demolished during a visit to his fathers deathbed, a scene (above) still put on a pedestal more than 15 years later. Vanilla Sky shortly followed, and while there was a hell of a lot wrong with that movie, it still saw Cruise interested in exploring identity and the fragility of ego. But then, around the time he started saying things like I think psychiatry should be outlawed and became more overtly involved with a certain religious movement, he started phoning it in. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up The Last Samurai, Collateral, Jack Reacher...none of these were terrible movies, but Cruise started choosing films which hoped to do little more than simply entertain. Granted, his Spielberg collabs, Minority Report and War of the Worlds, were entirely solid, but the same applies in terms of tone and ambition. Now, in 2016 and five Mission Impossible films deep, his trajectory shows no sign of altering - his next three movies being a Jack Reacher sequel, a smuggler-turned DEA agent crime thriller (Mena) and The Mummy. A reboot of a goddamn Brendan Fraser action-adventure. Come back, pre-millennium Tom Cruise, we miss you. Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The trick for Cannes festival director Thierry Fremaux is balancing hardcore arthouse movies with films that provide glamour, escapism and red-carpet opportunities for the legions of paparazzi who continue to descend on the worlds most famous film festival. Read more of our Cannes 2016 coverage Opening the festival with yet another Woody Allen film, romantic comedy Cafe Society starring Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg, is a safe if slightly dull choice. Allen is so revered in France that there is little danger of the film (which is not in competition) being savaged by the critics in the same manner as Grace Of Monaco two years ago. It is also a considerable coup for Cannes to have landed Steven Spielbergs The BFG, starring Mark Rylance as Roald Dahls Big Friendly Giant. Huge budget studio movies dont need Cannes. However, Spielbergs relationship with the festival stretches back to the early 1970s (The Sugarland Express won the festivals Best Screenplay award in 1974). Spielberg is a former Cannes jury president and clearly likes coming back. As ever, there are certain films that havent made the cut. Oliver Stones Edward Snowden biopic Snowden was widely tipped as a Cannes contender but either isnt ready or the festival has decided it isnt worth the fuss that showing it would entail. This years press conferences are bound to be lively. Danish maverick Lars Von Trier wont be in attendance, but there are plenty of other outspoken directors who share his ability to put their feet in their mouths. Fresh from his very controversial Rolling Stone article about Mexican drug dealer Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, Sean Penn will be unveiling his new feature, The Last Face, starring Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem. Penn is a very talented filmmaker whose films as a director tend to be in a similar vein to those made by the likes of Bob Rafelson and Hal Ashby in the 1970s. It is just a pity that he hasnt made more of them and gets so sidetracked with other projects. It may be a little late for Dutch director Paul Verhoeven to try to re-invent himself as a feminist nearly 25 years after Basic Instinct but he is in competition with what looks like one of his most intriguing and unusual films. Elle, Verhoevens first film in French, stars Isabelle Huppert as a rape victim who stalks her assailant. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Show all 14 1 /14 The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Julieta Director: Pedro Almodovar Starring: Adriana Ugarte, Emma Suarez What's it about? The Spanish filmmaker's 20th film is based on three short stories from Alice Munro's 2004 book, Runaway which tracks a woman's search for her missing daughter. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 American Honey Director: Andrea Arnold Starring: Sasha Lane, Kate Mara, Shia LaBeouf What's it about? In British filmmaker Andrea Arnold's (Red Road) American road movie - her first film set and filmed outside the UK - a teenage girl who gets caught up in a whirlwind of hard partying as she crosses the Midwest with a band of misfits. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Personal Shopper Director: Olivier Assayas Starring: Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger, Nora von Waldstatten What's it about? Stewart reteams with French filmmaker Assayas following Clouds of Sils Maria for this ghost story set in the fashion underworld of Paris. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 It's Only the End of the World Director: Xavier Dolan Starring: Lea Seydoux, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel What's it about? Xavier Dolan (Mommy) returns with this film based on the play Juste la fin du monde which tells the story of a terminally ill writer who returns home after 12 years to announce his impending death. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Paterson Director: Jim Jarmusch, Starring: Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani What's it about? An original film from Amazon Studios that follows Paterson, a bus driver in the city of Paterson, New Jersey who lives an inhibited life compared to that of his wife, Laura. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 I, Daniel Blake Director: Ken Loach Starring: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Micky McGregor What's it about? Written by Paul Laverty (the man behind Loach's Palme d'Or winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley, the film follows the titular protagonist, a joiner who seeks financial felp from the state following an illness. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Loving Director: Jeff Nichols Starring: Joel Edgerton, Michael Shannon, Marton Csokas What's it about? Jeff Nichols' Midnight Special follow-up tracks an interracial couple based in Virginia sentenced to prison in 1958 for getting married. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The Handmaid Director: Park Chan-wook Starring: Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Kim Tae-ri What's it about? The Oldboy director's latest South Korean film follows an heiress who falls in love with a petty thief. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The Neon Demon Director: Nicolas Winding Refn Starring: Elle Fanning, Jena Malone, Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks What's it about? Winding Refn's third consecutive film to compete for the Palme d'Or, this horror thriller follows an aspiring model who moves to Los Angeles where 'her vitality and youth are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means to get what she has.' The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Cafe Society Director: Woody Allen Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively What's it about? Woody Allen's latest will open the Festival. It is a New York romantic comedy set in the 1930s with a cast including Steve Carell, Parker Posey, Corey Stoll and Judy Davis. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The BFG Director: Steven Spielberg Starring: Mark Rylance, Rebecca Hall, Bill Hader What's it about? Based on the Roald Dahl classic, the story follows a young girl named Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) who befriends a friendly giant. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Money Monster Director: Jodie Foster Starring: George Clooney, Jack O'Connell, Julia Roberts What's it about? A money-oriented live TV show is interrupted when the presenter is taken hostage by a blue-collar worker compelled to turn to violence following his recent financial losses. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The Nice Guys Director: Shane Black Starring: Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe Reason to see: Shane Black (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) and his razor sharp wit return in a comedy set in 70s LA. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Captain Fantastic Director: Matt Ross Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Frank Langella, Kathryn Hahn What's it about? In the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father who devoted his life to raising his six kids with an irreverent education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the 'real' world. Meanwhile, out of competition, Jodie Foster is presenting her thriller Money Monster. The film stars George Clooney as a Wall Street financier and TV personality The wizard of Wall St held hostage by a disgruntled investor (Jack OConnell). Jim Jarmusch actually has two films in the festival. One, Gimme Danger, is a documentary about Iggy Pop, while the other, Paterson, in competition, stars Adam Driver as a blue-collar New Jersey bus driver. Danish provocateur Nicolas Winding Refn is back in Cannes with his latest US feature, Neon Demon, an LA-set horror movie starring Elle Fanning, Jena Malone and Keanu Reeves. The real question about this year's Cannes competition selection is just how many of the movies competing for the Palme D'Or (the festival's main prize) will be turning up at cinemas near you. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up These are very turbulent times for what might loosely be called auteur-driven filmmaking. The Cannes competition represents the very best of such filmmaking. Once the festival is over, though, if a movie isn't in English and doesn't boast stars, it is increasingly shunted to the margins. British cinemas, like those elsewhere, much prefer showing blockbusters. Films that you have to barge and fight your way into in Cannes may not even surface in the UK or will end up being seen not in cinemas but on Netflix and Amazon. The 2016 line up is full of familiar faces. Pedro Almodovar is in competition for the umpteenth time with his new feature Julieta, which he has adapted from short stories by Nobel prize-winner, Alice Munro. Belgiums best known filmmakers the Dardenne brothers are also back, vying for their third Palme DOr with The Unknown Girl, about a doctors quest to discover the identity of woman who died after being refused surgery. Defying the rumours that he was on the verge of retirement, venerable British director Ken Loach returns with I, Daniel Blake, the story of a joiner in his late fifties who needs help from the state for the first time after falling ill. There aren't that many women directors in competition a lack that the festival continually promises to address but never actually does so. British director Andrea Arnold (whose debut feature Red Road was a prize-winner 10 years ago) is back in competition with her first US film, American Honey. This is bound to stir up plenty of media interest if only because it co-stars Shia LaBoeuf and he always trails controversy in his wake. The film is about a teenager from a troubled home who runs away with a sales crew that roams across America, hawking magazine subscriptions. German director Maren Ade is also in competition with her new film Toni Erdmann, about a bizarre father/daughter relationship, and veteran French director Nicole Garcia returns to competition with her latest feature From The Land Of The Moon, a love story set just after the Second World War and starring Marion Cotillard. The Dardennes and Loach are masters of politically engaged, social realist filmmaking. Their movies invariably tug at the consciences of festivalgoers who realise just how superficial and mercenary the rest of Cannes can seem. "Whores everywhere," one of the characters in Irwin Shaw's novel Evening In Byzantium says of the festival. "In the audience, on the screen, on the streets, in the jury room... this is the living and eternal capital of whoredom for two weeks every year. Paradoxically, at least as far as cinephiles are concerned, the festivals competition is actually an oasis one of the few places in which cinema is still regarded as an art and not just as a business. For a few days at least in Cannes every year, the mind-numbing dominance of Hollywood blockbusters is forgotten. Cannes Festival runs 11-22 May. Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Godzilla's coming home. Though Hollywood's 2014 take on the creature, directed by Rogue One's Gareth Edwards, landed both to fair critical acclaim and popular success; the Japanese studio who first created the creature is set for an epic Godzilla reboot this year, following a 12-year-gap since 2004's Godzilla: Final Wars. Studio Toho is launching Godzilla Resurgence, directed by Hideaki Anno, which forms the 31st entry into the Godzilla franchise. It's a film which draws heavily on its cinematic past; bringing back the practical Godzilla, thanks to its suit deftly operated by three people. Yet, the use of digital effects here has managed to elevate the more comical iterations of the past into something genuinely quite menacing. It also happens to be the tallest onscreen Godzilla to date, even surpassing that of the recent American incarnation; ensuring the US' Legendary Pictures will have to seriously up their game if they intend to move forward with their Godzilla-Kong cinematic universe. Godzilla Resurgence hits Japanese cinemas 29 July; there's no word on whether the film will receive a UK release. Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} PJ Harvey memorably recorded The Hope Six Demolition Project as part of a Somerset House art installation last year. Her ninth album is now ready to land, and it takes us much further afield than the small box she created it in. The double Mercury Prize winners latest effort follows four years spent researching and visiting Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington DC with Irish war photographer Seamus Murphy. The result is a characteristically gritty record that skilfully distils the pervading sense of desolation she experienced in places downtrodden by conflict and hardship. Predictably, The Hope Six Demolition Project is unconcerned with mass market appeal, making it a tricky album to navigate and an even harder one to enjoy. Harvey assumes the role of a musical war correspondent, demanding immersion into a challenging theme underscored by powerful lyrical intensity. Unswervingly political, the originality comes from her position as an observer rather than a Dylan-style protester. Her words, here as visceral as fans have come to expect, could at times be mistaken for a Wilfred Owen poem. Produced once more by Flood, who has worked with Harvey since 1995s Bring You My Love, the new record presents detailed snapshots of the horrific aftermath of wars, both physical, as on the raucously rocky The Ministry of Social Affairs, and mentally, on the harrowing, sax-heavy Chain of Keys. Its a tough but important listen in a world plagued by social inequality. Chugging guitar underlines the ever-present sense of disenchantment in ironically bleak opener The Community of Hope, named after a local charity and already controversial with Washington DC citizens angry at being branded zombies living in a drug town shit-hole. By closing refrain Theyre gonna put a Walmart here youre already drowned in lifes pointlessness, and theres still ten more songs to go. The Ministry of Defence hears Harvey apocalyptically conjure intimidating images of sprayed graffiti, broken glass and balanced sticks in human s**t, supported by aggressive guitars, while her disturbingly carefree falsetto on A Line in the Sand jars with its recounting of life working in an aid camp for the displaced. There is a disarmingly upbeat tone at times, notably on midpoint song Near the Memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln, which reflects the morally troubling sight of people lumbering over the grass to squeeze into plastic chairs next to tributes rendered little more than tourist attractions by the ignorant masses. Thundering highlight track The Wheel, about those missing from war zones, reverberates poignant relevance in the midst of the refugee crisis. Medicinals draws on modern day dependence on alcohol as a numbing agent to lifes troubles, rhythmic percussion recreating happier, simpler times of old before a sudden, effective drop in tempo and dynamics brings the listener smashing back down to earth where a wheelchair-bound woman swigs booze from a paper-wrapped bottle. The Orange Monkey morosely continues the theme of buried history while River Anocostia opens and closes with the humming of black spiritual song Wade in the Water, a risky move that stops short of cultural appropriation thanks to Harveys strong retention of her own, unique sound. Closing track Dollar, Dollar sees a beggar boy approach Harvey at some traffic lights, only for her car to pull away leaving him impoverished and helpless in the dust. This one packs a particularly guilty punch with its realistic road noise intro complete with childrens cries, Harveys vocals becoming as haunting as the vanishing dot in her wing mirror. Despondency runs throughThe Hope Six Demolition Project, making for an unsettling ride. Harveys vivid storytelling audibly paints every sigh of it, reflecting the worlds injustices back at us and forcing us to inspect their ugliness. Released Friday 15 April Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} What do you get when you ask a Swedish writer at the forefront of the Nordic noir juggernaut to bring his brand of dark, complexly plotted crime drama to London, with a female British lead? Marcella, starring Anna Friel by The Bridge writer Hans Rosenfeldt, now two episodes into an eight-part run and twisting its way into the public imagination. With this, Rosenfeldt has swapped the sparsly populated, freezing Scandinavian vistas its very often snowing in those shows for Londons sky scrapers, traffic, rain and people, lots of people, and all of them potential stranglers, stabbers or worse. With over six million tuning into the first episode and near to that number watching the second, this original drama for ITV (rather than another remake of a Scandi effort like Sky Atlantics The Tunnel) is proving to be a gripping watch not least because almost anyone could have dunnit. Part of its appeal is the huge roster of characters, not all introduced immediately, instead drip-fed. They come from across Londons diverse social spectrum, from millionaire property developers to illegal immigrants and convicted murderers. Often at first seemingly unconnected, the viewer is slowly reeled into the web. Deep breath now: at the centre is Detective Sergeant Marcella Backland, played by Friel. Shes been out of the Metropolitan Polices murder squad since having her second child over ten years before and she has Unfinished Business. Her last job, attempting to find the Grove Park Killer (USP: suffocating victims with plastic bags sealed with duct tape and tying their limbs with cable ties) went unsolved. When the murderer, or a copycat, appears on the scene, Marcella asks for her old job back. She needs something to get her teeth into as her husband, Jason (Nicholas Pinnock), a lawyer at a construction firm (of which more later) has left her and their two kids are away at boarding school. So that gives us the police procedural element, populated by Marcellas not entirely welcoming colleagues headed up by DI Rav Sangha (Ray Panthaki), DCI Porter (Nina Sosanya) and a potential love interest DI Tim Williamson (Jamie Bamber). Marcella's colleagues on the murder squad: Charlie Covell as DI Alex Dier, Ray Panthaki as DI Ray Sangha, Jack Doolan as DC Mark Travis,Nina Sosanya as DCI Laura Porter (ITV ) (ITV) Over at DGT construction (the haves in this equation, if you will) theres the wealthy Gibson family, led by matriarch Sylvie (Sinead Cusack) who runs the familys property development and construction business. They buy up land all over the city and ruffle feathers as they go. Its a family affair her daughter Grace (Maeve Dermody) - spoiler alert - is in a relationship with Jason and swiftly goes missing very soon after Marcella finds out about her. We also know were supposed to keep any eye on Marcellas chief suspect from 2005, Peter Cullen (a definite have-not), serving out the last days of a prison sentence working in a very creepy bakery. The DGT Construction lot: Nicholas Pinnock as Jason, Sinead Cusack as Sylvie Gibson, Patrick Baladi as Stephen Holmes and Harry Lloyd as Henry Gibson (ITV) Then theres Cara, who on top of working for an internet sex-chat site, is sleeping with and robbing partners through a casual affairs app. Asking for trouble elsewhere is postgraduate student Maddy Stevenson, played by Downton Abbeys Laura Carmichael, who has built up a relationship with Cullen as part of her studies into the Grove Park Killer. Got all that? Probably not, but thats part of Rosenfeldts skill. Its a fiendish puzzle, played by an impressive cast, crafted to keep viewers guessing and it works, mostly. The snippets of their lives we see look and feel like an authentic version of London, albeit with a heightened grisliness: Caras lounging in her red dressing-gown in in her pokey council flat, on her laptop instead of Facebook, shes on a live sex chat; Couple Yann and Matthew stewing over beers in the pub, with oozing corpses the topic of conversation; the couple in the corner shop with bodily fluids dripping through the ceiling near the cornflakes. In the same way that the resund Bridge and the Danish and Swedish landscape almost feel like another character in The Bridge, London looms large here. Friel has gone as far as to call it London noir. In the opening credits you get the glinting points of the city at night, Canary Wharf and The Shard, overshadowing squat council estates. Those scenes give way to Victorian terraces and through it all, the lights of the traffic blur with the rain. I wanted to give the audience the feeling that this story couldnt be set anywhere else but London. Thats not the easiest for a man from Sweden to do, says Rosenfeldt. Luckily he had help. He co-created the show with producer Nicola Larder (The Tunnel) who has said that she wanted to capture the feeling you can get in the city where youre constantly watching your back. They filmed all over Peckham, Brixton, and Islington, Camden and the jumping around the capital helps to capture its diversity. Friel is compelling as a woman in turmoil. In her jumper, shirt and jeans uniform and a khaki parka with an over-sized fur hood, she stalks around applying the same dogged tunnel vision to discovering the identity of her husbands lover as she does to her conviction that Peter Cullen is the man theyre looking for, even if that involves breaking a few of the rules. Shes certainly not just a British version of The Bridges emotionally-stunted lead detective Saga Noren (Sofia Helin). Marcella makes many of her decisions from an emotional standpoint rather than a logical one, says Rosenfeldt. Shes also, rather implausibly, prone to stress-induced periods of rage that she cant recall. So far these have involved smashing her husbands car windscreen, kicking a sanitary bin to pieces in the womens toilets and potentially attacking Grace Gibson (or worse). Larder has said she wanted a woman who has lost everything so is capable of anything. Emotional overload: Marcella after one of her blackouts (ITV) Make no mistake, the crimes are grim and it might make you think twice before going down a dark ally in a city, or even feel slightly nervous going into your own home. Nowheres that dangerous really and it could feel ludicrous if you let it. But let yourself by drawn in by Marcella. When Rosenfeldt gets to the last piece of the puzzle, going on the action so far, the reward will be worth it. Marcella continues on Mondays at 9pm on ITV Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," says Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt actor Tituss Burgess when asked if he felt pressure to improve upon his Emmy-nominated performance for the comedy show's second season, due to hit Netflix on Friday. A fair comment; the former Broadway actor won legions of fans for his performance of Titus Andromedon - the theatrical struggling actor roommate of Ellie Kemper's eponymous Schmidt - when the show debuted in 2015. Following a young woman adjusting to New York City life following her rescue from a doomsday cult, the sitcom was renewed for a third season months before its second premiered. Naturally, Burgess - who played a minor role in Tina Fey's previous comedy series 30 Rock - became a hit with fans who eagerly await the release of the 13 new episodes. The actor attended a Netflix Event in Paris earlier this week where he sat down with The Independent to discuss what viewers can expect from season two. How much of you is there in Titus Andromedon? I think outside of our love of musical theatre, theres very little in common. I register on about a two or a three; hes at a thousand. By the time were done filming episode 13, I cannot wait to put him away; imagine waking up at four o'clock in the morning and filming all of his scenes, right out of the gate. It's like 'Jesus Christ!" But also, I know so many people like him and thats how I created him. Once I understood the world, it was easy. You're quoted as saying that you like working with Netflix for it's a network that doesnt view Titus as "a gimmick." What did you mean by that? I just mean its nice to work with a network - to have a network work with you - in the way theyre not using Titus Andromedon as a Christmas tree decoration; he is the Christmas tree. What's going to be the big talking point of season two? Heres what Ill say: I did not expect "Pinot Noir" to explode so rather than predict, I think Im safest to say it is littered with moments just as enjoyable. Im curious to see what the world will tell me is the big thing. Do you get inundated with bottles of Pinot Noir? Yeah. If I cut my wrists for you, I'll bleed wine. The first season successfully blended the laughs with darker moments. Does season two continue on the same track? It's so bizarre that they were able to take such a dark premise and find the hope - the story of survival - and this season we dont depart from that so much as we go full steam ahead right into it. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Do you have a favourite episode? My favourite episode is probably episode five where its full of songs from the Great American Songbook and the last scene is a duet that I sing with Lillian [Carol Kane]. The song is called "Just Go On" and it has stuck with me as I move through life outside of Kimmy; I love that it perfectly encapsulates what the entire show is about. Do you read what the critics say about the show? No. When I cook at home, most of the people I cook for want to be in the kitchen while I'm cooking. I love nothing more than someone monitoring how much salt I put into something, how much pepper I add - but nothing that you can offer is going to sway how I decide to deliver information to you; youll either receive it or you wont. The critics are not writers - theyre not a part of the creative process, therefore, they should not influence how I go about doing my next bit of work. Did you find there was pressure to be better with the second season? What does that even mean? To be "better?" If it aint broke dont fix it. How does that attitude compare with being a broadway actor? Theres a faster turnaround in commercial theatre and more often than not - shows tank and close quickly. Thats where I learned to stop reading what people say because on some level I have more control on my performance on TV than I do in theatre. The construct is a lot more rigid. I find in TV they are relying on you to construct a performance; in theatre, depending on the director youre working with, theyre busy extracting the performance they want - thats where I learned to put The Times down, doll. How's your working relationship with Ellie Kemper? The first time I met Ellie was my audition. I walked in, we locked eyes and we started laughing. I hadnt met her. I dont know why we started laughing and I dont know what she was laughing at. We couldnt get through our sides because she couldnt get through her lines; she kept messing up. I stopped and said, "What is wrong with you?" But we love each other. She lifts me in a way that is beyond the show - she lifts me in a way that is beyond how Kimmy lifts Titus. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt season 2 is available on Netflix from 15 April Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A team of Danish scientists has discovered an enormous area of Greenland has started melting earlier in the year than ever before. Greenland's ice sheet typically melts when the spring arrives, thawing slightly as temperatures rise, before freezing again in the winter. However, until now the earliest date when more than 10 per cent of the sheet had started melting was 5 May, during the spring of 2010. According to observations and weather models made by the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), almost 12 per cent of the ice sheet had started to thaw out by 11 April, a new record. Recommended Read more February was the warmest month since records began DMI climate scientist Peter Landgren said he was initially incredulous that such a large thaw could have started so early. "We had to check that our models were still working properly," he said. "Fortunately, we could see from the promice.dk stations on the ice sheet that it had been well above melting, even above 10C. This helped to explain the results." Much of the melting has occurred in the lower parts of Greenland, but Robert Fausto, from the Danish Geological Survey, said higher parts of the ice sheet which are further from the ocean and typically colder than other areas also saw "very high temperatures." Paris climate talks in pictures Show all 12 1 /12 Paris climate talks in pictures Paris climate talks in pictures A man is covered with a multi-coloured banner with the message, "Climate" as environmentalists attend a demonstration near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, during the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) that meets in Le Bourget, December 12, 2015 Reuters Paris climate talks in pictures French President Francois Hollande (C) and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (R) applaud after a statement at the COP21 Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, on December 12, 2015. The years-long quest for a universal pact to avert catastrophic climate change neared the finish line today with conference host France announcing that the final draft had been completed in the early hours of the morning. Getty Paris climate talks in pictures US Secretary of State John Kerry (C) speaks with China's Special Representative on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua (R) and officials at the COP21 Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, on December 12, 2015. The years-long quest for a universal pact to avert catastrophic climate change neared the finish line today with conference host France announcing that the final draft had been completed in the early hours of the morning. Getty Paris climate talks in pictures Delegates and members of NGO's read and work on copies of 'The adoption of the Paris agreement' is pictured after the announcement of the final draft by French Foreign Affairs minister Laurent Fabius at the COP21 Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, on December 12, 2015. The years-long quest for a universal pact to avert catastrophic climate change neared the finish line with conference host France announcing that the final draft had been completed in the early hours of the morning Getty Paris climate talks in pictures UN climate chief Christiana Figueres (C) speaks with French President Francois Hollande (L), United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (2ndL) and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (R) after a statement at the COP21 Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, on December 12, 2015. The years-long quest for a universal pact to avert catastrophic climate change neared the finish line today with conference host France announcing that the final draft had been completed in the early hours of the morning Getty Paris climate talks in pictures A Swiss Dominican priest poses with activists dressed as polar bears as activists gather for a demonstration to form a giant red line at the Avenue de la Grande armee boulevard in Paris on December 12, 2015, as a proposed 195-nation accord to curb emissions of the heat-trapping gases that threaten to wreak havoc on Earth's climate system is to be presented at the United Nations conference on climate change COP21 in Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris. Getty Paris climate talks in pictures Activists hold up a giant banner reading 'Climate justice' by association 'ourpowercampaign' during a demonstration near the Arc de Triomphe at the Avenue de la Grande armee boulevard in Paris on December 12, 2015, as a proposed 195-nation accord to curb emissions of the heat-trapping gases that threaten to wreak havoc on Earth's climate system is to be presented at the United Nations conference on climate change COP21 in Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris. Getty Paris climate talks in pictures Representatives of indigenous peoples demonstrate in Paris, France, as the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) continues at Le Bourget, December 12, 2015. Reuters Paris climate talks in pictures Environmentalists demonstrate near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, as the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) continues at Le Bourget, December 12, 2015. Reuters Paris climate talks in pictures Environmentalists demonstrate near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, as the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) continues at Le Bourget, December 12, 2015. Reuters Paris climate talks in pictures Activists form a giant red line during a demonstration on the Avenue de la Grande armee boulevard in Paris on December 12, 2015, as a proposed 195-nation accord to curb emissions of the heat-trapping gases that threaten to wreak havoc on Earth's climate system is to be presented at the United Nations conference on climate change COP21 in Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/Getty Images Paris climate talks in pictures The slogan "No Plan B" is projected on the Eiffel Tower as part of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) in Paris, France, December 11, 2015. Reuters At one temperature-recording station higher above sea level than the peak of Ben Nevis, scientists saw a maximum temperature of 3.1C. This doesn't sound too hot, but Fausto said: "This would be a warm day in July, never mind April." Quoted in a post on DMI's website, climate scientist Martin Stendel explained the unusually early melt is down to a combination of cold air and low pressures on either side of Greenland, which have caused a warm air "cap" to form over the island. Forecasters expect the temperatures to cool again over the rest of the month, although the troubles won't end there. Water from the melted ice will run into the snow and re-freeze, heating up ice under the surface. This will mean that it won't need to get as hot in future for the melt to start again. Numerous hot weather records have been broken in in recent times. February this year was the most unusually hot month since records began, with global temperatures reaching around 1.3C hotter than average. This record was previously broken only the month before, signifying a surprising spike in temperatures in a very short period. With Greenland's all-time temperature records coming close to being broken this month, the country's small population is growing concerned about the future. Aqqaluk Petersen, a resident of Nuuk, Greenland's capital city, told DMI: "Everything is melting." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Microsoft has developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) system capable of analysing and describing pictures automatically. The program, now available to try on the company's website, has been named CaptionBot by the Microsoft Cognitive Services team, and it works surprisingly well. Users can upload any image to CaptionBot and have it return a description in seconds. It manages this by using image and face analysing programs, as well as a language processor which returns descriptions in understandable English. The program isn't entirely spot-on all the time, but it's generally close enough to be impressive. CaptionBot is similar to previous Microsoft AI programs, like 'How Old Do I Look?' and 'What Dog?', both of which used similar technology. Image captioning software is nothing new, but the way Microsoft has made the program public gives everyone a chance to see how it works. CaptionBot should get more accurate over time - users can rate how well it did at captioning pictures on a one-to-five scale, and it will slowly 'learn' to identify different elements as it gets fed more content. A word of warning - Microsoft says it will hold on to all images uploaded to CaptionBot, in order to improve its capabilities in future. However, it insists it won't record any personal information about users. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Scientists have launched the worlds largest project to scan the internal workings of the human body, which could enable doctors in the near future to treat diseases before they actually happen. The brains, hearts, bones, arteries and body fat of some 100,000 volunteers will be scanned to create a massive database as part of the UK Biobank study. It is believed that this completely new window on disease will help researchers identify the early warning signs of a range of conditions such as dementia, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis and arthritis. This would mean that doctors possibly in just 10 to 15 years' time could scan their patients, spot a disease before the patient has noticed any problem and take action to prevent it. Launched on Thursday, the 43m project has been funded by the Government, the Wellcome Trust and the British Heart Foundation. Professor Paul Matthews, of Imperial College London, who chairs the academics who support UK Biobank, spelled out the dramatic effect they hope the research will have on medicine. This imaging is going to help us understand risk factors that could prevent future diseases, just as the discovery of smoking and the link to long cancer has changed the entire prevalence of that disease," he said. We may also find out how to find the earliest changes in disease, discovering markers for disease like Alzheimers years before they ever happen, to allow doctors and clinicians to think about treating people before the disease really starts to express itself. UK Biobank Brain Scans explained And maybe this kind of image, with its detail, can help us find new kinds of treatments, things that have been lying around all the time that we didnt really recognise, like the way aspirin was found to help prevent cancer. Its an exciting time. And Dr Sara Marshall, head of clinical research at the Wellcome Trust, said such a huge amount of images of the human body would "chronicle disease in a way never attempted before". "Each day we're discovering more and more about how genetics and lifestyle play a part in the onset and development of diseases, but this extra piece of the puzzle seeing physical changes even before symptoms develop will give us a completely new perspective on how we can prevent and treat them," she said. The UK Biobank project was set up in 2006 to collect an array of medical data from half a million people in Britain and the body scans will add to that wealth of data. Such scans are prohibitively expensive for use in everyday medicine, but can give a significantly different picture of health than is currently available to doctors. For example, images of the body fat of people who all have the same body mass index of 30 show wide variations in the levels of bad fat around the organs. Researchers plan to develop automated tools to analyse the data from body scans, which Professor Steve Smith, of Oxford University, said should help bring down the amazingly expensive cost to the point when it can be used routinely by the NHS. "In new patients that are being screened 10 to 15 years from now, well be able to hopefully automatically pull out some of these early markers, he said. An initial study of 8,000 people has already been carried out at a purpose-built facility in Stockport, where the UK Biobank is based. More volunteers will be recruited from the south and north of England over the next year. The participants do not receive feedback about their health unless potentially serious abnormalities are spotted during the imaging, Biobank said in a statement. The Government welcomed the launch, saying it put Britain at the forefront of the field. George Freeman, Life Sciences Minister, said: Stunning advances in imaging and informatics are opening up new ways to diagnose, treat and potentially prevent diseases like dementia, heart disease and cancer. Our 20m investment in this the worlds biggest collection of imaging data is helping make the UK a world leader in 21st century life science. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The EU adopted new legislation on data protection on Thursday that could give people more control over their personal information including the right to be forgotten online. The European Unions General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) passed on April 14 in Strasbourg after more than four years of negotiations. It aims to give citizens back control over their data. It also means companies could face huge fines for breaching the new law. Why did the EU want a new law? The regulation is to replace the EU data protection directive which dates from 1995, when the internet was still in its infancy. Recommended Read more The cybercrime map of Britain It intends to protect consumers and improve law for businesses in a digitised word of smart phones, social media, internet banking and global transfers. Under the new law, companies will now have to take the issue of data protection much more seriously while the rights of individuals will be improved in the new digital age. How will companies be held into account? Data protection errors will be far more expensive than before. Companies that do not comply with the strict new requirement will face fines of up to 4 per cent of their global revenue for the previous year, or 20 million (15.8m) depending on which is greater. In the UK, the maximum current penalty stands at about 500,000, according to Steven Lorber, a consultant partner at Lewis Silkin law firm, who specialises in data protection. (Eurobarometer) Businesses will have to appoint a special data protection officer if they are handling significant amount of sensitive data or monitoring the behaviour of many consumers. Under the new legislation firms must keep track of personal data in auditable ways and provide breach notification within 72 hours. The first mistake that organisations made is to assume this is just an IT issue, its not. It is a very significant business risk and needs to be dealt with at senior leadership level, Andrew Rogoyski, vice president of cyber security services at CGI, told the Independent. Mr Rogoyski said that one of the biggest risks facing organisations is reputational damage. "In world where information is the most valuable currency, maintaining customer trust will be key to ensuring business success. Businesses which cant get data protection right will quickly undermine customers trust and lose to the competition," he said. "Now the starting gun has fired, companies have two years to get their handling of personal data into order or they face the possibility of punitive fines and public humiliation. Were already receiving requests from clients to undertake work to assess the impact of the [General Data Protection Regulation] on them, he added. Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty What are my rights? The new rules will essentially give individuals greater control over their personal data. Among other things, you will have the right to: Be forgotten: This means that when an individual will no longer want his data to be processed, provided there are no legitimate reasons for retaining it, he can ask his company to erase it. This extends to internet companies storing our data, so someone could now technically ask Facebook to erase its profile along with all the data that it has gathered while you were using it. Mr Rogoyski said that one of the biggest changes proposed in the new regulation is the the increased transparency of how personal data is being used by organisations. The regulation puts onus on businesses and public bodies to notify users about how their personal information is being collected, stored and shared. "This will have a profound effect on data processors operating in Europe, forcing them to take toucher measures for data protection and controls, including stricter privacy assessments and data management rule," Rogoyski said. Be notified: Companies must notify individuals earlier and in a much more comprehensive manner if they process their data. Switch ones personal data to another service provider: Under the new rules, any person will have the right to data portability to make it easier for individuals to switch their personal data between service provider. For instance, it should allow a user to switch to another email provider without losing contacts or previous emails. It will not only give individuals more control over their data, but also stimulate competition in the digital single market, according to the EUs statement. Who is affected by the new EU data protection rules? Any individual who uses the web, has a social network account or email address. Managers, heads of IT and any other staff responsible for data protection within a company should pay attention. More importantly, the rule applies to all companies conducting business in Europe regardless of where the companies are based. This means a single set of rule will replace the current patchwork of national laws, making clearer both for businesses and consumers. "The approach of the GDPR provides a risk based application of a "one size fits all" set of rules across the EU and recognises the different levels of privacy risk associated with SMEs and large global organisations. Privacy will be catapulted up the list of global organisations enterprise risks, requiring them to re-evaluate take action," said Mark Thompson, privacy lead in KPMG's cyber security practice. For non-EU businesses that trade in the EU, this agreement will require some to re-think some of the activities they carry out in the EU. This makes it much harder to operate certain global services and will require them to truly put an EU lens on the business activities which are undertaken in the EU market," Thompson added. What is the timeframe? The law passed on Thursday 14 April, marking the end of the legislative procedure. The regulation will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the EU Official Journal. Its provisions will be directly applicable in all member states two years. Its clear that by the time the regulation comes into play in 2018, for a number of organisations, there will be a lot of work to do, Thompson said. Looks like the geniuses who run UC Davis never Googled the words "Streisand Effect." After a police officer pepper-sprayed UC Davis students in a widely reported 2011 incident, the California university contracted with SEO consultants for $175,000 (or maybe more) to scrub unfavorable online items about the incident and boost online reputations of both the university and Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. The Sacramento Bee reported on the SEO scandal, and based their story on documents newly released in response to requests filed last month under the California Public Records Act. In January 2013, UC Davis contracted a Maryland firm, Nevins & Associates, for a six-month contract that paid $15,000 a month. Nevins was the first of many "reputation management firms" paid off by the university administrators. And that payment was just the start. The payments were made as the university was trying to boost its image online and were among several contracts issued following the pepper spray incident. Some payments were made in hopes of improving the results computer users obtained when searching for information about the university or Katehi, results that one consultant labeled "venomous rhetoric about UC Davis and the chancellor." Others sought to improve the school's use of social media and to devise a new plan for the UC Davis strategic communications office, which has seen its budget rise substantially since Katehi took the chancellor's post in 2009. Figures released by UC Davis show the strategic communications budget increased from $2.93 million in 2009 to $5.47 million in 2015. "We have worked to ensure that the reputation of the university, which the chancellor leads, is fairly portrayed," said UC Davis spokeswoman Dana Topousis. "We wanted to promote and advance the important teaching, research and public service done by our students, faculty and staff, which is the core mission of our university." Money to pay the consultants came from the communications department budget, Topousis said. "UC Davis spent thousands to scrub pepper spray references from Internet" [Sacramento Bee] For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The 50 biggest US companies have more money stashed offshore than the entire GDP of Spain, Mexico or Australia, collectively keeping about $1.3trn (0.91trn) in territories where the money does not count towards US tax, according to a new report by Oxfam. The revelations come after the European Commission announced plans to make big companies more transparent about where they pay tax. The charity said the Commission's proposals are almost useless for identifying where tax avoidance may be happening. It urged the UK Government to push for stronger rules to ensure that companies pay tax in all countries where they do business. Chart: Statista (Statista) Robbie Silverman, Senior Tax Advisor at Oxfam, said that tax avoidance in the US will have a knock-on effect in countries around the world. The same tricks and tools used by multinational companies to dodge tax in the US are being used to cheat countries across the world out of their fair share of tax revenues, with devastating consequences, he said. Poor countries are particularly hard hit, losing an estimated $100bn a year to corporate tax dodgers. This is enough to provide safe water and sanitation to more than 2.2 billion people, he added. PMQs: 'Unfair' to criticise British-controlled tax havens In its investigation into the US tax system, Oxfam revealed some of the offshore accounting practices of the biggest companies in the US. Fifty companies including Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, Alphabet (Google) and Goldman Sachs keep a total of about $1.3trn in subsidiary companies registered all over the world, Oxfam says. The Independent has contacted the companies named above for comment. Goldman Sachs declined to comment, the others did not respond. The 50 companies are believed to have earned $4trn in profits globally from 2008-2014, but paid only 26.5 per cent of this in tax in the US, below the countrys statutory tax rate of 35 per cent. They rely on an opaque and secretive network of more than 1,600 disclosed subsidiaries in tax havens to stash about $1.3trn offshore, Oxfam said. It added that other offshore subsidiaries may be in use but under the radar of the Securities and Exchange Commission, because of weak reporting requirements. 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Show all 10 1 /10 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Luxembourg There are an estimated 2.5 trillion shares of mutual funds registered in the Grand Duchy, 1 trillion of which cannot be traced to an owner 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands contain 6% of the world's total banking assets, but just 0.000008% of its population 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Isle of Man David Cameron has said the Isle of Man, where there is no corporation, capital gains or inheritance tax, should not be considered a tax haven 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Jersey There are over 3.5 billion assets per square mile on the self-governing Channel Island 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Ireland Ireland made headlines last year when it emerged Apple was registered in the country in order to dodge over 40bn in taxes 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Mauritius The Mauritian government notionally charges corporation tax, but companies can easily make this back through generous tax credits for foreign businesses 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Bermuda Google holds more than 30bn in offshore cash reserves, primarily via Bermuda 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Monaco A popular domicile for super-rich private individuals, Monaco has the most expensive property in the world. 1 million will buy just 225 square feet 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Switzerland Switzerland has such secretive banking laws that it took until the 1990s to secure the release of Nazi cash reserves 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Bahamas David Cameron's father ran an offshore fund which hired Bahamas residents to complete paperwork, thus dodging British tax bills These same 50 companies collectively received $27 in federal aid-like loans, loan guarantees and bailouts for every $1 they paid in federal taxes, amounting to a total of $11.2 trillion, Oxfam said. Charities including Oxfam and Christian Aid have dismissed European Commission proposals to crack down on tax dodging as close to pointless. Christian Aid said new rules would allow dodgy business as usual. Under EC proposals, companies would have to report profits and pay taxes in the EU and certain so-far undisclosed tax havens.While campaigners have lobbied for country-by-country reporting of taxes and profits, the proposed versions is so limited that it would not do the job, charities say. Unless companies have to report on their activities in all the countries where they operate, they could continue to dodge tax on a massive scale, using the places still hidden from view, said Toby Quantrill, Chrisian Aids tax justice expert. An protest by Oxfam outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels earlier this week (Getty) Campaigners have long asked for country-by-country reporting of tax affairs but the latest EC proposals are only a limited version of the rule. A previous tax haven blacklist put together by the European Commission in 2015 was withdrawn after it failed to include key countries like Luxembourg. The latest European Commission proposals come in the wake of a huge data leak from a law firm in Panama that provided evidence of the true scale of offshore banking by the worlds super rich, including many current and former world leaders. Oxfam described the exploitation of tax loopholes as an integral component of the profit-making strategies of many multinational corporations. Tax avoidance comes in many forms. Companies have reported up to $2 trillion of profits as permanently reinvested abroad, meaning it is not accountable for tax in the US. Some of the companies The Independent spoke to said that they still pay high taxes in the countries where the subsidiaries are registered. This practice can help them reduce their US tax bill because companies receive a dollar-for-dollar credit for any amount of tax they pay to other countries. Oxfam, Christian Aid and Action Aid have said that in order to create a fairer tax system, companies must publicly report revenues and taxes, publicly declare any subsidiaries in tax havens and publicly reveal how much money they spend on lobbying politicians. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Generation Rent are doomed to a life in expensive renting as the average house price grows far beyond the average salary, according to the homeless charity Shelter. By 2020, first time buyers will need to earn 64,000 per year to keep up with increasing property prices, or more than twice as much. This is an increase of nearly a fifth on the 52,000 needed for a typical first time buyers mortgage in 2015, the research finds. Recommended Read more House prices in the South East are growing faster than in London On top of the 64,000 to pay each month for their mortgage, they would need a deposit of 46,000 to secure the home with house prices projected to rise to 270,000 over the next four years. The research is based on a projection by Paul Cheshire, a professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics. He said that UK house prices are expected to increase by 23 per cent by 2020. His projections were published in Santanders Property Millionaire: The Growing House divide report. Campbell Robb, Shelters chief executive, said the figure comes as no surprise given that over the last five years the countrys housing shortage has seen house prices rise six time faster than the average wage. Its no wonder people on ordinary incomes are being locked out of a home of their own. With the situation only set to get worse, Generation Rent will be forced to resign themselves to a life unstable private renting, and wave goodbye to their dreams of a home to put down roots in, Robb said. Thousands of people marched through central London in March to protest against the Governments proposed new Housing bill. The Government says the proposals will turn Generation Rent into General Buy but campaigners warn they will make it more difficult for people to get genuinely affordable housing. It doesnt have to be like this.The Government has the power to turn our housing crisis around, but only if they stop with schemes like Starter Homes which only help higher earners, and start investing in homes that people on ordinary incomes can actually afford to live in. A spokesperson for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: The Housing Bill makes sure we make the best use of social housing based on need and income, while reinvesting in building new homes. Furthermore we have set out the biggest, boldest and most ambitious plan for housing in a generation, including 8 billion to deliver over 400,000 affordable homes. Outrageous property deals in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Outrageous property deals in pictures Outrageous property deals in pictures The Park Lane townhouse set to become one of the UK's most expensive student flats at 4,000 a week A town house situated in Park Lane, one of the most affluent places in London, is about to become the capitals most expensive student residence. Most of London students usually live in halls of residence before moving on to house-share. For this reason it is fair to say few will able to afford the 3,540 square foot three-bedroom flat, which is available for 4,000 a week, 16,000 per month or 192,000 per year. Wetherell Outrageous property deals in pictures London's most expensive flat goes on sale at Buckingham Palace near Buckingham Palace priced at 150m A luxury flat in Londons historic Admiralty Arch, which overlooks Buckingham Palace, could sell for up to 150 million. If sold for that price, the 15,000 sq ft apartment will become London's most expensive flat, topping One Hyde Park, a flat which sold for 140 million in 2014.The Grade I listed property boasts 12 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms Outrageous property deals in pictures Little White House inside the US embassy complex in London goes on sale for 2.5m A luxury home inside the US embassy complex has gone on sale for 2.5m. The property is said to be the most protected home in Britain and any visitor is asked to carry an identity card at all times. The complex has patrolling US marines, a 24-hour British police presence, checkpoints, anti-tanks blocks and CCTV.But potential buyers looking for a fortress should not get their hopes up as all the security will disappear once the US embassy moves to a new site in Nine Elms in 2017. The home, located at 4 Blackburnes Mews near Grosvenor Square, dates back to 1732 and owes its nickname to its white facade, grand entrance and sweeping staircase as well as its proximity to the US embassy. It provides nearly 3,000 sq ft of living space and benefits from access to communal gardens. Wetherell Outrageous property deals in pictures First London luxury flats to contain their own private art gallery with prices going from 3.8m up to 7.7m The first private luxury apartment building in London with its own private art gallery has been unveiled in March. The Chilterns at 24 Paddington Street contains 44 luxury residences, the majority of which were sold in 2013. It contains a signature restaurant, a 24 hour-hotel style concierge service, a gymnasium and sauna and a private cinema. The new art gallery, with original pictures of the area by David Bailey, is part of the lobby of the building and is one of the most exciting and unique features of the Chilterns, according to Stephen Conway, CEO of Galliard Homes. With prices going from 3.8 million up to 7.7 million for a three bedroom flat, the residence is located between the local shops of Marylebone High Street and Baker Street. Outrageous property deals in pictures Margaret Thatcher's Belgravia home is up for sale for 30m Margaret Thatchers six-floor townhouse in Belgravia is on the market for a cool 30 million. The Grade II listed building on No. 73 Chester Square, one of Londons most prestigious addresses, now boasts a lift, a newly constructed mews house with a roof terrace and a private garage after a three-year refurbishment by Leconfield, a development and construction company. Some features from Thatchers time at the property remain. The layout and design of the formal dining room and interlinking study on the ground floor has been reinstated exactly as the Iron Lady had it during her 22 years at the property, from 1991 until her death in 2013. Outrageous property deals in pictures Tiny London house that is just 10ft wide goes on market for 800,000 A tiny terraced house that measures no more than 10ft wide has gone on the market in south London for a staggering 800,000. The house, generally labelled "unique" by estate agent Foxtons, looks all the more unusual because it is sandwiched between two regular-sized homes. It doesn't even have a proper back door - images of the interior suggested renovators had sought to maximise the property's space by including a folding aperture to the similarly narrow back garden. Outrageous property deals in pictures The Mayfair penthouse that sold for 30 million A Mayfair penthouse on Albemarle Street, one of Mayfair's oldest roads, sold to a mystery buyer for 30 million in December. The 5,845 sq ft, three-bedroom family home is thought to be one of the most expensive properties sold in the capital this year, and comes with an annual service charge of 61,000. supplied by Estate agent Peter Wetherell Outrageous property deals in pictures The dilapidated pre-fab 'shed' sold for nearly 1 million A pre-fabricated bungalow in south-east London has sold at auction for just under 1 million. The 1950s property in Peckham comes with 0.6 acres of land, is in need of renovation and has no fitted bathroom, but still sold for 950,000. A guide price of 590,000 was initially set, but increased rapidly during the bidding. Google Maps Outrageous property deals in pictures The starter home flats that went for a combined 60 million Some 215 affordable starter homes, specifically designed for first time buyers, sold out in just three hours in November, after dozens of aspiring homeowners camped overnight and queued in bad weather to get their hands on the flats. The starter home flats at Trinity Square by Galliard Homes went for a combined 60 million, or an average of 700 per sq ft. Londoners looking for affordable housing did not hesitate to camp out for up to two days to snag a flat, despite the fact that the project will not be complete for another two years. Galliard Outrageous property deals in pictures The longest lateral flat where H.G wells hosted a book club: yours for 3.65m The 2,200 square foot apartment in Chiltern Court in Marylebone was also home to author Arnold Bennett and political cartoonist David Low. Now on the market for 3.65 million through Rokstone agency, the four-bedroom flat has been refurbished into a luxury apartment, providing an exceptional 40 meter window frontage and depth. It claims to be the longest and most outstanding lateral flat - ones that stretch the full width of a building, or sometimes across two buildings - currently for sale in Londons West End. Rokstone Outrageous property deals in pictures Gatti House: the flats with celebrity links and private "pizza" lift that sold for a collective 16.5 million Celebrity links, a famous history and a private pizza lift has helped set a new record for price per square foot for a block of flats in central London. The four flats have sold for a collective 16.5 million at Gatti House on Londons Strand. Gatti House, a magnificent grade II building built in 1867, was sold as four separate apartments priced from 2.95 million to 5.95 million by CBRE Residential and Beauchamp, which has completed the last remaining sale. CBRE Residential and Beauchamp Outrageous property deals in pictures Londons most expensive office A newly refurbished office in the heart of Mayfair measuring 6,000 sq ft was unveiled by Enstar Capital in October. At 500 per sq ft, it is set to be the most expensive commercial fit out ever undertaken in the West End, according to the developer. The workspace on 54 Brooks Mews features gold-plated executive washrooms inspired by Armani-hotel in Italy, timber flooring imported from a 16th century monastery in Tuscany and an Art Deco entrance restored with a new 54 entrance logo replicating Steve Rubells famous studio 54 nightclub logo from the seventies. While the directors floor include a rooftop terrace dressed with loungers and an outside meeting and dining table. Enstar Capital Outrageous property deals in pictures Former garage in Mayfair become worlds most expensive mews house at 24m in Mayfair In September, the worlds most expensive mews house, in Reevews Mews, sold to a Qatari buyer for an eye-watering 24 million. Outrageous property deals in pictures A penthouse where you canoe from your front door, yours for 16.95 million London luxury dockside complex located on Chelsea creek is due for completion by the end of 2016. But its luxury flats are already on sale including this penthouse yours for 16.95 million. Its future residents will be able to slip down the river for a work out on the water at anytime of the day. Outrageous property deals in pictures The only property in London too expensive for the citys super-rich property buyers A 45 bed-room mansion near Hyde Park, previously owned by a Saudi Prince, received a private bid for 280 million. If accepted this would have made the property he most expensive single home ever to be sold in Britain. It was originally listed with an asking price of 300 million more than double the price of the UKs second most expensive home. Other research also found that the future for new buyers in London is gloomy. The average London house price is 10 times the average salary. Only 26 per cent of people aged 20 to 39 expect to own their own home in the city by 2025 the reverse of the situation in 2000, when 60 per cent of people owned their own homes. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has said he will launch legal action against the Daily Mail after it published an article claiming 1.7m donated to his charity had not reached those they were intended for. A Mail report on the Didier Drogba Foundation claims only1 per cent (14,115) of donations made by high-profile people, royals and business people in the UK over five years had gone to good causes. It also claims 439,321 was spent on fundraising parties while the rest of the funds were languishing in bank accounts. The foundation raises money for the development of a hospital, clinics and educating children in the Ivory Coast, in West Africa. Celebrity backers of the foundation include Princess Beatrice, David Beckham, Bono, Frank Lampard and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. The Mail claims that out of up to five clinics scheduled to be built, only one has been constructed and has no staff or medical equipment. The foundation is now under investigation by the Charity Commission. The commision says it has serious regulatory concerns about a number of compliance issues raised and has contacted the charity seeking an urgent response. People news in pictures Show all 18 1 /18 People news in pictures People news in pictures 7 October 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in an ice hockey match between former NHL stars and officials at the Shayba Arena in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Vladimir Putin spent his 63rd birthday on the ice, playing hockey with NHL stars against Russian officials and tycoons EPA People news in pictures 6 October 2015 German designer Karl Lagerfeld (R) and model Cara Delevingne (C) appear at the end of his Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection for fashion house Chanel at the Grand Palais which is transformed into a Chanel airport during the Fashion Week in Paris, France Reuters People news in pictures 5 October 2015 Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne addresses the Conservative party conference in Manchester. The Chancellor argued that reducing the payments to people in low paid jobs would give them economic security by reducing the Governments spending deficit Getty Images People news in pictures 4 October 2015 Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston takes a moment in the centre of the field with his daughter Frankie Thurston, holding dark-skinned doll, after winning the 2015 NRL Grand Final match between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The image quickly became the talking point of Australias National Rugby League Final and provoked a strong reaction on social media, with many praising Thurston for giving his child a toy that promotes inclusiveness and diversity Getty Images People news in pictures 3 October 2015 Pope Francis gives a thumbs-up as he greets people at the end of an audience to the participants of a meeting organized by the "Food Bank" at the Paul VI audience hall in Vatican Getty Images People news in pictures 2 October 2015 Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne (L) throws an American football as he meets with former American football players Dan Marino (2nd R) and Curtis Martin (not pictured) at 11 Downing Street in London, ahead of the New York Jets playing against the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium on 4 October Getty Images People news in pictures 1 October 2015 An honor guard opens the door as Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a hall to attend a meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia People news in pictures 30 September 2015 Former Mrs America Lisa Christie, who alleges misconduct by Bill Cosby, holds up photos of her younger self during a news conference at the law office of attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Matt Damon has defended himself against claims that he instructed gay actors to remain in the closet. He had said I think youre a better actor the less people know about you and sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether youre straight or gay, people shouldnt know anything about your sexuality but an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show said, I was just trying to say actors are more effective when theyre a mystery. Right? Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Marion Cotillard has said that there is no place for feminism in Hollywood. Speaking to Porter magazine, she saidFilm-making is not about gender/ You cannot ask a president in a festival like Cannes to have, like, five movies directed by women and five by men. For me it doesnt create equality, it creates separation. I mean, I dont qualify myself as a feminist." Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Paul Walkers daughter, Meadow, is suing Porsche over her fathers death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt. The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames. AP People news in pictures 28 September 2015 Robert Mugabe waits to address the United Nations General Assembly. The leader of Zimbabwe reportedly exclaimed 'We are not gay!' as he criticised Western nation's "double standards and attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions and beliefs. In 2013 he described homosexuals as worse than pigs, goats and birds. Reuters People news in pictures 28 September 2015 South African comedian Trevor Noah hosts the first 'Daily Show' since taking over from Jon Stewart as host. Stewart had presented the US satirical news show since 1999 and was described by Noah during the show as a 'Political father' 2015 Getty Images People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Sir Elton John may have received a phone call from the real Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin's spokesman announced he had made contact weeks after the singer was duped by pranksters pretending to be the Russian President. Getty People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was mistakenly declared as the artist who produced the Mona Lisa by Fox News anchor Shepard Smith. It was in fact Leonardo da Vinci. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 A new biography claims Donald Trump expected to be dead by 40 and never marry. The Guardian says the a new book also claims that in 1980, Mr Trump manufactured a fake vice-president of his real estate conglomerate, whom he called John Baron. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 The Dalai Lama has said that Britain's policy towards China is just about 'Money, money, money.' And asked 'Where is morality?' People news in pictures 24 September 2015 Puff Daddy secured the number-one spot on the Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings list, with the publication calculating he made an estimated $60million (39m) between June 2014 and June 2015. David Holdsworth, the chief operating officer at the commission said: In particular, the commission has concerns about the administration of the charity and the oversight provided by trustees, all of whom appear to live abroad, as well as allegations that the charity has provided misleading information to donors and the public. Further, the charity has raised and accumulated significant sums of money that have not yet been spent and further information is required over the plans to spend those funds. All these issues merit further investigation by the commission. In a statement on Instagram, Drogba accused the newspaper of irresponsible journalism which he claimed had jeopardised the lives of thousands of African children. Drogba said all of the foundations work since its launch in 2007 was paid for entirely by his sponsorship earnings and donations, totalling 3.7m (295,000). Projects established by the foundation include a mobile clinic operating in Abidjan, which travels to villages to treat people, a dialysis machine, the Project Against Child Labour scheme, the Heart Schools kits and supporting orphanages. He said the 1.7m raised by UK fundraising would go towards making the foundation clinic fully operational and paying for medical equipment, staff, medicine and running costs. Despite sending legal letters and 67 pages worth of documents advising the Daily Mail that their information was factually incorrect and libellous, they have decided to ignore the facts so I am issuing legal proceedings against them today," his statement reads. They have already caused an untold amount of damage by contacting all of my sponsors, my colleagues and many of my friends who generously helped the foundation with donations, and raise doubts in their mind about whether to continue to support us in the future. I come from a poor family and I had to work hard to get where I am today but this would mean nothing to me if I wasnt ale to give back to my country, my continent, and my community. Despite their claims, there is no fraud, no corruption, no mismanagement, no lies, no impropriety. Their attempts to destroy the work of the foundation will not deter me and will not stop me continuing the work we have begun. A spokesman for the Mail told The Independent: The Daily Mail stands by every word of this important story which was the result of long and painstaking research by our award-winning investigative team and which has prompted an investigation by the Charity Commission. The documents provided to us by the Didier Drogba Foundation failed to address the very serious questions posed by our journalists. Despite numerous requests for a comment on the record, no substantive response was provided. Our article does not make allegations of fraud or corruption. A representative for Drogba declined to comment any further. Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Scientists believe they have discovered a way to keep moths away from woollen clothes make them sexually confused. Pest experts have found a way to replicate the sex pheromone produced when female moths are ready to mate. By combining this sex perfume with electrostatically charged particles, the scent can become stuck to male moths, which confuses them and prevents mating. Male moths fly towards the particle, which is on a small device which looks like a piece of chalk. Parts of the chemical stick to the moth, meaning the male moths instead smell like female moths, one expert, David Cross, told BBC Radio 5 Live. When the male moth flies around smelling like a female moth, the other moths will come out of their home or harbourage and chase that fake female around. When they try to mate with that one then the electrostatically charged particles get stuck to that particular moth as well. The result, said Mr Cross, was a lot of confused moths. By tricking the males into trying to mate with other males, the female moths do not produce the fertilised eggs which hatch the destructive larvae that eat our sweaters. There should be no unintended consequences, clothes moths are in a closed environment, and the pheromone is very specific to that species, said Mr Cross. According to California Universitys state-wide integrated pest management program, female clothes moths lay between 40-50 eggs over a two-week period, which they attach to fabric threads, and they die once this process is complete. Males, on the other hand, continue to reproduce for the remainder of their lives. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Rolf Harris has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of indecent assault and one of sexual assault. The Australian-born artist entered the pleas at London's Southwark Crown Court. The 86-year-old faces seven charges of indecent assault on girls and women spanning four decades and dating back to the early 1970s. Some of the offences were allegedly committed at the BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane in west London. His trial over the allegations was set for 9 January 2017. Press Association Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The UK was one of only six wealthy nations to hit the UN foreign aid target in 2015 as some governments diverted cash to deal with the migration crisis, new figures show. Coming second only to the US in the total amount donated, Britain gave a larger proportion of its wealth in aid than 22 other developed nations, according to the latest survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The news was met with criticism from some Conservatives who said Britain gave "more than our fair share" to inefficient programmes afflicted by fraud. In 2015 the UK donated 13.21 billion in overseas aid, equivalent to 0.71 per cent of the country's gross national income, the OECD figures showed. The UN's target of 0.7 per cent was otherwise only met by the Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden, the latter giving 1.4 per cent of its budget. The US gave 22.47 billion in aid, although it amounted to just 0.17 per cent of its national income. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty On average the 28 countries in the OECD study dedicated 0.3 per cent of their national income to overseas aid last year, totalling 93.02 billion, a rise of 6.9 per cent from 2014. However spending on refugees within host countries more than doubled in real terms, as Europe in particular dealt with its migration crisis. According to the OECD's Development Assistance Committee, an "unprecedented" 1.5 million refugees claimed asylum in member countries in 2015, with more than a million travelling to Europe. Under the committee's rules a country can count certain refugee-related expenses as overseas aid for the first year after a refugee's arrival. In 2015 refugee costs accounted for more than 20 per cent of the aid budgets for Austria, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. In Britain it accounted for 1.1 per cent of the budget. Luxembourg does not count refugee costs as developmental aid. OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria said: "Countries have had to find large sums to cover the costs of an historic refugee crisis in Europe, and most have so far avoided diverting money from development programmes. These efforts must continue. We also welcome that more aid is being provided to the poorest countries." During 2015 overseas aid increased in 22 countries, while Portugal and Australia were singled out for having the steepest declines in their budgets. Mr Gurria said: "Governments must ensure that development aid keeps rising. They also need to develop long-term options for meeting future refugee costs and the integration of refugees in our societies, while ensuring at the same time that ODA (official development assistance) reaches those countries and people that need it the most." However Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg told the Daily Mail: "We are doing more than our fair share in spite of our large deficit, and the high levels of fraud and waste within the overseas aid budget." Tory backbencher James Cleverly criticised the "arbitrary" 0.7 per cent target that so many rich nations had railed to reach. "This shows that on aid spending, like so many other areas, the UK plays by the rules when other countries do not," he told the newspaper. Press Association Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Englands last remaining golden eagle is feared dead after failing to appear in his Lake District home this spring. The bird, known locally as Eddy, has been a resident of Haweswater nature reserve in Cumbria for nearly 15 years and would usually have been sighted by this point in the year, either nest building or attempting to attract a mate. Staff at RSPB Haweswater raised concerns last month when Eddy had still not reappeared following the worst of the winter period. Since the bird is now between 19 and 20 years old, he is believed to have died of natural causes. Lee Schofield, Site Manager at RSPB Haweswater, said: When the eagle didnt appear last month we thought there was a chance he might be hunting in a nearby valley but over the past few weeks weve been gradually losing hope. His disappearance marks the end of an era as he has been an iconic part of the Haweswater landscape for the past 15 years. During this time, thousands of visitors have travelled from across the country hoping to catch a glimpse of him at the Riggindale Eagle Viewpoint. With him gone, the Lake District has become a bit less wild. Golden eagles have lived in areas of the Lake District since the 1950s, with the majority found in the open moorlands and mountains of Scotland. Between 1970 and 1996, 16 young were produced at Haweswater, while a second pair of eagles bred in the Lake District from 1975 to 1983, fledging four chicks. Eddy the English eagle has dominated the Riggindale territory alone since the death of his mate in 2004. In the past, the RSPB has been criticised for not actively striving to find him a new mate and prevent the population of eagles in England from extinction. Speaking to the Independent, Jeff Knot, Head of Nature and Policy at the RSPB explained that no introductions had been made since the areas habitat was no longer in a suitable state to house the birds. At the moment it would be unfair to directly reintroduce any more eagles to Haweswater even if the eagle bonded with a mate, there would be no place for them to breed successfully," he said. Mr Knot said it was unlikely that golden eagles would take up residence again in the near future, although a conservation programme is currently underway to restore some of the Haweswater habitat, encouraging more birds of prey to settle in the area. At the moment the Lake District isnt particularly attractive to golden eagles as there is a shortage of suitable habitat and food," he said. "This is a problem to do with the way the area has been managed it is heavily grazed with lots of grassy areas which is not the idea habitat for these birds. By restoring a range of natural habitats at Haweswater, we hope to see golden eagles in England again in the near future. The conservation programme should lead to an increase in several breeds of wildlife including birds and small mammals, which would provide a sustainable food source for golden eagles. He added that the conclusion was very sad but added that the eagles death was not confirmed as his body has not yet been found. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The UK is turning a blind eye to suffering on its doorstep and needs to accept its moral responsibility to help refugees in Europe, 13 aid agencies have said. In a strong condemnation of the Governments handling of the refugee crisis, Oxfam, the British Refugee Council and David Milibands International Rescue Committee, along with 10 other organisations, said that the failure of the UK and European governments to adequately respond to the arrival of more than a million refugees in Europe had compounded the suffering and contributed to a humanitarian crisis. Britains response to the refugee crisis has focused on supporting Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon the countries hosting the most refugees. A donor conference in February hosted in London led to 7.7bn in aid being pledged to support refugees in the region fleeing the civil war in Syria. But the charities said that such support for refugees in the Middle East was not enough, and that Britain should become a safe haven and take its fair share of refugees already on the move. Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Show all 11 1 /11 Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkey's two million Syrian refugees There are already over 2.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, but their current camps can only hold 200,000 people ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkish citizens protest a new deal, also criticised by human rights activists, which will see refugees who arrived in Greece after March 20 be sent back to Turkey AP Photo/Emre Tazegu Turkey's two million Syrian refugees An estimated 80% of Syrian refugee children already in Turkey are unable to attend school BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Refugee children beg for water near the Turkey-Syria border. Turkey has been accused of illegally deporting asylum-seekers back to Syria BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees In Turkey, no-one from outside Europe is legally recognised as a refugee, meaning the 2016 deportations may not meet international legal standards for protecting vulnerable people BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees A refugee child cries as she is searched by police at the Syria-Turkey border, where 16 refugees (including three children) have been shot dead in the last four months BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Many refugees are living rough on the streets of cities such as Istanbul or Ankara (pictured) ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkish soldiers use water cannon on Syrian refugees BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Syrian refugees shelter from rain in the streets of Istanbul BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees A derelict building housing Syrian refugees in Istanbul Carl Court/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkey houses around half of all the refugees who have currently fled Syria Carl Court/Getty Images Maya Mailer, Oxfams head of humanitarian policy, said: The UK is trying to pretend that this is someone elses problem, and that refugees and migrants could and should be dealt with elsewhere. But people who are desperate will take huge risks to reach safety. The UK needs to accept its moral responsibility to offer a safe haven to the worlds poorest and most vulnerable men, women and children who have been made homeless by war, violence and disasters. Britain has pledged to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020. This will not include refugees already in Europe. However, a number of unaccompanied child refugees on the Continent will be given sanctuary. Italian coastguard saves 2,000 refugees in a single day The charities said the UK should create new safe and legal avenues for refugees to claim asylum in the UK, while contributing more in humanitarian aid to improve conditions for refugees trapped at borders and in transit, particularly in Greece. British Refugee Council chief executive Maurice Wren said: While European leaders demonstrate a collective failure of political leadership and moral courage, people who have escaped war and tyranny are met with barbed wire and tear gas, mums are forced to bathe their infants in dirty puddles, and yet more refugee children drown on Europes shores. European governments, including the UK, must take a long hard look at themselves and ask is this the best they can do? We say that it doesnt have to be this way. Today were presenting a roadmap for change which prioritises saving lives, solidarity and safe passage. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} If I dont go ahead with it, Ill be dead. With those chilling words, a victim of human trafficking explained to a nurse in a British hospital why she could not seek help and had to go ahead with an abortion arranged for her by a criminal gang. The young woman later managed to escape life as a domestic slave in the UK and spoke to researchers carrying out one of the largest ever studies into the health of trafficking survivors. The findings of the report, commissioned by the Department of Health, were stark: nearly 80 per cent of the women were still suffering from post-traumatic stress, severe depression or anxiety an average of 16 months after they were freed. And while 30 per cent of the women were tricked or coerced to work as prostitutes with the remaining 70 per cent used as forced labour or domestic servants a total of 66 per cent had been raped. Of the trafficked men, 40 per cent were still suffering from high levels of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) an average of three months after escaping captivity, researchers from King's College London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found. High levels of mental illness reported by victims of human trafficking in the UK Dr Sian Oram, lead author of a paper about the study published in the American Journal of Public Health, said: Because of the clear evidence that human trafficking has devastating and long-lasting effects on mental health, there is an urgent need for evidence on the effectiveness of psychological therapies and treatments to support this highly vulnerable population. Apart from the sex trade, people are usually trafficked to become servants in people's homes, agricultural or construction workers. Car washes and nail salons are also sometimes staffed by trafficking victims. Dr Cathy Zimmerman, another of the researchers, said they could be forced to work for up to 16 hours a day. "Trafficking for various forms of exploitation is very diverse. It appears to be somewhat prevalent," she said. "I think the public has to give second thoughts to who is providing their services. I know I do when I go to the car wash. "If you stop, you look, you think to consider whether the person providing your services is working in a situation that could be abusive ... that might be something akin to modern slavery, you may want to give a call [to the authorities]." The Home Office estimated that up to 13,000 trafficked people were living in the UK in 2013, while it is estimated that 21 million people worldwide are used as forced labour following trafficking. Victims are usually either forced to go to a different country by criminal gangs or are tricked into thinking they will be able to begin a new life with an ordinary job. The study involved speaking to 150 human-trafficking victims. Seven people who were invited did not take part for medical reasons, including high levels of psychological distress, serious physical illnesses or because they were in the advanced stages of pregnancy. Twenty-one per cent of the men and 24 per cent of the women were still dealing with physical injuries, while 23 per cent of the women and eight per cent of the men reported sexually transmitted infections. High levels of depression, anxiety, or PTSD symptoms were reported by 78 per cent of women and 40 per cent of men. The paper added: Twenty-nine per cent of women reported that they had one or more pregnancies while trafficked; 10 women reported having seen a midwife while trafficked and 12 women reported having had an abortion while trafficked." A report published previously by the researchers included anonymous quotes from several of the victims, who were not identified. The young woman forced to have an abortion was aged 18 to 21 and was simply too frightened of the people forcing her to work as a domestic slave to take up the nurses offer of help. Another woman, aged between 22 and 25, who was trafficked to become a sex worker told of how she had tried to get help for years. "Ive been trying to address a situation with mental health for a prolonged period of time," she said. "My doctor was aware of the fact that I was being made to take drugs, aware of the situation referred me to online [cognitive behavioural therapy] course I finally got the help that I needed when I moved out of the refuge... Id been attempting to, to reach the help that I needed for, I would say over six years, she told the researchers. A woman in her 40s who was trafficked to work as a domestic slave insisted she had recovered but still found recalling her experiences difficult. I dont want to talk about it. It upsets me. I dont like talking about it, or speaking about it, she said. It brings back a lot of memories, but it hurts me to speak about it, but obviously now Im okay." Kate Roberts, head of office at the Human Trafficking Foundation, said the study showed the need to provide greater support for victims. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2022 Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews take part in the traditional Pier Walk along the harbour walls of St Andrews before the start of the new academic year PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2022 The Massed Pipes and Drums parade during the Braemar Highland Gathering at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2022 Number 12 Company Irish Guards at Wellington Barracks, central London, before commencing their first Guard Mount at Buckingham Palace PA What these findings show is that support needs to be for a longer time than what the statutory framework currently provides if we want to help people meaningfully, she said. Certainly we need something longer term than what is in effect a month-and-a-half of safety. A Home Office Spokesperson said: The Government is committed to ensuring that victims of modern slavery and trafficking receive the support they need. Potential victims of modern slavery... have access to specialist tailored support, such as legal advice, accommodation, protection and independent emotional and practical help for a period of at least 45 days, while their case is being considered. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Resistance to antibiotics will become "an even greater threat to mankind than cancer" without global action, Chancellor George Osborne will warn today. The latest evidence suggests 10 million people a year could die globally by 2050, as a result of antibiotics becoming powerless against common infections - more than currently die from cancer, he will say. The Chancellor will tell delegates at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington that there will be an "enormous economic cost" too: by 2050, antimicrobial resistance could reduce global GDP by up to 3.5% - a cumulative cost of 100 trillion US dollars (70 trillion). He will say: "Unless we take global action, antimicrobial resistance will become an even greater threat to mankind than cancer currently is. "It is not just a health problem but an economic one, too. The cost of doing nothing, both in terms of lives lost and money wasted, is too great, and the world needs to come together to agree a common approach. "We have to dramatically shift incentives for pharmaceutical companies and others to create a long-term solution to this problem, with new rewards, funded globally, that support the development of new antibiotics and ensure access to antibiotics in the developing world. Antibiotic-resistant infections spread through Europe Show all 4 1 /4 Antibiotic-resistant infections spread through Europe Antibiotic-resistant infections spread through Europe K. pneumoniaeis one of the toughest super-infections Alamy Antibiotic-resistant infections spread through Europe Amoxicillin, the commonest antibiotic prescribed by GPs Antibiotic-resistant infections spread through Europe Antibiotic resistance cycle Antibiotic-resistant infections spread through Europe Antibiotic-resistant infections in Europe "To achieve a long-term solution we also need better rapid diagnostics that will cut the vast amounts of unnecessary antibiotic use." In 2014 the PM was the first G20 leader to speak out publicly about the magnitude of the threat, and asked the Treasury minister and economist Lord O'Neill to come up with potential solutions to the growing global problem of drug-resistant infections. The UK has implemented two of his initial recommendations: to increase Government funding for early stage research and to help build capabilities in low-income settings to monitor the development and spread of drug resistance. The Chancellor is expected to back a proposal from Lord O'Neill and others to create "market entry rewards" which will pay a large prize to a pharmaceutical company, or set of companies, that get a new antibiotic or diagnostic to market. Lord O'Neill will publish the final recommendations from his review in May. PA University of East London pysch professor Tim Lomas has assembled a list of words referring to emotional states from the world's languages that have no correlate in English. In Towards a positive cross-cultural lexicography: Enriching our emotional landscape through 216 'untranslatable' words pertaining to well-being, published this year The Journal of Positive Psychology, he sets out the hypothesis that familiarizing yourself with these words could "enrich [our] experiences of well-being." Whether or not that turns out to be true, the list is fascinating. Some favorites below, a surprising number of which are the names of well-known products, projects, or titles: * S'apprivoiser (French) (v.): lit, 'to tame', but a mutual process both sides slowly learning to trust the other and eventually accepting each other. * Aware () (Japanese): the bittersweetness of a brief, fading moment of transcendent beauty. * Borrel (Dutch): informal party or revelry. * Brav (German): children who are pleasant, earnest, and well-behaved. * Cafune (Portuguese): tenderly running one's fingers through a loved one's hair. * Coup de foudre (French): lit, a 'lightening bolt', sudden and powerful love at first sight. * Dadirri (Australian Aboriginal): a deep, spiritual act of reflective and respectful listening. * Desenrascanco (Portuguese): to artfully disentangle oneself from a troublesome situation. * Engelengeduld (Dutch): the patience of an angel. * Estrenar (Spanish): to use or wear something for the first time. * Feierabend (German): festive mood at the end of a working day. * Fernweh (German): the 'call of faraway places,' homesickness for the unknown. * Fingerspitzengefuhl (German): 'fingertip feeling,' the ability to act with tact and sensitivity. * Gemutlich (German): cosiness, homeliness. * Gjensynsglede (Norwegian): (noun) The joy of meeting someone you haven't seen in a long time. * Guan xi () (Chinese): building up good social karma. * Janteloven (Norwegian/Danish): a set of rules which discourages individualism in communities. * Jugaad () (Hindi): the ability to 'make do' or 'get by'. * Kintsugi () (Japanese): literally, 'golden joinery' (the art of repairing broken pottery using gold), metaphorically meaning to render our flaws and fault-lines beautiful and strong. * Koi no yokan () (Japanese): the feeling on meeting someone that falling in love will be inevitable. * Koselig (Norwegian): cosy, warm, intimate, enjoyable. * Kvell (Yiddish): to feel pride and joy in someone else's accomplishment. * Mbuki-mvuki (Bantu): to shed clothes to dance uninhibited. * Mono no aware () (Japanese): pathos of understanding the transiency of the world and its beauty. * On () (Japanese): a feeling of moral indebtedness, relating to a favour or blessing given by others. * Peiskos (Norwegian): sitting in front of a crackling fireplace enjoying the warmth. * Pihentagyu (Hungarian): 'with a relaxed brain,' being quick-witted and sharp. * Sabi () (Japanese): aged beauty. * Shemomechama () (Georgian): eating past the point of satiety due to sheer enjoyment. * Sisu (Finnish): extraordinary determination in the face of adversity. * Tieow () (Thai): to roam around in a carefree way. * Tyvsmake (Norwegian) (verb): to taste or eat small pieces of the food when you think nobody is watching, especially when cooking. * Ubuntu (Nguni Bantu): being kind to others on account of one's common humanity. * Yutta-hey (Cherokee): 'it is a good day to die,' leaving life at its zenith, departing in glory. Research: The positive lexicography project [Tim Lomas] (via Christian Science Monitor) (Image: 2002 kenrokuen hanami 0123, Chris Spackman, CC-BY-SA) Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Britain has been reprimanded by the UN over its record on reducing inequality among children, as a report revealed we lag behind some much poorer nations in achieving parity between rich and poor on health and educational outcomes, and warned over the likely impact of future welfare cuts. The Unicef report, Fairness for Children, emphasised the importance of a strong welfare system in reducing inequality and carried a strong suggestion that the Government should reconsider its cuts to benefits. The UK ranked 25th out of 37 wealthy countries covered by the report behind Poland, Romania and Slovenia for its equality levels in childrens reading, maths and science skills at age 15. Britain also saw the biggest difference between rich and poor children for consumption of healthy food such as fruit and vegetables, and it also had one of the largest gaps in levels of physical activity between children from high and low income backgrounds. Lily Caprani, Unicefs deputy executive director for the UK, said the country can and must do better and should be more ambitious for its children. Inequality between children is damaging their lives and aspirations, she said. Taking childrens rights seriously means acting with urgency to make sure no child is left behind. Measures of inequality were based on survey results on health-related activities, and educational achievement data from EU and OECD countries. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2022 Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews take part in the traditional Pier Walk along the harbour walls of St Andrews before the start of the new academic year PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2022 The Massed Pipes and Drums parade during the Braemar Highland Gathering at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2022 Number 12 Company Irish Guards at Wellington Barracks, central London, before commencing their first Guard Mount at Buckingham Palace PA Ms Caprani said the Government should deliver its long-delayed childhood obesity strategy as a matter of urgency. She added that the Government should take more action to reduce income inequality, including protecting social transfers the term the report uses for redistributive government policies like welfare payments. Despite pledging that no new reductions in welfare spending would be announced in this Parliament, the Government is still committed to 3bn in welfare cuts that will affect one million households by 2020. The report has the UK currently among the best performers for reducing income inequality, ranked 7th out of 41 countries. But cuts to working and non-working benefits since 2013 are projected by the Institute for Fiscal Studies to increase child poverty by 50 per cent by 2020. Labours Shadow Welfare and Pensions Secretary, Owen Smith, said that cuts introduced as six different benefits are converted to a single Universal Credit payment, could see the UK fall down the international league table. For anyone who wants our country to be the best place in the world for children to grow up, this report will make depressing reading, he said. Tory cuts introduced this week to Universal Credit will undermine that progress, leaving a working single mother 3,000 a year worse off, while over time resulting in over two million working families losing an average of 1,600 per year, driving up child poverty, he added. Poverty Ends Now interview - London Live Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, said that for growing numbers of children, childhoods are going to be shaped and limited by poverty-producing policies. This report makes clear both the importance of poverty to child wellbeing and the vital role the UK social security system plays in preventing child poverty. But the social security system it's talking about was the one we had in 2013, not the one we'll have by the end of this parliamentWe should be in the business of investing in, not rationing, happy and secure childhoods. Professor Neena Modi, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said that the report presented a worrying picture of child health and wellbeing in the UK. Poverty and inequality impact on the way in which children develop, their future health, happiness and economic prosperity, she said. It is particularly concerning that the UK has the largest difference in levels of healthy eating between children from low and high socio-economic status. Combined with one of the largest gaps in the levels of physical activity, more of our children are at risk of becoming overweight and obese which will have a significant impact on their future health and the health of the nation, she added. She said the childhood obesity strategy should include measures to improve school environments so that they promote exercise and healthy eating. A Government spokesperson said: Were working to eliminate child poverty and improving life chances for children and there are now 300,000 fewer children in poverty. We know theres more we can do and thats why weve introduced the National Living Wage which is increasing the incomes of the lowest paid. All infant pupils can now get free school meals meaning 1.3 million more children get a nutritious free meal at lunchtime, saving families hundreds of pounds. And we continue to spend 80bn a year to provide a safety net for those who need extra support. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Bank of England has issued its starkest warning yet over the consequences of Brexit for the British economy, stating that the country would be likely to face a long period of uncertainty if it left the EU, that would dampen demand and impact on UK assets. Minutes from the latest meeting of the Banks Monetary Policy Committee also state that the looming referendum is already having a dampening effect on the economy, noting that many major capital spending decisions and property transactions were being delayed, pending the outcome of the vote. Its warning, which was roundly criticised by the Leave campaign, came as the former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling, who presided over the UKs response to the 2008 global financial crisis, said that dark clouds were again gathering on our horizon and slammed Brexit campaigners for turning a blind eye to credible warnings of economic disaster. In its minutes, the Bank of England said that a vote to leave the EU would result in an extended period of uncertainty about the economic outlook including about the prospects for export growth. This uncertainty would be likely to push down on demand in the short run(and) have significant implications for asset prices, in particular the exchange rate. In a further warning, the Lloyds Banking Group became the first commercial bank to speak out officially on the referendum, stating that a vote to leave would cause short-term economic uncertainty. However, the Banks statement added that the decision was a matter for the UK electorate and that the long-term impact was unclear because of uncertainty over the UKs future relationship with Europe in the event of Brexit. The trio of economic warnings will be welcomed by the Government, which has made financial stability a key pillar of its argument for backing a Remain vote. Brexit campaigners have branded the approach Project Fear. Conservative MP Philip Davies accused Bank of England governor Mark Carney of diminishing himself with the Banks latest statement. And John Longworth, chairman of the official campaign group Vote Leaves business council, criticised Lloyds for its former support for the UK joining the Euro, 20 years ago. They were wrong then and they are wrong now, he said. What right do multinationals have to lecture us? The EU may work for the handful of large multinational banks that can afford the reams of red tape, but it will be the dynamic SMEs that will benefit if we Vote Leave on 23 June. However, in his speech on the EU, Mr Darling, who chaired the Better Together campaign during the Scottish Referendum, condemned the Brexit camp for failing to explain what form a new deal with the EU would take, branding their campaign Project Fantasy. They cant guarantee trade without tariffs, which would push prices up. They cant guarantee investors wont leave Britain, risking jobs. They cant guarantee our service sector will have free access to Europe, hitting growthThey are offering a fantasy future where we keep all the benefits of being in Europe without being part of the single market, he said. With the official EU campaigning period beginning today economics and security remain the two key battlegrounds. Downing Street, which has argued that remaining in the EU makes Britain safer, welcomed a vote in the European Parliament which will pave the way for the blocs 28 member states to share airline passenger name records data, to assist in the fight against international crime and terrorism. The Prime Ministers spokesperson said: This is something we have been calling for for a long time, particularly in wake of the rise in terror attacks that we have seen. Todays vote shows that Britain can benefit and be safer staying in a reformed EU. Downing Street insisted that were no guarantees that Britain would be able to gain access to the EU-wide data in the event of Brexit. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} One of the main groups fighting for Britain to leave the European Union has been accused of avoiding strict referendum spending rules designed to control the financial fire power of the leave and remain campaigns. In the last few days the Electoral Commission has registered no fewer than seven separate organisations linked to Grassroots Out, the cross party leave campaign backed by the millionaire Ukip donor Aaron Banks, who is also the leading figure behind the Leave.EU campaign. All have the same address as Leave.EU but have been registered as separate campaigning entities under the terms of the Referendum Act. They include Left Go, Labour Go, Student Go, Business Go and Steel Go. There is also a Scotland and a Northern Ireland Go. Recommended Read more Lloyds Bank warns leaving the EU would cause economic uncertainty Opponents have pointed out that by registering all the organisations as separate entities it allows them all to spend up to 700,000 each in the run up to the June referendum. If they were all part of a single organisation they would only be able to spend 700,000 in total compared to around 5 million if they register separately. Yesterday, the Electoral Commission appointed one lead campaign for each side of this crucial referendum vote Remain and Leave, said the Labour Shadow Cabinet minister, Chris Bryant. Just 24 hours later it appears some leave campaigners are getting around spending rules by registering 10 different campaign groups in a clearly coordinated manner. What has the EU ever done for us? Show all 7 1 /7 What has the EU ever done for us? What has the EU ever done for us? 1. It gives you freedom to live, work and retire anywhere in Europe As a member of the EU, UK citizens benefit from freedom of movement across the continent. Considered one of the so-called four pillars of the European Union, this freedom allows all EU citizens to live, work and travel in other member states. What has the EU ever done for us? 2. It sustains millions of jobs A report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, released in October 2015, suggested 3.1 million British jobs were linked to the UKs exports to the EU. What has the EU ever done for us? 3. Your holiday is much easier - and safer Freedom to travel is one of the most exercised benefits of EU membership, with Britons having made 31 million visits to the EU in 2014 alone. But a lot of the benefits of being an EU citizen are either taken for granted or go unnoticed. What has the EU ever done for us? 4. It means you're less likely to get ripped off Consumer protection is a key benefit of the EUs single market, and ensures members of the British public receive equal consumer rights when shopping anywhere in Europe. What has the EU ever done for us? 5. It offers greater protection from terrorists, paedophiles, people traffickers and cyber-crime Another example of a lesser-known advantage of EU membership is the benefit of cross-country coordination and cooperation in the fight against crime. What has the EU ever done for us? 6. Our businesses depend on it According to 71% of all members of the Confederation of British Influence (CBI), and 67 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the EU has had an overall positive impact on their business. What has the EU ever done for us? 7. We have greater influence Robin Niblett, Director of think-tank Chatham House, stated in a report published last year: For a mid-sized country like the UK, which will never again be economically dominant either globally or regionally, and whose diplomatic and military resources are declining in relative terms, being a major player in a strong regional institution can offer a critical lever for international influence. The spending limits come into force on Friday and will continue up until polling day on 23 June. Mr Banks revealed he has already raised over 9 million to fight the referendum campaign. Without a variety of groups to spend the money Leave.EU, which this week failed to be named as the designated campaign group for leave, might struggle to spend the funds already raised. Under the Electoral Commission rules the designated lead campaign group can spend 7 million, registered political parties can spend up to 7 million depending on their share of the vote at the last election while the spending limit for a registered campaigners is 700,000. A spokesperson for the Commission confirmed that multiple groups could be set up under an umbrella organisaition. Provided that the new body is separate and distinct from the organisations that created it, then the body is likely to be treated as a different organisation from the campaigners that created the new body, they said. This may be the case even if members of organisations that created the new body are part of its managing structure. This raises very serious questions about whether they intend to abide by the law, or whether this is a flagrant attempt to breach the spending limits imposed on all other campaigners

Shadow Cabinet minister, Chris Bryant

The Tory Eurosceptic MP Peter Bone, co-founder of the GO Movement, said it was a bit rich for the Remain campaign to accuse the Leave side of trying to con the system, in the same week they have been granted 9.3m of taxpayers money to spend on a propaganda leaflet. The Electoral Commission has criticised the Governments taxpayer funded campaign spending. It has not criticised the conduct of the Leave campaign, he said. Any campaign organisation, whether for Leave or Remain, is entitled to spend 700,000 if they register in the proper way with the Electoral Commission. The GO Movement has sought advice from the Electoral Commission to make sure the organisations under our umbrella campaign strictly within the rules. Unlike the Remain campaign, we will not try to stitch up this vital vote on Britains future. Bob Posner, Director of Party and Election Finance & Legal Counsel at the Electoral Commission said: Today marks one of the most important dates in the referendum timetable for campaigners. Its crucial that anyone who is, or is considering, campaigning is both aware of what the rules are and that they follow them. Weve already been working with those who are campaigning for remain or leave outcomes, to ensure that this is the case and will continue to do so. In a separate move, Mr Banks announced that he was dropping his planned legal challenge to a decision by the Electoral Commission not to make Grassroots Out the official leave campaign. His original decision to seek a judicial review of the decision had caused dismay among Grassroots Out supporters who feared it was likely to be counter-productive and could damage the cause of the leave campaign. Back tracking, Mr Banks said while he believed he could have won the challenge he had decided not to pursue it. What is clear is that if we were to pursue a judicial review, according to legal experts, we would win, he said. But this is a time to take a step back from the matter, and after consulting with leading campaigners on this issue, including Ukip leader Nigel Farage we have decided to show the public how this process was stitched up, but not to pursue the judicial review any further. It is time to turn our collective guns on the real opponents in this campaign: those who are repeatedly trying to scare the British public into thinking that Britain is too small and insignificant to be an independent nation engaged with the whole world, not just one corner of it. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The European Union should consider introducing an EU-wide minimum wage to reduce the incentive for people to immigrate to Britain, Jeremy Corbyn has suggested. The Labour leader today made his first speech of the EU referendum campaign, arguing that there was a strong socialist case for staying in the bloc. But Mr Corbyn accepted that there were concerns about the impact of migration on the UK and said changes to wage laws could help reduce perceived pressures. The Labour leader said an EU-wide minimum wage could be tied to the cost of living in each EU member state, which would provide a level playing field for British workers. I don't think too many [migrants] have come, I think the issue has to be of wages and regulations, he said when asked. There has to be a case for a minimum wage tied to the cost of living across the continent. There is nothing wrong with people wanting to migrate to work around the continent, but there has to be a level playing field on pay and conditions. Such a proposal would likely not see the same cash minimum wage across all countries but instead see the wages match as a proportion of the cost of living. Labour appears to be slowly putting together a policy platform with regards to reforming the European Union. Last year shadow home secretary Andy Burnham suggested that areas that experienced high levels of migration should get extra cash from the EU to help expand services to meet any extra demand. David Cameron, by contrast, has focused on restricting welfare benefits for people who come to work in Britain from other EU member states. Mr Corbyns call comes a day after a report from the Migration Observatory suggested that higher wages was the main reason people from other EU states came to Britain with very little evidence that the welfare system was a pull factor. What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Show all 5 1 /5 What's the European Parliament ever done for us? What's the European Parliament ever done for us? A cap on the amount of hours an employer can make you work The Working Time directive provides legal standards to ensure the health and safety of employees in Europe. Among the many rules are a working week of a maximum 48 hours, including overtime, a daily rest period of 11 hours in every 24, a break if a person works for six hours or more, and one day off in every seven. It also includes provisions for paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year Getty Images What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping the people of Britain to avoid smoking In 2014 MEPs passed the Tobacco Products Directive strengthening existing rules on the manufacture, production and presentation of tobacco products. This includes things like reduced branding, restrictions on products containing flavoured tobacco, health warnings on cigarette packets and provisions for e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping you to make the right choices with your food Thanks to the European Parliament, UK consumers have access to more information than ever about their food and drink. This includes amount of fat, and how much of it is saturated, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and so on. It also includes portion sizes and guideline daily amount information so people can make informed choices about their diet. All facts must be clear and easy to understand What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Two year guarantees and 14-day returns policy for all products Consumers across the EU have access to a number of rights, from things which are potentially very useful, to things which used to be annoying. For example, shoppers in the UK receive a two-year guarantee on all products, and a 14-day period to change their minds and return a purchase, these things are useful www.PeopleImages.com-licence restrictions apply What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Keeping your air nice and fresh (and safe) Believe it or not, although the situation is improving, some areas of the UK have appalling air quality. A report by the Royal College of Physicians released on 23 February says 40,000 deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution in the UK every year. Air pollution is linked to a number of illnesses and conditions, from Asthma to diabetes and dementia. The report estimates the costs to British business and the health service add up to 20 billion every year The report says the eurozone crisis has also led to six countries Poland, Romania, Spain, Italy, Hungary and Portugal accounting for 80 per cent of the increase in EU migrants living in Britain in recent years. Britain will vote in a referendum on whether to remain in the European Union on 23 June this year. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Remaining in the European Union is the best way to protect the environment, the NHS and workers rights, Jeremy Corbyn has said, as he called on Labour voters to back Britains continued membership of the EU. In a long-awaited speech ahead of Junes referendum, the Labour leader admitted he was still critical of Brussels shortcomings but argued that reforming the organisation from within was better than leaving all together. It comes as a new poll found that voters now trust Mr Corbyn more than they do David Cameron on the issue of whether Britain should remain or leave the EU. However the tone of his speech will to do little to assuage pro-Europeans within his party who argue that Mr Corbyn has so far failed to throw the full weight of his leadership behind the remain cause. Recommended Read more Vote Leave designated as official EU referendum Out campaign In particular Mr Corbyn, who campaigned for Britain to leave the EU in the last referendum in the 1970s, made little attempt to hide his continued euroscepticism suggesting the organisation continues to lack democratic accountability. However he argued that despite these concerns he still believes it is better for Britain to remain in the European Union warts and all. Over the years I have continued to be critical of many decisions taken by the EU and I remain critical of its shortcomings, from its lack of democratic accountability to the institutional pressure to deregulate or privatise public services, he said in the speech at Senate House in London. Europe needs to change. But that change can only come from working with our allies in the EU. Its perfectly possible to be critical and still be convinced we need to remain a member. Corbyn and Cameron clash You cannot build a better world unless you engage with the world, build allies and deliver change. The EU, warts and all, has proved itself to be a crucial international framework to do that. Mr Corbyn said some of the faults laid at the EUs door by the left such as the failure to crack down on tax avoidance and the problems with saving the steel industry - are more to do with failures by the Conservative Government rather than an intrinsic problem with Europe. It is sometimes easier to blame the EU, or worse to blame foreigners than to face up to our own problems. At the head of which right now is a Conservative government that is failing the people of Britain, he said. There is nothing remotely patriotic about selling off our country and our national assets to the highest bidder, or in handing control of our economy to City hedge-funds and tax-dodging corporations based in offshore tax havens. What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Show all 5 1 /5 What's the European Parliament ever done for us? What's the European Parliament ever done for us? A cap on the amount of hours an employer can make you work The Working Time directive provides legal standards to ensure the health and safety of employees in Europe. Among the many rules are a working week of a maximum 48 hours, including overtime, a daily rest period of 11 hours in every 24, a break if a person works for six hours or more, and one day off in every seven. It also includes provisions for paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year Getty Images What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping the people of Britain to avoid smoking In 2014 MEPs passed the Tobacco Products Directive strengthening existing rules on the manufacture, production and presentation of tobacco products. This includes things like reduced branding, restrictions on products containing flavoured tobacco, health warnings on cigarette packets and provisions for e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping you to make the right choices with your food Thanks to the European Parliament, UK consumers have access to more information than ever about their food and drink. This includes amount of fat, and how much of it is saturated, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and so on. It also includes portion sizes and guideline daily amount information so people can make informed choices about their diet. All facts must be clear and easy to understand What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Two year guarantees and 14-day returns policy for all products Consumers across the EU have access to a number of rights, from things which are potentially very useful, to things which used to be annoying. For example, shoppers in the UK receive a two-year guarantee on all products, and a 14-day period to change their minds and return a purchase, these things are useful www.PeopleImages.com-licence restrictions apply What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Keeping your air nice and fresh (and safe) Believe it or not, although the situation is improving, some areas of the UK have appalling air quality. A report by the Royal College of Physicians released on 23 February says 40,000 deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution in the UK every year. Air pollution is linked to a number of illnesses and conditions, from Asthma to diabetes and dementia. The report estimates the costs to British business and the health service add up to 20 billion every year There is a strong socialist case for staying in the European Union, just as there are is also a powerful socialist case for reform and progressive change in Europe. That is why we need a Labour government, to stand up at the European level for industries and communities in Britain, to back public enterprise and services, to protect and extend workers rights and to work with our allies to make both Britain and Europe work better for working people. Tellingly, however, in much of the speech Mr Corbyn reiterated the position of the Labour party in favour of EU membership rather individually endorsing that position himself. In one section he said: The Labour party is overwhelmingly for staying in, because we believe the European Union has brought investment, jobs and protection for workers, consumers and the environment, and offers the best chance of meeting the challenges we face in the 21st century. Labour is convinced that a vote to remain is in the best interests of the people of this country. Neither did he make mention of his own change of heart on Europe since 1975 with some in party still believing that privately he is still opposed to Britains membership. But Mr Corbyn said making the EU more socialist from within was better than leaving altogether. There is a strong socialist case for staying in the European Union, he said. Just as there is also a powerful socialist case for reform and progressive change in Europe. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} There will be uproar if the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War is not released within a fortnight, a senior Tory MP has said. David Davis, a former foreign minister and leadership candidate, said not releasing the report before the EU referendum would be inexplicable. Work began on the Iraq Inquiry, informally known as the Chilcot Inquiry after its chair Sir John Chilcot, six years ago. It has however been beset by delays and slow progress. Recommended Read more Chilcot Inquiry to be vetted by spies ahead of summer publication The report is currently being vetted by the security services. Mr Davis is leading a House of Commons debate about delays to the inquiry on Thursday. A lot of the reason its delayed already is haggling over what they can and cant use. If they werent security clearing at that time, I dont quite know what they think they were doing, he said. Theres really no argument for it [vetting] taking any more than two weeks. I think well win the battle. If not, frankly, there will be an uproar. David Davis (Getty) Labour MP Paul Flynn, who opposed the Iraq War, also criticised the delay. We all want to get things settled and to be informed and to know the truth about these events, he said. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The delay is sinful, damaging and wicked. The debate will be a chance to get some answers from the government. In August last year Sir John defended the lengthy Maxwellisation process of the report in which individuals facing criticism are given the opportunity to respond. In October David Cameron wrote to Sir John to ask him to speed up the publication of the report. Sir John said the report should be out in summer 2016. Additional reporting by PA Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Zac Goldsmith posed for a photo with a repellent imam he has previously criticised London mayor rival Sadiq Khan for sharing a platform with. The Conservative London mayoral candidate yesterday described Suliman Gani as one of the most repellent figures in this country. Mr Gani, a cleric from Mr Khans Tooting constituency, has condemned homosexuality and reportedly said women are subservient. However, in the wake of Mr Goldsmith's comments, which were published in an interview in the Evening Standard, Mr Gani posted online a photo of himself standing alongside Mr Goldsmith. Oh no, I just read that Zac apparently calls me 'one of the most repellent figures in this country', Mr Gani said, adding: Dirty politics. In the same interview Mr Goldsmith attacked Mr Khan for giving platform, oxygen and cover to people who are extremists. Mr Khan is well known for actively campaigning against extremism. The Labour candidate said earlier this week he was disappointed by the tone of Mr Goldsmiths campaign. The Tory candidate has been forced to deny his tactics have been racist in using attack lines that seem to highlight Mr Khans Muslim faith. Im sorry he is allowing those running his campaign to lock away the real Zac Goldsmith and put forward this person that I dont recognise, Mr Khan said. Labour candidate Sadiq Khan in Westminster (Getty) Former Labour leader Ed Miliband also made a rare intervention on Wednesday, condemning Mr Goldsmith. [I] thought Zac Goldsmith was better than this gutter [Lynton] Crosby politics and you can tell he doesn't really believe it, he said. A spokesperson for Zac Goldsmiths campaign said: There are a million miles between Khans repeated errors in judgement and Zac getting approached for a photo by a stranger. The London mayoral election takes place on 5 May alongside the London Assembly elections, and on the same day as the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, and some local council elections. Polls give Mr Khan solid lead lead over Mr Goldsmith, with the Labour candidate doing best in inner London and among young people and the Conservative candidate doing best in outer London. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Maam, you need to cover up. These were the words delivered by a North Carolina judge who ordered a woman to leave his courtroom after she appeared before him while breastfeeding her child. For you not to realise that, is absolutely ridiculous," the judge continued. "Step outside, and cover up right now. Stand up, and go. Ms Rhodus said her son, Archer, did not to be covered while he was fed (Stephanie Rhodus) The admonishment of District Court Judge Peter Knight - captured on an audio recording - has triggered anger and an outcry of support for the young woman, Stephanie Rhodus. The incident happened earlier this week when Ms Rhodus appeared before the court in Henderson County, during a child custody relating to one of her other three children. I was shocked, Ms Rhodus later told ABC News. He was so condescending and so aggressive, and I knew that by law I had the right to breastfeed my child there, and I wanted to declare that I had the right to do that there, but I was terrified. Stephanie Rhodus said she was left upset and shocked (ABC News ) (ABC News) Ms Rhodus says her 8-month-old son, Archer, did not like to be covered up when he was being breast-fed. I was terrified. I never expected something like that, she added. It caught me completely off-guard. I couldnt think straight to present my case properly. It was just - I was in shock. The incident has resulted in an outpouring of support for Ms Rhodus. Under North Carolina law, mothers are allowed to breast-feed their children in public. In a statement emailed to the media, the judge, Mr Knight, said that his court routinely accommodated women who were nursing, including while they were waiting for a case to be called in the courtroom. However, when a case is called and a party is participating in a formal hearing before the court, all litigants are expected to respect the same rules of procedure, decorum and dress, he added. That was the case here. If breastfeeding accommodations were needed, those certainly would have been made. Ms Rhodus treatment has resulted in a wave of support for her. Two women have used Facebook to organise a nurse-in for her outside the courtroom next Tuesday. One poster, Rebecca Kepner, wrote: I just read this story to my son and the updated quote from the judge. My son was extremely confused as to why a baby was not allowed to nurse its Mom especially if it was keeping the baby quiet and calm. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Barack Obama will offer his very candid view as a friend that he believes the UK ought to remain as a member of the EU when he visits Britain next week. In perhaps the clearest explanation yet of the USs position on the controversy over whether or not Britain should remain in the community, senior US officials said Mr Obama believed it was up to the citizens of Britain to make the decision. However, they said that Mr Obama believed it was in Britains best interests - and therefore also good for the US - that its close ally remain an integral part of Europe. The Prime Minister has been leading the campaign to remain in the EU (PA) He will offer his view if he is asked his view, Ben Rhodes, Mr Obamas deputy National Security Advisor, told reporters on Thursday. He will make it clear it is a decision for the people of the UK to make, not ours. I am sure he will have plenty of opportunities to be asked this question. He will be very candid as friend that it is important for the UK to remain in the EU. Mr Obama will visit the UK on April 21-24, where he will have lunch with the Queen, before holding a bi-lateral meeting with David Cameron, who is leading the in campaign. The US president will also take part in a so-called town hall with young people, one of a number of events where he might be asked about his views. Mr Rhodes said the US believed that it was in its own interests for Britain to be economically strong and part of a powerful European bloc. The UK is a key partner, he said, saying that the UK had played a unique role around the world. If he is asked his views as a friend, he will offer it, he said. But he will make it clear that it is something for the British people to decide. London Mayor Boris Johnson, who is campaigning for the Out side, has railed against the outrageous and exorbitant hypocrisy of Mr Obama's visit. There is no country in the world that defends its own sovereignty with such hysterical vigilance as the United States of America, Mr Johnson wrote in a Daily Telegraph column last month. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} He rarely settles lawsuits and he hates to apologise for anything. So what was Donald Trump doing on Wednesday inviting his biggest nemesis of the 2016 campaign to his lair atop Trump Tower in Manhattan for an hour-long chit-chat? Good question. His guest was neither Pope Francis nor Vicente Fox, the former President of Mexico, both men with whom he has tangled since he plunged into the race for the White House last summer, or even any of his rivals. This was Megyn Kelly, a mere journalist with a mere cable news channel. Their secret peace summit - for that is what it was - may only be a footnote when the history books on the 2016 presidential races are written. But right now it is creating a hectic burst of buzz. There may even be a sense of disappointment in the air. Is one of the more diverting, if occasionally squirm-inducing, sideshows in an already diverting campaign year suddenly over? It all started on 6 August last year when the then much larger field of Republican candidates travelled to Cleveland, Ohio, for their first televised debate. The narrative ahead of the clash was all about how its host, Fox News, owned by Rupert Murdoch, was set to once again be the arbiter of the Republican nomination scramble. No other network came close to it in terms of its influence on the party and its candidates and its hold on Americas conservatives. But barely had the debate started when things started to go haywire. One of the networks own moderators, Ms Kelly, 45, a one-time trial lawyer who first joined Fox in 2004, fiercely challenged Mr Trump on his reputation for treating women badly. He took deep umbrage and, in interviews afterwards, made clear that he considered himself at war. One post-debate comment set the tone for a barrage Mr Trump has essentially kept up ever since aimed at diminishing Ms Kelly as a journalist and a person. You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her... wherever, he said of Ms Kellys questioning of him. The menstrual insinuation caused an instant media uproar. When Ms Kelly was included as a moderator in another Fox debate in January, Mr Trump refused to participate. The feud, combined with Mr Trumps vaulting to the front of the Republican pack, scrambled the old assumptions about Fox, which is run by an old party hack, Roger Ailes, and the Grand Old Party. Suddenly, it was being led by a person willing to thumb his nose at it. Of course, the Trump phenomenon has been an overall boon for all the US networks and news channels. Mr Trump, meanwhile, knows how to spin controversy into gold. There was nothing like a good blast in Ms Kellys direction on Twitter to get attention on those days when he was feeling bit lonely. For Ms Kelly too, there has been an upside. If speculation has begun about her leaving Fox when her contract expires next year, possibly to go elsewhere or even start her own syndicated show, it is because Mr Trump has truly made her a household name. This has been a war both sides had some reason to stoke and celebrate. But apparently now, its usefulness is over. The request for a truce appears to have come from Fox. Ms Kelly confirmed on her show on Wednesday evening that she had visited Trump HQ on Fifth Avenue. And there was another purpose for the meeting. Fox is planning a special edition of the Kelly show on 23 May with what they hope will be tip-top line up of interview guests and they want one of them to be Mr Trump. We met for about an hour, just the two of us, and had a chance to clear the air, Ms Kelly said. Mr. Trump and I discussed the possibility of an interview, and I hope we will have news to announce on that soon. It emerged that Mr Trump and Mr Ailes also had lunch together. They too talked about getting Mr Trump to appear Ms Kellys May special. Few television events, at least on cable, would attract a larger audience in this election season than a sit-down interview between Mr Trump and Ms Kelly. It is no wonder she wants it. And Fox at this point would be glad indeed to see the awkwardness end between it and the Republican front-runner. It is likely also that come 23 May, the race for the nomination will still be a red-hot story, if, as many now expect, Mr Trumps chances of sewing up the nomination ahead of the convention in Cleveland will depend on what happens on 7 June when California and New Jersey will be among the last batch of states to hold primary elections. We dont know if the one-time reality TV host will acquiesce; doubtless he will keep Mr Ailes and Ms Kelly in suspense for a while yet. But appearing on a different Fox programme, he seemed happy to have downed weapons. Maybe it was time, or maybe she felt it was time, he said of meeting with Ms Kelly. I give her a lot of credit for, you know, doing what she did, because I dont know - that took a certain amount. So lets see what happens, but it was very nice. The penny may finally have dropped with The Donald that among the various tasks ahead of him if he is to capture the Republican nomination before the partys convention in July and avoid a floor fight there which he could easily lose, is to improve his currently dismal standing amongst women. And it will remain paramount if he does seize the nomination and expects to be competitive in the general election, more than likely pitted against Hillary Clinton. Ms Kelly noted that the doormen appeared a bit stunned when she walked into Trump Tower and headed for the 26th floor. Since there is almost no one left in America who has been unaware of her tangles with Mr Trump that is probably the case. But it shouldnt have been a surprise really; both sides know it has been a good war but one that has become a bit too costly. The "super-injunction" (previously) is a weird feature of English and Welsh law through which the very wealthy can hire bulldog lawyers to get judges to pass an order prohibiting any newspaper or journalist from disclosing true facts about them, on pain of jail-time. The latest super-injunction scandal involves a rich couple whose alleged threesome partner came forward to talk about their sex life. Their identities are easily discoverable with a quick search, especially since super-injunctions don't have force in Scotland, so the press there has been naming them freely. It's like a three-course Streisand Effect meal with Streisand Effect for pudding followed by withdrawal to the study for brandy, cigars and Streisand Effect, with a bag of petits-fours and Streisand Effect to take away with you. But though the English and Welsh press is bound by super-injunctions and at great pains not to violate them, the journalists involved don't take them lying down. Instead, they employ a bunch of tells, tricks, winks, nudges and insider jokes to help the reader know who it's all about, and to tee up a court challenge to dismantle the injunction. Popbitch has published a guide to the journalists' super-injunction hanky-code, and enraged the Sith lords of Carter-Ruck, who are the undisputed masters of the super-injunction. In blazing Popbitch style, they proceeded to republish and dismantle the lawyers' threat, while illustrating the best way to deploy fair dealing to quote such a letter without attracting copyright complaints. It's a master class in media literacy and media law, in two posts. Bravo! There are words we expect to see used with certain individuals. Take Bill Clinton. Let's say he had tried to take an injunction out against a British newspaper trying to cover up the Monica Lewinsky story (which, obviously, he didn't). And let's say that injunction was granted, making it illegal for any journalist to publish the story, or explicitly allude to it. How would one go about dropping a hint that Bill Clinton was trying to cover that story up? One way would be to use this technique. Instead of referring to him by one of the commonly expected descriptors ("42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton" / "Commander In Chief, Bill Clinton"/ "ex-Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton") a journalist might ignore his political achievements entirely and instead chose to focus on his saxophone playing. It's a perfectly legitimate and accurate thing to bring up, but a fairly unusual one one that will almost certainly give a reader pause. "Famed horn-blower, Bill Clinton" maybe. Or "Sax-mad Bill Clinton". Nothing that screams "MONICA LEWINSKY GAVE CLINTON A BLOWIE", but enough to tip off those scouting for clues that they're getting warmer. Clearly that's a hypothetical example, but this happens a lot more than you'd realise. In-Jokes And Injunctions [Popbitch] The Letter Of The Law [Popbitch] (via Metafilter) Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A US journalist has been sentenced to two years in prison in California after been convicted of three counts of conspiracy and criminal hacking. Former Reuters journalist Matthew Keys was accused of giving hacking group Anonymous the log-in details of a former Los Angeles Times employee so they could alter the newspapers website. In December 2010, someone using those credentials made changes to a headline and standfirst on the website which were corrected approximately 40 minutes later. Foxaffiliated television station KTXL owned by the same parent company, Tribune Media had previously fired Mr Keys and the US attorney's office has claimed the hack was in retribution for that, the Guardian reported. At the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Mr Keys lawyers asked the judge not to impose a custodial sentence, while the prosecution said he should be sent to prison for five years. Imposing a two-year sentence, US District Judge Kimberly Mueller said: "He arrogated to himself the decision to affect the content of a journalistic publication. "In practical effect, at least with respect to the Los Angeles Times webpage, the effect was relatively modest and did not do much to actually damage the reputation of that publication. But the intent was to wreak further damage which could have had further consequences." The 29-year-old had denied he handed over the log-in details and his lawyers said they would appeal. Following the verdict, Mr Keys tweeted: Were not only going to work to reverse the conviction but try to change this absurd computer law, as best we can. In a post on the Medium blogging site before the hearing, he said: I am innocent, and I did not ask for this fight. Nonetheless, I hope that our combined efforts help bring about positive change to rules and regulations that govern our online conduct." Speaking generally, he added: Nobody should face terrorism charges for passing a Netflix username and password. But under todays law, prosecutors can use their discretion to bring those exact charges against people including journalists whenever they see fit. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Mr Keys himself was convicted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act which dates back to 1984. His defence lawyer Jay Leiderman called it a horse and buggy law in a jet plane society. "It doesn't account for the modern Internet, the punishments do not fit the crime," he said. Mr Keys believes he has been victimised for investigating the work of Anonymous and refusing to co-operate with the FBI when they first contacted him in 2011. A headline and standfirst were changed on an article on the Los Angeles Times website for 40 minutes before being corrected (Getty Images) He said he was offered three plea deals but decided to take the case to trial to because I feel it can have a serious impact on a law that is really broken, Ars Technica reported. "I would hope through this experience, there are people who are out there that look at this and go: You know what, this is bull****," he said. "Its bull*** that the government is invoking national security and terrorism laws and they do it all the time, and theyre doing it here. Wheres the bottom?" Fellow journalists and Anonymous condemned the sentence on Twitter. Mr Keys will be allowed to remain on bail until June and his lawyers are hoping to get his incarceration stayed while they pursue the appeal. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Experts from across the world are attempting to understand whether a mysterious bang heard in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua on Saturday night was caused by a meteorite which broke off from a passing asteroid. Baffled residents of the Central American city told reporters that they heard a loud boom at around 11pm, but did not see anything shoot across the sky. Meanwhile, scientists are uncertain whether the now missing rock disintegrated or shot deep into the ground. "I was sitting on my porch and I saw nothing, then all of a sudden I heard a large blast. We thought it was a bomb because we felt an expansive wave," Jorge Santamaria told reporters. Jose Millan, from the Nicaraguan Institute of Earth Studies (Ineter), said residents of the capital had made a lucky escape as no one was injured. "We need to celebrate the fact that it fell in an area where, thank God, it didn't cause any danger to the population," he said. A committee formed to investigate the incident have confirmed that the noise was caused by a relatively small meteorite that fell from an asteroid passing close to Earth, said Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo. She added that international experts have been called upon to help local scientists understand the situation and its possible links to the "Pitbull" asteroid. Meanwhile, Wilfried Strauch, an adviser to the institute of territorial studies, said it was "very strange that no one reported a streak of light." "We have to ask if anyone has a photo or something," he said. A Nicaraguan soldier checking the crater (AFP PHOTO / PRESIDENCIA) The meteorite left a crater with a radius 39 feet and a depth of 16 feet near Managua's international airport and an air force base, said Humberto Saballos, a volcanologist with the Nicaraguan institute of territorial studies who took part in the investigation. It is yet unclear whether the meteorite disintegrated on impact or became buried, he added. Humberto Garcia, of the astronomy centre at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, said the meteorite could be related to Pitbull. "We have to study it more because it could be ice or rock," he said. Two Nicaraguan soldiers guard the crater (AFP PHOTO / PRESIDENCIA) Meanwhile, British scientist Dr Dan Brown said he agreed that the crater may be linked to the Pitbull, or 2014 RC, asteroid, but said this was not the only solution. The astronomy expert at Nottingham Trent University, said: Although the impact occurred roughly 12 hours before the asteroid passed Earth, that part of the planet was facing in the right direction for it to have been a fragment associated with it. "If it was an unrelated object, however, then it further demonstrates how we don't really monitor all the potentially dangerous rocks out there," he suggested. Echoing the confusion of Nicaraguan residents and experts, he continued: "It certainly makes absolute sense that people surrounding the impact site heard a loud boom - but a flash of light or bright object should also have been observed before that. "Further analysis will hopefully help to establish this and possibly give a better indication of the object's trajectory. It is still to be seen if any material of the meteorite can be recovered. "Both pieces of evidence would make it possible to link it to 2014 RC and help us understand more about asteroids," he said. Additional reporting by AP and Reuters Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Relatives of some of the 26 adults and children killed in the Sandy Hook massacre have been told they can sue the maker of the military assault rifle used in the attack. In a decision that could have huge ramifications in a country where up to 10,000 people a year lose their lives to gun violence, a judge refused a request by the manufacturer of the weapon to dismiss the lawsuit, and instead ruled that it could proceed. Judge Barbara Bellis said the federal law protecting gun makers from lawsuits did not override the legal sufficiency of the claims by the Sandy Hook families that the gun used by Adam Lanza should never have been made available for sale to civilians. A bus traveling from Newtown to Monroe stops in front of 26 angels along the roadside on the first day of classes for Sandy Hook Elementary School students since the Dec. 14, 2012 shooting. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File) She said that all sides in the case should return to court on April 19 for a further update, the Connecticut Times said. The lawsuit was brought by a number of families devastated by the attack on the Connecticut primary school in December 2012. The lawsuit claimed that Remington Outdoor Co, maker of the AR-15 assault weapon, made and sold a military-style weapon without regard for the unreasonable and egregious risk of physical injury to others. The families of 10 victims filed suit against the Remington Arms Company, Camfour Holding LLC, the guns distributor and Riverview Sales, the store where Lanzas mother bought the gun. They claimed the gun maker and sellers knew that civilians are unfit to operate the assault rifle and yet continue selling it to civilians disregarding the threat the gun posed. The lawsuit also alleged that Remington and the other defendants unethically, oppressively, immorally and unscrupulously marketed and promoted the assaultive qualities and military uses of AR-15s to civilian purchasers. In December 2015, Remington, Camfour and the gun store asked Judge Bellis to throw out the lawsuit, claiming they were immune from the families claims under the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. The court concludes that any immunity that PLCAA may provide does not implicate this courts subject matter jurisdiction, Ms Bellis ruled in her 18-page decision. Accordingly, the defendants motions to dismiss, in which they claim that the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction, cannot be granted on the basis of PLCAA. The Sandy Hook Elementary School building where 26 children and adults were killed (AP Photo/Jessica Hill) Lanza killed his mother before launching his assault on the school in the villlage of Newtown, killing 20 children aged between 6 and 7. Six teachers were also killed, before Lanza shot himself in the head. The AR-15 was designed as a military weapon. Born out of the exigencies of combat, the AR-15 was engineered to deliver maximum carnage with extreme efficiency, the lawsuit added. The AR-15 proved to be very good at its job. It has endured as the US Armys standard-issue rifle and has more recently become a valuable law enforcement weapon. The lawsuit said that the weapon has little utility for legitimate civilian use. It says that its size and firepower mean it is a liability for home defence. But there is one civilian activity in which the AR-15 reigns supreme: mass shootings, it added. Time and time again, mentally unstable individuals and criminals have acquired an AR-15 with ease and they have unleashed the rifles lethal power onto our streets, our malls, our places of worship and our schools. Representatives from Remington, the distributor Camfour Inc, and the East Windsor gun shop that sold the rifle to Nancy Lanza had all requested that the lawsuit be thrown out. Nicole Hockley, the mother of six-year-old Sandy Hook victim Dylan Hockley, said earlier this year that gun companies must be held accountable for marketing and selling the AR-15, a killing machine designed only for military use, to violence-prone young men. No lawsuit will ever bring Dylan back to our family, she said. No lawsuit will ever bring back any of the 26 innocent lives that were stolen or bring peace to the families that will never recover from this. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trumps campaign is not to be charged over claims that he manhandled and bruised a female reporter. Palm Beach County state attorney Dave Aronberg said during a news conference on Thursday that he had spoken to reporter Michelle Fields and informed her of the decision not to pursue charges against Corey Lewandowski. Police in Jupiter, Florida, had charged Mr Lewandowski with simple battery, last month. Politico had reported on Wednesday night that prosecutors had decided not to pursue a prosecution. Ms Fields worked for the conservative Breitbart News website at the time of the incident in early March and and was trying to ask Mr Trump a question after one of his campaign appearances. She subsequently tweeted a photograph of bruises on her forearm and said she had been yanked backward. Police brought the charge after a video of the incident was make public. Mr Lewandowski had denied grabbing ms Fields and Mr Trump had stood by him. The prosecutor says he spoke with the Republican presidential candidate about the case, but that it did not have any bearing on the decision. In a statement, Mr Trumps campaign said: Corey Lewandowski is gratified by the decision to drop the misdemeanor charge and appreciates the thoughtful consideration and professionalism by the Palm Beach State Attorney and his staff who carefully reviewed this matter, as well as Mr Trumps loyalty and the support of his colleagues and family during this time. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have made a determined push to win over voters in New York ahead of what could be their most important debate of the primary campaign. Mr Sanders and Ms Clinton are to debate in Brooklyn on Thursday night, four days before the New York primary vote on April 19. An average of polls suggests a 13 point advantage to the former secretary of state, but Mr Sanders is working hard to close the gap. On Wednesday night, he held an impassioned rally in front of almost 30,000 in New Yorks Washington Square park, where he enthused supporters and derided telecommunications giant Verizon as an example of greedy capitalism. Mr Clinton said it was 'good to be back in the Bronx' (AP) I take my hat off to CWA [Communication Workers of America]. They are standing up to a greedy corporation that want to cut their healthcare benefits, send decent paid jobs abroad and then propose $25m a year to their CEO, he said. Verizon is just the poster child for what so many of our corporations are doing today. Ms Clinton took her campaign uptown to the Bronx, a borough long associated with crime and urban decay, but which has undergone something of a transformation. She said it was good to be back in the Bronx, and told her supporters it had been an honour to the senator of New York for eight years. She contrasted her views with those of the Republican candidates, in particular those of Donald Trump We are a borough of immigrants, in a city of immigrants, in a state of immigrants, in a nation of immigrants, and I am proud of that, she said. While Mr Trump wanted to build a wall, she added, I want to build bridges. The stakes for both Mr Sanders and Ms Clinton are higher than ever. After taking eight of the last nine nominating contests, Mr Sanders arguably has the better wind behind him. Were he to win New York and take the largest share of its trove of 247 delegates, the effect would be electrifying. Which is precisely why Ms Clinton cannot let that happen. The state should be Ms Clintons to lose. Unlike Mr Sanders who cut his electoral teeth in the relatively genteel climes of Vermont, she has lots of experience of New Yorks especially rough brand of politics. She won the New York primary competing with Barack Obama for the nomination in 2008 and was sent by the state to the US Senate not once but twice. Polls show the former first lady with an edge of 13 points or so over Mr Sanders. That will be tough for him to overcome, but not necessarily impossible, even though time is starting to run out. Much will depend on a televised debate the pair are to hold in Brooklyn. The pressure felt by each side since arriving to campaign in New York has ignited some of the sharpest exchanges of the Democratic race so far. Ms Clinton declared her intention to disqualify the Vermont senator in the eyes of New York voters; Mr Sanders quickly struck back twice as hard suggesting she already was not qualified to be president. While he drew some criticism for the suggestion - a candidate with more qualifying experience than Ms Clinton, a former Secretary of State, would be hard to find - Mr Sanders stuck more or less with the theme this week saying his opponents judgement was clearly lacking. He cited, in particular, her support for the Iraq War and her willingness to take money from Wall Street. But Mr Sanders had an unexpectedly shaking start in New York, notably seeming to stumble during an interview one week ago with The Daily News, the tabloid, when asked for details both on his level of support for Israel and his knowledge of the latest conflict in Gaza and on how he would carry out a campaign promise to break up Wall Streets biggest banks. His shakiness on Israel and Palestine could be especially troublesome in New York City with its substantial Jewish community. As Mr. Sanders publicly discusses his approach to key US foreign policy priorities, including Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, accuracy and accountability are essential for the voting public, but also for US credibility in the international community, scolded Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the influential Anti-Defamation League, ADL. Ms Clinton has assailed Mr Sanders for his uneven record on gun control, which he attributes to his coming from a rural state. Most of the guns that are used in crimes and violence and killings in New York come from out of state, she said on Monday. The state that has the highest per capita number of those guns that end up committing crimes in New York come from Vermont. So this is not, 'Oh you know, I live in a rural state, we dont have these problems. Yet, there is plenty of terrain in New York for Mr Sanders to exploit. Few cities in American have a greater concentration of young, liberal, white voters than New York City - and in particular the Brooklyn of today - which is the constituency that has provided the most fuel for his surprise insurgency. But in far away upstate, he has also been emphasizing his outright opposition to fracking for oil, where Ms Clintons position has been more nuanced, as well as his message of income equality in typical rustbelt areas for instance around Rochester and Buffalo. And he apparently is with New Yorkers when it comes to the best way to approach a slice of pizza. Im for picking it up and eating it, he told Fox News last week. He failed to mention folding it first, but what he said was surely close enough. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A powerful earthquake has struck southern Japan, killing at least two people and injuring hundreds of others. The quake hit at 9.26 pm and was centered seven miles east from the town of Mashiki in the Kumamoto prefecture, according to Japan's Meteorological Agency, Initial reports placed the quake at a magnitude 6.4, but this was later downgraded to 6.2 by the US Geological Survey. A number of "strong" aftershocks have also been reported. One person was killed after being crushed by a collapsing building, and the other by a fire that broke out after the quake. At least 400 people are being treated at local hospitals, public broadcaster NHK said. Others are feared trapped under fallen structures. "We will do our utmost and carry on with life-saving and rescue operations throughout the night," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters. The earthquake hit close to the town of Mashiki, in the Kumamoto district (Google) Around 20 houses have collapsed, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK. A fire also broke out in Mashiki, which has a population of around 34,000 people, and local television showed footage of firefighters tackling a blaze at a building. Officials said there is no danger of a tsunami and confirmed the region's nuclear facilities have not been adversely affected by the tremors. The plants remain in operation. However, some gas and power outages were reported in areas close to the epicenter. About 16,500 households in and around Mashiki were without electricity, according to Kyushu Electric Power Co Inc. Images, not verified by The Independent, have been posted to social media apparently showing some of the damage: Pictures of the fires, seemingly taken from Japanese television, have also been posted to Twitter: "There was a ka-boom and the whole house violently shook sideways," said Takahiko Morita, a Mashiki resident. "Furniture and bookshelves fell down, books were all over the floor." Kasumi Nakamura, an official in the village of Nishihara which is close to the epicenter, said there was a rattling which started modestly and grew violent, lasting about 30 seconds. The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Show all 10 1 /10 The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Chile 1960 (Magnitude: 9.5) 2010 AFP The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Great Alaska Earthquake 1964 (Magnitude: 9.2) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra 2004 (Magnitude: 9.1) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan 2011 (Magnitude: 9.0) 2011 IFRC The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Kamchatka 1952 (Magnitude: 9.0) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Offshore Maule, Chile 2010 (Magnitude: 8.8) 2010 Getty Images The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Off the Coast of Ecuador 1906 (Magnitude: 8.8) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Rat Islands, Alaska 1965 (Magnitude: 8.7) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Northern Sumatra, Indonesia 2005 (Magnitude: 8.6) 2005 Getty Images The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Assam - Tibet 1950 (Magnitude: 8.6) "Papers, files, flower vases and everything fell on the floor," he said. Hotel guests wait in a car park after being evacuated following the earthquake (Kyodo News/AP) Other eyewitnesses reported seeing walls around houses collapsing in the city of Uki, where the city hall reportedly suffered broken windows and fallen cabinets. Footage on NHK TV showed a signboard hanging from the ceiling at its local bureau violently shaking. Some train services have been suspended as officials attempt to gather information. Honda Motor Co suspended output at its motorcycle factory near Kumamoto following the quake, a company spokesman said. Mitsubishi Electric Corp and tire maker Bridgestone Corp also suspended operations at their factories in the area, Kyodo news agency said. Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, said soon after the earthquake: "We intend to do the utmost to grasp the situation. I'm now planning to hear what we have gathered on the situation." The full extent of the damage is not currently known. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep. Additional reporting by agencies For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} North Korea is preparing to fire up to two ballistic missiles that have the range to hit Japan or the US base on the Pacific island of Guam, intelligence reports have suggested. It is thought the launch will take place on Friday to mark the birthday of the late Kim il-Sung, founder of the communist North Korean state. South Korea's Defence Ministry declined to confirm the reports by Yonhap, a South Korean news agency. "North Korea has been detected to have deployed a Musudan missile in the vicinity of Wonsan's Hodo Peninsula, an anonymous official said, initially speaking about just one missile. "After deploying them some 20 days ago, the North has not withdrawn them. Given that fact, North Korea is likely to venture a launch on the occasion of Kim il-Sung's birthday." US intelligence officials have also been monitoring the movement of the missiles, according to CNN. North Korea missile-launch coincides with US-South Korea military drills If a Musudan missile is fired, it would be the first launch of a rocket of this type. Also known as the BM-25, the ballistic missile is an intermediate-range device capable of hitting targets up to 2,485 miles away, posing a potential threat not only to South Korea or Japan, but also to the Pacific island of Guam, which hosts a strategic US naval base. Kim Jong-Un, North Koreas ruler, has spoken of his ambition to test a nuclear missile. The country has also defied international sanctions and carried out ballistic missile tests in the past without significant incident. North Korea has developed a number of other types of missiles, but the KN-08 and KN-14 intercontinental ballistic missiles, with ranges of around 5,592 miles, are considered to be its most dangerous. The missiles are seen as especially problematic as they can be easily moved by vehicles to different locations, as opposed to being fired from fixed positions which are easier to monitor. The launches, if they go ahead, could be timed to mark the 104th birthday of the, Kim il-Sung, also known as the Day of the Sun. Falling on 15 April, this is the most important holiday of the year in the strictly authoritarian state of North Korea. It is often marked by huge celebrations, including choreographed dances, parades and firework displays. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The twin sister of Baby Gammy can remain living in Australia with her parents, despite the fathers conviction for child sex offences nearly 20 years ago, a court has ruled. Justice Stephen Thackray, Chief Judge of the Family Court of Western Australia, also said that David Farnell and Wendy Li had not abandoned Baby Gammy, who has Downs Syndrome, in Thailand with the twins surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua, after they were born there in December 2013. Mr Farnell, 58, and his wife, Wendy Li, 50, from Bunbury, came to the worlds attention in 2014 when they used a Thai surrogate, Mrs Chanbua, 22 but only returned to Australia with one of the twins born to her, Pipah. Pipahs brother, known as Baby Gammy, was left with Mrs Chanbua in Thailand, where she lives with her husband. Justice Thackrays judgement was handed down on Thursday after the surrogate mother applied for legal custody of Pipah, on the grounds that she did not want her being brought up by a convicted sex offender. Mr Farnell was jailed in the 1990s after being convicted of molesting young girls. But Justice Thackray told the court that Pipah could continue to live with him and Ms Li, subject to various conditions. He said: Pipah should not be removed from the only family she has ever known, in order to be placed with people who would be total strangers to her. While it is a matter of grave concern to leave any child in the home of a convicted sex offender, I have accepted the expert evidence that while there is a low risk of harm if Pipah stays in that home, there is a high risk of harm if she is removed. The judge said the couple had not intended to leave Baby Gammy behind, and did not try to access a trust fund set up through donations made by members of the public from around the world to help with his upbringing to spend on Pipah or to meet their legal costs. Pattaramon Chanbua with 'Baby Gammy' (Getty Images) Justice Thackray said the couple had tried to take both children home, but that they genuinely believed that Mrs Chanbua had decided to keep the boy. In August 2014, the information about Pipah living with Mr Farnell passed into the public domain, the judge said. In the media frenzy that followed, the story was spread all around the world that the Farnells had abandoned Baby Gammy because he had Down syndrome. The anguish this caused the Farnells was exacerbated by the fact that the story was untrue. Justice Thackray said that the couple had found out a few months before the twins were born that the baby boy had Downs syndrome. He said Mrs Chanbua had, by this point, fallen in love with the twins she was carrying and had decided she was going to keep the boy. He added: She was told by a fortune teller that the boy would bring good luck. This was significant at least for her grandmother, who had taken Mrs Chanbua to the fortune teller when it was discovered the boy might have Down syndrome. The judge said that the couple had asked an employee of the Thailand Surrogacy agency they used to plead with Mrs Chanbua for them to have both children. But, although the Farnells still wanted both children, they finally accepted that Mrs Chanbua would not allow this. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Frenchwoman has been fired by her employer after refusing to change her name. Marion, from Toulouse, was asked to use a different Christian name while working for a medical equipment firm, so she was not confused with a fellow employee of the same name. He wanted to change my name from Marion to Marie, because clients could confuse with another Marion that worked in the same department, she told local newspaper La Depeche du Midi. The 27-year-old was allegedly sent an email asking her to change her name. She was later called for an interview, in which she was asked to either chose an alias or have her contract terminated, The Local reports. Wanting to retain her name, Marion said she was forced to leave the company. An explanation for her dismissal was given to the Pole Emploi a French governmental agency which registers unemployed people, helps them find jobs and provides them with financial aid. According to FranceTV, it read: Problem of identity within the company. The same two names were unwanted by management. Marion worked at the company, which has not been named in reports, as a temp for three weeks before being promoted to the role of trainee commercial assistant. She reportedly found the trainee position with the help of Pole Emploi, which was supposed to lead to a fulltime role. Marion told La Depeche: Either the boss takes his customers for fools or its just a pretext because he never wanted to offer me a contract, adding surnames should be used to distinguish people with the same Christian names. The head of the company has insisted there has been no wrong-doing, saying: Changing names or taking on pseudonyms is a common practice in the commercial sector. We are a small company and the two Marions had already lead to confusion. Clients needed to be able to distinguish between them. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The families of victims of the Germanwings plane air crash, which was deliberately crashed by co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, are suing the flight school in the US where he trained. All 150 people on board the flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf were killed when Lubwitz locked the pilot out of the cockpit and set the controls into a constant descent to fly into the French Alps in March 2015. The case, which was filed in the US District Court in Phoenix against the Airline Training Centre of Arizona (ATCA), where Lubitz was sent to train, argues that the school failed to screen his medical background. After the crash it was revealed that Lubitz had been suspended from a training course to seek treatment for depression but returned to Lufthansa - Germanwings' parent company - in 2010 and was sent to Arizona. In December 2014,Lubitz was showing symptoms that could be consistent with a psychotic depressive episode and consulted several doctors - but under German law, was not required to tell his employers, according to French accident investigation agency BEA. The wrongful death suit on behalf of 80 families, says that if the school had screened Lubitz before offering him a place on the course they would have found that he had previously been hospitalised for severe depression and treated with medications that would have stopped him flying. Recovery workers at the site in the French Alps where the plane went down The lawyer for the families Brian Alexander, himself a military-trained pilot, said in a statement: Andreas Lubitz, the suicidal pilot, should never have been allowed to enter ATCAs commercial airline pilot training program. ATCA was not just negligent, but also careless, and even reckless, in failing to apply its own well-advertised stringent standards to discover the history of Lubitzs severe mental illness that should have kept Lubitz from admission to ATCAs flight school. A Lufthansa spokeswoman said: "Based on our information, we see no prospects of success for this course of action." In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Show all 66 1 /66 In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Flowers are left in front of the monument in homage to the victims of Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 in Le Vernet, southeastern France In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Andreas Lubitz was deemed unsuitable for flight duties for a period of time during his training with Lufthansa and was receiving regular treatment for depression, sources have claimed as investigators focus their inquiry on his personal life and background In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash People believed to be relatives of the deceased crew on Germanwings flight 4U9525 comfort each other at a reception centre in Le Vernet, France In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Rescue workers gather with friends and relatives of those killed onboard Germanwings flight 4U9525 at a reception centre in Le Vernet, France In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Flags representing some of the nationalities of the victims are seen as family members and relatives gather near the crash site of an Airbus A320 in the French Alps In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash German and Spain flags symbolizing some of the nationalities of the victims are seen as family members and relatives gather for a ceremony in Le Vernet near the crash site of an Airbus A320 in the French Alps In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Flags symbolizing some of the nationalities of the victims, are seen near the memorial stele in Le Vernet during a ceremony to pay tribute to the victims of an Airbus A320 in the French Alps In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash French gendarmes and investigators make their way through debris from wreckage on the mountainside at the crash site of an Airbus A320, near Seyne-les-Alpes In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash French gendarmes and investigators work amongst the debris of the Airbus A320 at the site of the crash, near Seyne-les-Alpes, French Alps In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash French gendarmes and investigators make their way through the debris of the Airbus A320 at the site of the crash near Seyne-les-Alpes, French Alps In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Wreckage of the Airbus A320 is seen at the site of the crash, near Seyne-les-Alpes, French Alps In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A body of a victim is evacuated by a French Gendarmerie rescue helicopter from the crash site of an Airbus A320, near Seyne-les-Alpes In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Rescue workers recover bodies of victims from the crash site of an Airbus A320, near Seyne-les-Alpes In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash French military personnel work amongst the debris of the Airbus A320 at the site of the crash, near Seyne-les-Alpes, French Alps In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A helicopter of the French Gendarmerie flies over the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 that crashed in the French Alps, above the town of Seyne-les-Alpes, southeastern France In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Search and rescue workers make their way through debris at the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 that crashed in the French Alps, above the town of Seyne-les-Alpes, southeastern France In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Flowers and lit candles are placed on the ground in Cologne Bonn airport Reuters In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Victims relatives join carers outside the school gym in Seyne Getty Images In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr, left, and Germanwings CEO Thomas Winkelmann arrive for a press conference near the Germanwings headquarters in Cologne, Germany In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot that crashed the Germanwings Airbus A320 in the French Alps Facebook In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Buses loaded with relatives of victims are escorted after their arrival at Marseille airport, southern France In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Family and relatives of the victims of the Germanwings plane crash in the Alps are taken on bus to the Prat airport from a hotel in Castelldefels in Barcelona, Spain, to take a Lufthansa flight to visit the crash site in Seyne les Alps in France In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash An Airbus plane of German airline Lufthansa carrying onboard relatives of the Germanwings plane crash victims takes off from the Duesseldorf airport in Duesseldorf, western Germany, en route to Marseille In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A Germanwings employee places flowers in commemoration of the victims of the Germanwings plane crash in the French Alps, at the airport in Duesseldorf, Germany In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Members of German Government Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, from right, hold a minute of silence to commemorate the victims of the Germanwings plane crash in the French Alps at the parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Realtives of passengers of the Germanwings airliner that crashed in the French Alps leave the Gran Hotel Rey Don Jaime towards Barcelona El Prat airport where a lufthansa plane will fly to Marseille, in Barcelona, Spain In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Olivier Cousin (R), director of the mountain rescue team, which is responsible for the safety of the emergency workers on site, gives an interview in Seyne Les Alpes, France In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Alpine climbers take off in a police helicopter in Seyne Les Alpes In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L), French President Francois Hollande (C) and Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pay respect to victims in front of the mountain in Seyne-les-Alpes, the day after the air crash of a Germanwings Airbus A320 In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A member of the search and rescue personnel stands at the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 in the French Alps In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Search and rescue personnel at the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 in the French Alps Reuters In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A sealed container holds black box from the German Airbus operated by Lufthansa's Germanwings budget Airbus A320 crash In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash The voice data recorder of the Germanwings jetliner that crashed in the French Alps In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash The voice data recorder of the Germanwings jetliner that crashed in the French Alps In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings employees cry as they place flowers and lit candles outside the company headquarters in Cologne Bonn airport In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A student who knew some of the German students involved in a crashed plane, reacts during a minute of silence in front of the council building in Llinars del Valles, near Barcelona, Spain In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Photograph of victims, flowers and candles stand outside the Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium high school where pupils had gathered to pay tribute to 16 students and two teachers from the school who were on Germanwings flight 4U9525 that crashed yesterday in southern France on March 25, 2015 in Haltern, Germany In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Pupils gather at the Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium high school to pay tribute to 16 students and two teachers from the school who were on Germanwings flight 4U9525 that crashed yesterday in southern France in Haltern, Germany In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Students gather in front of the Josef-Konig secondary school in Haltern am See, western Germany, where some of the Germanwings plane crash victims studied Getty Images In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A Lufthansa employee signs in a condolence book in Frankfurt, Germany In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash The flags of (L-R) Aragon, Spain and the European Union are lowered to half-mast at the Regional Assembly of Aragon in Zaragoza, Spain, as a sign of respect for the victims of the German plane crash in the French Alps In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash The German and the European Union flags hang at half mast in memory of the victims of the plane crash in France in front of the Federal Chancellery in Berlin, Germany In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash French President Francois Hollande with Spains King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia pay their respects to the victims of the German plane crash in the French Alps Reuters In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Debris from the Germanwings Airbus A320 at the crash site in the French Alps above the southeastern town of Seyne Getty Images In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Search and rescue personnel at the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 in the French Alps Getty Images In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Wreckage and debris lie on the mountain slopes after the crash of the Germanwings Airbus A320 over the French Alps EPA In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Staff members of Germanwings and Lufthansa hold a candlelight vigil outside their headquarters in Cologne Getty Images In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A photo provided by the French Gendarmerie shows the crash site in the French Alps In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A rescue helicopter from the French Gendarmerie flies over the French Alps, as day fades into night near to the crash site of the Airbus A320 Reuters In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A general view of the crash site of a Germanwings Airbus A320 in the French Alps above Seyne-les-Alpes is pictured in this photo provided by the French Gendarmerie In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Family members of people involved in a crashed plane arrives at the Barcelona airport in Spain AP/Emilio Morenatti In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Rescue helicopters from the French Gendarmerie and the Air Force are seen in front of the French Alps during a rescue operation near to the crash site Reuters In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A helicopter of the French National Gendarmerie is seen in Seyne, south-eastern France, near the site where a Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed in the French Alps ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash French emergency services workers (back) and members of the French gendarmerie gather in Seyne, south-eastern France, near the site where a Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed in the French Alps BORIS HORVAT/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash An helicopter of civil security services is seen in Seyne, south-eastern France, near the site where a Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed in the French Alps ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Relatives of passangers of the Germanwings plane crashed in French Alps arrive escorted by police officer at Terminal 2 of Barcelona El Prat airport in Barcelona David Ramos/Getty Images In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Relatives of passangers of the Germanwings plane crashed in French Alps arrive at Terminal 2 of Barcelona El Prat airport in Barcelona, Spain David Ramos/Getty Images In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Relatives of passengers killed in Germanwings plane crash arrive at the airport in Duesseldorf, Germany AP/Frank Augstein In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Police escort a family member of an aircrash victim at Barcelona's El Prat airport LLUIS GENE/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash French firefighters prepare to take-off in Digne-les-Bains for the crash site of an Airbus A320, in the French Alps REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A family member of a passenger killed in Germanwings plane crash reacts as he arrives at Barcelona's El Prat airport REUTERS/Albert Gea In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash People arrive at a holding area for friends and relatives of passengers on Germanwings flight 4U9525 from Barcelona to Dusseldorf at Dusseldorf International Airport in Dusseldorf, Germany Sascha Steinbach/Getty Images In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash People waiting for flight 4U 9525 are lead away by airport staff at the airport in Duesseldorf, Germany In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A relative (C) of passangers of the Germanwings plane crashed in French Alps arrives at the Terminal 2 of the Barcelona El Prat airport David Ramos/Getty Images In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash A man who appears to have waited for the missing flight 4U 9525 reacts at the airport in Duesseldorf, Germany AP/Frank Augstein In pictures: Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash epa04676936 A man looks at a monitor showing a map released on the webpage 'flightradar24 with the exact point where the radar signal of the crashed Airbus A320 aircraft operated by German budget airline 'Germanwings' went missing near Barcelonnette, in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in Madrid, Spain EPA Some lawyers have asked whether a US lawsuit would work in this case, given it involved a European airline flying from one European destination to another. Suing in the US offers a chance of higher payouts than in Europe, where damages for emotional suffering are limited. The German flag carrier has said it offered at least 100,000 in compensation to victims' families, and that in some cases the amount would be in the millions depending on a person's salary and dependents. Additional reporting by Reuters Two men, possibly inebriated, exchanged boasts and insults and lawsuit threats on a JetBlue flight from Long Beach to Sacramento last Friday. From Fusion: "I'm 28, I make $4 million a year. What do you do?" For several minutes, the man and the other passengers exchanged heated words, including calling each other "Losers" and "Mr. Bald," ABC reported. At one point, the man-child says, "You're right, I'm a loser I own six houses." Finally, as the confrontation nears an end, he announces, "I've got 20/20 vision with a 176 IQ." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Documents relating to a German nuclear research centre have reportedly been found in the home of a suspect in the Paris attacks amid mounting concern Isis has been scouting out such facilities to identify potential weak spots. Searches of Salah Abdeslams apartment revealed he had been gathering information on the Forschungszentrum Julich, near the Belgian border in north-west Germany. Newspapers in the RND media group reported that photos of the centres manager, Wolfgang Marquardt, and printed online articles were discovered at Abdeslams flat in Molenbeek. Paris attacks suspect caught He is currently in a Belgian prison awaiting extradition to France on charges of terror offences connected with the Paris attacks. Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV), is reported to have told the Bundestags security committee of the findings following his arrest last month. RND said it was unclear whether Mr Maassen had passed the information directly to the chancellery or interior ministry. Neither the BfV nor the BND foreign intelligence agency were immediately available for comment. A Belgian nuclear plant was partially evacuated amid concerns after the Brussels attacks (Getty) Forschungszentrum Julichs website describes it as an institute dedicated to fundamental research in the field of hadron, particle, and nuclear physics and the complex also stores atomic waste. A spokesperson for the centre said there was no indication of any danger and that it was in contact with security authorities and nuclear supervisors. Abdeslam, who was born and raised in Belgium to Moroccan-born parents, was arrested on 18 March in Brussels, four days before suicide bombers killed 32 people at the citys airport and a Metro station. A Belgian nuclear power plant was evacuated of all non-essential personnel immediately after the attacks amid fears the same terror cell had been planning to seize radioactive material for a dirty bomb. There was speculation that two of the Brussels attackers, brothers Khalid and Brahim el-Bakraoui, may have been planning to blackmail a senior nuclear official. Brothers Khalid and Brahim el-Bakraoui are suspected of carrying out nuclear research before killing themselves in suicide bombings (EPA) A video file discovered during searches related to the Paris attacks reportedly showed they had planted a camera hidden in bushes opposite the mans home and gathered more than 10 hours of surveillance. Officials were also concerned when it emerged that two former Belgian nuclear power plant workers had gone to Syria to fight with Isis, one of whom was killed. A report released by Nato last year said there is a very real but not yet fully identified risk of Isis using chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear material in terror attacks against the West. Wolfgang Rudischhauser, director of the alliances WMD Non-proliferation Centre, said the terrorist groups militants had gained access to former chemical weapons and nuclear sites in Iraq. While no full scale plots have been unveiled so far, our governments need to be on alert, he added. Additional reporting by Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The size of Isis's army is at its lowest level for two years, the group has lost swathes of territory and the groups fighters realise their cause is lost, Barack Obama has said. Setting out the current state of the war against the so-called Islamic State, the US President said the jihadist group had lost 40 per cent of its territories in Iraq and 10 per cent of those in Syria as well as numerous financial setbacks. The Pentagon has also claimed air strikes have killed more than 25,000 Isis militants. President Barack Obama speaks at the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Va (AP) In other words, the Isis core in Syria and Iraq continues to shrink, he said. Their ranks of fighters are estimated to be at the lowest levels in about two years, and more and more of them are realizing that their cause is lost. "Our cyber operations are disrupting their command-and-control and communications. "We continue to target ISILs financial infrastructure, including its oil wells, refineries and supply lines. Weve reduced their oil production and their oil revenue. "And every dollar we deny them means one less dollar to pay their fighters and to fund their terror." But the President also sounded a note of caution, warning Isis has gained ground and increased its fighting force in Libya. On Sunday, Mr Obama revealed he thought his worst mistake in office was the failure to plan for the aftermath of Colonel Muammar Gaddafis downfall. Previously, US officials have pointed to intelligence suggesting Isis numbers in Libya have doubled in the past year up to around 5,000 fighters. As we, our allies and partners have made it harder for foreign terrorists to reach Syria and Iraq, weve seen an uptick in the number of Isis fighters heading to Libya, Mr Obama said. And even as he praised recent military successes against Isis in its territories, the Mr Obama sounded a sobering note. In pictures: The rise of Isis Show all 74 1 /74 In pictures: The rise of Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters of the Islamic State wave the group's flag from a damaged display of a government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from Islamic State group sit on their tank during a parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from the Islamic State group pray at the Tabqa air base after capturing it from the Syrian government in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from extremist Islamic State group parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping A video uploaded to social networks shows men in underwear being marched barefoot along a desert road before being allegedly executed by Isis Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Haruna Yukawa after his capture by Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Khalinda Sharaf Ajour, a Yazidi, says two of her daughters were captured by Isis militants Washington Post In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Spokesperson for Isis Vice News via Youtube In pictures: The rise of Isis A pro-Isis leaflet A pro-Isis leaflet handed out on Oxford Street In London Ghaffar Hussain In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Isis Jihadists burn their passports In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A man collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A woman collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid Local civilians queue for aid administered by Isis. Since it declared a caliphate the group has increasingly been delivering services such as healthcare, and distributing aid and free fuel In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces detain men suspected of being militants of the Isis group in Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Mourners carry the coffin of a Shi'ite volunteer from the brigades of peace, who joined the Iraqi army and was killed during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Samarra, during his funeral in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Shiite Turkmen family fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, arrives at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi A photograph made from a video by the jihadist affiliated group Furqan Media via their twitter account allegedly showing Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivering a sermon during Friday prayers at a mosque in Mosul. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamist caliphate in the territory under the group's control in Iraq and Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Smoke and debris go up in the air as Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul. Images posted online show that Islamic extremists have destroyed at least 10 ancient shrines and Shiite mosques in territory - the city of Mosul and the town of Tal Afar - they have seized in northern Iraq in recent weeks In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq A bulldozer destroys Sunni's Ahmed al-Rifai shrine and tomb in Mahlabiya district outside of Tal Afar In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces celebrate after clashes with followers of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi, in front of his home in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi at his home after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A vehicle burns in front of a home of a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman holds her exhausted son as over 1000 Iraqis who have fled fighting in and around the city of Mosul and Tal Afar wait at a Kurdish checkpoint in the hopes of entering a temporary displacement camp in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees Displaced Iraqi women hold pots as they queue to receive food during the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, at an encampment for displaced Iraqis who fled from Mosul and other towns, in the Khazer area outside Irbil, north Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A militant Islamist fighter waving a flag, cheers as he takes part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters wave flags as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters travel in a vehicle as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade with a missile in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from an al-Qaida splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from the splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters hold a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A member loyal to the Isis waves an Isis flag in Raqqa In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi anti-government gunmen from Sunni tribes in the western Anbar province march during a protest in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The United Nations warned that Iraq is at a "crossroads" and appealed for restraint, as a bloody four-day wave of violence killed 195 people. The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that broke out in Sunni areas of the Shiite-majority country more than four months ago, raising fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces hold up a flag of the Isis group they captured during an operation to regain control of Dallah Abbas north of Baqouba, the capital of Iraq's Diyala province, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Isis fighters parade in the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, demonstrate their skills during a graduation ceremony after completing their field training in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Kurdish Peshmerga troops fire a cannon during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Jalawla, Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference Iraqi Prime Minister's security spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference about the latest military development in Iraq, in the capital Baghdad. Iraqi forces pressed a campaign to retake militant-held Tikrit, clashing with jihadist-led Sunni militants nearby and pounding positions inside the city with air strikes in their biggest counter-offensive so far In pictures: The rise of Isis A police station building destroyed by Isis fighters An exterior view of a police station building destroyed by gunmen in Mosul city, northern Iraq. Iraq's new parliament is expected to convene to start the process of setting up a new government, despite deepening political rifts and an ongoing Islamist-led insurgency. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani issued a decree inviting the new House of Representatives to meet and form a new government In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Smoke billows from an area controlled by the Isis between the Iraqi towns of Naojul and Tuz Khurmatu, both located north of the capital Baghdad, as Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces take part in an operation to repel the Sunni militants In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An elderly Iraqi woman is helped into a temporary displacement camp for Iraqis caught-up in the fighting in and around the city of Mosul in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Christian woman fleeing the violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kms east of the northern province of Nineveh, cries upon her arrival at a community center in the Kurdish city of Arbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman, who fled with her family from the northern city of Mosul, prays with a copy of the Quran AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq The body of an Isis militant killed during clashes with Iraqi security forces on the outskirts of the city of Samarra Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi civilians inspect the damage at a market after an air strike by the Iraqi army in central Mosul EPA In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Members of the Al-Abbas brigades, who volunteered to protect the Shiite Muslim holy sites in Karbala against Sunni militants fighting the Baghdad government, parade in the streets of the city AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Shia tribesmen gather in Baghdad to take up arms against Sunni insurgents marching on the capital. Thousands have volunteered to bolster defences AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A van carrying volunteers joining Iraqi security forces against Jihadist militants. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteered to fight AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters of the Isis group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An Islamist fighter, identified as Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni from Britain (R), speaks in this still image taken undated video shot at an unknown location and uploaded to a social media website. Five Islamist fighters identified as Australian and British nationals have called on Muslims to join the wars in Syria and Iraq, in the new video released by the Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Al-Qaida inspired militants stand with captured Iraqi Army Humvee at a checkpoint belonging to Iraqi Army outside Beiji refinery some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad. The fighting at Beiji comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes targeting the militants from the Isis group. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground, officials said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants attacked Iraq's main oil refinein Baiji as they pressed an offensive that has seen them capture swathes of territory, a manager and a refinery employee said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants from the Isis group parading with their weapons in the northern city of Baiji in the in Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A smoke rises after an attack by Isis militants on the country's largest oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and said they regained partial control of a city near the Syrian border, trying to blunt an offensive by Sunni militants who diplomats fear may have also seized some 100 foreign workers In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group stand next to captured vehicles left behind by Iraqi security forces at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province. For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An injured fighter (C) from the Isis group after a battle with Iraqi soldiers at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis aiming at advancing Iraqi troops at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group taking position at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group inspecting vehicles of the Iraqi army after they were seized at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq One Iraqi captive, a corporal, is reluctant to say the slogan, and has to be shouted at repeatedly before he obeys Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group force captured Iraqi security forces members to the transport In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group transporting dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A major offensive spearheaded by Isis but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three others In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants taking position at a Iraqi border post on the Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis rebels show their flag after seizing an army post AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants waving an Islamist flag after the seizure of an Iraqi army checkpoint in Salahuddin Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Demonstrators chant slogans as they carry al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. In the week since it captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, a Muslim extremist group has tried to win over residents and has stopped short of widely enforcing its strict brand of Islamic law, residents say. Churches remain unharmed and street cleaners are back at work As Ive said repeatedly, the only way to truly destroy Isis is to end the Syrian civil war that Isis has exploited, he said. "The cessation of hostilities in the Syrian civil war has largely held for about six weeks. It has reduced the violence, although not eliminated it, but that reduction is meaningful and it's allowed some humanitarian aid to reach the Syrian people. "So the cessation has saved lives. But as were seeing around Aleppo and other areas, the cessation is tenuous and under strain. " For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Saudi Arabia's infamous religious police have had their powers curtailed and their members instructed to be "gentle and kind" in their dealings with the public. Known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the force has been criticised in the past for a heavy handed approach to enforcing the strict Sharia law which operates in the country. The new guidelines codify the reach of the Commission, which has operated in the past without procedural rules. The Commission is a semi-autonomous, 5,000-strong force which, until now, conducted patrols in parks, streets and shopping centres, worked to combat drug use, stopped unrelated men and women from mingling in public and ensured stores closed for daily prayers. It is also one of several government agencies monitoring online activity in the kingdom. However, the Mutawas, as the Commission's officials are known, are no longer allowed to chase people down the street or demand to see a person's ID or other documents. The new rules also say the Mutawas are not to entrap or arrest people, specifying this is exclusively the jurisdiction of the police and drug enforcement officials. 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemens Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdoms Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as inciting people against the authorities. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabias clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty They must also now wear visible identification badges detailing their name, work location and duration of work hours. The directives also ruled men who work for the force "must be of good character and behaviour, known for their good reputation" and must not have been sentenced to longer than one year in prison or have been convicted of crimes of dishonesty. The Mutawas were advised to be "gentle and kind" in their dealings with the public. The group, which already reports directly to the king, will no longer be overseen by the Interior Ministry but exclusively by the monarch. The change has been welcomed by many Saudis. "It's great. Finally!" blogger Eman al-Nafjan told AFP news agency, adding that she hoped any officers disobeying the rulings would be held accountable. "I'm very confident because there are so many people that are for these changes, she said. Often, Mutawas have stopped men and women driving in cars or walking in public places, demanding to see proof they are married or directly related. In addition, though the Mutawas were also told in the past not to chase people, members were accused by the public of violating these orders when two brothers were killed in a high-speed chase for playing loud music on Saudi Arabia's National Day in 2013. In 2002, the religious police were accused of preventing the rescue of girls trapped in a school fire because they were not wearing abayas and head coverings as they attempted to flee the all-female building. Fourteen girls died in the fire, though the director of the force at the time denied his staff had prevented rescuers from entering the school. Additional reporting by Associated Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, a long-serving diplomat who has often served as a voice for the regime in interviews with foreign media outlets, is evidently a man who wears his heart on his sleeve. A silver watch he wore throughout a recent interview with the Associated Press featured a small yet unmistakable portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The watch clearly caught the attention of Associated Press photographer Hassan Ammar, who snapped some close-up pictures of the watch. Syrian minister Faisal Mekdad's watch, featuring a picture of his President, Bashar al-Assad (AP) These photographs also led to discussions on Twitter by journalists and other analysts. Judging from previous photographs, Mr Mekdad has had the watch for at least 10 months. It's unclear if such a watch can be purchased online: One can certainly find watches with Mr Assad's face online, though they tend to be far less glamorous. Mr Assad is far from the only leader whose picture you can find on watches: You can also buy watches with the face of Barack Obama online (Donald Trump watches are also readily available, of course). Generally, however, you're more likely to find the face of a strongman leader on a watch than a liberal we can find no proof that any watches featuring the face of Francois Hollande exist, for example. Perhaps the most widely known of the strongman watches is known as the "waving Mao," a watch featuring the late Mao Zedong that is widely sold in markets in China. The watch, notable for the way the Chinese leader's arm moves, began to be sold after his death in 1976. Watch experts say it could potentially be the best-selling watch in history. Closer to home, watches featuring the face of Libya's Muammar Qaddafi or Iraq's Saddam Hussein are also well-known curios in the timekeeping world. In 2011, as violence broke out in Libya, one Channel 4 reporter was able to buy an impressive-looking Qaddafi watch for less than $10. Designer watches featuring Hussein's face are also still sought after by some collectors: The dictator is reported to have given out hundreds of Rolexes with his face on them as gifts. In Syria, however, a watch like Mr Mekdad's isn't a kitsch relic. The Washington Post's Loveday Morris recently traveled through a number of government-held cities: She found a wide variety of pro-Assad souvenirs for sale, alongside others featuring the image of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Washington Post Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} On 5 May, Britain will be heading to the polling stations in one the biggest set of elections for years. Then, come June, well be heading out to the polling stations once more to vote in what could be the most important political decision in our lifetime: the EU referendum. Well, at least some people will be heading out. If you believe the barrage of messages appearing on social media timelines, young people dont head out to polling stations in numbers. Were often described as being disengaged with politics. Unfortunately, the statistics appear to back these claims up. According to the Electoral Reform Society, one in four 18 to 21-year-olds had not registered to vote. Embarrassing? Probably when you consider how, in the 1960s, over 70 per cent of those aged 18 to 24 voted. From May, we can start changing things for young people in Britain for the better. If you want to head off into higher education, or want that career youve always dreamed of, turn it into a reality by getting yourself onto the electoral register first and foremost. According to an Observer poll, the fight to keep Britain in the EU showed that young people will be key in the vote in June. The poll put the Leave side on 43 per cent, four points ahead of Remain, on 39 per cent. Its going to be close, and we can make the difference. Why should we vote to stay in? On Wednesday, Maurice Obstfeld, economic counsellor to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the organisations chief economist, said there could be severe regional and global damage if Britain were to vote to leave the European Union. You wont get a stronger warning than that. Leaving the EU is a voluntary decision to give up political power. Leaving the EU will result in young people losing job opportunities, networks, and life chances. We cant let this happen. If we get out to the polling stations, we can ensure the future goes our way. The alternative would be bleak. Come June 23, if we snooze, we will lose. Young man on Question Time doesn't know how to vote in EU referendum According to The Telegraph, 63 per cent of those aged between 18 to 29 want to remain in the EU, while 56 per cent of those aged over 60 want to leave. When it comes to the EU, there is a generational gap. We shouldnt let the older generation - who traditionally turn out in larger numbers than younger people - dictate the future of the country we are about to spend our lives working and living in. So, turn out on 23 June, and lets make things better for our future, because the prospect of doing so couldnt be more exciting. This is a chance to sway the course of history in our favour. Dont miss out on a chance to have your voice be heard. Twitter: @lucasfothergill Register now, in minutes, by 18 April to vote in the 5 May elections, or by 7 June to vote in the EU referendum on 23 June. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Each week we approach three companies to ask for their best offer on a specific break. Today, a family holiday to the US: one in Florida, one in California and one in New England. Prices are per person, based on two adults and two children travelling together. Florida 1,069 Thomas Cook A seven-night Airtours package including Thomas Cook Airlines flights from Gatwick to Orlando on 29 July plus car hire and room-only accommodation at Disneys All-Star Music Resort. The resort has several pools and a free shuttle to most parts of Walk Disney World. Theme park tickets not included. thomascook.com California 1,499 Trailfinders Includes Lufthansa flights from Heathrow to San Francisco via Frankfurt on 16 August, returning on United from San Diego via Houston. Plus car hire and 11 nights accommodation, mostly room only. The self-drive itinerary includes stops in Monterey, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. trailfinders.com New England 5,000 Scott Dunn The 13-night Lighthouses and Crabshacks New England For The Family itinerary includes British Airways flights from Heathrow to Boston on 28 July. Plus accommodation at Four Seasons Boston, Hidden Pond in Kennebunkport and the White Elephant Village Residence & Inn in Nantucket, along with domestic flights, private transfers and car hire. scottdunn.com Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Engraved high on St James Church, in pride of place above the sandstone pillars facing Hyde Park, is a dedication to former New South Wales Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Such dedications arent exactly tricky to find around Sydney Macquarie was a consummate egotist who revelled in naming things after himself, and made darned sure he was recognised on as many plaques as possible. Macquarie was the governor of the fledgling colony between 1810 and 1821, and in the process became a major figure in Australian history. He is regularly credited as the man who set a distant prison on the course to becoming a country. But on the side of the church is another, easily ignored and almost apologetic plaque: In memory of Francis Greenway, architect of this church, and of the artisans and labourers who erected it. Greenway had designed a few buildings around his native Bristol before he was declared bankrupt in 1809 and pled guilty to forging a financial document in 1812. He was sentenced to transportation, and arrived in Sydney two years later. It was a place where unskilled convict labour was plentiful, but talent was in short supply. It was also something Macquarie desperately needed. He had grand plans, and was determined to transform Sydney from a glorified hovel via infrastructure and major public buildings. So 200 years ago, on 30 March 1816, he appointed Greenway as the colonys Acting Civil Architect. Opposite St James Church is another of Greenways buildings, and perhaps the one that best explains why his appointment was such a controversial step. The Hyde Park Barracks was built to house the convicts who were being sent over from Britain in ever-increasing numbers. The mindset of Macquaries superiors in London was that New South Wales should primarily be a place of punishment, and a deterrent to crime in Britain. There was, however, plenty of opportunity and wealth here too, at least for the exclusives (free settlers), many of whom came over as soldiers and were given large land grants plus free convict labour. Appointing Greenway - a convict - to such a senior position was a huge challenge to a cosy little club that was already getting loudly demonstrative about Macquarie giving land and status to those he had emancipated after serving time. The Hyde Park Barracks is Greenways most famous building, a chunky red brick beast that now houses Sydneys best museum. Until it was repurposed as an immigration centre in 1848, it played temporary home to over 50,000 convicts. Artefacts and documents from this era are used alongside smartly-harnessed technology to build a picture of what life was like here. It covers everything from the grim sea voyage over from Britain to the regularly fraught relationships with local Aboriginal clans. Further up Macquarie Street no prizes for guessing who chose that name is another Greenway effort. Now the Conservatorium of Music, it was originally the stables for Government House, and Greenway went a little overboard on the whimsy. It is surrounded by turrets and other castellations, an absurdly over-the-top design for somewhere to keep horses. This was one of the projects Macquarie decided to keep off the books until it was almost finished; if he knew he wouldnt get permission, he simply did it anyway. Conservatorium of Music (Tourism Australia) A mark of Greenways buildings is that he doesnt stick to one particular style. His first effort for Macquarie and the one that won Greenway his emancipation was the Macquarie Lighthouse at Dunbar Head, 2km south of Sydney Harbours South Head. That has since been rebuilt in much the same style with sturdier materials, but makes heavy use of curves and simple symmetry, with the two cupola-topped side sections either side of the tower giving it a somewhat phallic look. Walking between the Hyde Park Barracks and the Conservatorium shows that Macquaries strategy, often aided by Greenways designs, worked in the longer run. Macquarie Street is almost entirely lined by grand buildings, whether public such as the Mint, Hospital, State Library and Parliament House, or the private sandstone townhouses built by the colonys growing band of wealthy merchants. Further north, just back from thronging, ferry-packed Circular Quay, is an often-overlooked triangle of public space called somewhat predictably - Macquarie Place. There stands an obelisk, designed by Greenway, and engraved with distances to other towns in New South Wales. The obelisk is still the spot from which road distances are measured, and the vast majority of those towns didnt exist before Macquarie came to power. One of those towns is Windsor, stated on the obelisk as 35-and-a-half miles to the north-west. Its a pretty town on the banks of the Hawkesbury River, and home to perhaps Greenways loveliest work. The cornerstone of St Matthews Church was laid by Macquarie in 1817, and when Greenway went up to investigate why the initial construction was going so slowly, he decided the builders werent following his design properly and were using inferior quality bricks. He had the thing razed to the ground, sacked the builders and oversaw everything himself from then on. The stout brickwork, daintified by inset arches, bears a resemblance to the Hyde Park Barracks. The cupola-topped tower gives more than a passing nod to the Macquarie Lighthouse. Youd be hard-pressed to find a better symbol of the Macquarie eras move away from bare minimum rudimentals to bold, future-shaping visions. Macquarie Lighthouse (Shutterstock) Travel essentials Getting there David Whitley flew with Etihad (0345 6081225; etihad.com), which serves Sydney from Heathrow via Abu Dhabi. Economy returns from 725. Staying there The Old Clare (00 61 2 8277 8277; oldclarehotel.com.au) offers doubles from A$270 (123), room only. Visiting there Context Travel (contexttravel.com) offers a historian-led three-hour Making of Sydney walking tour for A$72 (38). More information sydney.com australia.com Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Q Is it possible to claim flight-delay compensation if the plane we were to travel on from Barbados was delayed by five hours coming out due to snow at Manchester airport? Keith Toyne A The European rules on passengers rights stipulate 600 in compensation for long flights operated by EU airlines that are delayed by three hours or more - but carriers can escape liability if they can claim extraordinary circumstances were to blame for the delay. The airline in your case would certainly make that defence. While you might find an enthusiastic lawyer prepared to argue that airlines should be ready for bad weather, and make sure theyve got another plane available to fly you home (eg one sitting on the ground at Gatwick), that strikes me as a preposterous argument and one that does the aviation business - and, ultimately, the passenger - no good at all. Having said that, I trust the airline provided you with a meal while you waited at Barbados airport? The duty of care applies regardless of cause. If, instead, you had buy your own dinner, then you can claim that back from the airline. Every day, our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles readers' questions. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The revelation that steel giant Tata intends to look for a buyer for its UK business was deeply worrying for its workforce and threatens the future of the industry. Some commentators were quick to blame the steel industrys difficulties on high energy prices and the UKs policies on climate change. Such claims are highly misleading. The difficulties facing the steel industry arise overwhelmingly because of overcapacity in world markets, particularly in China. This has led to a fall in steel prices of 60 per cent in the last four years from a peak of over 5,000 yuan/tonne in 2012 (about US$800/tonne) to under 2,000 yuan/tonne at the end of 2015. Globally, weve seen plant closures and reduced steel production, including in China. Production of steel fell on every single continent in 2015, according to the World Steel Association. The impact on the UK steel industry has been compounded by a strengthening of the pound of around 15 per cent in the two years to the end of 2015. Energy costs are an important, but lesser, factor in the equation. The proportion of the cost of steel attributable to energy costs varies depending on the type of steel and the efficiency of the plant. But according to analysis by the Committee on Climate Change, around 6 per cent of production costs for UK blast furnace operation are due to electricity costs. After exemptions and compensation granted to the steel industry are taken into account, then perhaps up to 2 per cent of the total costs of steel production at Port Talbot are due to low-carbon policies. Clearly, this is still relevant, but it is of a different order of magnitude to the impacts of falling steel prices and sterling appreciation. The question that now arises is this: how might new steel plant owners succeed where others have failed? There is growing evidence that tackling climate change provides opportunities for industries and countries around the world. The UK Government undertook an extensive exercise with energy-intensive industries to map out how they can adapt to the changing competitive environment essentially, the challenges and opportunities that come with tackling climate change. Climate change protests around the world Show all 25 1 /25 Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Rome, Italy Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators gather in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world People hold hands to form a human chain during a gathering called by ecologist organisations in Marseille, southern France, to protest against global warming a day ahead of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) held in Paris Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during protests on Place de la Republique, ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during a protest on Place de la Republique ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world A group of people perform during a rally to promote climate protection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Climate change protests around the world A protester sits next to his sign that reads 'Monsanto the Devil Incorporated ' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Environmentalists dance during a protest near the Place de la Republique after the cancellation of a planned climate march following shootings in the French capital, ahead of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21), in Paris, France Reuters Climate change protests around the world People protest next to characters dressed as wild animals during a march against climate change near the Monument to the Revolution, in Mexico City AP Climate change protests around the world Protesters carries a banner while they take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People take part in a protest about climate change around New York City Hall at lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Piazza Castello, Turin, Italy Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a globe during a protest for the global climate day in Lugano, Switzerland Climate change protests around the world Yemenis hold banners as they participate in the Global March for Climate in the old city of Sanaia, Yemen Climate change protests around the world Protesters dressed as Santa Claus take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People gather at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, during the Global Climate March to demand action on climate change telling world leaders on the eve of a crunch UN summit that there is "no planet B". From Sydney to London, humid Rio to chilly New York, at least 683,000 hit the streets in 2,300 events across 175 countries at the weekend, co-organiser and campaign group Avaaz said, calling it the largest number of people to protest over climate change all at once Getty Images Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators participate in the Global March for Climate in Athens, Greece Climate change protests around the world A man wearing a Bernie Sanders mask leads hundreds of demonstrators who marched near City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Patricia Hauser joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a poster of a sick Earth as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators march around City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world A demonstrator holds cut-out of US Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world George Patten holds a sign that reads 'No Fracking Ever!' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Gabrielle Sosa wears 'Rising Sea Levels' sign as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA In developing the UKs future industrial base it is clear that there is no climate benefit in closing industry in the UK if the associated emissions are simply produced elsewhere, with increased imports and at the expense of UK jobs. But we should note that industrial re-location as a result of climate policy has been shown to be very small. The real question is, what are the opportunities for UK industry in a world that is acting together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? The answer lies in correct diagnosis of the current problems, instead of trying to use them to score points in wider debates. It also lies in understanding the nature of the UKs competitive advantage and the jobs, skills and investment needed to realise it. New investors in UK industry are looking at the world as it will be in 2030 and beyond. Given the UKs technological strengths and creativity, if we focus on new technologies, opportunities and ideas, we are likely to find a strong future in the transition to a low-carbon economy. Facilitating that transition is the key to serving both current, and future, UK workers. Lord Stern is chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Lord Deben (John Gummer) is chair of the Committee on Climate Change Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} For a leader who has renounced a lifetime's views on a central question of British politics, Jeremy Corbyn stayed remarkably true to his promise of straight-talking, honest politics in his speech about the European Union at the Senate House on Thursday. He admitted that, "over the years, I have been critical of many decisions taken by the EU", but he likened his disagreements with it to his differences with the Labour Party in the past. "I have been sure that it was right to stay a member" of the party, he said, and pointed out that he had "even managed to do something about changing" the party's direction recently. He skilfully applied that approach to the EU, saying that socialist governments and socialist Members of the European Parliament had made progress in using the EU to bring "investment, jobs and protection for workers, consumers and the environment". He said that the challenges of the future would be better met together in the EU than outside under Boris Johnson as prime minister. If we voted to leave, he said, there would be "a bonfire of rights that Labour governments secured within the EU". Mr Corbyn rightly pointed out that the EU was not the cause of the British steel industry's problems. He asked: "How is it that Germany, Italy, France and Spain have all done so much better at prectecting their steel industries?" And he made this part of a more general argument: "It is sometimes easier to blame the EU, or worse to blame foreigners, than to face up to our own problems." This was refreshing as was his answer to a question about free movement of EU workers: "I don't think too many have come." The speech was a welcome relief to those, including The Independent, who worried that Mr Corbyn's paleoscepticism was holding Labour back from campaigning with conviction for Britain to stay in the EU. He avoided denouncing the EU as a conspiracy by the capitalist elite to impose austerity on some of the continent's periphery, which is undoubtedly the view of some of those close to him, but made instead a pragmatic argument all the more effective for being unexpected for working to reform an imperfect institution from within. The New York City's Employees Retirement System has $51B in assets, $1.5B of which is lodged with hedge funds but maybe for not much longer. A pending vote could see the employees' money withdrawn from hedge funds D.E. Shaw & Co., Brevan Howard Asset Management and Perry Capital, following the lead of the California Public Employees' Retirement System. Members of both systems say that the hedge funds fees are too high and they underperform the market. Hedge funds have underperformed relative to the S&P index for 7 straight years. Fund managers pay themselves 2% of all the money they manage, plus 20% of the returns they earn on that money, if any. "Hedge funds are charging exorbitant fees for high-risk and opaque investments" said New York City Public Advocate Tish James. "Our public employees work hard for their money, and they deserve to know their investments are secure. We can and must invest responsibly and also honor our fiduciary responsibility." NYC Pension Weighs Liquidating $1.5 Billion Hedge Fund Portfolio [Martin Z Braun/Bloomberg] (via Naked Capitalism) Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Much rejoicing last night in Jeremy Corbyn's office, no doubt, at the YouGov poll in The Times suggesting that he is more trusted on the European Union than the Prime Minister. Asked, "Do you trust the statements and claims made by the following people on the EU", 28 per cent said yes, they trusted Corbyn, and only 21 per cent said they trusted David Cameron. This is a reversal of the position in a poll taken in the two days after Cameron concluded his EU renegotiation in February, when Corbyn was trusted by 26 per cent and the Prime Minister by 29 per cent. None of these levels of trust is high, and it is pretty clear what has happened. Most Labour voters are pro-EU and assume that Corbyn is too. Most Conservative voters, on the other hand, want to leave the EU. Now that the inadequacy, in their view, of Cameron's renegotiation has sunk in, they have become less trusting of him on this question. This also explains Boris Johnson's better score, 26 per cent, although he has also lost ground since February from 34 per cent, because he has lost the one-third or so of Tory voters who support the EU.) That assumption by Labour voters that Corbyn supports Britain's membership of the EU is what today's speech is all about. The poll is a vindication of Corbyn's decision to adjust his long-held Euroscepticism. Tony Benn's followers in the Labour Party have long campaigned for Britain to leave the European Community: it was Labour's policy in the manifesto on which Corbyn was first elected in 1983 and he refused until recently to accept Neil Kinnock's reversal of the policy. If Corbyn had stuck to his Euroscepticism, the voters would have been confused and many of his enthusiastic supporters among the Labour Party membership would have been upset: they are all for traditional socialism, but they are also strongly pro-EU. The tone of Corbyn's speech is unlikely to satisfy the more ardent supporters of EU membership in the party, however. Oliver Wright points out that, in the extracts released in advance, Corbyn talks about the Labour Party's position rather than my position and says, as if he were an independent commentator: Labour is convinced that a vote to remain is in the best interests of the people of this country. Although journalists were briefed in advance that the speech would be a personal account of the Labour leader's journey towards arguing for a vote to stay in the EU, it seems that it is no such thing. At least the extracts contain no reference to TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the free-trade agreement that is being negotiated between the EU and the US. One anonymous Labour MP was quoted last week as saying of Corbyn: When he finally gives this speech he has to be unequivocal none of this TTIP rubbish, because its really starting to take hold in the debates Im listening to among Labour members. It is on TTIP that Corbyn's balancing act becomes most precarious. He and John McDonnell regard TTIP as a capitalist conspiracy against everything that is good and pure in the world, and yet he has now decided to make the case that membership of the EU, although it is not perfect, is the best way to work within the system to improve it. Even if they do think that free trade is against the interests of working people, a position contradicted by the last 70 years of world history, their argument that the UK ought to work within the EU to improve TTIP is a persuasive one. Unfortunately, it doesn't persuade many of the activists in the Labour Party who are Corbyn and McDonnell's core power base. When we finally get to see the whole of Corbyn's speech, it will be interesting to see what he says about TTIP, and whether he adds any genuinely personal touches to his account of his journey from wanting out of the European elite's club to his current position of working to make it more democratic and socialist from within. Update: Well, Corbyn mentioned TTIP once, a curious single sentence, saying it was a "huge cause for concern, but we defeated a similar proposal before", the Multilateral Agreement on Investment in 1998. Similarly, he mentioned "austerity" only once, saying he wanted "economic reform" to end it, rather than portraying the EU as its engine. The speech was effective, not least because Corbyn seemed cheerful and relaxed, possibly buoyed by the YouGov poll. It was a clever speech, making the case for engaging with a social Europe protecting workers' rights. He portrayed the "Leave" campaign as the conspiracy of the rich, offshore elite. And he brushed off problems sometimes attributed to the EU by saying that other EU countries protected their steel industries, and saying: "It is sometimes easier to blame the EU, or worse to blame foreigners, than to face up to our own problems." The personal touch was limited, but worked well. He said he had had "a few differences with the direction the Labour Party's taken", but was always sure it was "right to stay a member" "some might say I've even managed to do something about changing that direction". And the final sentence was at last not about why "the Labour Party" had taken a pro-EU position, but, "That is why I am backing Britain in Europe." He shared the stage with Alan Johnson, head of the Labour In campaign, for questions. Johnson said he was satisfied, and insisted that the power of the convert would have special impact. This performance certainly must have done a little to help the cause of Britain's EU membership. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jeremy Corbyns speech in support of membership of the European Union will have been regarded as better late than never by much of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Labour grandees have been prodding him since his coronation as Labour leader to campaign more vigorously to remain in an institution which he clearly disagrees with. It is a shame that the party machine has managed to quash his Bennite tendencies on the matter. After all, he voted against membership in 1975 and opposed the subsequent Maastricht and Lisbon treaties. Considering how many votes Labour lost to Ukip in the general election, not to mention the fact he is renowned for his principled politics, Corbyn could be doing marginally better in polls and approval ratings if he decided to stick to his guns. His natural Euroscepticism reflects public opinion across Britain more closely than the views of his colleagues on the soft left. Recommended Read more The Panama Papers could put Bernie Sanders in the White House Corbyns hands, however, were tied. The consensus among the Parliamentary Labour Party and party membership is that an In vote on 23 June is the right way to go. A break from that could have been fatal for what is left of party unity. That does not mean the leftist base upon which Corbyn has built his power will follow him blindly into a position they and he used to stand against. There is a left-wing case for leaving the European Union, and Corbyn would have been the perfect candidate to make the democratic case for Brexit. Alas, the public will be ruthlessly stripped of the proper debate they deserve. In Corbyns own words, TTIP negotiations are rooms on either side of the Atlantic stuffed full of highly effective corporate lobbyists doing their best to develop their own interests. Over the summer of 2015 we saw the Troikas brutal treatment of Greece and according to Yanis Varoufakis, there was a point blank to refusal to engage in economic arguments and that he might as well have sung the Swedish national anthem. If that is the approach the European Union is committed to, why should we be confident that we can work together and negotiate with Europe? Labours official position on Europe is short-sighted and frail. The safety net of the EU could be more desirable than a rampant Conservative government, but the idea that were going to have right-wing national governments forever and need a neoliberal Europe as a mainstay for workers rights is disingenuous and defeatist. Kate Hoey, Labour MP for Vauxhall and co-founder of the Grassroots Out campaign, is correct to state that most of the rights British workers enjoy were fought for by the British labour movement, not doled out by the EU. What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Show all 5 1 /5 What's the European Parliament ever done for us? What's the European Parliament ever done for us? A cap on the amount of hours an employer can make you work The Working Time directive provides legal standards to ensure the health and safety of employees in Europe. Among the many rules are a working week of a maximum 48 hours, including overtime, a daily rest period of 11 hours in every 24, a break if a person works for six hours or more, and one day off in every seven. It also includes provisions for paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year Getty Images What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping the people of Britain to avoid smoking In 2014 MEPs passed the Tobacco Products Directive strengthening existing rules on the manufacture, production and presentation of tobacco products. This includes things like reduced branding, restrictions on products containing flavoured tobacco, health warnings on cigarette packets and provisions for e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping you to make the right choices with your food Thanks to the European Parliament, UK consumers have access to more information than ever about their food and drink. This includes amount of fat, and how much of it is saturated, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and so on. It also includes portion sizes and guideline daily amount information so people can make informed choices about their diet. All facts must be clear and easy to understand What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Two year guarantees and 14-day returns policy for all products Consumers across the EU have access to a number of rights, from things which are potentially very useful, to things which used to be annoying. For example, shoppers in the UK receive a two-year guarantee on all products, and a 14-day period to change their minds and return a purchase, these things are useful www.PeopleImages.com-licence restrictions apply What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Keeping your air nice and fresh (and safe) Believe it or not, although the situation is improving, some areas of the UK have appalling air quality. A report by the Royal College of Physicians released on 23 February says 40,000 deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution in the UK every year. Air pollution is linked to a number of illnesses and conditions, from Asthma to diabetes and dementia. The report estimates the costs to British business and the health service add up to 20 billion every year I can admit that Corbyns vision for a social Europe is compelling, desirable and persuasive. But progressives need to consider that the utopian Europe he is describing isnt on the ballot in June. The rise of Corbyn over the summer of 2015 was based on a rejection of incremental change to a corrupt, debauched system and laying the foundation for a new and better path instead. We should apply this same leap of faith to the EU referendum. The Europe Corbyn describes is nothing but a naive pipedream and he knows it. We have seen, time and time again, that the undemocratic configuration of the EU means that the union is built to resist a radical, progressive deviation from neoliberalism. And that is why, despite being an ardent supporter of his leadership, I wont be following Corbyn on 23 June. Ill be voting to leave. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} There is indeed a lot wrong with the "democracy of the EU, but then there is also a great deal wrong with the "democracy" of this country. We have a government which claims it has a mandate for its ideologically driven dismantling of the welfare state when in reality less than 25 per cent of the electorate said they wanted them to be in power. Every year thousands of statutory instruments come into effect with little or no scrutiny by our elected representatives. Anyone who doubts the insidiousness effect should remember that they are not all tweaks to how much insulation you should have in your loft. Significant new laws have been introduced using them such instruments, including benefit cuts which were not in the Conservative manifesto, and so cannot be said to have a mandate from even 24 per cent of the electorate. A bit of reading about the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act and "skeleton Bills" should chill the blood of anybody who believes in democracy. A problem with democracy in the EU is no more of a reason to leave it than the problem with ours is a reason to emigrate. Mike Perry Ickenham, Middx Does anyone know when Jeremy Corbyn changed his view on the EU and exactly why? What unexpected miracle has Mr Corbyn perceived the EU to have delivered in the past two years which has swayed him? What possible excuse is there for being anti EU in 1975, and throughout the 80s, 90s and noughties, then changing your mind to being pro EU recently, let alone after the advent of TTIP? Hell be extolling the virtues of Global Capitalism next. Ronald Olden Machynlleth, Powys So my grandchildren are going to be asked to persuade me to vote to stay in Europe. Why? Poor old dear, I am clueless about the implications. If I just shut my eyes and vote which of course, being elderly is what I am sure to do. You can hardly expect someone of my age to be capable of weighing up the pros and cons. And which of my 12 grandchildren do I listen to? I very much doubt that they will all agree. Gillian Cook Market Harborough Controversial view on Armenian history Robert Fisks article on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is controversial, to say the least. Accusing Yerevan of taking it back (Nagorno-Karabakh) because it contained oldest churches does not stand any serious scrutiny. The war against Nagorno-Karabakh was unleashed by the authorities in Baku to suppress the legitimate right of its people to self-determination. At the early stage of the conflict Armenians from around the world volunteered to render their support to the struggling people of Nagorno-Karabakh, who were protecting their families and homes against joint Soviet-Azerbaijani aggression. Three decades on they still suffer from Azeri military attacks. President Aliev uses billions of pounds from oil revenues to continue buying arms and ammunition to fight Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. This indicates that the nature of Azerbaijani dictatorial regime and policy has not undergone any change. If Mr Fisk believes that by defending their human and political rights, and protecting their families in Karabakh, Armenians were avenging for the Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, he could similarly arrive at a conclusion that attacking Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh today, with the full support of Turkeys leadership, is a continuation of the Armenian Genocide. Drawing a false connection between these two tragic episodes of the history would undermine different political causes of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Armenian Genocide. It is surprising that an author with solid historical background in the region would come up with such distorted factual material to support superficial judgements and conclusions. We would be happy to provide Mr Fisk, who was apparently misled on this issue, with a large body of evidence on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Hayarpi Drmeyan Embassy of Armenia London Listen to the data on Muslim communities I find it hard to believe that some of your learned writers are saying that the findings of the ICM survey which Trevor Philips uses to come to his conclusions are untrue. Well, they are what the survey conducted says. Many like me have for decades observed the lack of integration of the Muslims into mainstream Britain. The evidence is everywhere on our streets and we must be blind to think otherwise. Dr Raghbir Dhillon London Charity begin at home I disagreed with David Cameron when he pledged to take in 20, 000 Syrian refugees. The announcement by minister Richard Harrington that the resettlement scheme would cost at least 589 million up to 2021 confirms my fear. Britains foreign aid budget for 2015 was 12. 2bn, the second highest out of 28 countries. In Scotland children with a devastating muscle-wasting condition have been refused drugs which could help them because they are too expensive. The SNP-dominated Scottish Government can, however, find 37m to give to Malawi. Much of the foreign aid budget ends up in the hands of corrupt politicians with some projects beset by theft, corruption and flawed accounting. In 2015 the Malawi president proposed buying a private jet with our foreign aid. Charity should begin at home. Clark Cross Linlithgow Journalists reticent to share their own tax affairs Last Monday, David Cameron said the tax returns of journalists, and presumably media barons, might have to be made public. By Wednesday the Panama Papers were no longer on the front pages. A totally coincidence I'm sure. Mick Hall Grays The publishing of personal tax returns in the interest of transparency is all very well, but I assume that the last place we will find any undeclared income is on a tax return. John Coppendale Cambridge State of affairs Much attention has been paid to the relationship between UK Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale, and a sex worker. However, this is a story with more serious overtones, and one wonders if the sex worker is receiving support and counselling after finding out that she was having a relationship with an MP. Alex Orr Edinburgh Gardai are quizzing two men about a suspected New IRA bomb plot after explosives were found in a car in Dublin' rush hour Two men are being questioned about a suspected New IRA bomb plot after explosives were discovered in a car just after rush hour at a busy junction in Dublin. The pair - in their early 30s and early 40s - are being detained at separate Garda stations in the city as the suspected explosives have been sent for forensic analysis. It is not yet known if the material is home-made or commercial grade. But Garda sources confirmed they are linking the find to the dissident republican group styling itself the New IRA. The renegade faction, which opposes the peace process, last month claimed responsibility for the bombing which injured prison officer Adrian Ismay. Mr Ismay died 11 days after suffering serious leg injuries when explosives detonated underneath his van as he drove to work from his east Belfast home. The latest find was made when armed Garda detectives stopped a Skoda Fabia on Dublin's Naas Road, close to the Long Mile Road junction, at around 7:30pm last night. Army bomb experts were despatched to make the area safe. Two suspects arrested at the scene remain at Ballyfermot and Ronanstown Garda stations. They are being questioned under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. The so-called New IRA is a small but deadly organisation which has also been linked to separate killings of another prison officer and a policeman. Its members are said to be drawn from Omagh, Coalisland and the Toomebridge and Ballyronan areas along the shore of Lough Neagh, and in counties Monaghan and Louth in the Republic of Ireland. The two suspects arrested in Dublin both have addresses in the city. Senior police officers on both sides of the border have concerns dissidents may be planning attacks to mark the centenary this year of the Easter Rising. The rebellion ultimately led to the partition of the island, and the creation of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Allied Properties Reit is joining the office-construction boom in Canada's biggest city, shifting its focus from remodelling historic buildings as the appetite for modern perks in new spaces intensifies. "The demand for space in downtown Toronto is incredibly strong and incredibly deep," Michael Emory, Allied's founder and chief executive officer, said in an interview. "Our occupancy is at about 97pc -- we have no large space to lease. The only way we have to accommodate larger space is to build." The real estate investment trust is currently marketing and leasing at least three major projects in Toronto that span 2.3m sq ft, the most new office space ever for the 28-year-old company, said Emory, 60, sitting behind a long marble table in the glass-walled boardroom of the company's Toronto headquarters. Allied is taking advantage of the exodus from the older towers in the city's financial core. The shift in strategy comes as the reit faces the challenge of growth in Toronto: the historic buildings it targets are in limited supply, while foreign companies are driving up land and office prices. Meanwhile, the slide in oil prices means Emory may need to cut rental rates for future tenants of its Telus Sky tower in Calgary. Allied's stock is up 16pc this year, compared with an 8.9pc gain for the Bloomberg Canadian REIT Index. One of the reit's biggest projects is The Well, a C$1.4bn (1bn) project in Toronto's west end. The 7.6 acre (3.1 hectare) site, currently surrounded by condominium towers and trendy restaurants, is set to become 3.1m sq ft of residential, office, and retail space, the largest private mixed-use project in the country. Allied is in talks with six potential office tenants and Emory expects to lock at least one down by year-end. The company is selling the right to build the residential portion to two companies, according to two people with knowledge of the deal. The price will be close to covering the C$136m Allied paid for the land with its partners, RioCan Reit and Diamond Corporation, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. "It's not on the PATH, which is one of the challenges," Emory said, referring to the underground walkway that connects office dwellers with shops, banks and public transportation. "On the other hand, it's in a neighbourhood that has much more texture, character and appeal than the monolithic uniform core." Allied announced on Monday that technology firm Shopify Inc. has committed to 112,000 sq ft, or 44pc, of the office space at the reit's King & Portland project. The space will accommoda te 600 to 700 employees of the Ottawa-based startup. Employment in Toronto rose 3.4pc in March from a year earlier, compared with 0.7pc for Canada as a whole. Emory is seeing enough demand in Toronto that he's optimistic of filling the 1.2m-sq ft Union Centre, a two-minute walk from the subway station of the same name that carries thousands of downtown workers daily. Allied is talking to several large tenants who could take as much as 600,000 sq ft, he said. Allied is wooing office tenants at a time when they're leaving older buildings in search of newer digs, according to brokerage CBRE. The vacancy rate for downtown Toronto class B buildings, or properties that are older and have fewer modern touches, jumped to 7.8pc in the first quarter, the highest since 2006. Developers of new space are taking those tenants, keeping vacancies for top-quality buildings relatively unchanged around 5pc, despite 1.1m sq ft hitting the market in that period. Among the perks offered in new buildings: 70-foot-high lobby ceilings, more natural light via floor-to-ceiling windows, and the ability to integrate unique touches, such as the reclaimed wood benches in Allied's headquarters. The outlook is different in Calgary, which has been slammed by the oil downturn. Allied has about 10pc of its portfolio by square footage in the city, though only a few energy tenants, said Emory. One is Cenovus Energy Inc., with about 30,000 sq ft. "Calgary is going through a very severe downturn in the office market -- full stop. Everybody knows it," Emory said. "The biggest issue for us in Calgary is Telus Sky." Allied is lowering its forecast rent from future tenants at the C$440m, 60-story Telus Sky by 20pc, cutting the return on the building to 6pc from a previously disclosed 7.2pc, Emory said. The mixed-use tower, under construction and set for delivery in 2018, includes 450,000 square feet of office space, only 38pc of which is committed to Telus Corporation. "It's not a train smash, but it's an indication of the kind of erosion that's possible," Emory said. Although Allied isn't slowing down construction or considering walking away from it, Emory has paused on actively looking for additional tenants because the average market rents are too low. "This isn't going to be a V-shaped recovery," he said. (Bloomberg) 1 Lapps Quay was used as a banking hall for more than a century. Cork City Council is seeking a buyer for 1 Lapp's Quay in the centre of the city. The council has retained Lisney to manage the sale of the property, which is on the market with an asking price of some 950,000. The historic building, which dates from 1842, was for years used by the Cork Savings Bank. It was then part of the Permanent TSB branch network before closing in 2012. The property is in a high profile position at the corner of Lapp's Quay and Parnell Place in Cork's central business district, overlooking the River Lee and opposite City Hall. Internally the building comprises what Lisney describe as a "magnificent" three storey high former banking hall together with offices and large boardroom while an interconnecting three storey building at 16 Parnell Place provides a further three storeys of office accommodation. "There are many spectacular features throughout including its unique ceiling, doorway, staircase and imposing boardroom," say Lisney. The entire property extends to a net internal floor area of 707 sq m (7,610 sq ft). There is also a further opportunity to develop a two storey extension to the rear of the building subject to planning permission which would potentially improve the functionality of the building without detracting from its protected status. Lisney believe a significant opportunity exists for an appropriate re-imagining or re-use of the building in this high profile central location in the heart of Cork city centre. Through the agents, the council is seeking offers from interested parties who will also be asked to consider the building and outline their proposals for its future use. In recent times footfall and activity in the area has been driven significantly by the Bus Station and Cork City Council's Park and Ride scheme which terminates at Lapp's Quay together with the more recent enhancements of the public realm at Parnell Place have also raised the profile of the area and the introduction of the public bike scheme has brought additional footfall and activity. A number of different uses have been suggested for the property in recent years. Among them has been potentially a banquet hall or corporate headquarters. Other suggestions have included a tourism base or even being used again as a banking hall. That is considered unlikely at present however. The Cork retail market has been improving steadily in recent years, and interest in the city centre has been strong over the past 12 months, with vacancy rates falling across the board. The term "vulture fund" is a metaphor used to compare investment funds to the behaviour of vultures "preying" on debtors in financial distress by purchasing the debt at a discount to make a large gain. The "vulture fund" industry in Ireland began in 2011, with the sale of 400m of loans by Bank of Scotland's. By 2013 we'd seen the emergence of whole loan residential mortgage portfolio trades. Since then massive sales by Nama, IBRC's liquidators and Ulster Bank all added the trend. In total, Ireland has witnessed completed portfolio trades of 62.9bn. Further loan sales will continue in 2016. Deutsche Bank, Apollo, Cerberus, Lone Star, CarVal and Goldman Sachs emerged as the main purchasers. New investor money regulations, introduced in 2015, and due to be implemented from April 2016, relate specifically to the administration and management of loans to Irish individuals and SMEs in order to ensure these entities follow statutory protection requirements when loans are transferred to an unregulated purchaser. While this legislation has an effect for all servicing agents operating in the market, it is unlikely to be significant. So what are the pros and cons of dealing with a vulture fund, and what is the best way to deal with them? The Pros They are fiercely commercial and pragmatic, and can arrive at quick decisions, unlike some of the mainstream banks who can struggle with concepts such as "moral hazard". The biggest pro, from a borrower's perspective, is that they are prepared to actually write off debt, close the file and move on. Just because a bank sells a loan does not weaken the contractual position of the borrower. The fund buys the loan with its existing terms and conditions. The Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act 2011 gives protection to consumers. In addition, the full range of Personal Insolvency and other legal debt resolution mechanisms remain fully in place. The Cons A borrower with a mainstream bank might be given some credit for being a loyal customer, absolutely no credit is given for such loyalty by a vulture fund. Like vultures in the wild, these funds have a stronger stomach to take on more difficult cases. They have no concern about maintaining jobs in rural areas or trying to develop a long term relationship with customers. Their objective is simple: obtain the maximum return. They can be faster to issue proceedings and appoint receivers. I would not use the term "aggressive" to describe their conduct, as such a term could imply an element of unprofessionalism. I would describe their conduct as being very "tough", very clinical and professional. An issue for some borrowers is the timescale funds operate to. The typical life cycle of a fund is just five years, so borrowers will not be given an extended period of time to pay back the loans. Accordingly, some borrowers are effectively "pushed" into insolvency. Having a loan sold to a vulture fund can be very frustrating and stressful for the borrower. Once a loan is put into a "Data Room" it can be as long as another 12 months before the borrower gets an opportunity to sit down with a decision maker. The new decision maker will have no prior knowledge of the issues surrounding the loan or personalities involved. The vulture fund obtains only a copy of the facility letter, a copy of the mortgage deed and current contact details for the borrower. The borrower will need to update the fund on any issues arising, and re-commence any settlement negotiations that had been previously going on. dealing with a vulture fund Some debtors feel that the funds should accept what they paid for a loans, with, say, an added 10pc for a profit margin. Unfortunately, the funds do not operate on that basis. Irish vulture funds can be categorised into two types: the "short haul" who have purchased commercial debt, and the "long haul" who have purchased "home" property mortgages. "Long haul" funds act much like mainstream banks, given the constraints imposed by the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process. They are further constrained by the recent amendments to the Personal Insolvency Act 2012, whereby the creditors' previous "veto" to Personal Insolvency Arrangements ("PIA") has been considerably weakened. We do find it surprising the number of borrowers and professional advisors who are unaware of the benefits of Personal Insolvency Arrangements when it comes to dealing with the banks and funds. Short haul" funds are different. They have a tight timeframe and are less patient. Most of the loans bought are already in default, which enables them to "call in" the loans almost immediately. One of the first steps that any borrower should consider is whether they are eligible for a "no veto" type PIA. The new legislation allows debtors to utilise Examinership-type voting principles in a certain type of personal insolvency. If the borrower has no unencumbered assets and does not have high earnings, it should be possible to negotiate a quick settlement with a "short haul" fund. However, few of the "long haul" funds will do debt forgiveness on a family home: unless the borrowers are prepared to sell. Borrowers with assets and/or a high income will face a tougher battle! Many cases are resolved by presenting a proposal that shows how the fund can achieve a better realisation than from a bankruptcy of the borrower. On the basis that the fund acts commercially, it should accept such a proposal. Any proposal should address any tax advantages. For example, we frequently have cases in which a capital gains tax liability arising on the sale of one property can be sheltered by a capital loss on the sale of another property. In isolated cases funds reject "reasonable" proposals, perhaps because they lack full understanding of the complexities of the security documentation and the importance of the borrower's co-operation in selling the assets. We sometimes come across cases where the very busy decision maker has only read, say, the last six months correspondence, and has missed nuances in earlier correspondence, and therefore arrives at a flawed decision. Jim Stafford is a partner with Friel Stafford Sean Quinn is in talks with the US investment funds regarding concerns he has about protecting the company and jobs in the area There is little doubt now that a split has emerged between former billionaire Sean Quinn and the management team that helped buy back a chunk of his former businesses in the Ballyconnell/Derrylin area. Quinn returned to the company as a consultant after the cement, plastics and packaging businesses were bought in late 2014. A consortium of three international investment funds backed by a management team made up of former Quinn executives and local businessmen bought the businesses for 98m from the old Quinn Group. Quinn is neither a director or shareholder in the business but is paid 500,000 as a consultant. The Quinn family confirmed that the businessman is in talks with the three US investment funds regarding concerns he has about protecting the company and jobs in the area. This is a different way of saying, he isn't happy with how things are being run. It has been reported that his advisers told management they would like Quinn to be a shareholder. This breakdown in relationships has happened at a time when there has been an increase in reports of intimidation and criminal damage to parts of the former Quinn business. The Quinn family once again last weekend condemned all negative activity in the area. Sean Quinn has previously condemned attacks in the area saying it was not being done in his name. It is far from clear what Sean Quinn can do to get back on the share register of his former business. He would have to buy out the US investors. Having just come out of bankruptcy, he would have to raise the money from banks and he may not be a bankable proposition for that kind of deal. His family retain what is believed to be sizeable wealth, but that is tied down by the courts pending the outcome of complex legal action by IBRC against the family and counter legal actions against the state. They cannot reduce assets below certain levels pending the legal actions. IBRC is pursuing the family for 2.8bn and is suing some family members over a scheme to put assets beyond its reach. The family claims that 2.3bn of the loans were illegal and is suing the State for the loss of their business, while also claiming they don't actually owe the money. If both sides go ahead with the legal actions, it could lead to a long drawn out and potentially very expensive series of court battles. Settling the actions might be very unpopular politically given the nature of some of the allegations made against the Quinns and the ultimate cost to the exchequer of the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank. Without a government, there is unlikely to be a settlement. Even with a new government, the question of settlement talks with the Quinns could be very sensitive. While the cases have not been heard or settled, Sean Quinn could not rely on financing a buyout of his old businesses through the financial backing of his children. When the local consortium bought out the business, backed by the US funds, there was a belief in some quarters that they were very much in Sean Quinn's camp, had his full support. Some thought they would simply sell the business to him at some point in the future. An examination of the articles of association of the company that owns the cement business shows just how difficult that would be. Quinn Industrial Holdings is 88pc owned by the US investors through a Luxembourg firm and 22pc by a company called QBRC. QBRC is owned by a group of local businessmen and former Quinn Group management. The US investors own the powerful voting A ordinary shares while QBRC owns the non-voting B shares. Throughout the document the B shareholders are referred to as the managers. The company's incredibly complex, yet clearly defined, set of company rules set out a raft of scenarios around individuals who hold those shares or hold them in trust for family members. The rules are completely watertight in preventing any of those managers from transferring shares to anybody other than a family member without permission. It sets out to prevent a situation where someone becomes a de facto indirect controller of those shares from the outside. It clearly states that if one of the B share owners transfers his shares to an outsider, all of the other managers are legally obliged to inform the US investors as soon as they become aware of it. If such a transfer happens, it can trigger a compulsory purchase of that person's shares by the US investors for a nominal amount of money - basically nothing. If the US investors decide to sell some or all of their shares to a third party, that third party must offer to acquire the same portion of shares from the managers. And if the US investors decide to sell, to what they call a "drag-on purchaser", the managers must agree to sell also. They will receive at least the same price per share as the investment funds will in the event of a sale, but the managers' hands are completely tied in relation to what they can and cannot do. If Sean Quinn wants to buy or control a single share in that company, he cannot do it without the express permission of the US investors. The local management have day-to-day control of running the business but not votes at the board meetings and are completely tied down. The former Quinn group, renamed Aventas, has been breaking up the old Quinn businesses through sell-offs. Accounts show that it sold the cement and plastics business to the investors for 98m and made a loss on disposal of 31m. It sold the radiators business to Tony Mullins for just 3m after clearing its debts 21m of debt. It sold the glass business to a Spanish group for 410m which included 347m of debt and 63m for the equity. It sold its stake in Laya Healthcare for 22.4m and Gortmullan Energy for 7.5m. At the end of 2014 it still had outstanding debts of 549m having paid back 373m to lenders. The financial hit here has been substantial as Aventas management tried to operate and break-up the group in the face of dozens of criminal incidents of arson and intimation, and sabotage. Aventas chief executive Paul O'Brien may have been well paid, receiving 1.3m in remuneration in 2014, but had his car set on fire outside his home as he slept. The Quinn saga still has several turns to take. Will a new government sanction a settlement of outstanding litigation? Can Quinn raise the money to buy out some or all of the former cement business from the US investors? The US funds will want a premium on what they paid. However, if the current spate of incidents continues, there may not be many other willing buyers. Undoubtedly the recent spike in intimidation in the area reduces the number of potential buyers and the value of these companies. Not everybody is prepared to risk millions buying into that sort of trouble. How long can Quinn remain as a 500,000-per-year consultant to the business if relations with the management team have turned sour? Compromises could be found, but given the way the business is structured, the US investors are holding all of the cards. Senators Richard Burr [R-NC] and Dianne Feinstein [D-CA] finally introduced their long-rumored anti-crypto bill, which will ban US companies from making products with working cryptography, mandating that US-made products have some way to decrypt information without the user's permission. There is widespread (that is, virtually universal) consensus among cryptographers that there is no way to make cryptography that works all the time, except when there is a warrant for the content it scrambles, whereupon it catastrophically fails. Senator Ron Wyden [D-OR], who is generally a hero (on every subject except TPP) has vowed to block this by filibustering it when it reaches the floor. Bills mandating broken crypto are all the rage, from Canada's Bill C-51 to the UK's Snoopers Charter to Hungary's constitutional reforms. The good news is that they're incredibly hard to pass. In California, Jim Cooper's [D-9] bill to ban effective cryptography in Silicon Valley's home turf was just resoundingly defeated. Meanwhile, Senator Ron Wyden has renewed his opposition to the bill by going a step further and promising to filibuster if the bill is brought to the floor: "The encryption debate is about having more security or having less security. This legislation would effectively outlaw Americans from protecting themselves. It would ban the strongest types of encryption and undermine the foundation of cybersecurity for millions of Americans. This flawed bill would leave Americans more vulnerable to stalkers, identity thieves, foreign hackers and criminals. And yet it will not make us safer from terrorists or other threats. Bad actors will continue to have access to encryption, from hundreds of sources overseas. Furthermore, this bill will empower repressive regimes to enact similar laws and crack down on persecuted minorities around the world," Wyden said. "Americans who value their security and liberty must join together to oppose this dangerous proposal. I intend to oppose this bill in committee and if it reaches the Senate floor, I will filibuster it." Burr & Feinstein Officially Release Anti-Encryption Bill, As Wyden Promises To Filibuster It [Mike Masnick/Techdirt] Victory: California Smartphone Anti-Encryption Bill Dies in Committee [Rainey Reitman/EFF] (Image: Senator Ron Wyden in B n' W., Sam Craig, CC-BY-SA) Traders work at the post where Peabody Energy is traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Photo: Reuters Europe's equities are on track for their biggest rally in a month on optimism that China's economy is stabilising. By mid-afternoon in Dublin, the ISEQ Overall Index was up 2pc, or 125.58 points, to end the trading session at 6,298.74. The leaders on the Dublin market by mid-afternoon included Paddy Power Betfair, which increased 3.8pc to 120.85, while packaging giant Smurfit Kappa increased by 3.1pc to 24.14. On the other side of the board, the laggards included Dalata, which slipped 0.4pc to 4.59, while Glanbia had fallen 0.1pc to 17.52. Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 2.3pc at 3:08pm in London, with more than 500 of its members rallying. The gauge is extending a rebound after posting four consecutive weeks of losses, the longest run since 2014. Commodity producers - one of the only industry groups up for the year - led gains after data showed that China's exports jumped the most in a year and declines in imports narrowed. The UK market, rich in miners, advanced, with the FTSE 100 Index turning positive for the year. Lenders, which suffered the most in the first quarter, headed for their biggest four-day rebound in almost two months. "It seems investors' appetite is coming back," said Benno Galliker, a trader at Luzerner Kantonalbank in Lucerne, Switzerland. "The commodity sector is well supported after the good numbers out of China, and the talks getting close to a solution in Italy give a little support to the market too." Britain's FTSE 100 has been Europe's market leader this year, helped by the surge in commodity companies and a weaker pound. It joined developed markets from New Zealand, Canada and the US in erasing annual losses. The benchmark index advanced 1.7pc yesterday afternoon, with Anglo American, Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton up more than 5.8pc. Lenders Standard Chartered and Barclays also rallied more than 5.8pc. Berkeley Group Holdings rose 2.8pc after London's biggest home builder won approval to develop as many as 652 homes at a parking lot in the west of the city. Italy's FTSE MIB Index was the biggest gainer among major markets in western Europe, up 3.7pc. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna and UniCredit rallied more than 8.8pc. The nation came up with a plan to help the troubled firms, which led the industry down at the beginning of the year. France's Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank also jumped. VivaAerobus, the Mexican airline that's almost 50pc-owned by Declan Ryan's Irelandia Aviation, is drafting a fresh blueprint for a stock market flotation after it pulled plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in early 2014. And Mr Ryan - a son of the late aviation finance pioneer Tony Ryan - is also eyeing opportunities in Cuba. The Caribbean island is on the cusp of a major tourism boom as it is in the process of normalising relations with the United States after decades of isolation. Declan Ryan also once served as chief executive of Ryanair. VivaAerobus, with a low-cost model, is Mexico's fourth biggest carrier with a 12pc market share. It was established in 2006 as a joint venture between Irelandia - a Ryan family investment vehicle - and Mexico's Grupo IAMSA, the country's biggest bus company. It currently has 23 aircraft that are in service and is almost finished transitioning its fleet to Airbus A320s. It also has 40 Airbus A320-200neos on order. It made a $25m profit last year, reversing a $7.6m loss it posted in 2014. Irelandia, which is based in Dublin, has a track record of investing in startup airlines. It has a 46.1pc stake in VivaAerobus. Its investments have included stakes in Singapore-based Tiger Airways, as well as US-based Allegiant. VivaAerobus was about to pull the trigger on a stock market flotation in February 2014, but cancelled the planned listing just as the shares were due to be priced, because of stock market volatility. The stock was due to start trading the next day. VivaAerobus had intended to raise up to 3bn pesos (165m at the time) and use the proceeds to expand its fleet, reduce debt and for general corporate purposes. About 21pc of the shares that were due to be sold in the offering were to have been offloaded by the existing investors. Mr Ryan told news agency Bloomberg that the flotation would now be considered for early 2017, depending on market conditions. He said the airline is currently studying how much it could raise. VivaAerobus carried 4.5 million passengers in 2015, which was 13.7pc more than in 2014. It has been focusing expansion on the domestic Mexican market. It currently only serves one international route, with a service between Houston, Texas, and Monterrey. The airline said late last year that it would consider additional international routes and US alliances. Mr Ryan added that the Viva investment group, which also has a stake in VivaColombia, is now eyeing other opportunities in South and Central America. New services could also be branded under the Viva name. VivaColombia has a 20pc share its home market, according to Mr Ryan. VivaColombia is backed by Grupo IAMSA, Irelandia, Colombia financial and construction group Bolivar, as well as seed investors Grupo Fast. The internationally-recognised CAPA aviation research group said this week that VivaAerobus could elevate its position in the Mexican market if there is enough demand to sustain the growth plans of the country's largest airlines. The top three carriers in the market are Aeromexico, Interjet, and Volaris. "With a newer fleet of Airbus narrow bodies, markets in Central America or the Caribbean could be of interest to VivaAerobus, and allow it some needed network diversity to make it less dependent on Mexico's domestic market," according to analysts at CAPA. (Additional reporting: Bloomberg) Homeowners are paying thousands of euro extra for their mortgage each year because they find it too complex and difficult to switch to another lender. A combination of concern that they will not get a better deal and the complexity of the switching process means most people do not consider it. However, new research shows savings of 2,000 a year can be achieved by families who manage to get a better variable mortgage rate. The difficulty in switching has also been highlighted as one of the key reasons why mortgage rates in this country remain so high. The banks would be forced into providing more competition, making deep cuts in variable rates for existing customers, if switcher levels were higher. Research commissioned by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, and seen by the Irish Independent, shows just 2pc of those surveyed had switched their mortgage over the past five years. And it indicates that just one in seven mortgage holders has ever considered switching, or has actively engaged with the mortgage lender in the past five years. Nervous Many are nervous about switching their mortgage to another lender because they don't believe they will get a better deal. This is the main reason people fail to switch their mortgage, despite the fact that savings of 2,000 a year can be made by getting a better variable rate. Small numbers have compared mortgage offers in the market. Some are on good value tracker mortgages, and it would not make sense for them to switch to a variable. However, other major reasons cited for not comparing other banks' rates, or switching mortgage provider, are: People think there would not be any benefit from moving provider. The family already has a good value tracker rate, or is tied into a fixed rate. It is difficult to find out which provider is the cheapest. They have never really considered it. The research, which was carried out by Behaviour and Attitudes with 1,001 adults, also found mortgage holders would like a quicker and more efficient switcher process. This is something the Central Bank has promised to look at, however, it has also admitted it is not in a position to force banks to lower variable rates. A separate Central Bank study estimates that one in five mortgage holders can save by switching. An analysis of 500,000 mortgages found that in some cases, switching could produce savings of 10,000 over the lifetime of the loan. The numbers switching are low compared with the peak of the property market in 2008, but have picked up recently. Deal Consumer campaigner Brendan Burgess said the mortgage switcher market was starting to take off again. However, he also outlined some of the impediments families face when it comes to switching for a better deal. "The data shows that Irish borrowers will go to the trouble of switching mortgages if they can and if there are savings to be made. "But if they are stuck in negative equity, or if there are no savings to be made, they won't bother," he said. An artists impression of a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, an area which the Russian billionaire wants spaceships from Earth to explore. Those hoping that Yuri Milner, the Russian billionaire who's backed various internet and space ventures, had called last Tuesday night's press conference in New York to announce that his search for extraterrestrials had achieved contact were left disappointed. No aliens have been found - yet. While Milner's Breakthrough Listen project has achieved no such breakthrough in the first few months of its existence, this has not deterred the 54-year-old technology entrepreneur and investor from continuing to commit portions of his fortune in service of quixotic aerospace research. Milner, along with the famed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, unveiled another wildly ambitious research project on Tuesday at an event at One World Trade Centre in New York. Breakthrough Starshot is funded by a $100m grant from Milner with the goal of finding faraway planets capable of sustaining life. The grant comes in addition to the $100m he put toward the Breakthrough Listen project last year, which will search the universe for intelligent beings over the next 10 years. For the new endeavour, Milner's team plans to develop tiny, unmanned spaceships - "light-propelled nanocrafts", as Breakthrough calls them - designed to fly into the Alpha Centauri star system on a research mission that will take at least 24 years to complete. Milner said the idea isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. "It's doable in our lifetime," he insisted in an interview. He has recruited a team that includes former NASA scientists and engineers. Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg will join the project's board of directors. Tech billionaires are increasingly turning their attention to ambitious space projects, often with impressive results. Last Friday, Elon Musk's aerospace company Space Exploration Technologies launched a cargo mission to the International Space Station and landed the first stage of the rocket on a barge off the coast of Florida, the first time the company has successfully managed such a feat. Meanwhile, Blue Origin, which was founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, has recently performed several landings of its own rocket on land. Whereas Bezos and Musk have spoken of eventually launching humans into space - or even settling Mars - Milner's proposed project aims much, much farther afield. The hope is to take advantage of advances in computer chips made by the consumer electronics industry over the past 15 years, as well as improvements in lasers, which would be needed to help power the spaceships and allow them to send photographs and atmospheric data to scientists on Earth. The proposed destination: Alpha Centauri, the star system nearest our own, which some astronomers believe may contain planets capable of supporting life. "We want to challenge the world's scientists and engineers to do something really amazing," said Pete Worden, the executive director of the effort and the former director of NASA's Ames Research Centre. "From a physics standpoint, there are no deal breakers. There are certainly engineering challenges." The most significant among them: distance. Alpha Centauri is 4 light years away, meaning it would take something like 30,000 years to get there using the fastest spacecraft available today, according to Breakthrough Starshot. Milner and Worden plan to deal with this by going small. Their proposed spaceships will be tiny - roughly the size of a butterfly - and powered not by rocket fuel but by giant solar sails that will be pushed by lasers on the ground. The Breakthrough Starshot team will attempt to design ships that can travel at one-fifth the speed of light - 134 million miles per hour - and will launch thousands of them in case some break down or are destroyed along the way. Assuming all goes well, the crafts will arrive in Alpha Centauri after a 20-year journey. They'll take pictures of the planets and beam the photos back to Earth, which will take another four years. Milner, whose parents named him after the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, studied physics at Moscow State University before helping to start a series of internet companies. Thanks in part to a prescient investment in Facebook, Milner has accumulated a fortune worth $3.2bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Starting in 2012, he set upon an ambitious second career as a scientific patron. As part of this "hobby," as he described it, Milner has funded a series of rich scientific prizes in physics, math, and life sciences. Last July, he announced that he would spend $100m on Breakthrough Listen over the next decade, reinvigorating what had been a mostly dormant search for extraterrestrial life. Milner was inspired in part to launch the new Breakthrough Starshot after seeing a postage-stamp-size spacecraft built by KickSat, a Kickstarter-funded research project that began its first mission in 2014. Though KickSat's spaceships don't have engines or the cameras needed by Milner's butterfly ships, they were created with a very modest budget that included a roughly $75,000 Kickstarter campaign. Zachary Manchester, the creator of KickSat, has joined the Breakthrough Starshot team. "This is a glimpse of the future," Milner said as he extracted one of KickSat's computer-chip-like spaceships from his jacket pocket. Milner and Worden are hesitant to discuss timing, but they say that the mission is achievable within a generation, assuming that advances in lasers and chips continue apace. Worden estimated that the program will eventually cost somewhere around $10bn, about what the European Organisation for Nuclear Research spent to build the Large Hadron Collider. If all goes well, Milner looks forward to seeing a picture of a planet that could support life. "It could be a very expensive picture," he said, offering a wry smile, "but maybe the most precious picture ever taken." (Bloomberg) Although aged 36, Paul Quigley doesn't regard himself as being a millennial. "I'm Generation X," he says in the basement of a Georgian Merrion Square office block. "Kurt Cobain died when I was 14. I identify more with that era." His company doesn't. NewsWhip is one of the most millennial-like media technology crossover firms emerging from Ireland. It mines social media and online publications for 'digital signals' that big companies and media corporations can turn into triggers. Signed-up customers like The Guardian and AOL get a headstart on what people are talking about and what they're likely to start talking about. "We look at a combination of different factors," he says. "We pick up on something which has all the signals of going viral." This involves a bit more than just checking what is trending on Twitter. Quigley says that the company has developed "machine learning" and "statistical algorithms" that give clear predictive pictures as an alternative to a hunch or a lot of people scouring through the internet all day. The result is the ability to get into a story early and, if you're an online publisher, own a large slice of it. It seems to resonate with a swelling list of corporate media clients, including The Guardian, the BBC, RTE, Newstalk and a host of US media conglomerates such as 'USA Today', AOL and the 'Washington Post'. "For these people, it's getting in there early and finding things they wouldn't otherwise see," says Quigley. This wasn't always NewsWhip's path. When it started out in 2010, the company was set up as just another curation service, showing articles that were popular in different fields. It was too generic and it flailed about, largely unnoticed. Quigley and co-founder Andrew Mullaney decided to look instead at what others were talking about and tailor that as a specific service. One of its earliest customers for the new product was the left-wing US news and politics site Think Progress. It wanted something to discover stories about gun violence by police, without spending hours constantly typing in search terms or scouring noticeboard threads. As Quigley tells it, they found such stories using NewsWhip's revamped service. "There was a case of an 18-year-old schizophrenic boy in Connecticut whose parents called the police to help them restrain him so they could give him his medication," says Quigley. "When the police arrived, they shot him dead. Think Progress found this story trending locally in Connecticut but it hadn't yet made it to the national market. So they framed the story around what the police had done, took it to the national market and it became a major international story with networks like the BBC and the Guardian covering it. That helped kick-start a much higher level of awareness in those kinds of stories." At this point, a layman might ask: is this not something that free online alerts services, from Google and others, could cover? "Things like Google News alerts are good but they're not great," he says. "They don't give you a lot of contextual information around the story like how much traction is it getting, whether it's over or whether it's still growing. We supply a lot more of that contextual information around each story. For some people that's very helpful." The formula appears to be an in-demand one. NewsWhip is in the middle of a hiring round that Quigley says will see its headcount double to 50 by the end of June. It has also significantly expanded its market beyond media clients. Intel and MasterCard are now paying customers, as are brands such as Reebok and multinational PR agencies such as Edelman and OMD. "We've got about 320 clients now and it's rising briskly," says Quigley. "Our biggest sector is still media and our biggest customers would be Yahoo, AOL and other big media companies, such as the BBC. Our fastest growing sector is PR and ad agencies." Quigley says that law firms are another growing sector. "If you've got Chevron as a client you want to know what's big in oil," he says. "You also want to know about different oil products or maybe what the political situation in Venezuela is. There are different topic areas you want to stay really intelligent on." Isn't that what a clippings agency does, though? "There is a little crossover but we're coming at it from a different angle," says Quigley. "The clippings agency was when the boss wanted to get this big stack of every mention something got in the media. The problem now is that there are so many things mentioned online that you need something simply to give you the important things, and really quickly with the news cycle having speeded up. "That's where we come in. Instead of every mention of your brand you get the important ones. Plus we'll ping you if anything big is taking off." Trusting NewsWhip to tell what's "important" from what's not would seem to be a core part of the deal. Quigley's loose position on this is that being "important" is derived from being "talked about" or "published". It's an outsourced sovereign judgement. For journalists, it's a double-edged sword. On one hand, those with access to the system can get an insight into hot-button topics, including ones they may not have provisioned for. On the other hand, a journalist's work is more categorically quantified according to visual impact metrics online, a trend that probably encourages homogenisation and clickbait. "Many big companies are constantly looking who the big influencers are in journalism," says Quigley. "They want to know which journalists they should be talking to, based on who is writing the stories that are getting shared on a topic. These are earned media decisions and marketing decisions around the data." Social media monitoring services have some of this covered already, but not to the same depth, says Quigley. "Social media monitoring might tell you about the sum of your mentions, including how many are positive and how many are negative," he says. "But that's not always actionable information and it's not really useful. Instead, a company like MasterCard might want to see those who are relevant in conversations around financial inclusion or payment security. So they might use us to monitor those and to find the big stories, to identify the important authors in those areas. That then informs their earned media and, subsequently, their content strategy." Where does this leave experience, judgement and instinct? Are tools such as NewsWhip's a formula for white-labelling of media targeting strategies? Or do they democratise them outside the walls of expensive media consultants and overly-cosy relationships? The answers to questions such as these are not Quigley's concern. "Our customers know their market," he says. "We're just the guys with the data." Not all online publishing areas are penetrable by NewsWhip. Snapchat, which has hundreds of millions of users globally and hundreds of thousands in Ireland, remains hidden behind a big wall. "We'd love to relate it back to what we're doing but there isn't an API there yet," says Quigley. Such private sharing platforms are one of the biggest limitations to what NewsWhip does. And this year could be a seminal one in deciding whether the companies that own such platforms - especially Facebook, which has Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp - make messaging services more searchable or more fortified. "I think we'll see more private sharing, especially Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp," says Quigley. "What I'm hoping is we'll be able to get more signals out of that. That will be important for us." There are other still-impenetrable areas for NewsWhip. It doesn't have the computing power, or even the ambition right now, to tackle live video and audio streams. If a subject gets 20 minutes with Morning Ireland's 400,000 listeners, it won't, of itself be picked up by NewsWhip. And because people don't tweet in the same numbers at that hour of the morning as they do for evening shows, it might only register as a minor media intervention compared to broadcasts with a quarter of the impact and a much reduced 'influencer' grade. Quigley says that there is no short term plan to tackle this. "We don't want to go right in and fully rebuild the media monitoring stack," he says. "Because we think we're better starting where we are now and getting very good at what we're doing now. It would be interesting to integrate TV, for example, but it's almost mind-boggling hard to estimate how we would integrate that into the general signal. We pull in a lot of video content but we don't try to extract text from it. "There are services that do that but they charge too much for it for us to incorporate it now. There are captions on most TV broadcasts anyway." That leaves the company with text-based services. Within social media, there are different tiers, says Quigley. For NewsWhip, Twitter is an "influencer network". "It has a lot of people doing a lot of things that Facebook still doesn't have," he says. By comparison, Facebook is "the 10,000lb gorilla". "It's got very strong API data that we're able to do some great work with." Pinterest and LinkedIn, meanwhile, are "stable for particular types of content". "I think we'll see Facebook push its live service very hard," says Quigley. "We'll be encouraged to broadcast to our friends through Facebook and brands will be encouraged to do it through very favourable treatment of life in the Facebook algorithm. Everything that Facebook does has a lot of knock-on effects for everyone." Ireland isn't an especially rich hunting ground for NewsWhip, even though it has a collection of clients here, including RTE, Newstalk, Joe.ie and others. But things are going well enough for the company to have growing pains. The company's 35 new hires will vary between its operations, says Quigley. "We really need to build out our machine learning team. We also need more Java developers, front end developers and designers. We need more people on sales in Europe, too, and also for product management." And the company will continue to sell its core asset: other people's conversations. "It's trust in our system," he says. "You trust the crowd to share the most important stories. The value is there are billions of people every day deciding what to share and what not to share and their friends are getting the benefit of that. "What we do is gather all of that into one signal so that every one of those weak signals taken together can turn into very strong signals. The value, to some degree, is in its time-saving." Amanda was gifted a gold card for Copper Face Jacks after her unsuccessful date on The Late Late Show It was with no small amount of regret that when I got married, my gold card to Coppers was the first thing to go. Having attended some of the most outrageously glitzy celebrity parties at the height of the boom, the Harcourt Street hotspot has always held a certain place in my heart. Its the sheer down-to-earth nature of the club that has seen it endure for 20 of the toughest years in Irelands economic history when so many other venues have failed. Nobodys there to show off their latest designer handbag or look like one of the elegant Sex and the City girls sipping cocktails. The music is so loud, its certainly not a venue for making any meaningful connections. Its more about seeing how many Jager bombs you can consume without falling over while trying to set your mate up with the cute garda you spotted on the way in. The fact that its one giant pick-up spot is key to its appeal with no shortage of weddings resulting from a meeting of minds by the shifting wall in Coppers (its by the ladies loos). Im not alone in my fondness for the GAA hotspot, either. Dubliners and culchies alike have always been united on one thing you always have a great night out in Coppers. Even if you cant remember it the next day. The legendary stamp on your hand and the blinding hangover were usually proof enough that you gave it socks. Lets face it who hasnt just popped out for one drink after work and ended up air-guitaring on the dance-floor at 2am on a school night? Its popularity speaks for itself one year it raked in 217,000 from the cloakroom alone. Long may it continue. An honest essay has numerous characteristics: original thinking, a good structure, balanced arguments, and plenty more. But one aspect often overlooked is that an honest essay should be interesting. It should spark the readers curiosity, keep them absorbed, make them want to stay reading and learn more. An uneventful article risks losing the readers attention; whether or not the points you create are excellent, a flat style, or poor handling of a dry subject material can undermine the positive aspects of the essay. The matter is that a lot of students think that essays should be like this: they believe that a flat, dry style is suited to the needs of educational writing and dont even consider that the teacher reading their essay wants to search out the essay interesting. You might want to have online essay editor service to boost your confidence in writing with an error-free output. Academic writing doesnt need to be and shouldnt be bland. The excellent news is that there is much stuff you can do to create your essay more attractive, while youll be able only to do such a lot while remaining within the formal confines of educational writing. Lets study what theyre. Have an interest in what youre writing about Dont go overboard, but youll be able to let your passion for your subject show. If theres one thing bound to inject interest into your writing, its being fascinated by what youre writing about. Passion for a subject matter comes across naturally in your essay, typically making it more lively and fascinating and infusing an infectious enthusiasm into your words within the same way that its easy to talk knowledgeably to someone about something you discover fascinating. Include fascinating details Another factor that may make an essay boring maybe a dry material. Some topic areas are naturally dry, and it falls to you to form the article more interesting through your written style and by trying to seek out fascinating snippets of knowledge to incorporate, which will liven it up a small amount and make the data easier to relate to. A way of doing this with a dry subject is to create what youre talking about that seems relevant to the critical world, as this is often easier for the reader to relate to. Emulate the fashion of writers you discover interesting When you read lots, you subconsciously start emulating the fashion of the writers you have read. Reading benefits you a lot, as this exposes you to a spread of designs, and youll start to require the characteristics of these you discover interesting to read. Borrow some creative writing techniques Theres a limit to the quantity of actual story-telling youll do when youre writing an essay; in the end, essays should be objective, factual and balanced, which doesnt, initially glance, feel considerably like story-telling. However, youll apply a number of the principles of story-telling to create your writing more interesting. consider your own opinion Take the time to figure out what its that you think instead of regurgitating the opinions of others. Cut the waffle Rambling on and on is dull and almost bound to lose the interest of your reader. Youre in danger of waffling if youre not completely clear about what you wish to mention or havent thought carefully about how youre visiting structure your argument. Doing all your research correctly and writing an essay plan before you begin will help prevent this problem. Editing is a vital part of the essay-writing process, so edit the waffle once youve done a primary draft. Read through your essay objectively and eliminate the bits that arent relevant to the argument or labor the purpose. employing a thesaurus isnt always a decent thing Avoid using unfamiliar words in an essay; theres too great a likelihood that youre misusing them. You may think that employing a thesaurus to seek out more complicated words will make your writing more exciting or sound more academic, but using overly high-brow language can have the incorrect effect. Avoid repetitive phrasing Please avoid using the identical phrase structure again and again: its a recipe for dullness! Instead, use a variety of syntax that demonstrates your writing capabilities and makes your writing more interesting. Mix simple, compound, and complicated sentences to avoid your paper becoming predictable. Use some figurative language Using analogies with nature can often make concepts more accessible for readers to know. As weve already seen, its easy to finish up rambling when youre explaining complex concepts mainly after you dont know it yourself. One way of forcing yourself to think about a couple of pictures, present it more simply and engagingly is to form figurative language. This implies explaining something by comparing it with something else, as in an analogy. Employ rhetorical questions Anticipate the questions your reader might ask. One of the ways ancient orators held the eye of their audiences and increased the dramatic effect of their speeches was by using the statement. A decent place to use a statement is at the top of a paragraph, to steer into the following one, or at the start of a replacement section to introduce a brand new area for exploration. Proofread Finally, you may write the top interesting essay an instructor has ever read. Still, youll undermine your good work if its plagued by errors, which distract the reader from the particular content and can probably annoy them. The High Court has reserved judgement on an application for the extradition of a 43-year-old man to Scotland on sexual assault charges. The man who is currently on bail is alleged to have sexually assaulted four different complainants who were aged five to 13 years of age at the time. The offences are alleged to have occurred between 17 and 27 years ago. Mr Tony McGillicuddy BL for the Minister of Justice and Equality told the court that the accused was arrested on foot of a European arrest warrant on January 2 this year. He said there were five offences of sexual assault alleged against this man between the years 1989 and 1998 and that the maximum penalty for each of the five offences was life imprisonment. The court heard there was a delay in reporting the offences to the Scottish police. Defence counsel, Mr John Ferry BL, told the court that his client was living peacefully" in Ireland for many years and had no knowledge of these matters until he was arrested in January of this year. He was a much younger man and he was under-age himself at the time of these allegations. He has a serious concern about the way this case has now come forward. Trying to place himself at a specific place and time is of concern to him, he said. Mr Ferry said there was an issue of delay in this case and his client does not know when these complaints were made to Scottish authorities. Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly then remanded the accused on bail and put the matter back to April 25 for judgement. Arts Minister Heather Humphreys views the Mna 1916 exhibition with Christina McLoughlin, whose Aunt Mary McLoughlin was a courier in the GPO in 1916, and Helen Mac Mahon, grandniece of Sorcha Mac Mahon, who set up the Irish Volunteers Dependants Fund. Photo: Frank McGrath The role of women in the Easter Rising was "airbrushed" out of 50th anniversary commemorations in 1966. However, a new exhibition in Dublin Castle now celebrates the women of 1916. 'Mna 1916 - Women 1916' contains never-before-seen documents and photos from families of women who were involved in all aspects of the Rising. The collection, charting the lives of 300 women, also draws on sources from the military archives and Census records, which have been brought together with personal items for the first time. The women, who hailed from every county in Ireland, ranged from aristocrats to shop assistants. Speaking at the launch last night, Arts Minister Heather Humphreys said she was delighted with the exhibition as women were "airbrushed" out of the official commemorations in 1966. "They were very brave women to get involved because their status in society was different," she said. At the time, women couldn't stand for parliament, because they couldn't vote. "It's very important that we remember the women, because they made a huge contribution, they came from all walks of life and they played a very important role. "That role wasn't recognised 50 years on in 1966 and it was very important to me that we would recognise the role of the women today," the minister said. Sinead McCoole, author of the book 'Easter Widows', curated the exhibition and thanked those in attendance. "State assets and national treasures are often terms used about items of great value, big houses with demesne and gold objects," she said. "This centenary year in this exhibition we have been able to use assets and treasures of a different sort dating to 1916 from the national collections, from libraries, archives, museums all over the country." Helen McMahon, from Churchtown in Co Dublin, contributed documents and photos kept by her great-aunt, Sorcha McMahon. A young woman from Monaghan, Sorcha came to the GPO to assist the rebels during Easter week. "She would have carried dispatches that were both military and personal," said Helen. "She would have brought stuff to the families of the men who were in there. "Then she would also have carried really inane things like underwear. The rebels were all told to pack enough stuff for one day." Sorcha eventually played a role in setting up the Irish Volunteers Dependants Fund with Kathleen Clarke. However, she took over most of the work when Kathleen suffered a miscarriage. "Sorcha was working 12 hours a day, seven days a week," she said, adding that another military document attested that she sometimes worked 18 hours a day to get the job done. "She didn't do anything by halves," said Helen. In later years, Sorcha undertook secret work as Michael Collins's secretary. But Helen recalls that while Sorcha's two brothers got good jobs in the Irish Free State, she had to "return to normality". "After the exhilaration of being involved in a movement like that, she ended up working in her husband's garage," she said. Women were largely underestimated by British forces at the time, with General Maxwell referring to them privately as "silly little girls". Comedian Oliver Callan said Italia '90 will always hold a place in the hearts of proud Irish people, but he believes it could face some competition from this year's 1916 commemorations. The RTE satirist said he couldn't fault 2016's celebrations nationwide. "The whole 1916 experience made me feel really sad that I didn't do history in college," he told the Irish Independent. "But I suppose we are doing a collective history degree as a country at the moment." He added: "I was one of the very cynical people at the start. But I think it turned out to be one of the best things we've ever done in the country. I think it's been a huge success. We didn't know Italia '90 was a thing until 10 years later. I'd say 2016 will be the moment when we grew up a little bit." The family of murdered IRA spy Denis Donaldson have launched legal proceedings against the State over ongoing delays in holding an inquest. The development emerged after another adjournment in the long-stalled coroner's probe into the shooting of the MI5 agent by dissident republicans 10 years ago. Relatives of Mr Donaldson walked out of Donegal Coroners' Court in protest at the latest hold-up. The 55-year-old senior Sinn Fein official and close colleague of party president Gerry Adams was shot dead at an isolated cottage near Glenties in Co Donegal in April 2006. He had been living there since his exposure as an MI5 agent the previous year. With the inquest approaching its 20th adjournment, Mr Donaldson's relatives have issued proceedings with the High Court against Donegal coroner Denis McCauley; the DPP, the Garda Commissioner, the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice. Family solicitor Ciaran Shiels said they wished to challenge ongoing delays and "antiquated" legislation under which adjournments had been granted. After the hearing in Letterkenny, Mr Shiels said: "There comes a point after so many adjournments, after the tenth anniversary, that the delay in commencing the inquest proper becomes intolerable. "With that in mind the family instructed me to commence judicial review proceedings against the Garda Commission, the coroner, the Attorney General, the DPP and also the Minister of Justice." Dissident republican group the Real IRA claimed responsibility for the murder in 2008 but the circumstances surrounding Mr Donaldson's outing as a British agent and subsequent assassination have been shrouded in mystery. Gardai believe the killers can still be caught and do not want an inquest to proceed while the criminal investigation remains live. In 2014, gardai made a mutual assistance request to a police force outside the Republic in a bid to gain potentially "significant" material. Garda Superintendent Michael Finan told Mr McCauley his officers had obtained that material last month. He asked for an adjournment of four months to enable detectives to pursue enquiries. Counsel for the state Stephen Byrne insisted there was no suggestion the application for adjournment was anything other than genuine. Granting the adjournment to August 31, Mr McCauley said he was satisfied there was "momentum" in the investigation. A GARDA has appeared in court charged with possession of cocaine and seven counts of illegally disclosing information contrary to the Garda Siochana Act. Gda Jimell Henry, (34), Cairns Hill, Sligo, appeared at Sligo District Court today. Expand Close Garda Jimelle Henry / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Garda Jimelle Henry Gda Det Insp Jim Delaney told Judge Kevin Kilrane that he put the charges to Gda Henry at Sligo Garda Station at 10.20am today after arresting her at her home this morning. He said Gda Henry had said no reply to each of the eight charges. Miss Henry faced seven counts of disclosing information obtained during the course of her duties as a member of An Garda Siochana knowing that the disclosure of that information was likely to have a harmful effect. These are alleged to have taken place at 6.07am on December 16, 2014 in Dublin; at 10.41pm on January 14, 2014 in Mullingar; at 5.32pm on December 27, 2014 in County Sligo; at 10.40pm on January 14, 2014 in Mullingar; at 8.22am on January 13, 2015, in Dublin; at 7.58am on January 13, 2015 in Dublin, and on December 31, 2014, at 8.01pm in Dublin. Gda Henry was also charged with the unlawful possession of cocaine on January 16, 2015 at Tullymagracken North, Sligo. Det Insp Delaney said gardai consented to bail subject to a number of conditions; that she surrender her passport, remain in the jurisdiction, does not contact any witnesses in the case and sign on once weekly at her local garda station. He also asked for an independent surety of 10,000 due to the gravity of the charges. The case was adjourned for a time to allow for Gda Henrys passport to be retrieved from her home and for her father Kevin Henry to provide evidence of the surety. When the case resumed, Judge Kevin Kilrane released Gda Henry on bail. He issued a court order that the amount of money in Kevin Henrys account should not fall below 10,000. He also ordered Gda Henry to sign on at Sligo Garda Station each Friday between 9am and 9pm. The judge said Gda Henry should not make contact with witnesses known to her or witnesses she ought to know were involved in the case. Defence solicitor Gerry McGovern asked for legal aid. He said his client did have a salary but this had now been reduced to 185 per week. Judge Kilrane granted the application. Gda Henry, dressed in black leggings, brown boots and a blue and white top, left the court with her father. She was remanded on bail to appear again at Sligo District Court on May 12. An Irish-based blogger who has gone to war against a "celebrity threesome" injunction has said "if you don't want to embarrass your kids, don't do embarrassing things". The well-known blogger is turning his head at a London courts injunction which is halting press from revealing a celebritys husband who was involved in an alleged extra-marital threesome. The married celebrity is alleged to have had a sexual encounter with another couple whilst "splashing around in a paddling pool filled with olive oil". The well-known blogger has rejected the demand from the unidentified celebrity to remove a post from his website which names all the parties involved in the case, including the celebrity. The order by the London court has come into effect in England and Wales, but the identities of the parties involved have been revealed in the media in Scotland and the US. The blogger was contacted by lawyers representing the celebrity on Monday and was asked to remove the article. The firm said the article was in clear violation of the order of the Court of Appeal dated 22nd January 2016. The blogger has argued that his websites servers are in the US and the article was typed in the Republic of Ireland before it was published online and so should not be covered by the injunction. Independent.ie has confirmed that the website is hosted by a company based in San Francisco. The editor and administrator of the website said he would be "quite happy" to bring the issue to court. "I can understand why they are irritated, but Im quite happy to bring this fight to court. It would be amusing, it will be amusing," he told Independent.ie. "Whether the British courts take view that it is in contempt and Im arrested when I land in London, thats a different story and its what my wife is worried about. But theyre not going to throw me in jail. "If the Sun [Sun on Sunday] have the injunction overturned tomorrow, its all over. If not and [the celebrity] thinks its worth it to have a fight with me, well thats a bigger story," he continued. "Because of this injunction, the story has become bigger. Its being reported on all over the world. Getting the injunction was counter-productive. "The worst thing about all of this and the reason Im making a point is that rich and powerful people will be able to buy cover-ups in court in the UK. "Ive got loads of stuff on Google that would be embarrassing for my kids if you dont want to embarrass your kids, dont do embarrassing things." The website administrator also published online the note he replied to the court order, which reads: I note this is a Court Order from a British court. In Ireland, as I explained to Lord Justice Leveson at his inquiry, Irish citizens do not have to pay any notice to what British judges order any more. We are currently celebrating the 1916 uprising, come visit Dublin. This time I expect full and properly served notice to be given of any action you propose to take going forward. The editor signed off the note with his first name. In the case called PJS and News Group Newspapers, the court of appeal in London has ordered that the media organisation not identify PJS, who is a partner of one of the people involved in the alleged threesome. This order was placed pending trial on the matter so could still be reversed. The blog editor, who lives in Ireland, is now awaiting the results of a fresh legal challenge tomorrow. Lawyers for The Sun on Sunday are going to attempt to overturn the injunction in an appeal hearing that will be closed to the press and public. Critics have argued that the court order is now meaningless as several news outlets around the world, who are not bound by the injunction, have named the couple. The parents of a baby who died six days after birth said they are still waiting for answers from the HSE. Baby Kevin James Kelly was born by Cesaerean section after a failed forceps delivery at Midlands Regional Hospital on August 16 2014. Dublin Coroners Court heard that he died of brain damage due to lack of oxygen and this happened around the time of birth. Coroner Dr Brian Farrell returned a verdict of death by medical misadventure at an inquest into the babys death. Parents Una and Kevin Kelly said they feel vindicated by the outcome. However we are still waiting for the HSE to give us answers, we have been waiting since 2014. That continues to prolong our agony and our pain, they said, speaking after the inquest. Baby Kevin was the Kelly's first born. The couple have since had another child, a five month old son who they say has "saved them". They are moving away from "a lot of sad memories" attached to their home at Kinnegad in Co Westmeath to Una Kellys native Co Mayo. Today we did our best for our son, we know his death could have been prevented but we feel vindicated by the findings of the inquest, Una Kelly said. She was admitted to Midlands Regional Hospital on August 13 2014 with pre-eclampsia. On August 16 labour was induced but a lack of progress was noted during an examination at 7.05pm. Locum Registrar Dr Michael Osasere made a decision to apply the Neville Barnes forceps which he said applied comfortably and locked with ease but the procedure was abandoned at 7.12pm. Dr Osasere said he was not aware of a developing foetal bradycardia as the babies heart rate fell rapidly between 7.15 and 7.20pm. The court heard that mother and baby were brought to theatre for a C-section as category 2 patients, but Dr Osasere said had he known of the babies falling heart rate he would have acted immediately to deliver the baby within ten minutes. Midwife Agnes Gowning said she told Dr Osasere of the babys falling heart rate and asked him if he had heard her. I did not hear her say that, he said. He said had he known, he would have immediately upgraded the delivery to a category 1 priority. I didnt know, he said. That is very distressing. It still haunts me today. I kept thinking what I might have done to avoid that outcome. Its been a nightmare, Dr Osasere said. The baby was transferred to Holles St seven hours after birth for cooling treatment but his condition did not change and he passed away on August 22 surrounded by his family. The court heard conflicting evidence from the babys parents and medical staff that Dr Osasere had his foot on the bed as he attempted the forceps delivery. Dr Osasere denied this. A decision to deliver by C-section in theatre was made at 7.15pm and baby Kevin was born at 8.01pm Noting the significant time between the decision to go to theatre and delivery, the coroner returned a verdict of medical misadventure. A man who took part in a savage and severe robbery which left the victim with a broken leg has been jailed for five years. Three men set on Francis Crossan, knocked him to the ground and punched and kicked him. Giovanni Obaseki (23) told gardai he held the man down during the unprovoked assault. Obaseki, with an address at Chelmsford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbery of Mr Crossan at North King Street, Dublin on September 8, 2012. The then 19-year-old is a German national whose Nigerian born father had sent him to relatives in Ireland to improve his English. The court heard that he reacted against a much more restrictive regime of curfew and intolerance of alcohol at his uncle's home. Aoife O'Leary BL, defending, said there was a culture clash. His uncle asked him to leave the home because he was drinking and he ended up effectively homeless and hanging out with an anti-social group. The attack on Mr Crossan came weeks after two earlier attacks by Obaseki and his accomplices. During an attempted robbery of a 60-year-old man at Brunswick Street on August 8 the victim was hit with a wine bottle and required staples. On June 19 at Smithfield Square, Dublin Obaseki punched a man before snatching his mobile phone and running away. Obaseki pleaded guilty to both these offences. Judge Martin Nolan said the crimes were all very serious but that the robbery of Mr Crossan was the most serious and was a savage and severe attack. He said it must have been traumatic for the victim to see the bone protruding from his leg. The victim was also left with bruises to his face and body and suffered a fracture to his arm bone. He told gardai that he felt he was hit at least 20 times and was punched in the head and body before he was knocked to the ground by a punch. Judge Nolan said the accused had demonstrated a propensity for violence and he must impose a severe sentence. Noting the steps that Obaseki has taken to reform himself Judge Nolan suspended the last two years of a sentence of seven years. A mother whose daughter was killed by a truck on her first day of creche told a court she wished she had taken an earlier bus. Carol Anne Crosbie brought Daenerys Crosbie (2) to the Waterford Women's Centre on Manor Street, on November 18, 2014. She died after being hit by a truck that was travelling along the street in the direction of Cork. Patrick Corcoran (49), of Castlefarm, Narraghmore in Athy, Co Kildare, pleaded not guilty to careless driving causing death. David Humphreys, prosecuting, said it was the State's case that Mr Corcoran drove "without due care and attention". Ms Crosbie (31) told the court how she took a bus into town at 9.30am after failing to get a bus at 7.45am. "I was late and it was her first day of creche," she said. After getting off the bus they then walked to Eden nightclub, opposite the creche. "Before I could do anything I noticed the truck started moving forward and I was too late ... we were in front of the truck." She denied to Bernard Condon SC, defending, that her memory of events wasn't clear. "I don't think I would forget a single detail of that day... I kept replaying it. Maybe if I had not got that bus ... it might not have happened." Witness Ricky Paul said he saw Ms Crosbie step down from the path while the "lorry started to move". "The lorry hit the buggy and the child was ejected," he said. He banged on the front of the cab but it happened "extremely" quickly. "In my opinion, the child wasn't strapped in," he added. The trial continues in front of a jury and Judge Eugene O'Neill. A mother of two who started running brothels in Dublin after an injury rendered her unable to work has been jailed for 18 months. Chunjie Wang (35) of Castlewood Ave, Rathmines, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of organising prostitution. The court heard today that Wang, a mother of two, organised four brothels in Rathmines, Swords, Blanchardstown and Clondalkin for seven months between January 1, 2011 and July 22, 2011. She was arrested after gardai raided the brothel in Rathmines on July 23, 2011 following an investigation into a website advertising Chinese escorts. Detective Garda Karen Ryan told the court over 18,000 in cash was discovered on the premises, along with 19 mobile phones and a number of laptops. The mobile phone numbers corresponded with numbers advertised on the escort website. Wang was arrested in the Rathmines brothel. She admitted organising the running of the brothels by co-ordinating the provision of sexual services, the length and nature of the services and taking payments. Four bank accounts were linked to her with a total balance of over 27,000, Det Gda Ryan told the court. Payments of between 3000 and 5000 were sent to China every few days. Defence barrister, David Staunton BL, said his client arrived in Ireland from China to learn English 11 years ago with the best intentions of making a better life for herself. Wang worked for Dunnes Stores for nine years before she injured her back and neck and was no longer able to work. At the time, her husband's souvenir importation business was doing badly and the family needed money, Mr Staunton said. Her motivation was purely financial, he said. It was not about controlling or enslaving people. Mr Staunton said his client was extremely embarrassed and ashamed of her actions and had no previous convictions. He said she was a devoted mother and her family would suffer significantly if she was imprisoned. Judge Melanie Greally noted the case did not involve the trafficking or exploitation of prostitutes. It doesn't seem the participants in the provision of services were greatly exploited in terms of the financial arrangements, she said. She accepted Wang was remorseful for her actions and would find incarceration particularly difficult as a non-national. Her family will pay a high price for her actions, she said. But Judge Greally said the seriousness of the offence meant a custodial sentence was unavoidable and sentenced Wang to 18 months imprisonment A witness in a murder trial has been shown an identification card bearing his name, address and date of birth, but a different photograph. Tomas Strugacz was giving evidence in the trial of two men charged with murdering a 23-year-old by beating him unconscious and leaving him to drown in the River Shannon. The Central Criminal Court trial has heard that Patryk Krupa drowned while incapacitated with a head injury from a violent assault on June 20th, 2014. Leszek Sychulec (34) of Drinan, Ballymahon, Co Longford, and Andrzej Gruchacz (35) with an address in Warsaw, Poland have pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Krupa at Bogganfin, Athlone, Co Roscommon. Both also deny a second charge each of falsely imprisoning Mr Krupa in Athlone on the same date. Its the States case that the two accused pulled Mr Krupa into the back of a car in Athlone that evening, before taking him to the banks of the Shannon, beating him unconscious and dragging him to the river. Mr Strugacz testified today that he was in Dublin City Centre in June 2013 when he noticed his Polish driving licence had gone missing. He reported it missing to the gardai in Lucan, where he lived, and travelled to Poland to get another. He was handed an identification card in court. The name is the same. The address is the same, he said. Its not mine. Thats not my photograph. The jury had already heard that a man identifying himself as Tomas Strugracz moved into a house near Strokestown, Roscommon around that time. He was in a BMW jeep with another man, testified Brendan Naughton, the auctioneer, who let the house to him. Mr Naughton said that the tenant had provided a copy of his driving licence. I was happy with it, he said of the licence, which was shown to the jury. The landlord, Peter Shaughnessy, said he had met his tenant three or four times, confirming that he went by the name, Tomas. He was then given a still from CCTV footage captured in an Athlone petrol station on the evening of Mr Krupas death. He said he was able to recognise Tomas in the picture and pointed this person out for the jury. Sergeant Aidan Lyons later testified that he arrested Leszek Sychulec in a BMW jeep near Athlone in the early hours of the following day. The trial continues before Mr Justice Tony Hunt and a jury of four women and eight men. A SCORNED woman "lost it" and assaulted a female pub-goer by pulling her hair after she discovered she'd had an affair with her long-term partner. Tammy Foster (38) was left holding a clump of the woman's hair following the attack. Foster claimed she believed the victim was pointing at her. Her lawyer told a court that Foster feels the victim brought the assault upon herself, both by her behaviour in the pub and by having an affair with her long-term partner. Judge David McHugh described the assault as an "outrage", adding the victim was not in court to defend herself. Prison The judge sentenced Foster to four months in prison but suspended it for a year. The defendant, of Rathvilly Park in Finglas, admitted before Blanchardstown District Court to seriously assaulting another woman at The Cardiff Inn, Cardiffsbridge Road, Finglas, on November 27 last year. Garda Sergeant Mary Doherty said the injured party was in the pub with friends shortly after 11pm when Foster grabbed her by the hair. Sgt Doherty said the two women were separated by gardai and Foster had a clump of the woman's hair in her hand. Sgt Doherty said the victim was asked if she wished to provide an impact statement to the court, but she declined to do so. Defence lawyer Ciaran MacLoughlin said Foster was with her partner for 16 years and they had four children together. He said Foster kicked her partner out after she discovered he had been having an affair with the victim. On the night in question, Foster was trying to enjoy a night out when she saw the victim, who she believes, rightly or wrongly, is "the woman who tore her family apart". The court heard Foster felt the woman was talking about her and she just "lost it" and assaulted her. Mr MacLoughlin said the defendant feels the victim brought the assault upon herself by her own behaviour in the pub and due to the affair, and she was somewhat responsible for the destruction of her relationship. He also said Foster is suffering from anxiety. SUSI, the centralised student grant processing body, opened for applications last week. The grant is a means-tested payment design to support students in higher or further education. Here are some of the most common questions my students ask about the grant. Why is it important to apply early? SUSI processes applications in the order they arrive, so by submitting the application as early as possible you will receive your answer in good time. Not only will this mean that any payments you are entitled to will be available when you need them, but applicants will know in advance of registration if they are to expect payments or fee support, Do I have to alert SUSI when I receive my CAO offer or should I wait until I receive my offer to apply? You should not wait until you receive your CAO offer to apply and should submit your application even if you are not certain you will accept a place. When completing the CAO form all applicants were asked if they intended to apply for a SUSI grant. Those who did not tick the SUSI option on their CAO application forms will be required to submit an online Final Course Acceptance (FCA) form. Students access these forms by logging into their online SUSI accounts. How do I know what information I need to complete my application? When beginning a SUSI application, you will be asked to create an account with your own own log-in and password. You will then be asked to submit information about family circumstances as well as income and social welfare payments. Due to the nature of the information requested it can be very helpful for applicants to complete these sections with the help of a parent/guardian. If, at any stage, an applicant cannot answer a question or does not have the relevant information to hand they can save their progress, log out and return at a later date. SUSI will begin processing the application after it is submitted. Once all sections have been completed the website will generate a personalised list of any documents which will need to be forwarded to SUSI. Applicants should forward these documents when they have collected them all, and as soon as possible. What about students who wish to study outside the Republic of Ireland? Eligible students attending approved courses in approved institutions outside of the Republic of Ireland may receive a maintenance grant from SUSI for undergraduate courses only. However there is no funding available towards fees. In the case of courses in the four institutions in Northern Ireland funding is also available for postgraduate and further education courses. Aoife Walsh is a guidance counsellor at Malahide Community School, Co Dublin Question: I am a Leaving Cert student and I am feeling more and more stressed. I feel anxious when I think about everything I have to do. Answer: Most students are taking their oral and practical exams this week and next week. This creates stress in the most relaxed students and those who find stress difficult to manage can become completely overwhelmed. Some stress is good; it motivates us to do our best and helps us keep our focus. When you begin to experience the physical symptoms of stress try not to think of this as a negative. Instead, try to remind yourself that this feeling is simply your body preparing to meet the challenge ahead and you will do better because you are experiencing it. Try not to think about everything you must do before June. Focus on what you need to do today and remind yourself that every little bit of study you get done could earn you extra points in the Leaving Cert. You can only complete this challenge one step at a time. Take care of yourself: eat healthily, exercise and make sure you get enough sleep and relaxation. Important dates TODAY Postgraduate & Part-time Programmes Open Evening Dun Laoghaire Inst of Art Design & Technology Drop in Information Session (2pm-7pm) Open University, Holbrook House,Holles Street TOMORROW Entrance Tests for CR125 129 (BA in Popular Music) CIT Cork School of Music Entrance Tests for CR700 (BA in Theatre and Drama Studies) CIT Cork School of Music Open Evening Institute of Technology Blanchardstown APRIL 15 Open Days (2 days) Cavan Institute APRIL 16 Entrance Tests for CR121 (BMus) CIT Cork School of Music Open Day NUI Galway APRIL 19 Law Open Day University College Cork APRIL 20 Open Day/Interview Day Killester College of Further Education Education Minister Jan OSullivan said the roll-out of the inspections was a very positive development. Photo: Steve Humphreys Toddlers' learning experiences will be checked by inspectors who start visiting pre-schools from today. The arrival of Department of Education inspectors to creches and other early years settings is part of a drive to raise standards, and ensure that the sector is delivering an all-round quality experience. They will focus on the educational experience of children, aged between about 3-5, who are on the free Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. The pre-school years are regarded as a critical time for laying the foundations for learning, when children can soak up knowledge and skills through play-based activities. Early years education is particularly valuable in helping to overcome social disadvantage. Quality educational experiences in early childhood contribute to lifelong learning success, while children who miss out probably never catch up. Providing a universal quality learning experience to children on the ECCE programme helps to level the playing field. The value of early childhood education is borne out in surveys, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study conducted by the international think-tank, the OECD, every three years. PISA compares the performance of 15-year-olds around the world in skills such as reading and maths and it shows that those who attend at least one year of pre-school education perform better. The new inspections will be separate from visits made to pre-schools on behalf of Tusla, the child and family agency, which are concerned with health and safety. Notice Typically, pre-schools will get 48 hours' notice of an inspection, and the first of these were issued on Monday, for visits starting today. Similar to what happens for primary and post-primary schools, the inspectors' findings will be published on the websites of the Department of Education and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, starting in June. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) has produced an education programme called Aistear, for the under-sixes, on the types of learning and development that are important in the early years with suggestions on how they might be nurtured. However, pre-schools are not required to implement the Aistear curriculum and practice varies widely between early childhood care providers. The Department of Education has recruited nine early years inspectors with specialist qualifications and experience in early childhood education who will work alongside a small number of existing inspectors who also have this expertise. The inspections are intended to be supportive rather than judgemental and inspectors will give feedback and practical advice to practitioners about how provision can be improved. Education Minister Jan O'Sullivan, a former Montessori teacher, said the roll-out of the inspections was a very positive development and one in which parents in particular were extremely interested. It is a joint initiative with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and planning for it included pilot inspections in 55 pre-schools. As part of the Early Years Quality Agenda, new qualification requirements for child care workers are also being introduced. Negotiations: The rural Independent deputies, from left, Noel Grealish, Mattie McGrath, Denis Naughten, Dr Michael Harty and Michael Collins arriving at Government Buildings for talks with the acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD and Fine Gael negotiators on the formation of a new government. Photo: Tom Burke 'Rural Five' TD Dr Michael Harty has said he believes the group should vote against both Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin, saying he is "very disappointed" at how the main parties are behaving. He was speaking after it emerged that Independent TDs were warned by Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin that today's vote for Taoiseach will be the last opportunity they have to vote for him, and talks between his party and Fine Gael stalled. Clare deputy Dr Harty said both parties need to "grow up" and he suggested that the President may now have to intervene to resolve the impasse. Meanwhile, Kerry deputy Michael Healy-Rae said Independents were facing into a sleepless night ahead of today's Dail vote on Taoiseach. He was among those contacted by the Fianna Fail leader, though the Kerry TD didn't say what they discussed. He said Independents are being asked to vote for a Taoiseach without knowing how a minority government will work. "Any politician that's really into this thing won't sleep tonight because you can't. There are only so many hours before (the vote tomorrow). This is a game-changer in that we're being asked to make up our minds in the absence of information that we were expecting to be provided with," Mr Healy-Rae said. Prior to Mr Martin's intervention, a series of Independent TDs spoke out, demanding more details on how a minority government will work before committing to support either leader. Danny Healy-Rae said: "I'll be voting the same way as I voted last week. I voted against the two of them. They have shown nothing to me as to why I should change my mind." He said both parties needed to make a renewed effort to engage with Independents and "do a lot of listening" before he would reconsider. Dublin Central TD Maureen O'Sullivan said she intends to abstain from today's votes because the parties have yet to provide details on how a minority government will work. Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath didn't rule out voting for either party leader but also said he wants to hear more from both parties. "Sure if they want votes to come back to them, they're not going to get them out of thin air," he said. Kevin 'Boxer' Moran of the Independent Alliance (IA) was yesterday involved in finalising policy documents for Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. He said that the group will not be deciding how they will vote until this morning but they are awaiting further communication with the two parties. "Until they come back to us, we won't be making any decision." Separately, TD John Halligan, another member of the Independent Alliance, walked out of talks with both parties over the lack of 24-hour cardiac care at University Hospital Waterford. He said he would remain a member of the group, however. Some 14 of the Dail's Independent TDs pulled out of talks aimed at Government formation until Fine Gael and Fianna Fail strike a deal. But the group of 14 Independent TDs have agreed at lunchtime to abstain from todays vote for Taoiseach in what has been dubbed the Ag House Agreement. The 14 deputies include the Independent Alliance, the so-called Rural Five, the two Healy Rae brothers and Maureen OSullivan. Independent TD Katherine Zappone did not sign the agreement but has previously indicated that she will abstain. The decision to unite came following a meeting of the Independents in Agriculture House close to the Dail. The news of the pact will come as a blow to Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin who had hoped to pick up a number of votes in a bid to close the gap on Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny. Expand Close The signatures of the Dail deputies / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The signatures of the Dail deputies Mr Kenny has been meeting his Fine Gael negotiating team ahead of the vote at 2:30pm. Mr Martin also met his parliamentary party as it now becomes clear that a Fine Gael-led minority government or another general election are the most likely outcomes. Read More The Independents who made the agreement to abstain this afternoon released a statement as well as a copy of the signed document. "The fourteen undersigned Independent TDs have agreed to abstain on the votes for the two main parties for the position of An Taoiseach today. "We are stepping back from the talks on the formation of a new government with both parties until they agree a reciprocal agreement that they will give mutual support to each other, in the event of either party leader becoming Taoiseach in a minority government. "We require that they agree to a minimum of three Budgets in order to give stability to the Irish people. We are offering to facilitate both parties in this task in any way that will hasten the formation of a government," the statement concluded. It is signed by the members of the Independent Alliance: Shane Ross, Sean Canney, Michael Fitzmaurice, John Halligan, Finian McGrath and Kevin 'Boxer' Moran as well as Dublin Central Independent Maureen O'Sullivan. The 'Rural Five' group of Denis Naughton, Michael Collins, Noel Grealish, Dr Michael Harty and Mattie McGrath also signed as did Kerry Independents Michael and Danny Healy-Rae. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has picked up an additional vote for Taoiseach, Independent TD Katherine Zappone The Dublin South-West deputy was one of only two Independents who have voted for Mr Kenny, the other being Tipperary TD Michael Lowry. Mr Lowry who has not been involved in government formation talks voted for Mr Kenny last week as well. He has said he is supporting his former party colleague "in the national interest" because Fine Gael is the largest party. Ms Zappone is a new TD, elected this year having previously been appointed to the Seanad by Mr Kenny in 2011. Mr Kenny has now lost the vote to become Taoiseach for a third time. The result of the vote for Mr Kenny's nomination as Taoiseach was 52 in favour and 77 against. Following Mr Kenny's failure Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin also lost his bid to become Taoiseach losing by 43 for to 91 against. Mr Martin failed to attract any more Independents than Deputy Kenny. The result comes after Mr Martin gave Independent TDs a final ultimatum to support him in a minority government last night. Earlier this afternoon, TDs were told that if they "sit on their hands or vote against" Micheal Martin in this afternoon's vote for Taosieach, it will effectively put Enda Kenny back in office. Fianna Fail deputy Lisa Chambers made the remark while nominating her party leader Mr Martin as TDs gathered in the Dail for a third time to vote on the matter, seven weeks after the election. Earlier Fine Gael's Noel Rock nominated Mr Kenny and hit out at politicians who haven't engaged in government formation talks saying they are "playing a game of party-first". At the begining of this afternoon's proceedings Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams sought to postpone vote on Taoiseach as it would be "inconclusive" and to allow time to discuss health and the ongoing Luas industrial unrest. TDs rejected the motion. The Ceann Comhairle proposed that after today's business is finished that the Dail be adjourned until next Wednesday. Mr Adams opposed this. He said: "We're very very well paid to do a job. There are ministers in place sacked by election implementing policies they have no mandate for." "We're going to be in here for a few hours and then we're going to go off again until next week?" he asked. Independent TD Finian McGrath said that the Dail "not reconvening until next Wednesday is unacceptable." "It's too far away we should be getting down to business," he added. However, TDs voted in favour of adjourning the Dail until next Wednesday with Fianna Fail deputies voting along with Fine Gael. The motion was was passed 100 to 55. Dublin North-West TD Noel Rock, Fine Gael's youngest deputy, nominated his party leader Mr Kenny once again. "Since I last took to my feet to nominate An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, a number of events have taken place," he remarked noting Mr Kenny's offer on a "full partnership government" including Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Independents which was rejected by Mr Martin's party. Mr Rock (28) said that this arrangement would have been "lasting and stable" and that he regretted that it has been rejected so far. He quoted the late US President Theodore Roosevelt saying: "in any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing and the worst thing you can do is nothing. "Weve taken on the responsibility of doing something Ceann Comhairle, Enda Kenny has taken on the responsibility of forming a new Government in a reasonable, responsible, reform-minded way," he said. He said it was his party's intention to form a government that will last. Mr Rock accused some of "playing a game of party-first, pass-the-parcel politics" and he said: "they should be challenged". He said that some parties haven't even entered government formation talks and that it was wasting the vote of those who supported them on election day. Read More He said that progress is being made and that "people of all parties and none are willing to talk, willing to compromise, willing to come to the table and willing to take on the difficult job of creating a Government" and that their efforts should be commended. He said that his constituents appreciate the efforts of "all Independents who have worked in an honest fashion to try and put a new Government together." "While 14 of them have announced an abstention today, I am hopeful that they will continue to engage with the work of creating a Government," he added - referring to the so-called Ag House Agreement. He said he was "proud" nominate Mr Kenny in the spirit of "working in an honest fashion to try and put a new government together. Meanwhile, Fianna Fail's Lisa Chambers defended the divide between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, saying to dismiss it as civil war politics is superficial and dismissive. Ms Chambers said the split was described as only being defined by division made over 100 years ago. She criticised the Acting-Government for debates surrounded by spin rather than policy and called strong majority governments unfair and arrogant. We need to need to end the day of, ah sure that's what politicians do type politics, she said. To try to dismiss division as civil war politics is superficial and dismissive. Only being defined by division 100 years ago. Ms Chambers added it was the last chance for Independents to vote for Micheal Martin or they would have to vote for Mr Kenny. "If you sit on your hands or vote against Deputy Martin you are effectively putting Deputy Kenny back in as Taoiseach to lead a Fine Gael minority government," she said. "The people may not have been entirely clear who they wanted to lead this government. "But they were very clear on who they did not want. By voting for Micheal Martin as Taoiseach you are honouring that commitment to implement change and opting to take our country on a fairer and more inclusive path." But the Green Party's Catherine Martin criticised the deadlock between parties. She said: "No one party won the election but the people lost the election" in her maiden speech in the Dail. "While some have worked hard, others sat on their hands. We should put people before party hopes," she added. The Anti-Austerity Alliance's Paul Murphy encouraged people to "mobilise" against a "right-wing Government." Read More Mr Murphy predicted that this was the most likely outcome of a vote for Taoiseach and also added water charges had not been addressed in the chamber. Elsewhere, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams claimed that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael "did not his party existed." Mr Adams hit out at the parties for not speaking to his party adding "he was speaking to Independents that want to speak to us." We are not worthy to be talked to", he added. Both acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin are seeking the support of Independent TDs for proposed minority governments. The vote comes after Mr Martins party warned Independents that they can vote for him today as Taoiseach or settle for Mr Kenny. However, the move appears not to have worked as all 15 Independents who were involved in government formation talks have indicated they will abstain from todays vote. A group of 14 Independent TDs agreed at lunchtime to abstain from todays vote for Taoiseach in what has been dubbed the Ag House Agreement. The 14 deputies include the Independent Alliance, the so-called Rural Five, the two Healy Rae brothers and Maureen OSullivan. Independent TD Katherine Zappone did not sign the agreement but has previously indicated that she will abstain. The decision to unite came following a meeting of the Independents in Agriculture House close to the Dail. "We are stepping back from the talks on the formation of a new government with both parties until they agree a reciprocal agreement that they will give mutual support to each other, in the event of either party leader becoming Taoiseach in a minority government, the text of the deal said. "We require that they agree to a minimum of three Budgets in order to give stability to the Irish people. We are offering to facilitate both parties in this task in any way that will hasten the formation of a government," it added. Talks between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail broke down last night before policy matters like the future of Irish Water could be discussed. SIPTU President Jack O'Connor has urged Labour to quickly resolve the issue around the party's leadership as speculation mounts over acting Tanaiste Joan Burton's future. During a private meeting in Leinster House, Mr O'Connor also told Labour officials the party should seek commitments on pay and investment in public service in return for supporting a Fine Gael-led minority government from the opposition. The union chief was invited to the meeting by an election committee established by the Labour national executive to give his views on the party's disastrous general election campaign. He was strongly critical of Labour's failure to tackle the public perception that the party broke its promises to the electorate when it went into coalition with Fine Gael. Speaking to the Irish Independent after the meeting, Mr O'Connor said "clarity and decisiveness" is needed on the position of the Labour Party leader. "I think we should sort the matter out quickly," he added. However, he said he did not have a preferred option for who should be the next leader. There has been speculation Ms Burton will contest the next Labour leadership battle after the next government is formed. One senior Labour figure last night said there was "touch of the Marie Antoinettes" about suggestions Ms Burton would continue as leader. However, sources close to the Labour Party leader played down suggestions she would seek to remain in place. Ms Burton has continually said she will make a decision on her political future once government talks conclude. Ms Burton, deputy Labour leader Alan Kelly and acting Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin met with Taoiseach Enda Kenny and acting Finance Minister Michael Noonan on Tuesday night to discuss government formation. Speaking to Labour's election review committee, Mr O'Connor said the party should seek commitments on pay, housing and public services in return for supporting a Fine Gael minority government from the opposition benches. "They are there to protect working people in civil society and they should see what, if anything, they can do," he said. He was also critical of the party's communication and messaging while in government. "I think they were so focused on trying to get through the crisis and trying to get the people of Ireland through the crisis that they didn't develop a narrative for explaining the reality of the situation and the choices they were facing as a minority party outnumbered two-to-one by the most conservative party potentially in the history of the State," he said. Labour's election committee is comprised of Galway senator Lorraine Higgins, party chairperson Lorraine Mulligan, councillor Martina Genockey, former TD Mary Upton and former Tasc chairman John Fanning. A meeting of all Labour members is due to be held in the coming weeks where the future of the party will be discussed. An investigation is under way after shots were fired at the home of a woman and her two children in Dunboyne, Co Meath, in the early hours of yesterday morning. It's understood a mother and her two children were asleep when two shots were fired at about 4.15am. Nobody was injured in the attack. Gardai are looking at the possibility that the family were the victims of mistaken identity. The front sitting-room window and door were damaged as a result of the shooting. Gardai in Ashbourne are investigating. The shooting comes less than a week after a boy (4) escaped serious injury following an attempted gangland assassination. A gunman fired a number of shots at a car parked at the Charlestown Shopping Centre in Finglas last Friday at about 6.15pm. The gunman missed his target, with the bullets hitting another car containing the little boy. Gardai investigating the IRA murder of south Armagh man Paul Quinn are today using ground-penetrating radar equipment to search land near the Border. Local sources said the gardai and technicians arrived early this morning at the plot of land in Co Monaghan not far from where the 21-year-old was savagely beaten to death in October 2007. Paul's father, Stephen Quinn, said he was aware that the search was taking place but knew nothing else. He said gardai told him a man was being questioned but could add nothing further. It is understood the man being questioned is not suspected of involvement in the murder but is being questioned about a witness account given in the aftermath of the murder. Sources said that the radar was being used on the land near the townland of Oram where Paul Quinn was beaten by up to 11 IRA men. It is believed the search may be for equipment or a vehicle used in the murder. The IRA has never admitted the murder but was held responsible by the International Monitoring Committee (IMC) despite the repeated claims by Sinn Fein that 'criminals' were responsible. Paul Quinn was imprisoned in a disused cowshed with two friends and beaten to a pulp by the Provo gang. His murder was ordered after he allegedly hit the son of a local IRA boss who is heavily involved in the fuel laundering trade. In recent weeks local people in south Armagh expressed anger after Sinn Fein supporters erected a tricolour over a poster of Paul Quinn near the church in Crossmaglen. And the gang responsible for the Quinn murder have been dubbed 'the heroes of Oram' on social media. Gardai were able to build a clear picture of who was involved in the murder but were unable to convince any witness to come forward and testify because, they said, of fear of the Provisional IRA. Paul's partents, Stephen and Breege, have repeatedly called on Gerry Adams and local Sinn Fein representative Conor Murphy to withdraw the party's claims that Paul was a criminal who was murdered by other criminals. Some new mothers are home just six hours after giving birth. They are among those who avail of the National Maternity Hospital's scheme involving midwifery care throughout pregnancy, labour and their baby's first days. The evaluation of the DOMINO scheme and home birth service offered by the hospital found that nearly half of mothers were discharged between six and 12 hours after the birth. Many women deemed the early discharge to be a positive experience, saying they felt "confident and excited". However, a few women admitted they were nervous and one commented she was "exhausted and would like to have stayed in". As part of the scheme, the new mothers are visited by midwives at home for up to 10 days. The report said some women highlighted the lack of support from community midwives beyond that time, with some suggesting follow-up phone calls between two to four weeks afterwards. They would also like an additional home visit or appointment at six weeks after birth with the team to provide continued support for new mothers and their familes, said the report. Some women who were part of the scheme and gave birth in the hospital complained that a different member of staff entered the room without permission, which they found intrusive, distracting and a cause of anxiety. One women said she felt a loss of dignity. Others spoke of the "lovely designed labour room". Others commented on the "busy and noisy hospital environment which was a distraction to them during labour". The majority of women said they would like to see the service, which is limited to certain geographical areas, expanded nationwide. The evaluation led by Dr Maria Healy, head of nursing, midwifery and health systems in UCD, looked at women who planned a home birth. Of the 15 women who took part in the study, five ended up going to hospital. More than half used positional techniques as pain relief and one third used electrical nerve simulation. Others used massage by their birthing partner or hypnobirthing techniques. There is a need for water birth and birthing facilities for women, it added. The new maternity strategy is promising an extension of services. Commuters walk on the Luas line during one of the recent strikes, of which more are planned by drivers. Photo: Steve Humphreys The prospect of an end to the bitter Luas dispute has grown even dimmer as workers are set to reject a new pay offer tabled by their employer. Siptu described the offer of a wage increase of 10pc as "provocative" as it is lower than a package that contained increases up to 18pc that they have already rejected. Luas operator Transdev has given its over 250-strong workforce until Sunday to accept the offer, or it will be taken off the table. Siptu official Owen Reidy said there was "no way" the pay package, which would be paid in four instalments up to January 2019, was going to be accepted. "I think it is provocative of the company to put forward a deal that is less than one that has already been rejected. "There is no way that the lads are going to accept an inferior proposal when they rejected a better one by 99pc. We are going to sit down with them on Friday and have a good chat about the letter (which contained the offer) and see where we're at and what they want to do. Transdev CEO Gerry Madden's letter threatened people with their livelihoods, but there will be no knee-jerk reaction." The union has warned that the workers are considering an all-out strike after Transdev put them on protective notice, which could mean lay-offs or short-term working. Indefinite strikes could begin in five weeks' time. Transdev has also threatened to recoup its losses from their pay if they engage in industrial action after next Sunday week. The company said a bonus paid to staff, which was withdrawn when they took industrial action, has offset costs so far but this will be exhausted by April 24. Staff have been told their employment is on a "day-to-day" basis until further notice. Transdev said as much advance notice for such lay-offs or short-time working would be given as was reasonably possible. "Staff were concerned about being put on protective notice," said one worker, who attended a meeting with Siptu at Liberty Hall yesterday. Strikes "Siptu officials said the company basically wants to pickpocket us. The letter sent by Transdev was very provocative and we want to see what we will do now." Transdev has said the revised pay proposal reflected its reduced financial resources since staff rejected a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) proposal. Mr Madden said he had no intention of threatening his staff, and would not comment when asked if workers could lose their jobs. "I'm not escalating or threatening," he said. "I'm responding to indefinite strikes... It's with a very heavy heart that we're in this space." He said the pay offer was very reasonable compared with industry norms and Siptu pay deals in other sectors. Further strikes are planned on April 23, 24, 28, and May 4, 13 and 20. A four-hour stoppage from 3pm on May 26 is also planned as well as a 24-hour stoppage on May 27. Meanwhile, in a broadcast on YouTube, Luas drivers outlined their objections to the WRC proposals. Driver Linda Ryan said she believed in equality in the workforce for all. Another driver said starting pay of 29,000 was basically bringing in "yellow-pack workers and we're not going to stand for it". Another staff member said they had fought for a nine-hour working day and it was "a disgrace" that this would be increased by half-an-hour. Scene of shooting in Dublin's north inner city this afternoon Gardai beside bin containing suspected weapon at scene of shooting at Sherriff Street this afternoon Gardai at scene of shooting at Sheriff Street this afternoon Gardai at scene of shooting at Sheriff Street this afternoon Gardai believe that a young man shot dead in Dublin's inner city this afternoon was an "innocent bystander". The victim, named locally as Martin O'Rourke (24) , was shot dead at approximately 12.20pm close to Noctor's pub on Sheriff Street in Dublin 1. It's understood six shots were fired at the man, who is not believed to be the intended victim of the shooting. Mr O'Rourke was rushed to the nearby Mater Hospital by ambulance at 12.45pm. Expand Close Garda at the scene today / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Garda at the scene today He was declared dead this afternoon at the Mater Hospital. Independent.ie has learned that the victim was homeless and suffered with drug problems. Gardai used fingerprint technology to identify him as he was not carrying ID at the time. He had been staying at a homeless shelter in the north inner city. Mr O'Rourke had a partner and a number of children. His family have asked for privacy this evening. The victim was known to gardai for burglary and minor offences but was not linked to gangland crime. It is believed he was in the area to buy drugs at the time. Speaking at a press conference this evening Superintendent Kevin Gralton said a lone gunman involved in the shooting fled the scene by bicycle along Sheriff Street lower, before dumping the push-bike and running in the direction of Seville Place and Gill Street. Expand Close A helicopter has also been deployed in the area / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A helicopter has also been deployed in the area He is believed to have covered his face in a scarf and was wearing all-black clothing. Store Street Supt Gralton said officers believe the victim attempted to flee the gunman but was shot up to six times. Expand Expand Previous Next Close Gardai have sealed off the scene on Sheriff Street as officers conduct their investigation into Ireland's latest gangland shooting Gardai at the scene on Sheriff Street / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gardai have sealed off the scene on Sheriff Street as officers conduct their investigation into Ireland's latest gangland shooting "He was alone. The indications thus far was that he [the victim] was seen running from the area but that has yet to be fully established," he said. Gardai have not yet identified the victim and say that they will be analysing the fingerprints of the victim to full establish his identity. "If it is who we think it is, I don't see a connection as of yet to the feud. If it is the person we think it was, yes he would have been [known to gardai] but on low level stuff. "I've heard that he may have been an innocent bystander, but can't confirm that," he said. Independent.ie has learned that gardai recovered a small black handgun from a bin around one hour after the killing. It has now been sent for forensic analysis to establish if it was the same weapon used in the hit. The scene on Sheriff Street remains sealed off as officers conduct their investigation into Ireland's latest gangland murder. Expand Close Oriel Street Upper cordoned off by gardai / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Oriel Street Upper cordoned off by gardai A helicopter was deployed to the area. The intended target, who escaped injury, is well known to gardai. He previously received a lengthy sentence for a cash-in-transit raid. He is a close associate of Derek 'Del Boy' Hutch - the nephew of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch - and has been accused by rivals of being involved in the Regency Hotel shooting. The shooting happened less than 100 yards from a community and childcare centre and minutes before children were to go home for the afternoon and others were due to arrive. Geraldine Comerford, manager at the North Wall CDP, said: "It's really tragic. It was obviously very, very bad, but it could have been worse. "There's a young life lost for whatever reason and by all accounts it seems to be mistaken identity, but the reality is that if it is that, then the killers came looking for somebody else. "It hasn't ended, and then the question is, is it just beginning again?" David Byrne (33) was shot and killed when gunmen disguised as gardai and carrying AK47s stormed the Regency Hotel during a boxing weigh-in in February. Taxi driver Eddie Hutch (59) Snr was shot in retaliation at his flat in the North Strand area of Dublin just three days later in retaliation. Gerry Hutch's close pal - cigarette smuggler Noel 'Kingsize' Duggan - was shot dead last month. His death has also been linked to the ongoing feud. The first victim of the bloody war was Gary Hutch (34) who was gunned down after he was lured to a meeting with rivals in Marbella, Spain last September. An office worker in the area told Liveline that a colleague of his thought she heard gunfire just before 12.30pm today". Just before we realised that there was a shooting a kid of about three or four years of age came down the street on a balance bike. He said the shooting took place close to a youth club on Sheriff Street. Theres kids around all day long. Theres a lot of people around all the time," he said. Its a horrible situation for the people who live in the area and the people who work here." Sinn Fein Dublin Central TD Mary Lou McDonald condemned the murder and called on people with information to go to gardai. "This ruthless murder is another shocking incident which has taken place in broad daylight in the heart of our capital city," she said. "The person responsible for this shooting must be brought to justice and I would appeal to anyone with any information whatsoever to bring it to the gardai. "We cannot stand idly by while these gangsters walk our streets with impunity, while they take life without any fear of being caught and while they have our families and communities living in fear." Victoria Gaine, 16, and her mother Viv outside their house in Shankhill where they helped save life of binman. Shankhill, Dublin. Picture: Caroline Quinn Victoria Gaine, 16, outside her house in Shankhill where she helped save life of binman. Shankhill, Dublin. Picture: Caroline Quinn THIS is the first meeting between hero student Victoria Williams-Gaine and Florin Popa, since she saved his life. Mr Popa (39) today surprised the transition year student at her school St Joseph of Cluny, in Killiney, and presented her with a mixed bouquet of flowers. Expand Close Victoria Gaine, 16, and her mother Viv outside their house in Shankhill where they helped save life of binman. Shankhill, Dublin. Picture: Caroline Quinn / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Victoria Gaine, 16, and her mother Viv outside their house in Shankhill where they helped save life of binman. Shankhill, Dublin. Picture: Caroline Quinn Victoria (16) performed lifesaving CPR on Mr Popa, after he collapsed outside her home in Shankill on March 23. The Panda Waste employee thanked Victoria for saving his life, while the company also donated a defibrillator to the school as a sign of gratitude. He has not yet returned from work and is continuing his recovery from the heart attack he suffered. Transition Year student Victoria Williams-Gaine (16), from Shankill, Co Dublin, was hailed as a hero after she saved Mr Popa's life outside her home Victoria learned how to administer life-saving CPR in school just weeks before the Panda Waste worker (39) collapsed outside her house. Mr Popa, originally from Romania, would have died if not for the quick intervention of the teenager. His work colleagues have described Victoria as a "superstar" and said Mr Popa was very grateful to her for saving his life. The incident happened on March 23 just before Victoria and her family were due to fly to New York. Victoria's mother Viv Gaine saw the bin lorry outside the house at around 9am and went out, hoping to empty some bits of rubbish before the workers collected the bins. "When I went out, the truck was outside and I could see the man on the ground. "I dialled 999 and I shouted up to Victoria. The ambulance man asked if he was breathing and I said no. "Victoria got down and she started to do CPR on him," Ms Gaine said. Within four or five minutes, the first ambulance arrived. Victoria's work was not finished, however - when the medics saw she was competently administering the lifesaving procedure, she was asked to continue. "The ambulance men realised that she knew what she was doing and it allowed them to set up," Ms Gaine said. A second ambulance soon arrived and Mr Popa was placed into it. Both Victoria and her mother could hear the medics saying that he had no pulse, before confirming that it had returned. Within 30 minutes, he was transferred to St Vincent's Hospital on Merrion Road. Ms Gaine said that her daughter became very upset when she realised what a close call it was. Ms Gaine said the crucial factor was that her daughter had learned CPR in her school St Joseph of Cluny, in Killiney. A spokesman for Panda praised Victoria, describing her as a "superstar". A garda patrol car has been rammed and a man arrested after a 'creeper' burglary investigation. The incident happened in the early hours of yesterday morning on the Barnesmore Gap to Castlederg Road in Co Donegal. The gardai managed to escape injury in the incident. Two patrol cars from Donegal Town and Ballybofey were involved in chasing a car which was stolen during a break-in in Killybegs. A man was arrested after the patrol car was rammed. He was last night being questioned at Ballyshannon Garda Station. Asleep A creeper burglar is someone who breaks into a home while the occupants are there, usually asleep. The incident came the day after delegates at the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) conference in Westport heard that hundreds of gardai have been injured on duty over the past two years. Within the past fortnight, a garda was hospitalised after suffering injuries in a ramming incident in Waterford. It happened in Ballyrafter, Lismore, on March 29. The garda was on patrol after suspicious activity was reported. He received back, neck and arm injuries and was taken to University Hospital Waterford. GardaI would panic and run around like "headless chickens" if there was an international terrorist bomb attack on the streets tomorrow, a conference of supervisors in the force has been told. Delegates at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors heard that frontline police officers were bereft of knowledge, instruction or direction if they had to investigate an international terrorist incident. Members directed AGSI leaders to press Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan for regular updates for gardai nationwide on the international terror threat and an in-depth critical skills analysis of their capability to tackle it. One delegate, who did not wish to be named, said jihadi threats posed the greatest challenge to any police force. Read More He said the recent attacks in France and Belgium had made European governments sit up and realise that Europe was now regarded as a legitimate target for terrorists. He asked delegates: "What would you do if a terrorist bomb exploded on our main thoroughfares tomorrow or if there was an attack with chemical or biological weapons at a large-scale public event such as an All-Ireland final in Croke Park? "I'll tell you what you'd do - panic, panic and panic. We'd be like headless chickens. Read More "We, the people here today and our frontline colleagues, would not have a clue where to start, what plan to put in place or how to investigate." Another speaker, Sgt Liam Corcoran, from Tipperary, said he found it bewildering that garda management had failed to provide frontline officers with the information, training and equipment they needed to help them defend themselves and the people they served. Gardai discover a quantity of explosives found in a car stopped at the junction of the Long Mile road and the Naas Road this evening. Picture: Arthur Carron Gardai discover a quantity of explosives found in a car stopped at the junction of the Long Mile road and the Naas Road this evening. Picture: Arthur Carron Gardai discover a quantity of explosives found in a car stopped at the junction of the Long Mile road and the Naas Road this evening. Picture: Arthur Carron Gardai discover a quantity of explosives found in a car stopped at the junction of the Long Mile road and the Naas Road Gardai discover a quantity of explosives found in a car stopped at the junction of the Long Mile road and the Naas Road this evening. Picture: Arthur Carron Two suspected dissidents have been arrested after gardai found what is believed to be explosives in their car on a busy road last night. A garda spokesman has confirmed that gardai, attached to Crime and Security section and the Special Detective Unit, made the discovery as part of an intelligence led operation. Expand Close Gardai discover a quantity of explosives found in a car stopped at the junction of the Long Mile road and the Naas Road this evening. Picture: Arthur Carron / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gardai discover a quantity of explosives found in a car stopped at the junction of the Long Mile road and the Naas Road this evening. Picture: Arthur Carron The men were arrested as part of an intelligence led operation by officers investigating the activities of dissident republicans. The men are still being questioned this morning in Ronanstown and in Ballyfermot garda stations. Expand Close Picture: Google Maps / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Picture: Google Maps The pair - aged in their 30s and 40s - were travelling in the vehicle on the Naas Road in West Dublin last night when members of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) stopped them and discovered what they suspected was explosive material. The car - a Skoda Fabia - was stopped on the Naas Road inbound lane, close to Woodies DIY store, just before the Long Mile Road junction at 7.30pm last night. The Defence Forces Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Unit was called to the scene to examine the contents. EOD officers were seen removing six bags from the car, which were suspected to have contained explosive material. The material seized from the car will be sent for analysis to determine what the substances are. A tow truck removed the car from the scene last night. Dublin. Gardai are dealing with an incident on the Naas Rd inbound just before Long Mile Rd jct. Road closed please use alternative routes. An Garda Siochana (@GardaTraffic) April 13, 2016 The Long Mile Road junction and the Naas Road were closed to all traffic until the scene was made safe. The two arrested men were taken to Ballyfermot and Ronanstown Garda Stations under the provisions of Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. They remained in garda custody this morning. The discovery resulted from an intelligence-led operation conducted by gardai attached to the Crime and Security section and the Special Detective Unit. One of the men is known to the gardai. Detectives believe that the men are associated with the group, the New IRA, a dissident republican group which claimed responsibility for the bomb attack on the prison officer Adrian Ismay last month. On Saturday the Irwin family from Tynan in Co Armagh were celebrating their son John's 16th birthday. Today they are preparing for his funeral. John, a pupil at City of Armagh High School, where his mum Diane is a governor, collapsed on Tuesday afternoon. It was the school formerly attended by Lesley-Ann McCarragher, the 19-year-old killed in a hit-and-run in Milford earlier this week. John, who came from a sheep farming family, was rushed to Craigavon Hospital but medics were unable to save him. The teenager died surrounded by his family in the early hours of yesterday in the hospital's intensive care unit. Expand Close Lesley Ann Credit: Belfast Telegraph / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lesley Ann Credit: Belfast Telegraph The cause of the boy's death will not be known until after a post-mortem is carried out. A PSNI spokesman said it was not being treated as suspicious. Read More It's understood John went to school as normal on Tuesday, but in the mid afternoon he suffered a seizure. Staff gave him what assistance they could. Ambulance Service personnel were on the scene quickly and the schoolboy was rushed to hospital. Rev Matthew Hagan, Rector of St John's Church in Middletown, was with John and the family when he passed away. Read More Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph last night, the Church of Ireland clergyman said: "It would break your heart. He simply collapsed at school. "The suddenness, the shock, has left the family devastated. "John was a quiet young man, very committed to St John's Parish Church, Middletown, as are all the members of his family. John loved farming, and especially working with the sheep. "The family have my heartfelt and sincere sympathy at this very sad time. "It's a tragic loss for them." UUP councillor Sam Nicholson is a friend of the Irwin family. Last night he said that John's parents Keith and Diane were in shock at the sudden loss of their beloved son. Mr Nicholson heard the news of the death as he attended the funeral of Lesley-Ann, a former head girl at City of Armagh High. "To lose a son so young, it's heartbreaking. These two tragic deaths in the same week have hit everybody hard," he said. "There's nothing that you can say to the families that will make them feel any better. They will never get over it." Friends posted messages on social media in tribute. Katie Neville posted a picture of John and said: "Cannot believe my wee John is gone. "A best friend to everyone, such a wee sweetheart. Made a fortune for so, so long selling sweets and Lucozade round school and never got caught. "Loads of memories with my wee star John Irwin! Partner in crime a lot of the time, relationship adviser, and everything. RIP John Irwin. Thoughts with you forever petal xxx" Another pal, Amiee Robinson, wrote on Facebook: "RIP John, was only talking to you a few hours before, most caring fella I've ever met, brightened up my days. Thoughts and prayers go out to the Irwin family." And Sam Coulter posted: "There was never a bad word against John. He always came into school with a smile and his head held high. "John was a person who always cheered you up, he will never be forgotten, school will be a little quiet but in our hearts John is always there." The chairman of the board of governors, William Scott said, yesterday: "On behalf of the board of governors and the whole school community I wish to express our deepest sympathy with the family of our student, John Irwin, who died this morning. "John was a much valued student in City of Armagh High School. "His mother, Mrs Diane Irwin, is very much involved in school life as a member of the board of governors and we very much appreciate the contribution of the wider family circle to the life of the school. "We assure John's parents, siblings and wider family circle that they are all in our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time." Armagh DUP councillor Freda Donnelly also knows the Irwin family. "To lose a child is every parent's nightmare, and I know the community will support the family at this very difficult time," Ms Donnelly said. Friends said the Irwin family were too shocked to speak about their loss. Former MLA Danny Kennedy, who visited the family yesterday, said: "People are stunned. This is another tragedy for Armagh and for the school. "The family told me they are grateful to the staff at the City of Armagh School who tried to help John, to the emergency services and to the medical staff at Craigavon who tried to save his life." Mr Kennedy said that the teenager had no medical history that could have given any early warning. "His mother told me he'd hardly been to the doctor's since he was a toddler," the former Stormont minister said. Funeral arrangements have yet to be finalised. A recovery worker with the blue hatchback in the River Liffey in Celbridge, Co Kildare. Photo: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. One of the cars is recovered from the Liffey at Celbridge Bridge, Co Kildare. Photo: Colin Keegan Two teenage boys were lucky to escape with their lives after cars fleeing a suspected robbery plunged into the River Liffey. The dramatic incident began when gardai were first alerted to a suspected burglary at the Weston housing estate in Lucan, Dublin, at 4am yesterday. Gardai attended the scene but as they arrived they saw two cars driving towards Celbridge village. Read More The cars crashed through a wall at Celbridge Bridge and entered the River Liffey. One of the vehicles ended up on its roof at the edge of the water after falling down a steep drop. The second vehicle, a blue hatchback, could be seen sitting in water just below the town bridge. Emergency services were called to the scene and at least two people were rescued from the river. Two youths - both aged 17 - were arrested. Locals reported hearing sirens and a helicopter in the area as the rescue unfolded. The incident prompted a rescue by Tallaght Ambulance service and fire brigade units from Tallaght; Naas, Co Kildare; and Dunshaughlin, Co Meath. A representative for the ambulance service said that no one was seriously injured. It's understood that water levels were low at the time and the vehicles could be seen sitting in the river by commuters during the morning rush. Gardai confirmed two male juveniles were arrested at the scene. The two youths were being detained at Lucan Garda Station under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984. The bridge reopened to traffic later on in the morning. Tallaght Ambulance described dealing with the incident as a "busy night". Almost a third of all Irish children live in deprived households, a new UNICEF study has shown. The new report, which examines Ireland among 40 other OECD countries, states that children are now the most neglected demographic in Irish society. Ireland currently has the fourth worst income inequality in the EU, with an income gap of over 76pc. It places this country just below the UK, Belgium and Bulgaria. However, Ireland's gap narrows to just over 41pc once social protection payments are made. These payments are known as social transfers. But UNICEF says this gap is unsustainable and leaves many families "living on the edge". Households are deemed deprived if they cannot afford at least three items from a list of essential items, as defined by the EU. Items on the list include housing, heating, utility bills and a protein meal every second day. Other essentials are the ability to face unexpected expenses, a holiday, a phone, a TV, a washing machine or a car. Peter Power, Executive Director of UNICEF Ireland, said: "100 years ago this month, the Proclamation proclaimed to cherish all Irish children equally." "This report demonstrates that as a demographic group Irish children are falling behind other sections of society." Writing in the Irish Independent, Mr Power added: "The message is stark: as inequality increases, wealthy nations of the world are failing their most vulnerable children," he said. "Those with the least ability to narrow the gaps are being allowed to fall furthest behind." UNICEF has urged the incoming government to act on the findings, saying that all other groups in Irish society were better protected during the economic collapse than children. The body also called for protection of incomes of households with the poorest children, the improvement of educational achievements of disadvantaged learners and the promotion of healthy lifestyles for all children and young people. Gardai at the scene where a quantity of explosives was found in a car at the Long Mile Road in Dublin. Photo: Arthur Carron Two of the bags taken from the car by gardai last night. Picture: Arthur Carron Two men have been arrested after gardai found what is believed to be explosives in their car. The pair - aged in their 30s and 40s - were travelling in the vehicle on the Naas Road in West Dublin last night when members of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) stopped them and discovered what they suspected was explosive material. The car was stopped on the Naas Road inbound lane, close to Woodies DIY store, just before the Long Mile Road junction at 7.30pm last night. The Defence Forces Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Unit was called to the scene to examine the contents. The men were arrested as part of an intelligence led operation by officers investigating the activities of dissident republicans, RTE reported. EOD officers were seen removing six bags from the car, which were suspected to have contained explosive material. The material seized from the car will be sent for analysis to determine what the substances are. A tow truck removed the car from the scene last night. The Long Mile Road junction and the Naas Road were closed to all traffic until the scene was made safe. The two arrested men were taken to Ballyfermot and Ronanstown Garda Stations under the provisions of Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. They remained in garda custody overnight. The discovery resulted from an intelligence-led operation conducted by gardai attached to the Crime and Security section and the Special Detective Unit. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has demanded an investigation into the money spent by Irish Water lobbying to stop the abolition of the controversial State utility company. Speaking in the Dail after the vote for Taoiseach, Mr Martin accused Irish Water of orchestrating an unprecedented lobbying campaign after the electorate rejected the last Governments policies on water. He also warned that Irish Water should not go ahead with any unnecessary maintenance work or contracts while discussions on the agencys future are ongoing. The future of Irish Water is not the single most important issue facing our country but it is important and the election represented a decisive rejection of current policies, Mr Mart said. The post-election lobbying campaign by this state company is unprecedented in our history. It is a total waste of public money and of the legitimate balance of powers between parliament and state companies. Once Dail committees are established we will be seeking an investigation into the cost and nature of this campaign, he added. Mr Martin also said any attempt by Irish Water to accelerate contracts and hiring for non-essential maintenance roles will be seen as an attempt to undermine discussions on water policy by elected representatives. A regrettable smooch might be the closest thing to romance many of us will ever find in Copper Face Jacks, but for a few lucky couples the famous Dublin nightclub was the scene that set them on the path to love. Mayo man Brendan Mooney (39) credits the Harcourt Street haunt, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary today, for landing him his wife Orlene (40). Expand Close Brendan Mooney pictured with his wife Orlene and children Ella (8) Sadbh (6) Roisin (4) and Senan (1) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Brendan Mooney pictured with his wife Orlene and children Ella (8) Sadbh (6) Roisin (4) and Senan (1) The pair admit that Coppers has a lot to answer for in their mad house, happily taken over by children Ella (8) Sadbh (6) Roisin (4) and one-year-old baby Senan. I met my wife Orlene in 2001 in Copper Face Jacks. It was Christmas time and Im from Kiltimagh and we all used to meet up for a few drinks before wed head home for Christmas, said Brendan. I was living in Dublin at the time and working as an auditor. As it happens Orlene was living with a girl from Kiltimagh at the time and the rest is history. We lived in Dublin until 2006, and moved to Mayo were we had four children... Coppers has a lot to answer for, he joked. Expand Close Brendan Mooney pictured with his wife Orlene on their wedding day / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Brendan Mooney pictured with his wife Orlene on their wedding day Read More Brendan revealed that the couple often bear the brunt of good-natured teasing and a friend even managed to squeeze a Coppers mention into their wedding ceremony. We get a bit of teasing about the whole thing, but who cares where youve met. Our friend Emma Walsh actually managed an incredible feat by getting Copper Face Jacks into the Prayer of the Faithful at our wedding, he said. Read More The dad-of-four revealed he is quite proud of the fact that he found the one on Harcourt Street. Im quite proud of the fact. If you cant get the shift in Coppers youre in a bit of bother, he joked. We used to always go to Coppers for a bit of fun and a laugh, wed always end up meeting someone wed know or running into some fella from home. Coppers brought us together. Maybe theyll sponsor a romantic trip back to where it all started, laughed Brendan. Tonight Coppers will celebrate two decades of business with a no-holds-barred party on Harcourt Street. Fancy travelling the world on a tax-free salary? We asked a high-flying Irish flight attendant exactly what's involved. Roma Armstrong (31) is the picture of old-school, airline glamour. Sitting in the drawing room of Dublin's Merrion Hotel, in full Emirates regalia, she turns heads - from businessmen passing by to the little girl at the next table. So how did this farmer's daughter from Ballina, Co. Mayo, get to travel the world and live a sky-high lifestyle on a tax-free salary? With an Emirates Open Day scheduled in Dublin's Hilton Hotel on Charlemont Place for Saturday, June 25, we asked Roma what it's really like to be a flight attendant, and what it takes to come through the airline's recruitment process. How did you become a flight attendant? Expand Close Roma Armstrong (right), of Emirates. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Roma Armstrong (right), of Emirates. Roma Armstrong (right), with her Emirates colleagues. Im from Mayo, just outside Ballina - a farmers daughter from the west of Ireland! I used to work for Ulster Bank as a Savings & Investment Advisor, but myself and two friends took a redundancy package to go travelling. I always wanted to travel, thats the whole reason I left Ireland. I worked for a year in Australia, and one day I saw a sign saying: Why work on the ground when you can work 40,000 feet in the air? So I went along to an Open Day with my CV. My plan was to stay for a year. That was three-and-a-half years ago! What's a typical month in your job? We get our schedules once a month, and we fly on average between 80 and 100 hours in a month. Thats pretty good. This time, my destinations have included Vienna, Milan, New York, Sydney and Auckland, where I plan to take a few days off. Every month we get our rosters, but we can bid on or request various routes. Emirates employs around 23,000 cabin crew, but they do their best to accommodate us. You can also swap rosters with your colleagues. So if you have Dublin and I have Vienna, we can swap, and everyones happy. We need a minimum of two days off in every seven. After a long-haul flight you need a minimum of two days rest back in Dubai. I like longer flights, because you get your hours done, you get to see the destination, you come back and have time off. Basically I signed up to travel the world. But the world is a big place! What perks and benefits are involved? Expand Close Emirates Business Class, 777-300 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Emirates Business Class, 777-300 We earn a tax-free salary. Emirates pays for our training, uniforms and even our bills in Dubai. To be honest, I live in a bubble. Ill get a shock if I go back to the real world! Its not a job; its a lifestyle for us. There is a beautiful apartment thats included in the job. I live five minutes from Dubai Mall! I also go on holidays every month. Thats not flying. Thats not layovers. Thats separate. Thats annual leave and days off. Emirates cabin crew get discounted flights - we pay 10pc of the fare. Thats not just for us, its for our families as well. You can nominate people for discounted tickets anywhere in the world. You can literally follow your passion anywhere. In Dubai, Emirates cabin crew have discount cards, so we get reductions in Dubai Mall and various water parks, gyms and attractions. We can go free to night clubs like Armani, Cavalli, Movida. Dubai has some of the best nightlife in the world. NB: Emirates also provides airport transfers, health insurance, a government pension scheme and an end of service gratuity, among other benefits. How can I apply for a job? Expand Close Emirates Boeing 777-300, serving the Dublin to Dubai route. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Emirates Boeing 777-300, serving the Dublin to Dubai route. You can apply online, but we also have Open Days, so bring your CV. The recruitment consultants will tell you all about the airline, Dubai, the change, whats expected of you. After that, you may get invited to a one-to-one interview.* Interview day is almost like a knockout stage. Of all the people who apply, they choose about 5pc, or one in 20. They select a certain type of person. *For more on careers with Emirates, see emiratesgroupcareers.com. Read More What are the job requirements? Emirates lists Cabin Crew requirements on its website as: At least 21 years of age at the time of joining Arm reach of 212cm while standing on tiptoes Minimum height of 160cm High school graduate (Grade 12) Fluency in English (Written and Spoken) No visible tattoos while in Emirates Cabin Crew uniform (cosmetic and bandage coverings not permitted) Physically fit to meet the Emirates Cabin Crew requirements The airline also requires a positive attitude, 'empathy for others', a strong cultural awareness and the ability to adapt to new people and environments. "Its very personality based," Roma says. "We all have something in common I guess its an attitude. You need to be culturally aware, because we fly to 120 destinations, we meet people from all walks of life. You need to be open-minded and positive too. "Irish people are loved all over the world. We are caring, kind, the way we deal with people Emirates as a company loves Irish people. We have over 500 Irish staff at the moment. They see us as being genuine, a hospitable country." Do looks matter in selection? Expand Close Emirates cabin crew / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Emirates cabin crew Were more than just a pretty face. Whats your definition of a pretty face, after all? It could mean something different to different nationalities. Youd be surprised. Our crew come from all walks of life. Every profession you could think of is represented on board. We're from 130 countries, and some of our backgrounds would wow you. Were not just there smiling and stereotyping. Our image is our brand, especially our uniform and the way we wear it. I wear it with pride. We come from different places, our skin colours are different, but our uniforms blend us as one. Thats how you identify us. Of course, you need to be fit to do this job. You need to take care of yourself. I go to the gym, I like to run. Its an active job and you need to be healthy. Are there male cabin crew? I would say the split is probably 70-30. We have a lot of Irish men that work for us who have met their wives on their travels! Its the same application process for both. What does training involve? Expand Close Roma Armstrong at the Emirates Stadium. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Roma Armstrong at the Emirates Stadium. We have a five-week intensive training programme, where we cover everything from medical and safety to image, uniform and grooming standards. Training starts with an induction day in Dubai, where they talk about the city, the contrast with your home country and an Arabic, Muslim country. I didnt know a lot of that before I arrived, so I found it really helpful. The five weeks are very full-on. You have Friday and Saturday off, but there are long days, with a lot of information. It's good training. If you need it, it kicks in. Were even trained to deliver babies. Whatever can happen in the sky, were trained for it. Once you qualify, there are regular exams once a year to renew your flying license, and they have high pass marks too. You need to study, and theres always new information coming. You have briefings before every flight to refresh your knowledge, too. Read More How long is the career? I fly with some crew who have been there 14 or 15 years. The good thing about Emirates is that your career can progress. You can fly as cabin crew, you could become a trainer, you could go into recruitment, have an office job in our HQ in Dubai, or even move to another country and work there through the airport. You get options. It doesnt have to change when you get married or have children, either. Family life has a big emphasis in Dubai. You are also guaranteed your job. The security is a big thing - the first contract is for three years. Whats it like to live in Dubai? Expand Close The skyline of Dubai, a city that loves superlatives: the tallest, the biggest, the best, and the happiest, with a new minister devoted to goodwill. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The skyline of Dubai, a city that loves superlatives: the tallest, the biggest, the best, and the happiest, with a new minister devoted to goodwill. As crew, we call Dubai the capital of the world. Everything is there. Its so modern, so cosmopolitan; there are so many ex-pats there now and the Irish community is strong. We have GAA teams, and a huge Irish society. Sure, It can get very hot the hottest period lasts about eight weeks. The first year, I found it tough. But it got easier. Now its fine. I walk to my gym, do my running. Now, Id have a Dubai summer over an Irish winter any day of the week! Its different coming from the West, of course, and I wasnt very educated about Islam until I went to Dubai. You can be afraid of something you don't know, but learning about it was amazing. I have a lot of Arabic and Muslim friends. That said, Dubai isnt as strict as other Muslim countries. We are visitors, and we have to respect their rules. But also they respect that we live and work there. They look after us. For us, Dubai is our home. We have Sunday lunch. We cook for each other. We go for a run, to the beach, or for coffee together. There are a lot of places we might know about that tourists dont, because it has become our home. Read More What's the hardest thing about the job? Thats a good question. Probably not being able to go to events at home that you would like to. My nephew got Christened recently. I would love to have been there, but I wasnt able to. You could be the other side of the world. That said, when I lived in Australia, I missed everything. Now, I can get back for Christmas, weddings, a whole lot more. We do two flights a day into Dublin and with a 24-hour layover youd be surprised what you can do. If I have days off in Dubai, I can always just jump on a flight and come home. Home is where my heart is, and sometimes, people are surprised to hear I live in Dubai. But youre always at home! they say, and its true! What's it really like working on a plane? Expand Close Emirates A380 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Emirates A380 Our Emirates planes are huge. I once wore a stepper to count my steps, and I think I walked something like 4.5km in a flight! Youre always doing something. But well also sit down together, have lunch or a coffee or a chat when people are sleeping. I dont ever feel claustrophobic. Its our office! I came back from Milan recently, and I was sitting in my jump seat looking out the window. I could see all the city lights below and the stars were getting closer. Its a nice place to be. Our longest flight is 17.5 hours to Auckland. On long-hauls, we work the whole flight, but there is a rest strategy and full beds in special crew rest compartments, complete with crew pyjamas and movies! You can sleep for 4-5 hours, depending. Ive also met some of the most incredible people on board. Were not robots. Emirates hires and recruits for our personalities. People could travel with us to the most amazing event in their life, or the saddest. We are there for them. Give an example? We had this 92-year-old Irish woman coming from Singapore recently. She had been in Melbourne to see her great-granddaughter. It was her first time out of Ireland, at 92! She even had to get her first passport. "You know, I have so many regrets in life," she said. "But the one I have now is that I didnt do this years ago. I didnt know that its like a hotel in the sky!" Read more: Scheduled guided Titanic tours take in the historic Harland & Wolff shipyards and the famous Titanic sites around Belfast Harbour. At the dry dock where she was finished, Titanic spent her final days in Belfast. SS Nomadic, built as a tender to RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, she is now the last surviving White Star Line vessel. Titanic Belfast has become an iconic draw - but it's far from the only Titanic attraction in the city. Here are 12 of the best. 1. Titanic Belfast Where else to begin than with the worlds largest Titanic visitor experience? Located in the Titanic Quarter, right beside the Slipways where the historic ship was built, Titanic Belfast houses a state-of-the-art visitor experience telling the story of the worlds most famous ship - from her conception in Belfast in the early 1900s, through to her construction, launch, maiden voyage and tragic end. The iconic building, shaped like a ships bows, is a sight to see in itself, but dont miss innovative dockyard ride, holographs and undersea footage of the wreck site inside Details: titanicbelfast.com; 17.50/21.80pp 2. TITANICa, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum Expand Close RMS Titanic. Cobh was the liner's last port of call. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp RMS Titanic. Cobh was the liner's last port of call. This is one of my favourite Titanic things to do in Belfast. Whereas Titanic Belfast is all about scale and state-of-the-art exhibitions, TITANICa has the personal touch - boasting more than 500 original artefacts associated with the ship. A set of original plans is a highlight, for example but youll also find a porthole and soup tureen recovered from the seabed. Its a fascinating opportunity to learn about life on board through the personal stories of those connected with the ship. 2014 marked the museum's 50th birthday. Details: nmni.com/titanic; 9/11.20 3. Discovery Tour, Titanic Belfast Expand Close Titanic Belfast / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Titanic Belfast This is your opportunity to walk in the footsteps of the men who designed and built Titanic in Belfast's historic shipyard. Less than half the price of entry to Titanic Belfast itself, the hour-long walking tour invites visitors to discover the ship from the spot where she was built and launched, including a walk through Harland & Wolffs Drawing Offices - where Titanic and the rest of the mighty 'Olympic' class were designed. Youll also learn about the creation of the iconic Titanic Belfast building - the world's largest Titanic visitor attraction, and now a symbol of a resurgent Northern Ireland. Details: titanicbelfast.com; 7/8.75pp 4. SS Nomadic, Hamilton Dock Expand Close SS Nomadic, built as a tender to RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, she is now the last surviving White Star Line vessel. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp SS Nomadic, built as a tender to RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, she is now the last surviving White Star Line vessel. In 1911 Harland & Wolff built the SS Nomadic as the first and second-class passenger tender ship to the Titanic. Over 100 years later, the last remaining White Star Line ship has been restored to her original glory and is back home in Hamilton Dock. Step on board to experience a century of authentic maritime and social history. Details: nomadicbelfast.com; 7/8.75 5. Titanic Menu, Rayanne House Expand Close Rayanne House, Titanic Menu. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Rayanne House, Titanic Menu. Youve already seen where Titanic was built and witnessed the worlds largest Titanic attraction. Now, why not have a taste of the first-class menu? Rayanne House serves up a Titanic Menu, a recreation of the dinner served in the first-class restaurant. And yes, it's super-fancy - the entree is a pan-seared filet mignon topped with foie gras and truffle drizzled with a Cognac, madeira and red wine reduction served with potatoes Anna, creamed carrots and zucchini farci. Details: rayannehouse.com; B&B with dinner for two 240/299.50pp 6. Titanics Dock & Pump-House Expand Close At the dry dock where she was finished, Titanic spent her final days in Belfast. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp At the dry dock where she was finished, Titanic spent her final days in Belfast. Wanna see the Titanics footprint? This seven-acre scheduled monument site includes the Thompson Dry Dock in which the hull of Titanic sat as it was assembled - and its associated Pump-House. The Pump-House was the beating heart of Harland & Wolff's operation during the construction of the great White Star Liners - Britannic, Olympic and Titanic and the dry dock gives an amazing sense of the scale of the ship. A visitor Centre & Cafe complements daily guided tours. Details: titanicsdock.com; walking tours from 5/6.25pp 7. City Hall, Donegall Square Expand Close Belfast City Hall at Christmas, with black taxi in the foreground. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Belfast City Hall at Christmas, with black taxi in the foreground. City Hall's connections with the Titanic are many. In fact the Lord Mayor at the time of its opening, Sir Daniel Dixon, credited William Pirrie, the man who created Titanic, as having the big ideas for City Hall. In its grounds, the Titanic Memorial, sculpted by Thomas Brock, pays tribute to 22 men who lost their lives on the ship. Another statue by Brock depicts Sir Edward Harland, ships plan in hand, who was Lord Mayor in 1885/6. Thanks to Pirries influence, the Lord Mayors Suite is also known as the Titanic Rooms... craftsmen who worked on them went on to work on the famous liner. Details: belfastcity.gov.uk; free 8. Titanic Walking Tour with Colin Cobb Expand Close Tour Guide, Titanic Dock, Belfast / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tour Guide, Titanic Dock, Belfast Titanic Walking Tours is owned and operated by Colin Cobb, a self-professed 'Titanorak' ever since doing a primary school project on the great liner. Join his two-hour tour of Queens Island, and youll follow in the footsteps of Titanics builders at the very sites where Titanic and her two sister ships were designed, built and launched. The tour departs from the main entrance of Titanic Belfast, and covers about a mile, with a cafe break of 30 minutes. Details: titanicwalk.com; from 10/12.50pp 9. Titanic Harbour Guided Boat Tour Expand Close Scheduled guided Titanic tours take in the historic Harland & Wolff shipyards and the famous Titanic sites around Belfast Harbour. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Scheduled guided Titanic tours take in the historic Harland & Wolff shipyards and the famous Titanic sites around Belfast Harbour. The Lagan Boat Company offers the world's only Titanic boat tour. Departing from Donegall Quay, scheduled tours take in the Harland & Wolff shipyards and the famous Titanic sites around Belfast Harbour, telling the story of Belfast's maritime heritage not least how its port has developed from its industrial shipbuilding roots to the major tourist attraction of today. The boat tour also allows a view of the Titanic Quarter from the water not a bad photo opp! Details: laganboatcompany.com; 10/12.50 10. Segway Belfast City Titanic Tour Expand Close Independent.ie's Clare Cullen on a Titanic Segway Tour / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Independent.ie's Clare Cullen on a Titanic Segway Tour Dont fancy a walking tour? Why not hop on a Segway and glide from one Titanic location to the next? Starting from the Segway NI shop at Beflasts ARC apartments, the tour takes in Titanic Belfast, the Harland & Wolff Drawing Rooms and the slipways where the White Star Lines Olympic-class ships were created. From there, the Segways move on to Titanic Studios, where HBO's Game of Thrones is produced, and the Titanic Dock & Pump House. Dont forget that all-important Segway selfie nab it on the return journey with the huge Samson & Goliath yellow cranes in the background. Details: segwayni.com; 30/37.45pp 11. Belfast City Bike Tours Expand Close Belfast City Bike Tours / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Belfast City Bike Tours Belfast City Bike Tours offer fun, eco-friendly tours of the city with local guides - some visiting several sights accessible only by bike. There are three tours on offer including a City Orientation Tour, Hilden Bike N Brew Tour and Titanic Bike N Boat. All are easy-paced, taking in over 20 points of interest with plenty of photo opps. Details: belfastcitybiketours.com; 30/37.50pp 12. Susie Millar's Titanic Tours Expand Close Titanic Belfast / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Titanic Belfast Broadcaster and journalist Susie Millar is the great-granddaughter of Thomas Millar, who worked in Harland & Wolff on the construction of Titanic, and who then sailed on her fateful maiden voyage as an engineer. That makes her tour the only one in Belfast conducted by a direct descendant of a crew member. Details: titanictours.co; 30/37.45pp This story was compiled together with Discover Northern Ireland. For further info on Titanic attractions in Northern Ireland, check out www.discovernorthernireland.com/titanic. Exchange rates correct on day of publication. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs has updated its travel advice on Ireland to warn of "tensions" ahead of the Easter Rising centenary. "Tensions between dissident republicans and unionists have increased in the lead up to the centenary of the Easter Rising (24-29 April )," it says. "You should avoid all protests and demonstrations, including those associated with Northern Ireland, as they may turn violent," the advice continues. "Instances of civil disorder can rapidly escalate into violence and you should avoid them wherever possible, including through careful monitoring of the media and following the advice of local authorities," according to its smarttraveller.gov.au website. In general terms, the level of alert has not changed for Ireland, with its government advising Australians to "exercise normal safety precautions". However, the advice also says conditions "can change suddenly". Ireland's official State commemorations of the 1916 Rising centred on Easter, but the calender anniversary itself falls between April 24-29. Separately, Australian travellers are warned that car theft and break-ins are increasing, especially in Dublin and tourist locations, and rental cars are particularly targeted. Credit card and ATM scams are becoming more common, it says. The incidence of serious, violent crime is listed as "moderate". A spokesperson for the Irish Department of Transport & Tourism said it doesn't comment on travel advice issued by other countries. When compared to the number of tourists entering the country, Ireland is a very safe destination and the rate of crime against tourists is quite low," it added. Failte Ireland's most recent Visitor Attitudes Survey saw 92pc of tourists list safety and security as one of their top reasons for visiting Ireland. 207,600 visitors from Australia and New Zealand came to Ireland in 2015, according to the CSO, up 9pc on the previous year. Independent.ie Travel has contacted the Australian embassy for comment. Read Australia's full travel advice on Ireland here. Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair's Chief Marketing Officer, promoting the new winter 2016 routes from Cork. Ryanair has announced its winter 2016 schedule from Cork Airport, bringing several new options for Munster passengers. Three new services will include direct flights to Malaga, Tenerife and Gran Canaria, with new daily services to London also on the cards. The flights will be weekly to Tenerife and Gran Canaria, twice a week to Malaga, and four times daily to London Gatwick (1) and Stansted (3). Malaga is the gateway airport for Spain's Costa del Sol. Once operational, Ryanair will have 40 weekly flights on nine routes from Cork - including Gdansk, Lanzarote, Liverpool and Wroclaw. The airline will serve 850,000 customers a year, it said, supporting 640 'on-site' jobs at the country's second-biggest airport. Expand Close Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair's Chief Marketing Officer, promoting the new winter 2016 routes from Cork. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair's Chief Marketing Officer, promoting the new winter 2016 routes from Cork. "So far this year, Cork Airport has seen passenger numbers increase by over 10pc, making us Irelands fastest growing airport," said MD Niall MacCarthy. Among the new services scheduled for 2016 are Aer Lingus to Dusseldorf and Iberia Express to Madrid, although Norwegian's transatlantic service to Boston - originally scheduled to commence this May - hangs in the balance. A spokesperson for the airline told Independent.ie Travel: "Launching transatlantic flights from Cork is only the beginning of our planned expansion in Ireland, but our plans rely on the U.S. Department of Transportation finally approving our application for a foreign carrier permit." Cityjet will fly from Cork to Nantes, La Rochelle and Menorca this year, while Aer Lingus Regional is adding routes to Southampton and Leeds Bradford. Brendan Keenan: 'Better laws and foreign money needed to overcome worrying homes shortage' There is a district in Belfast known as the Holy Land. Not because of its religiosity, but because the streets - Jerusalem Street, Damascus Street and so on - are called after places in that region. Once, there were others; Little Crimea, India, and so on. Seemingly, houses were built so quickly for the city's huge expansion in the 19th century that it was too much trouble to think up original names. They eventually gave up altogether, so far as names were concerned. The Shankill area got First Street, Second Street etc, all the way up to Tenth. Premium Sinead Moriarty: 'Weve got to disconnect to reconnect to our gift of the gab' Are we losing our world-famous gift of the gab? In an attempt to save our traditional national pastime, a pub in west Cork has banned people from using mobile phones. Billy Fleming, owner of the Anchor Bar, in Courtmacsherry, has said that the locals who drink in his pub support his decision and that mobile phones have gradually killed conversation over the last few years. It's just three weeks since the Brussels bombings. We know that 32 innocent commuters were murdered that day and more than 300 were injured. Following the attacks, 80 people are still in hospital today. These innocent people cannot be forgotten as Europe wonders what to do next. No city is immune from these terror risks. Europe needs to come together and act together in facing down terrorism. We owe that at the very least to the victims. Let's be very clear: Isil is an attack on our way of life. They hate the freedom and liberty we enjoy. They are now targeting European capitals, taking their fight to Europe because of defeats elsewhere. The free movement of people within the EU does not include the free movement of terrorists and criminals. Terrorism and crime respect no borders. Enhanced international co-operation is essential if these twin evils are to be contained. Penetrating the cells that they have in place in Europe is very challenging. I say that because most of these "fighters" are European citizens and are part of ordinary communities across the EU. So trying to defeat Isil, or even contain them, will be a constant pressure on all EU member states. And it cannot be a security solution by itself. There is a huge task in bringing forward actions to prevent radicalisation. That's best achieved at an EU level. Politicians cannot pretend that there are complete security solutions to this present danger. How can any security authority stop a suicide bomber who wants to kill himself and dozens of innocent civilians? Internal, country-by-country security solutions will not work. The case for speeding up the integration of intelligence services and the sharing of information across borders is obvious. The right to life is the most fundamental human right of all. Protecting the safety and security of its citizens is the responsibility of all member states and all EU institutions alike. This week the European Parliament meets in Strasbourg in plenary session for the first time since the Brusells bombings. We need to finally adopt the Passenger Name Record (PNR) directive. Simply put, PNR obliges airlines to share with police authorities across Europe information on passengers flying into or within the EU. The US authorities already require this information for those travelling from Europe. Its use is solely to fight serious crime; its aim is to stop the circulation of terrorists within our borders. So why, therefore, are Sinn Fein MEPs, amongst others, opposing a measure that can help in tracking terrorist suspects? Why are they opposed to this? Is it to do with their recent annoyance with US authorities as they stopped and questioned some Sinn Fein members who have known criminal pasts? Whatever the reason, it's time to take this issue seriously and to pass this crucial legislation at an EU level this week. The text of this proposal has been negotiated between the EU Council and the EU Parliament for five long years, yet in the wake of the Paris attacks one Sinn Fein MEP called it a "knee-jerk" reaction. There is nothing knee jerk about a measure which has been debated and discussed for five years. EU countries like the UK already have a PNR system, while others have either passed laws or are testing PNR data systems. For a number of years, PNR data has been shared by EU countries (including Ireland) with Australia, Canada and the US. We recently agreed to a PNR arrangement with the UK. The PNR proposal contains safeguards to prevent abuse and also upholds an individual's data protection rights. The law has been narrowed to cover terror offences and serious "transnational" crime like human trafficking, child pornography, trafficking in weapons, munitions and explosives. Data can only be kept for a limited time and a data protection officer must be appointed to safeguard the holding and use of the information. Despite the negotiated safeguards, Sinn Fein's MEP Martina Anderson described the Irish government's support for the new system as being "cheerleaders for human rights violations". Her press release came one month after Gerry Adams visited the French Embassy in Dublin to express his sympathies for the 137 people killed in the Paris bombing. The French president has demanded action, rightly so, to get the legislation passed. Irish citizens need to ask all their MEPs - why the foot-dragging? The current situation requires practical solutions from MEPs. A PNR system is just one element in our response. We need to step up information exchange, modernise security and intelligence equipment. We need to stop illegal firearms trafficking. A systematic approach to external border controls and tackling the financing of terrorism - all of this needs to be put in place. Since the European Parliament started negotiations on this issue in 2011 there have been 12 terror attacks in seven EU countries. These have resulted in 222 deaths and 892 people seriously injured. I recognise that Sinn Fein is now a serious political party in Ireland. Either it wants to be taken seriously or it will continue to be part of the European and national fringe. Being against everything for the sake of cynical opposition politics may be a comfortable place to be, but it's not serious politics. The Passenger Name Record legislation should be supported by all those who want to protect all our citizens. It's not a solution in itself, but it's part of the EU's response to this constant threat. It's time politicians backed PNR and started delivering, at a European level, practical solutions in the fight against terrorism. Brian Hayes is a Fine Gael MEP for Dublin The recent global debate about rising inequality seems focused on the accumulation of wealth at the very top. While this is a serious problem requiring urgent attention, it can distract attention from the devastating, and arguably more important, issue of inequality amongst those at the bottom. This is where inequality seriously diminishes the chances in life for the most vulnerable global citizens - children. When we turn our attention to "bottom end" inequality, i.e. the gap between the lowest 10pc and the median, we get a fuller picture of how the most disadvantaged in society are falling further away from the promise of a decent life in the middle. This increasing gap is just as significant as the gap between the wealthiest 1pc and everyone else. This critical gap is where Unicef's 13th Report Card: 'Fairness for Children' is urging political leaders in rich countries to turn their gaze. The message is stark: as inequality increases, wealthy nations of the world are failing their most vulnerable children. Those with the least ability to narrow the gaps are being allowed to fall furthest behind. Children in Ireland have the highest income poverty and material deprivation rates of all groups (even the over 65s). Report Card 13 shows that 30pc of all children in Ireland live in materially deprived households. Many of those households are working households. Over half (52pc) of all children living in the lowest income percentile are experiencing deprivation. Households are deprived if they cannot afford at least three items deemed essential as defined by the European Union. Those items are housing, heating, utility bills, a protein meal every second day, the ability to face unexpected expenses, a holiday, a phone, a TV, a washing machine or a car. These deprivation rates would be far greater were it not for social protection policies. Unicef's report finds that in Ireland, income before social transfers is the fourth worst in the EU. With a gap of 76.3pc, we are ranked just below the UK, Belgium and Bulgaria. Society would be a far more unequal place were it not for social transfers, or State benefits, which nearly halve our income gap to 41.5pc. Our reliance on social transfers to tackle inequality is unsustainable and leaves many living on the edge. A more comprehensive and holistic approach is required. Each Unicef Report Card creates an important if infrequent moment when Unicef turns its attention to vulnerable children in wealthier nations, as is mandated by our Universal Charter. Unicef ranks the performance and delivers grades to 41 EU and OECD countries. It usually gets powerful minds focused on children, fast. But rankings also accomplish a more substantial task. They allow us to compare where countries have done well or poorly, and this underscores the truth that child inequality is not inevitable, but policy susceptible. Policy makers need to grasp this fundamental concept. As our newly elected representatives battle it out to lead our country, they must face the stark reality of this growing inequality and make the right policy decisions for children. Decisions that invest in our public infrastructure like housing, healthcare and transport, create decent jobs with fair and decent incomes, and, most importantly, provide for the nation's children. As children fall behind their peers, the likelihood of leaving school early, joblessness, obesity and poor health becomes ever greater, leading to generational cycles of inequality. The unequal circumstances children are living in is beyond their control. It is up to society and the adults in their lives to ensure that they have the best start in life. 'Fairness for Children' tracks other dimensions of inequality to build a better picture of how far children at the bottom are falling behind their peers. Educational attainment, self-reported health and life satisfaction are also measured. The right policy decisions can create better outcomes for children. The results of the Report Card show we are addressing relative inequality gaps in education, health and well-being - however, there are still some alarming indicators of gross inequality. Children living in less affluent households are much more likely to report feeling unwell or suffer from mental health complaints like anxiety or low mood. Their health behaviours around food and exercise put them at significant risk of obesity and other physical health complaints. With Ireland on course to become the most obese nation in Europe, it is essential that policies and resources are targeted to support children and low-income families to reverse this trend. The big message from 'Fairness for Children' is that the fight against growing inequality should include strategies to push the bottom 10pc of children up. The "bottom-up" approach may also be the most cost effective way to fight the worst ravages of inequality. As 'Fairness for Children' outlines, the most effective strategies involve simple, low-cost measures such as targeting social support to the poorest homes, making schools more supportive, encouraging healthy lifestyles and taking children's sense of their own life satisfaction seriously. Peter Power is Executive Director of Unicef Ireland, and a former Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs As our newly elected politicians gather today for the third time since the election, the critical issues facing Irish citizens remain distant from Dail Eireann. Repeated surveys show that the state of our health system is the people's number one concern. Yet Fine Gael's health proposals (covered on these pages last Saturday) are very weak while health gets barely three pages in Fianna Fail's 'Priorities for Government' document. After a short, unperceptive critique of the current health system, Fianna Fail makes promises under two headings - 'actions within six [and] within 12 months'. Such short-termism suggest this party is not serious about going into any form of government, never mind a government that has any hope of lasting. Fianna Fail says it will introduce multiannual funding for health, starting with the next budget. The HSE has already sought this and there is general agreement it should happen. Fianna Fail commits to greater transparency and consultation in the budgetary process. All parties are now advocating this in the form of an all-party budget committee and budgets being worked through the Dail months before Budget day. If Fianna Fail gets its way, there will be a Minister of State with responsibility for Primary and Social Care with a seat at Cabinet. While this is one way of placing the much-needed emphasis on non-hospital care, there is also a possibility it will lead to a greater fragmentation of services for people. Internationally, the trend is on integrated pathways trying to ensure seamless care across the health system, with the patient at the centre, instead of segregating care inside and out of hospitals. If in government, Fianna Fail will allocate 100m to alleviate waiting lists, double what is in the Fine Gael document. Similar to Fine Gael, it pledges to give medical cards to children in receipt of the Domiciliary Care Allowance, reduce prescription charges for medical card holders (which Fianna Fail introduced) and introduce a tax on sweetened drinks. It wants a new GP contract and expanded role of rural GPs - both of these are already works in progress. Fianna Fail specifies the need for more personal assistant hours for people with disabilities and additional homecare hours. Similar to its health policy, Fianna Fail's health "priorities" are largely a restatement of existing policy without an ounce of vision for an improved health system. Critically, its "priorities" fail to address the underlying causes of the failures of our system. It is planning to revive the NTPF to reduce waiting lists but there is no mention of dismantling unequal access to care, not a word on quality of care, nor how existing capacity (ie. staff and money) could work more effectively. More resources are needed in health but any priorities must specify how the additional capacity would ensure better health outcomes. Any Fianna Failer asked about the next government spouts the same mantra about the importance of 'building policy consensus', 'protecting and supporting the most vulnerable in our society', 'ending the two-tier society and ensuring that fairness will be one the hallmarks of the 32nd Dail'. The problem is the gap between their rhetoric and their 'Priorities for Government' document, whose health section is a clear indicator that they are not interested in policy consensus, ending the two-tier health system or fairness. If a Fine Gael minority government materialises, Fianna Fail will not sign up to any Programme for Government. However, there will have to be agreement on key policy areas beyond political reform, presumably in budgetary matters, health, homelessness and housing policy. That being the case, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail's shoddy proposals could merge with Independents' pet demands for their own specific constituencies to reach a new low in Irish health policy. International research on minority governments shows that having a clear strategy and long-term objectives are key to their success. Fianna Fail is looking for health officials to have "full and open consultation" with the Oireachtas Health Committee "on what is required to meet demographic demands and unmet needs", while Fine Gael is proposing that the Oireachtas Health Committee hold hearings on how best to progress towards universal healthcare. The real problems in the Irish health system are a result of government policy. And they can only be solved by sustained policy change, probably over the lifetime of three or four governments. Given the absence of any clear strategy on health from the two largest parties, the possibility of Oireachtas-wide consensus on the future of healthcare throws a little light at the end of the gloomy political tunnel. When the Green Party was negotiating a Programme for Government in 2007, Fianna Fail negotiator Seamus Brennan told them "You are now playing senior hurling - but you are playing with lads with all-Ireland medals." Nine years on, there is no sign of any senior hurlers, never mind All-Ireland medallists. Maybe the two main political parties need party-wide Oireachtas hearings to reach a consensus on health. Or else a general election, which is sure to up their game so that they may finally grasp the urgent concerns of the population. Regarding the trouble forming a government, the root cause of the problem is our system of proportional representation (PR) in multi-seat constituencies. This system was adopted on independence from the British, who were sagacious enough not to adopt it themselves. Our existing PR system in multi-seat constituencies, while ostensibly ensuring that representatives are elected in numbers proportionate to their support among voters, does not really secure this objective because of the vagaries of it - and certainly does not always produce majority-party government. A much fairer, and strictly more democratically representative system, would be the PR system as used currently in by-elections but - and this is a crucial but - in single-seat constituencies. This arrangement would eliminate the corrosive practice whereby TDs in multi-seat constituencies are not only competing with members of their own party but also with opposition TDs. It thrives on, and gives rise to, localism and parochialism; it distracts TDs from their main functions as legislators, policy formulators, etc. It also duplicates the functions which local councillors should be doing. In short, what I am proposing would be the best and fairest means of achieving the principle of effective, democratic, majority government and would avoid the damaging, unseemly charade and posturing we have seen since the last election. It would also avoid voting in large numbers of disparate and idiosyncratic Independents. Would it be too much to hope that the present impasse might prompt a further move "in the national interest" to change the system? I wouldn't wager too much on it. Brendan O'Donnell Glenageary, Co Dublin One party deserves credit For the purpose of a formation of a government, the question being consistently asked is: "What is the difference between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail?" Nobody has come up with an answer to this question that would stack up or tend to militate against one party going into government with the other. Fianna Fail's reluctance, therefore, in this respect is hard to fathom. Commenting as one with no party political allegiance and a firm believer in giving credit where credit is due, and withholding it where it is not, the only discernible difference between these two parties, apparent to me, is that one brought the country to its knees economically, necessitating austerity measures, while the other got it back into the healthy state of being the fastest-growing economy in the EU. This creditable performance ought to mean something, surely and, from my perspective, I feel obliged to thank them for it. It is immaterial to me what political party presides over good government as my commitment to them will stand. Passing judgment on the basis of propaganda and little else has nothing to offer anybody except more of the same - a twisted sense of what is moral, ethical and bad government. Pat Daly Address with editor Industrial chaos looms The number of industrial relations disputes and other possible economic challenges coming down the tracks is building by the day. There's the Luas, Irish Rail, the teachers and the gardai, and the possibility of a Brexit. It looks like the opposition benches could be a good place to be after all. Are you sure you want to get into government, Micheal? Damien Carroll Dublin 24 Legacy of heroic little airline As the families of the original founders of Aer Arann in 1970, we are in total agreement with the people of the Aran Islands who want the Aer Arann service to continue, a tried and tested service that they have relied on for the last 46 years. The ethos of the company was to be of service to the Aran people and, to link them with the facilities of the mainland, particularly the medical services to which they were entitled. The main founders were Ralph Langan, a Galway businessman and fruit wholesaler; Jimmy Coen, a Galway entrepreneur and publican; and Colie Hernon, a far-seeing islander and coxswain of the Inismor lifeboat who dreamed of an air service to Aran. The three together were a force to be reckoned with. In retrospect, it seems like an impossible dream. How do you land an airplane on a rocky island? Undeterred, they set about building a landing strip on Inismor, an island with only three cars and no machinery. This is the stuff that movies are made about and the stories are legend. They put their own money up front - no handouts or subsidies in those days, just plain old blood, sweat and tears! Fast forward 10 years to Aer Arann's visionary progress. They now had landing facilities on all three islands all with regular flights to the mainland, four aircraft to cater for a burgeoning charter business plus the first-ever scheduled daily flights from Galway to Dublin as well as their core business, which was the Aran Island service. In the mid-70s, they were the proud winners of the much coveted UDT tourism award for Ireland. In 1980, having brought Aer Arann to its peak, they sold the company to Roscommon-born, UK-based businessman Tim Kilroe. Those great pioneers have now passed on but their families and friends and the people of Aran request the Government to continue the ethos of a heroic little airline founded in 1970 to provide regular and, most importantly, reliable fixed-wing air service to the Aran Islands. Nancy Coen, David Coen, Michael Langan Nuns Island, Galway MMA akin to savagery For the last few days, I have been looking at the pictures and listening to the radio discussions of the fight between Joao Carvalho and Charlie Ward last Saturday night. I am at a loss as to how the 'sport' of MMA could be tolerated anywhere in the civilised world. In this country, there are laws to protect wild animals in both the wild and in captivity - yet MMA permits absolute savagery to be committed in front of huge crowds, who seem to be baying for blood - the likes of which wouldn't be seen at a cock fight. Maybe I am a bit squeamish and maybe MMA is soon to become an Olympic sport but I am suggesting that it be stopped now - and shame on the National Stadium for enabling such savagery to be committed in such a hallowed venue. And may Joao Carvalho rest in peace. RJ Hanly Screen, Co Wexford Republic of Telly star Joanne McNally has revealed that she finally got in touch with her biological father, but has no plans to meet him. The Dublin comedian has spoken in the past about her search for her birth parents and made light of it in comedy show, Separated at Birth. After initially believing that her biological father was deliberately not responding to her emails, Joanne told the Herald that her communication attempts were just lost in translation. The 32-year-old co-wrote the comedy show Separated at Birth with comedian PJ Gallagher Expand Close Joanne McNally. Photo: Patrick Bolger / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Joanne McNally. Photo: Patrick Bolger "My biological father got in touch because I contacted him a year ago but he never wrote back," she said. "It turns out my emails had just gone into the wrong inbox. I wrote a show saying he was a w***ker, so I felt bad about it then." Joanne found her birth mother, who gave her up at the age of 21, over a year ago. She has yet to meet her biological father, but they are Facebook friends. However, Joanne said that discovering the identity of her birth parents wasn't the "big reveal" she thought it would be. "When I was growing up I thought it was the biggest thing ever. I thought that when I found them it would just be my head on different bodies. But they're nothing like me, so it wasn't the big reveal that I thought it was going to be." Joanne's biological father lives in Melbourne, Australia, and while there were suggestions of her doing a documentary about meeting him Down Under, she said she is not as driven to get to know her birth parents as she once was. "I have kind of lost the urgency about it now. They are just normal people. They are not going to be able to tell me what to do with my career," she added with a laugh. Video of the Day Joanne launched herself into the comedy world last year after quitting her job in PR, and landed a role as the latest funny woman on Republic of Telly. The straight-talking Dubliner has settled into her role on the show. This week she filmed a parody sketch of the RTE-run interview with convicted drug mule Michaella McCollum. "It's great craic and it's great to learn how to write sketches," she told the Herald. Joanne is taking part in RTE2's Generation What online survey, a joint effort by the European Broadcasting Union to try to get a better picture of the habits and mindsets of 18- to 34-year-olds in Europe. Marches have been held in Nigeria's major cities to demand the safe return of girls who were abducted by Boko Haram extremists two years ago from a school in Chibok. Protesters were driven by anger over the lack of progress to resolve one of the highest profile mass kidnappings in the world. Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was expected in the northeastern town for the anniversary of the kidnappings. Yakubu Nkeki, leader of a support group of parents of the kidnapped girls, said the community is angry that their only school remains in ruins. Boko Haram fire-bombed buildings as they took off with girls. Some 20,000 children in the town and its surroundings have no school to attend, Mr Nkeki said on Thursday as parents gathered at the ruins of the school to pray for the safe return of their daughters. "Boko Haram has achieved its aim. They say they don't want us to have Western education and our children don't," Mr Nkeki said. Two years ago, the Islamic extremists seized 276 girls who had gathered for science exams at the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok. Some managed to escape, jumping off pickup trucks as the Islamic extremists drove them toward the Sambisa Forest. A total of 219 remain missing. On Wednesday, CNN broadcast parts of a Boko Haram video of girls wearing the Islamic hijab, and CNN also aired its own images of tearful mothers, including one reaching out to a computer screen as she recognised her kidnapped daughter. The video shows 15 of the girl - one with a mischievous grin, one looking uncompromising, downright defiant, and one downcast. One can feel the pain that shows in the eyes of many of them. They give the date of the video as Christmas, December 25 2015. While Boko Haram is thought to have abducted thousands of people over the years, the mass abduction brought the extremist group to the world's attention. The campaign hashtag #BringBackOurGirls went as far as the White House, and was used by US First Lady Michelle Obama. CNN reported that the video was sent in December to negotiators trying to free the girls. CNN's report included Information Minister Lai Mohammed saying the government is reviewing and assessing the video, which it apparently demanded as "proof of life" from Boko Haram. Senator Shehu Sani, who has been involved in past negotiations with Boko Haram about the Chibok girls, told The Associated Press he found the video credible. Mr Nkeki, leader of the support group for parents of the Chibok girls, said he briefly saw part of the CNN video, in between power blackouts that are frequent in Nigeria, and "those are definitely our girls". There has been no word from the Chibok girls since May 2014, when Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said they had converted to Islam and threatened to sell them into slavery or forced marriage with his fighters. The group urged Pope Francis to help change church policy on "just" wars Participants at a Vatican conference have called for the Catholic Church to renounce its "just war" theory and for Pope Francis to write an encyclical on non-violence and "just peace." Church teaching has long allowed for "just wars" - the use of force to stop an unjust aggression - as long as certain conditions are met. But participants at a conference sponsored by the Vatican's justice and peace office and Pax Christi, the Catholic peace movement, said in a final communique on Thursday that too often the doctrine had been used to justify and endorse military action rather than prevent it. They called for the church instead to develop a new peacemaking framework "consistent with Gospel non-violence", and for Francis to articulate it all in a new encyclical. UK Culture Secretary John Whittingdale is under pressure to withdraw from decisions about press regulation after disclosing he had a relationship with a prostitute. The Conservative, who is single, said he had been unaware of the woman's occupation and had broken off the relationship when he discovered someone was trying to sell the story to the press. Downing Street said Mr Whittingdale is "a single man who is entitled to a private life" and Prime Minister David Cameron "has full confidence in him". But the MP faced calls to recuse himself from decisions about press regulation amid claims the revelations had left him vulnerable. Anthony Lester QC is to table a private members' bill which, if passed into law, would prohibit many of the ideas that Mr Whittingdale favours for the BBC's new Royal Charter - the constitutional basis for the BBC and guarantees its independence - which runs until December 31, 2016. Mr Whittingdale has indicated that the new charter will allow the Government to appoint the majority of members of the BBC's board. However, Mr Lester's proposals would enshrine the BBC's independence from government in law. "There needs to be a fence around the Charter to protect the BBC against undue interference," said Lester. "My bill will say that the BBC shall continue to be independent about the content of its output, and the governance and management of its affairs." Mr Lester's legislative proposals would also protect the BBC's funding, and would require the creation of a new, independent regulator for the BBC - instead of passing regulation from the failed BBC Trust to Ofcom, as Mr Whittingdale is currently contemplating. Collision Mr Lester, a Liberal Democrat, is hoping either that the government will support his Bill, or that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will instead incorporate similar provisions in one of the government bills in the Queen's Speech in May. However, his proposals are likely instead to put him on a collision course with Mr Whittingdale. The granting of the BBC's Royal Charter currently falls under the gueen's royal prerogative, the ancient right of kings that stretches back to the Middle Ages. What that means in practice is that the government of the day writes the charter every 10 years with little parliamentary scrutiny, and is able in that document to exercise significant influence over the way the BBC is regulated and governed. Mr Whittingdale has given no indication that he intends to give up these powers, but Mr Lester's proposals are likely to garner significant cross-party support in the Lords, which could pit the chamber against the government later this year. Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Microsoft says US authorities demanded customer information more than 5,600 times in the last 18 months Microsoft is suing the US government over a federal law that lets authorities examine customer emails or online files without the individual's knowledge. The lawsuit comes as the tech industry butts heads with US officials over the privacy rights of customers. Microsoft says the US is abusing a decades-old law that allows a court to order the company to turn over email or other customer files that are stored on its servers, while prohibiting Microsoft from notifying the customer. The company says that violates constitutional rights of free speech and protection against unreasonable searches. Microsoft says in a lawsuit filed on Thursday that authorities demanded customer information more than 5,600 times in the last 18 months. In nearly half of those cases, a court ordered the company to keep the demand secret. SHARE Wanda Johnson performs at the Block Party in Carolina Wren Park in Anderson on Thursday. The New Holly Light Missionary Baptist Church Choir performs at the Nell Hobson Newton Chapel at Southern Wesleyan University Sunday afternoon. The performance was part of Gospel Sunday during the Clemson Blues Festival. Contributed photos Loretta Holloway sings "Happy Birthday Dr. King" during the City of Anderson's 8th Annual Mayor's MLK Breakfast at the Civic Center of Anderson. Loretta Holloway sings The Greatest Love of All during the Mayor's MLK Breakfast in the Civic Center of Anderson. Related Coverage Full schedule for Clemson Music Fest By Jake Grove of the Independent Mail The Greater Clemson Music Festival has undergone quite a few changes since it started in 2012. Originally known as the Nothin' but the Blues Fest, the festival covered three days and focused on the rich blues history of Clemson and some of the city's surrounding towns. In 2014 it was changed to the Clemson Blues Festival to reflect the specifics of the community it served. Last year, it became the Greater Clemson Blues Festival to showcase the many musical venues from Pendleton and Seneca to Central and Clemson. And for 2016, the name has shifted once more. Now known as the Greater Clemson Music Festival, the event features nearly two weeks of musical fun showcasing a variety of genres and covering an even larger geographical area. Not bad for a simple event that was born out of two men's ideas to highlight the Upstate's contributions to blues, jazz, gospel and more. Vincent Jackson worked with Clemson's late mayor, Larry Abernathy, to make this festival a reality. And though Abernathy passed away several years ago, Jackson kept going. "For Mayor Abernathy, this was one of his dreams," Jackson said in an interview with Vincent Harris last year. "He grew up here and went to Clemson, and there used to be a real music tradition. It was like an Athens, Georgia, or a Columbia. We had bands here. And for whatever reason, that faded away. And Larry's dream was to bring that back. He passed away before we had our first festival, and we dedicated it to him, and still do. It's just something very important to him and to all of us. He was instrumental in helping us in the early days." The Greater Clemson Music Festival kicks off Friday in Westminster with a concert featuring Brandon Turner and Fassoux Starling McLean. McLean has played with famed musicians like Emmylou Harris and Kris Kristofferson as well as all over the Upstate and the country. The kickoff concert will be at the Westminster Music Hall on Main Street and tickets are available for $15 each. Other shows include new and existing events from the Jazz on the Alley concert series on Ram Cat Alley in downtown Seneca each Thursday to a special, invitation-only show featuring Wanda Johnson at Clemson Downs. There will be shows in the heart of Six Mile as well as at the Historic Hagood Mill in Pickens. "We've got a little bit of everything now," Jackson said. "We've got rock, reggae, gospel, country, and then we have blues. It's really grown." The festival will also include performances by Upstate blues legend Mac Arnold, a sold-out performance by Loretta Holloway, Freddy Vanderford and the Mill Billy Blues Band, The Tony Tidwell Band, Men of Distinction, the Clemson University Jazz Ensemble, The Wobblers and many more. The shows will be at Cox Hall, Southern Wesleyan University and Patrick Square among others. They are also featuring a series of CATBUS historical tours throughout the week with musical significance. Jackson and his staff are all volunteers, working to put the festival on for fun and to help their community. Proceeds from the Greater Clemson Music Festival have traditionally gone to the musicians and to charity, and this year is no exception. A portion of the festival's profits will benefit the Clemson Sertoma Club's Camp Sertoma, Pickens Co. Meals on Wheels and Mac Arnold's I Can Do Anything Foundation, which partners with school music departments to create events that spotlight student musicians. This year's festival has also garnered more than 20 sponsors, ranging from the Clemson Area Chamber Of Commerce to Edward Jones and CATBUS. "I remember when it was just an idea," Johnson said. "I'm super happy to perform because I know it was Larry Abernathy's dream to have something like this. I know how much he would've liked to have seen this. And to be a part of this makes it so special to me. I can't speak of or think about (the festival) without thinking of Larry. They go hand-in-hand for me." The Greater Clemson Music Festival will begin Friday and run through April 24. For more information, visit their website at www.clemsonmusicfest.org. Contributed photo Alt-country band SUSTO perform Friday at Moe Joe Coffee in Greenville. SHARE By Brett Barest, Special to Your Hometown Fun bbarest@gmail.com Alt-country is an odd way to describe a musical genre. Alt immediately suggests "alternative" which takes one back to the days of actual alternative rock that dominated the airwaves in the 1990s. Country is, well, country It is a genre that, in popular context at least, is so overproduced and commercialized that it is about as deep as Justin Beiber and Miley Cyrus splashing around in the shallow end of your community swimming pool. As a genre of modern American music, however, alt-country is one of the richest sources of talent and refreshing new music going today. Whether you call it Americana or a subset of Indie rock, it is a style of music that continues to deliver some of the most rewarding recordings available. From Steve Earl to The Old 97's to Jason Isbell, alt-country continues to serve up a steady stream of immensely talented and oddly underrated musicians. Tomorrow night, Moe Joe Coffee welcomes what is arguably South Carolina's most impressive example of this oddly-named musical genre. Charleston's SUSTO is still relatively young in band years but deliveries a sound that is wise and polished well beyond their years. A mainstay on the Charleston music scene and recent alumni of Austin, Texas's South By Southwest, SUSTO is without a doubt one of the most talented bands to call South Carolina home in a long time. For frontman and band founder Justin Osborne, things began quietly in a small South Carolina town known as Puddin' Swamp. Life led to Florence where he and four friends found unexpected success with the band Sequoya Prep School. Their music reached viral-level popularity across the US but, as often happens with young bands, they grew up and moved on. Osborne, however, found it impossible to leave music behind and began writing and recording music in 2011 which he would eventually perform solo as SUSTO in both Charleston and Cuba in 2013. After returning from Havana where he was studying abroad as a college student, Osborne reunited with old friends and bandmates and SUSTO became more than a solo act. Now a full-blown five piece ensemble, SUSTO is everything you could ask for you in an up and coming band. The music is captivating to the point that they beg you to sing or hum along but they are far from mindlessly catchy pop songs. To the contrary, the songwriting runs the gamut from dark to insightful to lighthearted and funny all while maintain a certain level of thoughtfulness that is absent in a lot of music. Traditional rock and roll subject matter like lost love, hard drinking and personal demons are dealt with a refreshing honesty that makes it all sound like we are hearing about these kinds of things for the first time. To date, SUSTO has one self-titled full length album under their belt and it deserves, without a doubt, a place in your record or CD collection (or iTunes playlist if you kids have gone totally digital). A follow up release is in the works and it simply cannot come out soon enough. In Latin-American culture and folk lore "susto" is akin to what we would commonly refer to as a panic attack. It is described as a feeling of sudden fright where the soul becomes detached from the body as a result of emotional stress or a traumatic experience. This Friday at Moe Joe's, however, SUSTO will bring nothing but happiness to your life and listening enjoyment. SHARE By Jake Grove of the Independent Mail If there is one thing the craft beer revolution has produced in the last few years, it's a great sense of partnership. Craft breweries tend to be community-minded owners who are looking to grow all business along with their own. Case in point comes in the form of beer dinners. Beer dinners are amazing events wherein local restaurants partner with local breweries for an evening of great food, great beer and great understanding of the way the two marry together. This weekend begins Greenville's Craft Beer Week and one of the major components to the week-long endeavor are beer dinners. All have an Upstate connection and a couple are event tied to Anderson's first brewery, Carolina Bauernhaus Ales. Here is a rundown of the beer dinners and what you might expect from each. Sunday 5-Course Beer Dinner with Passerelle and The Community Tap Starting at 5:30 p.m., this dinner features Community Tap owner Mike Okupinksi pairing five courses prepared by Chef Teryi Youngblood of Passerelle. Monday Birds Fly South dinner at Trappe Door From 6 to 9 p.m. get a first taste of Birds Fly South brews with owner Shawn Johnson with a menu of Belgian-inspired dishes to pair with them. Beer Dinner with Carolina Bauernhaus and American Grocery American Grocery is one of the most celebrated restaurants in Greenville's downtown. Carolina Bauernhaus has grown by leaps and bounds since their opening in December. Put them together and you have a night of new beers and great tastes unlike any other. Wednesday Project Host Dinner with Thomas Creek Brewery This three course meal features great, local food like glazed pork belly, wild mushrooms, cocoa crusted beef, grilled asparagus and a chocolate, peanut butter and banana dacquoise. Pretty great for $50 per person all paired with three Thomas Creek beers. April 22 Pig Pickin' with Swamp Rabbit Brewery and Greenbrier Farms Food starts at 2 p.m. from the Swamp Rabbit Brewery in Travelers Rest as Greenbrier serves up some of the locally raised pork fresh from the spit. Plates will be sold for $10 each and this is a cash only event. For a complete list and more on what's being done for Greenville Craft Beer Week, visit their page at www.greenvillecraftbeerweek.com. Hill SHARE By Kirk Brown of the Independent Mail A freshman legislator from Anderson County sharply criticized Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday, calling her a "hypocrite" for changing her positions on raising South Carolina's gas tax and altering the governing structure of the state's roads agency. Speaking on the House floor, Rep. Jonathon Hill recalled remarks that Haley made during a June 2014 visit to Anderson. Responding to questions at that event, Haley said she was opposed to increasing the state's 16-cent per gallon gas tax and also complained about the commission that oversees the South Carolina Department of Transportation. Hill, a Republican from Townville, said he was "extremely disappointed" that Haley "came out with a plan to raise the gas tax" after she was re-elected and now is seeking the authority to appoint members of the DOT commission. "Gov. Haley, in Anderson that is what we call being a hypocrite," Hill said. A spokeswoman for Haley declined to respond to Hill's comments, which came during a House debate on a roads bill. The Republican governor, who vowed to veto any gas-tax increase during her first term, changed course last year by proposing a 10-cent per gallon increase in the gas tax that would be more than offset by reductions in the state's top income tax bracket. South Carolina residents do not support a gas-tax increase, Hill said. "They aren't buying it because they smell a rat," he said. Hill proposed an amendment that would have eliminated the Department of Transportation commission and phased out the state's Transportation Infrastructure Bank, a board that provides financing for transportation projects costing in excess of $100 million. "People do not know who their DOT commissioners are and they do not have the opportunity to vote for them even if they did," he said. "Until we fix the governance issue, it doesn't matter how much money we put into DOT." House members voted 101-16 to kill Hill's amendment. Haley scolded House members Wednesday for making changes in a state Senate version of the roads bill. The House voted 113-6 to approve an amendment that would require the governor's appointments to the DOT commission to be approved by both chambers of the General Assembly. The amendment also deleted a Senate provision calling for an additional $400 million to be spent annually on highway projects. Critics say the funding requirement would be difficult to fulfill during future economic downturns. "Today, the House had an opportunity to support a Senate roads plan that would bring true accountability to the DOT, prioritize roads based on traffic and safety and not legislative power brokers, and fund roads without raising taxes," Haley wrote in a post on her Facebook page. "The House rather than concurring voted to insert legislative power further into the process, essentially killing any possibility for a good roads bill." Republican senators say the House amended the bill to deliberately kill the proposal to change how the DOT is governed. Currently, the governor appoints the DOT director and one member of its commission, while legislators get to pick the other seven members by U.S. congressional districts. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey and Sen. Larry Grooms say the measure is now likely dead and House leaders were told that before they voted. The bickering over the legislation probably won't derail plans to spend more money on road projects in the state next year. The 2016-17 budget approved by the House includes $415 million in additional money for highway projects. The Senate has yet to take up the House spending plan. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM Hill SHARE By Kirk Brown of the Independent Mail One day after falsely accusing the South Carolina Department of Transportation of mishandling an Oconee County bridge project, state Rep. Jonathon Hill said Thursday that he has learned a lesson. "You live and learn," Hill said. "I try to learn from my mistakes." Hill said Wednesday that his "jaw dropped" after a constituent told him that the roads agency mistakenly "tore down a perfectly good bridge." The first-term Republican from Townville made his comments on the floor of the state House of Representatives during the debate over a roads bill. Tim Callenback, resident construction engineer for the Department of Transportation in Pickens County, said Thursday that Hill is mistaken. "We fixed the right bridge," Callenback said. "There is no guessing about that." The bridge in question is a span on Bountyland Road west of Seneca that crosses a tributary of Richland Creek. The bridge was replaced last year, along with three other bridges in Pickens County, by Palmetto Infrastructure Inc. of Greer. The total cost of the four projects was $1.582 million, according to Department of Transportation records. In an interview Wednesday night, Hill said Fairplay resident Ronnie Potts told him about the bridge that he mentioned on the House floor. Potts said Thursday that the information he shared was Hill was "hearsay." "I have no official knowledge of anything," Potts said. After being contacted by the Independent Mail on Thursday, Hill said he "was glad to hear that at least in this case that things aren't as bad as they seem." "I do try to make sure what I am saying is accurate," said Hill, adding, "I do wish that I'd had a conversation with DOT" before mentioning the bridge during Wednesday's House debate. But Hill also stressed that he believes there is a public perception that the Department of Transportation is not spending its money wisely. He cited a recent audit that found the department lacks a unified priority list for state road projects. Hill said there are examples of bad decisions involving state road projects in Anderson County. He said that transportation officials should have widened Whitehall Road, which is in his district, instead of building the East-West Parkway, a 3-mile road costing $21.5 million that opened in 2013. The parkway is in the districts of Reps. Anne Thayer and Brian White. Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM SHARE By Charlie Bauder, WNEG AM-/Special to Independent Mail TOCCOA Stephens County commissioners have approved a request to add solar panels to land on Turner Road in Eastanollee. The County Board of Commissioners approved 4-1 on Tuesday zoning variance and conditional use requests to let United Renewable Energy add the solar panels on the back side of the company's current Turner Road solar panel farm. Amber Wismer, United Renewable Energy operations director, said the new panels will not be visible from the road. "This is set back with adequate buffer and woods already surrounding the property to where you will not be able to see it from any aspect of driving by, I do not expect," Wismer said. "We will access the property from our existing driveway for the project that we completed in December 2014." But much of the discussion Tuesday focused on panels already in place that are apparently causing a problem for a couple of nearby residents. Glenn Sheriff lives across the street from the Turner Road site. "I do not have a problem with them (the existing panels) except for the heat and glare that comes off of them to my house," Sheriff said. Sheriff said the glare has damaged some of his property, his wife's car and siding on his house. The glare also has caused the temperature in his house to go up, so he needed to buy another air conditioner and run it more, increasing his monthly power costs in the summer, he said. Wismer said she was aware of Sheriff's problem and thought SunEdison, the company that operates the solar panels, had fixed it. She said she was surprised to find out a few weeks ago it was not fixed. A fix is possible and is something United Renewable Energy will work to achieve, Wismer said. "Some options we can consider is putting in a considerably mature vegetative buffer, increasing the size of the fence, but again what I would like to do from this point is address the issue with SunEdison in writing and find an engineered solution," she said. "I do not want to take a half-step and have it not meet his needs." County commission Chairman Dennis Bell said the problem needs to be fixed, and the county needs to take what steps it can legally to make sure it is fixed. "We are going to have some kind of resolution on this thing," said Bell, who said a citation should be issued under the county nuisance ordinance if something is not done. Other commissioners agreed that something needed to be done along those lines, but multiple commissioners said Sheriff's problem has nothing to do with the new request from United Renewable Energy. Stephens County Chief Tax Appraiser Christen Collier said the solar panels have been a top contributor to increases in the county's tax digest over the last several years. "I wanted to make sure that if you pay property taxes in Stephens County, that anytime another solar farm is added, that helps us out, because every time they raise that digest, it gives you an opportunity to lower that mill rate," Collier said. The motion county commissioners approved Tuesday also calls for Sheriff's problem to be fixed. Commissioner Stanley London voted against the motion, saying he would have liked to have seen Sheriff's problem fixed before the company's requests were approved. The electricity generated from the panels is sold by the owner of the solar panels to Georgia Power. Capri Culpepper (left), a transgender teen from Anderson, was among those who attended a legislative hearing to speak against a bill that would require people to use public bathrooms matching their "biological sex." SHARE By Seanna Adcox Associated Press COLUMBIA A transgender teen from Anderson was one of those who spoke Wednesday against legislation that would require people to use public bathrooms corresponding to their "biological sex." Capri Culpepper and others said the bill would put them in danger of harassment. "Look at me and tell me I belong in the men's restroom," said Culpepper, who wore a blue dress to Wednesday's state Senate subcommittee hearing. "Our community is already at risk for sexual assault and violence." Last year Culpepper settled a lawsuit against the state Department of Motor Vehicles after being told to remove her makeup for a driver's license photo. She also was a homecoming queen finalist at T.L. Hanna High School. Culpepper was among nine transgender people who stood in a show of support at the hearing. The overwhelming majority of people at the Senate hearing opposed the measure, which mimics part of a North Carolina law signed last month that has brought a national backlash. No vote was taken. The bill introduced by Sen. Lee Bright would require multistall bathrooms on public property to be designated and used "based on biological sex." It specifically includes student bathrooms, locker rooms and showers in public schools. It would also bar local governments from requiring businesses to let transgender people use the bathroom of their choice. Bright said he's had enough of tolerance if that means "men who claim to be women" can go into a bathroom with children. "I don't believe transgender people are pedophiles," the Republican said. "I think grown adult men would use this as protection to violate women in the restroom." Opponents said existing laws already address such crimes. Dex Sexton, 17, of Blythewood, said people don't undress openly in women's restrooms, as stalls provide privacy. If the issue is fear of assault, he asked, then why are men who have abused little boys not forced to use a different bathroom? "It's protections against sexual assault that stop them, not because they can't use the men's bathroom," he said. Critics also questioned how the bill would be enforced. "In everyday life, how do we determine whether someone we're with is male or female? We look at them. We don't inspect their genitalia," said University of South Carolina law professor Gregory Adams. "Are we going to start looking at their birth certificate?" The bill has little chance of passing this year. House GOP leaders have said they won't deal with the issue and Republican Gov. Nikki Haley has called it unnecessary. The same issue is sparking debate across the South. In Tennessee, 60 business leaders including the CEOs of Williams-Sonoma, Airbnb, Alcoa, T-Mobile and Dow Chemical signed a letter asking lawmakers to kill similar legislation. Louisiana's governor issued an executive order Wednesday banning discrimination in state government based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The LGBT protection order signed by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards prohibits state agencies, boards and contractors from harassment or discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, political affiliation, disability or age. State contracts will be required to include a similar anti-discrimination provision. Edwards, in office since January, also terminated a religious objections executive order issued by former Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal last year. That "marriage and conscience" order from Jindal prohibited state agencies under the governor's control from denying licenses, benefits, contracts or tax deductions to businesses and people that take actions because of a "religious belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman." Independent Mail reporter Kirk Brown and Associated Press staff members Melinda Deslatte from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Sheila Burke in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report. Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Radha Mohan Singh today inaugurate Potato Technology Center, Shamgarh ,Karnal, Haryana. On the occasion the Minister said that production of disease free quality planting material is a major constrain in potato cultivation and country needs large quantity of good quality potato seed. Presently, new techniques have been standardized especially for production of micro tubers through tissue culture techniques to cater to the need of seed potato.The opening of Potato Technology Centre at Karnal will not only come in a big way to cater to the demand of large quantity of disease free planting material at a time but will also help in introduction of new varieties. It will certainly boost production and productivity of farmers and processing industries of Haryana as well as neighboring states.Singh said that in our daily life we eat potatoes almost every day and have been used as food for more than 10000 years. Potato in India has still to transform from simply a vegetable supplement to serious food security option. Ability of potato to produce highest nutrition and dry matter on per unit area and time basis, among major food crops, it is the crop to address future global food security and poverty alleviation.Agriculture Minister said that as we know, potatoes are rich in protein and vitamin B group with high content which can help to enhance the physical conditions and improve the memory ability and clear thoughts. As a result, to eat potatoes regularly not only makes us healthy, but also make us maintain young and smart.Shri Singh informed that the current share of potato to agricultural GDP is 2.86% from 1.32% cultivable area. On the contrary, the two principal food crops, rice and wheat, contribute 18.25% and 8.22% of agricultural GDP, respectively from 31.19 and 20.56% cultivable area, respectively (FAOSTAT). It indicated that contribution of potato in agricultural GDP from unit area of cultivable land is about 3.7 times higher than rice and 5.4 times higher than wheatSingh further said that rising number of working couples, rapid rate of urbanization, enhanced tendency of eating out of home, higher disposable income levels of people and important place of potato in fast food items, create an ideal situation for enormous expansion of potato consumption in the near and distant future. Estimated domestic demand of potatoes in India is 55 million t during 2025 and 122 million t during 2050. Demand for processing quality potatoes will increase from current level of 2.7 million t to 6 and 25 million t in the year 2025 and 2050, respectively. On similar lines, the food demand for fresh potatoes will increase from the current 24 million t to 38 and 78 million t during 2025 and 2050. Although, the demand for potato seed will grow nearly 2.1 time (2.96 to 6.1 million t) by the year 2050, yet, highly concerted efforts needs to be directed towards providing desirable quality seed potatoes to all farmers at remunerative prices.Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister said that at present level of farm management practices we are actually able to harvest only 60.8% of the achievable yield. However, there is enhanced emphasis on efficient dissemination of farm technologies and consequent improvement in farm management practices in the country, it is estimated that we would be able to harvest 80% of achievable yieldSingh said that potato is always the front-runner when we take processing of agri-commodities into consideration. Analysis of past experience and pattern of Indian processing industry suggests that demand for processing quality potatoes over next 40 years will rise at the fastest pace for French fries (11.6%) followed by potato flakes/ powder (7.6%) and potato chips (4.5%). The actual demand for processing potatoes will rise from 2.8 million tonnes in 2010 to 25 million tonnes during the year 2050. At present, production of Potato is 48.0 million tonnes from an area of 20.8 million ha during 2014-15, thus making India the second largest potato producer in the world after China.On the occasion, Chief Minister of Haryana, Agriculture Minister of Haryana, Minister of State for Agriculture Haryana, M.P. and MLA were also present. This decision will impact the domestic Ferro Chrome producers and impact the survival of struggling stainless steel industry as Ferro chrome is a vital input for production of stainless steel. The government must review its decision in order to promote manufacturing and greater value addition of the natural resources. This would save lakhs of jobs and the ailing industry, said Mr. S Bhattacharya, Director Jindal Stainless Limited. The decision of the government to abolish 30% export duty on Chrome ore is a big setback for domestic Ferro chrome producers and stainless steel companies. This announcement of the government in the Union Budget 2016-17 is a regressive step that will only result into efflux of already depleting and a very scarce chrome ore in India.This decision will impact the domestic Ferro Chrome producers and impact the survival of struggling stainless steel industry as Ferro chrome is a vital input for production of stainless steel. The government must review its decision in order to promote manufacturing and greater value addition of the natural resources. This would save lakhs of jobs and the ailing industry, said Mr. S Bhattacharya, Director Jindal Stainless Limited. Currently, the Ferro Chrome plants are deprived of raw materials and struggling to get the Chrome ore at competitive prices. This move by the Government will make the operation of units completely unviable and bring the industry to closure. Removal of export duty would only encourage traders to mine the valuable resources and export it. This would lead to a demand supply imbalance and increase the domestic Chrome ore prices. The prices of Ferro Chrome ore and Charge Chrome globally have crashed to current lows and the Industry is struggling to survive presently, said Mr. S. Bhattacharya. Huge investments have been made by other Ferro Chrome producers including Jindal Stainless Limited which has a installed capacity of 2,50,000 MT. Most Ferro Chrome producers have been suffering due to low capacity utilization, financial losses due to non-availability of Chrome Ore at economical price and are on the verge of becoming NPAs. The existing profit margins are not sufficient to service interest cost and loan repayments. Indian Chrome ore has higher Cr/Fe ratio which makes it of better quality. The exports of this chrome ore will only support the Chinese stainless steel industry which is completely dependent on imports of chrome ore. Globally, other countries restrict the export of this crucial raw and scarce raw material to support the domestic industry. Chinese stainless steel firms are already dumping cheap finishes stainless steel goods, further export of Chrome ore will only give advantage to the Chinese players vis-a-vis Indian firms which are reeling under losses. Moreover, the foreign exchange earned through export of Ferro Chrome and stainless steel goods would fetch more to the government revenue when compared to Chrome ore exports. It may worthwhile to mention here that Indias deposit of Chrome ore is a meagre 1% of the World Chrome ore reserves and within India, 99% of the Chrome ore reserves are available in the state of Odisha. The Chrome ore reserves are fast depleting and need to be conserved for Ferro Chrome production and for subsequent value addition in the manufacturing of Stainless Steel. Jindal Stainless Limited through several forums has given representations to the Government to reconsider its decision and to re-impose the 30% Export Duty on Chrome ore. FIND (formerly the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics) today organized a forum entitled: Swasth Bharat: Better outcomes through better diagnosis at Hotel Shangri La in New Delhi. FIND is a global non-profit organization supporting the development, evaluation and use of high-quality, affordable diagnostic tests. This event, a first for FIND, brought together key stakeholders from the public, private and non-profit sectors to focus on the advancement of medical diagnostic tests in India.The forum provided a platform for leaders with diverse health backgrounds to share insights on tackling some of the most pressing healthcare challenges facing us today, such as tuberculosis and hepatitis C, and the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. It was agreed that Government, the medical industry and the research community must work together to address gaps in providing patients with timely and accurate disease diagnosis.Reflecting on the days discussions, Mark Kessel, FIND Board Chair, said, Global health goals will not be met without accessible tests for priority diseases. What we need now is a collaborative effort to address the need for investment in diagnostics research and development. It is my hope that todays forum is only a conversation starter in India, where the national commitment to public health is strong, as is private sector engagement, and the R&D capacity is high.The urgent need to accelerate development, evaluation and roll-out of new, high quality and cost-effective diagnostic tests was discussed, particularly in light of Indias infectious disease burden. The forum talked about Indias need for innovative diagnostic solutions for TB and hepatitis C, particularly point-of-care tests that could be used in even the most remote parts of the country.In order to reach the greatest number of people, we need innovative and cost-effective diagnostic solutions in India and elsewhere, said Catharina Boehme, Chief Executive Officer, FIND. Ease-of-use, minimal operating requirements, and affordability are key for point-of-care tests, as is the need to ensure there are no breaks in the diagnostics-to-treatment continuum.Sanjay Sarin, Head of FIND India, said, Todays forum is the first step towards establishing fruitful partnerships with the pharma and research industries in India and to engage with all stakeholders in the public, private and non-profit sectors who can partner with us in a shared mission to ensure that diagnostics are in place to enable efficient health delivery and improved patient health outcomes. Eric Weiner claims to be a malcontent and philosophical traveler. When he travelled to Bhutan, a nation that runs on happiness, he learnt something that could be seen as grossly morbid in the western world. darter.in In an article which he wrote for the BBC, a doctor who was treating him recommended that he think about death for five minutes everyday. According to his doctor, a fear of dying is what prevents people from thinking positive. Once the mind manages to be at ease with death, life becomes a lot simpler. Weiner later found out that Bhutanese culture dictates that people should think about death five times a day, but what's surprising is that, it is also a country with a reputation of being the happiest. bhutanculturalatlas.org A study by the University of Kentucky found people who were made to contemplate their own death often completed the expression 'jo' with words like 'joy'. The researchers concluded that death is a psychologically threatening fact, but when people contemplate it, apparently the automatic system begins to search for happier thoughts. In a mountainous Buddhist nation like Bhutan, death is all around them in terms of imagery and chances of natural calamities. Buddhist temples and monasteries depict death and pain in gruesome images and dances, which is perhaps how some children learn not to be scared of it. natgeotraveller.in The death of a person calls for 49 day rituals that are taken very seriously. While mourners may seem detached, they are actually in grief. Buddhists believe in rebirth until they can attain enlightenment. In death, the soul leaves the body only to take shape in physical form in another living object. Weiner realised that while westerners try to fix the negative emotions, the Bhutanese accept them as a part and parcel of life. In 2014, the Tamil film Kaththi, starring Vijay and Samantha Ruth Prabhu had a popular song called "Selfie Pulla". photos.filmibeat.com Like any Tamil song, the lyrics are alien to non-Tamil ears, although the chorus is "Let's Take A Selfie Pulla" which translates to 'Let's take a selfie picture' in English. Meanwhile in Romania this song got a whole new meaning, because guess what? The word 'pula' means penis in Romanian. Google Translate So there you have it! A Tamil song asking Romanians to take selfies of their you-know-what's. The video on YouTube has over 7.97 million views and the comments section has been taken over with Romanians going crazzzyyy. Congratulations "Selfie Pulla", you're now big in Romania! Recently we had told you how Deepika was back in the country, for a friend's wedding, and how she and Ranveer attended the wedding and looked like the cutest couple ever! And now the actress is back to the grind in the US, shooting for her Hollywood debut, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, with Vin Diesel. The actress was also snapped playing around on the film's sets with Ruby Rose, Kris Wu and Rory McCann. The team is currently shooting in Hamilton, Canada. And looks like she's definitely having a blast shooting for the movie! At least these latest pictures from the sets definitely prove so! instagram instagram instagram Deepika has another month of gruelling shoots to go through, before she heads back home. Can't wait for the movie already! Saloni Sharma, whose name has been in every debate that television actor Pratyusha Banerjee's suicide has sparked, decided to break her silence on the string of accusations against her while speaking to TOI on Tuesday evening. Giving an account of what really transpired between them in the past 10 months, Saloni admitted she assaulted Pratyusha and the actor's boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh in February, but claimed it was in retaliation after being hit by them first. metrovaartha On February 11 this year, Saloni, who was Rahul's girlfriend before Pratyusha, went to the Kandivli apartment where Rahul had recently moved in with the actor. "I was done with them and was trying to move on but it was my money (that she had given Rahul to run an event management firm) I was concerned about. Rahul wasn't paying me back... It made me angry and I landed there to ask for my dues. On seeing me, Pratyusha and Rahul both assaulted me and physically kicked me out of the flat. I was hysterical and refused to leave the premises. So they came down and that's when I hit them back out of utter humiliation," said Saloni, who went on to file a case against Rahul and Pratyusha with the Bangur Nagar police station. "I later withdrew the charges of assault and cheating because both of them requested me to and I was advised by cops to avoid public attention." It is the same cops handling the suicide case now, she said. ABPnews Saloni, who recorded her statement at the Bangur Nagar Police Station on Saturday, said: "The reason I've remained quiet all this while is because I was waiting to give my statement to the police and I did not want to seek publicity over someone's death. At the same time, I'm forced to speak because a lot has been said about me by those who have never met me and know nothing about what went on between Rahul-Pratyusha and me. In fact, I was the one who called the police the very next day after the incident and offered to record my statement or any help they wanted from me because my name had been dragged into the case that same evening and my past was being showcased as the prime cause for the tragedy." The television actor is willing to fight back the "baseless allegations" that have come from members of her own fraternity. Saloni, who happened to be Rahul's girlfriend until last year, has been accused of driving a wedge between Pratyusha and Rahul in the lead up to Pratyusha's death. "I've been called the 'other' woman and held responsible for Pratyusha and Rahul's relationship turning sour but not many know that Rahul and I had been together for five years. Pratyusha came into his life 10 months ago and they started seeing each other without my knowledge," said Saloni, who had met Rahul in 2011 after she moved from Kolkata to Mumbai to complete her studies and begin a career in acting and modeling. "Rahul had an events management company and wanted me to come on board. Afterwards we launched another company. We started out as business partners and then got into a relationship. Over the years I've invested over Rs 30 lakh in the business," said Saloni adding that "details of all the monetary transactions have been given to the police." It was through common friends that Saloni learnt of Rahul and Pratyusha's relationship. "So I decided to confront him at his Veera Desai Road flat in July. He denied it but Pratyusha who happened to arrive just then asked me to leave him and the company. I left feeling confused and very disturbed. Rahul called me the next day, apologized and wanted me to ignore everything," said Saloni, adding that she had "no idea" that Rahul was married in the past. "If I knew it, I'd never have been with him." "Another month went by and I was in denial about their relationship, until suddenly I saw them declare their marriage plans on television during Pratyusha's birthday party on August 10," said Saloni. "I was stunned and landed at his house the next day. Rahul refused to let me in and instead, he called my father asking him to take me away. My father came over and met Rahul, Pratyusha and her parents who were all present at the flat. On being told of their wedding plans, my father informed Pratyusha and her parents of the money he owed us and warned them that Rahul could do the same to their daughter like he had just done to me," she recalled Saloni quit the company following their faceoff in August despite her hefty investment in the business that included her own earnings and partly her father's. "I'm heavily in debt now and have people calling me everyday to repay loans, EMIs and interests," said Saloni whose father too recorded his statement with the police on Saturday. "There was no question of us rekindling our relationship after all this," she stressed, adding that she had no choice but to continue communicating with her ex "in order to retrieve my money". When quizzed about assaulting Pratyusha and Rahul, Saloni did not shy away. She went on to narrate the episode, and claimed it was the last time she had any interaction with Pratyusha. "I had blocked Pratyusha on my WhatsApp and callers list," said Saloni. While she dismissed all talk about Rahul being in touch with her following the incident, she said, "It was Rahul's parents who called me once when they were leaving Ranchi to come to Mumbai. They've always been nice to me, probably because they were embarrassed by what their son did to me." The 20-something actor said she feels "wronged" at several levels and wants to salvage not just her role in the incident but also her life. "And to begin with, I'm in a good mind to file a defamation suit against all those who made these allegations against me because some had their own axe to grind and some needed a hero, heroine and of course a vamp in this story." (Originally published in The Times Of India) ndtv Just a day after reports surfaced that Hrithik Roshan's fake e-mail ID has been traced to America, Kangana Ranaut played yet another round of allegations, this time on the Police department. The actress called the report submitted by the Mumbai police's Cyber Crime Cell, "false". Her lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee even sent a notice to DCP Rajkumar questioning him for the conduct of the police department. Among the various allegations, Kangana held the police responsible for: 1. Giving "loose statements" to the media. 2. Tarnishing her name, image and reputation. 3. Telling lie about summoning her to the department and emailing her summons letter on April 7. Siddiquee has now asked the police department to give clarification in this regard immediately. While Kangana denied of using any laptop to communicate with any alleged impostor, who was apparently operating a fake email ID in Hrithik's name. She questioned the Cyber Crime Cell's statement that they asked her to hand over her laptop. Her complaint letter said: businessofcinema "It therefore appears that some anonymous police officer from your department is leaking such news to help Hrithik Roshan in image cleaning whilst thereby making malafide and mischievous efforts to prove to the world that my client has been communicating with some impostor. Please note that such actions by police officer/s is not only immoral and unethical but absolutely illegal and therefore needs to be probed immediately and disciplinary action should be initiated against such officer. " While the legal clash between the two Bollywood stars seems to end no time soon, we just hope they at least stop washing their dirty linen in public. We've had enough! India and the US on Tuesday agreed "in principle" to a logistics exchange agreement to enable both militaries to use each other's assets and bases for repair and replenishment of supplies. Here are 10 things to know TOI 1. Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) TOI LEMOA is a tweaked version of Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) which facilitates the provision of logistical support, supplies and services between the US military and the armed forces of partner countries. American aircraft and warships will soon be able to access Indian military bases and vice versa for refuelling, repair and other logistical purposes. 2. Shift from the UPA regime LEMOA is a shift from the policy of the UPA regime. Then defence minister A K Antony, backed by the Left and others, had opposed the three foundational pacts: Logistics Support Agreement, Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum Agreement (CISMOA) and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (BECA) - on the grounds that they would "compromise" India's traditional strategic autonomy and give "basing rights" to the US military in the country. 3. No stationing of US troops on Indian soil TOI Manohar Parrikar and his US counterpart Ashton Carter stressed that Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) did not entail stationing of any US troops on Indian soil, even as officials added that India will not extend support in the event of any US military action against "friendly countries". "We can refuse access to our bases whenever we want," said an official. 4. No military alliance against China TOI Top Indian officials clarified that the "reciprocal" logistics pact was just meant to facilitate military cooperation and not aimed at forging any sort of a military alliance against China. 5. Boost to Delhi-Washington military ties The US is the largest arms supplier to India over the last 4 years. The US has bagged Indian arms contracts worth over $14 billion since 2007 and more are in pipeline. India and the US hold several military exercises every year. IAF fighters and aircraft are on way for Red Flag exercise in Alaska from April 28. 6. Collaboration on carrier TOI India and US are also advancing collaboration in aircraft carrier design and technology, potentially the biggest joint project since they launched a Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) in 2012. India, which operates a re-tooled Russian-built carrier, plans to build its biggest indigenous carrier, for which is it looking at US technology to launch heavier aircraft. "We have decided to take forward discussions under DTTI more aggressively on key areas such as jet engine technology. We will also continue our very useful and productive discussions on cooperation ... on aircraft carriers," Parrikar said. 7. Boost to US's 'Asia pivot' TOI US has increasingly turned its focus to Asia as it tries to counter China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea, and is eager for India to play a greater role in its network of regional defence alliances.A senior US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said China was "operating more frequently both throughout Southeast Asia and in the Indian Ocean", something both Washington and New Delhi were "watching closely". 8. Maritime security cooperation India and the US will also further bolster maritime security cooperation, which will include stepping up the complexity of its combat exercises and talks on anti-submarine warfare, but there are no plans for joint naval patrols in the contentious South China Sea or elsewhere. "India has not changed its stand (on joint patrols)," defence minister Manohar Parrikar said. 9. Boost to 'Make in India' TOI India, the world's biggest arms importer, wants access to US technology so it can develop sophisticated weapons at home - a key part of PM Modi's "Make in India" campaign to boost domestic manufacturing. US defence secretary Ashton Carter also held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi later on Tuesday as part of his three-day visit, aimed at shoring up security and defence ties with regional power India. 10. Indian Ocean India and US will work closely together in the Indian Ocean. Indian forces rarely operate far away from their shores but access to US bases in Djibouti and Diego Garcia could be useful. Delhi University has declined to give information under RTI related to PM Narendra Modi's bachelor of arts degree. The university cited inability to find information without a roll number as reason for the denial. The plea was accepted by the central information commission (CIC), which has dismissed the case. Reuters According to his election affidavit, he completed a distance education course from DU in 1978. His subject is said to have been Political Science. This is not the first time details of Modi's educational qualifications have been sought, and denied, under RTI. Earlier, Gujarat University refused to make information related to the PM's masters degree public, saying that the mark-sheet and other details were personal information. An RTI plea was also filed with the PMO on his MA degree. It was turned down because authorities said that they did not have the information. du.ac Delhi resident Hans Raj Jain had sought information on how many persons bearing the name of "Mr. Narendra Modi" had passed BA in 1978 as external students. According to the order given by information commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu, the chief public information officer said that admission is given based on a candidate's roll number and the university would have to manually search for the candidate's name, which was impossible. "Moreover the information sought is too general as he (applicant) wanted to know details of all candidates bearing name starts with letters M (Modi) & N (Narendra)," Acharyulu said. Pakistani Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday told Nigerian schoolgirls who were kidnapped a year ago by Boko Haram militants they will never be forgotten and to never lose hope. bccl "Please know this: we will never forget you. We will always stand with you," 17-year-old Yousafzai wrote in an open letter to the missing girls. "We will not rest until you have been reunited with your families." Yousafzai was shot in the head on a school bus in Pakistan by the Taliban in 2012 for refusing to quit school and won global acclaim for her passionate advocacy of women's right to education. Last year, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Indian children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi. In her letter, Yousafzai called on Nigerian authorities and the international community "to do more" to free the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram Islamist militants a year ago. Their abduction from a secondary school in Chibok in the country's Northeast last April drew international attention to the humanitarian crisis caused by attempts by the militants to establish a medieval-style caliphate in religiously mixed Nigeria. While some of the girls managed to escape the militants' grip, the majority of them remains missing. "In my opinion, Nigerian leaders and the international community have not done enough to help you," wrote Yousafzai. Earlier this week, Amnesty International said in a report that Boko Haram has kidnapped at least 2,000 Nigerian women and girls since the start of 2014, many of whom were sexually abused or trained to fight. In July last year, Yousafzai visited some of the abducted girls' parents in Nigeria and met five girls who had escaped the kidnapping. "Your parents are grief-stricken. They love you, and they miss you," she wrote to the missing girls. However, she said there were reasons to be optimistic about rescuing the girls and encouraged them to "never lose hope." To mark the anniversary of the kidnapping, The Malala Fund, the charitable organisation founded by Yousafzai and her father Ziauddin to empower girls through education, launched the #DearSisters initiative to gather messages of hope and support for the abducted girls. wordpress Dear mothers and fathers, I write this letter with a heavy heart, knowing you have endured another year separated from your daughters. I think of you every day since we first met two years ago and join millions of people around the world in praying for the safety and swift return of your girls. As I did last year, I call on President Buhari of Nigeria and everyone who can help rescue the Chibok girls to act now. Would a president give up the fight for his own daughter? These girls are just as precious to their families. Parents, thank you for having the courage to send your daughters to school. My dream is that one day they will come home, finish their education and choose their futures for themselves. I pray for the day when you can embrace your girls again. Your sister, Malala An ex-DMRC employee and his friend has been arrested for a heist in Rajendra Place station on Monday. A DMRC official was also stabbed by the duo who stole Rs 12 lakhs from the counter. Hindustan Times Police said, the main accused, identified as Pawan Kumar was a token counter operator at the same station till December 2015. The attack on the Station controller Kunal Kishore, was reportedly motivated over Kumar having a fight with him over the duty shift assigned to him in December. Kumar and his friend were tracked down with the help of their Metro cards. Footage from the stations helped identify them, said police. Police also recovered Rs 10.55 lakh cash, a mobile bought with part of the robbed money and the knife they used to attack Kishore. Kumar who worked at the metro station hid the knife inside his socks knowing well that the CISF staff generally searched only the upper body of passengers, Hindustan Times reported. exploremetro Police said even though revenge for losing his job was in Kumar's mind, the main motive behind the attack was money, as he wanted money to pay loans his father had taken during his sisters wedding in 2014. Working in the same station since 2013, Kumar knew the security lapses in the station and that on Monday's the station controller had a huge amount of cash collected from token sales, police said. 25-year-old Noushaba Bano has filed a contempt petition in the Delhi High Court, to bring back her deceased husband Mohammed Afsar's body from Saudi Arabia. His Saudi employer had allegedly beaten Afzar, a bulldozer operator in Riyadh, to death in March last year, after Afsar sought to return to India, Hindustan Times reported. indiatoday In her petition, Bano quoted her husbands co-workers who said they saw a video of him being beaten mercilessly. By showing the said video, he threatened them of consequences which they (co-workers) may face if they ask for any leave, the petition said. Now, she's seeking to have Afsars body was transported to India within four weeks. Saudi Arabia has the largest number of Indian passport holders outside India, most of them employed as blue collar workers. The oil-rich country is often criticised for human rights violations and difficult working conditions for migrant workers, a charge its government denies. indiatody The government has done nothing (so far). So we have moved a contempt petition, Banos lawyer Jose Abraham told HT on Wednesday. Taking up the petition on April 8, the court sought a status report from the Centre before April 19. Afsar was working as a bulldozer operator in Riyadh for two years before he was allegedly assaulted by his employer, leading to his death on March 3 last year. The Saudi employer was allegedly angry at Afsar for seeking to return to India. Saudi Arabia is infamous for its mistreatment for Indian migrant workers, who come to the wealthy nation as blue collar workers. Despite blatant human rights violations and difficult working conditions for workers, the nation's government has not addressed these issues. Manoj Kumar is a very distressed man these days, for he doesn't know the whereabouts of his pet 'Badshah'. The man, who lost his three-year-old bull a few days ago from Sarnath village in Varanasi, has filed a police complaint and also announced a Rs 50,000 reward to anyone who can find his pet. Owner of a missing bull 'Badshah' announces a reward of Rs 50,000 to anyone with credible information about animal pic.twitter.com/M4B2hLlYIg ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 13, 2016 Posters detailing the bull's physical appearance, colour and size have been put out all over the village and nearby places. Feels like I've lost my child.Badshah hs been with us since its birth.Don't hv words to express my pain-Manoj Pandey pic.twitter.com/5A2JZCwmxI ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 13, 2016 Badshah was no less than a family member for Kumar, who said, "He was harmless and used to roam freely in the area." In an interview in the ISIS magazine 'Dabiq', Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif, the amir of IS fighters in Bangladesh said that ISIS will use fighters in Bangladesh and Pakistan for guerrilla attacks inside India. These fighters, they said, will be working with local mujahideen, the Bangladesh terror group head said. bccl According to him, Bangladesh, enjoys a strategic geographic position critical for their global jihad goals. "...having a strong jihad base in Bengal will facilitate performing guerrilla attacks inside India simultaneously from both sides and facilitate creating a condition of tawahhush (fear and chaos) in India along with the help of the existing local mujahideen there..., he said, according to a Hindustan times report. bccl Bangladesh fighters are able to connect and cooperate with the mujahideen in the various wilayat (branches) of the Khilafah (caliphate), including the brothers in Wilayat Khurasan. The ISIS propaganda magazine issue addressed the groups operations in Bangladesh, including killing a Hindu priest and a Hindu businessman, and remembered Bangladeshi jihadi named Abu Jandal al-Bangali, who died fighting in Syria. For Al-Hanif, Bangladesh operations are a stepping-stone for jihad in Burma (Myanmar). bccl Bangladesh fighters are able to connect and cooperate with the mujahidin in the various wilayat (branches) of the Khilafah (caliphate), including the brothers in Wilayat Khurasan. The ISIS propaganda magazine issue addressed the groups operations in Bangladesh, including killing a Hindu priest and a Hindu businessman, and remembered Bangladeshi jihadi named Abu Jandal al-Bangali, who died fighting in Syria. For Al-Hanif, Bangladesh operations are a stepping-stone for jihad in Burma (Myanmar). bccl Follow us on b day special dr br ambedkar the architect of indian constitution Dr. BR Ambedkar, popularly known as Babasaheb Ambedkar, was the Architect of the Indian Constitution. Born on 14 April 1891 in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was the fourteenth child of his parents, Bhimabai Sakpal and Ramji. "Sakpal" was the surname of Bhimrao and "Ambavade" was the name of his native village. To avoid the socio-economic discrimination and the ill-treatment of the higher classes of the society, Bhimrao changed his surname from "Sakpal" to "Ambedkar" by the help of a Brahmin teacher, who had great faith in him. He was a well-known politician and an eminent jurist. Ambedkar's efforts to eradicate the social evils like untouchablity and caste restrictions were remarkable. Dr. BR Ambedkar a great scholar, lawyer and freedom fighter along with hundreds of thousands of Mahar's an untouchable caste, converted to Buddhism and changed the face of Buddhism in India. Dr. Ambedkar's conversion was a symbolic protest to the oppressions of caste inequality. Ambedkar experienced caste discrimination right from the childhood. After his retirement from the Indian Army, Bhimrao's father settled in Satara Maharashtra. Bhimrao was enrolled in the local school. Here, he had to sit on the floor in one corner in the classroom and the teachers would not touch his notebooks. In spite of these hardships, Bhimrao continued his studies and passed his Matriculation examination from Bombay University with flying colours in 1908. Bhim Rao Ambedkar joined the Elphinstone College for further education. In 1912, he graduated in Political Science and Economics from Bombay University and got a job in Baroda. In 1913, Bhimrao Ambedkar lost his father. In the same year Maharaja of Baroda awarded scholarship to Bhim Rao Ambedkar and sent him to America for further studies. Bhimrao reached New York in July 1913. He immersed himself in the studies and attained a degree in Master of Arts and a Doctorate in Philosophy from Columbia University in 1916 for his thesis "National Dividend for India: A Historical and Analytical Study." From America, Dr Ambedkar proceeded to London to study economics and political science. The Maharaja also convened many meetings and conferences of the "untouchables" which Bhimrao addressed. In September 1920, after accumulating sufficient funds, Ambedkar went back to London to complete his studies. He became a barrister and got a Doctorate in science. In 1947, when India became Independent, the first Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, invited Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, who had been elected as a Member of the Constituent Assembly from Bengal, to join his Cabinet as a Law Minister. The Constituent Assembly entrusted the job of drafting the Constitution to a committee and Dr. Ambedkar was elected as Chairman of this Drafting Committee. In February 1948, Dr. Ambedkar presented the Draft Constitution before the people of India; it was adopted on November 26, 1949. In 1950, Ambedkar travelled to Sri Lanka to attend a convention of Buddhist scholars and monks. After his return he decided to write a book on Buddhism and soon, converted himself to Buddhism. Ambedkar founded the Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha In 1955. His book "The Buddha and His Dhamma" was published posthumously. On May 24, 1956, on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti, he declared in Bombay, that he would adopt Buddhism. On October 14, 1956 he embraced Buddhism along with many of his followers. On same day, Ambedkar organized a public ceremony to convert around five lakh of his supporters into Buddhism. In his speech on the Eve of the great conversion at Nagpur Dr. Ambedkar said that Buddhism can serve not only this country, India, but the whole World at this juncture in the world affairs; Buddhism is indispensable for world peace you must pledge today that you, the followers of Buddha, will not only work to liberate yourself, but will try to elevate your country and the world in general. Ambedkar travelled to Kathmandu to attend the Fourth World Buddhist Conference. He completed his final manuscript, "The Buddha or Karl Marx" on December 2, 1956. Dr. Ambedkar dedicated himself to the propagation of the Buddhist faith in India. He wrote a book on Buddhism titled "Buddha and His Dhamma" explaining its tenets in simple language to the common man. His another book is "Revolution and Counter Revolution in India". He made the provision for the study of Pali in the Indian Constitution. Ambedkar's whole life and mission was a practical contribution to humanistic Buddhist education in India and not just intellectual and philosophical. Though he was not a Buddhist by birth but by practice and at heart he was a Buddhist. Latest India News Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. As the Presidency and National Assembly continue to flex muscles over the controversial 2016 budget, a senator representing Oyo North on the platform of All Progressives Congress, APC, Rilwan Akanbi, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to sign the fiscal document. President Buhari reportedly withheld assent to the 2016 budget over alleged removal of some key projects critical to the success of his administration, notably the N60 billion Lagos-Calabar coastal railway. But the Senate, through its Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Aliyu Sabi, Tuesday urged the president to sign the budget as passed by the National Assembly as Nigerians were already groaning under economic hardships. The Senate said rather than delaying the take-off of the budget, the president should send a supplementary budget capturing the missing project and others. Going against the position of the Senate, Mr. Akanbi advised Mr. Buhari not to sign the budget without the inclusion of the Lagos-Calabar railway for which the Chinese Government is to provide counterpart funding. It was the federal lawmakers view that since the project needed external funding, it should not be made to wait for any supplementary budget. If I were President Buhari, I would not sign the budget because of that rail project, Mr. Akanbi told PREMIUM TIMES yesterday. It is a very important project. The project and that of Lagos-Kano are parts of things for which the President is seeking funding in China. The N60 billion sought for the project is just our counterpart funding. So, since the project involves external funding, it is time-bound and cannot wait for supplementary budget. Otherwise, we will be seen as unserious people to foreign supporter, China in this case. When the President returns from China, what I expect is that he should return the budget to us (National Assembly) with formal request for inclusion of the project and to any other issues. Amending budget should not take more than one week, Mr. Akanbi said. He noted that the Senate Committee on Land Transport chaired by Gbenga Ashafa (APC/Lagos East) included the project in its report after Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, sent his ministrys supplementary proposal but regretted that the joint appropriation committees of both chambers of the National Assembly, removed the project. They (Appropriations Committee arrogated too much power to themselves. Why should they remove a project without respect for the concerned committee? Fine! It was omitted earlier but the Minister later brought it and the concerned committee approved the project. They should not have removed and included projects not even proposed at all without even feasibility reports. So, the President should return the project. Amid controversy over the Lagos-Calabar rail project and the tough stance adopted by the Senate, the House of Representatives has resolved to re-examine the 2016 budget, Speaker Yakubu Dogara said on Wednesday . The House also asked the Speaker to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to resolve any fresh disagreement over the fiscal document. The decision was reached after a 2-hour closed door session yesterday following reports that the joint appropriation committee had removed certain projects, including the N60 billion Lagos-Calabar rail and inserted projects worth billions of naira into the document. Dogara told reporters that the House took the decision in view of the prevailing economic situation and in the interest of our people. He said the House will continue to engage the executive on the budget until we have a workable document. Recall that Mr. Buhari, who is presently on a working visit to China, withheld assent and directed each Ministry, Department and Agency to review their budgets again. But the upper legislative chamber advised him to sign the 2016 Appropriation Bill as passed by the National Assembly and later send a supplementary budget to capture the coastal rail project and others not included in the original bill. The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazaq Namdas, told reporters after Wednesdays plenary that lawmakers were fully briefed by the Chairman appropriation committee and we agreed as a chamber, that the House delegate the Speaker to please go ahead and engage the executive to identify the areas of concern and that he should report back to us with the hope that these things in the national interest and see that this country move forward. He added, There are issues in particular, the Calabar Lagos Rail project that has been in the media. I want to reiterate here for the second time that the project was not among the project submitted by the President to the National Assembly. We are not saying that as a House that the Calabar Lagos rail project is not good, we know it is a viable project. Our own area of concern is that what people say that this thing was in the budget and we removed it. That is why we are making these clarification and again I want to state it clearly up till now as I speak there is no communication from the executive, the President to the National Assembly as I speak about the budget. All that we read in the media are other peoples opinions but Mr President has not come out clearly on this and this is my problem with the budget that has been passed because as we were told, the budget has been taken back to the ministries for them to examine and get back to the president. President Muhammadu Buhari has promised that his administration will honour all agreements concluded between Nigeria and China under previous administrations to ensure the speedy completion of outstanding joint projects, including the 4,000 megawatts Mambilla Hydro-Electric Power Project. Speaking, Wednesday, at a meeting with Mr Li Keqiang, the Premier of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China, President Buhari regretted the failure of past governments to meet Nigerias obligations in joint projects with China. He told the Chinese Premier that his administration was committed to the completion, in the shortest possible time, of all joint power, rail, road and aviation projects that will directly and quickly improve the lives of Nigerians. President Buhari said that he was particularly keen on actualizing the Mambilla Power Project because of its huge potential to boost employment and national economic growth. The Chinese Premier commended ongoing efforts by the Buhari Administration to improve Nigerias infrastructure. He assured the President that China was ready to work with his administration to complete all joint projects, including the Mambilla Power Project. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has called on public office holders to take a vow to never let politics take eminence over the discharge of their duties. Mr. Dogara made the call Wednesday on the second anniversary of the abduction of 276 girls from their dormitory in Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram Terrorists. While dozens were able to escape, it is believed that 219 more of the Chibok girls are still being held captive by Boko Haram at undisclosed locations. In a series of tweets via his handle @SpeakerDogara, the number four citizen said had the past government moved swiftly to action when it got wind of the girls abduction, they most likely would have been reunited with their families by now. The immediate past Goodluck Jonathan administration, under which the abduction took place, was accused of indifference to the incident for over two weeks not until it sparked global outrage with President Barack Obama of the United States among other world leaders and global icons, lending their voice to the campaign to #BringBackOurGirls. The speaker also urged Nigerians to spare a thought and a word of prayer for the souls of scores of students, who were killed in cold blood by the terrorists on their assembly ground in Potiskum and in their dormitories in Buni Yadi, all in Yobe State. See his tweets below: Two years ago, members of the Boko Haram sect abducted 276 girls from Government Secondary School, #Chibok. Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara (@YakubDogara) April 14, 2016 Some of these girls were lucky to escape, but most werent; the 219 girls who could not escape have still not been rescued. Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara (@YakubDogara) April 14, 2016 Today, as we remember the abducted #ChibokGirls, we must make a vow as leaders to never let politics come before discharging our duties. Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara (@YakubDogara) April 14, 2016 If the government then had sprung into action immediately, our girls would most likely be with us today. #ChibokGirls #NeverToBeForgotten Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara (@YakubDogara) April 14, 2016 The abduction of women and girls is just one of the many horrors faced by the people of the North-East at the hands of the Boko Haram sect. Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara (@YakubDogara) April 14, 2016 We must also spare a thought and say a prayer for the souls of scores of students who were killed on assembly grounds in Potiskum Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara (@YakubDogara) April 14, 2016 .and in dormitories in Buni Yadi, and other places. May God comfort their parents. Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara (@YakubDogara) April 14, 2016 The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to reshuffle his cabinet as part of measures to resolve the hardship currently being faced by Nigerians. The CNPP said lack of proper response to the lingering energy, fuel and economic crisis in the country portrayed the Buhari administration as insensitive to the plight of Nigerians, hence the need to reshuffle his cabinet to save the country from further anguish. The CNPP Secretary-General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, made the call in a statement he issued yesterday in Abuja. Mr. Ezugwu also said that the planned 100 per cent increment in Value Added Tax (VAT), the inability of the government to meet its self-imposed April 7 deadline to end queues in filling stations, and the 45 per cent hike in electricity tariff were indications that the All Progressives Congress-led federal government is disconnected from the reality. According to the CNPP scribe, The President Muhammadu Buhari administration has shown severally that it is insensitive to the plight of Nigerians. This is occasioned by its policy decisions that have inflicted serious economic injuries on already impoverished Nigerians. Such policy decisions of the present government include its insistence on implementing a 45 percent tariff increase at a time power generation has dropped to zero level. We cannot agree less with the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, who insisted that the 45% electricity tariff increase was illegal, unfair, unjustifiable and a further exploitation of the already exploited Nigerians. Ezugwu, therefore, called on Mr. Buhari to rejig his cabinet by putting square pegs in square holes to redress the present situation. The Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ikenne Division of Ogun State, Mr. Patrick Onwu, has been demoted by the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase for misconduct. It would be recalled that Mr. Onwu on Monday allegedly beat up a female traffic warden, Inspector Anifat Bello, while she was discharging her duty at NNPC junction, on IBB Boulevard in Ogun state. The traffic officer reportedly stopped the private vehicle of the DPO, unbeknownst to her that the occupant was a senior officer, which resulted in Mr. Onwu giving her the beating of her life for her effrontery. Bello, who has once been recommended for national honours by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for her dedication to duty, reported the matter at the state police command headquarters. It was learnt that Mr. Arase got wind of the incident through news reports and called the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abdulmajid Ali. Following the confirmation of the incident by CP Ali, the IGP ordered that Onwu be demoted to a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) from Superintendent of Police (SP). The police IG also ordered that the DPOs file be transferred to the Force Headquarters, Abuja, so further disciplinary actions can be taken. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Wednesday assured that the persistent fuel scarcity in the country will end in the next few days. The latest assurance was given by the NNPC management team led by its Chief Executive Officer (Upstream), Bello Rabiu, while briefing State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on an update on the supply and distribution of the product. Rabiu, who was flanked by the Chief Operating Officer (Downstream), Henry Nkem-Obi; Chief Operating Officer (Refineries), Anibo Kragha and Group General Manager (Public Affairs), Garbadeen Mohammed on Wednesday, said that the Corporation will soon saturate the market with more petrol than the nation can consume. According to him, five vessels were already discharging products in various parts of the country. Apart from this, private importers are also discharging at least 120 million liters of the product to complement NNPCs imports. He said that the only delay now has to do with circulation of the products across the country using trucks as pipelines were still not in good condition. The plan going forward from today, we want to make sure that we give more than what is required in the whole country. The total requirement of the country is just about 1,300 trucks, but our plan is to make at least 1,500 available everyday until this thing clears up. So, we want to make sure that we saturate the market in a very short time and I think you can see clearly now that Lagos is almost cleared and Abuja is getting better. Other places will follow, Rabiu said. He apologized for the fuel scarcity on behalf of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu and the NNPC, assuring that it would never repeat itself. As part of measures to ensure this, Rabiu said NNPC was focusing on having in-country storage capacity so that it would take minimum time to move products to depots in any part of the country. He also said efforts were underway to ensure that the refineries and the pipelines were put back to order to achieve stability and make fuel queues a thing of the past. He appealed to Nigerians to refrain from panic buying as the products would now be available on a regular basis in all the filling stations around the country. Immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Capt. Idris Wada (retd.) on Wednesday told the State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja that he won the 2015 governorship election in the state. The former governor contested the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Mr. Wada spoke through one of his witnesses, Joe Agada, the PDP Chief Agent at the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, collation centre in Lokoja, while opening his defence. The witness was led in evidence by Chris Uche (SAN), counsel to Mr. Wada. According to Agada, Wada won the election with 204, 877 votes against 6,885 scored by Governor Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He said Mr. Bello could not inherit votes scored by late Audu Abubakar, who was until his death, the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election. Mr. Agada said late Audu scored 240, 867 on November 21 governorship election but died 7.45 a.m. on Nov. 22, 2015 before the election could be concluded. He further stated that the APC had no valid candidate for the supplementary election because at the time Bellos name was submitted to INEC as substitute candidate, the statutory time allowed for substitution had elapsed. Mr. Wada scored 199, 514 on Nov. 2, 2015 election, while he polled 5,363 in the supplementary election on Dec. 5, 2015. In the Nov. 21, late Audu scored 240, 867, while Mr. Bello, who substituted him received 6,885 vote in the Dec. 5 election and was subsequently declared winner. But Mr. Agada argued that with the figure polled by Bello, he could not be said to have won the election. The witness, under cross examination, also maintained that the vote cast for late Audu remained void after he died. He further argued that Mr. Bello did not participate in the Nov. 21 governorship election as he had no permanent voter card. According to him, none of the candidates won at the time the election was declared inconclusive by INEC. Meanwhile, the tribunal admitted as exhibits, Mr. Agadas statement on oath, result sheets from the 2,548 polling units in the state, voter register and PDPs protest letter to INEC. Other documents admitted by the tribunal were the witnesss party membership card, voter card and letter of his appointment as PDP chief agent at INEC coalition centre. Another witness, Samuel Oduntan, testified that he carried out a forensic analysis of the election material and discovered that there was over voting. He, however, said he could not remember the numbers of ballot papers he scanned, adding that he was the team leader of the forensic expert, who signed report presented to the court. (NAN) On April 12th, Gov Ambodes convoy waited for the green light at Wempco junction, Agidingbi. The photo was shared by the Governors chief press secretary, Habib Aruna on Facebook. Many people praised the governor for doing this but there are those who feel it was a huge security risk. Read what Ayo Shonaiya wrote about it after the cut I just saw a picture posted by Habib Aruna on Facebook, of Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and his convoy STOPPED at a traffic light in Lagos. My question is WHY?! The Governor of Lagos State doesnt have to stop at traffic lights when hes on official duty with his convoy should he? And in terms of his security, this is very unadvisable. I have seen Gov Ambodes convoy, and its like 8 vehicles, including an Ambulance! As they are allowed to cut through traffic jams, they should be allowed to cut through red lights. What are they stopping for? To prove that he obeys the Law just like every other normal citizen? But no, hes not just any other normal citizen when hes on duty, hes the Governor! I have seen comments about this picture, some are saying kudos and humble governor, Nooooo! He is the Governor and shouldnt be stopping on plain road and even dangerously at intersections just to prove that he is not above the Law. He is making himself a sitting duck to potential harm by doing this. Who is the Head of Ambodes security detail that sees this as a good thing, for your charge to be static for 2 minutes on plain road while waiting for traffic lights to change. Wow! The fact that the convoy will be braking and stopping at Red Lights at every intersection is even dangerous. The vehicles in the convoy could quite possibly crash into each other and cause a pile up. What if the first 2 or 3 vehicles go past the green light, and the light turns red mid convoy? Would they now break convoy? I do not like this. It is not breaking the Law if the Governor of Lagos State goes through Red Lights with his convoy on official duty. Maybe when hes going somewhere in his personal car and without convoy, then he can maybe do that, but really even so, he should have some security detail with him. Stopping at red lights on official duty is not being humble, it creates a security risk. I dont want my Governor to be humble, I want my Governor to PERFORM as he has been doing for a year now since he resumed office. Governor Ambode, you are excused, and I dont mind your convoy going through red lights to be getting your work done as youve been doing. Dont stop. Keep Lagos moving. This has been a Public Service Announcement by Ayo Shonaiya. If you agree or disagree with me, let me know your thoughts. Source:LIB Jordanian security services have closed the Amman headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the countrys main opposition force, a security source and lawyer for the movement said. Jordanian security searched the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and evacuated it before sealing off the entrance with red wax, lawyer Abdelkader al-Khatib told AFP news agency on Wednesday. This is clearly a political decision in line with what is happening in the region, he added. A security source told AFP that the movements headquarters were closed on the order of the governor of the capital as the Brotherhood did not obtain legal authorisation for its activities. The Jordanian authorities view the Brotherhood as an illegal organisation because its licence was not renewed in accordance with a political parties law adopted in 2014. The Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was formed in Egypt in 1928 and has affiliates across the region, has wide grassroots support in the kingdom. Tolerated for decades in Jordan, the Brotherhood has had tense relations with the authorities since the Arab Spring uprisings that shook the region in 2011. In Egypt it has been blacklisted as a terrorist group. The intervention of the security services has the sole purpose of influencing the upcoming elections and results, Khatib said. Jordan is expected to hold legislative elections by early next year. The Brotherhood boycotted previous elections in 2013 and 2010. The movement accuses the authorities of trying to exploit divisions within the organisation. Last year the government authorised the formation of a breakaway group known as the Muslim Brotherhood Association. AFP. No fewer than 13 rape victims have been treated at Funtua General Hospital in Katsina State from January to date, the hospitals Medical Director, Tijjani Bakori, has said. Mr. Bakori told the News Agency of Nigeria in an interview on Thursday in Funtua that most of the cases were severe. He disclosed that some of the victims had to undergo surgery in the hospital. The medical director lamented that three of the rape victims were admitted by the hospital in the last four days. This signifies the magnitude of the problem in Funtua and environs, and it is important for all stakeholders to intensify efforts to address the menace. According to him, all the victims were below the age of 13 and mostly from less privileged families. He noted that there was no presence of International and National Non Governmental Organizations in the area to support the victims, noting that respective families of the victims were left to shoulder the burden. He urged the Katsina State Government and local councils in the area to ensure that the perpetrators were traced and severely punished. A victim was admitted on Monday, and another, aged 12, had undergone surgery in the hospital on Wednesday because of the severe injuries she sustained, Bakori said. The 12-year-old was raped by a security guard while the other victim, aged 13, was allegedly raped by her neighbour, one Dahiru Lawal in Bagari area of Funtua on April 12. While speaking, Jummai Musa, mother of one of the victims said her daughter was sent to buy cooking oil when she was lured and raped by Mr. Lawal. She said that the victim lost a lot of blood and had to receive blood transfusion at the hospital. According to her, the suspect has a wife and three children. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Aminu Sadiq, did not respond to inquiries on the issue, but police sources in Funtua confirmed that some suspects had been arrested in connection to the 13 rape cases. Source:NAN The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Taraba State has said no fewer than 50 of its members have been killed in the current crisis between herdsmen and Ndoro people in Gashaka Local Government Area of the State. The Chairman of MACBAN in the state, Alhaji Sahabi Mahmud, made the assertion at a press conference in Jalingo, Wednesday, in reaction to the claim by the Taraba State Police Command that Fulani herdsmen attacked people of Dori and Maisuma villages. According to Alh. Mahmud, the situation was rather a misunderstanding between resident herdsmen and farming communities, which arose following the discovery in a bush of a decomposing body of a lady, suspected to be Ndoro. He said the Ndoro people blamed the herdsmen for the womans death and in retaliation, killed over 50 of them. As if it was pre-planned, the villagers suddenly resorted to attacking our members, killing about 50 of them while many are still missing and over 3000 cattle were either killed or taken away, the Chairman said He stated that after being fully briefed by his branch chairmen in Gashaka, Bali and Kurmi local government areas, he immediately informed the state commissioner of police, Shaba Alkali, and other security agents in the state and called on them to intervene. Mr. Mahmud, however, expressed regrets that rather than handle the matter as a misunderstanding between the two groups, Mr. Alkali took sides by persecuting the herdsmen, including the arrest of one Ardo Ayuba, who he noted was not even a resident of the affected area. It would be recalled that the police commissioner issued a press release on Tuesday in which he alleged that a group of people numbering about 20, suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, attacked Dori and Maisuma villages on April 10, 2016 and killed 1 person While condemning the action of the state police command for branding his members as the culprits, the Meyetti Allah chairman called on the State Governor, Darius Ishaku to immediately convene a roundtable of all stakeholders for a genuine dialogue with a view to amicably resolving the dispute. Members of the National Assembly from Kebbi State have donated N10 million to victims of the Birnin Kebbi Central market fire, which occurred on March 26, 2016. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a former governor of the state, Sen. Adamu Aliero, announced the donation on Monday when he led the NASS members on an inspection of the burnt market. He noted that the fire had led to colossal loss and resulted in serious setback to economic activities in the state. Aliero told the State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Samaila Yombe, who was on the entourage, that the donation was to assist the victims to come back on their feet. He called for investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the inferno and adoption of measures to prevent future occurrence. I recall that 15 years ago when the market was commissioned fire preventive measures had been put in place, he stated, and advised traders against erecting structures that would impede rescue operations. I urge the authorities to promptly determine the extent of damage and to seek for assistance from the Federal Government, individuals and groups. Responding, the deputy governor commended the lawmakers for the donation and pledged that the money would be utilized judiciously. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NASS members also visited the Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Muhammadu Bashar, to sympathise with him over the incident. Aliero called for prayers to prevent future occurrence and urged the traders to accept the calamity as an act of God. The Federal Government has reassured the international community of its utmost commitment to human rights in the conduct of all her affairs including the counter insurgency operation against Boko Haram in the Northeast. The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) gave the reassurance when he received a delegation from the office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, Madame Fatou Bensouda, in Abuja yesterday. Malami also said the Nigerian Army had conducted its operations in the Northeast region of the country in a highly professional manner, with the best practices in the areas of international human rights and humanitarian law. He also said he was aware of the eight case files opened against Nigeria at the ICC, which the prosecutor intends to investigate in her next stage of assessment of Nigeria. According to the AGF, six of the alleged cases were committed by the Boko Haram sect while the remaining two were by the Nigerian Armed Forces. Let me reiterate that Nigeria retains the sovereign capacity to investigate and punish the alleged crimes referred to in the report and will therefore continue present efforts in the above direction, he said. Mr. Malami added that the federal government was committed to ensuring that troops are guided by the rules of engagement, promising that any infractions would not be treated lightly. The minister, however, sought the support and understanding of the ICC and the international community, with regard to the conduct of the affairs of the Nigerian Armed Forces that have helped the world to deal with terrorism on the continent and restoring normalcy to the traumatized communities in the North-east. The leader of delegation, Mr. Phakiso Mocho Choko, said Madame Bensouda did not intend to compromise the sovereign rights of Nigeria in investigating crimes and meting out punishment. Mr. Choko noted that most cases referred to the ICC, were the ones host nations were unable to resolve through internal mechanisms. Punch The Comptroller General of Customs Compliance team, Ogun axis, has seized about N19.24m worth of smuggled poultry. Vanguard There are indications that the list of beneficiaries of the Federal Governments N5,000 conditional cash transfer for eight states is ready. Thisday In response to the growing state of insecurity across the country, occasioned by poverty, especially in the Boko Haram ravaged North-east, the federal government, has set aside a N500 billion intervention fund for the poorest Nigerians. The Sun IN a move to checkmate its National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff from participating in the forthcoming national convention of the party, the Forum of former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ministers has recommended that members of the outgoing national working committee be barred from contesting any of the positions Daily Times The Channels Television reporter in Imo State, who was kidnapped on Monday has regained his freedom on after police launched massive manhunt for his abductors. Guardian Fulani herdsmen in Oyo State yesterday denied claims that some of their men were responsible for destruction of crops in Ogbomoso and parts of Oke Ogun area of the state. Daily Trust The member representing Lafia/Obi Federal Constituency at House of Representatives, Alhaji Abubakar Dahiru Sarki, has donated items worth over 10 million naira to his constituent Leadership The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Edo State Command yesterday destroyed four illegal refineries at Obazagon, near Ehor in Uhuwode local government area of the state. Tribune VICE-President Yemi Osinbajo, on Wednesday, reassured that from the security reports available to the Federal Government, it was still possible to rescue the 217 girls abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, two years ago, adding, however, that government could not put a timeline to the rescue. The Nation The Department of State Services (DSS) has paraded Bello Danhajia, a close associate and presumed second-in-command of the suspected mastermind of the United Nations (UN) House bombing, Khalid Al-Barnawi. Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, has called on the Federal Government to set up a commission of inquiry to look into crude oil theft amounting to N5.8 trillion under the previous administration. Aregbesola made the call on Wednesday in Osogbo, the state capital while receiving members of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR). The governor also received a letter from the group for onward transmission to President Muhammadu Buhari. Mr. Aregbesola lauded the CDHR for joining Buhari in his commitment to recover the resources of the country stolen by corrupt public officers. The CDHR in its letter handed to the Osun governor for onward transmission to the president, made suggestions on the need to ensure the recovered looted funds were properly utilized. It also highlighted some of the ordeals being faced by the masses, urging President Buhari to take urgent steps to address them. Aregbesola, however, noted that in the effort to recover stolen funds, the Buhari administration must not overlook the area of crude oil theft under the watch of PDP administration. He stated that the present administration would be doing the nation good by setting up an inquiry into how four hundred thousand barrels of crude oil was stolen without being prevented by security agencies in the country. In the middle of 2013 a party at the helms of affairs of our country told us that four hundred thousand barrels of crude oil were stolen on a regular basis for 24 months, we never heard that it stopped for that period, he said. What we have lost is N5.8 trillion to an unprotected crude oil theft in 24 months. We can imagine how many roads, schools and quality of electricity we could get from such amount. I am not underestimating your demands but you still need to add to your demand requesting how the country lost 400,000 barrels of crude oil everyday, Aregbesola added. He also urged CDHR to be vehement in condemning corruption and to embark on campaign that would charge Nigerians to be productive. Aside from corruption, what is actually affecting the country is low productivity, as we are condemning corruption, we should also charge ourselves to be productive. We should be able to earn our living as a people, the governor said. I promise to deliver this your letter to the President when he comes back from China and I will let him know how passionate you are on the war against corruption. Earlier, the state Chairman of CDHR, Akinkunmi Asifat, said recovered looted funds should not be looted again. He urged government to use the recovered funds to alleviate the sufferings of the masses by building social infrastructure. Mr. Asifat also condemned the continued pillaging of the Nigerian treasury and the total black out enveloping the country. We are in darkness despite all the money claimed to have been spent on electricity. We have come to bring a letter to Mr. Governor to help us transmit to Mr. President, Mr. Asifat said. The masses are tired of what is happening. Things are not well in the country and we cant continue to pretend. Fuel is being sold for N250. Nigeria belongs to Nigerians, we have the collective ownership of this country. The Senate has said the lingering controversy over the 2016 budget is one of the tenets of Democracy. This is just as it said it would concur with the House of Representatives after the latters re-examination of the fiscal document. While the Senate said it would not be arm-twisted into revisiting the 2016 budget and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign it into law as passed by the National Assembly, the House on Wednesday, said in the national interest, it would re-examine the budget and resolve any differences with the Executive. The Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, who stressed that the House of Representatives did nothing bad by taking a different stance, however, said the budget must be brought to the Senate after the re-examination for concurrence. If they do so, there is nothing bad; we are going to concur with them, he said in an interview with a Daily Trust reporter yesterday. There are so many things that we do and they will concur; also there are things that they do and we will concur. So, if that is what they are doing, they have to bring it to us, so that we can concur. They cannot work on anything without us, so even if we dont re-examine it, we will concur with them, Ndume said. He added that the controversy over the budget was not a new thing, saying they had similar experiences with former Presidents Olusegun Obsanjo and Goodluck Jonathan. In 2010, the Presidency returned the budget and we amended it. Aside from amendment, the budget can be reviewed through virement or supplementary budget. These are openings to correct disagreement like this. This is not peculiar do us alone, in America that we are copying when there is a standoff between the executive and the congress on budget, it led to the shutting down of the government. But ours will not lead to this because we are not quarrelling, we are only disagreeing to agree and this is one of the tenets of democracy, he said. The All Progressives Congress senator also denied reports that Buhari has returned the budget back to the National Assembly. Giving Mary Poppinss magic umbrella some serious competition is the all new high-tech Oombrella not only can it predict the weather, its also impossible to lose. The smart umbrella syncs with a smartphone app, sending users updates about weather conditions 30 minutes in advance, and reminders if they happen to leave the device behind. And heres the added bonus it wont ever flip inside-out. Designed by French company Wezzoo, the rainbow-colored Oombrella comes in two versions classic and modern. The classic is 3.1-ft long with a curved handle, while the modern version is 0.8-ft long with a straight handle. The company describes the device as a portable weather station, made of a reflective surface with built in sensors that record real-time data such as light, humidity, pressure, and temperature. The Oombrella collects and processes this data as well as information from a social media community before sending out alerts about when its going to start raining. And if the user happens to accidentally forget it at home on a potentially rainy day, or leaves it in a restaurant, similar alerts will be sent out using GPS technology to make sure you dont lose it. We wanted to make this umbrella unforgettable in terms of design, too, explains Alexandre, of Escabo design studio. We developed an exclusive material. It makes you feel you are holding an aurora borealis in your hands. It has effects that are amazing with the light and always changing. It really makes the Oombrella special. The capsule that integrates all the technology, making the umbrella smart, is located in the handle. The Oombrella is all set to hit global online and physical stores this fall. According to a company spokesperson, it will retail at 79 ($86), but the early bird price on Kickstarter is 59 ($64). For those who are rather attached to their current umbrellas, the company will also release an Oombrella capsule that can convert any umbrella into a smart device. Now, if only it could make us fly like Mary Poppins! Oddity Central. Modern data systems still mainly process data in batch. The next stage is to move to real time technologies and make the entire company operate on an event instead of the year, the quarter, and the month. We have all become accustomed to batch processing by calendar period. However, the world doesnt work this way. Recently, the market in China underwent a rapid transformation. Any company with plans that focused on that region for the year or quarter had to react quickly. Customers change their minds, world events occur, and nothing happens on your schedule. Everything from money laundering, fraud detection, and promotions are generally handled in batch. However, there is another way of working. As events happen, you tally them up, and once they go over a threshold you make a decision. With modern data systems we dont actually have to batch data to make decisions; instead, we can tally and operate on thresholds. Newer businesses have been moving to real time in order to disrupt older ones. Dell famously had little inventory and made computers to order. Amazon has disrupted the entire retail industry through a distribution system that takes orders and puts inventory at the customers door in two days or fewer. In both retail and manufacturing just in time is a well-sought goal. The world of financial services is moving to real-time faster than almost any other industry. In this sector you often have no tangible asset that requires complex logistics. This simplifies the move to an event-based system. In other industries it requires renegotiating your relationships with vendors and suppliers to provide goods and services on demand, and to be able to adjust your orders or your labor up or down as events require. Moving to real time also mandates a rethinking of older IT infrastructure and a reduction in its complexity. By adopting a real-time model, you eliminate the need for reporting over large data sets for day-to-day operations. Processing large data sets will still be necessary for historical analysis, but most data will be immediately up to date. Naturally, this will allow the organization to react more quickly to market conditions and evolve as change occurs. Ultimately, this is the competitive advantage. Step 1: Consolidation It is difficult to be data-driven if you dont have a holistic view of your data. Moreover, the agents of this change are not the systems but the people who make the company work. They need to be able to efficiently and effectively use the data. The only way to do that is to bring data together. This requires creating an inventory of data assets, a central repository (aka a data lake or enterprise data hub), and appropriate views of the data, then mapping data assets and views to business roles for security purposes. Ideally, data governance tools and processes are put into place at the same time. From a technology perspective, you can use tools like Sqoop and Kettle to feed the data to a Hadoop-based data repository (Impala/Hive). These feeds can be scheduled with Oozie or a similar tool. The consolidation process is best conceived in combination with the analytics process, although without clear use cases consolidation will go out of scope and fail. Step 2: Analytics The goal is to make data self service, so when someone has an idea, they can go directly to the repository for the data, rather than having to ping IT or the department sourcing the data. Getting there, however, is no small matter: It requires structuring the data. In general, the process is as follows: Views are created for cross-department or cross-data source reports and analytics. Initial sets of dashboards and reports are created in newer, more attractive formats. An analytics tool is purchased and deployed throughout the organization, and the staff is trained on its use and function. Both the users and the providers of the data are interviewed in order to get a complete picture of the needs, abilities, and processes around report creation, which will be done using tools like Tableau. This work is best done concurrently with the data consolidation as both processes require use cases. Step 3: Process mapping and automation Automating a process requires understanding the process. This involves reviewing the companys source information and interviewing the executives and decision-makers. However, it also requires interviewing the people who actually run the process on a day-to-day basis. The informal process is perhaps even more important than the formal one. The output from this activity is process mapping, which usually takes the form of a diagram. With many business-process management systems, the tool that generates a diagram also creates a runnable configuration file for a business-process automation tool. After the initial diagram(s) is created, a data systems approach is used to plug in computational processes. This is both human analysis and systems analysis, and it requires some transformation of both. Simply implementing a tool such as JBPM isnt sufficient; real change is required in how the organization operates. Step 4: Decision mapping and automation Process and decision mapping are best done in parallel. The idea is to map items that are algorithmic or numbers-based. Some of these take place informally, meaning someone may look at a bar chart, see if two bars are about the same length, remember that business tends to pick up after the summer, and decide to place an order. However, this is an informal system that can be replaced by formal rules. Rules like this can have adjustable thresholds and parameters. There are multiple ways to accomplish this, from writing rules in a rules language such as Red Hats JBoss Rules or IBMs WebSphere ILOG Rules, to creating a domain-specific language and expressing those rules or using decision tables. There are places where actual algorithms might be implemented using R or Python and possibly Spark for in-memory execution at scale. This activity works best if started shortly after the initiation of the business process mapping; the two are interrelated, and the output of decisions frequently affects process. Step 5: Governance Everything can change: the data, the processes and parameters, the decisions, even the rules or algorithms for making decisions. A system needs to be in place to govern the data and establish its source and validity and to manage its structure. Having a centralized data lake isnt helpful if you look at a field in a table and cant answer the What is this? Where did it come from? What does it mean? questions. Processes need explanations and stories as a way to suggest, implement, and review changes. They also need to be periodically reviewed to ensure they are not stale or out of touch. Decisions and their parameters (along with any associated algorithms) need a similar review and change control process. In the meantime, executives may change strategies or add new lines of business. Success depends on having an efficient way to adapt ever-evolving systems. For data there are tools like Hadoop Revealed or Collibra. Although process and rules change tools are currently subpar, common software revision control systems like Git or SVN can provide assistance. The most important piece is getting that data governance system in place. If youre at the handmade spreadsheet stage, dont try to become a real-time, data-driven company in one project. Cultural change is as fundamental as the evolution of technology and eventual adoption. Situations and events that cannot be handled by a core automated process should not be neglected. Instead, address situations requiring human attention, but consider how the process might be adapted. You may find that certain events are not one-offs, but that multiple events are percolating throughout the company without the information being shared. For more on the evolution from traditional data models to the future of data processing with Apache Spark and natural language processing, see the Mammoth Data whitepaper, Become a Data-Driven Company in 2016. Andrew C. Oliver is a professional cat herder who moonlights as a software consultant. He is president and founder of Mammoth Data (formerly Open Software Integrators), a big data consulting firm based in Durham, N.C. He also writes InfoWorlds Strategic Developer blog. New Tech Forum provides a venue to explore and discuss emerging enterprise technology in unprecedented depth and breadth. The selection is subjective, based on our pick of the technologies we believe to be important and of greatest interest to InfoWorld readers. InfoWorld does not accept marketing collateral for publication and reserves the right to edit all contributed content. Send all inquiries to newtechforum@infoworld.com. The first proposed federal encryption legislation has been released, and had it been established law earlier this year Apple would have had to provide the help the FBI asked for in accessing encrypted data on the iPhone used by a terrorist in San Bernardino. The draft published by Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California calls for encryption vendors and others to obey court orders that command them to deliver intelligible versions of encrypted data or to provide technical assistance to make it intelligible. +More on Network World: IRS: Tax deadline looms, scammers get more frantic+ Thats exactly what the FBI was asking for earlier this year with a judges order to disarm the anti-brute-force mechanism on the terrorists iPhone. In the absence of a law as specific as the Burr-Feinstein draft, Apple appealed, saying it shouldnt be forced to create new technology to break the security of its own products. The FBI dropped the matter when it got a third party to break into the phone, so there was no court ruling on Apples argument. On one hand, the Burr-Feinstein proposal prohibits government officials from requiring or prohibiting any specific design or operating system. On the other hand, it requires that vendors and service providers covered by the law make sure products and services they license can make encrypted communications intelligible. That doesnt explicitly require encryption backdoors, but the only known way to reliably decrypt data and communications is to have a key or backdoor. If required by a court order, vendors would have to isolate the requested data, make it intelligible, and do so either real-time as it is transmitted or, in the case of stored data, it would have to be decrypted expeditiously. Vendors and service providers are only responsible for complying with the law if it is their product or service that rendered the requested data unintelligible in the first place. So an ISP couldnt be held responsible for decrypting communications that cross its network unless it provided the encryption. It wouldnt be responsible for traffic that was encrypted by the endpoints in the communication. The proposal says that any entity that provides services or products that could be affected by the court orders must make their products and services able to comply. So if a service provider offered an encryption service powered by a third partys software, it would have to make sure there was a means for decrypting whatever the software encrypted. The draft specifies that the law would be applied only to certain crimes, including those involving threat of or actual death or serious bodily harm; terrorism and espionage; federal crimes against minors; serious violent felonies; and serious federal drug crimes. It would also cover state crimes that are equivalent to those federal crimes mentioned. + ALSO: Best Apple iPhone 7 design concepts of 2016 + The requirements would apply to device manufacturers, electronic communication or remote computing service providers, and anyone who provides a product or method to facilitate a communication or the processing or storage of data. The proposal doesnt touch on what the penalties are for failing to comply with the law. Vendors that provide technical assistance would be paid for reasonable costs incurred in providing that assistance. This story, "Senators release official draft of federal encryption legislation" was originally published by Network World . A long-standing joke about the Hadoop ecosystem is that if you don't like an API for a particular system, wait five minutes and two new Apache projects will spring up with shiny new APIs to learn. It's a lot to keep up with. Worse, it leads to a lot of work migrating to different projects merely to keep current. "We've implemented our streaming solution in Storm! Now we've redone it in Spark! We're currently undergoing a rewrite of the core in Apache Flink (or Apex)! and we've forgotten what business case we were attempting to solve in the first place." Enter Apache Beam, a new project that attempts to unify data processing frameworks with a core API, allowing easy portability between execution engines. Now, I know what you're thinking about the idea of throwing another API into the mix. But Beam has a strong heritage. It comes from Google and its research on the Millwheel and FlumeJava papers, as well as operational experience in the years following their publication. It defines a somewhat familiar directed acyclic graph data processing engine with the capability of handling unbounded streams of data where out-of-order delivery is the norm rather than the exception. But wait, I hear some of you cry. Isnt that Google Cloud Dataflow? Yes! And no. Google Cloud Dataflow is a fully managed service where you write applications using the Dataflow SDK and submit them to run on Googles servers. Apache Beam, on the other hand, is simply the Dataflow SDK and a set of "runners" that map the SDK primitives to a particular execution engine. Yes, you can run Apache Beam applications on Google Cloud Dataflow, but you can also use Apache Spark or Apache Flink with little to no changes in your code. Ride with Apache Beam There are four principal concepts of the Apache Beam SDK: Pipeline: If you've worked with Spark, this is somewhat analogous to the SparkContext. All your operations will begin with the pipeline object, and you'll use it to build up data streams from input sources, apply transformations, and write the results out to an output sink. If you've worked with Spark, this is somewhat analogous to the SparkContext. All your operations will begin with the pipeline object, and you'll use it to build up data streams from input sources, apply transformations, and write the results out to an output sink. PCollection: PCollections are similar to Spark's Resilient Distributed Dataset (RDD) primitive, in that they contain a potentially unbounded stream of data. These are built from pulling information from the input sources, then applying transformations. PCollections are similar to Spark's Resilient Distributed Dataset (RDD) primitive, in that they contain a potentially unbounded stream of data. These are built from pulling information from the input sources, then applying transformations. Transforms: A processing step that operates on a PCollection to perform data manipulation. A typical pipeline will likely have multiple transforms operating on an input source (for example, converting a set of incoming strings of log entries into a key/value pair, where the key is an IP address and the value is the log message). The Beam SDK comes with a series of standard aggregations built in, and of course, you can define your own for your own processing needs. A processing step that operates on a PCollection to perform data manipulation. A typical pipeline will likely have multiple transforms operating on an input source (for example, converting a set of incoming strings of log entries into a key/value pair, where the key is an IP address and the value is the log message). The Beam SDK comes with a series of standard aggregations built in, and of course, you can define your own for your own processing needs. I/O sources and sinks: Lastly, sources and sinks provide input and output endpoints for your data. Lets look at a complete Beam program. For this, well use the still-quite-experimental Python SDK and the complete text of Shakespeares "King Lear": import re import google.cloud.dataflow as df p = df.Pipeline('DirectPipelineRunner') (p | df.Read('read', df.io.TextFileSource( 'gs://dataflow-samples/shakespeare/kinglear.txt')) | df.FlatMap('split', lambda x: re.findall(r'\w+', x)) | df.combiners.Count.PerElement('count words') | df.Write('write', df.io.TextFileSink('./results'))) p.run() After importing the regular expression and Dataflow libraries, we construct a Pipeline object and pass it the runner that we wish to use (in this case, we're using DirectPipelineRunner , which is the local test runner). From there, we read from a text file (with a location pointing to a Google Cloud Storage bucket) and perform two transformations. The first is flatMap , which we pass a regular expression into in order to break each string up into words -- and return a PCollection of all the separate words in "King Lear." Then we apply the built-in Count operation to do our word count. The final part of the pipeline writes the results of the Count operation to disk. Once the pipeline is defined, it is invoked with the run() method. In this case, the pipeline is submitted to the local test runner, but by changing the runner type, we could submit to Google Cloud Dataflow, Flink, Spark, or any other runner available to Apache Beam. Runners dial zero Once we have the application ready, it can be submitted to run on Google Cloud Dataflow with no trouble, as it is simply using the Dataflow SDK. The idea is that runners will be provided for other execution engines. Beam currently includes runners supplied by DataArtisans and Cloudera for Apache Flink and Apache Spark. This is where some of the current wrinkles of Beam come into play because the Dataflow model does not always map easily onto other platforms. A capability matrix available on the Beam website shows you which features are and are not supported by the runners. In particular, there are extra hoops you need to jump through in your code to get the application working on the Spark runner. Its only a few lines of extra code, but it isnt a seamless transition. It's also interesting to note that the Spark runner is currently implemented using Spark's RDD primitive rather than DataFrames. As this bypasses Spark's Catalyst optimizer, it's almost certain right now that a Beam job running on Spark will be slower than running a DataFrame version. I imagine this will change when Spark 2.0 is released, but it's definitely a limitation of the Spark runner over and above what's presented in the capability matrix. At the moment, Beam only includes runners for Google Cloud Dataflow, Apache Spark, Apache Flink, and a local runner for testing purposes -- but there's talk of creating runners for frameworks like Storm and MapReduce. In the case of MapReduce, any eventual runner will be able to support a subset of the what Apache Beam provides, as it can work only with what the underlying system provides. (No streaming for you, MapReduce!) Grand ambitions Apache Beam is an incredibly ambitious project. Its ultimate goal is to unify all the data processing engines under one API -- and make it trivially easy to migrate, say, your Beam application running on a self-hosted Flink cluster over to Google Cloud Dataflow. As somebody who has to develop these applications, this is great. It's clear that Google has spent years refining the Beam model to cover most of the data processing patterns that many of us will need to implement. Note, however, that Beam is currently an "incubating" Apache project, so you'll want to exercise caution before putting it into production. But it's worth keeping a close eye on Beam as it incorporates more runners -- and ports the Beam SDK to more languages. Great news: Microsoft has stepped up the tech industry's battle with the U.S. federal government for overreaching in its efforts to invade citizens' privacy. Microsoft has already been fighting the feds over their desire to access customer data held in overseas data centers, and it pressured the government to reform NSA surveillance abuses. Of course Apple has been fighting the feds very publicly over their desire to require backdoor access on all encrypted devices and communications. Microsoft today sued the feds to allow Microsoft to notify its customers whenever the feds want access to the customers' data. Under the guise of national security rules, the companies managing customer data -- Internet service providers, telephone companies, cloud providers, social networks, websites, and so on -- can't tell customers when the feds access their data. To alert their customers to the feds' snooping, some companies have tried the "warrant canary" strategy, in which their privacy disclosure statements suddenly remove any language about customer data confidentiality as a way to indicate the feds are getting access to that customer data. Reddit is the most recent example. But the warrant-canary strategy doesn't say who's being targeted, and it requires customers to pay close attention to privacy statements to see if there is a change. Microsoft and Apple have long opposed the government spying that has spun out of control in the post-9/11 era. Like the rest of the tech industry, both companies have complied with legal information requests. But both have seen the law get perverted to allow more and more federal privacy invasion of both individuals and companies, using very broad antiterrorism laws and secret courts that seem to rubber-stamp all requests. This week, two senators proposed more of the same overreach in the name of national security. To many, what has been made legal is a severe violation of American's constitutional rights, from the right to privacy to the requirement for due cause for government intrusion to the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure. Microsoft and Apple have led the charge in their very public battles with the feds. The rest of the tech industry has been more cautious, though the outrageous demand from the FBI that Apple disarm its encryption on a terrorist's iPhone caused most to publicly side with Apple to safeguard encryption. Perhaps because of their historic ties with the Defense Department, tech companies have long provided the government whatever it requested -- the telecoms in particular have been active participants in federal spying efforts. But that quiet acceptance seems to be dissipating, putting Silicon Valley in the odd position of defending our civil liberties. Even Google and Facebook, which make a living mining everyone's personal information, believe the feds have gone too far. It's sad that corporations -- not the populace or their elected representatives -- have taken on that role, though we see the same civic responsibility occurring in other areas, such as combating antigay legislation throughout the nation. Although they are the active combatants, it's not only Microsoft and Apple (and Edward Snowden) that have been carrying the fight to the feds, with the tech industry's support. Parts of the government have been fighting back, too. The Snowden revelations led to minor pullbacks of government spying actions, and there's a bill in the House this week to require warrants when the feds seek data stored in the cloud. But the government efforts are more about slowing or placing more rules around the overreach, rather than stopping it. Still, a federal judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., demolished the government's rationale for seeking to force companies to break their own technology to access encrypted information. (The feds are appealing the ruling.) Apple is a hero for fighting the feds so strongly over preserving the integrity of encryption. Microsoft is a hero for fighting the feds so strongly over preserving the integrity of our stored data. As my colleague Paul Venezia recently wrote, "Fight, Apple, fight!" Let me add to that "Fight, Microsoft, fight!" The Weekender - Crushing It NO BULL - 16 minutes ago In terms of futures winners and losers, soybean oil ( ZLZ22 ) was a big winner last week, up 9.5%. While soybean oil's performance was notable, the real winner was Dec 22 Soybean Crush ( CSZ22 ), up... ZLZ22 : 71.50s (+1.53%) CSZ22 : 310-4s (+6.15%) Stock Market This Week: Five Themes to Watch Barchart - Sun Oct 23, 8:00AM CDT While the U.S. equities sector posted a surprising win last week, circumstances are only getting more ambiguous, requiring extra vigilance among investors. RTX : 88.54 (+1.49%) Cattle bulls are back in force Sidwell Strategies - Sat Oct 22, 7:12PM CDT Cattle-on-Feed; Rebound in Equities & Energy Triple Digit Hog Rally Barchart - Fri Oct 21, 4:40PM CDT Lean hogs extended their rally into the weekend with another $0.20 to $2.10 gains in the front months. December was up the most on Friday, but is still a $1.40 discount to Feb. Through the week, December... HEZ22 : 89.125s (+2.41%) HEJ23 : 93.850s (+0.78%) KMZ22 : 98.000s (+1.16%) Public health professionals are always looking for the variables that create health disparities. One such variable is your zip code, a particular problem for people in sparsely populated rural areas of the country. In other words, how far away is the healthcare you need? And how well-trained are healthcare providers you can easily reach? People in rural parts of the country have to travel farther for healthcare. And there are fewer doctors in the stickslots fewer. The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, which has identified rural healthcare as one of its areas of focus, points out that many Americans living in every area of the country lack access to quality, affordable healthcare. But those in rural areas face extra challenges due to their geographic isolation and "the severe shortage of qualified healthcare providers" in rural areas. Here's what that shortage looks like in numbers, according to Helmsley: There as many as 300 physicians for every 100,000 urban dwellers, while remote rural areas can have as few as 55 physicians per 100,000 residents. The Helmsley Charitable Trust formally addressed the healthcare plight of country folk in 2009, with the creation of its Rural Healthcare Program. The program's goal is to improve healthcare access and quality for people in the upper Midwest. Why the upper Midwest, specifically? Surprisingly, that area is actually the most medically underserved region in the country, according to Helmsley, with big gaps in healthcare access and a relative lack of private funding. We've written about a number of Helmsley's efforts to fund rural healthcare in areas like cancer, diabetes and heart disease, among others. The Helmsley Trust recently announced $9.4 million for three different initiatives in the state of Montana. About half of the money, $4.6 million, will go to the Montana Department of Health to support a pretty innovative training program for healthcare professionals: Simulation in Motion Montana. The program uses 18-wheelers outfitted with simulation labs and patient simulators to train rural healthcare providers and EMTs. Two other grants, totaling $4.3 million, will go to the Billings Clinic for support of its new Helmsley Rural Healthcare Scholars program, a research residency program that pairs medical residents with faculty mentors. The trust will provide up to $500,000 in matching funds over three years in support of the clinic's new internal medicine residency program. But these newest grants only continue Helmsley's commitment to the region: Combined with grants awarded in November 2015, Helmsley has provided a total of $42 million for rural healthcare in Montana. That relative lack of private and philanthropic funding we mentioned above? It's at least partly the result of simple math: Many philanthropists are wealthy people who give back to their home states and regions, but rural areas smaller populations, and thus fewer wealthy folks. It's human nature, of course, to help people in one's own community or hometown. But private philanthropists may wish to follow the data-driven decision-making of big foundations like Helmsley, and look for ways to address geographic areas in need, even if there's no personal connection. Update 4/14/16 A fire that occurred earlier this month at the Greenbox Self Storage facility under development in Denver is being viewed as a setback, not a game-changer, according to company officials. Our plans [havent] changed, Fine told the source. We still plan to do the project. It involves cleaning up the property and demolishing it. Were still assessing what needs to be done before we can demolish the building; its a top priority. Were moving forward as quickly as we can and will break ground when we can. The April 1 fire began just before 5 p.m. on the top floor of the three-story building. The flames also threatened the adjacent Dirty Duck Bar, which was forced to evacuate and close its doors after a transformer blew. Although the fire is still under investigation, officials believe it may have been arson, according to several sources. No one was injured. The fire hasnt been the only development delay for the storage project. During renovation, company officials discovered the former motel required more asbestos abatement than anticipated, a source reported. This delayed the announcing of the groundbreaking date. Greenbox Self Storage has begun development on its fourth Denver location at the site of the former Rockies Inn on Evans Avenue. The 1.5-acre property off of Interstate 25 will cost an estimated $12 million and comprise 140,000 square feet in 920 units. The facility will be the companys largest to date, according to the source. The company, acting as Greenbox IV LLC, purchased the property from C.G. Ruhl Investments LLP in February for $1.95 million. Asbestos abatement is currently underway. The former motel is scheduled to be demolished in May, and construction on the storage facility is expected to begin in August. Greenbox plans to open the facility in 2016, the source reported. Similar to other Greenbox locations, the facility will have environmentally friendly features, including solar panels on the roof. The project is being financed with cash, a construction loan and outside investment money, according to the source. At the same time, Greenbox is also expanding its location on Delgany Street near Coors Field. The project will add 500 units, bringing the facilitys total to 1,100, according to Josh Fine, vice president of Greenbox parent company Focus Property Group. Market conditions have enabled the company to expand ahead of schedule, Fine said. Greenbox hadnt planned to expand any of its existing facilities for three years, but demand has been greater than anticipated. When people move from their suburban locations, theyre downsizing; theyre moving from a 2,400-square-foot house, he told the source. Somehow you need to fit into a smaller space to make downtown living affordable. Greenbox has a goal of scaling the brand to 100 national locations, placing 10 to 12 facilities in cities with dense, urban populations. The roll-out plan will likely take more than three years and include the launch of a real estate investment trust, Fine said. Were not just going to be going everywhere across the country, were going to be in cities with thriving downtowns and dense locations, Fine told the source. The sites are there, they just take time to find, and they often take some creativity. TRX Group, a Sao Paulo-based real estate development and management firm with interests in self-storage, has built an asset portfolio in Florida worth $150 million since expanding to the United States in 2014 through its Miami-based subsidiary TRX Investments LLC. Approximately $90 million of its Florida portfolio is related to commercial and industrial warehouse space, including projects under development, with the remainder in multi-family housing, according to the source. TRX intends to expand outside of Florida and expects its U.S. asset portfolio to be worth more than $200 million by the end of the year. All our assets currently are in Florida, Scott F. Pryce, founder and CEO of TRX Investments, told the source. This is stage one of our strategy for the U.S. market. In the next stage, we are expanding into an area shaped like a triangle, bounded by Texas, the District of Columbia and Miami. The company is currently developing a modular warehouse on 440,000 square feet of land in Doral, Fla., that will offer 200,000 square feet of gross leasable space, according to the source. Although Pryce indicated TRX will remain focused on multi-family and warehouse development, the company also has self-storage interests in Brazil through a joint-venture partnership with Illinois-based Metro Storage LLC. The partners MetroFit brand currently operates three self-storage locations, with a fourth under development. Thus far, TRX has found working in the U.S. to be much easier than Brazil, where obtaining reliable and accurate information can be a challenge, according to the source. Its like a Disney World of information for us here, Pryce said. In the U.S., we can do a market study in four hours. In Brazil, it would take four months. We have abundant, transparent market data and information here. TRX warehouse projects range from large structures to small bay and modular units. We look for market segments where there is demand and good prospects for revenue growth, Pryce said. Through its TRX Residential arm, TRX Investments has housing projects underway in Boynton Beach and Plantation, Fla. Founded in 2007, TRX Group has developed more than 15 million square feet of commercial and industrial properties in Brazil and manages $1.8 billion in real estate assets. It has eight employees in Miami and another 80 worldwide. TRX Investments is an investment fund launched to develop and manage development projects in the United States. The upcoming prosecution of former Chinese military chief Guo Boxiong caps President Xi Jinpings three-year anticorruption campaign, a political maneuver that has led to the sacking and arrest of some 30,000 Communist Party officials, the fiercest purge since the Cultural Revolution. Retired four-star general Guo, 73, who served as a vice chair of the Central Military Commission from 2002 to 2012, was expelled from the Party last year and put under investigation for alleged corruption. The commissions most senior military representative, he was therefore the most powerful officer in the Peoples Liberation Army. Military inspectors are wrapping up their inquiry, and in the next month or two a civilian court is expected to charge Guo with taking up to 80 million yuan ($12.3 million) in bribes in exchange for promoting underlings, according to sources close to the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Military Commission. Chinas military was quite corrupt before Xi launched his campaign, says a Beijing-based businessman whose relatives include senior PLA officers. Being promoted in the PLA often required giving economic benefits to ones superiors. For example, in recent years some local garrison commanders began illegally charging recruits initiation fees of up to 100,000 yuan for preferential treatment, he explains. For a senior colonel to be promoted to the rank of general often required a bribe to his superior of no less than 5 million yuan. A native of northwestern Shaanxi province, Guo began his army career in 1961 upon graduation from the PLAs Academy of Military Science in Beijing. After joining the Party in 1963, he rose through the ranks to become deputy commander of the Beijing Military Region and commander of the Lanzhou Military Region before being promoted to general in 1999. He was appointed to his Central Military Commission post by departing president Jiang Zemin, who chaired the commission from 1998 until 2005. Guo sat atop a pyramid whereby he shared in commissions that lower-ranking officers earned for giving promotions, the businessman claims. The ex-general, who oversaw annual defense spending of 670 billion yuan in 2012, also allegedly benefited from his influential role in deciding which major Chinese defense contractors got lucrative contracts. President Xis anticorruption drive began with lower-ranking Party officials and extended through the government bureaucracy, including state-owned banks and financial institutions, where Party members rule. It is culminating with a sweep of Chinas military, says Guan Anping, a Beijing-based lawyer and an unpaid adviser to the Chinese government on financial and economic reforms. A corrupt military is a military that cannot win wars. Corruption must be eliminated completely from the PLA. Otherwise Chinas own national security is at risk. Guo is the highest-ranking general to be booted from the Party and arrested for corruption since the Communists gained control of China in 1949. Xi, who took power in 2012, has brought down dozens of top officials, including several members of the Politburo. Among them: Bo Xilai, an exParty chief for Chongqing; Zhou Yongkang, Chinas onetime head of national security; and general Xu Caihou, Guos deputy and another vice chair of the Central Military Commission. Guo allegedly headed the so-called Northwest faction of dozens of PLA generals, say sources close to the Chinese military, who describe his purge as part of a broader effort to expunge such groups from the Party and the armed forces. President Xi may seem to be dictatorial in getting rid of factions from the Party and concentrating power in his own hands, attorney Guan says. But he is getting rid of these factions because he wants to drive through economic and financial reforms. Such factions hijacked Chinas economy and made it a haven for rent seeking, according to Guan, who says that, in the past, businesses had to pay bribes to key gatekeepers not only in government ministries but also in the PLA: Of course corruption still exists in some form and shape in China, but it is a far cry from the days when the likes of General Guo ruled Chinas military. Follow Allen Cheng on Twitter at @acheng87. A Newark, New Jersey, woman who falsely reported her car had been stolen so she could get an insurance settlement is now headed to state prison. State authorities say 58-year-old Janette Bautista received a three-year term. She had pleaded guilty in February to insurance fraud charges. Authorities say Bautista got a $6,686.50 insurance settlement after claiming in November 2011 that her car had been stolen. But an investigation by the states Insurance Fraud Prosecutors office determined that she had abandoned the vehicle. Bautista will also have to pay restitution to her insurance company. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Auto Fraud New Jersey More than a dozen taxi and limousine companies in Connecticut have dropped their federal lawsuit accusing ride-hailing company Uber of failing to follow state laws and regulations on taxi services, their lawyer said Tuesday. The company owners have no faith that state lawmakers will pass regulations governing Uber and similar companies, attorney Mary Alice Moore Leonhardt said. Many taxi companies have lost a lot of business because of Ubers unfair advantage of not having to follow the same rules, she said. It appears that the state has decided to allow Uber to run cars all over the state while restraining taxicab drivers from competing with Uber drivers on a level playing field, Moore Leonhardt said. Many of these businesses which are being destroyed by state officials are owned by minorities and women. It is very disturbing. The lawsuit filed in May 2014 in federal court in Hartford, Connecticut, alleged Uber was violating racketeering, unfair trade and other laws because it essentially is the same as a taxi service but doesnt follow taxi laws and regulations. A judge on March 31 approved Ubers motion to dismiss the lawsuit after the taxi companies missed a document filing deadline. An Uber representative said in a statement that the company supports common sense regulations for its industry and is working with Connecticut lawmakers on new insurance regulations, which are pending in the legislature. Legislation that would have required Uber and similar companies to abide by a new regulatory system died in the General Assembly last year. Uber officials previously said that many of the safety measures in the failed bill were already being followed by the company. Uber, for example, does background checks on drivers and requires drivers to have insurance, company officials said. San Francisco-based Uber, which allows people to schedule rides via a cellphone app, has thousands of drivers in Connecticut. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Legislation Connecticut New York-based private equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners LLC on Monday entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Simply Business, an online brokerage service, which delivers tailored small business insurance policies in the United Kingdom. Simply Business is an innovator in the U.K. commercial lines insurance sector and has proven its ability to use technology to extend the platform to a broad range of insurers, said Jeff Greenberg, chief executive of Aquiline, said in a statement. We believe the company is well positioned for growth in the United Kingdom and internationally. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2016. No financial terms were disclosed. Simply Business has been seeking to transform the commercial insurance market over the past few years, using technology and a customer-centric approach to differentiate the business from the industry and provide small and micro businesses with insurance solutions, said Jason Stockwood, CEO of Simply Business. He noted that Aquilines insurance industry experience will help Simply Business provide insurance carriers with access to a large and important segment of the market. Simply Business, launched in 2005, describes itself as a company that is champions sole traders and small businesses through the application of technology and innovative thinking. Expanding rapidly through its London and Northampton offices, Simply Business has grown to nearly 350 employees and insures more than 350,000 small businesses nationwide, the company said in a statement. It has been a Sunday Times Tech Track 100 company for the past three years and was recently named in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), the statement said. Aquiline Capital Partners, also founded in 2005, invests in middle-market businesses across the financial services sector in banking and credit, insurance, investment management and markets, and financial technology and services. In the P/C insurance and reinsurance space, Aquiline Capital was the founding investor of Validus Holdings, Ltd. Over the years, the PE firm has also invested in reinsurance broker TigerRisk Partners and investment firm Conning (both now divested). The firm also took a majority stake in specialty reinsurance intermediary Beach & Associates in late 2014, and more recently in January of this year took a majority position in Wellington Insurance Group, a Texas-based risk distribution business specializing in the delivery and administration of residential property insurance. A version of this article first appeared in Insurance Journals sister publication, Carrier Management. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Agencies Commercial Lines Tech Business Insurance Arthur J. Gallagher& Co. has acquired Insurance Plans Agency Inc. in South Barrington, Ill. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Established in 1983, Insurance Plans Agency Inc. (IPA) is a retail insurance broker providing group employee benefits products and consulting services, and commercial property/casualty insurance services, to business and individual clients throughout the United States. The firm specializes in employee benefits products including strategic planning, building and implementation of custom benefit solutions, as well as providing wellness plans, human resource and compliance support and employee communications. Mark Andrew Varland and his team will continue to operate from their current location under the direction of William Ziebell, head of Gallaghers North Central employee benefit consulting and brokerage operations. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an international insurance brokerage and risk management services firm, is headquartered in Itasca, Ill. Source: Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Illinois A.J. Gallagher The Oklahoma Supreme Court on April 12 struck down part of the states workers compensation law, saying the provisions deprived workers of their due process rights and created a subclass of workers. The 7-2 decision invalidates a portion of the law, enacted by the Oklahoma Legislature in 2013, that authorizes deferral of payments for permanent partial disability for workers who eventually return to their jobs. Justices said deferring permanent partial disability payments if an injured worker returns to work is unconstitutional. Under the provision, an injured employee who returns to work receives no compensation for the physical injury sustained and no compensation for a reducing in future earning capacity, upending the entire purpose of the workers compensation system, Justice Noma Gurich wrote for the majority. In a concurring opinion, Justices Tom Colbert and Joseph Watt said they agreed with the decision but believed it does not go far enough to cure the Legislatures unconstitutional scheme, hinting that other provisions could have been tackled in the ruling. The decision involved four cases filed with the states Workers Compensation Commission by workers who were injured on the job. In one case, Theresa Maxwell, an employee of a telecommunications provider Sprint, suffered an injury to her knee on the job in February 2014 and filed for workers compensation benefits, the ruling states. She underwent surgery to repair a tendon in her knee and received temporary total disability benefits. She returned to work in July 2014 and a month later filed a request for a hearing on permanent partial disability, the ruling states. A hearing was held in December 2014 where an administrative law judge awarded a total of $2,261 but ordered that it be deferred because Maxwell had returned to work. Maxwell appealed to the commission, which affirmed the ruling in 2015. She then appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled that her constitutional due process rights to fair compensation had been eliminated by the law. The court also ruled that officials improperly relied on American Medical Association guidelines when evaluating the extent of the permanent impairment she suffered and the amount of compensation she would receive. The court sent all four cases back to the commission for recalculation of compensation due. Justices James Winchester and Steven Taylor dissented from the decision. Attorney Bob Burke, who represents workers in two of the four cases, said he was gratified that the court sided with the workers. It is another example of the court having to correct a poorly written law, Burke said in a statement. The Supreme Court has struck down earlier attempts to revamp state workers compensation statutes, and Burke said legal challenges to the law have been raised in 15 other cases pending in the state Supreme Court. Reworking the states workers compensation system is a priority for Republican legislative leaders who claim the states previous court-based system was a detriment to business and industry in the state. Fred Morgan, president and CEO of the State Chamber of Oklahoma, which supported the law, said he is disappointed with the decision and believes the court should defer to the Legislature. Oklahoma workers and employers both benefit from an administrative rather than court-based system, Morgan said in a statement. Both groups are harmed when the court continues to act like an unelected legislature, overturning the will of the people through their elected representatives. Attorney General Scott Pruitts office, which defended the law, declined comment on the ruling. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Workers' Compensation Oklahoma A Little Rock, Ark., man received a 30-month sentence for auto insurance fraud following a negotiated guilty plea, the Arkansas Insurance Department reported. Tyus West, 28, entered a plea of guilty to one count of insurance fraud for making false claims to an insurer and misrepresentation regarding a stolen vehicle, according to the department. West purchased a vehicle on April 13, 2015, which he reported stolen to Little Rock Police on April 30, 2015. On May 4, 2015, another individual added West and his vehicle to her auto insurance policy. On the following day, West representing himself to be the other individual whose insurance he was on reported to the insurance company that his vehicle was stolen the day before. West was sentenced to 30 months in the Arkansas Department of Corrections concurrent with time he is presently serving. In a statement, Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr thanked the professionals in AIDs Criminal Investigation Division for their work on this case that led to a guilty plea and sentencing. Insurance fraud results in higher rates for Arkansas consumers, and AID is committed to fighting it on all fronts. Source: Arkansas Insurance Department Topics Auto Fraud Arkansas Hail as big as grapefruits left behind broken windows and other storm damage in parts of South Texas Tuesday night. The National Weather Service says the San Antonio area has a chance for additional thunderstorms through Wednesday. Hail fell over much of north Bexar County, with forecasters saying an area near Helotes recorded hail the size of grapefruits. San Antonio International Airport received more than an inch of rain. Authorities had no immediate reports of anyone hurt. Bexar County sheriffs spokesman James Keith says at least nine law enforcement vehicles sustained hail damage. Scattered street flooding was reported in San Antonio. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Flood Allstate Insurance Co. is speaking out about an investigation by the Georgia Department of Insurance into the carriers plan to raise auto insurance rates for some in the state by at least 25 percent. In a statement to Insurance Journal, Allstate spokesperson Daniel Groce said the rate changes are justified, but the company will cooperate with the states investigation. The insurers filing for an overall statewide automobile rate increase of 25 percent will be implemented on May 22, 2016. We work closely with state departments of insurance whenever we adjust our rates, and look forward to a continued dialogue with the Georgia Department of Insurance, Groce wrote in an e-mail. Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens announced in a consumer alert April 11 that he had directed department staff to initiate a professional level examination of Allstates auto rate filing to determine if the rate increase is defendable under state law. Hudgens said in the alert to policyholders that the 25 percent figure is only an average rate change for the entire state, and that many policyholders should be prepared to see a rate change as high as 58.3 percent. I am deeply concerned about this filing and the impact it could have on consumers, Commissioner Hudgens said. Georgia law prohibits me from stopping or delaying this increase unless an actuarial examination proves the rate to be legally excessive. Allstate said that rate adjustments are made very carefully to charge properly for the risk we assume and ensure our ability to protect customers from lifes uncertainties, Groce said. Groce added that this particular rate filing applies to one of Allstates three underwriting companies in Georgia and represents less than half of its insurance business in the state. The Allstate Group of companies is the second largest automobile policy provider in Georgia. As of Dec. 31, 2015, they held a market share of 11 percent of all Georgia automobile policies. Groce said that as is industry standard, changes in market conditions require the company to set rates that are adequate for the coverage provided. Increases in the number of miles driven, the amount of traffic fatalities, and the costs associated with repairing vehicles have caused the insurance industry to experience a significant increase in both the number of claims received as well as the cost associated with settling these claims, Groce said. We encourage all our customers to regularly consult with their Allstate agent about the most appropriate coverage and available discounts for their particular circumstances. Hudgens said April 11 if the results of GADOIs examination show that the filing cannot adequately support the increase, he intends to take every measure allowed to him by law to protect policyholders. Georgia adopted a file and use system in 2008 to promote competition and lower rates among insurance companies, Hudgens said. This rate filing appears to promote neither. Topics Georgia North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said Tuesday he wants to change a new state law that prevents people from suing over discrimination in state court, but hes not challenging a measure regarding bathroom access for transgender people. His announcement comes as fallout widens over the law he signed last month that would limit protections for gay, lesbian and transgender people. Critics of the law called his statement a step in the right direction, but not enough. While McCrorys executive order extends further protections to state employees, it leaves intact provisions of the state law that limit protections for the LGBT community in the general public. McCrory said hes using an executive order to expand the equal employment policy for state employees to include sexual orientation and gender, as well as affirming private businesses rights to establish their own bathroom policies. He also says he will ask lawmakers for legislation allowing people to sue in state court over discrimination. That right was wiped out by the law. But he said his order will maintain gender-specific restroom and locker room access in government buildings and schools. He once again condemned a Charlotte ordinance passed earlier this year that allowed transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity, calling it a solution in search of a problem. The state law was passed partly in response to the Charlotte measure. But it went further than repealing the Charlotte law, overruling LGBT antidiscrimination measures passed by local governments statewide. It also excluded sexual orientation and gender identity from the states antidiscrimination policy. The law also required transgender people to use the bathroom corresponding to the sex listed on their birth certificate. McCrory acknowledged outcry over the law, saying hed listened to feedback from people for several weeks. He said that based upon this feedback, I am taking action to affirm and improve the states commitment to privacy and equality. Chris Sgro, executive director of Equality NC, said McCrorys order is a step in the right direction but still doubles down on some of the most problematic parts of the law. If the governor is truly committed to non-discrimination and wants to undo the harms done by House Bill 2, this is just the beginning of the conversation, Sgro said in a written statement. The head of the state ACLU, which has filed a lawsuit challenging the law, said the governor had made a poor effort to save face. With this executive order, LGBT individuals still lack legal protections from discrimination, and transgender people are still explicitly targeted by being forced to use the wrong restroom, said Sarah Preston, the groups acting executive director for the state. In an interview with The Associated Press, McCrory said he saw no need to change the law he signed March 23 beyond repealing the state court discrimination provision. He said his actions Tuesday will not satisfy all the critics who have a litmus test of purity on each side of this issue my job is to find a commonsense solution to where we have conflicts between privacy and between equal rights. As for the equal employment protection for state employees, McCrory said he already believes state government protects LGBT workers but I thought it needed to be clarified to the citizens of North Carolina. Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat challenging McCrory this fall, is opposed to the law and announced last week he wont defend it in court. Cooper said in a statement the order is a day late and a veto short and doesnt change that last months legislation has written discrimination into the law. McCrorys announcement came hours after Deutsche Bank said it will halt plans to add 250 jobs in North Carolina because of the law. The German bank with a large U.S. presence had previously planned to add the jobs through next year in Cary. Co-executive officer John Cryan said in a news release that the bank may revisit the plans later. The bank currently employs 900 people at a Cary software development center, and it said it plans to sustain that existing operation. Previously, PayPal reversed plans to open a 400-employee operation center in Charlotte, and more than 130 corporate CEOs signed a letter urging the laws repeal. Some states and cities have restricted public employee travel to North Carolina. Several groups have canceled planned conventions or gatherings in the state. Ryan Smith, a spokeswoman for the Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau, said five groups totaling about 1,000 attendees have already canceled. She said in an email the canceled events would have brought $730,000 to the area. Smith said another 16 groups are considering cancellations of events expected to have a $24 million impact. The B Lab, a group organizing a gathering for socially conscious companies, says that its relocating the event that was expected to bring 550 attendees to Durham in October. Charlotte tourism officials have previously said that several events were canceled around that city. Rock star Bruce Springsteen canceled a Greensboro show over the weekend because of the new law. Jimmy Buffett, meanwhile, said that he considers the law stupid but will proceed with scheduled shows in Raleigh and Charlotte this month. He said future dates would depend on whether the law is repealed. Buffett wrote on his blog that tickets to his shows sold out long before the law was enacted. I am not going to let stupidity or bigotry trump fun for my loyal fans this year, he said. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation North Carolina A West Virginia man has pleaded guilty in federal court to aiding and abetting arson and conspiracy to tamper with a witness. The U.S. attorneys office for the Southern District of West Virginia said in a news release that 36-year-old Jimmie Arnold Harper Jr. of Hurricane appeared in court on Tuesday. Prosecutors say Harper, an insurance agent, admitted he arranged for a fire to be set at his own home last September. He also met with witnesses in December in a kidnapping case in which a friend of his was charged. Harper is to be sentenced Aug. 10. He faces seven to 60 years in prison. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Agencies Virginia Juan Ortiz Velazquez, 27, of San Jose, Calif. and owner of Carlos Auto Body, was arrested with seven other suspects and charged with multiple counts of felony insurance fraud on Wednesday for allegedly filing 20 fraudulent claims to four insurance companies for crashes that never occurred-leading. The acts reportedly led to more than $140,000 in losses. A ninth suspect remains at large and is being sought. After receiving an anonymous tip and a suspected fraud referral from a victim insurer in 2012, the California Department of Insurance launched an investigation. Evidence revealed the alleged crimes, that led to Wednesdays arrests and the discovery that a second body shop, Filos Auto Body, owned by Filomeno Arreguin Lucatero, was also involved in the fraud scheme. Detectives uncovered evidence that Velazquez allegedly paid his co-conspirators $500 each to allow him to damage their vehicles, submit claims to the insurance company, and collect payment from the insurers. Detectives also found evidence that Velazquez and Lucatero did not complete some work as it was ordered on damage estimates. This case is being prosecuted by the Santa Clara County District Attorneys Office. Suspects in custody are: Jose Caro Curiel, 46, Santa Clara; Melissa Duarte, 2, Hollister; Filomeno Arreguin Lucatero, 45; Milpitas; Angel Resendiz, 39, Gilroy; Manuel Resendiz, 40, Los Banos; Deisy Ramirez Robles, 27, San Jose; Lorenzo Robles Ramirez, 25, San Jose; Juan Ortiz Valezquez, 27, San Jose. California is ground zero for staged auto collisions, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said in a statement. Organized crime rings are responsible for the majority of staged collisions, which are costly to insurers and consumers. The multi-agency Urban Grant Task Force is one of our most effective weapons in eradicating these crimes. Topics California Auto Fraud Saranno 1,4 milioni i rifugiati che arriveranno in Europa secondo le stime dellUnchr. Per il 2015 si prevede che saranno almeno 700.000 persone in cerca di sicurezza che cercheranno di varcare le frontiere europee e per il 2016 i dati sono simili anche se ci potrebbe essere un numero maggiore di arrivi rispetto a questanno. Inoltre nel report, lo Special Mediterranean Initiative June 2015 December 2016, le stime per questanno sono state riviste al rialzo di 350.000 migranti rispetto ai valori iniziali. Nonostante laumento dei controlli e dei pattugliamenti navali, soprattutto nel corridoio centrale del Mediterraneo, sono oltre 2.900 le persone che sono morte o disperse in mare nel 2015, aggiunge il rapporto, confermando cifre gia circolate nelle scorse settimane. In mancanza di vie legali per raggiungere lEuropa, i rifugiati hanno continuato a muoversi al fianco dei migranti, con gli stessi percorsi e mezzi e di fronte a rischi e pericoli simili, si precisa sottolineando che tra i fattori alla base del maggiore movimento verso lEuropa, i rifugiati hanno indicato la perdita di speranza, gli alti costi della vita che conducono alla poverta, opportunita di sostentamento limitate e carenze di aiuto. Di fronte a misure di controllo alle frontiere sempre piu restrittive e imprevedibili nelle regioni di origine e transito, molti inoltre cadono preda di trafficanti, ricorda il rapporto. Alla luce della situazione in rapida evoluzione in Europa, e alla necessita di spostare risorse da un luogo ad un altro, in risposta al flusso di persone attualmente in cerca di protezione internazionale nella regione, lUnhcr lancia un appello ai donatori per fornire i contributi che possono essere allocati il piu flessibilmente possibile in tutta la regione. Un ottobre da sogno per Antonio Conte: lex ct della Nazionale italiana, attualmente alla guida del Chelsea, nelle ultime quattro gare di Premier League ha collezionato solo successi, conditi da 11 reti segnate e addirittura nessuna incassata. Numeri da record che non sono certo passati inosservati alla Federazione inglese, la quale ha conferito al tecnico leccese lambito premio di Manager del mese. Unavventura oltremanica iniziata in sordina, quella di Conte, pur a fronte di tre vittorie nelle prime tre gare di campionato. A far vacillare, anche se solo per un momento, le certezze del patron del club londinese, Roman Abramovich, i risultati conseguiti tra la 4a e la 6a giornata, coincisi con un pareggio sul campo dello Swansea City e, soprattutto, con le due pesanti sconfitte subite dal Liverpool, sul terreno casalingo di Stamford Bridge, e dallArsenal. In particolare, la debacle interna coi Reds, aveva irritato non poco il numero uno russo, poiche occorsa proprio nel giorno della sua 250esima partita da presidente della societa. Come detto, solo un momento. Dopo lincontro dellEmirates, il tecnico salentino cambia modulo, adottando un piu equilibrato 3-4-3 e inserendo elementi di corsa come lo spagnolo Pedro. Una svolta totale perche, di li in poi, il Chelsea inanellera solo e soltanto vittorie: 2 gol allHull City e al Southampton in trasferta, 3 ai campioni dInghilterra del Leicester e 4 allo United in casa, con un meraviglioso numero zero nella casella delle reti subite. Un fantastico poker, ottenuto tra l1 e il 29 ottobre. Un cambio di marcia sbalorditivo, confermato dal 5 a 0 rifilato ai toffees dellEverton nel primo match di novembre, e una scalata che, man mano, ha portato i blues al secondo posto in classifica, a soli 2 punti dal Liverpool capolista. E allora, non poteva mancare il riconoscimento di migliore allenatore del mese, ottenuto surclassando tecnici del calibro di Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool), Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) e Mark Hughes (Southampton). Tanta, ovviamente, la soddisfazione: E un grande onore e voglio condividerlo con i giocatori e con la societa ha dichiarato Conte sul sito ufficiale della Premier League -. E la prima volta che lavoro in un altro Paese, con una cultura diversa, e portare la propria filosofia non e facile, ma ora sono contento di questa scelta. A completare la festa, la premiazione del fantasista belga, Eden Hazard, come miglior giocatore di ottobre. Due risultati importanti per il club, ottimo incentivo per la rincorsa al trono dei campioni, occupato dal Leicester di Ranieri. Il prossimo appuntamento per l11 di Conte sara al Riverside Stadium, tana del Middlesborough neopromosso. Il tempo di festeggiare e gia finito. Amid a decline in its user base and a falling stock price, the worlds largest social media giant Facebook Inc. (FB) is attempting to offer an innovative solution to keep users engaged. The company is expected to release its video chat device called Portal by next week, according to Cheddar, the news network that covers innovative products, technologies, and services. (See also, Users Spend Less Time on Facebook: Research.) AI-Powered Home-Speaker with Screen Like the Amazon Echo Show, Facebooks home-speaker device will include the Alexa voice assistant from Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), and will also be equipped with a screen that will allow users to watch videos or have video chats with friends. Additionally, Portal is said to be powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and to have a wide-angle video camera that will allow for the automatic recognition of users. The camera is expected to follow users as they move across the room, allowing the other party to receive a real-time feed. To allay privacy concerns, Facebook is said to include a shutter to cover the lens camera. The device will also support other infotainment features like playing music, watching videos, viewing cooking recipes, and getting news briefs. The device has been in the testing phase for long by the company employees at their homes. The screen and camera may offer it an edge over other existing smart speakers in the market. (For more, see Smart Speaker Market To More Than Double.) Citing anonymous people familiar with the development, Cheddar reports that the device will be available in two screen sizes. The larger one is expected to be priced around $400, while the smaller one may cost $300. While the Menlo Park, California-based company has been selling virtual reality (VR) headsets following its acquisition of Oculus, its success has remained limited. If the release of the Portal device goes through as expected, this will mark Facebooks first foray into the home device market. (For more, see Facebook's Oculus Slashes Price of Its VR Headset Again.) The initial plan was to launch the device during its annual F8 developer conference in May of this year. However, the launch was postponed as the company faced serious criticism from public and lawmakers and investigations around data breach scandals on its platform like the Cambridge Analytica and the Russian fake news campaigns that allegedly meddled in the U.S. elections. The leading social media network is also struggling to retain its users who are either switching to other platforms or even deleting their Facebook accounts on security concerns. (See also, Facebook Losing Teen Users to Snapchat.) Developed-market exchange-traded funds (ETFs) can help investors gain relatively cheap, broad diversification through access to hundreds or thousands of individual holdings across the world's most advanced economies. Here, we take a look at the five largest developed-market ETFs in terms of assets under management (AUM). A developed market belongs to a highly productive, industrialized country with an established rule of law. Beyond the United States, developed markets include Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and Australia. To differentiate developed-market ETFs from basic-domestic ETFs and other niches, the following list focuses on ETFs with at least 5% exposure to two or more developed market economies, excluding the United States. Key Takeaways Developed market ETFs are exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that focus on holdings within the world's most advanced economies, such as France, the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada. Developed market ETFs are different from those that focus just on domestic holdings or certain niche or industry-specific holdings. The five largest developed market ETFs are Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (VEA), iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA), iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA), Schwab International Equity ETF (SCHF), and iShares MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETF (SCZ). AUM: $110.1 billion Launched in 2007, the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF seeks to track the FTSE Developed All Cap ex-US Index, which measures the investment return of stocks issued by companies in Canada and the major markets of Europe and the Pacific region. In fact, European stocks make up over half of the fund's portfolio at 53%. The Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF previously excluded Canadian stocks, but it eventually switched policies to incorporate important trends in North America. The passively managed fund's expense ratio is 0.05%. AUM: $57.2 billion BlackRock issued the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF in 2001, and it has been at the top or close to the top of the international ETF market ever since. The ETF tracks the preeminent Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) EAFE Index, the most widely quoted international equity index in the U.S., which reflects stocks across Europe, Australia, Asia, and the Far East (EAFE). The fund devotes approximately 23% of its assets to equities in Japan, about 14% to those in the United Kingdom, and about 11% to those in France. Switzerland, Germany, and Australia each draw more than 5% of the fund's assets. At 0.32%, the fund's expense ratio is higher than that of the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF. AUM: $104.3 billion Launched in 2012, BlackRock's iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF seeks to track the MSCI EAFE Investable Market Index (IMI), which is similar to the MSCI EAFE Index, but larger and more comprehensive. The index includes small-capitalization representation in addition to the mid-cap and large-cap representation that the MSCI EAFE Index offers. The fund's top exposure looks similar to that of the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF, with about 23% of its assets devoted to equities in Japan, about 14% to those in the United Kingdom, with France, Switzerland, Germany, and Australia each representing more than 5% of the fund's assets. The iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF's expense ratio is competitive with that of Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF's, at 0.07%. AUM: $29.2 billion Like the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF, the Schwab International Equity ETF seeks to track the FTSE Developed ex-US Index. Equities in Japan comprise about 21% of its portfolio, and those in the United Kingdom comprise about 12%. Equities in France, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and Australia each comprise more than 5% of the fund's assets. The fund, which has been around since 2009, has an expense ratio of 0.06%. AUM: $15.3 billion The iShares MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETF was launched in 2007 and seeks to track the performance of the MSCI EAFE Small Cap Index, which focuses on exposure to only small public companies in Europe, Australia, Asia, and the Far East. Similar to the other iShares ETFs on this list, equities in Japan have the highest percentage of the fund's assets, at approximately 27%, and the United Kingdom has the second-highest percentage at 17%. Equities in Australia, Germany, and Sweden each represent more than 5% of the fund's assets. The fund's expense ratio is the highest on this list, at 0.39%. Microsoft's Competitors Microsoft Corporations (MSFT) primary competitors include some of the most prominent technology companies in the industry. The list includes well-known brands such as Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), SAP SE (SAP), IBM (IBM) and Oracle (ORCL), among others. Because Microsoft is a diversified corporation that offers many types of products and services, the company faces stiff competition in several key areas of the technology sector. Microsoft's Core Focus Microsoft got its start by focusing on software, and although the company has branched out into other areas, it still has a strong emphasis in this field. Some of the most successful software corporations in the world, such as Oracle and the German firm SAP SE, compete directly with Microsoft for the lucrative business services market. The Windows operating system is perhaps the best-known Microsoft product. Though Windows dominates the global OS field, the company competes with a number of smaller firms, such as Red Hat, that distribute open-source operating systems such as Linux. Other Microsoft Products Microsoft is also an important player in the hardware field. Its products includes tablets designed to compete with similar devices made by other companies, such as Apple. The company makes a variety of computer accessories as well, which brings it in direct competition with several firms that specialize in this area, such as Logitech. Although Google's eponymous search engine dominates the field in the U.S., Microsoft is also a major force in online search with its Bing search engine. Microsoft faces competitive pressures in all areas of its operations. The pressure comes from a diverse mix of technology companies, both large and small. Easily Overlooked Medical and Dental Expenses Some deductible medical and dental expenses are more obvious than others. For example, doctor visits, hospital stays, and diagnostic tests (e.g., X-rays) count as qualified expenses. However, some deductible expenses are easy to miss. Here are 20 medical expenses to keep in mind if youre itemizing your familys medical bills (check out IRS Publication 502 for a complete list). 1. Alternative treatments Acupuncture is definitely deductible. So are trips to the chiropractor and nontraditional medical practitioners, including Christian Science practitioners. Other alternative treatments may be deductible, too, especially if a doctor orders them. 2. Adaptive equipment The costs of wheelchairs, bath chairs, bedside commodes, and other items needed for a disability or condition are deductible. So are special hand controls and other special equipment installed in cars for people with disabilities. Likewise, you can deduct the amount that you pay for an artificial limb (i.e., a prosthetic device) or artificial teeth. People who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability can deduct the cost of special telephone equipment, such as teletypewriter (TTY) and telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) equipment. 3. Costs for newborns No, we dont mean diapers or babysitters. But breast pumps and other nursing supplies that assist lactation are deductible. If your baby formula requires a prescription, the cost in excess of the cost of the regular formula may be allowed. 4. Diabetes-related costs Blood-testing kits, including blood strips and batteries, are deductible. So is insulin, even though it is not technically viewed as a prescription drug. 5. Eye- and ear-related conditions The cost of eye exams, contact lenses, lens solution and cleaner, and prescription eyeglasses (including sunglasses) is deductible, assuming your insurance doesnt have a vision plan. So is eye surgery such as LASIK and radial keratotomy to treat vision problems. Braille books are also deductible. Those with hearing issues can deduct the costs of exams and hearing aids (including batteries). You can also deduct the cost of programs that teach Braille or lip reading or give language training to correct a condition caused by a congenital disability. 6. Home improvements (aka capital expenses) If you install permanent features or renovate your home to accommodate a disability, the cost may be fully deductible. Examples include constructing ramps, widening doorways, lowering or modifying kitchen cabinets, and adding support bars. However, the expense is deductible only for costs above any increase made to the homes value. For example, putting in a swimming pool or steam room that costs $25,000 isnt deductible if it adds $30,000 to your homes value. If the improvement doesnt increase the value of your home, then the entire cost can be included as a medical expense. Only reasonable costs to accommodate a home for a person with a disability are considered medical care. Additional costs for personal motivessuch as architectural or aesthetic purposesdont count as medical expenses and cant be deducted. 7. Lodging to receive medical treatment You can deduct the cost of meals and lodging at a hospital or similar institution if youre there to receive medical care. In other settings, you can deduct the cost of lodging while away from home if you meet all of the following requirements: The lodging is primarily for and essential to medical care The medical care is provided by a doctor in a licensed medical care facility The lodging isnt lavish or extravagant under the circumstances The stay isnt for personal pleasure, recreation, or vacation The most you can deduct for lodging is $50 per night for each person (you can include lodging for someone traveling with the person receiving the medical care). For example, if a parent travels with a sick child, the family could deduct up to $100 per night for lodging. However, meals are not included. 8. Attending medical conferences You can deduct the cost of admission and transportation to a medical conference if the event is related to your, your spouses, or your dependents chronic illness. Most of the time that you spend at the conference must be for attending sessions on medical information. Note that meals and lodging expenses are not deductible. 9. Organ transplants Medical expenses for the care you received as a donor or a possible donor of a kidney or other organ are deductible. Similarly, you can include any expenses that you pay for the medical care of a donor in connection with the donation of an organ to you, your spouse, or your dependent. Transportation costs related to the transplant are included. 10. Home care For someone unable to manage activities of daily living (ADL), the cost of a personal attendant is deductible. Generally, the deductible portion is limited to personal assistance with daily routines. It does not include the cost of housecleaning and other choresalthough this may be hard to separate, realistically speaking. You can also include the cost of the caregivers meals and additional amounts that you paid for related household upkeep, such as extra utilities or rent (e.g., for a larger apartment to provide space for the person). 11. Substance use disorder treatment The cost of inpatient treatment programs for people with substance use disorders is deductible. This includes the cost of meals and lodging that the facility provides during treatment. You also may be able to include the cost of transportation to and from support organization meetings (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous) in your community. 12. Reproductive health You can deduct the cost of birth control pills, pregnancy test kits, legal abortions, vasectomies, and fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization, lab fees, and the temporary storage of eggs or sperm. You can also deduct surgery costs for reversing a prior procedure to prevent pregnancy. 13. Service animals You can deduct the cost of buying, training, and maintaining a guide dog or other service animal that helps someone who is deaf or hard of hearing, visually impaired, or someone with other physical disabilities. This generally includes any amounts that you pay to maintain the health and vitality of the service animalsuch as food, grooming, and veterinary careso it can perform its duties. 14. Dental treatment The costs that you incur to prevent or alleviate dental disease are deductible. This includes payments to dental hygienists and dentists for teeth cleaning, sealants, fluoride treatments, X-rays, fillings, braces, extractions, dentures, and other dental ailments. Teeth whitening is specifically excluded. 15. Smoking cessation programs If you are trying to quit smoking, you can deduct the amounts that you pay for smoking cessation programs and other doctor-prescribed treatments. However, you cant deduct nonprescription drugs, like nicotine gum and patches, designed to help you quit smoking. 16. Condition-specific foods If you have a medical condition such as celiac disease, obesity, or hypertension, you may be able to deduct the cost of special food. The food must not satisfy your regular nutritional needs and must alleviate or treat the illness. The need for the special food must be substantiated by a physician. Only the cost that exceeds the cost of regular foods is deductible. 17. Children with learning disabilities Fees that you pay for tutoring to help a child with learning disabilities are deductible. The tutoring must be recommended by a doctor and conducted by a teacher who is trained and qualified to work with children with learning disabilities caused by mental or physical impairments (including nervous system disorders). You can include the cost (tuition, meals, and lodging) of attending a school that offers programs to help children with learning disabilities. 18. Travel to doctors, pharmacies, and therapy sessions You can deduct the cost of bus, taxi, train, plane tickets, and ambulance transportation. If you use your vehicle, you can use the IRS-set mileage rate and include your out-of-pocket expenses, such as the cost of gas and oil. The mileage rate is 16 cents per mile for tax year 2021 and 18 cents for tax year 2022. (These are much lower than the allowable rates for business use of a vehicle.) 19. Weight loss programs If a doctor can confirm that your current weight is a threat to your health, any prescribed weight loss program is deductible. However, programs for maintaining general good health are not deductible. For example, you cant include membership dues for gyms, health clubs, or spasbut you can include separate fees charged by those facilities for weight loss activities. 20. Wigs for cancer patients People with hair loss due to a medical condition like alopecia or cancer treatments like chemotherapy can deduct the cost of a wig. The wig must be purchased on the advice of a physician for the patients mental health. Are Medical Expenses Tax Deductible? Yes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allows you to deduct certain unreimbursed medical and dental expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). To claim the deduction, you must itemize when filing your income tax return. Which Medical Expenses Are Not Deductible? You can only deduct unreimbursed medical expenses. So, if your insurance covered the expense or your employer reimbursed you for it, then you cant take the deduction. Additionally, the IRS generally disallows the deduction for most cosmetic procedures, nonprescription drugs (except insulin), nonprescription nicotine gum and patches, general toiletries (e.g., toothpaste and cosmetics), trips and programs to improve your general health, and funeral and burial expenses. How Do I Claim the Medical Expense Deduction? You must itemize your deductions on Schedule A Form 1040 or 1040-SR when filing your federal income tax return. Keep in mind that if you itemize your deductions, you wont be able to take the standard deduction. Run the numbers both waysitemizing vs. taking the standard deductionto ensure that you receive the most favorable outcome on your taxes. How Much Can I Deduct for Medical Expenses? The IRS lets you deduct 100% of your unreimbursed, qualified medical and dental expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). So, for example, if your AGI is $50,000, you could deduct expenses that exceed $3,750 ($50,000 7.5%). If you had $8,000 in qualified expenses in this example, you would be able to deduct $4,250 ($8,000 - $3,750). Remember that you must itemize your deductions on Schedule A Form 1040 or 1040-SR to take the deduction. The Bottom Line Its worth tallying up your health-related expenses that are not covered by insurance or other reimbursement methods to see if you meet the percentage-of-AGI threshold. That 7.5% threshold, which was set by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, was made permanent at the end of 2020 and will not rise back to 10% in 2022 and beyond. How can people get rid of their student loan debtand, more specifically, when is loan forgiveness an option? We don't need another statistic to tell us how deep in student loan debt U.S. college graduates are. Total debt and average debt figures don't mean much, except to say that if the sums you owe keep you up at night, you're in good company. What matters is finding a solution. Key Takeaways Forgiveness is the best kind of student loan debt relief, but it's hard to come by. Income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) can erase people's remaining debt after many years of payments. Only federal student loans can be forgiven. Forgiveness can leave recipients with a big tax bill. Forgiveness and forbearance sound similar but are not the same. 0:58 How do I Save and Invest with Debt? Nashville Student Loan Forgiveness: Which Loans Are Eligible? Only direct loans made by the federal government are eligible for forgiveness. Stafford loans, which were replaced by direct loans in 2010, are also still eligible. If you have other kinds of federal loans, you might be able to consolidate them into one direct consolidation loan, which may give you access to additional income-driven repayment plan options. Non-federal loans (those handled by private lenders and loan companies) do not qualify for forgiveness. In 2020, borrowers with federal student loans who attended for-profit colleges and sought loan forgiveness because their school defrauded them or broke specific laws were dealt a setback when then-President Trump vetoed a bipartisan resolution that would have overturned new regulations that make it much more difficult to access loan forgiveness. The new, more onerous regulations went into effect on July 1, 2020. As of Aug. 23, 2022, under the Biden administration, the United States Department of Education has approved $32 billion in student loan debt relief for over 1.6 million borrowers, a significant number of whom were victims of for-profit college fraud. The Biden administration announced measures to help student loan borrowers because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes debt cancellation of up to $20,000 for recipients of Pell Grants with loans through the Department of Education and as much as $10,000 for non-Pell Grant recipients. This is in addition to student loan forbearance that expires on Dec. 31, 2022. As of Oct. 17, 2022, the application for Biden's student loan forgiveness is now available. You don't have to log in with a FSA ID to complete the application; only your full name, date of birth, Social Security number (SSN), phone number, and e-mail address are needed. The application also doesn't require you to prove your eligibility, you merely have to mark a box "...[certifying] under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that all of the information provided on this form is true and correct." This application will be available through Dec. 31, 2023. Income-Driven Repayment Plan Forgiveness For federal student loans, the standard repayment period is 10 years. If a 10-year repayment period makes your monthly payments unaffordable, you can enter an income-driven repayment (IDR) program. Income-driven programs stretch out payments for a term of 20 or 25 years. After that term, assuming you've made all of your qualifying payments, whatever balance is left on the loan is forgiven. Payments are based on your household income and family size, and they will typically be capped at 10%, 15%, or 20% of your discretionary income, depending on the plan. Below are the four types of IDR plans offered by the U.S. Department of Education, in addition to the repayment periods and monthly payments of each: Revised Pay As You Earn Repayment (REPAYE) Plan: The repayment period for this plan is either 20 years (if all loans under the plan were received for undergraduate study) or 25 years (if any loans under the plan were received for graduate or professional study). Monthly payments are typically 10% of your discretionary income income. The repayment period for this plan is either 20 years (if all loans under the plan were received for undergraduate study) or 25 years (if any loans under the plan were received for graduate or professional study). Monthly payments are typically 10% of your discretionary income income. Pay As You Earn Repayment (PAYE) Plan: The repayment period for this plan is 20 years. Monthly payments are typically 10% of your discretionary income income, but they cannot exceed the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan amount. The repayment period for this plan is 20 years. Monthly payments are typically 10% of your discretionary income income, but they cannot exceed the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan amount. Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Plan: If you didn't already have an outstanding balance when you received a direct loan or Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) on or after July 1, 2014, then the repayment period for this plan is 20 years, and monthly payments are typically 10% of your discretionary income. Conversely, if you did have an outstanding balance when you received a direct loan or an FFEL on or after July 1, 2014, then the repayment period for this plan is 25 years, and monthly payments are typically 15% of your discretionary income. In both cases, monthly payments cannot exceed the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan amount. If you didn't already have an outstanding balance when you received a direct loan or Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) on or after July 1, 2014, then the repayment period for this plan is 20 years, and monthly payments are typically 10% of your discretionary income. Conversely, if you did have an outstanding balance when you received a direct loan or an FFEL on or after July 1, 2014, then the repayment period for this plan is 25 years, and monthly payments are typically 15% of your discretionary income. In both cases, monthly payments cannot exceed the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan amount. Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan: The repayment period for this plan is 25 years. Monthly payments are either 20% of your discretionary income or the equivalent amount for a repayment plan with a fixed 12-year payment (adjusted according to your income), whichever is smaller. An IDR plan can be a good option for people in low-paying fields who have large amounts of student loan debt. If you're considering an IDR, it's important to keep in mind that eligibility varies between plans, with some types of federal loans being ineligible for repayment under all but one plan. Additionally, you will have to annually "recertify" your income and family size, even if neither have changed from one year to another. How to Apply Applying for an IDR requires you to submit an Income-Driven Repayment Plan Request, which can be completed online or via a paper form, the latter of which you must request from your loan servicer. You can either choose a specific IDR plan by name or ask that your loan servicer place you on the income-driven plan that you qualify for with the lowest monthly payment amount. If any of the loans you wish to include in an IDR plan have different loan servicers, you will have to submit a separate request to each of them. In order determine your eligibility for certain plans and to calculate your monthly payment, you will have to provide either your adjusted gross income (AGI) or an alternative documentation of income. If you've filed a federal income tax return in the prior two years, and if your current income is largely the same as what was reported on your most recent return, then you will use your AGI. If you are unable to meet either of these criteria, then an alternative documentation of income will be required. In the former case, if applying online, you can use the included IRS Data Retrieval Tool to pull your AGI information from your federal income tax return. Alternatively, if applying with a paper form, you will need to include a printed copy of your most recently filed federal income tax return or Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax return transcript. In the latter case, if you are currently receiving taxable income, you are limited to the paper Income-Driven Repayment Plan Request and must include the alternative documentation of your income (i.e., a pay stub). However, if you currently have no income (or if you only receive untaxed income), then you can indicate that on either application and won't be required to supply any further documentation. Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program Student loan forgiveness for teachers is neither generous nor easy to qualify for. Teachers can have up to $17,500 of their federal direct and Stafford student loans (but not PLUS or Perkins loans) forgiven by teaching for five complete and consecutive academic years (at least one of which must have been after the 199798 academic year) at a qualifying low-income school or educational service agency. Even if you were unable to complete a full academic year of teaching, it may still be counted toward the required five academic years if you completed at least half of the academic year; your employer considers your contract requirements for the academic year fulfilled for the purposes of salary increases, tenure, and retirement; and you were unable to complete the academic year because you either returned to postsecondary education in an area of study directly related to the five academic years of qualifying teaching service, had a condition covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993, or were called to over 30 days active duty as a member of a reserve component of the U.S. armed forces. You must be classified as a highly qualified teacher in order to be eligible for the program. This means you have at least a bachelor's degree, full state certification, and not had certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis, with additional qualifications varying based on whether or not you are new to the profession. Only full-time science and math teachers at the secondary level, as well as special education teachers at the elementary or secondary level, are eligible for $17,500 in forgiveness. Forgiveness is capped at $5,000 for other full-time elementary or secondary education teachers. If you have had an outstanding balance on a direct loan or an FFEL on or after Oct. 1, 1998, then you will be ineligible for the program. Additionally, only loans made before the end of your five academic years of qualifying teaching service will be eligible for Teacher Loan Forgiveness. You can potentially qualify for both the Teacher Loan Forgiveness and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) programs, but you can't use the same years of teaching service to meet the eligibility requirements for both programs. So you'd need 15 years of teaching service to qualify for both programs, in addition to meeting all the specific requirements to earn each type of forgiveness. How to Apply Once you have finished your five complete and consecutive years of qualifying teaching, applying for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program only requires submitting a completed Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application to your loan servicer. If any of the loans you wish to have forgiven under the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program have different loan servicers, you will have to submit a separate form to each of them. However, the application's certification section will have to be filled out by the chief administrative officer of the school or educational service agency where you undertook your qualifying teaching service, meaning you will need to send them the form before you can submit it. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) If you work a full-time job for a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal governmentor a not-for-profit organizationyou could already be on your way to student loan forgiveness. You'll need to make 120 payments, which don't have to be consecutive, under a qualifying repayment plan in order to be eligible. This option isn't for the recent graduate, as it takes at least 10 years to earn. Additionally, you'll need to either have a federal direct loan or consolidate your federal loans into a direct loan. Unfortunately, this program has been rife with controversy. The government created the PSLF program in 2007, and when the first borrowers became eligible for forgiveness in 2017, almost all of their applications were denied, often over technicalities. In some cases, borrowers found that their loan servicers had misled them about their eligibility for the program. Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF) might help you if your Public Service Loan Forgiveness application was previously denied. TEPSLF may grant qualifying borrowers the forgiveness they were denied under PSLF, but only if they apply before the Oct. 31, 2022 deadline. On Oct. 6, 2021, the Education Department announced temporary changes to the PSLF program (due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic) that will allow borrowers to receive credit for past payments regardless of payment plan or loan programand regardless of whether payments were made on-time or in the full amount. Borrowers have to submit a PSLF form by Oct. 31, 2022, to receive these benefits. Many of the previous requirements for PSLF are waived as part of the change, with two key requirements remaining: Full-time employee or qualifying employee when the prior payments were made. All loans must be federal direct student loans (or consolidated into a direct loan program by Oct. 31, 2022). The waiver will also allow active-duty service members to count deferments and forbearances toward PSLF. The final major change as part of this update is that the government will now review denied PSLF applications for any errors and allow borrowers the ability to have their PSLF determination reconsidered. How to Apply First, if you have FFEL Program loans and/or Perkins Loans, be sure to consolidate these into a direct consolidation loan by Oct. 31, 2022. You cant receive credit for time in repayment if you consolidated and submitted your PSLF form after that date. Actually applying for PSLF boils down to a four-step process, each of which require utilizing the online PSLF Help Tool: Search with the PSLF Help Tool to determine if you work for a qualifying employer. Have your employment for each year certified by the official who is authorized to do so by your employer. Apply for forgiveness once youve met all the programs requirements. Sign your PSLF form and then submit it to the PSLF servicer. For the final step, send the completed form, alongside your employers certification, to MOHELA, the U.S. Department of Educations federal loan servicer for the PSLF Program. If MOHELA is already your loan servicer, you may upload your PSLF form directly to their website. Alternatively, you can fax your PSLF form to 866-222-7060 or mail it to the following address: U.S. Department of Education MOHELA 633 Spirit Drive Chesterfield, MO 63005-1243 Student Loan Forgiveness Is Not the Same as Forbearance Forgiveness eliminates your debt; forbearance postpones your payments. If you're having trouble making student loan payments, you can ask your lender for forbearance. Your lender may not give you a forbearance if you don't meet eligibility requirements, such as being unemployed or having major medical expenses. Interest on your loan will still accrue, and you can pay that interest during the forbearance period if you want. If you don't pay it, the accrued interest will be added to your principal balance once your forbearance period is up. Your new monthly payment will be slightly higher as a result, and you'll pay more interest in the long run. The only relationship between forbearance and forgiveness is that when you're in forbearance, since you're not making payments, you're not making progress toward the payment requirements of a forgiveness program you might be participating in. CARES Act Automatic Federal Student Loan Forbearance If you have a student loan owned by the U.S. Department of Education, the government has granted you automatic forbearance on this loan under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. On Aug. 24, 2022, the Biden administration extended the forbearance period, allowing loans to stay in forbearance through Dec. 31, 2022. Between March 13, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2022, no interest will accrue, and you don't need to make any payments. No late fees will apply if you stop paying during this period. You'll know you have this benefit if you see a 0% interest rate when you log in to your student loan account. On March 30, 2021, the Department of Education extended this benefit to defaulted privately held loans under the FFEL Program. Under normal circumstances, you can't make progress toward loan forgiveness during forbearance. But under the CARES Act, you can. You'll receive credit toward income-driven repayment forgiveness or PSLF for the payments you normally would have made during this period. There may be tax obligations tied to any loan forgiveness. Potential Pitfalls of Forgiveness The IRS likes to tax things, and forgiven debt is no exception. Except, public service loan forgiveness is not considered taxable income. But any balance wiped out through an income-driven repayment plan can be counted as income and taxed. It's important to prepare for this eventual tax bill. Consider setting aside money in a dedicated savings account. Note that the American Rescue Plan, passed by Congress and signed by President Biden in March 2021, includes a provision that student loan forgiveness issued between Jan. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2025, will not be taxable to the recipient. The Bottom Line The burden of student loans can be pretty overwhelming, and student loan forgiveness isn't easy to earn, no matter which route you pursue. It takes years and, ultimately, may not pay off. It puts you at the mercy of powerful student loan servicers. It subjects you to the ever-shifting political winds that seek to change forgiveness programs. All student loan forgiveness programs come with certain conditions, requirements, and limitations. You must follow the rules to a T to qualify. If you're already in deep, forgiveness may be the most appealing way out, especially if you've made life and career choices with a reasonable expectation of getting your remaining student debt erased after years of payments. Forgiveness is not the only solution to out-of-control student loan debt, however. In dire circumstances, getting student loans discharged in bankruptcy may be an option. Student loan forgiveness might be a welcomed possibilityoffering some relief to student borrowers toward the end of their repayment periodbut its future is uncertain. Students should be wary of incurring debt beyond their means based on the assumption that a good chunk of it will be forgiven. Most taxpayers either hope to pay as little income tax as is legally possible or try to receive the most money back as a refund after filing their income tax return; however, come tax season, taxpayers who have not researched how to minimize their income taxes may end up paying more in taxes than the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires of them. To reduce your taxable income or receive a larger refund, it's important to consider if you're eligible for tax deductions and tax credits and whether you should itemize when you file your income tax return. We look at each of these ways to reduce your tax bill in detail below. Key Takeaways Tax credits, tax deductions, and itemized income tax returns are ways you may be able to reduce your taxable income or increase your income tax refund. Tax credits offset your tax liability on a dollar-for-dollar basis, but deductions are offset against your income You should itemize deductions if they would exceed the standard deduction and result in a lower total taxable income than if you claim the standard deduction. Tax Deductions vs. Tax Credits Tax credits offset your tax liability on a dollar-for-dollar basis. If a tax credit is refundable, you will receive a tax refund for all or part of the amount of the credit that exceeds your tax liability. By contrast, deductions are offsets against your income. The tax savings from a deduction is determined by applying your top marginal tax bracket percentage to the amount of the deduction. If your marginal tax rate is lower than the percentage credit allowance, the credit will be worth more to you in tax savings than a deduction. Conversely, if your marginal tax rate is higher than the credit percentage, a deduction would be more beneficial. Thus, the higher your income and top marginal tax bracket, the greater the tax savings provided by a deduction. Research All Your Potential Tax Deductions Tax deductions are qualified expenditures that can reduce your taxable income. For example, some losses and expenditures, student loan interest, and up to $3,000 of capital losses are deducted from your gross income when determining your adjusted gross income (AGI). Other expenditures, such as state and local taxes and charitable contributions, can be claimed as itemized deductions from AGI in determining taxable income. Most taxpayers tend to focus on the most well-known deductions; however, there are a number of lesser-known tax deductions that you may qualify to take. Business Travel Expenses If you are self-employed and have to travel away from home temporarily for your work, you may be able to deduct related travel expenses. The IRS considers travel expenses to be the ordinary and necessary expenses of traveling away from home for your business, profession, or job. If you are an employee and must travel for your job, you can exclude your employer's reimbursement for business travel expenses from your income; however, you cannot deduct expenses for your job that are not reimbursed unless you are an armed forces reservist, qualified performing artist, fee-basis state or local government official, or an employee with impairment-related work expenses. Also, elementary and secondary school educators can deduct up to $250 per year of qualified expenses. Charitable Donations If you made donations to any qualified charitable organizations, the value of the items donated might be deductible. It's important that you keep all the receipts or other records as evidence of the cost or value of the donated property. Before 2020, taxpayers were entitled to deduct charitable contributions only if they itemized their deductions. In 2021, a taxpayer filing a return as single can deduct up to $300 of charitable contributions made in cash to qualifying charitable organizations and still claim the standard deduction. A married couple filing jointly can claim the standard deduction and also deduct up to $600 of non-itemized charitable contributions made in cash in 2021. This special deduction for non-itemizers is not available for gifts to private, non-operating foundations; supporting organizations; donor-advised funds; and other organizations that do not qualify as public charities. For 2021, taxpayers who itemize their deductions also enjoy a special allowance for cash charitable contributions. Generally, prior to 2020, itemizers could deduct cash contributions up to an amount that typically was equal to 60% of their adjusted gross income (AGI). For 2020 and again for 2021, itemizers can deduct cash contributions to qualifying organizations for up to 100% of their AGI as itemized deductions. Non-cash contributionsand contributions to non-qualifying organizations, the same entities that are ineligible for the non-itemizer deductionare not entitled to the increased ceiling for itemizers' cash contributions. The IRS requires that you have written confirmation for all charitable donations. For each contribution of $250 or more, a charitable donee must provideand you must retaina contemporaneous, written confirmation of the contribution and its amount and value. Also, the confirmation must acknowledge whether or not you received any goods or services in exchange for the contribution. Student Loan Interest There are two different scenarios that may make it possible for you to deduct interest on student loans taken out to pay for tuition, room and board, books, and other qualified educational expenses. In both cases, you must be a student enrolled at least half-time in a program leading to a degree or recognized educational credential at an eligible institution. If your parents are paying the interest on student loans in your name, you can claim this as a deduction because the IRS views this as a gift from your parents. As long as your parents do not claim you as a dependent when filing their income taxes, you may qualify to deduct up to $2,500 of student loan interest that your parents paid for you. In addition, you may be able to deduct some or all of the student loan interest that you paid on a loan to pay educational expenses for yourself, your dependents, or your spouse. Taxpayers are eligible to deduct up to $2,500 of student loan interest. Qualified student loan interest is deducted from gross income in determining adjusted gross income (AGI). Therefore, non-itemizers can deduct these expenses and still claim the standard deduction; however, this deduction cannot be claimed if you are married but file separately or if you or your spouse are claimed as a dependent on someone elses return. For 2021, the amount of your student loan interest deduction is gradually reduced (phased out) if your AGI, modified for certain foreign and other income circumstances, is between $70,000 and $85,000 for single taxpayers ($140,000 and $170,000 if you file a joint return). You cant claim the deduction if your AGI is $85,000 or more if single ($170,000 or more if you file a joint return). For 2022, the expected AGI phaseout for single taxpayers is between $70,000 and $85,000, for joint returns, between $145,000 and $175,000. You cannot deduct as interest on a student loan any interest paid by your employer after March 27, 2020, and before Jan. 1, 2026, and not included in your income under an educational assistance program. Student Loan Cancellations and Repayment Assistance There have been several changes implemented to help borrowers of student loan debt, which include favorable tax treatment, temporary suspension of payments, and loan forgiveness, depending on the type of loan. Tax Treatment Under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the exclusion from income for the forgiveness of student loan debt for postsecondary education is significantly expanded for debt discharges after Dec. 31, 2020, and before Jan. 1, 2026. To qualify for this tax-free treatment, the loan must have been made by a qualified lender to assist your attendance at an eligible educational institution (i.e., one that has a regular faculty, curriculum, and enrolled body of students). Loans generally are eligible for this tax treatment if made, insured, or guaranteed by federal, state, or local governments or their agencies, as well as educational institutions and certain nonprofit organizations qualifying under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code. Also, loan cancellation pursuant to governmental programs that forgive student loan debt for service in certain professions and certain employers is tax-free; however, loan cancellation in return for services rendered to an educational institution or lender does not qualify for tax-free treatment. In addition, the CARES Act extended the tax code exclusion for up to $5,250 of educational assistance provided to an employee under a nondiscriminatory employer plan to include payments of principal or interest on an employees qualified education loan for the employees education. The exclusion applies to payments made after March 27, 2020, and before Jan. 1, 2026. Loan Payment Suspension and Forgiveness Programs Due to the COVID-19 emergency, the Department of Education announced that loan payments and collections on federal student loans have been suspended, with interest rates set at zero through Dec. 31, 2022. In August of 2021, the U.S. Department of Education announced that more than 323,000 borrowers with a total and permanent disability (TPD) would receive more than $5.8 billion in automatic student loan discharges. Teachers who have worked full-time for five consecutive and complete academic years in a low-income secondary school, elementary school, or educational service agency might be eligible for up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness on a Federal Direct Loan or Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL). Those employed by a government or not-for-profit organization might be eligible to receive loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. PSLF forgives the remaining debt owed on Federal Direct Loans after the borrower has made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer. The PSLF applies to borrowers with Direct Loans and those who have consolidated other student loans into the Direct Loan Program. Also, borrowers who have yet to consolidate can submit a consolidation application to the Direct Loan Program but must do so by the Oct. 31, 2022 deadline. Casualty, Disaster, or Theft Losses You may be eligible to deduct casualty losses relating to your home, household items, and vehicles if the damage is due to a disaster declared by the president of the U.S. For example, residents of Kentucky and Ohio counties who suffered losses due to severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, and tornadoes that hit their areas beginning Dec. 10, 2021, will be eligible for tax relief. The Internal Revenue Service posts information about specific federally declared disasters whose victims may receive tax relief on its website. You can also claim deductions for personal and business theft losses. To qualify as a theft loss, the taking of your money or property must have been illegal under state law. Special rules apply for determining the deductible amount. Generally, the deduction must be adjusted for any insurance recovery or other reimbursements. These are many other items for which taxpayers may claim a deduction if eligible. The IRS provides special requirements for some deductions. As a taxpayer, it's in your best interest to refer to IRS publications to ensure you are eligible before claiming any of these items on your tax return. Claim All Available Tax Credits Credits are another way to reduce your taxable income. Check whether you qualify for any of the tax credits listed below. Recovery Rebate Credit In March 2021, the distribution of a third Economic Impact Payment (EIP3) to eligible individuals began. These amounts were advance payments of the 2021 recovery rebate credit. Eligible taxpayers who did not receive their EIP3 in 2021 or did not receive the full amount to which they were entitled should claim their outstanding recovery rebate credits on their 2021 tax returns. Even if a taxpayer is not required to file a return for 2021, they must file a Form 1040 for 2021 to obtain the credit. The 2021 recovery rebate credit will reduce your tax liability for 2021 or be included in your tax refund. As part of the crisis relief programs for the pandemic, a system of EIPs distributed as advance payments of the recovery tax rebate credit was initiated in 2020. Two EIPs were made to eligible taxpayers in 2020 and early 2021. The first was $1,200 for single individuals ($2,400 for joint returns) plus $500 per eligible child under age 17; the second, $600 for single returns ($1,200 for joint returns) plus $600 per eligible child under age 17. All payments for 2020 have been made; any outstanding shortfall in a taxpayers payment should be claimed on a 2020 tax return, which may require filing an amended 2020 return. The 2021 EIP3 differs from the earlier ones. The payment amount increased to $1,400 per person, including $1,400 for each dependent. For 2021, the category of eligible dependents broadened to include all qualifying dependents who are U.S. citizens, nationals, or residents with Social Security numbers, or, if adopted, Adoption Taxpayer Identification Numbers. Thus, eligible dependents include college students, disabled adults, and dependent parents and grandparents in 2021. The income phaseout amounts also changed so that the 2021 credit phases out completely between an AGI of $75,000 and $80,000 for single taxpayers and between $150,000 and $160,000 for married persons filing joint returns. In early 2022, the IRS will send recipients of EIP3 amounts a document called Letter 6475 to confirm the total amount paid during the year. Individuals can check on the status of their EIP3 for 2021 by linking to the IRS Get My Payment online tool. Earned Income Tax Credit The earned-income tax credit (EITC) is a refundable tax credit available to low-income workers. For 2021, the EITC can be claimed by any low-income worker with a dependent child. It is also available to childless, low-income workers who have a principal residence in the U.S. for more than half the year and who are 19 or older, specified students age 24 or older, or former foster youth and homeless youth age 18 or older. An individual who is claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer's return is not eligible to claim the EITC. The credit percentage, earnings cap, and credit amount vary depending on a taxpayer's filing status, the number of dependent children, and their level of earned income. To be eligible, a taxpayer must have earnings but cannot have investment income in excess of $10,000 for 2021. The credit reduces the amount of tax owed on a dollar-for-dollar basis. If the amount of this credit is greater than the amount of tax that a taxpayer owes, the taxpayer may be eligible for a refund. The maximum credits for 2021 are $1,502 for workers with no qualifying children; $3,618 for one qualifying child; $5,980 for two qualifying children; and $6,728 for three or more qualifying children. AGI ceilings apply to the EITC. For single returns, heads of household, and widowed and married persons filing separately, the maximum AGI levels per child/dependent for the EITC are $21,430 for none; $42,158 for one; $47,915 for two; and $51,464 for three or more. For joint returns, the maximum AGI levels per child/dependent are: $27,380 for none; $48,108 for one; $53,865 for two; and $57,414 for three or more. The IRS has provided an online tool to help taxpayers calculate their EITC; the tool is expected to be updated to determine EITC amounts for 2021. Because of the economic downturn caused by the economic crisis and lockdown, some taxpayers' incomes were lower in 2021 than in 2019 or 2020. To address this issue, the tax law permits taxpayers to elect to determine their EITC for 2021 on the basis of their 2019 or 2020 earned income if one of those years is more beneficial. Child Tax Credit The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) increased the amount of the Child Tax Credit, made it fully refundable, and provided for its distribution in advance payments to taxpayers for 2021. The Child Tax Credit changes expired at the end of 2021 and weren't extended by the U.S. Congress. As a result, the Child Tax Credit for 2022 will revert to $2,000 per child under age 17 unless extended by legislation. For 2021, the credit had been $3,000 per qualifying child and $3,600 per child under age 6. The ARPA had increased the age limit for qualifying children from 16 in 2020 to 17 in 2021. Eligible dependents were broadened to include all qualifying dependents who are U.S. citizens, nationals, or residents with work-authorized Social Security numbers. In addition, beginning in July 2021, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) distributed the Child Tax Credit to eligible taxpayers in advance payments on a monthly basis. Because it was fully refundable, parents didn't have to owe taxes to receive it. A nonrefundable $500 credit was allowed for certain other dependents who didn't qualify for the Child Tax Credit. The Department of the Treasury began making advance payments of either $300 or $250 per qualifying child, depending on the child's age, on a monthly basis beginning in July 2021. Taxpayers will claim the balance of their credits on their 2021 tax returns. The amount of the 2021 credit was reduced by $50 for every $1,000 in modified adjusted gross income (MAGI)i.e., AGI plus certain non-U.S.-income exclusionsin excess of $150,000 for joint returns, $112,500 for heads of household, and $75,000 for other filers. This phaseout didn't reduce the credit below its 2020 level of $2,000; however, the remaining $2,000 per child credit phased out at the rate of $50 per $1,000 of modified AGI in excess of $400,000 for joint filers or $200,000 for all other filers. Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) is a credit that helps taxpayers cover the expenses of caring for a child who is age 12 or under as of the year's end, a disabled spouse, or a qualified dependent (collectively, child care expenses) while working or looking for work. The credit is a percentage of a taxpayer's earned income and phases out for taxpayers with AGIs above $400,000. No credit is allowed at an AGI of $438,000 and higher. For 2021, the ARPA generally increased the amount of the CDCTC and made it fully refundable. The rate of the credit increased for low- and moderate-income workers but decreased for higher-income ones. The changes are the same for all taxpayers regardless of filing status. For workers with AGIs below $125,000, the percentage is 50%; for AGIs between $125,000 and $183,000, the CDCTC phases out by one percentage point per $2000 (or fraction thereof) above $125,000, until it reaches 20 % at AGI of $183,000. Between AGIs of $183,000 and $400,000, the percentage remains 20%. Above an AGI of $400,000, the CDCTC phases out by one percentage point per $2000 (or fraction thereof) until it reaches 0% at an AGI of $438,000. ARPA increased the amount of child care expenses eligible for the credit from $3,000 to $8,000 for one qualifying child or dependent and from $6,000 to $16,000 for two or more qualifying children or dependents. The amount of child care expenses that contributes to determining the credit cannot exceed the taxpayer's earned income. For married couples, the amount of expenses taken into account cannot exceed the earnings of the lower-earning spouse. Married couples must file a joint return to claim the credit. Expenses qualifying for the credit can include the costs incurred inside or outside the home for nannies, daycare, preschool, and day camp. Expenses for a child's schooling from kindergarten onward and for overnight camp do not qualify. The credit can generally apply to payments to relatives who provide care, so long as the relatives are not dependents of the taxpayer; however, payments are not qualifying expenses if made to a spouse or dependent; a parent of a child being cared for, if the child is the taxpayer's child; or a child of the taxpayer who is 18 or younger, whether or not a dependent. The 2021 enhancements to the CDCTC apply for one year only. Unless extended by Congress, the CDCTC for 2022 will be nonrefundable and revert to its prior rules: lower expense ceilings, a 35% rate for AGIs under $15,000, and a phaseout to 20% at an AGI of $43,000. Adoption Credit or Exclusion Taxpayers who adopt a child under age 18 or a disabled individual are entitled to tax benefits for qualified reasonable and necessary expenses incurred for the adoption. For 2021, the maximum tax credit for such expenses is $14,440 per child. If a taxpayer receives employer-provided benefits for such expenses, up to $14,440 of benefits per child can be excluded from income. Benefits over that amount are taxable income. For 2022, these amounts increase to $14,890. The adoption tax credit is nonrefundable. Taxpayers can claim both the credit and exclusion for adoption expenses but cannot claim the same expenses for both benefits. Special rules apply depending on whether or not the adoptee is a U.S. resident. For some adoptions of special-needs children, the tax benefits are allowed even if the taxpayer has no qualified expenses. For 2021, the credit and exclusion generally phase out for MAGI between $216,661 and $256,659, with no amount of either benefit allowed at higher levels. For 2022, the credit and exclusion generally phase out between MAGI of $223,411 and $263,410, with neither permitted at higher levels. Tax Credits for Education Expenses Two types of tax credits, the Lifetime Learning Credit and the American Opportunity Tax Credit, provide tax benefits for qualified educational expenses for postsecondary education. The rules for these credits differ. The IRS provides a comparison chart online. It also provides an extensive list of FAQs to help you determine which credit to claim. Lifetime Learning Credit The Lifetime Learning Credit is available to taxpayers in the United States who have incurred qualified educational expenses, including tuition, fees, and required books for postsecondary education at a qualified institution within a given tax year. The educational program must lead to a degree or other recognized education credential. The maximum credit is 20% of eligible expenses up to $10,000 (i.e., $2,000 per tax return). It is intended to help offset the cost of education. For this credit to be claimed by a taxpayer, the student must attend school at least half-time for one academic period (e.g., semester, quarter, summer school). The amount of the credit must be reduced by any tax-free educational assistance, for example, Pell Grants or scholarships received for the same period. The credit is nonrefundable and is available to a taxpayer for only four tax years. This income phaseout level for this credit was increased in 2021 to compensate for the repeal of the deduction for tuition and fees available in prior years. For 2021, the amount of your lifetime learning credit is phased out if your MAGI exceeds $80,000 ($160,000 for joint returns). No credit is allowed if your MAGI exceeds $90,000 if single or $180,000 for a joint return. American Opportunity Tax Credit The American Opportunity Tax Credit is a credit for qualified education expenses paid by an eligible student who is the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, or the taxpayer's dependent. The maximum annual credit is $2,500 per eligible student. To qualify, the student must be enrolled at an eligible educational institution at least half time for at least one academic term for the given tax year. In some cases, this credit may be partially refundable. If the credit reduces the tax liability to zero, an additional 40% of the unused otherwise allowable credit, up to $1000, is refundable to the taxpayer. The amount of the American Opportunity Tax Credit is phased out if your MAGI exceeds $80,000 if single ($160,000 if you file a joint return). You can't claim an American Opportunity Tax Credit if your MAGI is $90,000 or more if single ($180,000 or more if you file a joint return). If you are eligible for any of these tax credits, they can substantially reduce or even eliminate the amount of taxes that you owe. They may also increase the amount of your tax refund. In some cases, taxpayers may be eligible for a refund even if there were no taxes withheld from their income for the year due to these tax provisions. Decide If You Should Itemize Your Tax Return Every taxpayer should evaluate whether or not they should itemize deductions. Generally, you should itemize your deductions if your itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction and they result in a lower total taxable income than if you claim the standard deduction. Even if you claim the standard deduction, you are still entitled to claim tax credits. The standard deduction amounts for individuals in each filing status for tax years 2021 and 2022 are: Top News - Investor Idea Mullen (NASDAQ: MULN) Continues Acquisition Path With Purchase of ELMS Assets Including Factory in Mishawaka, IN., Enabling EV Production for Retail and Commercial Vehicle Lines BREA, Calif. - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces the US Bankruptcy Court approval on Oct. 13th, 2022 of its acquisition of electric vehicle company ELMS's (Electric Last Mile Solutions) assets in an all cash purchase. Top EV Stock News - Investor Idea Breaking EV Stock News: Mullen Automotive (NASDAQ: $MULN) Taps Former GM Executive John Schwegman as Chief Commercial Officer for Next Phase of EV Growth BREA, Calif. - October 21, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces today the hiring of John Schwegman as its Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) for Mullen's line of commercial vehicles. Top EV Stock News - Investor Idea EV Stocks Driving Higher: (NASDAQ: $MULN) (NASDAQ: $TSLA) (NYSE: $NIO) (NYSE: $F) Vancouver, Delta, BC - October 20, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resource covering EV and automotive stocks releases a special report featuring Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), covering the continued growth of the EV market as government policy and infrastructure plans sync up with consumer and investor interest in the EV space. Top AI Stock News - Investor Idea Breaking AI Stock News: FatBrain (OTCQB: LZGI) Acquires Confidential Computing Platform ZeroTrust to Protect Data Privacy and Accelerate Innovation for Millions of Growth Businesses NEW YORK, NY - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) FatBrain AI (LZG International, Inc.) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for star enterprises of tomorrow, has acquired the confidential computing and privacy intellectual property (IP) plus software assets of Zero2A PTE LTD ("ZeroTrust Platform"), a software company based in Singapore. Check out our Podcasts for great investor ideas: Get new posts by email: Subscribe Powered by Investorideas.com Newswire: Subscribe to Investor Ideas Newswire The latest U.S. census shows that 16 percent of the New York state population has Irish roots, making them the largest ethnic group in the state. There are few ethnic groups as involved politically as the Irish, and few who used the political system as well to go from Famine immigrants to City Hall and eventually the White House. It has always been apparent that the Clintons have a particular bond with Irish Americans, especially those who were active in seeking an end to The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Bill Clinton was the first president ever to take an active part in finding a solution and his success in approving the first U.S. visa for Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, the Good Friday Agreement and sending Senator George Mitchell as his plenipotentiary to the North remains one of the most feel good stories of his entire two terms. But more important, it brought a fragile peace to a land that many thought they would never see. Hillary Clinton was not found wanting either and created valuable links with grassroots organizations, especially working class womens groups, as her major contribution, as well as jumping in as secretary of state when help was needed. At our sister publications Irish America magazines Hall of Fame last year, Hillary Clinton reflected back on the difference she helped bring about. There is still work to be done but that remains a crucial lesson: You cannot bring peace and security to people just by signing an agreement. In fact more peace agreements dont last, she said. Theres been some very important work done in recent years that shows that where women are involved and, therefore, where the work of peace permeates down to kitchen table, to the backyard, to the neighborhood, around cups of tea, theres a much better chance that an agreement will hold. She concluded that while the work in the North is not finished, even as we speak negotiations to try to resolve governmental issuesits better to have people arguing about that than walking away and thinking that conflict may be the only answer. Hillary is also promising a compassionate and all encompassing approach to immigration reform which deeply impacts the 50,000 or so Irish undocumented. After the Trump and Cruz hate speech America needs a healer, not a divider. Having Hillary and Bill Clinton back in the White House would be a perfect scenario for the Irish American community which has embraced them since the Irish Americans for Clinton group was created in 1991. But first there is the New York primary on Tuesday, April 19. For once New York is in a key position to decide the Democratic race. Clintons Democratic opponent Bernie Sanders has proven a worthy and tough opponent. The Democratic primary has been conducted mainly on issues instead of the mud throwing, alligator wrestling, cockamamie Republican contest which is a national and international embarrassment. Hillary Clinton will be the first to admit she does not match her husbands brilliant oratory in speech making, but she has a fire in her eyes. She knows this is her last opportunity, win or lose, and she is throwing everything at it. The White House will be hard won. The incredible achievement of electing an African American president eight years ago should be followed by another massive breakthrough in electing the first woman president. But first there is a primary to negotiate. We are proud to endorse Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Its time, New York. For the third time since a general election on February 26, Irelands politicians will try to elect a new taoiseach (prime minister) on Thursday of this week. Two previous bids failed following an election result that rejected the outgoing coalition of Fine Gael and Labour but didnt give any other party enough, including second-placed Fianna Fail with 44 seats, to form a government on its own or in administration with smaller partners. Despite massive public pressure for old Civil War rivals Fine Gael which won 50 seats and Fianna Fail to agree an administration deal for the first time, both parties refused to talk to each other. Instead, they attempted deals with small parties with a handful of seats, and with independent TDs who stretched across the political spectrum from the very right to the far left. Read more Irish politics news here Finally Kenny, who has been acting taoiseach since the election, had a one-hour meeting last week with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin. The meeting was described as frosty by some sources, despite Kenny proposing a partnership government involving the two parties and independent TDs. Martin rejected the proposal. Then, on Monday of this week, they reopened talks, but this time with a discussion on who would form a minority government. Shane Ross said his group of six independent alliance TDs will come to a speedy decision once Fine Gael and Fianna Fail put their final proposals to them. The alliance should know whether to support Kenny or Martin as taoiseach. However, Ross said he didnt believe that would happen this Thursday. It will take beyond that, but at long last they are talking and good sense has prevailed, Ross added. Most TDs said a full-five year term of a new government was unlikely, but they would expect any agreement to put an administration in place for at least three budgets. Independent TD Michael Healy Rae, who was elected in Kerry along with his brother Danny said, I would hope that the road ahead will become clear. We have to know the practicalities of how it will work day by day. We dont want the whole thing to collapse at the first hurdle. We want it to last a considerable length of time. We know it wont last five years. The newly discovered Irish relative of Annie Moore, the first person to pass through Ellis Island immigration center in 1892, has spoken of the influence of the Cork woman on generations of Irish immigrants in the US and how she has become as symbolic figure for Irish Americans. Moore, then a 17-year old girl from Cork, made history on January 1, 1892, when she passed through the Ellis Island Immigration Station in New York Harbor on its opening day, the first person to do so. Traveling with her younger brothers, she was on her way to meet her parents who had already made the move to the US and she was awarded a $10 gold coin for the privilege of being first through the gate. It has been said that it was only through the chivalry of another that Annie was to become the name we remembered, as an Austrian man who stood front of the line as the ship doors were opening stood aside to let her and her 15 and 12-year old brothers proceed ahead of him. Moores onward journey in the US was the cause of much confusion and, until 2006, the life of the wrong Annie Moore was heralded as an inspirational story for Irish immigrants. Her American relatives, however, the closest of whom was her grand nephew Michael Schulman, were aware of their connection to the famous historical figure, but it wasnt until March of this year that Paul Linehan from Co. Kildare discovered he was her closest relative living in Ireland. Some families have American cousins but we didnt have any of that in our family history so to suddenly discover that we were related to such an historical figure as the first person through Ellis Island and a symbol of emigration has become a huge thing for us, Linehan told the Irish Times. Read more: Genealogist finds living Irish relatives of first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island The Kildare man, who is Moores first cousin thrice removed, was finally tracked down following a decade-long search by genealogist Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak. On learning of their historic family connection, Smolenyak also informed the Linehan family that their new American cousin Michael Schulman would be attending the March 30 Irish America Hall of Fame luncheon in New York and the decision was made to instigate a small family reunion. Michael is the grandson of Annies younger brother, Philip who is with her in the statute at Ellis Island and in Cobh Megan arranged for us to meet before the luncheon and it was a very relaxed conversation as we tried to stitch together what we knew of our family history from both sides, Linehan continued. Joining Hall of Fame honorees former Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Martin Dempsey, space shuttle commander Eileen Collins, journalist and writer Pete Hamill and Northern Ireland peace process facilitator Edward JT Kenney, as well as Lifetime Achievement Award winner President Bill Clinton, Linehan was struck by the genuine and heartfelt awareness those he met with had for their Irish heritage. Not only this, but he became aware of the important role that his own relative had played in acting as a symbolic figure for these Irish Americans and for the generations of Irish immigrants who sought passage to the US in the hope of making something better of themselves. All these important Irish-Americans were being honored and I was struck by how aware they were of their Irish ancestry ... it wasnt leprechauns and shamrocks and yet there was an understanding of how they had all come from Ireland and traveled different journeys to get to where they are now, he said. And it really struck me how their access to America had almost been granted by Annie Moore it was Annie Moore and all the other anonymous Annie Moores that we dont know about, who paved the way for all these people in this room in Manhattan to achieve what they had achieved. It wasnt so much the immigrants themselves because their lives didnt improve dramatically but their children and their childrens children who had access to education and healthcare and a bit more money that led to that building up from the bottom that has made America what it is today. A tenor who sings regularly with the Drawing Room Opera Company, Linehan has long included the Brendan Graham emigration song Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears in his repertoire, little imagining that little Annie Moore, the subject of the song, was his own relative. Linehan performed the song at the luncheon shortly after meeting with Moores American relatives. Isle of Hope was something that was in my repertoire for the last number of years but now its changed dramatically for me knowing that the person I am singing about is a relative and so the enormity of that and the emotions become very real. Read more: First through Ellis island - Annie Moores tough and tragic life H/T: Irish Times By Helen Barlow From George Clooney and Julia Roberts in Jodie Fosters Money Monster, to Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling and Shane Blacks The Nice Guys, there will be no lack of Hollywood stars on the Cannes Croisette this year. Hollywood titan Steven Spielberg will present his first Roald Dahl adaptation, the BFG, that reportedly harks back to his earlier masterpiece ET, while indie stalwart Jim Jarmusch will do double duty presenting Gimme Danger, a documentary on Iggy Pop, as well as Paterson, a small intimate film starring Adam Driver as a New Jersey bus driver which screens in the competition. Like Foster, Sean Penn will undoubtedly again show considerable talent behind the camera in The Last Face, his second film in the Cannes competition after 2001s The Pledge. Charlize Theron and Javier Barden play humanitarian workers who fall in love in Africa. After filming Theron briefly became engaged to Penn, her longtime friend. Ken Loach and Cillian Murphy the director and star of the 2006 Palme dOr winning The Wind that Shakes the Barley could still be reunited in Cannes. But for the moment Loach is competing with I, Daniel Blake, his 16th film at the festival since his breakthrough film Kes screened in Critics Week in 1970. Festival director Thierry Fremaux joked it will be the second time Loach, who turns 80 in June, presents his last film - after 2014s Jimmys Hall - and describes the film which follows an injured carpenter and single mother struggling to get by on welfare, as very Loach-ian. Murphy will most likely turn up next week in Ben Wheatleys Free Fire when the announcements are made for the sidebar, Directors Fortnight, where the directors breakthrough black comedy, 2010s Sightseers premiered. His disappointing recent film, High-Rise, Im told can be forgiven as Free Fire is very good. Produced by Martin Scorsese, the film is Wheatleys homage to vintage crime movies and stars Oscar winner Brie Larson (from Lenny Abrahamsons Room) as a woman who arranges a meeting between two trigger-happy Irishmen (Murphy and Northern Irish comic Michael Smiley) and a heavily armed gang. It seems unlikely that Jim Sheridans The Secret Scripture, chronicling a young womans time in a mental institution, will make it to Cannes especially given that the Irish director has never debuted a film at the festival so is not part of the Cannes club. In todays announcements held at the Normandie cinema on the Champs Elysees, Festival President Pierre Lescure noted the youth emphasis at this years event. Even Woody Allen with Cafe Society - his third film to open the festival - presents a story with young actors Kristin Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg, whom he says symbolise the future of cinema. Certainly Stewart is already entrenched as part of Cannes royalty as the actress, who won a French Cesar (Oscar) for Olivier Assayas Clouds of Sils Maria, reteams with the edgy French director for Personal Shopper, set in the demimonde of Paris fashion. Shes the queen of Cannes, Fremaux declared. The Lyon-born festival selector said they had to choose from 1,869 features from all around the world. While there were no Irish movies announced today the British are well represented. Interesting though Andrea Arnold (who made Fishtank featuring a child-molesting Michael Fassbender) presents her first film to be set and filmed outside the UK, American Honey starring Shia Labeouf. We wonder what hijinks the irascible American, who plugged his role as young Indie for Spielberg in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in Cannes 2008, might get up to at the festival this time. Other highlights will undoubtedly include Paul Verhoevens French-language Elle starring Isabelle Huppert, Pedro Almodovars Julieta, Quebecois enfant terrible Xavier Dolans Its Only the End of the World starring Lea Seydoux, Marion Cotillard and Vincent Cassel and Nicolas Winding Refns Los Angeles-set cannibal horror movie, The Neon Demon, featuring the Danish directors first female protagonist, Elle Fanning. Galway University has been told to introduce mandatory gender quotas to increase the number of female academics in senior posts. The recommendation is part of an equality taskforce set up in the wake of a landmark discrimination case against NUI Galway. An investigation into the cause of a fire at an industrial unit in Tallaght in Dublin is due to be carried out. Dublin Fire Brigade responded to an emergency call about a fire on the Airton Road at around 7.30pm yesterday evening. The picturesque East Cork village of Garryvoe is still counting the cost of last weekends storms which caused extensive damage along its beach, according to The Evening Echo. While much of Cork city and many parts of the county came under pressure from flooding due to high tides and howling winds, it was the intensity of the waves and the sheer power of the sea that caused Garryvoes local infrastructure to succumb. Locals said it was akin to a small earthquake along the strand such was the intensity of the water and the damage caused. The walkways used by beachgoers were rendered unusable because of the damage with the concrete cracking and collapsing in some parts. The car park used by beachgoers was affected so badly that cars could not go inside. Fine Gael TD for East Cork, David Stanton, said that it was a beautiful community asset that he hoped would be back in a state of repair before too long. I expect Cork County Council will move quickly to restore the beach and the walkway with the summer coming up. It all depends on funding, which of course highlights the need for a new Government to be in place sooner rather than later. Funding of 26,000 was allocated to Cork County Council from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to meet the cost of repairs last October following storm damage. The total budget for the reconstruction of the existing slipway in Garryvoe was 35,000 of which the Department provided 75% of the cost on the condition that it was completed in a timely fashion. Garryvoe has traditionally been one of the most popular beaches with holidaymakers in Cork for generations. The average daily visitor numbers to the beach in Garryvoe during the bathing season is estimated at approximately 500, with maximum numbers of visitors per day estimated at 1,000. The beach is bounded to the rear by sand dunes, car parks, the award-winning Garryvoe Hotel, holiday homes and a mobile home park. A section of damaged footpath on Garryvoe Strand. Pic: David Keane. The bathing area is approximately 300 metres wide and is approximately three-square kilometres in size. Meanwhile, the Office of Public Works is being urged to allow some funding to be released to Cork County Council engineers so that they can carry out interim prevention works to ease tidal flooding. This article first appeared in The Evening Echo. Some of the 17 schools closed in Edinburgh amid safety fears could be affected in the "longer term", the leader of the city's council has warned. Andrew Burns was speaking as the local authority confirmed arrangements have now been put in place for 5,900 pupils at the affected buildings to return to classes, either in their own school or at another location. About 7,600 missed out on lessons after Edinburgh City Council announced on Friday that the schools would not reopen as planned after the Easter break because of concerns about their construction. The majority of the 2,000 pupils preparing for exams at the five high schools involved resumed lessons on Wednesday, although the council has revealed that practical exams due to take place have been cancelled. Pupils in S3 returned to classes on Thursday, and the council announced arrangements have been made for youngsters from five primaries - Broomhouse, St Joseph's, Forthview, Pirniehall and St David's - to attend alternative venues from next Tuesday. Work in still ongoing to make arrangements for some remaining S1 to S3 pupils, who have not yet been able to return to lessons. Mr Burns said: "I'm delighted we have now been able to put in place arrangements for our primary, special school and majority of secondary pupils. Work is continuing to accommodate our S1, S2 and S3 pupils." While he said the exercise has been a "huge logistical challenge for the council", he added that staff and children at other schools "have been welcoming the additional pupils and their teachers". The schools were all built or refurbished under the same PPP scheme around 10 years ago by Edinburgh Schools Partnership, which last week revealed it was unable to provide safety assurances for the premises, sparking the closures. The council has now "received early indications that suggest evidence of faults across all 17 affected schools to a varying extent", Mr Burns said. He added: "At the moment it is too early to say what the impact will be as full survey results from Edinburgh Schools Partnership have not been yet been received. Some faults may be easy to fix and may not present a major problem while others could be longer term. "We will provide parents with further information on the impact of individual school surveys once the full reports are received and assessed. Authorities inspecting a building at Oxgangs Primary School in Edinburgh. Pic: PA "What is certain is that we won't take risks with the safety of our schools children and schools won't reopen until Edinburgh Schools Partnership can assure us of their safety. As part of the contract, Edinburgh Schools Partnership own, maintain and assure the safety of the affected buildings." Earlier, Mr Burns revealed the council had not inspected the schools when their construction was completed, as the consortium that carried out the work self-certified they met "all the relevant building standards". The Labour councillor told BBC Radio Scotland: "Under the regulations in place at the time... Edinburgh Schools Partnership and its agents self-certified to the council, as they were entitled to do so, that the buildings complied with all the relevant building standards." When asked if Edinburgh Schools Partnership had been negligent, Mr Burns said: "That will come out in due course." But he insisted the council "will be making sure whoever is responsible for this is held to account". Reverend Gayle Taylor, who is the chaplain to Braidburn special needs school and two other primaries, said the closures had impacted disabled youngsters. Rev. Taylor, who is also a part-time counsellor at Firrhill High School, said: "When we think of schools we instantly think of the education side. We think about the books, the subjects and what the pupils are learning. "But being part of the pastoral support team in schools, I know how much support young people get from the social side of schools and the relationships they have there. Young people just don't manage as well without those anchors." McCormick said yesterday that the price the companys board is asking wont benefit its own shareholders after a review of Premiers finances. The failed talks will put pressure on Premier chief executive Gavin Darby to deliver growth for shareholders. After spurning McCormicks initial approaches, Premier signed a co-operation agreement with Japans Nissin Foods Holdings that included Nissin taking a stake in the UK company. Shareholders objected, urging Premier to begin negotiations with the US suitor. The Shepton Mallet mill in Somerset is to close in the summer with 120 jobs on the line and the threat that it will bring a 246-year-old tradition to an end. Union chiefs in Unite said C&C should repay the loyalty of staff after it shifted cider-making to one of its plants in Ireland. Regional coordinating officer Steve Preddy said Sheptons famous brands such as Gaymers, Blackthorn, and Olde English, coupled with highly skilled workers, should make it an attractive proposition for a buyer. Since buying the plant in 2009, C&C has profited from the association with Shepton, which has been synonymous with cider-making for centuries, he said. It is unacceptable that the company should now decide to divest itself of the plant and its loyal workforce without a backward glance. C&C announced the Shepton closure in January although it vowed to keep pulping fruit in the town and to source apples for its Irish cider-making from Somerset farmers. It subsequently sold a bottling line at the site to Brothers Drinks, also a maker of cider, saving a number of jobs. When announcing the Shepton closure at the start of the year, C&C said it was ending production in Somerset and in one of its Irish plants in Borrisoleigh, Co Tipperary. The move was to expand operations in Clonmel, where 80 staff were being hired as the town became the main location for Bulmers and Magners, Tipperary Water, and niche premium beers and ciders. C&C had warned that trading in the UK and Ireland had been intensely competitive in recent years. Mr Preddy said Ireland has its own experience of global companies pulling out in moves which devastate communities. Unite members are therefore particularly disappointed that an Irish multinational, such as C&C, should be effectively discarding not only the Shepton facility and its work force, but also the long tradition of cider-making which made Shepton such an attractive location in the first place, he said. We are calling on C&C to repay the loyalty and hard work of the Shepton workforce by finding a buyer to take on the main Shepton site as a going concern, thus preserving a tradition of cider-making in the town stretching back to 1770. We believe that iconic brands, combined with a highly skilled and motivated workforce, would make Shepton an attractive proposition for a buyer, he said. At the spring meetings of the IMF in Washington starting tomorrow, Athens will also suggest a proposed 15% of GDP annual cap on debt servicing costs is divided, with 8% for bond and loan repayments and interest, the biggest cost, and 7% for paying down outstanding treasury bills. It is seeking to fix its presently fluctuating rate on its EU bailout loans to have a buffer against possible higher rates if the ECB starts raising them again, sources said. Commodity producers led gains after data showed that Chinas exports jumped the most in a year and declines in imports narrowed. The UK market, rich in mining stocks, advanced, with the Ftse 100 Index turning positive for 2016. Bank stocks, which suffered the most in the first quarter, surged 6.3% as a group. Darren McKinley, equity analyst at Merrion Capital, said that Dublins Iseq had however, underperformed other stockmarkets yesterday, as investors went risk on to buy banks, car makers, energy and materials companies. Bank of Ireland shares rose about 2% to 25 cent. Wall Street joined in the rally as JP Morgans results kicked off bank earnings on an upbeat note. Shares of JP Morgan were up 3.5% at one stage after the bank reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue. Bank of America rose 3.5% and Citigroup shares were up 4.5%. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 2.5%, with more than 500 of its members rallying. That extends a rebound after posting four consecutive weeks of losses, the longest run since 2014. It seems investors appetite is coming back, said Benno Galliker, a trader at Luzerner Kantonalbank in Lucerne. The commodity sector is well supported after the good numbers out of China, and the talks getting close to a solution in Italy give a little support to the market too, he said, referring to a deal over debt-ridden Italian lenders. Yet, Mr Galliker said the market remains fragile. Britains Ftse 100, helped by the surge in commodity companies and a weaker sterling, joined developed markets from New Zealand, Canada and the US in erasing annual losses. In London, Anglo American, Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton were up more than 7.5%. Lenders Standard Chartered and Barclays also rallied more than 7%. Berkeley Group Holdings rose 2.7% after Londons biggest home builder won approval to develop homes in a car park. In Italy, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Banca Popolare dellEmilia Romagna and UniCredit rallied more than 10%. n Bloomberg, Reuters and Irish Examiner Providence shares were temporarily suspended yesterday in Dublin and London ahead of the announcement of the UK Court of Appeals judgement, which found in favour of driller Transocean. Providence now faces a bill of at least $5.6m (4.9m) which could be the minimum of its share of a $7m bill, after the ruling found in favour of Transocean. The insurer, which is owned by RSA, confirmed that 8,000 motor policy customers had to pay more than necessary for their insurance cover because of the error. Customers have been informed of the companys error and letters have been sent in recent weeks to affected policyholders, including those whose policies have since lapsed. The average refund is around 80 while 123.ie is also paying an extra 5% in compensation for the error. It is expected all affected customers will be refunded by the end of this week. A spokesperson for the insurer said efforts have been made to ensure the technical error doesnt happen again. 123.ie can confirm that it is currently refunding customers to correct a charging error that affected some motor premiums. The error related to some of the vehicle history information, it was technical in nature and the company has taken steps to ensure it doesnt recur, the spokesperson said. Customers are also being assured in correspondence that the insurers controls have been reviewed and changed to avoid this happening again. Dermott Jewell, chief executive of the Consumers Association of Ireland, said it was hard to understand how an error could be made with such basic information two years in a row and called for an independent review. An overcharging there really raises the question about the need for a full independent review of exactly what were the causes [of the error] and more importantly are there any other areas where a similar event might have occurred even prior to this, Mr Jewell said. The insurance company which has 175,000 motor insurance customers in Ireland said that it had discovered the error and informed the Central Bank of its mistake in October 2015. The Central Bank confirmed that it is aware of the situation and the measures 123.ie is taking to remedy this situation. As with all errors, the Consumer Protection Code 2012 requires error to be resolved speedily and for customers to be notified and refunded appropriately, the bank said in a statement. A spokesperson also urged customers to contact the insurer if they had any queries about the situation. Mr Jewell said the Central Banks response was nowhere near good enough and did nothing to restore consumer confidence. It does nothing to restore trust. If anything it raises a serious number of questions in the minds of consumers across a product that they must have by law. So one would have assumed internal and external auditing would have made such an event possible perhaps once but impossible twice; two years on the trot. There are far more questions that need to be answered and I think its important that the Central Bank raises them and acknowledges that theres a need for full transparency to restore what is an erosion of trust, Mr Jewell said. The insurers parent company, RSA Insurance Ireland, recorded pre-tax losses of 171.26m in 2014. In January, RSA settled with the former chief executive of its Irish operations Philip Smith who won a constructive dismissal case against the company in 2015 in a decision that saw him awarded 1.25m. Im an optimist by nature. But recently, nature has made it very hard to be optimistic. And my optimistic nature really took a battering on Sunday last, a day that was cold, windy and very wet. A day when, not only did the grass not grow, but it regressed back into the ground. Here we are with summer less than three weeks away, and we are still awaiting the arrival of spring. And in the marts over the past week, this refusal of the weather to pull itself together has triggered a price drop for the small guy. The small guy with a long road ahead of him. The small guy who will still be around when we are settling into the turkey next Christmas. I pity the farmer at the moment who, because of one reason or another, is heading to the mart with a bunch of 200kg to 250kg handy Friesian store bullocks, born perhaps in July or August of last year. He will be very fortunate to see 400 a head for his load. And 400 a head is not enough. Not when the hardest work has been done by the man standing in the sellers box. But alas, thats the situation. With silage getting scarce in yards and fields scarce of grass, the small guy is being left behind as farmer buyers with limited feed fix their gaze on the 300kg+ animal. While the price for other cattle is unchanged, in marts this week the small guy is the fall guy. We will begin our round up of the marts by starting with Skibbereen where on Friday last Continental bullocks made from 260 to 740 with their weight. Aberdeen Angus and Hereford bullocks sold from 240 to 700 with the kilo. Heifers in Skibbereen made from 245 to 750 with the kilo. Skibbereen Friday No Breed Sex Weight 3 Ch steers 605kg 1345 3 Lm steers 540kg 1270 2 Hr steers 580kg 1280 1 AA steer 520kg 1085 1 Ch heifer 470kg 1080 1 AA heifer 550kg 1200 1 Lm heifer 650kg 1400 The very bad weather on Sunday had an effect on the cattle trade in Kilmallock on Monday, Denis Kirby of Kilmallock mart explains. The very bad weather of last Sunday kept a lot of cattle at home for Mondays cattle sale, however prices were still very strong and improved in some cases. Bullocks in Kilmallock on Monday sold for up to 2.71 per kg. Weanling bulls hit 2.98 per kg. Kilmallock had 183 dry cows on offer and they made up to 1.83 per kg. Heifers went to a high of 2.82 per kg. Dairy stock hit 1,910 (for a Pedigree calved cow) while sucklers went to a high of 1910 (paid for a 6 year old Limousin and her Limousin heifer calf). Calves hit 630 (paid for an 8 week old Limousin bull). Tomorrow, Friday, the North Munster All Breed Bull sale takes place in Kilmallock mart with 112 bulls on offer. This sale begins at 12.30pm. Kilmallock Monday No Breed Sex Weight 1 Lm steer 370kg 990 2 Hr steers 393kg 925 3 AA steers 363kg 885 7 Fr steers 477kg 945 2 Ch heifers 465kg 965 1 AA heifer 490kg 980 1 Lm cow 440kg 800 Large hailstones battered the roof of Macroom mart on Saturday, with cattle prices inside holding up as good as the roof. Macroom Saturday No Breed Sex Weight 1 Hr steer 605kg 1320 4 AA steers 575kg 1190 5 AA steers 550kg 1150 1 Sim heifer 505kg 1190 2 Ch heifers 430kg 1155 1 Lm cow 720kg 1360 1 AA cow 670kg 1180 We had a good size sale of cattle here again on Saturday, with a notable increase in heifer numbers. There was plenty of interest at ringside with a good trade for all types of stock, John OMahony mart manager of Macroom mart reported after Saturdays cattle sale. And on Saturday, dry cows sold from 120 under to 640 over the kilo. Hereford and Aberdeen Angus bullocks sold from 225 to 740 over the kilo, with continental bullocks selling from 245 to 770 over their weight. Meanwhile, Corrin mart on Tuesday had 1,400 cattle and calves on offer with mart manager, Sean Leahy, reporting a good steady trade for bullocks. In Corrin, store bullocks sold from 200 to 565 over the kilo, with beef bullocks making up to 650 over the kilo. Sean also reported a lively trade for heifers and dry cows. And in Corrin on Tuesday store heifers made from 240 to 400 over the kilo, with butcher types making up to 710 over the kilo. On Tuesday last dry cows made from 600 up to 1,150 a head. Corrin Tuesday No Breed Sex Weight 1 Ch steer 530kg 1285 5 Hr steers 498kg 1130 4 AA steers 590kg 1145 1 Lm heifer 460kg 1170 5 BB heifers 270kg 660 1 Ch heifer 580kg 1245 1 Fr cow 780kg 1150 In Bandon on Monday Friesian bullocks sold from 200 to 500 with their weight. Aberdeen Angus and Hereford bullocks sold from 400 to 700 with the kilo. Heifers in Bandon made from 350 to 700 with the kilo. Bandon Monday No Breed Sex Weight 6 AA steers 635kg 1250 3 AA steers 510kg 1060 3 Hr steers 356kg 860 2 Lm steers 345kg 870 3 Fr steers 750kg 1190 1 AA heifer 680kg 1370 5 AA heifers 395kg 825 Kanturk Tuesday No Breed Sex Weight 1 Fr steer 770kg 1430 4 AA steers 360kg 850 5 Hr steers 320kg 810 1 BB heifer 605kg 1130 4 Ch heifers 440kg 940 3 Lm heifers 360kg 1100 1 Ch cow 760kg 1350 From Bandon on Monday we go to Kanturk on Tuesday, where mart manager Seamus OKeefe gave us a comprehensive report on the action. We had 1,100 animals including 690 calves on offer. We had a great calf sale with up to 420 paid for Hereford bull calves. Friesian bulls, British Friesian three weeks old, were making up to 280 a head. Aberdeen Angus bullocks, one-year-old were making up to 500 with the weight. We had a dairy sale last Saturday with up to 1320 being paid for top class 2nd and 3rd calvers. Saturday April 23rd sees our second annual bull sale and this sale begins at 1pm. Dungarvan Monday No Breed Sex Weight 4 Ch steers 621kg 1380 5 Lm steers 435kg 1025 4 AA steers 421kg 955 1 Hr heifer 580kg 1185 2 AA heifers 407kg 1000 1 AA cow 660kg 1145 1 Fr cow 690kg 1000 Shoving out a few more round bales of silage this morning, I had to wonder when is it all going to stop? Our winter this year has gone beyond a joke. It just doesnt know when to quit. Its like the visitor who doesnt know when its time to leave. For every few good days we get like Monday and Tuesday of this week, we get a Sunday. And Sunday as I have mentioned earlier was a day best forgotten. When a fellow (namely myself) is carrying a bucket of water across a yard and the water is blowing out of the bucket, you know the day is a bad one. When a fellow like me who wears glasses would gladly welcome a set of wipers, you know its a day a bit different to the days they see in places like Barbados. But we will march on, for like the men of 66, that is what we do in farming. And so on that note, for our final mart report this week we head over to Dungarvan mart where mart manager, Ger Flynn, gave us the details. Despite the inclement weather conditions, prices for all types of stock are holding well, said Ger Flynn. Fermoy Guild secretary Noreen Condon recalls Abby Feerick saying after her recovery that shed like to do something for cancer research. Noreen had a word with her friend, Eileen OCallaghan, who gave her a pattern for knitted chickens. Were at it since, says Noreen, who joined the guild on the night it was founded in March 1963. Fermoy ICA has 19 members and most of them are avid knitters. They run a knitting class in the local library on Tuesday afternoons. Non-ICA people come too. There are no bosses we all pass on our tips. The group knits for an orphanage in Zimbabwe; they knit cardigans and jumpers for babies in Chad and they knit hats for Innocent smoothie bottles. (The Innocent Big Knit raises money for Age Action). This year, DAWG (Dog Action Welfare Group) asked if theyd knit Christmas stockings for treats for dogs they said yes. The knitted chicks bring out a generous spirit in people beyond Fermoy. Our friends and relatives sell the chicks in Ballyhooly, Mallow, Kinsale and Dublin, as well as in Fermoy. We got a generous donation this year to buy wool. "Lots of non-ICA members bring bags of wool to us in the library. We get the chocolate eggs at cost from shops in Fermoy and beyond. It takes half an hour to knit a chick but twice as long again to finish him, says Noreen. Id knit 10 at a time, but then you have to stuff the head and sew up the chick, make the eyes and beak and put ribbon around the beak. The chicks come in all colours. Some people even ask for black ones we never refuse anyone. Last year, the knitted chicks raised over 5,000 for cancer research. The expectation is that this year the sum will be more than equalled. The delegation attended the third annual EPP Group Young Farmers Congress. The EPP Group promotes and supports young farmers, as they represent the future of agriculture in the EU. The congress, organised by MEPs Nuno Melo and Esther Herranz in co-operation with the Portuguese Farmers Confederation and the Young Farmers Organisation of Spain, offered an opportunity for more than 200 farmers, from 17 member states, to share their experiences, knowledge, and best practice. Without young farmers, agriculture has no future and without a strong agricultural sector, the European project will collapse, Mr Melo told the congress. Mr Melo. who is from Portugal, pointed out the consequences of the systematic reduction in the number of farmers and young farmers. We cannot compromise the EUs food autonomy, the rational use of land, the environmental preservation of territories nor the jobs and wealth that agriculture generates in our common space, he said. In the European Parliament, the EPP Group wants to be part of the solution. Ms Herranz added: This congress is important to acknowledge and celebrate the vital work that young European farmers are doing for agriculture, not only for today but also for the future, given the ageing trend that the rural population is suffering. Louth Macra representative Jonathan Marry, last years FBD Young Farmer of the Year, presented his project www.pigspit.ie to the gathering. He outlined the background of his pig farming business near Slane, Co Meath, and his decision to take the farm to fork route. He also spoke about how he farms in Newgrange a Unesco world heritage site known around the world for its monolithic tombs. He plans to develop a duck pond to add to the environmental sustainability and economic stability of the farm. Ms McGuinness said: It is great to see young men and women talk about their farming experience first-hand and I want to thank Macra and the delegation and in particular Jonathan for taking part in this important occasion. It is always easier to stay at home, but it takes courage and commitment to share experiences and concerns with farmers from other member states, in the hope that through this process we can learn from each other and forge solutions to difficult problems. Tusla confirmed it is referring its handling of the latest case to an independent review panel for adjudicating. Following reports in the Irish Examiner about the case of an intellectually disable young woman in a Waterford foster home, the government announced the establishment of a commission of inquiry. Sources last night indicated the inquiry could be expanded to examine these new allegations. Fred McBride, chief executive of Tusla the Child and Family Agency said it does not have the money necessary to spend on protecting children and providing family support. Jennifer Gargan, director of advocacy group EPIC, criticised Tusla for failing to provide about one in 10 foster carers with a link social worker. The ISPCC called for a full independent investigation of the fresh allegations highlighted by the RTE Investigations Unit. Chief executive Grainia Long said: It is paramount that the voices of children are heard, listened to, and acted upon. It is essential, for example, that where concerns exist regarding a child in a foster care setting, all children in that setting are met with and any concerns explored. Waterford Fine Gael TD John Deasy, who was to the fore of highlighting the case of Grace, said the scope of the investigation into the allegations of abuse at the foster home now needs to be widened. James Reilly, the acting childrens minister, said through a spokesman last night that he was not informed by Tusla of the latest allegations until Monday. Concerns were first raised in 2007 when a young girl in respite care with a foster family alleged she had been abused by a then 18-year-old member of that family. HSE inquiries found the girls claims to be credible, but it was decided two other foster children could remain with the family and that the alleged abuser was not to have unsupervised contact with them. Josephine Feehily also said she was eager to push the importance of visible policing in rural and urban communities when the authority conducts its first public meeting with garda commissioner Noirin OSullivan later this month. Speaking at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, Ms Feehily said that these public meetings, which are broadcast, would bring a rigour and persistence to the accountability of the gardai that had not been there before. She said this was the soft power the authority had over the commissioner in terms of accountability, but said she and board members had found her open so far. She told delegates that if a police boss did not co-operate, the authority did have the nuclear option of requesting the justice minister to issue instructions to the commissioner. The authoritys first private meeting with the commissioner was held last February shortly after the Regency Hotel military-style assault, which reignited a violent feud between the Kinahan and the Hutch crime gangs. This sparked a double revenge attack, on Edward Hutch in Dublins north inner city three days later and Noel Duggan last month. We had a meeting with the commissioner and her senior team on that [organised crime] in February, said Ms Feehily. This is an extraordinarily difficult job. I think the gardai are very competent; they know the actors. Youve seen the successes theyve had when they deployed against those figures. Theres been a very active period since the Regency in terms of arrests and successes and so on. I think they know their job in relation to organised crime and they know what they need to do, she said. She accepted there had been some criticism of gardai over organised crime, including the high number of unsolved murders. I think those are areas, when we have a body of data, that we would certainly be asking the commissioner some questions about, but theres no getting away from the fact that in the last couple of months theyve been very successful and shown their professionalism and their competence and Id like to acknowledge that, I really do, and complement them. Ms Feehily said that the authoritys first public meeting with the commissioner would centre around community policing and the importance of garda visibility in rural and urban areas. Community confidence is enhanced by visibility, she said. Delegates bakcking the Executive on a montion. Pic: Paul Mealey She [the commissioner] has set out objectives in her own policing plan about community policing, we will ask her about what steps she is taking to achieve those. Meanwhile, the head of the Garda Inspectorate Bob Olson said that it was awaiting the response from the garda commissioner to its Changing Policing report last December, which criticised the forces culture and structure, and argued that 1,500 gardai could be freed from administrative work to the frontline. The chief inspector said that the commissioner had written her report and sent it to the Department of Justice. I am anxious to look at it, he said. Tensions between dissident republicans and unionists have increased in the lead-up to the centenary of the Easter Rising (24-29 April Proclamation of Irish independence). You should avoid all protests and demonstrations, including those associated with Northern Ireland, as they may turn violent, stated a government travel update released on April 11. An increase in crime in Ireland was listed as another concern by the countrys Department of Foreign Affairs. Mr Justice Paul Gilligan was told AIB plc brought proceedings in seeking judgment against Fortberry Ltd for 5m arising out of the firms alleged failure to satisfy a demand for repayment of monies AIB loaned it in 2008. It is also seeking judgment against a director of the firms solicitor, James Flynn, for 2.5m on foot of a guarantee he allegedly entered into in respect of the loan facilities, said Rossa Fanning, for the bank. But the development of the forecasting system will mean more certainty to the physical defence proposals which will be brought forward for public consultation later this year, the Office of Public Works (OPW) said. The Irish Examiner revealed on Tuesday that flood defence work in the Morrisons Island area of the city was being fast-tracked to begin next year. Proposals to deal with tidal flooding there should be ready for public consultation this summer, and they will be implemented as part of a public realm project being undertaken by Cork City Council. Flood defence work in the Blackpool area has already been fast-tracked. However, the OPW, overseeing the 60m Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme the largest flood defence project in the history of the state confirmed work on the rest of the scheme was due to start late next year, will be delivered in phases, and could take up to five years to complete. The OPW said the design of the full flood defence project was dependent on the forecasting system. It was originally intended to develop the design of the defences concurrently with the development of the flood forecasting system, the OPW said. However, it became evident as design work progressed that completion of the full development of the forecasting system would be required before the design of the defences could be progressed to outline design stage. Without the full design of the forecasting system it was clear that there would be too much uncertainty regarding the amount and height of defences, all of which would impact significantly on cost. As a result, the forecasting system, which required the cooperation of key stakeholders such as the ESB, as operators of the dams, and Cork City Council, which will operate the flood forecasting system, was advanced to full design stage. The OPW said it was very complex to develop and required extensive discussion. The spokesperson also confirmed feedback, from the OPWs first round of consultation of the entire range of proposed flood defences, had been analysed and was being taken into account in the schemes design, nearing completion. It is expected the final design proposals, which will include raised embankments in some areas and walls in others, will be put on public display before the year end. That is according to a former president of Social Care Ireland, who will make the comment at SCIs annual conference, which begins today in Kildare. The opening presentation, to be delivered by former SCI president Denise Lyons, covers violence in the workplace. Ms Lyons will note that a totally unacceptable culture has developed which reflects the view that it is acceptable to assault a social care worker, said a spokesperson yesterday. Ms Lyons will advert to the ever-increasing situation social care workers find themselves in, being subject to violence in the workplace. This is not new. A survey examining violence in the workplace will be launched by SCI this summer. The theme of the two-day conference is balancing care in an era of regulation and professionalisation. The opening speech today will be delivered by Fred McBride, the new chief executive of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, who replaced Gordon Jeyes last month. A series of workshops will be held today and tomorrow, covering areas such as child sexual exploitation, street drugs, and how to safely engage with social media. Research and policy presentations will also be given, examining areas including the care needs of homeless mothers and gender roles in social care practice. The conference comes as childrens charity Barnardos warned that thousands of children are at risk of neglect and abuse due to consistent underfunding of Tusla and various support services. Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay said a lack of funding for frontline staff at Tusla will see more children damaged by neglect many severely and irreparably. Figures from Tusla reveal that at the end of January there had been 6,371 children in care in Ireland, with 426 (7%) not allocated a social worker. We know neglect is the main reason for referral into Tusla, said Mr Finlay, yet Tuslas underfunding has meant a dearth of frontline personnel to offer appropriate support and instead it focuses mainly on crisis cases. The incident happened in Lagan Grove in Mayfield on Monday night. Neighbours reported that, at approximately 11.30pm there was a knock on their door. The man from the Polish family, who is understood to work as a chef, was looking for help. A fire had been started in a stolen wheelie bin in his drive by a large gang, estimated to be aged between mid teens and early 30s, who were gathered around it. The neighbours brought the man back down to get his wife. Luckily the couples young son and older daughter were not in the house at the time. His wife initially stayed in the house as she was too scared so the man came back with the neighbours to ring the firebrigade and gardai. They then went back up to the house to get his wife. The neighbours said bottles were being thrown by the gang. The man went back up to collect some belongings so they could go and stay at a friends house. The neighbours then heard a commotion outside and found the man being attacked and his wife trying to protect him. One man has so far been arrested in relation to the incident. The couples daughter, Roxanne, said the family have now decided to give the house back to Cork City Council because they are too scared to live there. They were trying to take away my dads life and they were trying to put the house on fire, Roxanne told UTV Ireland. If my brother was still in the house, how would they have been escaping with my brother? My brother would not be able to protect himself. They were throwing bottles at my dad and my mum. We are definitely not going to move up here. Safety is more important. The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors called on Commissioner Noirin OSullivan to conduct a risk assessment on the international terror threat and provide the necessary information and training to members. The call stemmed from a motion debated, and unanimously passed, at AGSIs annual conference yesterday. A delegate, who wished to remain anonymous, told the conference: I pose the question, what would you do if a terrorist bomb exploded on our main thoroughfares tomorrow, or if there was an attack with chemical or biological weapons at a large-scale public event such as the All-Ireland? Ill tell you what youd do: Panic, panic, and panic. Wed run around like headless chickens panicking. We, the people here today and our frontline colleagues around the country, actually wouldnt have a clue where to start, what plan to put in place, or how to investigate the incident. The delegate said the recent terror attacks in France and Belgium had made governments sit up and realise Europe is now a genuine and legitimate target for fundamentalist terrorist organisations. He said the likes of IS and al Qaeda pose a serious threat and we in Ireland are not exempt. It is in the realisation that we in Ireland are not beyond the possibility of an international terrorist attack that I raise the motion for this association to lead the call to have Garda resources prepared and ready to handle terrorist incidents and that our members must be appropriately trained in intelligence gathering, information analysis, prevention planning, interception techniques, and evacuation, and that a general policy be adapted to advise all members of pertinent information of threats, and that relevant instructions be prepared for members to follow in the event of such an attack. Another delegate, Liam Corcoran from Tipperary, said: I have found it bewildering that our own Garda management has failed to provide us with a briefing, with information, with training, with equipment, with something that would help us define what this threat actually is and that would help us defend ourselves and the people we serve. Because, heaven forbid, but if that call should come we will turn out and we will do our duty but I want to think that we will have a reasonable expectation that we will make it home. As there is a recognisable hazard in our workplace, you must demand from the commissioner that she defines what the risk is and provides the appropriate control measures. Supporting the motion, AGSI president Antoinette Cunningham said many members do not know what the terror threat level is. We would also question the capability, knowledge, and training that members on the frontline have in relation to responding to such an incident. AGSI call on the Garda commissioner ensure that an immediate in-depth skills analysis of members capability to deal with an incident of this kind is conducted, and the results acted on, to ensure gardai at all ranks have the appropriate skills to fulfil their role as first responders in these situations, she said. Speaking at the conference on Tuesday, Ms OSullivan said briefings had been provided to gardai at local and regional levels. International atrocities indicate just how seriously we must take our national security function and the international collaborations it requires, she said. Focus Ireland said its records show the housing crisis left 293 families, with about 600 children, with no home in the first three months of the year. And according to the Governments own figures 912 families and 1,881 children were living in emergency homeless accommodation at the end of February. Mike Allen, the charitys head of advocacy, said it was highly worrying that despite all the talk about homelessness, the caretaker government has taken no new actions to tackle it since the election. These new figures clearly show that the family homeless crisis is continuing to deepen with nearly 300 newly homeless families referred to Focus Irelands family services in the first three months of this year compared to a total of 739 becoming homeless in Dublin during the whole of last year. Many more single people have also become homeless during this time. Focus Ireland warned the homeless numbers would be even higher if it was not for the work it does supporting families into secure housing with the support of the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive. It helps at least one family a day while another three are left with no home. It was great to see these families we have been working to support finally find a place to call home. It means so much to them and is so positive for all especially the children, said Mr Allen. Focus Ireland called for the housing and homeless crisis to be at the heart of any new programme for government, including a commitment to end homelessness and building 40,000 social homes over the next five years. Mr Allen said actions could be taken while government talks go on including greater security for tenants in buy-to-let properties as 27,492 of these properties are more than 90 days in mortgage arrears. Focus Ireland also called for a rise in the rent supplement to meet market levels and confirmation of what action is required to ensure Nama delivers more social housing. According to data from the Department of the Environment there were 912 families with 1,881 children left homeless in the last week of February. Some 600 were single parent families. The Governments homelessness report recorded 2,692 homeless adults in Dublin at the end of February, 260 in the South-West which includes Cork and Kerry and 260 in the South-East in Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford. Another 220 were recorded in the Mid-West, which includes Clare and Limerick, and 187 in the Mid-East region of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. More than half were aged 25-44. Patrick Corcoran, with an address at Castlefarm Stud, Narraghmore, Athy, Co Kildare, pleaded not guilty at Waterford Circuit Court to careless driving. It is the States case that the 49-year-old truck driver drove without due care or attention, thereby causing the death of Daenerys Crosbie-Callaghan on November 18, 2014, at Manor St. Carole Anne Crosbie told barrister for the State, David Humphries, she was late for work and her daughter was late for her first day of creche, as the first bus was full. She was just a few feet away from the creche on Manor St when she tried to cross the road. Ms Crosbie said traffic was still on her side when she stepped off the footpath. The other side started to flow and before she could do anything the truck started to move. Both mother and daughter went under. Bystanders assisted Carole Anne and Daenerys until emergency services arrived. Indaver Irelands managing director John Ahern and a senior county council official confirmed talks are continuing over the likely use of a landfill site at Bottlehill. The unused landfill site, 20km north of Cork city, cost the council 48m to complete. The 100-hectare site has an Environmental Protection Agency licence for five million tonnes of waste over its lifetime. The first built phase has 6.5 acres of landfill cells. The local authority had planned to utilise the site from 2010, but a surplus of landfill amenities in the country made it uneconomical. Last June, the council sought expressions of interest from the private sector for possible projects at Bottlehill. It is currently in discussion with two companies, one of which is Indaver. Some pits have been opened at the site, which could deal with 660,000 tonnes of waste in the immediate to midterm future. It has capacity for 5.4m tonnes. Protests over the incinerator in Cork, March 2016 Mr Ahern said only non-hazardous ash would be buried at the site. He said it was hoped in the longer term to treat the ash, most of which could be used for road construction. However, despite treatment, remaining residues would be buried. He said Indaver had also examined locating an incinerator in Bottlehill. However, the company decided Ringaskiddy was a better option as it could sell off heat generated by it to industries and households in the lower harbour area. Mr Ahern said Indaver would not be using Bottlehill for the disposal of a further 40,000 tonnes of non- hazardous ash generated yearly at its incinerator in Co Meath, as the waste is deposited in landfills in Leinster and Monaghan. He plans to conclude talks with the council as soon as possible and said Indaver would be happy to be the sole tenant on the site, or share it with a compatible project. Eleven tonnes of hazardous ash would be produced at Ringaskiddy, the same as in Co Meath. At the moment we export this residue to Germany where it us used as backfill in salt mines, he said. When the local authority initially sought expressions of interest for the Bottlehill site, officials had suggested it could become a renewable energy ecopark with wind turbines and food digesters that would generate power for the national grid. Meanwhile, Sharon Corcoran, head of the councils environment directorate, said members of her team were currently in discussion with Indaver. Sharon Corcoran However, she said given the commercial sensitivity around the project, she was not yet at liberty to disclose the subject matter. Maintenance of the Bottlehill site, despite never being used, costs Cork Co Council 200,000 a year to comply with EPA legislation. With huge opposition in Cork harbours towns and villages, Bord Pleanala is to due to begin an oral hearing into the Ringaskiddy incinerator proposal on April 19. Three weeks have been pencilled in for the hearing in Carrigaline Court Hotel. Action group Chase, which has led opposition to the plan since 2002, is to mount a major demonstration outside the hearing. A debate has raged since the downturn about the fairness of paying the 140 per month benefit to everyone from millionaires to the unemployed. Ryanair boss and millionaire Michael OLeary called for it to be scrapped, describing it as a subsidy for people having sex. Last year, the top 1% of income earners in Ireland had an average annual pay of 373,000, while the bottom 90% earned just 27,400. But both high earners on six-figure salaries and those on low incomes get the same approximate 1,700 a year from the State for each child. According to the Department of Social Protection, child benefit, while a universal payment to all, is not an automatic payment and parents must choose to register for it at the birth of each child. They can also write to the department asking that it be stopped. If a parent does not wish to claim their child benefit payment, they can notify the Department of Social Protection in writing to that effect and their claim will be stopped in accordance with their wishes, said a spokeswoman. The total number of customers who contacted the department between 2012 and this year requesting to discontinue receiving child benefit is eight, in respect of a total of 10 children. In 2012, two parents asked that child benefit not be paid for their three children. In 2013, three parents contacted the department and asked that it be discontinued for their four children. In 2014 and 2015, one person each year asked not be paid the benefit for one child. The 2013 Mangan report on child benefit recommended that child benefit remain a universal payment but suggested two options: Taxation of the benefit, or else a two-tier payment involving a top-up for families on low incomes. Joan Burton, the acting social protection minister, chose to not take up these recommendations. It was also revealed in leaked Cabinet papers that the late minister for finance, Brian Lenihan had, during the economic crisis, urged that a significant cut in child benefit must be contemplated, especially for those on higher incomes. The then childrens minister, Barry Andrews, also made the same call saying it was difficult to justify a situation where high earners were receiving child benefit from tax paid by people on much lower incomes. However, leading child advocates such as Barnardos CEO Fergus Finlay have long argued the payment not be means tested. Means testing child benefit is a bureaucratic and administratively difficult and expensive task that will leave families worse off and force many parents to question whether they can afford to stay in employment while meeting the high costs of raising children, he said. Andrzej Kata, of St Vincents hostel, Anglesea Terrace, Cork, appeared at Cork District Court yesterday accused of breaching a barring order. Through a Polish interpreter he pleaded guilty to the crime. Inspector Bill Duane said: The facts are that on March 24 the accused went to the workplace of his estranged wife. He approached his wife in the canteen and demanded the return of her wedding ring. There was a barring order in force. Ms Ilnickas ordeal, in which she claims to have been brutally attacked and sexually assaulted in a west of Ireland town, was highlighted by the Irish Examiner last year. Following the report, a Garda investigation of the case was ordered by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald. That has been ongoing for the last 12 months and on Tuesday, the man against whom Ms Ilnicka made her allegations was interviewed by gardai. He attended his local Garda station by appointment. The investigation team is now compiling a file for the DPP which is expected to be completed in the near future. Ms Ilnicka is a Polish national who was living in this country for less than a year when she claims she was assaulted in 2006 by the man, whom she had known for a short period. When gardai arrived at the house where the alleged attack occurred, she was in a severe state of distress and injury and was brought to a medical centre. The man who was in the house with her at the time was not arrested, but was later charged with a relatively minor offence for which he received a suspended sentence. Ms Ilnickas injuries were such that she had to be transferred first to Sligo Regional Hospital and subsequently to a hospital in Derry. Hospital records show that she told staff she had been subjected to a sexual assault, but there is no record any examination for sexual assault was conducted. She had a poor grasp of English at the time, but despite that there was no interpreter present when she subsequently gave a statement to the gardai. For a number of years after, she received counselling, but it was only when her story was published in January 2015, in the Irish Examiner, that the case was reopened. Since then, the gardai have been conducting an investigation into all elements of the case. Other investigations were opened by the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission and the HSE. The interview of the suspect on Tuesday is seen as signalling that the Garda investigation is now reaching a conclusion. An umbrella group of doctors, nurses, other healthcare professionals, and patient groups has urged a new Cabinet post be set up by the next government. A primary care minister which would be separate to a health minister would help a badly needed overhaul of crucial services, according to the Primary Care Partnership. It has also demanded more GPs be recruited. Dr Ronan Fawsitt, spokesman for the group, said the new ministerial position should be created as soon as an administration is sorted out in Leinster House. A GP-led primary care system is the best way to resolve issues with the current health system, he said. A minister for primary care is crucial to ensure the effective long-term planning and delivery of a better primary care system for all stakeholders. Primary care is defined by the HSE as all health or social care services outside of hospitals. It includes GPs, public health nurses, and other services. The Primary Care Partnership includes the National Association of General Practitioners, the Irish Patients Association, Irish Practice Nurses Association, and 10 other groups representing primary carers and medics. Launching its first document, Primary Care: A Framework For The Future, chairman Chris Goodey urged the incoming government to take seriously the ideas proposed. For the first time ever, primary care providers have come together to give the Government a series of solutions to fix our health service, he said. We now have an opportunity to put in place some tangible change which can make a real difference. The story about the connection between this magnificent window in Cork and the trade union movement is an interesting one. In the early 1900s, workers in Ireland were suffering from low wages and rising prices, due to the outbreak of the First World War, which caused strikes throughout the country. This sparked Fr Thomas Dowling (1874-1950), a Capuchin priest who had studied social reform, to set up a Conciliation Board in Cork. This had an equal number of employer and trade union members and was the first such organisation in an English- speaking country. As its first chairman, Fr Thomas presided over many trade disputes; the most notorious was one between the tram workers and the company, for whom he brokered a successful settlement. In 1918, in recognition of the work he had carried out as an arbitrator, the Cork & District Trades & Labour Council donated a large stained glass window to Holy Trinity Church, on Fr Mathew Quay, Cork, along with electing him as honorary president of the council. Holy Trinity Church Around this time, Harry Clarke (1889-1931) had just completed the stained glass windows in the Honan Chapel at UCC, which established his reputation as a world class artist. Probably due to this, he was also selected to do the Fr Thomas Dowling Memorial Window for Holy Trinity Church. Clarke was educated at Belvedere College in Dublin, and, on leaving school, joined the family business of J Clarke & Sons in Dublin. He attended art college in both Dublin and London, and won a travelling scholarship, which gave him an opportunity to study stained glass in France. He was influenced by the medieval glass he saw there as well as by other continental artists. However, he developed his own unique style, with its exquisite drawing detail and jewel-like colours, and succeeded in adapting modern European to an Irish style. From the outset, problems arose with this commission. For example, the sponsors wanted to have a crucifixion included in the commission, as well as the stained glass window, for the same price. In addition, they wanted a very lengthy inscription at the bottom of the window, naming all of their officials. Unsurprisingly, Clarke was not happy to do the additional work, without being paid for it, and felt that a lengthy inscription would not only spoil the window but could not be read from the ground. Things came to a head in September 1918, as Clarke had become completely disaffected with the project. He wrote to the architect, James F McMullan, to say he no longer intended continuing with the commission, but he also put forward a solution to the problem. He offered to give his design to his father, Joshua, to select the glass and to generally supervise the work. In that way, he guaranteed that they would get as good a window as they could expect. In the end, and to the benefit of the Irish public, the sponsors opted for Clarkes original design. This magnificent two-light window depicts Christ Prince of Peace, in a ruby red robe, and St Francis, in the traditional brown robe of his order. It contains several symbols of peace, from the dove held by St Francis, to the myrtle and olive branches surrounding the figures. Clarke could also combine the macabre with the beautiful. In the lower panels of the window, angels are depicted, surrounded by devils, weeping over the Cork city skyline. Clarke would have been familiar with the 1913 lockout in Dublin and was no doubt depicting the misery and strife caused by industrial disputes in this window. The controversial inscription has had a happy ending as it was through it that the present day Cork Council of Trade Unions learned of its existence. As usual, my mum had beaten me to it. Id been asked to have a root around the online censuses of 1901 and 1911 to see what elements of family history I could find. Instead, my mother had it already done. Out came the box of documents and here it was, history at my fingertips. I had already looked into the census data for my fathers side of the family and now here, alongside that, were copies of the actual census forms on my mothers side, as filled out more than a century ago. There are the names, including John Wolfe, my grandads grandad and head of the house down in Courtmacsherry, aged 68 in 1911. One of the questions back then was State here whether he or she can Read and Write, Read only, or Cannot Read. In Johns column he wrote Can read and write, as though the extra word can more than proved it. His son, Samuel my great grandfather is also listed alongside his siblings and that night in 1911 there was even a visitor to the family home listed the exotically named Esther Wagner. Oddly, the census form for the same household in 1901 also shows that another Wagner, Kate, was visitor on census night, and like her namesake, described as a scholar. On another page, written in a hand closer to calligraphy, are the names of my grandmothers family from that time, including Thomas John Perrott, a farmer and my grannys grandad, and lower down the page the name of his son, John Perrott, then 24, my grannys father, all based in Ardgehane, not too far away from Courtmacsherry. Its fair to say that when we hunch over our census forms on April 24, things will be a little different. There will be more questions, for a start, but one aspect is likely to remain unchanged: Whatever you write down is likely to stay under lock and key for another 100 years. Deirdre Cullen of the CSOs census division is aware that genealogists, for one, would love that 100-year span to be cut, but states: Its a complete non-runner. Dierdre Cullen, who says the CSO does not own the census data, but rather manages it on behalf of users of the data. Picture: Conor McCabe She believes protections afforded to the actual paper census returns under the Statistics Act 1993 are there for a good reason; that if people thought someone might be able to see their census return while they were still alive, it could inhibit them in honestly and comprehensively filling in the forms. So we have resisted it, she says, despite a campaign and accompanying petition from the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations for the 1926 Census records to be opened ahead of time. Speaking to Deirdre is fascinating. I had never appreciated that, in various warehouses, all the census returns from all the censuses since 1926 are carefully stored and maintained. When you consider the CSO expects 45m separate pages from Census 2016, this is eye-popping stuff. The older records are under the control of the National Archives whereas those from the mid-1950s are the responsibility of the CSO. The National Archives still plays a key role. For example, while Census 2002 delayed by a year due to the Foot and Mouth crisis has already been scanned in its entirety and retained in a digital master file, the National Archives has insisted the paper returns be maintained. This is just one part of the preparation and bartering process surrounding a census. According to Deirdre, the CSO does not own the census data, it manages it on behalf of users of the data. And so alongside a public consultation prior to any census taking, different government departments and agencies offer their views as to possible questions for inclusion. One example is a suggestion from the Revenue Commissioners that a question about a second or holiday home be included. The CSO said no. The Humanist Association and others took issue with the way the religion question was phrased. What is your religion? implies you have one, but Deirdre admits that while that question may change in future, for 2016 it will remain the same, adding: Its not the only question that says what is your ...? It is proof that you can never please all the people all the time, and in the case of the census, you are literally talking about all the people. Its also interesting to note that after the last census in 2011, five people were successfully prosecuted for not filling in their forms. Deirdre says: In our experience we get very little nonsense on the forms. We know when we analyse it that its not nonsense. Noel Baker examines his familys census forms from the turn of the last century And thats the key: The census provides the key data that should inform policy and planning for the foreseeable future. Deirdres colleague, Helen Cahill, helped put together a 1916 snapshot for the commemorative year thats in it, blending census data from 1911 with other official sources of information. You can check out Arthur Griffiths census return, or the amount of servants of various titles working in the Vice-Regal Lodge in Dublin. It paints a vivid picture of Ireland at the time, and not least for Dublin, which was the epicentre of the Easter Rising. What will our successors think of Ireland 2016 when they delve back into the information well detail on April 24? One thing is certain: we should cherish those bits of paper a little more as, according to Deirdre, by the next census in 2021, many of us might be sending in an electronic return. More likely it will be mixed mode, with paper for those who still want to scribble the information by hand, and an online census for those for whom a pen might as well be as novel as a chopstick. The CSO is closely monitoring the Australian census due in September, when PINs and access codes will be issued via the post to households, opening up an online census which might set the path for us in five years. I can only wonder what my great-great-grandparents, carefully filling in their forms by candlelight, would make of it all. An exhibition featuring the CSOs Life in 1916 Ireland data will be held in Cork in April. The data can be accessed at www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-1916/1916irl/ An award-winning satellite has been designed, built and launched by a bunch of teenagers who also managed to fit the whole thing into a Coke can. Three students spent months designing their sophisticated machine which boasts not only its own GPS to facilitate guided landing, but efficiently records temperature and air pressure. Daniel Pogosyan, Adam Murphy and James OShaughnessy from Glanmire Community College in Cork have been chosen to represent their county in a nationwide space project in which teams of second-level students are competing to design, build and test the best mini-satellite or CanSat which can fit into a soft drinks can. Each team has to fit all the major subsystems found in a real satellite into their CanSat including power, sensors and communications equipment and also provide a parachute to ensure the souped-up can has a gentle landing! Glanmire teams CanSat. Picture: Gerard McCarthy Our satellite is in a 330ml can filled with circuitry, explained team programmer Daniel Pogosyan (17), who said he had thoroughly enjoyed the project. It was originally a Coke can but we re-formed it so as to fit the circuitry into it. The hardest part of the work was calibrating the thermostat, said the talented teen Daniel is in the throes of programming a GPS system for the can, so that when it lands it will do so in our selected location and well be able to find it easily. His favourite part of the project, he says, was programming the satellite. I learned a lot about engineering from doing this project, and engineering will probably be one of my college choices. I like working with logic and engineering, so I really enjoyed the whole thing. We came up against problems but we always found the solution. I also learned a lot about programming and worked out how to use an Excel sheet in Microsoft Office. We also had to learn communication and presentation skills. I learned an awful lot I didnt know about how electrical components work so it was a great learning experience overall, said the teenager. They did get expert support and advice along with the two other members of the group, Daniel attended regular two-hour mentoring and teaching sessions at Cork Institute of Technology. These classes equipped the three youths with the sophisticated skills required to cope with this very demanding project. But it wasnt all painstaking high-tech work the boys also re-painted the can in the Cork colours and decorated it with a colourful space-themed logo on a sticker specially designed by first-year students at the school. CanSat is a unique space project that simulates a real satellite which fits into the volume of a soft drinks can, explained Dr Eamon Connolly, Electrical and Electronic Engineering Promotion Officer of the Cork Technology Network or CEIA, one of the organising bodies involved in the space competition. Students launch their own satellite and get first-hand practical experience of a real space project. The team from Glanmire Community College joined St Brogans in Bandon and Colaiste an Chraoibhin from Fermoy in competing for a place at tomorrows CanSat national final. Each satellite had to be able to measure the air pressure and air temperature after release and during descent. Its young designers then had to display the data collected in a graph and present their individual results to the judging panel. The successful Glanmire trio will join six other award-winning teams from around the country to compete in the final of the European Space Agency competition in Birr Castle, Co Offaly, tomorrow. The groups maths and physics teacher William Horgan, who is also a qualified engineer, oversaw the project. He said the boys learned a range of challenging new skills under the guidance of a specially-chosen mentor who was allocated to them as part of the projects links with Cork Institutes of Technology a final-year engineering student at the Institute. As part of the project, each second-level school team linked up with a third-level partner institute these included Cork Institute of Technology, Dublin Institute of Technology, Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology and Limerick Institute of Technology. They had to develop computer programming skills and a range of technical skills because they had to learn how to actually build the structure required to house the circuitry and fit inside the Coke can, Mr Horgan explained. On top of the technical skills they had to learn how to give presentations, he said, adding that within just four months of beginning the project the boys had to have the satellite ready for launching on its primary mission and ensure it was capable of measuring temperature and pressure. Rocket launch at 2014 CanSat final in Birr. Picture: Gerard McCarthy It was launched in CIT for the first time in mid-March and worked very well, said Mr Horgan. He adds that the three students are currently further refining the cans GPS system to enable them to achieve a guided landing. The big benefit for the students is that theyre developing a wide range of STEM skills programming, electronic engineering, circuitry. In terms of third-level engineering courses and employment further down the track these are very desirable skills, he added. Tomorrow the Glanmire team will join students from Dunmore Community School, Galway St Josephs College, Borrisoleigh, Co Tipperary, Colaiste Chiarain, Co Limerick, Confey College, Kildare, Belvedere College, Dublin and Marist College Athlone to compete at the national final in a bid to represent Ireland at the European Final in June. The competition is a joint collaboration between European Space Education Resource Office Ireland (ESERO), the CEIA and is co-funded by the European Space Agency and Science Foundation Ireland Discover, the education and outreach programme managed by Science Foundation Ireland. The CEIA-ESERO Ireland National CanSat Final 2016 takes place tomorrow at Birr Castle, Co Offaly. For more information, see the education section of the European Space Agencys site, esa.int/Education; and the front page of the European Space Education Resource Office at esero.ie. Career trajectory of a previous CanSat winner Winning the CanSat competition not only meant getting an award it was also the catalyst for 2014 winner Chris Kelly to re-consider his college choices and even set up a business. Now a first-year computer engineering student at the University of Limerick, the 19-year-old was a member of a group of fifth-year pupils at Crescent College Comprehensive in Limerick, who won the 2014 competition. Up to then Id been thinking of studying maths-related subjects in college, but after participating in the CanSat competition I ended up opting for computer engineering, recalls the teenager, who says the CanSat project was the catalyst for his decision in recent months to found a tech company in conjunction with a group of college friends. The skills I learned for the Can Sat project computer programming, electronics, mechanics, as well as project planning and team skills like communication and presentation were crucial to the decision to set up my start-up company Talamh Innovations, says the teenager, whose company not only designs drones to monitor crop growth in agriculture, but also produces a tracking system for hospital resources in collaboration with the Peri-Operative Care team at University Hospital Limerick. www.talamhinnovations.com She is negotiating with Machiavellian skill the ruthless world of American politics, but Claire Underwood, the icy blonde First Lady in the Netflix blockbuster, House of Cards, may find that her Achilles heel is literally that, as she strides purposely and endlessly around in stilettos. Underwood, played by 48-year-old actress Robin Wright, may live in the White House, but nevertheless it is her home, where most women kick off their high heels with relief, no longer needing to keep up appearances. Not this First Lady though, who is seen wearing her Manolos and Louboutins in the kitchen, in the bedroom and even when she shares a forbidden cigarette with her husband, the closest they ever get to winding down together. But although she always seems cunningly a step ahead, Claire is not being too smart about the damage she is causing to her feet and her uber-erect posture, especially as she edges closer to her 50s. Robin Wright, who plays Claire Underwood in House of Cards, wears her statement shoes in the kitchen What happens a lot to women who are wearing high heels is that they increase their weight underneath the ball of the foot and this restricts the ankle they cant bend their ankle to walk forward, says podiatrist Lorcan ODonaile. The calves then become tight and shortened and it changes their posture position. As a result of having to compensate they may often have lower back problems and neck and shoulder problems, or pain in the front of the foot, through the balls of the foot. "My advice is dont do too much walking in them because there is a high price to pay. Even if you dont warm to Underwood, you can feel her pain if shes not experiencing it now, she will soon. The vast majority of female clients at Achilles Clinic in Cork, which ODonaile owns, are aged 50 upwards and usually what brings them there are issues that have been exacerbated by those damned high heels. But what about bunions the scourge of our sensibly heeled grannies before us? They can happen naturally because of foot mechanics, whether or not you wear tight shoes, says the podiatrist. However for stiletto lovers, bunions can come quicker as the toes get driven down into a narrow space and squeezed together, confining their movement. So for those of us whose one pair of stilettos rarely see the light of day, what can we expect to happen naturally, to our feet as we age? The biggest issue is you start to lose strength within your musculature and in your ligaments and soft tissue, says ODonaile. As a result of that you stiffen up to try and make yourself more steady. The physiotherapist at the clinic says that motion is lotion so its good to keep exercising, as encouraging our mobility can definitely help. "If an older person such as an 80-year-old is mobile, they may be fine, but if aged 60 and not mobile then they may not be its not strictly down to how old you are, he says. However when it comes to shoe-influenced foot problems gender equality gets stamped out: Mens feet are generally better because of the type of footwear theyve worn throughout life; thats where the shoe has a negative influence. "High heels are generally about fashion, whereas men are just concerned with comfort and they wont put up with an uncomfortable shoe. But if you must wear the heels then toss them off as soon as you can afterwards, he says. And try and keep as flexible as you can generally so that your body will be more accepting then, when you wear a shoe thats not helpful. Meanwhile, the fictional Claire Underwood could well take a leaf out of a real First Ladys shoe style (good) sense. Michelle Obama has made wearing flats and kitten heels , no higher than two inches, a cool look, leading the way not only for other 50-somethings, but for younger women as well. Though Obama may partly favour those styles because she is so tall, former first lady and US Democratic presidential campaigner Hillary Clinton, undoubtedly is favouring her kitten heels on the canvass because of comfort. At 68, Clinton hopefully isnt battling bunions as she negotiates those tricky primaries and caucuses. But when it comes to being sensible about her footwear shes in step with her male competitors. Dual purpose Women who have large calcium deposits in their breast arteries, more than likely have the same build-up in their heart arteries, according to researchers, who are suggesting that mammograms may serve a dual purpose in health detection in the future. Researcher Dr Laurie Margolies, of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, suggests when radiologists look at mammograms for signs of breast cancer, they can also see calcium deposits that have built up in the arteries that supply blood to the breasts. Women who have large calcium deposits in their breast arteries have likely developed similar deposits in the heart arteries which would provide a warning sign of heart disease, she said. Second spring Menopause and ageing can leave midlife women feeling vulnerable. Add in the loss of self-esteem which can go hand in hand with hormonal symptoms, and its not surprising confidence can take a nosedive. In response, Aisling Grimley, right, founder of My Second Spring, the Irish website for positive midlife and menopause, has organised a confidence masterclass called New Career, New Challenge: The Nudge you Need, on May 5, at 6.30pm at The Merrion Hotel, Dublin. Hosted by change facilitator and body confidence expert Mags Clark-Smith, she will be joined by three women who have made or are making big changes at midlife. It promises to be an inspiring and fun evening. Tickets 30, available from: https://goo.gl/XECYOs Ageing Quote We are always the same age inside US writer, Gertrude Stein Silver Surfer Sort out your memory lapse worries http://bit.ly/1MNxwzI Cathal Bui Mac Giolla Ghunnas yellow bittern fell foul of climate change. The Little Ice Age began in Europe in the 16th Century and lasted until 1850; the winters of Cathals time (1680 to 1756) were severe. Marsh birds, their reed-bed haunts frozen solid, starved to death in the depths of winter and the harvesting of reeds, to thatch the roofs of a burgeoning pre-Famine population, reduced the great beds in which bitterns nested. Cathal Buis lament was prophetic; the bunnans days were numbered. It bred here for the last time in 1840. Bitterns fared no better in Britain; they disappeared there also. Then, in 1911, a pair nested in Norfolk. Numbers increased over the next few decades but declined again. By the 1970s, however, they had bred in 11 English counties. Reed-beds were protected and wetland habitats managed. A paper, published in British Birds, claimed that the number of booming males rose from 11 in 1997 to 104 in 2011. The bittern is prospering on the other side of the Irish Sea. Could it do so here? The numbers visiting Ireland have increased in recent winters. The occurrence of 12 since 2009 clearly suggests an upturn in fortunes for this species claimed the Irish Rare Bird Report for 2013. Our reed-beds dont compare with those of East Anglia, but some of these visitors might be tempted to stay on for the summer. Its a long shot, perhaps, but they might even breed. Oh to be in (Ireland) now that Aprils here! It might be worth keeping an eye, or rather an ear, out for bitterns? They start nesting around now. The bunnan belongs to the heron family but unlike the correisc, wrongly called the crane in Ireland, it doesnt nest colonially in trees. This skulking solitary stalker has yellowish plumage with long dark-brown streaks. The eyes are directed downwards, under the bill, to spot the fish frogs and creepy crawlies it hunts. When danger threatens, the bill is raised vertically, with the eyes focused horizontally, in the famous bittern posture. Beautifully camouflaged, the bird sways back and forth with the reeds as they bend in the wind. Bitterns may be difficult to spot among dense vegetation, but their presence is soon detected. He shall not hear the bittern cry, in the wild sky where he is lain wrote Francis Ledwidge. This line has misled generations of Irish schoolchildren; the bitterns boom could not, by any stretch of the imagination, be described as a cry. To be fair to Ledwidge, he was not the only poet to be misinformed about bunnans. Chaucers Wife of Bath Tale refers to the bittern sticking its bill into the mud to produce the strange sound. The bittern knows his time with bill engulphed, to shake the surrounding marsh wrote James Thomson in his Four Seasons poem, Spring. The low-pitched fog-horn burst, one of the most evocative sounds in nature, is produced by swallowing and belching out air. Audible up to 5km away in calm weather, Pliny likened it to the distant roar of a bull. Indeed, bull-rushes are named for the booming of bitterns hiding among them. The bull of the bogs strange song attracts females and warns challengers off his territory. Occasionally, a female answers with a weaker version of the call. He can have up to five wives on nests in his demesne. You may catch a glimpse of the elusive bird, as he flies low over the reeds on visits to them. Nests are built, and chicks raised, by the females without any help from him. A reed bed in summer rejoices to the jerky raucous recitals of sedge warblers and the wild screams of water-rails but, without the bittern and his booming, its Hamlet without the Prince. MEDIA reports around the world bristled with court reports of a gang jailed in England last week for conspiracy to plunder 70m worth of artifacts and rhino horns from British museums. Passing sentences, Judge Murray Creed said seven of the 14 original gang members had family links to Rathkeale, Co Limerick. The Rathkeale Rovers were back in the news big time. Walking through the Traveller enclave of Fair Hill in Rathkeale this week, Dan Neville got agitated when I mentioned the Rathkeale Rovers and the image the gang were giving the town. Most of the gang, he said, had no links to this country and those with family ties to the town had left years ago. The former TD knows Rathkeales Traveller community better than most and always harvested a huge slice of the Rathkeale Traveller vote in Dail elections. I can tell you something, the so-called Rathkeale Rovers have no fans in this town, he said. Dan Neville Stopping for a chat with one local, he was invited in for a cup of tea. I can go into any Traveller home in Rathkeale and always feel welcome. I know and respect the Traveller community and they know and respect me. As we moved down Main St, Dan said he would like to open the door and bring me into the Rathkeale he knows, or as he puts it, the real Rathkeale. Away from the headlines, he said, major work is being done to build bridges between the settled and Traveller communities. The town has 1,700 residents of which about 700 are travellers. Dan Neville is angered by the depiction of Travellers on the TV series, Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. This aspect of Traveller life has been exploited in a cheap way. They dress up and enjoy weddings like all families do. As a local politician, Travellers are not over demanding. You try to give them the same service you give everybody, he said. Mr Neville speaks of a new, exciting project which has taken off in the town to bring the settled and Traveller communities closer together. It is being overseen by David Breen of West Limerick Resources, who spent four years working with Irish Aid in the Philippines. David Breen is facilitator of Rathkeale Together, which has a vision of one community with two cultures. It works to create a sense of togetherness between the settled and Traveller communities. When we meet, David talks passionately of Rath Caola Le Ceile or Rathkeale Together. David, 63, the facilitator of Rathkeale Toghether said it has a vision of one community with two cultures. We see this as a movement. It is the aim to permeate into all groups, clubs, and organisaitons in the town, he said. Already it has brought Travellers and settled peope together to repair storm damage caused to CYMS parish hall. It will cost around 40,000 to fix. Already we have raised 18,000 of which 10,000 was donated by the JP McManus Foundation. There is a very active committee and the treasurer and assistant treasurer are both from the Traveller community, said David. More than two years ago David came up with a plan to create a new mood of togetherness between the settled and Traveller communities. David, a native of Wexford, said: On two separate days we took groups of 20 away for a day to meet and talk over a meal. One group of 20 came from the settled community and the second group of 20 came from the Traveller community The idea is to develop a new relationship between two communities which live parallel to one another in the one town without a huge amount of engagement. During those two days each group explored and talked about the peculiar cultural differences which challenge everyday life in Rathkeale. Then both groups were brought together for an event which included a meal. David said: One Traveller woman remarked that if anyone had told her that she would be sitting down having lunch with members of the settled community and enjoying it, she would not have believed it. And recently as we have moved further on with the movement, it was remarkable to hear a member of a long established settled family saying every time he now meets members of the Traveller community in a social setting he learns something new about their life and culture. Rathkeale returned to the headlines after being linked to a gang that planned to steal 70m in artifacts. Picture: Brian Gavin He said both the Catholic and Church of Ireland clergy have been enormously important to the development of the new togetherness being forged in the town. He said former parish priest of Rathkeale, Fr Phonsie Cullinan, now Bishop of Waterford, did great work along with former Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick, Trevor Williams. As Rathkeale Together progressed Fr Gerry Reynolds and Rev Ken Newell, who were involved in the Northern Peace process, came to give a talk organised by Rathkeale Together. While the huge job of getting the parish hall repaired continues, Rathkeale Together has been working away on several other community fronts. Last year the Tidy Towns committee asked all the sports, cultural, and community groups to give one evening each to help in the clean-up of the town. The Traveller community came with the biggest response and gave five nights [of help]. Something like this never happened before. We also organised summer barbecues and these were attended by more than 200 people from both communities, David said. What we are doing in Rathkeale Together is when you get to know another person your humanity is revealed. What we are starting to see here in Rathkeale is the common humanity of the two communities. Presupposition and perspectives are beginning to fall away. People in the settled community see that the Traveller community have the same issues as they have. As we chatted in Bloomers deli and restaurant on the Main St, David looked at his watch. Have to go. Meeting curate Fr Willie Russell. A great community priest and hugely respected. Dan Neville was right. He did open a door to a Rathkeale undergoing great and exciting change. NEXT Tuesday, April 19, is shaping up to be the battle for New York in the US presidential election, with Democratic and Republican candidates fighting to amass enough votes to become their partys undisputed standard-bearer. On the Republican side, much of the focus is on frontrunner, Donald Trump, who will be battling rivals, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, for 95 nominating votes, which could seal the deal for him as the partys nominee. Ted Cruz But for Democrats, too, it will be a high-stakes fight, for 233 nominating votes, between frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, and her surging rival, Bernie Sanders. The New York delegate tally is one of the biggest prizes in the race and will be enough to all-but crown Clinton as the nominee. A win for Sanders, however, would propel him decisively into the next contests, in delegate-rich Pennsylvania and New Jersey and onto California, which will award the bumper prize of 405 delegates in the final contest, in June. The race was never meant to be like this for Clinton, who, by now, was supposed to have wrapped up the nomination. But Sanders has thwarted her plan with wins in a slew of contests. The question, now, is can he win again in New York and, this time, inflict a potentially lethal blow to her ambitions, as Barack Obama did in the 2008 race? Barack Obama Sanders has raised the stakes on Clinton in each of the last three months and has won seven of the last eight contests. All of which is good, in theory, but, in practice, hes not winning in the states that Democrats will need in the November election. Clinton has swept the African-American vote in every state in the South and has won key, white or Latino-dominated states, like Texas, Ohio, Florida and Illinois, that have large delegate tallies, while the majority of Sanders wins have been in mostly white-dominated caucus contests that award fewer delegates. To capture the nomination, the winning candidate must secure 2,383 delegates going into the partys convention in July. Clinton has a lead of 260 delegates, which expands to 700 if one counts super-delegates, who are mostly elected party officials. These super-delegates are unpledged, so Sanders could woo some to his side, but hell need to win New York, and other big primaries, for that to become a realistic plan. Indeed, Clinton has pulled so far ahead of him that he would have to win about 60% of the delegates still up for grabs to get the nomination. Unless he can win New York, it will prove very difficult, if not impossible, for him to catch up on her, because most of the remaining state contests are based, like that of New York, on proportional representation. So, unless he has huge victories, his delegate number is always going to fall short. Thus, a win in New York is essential for Sanders, just as a loss for Clinton would be seriously damaging for her. Bernie Sanders The battle is also being fought on what both rivals consider home turf. Clinton, though originally a Chicago native, made New York her home when she became the states senator 16 years ago. She has remained popular there and was credited with securing much-needed congressional help for the state after the 9/11 attacks. But Sanders, now a senator for Vermont, was born in Brooklyn and spent much of his early years there. During a recent campaign rally, he drew 15,000 people. This campaign is about creating a political revolution, he told the enthusiastic crowd. You are the heart and soul of this revolution. Still, his revolution didnt fare that well when he sat down with the editorial board of the New York Daily News to seek the papers endorsement. Time and again, a transcript showed, when pressed to get beyond his rhetoric on the evils of corporate America and Wall Street and explore the details and consequences of his policies, he struggled with his answers. In recent days, both candidates have taken the gloves off, each portraying the other as not sufficiently qualified for the presidency, or for the task of beating Trump in the general election. A poll on Tuesday, however, showed Clinton maintaining her lead, at 55%, to 41% for Sanders. On the Republican side, it showed Trump well in the lead, at 54%, with Kasich jumping to second place, at 21%, and Cruz, at 18%. Donald Trump Meanwhile, Trump seems to relish being back in his home state for the fight against Cruz and Kasich, for 95 nominating votes. But, in New York, the tycoon is fighting not only against Cruz and Kasich, but also against an emboldened stop Trump movement within the Republican establishment, buoyed by a big Trump loss to Cruz, in Wisconsin, earlier this month. Its not that the establishment favours Cruz. Its more that they find him slightly more palatable than Trump and view him, not Kasich, as their last chance to block Trump from securing the 1,237 delegates he needs for the nomination. As it stands now, after his Wisconsin win, just 200 delegates separate Cruz from Trump. But if Trump can regain the momentum with a big victory in New York, hes back on track to win the nomination outright and avoid a contested convention battle that could deprive him of the prize. The Trump campaign is also benefiting from Cruzs unpopularity in New York. Many Republicans in the state still remember how, earlier in the campaign, Cruz attacked what he called Trumps New York values. Everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage, Cruz said. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. New York City It was hardly surprising, then, that when Cruz came to campaign in the city he was given the cold shoulder. The New York Daily News front page told Cruz to take the F U Train after campaigning there last week, and the states senior Republican congressman, Peter King, said New Yorkers considering voting for Cruz should have their head examined. But, finally, New York is about to have its own say in shaping the closing stages of the nominating race for the Republican and Democratic contenders. So, as the song says, its up to you, New York, New York. Speaking to teachers and students at the presidential palace, Rousseff said vice president Michel Temer and Chamber of Deputies speaker Eduardo Cunha are plotting her downfall. The remarks came on the heels of an allegedly accidental release on Monday of an address to the nation that Temer intended to deliver after a hypothetical congressional vote that would suspend Rousseff from office. Voters have called it a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad, who is holding the poll in defiance of opponents seeking to oust him. The election is independent of a UN-led peace process that wants a political solution to the five-year-long war. The government says it is being held on time, in line with the constitution. The opposition says the vote is illigetimate, while Britain and France dismissed it as flimsy facade and a sham. We are voting for the sake of the Syrian people and for the sake of Assad. Assad is already strong, but these elections show that the people support him and bolster him, said Hadi Jumaa, a 19-year-old student, as he cast his ballot at his university halls of residence, in Damascus. Dozens queued to vote at one polling station, where a portrait of Assad hung on the wall. Outside, some danced. With his wife, Asma, at his side as he went to vote in Damascus, a smiling Assad told state TV that terrorism had destroyed much of Syrias infrastructure, but not Syrias social structure, the national identity. It was the first time he had voted in a parliamentary election. The conflict has killed 250,000 people and created millions of refugees, splintering Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by the government, an array of rebels, a powerful Kurdish militia, and the Islamic State group. The government views all the groups fighting it as terrorists. The government controls one third of Syria, including the main cities of the west, home to most of the people who have not fled the country. The United Nations puts the number of refugees at 4.8m. With parliament elected every four years, it is the second parliamentary election in wartime. Assad was re-elected head of state in a presidential election in 2014. Voters are to elect 250 MPs to a parliament that has no real power in Syrias presidential system. The state is rallying them around the slogan Your vote strengthens your steadfastness. The election coincides with the start of a second round of UN-led peace talks in Geneva. The opposition delegation met UN envoy, Staffan de Mistura. The government has said it will be ready to participate from tomorrow. American Ian Burkhart, 24, is able to grasp objects, pour and stir drinks, and even play the Guitar Hero computer game using a wearable sleeve that sends electrical impulses to his muscles. Scientists developed a computer system that can read and decode Ians thoughts and translate them into signals tailored for different hand movements, by-passing his broken spinal cord. The results of the research, published in the journal Nature, mark a leap forward in neural bypass technology which seeks to transform the lives of people robbed of their independence by devastating spinal injuries. In years to come it is hoped the technology will become easier to operate, moved out of the laboratory and perhaps even be incorporated into clothing. It could help patients with a wide range of disabilities, including victims of stroke and traumatic brain damage, say the researchers. Speaking six years after breaking his neck in a swimming accident, Ian, from Dublin, Ohio, said: I didnt think anything would happen in my life that would set me back and slow me down this much. The first time I was able to open and close my hand, it really gave me that sense of hope for the future that I already had in the back of my mind, but it just made it more real. Now ... things are moving along even better than I imagined. If or when I can use this system outside the clinical setting it will really increase my quality of life and my independence. During a three-hour operation in April, 2014, the team implanted a computer chip smaller than a pea into the hand area of the motor cortex of Ians brain. The system uses intelligent software to decode nerve signals from the brain generated when Ian imagines making specific movements. These are translated into tiny electrical shocks fired into controlling muscles through 130 electrodes embedded in a sleeve worn on the forearm. The electrodes are not surgically implanted, but operate by sending signals through the skin. Ian took 15 months to learn to use the system, which allows him to make isolated finger movements and six different wrist and hand motions. Today he is able to perform tasks that were previously out of the question, including holding a phone to his ear and swiping a credit card. The court in the central city of Changsha dismissed the suit brought against the local civil affairs bureau for refusing to issue the couple a marriage registration certificate. Their lawyer Shi Funong said he expected the judge would rule against them, but not so soon within a few hours. Antoine Denive, a 27-year-old from Sainte Catherine, in France, was arrested on Tuesday, in Rincon de la Victoria, a town close to Malaga, on Spains southern coast, the ministry said in a statement. It was a joint operation with French police. Coulibaly stormed the supermarket a few days after two other gunmen shot 12 people at, and near, the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris. He killed four Jews and a policewoman, before being shot dead by police. Before the attack, Coulibably spent time in Spain, Spains High Court said last year. Denive fled France several weeks after the attack in Paris, the statement said, and made a new base for himself in Malaga, where he continued his illegal arms dealing, using false documents. The ministry did not say if Denive was suspected of belonging to an Islamist militant. Spains High Court said Denive had denied selling arms to Coulibaly, but said he was willing to be extradited to France. The court would send Denive to be tried in France, unless there was another case against him in Spain, El Pais newspaper said. The Transport Workers Union Local 100, representing 42,000 workers in the New York region, backed Sanders as he struggled to dent Clintons lead in a state each has called home. Deriding fierce attacks against unions over the last several decades, Sanders called organised labour the last line of defence against corporate greed in America. Weve got to stand together, take on the big-money interests and make it clear that our government works for all of us, not just the 1 percent, the US senator from Vermont said. Clinton, a former two-term senator from New York, scored her own union endorsement from Local 3 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, representing more than 27,000 area workers. Sanders trails Clinton in the number of delegates won in primaries and caucuses. The former US secretary of state has 1,758 delegates to Sanders 1,069. A candidate needs 2,383 delegates to win the nomination to be the partys candidate in the November 8 election. Clinton yesterday also won backing from New Yorks Daily News, which called her a super-prepared warrior realist who understands the economic toll the country has faced, while labelling Sanders utterly unprepared with politically impossible goals. The newspapers editorial board interview with Clintons Brooklyn-born rival this month prompted criticism of Sanders as lacking detailed understanding of some of his main policy initiatives. Meanwhile, Texas senator Ted Cruz blasted rival Donald Trump, accusing the Republican front-runner of being a bully, inciting violence, and using dirty tricks to intimidate voters and delegates, as Trump continued to rail against a nominating system he says is crooked and rigged. Using some of the harshest rhetoric of the campaign to date, Cruz said his billionaire rival is a bad businessman who has been surrounded by sycophants his entire career. Donalds whole pitch is hes a great businessman, Cruz said, adding given how he runs his campaign, it appears he cant run a lemonade stand. The comments came as both campaigns work tirelessly to secure delegates who will back them at the Republican Party convention this summer in Cleveland. So far, Trump has appeared badly caught out by a better-organised Cruz operation, prompting the billionaire to rail against the Republican electoral system, claiming the will of the voters is being denied. How to Promote Yourself on the Job As cliche as it might be, its hard not to think of the Energizer Bunny when you become familiar with the career of Caren Merrick. Her frenetic (in a good way) pace was initially accelerated as cofounder of webMethods, a Web services company that was acquired by Software AG in 2007 for $546 million. Now founder and CEO of Pocket Mentor, an app that provides self-assessment tools and content related to career counseling and mentoring, Merrick is also a prolific writer and speaker as an advocate for women in technology. What brought Merrick to my attention was a recent piece she wrote on why women need to give themselves more credit. Its a great piece, but in my view the more fundamental question is, why do women tend not to give themselves as much credit as they should? I posed that question to Merrick in a recent interview, and she said there are probably several answers, because every individual is different: But if there is a broad influencing factor, I would say its probably that culturally, thats how women have been taught to actto be more modest than men. You can talk to any woman in the business world, and she has experienced that cultural bias. If she talks about herself, shes described with one term, whereas when a man does it, hes described with a different term. Thats changing, and Ive seen it change in my own career. Im fortunate now, in serving on company boards, and running a business, it happens far less than it used to. And on my boards, it never happens at all. So is it more harmful for a woman to take more credit than she deserves, or less credit than she deserves? Merrick didnt flinch: Its so important for women to learn to give themselves credit, I would say if shes struggling with this, I would rather see her err on the side of giving herself too much credit. Its good to just get into that practice, and people need to know what shes done. I would rather she take a risk and make a mistake, and learn from that, than never risk it at all, and stay under the radarand have her great work, and maybe her teams work, not elevated to the place where it deserves to be elevated. When it does get elevated, everybody wins. The work gets more support, and its able to reach key stakeholders in a way that matters. I asked Merrick whether she thinks the failure of women to give themselves as much credit as they should contributes to the gender pay gap. She said it absolutely does: I led global marketing at a company that I cofounded [webMethods], and I used to say to my team, You dont get what you dont ask for. It used to be that in a performance review, I would talk about what I achieved, but I wouldnt talk about it openly elsewhere. So its really important, when youre one-on-one with the person who is making that decision about what your pay raise will be, that you are very clear, with qualitative and quantitative evidence, about all the things youre doing well. Make clear how youre achieving goals, when your ideas have been put into action, and what the results were. You might even show the person emails from your best customers, who might send you a private email and say, You made all the difference. I mentioned that I had recently interviewed Tacy Byham, CEO of DDI, a talent management firm, who talked about research DDI had recently conducted that found that women tend to be less confident than men. I asked Merrick if she agrees thats the case. She said she does, and it staggers her: Not long ago, I was having coffee with a senior vice president of a global consulting company that has billions of dollars worth of private-sector and government contracts. And by the way, she graduated from West Point. She was talking about how she doesnt feel that competent. How could she even think that, after all the ways she has proven herself? On the one hand, I think humility is really important. But on the other hand, because women dont give themselves enough credit, that is one of the factors that lead to their lack of confidence. I tell women, the first person who needs to become more comfortable with your achievements is you. I asked Merrick what she took away from her webMethods experience that she found most valuable. She said its all about entrepreneurship: First of all, there are a lot of really extraordinary people in the ecosystem of the technology industry, from angel investors to advisors. We had so many people of great integrity and talent, from the very beginning, who believed in us, and who were willing to stick with us, even when we got down to the last $33 in our bank account. So I would say it just reinforced to me the virtue and value of entrepreneurship in business. My cofounder and I come from very humble, modest beginningswe were the first people in our families to get a college degree. To be able to do something like that, Im continually grateful for it, because I dont know that we could have done this in any other country. The cofounder Merrick referred to is her husband. So whats it like to found a company as a married couple? She acknowledged that it doesnt work for everyone: It was interesting, because on our first date, I said to my date, Phillip, who eventually became my husband, Im in the process of starting my own business, and heres my plan. We were just starting to get to know each other, and he said, I want to start a business, too. Hes the only person I had ever dated who also wanted to start a business, and I think that that sowed the seed. We were married within a year, and then within a couple of years, we launched webMethods. At the time, it was helpful that we didnt have kids, because as a startup we were working 80 to 100 hours a weekits great if youre both involved, because then no one feels left out. Hes very technical, and Im very business-oriented. Ive since become more technical, and hes become more business-oriented, so we actually helped each other out. We had very complementary skills, and it really forged a great enterprise. We learned and grew along the way. Finally, I mentioned to Merrick that I found it interesting that she has dabbled in politics, having run for a Virginia State Senate seat in 2011. I asked her what she took away from that experience that shes found valuable in her subsequent pursuits as a female entrepreneur and business leader. Her response: One of the most surprising aspects of running for public office is how much like launching a startup it is. So I approached it with the exact same mindset and skillset that I did with webMethods, and that Ive done my whole life. I did a lot of research and interviewsI did a whole year of listening and learning. I reached out to U.S. senators and former state senators. I spoke on a couple of occasions with Sandra Day OConnor, who started out as a state senator. I talked to the whole ecosystemmajor funders, fundraisers and activists. I attended the Sorensen Institute at the University of Virginia, which is a candidate training school. It was so similar to a startup, because what do you need when you have a startup? You need a specific productthat was me, with my experience as a business owner and working in the non-profit world, helping low-income families. Then I had to raise moneya lot of my time was spent raising money. Then I had to develop a campaign, which is what every startup has to do with its marketing. You have to find out who your key supporters arethe people who are going to be most passionate about your 1.0 product. That would be my No. 1 takeawayhow entrepreneurial it is to be a candidate. A contributing writer on IT management and career topics with IT Business Edge since 2009, Don Tennant began his technology journalism career in 1990 in Hong Kong, where he served as editor of the Hong Kong edition of Computerworld. After returning to the U.S. in 2000, he became Editor in Chief of the U.S. edition of Computerworld, and later assumed the editorial directorship of Computerworld and InfoWorld. Don was presented with the 2007 Timothy White Award for Editorial Integrity by American Business Media, and he is a recipient of the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for editorial excellence in news coverage. Follow him on Twitter @dontennant. Mineral exploration company MinQuest is changing tack with the acquisition of medical software developer ePat and a decision to sell off its current mineral projects. MinQuest has reached a binding agreement to acquire ePat, which has developed a smartphone app that uses face recognition and other indicators of pain to provide a more objective pain assessment of patients who cannot communicate with their carers, such as people with dementia. The ePat app is based on Curtin University research, and the company plans an early 2017 release for a second version tuned for young children. MinQuest said the app's ease of use makes it suitable for most users, including family members, professional carers and healthcare professionals. Under the deal, ePat shareholders will receive MinQuest shares currently worth around $6.3 million. A further $1 million in shares will be payable if the app receives TGA approval within 12 months (approval is currently expected by June 2017) or if an as yet unspecified revenue target is reached. MinQuest is looking to raise up to $500,000 to provide working capital and to meet costs associated with ePat transaction. The deal is still subject to several conditions, including shareholder approval, a further $3 million capital raising and the divestment of MinQuest's exploration projects in Australia and Canada. "The proposed transaction will provide our shareholders with exposure to the significant growth potential of the ground breaking ePat pain management technology," said MinQuest chairman Frank Terranova, adding that the company has assessed a substantial number of business propositions and believes this opportunity has genuine potential for its shareholders. Image: from Better Pain Management for Dementia Sufferers: Technology to the Rescue!, Professor Jeff Hughes, School of Pharmacy, Curtin University. Prof Hughes is a member of the ePat research team. Airwoot is Freshdesks fifth acquisition in the past 12 months and the company says the new purchase is aimed at deepening its social support capabilities. According to Girish Mathrubootham, founder and CEO of Freshdesk, it's not uncommon for major brands to have 10,000 users interacting with them on Twitter on a typical day. This social chatter often includes promotional or affiliate marketing tweets as well as customers reaching out for help. As the tweets and comments pile up, sifting through the noise becomes a significant challenge for most brands. Mathrubootham claims that Freshdesk already offers one of the most powerful social engagement platforms available in the market - with a plethora of rules and options that customers can configure to monitor social activity and identify conversations that require a swift response. However, determining which keywords to track and keeping rules up-to-date can be challenging as the language of social evolves.Delivering customer support via social media continues to be a challenge for many companies given the high volume of noise in the medium. Airwoots AI technology provides us a powerful platform to power the social engagement centres of the future.Snapdeal is an online shopping marketplace with a community of over four million users. With the help of Airwoot, the company is now one of the most responsive brands on social media.Sushant Kumar, Associate Director, Marketing at Snapdeal said Airwoots constantly evolving technology continues to help us listen to our customers and provide a great experience.As a result of our work with Airwoot, weve become one of the most responsive brands in India with a response rate of over 98% and a response time of under 2 minutes. Their system enables us to scale easily, optimise our workflows and engage effectively with internal and external stakeholders." 5G wireless is coming, but it has a lot of challenges to overcome, and were not going to be enjoying its blazing speeds until 2020 at least. But, at cable industry group CableLabs InformED Wireless event on Wednesday in New York, several experts helped provide new hints about the shape of the technology to come. One of the biggest hurdles, it seems, is physics 5G is going to be a millimeter-wave technology, operating at a much higher frequency than existing Wi-Fi. Thats great if the goal is to move a lot of information quickly 5G speeds could top 6Gbps in the field but it raises the issue of range. + ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD:Cable industry players eye wireless expansion, say analysts | Intel starts baking speedy FPGAs into chips Tim Burke, vice president of strategic technology at cable company Liberty Global, said that there are serious technical challenges still to overcome with 5G, and that most of them have to do with the known high-frequency problems of short transmission range, an inability to handle non-line-of-sight transmission, and getting through structures. Its really tough to get through walls or any building materials, he said. Well have to see that change. NYU professor Ted Rappoport, however, offered the view that these technological hurdles arent insurmountable. Much of his recent work has centered on the idea that millimeter-wave can be made to work the way 5G stakeholders need it to, thanks to directional antennas similar to the MU-MIMO setups now on the market as 802.11ac wave 2, among other things. We proved to the world that millimeter waves work, we proved that you dont need a line of sight, and we proved that the power levels can be comparable, he said. Complicating the decision-making around 5G technology is the issue that it will have to handle a substantially more diverse workload than current wireless networks. Bjorn Ekelund, a technology and business strategist with Ericsson, told the crowd that Internet-connected sensors, high-volume media, IoT, and smart vehicles were all considerations for 5G stakeholders. The trick, he said, is to create a network that can compartmentalize its various tasks efficiently, and a framework that can be used to control it programmatically. You can allocate logical parts of your network or physical infrastructure to a particular application or use case, he said. Regardless, 5G still isnt just around the corner completion of the standards work could take two or three years, according to Ekelunds presentation, and product development could push the deployment date to 2020 or 2021. The arrival of the Zika virus in the U.S. is raising questions. Will it affect business travel? Will it hurt recruiting in affected regions? Does it pose supply chain problems? The answer may be yes to all those questions. Zika is spreading. The cases in the U.S., with the exception of Puerto Rico, are from people who were infected outside this country. There's an expectation that eventually the U.S. will see cases that are locally acquired, the result of a mosquito bite. For now, Zika is largely confined to South America. In those regions where it has been spreading, businesses "are seeing staffing shortages or unwillingness for people to travel," said Don Hicks, the CEO of supply chain maker LLamasoft. The company's tools enable firms to create digital models of their supply chains to monitor and optimize operations. Zika "has the potential to cause some major disruptions to our way of life in the U.S.," Hicks said, "whether it's potential employees unwilling to accept jobs in the Gulf or a consumer shopping in a big box store in New Hampshire discovering that an item is out of stock because shipments aren't getting delivered." "Zika is going to touch just about every American in some way," he said. Centers for Disease Control Others aren't so sure. "In Florida, Zika has to get in line behind dengue fever and chikungunya fever," said Scott McPherson, the CIO of the Florida House of Representatives, referring to other diseases that have spread by mosquito in the state. McPherson has also been involved in state pandemic planning. Of the Zika virus, "it's going to be more of a slow burn," McPherson said. "I don't think it will be difficult to recruit here for that reason (Zika) or for any other reason, because I don't think we've seen enough cases yet." There are some people who firmly believe that a Zika outbreak, similar to what Brazil is seeing, "will never happen to a large extent in the U.S. because of our quality of life," which includes air conditioning and efforts to eliminate standing water, said Elizabeth Anderson Fletcher, an associate professor in the University of Houston's Department of Decision and Information Sciences. But Fletcher points out there is also poverty in Houston and places where people leave windows open because they don't have air conditioning. "All it takes is one mosquito, and Houston has a huge mosquito problem," she said. U.S. health officials warned Monday that Zika may be more of problem than first believed. "Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, a deputy director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "And so we absolutely hope we don't see widespread local transmission in the continental U.S. We need the states to be ready for that," she said at a press briefing. Zika is spread by mosquitoes but also can be sexually transmitted. It's most alarming impact is to women who may be pregnant. The virus has been linked to birth defects. Fletcher is part of team looking at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital response to the Ebola crisis. One man, a Liberian national who arrived in Dallas from Liberia, was suffering from Ebola. He went to the hospital, was misdiagnosed, sent home, and later two hospital nurses contracted the virus. Fletcher's paper examines what went wrong, and blames hubris in part. America has a "it can't happen here attitude" and a superiority complex over the rest of the world, Fletcher said. But there were also "abysmal failures" in Dallas. Zika and Ebola are different, but when it was announced that there was an Ebola patient in Dallas, "there was a massive freakout, and I think it did impact travel to Dallas," Fletcher said. She added that something similar could happen here because of Zika but to a lesser extent. One impact from the Zika has been a huge increase in demand for mosquito repellent, and manufacturers are now producing all they can, said Toby Brzoznowski, the executive vice president of LLamasoft. There is a belief that the media coverage of Zika will be influential on the decision making in terms of recreational and business travel in those regions that see cases. "The media storm will outweigh the actual conditions, but it will certainly affect travel into the South," Brzoznowski said. Get unlimited access to all content and features at ivpressonline.com with our Full Online Access Subscription. Read our E-Edition, the digital replica of the print newspaper online, access content in exclusive sections including Family, Teen, Business, Databases, Farm and more. This option does not include daily home delivery of the Imperial Valley Press newspaper. For home delivery service, please select Premium or Premium Plus. This Week in Review A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more. Library bond unanimously approved Voters waited in line for 45 minutes Tuesday to participate in an eight-minute meeting that resulted in the unanimous approval of a $600,000 bond to help renovate the North Road... Ferryboat business told to halt operations The ferryboat company operating from the municipally owned docks at East Ferry is illegally using that space, according to correspondence mailed to business owner Bill Munger. Town Administrator Jamie Hainsworth... A DOGGONE NEW BUSINESS A former business that used to clean peoples clothes is reopening as a groomer to tidy up the fur of those peoples four-legged companions. The defunct laundromat at the McQuades... An LG G5 review has noted that the latest device from the South Korean company may get better over the course of time. The phone was released earlier this month. The Independent reported that the modular phone by LG can be disassembled and works through a removable base. With just a press of the button on its side, the bottom part of the phone can now slide out with its bright green battery. Users can then separate the pieces and replace them. The extra parts that can be added to the phone include a chunky camera shutter unit, a bigger battery as well as an audio unit with a Digital Analogue Converter. The LG G5 review also revealed accessories for the phone called Friends. The audio unit can also be used with other phones through its microUSB connector. "In other words, LG has designed a phone which has the potential to get better as it goes along, just by updating software and adding an extra gadget, or replacing a battery, say," the website wrote. "Note that every time you attach a new friend, you have to reboot the phone, though this doesn't take long." In PC Advisor's LG G5 review, the publication described the latest phone from the South Korean company as "radical" as well as "innovative and interesting." However, it was noted that the design and build does feel incomplete. Engadget begs to differ, though, as it feels that "the phone doesn't live up to its potential." Although it is a powerful phone, the website noted that LG cut corners in order to make the modular phone. The LG G5 is reportedly better than Sony Xperia Z5 Premium's specs. Sony Xperia Z5 Premium's specs feature a 5.5-inch display with 806 ppi. The LG G5 has a 5.3-inch display with 554 ppi. Sony's handset has a 23-megapixel rear camera while the G5 only has 16 megapixels. The former has a 5-megapixel front camera while the latter makes up with 8 megapixels. Falah Alamri, director general of the oil marketing company in Iraq, has expressed the need for the world's biggest producer nations to temporarily freeze oil production to prop up the crude price. "They should do this deal as this is the only way to support the oil price. Everybody needs it and Iraq supports this deal," Alamri said. This statement came in ahead of a meeting of ministers from Opec and non-Opec countries, which will be held in Doha, Qatar, this Sunday. The goal of the meeting is to gather countries from defacto Opec leader Saudi Arabia to Russia and Venezuela and discuss the possibility of freezing oil output in an attempt to accelerate the end of an oil surplus. "Demand is increasing and supply is decreasing as American shale oil especially is falling. The timing is right. A deal would now be effective," Alamri said. According to a report by Financial Times, Iraq is "pushing for a freeze at January levels." Data shows that Iraq pumped 4.5m barrels a day. The country is considered to be the main source of output growth over the past two years. Alamri also said that the only sticking point among producer nations is Iran's participation in any deal and the level at which production should be frozen. On the other hand, Rosneft, a Kremlin-backed oil major, announced early this week that the current trend experienced by the oil industry will not last. The company's head said that the low prices ae temporary as the price of Brent crude ascended to a new high this year. Igor Sechin, head of Rosneft, said that a price of at least $50 per barrel was necessary to prevent future supply shortages. "The oil price is growing. I think everyone is expecting the successful outcome of our work," Sechin said. "We will need higher price levels than $45 or even $50 a barrel." Latest numbers show that at least 900 million individuals are now using Facebook Messenger to get in touch with and update family and friends. Now, the company now provides individuals the chance to chat with businesses as well. The social network giant announced today the companies now have the ability to set up on Messenger and get in touch with their consumers. It can also be the other way around. The newest feature provides businesses with a platform for customer service. With it, businesses can offer automated, interactive "bots" that can be used to provide the services they offer. For instance, food companies can now use Messenger to take orders. This development was announced during the conference for developers in San Francisco on Tuesday. With this feature, businesses and the bots now has an easier way to deliver services and information. "I don't necessarily want to download a separate app for every business or service I interact with," Seth Rosenberg, a product manager for Messenger, said. Rosenberg believes that the businesses will take advantage of this feature especially because the messaging app already is connected to billions of people around the world. What is good with this feature is that the businesses cannot send messages to anyone on Messenger. The person should opt into a conversation before this is possible. "Chats with businesses will feature a prominent Block button so people can easily shut down bots or businesses they don't like, and Facebook will screen what companies build before allowing them to let it loose on Messenger," Technology Review reports. Since the application does not generate an y profit, the businesses are not allowed to send advertisements via the service. However, in the future, they might be able to do so for a certain amount of payment. "We're not going to let it be like e-mail and become spammy," Rosenberg said. Facebook Messenger also has the feature that allows individuals to send and request money. On Thursday, tens of thousands of U.S. workers will not go to work due to labor disputes. Among those who will go on strike are thousands of McDonald's workers. This comes at a time when more and more workers are acquiring a sense of empowerment. For years they have been struggling to reap the gains of the present economic recovery and their new sense of power portends a shift in the political and economic balance between employees and their employers. Strike organizers said that the work stoppage on Thursday will be the largest yet. They said they would concentrate on picketing McDonald's one of the largest fast food chains in the world. Although workers from this restaurant chain will go on strike, workers from other convenience food outlets will also join them. Employees from nursing homes and at least those connected with one university will join the group of strikers. But the largest contingent will come from Verizon Communication, the telecom giant with almost 36,000 of its workers quitting their work and joining the McDonald's strike. On the East Coast, thousands of Verizon workers went on strike on Wednesday after the telecom giant failed to reach an agreement with two labor unions by the 6 a.m. deadline. This is over eight months since workers' contracts expired. The strike at Verizon Communications is also the largest in recent years. Workers of this company are resisting company proposals to reduce their pension benefits and changes in company rules that make it easier for the telecom giant to outsource its work. Advocates and supporters for workers, along with other labor-union officials stated that the strikes show the increasing momentum of a movement that has recently won high-stake victories for expanded benefits and higher wages for workers spanning from New York to California. This issue was so extensive that it has grabbed the attention of the current presidential candidates who are using it as a tool in their campaigns. Thinking about what major to take in college is a big decision in itself. The choice you make will define the career and profession. Today, graduates from all over the United States are already thinking about what's next for them. At Stevens Point, spring commencement is just a month away and the students are already deciding their future. USAToday sat down with the career counselors at a high school, college and university to figure out what's the best advice to give for graduates. Here are tips from career advisors for students who are already thinking of looking for a job: 1. Network Brigitta Altmann-Austin, director of SPASH's Career Center, said the school's center can assist with job and work experience for high school students. Experiences include job shadows, issuing work permits and apprenticeship opportunities. Building a list of experience is great! Also remember that students as job-hoppers doesn't give much credibility. Whether it's a job at McDonald's or anywhere else, tenure plays a role in getting that starting career. 2. Build up your resume According to Stevens Point Journal, make a running list of everything you were ever involved in. Joe Pomrening, career services coordinator at Mid-State Technical College, said students need to know the industry they are getting into when they write a resume, and they should always have one prepared. It's also handy to update your LinkedIn page - it's a good place to start. A handy tip for creatives is making a portfolio. 3. Use your resources Altmann-Austin said high school students should take advantage of the Career Center's offerings like the career interest survey, 1 on 1 meetings for help with college applications, essays and financial aid or scholarship applications. Their job is to put students on the right path. Offices and centers in schools are available to help students with preparing documents like resumes and cover letter, in time for their professional path. The upcoming Nexus 7 2016 tablet could be accompanied by a mini version. Will it be able to compete with Apple's iPad? Australia Network News reported that the mini Nexus 7 2016 tablet would have a 4.5-inch display. It is also believed to be powered by the Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor and have a 12-megapixel rear camera with dual-pixel and ultra-fast autofocus. The publication noted that the mini Nexus 7 2016 tablet could be developed by brands that have already partnered with Google's previous devices. The mentioned OEMs were Motorola, HTC, Huawei and LG. Yibada added that the mini version of the device will be a phablet. Moreover, it could also run on Android N with innovative features and a premium build. According to Slash Gear, Google is currently in a position to develop "the real anti-iPad." Previously, Android was not mature enough to compete with the iPad, especially when it had to be better in all aspects - physically and in terms of software. This year, though, the OS can pretty much do everything that the iOS can. "There's certainly still a software war - and a platform war - but it's not just a matter of feeling like iOS has a more solid platform," the website wrote. It was previously reported that the Google Nexus 7 release date may be revealed this May. The device could be unveiled during the company's Annual I/O Developer Conference. There are speculations that the Google Nexus 7 launch may happen next year. The third generation of the device is believed to be manufactured by Huawei. Christian Times noted that the upcoming Nexus 7 2016 tablet may be released before the year ends. Chinese company Huawei could be the one to pattern the design and specs for th device from Google's Pixel C series. The Nexus 7 specs will reportedly feature a 3D Touch display. It is also believed to support Google's 3D Touch feature. On Tuesday, U2 Irish rockstar Bono appeared on Capitol Hill to request for more money for refugees and offered a suggestion on how to fight ISIS. Bono showed up in front of a Senate subcommittee suggesting to use comedy to demoralize extremists that's been spreading mayhem in the Middle East causing millions of families to flee their homes, according to The Washington Times. Bono told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, "Don't laugh. I think comedy should be deployed. It's like, you speak violence, you speak their language. But you laugh at them, when they're goose-stepping down the street, and it takes away their power." He further suggested to fight extremist propaganda and totalitarian regimes is to send in Amy Schumer, Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen the actor behind the character Borat. Bono, age 55 years old went on to reassure the crowd before a Senate subcommittee claiming that he was actually being serious on subject of the matter, and who had also visited a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey. In response Democrat for New Hampshire senator Jeanne Shaheen said, "Actually, that's not the first time I've heard experts on how do we counter violent extremism talk about that. It's one of the things that we're looking at." Bono's celebrity status and a well-known single donor to humanitarian organization tried persuading the U.S government to provide more assistance in the Middle East and Africa, especially those fleeing the war zones. "The international community is having a lot of meetings about the crisis, and I believe have issued a record number of press releases, what it is not doing is cutting checks." He said. Bono admitted that both Republicans and Democrats disapproved on many things in congress, however both parties were still able to work with each other before to assist in diminishing humanitarian crises. MEMPHIS, Tennessee, Melzie Wilson, Vice President Compliance at Mallory Alexander International Logistics, has been appointed to the US Department of Commerce's Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness (ACSCC). Wilson, who has worked for Mallory Alexander for close to 23 years and is a Board Member of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA), was appointed to the ACSCC by Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. ACSCC members advise the Secretary of Commerce on the necessary elements of a comprehensive, holistic national freight infrastructure, and a national freight policy designed to support US export growth, foster national economic competitiveness, and improve US supply chain competitiveness in the domestic and global economy. I am very honored to be representing Mallory Alexander and the NCBFAA on this platform, said Wilson. Through the group we will be able to provide detailed policy advice, as well as information and recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce to improve the domestic manufacturing, distribution, and export of US products. Wilson joins her first ACSCC meeting this month and will serve on the Committee until November 2017. She has also been appointed to serve on its Trade and Regulatory Sub Committee and its Freight Policy Movement Sub Committee. Melzie's experience in the supply chain industry will be an important resource to me and to the work of the ACSCC as it advises me on the development and administration of programs and policies to strengthen the competitiveness of US supply chains, said Pritzker. President Obama and I have highlighted on various occasions how reducing inefficiencies and barriers in the US supply chain infrastructure is critical to the success of making our US companies more competitive and America's economic growth more sustainable. I appreciate Melzie's willingness to devote her time and effort to the ACSCC. In addition to the NCBFAA, Wilson is also a member of the Customs and Border Protection Trade Support Network (TSN), the Customs Electronic Systems Action Committee (CESAC) and the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC). She is a Licensed Customs Broker, a Certified Customs Specialist and a Certified Export Specialist. For more detail on ACSCC click here. About Mallory Alexander International Logistics Mallory Alexander International Logistics is a fifth-generation full-service logistics provider supporting manufacturers, retailers and other suppliers in the storage and shipment of their cargo. The supply chain specialist offers services in Customs brokerage, domestic and international freight forwarding, NVOCC, warehousing, Foreign Trade Zone operations and consulting. Founded in 1925, Mallory Alexander is fully-licensed and ISO9001:2008 and C-TPAT-certified and is a winner of both the President's "E-Award" and "E-Star Award' for Export Excellence. Headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, Mallory Alexander has 22 offices globally, both across the United States, as well as branches in Hong Kong, Mexico, and Shenzhen and Shanghai in China. The logistics expert has been granted a Class A business license by the government of China for operations centered in Shanghai. For more information visit mallorygroup.com About Melzie Wilson, Vice President of Compliance, Mallory Alexander International Logistics Melzie Wilson is Vice President of Compliance for Mallory Alexander International Logistics. She is a Licensed Customs Broker, a Certified Customs Specialist, and a Certified Export Specialist. She has been with Mallory Alexander for almost 23 years. Melzie is an active member of the National Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association (NCBFAA), the Customs and Border Protection Trade Support Network (TSN), the Customs Electronic Systems Action Committee (CESAC) and the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC). As a member of the NCBFAA, she represents Area 7 (which includes most southern states) on the Board of Directors and is Vice Chair of the Transportation Committee, Chair of the Logistics Committee, Co-Chair of the Ocean Carriers Best Practices Committee, and a member of the Customs Committee. She sits on the Account Management Committee of TSN. As a member of CESAC, she represents the Forwarders and Customs Brokers. She is also on the NVOCC Committee and is part of the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Working Group. She is also on the Customs and Border Protection (CBP)'s Trade Action Committee for the implementation of its Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) ACE-M1. She is an active member of the AgTC's, SOLAS Working Group and Export Compliance Committee, as well as taking part in various educational outreach initiatives for its membership. Email Links to our top local news stories of the day, Monday through Saturday. SHARE By of the Businesses that are working to shrink their environmental footprint are increasingly looking at the interconnectedness of issues ranging from water scarcity and climate change to public health, energy use and food production. The interwoven nature of issues facing the planet is something that businesses need to look at carefully when considering the big picture of sustainability, said speakers at the 13th annual Sustainability Summit, which kicked off Wednesday. Step one for many businesses in sustainability was the "easy stuff," to make buildings more efficient in a way that cuts carbon emissions and saves companies money at the same time, said Clay Nesler, vice president of global energy and sustainability at Johnson Controls. Taking it to the next level means evaluating what the company's suppliers are doing on sustainability and working with them to become more efficient, he said. Johnson Controls conducts sessions at its suppliers that offer ways to save as much as 3% to 5% on energy use by implementing simple changes, he said. But the company has moved beyond that to analyze its own vulnerabilities in the area of water and climate. An analysis done with the help of the not-for-profit World Resources Institute was able to target factories around the world that are located in areas vulnerable to extreme flooding or other climate risks, Nesler said. At MillerCoors, director of sustainability Kim Marotta said the company has been focused on saving water at its breweries but is also working with farmers in water-scarce areas to help them save water. Through a variety of ways, she said the brewing company has reduced the number of barrels of water used to produce a barrel of beer to less than 3.3 from more than 4.1 barrels in 2009. Inside the breweries, "we set up a water war room and asked every single person in our brewery to talk to us about what we can do to save water," she said. The process involved a variety of initiatives including talking with brewery employees about problems such as leaks as well as improved energy use, she said. The advent of extreme weather events Hurricane Sandy in the northeast or intense rains that spawned flooding in Wisconsin in 2008 and 2010 could be wake-up calls to pay attention to sustainability, summit speakers said. In planning for local watersheds' future ability to withstand flooding, those recent periods of big flooding need to be factored in, said Matthew Bednarski, a project manager with Graef, an environmental and consulting firm. "For a long time we thought the rainy year of 1986 was an anomaly," he said. "We threw it out of our databases because we thought we'd never get that much rain again. It's back in there now because of the more recent rain years." It's one reason, he said, "that we're looking at climate change in the Midwest a lot more seriously." Speakers also discussed how business and environmental goals can be aligned. At Johnson Controls, a recent move to improve by 10% the efficiency of the big commercial air chillers it sells translates to carbon emissions savings that more than offset the greenhouse gas emissions of the company's factories around the world, Nesler said. Two economic clusters that are significant players in southeastern Wisconsin water and energy are collaborating on an industry "road map" to find business opportunities in the energy-water nexus, said Jeff Anthony, who runs the energy innovation center for the Mid-West Energy Research Consortium, based in Milwaukee. The road map, based on analysis of existing studies as well as proprietary market research, will be unveiled later this year but is expected to highlight opportunities for companies that supply products used in the water and energy sectors, he said. "These are crosscutting opportunities, and many of these are technologies that companies in southeastern Wisconsin already provide," he said. The summit, which continues Thursday at the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, is organized by Milwaukee Area Technical College in conjunction with other colleges, businesses and the Milwaukee Office of Environmental Sustainability as well as the Mid-West Energy Research Consortium. SHARE By of the Advertising and marketing firm Hoffman York is moving to Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward from its current home at a downtown office tower. Hoffman York, now at the 1000 North Water building, has signed a lease for 19,044 square feet at 200 N. Water St., known as the Chicago Street Lofts, the company announced Thursday. The firm will use the building's first two floors, which housed the William F. Eisner Museum of Advertising & Design before it closed in 2010. Hoffman York has 65 employees. The plan is to rename the five-story building, at the northeast corner of N. Water and E. Chicago streets, as the Hoffman York Building after the firm moves in August, said Sharon Boeldt, director of earned media. Rinka Chung Architecture will design the renovated space. "The agency's new space will be designed to accommodate HY's team oriented business model," Troy Peterson, Hoffman York chief executive officer, said in a statement. "The office will have more spaces that allow for collaborative work as well as large and small employee gatherings, and less space will be dedicated to computer servers, paper, files and storage," he said. Hoffman York, founded in 1933, has maintained a downtown presence for the past 31 years: 18 years at 1000 North Water and 13 years at Plaza East, 330 E. Kilbourn Ave. "Everyone is excited to be moving to the Third Ward," said Peterson. "Along with a new work environment, the restaurants and the shops are a nice bonus." The building is operated by Joseph Property Development LLC, and has apartments on its three upper floors. Hoffman York worked on the lease with Cresa Milwaukee broker Michael Levine and Nathan Bernstein of Joseph Property Development. Facebook: facebook.com/JSBusiness Twitter: twitter.com/TomDaykin SHARE By of the Marquette University and the Medical College of Wisconsin announced that Lars Olson, an associate professor at Marquette, has been appointed the interim chair of the schools' joint Department of Biomedical Engineering. The two schools announced plans to create the Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin Department of Biomedical Engineering and hire a total of 10 additional faculty member last month. The department will combine Marquette's strengths in research and engineering with the Medical College's strengths in research and clinical programs. Biomedical engineering applies engineering principles to medicine and biology in developing medical devices, such as pacemakers, defibrillators and artificial joints. Olson, whose appointment is effective July 1, is the interim chairman of the department of biomedical engineering at Marquette. His fields of specialization include mathematical modeling, biomedical instrumentation and optics and cell engineering/cardiopulmonary physiology. His research interests include global respiratory health and large-scale computing. Olson, who joined Marquette University in 1993, earned a degree in electrical engineering from Tulane University in 1987 and a master's and doctorate in biomedical engineering from Vanderbilt University in 1989 and 1993. Artist Rosemary Ollison, 73, surrounded by art objects in her home. Rosemary Ollison didn't know the terms "crazy quilt" or "installation art," though she had been making both for years in her apartment, a small space that today is filled with exuberant expressions made from fabric scraps, old leather, duct tape, animal bones and magic marker, among other things. Ollison, 73, started making art about 20 years ago. The sudden creative output was as mysterious to her as anyone. She can't quite explain it still, except to say she was inspired by a passage of Scripture and a desire to be healed. Her work is on view at the Portrait Society Gallery, 207 E. Buffalo St., along with the ornate paintings of Robin Jebavy. Although Ollison has shown individual works previously, the exhibit represents an artistic coming out for her. This inspired show, which demonstrates the healing power of art and art-making, is my top recommendation for Gallery Night & Day, the citywide art event, which happens Friday evening and Saturday (see accompanying story for other recommendations from the Art City contributors). The Portrait Society is open until 9 p.m. Friday and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. "It's a gift from God that I would be afraid to take credit for," Ollison said of her work. "I didn't know I was an artist." The Scripture that inspired Ollison was Psalm 139, verses 23 and 24: "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Ollison, who was depressed and at times suicidal, who had been physically and sexually abused earlier in her life, asked God to show her to herself. She wanted to know what was wrong with her, she says now. "That became my prayer, 'Show me,'" she says. In a short period of time, she made thousands of drawings. They were often of female figures fashioned from eyes and question marks, for instance, or sinewy, organic forms weighted with psychological potency. She wrote poetry, too. In some of her drawings and poetry, for instance, Ollison envisioned herself as a "dying tree," laden with fruit that no one wanted. Meaning in scraps For years, Ollison has made quilts on a sewing machine positioned on a tiny table near the end of her bed. She'd applique small scraps into expressive shapes and colorful, abstract compositions. Some of the quilts were projects that she'd work on for many years. Once, there was a single scrap of fabric that she felt compelled to include in one of her quilts, and she searched everywhere for it, including a storage locker in her basement. "I tore the locker up until I found the piece of fabric," she said, referring to the bit as a "lost sheep" she had to find. "That one little piece of scrap. I knew I had it." For some reason, it was important to her. When she found it and incorporated it into one of the 27 quilts she's made, she felt there was a parable in it for her. It was as if God told her that she is as important as the little scrap, that God is putting her together, that she is a beautiful puzzle of countless pieces. "These are illustrations that God gives me to understand me," said Ollison, who was for many years a day care worker, often working with children with disabilities. A healing experience Because her apartment is tiny, Ollison doesn't see most of her work often. Her quilts stay folded up when she's not working on them, and many of the drawings are stored beneath her bed. Still, there is much to look at in her space, towering sculptural forms made from objects covered in patterned duct tape, fabric strips sewn into shag-like rugs and pillows, boa-like formations made from boiled leather. Friends and family have accused Ollison of being a hoarder for the ways in which she embellishes every nook of her home, she says. She likes to point out, however, how well-ordered and dust-free it all is. For Debra Brehmer, the director of the Portrait Society and one of the state's foremost art historians on artist-made environments, Ollison's home was a work of art unto itself. In the exhibit, Brehmer brought a sense of that art installation into the gallery in a small backroom, including video by Ted Brusubardis. Visitors to the gallery are invited to slip off their shoes, settle in on a couch or on the floor and be surrounded by art objects from Ollison's home. It's an immersive, healing experience. The meditative sounds of Ollison's magic markers on paper, her sewing machine and leather being dropped in boiling water, fill the space. Milwaukee artists Della Wells and Evelyn Patricia Terry have championed Ollison's work for years, and Brehmer says she spotted Ollison's work on Facebook, perhaps as part of Wells' regular online promotion of local and national African-American artists. The Portrait Society Gallery exhibit represents the first time such a breadth of Ollison's work has been shown together. For Ollison, the show was a revelation. "When I walked in...for the first time, I knew that I am wonderfully made. That's how I feel about me and God. "That was the zenith of me being convinced of who I am." Mary Louise Schumacher is the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic. Follow her on Facebook (facebook.com/artcity) and Twitter (@artcity). Email her at mschumacher@journalsentinel.com. New owner and chef, Thomas Hauck, was renovating Karl Ratzsch's restaurant in Milwaukee when many hidden treasures were found, including a collection of antique German steins. Credit: Michael Sears By of the The first thing Thomas Hauck and his team of designers did after taking possession of Karl Ratzsch's restaurant this winter was to "get rid of Christmas." The beloved German restaurant at 320 E. Mason St. kept artificial holly boughs, garland, wreaths a stringless violin with a big red bow and other holiday decorations up year-round. Step 2 was "rounding up the teddy bear collection," some 75 furry friends on display "everywhere," most gifts from customers. And then, as renovation plans proceeded, the hidden treasures began to emerge. A large antique cuckoo clock. A rare sterling silver duck press. German steins galore, some chest-high. Historic photos, old menus and other memorabilia. And a mysterious padlocked door in the basement that once led to a secret room under the sidewalk. When Hauck, chef-owner of c.1880 at 1100 S. 1st St., bought Karl Ratzsch's in January from Thomas Andera, Judith Hazard and John Poulos, he didn't just buy a restaurant he bought a museum. And throughout the dusty, noisy preparations for his Monday opening, each new discovery has been met with glee. "It's great," Hauck said. "You feel like you're one of those people who work at a museum who gets to curate all these things. It's pretty exciting. There's a lot of history with this place." Most treasures, including the approximately 4-by-3-foot, intricately carved Black Forest cuckoo clock, will continue to be part of the decor. When Ratzsch's closed, the clock was perched above a wooden support pillar in the restaurant's main hallway. "You walked in, you never saw it," Hauck said. Asked about the clock, former owner Andera said it was old and expensive to keep in working order. At one point they had to remove the weights and chains because kids would play with them one child was caught swinging on a chain, he said. Hauck plans to mount the clock, appraised recently at $40,000, prominently at the north end of the main dining room. The most surprising find for Hauck, he said, was that duck press. Looking a bit like a medieval torture device, with a hand-cranked wheel on top, the sole purpose of this culinary machine is to extract juices from the carcass of a roast duck to turn into a sauce. Hauck had seen one twice before at culinary school and in the restaurant he worked at in France. "It's the ultimate tableside showstopper," he said. "It's 1970s haute cuisine at its finest." Given its pristine condition, he doubts it was ever used. Andera said that might be true. He also remembered that a friend of Paul Newman's, dining at Ratzsch's with the actor back in his racing days, once offered to buy the press on the spot for $1,000. Hauck estimated that a new one like this today would cost $4,000 to $5,000. While the duck press might have a concrete value, the German artifacts that call Ratzsch's home are priceless. Taking time to study and appreciate the large collection of German steins alone could take a lifetime. "Look at this one, it's got a whole village on top," Hauck said as he picked up first one and then another: one dated 1916, another 1860. Andera said many of the German antiques most dating to the late 19th to early 20th century were purchased on vacations in Germany taken by the original Karl Ratzsch and his wife, Helen, known affectionately as "Mama Ratzsch." "They shipped their Cadillac over there," Andera said. "They would tour the countryside in their Cadillac and stop along the way and buy antique steins and glassware. When the Cadillac was full, they would ship it back." Helen Ratzsch also was friends with the owner of Schrager Galleries on Sherman Blvd., Andera said. "He would find things for her as well in some of the German households in the city." Didn't the family want any of these treasures for themselves? "The terms of the sale of the restaurant was 'as is,'" said Andera, who began his career at Ratzsch's as a buser in high school in 1967 and who bought the restaurant (with Hazard and Poulos) from the family in 2003. "They each were allowed to take one keepsake item. They didn't want that much, really." Hauck plans to display and back-light the steins once they're cleaned on wooden ledges ringing the dining room. A Milwaukee native who grew up in Port Washington and is part German himself, Hauck was especially excited by the old photographs, menus, recipe notes, restaurant ads and the like that he discovered. Among the many framed historical items are the architect's original 1928 plans for the restaurant; a photo of the predecessor Herman Otto's cafe on Water St.; and the inside of a 1935 menu. Hauck also found menus from the '50s, '70s and '90s. Twelve days before opening, dozens of these photos were laid out carefully on the floor in an arrangement to go on a wall in the upstairs dining room. Previously these gems were scattered haphazardly throughout the restaurant. "No one ever took the time to sit back and collect them all and write a discernible story," said Patrick Castro, co-owner with wife Libby of LP/w Design Studios. "This is what in effect we're doing. We're taking it all and editing it into a story people can absorb instead of being overwhelmed." The Castros have been working with Hauck on the design of the restaurant. It was a fitting choice: Libby Castro has a degree in architecture and a minor in historic preservation; she's on the board of the Pabst Mansion. They got started doing exhibit design, "so there's a storytelling aspect to what we do," Patrick said. A quirky piece of the Ratzsch's story is that secret room under the sidewalk: a wine cellar, built by Karl Ratzsch Jr. that extended all the way from Ratzsch's front door to the corner at Milwaukee St. "The temperature is perfect," Hauck said as he unlocked the door to show a visitor. "That's where we had a lot of our wine storage," Andera recalled, noting that Karl Jr. had an "extensive collection of Bordeaux and Burgundies." After Karl's son Josef purchased the restaurant, water started leaking in from the sidewalk above, which broke down the glue holding the wine racks together. One day they found some first-growth Burgundies broken on the floor. After that, Josef moved out the wines and began selling off the collection, Andera said. The door is still covered with parts of wooden wine crates from those days: Mouton Rothschild 1973, Pommard 1972.... Back upstairs, some treasures have merely been moved to a new location in the restaurant. The antique antler chandeliers from the main dining room are now in the center hallway. The unique hammered-copper door previously leading to the Fable Room, a tiny rear dining room, is now the door to the new first-floor bathroom. But not everything is being reused or even saved. Hauck sold the baby grand piano from the main dining room. "It's not the piano Liberace played," Hauck said. "That was sold years ago." He won't be using the duck press or the decades'-worth of old uniforms dirndl, lederhosen, tuxedos that they found. In choosing gingham shirts, khaki pants and semi-rustic denim aprons for his waiters, Hauck said he was going for a "timeless look." And as much as he appreciates the beauty of the cuckoo clock, it won't be keeping time. "I think the staff would slowly lose their minds," he said, "if it went off every hour." And finally, when Christmas rolls around, they will decorate the restaurant, he said, with a laugh, "but with a bit of restraint." SHARE Joshua Larson By of the Milwaukee County prosecutors are waiting for more evidence before making a charging decision in a case involving an off-duty Milwaukee firefighter suspected of drunken driving in a crash that killed two men. The firefighter, Joshua Larson, 31, is on paid suspension while an internal investigation is ongoing, according to Milwaukee Fire Department officials. West Allis police arrested Larson on April 4 on suspicion of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle after a crash that killed Yoruba E. Sly Lundasi, 64, of Milwaukee and Wendell K. Johnson, 38, of Chicago, who were in a minivan. Lundasi was a driving the minivan for Uber, a ride-sharing service, and Johnson was his passenger. Lundasi's daughter told TV reporters at the scene that her father would be "greatly missed." Johnson, known as Ken, had moved to Chicago from Iowa and is survived by his wife and two children. The children's school community has rallied to support the family, and more than $5,000 has been raised online. The crash happened about 5 p.m. in the 700 block of S. 60th St., and Larson is believed to have been driving a pickup truck that hit the minivan before both vehicles struck a northbound car. Larson was booked into jail on April 5 and released three days later with approval from prosecutors, according to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office. Prosecutors are waiting for "evidence related to the details of the collision itself" before making a charging decision, Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern said. Larson's attorney, Julius Kim, said prosecutors made a "prudent" decision to wait to have all of the facts. "As is always the case in situations like this, there have been many rumors flying around about this incident," Kim said in an email. "I think it's important for people not to make snap judgments about how or why this incident occurred." Larson is very upset, Kim said, as he has "spent his entire adult life saving lives, and it's surreal for him to be involved in a situation where lives were lost." Records show Larson has not been the subject of any disciplinary decisions before the city's Fire and Police Commission. The civilian commission is responsible, among other duties, for hearing disciplinary appeals for suspensions for five days or longer, demotions or terminations. Larson pleaded guilty in February 2015 to possession of a firearm while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, in Langlade County. He was fined $100 and forfeited his firearm. Langlade County sheriff's deputies were called for a report of gunfire about 2 a.m. Aug. 24, 2014, in the Town of Antigo. Deputies found Larson, who admitted he had been drinking alcohol and had fired his pistol 16 times into the woods on the east side of his property, according to a criminal complaint. SHARE By of the Common Council members Milele A. Coggs and Ashanti Hamilton on Wednesday urged anyone with information about the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Milwaukee boy to contact authorities. Kemone J. Love was shot about 3 p.m. Monday and was driven away from the shooting scene before being found dead at N. 19th St. and W. Capitol Drive, according to a police news release. The shooting occurred in the area of N. Green Bay Ave. and W. Capitol Drive. No arrests had been reported in the case as of Wednesday evening. The council members said the teen was "yet another victim of the kind of tragedy that has become all too common." "While we offer our condolences to his family, they deserve so much more than that; they deserve justice, and the reassurance that their son's killer will not victimize anyone else's children," they said in a news release. Anyone with information can call Milwaukee police at (414) 935-7360. Callers can remain anonymous. SHARE Michael Lappen By of the Mike Lappen is about to take on one of the toughest jobs in local government as the next administrator of the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division. Lappen's appointment was announced Thursday by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele. "Mike brings an impressive track record of experience and he has engaged consumers and the community at every step of his career," Abele said in a statement. Lappen, 44, a Milwaukee native, is the current director of the Ozaukee County Department of Human Services, overseeing a staff of around 100 people and a $12 million annual budget. In Milwaukee, he will lead more than 800 employees and administer a $180 million annual budget. When he begins his $160,000-a-year job May 27, Lappen will become the division's sixth administrator in 10 years. The current interim administrator, Alicia Modjeska, will assume a role as the organization's first chief operating officer. The county is continuing a transition to community-based care from an institutional approach that once trapped patients in a cycle of emergency care. "I feel like I owe it to people with health challenges, people who are experiencing challenges with mental illness and substance abuse to improve the services to help improve their lives," Lappen said in an interview. Lappen said his career direction was forged early. When he was in the eighth grade, his father, Anthony, a punch press operator at Master Lock, had a brain aneurysm that ruptured. Lappen's father had a long rehab but eventually recovered and lived another decade. "I always had a feeling that I was someone who was used to dealing with people who had challenges and disabilities," Lappen said. Lappen, a licensed professional counselor, attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he received an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master of science in educational rehabilitation counseling. He worked his way through college as a meat cutter and delivery driver for Koppa's Farwell Foods. In 2002, he became a case manager for Wisconsin Correctional Services. He recalled going in for a job interview and seeing several customers from Koppa's who were being served by the nonprofit. "It just seemed like a natural fit," he said. "The rest of my career took off from there." Among his co-workers at WCS was Hector Colon, now director of the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Behavioral Health Division. Colon said he has followed Lappen's career. Lappen joined the Ozaukee County Department of Human Services in 2002, and rose to become director in 2013. He has been credited with expanding crisis mental health and outpatient services and building a collaborative culture. "Here's why Mike is the right person for the job: He has great leadership and he is very data-driven," Colon said. "He's very collaborative, which is really important." Over the past five years, a new leadership team has assumed key roles at the Behavioral Health Division, which provides care and treatment to those with mental illness and substance abuse disorders. Earlier this year, the county closed its last long-term care unit at the troubled Mental Health Complex. Planning for the moves out of the institution began in 2012, the year there were five patient deaths at the complex. There were also 19 reported patient sexual assaults at the complex in 2011 and 2012. Colon said that since 2010, the county has reduced psychiatric inpatient admissions, emergency room detentions and emergency room visits. "We're redesigning our system," he said. "Now, we have the right leader to take us home." Lappen said he was eager to start the new job and was well-experienced and comfortable with the model of community-based care. "I'm an enthusiastic person," he said. "I try to be positive." Voces de la Frontera Executive Director Christine Neumann-Ortiz (center) speaks during a Milwaukee ID coalition protest in November. Neumann-Ortiz argues in a commentary that Latino, African-American and young voters are playing an ever-growing role in local elections. Credit: Journal Sentinel files SHARE By On April 5, while most of the national media covered the presidential primary, local elections demonstrated the growing power of the new Latino, African-American and youth majority in both the congressional district represented by House Speaker Paul Ryan and in the city of Milwaukee. In Racine (the largest city in Ryan's district), 150 students affiliated with Voces de la Frontera Action organized a get-out-the-vote effort in all nine school districts in partnership with a citywide coalition called Racine Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools and the Working Families Party to support pro-public education school board candidates. Their efforts paid off: Voces de la Frontera Action-endorsed candidates won eight of nine school board seats. Valeria Ruiz, 19-year-old recipient under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), was the neighborhood coordinator for the Voces de la Frontera Action canvass. "I'm DACA-mented, so I'm not able to have my voice heard through voting," said Valeria, "but by organizing voters, I can help my sister and other minority kids in Racine public schools to be heard. These elections show that when we unite as a community, we can overcome everything. We'll take this unity into the November elections. In November, our lives are literally at stake. We're either going to make history or be history." "For over a year we have been attending public hearings and talking with board members," said Janet Serrano, a 19-year-old youth member of Voces de la Frontera Action. "Students believe we deserve a voice in our school, and it is time that we have a majority on the school board that listens to parents, teachers and students." In 2015, the Republican majority in the state Legislature gave the Racine School Board president the ability to appoint someone to a vacant seat on the board, denying the seat to a democratically elected candidate who would have been the only Latino on the board. Republicans also passed a bill forcing the redistricting of the entire Racine Unified School Board and new elections on April 5. Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, more than 90 members of Voces de la Frontera Action in partnership with Working Families Party canvassed and made phone calls for Ald. Jose Perez on the near South Side in Aldermanic District 12 and for Justin Bielenski in Aldermanic District 8, as well as other pro-immigrant, pro-worker candidates. District 8 and 12 are supermajority Latino districts where Voces de la Frontera Action successfully fought to ensure Latino representation during redistricting in 2011. Perez, whom Voces de la Frontera Action members helped elect in 2012 against a long-term incumbent, easily defeated his opponent on April 5. In the 8th District, Bielinski lost by only 158 votes to the Trump-like incumbent Ald. Bob Donovan. In the 8th District, Voces de la Frontera Action members canvassed more than 4,000 households and called more than 1,500 people, securing more than 1,100 pledges from voters to support Bielinski. Although Bielinski lost, Voces de la Frontera Action members can celebrate historically high voter turnout levels in the normally low turnout Latino district and the strengthening of a neighborhood organization that can hold Donovan accountable to his constituents. The 8th District results show that if Donovan continues his hostility toward African-Americans and Latinos, his days are numbered. The ever-growing Latino population is becoming politically engaged. In the words of Voces de la Frontera Action member and 8th District voter and canvass volunteer Benito Fajardo, "It's time that the Latino community be respected, and we can do that by electing representatives that will represent us and give us our place. We will stay engaged for future elections and our neighborhoods will be even more mobilized in November." Christine Neumann-Ortiz is executive director, Voces de la Frontera Action. A state appeals court has ruled that a fired Walgreens cashier was not at substantial fault and is entitled to unemployment compensation. Credit: Associated Press SHARE By of the A fired Walgreens cashier who made eight mistakes over 20 months was not at "substantial fault" and is entitled to unemployment compensation, the state Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. The sharply worded decision rebuked the Labor and Industry Review Commission's expansive reading of a new standard for denying the payments, adopted by the Legislature in 2013 and aimed at saving employers millions of dollars. "This is an important decision to working men and women in Wisconsin," said Marilyn Townsend, the Madison lawyer who represented Lela Operton, the fired Walgreens cashier, who now lives in Chicago and works at Walmart. "She's only one of thousands who've been denied unemployment under this new standard," Townsend said. Operton worked full-time at the Walgreens on S. Park St. in Madison from July 2012 to March 2014. Over that time, she had eight cash errors, such as accepting 17 cents in cash as the balance of a $6.17 bill paid mostly with a Women, Infants and Children check, or taking a WIC check before its date of validity. Her last error was not asking to see ID from a customer who used a credit card, that turned out to be stolen, on a $399 purchase. Wisconsin law clearly states the kind of job misconduct that bars a fired worker from compensation, things such as theft, drug use, excessive absenteeism or tardiness, or harassment. Concerned that too many fired workers were getting unemployment benefits, which left a large deficit in the fund to pay them, the state adopted a second standard "substantial fault" that would support denial. But the new law identified only three examples of what would not meet the standard: One or more inadvertent errors; one or more minor rules infractions, unless the infraction is repeated after a warning; and a failure to perform because of insufficient ability or equipment. The LIRC argued that the court should defer to its experience and judgment in employment issues, but the court said because the question of what amounts to substantial fault is new, it could review it without any deference to prior administrative findings. The court said the LIRC's only two prior cases on the issue contradict the Operton denial. It found that LIRC, without basis, had declared Operton had committed a major infraction. At earlier hearings, Operton's Walgreens supervisor had said she was a very conscientious employee, well liked and willing to work on her off days. The court noted that the eight errors came amid some 80,000 transactions Operton handled as a cashier. The court found Operton's mistakes were more like the inadvertent errors that specifically do not qualify as substantial fault. "The Legislature statutorily determined that an employee does not lose their unemployment benefits for making unintentional errors," the court said. Townsend said Operton was making about $8 an hour at Walgreens, and her unemployment would have amounted to about $150 a week. If the decision stands, Operton would be entitled to the payments up to the time she gained new employment. "Even if its only $700, that's a lot of money to people like Ms. Operton who are just on the edge," Townsend said. The court noted in its opinion that Operton was homeless during part of the time she was working at Walgreens. "Whenever we get an opinion favoring working people, we're nervous it will go to the Supreme Court and we might not be able to hang on," said Townsend, a longtime employment lawyer who took Operton's case for free after she came to an unemployment benefits clinic where Townsend was supervising law students. Thursday's ruling was from the Madison-based District 4 Court of Appeal, but written by Judge Paul Reilly, normally assigned to District 2 in Waukesha. He was joined by Judge Kitty Brennan of District 1 in Milwaukee. Judge Paul Lundsten of District 4 wrote a concurring opinion. Federal Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland meets Thursday with Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. Credit: Associated Press SHARE By of the Washington After meeting with federal Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland on Thursday, Sen. Tammy Baldwin called the GOP's refusal to take up his Supreme Court nomination "outrageous" and said "the impact of this obstruction will be long felt." The Wisconsin senator joined fellow Democrats in a concerted call on Republican colleagues to buck their party's leadership on the issue. "It is disrespectful to the president, disrespectful to the Constitution and disrespectful to the American people who deserve a full and functioning Supreme Court, not an empty seat on the highest court in the land," Baldwin said of Republicans' refusal to hold a hearing on Garland. She was one of several senators Garland visited Thursday. All but two members of the Republican majority in the Senate are opposed to taking up the nomination, hoping that a GOP victory in November will make it possible for a Republican president to fill the seat next year. Some Republican senators have agreed to meet with Garland anyway as a kind of courtesy. Among Republicans holding closed-door meetings with Garland this week were Charles Grassley of Iowa and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire on Wednesday, and Rob Portman of Ohio on Thursday. All are up for re-election in 2016. All reiterated their opposition to hearings or a vote including Grassley, chairman of the Senate judiciary committee. Portman called Garland "an impressive guy" Thursday, but said it was "for the sake of the court" and the "legitimacy of the candidate" that Republicans oppose confirming a new justice during a presidential campaign and a "very partisan year." Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson, also facing re-election, has said he is willing to meet with Garland, while he remains opposed to taking up his nomination. Johnson was unavailable for comment Thursday, his office said. A meeting between Johnson and Garland has not been scheduled. In a Wisconsin poll taken by the Marquette University Law School in late March, 49% of registered voters said the Senate should hold hearings and vote on Garland, while 41% said senators should wait until 2017, after the election. The partisan divide on the issue was huge: only 25% of Republicans voters said the Senate should act on the nomination, compared with 74% of Democratic voters. Baldwin said Thursday that her meeting with Garland "strengthened my conviction that this is a very well qualified and experienced judge who deserves a hearing and a vote." Garland has sat down with 35 senators, including nine Republicans. These are the best dishes I've eaten in 2022 in and around Milwaukee Anissa Weier (left) and Morgan Geyser (right) are shown as they appeared in court last September. Credit: Journal Sentinel files SHARE Waukesha Stabbing Two 12-year-old girls are charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide for what police say was a plot, planned over months, to kill their classmate. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier reportedly stabbed their victim 19 times with a five-inch blade. Go to section By of the A mentally ill girl charged in the Slender Man stabbing case wants to live with her grandparents in Manitowoc County until her trial, and avoid becoming "institutionalized" at the juvenile jail where she has suffered assaults from other young inmates, according to a new court filing. The revelation comes at the end of a letter to the judge outlining Morgan Geyser's attorneys' plans for her placement should she be granted a bail reduction at a hearing set for Friday. Geyser, 13, and Anissa Weier, 14, have been held at Washington County's secure juvenile detention center except for stretches at a state mental hospital since their arrests May 31, 2014, in a planned attack on a sixth-grade classmate, supposedly to please Slender Man, a fictional internet character. A passing bicyclist found their victim, who had crawled to the edge of some woods after being stabbed 19 times. After extensive surgery, she returned to school the next fall. Geyser and Weier are charged as adults with attempted first-degree intentional homicide but are awaiting a decision on their appeals of a judge's ruling against transferring them to juvenile court. Each also has asked to reduce their $500,000 bails and be allowed to await trial away from the Washington County center, a facility meant to house children for a few days at time. A hearing is set for Friday in Waukesha County Circuit Court. Geyser has been diagnosed with early onset schizophrenia. She was ordered to treatment via civil commitment and spent several weeks earlier this year at a state mental hospital, where she responded to treatment and is now stabilized. In a letter Wednesday to Circuit Judge Michael Bohren, her attorney, Anthony Cotton, said she would live with her grandparents in a home without internet access or any weapons. Even kitchen knives would be kept in a safe, he said. She would be on GPS and leave the home only for continued mental health treatment. "Because she has been stabilized, she would now benefit from being placed in a nurturing, pro-social setting," the letter reads. The letter refers to an extensive psychological report filed with it, but ordered sealed by Bohren. Bail reduction sought Also Wednesday, Weier's attorneys asked that her bail be reduced to $5,000 so she could live with family members outside of Waukesha, with 24-hour adult supervision and electronic monitoring. They cite testimony from earlier court hearings that experts consider Weier a low risk to repeat violent behavior and a good candidate for successful treatment in talk therapy and separation from Geyser. Geyser filed her request to modify bail last month. It cited a significant change in her outlook since undergoing treatment and medication. A year ago, Bohren rejected a similar request that would have moved Geyser to a girls residential treatment center in Wauwatosa. But that was before she had gotten any medication for her schizophrenia. SHARE By , A 22-year-old Kaukauna woman was killed and three others were injured Wednesday after a three-vehicle crash on State Highway 76, authorities said. The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office responded about 3:50 p.m. to a 911 call about a crash with injuries on Highway 76 at Kellett Road, Lt. Joe Kroncke said. Authorities are not releasing the woman's name pending notification of her family. Two vehicles were traveling south on Highway 76 and became involved in a crash, though authorities were unsure how the crash occurred, Kroncke said. One of the vehicles hit the other from behind, pushing it into oncoming traffic, where it collided with a third vehicle traveling north. A female occupant of the vehicle that crossed the center line died. At least three other people were taken to ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah for nonlife-threatening injuries, he said. A black vehicle involved in the crash was covered with a tarp as authorities spent the next few hours gathering statements from witnesses, and a crash reconstruction team was at the scene. All lanes on State Highway 76 were closed from Winnebago County G to Winnebago County GG for about 3 hours and reopened about 7:20 p.m., according to the Wisconsin State Patrol, which also responded to the scene, along with the Town of Vinland First Responders and the Winnebago County Highway Department. Reddit Email 0 Shares Written by Bridge Initiative Team | An important hashtag has been circulating on Twitter for the past few weeks. #AboutUsWithoutUs. #AboutUsWithoutUs seeks to reorient national conversations about Muslim Americans to one that includes Muslim American voices in policy discussions. This is a critical distinction because Muslim Americans have largely been silent stakeholders to issues that disproportionately affect their communities issues like national security, immigration and civil rights. American Muslims are underrepresented in politics, yet they are overrepresented in disproportionately negative political discourse. The results? A toxic political climate #AboutUsWithoutUs. Take, for instance, the fact that while Muslim Americans are statistically as likely to be engaged in the community as other religious groups, they are the least likely religious group to be civically engaged. Exacerbating this phenomenon of underrepresentation are negative portrayals in the media. According to a 2015 Media Tenor report, over two-thirds of all coverage of Islam on American TV news is negative. One way to close this lopsided gap of representation is for American Muslims to become more civically engaged. Specifically, to run for office and affect policies as lawmakers. The Bridge Initiative has therefore compiled information on American Muslims who are currently seeking elected office, or who ran for office in the latest election cycles. Raheela Ahmad is running for reelection to the Prince Georges County School Board in Maryland. She is an Indian-American, Muslim woman who wears the hijab. She has been politically active since a young age, winning her first election to the Board at the age of 18. Emmalee Aman is running for the Planning Board of Montgomery County, Maryland, a suburb just outside Washington, D.C. Aman is a Latina American woman and convert to Islam. An environmental justice advocate, Aman is the Director of Programs and Advocacy at Green Muslims. In November 2015, Kemal Bozkurt was elected to the Lawrence, Massachusetts School Committee as a sticker candidate. Originally from Turkey, Bozkurt is the Acting Director of the Lawrence Public Library. Bozkurt has since resigned from the committee after facing pressure from the mayor to chose between the two positions. Rida Bukhari Rizvi is running to join the prestigious Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee in Maryland. The daughter of Pakistani immigrants, Bukahir Rizvi wears hijab and practices Shia Islam. Abdi Ibrahim was re-elected in 2015 to the School Committee in Randolph, Massachusetts. Ibrahim is of Somali background with professional experience as an attorney and former diplomat. Ibrahim also received graduate studies training at Georgetown University. In November 2015, Fazlul Kabir won re-election as Councilmember on the City of College Park Council. Kabir manages federal projects at a local software firm and holds a doctorate degree in electrical engineering. Kabir also teaches at the University of Maryland, College Park. Talib Karim ran for the Hyattsville City Council in November 2015, coming up short against the incumbent candidate. Karim heads an advocacy group for STEM education and training. Some of his previous experience includes President of the Muslim Democratic Caucus and staff positions on Capitol Hill. Nadeem Mazen was reelected in late 2015 as Cambridge City Councilor. A graduate of MIT and son of an American mother and Egyptian-born father, he is the first Muslim to serve a government post in Massachusetts. Mazen received his first violent threat and was smeared in a sensationally titled article Hamas on the Charles, shortly after winning reelection. Heba Mohammad ran for the Green Bay City Council in April 2016, falling short against the incumbent candidate. At 24 years old, Mohammad has long been an active member in her community, despite unfortunate comments made by a member of the Council she seeks to join. Mohammad is the daughter of Arab-Americans of Palestinian descent. Nadia Syahmalina is running for a Democratic National Committee Delegate position in Maryland. An Indonesian-American woman, Syahmalina has pledged her support to Hillary Clinton. Siddique Malik sought election in 2014 to a senate seat in Kentucky. He was the first Muslim to do so. Malik emigrated from Pakistan over four decades ago as a teenager. While ultimately unsuccessful, Maliks campaign was an important first for Kentuckys Muslim community. Ilhan Omar is running for State Representative of Minnesota House District 60B. Omar and her family fled Somalias civil war when she was just eight years old. After spending four years in a refugee camp in Kenya, she and her family settled in Minneapolis. If elected, she will be the first Somali-American Muslim woman elected to public office. David Ramadan served until very recently in the Virginia House of Delegates. Ramadan is originally from Lebanon and completed graduate studies at Georgetown University. While Ramadan doesnt have a religious preference, notorious conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney demanded to know more about his background when Ramadan initially ran for office euphemistically coded language to gauge whether or not he was Muslim. Sam Rasoul is the only Muslim currently serving in the Virginia House of Delegates, a position he was first elected to in 2014. Rasoul is first-generation Palestinian American. Near Election Day, the Republican Party of Virginia sent out a direct mailer claiming that one of Rasouls donors was an al-Qaeda sympathizer. Ironically, the donor in question mostly contributes to Republican candidates. Anesa Kajtazovic relocated to the U.S. at the age of eight as a refugee fleeing the Bosnian War and genocide. She went on to become elected to the Iowa legislature at the age of 24, serving two terms until deciding to run for Congress in 2014. Kajtazovic was ultimately unsuccessful in her bid, coming up short in the primary. Jesse Sbaih is running for U.S. Congress in Nevada and is already making headlines. A trial lawyer originally from Jordan, Sbaih has publically come out with allegations that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid advised him against running for the open House seat because a Muslim cannot win this race. While ultimately unsuccessful in Californias 11th district democratic primary, Cheryl Sudduths candidacy to the U.S. Congress represents an important intersection of identities African American, Muslim and woman. A champion of education and closing the achievement gap for underserved communities, Sudduth is the second hijabi Muslim American to run for U.S. Congress. Atif Qarni ran unsuccessfully in 2015 ran for Virginias state Senate. The son of Pakistani immigrants, Qarni is a public school teacher and Marine veteran who served in Iraq. In Qarnis own words, he was told to drop out of the race by party leadership in the Virginia Senate because a Muslim could never win, and that his wifes headscarf would be a problem with voters. Carolyn Walker Diallo ran unopposed in general elections in November 2013 for the New York City Civil Court. Shortly after being sworn into office Walker Diallo began receiving threats, prompting the New York Police Department to open a hate crime investigation. Walker-Diallo is the second African American Muslim woman judge in New York, joining Sheila Adbus-Salaam who has sit on the Court of Appeals since 2013. These candidates and their campaigns reveal two interesting insights: 1) the changing political landscape in which American Muslims candidates are not only running for office, but are winning, too; and 2) the uniquely Islamophobic smear tactics utilized against American Muslim candidates are failing to stick. A Changing Political Landscape Considering the tense political climate in the country or better yet, in spite of it it is remarkable that these 19 American Muslims have run, or are running, in the current and most recent election cycles. Seven of the above candidates went on to win their seats, and another six have forthcoming elections. If elected, they will join only a handful of American Muslim elected officials across the entire country, two of whom currently serve in the U.S. Congress. It is difficult to locate exact numbers on American Muslims currently serving in office because religious preference is not reported. What is evident, however, is that American Muslims are stepping onto the political scene an important move that mainstreams American Muslim identity and firmly roots it in political engagement and community leadership. More importantly, it pivots the political agency of American Muslims back to where it truly belongs in the hands of American Muslims. This is critical disruption of the current reality, #AboutUsWithoutUs. The Mudslinging According to a poignant December 2015 Huffington Post article, if you are Muslim and running for public office, be prepared to be called a terrorist. Nadeem Mazen, David Ramadan and Sam Rasoul provide some of the starkest examples of smear campaigns and political defamation by association with individuals or organizations involved in terrorism activity, whether substantiated or not. In the case of Jesse Sbaih and Atif Qarni, the insinuation that a Muslim cannot win the seat he seeks, and by party leadership no less, is demoralizing. Such smear tactics are dangerously irresponsible. In the case of Nadeem Mazen, they can be life-threatening. They can also be fatal to political campaigns because once a terrorism allegation is made (or an insinuation made that a Muslim cant win a race because of his/her faith), candidates are often forced to expend valuable time and money to discredit such claims, instead of focusing on their campaign platform and reaching out to constituents. Conclusion Smears of terrorism, coupled with negative media portrayals of Islam and Muslims that saturate our television news and newspaper headlines, make it all too easy, if not encouraged, for voters to pass on Muslim candidates at the election box. Which makes it easy for Muslim Americans to go on underrepresented at policymaking tables, yet overrepresented in policies and media coverage that affect their communities. And yet, each of the candidates listed above are important examples of American Muslims who are disrupting this disempowering reality. Whether they win the office they seek is beside the point. The point is that American Muslims are electable that American Muslims can determine the outcome of policies and laws that affect their communities by engaging in the political process, that American Muslims can be leaders who effectively and fairly represent their constituents, and that ultimately, #AboutUsWithoutUs can become a thing of the past. A note about methodology: Methodologically speaking, it is difficult to compile a comprehensive list of candidates based on religious affiliation because political candidates are not required to register either. Furthermore, with this election cycle being a presidential one, headlines are dominated by presidential candidates, not by state or local ones. Via Bridge Initiative Related video added by Juan Cole: CBS This Morning from last Winter: Focus group of American Muslims talks politics, fear and faith Reddit Email 0 Shares TeleSur The senator from Vermont thanked the striking workers for standing up for justice against corporate greed. Nearly 40,000 Verizon Communications workers walked off the job Wednesday and were joined by U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as they protested a lack of progress in contracts talks more than eight months after their agreements with the company expired. Sanders joined the protests outside Verizon offices in New York City and said the workers were displaying courage by standing up to the telecommunications giant. They want to give their CEO US$20 million a year in compensation, Sanders told the strikers Wednesday. They want to avoid paying federal income taxes. In other words, this is just another major American corporation trying to destroy the lives of working Americans. The strike was called by the Communications Workers of America or CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers that jointly represent employees in areas such as customer services and network technicians in Verizons traditional wireline phone operations. Sanders also thanked the striking workers for standing up for justice against corporate greed. Its one hell of a time in American politics. Verizon and the unions have been talking since last June over the companys plans to cut health care and pension-related benefits over a three-year period. The workers have been without a contract since its agreement expired in August. Issues include health care, offshoring call center jobs, work rules and pensions. The talks have now reached an impasse as the company plans to go ahead with the new cuts. The strike could affect services in Verizons Fios Internet, telephone and TV businesses across several U.S. East Coast states, including New York, Massachusetts and Virginia. Meanwhile, Sanders rival, Hillary Clinton, issued a statement ahead of the strike, opting for a softer tone as she urged Verizon to come back to the bargaining table with a fair offer for their workers. Sanders Twitter account posted a picture of him at the picket line and wrote: Some politicians send press releases. Bernie shows up on the picket line. Verizon said it was regrettable to see that unions have called for the strike and dismissed that its operations will be disrupted because they have trained non-employees over the past year to do the strikers job. Via TeleSur Related video added by Juan Cole The Young Turks: Bernie Sanders Stands With Striking Verizon Workers Reddit Email 0 Shares Maan News Agency | BETHLEHEM (Maan) PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat denounced on Wednesday recent Israeli plans to expand illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, calling it a war crime. The continued Israeli colonization of Palestine is a war crime under international law, Erekat said in a statement. This is an official policy of the Government of Israel that continues to entrench Israels colonial occupation and destroy the prospects of two independent states living side by side in peace and security on the 1967 border. The latest approval of settlement construction, and the significant increase in Israeli settlement activity during 2016, should serve as a reminder to the international community of its responsibility to put an end to such crimes, and the importance of utilizing all avenues, including the United Nations Security Council, to hold Israel accountable for its continuous crimes, to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine and to honor the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, Erekat added. Israel advanced plans for 250 percent more settler homes in the first quarter of 2016 than it did in the same period last year, Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said on Tuesday. According to the organization, the Israeli government pushed forward plans for 674 housing units in settlements in occupied Palestinian territory between January and March, despite its declared planning freeze. Israel also retroactively legalized 175 settlement homes which had been previously built without government approval. There are now some 550,000 Israelis living in Jewish-only settlements across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law. Israeli rights group BTselem has said that the settlements existence leads to violations of many of the human rights of Palestinians, including the rights to property, equality, an adequate standard of living and freedom of movement. Via Maan News Agency - Related video added by Juan Cole: Press TV: Palestinians seek Israels accountability over settlements Reddit Email 2 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | There were five major stories in the US and European press about Syria today: 1. The cessation of hostilities is in danger of breaking down (typically Western politicians and press blame this on the Syrian regime, but as far as I can tell, it is because of a counter-offensive by al-Qaeda-led rebel groups). 2. The Syrian regime held elections in the areas where it is strong (about 70% of the population lives under regime rule). The French denounced these elections as a sham, and they are likely to return a 250-MP parliament dominated by the ruling Baath Party, a seedy Stalinist police state. Why bother to hold these phony elections? 3. Negotiations began again in Geneva between the regime and the non-radical rebels. UN envoy Steffan de Mistura said he wanted them to focus on political transition, that is, the crafting of a new constitution and the holding of new nationwide elections. The opposition is insisting that Bashar al-Assad step down before such a transition can be accomplished, while the regime says that al-Assad is a red line. The Americans and Russians want the two sides to leave the question of the presidency until later and concentrate on the elements of transition below that level, e.g. the constitution and new electoral rules. 4. Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) has somewhat reasserted itself north of Aleppo and in the hinterlands of Damascus. But it was never part of the ceasefire. 5. If the negotiations fall apart and the civil war heats up again, the US is planning to give medium weaponry, including manpad anti-aircraft munitions, to the vetted rebelswho, however, seem to be perfectly willing to cooperate on the battlefield closely with al-Qaeda, so that the CIA weaponry will benefit, and some will go to, al-Qaeda (Nusra Front), which reports to Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the masterminds of the 9/11 attacks. As I said, as far as I can tell, the oppositions charges that the regime spoiled the cessation of hostilities is simply not true. Before the ceasefire began, the regime had taken back control of the main route from Damascus to Aleppo, including small towns southwest of Aleppo. I wrote Sunday, As the Syrian Arab Army and its Iranian and Iraqi militia allies have been busy to the east at Palmyra, al-Qaeda has spearheaded the reconquest from the regime of al-Eis, al-Khalidiya, Birna and Zitan, small towns along the strategic M5 highway linking Aleppo to Idlib Province (a province dominated by al-Qaeda and its allies). These advances are mainly al-Qaedas, or al-Qaedas in conjunction with allies. A Shiite site observed, The attack on Zitan and Birneh is to be led exclusively by Jabhat al-Nusra fighters. Nevertheless, yesterdays capture of al-Khalidyah was carried about by joint troops of Jund Al-Aqsa, Ahrar ash-Sham, Ajnad Al-Sham, Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Free Syrian Armys 13th division. The 13th Division of the FSA is a vetted group that receives CIA-supplied weaponry such as anti-tank t.o.W. munitions, which is to say that the United States is in bed with al-Qaeda in taking al-Khalidiya from the al-Assad regime. Aljazeera, which is sympathetic to the rebels, nevertheless admits that the some 100 fighters killed altogether on both sides in the past four days in the north died because the Syrian Arab Army and its militia allies have been trying to get al-Eis, al-Khalidiya, Birna and Zitan back from al-Qaeda and its local allies. The charge that there is an assault brewing on east Aleppo, a rebel stronghold, may or may not be true, but that isnt anyway the story here. The story is that some elements of the Free Syrian Army have broken the ceasefire, and have de facto allied with al-Qaeda. these are the guys you want to give shoulder-held weapons that can bring down an El Al airliner? As for the elections held by the regime, they are intended to demonstrate to the West that the Baath Party and President Bashar al-Assad are genuinely popular, and that they cant just be set aside they have millions of votes behind them. (This is North Korean thinking; in fact, the West will dismiss the polls as coerced and phony, and holding them will do the regime little good). It is true that most Syrians prefer the regime to Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) or al-Qaeda (the Nusra Front). Whether the negotiations will go anywhere in Geneva is a big question mark. Likely developments on the battlefield will be more important. If the ceasefire does not in fact fall apart, then the next elections will have to allow voting in de facto rebel-held areas, moving Syria toward a multi-party system. As for the CIA repeating all the mistakes of 1980s Afghanistan in Syria, it boggles the mind. Isnt Obama in charge of this policy? It doesnt sound like he is. Related video added by Juan Cole: France 24: War in Syria: Intense fighting around Aleppo as peace talks resume VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA / April 14, 2016 / MGX Minerals Inc. ("MGX" or the "Company") (CSE: XMG / FKT: 1MG) is pleased to report the Company has received an initial Process Design and Scoping Study (the "Study") from engineering consultant Cementation AG in regards to lithium carbonate production at MGX's Alberta lithium project. MGX engaged Cementation AG (see press release dated February 29, 2016) to analyze extraction of minerals from the heavily mineralized brine of the Fox Creek and Swan Hills areas within the Company's portfolio of Alberta lithium properties. The Study provides for a positive basis to move forward. The Study includes flowsheet recommendations and operational expenditure (OPEX) calculations to process lithium-bearing brine of 20,000 bpd (barrels per day) in a commercial plant. The process proposes to significantly reduce the process time versus traditional solar evaporation, which is up to 18 months. The process is designed to rapidly separate brine minerals to produce various compounds including lithium carbonate, sodium chloride and calcium chloride. The implementation of multiple product lines is designed to maximize potential revenue and reduce the lithium carbonate equivalent cost of production. Utilizing significant literature searches, solubility models and in-house brine expertise, a workable process was developed by Cementation AG. A flowsheet, non-iterative mass balance, evaporator load, pond sizing, equipment list and operating costs were also developed based on water analyses from historic central wells located on MGX's Fox Creek Property. "The proposed process developed by Cementation AG provides for a modern industrial process that would reduce evaporation time and provide for a number of product lines to offset potential costs and increase potential long term profits," stated MGX President and CEO Jared Lazerson. Alberta Lithium Properties MGX has staked or entered into purchase agreements to acquire a 100% undivided interest in 24 Metallic and Industrial Mineral Permits (the "Permits") throughout the Province of Alberta encompassing over 1,150 square miles (300,000 hectares). These Permits were acquired based on compilation of historic exploration for lithium by the Province as well as oil and gas well data and known geology. The Permits are all geological associated with current and past producing oil fields. Qualified Person This press release was prepared under the supervision and review of Andris Kikauka, P. Geo. and Vice President of Exploration for MGX Minerals. Mr. Kikauka is a non-independent Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument (N.I.) 43-101 Standards. About Cementation AG Cementation AG holds expertise in the handling and processing of industrial and energy minerals from scoping study through construction, operations, and maintenance. The lithium plant engineering team is being led by Cementation AG's process engineers with extensive experience in process design, metallurgy and operations. Cementation AG process engineers have supported projects with Suncor, Intrepid Potash, Copper Mountain, Rio Tinto, Phelps Dodge, HudBay Minerals and others. Cementation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Murray & Roberts. Murray & Roberts is a leading engineering and construction services company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is listed on the JSE Limited. It has offices in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and Ghana, the United Emirates, Australia and South Korea, Scotland, Canada, the USA and Chile. Cementation AG was formed to complement the Cementation Underground Group as well as pursue other bulk material handling and minerals processing opportunities globally. About MGX Minerals MGX Minerals (CSE: XMG) is a diversified Canadian mining company engaged in the acquisition and development of industrial mineral deposits in western Canada that offer near-term production potential, minimal barriers to entry and low initial capital expenditures. The Company operates the Driftwood Creek magnesium project located in the East Kootenay Region of British Columbia. MGX has recently received approval of a 20-year mining lease for Driftwood and bulk sampling is currently underway. For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.mgxminerals.com. Contact Information Jared Lazerson Chief Executive Officer Telephone: 604.681.7735 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "potentially" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed through the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. A 49-year old Liberian national and resident of East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, Mohammed Jabbateh, was indicted [indictment, PDF; press release] in Philadelphia on Wednesday on two counts of immigration fraud and two counts of perjury for failing to disclose his crimes in Liberia when he applied for political asylum in December 1998 and when he was interviewed by an immigration asylum officer in January 1999. According to US officials, Jabbateh, who was popularly known as Jungle Jabbah, was believed to be involved in civil war atrocities [Reuters report] including committing or ordering troops to commit murder and torture, public rape, enslavement of civilian noncombatants, and conscription of child soldiers. US Attorney Zane David Memeger stated that Jabbateh had concealed his identity as an officer of the United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia and allegedly committed unspeakable crimes in his home country, brutalizing numerous innocent victims. How federal authorities learned of Jabbatehs true identity remains a mystery as prosecutors declined to comment. Special Agent-in-Charge Jack Staton of Homeland Security Investigations stated that the United States will not be a safe haven for alleged human rights violators and war criminals. According to Memeger, Jabbateh faces a 30-year prison sentence if convicted, although he is unlikely to be deported. Liberia continues to be in the headlines for alleged and proven war crimes spanning a number of decades. As recently as September 2013, the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) rejected an appeal by former Liberian president Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] of his convictions for war crimes [JURIST report] committed during the decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone. In February 2010 the UN emphasized [JURIST report] that reconciliation in Liberia hinges on the development of its national security and its legal institutions. A UN report issued in April 2008 examined [JURIST report] Liberias struggles with corruption in its criminal justice system, poor detention conditions, and sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and forced marriage. In November 2006 the UN Independent Expert on the promotion and protection of human rights in Liberia urged [JURIST report] the Liberian government to press ahead with its Truth and Reconciliation Commission and appoint members to its Independent National Commission on Human Rights. [JURIST] A Chicago task force assigned by Mayor Rahm Emanuel [official website] on Wednesday issued a report [text, PDF] finding that racism has caused systematic failures within the citys police department. The report includes statistics illustrating how African Americans are the group most often targeted and mistreated by police officers within the city of Chicago. According to the task force, 74 percent of the 408 people who were shot by Chicago PD between 2008 and 2015 were African American. The report also discussed police stops and use of excessive force. In response to these findings, the task force has called for both the dissolving of the Independent Police Review Authority and the expansion of officer body camera use. Claims of police abuse continue to generate controversy throughout the US. In October, three former detainees filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against the City of Chicago [official website] and a number of Chicago police officers for alleged abuse at an off the books detention center. In September a Ferguson, Missouri reform panel released a report calling for the consolidation of police departments [JURIST report] and municipal courts. Also that month Baltimore City Circuit Judge Barry Williams rejected motions [JURIST report] to drop charges against six police officers implicated in the case of Freddie Gray, a black man who was injured in police custody and later died. In August the Chicago Police Department decided [JURIST report] to allow independent evaluations of their stop-and-frisk procedures that many have said specifically target African Americans under an agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union. In August of last year New York City formally dropped [JURIST report] the citys appeal of rulings in lawsuits involving the New York Police Departments (NYPD) use of stop-and-frisk tactics. Mayor Bill De Blasios administration agreed to end the lawsuit against the NYPD after reaching a settlement requiring three years of NYPD oversight by a court-appointed monitor. Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiangon announced Wednesday that his license to practice law was revoked by the judicial bureau. The bureau allegedly disbarred [FP report] Pu from practicing law because of a December criminal conviction [JURIST report] associated with using social media to critique the government. The move is criticized as a way to curtail activists from using their positions to critique the government. Such instances are an issue of concern that was detailed in a US State Department study [text, PDF; JURIST report] which stated that, [i]ndividuals and groups regarded as politically sensitive by authorities faced tight restrictions on their freedom to assemble, practice religion, and travel. Authorities resorted to extralegal measures, such as enforced disappearance and strict house arrest, including house arrest of family members, to prevent public expression of critical opinions. The Chinese government responded [Xinhua report] with their own report condemning the human rights violations committed in the US. Chinese lawyer and professor, Chen Taihe, fled China [JURIST report] in March and arrived in San Leandro, California, after he was detained last July as part of a crackdown on rights lawyers. The crackdown culminated in at least 242 people detained or questioned throughout the country. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein expressed concern [JURIST report] in February over Chinas recent crackdown on lawyers and activists. In January Chinese authorities arrested [JURIST report] high profile human rights lawyer Wang Yu and her husband on charges of political subversion. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks [official website] on Wednesday called [press release] on Turkey to focus on human rights in the wake of their anti-terrorism security measures. The remarks were made at the end of a nine-day official visit to the country to observe the ways in which the Turkish government was balancing human rights concerns among growing security threats. The Commissioners concerns are due to his observations and his discussions with the local community. To combat terrorism, Turkey has increased their interactions with media by having trustees take over publications, which has led to censorship fears. In addition, the investigations have reportedly curtailed basic judicial rights in order to complete investigations in a timely fashion. The Commissioner argues that the measures will not only impact human rights in the long term but also prevent the growth of democracy in the country. Turkey and its treatment of human rights are cause for concern due to the growing partnership with the EU caused by the refugee crisis. EU leaders agreed [JURIST report] to a deal with Turkey in March to stem migrant flows, particularly of Syrian refugees, to Europe in return for financial and political incentive to Ankara. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated [JURIST report] last week that EU states are violating international law by breaking their migrant pact with Turkey by not allowing the country to extradite suspected terrorists. Earlier this month Amnesty International [advocacy website] reported [JURIST report] that Turkey has been forcibly returning up to 100 refugees to Syria per day and expressed concern for the possible future of transported migrants. [JURIST] A French court on Wednesday ruled to extradite Radomir Susnjar, who is suspected to have committed war crimes during Balkan conflict of the 1990s, to Sarajevo where he will face charges concerning his involvement. Susnjar, who was arrested in France [press release, in Croatian] in 2014, allegedly locked innocent civilians in a house and set it on fire. The French court, however, could only extradite [RFI report] Susnjar under common law and international principles because the actions of Susjnar were not punishable under French law at the time of their commission and France has a non-retroactivity principle. However, the actions were punishable under International and European law, which prosecutors argued meant that the non-retroactivity law did not apply to crimes against humanity, a rationale the court accepted. Susnjars lawyer, Oliver Morice, believes that the court gave into pressure and indicated that he is willing to take the case to Frances top court. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [JURIST backgrounder] and the Balkan States continue to prosecute those accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity that left more than 100,000 people dead and millions displaced during the conflict. Last month the ICTY acquitted [JURIST report] Vojislav Seselj, president of the Serbian Radical Party and former Assembly member of Serbia, of all crimes against humanity and war crimes in connection with the Balkan war. In May 2015 the ICTY ordered [JURIST report] Serbias justice ministry to return Seselj to his detention cell immediately after he was released in February [JURIST op-ed] to return to Serbia for cancer treatment. The ICTY had revoked his provisional release [JURIST report] in March because Seselj spoke at a news conference in Belgrade and stated [WSJ report] that he would not return voluntarily to The Hague. [JURIST] Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards [official website] on Wednesday signed [press release] an executive order [text, PDF] that creates a new anti-discrimination law intended to protect members of the LGBT community. Prior to signing the executive order, there was no state law in Louisiana protecting LGBT individuals from employment discrimination. In signing the bill, Governor Edwards stated, We are fortunate enough to live in a state that is rich with diversity, and we are built on a foundation of unity and fairness for all of our citizens. The order has broken new ground in the state, as it marks the first time Louisiana has specifically recognized the equal rights of transgender people. Governor Edwardss order rescinds previous laws established by his successor Bobby Jindal, who worked to limit certain LGBT rights. The intersection of religious liberty and sexual orientation and gender identity has been a controversial issue in the US. Earlier this week Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said that he would veto [JURIST report] a religious freedom bill [HB 757, text] that critics claim would sanction discrimination against LGBT individuals. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe on Wednesday vetoed [press release] a similar bill. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper [official profile] on Tuesday stated [JURIST report] during a press conference that he will not defend House Bill 2 [materials], which he considers to be discriminatory against the LGBT community. That legislation specifically prohibits local municipalities from enacting anti-discrimination ordinances. A New Jersey administrative law judge, Jeff Masin, ruled [opinion, PDF] on Tuesday that presidential hopeful Ted Cruz [campaign website] is a natural-born citizen of the US and is thus eligible to be placed on the New Jersey primary ticket. Masin ruled that Cruz is a natural-born citizen because his mother is a US citizen but noted that his decision could be further tailored after review by New Jerseys Lt. Governor, Kim Guadagno [official website]. The issue of a presidential candidates natural-born citizenship has been hotly discussed both in this race and last, with interest groups advocating [JURIST report] for a constitutional amendment allowing for foreign-born presidents. Like the question at hand, in 2008, a judge of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the citizenship status and eligibility of then-Senator Barack Obama to become US president. The lawsuit [complaint, PDF] filed by Pennsylvania attorney Philip Berg, had alleged that Obama did not meet the constitutional requirement of being a natural-born US citizen, arguing that Obama had lost his citizenship as a child when his mother married an Indonesian man, and that there was insufficient evidence that Obama had been born in the US. Judge R. Barclay Surrick found [decision, PDF] that Berg lacked standing to bring the suit because he did not face direct harm even if the allegations were true. The decision was upheld [decision, PDF] by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Panamanian prosecutors for organized crime raided the Panamanian office of international law firm Mossack Fonseca [firm website] on Tuesday, seeking evidence of money laundering and financing terrorism in relation to the recent Panama Papers [CNN report] scandal. Mossack Fonseca has denied [press release, PDF] any wrongdoing and claimed [press release] that it is willing and eager to cooperate with authorities. On the topic, the firm has made public statements about its computers being compromised [AP report]. World leaders and other high profile individuals are hiding billions in off-shore accounts, according to reports that cite confidential documents leaked [JURIST report] from Mossack Fonseca. The documents, coined the Panama Papers [website] by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, purportedly show that numerous politicians, celebrities and other wealthy individuals have hid money utilizing the legal services of Mossack Fonseca. The Panama Papers include 11 million documents allegedly illustrating how the firm laundered money and helped their wealthy clients avoid tax consequences and dodge sanctions. It is reported [BBC report] that 12 heads of state are among those implicated by the Panama Papers. Mossack Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing, claiming they were the victim of a data breach and that they have not engaged in any illegal activity. Georgia officials executed Kenneth Fults Tuesday after the US Supreme Court [official website] Tuesday denied [order, PDF] the application for stay [text, PDF] of execution. His attorney argued [petition, PDF] that the jury which sentenced Fults, an African American man, was tainted by the racial bias of at least one member, after Fults pleaded guilty to murdering his neighbor, Cathy Bounds, in 1996. Fults completed a series of appeals and filed for both state and federal habeas corpus review over his nearly 20-year incarceration [press release]. On April 8 his attorney filed an application for the stay of his execution with the US Supreme Court at least until the court decided Pena-Rodriguez v. State of Colorado [SCOTUSblog materials], a case before the court considering similar facts of racial slurs made by jurors. Fults was executed [press release] Tuesday night. Earlier this month the Supreme Court on granted certiorari [order list, PDF] in a case regarding racial bias expressed in jury deliberation and whether the no-impeachment rules applied in this scenario violate an individuals Sixth Amendment [text] right to an impartial jury. Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado [docket] has come before the Supreme Court because after the initial verdict against Miguel Angel Pena-Rodriguez, two jurors came forward and alleged that another juror had made racially-charged comments during deliberation, that suggested the verdict could have been based on racial bias [JURIST report]. [JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein [official profile], on Thursday urged Iran to stop executions [press release] over drug offenses pending the debate of a law that would remove the mandatory death penalty as punishment for those convicted of drug offenses. Citing the fact that the highest number of executions, 966, in more than two decades were carried out last year with a majority being related to convictions on drug charges, Zeid said that the law was an encouraging sign from Iran. He concluded his remarks urging a moratorium on the death penalty until the law had been debated. Much international pressure has been directed toward Iran in recent years for its use of the death penalty. Last month UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, expressed continued concern regarding Irans alarming rate of juvenile executions [JURIST report] and other flaws in the justice system. In February Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] criticized Irans justice system after 40 men were sentenced to death [JURIST report]. In January AI reported on the many juvenile offenders [JURIST report] on death row in Iran. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern [UN News Centre report] on Wednesday over reports coming out of the Republic of Congo regarding an apparent Government security operation in an area of southern Brazzaville known as the Pool. The reports [statement] flow from suspected police action taken against civilians, after the March 20 election against opposition leaders and their supporters. Seventeen people have died in these security operations, including three members of security forces, with several others wounded. The joint statement urges the government to ensure access to the Pool by humanitarian actors and that security forces act in full accordance with international human rights law. In October voters in the Republic of the Congo approved an amendment to the constitution [text, PDF, in French] to allow President Denis Sassou Nguesso to extend his term in office [JURIST report]. The amendment allows presidents to renew [JURIST report] their term twice and removes the age limit for presidential candidates, currently set at 70. Nguesso, who is 72, would have been ineligible for the presidency without the amendment. Before being elected to office in 2002, he also served as president from 1979 to 1992. Nguesso was reelected on March 20. US Secretary of State John Kerry released the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015 [text] on Wednesday, pointing to a global governance crisis in is prefatory statement. The secretary cited the accelerating trend by both state and non-state actors to marginalize opposition voices, and in the most extreme cases, to kill people or drive them from their homes. The secretary listed various grim examples of human rights abuses committed in 2015, including criminal acts by non-state actors such as Daesh, Boko Haram, al Shabaab, the Taliban, transnational criminal organizations, genocide and crimes against humanity directed against religious minorities in Iraq and Syria, jailing of reporters for writing critical stories about the government, and the closure of non-governmental organizations for promoting universal human rights. The secretary also highlighted from the report the troubling trend among some elected leaders who undermined existing democratic institutions, such as by taking steps to stifle opposition, circumvent the electoral process, and weaken judiciaries, often in an attempt to perpetuate their continued rule. Finally, the secretary also pointed to corruption concerns. According to Kerry, Institutions lose credibility when people can no longer expect a fair and impartial judiciary to address their grievances, obtain basic government services without a bribe, or participate in the political process without their franchise being undermined by corruption. People must have faith in their institutions in order for societies to thrive. Despite the largely grim outlook outlined by the report the Secretary stressed that this must strengthen our resolve to promote fundamental freedoms, to support human rights defenders, and to document and promote accountability for violations of human rights because it is right and because it reinforces our interest in a more peaceful world. In February Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] released [JURIST report] its Annual Report 2015/16 [text], a summary of an international survey of human rights concluding that short-term national self-interest and draconian security crackdowns have led to a wholesale assault on basic freedoms and rights. AI attributed much of this failure to a lack of accountability in the international system, as the UN and other intergovernmental bodies are largely unable to enforce human rights without the consent of the nations involved. In January Human Rights Watch released a report [JURIST report] discussing human rights issues in more than 90 countries throughout 2015. World Report 2016, the rights groups twenty-sixth edition of the report, which spanned 659 pages, included short summaries of important rights topics before breaking down rights concerns by country. One major theme of this report was the treatment of refugees worldwide, especially those driven out of Syria by the Islamic State, calling Europes approach to refugees counter productive. NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Just Style Daily Update The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Just Style Weekly Update A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday. Just Style Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter. 070416 Road blocks are an obstacle to peoples freedom of movement and economy for Bougainville. By Joe Elijah People or groups setting up road blocks in and around the Region must be dealt with by the full cause of Law. Thats were the words from the Finance and Treasury Minister Hon Albert Punghau, who lashed out to his colleague Ministers during the grievances time at Parliament this afternoon. The grievances time which is normally allowed in the morning session to the Members, was addressed in the afternoon due to power disruption in first part of the Parliament House Of Representatives in the morning. In opening the grievances time this afternoon, Hon Punghau challenged every Members of the House of Representatives to educate their communities better still educate them the right procedures in solving problems, and not take matters in their own hands asking for unnecessary compensation. Hon Punghau said road blocks or pulling Government assets and asking for compensations from the Government is not helping but causing embarrassments, restricting freedom of movement for our people and hindering developments into their areas or communities. Giving an example of the block that caused a serious embarrassment to the President and a Chinese Investor delegation that travelled to Buin with him, ABG was put in a very tight spot for securing assistance to foreign donor agencies in the future. Hon Punghau said the Member responsible for his people did nothing to defuse the situation, but instead just stood by and allowed his people to terrorist innocent motorized, something ABG is trying to weed out and allow people to be free from an obstacle they need to face in life. Ends 070416PRESIDENTS CONCERN OVER PM ACTION By Tom Kathoa The President of the A.B.G, Hon Dr. Chief John MOMIS has expressed grave concern and does not condone the manner in which the national government continues to bypass the legitimate government on the ground. The awarding of major road contracts in the three regions of Bougainville is one clear example of the national governments failure to consult the ABG on matters directly affecting the people of the region. The president says although roads are important for the region, it is manner in which the national government has gone about awarding contracts to companies without his governments input. Ends 080416 Rotary Club Buka hold its annual fundraising Joe Elijah The Rotary Buka Club last night had its annual fund raising drive at Kuri Village Resort. More than 10 tables were sold to the Members of the House of Representatives and other Cooperate sponsors which were going for K1000 per table. Rotary Buka club is in its second year now in operation, more than 53 members have already signed up as members, and the Executives of Rotary Buka Club is encouraging more members to sign up especially Members of the House of Representation and the ABG public servants. So far the Buka based Rotary Club has assisted Health Centers and Aid posts equip them with some medical equipment from their last two containers of goods from Australia, it is understood over K2million of equipments has already been donated by Rotary Buka Club. A similar Club has also being established at Arawa, it is expected the Executives of the two clubs will sit in the near future to draw up their annual program for 2016 and 17 respectively. Both Humanitarian clubs of Buka and Arawa are again calling on the communities of Buka and Arawa to sign up as members so that they can really benefit in many of Rotarys humanitarian programs available to participate in. Ends 140416CENTRAL CONGRATULATE LERA By Aloysius Laukai The people of Central Bougainville have thanked the Prime Minister Peter ONeil for appointing the Regional Member for Bougainville, JOE LERA as the Minister for Bougainville Affairs. This was revealed by the Chairman of the Central Bougainville Council of Elders Chairmen, JOHN DONA in Arawa this week. MR. DONA said with the appointment, they would like the office of NCOBA to be relocated to Buka so that it can better serve the people of Bougainville. He said that for so many years the people of Bougainville have not benefitted from services from NCOBA and want it relocated under the new Minister. They also called on the new Minister to make sure he continues to serve the people of Bougainville that includes the three regions and not concentrate on one region only. Ends By Andreas Marazis No, Europe is not considered a victim of the economic phenomenon known as Dutch Disease or resource curse, referring to economies of countries that rely heavily on natural resource revenues. But it might suffer from a different kind of Dutch Disease brought about by the serious blow from the NO outcome of the April 6, 2016 Dutch referendum regarding the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement which has served to fragment the EU and weaken its unified decision-making power. To assess the nature and seriousness of this disease, we turned to Mr. Jos Boonstra, a Netherlands-based Eurasia expert and Coordinator of EUCAM, whose opinions we quote throughout the article. Under a recently enacted law which stipulates that a referendum can be imposed if it is backed by an online petition signed by a minimum of 300,000 people, Dutch citizens were asked last Wednesday, 6 April 2016, to cast their ballot in favour or against the ratification of the Association Agreementan agreement which, according to Dutch Eurosceptics, will be a stepping stone towards full EU membership for Ukraine. This argument is not valid since the aim of the deep and comprehensive free trade area (DCFTA) component of the treaty aims to forge closer economic integration between the EU and Ukraine, battle chronic corruption and strengthen the rule of law. In fact, the Association Agreement does not mention membership at all, as independent expert in Eurasia based in the Netherlands, Jos Boonstra, points out. With a turnout barely reaching 1/3 of the population (32,2%), of which a majority (61.1%) voted against the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and 38.1% in favour, one might say that the result cannot be considered as valid. On top of that, the agreement has been backed by the Dutch Parliament and the Government although, since the referendum is non-binding and advisory in principle, the result could be ignored. However, Boonstra indicates that almost all political parties argued ahead of the referendum that the result should be taken seriously and that they would urge the government to act if the 30% threshold was met. Herein lies the tricky part; Netherlands is the only EU member state that has not ratified the pact, which already took effect as of 1 January, 2016. Paradoxically, while the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte will be revisiting the issue by taking into account the vote, the European Commission will be working this month towards the visa liberalisation regime for Ukrainians. It may look as if were ignoring the Dutch voters, a senior EU source said to Reuters, but the reality is that the EU leaders have already invested financially and politically in this agreement and they simply cannot go back on their word. For its part, Ukraine, as declared by its president Petro Poroshenko, will continue to implement the Association Agreement and will firmly continue on the path towards modernisation and towards closer integration with the EU. In this light, the negative outcome of the Dutch referendum will not immediately affect EU-Ukraine relations. It is, however, firstly a problem for the Dutch government and secondly for the EU internally, as Jos Boonstra notes. The most likely scenario for Prime Minister Rutte is that he might try to have the other 27 member states agree to an additional formulation that says that this treaty in no way can lead to EU membership for Ukraine. Boonstra said that it is far from clear whether all members would agree to such an additional formulation. The same could apply to concerns that were aired during the No campaign about defence cooperation with Ukraine, but, again, it will be more a matter of additional clarifications instead of changing the pacts text, to which many member states are unlikely to agree, the expert continued. The Dutch government will need to tread a fine line between the will of a segment of the Dutch voters (61% of 31 % of the population) and its position in the EU (currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council). Ignoring the result will arouse anger among many Dutch voters and especially among the anti-EU forces. Seeking to renegotiate the Association Agreement will probably result in negative reactions and unwillingness from other member states in the EU, let alone Ukraine itself. Confronted by a series of national referenda that weaken its unified decision-making power, (Greece last summer, Denmark last December, the UK this coming summer), the EU might soon find itself in a very uncomfortable situation. Several EU officials had warned in particular that if the Dutch No campaign prevailed, it could potentially inflame Eurosceptic sentiment in the UK as well, where a referendum concerning its future within or outside the Union will take place in June. Interestingly enough, the Kremlin has been relatively silent about the result of the Dutch referendum. Jos Boonstra noted that most likely Russia will respond more in-depth as soon as the Dutch government indicates how they intend to proceed. In any case, the referendums result will be regarded as a win for Russia as it ignores Russian aggression towards Ukraine, wants to do away with the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and helps to divide the EU internally. Whether the Dutch referendum opened a Pandoras box with unpredictable consequences for the future of the European Union is yet to be seen. The next crash-test for the EU will take place in the UK on June 23. Andreas Marazis is the Project Manager (Eastern ENP) of European Neighbourhood Council (ENC), a newly established NGO based in Brussels. Previously he worked as junior researcher at FRIDE a Spanish Think-Tank based in Madrid and Brussels. 140416DONA SUPPORTS TAMBOLEMA By Aloysius Laukai The Chairman of the Central Bougainville Council of Elders Chairmen, JOHN DONA has praised TAMBOLEMA COPRA Exporters for raising the Price of Copra so that farmers can benefit from good price. MR. DONA made these comments in Kieta this week after TAMBOLEMA exported ONE THOUSAND METRI TONNES of Dried Copra mainly bought around Central Bougainville. MR. DONA said that competition is good for business as monopoly in the past has killed the industry due to low prices of commodities. He called on TAMBOLEMA as a local company to continue with its work of assisting farmers with awareness on ways to improve the quality of Copra for export. MR. DONA said that Commodity Boards have been collecting monies from buyers and farmers for research and trainings but has not reached the farmers on Bougainville. Ends KEARNEY Buffalo County Sheriff Neil Miller has been trying to throw me in jail for years. Monday night he finally succeeded. Ok, I wasnt actually thrown in jail. Myself and 16 other members of the Citizens Police Academy walked in on our own accord to see the Buffalo County Jail from the publics perspective. "Its a lot easier to get in than it is to get out," Miller joked. The $11.9 million 205-bed jail opened in March 2010, as part of a $24.5 million bond issue for a Justice Center that voters approved in an April 2008 election. In addition to the new jail, the bonds funded construction of a courts complex with new courtrooms and offices west of the jail. Monday night, the jail had 105 inmates. The facility is operated by 31 corrections officers, two nurses, one counselor and one jail lieutenant, Chad Hunt. Annually, the Nebraska Jail Standards Board inspects the jail for everything the state has the ability to regulate, from fire safety to menus to religious activities and programming. Buffalo Countys Jail has never failed an inspection. The jail contracts with other counties, and the state Department of Corrections, to house inmates for a fee. That money is then used to pay down the bond debt. The jail is very high-tech. Master control in the center of the jail is the hub for everything not only in the jail, but the Justice Center as well. Cells surround the master control room, allowing staffers to see inside the cell blocks. Over 100 cameras keep an eye on things from the courtrooms to cell blocks and the kitchen, as well as opening and closing doors, all on touch-screen monitors. Men, women, sex offenders and juveniles are all housed separately. Jail Standards requires that cell blocks be checked by a corrections officer every hour of every day, and that inmate head counts are done four times a day. Through the Buffalo County Jails current inmate communication system, Telmate, inmates can send medical requests and grievances electronically. With the use of a 7-inch hand-held tablet, inmates also can send email messages to family members. In return, family members can send messages and photos from home. Inmates also can use the tablets for restricted Web browsing. All of the correspondence is monitored by jail staff, and has been used a time or two for prosecution. Telmate is a fully automated system that provides inmates telephone services, and money to be put on an inmates commissary account. There are 22 tablets, one for each of the cell blocks, and the bigger blocks have two. Inmate request information is digitally archived. On a walk-through tour of the facility Lt. Hunt took my group through the sally port where suspects are first brought to jail. They are patted down for contraband and weapons, then enter into the jail to be processed. Then it was on to the cell block area where class participants were gawked at like a ribeye in the meat case. That part of the tour was uncomfortable for some participants. The jail has its own laundry facility, medical segregation unit, and commissary where they can buy snacks and simple supplies. Profits from the commissary program are used to pay the cable TV bill and any other expenses inmates may incur. Inmates are given .10 back on their commissary for every wrapper they return to corrections officers. The effort helps keep the jail tidy, and prevents plumbing repairs when wrappers stay out of the toilets. In the jails kitchen jail staff must constantly keep track of the number of sporks used by inmates. At the end of each of the three hot meals a day, all hard plastic, orange sporks must be accounted for, for safety reasons. If they arent, the jail goes into lock down until the missing utensil is found. Sporks could be used as a weapon in jail. Sometimes is takes inmates losing their privilege of TV or the tablet until the spork is found. Inmates are allowed four hours of visitation a week, which is done via video conference. The Justice Center construction project also included the countys Emergency Operations Center in the basement of the jail. The center serves as a base of operations during major disasters. It houses one of the countys two backup 911 systems, amateur radios and backup power sources. The EOC is what Miller calls "The nicest room we dont want to use." It was partially funded by a $200,000 Emergency Management Program Grant from the state. Part of Mondays class was spent with Chaplain Bobby Payne who oversees six other chaplains for both the sheriffs office and Kearney Police Department. They serve the officers of both agencies, and help make death notifications. For 20 years Payne has also ran the "Unseen Backup" program, where volunteers are asked to pray regularly for officers and their safety. Just a few days ago, I learned that on April 6, the eldest grandson of President Harry Truman, a nice gentleman named Clifton Truman Daniel, age 58, was scheduled to present the Truman Award for leadership to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Prior to that, Trumans grandson would have board meetings. I was invited to come on April 6 and perhaps get a brief visit with Clifton Truman Daniel. I had an interesting story to tell. My late father was a member of the Masonic Lodge and Shriners. President Truman was likewise a Mason and Shriner, being grand master of Masons in Missouri in 1940. The interesting point of trivia is that my dad briefly spoke to President Truman at such an event in the 1940s, when Truman was in the reviewing stand, and, now, in the year 2016, I was talking to President Trumans eldest grandson, Clifton Truman Daniel. I found out Daniel has belonged to the Masons five years. I have been a member 34 years. It was a pleasure to meet President Trumans eldest grandson. The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved many American and Allied lives. It helped end World War II. With the construction of the new Central Nebraska Veterans Home at Kearney, it will help countless veterans, including some WWII veterans. As far as the Korean-conflict goes, many people take sides favoring either Truman or Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who, incidentally, was also a Mason and a Shriner. That is a subject I wont engage in. The whole point of this letter is to highlight that chance meeting between my dad and President Truman in the 1940sand my much more extended conversation between Trumans grandson and me, now in 2016. It was almost like history coming full circle. James A. Marples, Longview, Texas This month, millions of Americans will file their taxes, and millions more have already done so. But what many Americans may not consider as they file their taxes are the immense federal, state and local tax contributions made by unauthorized immigrants. According to a recent study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, unauthorized immigrants pay an estimated $11.64 billion in state and local taxes each year, adding significant amounts of money to the coffers of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Contributions by unauthorized immigrants also help to ensure the solvency of programs like Social Security. The chief actuary of the Social Security Administration reported that in 2010, for example, unauthorized immigrants paid a net $12 billion in tax revenue into the system. But as much as these individuals contribute, their unauthorized status keeps them from doing even more. Studies show that bringing unauthorized immigrants off the economic sidelines and allowing them to work legally would boost their earnings, which translates into more tax revenue generated. Importantly, it would also produce more economic activity across the United States, higher wages for all Americans, and more jobs created. In November 2014, President Obama announced a slate of executive actions on immigration, among them the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA, and the expansion of 2012s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Together, these initiatives would allow parents of citizens and green card holders, as well as people who came to the country many years ago at a young age, to register with the government, submit to background and security checks, and request temporary protection from the threat of deportation and permission to work legally. These are people who are well settled into our nation and our communities: Nearly 70 percent of people eligible for DAPA have lived here for at least 10 years, and a full quarter have lived here for twice as long. Full implementation of DAPA and DACA would significantly expand federal, state and local economies. All 50 states and the District of Columbia would see an increase in tax revenues of $805 million annually. The national economy would grow by a cumulative $230 billion over a decade, the incomes of all Americans would grow by $124 billion over a decade, and an average 29,000 jobs would be created each year. And yet, even with such positive economic benefits, Texas and 25 other states filed a lawsuit against the executive actions, blocking DAPA and expanded DACA from going into effect. These states allege that the initiatives will impose on them millions of dollars in costs. But they are completely ignoring the overwhelming increased revenues they would gain. Texas alone, for example, would see an additional $154 million in new tax revenues each year under full implementation of the immigration actions. The state would also see the earnings of all of its residents rise by $17.6 billion over a decade, and would see on average 4,800 additional jobs created each year. Yet Texas continues to ignore these gains, and instead is spearheading this politically motivated attack on immigrant families. This year, Tax Day happens to fall on April 18, the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Texass lawsuit. A ruling by the court is not expected until late June, but when the sun sets on Tax Day 2016, unauthorized immigrants already will have made an enormous contribution to our federal, state and local economies and to our tax rolls. Tom Jawetz is the vice president of immigration policy at the Center for American Progress. This is an image taken from video on Wednesday April 13, 2016 of of Salah Abdeslam, 2nd left, the fugitive from the Nov. 13 Paris attacks whose capture appears to have precipitated the March 22 bombing in Brussels. In the August 2014 Tvbrussel footage revealed Wednesday, Abdeslam is seen strolling casually through the Molenbeek market. Abdeslam, like many of the men in the Islamic State cell blamed for the pair of deadly attacks, is a native of the Brussels neighborhood. (Tvbrussels via AP) BELGIUM OUT What a whirlwind of a weekend it was for Goresbridge man David Mullins. The 19-year-old made history on Saturday, romping home to win the Grand National on Rule the World. He hardly had time to celebrate the victory, before he had to head back out this time to win on the (his uncle) Willie Mullins-trained Ivan Grozny. The former St Kieran's College student has only been a professional since 2014, but he looked totally assured in each of his victories on the highest stage. On Monday, he told the Kilkenny People about the historic moment. It was an amazing feeling - magical, said David, whose family had been there to enjoy the moment with him. But it was a strange feeling. I don't think I'll ever have it again, bar winning another one or something. It was against the odds in every sense. The Mouse Morris-trained Rule the World has had plenty of set backs, breaking his pelvis twice in the past. But David has good history with him, coming in second on him in the Irish national 12 months ago, and third in the Kerry national during the summer. With the win under his belt, he had to quickly put it out of his mind and go back out on Ivan Grozny. Not an easy thing to do. Going out to ride in it, there were people congratulating me and shaking my hand and all that, he said. That was a bit strange it normally never happens before you ride a horse! The success has now catapulted him into the limelight: Yeah, the phone has been like a Christmas tree, he said. It's going all day every day and all night. Interviewed on television shortly afterwards, the local jockey soon had plenty of people swooning on social media. Riding horses since he was four years old, David only made the switch to pro just two years ago. Since then, he hasn't looked back. I was starting to get going as an amateur, he said. I knew my weight was going to be ok being a professional if I wanted to be, and I may as well be getting paid for it!" So, what's next for him? Just keep improving, take as much as I can in, and enjoy the week,he says. A wise head on young shoulders. Waterford needs to be reminded of its obligations to work with its neighbour on the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme, according to two local councillors. At last week's meeting of the Piltown Municipal District, Cllr Eamon Aylward spoke of his frustration with trying to find accommodation for people near the county borders. Under the HAP scheme, the local authority pays landlords directly. It has been brought in to phase out the long-term Rent Supplement scheme. "As regards the HAP, there needs to be a more watertight agreement with our neighbouring authorities," he said. He detailed a situation in which a man's marriage had broken up and he was left sleeping on his mother's couch. There were no houses available in Kilkenny at the time, but there were some in Waterford. "The housing office in Waterford wouldn't engage," said Cllr Aylward. "They wouldn't even return a phone call." Cllr Aylward said that a house was finally found in Mooncoin, but as is the norm, one month's rent was required up front as well as a deposit. He said there needed to be some sort of emergency fund to assist people in these types of situations. Cllr Melissa O' Neill expressed similar problems in dealing with Waterford. "If I ring Waterford and want to speak to housing, I'm put to a front desk," she said. "And then they speak to someone. I have to talk to the person on the front desk instead of the people involved." Senior social worker Margaret Newport said that if someone is on a housing list anywhere in the country, they should be able to access HAP in any neighbouring county. "We operate on that in Kilkenny," she said. "We work on the principal that if you're on the housing list, we will administer HAP." Cllr Aylward said somebody needed to tell Waterford that. In terms of the deposit and month's rent in advance, the responsibility lies with the Department of Social Protection. Director of services Maria Melia said there was a policy in place, and she would follow up on it. "There is a joint housing forum between Kilkenny and Waterford, and there is an agreement on HAP," she said. "And it is particularly for the border areas." She said she was concious of the fact that there was no one present at the meeting from Waterford City and County Council to repsond to anything that was said. The presence of a potentially dangerous level of a chemical element in the Kilkenny City and Inistioge Water supplies was highlighted by Green Party councillor Malcolm Noonan at a recent meeting of Kilkenny County Council. In a Notice of Motion supported by all members, Cllr Noonan called on Irish Water to attend a plenary of the council to address this and ongoing capital and operational issues related to water and wastewater service provision in the county. At the meeting, Cllr Noonan said that Irish Water was lacking in political accountability on issues of public health concern when it came to water quality. He also expressed concerns that Irish Water had notified members that they would only be available quarterly to answer members' queries, as opposed to monthly in a previous arrangement. I feel that we are being stripped of all control or say in relation to water quality issues, said Cllr Noonan. When water services were under the stewardship of local authorities we could deal directly with an engineer and have the matter addressed. Irish Water have to be held accountable and it is my hope that they will attend a future meeting to address public concerns. The Green Party councillor said that the issue of exceedences of Trihalomethanes (THMs) in the Kilkenny City and Inistioge supply was raised in an EPA Water Quality Report. THMs occur when high levels of organic matter (leaves, peat, land runoff) mix with chlorine the disinfectant used to treat public water supplies. Inhalation or ingestion of THMs can affect the central nervous system, the bowel, and lead to a number of other health problems in adults and children. Cllr Noonan questioned why this information was not publicaly available and argued that Irish Water should have a means to communicate matters of such seriousness to the public and to public representatives. The famous environmental campaigner Erin Brockivich issued a warning to Irish authorities to address the issue as she has been dealing with exposure to THMs in water supplies in the USA for many years, said Cllr Noonan. He added that the problem is exacerbated following flood events, particularly when the bulk of our water supply comes from river water and has to be heavily chemically dosed with chlorine to purify the water. I want the matter of THMs addressed urgently, said the Kilkenny City West councillor. Groundwater is a cleaner supply and we were directed via an EU action by a Kilkenny family a number of years ago to use groundwater as our primary source. The levels of THMs in the Kilkenny and Inistioge supplies are unacceptably high but what is equally unacceptable is silence on the issue from Irish Water. SHARE Peter Bang-Knudsen Molly Evans Steve Matthews Michael Tolley By Christina Henry of the Kitsap Sun BAINBRIDGE ISLAND Four candidates, one goal: to be the next superintendent of Bainbridge Island School District. Finalists for the job fielded questions at a forum Tuesday at Bainbridge High School. Steve Matthews, superintendent of Novi Community School District in Novi, Michigan, described his district as similar to Bainbridge Island, mid-sized with a reputation for high achievement. Matthews, a former youth pastor and social worker, in a discussion of bullying, said he's an advocate of social justice and has worked in his district on initiatives to improve school climate. Answering a question about lack of public trust in Bainbridge schools, Matthews said his style is to be out and visible in buildings. He hosts a monthly "coffee with the superintendent," and publishes his cellphone number. "I want parents to know they can come and talk to me," Matthews said. Michael Tolley, associate superintendent for teaching and learning for Seattle Public Schools, lives on Bainbridge Island, where his wife is a music teacher. Tolley came on board in Seattle just after the federal government had issued sanctions on the district for its management of special education. He is proud of how the district has rebuilt that department and his role in the process. On the question of how to make Bainbridge globally competitive, Tolley said schools should look to their own data to identify populations that are underachieving. "What we find, there are certain populations in our district that don't seem to have the same opportunities as others," Tolley said. "Those gaps have to be eliminated." Peter Bang-Knudsen, Bainbridge's assistant superintendent for administrative services, grew up on the island and wants students to be challenged and supported as he was. Bang-Knudsen considered a career in law but "what I realized I really loved doing was working with kids." Bang-Knudsen has a slate of ideas about attracting and retaining qualified teachers, including involving the community to welcome them and provide affordable housing. In answer to a question, Bang-Knudsen acknowledged trust in the district is a priority for constituents. "I know one of the challenges we've had in the district is proactive communication," he said, adding the district needs to do better in getting information out to the public. Molly Evans, assistant superintendent for educational services in Litchfield Elementary School District in Litchfield Park, Arizona, has scouted out communities in the Northwest and found Bainbridge as the place she'd like to bring her family. She was thrilled when the job to replace retiring Superintendent Faith Chapel opened. Evans said her strength is in forming relationships and in analyzing systemic needs within a district. On the question of students under stress, she said: "I would say honestly, that's the best question I've been asked all day. My entire philosophy is we take care of the whole child, and we start with the social, emotional pieces." The board will review written input from the public. Staff might make its decision within a few days, board member Sheila Jakubik said. Shenandoah, IA (51601) Today Windy with a mix of clouds and sun. High 84F. Winds S at 25 to 35 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph.. Tonight Windy with an isolated thunderstorm or two possible this evening. Then some showers later on. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 57F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%. SHARE By News Sentinel Staff The Blount County Sheriff's Office has confirmed that they are investigating an alleged rape that occurred at William Blount High School last week. According to Marian O'Briant, the department's spokeswoman, the alleged incident happened on April 7. A 16-year-old girl reported that an 18-year-old male student raped her under a stairwell, she said. O'Briant said the office's investigators were "looking into the allegations," O'Briant said. More details as they develop online and in Thursday's News Sentinel. SHARE Knoxville city workers board up Club Dejavu after Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steven Sword issued an order declaring the Chapman Highway club a public nuisance and ordered it closed Friday. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) Club Dejavu owner Kevin Cherry (Facebook) Kevin Cherry, owner of Club Dejavu, talks with attorney Taylor D. Forrester in the Knox County Criminal Court of Judge Steve Sword Thursday, April 14, 2016. A show-cause hearing for the club owners, which was shut down by authorities during a nuisance raid last Friday, was continued Thursday for another 30 days. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) By Hayes Hickman of the Knoxville News Sentinel A South Knoxville hip-hop club shuttered by authorities during a nuisance raid last week will remain closed for at least another month after its owners were granted a 30-day continuance at a show-cause hearing Thursday. Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steve Sword reset the case for May 12 to consider prosecutors' request for a permanent injunction against the nightclub at 2619 Chapman Highway, which authorities say has been the scene of 10 incidents since November 2014, including fights, assaults and shootings. Owner Kevin Cherry said he's made several efforts to counter the violence inside and outside his club installing a metal detector at the entrance and enforcing a no loitering rule in the parking lot. Cherry also had employed several off-duty Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies to provide security in the parking lot until Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones pulled them off the job in January, citing the club's problems and Cherry's criminal history. According to Knox County court records, Cherry, 29, has a single conviction for simple possession of marijuana in 2005. Two deputies also provided off-duty security last year at a second nightspot owned by Cherry, the Dilemma Ultra Lounge and Grill, 2630 N. Broadway, according to KCSO spokeswoman Martha Dooley. When the deputies submitted their annual applications in January to continue the extra-duty work, it triggered a review and prompted the sheriff's decision to end deputies' work at both clubs, Dooley said. The Knoxville Police Department also declined a subsequent request to hire officers for off-duty security at Club Dejavu. Both agencies allow personnel to work extra-duty security jobs at private businesses, but neither is obligated to do so. The latest shooting at Club Dejavu was March 26, when police say a gang fight spilled into the parking lot and erupted in gunfire. No one was injured or arrested, although the rounds struck several cars and shot out windows of the club, the neighboring Disc Exchange and Allen Sign Company across Chapman Highway. Investigators later recovered 55 shell casings from the scene. KPD and the Knox County District Attorney General's Office served a temporary injunction against the nightclub April 8 and boarded up the premises. Cherry, who was represented in court Thursday by attorney Taylor D. Forrester, declined to comment outside the hearing. Dejavu co-owner Kenneth Ray did not attend. Cherry previously questioned the decision to target his business, noting that the Studio X nightclub, 1915 Cumberland Ave., remains open after multiple fatal shootings in and around the campus-area nightspot in recent years. A review of KPD records found that officers have no history of providing off-duty security at Studio X. KCSO deputies have never worked there, either, Dooley said. Likewise, two other local nightclubs shut down under the state public nuisance law in recent years La Rumba and Millennium, both in Bearden did not employ local law enforcement for security. By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel A former Knox County Schools security officer contends in a lawsuit that he was wrongfully terminated because his boss took umbrage that he was married to a black woman. Attorney James A.H. Bell last week filed a lawsuit in Knox County Circuit Court on behalf of John Smelser against the Knox County school board and Knox County government over his termination in May 2015. The lawsuit alleges Gus Paidousis, chief of school security, fired Smelser, who is white, after learning Smelser was married to a black woman with whom he had two children. The lawsuit seeks $250,000 in compensatory damages and a "mandatory order requiring defendants to abide by the laws that prohibit race discrimination and ordering the appropriate employees involved in the acts of race discrimination to receive appropriate training." Knox County Schools spokeswoman Melissa Tindell did not have immediate comment but said she was checking with officials on a response. Smelser was hired in September 2014 and assigned to work security at Shannondale Elementary School. According to court records, Smelser also helped train police cadets. In April 2015, Smelser was charged with domestic assault in connection with an incident at his home involving his stepdaughter's boyfriend, the lawsuit stated. Smelser was off duty but placed on paid leave from his job pending the outcome of the case. On May 18, 2015, the charge was dropped. But when Smelser returned to work, the lawsuit alleged Paidousis "refused to speak to" him. The next day, Smelser received a letter dated May 15, 2015, from School Superintendent Jim McIntyre that stated, "It has been determined that your services are no longer needed." It did not list a reason. The envelope bore a May 18, 2015, postmark. "Thereafter, the plaintiff was advised by several supervising officers employed by the defendants that Chief Paidousis had admitted to them that the reason (Smelser) was terminated was because he had a black wife and his children were black," the lawsuit stated. "(Smelser) alleges that he was terminated due to being married to an African-American and that he had 'black' children. The failure to provide a reason by the defendants for (Smelser's) termination is a cover-up for blatant race discrimination." Paidousis, a former Knoxville Police Department officer, was hired in May 2013 after the News Sentinel exposed his predecessor's ties to a private security system installation firm accused by the Public Building Authority of shoddy work in two schools over which the PBA oversaw construction. Paidousis came under fire in December after three school security captains all with prior law enforcement experience lodged a complaint against him, alleging he made racist comments about Smelser's interracial marriage, sexually harassed a female employee, exhibited an explosive anger that fostered fear among those on the force, retaliated against uncooperative employees and intimidated complaining employees by having surveillance devices installed and trained on their work stations. Another security officer already had filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging favoritism in hiring. Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones revoked the three captains' bonds after the News Sentinel reported on the trio's whistle-blowing complaint. That move prevented the captains, Dan Stewart, Doug Ryerkerk and Bill Kee, from acting as security officers. They were placed on paid leave pending a school system probe of their complaint. According to their personnel files, the three captains received no disciplinary actions before Paidousis was hired. Thongsavanh Vandarack (LOUDON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE) SHARE By Bob Fowler of the Knoxville News Sentinel LENOIR CITY Rather than face another long prison sentence, a wanted man with a violent past chose to let police kill him. That's the finding of a Loudon County grand jury in the shooting death on Jan. 27 of Thongsavanh Vandarack, who died in a hail of gunfire from two Loudon County Sheriff's Department investigators who had come to serve a warrant charging him with the aggravated statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. The officers had gone to the Martel Estates East subdivision house north of Lenoir City and encountered Vandarack, who pulled what appeared to be a gun from his waistband. "Don't do it," one officer yelled before firing from about 10 to 15 feet away. Lt. Patrick Upton, the department's criminal investigation supervisor, fired 11 times with his .40-caliber Glock while Sgt. Jason Smith fired six times with his weapon. Hit by several gunshots, Vandarack died as he was being transported to an area hospital. Police quickly learned that the presumed weapon Vandarack had brandished was actually an Airsoft pistol from which he had removed the toy's orange safety tip, "making it look like a real handgun," according to a Loudon County grand jury addendum. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation took statements from Vandarack's live-in girlfriend and her teenage child that "Vandarack did this as he knew he was the subject of the criminal investigation and that he was 'not going back to prison,' " according to the addendum. Authorities soon after the shooting were characterizing it as a planned "suicide by cop." "This was a pretty clear-cut situation," 9th Judicial District Attorney General Russell Johnson said during a Thursday afternoon news conference. Vandarack, a 40-year-old native of Laos, had previously served much of a 49-year sentence in Wisconsin for two counts of attempted murder, and his criminal history had also included an affiliation with a gang called the Laotian Kings. Gov. Bill Haslam SHARE By Gerald Witt of the Knoxville News Sentinel A March 18 letter some Knox County Commissioners signed outside of a meeting backed a deannexation bill in the state Legislature with language including the entire commission. Knox County Commissioners are not supposed to meet outside of regularly called meetings to discuss potential business before the board, according to sunshine laws, including positions from the entire Commission. Commissioners who signed the letter, which also says the "following Knox County Board of Commissioners are supporting," the bill on deannexation, have said they don't see a conflict of interest or breach of sunshine laws. "It is OK for Knox County commissioners to discuss situations which may exist in Knox County which will not come before county commission," Commission Chairman Dave Wright said. In an email, staff from the Tennessee Comptroller for Public Finance & Open Records Counsel pointed out inconsistencies in the letter, but said commissioners have the ability to take personal positions on issues. The email reads: "The March 18, 2016 letter to Senator Bo Watson contains conflicting information. It says: "'The following Knox County Board of Commissioners are supporting the passage of Senate Bill 749'. "'The Knox County Commission is of the opinion that passage of Senate Bill 749 will benefit the citizens of Knox County.' "For the County Commission to take a position, it would need to meet in a properly called public meeting and take the position. The County Commission does not have a statutory responsibility to comment on legislation pending before the General Assembly. Individuals discussing this matter and taking a personal position, as individuals, would not violate the Tennessee Open Meetings Act." Knox County Law Director Richard "Bud" Armstrong has said that the letter that seven commissioners signed didn't violate open meetings law. Wright said that he's waiting to speak with Armstrong on the matter of whether it broke sunshine laws. "I have been taught sunshine law by four different law directors in Knox County, and I am not the least bit uncomfortable with the position I'm in," Wright said. Wright's opponent for the 8th District on Commission in 2016, Don Wiser, has been pushing on Armstrong for some type of inspection on the matter. "This flawed process by which these Commissioners misrepresented the public's interest smacks of a violation of the Sunshine law," Wiser wrote in an email to Knoxville-area media on Wednesday. "If the Law Director continues to refuse to take this breach seriously, I will be forced to pursue through the court system the legal clarity Knox Countians deserve." Armstrong confirmed that he had received a letter from Wiser, but refused to speak on its details or on the campaign. Wright also wouldn't to speak Wiser's assertions and call for an investigation. "My opponent can say whatever he wishes to," Wright said. The proposed bills have since been tabled in General Assembly committees. SHARE State Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville Jacqueline Crank testifies on Jan. 12, 2009, in Loudon County Criminal Court that she relied on her Christian faith to treat her 15-year-old daughter, Jessica, who died of bone cancer in 2002. Crank was convicted of child neglect in connection with the death and asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to overturn the judgement. Her conviction was finally upheld by the Tennessee Supreme Court in February 2015, in a ruling that also held the spiritual treatment exemption is not so vague as to render it unconstitutional. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) Universal Life Church Pastor Ariel Ben Sherman listens during Jacqueline Crank's child neglect trial on Jan. 12, 2009, in Loudon County Criminal Court. Cranks, who testified she relied on Christian faith to treat her 15-year-old daughter, Jessica, who died of bone cancer in 2002, says Sherman is her "spiritual leader." Sherman has since died. (MICHAEL PATRICK /NEWS SENTINEL) By Richard Locker of the Knoxville News Sentinel NASHVILLE The House gave final legislative approval today to a bill repealing a controversial 1994 law that was at the center of a long court fight over the 2002 death of a Loudon County child whose mother refused medical care in favor of "spiritual treatment" and prayer. The bill repeals the "spiritual treatment" exemption to Tennessee's child abuse and neglect statute. The exemption was intended to provide a shield from child abuse and neglect prosecution for parents and others if a child "is being provided treatment by spiritual means through prayer alone, in accordance with the tenets or practices of a recognized church or religious denomination by a duly accredited practitioner" of the church or denomination in lieu of medical or surgical treatment. Text: SB 1761 Related: Bill would repeal 'spiritual treatment' exemption to Tenn. child neglect law The repeal bill, Senate Bill 1761, is sponsored by Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, a cardiac surgeon, and Rep. Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville, a lawyer. It won unanimous Senate approval in March and an 85-1 vote Thursday in the House and now goes to Gov. Bill Haslam, who's expected to sign it into law. The exemption came into play less than a decade after its enactment, in the death of Jessica Crank, 15, of Loudon County in 2002. Her mother, Jacqueline Crank, was a follower of Ariel Ben Sherman, who conducted religious services under the name of the Universal Life Church in a rented house in Lenoir City. Jessica became ill with what was diagnosed later as Ewing's Sarcoma. Her mother and Sherman declined after an initial visit with a chiropractor and later a walk-in clinic to pursue doctors' urgent referrals to hospitals for treatment. After the child's death, her mother and Sherman were indicted on child neglect charges. Both were eventually convicted after courts ruled that Sherman's group was not a "recognized church or denomination" covered by the exemption. Sherman died during appeals. But the mother's conviction was finally upheld by the Tennessee Supreme Court in February 2015 in a ruling that also held the spiritual treatment exemption is not so vague as to render it unconstitutional. Briggs and Farmer introduced the bill this year in an attempt to repeal the exemption. Briggs cited his experience with a similar case years ago, when he was a general surgeon in another state and a teen boy was brought to see him with a ruptured appendix. His parents initially opposed surgery on religious grounds but later agreed to treatment. The bill was backed by a Kentucky-based group, Children's Healthcare Is Legal Duty (CHILD), that works for repeal of similar spiritual treatment exemptions across the country. Its President Rita Swan issued a statement thanking lawmakers for repealing the exemption in Tennessee. "CHILD believes all parents, regardless of their religious belief, should have a legal duty to obtain medical care for their child when necessary to prevent serious harm," Swan said. "Courts have never ruled that parents have a constitutional right to abuse or neglect children in the name of religion, and Tennessee should not give them a statutory right to do so. "The passage of HB2043/SB1761 is a significant advancement toward giving Tennessee children equal protection of the law. We are grateful to Senator Richard Briggs and Representative Andy Farmer, the prime sponsors, and to the Tennessee Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Tennessee Medical Association, and Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee, who joined CHILD in working for the bills." Bruce Springsteen performs during the USC Shoah Foundations 20th anniversary Ambassadors for Humanity gala in Los Angeles, Thursday, May 8, 2014. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) SHARE By Richard Locker of the Knoxville News Sentinel Opponents of the Tennessee transgender restroom bill have occasionally likened it to a North Carolina law approved last month which has drawn national attention, led Bruce Springsteen to cancel a Greensboro concert and PayPal to cancel plans for an expansion of its operations in Charlotte. But there are substantial differences in the two, primarily that the North Carolina law is much broader and includes several components beyond restroom facilities. The North Carolina law was hurriedly approved by both N.C. legislative chambers on March 23, then rushed to Gov. Pat McCrory, who signed it into law the same day. Tennessee's House Bill 2414, by Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, and its Senate companion bill, SB2387 by Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, is limited to Tennessee's public K-12 schools and state colleges and universities, requiring students to use restrooms and locker rooms of their birth gender and not their current gender identity. That bill is awaiting review in the finance committees of both the House and Senate. The North Carolina law, according to the Raleigh News & Observer, includes a transgender restroom component, requiring students to use communal bathrooms and locker rooms for the gender on their birth certificates. A similar provision would include other public facilities but exempt private businesses. But the law would also ban local governments in North Carolina from enacting local anti-discrimination regulations and instead would enact a statewide law banning discrimination on the basis of "race, religion, color, national origin or biological sex" but not sexual orientation and gender identity at businesses and other places of public accommodation. The News & Observer also reported that the law bans cities and counties from requiring contractors to abide by regulations or controls on employment contracts as a condition of bidding for work. In this April 13, 2016 photo, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam talks with reporters in Nashville, Tenn. Haslam vetoed a bill that would make the Holy Bible the official book of Tennessee on Thursday, April 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) By Richard Locker of the Knoxville News Sentinel NASHVILLE Gov. Bill Haslam on Thursday vetoed the bill designating the Bible as the "official state book" of Tennessee, but the bill's legislative sponsors said they'll try to override the veto next week. It is only the fourth veto of Haslam's five years, three months in office. He cited both a state attorney general's legal opinion that the measure violates both the U.S. and Tennessee constitutions and his own personal belief that the bill "trivializes the Bible, which I believe is sacred text." LETTER: Gov. Bill Haslam vetoes bill to make Bible official state book PDF:Text of Bible bill The designation of the Bible would place it in the Tennessee Blue Book and in state law on a list of other several "official" designations by the Legislature over the years, including the tulip poplar as state tree, smallmouth bass as state sport fish, channel catfish as state commercial fish, raccoon as state wild animal, the cave salamander as state amphibian and others. This year, along with the Bible, lawmakers have designed the Murfreesboro-made Barrett M82 sniper rifle as the state's official rifle. The two East Tennessee Republicans who sponsored the bill Rep. Jerry Sexton of Bean Station and Sen. Steve Southerland of Morristown served notice they intend to try to override the veto early next week when the Legislature reconvenes from its weekend recess. The state constitution allows the General Assembly to override a gubernatorial veto with the same simple majority that it takes to pass legislation in the first place: 50 votes in the 99-member House and 17 votes in the 33-member Senate. "According to polling, 62 percent of all Tennesseans favor making the Holy Book the state book in order to recognize its significance from a historical, economic and cultural standpoint," Sexton said in a statement, without citing the source of the polling. "Sen. Southerland and I are prepared to move forward with a veto override and we plan to do exactly that." Southerland did not return phone calls Thursday night but he filed a formal notice of intent to override with the Senate clerk before leaving Nashville for home. Because the House passed the bill first, last year, it must attempt the override first. If a majority of the House votes to override, it goes to the Senate and if a majority there overrides, the bill becomes law. It wasn't clear Thursday night whether there will be enough votes to override because a governor's veto message occasionally prompts some lawmakers to change their minds. But if everyone who voted for the bill stays with their original votes, an override attempt would succeed. There were no attempts to override Haslam's three previous vetoes. The bill is two pages of preambles describing the historical, economic and cultural importance of the Bible to Tennessee, followed by the one sentence: "The Holy Bible is hereby designated as the official state book." It passed the House last year 55-38 only five votes more than required for passage but it was delayed on the Senate floor last year after the attorney general's opinion was released. Southerland resurrected the bill and it passed the Senate 19-8 on April 4 just two votes more than required for passage. The Legislature recessed for the weekend Thursday afternoon before Haslam released his veto letter. Lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene for the final week of the 2016 legislative session on Monday. In his veto message to legislative leaders, the governor noted that Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery opined "that designating The Holy Bible as the official state book of Tennessee would violate" both the U.S. and Tennessee constitutions specifically the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article l, Section 3, of the Tennessee Constitution, which provides that "no preference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious establishment or mode of worship." Haslam also wrote: "In addition to the constitutional issues with the bill, my personal feeling is that this bill trivializes the Bible, which I believe is a sacred text. If we believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, then we shouldn't be recognizing it only as a book of historical and economic significance. "If we are recognizing the Bible as a sacred text, then we are violating the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Tennessee by designating it as the official state book. Our founders recognized that when the church and state were combined, it was the church that suffered in the long run." The governor could have signed the bill into law, vetoed it or allowed it to become law without his signature, which would have occurred next Tuesday if he had not acted before then. He added at the conclusion of his letter: "I strongly disagree with those who are trying to drive religion out of the public square. All of us should and must bring our deepest beliefs to the places we are called, including government service. Men and women motivated by faith have every right and obligation to bring their belief and commitment to the public debate. "However, that is very different from the governmental establishment of religion that our founders warned against and our Constitution prohibits." Reaction to the veto was, predictably, mixed. David Fowler, who heads the conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee, said, "Throughout the debate on House Bill 615 we have said we understand why some believe, as the governor does, that the designation of the Holy Bible as the state book 'trivializes' its sacred character. We have also said that of all the books published or used throughout the history of the state of Tennessee, the Holy Bible has played a unique role both historically and economically. "The Legislature has spoken and so has the governor. Now the ball is back in the Legislature's court, and, as before, we defer to their judgment in this matter." Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, said her members applaud Haslam "for his leadership in sending a clear message that Tennessee values and respects the religious freedom of all Tennesseans. Religion thrives when it is left in the hands of families and faith communities. Publicly elected government officials cannot use their official positions to favor one religious belief over another. The governor's veto of this unconstitutional legislation ensures that religious freedom can flourish in Tennessee." SHARE As the coal industry in Tennessee has withered away, so too have the economies in the state's mining country. Unemployment and poverty rates in the Upper Cumberland region are significantly higher than the statewide averages, as the void in high-paying jobs left by closing coal mines has not been filled. "It has been devastating," Claiborne County Mayor Jack Daniels said of the effect the coal industry's declining fortunes have had on the rural county and its residents. Nearly one in four Claiborne County residents lives below the federal poverty line. In Campbell County, the poverty rate is 22.6 percent and the unemployment rate is 7.4 percent. Tennessee's poverty rate is 17.8 percent, while the unemployment rate has dipped below 5 percent. To support communities once dependent on coal mining, the White House and Congress are ramping up economic development initiatives for coal-producing states. The Obama administration announced last month it would appropriate $65.8 million to assist their transition to new economic opportunities. The money comes from the administration's POWER Initiative, or Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization. In a separate effort, a bipartisan bill working its way through Congress would accelerate the release of $1 billion in available funding through an abandoned mine reclamation fund to assist struggling coal communities. Under the plan, $200 million would be distributed to participating states annually for five years to not only help communities reclaim abandoned mines, but also to identify and fund economic development projects on those sites. Tennessee would receive a little more than $11 million under the program, said U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., a Knoxville Republican who is one of the bill's cosponsors. Communities in Tennessee's mountainous Upper Cumberland region certainly could use a hand up. Coal production in Tennessee plunged 90 percent since 1972. Only a handful of mines in the state are actually producing coal, and the number of miners has dwindled below 500. The weakening coal industry has hurt everyone in coal country one way or another. Claiborne County's share of coal severance taxes has been cut in half over the past decade, Daniels told the News Sentinel. To help make up the difference, the county instituted a $25 wheel tax. Tennessee's coal communities are making plans for any assistance they might receive. Claiborne County officials want to use federal funding to help buy land for an industrial park. In Campbell County, the funding would help expand broadband internet service in remote areas. The dual efforts would help clean up abandoned mines that pollute area streams while fueling the region's transition away from coal production to other industries. The federal initiatives would provide a much-needed boost to recovery efforts for the Upper Cumberland's environment and its economy. SHARE One of the consistent claims of Republicans at both the state and national level for many years has been the insistence that there is too much government interference in the lives of citizens. Yet our state legislatures in Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi and now Tennessee have busied themselves with solving non-problems like bathroom access, wedding cake baking and now mental health counseling ethical principles. Even more absurd is the convoluted language used to obscure the true intent of the law: to marginalize LGBT individuals and couples. It is perhaps especially ironic that in their haste to disguise the true purpose of these laws, these legislatures are opening the door for all kinds of mischief. After all, deeply held religious principles include Sharia and Talmudic law (among other religious laws), and sincerely held principles include just about anything you can think of. The governor of Georgia had the sense to veto the law in his state. I hope Gov. Bill Haslam will do the same. William A. MacGillivray, Oak Ridge SHARE Ignorance is not bliss. In fact, it's dangerous, if not downright lethal. Ask the people of Flint, Michigan, whose water can render their precious children brain damaged or dead. If they had known what was in the water, they would not have drunk it or knowingly offered this poison to their babies. Maya Angelou cautioned us to elect intelligent leaders. I'd go a step further, adding honesty and integrity. How a person, especially one in a leadership position, would purposely allow deadly, contaminated water to be consumed by any living creature is beyond comprehension. They are possibly beyond redemption. This act is criminal, warranting the most punitive form of punishment, nothing short of imprisonment. Self-serving, greedy acts like this, perpetrated by heartless politicians, are infamous. Can we stop these ruthless acts? Maybe not all of them, but we must stop what we can. We are compelled to make ourselves aware and knowledgeable of what's going on around us, in our neighborhoods, our communities, our world and vote accordingly. Our very lives depend on it. Bill Maher once said Americans are too dumb to govern. Are we? Beverly W. Atkins, Knoxville SHARE Gun rights activists often make the argument that gun control laws won't reduce violent crime because someone intent on committing a serious offense won't be deterred by the fact that his gun is illegal. The argument has merit, and in fact there is little credible evidence that gun control laws reduce violent crime. So why not apply the same logic to bathroom bills? Imagine this scenario. A rapist dressed as a woman is striding towards a women's bathroom, intent on committing a felony that could put him behind bars for life. He passes a copy of a newspaper with the headline "Governor signs bill making it a misdemeanor to enter a bathroom intended for a gender different from birth certificate gender." "Aw, shucks," the rapist says, turns around, and goes back home. Right. So how is it not hypocrisy to buy the argument against gun control while supporting the bathroom bill as some of our state representatives apparently do? And if safety is not the real reason to keep pushing this bill, what is it? The bill won't keep rapists out of bathrooms, but as the experience in North Carolina has shown, it will keep jobs out of Tennessee. Bigotry is bad for business. We have chance to show that we are a smarter state than our neighbor to the east. Let's take it. Conrad Plaut, Knoxville PICK TENNESSEE Fill Your Grill contest begins April 15 Purchasing meats directly from local farms is fun and easy to do. It might also be free if you happen to be a winner in this years Fill Your Grill contest from Pick Tennessee. Between April 15 and May 15, Facebook users can enter to win $200 worth of local meats from a nearby farm. The contest comes courtesy of Pick Tennessee Products, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture program that connects farmers directly to consumers. A total of 12 winners will be randomly chosen at noon on Monday, May 16 and notified by Pick Tennessee Products. This years contest is funded by the Tennessee Ag Tag. Fees generated by the cultural license plate support the Tennessee Agricultural Development Fund. All proceeds from the Ag Tag go back to Tennessees farm community, supporting programs for local farmers, farmers markets, and youth organizations like 4-H and FFA. The Tennessee Ag Tag celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Last year Fill Your Grill garnered a total of 4,504 entries completed from each of Tennessees 95 counties with more than 700 towns represented. To enter, visit the Pick Tennessee Facebook page and click on the Fill Your Grill posting. Contestants must choose which farm they would visit to collect their meats and then submit that choice with their own contact information. Winners can choose what kinds of meats they want to purchase. Contestants simply need to be sure to choose the farm that offers what he or she wants, whether its beef, pork, lamb, goat, poultryor some of everything. There is no cash prize. Entrants win the opportunity to go to a farm or local meats business and choose up to $200 of Tennessee meats. All funds will go directly to the farmer or business to reimburse them for their products. More information about the contest is available on the Fill Your Grill contest pages. Follow Pick Tennessee on Facebook, Twitter, and on the Web. The Pick Tennessee Products Website, www.PickTnProducts.org, also has a link to the contest on the home page. Published April 14, 2016 10:39 a.m. April 14, 2016 Federal authorities taking intellectual property theft seriously Intellectual Property Theft 101 Intellectual property can be an idea, an invention, a design, a business process, or even a creative expression...all protected by law. And once stolen, intellectual property can generate a great deal of money for the thieves. But there are other consequences. Intellectual property theftwhich includes theft of trade secrets, the trafficking of counterfeit goods, and digital piracy results in billions of dollars in lost profits annually. Failure to protect our intellectual property undermines confidence in the economy, removes opportunities for growth, erodes Americas technological advantage, and disrupts fairness and competitiveness in the marketplace. And some intellectual property thefts pose a more far-reaching and serious threat to the U.S. than just economic loss to the rights holders. These thefts can also put public safety at risk through the sale of counterfeit pharmaceuticals, electrical components, and aircraft and automobile parts, as well as through the funding of other kinds of crime. Within its intellectual property rights violations program, the FBI prioritizes its investigations and focuses the majority of its resources on cases involving theft of trade secrets, counterfeit goods that pose a threat to human health and safety, and copyright and infringement matters with a nexus to national security or organized crime or that pose a significant economic impact. Along with our partners at the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, the FBI also participates in several intelligence-driven national initiatives, including: - Operation Chain Reaction, which focuses on counterfeit products entering the U.S. government supply chain that pose a threat to human health and safety or national security; - Operation Engine Newity, which addresses counterfeit automotive parts that threaten safety, including airbags, brake pads, and steering systems; and - Operation Apothecary, which focuses on counterfeit pharmaceuticals that pose a safety threat. In 2008, a new federal law creating stricter penalties for criminals who engaged in intellectual property theft was enacted to keep pace with globalization, e-commerce, and technology advances. Fast forward to 2016: Technological advances continue at an even faster pace, dramatically increasing the threat posed by criminals who steal trade secrets, produce and/or traffic in counterfeit products, and infringe on copyrights. One important factor in this increase is the global expansion of online marketplaces, which aids international and domestic criminal organizations in trafficking in counterfeit goods. The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced a new strategy that involves partnering more closely with businesses in an effort to combat these types of crimes more effectively. Said Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Through this new approach, we intend to provide information and resources to individuals and companies that will help them identify and disrupt attempts on their intellectual property, extend greater protection to American commerce as a whole, and safeguard the health and safety of individual Americans. And the FBI working with its investigative partners at the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (NIPRCC) will play an integral part in this strategy. The Bureau has already been collaborating for years with brand owners, copyright holders, and trademark holders because we know the harm that intellectual property theft causes: legitimate businesses lose billions of dollars in revenue and suffer damaged reputations, consumer prices go up, the U.S. and global economies are robbed of jobs and tax revenue, product safety is reduced, and sometimes lives are even put at risk. FBI efforts with these businesses to date have involved shared information, aggressive criminal initiatives based on current or emerging trends, and investigations. Under the FBIs new strategy, theyre expanding efforts to work with third-party entities such as online marketplaces, payment service providers, and advertisers that may inadvertently enable the activities of criminals. Third-party online marketplaces draw consumers to their sites with competitive pricing and a sense of security, but criminal counterfeiters exploit these marketplaces to gain an appearance of legitimacy, access to far-reaching advertising, and efficient sales transactions. Payment service providerssuch as credit card payment processors and related payment alternativesalso give counterfeiters the appearance of legitimacy when they provide payment options that consumers mistakenly interpret to mean that the businesses they service are legitimate. Online advertising systems and platforms enable website owners to outsource the process of monetizing their website traffic. Criminals have begun exploiting advertising as an alternative revenue stream, drawing traffic to their sites by offering counterfeit products for sale or pirated digital content for download. The benefits of working with these third-party entities? According to David Farquhar, who heads up the Bureaus Intellectual Property and Cyber-Enabled Crimes Unit at the NIPRCC, Were not only broadening awareness of the crime problem, we can also obtain information about crime trends, get investigative leads that will help us identify criminals, and collect evidence of criminal activity. Farquhar added that the FBI will assist these companies with refining their own analytical tools and techniques for uncovering fraud. Also new in our approach to intellectual property theft is an enhanced relationship between our criminal and counterintelligence personnel when working theft of trade secrets cases. A trade secrets case worked under the counterintelligence programwhich occurs when the involvement of state-sponsored actors is suspectedwill be referred to a criminal squad if no state sponsorship is found. And when criminal investigators begin to suspect the involvement of a state sponsor, the case will be referred to the counterintelligence squad. Our goal is to contain and/or even prevent the theft as quickly as possible, no matter whos behind it. The FBIin partnership with DOJ, the NIPRCC, and law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroadwill continue to place a premium on intellectual property theft and strive to find new and effective ways to combat it. Source: FBI Published April 14, 2016 By Lee Hyo-sik Dimitris Psillakis Mercedes-Benz Korea, headed by CEO Dimitris Psillakis, may face a prosecution investigation for selling unregistered vehicles, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Sunday. The ministry said it has suspended the sale of Mercedes-Benz's four S350 diesel models after the carmaker was found to have sold the vehicles with a nine-speed transmission without registering them with the authorities. The controversial S-Class models are the S350 d, S350 d 4Matic, S350 d L and S350 d 4Matic L. The company had reported that it was only importing and selling the cars equipped with a seven-speed transmission called the 7G-Tronic. "Mercedes-Benz Korea notified us that it inadvertently sold the 9G-Tronic transmission-installed S350 diesel vehicles," a ministry official said. "The company said it did not know the cars had that type of transmission. We will find out what really happened and then take appropriate actions." He said the ministry will decide whether to refer the case to the prosecution after concluding its probe. Mercedes-Benz Korea CEO Dimitris Psillakis By Lee Hyo-sik Mercedes-Benz Korea (MBK) has been ordered to pay 50.1 billion won ($42.8 million) in back taxes, the largest amount ever imposed on a foreign imported car brand, the company said Tuesday. The National Tax Service (NTS) imposed the payment on the German automaker, headed by CEO Dimitris Psillakis, company officials said. "The NTS notified us that we owed back taxes," an MBK official said. "But the truth is we don't owe any taxes so we immediately filed a petition with the tax agency to nullify its decision." But the official did not say what the NTS stated in its notice the reason for imposing the tax. The latest tax charge is taking things from bad to worse for the German luxury car brand as it is already facing investigations from multiple government agencies. Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) said that it decided to ask the prosecution to investigate the company after the carmaker was found to have sold four S350 diesel models with nine-speed transmissions without registering them with the relevant authorities. By Jhoo Dong-chan Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (HI&C), a construction affiliate of Doosan Group, has signed a memorandum of understanding to provide nuclear plant maintenance for China's state-run nuclear plant operator, a Doosan official said Thursday. The deal indicates Doosan's efforts in diversifying its overseas operations, not only building nuclear plants but also providing operating and management services to foreign operators. According to a Doosan official, Doosan HI&C Vice President Kim Ha-bang and state-run China Nuclear Industry Maintenance (CNIMC) CEO Zeng Hao signed the deal Thursday. It is also the company's first maintenance deal signed in China, and will seek more of its kind in the Asian market. The CNIMC is China's biggest nuclear power service provider in charge of maintenance for some 30 different nuclear plants, and under the deal, Doosan HI&C is expected to provide repair and maintenance as well as replacing steam generators and reactor coolant pumps. Doosan HI&C was established in 1962, based in the South Gyeongsang provincial city of Changwon. Its operations include construction of nuclear and thermal power plants, manufacturing turbines and generators, desalination devices, castings, and forgings. The company has clinched a number of deals similar this mostly in Middle East countries. In November last year, Doosan HI&C's energy engineering affiliate Doosan Babcock signed two long-term maintenance agreements with Abu Dhabi Gas Industries, a gas energy operating unit of state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) A month later, the company also clinched another landmark deal with Taweelah Asia Power Company (TAPCO) to provide maintenance and technical support services for its desalination plant in the capital city of Abu Dhabi, UAE. In contrast, BMW pays no dividends to expand local operations By Lee Hyo-sik Dimitris Psillakis Kim Hyo-joon Mercedes-Benz Korea (MBK), headed by CEO Dimitris Psillakis, is facing mounting criticism from civic groups and others for having paid "excessive" dividends to its headquarters. In contrast, BMW Korea, headed by CEO Kim Hyo-joon, has not paid any dividends to shareholders in Germany since 2010 in order to build a driving center and other business-related facilities here, as well as hiring more workers. According to audits released by the Financial Supervisory Service, Thursday, MBK sent 58.5 billion won ($51 million) in dividends to its shareholders in Germany last year. This is equivalent to 66 percent of its 88.7 billion won net profit. In 2014, the German auto brand paid out 50 percent of its net profit in dividends. This suggests that MBK decided to send more money back to its German headquarters rather than invest more locally to hire employees and expand its business. In 2015, company sales jumped 42.5 percent to 3.14 trillion won, but its net profit fell 8.8 percent to 88.7 billion won. This indicates that CEO Psillakis who took the helm last September focused more on increasing the number of cars sold rather than bolstering company profits. By Lee Hyo-sik Tobacco growers are protesting the government's recent decision to allow the sale of foreign brand cigarettes to soldiers, arguing that KT&G, which exclusively buys tobacco leaves produced by local growers, should remain as sole supplier for the nation's armed forces. The Korea Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association (KTGO) is rebuking the Ministry of National Defense for making foreign brand cigarettes available for soldiers on base. "The growing market share of foreign cigarette brands has threatened the livelihoods of local tobacco farmers, who entirely depend on KT&G for survival," a KTGO official said. "If foreign products become available inside military barracks, this certainly hurts KT&G's sales, which will then adversely affect local tobacco growers." The official argued that foreign cigarette makers have never kept their promises to purchase tobacco leaves from domestic farmers, saying it will take all possible measures to curb the sale of foreign cigarette brands. "KT&G buys tobacco leaves from local growers even though they are more expensive than imported ones for the sake of the domestic tobacco industry. In contrast, foreign companies have no intent to share growth with farmers," he said. "We will continue to covey our opinion to the defense ministry and the National Assembly, urging them to introduce measures to support tobacco farmers." KTGO's protest came after the defense ministry's announcement Wednesday that it would allow Philip Morris International (PMI) Korea to sell its Marlboro Gold Original cigarettes to soldiers on base for one year, beginning May 1. Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Korea is now also permitted to sell Mevius LSS Wind Blue. The ministry also chose KT&G's Raison French Black and Bohem Cigar Slim Fit. In addition to these four, 16 other cigarette products are available at post exchanges (PX). This marks first time the military has opened the door to foreign cigarette makers. In 2007, the defense ministry began holding an open bid, but until last year foreign makers could not break KT&G's monopoly. When contacted by The Korea Times, KT&G was reluctant to comment on the issue, saying that it is not in a position to express opinions about the defense ministry's decision. An industry analyst, who declined to be named, speculated that PMI Korea's recent lawsuit against the defense ministry may have exerted influence to a certain extent. "The suit, calling for the annulment of the defense ministry's 2015 decision to only allow the sale of KT&G brand cigarettes to soldiers, may have pressed the ministry. Who knows?" British American Tobacco (BAT) Korea also lodged a similar suit. PMI Korea welcomed the defense ministry's decision, saying that it is glad to be able to offer soldiers its products. "The ministry has finally decided to respect diverse preferences among young soldiers. They will have more options to choose from, which is a good thing," a company spokeswoman said. "We will double our efforts to offer high-quality products." Models promote AIA Korea's website, which earned an i-Safe Mark given to safe websites by the Korea Online Privacy Association. / Courtesy of AIA Korea By Nam Hyun-woo AIA Korea said Thursday that it has earned certification for it website security for the fourth consecutive year. The insurer said in a statement that it earned an "i-Safe Mark" from the Korea Online Privacy Association, a private organization promoting information security (InfoSec). The announcement was made on the company's official website www.aia.co.kr and online counter cyber.aia.co.kr on March 31. The i-Safe Mark is given to corporate websites whose infosec meets the standards of the Act on Promotion of Utilization of Information and Communications Network. AIA Korea became the first life insurer operating here to earn the mark in 2013. AIA Korea said the certification bears extra significance because it has revamped its websites recently to provide more convenient services for customers and enhance online security. "Every AIA Korea employee's efforts for enhancing InfoSec resulted in this," an official at the insurer said. "The company will spare no effort in protecting customers' information." The company said that it established its security system through encrypting customers' resident resignation numbers and storing customer credit information separately. Also, the company has been encouraging its employees to pay more attention to protecting customers' personal information through various campaigns. AIA is one of the leading insurers in the world, with 18 branches and offices in the Asia-Pacific region. AIA made its entrance into Korea in 1987. Its total assets amounted to 13.1 trillion won with a 290.1 percent risk-based capital ratio as of 2014. By Yoon Ja-young A push for so-called economic democratization is expected to gain fresh momentum because the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) emerged as the largest party in the April 13 general election, albeit with a slender majority of one seat over the Saenuri Party. The main opposition has pledged to push for economic democratization in an attempt to ease economic polarization between top conglomerates and smaller companies and the rich and the poor. However, the outlook for the passage of bills that the government and the ruling party claimed will help activate the economy became bleak. Vice finance minister Choi Sang-mok met leaders of business lobby groups, Thursday, where he called for quick passage of economy related bills at the National Assembly. "Economic policy is set based on economic conditions. Regardless of the politics, the government will maintain the current policy," he said. However, the policies that government and the ruling Saenuri Party pushed for are likely to meet hurdles. "At the general election, the economic failures of the President Park Geun-hye administration and Saenuri Party were sternly judged by the voters. They should realize that the economy was the problem," said Kim Jong-in, the interim head of the MPK, making it clear that the party will seek to change direction of the economy. The Korean version of quantitative easing, one of the main pledges by the ruling Saenuri Party is unlikely to be implemented. It plans to push the central bank to print more money to boost the economy, but the Bank of Korea Act should be revised for this. The opposition parties made it clear that they oppose the idea, saying it will hurt the independence of the central bank as well as causing side effects. The labor reform bill that President Park has been emphasizing is unlikely to gain approval, either. The reform bill aims at allowing businesses to extend fixed-term contracts for non-permanent workers instead of converting them to more stable permanent contracts. It also includes easing the use of dispatched workers instead of directly hiring them. While the Saenuri Party and the government say the reform will create more jobs and ease labor shortages at SMEs, opposition parties and unions have strongly opposed the idea, saying it will only worsen job conditions. The government will have a problem in setting a supplementary budget. Strategy and Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said that the government may consider it if external conditions get worse. Last year, the government could set a supplementary budget following outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) which dealt a blow to the economy. However, a supplementary budget won't be easy to enact this year because it will need approval from the National Assembly. While the governing party would want to boost the economy through fiscal spending to gain an upper hand in the upcoming Presidential election, opposition parties are against the stimulus measure, citing fiscal deficit and government debt. Economic democratization policies, meanwhile, are more likely to gain momentum. A central pledge of the Minjoo Party includes designating more businesses as those fit for SMEs while excluding large businesses, as well as introducing ceilings on housing rent. The People's Party, meanwhile, has pledged that it will strengthen the rights of small shareholders. If the MPK and minor opposition Justice Party, which pledged to raise the corporate tax rate back to 25 percent, reach a consensus with the People's Party, the opposition bloc can press for a corporate tax rate hike. The People's Party didn't include this in its pledges, but the party has agreed that it should be raised gradually. By Yoon Ja-young The outcome of the April 13 general election is setting different directions for stocks that are considered to have connections with politicians. While those connected with winners soared, those linked with the defeated plummeted. The most notable is AhnLab, the country's leading antivirus software company founded by minority opposition People's Party co-chairman Ahn Cheol-soo. Ahn is considered the biggest winner in the election, as the party had a sweeping victory in the Jeolla Provinces, traditionally the opposition bloc's stronghold, on top of gaining 26.7 percent in the voting for proportional representatives. The price of AhnLab soared over 20 percent in the morning session, to close at 71,500 won, up 1.71 percent from the previous day. The stock has been rising with the approval rate of Ahn's party. The share prices soared around 60 percent since last December when he quit the major opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, which was named the New Politics Alliance for Democracy back then. After donating half of his shares in the company, Ahn currently holds an 18.6 percent stake, or 1.86 million shares. Wooridul Pharmaceutical also rose 5.6 percent to close at 7,550 won Thursday after the major opposition Minjoo Party of Korea succeeded in claiming more seats than the governing Saenuri Party. The company is an affiliate of Wooridul Life Science, where the doctor of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun is the biggest shareholder. The shares of Wooridul Life Science rose 15.6 percent, closing at 3,155 won. Supporters of the late former president comprise a huge faction of the Minjoo Party. Chonbang, a textile company where ruling Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung's elder brother serves as honorary chairman, meanwhile, plummeted 18.7 percent to 42,300 won. As the party failed to win half of the seats at the National Assembly, Kim announced Thursday that he would resign from the chairmanship. Hankuk Steel Wire, which was dubbed "Oh Se-hoon stocks," plummeted 26.7 percent to close at 3,820 won, as the former Seoul Mayor lost to liberal contender Chung Se-kyun in the Jongno District of Seoul. The defeat dealt him a severe blow politically as he was considered a potential presidential candidate for the Saenuri Party. The company shared its fate with Oh as investors expected the company to benefit from a mega tunnel project that Oh had pushed for. Johnny Yune / Courtesy of Twitter By Kim Da-hee Famous Korean-American comedian Johnny Yune, whose Korean name is Yune Jong-seung, is receiving treatment for a brain hemorrhage, the state-run Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) said Wednesday. His health is not bad enough for surgery, it said. Yune, 80, has served as a standing auditor of the KTO since 2014. "He collapsed last week due to a brain hemorrhage," a KTO official said. "He has since been treated at the Asan Medical Center. He is not in a critical condition. He shows a strong will to return to work as soon as possible." Yune went to the United States in 1959 and earned fame on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." He returned to Korea and performed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. In 1989, he hosted the "Johnny Yune Show," the first American-style talk show in Korea, gaining popularity in the country. He obtained Korean citizenship in 2013. By Kim Rahn Candidates at constituencies where there were neck-and-neck races during Wednesday's general election had a tense night watching the vote count until the early hours of Thursday morning. In some regions, the results were only finalized on Thursday morning, after the last ballot box was opened and the ballots counted. Bupyeong-A district was among these districts. Until 4 a.m. Thursday, 99.98 percent of the ballots were counted but the result remained uncertain. Moon Byeong-ho of the People's Party was ahead of his rival Jung You-sub of the Saenuri Party by 35 votes. But the expected result was overturned when the last box was opened, with Jung obtaining 34.24 percent of the total votes and Moon, 34.22 percent. The margin was only 26 votes. After Moon's camp demanded a recount, the National Election Commission (NEC) staffers started recounting some 1,400 votes. Then Moon demanded a recount of all the ballots, but the NEC refused and announced Jung's victory, confirming the 26-vote margin. Moon is considering asking a local court to order the preservation of the ballots and ballot boxes and is demanding a recount of all the ballots. Chung Un-chun of the Saenuri Party in Jeonju-B district in North Jeolla Province defeated Choi Hyeong-jae of the Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) by only 111 votes. While the first count showed a margin of 116, Choi demanded a recount and the second count also confirmed Chung's victory. In Wonju-A district in Gangwon Province, Kim Ki-sun of the Saenuri obtained 44 percent of the votes, slightly more than the 43.9 percent garnered by Kwon Seong-jung of the MPK. The margin was 134 votes. Park Chan-dae of the MPK in Yeonsu-A district in Incheon gained 214 more votes than Jeong Seung-yeon of the Saenuri Party. Namyangju-A district in Gyeonggi Province also saw a narrow-margin of victory for Cho Eung-chon of the MPK, who was former presidential secretary for civil service discipline, over Shim Jang-su of the Saenuri, with Cho obtaining 249 more votes. Kim Boo-kyum Lee Jung-hyun By Yi Whan-woo Regionalism and ideological dividisions have long been dominant election issues here, but this time a handful of candidates overcame traditional boundaries to secure suprise victories. This could be a sign that the influence of such factors on voter sentiment is waning, and people will no longer blindly throw support behind the candidates from their preferred parties. In Wednesday's general election, many upset victories came in ruling the Saenuri Party's traditional stronghold in the southwest of the country including Daegu, Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province and three affluent areas of the capital region Gangnam-B, Bundang-A and Bundang-B. Some of the surprise wins also took place on main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK)'s home turf in the southwestern Jeolla cities of Jeonju and Suncheon. In Daegu, Kim Boo-kyum of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) and three independent candidates Hong Ui-rak, Yoo Seong-min and Joo Ho-young won in four of the 12 constituencies. The Saenuri Party had swept all 12 districts in the previous general election in 2012. Kim Boo-kyum, already a three-term lawmaker, secured a landslide victory, garnering 84,911 votes or 62.3 percent of the total in Suseong-A in Daegu against Kim Moon-soo of the ruling party with 37.7 percent. Hong, a former MPK lawmaker, led Yang Myung-mo of the Saenuri Party 52.3 percent to 39.3 percent in Buk-B. Reps. Yoo and Joo defeated their respective Saenuri Party contenders after defecting from the party to protest the party's decision to not field them as candidates amid a nasty factional feud. Yoo led Lee Seung-chun of the MPK 75.7 percent to 24.3 percent for a comfortable win in Dong-B after Saenuri Party did not field a candidate there in an attempt to not stir up internal strife any further. Joo collected 46.8 percent of the votes in Suseong-B, winning over Saenuri's Lee In-sun with 35.5 percent. In Busan, non-Saenuri Party candidates won in six of the 18 constituencies, up from two in the 2012 parliamentary elections. The six districts included Yeonje, where MPK's Kim Hae-young won over Saenuri Party's Kim Hee-jung 51.6 percent to 48.4 percent. Kim Hee-jung had served as Minister of Gender Equality and Family under the Park Geun-hye administration and she was seen as a Park ally. In Sasang, Chang Jae-won, an independent candidate, won the race by collecting 42,924 votes or 37.5 percent of the total. He led second-placed Bae Jae-jung of the MPK and Sohn Su-jo of Saenuri Party. Sohn, 31, entered politics in her 20s with support from the President. She only collected 26.6 percent of the votes for a third-place finish. In South Gyeongsang Province, the Saenuri Party conceded three of 16 parliamentary seats, up from two four years ago. One of the three contenders against the ruling party was Roh Hoe-chan of the minority Justice Party. Roh, also a two-term lawmaker, merged his candidacy with a MPK candidate and led Kang Gi-yun of the Saenuri Party 51.5 percent to 40.2 percent in the Changwon-Seongsan district. In Ulsan, three independents candidates Kim Jong-hun, Yoon Jong-oh, and Kang Ghil-boo triumphed, preventing Saenuri Party from winning in all six districts. In Bundang-A, a part of Gyeonggi Province, entrepreneur-turned-politician Kim Byung-kwan of the MPK drew 47 percent support to win over the Sanuri Party's Kwon Hyuk with 38.5 percent. Kwon was former Financial Supervisory Service chairman. In Bundang-B, also in Gyeonggi Province, Kim Byung-wook of the MPK defeated Saenuri's Jhun Ha-jin who sought to be reelected. In Gangnam-B, southern Seoul, Jeon Hyun-hee of the MPK beat diplomat-turned-politician Kim Jong-hoon of Saenuri. Lee Jung Hyun, who was the only Saenuri Party lawmaker in the opposition stronghold of the Jeolla region, won a second term in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province. In Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, Chung Woon-chun of Saenuri led Choi Hyung-jae of the MPK by 0.1 percentage points 37.5 percent to 37.4 percent. Chung was an agriculture minister under former President Lee Myung-bak. By Kim Se-jeong "Revolution" is a word being used by political pundits to describe the results of the April 13 general election. The conservative Saenuri Party took only 122 seats of the 300-seat National Assembly, conceding the role of majority party to the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) which won 123 seats. Never before in Korean history has a ruling party lost its parliamentary majority while an affiliated president is still in office. "I would call it a voter revolution," Prof. Choi Chang-ryul from Yongin University told The Korea Times. "People were silent. But, they knew they wanted to topple the old ruling party and took that desire to the polling stations (instead of taking up arms)." Hwang Tae-soon, a political commentator, echoed Choi. "I would quote a Chinese saying: The sky coming down to the ground and the ground rising up to the sky.' This is to emphasize how surprising the election result is. This never happened before in Korean politics." The ruling party suffered defeats in Seoul, Daegu and Busan by large margins. Instead, the MPK took the majority of seats in Seoul and won in a key district in Daegu, the Saenuri Party's stronghold. The minor opposition People's Party also gained 38 seats in total, a meaningful success. People were united in warning the ruling party, according to Choi. Many districts in Seoul had two candidates from the opposition, the MPK and the People's Party, which should have worked to the advantage of the Saenuri Party. "But voters united behind the opposition candidates," Choi said. Also many liberal voters gave support to the People's Party for it to get proportional representation seats. "What voters did at the polls was incredible," Choi said. But, both he and Hwang warned that it wasn't the people's genuine support of the opposition that produced the result. "The opposition has nothing to brag about. It's not that people voted for the opposition because they liked them," Choi said. Discontent for old politics from long-term conservative supporters was evident. "Some had no motivation to show their support. But they also didn't feel comfortable voting for the opposition. So they gave up voting," Hwang said. "That's what happened in Daegu, for example." They said that the sluggish economy is believed to be the biggest reason for the Saenuri Party's defeat. Taxation on consumer goods has risen under President Park Geun-hye. Unemployment among those under 30 reached 12.5 percent this year, and households are plagued by increasing debt. "The economy played a big role," Hwang said. But, it's not just about the economy, according to Choi. "Park's lack of leadership and communication skills and her meddling in party politics disgusted the people." Choi lauded voters in Daegu for giving a liberal candidate a chance. "Regionalism has been an important element in Korean politics, and what happened indicates this can improve." However, Hwang refuted Choi. "What happened in the Jeolla provinces is a clear sign that a political divide exists along border lines. This is not desirable. Voters need to be more mature." Kim Chong-in, the interim leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK), speaks about the results of the general election during a press conference at the National Assembly, Seoul, Thursday. / Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun By Jun Ji-hye The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) secured most seats in Wednesday's general election a stunning feat that exceeded all expectations. A commonly held view is that this would never have been possible without the strong leadership of its interim leader, Kim Chong-in. The MPK's triumph over the ruling Saenuri Party will add considerable momentum to Kim's leadership for a while, which will also be helpful for a potential bid to run as a candidate in the 2017 presidential election, according to analysts. In Wednesday's general election, the opposition party bagged 123 of 300 parliamentary seats over the ruling party's 122 seats an outcome that no political commentators expected. Kim secured his fifth parliamentary term by taking the second spot in the party's proportional representative seat lineup. He is the first lawmaker to be elected five times on a proportional representation ticket. Speaking at a news conference at the National Assembly, Thursday, Kim said the most substantial meaning of the election was the fact that the Saenuri Party failed to retain its legislative majority. "There are no political forces that can defeat the people," he said. "The voters delivered their stern judgment on the botched economic policies of the Park Geun-hye government and the Saenuri Party." Kim urged the governing party to "realize" that the main cause of their defeat was a failure to improve the livelihoods of ordinary citizens. Kim served as a chief campaigner for the then governing party candidate, President Park, during the 2012 presidential election. So, both positive and negative assessments were made regarding Kim's leadership since he joined the opposition party on Jan. 14. In fact, he was embroiled in controversy several times during the process of nominating candidates for the election he fell into an intense conflict with MPK members in late March after placing himself in the No. 2 slot on the list of proportional representation candidates, which his critics described as selfish and an inappropriate abuse of authority. Kim also provoked protests from hard-line members of the party after he called their political identity into question. The sense of crisis was intensified further after some opinion polls predicted that the MPK would barely manage to garner about 100 seats due to divisions among the opposition parties, citing the rejection from the minor opposition People's Party to put up a single candidate of the opposition bloc. But Kim got the results and proved that he was right. Experts say that his efforts to change the party and consistent emphasis on the need to judge the government for its botched economic policies were an important factor in the MPK's victory. "The MPK changed its leader for the election and tried to stress a comprehensive long-term growth policy as its economy strategy," said Lee Joon-han, a professor of political science at Incheon University. "These efforts successfully gained public support." Losses in Jeolla region But Kim also needs to resolve some difficult tasks on hand in order to tighten and maintain grip on power, given that the election also left a fly in the ointment of the MPK it completely lost its popularity in the liberal party's traditional stronghold of North and South Jeolla provinces and Gwangju (known colloquially as Honam) to the People's Party, co-led by Ahn Cheol-soo and Chun Jung-bae. The MPK only secured three seats out of 28 up for grabs in the region. "Our crushing defeat in Honam was what we deserved because we disappointed voters there," Kim said. "We understand and accept the sentiment in Honam. We will make strenuous efforts from now on." Kim will also have to handle a potential factional dispute within the MPK between those who follow the legacy of the late President Roh Moo-hyun and others, which is expected to reignite ahead of the presidential election. Former party Chairman Moon Jae-in is regarded as leader of the pro-Roh faction he served as chief of staff under the Roh administration. Kim represents the new face of the party. Kim will also have to push for cooperation and possibly an alliance with the People's Party that won 38 seats in order to guide the opposition bloc to a majority of seats in the National Assembly as well as fielding a unified opposition candidate for the presidential election. This will be a tricky mission, considering that Kim severely fell out with Ahn during the election campaign after his request for an opposition alliance was rejected. Kim was handed full leadership authority of the MPK by Moon, Jan. 27, with the mission to recover the party's falling popularity ahead of the general election. Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye By Kang Seung-woo President Park Geun-hye The ruling Saenuri Party's crushing defeat in Wednesday's general election may weaken President Park Geun-hye's grip on power and possibly make her lame duck prematurely, analysts said Thursday. The President tried to use Wednesday's election as a springboard to maintain her grip on power during the remainder of her term. Park's presidency ends in February 2018. However, the election stripped the Saenuri Party of its parliamentary majority for the first time in 16 years and is likely to prevent Park from advancing her legislative agenda, hastening the arrival of the lame-duck session for her. In addition, her "self-righteous" governing style will face a backlash from the ruling camp one of the reasons for a mass departure of the party's traditional supporters. "President Park may enter an early lame-duck phase," said Hangil Research director Hong Hyeong-sik. "The Saenuri's defeat is due to the mass departure of its supporters to the opposition and Cheong Wa Dae's behavior is the root cause for the defection." Since late last year, President Park has stressed the need to harshly criticize the opposition in the election for its non-cooperation in passing bills aimed at spurring the sluggish economy. In addition, she repeatedly demanded the public's selection of "sincere people" in the election referring to those loyal to her and her appeal was reflected in the Saenuri's nomination process. Despite her efforts, the Saenuri only took 122 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, and was demoted to the No. 2 party behind the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) with 123. "Voters especially the party's followers seem to have been frustrated by the undemocratic acts of the presidential office as well as of the ruling party during the nomination process," Hong said. An official of the former ruling party also said, "Older and conservative voters did not go to the polls aggressively because they were disappointed at President Park's self-righteousness. It is a warning message to her." Such a backlash was even evident in Daegu President Park's political stronghold with the Saenuri losing four out of the 12 Assembly seats there. Park is also expected to lose her control of the former governing party due to the election defeat. "The excessive intervention of President Park and her loyalists in the candidate nominations adversely affected the results, so the party may try to distance itself from the President and raise its own voice that is different from that of Cheong Wa Dae," said Hong. In order to break through the difficulties, President Park is advised to change her governing style into one of communicating with the public as well as opposition parties. "President Park has urged the people to judge the National Assembly, but the result was completely opposite to what she wanted, meaning that she had unilaterally governed the country," said Kim Hyung-joon, a professor of political science at Myongji University, in a media interview. Hong also said, "President Park needs to set a new relationship with the opposition, recognizing it as a partner in leading the country. If she does not do that, there is no reason for the opposition to cooperate with her." Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung bows after announcing his resignation as party chief during a press conference at the National Assembly, Thursday. Kim said he will step down to take responsibility for the party's stunning defeat in Wednesday's general election. / Yonhap Rep. Won Yoo-chul tapped as interim leader By Kim Hyo-jin The ruling Saenuri Party's unexpected losses in Wednesday's general election are likely to reshape the political landscape. The emergence of a powerful third party led by Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, and the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea's (MPK) results in the election will provide new challenges to President Park Geun-hye as well as the ruling party. The Saenuri Party's losses have made it the second-largest party with 122 seats after the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) clinched 123 seats in the 300-member legislature. Including the 38 seats secured by the minor opposition People's Party, members of the opposition bloc now outnumber the governing party for the first time in 16 years when it occurred during the Roh Moo-hyun administration in 2004. Following the surprise setback, party Chairman Kim Moo-sung stepped down and some Supreme Council members followed suit. Rep. Won Yoo-chul will lead the party as an interim leader until June when the Saenuri Party will select its new chairman and Supreme Council members. The Saenuri Party's defeat in the elections is poised to deal a blow to the Park administration's agenda including proposed labor reform, deregulation in the economic sector and passage of a counter cyber terrorism bill. Park is likely to perform a cabinet reshuffle. Hyun Ki-hwan, the senior presidential secretary for political affairs, is at risk of being replaced, say observers. Lawmakers close to Park are expected to lose ground, according to analysts. The infighting over nominations led by Park loyalists is now being cited as a major cause of lost votes even in its traditional strongholds. Analysts said the party now has a tough path in the run-up to the 2107 presidential election with faltering support and a lack of options for potential candidates. "I'm stepping down from the leadership post as of today to take responsibility of the crushing defeat in the election," Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung said at a party meeting, Thursday. "We let down the citizens while being fragmented and showing shameful practices in the process of nominations...The outcome tells us that we were idle in serving the people." Despite Kim's resignation, a factional feud is still simmering over who else should be held accountable for the humiliating result. Lee Hye-hoon, a lawmaker-elect, criticized the pro-Park faction in a radio interview, saying, "They were the mainstream who wielded power in party affairs, especially in unfair nominations that aimed to exclude certain figures. The citizens sent a warning signal on such practices but they ignored it." Lee Jung-hyun, another successful candidate and a Park loyalist, struck back at Lee later, saying, "this is not the time to play the blame game, but the time to get together to understand why we failed to attract voters." Some, however, regard the simmering factional conflict as a problem to be contained because party reform is now the dominant issue before the presidential election. "The party needs to change its leadership structure and renew its image; factions could be brought together under this urgent mission," said Kim Sung-joo, a professor at Sung Kyun Kwan University. "Major change awaits the party. The power structure will be re-made depending on who is put forward as a presidential candidate. But for now there seems no card on the Saenuri Party's side except U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon." The Saenuri Party won only 35 seats in the capital area where 122 seats were up for grabs. On its home turf Daegu, Busan and Gyeongsang Provinces, it handed over 17 seats to opposition and independent candidates. Potential presidential candidates Oh Se-hoon, former Seoul mayor, and ex-Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo, were routed by the MPK's Chung Sye-kyun and Kim Boo-kyum, respectively. "The nomination row was just a trigger effect. It was a judgment on the Park government that failed to resolve economic issues like the high unemployment rate and widened income gap," said Kim Hyung-joon, a political science professor at Myongji University. "Unless Park and the ruling party change their high-handed and unilateral way of handling state affairs, the prospect is slim that it could retain the presidency." Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, right, co-chairman of the minor opposition People's Party, congratulates Kim Sung-shik, a party candidatewho won in the April 13 general election, at the party's headquarters in Mapo, Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap By Yi Whan-woo Not many were convinced that Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo's political gamble would succeed when he set up the minority opposition People's Party in February in a bid to break up the political system dominated by two parties. With the People's Party set to join the parliamentary negotiation bloc in the next National Assembly, both the ruling and main opposition parties will now have to seek Ahn's support for a parliamentary majority. "None of the major parties won over half of the National Assembly seats and they won't be able to pass their bills by a simple majority for the next four years," Lee Kang-yun, a journalist-turned-political commentator, said Thursday. The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) secured 123 seats in the quadrennial general election, Wednesday. The ruling Saenuri Party only won 122 seats, down from 152 four years ago, in a shocking defeat. The People's Party secured 38 seats, well above the minimum 20 seats to form a negotiation bloc in the National Assembly. "The Saenuri Party used to threaten to put certain bills to a vote unilaterally while ignoring proposals brought up by the opposition concerning the bills," Lee said. "Now it will have to consult Ahn and his center-left party lawmakers whenever it has trouble with the MPK concerning legislative businesses. The same goes for the MPK as well." Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University, echoed a similar view. "The MPK will no longer treat Ahn as if he were a political novice," he said. "It will have to respect his plan for political reform and change of government in the 2017 presidential election." Shin cited that MPK campaign chief Kim Chong-in speculated during election campaign that the People's Party will be merged into the ruling party after the election. The analysts speculated that the results of the Wednesday election will help Ahn to lay the groundwork as a 2017 presidential hopeful. "Ahn previously lacked a nationwide political powerbase as well as loyalists and now he can capitalize on those elements to consolidate his power as a presidential candidate," Lee said. Ahn bolted from the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), a precursor of the MPK, amid a power struggle against Rep. Moon Jae-in, the kingpin of the party's mainstream faction. In the 2012 presidential race, then-independent candidate Ahn also conceded his candidacy to Moon in a failed bid to win against then-ruling party candidate Park Geun-hye. Experts warned that Ahn should make clear his political inclination to continue to win support from Gwangju citizens and other progressive-minded voters as a step toward a possible presidential bid. Gwangju is traditionally a MPK stronghold. The People's Party swept all eight districts in the Wednesday election amid voters' apparent resentment against the MPK for its nasty factional feud. "It can be said of Gwangju that the people and the progressive-minded voted for the People's Party because they had no better choice," Lee said. "It doesn't mean they fully share the political principles of the People's Party, which is often seen as ambiguous." Shin agreed by saying "The political identify of Ahn's party is not as clear compared to those of the Saenuri Party and MPK and it can work against Ahn in drawing support from both conservative and liberal sides." A top Chinese official will visit Seoul next week to promote ties between his province and South Korea, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Thursday. Chen Min'er, the Communist Party secretary of China's southwestern Guizhou Province, will arrive here Tuesday upon the invitation of the ministry to meet with senior South Korean government officials and attend cultural events, the ministry said in a press release. During his five-day stay, Chen is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, have lunch with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, hold talks with Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan, and attend events marking the "Day of Guizhou." The "Day of Guizhou" is part of a bilateral program that links a South Korean city with a Chinese province each year to strengthen cultural and people-to-people ties. This year, Guizhou's counterpart is South Chungcheong Province. South Korea has been inviting two to three Chinese provincial leaders each year since 2005 to boost ties between the two countries. Earlier this week, Wang Xiankui, the Communist Party secretary of Heilongjiang province, visited South Korea as part of the same program. Guizhou has been one of China's top three fastest-growing regions for the past three years. Chen's visit and the opening of a direct flight route between Guizhou and South Korea's Incheon are expected to help expand exchanges between both sides and assist South Korean firms eyeing the provincial market, the ministry said.(Yonhap) 13 North Korea defectors who came to South Korea on April 4 /Courtesy of Ministry of Unification By Lee Han-soo North Korea has accused South Korea of kidnapping the 13 defectors who fled to the South on April 7 and demanded their immediate return. This is the first response since the South's Unification Ministry announced that the North Koreans, who were working in a restaurant in China, had defected. "Unless they apologize for the hideous abduction and send those abductees back, they will face unimaginably serious consequences and severe punishment," a spokesman for the North's Red Cross Society was quoted as saying by Uriminzokkiri, the North's main propaganda website. The defectors left China on April 6 and are known to have come into South Korea through Thailand. The military state also showed that it is annoyed with China for letting its citizens leave the country so easily. "We have a firm grasp on which government overlooked their duties and let the South Koreans abduct our people," the website said. But Lu Kang, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said China was not responsible for the major defection. "All defectors had valid travel documents issued from North Korea when they left China on April 6," she said. South Korea's Ministry of Unification said there were no abductions and the North Koreans had freely defected. By Choe Chong-dae The recent announcement by Jung-gu District authorities in Seoul to allocate 46 billion won to transform the Catholic shrine at Seosomun Park can in some ways be regarded as a positive development. The site was dedicated to Korea's first Catholic martyrs and it is here that their canonization by Pope John Paul II in 1985 will be memorialized and celebrated. Seosomun Park (located near The Korea Times office) in Seoul commemorates a tragic period in the history of Korea as it was an official execution ground for the nation's most nefarious criminals, and additionally, a place where martyrs paid the ultimate sacrifice for their Catholic faith. In addition to being a sacred site for Catholic martyrdom, Seosomun Park holds a special place in my heart because at this place at the dawn of the modern history of Korea, a great number of reformists and pioneering patriots as well as adherents of the Donghak movement sacrificed their lives for the sake of justice and righteousness. During the late Joseon Dynasty when Confucianism was still deeply rooted as the official state ideology, the monarchy perceived its authority to be under threat not only from the Catholic faith but also from Donghak (Eastern Learning), which promulgated a new egalitarian ideology. Consequently, followers of both the Catholic religion and the Donghaks were sought out, persecuted and martyred in the Seosomun area. Catholics were martyred for their faith at the execution ground near Seosomun Park during the "Shinyu Persecution" in 1801 and "Byeongin Persecution" in 1866. Prior to these persecutions, Heo Gyun, a prominent Korean politician, novelist, scholar and reformist who vociferously promoted social reform was executed there in 1618. Hong Gyung-rae, a well-known leader of a rebellion against an excessive, draconian tax on people living in the famine-stricken region of Pyongan Province, was executed at Seosomun in 1811, together with many of his followers. In addition, it was at this site in 1898 that Choe Shi-hyeung, the second great leader of Donghak was sacrificed as a martyr for propagating heresy. Donghak, established in 1860, and later renamed "Chondo-gyo" (Religion of the Heavenly Way), was Korea's first and most influential indigenous belief. Donghak believers played a pivotal role in the Donghak Peasant Revolution in 1894-95. The Revolution was the earliest example of a nation-wide social reform movement founded on the promotion of justice and equality for all, and calling for the salvation and freedom of the oppressed and exploited lower class. Following the Donghak Peasant Revolution its main leader Chun Bong-joon and his supporters Shon Hwa-jung, Kim Rae-hyun and Kim Gae-nam were transported to Seoul and executed at Seosomun. In view of this history, we can ascertain that in addition to the Catholic martyrs, many other prominent figures were executed at Seosomun. Consequently, Seosomun Park is not only a sanctuary for Catholic martyrs, but is also a sacred site for the martyrs of Cheondo-gyo/Donghak, and for other historic Korean luminaries and socio-political leaders as well. It is thus strongly recommended that the Catholic Church's claim to exclusive rights to Seosomun Park be reappraised and corrected. After all, the renovation project at Seosomun Park with its huge budget allocated by local and central governments is, in effect, derived directly from money collected from tax payers. In conclusion, I strongly urge the government to reconsider the nature and purpose of the restoration project at Seosomun Park. Rather than turning it into a memorial park which solely honors Catholic martyrs, it should be made into a sacred sanctuary dedicated to Cheondo-gyo martyrs and other prominent yet neglected figures in Korean history who in life fought and gave their lives for the rights of the masses of Korean people and in death share a final resting place in Seosomun Park. Choe Chong-dae is a guest columnist of The Korea Times. He is president of Dae-kwang International Co., and director of the Korean-Swedish Association. He can be reached at dkic98@chol.com. By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS A new dawn has come to Burma. At long last the political pariah state, also known as Myanmar, has ushered in a new civilian government in which Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has a strong if not formal hand at the democratic helm. Yet, the lingering legacy of the past; Burma's half century of left wing nationalist military rule, a history of bloody crackdowns on opposition, and a close political and economic dependence on the People's Republic of China, have left this Southeast Asian country in the shadows of a self-imposed isolation. The political formalities were in themselves extraordinary; the long banned National League for Democracy and its tireless standard bearer Aung San Suu Kyi formed a new civilian government in the glitzy golden capital of Naypyidaw. Htin Kyaw, an economist and longtime NLD activist, holds the Presidency, because constitutional trickery by the former junta disallows parliamentarians such as Aung San Suu Kyi who have foreign spouses and children, to hold the highest office. So be it, but Aung heads a host of portfolios including the Foreign Ministry. Yet despite the whiff of political Springtime, the military junta holds enshrined constitutional powers not to mention being entrenched in holding important Ministries such as defense, home affairs and border affairs. The military also secures its patronage in an economy marinated in corruption. Burma is one of a handful of places where focused American diplomacy seemed to have worked for a positive outcome. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit in 2011, pressed for efforts to bring Burma out of the shadows. Yet despite the West's political good wishes suffocating sanctions were still imposed on Burma for all the right reasons in the past but remain in force and are hardly helpful for the present. Priscilla Clapp, former Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar opines in a recent study, "Continuing to rely on a sanctions regime designed primarily to inhibit U.S. participation in and assistance to Myanmar's economy and government no longer makes sense particularly when Western allies and others observe no restrictions on their activities in Myanmar." Writing in a Council on Foreign Relations report, Ms. Clapp adds, "More than five decades of military rule have left large parts of the country in near semi-feudal condition, beset by an overly large army, a multitude of ethnic armed forces, and hundreds of militias." She cautions, "rule of law is almost nonexistent." The new government must strive to heal ethnic and religious fault lines. Thus Myanmar's tilt to the West may have less to do with the military's conversion to democratic politics than the gripping reality that the country of 54 million people maintains a moribund socialist economy, was locked in a dependence with neighboring China, and may be trying to spread the blame for its broken kleptocracy. Myanmar is one of the few members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) lagging socio/economically in a region which is prospering. Though a resource rich but ecologically plundered state, its xenophobic rulers echoed Tony Soprano in taste and style. China's shadow has made many in Myanmar uneasy including among the military elites. The controversial Myitsone mega-dam hydropower project, was the last straw; it was suspended by the previous military regime in 2011 but its future now looms over the new government. Significantly the first foreign visitor to Myanmar after the formal transition to democracy was none other than Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Li. Minister Li spoke of China's "cherished" ties with Myanmar adding, "We appreciate our long relations. We will not change that attitude even though the government has changedMyanmar can rely on China for its development." Beijing is clearly concerned over Myanmar's political tilt, the PRC-based China Daily wrote "Admittedly problems have cropped up between the two countries in the past few years. China has endured economic losses when Myanmar stalled the construction of some projects" and added there were "some anti-China sentiments" in the country. Mainland China is Burma's biggest trading partner and largest foreign investor. Beijing sees its influence slipping to Western states not to mention prosperous ASEAN neighbors. Despite some loss of political clout, the PRC is not willing to let this strategic Southeast Asian state slip from Beijing's sphere and may try to co-opt the popular Aung San Suu Kyi. The West and Japan must redouble their efforts to offer Myanmar credible and sustained socio/economic support as to rebalance Burma's standing and to help outshine Beijing's shadow. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong will visit New York next week to attend the signing ceremony of a landmark U.N. climate agreement. His trip draws attention as it would mark Ri's first since tensions increased following the reclusive state's nuclear and missile tests and the U.N.'s subsequent adoption of stronger sanctions. More notable is why the North would send its top diplomat to a ceremony attended mostly by environment officials. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be present at the meeting, prompting speculation that North Korea decided to dispatch Ri with a possible meeting with Kerry in mind. It is unclear, however, if their dialogue will be realized, given that the State Department has not commented on that yet. Kim Jong-un, North Korea's young leader, has every reason to pursue talks with the United States. More than anything, the impoverished state apparently intends to escape international sanctions through diplomacy. Kim's such intentions can be read in a (North Korean) National Defense Commission statement in early April that "establishing negotiations is a more fundamental solution than reckless military pressure.'' It is no secret that the North has been rattled since the U.N. sanctions were imposed, as evidenced by the mass defection of North Korean waitresses in the Chinese coastal city of Ningbo last week. Kim might feel the urgency of restoring the framework of dialogue before the Workers' Party congress, which will be held for the first time in 36 years next month. Of course, the resumption of U.S.-North Korea talks would not lead to an immediate breakthrough in the stalled negotiations. Meeting the press during his visit to Hiroshima earlier this week, Kerry said the U.S. was prepared to negotiate a peace treaty and a non-aggression agreement. But he made it clear that denuclearization is a prerequisite to discussing the peace treaty. This means North Korea can obtain nothing from the international community unless it shows fundamental changes in its nuclear ambitions. What is crucial after all is whether Pyongyang can change its course. Kim should face up to the reality that the North cannot escape its self-imposed international isolation as long as he does not awaken from the illusion of being a nuclear state. Electoral revolt punishes ruling camp's complacency The April 13 parliamentary general elections turned out to be nothing less than the voters' revolt against the ruling camp and rejection of its complacency. All polls predicted the ruling Saenuri Party would enjoy a comfortable majority in the elections, prompting party insiders to speculate they could attain a super-majority of 180 seats to override any filibuster by the opposition. The outcome turned out to be the ruling party's monumental failure to maintain its superior numbers over the opposition for the first time in 16 years, gaining 122 seats, including 17 by proportional allocation, compared with 123 won by the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK). The People's Party, a three-month-old splinter from the MPK, led by former computer businessman Ahn Cheol-soo, emerged with a surprising 38 seats. The leftist Justice Party won six and independents 11 to complete the incoming 20th National Assembly of 300 lawmakers. What do the election results mean? Above all, it is the voters' resounding disapproval of the ruling party's incompetence in getting the job done despite its majority status. The Saenuri failed to move along key reform legislative initiatives including one about labor market flexibility. Adding to the voters' disapproval was an internal dispute over the nominating process whose distasteful scenes of power gone sour were exposed, warts and all, to the public. One result is that party stalwart Yoo Seong-min, who was ousted, ran as an independent and won. At the core of the Saenuri debacle is President Park Geun-hye, who did not hesitate to have a nasty, open and unfair fight with Yoo and the party's leadership, and treated other representatives with contempt by staying aloof from them. In short, she tried to lead the nation by the anachronistic norms that fit the days of her father, President Park Chung-hee, in the 1960s and 1970s. The backlash against this show of complacency in the ruling camp was evident in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, the demographic melting pot that represents the pulse of the nation. Of 122 seats at stake, Saenuri took less than a third, or 34. Even in the three wealthy districts in southern Seoul, the party failed to retain three out of the eight seats. Daegu, the President's political stronghold, barely managed to keep eight out of the 12. However, Saenuri's dismal outcome does not necessarily mean the public approves of the opposition, considering their dismal record of failures, not being able to provide checks and balances against the majority-enabled ruling party or act as a responsible policy-negotiating partner. As a matter of fact, the MPK was established as a makeshift party for the election three months ago, when Ahn left to form the People's Party with lawmakers from the Honam region who were unlikely to get nominations. Kim Chong-in, a former aide to President Park, was brought in as interim leader to patch up the split in the party for now. Therefore, Minjoo's outstanding results should be better seen as the result of the voters' selection of the lesser of two evils, not an overwhelming show of approval for the three-month-old party. Also noteworthy is the advance of the People's Party that swept the two Jeolla Provinces and Gwangju to emerge as a real factor in the three-party system. Considering most of the winners were "native sons and daughters," it signifies that the nation's political ill of regionalism is still alive and well. The same old voting pattern, which favors the candidates with regional ties, was conspicuous in Yongnam, the rival region including North and South Gyeongsang Provinces and Busan. The broad message the voters sent is a show of disapproval of the status quo _ the slumping economy, worsening livelihoods, the absence of hope and dissatisfaction, and being taken for granted. Put them together and it boils down to a change. By dint of past records, prospects that the new batch of lawmakers will rise to meet this voter's wishes are not bright. Still, we strongly hope against hope that this time should be different, knowing that the nation stands at a crossroads that may determine its future for good. By Donald Kirk Credit someone in North Korea with a sense of historical irony. Who would have thought anyone up there would have dreamed of writing an imaginary letter from Abraham Lincoln to President Obama berating him for endorsing harsh UN sanctions and failing to halt the U.S. nuclear weapons program? We're so used to seeing North Korean propaganda heaping terrible insults on Obama (a "monkey") and President Park Geun-hye (a "witch" and worse) that this kind of satire comes almost as a relief. Nobody is going to get too mad at the North Korean propaganda machine for resorting to such a device after some of the terrible stuff we've heard lately. "Honest Abe," in the letter to Obama, said not a word about North Korea wreaking vengeance on the U.S. in the form of nuclear attacks on Washington and New York. Would it be too optimistic to infer that North Korea is softening its line? In fact, the letter, written in Korean for a North Korean audience in the magazine "North Korea Today," also reveals a couple of other surprises. For one thing, who knew the North Koreans had heard of Lincoln? How much do they know about his Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves or of the Gettysburg Address with the lines remembered by generations of American school children, "that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Clearly the North Korean editors and writers who dreamed up the Lincoln letter want to build on the theme of UN sanctions turning the North into a vassal state, but might a little knowledge of Lincoln have a reverse effect? Might some North Koreans become imbued with strange ideas about their own regime? Nor were those the only questions prompted by the rhetorical device of the letter. What about the reference to Lincoln' having seen "you," that is Obama, "standing in front of my portrait deeply engaged in contemplation during your Easter prayer meeting"? Who knew that North Koreans knew anything about "Easter" or "prayer," that is Christian prayers? Defectors from the North typically say they never heard of God or Christ before encountering missionaries helping them escape through China to some other country from which they could make it to South Korea. Now we know some North Koreans have heard of Easter though possibly only those from the elitist intelligentsia that would read such an article. Have they also read the Bible totally banned in North Korea? Did the writer of the "letter" choose the Easter reference with malice aforethought? On one level, the image of Obama praying in the presence of Lincoln on Easter Sunday helped to convey a biblical message. On another, deeper level, the reference was a reminder of Christianity that North Korea's leaders don't want anyone knowing about. But what happened to the cascading flood of insults to which we're accustomed? Has North Korea decided there was no use describing Obama as "a monkey"? And will North Korea also stop attacking President Park Geun-hye as "a witch" the least of some of the epithets? And is it possible that imaginary letters to leaders whom North Korea regards as terrible will keep on coming? There must be quite a few whom the North reviles, all potential targets. Maybe President Park will be the next recipient though dreaming up just the right dead person in whose name to write the letter might be difficult. Let's see. In Park's case, how about a letter from her father, the long-ruling Park Chung-Hee? No, that wouldn't do. During his 18 years and 5 months of dictatorial rule he revitalized the economy, encouraging the rise of the chaebol, "engines of the Korean miracle." No way would the North Koreans consider fashioning a letter in the name of the president who more than anyone else hated their "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung. Ok, there's Syngman Rhee, the dictator whom the Americans stuck by during the Korean War and afterward until hustling him to exile in Hawaii in the student revolution of 1960. Rhee, however, fervently opposed the 1953 truce that he feared, correctly, would enshrine the division of the Korean peninsula. Indeed, he fantasized uniting the peninsula by force. That leaves one choice for imaginary letter-writer to the current President Park the late Kim Dae-jung, impresario of the Sunshine policy during his five years in the Blue House. How about a letter begging Park to follow the advice of Mr. Sunshine? Forget about the fate of all those hungry North Koreans unfortunate enough to be lurking under North Korean custody, the letter would advise, forget the alliance with the U.S. Suddenly the "witch," if she followed DJ's advice from heaven, would be transformed into an angel of peace. Donald Kirk, www.donaldkirk.com, has been covering confrontation on the Korean peninsula for decades. He's at kirkdon4343@gmil.com. More focus on share may hurt industry's healthiness' By Kim Yoo-chul, Yoon Sung-won Samsung Electronics is seeking a paradigm shift in its key memory chip business putting more focus on market share over elevated profit margins. As a new order has prevailed in the industry with three key players Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron Technology of the United States the shift by market leader Samsung has added to worries that the industry may see an extension of the ongoing bearish trend in terms of profitability. Typically and theoretically, more concentrated industries behave better and in general, compared to the destructive 1990s and 2000s in which the industry saw more than 10 players. "The competitive dynamic is better but not as good as we thought due to Samsung's aggressive and opportunistic behavior. Rather than sit back and enjoy elevated profit margins with a 40 percent market share in DRAMs, Samsung is intent on stretching their share to closer to 50 percent," Bernstein Research's senior analyst Mark C. Newman said in a recent report. DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips are used in all digital devices with NAND chips, another type of memory, to store data even when the power has been switched off. Newman said the company is gaining significant market share in the NAND sector. "Although Samsung cares about profits, their actions have been opportunistic and more aggressive than we predicted at the expense of laggards particularly Micron Technology in DRAMs and SK hynix in NANDs," he said. SK hynix is expected to be hugely impacted. "In NAND, we see Samsung continuing to stretch their lead in 3D NAND, which will put continued pressure on the rest of the field. SK hynix is one of the two obvious losers." In rare criticism, Newman stressed this strategy shift has destroyed the "level of trust" among competitors, perhaps "permanently," as demand has dropped drastically with PC sales growth down to high single digits in 2015 with this year shaping up to be the same. "Sales of smartphones, the main savior to memory demand growth have also weakened considerably to single digit growth this year and servers with datacenters are not strong enough to absorb the excess, particularly in DRAM," Newman said. The analyst implied the strategy shift by Samsung may cause additional oversupply in the industry, putting others in danger in terms of profitability. "The oversupply issue is if anything only getting worse, with higher than normal inventories now an even bigger worry. Although we were right about the shrink slowing, thus reducing supply growth, the flip side of this trend is that capital spending and R&D costs are soaring thus putting a dent in memory cost declines," the analyst stressed. Mentioning these reasons, Newman said combined with a weak demand environment and aggressiveness, this means that prices continue to fall faster than costs. "Thus, this will be destroying the level of profitability that the global industry saw in 2014 and 2015," he added. As for another concern, Bernstein Research said China's potential entry into the market and new technologies will provide further worries "over the longer term." But the so-called "China effects" will be limited. "China is the huge potentially disruptive entrant that, although it may indeed eventually fail, has a practically limitless balance sheet and hence holds the potential to make things downright ugly when that supply potentially hits in 2018," the research firm said. "Today's oversupply situation would become infinitely worse if and when China's XMC ramps up big amounts of capacity. New memory technologies such as 3D X-point, ReRAM and MRAM stand on the sidelines and threaten to cannibalize part of the mainstream memory market," he said. Consequently, "the three players" need to focus more on finding measures to lift demand as the oversupply of DRAMs will force prices to continue to fall without any demand recovery. Samsung Electronics declined to comment. But sources familiar with the issue told The Korea Times that the company has already acknowledged the estimated impact from the result of its strategy shift toward expansion. "This is why Samsung Electronics plans to control the output of its latest DRAM chips using the industry's first 18-nanometer processing technology throughout this year. Also, Samsung's continued reluctance on what type of chips will be fabricated at its massive Pyeongtaek plants, south of Seoul, which are being built, is its response to such market concerns," an official said by telephone. By Yoon Sung-won Samsung SDI said Thursday it will invest 1 trillion won in the electric vehicle (EV) battery business this year to boost its manufacturing capabilities at home and abroad. Because the company plans to concentrate on the mid and large secondary cell business after selling its chemical business unit, expectations are it will seek to accelerate its turnaround in this sector. "We are considering a 974.6 billion won investment in facilities this year, mainly targeting the battery business," said an official at Samsung SDI, Thursday. "As we have already sold the chemical business unit, the majority of facility investment will be for the secondary cell sector and batteries for EVs, among others." Samsung SDI is pushing to streamline its business portfolio to focus on the EV battery business. Earlier this year, it sold its chemical business unit to Lotte Chemical. The company is also planning to sell its fuel-cell battery business to Kolon Industries. The battery maker is expected to be profitable in the small and mid-sized battery sector this year while remaining in deficit in the EV battery business until 2018. It is likely the company will seek to speed up the turnaround in the EV battery sector with more investment. "We will invest 3 trillion won in the car battery business by 2020 to make it one of the globally best businesses in the industry," Samsung SDI Chief Executive Cho Nam-seong said during a shareholders' meeting earlier this year. This year's planned investment is a 40 percent increase on last year's 682.2 billion won. Last year, Samsung SDI invested 528.8 billion won in the energy business, including battery manufacturing, while making a separate 153.4 billion won investment in the chemical and electronic materials sector. Using the increased investment, Samsung SDI is expected to expand its manufacturing facilities in Ulsan and Xian, China, while establishing a new facility in Europe. The company produces batteries for about 200,000 EVs at its Ulsan and Xian factories. The Xian factory, which is dedicated to batteries, was established with Anqing Huanxin Group in China. It started operations last October. European countries including Hungary have been referred to as possible locations for the new battery plant. Meanwhile, the global EV market has been on an upward swing after the massive emissions scandal involving German automobile giant Volkswagen. U.S. EV maker Tesla has also fueled the upswing by rolling out budget EV models. By Lee Min-hyung Samsung Electronics has received the highest rating for its mobile security platform Knox, a leading market research firm said in a report. The U.S.-based IT advisory firm Gartner said Thursday Samsung's latest security platform, Knox 2.6, won "strong" ratings, the highest in the category for mobile device platform security. Samsung has sought leadership in mobile security through Knox, coupled with Samsung Pay, which the company's mobile division identified as its next growth area in 2013. The move is well-reflected in the company's new flagship smartphones Galaxy S7 and S7 edge in which Samsung has made few renovations, but focused on improving device security with the latest version of Knox. "Guaranteeing users' privacy and device security is paramount, as smartphones are getting more widely used to store more data," the company's mobile chief Koh Dong-jin said previously. He expressed confidence that the company would provide the top level of Android security by continuing to improve both hardware and software safety through Knox. Samsung Knox received a high rating in such areas as authentication methods, encryption management and application vetting, according to the market researcher. The firm analyzed 12 mobile security products in more than 20 categories for the report. In particular, Knox has received strong ratings in all the evaluation areas related with platforms for enterprise usage, including corporate-managed security. This shows Knox can be a great choice for business-to-business (B2B) security, Samsung said. The company has accumulated more than 4 million enterprise users for Knox as of last year. The B2B security industry has higher potential, as the business-to-customer (B2C) security market is no longer considered a profit booster due to market saturation and fierce rivalry from China and India. Knox is optimized for the Android Marshmallow mobile operating system, protecting every process while users operate applications and access their smart devices. "Protection of private information is the most crucial factor in the mobile environment today," said Lee In-jong, vice president at Samsung Electronics' IT & mobile communication (IM) division, in a statement. "We are proud to receive the highest ratings by providing the most powerful security with Knox." Samsung Knox has so far received security certification from 26 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and China. The Samsung Galaxy Note 6 release date may be in July. This is believed to be the company's way to avoid a clash with the iPhone 7. According to The Bitbag, the Samsung Galaxy Note 6 release date will come earlier than usual. The South Korean tech giant usually unveils new devices on September. It was noted that Samsung usually took to the IFA event in Berlin, Germany to launch new products. There are rumors, though, that the company is planning to have the Galaxy Note 6 release date in summer. The early release could be the best move for the company since there will be fewer competitions coming out at that time. One of the Note 6's biggest rival is Apple's iPhone 7. The Galaxy Note 6 release date is believed to help boost the company's sales. Its predecessor, the Note 5, has had a "lackluster performance in the market." Meanwhile, Yibada reported that the upcoming device will have a 6-inch display with 4K pixel resolution and 6 GB of RAM. Two concept images of the Note 6 has been shared online, one of them is said to be created by designer Rishi Ramesh. Other features revealed are the iris and fingerprint scanners. The rear camera is reportedly located at the bottom of the device. The Note 6 is said to be priced at $900. The other image, courtesy of designer Metti Farhang, has a dual camera feature. The cameras are believed to be 16-megapixels and 12-megapixels, presumably for the rear and front cameras respectively. The Galaxy Note 6 renders reveal a USB Type C port. The device will also have 64, 128 and 256 GB variants as well as a 5,000 mAh battery capacity. Jobs&Hire previously reported that the Note 6 may run on Android N at the time of its release. Android N will have a new notification system, split-screen multi-tasking, quick reply, quick setting toggles and subheadings for settings, among others. The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary Read more This transcript appears in the April 15, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. LYNDON LAROUCHE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: NO RIGHT TO YOUR OWN OPINION: Individual Human Creativity Is the Key to Mankinds Future [PDF version of this transcript] Dennis Speed: The first thing Id like to do is go to Lyn, since we havent heard him live, and hes been listening the entire time. Question: Good afternoon, Mr. LaRouche. Im from Old Town, Maine, and Ive been following you for decades. Im glad youre still here with us. God bless you. Im 65 years old, but when I was going to school in 1971 in Wichita State University, a lot of things were happening in education, and that was the beginning of where we started studying the future. Our textbook in that class about future change was about the dynamics of change. And keep in mind that 20-year-olds in that class were told that in 20 years time, we were going to have 4-day work weeks, gerontology work as a job creator, leisure activitiespeople should major in those, so that when people get older . . . Pollution problems were going to be solved; everything was going to be great. Twenty years later, Im in a class at Bangor at the University of Maine, and I heard the same thing. Well, now Im 40 years older, and Im not 20 years old anymore and naive. Greed and corruption stops it every time, and when were talking about greed and corruption with all of thisspace and whateverit comes down to the petro-dollar Ponzi scheme scam that has been foisted on this world and everybody who takes part in that. People think oil is just fuel; its textiles, its pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, its everything. Everybody whos making money off of that system wants it to continue, especially the ones at the top. All this fighting thats going on, the gas lines they wanted to go across Syria; blow Syria up. The Libya, the gold dinarattack the corruption of the Federal Reserve petro-dollar Ponzi scheme scam. The central banks are private banks; people dont realize that, and we dont talk about it. LaRouche: Yes, first of all, on this whole problem that he was presenting in the course of his blastthese considerations are really irrelevant. That is, the types of considerations that he has defined are absolutely irrelevant. They are based on an assumption which is a false assumption about the nature of mankind. Actually, mankind is a unique specimen, unlike any other known living creature. Only the human mind can create a new physical system, and the physical system is to be determined by the action of the mental system. That is the way science actually works. There are other interpretations, but they are mistaken. It is the human mind, and the human mind alone, that is capable of generating a new physical state in the practice of the Solar System or any other such system. Therefore, the idea of trying to make deductions from phenomena is a mistake. There are relationships of phenomena to these kinds of things, but they are understood only in terms of their being an effect; not as being a cause. creative commons/Paul Wiesinger Question: Ive been a full-time member for five years. Based on what the organization has accomplished in terms of bringing people together in different parts of the world, bringing governments togetherthere was mention of the LaRouche Youth Movement, which to my knowledge was started in the year 2000. Weve obviously observed that were not getting younger, and the LaRouche Youth Movement has gotten older, but theres always a new generation. Theres always a new set of younger people. The idea of who will be the next LaRouche Youth Movement generation, or whatever metamorphosis that takes; if you could say something about thatwith the idea that although were organizing people, its as important to see the people were organizing as organizers. Rather than us organizing them, we are a tool, were a resource that they can come to, to help them organize in the schools, etc. So, if you could say something on that. LaRouche: Its wrong. There are aspects to that thing that are relevant, but the principle that you present is wrong. The character of the humanity of mankind is that the human individual, who has a voluntary creative power, in order to understand processes, is the individual, who actually efficiently defines the destiny of the human species, not just in one person, but in terms of the practice of mankind among persons. The usual interpretation of cause and effect in human behavior is wrong; it is the human minds creative powers, and the human mind has a very specific kind of creative power. The creative powers of mankind are the source of the discovery of the principles of discovery, in themselves.Otherwise, no; it doesnt work. You get all kinds of recipes, all kinds of stories, but none of them really work when you go down and test the matter in detail. Scientific Truth & the Human Mind Question: Id just like to bring up the subject of global warming and climate change. I wonder if you, Mr. LaRouche, would agree that fossil fuels are comparatively a very primitive form of energy generation, and that as the population of the Earth increases, its hardly better than burning wood. We will simply not be able to sustain an advancing scientific civilization based on burning fossil fuels. I think maybe you might agree with that, and that instead we have to look at the energy flux density and move on to something more advanced, such as nuclear fission, fusion, etc. Pollution really is a big problem. They are using coal fuels over in Beijing, and the smog is so horrible people can hardly live. So, we do need to move on to something more advanced. But my other question is, can we avoid conflating that with this bizarre theory of global warming? In other words, even if global warming is falsewhich I believe it isnevertheless, dont we need to progress to higher forms of energy generation? LaRouche: No, thats not the way it works. Take the case of human behavior, first of all, and that simplifies what the issues are, possibly. First of all, all creativity of mankind is generated from the primary source of the creative powers of the human individual, not from some external source. See, thats what the difference is; what we call creativity in human behavior is the basis for the idea of what the principle of the human mind is. The human mind is driven by a noetic power; that is, a creative power which is independent of the individual per sebut which some individuals are capable of discovering and using to develop new things. Ferdinand Schmutzer For example, Einstein. Now, Einstein is the only man who has succeeded so far in the past one hundred years in really understanding what is the basis of human behavior. Einstein was unique in this respect. In the recent one hundred years it has become obvious that he was right, and the others were wrong. You see, the way society is organized, mankind is organized by mankinds own actions; it is mankinds generated actions that create the failures or successes of human behavior. It is not something which you accept and experience by something that flew by you. Very few people understand this; most people are wrong. They dont understand how the human mind works. The human mind is a creative process which is unique, and it is the human minds insight into principles, the discoveries of principles by the human mind, which creates the progress of mankind. Speed: Very good. Thats what I like to see; a man whos been completely confused by the right answer. We have another question over here. Question: Mr. LaRouche, I come from Queens. My question is, what is the future of magnetic energy? LaRouche: This is not the way to look at it. Look at everything that mankind does, accomplisheseverything that mankind as a species does, which no animal does. See, no animal can replicate the role of the human mind; no animal can do that if the animal is functional. In fact, all of the greatest creative forces in the history of mankind are governed by those principles. But the idea that youre getting a practical approach to solutions is a mistake. For example, the other kind works; it bounces. You have people who are, intrinsically, themselves creative people; they discover principles. They discover the experience of a principle, which may be their own achievement. They will become more excited about what they have discovered; they will then turn around and try to lead an audience to recognize what they have discovered as a creative principle. Now its the people who think creatively, successfully, who actually make everything good about the human species; the others tend to be not so good. Question: Hi, Lyn. This is Ian Brinkley, from Boston. I was thinking about how youve been responding to some of the questions here this afternoon, and it made me think of a particular problem which everybody who tries to engage in effective political organizing runs intowhich is a certain kind of fear and anxiety which blocks the intention to convey a truthful idea when you see that youre encountering an individual or a group of people who dont understand something which they really need to understand. LaRouche: Most people have that problem; and when you want to find out where the solution comes from, you have to look at the one case which is the most brilliant case of all: Einstein. Every physicist except Einstein was wrong on the crucial issues, and only recently have people begun to admit that Einstein was right on the question of gravity. So therefore, what you are talking about is a principle of gravity, and its a principle of gravity whose characteristic is that its peculiar to mankind. Einstein made discoveries which changed the course of the human species and changed the course of history. His mind did it. It is the human mind, when it is capable, which generates all of the great achievements of humanityand its often a minority of the human species which has the power to do that. Question: Hello, Lyndon. We all know that theres a strong anti-growth movement, and theyre scared that if we use up all our material, we will gradually die. Jason Ross gave us a great presentation on how our creativity can actually create new resources, like before nuclear power was not readily available. We discovered that. But this anti-growth movement will tell us, Well, maybe our creativity will fail at one point. Is there a limit to our creativity? Is there one point where we will not be able to discover new things to replace our new technologies? To that, I usually answer, I prefer to believe that we will continue to discover, and I prefer not abandoning [our path]. I wanted to know what would you say? Do you have a better answer to that? LaRouche: I would say the point is, the truth of the matter is collectively, individually, all useful developmentsexpressions of the human mindare peculiar to the human mind. Anything thats valid belongs to that category of human mind. Now what happens is that this is not a perfect process, because you have a lot of people who make a lot of mistakes. Therefore, the answer is, the effective result, the competent result of the human minds work is to inspire a creativity which can be generated only by the human individual mind. Discovering New Principles Speed: Let me just take a moment and ask if theres anyone from the panel who has anything that they want to add or say. Jason Ross: I can say something. One specific thing about whether were going to finish discovering things or not: I think that this goes to a theme that Mr. LaRouche has been bringing up a lot over the past couple of years, which is the approach of Bertrand Russell, and the 1900 shift in science; where, away from discovering totally new things, the practice of science increasingly became, at least officially, put in terms of Can you derive your new thought in terms of what we already know? What Russell tried to do in mathematics, to turn mathematics into logic, got also applied to science in general. And the opportunity to say, Hey, we just dont know everything yet; there is more to know, got put aside. Bertrand Russell had said in the 1890s, implicitly, that space couldnt possibly be curved, and that properties of matter couldnt be any different when you get into the very small. In the 1890s he said that the big discoveries of the 1900s would never happen; he said that there couldnt be a quantum, and that there couldnt be relativity. So, in terms of the example of Einstein as having made a major discovery that overthrew what existed before, that didnt add to it, but overthrew what had currently existedI think what he did as a personality was very important for thinking through what should science be. Kesha Rogers: I think what is important to think about in this discussion that were having right now is that we are not dealing with a practical political debate. Its not about up and down votes, and opinions, and whether or not you agree or disagree on a political view. You have to understand that this conference, and this panel in particular, is so important. There are very dividing issues on this panel, because Mr. LaRouche had something much more fundamental on these questions. This is a human debate! I just think about the fact that you take Krafft Ehrickeand I mentioned him earlierhe had a very profound concept of this idea of a closed world system versus an open world system. Right now were still debating and living in a closed world system that cannot achieve the type of creative goals and breakthroughs which are necessary for mankind to foster its true creative potential. Thats what you have to get at. So if you dont think your questions are being answered, its because you are still stuck in that closed system, and you have to get out of it! NASA When I called for a spaceand I hope to accomplish thisan international space panel, I wanted to take up this very fight, this very question that doesnt exist in our political arena right now! I ask the scientists, where are the politicians? They are not responding to real science; thats why Im up here. Thats why Mr. LaRouche and I are collaborating and working on this fight. Mr. LaRouche is bringing up the genius of Einstein, and he more recently talked about the creative genius of Brunelleschi, and Id like for him to expound on that a little bit more. When we are talking about the process of creating these new cities, beautiful cities, creating a commitment to space, I think thats the example we have to use. Mr. LaRouche is talking about fostering a conception which most people dont think of; most people dont think of themselves as having genius, being geniuses, creating genius, having your children become geniuses. You cant do that in this society! It doesnt foster it. We have to do that here, today. Tom Wysmuller: I could piggyback on something Jason talked about. He talked about Bertrand Russell saying that basically most of the science is behind us. When Einstein applied for a job at the patent office, and he worked as a patent clerk for a while, his boss told him, theres no future here, because everything thats going to be invented already has. [laughter] Sothats the truth. Now, these days, youre hearing a lot of stuff on the climate, and I want to address one of the questioners, that the science is settled! Well, guess what? Its not settled! Were getting new data every day about climate! Were learning things, were learning relationships that we didnt know, and you need to look at the data. And thats one of the things that NASAs been pretty helpful in, in provided the data. Its the people who are interpreting it, and saying that there are no questions left to ask, that are on the wrong side of that issue. So, keep your minds open, keep your target toward Mars. Improving Your Way of Thinking Question: I feel very honored to be here. Im from Brooklyn. Something that I do want to say, thats always stuck very close to me, was, an instructor once said to me, while studying Buddhism, to a beginner, there are many possibilities, but to an expert there are few. Now Im a beginner, and Id like to keep a beginners mind. I know nothing, but something I did come to understand from NASAs data, is that there is space junk. For the past 60 years, we have been throwing manmade junk into space. Is there a way to pick up where we left off and make use of and harness this space junk? LaRouche: Science. Actual, efficient science! You may not be able to get a perfect correction of what the scientific principle is, but you can get closer and closer to it by experiencing your own errors in judgment. The point is, nonetheless, that it is the human individual mind which is the only competent authority for solving these problems. Now, some people are not as efficient in making these discoveries or developments, but nonetheless, the human being is not an animal. And the usual interpretation of human behavior is based on the presumption that mankind is an animal. That is when the mistakes are made. Question: I completely agree with Lyndon LaRouche about the human mind, but for the same reason, I dont understand why such names as Tesla, for examplewho is at least, maybe in my eyes, at the same level as Einsteinthe great inventor of free energy. Nobody spoke about numerous free energies, carry energy; we never hear about it. The latest has to do with cold fusion; its a major breakthrough, but nobody mentioned it. And I dont know why, because, although its not very widely publicized, its accessible. The majority of these guyssame destiny. . . . Speed: Excuse me. I think were going to have to have your question repeated so we can all understand it. Sare: He is asking about many inventions that have been made but have not been made available because theres a kind of Gestapo that prevents them from being allowed to be known. Question: [follow-up] And among them are Teslas inventions. . . LaRouche: This is not a proper question. However, there are cases where the individual whos trying to follow something may not be able to make the efficient connection between the two facts of relationship. But all creativity of mankind, that is of mankind as a social process, is based on a principle which is unique to the human individual mind. Now some people dont have an adequate development of the human mind, but if they are educated properly they can. The case of Einstein is clear. Einsteinas you know, an entire century has passedEinstein has proven that on the basis of his way of thinking, not on the basis of some design, but on the basis of his way of thinking, he has made a discovery which has upset everybody. So the point is, you have to understand that the source of creative powers of the human individual lies within the human individual, not within that nature. Question: Mr. LaRouche, I was really overwhelmed by the Egyptian Consul who spoke in the morning panel, Mr. Farouk, and the way that Egypt handled getting into the Land-Bridge. Why cant we do that as Americans? Start our own fund, instead of waiting for the United States to turn around and say, lets get on board? Why cant we do this like Egypt did in financing the New Suez Canal, and tell the United States government to let us just take it on ourselves? LaRouche: Well, you know the problem is, most of the members of the establishment in the United States today are crooks. They have strong opinions! And they believe in those opinions, or they pretend to believe in those opinions. And they do it, and theyre scattered all over the place. So you will need something a little bit better than that. Youve got to understand one thing: The question is the mind of a scientist, specifically a scientistor an especially good scientist, is his or her opinion, is it or is it not the source of the discovery of a principle which is otherwise not discovered? Thats the issue. Now, some people are better at that business and others are less good at that principle, but that is the principle. The entirety of mankinds success, as mankind, depends upon the creative powers, specific to some specific individual human beingsor else theyre wrong! Thats your alternative. The medicine that is presented, is it correct or is it not? All the important things in science, all the important things in human individual knowledge, depend upon the validity of these kinds of discoveries. Without that, maybe we will get accidentally lucky or somethingthat does happen; but the question is, when it comes to an actual principle, the creative principle, an efficiently creative principle is actually generated uniquely by the mind of a human individual. Now that individual may make mistakes, but the question of that individuals ability to make a discovery of that type, is whats crucial. And some people are good at it; some of them are not perfect at it. But the whole basis of the human process of human progress depends upon that principle. Otherwise, youve got nothing but animals! Question: We have many enemies to genius, and youve come up against your share in your lifetime, so I guess this is more of a social science question in terms of, do you have any insight or a principle we might use to overcome this fear-based life that we were brought up in? I mean, where weve seen genius thwarted time again. Were here to bring something home where we can begin to instigate change. Any insights on that? LaRouche: The only insight is, that the educational system of the United States is lousy. It could be improved! Question: Mr. LaRouche, I totally agree with your creative moment and the individual. What is your position on synchronization of individual creative effort in terms of a mastermind community? LaRouche: Oh, the problem is what happens is, often well find that we dont know which end starts first sometimes. You sometimes get a child who turns out to be a genius, and thats a discovery. And then you find somebody who is supposedly a leading scientist whos a bum! So therefore, you have to understand that there are categories that you have to learn to be familiar with, in order to discern which person is probably likely right, or at least right to have an opinion. The important thing: Its very important for all mankind to have access to human minds which are able to deliver, maybe not just from the start, but from somewhere in the process; who are able to actually understand something which is tantamount to an original, human principled discovery. That is what the whole thing is based upon. Thats what every scientist does whos competent. The scientist will work and sweat and do all these kinds of things they do, in order to achieve something which is truth. And what theyre trying to do is understand what the truth is of the matter. And the whole system, of success of society and cultures as such, depends upon the ability of some people to make progress in discovery of human principles, absolute human principles, which are uniquely human. In other words, you cannot fake it; you cannot fake that. You cannot fake any kind of principle; you have to actually work, and fight your way through and find out what the truth is. And Einstein, for example, is an ideal example of the kind of person in society who is capable of making those kinds of discovered things. Question: Mr. LaRouche, I just want to address some things that this gentleman said and a couple other people said, in regard to whats going on out there in the world. There is a Gestapo-like organization, there are these banks, there is this stuff going on, and I disagree that we shouldnt be focusing on it, because I think its possible, and not just possible, I think its probable that the fire out there, that these people, these greedy, corrupt people will eat us alive, and burn us alive before we have the chance to go out to Mars and do these things. I think we need to really focus on that. So my question is, why would we not focus on that? Why would we not get down to the bottom of that and really address these criminals and these thugs? LaRouche: Because the influence of the societys culture destroys the ability of the human being, the individual in many cases, to be responsible. We should educate our people better and treat them more kindly. Question: Its an honor to be here, and Mr. LaRouche, its an honor to get a chance to ask you a question. Im from Boston, Mass., and my question is that it seems like all around the world people are stuck in a comfort zone with things that they know work, and dont necessarily make the leap to newer technologies because of the lack of understanding and the lack of reliability being that its new technology. LaRouche: Your reference to a lazy mind, not coming up to a standard, is really the appropriate thing. People will say, I feel more comfortable with what I think and the smell I exude, than I would with anything else. And therefore they like to smell themselves and feel that that smell is the good smell; and they will just walk away from everything with that, without considering what the proper smell of the animal should have been. And if it runs into a skunk, well, thats what the result is. Fostering a New Renaissance Speed: OK, let me ask, are there any summary remarks? Is there anybody from the panel, first of all, who wants to say anything, and then well go to Lyn. Wysmuller: In answer to the young lady who said that when she was young, everything was possible, and then as she got older she found it wasnt. Well, the truth is, as you get wiser, you find out again that there is much more to find out in the universe than youve ever dreamed of. We have a lot more to learn. We have a lot more to learn. Speed: OK, Jason! Ross: To be honest, I had a lot of specific thoughts on some of the specific questions. The only general conclusion is that its just really important to develop a culture in this way. This evening were going have a panel on music, what we typically call culture. Music, poetry. Theres also a culture to science, and its very easy to look at the fruits of science, or its effects, or what it does for you, and neglect the fact that theres a whole culture to the practice of science: How did a discovery get made? What were the people like who figured things out? How did they think? And I think that there is as muchno, I wont comparetheres a great deal of beauty and insight that we can gather from that, just like we do with typical culture. We need to have both of them, culturally, living in us. Speed: Kesha? Rogers: Well, I think I will end by saying that most of you came here today because you know that our society is in grave danger, and were facing a grave threat to our existence as human beings, and you want to do something about it. I think if you take the discussion that weve had here today, and will continue to havethis idea of fostering a Renaissance for mankindwhat is the requirement of mind, to truly bring that about? As we look at what is necessary to inspire beauty in our society, we have to actually rid ourselves of thisas Jason saidof this culture of degeneracy, of ugliness. Mr. LaRouche brings up EinsteinEinstein knew that the fostering of his creative mind also required participation in the beauty of great art, of great Classical music. CNTV The way that you dumb down a society is to take away that potential for what makes us human, what makes us beautiful. Thats what you should take from this conference. Be inspired to go out there and organize your communities. We have people represented here, of all different backgrounds, that in other countries, wouldnt be sitting together at all! We have a responsibility, here in the United States, to foster something that is what the United States was actually organized and created around in the first placewhat our Founding Fathers had intended. Its up to you! What about the United States? What are we going to do? How are we going to make the United States represent the greatness of who we are? And so the United States has to join in this new mission, as I said, in fostering this new Renaissance, and this has to be taken as something real in all of our minds. Speed: Lyn do you have any final remarks? LaRouche: Just that Ive learned a little bit from what people have as opinions, again from this experience here, which is highly variegated, of course, in terms of the composition of the whole. But some people get really fretful about protecting their something-or-other, and that is a little bit problematic at times. But I think it will clear its way out. This transcript appears in the April 15, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. KESHA ROGERS A Restored NASA Mission Must Drive an Economic Renaissance [PDF version of this transcript] Dennis Speed: Over the course of the past several weeks in particular, but actually in a different way over the course of at least the last several years, our keynote speaker for the afternoon has been a pioneer in attempting what some would think would be impossible, which is a resurrection of the spirit of America, as that spirit was best exemplified in the Apollo Project. Its important to think about the idea that the Apollo Project is not a technological success, merely, but it was a change in culture, and it was a change from the pessimism of the time of the Cold War to the possibility, not only of world peace, but of a new economic, scientific, and cultural platform for all of mankind. We all walked on the Moon, on July 20, 1969. And so, in order that we might restore that idea today, we have with us Kesha Rogers, from Houston, former Democratic Party Congressional candidate, to tell us why A Restored NASA Science Mission Must Drive an Economic Renaissance. Kesha Rogers: Thank you, Dennis, and I bring you greetings from the soon-to-be beautiful city of Houston, Texas. I want to start off this afternoons panel by saying, first of all, that I think that the message that Mr. LaRouche just conveyed, gets at the very heart of the conception of what we must seek to create, as the basis for a peaceful and productive future for all of mankind, which requires all nations working together to realize the creative potential and spark of every child, and every human being. And those of you who were here for the panel discussion this morning can really testify to the fact that that was the essence of this mornings panel, and of what you should take from the entirety of this conference, as the essence of this conference, and what we seek to take back out into our communities, and to humanity, as a new hope for the future of mankind. Stuart Lewis/EIRNS Now the question that should be posed today, is what must be the true purpose and mission of mankinds exploration of space? The importance of the space program lies in the very fundamental conception of realizing mankinds true humanity. That human beings are not mere animals, but are creative beings. And my conception of the space program is that we have to renew it as the pinnacle of a true renaissance, and a true paradigm, a new paradigm for mankind. Now, that means that we have to, once and for all, take the lid off scientific progress. In order to accomplish this goal, we must increase our understanding of mankind as a space-faring species. And mankind must realize once again, what the great pioneer of space, Krafft Ehricke, deemed our extraterrestrial imperative. Now, when people think about the space program, they think, in many cases, of practical benefits: spin-offs and new technologies. And these are important, but how are they achieved? Through a vision! And when you think about the essence of the visionary leadership of a pioneer such as Krafft Ehricke, and the conception that he developed in his idea of the extraterrestrial imperative of man, you see that he gets at something deeper, more fundamental, than just the creation of new technologies. He declared, More profound and inspiring than the technologies, however, are human and social-economic implications, understood in the perspective of the extraterrestrial imperative. Space industrialization is the crucible in which the seemingly irreconcilable problems that cause such profound pessimism in the outlook of many can be resolved. Earth and space become one, through the intelligence and the creativity of man. Attack on Mans Identity Now take that conception of the creativity of man, and the true mission for which we should be fighting for a space program, and compare that to the problem which we face today in the attack on scientific progress, which has been a continuing policy coming from the Obama Administration. But you have to look at this from the standpoint that its not a dispute over budgets or anything of that nature, but theres a fundamental attack on the human creative identity. And the policy that were witnessing in the United States has been a direct frontal attack on scientific progress, on our space program, and on the true creativity that must be brought forth from every single human being. And thats the evil of dismantling what has been the unified mission for our space program. You cant call it anything but that, evil. NASA To understand this threat more fully, I want you to think back to the day before President John F. Kennedy was shot. I would encourage people to go and listen to President Kennedys speech of Nov. 21, 1963, in Houston, Texas, a very powerful speech. In that speech, President Kennedy envisioned an America strong in science and in space, in health and in learning, in respect of its neighbors and all nations, an America that is both powerful and peaceful. With a people, he added, that are both prosperous and just. He concluded, With that vision we shall not perish and we cannot fail. That vision of President Kennedy is one that his British assassins have continued to strike down, have continued to reject as our human identity. Instead, they have pushed through a policy of cultural degeneracy, population reduction and mass suicide, and drugs, despair, homelessness, and hopelessness. They have sought to destroy President Kennedys vision for peace among nations through development, through cooperation in scientific breakthroughs, and through a commitment to continued progress in space exploration. Having shut down our space program, Obama and the British Empire are now driving for total war. The previous speakers have shown us the intention for a new paradigm, that is coming from nations, particularly China, and why China poses such a threat right now to the existence of Obamas culture of death, bestiality, and moral degeneracy, the attack on human progress. China is now bringing into being a new future for the progress of mankind. Chinas mission to explore the far side of the Moon embarks on new frontiers, on new discoveries which have yet to be accomplished. These will be discoveries that will not only benefit the progress of one nation, but all nations. It is urgent that we in the United States return to the principles of a space program as a mission for all humanity, as the antithesis to the threat of nuclear war. We must continue to develop joint efforts of cooperation with Russia in space exploration, as well as developing new relationships of cooperation with China, and all the other great nations that have been represented at this conferenceand moreto bring about a new paradigm for mankind. I think that is the challenge that I would like to start this panel discussion with today, in response to what Mr. LaRouche has laid out as the inspiration that we as Americansand we as a unified humanitycan bring about once again. This editorial appears in the April 15, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. The Uniqueness of the Human Mind [PDF version of this editorial] April 7Todays Schiller Institute Conference in New York City, Building a World Land-BridgeRealizing Mankinds True Humanity, marked a success for Lyndon LaRouches idea. Although further and fuller reports follow, with more to come in our next issue, that much can already be said with certainty. Helga Zepp-LaRouche opened the conference with a comprehensive and inspiring address, Beyond Geopolitics and Polarity: A Future for the Human Species. She laid bare the immediate threat of annihilating war, and showed that the idea of the World Land-Bridge, which she developed with her husband from 1989, provides the only durable guarantee for peace. She outlined a dialog of civilizations in which each of the worlds civilizations is represented by the cultural high-points of its history, such as Germanys Weimar Classic, and the United States as it was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton. Helga was followed by former U.S. Attorney General (1966-67) Ramsey Clark, who wove his own long experience into an account of recent world history which underlined the alternative to the war policies of most of the post-Kennedy U.S. Administrations. The next speaker was a truly unique figure from China, that nations leading professor of journalism and the leader of much else as well, Li Xiguang. Professor Li has led a decades-long pilgrimage on behalf of the Silk Road,across Central Asia, and down each of the three North-South routes, and back again. He has led no fewer than 500 of his students on this pilgrimage with him since 1990, and has written two volumes on the New Silk Road. Although his goals for the Silk Road are not religious goalsthey are the same as oursProfessor Li models himself on the great Chinese cultural heroes, the Buddhist monks Xuanzang (602-664) and Faxian (337-422). Both made long and arduous trips along the Silk Road, and brought back the first real knowledge of much of world civilization to China, including Sanskrit language and culture and Buddhist scriptures in the original. Xuanzang spent no less than 16 years on this voyage, and returned with 600 Indian texts. In 646, at the Tang Emperors request, he completed his 12-volume work, Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, now one of the primary sources for the study of medieval Central Asia and India, and the basis for the Sixteenth Century novel Journey to the West, one of the Four Great Classical Chinese Novels. The afternoon session, The New Scientific Frontiers, highlighted the space program. LaRouche PAC leader Kesha Rogers opened it with a vivid presentation. The climax of that session was a question-and-answer period with Lyndon LaRouche by Skype. He led most of the questions back to the cardinal issue that changes in the physical system, and in the future of mankind, are created by the thinking human mind itself; no animal can do this. Mankind is organized by his own acts of this type; it is these which lead either to failure or to success. This is the mind of the true scientist, of which Einstein is an example. But this account is only a characterization; his actual answers should be studied in detail. The climactic third panel, the musical and cultural panel, began in the evening. To do it justice, rather than trying to cover it below, it will be a major feature of the next issue of EIR. Attendance exceeded 230, not including the core membership. About a dozen foreign countries were represented, whether through diplomats, cultural associations or in other ways. Many musicians attended, and at least five people from the Brooklyn church where we performed the Messiah during Easter. This may have been our largest conference ever. In conclusion: This conference was a victory for an idea of Lyndon LaRouche, that of the Manhattan Project which he unveiled in October 2014. Yet at that time, as Einstein wrote of Kepler, he was supported by no one and understood by very few. Lyndon LaRouche, the inventor of the Strategic Defense Initiative, and later the inventor, with his wife, of the Eurasian Land-Bridge, had once more invented a new and wholly different original idea. Again it has proven true. PRESS RELEASE AIIB Chief Notes Role of Bank as Inspiration for Others April 13, 2016 (EIRNS)AIIB President, Jin Liqun, in Washington for the IMF/World Bank annual meetings was hosted at a forum, sponsored by the Asia Society. During the questioning by the moderator, Kevin Rudd, and by the audience, the questions were generally of a more technical nature. When asked about the New Development Bank, he simply said that China would not need to ask for loans from that bank, as they had sufficient financing for their projects. He was asked, at the end, a broader question by EIR, regarding the systemic financial crisis. EIR Washington correspondent Bill Jones asked Jin. The world has been excited by the creation of the AIIB and the Belt and Road project with its focus on infrastructural investment. And I think this has served to create a renewed interest on infrastructure investment even by the World Bank and the ADB. This would represent a great boon for the future of mankind if it occurred in a different financial climate. But the world is in the throes of a crisis with an estimated two quadrillion dollars of unpayable debt. And unless this situation is resolved, the good work that has been done in infrastructure will come to naught. Do you have any recommendations to the upcoming G20 meeting in Hangzhou with regard to addressing this problem? Jones asked. Jin gave a rather lengthy reply to this question. The G-20 would like the AIIB to promote infrastructural investment. I think that there is also a huge need for such investment even in the developed countries, Jin said. PRESS RELEASE Russian UN Ambassador Churkin Demands U.S. Stop Turkey from Sending Terrorists to Syria April 13, 2016 (EIRNS)Russias UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, demanded at a closed-door UN Security Council meeting yesterday,that the U.S. do everything it can to stop its "close ally," Turkey, from sending terrorists across its border to Syria, RT reported. After the UN Security Council meeting, Churkin said that Syrian UN mediator Stefan di Mistura confirmed that the terrorist al-Nusra Front had launched an offensive against Syrian forces around Aleppo, and that some Security Council members had expressed concerns that the militant buildup in Aleppo may wreck the ceasefire. Churkin said that 10,000 terrorist fighters have practically encircled Aleppo and are preparing to storm the city, and that Turkey continues to send men and weapons to Al-Nusra acorss its border. Churkin said, "These close allies [U.S. and Turkey] must ensure Turkeys territory is not used to funnel fighters." He said that in the last few days, a few thousand fighters had been observed crossing the border from Turkey to Syria, many in the vicinity of Aleppo. Churkin also said that Turkey "threatened to make negotiations impossible" if the Syrian Kurds are invited. He called the Turkish actions, "completely irrational." PRESS RELEASE Glass-Steagall to be at Forefront of New York Primary Fight April 13, 2016 (EIRNS)The fight over the need to reinstitute FDRs Glass-Steagall, in order to rein in Wall Street, has come to the fore in the run-up to the April 19 New York Democratic primary, as attested by two recent developments. The first was the initiation on the New York City radio station WNYC on April 11, of a series entitled Break Up the Too-Big-To-Fail Banks Nowor not? The first segment, in which host Brian Lehrer interviewed New York Times financial columnist Gretchen Morgenson, was devoted to Glass-Steagall historically, and Morgensons assertion that keeping the banking separation it mandated in place would indeed have made some of the major risky abuses of the 2007-08 crises impossible. Lehrer plans to continue the series over the week, when both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will be campaigning in New [York, including an April 14 candidates debate. The second development was the introduction this week into the New York State Assembly of Bill K01192, a resolution calling on the legislature to convey to Congress its support for reinstatement of Glass-Steagall. The resolution, introduced by Schenectady Assemblyman Phil Steck, has 26 co-sponsors. While New York City is an epicenter for the debatebeing the home of Wall Street and LaRouche PACs high-profile campaign in the area through the Manhattan Projectthe upsurge in activity around Glass-Steagall is national and international in scope. On April 11, the PBS New Hour devoted a segment to a critique of Dodd-Frank, in which a member of the U.S. Treasurys Financial Research Advisory Committee, Lynn Stout, called for revival of the rules in place before 1999-2000, including Glass-Steagall. On April 12, the London Guardian ran an op-ed by Asher Edelman, the purported model for the Gordon Gekko character in the film Wall Street, saying he fears a depression and supports Sanders because only he would break up the banks. There is also an active fight in the Italian parliament on the issue, with 12 bills introduced. Sanders is a co-sponsor on the current Senate bill S. 1709, which would reinstate Glass-Steagall. Clinton has explicitly opposed reinstatement, as has the Republican Party generally. Indeed, Glass-Steagall killer Phil Gramm is a key adviser to the Ted Cruz campaign. The House bill to reinstate Glass-Steagall (HR 381) has 73 sponsors, and so far cannot get a hearing. Governments, in order to fulfill their national security objectives, must sometimes shroud their activities in secrecy. This is regrettable, if inevitable. But secrecy can also be employed as a kind of intellectual asphyxiant, used to choke off a populations interrogational faculties by depriving it of the capacity to make informed judgments about its governments short-term activities and long-term aims. Secrecy is a form of regulation, wrote Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 1998. At times, in the name of national security, secrecy has put that very security in harms way. It is the demands of state secrecy, their distressing effects on U.S. foreign policy and ultimately their subversion of the democratic process that unify the four essays in Seymour Hershs The Killing of Osama Bin Laden, all of which were previously published in the London Review of Books. In the book, Hersh, an indefatigable investigative reporter (he broke the story of the My Lai massacre in 1969; the CIA domestic-spying scandal in 1974; and the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2004), documents a series of covert operations and their sometimes-unforeseen repercussions carried out in Syria, Libya and Pakistan by the United States and its allies during the Obama administration. Hersh leans heavily on anonymous sources in his reportage. This is understandable, given his subject matter, but how you read the book will depend on the faith you place in these sources and in Hershs own judgment about their veracity. I think the record here is mixed, at best. Advertisement Consider, for instance, Hershs reporting on the war in Syria, which dominates three of the four chapters. (The books title is thus a bit of a misnomer.) Hersh argues that the nerve gas attacks in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta in 2013 were not perpetrated by Assads forces but by the Al Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda affiliate. According to Hersh, Al Nusra was directly assisted by the Turkish government, which believed that a chemical weapons attack traced to Assad even if it was actually committed by agents provocateurs would force the Obama administration to enter the war against the Syrian government. The Ghouta attacks led President Obama to threaten military action against the Assad regime, as he had previously asserted that the use of such weapons would constitute a red line potentially precipitating intervention. Hersh claims that Obama reversed course in the face of mounting classified evidence casting doubt on Assads culpability, as well as resistance from the Joint Chiefs, who feared a spiraling regional conflict. (Throughout the book, military and Defense officials often appear wiser and more deliberative than the CIA leadership and other senior Obama administration officials, raising questions about source bias and interservice rivalry.) In any case, this is an explosive account. The sarin attacks in Ghouta killed hundreds of civilians, including many children. They were war crimes. If, as Hersh claims, the Turkish government aided an Al Qaeda affiliate in procuring and employing chemical weapons in order to goad the U.S. into open warfare against the Assad regime, it could seriously damage our alliance with Turkey, a crucial NATO ally. But there are important questions regarding the plausibility of this story. For one, providing the Al Nusra Front with chemical weapons would be an extraordinarily dangerous gambit. Would the Erdogan government risk further destabilization and mass displacement on its own southern border in the hope that the Obama administration might follow through on its threats and enter the war because of a sarin attack? And, moreover, would Turkey really risk the proliferation of chemical weapons to terrorist groups weapons that might be used one day on Turkish troops or civilians or be traced back to Turkish sources? Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. (Eckehard Schulz / Associated Press) Hersh may also be underestimating the Assad regimes interests and capabilities, as well as its propensity for brutality. The attacks took place in a rebel-controlled area. Assad was widely known to possess chemical weapons at the time of the Ghouta attacks; indeed, Syria was one of the few countries in the world that refused to accede to the Chemical Weapons Convention. It had used chemical weapons during the conflict, and has since. Moreover, expert analyses conducted jointly by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations, and separately by Human Rights Watch, conclude that the rocket was almost certainly launched from regime-held territory. And the rockets used in the attack Russian in origin had been employed by government forces previously during the conflict. Hershs dubious claims about the Ghouta attacks aside, however, I am sympathetic to his skeptical view of events in the wider Middle East, where our allies have a tendency to simultaneously cooperate with us and actively subvert our interests to play a double or even triple game. And no two states better exemplify this behavior than Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. (Proving that Tolstoys dictum applies as well to international affairs as it does to interpersonal relations, our relationship to both states is clearly unhappy in its own way.) In the books namesake essay, The Killing of Osama Bin Laden, we get a better sense of how these relationships, especially the American-Pakistani dynamic, play out. Relying heavily on a single unnamed retired senior intelligence official, Hersh reports that, in contrast to the Obama administrations account, Bin Ladens whereabouts were revealed to the U.S. through a walk-in, that is, a senior Pakistani military official who, desirous of the $25-million reward on Bin Ladens head, contacted the CIA. (Carlotta Gall and Steve Coll, both highly respected investigative journalists, say their own reporting corroborates, to various degrees, Hershs account here.) Moreover and again in contradiction to the Obama administration Hersh reports that Bin Laden had been in the custody of the ISI, Pakistans intelligence service, since 2005, and that the Pakistani military was fully aware of his location in Abbottabad, Pakistan; that his housing and care were being paid for by the Saudis; and that, once Bin Ladens location was revealed to the U.S., the Pakistani military had agreed to let American special forces raid the house in Abbottabad with the explicit understanding that Bin Laden was to be assassinated. Americans were also supposed to delay announcing that Bin Laden had been killed for a few weeks and claim that he died in a firefight on the Afghan side of the mountainous Afghan-Pakistan border. Hersh claims that Obama administration officials were so worried about leaks, and so eager to cash in politically, that they reneged on their prior promises to the Pakistanis and disclosed the true location of the raid almost immediately. Copious amounts of ink have been spilled on Hershs Bin Laden piece, but much of the coverage has focused on gaps in specific parts of Hershs story. This, I think, has been at the expense of examining whether the broader pattern of behaviors and relationships Hersh describes fit a plausible historical pattern, which lends credence if not absolute credibility to his account. Take the decades-old relationship among the American, Pakistani and Saudi intelligence agencies, which cooperated extensively during the anti-Soviet jihad in the 1980s that gave birth to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. During this period, the Saudis had significant excess financing but little expertise in intelligence work or covert operations, so they outsourced their operations in the region to the ISI. The ISI also worked closely with the CIA on organizing the mujahedin against the Soviets. But the Pakistanis and Saudis coordinated on initiatives parallel to, and without the knowledge of, the CIA, empowering the most fanatical elements in the region. At this time, Bin Laden was not the worlds most-wanted terrorist: He was a major financial sponsor of other jihadists in the region and the scion of one of the Saudi kingdoms most powerful families. Abbottabad, where Bin Laden was killed, is a wealthy resort town a mere half-mile from Pakistans military academy and near an ISI base. Although the government denies foreknowledge of Bin Ladens whereabouts, it simply beggars belief that the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment was not aware of his presence. (For its part, the Obama administration does not seem particularly motivated to pursue this issue publicly. Imagine, by way of contrast, what the U.S. reaction would have been if Bin Laden were found living in a posh neighborhood in Tehran.) As Hersh notes, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had good reasons to keep Bin Laden in custody and his captivity hidden from the United States. Pakistan could use Bin Laden as leverage on jihadists who, Pakistan wagered, would keep quiet about the situation it wished to control. These groups could then be occasionally unleashed on India, especially in the disputed Kashmir region, as well as in Afghanistan, in order to keep that country pliant and out of Indias sphere of influence. This arrangement would also allow the Saudis to manage the quiet, comfortable isolation of its wayward son, ensuring that he wouldnt be captured by Americans, who might ask some very uncomfortable questions about Saudi support for terrorism worldwide. It is doubtful if well ever know about whether such an arrangement existed. Bin Laden was killed, perhaps illegally, in the raid. The circumstances surrounding his captivity are still extraordinarily murky. Nearly five years later, the U.S. and Pakistan still remain locked in an unhappy marriage with no short-term prospects for divorce. Pakistan still supports terrorist organizations in Kashmir (such as Lashkar-e-Taiba) and in Afghanistan (such as certain Taliban factions), destabilizing two very dangerous borders. But we depend on obviously partial cooperation by Pakistan on intelligence-sharing and counterterrorism matters. U.S. officials, rightly worried about the security of Pakistans growing nuclear-weapons arsenal, would also rather keep a duplicitous ally close than lose whatever access they currently possess. The demands of realpolitik might counsel the U.S. to continue to pursue the same web of shaky alliances that has defined its position in the wider Middle East for decades. But if the American people arent provided with at least an approximate story of our allies activities and objectives not to mention our own we cannot make informed judgments about who our allies truly are, or reasoned critiques about the overall coherence of our countrys foreign policy. That, above all, is the danger of a regime of excessive secrecy in international affairs. Whatever his interpretive excesses and inductive leaps, it is a danger of which Hersh is rightly and acutely aware. Dorfman is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. :: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden Seymour Hersh Verso: 144 pp., $19.95 Shares of the big solar company SunEdison seemed prepared to set records Thursday, rising a blistering 58%. As an energy investor, you might have found this thrilling. Unless, that is, you looked a little more closely: That huge percentage gain translated into 22 cents per share in real money. If you'd been a SunEdison holder since last July, you'd still be down by about 98%. That pretty much defines the gap between the huge gains in solar energy production across the nation and the world in the last few years, and the disappointing results that trickle down for investors. SunEdison is only the most spectacular burnout in this once-brightly shining sector. The Spanish firm Abengoa has narrowly escaped bankruptcy for now, but like SunEdison it's saddled with heavy liabilities and dubious paths for paying them off. The independent counsel...identified issues with the Companys overly optimistic culture and its tone at the top. SunEdison board report on accounting irregularities SunEdison's problems stem partially from unique conditions, partially from an industry-wide dalliance with a questionable and unnecessarily complex financing method, and partially from the habits of technological pioneers that can be found in emergent industries as far back as the late 1800s. Many of SunEdison's problems certainly are self-inflicted. A committee of independent directors, assigned to investigate allegations by a former executive and former and current employees that the company was cooking the books, found corporate management innocent of "fraud or willful misconduct," but said its "independent counsel...identified issues with the companys overly optimistic culture and its tone at the top." The man at the top is CEO Ahmad Chatila, who has masterminded the company's hectic growth over the last few years, fueling it with public braggadocio and financial engineering. The sun sets on SunEdison stock, fallen from a 52-week high of $31.66 to 58.5 cents Thursday. (Ycharts) (Test) In November, when it signed a 20-year deal to provide solar-generated power to Los Angeles County, SunEdison described itself as devoted to "transforming the way energy is generated, distributed, and owned around the world." That same month, it boasted of a "pipeline" of potential solar and wind projects totaling 15.6 gigawatts, the equivalent of 15 major power plants, to add to its existing inventory of 4.5 gigawatts. Questions soon arose about whether Chatila was too eager to gloss over the numerous risk factors standing in the way of the unalloyed growth he projected. SunEdison gained a reputation for "acquisitive hubris, operational failures, murky financials and shoddy corporate governance," as the Economist put it recently. More perilously, the Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation into whether the company overstated to investors how much cash it had on hand in November, as my colleague James F. Peltz reported last month. The SEC isn't likely to take at face value the SunEdison board's assurances that senior executives deserve a clean bill of health. Some of SunEdison's growth was financed through a financially intricate system of "yieldcos"--ostensibly independent firms created by SunEdison to own and operate the power plants it built. The yieldcos, which were expected to attract outside investors, were to be a source of ready capital enabling SunEdison to build more plants. At first, the concept seemed to have struck gold. SunEdison's first yieldco, TerraForm Power, went public in July 2014 at a price of $25 and rose to $42.15 in April 2015. Since then it's been all downhill; the shares closed Thursday at $9.71. A sister firm, TerraForm Global, never even experienced the euphoria of being a hot stock; it went public in August at $15, lost $1 on its first day, and closed Thursday at $2.56. Part of the problem may be that investors have grown gun-shy of can't-miss stories in the energy sector, especially after having taken a bath in the last pitch for similar master limited partnerships in the oil and gas industry. As we reported last year, these were supposed to be immune from volatile crude oil prices because they derived their revenue from the transport of oil and gas, not the drilling of crude or sales at the retail end. That didn't turn out to be the whole story. In a similar vein, the magic of yieldcos has been vastly oversold. Those familiar with business history may have noticed some intriguing parallels between these goings-on in the solar business and the patterns of other industries that came into being on the tides of new technologies, like the railroads in the late 19th century. Enthralled by the riches to be gained by throwing a web of tracks over the American landscape and binding the East and West coasts together with bonds of steel, investors clamored for railroad stocks, assured by promoters that profits were guaranteed because the U.S. government was interested in the industry's success. Capital was cheap and almost as plentiful as the supply of connivers to pocket it. Executives of the Union Pacific formed their own company, Credit Mobilier, to front as the railroad's construction company while scooping up money and political influence; the financial connections between the construction company and its secret parent, which led to what may have been the first major financial scandal in American history, were as intricate as those between SunEdison and its yieldcos. The trajectory of stock prices in the rail industry were equally volatile and raised suspicions of less-than-adequate disclosure, not to say of outright manipulation. (The Erie Railway was dubbed "the scarlet woman of Wall Street" because it had been bought and sold so often among its insiders.) With money so easily available, railroads competed by building parallel tracks over each others' territory and cutting prices to the bone to secure market share. The inevitable result was a vicious shakeout. In the two decades after the golden spike connected marked the completion of America's first transcontinental railroad in 1869, three more transcontinental railroads were built; all landed in bankruptcy. The crisis wasn't resolved until J.P. Morgan stepped in to impose order on the industry, by shutting unprofitable lines and consolidating the rest, and dictating territorial rights to keep competition at a minimum. At the moment, no Morgan appears on the horizon, and his 19th century methods would be viewed as flagrantly illegal today. But those methods did set the railroad industry on a solid footing that turned the technology of rail from a magnet for promoters into a boon for industry and agriculture. The shakeout among solar firms is certain to continue, but that may not stop the technology itself from working its transformative magic on the economy. Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com. Return to Michael Hiltzik's blog. Adam Aron was, until recently, running Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Just three months ago, he became CEO of cinema giant AMC Entertainment, catapulting him into one of the top positions in the movie business. The Los Angeles Times spoke to Aron, 61, at the film industry conference CinemaCon at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas about various topics, including digital shifts in entertainment and how to bring millennials back to the theaters. He also weighed in on the touchiest subject of the week: Napster co-founder Sean Parkers plan to offer movies on demand as soon as they hit theaters for $50 each. You previously worked in the hotel business. Whats different about running a giant theater chain? Advertisement First some similarities. In my career, Ive worked for airlines, hotels, cruise lines, ski resorts and sports teams all in their own ways, fun and glamorous industries. Thats also what this business is. In all those industries there is some entertainment and hospitality aspect. AMC too is in the business of putting smiles on peoples faces. FULL COVERAGE: CinemaCon 2016 Now some differences. This is the first industry in which Ive worked where were not responsible for the entirety of the product. The movie theater business is a partnership between the movie makers and the movie exhibitors. We have to rely on Hollywood to do its bit and give us great product for our screens. We control a certain aspect of the product, which is how comfortable and how pleasing we can make the environment in which you watch that great movie. Another difference is, apparently this is quite the fun and glamorous business, and once people get into it, they dont tend to leave it. I think that makes people a little more used to the status quo, and that creates a lot of opportunity for AMC. Is this industry doing enough to keep up with changing consumer habits? Theres enormous opportunity there. AMC led the way a few years ago with much more comfortable seating and led the way in food and beverage . Weve been leaders in sight and sound technology. There are more and more things we can do to please guests. Consumers really prefer the large screen if they can get to it, and we are going to dramatically increase the count of Dolby Cinema screens and Imax screens, and were going to create or own private label large screen in addition. Theres a lot of interest these days in whether millennials will be as interested in going to movie theaters as baby boomers have been. There are things we are going to have to think about. Before every movie we run a big thing that says, Turn off your phone. Dont ruin the movie. To todays 22-year-old, you know what they hear when we say that? Cut off your left arm above the elbow. Dont ruin the movie. Were going to figure out a way to change that. Maybe its special auditoriums that are texting friendly. Is AMC participating in Sean Parkers proposed home video start-up Screening Room? Ive made no public comment on the Screening Room, and I wont today. But I can say that we see the yin and the yang of it. Were very supportive of windows. That doesnt mean you cant experiment in how theyre managed, but theyre very important. We are willing to experiment with new ideas, and we understand the need for our studio partners to be profitable. So if there are ways for us to enhance studio profitability without hurting our profitability, we ought to be able to consider those things. The more profitable the moviemakers are, the more theyll be able to turn around and make more movies for us. Once youve swallowed Carmike and become the worlds largest cinema operator, how else do you see the company growing? I think well continue to grow through acquisitions, and I think well continue building new cinemas. Even with the acquisition of Carmike, well only have a 24% market share in the U.S. By other industry standards, thats not a frighteningly large market share. There will still be opportunities to grow in the U.S. Of our 385 theaters, we have a whopping total of two outside the United States. Its a big world. I could see us growing internationally as well. What markets look interesting? Ill give you the Sarah Palin answer: Any and all of them. Well look where theres opportunity, where we can have critical mass at an affordable price. Id like us to be the biggest theater company in the world, and Id like us to be the best movie theater chain in the world. Chinas foray into Hollywood is a big story. Youre owned by Dalian Wanda Group. How involved are they in the day-to-day? Not at all. Were running our own show. We report to our board of directors. Wanda has many seats on our board, and we keep them well informed, as well we should. In this case, the entity that owns 75% of our company is also in the movie theater business (in China). So when we talk to Wanda executives, were talking to experienced people in our industry, and we can share ideas about best practices. ryan.faughnder@latimes.com When the Carnival Corp. ship Adonia leaves port on May 1, becoming the first U.S.-based cruise ship to sail to Cuba in more than 50 years, it will carry no Cuban-born passengers. Based on an arrangement with the Cuban government, Carnival said anyone born on the island wont be issued a ticket. Such a restriction doesnt exist for airline flights to the communist country. Cuba has a long-standing regulation that no Cuban-born individuals are allowed to travel from anywhere in the world to and from Cuba by ship, Carnival spokesman Roger Frizzell said. This regulation applies to all cruise lines, ferries and any form of shipping planning to travel to and from Cuba. Advertisement The ban isnt new but has received fresh attention as potential customers were unable to book passage to Cuba after Carnival representatives discovered that their U.S. passports listed Cuba as their birthplace. What appeared to be Carnivals acquiescence has spurred protests in Miami, where the company is based, and a class-action lawsuit filed by two Cuban-born men who claim their civil rights were violated because they werent allowed to buy tickets for the Adonia cruise. Frizzell said the suit is without merit, and Carnival is actively working to pursue a change in the regulation that puts cruising on the same footing as aircraft travel is today in Cuba. The Cuban embassy in Washington didnt respond to calls or emails about its regulation, which dates to the Cold War era. Carnivals opportunity to sell Cuban cruises followed the Obama administrations move to improve relations with the Cuban government and ease travel restrictions that were in place for decades, although the U.S. trade embargo remains. The U.S. Department of Transportation is considering applications from United, American, Southwest, JetBlue and other carriers to launch 20 daily round-trip flights to Havana, and 10 flights to nine smaller airports across Cuba. The airlines are so eager to win those routes, which are predicted to be heavily booked, that theyve been taking potshots at each other during the formal response period. The agency plans to announce its decision this summer. Cruise line executives have said they expect future Cuba sailings to provide a boost for the industry and increase business to other Caribbean destinations. Among those vying for Cuban routes is Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which like Carnival is based in Miami. Norwegian Chief Executive Frank Del Rio was born in Cuba and therefore wouldnt be allowed to take one of his own companys voyages. A spokeswoman for the company said it would be premature to comment since Norwegian has not been approved to sail to Cuba. But Del Rio last month appeared on CNBC and enthused about taking that first cruise someday. Ill be on that bridge, I might even be driving that ship myself, Del Rio quipped. Critics of Cubas Castro regime say the restrictions on Cuban-born travelers is a sign that Cuba wants to limit the influence of Cuban-American visitors on its population. Armando Azarloza, a Los Angeles marketing executive whose father was held as a political prisoner in Cuban in 1961, said he suspects the Castro government is keeping restrictions on Cuban-born travelers to prevent them from encouraging family members on the island to speak out against the government. Its a manifestation of what is really behind their agenda, he said. Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute and a professor of anthropology at Florida International University, said he has found no documentation released by the Cuban government explaining the restriction. The ban is puzzling, he said, because the Cuban government doesnt place limitations on U.S.-born relatives of Cubans traveling by ship. It doesnt have any logical base on which to say this person cant go on the cruise ship but this other person who is related can, he said. Duany said he suspects that the Cuban government limits Cuban-born visitors on cruise ships because it doesnt have the personnel at cruise ports to screen them. Carnival announced in March that it had been given approval by the Cuban government to begin regular cruises to Cuba, starting May 1. The first ship, the Adonia, part of the companys Fathom cruise brand, will leave from Miami, carrying 704 passengers for a weeklong trip. A second company, French luxury line Ponant, has since received approval to start U.S.-Cuba trips in 2017. Under federal laws, U.S. travelers must meet 12 specific criteria to visit Cuba, such as journalistic activities, professional research, public performances or family visits, among other categories. hugo.martin@latimes.com | Twitter: @hugomartin After Freedom Communications filed for bankruptcy last year, the question was who would buy its newspapers, the Orange County Register and Riverside Press-Enterprise. Now that they have been sold to Digital First Media, another question looms: Who will buy Digital First? The Denver publishing company, which also owns the Los Angeles Daily News, eight other local dailies and dozens of papers in other regions, is owned by a New York hedge fund, Alden Global Capital, that tried to sell Digital First in 2014 and will almost certainly do so again. Theyll look for the exits as fast as possible, said Lloyd Greif, chief executive of downtown L.A. investment bank Greif & Co. Theyre not long-term holders. Advertisement Alden has had a stake in Digital First, through predecessor company MediaNews Group, for more than five years, but typically holds its investments for less than a year, according to data provider Factset. The hedge fund bought in to the company when it was a major investor in newspaper chains, holding stakes in the privately held owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News and several publicly traded publishing companies, including the owners of the Sacramento Bee, the Dallas Morning News and USA Today. But that was in 2010 and 2011. By the end of 2012, Alden had sold its newspaper stocks and the Philadelphia papers. Alden later tried to sell Digital First too, but a deal with private equity firm Apollo Global Management fell through. Now that Digital First has acquired the Register and Press-Enterprise, Greif said he expects the company to integrate those papers into its other operations and cut costs where it can. Then he expects Alden to once again look for a buyer for Digital First. Theyre looking to flip it, no question, he said. Digital First has already flipped some of Freedoms most valuable assets: real estate. The company sold 14 acres of former Freedom land in Santa Ana, including the site of the Registers printing press, to developer Mike Harrah, with plans to lease at least some of it back. Ron Hasse, president of Digital Firsts Southern California News Group, confirmed that Harrah bought the Santa Ana property but said he could not confirm a price. Harrah did not return calls for comment. The Orange County Business Journal reported that the deal was valued at $34 million. Twenty Lake Holdings, a New York firm with offices in the same building as Alden Global, also acquired a 6-acre site in Riverside that is home to the Press-Enterprises printing press. Twenty Lake owns a dozen office and printing properties used by Digital First-owned papers. Digital First paid $49.8 million for Freedoms assets, meaning that after selling off the real estate, it paid less than $16 million for the two papers, not including any proceeds from the Riverside deal. That might sound like a bargain, but the two papers combined are not profitable, reporting losses of $4.5 million from November through February, according to Bankruptcy Court filings. The challenge for Digital First, which executives say is profitable, will be to cut costs, increase revenue or both to bring Freedoms papers into the black. Hasse would not comment on the companys strategy, but costs already have been cut. After the sale, but before Digital First took over the Register and Press-Enterprise on April 1, former owner Freedom Communications laid off about 70 employees across operations, newsroom sources said. And while those cuts included Chief Executive Richard Mirman and Register Editor Rob Curley, the hit to the Register newsroom has so far been small fewer than 10 reporters and editors, the sources said. High-level executive cuts are common way to save money after an acquisition. Media industry analyst Ken Doctor said more newsroom cuts could be on the way. Digital Firsts nine other papers already share copy editors, designers and content. For instance, the papers share coverage of the Angels and Dodgers rather than having reporters from each paper assigned to the teams. The Register and Press-Enterprise also share stories. The next step could be for Digital First to further consolidate by running stories from its other newspapers in the two new acquisitions, potentially meaning the chain would need fewer reporters. Theyve got to decide if the readers of the Register and the Press-Enterprise are going to be served by the people who serve the L.A. readers, Doctor said. How many Dodgers, Lakers and Clippers writers are they going to have? Another cost-saving measure Digital First might employ is reducing the number of titles it produces, a move the company recently made in Northern California. Last week, Digital First stopped printing the Oakland Tribune, the Contra Costa Times, Haywards Daily Review and Fremonts Argus as daily newspapers, instead rolling them into a single daily called the East Bay Times. It also consolidated the San Mateo County Times and San Jose Mercury News into a single paper, the Mercury News. Doctor said the move should help Digital First save on printing costs and could be duplicated in Southern California. Though executives have offered no hint that such a move is in the offing, ever since the company announced the Bay Area consolidation, reporters at local Digital First papers have speculated about what titles could be cut or combined in Southern California. One potential combination could be a roll-up of Digital Firsts three San Bernardino County newspapers the Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and Redlands Daily Facts with the Press-Enterprise, creating a single Inland Empire-focused paper. Whatever the outcome, the big question for Alden now is who might be an interested buyer. Tribune Publishing was interested in acquiring the Register and Press-Enterprise, but the threat of antitrust litigation from the Justice Department derailed that plan. Doctor said Tribune could still be interested, but would likely have to go to court to address the governments concerns. Tribune executives declined to comment. Other newspaper publishing companies, such as Gannett Co. and New Media Investment Group, have been acquiring more papers lately and could be interested in buying some of Digital Firsts assets, Doctor said. But he expects those companies would not be interested in Digital Firsts marquee properties the Denver Post or the newspaper groups in Southern California and the Bay Area. That might require Digital First to be sold in pieces. Both Gannett and New Media, the latter managed by private equity firm Fortress Investment Group, have lately focused on buying papers in small and mid-sized cities where newspaper circulation and advertising revenue have declined less sharply. Digital First has plenty of papers in such markets, with two dozen papers in small and mid-size towns from Massachusetts to Minnesota. The prevailing theory is that big metro areas perform less well than smaller metro areas, Doctor said. In those markets, theres not a lot of broadcast competition. Advertisers need those papers. Its easier to see how [New Media] papers in the East could combine with Digital First properties. james.koren@latimes.com Twitter: @jrkoren A top federal regulator on Thursday announced a long-awaited initiative to allow some homeowners facing foreclosure to reduce the principal on their mortgages. But the plan is limited and comes years after advocates began pushing for much broader relief in the wake of the housing market crash. The program from the Federal Housing Finance Agency will help about 33,000 people whose mortgages are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the housing finance companies seized by the government in 2008. Advertisement SIGN UP for the free California Inc. business newsletter >> The national housing market has significantly improved in recent years, but there are still areas of the country where home values have not recovered and negative equity remains a real problem, said FHFA Director Mel Watt, who has been under pressure to enact a broad principal-reduction program since taking office in late 2013. At the same time, Republicans in Congress have warned that taxpayers would end up footing the bill if Fannie and Freddie sustained losses because such a program encouraged underwater homeowners to stop making payments so they would qualify for a principal reduction. Watt said the small-scale plan balances the agencys statutory mandate to maximize assistance for homeowners while not adversely affecting the finances of Fannie and Freddie. This plan will no doubt be viewed by some as too small and too late and viewed by others as too large and unnecessary, Watt said. The program is available to homeowners who were at least 90 days delinquent on mortgage payments as of March 1. The outstanding principal on the mortgage must be no more than $250,000, and the value of the home must be at least 15% less than what is owed on the loan. The mortgage principal could be reduced no lower than 15% above market value, meaning the homeowner still would be underwater. No more than 30% of the total principal could be forgiven. Eligible borrowers should expect to hear from their mortgage servicer by Dec. 31. ------------ FOR THE RECORD 12:02 p.m.: A previous version of this story said mortgage principal could be reduced no lower than 15% below market value and the program was open until Oct. 15. Actually, mortgage principal could be reduced no lower than 15% above market value and eligible borrowers should expect to hear from their mortgage servicer by Dec. 31. ------------ The FHFA also announced another initiative Thursday regarding sales by Fannie and Freddie of delinquent loans that are intended to help reduce foreclosures. But the companies have sold only about 29,000 such loans and the program will affect a relatively small number of borrowers, the agency said. Fannie and Freddie have allowed principal reductions in some isolated instances. But the agency has resisted calls from President Obama, congressional Democrats and state officials, such as California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, to enact a broader program. From 2009 tp 2014, the FHFA was headed by Edward J. DeMarco, a career bureaucrat who had been acting director since a Republican appointee stepped down. DeMarco opposed an expanded principal-reduction program, and Senate Republicans blocked Obama from replacing him. Watt, a former Democratic congressman from North Carolina, was confirmed to replace DeMarco after Senate Democrats changed the rules to make filibustering presidential nominees more difficult. Watt spent more than two years studying a principal-reduction program. During that time, the housing market has strengthened, and foreclosure rates have fallen. jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com Follow @JimPuzzanghera on Twitter ALSO Eight state AGs probe retail chains on-call work schedules Disney starts work on Star Wars land with a 360-degree glimpse California fast-food workers shift focus from minimum wage to unionizing Combat. Conflict. Life or death skirmishes. Brawling. Judging from the admittedly small sample of nearly a dozen fragments of floor mosaics, several quite large, in a new exhibition at the Getty Villa, ancient Romans across the sprawling empire were pretty obsessed with the bloody violence necessary to sustaining their imperial position around the vast expanse of the Mediterranean. One floor mosaic shows three hunters with staffs herding five fearsome bears into a giant net strung up between two trees. The beasts turn, growl and gnash their teeth. Another displays the moment when a muscled and victorious boxer, having just taken out his equally muscled human opponent, lays flat a great horned bull just in case anyone doubted his superior strength and power. A gash by the staggered bulls eye tells the tale, echoing the blood running from the vanquished boxers head. Advertisement See more of Entertainments top stories on Facebook >> A third features a lion chomping on the back of an onager a wild ass that has just been felled. The cats big claws make a gory mess of things. The onager swivels his anguished head and meets the lions ferocious gaze, while blood streams on the ground in a cluster of zigzag lines like jagged bolts of lightning. Is it any wonder Roman soldiers applied the name onager to the mechanical catapult they used for besieging walled compounds? The recoil when the war machine was sprung reminded them of the wild beasts violent kick. Heres the odd thing: Most of these rough and tumble floor mosaics of brutal combat were made as decorative embellishments for the lavish villas of the wealthy elite an entrance hall, say, or a dining room. A couple were designed for more public sites, such as the baths that were part of regular leisure rituals and social contact. Call it conflict chic combative subject matter handsomely rendered in elaborate, expensive styles. Mural-painted walls are one thing, but a durable stone floor is quite another. A mosaic, composed of thousands of small bits of hand-set stone and glass, is not easy to make. Nor is it inexpensive, nor easy to change. At 28 feet wide and then still just a fragment of the full floor the bear hunt mosaic from a villa outside Naples, Italy, was plainly designed to impress. (The remainder of the mosaic is in Naples National Archaeological Museum.) Tesserae flat, irregularly shaped stone bits are pieced together in shades of white, gray, pink, purple, ochre, umber and black to create a surprisingly nuanced drawing. The action scene at the center is surrounded by tesserae fashioned as decorative braiding. There are also laurel festoons, various animals (real and imaginary), assorted fruits, some cupids and sizable ornamental heads backed by elaborate acanthus leaves at the corners, perhaps personifications of the four seasons. The fierce bear hunt is woven into cycles of nature and rituals of culture, all as lavish decoration. Combat chic seems to have been a way for the wealthy elite to revel in and show off their worldly success. They have triumphed over lifes harsh vicissitudes. Images of conflict are metaphors for the battles they or their families fought, and not just militarily, to get where they are. Put under foot, they adorn the very foundation of things. Scholars are not certain, but the bear-hunt floor is thought to have come from an upscale civic bath house. Enjoy your relaxing visit, the Neapolitan bath decor would seem to say; youve earned it. Perhaps that is why this particular type of Roman floor mosaic was especially attractive to industrialist Paul Getty, once the richest living American. All but two mosaics are from the museums collection, and the founder himself acquired most of them. (The other two are on loan from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and an unidentified private collection.) They range in date from the 2nd to the 6th century AD. Getty purchased his first Roman floor in 1949. The roughly 15-foot-square mosaic features a bust of the fabled minstrel Orpheus in the center, framed and bordered by hexagons containing a variety of spellbound animals. It was sold by the estate of William Randolph Hearst. Getty, notably frugal, wouldnt need to pay much for its transfer from a nearby California collection. Most, however, were acquired later around 1970. Getty had by then decided to build a replica of a first-century Roman villa adjacent to his Pacific Palisades ranch-house museum. It would need floors. Instead, most ended up in storage. Many are just now having their public premiere. The show, organized by Getty assistant curator of antiquities Alexis Belis, is modest in numbers just a thumbnail sketch of a far-flung artistic practice. The dozen fragmentary examples are traced to architectural settings in Gaul (southern France), North Africa and ancient Syria (including parts of modern Turkey), as well as Italy. An excellent online catalog, available at the museums website, is filled with information about them, including their condition, bibliography and history prior to arriving in Los Angeles. Not everything here could be characterized as combat chic, however. For instance, a large, elegant pair of sinuous peacock designs, given to the museum by the late antiquities collector William Wahler when the Villa opened 40 years ago, is thought to have come from an early Christian church in Syria. St. Augustine, according to the catalog, noted the belief that a peacocks flesh was incorruptible.The flamboyant bird symbolized an achingly beautiful paradise. But sometimes, a dazzling design of sophisticated stylishness absorbs ferocity into its sumptuous pattern. Perhaps the most viscerally stunning mosaic is on the catalogs cover a delicately colored head of the Gorgon Medusa, she with the hairdo of writhing snakes. The monster could turn an enemy to stone with just a glance. Medusas bust is set within a medallion at the center of a dramatic, spiraling whorl of black and white triangles, a pulsing visual vortex that animates the twisting nest of snakes crowning her head. The circular design is like a shield. Perhaps its the one that Athena carried after the Gorgon was slain, with Medusas still-powerful head attached to the shields front for protection. Even severed, Medusas head was a weapon. The chic mosaic is gorgeous. Twitter: @knightlat ------------ Roman Mosaics Across the Empire Where: Getty Villa, 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades When: Through Sept. 12. Closed Tuesdays. Info: (310) 440-7300, www.getty.edu A California sculptor has her moment. A painter who drags her canvases all over the town (literally). And a paintings exhibition that explores the contributions of labor to our society. Plus: An electronic environment that nods to ancient culture and an online exhibition consisting entirely of animated GIFs. Here are seven shows to see this week: Claire Falkenstein: Beyond Sculpture, at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. The 20th century California artist, whose name has begun to circulate once again in the art world after she was included in the debut exhibition at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, is now the subject of her own retrospective, tracking her entire career, from the 1930s to the 90s. (She passed away in 1997.) The artist, who worked in San Francisco and Los Angeles as well as Paris produced prints and murals, among other works, but she is best known for her sculpture: in particular, her often gritty assemblages made out of wire studded with chunks of glass. Opens Sunday and runs through Sept. 11. 490 E. Union St., Pasadena, pmcaonline.org. Margie Livingston: Holding it Together, at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles. Livingston doesnt make paintings; she makes paint objects canvases wrapped in acrylic paint skin that she straps to her body, then drags through the citys streets. Part penance, part performance, these actions leave behind a work that is as much a wall hanging as it is evidence of something darkly destructive. Opens Saturday at 6 p.m. and runs through May 28. 2685 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, luisdejesus.com. Ramiro Gomez, On Melrose, at Charlie James Gallery. In his third solo exhibition at the gallery, the Los Angeles artist, known for creating works that insert the often invisible laborers who makes luxury possible, is turning his sights to Melrose Avenue creating a series of paintings that take on iconic sites such as the Paramount Studios and Fred Segal. The basement project space will also feature a larger painting installation. Opens Saturday at 6 p.m. and runs through May 28. 969 Chung King Rd., Chinatown, Los Angeles, cjamesgallery.com. Delicious Taste, Re-Corded History, at C. Nichols Project. The duo of Grant Levy-Doolittle and Bruce Yonemoto, known as Delicious Taste, has created a wild installation that takes on the ephemera of our digital lives and marries it to pre-Columbian tradition. Phones, monitors and surveillance cameras are connected by a vast array of knotty wires that evoke ancient Andean quipus, the knotted strings that served as record-keeping devices. Opens Saturday at 5 p.m. and runs through May 28. 12613 Venice Blvd., Mar Vista, cnicholsproject.com. Lily Simonson, Midnight Sun, at CB1 Gallery. The painter known for her electric renditions of icy snowscapes is having her third exhibition at the gallery, showcasing work that was inspired by a recent trip to Antarctica with the National Science Foundation. Expect otherworldly vistas from both above and below the ice. Opens Saturday at 3 p.m. and runs through May 29. 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, cb1gallery.com. A pair of abstractions made with horsehair by Catherine Fairbanks at Wilding Cran in downtown Los Angeles. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times) Advertisement Catherine Fairbanks, Two Chimneys, at Wilding Cran Gallery. A pair of chimney sculptures crafted out of geologic layers of papier-mache evoke the ruined domestic buildings throughout the West. But while they may call attention with their scale and their dexterous construction, dont miss the pair of abstractions, on a rear wall, exquisitely woven together from different shades of horse hair. Through May 28. 939 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, wildingcran.com. Geographically Indeterminate Fantasies, hosted by Providence College Galleries. Dont worry if youre nowhere near Providence College in Rhode Island. A new digitally-minded exhibition by the art writing team at Art F City features more than two dozen works by artists who use animated GIFs to create work from Brenna Murphys dizzying electronic architecture to Jacolby Satterwhites pulsing alternate universe. Its the sort of thing that will encourage you to spend quality time online (and away from awful Facebook). pcgalleries.providence.edu. FINAL WEEK An untitled piece from 2015 by Karen Carson at Rosamund Felsen in downtown Los Angeles. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times) Karen Carson, Zip Line, at Rosamund Felsen Gallery. Felsen is showing important early works by the L.A. artist, namely her zipper pieces from the early 1970s. These wall pieces part painting, part sculpture were Carsons answer to the industrial materials of 1970s minimalism: soft fabric connected (and disconnected) by zippers that could transform the geometric nature of a work in question. The pieces are as intriguing as they are wry. Do not miss. Through Sunday. 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., Los Angeles, rosamundfelsen.com. Eleanor MacNair, Photographs Rendered in Play-Doh, at Kopeikin Gallery. This artist takes iconic photographs and renders them in Play-Doh, then photographs them again for images that whimsically recontextualize the tropes of art history. Through Saturday. 2766 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, kopeikingallery.com. Ruben Ochoa, Tripping the Light Fantastick, at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects. The L.A.-based Ochoa is an artist obsessed by the base materials of construction: chain link, fence posts, concrete, aggregate, rebar and plywood. For his newest series of works, he has taken to more traditional canvas but with a combination of acrylic and rust, for paintings that feel like they could be made of Cor-Ten steel. The gallery also has a solo show devoted to the bright city scenes of Berlin-based painter Armin Boehm. Through Saturday. 6006 Washington Blvd., Culver City, vielmetter.com. practice, Practice, practice: Abstract Spirituality in Los Angeles Painting, Sculpture and Performance, at Nan Rae Gallery at Woodbury University. Inspired by a seminal LACMA exhibition about the spiritual in abstract art, independent curator Doug Harvey has put together a group show of art that is linked to religious systems and spiritual practice. Through Sunday. 7500 Glen Oaks Blvd., Burbank, nanrae.com/woodburygallery.html. Skin, at the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery. The work of three dozen contemporary artists including figures such as Kara Walker, April Bey and Ken Gonzales-Day examines issues related to race and identity in this new group show. Through Sunday. 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, lamag.org. (En)Gendered (In)Equity: The Gallery Tally Poser Project, at LACE. For three years, artist Micol Hebron has produced a series of installations that look at the issue of gender inequity in the art world and the story these installations tell is not pretty. Of every 10 artists commercial galleries represent, chances are that only three of them will be women. So Hebron has enlisted the help of hundreds of artists from all over the world to produce posters that map gender ratios at galleries around the globe. LACE brings together more than 400 posters produced over the course of this project. You can see some of the images from the project on the Gallery Tally Tumblr page. Through Sunday. 6522 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, welcometolace.org. ONGOING EXHIBITIONS Hard Edged: Geometrical Abstraction and Beyond, at the California African American Museum. A new exhibition features the work of 46 artists from emerging figures to well-established names working in the arena of geometric abstraction. This includes works by fresh voices and standard-bearers, including well-known figures such as Rashid Johnson, Senga Nengudi, David Hammons and Tim Washington. Through April 24. 600 State Drive, Exposition Park, caamuseum.org. Zoe Buckman: Every Curve, at Papillion. The British artist takes vintage lingerie and embroiders it with phrases from classic hip-hop tracks by the likes of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. The beguiling installation objects dangling daintily from the ceiling tells a deeper story about the contradictory ways in which women are regarded in the popular culture. Through April 30. 4336 Degnan Blvd., Leimert Park, Los Angeles, papillionart.com. Hope Gangloff, Benjamin Degen and Yuri Masnyj at Richard Heller Gallery. Hellers gallery is featuring a series of solo exhibitions by a trio of New York-based painters. These include Gangloffs moody portraits, Degens glitteringly surreal landscapes and the diagrammatic paintings by Masnyj, which function as strange inventories of objects and things. Through April 30. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Suite B5, Santa Monica, richardhellergallery.com. Julian Schnabel, Infinity on Trial, at Blum & Poe. The bad boy of 80s neo-expressionism is back in Los Angeles with a solo show for the first time in almost a decade. The exhibition gathers works from the mid-1970s to the present, including some of the ceramic shard collages for which he is best known. Also included will be more recent works, such as his Goat Paintings, from last year. Through April 30. 2727 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, blumandpoe.com. Roy Dowell, Mosaics, at Tif Sigfrids. The Los Angeles-based artist is presenting a series of five mosaics inspired by his own collage work, which are inspired in part by his frequent travels to Mexico. Expect abstract compositions that fuse elements of objects and landscape. Through April 30. 1507 Wilcox Ave., Hollywood, tifsigfrids.com. Alice Konitz, Los Angeles Museum of Art (LAMOA), at Occidental College. This is a work of sculpture that also serves as a micro exhibition hall. The space was established in Konitzs backyard in 2012 but will be on view at Occidental for the course of the academic year. The inaugural exhibition features work by L.A. artist Alice Clements. Through spring 2016. In front of Weingart Hall at Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, Eagle Rock, oxy.edu. High Priestesses, at 323 Projects. The popular phone line gallery (all shows are audio, accessible on your telephone) has a new show going up that is all about aural healing and New Age-y teachings as imagined by a crew of Los Angeles artists: Michelle Andrade, Michelle Chong, Meg Cranston and Bridge Kane. Its the ideal sort of thing for working that artsy third eye. Through May 1 by calling (323) 843-4652, 323projects.com. Donald Baechler, Lily Stockman, Mike Davis, at Gavlak Gallery. Gavlak is opening a trio of solo shows that feature Baechlers early paintings and collages, Stockmans biomorphic abstractions and a series of funny-wry watercolors by Davis that explore the topics that occupy his thoughts namely, Picasso, artists and Kermit the Frog. Through May 7. 1034 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, gavlakgallery.com. Lawrence Weiner, Made to Be, at Regen Projects. Weiner is a leading conceptual artist whose work plays with language and the ideas and images that it conjures. In his ninth solo show at Regen, he once again works with the power of words to tease the viewer in wry and canny ways. Through May 7. 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, regenprojects.com. Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road at MOCA Pacific Design Center. For six months in 2011, Los Angeles photographer Catherine Opie documented the Bel-Air estate of Elizabeth Taylor the clothes, the photographs, the jewelry, the little bits of personal ephemera that make a house a home. Now she is showing the series, one that chronicles a life of wealth and fame, at the Museum of Contemporary Arts West Hollywood space. Through May 8. Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, moca.org. Wayne Koestenbaum, A Novel of Thank You and Other Paintings, at 356 Mission. Koestenbaum, a poet and cultural critic, is also a painter known for vivid canvases that play with desire and bold patterns to electric effect. Runs through May 8, 356 S. Mission Rd., Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, 356mission.com. House Housing: An Untimely History of Architecture and Real Estate in Thirty-one Episodes, at the MAK Center. A ongoing research project by the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University, this exhibition looks at the intersection of real estate development and architecture from pre-fab apartment blocks to suburban gated communities. A timely show for Los Angeles as it furiously debates the future of development in the city. Through May 8. Schindler House, 835 N. Kings Road, West Hollywood, makcenter.org. John Divola: Dents and Abrasions at Gallery Luisotti. This exhibition features a series of new works by Divola, who is known for capturing abandoned buildings and their environments in decidedly cool and un-romantic ways. (No ruin porn here.) The pieces continue Divolas tradition of marking the buildings in some way with spray paint or found paintings and then capturing the entire scene in a photograph. Through May 14. An artists reception will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building A2, Santa Monica, galleryluisotti.com. Ed Ruscha, Editions, at Leslie Sacks Gallery. The show is a gathering of recent and vintage print editions from 1982 to 2015 by the L.A. pop artist, including his inscrutable word-and-image pieces, which he has produced throughout his career, as well as his ghostly prints of ships from the 1980s. Through May 14. 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica, lesliesacks.com. Noir: The Romance of Black in 19th Century French Drawings and Prints, at the Getty Museum. Figures in deep penumbra and sprightly creatures in dim settings. In the middle of Europes industrial revolution, some artists became intrigued by the non-color of the color black, creating prints and charcoal drawings that evoked the nocturnal, the dark and the deep recesses of the cosmos not to mention the not-quite-real state of dreaming. Through May 15. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu. Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College, 1933-1957, at the Hammer Museum. Black Mountain College in North Carolina wasnt open very long, not even 20 years. But in its short lifetime it brought together bands of seminal artists, musicians, dancers and thinkers John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Cy Twomby, Ruth Asawa, Robert Rauschenberg and countless others as both teachers and students. Key to that dynamism was the presence of Josef and Anni Albers, a pair of Bauhaus artists who fled Germany to join Black Mountain in the late 1930s. This critically acclaimed exhibition, which first opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, shows the far-reaching effects a single institution can have. Through May 15. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, hammer.ucla.edu. Jasmin Sanchez, Flux, at the Grand Central Art Center. The Orange County-based Sanchez is taking over the walls of the art center with drawings that meld landscape with abstraction and mapping to produce images that feel just a little bit magical. Through May 15. 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, grandcentralartcenter.com. Daniel Joseph Martinez, If You Drink Hemlock, I Shall Drink It With You at Roberts & Tilton. A hallucinatory environmental installation by the L.A.-based artist takes on Jacques-Louis Davids seminal French revolutionary painting The Death of Marat as a point of inspiration. Martinezs mise en scene features the artist as the key figures in this famous murder, including Marat, and his killer Charlotte Cordray, among others. Through May 21. 5801 Washington Blvd., Culver City, robertsandtilton.com. Linda Arreola: Architect of the Abstract, at the Vincent Price Art Museum. This one-woman exhibition looks at roughly a 10-year period in the work of this abstract Los Angeles artist. Arreola is known for creating taut, grid-like arrangements using bright blocks of color. Her work extends into the sculptural realm too. Through May 21. 1301 Cesar Chavez Ave., Monterey Park, vincentpriceartmuseum.org. LA Rebels: Photographs by Janette Beckman, at Project Gallery. Beckman, who is known for photographing some of hip-hops most iconic figures (including Ice Cube and Dr. Dre), is showing two sets of works at this show. The first features her collaborations with artists, who often drew and painted over her photographs; the second is a series from the 80s that documents the El Hoyo Maravilla gang from East L.A. Through May 21. 961 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, projectgallery.com. Deveron Richard, at Good Luck Gallery. Unicorns get groovy on light-up disco floors, polar bears rock lipstick and buxom birds wear rainbow dresses in the humorously electrified scenes imagined by this South Bay artist. Through May 21. 945 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, thegoodluckgallery.com. Portraits and Autobiographies by Kim Abeles, at Post. The Los Angeles artist known for using smog some of her works literally trap particulates onto their surfaces takes a more inward view in this, her latest solo exhibition. The show includes self-portraits, photo-based works, research projects and sculptural works that often employ the body. Through May 21. 1206 Maple Ave., Los Angeles, postlosangeles.org. PLAN, at the El Segundo Museum of Art. An exhibition organized by the Wende Museum and the El Segundo Museum of Art brings together works by disparate figures from Camille Pissarro to Egon Schiele to Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid exploring the idea of plans and planning. This includes references to five-year plans, a map for the projected Soviet invasion of West Berlin and other works that play with the idea of fate versus meticulous intention. Through May 22. 208 Main St., El Segundo, esmoa.org. Abel Alejandre, Public Secrets, at Coagula Curatorial. The Wilmington-based artist, known for his hyper-detailed graphite drawings, is unveiling a new series of paintings at the gallery that contend with secrets from the family sort to UFOs. All of this comes in advance of the opening of his public commission for the Westwood/Rancho Park Metro Station in May. Through May 22. 974 Chung King Roa., Chinatown, Los Angeles, coagulacuratorial.com. A Shape That Stands Up, at Art + Practice. A group show that treads the line between abstraction and figuration features works by Amy Sillman, Henry Taylor, Sadie Benning and a host of other interesting names. Through June 18. 4339 Leimert Blvd., Leimert Park, Los Angeles, artandpractice.org. Making Waves: Japanese American Photography, 1920-1940, at the Japanese American National Museum. In the early 20th century, groups of Japanese American photographers all along the Pacific coastline launched photography clubs, through which they published and exhibited their work. Their striking imagery ranging from abstract compositions to scenes of everyday life drew the attention of artists such as Edward Weston and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Unfortunately, much of their work was destroyed or lost when Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps by the U.S. government during World War II. But examples remain and JANM has gathered more than 100 of these prints for a show that explores the history and legacy of the clubs. Through June 26. 100 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles, janm.org. Popol Vuh: Watercolors of Diego Rivera, at the Bowers Museum. The Popol Vuh is a nearly 500-year-old Mayan text, written in Quiche, that recounts that cultures creation myths. This sacred text inspired a series of watercolors by Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, an artist who was preoccupied with indigenous themes. Now 17 of these paintings, on loan from a museum in Mexico, are on view at the Bowers. Through May 29. 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana, bowers.org. Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty, at the Orange County Museum of Art. The New York-based painter and photographer has long played with the tropes of feminine beauty in works that seamlessly stir the alluring with the mildly grotesque. Through July 10. 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach, ocma.net. Alex Israel, at the Huntington. In 2012, the San Marino library and museum unveiled the first of its contemporary interventions with low-key works by Ricky Swallow and Lesley Vance. Now the museum is getting bolder, with a series of installations by painter Alex Israel, whose pop-inspired canvases and objects touch on topics such as celebrity, glamour and power. Through July 11. 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, huntington.org. Jose Montoya, Abundant Harvest: Works on Paper / Works on Life, at the Fowler Museum. Throughout his life, activist, poet and painter Jose Montoya drew on whatever was at hand: napkins, hotel stationery and notebooks. And in those drawings he recorded the quotidian aspects of Mexican American life in the United States: dogs and children, women and sailors, pachucos and pachucas, the architecture of low-lying Central Valley neighborhoods, industrial warehouses and agricultural settings, as well as the glamorous profile of lowrider cars. It is the first comprehensive look at this vital Chicano artists drawing practice. Through July 17. UCLA, 308 Charles E. Young Drive North, Westwood, fowler.ucla.edu. Robert Mapplethorpe, The Perfect Medium, at the L.A. County Museum of Art and the Getty Museum. A two-part exhibition spread over a pair of L.A. museums explores the photographic legacy of an artist who brought as much grace to images of flowers as he did to S&M. The LACMA portion features early drawings, collages, sculptures, Polaroids, still lifes and archival material. The Getty will present his more formal portraits, along with the infamous X Portfolio, with its elegant S&M imagery. The LACMA runs through July 31. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, lacma.org. The Getty exhibit also runs through July 31. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu. Sam Maloof Woodworker: Life/Art/Legacy, at the Maloof Foundation. The foundation is celebrating the centennial of the birth of the renowned Southern California woodworker, whose elegant objects and furnishings are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the L.A. County Museum of Art and the Smithsonian. The exhibition will feature more than 60 objects from throughout the artists life, including furnishings, drawings, photographs and other ephemera. The show is part of a years worth of events that will celebrate Maloofs life and work. Through Aug. 27. 5131 Carnelian St., Alta Loma, malooffoundation.org. In Focus: Electric! at the Getty Museum. Electricity: It powers your home, it powers your work and it powers the phone on which you are likely reading this post. This photographic exhibition at the Getty gathers historic images that showcase the allure of light and power. Through Aug. 28. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu. Duchamp to Pop, at the Norton Simon Museum. Drawing mostly from the Norton Simons permanent collection, this exhibition looks at the influence Duchamp likely had on generations of artists, from assemblagists to pop painters figures who have appropriated elements of the everyday world and transformed them into art. Through Aug. 29. 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, nortonsimon.org. Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947-2016, at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. The debut exhibition at the citys newest gallery tackles more than half a century of sculpture by women, featuring key works by important international figures (Louise Bourgeois, Lee Bontecou) and key California artists (Ruth Asawa, Clare Falkenstein). Pieces range from the ethereal (Lygia Papes golden threads) to downright hilarious (Lara Schnitgers lacy/cat/fur assemblage sculptures). Altogether, the show offers an alternative to the narrative of the macho man postwar painting scene that has so dominated the story of 20th century art. Through Sept. 4. 901 E. Third St., Los Angeles, hauserwirthschimmel.com. Hito Steyerl: Factory of the Sun, at the Museum of Contemporary Art. A video installation by the German artist takes the viewer into a dystopia where the movements of workers are harvested to create artificial sunshine. The piece, which debuted at the Venice Biennale in 2015, is a mash-up of contemporary communication, told as video game, news report documentary film and Internet video. Through Sept. 12. MOCA Grand Ave., 250 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, moca.org. MOLAA at Twenty: 1996-2016, at the Museum of Latin American Art. The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach is celebrating two decades in existence with a show that draws from the museums permanent collection of more than 1,600 objects. These include works by renowned Modernists Joaquin Torres-Garcia and Wifredo Lam, Argentine conceptualist Leon Ferrari as well as contemporary figures such as Alexandre Arrechea and Patssi Valdez. Through Jan. 1. 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach, molaa.org. Senses of Time: Video and Film-Based Works of Africa, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. For one of its long-term installations, the museum has gathered works of video or film by contemporary African artists that explore the body and the looping nature of time. This includes pieces by figures such as Yinka Shonibare, Sammy Baloji, Berni Searle, Moatax Nasr and Theo Eshetu. Through Jan. 2. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org. Non Fiction at the Underground Museum. An emotionally charged exhibition curated by the late Noah Davis, in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles brings together works that explore issues of race and violence. This includes important works from MOCAs permanent collection by artists such as Robert Gober, Kara Walker, Henry Taylor and David Hammons. Through March 2017. 3508 W. Washington Blvd., Arlington Heights, Los Angeles, theunderground-museum.org. Islamic Art Now: Part 2 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Contemporary works from LACMAs permanent collection by 20 artists who live in or have roots in the Middle East look at questions of society, gender and identity. Runs indefinitely. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org. Find me on Twitter @cmonstah The contentious dispute over whether Sumner Redstone is mentally competent could hinge on testimony from doctors, nurses, Viacom Inc. corporate officers -- and perhaps the mogul himself. Attorneys representing Manuela Herzer, the media titans former companion, on Wednesday asked a judge to order that Redstone submit to a deposition as early as next week. Herzer contends that Redstone lacked capacity when he ordered her out of his house and his life last fall. Herzers attorneys renewed their quest to depose the ailing 92-year-old controlling shareholder of CBS Corp. and Viacom after Redstones lawyers added Redstone to a witness list. Advertisement Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David J. Cowan, who is overseeing the case, previously ruled that Redstone would not have to give a deposition because of his severe speech impediment. But Herzers lawyers, in court filings, argued that circumstances have changed since Cowan decided the issue because of the prospect that Redstone could appear at an upcoming trial to establish whether Redstone is mentally competent. Redstones name was included on a list of 35 potential witnesses, but he might not be called to testify, according to a person close to Redstones legal team who asked not to be identified discussing strategy. Nonetheless, Herzers attorneys said that Redstone and his attorneys cannot have it both ways. Throughout this litigation, [Redstones] counsel have used Redstones health as both a sword and a shield, Herzers attorney, Bert Fields, wrote in a motion filed Wednesday. Counsel have argued that, due to Redstones health and privacy concerns, petitioner should not be permitted to depose him or take other pre-trial discovery. But at the same time, Redstone has participated in multiple psychiatric and neurological examinations that counsel intend to submit at trial, Fields said. Then, in late March, Redstone was added to the witness list. Wednesdays court filing ratchets up activity in the case that had been quiet for two weeks as lawyers representing the various parties worked behind the scenes to try to structure a settlement to avoid a highly publicized trial. But settlement negotiations collapsed Monday, and the two sides now are preparing for the trial, tentatively scheduled for May 6. Cowan has scheduled a hearing Thursday on the Redstone deposition request. Herzers attorneys also suggested a compromise strategy to Cowan, which they said would spare Redstone of the inconvenience and media circus of being compelled to come to court to testify, according to the court filing. They offered to videotape Redstone during a deposition, and then present that recording at trial in lieu of his appearance. Redstones attorneys have insisted that Redstone, who struggles to speak, should not be put through the rigors of a deposition. On Wednesday, an attorney for Redstone said the pursuit of a deposition of Redstone was pointless and cruel. Forcing Redstone to sit for a videotaped deposition would constitute ... an unproductive assault on his dignity, Redstones lawyer, Robert N. Klieger, wrote in a response. Attempts by Herzer and her lawyers to force this [deposition] upon some of Redstones age and condition are distasteful in the extreme, Klieger said. A deposition would be antagonistic to the very interests that [Herzer] purportedly seeks to protect. meg.james@latimes.com Twitter: @MegJamesLAT Sumner Redstone will not be called to testify next month at a trial to determine whether the ailing media mogul is mentally competent. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David J. Cowan on Thursday asked lawyers involved in the contentious case to shed some light on their legal strategies for the trial, tentatively set to begin May 6. One of the big questions in the case has been whether the controlling shareholder of Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. would be physically able to testify in court. Redstone, who turns 93 next month, has a severe speech impediment that worsens when he becomes agitated, according to his attorneys. Advertisement How is he going to testify at trial -- and is he going to testify at trial? Cowan asked the attorneys Thursday during a 10-minute hearing on the matter. Both sides agreed that they would try to avoid compelling the mogul, who is largely confined to his hilltop mansion, to testify during the trial. Redstones attorney, Robert N. Klieger, said Redstones legal team had simply wanted to reserve the right to call him to testify. Klieger said lawyers would like to have Redstone represented at trial in some sort of written form, perhaps by submitting a declaration. But Cowan said a written declaration would not carry much weight. Thursdays hearing was held to settle an issue over whether lawyers representing Redstones former girlfriend, Manuela Herzer, would have the right to question Redstone in a deposition in advance of the trial. Herzer filed the petition challenging Redstones capacity to handle his affairs in late November after she was removed from a position of power in his household. Until that time, Herzer was Redstones primary caregiver. This weeks issue popped up after Redstones lawyers added him to a list of 35 potential witnesses for the trial. We all agree that he would be Exhibit A under normal circumstances, Pierce ODonnell, Herzers lead attorney, told the judge during the hearing. But I dont want to put Mr. Redstone through a circus or public spectacle. Im not going to call him. After the two sides agreed that Redstone would not be called as a witness, Cowan ruled that the mogul would not have to submit to a deposition conducted by ODonnell. Activity in the case heated up this week after lawyers representing the various parties failed to structure a settlement to avoid what is expected to be a highly publicized trial. But settlement negotiations collapsed on Monday. This week marked the second time that ODonnell and Herzers other lawyers asked to depose Redstone. In February, after being examined by an outside psychiatrist, Redstone stepped down as executive chairman of Viacom and CBS. He and his family control nearly 80% of the voting shares of the two companies. Mr. Redstone will not be testifying and that dooms their case, ODonnell announced outside the courtroom after the hearing. This moves us closer to the goal line to protect Mr. Redstone by having him declared mentally incompetent. The moguls daughter, Shari Redstone, 62, is scheduled to be deposed in New York on Tuesday. That same day, Redstones longtime lawyer, David Andelman, is scheduled to give a deposition in Los Angeles. Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman is scheduled to submit to questioning on April 26. A New York judge ordered Dauman to testify in the case regarding Redstones healthcare arrangement after Dauman first balked at ODonnells attempts to depose him. Redstone in 2014 named Herzer as the agent in charge of his advance healthcare directive should he become incapacitated. But in mid-October, the mogul threw her out of his home and his life and appointed Dauman as his healthcare proxy. Herzer contends that Redstone was mentally incapacitated when he cut her off last fall. The lawsuit is designed to restore some of Herzers legal rights. Herzer is also demanding that she be allowed to meet with Redstone. Manuela really feels that she should see Sumner. She wants to have some peace, healing and reconciliation, ODonnell said. She was literally thrown out of his house. Earlier this month, Redstone changed his healthcare proxy once again. This time, the mogul authorized Shari Redstone to make decisions on his behalf should he be unable to do so. Shari Redstone has been a frequent visitor to Redstones home since her father ended ties with Herzer and another former girlfriend, Sydney Holland. Redstone last fall changed his estate planning documents, removing Holland and Herzer from his will. Until October, Herzer had been in line to receive $50 million upon his death and his home in the Beverly Park section of Los Angeles. The home has an estimated value of $20 million. Redstones attorneys have insisted that Herzer is trying to protect her financial interests and that Redstone, who struggles to speak, should not be put through the rigors of a deposition. On Wednesday, Redstones attorney, Klieger, said the pursuit of a deposition of Redstone was pointless and cruel. We are deeply gratified that the court continues to protect Mr. Redstones privacy and dignity, Gabrielle Vidal, another attorney for Redstone, said in a statement after Thursdays hearing. Ms. Herzers eagerness to subject a 92-year old man with a severe speech impairment to these intrusive proceedings is offensive. We also find it telling that while Ms. Herzer claims to be acting for Mr. Redstones benefit, she refers to him in court as her opponent, Vidal said. Twitter: @MegJamesLAT Universal touts The Girl on the Train, Warcraft and Jason Bourne There has been some grumbling among industry folks who traveled to CinemaCon this year that studios arent really showing anything new. In an age when fans clamor for teasers and trailers to debut earlier and earlier online, Hollywood has started giving sneak peeks of their films many months -- and sometimes years -- in advance of a movies release. That wasnt the case with Universal Pictures, whose chairwoman, Donna Langley, told the crowd of movie theater owners gathered here Wednesday that all material the studio would be sharing was created specifically for CinemaCon. A majority of that material involved the studios animated slate, but Universal also gave conference-goers a first glimpse at some of its most anticipated live-action releases, including The Girl on the Train, Warcraft and Jason Bourne. Read More On a recent weekday, the self-appointed art terrorist AK47 actual name: Andy Link walked into the U.S. Embassy in London and sought to claim an item he knew would be tricky: a U.S. visa. Link is a former porn star and football hooligan who has been arrested a number of times. Oh yes, he also has some drug charges on his record. But a new film centering on his art-world exploits was premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival titled The Banksy Job, it chronicles Links successful plot to cart off a Banksy piece called The Drinker in 2004 and he wanted to be there. Advertisement Things didnt go as planned. I was one of the first ones in the queue and one of the last persons to go in, Link recounted by phone this week in his brash voice and thick-as-pudding Yorkshire accent. It was two women. They were typical government officials. I thought about saying Im an art terrorist, but I didnt think it would go over well. He instead explained to them that he was involved with the film. They werent buying it. The officials were clearly unmoved by the power of cinema or perhaps capable of a simple search Links record and told Link he would not be granted a visa. He was told to re-apply. It was not the only effort made to get Link into the U.S. Tribecas artistic director, Frederic Boyer, wrote a letter to the embassy vouching for Links credibility. So did other character witnesses. None could move the needle. Link says hes trying to take it all with equanimity I have got a dodgy past. Ive done various things that made my criminal record a little bit interesting, shall we say. This was not a big surprise to us, Ian Roderick Gray, one of the two directors on the film, said. This probably wasnt going to happen, said Dylan Harvey, the other director. Link has an attitude that might be described as self-promotional punk; hes somewhere between an ideologue and a gleefully obnoxious uncle. He detests Banksy because the street artist wouldnt sign a print years ago, but also because he says hes so anti-corporate but his first exhibition was sponsored by Puma and the T-shirts they sold at the show came from a sweatshop in Indonesia. And he generally loathes anything that he sees as not genuine or thwarting his own right-mindedness, which is not a small list. Links art bona fides can be questioned he seems less keen on producing material as he is on directing havoc toward an establishment he doesnt much like. His persona in the movie will delight some for its puncturing of art-world shibboleths and baffle and repel others who wonder what exactly it is he does, or why hes famous. He did try to create some art that ill-fated visa day. I took a nice picture of the outside of an embassy, he said, going on to describe an obscenity scrawled on the image along with some other garnishments. Its a piece of art, absolutely, he said. The Banksy Job will now make its premiere Sunday without Link. (The festival kicks off Wednesday night.) But absence can sometimes raise an artists profile just look at Banksy himself. Could it have a similar effect on Link when he doesnt turn up at the premiere? I dont know about that, he said. I just want to make people think. And take the piss out of things. Mused Gray, dryly: We might have had more of a chance if he was up for an Oscar. @ZeitchikLAT MORE: At Tribeca, art-centric films are ready for their close-up Controversial documentary Vaxxed comes to the L.A. area Robert De Niro reverses course, yanks anti-vaccine movie from Tribeca lineup Paul McCartney opened his 2016 One on One world tour on Wednesday night in, of all places, Fresno, at the Save Mart Center arena on the campus of Cal State Fresno. As hes been doing in recent years, along with return visits to major markets, the former Beatle and double Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee includes cities he has never visited, and chose to launch the new tour with his first performance in the Central Valley town of a half-million. No other California stops have been announced. Here are five other things we learned at opening night: 1. In the beginning: For the first time on one of his solo tours, the show opens with A Hard Days Night, the title track from the Beatles 1964 movie that begins with one of the most iconic chords in all of rock music. A giant video screen behind the stage projected scenes from the film and multiple other images from McCartneys life as he and the other four members of his touring band delivered meticulously arranged versions of more than three dozen songs from the Beatles and McCartneys solo career. Advertisement 2. Saluting George Martin: McCartney has long devoted two spotlight segments in his show to departed bandmates John Lennon (Here Today) and George Harrison (Something), a tradition he continues on the new tour. With the death in March of longtime Beatles producer George Martin, McCartney also gave Martin a tip of the hat during a performance of Love Me Do, reportedly the first time he has performed the song in its entirety in his solo shows. He charmingly explained Martins suggestion that he, rather than Lennon, sing the hook line Love Me Do so that Lennon could play the signature harmonica riff simultaneously as those words were sung. We were so nervous, he said. It was our first recording session with him. I can still hear it on the record, McCartney said, mimicking his delivery of the words in a shaky voice. 3. Helping thaw the Cold War: After singing Back in the USSR from 1968s double album The Beatles, a.k.a. The White Album, McCartney further elaborated on his interaction with Russian Beatles fans. Referencing his groundbreaking concert in Moscows Red Square in 2003, McCartney talked of meeting the countrys defense minister. He adopted a Russian accent as he quoted the official telling him, First record I ever bought: Love Me Do. 4. Yesterday ... and Today: The show ran nearly three hours, with no intermission, and spanned the full range of the 73-year-old musicians career. He presented a semi-acoustic performance of In Spite of All the Danger, which he described as the first song we ever recorded during his days with the Quarrymen, the band Lennon led when the two Liverpool teens met in 1957. And the show reached forward to include FourFiveSeconds, the 2015 track on which he collaborated with Kanye West and Rihanna. 5. Alpha and omega: The set encompassed 38 songs, not counting a snippet he played of Jimi Hendrixs Foxey Lady, as homage to the man widely regarded as rocks greatest guitarist. The show began and ended with music from the Beatles, concluding the full medley from the Abbey Road album of Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End, which allowed the three-way guitar solo battle from the recording to be re-enacted among himself and guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray. It also gave drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. a moment in the spotlight with the one and only drum solo Ringo Starr took as a Beatle during The End. Follow @RandyLewis2 on Twitter. For more on Classic Rock, join us on Facebook. ALSO: Paul McCartney announces massive new compilation Bob Dylan returns to pop standards on new album Fallen Angels Sound familiar? Stairway to Heaven, Taurus and other sound-alike songs Theyre baaack: Coachella reunions of N.W.A and GNR promise a flashback to the angry 80s in L.A. Wine and Valium help her cope. But the pressure of being a KGB asset inside an FBI counterintelligence unit becomes nearly unbearable for secretary Martha Hanson (Alison Wright) in Clarks Place, Episode 405 of The Americans on FX. Martha panicked when she couldnt contact her secret husband Clark, actually Soviet spy Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys), for two days. It was an emergency, Philip says, not revealing that a bioweapon scare forced him into quarantine. Well, I had an emergency, too, points out Martha, who clandestinely copies FBI reports. Advertisement First, Marthas boss Frank Gaad (Richard Thomas) announced that someone didnt log their use of the Xerox machine a serious no-no. Then FBI Agent Dennis Aderholt (Brandon J. Dirden) asked Martha out on a dinner date. Was there a connection, she wonders? By the time I got home [from the restaurant], I thought I was having a heart attack, Martha tearfully recounts. I cant live like this, Clark! Marthas in deeper trouble than she realizes. Dennis and colleague Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) have Martha under surveillance because they suspect she planted a KGB bug in Franks office. Stan also searched Marthas home. Hans (Peter Mark Kendall), a rookie Soviet spy, thinks Marthas being followed. But hes not sure. When Philip and his wife, Elizabeth (Keri Russell), inform their KGB handler Gabriel (Frank Langella) that Marthas cover may be blown, he doesnt want her to lay low. He wants her to step it up. Can you give her a camera? Gabriel asks. Im not sending her in there with a camera, Philip insists. If shes blown, the next operational act she does, they are putting handcuffs on her! Back at the Jennings abode, Elizabeth urges Philip to renew his friendship with Stan, their next-door neighbor. This after Stan flew into a jealous rage upon learning his ex-wife Sandra (Susan Misner) had an intimate conversation with Philip. I was a wimp for keeping quiet about Sandra, Philip admits. And Im sorry. After accepting the apology, Stan announces hell be back tomorrow. For Dennis just arrived and theyre off to an all-night stakeout at Marthas apartment building. In other developments, KGB officer Oleg Burov (Costa Ronin) receives the tragic news that his former girlfriend Nina Krilova (Annet Mahendru) was executed in Russia for interfering with stealth technology research. I did what I could, according to Olegs father Igor (Boris Krutonog), a high-ranking Communist official. Its not easy to help a traitor. You didnt help Yevgeny, either, Oleg bitterly retorts, referring to his brother who died fighting in Afghanistan. Clearly, Oleg is growing disenchanted with the Soviet Union. Ninas execution was cruel and unjustified, Oleg believes. And now his heroic brother is killed and they cant even say the name of the war he died in at his funeral. Finally, Philip and Elizabeth make nice with Pastor Tim (Kelly AuCoin) and his wife, Alice (Suzy Jane Hunt), who know the Jennings are spies but havent alerted authorities. At least not yet. Were concerned that you have the wrong picture about what we do, says Philip, alleging that the Soviets are very involved with the human rights situation in El Salvador. To bolster their case, Philip and Elizabeth introduce a supposed Jesuit priest, Padre Rivas (David Auzuelo), who tells of being targeted by a U.S.-funded death squad. Were not saying our government doesnt do bad things, Philip offers. Do people get hurt? Probably. But not because of us, Elizabeth claims. Later, after dropping off Rivas at a motel, Philip asks his spouse a question. You think that guys really a priest? Who knows, Elizabeth says with a shrug. Sometimes the artists change, but the songs, well, they remain the same. A recent judge's decision to allow a copyright lawsuit over the opening bars of "Stairway to Heaven" to proceed against Led Zeppelin et al. brings to mind other twinned tunes, some of which resulted in legal battles and others that just made the world go, "Hmm ..." 'Stairway to Heaven'/'Taurus'/'Cry Me a River' The lawsuit against Led Zeppelin says that Spirit lead guitarist Randy Wolfe, a.k.a. Randy California, wrote the song "Taurus" in 1966 or '67, and notes that Spirit and Zeppelin played in the same venues on the same dates three times between 1967 and 1970. "Stairway to Heaven" came out in late 1971. The familiar notes start about 45 seconds into "Taurus" and, interestingly, can also be heard in "Cry Me a River" by the late British guitarist Davey Graham, who was featured in a 1959 BBC documentary about folk music. Wolfe drowned in 1997, and his estate made the accusation against Zeppelin in 2014, ahead of a remastered re-release of the band's music. The suit seeks, in part, a writing credit for Wolfe. 'Taurus' / Spirit 'Stairway to Heaven' / Led Zeppelin 'Cry Me a River' / Davey Graham Little Big Town / Bonnie Tyler "It's a Heartache" by Bonnie Tyler was released in 1978 and subsequently covered by Juice Newton, Rod Stewart, Lorrie Martin and Trick Pony. Then when Little Big Town's "Girl Crush" came out in December 2014, folks noticed a similarity. Songwriter Lori McKenna told Rolling Stone at the time that she'd tried out the title on songwriting friends Liz Rose and Hillary Lindsey. Rose hated it, but Lindsey fell in love and "played the first chord and sang the first verse as it is," McKenna said. Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild told the magazine, "I'd never heard a jealousy song written like this." 'Girl Crush' / Little Big Town 'It's a Heartache' / Bonnie Tyler It's A Heartache. For more Bonnie Tyler videos please see my other youtube account - https://www.youtube.com/user/bonnietvideos/videos It's A Heartache. For more Bonnie Tyler videos please see my other youtube account - https://www.youtube.com/user/bonnietvideos/videos Lady Gaga / Madonna When Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" came out in February 2011, there were comparisons to Madonna's 1989 hit "Express Yourself." Gaga said at the time that Madge and her team had emailed, sending her "their love and complete support on behalf of the single." But a year later, Madonna called the newer turn "reductive," and a few months later she covered it during rehearsal for a concert in Tel Aviv, mixing it up with her own song. In November 2013, Gaga said she'd been "completely kind of floored" that Madonna had covered "Born This Way" at all. "I'm not quite sure what her intention was -- to do that in the show," she told Britain's Attitude magazine,"but I don't really care." 'Born This Way' / Lady Gaga 'Express Yourself' / Madonna Express Yourself official music video. Original song taken from the 'Like A Prayer' album. 1989 - Sire / Warner Bros. Records, Inc. Robin Thicke / Marvin Gaye "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke and Pharrell topped the 2013 charts, and Marvin Gaye's kids heard a lot of their dad's 1977 hit "Got to Give It Up" in the newer tune's catchy beat. They sued, and in March 2015 a jury awarded them $7.4 million in unpaid licensing fees and a chunk of the song's profits. "You've made it illegal to reference previous material," L.A. composer and producer Gregory Butler told The Times after the decision. "I'm never going to come up with something so radically different that it doesn't contain references to something else." 'Blurred Lines' / Robin Thicke 'Got to Give It Up' / Marvin Gaye Vanilla Ice / Queen Vanilla Ice was accused of ripping off Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure" in his defining 1990 tune, "Ice Ice Baby." He denied it, saying, "We sampled 'em from 'em, but it's not the same bass line. Like, it goes, 'Ding ding ding di di ding, ding ding ding di di ding ding, ding ding ding.' That's the way theirs goes. Ours goes, 'Ding ding ding di di ding ding, ding DING di di ding ding,'" but later retracted his denial. The lawsuit was settled out of court, with the "Under Pressure" side reportedly getting a big chunk of change and Freddy Mercury and Bowie getting writing credits on the tune. 'Ice Ice Baby' / Vanilla Ice Gov. Jerry Brown has insisted that he played no role in the California Coastal Commissions decision in February to fire Executive Director Charles Lester. This was a personnel matter involving an independent commission that was initiated and decided without any involvement from our office, Brown spokeswoman Deborah Hoffman said a few days after Lesters dismissal. Almost five years ago, however, Browns office did express concerns about Lesters hiring. Immediately after the commission voted unanimously to promote Lester to the top job, Browns administration told commission members about its unhappiness, sources familiar with matter told The Times. Advertisement Members of the governors appointments staff, as well as representatives of then-state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), met with then-commission Chairwoman Mary Shallenberger about a week after the promotion. They made it clear they were very angry about the selection process and the fact that they were not conferred with before we hired Charles Lester, Shallenberger recalled when asked about the meeting. Lester, now 53, was hired in September 2011 to replace the late Peter Douglas, the agencys longtime executive director, who retired because of illness. During two closed sessions, commissioners discussed and rejected a national search for prospects before appointing Lester. Lester was an outstanding candidate for the position, William A. Burke, a coastal commissioner from 2002 to 2012, recalled in an interview. If you were to go and do a national search, where would you find someone with his knowledge of the California Coastal Act and two decades of experience with the commission? I trusted him. Brown spokesman Evan Westrup, asked recently about the governors concerns about Lesters appointment, said the commission had been wrong to not contact the administration about his hiring. Asked whether the administrations concerns over the hiring played a role in his firing, Westrup said in an email: Generally, basic communication between and amongst entities makes government run better. However, that doesnt mean were making decisions for independent boards and commissions. The governor and the leaders of the Assembly and Senate have the power to appoint four coastal commissioners each but no authority to pick the executive director, who presides over an agency created four decades ago to approve land uses, provide access and protect the environment along Californias 1,100-mile coastline. Lester served as executive director until the commission meeting in Morro Bay on Feb 10. The panel voted 7 to 5 to fire him despite overwhelming support from hundreds of members of the public, environmental groups, 35 former coastal commissioners and state legislators. Some of his supporters contended that the true motive for the firing was to force agency staff to be friendlier to coastal development. The four commissioners who serve at the pleasure of Brown approved the ouster, prompting demands from Lesters supporters for an explanation from the governor. The commissioners denied that the decision was made to allow for more coastal development. Neither Steinberg, who is running for mayor of Sacramento, nor former members of his Senate staff who met with Shallenberger could be reached for comment despite repeated efforts. One of the governors appointees on the panel is Wendy Mitchell, a government affairs consultant who voted to hire Lester. According to a former commission staff member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, two years after Lester was hired, Mitchell repeated the concerns Brown and Steinberg had voiced. Last month, Mitchell told The Times that she had been concerned, even upset, about the lack of a national search five years ago and the commissions failure to confer with the governors office. But she said those issues played no role in her decision to fire Lester. The reason was his performance, she said. She also said Brown has never contacted her about any commission matter. However, during a commission meeting on Dec. 10, Mitchell said from the dais that the governor had asked her about the status of a well-known, highly controversial project: the 10-year effort by David The Edge Evans, guitarist for the rock band U2, to build five homes in the Santa Monica Mountains. The commission approved the project that day. Asked whether those public comments were consistent with her statement about her lack of contact with the governor, Mitchell said Brown had asked her about the Santa Monica Mountains proposal after he approached her at a social function in mid-2011. She didnt consider that a formal discussion. In addition to Mitchell, Brown appointees Erik Howell, Martha McClure and Effie Turnbull-Sanders along with Roberto Uranga, Mark Vargas and alternate Olga Diaz voted to fire Lester. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> Voting no were Shallenberger, Chairman Steve Kinsey, Vice Chairwoman Dayna Bochco, Carole Groom and Mary Luevano. Howell said he had not heard about the concerns over Lester expressed by Brown and Steinberg five years ago. But even if he had, they were not relevant, he said. Thats ancient history, he said. It has nothing to do with where we are today. We need to look forward to the future with a new executive director. Mitchell and other commissioners have said Lester lacked leadership, did not communicate well with the commission, was not accountable to them or the public, and failed to hire enough ethnic minorities. They have offered few specifics, saying the dismissal was a confidential matter, although the agencys attorney said they were free to speak about many aspects of his performance. Mitchell said she was unhappy that her telephone calls were not being returned by Lester but that the Surfrider Foundation and other environmental groups had a scheduled monthly conference call with the executive director. She also mentioned that for five years the commission has lacked a computerized docketing system that would let the public check on the status of projects awaiting coastal development permits. Installation of the system began during Lesters term and has yet to be completed. In Lesters defense, he has said some commissioners began to intrude more and more into what were traditionally staff-managed affairs, including new hires, agendas, budgets and meeting locations. They also wanted agency employees to be more responsive to them than in the past. Lesters record includes a program to address sea level rise, increased recruiting of minorities, streamlined procedures to reduce a backlog of permit applications for coastal development and securing about $8 million in additional funding for planning and for hiring more staff. A commission report says that minorities make up 29% of the staff, more than that of some other state agencies, and that up to 38% of new hires in late 2015 were nonwhite. The real diversity issue does not lie with the staff, said Burke, who is African American. There were no minorities submitting applications for building projects on the coast during my years on the commission. There were zero applications by blacks, zero applications by Latinos and zero applications by Asians. Like other current and former commissioners, Burke said he had no problem with Lester. If I was still on the commission, he said, I would not have fired him. dan.weikel@latimes.com Twitter: @LADeadline16 ALSO Kobe Bryants finale is well done: 60 points and a Lakers win Katy Perry wins a victory in battle to buy nuns convent in Los Feliz As Clinton and Sanders prepare for debate, New York polls are very stable Claudia Flores and her husband were months past due on $60 phone and $80 electricity bills. So they packed their minivans with strollers, car seats, used T-shirts and assorted other things and drove to a stretch of Figueroa Street just blocks from Imperial Highway in South Los Angeles. There, they spread their wares on the sidewalk and opened for business. Advertisement This part of Figueroa Street has become a shopping bazaar of last resort for people living on the margins. Each weekend, dozens come in battered pickups, vans and old compact cars filled with possessions hoping to raise money to pay down bills or supplement their low-wage jobs. A street away from the Floreses, a man sold a couch, dressers and shirts. Another sold jeans in front of a laundromat. A group of women sold dresses, blouses, baby toys and power tools. It would be more convenient for me to work a job than be out here doing this, said Flores, 27, a Mexican immigrant in the country illegally waiting for a two-year work permit. I make very little out here. Sometimes I dont make anything at all. I make very little out here. Sometimes I dont make anything at all. Claudia Flores, street vendor Street vendors have long been a part of life in Los Angeles. They are the bacon-wrapped hot dog vendors outside the Sports Arena the night Bruce Springsteen closed out the place, the Mexican push-cart vendors selling ice cream and mayonnaise-slathered corn cobs on sticks in East L.A., or Chinese immigrants trying to sell homegrown vegetables to Chinese restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley. But the scene on Figueroa and several other streets in South L.A. reflects a kind of street vending the rooted-in-place sales of things instead of food that often gets overlooked. Vincent Moore, a pastor at Messiah Full Gospel Bible Fellowship at Figueroa and 90th streets, said he noticed people coming to sell things on the sidewalk about a year ago. What it generally costs to sustain life on a monthly basis, the majority of the people in this community dont make it, Moore said. So they juggle and they do what we call hustling. But these people are hustling to maintain the norm or to get to some level of norm. He and others say it reflects the struggles of people at the very bottom of the margins to make ends meet at a time of rising rents. Over the years, he noticed that lines for food giveaways grew longer and the sale of used items grew near the church. Some sold their own property. Others served as middlemen for groups of families or clothing wholesalers. Food vendors showed up at night. Then he saw something he had never seen before: A black man selling food just like the mostly immigrant street vendors do. Julia Martinez, 52, who lost her job two months ago, sells clothes and other items on Figueroa Street in South Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) A lot of vendors are trying to make the money to survive in Los Angeles, said Fernando Abarca, a community organizer with East Los Angeles Community Corp., a nonprofit that supports vendors. Rents are going up, cost of living is going up as well, but the salaries arent going up. The opportunities arent there. Vending provides that outlet. They can be a small-business owner because thats what they are. On Figueroa, the customers buying used items from vendors were mostly people looking for a deal in a neighborhood with not a lot of mainstream retail options. Some bought dressers, others coffee tables, used sneakers, curtains or plastic bins. Griselda Clotter, 41, bought a child car seat from a woman for $10. I dont plan on using this for a long time, so I dont want to spend a lot of money for it, Clotter said. She wins and I win. At 75th Street and Figueroa, across from a fleet of parking enforcement vehicles, Rosendo Bernardino, 40, organized piles of rusted wrenches and hammers on a white tarp. Dollies stood in a neat row behind a green generator. On a table along the wall of the apartment complex where Bernardino lives with his wife and two sons, rows of power drills sat alongside rusty circular saw blades and pliers. Bernardino set up just a street away from a business that sells used tools and makes keys, and from Maria Rio, 52, who was watching television inside her tiny stucco apartment. From her couch she kept an eye on the stacks of jeans she was selling. Shirts hung from a chain-link fence. This is not a grand business, she said. But it helps a little. It helps every weekend. Apartment buildings, single-story homes, motels and a few fast-food restaurants line this part of Figueroa. Prostitutes walk up and down the thoroughfare, going in and out of cheap motels. One time my kids were out here, and one girl was walking by and she was almost half-naked, man, Bernardino said, shaking his head and chuckling. In parts of Los Angeles, heavy concentrations of vendors have sparked complaints about congested sidewalks, and from local merchants who worry that the vendors sales are hurting their businesses. Some critics say the city needs to do more to crackdown on street vendors. No one wants to subject people to further distress because theyre very low income but the laws have to apply to everybody, said Carol Schatz president and chief executive officer of Central City Association, a business advocacy group. Everyone has the right to make a living but not at the expense of small businesses or other vendors who are vending legally. But in South Los Angeles, there is also recognition that street vending is a necessity for some poor families. Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, whose district includes this span of Figueroa, said the city needs to strike a balance between regulating street vending and recognizing that some people are getting by because of it. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> Hopefully we can come up with something that both rewards the entrepreneurial ingenuity and innovation on the one hand, but also protects quality of life for the citys residents and businesses, he said. On a recent weekend near Central and Slauson avenues, men dressed as clowns waited for the traffic light to turn red their cue to run to the middle of the crosswalk and juggle green, yellow and red balls for tips. Down the street, a key maker operated from the trunk of his white Chrysler PT Cruiser. Carlos Moreno, 62, has sold bluejeans out of his red Ford Aerostar van since he was laid off six years ago from his job as a custodian. In a good month, he said, he makes about $300 from selling on the street. A block away, blouses, dresses, T-shirts and childrens clothes hung from a tall chain-link fence between 82nd and 83rd streets. Along the parkway, four women had laid out plumbing and power tools, used shoes, glassware, cribs and luggage bags over white and blue wrinkled tarps. There were ladders and strollers too. Most of the women said they started selling earlier in the year. As she sat on a wooden crate, Julia Martinez, 52, said she needed to raise $60 she owed her landlord by selling items, including her own clothes. She rents a room for $400 a month. Martinez said she had worked caring for an elderly woman for $300 a week. But two months ago, the womans family decided to send her back to Mexico. She said she took up random jobs such as babysitting, cleaning and helping a friend with a rummage sale at another location. Silvia Salazar, 52, said she sells once a week for the same reason everybody else on Figueroa does: Pure necessity. You really dont make a lot out here, but you know what, lets say I make $30 today, thats money for at least one bill. Whatever money she can squeeze from selling on the street goes to pay her $950-a-month rent, along with other bills. The police have not bothered them, the women say. But all say they have been robbed at least once. Salazar said she tells her daughter to study hard so she doesnt have to struggle like her mother and father. She got accepted to USC recently, she said with pride. She wants to be a fashion designer or study business administration. ruben.vives@latimes.com Twitter: @latvives ALSO Kobe Bryants finale is well done: 60 points and a Lakers win Katy Perry wins a victory in battle to buy nuns convent in Los Feliz As Clinton and Sanders prepare for debate, New York polls are very stable Santee Education Complex is the first school in the Los Angeles Unified School District to let students of different genders use the same bathroom at the same time. On Thursday, the circular "girls" sign outside a second-floor bathroom is being replaced by one that says "all-gender restroom." The inside isn't changing at all. https://twitter.com/Sonali_Kohli/status/720371905648197633 Starting Friday, the 15-stall bathroom will be open to all 1,780 students at the high school, located in Historic South-Central L.A. just south of downtown. The school's other bathrooms will still be marked for either boys or girls. The country's second-largest school district is joining a growing movement toward gender-neutral bathrooms, particularly in California, where state law and L.A. Unified policy already specify that transgender students can use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify. Policies differ elsewhere: In North Carolina, lawmakers passed a bill that restricts which bathrooms transgender people can use, and South Dakota's governor recently vetoed a bill that would have denied students the right to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify. See the most-read stories this hour >> The change at Santee comes as a relief to Alonzo Hernandez, 16, who says he sometimes goes whole school days without using the bathroom. Alonzo transitioned from female to male last fall; students had known him as a girl, so he felt uncomfortable in the boys' restroom. But in January, a custodian stopped him from entering the girls' room. "Being questioned about my gender ... when I go to use the restroom makes me feel uncomfortable," Alonzo said. "I just want to be able to, you know, use the restroom without being questioned." https://twitter.com/Sonali_Kohli/status/720398293419761666 The school's Gay Straight Alliance, a student group, has advocated for the bathroom since January. Members picketed at the school and covered walls with posters proclaiming "It's just a toilet" and "Pee in peace." They wrote about the campaign for High School Insider, L.A. Times' online high school publication, met with students and school administration repeatedly and amassed 700 petition signatures from students and staff. More people are considering gender not to be binary, and don't identify as either male or female and that can make it hard to choose a bathroom, students say. The shift to gender-neutral bathrooms is more common in colleges than in K-12 schools, and in either setting, gender-neutral bathrooms with more than one stall are rare, said Emily Greytak, director of research for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. https://twitter.com/Sonali_Kohli/status/720393760593588224 Some schools in the San Francisco Unified School District, for example, have gender-neutral bathrooms, but none of them have multiple stalls so students of different genders do not commingle, district spokeswoman Gentle Blythe said in an email. An elementary school in San Francisco Unified took away gender signs from single bathrooms in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms recently, and plans to do the same for multi-stall bathrooms in the older grades. Join the conversation on Facebook >> At other L.A. Unified schools, students can access single-stall bathrooms in places such as the nurse's office or the staff lounge if they are uncomfortable, said Judy Chiasson, coordinator for the L.A. Unified's Human Relations, Diversity and Equity office. But single-stall bathrooms are often out of the way, and Santee students wanted their gender-neutral bathroom to be accessible to everyone. https://twitter.com/Sonali_Kohli/status/720372800117014528 There are some concerns about the bathroom. Students have joked that their peers would be "making babies" there, alliance faculty advisor Jose Lara said. And parents asked the principal and Lara how they would keep students safe from sexual harassment or bullying. Both the school's principal and Lara met with parents to discuss such matters. Bullying and harassment can happen in any restroom, Lara said he told parents. School staff, including the principal, will monitor the bathroom to make sure students behave, and Gay Straight Alliance students will check in regularly. The school also has a texting hotline for students to report incidents. "School is like a home," Alonzo said. "Everybody should feel comfortable." Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli. ALSO Surgery unburdens transgender boy Orange County barber refuses to cut a transgender man's hair, lawsuit alleges Face-to-face conversation can change attitudes toward transgender people, study finds Some students at UC San Diego expressed outrage this week after finding anti-Mexico and pro-Donald Trump sidewalk graffiti on campus on the eve of a schoolwide celebration. The chalk writing was discovered Friday night close to the Raza Resource Centro, where Latino student groups hold meetings and events. The incident was the latest in a number of pro-Trump graffiti episodes at universities around the country. Included were messages like Build the wall, Deport them all, Mexico will pay and Trump 2016. Advertisement On Monday, a statement from UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla and other top administrators was posted on the universitys website. This graffiti runs counter to our campus values of equity and inclusion, the statement read. We value diversity and respect for all cultures. UC San Diego is steadfast in the commitment to our Principles of Community, which reflect a collective dedication to a campus where we uphold each individuals right to dignity, justice and respect. According to the UCSD College Democrats Facebook page, the graffiti was the work of three to five men on the night before the universitys annual Triton Day, when new students are welcomed for a campus visit. On Tuesday, the group posted a message of unity. Efforts to divide us as a campus and community are a disgrace, and they will fail, the post read. We condemn the graffiti scrawled on the ground of UC San Diego this weekend the hateful, harmful speech of a few and stand united with all San Diego communities in support of opportunity for all young people. The Facebook page for College Republicans at UCSD also posted a comment Tuesday, stating it was not involved in the incident. While our club does not support any candidate in particular, we believe that freedom of expression is an integral part of our democratic process as it fosters the free exchange of ideas and allows individuals to develop their own views, the post read. While our club as a whole may not agree with the views expressed this past weekend, we support everyones First Amendment right to speak their mind. Patrick Velasquez co-chairman of the San Diego Chicano/Latino Concilio on Higher Education a coalition of faculty, staff and students from higher education facilities throughout the county said UCSDs statement did not go far enough. Our organization feels that its a symptom of a larger problem, of a negative campus climate, Velasquez said of the incident. The chancellor, he added, should have committed to examining that climate and the role it may have played in the incident. Similar pro-Trump graffiti has appeared at 100 college and university campuses, according to media reports. The Twitter hashtag #TheChalking collects photos and stories about pro-Trump graffiti, which has been found at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Emory University in Atlanta and many other campuses. At Ohio University, several Greek Week activities planned for April were canceled after Build the wall and Trump 2016" were painted on a wall. gary.warth@sduniontribune.com debbi.baker@sduniontribune.com Warth and Baker write for the San Diego Union-Tribune. In the summer of 1969, Charles Manson and his murderous family went on a rampage in Los Angeles that left nine people dead. Victims of the so-called Tate-LaBianca murders included actress Sharon Tate (wife of director Roman Polanski) and Los Feliz residents Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Heres where the key players in the Manson saga are today: Charles Manson (Los Angeles Times / California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) Charles Manson: Dies at age 83 Manson, who ordered the Tate-LaBianca killings but was not present for any of them, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. After the California Supreme Court overturned capital punishment in 1972, Mansons sentence was reduced to life in prison. Manson had "hundreds" of rules violations, prison officials say, and had gotten in trouble for having a cellphone and homemade weapon while incarcerated. Manson was denied parole 12 times. His next parole hearing was scheduled for 2027. He had been in prison since 1971 and was serving his time at Corcoran State Prison. In 2014, Manson and Afton Elaine Burton, a 27-year-old Manson devotee, were granted a marriage license, but it expired before the two could marry. On Jan. 3, Manson was taken from prison to a hospital for an undisclosed medical issue. One source said he was seriously ill but couldnt provide specific information. Patricia Krenwinkel (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation / Associated Press) Patricia Krenwinkel: Imprisoned in Corona, Calif. Patricia Krenwinkel was a secretary when she met Manson at a party. She quit her job the next day and joined Mansons family. She was found guilty of seven counts of murder in the killings, including stabbing the LaBiancas to death and writing DEATH TO PIGS on the wall in the victims blood. Krenwinkel, along with Susan Atkins and Leslie Van Houten, later condemned Manson and urged young people not to think of him as a hero. What a coward that I found myself to be when I look at the situation, Krenwinkel said in a 2014 interview with the New York Times. The thing I try to remember sometimes is that what I am today is not what I was at 19. After Atkins death, Krenwinkel, now 69, became Californias longest-serving female inmate. According to state prison officials, Krenwinkel is a model inmate involved in rehabilitative programs at the prison. She is being housed at the California Institution for Women in Corona. Late last year, state parole officials postponed a decision on setting Krenwinkel free after her attorney made new claims that she had been abused by Manson or another person. The inquiry into the allegations took nearly six months. On June 22, parole commissioners again denied parole for Krenwinkel. Leslie Van Houten (Los Angeles Times / Associated Press) Leslie Van Houten: Imprisoned in Corona, Calif. A jury found that former homecoming princess Leslie Van Houten was guilty of holding down Rosemary LaBianca in her Los Feliz home while an accomplice stabbed her. She was convicted of murder and conspiracy in 1978 at her third trial for the crimes, just months after shed been released on bail following a hung jury verdict. Van Houten said she was introduced to Manson by a boyfriend and came to view him as Jesus Christ, believing in his bizarre plan to commit murders and spark a race war. She is serving her life sentence at the California Institution for Women in Corona, Calif., prison officials say, and has been disciplinary-free her entire sentence. Van Houten, 68, told a parole board in 2002 that she was deeply ashamed of her role in the killings. "I take very seriously not just the murders but what made me make myself available to someone like Manson." A state review board recommended parole for her in April, but Gov. Jerry Brown reversed that decision. She had previously been denied parole 19 times. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan issued an 18-page ruling upholding the governors reversal. He said there is some evidence that Van Houten still presents an unreasonable threat to society. In September, the board again recommended parole. Vincent Bugliosi (Associated Press) Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi: Died in 2015 Vincent Bugliosi was asked in 2009 near the 40th anniversary of the infamous Manson murders why the case has endured for so long. The very name Manson has become a metaphor for evil, and evil has its allure, said Bugliosi, the prosecutor who got guilty verdicts in the mass murder case. Bugliosi died of cancer June 6, 2015, at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 80. After winning the convictions of Manson and the followers who carried out the killings, he used his celebrity to launch a career as a bestselling author, beginning with Helter Skelter, his account of the Manson case that has sold more than 7 million copies. Aaron Stovitz (UPI) Prosecutor Aaron Stovitz: Died in 2010 The original prosecutor in the Tate-LaBianca murders, Aaron Stovitz was removed from the trial after making comments about the case to the media. After that, Bugliosi took the helm. Stovitz worked for the district attorneys office until 1981, prosecuting more than 500 jury trials, including 100 murder cases, according to his family. His other trials included prosecuting Freeway Killer William Bonin, who was executed in 1996. Stovitz died in 2010. Charles Tex Watson (Associated Press / California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) Charles 'Tex' Watson: Imprisoned and an ordained minister in Ione, Calif. Charles "Tex" Watson, Mansons self-described right-hand man, was sentenced to death for his part in the killings but was later given life in prison after the death penalty was overturned. In prison, Watson married, divorced, fathered four children and became an ordained minister. A website for Watsons ministry, which claims to be written by Watson through letters from prison, says he believed Manson offered a utopia but in reality he had a destructive worldview that Charles ended up believing in and acting upon. His participation in the 1969 Manson murders is a part of history that he deeply regrets. He hasnt had any disciplinary actions taken against him since 1973, corrections officials say. Watson, 71, is housed at the Mule Creek Prison in Ione, Calif., about 40 miles outside Sacramento, where he works as a janitor and attends Bible studies and services in the prison chapel, according to the ministrys website. He has been denied parole 17 times. His most recent parole hearing was held Oct. 27, when a panel once again found him unsuitable for release from prison for at least five more years. Susan Atkins (Associated Press) Susan Atkins: Died in prison in 2009 Susan Atkins, a former topless dancer who became one of Mansons closest disciples, died in prison in 2009 at age 61. Atkins, called the scariest of the Manson girls by a former prosecutor, confessed to killing actress Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of director Roman Polanski, who was stabbed 16 times as she pleaded with the killers to spare her unborn son and then hanged. At sentencing, where Atkins was condemned to death, she taunted the court, saying, Youd best lock your doors, and watch your own kids. Her sentence was later converted to life in prison. In prison, Atkins embraced Christianity and apologized for her role in the crimes, and the prison staff advocated unsuccessfully for her release in 2005. She was denied parole 13 times. She married twice while in prison. Atkins was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2008 and appealed to prison and parole officials for compassionate release, but the state parole board denied the request. Roman Polanski (AFP/Getty Images) Roman Polanski: Fighting extradition in Poland, wanted in the U.S. Roman Polanski was in Europe when his wife, Sharon Tate, and several friends were murdered by Mansons followers in the summer of 1969. Tate was 8 months pregnant at the time. Polanski went on to direct such movies as "Chinatown" and "The Pianist." Polanski fled Los Angeles for Paris in 1978 after being convicted of having sex with a 13-year-old. U.S. officials attempted to have Polish authorities arrest Polanski, who now lives in France, as he attended the opening of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw last year. U.S. officials asked Poland to extradite Polanski, but in October 2015 a Polish judge turned down the request, the New York Times reports. In December 2014, a Los Angeles County judge rejected his attorneys bid to have all sexual assault charges in the case dismissed. In June, Polanskis accuser, Samantha Geimer, pleaded with a judge to sentence Polanski, 84 , to time served. Geimer said bringing an end to the media spectacle she has lived with for decades would be an act of mercy to myself and my family. Lynette Squeaky Fromme (Associated Press) Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme: Released from prison in 2009 Manson follower Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was convicted in 1975 of pointing a gun at President Ford in Sacramento in an attempted assassination. The gun didnt go off, and Secret Service agents wrestled Fromme to the ground. She was sentenced to life in prison. Fromme escaped from a federal prison in West Virginia in 1987 and was captured two days later while roaming the countryside about two miles away. She continued to correspond with Manson while she was in prison, officials said. She was released on parole from federal prison in August 2009 at age 60 after serving 34 years. According to reports at the time, Fromme planned to move to upstate New York. Bruce Davis (Associated Press) Bruce Davis: Imprisoned in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Bruce Davis, 75, was convicted in 1972 for taking part in the killings of Gary Hinman, an aspiring musician, and Donald "Shorty" Shea, a stuntman and a ranch hand at the Chatsworth ranch where Manson and his followers lived. Both murders occurred before the Tate-LaBianca killings, in which Davis did not participate. Hinmans body was found in his home, with the words political piggy drawn on the wall with his blood. In January 2016, Gov. Jerry Brown rejected his parole, the third time a governor has done so, saying that Davis remains a danger to public safety. In his decision, Brown said that the horror of the murders committed by the Manson Family in 1969 and the fear they instilled in the public will never be forgotten. Davis has been denied parole 30 times. A California parole panel again recommended his release on Feb. 1. Brown again rejected parole for Davis on June 23, according to the Associated Press. Davis is serving a life sentence after he was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and robbery. He became a born-again Christian behind bars, earned a doctoral degree in philosophy of religion, and ministers to other inmates. Linda Kasabian (Ben Olender / Los Angeles Times) Linda Kasabian: Granted immunity for testifying against Manson family Linda Kasabian drove the killers to where the Tate and LaBianca murders occurred, and went along because she was the only one with a valid drivers license. She turned against the others and received immunity for testifying during the trial. As of 1994, Kasabian was a mother of four and believed to be living on the East Coast. Robert Beausoleil (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) Robert Beausoleil: Imprisoned in California Bobby Beausoleil was convicted of Hinmans murder in 1970 and sentenced to death. He later had his sentence commuted to life in prison, where he joined the Aryan Brotherhood gang and suffered a broken jaw and other injuries in various fights. Beausoleil was in jail for the Hinman killing when the Tate-LaBianca murders occurred. He was transferred to an Oregon state prison in 1994 as part of an interstate compact to house certain inmates, and had no disciplinary reports since 2008, state prison officials said. He was then moved to California Medical Facility in Vacaville in 2015. Beausoleil, now 70, has been denied parole at least 18 times. He was most recently denied parole again on Oct. 14. ALSO 'Although I've forgiven, I have not forgotten,' says sister of Charles Manson victim Sharon Tate Susan Atkins dies at 61; imprisoned Charles Manson follower There was much more to Vincent Bugliosi than the Charles Manson case For the third time, Brown rejects parole of Manson follower Bruce Davis, 73 'Helter Skelter' by Vincent Bugliosi: Read the 1974 L.A. Times book review A California review board recommended parole Thursday for former Charles Manson family member Leslie Van Houten, who was convicted along with other members of the cult in the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Van Houten, 66, had been denied parole 19 times by the state parole board since being convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. After the two commissioners on the panel issued their decision at a hearing at the California Institution for Women in Chino, Van Houten said she felt numb, according to her attorney, Richard Pfeiffer. The opposition to parole has always been the name Manson, Pfeiffer said. A lot of people who oppose parole dont know anything about Leslies conduct. Her role was bad. Everyones was. But they dont know what shes done since then and all of the good shes done. Advertisement The ruling will be reviewed by the parole boards legal team. If upheld, it will be forwarded to Gov. Jerry Brown, who could decide to block Van Houtens release. A spokesman for the governor said Thursday that it would be premature for his office to comment. 1 / 6 The five victims slain the night of Aug. 9, 1969 at the Benedict Canyon Estate of Roman Polanski. From left, Voityck Frykowski, Sharon Tate, Stephen Parent, Jay Sebring, and Abigail Folger. The next night, it happened again. Rosemary and Leno LaBianca, a wealthy couple who lived across town, were stabbed to death in their home. (Associated Press) 2 / 6 Charles Manson is led back to his cell after court appearance in 1970. (Bill Murphy / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 6 Four young female members of the Charles Manson family kneel outside the Los Angeles Hall of Justice on March 29, 1971, with their heads shaved. The women kept a vigil at the building throughout the long trial in which Manson and three others were convicted of murdering actress Sharon Tate and six others. (Wally Fong / Associated Press) 4 / 6 Charles Manson is escorted to court for preliminary hearing in 1969. (Bill Murphy / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 6 Charles Manson receives the news that he was denied parole in 1997, for the ninth time in March, 1997. (Eric Risberg / Associated Press) 6 / 6 Charles Mansion in the high security area of the Corcoran State Prison in 1998. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) Cory LaBianca, who was 21 when her father, a wealthy grocer, and stepmother were slain in their Los Feliz home, said she was disappointed by the parole boards decision and planned to lobby the governor to reject Van Houtens release. Maybe Leslie Van Houten has been a model prisoner, Cory LaBianca said. But you know what? We still suffer our loss. My father will never be paroled. My stepmother will never get her life back. Theres no way I can agree with the ruling today. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, whose office argued for Van Houten to remain behind bars, also expressed disapproval in a statement: We disagree with the boards decision and will evaluate how we plan to proceed. Five people in all, including Van Houten, were convicted of the Tate-LaBianca killings, part of a murderous rampage hatched by Manson in an effort to instigate a race war, according to trial testimony. The youngest of Mansons followers, Van Houten has been considered the least blameworthy member of the group and has been portrayed by supporters as a misguided teen under the influence of LSD on the night of the slayings. A former homecoming queen from Monrovia, Van Houten did not join in the Aug. 9, 1969, murders of Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of film director Roman Polanski, and four others at the Benedict Canyon home that Tate was renting. But the following day, Van Houten, then 19, was part of a group that stormed into the LaBiancas home. As Charles Tex Watson stabbed Leno LaBianca, Van Houten and another woman held down Rosemary LaBianca. After Watson stabbed Rosemary LaBianca with a bayonet, he handed a knife to Van Houten. She testified to stabbing Rosemary in the back at least 14 more times. The blood of the victims was used to scrawl messages on the walls, as had been done at the Benedict Canyon home. Van Houten, Manson and three others were convicted and sentenced to death, but after the California Supreme Court struck down the death penalty, their sentences were commuted to life in prison. An appellate court overturned Van Houtens conviction in 1976, and a second trial the following year ended in a hung jury. She was convicted in her third trial in 1978 and sentenced to seven years to life in prison. Starting in 1979, Van Houten went before the parole board almost regularly. In 1985, board member Rudolph Castro said her crimes shocked the conscience and her willingness to join a marauding group whose purpose was to commit crimes warranted keeping her behind bars. In recent years, Van Houtens attorneys characterized her as a model inmate, earning bachelors and masters degrees from prison while running self-help groups for incarcerated women. At a 2002 parole board hearing, Van Houten said she was deeply ashamed of what she had done, adding: I take very seriously not just the murders, but what made me make myself available to someone like Manson. According to comments carried by the Associated Press, she told the board Thursday: I dont let myself off the hook. I dont find parts in any of this that makes me feel the slightest bit good about myself. Near the end of the five-hour hearing, Commissioner Ali Zarrinnam told her: Your behavior in prison speaks for itself. Forty-six years and not a single serious rule violation. Manson, 81, and others convicted in the killings remain in prison. Watson and Patricia Krenwinkel have been denied parole several times, and Susan Atkins died in 2009. Last summer, a review board recommended parole for Manson associate Bruce Davis, who was convicted in the 1969 slayings of Gary Hinman and Donald Shorty Shea. He was not involved in the Tate-LaBianca murders. In January, Brown rejected parole for the 73-year-old, stating that Davis own actions demonstrate that he had fully bought into the depraved Manson family beliefs. For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno on Twitter. ALSO: How a plan to create a much-needed park in Koreatown withered Analysis: In brawling Brooklyn debate, Clinton and Sanders define big differences Number of deadly infections from dirty scopes is far higher than previously estimated In a major victory for unions, a California appeals court on Thursday reversed a lower court ruling that had thrown out tenure and other job protections for the states public school teachers. The case was being closely watched across the country by those who argue that allowing administrators to more easily fire bad teachers would improve schools and student performance. Right now, there are a series of job protections that can be invoked before school districts can remove a tenured teacher. I think its a win certainly for educators, but also a win for students, California Teachers Assn. President Eric C. Heins said of the ruling. The trial never made the connection between the harms [the plaintiffs] were alleging and the statutes they were challenging. I think the laws have been working. Advertisement The teachers association was a defendant in the case, along with the California Federation of Teachers and top state officials. Lawyers representing the plaintiffs, a diverse group of nine students, vowed Thursday to file an appeal with the state Supreme Court. We came to court to defend the rights of Californias public school students and will continue to do so, despite todays temporary setback, lead counsel Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. said. The appellate court decision overturned the 2014 ruling in Vergara vs. California, which held that several key job protections for teachers were so harmful that they deprived students of their constitutional right to an education. In that case, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu had sided with the plaintiffs, saying the tenure system resulted in educational malpractice that shocks the conscience. The effect of the rules, he said, was to allow ineffective teachers to keep their jobs and subject students especially poor and minority ones to inferior schooling that could stunt their futures. Treu stayed his ruling pending appeal; the three-judge appellate panel in Los Angeles saw the evidence and the law differently in a unanimous opinion. Plaintiffs failed to show that the statutes themselves make any certain group of students more likely to be taught by ineffective teachers than any other group of students, Division Two Presiding Justice Roger W. Boren wrote. The courts job is merely to determine whether the statutes are constitutional, not if they are a good idea. NEWSLETTER: Get essential California headlines delivered daily >> The appeals panel did not challenge evidence that many students are ill served in California public schools. But, the judges said, the laws being questioned were not necessarily responsible. The evidence at trial firmly demonstrated that staffing decisions, including teacher assignments, are made by administrators, and that the process is guided by teacher preference, district policies, and collective bargaining agreements, Boren wrote. Parties on both sides viewed the Vergara decision as a bellwether for the nation. Similar litigation was filed soon after in New York; and on Thursday, just before the release of the appellate decision in California, another lawsuit was filed in Minnesota. On one side are teachers unions and their allies, who say that well-protected teachers make for strong student advocates. On the other are philanthropists and others who criticize unions as defenders of a failed status quo. In California, those union critics turned to the courts because teachers ranking among the states most powerful interest groups have been able to block substantial revisions to laws that protect them. From the start, many Vergara supporters saw victory as a long shot but reasoned that the effort at least would keep teacher unions and their allies on the defensive and call attention to parts of the system they wanted to change. Kevin Welner, an education professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, said he found the initial filing so flawed that he assumed it was designed as part of a larger public relations effort, not from a belief that they would win. ------------ FOR THE RECORD April 15, 8:32 a.m.: An earlier version of this article gave the name of a University of Colorado, Boulder professor as Kevin Weiner. His name is Kevin Welner. ------------ But the plaintiffs did prevail at trial, in a ruling that made headlines across the country and seemingly raised the stakes, with then-U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan hailing the outcome. Treus decision nullified the states system of awarding tenure at the end of an instructors second year on the job. The judge also struck down the practice of last in, first out, which typically results in districts laying off less-experienced teachers during budget cuts regardless of how well they perform in their job. In addition, Treu threw out rules that provide teachers a longer and more complex system to challenge dismissals. Had the Vergara ruling been upheld, teachers at unionized schools no longer would be entitled to a level of job security thats rare, even in the public sector. Gov. Jerry Brown and the states teachers unions had characterized the outcome sought by Vergara as simplistic, wrong-minded and even injurious to students. They said that eliminating tenure and seniority would result in a lower-quality teaching corps, and that the profession would attract and retain fewer talented people who have other career options. State Public Schools Supt. Tom Torlakson, who was elected with the backing of teacher unions, lauded Thursdays decision. Teachers are not the problem in our schools, he said in a statement. The appellate court clearly recognized that Vergara was a flawed ruling. California Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes, who represents Yucca Valley, said in a statement that he disagreed with the ruling and that lawmakers can act even without a court mandate. Legislators in Sacramento have the tools available right now to end bad policies such as last in, first out and our currently flawed teacher tenure system, Mayes said. It is time to stop defending laws that are clearly indefensible and deprive low-income and minority students of a good education. At least one union leader, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, has said that some employment rules are problematic and should be improved. But she too hailed the reversal: You cant fire your way to a teaching force. howard.blume@latimes.com joy.resmovits@latimes.com sonali.kohli@latimes.com ALSO Trial begins for LAPD officer who says he was unfairly passed over for promotion Former Lynwood city employee charged with embezzling employee union funds UC Davis spends $175,000 to sanitize its online image after ugly pepper spray episode Debby Ryan, the actress who stars in the Disney Channel series Jessie, was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after crashing her Audi in Los Angeles, authorities said Wednesday. Ryan, 22, was driving her white 2016 Audi near 3rd Street and La Brea Avenue just after 7 p.m. on April 5 when she crashed into a black 2015 Mercedes, LAPD Officer Mike Lopez said. Police conducted field sobriety tests and determined she was under the influence, Lopez said. Ryans blood alcohol level was 0.11%, just over the 0.08% legal limit, according to TMZ, which first reported the actress arrest. Advertisement A person in the Mercedes reported being injured, and Ryan was arrested and booked on suspicion of a DUI causing bodily injury, a felony, police said. At the time of her arrest, Ryan listed her occupation as laborer, according to arrest records reviewed by The Times. Ryan has starred in the lead role in the Disney Channel series Jessie since 2011, playing Jessie Prescott, a nanny to a high-profile couples four adopted children. Earlier, the Alabama native starred in all three seasons of The Suite Life on Deck, which ended its run in 2011. She was released from jail shortly before 10 a.m. on April 6 after posting $100,000 bail, Lopez said. Prosecutors have not pursued the felony charge. The L.A. city attorneys office filed two misdemeanor charges: driving under the influence and driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08% or higher, according to a spokesman for the office. Shes scheduled to appear in court May 2 for her arraignment. On Wednesday, shortly after news of her arrest broke, Ryan released a statement on Twitter, apologizing for disappointing her fans. Over the last few days I have had the chance to think about my actions, and I wish I had used better judgment, she said in the statement. I recognize that I am a role model and have always worked hard to set a good example for my millions of fans. Ryans publicist did not return a message seeking comment. For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno. A former Roman Catholic seminary student from Ohio pleaded guilty Wednesday to trying to adopt or own young children in Tijuana in order to sexually assault them, prosecutors said. Joel Alexander Wright, 23, admitted to traveling to San Diego in January, when he was arrested at San Diego International Airport with a duffel bag stocked with baby clothes, bottles, toys, candy and lubricant, according to his plea agreement. For months before arriving in San Diego, Wright had corresponded with a witness, and later, undercover federal agents, according to court papers. He thought he would be meeting up with three children, all under the age of 3, at a Tijuana hotel. Advertisement There are no words to describe the horror that might have happened, had an innocent baby been placed in this mans arms, U.S. Atty. Laura Duffy said in a statement. There is nothing more important on my agenda than keeping children safe from pedophiles. Federal investigators were informed of a tip received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in which an unidentified person in Tijuana reported correspondence with a person soliciting the adoption of Mexican children, according to the complaint filed against Wright. He posted Craigslist ads, starting in November 2015, in which he sought a travel guide for a trip to Tijuana, according to the plea agreement. At first he expressed a desire to marry a woman and adopt a child, but the conversation pivoted toward sex with minors, according to the complaint. In later correspondence, he confessed to wanting to adopt / own a baby girl (under the age of 3) and that he wanted to have sexual intercourse with the child, according to his plea agreement. I wont pay until I have seen the baby and I will pay the parents then, Wright said. Online, he referred to himself as Francis and said he wanted three babies to play with. At one point, he said he had prior experiences with children and professed his desire for baby girls, noting that virgins are the best. Wright was studying to become a Roman Catholic priest at Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, which said in a statement to the San Diego Union-Tribune that it was shocked and saddened to learn of the allegations against a former student. According to court papers, Wright acknowledged his religious commitment in an email, writing, Yes I like church -- it makes me feel good. On Jan. 29, he traveled from Columbus, Ohio, and he called a predetermined number after landing. He was later arrested at the airport. Wright pleaded guilty to one count of attempted enticement of a minor, a charge that carries a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison. The government has agreed to ask a judge to sentence Wright at the low end of the penalty range, according to his plea agreement. Hes scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw on July 1. For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno. A South Los Angeles firearms dealer whose warehouses have long been a target of neighborhood activists has been convicted of improperly allowing a civilian to buy guns using a legal exemption meant for police, Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer announced Wednesday. Feuer and his attorneys filed criminal charges last year against Botach Tactical owner BarKochba Botach, alleging he sold two pistols to a community college security officer who was not a sworn officer. Under city rules, the woman should not have been able to buy more than one handgun within 30 days, city attorneys argued. Botach was also accused of violating California law by selling her ammunition magazines that can hold 17 rounds each. Advertisement After his conviction by a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury, Botach was due to be sentenced in June. Feuer said last year that the firearms dealer could face up to a year and a half in jail and $1,000 in fines if convicted of both charges. Attorney Louis J. Shapiro, who represented Botach in the case, said in an email that neither he nor his client wished to comment at this time. Botach did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. City attorneys say that the woman who bought the guns, Amelia Suarez, transferred one of them to a family friend without going through the proper procedures. That friend later used the pistol in a homicide. Suarez was sentenced this year to 36 months of probation and 300 hours of community service and required to take a gun safety class, according to city prosecutors. Long before Botach was facing criminal charges, the company had been a focus of Leimert Park residents and activists who complained that its warehouses did not belong in a burgeoning business district trying to build its reputation as a center of African American arts and culture. Botach Tactical is an online retailer of police and military equipment that has expanded its footprint in Leimert Park over time. Its website says its facilities are not open to the general public, only to law enforcement or military personnel. Neighborhood rules ban gun shops, but city building officials say Botach started operating before those rules were imposed, and the company has survived past attempts to eject it from Leimert Park. Some residents and activists were hopeful that the convictions could prod Botach Tactical to leave the area. This could kill this entire system that has persisted like a canker sore on our community, said Carl Morgan, a member of the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Council. As of December, Botach held a federal permit to import machine guns and other destructive devices. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokeswoman Meredith Davis said Wednesday that it would be premature to say whether the convictions would affect that permit. Feuer spokesman Rob Wilcox said Feuers office was also looking into whether the convictions would affect whether Botach Tactical could continue to operate in Leimert Park. City Council President Herb Wesson, who represents the area where Botach Tactical is located, said that whether or not the business relocates, I think the community will view this as a victory. It sends a strong message that youre not going to be able to get away with this type of thing in that part of town, Wesson said. Follow @latimesemily for whats happening at Los Angeles City Hall. An Aliso Canyon well that caused the largest methane leak in United States history was capped in February, but on Wednesday residents living near the natural gas storage field complained of a strong odor that led many to question whether another well had blown out. The South Coast Air Quality Management District received about 40 odor complaints. Residents also posted about the smell in a closed Facebook group. Two air monitors in Aliso Canyon and Porter Ranch found slightly elevated methane levels, according to Sam Atwood, spokesman for AQMD. The readings were about 3 to 4 parts per million; a typical reading is 2 parts per million. Advertisement The source of that methane is still under investigation, Atwood said, noting that the groups own inspectors could not detect any odors in the community. Specifically, they went onto the SoCal Gas storage facility site and couldnt detect any odors anywhere on the site. Southern California Gas Co. officials said there is no evidence of a problem in Aliso Canyon. There is no indication of any gas leak at the Aliso Canyon storage facility, said Chris Gilbride, a company spokesman. We have conducted an investigation of facility operations and no potential source for odors at the Aliso Canyon storage facility was identified. Jim Frantz, an attorney representing a group of Porter Ranch residents who are suing the gas company over the leak, said he had heard Wednesday from many clients who said they were smelling gas again. He said they had dispatched an expert to the site to test the air, but the results were not yet available. Even before the new reports of gas smells, Frantz said clients had continued to have symptoms such as nosebleeds and nausea when they returned home, even briefly. Our clients are still, on a daily basis, getting sick, he said. A week ago, gas officials acknowledged that odorant vapors had been released during maintenance work. The well known as SS-25 began leaking last October, ultimately releasing nearly 100,000 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere before it was capped in February. Odorants added to the gas sickened many residents who complained of headaches, nose bleeds and nausea. Thousands of families temporarily relocated to escape the smell. The end of the temporary relocation program has been pushed back several times, and Wednesday an appeals court ruled that the gas company should continue to pay for customers hotel rooms and rental houses until at least April 27, when a hearing is scheduled on the matter. Residents and Los Angeles County officials have been wrangling with the company for months over the relocation timeline. The relocation period was initially set to end 48 hours after the gas leak was determined to be sealed, which occurred Feb. 18. It was extended to eight days under an agreement between the gas company and city officials, but the county took the utility to court in an attempt to have the timeline extended further, saying air testing inside the homes needed to be done. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled March 18 that the county had not made a case that the homes are unsafe and said the relocation period should come to an end. This is a major victory for our residents who must have the assurance that it is safe to return to their homes before the gas company terminates full reimbursement of relocation expenses, said Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the community. alice.walton@latimes.com Twitter: @TheCityMaven abby.sewell@latimes.com Twitter: @sewella Officials with the U.S. Border Patrol seized what they called a trifecta of narcotics worth more than $700,000 after stopping a driver near a checkpoint in Temecula. Agents pulled over the 39-year-old man, who was driving a 2004 Nissan Maxima, on Interstate 15 on Tuesday and conducted a search using a dog who alerted to the presence of narcotics, the Border Patrol said in a statement. NEWSLETTER: Get essential California headlines delivered daily >> Advertisement A search of the car turned up 34 packages of drugs that were hidden in secret compartments constructed underneath the floor boards. The bundles contained 4.25 pounds of brown heroin, 11.73 pounds of white heroin, 7.21 pounds of cocaine, and 32.21 pounds of crystal methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $717,220, authorities said. The driver was arrested, and his car was seized. The drugs were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The Border Patrol said that agents in the San Diego sector have seized almost 600 pounds of cocaine, 1,500 pounds of methamphetamine and 153 pounds of heroin since October 2015. Without a doubt, this seizure was a significant blow to the criminal organization that was accountable for the narcotics, chief patrol agent Richard Barlow said. This seizure could not have taken place without the vigilance demonstrated by the involved agents. Baker writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. ALSO UC Davis spends $175,000 to sanitize its online image after ugly pepper spray episode Pretty Little Liars actor charged with pointing gun at neighbor Family of UC Berkeley football player who died settles with university system for $4.75 million UC Davis paid consultants at least $175,000 to clean up its online image after students and alumni were pepper sprayed by campus police during an otherwise peaceful protest in 2011. Newly released documents obtained by the Sacramento Bee show the university worked to clean up both its own image and that of Chancellor Linda Katehi. In one case, UC Davis worked with Maryland company Nevins & Associates on a six-month contract that paid $15,000 a month, according to a copy of the contract. That contract was signed in January 2013, just a few months after the UC regents agreed to pay a settlement to 21 UC Davis students and alumni who sued the university. Advertisement The widely criticized November 2011 incident, captured in videos that quickly went viral on the Internet, triggered nationwide controversy about the forceful response by university police to student protesters. The videos showed an officer spraying seated students directly in their faces at close range during an Occupy rally. At the time, the Occupy Wall Street movement had spilled onto college campuses, combining with student anger over rising tuition and cuts to higher education to spur protests and sit-ins. In addition to public outrage, the episode also spawned a raft of Internet memes that featured the casually pepper spray everything cop. As part of its contract, Nevins & Associates said it would work to remedy the venomous rhetoric about UC Davis and the chancellor through strategic placement of online content. UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi is escorted from the stage after speaking about the pepper-spraying incident on campus in 2011. (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press) The company agreed to launch an aggressive and comprehensive online campaign to eliminate negative search results through modifications to existing and future content and by creating more original content as needed. One means of doing this, the company said, is by diluting negative viral content with a surge of positive stories on different topics. Nevins & Associates also suggested UC Davis adopt Google platforms to expedite the eradication of references to the pepper spray incident in search results. In June 2014, the university awarded the PR firm IDMLOCO a contract for $82,500 to design a comprehensive search engine results management strategy. The documents outlining the contracts were released to the Sacramento Bee in response to requests filed under the California Public Records Act. IDMLOCO said it would be able to achieve a reasonable balance of positive natural search results and identify key messages and themes the company could use to counter negative results. The company was awarded two more contracts last year one for $8,000 a month up to a limit of $96,000 and another for $22,500 a month, or a maximum of $67,500. Under those contracts, IDMLOCO said it would create an integrated social media program for executive communications and provide an assessment of the Universitys Strategic Communications redesign. In a statement Thursday, UC Davis officials said that reporting on the value of the campus was an important part of overall communications strategy. It is important that the excellent work underway at UC Davis with respect to educating the next generation of students, pursuing groundbreaking research, and providing important services to the state is not lost during a campus crisis, including the crisis that ensued following the extremely regrettable incident when police pepper-sprayed student protesters in 2011, the statement said. Police at first contended that the spray was the most appropriate tool on hand to deal with what they described as an unruly mob encircling the officers. However, a UC report in April 2012 declared that the pepper spraying violated policy and that school leaders badly bungled the handling of that campus protest. The investigating task force strongly rebutted campus police claims that the Occupy demonstrators who had pitched tents on a UC Davis quad posed a violent threat. In 2013, the former UC Davis police officer who pepper sprayed the campus protesters received $38,055 in workers compensation after claiming he suffered depression and anxiety as result of the public outcry. John Pike, who had filed for the compensation from the University of California system, also cited the stress he endured from death threats he received after the incident. Pike was fired in July 2012, after being on paid administrative leave for eight months. On Thursday, Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) said it was time for Katehi to resign. The chancellor serving on the board of a textbook company was sufficient enough grounds to suspect that the best interests of the students werent being served, Gatto said in an emailed statement. But the recent disclosure that the university made substantial, questionable PR expenditure cemented it in my mind. The contracts demonstrate an extensive effort to quell the storm of negative publicity that followed. Online reputations in particular are important to manage because of the sheer volume of people who surf the web, said Ira Kalb, an expert in branding, image creation and marketing at USC. Managing these reputations and protecting them from being hijacked is a growing field, he said. Online is really an interesting thing because there are people who say all sorts of things, he said. Certain software enables firms to pick up feeds from social media, Kalb said. The software detects when a companys name is mentioned and analyzes if its a positive or negative comment. Gatorade, for example, has a mission control room to monitor online feeds from Twitter and Facebook, Kalb said. The company uses any positive reviews they find for their marketing campaigns and works to fix any negative reviews they see to get ahead of the story. Its very important to manage a reputation, and people often dont realize that, Kalb said. So many companies have been seriously damaged for not having a strategy for handling this. For more local and breaking news, follow me on Twitter: @sarahparvini ALSO California doesnt have enough housing, and lawmakers arent doing much about it U.S. extends limited reduction of mortgage principals for stressed homeowners City records show that Uber and Lyft have devastated L.A.'s taxi industry Prolific British playwright Arnold Wesker, who drew on his heritage as a working-class Jew to create plays that captured the dialogue and struggles of the common man, has died, his son said Wednesday. He was 83 and had Parkinsons disease. Wesker, who wrote more than 40 plays that were translated into 18 languages, first gained prominence with a trilogy about the lives of Jewish socialist intellectuals: Chicken Soup With Barley (1958), Roots (1959) and Im Talking About Jerusalem (1960). He was known, together with writers including John Osborne and Brendan Behan, as one of the angry young men of the British stage in the 1950s though he dismissed the label. The playwright drew on his youth in east London, where conversation, argument and song were woven into the fabric of daily life. He loved the rhythms, the dialogue and the thirst for knowledge gained just by sitting around talking. Advertisement There were quarrels and they were upsetting, but in a strange way there was so much love around, it overshadowed the distress, he told the BBCs Desert Island Discs program in 2006. Born May 24, 1932, Wesker never went to college but instead had a string of jobs that informed his writing, including booksellers assistant, farm laborer, kitchen porter and pastry cook, as well as service in the Royal Air Force from 1950 to 1952. I really do feel I missed out not going to university, he told the BBC. I just failed exams. I didnt even pass my English exams. When I write prose, I keep my fingers crossed that Im writing it as I remember having read it in good literature. In the stiff, upper-class world of British drama in the 1950s, Wesker was part of a wave of new voices who took on all subjects, the kitchen sink of drama. Together with playwrights such as Harold Pinter, Wesker helped broaden the appeal of theater to a new generation. His plays have experienced a revival of late, with Chicken Soup performed in 2011 at Londons Royal Court Theatre. Dominic Cooke, the Royal Courts artistic director at the time, said Wesker understood theater is always metaphorical, even when the social context of the play is realistic and detailed. In Chicken Soup, for example, the gradually disintegrating family stands for the fading political idealism of the 20th century, but the daily life of the family on stage is brought to life with insight and honesty, he said. Weskers other well-known plays include Chips With Everything, based on his service in the Royal Air Force, and The Kitchen, which draws on his days as a pastry cook. They were stories of ordinary people and real life. And he loved telling them well. He genuinely loved words, his son Lindsay Wesker said. That was really the joy. Arnold Wesker was knighted in 2006 for services to drama. He is survived by his wife, Dusty, sons Daniel and Lindsay, and a daughter, Elsa Hastad. Fred Hayman, a serial entrepreneur whose eye for trends, nose for fragrances and hospitality-driven approach to retail helped shape the luxury landscape of Beverly Hills, has died. He was 90. According to longtime friend and spokesperson Katy Sweet, Hayman died Thursday at his Malibu home after a long illness. The man who would eventually be known as the godfather of Rodeo Drive was born Fred Pollag in St. Gallen, Switzerland, on May 29, 1925, to Richard Pollag and Irma Levy. He came to the U.S. at 16, beginning his career in hospitality at the Waldorf-Astoria. He came west in 1954 at the behest of Conrad Hilton to helm the banquet facilities at the new Beverly Hilton. Advertisement Haymans foray into luxury retail started in 1961. He and two partners bought the original Giorgio boutique in 1961 when the shop was known for Italian fashion. 1 / 8 Fred Hayman, shown in 1997, was a founder of the Rodeo Drive Committee that courted many of the luxury European retailers whose boutiques now line the street in Beverly Hills. (Rene Macura / Associated Press) 2 / 8 Fred Hayman, right, looks over dresses by Galliano and Badgley Mischka at his Rodeo Dive store with Michael Stachowski. (Anacleto Rapping / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 8 Fred Haymans Rodeo Drive store carried menswear that reflected Haymans personal wardrobe of double-breasted pinstripe suits, navy blue blazers, colored shirts with white collars and silk handkerchiefs for jacket pockets. (Vince Compagnone / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 8 Fred Hayman stands at the entrance to his Rodeo Drive store in 1997. (Anacleto Rapping / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 8 A Rolls Royce on Rodeo Drive in 2013 is in keeping with the streets opulent image. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 8 A mannequin in a red-lace evening dress is perched in the window of the Burberry store on Rodeo Drive. Hayman helped court many of the luxury retailers that now line the Beverly Hill street. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 8 Shoppers along Beverly Hills Rodeo Drive look into the Salvadore Ferragamo store in 2011. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 8 Thanks to businessman Fred Hayman, Beverly Hills Rodeo Drive has become an international symbol of style. (Perry C. Riddle / Los Angeles Times) By the late 60s he had bought out his partners, and from his landmark store at the corner of Rodeo Drive and Dayton Way spent the next three decades cultivating relationships with designers and celebrities, setting new standards for fashion parties and helping promote Los Angeles as an international style center. Using the tricks of the hospitality trade, Hayman pampered customers with a fully stocked bar, espresso machine, pool table and pub. He would have a vintage Rolls-Royce chauffeur clients to the store. Hes really a pioneer in retail-tainment which is really how we have come to see the retail landscape in the last couple of decades, said Rose Apodaca, fashion journalist and author of Fred Hayman The Extraordinary Difference: The Story of Rodeo Drive, Hollywood Glamour and the Showman Who Sold It All, which was published in 2011. He had the idea that you go into a store for more than just buying something youre there to be entertained, youre there for it to be a scene and a hangout. Hayman stoked the stores Hollywood aura with an endless supply of celebrity name dropping. Asked about his clientele, he might mention Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Rivers and Lynda Carter in the same breath. Television personality Merv Griffin wore Giorgio menswear on his show. The store captured international attention when novelist Judith Krantz used it as a setting for Scruples, her 1978 novel about shopping, sex and social climbing in Beverly Hills. The book was a bestseller. Giorgio became a tourist attraction in the 1980s, and Hayman stocked T-shirts and tote bags with the store logo blazing. The signature yellow and white striped awnings above the store windows were stolen off their frames. His critics groused that the T-shirts and totes cheapened the image of the store, and the street. Admirers said the stores popularity brought new business to Beverly Hills. In 1981, he launched Giorgio Beverly Hills perfume with his then-wife and business partner, Gale. The scent sold for $150 a bottle and would go on to become one of the most successful fragrances in history, racking up more than $100 million in sales in its first four years. The scent strip, a perfume-drenched card he used to market his product, quickly became a standard advertising tool in the fragrance business. In 1987 he sold the Giorgio Beverly Hills fragrances and the name to Avon for $165 million, and rebranded his store at 273 Rodeo Drive as Fred Hayman Beverly Hills. He launched a handful of fragrances under that new nameplate before selling them to Parlux in 1994. That same year he launched a new line of leather goods and fragrances via the Home Shopping Network. In 2011, when Hayman was awarded the 15th plaque on the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style (an award he created), then-Beverly Hills mayor Barry Brucker noted, Rodeo Drive would just be another district if not for Freds marketing vision, a reference to Hayman being among the founders of the 1972 Rodeo Drive Committee, a group that sought to help beautify that street and elevate its retail tenants. By 1990, the street was filling up with designer boutiques, Giorgio Armani, Chanel and Gucci among them. It wasnt just the stores, said Apodaca, who is also a local retailer. Hes the reason there are medians down the middle of Rodeo Drive, why theres cafe seating on the streets. Hed twist the other retailers arms and be the first one to open his checkbook. The world of red-carpet dressing also owes Hayman, who served as fashion coordinator for the Oscars in 1989. He was the first person Academy Awards producer Gil Cates put in front of the cameras to talk about red-carpet trends, Apodaca said. In 1998, Hayman closed the shop, put a gone fishin sign on the door and leased the building, which he owned, to Louis Vuitton leather goods. Hayman is survived by his wife, Betty; sons Charles and Robert; daughter Nicole; and 10 grandchildren. adam.tschorn@latimes.com Mary Rourke, a former Times staff writer, contributed to this report. MORE OBITUARIES Former Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl dies at 70 Hans-Dietrich Genscher, architect of German reunification, dies at 89 David Gest, music producer and ex-husband of Liza Minnelli, dies in London at 62 In what appears to be the second ambush of a law enforcement officer in the Houston area in eight months, a veteran deputy constable was shot multiple times while his back was turned after a traffic stop, authorities said Thursday. Deputy Alden Clopton, a 48-year-old father of six whose wife is a sheriffs deputy, was expected to survive, officials said. The shooting happened about 11:20 p.m. Wednesday near Texas Southern University, after another officer, Deputy Ann Glasgow, pulled a driver over for running a stop sign, according to Harris County Precinct 7 Constables Office spokeswoman Pamela Greenwood. Advertisement During the traffic stop, Glasgow, who has been on the job about a year, called for another deputy to assist her, Greenwood said. Clopton responded. After they finished with the traffic stop, Glasgow told Clopton that she was having trouble with the audio in her dashboard camera, and asked him for help. He was leaning in instructing her as to how to fix the audio so she could have audio with her video. Thats when a suspect out of nowhere comes up and opens fire, not related to that traffic stop, Greenwood said. We think that our officer was ambushed, Constable May Walker said. Several shots struck Clopton. Glasgow, who was not wounded, got out of the car and fired one shot at a suspect standing across the street, but the man apparently was not wounded and ran away. Clopton, who was rushed to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center for surgery, was struck in the chest, with a bullet piercing his diaphragm. Dr. Joseph Love, his attending trauma surgeon, said Clopton had six bullet wounds. Surgery was successful, but he was still in intensive care late Thursday in critical condition, Love said. We were at the hospital this morning and Deputy Clopton made it through after a long surgery. The doctor had to do quite a few repairs to his abdomen, and there is also a bullet lodged quite close to his heart, Greenwood said. They left it. Walker said that investigators did not have a suspect late Thursday and that the deputy who jumped from the car to return fire only saw the shooter from behind. Clopton, who grew up in the area he patrolled, is an 11-year veteran of the Precinct 7 constables office and knows the area well, Walker said. The officers son, Todre Clopton, 26, a police officer in Biloxi, Miss., said he learned his father had been shot from social media and rushed to the hospital. He described his father as a role model of self-sufficiency. Hes the one who works for what he owns, provides for his children, he said. He grew up on the same streets where he serves. Clopton said he had been able to talk to his father, who can communicate only through gestures: We joke about one-uppers; how can I one-up you now? Todre Cloptons message to fellow officers: Watch your back. To always be vigilant and make sure you back each other up, because as you can see, these things are becoming a trend. This is the second high-profile shooting in less than a year in the area that authorities characterized as an ambush on law enforcement. Harris County Sheriffs Deputy Darren Goforth, 47, was fatally shot in the back of the head on Aug. 28 while in uniform and filling up his vehicle at a gas station in Cypress, about 25 miles northwest of Houston. Shannon Miles, 30, who lived nearby and has a history of mental illness, was indicted on a charge of murder but was found incompetent to stand trial in February. Authorities did not immediately release a description of the suspect in Wednesdays shooting, but officials said that a man who matched the gunmans description walked into a nearby fire station and was being held by police for questioning, though he has not been arrested or charged. Twitter: @mollyhf A judge on Wednesday postponed the sentencing of a former police officer who fatally shot an unarmed man in a public housing project stairwell while he decides whether to toss out the verdict because of juror misconduct. The officer, Peter Liang, was convicted of manslaughter in February in the shooting death of Akai Gurley. Gurley had been walking down to the lobby when Liang, who was on a routine patrol, opened a door to the stairwell and accidentally fired his weapon. The bullet ricocheted and struck Gurley. Liangs attorneys argued last week that Juror No. 9, Michael Vargas, told lawyers during the jury selection process that no one in his family had been accused of a crime. But after the verdict, he told a newspaper that his father was sent to prison for accidentally shooting a friend to death. Advertisement Vargas was subpoenaed by Liangs attorneys to appear at a hearing on Wednesday and was grilled by lawyer Paul Shechtman. The interrogation became loud and hostile at times. You understood you took an oath to tell the truth, and if any of your answers were knowingly false you could be subjected to a perjury charge? Shechtman asked. I guess so, Vargas responded. Vargas said he didnt know his father well. Shechtman: You dont know your father had been convicted of manslaughter? Vargas: I dont know that for a fact, not even today. I do not know what happened. I was young, I was sheltered. The hearing will continue Thursday. Liangs sentencing was postponed to next week. The prosecutor has recommended the former New York Police Department officer be sentenced to house arrest and probation. Outside the courthouse, Shechtman said Vargas is not an impartial juror and that his testimony on Wednesday showed hes not an honest man. Vargas declined to comment as he left the courthouse. Liang, who was a rookie officer, was fired after the verdict. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders wasted no time honoring New Yorks tradition of bare-knuckled politics when they started campaigning in the states primary. Now theyll have another chance in Thursday nights debate in Brooklyn, the borough where Sanders was born and Clinton established her campaign headquarters. But at a time when Sanders desperately needs a big win in New Yorks primary on Tuesday to stay in the hunt for the Democratic nomination, hes provided Clinton plenty of fodder to use against him. Advertisement Most notably, he prompted a backlash from Democratic leaders in an ill-fated attempt to question Clintons judgment by saying she wasnt qualified to be president. Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Track the delegate race | Sign up for the newsletter Although Sanders was trying to draw attention to Clintons track record, including her vote for the war in Iraq and her connections to Wall Street, it was a head-scratching comment about a candidate with one of the longest resumes of any presidential hopeful, including stints as secretary of State and senator. Clinton brushed off the remark, calling it a silly thing to say, but her campaign ramped up the outrage and her supporters leaped to her defense. Sanders ended up having to explain himself until he finally retreated. During an interview on NBCs Today show, Sanders said that of course Clinton is qualified, adding that on her worst day, she will be she would be an infinitely better president than either of the Republican candidates. The question for Clinton in their first debate in more than a month will be whether she capitalizes on his missteps as she seeks to put the nomination out of his reach. In recent days, Clinton has kept up the pressure on Sanders. While shes stopped short of saying Sanders isnt qualified to be president, shes clearly questioned his readiness. In particular, her campaign has circulated the transcript of an interview Sanders did with the New York Daily News, where he failed to provide specifics about how he would break up large banks on Wall Street. I have noticed that under the bright spotlight and scrutiny here in New York, Sen. Sanders has had trouble answering questions, Clinton told reporters. Hes had trouble answering questions about his core issue, namely dealing with the banks. Hes had trouble answering foreign policy questions. The Daily News went on to endorse Clinton this week, calling her a super-prepared warrior realist and describing Sanders as a fantasist whos at passionate war with reality. Though Clinton has a steady lead of about a dozen points in polls of New York Democrats, she also may move in the debate to blunt Sanders momentum from his recent wins. He is coming off a string of victories, but theyve mostly been in small states and hes struggled to win enough delegates to threaten Clintons status as the prohibitive front-runner. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> Coming primaries in large states including New York, Pennsylvania and California are among his final chances to significantly alter the arithmetic. In recent days, Clinton has revived old attack lines, criticizing Sanders votes against some gun control measures and immigration overhaul legislation that would have provided a pathway to citizenship. Sanders, of course, has his own rejoinders to use on Clinton during the debate. Hes pointed to Clintons muddled handling of then-Gov. Eliot Spitzers 2007 attempt to grant drivers licenses to immigrants in the country illegally. When Spitzer withdrew the plan in the face of political opposition, Clinton said she agreed with his decision. Not only does she not understand the urgency of immigrant families, but shes not a champion when we need someone to fight for our community, Cesar Vargas, a New York activist and lawyer, said during a conference call organized by the Sanders campaign. On Tuesday, the Sanders campaign accused Clinton of having a credibility gap after he blasted her during a speech in Rochester, N.Y. He reiterated his insistence that Clinton release transcripts of paid speeches she made to Wall Street and criticized her super PAC for taking money from the financial industry. Our job is to stand up to these powerful special interests, not to take their money, Sanders said. Twitter: @chrismegerian ALSO CAMPAIGN SHOCKER! New York tabloids still have influence in presidential race Analysis: In New York, presidential candidates are alone in their own comfortable bubbles Three candidates vie for bragging rights: Whos the real New Yorker? A supporters inflammatory rhetoric at a massive rally for Bernie Sanders on Wednesday capped by a reference to Hillary Clinton as being among corporate Democratic whores beholden to the pharmaceutical industry underscored the concerns of some Democratic leaders about unifying the party heading into the general election. Dr. Paul Song, a Santa Monica radiation oncologist and leader of a major California progressive group called the Courage Campaign, was one of the first speakers at Sanders evening rally in New Yorks Washington Square Park. He used his remarks to rail against what he called an immoral and unjust healthcare system even after some improvements through President Obamas Affordable Care Act. Please do not believe ... that our healthcare system is OK, he pleaded with the crowd, which the Sanders campaign said numbered more than 27,000. Please do not believe that we only need minor tweaks. Advertisement Song praised Sanders as the only candidate who recognized healthcare as a human right and support for universal healthcare, before he turned his attention to Clinton. Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Track the delegate race | Sign up for the newsletter First, he said he respected Clinton and her husband and noted they had helped his family -- President Clinton traveled to North Korea to secure the release of his sister-in-law, Laura Ling, a journalist who was detained there. But Song said he could only support a candidate who will help every single family in the United States. Secretary Clinton has said Medicare-for-all will never happen, he said. Well, I agree with Secretary Clinton that Medicare-for-all will never happen if we have a president who never aspires for something greater than the status quo. Medicare-for-all will never happen if we continue to elect corporate Democratic whores who are beholden to Big Pharma and the private insurance industry instead of us. Clintons campaign pounced on the comment, calling on Sanders to disavow it. Sanders campaign did so on his Twitter account Thursday morning, calling the comment inappropriate and insensitive. Theres no room for language like that in our political discourse, the post reads. Though Songs insult has drawn a flurry of attention, its what Song said next that highlighted a viewpoint that Obama himself recently warned could risk an intraparty split among Democrats, similar to what has so vexed Republicans recently. Song said that Sanders rightfully recognizes that he cannot pursue universal healthcare on his own. It first starts with us electing him president, and ends with us voting out every corporatist Democrat and replacing them with Bernie-crats, he declared. Last week, speaking to law students in Chicago, Obama acknowledged that many of his supporters were disappointed in the Affordable Care Act among other policies, but argued the only way to achieve their goals was to pursue change on an incremental basis. The thing that Democrats have to guard against is going in the direction that the Republicans are much further along on, and that is this sense of we are just going to get our way, and if we dont, then well cannibalize our own and then kick them out and try again, he said. We narrow our viewpoints more and more until finally we stake out positions that are so extreme that they alienate the broad public. The dust-up is likely to be addressed Thursday night in the first Democratic primary debate in more than one month. Clinton leads in public polls ahead of Tuesdays New York primary, but Sanders said at his rally that he thought an upset was still possible if voters turned out in large numbers. But a major win for Clinton could put the nomination out of reach mathematically for Sanders, and increase pressure on the candidate to begin working to help unify the party ahead of the general election in the fall. Follow @mikememoli for more campaign news. ALSO: Republicans unintentionally prompted this push to help 8 million immigrants become citizens Hillary Clinton fights to secure black vote in New York in face of recent racial missteps Trump rails against the GOP nomination process, but its hardly novel Bernie Sanders fares poorly against Hillary Clinton with fellow Jews, polls indicate Sen. Bernie Sanders has gone further than any other Jewish candidate in a presidential campaign, but hes not garnering much support from Jewish voters, polls indicate. The Vermont senators standing among Jews has been much speculated about since his campaign started to take off late last year. But until recently, the Democratic campaign has taken place in states with too few Jewish voters to measure or to really matter. In Florida, for example, which has one of the countrys largest Jewish populations, Jews made up only 4% of the Democratic primary turnout too small for exit polls to analyze. Now that the campaign has moved to New York, however, which has the nations largest Jewish population, the numbers are in, and theyre not favorable. That shouldnt be terribly surprising. Both Hillary Clinton and former president Bill Clinton have long been popular among Jewish voters, and while American Jews tend to be liberal, theyre more often regular Democrats than the sorts of independents most drawn to Sanders. On the other side, Sanders is not actively engaged in Jewish life. He has also been critical of Israel, although he lived briefly as a young man on a secular, socialist kibbutz. When asked about his faith, his responses have reflected a generalized commitment to liberal concepts of social justice as opposed to any specific link to Jewish ideals of equality. None of that is unique to Sanders, of course a large percentage of American Jews lead largely secular lives, and many are critical of Israel but it may have dampened any connection that large numbers of Jewish voters might have felt toward him. The best evidence so far comes from two recent polls of New York voters. The Sienna College Poll, which has a long track record of surveying New York voters, found Clinton leading Sanders among Jewish voters 60%-38%. Thats almost as large as her lead among black voters, the poll found. Overall, she led 52%-42%, the poll found. African Americans make up about 20% of the expected turnout for the Democratic primary, the poll projected. Jews make up just over 10%. The NBC/Wall St. Journal/Marist poll found roughly the same breakdown, Clinton leading among Jews 65%-32%, part of an overall lead of 57%-40%. That poll pegged Jewish voters as likely to make up 16% of the electorate for the primary. The Sienna poll also indicates that Sanders poor showing among New Yorks Jewish voters is not a reaction to recent campaign controversies. During an interview with the editorial board of the New York Daily News on April 1, Sanders significantly exaggerated the death toll of Arab civilians in the last fighting between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza. Several Jewish groups sharply criticized him afterward. But the poll, which was taken April 6-11, showed Sanders doing somewhat better than a survey Sienna had taken at the end of February in which he got support of 27% of Jewish voters. The Sienna poll, conducted by telephone using cellphones and landlines, surveyed 538 likely Democratic primary voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points for the full sample. The Marist poll was conducted April 10-13 and also has a margin of error of +/- 4.5 points. Hillary Clinton and her surrogates have courted African American voters across New York in advance of Tuesdays Democratic primary. The results: a mixed bag of comfortable alliances and uncomfortable stumbling. Black voters will make up about 1 in every 5 Democrats casting ballots here, and Clinton spent part of Wednesday delivering a speech honed by repetition and necessity before activists at a Manhattan convention of the National Action Network, a group founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton. She recounted her long involvement in African American politics. She outlined an expansive plan to fight against racial, economic and environmental woes that disproportionately affect minorities. She scorned Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas as having unleashed ugly currents with their controversial proposals about immigrants and Muslims. Advertisement Democrats have a special obligation if we are going to ask African Americans to vote for us, she said. We cannot take you or your vote for granted. We cant just show up on election time and say nice things and think thats enough.... We have to demonstrate a sustained commitment to building opportunity, creating prosperity and righting wrongs. I have worked on these causes all my adult life, she said. Im going to keep going at it no matter what. The roar of the crowd underscored a sensitivity among black voters this campaign season. They have long been one of the most reliable Democratic voting blocs, but because of that, many also have felt taken for granted. The sensitivity is all the more acute as the tenure of the first African American president winds down, leaving some wondering about their importance to the next White House occupant. That has been the undercurrent to Clintons events here. She and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have coursed through African American churches and community centers ahead of the primary, working off of relationships built up through the years. Influential pastors and political figures like New York Rep. Charles B. Rangel have stood with the Clintons to try to blunt momentum from her challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Sanders has experience in African American politics dating back decades to his activism in the civil rights movement as a college student. But he has fewer existing relationships than the Clintons. His inroads among minority voters have been generational, the result of his sweeping popularity among younger Americans. Michigans primary last month demonstrated the importance of black voters in the Democratic race; Clintons advantage among them slumped somewhat from her normal heights and the result was her first and so far only loss in a big, diverse state. Here in New York, what should be a slam dunk for Clinton given her alliances, residency and time as a U.S. senator representing the state has been marred by two incidents in the last week. The candidate appeared in a racially tinged skit at a Saturday night black-tie dinner appearance with Mayor Bill de Blasio. In it, De Blasio joked that he had belatedly endorsed her because he was on C.P. time a reference to age-old gibes about African Americans. Cautious politician time, Clinton responded. Ive been there. When criticism erupted, De Blasio, whose wife is black, said that people are missing the point and that the skit was not based on stereotypes. Clinton said she deferred to the mayor and that he is perfectly capable of speaking for himself. A few days before the skit, Bill Clinton got into a finger-wagging verbal exchange with Black Lives Matter protesters at a campaign event in Philadelphia. The group has regularly criticized both Clintons for the effects of the 1994 crime bill, which they blame for higher incarceration rates among black men. I dont know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped on crack and sent them out on the street to murder other African American children, Bill Clinton said to the protesters. You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter. Tell the truth. Sanders has criticized Hillary Clinton for her support of the crime bill which he voted for as a member of Congress, he says, because of measures to rein in violence against women and assault weapons and her use at the time of the term superpredator to describe those spurring what was then an explosive crime rate. Clinton has said repeatedly that using the term which she says she did once was inappropriate. She and her husband also have acknowledged some unintended negative consequences of the crime bill. But they continue to stand by many of its components, including a ban on assault weapons and money for an infusion of police officers into urban communities. At the Sharpton groups convention, the topic arose with a bit of mockery from a member of a panel that was held just before Clinton spoke. Im neutral right now in the presidential race, said Angela Rye, former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus. I dont want any of my family members to be called superpredators. Sanders brought up another sore subject when he spoke to the convention on Thursday. He reminded the audience of the welfare reform bill pushed by Bill Clinton in his 1992 campaign and enacted during his presidency. That was an easy bill to be for because it scapegoated the poorest people in America. all of the welfare queens, remember that? he said, drawing on Reagan-era language used to criticize some welfare recipients. A very easy bill to go for -- but I didnt go for that. I voted against that bill. Despite the recent dust-ups, polls of voters in New York have consistently shown Clinton winning at least six or seven of every 10 African American voters in the state. The personal nature of her appearances and the fact that she is not a new presence to the black community seems to have helped her standing. My commitment to issues about how we work and live together is rooted deep in my experience and in my heart, she told attendees at Sunday morning services at New Greater Bethel Ministries in Queens, where she knew not only the pastor but his father. At Antioch Baptist Church near Harlem that same day, Bill Clinton, himself extremely popular among African American voters, cast his wife as an extension of President Obama in terms of priorities. You cant get over the blow we suffered overnight, he said of the economic crash that opened Obamas tenure. We got the jobs back; we got to raise the incomes. Then we got to educate people to do those jobs, then we have to learn to live together and be citizens together. Hillarys the best to do that because shes the best change-maker. The tie-in with Obama was not accidental. In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll, 58% of New York voters surveyed approved of how Obama has done his job. And the Clinton campaign is counting on black voters being loyal to her much as she has been loyal to Obama. The importance of African American and other minority voters will only increase at this stage of the campaign. Besides New York, coming up are states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California, where black and Latino voters represent big chunks of the Democratic electorate. Their impact in the general election is just as acute: Democrats have lost ground among white voters in recent years but have more than made up for it by expanding their support from African American, Latino and Asian American voters. Democrats are winning on the backs of increased minority turnout, Cornell Belcher, a Democratic strategist, said at a panel at the Sharpton groups conference. Which was why Clinton made one explicit promise at the end of her remarks Wednesday. If she is president, she said, You will always have a friend and a partner in the White House. Twitter: @cathleendecker ALSO Kobe Bryants finale is well done: 60 points and a Lakers win Katy Perry wins a victory in battle to buy nuns convent in Los Feliz As Clinton and Sanders prepare for debate, New York polls are very stable Hillary Clinton hits Donald Trump and Ted Cruz for ugly currents in presidential race Hillary Clinton scorned Donald Trump and Ted Cruz for proposals that she said contributed to ugly currents bursting forth in the 2016 campaign, as she pledged Wednesday to push for a broad series of initiatives meant to improve the lives of minority Americans. Speaking at a Manhattan convention of the National Action Network, an activist organization founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, Clinton was unsparing in her criticism of the two leaders in the fight for the Republican presidential nomination. Americas long struggle with racism is far from finished, and we are seeing that in this election, she said. The front-runner for the Republican nomination was asked in a national television interview to disavow David Duke and white supremacists supporting his campaign; he played coy. This is the same Donald Trump who led the insidious birther movement to delegitimize President Obama. He has called Mexican immigrants rapist and murderers. He wants to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S., and the list goes on. Not to be outdone, Ted Cruz would treat Muslim Americans like criminals and religiously profile their neighborhoods. So ugly currents at work just below the surface of our politics have burst into the open, and everyone sees this bigotry for what it is. Both Trump and the Texas senator have defended their proposals as necessary to secure the country against terrorism and crime. Clinton outlined proposals she has made on housing, education, income, gun violence and transportation that she said were meant to lift African Americans economically and otherwise. These are not only problems of economic inequality; they are also problems of racial inequality, she said. Its time we face up to the reality of systemic racism in all its forms. She cited the dilapidated school district in Detroit, whose classrooms feature roaches and mold, and, closer to home, the Polo Grounds Towers in New York, where she said one resident fought daily to eradicate roaches and vermin. No one should have to live like that in America, Clinton said. Every child and every family deserves clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and a safe and healthy place to live. It is a justice issue, it is a civil rights issue and [if I am] president, it will be a national priority for us. In advance of Tuesdays New York primary, Clinton enjoys strong support from African Americans and other minority voters, and has worked in recent days to ensure that those voters follow through on election day. Although there have been stumbles Clintons involvement in a racially inflected skit with Mayor Bill de Blasio and Bill Clintons shouting match with Black Lives Matters protesters polls show her winning at least 6 in 10 black voters. Clinton mentioned her Democratic primary opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, only in passing. Discussing the spate of gun violence that has claimed the lives of many African Americans, she drew a distinction between her past support for gun restrictions and Sanders vote for a measure that protected gun manufacturers and sellers. My opponent and I dont see this the same way, but I see this as a national emergency, Clinton said. I will do everything I can to take on the gun lobby, to try to save lives. Clinton also did not mention the 1994 crime bill, supported by both Clintons, which is blamed by many African Americans for inordinate prosecutions and imprisonment of young black men. Sanders will speak to the convention Thursday. At a recent citizenship fair at the Long Beach Convention Center, more than 3,000 immigrants got free help filling out citizenship applications and practice casting ballots at mock voting booths. Events like this were almost certainly not what Republicans intended when they blocked President Obamas program to shield millions of immigrants from deportation. But the new nationwide push to help more than 8 million legal permanent residents become citizens -- and therefore potential voters -- is a direct consequence of Republican resistance to Obama administration immigration policies. In 2014, Obama announced executive actions to protect millions of parents of U.S. citizens from deportation. In anticipation, immigrant rights groups, backed by major philanthropies, set aside millions of dollars for efforts to help people apply. Advertisement But the program never came to pass. Twenty-six Republican states sued to stop it, alleging that Obamas plans exceeded his legal authority. With the fate of the program in the hands of the Supreme Court, advocacy groups found themselves with money and volunteers but nothing to do. Looking for other places to put their resources, they decided to work on gaining citizenship for immigrants who are residing in the U.S. legally but have not yet been naturalized. In California alone, there are an estimated 2.2 million legal permanent residents who are eligible for citizenship but have not applied. What we can do right now is help people become citizens so that we can build political power while were waiting, said Ramiro Funez, a spokesman for Unite Here, a union that represents hospitality workers, many of whom are immigrants. Its kind of one of the only options we have right now. His union has been holding citizenship workshops around the country, including one in Orange County over the weekend. In Nevada, a key battleground in presidential elections, Funez said the union is close to its goal of helping 2,000 people apply for citizenship in a two-month period that began March 1. Organizers say another factor has driven the push for citizenship this election year. His name is Donald Trump. The Republican presidential candidates harsh words about Mexican immigrants, whom he has called drug dealers and rapists, helped attract Virgilio Herrera to the citizenship workshop in Long Beach on Sunday. Herrera, 49, who works in the oil fields of Bakersfield, came to the U.S. illegally from Mexico 35 years ago. He and his wife won green cards -- legal residency -- under President Reagans 1986 amnesty plan. But even though they have several U.S.-born children, the couple never became citizens, put off in large part by the nearly $700 application fee. Things are different now, Herrera said. We need to be the voice for those who dont have it, he said. Donald Trump sounds like Hitler. The Protect Yourself Now! workshop was a collaboration between Spanish-language media networks, including Univision and Telemundo, and several nonprofit and philanthropic groups, including the California Community Foundation. The group originally had planned to spend $1.4 million to help people apply for protection from deportation under Obamas Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program. But after DAPA was put on hold, the organization joined with a Mexican American philanthropic group, the Juntos Podemos Foundation, to spend $3.2 million on getting people to become citizens. These are the activation moments, said Efrain Escobedo, vice president of civic engagement and public policy at the California Community Foundation. Were always losing, Escobedo said, citing the lawsuit to stop DAPA and years of GOP resistance to immigration overhaul legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. So lets change the numbers. There was an uptick of naturalization applications filed between June, when Trump announced his candidacy, and January, compared with the same period in recent years, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data. The agency has not released statistics showing how many people have applied for naturalization in the last couple of months, when the concerted push began. Data from previous years show that applications tend to surge when efforts aimed at curtailing illegal immigration gain prominence. After California voters passed Proposition 187, a 1994 ballot measure that sought to deny social services to immigrants in the country illegally, the number of people applying annually for citizenship jumped from about 500,000 to nearly a million, according to federal statistics. There was a similarly dramatic jump after Congress passed a controversial measure in 2005 that called for the construction of vast border fences and would have forced employers to verify the immigration status of their workers. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> When there have been periods of anti-immigrant rhetoric, there becomes an urgency for immigrants to become citizens, said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the education fund at the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. The passage of Proposition 187, though it ultimately was declared unconstitutional, is widely credited for helping turn California blue. Republicans faced backlash at the ballot box after organizers registered millions of new Latino voters in the years after the initiative passed, and the state has since transformed into one dominated by Democratic politics. Democrats and Latino organizers are hoping for a similar phenomenon nationwide this year and are trying to use Trumps comments to propel Latinos to the polls in record numbers in November. Naturalized U.S. citizens represent only a small percentage of new Latino voters, who are making Latinos the fastest growing electorate in the nation. The vast majority of the growth is due to young Latinos turning 18, at a rate of about 800,000 each year. Still, naturalized citizens tend to vote at higher rates than other Latinos, including millennials. Speaking at the Long Beach citizenship fair, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti cast naturalization in strictly electoral terms. The hate, the Trumpism, those arent the values of me and my country, said Garcetti, whose office launched its own citizenship effort last year. We can make sure we have a president who continues to reflect our values, he said. We can make sure we have a country that is open to the rest of the world. Vargas, who has been organizing citizenship campaigns for decades, said the level of political engagement by immigrants and their allies this year reminds him of the mood after Proposition 187 was passed. Its hearkening back to what we experienced 20 years ago, he said. For more on Campaign 2016, follow @KateLinthicum ALSO CAMPAIGN SHOCKER! New York tabloids still have influence in presidential race Analysis: In New York, presidential candidates are alone in their own comfortable bubbles Texas photo ID law stands despite challenges since Supreme Court ruling weakened Voting Rights Act Im Christina Bellantoni, the Essential Politics host today. Lets get started. The Democratic presidential contest heads to prime time tonight, as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders meet on a debate stage for the first time since their campaigns have taken such a heated turn. In the last few weeks, they have sparred from podiums and through surrogates. Advertisement In recent days, Clinton has revived old attack lines, criticizing Sanders votes against some gun control measures and immigration overhaul legislation that would have provided a pathway to citizenship. Hes returned the favor by bringing up her changing position on drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants. But, as Chris Megerian writes, the biggest question is how Clinton will handle Sanders suggesting she wasnt qualified to be president. Sanders on Wednesday scored his first Senate endorsement from a fellow liberal from Oregon, puncturing one Clinton attack line as the Democrats continue to squabble over superdelegates. Keep track of the delegate race here. Well be covering tonights Democratic debate in New York in real time on Trail Guide, so please join us there and follow @latimespolitics. LOOKING TO CLEVELAND By Donald Trumps telling, crooked Republican operatives have rigged the selection of the partys presidential nominee and plan to defy the will of the millions of Americans who have voted for him. His charge feeds into a widespread misconception that political parties choose their White House nominees by popular vote. Michael Finnegan gets at the cold reality of politics and points out: They dont. So what mass chaos can people expect if Trump is denied the nomination by the Republican Party? Well, the vast majority of Republican voters are older than 50 and long past their rioting prime. Some might pout, or even carry a protest sign and refuse to vote in November, but theyre not going to tangle with SWAT teams. That and more from George Skeltons Thursday column laying out the several reasons why there wont be riots in the streets if Donald Trump is denied the Republican nomination in the convention. (Meanwhile, some Republicans in tough re-election races are saying no thanks to attending the national convention.) CALIFORNIA VISITS Readers of this newsletter are old enough to remember when I wrote yesterday that Trump was the only contender not on the agenda at the state GOP convention at the end of the month. Well, guess what, hes going to Burlingame after all. The party announced Wednesday he will speak during the Friday lunch slot. And Clinton who, as readers will remember, is hosting a huge fundraiser with George Clooney on Saturday will take advantage of being in California to hold an event. Her campaign announced she will discuss her plans to raise wages and break down all the barriers that hold Americans back in Los Angeles on Saturday, but did not give additional details. THE SHRINKING RANKS OF FEMALE CALIFORNIA POLITICIANS This is the state that built Nancy Pelosi and ushered in two female senators in the year of the woman. But California is on track to lose as many as 10 female lawmakers in Sacramento and three of the 53 representatives in the House. Phil Willon crunched the numbers and found more than a third of the 31 women in the state Assembly and Senate are leaving office this year because of term limits or personal reasons, threatening to deplete representation further in a state where an estimated 50.8% of the population is female. (ANOTHER) NEW FRONTIER IN CALIFORNIA A new effort has emerged to allow undocumented immigrants with enough income to afford healthcare insurance to be able to buy it through the state exchange. The proposed legislation would grant California a waiver so people in the country illegally who make too much money to qualify for Medi-Cal could still get coverage. The move comes just after the board of Covered California blessed such an idea, which could help its chances for passage in the Legislature. If it does, that would make California the first state in the nation to set such a policy. Track the legislation on our Essential Politics news feed. WANTED: MORE HOUSES IN THE GOLDEN STATE Its no secret that its really expensive to buy or rent a house in California. And its also no secret, academics and economists say, why. There simply arent enough homes across the state to meet the demand. Despite this dearth of housing supply, Liam Dillon finds that the Legislature is doing little this year to make it easier to build a house. Doing so on a broad scale would require lawmakers to take on environmental and tax reform issues that traditionally are some of the most difficult to address in the Capitol. TODAYS ESSENTIALS Theres a distinctive reason immigrants are rushing to get naturalized and vote. Bet you can guess. Cathleen Decker writes how African Americans have long been one of the most reliable Democratic voting blocs, but because of that, many also have felt taken for granted. The sensitivity is all the more acute as the tenure of the first African American president winds down, leaving some wondering about their importance to the next White House occupant. Decker also looks at where the candidates sit on the political spectrum, and finds that Democrats have moved to the left and Republicans to the right, leaving fewer people in the ideological middle and setting a clear path for any presidential candidate who wants to succeed. Thats one reason why three candidates Sanders, Trump and Ted Cruz have freely resided on the edges and have been rewarded by the passion of voters who live there. Vice President Joe Biden is headed to the Vatican to talk about curing cancer. Comedy writer Gary Jacobs looks at which candidates pets would vote for. Really. What do you think of Trump? Readers can weigh in with our quick survey. LOGISTICS Miss yesterdays newsletter? Here you go. Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox daily. And keep an eye on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics? Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com. The reason why California faces a housing affordability crisis is simple, many experts say: Lots of people want to live in the state and there arent enough houses for them. You dont need a PhD in economics to understand this, said Christopher Thornberg, an economist who recently published a report on state housing costs with the nonpartisan organization Next 10. Its basic supply and demand. The lack of housing supply fuels headlines that reveal the states housing problems at their starkest. It could explain why doctors and others making as much as $250,000 a year are struggling to find homes in Palo Alto. And why a firefighter in Menlo Park home to Facebook said he decided to commute four hours to work from Reno, Nev., because he was unable to find an affordable place nearby to maintain his standard of living. Advertisement This year, however, state lawmakers arent doing much to make it easier to build houses. Even those who have authored the handful of bills aimed at increasing the number of homes in the state concede their efforts only scratch the surface of the problem. California homebuilding has fallen well behind whats needed to bring costs into line with the rest of the country. (Legislative Analysts Office/Los Angeles Times ) Legislators have shied away from tackling broad efforts to increase housing supply, such as overhauling the California Environmental Quality Act or reforming the tax code to incentivize residential development. Doing so would force lawmakers to take on some of the largest and thorniest policy issues in the Capitol. I think theres more than the usual amount of politics around those issues, said Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), who has introduced three bills this year to ease restrictions on homebuilding. See the most-read stories this hour >> California finds itself in a deep housing hole, and residents are feeling the results. The states average home price of $459,000 is more than double what it is nationally. Over the last three decades, the state would have needed to build millions more new homes including more than a million in Los Angeles County alone to keep housing prices in line with the rest of the country, according to the independent Legislative Analysts Office. The problem is especially acute in wealthy, coastal communities, many of which have seen strong job growth in the last five years as the economy has recovered without corresponding boosts in the housing stock. Weve added almost half a million jobs in the Bay Area alone, and weve added 51,000 permits not even buildings, said Carol Galante, a professor of affordable housing and urban policy at UC Berkeley, who called the situation out of whack. Instead of wide-ranging measures to spur housing development, lawmakers main response to the states housing crisis has been to try to increase low-income housing subsidies. Then-Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) tried and failed to pass a bill last year that would have added a $75 fee to many real estate transactions to fund affordable housing. Among this years highest profile efforts is a bid from Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) to borrow $2 billion to build housing for the homeless. Though many experts believe that the state should funnel more dollars toward affordable housing particularly after lawmakers took away a major funding source in 2011 by eliminating a program to redevelop blighted neighborhoods greater subsidies wont fix the problem. The legislative analysts report estimated that building affordable homes for the 1.7 million low-income households in California that currently spend half their salaries on housing would cost as much to finance each year as the states spending on Medi-Cal. You cant tax your way out of a shortage, Thornberg said of efforts to solely add housing subsidies. It doesnt work. In some ways, state lawmakers hands are tied on boosting housing supply because cities and counties primarily control building and permitting. But experts say the state could make many reforms to increase homebuilding. Lawmakers could ease restrictions in the CEQA, the states primary environmental law, to allow for speedier and cheaper development, particularly in urban areas, experts say. Or they could allow sales taxes to be distributed by population instead of by commercial transaction, which may give municipalities an incentive to build more homes to increase their tax revenues. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> Both ideas have been kicked around the state Capitol for years legislators attempted a broad CEQA overhaul in 2013 but have failed because the changes would upset numerous entrenched environmental, labor and business interests. Beyond state-level politics, major changes to increase housing supply would also run into deep-seated local interests. State Sen. Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont), who has authored a bill that would make it easier for homeowners to add additional units on their properties, said neighborhood groups fight increased housing supply because it often means greater density. People dont like to use the D word. They think of Cabrini Green in Chicago, Wieckowski said, referring to the notorious housing project. Economists worry that if lawmakers dont fix the housing supply problems, many of the states efforts to improve the lives of low-income residents will falter. Many legislators cited high housing costs as a reason to boost Californias minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next six years. But unless somethings done to stem housing costs, much of that pay increase could be eaten up by higher rents, Thornberg said. Bloom said he shares that concern. His three housing bills aim to make it easier to build an additional unit on a property, allow developers to build at greater density if they add affordable units, and reduce permitting requirements for properties already zoned for housing. All three, Bloom said, would make small increases to supply. Bigger ideas to make it easier to build houses will have to wait, he said. These bills are hard enough to get through, Bloom said. They are not going to be a cakewalk. Thats the low-hanging fruit. liam.dillon@latimes.com Follow @dillonliam on Twitter ALSO Rent or own: Where can you afford to live? Southern California apartment rents are expected to continue rising through 2018 California legislators propose spending $2 billion to build housing for homeless Updates from Sacramento One of the nuttiest notions being mouthed is that if Donald Trump goes to the Republican convention with the most delegates but doesnt win the nomination, therell be street riots. You know, riots like at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. Where do we begin with such warped thinking? There are essentially two conclusions: First, theres a lot of delusion out there. Who in their right mind would risk being tear-gassed and billy clubbed because some billionaire blowhard who spews bigotry was denied the presidential nomination by the Party of Lincoln? Hardly anyone. Advertisement Or, there are a lot of unstable Republicans headed to Cleveland who have truly lost their minds and senses of priority. A very bad sign for the nation. The first scenario makes the most sense. The vast majority of Republican voters and Trump supporters are older than 50 and long past their rioting prime. Some might pout, or even carry a protest sign and refuse to vote in November, but theyre not going to tangle with SWAT teams. More likely is that people would riot if Trump did become the GOP standard-bearer. Leftist activists have been talking about demonstrating outside the convention hall. That conceivably could turn violent, especially if the Cleveland Police Department lived up to its reputation for head-knocking. Trump started the riot talk last month. Interviewed by CNN, the GOP front-runner said he expected to capture enough delegates in primaries and caucuses to clinch the nomination before the convention. But if he fell short of the 1,237 needed, and were at 1,100 and somebody else is at 500 I dont think you can say that we dont get it automatically. I think youd have riots, he continued. I wouldnt lead it, but I think bad things would happen. The odds are increasing that Trump will need to fight it out in the convention hall. Some big states including New York and California havent voted yet. But at last count, Trump had 743 delegates and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had 532. Ohio Gov. John Kasich trailed far back with 143. Trump ally Roger Stone, a veteran Republican strategist, recently warned of Days of Rage in Cleveland if the party tries to steal the nomination from the front-runner. This apparently was a reference to Weatherman-organized vandalism and clashes with Chicago police in 1969. Stone since has denied he was calling for violence. He merely was urging an intense dialogue with delegates who were elected to support Trump, but the Cruz forces seek to chisel them away, Stone wrote. The fix is in. Conservative commentator Glenn Beck, a Cruz supporter, said on NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday that if neither Trump nor Cruz is anointed by the convention and delegates instead choose some establishment white knight it would be the end of the GOP. I dont think its going to happen. People would feel very betrayed. But Days of Rage? Thats really not a good thing, Beck said. I dont want to play into the anger and the hatred and vitriol. Days of Rage may be open to interpretation. But 1968-style Chicago rioting is not. Even some respected talking heads have been warning about that, including veteran TV journalist Cokie Roberts. Look at the 1968 convention, Roberts said Sunday on ABCs This Week With George Stephanopoulos. We had riots. And what happened is [Sen. Eugene] McCarthy had the most votes going into that convention. And a coalition of McCarthy and [George] McGovern clearly had the will of the people. Hubert Humphrey gets the nomination. And there were riots in the streets. Very similar. Well, not really. But Republican strategist Alex Castellanos had an excellent response: Riot, though, is Republicans giving up their country club memberships. We dont work that way. Lets painfully remember what those 1968 riots were about: certainly not who might win the Democratic nomination. They were about the life-and-death issue of the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War. The convention was barely a side issue, although the party bosses including Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley fueled the street fires by trampling over antiwar delegations, including Californias. The party establishment, controlled by President Johnsons loyalists, rammed through a platform plank calling for continued strong commitment to the war. The country was fracturing. Students then vulnerable to the draft were rioting everywhere. Ultimately more than 58,000 U.S. soldiers were killed in the war. The California delegations candidate had been Sen. Robert F. Kennedy before he was assassinated in Los Angeles minutes after claiming victory in the states pivotal primary. In Chicago, the delegation was discombobulated and demoralized, especially after Vice President Humphrey who had never entered a primary was awarded the nomination. Outside on streets and in parks, 12,000 cops, 15,000 military personnel, 1,000 federal agents and countless thousands of demonstrators clashed nightly. A national commission later called it a police riot. There just doesnt seem to be any relevance between that backdrop and today. Trump keeps claiming the convention is being rigged against him. Boohoo. Learn the rules of political engagement. Start by getting your own kids registered to vote. Stop being outmaneuvered on delegates. Cease acting like a bully inciting violence. Try to look a little presidential. And, by the way, Americas still great. Dont jeopardize it. Rather than rioting if Trump isnt nominated, theres more likely to be rejoicing in the streets. george.skelton@latimes.com Follow @LATimesSkelton on Twitter ALSO Trumps bombastic showmanship in a league of its own Heres how Ted Cruz could win California Trump, Cruz and Kasich lay the groundwork for crucial California race What do you think of Donald Trump? Updates from the campaign trail Get out those cellphone cameras, nature lovers. The citizens of Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area have begun a weeklong battle to see who can take the most pictures of the plant and animal life in their respective corners of the Golden State. Its the City Nature Challenge, sponsored by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Coyotes and ladybugs count as wildlife. So do birds, slugs, worms and your backyard plants. Participants are being asked to upload their observations to iNaturalist, which is both a website and an app that you can download to your phone. Advertisement L.A. residents can also email observations to nature@nhm.org or tweet, Facebook or Instagram them using the hashtag #natureinLA. The contest ends at noon April 21, and the results will be announced the following day. To learn more about the competition, and its scientific significance, we spoke with the architects of the challenge: Lila Higgins, manager of citizen science at the L.A. museum, and Alison Young, citizen science engagement coordinator at the San Francisco academy. First, lets lay out the ground rules. Can I upload a picture of my dog? AY: No. Domesticated pets will not be included in our species counts. And if you go to the zoo and take wonderful photos of giraffes and elephants, thats awesome, but it wont count because they are not wild in these areas. LH: Plants in peoples backyards -- even though we know they were deliberately planted there -- will get accepted, but houseplants will not. AY: And things can be alive or dead. If you find a print of an animal on the beach, that works too. Thats evidence that it was there. What are L.A.s chances of winning? LH: Weve looked at the comparative data between our areas on iNaturalist, and San Francisco generally beats us on a monthly and weekly basis. But one of our power users, Cedric Lee, has been communicating with some of the other power users here and giving them tips on how to up the ante. He thinks that if the challenge is just a week long, we may have a chance. Whats the Bay Areas advantage? AY: Well, iNaturalist was developed by a UC Berkeley graduate, so its incubation happened in the Bay Area and that helped us gain users. Also, the whole thing of beating L.A. is pretty ingrained in the San Francisco Bay area psyche. And it helps that our Giants did just win the first series against the Dodgers. Are the scales tipped in one direction? Does one city have more urban wildlife than the other? LH: We are both in the California Floristic Province, which means we are both in biodiversity hot spots. There are species here that arent found anywhere else in the entire world. I dont know if we have a comprehensive species list of the two geographic areas we are looking at, but my guess would be that they are really close. AY: The challenge is between L.A. County and all nine counties in the Bay Area. L.A. has more people who could potentially be out there making observations, but we [in the Bay Area] have more area. If I had to guess, I would assume all nine Bay Area counties have more species than L.A. County. But, really, what this comes down to is mobilizing people to go out there and observe during the week. How many observations are you each hoping to get? LH: Im hoping for 10,000. AY: Wow. Then we are hoping for 10,001. The idea of this challenge is a lot of fun, but does it have any scientific value? AY: Definitely. Mobilizing the public is the only way to really get a comprehensive idea of where species occur. Especially as our world is going through so many changes, its important to understand where different plants and animals are thriving now, so we can compare that to where they were found in the past and better understand where they might be going in the future. LH: Who knows? We could find new L.A. County records of species, and we could find new state records. We have citizen scientists here in L.A. who have found things that had never been found in our state. AY: One of our citizen scientists just a few weeks ago discovered a new species of nudibranch [a.k.a. sea slug] in the San Francisco Bay. Before she documented it and put it on iNaturalist, it was only known from China, the Philippines and Japan. You can discover so many cool things when you have so many eyes out there looking. How can people participate? AY: Any plants, animals or fungus that you see in L.A. or the Bay Area -- living or dead -- just take a photograph of that and upload it to the iNaturalist platform. The app is the easiest way to make those observations because you take a photo with your phone, and your phone knows where you are and what time it is and what day it is, and that makes the complete record that we need. Anything you find anywhere works. It doesnt have to be a park. It could be what you see just walking down your sidewalk, or in your school yard, or in your backyard. LH: And in L.A., people can also email us a picture at nature@nhm.org or submit via social media using the hashtag #natureinla on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. What does the winner of this challenge get? AY: Bragging rights and the increased knowledge of the biodiversity in their area. Isnt that prize enough? LH: Its a win for more people to be aware that we are in this amazing biodiversity hot spot with all this unique and amazing nature around us, and we are getting people out there to look and hopefully begin and continue their relationship with nature. Plus, theyll get some data for our scientists too! AY: Exactly! But we definitely still want to beat L.A. Do you love science? I do! Follow me @DeborahNetburn and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook. ALSO Scientists capture mesmerizing video of swarming red crabs Chauvet cave: The most accurate timeline yet of who used the cave and when Natural History Museum in L.A. enlists residents to collect data on urban wildlife Federal wildlife authorities on Thursday denied Endangered Species Act protection to the small, isolated populations of Pacific fishers in Washington, Oregon and California, including the southern Sierra Nevada range. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2014 proposed listing the largest member of the weasel family as threatened throughout the region because of threats including logging, wildfires and the use of pesticides by marijuana growers. On Thursday, however, agency said those threats were found to be not as significant as previously thought. In addition, Robyn Thorson, director of the agencys Pacific region, said that voluntary conservation measures by the timber industry could increase habitat for the carnivore. Advertisement Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >> Also Thursday, Weyerhaeuser Co., one of the worlds largest private owners of timberlands, announced plans to commit up to 3 million acres of forested holdings in Washington and Oregon to support efforts to reintroduce fishers throughout the western U.S. Environmental groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity said the agencys decision not to list the Pacific fisher was politically driven and not based on the best available science. The politically driven reversal of proposed protection for the fisher is the latest example of the Fish and Wildlife Service kowtowing to the wishes of industry, said Tanya Sanerib, an attorney at the center. Fishers may be tough enough to prey on porcupines, but they need Endangered Species Act protection to survive. Strongly associated with old-growth forests, fishers are mostly dark brown and have long, slender bodies with short legs and long, bushy tails. They have triangular heads with sharp pronounced muzzles and large rounded ears. Their face, neck and shoulders are silver or light brown, contrasting with glossy black tails and legs. The fishers range was reduced dramatically in the 1800s and early 1900s because of trapping, predator control, logging and urban development. Of particular concern is the fate of the southern Sierra population south of Yosemite National Park, which has been reduced to as few as 300 animals. Overall, there are an estimated 4,000 fishers in the northern forests of the United States and Canada. The center petitioned to protect the Pacific fisher in 1994 and again in 2000. A decade later, the center sued over the delay in protecting the animal, and the agency was required to issue a decision this year. In a related matter, a federal judge in Montana a week ago chastised the agency for yielding to political pressure when it reversed a proposal to list the wolverine -- then ordered it to protect the species as soon as possible. Just like the wolverine and the coastal martin, Sanerib said, once more we may be forced to head to court to defend species, science and law from political interference. Follow me @LouisSahagun for more fascinating stories. ALSO L.A. takes on San Francisco in the first City Nature Challenge Theres no doubt now that Zika virus causes rare birth defects, CDC says Take that, A.I.: Video-gamers solve quantum physics mystery using human intuition Since 2008, the mission of Record Store Day has been to promote independently owned record businesses and to revitalize the sale of music on vinyl. However, the owner of one prominent establishment in Burbank believes the spirit of the audiophile holiday has been compromised. Hundreds of people will wait in line at their local record stores, like Amoeba Music in Hollywood, on Saturday with hopes of getting some of the limited-edition records being sold that day, some reissued classics and some new releases. NEWSLETTER: Get the latest 818 headlines straight to your inbox >> Some of the rarities being sold will be a 7-inch picture disc of Muses track Reapers, remixes of Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Forces hit song Planet Rock, hip-hop producer J Dillas lost vocal LP The Diary and a colored vinyl reissue of Etta James album At Last. However, none of these records will ever grace or have ever been in the record bins of Atomic Records, which prides itself for being a 100% used-record store, co-owner Steve Alper said. Despite not offering any of the highly sought-after EPs and LPs, about 100 record enthusiasts are expected to flock to the store to get their hands on rarities and original pressings that the business has been holding onto to be sold and to take advantage of special discounts on Saturday. For Alper, that is his way of celebrating Record Store Day. Atomic Records co-owner Steve Alper said the store has never been busier over its 20 years of operation, and he recognizes that major businesses are looking to profit from the vinyl revival. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) People want to buy original Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Miles Davis records, he said. That, to me, is celebrating record stores. Its about vintage vinyl. Alper, who has operated Atomic for 20 years, said he admires the concept behind Record Store Day. Unfortunately [it has] been totally co-opted by major labels who want to get their product of new vinyl into stores, he said. Its been a mix of emotions for record store owners, he added. Some people are really happy about it and some people cant stand it. The vinyl resurgence is in full effect, with record sales continuing to grow over the last 10 years. In 2015, new vinyl LP sales increased 30% over the previous year, according to the Recording Industry Assn. of America. Major retailers, such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Urban Outfitters and even the supermarket chain Whole Foods have been selling records to try and capitalize on the increasing interest. Alper said Atomic has never been busier over its 20 years of operation, and he recognizes that major businesses are looking to profit from the vinyl revival. However, he believes it is not in his stores best interest to compete against them. Were just all about having bins filled with vintage product, he said. -- Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio -- ALSO: Burbank educators make suggestions for districts goals next school year Staffing shortages stymie Burbank police Two arrested in connection to gang-related stabbing in Burbank Lee Lowrey, a local businessman known for raising money for political campaigns, is stepping out from his leadership position in a well-known political action committee to run for a seat on the Newport Beach City Council. Lowrey, a registered Republican, filed paperwork this week declaring his intent to run for the District 5 seat, which represents Balboa Island and the Fashion Island area. Ive helped a lot of people volunteering and raising money for a lot of years, but Ive always wanted the opportunity to actually run for office myself, he said. If elected, the 45-year-old Balboa Island resident would replace Councilman Ed Selich, who will be termed out this year after serving on the council since 2006. Mike Glenn, an 11-year Balboa Peninsula resident and activist, and Jeff Herdman, a 17-year Balboa Island resident, also have launched campaigns for the seat. Lowrey, a resident of Newport Beach the past 18 years, moved to Balboa Island nearly two months ago. His wife, Sarah, used to live on the island and the two had long wanted to find a home there. Lowrey recently co-founded Arbor Capital Partners, a private equity firm in Newport Beach specializing in real estate investment and development in Southern California and Colorado. Before that, Lowrey spent several years as a portfolio manager at Colony Capital managing real estate investment portfolios totaling more than $1 billion. He said his experience in finance in the private sector would make him an asset as a councilman. Growing up during the Reagan years, I experienced the real benefits of a pro-work, pro-business and limited-government culture, he said. My passion for public service and a conservative philosophy of governance not only began with the Reagan revolution but continued up to now. Lowrey said that if he is elected, he would like to focus on financial transparency, budgetary oversight, improving Newports aging infrastructure and maintaining public safety resources. Specifically, he said the incoming council will have to handle how to fund improvements to the citys sewer system. The City Council recently turned down a staff proposal to increase customer sewer rates to fund repairs. Lowrey said an increasing number of teenagers abusing heroin in local schools also is a cause for concern. As I learn more about it, I hope I can be someone who tries to bring that issue more to light, he said. Lowrey is no stranger to politics in and out of Orange County. His interest in politics and government was spawned in 1988 as a volunteer for Rep. Dana Rohrabachers first U.S. congressional campaign and continued in his time as a student at USC and in leadership roles as chairman of the Orange County Young Republicans. Most recently, Lowrey has acted as founding chairman of the Atlas Political Action Committee, a non-candidate-controlled committee that raises money in support of certain candidates and in opposition to others. The committee has supported council candidates in various Orange County cities, as well as politicians running for county supervisor, state Assembly and governor. During the 2014 council election in Newport Beach, the committee spent thousands of dollars supporting then-candidates Scott Peotter, Marshall Duffy Duffield and Kevin Muldoon, who were ultimately elected. Atlas also spent thousands sending mailers opposing candidates Mike Toerge and incumbent Rush Hill, both of whom lost. Three council seats are up for grabs in the November election, with at least two candidates running for each one. Councilman Tony Petros, who represents District 2 which includes Newport Heights and Newport Crest is running for reelection. Shelley Henderson also is trying for the seat. Local lawyers Phil Greer and Will ONeill and former Planning Commissioner Fred Ameri are running to replace Councilman Keith Curry, who will be termed out of his seat representing District 7 (Newport Coast and Newport Ridge). The question from 12-year-old Varya Kuznetsova to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday went something like this: If Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko were drowning, whom would Putin save first? The question, among several million submitted for Putins annual call-in television show, got him to say hed been put in an awkward position. Turkey and Ukraine, as well as the United States, are among the nations with strained relations with Russia. Advertisement Putin smiled thinly he had repeatedly condemned both leaders and cut off economic ties with their nations, even though the move undermined Russias economy. Poroshenko stood up to Russias 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimea peninsula and Moscows support of pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine, and Erdogans air force shot down a Russian plane that violated Turkish airspace during a mission in northern Syria in late November. I dont even know what to say, said Putin, who often comes up with salty answers to questions. If someone decided to drown, its impossible to save them, he said as Russian officials and celebrities sitting in the studio laughed and applauded. But we are, of course, ready to extend a helping hand, a friendly hand to any partner of ours if they want us to. The annual call-in exercise covered topics including the countrys struggling economy, Russias role in the Syrian civil war, corruption, U.S. relations and Putins private life. Since Putins first presidency began in 2000, the Kremlin has orchestrated a crackdown on independent media, critics and the opposition and lavishly paid for a resurgent propaganda machine. The Kremlins press service does not allow unexpected, truly provocative questions that would catch Putin unprepared. One indignant caller urged Putin to sue the newspapers that published reports based on the so-called Panama Papers, the leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca indicating that people from around the world stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in offshore accounts. The reports said Putins closest friend, cellist and conductor Sergei Roldugin, is believed to own three companies that hid about $2 billion in offshore accounts. Putin said Roldugin did own some businesses but used his profits to buy expensive musical instruments and finance scholarships for talented young musicians. The real question, Putin said, is who stands behind the Panama Papers. The Kremlin has alleged that the U.S. State Department and the National Security Agency orchestrated the leak. Putin said Thursday that the United States should end what he called its imperial ambitions. When asked whether he would miss President Obama, whose term ends next year, Putin said that he continues to work with the president and that we all shall leave one day. Putin readily answered questions about Russias airstrikes in Syria and military support to embattled President Bashar Assad in that countrys civil war, now in its sixth year. Putin said there is a danger of further expansion of Islamic State but insisted that Moscow remains committed to stopping the extremist group even after last months pullout of some of Russias forces from Syria. Its not like we left and dropped everything, he said. After the withdrawal we left the Syrian army capable of carrying out serious offensive operations with the support of the remaining [Russian] contingent. Many callers asked about the deplorable state of Russias economy, which has suffered from Western sanctions and other factors, and soaring food prices. The rise in food prices is a temporary phenomenon, he said. Prices will stabilize. Another hot topic for some Russians is Putins personal life after he and his wife, Lyudmila, divorced in 2013. You know, we meet sometimes. Not often, but from time to time, Putin said. We have good relations. They may actually be better than they had been before. I know that all is well with her.... And I am also doing well. The divorce hardly affected Putins approval ratings, which remained high throughout his presidencies and 2008-2012 premiership. In late March, his approval rating was 82%, according to the Levada Center, a Moscow-based independent pollster. Even the economic crisis does not hurt his ratings much, as Kremlin-controlled media unashamedly blame the West. The call-in also helped Putin protect his image of a feared-yet-fair leader who acts fast to protect the Russian people from corruption. Two women complained that they had not been paid by a cannery for months of work on the Pacific island of Shikotan, one of four islands in a territorial dispute that has kept Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty to end World War II. Putin promised justice and before the three-hour, 40-minute call-in show was over, Russian media reported that the cannerys director would face fines and criminal charges. Mirovalev is a special correspondent. For decades in Canada, people of mixed indigenous and European ancestry didnt qualify for Indian status and were denied a host of benefits granted to other First Nations people, including government funding, free postsecondary education and health benefits, and hunting and fishing rights. In a landmark ruling Thursday, that changed. The Canadian Supreme Court declared that hundreds of thousands of mixed-race indigenous people, known as Metis in Canada, along with non-status Indians living off reservations, should have access to the same government programs and services as those with Indian status. This is something that will impact about 600,000 people across the country who have been denied recognition or access to entitlements that they now have been declared by the court as having, said Dwight Dorey, national chief of the Ottawa-based Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. Advertisement Nearly nine decades ago, the Canadian government agreed to fund programs and services for status Indians living on reservations, explained Dorey, a Mikmaq who holds treaty Indian status. But it excluded those with partial European ancestry and those who were living outside reservations. The system also favored male lineage, resulting in distinctions that critics say were arbitrary. Children of an Indian woman with status and a man without status would be disqualified, while children of a woman without status and a man with status were included. In 1982, when Pierre Trudeau was prime minister and Canada gained sovereignty from Britain, the Metis were recognized as indigenous people under the new constitution. But that recognition didnt expand who can get those government benefits. As a result, non-status and Metis people became the poorest of Canadas Aboriginal population, said Dorey, whose organization claims to represent about 1.1 million Metis, off-reservation and treaty Indians. Doreys predecessor, Metis leader Harry Daniels, launched the first court case against the Canadian government to obtain rights for Metis and non-status Indians in 1999. He died in 2004. Metis living in Manitoba province have the worst healthcare, a recent study by the Manitoba Metis Federation found, according to the groups president, David Chartrand. The organization represents about 120,000 Metis. Seniors are unable to afford medication and young people cant access medical services for chronic illnesses because the provincial and federal governments cant agree on who is responsible for the Metis population. The Supreme Court acknowledged in its ruling that the old system left indigenous people in a jurisdictional wasteland with significant and obvious disadvantaging consequences. We pay billions of dollars in taxes, but none of that money ends up back in our villages and communities, said Chartrand. He estimated that while the Canadian government provides more than $7 billion in annual funding to the countrys more than 1 million status and non-status Indians, it allocates only about $35 million for Canadas 400,000 Metis, none of whom have improved their health or economic conditions. Now that Trudeaus son, Justin, is prime minister, that discrepancy is finally being addressed. There is no need to delineate which mixed-ancestry communities are Metis and which are non-status Indians. They are all Indians under [the constitution] by virtue of the fact that they are all Aboriginal peoples, the countrys high court said in its unanimous decision. It is now up to Trudeau and his government to align federal programs with the Supreme Court ruling, Chartrand said. We were included as Aboriginal people in Canada, but it never said what that meant, said Chartrand. Its now up to the son to fill in that box. Trudeau said Thursday that the Supreme Court decision will have broad consequences, and that his government will consult with indigenous leaders to determine the next steps. But I can guarantee you one thing: The path forward will be together, Trudeau told reporters at an event in London, Ontario. I hope that [a non-status person is] something that we never hear again, Dorey told reporters in the Supreme Court lobby after the ruling, because we are all status. Guly is a special correspondent. It seems like Facebook users are in for some great news in the coming 10 years as Mark Zuckerberg announced new innovations for the next decade. Virtual reality Over the past few years there has been a huge development of virtual reality technology being developed at festivals around the world and it seems that Zuckerberg is ready to enter that world. At the F8 conference held in San Francisco, the Facebook billionaire noted that in the future Facebook users will be able to share 360-degree videos of their families. Zuckerberg elaborated virtual reality and noted that it would allow communication to be enhanced and that it would allow users to feel more social and feel like they are with the person they are speaking to. Zuckerberg also added that he believed that Facebook would not have to use the Oculus rift and instead they would use something smaller and more comfortable. Artificial intelligence In addition he talked about artificial intelligence and said that the users will be able to see the news in a different way and it will contain fascinating pictures and a new way to see stories. The technology that Facebook currently has been developed in such a way that that the company built a tool for the blind that can understand images in a picture and read them the contents of the image out loud. The company plans to implement and enhance the technology to incorporate it into the news feed so that it will be able to show users news stories containing images most likely to grab their attention. As Zuckerberg stated, the goal is to "show more interesting content" that users won't even know they want until they see it." Zuckerberg did not elaborate on that part of the technology but he said that it would be something would change the way we see Facebook. Other highlights During his presentation Zuckerberg also took time to make political jabs at the current republican front runner. We are one global community," he said. "Whether we are welcoming a refugee fleeing war or an immigrant seeking opportunity, coming together to fight a global disease like Ebola or to address climate change." Zuckerberg noted that we are a global society and therefore it is important to continue to feel connected and that is what the idea of his new Facebook apps are. He added, "I hope that we have the courage to see that the path forward is to bring people together and not push people apart." A new Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) report finds the fiery, aggressive language espoused by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump throughout much of his campaign is sparking raised fears and racial tensions in classrooms across the country. The study, titled "The Trump Effect: The Impact of the Presidential Campaign on Our Nation's Schools," finds two in five teachers surveyed now feel all the rhetoric has fueled such a hate-filled atmosphere they are now hesitant to use the history-making occasion as a teaching moment. Immigrant Sudents Fear Deportation if Trump Elected "My students are terrified of Donald Trump," one educator out of 2,000 polled told SPLC via its "Teaching Tolerance" program. "They think that if he's elected, all black people will get sent back to Africa." Added another, "There is a boy from Mexico, who is a citizen, who is terrified that the country will deport him if Trump wins. He is scared that kids and grown-ups can and will hurt him." Overall, more than two-thirds of the teachers surveyed reported that their mostly immigrant and Muslim students feared what would become of them and their families after the general election in November. In addition, at least one in three educators indicated they detected an overall rise in anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment among their students. Though the survey did not mention Trump by name, more than 1,000 of the teachers directly referred to him in their responses, a number that was found to be more than five times as many as any other candidate. Beyond vowing to deport as many as 11 million immigrants if he is elected, Trump marked the official launch of his campaign by branding Mexicans as "rapists." He has also pledged to build a massive wall along the Mexican border to keep it all immigrants. Trump has proposed banning all Muslims from entering the U.S. Teachers Shying Away From Discussing Election in Class The SPLC report also detailed how more teachers now find a greater percentage of their students expressing more hatred for people overall. "So many of my students have begun to show hatred towards refugees, low-income and poverty citizens, and there has been an increase in religious bias," another teacher wrote. Penned another, "There's a sense that if someone doesn't agree with you, it's acceptable (even encouraged) to have hatred and anger towards them." The end result seems to have left many teachers struggling with how to educate students about what it means to respectfully debate against their peers. It also touched upon how many of them now feel torn between wanting to use the history-making election to teach civics and worrying about expressing personal political opinions to their class. "I don't think it's as possible to be entirely neutral this year," another respondent expressed. "If I were to say Donald Trump had decent points I'd be agreeing with racist dogma. I can be neutral about Democrats and Republicans, but not about racists." With immigration being one of the most critical issues this 2016 presidential election season and more than 27 million Latinos being eligible to vote, actress and activist Rosario Dawson is doing all she can to spark them to action. "There is a huge pocket of all Latinos, and that means encompassing them as women, and as young people, and all of that," she said. "If they do not show up and vote, then yes, there is going to be a significant impact, because we are such a large minority in this country." Dawson all in For Bernie Sanders As for her own vote, the avowed Bernie Sanders supporter insists her approach is a simple though measured one. "I don't have to vote against someone. I get to vote for someone," said the Voto Latino founder recently awarded the Latinovator prize at the Hispanicize conference for promoting empowerment and civil participation. "If you get someone to vote three times in their life, they will vote for life." In between dissecting the issues she feels are most significant to Latinos, Dawson took the time to weigh in on how technology and the Internet has changed for everyone. "The Internet is like another dimension that we live in, and it's a beautiful thing," she said. "You know we all were around the circle, around the fire, and then we went into more of a pyramid, and we all separated, made our own homes and started working in this other tier system." Dawson later added, "Now we go home into our individual apartments, but we open up this portal and we connect to the world. It's like we're in that circle again." In Dawson's mind part of the lure is what she and other activists are so dearly fighting for. "There is equality there," she said. "There are some negative people. There are some positive people. But it's very diverse, more so than it being just negative and positive. There is every part of the spectrum." Dawson Insists She Wrote Letter Criticizing Dolores Huerta As for her politics, Dawson remains all heart. She recently took Mexican American civil rights icon Dolores Huerta to task in an op-ed over her endorsement of Sanders' democratic rival Hillary Clinton. "I was compelled to write the letter," said Dawson. "I worked on it for a week. I didn't write this letter to be divisive." The 36-year-old Dawson starred as the United Farm Workers co-founder in the movie "Cesar Chavez" and recently insisted all the feelings she expressed in the letter about her support of Clinton came from her and not a ghost writer. The controversial injunction involving a "celebrity threesome" has piqued the interest of many as a Scottish newspaper published the full details of the personalities, sidestepping the force and effect of the gagging order imposed by British courts. In a report by The Telegraph, the Court of Appeals granted an injunction that bans news reporters in England and Wales from publishing the names of the celebrity couple and other material pertaining to the case. The Court of Appeals granted the injunction to protect the celebrity figures' right to "private and family life." The petitioner, who can only be identified as PJS, is facing the charge of adultery for having an extra-marital affair. More specifically, PJS was reportedly involved in a threesome with another couple. Judges ruled that the parties' right to privacy far outweighs tabloids' right to publish the story under the laws on freedom of expression. Lord Justice Rupert Jackson stated that publishing the case would deal a devastating blow to the claimant, thus the need for protecting is privacy is stronger. Under the draconian law, the court order is only binding to publications in England and Wales. Thus, newspapers in Scotland and the United States have released a full report on the details of the case and the identities of the parties. The fact that such information is freely published in Scotland and America and made available in other parts of the globe while those in England and Wales are kept in the dark about the proceedings is putting the British legal system into farce. House of Commons' justice select committee member Philipp Davies called out judges for making decisions that are "completely out of touch with what is right." "I don't think celebrities who use the media to secure positive media coverage when it suits them should be able to use the law of the land to prevent coverage they do not like," Davies stated, as quoted by the New Zealand Herald. Former Liberal Democrat John Hemming has urged the Parliament to reexamine the law. "It undermines public debate in England and Wales," Hemming said, according to Huffington Post UK. Hemming emphasized that although the issue of the injunction is trivial, the effect of the injunction creates vital matters that directly affect freedom of speech. He added that in light of the Panama Papers scandal, the courts should lean towards the need for transparency in matters of public interest. The attacks of Saudi Arabia over Yemen recently shed light on another character in the story and that is United Kingdom's weaponries. According to news reports, UK's weapons and in turn the British government are challenged regarding the issue of the breach on international humanitarian laws. According to The Guardian, UK has legally licensed the sale of 6.7 billion worth of weaponry to Saudi Arabia, including an estimated 2.8 billion worth and this is on light of the recent feud between Saudi Arabia and Yemen which kicked off in March 2015. The weapons, which further gave the capability to Saudi Arabia in attacking Yemen, are now in question as to whether UK did their due diligence in ensuring that they are not breaching any international humanitarian laws. In fact, Phillipe Sands QC of Matrix Chambers is challenging the idea saying that the civilian casualties caused by Saudi Arabia towards Yemen are putting UK in a bad light in terms of supplying the weaponries, the publication reports. Furthermore, Sands urges that UK should be inquiring on the usage of the weapons that Saudi Arabia had been purchasing since last year. The statement of Sands then pushed the UK government to send a memorandum, as per the news agency, saying that Saudi Arabia are not targeting civilians. "In carrying out analysis the Ministry of Defence had access to a wide range of information, including Saudi-led coalition operational reporting data, imagery and other reports and assessments including UK defence intelligence reports and some battle damage reports," the memorandum said, as per the news outlet. In addition the memorandum stressed that "The government is currently satisfied that extant licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with export licensing criteria." To disprove the claims even more, David Cameron explicitly denied the involvement of their government with the Saudi-Yemen feud in a statement last January. "Just to be absolutely clear about our role: we're not a member of the Saudi-led coalition, British military personnel are not directly involved in the Saudi-led coalition's operations, personnel are not involved in carrying out strikes, directing or conducting operations in Yemen or selecting targets and we're not involved in the Saudi targeting decision making process," Cameron said, as per the publication. Meanwhile, the lawyer questioning the British involvement, Sands, reportedly spoke in his capacity as a barrister but is also a law professor at University College London, Middle East Eye reports. In other news, the Human Rights Watch revealed that the two strikes in the northern village of Mastaba last March believed to be U.S.-supplied bombs used by Saudi Arabia to Yemen that "caused indiscriminate or foreseeably disproportionate loss of civilian life, in violation of the laws of war," the group said in a statement obtained by the news agency. The Philippines rejected the claims made by the Islamic State that its militants killed dozens of government troops in ambushes. The government said that it is pure propaganda and that there was no evidence linking the southern Muslim rebels to the group. CNN reported that the terror group ISIS claimed responsibility for the recent clashes between Abu Sayyaf and the Philippine Army in Basilan. ISIS released a statement saying they were able to detonate seven trucks carrying soldiers with the grace of god. However, reports cannot verify the authenticity of this statement. General Restituto Padilla, AFP's spokesperson, told the media on April 14 that contrary to what the Islamic militants reportedly claimed, there were no trucks exploded due to bombings during the clash. According to International Business Times, the AFP fought a 10-hour battle around 120 Muslim militants. The mission is to capture or kill Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, an infamous rebel for whom the US State Department has offered a bounty of $5 million. A US-based group that tracks the online activity of jihadi terror groups reported that ISIS claimed responsibility for killing nearly 100 Philippine soldiers. The country has reported 46 individuals killed in action this week. Gen. Restituto said there were many "gaps and inconsistencies", adding that the army lost 18 soldiers, but killed 28 rebels since fighting began, reports Reuters. Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent militant group known for beheadings, bombings, kidnappings, and extortion, has posted videos on social media pledging allegiance to ISIS in Syria and Iraq. The terror group has attracted foreign fighters from North Africa, Middle East, and Southeast Asia to the trouble south of the Philippines. The Philippine army is still looking for concrete proof to make a link between ISIS and Abu Sayyaf; but based on the ongoing assessment, there is no direct link so far. Media groups and several experts criticized the government for handling the encounter with the Abu Sayyaf, claiming that the army repeatedly underestimated the militant group. Apr 14, 2016, 10:29am ET Germany looking to ban older diesel-powered cars The German government is trying to reduce air pollution. The German government is making it easier for mayors to ban older diesel-powered cars from driving on their streets. Officials are working on a law that would give mayors the right to ban cars that don't comply with the strict Euro 6 emissions regulations that came into effect across Europe less than a year ago. The measure is highly controversial, but it's seen as a way to improve the air quality in the country's most polluted cities. "This step is necessary as a stop gap until electric cars have a significant foothold in our towns, and diesel emissions really are what car makers say they are: cleaner," affirmed Deputy Environment Minister Jochen Flasbarth. Unsurprisingly, not all Germans agree with the proposed ban. "It would be a fundamental mistake to badmouth diesels," said a spokesperson for VDA, the German Association of the Automotive Industry. VDA points out that half of the roughly three million cars sold in Germany each year are equipped with a diesel engine. Diesel-powered cars make up 74 and 67 percent of BMW and Audi sales, respectively. Notably, about two thirds of the diesels registered in Germany today don't comply with the Euro 6 norms. German officials stress that the ban won't be mandatory, meaning mayors who don't agree with it won't be forced to enact it. Additionally, the government won't allow mayors to ban every single older diesel-powered car. Towns will need to make exceptions, presumably for residents, for households who can't afford a newer car, and for classics. Photo by Ronan Glon. Spied: Dodge Durango Hellcat? Apr 14, 2016, 4:01pm ET Need a three-row Hellcat? Dodge appears to be on it. Spies in Michigan have spotted what appears to be a hopped-up Dodge Durango hiding beneath half a sheet. Could this be a Durango SRT Hellcat? At a casual glance, this Durango tester could be mistaken for a mild aesthetic overhaul of Dodge's three-row SUV, but a closer look reveals something more interesting. We're referring to the front bumper, where there's a very distinct air intake formed in just below the main grille. We've seen that before on the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk mule which has also been spotted testing. At this point, we're pretty confident in calling it a telltale. We know for certain that the Jeep Grand Cherokee variant will arrive as a 2018 model. Jeep CEO Mike Manley has confirmed as much. Given the state of this Durango tester, we'd wager that it won't be here any sooner, and could perhaps be staggered by a model year just to accommodate production of the supercharged, 6.2-liter engine--a choke point that hampered Charger and Challenger Hellcat deliveries for most of 2015. As is the case with the forthcoming Grand Cherokee variant, the Durango's ultimate capabilities will depend largely on whether FCA has developed an all-wheel drive system that is capable of handling both the torque and revs required to put all 707 (or fewer, depending on the final tune) ponies to ground. Stay tuned for the latest. Photos by Chris Doane. Vince Cable, who was involved in negotiations over the proposed EU-US trade deal, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, in his role as business secretary, has been writing about the issue, and that of free trade more generally. Vince first summarises the rationale for TTIP: The European Commission has prioritised a bilateral agreement with the USA: TTIP, which is proving a source of unexpected controversy, although negotiations are still at an early stage. The underlying objective is to apply, on a transatlantic basis, the same approach that helped to create the EU Single Market. Since, as within the EU, tariffs and quotas are no longer a major issue the emphasis has been on preventing differences in standards, mainly technical, acting as a barrier to trade. There are, for example, different specifications for seatbelt design and testing that make it difficult to export in both directions. In effect, a different production line is required to sell into the USA, which can be prohibitive, especially for low volume manufacturers. He then tackles three of the main arguments that have been raised against the agreement, starting with the issue of standards: One particular theme has been that standards are bound to be levelled down, be it standards for labour protection, food quality, consumer safety or the environment. However, the EU Single Market has never been stopped on these grounds although disparities between members are often far greater than between the EU as a group and the US. Where harmonisation is not appropriate or has a levelling effect the option of mutual recognition is available. Nor is it self-evident that harmonisation will be down rather than up. And many standards are not necessarily better or worse but simply different: three pin or two pin plugs, right-hand or left-hand drive. Secondly, the supposed impact on public services: A second, and even less plausible, controversy has been over public services. The EU negotiators have made it clear that public policy is not a matter for negotiation. If a European country chooses to provide healthcare free at the point of use that is a matter for the country concerned. The reason why healthcare features in the negotiations is that providers should be able to compete without discriminatory barriers. If a US company tenders to build or supply an NHS hospital it should be treated on an equal basis to European suppliers (and conversely European companies should be allowed to compete in the US which is currently full of Buy America provisions). Given the assault on British public services being mounted by the British Conservative government, I would have thought that the Left would have had more immediate domestic targets than a hypothetical world in which US companies somehow manage to subvert an agreement, which gives them no role in policy. And finally Vince deals with the issue of investor protection: A third issue is the attempt led by the US to negotiate an investment protection agreement, with new dispute settlement bodies that can potentially bypass national courts. The US government is seeking stronger protection for US companies overseas in countries where courts are seen as lacking judicial independence in the event of commercial disputes. This may be an issue in the Balkans for example and will certainly be in China when agreements are sought there, hence the argument that a good template is needed. The issue has little direct relevance for the UK since there are already numerous investment protection agreements and when disputes have arisen they have been resolved in UK courts and will continue to be (as with the threatened action by the tobacco companies against the government over plain paper packaging). In these many agreements the UK government has never lost on a matter of public policy. That said, there are important details around the proposed dispute settlement bodies, which should be negotiable. And, since there is little of direct benefit to the UK, there is no reason to go to the wire over the issue. Vinces piece is well worth reading in full and you can do so here. One of my favourite things about the Liberal Democrats is members dont just get stuck into debates they go looking for the evidence to back up what theyve got to say. Thats why this weeks furore around what David Cameron did or didnt do has been so frustrating. The Panama Papers are fascinating to me, as a lawyer and a would-be tax specialist. It looks likely that when the dust has settled there will be evidence of money laundering, of tax evasion, of tax avoidance and of regulatory failings. But so far most journalists and commentators are throwing around words like fund and trust as if theyre the same thing, and treating tax avoidance, tax evasion and money laundering as equivalent acts. Unfortunately, much of the social media discussion so far has accepted these red herrings. In the interest of raising the level of debate, heres my beginners guide to off-shore investing: Whats the difference between a fund, a company and a trust, and why should we care? An investment fund does what it says on the tin: it takes funds from investors and invests them to make a profit. Investment funds like the one David Cameron invested in are nearly always structures based around trusts or partnerships, not companies, and for tax purposes that matters. A company is a legal person, which means it can hold money in its own right and it pays taxes. Companies pay corporation tax (currently charged at 20% in the UK) on money that you or I, as individuals, would pay income or capital gains tax on. That means if you decide to get your income from, say, your fees for speaking at corporate dinners paid to a services company (a la Ken Livingstone), you could avoid paying the difference between the corporation tax rate and what would have been your income tax rate that saving can be up to 30%. If you move that company to an off-shore location where you can get an even more favourable corporation tax rate, you could potentially save even more. Trusts and partnerships are different because they arent separate entities. They hold your money on your behalf, and owe any benefit from managing that money straight back to you. Because they arent separate legal entities they doesnt pay any tax, but that doesnt mean no tax is payable on gains. They are called tax transparent because you can look straight through them to find out who actually owns the money, and tax that person. Did David Cameron pay less tax because his investment was off-shore? No. There are places in the world where investment in offshore funds still has tax advantages. If funds are taxed directly but the investors still have to pay income tax on the profit (so the money effectively gets taxed twice), moving the fund off-shore can get rid of one layer of tax. In other places, the tax system forces investors to recognise and pay tax on any gain every year, whether you withdraw the investment or not if the fund is offshore, they might not be recognised as making an gain. That second scenario is how the UK dealt with funds income before 1984. Since then, though, funds on and off-shore have been taxed the same way and youre no better off with an offshore fund. Whenever David Cameron received money from Blairmore, HMRC didnt care where the fund was located they only cared about David Cameron and where he was resident. That means he paid exactly the same taxes he would have paid if hed personally gone out and bought shares in a UK-based company (like Tesco), received dividends on them for 13 years, and then sold them off again. Every time the fund paid a dividend, he paid full UK income tax on it, and when he finally pulled the money out in 2010 he paid all the capital gains tax he owed. But I heard he didnt pay any Capital Gains Tax? No he didnt, but not because he did anything dodgy. Capital gains tax applies to long term investments where you get a one-off payout when you sell the item instead of regular income. As with income tax, you get an allowance so you dont pay capital gains tax on the first chunk of profit you make when you eventually sell off the asset. This makes sense: it encourages people with relatively small amounts of savings to invest in longer term and slightly riskier prospects like stocks, shares and property instead of leaving their money sitting in current and savings accounts. This is good for the investment market because it frees up capital, and its also good for small investors as over the longer term these riskier products tend to produce better rates of return. In 2010, when David Cameron sold the units, the CGT allowance was 10,100 per person, per year. Married couples can consolidate their two allowances, which was what the Camerons did, so when they made a profit of 19,000 it came in at under their combined 20,200 allowance.* If its not advantageous for tax reasons, why bother setting an investment fund up offshore? There are a few reasons to set up a fund in an offshore location. Usually, its nothing to do with the choice of the investors its all about removing administrative burdens from the group managing the investment. If you go into a high street bank tomorrow and ask about their shares ISAs, theyll be able to offer you a few because they use fund managers who set up many different funds investing in different types of products, using different investment strategies, and offering different levels of risk and return over different time periods. These funds often run for set periods (5-10 years) and its easier for management companies to set up and shut down lots of different trusts in fund-friendly regimes like the British Virgin Islands (where Blairmore was originally based), than it is in the UK. Sometimes it is privacy-related, for those who really dont think your money is their business, but this is more difficult since the introduction of worldwide tax information sharing agreements (the UK has had one of those with BVI since 2008). Wouldnt it all be easier if we made offshore trusts illegal? No. For a start, it would be very hard to make offshore trusts illegal without making all trusts illegal. Preventing UK residents from investing in something that would be a perfectly legal structure in the UK just because its not in the UK is contrary to pretty much every free-trade and movement of capital agreement we have, and the principles behind them. Trusts are a fantastic English legal invention with a long history that has been copied all over the common law legal world. They are used, among other things, to stop adults swindling minors out of any cash they inherit, and to make sure charitable donations are used for the cause the charity was set up to promote. They are very common for investments because they protect consumers from unscrupulous money managers running off with their cash, and makes sure they can take all the benefit from any gains. Theres also no evidence that getting rid of off-shore trusts would help you get to money that might actually have come from money launderers and tax evaders. Ive heard the phrase a sledge hammer to crack a nut a lot in the last few days, but that isnt really accurate. In legal terms, banning offshore trusts would be like taking a sledge hammer to a beautiful filigree box that someone happens to have hidden the nut inside, and then finding that the nut rolled out of the wreckage when you werent looking. *The Camerons made roughly 7.5% interest compounded annually over 13 years, so in the boom years of the early noughties it was a solid (but not stellar) rate of return. Image of pound coins used as a featured post icon for this post is by William Warby. * Alice Thomas is a member of the Federal Board and leads the FB Disciplinary Sub-Group. She is a solicitor based in Southwark who joined the Lib Dems in her hometown of Bromley & Chislehurst in 2006, just in time for her first by-election and has been campaigning ever since. On Tuesday night, Aberdeenshire East candidate Christine Jardine took part in a BBC Scotland debate on health. This is one area in which the SNP has consistently failed. We are going to be 700 GPs short by the end of the decade, its becoming increasingly more difficult to get a GP appointment, there are no mental health beds for children north of Dundee, and theres a LOT of Scotland north of Dundee and mental health care is even worse than it is south of the border. In addition to all of that, health professionals often find that top-down targets get in the way of them doing their job. Watch Christine take on the SNP Health Minister on all these points. The Minister at one point suggested that criticising the SNPs health policy was in some way talking the NHS down their usual refuge when they know they are on the losing side of an argument. Here are Christines highlights: And here is the debate in full on iPlayer. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings A LARGE collage of individual silhouettes depicting refugees making a long journey in search of a better life is among the installations as part of the eminent Eva international art exhibition, which opens in Limerick city this weekend. Art works from as far afield as Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam, Los Angeles, and Johannesburg have been flown in to Limerick for this weeks launch of Eva 2016, the 37th edition of Ireland's pre-eminent visual art exhibition, which runs for three months. Regarded as Irelands largest and most diverse art exhibition, the biennial this year includes a vast array of works interpreting curator Koyo Kouoh's post-colonial theme entitled Still (the) Barbarians, from a project incorporating Limerick lace by an artist from Ghana, and a large silhouette montage by an artist from Nigeria which aims to focus attention on the current refugee crisis. This year's @eva_Limerick exhibition was selected from 2,000 entries and will be in 6 locations around the city pic.twitter.com/bGchlRqVAA Limerick2020 (@Limerick2020) April 14, 2016 Londoner Mary Evans, who was born in Lagos, said this will be her first time exhibiting in Ireland, and connected her own background in migrating with the story of Irelands diaspora and the current crisis in the Mediterranean. My work nearly always has historical references, and is about historical migration, mainly because I migrated to Europe from west Africa when I was a small child, so thats my personal starting for work that looks at a global issue, and this [piece] in particular is called Thousands are Sailing, the name of a song by The Pogues. It begins: The island it is silent now, but the ghosts still haunt the waves, and the torch lights up a famished man, who fortune could not save. Growing up in north west London, I knew lots of Irish people and that song is very much about Irish migration to America in the 19th century, so thats the connection that Ive made between Irish and African history, she said. The associate lecturer at Central St Martins in London said she was inspired by an image in a newspaper of people walking for miles on end. Im hoping there will be a real connection [with the audience]. The crisis is so difficult. I can understand of course, why people would want to move and make a better life for their families. I have benefitted from that myself. I wish that everybody could be accommodated. Its just awful when you see these images it breaks my heart, its really sad. What I like about it here [in the City Gallery] is what when people walk through here and into the gallerys cafe that they become part of that work. The silhouettes are unclothed images she, said, to highlight peoples vulnerability and include pregnant women, babies and kids, all manner of humanity, just of people upping sticks. Artist Godfried Donkor, from London but born in Ghana, travelled to Limerick last September to work a piece, which has become the Rebel Madonna Lace Collection. He investigated the history of Limerick lace, and combined that with lace as an aesthetic form in west Africa, and specifically Ghana, where it is considered a luxury product. Some of the motifs are inspired by life in Ghana, and he has also designed a lace jumpsuit, which will hang in the City Gallery. This too is his first time exhibiting in Limerick and Ireland. Extraordinary works have travelled across the world from Limerick in the past few weeks and were lucky enough to have 30 of the artists here for the opening, added Woodrow Kernohan, Eva director. This year, the exhibition, featuring some 57 artists with 50 projects, will expand to include seven venues, from four in 2014. This years exhibition spaces are Limerick City of Gallery of Art, Cleeves factory, the Hunt Museum, the Sailors Home on O'Curry Street, King Johns Castle, the Milk Market and Mother Macs, formerly the Round House pub. Mother Macs (formerly the Round House) will be the venue for Liam Gillicks project And Then ..., which will be an open mic spoken word film festival. Some of the exhibiting artists have strong links to Limerick, while a number of international artists flew into Limerick some months ago to work on projects with a specifically local theme. Nice Screams, by Deirdre Power and the Softday duo of Sean Taylor and Mikael Fernstrom, invited submissions from the public to write a new anthem that ties in with the centenary of the 1916 Rising, activating a call to action on the streets of Limerick on April 24. A Dhuine Uaisle Uachtair Reoite (Better World in Mind) by Donnacha Toomey was selected by public vote and converted to an ice cream van chime to be performed at Eva International on Sunday, April 24. This years exhibition focuses on new media such as video games, to traditional art works such as tapestries and oil paintings. Curated by Koyo Kouoh, from Cameroon, and entitled Still (the) Barbarians, the exhibition opens on Saturday, April 16. It will be launched this Friday at 4pm in the City Gallery, at 6pm in Cleeves, and then there will be a launch party at Milk Market from 8pm until late. There will also be a curatorial talk with Ms Kouoh at the Belltable Arts Centre, at 11am this Friday. MARY Immaculate College has been awarded a 5.4m contract from the Higher Education Authority to develop programmes which will help increase its student population by 50% over the next four years. Welcoming the announcement, college president Professor Michael A Hayes said the award of this tender represents a significant milestone for the college. He said the programme will further strengthen MICs position at the forefront of early years and teacher education. The programme is for the delivery of the National Higher Education Programme for Inclusion Coordinators in Early Years Settings. This training initiative is a result of recommendations from the Governments Interdepartmental Group report last year regarding access to early years education for children with additional needs and specifically to facilitate the creation of a new role of inclusion coordinator in each early childhood care & education setting. The delivery of this programme will see an additional 3,600 students to the already expanding population at MIC with anticipated student numbers at 7,000 by the year 2020. As a result of the incorporation of St. Patricks College Thurles, which will take place formally this summer, MIC is now a multi-campus institution offering nine undergraduate degree programmes in Education and the Liberal Arts, as well as a wide range of Continuing Professional Development offerings for teachers and numerous postgraduate opportunities to Masters and PhD level. The national programme, which is scheduled to be rolled out later this year, is a specialist programme, aimed at the development of a Level 6 Special Purpose Award (Higher Education), which will now be required for staff in Early Years settings to perform the role of Inclusion Coordinator. Successful graduates of the programme will acquire an NFQ Level 6 (Higher Education) Special Purpose Award in the Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Years Settings which will enable them to successfully perform the role of Inclusion Coordinator in an ECCE Programme setting. May 3, 2021, 5 AM A Macedonia 1996 10-dinar Republic of Macedonia Flag stamp (Scott 74) issued to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Macedonian independence. A Macedonia 1993 4d Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization stamp (Scott 17) issued for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the IMRO. A Serbia 2012 22-dinar Battle of Kumanovo Centenary stamp (Scott 608) Prince Regent Alexander Karageorgevich (later King Alexander I of Yugoslavia) is shown at the right of the design. The stamp commemorates a Serbian victory in the First Balkan War. By Rick Miller For much of its history, Macedonia has suffered from an identity crisis. There are between 1.5 million and 2 million people who speak Macedonian as their native tongue. Most of them live in the Balkan Peninsula in a landlocked area wedged between Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece. Slavic-speaking people who would become the Macedonians arrived in this area in the late sixth century. They are Eastern Orthodox Christians. They were part of the Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and the Serbian Empire before being conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 14th century. The First Balkan War (1912) liberated all of Macedonia from the Ottomans. The Macedonian language is an Eastern South Slavic language closely related to Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian. The defeat of the Ottoman Turks in the First Balkan War (1912) left Macedonia divided between Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece. Connect with Linns Stamp News: Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Keep up with us on Instagram The Serbians claimed that Macedonian was just a dialect of Serbo-Croatian and that they were really Serbs. The Bulgarians claimed that Macedonian was just a regional variant of Bulgarian and that they were really Bulgarians. The Greeks called them Slavophone Greeks, and maintained that they were really Greeks who just happened to speak a Slavic language instead of Greek. The Macedonians themselves were divided on the issue. Some identified more strongly with Bulgaria, while some identified as Macedonians. Many had little or no sense of a national identity and if asked to identify themselves might reply, I am a Christian who lives in this place. Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization Thinking that Serbia and Greece received too much of Macedonia in the First Balkan War, on June 29, 1913, Bulgaria attacked its former allies, starting the Second Balkan War. The Bulgarian attack was repulsed. Greece and Serbia then invaded Bulgaria from the south and west. Romania took the opportunity to invade from the north, while the Ottoman Turks invaded from the east. Bulgaria sued for peace and lost land to all four countries. The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization was founded in 1893 with the general intention of establishing Macedonian autonomy. Like many other revolutionary groups, it would splinter into several factions and go through a series of name changes. For simplicitys sake, I will refer to it throughout as the IMRO. The two main factions of the IMRO were the Federalists who favored autonomy or independence for Macedonia and the Supremists who favored annexation to Bulgaria. The Supremists were closely allied to the Italian fascist government and the Ustase (the Croatian fascist party). For the Supremists, the Yugoslav government was the primary enemy. Based in the Petrich District (Bulgarian Macedonia) of Bulgaria, the IMRO was often hand-in-glove with the Bulgarian government, police, and military. Between 1924 and 1934 (at which time it was suppressed by the Bulgarian government), the IMRO carried out 884 assassinations within Bulgaria. The victims were opposition politicians and judges, police, and local authorities who refused to cooperate with the IMRO. From 1919 to 1934, it also murdered at least 706 Yugoslavian officials and citizens. Like later terrorist organizations such as the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Irish Republican Army, the IMRO turned to organized crime to fund its operations: notably, extortion, kidnapping, and heroin trafficking. King Alexander I of Yugoslavia Some have said that King Alexander I of Yugoslavia was the only real Yugoslav who ever lived. Everyone else in the country was either Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Bosniak, Macedonian, or Albanian. He was scrupulously fair and even-handed with all, but in trying to mold the disparate peoples of his kingdom into one nation, he pleased few and angered many. Chief among his enemies were the Ustase and the IMRO. King Alexander was a staunch Western ally and was committed to the system of collective security promoted by France and Great Britain. In October 1934, he sailed aboard the Royal Yugoslav Navy cruiser Dubrovnik for a state visit to France to strengthen ties between France and the Little Entente (Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia). Both Italy and Hungary had revanchist designs on Yugoslav territory. Elements within the Italian and Hungarian governments conspired with the Ustase to assassinate Alexander during his state visit to France. Plotting the assassination The operation was masterminded by Ustase leader Ante Pavelich, who would later serve as the fascist dictator of Croatia during World War II. Italy supplied passports, funds, equipment, and a base of operations for the plot. Pavelich asked the IMRO for a hit man and Vlado Cernozemski (birth name Velichko Dimitrov Kerin) was assigned. His nom de guerre was Vlado the Chauffeur. Vlado the Chauffeur worked for the Supremist arm of the IMRO and self-identified as a Bulgarian. He had twice previously been tried and sentenced to death for assassinations in Bulgaria. After the first conviction, he was allowed to escape by the police. He received a government pardon after the second conviction. He had carried out many other assassinations without the formality of being arrested and charged. After he was pardoned, Vlado the Chauffeur relocated to Italy where he trained Ustase assassins and terrorists in a camp run with Italian government connivance. King Alexander arrived in Marseilles, France, on Oct. 9, 1934. He was met by French foreign minister Louis Barthou. As they rode through the streets of Marseilles thronged with cheering crowds, Vlado the Chauffeur stepped up and fired into the car with a semi-automatic pistol. King Alexander was hit in the chest and abdomen and died on the scene. Barthou was hit in the arm and died later from complications from the wound. A French mounted policeman slashed Vlado the Chauffeur with his sabre, and he was caught and beaten to death by the crowd before the police could get to him. His three Croatian accomplices were arrested, tried and convicted for accessory to murder. Italy refused to extradite Pavelich, so he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death in absentia. Diplomatic protests to Italy and Hungary for their involvement in the operation were broadly denied and largely ignored. King Alexanders body was returned to Yugoslavia aboard the Dubrovnik. After a state funeral in Belgrade attended by half a million people, King Alexander was interred in the Royal Oplenac Mausoleum in St. Georges Church in Topola, Serbia. Pavelich served as dictator of the fascist Croatian puppet state during World War II, where he was responsible for carrying out genocide against Jews, Gypsies, Serbs, and Bosniaks. After the war, he was smuggled out of Croatia to Italy, disguised as a Roman Catholic priest, with the connivance of the Vatican. In 1948, he secured passage to Argentina. He lived in Argentina and Chile until 1957, when he was allowed to enter Spain. He died peacefully in Madrid in 1959. In 1944, the Peoples Republic of Macedonia became one of the republics in the Peoples Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. After a referendum on independence passed, the Republic of Macedonia declared its independence from Yugsolavia on Sept. 8, 1991. Evidently there is no longer any sentiment for union with Bulgaria, but the large Albanian minority (roughly 25 percent of the population) remains restive. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. Neanderthals, the closest known extinct relatives to humans, probably had to pick annoying bits of food out of their teeth from time to time. And now, scientists have evidence that these extinct cousins of modern humans may have done so with the help of prehistoric toothpicks. Researchers found traces of wood trapped in fossilized plaque stuck to Neanderthal teeth. The bits of bark likely came from toothpicks or possibly wooden tools used as a third hand during crafting, said the new study, published in the April issue of the journal Antiquity. Led by Anita Radini, an archaeologist at the University of York in the United Kingdom, a group of scientists recently examined teeth found at El Sidron cave in Spain. At this site, at least 13 Neanderthal skeletons have been found; the remains date back 49,000 years. [The 7 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth] The scientists said they were mostly after the fossilized plaque known as dental calculus. It's the same stuff a hygienist will scrape off your teeth if you haven't done a good job flossing and brushing. That plaque can trap tiny food particles, bacteria and whatever else may enter your mouth. After plaque hardens, it can survive even longer than bone. That fact, while it may sound like a threat from your dentist, is good news for archaeologists. People generally didn't have great oral hygiene hundreds and thousands of years ago, the researchers said. The stubborn plaque that's stuck to very old teeth can be a useful capsule of material for reconstructing some mundane but important aspects of prehistoric life, such as how people ate and what their health was like, the scientists said. In the latest study, the scientists found bits of nonedible, and noncharred, conifer wood tissue in the plaque from some of the El Sidron teeth. The researchers said the most likely explanation for the finding is that these Neanderthals were putting toothpicks or wooden tools in their mouths. Previous research has shown that Neanderthals knew how to make use of the trees around their campsites; they made wooden spears, built fire pits and manufactured tar-like pitch from resin. So the finding isn't all that surprising, especially considering the results of a few recent studies: In 2013, another group of scientists reported in the journal PLOS ONE that they had found grooves on the in-between parts of quite unhealthy Neanderthal teeth, possible proof that these hominins habitually used toothpicks to alleviate gum pain. Meanwhile, last year, scientists studying the skeletons from El Sidron found marks on the teeth that indicated these Neanderthals were performing tasks involving their teeth as tools. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. Documents from the Wright brothers' "Flying Machine" patent, filed in 1903: The patent oath and the patent drawing. The patent file for the Wright brothers' original "Flying Machine" has returned to the National Archives, after being misplaced 36 years ago. The long-missing patent paperwork filed by aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright on March 23,1903, included a diagram of their invention, their petition for patent approval, the patent registry form, and their patent oath, affirming that "they verily believe themselves to be the original, joint inventors" of the so-called "Flying Machine." The Wright brothers didn't wait for the patent to be granted to take flight. On Dec. 17, 1903, the brothers lofted their flying machine into the air for 12 seconds, flying 120 feet at Kitty Hawk, on North Carolina's Outer Banks. And a little more than three years after filing, the Wright brothers were granted their patent: number 821,393, assigned on May 22, 1906. A wrong turn for the Wright patent For years, the files resided in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., the federal repository for historically important U.S. documents. But more than three decades ago, the Wright patent took a wrong turn, embarking on an unexpected journey that diverged from its proper place for quite a bit longer than expected. In 1978, the National Archives lent a number of documents including the Wright brothers' patent to the Smithsonian Institutions Air and Space Museum, for an aviation exhibit commemorating the 75th anniversary of the first successful flight of a manned, powered, heavier-than-air craft at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Recovered patent documents filed by Orville and Wilbur Wright: The patent petition and register. (Image credit: National Archives and Records Administration) Archivists marked the documents as returned in 1980, but a later search failed to locate the patent, and it was added to the official list of missing files. Other important entries currently on the National Archives "Missing Historical Documents and Items" list include the patent drawing for Eli Whitney's cotton gin, assorted 19th-century presidential pardons, several telegrams written by President Abraham Lincoln, and a diamond-studded dagger that was given to President Harry S. Truman. Sometimes, historic documents and artifacts are stolen for private sale, and the National Archives exhorts collectors and dealers to avoid illegally buying, selling or trading in stolen government documents, and to report any that they might encounter to the proper officials. But important documents can also simply be misplaced. With more than 107,600 cubic feet (3,047 cubic meters) of patent files in storage at the National Archives, containing 269 million pages, it's not very difficult to imagine how a single patent could "disappear" if it were mistakenly filed in the wrong spot. Which is apparently what happened to the Wright brothers' patent. A National Archives representative revealed in a statement that the patent had been filed in the wrong box, and that the Archival Recovery Program tracked it down on March 22, after a targeted search. A folder holding the missing documents had surfaced in a National Archives storage "cave" in Lenaxa, Kansas, The Washington Post reported on April 2. After spending more than three decades in hiding, the recovered documents will be getting some long-overdue attention. Several pages will appear in an exhibit at the National Archives Museum's West Rotunda Gallery, beginning May 20, to celebrate the 110th anniversary of Orville and Wilbur Wright receiving patent number 821,393. Follow Mindy Weisberger on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science Internet retailer has reportedly held discussions with the central German airport, with speculation it is considering an offer to buy it Speculation continues over Amazon's next move into logistics following its decision to set up an air freight network in the US, with several reports in Germany suggesting the internet retail giant has held talks with Hahn airport. Although reports last month suggested that Amazons primary focus in Germany currently is to find a new location for a major distribution centre, there is now speculation that it may be one of three parties interested in acquiring Hahn airport. No one at the airport was available to comment at the time of writing, but a report in German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung indicated that discussions with Amazon had taken place, although it was unclear exactly what had been the subject of the discussions. It said the loss-making airport was for sale, noting that the Rheinland-Pfalz regional authorities had received three purchase bids. Although the names of bidders are not named, it said the contract would be signed soon. Sueddeutsche Zeitung speculated that Hahn would be a reasonable location for a hub for Amazon, located in the middle of Europe and close to its logistics centre in Koblenz. The speculation comes as Amazon attempts to enhance its presence within Europe's largest economy and expand its own delivery operation in Germany following a launch in Munich last year. The delivery operation is set to be extended to other major German cities and metropolitan districts, reducing reliance on the big parcel carriers, a report in DVZ claimed, quoting the managing director of transport at Amazon Germany. Last week, the courier, express and parcels information service CEP-Research reported that Amazon planned to invest 1.2 million in its logistics facility in Leipzig, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, to keep up with other, more modern logistics sites, including new conveyor technology and more staff. As reported in Lloyds Loading List, Amazon last winter trialed an air express operation in Europe, chartering a B737 freighter to fly packages between Poland, the UK and Germany. The plane reportedly made five trips a week, flying from Katowice in Poland to Luton, East Midlands, or Doncaster airports in the UK and then back to Poland via Kassel in Germany. The round trips linked several of Amazons biggest fulfilment centres in Europe. Katowice airport is near its two giant warehouses in Wroclaw, while Kassel is the closest airport to Amazons two fulfilment centres in Bad Hersfeld, Germany. In March, Amazon confirmed that its logistics ambitions lie beyond local warehousing and distribution by signing a series of agreements with Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) to operate an air freight network on behalf of the internet retail giant. After much speculation about the relationship between the two companies, ATSG announced the agreements with Amazon Fulfillment Services, an affiliate of Amazon.com, to operate an air cargo network to serve Amazon customers in the United States. In conjunction with the commercial agreements, ATSG also has agreed to grant Amazon warrants to acquire, over a five-year period, up to 19.9% of ATSGs common shares. The commercial agreements will include the leasing of 20 Boeing 767 freighter aircraft to Amazon Fulfillment Services by ATSGs Cargo Aircraft Management (CAM) business; the operation of the aircraft by ATSGs airlines ABX Air and Air Transport International; and gateway and logistics services provided by ATSGs LGSTX Services. The duration of the 20 aircraft leases will be five to seven years, while the agreement covering operation of the aircraft will be for five years, ATSG said. As reported by Lloyds Loading List, Amazon began a trial late last year with ATSG involving Amazon moving further into logistics via its own-controlled air freight and air express delivery operations. Sources in the US had reported that Amazon was the customer of a new air freight operation out of Wilmington Air Park in Ohio, ATSGs main operational base, using infrastructure formerly used by DHL Express. Using four B767 freighter aircraft, the project was said to involve a hub-and-spoke air freight operation out of Wilmington (ILN) with four flights a day to and from four other confirmed airports: Allentown, PA (ABE); Ontario, CA (ONT); Tampa (TPA); and Oakland (OAK). In January, Lloyds Loading List also reported that Amazon had registered with the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) as a licensed Ocean Transportation Intermediary, allowing it to sell ocean freight services as an NVOCC, sparking further speculation about its expansion ever deeper into international logistics. And then in February, Amazon documents seen by Bloomberg News revealed a far bolder plan. Bloomberg reported that a 2013 report to Amazons senior management team had proposed an aggressive global expansion of the companys Fulfillment By Amazon service, which provides storage, packing and shipping for independent merchants selling products on the companys website. The report envisioned a global delivery network that controls the flow of goods from factories in China and India to customer doorsteps in Atlanta, New York and London. Bloomberg said the project, called Dragon Boat, is proceeding, according to a person familiar with the initiative. According to Bloomberg, Amazons plan would culminate with the launch of a new venture called Global Supply Chain by Amazon, as early as this year. The new business would place Amazon at the centre of a logistics industry that would amass inventory from thousands of merchants around the world and then buy space on trucks, aircraft and ships at reduced rates. Image: Shutterstock.com To the editor: The Laredo-based South Texas Food Bank recently hosted a one-day conference on April 12 at the IBC Annex on Jacaman Road for the more than 80 affiliated agency members who help distribute food to carry the STFB mission of feeding the hungry in eight counties from Rio Grande City to Del Rio. More than 100 agency coordinators and assistants attended the annual event. From one bank (the South Texas Food Bank) to another bank (IBC and Commerce), a sincere and deeply-appreciated thank you to community-minded IBC and Commerce Bank presidents Dennis Nixon and Ignacio Urrabazo for the facility and meal on conference day. Please keep a continued "interest" in the South Texas Food Bank. STFB agency director Elia Solis coordinated the event. She said, This was our mandatory conference-workshop in cooperation with USDA and Feeding America. With a poverty rate at 30-plus percent and difficult economic times, the need in our service area is huge for the basis of all food. The STFB receives product from USDA through membership in Feeding Texas and national Feeding America. Alma Boubel, food bank executive director, and Erasmo Villarreal, STFB board president, lauded the agencies, said: You are extremely important in getting product to the needy. Without you we would not be as successful. You are blessing to the people we serve. We need more groups like you. Representatives from Webb, Zapata, Jim Hogg, Starr, Dimmitt, Maverick, Val Verde and Kinney counties attended. The conference included a motivational talk by Falcon International Bank executive and STFB board member Ed Sherwood plus presentations by special guests Mary Callahan of Feeding America and Gaye Lynn Bailey of Feeding Texas. The South Texas Food Bank staff was also on hand. The South Texas Food Bank, open since 1989 in cooperation with H-E-B and celebrating 27 years of service, is located in west Laredo, 1907 Freight at Riverside, open Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It can be reached at 956-726-3120 or www.southtexasfoodbank.org and it is on Twitter and Facebook. The STFB distributes supplemental food monthly to 27,000 families, 7,000 elderly, 7,000 children and 500 veterans and their widows through Gigi Ramos (Volunteers Serving The Need). Sixty percent of the budget comes from state and federal government, the other 40 percent from charitable donations. Tax deductible contributions can be mailed to 1907 Freight, Laredo, Texas, 78041. Sincerely, Salo Otero, South Texas Food Bank marketing director Others, Local News, Crime, Community, Charity & Cause By Chris Boyle Published: April 14 2016 Stephen Ruth has been disabling and destroying red light cameras across Suffolk County - and he's not planning on stopping anytime soon, despite two arrests. A Long Island man has claimed that Suffolk Countys red light camera program is dysfunctional and abusive. To date, Centereach resident Stephen Ruth, 43, dubbed locally as the Red Light Robin Hood, has gone as far as alerting media prior to tampering with traffic cameras - nearly twenty in total - throughout the County. Charged twice in the past nine months, Ruth first made headlines back in August of 2015, when he filmed himself sabotaging a Suffolk County red light camera in Ronkonkoma, which he then promptly posted on YouTube (video below). Ruth's face is clearly visible throughout the entire clip while narrating the process, including instructions on how, in his opinion, is the best way to properly disable the cameras. After the video started garnering attention from the public, an anonymous tip was submitted to the SCPD, and officers subsequently placed Stephen under arrest at his home. In his original video, Ruth utilized a painters extension rod to push the Ronkonkoma-based red light camera upwards towards the sky, obscuring its view from the sea of passing license plates it regularly recorded. This is a feat he pulled off on a total of four cameras before he was caught by authorities, who charged him with Criminal Tampering and Obstruction of Governmental Administration (the legal outcome of these charges are still pending). But the question remains - why did the 43 year-old Ruth out himself as a red light camera saboteur by filming the deed and publically posting the video for all to see? "Because Ive never hidden from my actions, and I believe in what Im doing, Ruth said. I stand behind my actions, I dont hide behind them. Im trying to save lives. Stephen Ruth's mug shot, taken by Suffolk County Police after his most recent arrest on April 11th, 2016. Photo courtesy of SCPD. Earlier this week, Mr. Ruth was arrested yet again for tampering with red light cameras - this time disabling as many as nineteen of them in a single weekend. According to the Suffolk County Police Department, the damage caused by tampering with the cameras last weekend has caused in excess of $25,000 worth of destruction. Stephen Ruth has become a staunch advocate for the removal of the devices, accusing Suffolk County of attempting to use them to generate revenue from local residents - taxation by citation, if you will. Furthermore, despite the Countys claims otherwise, Ruth asserts that accident rates in intersections with cameras are being driven up by as much as 40 percent or more as opposed to being reduced. Some of those accidents have claimed lives, Ruth insists. According to a statement by Robert Sinclair, of New Yorks AAA, rear-end crashes at traffic lights were up as much as 83% in 2013. The Suffolk County red light camera program was originally instituted in 2009, with the official goal being stated as to increase safety and reduce accidents. Fifty cameras were installed in major intersections throughout the County, which were designed to snap pictures of license plates of motorists who ran red lights. Regardless of who is actually driving the vehicle, registered owners of vehicles found to pass red lights typically receive a citation in the mail a short while afterwards. Both Suffolk residents and lawmakers have expressed opposition to the cameras; at a 2015 press conference, Legislator Robert Trotta (R-Fort Salonga) stated that the cameras were an example of money-grabbing on the part of the County, which he noted is $2 billion in debt. In addition, Trotta pointed out that the camera system actually has a ticket quota it has to meet; if a certain number of tickets are not generated within a 16-hour period, he said, the County has to pay a fee to Affiliated Computer Services Incorporated, a Maryland-based company that runs and maintains the cameras. Ruth said he first saw the cameras as a problem one day after services at the local church when his priest told him that he felt he had been unjustly ticketed four times; Ruth then decided to do some detective work of his own and see these devices in action for himself. Ruth, a builder/broker/landlord who has been living in Centereach for the past 16 years, said that after his first high-profile red light camera arrest in 2015, he became something of a folk hero; he received a great deal of support, he said. And it was through that level of support, Ruth alleges, that he discovered how the County was supposedly stacking the deck against drivers in regards to the red light cameras. Mr. Ruth's mug shot from his August 2015 arrest. Photo courtesy of SCPD. When I was arrested back in August, the police showed me respectthey didnt even put handcuffs on me, and they told me that they supported what I was doing. They told me I was onto something very big, but at the time I didnt know what they meant, he said. But after everything blew up, cops started contacting me and telling me that the duration of yellow lights at intersections where the cameras were installed were cut in half from six seconds to three to trick people into getting tickets and to generate revenue. Ruth said that he went to these areas and saw the three-second lights for himself, even taking video of the intersections in question and posting the clips on his Facebook page. After conducting further research, Ruth said, he realized that these shortened yellow lights may have contributed to several tragic road incidents since they were installed. Disabling as many as nineteen (19) cameras between April 9 and April 10 of this year, Ruth pryed open access panels on camera poles and cut video lines; in one instance he cut down the entire pole. Again, in what he said was an attempt to call attention to his cause, Ruth brazenly flaunted his deed by inviting a CBS 2 TV News Crew to interview him at the scene of his crime. After conducting a tour with the reporter and her camera crew, Ruth was once again arrested by Suffolk authorities and charged with Criminal Mischief. These cameras are illegal, and people are being hurt and killed trying to beat a short yellow light, he said. By cutting the cables on these cameras, Ive made them dysfunctional, just like the whole red light camera program. Ruth also asserts that Suffolk County is adding additional fees to the traffic tickets above and beyond the $50 fine that are sent to motorists, an act which he claims is prohibited by a New York State statute (note: points are not deducted from drivers licenses for these infractions). In addition, he also accuses the County of never having the red light camera installation plans officially signed off by a licensed, professional engineer; without such approval, Ruth contends, the cameras are not even authorized to exist to begin with. You have the right to protest, Suffolk County said in a statement given to LongIsland.com after Ruths arrest. But you do not have the right to violate the law and destroy public property. A bill sponsored by New York State Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci (R,C,I-South Huntington) is currently pending (assembly Bill A7894), which requires that in communities where traffic-control signal photo violation-monitoring devices are in use yellow signal lights must meet minimum duration requirements. Ruth noted that hes been trying to win more lawmakers over to his side, and that hes even attempted to get the FBI involved in the issue; however, while the Feds informed Ruth that theres no law governing short yellow traffic lights, he hopes that a bill could be passed in Albany to establish a uniform yellow light time statewide. The cases against Ruth are still pending, and while he hopes that he doesnt see the inside of a jail cell again, he said that his campaign against Suffolk Countys red light camera program will nonetheless continue unabated. A lot of judges, congressmen, and senators are supporting me, and they all tell me to stay on the path. Even the police support methey want these cameras gone as well, he said. Im just fighting to get the lights straightened out and to save some livesIm not trying to go to jail again if I dont have to, all Im aiming for is just to save some lives. Calls to Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone's office for comment on Ruth's claims and accusations were not returned as of press time. Update - April 15, 2016 - Legislator Robert Trotta announced that he has introduced legislation to the Suffolk County Legislature which would suspend the Red Light Camera Program. Trotta accused the program of being a "money grubbing" ploy to collect fines from citizens, and also referred to it as "taxation by citation." He argued further that the program, which was introduced as a means to reduce traffic collisions and improve safety, has actually had the opposite effect in multiple locations, citing three specific Suffolk red light cameras that have seen a huge spike in both accidents and accidents with injuries. Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: April 14 2016 Our Fight highlights Kaminskys record of fighting corruption, delivering middle-class tax cuts, securing record school funding and helping Sandy victims. Long Island, NY - April 13th, 2016 - Today, Assemblyman and former federal corruption prosecutor Todd Kaminsky released a new ad, entitled Our Fight, in his campaign to replace convicted former Senator Dean Skelos. The ad, which will run on cable stations across the South Shore, features Kaminsky and local residents speaking about how he has helped their lives and delivered for South Shore communities. The ad specifically references Kaminskys efforts during the recent state budget process to secure a $1billion dollar tax cut for middle-class families and nearly $20million in additional funding for school districts in Southwest Nassau County thanks to his work to eliminate the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA). The ad further features Kaminsky's work as a former prosecutor in the federal governments local public corruption unit, where he won big cases against corrupt Democrats and Republicans before his election to the State Assembly where he continued to fight against corruption, passing ethics reforms to hold Albany lawmakers accountable. After releasing the ad, Kaminsky said: "Im the only candidate in the race that has an actual record of rooting out corruption, securing record funding for South Shore school districts and delivering tax relief for middle-class families and Sandy victims. Im proud to share my campaigns positive message of delivering real results for our taxpayers and communities. I grew up on the South Shore, live on the South Shore, and am raising my family on the South Shore and Long Island taxpayers will always be my top priority. About Todd Kaminsky Assemblyman Kaminsky has spent his career fighting for Long Island families and working to end government corruption. As a federal prosecutor representing Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens, and as acting deputy chief of the Public Integrity Section, Todd took down corrupt elected officials, drug kingpins and other major felons. In 2014, Todd was elected to represent the South Shore in the New York State Assembly. During his first term, Todd fought for and won ethics reforms, tax breaks, aid for Sandy victims, and a new emergency center at South Nassau Communities Hospital. Todd authored the most laws by a first-year assemblymember in recent New York State history. Local News, Crime, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: April 14 2016 The commemoration will be held at the annual Law Day Awards Dinner on May 3 at NCBA in Mineola. Mineola, NY - April 12, 2016 - The Nassau County Bar Association, the source for legal information and education on Long Island, is marking 50 years since the landmark Miranda Rights legislation was enacted, as well as awarding three outstanding advocates for service to the legal profession and the community, at the annual Law Day Awards Dinner on May 3, 5:30-8 p.m. at NCBA in The Nassau County Bar Association, the source for legal information and education on Long Island, is marking 50 years since the landmark Miranda Rights legislation was enacted, as well as awarding three outstanding advocates for service to the legal profession and the community, at the annual Law Day Awards Dinner on May 3, 5:30-8 p.m. at NCBA in Mineola Keynote speakers Nassau County District Attorney Madeleine Singas and Honorable Stephen P. Scaring, Scaring & Carman, Garden City, together will share their experiences of life before Miranda, the procedural protections afforded to all of us by the U.S. Constitution, how these rights are safeguarded by the courts, and why the preservation of these principles is essential to our liberty. Each year on Law Day, NCBA recognizes three outstanding examples of service. The Liberty Bell Award will be presented to Robert Bernstein, a teacher who has served as a Mock Trial Coach for his high school team since 1997 and volunteers as a court advocate for The Safe Center LI. Jonathan Press, a long-time dedicated volunteer attorney at NCBA's Mortgage Foreclosure Legal Consultation Clinics and mandated court settlement conferences, will be honored with The Thomas Maligno Pro Bono Attorney of the Year. Finally, the Peter T. Affatato Court Employees of the Year Award will be presented to Lisa Porteus, Chief Court Reporter for Supreme Court in Mineola. Fifty years ago, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Miranda v. Arizona resulted in the Miranda Rights statement that must be made by police to inform a person in police custody or under interrogation of his Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination. The Miranda warning has become one of the most recognizable phrases in law enforcement, repeated countless times in films and on television. To make reservations at $55 per person, please contact Caryle Katz, 516-747-4070, ckatz@nassaubar.org About the Nassau County Bar Association Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com Columnists Press Releases Azamara Introduces Overnight Adventures Azamara Overnight Adventures Include: The introduction of the Overnight Adventures program is designed to expand on-land opportunities by providing cruise enthusiasts with bucket-list worthy experiences.Once in port, guests on Azamara are encouraged to explore exotic locales and breathtaking cities through added days providing ample time to truly connect with new and unique cultures, savory dishes and overall character of the destination. Following the overnight stay, guests will rejoin the ship at the next port of call to continue their journey.A dedicated team of expert guides lead each adventure ensuring that guests fully experience their days and nights ashore. The Overnight Adventures program includes transportation, hotel and meal accommodations planned to perfection to allow intrepid travelers to embark on immersive expeditions during their cruise.This two-day expedition reveals the countless mysteries hidden within the richest archeological site in Asia. Bagan was founded in 849AD and its home to 3,000 ancient pagodas, temples and monuments spread out over 26 square miles. Stand at the Sunset Temple and watch in amazement as the sky bursts into color, just as the ancients once did. One morning visit a bustling local market, and by afternoon be exploring a collection of ruins that make up one of the architectural and archeological wonders of the world.For history buffs and biblical scholars, this is a moving opportunity to retrace the life of Christ and explore the world's holiest city. Travel to the River Jordan and set foot on the very shores where Jesus was baptized. Later, imagine hearing Christ's famed sermon given at the Mount of Beatitudes and visit the ruins of a synagogue where he once preached. Come nightfall, arrive in Jerusalem. Day two is spent on the narrow streets of the Old City. Visit the Western Wall and follow the Stations of the Cross on a journey that travels back thousands of years.Guests will experience Italy's most architecturally rich and artful cities beginning with a full day in Venice. Climb the great staircase of the ornate Doge's Palace on a guided tour, and then, join the clamoring performers in St. Mark's Square. Of course, no visit would be complete without a look inside St. Mark's Cathedral. On day two, it's off to Florence for a stroll along its Renaissance streets and a day brimming with works by Michelangelo and other masters. The day includes ample time to shop Florentine jewelers and the city's famed boutiques.Bound across the rolling dunes of Oman on an unforgettable Bedouin adventure, this desert spectacular starts with a journey to breathtaking lagoons, cascading waterfalls and seaside retreats. Come afternoon, guests will venture across the sands to a Bedouin camp to enjoy an evening of drinking, dancing and traditional barbecue. The night's accommodations? A resplendent Bedouin tent filled with every appointment for extreme comfort and oneness with the desert.Whether it's one of the world's great cities or a hidden gem found along the road less traveled, Overnight Adventures provide uniquely immersive experiences. Azamara Club Cruises is pleased to offer guests this exciting new land experience to cruising itineraries around the world.For complete details about Overnight Adventures, visit https://www.AzamaraClubCruises.com/OvernightAdventures Italian Opera Cruise Features Front-Row Seats to Carmen The night at the opera will be followed the next day by a 6-night, all-inclusive cruise aboard the 20-passenger La Bella Vita hotel barge, which cruises Venice to Mantua. The cruise is a total of seven days, from August 20 27, 2016, and starts at $3,490 per person, based on double occupancy.Before the Opera Cruise begins, guests will be picked up at the Hotel Due Torri in Verona to visit the fascinating Arena Museo Opera museum, followed by dinner in its courtyard restaurant. In the evening, they will be treated to front-row seats in the magnificent setting of the Arena di Verona to watch a magical performance of Carmen.The next morning, guests will enjoy a walking tour of Verona before being transferred to La Bella Vita in Venice, which sets off that afternoon along the Giudecca Canal. It will moor at the Naval Museum, followed by a guided tour of the Doge's Palace, a city landmark. The cruise also features visits to several historic baroque theatres. These include Gran Teatro La Fenice, where the premieres of operas by composers such as Rossini and Verdi were performed, and the intimate Teatro Bibiena in Mantua, with its bell-shaped interior that opened in 1770 with a concert by a 13-year-old Mozart.Visit website: MADISON The Madison Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) Youth Service Council (YSC) recently sent more than $1,000 to St. Vincent de Paul-Lebanon to assist the poor, unemployed, and refugees there. While attending a national St. Vincent de Paul meeting in Providence, R.I., last fall, YSC members Claire Finucane and DC Morris heard Julien Spiewak, the societys international secretary general, outline the struggles the country of Lebanon currently faces and how the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is trying to help. Challenges in Lebanon The SVdP has been active in Lebanon since 1860 but has recently faced greater challenges than usual. More than a million Syrian refugees have sought refuge in Lebanon comprising approximately 20 percent of the countrys current population. The influx of people has led to a scarcity of jobs and increased unemployment. When Claire and DC returned to Madison and shared with other Youth Service Council members about the need in Lebanon and the Society of St. Vincent de Pauls efforts there, the group decided to do something to bolster SVdP-Lebanons limited resources. Love 2 Lebanon effort What inspired me to help St. Vincent de Paul in Lebanon was hearing about the crisis at the SVdP National Assembly in Rhode Island. Our group focuses a lot on local issues and I thought it would be great to be able to help others in need in different countries as well, wrote Claire Finucane, current president of the YSC. Claire set up the order for 1,000 red rubber bracelets which said Love 2 Lebanon and St. Vincent de Paul on them. Members planned multiple ways in which they would promote the sale of the bracelets: setting up a table at Edgewood High School in Madison during lunch, selling them to friends and family, sharing the opportunity with peers in their parish youth ministries, and featuring them at this years Frassati Fest. The bracelets sold for $2 each, matching the Love 2 Lebanon theme. Gayle Westfahl, the groups advisor, was in direct contact with the president of SVdP-Lebanon, Ella Bitar, via email. Ms. Bitar forwarded descriptions of SVdP Lebanons work as well as the need for new boots for children at an SVdP day care and new equipment for a medical clinic. The YSC was able to see real photos of both the day care and clinic run by the society. Rachael Schiedermayer, another YSC member, shared, When I heard about the children in Lebanon who had no shoes or very ratty shoes, I wanted to help in every way I could. While several hundred bracelets remain, the efforts of the SVdP Youth Service Council garnered a total of $1,075.78 that has been sent to SVdP- Lebanon. Charity encircling the world The YSCs efforts prove that the vision of Blessed Frederic Ozanam (founder of SVdP) for the society can effectively be seen today: a network of charity encircling the world. Having the opportunity to help another SVdP in the world was so inspiring . . . It is a good feeling that our small group in Madison can make a difference across the world, Claire reflected. Join the Youth Service Council Are you a high school student who would like to join the 2016 to 2017 Madison SVdP Youth Service Council? Applications and position descriptions are available by contacting Gayle Westfahl at gwestfahl@svdpmadison.org or at the following link: www.tinyurl.com/app2016svdpysc Applications are due Friday, April 22. In light of the Final Well Control Rule released today, National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) president Randall Luthi issued a statement voicing both gratification and concern with the new regulation and its implementation. The good news for industry today is that we are now learning what is actually in the final well control rule. We are gratified that some industry concerns were addressed. When regulations require retrofitting existing equipment or the use of new technology, it is best to have a reasonable implementation time. This was important to industry, and on that aspect BSEE agreed and extended many of the proposed timelines. However, the final language on the prescriptive drilling margin may not completely address valid concerns expressed by some of our members. Therefore, the implementation scheme of that section will be key as regulators move forward under the rule. There may very well be more earwigs tucked away in the corn, but we are just now beginning to peel back the layers of this massive rule. We cannot ignore, however, that the release of the final rule culminates a rulemaking process that was flawed. For months, members of Congress, industry trade associations, oil and gas companies and their employees weighed in on the rule, urging the regulators and the White House to take more public comment, consider new economic studies, and pull back and rewrite portions of the rule. Like trying to hit a bullseye while blindfolded, no one received meaningful feedback and everyone was left guessing whether their input had hit the mark and would be reflected in the final rule. In the end, nothing is more important to the oil and gas industry than safety; and cooperation and collaboration with federal regulators from planning to execution is still the best and safest policy. Industry has put sweeping new safety standards in place over the last six years, and we welcome effective regulations that support and enhance our efforts to safely and cleanly deliver the energy America needs. Incat Crowther informed that the 30m Catamaran Workboat Nordic Barakuda built at Marine Diesel Services was successfully delivered. The Nordic Barakuda has been built on the expertise and experience Incat Crowther has demonstrated in previous vessels such as Unlimited, Limitless, Straight Shooter and Vejunas. This vast experience has resulted in one of the most capable and versatile vessels of its type and size. With seating for 60 day personnel, accommodation for an additional 10 overnight personnel and Nordic Barakudas 6 operational crew, the vessel will perform seismic and crew supply roles in South East Asia. Nordic Barakudas 70sqm aft deck, has a deck rating of 3t/m2 with multiple lashing points to support the transit of containers and other freight. It has been fitted out with pad-eyes for towing, a 3-tonne A-Frame, as well as an integrated winch base and a deck crane. Dedicated to personnel in transit, the aft portion of the main deck cabin features a four-person cabin, changing room, bathroom, showers, medevac, seats for 42 and ample luggage racks. Personnel accommodation continues in the hulls with a four-person cabin and a two-person cabin, both with en-suites. The forward end of the main deck cabin features a crew galley and mess, as well as access to the hulls. The hulls also houses a cool room, a pantry and a laundry, further enhancing the vessels long-range credentials. Nordic Barakuda is powered by a pair of Caterpillar C18 main engines, each producing 533kW. The vessels service speed is 12 knots, with a top speed of 15 knots. SPECIFICATIONS - 30m CATAMARAN UTILITY VESSEL PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS Length Overall 98 1 / 29.9m Length Waterline 93 6 / 28.5m Beam Overall 27 20 / 8.5m Draft (hull) 5 3 / 1.35m Draft (prop) 6 3 / 1.9m Depth 11 10 / 3.6m Construction Marine grade aluminium CAPACITIES Fuel Oil 8 300 gallons / 31 500 litres Fresh Water 400 gallons / 1 500 litres Sullage 400 gallons / 1 500 litres Day Personnel 60 Overnight Personnel 10 Crew 6 PROPULSION AND PERFORMANCE Speed (Service) 12 knots Speed (Max) 15 knots Main Engines 2 x Caterpillar C18 Power 2 x 715hp (533kW) @ 2100rpm Propulsion 2 x Propellers Generators 2 x Caterpillar C4.4 86kVa REGULATORY Flag Indonesia Class / Survey ABS +A1 HSC Crewboat For a Longer Healthier Life in America, Get Rich (or move to Maine or Vermont) If you are feeling chronic stress, anxiety, apprehension and are worried about money, work, family matters, personal health and the economy you are in the majority. Since 2007, the American Psychological Society (APA) has conducted a Stress in America survey. It found that money and work are the top two sources of very or somewhat significant stress (67 percent and 65 percent in 2015, respectively). This year, for the first time, the survey reveals that family responsibilities are the third most common stressor (54 percent), followed by personal health concern (51 percent), health problems affecting the family (50 percent) and the economy (50 percent). In its March update, APA focused on The Impact of Discrimination to stress. Nearly seven in 10 adults in the U.S. (69 percent) report having experienced any discrimination, with 61 percent reporting experiencing day-to-day discrimination. Younger adults are the most likely to say they have experienced any discrimination (75 percent of Millennials, compared to 72 percent of Gen Xers, 67 percent of Boomers and 56 percent of Matures). Thirty percent of women cite gender as a reason for day-to-day discrimination, compared to just 8 percent of men. Disabled adults with a disability are twice as likely as adults without a disability (19 percent vs. 9 percent) to say that their life has been harder (a lot or some) because of discrimination. For all groups surveyed, the most commonly reported experiences of major discrimination relate to employment. While overall life expectancy at birth in the United States reached a record high in 2012, significant numbers of adults across different subgroups also are experiencing disproportionate rates of health disparities, including mortality rates. An April 10 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) indicates life expectancy is significantly associated with income. (jama.jamanetwork.com) The JAMA study noted higher income was associated with greater longevity throughout the income distribution. The gap in life expectancy between the richest one percent and poorest one percent of individuals was 14.6 years for men and 10.1 years for women. Men in the bottom one percent of the income distribution at the age of 40 years in the United States have life expectancies similar to the mean life expectancy of 40-year-old men in Sudan and Pakistan. Men in the top one percent of income distribution have higher life expectancies than the mean life expectancy for men in all countries at age 40 years. Inequality in life expectancy increased over time. Between 2001 and 2014, life expectancy increased by 2.34 years for men and 2.91 years for women in the top five percent of the income distribution, but by only 0.32 years for men and 0.04 years for women in the bottom. In a JAMA editorial, Steven H. Woolf, MD, MPH commented, Life expectancy is lower and disease morbidity is higher in the United States than in other high-income countries. This situation, decades old, is not for lack of skilled medical care; the United States has among the worlds best hospitals and technology. Nor is spending on health care inadequate; per capita health expenditures in the United States far exceed spending elsewhere. The poorer health of racial and ethnic minorities does not explain the nations low rankings; the US non-Hispanic white population and other advantaged groups also have worse health outcomes than their peers in other countries. The US health care system certainly has deficiencies, he stressed, notably the lack of universal coverage, but this alone does not explain the pervasive health disadvantage. A February report from The Sightlines Project of Stanford Univ. (stanford.edu) found financial security is less likely for Americans in 2014 compared to 2000, particularly among the least educated, who are more likely to live at or near the poverty level, lack emergency resources, and are less likely to have investments that contribute to their financial futures. Millennials (ages 25 to 34) are facing ever greater uphill struggles, the Stanford project reported. Those who went to college are 50 percent more likely to carry debt. Moreover, the average debt in this group is five times higher than 25- to 34-year-olds carried just 15 years ago. Social engagement is declining. It is too soon to tell whether new forms of technology-mediated social engagement SMS, chat, video telephony, posting and tweeting are providing social benefits and how they may complement face-to-face engagement. Interactions with neighbors whose proximity could be especially helpful in times of stress or emergencies are becoming less common. These three reports, among dozens in the last years, portray stress levels, health outcomes and longevity across economic groupings; the JAMA study reveals significant gaps between the poorest and wealthiest one percent. But answers to why these differences exist are disputed and argued. Dr. Woolf (JAMA editorial) continues, A medical journal article reporting that income is significantly associated with life expectancy is a call to arms, but the answer cannot come from medicine or public health alone but from the health professions working with partners who share an interest in prosperity and good health. He encourages the collaboration of business leaders, school systems, the park authority, investors, retailers, the media, and community groups. In search of better health and a longer life? Reduce stress or get richer. Pay-off debt. Save. Limit buying to essentials only. Abhor credit cards. Enjoy nature (its free). Interact face-to-face instead of through costly impersonal devices. Write Letters to the Editor instead of posts to social networking sites (they have the lifespan of a snowflake). Attend community meetings and be involved in political decisions. Volunteer to help the less fortunate, disabled and elderly in your town and city. Turn off TV, radio and web stressors (theyll be there if you decide to go back). Eat healthfully (its cheaper). Love your neighbor (and help heal America!!!). In search of peace? Go to Iceland. The nonprofit Institute for Economics and Peace (economicsandpeace.org) ranks Iceland number one in peacefulness in its Global Peace Index for 2015. Alas, the United States ranked #94, just below Peru (#93) and above Saudi Arabia (#95). But if you are searching for the most peaceful area within the U.S., The United States Peace Index, a national subdivision assembled by the Institute, ranked Maine the most peaceful state in the U.S. in its 2011 and 2012 surveys. (Vermont ranked #2) A 24/7 Wall St. (247wallst.com) July 2015 survey also ranked Maine the most peaceful state in the country, performing well in each of five measures considered. (also ranking Vermont #2) The report reads: 1. Maine Violent crime rate: 129.3 per 100,000 (2nd lowest) Murder and non negligent manslaughter rate: 1.8 per 100,000 (7th lowest) Median household income: $46,974 (16th lowest) 2014 unemployment rate: 5.7% (21st lowest) Maine ranked as the most peaceful state in the country, performing well in each of the five measures considered. The state had a murder rate of less than half the national rate, as well as the second lowest violent crime rate, only just slightly higher than Vermonts. Not surprisingly, the state incarcerated the smallest proportion of its population in the nation, at just 163.6 people per 100,000 residents less than a third of the national incarceration rate. While it was the most peaceful state, Maine did not display all the characteristics of a state with low violence. For example, income tends to be higher in low-crime areas, but Maines median household income of $46,974 was the 16th lowest in the country. By other demographic measures, however, the state fits the profile as a peaceful place. For example, just under 92% of Maines adults had at least a high school diploma, the fifth highest rate in the country. Discounting Maines principal trigger for producing state-wide stress (Gov. Paul LePage), you cant find a more peaceful state in America (other than Vermont). And should Donald Trump become president, its just a short ride from any point in Maine to the seventh most peaceful country in the world. Hello Canada? Sources: 2015 Stress in America. American Psychological Association. March 10, 2016. http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2015/impact-of-discrimination.pdf The Association Between Income and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2001-2014. Raj Chetty, PhD, et. al. JAMA. April 10, 2016. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2513561 The Good Life. Steven H. Woolf, MD, MPH. JAMA. April 10, 2016. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2513559 Seeing Our Way to Living Long, Living Well in 21st Century America. The Sightlines Project. Stanford Univ. February 2016. http://longevity3.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Sightlines-Project-Full-2_10_2016_855pm_FOR_WEBSITE.pdf On Death and Money. Angus Deaton,, PhD. JAMA Editorial. April 10, 2016. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2513558 Global Peace Index 2015. Institute for Economics and Peace. 2016. http://static.visionofhumanity.org/sites/default/files/Global%20Peace%20Index%20Report%202015_0.pdf Iceland remains most peaceful nation in the world, study says. Jethro Mullen. CNN. June 25, 2015. http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/25/world/global-peace-index-iceland-syria/ United States Peace Index. Institute for Economics and Peace. June 2012. http://economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/2012-United-States-Peace-Index-Report_1.pdf Americas Most Violent (and Most Peaceful) States. Thomas C. Frohlich. 24/7 Wall St. July 15, 2015. http://247wallst.com/special-report/2015/07/15/americas-most-violent-and-most-peaceful-states/5/ (c) 2016 Michael T Bucci. All Rights reserved. Michael T Bucci is a retired public relations executive currently living in New England. He has authored nine books on practical spirituality collectively titled The Cerithous Material. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. The Internal Revenue Service issued a warning Wednesday that scammers may try using the April 18 tax deadline to prey on taxpayers by impersonating the IRS and others with fake phone calls and emails. Even after the tax deadline passes, taxpayers should know telltale signs of a scam and tips to protect themselves from phone scams and phishing emails. Officials with the Henry County Sheriffs Office, Martinsville Police Department and Delegate Danny Marshalls office also said they had heard reports of similar scams. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in the warning: "Weve seen continuing activity throughout the filing season. As the tax deadline nears, these criminals may try and trick honest taxpayers over the phone or via email, and people should remain vigilant. After the tax deadline, watch out for these scammers promising a refund or threatening you with an unexpected tax bill." The IRS advises the following: Scammers frequently pretend to be from the IRS, a tax company and sometimes even a state revenue department. By email, they try to entice people to click on links in official-looking messages that contain questions related to their "tax refund." Report these emails to phishing@irs.gov. By phone, many scammers use threats to get people to pay a "tax bill" maybe even threatening to arrest, deport or revoke the drivers license of their victim if they dont get the money. There also are variations of these scams. Be cautious with providing personal or financial information. Some examples of the varied tactics seen this year include: soliciting W-2 information from payroll and human resources professionals; "verifying" tax return information over the phone; and pretending to be from the tax preparation industry. To protect themselves from these schemes, taxpayers should: nWatch out for threatening phone calls: Scammers making unsolicited calls claiming to be IRS officials may demand that the victim pay a fake tax bill. They may con the victim into sending cash, usually through a prepaid debit card or wire transfer; and they may leave "urgent" callback requests through phone "robo-calls," or via a phishing email. Scammers often alter caller ID numbers to appear the IRS or another agency is calling. The callers use IRS titles and fake badge numbers to seem legitimate. The IRS will never: 1) Call to demand immediate payment over the phone, nor will the IRS call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill; 2) threaten to immediately bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying; 3) demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe; 4) require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card; 5) ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone. If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and asking for money and you dont owe taxes, heres what to do: 1) Don-t give out any information, and hang up. 2) Contact TIGTA (U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration) to report the call. Go to the "IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting" web page (https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml) or call 800-366-4484. 3) Report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission, using the "FTC Complaint Assistant" on FTC.gov. Add "IRS Telephone Scam" in the notes. 4) Call the IRS directly at 1-800-829-1040 if you think you might owe taxes. n Avoid email phishing attempts: Email scams that appear to be from a tax agency or a tax software company have surged this year. Dont reply to emails, texts or pop-up messages asking for your personal, tax or financial information. . Martinsville Police Chief Sean Dunn said he was aware of reports of scammers pretending to be from the IRS contacting people, claiming they owe money or need to provide information apparently in an effort to get confidential information such as Social Security number or to collect payment over the phone. Dunn advises people not to provide confidential personal information or money requested, but rather to contact the IRS directly or the police department. If you get a letter claiming to be from the IRS that doesnt appear legitimate or it says you owe taxes that you know you already have paid, assume it is fake and contact the IRS or the police department, Dunn advises. In one case, a scammer was traced (by caller ID) back to what may have been an overseas operation, Dunn said. Major Eric Winn of the Henry County Sheriffs Office said: "We have had IRS and similar scams for quite some time now. We havent had any in the last couple of weeks but they are a frequent occurrence. We have issued about 10 media releases over the past 2-3 years. Whenever we hear of a new tactic they are employing, we try to get a release out on it. Many people are not falling victim to this as in previous times. Hopefully our awareness is making people skeptical when they receive these calls and mailings." A HCSO news release dated Dec. 17, 2015, said, among other things: "Many are receiving telephone calls from individuals claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service and stating the call recipient owes delinquent taxes. The caller is demanding that payment be made or an IRS agent will come to their house and arrest them. They will either require the individual to provide the caller with a credit card number or instruct them to purchase Green Dot Money Pak or Reloadit cards. If purchased cards are used as a method of payment, the caller will ask for the numbers on the back of the card and deplete the funds that were previously loaded on them. " Mary Franklin, chief of staff for Del. Danny Marshall, said a constituent reported a scam in which she received phone calls from a caller claiming to be from the IRS and making threats, and she also received a letter supposedly from the U.S. Department of Treasury. Goodyear employees are being paid during the Danville plants temporary closure following the death of a worker there Tuesday morning, said a company spokeswoman. Officials plan to reopen the plant Friday after shutting it down as a precautionary measure following the incident. The Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident. Further details about the incident were not available Wednesday afternoon. Goodyear cannot comment on an active investigation, said Goodyear Communications Manager Laura Singleton, in response to questions from the Danville Register & Bee. Associates will be paid during the temporary plant closure. Goodyear is still investigating and officials closed the plant to allow this review to proceed without distraction, Singleton said. The employee who died, Greg Cooper, 52, was a maintenance mechanic at the plant and lived in Chatham. He worked at Goodyear for 18 years. Jennifer Rose, VOSH safety director in Richmond, described the agencys process when investigating a fatal workplace accident. The employer or local police department provides a report to VOSH. We respond to that report by initiating an investigation, Rose said. Officials hold an opening conference with company representatives to let them know why VOSH is there, she said. VOSH officials look for the fatalitys causes and possible violations, Rose said. They inspect equipment and other parts of the facility, and talk to employees, management and personnel who were on site during the incident, she said. What enforcement officers find determines the next step. VOSH has up to six months to issue citations, Rose said. Tuesdays death marks the third fatality at the plant in eight months. Kevin Edmonds, 54, of Penhook, died during his work shift on March 31. Edmonds death is under investigation. In August 2015, Jeanie Lynne Strader, 56, of Chatham, died in an accident at the plant. The Goodyear plant was issued three violations totaling more than $16,000 in February for the fatal accident that claimed Straders life, according to an inspection detail on OSHAs website. The plant contested the penalties on March 16. Goodyear is Danvilles largest private employer. The plant also had a fatality in 2007, Rose said. Editor's note: This is the first in a series of multimedia reports where we will take you behind the scenes of interesting places around the region. Email rrizzuto@repub.com with suggestions for future locations. SPRINGFIELD At first glance, The Paramount Theater in Downtown Springfield, looks rundown, from the chipped paint on the doors, the faded rugs and the water damage done from leaks in the massive roof. Upon closer inspection, one can begin to see the beauty in the building established in 1929 as a movie theater. There are original Tiffany chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, ornate wood carvings on the support columns and hand painted murals on the walls. Underneath the large stage, which still has most of the original wood flooring, there is a Wurlitzer organ, still in working condition. "There is a lot of beauty here. I try to keep everything as original as possible," said Heriberto, "Herbie" Flores, who's agency, The New England Farm Workers Council, bought the Paramount building, known as the Massasoit Block, in March 2011 for $1.7 million. The block is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. At the time, Flores had plans to restore the theater, including the return of 2,300 seats and an expanded stage. That was five years ago and while the venue is still used for some private functions, none of the plans have come to fruition for this landmark. "The reality is to get this done the right way, you need to spend between $18 and $22 million," Flores said. Renovating the venue the "right way" would mean replacing the roof entirely, new windows that preserve the historic design, new heating and air conditioning, improvements on handicapped accessibility, some new elevators and rest rooms, removal of some walls to expand the stage and add dressing rooms, a "top class" marquee, and facade improvements. However, none of these expenses even come close to the cost of maintaining the integrity of the original building, Flores said. "I get offers all the time from people who want to buy one of the Tiffany lamps for thousands of dollars or people who have ideas about fixing up the place. The thing is I know that once you start selling off those little pieces of history you can never replace them, you cannot get that back," said Flores, who remembers watch movies at the Paramount when he was a teenager growing up in Springfield. The Paramount has changed names several times, however, it remained a movie theater until the 1960s, when it started being used for not just movies, but rock concerts, and other live performances. Flores continued hosting events and booking concerts at the venue until a shooting incident last year compelled him close the doors. "It had nothing to do with the show. It was a targeted thing," Flores said of the shooting, "but I decided to close it down for a while." Since then, the venue is used for some private events but not much else. Flores realizes the building is in a state of disrepair, but said he will not give up on it. He says he is in talks with some private investors who might be interested in renovating the space while maintaining its historical integrity. Flores, an entrepreneur, businessman and Vietnam veteran, said he won't let negative comments about the Paramount stop him. "People, they call me a dreamer and tell me you will never get this done, but I don't listen to that," he said. "Yes, we could tear it all up and make it a new place and everything else, but then you are losing this piece of history. I don't have the right to do that, because this is not mine. This place belongs to the people of the city of Springfield." ET-Dog Getting Vaccination Saturday's rabies clinic at the Easthampton public safety complex is open to all. (Submitted photo) EASTHAMPTON -- Pets owners are invited to a rabies clinic at the Easthampton Public Safety Complex on Saturday, April 23, from 1-2 p.m. Massachusetts law requires that owners of cats and dogs vaccinate their pets for rabies. Rabies vaccinations are considered effective for one year, unless your pet has undergone a primary series of vaccinations in his or her first year of life. Pets in that category may receive a shot every three years, according to the Dept. of Agricultural Resources. Rabies is a viral disease that can affect all mammals, including humans. The virus attacks the central nervous system and can be transmitted through saliva. The fee for Saturday's clinic is $19. Pet owners are asked to bring proof of prior vaccinations to the clinic. All dogs must be on a leash, and cats must be in a cat carrier or other enclosure. Easthampton dog licenses will be available. The clinic is open to residents of all communities, and not limited to Easthampton residents. The event is sponsored by Dr. James Hayden of the the Easthampton Animal Hospital and the Easthampton City Clerk's office. Dog licenses will be available. Easthampton's public safety complex is located at 32 Payson Ave. UPDATE: State Police said the accident was cleared by 7:30 a.m. and the occupant was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. ______________ SPRINGFIELD -- A rollover accident was reported on Interstate 291 West in Springfield Thursday morning. A dispatcher advised that the accident at 6:47 a.m. involved entrapment and was somewhere between Exits 2 and 3. A State Police trooper reached at the Springfield Barracks said he could not give any details about the accident. Scanner transmission at 6:56 a.m. indicated that the occupant was out of the vehicle. Google Maps showed traffic backed up nearly to Exit 3 near Armory Street. This story will be updated as more information becomes available. Burgos Robles Pistolcrop.png 6-10-15 -- Springfield --This is the gun found in Luis Burgos' Nissan Murano on June 9, 2015. (Springfield police photo) SPRINGFIELD Hampden Superior Court Judge John S. Ferrara on Thursday acquitted 37-year-old Luis A. Burgos of two illegal gun charges plus a charge of reckless endangerment of a child. Defense lawyer James R. Goodhines argued in the jury-waived trial that Burgos did not know his nephew had just placed a gun under the front passenger seat of his car on June 9, 2015. Assistant District Attorney Robert A. Schmidt argued Burgos knew his nephew, Armando Robles, had a gun. Schmidt said city police officer Mark Templeman saw Burgos point his keys to his Nissan Murano right before Robles put the gun in the car. From left, in photos provided by Springfield police: Luis Burgos and Armando Robles Burgos, of Springfield, was acquitted of carrying a firearm without a license, possession of ammunition and reckless endangerment of a child. Schmidt said in his closing argument to Ferrara that he should find Templeman's testimony about events credible. Goodhines said Ferrara should not find Templeman credible but instead should find testimony of Burgos and his nephew and mother credible. The vehicle driven by Burgos was stopped on June 9, 2015, by police after Templeman saw what he believed to be a gun placed under the passenger-side front seat of Burgos' car by Robles. Burgos and his 4-year-old son were the only ones in the vehicle when it was stopped. The boy was not in a car seat and not restrained by a seat belt. A police officer testified the boy could have reached the gun. Robles went to the Springfield Police Department about an hour after Burgos was stopped and said the gun found in the Murano was his and Burgos didn't know it was there, Robles said when he was called to testify at Burgos' trial by Goodhines. Robles on Monday pleaded guilty to carrying a firearm without a license and possession of ammunition. Schmidt asked Ferrara to sentence Robles to three years in state prison plus two years of probation. Ferrara sentenced Robles, 21, to 18 months in the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow, plus two years of probation. Burgos testified in his own defense, saying he had no idea his nephew put a gun in his Nissan Murano. A police officer testified that, when he was stopped, Burgos said "f---ing snitches." Burgos said all he said was, "What is this s---." Robles proved to be somewhat of an interesting witness, as Ferrara repeatedly asked him to speak louder and warned him at a few points when Robles became hostile to questions. Schmidt, cross-examining Robles, held up the large gun and asked Robles if it wasn't uncomfortable to carry the gun in the waistband of his pants. Robles ultimately agreed with that. Asked why he carried a gun, Robles said "(I) just had it. For my protection." When Schmidt asked Robles where he got the firearm, Goodhines successfully objected to the question. Robles was making comments about Schmidt's question. Ferrara explained to Robles he had to answer questions unless there was an objection. The next question from Schmidt was, "When you obtained the firearm, did you pay for it?" "Do I have to answer that?" Robles asked Ferrara. Ferrara sustained Goodhines' objection to the question. Schmidt asked Robles why he put the gun in his uncle's car, and Robles said he was going with Luis Burgos and Burgos' brother Felix Burgos to talk with some people with whom Felix Burgos had just had a dispute that involved a machete cutting Felix's hand. Robles said he put the gun in the car rather than bring it with him because he didn't want things to escalate. Robles said he never went back to 1698 Dwight St. where the Murano was parked. Schmidt asked him why he did not get the gun back from the Murano. "I forgot," Robles said. Schmidt asked Robles if he carried a gun every day. "I object," said Robles to the judge, who then explained it was Goodhines that would have to object, not Robles. Since Goodhines had not objected, Ferrara said Robles had to answer. "Yeah," was Robles' answer to whether or not he carried a gun daily. SPRINGFIELD -- Dianguo Cui, chairman of CRRC, a company based in China and the world's largest rail car maker, received a warm welcome on his first visit to Springfield on Thursday to tour the site of a planned $95 million factory. Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, who was among city and CRRC officials touring the 40-acre former Westinghouse property in East Springfield, told Cui through an interpreter that the city wishes him and his company continued success as "continued success for you is continued success for us." Construction is beginning this spring including work on the 220,000-square foot factory building and transforming the former Westinghouse administration building into the CRRC U.S. headquarters with engineering and research offices. The factory, slated for completion in the fall of 2017, will be the first CRRC factory in the United States. Cui had kind words back, through an interpreter and by way of a press release provided during the tour. "We are proud to have Springfield as our partner on this journey to establish rail car manufacturing in a city rich with history, passion, and a commitment to improve the local economy through education and employment opportunities," Cui said in the release. Cui said he looks forward to being back next year "to open the doors to a facility that will provide jobs, manufacturing expertise and and state-of-the-art rail car vehicles for North America." Sarno, and his chief development officer, Kevin Kennedy, said the CRRC project will have a great impact on economic development and jobs. CRRC MA is running ads online now through staffing company United Personnel in Springfield for two executives. When it's up and running in two years, the factory will employ 150 production workers with starting salaries of at least $66,000 a year, according to company and city officials. Employees will go to China for training, CRRC has said. That's in addition to the another 150 or so construction workers employed building the plant. In 2014, CRRC was awarded a contract to design and manufacture 284 Orange and Red Line trains for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. The new factory is slated for completion for the fall of 2017. Mayor Sarno stated, "It's back to the future - bringing back manufacturing and precision machining back to the City of Springfield. We are very proud and honored to partner with CRRC in this economic development project." Rick Sullivan, president and chief executive officer of the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council, said it is exciting to have the CRRC project moving forward and going into the construction phase. "As we work with the Chinese rail car company, it is going to be important to have local content in terms of local jobs, local businesses in the supply chain and on the construction site. They've been great to work with so far, and it's exciting to see it happen." Lydia Rivera, a spokeswoman of CRRC, said Cui is visiting Springfield to see the site and is traveling around the United States as CRRC pursues other projects in the country. Kathleen Brown, president of the East Springfield Neighborhood Council, said Thursday was "another good day " for the neighborhood. "The project is moving forward," Brown said. "We're going to see buildings going up soon. We are going to see jobs coming into the neighborhood. That's all good." (Staff writer Jim Kinney contributed to this report. Willie Ross contest.jpg From left to right: Bert Carter, president and CEO of Willis Ross School for the Deaf, Antonino Melchionne, middle school teacher Meredith Kay and lead teacher Nancy Howard LONGMEADOW Submitting a video to a contest at which written essays are typically the norm, a teenager at Longmeadow's Willie Ross School for the Deaf won a contest soliciting essays about "What My School Means to Me." Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schools chose 16-year-old Antonino Melchionne's video as the best of 70 submissions across 18 schools, according to the Longmeadow. The contest asked students for submissions that highlighted how their special education school has contributed to their successes and achievements. "We are delighted to recognize Antonino for his exceptional work, his creativity and successes," James V. Major, executive director of the association said in a prepared statement. In his video, Melchionne, of Westfield, talks, signs and raps about his school. The video also features music he produced. Attending a school where teachers and students are supportive and understanding has provided Melchionne with a better community than others, he said in the video. "I'm thankful for my teachers and friends who support and care for me; teachers and friends who are really nice and helpful to me," Melchionne said in his video. "Willie Ross has given me the opportunity to meet and make new friends, both hearing and deaf." In a ceremony early this month, the association honored Melchionne at its 38th annual conference at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel in Marlboro, where a crowd of special education teachers and professionals cheered him, according to the school. Willie Ross' director of educational services Gregory DeLisle praised Melchionne's victory. In addition to introducing a new medium and winning the contest, Melchionne has excelled academically and socially, he added. "Nino has made significant gains in academic, behavioral and social areas," DeLisle said. "He has embraced all aspects of the educational and extracurricular opportunities at Willie Ross School for the Deaf." AMHERST - The University of Massachusetts Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign is continuing to garner support as students begin their fourth day of occupation in the Whitmore Administration Building, Since the occupation began, 34 students have been arrested on trespassing charges. About 50 are occupying the building Thursday, said Divest spokesman Filipe Carvalho. He said the plan is to continue to occupy the building until the university commits to completely divesting from the top 200 fossil fuel companies. The request was made four years ago, they said, and resubmitted to Board of Trustee Chairman Victor Woolridge and UMass President Marty Meehan earlier this week with the latest deadline, which was Wednesday. The campaign wants UMass to come up with a plan for divestment in two months with full divestment accomplished by 2021. Students spoke with Woolridge and Meehan Tuesday and according to a statement, which read "(UMass) system leaders today said they would advocate for a policy that would see the five-campus UMass system divest and prohibit direct investment in fossil fuel companies." But students want a promise to completely stop investments from the state-run university in fossil fuel companies and subsidiaries. The Massachusetts Society of Professors has expressed its solidarity with the activists and the UMass Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein tweeted that the students are giving "us hope for the future divest from fossil fuels now." State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, touted his support as well on Facebook. "As we know, the fossil fuel industry is the main driver of man-made climate change," Eldridge said. "People around the world are facing the deadly effects of our warming climate, and the Commonwealth's universities must take a stand and divest its funds from the companies who benefit from and perpetuate climate change." The Student Government Association earlier this week issued a letter of support as well as did the college's Economics Department. According to GoFossilFree.org 515 institutions have divested including Hampshire College, as well as Amherst, Northampton, Framingham, Great Barrington, and a number of area churches. Carvalho said he believes Divest negotiators are hoping to talk to Meehan and Woolridge today. While he knows the UMass Foundation controls the endowment, he believes that Meehan and Woolridge have the power to tell the endowment to divest. Students are trained before entering Whitmore and remain quiet as they line the halls. Many Wednesday were working laptops or reading. Those arrested volunteered for the cause. How much UMass has invested in fossil fuels is unclear. "The UMass Foundation is a private, non-profit that oversees about $770 million in endowment assets for the University," said Foundation spokesman Ray Howell in an email. "Like other university foundations, the UMass Foundation as a matter of policy does not discuss details of its portfolio." He said the university has divested from coal as the foundation announced last December. He said he could not comment on what the effect that had on the endowment portfolio nor what effect full divestment would have. WEST SPRINGFIELD Police arrested two alleged drug dealers in a raid at a Chester Street home earlier this week. Narcotics investigators, under the direction of Sgt. Robert Porter, executed a search warrant at 21 Chester St. around 11 a.m. Tuesday, West Springfield Police Capt. Mark Sypek said. Arrested were 23-year-old Samantha Berthiaume and 36-year-old David Cullison, both of whom were charged with distribution of heroin and cocaine. "We're cracking down on drug dealers and actively pursuing anyone who distributes drugs in West Springfield," Sypek said Thursday. Members of the FBI's Western Massachusetts Gang Task Force took part in the raid. Berthiaume and Cullison were expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Springfield District Court. Both defendants listed 21 Chester St. as their home address. The house is located on a residential street off Piper Road. MAP showing approximate location of drug raid: Westfield City Hall 8.22.13 | WESTFIELD | Westfield City Hall (Manon L. Mirabelli) WESTFIELD- The city and the Westfield Spanish-American Association are recruiting volunteers to assist in creating a new $50,000 playscape at Whitney Field. The project is being funded by federal Community Development Block Grant that was awarded late last year. Volunteers are being recruited for a 'Community Build' scheduled for April 29 and April 30 at the playground located off Shepard Street at the southern bank of the Westfield River. Work will begin at 8 a.m. each day. Fifteen to 20 volunteers are needed for the project. Whitney Playground has been used primarily for Parks and Recreation Department adult softball programs during the past 30 years. WSAA president Wil Rodriguez asked the city's Community Development Department for playground upgrades in 2014. "Since the 1960s, the Orange and Shepard street neighborhoods have been sort of a home base for the city's Puerto Rican Community," Rodriquez said. "We hope this new playground equipment will bring more families and more activity to Whitney Playground," he said. Mayor Brian P. Sullivan said WSAA "has been a longtime partner in the Westfield community and I am pleased to partner with them, our Department of Public Works and the Office of Community Development to complete this exciting project." Volunteers can register for the community build by contacting Community Development Director Peter J. Miller at p.miller@cityofwestfield.org or by phone at 413-572-6246. WORCESTER - A Lunenburg man is accused of pulling out a gun while arguing with a woman outside a city strip club Wednesday morning. Police were called to the Riviera Show Club, a gentlemen's club on Southbridge Street, around 1:55 a.m. Wednesday after receiving reports that a man flashed a gun in the parking lot, Worcester Police said. Officers saw several people in the parking lot and began looking for the suspect. They found a man matching the description given to them. "The male was standing next to a motor vehicle with his hands in his pockets," police said. "Officers approached the man and asked if they could speak with him. Officers also asked the man to remove his hands from his pockets." The man, later identified as William Delgado, 27, of Lunenburg, ignored the officer's request and turned his back, police said. He also refused to take his hands out of his pockets and began walking away, Worcester Police said. "One officer attempted to grab onto his arm but Mr. Delgado quickly pulled it away and told them 'you don't need to talk to me'," police said "At this time Mr. Delgado took off running toward the side door to the show club. While running, Mr. Delgado kept his right hand inside his pants pocket which appeared to the officers giving chase that he was holding onto something." Police corralled Delgado near the entrance to the club and was found with a loaded 9mm handgun inside his pants pocket, according to police. He is accused of struggling with police. "Witnesses at the scene stated that the incident occurred when a female approached Mr. Delgado and an argument ensued," police said. "During the argument Mr. Delgado pulled out a gun and showed it to the female. Upon seeing the gun she was in fear for her safety and fled." Delgado was charged with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, resisting arrest, possession of a firearm and ammunition without an FID card and carrying a loaded firearm without a license. Capitol Dome Restoration Workmen take apart the scaffolding that has shrouded the Capitol Dome for two years as it received a multi-million dollar renovation to repair cracks, remove lead paint and restore the structure to its original splendor, Monday, March 21, 2016, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) In February, 2015, an article in The Republican informed its readers that Representative Neal and Republican Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, senior members of the Ways and Means Committee worked across the aisle and introduced a bill known as H.R.711 to normalize Social Security benefits for public servants. These public servants included teachers, firefighters, police officers and others. (Bill calls for Social Security changes, Feb. 6, 2015, page A6). The primary goal of this bill is to eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision formula which reduces Social Security checks for public servants by approximately $400 a month. If H.R.711 is passed all municipal employees who paid into Social Security will finally receive fair and just treatment. Representative Brady said "Benefits should be based on real-life contributions, not some arbitrary formula." Over the years I have called government officials, written letters, signed petitions complaining about the unfairness of the Windfall Elimination Provision which was put into law in 1983 and only affects those public servants in a few states. Unfortunately Massachusetts is one of them. I have called Neal's office many times inquiring the status of H.R.711 and have been told all bills are prioritized and this bill is not a high priority. So one year later it still sits in a committee, when if passed could be helping so many. Please remember these public servants have educated our children, kept us safe and have served us all well. We continuously hear how much our politicians will help the middle class. This group of retirees is in need of help. If this bill is passed soon thousands of retired public servants will finally be treated fairly when it comes to their Social Security. Many thanks to Representatives Neal and Brady for their efforts. Pass it! Carolyn Swinerton, South Deerfield Bernie Sanders Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a campaign rally at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Tuesday, March 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo) Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders dropped the mic on his GOP rivals this week, blasting Ted Cruz's previous attack on "New York values" and questioning Donald Trump's understanding of them. The Vermont senator, who stopped by the "The Nightly Show" Wednesday ahead of New York's upcoming presidential primaries, touted the values instilled in him while growing up in Brooklyn and argued that neither Republican candidate represents them. Taking aim at Cruz's January remarks, Sanders stressed that he has "New York values," which he characterized as valuing a living wage for all Americans, a justice system that treats people fairly and a government that works for all Americans. Sanders contended that by suggesting those values are a bad thing, Cruz insulted his city, his state, his culture and his heritage. "You started this 'New York values' nonsense as an attack on Trump, but I've got some 'New York values' for him too," he said, turning his attack to the billionaire businessman. "Mr. Trump, you wouldn't know 'New York values' if they were written in 50-foot gold letters on the side of the Empire State Building. " The Vermont senator argued that "New York values" welcome immigrants like the Statue of Liberty and don't look to divide people by building walls. "In New York we pride ourselves on our diversity, we don't divide people up based on where they were born," he said. Sanders further called on New York residents to "stand up," fight back and not let anyone tear them down. "As New Yorkers, we understand what 'New York values' really mean, we believe in the value of hard work, we believe in the value of equality, we believe in the value of a society where the American dream works for all, not just the 1 percent," he said before dropping the mic. "Those are New York values and the truth is, New York values are American values - there is no difference." Sanders' appearance on the late-night television show came less than a week before New York voters will weigh-in on the presidential primary process. The Vermont senator and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who resides in Chappaqua, are competing for 247 delegates in the state. Catholic church vandalism Authorities are investigating whether a rash of vandalism incidents at Massachusetts Catholic churches, including statue beheadings, are related. This photo shows a statue, located near the rectory and depicting the Virgin Mary, that had its head severed and both hands removed. (Burlington Police Department) BOSTON - Several measures aimed at reforming the way the criminal justice system treats relatively minor offenses, were passed by the Massachusetts Senate on Wednesday. "Today, with the passage of these four criminal-justice reform related bills, the Senate continues our mission to review and revise Massachusetts laws to align with national best practices," Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, said in a prepared statement. "Each piece of criminal justice reform - from pretrial diversion to sentencing reform - ties into a broader strategy of enhancing public safety, reducing recidivism rates, and saving taxpayer money." Two of the bills would remove a driver's license suspension as a penalty for vandalism and "tagging," which is spray painting or putting stickers on signs, gravestones, buildings or other public or private property. Currently, someone found guilty of tagging can be punished with a one-year license suspension, up to two years in county jail and fines. The bill, S.727, keeps the other penalties but removes the license suspension. A similar bill, S.728, would remove the license suspension penalty for vandalism while keeping other penalties in place. Both bills passed by a vote of 28 to seven, over the opposition of Senate Republicans. Supporters of the bill say the Registry of Motor Vehicles should not be involved in areas other than regulating motor vehicles. These bills are in line with other steps that state policymakers have recently taken to move away from the use of a license suspension for crimes that are not directly related to operating a motor vehicle. Last month, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a new law eliminating an automatic license suspension for most drug offenses that are unrelated to driving. Advocates for the offenders say removing someone's license makes it harder for them to hold down a job and support their family without returning to crime. They are also likely to drive without a license and wrack up new fines and convictions. Research released this week by the Council of State Governments' Justice Center found that people with motor vehicle offenses, which includes driving after a suspension, are frequently ending up in county jails and costing taxpayers money. In 2013, the report found, there were 819 people sentenced to a Massachusetts county jail for driving with a suspended license. Another bill passed by the Senate relates to jail time and fines. A person now can be incarcerated for failing to pay fines that are mandated by the courts. The Senate passed a bill, S.795, by a voice vote that would increase the credit someone is given for spending a day in jail from $30 to $60. The size of the credit has not been updated since 1987. The change would allow offenders to spend less time in jail and pay off their fines more quickly. A separate bill, S.2216, which passed unanimously, would allow for the increased use of supervised release programs, rather than jail time, for criminal offenders who are awaiting trial. The bills are now scheduled to go to the House. wages.JPG A Statehouse rally for a $15 an hour minimum wage on April 14, 2016. (SHIRA SCHOENBERG / THE REPUBLICAN) BOSTON -- Hundreds of people gathered outside the Statehouse on Thursday to ask for a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Lesbia Vidot, a personal care attendant from Holyoke, is part of the 1199SEIU union that negotiated a contract with the state for a $15 wage by 2018. Today, she earns $13.68 an hour. "I cannot wait until 2018," Vidot said. "I need it now. I'm a head of my household. I've got to put food on my table. I have an 11-year-old child." The protest was part of a global day of strikes and protests by low-income workers and their supporters asking for a $15-an-hour wage. In Massachusetts, the day started with a strike outside McDonald's in Cambridge and continued with lobby events, protests and rallies by early childhood educators, health care workers and Boston University students and faculty, culminating in the afternoon Statehouse rally and march around downtown Boston. Betsy Ventura, a personal care attendant from Holyoke, said she came to fight for other workers who do not have the contract she has, which includes the gradual raise to $15 an hour. "We won the $15, but we've got to continue to fight for others here who are not making the $15," Ventura said. Kyle Moye of Springfield, who works in elder care, said, "Working for a lot of years for $8 an hour for doing hard labor work is not worth my time or anybody else's. We're worth more than that." Keisha Copeland, a social worker for the Department of Transitional Assistance and a member of SEIU Local 509, said a lot of the families she works with who are on welfare have jobs where they earn $12 or $14 an hour. "It's not enough to raise a family on," Copeland said. "If they had just a little bit more of a livable wage then their lives would be a lot easier. They could be more self-sufficient and be able to help their families." Other welfare clients she works with are working two jobs to make ends meet. "If they have one job that made $15 an hour, it would make a world of difference for them," Copeland said. "They'll have more time for their families, they'll be able to have a little less stress in trying to divide themselves between picking up their children from school, dropping them off at a child care center and also trying to make another job." New York and California recently passed minimum wage increases to $15 an hour. Massachusetts plans to increase the minimum wage next year to $11 an hour. Both House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, and Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, have said they do not support considering another minimum wage increase until the last one goes fully into effect. Business groups say raising the minimum wage will hurt businesses and cost the state jobs. Earlier Thursday, a group of early childhood providers who have contracts with the state to care for low-income children delivered 1,500 petition cards to Baker asking the state to negotiate a contract with them that pays the equivalent of $15 an hour, after expenses. Currently, the rates vary by age and geographic region, but child care providers are generally paid between $29 and $36 per child per day. Their union says that after expenses -- food for the children, supplies and so on -- this becomes lower than the minimum wage. One study cited by SEIU Local 509 found that an average early childhood provider caring for four children would need to see their rate increase from $30 to $45 a day per child to earn $15 an hour. Kathleen Hart, a spokeswoman for the Department of Early Education and Care, said, "The Department of Early Education and Care values the work and commitment of family child care providers and in an effort to support children in care, we will carefully consider all proposals as negotiations continue." Marites Maclean, a family child care provider from Fitchburg, said she has a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies with a minor in special and early education, and has been caring for children for 20 years. She gets $30 per child per day to care for up to six children at a time, many of whom have developmental delays. She spends 10 hours a day with the children, and additional hours preparing materials and talking to parents. She must use the money she makes to pay for liability insurance, supplies and other expenses. "It's hard for me to at least make the minimum wage," Maclean said. "It's so sad because the children that I took care of are now 14, 15 and they're starting to get a job at Market Basket. I see them happy with their work, and they're making more than I'm making, which I feel is so unfair for the education that I have and for the work that I do." Looking to win over New York voters ahead of the state's high stakes primary, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will square-off in Brooklyn for a debate Thursday. The prime time event, which the candidates agreed upon after some argument, comes just days before New York voters are set to weigh-in on the primary contests. With 247 delegates up for grabs on April 19, the state is a must-win for both Clinton, who is looking to maintain her lead and win the Democratic Party's nomination, and Sanders, who is aiming to secure a general election fight for the White House. The debate, sponsored by CNN and NY1 from Duggal Greenhouse on the Brooklyn Navy Yard, marks the first time the two candidates have gone head-to-head after meeting on the debate stage in Miami in early March. Since then, the tone of the Democratic presidential race has become much more contentious, with candidates leveling more personal attacks and questioning each other's qualifications for the White House. Here's what you need to know to tune into the prime time debate. WHEN: The ninth Democratic presidential debate will take place from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. EST on Thursday, April 14. WHERE: The event will air live on Time Warner Cable News NY1 and CNN. WHO: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will square-off in the prime time event. CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer will moderate the debate with CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash and NY1 political anchor Errol Louis also asking questions. WHAT'S NEXT: The Democratic National Committee has sanctioned a 10th presidential debate to take place in May. Details surrounding the final head-to-head event have yet to be announced. BOSTON - Gov. Charlie Baker spoke with reporters on Thursday after he was booed off the stage at an event the night before. Protesters at the event were hoping for the governor to take a position on a transgender bill. Baker said he spoke for about 20 minutes at the Boston Spirit LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender) Executive Networking Night at the Marriot Copley. Baker told reporters he told them the importance of advocates telling "their stories" and communicating with public officials. "Obviously, in the end, that wasn't quite what folks wanted to hear," Baker told reporters outside his State House office. "And I respect that," Baker said. "It's an emotional issue." Baker made his remarks to reporters as a separate group of protesters made its way through the building, chanting and rallying for $15 minimum wage for child care providers. Baker ended his talk with reporters before the group made it to his office. The transgender bill aims to ban discrimination against transgender people in businesses and other places like public bathrooms, allowing them to use them based on the gender they identify with. Attorney General Maura Healey and U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, D-Mass, have both been pushing for the bill, calling it an anti-discrimination measure that will have a significant impact on transgender people's lives. Reporters asked Baker whether he should take a position on the legislation, which could surface for a vote in the state Senate in the coming months. "Well, as a general rule we don't take positions on legislation, that's pending before the Legislature, for a lot of reasons," Baker said. The governor has sometimes weighed in on pending legislation, like a Senate proposal for charter school reform. Baker said he attended the event because the original agenda included touting his administration creating an opportunity for LGBT businesses to participate in the state's purchasing program. "I don't believe you should discriminate against anybody in Massachusetts," Baker said Thursday. While both state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg and House Speaker Robert DeLeo support the bill, neither has yet brought the bill up for a vote. Rosenberg has said a vote is likely in the spring. Below: Video from the Wednesday night event filmed by one of the protesters. Scenes from Gov. Baker's first State of the Commonwealth address Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker acknowledges applause before delivering his State of the State address at the Statehouse in Boston, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. (Michael Dwyer) (AP) BOSTON - Gov. Charlie Baker is helping to raise money for a campaign against marijuana legalization. Baker's political committee blasted out an email to supporters on Thursday, featuring the governor asking them to support the ballot committee called the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, formed to oppose the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. "This November, while voting for our next President, voters will decide if the Commonwealth will become home to a new billion-dollar recreational marijuana industry," wrote Baker, a Republican. "I'm proud to join Mayor [Marty] Walsh, House Speaker [Robert] DeLeo and many others in a bipartisan coalition that will vote 'NO' on this question," Baker added, name-checking two of the state's top Democrats. Along with Democratic and Republican elected officials, the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts includes Jim Conroy, a former senior adviser to Baker; Corey Welford, former chief of staff to Attorney General Maura Healey, and David Stone, a political adviser to Mayor Walsh. In the fundraising email, Baker pointed to the state's opioid epidemic and said "now is not the time to create a recreational marijuana marketplace." "We've learned from the recent experience of other states - legal marijuana leads to higher rates of addiction, lower academic success, and significant health consequences for our kids," Baker wrote. The communications director of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, hit back at the creation of the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts to oppose the legalization effort. "The truth is that the greatest danger associated with marijuana is its illegal status," said the spokesman, Jim Borghesani. "Our opponents seem to prefer that criminals control the marijuana market and sell untested, unlabeled products to people of any age." Mixing together mentions of the opioid epidemic and marijuana "sends a very dangerous message to our youth," he added. "There is no more evidence that using marijuana leads to heroin than there is that riding a tricycle leads to joining the Hells Angels," Borghesani said in a statement. "We share the goal of reducing marijuana use among youth, but we think regulating it is much better than leaving drug cartels and criminals in control." Massachusetts voters approved the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana in 2008 and signed off on medical marijuana in 2012. A poll from Western New England University released this week said 57 percent of Massachusetts voters back legalizing recreational marijuana. Below: A recent video of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol hitting back at a state Senate report on marijuana legalization in Massachusetts. Law Enforcement Officials Brief Mass. Legislators on Colorado's Legalization of Marijuana Massachusetts legislators and staffers attended a State House briefing, which featured law enforcement officials who brought marijuana products, most of them from Colorado. Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh are teaming up with other prominent Massachusetts politicians to form a ballot committee to fight against the legalization of recreational marijuana. "As we face a substance addiction crisis of epic proportions, I oppose measures that make it easier to introduce young people to drug use," DeLeo said in a statement. Voters in 2016 will vote on a ballot question that would legalize recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, following in the path of states like Colorado and Washington. A poll released Thursday by Western New England University Polling Institute found that 57 percent of Massachusetts voters currently support legalization. But most of the state's top politicians oppose it. Baker said in a statement that allowing recreational marijuana "would put our children at risk and threaten to reverse our progress combating the growing opioid epidemic so this industry can rake in millions in profits." Baker said the ballot committee will work with healthcare professionals, law enforcement, educators and family advocates "to educate the public about the risks associated with this dangerous proposal and the serious adverse consequences facing states who have adopted similar laws." Baker is a Republican. DeLeo and Walsh are Democrats. The campaign, which is calling itself the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, in a statement announcing its formation, said it intends to focus on the negative impacts that have resulted from legalization of a commercial marijuana industry in other states, with a focus on the harm marijuana causes to young people. The proposed ballot question would only legalize marijuana for adults, but opponents say it would make it easier for children and teenagers to get access to the drug. Jim Borghesani, a spokesman for The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which is the organization that is putting the question on the ballot, said, "We are fully confident that Massachusetts voters will reject the reefer-madness, scare-tactic arguments put forward by these officials, just as they did during the decriminalization effort in 2008 and the medical marijuana effort in 2012." Massachusetts voters voted in 2008 to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana and in 2012 to allow medical marijuana. Borghesani said the result of the 2008 and 2012 ballot questions, which were opposed by then-Gov. Deval Patrick and then-Attorney General Martha Coakley, show that "Massachusetts voters do not take their cues from top elected officials when it comes to ballot questions." State Sen. Jason Lewis, D-Winchester, led a Senate Special Committee on Marijuana to study the impacts of legalizing marijuana. He ultimately came out against the ballot question and will be on the steering committee of the anti-marijuana ballot committee. In addition to lending their names to the campaign, politicians are also lending their staff. Jim Conroy, a former senior Baker advisor, is on the steering committee for the campaign. So is Corey Welford, a former chief of staff to Attorney General Maura Healey, who also opposes marijuana legalization. So is David Stone, a political advisor to Walsh. Others involved in the committee include Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe; State Sen. Vinny DeMacedo, R-Plymouth; State Rep. Paul Donato, D-Medford; State Rep. Hannah Kane, R-Shrewsbury; former State Sen. Steven Baddour, D-Methuen; and Heidi Heilman, president of the Massachusetts Prevention Alliance, a non-profit aimed at reducing youth substance abuse. The committee will face a difficult battle. In addition to the strong public support for legalization, supporters of the ballot question already have an organized and well-funded campaign. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Massachusetts is backed by the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, a national marijuana advocacy group. It has also been getting money from companies that work in the marijuana industry, which could benefit if Massachusetts passes legalization. The ballot committee spent nearly $300,000 in 2015 as it gathered signatures and began its campaign to get the question on the ballot. Borghesani said his group sees legalization in Colorado "as a success model," and it will use facts from Colorado to show that marijuana legalization has worked. "We'll beat back any false statistics they put forward about Colorado," he said. Charlie Baker and Chip Harrington Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, plans to endorse fellow Republican Chip Harrington in his state Senate race against Democratic incumbent State Sen. Eric Lesser. (Republican File Photos) Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, plans to endorse Republican Chip Harrington in his state Senate race against Democratic incumbent State Sen. Eric Lesser. Harrington, a Ludlow businessman and part-time police officer, is challenging Lesser, of Longmeadow, a former White House aide who won the state Senate seat in 2014. "Myself and Gov. Baker have a lot of similarities, being moderate," Harrington said. "I've always appreciated watching him in his first couple of years in office, how he handled the state budget and working with the Democratic Legislature. I think that's right along the same lines that I fall in." Baker plans to headline a reception for Harrington at the Polish American Citizens Club in Ludlow on Friday evening, May 6. The suggested donation to attend the event ranges from $50 to $500. An aide familiar with Baker's plans confirmed that Baker and Harrington had talked and the governor plans to make an endorsement. Harrington is a former Democrat, who lost to Lesser in the Democratic primary for state Senate in 2014. As a candidate who is socially progressive and fiscally conservative, Harrington switched to the Republican Party this past February. "I don't see much of a difference between a moderate Democrat and a moderate Republican," Harrington said. "It's people like myself looking to do the right thing for the district. We're not concerned about party affiliations or party lines." Lesser could not immediately be reached for comment. The election will be in November 2016. Baker has a generally positive relationship with the Democratic-led state Legislature. But he has also not hesitated to get involved in electoral politics, both in shaping the Republican Party internally to favor moderates, and in endorsing Republican candidates for the Legislature. Lesser won the seat in 2014 by a narrow margin, defeating Republican Debra Boronski 50 percent to 45 percent. Great Schools Massachusetts delivers thousands of signatures in support of charter schools Great Schools Massachusetts delivered thousands of petitions to Springfield City Hall in support of lifting the cap on charter schools in the Commonwealth. (Don Treeger / The Republican) (DON TREEGER / THE REPUBLICAN FILE) Massachusetts voters today strongly support a 2016 ballot question to legalize recreational marijuana, according to a poll released Thursday by the Western New England University Polling Institute. Massachusetts voters also support a ballot proposal to expand access to charter schools, the poll found. But many voters still do not know enough about that issue to make up their minds. "There seems to be a lot of room to maneuver in terms of supporters and opponents shaping public opinion on the charter school issue," said Tim Vercellotti, director of the Polling Institute and a professor of political science at Western New England University. On the marijuana question, the poll found that 57 percent of respondents favor legalizing recreational marijuana for adults, with just 35 percent opposed and 7 percent undecided. Democratic and independent voters support legalizing marijuana by large margins, while Republicans oppose it. More men than woman support legalization, and the strongest support for legalization comes from young voters. Among voters age 18 to 39, 74 percent back legalizing marijuana. Geographically, support for marijuana legalization was strongest in Western Massachusetts and Greater Boston, which are also regions that are heavily Democratic. Massachusetts voters have previously decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana and allowed medical marijuana. Most of the state's top politicians oppose further marijuana legalization. The charter school question would allow up to a dozen new charter schools a year outside of an existing cap, with a focus on low-performing school districts. The issue has turned into a divisive battle between charter school advocates, including Gov. Charlie Baker, and teachers' unions, which oppose the expansion. The Massachusetts Senate recently released a proposal for expanding access to charter schools legislatively, but the Senate proposal seems to have little support in the House or with the governor. If lawmakers cannot negotiate a compromise, the question will go to the ballot. The Western New England University poll found that 51 percent of respondents support charter school expansion, with 26 percent opposed and 23 percent undecided. But more than half of voters said they were not following the issue closely, indicating that those numbers could shift as advocates pour money into a ballot campaign. Among those who are following the issue very closely, views were more evenly split. Opposition to charter school expansion was highest among Democrats, with 34 percent opposed to the idea, compared to 27 percent opposition among Republicans. There was a slight variation by race, with 57 percent of non-white voters supporting the expansion of charter schools compared to 51 percent of white voters. But opposition to charter school expansion was also higher among non-white voters - 33 percent to 24 percent. There was more support for charter school expansion among lower-income households, while opposition was greatest in households with the highest incomes. The poll of 497 registered voters was conducted April 1-10 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. proposed-kinder-morgan-tennesee-gas-pipeline-map.jpg A map of the proposed Tennessee Gas Pipeline Northeast Energy Direct pipeline shows compressor stations planned in the Massachusetts towns of Windsor, Northfield and Dracut. (KINDER MORGAN MAP) BOSTON -- State Senate President Pro Tempore Marc R. Pacheco, D-Taunton, has announced that the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change plans to hold an oversight hearing on the proposed Northeast Energy Direct natural gas pipeline project and the state's clean energy future. The hearing is scheduled to take place May 3 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Massachusetts Statehouse in Room 428. The committee plans to invite representatives from Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., the state Department of Public Utilities, and Attorney General Maura Healey's office among others, Pacheco's office said in a prepared statement. Tennessee, a Kinder Morgan subsidiary, plans a 420-mile pipeline that would transport natural gas from the Marcellus shale fields of Pennsylvania to New England, while cutting through parts of western Massachusetts, the Merrimack Valley and the North Shore. News of the pipeline oversight hearing comes as the state Legislature prepares to debate an omnibus energy bill. The bill is expected to contain support for large-scale hydropower and offshore wind. More than 90 lawmakers recently signed a letter opposing any legislative support for natural gas pipelines. Last week Gov. Charlie Baker signed a compromise bill on solar net metering. Coopetition is the new mantra for growing your business faster. Its still popular these days for startup founders to operate in stealth mode, meaning no details about the idea or progress are shared with anyone until the big reveal and rollout. The common reason given is that this prevents any competitor from stealing their idea and beating them to market. In my view, this paranoid approach costs them much more than the risk of being open. Martin Zwilling Full Story: http://blog.startupprofessionals.com/2016/04/7-reasons-for-startups-to-maximize.html A new nonprofit in the early stages of launching in Missoula looks to grow food year-round in a network of biodomes while establishing a living research center to explore the use of organisms to extract contaminants from soils. In a presentation Wednesday morning to 1 Million Cups Missoula a national support group for entrepreneurs with a strong local chapter Drew Holman shared his vision behind his upstart nonprofit "Back to the Mother." By Martin Kidston/MISSOULA CURRENT Full Story: http://www.missoulacurrent.com/business/2016/04/upstart-nonprofit-looks-domes-year-round-food-security/ Signature collection has been approved by the secretary of state for an initiative for the Nov. 8 ballot that will issue as much as $200 million in bonds over 10 years to fund Montana-based biomedical research into brain diseases and disorders and mental illnesses. Montanans for Research and Cures, the organization behind I-181, otherwise known as the Montana Biomedical Research, Veterans Care and Cures Act, will now begin collecting the 24,175 signatures needed to qualify the initiative for the ballot, organizers said Wednesday. Phil Drake, [email protected] Full Story: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/local/2016/04/13/ballot-initiative-seeks-funds-montana-based-biomedical-research/82984326/ Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank. EOS imaging a firm based in Paris, France, having obtained European CE Mark last month, now has FDA approval to introduce its online spineEOS 3D spinal surgery planner. The application takes data from the companys EOS system that creates a stitch-free head-to-toe X-ray of the patient. It can then be used to plan procedures such as corrective scoliosis surgeries on peds and fusions and disc replacements on adults. The software creates a simulation of what a given procedure will lead to for the patient, allowing surgeons to create an optimal plan that needs fewer revisions and leads to optimal results. The software is currently being put through clinical trials at Rady Childrens Hospital in San Diego, California and Debre Hospital in Paris, France. Flashback: spineEOS Online 3D Spine Surgery Planning Software Cleared in Europe Via: EOS imaging by Tobi Elkin @tobielkin, April 12, 2016 In the process of ramping up its programmatic offerings, Conde Nast is focused on marrying its first-party data with content to create large-scale opportunities for advertisers. In February, the publisher signaled its commitment to the category by appointing Evan Adlman head of programmatic. Adlman, former VP publisher development, Americas for PubMatic, is the man responsible for creating programmatic opportunities for well-known brands that include Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour, GQ and The New Yorker. Real-Time Daily chatted with Adlman to learn more about what he has planned. Real-Time Daily: Is Conde Nast new to the programmatic landscape? Evan Adlman: Programmatic is something that Conde Nast has been in for many years. Weve had a strategy in place. My focus is to think about new ways that we can fit programmatic into a holistic media buy. The new capabilities that we announced recently involve offerings that will align brands with new content packages, the ability to use our first-party data, and the opportunity to create scale by leveraging AudienceSelect. Conde Nast sits on a great asset: data from our subscribers. Through our Brand Preference Index database, we survey our consumers monthly via email to understand whats going in in their lives and the categories theyre most interested in. Then were segmenting audiences in conjunction with content that our consumers are most interested in. With AudienceSelect, we want to offer our clients as much scale as possible. We want to provide a vehicle for advertisers to use to target consumers off-site. We can enable them to target these audiences based on our first-party data on syndicated properties and on the Web at large. We didnt have that capability before. We can leverage the first-party data of a Conde Nast consumer and follow that person across their journey throughout the Webacross syndicated properties and outside of them as well. RTD: What are your goals for programmatic at Conde Nast? Adlman: To provide clear paths to do two things: One, muscle up on our native and video programmatic offerings. Our goal is to make sure that we have the products and technology in-house to enable us to do that. Second, header bidding. It offers the ability for a programmatic buyer to have greater access to our inventory while protecting our direct business at the same time. We began doing header bidding in January 2016 and use more than one vendor for it. Our focus is trying to figure out where the unique demand sets lie. And, there are vendors that offer the buying community unique services. We have a very strong direct-sales business that we protect. There are some ad products that cant compete in the header, like road blocks, sponsorships and takeovers. RTD: What have you learned in the nearly four months since you started doing header bidding? Adlman: One thing is that no two header bidders are alike. The implementations and management are very different among all the vendors. Theres no standard protocol on how they operate. Each one has its own kind of uniqueness regarding the code on the page and the amount of time it takes for each type of bidder to respond. Were trying to learn how this affects our yield, the user experience and the page load experience. Were using fewer than five vendors for header bidding. Were trying to figure out what the sweet spot is. Well do testing during the second quarter to determine the right number. We have a very large product and engineering team thats dong all the set-up, integrations and management of the bidders in-house. We dont outsource the integration into the header. Overall, were trying to think about header bidding as a tactic that allows us to become much closer to the buyer. by John Motavalli , Columnist, April 13, 2016 Perhaps youve heard about Brave, the new Web browser that works both as an ad blocker and as a competitive ad seller? The one that about 1,200 newspapers complained about recently, with thinly veiled threats of lawsuits? We decided to check it out. If this catches on, its a true game-changer. Brave Software and its browser was developed by a player in this space, Brendan Eich, former CEO of Mozilla, and it has already gotten a lot of publicity. So we downloaded it. First, lets note that this was the fastest download we can ever recall for a browser. It took about one minute. Once we did download it, it began ad blocking immediately. Moreover, it didnt start generating all those do you want Brave as your default browser messages one would expect from, say, Google Chrome. It co-existed nicely with Firefox, which of course was developed by Mozilla. Using Brave, we went to YouTube first because many who use ad blockers cite an ad-free YouTube as a primary reason they downloaded the software. Sure enough, it was ad-free. We next went to the Fox News home page and, in place of the ads one would normally see, a link appears, Faster, safer ads coming soon to this space Click to learn more about how Brave will support site owners, publishers and even users. When we did this, we learned that Braves goal is to speed up the Web, stop bad ads and pay publishers. One of the ways we plan to accomplish this is with ad replacements. We will also invite users to fund their wallets and to use those funds to pay the publishers of their favorite Web sites. Brave has a concept called Brave Ads, which supposedly dont slow down your browser the way bad ads do (ads that the online media get paid for). We are further informed, Brave will pay users 15% of gross ad revenue. This is the same amount of money that we make from those ads (the rest goes to publishers and ad content partners.) And if you are feeling generous, you may route your earnings back to the sites you browse, and even add more through the use of a Brave wallet, administered through BitGo. In exchange for your generosity, we will block all of the ads on the sites you choose to pay. We also clicked on the Web site of New York Times, one of the signatories of that irate letter, and it became remarkably ad-free. We have to admit, as a user, the browser worked great and the absence of ads was startling, but the chutzpah of this is breathtaking. First, who decides what ads are bad and what are not? Sure, some ads slow down your browser. But they are the only way most publishers get paid. This concept of having the users pay for the content seems ludicrous. Supposedly, users are going to create online wallets to pay publishers? You can take that to the bank. We tried to contact Brave, but they seem to have clammed up since publishers started pushing back. But we dont think theyre going away anytime soon. This is, as MediaPost editor Joe Mandese put it in January, an existential threat to programmatic and online advertising for the following reasons. 1.) Installing Brave is even easier than downloading regular ad-blocking software. 2.) Its founder is a savvy industry vet who knows how to generate traffic online. 3.) Though its not totally groundbreaking, its the first time a major online company has tried a concept like this, and it can only end in litigation. Until it does, it could harm online advertising. Its seductive and powerful. We don't have a problem saying we were impressed with the Brave product. Its a sleek, fast, easy-to-use browser that delivers, at least at the moment, an ad-free Internet. For your average college student, infused with anti-corporate propaganda, why not download it? Try to imagine this, though, in other media environments. Suppose, for example, that cable operators, who do grab some local ad time from cable networks, decided to take all the ad inventory. Of course, cable networks would retaliate. They could take their channels off a cable operators wires. But how can they withhold their Web sites from a browser? This apparently will be for courts to decide. by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 13, 2016 Quick quiz: What TV company shut down because of economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace ? Al Jazeera America. You may think, what challenges? Isnt the TV marketplace in a decided upswing? Shouldnt most cable TV networks, with a decent level of U.S subscribers, find a way to at least break even because of a better advertising market? Apparently not. Not with Al Jazeera America pulling only 30,000 TV viewers in prime time. By way of comparison, Fox News Channel, averages 2 million viewers in prime time; CNN, 600,000; and MSNBC, 500,000. Al Jazeera America did garner some prestigious journalism awards. Maybe streaming live on a digital platform, there would have been better financial options. No doubt, Al Jazeera America had other issues to contend with. Al Gore, co-owner of Current TV, who sold the network to Al Jazeera, sued for payments still owed him and his partner. Another lawsuit from an Al Jazeera employee came with claims of sexism and anti-Semitism. And then its chief executive resigned after complaints that the network had a culture of fear attitude. To be fair, few media companies work as pristine operations -- especially newbies. Still, Al Jazeera America had nearly 50 million U.S. pay TV subscribers - which, while not exactly competing with other established cable networks touting 80 to 90 million subscribers, was a decent subscriber base. While TV news operations can be costly affair, they arent on the order of, say, what Netflix spends when to comes to $3 billion a year in TV production costs. With traditional TV still holding sway with TV advertisers -- especially in a TV world that holds live programming in high regard, commanding premium ad dollars over non-live TV content -- Al Jazeera should have been able to make a better go of it. So you can ask yourself the next question: Will Viceland, now taking over A+E Networks H2 channel, do better in the TV news category, hopefully catering to a relatively new audience, underserved millennials? Viceland is inheriting 70 million U.S. subscribers -- a bigger piece of valuable cable TV real estate. That means, for better or worse, therell be more quizzes to come. In a major coup, Facebook has poached Regina Dugan from Google. Dugan led the search giants Advanced Technology And Products team since 2012. At Facebook, Dugan will be leading Building 8 -- not an actual building, but rather a new unit tasked with developing highly experimental, future-focused hardware. Facebook is saying little about Building 8 other than its plan to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into the unit. Well be investing hundreds of people and hundreds of millions of dollars into this effort over time, and I'm excited to see the progress they make," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. Regina left the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to join Google, in mid-2012. At Google, Dugans team developed 3D-mapping devices, modular smartphones, and other experimental projects. Dugan became the first female director of DARPA in 2009. In 2014, Dugan was accused of violating ethics rules by DARPA for using her position within the agency to push RedXDefense -- a company she founded and led prior to joining DARPA. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) alleged that RedX received $1.75 million in contracts following Dugan's appointment to DARPA. by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, April 14, 2016 The success of political advertising so far this has upended conventional wisdom, and the advent of digital media has put additional pressure on TV-heavy strategies. While the significance of earned media has outweighed any paid advertising, mostly as a result of the Trump effect, candidates are still pouring money into various types of TV advertising. With almost $7 billion expected to be spent between broadcast and cable TV this cycle, according to Borrell Associates, representing just over 60% of total political ad budgets, political marketing strategists have remained faithful to TV advertising. Analytics firm Ace Metrix studied the impact and voter reception of 240 different presidential ads over the first quarter of 2016. The results are largely consistent with analyses earlier this cycle, while additionally highlighting successes in noncandidate run campaigns in recent months, particularly in the anti-Trump vein. advertisement advertisement Ads supporting Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders still do best with respondents across the political spectrum. Sanders ads took four of the top six spots in Ace Metrix study. With an average Ace Score of 444 in the political category and a maximum of 950, Bernie ads far outpaced the mean. His ad For Jobs For Us, took top spot with an Ace Score of 570, and Bull came in second at 567, a spot illustrating the tough stance Sanders has taken against Wall Street banks. Mark Bryant, VP of politics and advocacy at Ace Metrix, told Red, White & Blog: Bernie consistently does well with TV ads. He hits on the right themes, the themes that resonate with voters and drive interest. Bernies message is very disciplined, his focus on jobs, trade and financial regulation/reform is visible throughout his marketing strategy, from the podium to the TV screen. The highest-rated GOP ad across both parties over the first three months of 2016 was an anti-Trump spot. The ad, paid for by the America Future Fund group, titled Bob, scored a 564. Bob is described as a Trump University Victim, and speaks of his dissatisfaction with the program. The ad closes out with We Cant Trust Donald Trump written in white against a black background. Bryant, when asked whether anti-Trump ads can be credited with inflicting Trumps wobble in recent electoral contests, responded: His own behavior, coupled with aggressive contrast (attack) ads, has chipped away at the edges of his support. Sanders had seven of the top 11 most effective political ads of the first quarter of 2016. Also at the top were two pro-Kasich advertisements, Hinge and Progress, with a Ted Cruz ad coming in tied for 11th. Hillary Clintons most effective advertisement came in at 15 on the list. by Larissa Faw , April 14, 2016 Georgia is introducing the "Pretty.Sweet" campaign to encourage tourists to visit the state. Pretty speaks to the "natural beauty and scenic attractions" while Sweet conveys the warmth and Southern hospitality of its people. Sweet also is a play on famous Georgia peaches. Developed by Blue Sky Agency for the Georgia Department of Economic Developments Tourism Division, the campaign includes print, outdoor, radio, digital and social outreach. The campaign is also reintroducing, after a nearly 10 year hiatus, broadcast media in key drive markets. The overall concept aims to "bring a contemporary and modern twist to the authenticity, heritage, and hospitality of the South." Music serves as a cornerstone for the project. In 2016, the effort is shining the spotlight on Georgias "considerable" music assets, including its rich heritage of homegrown talent, more than 75 music festivals, historic homes and final resting places of many iconic artists, as well as musically significant landmarks and walking tours. The campaign is also debuting an original Pretty.Sweet. song by Blue Skys SVP and creative director Mike Schatz. This song is used in two different television spots and will be further integrated into the states "Year of Music" celebration. It was a fun challenge to create a song that not only highlighted the diverse opportunities that await visitors to Georgia but that would also be appealing to a diverse audience, says Schatz. The TV spots can be seen here and here. The campaign is targeting married women ages 24-54 with children, with a secondary reach of women over 50. The tourism commission has high hopes for this campaign. It estimates spending $220 million on traditional state media, with goals that include increasing Georgia Travel Guide Orders by 12% and boosting eNews sign ups by 8%. With social media, Georgia wants to increase Facebook fans by 33% to 396,340, increase social referral traffic to its tourism website by 10%, and build and foster relationships with at least 10 Influencers. by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, April 14, 2016 I guess theres just something funny about Oregon, whose interesting confluence of hippies and hipsters comes in for a good bit of mockery in Portlandia. Now the states tourism agency is taking a lesson from the satirists and embracing satire for advertising, in the form of a new partnership with humor site The Onionthat includes native ads created by the publisher. The campaign for Travel Oregon consists of a series of faux-travel advice articles published in The Onions travel section beginning March 21. The first article, for example, offers Tips For Setting Up A Campsite delivered in the publications usual tongue-in-cheek tone, including the importance of signing and non-aggression pact with bears and finding a good spot to hang a string of lights and plenty of occult symbols to ward off mosquitoes. Travel Oregon is also placing display ads and a presenting sponsorship message across the Onion travel section. The display ads link to a tailored landing site, youmightlikeoregon.com, which presents the states many cultural and natural attractions in a quirky but understated way, and invites visitors to submit their own favorite places in Oregon. The campaign was created by Travel Oregon in collaboration with The Onion and the tourism orgs advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy. The Onion isnt the only publication creating native ads for tourism clients. Over the last year, National Geographic Travel has launched several major content campaigns for tourism clients, including online hubs dedicated to South Australia and Florida. The content program created by NatGeoTravel for the South Australian Tourism Commission, called "South Australias Adventures of a Lifetime," features articles about 30 adventure travel destinations in the state, along with photo galleries, video, an interactive map, and guides with basic information for planning a trip. NatGeo created a similar content hub, called Floridas Pristine Parks, for Visit Florida, featuring photo galleries and text about parks and natural preserves. Blogs by National Geographic photographers gave readers an inside look at their work as they document Floridas natural attractions. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, April 14, 2016 The Federal Communications Commission should reject advertisers' request for additional time to evaluate rules that would limit some forms of online behavioral advertising, a coalition of advocates says. "This issue is extremely important and timely. In order to protect consumers without undue delay, the FCC should decide it as quickly as possible," the Center for Digital Democracy, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Free Press and seven other organizations say in a new regulatory filing. The privacy groups are responding to a letter sent to the FCC this week by the Association of National Advertisers, which asked the agency to extend the comment deadline to July 26 -- two months later than the current May 27 deadline. Late last month, the FCC voted 3-2 to move forward with a plan to require broadband providers to obtain subscribers' explicit consent before using data about their Web-surfing activity to serve them targeted ads. The FCC's 147-page notice of proposed rulemaking also poses more than 500 questions, including whether certain forms of tracking technologies -- including "supercookies" and "deep packet inspection" -- should be banned. The proposed rules would apply only to Internet access providers, and not to "edge providers" -- meaning companies that offer Web content or services, including Google and Facebook. The ANA says it needs more time to analyze the impact of the proposal on its members -- which include broadband providers as well as companies offering online services. The privacy groups oppose the delay, arguing that the FCC's notice of proposed rulemaking -- which poses more than 500 questions to commenters -- was expected. The filing notes that the FCC held a workshop about online privacy in April of 2015, when advocates and industry representatives publicly discussed the possibility of new rules for broadband providers. "The public has long had notice of many of the questions the FCC would attempt to address in this proceeding because of the extensive interactions between the FCC, regulated entities, and the public," the organizations say. "A 60-day extension is unwarranted." by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, April 14, 2016 Engineers at the Alphabet subsidiary Google Fiber are working on connecting wireless towers to existing fiber lines that will allow the company to beam Internet access into homes. The move could become an extension of Google Fiber, which has been laying high-speed Internet access in a variety of cities from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Austin, Texas. Wireless access would give parent company Alphabet a stronger proprietary network to support a variety of content and ad serving through Google, which makes the majority of its revenue from selling and serving advertisements. It would allow the company to build a nationwide network to compete with AT&T and Verizon. For brands and their agency partners, the move would secure a path from wireless to fiber -- making it seamless to support data, content and advertising across a variety of devices, not just tablets, smartphones, Internet-connected TV and desktops. Company engineers continue to experiment with several wireless technologies to make it happen, according to one report, citing Access CEO Craig Barratt, who oversees Google Fiber. Barratt told Re/code the strategy remains part of his vision to help Access evolve from an experiment into a real business. And while the talk centered on wireless access, "he was cagey about specific strategies, timelines and costs for Access and Fiber, its most expensive project." As Alphabet builds up its wireless arsenal, Verizon recently sold to Frontier its FIOS broadband services -- television, Internet access and phone service -- in California, Texas, and Florida. In 14 states, Verizon Communications sold its traditional telephone service to Frontier in a deal worth $8.6 billion. Perhaps Verizon needed the cash in hand to acquire Yahoo's core assets and merge them into AOL's. by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, April 14, 2016 This years Cannes Lions Festival Of Creativity doesnt begin for another two months but its already bestowed a couple of prestigious awards. Samsung Electronics will collect the coveted Creative Marketer of the Year award this year. at Cannes Lions later this year. Also, a few weeks ago the festival said that Brazilian ad executive Marcello Serpa will receive the Lion of St Mark award in recognition for his contributions to creativity during his career. Samsung, the South Korean electronics giant, took home 27 Lions at last years festival and has won a total of 74 Lions since the Festival began. The Lions organization cited the companys Look At Me campaign in 2015 (executed by Cheil Worldwide) as the kind of distinguishing work it looks for in determining its Marketer of the Year selection. Look At Me, collected five Lions and demonstrated the brand's customer-centric strategy by creating a mobile app that helps autistic children better interact with other people. Commenting on the Award, Younghee Lee, Executive Vice President of Global Marketing, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics, stated: At Samsung, we know our products are about experiences making life easier for consumers around the worldWe believe our creative and bold approach to marketing captures that spirit in a unique and creative way. Lee will receive the award on behalf of Samsung Electronics during the final Cannes Lions Awards Ceremony on Saturday 25 June. For Serpa, who has been with AlmapBBDO since 1993 the Lion of St Mark award is just the latest in a collection of Lions he has won over the years. Hes won more than 160 Lions during his career and is considered the most awarded art director in Brazil. His Lions include two Grand Prix for print campaigns in 1993 (Guarana) and 2010 (Billboard). Neuroticism is a personality trait that predisposes people to other mental and physical health issues. For the first time, it has been linked to multiple genetic components. The study, published in Molecular Psychology, may eventually open doors to new forms of treatment for an array of mental health conditions. Share on Pinterest The origins of neuroticism might slowly be giving up their secrets. Neuroticism is a human trait found across all cultures, making it a subject of interest since personalities were first studied. In a nutshell, neuroticism is the tendency to respond to threat, loss or frustration with negative emotions; it is considered to be one of five fundamental personality traits that we all display to some degree. Although in itself, it is not necessarily a health issue, it is known to be associated with other, more serious conditions. Among others, neuroticism is associated with obesity, anxiety disorders, substance misuse and schizophrenia. There is also evidence that our level of neuroticism predicts our quality and longevity of life. As with any psychological trait, the environment plays a part, but twin studies have shown that around 40% of trait variance for neuroticism is heritable. Untangling the neurotic genome Because neuroticism is so widespread and linked to other, more troublesome conditions, discovering its origins and the mechanisms behind it could be hugely beneficial for society at large. Previous research has uncovered a single genetic location on chromosome 3 that appears to be involved in the trait; Prof. Daniel Smith from the University of Glasgows Institute of Health and Wellbeing set out to unearth more genetic markers for neuroticism. Prof. Smiths team, including researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Cardiff, UK, and Queensland, Australia, conducted a genome-wide association study, hunting for the genetic fingerprints of neuroticism. Involving more than 10,000 individuals, the study is the largest genetic study of a particular personality trait ever undertaken. The data was retrieved from the UK Biobank cohort, the Generation Scotland sample and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research sample. In total, the team found no less than nine neuroticism-associated loci. Prof. Smith says: As a psychiatrist, this is an exciting discovery because we have identified, for the first time, genetic risk factors for a personality trait which is of fundamental importance for psychological well-being. A multinational team led by researchers from the University of Technology Sydney, University of Tsukuba, and University of Zurich show explosive cell lysis as a novel mechanism for bacterial membrane vesicle production and contributor to biofilm formation Researchers have been unclear on how bacteria form and release certain extracellular components involved in cell adhesion and multicellular structures that also contribute to antibiotic resistance. However, a recent study from a multinational team of researchers identified a previously unknown phenomenon, explosive cell lysis, as crucial in the production of membrane vesicles and biofilm formation. The study was reported in Nature Communications . Membrane vesicles are tiny spheres that develop from bacterial membranes and contain a mixture of proteins, DNA, and RNA. They are important for the virulence of the bacterium - its ability to cause disease - as they play vital roles in invasion, secretion, and signaling. They also contribute to the formation of biofilms, the slimy three-dimensional structures that form when bacteria adhere to moist surfaces such as teeth or wounds. Extracellular (e)DNA is a key structural organization of biofilms, yet it was not known how certain structural proteins or eDNA are released. To answer this, the researchers used live cell microscopy of the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa to reveal that cells quickly changed from rod- to round-shaped, and explode. "Cells lose their structural integrity in 5 - 10 seconds," corresponding author Cynthia Whitchurch of the University of Technology Sydney explains, "and the explosion releases cellular content including eDNA, proteins, and membrane fragments into the surrounding environment." Using super-resolution microscopy to follow the explosions, they found a surprising observation described by first author Lynne Turnbull: "We observed that membrane fragments produced by exploding bacteria curled up to form membrane vesicles that captured eDNA and other cellular components released by the explosion." Co-corresponding and co-first author Masanori Toyofuku of the University of Tsukuba and University of Zurich explains that, "this was completely unexpected as until now bacterial membrane vesicles were thought to form from membranous protrusions at the cell surface." The team found that the explosions are caused by an enzyme (Lys) used by bacteria-infecting viruses (phages) and phage-like elements to disrupt the cell wall of their hosts. Using a mutant bacterial strain incapable of producing Lys, they discovered that the enzyme was needed to produce eDNA and membrane vesicles. Through a range of experiments, the team also demonstrated that exposure of cells to different forms of stress, such as antibiotics or DNA damaging agents, stimulated expression of the gene encoding Lys and induced explosive cell lysis. "This shows that the bacterial 'SOS' response triggers explosive cell lysis in response to unfavorable environmental conditions," co-corresponding author Leo Eberl of the University of Zurich says. This mechanism may enable bacteria to release important cellular factors for use by bacterial communities as public goods, and knowledge of its control could be used to interfere with biofilm formation of pathogenic bacteria. Urban emergency departments a good place to enact universal screening for adults. A review of blood samples for nearly 5,000 patients seen at The Johns Hopkins Hospital Emergency Department suggests that federal guidelines for hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening may be missing up to a quarter of all cases and argues for updated universal screening. A report on the study is published online ahead of print in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Currently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends one-time HCV testing for all adults born between 1945 and 1965, or for those with risk factors such as injection drug use, HIV or use of clotting factors. But up to one-quarter of infections could remain undiagnosed, according to results of the new study, and the authors say that universal one-time testing of all U.S. adults seeking care at inner-city emergency rooms might identify many more people who have the virus, getting them into management and treatment. Better screening would also reduce the risk of spreading the infection to others. In November 2015, The Johns Hopkins Hospital expanded its testing for HCV to all eligible Emergency Department adults 18 and older who have their blood drawn as part of routine clinical care and are not known to be HCV antibody-positive. Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center adopted this expanded testing protocol in February 2016. The Johns Hopkins team specifically found that nearly 14 percent of patients among the 5,000 tested positive for HCV, one-third of whom were unaware they were infected. "Hepatitis C has a very long clinical arc, so if you get infected, you may not have obvious signs of illness for five to 10 years. Ultimately, it eats away at the liver in many people and can cause liver cancer," says senior study author Thomas C. Quinn, M.D., professor of medicine and pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "This is an infection that can now be cured if detected early, rendering people noninfectious and thereby preventing the dire consequences that are associated with the virus. However, we found a large proportion of undocumented, undiagnosed hepatitis C infection in the population attending this ED." Many people with risk factors like injection drug use don't disclose their risk information to emergency department staff, so universal testing, "in addition to the CDC recommendations, is the only way to identify as many HCV infections as possible," adds lead study author Yu-Hsiang Hsieh, Ph.D., an associate professor in Johns Hopkins' Department of Emergency Medicine. "We found high prevalence rates of HCV even in young adult patients, suggesting we need to expand testing beyond the baby boomer cohort," Hsieh says. "Urban EDs should consider expanding CDC HCV testing recommendations to permit more robust identification of patients with unknown HCV status." For the study, the researchers examined blood samples from 4,713 patients older than 17 presenting to The Johns Hopkins Hospital's Emergency Department between June and August 2013. Of these patients, 652 (13.8 percent) were HCV antibody-positive, meaning they either had HCV currently or at a prior time, and 204 (31.3 percent) of those who tested positive had undocumented HCV infection. Patients born between 1945 and 1965 had an HCV prevalence of about 25 percent compared with adults born outside this range, who had an HCV prevalence of 7 percent. These baby boomers also had a higher prevalence of undocumented HCV -- about 7 percent versus 2.6 percent in other adults tested. Non-African-American men and women as young as 18 to 34 (born between 1979 and 1995) had a high HCV prevalence of up to 7.6 percent. Among the 204 Emergency Department patients with undocumented HCV infection, 128 (63 percent) were in the 1945 to 1965 birth cohort, 45 (22 percent) were injection drug users and 10 (5 percent) were known to be infected with HIV. Further assessments by the researchers found that 99 (49 percent) would be diagnosed based on birth cohort testing alone, with an additional 54 (26 percent) identified based on modified CDC risk-based testing (based on injection drug use or known HIV status). "Had we established an emergency room HCV testing program with just these guidelines, 51 patients (25 percent) with undocumented HCV would not have been identified during our study period," Hsieh says. "Given an estimated 7,727 unique ED patients with HCV infection in a one-year period, birth cohort testing would identify 1,815 undocumented infections, but universal testing would identify an additional 526 cases." The results also underscore the need for federal and state HCV management and treatment resources to support emergency departments and HCV patients, Quinn and Hsieh say. "It sounds easy to do HCV testing for every eligible patient, but it takes a lot of effort," Hsieh says. In the near future, the investigators hope to examine the cost-effectiveness of different HCV screening approaches in the emergency department setting, including universal testing and CDC-recommended birth cohort testing. But with a projected 3.2 million people infected with HCV in the U.S. alone, it's critical for all of these patients to be identified, treated and cured, say the researchers. "It's not often that we get to say we can cure a medical condition," says Hsieh. "So when we can, we should implement protocols that allow us to easily identify those in need." CHOP and Penn Medicine researchers prevent excess bone formation, maintain skeletal growth and limb motion in lab animals. New research in laboratory animals suggests that the drug palovarotene may prevent multiple skeletal problems caused by a rare but extremely disabling genetic bone disease, and may even be a candidate for use in newborn babies with the condition. Scientists at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who previously repurposed the drug to prevent excess bone formation in animal models of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), have extended that research in animals carrying the exact human disease-causing mutation. In humans with FOP, an activating mutation in the ACVR1 gene triggers extraskeletal cartilage and bone formation and accumulation starting in early childhood. The extraskeletal bone occurs in muscles and other tissues where it does not belong. This pathological process, collectively called heterotopic ossification (HO), causes progressive loss of skeletal motion and hampers breathing and swallowing. Currently untreatable and painful, FOP often causes death early in adulthood. "This work represents a big step toward therapy," said co-study leader, Maurizio Pacifici, Ph.D., a developmental biologist and director of Orthopedic Research in the Division of Orthopedic Surgery at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). "The mice used in this study were engineered to carry the human mutation that causes FOP, and the drug showed powerful and comprehensive benefits for skeletal growth and function in addition to inhibiting HO. If these results translate to humans, we may be able to treat children with FOP early in life, before the disease progresses." The research appeared online March 12 in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. "This is the first study to show in the mouse model of FOP that the drug palovarotene inhibits and abates multiple musculoskeletal problems associated with FOP," said co-study leader Eileen M. Shore, Ph.D., a professor in Genetics and Orthopaedics at the Center for Research in FOP and Related Disorders in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Another co-author from Penn Medicine, Frederick S. Kaplan, M.D., is a world expert in FOP. Masahiro Iwamoto, D.D.S., Ph.D., also of CHOP, and a co-study leader with Pacifici and Shore, said, "This study has generated an unexpected and exciting finding, in that palovarotene appears to be better tolerated by mutant mice than control mice. If this finding translates to patients, the drug could be even safer for children with FOP than we previously realized." Palovarotene was originally tested in adults with emphysema. Although the drug was not then developed beyond phase 2 trials for that indication, it showed few side effects. As a retinoic acid receptor- (RAR-) agonist, palovarotene is a class of drug that selectively targets a regulatory pathway involved in cartilage formation. The extra bone that occurs in FOP appears first as cartilage before becoming fully mature bone cells. Iwamoto and Pacifici showed in 2011 that palovarotene inhibited HO in mouse models of genetic HO and injury-induced HO. The Department of Defense supported this research, given that injury-induced HO is prevalent in severely wounded soldiers. The current study extended that research by using palovarotene in a novel mouse model carrying the human mutation, ACVR1 R206H, that causes most cases of FOP. The drug had potent effects--it prevented HO, and also preserved limb motion and normal bone growth in young mutant mice. The benefits for growth were a welcome surprise, said Pacifici, because palovarotene and similar retinoid agonists can impair skeletal growth--a side effect seen in control mice. When the scientists gave palovarotene to nursing female mice, they passed along the drug's benefit to their offspring with the mutation. If the drug's benefits translate to humans, said Iwamoto, it could mean that newborn babies diagnosed with FOP could benefit from early treatment. "This is especially important, because once the extraskeletal bone forms in patients, it is permanent." A major complication of FOP it that surgeons cannot remove the excess bone tissue, because tissue damage and injury from surgery trigger even more bone formation and growth. In this study, palovarotene not only inhibited spontaneous HO, but also prevented HO when mice were experimentally injured. This is another indicator of the drug's potential benefits for humans--possibly allowing the safe removal of previously formed HO in FOP patients and preventing HO in the general population experiencing trauma or surgery. Clementia Pharmaceuticals is currently conducting phase 2 clinical trials in individuals with FOP, based on the 2011 preclinical results published by Iwamoto and Pacifici. That international study is being done at four sites, including the FOP Center at Penn Medicine, and is testing whether palovarotene is safe and effective in children and adults experiencing disease flare-ups. New data from ten late-breaking abstracts is released at ECCMID 2016 - the annual meeting of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (ESCMID). At the congress, a dedicated session will examine recently released research across the full spectrum of infectious diseases both from a clinical and laboratory perspective. Researchers presented recent data on a number of diagnostic tools to rapidly identify pathogens and therapies promising to treat challenging infections. The abstracts presented dealt with topics including meningitis, pulmonary tuberculosis, Zika and human papilloma virus. Abstracts described the long-term clinical implications of Zika virus exposure, demonstrating that it can produce a number of neurological and ocular complications. Additionally, scientists found that the drug bedaquiline used to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis was a safe and effective long-term treatment option in selected cases. Finally, urgent changes were recommended to the technology and temperature management during open-heart surgery to prevent the growth of M. chimaera bacteria. Abstract No.: 7564 Neurological and psychiatric sequelae of Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone Researchers studied Ebola survivors from Sierra Leone and reviewed on-going neurological and psychiatric effects one year after recovery. The researches found that intermittent headaches were the most common side-effect, and that psychiatric symptoms including insomnia, depression and anxiety were also prevalent. Abstract No.: 7596 Ocular manifestations of post Ebola syndrome in Sierra Leone The researchers examined whether there are more types of ocular side-effects than previously though in Ebola survivors from Sierra Leone. They observed a more diverse range of complications than previously thought and recommend applying broad treatment options including cataract surgery. Abstract No.: 7586 Multicentre evaluation of the FilmArray meningitis / encephalitis panel In this study, the recently launched FilmArray meningitis/encephalitis panel was tested to demonstrate its sensitivity and specificity. The authors concluded that the FilmArray ME panel is a promising and useful assay for the diagnosis of central nervous system infections. Abstract No.: 7614 Prolonged bedaquiline treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: first report of safety and long-term outcome The authors evaluated how suitable a longer course of the new drug bedaquline is in the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. They conclude that bedaquiline is a safe and effective treatment, and that prolongation beyond 24 weeks should be considered. Abstract No.: 7044 A novel three-gene diagnostic for pulmonary tuberculosis based on host gene response Researchers identified a new three-gene diagnostic for active pulmonary tuberculosis. Further validation of the test procedures is necessary before clinical application but its use for children and co-infected HIV patients may be a significant advantage. Abstract No.: 7256 Performance evaluation of Papilloplex(TM) HR-HPV kit - a novel multiplexing assay for genotying all 14 HR-HPV types in a single closed tube real-time PCR reaction Researchers comparatively evaluated the performance of the PapilloplexTM HR-HPV assay, and concluded that this new assay is equivalent to established assays in terms of generic HR-HPV detection and type specificity. The assay therefore shows promise as a new tool for both disease management and epidemiological applications. Abstract No.: 7468 Analytical sensitivity and specificity of the VERSANT Zika RNA 1.0 Assay (kPCR) Researchers presented data on a new diagnostic assay to detect Zika virus for which there is currently no standard diagnostic test. They found that the new VERSANT Zika RNA 1.0 Assay (kPCR) is able to identify Zika virus and is highly sensitive and able to differentiate its presence from other similar flaviviruses. Abstract No.: 7483 Serodiagnosis of acute and past Zika virus infections without cross-reactivity to other flaviviruses by NS1-based ELISA The authors tested a new (serological) diagnostic test for Zika virus for both, individuals with an active infection, and crucially, for those who have had the infection in the past. This ability to test for the virus' presence after the active stage means it could provide a useful tool to examine the link between Zika, Guillain-Barre syndrome and microcephaly. Abstract No.: 7305 Re-emergence of Mycobacterium chimaera in heater-cooler units despite an intensified cleaning and disinfection protocol The researchers looked at the conditions within heated cooler units (HCUs) that were giving rise to an emerging pathogen, Mycobacterium chimaera during open-heart surgery. They concluded that even thorough disinfection did not remove the bacteria entirely and, as a result, they see an urgent need to improve the protocol and the temperature management systems. Abstract No.: 7129 Clinical and laboratory features of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever: predictors of lethality The researchers explored predictors that would help estimate the potential lethality of the disease Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever - for which previous estimates for the case fatality rate varied widely between 15% and 85%. They concluded that an altered mental state, a decreased thrombocytes count and increased AST levels may be used to more accurately predict the potential lethality of the disease. Prof. Winfried Kern, ECCMID Programme Director, commenting on this year's selection and the significance of these findings: "Some of the most exciting research published in infectious disease is across the rapidly developing field of diagnostics. The ability to accurately detect and monitor diseases like HPV, TB and meningitis is crucial to earlier and more specific treatments. Additionally, the released research on the long-term effects of recent outbreaks of Zika and Ebola will enable the medical community to ensure that patients receive the correct treatment". For a full programme of educational workshops, poster presentations and oral sessions at ECCMID 2016, please visit: http://eccmidlive.org/ Seven abstracts highlight the need for comprehensive screening programmes, improved therapy and vaccination coverage in countries receiving large numbers of refugees. Researchers have observed increased prevalence of resistant pathogens or emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases including HIV, tuberculosis, Salmonella, Shigella, scabies and other parasitic infections in refugees and migrants, according to data presented at ECCMID 2016, the annual meeting of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (ESCMID). Politicians and health professionals across the world are facing a number of unique public health challenges due to an increasing number of migrants. At a session dedicated to late-breaking abstracts on refugee health researchers presented evidence on some of the challenges faced by healthcare services in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Taiwan, Norway, Brazil and the Netherlands as a result of an increase in migration. Abstract No.: 7583 Incidence of HIV infection and late presentation for HIV care among refugees and family-reunified migrants compared to Danish-born individuals A study comparing 405 migrants and 279 Danish-born citizens in Denmark showed that the incidence of HIV infection among refugees and family-reunified migrants is higher than that of Danish-born individuals. The highest risk was observed in sub-Saharan Africans and heterosexual cohorts, and refugee and family-reunified migrants were also more likely to seek medical treatment late, further increasing the risk of spreading the infection. The researchers postulated that these results indicate migrants experience barriers in accessing HIV testing and call for a more systematic medical reception of newly arrived migrants in recipient countries. Abstract No.: 7019 MRSA and ESBL prevalence in four Swiss refugee centres An abstract on the prevalence of drug-resistant pathogens at Swiss refugee centres showed that refugees (irrespective of origin) had colonization rates that were ten times higher for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and five times higher for extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) compared to the local population. The researchers also observed that more than a third of refugees from the Middle East were colonized by ESBL compared with less than a quarter in the general refugee population. The authors concluded that the increased rate of colonization at body surfaces with resistant bacteria among refugees from certain areas needs to be taken into account in case of illness and admission to a hospital Abstract No.: 7454 The impact of immigrants and importation on the increasing reporting rate of MRSA infections in Norway, 2006-2015 An analysis in Norway showed that the reporting rate of MRSA infections continues to increase in Norway, boosted by imported cases, particularly in younger people and those with an immigrant background. The presented data suggests that tourism and immigration may be important drivers for the current rise in MRSA infections. Abstract No.: 7498 Salmonella and Shigella colonization identified by a screening programme in refugees arriving in the federal state of Thuringia, Germany in 2015 A screening of 20,312 stool samples taken at refugee centres in Thuringia, Germany, showed that in 2015 one in every 300 refugees carried Salmonella or Shigella. As many as six ESBL-positive Shigella strains were isolated from Syrian children - two of them were resistant to ciprofloxacin. As a result of these findings, the surveillance programme with screenings for Salmonella and Shigella in children is being continued in 2016. Abstract No.: 7243 Surveillance of tuberculosis among immigrant workers following pre-entry screening in Taiwan, 2011-2014 A study from Taiwan identified 2,080 cases of tuberculosis in immigrant workers between 2011 and 2014. Immigrant workers from South East Asian countries, where tuberculosis is highly endemic, had a two-fold higher risk for TB than domestic residents. Active screenings increased the number of cases diagnosed at an earlier stage of the disease, when it is less infectious, thereby reducing the diseases burden. Abstract No.: 7598 Scabies amongst asylum seekers; prevalence and effect of the scabies hygiene programme Researchers in the Netherlands observed high rates of scabies and its complications among asylum seekers from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. This represents a considerable burden for the healthcare system, especially where refugee centres already are under considerable strain due to high numbers of new arrivals, the researchers commented. They suggest that scabies must be rigorously controlled in asylum seekers to reduce the risk of complicated cases, the strain on healthcare, and to prevent the spread to other patient groups in the proximity of individuals from high-risk countries. Abstract No.: 7327 Management of Bolivian immigrants with Chagas disease in Sao Paulo City in primary care center: multidisciplinary approach and itinerant migration Another challenge in the management of diseases in immigrants was illustrated by an abstract presented by researchers on adherence for anti-parasitic treatment in primary care centres in Sao Paulo City. The researchers reported a lack of adherence in Bolivian immigrants with Chagas disease, a parasitic disease that is in rural areas where poverty is widespread and where it is easily transmitted to people by insect vectors. Winfried Kern, Programme Director of ECCMID, commenting on this year's selection and the significance of the results: "Healthcare services across the world are facing a number of new challenges as a result of recent mass migration. Refugees may carry both, resistant pathogens and microbes causing the emergence or re-emergence of infectious diseases that have become less prevalent in host countries. These include methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, HIV and TB. Infectious diseases carried and transmitted by travellers and migrants increase the disease burden. We recommend that public health facilities maintain and step up screening programmes and put the appropriate precautions and procedures in place to most effectively protect migrants and domestic populations in host countries." For a full programme of educational workshops, poster presentations and oral sessions at ECCMID 2016, please visit: http://eccmidlive.org/. Please complete this form and we'll send you a personalised information that is requested You may use this for your own reference or forward it to your friends. Please use the information prudently. If you are not a medical doctor please remember to consult your healthcare provider as this information is not a substitute for professional advice. There have recently been intense tensions between the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership, in particular PA President Mahmoud 'Abbas. These tensions peaked after pictures of 'Abbas and PA Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki were burned during a PFLP protest in Gaza. 'Abbas and the PFLP differ substantially on relations with Israel and on the promotion of the Palestinian cause in general. The PFLP is known for its opposition to the Oslo Accords, criticizes 'Abbas's policy on negotiations with Israel, and calls to escalate the intifada and carry out armed resistance vis-a-vis Israel. Moreover, the PFLP demands that the PA immediately halt its security coordination with Israel and implement the March 5, 2015 PLO Executive Committee decision to end it. The PFLP's scathing criticism of 'Abbas's policy grew worse after an interview he gave on March 31, 2016 to the Israeli Channel 2 program "Uvda", in which he expressed, for the first time, opposition to stabbing attacks carried out by Palestinian youths against Israelis, and also stated that he desired to continue the security coordination.[1] On April 3, 2016, the PFLP issued a press release demanding that the PLO's Central Council and Executive Committee come out against 'Abbas's statements in the interview and hold him accountable on these matters.[2] PFLP Central Council member Rabbah Mhanna called on his Facebook page for 'Abbas to resign, claiming he had "crossed all national red lines."[3] The PFLP also criticized a March 29, 2016 condolence visit by a PA delegation to the family of Chief Brigadier General Mounir Amar, the head of Israel's Civil Administration in the West Bank, who had been killed in a plane crash on March 26, 2016.[4] Another reason for the tensions was the PFLP's harsh criticism of the PA's conduct in the case of the assassination of PFLP member 'Omar Al-Nayef, who was killed on February 26, 2016 inside the Palestinian embassy in Bulgaria. PFLP officials accused the Palestinian foreign ministry of slanting the investigation into the assassination and of hiding key details in the case.[5] On April 11, 2016, PFLP officials said that 'Abbas, serving as the head of the PLO, had ordered the head of the national treasury to halt funds to the PFLP. According to PFLP officials Rabbah Mhanna and Dhu Al-Fiqar Swairjo, the order was given verbally and the PFLP received no official notice on the matter.[6] A statement issued by Mhanna read: "We are continuing our activity and we will never back down from our correct positions. If the PA persists in halting the distribution [of funds], we will issue a communique against this decision and present it to members of the PLO Executive Committee."[7] Later, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) announced that 'Abbas had ordered to halt PLO funds to this movement as well.[8] The PFLP's fury at the PA leadership and 'Abbas in particular boiled over on April 12, 2016, the day after the announcement that funds to the movement had been halted. The PFLP in Gaza held a protest marking 40 days since the assassination of 'Omar Al-Nayef and supporting Palestinian prisoners and families of martyrs whose bodies are being held by Israel. Protestors burned pictures of Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki, of Palestinian ambassador to Bulgaria Ahmad Al-Madhbouh, and of Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas. The protest also included calls to carry out armed resistance in order to secure the release of the Palestinian prisoners and the bodies of the martyrs.[9] It was attended by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) members, including Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas official Isma'il Radwan, and PIJ official Khaled Al-Batsh. Following the protest, official Fatah spokesman Fayez Abu 'Aita issued a press released demanding that the PFLP apologize for the burning of 'Abbas's pictures, which he called "despicable behavior on a national and moral level." He added that the national treasury had rejected the decision to halt PFLP funds.[10] PFLP's official Facebook page posts photo of protestors burning 'Abbas picture with the caption "Leave, 'Abbas, leave!" (Facebook.com/878066455561308, April 12, 2016) Burning pictures of Al-Maliki and Al-Madhbouh with the caption "Murderer" (Facebook.com/878066455561308, April 12, 2016) Protestors carrying coffins for the martyrs. The parade included Hamas and PIJ members (Pflp.ps, April 12, 2016) The Palestinian media widely covered the tensions between the PFLP and PA officials. Several articles on the topic were published, both by writers close to the PFLP and by 'Abbas supporters. The following are excerpts from the articles: Articles On PFLP Website: 'Abbas's Regime Is Corrupt, Autocratic In light of this tension, articles on the PFLP website harshly condemned the suspension of funding to the PFLP, and attacked 'Abbas's policies and the character of his regime. Jibril Muhammad, who writes on the website, accused 'Abbas and his associates of corruption: "The decision-maker ['Abbas] knows that [the amount of money] the PFLP receives by right in a single year does not come close to what [a single] corrupt [official] in the [PA's] bureaucracy, or [one] wheeler-dealer, steals in just a few days. He also knows that all [the money] he grants to the PFLP does not equal the funds spent in a single year by one of the heads of the bodies linked to the government... We are tired of how this national faction [the PFLP], that has long been patient and placed national interest above partisanship, is being treated... "[This measure of] halting funds in response to the PFLP's political position will never weaken it, but will further tarnish the reputation of the one who gave [the order]..."[11] PFLP member and former prisoner Fayez Rashid likewise leveled harsh criticism at 'Abbas, and even accused the PA leadership of abandoning the PLO. He wrote: "The Popular Front is the [movement] that adheres most closely to the [PLO's] Palestinian National Covenant, and this is a truth known to all. Among those who deviate from the PLO covenant, the most prominent are the PA, and its chairman and his associates. Naturally, those who do not deserve to receive funds from the PLO are the ones who deviate from its covenant, not those who adhere to it. Since the establishment of the PA, which effectively [operates] under occupation, the PLO and all its institutions have been deliberately neglected. Returning to [the PLO] has remained a [mere] slogan that is waved by those who control [the PLO] only when the PA is in political trouble. Many Palestinian organizations, chief among them the PFLP, have called for reform in the PLO and its institutions, and agreements were signed in this matter. However, those who control [the PLO] have no political incentive to start these reforms, for reasons of their own, and as a result the reform and reassessment of the PLO and its institutions have remained nothing but a slogan whose implementation never began. "'[Abbas's] autocracy, hegemony and monopoly are not confined to the PLO's finances, but impact all the position[-holders] in its institutions, without exception. We demand not only to receive the funds allocated to the PFLP, but also to redistribute the funds."[12] Columnists In PA Dailies: The Burning Of 'Abbas's Pictures Was A Shameful Act; PFLP Leadership Must Apologize 'Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, an Al-Hayat Al-Jadida columnist and an advisor to former PA prime minister Salam Fayyad, wrote: "The burning of the pictures of Palestinian President Abu Mazen the day before yesterday by a group of PFLP members during a protest in Gaza [is an act that] cannot be understood as part of a [mere] disagreement. Burning the picture of the PLO chairman is a shameful act and a black mark [that mars] the fraternal relations between the PFLP and Fatah, and between the PFLP and President 'Abbas... "In the past it already happened that funds to the PFLP were halted, and the matter was resolved in a friendly manner after the national forces, including Fatah leaders, spoke with President Abu Mazen, and [thus] the matter was handled without straining the atmosphere of national [unity]. So why resort to childish pranks and fall over stumbling blocks [in a way that] contravenes the national Palestinian spirit? What interest does the PFLP have in burning pictures of President Abu Mazen?... Has Abu Mazen deviated from the program of national consensus? Has he abandoned the interests of his people? Why do some of you now make hasty, rash and irresponsible remarks? "You are entitled to criticize any position taken by Mahmoud 'Abbas, the Fatah leadership or any national institution if it is not to your liking or you disagree with it. You are entitled to boycott meetings - but you do not have the right to burn pictures of President Mahmoud 'Abbas, because he is [our] chief national emblem. "If the PFLP leadership at home or abroad has any courage, political wisdom dictates that they should apologize to the people, to the Fatah movement and to president Abu Mazen [himself] immediately, before it is too late..."[13] Another Al-Hayat Al-Jadida columnist, Fatah movement member Muwaffaq Matar wrote in an article that the calls against the PA leadership harmed the Palestinians' national unity: "Our friends in the PFLP, wake up!... Do not be like a Trojan horse. The Palestinian unity, which we built together, is greater and more precious than all of the funds of the 'lackeys.'"[14] He added: "I searched in vain for a PFLP condemnation of what the group of young men did, [those men] who claimed to be PFLP members and who burned pictures of President Mahmoud 'Abbas. But, as of 18:00 p.m. yesterday, I could not find [such a condemnation], and I started to think that the PFLP leadership approved of burning the picture of the Palestinian people's president. Such behavior is inexcusable, especially when it occurs as part of activity which, to judge by photos circulated on social media and on YouTube, was an organized [protest], since it was headed by officials from the [PFLP] political bureau, who made statements to an Arab satellite channel. In other words, the [picture-burning] incident occurred right in front of [these officials], and even if it did not, they learned of it later and deliberately disregarded it..."[15] Endnotes: The Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, will carry out a visit to Berlin in the coming days, on the occasion of the events marking the 71st anniversary of the liberation of Ravensbruck concentration camp. On Friday, 15 April, Mr. Xydakis will have successive meetings with the German Minister of State for Europe, Michael Roth, and State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior Emily Haber. Mr. Xydakis will also meet with members of the German Parliament. On Sunday, 17 April, Mr. Xydakis will unveil the commemorative plaque in honor of the Greek men and women held at Ravensbruck concentration camp between 1943 and 1945. Ethan Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, appeared in adult court for the first time Wednesday before state District Judge Wayne Salvant. Salvant said he would not make an immediate decision on how much longer Couch must remain in jail and that he would not be released Wednesday. Salvant said he will wait for recommendations from prosecutors and Couch's attorneys before deciding whether to give him more jail time. The judge set several conditions for Couch's probation when he does leave jail. Couch will not be allowed to drink, use drugs or drive, and he will be required to meet regularly with a community supervision officer. Couch was 16 years old when he killed four people and seriously injured two others in June 2013 when he rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people helping a motorist with a disabled vehicle. His blood-alcohol level was three times above the legal limit for adult drivers. A juvenile court judge originally sentenced Couch only to probation, angering the families of his victims and prosecutors who had pushed for detention time. Further sparking outrage was the contention of a defense psychologist, Dr. Dick Miller, that Couch had been coddled into a dangerous sense of irresponsibility by his wealthy parents. Miller used the term "affluenza," which has stuck with the case ever since. Couch ended up in trouble again last year after a cellphone video showed him at what appeared to be a party with alcohol. Drinking alcohol is a violation of Couch's probation. Shortly after the video surfaced, Couch and his mother, Tonya, fled for Mexico. The two were apprehended in a Mexican resort city in December and sent back to the United States. Couch has been in custody ever since. The 2013 crash was not Couch's first run-in with the law. At 15, he was given two citations after a police officer found him behind the wheel of a pickup truck next to a half-naked girl, with an open vodka bottle on the backseat floor. "I spoke with him at some length about the various consequences of his driving and drinking," a police officer wrote in a report, "such as effects on (his) driver's license and his path in life, especially DWI and even killing someone in a DWI." Ethan's father, Fred, runs a roofing and construction company and has faced lawsuits over a $100,000 debt and allegations of sexual harassment. Tonya Couch faces a felony charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon for helping Ethan flee to Mexico. Miller, the psychologist who suggested Couch had "affluenza," blamed Couch's parents at his sentencing for having "taught him a system that's 180 degrees from rational. If you hurt someone, say you're sorry. In that family, if you hurt someone, send some money." Police in Norwalk, Connecticut, tell The Hour newspaper that 60-year-old Randy Iannacone, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, arrived at headquarters Sunday with the letter notifying him of the warrant. Iannacone was arrested and charged with third-degree larceny. He was released with a promise to appear in court next week. The charge stemmed from the 1989 theft of a television from the Norwalk Jewish Center, where Iannacone worked as a custodian. Lieutenant Paul Resnick says it was "pretty cool" that Iannacone turned himself in. Iannacone didn't immediately respond to the paper's requests for comment. The case came to light when authorities were contacted after an out-of-state friend of the woman saw the images, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said. Marina Lonina, 18, and co-defendant Raymond Gates, 29, were charged with rape, kidnapping, sexual battery and pandering sexually-oriented matter involving a minor. Lonina was also charged with illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material or performance, related to the alleged use of the social media livestreaming app Periscope. Periscope, an app for smartphones, uses a video function to allow users to stream events live. O'Brien said Lonina and the victim, who were friends, were socializing with Gates at a home in Columbus on Feb. 27 when Gates raped the 17-year-old girl. Lonina used the Periscope app to livestream the assault, O'Brien said. Lonina had also taken a picture of the girl in the nude the night before at Lonina's house, O'Brien said. Gates is scheduled for arraignment Friday. Court records don't list attorneys for either defendant to respond to the charges. They each face up to 40 years in prison, if convicted. In February, a Florida woman received a six-month license suspension and 150 hours of community service after she streamed live video of herself driving drunk last year. The Works Bakery Cafe is offering the discount Tuesday to women in its New Hampshire shops in honor of Equal Pay Day. Men are charged full price. Equal Pay Day is a national symbolic event dramatizing how much longer it takes a woman to earn as much as a man. Chain CEO Richard French says the Stand with Women campaign asked them to take part in the event. French says his company employs a lot of women, and they are paid the same as men. French says hundreds of women came to each of the shops for the discount. Mercy for Animals said Wednesday it was releasing video clips recorded by an investigator who posed as a farm employee. It said it was calling on the country's largest cooperative of egg manufacturers to abandon the use of wire crates and for one of the region's largest grocery chains to stop selling eggs from hens confined in them. "Cramming animals in cages so small they can't even spread their wings or walk without climbing over each other is cruel and has no place in a civilized society," said Matt Rice, Mercy for Animals' director of investigations. Companies including Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's Corp. have pledged to use only cage-free eggs. The United Egg Producers group, which represents egg farmers across the United States, and Wakefern Food Corp., which operates ShopRite, Price Rite and The Fresh Grocer, say the industry is heading toward cage-free eggs even though research has shown cage-free doesn't always mean problem-free living for chickens. Researchers report higher mortality rates and significantly higher production costs in cage-free operations. The video, which Mercy for Animals says was recorded at the Shady Brae Farm in Marietta, 90 miles west of Philadelphia, shows chickens trampling on each other, dead hens being pulled from cages and carcasses littering the floor of a room. Officials from the farm didn't respond to phone messages seeking comment. Mercy for Animals provided documentation including a pay stub as proof the video was shot at Shady Brae Farm, but the content of the video couldn't be independently verified. A poultry farming expert, Gregory Martin, from the Penn State Extension, said he didn't see anything alarming when he inspected the farm at the request of its owner this week in response to the video. He said the hens were well taken care of and were producing eggs at an appropriate rate. A spokeswoman for Wakefern, which is based in Keasby, New Jersey, said less than 1 percent of its eggs come from the farm and it has suspended those shipments until an independent review is completed. The company still gets eggs from other facilities that use cages. Mercy for Animals wants the United Egg Producers, which is based in Alpharetta, Georgia, to require its thousands of egg farmers to stop using wire cages, called battery cages, and for ShopRite to join with most other large grocery chains to stop using eggs that aren't from cage-free hens. It also is asking voters in Massachusetts to support a ban on the crates being debated there. Five states plus the European Union ban or restrict the use of battery cages. United Egg Producers President Chad Gregory said a lot of the group's members believe cage-free is the future. He said about half the industry will have to switch if the companies stand by their commitments. Wakefern has pledged to use cage-free eggs for its private label brand by 2025. It hasn't committed to going completely cage-free, but its vice president for consumer and corporate communications, Karen Meleta, said it looks like "that's the way the industry is going." In a non-binding resolution, the EU parliament calls for a marketing approval of seven years only instead of the 15 proposed by the EU Commission and says use should be strictly limited to professionals. The resolution was approved by a 374 to 225 margin, with 102 abstentions. Glyphosate is an ingredient in Roundup, a popular weedkiller across the globe. A branch of the United Nations and the EU's food safety authority have issued contrasting views on its risk to humans. The EU parliament, though, wants to be cautious and assure a high level of protection to health. And soon, if you haven't "chatted" with those businesses on Messenger in a while, they'll be able to send you a paid message that offers a special deal or encourages you to buy a product you liked before. CEO Mark Zuckerberg used Facebook's annual software conference Tuesday to describe its latest initiatives at a time when some reports indicate people may be sharing less personal information on the social network either because of privacy concerns or the growing appeal of competing apps. Analysts say that underscores the importance for Facebook of adding more features to its growing chat services: It needs to keep people engaged and continue to learn about their interests for advertising purposes. But Zuckerberg also reiterated Facebook's goals for connecting people around the world, adding a jab that seemed directed at the likes of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and others who have called for cracking down on immigration and rebuffing refugees. "As I look around the world, I'm starting to see people and nations turning inward," Zuckerberg said at one point during a keynote speech that mostly focused on new software initiatives. "I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as 'others.' I hear them calling for blocking free expression, for slowing immigration, for reducing trade, and in some cases even for cutting access to the Internet." Zuckerberg went on to say he prefers optimism over fear and believes technology should be used "to build bridges" instead of walls. The billionaire tech mogul has previously backed efforts to ease U.S. immigration restrictions and provide more Internet access in developing countries. Most of Zuckerberg's talk, meanwhile, was focused on new ways that people can use chat services, live video and even virtual reality technology to communicate. With its new emphasis on chatting with businesses, Facebook is joining several tech companies working to promote the use of intelligent software programs known as "chatbots," which let businesses interact with customers in conversational language. Microsoft recently announced a similar effort with its Skype service, but Facebook appears further along. Facebook already has more than 30 companies signed up to deploy chatbots on Messenger, including major corporations like CNN, eBay, Burger King and Bank of America. Facebook is also releasing programming tools that other companies can use to build their own chatbots for Messenger. "We think you should just be able to message a business the same way that you message a friend," Zuckerberg said, noting many people hate the experience of calling businesses on the phone. Facebook is also making it easier for individuals to contact businesses by searching for their bots within Messenger or clicking on an ad in Facebook's regular news stream. But Vice President David Marcus said the company wants to be careful not to annoy users by filling the Messenger app with unsolicited spam. Facebook is testing a program that charges businesses for the opportunity to send a "sponsored message," but they'll only be able to contact people who are existing customers or have already messaged the business, Marcus said. Individuals on Messenger will be able to block future messages from a business at any time. That's consistent with the conservative approach Facebook has used to gradually introduce paid video ads on its main platform and commercials on its Instagram photo-sharing service. The company doesn't want to risk driving people away with too many annoying ads, Marcus said. "It's a very high-quality, personal environment," he said in an interview. "We want to keep it that way." The effort comes as more people are embracing the Internet chat service and its competitors. Messenger now has 900 million active users worldwide, while WhatsApp, another chat service owned by Facebook, claims 1 billion. "More and more of our mobile time is spent within messaging," said Ken Sena, an investment analyst at Evercore ISI, who examined the apps in a recent report. He's one of several analysts who say they believe consumers would prefer talking to a business within the messaging app they're already using, rather than download a separate app and create another user name and password for each business. That's already a popular model in some Asian countries, where people use China's WeChat, Japan's Line and other texting services to schedule doctor's appointments, pay for meals, order merchandise or send gifts to their friends. Facebook Inc. is also releasing a host of other tools for developers to build apps that work with its services, including software for streaming video from drones and other gadgets. The new video push is part of Facebook's effort to compete against Twitter, SnapChat, YouTube and other rivals that are also vying to serve video-hungry viewers. A U.S.-trained Iraqi crew working with a U.S.-supplied M1A1 Abrams tank now known as the "Beast" played a major role in taking and clearing the town of Hit in western Anbar province of ISIS fighters, a U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday. "It's become a bit of a folk hero" to the Iraqi Counter-Terror Services and regular Iraqi army troops who drove militants affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, from Hit and are now engaged in clearing operations in the Euphrates valley town, Army Col. Steve Warren said of the tracked vehicle. "The tank has been so successful, this one tank crew, that American advisers have given it the 'Hero of the Day' award for several days," said Warren, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve in Baghdad. The "Beast" was one of three Iraqi Abrams tanks backing Iraqi forces as they entered Hit but the two other tanks broke down, Warren said in a video briefing to the Pentagon. That left the "Beast" to blast away at Islamic State of Iraq and Syria fighting positions and vehicles while destroying improvised explosive device emplacements, Warren said. "They're really tearing it up," he said of the tank and its crew. "They're out there just plain old getting after it." He tweeted out a video of the tank destroying an ISIS vehicle. Warren said the actions in Hit were emblematic of the growing successes in the fight against ISIS despite the stall in the push on Mosul in northwestern Iraq and continued infighting among U.S.-backed militia groups in Syria. The first phase, or "Phase One," of the campaign against ISIS -- the degradation of ISIS' offensive capabilities -- had now ended and the U.S. was focused on "Phase Two" -- the dismantling of ISIS infrastructure and the targeting of its leadership and sources of funding, Warren said. He could give no timeline on when "Phase Three" would begin -- the ultimate defeat of the terror group. "Phase One of the military campaign is complete, and we are now in Phase Two, which is to dismantle this enemy," he said. ISIS "can still put together some complex attacks (but) they have not been able to take hold of any key terrain for almost a year now," he said. Even so, Warren acknowledged that the attempts by Iraqi forces to push northward from Makhmour, about 60 miles southeast of Mosul, have bogged down against heavy ISIS resistance despite support from the four .155mm howitzers of an artillery unit from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which set up a fire base in Makhmour last month. The Iraqi forces at Makhmour "have not fought at the level we'd like them to" and one of their commanders recently was relieved, he said. "Yes, there have been moments when they could have done better." Warren also said that U.S.-backed militias in Syria were still occasionally battling each other rather than joining to fight ISIS. "There's been some friction on the battlefield," which Warren attributed to "ancient animosities. So we do see some of this but we don't see this as a problem." -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Related Video: The U.S. Army's top officer said he opposes letting soldiers carry their own concealed firearms on U.S. military installations. "I've been around guns all my life," Gen. Mark Milley said during a recent hearing on Capitol Hill. "I know how to use them. And arming our people on our military bases and allowing them to carry concealed privately owned weapons -- I do not recommend that as a course of action." His comments came during an April 7 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee in response to a question from Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, who asked about letting troops carry firearms at military installations abroad. Congress last year approved language in the annual defense authorization bill to let commanders authorize more troops -- not just military police -- to carry guns on a military installation, reserve center, recruiting station or defense facility in the U.S. as a force-protection measure. During the hearing, Lee cited the July 16, 2015, shooting at two military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in which four Marines and a sailor were shot and killed. The gunman, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, was killed by police in a gunfight. "Following the Chattanooga attacks last year, my office received a lot of calls, emails, letters and communications of every sort from constituents having connections to all the branches of the military," he said. "These constituents were expressing concerns about force protection at domestic bases and at international bases, especially for their families." Lee asked Milley, "Tell me, what has the Army done to improve force protection of the United States and at bases in Europe and the Middle East, where they're sort of targets for attacks? What other options are being considered, including the possibility of allowing soldiers to carry personal firearms on the base in order to protect themselves?" Milley made a distinction in how the policy is implemented at smaller locations such as a recruiting center in Chattanooga and bigger installations like Fort Hood in Texas. "With respect to post camps and stations that are small, isolated, they're ... inside of communities ... recruiting stations such as Chattanooga -- the assessments are done by local commanders," he said Former Army Secretary John McHugh "delegated the authority in the assessment to the commanders, which is appropriate. Commanders should make those decisions because once size won't fit all. It'll depend on locality, risk and so on," Milley said. "But some of the constraints on that -- people have to be trained, it must be a government-owned weapon -- they can't carry privately owned weapons." In terms of the larger installations, "in terms of carrying privately owned weapons on military bases -- concealed privately owned weapons -- that is not authorized," he said. "That is a DoD policy. I do not recommend that it be changed. We have adequate law enforcement on those bases to respond." Milley cited the Nov. 5, 2009, mass shooting at Fort Hood, in which 13 people were killed and 42 others were injured. The day of the shooting, Nidal Hasan, then an Army major and psychiatrist, entered the Fort Hood deployment center carrying two pistols, jumped on a desk and shouted "Allahu Akbar!" -- Arabic for "God is great" -- then opened fire. Milley defended the time it took for law enforcement there to secure the scene. "Those police responded within eight minutes," he said. "So that's pretty quick. And a lot of people died in the process of that. But that was a very fast, evolving event and I am not convinced from what I know that carrying privately owned weapons would have stopped that individual." Note: This story was updated to remove an inaccuarate reference in the last paragraph. Hasan was paralyzed in the incident but survived and is now imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. -- Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry. A member of the House Armed Services Committee wants an explanation for why the next Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer will be named for a politician instead of a war hero. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican from California and a Marine Corps veteran, sent a letter to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus Wednesday, asking him to explain his decision to name DDG-120 after former Sen. Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, who retired last January after 36 years in office. The letter was first reported by Defense News. Hunter cited July 2012 Congressional Research Service report to Congress that showed that destroyers are traditionally named for deceased members of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, including former secretaries of the Navy. The report, however, notes that exceptions to ship-naming rules can be made by the secretary of the Navy. "A secretary's discretion to make exceptions to ship-naming conventions is one of the Navy's oldest ship-naming traditions," the report found, noting that exceptions in order to name ships for presidents or lawmakers happened often enough to constitute a "special cross-type naming convention." "It is my firm belief that Senator Levin served this country honorably as a member of the United States Senate and was a strong advocate for our men and women in uniform," Hunter wrote. However, the congressman added, "it is important that the Navy adhere to its own ship naming rules and take every effort necessary to avoid politicization of this process." Other recent exceptions to the destroyer-naming tradition have included the Thomas Hudner (DDG-116), the Paul Ignatius (DDG-117), and the Daniel Inouye (DDG-118). Hudner, a Navy Medal of Honor recipient, and Ignatius, a former Navy secretary, are both still living. Inouye, who died in 2012 while a sitting senator, was a Medal of Honor recipient from the Army. A spokesman for Mabus, Capt. Patrick McNally, declined to comment on Hunter's letter. However, McNally told the Washington Times earlier this week that "[Mabus] names ships for American heroes and considers Senator Levin's long commitment to the nation worthy of recognition ... The naming conventions are guidelines set by the secretary. He can deviate from them if he desires." A new CRS backgrounder released to Congress earlier this month and obtained by Military.com showed it's historically very rare to name ships after living individuals, though Mabus has often gone against traditional practice. Roughly 18 ships have been named for people who were still alive when the ship name was announced, the report found. Seven of the 18 have been announced since January 2012, all seven under Mabus' tenure as Navy secretary. The decision to name a destroyer for Levin may not find significant opposition in the Senate, however. The news came up during an April 6 hearing on shipbuilding programs before the Senate Armed Services Committee's subcommittee on seapower, and was warmly received. The committee's chairman, Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, called the information "pleasant news" and Sens. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican from New Hampshire, and Angus King, an Independent from Maine, both praised Levin and expressed enthusiasm for the decision. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. The Marine Corps has received its first request from an enlisted female Marine to join the infantry ranks, an official confirmed today. Marine Capt. Philip Kulczewski said the Corps had received a lateral move request from a female Marine to join a unit ground combat Marine occupational specialty. "These requests take time, and to help put things in perspective, lateral-move processes involve counseling, reviewing physical readiness, completing resident Professional Military Education, individual performance, competiveness in MOS and ultimately needs of the Marine Corps," he said, using the acronym for military occupational specialty. "This process ensures the Marine Corps will adhere to its standards and will continue its emphasis on combat readiness," he added. A source with knowledge of the request said the Marine was a lance corporal. The Marine had requested a job in an 03XX MOS, the source said, indicating one of a number of previously closed jobs in the infantry field. Only 233 female Marines have completed basic enlisted infantry training at the Corps' infantry training battalion at Camp Geiger, North Carolina. These Marines completed the course during a test period before combat jobs were formally opened to women. They all received an additional infantry MOS on top of their primary job specialty in January, and were offered the opportunity to make a lateral move to an infantry unit if they wished. That month, the Marine Corps highlighted the story of Cpl. Remedios Cruz, a 24-year-old supply clerk who had participated as a volunteer in the Corps' women-in-combat study last year and said she hoped to be one of the first women to join an infantry unit. But until now, neither Cruz nor any of the other eligible Marines have made a formal lateral move request. With all combat jobs now open to women, any woman enlisting or waiting in the Corps' delayed entry program can request an infantry contract. Marine officials have said that female recruits who want to enter a "loadbearing" ground combat specialty, such as rifleman, mortarman, or machine gunner, will not ship to boot camp until October 1 at the earliest. Meanwhile, a female Marine lieutenant is now participating in the 13-week Infantry Officers Course at Quantico, Virginia, officials said, in hopes of becoming the first female infantry officer. Earlier this month, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Congress that 44 women have so far volunteered to be Army officers. The Army has also enlisted its first female infantry recruit: Tammy Grace Barnett, a 25-year-old police officer. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Despite Flipping in Surf 4 Times in a Year, Marines Say New ACV Is the Future of Amphibious Warfare Some Marine veterans familiar with the vehicle and its operations have worried about the reliability of the ACV. Popular Ghanaian actress Yvonne Okoro on Tuesday won the love and respect of the people of Wungu in the Walewale community of the Northern Region when she commissioned a borehole project to provide water for the town. For a very long time, the community had battled with water scarcity. Natives including school children walked several kilometres in search of water every day. As part of Yvonne's annual charity projects, she decided to go to the aid of the community by funding the drilling of a borehole. Business activities in the community on Tuesday came to a standstill for a while to give the actress a rousing welcome for the commissioning ceremony which paved way for the borehole to be used. Commissioning the project, Yvonne said, It gives me joy to offer a supporting hand to those who need it in society. I hope this project will go a long way to impact positively on the lives of the people of Wungu, especially the children and women. I want to use this opportunity to thank God and everyone else who supported this project. I also thank African World Airline (AWA) for bringing us this far for a successful commissioning ceremony. . Yvonne and her team, including TV personality and lawyer Sandra Ankobiah, had earlier paid a courtesy call on the chief of Tamale and also the chief of Wungu at the Wungu palace. She also visited West Mamprusi District offices and Daa-Gyei Academy, where she advised children at the school to take their lessons seriously after they sung for her. Amidst cultural performances by the Wungu Cultural Troop, natives including school children as well as other actors from the northern part of the country came out in their numbers to support the Ghana Must Go actress to commission the borehole. Also in attendance were Hon Dr Sagre Bambangi, MP for Walewale and Wuni David D, District Chief Executive (DCE) of the West Mamprusi District, who assured the actress that the community would take good care of the borehole. I sincerely extend my gratitude to you for deciding to come here. It is my responsibility as the DCE of the West Mamprusi District to provide water for the people and if you have come to provide water for the people, we are gratefulI want to assure you that we will take good care of it and I am taking this opportunity to ask others to learn from your kind gesture, Wuni David added when Yvonne visited his office. Yvonne Okoro remains one of Ghana's relevant award-winning actresses and producers who are doing well for society. Her latest movie, Ghana Must Go, is currently making a great impact on Ghanaians and is expected to premiere in Nigeria very soon. By Francis Addo (Twitter: @fdee50 Email: [email protected] ) Editor-in-chief of the Crusading Guide newspaper, Kweku Baako, has said the manner in which T.B. Joshua communicated a prophecy of an impending terror attack on Ghana and Nigeria is reckless. He believes that if indeed there is going to be an attack, the Prophet could have adopted a more meticulous way of putting out the information. Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' show Wednesday morning, the veteran journalist said All this is prophetic scaremongering. I think the prophecy is highly irresponsible. The way and manner in which this matter has been communicated is so irresponsible. The renowned prophet on Sunday asked his congregation to pray for Ghana and Nigeria to forestall an imminent attack on both countries. The Nigerian Prophet was emphatic in prophesying that, I see Thursday, Friday. Pray for these two nations Nigeria and Ghana over gathering in any way; over an attack. I am seeing the attack and that will be in a foreign way. The attack will come not in a local way. So please open your lips and pray for these two nations for protection. Criticisms, after he put out the prophecy, have been swift. The Christian Council, for instance, has called on security agencies to ignore the prophecy and not run the country on the back of prophecies. . Kweku Baako said although he has no intention of demeaning the Prophet, he believes that the prophecy only seeks to create fear and panic. There is a general terror alert out there and we are trying to deal with things based on intelligence gathering, then suddenly pastors are intruding with these wild cat prophecies of this nature. It destabilises rather than build up security consciousness, said Mr Baako. He called on pastors to exercise a lot of decorum when putting out such information because although they might have good intentions, the manner in which it is done may cause problems. Meanwhile, the Ghana Police Service in a statement released on Monday assured the public that a joint security force has put in place adequate measures to forestall any terrorist attacks. It added, All the requisite operational strategies, including intelligence gathering and tactical deployment of personnel, have been unfolded to nip any breach of the peace in the bud. In view of this, the Police is seeking the co-operation of the general public in the fight against the scourge of terrorism and other violent crimes. The public is, therefore, implored to bear with the Police any inconveniences efforts to deal with the situation may cause, the statement further said. SOURCE: myjoyonline Popular actress Yvonne Okoro on Tuesday won the love and respect of the people of Wungu in the Walewale community of the Northern region when she commissioned a borehole project to provide water for the town. For a very long time, the community had battled with water scarcity. Natives including school children walk several kilometres in search of water daily. As part of Yvonnes annual charity exercise, she decided to go to the aid of the community by funding the drilling of a borehole. Business activities in the community on Tuesday came to a stand still for a while to give the actress a rousing welcome for the commissioning ceremony which paved way for the borehole to be used. Commissioning the project, Yvonne said, It gives me joy to offer a supporting hand to those who need it in society. I hope this project will go a long way to impact positively on the lives of the people of Wungu especially the children and women. Yvonne and her team including her friend, TV personality and lawyer, Sandra Ankobiah had earlier paid a courtesy call to the chief of Tamale, Naa Dakpena Alhassan and the chief of Wungu. She also visited West Mamprusi District offices and Daa-Gyei Academy, where she advised children at the school to take their lessons serious. Amidst cultural performances by the Wungu Cultural Troop, natives including, school children as well as other actors from the northern part of the country came out in their numbers to support the Ghana Must Go actress to commission the borehole. Also in attendance were Hon. Dr. Sagre Bambangi, MP for Walewale and Wuni David, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of the West Mamprusi District, who assured the actress, the community will take a good care of the borehole. It is my responsibility as the DCE of the West Mamprusi District to provide water for the people. I want to assure you that we will take good care of the borehole and I am also taking this opportunity to ask others to learn from your kind gesture, Wuni David added when Yvonne visited his office. Harare (AFP) - Demonstrators in Zimbabwe held the largest protest against President Robert Mugabe in nearly a decade on Thursday, marching through central Harare demanding that the 92-year-old leader make a "dignified exit." Under the watchful eye of riot police, more than 2,000 supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) carried anti-Mugabe placards and sang party songs before their leader Morgan Tsvangirai gave a speech attacking Mugabe's rule. Anti-government protests have often been brutally broken up by police under the authoritarian regime of the president, who has been in power since independence in 1980. Mugabe remains active but his increasingly fragile health has sparked intense speculation over his successor and the fate of the country when his rule comes to an end. Zimbabwe has suffered years of economic collapse and mass emigration during an era marked by intolerance of dissent, vote rigging and accusations of human rights abuses. "Mugabe has no solution to the crisis," Tsvangirai said in a brief speech to supporters gathered in Africa Unity Square wearing T-shirts in the party's red colours. "We are here to tell Mugabe and his regime that you have failed. "We are not demanding an overthrow of the government... We are demanding a dignified exit for the tired Mugabe. "It's time Mugabe listens to the voice of the people. The people shall liberate themselves." The march, which had been authorised on Wednesday in a last-minute court ruling, was peaceful, with police on duty in full riot gear armed with batons and water cannon. - 'Old, clueless Mugabe' - "This is a demonstration against poverty and corruption," Douglas Mwonzora, an MDC party spokesman, told journalists. "We have an empty promise of 2.2 million jobs which are not there. We have massive corruption." The MDC has vowed to hold more protests around the country, which is also beset by severe food shortages worsened by its economic decline since the controversial seizures of white-owned farms since 2000. "Old clueless Mugabe must go," read one protest placard, while another said "Enough" in Zimbabwe's three main languages. Marchers were greeted by blaring car horns, and clapping and whistles by onlookers, including some people waving from windows in high-rise buildings. Mugabe, who still gives fiery 90-minute speeches on his feet, is expected to stand again for election in 2018. The ruling ZANU-PF party has been riven by factional fights over his succession, although officials have sought to downplay any divisions. Regime loyalist Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is viewed as the likely next leader, with Mugabe's wife Grace, 50, also a possible candidate. In the 2013 presidential election, Mugabe won 61 percent of the vote against 34.9 percent recorded by Tsvangirai, who dismissed the result as rigged. The MDC has suffered several splits and appeared to have lost public profile in recent years. David Sibanda, 40, one of the protesters at Thursday's rally, said he had not found formal employment since completing high school. "We want the government to create jobs and for them to craft policies that attract investment," he said. The last big demonstration in Harare was in 2007 when police beat up Tsvangirai and other political leaders who had gathered for a prayer meeting. Vice Chairperson for National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr Esther Oduraa Ofei -Aboagye has called for a strong partnership between traditional authorities and the local government for effective governance. According to her, the traditional authorities are critical governance resource that a country must harness for national development. Dr Esther Oduraa Ofei-Aboagye was speaking at the 3rd SAAA Memorial Lectures organized by the EP University College, Ho. She said chieftaincy is a developed institution that plays a critical role in upholding traditional morals. Now chiefs are carving a new nichesfor themselves. They are doing critical things in social protection, providing scholarship for education and so on and it is important that local authorities partner them to ensure their mutual agendas are fulfilled,she emphasized. In his welcome address, the President of the EP University, Rev. Dr Cyril Fayose explained the lecture was to provide a public space for intellectual discourse and engagement of societal issues. According to him, a university should not only prepare persons for industry through teaching, learning and research but must also be a place for reflecting on societal issues for the socio-economic transformation of society. He however advised students to take advantage of such lectures to help them on their carrier and what they want to achieve in the future. President of the Reformed Churches, Germany, Dr Martin Heimbccher said the state must seek progress of its citizens. The third memorial lectures was under the theme Local Governance in the Fourth Republic. Juba (AFP) - South Sudan's civil war has raged for over two years, but preparations are on to forge a unity government with President Salva Kiir's arch-rival Riek Machar taking the post of vice president. Machar's return to the capital Juba is expected on April 18, potentially one of the most significant steps towards peace since a repeatedly broken deal made in August 2015. Independent since 2011, the conflict in the world's newest nation has pitted government troops loyal to Kiir against those of Machar, who was sacked as vice president six months before war began in December 2013. Tens of thousands have been killed and more than two million people forced from their homes. The UN says South Sudan ranks "lower in terms of human development than just about every other place on earth". Here are key events in the war. - 2013 - December 15: Heavy gunfire erupts in Juba, where tensions have risen since July when Machar was fired as vice-president. Kiir blames Machar for an attempted coup, but Machar denies this and accuses the president of purging his rivals. Fighting spreads and rebels seize key towns. - 2014 - January 10-20: Uganda sends troops to back Kiir. Government troops recapture the northern city of Bentiu, capital of oil-rich Unity State, and Bor, capital of the eastern state of Jonglei. April 15-17: More than 350 civilians are massacred in Bentiu and Bor, according to the UN. May 2: US Secretary of State John Kerry warns of the risk of "genocide" as he visits Juba. August 26: A UN helicopter is shot down, with three onboard killed. Each side blames the other. Over 50 aid workers have been killed in the war. - 2015 - February 1: Kiir and Machar sign a new agreement to end the fighting, the latest in a series of deals, and like the others, it is rapidly broken within days. June 30: South Sudan's army raped then torched girls alive inside their homes, a UN rights report says, warning of "widespread human rights abuses". Rebels have also been accused of similar atrocities. July 2: UN and US sanctions placed on six leaders from both sides. August 17: Machar signs a peace deal in Addis Ababa. August 26: Kiir signs the peace accord, but issues a list of "serious reservations". Fighting continues. October 3: Kiir nearly triples the number of regional states, undermining a key power-sharing clause of the peace agreement. October 28: African Union investigators list atrocities committed, which include forced cannibalism and dismemberment. November 5: UN experts warn that killings, rapes, and abductions continue and that both sides are stockpiling weapons. Over two dozen armed groups are involved in fighting characterised by shifting alliances, opportunism and historic grievances. November 27: Some 16,000 children have been forced to fight, amid a growing humanitarian crisis, the UN says. More than 2.8 million people, almost a quarter of the population, needs emergency food aid. - 2016 - February 8: UN agencies warn at least 40,000 people are being starved to death in war zone areas on the brink of famine, with rival forces blocking aid. February 12: Kiir reappoints Machar as vice president. April 11: A 1,370-strong rebel force completes their arrival into Juba ahead Machar's expected return on April 18. Vice President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education has touted a high court ruling ordering the government to make public contract documents of a controversial bus branding deal as good for professional conduct in the public sector. Kofi Benti believes the ruling is also an encouragement for the unsung public officials who stick to proper documentation of official deals. This ruling tells you if you are public official that whatever you are doing document it and document it well because somebody will ask for it tomorrow and you will be required to produce it. It is also a shot in the arm for those who are doing their work, that after time their good work will be revealed, he said. The legal practitioner was speaking Wednesday on news analysis programme PM Express that airs on the Joy News channel on Multi TV. The Human Rights Court on Wednesday, April 13 ruled in favour of an application by pressure group, Citizen Ghana Movement, seeking disclosure of documents of a controversial contract between government and Smarttys Production. The deal made the headlines after it was revealed that the contract to brand some 116 Metro Mass Transit buses with photos of the current and past Presidents had been bloated by about 1.6 million Ghana cedis. Presiding Judge at the Human Rights Court, Justice Anthony Yeboah, noted during his judgment that Ghanaians are entitled to access information from the government. He said the bus branding is a matter of public interest and members of the public have every right to request for information. Justice Yeboah ordered the Attorney-General, Marrieta Brew Appiah-Oppong, who was the respondent in the case to release all the documents on the bus branding deal except documents regarding trade secrets, and national defense to the group. Kofi Bentil said on PM Express that the ruling is in the interest of people who are doing their job and doing it well, as it means public documents can now be requested for and obtained by ordinary citizens with ease. Mr Bentil also lauded the Judge for what he says was a spellbounding and scholarly ruling. By the ruling the Attorney General has 14 days to release the contract documents. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | George Nyavor | [email protected] An opposition politician has been shot dead outside his home in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. Stephene Mukabana, a youth leader of the Orange Democratic Movement, was killed last night when he rushed to the aid of a man being robbed by a six-member gang, police are quoted by the local Standard newspaper as saying. However, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero said a "group of assassins trailed and executed" the 42-year-old Mr Mukabana, the Standard reported. According to Nairobi police boss Japheth Koome, Mukabana was driving into his compound when he heard screams from a dark alley where a man was being robbed. The reports we got show the deceased tried to help another robbery victim when he was shot in the head and chest, said Koome. The man was also shot and wounded but he is in a stable condition in hospital and he has given police details of what happened. Police say Mukabana was shot at close range by the gang that escaped without stealing anything from him. No arrest has been made so far. But other ODM officials said Mukabana was trailed by people who wanted to kill him before he met his death. The officials claimed Mukabana was dragged from his house before being shot at. He had declared interest in running for the Embakasi East parliamentary seat. Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero said Mukabana was assassinated. I take this earliest opportunity to unequivocally condemn the act of lawlessness, cowardice and hooliganism that occurred in Chokaa, Mihango Ward yesterday night, where a group of assassins trailed and executed the ODM Youth Leader for Nairobi, Stephen Mukabana and murdered him in cold blood, said Kidero. He said such inhumane acts of impunity are regrettable and cannot be allowed to go unpunished in a county under his watch. The UK is fully committed to supporting Nigeria in its fight against Boko Haram and to helping find those abducted. On the second anniversary of the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in Nigeria, Foreign Office Minister for Africa, James Duddridge, and International Development Minister, Nick Hurd, issued the following joint statement: Our thoughts are with the Chibok schoolgirls, their families and the thousands of other men, women and children who have been brutally abducted by Boko Haram.The abduction of the girls was a particularly horrific example of Boko Haram's barbaric crimes. We remain determined and steadfast in our support of Nigeria in its fight against Boko Haram. Since 2014, we have significantly increased our military, intelligence and development support to Nigeria. This includes training and advice for Nigerian armed forces deploying against Boko Haram. The UK has also increased its humanitarian support to reach those people most in need with food, water and emergency healthcare. Part of this assistance focuses on ensuring children have a right to education and safe access to schools. Tackling the root causes of global problems such as violent extremism, terrorism and poverty is not only the right thing to do, it is also firmly in the UK's own national interest. Background The abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in April 2014 was a particularly heinous example of Boko Haram's brutality. We estimate that over 2,000 people were abducted by the group in 2014, and that hundreds more have been taken since. In response to the abduction of the Chibok girls in 2014 the UK, working with the US and France, provided a range of military and intelligence support to the Nigerian government in their search for the missing girls and their efforts to address the longer term challenge of terrorism. Since 2014, we have significantly increased our military, intelligence and development support to Nigeria, including training and advice on counter-insurgency. Last year almost 1,000 Nigerian military personnel benefited from UK training to prepare them for counter-insurgency operations inthe North East. The UK has also provided 5 million to support the regional military taskforce set up by Nigeria and its neighbours to tackle the insurgents. The UK is contributing millions of pounds in humanitarian support to help those most affected by Boko Haram's insurgency. This vital aid is providing food, water, sanitation and emergency healthcare for up to 7 million people across Nigeria. DFID also supports the Government of Nigeria's Safe Schools Initiative which has helped over 90,000 displaced children to return to school, provided learning materials, and trained teachers on psychosocial support. President John Mahama has urged authorities at the newly converted technical universities to stick to their core mandate of providing equipping students with hands-on technological education and desist from imitating programs run by existing public universities in the country. President Mahama said this when he was addressing students and staff of the Koforidua University of Technology as part of his Accounting to the People tour of the Eastern Region. He noted that the technical universities exist to provide education and training to the world of work. I will urge all universities of technology to stick to the core mandate of the technical university. The technical universities exist to provide technical and vocational training to the world of work. Students must begin to apply high level of competence-based skills for self employment or salary employment. We did not convert these new universities to imitate the existing public universities because in this conversion we are following the German model for the advancement of technical education,hHe advised. President Mahama admonished them to develop strong links with industry and business to support existing and emerging productive sectors of the economy with technical expertise, research and development. Mr. Mahama as part of his visit to the school commissioned an ultra-modern engineering block funded by government. It has five laboratories, 10 workshops, 65 offices, 6 lecture halls among other facilities. The second day of the president's tour of the Eastern Region took him to Ofoase-Ayirebi where he commissioned an office complex for the district assembly, a library and an enhanced ICT centre. A 47-year-old mortuary attendant is in the custody of the Dansoman Divisional Police for allegedly stabbing his nephew to death and injuring another nephew at Chorkor in Accra. The suspect, Theophilus Tetteh, is said to have stabbed his 34-year-old nephew, Richard Kpakpo Allotey, and his younger sister's son, and also hit his elder brother's son on the head with a stick for allegedly insulting him. The injured nephew, identified only as Okanta, aka S.O., is currently on admission at the Mamprobi Polytechnic where he was taken with blood oozing out of a cut on his head. Allotey's body has been deposited at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra for autopsy. Tetteh, a father of five, who lives in a family house, is said to have threatened to kill members of his family on many occasions. Arrest Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Dansoman Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr Kwadwo Antwi Tabi, said Tetteh, who bolted after the incident, was arrested by a joint patrol team of the Korle Bu and the Mamprobi Police at his hideout. He said Tetteh, who was found drunk, was hiding in a toilet in a compound house at Mamprobi. The knife the suspect used in stabbing Allotey was retrieved from a drain close to the scene. Investigations He said the incident happened about 11 p.m. last Monday. According to him, preliminary investigations conducted by the police had established that Allotey returned home and found Tetteh engaged in a scuffle with Okanta. He said Allotey, who appeared on the scene and saw his cousin bleeding, managed to stop Tetteh from hitting Okanta again with a stick he was holding. Allotey, Mr Tabi said, then called for the assistance of some family members to help him convey the bleeding cousin to hospital, while Tetteh repeatedly warned Allotey not to return to the house, else he would kill him. Allotey is said to have gone into his room and returned with a sharp kitchen knife, and when, after putting Okanta in a taxi, he went to his room for money, he was stabbed by his uncle. He said some family members who heard Allotey shouting for help also rushed to the scene, only to find him in a pool of blood, with Tetteh standing by, with the knife in his hand. Threats Later, he said, the police found out that Tetteh had once stabbed Okanta's father, injured a number of his family members and threatened to kill some of them. Mr Tabi expressed worry over the failure of the family members to report the threat on their lives to the police, saying 'that could have saved the life of the young man. Sometimes family members should not take such threats for granted'. Writer's email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Follow us on Twitter--> 14.04.2016 LISTEN The Shai hills reserve of the Dangbe West district in the greater Accra Region is to be developed into an eco-tourism reserve. The forestry commission is currently seeking a partner to develop the 51 square kilometre reserve through the rehabilitation of its 33 kilometre perimeter fence, the provision of dugouts and the expansion of three luxury tent camp accommodation facility. The project will see the reintroduction of different species of wildlife and the development of innovative eco-tourism products to provide rare and deserved experience for the increasing number of visitors to the reserve. At a ceremony to hand over the three luxury tent camp accommodation facility constructed by the leadership for conservation in Africa (LCA), the chief executive of the forestry commission , Mr. Samuel Afari Dartay, Said the shai hills had the potential to be much better than the mole park when developed. The camp which was completed two years ago is meant to open up the place to more tourist and increase revenue generated to promote its conservation activities. Mr. Dartey bemoaned the over concentration of the country on timber for export over the years which he stated was fast depleting the forests. Mr. Dartey warned of due consequences especially access to water, if the Atiwa range, which was the source of three rivers, including the densu, was not saved from increasing spate of depletion. LCA GHANA The LCA was initiated in August 2006 in South Africa by the South African Nation parks (SAN Parks), and fields limited and the international union for the conservation of nature (IUCN) it has since been actively involved in 16 African countries of which Ghana is one. The LCA primarily aims to establish a link between local and national business leaders as conservation leaders, encountering such leaders to take hands in bringing about conservation-led socio-economic development in that particular country. The LCA Ghana chapter was established in collaboration with the Ghana Ministry of Lands and Forestry, with the support of Gold Fields Ghana as well as other business leaders in May 2008. In 2011, the chapter was officially registered with the Ghana authorities and acquired its legal status as a company limited by guarantee. It is now known as Leadership for conservation in Africa Ghana (LCA Ghana). LCA Ghana aims to implement its flagship project, Shai Hills Resource Reserve, within the ambit of the LCA 20/20 vision: The LCA will positively influence, accelerate or bring about the protection of 20 million hectares of rain forests and selected eco-systems in Sub-Sahara Africa by the year 2020. While mining companies are wildh perceived to be environmentally destructive, Mr, chris Murai, the chief executive of LCA, said Goldfields had a footprint of being responsible as a believer in community engagement to promote sustainable conservation. According to him, feasibility done at the reserve showed it had a huge potential not just for tourism but also as a top heritage site. Shai Hills Resource Reserve Shai Hills Resource Reserve is located in close proximity (36km) to Accra. Although the park enjoys a category IV IUCN Protected Area classification, it is in the direct path of urban encroachment and at high risk of being a victim of development at-all-cost facing most developing countries today. The reserve is 51km2 in size and plays host to a number of culturally significant sites and a variety of fauna and flora. It is also plagued by lack of funding, lack of infrastructure, animal poaching and a range of other typical developing country problems. The LCA Ghanas mission is to grow the natural capital of Shai Hills by preserving the biodiversity, landscape and the culture for future generations. To achieve this, it is important to create a visitors experience that showcases the natural and cultural heritage of Ghana. How can this be achieved? Initially, it was anticipated that by bringing business and conservation leaders on board to allow for the integration of business principles with conservation management principles, this synergy would actively facilitate the involvement of business in sustainable conservation-led socio-economic development and capacity building. Unfortunately that approach had limited results. During 2012 and 2013, in an effort to kick-start commercialization, three luxury tents were erected at Shai Hills. Development was slow, but eventually in early 2015, LCA Ghana identified an investor, who would be interested in developing and commercializing the whole Shai Hills Reserve as an entity. The investor, however, wanted to compete on a level playing field and asked that they compete on a tender basis, and that they not be identified until after a successful bidder had been announced. The Forestry Commission initiated tender procedures in August 2015 and the announcement of the winning tender should be made soon The anticipated outcome of the appointment of a successful bidder, will be a public private partnership between the investor and the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission to develop Shai Hills, full eco-tourism potential. The successful bidder will rehabilitate the reserves fence, re-introduce different species of wildlife, and expand accommodation facilities, amongst other endeavors. The tent which cost 300 thousand dollars is expected to serve as a recreational grounds to bring man closer to nature. I knew we were going to have a renaming ceremony of some educational institutions in the country. When the news first came, it sounded like one of the old jokes the government usually cracked. I am referring to the ongoing renaming of our Polytechnics as Technical Universities. At least two questions popped up in my mind at the hearing of this news. The first is whether the change of name is what we really need and the second had to do with the positive effect this renaming would bring. I am not surprised because this is a country in which the remedy for every failed institution is a change of name and not structural transformation. We have seen and experienced this several times in the past so some of us are not surprised that the tradition goes on. For instance, the primary, middle and secondary schools changed names to junior and senior secondary schools. This was to give a practical meaning to education. Whether the objective had been achieved or not should not be a matter of any serious debate because ever since these changes were introduced, the educational system has become rugged and uncertain. The President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. John Dramani Mahama appears to be enthusiastic about changing the face of education in Ghana. He however appears to be pursuing the passion from the wrong angle. In the 1970s, Prof. Okonjo a population studies expert proposed that if the existing structures from basic through to the tertiary education could be maximised, illiteracy would be wiped out in no time. This view is true and still relevant today. As a matter of fact, all and sundry in the educational sector have come to accept this. Of course, many other educationists and experts have conducted researches that support this claim. So, it is deadly wrong on the part of the president to act in a way that suggests that the mere change of name of our polytechnics to technical universities is the remedy for transforming our technical education system and making them achieve the core objective for which they were established. I am by this article questioning the rationale behind such a seemingly improper venture. In the United States, Canada and other developed nations, there exist polytechnics which are aimed at offering quality technical education to students. This is possible because of the structural transformation of these institutions. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said of Ghana. We need structural reforms that can assist students to become innovative. We need to gear our energy towards providing quality technical education and skills training to students of these polytechnics so they can become job-creators instead of job-seekers. That is why there is the need to question the rationale behind a mere change of name. If the passion of the president is being directed towards creating the impression of lifting the face of the polytechnics up when in reality, the kind of education that goes on there does not reflect the core objectives of polytechnic education, then he must take a second look at this action. However, if the change of name will result in equal structural reforms, all well and good because after all, that is what we need as a country. There should be no politicking of educational issues in our country. Our rationale behind the policies and changes we effect in our educational system must be genuine and not be a political exercise to boost the confidence of voters and also to prepare Ghanaians towards the upcoming elections. In this twenty-first century, technical education must be geared towards equipping students with entrepreneurial skills: creating jobs to help themselves and the country. This can be done if we expand and restructure existing polytechnics, get qualified teachers to teach in these schools and offering students enough skills training to prepare them for the job market. The government's passion must be directed towards training the minds of our students and empowering them to compete globally. A proper technical education in my view, therefore, should aim at transforming our polytechnics to meet the demands of the 21st century. I expect to see stories about polytechnics being restructured, equipped and expanded. But a mere change of name from polytechnics to technical universities is not only a case of giving an old donkey a new name but also an unfortunate venture and a misdirected enthusiasm. Two years on from their abduction, the fate of 219 of the Chibok schoolgirls is still unknown, buttheir plight is sadly all too common in the conflict-affected communities of the North-East. Humanitarian agencies are concerned that two years have passed, and still the fate of the Chibokgirls and the many, many other abductees is unknown, said the Humanitarian Coordinator forNigeria, Fatma Samoura. At the hands of their captors they have suffered forced recruitment intothe group, forced marriage, sexual slavery and rape, and have been used to carry bombs. Between 2,000 - 7,000 women and girls are living in abduction and sex slavery, said UNICEFCountry Representative, Jean Gough. Women and girls who have escaped Boko Haram have reported undergoing a systematic trainingprogramme while in captivity, to train them as bombers, according to UNICEF. 85% of thesuicide attacks by women globally in 2014 were in Nigeria. In May 2015 it was reported thatchildren had been used to perpetrate three-quarters of all suicide attacks in Nigeria since 2014. Many of the bombers had been brainwashed or coerced. As the Nigerian military recaptures territory from Boko Haram, abducted women and girls arebeing recovered. Over and above the horrific trauma of sexual violence these girls experiencedduring their captivity, many are now facing rejection by their families and communities, becauseof their association with Boko Haram. You are a Boko Haram wife, don't come near us! onegirl reported being told. Effective rehabilitation for these women and girls is vital, as they rebuildtheir lives. Children have suffered disproportionately as a result of the North-East conflict. The Chibokabduction was not a one off: in November 2014, 300 children were abducted from a school inDamasak, Borno, and are are still missing. A UNICEF report released earlier this week states that1.3 million children have been displaced by the conflict across the Lake Chad Basin, almost amillion of whom are in Nigeria. Similarly, Human Rights Watch have reported that 1 millionchildren have lost access to education. The abducted Chibok girls have become a symbol forevery girl that has gone missing at the hands of Boko Haram, and every girl who insists onpracticing her right to education, attested the Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria,Munir Safieldin. While the fate of the Chibok girls hangs in the balance, women and girls in 70% of vulnerablehouseholds in North-East Nigeria still face the risk of sexual and gender-based violence,according to a report published in December by UNHCR, the Nigerian National Human RightsCommission, Nigerian Red Cross and the State Emergency Management Agencies. More needsto be done by the Nigerian Government and the international community to keep them safe fromthe horrors other women and girls have endured. Safe schools are a good start, but safe roads arealso needed, and safe homes. On April 14th, 2016, women representing eight of the main political parties and coming from all corners of Morocco came together for the launch of the, Elections 2016: Women @ the Forefront Conference to share successful strategies for gaining elected office and discuss how women can advocate for greater leadership roles within their political parties. This three-day conference, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and facilitated by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) with additional support from the Embassies of Spain and France, aims to encourage women from different political affiliations and regions to exchange experiences while working together to develop internal advocacy strategies. In addition, the conference will also include a series of workshops on message development and delivery; building your resources; social media use and developing policy. U.S. Ambassador to Morocco DwightL.Bush, Sr. provided inspiring opening remarks, which applauded the commitment of both the Government of Morocco and the conference participants towards designing a more inclusive political system. Your presence confirms Morocco's commitment to making real progress on the gender equality related amendments to the 2011 constitutionMorocco is often cited as leading the way on gender equality in the region. This progress did not happen in a vacuum. It comes as a result of committed civil society activists and enlightened political leaders coming together as partners in reform. This partnership continues here, as you share ideas and priorities for the future. Currently, women only represent 17% of Moroccan parliament. The 2016 legislative elections provide opportunities for Moroccan women play an active role in politics more than ever before. Through internal advocacy efforts, party activists can motivate their leadership to make decisions that help boost women's ability to access to elected office. About USAID: Through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the American people have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years. In Morocco, USAID provides assistance to Morocco through three sectors: Education, Economic Growth and Democracy and Governance. Since 1957, USAID has invested over 2 billion dollars on technical and humanitarian assistance to Morocco. Colombo, Sri Lanka - On April 10th, Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute(HARTI) and Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL) co-hosted peace network dialogue on 10 April in Colombo. More than 40 figures of social leaders in government, women and youth group, religious leaders and journalists attended including Mr. Kusala Kumara Fernando in Ministry of Education Divisional Director, Dr. Deshapriya S. Wijetunge a Director General of SUNFO Global Youth Forums, Dr Jehan Perera an Executive Director of the NPC, reporters from ITN, and Lankapuvath Ltd. At this peace network dialogue, the famous research and training institute HARTI gave a presentation for HWPL as an international peace organization in association with the United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI), actively spreads the culture and message of peace to every corner of the world with the hope of achieving cessation of wars through the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War and interfaith dialogue in World Alliance of Religions Peace Office. And they also introduced the HWPL Peace Advisory Committee, comprising of youth and women representatives in affliated IWPG and IPYG, will quickly rise to urge the international community to support the Declaration with Sri Lankan leaders of diverse sectors including law, women and youth, and education. Various participants in Colombo had a meaningful time to discuss their specific activity plan in cooperation with HWPL. In the congratulatory message as HWPL Publicity Ambassador Ven. Wattegama Dhammawasa Nayaka Thero, the president of Sri Subodharama Buddhist Center who has already participated in WARP peace office for 6 times, he said that he agreed with the thought of Mr. Lee, the chairman of HWPL, emphasizing the importance of religious harmony based on each religious text. He also focused on the essential role of WARP peace office. Also IPYG Publicity Ambassador Dr. Deshapriya S. Wijetunge, a Director General of SUNFO Global Youth Forums, has suggested that youth and women have to take action for peace, and realize the necessity and the importance of actual law which is able to protect them from the threat of war. Nowadays, HWPL have started a massive signature campaign for 1.2 million people in support of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War that Sri Lankan youth shall take the lead to urge and support it. Sri Lanka has long painful history of conflicts by civil war for about 40 years. Accordingly, all people were unanimous in their wish for peace and they met the HWPL heartfelt peace movement to host WARP peace office and media forum frequently in recent two years. The manager in HWPL delivered a message to make collaboration with Sri Lanka for the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War, activities to urge and support are expected proactively. HWPL was established for world peace in 2013 by peace activist Man Hee Lee who is a Korean War veteran. He received high praise from around the world including UN, leaders of political, religious and press group that he suggested 'the most innovative and practical solution for world peace'. HWPL is Non-Government peace organization which has about 170 branches around the world. Since 2012, Chairman Lee has been working for world peace by 24 times of peace tour and he made peace agreement with heads of states and leaders of various group. On the 14th of March 2016 in Seoul, South Korea, HWPL held a Proclamation Ceremony of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War which was drafted in last 6 months. HWPL International Law Peace Committee has contributed their expertise to develop the draft of the Declaration and is composed of renowned scholars, law professors, and chief justices of supreme courts from around the world. Gonjaland is blessed to have numerous renowned medical doctors like Dr Seidu Kokor who is credited with leading a team to eradicate the guinea worm disease from Ghana; Commissioner of Police (COP) Dr Seidu Mohamadu Zakariah who is the Director of the Ghana Police Hospital- Accra; Proffessor Ahmed Nuhu Zakariah, a technically competent and renowned Intensive Care Specialist who is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the National Ambulance Service; Dr Afisah Zakariah who was adjudged as the Outstanding Female Doctor of the year 2014 and currently the Acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Health; and others. They did their part and continue to do a lot for Gonjaland. Of late a young medical Doctor, Leslie Issah Zakariah seems to be making waves with his medical assistance to many people in Gonjaland and his philanthropic donations to some health centres in Gonjaland. He has also used his Medical Rescue Team to give free medical care to delegates and the general public at the Congresses of the Gonjaland Youth Association the past two years at a great cost. At the 2016 Congress of the Gonjaland Youth Association at Kpembe, Dr Issah and his Medical Rescue Group attended to over 600 individuals including children. Persons diagnosed of acute conditions were appropriately treated while those found to have chronic conditions had treatments initiated and advised to continue treatment at the Salaga Hospital. Many of those Dr Issah and his team attended to have told the National Executives and the local organising Committee of Congress to thank Dr Issah for showing love to Gonjaland. They told the executives they would have spent so much money to get the diagnoses and treatment they were given. During the 2015 Congress of the Gonjaland Youth Association at Buipe, Dr Isaah and his team of two nurses namely Ella Musah and Haruna Fausia offered free medical screening for both males and females in the morning of the durbar of Congress, that is on Saturday 4th April, 2015. Over 500 people were screened with common ailments such as malaria, ulcer complaint cases, typhoid, malnutrition, rheumatism, piles and hypertension or BP cases dominating. Some without any cases of ailments also requested for drug prescriptions for future use. Dr Issah recently (28th March, 2016) donated much needed assorted medicines to the Buipe Health Centre. The Central Gonja District Director of Health Service, Hajia Ayisheitu Bukari was so elated that he wrote to Dr Isaah: "... On behalf of the Health Directorate and the Buipe Health Centre, I wish to express our profound gratitude to you and by extension the entire Gonjaland Youth Association for the kind gesture. We appreciate what you have done and we hope this will not be the last of such donations to us... " I have been told Dr Isaah and his team have plans in place to offer free services by eye specialist, dentist and HIV free testing and counselling hopefully at the next Congress of the Gonjaland Youth Association at Sawla. I am not surprised Dr Issah has already been pencilled for an award at the next Congress of the Gonjaland Youth Association at his young age. More grease to your elbows Dr Issah!! Gonjaland is proud of you!! Mahama Haruna (PRO, Gonjaland Youth Association). The Coalition of Unemployed Nurses will be heading for the Flagstaff House if government fails to finalise their clearance from the Ministry of Finance for their subsequent employment by April 27, 2016. The demonstration, if it goes through, will see the nurses who have been in the house after completing their education occupying the seat of government, if the state fails to post them to the various hospitals across the country by the said date. According to the coalition, they are bonded by government to serve the country after completion of their studies. However, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has delayed for eight months in processes involved in getting them cleared and posted to the various health facilities. According to the spokesperson for the coalition, Adams Masawudu, letters written to the Ministry of Health (one dated January 16, 2016) have not yielded any fruitful outcome from the ministry. . He added that they have decided to demonstrate and occupy the official seat of government to press home their demand. Government was quick to cancel our allowance immediately we finished the service but has not employed us. Some of us are married and we have kids and we have to take care of our families, but how do we do that if we are unemployed? he asked. Mr Masawudu said, I am highly disappointed in my mother association, we don't have to even come and complain to them. They are there because we are there. Even if they are doing anything at all, they are very slow. They are not proactive when it comes to our concerns. This is the third time the unemployed nurses are threatening to move to the seat of government to demand postings into various health facilities across the country. Their pleas have on all occasions fallen on deaf ears, as government keeps reneging on its promise of completing their financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance to employ the graduate nurses. By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri The management of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) has rescinded its decision to enter into a public-private-partnership with the running of the hospital's laboratory. The plan by the hospital's management was suspended after patients, staff and the Ghana Association of Biomedical Laboratory Scientists (GABMLS) kicked against the decision on various occasions. The hospital had earlier publicly advertised for interested private companies (labs) to send proposals to enable them to participate in a selection process to provide various laboratory services for the hospital. According to management, moves towards outsourcing of lab services were to ensure that patients who visited the hospital were able to access the services efficiently and in a friendly environment. However, they have been forced to back down on the move after a meeting with staff on the matter. Head of the Pathology Unit at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Dr Bani Banison, disclosed that management was committed to resolving the concerns of the angry workers. Some staff and patients of the Tamale Teaching Hospital in the Northern Region last week opposed moves to privatise the laboratory services of the hospital. . They mentioned that if the hospital is allowed to outsource its laboratory services, it would make access to healthcare in the region very expensive. The GABMLS also in a statement mentioned that the move by the hospital is a step to further cripple and deepen the misfortune of public sector medical laboratory service delivery. GABMLS President, Thomas Kwabena Gyampomah, stated that the decision would increase the plight of poor patients who cannot afford to pay out of pocket for laboratory services when it is privatised. The cost of accessing healthcare in public facility cannot be affordable if a critical service as laboratory diagnostics is privatised, he said. The group called on management of the hospital to rather use their position to solicit for equipment and reagent suppliers to beef up the machinery of the hospital. The practice of effective medical laboratory needs continuous investment and cannot be achieved by operating it as a subsidiary department. Reserving a percentage (about 60 percent) of laboratory output in its reserves will make us have effective labs in Ghana, he said. By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri 14.04.2016 LISTEN An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward, so when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it's going to launch you into something great, so just focus and keep aiming. Tacitus WHEN I VISITED KETA IN 2008, It was improved by the sea defence wall which had kept the sea at bay. It was such a marvelous piece of engineering work and gave the landscape such aesthetic beauty the eye could behold. How different the whole scene was from my visit to the town in 1999. In 2008, I saw beautiful structures built to house people whose houses had been lapped up by the sea. But the structures were unoccupied because, as argued by a local fisherman, they were far from the 'community'and you know Africans and their community life! Honestly, I did not ask which government had built the Sea Defence Wall there was no need to know, because whoever had built it had done so, at least, in reference to Article 35(7) the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992, that provides that: As far as practicable, a government shall continue and execute projects and programmes commenced by the previous Government. Government should thus be seen as a continuum and there should not be any break in development programmes. Fort Prinzenstein built by the Danes in 1784 was only a heap of rubble, having been consumed by the sea. The fort had boosted the colonial masters' trade in slaves, and had boosted the colonial economy, because the colonial masters dictated the terms. When President Mahama visited the Volta Region, he asked what the NPP had done for the people there. Listening carefully, one could say that the President did not state categorically that the NPP had not done anything for them. He was only asking an innocuous question, but with a political or propagandist undertone. It was simply a sarcastic question, robed in the garb of 'Accounting to the people'. One could say that President Kufuor has a unique personality traittaciturnity. He could be described as reserved, reticent, tight-lipped or without the negative connotationimpassive, silent, solemn and mute. President Kufuor appeared to have been gored. This time round, he could not hide his feelings. He went to town, but he was not as garrulous (vociferous, voluble, effusive, talkative, wordy) as some people might have thought. He dismissed the argument that his government had not done 'anything' for the Volta Region. He mentioned the Keta Sea Defence Wall for which the NDC had contracted a loan of the $2 billion but had 'misapplied' it. Readers may recall that in 1996, President Jerry John Rawlings had sat in a bull-dozer in a symbolic ground-breaking (NOT: sod-cutting) exercise. The project stalled since then, until the NPP revived it on coming to office in 2001. Kufuor cited the Ho Polytechnic whose refurbishing even aroused the envy of the authorities at the University of Ghana Legon, as another aspect of his party's legacy. Honourable Omane Boamah, speaking as the Minister of Communication, simply flayed Kufuor for his comments, and averred that the Volta Region would not be deceived by tricks of the NPP. Surprisingly, he called on Kufuor to rather speak on the Panama (Papers Leak) issue and also lampooned the NPP government for its treatment of NDC bigwigs. To him, Volta Region would remain NDC's 'World Bank'. Togbe Afede, the President of the Volta Region House of Chiefs charged the chiefs of the Region to . be independent and ensure that (their) conducts promote and cement our peace and democracy. In so saying, Togbe Afede was reminding the chiefs of Article 276 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana , 1992 which provides as follows: A chief shall not take part in active party politics; and any chief seeking election to Parliament shall abdicate his stool or skin.Nowhere in the Constitution is it written that other political parties are unwelcomed into an area, save the NDC. NDC takes pleasure in calling the Volta Region their 'World Bank: But talk to some personalities in the region, and they will tell you how they spurn the appellation. It is like giving Ashanti Region the tag of NPP's 'World Bank' because NPP votes swell in the region. The Ashanti Region would not want to be taken for granted, and be ignored in terms of development programmes. Not only that: they would not want their beliefs in democracy; their right to self-upliftment to be trampled upon. . General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong was an Ashanti from Trabuom (his father's hometown), though his mother came from Fumesua (the author's hometown). When Kutu introduced the Union Government concept, he faced a very stiff opposition from the Ashanti Region. Despite the success of 'Operation Feed Yourself', the creation of Dansoman out of a forest, the creation of the Nima Highway, Kutu could not believe that he would be 'rejected' by his 'own people: Like Jesus, he came unto his own, and his own received him not (John 1:11) Togbe Sri of the Anlo State of the NDC's supposed 'World Bank' in reacting to President Mahama's exhortation to be praised for NDC's efforts at providing infrastructural projects had this to say: Laudable as these efforts may seem, they fail to address a very crucial fundamental need of the teeming unemployed masses. They do not create the required sustainable job avenues for these people. The proverty level in our area therefore is very high. The hardships are tremendous to narrate. The only alternative left to them is to resort to such anti-social habits as robbery, smoking, and prostitution. It's high time this trend is stopped. I did my national service at Vakpo Senior High School of the NDC 'world Bank' in 1997, and I can attest to the observation made by Togbui Sri. Like all other parts of Ghana: Greater Accra, Eastern, Western, Central, Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions, the ordinary people are struggling to make ends meet. The few in these places who are beneficiaries of the political largesse should not insult the intelligence of those who are suffering and will tell it as it is. In his book 'Ewe Law of Property', Professor A. K. P. Kludze notes: The Ewe are but one of the many peoples of West Africa. The late Armattoe has described them as one of the most intelligent peoples who inhabit the West Coast of Africa, as well as one of the most industrious, and he says the Ewe were the first iron-working people in Africa. Professor Kludze feeds us with the history of the Ewe. Before the First World War, the Ewe came under two separate colonial administrations. A large portion of them were together with other ethnic groups of the German colony of TogoThe rest were in the South-Eastern corner of the then British colony of the Gold Coast, in which territory they were one of the large minorities. As a result of the defeat of Germany in the 1914-18 war, Togo was divided between Great Britain and France and placed under their respective administrations under the defunct League of Nations. It was the result of the plebiscite of 1956 that brought Togoland under United Kingdom Trusteeship decided by a majority of 93, 095 to 67,492 in favour of integration into the Gold coast (58% to 42%) . But the overwhelming majority of votes in the southern part of British Togoland which was the Ewe area, voted against integration into the Gold Coast (36,010 to 15,798 or 69% to 31%). These figures were 'engulfed' when the votes were taken together with the whole of the Trust Territory, including Mamprusi, the Dagomba and other Non-Ewe tribes in the north. Professor Kludze adds; As far as can be seen now, therefore, the Ewes are permanently divided between the Republic of Ghana and the Republic of Togo. Thus, we now have anglophonic and francophonic Ewes. We should be careful of labeling and stereotyping. Any political party, be it NPP, NDC, PPP, PNC that seeks votes from the Volta Region should tread cautiously and be calculated in their language because the Ewe people cannot be deceived by chicanery, quibbling, sophistry, hanky-panky or hocus-pocus. Africanus Owusu-Ansah [email protected] The mortal remains Jacob Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, affectionately known as Jake, former National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has been flown into the country from London, the United Kingdom, where he passed on to eternity. The final funeral rites and burial ceremonies are expected to be held from April 21 to April 22, 2016 in Accra. Scores of NPP bigwigs including former President John Agyekum Kufuor and the flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, were at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to welcome the delegation, including Jake's wife Esther, Tuesday night. The party's delegation was led by Acting General Secretary and National Organiser of the party, John Boadu, who was also in London to accompany the mortal remains of the NPP stalwart. It was a sorrowful scene at the airport when the British Airways aircraft that was carrying the body touched down from the Heathrow Airport, London, after which a short prayer service was held in his memory. Other NPP gurus at the airport were Hackman Owusu Agyemang, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor, Alan Kyerematen, Prof Mike Oquaye, Stanley Nii Adjiri Blankson. Jake, 70, died on Palm Sunday, March 20 this year in far away London after what a family source said was a short illness. News about his death sent shockwaves throughout the country, particularly among members of the NPP, which leader, Nana Akufo-Addo, described it as a tragedy and big loss. . Jake was receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment in a South African hospital before he was moved to London for recuperation and review. At that time there were wild rumours that he had died before close friends and aides repelled the unfounded claim. Jake was a founding member of the NPP and was the Chairman of the Publicity Committee of the party in its formative years in 1992, and later became the Greater Accra Regional Chairman. He served as Campaign Manager for then candidate John Agyekum Kufuor and executed a perfect strategy that made the NPP win the keenly contested 2000 general election. He served as Chief of Staff under the Kufuor administration, Minister of Information and then Tourism. History As an advertising expert who once led the powerful AP Lintas an advertising company Jake has a rich political history. His late father, Lawyer Emmanuel Odarkwei Obetsebi-Lamptey, was one of the revered 'Big Six' who led the fight against British colonialism, leading to the attainment of independence. Jake was one of the petitioners who challenged the validity of the election of President John Mahama in the 2012 landmark presidential election petition. By William Yaw Owusu 14.04.2016 LISTEN Col. Muammar Gaddafi (Libya) and Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe) are seen in Africa, not only by Marihuana smoking Rasters, as true African Icon having given their lives for Africa and its unifications. Gaddafi has paid hundreds of Millions of Dollars to other African countries to help them to develop while bother Leaders did and do not get tired of exposing the mistakes of Whites, specially their bad and poor behavior in Africa. As Gaddafi did not charge his people for Electricity, this is seen as a heroic act. The money paid was NOT coming out of their own pockets! Adolf Hitler reached to the top in World History by starting a massive infrastructure program giving many out of the 6 Million unemployed people a job and future. This is why the Highway system Autobahn is the second largest in the world behind USA that is much larger than small old Germany. He needed this social intervention, besides Hilfswerke (AID organizations) for the poor to rally Germans behind him in order for him being able to execute his real intentions. He took office to kill all Jews in Europe and beyond besides enlarging the territory of Germany. Gaddafi in his own country promoted his tribe while prosecuted other tribes and imprisoned them. He used the natural wealth of his country namely Oil revenues to live a life in luxury as after the revolution every citizen was able to see by visiting the various homes of their killed President. For many years Gaddafi denied having ordered the bombing in the German Discotheque La Belle in Berlin on April 5th 1986, visited by many US-soldiers, killing 3 people and injuring over 200 innocent lives. Before his meeting with former French President Nicolas Sarkozy wanting to have a closer relationship with EU countries, he confessed having ordered the bombing of the Discotheque as well as the bombing of an airplane on 21.12.1988 over Lockerbie in Scotland killing 243 passengers and 16 crew members, all innocent lives. Someone that has honest intentions to better the lives of Africans does not, and will never, ever use destructive means but go the right way. To achieve their goals they will always use words and constructive actions to benefit Africans and ensure the money generated in their countries is not for them to enjoy and chop, but for the improvement of their peoples future. Robert Mugabe took control over 30 years ago of a country that was a food export nation. Today his citizens find it hard to find enough food and the draught in the south of the country will soon find its victims, innocent people, while he and his wife enjoy a life in luxury in the countries Presidential palace. He killed many White farmers and gave the land to their farm workers that did not have the qualification to manage a farm contributing to the downfall of the former well to do country. Foreigners find it impossible to invest in Zimbabwe due to national laws and international perception of Mugabes policy. Namibia, a former German colony, decided years ago to ask foreign farmers to leave their farms for the Locals by buying the Farms and asking the Landowner to train the next generation of Farmers on their land before departing for greener pastures in South Africa and Botswana. Gaddafi and Mugabe are very talented Speakers knowing how to address the hearts and minds of Africans, particularly in their own countries. The Bible is teaching us that actions speak louder than words and expose visibly and factual the truth behind the words spoken. The fact that Libya is currently undergoing a very difficult time, with many countries misusing the situation, is to blame on the Arab Spring. The Box of the Pandora got opened. What was oppressed by force saw the light of time similar to ex-Yugoslavia. While in Germany on the night of November 9th 1989 the Berlin Wall was falling with nobody ever died, was injured or hurt. Instead in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya thousands died is caused by the fact that Arabs were taken their anger, their feelings, to the streets creating a vacuum, while Germans took their brain to the streets and established very fast a strong united Germany, the richest country in Europe. Before staring a revolution, someone must have a plan Constitution and Shadow Cabinet (compare UK Parliamentary System) in place to make a successful transition from an outdated system into a better future without going through a voting process. Radical changes, well thought through and organized, always have a peaceful path as even the Opposition will be taken along the process line. Politics is nothing for feelings, but for brains. Many think they understand the complexity of Politics while only few have the intellectual capacity to make out of conflicting ideas and wishes a successful new country that can benefit a people for two generations and more before new ideas need to take over the Politics of a Nation. Even Political Scientists do not get things always right, what to expect from the majority in a country standing in Bars to discuss problems and people? Mugabe and Gaddafi are, or were, far from having an honest interest in their own countries but used state assets to cover up their real intentions and life-style to benefit them and their families alone using big words to blind their people and beyond. In Germany and Europe it can be observed, even up to today, that Germans or other Europeans still glorify Adolf Hitler and deny his wrong doings as a lie while Concentration Camps can be visited and testimonies were given in the numbers. People with no own inner direction and stamina easily fall victims to the glorification of great man ignoring historic facts even when proven over and over again. Use your own brain for victory and do not allow yourself to be taken away by your feelings! Author: Dipl.-Pol. Karl-Heinz Heerde, Sakumono Estate, Block D10, Aprt. 9, Tema West, Ghana, phone +233(0)265078287, [email protected] , 14.04.2016 14.04.2016 LISTEN He shot to fame and power with the putsch initiated by members of the so-called Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), a rag-tag bunch of frustrated and ill-bred junior military officers. Then in the name of rank corruption, he summarily executed nearly all the key leaders of the I. K. Acheampong and F. W. K. Akuffo-led Supreme Military Councils I and II in the name of abject political decadence and socioeconomic corruption. And then he reluctantly handed over power to the democratically elected Dr. Hilla (Babini) Limann and his Peoples National Party (PNP). And then less than three years later, under the guise of righteous indignation, he shot his way back into the dictatorial seat of governance and in nearly two decades effectively ground the economy of Ghana to a screeching halt. Today, Chairman Jerry John Rawlings claims that the Mahama-led government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) whose creation, by the way, he has been credited and knighted as The Founding Father, and on whose ticket he ruled the country for some 8 unremarkable years as a democratically elected president, is the most corrupt of its kind in the postcolonial history of the country. The interesting thing here is that Chairman Rawlings would force the presidential candidacy of his former arch-lieutenant and vice-president, Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills, on the party for three consecutive election cycles by insisting that Prof. Mills, now late, was the best qualified Ghanaian citizen to occupy his constitutionally vacated seat. And then once his infamous Swedru-Declaration Candidate had been voted into power, Mr. Rawlings would spend the next three years badmouthing and discrediting the managerial skills of the Fante Ekumfi-Otuam native. He would even back his own wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, to tackily attempt to wrest power from President Mills during the 2010 Sunyani, Brong-Ahafo, NDC congressional primaries. Mrs. Agyeman-Rawlings would be badly beaten and be forced, largely by shock and shame, to renounce her membership of the party whose eagle-atop-of-an-umbrella logo she claims to have invented. Well, nobody can dispute the fact that the Mahama-led government of the National Democratic Congress is thoroughgoing corrupt; but we ought to also not forget, as my maternal grandmother, Mrs. Grace Akosua Ateaa Agyeman Sintim, was fond of saying that: A crab does not beget a bird. The fact of the matter is that no conjugal pair of politicians is as corrupt as Chairman Rawlings and his wife Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings. Even as I write, the residents and indigenes of Nsawam-Adoagyiri, of whose royal stool I am a legitimate claimant, are up in arms over the summary, devious and unconscionable expropriation of their land, to wit, some 800 acres of fetching farmlands, by Chairman Rawlings and his wife. Reliable legend has it that the bloody couple used the cold-calculating pretext of Eminent Domain to get the Adoagyiri lands nationalized by the National Democratic Congress. And then they morphed themselves into the State, a la French monarchical style, and got these prime landed properties ceded to them at giveaway rental rates for some 50 years, with the automatic chance for a renewal of their lease for another 50 years. Talk of legitimate thievery. What this piratical takeover of the landed prime properties, located less than 25 miles from Ghanas capital of Accra, means is that like the globally detested erstwhile white-racist regime of Apartheid South Africas Bantustanization of the lands of indigenous South Africans, the people of Nsawam-Adoagyiri, having been summarily and callously dispossessed of their lands and livelihoods, must now resign themselves to working as day and wage laborers for the Nsawam Cannery which, Chairman Rawlings, as founding leader of the National Democratic Congress, as well as first leader of Ghanas Fourth Republic, literally gifted to his wife in the name of an IMF-World Bank-induced Divestiture Program. In essence, what we have here is a striking case of the most corrupt and wealthiest thieves of Fourth-Republican Ghana calling another filthy rich political criminal and a thief a thief. Not surprisingly, Mr. Rawlings and his wife, Nana Konadu, have been incessantly hammering at President John Dramani Mahama and his cronies for being bloodily guilty of some of the same crimes and criminal activities modeled for them by the Rawlingses. Chairman Rawlings, by the way, has categorically declared in various shades of not-so-subtle rhetorical salvos that the Rawlings Clan stands way over and above the laws of the land. Our elders and sages of old have observed that Birds of similar feathers consort together. If the preceding maxim and informed observations have validity then you, the dear reader, ought to wonder what really makes the Rawlingses brazenly and impudently believe that they are any morally superior to the Mahamas and their cronies. *Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs 14.04.2016 LISTEN The Aberdeen University was founded in 1845 and it is one of the greatest research public universities in the world. It has also been ranked among the top 1% of universities on the globe. Most recently, it has produced several leading figures in the United Kingdom including the former Secretary of State for Scotland, Alistair Carmichael, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling and the former Paymaster General, Tessa Jowell. The current Chief Constable of Police Scotland, Stephen House, is also an alumnus. Additionally, famous businessmen such as Stephen Carter and Will Whitehorn matriculated at UoA. Radio and television personalities such as Nicky Campbell, James Naughtie, Sandy Gall, Glen Oglaza and Derek Rae were also students there. There is also a great number of alumni from Aberdeen on the African soil whose contribution towards humanity cannot be overemphasized and fortunately, we the people of the Republic of Ghana are proud to have our president His Excellency Mr John Dramani Mahama being identified as one of the few to be honoured by this institution. Kudos Sir! The elite university meritoriously conferred on you the " Honoris causa" by taking into account your leadership qualities including your work on child poverty and children's rights, and the role you played in the fight against Ebola. Sir ,I would therefore exploit this juncture and introduce you to a few of my frustrations in this country. His Excellency , I still cannot understand why the acquisition of a national passport in this country is a hard nut to crack. "Why would citizens in their own country find it very difficult obtaining a national passport? ", i keep thinking. We go a mile ahead of the norm by paying huge sums of bribes to the very people whose responsibility is to ensure that the processing is done as employed by the state. Mr president ,this practise is not fair considering the quantum of frustration it has inflicted Ghanaians with. Furthermore ,Mr president, I have constantly wondered whether Ghana is an anarchy or a nonarchy. I have seen too many scenes of lawlessness in this country. No law seem to function except perhaps the right to eat whatever you so desire. This state of disorderliness has gravely affected the development of this nation. It has contributed to the unending battle against corruption and injustice in this country. The entire social structure including the public - private sector has been infested with this malignant dysfunction of indiscipline and the earlier something radical is done ,the higher chance of rescuing our sick motherland from demise. Sir, with respect to the great laurel honoured on you by the Aberdeen university ,I pray you that an expedited action be taken towards these few sentiments I have expressed so that this country would be the true home we have longed for. Thank you. Thomas Akanyibah [email protected] Accra. 14.04.2016 LISTEN Monday, 11th April, 2016 (Accra, Ghana) Ghana's leading online real estate marketplace, meQasa, has published the first edition of its Ghana Housing Guides - an invaluable resource series that seeks to provide insight and direction on navigating the housing landscape in Ghana. The premiere issue, the Accra Housing Guide, offers an in-depth look into everything one would need to know if they are interested in renting, buying or leasing property in the nation's capital. meQasa's Accra Housing Guide available on meQasa.com, is neatly broken down into pertinent sections that answer the most pressing questions of most house hunters, local and expatriate. The resourceful material includes an overview of the current state of the real estate industry in Ghana as well as details such as how to decide if renting or purchasing property is best for you, the process of acquiring land and more. meQasa's well-know housing portal does not currently offer land but as an industry leader, the company always provides information that seekers and real estate professionals will find useful. "Providing seekers a great web space where they can easily find thousands of residential and commercial properties to pick from is just the beginning of what meQasa offers. It is our mission to create an efficient housing search experience and to be the go-to source for reliable information on housing in Africa for all who want it. The Accra Housing guide is a manifestation of our commitment to that mission," says Kelvin Nyame, the company's CEO. In due time the company plans to also release housing guides to assist people looking to learn about the property space in other major Ghanaian cities like Kumasi. For interested persons who would like to download the guide, that option will soon be available as well. In under three years meQasa, a Ghanaian startup, has grown to solidify its position at the head of the online real estate websites in Ghana, currently featuring close to 18,000 property listings. In 2016, the company has been widely nominated for a number of awards for the strides it has made in changing the ease of finding housing in Ghana, as well as for its very engaging and ingenious blog, and has embarked on reputable partnerships like sponsorship of the famed TEDxAccra 2016 event. meQasa is Ghanas easiest way to rent, buy and sell property, offering a user-friendly online marketplace mutually beneficial to homeowners/landlords, home seekers and real estate agents alike. Government Statistician, Dr. Philomena Nyarko has dismissed speculations that she is being hounded out of office. This follows a recent advertisement of her position in the newspapers after three years in office. Madam Nyarko explains to JOY BUSINES, shes only due for retirement next month. Dr. Nyarko attains the retirement age of 60 years on the 11th of May 2016. So I am due for retirement, and as per the public service rules, you have to go for somebody else to take over she noted. On speculations that he position is being advertised too early in a bid to hound her out, she said No! Infact up until now we still have not been able to identify somebody to occupy the position so we are still working on it. The timing of the advert was right. According to her, the service have since last year been trying to get a suitable replacement but is yet to get anybody. Asked whether or not there is the possibility of her being offered a contract to stay on a little longer, she said that would be a decision by the board. She added however that if the board needs me to hang on until they take steps to get somebody to replace me, I dont think there would be a problem. Dr. Philomena Nyarko was confirmed as Government Statistician in May 2013 after acting in that capacity between January, 2012 and April 2013 when Dr. Grace Bediako retired under controversial circumstances. Before joining the Service in August 2010, Madam Nyarko was a Senior Lecturer at the Regional Institute for Population Studies RIPS at the University of Ghana, Legon. A 47-year-old mortuary attendant with the SSNIT Hospital has been arrested by the Dansoman police for allegedly stabbing his nephew to death at Chorkor, an Accra suburb. Theophilus Tetteh, under the influence of alcohol, allegedly stabbed Richard Kpakpo Allottey twice in the ribs for trying to pull him (Tetteh) away from a scuffle between him and another victim. The second victim, identified only as Okanta aka SO, had a side of his head injured when Tetteh purportedly hit him with a huge piece of stick. He is now in the custody of the police assisting in investigations. Confirming the story to DAILY GUIDE, ACP K. Antwi Tabi, the Dansoman Divisional Police Commander, said the incident occurred around 11pm on Monday, April 11, 2016. The deceased was a nephew to the suspect paternally, while the other victim also relates him maternally, and they all live in the same family house at Chorkor. Information received indicated that the suspect is a drunkard who always picked quarrels with other family members at the least provocation. Theophilus Tetteh, according to the family members, often threatened to kill his supposed attackers, including Kpakpo Allottey, but they never took it serious. . On that Monday night, the family members said Tetteh returned home looking so drunk and immediately picked up a quarrel with Okanta as usual. According to a family source, in the course of the exchange of words, the suspect, who had armed himself with the stick, hit hard the head of Okanta, injuring him in the process. Kpakpo Allottey, who saw blood oozing from the head of Okanta, immediately went in for a taxi to convey him to the hospital for treatment. While the victim was inside the taxi waiting outside, Kpakpo Allottey reportedly went inside his room to pick some money for the hospital expenses but Theophilus Tetteh, who had then dropped the stick, quickly rushed into his room to pick two knives and stabbed Kpakpo Allottey in the ribs twice. After committing the act, Tetteh threw the knife into a nearby gutter and fled the scene. He was later found hiding in a neigbour's place of convenience by the police that night and was apprehended. Tetteh has provisionally been charged for murder and would be taken to court for trial. By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey ( [email protected] ) A third prosecution witness in the trial of the five persons over the Koala robbery has said that Gilbert Osabutey aka Obolo, supervisor at the shop, was not at post on the day of the incident. According to Mohammed Ali Hamdeen, the accused asked for an excuse to see his (Obolo's) wife. He said the accused had earlier called him (Mohammed) on phone insisting that his wife had also been attacked by the same robbers. Mohammed, who was being cross-examined in a court presided over by Aboagye Tandoh, said Obolo came to work about thirty minutes after he had returned from the hospital to visit Lydia Horsu the alleged robbery victim and marketing administrator of the Shop. The Koala branch manager further told the court in an answer to a question from George Asamaney, lawyer for Michael Edoe Ahiataku aka Old Soldier, Frederick Sedro Kwame aka Fred both private security personnel that the wife of Obolo was not attacked by robbers. This was after Mohammed had told the court that he was called by his colleague in the office that Lydia had been attacked and shot by some robbers and that he sought to come and pick her to the hospital. He said he stayed at the office for about 30 minutes but on his return to the office, he was informed that Obolo had been arrested by the police. Mohammed said later in the day, Obolo's wife showed up in the office to ask of the reason for her husband's arrest. The two other accused persons are Stanley Obaliko aka Mohammed Sulemana and Okoe Quarcoe. . Hearing continues today. The five-man syndicate reportedly trailed and robbed Lydia at about 8am on January 9 this year of her Nokia phone worth GH800, a black ladies' bag valued at GH200, a Koala ID card, invoices and GH100. Sulemana is facing an additional charge of possessing one automatic MAB foreign pistol No PA151674189, six live 9mm ammunition and five empty cartridges. Sulemana and Okoe are also standing trial for intentionally and unlawfully causing grievous harm to Lydia. By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson [email protected] An Accra Human Rights Court yesterday struck out four of five exhibits to be relied on by Paul Afoko, the suspended chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), in the suit challenging his suspension as the party's chairman. The court, presided over by Justice Anthony Yeboah, upheld an objection raised by Godfred Yeboah Dame, counsel for the NPP. The case was adjourned on Tuesday to yesterday to enable the parties file and serve their respective pre-trial checklists. When the matter was due for hearing, both sides had complied with the order of the trial judge. However, Mr. Dame sprang to his feet to object to four of Mr. Afoko's five exhibits. The first exhibit was a document of Osafo-Buabeng, Afoko's lawyer, described as supplementary objections to the petition filed by the NPP's council of elders against Mr. Afoko. Mr. Dame contended that the exhibit was irrelevant to the issues before the court. Mr. Afoko's lawyer, subsequently failed to justify the relevance of the exhibit. . The presiding judge consequently upheld Mr Dame's objection and expunged the exhibit from the record. The NPP lawyer raised further objections against three other exhibits, being statements filed by Mr. Afoko's lawyers at the Disciplinary Committee hearing, on the ground of being irrelevant and thus, unhelpful to the resolution of issues for trial. The court once again after hearing arguments from both lawyers, upheld Mr Dame's objections and struck out those exhibits of Mr. Afoko. Justice Yeboah adjourned proceedings to May 9, 2016 for trial. Mr. Afoko dragged the NPP to court last year after he was suspended indefinitely in October. The NPP's Disciplinary Committee had recommended the action following a petition filed by two members of the party. By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson [email protected] 14.04.2016 LISTEN Dragging scriptural issues into politics or the other way round by persons who know next to nothing about the scriptures of the two great religions is an absurdity. The Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister is reported to have condemned Muslims in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as not being true members of the faith. His reason for the reckless condemnation is borne out of his outright ignorance of Suratul Fil or Chapter of The Elephant in the holy scripture of Muslims the Holy Quran. We find this useless attempt as not only puerile, but one symptomatic of political desperation by a man who is seeking attention and relevance. This politician, Eric Opoku, must steer clear of such spiritual matters because they would only expose his ignorance and inordinate obsession with spewing mischief. Has he bothered to read the relevant chapter of the Holy Quran and to seek explanation of its contents through a commentary? If he has not, it would serve his best interest to shut up and leave such subjects out of the gutter politics to which he belongs and would always be. The Republicans in the United States settled on the elephant as their logo: they are better Christians than Eric and his colleagues in the ruling party, sure. . We would take the trouble to educate the killjoy, albeit briefly, so he can spare himself the embarrassment that comes with such display of imbecility in an internet age in which the truth can easily be fished out. Islam, the submission to the will of God, abhors insincerity, lies as represented by propaganda, looting of the public purse, corruption and all other acts which are ungodly in nature. If the aforementioned qualities are not the attributes of the party to which Eric belongs, we do not know of any other which bears them. Mustering the courage to condemn the many Muslims in the largest political party in the manner in which the minister did devoid of circumspection, should be a source of worry to members of the faith, more so his misinterpretation of Suratul Fil. The elephants that were used by the army to destroy the Ka'aba, the house of God, breached the order because they could not disobey their Maker. This contrasts with the negative interpretation of the ignoramus. Abraha's biggest elephant Mahmoud played a significant role in the disobedience of their non-Muslim owner. Obliging the order would have been the height of ungodliness. Quranic verses which are sometimes brief can be rendered in several words as in commentaries or tafsirs to bring out their true meanings contextually and otherwise: these are palpably beyond the comprehension of the minister. He is surely relishing the glitters of a ministerial appointment, freebies, et al and would not bother to consider the repercussions of his thoughts and their renditions in the public space, the fallout being opprobrium and a lost face. Next time he gets an opportunity to talk let him steer clear of such complex spiritual subjects which he is not primed to dabble in. Two notorious car snatchers, Antwi Dogu and Shaibu Gafaru have been arrested by the Tamale police for stealing an MTN Toyota pickup with registration number GM 823-14 and a Black Mercedes Benz with registration number AS 2406-12. Information gathered revealed that the suspects stole the cars from Kumasi in the Ashanti Region and brought them to the Northern Region where they usually do their dealings. The suspects' mode of operation is that when they steal the vehicles they change the registration numbers then drive them to Tamale and offer them for sale. The Northern Regional Police Public Relations Officer ASP Ebenezer Tetteh who confirmed the arrest to DAILY GUIDE said based on tip off, the police were able to track the suspects in Tamale and arrested them with the help of employees at the MTN office in Tamale. ASP Ebenezer Tetteh explained that with the aid of a tracker installed in the MTN pickup, it was easy to track the vehicle and apprehended the suspects. He stated that the suspects have been engaging in a series of car snatching activities in Kumasi after which they will bring the vehicles to Tamale for sale but this time the operation went bad for them. Currently the suspects are in police custody and after investigations they will be charged and arranged before court. FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale UK Minister of State for International Development, Right Honourable Desmond Swayne MP, paid a courtesy call on Ghana's Petroleum Minister, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah during his visit to Ghana. The meeting which took place in Takoradi during the President's tour to the Western Region had the two dignitaries discussing extensively, developments in the oil and gas industry. Welcoming Mr Swayne, Mr Buah thanked him for the visit and acknowledged the UK's commitment to Ghana. He further emphasized on government's policies to ensure the prudent management of Ghana's oil and gas industry. The two dignitaries also discussed the new Exploration and Production (E&P) Bill which is currently laid before Parliament for passage. According to the Ghanaian Minister, the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Law, 1984, PNDCL 84 upon which Ghana currently conducts its exploration and production activities has served the country very well, and contains most of the essential provisions of an exploration and production law. However, with the discovery of oil, it became imperative that a more robust legal and regulatory framework was needed to fully protect the interest of Ghana and ensure the conduct of petroleum activities in a safe, secure and sustainable manner. He further emphasized that, after the draft Bill was finalized, comments were solicited from more than one hundred stakeholder organizations all over the country, including international oil companies operating within Ghana's basins, civil society organizations, development partners, tertiary institutions and Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies. A stakeholders' meeting was held to provide a platform for articulating the various views received and for a frank discussion on the draft Bill. A number of these comments were incorporated into the Bill and thereafter submitted to Cabinet for approval he added. The new E&P Bill will ensure greater transparency and prudent management of Ghana's oil and gas resource. Mr Swayne thanked the Petroleum Minister for the warm reception and commended the Government of Ghana for work done so far in the oil and gas sector. The Minister's visit to Ghana was to further bilateral relations focusing on good governance and Ghana's commitments ahead of the UK summit on anti-corruption and Ghana-UK collaboration. The National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) has confirmed imminent Al-Qaeda attack on Ghana and called for the beefing up of security across the country. According to the Security Council which is under the chairmanship of President John Mahama, Ghana is the next target after the attack on Cote d'Ivoire. Intelligence gathered by the National Security Council Secretariat indicates a possible terrorist attack on the country is real, a statement dispatched to all Immigration commanders and other security agencies indicated. The statement, which put all security agencies at the country's entry points on high alert, was issued and signed last Saturday by Bonaventure Agortimevor, Director of Operations of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), even before the Nigerian tele-evangelist, Prophet TB Joshua's prophetic 'vision' which he shared with his congregation on Sunday, warning about a possible terrorist attack in Ghana or Nigeria. Prophet TB Joshua last Sunday on a live telecast at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Lagos, Nigeria, said he had seen a vision that there was going to be a terrorist attack in either his country (Nigeria) or Ghana within the next few days. The revelation sent panic down the spines of Ghanaians, especially with the hosting of two Al-Qaeda terrorists dispatched from the Guantanamo Bay by the United States. That action exposes Ghana to real danger of terrorist attack, according to some security experts. Possible Attack According to the NSCS,The threat is reinforced by information and confessions obtained from interrogating a Malian terrorist identified as the brain behind the Grand Bassam attacks in Cote d'Ivoire. The suspect is being investigated by the Ivorian security agencies for terrorism, the security Council posited further. It said reports showed that Ghana and Togo are the next targets after the attacks in Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire, adding that The choice of Ghana according to the report, is to take away the perception that only francophone countries are the target. Mode of Entry . It is gathered that their mode of entry into countries with their explosives and weapons is through concealment. They enter through approved and unapproved points. In the Ivorian attacks, they reportedly entered from Mali using a Niger registered 44 vehicle. They reportedly concealed their weapons and grenade in the vehicle's compartment for a spare tyre padded with cushions and bubble wraps to keep the weapons stable and prevent noise. Extra Vigilance The NSCS has therefore, tasked all the security agencies to remain extra vigilant, especially those in the northern borders with Burkina Faso saying, You are to conduct thorough profile of all persons arriving from the perceived 'high risk' countries within the region (Libya, Niger and Mali). The alert also tasked, The respective Border Patrol Units at the Commands are to step up patrols along the unapproved routes. It further tasked the security agencies to conduct thorough vehicle search when possible, to prevent the smuggling of weapons and other explosive materials into the country, as well as collaborate with other security agencies and sensitize all officers on the security alert to ensure terrorists do not enter the country. TB Joshua's Prediction Prophet TB Joshua had said:I want us to come together and pray for these two nations Nigeria and Ghana because I am seeing Thursday, Friday, Saturday if I may say Thursday because these evil people they are very funny. Anything can just happen. You will be very shocked to see what happened, because when the prayer is going in this direction they [attackers] dodge this direction. I see Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Pray for these two nations over attack. I am seeing attack. And that will be in a foreign way. The attack will come not local way. Please pray for these two nations for protection. He continued, The evil one is saying 'can we go this way or can we go that way?'Anyone that is free they want to enter so pray for protection. The pastor kept repeating Thursday, Friday and Saturday and said the attack would not be an internal issue but a foreign invasion. By William Yaw Owusu 14.04.2016 LISTEN Mr. Jacob Kor would tell you he is the chief servant of Ghana Education Service (GES). Dr Stephen Adu and Mrs Elizabeth De-souza are his acting deputies. All the Divisional, regional and district directors and officers are also at post and working. Heads of schools and staff also deserve mention for their hard work. GES is a public service; it draws its support and strength from parents, corporate bodies, donor agencies and philanthropists. Actually, Ghanas education is for all. Everybody is a stakeholder and shareholder. We all must know what happens to our education and how to improve it. We cannot achieve Education for All if we should ignore and disobey the rights, views and inputs of others. GES manages and controls pre-tertiary education in staff recruitment, postings, transfers, promotions, training and development, study leave, conditions of service and code of discipline. It collates and analyses data for sound decision making and review of educational policies and programmes. This article is not the full report of activities of GES from January to date. It is just a highlight of some of the things, such as payment of capitation grant and special levies. Records say GH12.3 million has been paid as arrears of the Capitation Grant for the third term of 2014/2015 academic year and part payment of first term of 2015/2016. An amount of GH18.0 million has been released as subsidy to senior high technical and vocational schools for the third term of 2014/2015. About GH1 billion is quoted to have been paid for wages and salaries to 298, 286 staff in March. Feeding grant of GH1.7 million has been released for payment to pupils and students in the 39 special schools nationwide for the first term of 2015/2016. It has emerged that in line with the Progressively Free Senior High School programme, each of forms two and three students in 486 day schools received GH38.00. To ensure that school heads followed due process in disbursing the cash, monitoring and supervision was done in schools in Greater Accra, Eastern and Ashanti regions. I was privileged to join a team of directors to La Presbyterian Senior High School in Accra. GES acknowledged receipts of a number of projects and programmes said to have received approval for payment by students as special Parent-Teacher Associations levies. In the first quarter of this year, 50 projects and programmes received approval. The levies mostly ranged from GH20.00 to GH50.00. Approximately 60% of the levies was expected to be used on school projects with just a few schools having requested part of the levies to be spent on improving contact hours through extended classes. It should be appreciated that the Ghana Partnership for Education Grant (GPEG) package in 75 deprived districts is slated for expiry by August, this year. The first quarter witnessed the disbursement of GH16.9 million to the beneficiary districts for them to undertake projects as stipulated by their Annual Programme of Work (APW). Directors and officers are not being left to grow stale on the job. They are regularly equipped with modern skills in management and administration. I do recall, for instance, the training workshop organised by the Human Resource Management Division (HRMD) in January for 67 new directors of education at Koforidua. It exposed the participants to the policies and procedures in GES. It also sharpened their knowledge in staff recruitment, management and performance appraisal. Another workshop was done at Ejisu near Kumasi for divisional directors, regional directors and human resource officers on financial management, public accounts, internal controls, among other things. To ascertain the level of academic preparedness of teachers and pupils for the new school term, a monitoring exercise was done in some districts of Greater Accra, Volta, Eastern, Ashanti and Central regions in January under the aegis of the Curriculum Research and Development Division (CRDD). The exercise evaluated schools in the area of availability of instructional materials. GES monitors schools and their performance every now and then. All the Divisions of the Service work to ensure that the right things happen in our schools and to our pupils and teachers towards promoting holistic education. Heads of some 500 non-performing senior high schools, district chief executives and district directors of education met at Kumasi in February to review the performance of students in the 2015 West African Secondary School Certificate Examinations. Strategies were devised for enhanced performance in the future and I also participated as a rapporteur for GES. To improve access to and participation in technical/vocational education, Augustine Ayarizangs Technical Vocational Education and Training Division, in the first quarter of the year, held a competency-based training workshop for 150 teachers from selected technical and vocational institutions. As we speak, a computer technology syllabus has been developed for technical and vocational schools. There is also Agripreneurship now as part of the curriculum for agricultural institutions and some technical/vocational schools that run agriculture at the certificate level. The Teacher Education Division, under the directorship of Dr (Mrs) Evelyn Owusu-Oduro, held a workshop in February to mainstream instructional strategies in kindergarten module as a step towards promoting quality early childhood education. It also created the forum for vivid discussion on the role of stakeholders, such as chief examiners in the mainstreaming project. In its bid to beef up special and inclusive education, Lawyer Anthony Boatengs Special Education Division (SPED) organised a sensitisation programme for stakeholders in Greater Accra. The Division has facilitated porting activities in special schools. Through its Braille Press Unit, SPED has produced braille textbooks for use by pupils and students with visual impairment. GES, within the first quarter, presented a proposal to Ministry of Education on the posting of teachers from the colleges of education for 2016/2017. It indicated in the said proposal that the current arrangement, where the 38 public colleges of education are being posted to basic schools to teach, should stay. A justification on the need for GES to post qualified personnel from accredited private colleges of education has also been made and it is hoped that district directors will advertise vacancies and recruit their own teachers when education becomes fully decentralised. As part of efforts to promote Education for All, a total of 54,850 out-of-school children in Northern, Upper East, Upper West and Brong Ahafo regions enrolled under the Complementary Basic Education programme in 2014/2015 while 47,517 learners were mainstreamed into formal education. In 2015/2016, 52,625 learners were enrolled and coverage for the programme is estimated to have gone up from 120,000 to 200,000 by 2018. GES declared 2,400 vacancies for teachers of English Language, Mathematics, Integrated Science, Chemistry, Physics and Biology at the public senior high school level. The advertisement, which existed from March 10 to March 21, has taken delivery of 18,460 applications. Shortlisting is ongoing and the understanding is that qualified applicants will soon be contacted for a selection interview. Just last month, Director General Kor, in consultation with GES Council, appointed new directors, including Ms. Judith Esther Ofeibea Donkor to HRMD as Director, Felicia Boakye-Yiadom for CRDD, Gertrude Mensah for Eastern Region, Cynthia Bosumtwi-Sam for Basic Education, David Afram for Central Region and Rosetta Addison Sackey for Inspection. Others are; Nelson Aborigia Ayamba for Yendi District, Dr Evelyn Owusu Oduro for Teacher Education, Beatrice Zalia Ali for Supplies and Logistics, and Alexander Buadi for Volta Region. The rest are; Patricia Ayiko for Upper West, Jane Sabina Obeng for Upper East, Enyonam Afo Amafuga for Western Region, Kwadwo Osei Asibey for Brong Ahafo and Peter Attafuah for Greater Accra. Mr Kor said the changes were not for any bad motive but A call to duty and a plan to streamline the operations of GES. The West African Examinations Council, with the support of GES, has designed the Item Differential Profile (IDP), a software, which operates on binomial theory, to detect collusion of students during objective tests. Education directors and school heads were told to let their pupils and students know of it so as to be cautious when writing their papers. The Public Relations Unit is also liaising with the media to reach out to the general public about this arrangement. Lets all help! The writer is an educationist and a Public Relations Officer at the Headquarters of the Ghana Education Service. E-mail: [email protected] United Nations Independent Expert Ikponwosa Ero will carry out a monitoring visit to Malawi from 18 to 29 April 2016 to assess the human rights situation of people with albinism. Ms. Ero visit comes at a key time when attacks of persons with albinism and the sale of their body parts are frequently reported from the country. This will be the first country visit ever by the UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism since the Human Rights Council established the mandate in March 2015. I look forward to this first official mission to evaluate the situation of human rights of persons with albinism in Malawi, make concrete recommendations, and identify good practices to promote regionally, said Ms. Ero, who visits the country at the invitation of the Government. Attacks of persons with albinism and the sale of their body parts will be one of the main focusses of my visit. Yet, I cannot separate these crimes from other relevant and contributing human rights issues faced by this group in the spheres of health, disability, education, harmful traditional practices, among others, she stressed. The Independent Expert is tasked to report on developments and obstacles to enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism; identify and promote good practices; and combat stereotypes, prejudices, harmful traditional practices and beliefs that hinder the enjoyment of their human rights. During her two-week visit, the human rights expert will travel to Lilongwe, Machinga, Zomba, Phalombe and Kasungu. She will meet with representatives of the executive, legislative and judicial branches, local and territorial authorities, the Malawi Human Rights Commission, civil society groups, including organisations of persons with albinism, and members of the diplomatic community. I also give particular importance to meeting with persons with albinism as well as families affected by violations of the human rights of persons with albinism, Ms. Ero added. At the end of her visit, on Friday 29 April 2016, the expert will share with the media her preliminary observations at a press conference which will be held at 10:30 am at the UNDP premises in Lilongwe, Plot 7/Area 40, Lilongwe. Access to the press conference will be limited to journalists. (Contact for press conference: Chikondi Lunduka: Office: 01 773 500. Mobile: 0999750573 / [email protected]) The Independent Expert will present a comprehensive report on her visit to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2017. Parliament condemns the attack in Gulshani-Iqbal Park in Lahore, Pakistan, on 27 March 2016, which killed more than 73 people and injured at least 300; recent murders of human rights defenders in Honduras, in particular Berta Caceres, Nelson Garcia and Paola Barraza; and worsening security and human rights in Nigeria, in separate resolutions voted on Thursday. Pakistan: Lahore attack MEPs strongly condemn the suicide bombing at a Lahore playground, on 27 March 2016 which killed over 70 people, injuring more than 300, including many women and children, perpetrated by an Islamic-terrorist group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, who intentionally target Christians. Yet most wounded and killed were Muslims, and all were Pakistanis. The Pakistani authorities should "ensure these acts are effectively investigated and prosecuted" and bring the murderers to justice, stresses the resolution. "The continued use of blasphemy laws in Pakistan" is worrying and "heightening the climate of religious intolerance", adds the text, calling on "the Government of Pakistan to review these laws and their application (...) and to ensure the proper and swift delivery of justice in all blasphemy cases, particularly in the case of Asia Bibi", accused of blasphemy and sentenced to death. Situation of human rights defenders in Honduras The European Parliament abhors all murders of human rights defenders in Honduras, in particular recent assassination of Berta Caceres, Nelson Garcia, two Honduran indigenous and environmental rights campaigners, and Paola Barraza, a trans-woman and defender of LGBTI rights. Honduras is one of the region's most dangerous countries for human rights defenders, and its authorities need to carry out "immediate, objective and thorough investigations into these and previous murders" and ensure that "appropriate cooperation with civil society, the national protection system for human rights defenders, journalists and legal practitioners is fully operational and adequately funded", add MEPs, who extend heartfelt condolences to all the human rights defenders' friends and families . The resolution adds "Prior, free, and informed consultation with indigenous communities" should be conducted on development projects in their homelands that affect their natural resources. Nigeria Parliament urges the Nigerian government and the international community to secure the release not only of the Chibok girls abducted on 14 April 2014, 15 of whom who were allegedly shown to be alive in a video posted on Wednesday by Boko Haram, but also of 400 women and children abducted from the town of Damasak in November 2014. While welcoming the peaceful transition to power of President Buhari in March 2015, MEPs remain deeply concerned by dramatically escalating violence in Nigeria, where years of military dictatorship, corruption, political instability and poor governance continue to undermine social and economic rights and six out of 10 Nigerians subsist on US$ 2, or less, a day. Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, "has the potential to be an economic and political powerhouse", they add. The EU and its member states should supply political, developmental and humanitarian assistance, as "development has been held back by poor economic governance, weak democratic institutions and massive inequality." Array Procedure: Non-legislative resolutions #Pakistan #LahoreAttack #Honduras #BertaCaceres #Nigeria #bringbackourgirls Managing Director of AngloGold Ashanti, Mr. Eric Asubonteng 14.04.2016 LISTEN AngloGold Ashanti have threatened to leave the country if government is not able to stop the operations of illegal miners on their concessions. Speaking to the press in Accra, the Managing Director of AngloGold Ashanti, Mr. Eric Asubonteng said the activities of illegal miners is posing a threat to the security and peace of the mine and is affecting the effective operations of Obuasi mine. Our concessions are not safe and if the activities of illegal miners will continue without government doing anything about it then we will advise ourselves. According to the MD, the company has lost control of the richest part of their concessions to illegal miners and it undermines the huge investment made by the company. "Illegal miners have been looting large quantities of high-grade gold bearing material for more than two months. In the process they are causing significant damage to critical infrastructure he said. What is happening now in Obuasi is very worrying. As I speak to you work has stalled and workers have been asked to stay home because illegal miners have taken over the concessions. The activities of the illegal miners undermine investment made and if it continues it will discourage potential investors from investing in the country he added. In February this year government withdraws all security forces from Obuasi mines, later president Mahama directed the return of the Ghana Army but those directive from the president is yet to be seen. The MD noted the activities of the illegal miners undermines the safety of it workers Mr. Asubonteng, is however appealing to government to immediately restore law and order at the mines so that workers can work in peaceful atmosphere Read below a press statement issued by Obuasi Gold mine on security happenings at the mine AngloGold Ashanti updated on rapidly deterioration situation at Obuasi Gold Mine . Renews calls for urgent restoration of law and order AngloGold Ashanti has grave and mounting concern over the situation at the Obuasi Gold Mine where illegal miners have been looting large quantities of high-grade gold bearing material for more than two months. In the process, they are causing significant damage to critical infrastructure which serves both the mine and the surrounding communities. Since the security forces were withdrawn at the beginning of February, incursions by several hundred illegal miners onto the site have continued unabated. At each step in this unfortunate process, we have kept all authorities informed of developments, including of the damage being caused to the mine, the Obuasi Community, and the long-term prospects for this important resource. Our confidence has been shaken by the failure to protect our rights as significant long-term investors in Ghana. Our hopes were temporarily raised when we learnt that His Excellency the President had directed the return of the highly-regarded Ghana Army to the Obuasi mine. However, law and order is yet to be restored at Obuasi. In fact, on 26 March, we understand the military received an instruction to pull back to guard only certain limited parts of the infrastructure, and not to restore law and order by clearing the site of illegal mining activities. To this day, the illegal miners continue to operate with impunity on the richest parts of the ore body. We are at a loss to understand how a clear directive has been ignored. This has had the effect of compromising the safety and security of the mines resources and workforce, as well as the viability of the Obuasi mine, the rights of foreign investors in Ghana, and the benefits flowing to the community from it. We fear serious and lasting consequences if the situation is allowed to continue. For example, electrical installations that support water treatment plants have been vandalized by the illegal miners. This has affected AGA Ghanas ability to treat water, and with the onset of the rains there is a real possibility that this essential work will be compromised. The presence of illegal miners is making it impossible for us to manage the situation accordingly. AngloGold Ashantis primary aim, subject to amongst other things, the outcome of the ongoing feasibility study, remains to turn the Obuasi Mine into a long-life, modern, mining operation that will attract foreign investment, and provide high-quality direct and indirect employment, taxes and foreign exchange revenue to the people of Ghana. However, the continued presence of illegal miners on the Obuasi Mine continues to jeopardize this potential. Our concerns are increasingly being shared by civil society groups in the region, who, despite explicit threats to their own safety, have begun actively protesting against the illegal miners destruction of the opportunity that the mine presents for the people of Ghana. It is crucial that the Government of Ghana works with AngloGold Ashanti to resolve threats to the viability of Obuasi, and its contribution to the Ghanaian economy. Some opposition political parties have described the new logo of the Electoral Commission (EC) as a waste of time. According to them, rather than addressing issues relevant to the November 2016 polls, the EC is interested in unnecessary things such as its logo. Speaking to Joy News, General Secretary of the Peoples National Congress (PNC), Atik Mohammed said EC should not compare itself to a corporate institution which is bordered about its logo and how to change it from time-to-time. Rather, he said, The Commission should be interested in its image in the public and how it is going to address the dwindling confidence of Ghanaians in its activities. Merely changing logo has no prospect, he said adding the change in the ECs logo rather makes its image in the public worst. On his part, Policy Advisor of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), Kofi Asamoah Siaw said the controversy surrounding the ECs new logo has come about because the new design doesnt pass for excellent. He said many people have accused the Commission of plagiarism adding it could have avoided this if it had given the design of the logo to students of the Junior High Schools (JHS). New EC logo Old EC logo ECs old logo: The old logo of the EC is a crest flung by two eagles on top with a black star in the body of the crest. Along the edge is the writing Ghana Electoral Commission. And in the center is a symbol of a box and a suspended hand dropping a ballot into it. ECs new logo: The new ECs logo is made up of eight arrow shapes all pointing to a central point. At the bottom of each shape is a colored dot. There are two red dots, two yellow dots, two green dots and two white dots and all of this is placed on a navy blue background with the words Electoral Commission Ghana written in capitals. IT and Brand Expert, Divine Puplampu said Ghanaians, especially those in the hinterlands, will find it difficult to identify the new logo since it has no symbol which points to the work the Commission does. He said many people were able to connect to the old logo because of the symbol of the ballot box and the suspended hand with the ballot paper. According to him, the Commission will have to spend more money to get Ghanaians identify it with the new logo which he described as avoidable had the Commission done the right thing. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | Email: [email protected] Minority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has dismissed claims by Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is labelling its supporters as dead in the voters register in Ashanti region. According to the Koku Anyidoho, it has uncovered a ploy to by the opposition NPP to disenfranchise some of its supporters in the Ashanti region by labelling them as dead in the voters register. He told the media at a news conference in Kumasi that the NDC has arrested and handed over to the police two supporters of NPP with voters register in their possession, labelling some NDC supporters as dead. Mr. Anyidoho warned the party will resist any attempt by the NPP to score cheap political marks running to the 2016 elections. Koku Anyidoho The NPP is very busy compiling a very dubious list of supposed dead persons they intend to present to the Electoral Commission for such names to be deleted from the voters register. The NPP has decided to create a new voters register in their stronghold by disenfranchising known NDC supporters, Anyidoho said. He mentioned Minority Leader and MP for Suame, Osei-Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, as the one leading the charge and described the conduct as unacceptable and fraudulent. However, speaking to Joy News, Mr. Bonsu said the NPP is in no position to remove names from the register. He said the NDCs claim is ridiculous because the NPP has no intention of disenfranchising its supporters. The voters register given to political parties is a public document, what weve been trying to do, and what Ive charged my people to do is to look at the 2012 register and identify who is where. People might have used certain residential addresses to register, but might have moved away from those places to live at other places," Mr Bonsu said. He added that So the charge to political party activists in the Suame constituency is to go round to see who is living where and who registered where. Through this, he said, people who are dead or have relocated from the constituency but still have their names in the register will be identified. With that information the EC will be alerted to ensure that the names of those people are not used by unscrupulous persons to vote during the November polls, he explained further. In a response to whether it was not the duty of the EC to undertake such an exercise, the Minority Leader said, How will the EC know that the person is dead? It will be for people who live in the community to testify that such and such person is dead so his name must be removed from the register. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Naa Sakwaba Akwa | [email protected] 14.04.2016 LISTEN President John Mahama has said he expects the country to go beyond the projected growth for the West African sub-region by the Bretton Wood Institutions. The African average growth rate predicted by the World Bank and IMF is 3 per cent and for Ghana they predict 3.3 per cent, Im more bullish, I believe that Ghana will grow closer to 4 per cent, maybe between 3.8 and 4 per cent, and we predict that in 2017, Ghanas economy is going to grow by about 6 per cent. And, so, this country is doing well, we have resolved the power crisis, weve been able to match demand to supply, and, so, the electricity crisis that hit us is gradually becoming a thing of the past. Today the FPSO is shut down but weve made contingency arrangements and we are firing most of the power plants using crude oil and providing enough electricity for our people because weve done the structural changes that would ensure that the utilities can continue to provide us with power, Mr Mahama said in an interview with Sunrise FM in the Eastern Region on Thursday April 14. Today we are supplying diesel and petrol to Burkina Faso and Mali from our Bolga Depot. Our Bolga Depot was shut down for so many years, the pipeline from Buipe to Bolga was not operational, today we are pumping fuel from Buipe to Bolga and we are loading 40 trucks a day to Burikina Faso and Mali, I mean if that is not economic progress, I dont know what else anybody will call economic progress, yes weve been through a period of challenges and weve had to make sacrifices as citizens but I believe that in everyones life, there are times when you have to make sacrifices in order that things get better for the future, we are working to ensure that we create a better future for not only our citizens of today but for our citizens of tomorrow. And I believe we are doing a good job at it. The economy is more resilient today than it was in the past, its not an economy in crisis, absolutely not, if you see and economy in crisis youd know that it is an economy in crisis. This economy is not in crisis and it is growing, the president added. The African Union joined the rest of the world last week in commemorating the World health worker week as part of the World Health Day activities. World Health Worker Day is celebrated on the 7th of April each year to mark the founding day of the World Health Organization. The Union dedicated this day to celebrating the team of health workers from the African Union support to Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA) who chose to put their lives on the line to fight the Ebola Virus from the front. Today their efforts are there for everyone to see. ASEOWA health workers ran Ebola Treatment Units, and helped with community mobilization. The epidemiologists followed up on 49,493 people through contact tracing in 33 administrative units across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. ASEOWA provided training to 6505 local health workers, partners, community workers, and traditional leaders. The mission also assisted with the restoration of health services in 88 public clinics and hospitals between September 2014 and February 2015. The AU deployed 855 health workers to the affected countries drawn from different African countries. The pride of our solidarity however, is the work of the health workers of the African Union support to the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA), African health workers came, demonstrated their competencies, sacrificed and contributed to the lives of our fellow human beings, and they did all of this, without a single infection, due to the discipline, commitment and dedication that they displayed. , HE Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma. The African Union support to the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA) experience gave an impetus to the formation of other response mechanisms like the Africa Centers for Disease Control (Africa CDC). This is a major milestone in the efforts to establish sustainable and resilient health systems. The Africa CDC will put in place a structure to support African countries in their efforts to effectively monitor public health, respond to emergencies, address complex health challenges and build needed capacity. The Africa CDC, as an African-owned institution, will provide a strong platform for technical coordination, ultimately strengthening public health systems, preparedness, surveillance and interventions across the continent. Furthermore, the Africa CDC will build capacity on the continent to respond to public health emergencies including outbreaks, man-made and natural disasters as well as public health events of regional and international concern. The Africa CDC, in its 1st phase of its establishment has developed a fellowship to train 10 young African epidemiologists who will be deployed to the Africa CDC regional collaborating centers (RCC) to monitor, investigate and report on diseases in various regions. In addition, the African Union has set up the African Health Volunteer Corps for rapid deployment in the event of threat to public health on the Continent. The 10 Africa CDC fellows are currently undergoing training at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to end on 15 April, 2016. President John Dramani Mahama has said his government plans to make the country a power hub in the West African sub-region by 2020. The prospects of electricity production in Ghana are very bright, and we have taken all the necessary steps to make sure that Ghana becomes a major supplier of power in West Africa by the year 2020, the president disclosed in an interview with Sunrise FM in the Eastern Region on Thursday 14 April 2016. According to him, by 2020, Ghana will be supplying not only itself with electricity but we will be a major supplier of electric power to neighbouring countries. He said governments $7.5 billion investment with ENI an Italian multinational oil and gas company will see a provision of 1.5 million cubic feet of gas to produce power. He added that the power sector was currently matching demand in the country, but there was the need to produce in excess to cushion against energy challenges. We need to build redundancy to cover for a deficit whenever there are challenges. That is why we are putting up more plants, he added. He explained that the unavailability of the required quantities of gas has resulted in underutilisation of some power generation units. In the Eastern part in Tema, we normally have about 600MW of thermal generation that is stranded because we do not get enough gas from the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCO). Those plants run only on gas, unlike the Kpone Thermal Plant. The Asogli plant also runs only on gas and we have just finished Phase II, which is 180MW, revealed Mr Mahama. So, anytime gas does not come through the West Africa Gas Pipeline, then it means that almost 500-600MW of power is not available to us. The situation has prompted government to sign an agreement to acquire a Floating Storage Re-Gasification Unit, FSRU. By the end of this year, we should have it functional in Ghana, he added. He saw the ENI agreement as key and noted that Ghana will get additional gas as a result of that investment. He said the arrival of FPSO John Evans Atta Mills will also help shore up Ghanas gas resources. By Samira Larbie, GNA Accra, April 13, GNA - Save Our Beaches Ghana, an NGO, has embarked on a public education programme for pupils in the Ga South Municipality to educate them on the importance of beaches and the need to keep them clean. The exercise also touched on the effects of negative practices such as open defecation and sand winning has on the country. A statement issued in Accra by Mr Fred Paa Kwesi Wilson, Founder Save Our Beaches Ghana, and copied to the Ghana News Agency said the NGO visited public schools, including Bortianor Methodist Basic School, Bortianor M/A Basic School and Aplaku 1 Basic School located along the coastal belt. It noted that these kind of outreach programmes are very important, saying: 'The organisation realised after several interactions with stakeholders that there was an attitudinal problem. With much education and sensitisation, we believe that the NGO can influence people to change their mindsets and attitudes towards our beaches.' The Head teacher of Aplaku 1, Mr Richard Ofori, Basic School, commended the NGO in its efforts towards ensuring that Ghana's beaches are clean to attract foreigners and also pledged his support towards the initiative. The pupils accepted to be ambassadors of clean beaches and propagate the things they have learnt to their friends and relatives to improve the conditions of beaches in the country for development. It noted that this public education campaign would not end with the Municipality but would be replicated in other schools and communities along the coast. GNA By Iddi Yire, GNA Accra, April 13, GNA - AngloGold Ashanti (AGA), has called on government to collaborate with it to resolve threats posed by illegal miners to the viability of the Obuasi Gold Mine. Mr Eric Asubonteng, the General Manager and Managing Director of the AGA Obuasi Mine expressed concern over the situation at the Obuasi Gold Mine, where illegal miners are looting large quantities of high-grade gold bearing material for more than two months. He said in the process, the illegal miners are causing significant damage to critical infrastructure, which serves both the mine and the surrounding communities. He said since the withdrawal of the security forces at the beginning of February, incursions by a number of illegal miners onto the site have continued unabated. 'At each step in this unfortunate process, we have kept all authorities informed of developments, including the damage being caused to the mine, the Obuasi Community, and the long-term prospects for this important resource,' Mr Asubonteng said at a media briefing on the current state of the Obuasi Mine on Wednesday in Accra. He said the confidence of AGA had been shaken by the failure to protect its rights as significant long-term investor in Ghana. 'Our hopes were temporarily raised when we learnt that the President had directed the return of the highly-regarded Ghana Army to the Obuasi mine. However, law and order is yet to be restored at Obuasi,' he added. The Managing Director said: 'In fact, on March 26, we understand the military received an instruction to pull back to guard only certain limited parts of the infrastructure, and not to restore law and order by clearing the site of illegal mining activities. 'To this day, the illegal miners continue to operate with impunity on the richest parts of the ore body. We are at a loss to understand how a clear directive has been ignored.' He explained that the situation had the effect of compromising the safety and security of the mine's resources and workforce, as well as the viability of the Obuasi mine, the rights of foreign investors in Ghana, and the benefits flowing to the community from it. 'We fear serious and lasting consequences if the situation is allowed to continue. For example, electrical installations that support water treatment plants have been vandalised by the illegal miners,' he stated. Mr Asubonteng said this has affected AGA Ghana's ability to treat water, and with the onset of the rains there is a real possibility that this essential work would be compromised. He said the presence of illegal miners is making it impossible for them to manage the situation accordingly. 'AngloGold Ashanti's primary aim, subject to amongst other things, the outcome of the ongoing feasibility study, remains to turn the Obuasi Mine into a long-life, modern, mining operation that will attract foreign investment, and provide high-quality direct and indirect employment, taxes and foreign exchange revenue to the people of Ghana,' he said. "However, the continued presence of illegal miners on the Obuasi Mine continues to jeopardise this potential," Mr Asubonteng said. 'Our concerns are increasingly being shared by civil society groups in the region, who, despite explicit threats to their own safety, have begun actively protesting against the illegal miners' destruction of the opportunity that the mine presents for the people of Ghana.' GNA By Christian Akorlie, GNA Accra, April 13, GNA - Mr Sulemanu Koney, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Chamber of Mines, says inaction on the part of authorities to stop illegal mining activities on companies' bonafide concessions has led to the escalation of the situation. Illegal miners have in the last few months invaded the concessions of Owere Mines, AngloGold Ashanti-Obuasi Mine and Perseus Mines in Ayanfuri, in the Western Region. Speaking at a news conference, Mr Koney, blamed the increased invasion on government's inability to crack the whip to halt, which had led to the escalation of activities of the illegal miners. 'We believe that the inaction at Obuasi has indirectly contributed to the invasion of the Owere Mines and nobody knows, which company will be next,' he said. Mr Koney said, the Chamber is calling on government to as a matter of urgency to flush out the illegal miners from the mining concessions in order to restore investor confidence and attract the necessary investment into the sector. He said, the illegality is depriving duly licensed companies the opportunity to exploit the mineral resources safely and prudentially. He said the menace is also leading to an additional costs to the companies for rehabilitating the land, fixing plant and equipment as well as restoring the environment. 'Pits excavated by illegal miners claim the lives of company employees as well as resident of host communities,' he said, adding that 'the resultant destruction to the environment is immeasurable'. Mr Koney said the recent increase in illegal mining activities and violence against licensed mining companies had caused insecurity and fear among investors in the mining sector. 'It is regrettable that the beacon of mining in Africa will suffer this fate at a time of a downturn in the industry; a period within which host countries globally are encouraging investment in exploration and development of mines in anticipation of an upturn,' he said. GNA Accra, April 13, GNA - HelpAge Ghana, has called on government and other stakeholders to implement strategies that would help improve access to appropriate and adequate healthcare services for older persons. The organisation, pointed out that the biggest challenge of the health system's response to the healthcare needs of the older persons is the absence of adequate national disaggregated health data by age, among others. The call was made in a statement signed by the Administration and Media Coordinator of HelpAge Ghana, Ethel Boakye, as part of this year's World Health Day on the theme: 'Diabetes'. The Day is celebrated every April 7 to mark the founding of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1948. Madam Ethel Boakye said the organisation is concerned about the seeming lackadaisical attitudes of some responsible government agencies to address the healthcare needs of older persons in the country. She explained that a National Ageing Policy, approved by Cabinet in 2010, has 'Old Age and Health' as one of the seven key challenges to be addressed. However, the government agencies seemed comfortable with registering more older persons under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which has nothing specific for older persons beyond the exemption of 70 years and above age group for the payment of premium when the life expectancy of both sexes in the country is 65 years. The Administration and Media Coordinator said the country has one of the best health training institutions in the sub-region but yet to incorporate specialised training in geriatrics for trainees to provide a more appropriate and adequate healthcare services for older persons. She asked for the mainstreaming of 'Geriatrics' into the syllabi of health training institutions in the country and the exemption age of 70 should be reviewed downwards to 60 years of the minimum premium payment under the NHIS. The diseases and drug coverage of the scheme should be made more relevant to the healthcare needs of older people while the national health data should be disaggregated by age to include the 60 years plus. They also called for the incorporation of the National-Scale-up Plan on Ageing and Health in Ghana into the National Healthcare Strategic Plan. GNA The 2016 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has penned down a letter to congratulate a young Ghanaian genius who was invited to the White House. Simon-Peter, an 8th-grader from Aurora, Colorado, is one of over 100 top science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students from across the USA who were invited to the 2016 White House Science Fair, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, according to a report on the White House website. Below is Akufo-Addo's letter to the genius. Dear Simon-Peter, This is to congratulate you on the honour of being invited by US President, Barack Obama, to participate, as one of the top science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students from across the USA, in this years White House Science Fair today, April 13. You and your school mates are to be highly commended for your achievement in building a prosthetic leg that allows amputees to hike, manage uneven terrain, and even skateboard! You are an excellent example to the youth of Ghana, your Motherland. Science and Technology must be the centrepiece of the educational system of our country, if we are to make the rapid transformation of our society and economy, that would bring prosperity to the mass of our people. This is the commitment of the political party, whose presidential candidate I have the privilege to be and to which your parents also belong the New Patriotic Party. Indeed, your mother is the 2nd Vice Chairperson of its USA Branch. I wish you luck in your further education and in all your future endeavours and hope that you will always remember that you are a Ghanaian. My warm regards to your parents. Best wishes. Yours, Nana Akufo-Addo The members of the Ejisu-Juabeng Municipal Assembly, for the second time, voted against President Mahama's nominee for the position of Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr. Yamoah Afrifa Ponkoh, on Tuesday. The former MCE reportedly polled 38 out of a total of 68 valid votes cast, but fell short of the required 47 votes needed to secure confirmation. Per the District Assembly rules, the Presiding Member is expected to convene another meeting for the third round of election in ten days, which will represent the last chance, failure of which the President must nominate another person for the position. According to a report we carried yesterday, Mr. Ponkoh's re-nomination early this year by the President was met with serious disapproval by members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ejisu-Juabeng Constituency, led by its Chairman, Mr. Eugene Darko, who swore to fight tooth and nail against Mr. Ponkoh's return. According to the NDC executives, Mr. Yamoah Ponkoh has poor human relations, and does not respect the party's hierarchy in the constituency. To them, therefore, Mr. Yamoah Ponkoh's return will spell doom for the ruling party in the constituency. On the two occasions that Mr. Yamoah Ponkoh was rejected, the perception was that the assembly members, who have sympathy towards the New Patriotic Party (NPP), were behind it. But if the reported claim of Mr. Eugene Darko is anything to rely on, one can conveniently conclude that Mr. Ponkoh's failure is the handiwork of his own people, and not the NPP, as is being alleged in some quarters, even though the area is the stronghold of the opposition party. From all indications, the assembly members have taken an entrenched position not to approve the President's nomination. The Chronicle is, therefore, surprised that President Mahama keeps on re-nominating him, instead of bringing a new person to ensure the rapid development of the municipality. Looking at the development in the assembly, even if Mr. Yamoah Ponkoh is rammed through, he is going to find it tough seeking approval from the assembly members to implement his policies. The former Asante Kotoko Director of Operations has been embroiled in so many controversies that were highlighted by the media that was during his early days in office as MCE for the area. As a result, he (Ponkoh) appears to have stepped on so many toes, to the extent that the government had to sack some of the government appointees to the assembly and replace them with new ones, with the hope that his re-nomination would go through smoothly, yet this never materialised. This alone, should nudge President Mahama to take note that when he is nominated a hundred times, the people would still reject him. Unless the President's insistence on making Mr. Ponkoh the MCE for Ejisu has some political undertones, it would best serve the interests of the people if his nomination is withdrawn, and a different person nominated. From the Regional Director of the National Health Insurance Scheme in Ashanti Region to the MCE for Ejisu-Juabeng, Mr. Yamoah Ponkoh has paid his dues to Mother Ghana and must give way to other equally qualified persons in the NDC, instead of this back and forth battle with the assembly members. 14.04.2016 LISTEN From Michael Boateng, Nwoase The chiefs and Elders of Nwoase in the Wenchi Municipality of Brong-Ahafo have refuted claims made by some citizens from the area, alleging that they have been banished from the town. According to them, the story is totally false and that it was fabricated to destroy the image of the Nwoase Town and its elders, as well as creating unnecessary fear and panic in the country. Speaking at a press conference held at the Palace of the Chief Priest at Nwoase, the Sanaahene, Nana Kofi Afena, called on Ghanaians not to give audience to such falsehood being propagated by some dishonest and selfish personalities. According to Nana Kofi Afena, who spoke on behalf of Nwoase Traditional Council, it would be inhuman and abuse of Human Rights of such people who are claiming to have been banished, which would be an affront to the constitution and laws of the country. He explained that few members of the Nwoase Community led by one Nana Kwabena Firi Flinderand his brother, Charles Yeboah who mobilized some natives of Nwoase to propagate such falsehood to create such unnecessary tension, fear and panic at Nwoase and Wenchi Municipality for their own selfish interest. The Sanaahene of KwakuFiri further disclosed that since the demise of Nana Kofi Drobo III, the Chief Priest of the famous god, Nana Kwaku Firi, in 2012, the people of Nwoase patiently waited for the nomination of a true successor who is only appointed by the god. Fortunately for the chiefs and people of Nwoase, exactly a year when the traditional rites were being performed to celebrate the year of the demise of the late Nana Kofi Drobo III, the god, Nana Kwaku Firi appointed or descended on one Nana Afena to become the next chief priest of Nwoase. The necessary rituals to initiate Nana Afena to become the Chief Priest of Kwaku Firi Shrine commenced as expected, however, soon after the rites were about to come to an end, Nana Kwabena Firi Flinder and the brother Yeboah Charles, confronted the elders of Nana Kwaku Firi that they do not agree Nana Afena was the true heir to the chief priest. To make such claim as evidence, a memorandum of understanding between Nana Kwabena Firi Flinder and the Elders of Nana Kwaku Firi shrine was signed on December 12, 2013. In the content of the MoU, it was stated that Nana Kwabena Firi Flinder and his brother Yeboah Charles, confronted the elders of Nana Kwaku Firi Shrine that he (Flinder) went for spiritual consultation somewhere and the person told him that Nana Kwaku Firi Shrine has not appointed anybody to lead it. He (Flinder) said he had come to inform the elders that all what is going about the appointment of new priest were lies and that if what he was saying could lead to him being beaten to death, he was ready for it. He then returned the ostrich eggs, which were given back to the elders. The elders, per the MoU, made it clear to him that they are very much optimistic that Nana Kwaku Firi had appointed Nana Afena and that if Nana Kwabena Firi Flinder thinks it is not true, then he should stay in his house till the shrine appoints his favourite choice. The Sanaahene of Nana Kwaku Firi Shrine continued that Nana Kwabena Firi Flinder after noticing that he had made mockery of himself and anticipated fear of being beaten as stated in the MoU, decided to disgrace the elders and the Nwoase township with falsehood and fictitious alarm by mobilizing people to claim that they have been banished. It would be recalled that a section of the media recently published that a group of natives from Nwoase in the Wenchi Municipality of the BrongAhafo Region has appealed to the Regional Security Council and the Ministry of Interior to intervene and revoke their banishment from the town. According to the media reports, the group, comprising of about 400 people who are mostly farmers, is currently staying with relatives in Awisa, Berekum, Techiman and Wenchi after being banished from the town by some elders for the past year for refusing to recognise a new fetish priest, Nana Kofi Afena. Osei Kofi Amos, Assembly member for Nwoase Spokesperson for the victims, Charles Asante, a farmer, according to the media reports, explained that they could not accept the new fetish priest because per the tradition of the town, it should take three years for a new fetish priest to be nominated by the gods but Nana Kofi Afena elected himself to become the new fetish priest of the town and those who did not support him were attacked and beaten by some elders from his camp and then banished from the town. Mr. Asante indicated that they reported the matter to the Wenchi Police when the incident happened leading to the arrest of the perpetrators, but they were granted bail by the Wenchi magistrate's court but since then, the case had not been called again, making it difficult for them to return to their hometown to engage in their farming business. The Krontihemaa of Nwoase, Nana AmaAgyapongmaa, also a victim, said that she depended on her three-acre cashew farm in the area, but now she was prohibited from entering the community She, therefore, appealed to the government to help them return to the Nwoase community. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has welcomed the visit to Tripoli of the British Ambassador to Libya, Peter Millett, today. This was the first time a British Ambassador to Libya has been in Tripoli since the British Embassy was evacuated in 2014. The visit was coordinated with visits by the Spanish and French Ambassadors and was an opportunity for discussions with the Presidency Council of the new Government of National Accord (GNA). The Prime Minister, Fayez al Serraj, and Presidency Council arrived in Tripoli at the end of March. The visit follows a meeting on 12 April in Tunis co-chaired by the UK and United Nations Support Mission in Libya with representatives of the GNA. At the meeting the international community discussed how it could support the priorities set out by the new Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) to bring peace, security, stability and prosperity to the Libyan people. Welcoming the visit to Tripoli of the British Ambassador to Libya, the Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond said: Ambassador Millett's visit to Tripoli is an important step that underlines the UK's strong support for Libya and for the new Government of National Accord. The arrival of a number of European diplomats demonstrates the progress that has been made by Prime Minister Serraj towards establishing a new government that represents the whole of Libya . It is crucial they continue to push forward with their priorities on security, rebuilding the economy and restoring public services for the benefit of all Libyans. Britain stands ready to support and assist Libya and we look forward to eventually re-opening our Embassy when conditions allow. British Ambassador to Libya Peter Millett said: I am delighted to have visited Tripoli today and to have met members of the Presidency Council and Libyan political leadership on their home ground. Although there are challenges ahead, this visit demonstrates the UK's commitment to working with the Libyan Government of National Accord to bring peace and stability to Libya. Further information Follow the Foreign Secretary on Twitter @PHammondMP Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice Follow the Foreign Office on Facebook and Google+ The General Secretary of the ruling NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia says he is convinced the main motive for the NPPs call on the Electoral Commission to undertake a validation exercise of the voters register is to rig the elections. According to him, the posture of the main opposition party on the current voters register is a clear indication that it sees defeat staring at them hence the agenda to discredit the Electoral Commission (EC). The NDC stalwart, in an interview with Accra FM described the position of the NPP as strange. He said there is no such thing as validation as far as the recommendation by the VCRAC Crabbe committee report is concerned. The General Secretary was commenting on the recent Baamu Yaada demonstration in Kumasi and the No Validation, No Limited Registration position adopted by the NPP. Last month, a pro NPP pressure group, Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) issued a one week ultimatum to the EC Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, to heed to heed to their call. In a publication by the Statesman newspaper, owned by Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a nephew of NPP flag bearer Nana Akufo Addo on March 14, 2016, quoted LMVCA as saying ECs reckless decisions are setting up the nation for chaos in the November polls. The groups Convener David Asante was also categorical that the EC panel of experts and even the Supreme Court had made that recommendation. The group is planning more protests against the EC which it accuses of planning to rig the elections for the ruling party, the NDC. The tywist of events and the building tension has compelled concerned Ghanaians like senior Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Ransford Gyampo and suspended founding member of the NPP, Dr. Wereko Brobbey to publicly condemn the acts. Mr. Asiedu Nketsia, however, maintains the NPP and its surrogates are only raising a red herring. who doesnt know the NPP and the way they operate, they create their own thing and make a lot of noise about it using their surrogates and media allies, that has always been their modus operandi, dont mind them, they are making all this noise to distract our attention so they get the opportunity to steal the elections but we are watching them and we can assure them that it wont happen, we are keeping an eye on them,he said. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Committee established by the Commission to review presentations on the bloated voters register, Professor Justice VCRAC Crabbe has dismissed claims that they recommended a validation exercise. His claim has been corroborated by Chairman of the National Peace Council, Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel Asante who was a member of the five member panel in a separate interview on a radio station. 14.04.2016 LISTEN The 2016 Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akuffo-Addo has described President John Mahama's appointments as bizarre and discriminatory. Government appointments are not based on merit, but on considerations, which are not only puzzling but also bizarre, Akuffo-Addo said, rendering the Mahama led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration as a hall mark of incompetence and widespread sleaze. Speaking Wednesday, at the launch of the NPP's 2016 official fundraising campaign, Akuffo-Addo said the failed policies of the Mahama-led administration have plunged the nation into economic chaos. According to him, Ghana today is in serious crisis leading to the ruin of the agricultural sector, which was once the bedrock of our development. Ripping into shreds the so called 'Changing Lives' projects of Mahama, he said Our health system is in shambles, with the collapse of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). The cost of education continues to be a big challenge for too many families. Young people, who have toiled to obtain qualifications are having great difficulty in finding jobs. And there are hundreds of thousands of Ghanaian children who are not getting the education that they need to compete in the 21st century. Depressed And Troubled Akuffo-Addo, who could not hold back his dissatisfaction of Mahama's leadership style said there was the need for change in the way the country is being governed, since Mahama's assumption as President of the Republic. In order to save Ghanaians from the shackles of abject poverty, as a result of the depressed and troubled nature of the Ghanaian economy, the NPP leader said nothing more than change was needed. A change that will make way for a competent, honest, hardworking, well-qualified team to take over the affairs of this country and steer it in the direction of prosperity for all, instead of the current state of affairs, which dwells on prosperity for the friends and family of the people in power, he said. Hope Is Coming Despite the devastating effects of President Mahama's misguided policies, the Ghanaian is hopeful of salvation under the NPP government, led by Akuffo-Addo, said Freddy Blay, the acting Chairman of the NPP. He said Ghanaians are yearning for a change, come November 7 a change that would usher in sustained economic growth. And there are many people who are waking up at dawn every day simply to pray for this campaign and its success, said Akuffo-Addo. Others, he noted, without prompting from the NPP campaign team are engaging in door-to-door campaigns just to ensure a vote for him. Akuffo-Addo contended that a vote for him on November 7 would be a vote for a better managed economy, a revamped agricultural sector, the revival of our manufacturing sector, a revived NHIS, an accessible and quality educational system as well as a vibrant private sector, which drives economy and by so doing creates employment for Ghana's youth. According to him, as a result of the hopelessness that permeates every corner of the nation Ghanaians are eager to support the NPP campaign with cash donations. He said it was not only in Ghana that I meet people eager to support the 2016 NPP campaign with their money. Whenever I travel abroad, people keep asking how to support the 2016 NPP campaign. And I continue to receive countless emails, facebook messages and other messages on social media from Ghanaians, home and abroad, with the same question. Their eagerness was necessitated by the conviction that We need to rescue our country and get her to work again, he added amidst thunderous applauds from the NPP fanatics gathered saying We need to save Ghana from the Mahama government. Let us come together to save our country by doing our bit to achieve the change we so much desire. Ghana'll Collapse If Mahama Wins Former President John Agyekum Kufour last week said Ghana would totally collapse should President Mahama be retained on November 7. He said since the beginning of multi-party democracy in 1992, the NDC has had its lion share as far as governance was concerned, but anytime they were given the mandate, life in the country becomes unbearable. When we got the chance in 2001, there was real development, not the kids' movies NDC is showing to people now, he said. We are not blowing our own trumpet, he said, adding that unlike the New Patriotic Party (NPP) era when Ghanaians living abroad had the desire to come home and work, this time, it's different; they don't want to come home. By Mohammed Awal [[email protected]] 14.04.2016 LISTEN Ghanas top Fashion College, Joyce Ababio College of Creative Design (JACCD) has won the prestigious Century International Quality ERA Award in Geneva. The International Award is in recognition of the Colleges excellence in leadership and management, quality in teaching and learning, prestige of the brand and the overall growth of the College. The Award was received on behalf of the college in Geneva, Switzerland by Joyce Ababio, President, Founder, Fashion entrepreneur and Icon of the college. JACCD has over the past twenty years been a beacon of excellence, innovation and quality. It has provided state of the art training to students and has received a number of awards both locally and internationally. The college has been the number one choice for Fashion design training in Ghana and in the West African Sub region with students from Nigeria, Togo, Gambia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Joyce Ababio reiterated the Colleges commitment to training the next generation of Top African Fashion Designers who can take the world by storm and change the face of the Billion dollar African Fashion Industry. JACCD has over the years trained some of Ghanas top Fashion Designers who are now international household names. Designers such as Christie Brown, Brigitte Merki Ibrahim, Pistis, Agyepomaa and Rebekah Opuni graduated from the college. Century International Quality ERA Award Ceremony in Geneva is part of an annual program of BID Conventions. The objective of the ceremony is to recognize the prestige of outstanding companies, organizations and entrepreneurs around the globe. This year, the Award Ceremony took place at the InterContinental Geneve, on March 19th and 20th. The Ceremony was attended by organizational leaders from diverse sectors from around the world. Recipients of the Century International Quality ERA represent a force in the business world, creating opportunities and reaching agreements with professionals from different countries and different continents. This international forum provides an ideal backdrop for business presentations through which commercial relations can be initiated, making the Quality Award a basis for new, mutually beneficial relationships. The youth organizer of New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Brong Ahafo Region, Kwame Abronye has called on the regional minister to render an unqualified apologize to Muslims in the NPP after describing muslims associated with the NPP as fake. The regional minister Eric Opoku advised true Muslims to stay away from an elephant which is the emblem of the NPP. He supported his claims with a chapter in the Holy Qur'an, Surah verse 105, which he said admonish Muslims to stay away from elephants and that any Muslim who has something to do with an elephant is not a real Muslim. The regional minister who is also the Member of Parliament for Asunafo South is alleged to have said this when he addressed Chiefs, Imams, and National Democratic Congress (NDC) party executives in a meeting at Acherensua in the Asunafo South Constituency on Tuesday. Kwame Abronye described the minister's comment as unfortunate and insulting to Muslims in the NPP and has called that he must apologise adding that his interpretation of the Quran verse is wrong. Below is a press statement signed by the NPP youth organizer. Bawumia and other Muslims in NPP are fake The Brong Ahafo Regional minister ( Hon Eric Opoku) is reported to have said that, Dr Alhaji Muhamadu Bawumia and other respected Muslims who have something doing with the elephant are not true Islam believers and they have been cursed by Allah. Hon Eric Opoku said this when he was addressing Muslims at Acherensua in the Asutifi South constituency. The Republic of Cote D'Ivoire symbol is elephant and 50% of the Ivorian are Muslims, so does the Regional Minister wants us to believe that the goods of Ivory Coast have been cursed by Allah because they have the elephant as their symbol? The Republican party of United State of America has the elephant as their symbol with many Muslims supporting the Republican party. I wish to say that, elephant's meat cures a lot of diseases especially epilepsy. If a person suffering from epilepsy takes the meat of an elephant, automatically the person is healed. The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister who chastised Muslims who are having an affair with the elephant as fake Muslims should take the meat of an elephant and his long suffering epilepsy would be healed and if that does not happen, I will resign from the elephant family. We all know for the fact that, for a very long time Hon Eric Opoku is being battling left and right with epilepsy and all attempts to get heal on that have proved unsuccessfully. This is a free medical advice for him, elephant is a good animal whose meat cures a lot of diseases including that of epilepsy which he is suffering from. I would like to also state that, the Regional Minister did not show respect to the good people of Brong Ahafo and the stool leaders, simply because the symbol of Sunyani stool is " Elephant" and therefore it is outrageous, unwarranted and mind-boggling for Eric Opoku to say that those with elephant affairs or affiliate have been cursed Allah or God. I am by this statement calling on the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister to render an apology for the outrageous comment. Thank you, Kwame Abronye DC Brong Ahafo Regional Youth Organiser NPP. Airtel Ghana has announced the launch of the biggest scheme to reward customers who recharge or purchase airtime with Airtel Money. Far bigger than its ongoing 100% bonus on all recharges, Airtel Money, the most innovative and convenient mobile money service from Ghanas fastest growing telecommunication network is offering both existing and new subscribers the opportunity to win a return ticket to Dubai on RwandAir in the groundbreaking promotion commencing April 1 to 31 May 2016 for recharging or purchasing airtime using Airtel Money. Announcing the launch of the campaign , Rosy Fynn, Director of Marketing and Airtel Money said, Beyond giving customers 100% bonus on all recharges made using Airtel Money, we are taking this up a notch higher to reward lucky customers with amazing prizes such as smartphones, tablets and airtime every week for the entire duration of this promotion. Customers also stand the chance of winning a return ticket to Dubai to climax the promotion in May. The beauty of this exciting promotion is that customers do not have to sign up or subscribe to win any of the amazing prizes at stake, they only need to recharge or top-up for themselves, family and friends for a minimum value of GHC 30 within the promo period using Ghanas most innovative mobile payment system Airtel Money over the promotion period. She continued Airtel Money has shown a lot of innovation and flexibility in its product offerings leading the way in mobile money services since it was launched 6 years ago. We continue to innovate at scale with our most recent innovation being the introduction of Tap N Pay near field communications (NFC) technology that provides ease, speed and security for customers to pay for goods and services with just a tap of their mobile phones on NFC enabled payment devices in shops and outlets across the country. In 2010, Airtel Money was introduced by Airtel Ghana to provide customers with fast, safe and convenient means to send and receive money via their mobile phones. Since its introduction, Airtel Money has led the industry through innovation to provide unparalleled services to customers. This ability to innovate has served customers well and enabled more Ghanaians to be financially included as Airtel supports the drive towards a cash-lite economy. Airtel Moneys growth has been propelled primarily by the convenience it provides and underpinned by a stable and secured network infrastructure. Airtel Money is also the first to provide Cardless ATM services which enables customers to cash out at partner banks ATMs if they prefer that to cashing out from an Airtel Money agent. Another first for Airtel Money customers was the convenience of being able to link their Airtel Money wallets to their bank accounts. This service enables customers to move funds between their wallets and bank accounts without walking to the banking hall. This means that customers can pay for goods and services with ease without carrying cash around. Airtel Money wallets are free of all charges another industry first. This coupled with the fact that Airtel Money provides the most competitive transaction charges on all other services makes it stand out from the pack. Airtel, the Smartphone Network is Ghanas fastest growing telecommunication network providing unparalleled communication, connectivity and collaborative solutions to all its customers. Lagos (AFP) - Activists calling for the return of 219 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram on Thursday said they feel "vindicated" by a video showing some of the girls alive, boosting hopes for their release. The mass abduction from Chibok in Nigeria's Borno state two years ago is still viewed with suspicion by some Nigerians, who allege it was a political ploy to topple the previous government. The governor of southwestern Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, said recently the kidnapping was fake and "that is why you can never find them". But Chibok parents have since confirmed the 15 girls in the video, clothed in black and standing in two rows in front of a yellow wall, are in fact their missing daughters. Ayuba Alamson Chibok, who lives in the remote town, told AFP he recognised two of his nieces who were among those captured on April 14, 2014 in the so-called "proof of life" video. "It (the video) has given some hope. Now we can believe these girls are still alive and we pray that they are released soon," he told AFP by telephone from Chibok. "I was very happy to hear their voice," he added. Supporters from the #BringBackOurGirls movement said the footage showed the regular protests had not been in vain. "For us it (the video) is vindication that the abduction happened," said #BringBackOurGirls member Habiba Balogun in the commercial capital, Lagos. "This is proof that we were right to continue with the advocacy." Balogun was marching to the state governor's office in Lagos with a procession of some 100 #BringBackOurGirls activists wearing red T-shirts and carrying signs saying "we cannot wait any longer." "The girls who were there, 15 of them were identified by the parents," she added. "You can imagine the reaction of the other parents, they were devastated." One of three women shown the footage by broadcaster CNN broke down after failing to spot her daughter. A total of 276 girls were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok. Fifty-seven escaped in the immediate aftermath. The Nigerian government of former president Goodluck Jonathan was criticised for its slow response to acknowledge the kidnapping and for its inability to find and recover the girls. Jonathan's successor, Muhammadu Buhari, has devoted more attention to the conflict but has also been unable to find the schoolgirls, despite the military winning back swathes of territory. Dayo Olabiro, a middle-aged protester said the girls' return should be a priority. "Our governor, our president, they are forgetting the issues. They have to remember, they have to help us," he said. The Zongo Movement for Change (ZOMOC) has learnt with grave shock, comments attributed to Mr Eric Opoku, Brong Ahafo Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for Asunafo South. The Minister is reported by the media to have shockingly claimed during a meeting with NDC officials in Acherensua in the Asutifi South Constituency that all Muslims who support the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are not true Muslims because, according to him, the Quran advises true Muslims to stay away from the elephant, which is the emblem of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The Minister also roped in Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice Presidential Candidate of New Patriotic Party (NPP), questioning and ridiculing his Isamic faith due to his association with the NPP. ZOMOC is scandalized by the blasphemous, divisive and insulting comments by no less a person than a minister of state and a member of parliament, who is also the Chairman of the Brong Ahafo Regional Security Council (REGSEC). We are baffled how a minister of state of a democratic, circular state like ours will exhibit such crass ignorance and gross disrespect to Muslims by misinterpreting the Holy Quran to achieve political expediency. His deliberate act to rope in the Dr Mahamudu Bawumia The particular chapter in the Holy Quran (Surah Al Fil) which the minister referred to, does not say what the minister sacrilegiously claimed. The Chapter does not ask Muslims to stay away from elephants as the minister claimed. The minister ought to go and learn, and understand Surah Al Fil and its antecedents. With regards to who is a true Muslim, only the Almighty Allah can judge, and it is He alone who knows who is a true Muslim. It is not within the remit of Mr Eric Opoku to determine who is a true Muslim. Muslims cherish and hold the Holy Quran in highest esteem. Misinterpreting the Holy Quran is unquestionably a great sacrilege and we demand the resignation of Mr Eric Opoku, or his dismissal by President John Mahama for such gross disrespect . We also demand an unconditional retraction by Mr Eric Opoku for his sacrilegious misinterpretation of the Holy Quran, and an apology for questioning and disrespecting the faith of Muslim sympathizers of the NPP. . Furthermore, we call on fellow Muslims in the National Democratic Congress to condemn this blasphemous misinterpretation of the Holy Quran by the Minister. There are thousands of Muslim NPP sympathizers in the country, and in the Brong Ahafo Region, where the Minister sits as the REGSEC Chairman. By his position as REGSEC chairman, the Minister should be the number one advocate of peace and unity in the region, regardless of one's political and religious affiliations. When a minister and a REGSEC Chairman, irresponsibly abandons these noble responsibilities and rather dabbles in religious extremism for political benefits, it is clearly a recipe for chaos, particularly in an election year. ZOMOC, as advocates of peace and unity calls on NPP Muslim sympathizers who have been irked by the Minister's comments and are expressing their anger on social media in the midst of this extreme provocation to remain calm. As Ghana gears up for the general elections in November, ZOMOC urges all political commentators to eschew unguarded, inflammatory comments which could ruin the peace we enjoy as a country. We also respectfully urge the National Peace Council to take note of such unwarranted religious attacks in our politics and call perpetrators to order. ABOUT ZOMOC ZOMOC is a movement which is aimed at mobilizing support for political change to ensure genuine development in Ghana and zongos in particular. Its membership is drawn from various zongos across the country, particularly the youth. SIGNED: 1. Mohammed Hashir Issah (Operations Director) 2. Khalid Abdul-Qadir Mainasara (Member Publicity Committee) -Peacefmonline The Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Poverty has awarded five companies more than US$10.6 million to bolster their innovative work to alleviate poverty by increasing access to financial services for poor people in rural Africa. The companies introduced imaginative thinking in their approach to scaling up financial inclusion the increase in access to services such as mobile banking, savings accounts, insurance and credit for the benefit of nearly eight million people in remote parts of Africa. The Fund for Rural Prosperity also announced the opening of its 2016 Scaling Competition, a search for other companies that are working to broaden and deepen financial inclusion at scale in rural Africa. The five firms that will receive the money under the 2015 Fund for Rural Prosperity Scaling Competition are: APA Insurance Limited, Finserve Africa Ltd./Equitel, M-KOPA LLC, Musoni Kenya Limited and Olam Uganda Limited. There were many impressive companies that entered this competition with proposals to scale up their work and make a real difference in the financial lives of people living in poverty, said Ann Miles, Director of Financial Inclusion &Youth Livelihoods at The MasterCard Foundation. These five, however, displayed an innovative approach backed by a solid business proposal and a commitment to excellence that convinced us to support their efforts. As a result of the five awards announced in Accra, Ghana, nearly eight million people in rural areas of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will have access to formal financial services by 2020. Financial inclusion has been shown to improve peoples lives through greater access to health, education and employment opportunities. Nick Hughes, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder, M-KOPA, said that M-KOPA Labs is delighted to be partnering with The MasterCard Foundation to explore new ways to deliver credit services to rural customers and farmers in Tanzania, many of whom live beyond the grid and without access to financial services. The project with The MasterCard Foundation will be aimed at helping more low income Tanzanians to access clean energy, agricultural inputs and financial services. Fund for Rural Prosperity 2016 Scaling Competition The 2016 competition will be open from April 14th to June 10th, 2016. Applications will be accepted from anywhere in the world but must be implemented in one or more of eight countries of focus in Africa Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Last year, we were very impressed by the quality and originality of applications received for the Fund for Rural Prosperitys first Scaling Competition, said Ann Miles. This year, we expect to see proposals from companies active in financial services, including those working in fintech, insurance and along the agro-industry value chain. The goal remains the same to enable larger numbers of people to be part of the formal financial sector in their countries. The majority of rural households in Africa remain financially excluded. As well, over 70 percent of families in Sub-Saharan Africa derive a large portion of their income from agricultural activities. Financial service providers meet several challenges in reaching this population. High costs of doing business, lack of staff know-how and inflexible business structures impede efforts to expand appropriate financial products and services that would enable rural poor people and smallholder farmers to become financially included. The MasterCard Foundation aims to support projects that have the potential to make a positive difference. The Parliamentary candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) for Subin Constituency in the Ashanti region, Eugene Antwi has discredited claims that the NPP is planning to disenfranchise supporters of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ashanti region. According to him, his party is taking steps to ensure the integrity of the 2016 polls is protected. His defence follows a claim by the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC Mr. Koku Anyidohu who disclosed at a news conference in Kumasi that the NDC had uncovered a plot by the opposition NPP to disenfranchise their supporters in the Ashanti region by labelling them as dead people in the voters register. He said after investigation, they were able to arrest two men who were caught in possession of the voters register and were handed over to the police in the region. He singled out the Minority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, accusing him of creating a new register. But in a reaction the aspiring Subin Constituency MP Eugene Antwi said the party was only conducting a survey to fish out persons whose names are in the voters register but are not residents of the constituency. According to him, the party has uncovered about 6, 500 people whose names are in the voters register but are not known in the constituency. Quoting Constitutional Instrument (CI) 91, Mr. Antwi said the law mandates him and any other person to challenge names of people who illegally find themselves in the voters register. The CI 91 is a law enacted to regulate registration of voters ahead of the November 2016 poll. Mr. Antwi said on Joy FM's Top Story programme, the make-believe situations being parroted by the Mahama administration is appalling. He said the voters register is a public document which anyone can have access to. He added the NPP has been consistent in raising public awareness that the current voters register is bloated and needed to be changed but the EC has shown little concern. He called on Ghanaians to reject the propaganda of the government which he described as unnecessary. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | Email: [email protected] The Accra Human Rights Court hearing the suit filed by Paul Afoko, the suspended New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman, challenging his suspension by the party, has set May 9 for trial on the suit to begin. The Accra Human Rights Court hearing the suit filed by Paul Afoko, the suspended New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman, challenging his suspension by the party, has set May 9 for trial on the suit to begin. The court presided over by Justice Anthony Yeboah adjourned the case after the pre-trial where evidence that were not of any relevance to the case were expunged. Earlier, during the pre-trial, counsel for the NPP, Mr. Godwin Odame told the court that he had received the witness statement from the plaintiffs but would object to some exhibits in the statement. He said four of the exhibits, one of which was a letter from Mr. Martin Kpebu had no relevant bearing to the substantial case, and prayed the court to exempt it from the witness statement during trial. Counsel for Mr. Afoko, Mr. Osafo Boabeng was, however, not opposed to the claim by his opponent and as such agreed to the objection. The court then ruled that those four exhibits should be expunged from the witness statement and would be detached from the statements during the trial. He, therefore, adjourned the matter to May 9. The Court also set May12, May 13, May 17, May 18 and May 19 as dates for the trial. Mr Afoko is challenging his indefinite suspension from the party, arguing it is illegal. The NPPs National Executive Committee suspended him in October 2015 for misconduct. According to him, the action and processes leading to his suspension by some elements of the party were unconstitutional and a breach of natural justice. The decision was adopted by the partys National Council, which is the second highest decision-making body of the party after congress but he maintained the party erred in the decision. The 2016 Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured Ghanaians that an NPP administration under his leadership, has fashioned out well-thought out and thorough solutions to the myriad of problems confronting the country. Nana Akufo-Addo made this known when he paid a courtesy call on the Chief of Anhwiaso, Ogye Ahohuo Yaw Gyebi II, en route to the final funeral rites ceremony of Odeneho Gyapong Ababio II, Omanhene of the Sefwi Bekwai Traditional Area. "Against the backdrop of an economy in tatters, declining agricultural and manufacturing sectors, coupled with the inability of Ghanaian youth to find jobs, rising cost of living, widespread and rampant corruption, and a collapsed NHIS, the 2016 presidential candidate of the NPP is urging Ghanaians not to lose hope in the ability of the country to offer its citizens a decent living." We, in the NPP, have the solutions to the problems of our country. We will harness the abundant human and natural resources of our nation to put Ghana onto a much better pedestal than she is at the moment, so we can generate wealth for all Ghanaians and jobs for the teeming masses of unemployed youth, he said. He continued to say that I am therefore appealing to you to have confidence in me and repose your trust in the NPP. If you give me the opportunity to serve this nation, I assure you that I will not disappoint you. We are coming to work for the prosperity of our country, and not to line our pockets with the wealth of our nation. Tribute to Odeneho Gyapong Ababio II Whilst at the palace of the Chief of Anhwiaso, Nana Akufo-Addo paid tribute to the late Odeneho Gyapong Ababio II, the reason for his presence in the Bibiani/Anhwiaso/Bekwai constituency. Nana Akufo-Addo maintained that the late Chief will be remembered as a stalwart in the annals of Ghanas history. He made a significant contribution to the development of our country. He was President of the National House of Chiefs, a member of the Council of State under President Kufuor, and a former Chairman of the Cocoa Marketing Board (Cocobod). He was also my good friend, the NPP flagbearer noted. With the climax of the final funeral rites for the late Chief taking place on Friday, April 15, the same day as the funeral for the late Hon. JB Danquah Adu, former NPP MP for Abuakwa North, Nana Akufo-Addo stated that I, therefore, decided to come here today, together with the leadership of the NPP, to pay our last respects to Odeneho. With some 6 months to the holding of this years elections, Nana Akufo-Addo thanked the Chiefs and people of Anhwiaso for their continued support for the NPP, and further encouraged them to vote massively for him in the presidential election, and for Hon. Kingsley Aboagye Gyedu in the parliamentary elections. Ogye Ahohuo Yaw Gyebi II, on his part, thanked Nana Akufo-Addo for his visit to Anhwiaso, praying that God grant you your hearts desire. The massive crowd you see gathered here this morning, including the Chiefs, is because of the love they have for you. He expressed his condolences to the NPP on the loss of former Chairman, Jake Otanka Obetsebi Lamptey and the late Hon. J.B Danquah Adu. Ogye Ahohuo Yaw Gyebi II lamented the poor condition of roads in the town, and appealed to Nana Akufo-Addo to remember us when the people of Ghana entrust you with their mandate. Nana Akufo-Addo was accompanied on his visit to Anhwiaso by MP for Bibiani/Anhwiaso/Bekwai, Hon. Kingsley Aboagye Gyedu; MP for Kwadaso, Hon. Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto; and NPP Parliamentary candidate for Sefwi Wiawso, Dr. Kwaku Afriyie. By Lydia Asamoah Accra, April 14, GNA - Mr Richard Q. Quartey, the Auditor-General, said internal auditors should be given unrestricted access to books of account and other management information to enable them to properly evaluate management activities. He said management of various institutions should also make efforts to support the internal audit, adding that the position occupied by the internal auditor and his or her important role in corporate governance required every entity to ensure that the function was appropriately resourced to enhance its delivery. 'Again, to enhance the role of internal audit in corporate governance, management should place emphasis on the capability of internal audit in providing assurance to management and the board on the integrity of information flows, including the monitoring of all internal systems such as internal control, risk management, the communication processes, and the provision of timely advice to management and the board,' Mr Quartey said. Speaking at the opening of the Annual National Conference 2016 of the Institute of Internal Auditors Ghana (IIA) in Accra on Wednesday, Mr Quartey said the primary objective of an internal auditor was to provide independent, objective assurance and consulting services designed to add value and improve an organisation's operations. That, he said, helped boards and management to accomplish their objectives and comply with relevant legislation and applicable policies by assessing the adequacy and effectiveness of risk management, internal control, and governance processes. The two-day conference, being attended by over 400 members of the IIA across the country, is on the theme: 'Leveraging Internal Audit for Business Success'. Delegates would discuss corruption and its related issues under topics like Information Technology Trends and Auditing Requirements; Fraud and Corruption in the Workplace; Adding Value to the Work of Public Accounts Committee-The Role of the Internal Auditor; and Accountability, Corporate Security and Protecting the Assets of the Institution-the Role of the Internal Auditor. Mr Quartey advised the internal auditors to demonstrate their proficiency by obtaining appropriate professional certifications and qualifications as well as consider the use of technology-based audit and other data analysis techniques as a means to improving efficiency and audit quality. Mr Richard Ntim, President of the Institute of Internal Auditors, Ghana, called on management in both public and private sectors to read and apply recommendations of internal auditors to help strengthen systems of internal control. He said the work of internal auditors, especially in the public service, continued to be critical in the whole structure of helping manage fiscal risks in most institutions and, therefore, the need for management to assist auditors in discharging their roles more effectively. Mr Ntim, who is also the Chief Internal Auditor of GridCo, said in spite of the important role internal auditors' played, they were mostly misunderstood and denied the necessary tools that would aid their work. He said aside the small number of internal auditors in the country to effectively audit internal systems, most auditors were denied the appropriate tools like computers to work. Internal auditors carry out contract audits, performance audits, and system based audits among other things aside the financial audit that they are popularly known to undertake in most institutions. Mr Kwabena Obese-Jecty, the Director-General of Internal Audit Agency (IAA), said internal auditors played unique role in 'identifying things that might have been overlooked by management' as well as helping to review the operations of management. He said while most management saw the internal auditor as a valuable member of management, others too, unfortunately, completely misunderstood their role and worked to undermine their effectiveness. Mr Obese-Jecty said the mandate of internal auditors required that they were careful and exercised diligence in their work while they observe their code of ethics. 'Internal auditors need to be forward looking in their assessment of risks in the control environment and help management leverage its strengths to manage these risks in order to achieve the organisations objectives,' he said. He said such conferences helped to educate the public and management on the work of the internal auditors and this year's conference would not be an exception. GNA 14.04.2016 LISTEN By Iddi Yire, GNA Accra, April 14, GNA - Wapic Insurance has complied with the National Insurance Commission's (NIC) recapitalisation requirement regulatory deadline of December 31, 2015, by injecting fresh funds into its operations. Mr Adedayo Arowojolu, Managing Director for Wapic Insurance said the Company's capital base had grown to GHE17 million, which exceeds the regulatory requirement. He, however, explained that the regulatory directive on recapitalisation mirrored Wapic Insurance's ongoing transformational agenda conceived to position the company for industry leadership. Mr Arowojolu, who made the disclosure during a media interaction in Accra, said, the Company had proactively commenced deepening its capital base since 2014 prior to NIC's revision of the solvency framework. He noted that, as such, its parent company, Wapic Insurance Plc, Nigeria injected GHE 6.78 million to boost the company's capital base in the first quarter of 2014. 'It also injected another GHa10.4 million in December 2015 to enhance its capital adequacy ratio, which is above the 150 per cent regulatory minimum,' he added. The Managing Director noted that driven by its aspiration to industry leadership, Wapic Insurance Ghana continues to evolve initiatives that would firmly establish the company as the insurer of choice in the Ghanaian market. Mr Adedayo described the Company's outlook for 2016 as a unique opportunity to create a truly African financial services company with international delivery standards. He again noted that they were inspired to be one of the fastest growing insurance brands in West Africa with a continued resolve to transform and illuminate the industry for the benefit of both its customers and other stakeholders. The NIC introduced a new solvency framework in 2015, which took effect on January 1, 2016 under the new guidelines all insurers and reinsurers are expected to recapitalise to a minimum of GHE15 million by December 31, 2015. The capital base of insurers was increased from one million dollars to GHE15 million; this was in a quest to strengthen the financial capacity of operators in the Ghanaian insurance Industry. Wapic Insurance Plc., is a leading West African multi-line insurance company providing solutions covering life, general and special risks. Established in 1958 and listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange since 1978, the company's mission is to transform and illuminate the insurance industry for the benefit of its customers and other stakeholders. The company focuses on two core business segments - General and Life Insurance. The Company has two wholly owned subsidiaries. Wapic Life Assurance Limited and Wapic Insurance (Ghana) Limited as well as an associated company, Coronation Merchant Bank Limited. Through its diverse products portfolio and commitment to creating excellent service experience, the company which boasts of AM Best financial strength rating of 'B-' and an Issuer Credit rating of 'bb-', for the second year running has significantly enhanced its underwriting capacity to rank amongst the top five insurance companies in Nigeria by solvency and capital. GNA By Joyce Danso, GNA Accra, April 14, GNA - Mobilising private capital to assist government in its quest for development would help put the country on a growth trajectory faster, says a Minister of State. Dr Rashid Pelpuo, Minister of State in charge of Private Sector Development and Public Private Partnership (PPP), said private capital is more efficient in improving efficiency as well as creating sustainable jobs. He was speaking at the two day maiden impact investing workshop in Accra on the theme: 'Impact Investing: Building the field and Measuring Success.' The workshop was organised by Venture Capital Trust Fund in partnership with GIMPA Centre for Impacting Investing, Ted Jackson and Associates, CLEAR AA and Rockefeller Foundation. Dr Pelpuo noted that impact investing has come in to help alleviate the challenges and accelerate the growth path of Ghana's economy. He said there is no doubt that the blend of public, private and philanthropic capital could move the country's developmental agenda forward. The Minister said government in its bid to provide quality education, health care, potable water among other demands run into budget deficits. He said it is therefore key to adopt Impact Investing that had proven to be an effective tool for mobilising a blend of public private and philanthropic capital that could create jobs and provide affordable products and services. He cited the country's energy situation as having affected many businesses especially small and medium enterprises, adding that was why government invited private companies to partner it to generate power for businesses. Dr Pelpuo expressed happiness that the conference was going to focus more on evaluation, which most people fear or fail to do. He announced the upcoming SME's Financing Fair, which would take place on April 26 to April 27 in Accra. According to him, the idea of the fair is bridge the information gap between financiers and SME's as well as ease access to financing at a reduced cost. Mr Osman Suleman, Chief Executive Officer, Venture Capital Trust Fund noted that impact investing in the country had chalked out some achievements but saddled with challenges. He cited some of the challenges as incoherent policies, the country's Pension Funds inability to invest in Venture Capital or Private Equity, and the lack of research and data to measure performance. Mr Suleman expressed the need for the generation and dissemination of knowledge and skills development in order to do impact investing more effectively on a larger scale. He said it is also important for government to prepare SMEs adequately for investment opportunities through the creation of a fund that builds the capacity of ventures to become 'investment ready'. 'There is the need to highlight innovations in systems, metrics and tools for monitoring and evaluating the performance of impact investing,' he added. Dr Edward T. Jackson said the workshop aimed at exploring how field of impact investing could be expanded in Ghana and West Africa thereby achieving significant contributions in addressing social and environmental challenges. According to Dr Jackson, the workshop would also examine the cost effective methods and tools available in evaluating the success as wells as improve performance of impact investing in funds and programmes. GNA 14.04.2016 LISTEN By Belinda Ayamgha, GNA Accra, April 14, GNA- Mr Armah - Kofi Buah, Minister of Petroleum says government is committed to the path of price deregulation in the petroleum downstream sector, so that the market could determine the prices of products. Speaking at a cocktail to celebrate the launch of Puma Energy Distribution Ghana, he noted that the deregulation process would also allow the regulatory body to deliver its core mandate of ensuring fair play in the downstream arena and also ensuring quality. He noted that the approval by Parliament of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) Amendment had cemented the path. Mr Buah said the downstream sector is brimming with opportunities; with a strong stimulated demand for petroleum products, as statistics showed that the amount of petroleum products consumed in the country annually continue to surge. 'This certainly provides golden opportunities for industry players and we are happy that Puma has joined the competition,' he stated. He said government is also working on a Legislative Instrument on local content in the downstream sector, as has been done in the upstream sector. 'We think there has been real success in the upstream sector and we want to replicate that in downstream sector,' he said. Mr Buah commended Puma Energy's foundation on partnerships with local communities and its shareholding structure with includes more than 50 per cent Ghanaians, describing it as 'more of a Ghanaian firm than a foreign entrant'. He said government is convince, in light of the company's track record, that it is a credible partner to invest in and strengthen the downstream sector. Mr Buah challenged Puma Energy to continue to adhere to its strong health, safety and environmental records and maintain an incident free operation as they had done, to serve as yardstick in the industry Mr Myles Bouvier-Baird, General Manager of Puma Energy Distribution Ghana, said it is a positive step to deregulate the market and let competition determine the prices. He noted that there has been significant increase in competitive activity since the deregulation of the downstream sector by government, a phenomenon which is good for the end user of the products. Mr Bouvier-Baird said the company, aside providing petroleum products at competitive prices for Ghanaians, is also very interested in the communities they operate in. In line with this, Puma Energy would, from next month, launch its flagship Road Safety Campaign targeted at children. He said the company would partner with a non-governmental organisation to identify local schools, where they would go and educate them about the road safety. 'It's a really fun campaign; a fun way to educate them, and after the education, we give them a few little gifts like school bags with reflectors on them to make them a bit safer,' he said. Mr Bouvier-Baird said the company believes that through education, it could help reduce incidents around roads, especially with children. Puma Energy has been supporting the country's fuel industry for nearly 10 years through the construction and operation of the CBM import system, which is used to import crude and other oil products into the country. GNA 14.04.2016 LISTEN By J. K. Nabary, GNA Winneba, April 14, GNA - Mr.Alexander Afenyo-Markin, New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu Constituency has urged his constituents to come out in their numbers and vote for him and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo in the November general election. 'The NPP is the only political party when given the nod can and well to rescue the country from the tribulation and hardship the country is going through as a result of mismanagement by the NDC', he said. Mr. Afenyo-Markin stated this when he addressed thousands of party members and supporters in Effutu after a four-hour keep-fit exercise organized by the constituency executives through the principal streets of Winneba town. He thanked them for coming out in their numbers to demonstrate to that the whole world that the Effutu Parliamentary seat belonged to the NPP and for showing that the party was also the most popular in the Constituency. The MP said the battle to maintain the parliamentary seat had begun, and it was for all of them to work hard to ensure that more people joined the party. He urged them not to allow anyone to influence them but to stand firm and vigorously continue to sensitize their community members about why they should vote for the NPP in the forthcoming elections. 'I am MP for all and sundry in the constituency; I will not abuse the confidence posed in me and I am more determined to lead the party and to maintain the parliamentary seat. I expect you also to contribute your quota to ensure that the NPP wins the elections with a large margin', he said. The MP advised members of the party to go about their campaigns in a peaceful manner, in accordance with the NPP Code of conduct, saying that with hard work they will maintain the seat and work to better the lives of Ghanaians. GNA 14.04.2016 LISTEN Accra, April 14, GNA - A total of 146,074 beneficiary households in the 185 districts under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme have been enrolled onto the Ghana Inter-bank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) electronic-payment platform. The enrollment onto the GhiPSS electronic-payment (e-payment) platform involved the capturing of biometric data of beneficiaries to facilitate the cash grant transfer electronically. A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency by the LEAP Programme Secretariat explained that the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, with oversight responsibility over the programme, contracted GhIPSS to roll out the e-payment system for all LEAP beneficiaries through its Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs). The statement said the LEAP beneficiaries now on the E-Zwich platform would receive their social cash grant through the electronic payment system. The e-payment system would replace the manual system of transferring cash to the LEAP beneficiaries and it is to improve the cash transfer arrangement, making it more robust, efficient and secure. The platform also comes with a second level biometric verification which would authenticate the identity of LEAP beneficiaries thereby avoiding the issues of intermediaries and preventing impersonation during payments. The statement said the system would lead to financial inclusion as beneficiaries would automatically be enrolled onto the banking system. It said beneficiaries would have greater control over the management of their funds as they would decide when to access such funds. The e-payment system would also deliver accurate and timely generation of payment reports for the LEAP Programme. The LEAP Programme is both a conditional and unconditional cash transfer which is being implemented by the Department of Social Development under the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection. The programme aims at reducing poverty by increasing consumption and promoting access to services and opportunities among the extreme poor and vulnerable households with orphans and vulnerable children. Also, households with elderly persons 65 years and above without any support and severely disabled persons without any productive capacity are catered for and recently added is extremely poor pregnant women and children under two years old. The statement appealed to all stakeholders and the general public to support the e-payment enrollment exercise in the LEAP districts nation-wide. GNA By Stephen Asante, GNA Kumasi, April 14, GNA - Ineffective project monitoring and supervision by the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) has become a huge drawback to efforts at ensuring quality and value for money. Mr. Kofi Dwomor-Asubonteng, the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Director, said tackling this should be made an urgent priority. The assemblies should adequately equip their project monitoring teams with the required resources to closely follow every stage of construction to make sure that the right things were done. He said the situation where the teams lacked vehicles and other vital logistics must change. Mr. Dwomor-Asubonteng was speaking at two-day review workshop held in Kumasi to review the performance - the progress they were making with their medium-term development plan. It provided the platform to share knowledge and discuss ways to effectively address challenges to the smooth implementation of the plan. The programme was organized by the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) with support from the European Union. The Coordinating Director asked that the assemblies did everything to complete projects started to transform the living conditions of the people. He called for regular meeting by the heads of the decentralized departments to keep track of development projects. Mr. Joseph Donkor, the Regional Economic Planning Officer, asked the MMDAs to focus on proper planning and effective project implementation to bring progress to the communities. Mr. Asokwa Sarpong, the Regional Principal Planning Officer, suggested to the assemblies to find innovative ways of boosting internally-generated funds. GNA Cape Coast, April 14, GNA - Mr Selete Nyomi has called on the public to desist from demanding development projects from Members of Parliament (MPs) and resort to the appropriate quarters like the local assemblies for such projects. He said there is the need for more public education on the roles and duties of MPs. Mr Nyomi, Founding President of Coastal Television, a community television based in Cape Coast, made the call on Wednesday during a workshop on, 'media engagement on issues based and peaceful election'. The day's workshop organized by Coastal Television in collaboration with Star-Ghana and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) was attended by 30 journalists from the Central Region. Mr Nyomi said some MPs also make unrealistic and unattainable promises and this raises the expectation of the people. He said the 4 per cent common fund allocated to MPs for development projects should scraped because this had resulted in a situation where uncompleted development projects are scattered in many districts. Mr Nyomi said the allocation of the 4 percent common fund to MPs has in some cases resulted in conflicts between the district chief executives and the MP saying it is time the MPs stick to their law making roles. He also called on the media to effectively play its watchdog role and help in public education on the roles and responsibilities of Members of Parliament (MPs) to enhance democracy in the country. Mr Nandam Danabsin, the Cape Coast Metropolitan Civic Education Officer of the NCCE, said by the 1992 constitution the traditional role of members of parliament is law making and repealing of laws and also to act as liaison for their constituency and parliament and not as development agents. On voting, he said proper voting was a shared responsibility for all stakeholders in our democratic dispensation. He said the NCCE would continue to work closely with the EC to effectively educate the electorate on how to properly thumb print during the voting process, to reduce the existing high number of rejected ballots. Mr Danabsin called on all political parties to desist from the practice of defacing, removing and the destroying of campaign materials of opponents. He said it was important for politicians to embark on issue based campaign and not personal attacks and character assassination and urged the media to be circumspect in their reportage. GNA Winneba (C/R), April 14, GNA - Mr George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, the Central Regional Minister, has cautioned the youth to guard against all negative tendencies in this election year. He said this at the passing-out parade for 100 female Community Policing Assistants from the eighteen Municipal and District Assemblies in the Central Region at the Ghana Police Command and Staff College in Winneba. The trainees were taken through topics including Community Policing, Criminal Investigations, Criminal Procedure, Traffic Management, Basic Office Skills and Physical Training. The Regional Minister, who was the Guest of Honour, reminded the Policing Assistants that they have joined an institution whose hallmark is discipline, adding that they will be working alongside experienced officers, men and women in the Police Service. The Commandant of Ghana Police Command and Staff College, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah urged the Assistants to 'live by the virtues of honesty, discipline, humility and loyalty. She appealed to them to eschew pettiness and arrogance. Community Police Assistant (CPA) Ruth-Diamond was adjudged the overall best recruit, while CPA Nyimbo Abigail was the best in drill. CPA Affoh Gifty won the Commandant's special wards for good conduct and CPA Fatima Benstil from Ekumfi District Assembly also won the Director of Studies Award for being the best in Criminal Law. GNA 14.04.2016 LISTEN Accra, April 14, GNA - The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) said the bus-stop litter bins were meant for commuters who needed to dispose off waste and, therefore, warned residents and traders, especially coconut sellers, not to misuse the bins. Dr Philip Lamptey, the Head of Environment and Rapid Respond Unit of the AMA, gave the warning in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the need to use the litter bins for the intended purposes. He said some households and traders had resorted to dumping their domestic solid waste into the litter bins and that was posing a nuisance and health hazard to the public. Dr Lamptey said: 'The laudable initiatives of beautifying the city and promoting good sanitation in Accra should not be destroyed by the behaviour of these unpatriotic citizens. 'If this worthy course with the support of private companies could not be sustained then there is nothing the AMA could do again.' He appealed to the public to monitor and report to the AMA Sub-Metropolitan offices anyone found dumping a household refuse into the litter bins for the person to be prosecuted. He urged traders to be more proactive to the current unhealthy practices associated with dumping of refuse into the bins and support the AMA to keep the city clean. GNA Accra, April 14, GNA - EHALAKASA has been at the forefront of promoting, developing and sustaining the growth of performance poetry in Ghana since 2007. This platform of creative minds, which allows free, uninhibited self-expression, has applied poetry as a potent medium through which to share ideas and express thoughts and feelings. A release signed by Benedict Kojo Quaye and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the inception of Ehalakasa slam in 2014 was to raise the bar of spoken word poetry in Ghana. It said we had a movement that was no longer growing but rather 'groaning'. The release said many would attest to the fact that in the past used to continually experience performers with same poems almost every time one attends poetry events. It said at the same time, we had several poetry events sprouting up having these same poets appearing and doing the same pieces, whilst the organisers also hold on to a similar formats of running such events. The release said the Ehalakasa team decided to raise the bar and challenge the scene to a new and different experience in order to help poets create new pieces and works, hence, the Ehalakasa Slam. It said the Ehalakasa Slam has been a facelift to the spoken word poetry scene in the country. The release said we have old poets who are now reviving themselves, creating and producing new and fresh pieces for slamming and new and fresh poets are also challenging the ongoing slam scene with their unique take on performance poetry. It said this has brought a whole new dimension to the slam scene, where everyone look forward to the next slam winner and the national slam champion. The release said we have been able to use the slam scene to create an idea of surprise and uncertainty and this brings some level of excitement to our audience'. It said last year's Ehalakasa Slam Champion Paul Forjoe Jr. aka 100% is expected to travel to Kenya as special guest poet to perform at the Slam Africa stage, to be funded by Gallery GM in partnership with Ehalakasa. The release said this is part of a Cultural Crossing initiative project launched in Accra last February. 'It is basically to enable African artists travel on the continent and share relevant experiences,' said Sarah Gusten-Marr, Director of Gallery GM. The release said this year's preliminaries will take place in three different regions, starting from Kumasi in the Ashanti Region to fish out three finalists who will join six other poets in Accra to battle with words in the ultimate slam poetry encounter at the National Theatre come November 2016. The release invited poets and spoken word artists, in and around Kumasi, to get registered (rate GHa5.00); grab the microphone and express yourself. It said three minutes and three rounds is all it takes for the poet to prove their worth at the event slated for Africa Hall JCR, KNUST-Kumasi on Saturday, 23rd April. The release said judges would be picked at random from the audience to decide the fate of the performer. It said, 'Who will win? Which poem will be remembered? What performances should be expected?' are questions yet to be answered as the audience experience an unforgettable lyrical delicacy while sipping palm wine to a life changing performances. GNA Female Muslim students in tertiary institutions have been urged to inculcate the spirit of volunteerism to help develop their respective communities. Speaking at a seminar to empower the Muslim women, various scholars identified volunteerism which they say is associated with divine blessings as one of the key principles in building better communities. Islam encourages its followers to voluntarily share their time, wealth, knowledge and acts of kindness with mankind. Muslim students at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology have been charged to make greater impact in their various localities. Speaking under the theme: Igniting the spirit of volunteerism in the Muslimah, speaker after speaker touched on the importance of volunteerism as equally as important five times daily prayers and paying of zakat. President of the womens wing of the Ghana Muslims Students Association, Jameela Dramani wants her colleagues to see themselves as citizens seeking for the betterment of every community. We need to demonstrate our faith by working to make the world a better place to live. She said. According to her, the idea of working for a better community should be extended to cover non-Muslims as well. Whatever limitations are present in the non-Muslims communities will surely affect us too; she added. They are also encouraged to take up a broader role by working to improve their communities. They believe it is because of such volunteerism that communities are able to develop. On her part, Director of Ameen Professional College, Ameerah Amin Bonsu says failure of some Muslims to put their knowledge to use for the benefit of their community is a hindrance to practicing the religion. Monrovia (AFP) - Liberia's teachers have threatened to strike over plans to privatise the country's crumbling primary schools, as criticism grows louder over a multi-million-dollar project to outsource education in one of the world's poorest nations. The president of the National Teacher's association of Liberia (NTAL) said on Thursday teachers were ready to strike to express their discontent over the subcontracting of education to a private firm, Bridge International Academies. The so-called public-private partnership (PPP) is being rolled out across 120 schools as part of a pilot project, with what is believed to be the aim of incorporating all primary schools. "We have decided to go on strike nationwide very soon if the government of Liberia does not listen," NTAL head Mary Mulbah told AFP. "This new system called PPP is not the solution to an improved education system in Liberia," she said. "All the education system needs, is proper funding from government, and a strong monitoring mechanism." Recommendations to the government had fallen on deaf ears, she said, accusing the administration of President Ellen Sirleaf of squandering $148 million on the project. The government has previously told AFP only that it would spend $65 million in the first year of the rollout. In a sign of the union's hardening attitude, the NTAL replaced previous head Reverend Ellen Fatou Barclay, who was seen as too sympathetic to the government plan, with the more militant Mulbah. The privatisation scheme has also been condemned by the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Kishore Singh, who called it "completely unacceptable" and in violation of "Liberia's legal and moral obligations". Liberia's deputy education minister however told AFP earlier this month that the PPP system would be free, would improve standards and had its base in US-style Charter Schools, independent establishments that seek to raise educational standards in poor areas. "The parents will not pay a dime... The new system is going to use teachers that are on government payroll, and they are going to be monitored," Aagon Tingba said. The dire state of education in the country, where children receive on average four years of schooling, according to the UN, and where 40 percent of the population is illiterate, had led the government to consider more radical solutions, Tingba said. "The education's system we have now is on a serious challenge. Research has revealed that most of our high school graduates today are equivalent to fourth graders. Can we continue the same old thing and expect a different result? I say no." District Chief Executive (DCE) of South Dayi District Assembly in the Volta region, Kafui Semenu Bekoe, has declared the assembly blameless in the case in which a tilapia investment company, Safeway Group is accused of owing over E10 million in debts to its customers. He said the only role played by the assembly was to partner the company by providing labour at the company's Tilapia production sites. Explaining further, Mr. Bekoe said the Assembly needed employment opportunities for its residents and supported the company by encouraging the managers to go ahead to raise funds for its tilapia business, adding, it was a viable business model. Issues surrounding the company came to public notice following a lawsuit filed by some customers who claimed the company had refused to pay back their investment. Speaking to Joy News, some customers disclosed they invested their money into the companys Tilapia project because of the involvement of the South Dayi district assembly. The DCE of the district assembly attends shareholders meetings and assures customers of his support for the company, one customer said. Also, copies of investment certificates issued to customers mentioned the South Dayi District assembly as partners in the Safeway Tilapia Farms project. The companys fish farms are located in the district. But, reacting to the issue on Joy FMs Newsnite, Mr. Bekoe said it is unfortunate for anyone to go ahead to blame the assembly because of its association with the company. He said the company is safe and can be viable adding the company is only facing management challenges. He said when those challenges are addressed things will be restored and investors will get their money. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | Email: [email protected] In his latest move for a clean voters register, Former PNC youth Organizer, Abu Ramadan is asking the Supreme Court to order the Electoral Commission to validate the existing electoral roll. Abu Ramadan wants the apex court to compel the EC to validate the register if it fails to grant his call for a fresh electoral roll. Already some pressure groups are mounting pressure on the EC to conduct a validation exercise, something the EC has been reluctant to do. Speaking to Joy News Raymond Acquah, lawyer for Abu Ramadan said validation is the best alternative since the register in its current state is not fit for purpose. Referring to the report of the committee set by the Electoral Commission to investigate calls for a new register, Nana Asante Badiatuo said the validation process is only prudent. The Crabbe committee spoke about the presence on the register of about 600,000 dead people since 2012 and that it is a dangerous situation to have because we have never had a presidential election in which the margin of victory was 600,000. "It is always a small figure and that they believe that kind of number of dead people on the register can lead to the manipulation of election results. "So we also have to take steps to get them off the register. "The record validation process is simple. It asks every registered voter to come to the polling station within a three week period as happened in Nigeria and in the UK to sort of justify their inclusion," he explained. He said if somebody is dead that person will not come to validate, and even if you don't show up you will not be on the list to vote in November. He said those who show up to validate must prove they are who they say they are. IVA Struggling with debt? Compare your debt options and write off up to 80% of your unsecured debts from 80 per month Get Started for free What is an IVA? With an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) you can make affordable monthly payments towards a percentage of your debt for 5 years. At the end of the 5 year plan, your remaining debt will be completely written off. Benefits of an IVA Here is a list of the cost common advantages of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA): Affordability You will only be asked to pay back what you can afford, with allowances taken into account for food, bills, entertainment, travel, childcare and others. You may be sacrificing certain essential costs at the moment. With an IVA they are budgeted for so they will no longer be neglected No upfront costs When you set up an IVA, there are no upfront costs whatsoever. This means that you can put a debt solution in place today without spending a penny You have a finishing line Do you feel like there will be no end to your debt problems? With high interest costs and charges, the balances of your credit accounts may not reduce as you need them to. With an IVA you will become totally debt free at the completion of the IVA (usually 5 years). You can use this as an opportunity to change your financial life, for good Confidential Your IVA is not advertised in the London Gazette or local newspaper. It is your decision whether you would like to disclose it to other people or not No more contact from creditors When you are in an IVA, your creditors will no longer have the right to contact you or refer the debt on to debt collectors/bailiffs. This is a great benefit for most people as it will take away the stress caused by constant calls/texts/emails and home visits Stay in your house Unlike some debt solutions, an IVA will allow you to stay in your current home. This is even the case if the property has a mortgage or is owned outright Your pension An IVA does not have an impact on your pension. You will not have to surrender your pension or withdraw money from it to pay into your IVA Risks of an IVA Here is a list of the cost common disadvantages of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA): Equity Release If you own your property and it has value, you may be asked to release the equity in the property Credit Rating If you have a perfect credit rating, this will be damaged and you will not be allowed to take out more debt whilst in an arrangement You must keep up with repayments If you do not keep up with your monthly repayments, there is a risk you will be made bankrupt Who qualifies for an IVA? There is no office guidelines to who qualifies for an IVA. It is a legally binding, Government legislation designed to help all people. Generally speaking, insolvency practitioners (IP) will look at your situation if they think the IVA proposal they submit is beneficial to both yourself (the debtor) and your creditors. This often restricts people to a certain criteria which you will have to meet: Over 5000 worth of unsecured debt You must have 2 or more creditors of 2 or more lines of credit Must live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland Must be insolvent Must be willing to pay at least 70 per month into their IVA Must have some type or types of regular income What debts can I include in an IVA? You can include a wide range of unsecured debts within your IVA. These include: Credit card debt/credit cards Loans/loan debt Payday loans Council tax arrears HMRC debt Overpaid benefits Catalogues Gas and electricity arrears Overdrafts/overdraft debt Water arrears Income tax arrears Debts to friends and family Other unsecured debts Note: If you are a resident of Scotland, you will need to apply for a Scottish Trust Deed (legally binding). Speak to our advisors for Scottish Debt Advice. What debts cant be included in an IVA? Secured loans Your mortgage (if you still live in the house) Car finance (if you still have the car) Rent arrears for your current property Court fines/Police fines Hire purchase arrears (if you still have the product) Log book loans (if you still have the vehicle that the debts are secured on) Student loans Other secured debts What does I.V.A stand for? IVA stands for Individual Voluntary Arrangement. It is a formal way to consolidate your debts into one affordable monthly repayment, resulting in the debtor becoming debt free at the end of their payments. Can I apply for an IVA online? Use the IVA Calculator to check your eligibility Prepare your IVA proposal and apply for your IVA. When your IVA is accepted, your creditors can no longer contact you. Pay 60 low monthly payments. After 5 years, you are out of your IVA and completely debt free. Will an IVA affect my employment? In most occupations, your credit rating or credit scoring is not a factor and it may never have been checked in the past, it may also be likely that it is not checked in the future either. There is no law to tell you that you must advise your employer that you have entered an IVA or that you owe money. They will not be notified by your insolvency practitioner. If you wanted to keep it a private matter, in most cases this would be absolutely fine. With some roles such as financial advisors, solicitors or bank workers it may make up part of your contract to advise them of changes like this. In these situations we would advise to inform your employers of your intentions before you enter into any arrangements. This way there will be no nasty surprises for you later down the line. More often than not, we find that your employer would not be concerned by your IVA and that it would not affect your employment status. An IVA is a formal solution and could affect some employments, such as if you were a solicitor or accountant for example. We would always recommend that you receive approval from your employers that your job isnt affected before you sign up for anything. Will an IVA impact my partner? There are certain situations where you may not want to involve your partner at all in your IVA proposal due to personal reasons. Insolvency Practitioners are very aware of these circumstances and can operate solely via telephone and email and at your convenience, so rest assured that your matters can be kept completely private. If the debts which you are looking to place into your IVA are in joint names, then this would be different. Your IP would look to place all of your debts into an IVA, including joint debts therefore you would have to inform your partner of your plans. If your debts are solely yours, then there would be no negative impact on your partner, their credit score would remain unaffected and they would not be entered onto any registers or be tainted in any way. Will an IVA affect my credit score/credit file? Whilst you are in your arrangement, you will not be able to get any credit. An IVA will stay on your credit file for 6 years, so 12 months after a typical IVA. When this time has passed and your monthly payments have ended, you will be able to rebuild your credit rating. What proof will I need to apply for an IVA? Proof of ID Passport/driving license/birth certificate/utility bills/national insurance identification/credit agreement Bank statements 3 months bank statements with all transactions displayed Proof of income 3 months payslips/P60/proof of benefits How long does it take to set up an IVA? Your initial call will only last around 5-10 minutes. The IVA process will be explained to you and you will be told what further information you will need to provide to proceed with your IVA proposal. Once you have returned the required information, an IVA will usually take between 7-14 days to get into place. You will be protected from creditors within this time, your advisor will provide you with documentation via email. How long does an IVA last? Most IVAs will last for a length of five years. The i v a will remain on your credit file for a period of six years and is placed on the Insolvency Register for that period. You can work out what date it will be removed from your credit file, it will be six years from the start date of the IVA term. So if the IVA started on 1 January 2000, it should be removed from your credit file six years from that date, which would be 1 January 2006. When you apply for an individual voluntary arrangement your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) will tell you if you qualify for an IVA, how long it lasts, how much it costs and provide you with any other debt advice which you may need. How much will debt advice cost for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement? The advice cost for individual voluntary arrangements is free of charge. Your I.V.A company will tell you if you qualify for an IVA. They will talk to you about your different debts, provide you with free debt advice and check if your creditors are likely to approve your proposal for your IVA for debt. How does an IVA affect your life? By taking out an IVA you may affect your overall financial position. You will not be allowed to take out credit for 6 years. You will struggle to get a mortgage or remortgage your existing property. It also may affect any future increase in earnings or windfalls you may receive, as these will need to be paid to your insolvency practitioner. Your insolvency practitioner will take control of your debts for this period, they will deal with all of your creditors and this is legally binding. That means you will not be allowed to take out any more debts whilst in the IVA. Once the plan is completed, any debts which you accrue will be managed by yourself. Your ability to take out further debts in the future will not be impacted once the IVA has completed. What is the IVA protocol? The I.V.A protocol is a voluntary set of guidelines which your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) can sign up for which improves the efficiency of Individual Voluntary Arrangements. When you apply for debt advice, it is important that you understand the steps of the debt solution, so you can decide whether or not the solution is the best one for your circumstances. How do I know if creditors will accept my IVA? Generally speaking, most creditors will approve voluntary arrangements for unsecured debt. But some debts can not be included within one formal debt solution. Your Insolvency Practitioner will tell you how likely it is that your creditors will be willing to accept your proposal, based on the voting creditors. Can I pay in one lump sum? There are occasions when you may be eligible for a debt solution which is payable in a one off lump sum as a final settlement to your creditors. This is usually when the money is being gifted from some one else, or you have received inheritance or a windfall for example. With a one-off lump sum payment, the advice is usually the same as when you normally apply for an IVA. You wouldnt have to make regular payments into the solution, your IP can provide you with more advice on one off lump sum solutions for your debts. Your IP will provide you with more advice on the debt IVA and explain what is IVA to you. Who regulates the debt industry? At present the debt industry is not regulated. Some Insolvency Practitioners offices choose to sign up to the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) or register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You can contact the IPA using the contact details or email address on their website. Your creditors do not regulate the debt industry and your creditors will not be able to impact any decisions which the IPA or FCA make. In our experience, the regulators will take assertive action on any advisers or businesses which do not comply with their strict codes of practice. To check if a person is regulated by the FCA, enter their name into the search box in the FCA website. Should I use a debt charity? There are thousands of companies which provide debt help in the UK. You may be looking for an alternative to a private company. You should know that charities usually pass their fee charging products to sister companies which charge fees and disbursements, just like private companies. So what you initially thought was a good option, on further analysis could be different to what you originally thought. Charities do have their part to play though. They can help you if you have a problem with your bank accounts, maintenance arrears, living costs, credit reference agencies, child support arrears, bankruptcy, assets, accountancy issues, mortgages, creditor issues, insurance providers, mobiles, your bank account, rates arrears, PAYE contributions or if you want to work out your expenditure. They can make sure that you speak to an adviser or supervisor and look at proposals to offer your lender. A petition has started with the possibility of a debate in parliament about how charities represent themselves and their services. Which charities help with debt? You can contact Money Advice Service, National Debtline, Step Change, Shelter or a combination of the three. Charities are particular useful for a low debt level under 1,000. If the debt is high (such as a debt value of 10,000 or more) you would usually seek an assessment from a professional adviser. If you do decide to use a charity to guide you, make sure you check their charity number and the registration number on their website to make sure you are content that their team can answer your questions in the right ways. A lot of clients of charities have a minimum debt level which does not meet the basis for an IVA, so you could always chat to a charity that is happy to act on your behalf for low debt levels. Although an I.V.A could be the answer to your debt problem, its important to understand the monthly payment so call us on our free phone number. Anyone customers can receive expert feedback on their rights from debt charities, if they cant help they will usually point you in the director of firms which help with IVAs. We are homeowners, will lenders see my proposal differently? In some cases yes. In the majority of cases, if you are a homeowner you will not need to remortgage or take out any additional finances that will effect your property. You will need to sign a additional restrictions which remove your ability to take out additional credit tied to your property, which is something that is restricted once you are in an i.v.a. There are exceptions to this, such as when you have a lot of equity in your property/properties. If you own half of a property and another party owns the other half, only your equity will be affected. If you are landlord and you are in a position of equity, your IP may review your trading position or business to make sure the figures in question are in order. This is usually the case if you have two or more properties, as sometimes the equity can be used to form a repayment to your creditors. But this usually depends on the amount of value built up in your properties. Banks and building societies will not change the terms of your mortgage as long as a contribution is still being made for the duration of your arrangement. Your mortgage payments will be added to your expenses and accounted for within your budget, as long as you can provide evidence that you can afford to continue to make payments into your mortgage for duration of the plan. LOOKING FOR HELP? 100% Confidential. Thousands Helped. No upfront fees business Foreign, PE players eye Lafarge's India assets: Sources French cement maker Lafarge has been looking to divest its interest in Lafarge India assets to comply with competition rules in the country. AGF was a hot stock when the China market was in rally mode in 2015. Then, it deflated in spectacular fashion. AGF rallied more than the Shanghai Composite during the rally, but it also dropped more than the Shanghai Composite when it popped. This no doubt caught some late-comers by surprise. What happened to the AGF share price? The Trustee for AMP Capital China Growth Fund [ASX:AGF] share price was 1.86% up on the day by 3:40pm today. Over a one year period, the stock is down by 40%. Over a five year period, the stock is up by 40%. Asian markets continued to rally today after yesterdays market-wide celebration. However, we see some profit-taking in todays market sessions. Why did AGF shares do this? AGF was a hot stock when the China market was in rally mode in 2015. Then, it deflated in spectacular fashion. AGF rallied more than the Shanghai Composite during the rally, but it also dropped more than the Shanghai Composite when it popped. This no doubt caught some late-comers by surprise. Now the stock is cheap again. When the China stock bubble went bust last year, it didnt do so in isolation. There was a major pull back in all emerging market performances. Capital flight took place. For a time, the bears seemed to be right. Now, the market has calmed down a lot after settling back to a level lower than its long term fundamentals. However, the sentiment surrounding emerging markets and China has not fully recovered. Should you buy China? That question can be answered in so many ways. From a quant perspective, China is a great place to buy because it offers diversification to Aussie investors. From a strategic point of view, China will generate an immense amount of value and wealth in the coming years; it is a great place to invest. From a valuation point of view, Chinas market is currently undervalued (in my view) relative to its long term fundamentals. However, from a sentiment point of view, it is hard for investors to put money back into China after the series of destabilising events in 2015 and early 2016. What now for AGF? My best advice to you is very general. I believe Chinese equities offer great upside opportunities, as well as the benefit of diversification to your portfolio. However, you need to be quite nimble when it comes to China and you need to be technical and disciplined. To some degree, Chinese equities offer short term investors amazing upside potentials, particularly in small-caps. However, it is also a volatile market. Policies can easily drive market directions, and you need to be able to understand those factors. It also offers short sellers good timing-based trades, due to the swings. Perhaps whats most important is knowing that Chinese stocks and China-related stocks are not something you should ignore. Ken Wangdong+ Market Analyst, Emerging Trends Trader April 14, 2016 Islamic State Attacks, Occupies Erdogan's "Safe Zone" The Turkish President Erdogan offered the U.S. "Turkmen" troops to take the Syrian-Turkish border region currently held by the Islamic State. In return he demanded that the U.S. stop its support for the Syrian-Kurdish YPG group that also fights the Islamic State. Erdogan's new demand comes on top of the long standing plan to create a "safe zone" in north Syria in which refugees and "rebels" would be kept safe under a Turkish artillery and U.S. air umbrella. Over the last two weeks "Turkmen" (Turkish special forces, Turkish volunteers and some Uighur fighters) together with al-Qaeda and some Syrian "rebels" proceeded from the Azaz area towards east along the Turkish-Syrian border. With Turkish cross-border artillery support and U.S. A-10 ground attack air support they managed to take a dozen Syrian villages from the Islamic State. They also captured the important Al-Rai border station. But the Islamic State counterattacked, reoccupied Al-Rai and today cut off some of the attacking "rebel" forces from their support area around Azaz (black arrow). Here is a map of the current situation in north Syria. bigger In yellow shade the YPG held enclave around Efrin. In red the Syrian government held area around Aleppo city. In green the al-Qaeda and "rebel" held areas. The northern part around Azaz next to the Turkish border is the current point of action. The dark blackish areas are held by the Islamic State. One can see the corridor next to the Turkish border which the Islamic Sate managed to cut today. It took several villages and a refugee camp that was established on the Syrian side. The refugee camp was then shelled by Turkish artillery to again drive out the Islamic State. This attack demonstrates that the idea of "safe zones" in norther Syria is nonsense. Such "safe zones" would be major battle ground and would be attacked, as today, from two sides. They are indefensible. On top of that Erdogan's "Turkmen" have proven to be less capable than the YPG Kurds who have withstood similar attacks by the Islamic State. Further south the Syrian army is near closing the corridor into eastern Aleppo city which is held by al-Qaeda (Jabhat al-Nusra) fighters. This "squeezing" and several other operations, marked with red arrows on the map, are in preparation for a large Syrian army attack along several axis in Aleppo governate and in Aleppo city. Meanwhile hawks in the CIA and Pentagon want to turn the fighting in Syria into a campaign against the Russians. They want to provide serious anti-air capabilities to al-Qaeda and its "rebel" allies should the current cessation of hostilities not hold: Officials said the CIA has made clear to its allies that the new systems, once agreed upon, would be given to the rebels only if the truce and the concurrent political track toward a lasting peacePlan Afall apart and full-scale fighting resumes. I consider that to be a CIA offer to the "rebels": Break the ceasefire and you will be rewarded with better quality weapons. One can only hope that the Obama White House, which earlier had rejected a proxy war with Russia, will therefore also reject this lunatic scheme. Posted by b on April 14, 2016 at 14:36 UTC | Permalink Comments April 14, 2016 Pentagon Claims 2,750 Air Strikes Killed Just 500 Enemies The Pentagon claims to have tens of thousands of Islamic State fighters by airstrikes. But, according to the published numbers, only very few were killed this year. At the same time the number of Islamic State fighters the Pentagon says are active and alive has remained essentially the same for over two years. According to Pentagon claims documented below, just some 500 Islamic State fighters were killed by U.S. airstrikes in 2016. But its own Airpower Summary March 2016 says that between January and March 2,781 ground attack sorties were flown in Iraq and Syria with at least one weapon release each. Such a high sortie to kill rate is unprecedented. Who, if not Islamic State fighters, is the U.S. bombing? Here is a list of the "Islamic State fighters killed" Pentagon claims: January 22 2015 U.S. envoy to Iraq makes bold claim in ISIS fight The Al Arabiya News Channel quoted Ambassador Stuart Jones in an interview published Thursday as saying U.S. estimates were that "the airstrikes have now killed more than 6,000 ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq." June 4 2015 U.S. official: 10,000-plus ISIS fighters killed in 9-month campaign Paris (CNN)The U.S.-led coalition against ISIS has recorded more than 10,000 ISIS deaths since the campaign against the extremist group began nine months ago, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken told France Inter radio. July 29 2015 Islamic State recruiting offsets 15,000 killed by airstrikes in past year WASHINGTON In a sign of its resilience, the Islamic State appears to have recruited new fighters to offset 15,000 militants killed in a U.S.-led airstrike campaign approaching its first anniversary, U.S. military and intelligence estimates show. ... The U.S.-led coalition confirmed the 15,000 casualty number but would not discuss it publicly. October 12 2015 ISIL death toll at 20,000, but 'stalemate' continues The U.S.-led bombing campaign has killed an estimated 20,000 Islamic State fighters, an increase from the 15,000 the Pentagon reported in July, according to a senior military officer. November 30 2015 Islamic State defections mount as death toll rises, U.S. official says Top military officials estimate that the campaign has killed 23,000 Islamic State fighters, raising their death toll by 3,000 since mid-October. January 7 2016 Coalition Airstrikes Killed 2,500 ISIS Fighters in December: Pentagon U.S. and coalition airstrikes in December killed an estimated 2,500 Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria and another 60 in the first few days of January, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said Wednesday. In January the Pentagon claimed about 25,560 Islamic State fighters were killed in airstrikes which makes the next claims rather weird. April 13 2016 U.S. Military Campaign Takes Toll on ISIS Cash Flow WASHINGTON American airstrikes have killed 25,000 Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria and incinerated millions of dollars plundered by the militants, according to Pentagon officials. April 13 2016 Pentagon claims 26,000 ISIS fighters dead in Iraq, Syria The Pentagon claims the battle to defeat and destroy the terror group ISIS is going well, citing the fact that more than 26,000 isis terrorists have been killed. CNN's Jim Sciutto reports. So the Pentagon now says that only 440 Islamic State fighter were killed by its airstrikes since January 7? Looking at its previous claimed kill rates that number does not make sense. Or did the U.S. stop fighting the Islamic State? Also unconvincing is the total number of Islamic State fighters the Pentagon and CIA claim. Despite all the claimed airstrike kills that number stays steady at some 30,000 since 2014. This while the foreign fighters contingent in ISIS alone is claimed to be at that size. September 12 2014 ISIS can 'muster' between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters, CIA says A CIA assessment puts the number of ISIS fighters at possibly more than three times the previous estimates. The terror group that calls itself the Islamic State "can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria," a CIA spokesman told CNN on Thursday. September 27 2015 Up to 30,000 foreign fighters went to Syria and Iraq, report says US intelligence fears nearly 30,000 foreign fighters have traveled to Iraq and Syria since 2011, many of them to join the Islamic State group, The New York Times reported Saturday. ... The New York Times' report cites anonymous "intelligence and law enforcement officials." October 9 2015 The Pentagon's Syria debacle U.S. intelligence officials believe there are as many as 30,000 Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq, plus a patchwork of extremist groups such as the Al Nusra Front. January 7 2016 Coalition Airstrikes Killed 2,500 ISIS Fighters in December: Pentagon Despite the losses, however, ISIS still has between 20,000 and 30,000 fighters in its ranks, [Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve,] said. Posted by b on April 14, 2016 at 13:05 UTC | Permalink Comments This article is part of Morningstar's Guide to Investing for Income Neil Woodford is one of the best-known fund managers in the UK. Even my grandmother has heard of Woodford, though her risk-averse nature keeps in low-yielding cash savings accounts. As Warren Buffett says: Our favourite holding period is forever When he announced he was quitting Invesco Perpetual last October, outflows from his two equity income funds began immediately despite the fact that he remained at the helm until March this year. Fast forward nine months later and Woodfords eponymous fund has already taken 2.2 billion in the first four weeks. Investors saw their cash multiply more than ten times over two decades of Woodfords tenure at Invesco, but the ride was not smooth. Those who deposited cash in the summer of 2007 would have seen losses of 60% 18 months later although they would have made back their money by July 2011. Woodfords new Equity Income fund has similar holdings to his funds at Invesco, as his full holdings data released last week revealed. Alongside pharmaceutical stocks and tobacco companies Woodford has pepped up the portfolio with small Oxford-based science businesses, based within a short drive from Woodford Funds base in the same county. We asked Woodford about the stocks in his new fund, and why he had chosen to buy up so many of his old favourites, despite a rise in stock prices. More than 30% of the portfolio is invested in pharmaceuticals, why do you consider the sector so compelling and what differentiates these stocks? Our exposure to the pharmaceuticals sector can be split into two types of company: large, mature, diversified pharmaceuticals companies such as AstraZeneca (AZN), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Roche (ROG), and much smaller, earlier-stage biotech companies such as BTG and e-Therapeutics. The former group dominates the sector exposure but, while each business has its own specific attractions, the fundamental reason for owning all of them is the same valuation. I believe the market has forgotten that pharmaceutical and biotech companies are in the business of researching and developing new clinical therapies. They create future value by doing so. Essentially, over the past 15 years, the market has slowly started to treat the huge amounts of cash that these businesses spend on research & development as a cost, rather than an investment. In so doing, the market effectively assumes that there is no future value to imply in share prices. In other words, there is nothing in the price for the new drugs pipeline. I believe this is a creating a significant valuation anomaly valuations of the shares that I have invested in in this sector look attractive purely on the basis of the existing portfolios of therapies. However, when I factor in the prospect of even modest success from the pipeline, the valuation opportunity looks very compelling indeed. I am convinced that the pharmaceuticals sector will prove to be a very rewarding home for investors capital over the next decade. Pharmaceuticals businesses are also not particularly sensitive to the prevailing economic backdrop, which is an added attraction in these challenging times. The fund has only one minor oil and gas holding, why have you chosen not to invest in Shell (RDSB) or BP (BP.) when they are both yielding more than 4%? Dividend sustainability is more important than dividend yield and I am not convinced that those paid by these businesses are sustainable in the long term. They are able to finance dividends by disposing of assets, rather than through operational cash flow, and this does not appear to be a sustainable strategy to me. Some of the stocks have quite a low yield or no yield at all, will these be sold for capital growth or do you believe they will have dividend growth over the medium term? Where we have invested in stocks with low yield or no yield at all, we would anticipate them delivering considerable income in the future as they mature and fulfil their potential. Such dividend growth should be matched by capital growth in the long term, but we dont need to sell them to enjoy this capital growth. Indeed, as Warren Buffett says, our favourite holding period is forever. The portfolio has four tobacco stocks are you concerned about the unethical nature of these stocks? The tobacco sector has performed incredibly well for a long period of time and I expect them to continue to perform dependably well, hence the continued exposure. I make investment decisions based on valuation and long-term fundamentals which in my view, continue to look really attractive in the tobacco sector. That doesnt mean that I ignore moral or ethical issues they are important to my investment approach but only insofar as I need to be assured that a company is conducting itself legally and appropriately. Not to do so poses a risk to future value. At a dinner you recently hosted for financial journalists you championed technology and innovation yet there are no pure play technology stocks in the portfolio. Why is that? When I talk about technology, Im not really talking about information technology Im talking principally about life sciences technology and environmental sciences technology. The UK has some of the best universities in the world, developing some of the best intellectual property. This technology needs nurturing and I believe that by investing with long-term, patient capital, can help these early-stage technology businesses fulfil their potential and add meaningfully to the long-term performance of the fund. The European exchange-traded-fund (ETF) industry attracted 10 billion of net new money in the first quarter of 2016. Expectations for this corner of the passive fund world were particularly high in the wake of a record-high 2015 when investors placed 72 billion in these investment vehicles. Given this backdrop, it would be tempting to class the quarterly outcome as somewhat disappointing. However, this would be harsh judgment given the rather volatile market conditions experienced during the period. The first quarter of 2016 was a rollercoaster for investors. Many of the assumptions with which we welcomed the year were quickly turned upside down, and many investors were caught off-guard. These conditions were hardly conducive for decisive investing. The analysis of the monthly flows reveals that the initial reaction was one of broad paralysis in January. This was followed by a reassessment of the situation and a move away from falling equity markets into safe havens, primarily gold, in February. Moving on to March, although equity markets had started to bounce back from the lows, investors expressed a strong preference for fixed income exposures, with close to 5.7 billion of net new money placed in bond ETFs during the month. Despite the positive quarterly flows, overall assets under management in European ETFs at the end of the period amounted to 463 billion, down 1.4% over the previous quarter. This slight decline can be largely attributed to capital losses on equity market holdings. Fixed Income and Gold Trackers Prove Popular Investors pulled out 3.7 billion from equity ETFs in the first quarter of 2016. Europe-wide, Japan and financial services were particularly out of favour, with investors identifying these equity market exposures as bound to suffer most from increased downside risks to the global economic outlook. By contrast, the increase in volatility proved fertile terrain for minimum volatility strategic beta ETFs. Interestingly, despite the uncertainty surrounding the UKs EU referendum, UK equity ETFs also did well. However, the preponderance of currency hedged products indicated that retaining broad faith on the UKs prospects is not at odds with having a negative view on sterling. Fixed income ETFs have attracted close to 8 billion in net new money in the first quarter of 2016. This was the second highest quarterly outturn for the asset class, only surpassed by the 11.8 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2015. The single common factor shaping investment flows in these two periods has been central bank activism. The beginning of 2015 saw the introduction of quantitative easing by the ECB. Just over a year later in March 2016, the ECB announced the programmes extension both in quantitative and qualitative terms. The inclusion of Eurozone non-bank investment grade corporate debt in the ECBs programme of asset purchases has only come to provide further fuel to the search for yield investment theme. The substantial jump in flows into fixed income ETFs in March has been mostly concentrated in corporate debt exposures, both investment grade and high yield, on the expectation that ECBs support, although targeted, would nonetheless treacle down across the whole market. Commodity ETCs and ETFs netted in 4.72 billion over the quarter. One has to go back to the third quarter of 2012 to see an outcome of similar magnitude. The bulk of inflows has gone to gold, with two physical gold ETCs - Source Physical Gold ETC (SGLD) and ETF Securities Gold Bullion ETC (GBSS) amongst the top-three money-gathering products of the quarter. Strategic Beta Gains Popularity Strategic beta commonly known as smart beta ETFs attracted 2.7 billion in net new money in the first quarter. This accounted for 27% of the total for the entire European ETF market. AUM in these products has increased to 33.6 billion and accounts for 7.3% of the total market. The US election is the biggest fundamental driver of negative sentiment in the healthcare sector, AXA Framlington Health fund manager Dani Saurymper told Morningstar. Candidates of both parties are currently chasing votes by suggesting healthcare reforms, adding a healthcare cost pressure and uncertainty. The healthcare industry is facing growing cost pressure as the US politicians chased votes by suggesting more price control in drugs and attacking drug price gouging, according to Saurymper. Drug pricing became a target in the political debates following public outcry over the case of Martin Shkreli and his company Turing Pharmaceuticals, which raised the price of a drug often given to cancer and AIDs patients. Any outcome of the US presidential election could affect valuations of healthcare stocks; in the past eight years healthcare reform introduced by US President Barack Obama has driven significant growth in the sector. The US now spends 18% of GDP on healthcare. Healthcare investors also need to be aware another factor currently affecting the valuation of the industry; a massive rotation out of healthcare stocks into underperformed areas of the market, particularly cheap energy and mining stocks. Ageing Population, Innovation and Emerging Markets Despite the political noise and market rotation, Saurymper said that underlying demand in the healthcare sector was still robust, predicting that healthcare as a proportion of GDP in the US would increase to 20% from 18% over time. There are clearly needs to be some form of reign on spending, and in fact most of the policies talk about reducing the rate of healthcare spend growth but not depressing growth, so instead of being high single-digit price growth, it might be only a 5% price growth, Saurymper commented. Tailwinds to the sector are strong; the US has an ageing population and an increasing frequency of lifestyle diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Saurymper also sees more innovative drugs coming to the market that address new medical needs. Last year 45 drugs were approved by the regulator the US Food and Drug Administration, a record high in the last 16 years, providing a hope to further growth within the sector. He also saw opportunities in emerging markets as consumers become wealthier. China, for example, currently spending 4-5% GDP on healthcare, was expected to develop further healthcare spending based on its ambition to establish a $1.2 trillion healthcare system by the end of the decade. No Fear from Biotech Selloff Concerns raised over the recent volatility in biotech stocks do not worry Saurymper, who reminded investors that biotech only accounts for 15% of the MSCI World Healthcare Index, while large pharmaceutical companies accounts for 40% of the index. Large caps are clearly pocket of strength, Saurymper said, as large-cap pharmaceutical names were very much of safe havens to investors. Medical device and healthcare services sectors were very resilient as well, he said, and together these sub-sectors should fare better. 3 Stocks with Growth Potential Saurymper also shared three healthcare stock picks in which he saw growth potential. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was the one of the stock picks, a traditional large company in the pharmaceutical industry. The stock is rated as a fair value stock by Morningstar analysts. Saurymper also suggested new themes in healthcare investing, moving away from traditional large caps to more innovative technology. Digital health company, DexCom Inc (DXCM) and biotech firm Celgene (CELG) were his two other choices. The Canadian government has changed its tune from last year, and is now more cautious about its statements on the economy, according to one leading economist.Of course everyone expected that [the Bank of Canada] would remain on the sidelines so that was no surprise; what did surprise me was how tepid their growth forecast is, Dr. Sherry Cooper, chief economist for Dominion Lending Centres , told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. They told us the global economy has slowed relative to their expectations in January, that the US economy was slower than originally expected. We know the Canadian dollar has risen sharply.The Bank of Canada forecasted 1.7% GDP growth in 2016 a conservative prediction, according to Cooper.Cooper says this cautiousness is at odds with the Bank of Canadas attitude last year.Basically, its the opposite of what happened last year; last year, they had consistent disappointment in their forecast and they were always being too optimistic. Maybe this year they have decided to be a little more realistic, she said. They also reduced their outlook on potential growth. In every way, they have basically tempered expectations.They seem to think that we will achieve full employment by the second half of next year, and thats a little later than they originally expected.As a result of the softened economic outlook, the Bank of Canada decided to maintain its target for the overnight rate at 0.5% on Wednesday.The Canadian economys complex structural adjustment to the oil price shock is ongoing and will dampen growth throughout the Banks projection horizon, the Bank said in its press release. First-quarter GDP growth appears to have been unexpectedly strong, but some of that strength is due to temporary factors and is likely to reverse in the second quarter. PHH/CFPB Battle to be Long and Arduous; PrimeLending and Mutual of Omaha's JV I found this article particularly enticing considering the change in banking/regulatory models over the last few years, and the downside risk for anyone with a "The Buck Stops Here" plaque on their desk. Stephen Morris and Ambereen Choudhury write, "London's banks that were once among the most coveted employers in the global financial system are struggling to fill top roles because potential penalties are seen to outweigh the perks....Bankers are concerned about regulations that could see executives thrown in jail for failing to spot serious misconduct on their watch, which has shifted the City of London's reputation from a light-touch Babylon to a risky place to work. Combined with British politicians' desire to name and shame, an unforgiving press and diminishing cash compensation, the nation's banks have been left struggling to fill senior positions, lawyers and recruiters said." My cat Myrtle realizes that the CFPB has its benefits and its detriments, and she is closely following events in the PHH/CFPB hearing. On Tuesday, PHH and the CFPB presented oral arguments to the DC Circuit Court in the on-going litigation saga. Questions posed by the court included inquiries about the authorities of the CFPB, statutes of limitations, and, of course, RESPA. Jonathan Fox at Lenders Compliance Group writes, "This is the litigation where PHH appealed to the DC Circuit Court because the Bureau's Director Richard Cordray raised an administrative law judge's $6 million penalty for mortgage insurance kickbacks to $109 million. Here is one aspect of the litigation: the implications of the court's view of an administrative agency led by a single director rather than the more typical commission structure. Entitled Going after the Big Cheese (PHH takes on CFPB's Director)," Jonathan's article is worth reading. And Fred Small with Compass Point Research and Trading echoed what others have said. "The opening oral arguments in the PHH vs. CFPB case increased our conviction in the probability of a positive outcome for PHH. The CFPB's argument was met by a clearly unsympathetic bench and our view is the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. is set to deliver PHH a victory. We think there is a 75% probability that the CFPB's $103M increase to the original PHH fine will be substantially reduced or vacated entirely. Regardless of the appeals court decision, we think an appeal is likely. Link the audio recording of the hearing. (71 min) "While we expected a positive outcome for PHH in court, the degree to which Judges Kavanaugh and Randolph appeared to question the CFPB's administrative order surprised us (note: Judge Henderson was not in attendance but is still hearing the case). Outside of the broader arguments about the CFPB's structure and authority, the key points against the increased fine revolve around the CFPB's re-interpretation of the industry's 'settled expectations' regarding RESPA and its use of an administrative action to avoid any statute of limitations. Judge Randolph asked several questions focused on the statute of limitations, noting that in other venues where no statute of limitations exists it is borrowed from somewhere else. Judge Kavanaugh focused on the lack of 'fair notice' given standard industry practices and expectations regarding RESPA that were in place at the time. "We expect a decision early this fall. Our view is that no matter the outcome of this decision, the odds of an appeal are high which suggests that the legal road ahead is still long and winding." "Beyond the direct impact on PHH, our view is that a CFPB loss in this case would force a near-term retrenchment of the bureau's enforcement and rulemaking efforts which would be viewed positively for auto lenders, the entire mortgage complex, student loan servicers, and payday lenders. Furthermore, we believe that a CFPB loss in this case would significantly strengthen legislative efforts to shift the bureau's leadership from a single director to a commission. "'You're concentrating in a single person a huge amount of power and the president has no authority over that. - Judge Kavanaugh" Turning to the markets... there isn't much to turn to. Steady as she goes. Aside from some intra-day chop among securities and coupons, we ended Wednesday about where we were at the close of Tuesday. In fact, there hasn't been much movement at all, which is fine with capital markets folks. Today we've already had the latest decision on rates from the Bank of England where the BoE left its "target rate" unchanged at 0.50%. And we've had Thursday's usual Initial Jobless Claims (-13k to 253k), March CPI (+.1%, slightly less than expected, year over year core +2.3%), and March real earnings (last -0.5%). At 1:00pm, the final leg of this week's set of auctions will be completed when the Treasury auctions $12 billion of reopened 30-year bonds. We closed the 10-year yesterday at 1.76% and in the early going it's at 1.78% with agency MBS prices worse a tad. Jobs and Announcements How much does a clever compliance trainer make with the CFPB? Here you go. Are you a DE Underwriter or Loan Closer in CA or AZ? If so, Network Funding, LP needs you! Network Funding has been ranked among the "Top 100 Mortgage Companies in America 2015" by Mortgage Executive Magazine and is already experiencing significant growth in 2016. They are also adding multiple support and operations roles in other areas of the country to accommodate this continued growth. Learn more about the company and the available positions at www.join.nflp.com or send resumes to Executive VP Brett Snortland. It is that time again for Mason-McDuffie Mortgage's annual Tahoe Summit. "This year, we have a great lineup of speakers who are joining us to discuss the future of our industry. Specifically, how new technology is shaping and will shape the future. We will also be talking about modern sales marketing and our roadmap for success in the Information Age. We believe that this information is critical for all Loan Officers who want compete in the new era of lending. So, if you would like to hear the knowledge from Jim Keenan (Sales Guy Inc.), Katie Lance (Katie Lance Consulting), Ginger Bell (Morf Media), and Nima Ghamsari (Blend Labs), please go to this link and sign up for our 'Tahoe Summit Replay.' The replay will be available 1 week after the conclusion of the conference. Please contact Jason Frazier if you would like any more information on it or careers at "Mason Mac." We look forward to connecting with you!" And Fannie & Freddie seller/servicer American Capital Corp is gearing up to increase business in its Wholesale channel. The name has changed from ACBN to ACC Wholesale. ACC is looking forAccount Executives for the following areas: Seattle, Texas, San Diego, Pasadena/Santa Barbara. AEs have the ability to bring on Retail and Wholesale clients as well as originate themselves if they are licensed. Please email ACC@amcap.mortgage if you would like to be considered. On the flip side of all this hiring Fifth Third Bank ($139B, OH) has confirmed it offered voluntary early retirement packages to 775 (about 4%) of its 18,500 employees, as it seeks to cut costs. PrimeLending and Mutual of Omaha Bank have signed a joint venture agreement to form Mutual of Omaha Mortgage, LLC. "The new company will combine Mutual of Omaha Bank's strong brand, marketing expertise, financial strength and nationwide reach with PrimeLending's broad product portfolio, proven compliance processes, commitment to technology and strong reputation in the mortgage space. Mutual of Omaha Mortgage will begin recruiting for a wide-variety of positions within the next 45 to 60 days. After building its team, Mutual of Omaha Mortgage is expected to begin operations in the third quarter of 2016. For more information, email recruiting@mutualmortgage.com. And Assured Guaranty Ltd. announced the acquisition of CIFG for approximately $450 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to close in mid-2016. AGO will acquire CIFG through AGC, the same operating subsidiary that acquired Radian Guaranty. AGC's dividend capacity is currently limited by its investment income; CIFG had $16 million of investment income in 2015. CIFG Holding Inc. is the parent of financial guaranty insurer CIFG Assurance North America, Inc. (CIFG NA). At the end of 2015, CIFG had $5.6 billion of net par insured and had $637 million of statutory capital. CIFG's portfolio consists mostly of asset-backed guarantees; student loan ABS, corporate synthetic CDOs, and CLOs make up just more than 50% of the portfolio, while U.S. municipal finance exposure makes up about 22% of the portfolio. For various reasons the announced bank mergers and acquisitions continue to a much greater degree than de novo bank creation. In just the last week it came to light that Citizens National Bank ($1.7B, TX) will acquire Kilgore National Bank ($83mm, TX). In nearby Louisiana four-bank holding company Louisiana Community Bancorp Inc. ($934mm) will acquire Tri-Parish Bank ($208mm). In the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates DNB First ($749mm) will acquire East River Bank ($311mm) for about $49mm in cash (13%) and stock (87%) or about 1.6x tangible book. State Bank and Trust Co ($3.5B, GA) will acquire The National Bank of Georgia ($375mm, GA) for about $68mm in cash and stock. Westfield Bank ($1.3B, MA) will acquire Chicopee Savings Bank ($677mm, MA) for about $110mm in stock. United Community Bank ($9.6B, GA) will acquire Tidelands Bank ($466mm, SC) for about $2.2mm in cash. First Interstate Bank ($8.7B, MT) will acquire Flathead Bank of Bigfork ($232mm, MT) for about $34.2mm. But plenty of banks are interested in other lines of business, and it isn't against the law (yet) to pursue them. Ally Bank ($111B, MI) will acquire online wealth management and brokerage company TradeKing Group for about $275mm. Trade King provides online trading tools for Self-directed trading of stocks, bonds, options and mutual funds to individuals and manages $4.5B in client assets. The management team of The Palisades Group, an investment advisor subsidiary of Banc of California ($8.2B, CA) will pay an undisclosed sum to buy out the subsidiary company. Union Bank & Trust ($7.7B, VA) will acquire independent registered investment advisory firm Old Dominion Capital Management (VA). Old Dominion manages about 300 client relationships. What's new with some of those crafty vendors and rascally tech firms? LoanCraft has rolled out some new OCR technology to improve turn time on its Tax Return Analysis. Typically, you get a full analysis of tax returns for personal and business in less than four hours, and the standard price is only $25. This is a nice complement to its transcript analysis service, and it can sure save your underwriter time, which I'm sure they will welcome. Contact Ron George at rgeorge@loancraft.net. Indecomm has launched its new proprietary Income Analyzer, Web-based platform that electronically reads documents using sophisticated Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. It reads and analyzes data, calculates qualifying income associated with the mortgage loan, and alerts the lender to underwriting conditions. Agency income documentation and calculation messages are clearly and visually presented to users, providing a consistent methodology for the successful approval of loans. Lenders now face an increase in the period from application to closing. Income Analyzer recaptures the lost time. Some highlights of its Income Analyzer includes, calculating and analyzing income by extracting data from income documents. Customized alert messaging reducing errors and adding efficiency through processing and underwriting. Income Analyzer also streamlines self-employed borrower underwriting. Visit the Indecomm website for more information on its Income Analyzer technology. DebtX has been awarded a five-year contract by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to provide loan sale advisory, valuation and due diligence services to federal government agencies. Effective through February 2021, DebtX has been approved to act as Program Financial Advisor, Transaction Specialist, and Due Diligence & Support Services provider. loanDepot, has partnered with Orchard Platform, a technology and data provider for marketplace lending. Under the agreement, loanDepot will integrate its industry-leading performance data into the Orchard U.S. Consumer Marketplace Lending Index and Market Data products. Through this partnership, the U.S. investment community will gain deeper insights into the strong performance of loanDepot personal loan products relative to other marketplace lenders and the industry as a whole. Nearly eight years after the global financial meltdown, five of the nations largest banks still dont have credible plans for weathering a crisis without a taxpayer bailout, according to the Federal Reserve and the FDIC. The two agencies determined that the emergency plans of Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street and Wells Fargo were not credible or would not facilitate orderly resolution under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the statutory standard established in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. None of the eight banks considered too big to fail by the government fared very well in the recent examination of their living wills plans, required by the Dodd-Frank Act, that would provide a strategy for winding down in the event of another collapse. In addition to the five banks that were failed by both the FDIC and the Fed, Goldman Sachs plan was nixed by the FDIC alone, while the Fed said Morgan Stanleys plan wasnt credible. Citigroups plan passed with both regulators, but both warned it had shortcomings. Each plan has shortcomings or deficiencies, said FDIC Vice ChairmanThomas Hoenig. No firm yet shows itself capable of being resolved in an orderly fashion through bankruptcy. Thus, the goal to end too big to fail and protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts remains just that: only a goal. Banks are only required to repair deficiencies in their plans if both regulators fail them, according to a Reuters report. But banks found deficient can be held to stricter regulatory requirements and if they havent addressed the identified issues within two years, they can be forced to divest assets. Pick O the Week 10,000 Km (R) Vexing Spanish film shows a realistic look at relationships and the sacrifices necessary to maintain them. B+ Ick! O the Week Countdown (R) If youre not already sick of the rogue cop who bends the rules to solve crimes a la Dirty Harry, then this film will test your resolve. F More reviews Avas Possessions (R) Dark comedy is clever and features a remarkably catchy score by John and Yokos little boy, Sean Lennon. B- Boost (unrated) Not even Danny Trejo can make up for the lousy, uneven story. D Curve (R) Teddy Sears, a journeyman character actor with leading- actor good looks, absolutely shines in this film. Too bad the movie is little more than a low-budget rip-off of 2010s Wrecked. B- # Horror (R) Tara Subkoffs directorial debut is technically impressive but hard to appreciate, thanks to a group of foul-mouthed tweens who are so obnoxious in the first act that you will root for evil to befall them. C+ The Hoarder (unrated) If you try not to think about how implausible some of the situations are, the twists in this horror fare are pretty effective. B- Identicals (R) The look of this movie is spectacular. The rest? Not so much. D The Masked Saint (PG-13) The plot is so far-fetched, it has to be true. Story centers around a pro wrestler who retires to be a minister, then dons his wrestling mask at night to foil crime. It marks one of the last films of Roddy Piper, so if youre a fan of the wrestling legend, you will want to remember him more for 1988s They Live than this well-meaning but botched effort. C- Mojave (R) Deadly game of cat and mouse doesnt reach its full potential but its still fun watching it try. B Riot (unrated) As fun as it is to watch and hear former UFC stud Chuck Liddell embrace his inner Russian gangster, this film is no better than the worst episode of HBOs groundbreaking prison drama Oz. C Tumbledown (R) Smart and funny, but an element of realism is lacking. B Life is no drag for the cast of Midland Community Theatres new production of La Cage aux Folles. But for Zaza and the Cagelles, life is nothing but -- especially for the next two weekends. The show opens Friday at the Yucca Theatre and runs through April 23. The classic drag musical centers on Jean-Michel (Aiden Bonacci), who begins dating Anne Dindon (Victoria Gonzales). Jean Michels father, Georges (Bill Kersh), a nightclub owner, and his partner Albin (Mitchell Smith) ultimately meet the more straight-laced parents of Anne (Andy Salcedo and Caroline Englestad) where a clash of cultures occurs -- particularly when Albin, who is also the clubs headlining drag queen, Zaza, tries to fit in. Drag has become quite the art in mainstream media primarily because of shows such as RuPauls Drag Race and movies like Hairsrpay. In some word association, Smith and Les Cagelles cast Max Vix, Samatha Spencer, Bert Garza and Dylan Watson talked about their experience putting on the costumes and transforming into someone fabulous. Drag Smith: I have worn a dress on stage before in a show called Love, Sex and the IRS. I played the friend of a man who claimed to be married on his taxes and asked my character to play his wife. So I didnt have to be pretty. Vis: I hadnt even seen a drag show until we went to Club 20/20 in Odessa for research. Spencer: I have never worn so much makeup in my life. High heels Smith: I like towering over people but my feet hurt by the end of the night. Watson: The first time I saw my heels I thought they would be what was going to kill me. However, with time, walking in them has just become natural. It honestly feels weird not to dance in the heels. Make-up Garza: Drag makeup is what Dolly Parton does for a casual look. Smith: Unlike Les Cagelles, my character switches back and forth between male and female so I dont get to do a lot of the fun stuff they are doing. Spencer: Its not just makeup; its painting your face to create a work of art. Contouring to change the shape of your face, just the right eyeliner to make your eyes look huge, and primer, powder, and setting spray so it doesnt sweat off. Its so much work. Watson: The downside is, no matter how hard I try to clean it off I always have glitter somewhere on my face Being a man in womens clothes. Garza: It feels like a vacation. You have fun while youre there, but you want to go home after a few days. I have way more respect for women who do this every day. I will no longer judge anyone who doesnt want to get all dolled up. And I have an even bigger appreciation for real drag queens who do this and make it an art form. Watson: Its made me see a lot of things in different ways. I think thats the best thing I take away from this show -- how much Ive learned and how many things have been put in perspective. Being able to play such a different character gives you the chance to understand not only what drag queens go through but what women in general go through on a daily basis. Being a woman being a man in womens clothes. Spencer: It took me a little bit to change my mind set. We were just starting to work with makeup and I kept missing the mark with my eye makeup. I couldnt figure out what exactly I was doing wrong. Finally one of the guys told me that I need to quit doing makeup like a woman and do it like a man would. It helped me realize that I needed to change the way I approach all of the things I had been doing for years and realize that drag isn't simply men dressing up like women; it is its own genre. Doing it again Spencer: Makeup and heels? Everyday. Four pairs of tights, padding, two corsets, two leotards, wig, fabulous hat, heels and a colorful flowing heavy cape thing all on at the same time? Only for the love of theater. In your eyes Vis: Drag is art. Drag is funny. If youre taking it too seriously you might throw your back out. Spencer: To me, drag is the creation of a persona. Doing this show has made me give more thought to the fact that women do a smaller version of this every day and its almost frowned upon if you dont get up every day and put on your face, do up your hair, and wear some Spanx, and at the same time its not socially acceptable for men to do it. Watson: Drag is like theater is for many people its a place of love and acceptance. Audience takeaways Smith: The spectacle is important and a fun element to the show but I hope the audience can appreciate the deeper message about love, family, and acceptance that is key to the plot of the show. Spencer: I think there are a few people who will just see the gay men but what I hope they get from the show is love, forgiveness and unconditional acceptance. George is stuck between love for his child and for Albin who hes been married to for 20 years. Albin is caught between love for his husband and stepson and the pain of being told that everything he is and has worked for is not enough anymore. Jean-Michel wants to impress his fiancee's family and he forgets what is really important. Watson: Throughout this process I was much stressed. People asked why I do it if it just causes stress. But if this show can change one persons opinion or see things in a different light then all of the hard work and sweat and tears will all be worth it. Garza: This show is a fun, campy time, but with heart and soul. It has a message of self-acceptance and what unconditional love is. Plus, Im the prettiest one out of Les Cagelles, so people can soak that up. A Midland Police Department officer was arrested in Odessa on Monday for allegedly assaulting a woman, according to court documents. Rudy Robles, 23, was released Tuesday on bond for a charge of simple assault. OPD officers were called to an apartment complex in Odessa in reference to a disturbance, according to the arrest affidavit. A woman stated that she was assaulted by Robles, according to the affidavit. Robles allegedly started drinking alcoholic beverages Sunday evening and had continued to drink throughout the night, according to the affidavit. The woman and Robles got into a verbal argument about how much alcohol he was consuming and she started to pour out the alcohol, according to the affidavit. Robles then grabbed her right arm and wrist and began to pull her, according to the affidavit. She told him to let her go, but he would not, according to the affidavit. OPD officers observed small scratches on the womans right wrist and underarm. Officers could detect a strong odor of alcohol emitting from Robles breath and observed that his eyes were red and his speech was slurred, according to the affidavit. Robles, who has been with the department for three years, is currently on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol while MPD Internal Affairs completes an investigation, said Midland public information officer Sara Bustilloz. There havent been any previous issues with Robles, Bustilloz said. The decision could include a variety of things, so usually while the investigation is happening the employee is on paid administrative leave, Bustilloz said. We usually wait until theres a decision made before we send out a news release on it. In addition to Robles, two other Midland police officers were arrested in the past 10 years, Bustilloz said in response to a public information request. Former MPD officer Jason R. Moore was terminated in August 2008 for a misdemeanor charge of official oppression, according to a previous Reporter-Telegram article. Early in the morning of June 26, 2008, Moore, along with other patrol officers, responded to a domestic disturbance between a husband and wife, according to the article. The officers separated the couple and the husband left the scene with the other officers, according to the article. When Moore went with the woman to her vehicle to obtain more information, he subjected her to unwanted sexual advances and asked for sexual favors, according to the article. The woman reported the incident to MPD and Moore was fired after an investigation, according to the article. Jaren Speck, a former MPD probation officer, was terminated and arrested and charged with online impersonation on Dec. 13, 2013, according to an MPD press release. A woman contacted Midland Police Department on Dec. 11 and said Speck had posted seven nude, sexually explicit photographs of her on a website, according to a Reporter-Telegram article. Speck was placed on administrative suspension on Dec. 12, pending the outcome of the investigation. Speck was charged with online impersonation, which is a third-degree felony. There is no timeline for the Internal Affairs investigation of Robles, Bustilloz said. HONOLULU (AP) The Hawaii Department of Education has been seeking out educators from the mainland to deal with the state's growing teacher shortage. Officials expect as many as 1,600 vacancies throughout the state next school year. The department has responded by sending teams to meet with potential applicants in major cities across the U.S., including Chicago, New York, Portland and Los Angeles, Hawaii News Now reported (http://bit.ly/1qpNdcb). "Teachers are in such demand everywhere. Every school district is trying to steal from the other's district," said Barbara Krieg, assistant superintendent for the Office of Human Resources. Even if the state can successfully recruit enough people, officials say retaining those teachers could present a challenge. Newly recruited teachers are often placed in rural schools, where there is more of a need, and have to face the state's high cost of living. "Hawaii has one of the highest teacher turnover rates in the nation, and this is more so for people that come from the mainland," said Corey Rosenlee, president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association. "They say, 'I can't live here' and they leave and we have to go back and recruit, and this cycle just continually happens." But some recruits from the mainland have learned to thrive and say that teaching in Hawaii has its benefits. Brittney Driggs, a New Jersey native, was recruited right after college and has been teaching special education at Mililani High School in Honolulu for six years. "My first year here, a lot of my fellow colleagues were like, 'Oh, you're going to be a one-year wonder,' " Driggs said. "I know the pay isn't as good as the mainland, but I think it's worth it." The Department of Education is looking to fill vacancies in special education, secondary mathematics and secondary science. The state also needs more teachers in rural neighbor island areas and Oahu's Leeward Coast. Financial incentives are available for applicants. The department has also been focusing its efforts on retaining current teachers and informing young people of education jobs in their communities. "Over time, especially in areas where it's hard to find people who know the area or are willing to stay in the area, we really need to what we call grow our own teachers," Krieg said. ___ Information from: KGMB-TV, http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/ HOUSTON (AP) A deputy constable is expected to recover after undergoing several hours of surgery after he was shot four times while talking to another constable after a traffic stop, authorities said Thursday. Harris County Deputy Constable Alden Clopton was wearing a protective vest when he was shot from behind about 11:20 p.m. Wednesday, Constable May Walker said during a Thursday morning news conference. A motive for the shooting is unknown. Asked if authorities believed the shooter was targeting law enforcement, Houston police spokesman Kese Smith told The Associated Press that both deputy constables were in uniform and had marked vehicles. "I can't see how someone can mistake them for someone other than law enforcement," Smith said. The suspect fired six shots, four of which hit Clopton, Walker said. Officials had said earlier that Clopton had a bullet lodged near his heart, plus abdominal wounds. The other shots hit the other deputy constable's car and the ground. "It was virtually an ambush is what it was," Walker said, according to the Houston Chronicle. Clopton's protective vest likely saved his life, and Walker said he faces a long recovery. Authorities were questioning a male who showed up a nearby fire station after the shooting and matched the description of the suspected shooter, Smith said. The person had not been arrested or charged, he said, but authorities also were not currently looking for anyone else. Clopton is an 11-year veteran of the force who is married and has five children, said Pamela Greenwood, spokeswoman for the Harris County precinct seven constable's office. He comes from a law enforcement family, with three brothers who are law officers. According to Smith, the shooting came after a female reserve deputy constable made a traffic stop and called Clopton to assist. The vehicle that was pulled over left and Clopton was standing outside the window of the female's vehicle when he was shot. The female deputy constable got out and shot back, but it was unknown if she hit the fleeing suspect, Smith said. The person being questioned at the fire station did not have any injuries, Smith said, adding that he didn't think the shooting was related to the traffic stop. Clopton is the second Harris County law officer to be shot from behind in an unprovoked attack in the past year. Texas prosecutors in August charged a 30-year-old man with capital murder in the killing of sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth, who was gunned down while filling his patrol car with gas in what officials described as a "senseless and cowardly act." ___ ST. PAUL, Minn. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, recently signed a Finding of No Significant Impact for a Minot, North Dakota, sewer system project. The city of Minot, North Dakota, with funding assistance from the Corps Environmental Infrastructure Assistance program, is proposing to construct approximately 2 miles of sewer main on the south side of the city. The project would be designed to extend the existing sanitary sewer system and provide service to an area where septic systems need improvement. An Environmental Assessment, or EA, was previously prepared describing the project and associated environmental effects. The public review period for the original EA ended in February 2016. However, during the review, the project alignment was modified slightly. The Final EA, along with the changes, can be viewed and downloaded at: http://cdm16021.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16021coll7/id/2596. The Corps of Engineers is not seeking any further public comments. The documents are being provided to the public for informational purposes only. The nearly 600 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the Corps Fiscal Year 2015 $100 million budget, nearly 1,600 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $155 million to the national economy. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil. -30- We need to calm down after hearing this news about the collaboration! Just hours before the release of Taylor Swift's Midnights, the pop star gave a first look at the music videos for her highly anticipated 10th studio album. In a teaser Someone should sue the President for ... Coyote Sam and his gang of misfits ride through Sonora View Photos View Video Sonora, CA Coyote Sam and his gang of bandits once again called Tuolumne County Sheriff Jim Mele out of the annual Mother Lode Round-Up Sponsors Luncheon to have a mock showdown on Washington Street. Briefly disrupting traffic at the Washington Street and Stockton light, a few confused motorists and a small crowd watched the mock shootout. Bandits on horseback circle the block firing blanks into the air and stop at Emberz to call Sheriff Mele to come outside. The Sheriffs Posse and Round-Up Queen contestants; Annie Torok, Samantha Turner, and Karissa Rogers as well as the Junior Queen contestants; Shyanne Clopton, Lynsey Gookin, Kaitlyn Rumsey, and Ginna Hahn take on the bandits. Playful jeers are shouted from both sides. The bandits gun fire is quite loud but was met with water from squirt guns from all the contestants as Sheriff Posse members fired in the air back. Eventually the chaotic scene ends with the villains leaving with an item needed for the Round-Up which will later be found and returned. The Mother Lode Round-Up, now in its 59th year, is held this year on May 7th and 8th. The parade, events in the weeks before the Round-Up, and ticket prices are in our Community Round-Up Section here. The Coyote Sam event is amusing each year, photos and video from last year are here, and 2014 is here. Donald Trump's campaign manager will not be prosecuted on a misdemeanor battery charge after prosecutors determined there wasn't enough evidence to convict him of forcibly grabbing a female reporter. Corey Lewandowski will not be prosecuted on misdemeanor battery charge Lewandowski was charged after video showed him grabbing reporter by arm State attorney said evidence is insufficient to support prosecution Police charged Corey Lewandowski last month after determining a video recording showed the New York City resident grabbing reporter Michelle Fields by the arm as she tried to ask the Republican presidential front-runner a question while he was leaving a campaign event March 8. State attorney Dave Aronberg said during a news conference Thursday that police were right to charge Lewandowski, but the burden on prosecutors to prove the case was higher. "Although there was probable cause to make an arrest, the evidence cannot prove all legally required elements of the crime alleged and is insufficient to support a criminal prosecution," Aronberg said. Fields, who worked for the conservative Breitbart News website at the time, tweeted a photograph of her bruised forearm and said she had been yanked backward. Lewandowski had denied grabbing Fields and Trump had stood by him, rejecting calls by his opponents to fire him. Instead he went after Fields, accusing her of exaggerating and changing her story. The investigation proved, however, that Lewandowski "pulled Ms. Fields back" as she attempted to interview Trump, according to a memo by another prosecutor, Chief Assistant State Attorney Adrienne Ellis. The memo says that Lewandowski could have believed Fields was "making unwanted physical contact with Mr. Trump" that led him to pull her away. "Mr. Lewandowski may have had apparent authority to assist in the protection of the candidate, specifically to maintain the 'protective bubble' around the candidate," Ellis wrote. "While the facts support the allegation that Mr. Lewandowski did grab Ms. Fields' arm against her will, Mr. Lewandowski has a reasonable hypothesis of innocence." At a Wisconsin campaign rally hours after Lewandowski was charged, Trump read Fields' account aloud: "Maybe he touched (her) a little bit, but I didn't see," Trump told the crowd. "It was almost like he was trying to keep her off me, right?" Fields weighed in on Twitter: "My story never changed. Seriously, just stop lying." She quit Breitbart shortly after the altercation, saying its editors didn't support her as they tried to maintain their relationship with Trump. Other Breitbart employees also quit. Aronberg said he had talked with Fields and she was disappointed he decided against pursuing the charge. The prosecutor also said Lewandowski could have signaled to Secret Service agents if he thought Fields was a threat, and he could've apologized. "In a case like this we do encourage an apology. Had an apology been given at the beginning of all this, we could have avoided the whole criminal justice process," Aronberg said. The prosecutor's announcement came days before the New York primary next Tuesday. Trump hopes New York marks an end to the worst period of his candidacy, a stretch that raised new questions about his policy chops and revealed his campaign's lack of preparedness for a potential delegate fight if the GOP race heads to a contested convention. The prosecutor said he understood the case had garnered international attention, but the political climate did not affect his decision. Trump's campaign said in a statement: "Corey Lewandowski is gratified by the decision to drop the misdemeanor charge and appreciates the thoughtful consideration and professionalism by the Palm Beach state attorney and his staff who carefully reviewed this matter, as well as Mr. Trump's loyalty and the support of his colleagues and family during this time. The matter is now concluded." --- Corrects earlier version that incorrectly identified Dave Aronberg as the spokesman for the state attorney. OVERTON Wild pigs continue to plague farmers and ranchers in much of the state. They are a year-round nuisance to producers, said Dr. Billy Higginbotham, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service wildlife specialist in Overton, but farrowing, the birth of new litters of pigs, typically peaks in the spring. Higginbotham said farmers and ranchers in 253 of 254 Texas counties face a constant battle to prevent or reduce damages by wild pigs. The statewide population estimate is around 2.6 million wild pigs, and limited ways of controlling their numbers means they are here to stay, he said. Given the population numbers, theres no way to eradicate them but you can reduce exposure to damage by managing their numbers, Higginbotham said. It costs producers time and money to repair damages and deal with the wild pig population, he said. Higginbotham said 71 percent of landowners with pastureland who responded to an AgriLife Extension survey reported damages by wild pigs. A conservative estimate of statewide damages based on a decade-old study puts the annual cost to farmers and ranchers at $52 million. Producers spent an additional $7 million each year to repair damages and deal with wild pig populations, according to the same estimate. Wild pigs are omnivores and will seek any food source for calories, Higginbotham said. They cause much of the damages to crops when they dig, or root, for food sources, such as grub worms, planted seed and plant roots. Higginbotham said the wild pigs are especially damaging to hay pastures in East Texas. Pastures are rooted up and must be smoothed by farmers to allow hay equipment to access the land. Disturbed soil also creates weed control problems, he said. Landowners should monitor for signs of wild pig activity, such as tracks, rubs against fence posts and trees, well-used trails and hair stuck on barbed-wire fences where they cross, he said. If you see the signs of hogs its best to take a proactive approach and try to reduce their numbers, he said. They may just be moving through your land but eventually they will cause problems. The more you reduce their numbers the more you reduce the damage they cause. Higginbotham said there are four legal ways to address wild hogs in Texas - trapping, snaring, shooting and catch dogs. Hiring professional shooters to reduce wild pig numbers from helicopters represents a cost-effective way for farmers and ranchers in parts of the state with less tree canopy, but in East Texas trapping is advised, Higginbotham said. Corral-type traps work best, especially when a landowner can catch an entire family or sounder of pigs, he said. But Higginbotham said it takes a process to trap effectively. Pigs must be hooked on the bait before placement of the trap, he said. The trap should then be baited to allow the pigs to get comfortable. It could take a week, it could take several weeks depending on how much trapping pressure theyve experienced, he said. Higginbotham suggested landowners speak to their local AgriLife Extension agents for tips on what works best in their area to trap wild pigs. AgriLife Extension district reporters compiled the following summaries: SOUTH PLAINS: Producers were in need of moisture throughout the region. Bailey County producers received light scattered rainfall. Sub and topsoil moisture levels in Cochran County have improved with some rainfall received last week. Pasture, range and winter wheat needed rain. Producers continued preparations for spring planting. Floyd County producers needed moisture to help suffering dryland wheat crops. Moisture before planting cotton and corn would also help. Weather was warm and windy. Crop and range conditions were less than ideal in Hale County. Lubbock County experienced light rain of up to one-third of an inch. Isolated rain and hail occurred in the southeast portion of the county. Average minimum soil temperature at 8 inches was up to 56 degrees. Corn planting will begin soon. Field preparation and equipment maintenance was ongoing as planting time approaches. Producers remained concerned about the prospects of a profitable season in light of depressed prices. Scurry County received 0.75 inches. Temperatures were about average. Yoakum County had steady precipitation all day on April 8 and soil moisture increased. PANHANDLE: Conditions were dry and windy with temperatures near to slightly above average. There was high fire danger as soil moisture levels were mostly short. Producers were actively irrigating. Conditions remained dry in Collingsworth County. Winter wheat looked healthy but needed water. Wheat continued to head out at a rapid pace and was coming along nicely. Conditions in Deaf Smith County were almost perfect for producers. Preparations continued in fields for planting season with center pivots running on wheat fields. Pre-watering on corn fields began in preparation of planting. Wheat was still in a holding pattern with many dryland fields needing water. Irrigated wheat looked good. Silage chopping was expected to start soon. Irrigated triticale was growing well. Graze-out wheat was continually stocked with extra animals to graze down wheat to avoid any forage losses. Hutchinson County was in dire need of rain. Moisture to begin the 2016 crop season was short. Lipscomb County winter wheat was hurting from lack of moisture. Windy, dry weather continued to deplete soil moisture levels and cause wheat conditions to decline in Ochiltree County. Summer crop pre-plant activities continued. High winds prevented herbicide spraying. Cattle on range were still being supplemented. Randall County remained dry. There has been less than 1 inch of rain there since Jan. 1. Corn on pre-irrigated fields was expected to be the only planting done in the near future. Cotton and sorghum acres were not expected to be planted until some type of pre-plant moisture arrived. After 19 years performing stand-up comedy routines in seemingly endless tours on land in comedy clubs, at sea with Carnival Cruise Lines, overseas entertaining troops, and in concerts with such artists as George Strait, Brad Paisley and all four members of the famed Blue Collar Comedy Tour, Cowboy Bill Martin knows the exact date when he became an overnight sensation. Its Nov. 21, 2015. The watershed event when Martin says, I proved everyone wrong, is when his self-financed one-hour TV comedy special, Let the Laughter Roll, appeared on CMT. Martin along with comedy partner Chad Prather will be bringing their Kings of Cowtown tour to Plainview on Saturday, April 23. Their live show will be in the Fair Theater, 717 Plainview. Tickets are at $20 for general admission and $35 for VIP, and available on their official tour site, www.kingsofcowtown.com. VIP tickets include special close-up seating, a backstage Meet & Greet, pictures with the performers, a lanyard and signed commemorative poster. In addition to Plainview, their current tour will take them to such regional locations as Dalhart, Archer City, Pecos and Abilene. Plainviews performance is geared toward an adult audience that is 18 and older. According to Martin, he and Prather followed decidedly different career paths. Prather skyrocketed to stardom in 2015 with his hilarious and often-poignant rants in the truck on Facebook that garnered him millions of fans and helped him become a household name. Prather is host of a show on RIDETV, Its My Backyard, and has been named CMA Texas Personality of the Year. Martins rise to stardom took a bit longer. Success is a funny thing, Martin said in a telephone interview this week. His story began 19 years ago, in 1996 when at age 29, Martin suffered an unplanned and abrupt career change. I had been writing advertising since I had been in college, and was fairly successful at that, explains the fifth-generation Texan who was born and raised at Blue Mound, north of Fort Worth. Thats when I got fired. In fact everybody got canned on a Monday when the company sold to another firm. Thats when his grandmother, Audie Maam Maw Kempe, told him to go home, look in the mirror and ask yourself, are you happy? Instead of taking that advice immediately, the out-of-work divorced father when home and stayed curled in a fetal position for the next 5 1/2 month. I probably would have stayed that way for six months, but unemployment ran out in 5 1/2. After another verbal shove by a UPS driver who interrupted Martins pity party during a delivery to demand he find some dignity, Martin looked into the mirror and realized that he wasnt happy with the direction of his life. That same day, he called his Maam Maw, telling her of his dream to be an entertainer since age 5 while singing, The Old Rugged Cross. Even as he voiced concerns of losing his home, Maam Maw encouraged him to pursue his dream rather than face regrets years later. This advice came from a woman who was dying of lung cancer. Thats when I finally decided to become a comedian, Martin said. With a burn-the-boat mentality - Viking invaders would burn their boats when they landed in a new country so the warriors couldnt go home unless they were successful - Martin started honing his skills on open-mike nights at numerous comedy clubs. From there, he began touring with various top-name performers including George Strait, Brad Paisley, George Jones and Blue Collar Comedy Tour members Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Ron White and Larry the Cable Guy. Those appearances included both large and small venues, trips to the Middle East to entertain U.S. troops and shows on Carnival Cruise Lines. Ive been able to see the world and became successful enough to put four kids through college. Its been a really nice life without becoming a household name. Three years ago, Martin and his wife found a house they both really liked and made a down payment. We had 10 days to get out of the deal, and on day seven I told her that while we could continue to make a good living by playing cruise ships, we could take the down payment and instead invest in a special and see if we could get it on TV. Throwing luck to the wind, thats exactly what they did. Everybody said it couldnt be done, Martin said. They said there was no way we could write and produce our own special and get it on TV, but we proved them wrong by doing just that. The special aired Nov. 21, 2015, on CMT, and since then Martins career has skyrocketed. Nobody loves your career as much as you do, Martin explains. Nobody has the passion for it like you do. Thats why we just decided to go on and be our own person and left the chips fall as they may. And its been a heck of a ride during the past 19 years. Martin and comedy partner Chad Prather met four years ago and quickly learned they had similar interests. One of those is the Cowboys Who Care Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to providing financial support, smiles and free cowboy hats to kids with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. We spend many of our afternoons on tour visiting childrens wards in hospitals, Martin explains. Every kid wants to be a cowboy, and they all end up with huge smiles when we place their very own brand new Resistol on their heads. Martin promises that everyone attending the Kings of Cowboy concert will come out smiling as well. Its all family stories, but told to grownups, he explains. Only some 75 of the original 450 tickets remain to be sold in the 17th Annual Rainbow Room Truck Raffle, where some lucky winner will become the owner of a new white 2016 Chevrolet Silverado single cab half-ton pickup. Last year, Donna Kay Burnett of won a new 2015 Chevrolet Silverado, with David Garcia winning the year before. Tickets are $100 each and the drawing will be held on Wednesday, May 4, during the weekly noon luncheon meeting of the Plainview Lions Club at the Plainview Convention Center. They are available from either Rainbow Room board member or by calling Dr. Lindsie Mathis at 806-292-5375. The truck raffle provides the majority of annual funding for the Community Partners of the South Plains Rainbow Room, which is a vital resource for Child Protective Services caseworkers and the abused and neglected children they serve in a seven-county area. This year we worked with Bill Wells Chevrolet in Plainview to get the truck, explains Mathis who is in her third year as raffle chair. According to LindaGail Walker, Plainviews Rainbow Room at 113 E. Sixth St. is now in its 18th year, serving the counties of Briscoe, Castro, Floyd, Hale, Motley, Swisher and King. As she explains, when it becomes necessary to remove a child from their home, they have some very basic needs. Working with CPS caseworkers, Rainbow Room serves as a key resource to help meet those needs. Its downtown building, a gift from 2015 Plainview Man of the Year J.W. Hamby, includes conference rooms, kitchen, offices and a large amount of storage space for clothing, cleaning supplies and other necessities that can be given to foster families and children. Rainbow Room doesnt participate in determining whether or not a child in CPS custody is returned to their parents or placed in either foster care or relative care. If the child is placed in relative or foster care, Rainbow Room continues to play a supportive role. The role can be as simple as proving car safety seats, or childproof cabinet latches. At other times, it has been able to seek donors for such items as bunk beds so that children can live with their grandparents. Since placements can happen without much warning and preparation, Rainbow Room keeps a supply of baby ready-to-go bags on hand filled with age-appropriate supplies that can help sustain the child until they are settled. Older children will often be supplied with suitcases or bags, and given new clothing so they will not stand out among their peers. Rainbow Room appreciates the generous support of several local churches and civic groups, many giving stuffed bears and blankets to comfort children while being transported in police patrol units, items for its playroom, Christmas gift-wrapping parties and warm coats for children during wintertime. Rainbow Room board members include Elise Adamson, JuLea Bouma, Nelda Laney, Pam Shannon, Shanna Pritchard, Sherrie Wall, Barbara Warren, Brenda Jones, Gretchen Massingill, J.W. Hamby, Nicki Logan, Nicole Russell, Tori Marnell, Alicia Hernandez, Lindsie Mathis, RaeAnne King, Jalynna Blackwell, Laurie Hall, MyKaylie Campbell, Jimye Sadler, LindaGail Walker, Sherrie King, Tori Thrasher, Amy Miles, Doris Washington and Kelsey McMillian. April 15, 1946: George Evans is operating a used car lot at Seventh and Austin. He recently moved here from Amarillo. He formerly was employed here with Witt Pontiac. --Perry J. Leverett of Roddy & Levertt reports selling the highest priced cotton in his 21-year career. He sold a lot of 7/8 bright strict low cotton at 25.5 cents per pound. This was on basis of 27.5 cents for 15/16 middling. He started buying cotton in 1925. --Erection of a church building for St. Johns Methodist Church is near at hand, officials of the congregation report. They have purchased the school building at Westside for $1,500 and plan to salvage the materials for a structure at Fourth and Date. April 15, 1956: Formal dedication of the new First Christian Church of Plainview will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at 10th and Kokomo. The dedicatory address will be given by the Rev. Chester Crow, executive secretary, Texas Board of Christian Churches, Fort Worth. --The E.E. Hoot Mosley family has moved back to Plainview after an absence of about three years. Mosley is employed on the sales staff of Cooper Pontiac, the position he had when he left in 1953. They moved to Fort Worth and then Tulia where he operated the Buick agency for the past year. --Construction is now in progress on enclosing the American Legion Swimmer Pool with completion scheduled for opening day, May 30, reports Clarence Rogers, Legion commander. Cost of the structure will be over $26,000. April 15, 1966: The Plainview-Hale County Health Unit is still looking for a permanent director. Dr. Carl Weidenbach has been filling the position on a temporary basis, at half-pay, since November, after Dr. Joseph T. Marshall resigned to take a position with a North Carolina tuberculosis sanitarium. --Vincent Garza, who cooks breakfast every morning for his family, received a surprise Wednesday. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Vicente Garza, 1301 N. Cedar, he cracked a large egg and found a smaller egg, shell and all, inside. --Construction is under way west of Plainview along the bank of the Runningwater Draw on a 65-foot concrete tower that will serve as an emergency flow relief valve on the Canadian River aqueduct. According to Bureau of Reclamation engineers, any overflow from the aqueduct will be directed into the draw. April 15, 1986: Tanya Washington, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Earnest Washington, has been named outstanding freshman at Frank Phillips Junior College in Borger. --Scooter Billington and Vicki Falkenburg were named Best All-Around and Jerry Perez received the LaVerne Roach Award for sportsmanship and clean living at the Plain View yearbook presentation awards ceremony Monday night in the PHS auditorium. --The state highway departments new anti-litter campaign, Dont Mess With Texas, is drawing complaints from some Texans and tourists who claim the slogan is trashy. It makes Texans sound like a bunch of jerks, complains Karyl Simmons of Austin in a letter to the local newspaper. Compiled by Doug McDonough This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Treat yourself to what may be the juiciest plum on the spring TV tree: a spy thriller thats every bit as danger-stocked, sexy and visually stunning as a James Bond movie. The Night Manager, based on the 1993 John le Carre novel of the same name, is a stylish, suspenseful, thoroughly addictive cat-and-mouse game in which the spoils could impact the safety of the entire world. Best of all, the two men at the center hero and villain are played by British actors with magnetism to spare: Tom Hiddleston (Loki of Marvel movie fame) and Hugh Laurie (House). AMC begins unfurling the miniseries in six weekly parts at 9 tonight. If anyone has any doubts that Hiddleston, the latest name in the hat to play the next 007, is capable of filling those impressive shoes, theyll surely be erased by his portrayal of Jonathan Pine. Like Bond, Pine is both tough and silky smooth with a charisma no one, male or female, can resist. One of the best lines in the series has the female lead telling him in an accusatory voice: You come into our lives. Disrupt our balance. Everyones attracted to you. Who are you? When we first meet the former soldier, hes doing his best to stay under the radar and removed from the world as night manager of a luxury hotel in Cairo, Egypt. However, his efforts to help a damsel in distress whos staying there Sophie, the mistress of a wealthy Arab arms dealer who has been roughed up by her beau eventually lands him into the company of the most powerful seller of chemical weapons, Richard Roper (Laurie). The worst man in the world is how Sophie describes him. What starts the Pine-Roper ball rolling is Sophies decision to give Jonathan documents that could incriminate the treacherous dealer. Disregarding her warnings that Roper has ties to British intelligence, the night manager forwards the info to an intelligence officer he knows. The move proves deadly, and Jonathan is left angry and wracked with guilt. As such, hes ripe for an undercover job that intelligence officer Angela Burr (Olivia Colman, Broadchurch) entreats him to take: infiltrate the seemingly impenetrable world of the globe-trotting Roper and stop him. Its a role that Hiddleston, a self-described huge Bond fan, and lover of spy movies in general, fully embraced. What I found fascinating about Jonathan Pine in the novel and in this adaptation is there is a tension between a very calm exterior and a turbulent and chaotic interior, Hiddleston said at a recent press session. Le Carre describes him as a self-exiled creature of the night and a sailor without a destination. And Angela Burr compels him to make a commitment, lights a spark within him that impels him to act and to follow through on that commitment, which is to take down Richard Roper. Laurie said he loves le Carres work so much this novel in particular that when he learned the adaptation was in the works, I volunteered to basically contribute whatever I could, whether it was catering or anything else. Instead, he was cast as the fascinating Roper, whose charm, wealth and phony philanthropy has made him as popular as he is despicable. Laurie said playing him was a thrilling challenge. He described Roper as a man who has created a world for himself where he can operate unopposed, unchallenged. And yes, he has given way to the dark side in a very, very big way. The woman in his life the tall, willowy and simply stunning blonde Jed sees Roper as a safe harbor, a place to hide from the mess she already believes shes made of her young life. That changes when Pine enters their world, turns her head and compels her to see what sort of man her boyfriend really is. Marvelous Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki gives Jed an appealing sadness and vulnerability. While the novel takes place in South America, TVs Night Manager hops to a wide variety of rich locales from Morocco to Majorca to Switzerland, backdrops that add to the shows exotic feel. The story also is updated here, from the 90s setting of le Carres original to the present day. So, it is quite a thorough rework, but to me, it really does have the true spirit of the novel, said Susanne Bier, The Night Managers Oscar-winning director. Perhaps the most notable alteration was taking what executive producer Stephen Garrett called le Carres very male preserve, the world of spies, and making it more reflective of todays world. We needed a woman in a powerful position in this story, and so we suggested to le Carre, because it needed his stamp of approval, that we turn (intelligence officer) Burr into a woman, Garrett said. When the novelist approved the idea, Colman was the producers first choice. The fact that she would be extremely pregnant while shooting was a kind of cherry on the cake, Garrett added, to have not just a woman in that role as the moral center of this story, but a very pregnant woman in this very threatening world made it all the more exciting. Jeanne Jakles column appears Wednesdays and Sundays in mySA, and she blogs at Jakles Jacuzzi on mySA.com. Email her at jjakle@express-news.net. Very early in Barbershop: The Next Cut, an odd mood settles in. The mood is comic, but anxious. The barbershop is a special place, a place where life happens, but its not protected. So even while were laughing, were glancing at the door and wondering who or what awful thing will come through it. Its a special kind of movie that can find a tone broad enough to accommodate comedy and the possibility of tragedy. And the powerful suggestion here, the one that sinks in and will not leave, is that this tone captures something of the black experience in the inner city. Its a movie about a communitys resiliency, but also about parents having to worry about their children and about people dodging bullets on the way to work. So Barbershop: The Next Cut is a funny movie, but also a serious movie, and who knows? maybe an important one. Its very much about a place, the South Side of Chicago, and about a time, as in right now. In the barbershop, they talk about Obama, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and other issues that were in the news as recently as six months ago. This is a different barbershop from the one in the previous Barbershop movies. Once a male sanctuary, it is now a unisex place, or rather its two businesses in one. On one side, Calvin (Ice Cube) and his male employees, including Cedric the Entertainer as Eddie, take care of the male customers. And the other side, Angie (a brilliant Regina Hall) and her staff take care of the women. As a business, its about as real as the nightclub in Flashdance, offering full-time employment to eight people, despite only a steady trickle of customers. But as a movie location, its ideal. The characters are vivid, all in one place, and they keep talking. The fact that this time women are present expands the range of conversation. This time theres even the possibility of sexual tension, as when Draya (a hard-to-resist Nicki Minaj) starts eyeing one her married co-workers (Common). Barbershop: The Next Cut *** Quick take: Comedy with a serious undercurrent See More Collapse The length of the scenes and the expansiveness of the conversations in The Next Cut can almost feel clumsy, especially if were used to the clipped brevity of scenes in most modern movies. But if this is clumsy, its the clumsiness of sincerity and authenticity. In one scene, they argue about whether 2016 this is the best time (so far) to be black in America, and the various sides of the issue are interesting to hear and funny, too. The conclusion: It probably is the best time, unless youre Bill Cosby. Meanwhile, everything going on outside the barbershop isnt funny at all. There are gang killings every day, and in one case, schedules have to be arranged so that rival gang members dont show up for haircuts at the same time. In one scene, (almost) everyone drops to the floor because there are gunshots on the street. The one who stays upright is Eddie, who says it would take him too long to get back up. Though Kenya Barris and Tracy Olivers screenplay skillfully juggles a number of characters and plotlines, the tension in Calvins life is at the center. He has a teenage son who is having trouble in school, and though he doesnt know for sure, he suspects (accurately) that he is about to join a gang. Fed up, Calvin wants to open a shop in a safer neighborhood and enroll his son in a new school. His mixed feelings form the question at the movie, whether its better to stay and fight or run to safety. Theres no good or satisfying answer to that question, which means that there can be no easy resolution for Barbershop: The Next Cut. By the time its over, the characters may have decided on their best course, but the audience hasnt decided at all. The audience isnt sure. That hint of unease, that contrary feeling that pulls from the general mood, is a product of the movies truthfulness and an emblem of its quality. We see a mans dilemma and frustration, passionately played by Ice Cube, but we dont know what he should do. So we leave the theater thinking about him, and wondering about everybody else in the same position. Running time: 112 minutes Rhodes Middle School students and members of the San Antonio community gathered Wednesday to challenge the policing on campus just two weeks after video surfaced of a district police officer slamming a 12-year-old student to the ground. The demonstrators met to talk about what they call "over policing" at campus, more than two weeks after Janissa Valdez was body slammed by SAISD officer Joshua Kehm. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Clarence William Hardcore Wright was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for shooting an acquaintance to death at his front door in 2013. A jury had found Wright guilty of murder Monday. Jeremiah Gomez, 35, was shot behind the ear Oct. 19, 2013, after he opened the door to his apartment in the 200 block of Deerwood Drive on the Northeast Side. Wright, 25, opted to have his punishment set by state District Judge Jefferson Moore, instead of the jury. Wright was indicted for murder in another case, and prosecutors at his sentencing hearing this week presented testimony about the similar circumstances of that killing. He had been jailed for about a year before being linked to the slaying of Robert Rodney Moreno, 22, who was shot on May 4, 2013, after he opened his front door on North Josephine Tobin Drive, near Woodlawn Lake, authorities have said. The day after Moreno died, his stepfather, Larry Zancketti, told the Express-News that the luxury SUVs, muscle cars and other high-end vehicles that cycled through the driveway as a result of Morenos trading on Craigslist might have made him a target. After a brief struggle, the gunman shot Moreno once in the head before fleeing with two other men, witnesses in the home told police. In closing arguments Thursday, the defense sought to portray Gomez as a methamphetamine user who provoked Wright, who acted under the influence of sudden passion, lead defense attorney Bob Hicks said. He reminded the judge that in a recorded phone call played last week for the jury, his client could be heard saying that he did not mean to kill Gomez. He said, I didnt go there with murder on my mind, Hicks recalled. In her closing arguments, prosecutor Michelle Martin said Wright deserved life in prison because he ambushed Gomez in his own home. This defendant is leaving a trail of victims throughout our community, Martin told the judge. The court has the responsibility in sentencing so he doesnt do this again, that no one gets that fatal knock on that door. Natalie Lopez, who was Lopezs common law wife and found out two months after he was killed that she was carrying his twins, wept uncontrollably as she told Wright, You took away their father. Morenos mother, Florinda Trejo, testified Wednesday that seeing her son in the hospital after the shooting was horrible and said defense attorneys statements implying that Moreno was a drug user had been refuted by autopsy testimony. She said her son made mistakes in his life, but none of it defined him. He was loved by so many, she said through tears, adding that her sons organ donations touched eight lives in San Antonio. Im proud to say that Robert Moreno was my son. Wright will have to serve at least 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. ezavala@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A New Mexico paramedic allegedly stole a debit card from a man who received treatment from emergency personnel and spent more than $11,000 of the man's money after he died, according to news reports. RELATED: Police: Naked New Mexico woman used heroin, pills and drank whiskey before high-speed chase Michael John Harcharik, 31, was arrested by Sante Fe police on Monday on charges of credit card theft and fraudulent use of a credit card, The Associated Press reported. Harcharik allegedly stole the card from Allan Pearson when paramedics found Pearson unresponsive in his home on March 25, according to the Associated Press. RELATED: New Mexico man caught in terrible blond wig accused of threatening to kill wife, children Pearson's daughter noted multiple transactions on her father's bank account after he died. Among the transactions were cash withdrawals and purchases for a riding lawn mower, car parts, boots and dog food, the Associated Press reported. "He was just having the time of his life, it looked like," Rebecca Pearson told The Associated Press about Harcharik. "He took over half of what was in there, and he would've taken it all, obviously, had they [police] not frozen the account on Friday morning." RELATED: Police: Iowa man masturbated on Megabus for 3 hours because he thought 'terrified' victim enjoyed it Harcharik has been with the Santa Fe Fire Department since 2009, according to the news outlet. Before that, he worked at the Santa Fe County jail. The 31-year-old was released from the jail Tuesday on a $20,000 bond, according to online jail records. jfechter@mySA.com Twitter: @JFreports This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate This week has been a hail-ish one for the state as violent storms producing pellets of ice pummeled regions throughout the state. The storms have brought a plethora of social media posts, including one out of Plano claiming the area had experienced giant, Texas sized hail. The Facebook photo, posted Tuesday and shared more than 10,000 times since, shows a supposed hail stone that looks bigger than a softball in a womans hand. RELATED: Hundreds of luxury cars damaged at BMW of San Antonio by hail storms Texas sized hail from last nights storm. This was in Plano, Facebook user Rhonda Thompson Grisak shared on April 12. Apparently, the ferocity of the storms led some gullible users to believe the unbelievable in the posts comment thread. Thats manslaughter sized hail, one user added. RELATED: San Antonio mocks April storms, hail damage with memes Jason Dunn, a National Weather Service meteorologist for the North Texas region, said he does not believe the photo is hail produced by the recent weather. Unfortunately in the age of social mediamany pictures of fake hail stones and tornadoes show up on the web, he said in an email to mySA.com. In this casethe ice looks a little smooth to be a hail stone. It is also much larger than most of the pictures that we have seen. The largest hail the Plano area has seen measured about 4 inches, he added. That same size was reported in San Antonio, too, where the storms damaged thousands of homes, vehicles and businesses. A reverse Google image search pins the image shared by Grisak to a 2012 post on a website run by North Carolinian meteorologist Brad Panovich, titled Anatomy of a Fake Hail Picture. RELATED: North Star Mall, H-E-B, Magic Time Machine among businesses damaged by hail in San Antonio According to the website, a woman named Ashley Parker-Brown found the ball of ice on a sidewalk in Wichita, Kan. When Parker-Brown shared it on the Facebook page of local news station, KWCH 12, the questions and internet attention began, prompting Panovich to investigate. He eventually found the ice balls origin and it wasnt from a Texas sky or a Kansas one. Thanks to the hard work and question asking by Ashley she figured out who made this ball of ice and placed it on the sidewalk as a joke, he updated his readers. A fellow student bragged about making the ice ball from ice in the training room on campus. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has information on the largest hail stone ever recorded in the United States. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, Vivian, S.D. was pelleted by an 8-inch, 2-pound stone on July 23, 2010. mmendoza@mysa.com Twitter: @MaddySkye Priscilla Pond Flawn, whose dedication to improving early childhood education ranked second only to her love of family, died Tuesday in Austin. Flawn, 90, was known as the first lady of the University of Texas campuses in Austin and San Antonio during three separate tenures as university president by husband Peter Flawn. She distinguished herself professionally in the arena of prekindergarten instruction by training teachers and working on curriculum initiatives with groups like the Austin Association for the Education of Young Children, which she helped found, and the Austin Child Care Council. Pris Flawn, as she was called, remained active until hospitalized from an April 7 stroke. Friends and family recalled her positive outlook, and her loving and lasting matrimonial partnership. She was always upbeat and looked on the bright side, said Ann Biggs, 82, of San Antonio, whose late husband, Glenn, served on the committee that in 1973 selected Peter Flawn to lead the still-nascent UTSA. More Information Priscilla Pond Flawn Born: March 20, 1926, Sarasota, Florida. Died: April 12, 2016, Austin, Texas. Preceded by: Daughter Laura Flawn. Survived by: Husband Peter Flawn, daughter Tyrrell Flawn, four grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. Services: Celebration of life at 2 p.m. Saturday at Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, 3201 Windsor Road, Austin. See More Collapse They each gave their all for each other, Biggs said of the Flawns, whose 70th wedding anniversary would have been June 28. The future couple met at Oberlin College in Ohio in 1942, where she studied English and music and he earned a degree in geology. They had two daughters, but a 2001 car accident claimed the life of the younger, Laura Flawn, an orthopedic surgeon in Austin. When the federal Head Start program launched in 1965, Priscilla Flawn instructed teachers for the new educational initiative for low-income pre-schoolers. She also authored books on the importance of play in child development and led a church school in Austin for 14 years. She felt there was an environment that would nurture the child, if done right, so they could thrive in education and in life, recalled daughter Tyrrell Flawn, 65. She called her parents a magnificent team, joking, They always worked together and neither my sister or I would ever count on being able to work one against the other. Peter Flawn, 90, survives his wife. Getting UTSA up and running was a labor of love, he said. At that time, UTSA was just sort of a vague concept. Our job was to make it real, Flawn recalled. After that challenge, he served as president of UT Austin from 1979-85 and 1997-98. Priscilla Flawn had immersed herself in San Antonio, building public support for the new school by leading friends and local officials on tours of the future campus. By 1977, when they returned to Austin, Peter Flawn recalled, We had a beautiful 600-acre campus, a faculty of 300 and 8,800 students, and that was the beginning of UTSA. zeke@express-news.net Growing up during the Great Depression, Maria del Carmen Ruiz de Aguilar often did without. She and her siblings quit going to school because they didnt have any shoes, and they were ashamed, her daughter Amparo Aguilar said. They were also really concerned about food all the time, an experience Aguilar carried into adulthood. We all think thats one of the reasons why they always wanted to make sure there was plenty in the house when raising their children, Amparo Aguilar said. They never pinched pennies on food, ever. Aguilar died April 5 at 96. A middle child among six, Aguilar and her mother did what they could to earn money after her father became ill, selling paper flowers they made for parade floats and, after her father died, moving to Von Ormy to develop some acreage her mother had inherited. They cleared it out, cleaned it up, made it into a recreational park, Amparo Aguilar said. She became her mothers right hand. More Information Maria del Carmen Ruiz de Aguilar Born: May 21, 1919, San Antonio Died: April 5, 2016, Von Ormy Preceded by: Husband Manuel Aguilar Elizondo; daughters Nancy Ingles and Carmen Proscelle; and parents Ernesto and Teodora Ovalle Ruiz. Survived by: Sons Enrique Aguilar and Mario Aguilar; daughter Amparo Aguilar; 13 grandchildren; numerous great-grandchildren. Services: Funeral Mass was April 8. See More Collapse Charging families a fee to swim and picnic the Medina River ran through the property the park drew large crowds on holidays such as Easter. Aguilar was living in downtown San Antonio, working at an aircraft factory, when she met her future husband an entrepreneur who owned his own taxi company and small amusement area that catered to soldiers on the near West Side. The couple worked in the business together after marrying in the mid-1940s, selling it and moving to her husbands ranch in Coahuila, Mexico, after World War II. Although at first they left their children in San Antonio to attend school, Aguilar later returned to the U.S. to move the family to Von Ormy after one of her daughters was hit by a car. Even so, they made frequent trips to Mexico. Every vacation, Christmas, summer, wed spend at the ranch working, Amparo Aguilar recalled. We learned to build roofs and milk goats herd cattle; we were riding horses since we were 4. Living without electricity or indoor plumbing, Aguilar took care of her five children and often cooked for the ranch hands her husband hired to help out. Shed feed 13 or 14 people on those days grind her own corn for tortillas, Amparo Aguilar said. She was used to working; she didnt like sitting around. After her husband died in 1986, Aguilar tried to keep up with the ranch, but was unable to take care it after one of her daughters died, leaving her with four young grandchildren to raise. She was already in her 60s and she took on a new family, Amparo Aguilar said. mheidbrink@express-news.net PHILADELPHIA The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) announced the opening of the new Wawa Volunteer Center, funded by a $5 million philanthropic gift from The Wawa Foundation. During the April 12 press conference, the hospitals existing volunteer program, which had 500 volunteers deliver more than 30,000 service hours in 2015, was officially renamed the Wawa Volunteer Program. The event featured opening remarks by CHOP and Wawa executives, as well as a grateful patient family. CHOP also awarded Steve Wenzel, a Wawa employee and 25-year hospital volunteer, its Outstanding Volunteer Award. Chris Gheysens, president and CEO of Wawa, commented: Wawas purpose has always been to go beyond filling customers orders to fulfilling lives every day, and the Wawa Volunteer Program at CHOP is a perfect example of that. We truly believe that each of our associates, and now each of the Wawa volunteers at CHOP, plays a special role in improving the lives of the people in our region, and to be able to give back to children and families in this way is something were excited to be a part of, he said. CHOP also dedicated a newly constructed, 1,500-square-foot Wawa Volunteer Center in its Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care. Future plans made possible by The Wawa Foundations $5 million gift include multiple Wawa Coffee & Care Carts; an expanded CHOP hospitality and wayfinding corps; and additional volunteer programs at CHOP Care Network locations throughout the region. Today, Wawa is also celebrating Wawa Day, marking the companys 52nd anniversary in retail. Wawa is celebrating the occasion by offering customers free coffee of any size, chain-wide, all day. Throughout the day, Wawa expects to give away more than 1.7 million free cups of any-size coffee to customers at its more than 720 stores across its six-state operating area. In April 1964, Wawa entered the retail business and opened its first convenience store. In April 2014, Wawa celebrated its 50th anniversary in convenience retailing and marked the milestone with the launch of The Wawa Foundation, a 501c (3) nonprofit organization founded to encompass Wawa's charitable giving. Wawa and The Wawa Foundation are committed to donating $50 million to causes supporting health, hunger and every day heroes by 2018. In 2015, Wawa and The Wawa Foundation contributions of more than $12 million were made, and $22 million in contributions have been made since the inception of The Wawa Foundation. This year, Wawa's April 14 Wawa Day celebration gives the company the chance to toast the community, while celebrating its 52nd anniversary in retail and the second anniversary of The Wawa Foundation. "During the anniversary week of our entrance into retail, Wawa Day provides us with a chance to connect with and honor the millions of customers who have been so integral to Wawa's growth over the past 52 years," Gheysens said. Yves here. Lambert long ago identified the solution that neoliberal answer to social safety nets: Go die. So if you get to be old, you must either be adequately well off or suffer the consequences of not having been mercenary or competitive enough. By David Bacon, a journalist and photographer covering labor, immigration, and the impact of the global economy on workers. For this article, he received a Journalists in Aging Fellowship, a program of New America Media and the Gerontological Society of America, sponsored by The Scan Foundation. Originally published at Dollars & Sense Is there a human right to age in dignity? Some countries think so. Unfortunately, the United States isnt one of them. The Organization of American States (OAS) recently adopted the first international convention on the human rights of older people (though the United States did not endorse it). The Organization of African Unity (OAU) is debating its own convention, and is expected to adopt it next year. It is ironic that the worlds poorer countries, presumably those with the fewest resources to deal with aging, are in the vanguard of establishing this set of rights. Meanwhile, the richest countries with the most resources, including the United States and members of the European Union, are arguing against applying a human-rights framework to aging. In part, their contrarian stance reflects the dominance of market ideology. In a corporate economy, people lose their social importance and position when they are not working and producing value. In the United States, the resulting set of priorities has a devastating impact on older people. While some countries are creating a new definition of human rights to include aging, and passing conventions that incorporate it, millions of seniors in the United States live in very vulnerable and precarious conditions, which are violations of their human rights as viewed in this context. In another 15 years, 18% of the people in the United States will be over 65 years old. Though their numbers may be increasing, however, their security is not. In fact, the future of the nations elders is growing ever more precarious. According to a recent study, Senior Poverty in America, by Rebecca Vallas, director of policy in the Poverty to Prosperity Program at the Center for American Progress, 10% of seniors (4.6 million people) fall below this countrys official poverty line. In 1966 it was 29%. That sounds like progress. Vallas attributes the decline mostly to Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs established during this period. But this appearance of progress, she says, doesnt account for the desperate situation of millions of seniors today. The programs have helped people, but their success at lowering poverty among some seniors masks the desperate situation of millions of others. The official poverty line is too low, has grown increasingly out of whack over the years from the real cost of living, and uses a faulty method (being originally defined as three times the basic food budget) that does not correspond to current spending patterns for low-income people. The official poverty line defines poverty for a single person as an income less than $11,770, and for a couple, $15,930 (for Alaska and Hawaii its slightly higher). Rent alone absorbs a huge portion of this. Even seniors at 125% of the poverty line spend more than three quarters of their income on rent, Vallas found$11,034 for singles, and $14,934 for a couple. Its hard to imagine finding an apartment in many urban areas with rent that low. According to Vallas, seniors across the board spend 14% of their income on medical costs. Adding that to rent, poor seniors are left with about 10% of their income for food, bus fares, and everything else. Its no wonder that so many people in line at county food banks are old. Even an income of twice the official poverty line is hardly enough to make ends meet, and the number of seniors under this line is much greater32% of those over 65 and 40% of those over 75. A better criterion for poverty is the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). The U.S. Census Bureau created this yardstick in response to criticism that the official poverty line grossly underestimates poverty (see Jeannette Wicks-Lim, Undercounting the Poor, Dollars & Sense, May/June 2013). The SPM is based on real-life expenditures for basic necessities like food, housing, clothing and utilities. It varies from place to place and isnt meant to qualify or disqualify people for government programs. Vallas found that about 15% of seniors fall below this line, and 45% are economically vulnerablebelow twice the SPM. Poverty is no more evenly distributed among seniors than it is among people in general in the United States. Nearly 12% of older women (3.1 million) live below the official poverty line (vs. 7% of men), and 17% live below the SPM (vs. 12% of men), according to a 2015 Kaiser Family Foundation report. The typical woman suffers an earnings loss of $431,000 over the course of a 40-year career due to the gender wage gap, Vallas says. The gap is even larger for women of color. Black and Hispanic seniors are poorer in general19% and 18% respectively are under the official poverty line, and 22% and 28% are under the SPM. The income of seniors is overwhelmingly dependent on Social Security. The number of seniors who receive pensions from employers is declining rapidly, as corporations divest themselves of the defined benefit plans that, for an earlier generation, pegged payments to pre-retirement earnings for an earlier generation. Today, the average Social Security benefit is just over $16,000 per yearnot far above even the official poverty line. For nearly two-thirds of seniors, it is their main source of income, and for one-third it is their only income, Vallas notes. Without it, half of all seniors would fall below the SPM. The official poverty statistics do not even account for people who have been left out of the Social Security system entirely. Many workers do not make contributions, including workers in the informal economy, like day laborers. Two million seniors get Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, which are based on low income rather than contributions made while they were working. But the maximum is $8,796 per year, well below the official poverty line. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), for nearly three-fifths of recipients, SSI is their only source of income. Getting left out of the safety net has devastating consequences. As of 2010, roughly 45,000 adults over age 65 were homeless, according to Vallas, who projects that that this figure will increase by 33% by 2020 and more than double by 2050. The homeless population is getting older as well. The median age of single homeless adults was 35 in 1990, and 50 in 2010. Immigration status is an even greater barrier to benefits. According to the Migration Policy Institute, about five million immigrants 65 and over make up 12% of the total U.S. immigrant population. For those who havent become citizens, the safety net has huge holes. Most lawful permanent residents (LPRs) cant receive SSI or food stamps (SNAP) for their first five years in the United States, although they can collect Social Security if theyve managed to accumulate any qualifying earnings. People with no legal immigration status (an estimated eleven million people) cant even apply for a Social Security card. In order to work they have to give an employer a Social Security number theyve invented or that belongs to someone else. Payments are deducted from their paychecks, but these workers never become eligible for the benefits the contributions are supposed to provide. The Social Security Administration estimated in 2010 that 3.1 million undocumented people were paying about $13 billion per year in contributions into the benefit fund. Undocumented recipients, mostly people who received Social Security numbers before the system was tightened, received only $1 billion per year in payments. Stephen Goss, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration, told VICE News in 2014 that that surplus of payments versus benefits had totaled more than $100 billion over the previous decade. Excluded undocumented immigrants, however, get old like everyone else. Without Social Security, they have to find some other way to surviveprimarily by continuing to work or relying on family. According to Lia Daichman, president of the Argentina chapter of the International Longevity Alliance, and the ILAs representative at the United Nations, governments should guarantee that all people have a non-contributory pension, to be able to live without the support of younger people. Her own country, Argentina, began paying nearly every old person a pension in 2003, with medical and social benefits, even those who made no contributions. This is good for women, she emphasizes, because we often work in the home and werent able to contribute, or because we worked in the informal economy. Even Nepal, one of the worlds poorest countries, has instituted a non-contributory pension of 700 rupees a month. Daichman doesnt view elders as needy people asking for charity. People have a right to income and a dignified life, she asserts. They worked all their lives for it. This perspective underlies her work trying to convince the international community to codify this right. The convention adopted by the OAS is a step towards the goal, she believes, in part because it will cover such a large area. In Latin America and the Caribbean, nearly 71 million people were older than 60 in 2015; by 2030 that figure will increase by over 70%, to 121 million people, according to a 2015 United Nations study of the aging of the world population. Adopting new definitions and conventions on human rights (especially economic ones), even if they are not immediately implemented, helps to set a goala vision of how we want the world to work. Passing human rights treaties is also an important step in establishing rights in international law. The OAS convention enumerates 27 specific rights, with many sub-categories, from the right to independence, political participation, and freedom from violence to the right to a healthy environment. Some of the key rights it asserts are economic. Older people, it says, have the right to social security to protect them so that they can live in dignity, and governments should provide income to ensure a dignified life for older persons. Seniors also have the right to dignified and decent work with benefits, labor and union rights, and pay equal to all other workers. Older people have the right to healthcare, housing, education and to participate in the cultural and artistic life of the community, and to enjoy the benefits of scientific and technological progress. The U.S. government does not recognize many of these rights, howeverto housing, income, education, and healthcare, for instance. In this country these are all commodities, bought and sold on the market. Yet Social Security itself is a product of an earlier era in U.S. political life, in which President Franklin Roosevelt postulated that all people had the right to freedom from want. Today a cost/benefit analysis is the more likely frameworkweighing the need to ensure a dignified life for seniors against the cost of providing it. Social welfare programs in the United States are the product of popular struggle against the inherent dynamic of a market economy to demand as high a rate of profit as possible. Old people, children, the disabled, and others who dont immediately produce profit are a social cost, and vulnerable in a system like this. Popular struggle is necessary to demand their needs be met. When popular movements weaken, the safety net then starts getting pulled apart. U.S. opposition to a human rights treaty for the aged is based not on a lack of morality, uncaring politics, or bad intentions, but on the way the system functions. In declining to endorse the OAS convention on aging, the U.S. government inserted a note declaring: The United States has consistently objected to the negotiation of new legally binding instruments on the rights of older persons. We do not believe a convention is necessary to ensure that the human rights of older persons are protected. The resources of the OAS and of its member states should be used to identify practical steps that governments in the Americas might adopt to combat discrimination against older persons. In other words, instead of having to abide by a binding agreement, each country should be free to do as it chooses. As radical as they might sound to U.S. ears, these economic rights dont even test the limits of the ways a globalized economy now affects the aged. Enormous movements of people, for instance, fleeing war and poverty, have led to the separation of families. UN conventions, and almost all countries, recognize the right to migrate because of war and persecution. Should this be expanded to recognize a right of old people to reunite with their families, if theyre separated by war or previous migration? Should the United States recognize the right of a migrant in Californias Central Valley, for instance, after a lifetime working in the fields, to travel home to Mexico, and then return to their family putting down roots in Fresno? Of course it should, says Susan Somers, president of the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse. All we need is a little political will. But get it into a convention? Thats a hard road, because of every nations immigration laws. Were not trying to force countries to change their culture or ways of life. But when they come into conflict with harm, culture and tradition are no excuse. A proposed U.N. convention has been stalled over these disagreements, and Daichman and Somers say opposition is coming from the United States, Australia, Israel, and the European Union. They are really trying to push us back, Somers fumes. They think its going to cost them something, and that older people arent deserving. Yet the budget item for treaties is so small compared to peace keeping and the Security Councilalmost nothing. A growing and vocal constituency is not simply waiting for wealthy nations to come around, however. Among Asian countries, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, and even Myanmar have made statements about the human rights of older people. Human rights are at the core of everything, Daichman says. The rights of people getting old should be considered human rights because theyre human beings. By Bill Black, the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One and an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Originally published at New Economic Perspectives This is the second part of my series on how Hillary and Bill Clinton and Paul Krugman have pivoted in response to Bernie Sanders series of electoral wins and are racing hard right on finance and crime. In my first column I wore my criminology hat to explain how Bill was disinterring outrageous (false and racist) positions that Hillary and he had once championed. This was all the more bizarre because Hillary and Bill had recently repudiated those positions. In the mid-1990s, Hillary and Bill sought to spread a moral panic about subhuman black super predators in order to secure passage of the crime bill that led to mass incarceration and then to maintain the 100-to-one disparity in sentencing for crack v. powder cocaine once it was known that the scientifically baseless sentencing disparity was leading to a dramatic rise in the incarceration of blacks and Latinos. I also deplored Bills false claim that Black Lives Matter protesters were defending those who murdered black children. In this second column I provide context essential to understanding Krugmans race to the right on finance. Readers are unlikely to understand how ultra-right wing the economic policies were of the Clinton administration. Bill Clinton and Al Gore were two of the most powerful leaders of the New Democrats a group of Democrats determined to move the party strongly to the right on economics, budget, national security, regulation, and crime. The New Democrats policy apparatus was funded overwhelmingly by Wall Street but its ideological support came from economists who were liberal on some social issues. The Clintons and Gore delivered for Wall Street by embracing the three des deregulation, desupervision, and de facto decriminalization that encouraged and allowed twin bubble to rapidly expand. The dot com bubble was the first bubble to burst. The housing bubble burst in late 2006, leading to the financial crises of 2008 and the Great Recession that began in 2007. I discuss two articles illustrating how ultra-right the liberal economists of the Clinton-era were in shilling for the pro-corporation policies championed by the New Democrats. Both articles were published in Fortune in spring 1999 roughly one year before the peak of dot com bubble. In that era, the magazine was proudly pro plutocrat. The tone of economist that authored the article was one of pandering to the plutocrats prejudices. It is important to understand the intersection of the economic and political contexts in spring 1999 in the United States. Clinton took the extraordinary step in 1996 of nominating Alan Greenspan to continue to run the Fed. Greenspan was an Ayn Rand acolyte originally appointed to run the Fed by President Reagan. Greenspan was infamous as a supporter of Charles Keating, the most notorious fraud of the savings and loan debacle. All of Greenspans praise of Keatings operations and predictions of success for Lincoln S&L proved catastrophically wrong. Greenspan had long led an unholy war against Glass-Steagall, seeking to eviscerate through dozens of rule changes and interpretations designed to destroy its protections. Greenspan was also hostile to using the Feds unique statutory authority under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act of 1994 (HOEPA) to prohibit all lenders, including what Krugman now stresses were shadow firms not normally subject to federal regulation that specialized in making predatory and fraudulent liars loans. Greenspan refused to use HOEPA to stop the predatory and fraudulent lending even as it grew massively. Greenspans successor Ben Bernanke (another Republican who would be appointed by President Obama to continue to run the Fed after the financial crisis made indisputable his regulatory failures) also refused to use HOEPA to protect the American people from these predatory and fraudulent loans. He finally used the HOEPA authority to adopt a rule banning liars loans only in May 2008 roughly a year since the secondary market had died and liars loans had virtually ceased. Even then, he delayed the effective date of the rule until November 2009, lest he inconvenience any active fraudulent and predatory lender. The Clinton administration had already shown its intense hostility to financial regulation at the SEC, working with Republicans to block key reform efforts by SEC Chair Arthur Levitt. Beginning in 1998 and continuing in spring 1999 the administration successfully blocked the efforts of Brooksley Born to protect the global economy from coming problems involving financial derivatives and later in 1999 passed an act that forbade any future regulator from providing such protection. The Clinton administration was working with the most conservative Republicans in Congress to effectively repeal the Glass-Steagall Act. In 1999, Citigroup and Travelers Insurance agreed to the largest merger in financial history in open defiance of the Glass-Steagall Act in order to successfully extort Congress to repeal the Act. Robert Rubin, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, the government leader in destroying Glass-Steagall, announced that he was stepping down as Clintons Treasury Secretary. He promptly joined Citigroup. By 1999, even before the effective statutory repeal of Glass-Steagall, the banks that were first to take advantage of Greenspans evisceration of Glass-Steagall and began to trade securities were already suffering severe losses. Liberal economists were the critical supporters of the Clinton administrations destruction of effective financial regulation. Part of this effort was deregulation, but desupervision was its even more destructive handmaiden. I have taken key excerpts from one of these economists to illustrate how far right wing they were. The First Article The author of the first article (April 26, 1999) chose a deliberately provocative title. Want Growth? Speak English THAT CERTAIN JE NE SAIS QUOI OF LES ANGLOPHONES. The article made the triumphal assertion that speaking English was a key to economic growth. The economist ran through major English-speaking nations and declared them great successes. Ireland had the highest growth rate. There is Ireland, the recently dubbed Celtic tiger, growing at an amazing 8% rate for the past five years. It should be clear that the economist was weak on bubbles. He described the U.S. growth rate (largely a product of the dot com bubble) with the same term he used for Ireland (amazing). Irelands property bubble would hyper-inflate (relative to its GDP) to twice the size of the U.S. residential real estate bubble. The economist, however, saw massive growth when he observed (but did not recognize) disastrous bubbles. The economist contrasted the great success of English-speaking nations with others. Latin Americans who thought they had put their past behind them are watching with horror as financial crisis strikes once again. The economist did not mention that Latin Americans thought they had put their past behind them because U.S. economists had assured them that with their adoption of the mantra of English-speaking economists Washington Consensus of hard right economic policies their low-growth pasts were behind them. Instead, right wing economics championed by English-speakers in the form of the Washington Consensus produced one financial crisis after another throughout Latin America. Even as China was emerging as the growth champion (and before that growth became dependent on bubbles, the economist pronounced English as the explanation for the national differences in growth rates. What do the countries that have managed to remain prosperous while the world suffers have in common? Well, the answer is plain to the naked eyeor make that the naked ear. Yes, the common denominator of the countries that have done best in this age of dashed expectations is that they are the countries where English is spoken. The Economists Heroes: Alan Greenspan, Larry Summers, Margaret Thatcher & M. Friedman The economist was only getting started with his Anglo-Saxon triumphalism. He and his colleagues made several explanations for the supposed triumph. First, theres the Alan Greenspan theoryor is it the Larry Summers theory? Economic policy in English-speaking economies tends to be run by smart economists with one foot in the academic world, who therefore make better decisions than the doctrinaire mandarins who run ministries of finance. And in a world where the rules have suddenly changed, the story goes, clever men and women who went to MIT are better able to adapt than bureaucrats whose only expertise is in office politics. A slight variant is the Margaret Thatcher theory. In the 1980s there was an ideological groundswell in the English-speaking world in favor of markets and against government intervention; perhaps the rest of the advanced world missed the tide because it couldnt read Milton Friedman in the original. One particular point that a friend made to me is that e-mail and the Internet put people who use nonalphabetic writing, like the Japanese, at a particular disadvantage. In 1999, well after the collapse of its twin bubbles, Japan was the second-largest economy in the world and China was already growing at such a high rate and so persistently that it would soon become the second-largest economy. If using a non-alphabetic language is a critical restraint on growth, then the Chinese and Japanese must be far better at economics than are English-speakers since they have prospered so greatly while carrying the equivalent of thirty pounds of non-alphabetic lead in their saddles. But the economist missed the logical flaw in his friends speculation. The economists speculation that English-speaking nations had much faster growth because they put exceptionally brilliant economists like Greenspan, Summers (both appointees of Bill Clinton), and the economist authoring the column in charge of economic policy is revealing and humorous. It is hardly surprising that unsurpassable arrogance and Anglo-Saxon triumphalism became fellow travelers. Similarly, it will surprise no one that an elite economist would champion the idea that the special brilliance of the author and a few of his fellow elite economists explained the unique success of the Anglo-Saxon nations. While MIT economists, Greenspan, and Summers are so brilliant that they explain Americas high growth, regulators and government officials are fools whose only expertise is in office politics. Fortunately, America places economic policy in the hands of Greenspan, Summers, and MIT economists and removes all authority from the inept bureaucrats. But what was most wondrous from the self-described liberal economist was his ode to Margaret Thatcher and Milton Friedman as a likely explanation for (asserted) Anglo-Saxon superiority. What the economists never even considered was that the relatively high U.S. growth rates they were considering in 1999 could be the product of the inflating dot com and real estate bubbles. The Second Article The second column by this economist appeared in Fortune on May 24, 1999 under the title The Ascent of E-Man R.I.P.: THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT. The economist again sought a provocative opening. I grew up in a planned economy. [T]hose who controlled the economys commanding heights, its key industries, were administrators rather than entrepreneurs, conformists who were valued less for their productivity than for their loyalty, whose career advancement depended on their political skill. For ordinary workers, the system had some benefits: It was hard to get ahead, but once you had a good job, your life was secure. Still, the economy was often appallingly inefficient and consistently unresponsive to consumer needs. No, I am not an immigrant from Eastern Europe. Im talking about the U.S. economy of the 50s and 60s, when General Motors was the very model of a modern major company. In those days progressive thinkers like John Kenneth Galbraith used to ridicule economists who still believed what they had learned from Paul Samuelsons textbook, which was that free markets could be counted on to match supply and demand. After all, business itself was clearly moving away from markets and toward planning. By contrast, in todays cutting-edge e-businesses (see Cover Stories), the company often ownsor rather, rentslittle but brainpower. The villain in the piece is Galbraith because he is a progressive thinker. The CEOs of big corporations are the man in the gray flannel suit too bland to be evil or even worthy of blame. The old-style CEOs who built firms like GM are dismissed with the economists classic insult as business bureaucrats. The hero of the piece is the entrepreneur. (The author channels Ayn Rand and the most anti-governmental economists.) The ultimate hero for the author was the CEO of one of the dot com firm staffed with geniuses. Ordinary Workers Note the non-persons in his tale the ordinary workers. They rate only two sentences. There is no sense that they are important to the economy or even the success of the firm. Instead, there is the muted recognition that the old system that Galbraith described led to a career for ordinary workers in which your life was secure. Implicitly, the author is acknowledging that this will become a thing of the past in the new economy that he gushes about. Rendering the lives of hundreds of millions of ordinary workers (and their families) insecure is not important enough to warrant express discussion. The economist treats their fates as simply inevitable in order to achieve the brave new world. The Star Firms of the New Economy: Enron and Goldman Sachs The article then turns to it real focus, examining the firm at the pinnacle of the economists entrepreneurial pantheon that exemplifies the brave new world. The retreat of business bureaucracy in the face of the market was brought home to me recently when I joined the advisory board at Enrona company formed in the 80s by the merger of two pipeline operators. In the old days energy companies tried to be as vertically integrated as possible: to own the hydrocarbons in the ground, the gas pump, and everything in between. And Enron does own gas fields, pipelines, and utilities. But it is not, and does not try to be, vertically integrated: It buys and sells gas both at the wellhead and the destination, leases pipeline (and electrical-transmission) capacity both to and from other companies, buys and sells electricity, and in general acts more like a broker and market maker than a traditional corporation. Its sort of like the difference between your fathers bank, which took money from its regular depositors and lent it out to its regular customers, and Goldman Sachs. Sure enough, the companys pride and joy is a room filled with hundreds of casually dressed men and women staring at computer screens and barking into telephones, where cubic feet and megawatts are traded and packaged as if they were financial derivatives. (Instead of CNBC, though, the television screens on the floor show the Weather Channel.) The whole scene looks as if it had been constructed to illustrate the end of the corporation as we knew it. The authors gold standard of expertise is Goldman Sachs. The greatest compliment he can pay Enrons leaders is that their firm is so superior to its competitors that it is the Goldman Sachs of energy. Enron paid the author $50,000 annually for what he would later describe as an advisory panel that had no function that I was aware of. Right, who would say no to trading on his (self-described) reputation for brilliance as an MIT economist to get $50,000 from Enron for performing no function? The Ideological Shift Leading to the Liberal Push for Deregulation The economist then explained what made possible this brave new world that he wrote to champion deregulation. He explained that deregulation was driven by a change in ideology. He explained to his readers that Adam Smith was right. The problem the bloated, bureaucratic corporation was caused by the government interfering with the markets through regulation. With deregulation, Enron was leading the way and making freewheeling markets possible. But probably the biggest force has been a change in ideology, the shift to pro-market policies. Its not that government has vanished from the marketplace. Its still a good guess that in a completely unregulated phone market, long-distance companies would buy up local-access companies and deny their customers the right to connect to rivals, and that the evil empireor at least monopoly capitalismwould rise again. However, what we have instead in a growing number of marketsphones, gas, electricity today, probably computer operating systems and high-speed Net access tomorrowis a combination of deregulation that lets new competitors enter and common carrier regulation that prevents middlemen from playing favorites, making freewheeling markets possible. Who would have thunk it? The millennial economy turns out to look more like Adam Smiths visionor better yet, that of the Victorian economist Alfred Marshallthan the corporatist future predicted by generations of corporate pundits. Get those old textbooks out of the attic: theyre more relevant than ever. The economist who authored the April and May 1999 columns is, of course Paul Krugman. The Enron energy trading operation he gushed about was a leading center of Enrons frauds, particularly those that caused the California energy crisis. Goldman just admitted to what the United States found to have been massive fraud. Enron was indeed the Goldman of the energy industry just as Goldman was the Enron of finance. The reader can now see Krugmans actual views when he found it profitable to pander openly to the plutocrats defrauding the public and rigging the system against the consumer and the worker. The reader can also see why he is so dismissive of criticism of Hillary taking enormous speaking sums from Goldman for performing no [real] function. Krugmans prediction that we were seeing the death of market power by huge firms proved as accurate as his claim that Enron and Goldman were the gold standards of their industries. He is one of exemplars we use in the book we are writing that explains that economics is the only field in which one can be awarded a Nobel for proving wrong in predictive ability. Eight big banks got their living will grades announced yesterday. Five, Bank of America, JP Morgan, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street, and Wells Fargo, were told if they didnt submit better plans by October, theyd face sanctions, like restrictions on dividends and acquisitions. Two got split grades. The Fed thought Goldmans plan was fine, but the FDIC disagreed, and the two regulators had the opposite view of Morgan Stanley. Citigroup, which fared the best, was nevertheless told its scheme had shortcomings. Citigroup, Goldman, and Morgan Stanley have until July 2017 to fix their living wills. Yellen probably felt cornered into taking this step and it also may have been one of the big reasons for meeting with Obama and Biden earlier in the week. Elizabeth Warren had earlier called the Fed chair out over her failure to take the living wills seriously. Yellen didnt give a good answer because she had not good answer. Worse, Neal Kashkari at the Minneapolis Fed is putting the too big to fail issue front and center in a series of conferences and is seeking broad public input. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are whacking each other almost daily about their plans to tame what Bill Black calls systemically dangerous financial institutions. But the Feds move, while consequential, is certain to make almost no-one unhappy. These measures are more serious than a wet-noodle lashing. Even though curbs on growth via acquisitions and dividends may sound like a trivial punishment, it hits banks, and more important, bank executives where they care most, in their stock prices. Why own a bank stock unless it is too big to fail, pays dividends, buy back stock, or buy other players to as least look like they are growing? And CEO, particularly those former Master of the Universe bank CEOs, take particular umbrage at being told what to do. So trust us, there was plenty of consternation in the executive suites of the banks that were fingered. Now the banks did a good job of being contrite and persuading their shareholders that they could get everything fixed by October. but if they have overpromised, the stocks will take a hit and the CEOs will find their halos more than a bit tarnished. The public wont be satisfied, and with good reason. Even if they dont understand the details, you dont need to to understand that bank regulators are deeply captured, and this warnings are still too little, too late. Look at the UK for a contrast. Despite the greater importance of banking to their economy, theyve gone further in key respects than Americans have. Theyve implemented the Vickers rule, which is Glass Steagall lite, a ring-fencing of retail operations. The Bank of England forced out the three top executives at Barclays when the bank tried to pin blame for Libor-rigging on the central bank. Peter Sands of Standard Chartered was also forced out by the former New York Superintendent of Banking and Insurance Benjamin Lawsky; that is unlikely to have happened if British regulators did not agree. While this is still short of prosecuting bank executives and wide-ranging reform, this is still more of a show of spine than weve seen in the US. Regulators still seem not to understand where the real risks lie. I found this part of the Wall Street Journal story to be truly alarming: The regulators said Goldman and Morgan Stanley fell short on processes for determining how much liquidity their various units would need to sustain themselves once their parent filed for bankruptcy protection and didnt offer enough details on plans to wind down the derivatives contracts. Ive posted numerous posts by derivatives expert Satyajit Das on why winding down a derivatives book of a major capital markets player is a hornets nest (see here for an example). And they also seem to be choosing to ignore that what turned the crisis just past from an S&L level crisis into a global meltdown was derivatives positions. Derivatives are the number one component of the excessive interconnectedness of the financial system, and derivatives positions are now larger than before the crisis. Moreover, the financial press has also reported that major banks like JP Morgan have voiced loud concerns that the central counterparties are undercapitalized, which means they may not be reducing systemic risk and could have increased it. The intent may have been to stave off populist threats by Doing Something; if so, that may have backfired. Miraculously, not only is this living wills story the lead item in the New York Times, but early in the piece, it treats the Fed-FDIC action as a confirmation of Sanders position. Starting at paragraph four: The announcement coincides with a presidential campaign that at times has been dominated by a debate over what danger the big banks still pose to the nations economic security. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has called for the biggest banks to be broken up, a stand that his opponent, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton, has criticized. But Mr. Sanders position has drawn sympathy from some on the other side of the political spectrum, including the new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Neel Kashkari, who was a Treasury official during the financial crisis The regulators this week did not come close to calling for a breakup, yet they did in effect provide backing for Mr. Sanderss premise that not enough has been done to safeguard the financial system. While the authors likely came up with that positioning on their own, the fact that it survived the editing process is still out of character for the Times. Do they need feel that they need to be more evenhanded on Sanders in the wake of the widespread condemnation of Krugmans intellectually bankrupt campaign in his columns and on his blog? Or do they feel that Hillary is so far ahead in the polls for New York that they can afford to indulge in some good old fashioned balance? Even though this regulatory move wont satisfy many readers, supertankers turn slowly. Banks arent what they used to be. They are losing talent to Silicon Valley; young people have realized the job content is terrible and the banks have no way to make it better; the pay, while lofty, is not what it used to be, and the trajectory for comp says it is more likely to go down rather than up. All of this means the banks are in a weaker position than before. Thus change is finally starting to be possible. Now is the time to make sure the heat stays on. Readers, the news pot seems to have bubbled over today, and Im also feeling frisky, so you get a bigger ration of links than usual. lambert Escaped octopus didnt even leave us a message Radio New Zealand Massive undersea crab swarm caught on video for the first time Ars Technica Foreign Office Appoints New Chief Mouser Sky News Grandmother rescued after nine days lost in Arizona forest Reuters US rejects living wills of five banks FT Citigroup, Wells Fargo Swap Bad-Boy Role WSJ NYC Pension Weighs Liquidating $1.5 Billion Hedge Fund Portfolio Bloomberg Meet the man turning Goldman Sachs into a frictionless machine Business Insider Wall Streets Fraud of the Week Club Richard Eskow, CAF Regulators Propose Banning Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes for at Least Two Years WSJ. Another unicorn bites the dust. Why You Should Care About Big Banks Cutting Deals with the Feds to Avoid Prosecution Vice. Another cost-of-doing-business fine. Investors get nothing, traders keep their bonuses, no CEOs in jail. And so many peoples homes are gone. Sen. Elizabeth Warren Introduces Tax Filing Simplification Bill Hitting For-Profit Companies International Business Times Crude congestion Reuters. Gorgeous maps of global tanker congestion. #PanamaPapers World Wobbles EU Gives Greece Two Weeks to Form Border Control Plan Greek Reporter USS Donald Cook buzzed again by Russian jets in Baltic CBS (AR). Syraqistan Saudi Arabia restricts religious police powers Gulf Digital News (Re Silc) 2016 News About Obamacare Has Been Bad Lately. How Bad? NYT. Readers, have any of you shopped for ObamaCare and changed your plan? What was that like? Obama Names Cyber Experts To New Anti-Hacking Panel Fortune Imperial Collapse Watch Class Warfare Why Thousands of Americans Are Lining Up to Get Arrested in D.C. This Week Rolling Stone Dozens of Senior Citizens Were Arrested at Democracy Spring DC Protests Vice (Re Silc). Not big numbers, so far. However, its important that some seniors have decided to put their bodies on the line; when the regime beats down the grandparents on TV, cracks tend to appear in elite legitimacy. (I know thats not fair, but thats how it is.) More arrests at US Capitol as Democracy Spring meets Black Lives Matter (VIDEO) RT. Huge, if it sticks. Critical that the various movements not remain siloed. President Obama is using his power to get advanced copies of Game Of Thrones episodes Metro UK. Looking for escape-ism? Sea-level rise factors unravelled BBC (DL). Original. Antidote du jour: See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. Veteran Jack Zuverink with his friend's traveling war museum. The Bravo Regulars, members of an infantry unit that saw heavy combat in the Vietnam War, came to Naples from all over the country in April for their regular biennial reunion. Lance Shearer/Citizen Correspondent SHARE The Bravo Regulars, members of an infantry unit that saw heavy combat in the Vietnam War, came to Naples from all over the country in April for their regular biennial reunion. Lance Shearer/Citizen Correspondent Veteran Ted Rowley made this memorial for his comrades, living and dead. The Bravo Regulars, members of an infantry unit that saw heavy combat in the Vietnam War, came to Naples from all over the country in April for their regular biennial reunion. Lance Shearer/Citizen Correspondent President John Gority, left, greets the hosting veteran, Naples resident Richard Ward. The Bravo Regulars, members of an infantry unit that saw heavy combat in the Vietnam War, came to Naples from all over the country in April for their regular biennial reunion. Lance Shearer/Citizen Correspondent Veteran Dennis Amily inside his traveling war museum. The Bravo Regulars, members of an infantry unit that saw heavy combat in the Vietnam War, came to Naples from all over the country in April for their regular biennial reunion. Lance Shearer/Citizen Correspondent By Lance Shearer, Citizen Correspondent Their bond was forged in battle, and has lasted a lifetime. The Army infantrymen of Bravo Company don't look like they did on March 21, 1967, the day they were suddenly thrust into one of the fiercest, most intense ground engagements of the Vietnam War. The years have grayed their hair, added pounds to their frames and depleted their ranks. But these soldiers still care enough about the friendships formed in the heat of conflict to get together as a group, almost 50 years later. Have you ever heard of Soui Tre? It doesn't have the name recognition of Khe Sanh, or the Tet Offensive, let alone the battles of earlier wars such as Iwo Jima, Normandy or Bunker Hill. But for 450 Army "grunts," the quiet jungle outpost turned into a maelstrom of enemy fire and sustained hand-to-hand combat they can never forget. Bravo Company, of the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th, and later 25th Infantry Division, earned a Presidential Unit Citation for their actions at the battle of Soui Tre, an abandoned village 90 miles from Saigon that the Army moved into to set up a fire support base, or FSB, to provide supporting artillery fire for operations in a Viet Cong hotbed. Knowing their advantage in numbers, somewhere between 1,500 and 2,500 insurgents launched a surprise attack at dawn, attempting to overrun and wipe out the base. With every soldier taking up arms, and prompt relief from American ground and air forces, the 3rd Battalion held their position, despite having their perimeter overrun and nearly running out of ammunition. While attacks came from three directions, Bravo Company was on the eastern defenses, subject of the main Viet Cong onslaught. Four hours after it began, the battle was essentially done, with the Viet Cong routed and retreating under fire from the pursuing U.S. relief forces. The Army tallied 647 dead V.C. attackers, with a loss of 31 or 36, the accounts vary U.S. soldiers killed and approximately 190 wounded. The survivors of Bravo Company, men who served from 1967 through 1969, have gotten together every other year for decades, at locations all across the country. In 2014, they met in Utah, and in their meeting Saturday at the Italian-American Club on Airport-Pulling Road, one item of business was to choose the host for the next gathering in 2018. They were in Naples this year because of former soldier Richard Ward, who lives here, but had health issues that made him late to the reunion on Saturday. He showed up, though, in time for the group photo, in a wheelchair, determined to be part of the group. Ward's business partner, Dorene Clark, served as event coordinator for the four-day gathering. Ward was greeted by the newly chosen president of the group, John Gority of Duncanville, Pennsylvania, who lost a leg above the knee in Vietnam, to what we now call an IED, or improvised explosive device. "We just called them booby traps," said Gority, remembering the day. "We were on patrol in the Michelin rubber plant, in a forest of rubber trees. I guess we were there to protect the corporate French interests." The soldiers remember their war experiences in different ways. Veteran Ted Rowley made a winged wooden plaque, 6 feet across, titled the "Circle of Love and Peace," that includes brass nameplates for the 101 of their comrades who did not come home alive from the fighting. "I still get choked up saying the names," said Rowley. "You got to come to peace with the people you felled, and the people who felled you." He wrote a poem about his wooden tribute: "Cedar, oak, maple or pine these guys were just friends of mine." Dennis Amily of Apple Creek, Ohio, drove all the way down with the truck he has fitted out as a museum of the conflict and his unit's part in it. Inside, enough weaponry to interest the Department of Homeland Security, the rifles, machine guns and mortars both that the soldiers fired, and examples of V.C. ordinance including the AK-47 Kalashnikov and RPG-2, a rocket-propelled grenade we might call a bazooka, are displayed with clippings, battle flags and a copy of the Presidential Unit Citation awarded by President Lyndon B. Johnson. "The AK-47 was a terrific weapon in those conditions," said Amily. "You could drop it in the mud, and come up firing. We wouldn't dare do that with our rifles." Outside, he set up a diorama showing a portion of the Suoi Tre battlefield, with soldiers defending their line against a massive contingent of attackers. The group's time in Naples included a lot of just socializing with their old buddies, although they did get out for a cruise on the Naples Princess and listen to music from veteran Tie Dye Ted, as well as dancing with their spouses. In all, 53 veterans came to the reunion with a total contingent of 96. The group considered bids for the 2018 reunion from members in North Carolina and Albany, N.Y., but when the ballots were tallied, the winner was Branson, Missouri. Brian Regan SHARE By Dave Osborn of the Naples Daily News Working as a standup comedian has its perks, says Brian Regan. Regan pointed out how he's his own boss and enjoys such autonomy. He performs Sunday night, April 24 in Fort Myers. "I like being able to make the choices and decisions and don't have to run them by everyone," he said. "Most people don't have that luxury in life. "The handful of times I've tried collaborative stuff, trying to pitch shows, it's an unfathomable experience. 'I don't like this no thing. Who are you to say 'no' to me?' " Regan did work with others on a special last fall, with the first-ever Comedy Central live show from Radio City Music Hall in New York City. "That was definitely more intense," he said. "It was live of course, plus it was at Radio City Music Hall. You like low ceilings doing comedy." For the uninitiated, Regan's standup is full of sarcasm about everyday things (rewards cards, boarding an airplane). And his facial expressions help to drive home his punch lines. And Regan's comedy is clean, generally PG-rated, so it's OK to take young adults. His friend, Jerry Seinfeld, has called Regan one of his favorite standup comedians. Seinfeld featured Regan on his first season of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," a series on Crackle, an online distributor of television-quality original web shows. On stage, Regan sometimes forgets a joke as he did in December during a show at Florida Theatre in Jacksonville that I attended. Regan didn't recall the miscue, but he poked fun at himself as the audience roared at his humility. "That's one of the luxuries of being a comedian; you can fail at it and you can make fun at failing at it and be successful," he said. "That's part of it." Regan doesn't actively look for material for standup but every now and then he will find something for his shows. "Every once in a while you see something in a way and you go, hey, that's a little askew. There's something there that's funny or can be funny." He said he also tries not to stick with one theme for his standup to avoid becoming "a one-trick pony." "I try not to figure it out too much because I don't want it to become a formula," Regan said. "I want to explore different ways to be a comedian." A Miami native, Regan said he knew he wanted to be a standup comedian in his sophomore year of college. He was on track to become an accountant and had switched to communication theater and arts. His first class was speech, he said, and he stood in front of the class trying to be funny. He had the class in stitches, and he liked how that made him feel, he said, so he decided to try standup. Many have referred to Regan as "a comedian's comedian," meaning he just enjoys performing standup and isn't too interested in creating a television show or starring in movies. Regan appeared on the "Late Show with David Letterman" 28 times, each time delivering new material. He said he would keep track of his standup on Letterman. "Every once in a while I would think of a bit and I'd say, 'Oh man, I did this one six years ago.' You have to be careful and monitor it," Regan said. He still prides himself on being able to walk in public pretty much anonymously; two years ago in an interview, Regan told me how and his children had just spent a day at Disney World in Orlando and he went unrecognized. "I've never been the golden boy," he explained. "I don't have a huge following. I have a big following. I'm not complaining. "Every once in a while somebody knows who I am, which is cool. But it's certainly not an issue I have to worry about." Regan no longer lives in Florida, where, he noted, "as soon as you get off the airplane, you say, 'What happened? Did I just jump into a pool?' " "I looked at the globe and I said where is it hotter?" Regan said, "And I found this place called Las Vegas." He performs about 100 shows a year, about every other weekend, and has no big projects in the works, for now. "I'm working on a pamphlet," Regan said in his onstage, sarcastic standup voice. "I'm in talks with people to see if it can be a color pamphlet. But for now, we only have the money for black and white." IF YOU GO BRIAN REGAN When: 7 p.m. Sunday, April 24 Where: Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, 13350 FSW Parkway, Fort Myers. Cost: $44.93 Information: bbmannpah.com and 239-481-4849 SHARE The featured Graf Von Faber-Castell "The Pen of the Year 2012 Diamond Edition" pen valued at $90,000 sits behind a protective case inside the store Wednesday, April 13, 2016. The pen was created for the Queen of England's 60th Diamond Jubilee Anniversary and is only one of ten in the world. Established in 1761 Faber-Castell is one of the oldest industrial companies in the world and is known for it's extremely high quality writing utensils. (Luke Franke/Staff) Sheryl Sashin, owner of Arabesque, left, speaks with Jean Malloy as she inspects the Graf Von Faber-Castell featured pens in her store Wednesday, April 13, 2016 in Naples. Established in 1761 Faber-Castell is one of the oldest industrial companies in the world and is known for it's extremely high quality writing utensils. (Luke Franke/Staff) Sheryl Sashin, owner of Arabesque, a fine stationer and gift shop on Fifth Avenue South in Naples, prepares to handle a featured Graf Von Faber-Castell "The Pen of the Year 2012 Diamond Edition" pen valued at $90,000 in her store Wednesday, April 13, 2016. The pen was created for the Queen of England's 60th Diamond Jubilee Anniversary and is only one of ten in the world. Established in 1761 Faber Castell is one of the oldest industrial companies in the world and is known for it's extremely high quality writing utensils. (Luke Franke/Staff) Related Photos Photos: Naples shop carries Queens $90,000 diamond pen By Kristine Gill of the Naples Daily News Sheryl Sashin turned a key in the locked display case at the front of her stationery store in downtown Naples and retrieved a black lacquered box from within. A Naples police officer looked on. The pen inside the case was not your average Bic. For starters, it retailed at $90,000. "It's pretty incredible," said Sheila Hopkins, the national sales director for German-based Faber-Castell, a 256-year-old company selling hand-made writing utensils with hefty price tags. Sashin rotated the pen with a gloved hand and 60 encrusted diamonds caught the light. A Brazilian Madeira citrine stone decorated each end. The 24-karat gold fountain pen was The Pen of the Year 2012 Diamond Edition created by the luxury line Graf von Faber-Castell for the Queen of England's 60th Diamond Jubilee Anniversary. Just 10 of these pens were made in the year 2012. The first, Number 1, was given to the Queen Elizabeth II herself. Number 3, the third created, was available for sale Wednesday at Arabesque of Naples, a shop along the 300 block of Fifth Avenue South. "They're just beautifully crafted," Sashin said of the line. "The balance is wonderful." Wednesday's event featured past pens of the year with precious metals and gem stones going for $2,500 to $9,500. The brand's sellers insist they are not the kind of pens you use once a year to sign that major contract. They're selling to people who use them to jot down notes at work and grocery lists, regular things. Mike Grecian is an artist who sells Faber-Castell products. He primarily works in watercolors doing portraits, but also uses the Faber-Castell brand of colored pencils. A set of 120 colors for the oil-based pencils sells for $322.50 online. The company is making 100 million dozen colored pencils a year, Grecian said. It's a production rate so fast that the man making the tin cases they're sold in often has trouble keeping pace. Grecian demonstrated the pencils Wednesday, sketching an apple then pulling a paintbrush out. "See, they become the palette," he said, swirling a drop of water onto a colored patch of paper. The lead ran red like watercolors. Not every Faber-Castell writing utensil is beyond the average writers' price range. In fact you probably grew up using one in grade school. "Our claim to fame is the No. 2 pencil," Hopkins said. Nowadays you can drop $260 on the upgraded version. It's solid graphite and comes with replaceable erasers, a built -in sharpener and a cap that acts as an extension when you're down to writing with just a stub. They call it the Perfect Pencil. A few people wandered in and out of the stationery shop Wednesday during for the portion of the event open to the public. Sashin had a private event the same night. One woman promised to return to buy a gift for her husband. Another, who worked on the street, popped over to see the $90,000 pen in the flesh and snap a pic. Unfortunately, the Queen's pen failed to sell. "Our timing was very bad in terms of the event," Sashin said. "Season came to a screeching halt about a week and a half ago. Our best pen collector's invitation got returned in the mail yesterday." Still, Sashin said the event bodes well for the Faber-Castell brand, which is sold at one location in Southwest Florida: Arabesque of Naples. "I'm honored to carry them. I carry them all the time," Sashin said. "We don't usually have $90,000 pens here but I always have access to them if you want them." By Alexi C. Cardona of the Naples Daily News Collier County Sheriffs Office deputies are investigating a report of a man trying to lure children into the woods in Immokalee. Deputies were dispatched to an apartment on Crestview Drive around 8 p.m. Wednesday. According to a report, a woman told deputies that a man tried to lure children into a wooded area. The woman saw two children go into the woods and only one come back out. The man was Hispanic with black hair and wore a black hoodie and black pants, according to the woman. While deputies searched the area, neighborhood kids told them a van they had seen before was being driven in the area at the time of the incident. The van was last seen on Firebush Lane. Collier County deputies, together with air and K9 units, searched the wooded area and found nothing. There were no reports of missing children in the area, according to the report. Anyone with information is asked to call the Collier County Sheriffs Office at 239-252-9300 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-8477. Jack and F.E. Nortman (left) were honored with the Holocaust Museum & Education Center of Southwest Florida's 2016 Triumph Award Wednesday April 14, 2016, at the Naples Yacht Club during a celebration of the museum's 15th anniversary. Naples mayor Bill Barnett (center); Michael Nortman, Jack Nortman's son; and Amy Snyder, executive director of the Holocaust Museum presented the award. (Alexi Cardona/Staff) SHARE By Alexi C. Cardona of the Naples Daily News To live in a world without hatred and violence, we must remember and honor the past. That was Jack Nortman's message to about 300 people who gathered at the Naples Yacht Club Wednesday night to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Holocaust Museum & Education Center of Southwest Florida. Nortman, who splits his time between Naples and Chicago, was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany. His parents, born in Poland, were arrested by Nazis, packed onto a boxcar with hundreds of other Jews and sent to concentration camps. "My parents are survivors in every sense," Nortman said. "They were beaten and bullied. They spend four years in Siberia living in arctic weather and forced into slave labor. While this story is hard to tell and harder to listen to, it's the most valuable legacy I can leave with my family and others." The hundreds of people who gathered for the fundraiser celebrated the impact of the museum's educational programs. One such program, the Boxcar Transportation & Education Project, tours a World War II-era boxcar through schools, colleges, libraries and churches in Southwest Florida as an educational tool about the Holocaust. "I wanted to honor my parents for what they went through," Nortman said. "The boxcar is an important symbol of the Holocaust. We thought this would be great to have as a real-life learning tool." Nortman and his wife, F.E. Nortman, led an exhaustive search for a boxcar, which they found in Austria and had transported from the Port of Amsterdam to the Port of Miami. The Nortmans own the boxcar and loaned it to the museum for the traveling exhibit. For their contribution, the museum honored the couple with the 2016 Triumph Award. "We wanted this to be an educational tool, not a museum artifact," Nortman said. Attendees also heard the stories of Holocaust survivors and liberators. Steen Metz, who shares his time between Sanibel and Lincolnshire, Illinois, was 8 years old when he and his parents were arrested in their Denmark home and taken to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. "When we were arrested, I didn't know why they came for me," Metz said. "My father was Jewish, but I did not practice the Jewish faith. If my father had survived, I'm sure he would have instilled the faith in me." Metz's father died of starvation after six months in the camp. "I go to schools to speak to students," he said. "I talk to them about what life was like in the camp, how things were before we were arrested and after being deported. It's important to keep the stories and memories alive." IFA held a conference recently that examined how farmers can deliver the planned expansion in the sector, set out in Food Harvest 2020, while improving farmer returns and limiting the environmental impact. IFA held a conference recently that examined how farmers can deliver the planned expansion in the sector, set out in Food Harvest 2020, while improving farmer returns and limiting the environmental impact. Thomas Ryan, IFAs Environment Executive summarises some of the main points of the conference. Speakers included Phil Hogan, T.D Minister for the Environment; John Bryan, IFA President; Alexandre Meybeck, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation; and representatives from Glanbia, Teagasc, EPA, Bord Bia, NESC and the Department of Agriculture. Farmers in Ireland are amongst the worlds leaders for sustainable food production. Greenhouse gas emissions per litre of milk have reduced by over 13% since 1990. The beef sector has the fifth lowest carbon footprint in the EU. The fall in chemical nitrogen use over the past decade is equal to an annual reduction of half a million tonnes of carbon dioxides equivalent from the sector. Agri-food is making a real contribution to the sustainable recovery of the national economy: Contributing over 9b in exports last year; Supporting 300,000 jobs in all parts of the country; Producing enough beef each year to feed 30 million Europeans; Producing over 15% of the worlds infant formula. The Opportunity to Grow the Sector The world needs more food. Over the next 40 years, demand will increase by over 60%. Global milk consumption is set to increase by 104% and meat demand by 88%. Farmers in Ireland have a track record of producing these commodities successfully and sustainably. Not all regions are in a similar position to deliver. Droughts and other resource stresses in much of the southern hemisphere will lead to a reduction in cereal crop and livestock productivity. Ireland is different. Our grass based emission efficient model of food production, combined with the abundance of other resources such as water, makes Ireland the envy of other major agri-food economies such as Argentina and Australia. This is our point of difference and growth opportunity. To expand - sustainably. Sustainability Its Not Just About the Environment International retailers such as Walmart have identified sustainability as the single biggest commercial opportunity of the 21st century. However, sustainability is not just about the environment. It must also deliver a real return to farmers. In Ireland, companies such as Glanbia Ingredients Ireland, recognise that economic sustainability is a key motivator to delivering future improvements. At processing level they have focused on plant energy efficiency, waste water treatment management and nutrient management. Over 250 of their farmer suppliers are participating in a sustainability programme. This programme, and similar initiatives ran by Bord Bia in the beef, lamb, pig, poultry, eggs and horticulture sectors continue to demonstrate Irelands sustainability record. Can sustainability really deliver for farmers? IFA is working with Teagasc, UCD, the EPA and others, to develop a resource efficiency initiative called smarter farming. Each year farmers use 4,150 million worth of inputs. This collaboration with key agri-food stakeholders asks: are farmers using resources, such as our fertilisers, grassland and energy correctly? It provides advice on cost savings that can be delivered by better resource use. The advice to farmers is free and so too is the on-farm resource assessment. Similar voluntary initiatives in the hotel sector have delivered annual savings of 5.5million. Food Harvest 2020 Its not all about more livestock and cereals The role of science is central to the continued sustainable expansion of the sector. Teagasc has the lead role here. The single biggest emission reduction opportunity comes from genetics and improvements in breeding. Other key areas include earlier weight gain in the beef herd and extended grazing across all enterprises. Science is already delivering. Emission per litre of milk and kilo of beef continue to reduce. Irelands sustainability comparative advantage remains strong when compared to other major food exporting regions such as Brazil, Uruguay and New Zealand. However, these countries are making improvements. The need for science and technology transfer to the farming sector has never been greater. Future growth must be based on maximising output (milk, weight gain, yield) from existing resources (land and animals) before additional costs and inputs are considered. Science is the only answer here and the timely transfer of knowledge is key. Growth and Sustainability The Double Dividend The clear message from Minister Phil Hogan, IFA President John Bryan and many of the other speakers is that future growth opportunities and the environmental sustainability of the sector are inter- twined. In short, future growth can come from our sustainable model of food production. The conference reaffirmed the sectors green credentials. This provides a real platform for sustainable growth. However, growth can only be achieved if farmers get a real return for their work. Sustainability its about economics and the environment. Thats the double dividend. All conference papers can be downloaded from the IFA website www.ifa.ie NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with Prime Minister David Cameron at No 10 on Thursday (14 April 2016) for talks on how NATO is adapting to face the greatest security challenges in a generation. The Secretary General thanked the United Kingdom for its role in strengthening collective defence, its significant contributions to NATO missions, and its leadership on defence spending. Mr. Stoltenberg underscored that the UK is leading the way for European Allies on defence spending, committing to spend above 2 percent of GDP. He also highlighted the UKs contributions to NATOs mission in Afghanistan and presence in the Aegean Sea, helping Greece, Turkey and the European Union to cope with the migrant and refugee crisis. In their talks, the Secretary General and Prime Minister Cameron discussed priorities for the Warsaw Summit in July and how to step up joint efforts to fight terrorism and ISIL. The two leaders also addressed NATOs support for the refugee and migrant crisis and the importance of strengthening cooperation between NATO and the EU. NATO and the European Union are two organisations which are vital and which are working closely together in many different areas, and I would welcome even closer cooperation, said the Secretary General. He stressed that NATO counts on the UKs leadership in addressing common challenges, whether from ISIL, nuclear proliferation or a more assertive Russia. The Secretary General and Prime Minister Cameron exchanged views on the progress made since the 2014 Wales Summit. Get independent news alerts on natural cures, food lab tests, cannabis medicine, science, robotics, drones, privacy and more. Take Action: Support Natural News by linking to this article from your website Permalink to this article: https://www.naturalnews.com/053651_Robert_De_Niro_vaccine_debate_VAXXED_documentary.html Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): Robert De Niro denounces medical totalitarians: 'Let the people see VAXXED' and decide for themselves what the evidence shows Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Follow Natural News on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest Poisoning water and causing earthquakes Follow the money (NaturalNews) Hillary Clinton's ties to the fracking industry made news again on March 31, when Clinton berated a Greenpeace activist for asking if she would pledge to "reject future fossil fuel money in your campaign.""I do not have I have money from people who work for fossil fuel companies," Clinton said. Clinton then accused rival candidate Bernie Sanders' campaign of "lying" by saying she has financial ties to the industry.But the truth is clear: Clinton's campaign has received more than $4.5 million from major donors connected with the fossil fuel industry. These deep financial ties, plus her historic support of fracking, are making voters highly skeptical of her recent promises to rein in that destructive industry.Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," is a shale gas and oil mining technique that consists of injecting water, sand and a blend of chemicals deep into the earth. The pressure fractures the bedrock, allowing oil and gas drilling.Once the bedrock has fractured, the injected water flows back to the surface, bringing along the toxic chemicals used in fracking, plus heavy metals, radioactive isotopes and volatile organics from the bedrock. This wastewater is typically injected into "wastewater wells" for indefinite storage.Local residents have raised concerns about the effects of this wastewater on their health. In addition, the wells have been shown to increase pressure on seismic faults, and are now causing earthquakes in states that were formerly seismically stable.At a recent debate in Flint, Michigan, Clinton staked out her most anti-fracking position to date, saying she does not support the practice in any locality that opposes it, if there is "release of methane or contamination of water," and if companies refuse to say what chemicals they are using.Both opponents and defenders of fracking greeted these remarks with skepticism. And it's no surprise: Clinton has long been one of the world's most aggressive promoters of fracking.As secretary of state, Clinton worked to spread fracking to new countries in order to reduce the geopolitical influence of Russia's gas reserves. In 2010, she dismissed concerns over fracking in a speech to a gathering of ministers in Washington, DC."I know that in some places [it] is controversial," she said, "but natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel available for power generation today."Even the pro-Clinton Super PAC Correct the Record admits that she has a history as a strong fracking supporter.On top of that, the top fundraising "bundlers" for Clinton's campaign are all fossil fuel lobbyists. An analysis by Greenpeace found that the Clinton campaign has received $1.33 million in contributions through just 11 fossil fuel lobbyist bundlers. This does not include donations from non-lobbyist industry employees, executives, board members or investors.In addition, the pro-Clinton Super PAC Priorities Action USA has received $3.25 million in donations from large donors connected to the industry. This does not count contributions to other PACS or Super PACs, or contributions by trade associations.Fracking- and gas-connected lobbyists who have contributed to the campaign include Martin Frost (Domestic Energy Producers Alliance), Martin Durbin (American Natural Gas Association) and Elizabeth Gore (WPX Energy). The campaign has received donations from lobbyists working for fracking companies including Exxon, Freeport LNG, LNG Allies, Dominion Resources, Oregon LNG and Cheniere Energy.Is it any wonder that fracking proponent Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University, dismissed Clinton's newfound position as "essentially campaign hyperbole, and meant to appease her environmental constituency.""In reality, it has little substance to it," he said.Fracking opponents agreed. Yong Jung Cho of 350 Action said Clinton would "struggle to convince" environmentalists that her opposition to fracking is "serious" without supporting an outright ban.Sanders does not support fracking. All the major Republican candidates have openly said they do, extolling the economic benefits of the industry. Costco's new initiatives The problems Costco will face (NaturalNews) Costco can be a little unpredictable when it comes to embracing natural, healthy foods. In 2015, there was a petition against the company to urge it not to sell GM salmon and the company has also been under scrutiny for salmonella-contaminated chicken . But now it seems that Costco might actually be doing something right something that not only benefits the US consumer but also benefits organic farmers.As reported by, Costco is finding new and creative ways to meet its customers' growing demand for organic produce. Organic foods is one of the fastest growing categories in food sales, and Costco is really trying to keep pace with this exponential increase in demand.According to CEO Craig Jelinek, "[Costco] cannot get enough organics to stay in business day in and day out." Therefore, the new strategy involves Costco actually playing a part in building this food supply, and the company is developing a variety of initiatives to help boost the supply of organic food.Costco is going to work with the farmers themselves to help them buy the land they need and equipment necessary to grow organic products. The company will be lending money to farmers, starting with San Diego-based Andrew and Williamson Fresh Produce (A&W), who need the money to buy equipment and 1,200 acres of land in Mexico.The concept first came about when senior vice president of Costco's fresh foods, Jeff Lyons, was enjoying a tour of the A&W operations. Costco was already aware of 1,200 acres of land in San Quintin, Baja California, that had been fallow for many years and was up for sale. It was available to grow organic food immediately, and this gave Lyons the idea, as reported byA&W had a wealth of experience growing organic fruits and vegetables, including strawberries, raspberries and tomatoes, and wanted to purchase the land but didn't have the funds available. Lyons saw an opportunity and decided that it made strategic sense for Costco to loan the money, taking into account the increasing demand for organic produce and a long-term goal for Costco to attract new and retain existing customers.The company hopes to expand the initiative and ensure a greater, more consistent supply of organic food . At present, the demand continues to increase, yet the supply cannot be maintained. This concept could pave the way for a healthier, more organic future for the US consumer.Costco is also working with a poultry plant in Alabama that raises the 83 million rotisserie chickens it sold last year and has recently bought cattle to be raised on organic fields in Nebraska to ensure a constant supply for its organic ground beef.As reported by, the supply of organic food is limited partly because of the time it takes to officially transition from conventional farming to organic several very expensive years. Uncompromised land that is available for the growth of organic food is either extremely rare or extremely expensive.The demand has reached a market share of almost 5% of total food sales and yet only 1% of US farmland is currently organic. The transition from conventional to organic farming can be tough and generally takes at least three years, according to a timeframe outlined by the US Department of Agriculture. This time allows for pesticides, herbicides and other nonorganic substances to naturally leave the soil, as reported by the Rodale Institute.New equipment and new processes are required in order to grow organic food, which means a large financial commitment for the first few years and until the three years have passed, farmers will only be paid standard prices for their produce as it cannot yet be sold as "organic."If Costco wants to expand its supply of organic foods, it will need to keep an eye out for any potential land that might be appropriate for the growth of organic produce or bite the bullet for a few years while farms make the transition. Child protective services blames shaken baby syndrome for child's health problems Parents, pressured by doctors for child to receive more vaccinations, lied to about the amount given Vaccine injuries a huge problem (NaturalNews) The lives of 6-month-old Cerenity Garza and her family have forever been changed, since Cerenity was given a series of vaccinations that left her paralyzed and brain damaged . After receiving a whopping eight vaccinations the DTaP-Hib-IPV (5-in-1 combo vaccine), the hepatitis B vaccine, the pneumococcal Prevnar 13 vaccine and the oral Rotavirus vaccine Cerenity's mother, July Garza, remembers her daughter's health taking a dramatic turn for the worse."On 11-5-2012, my daughter Cerenity was 6 months old," July told the online publication,. "Cerenity was a perfectly healthy baby with no health or development issues at all. She was crawling and sitting on her own by this time. She was due for her 6 month shots and on this day, we took her to one of the Harris County Free Clinics, the Antoine Health Center in Houston, Texas, where she was given the six month vaccines."A month later, family members called July at work to inform her that Cerenity was unresponsive. When taken to the hospital, where Cerenity underwent an MRI and a CT scan, the doctor said he was at a loss to explain what was causing the decline in her health.The family was then sent home. The next day, Cerenity was unable to move, and July explains that rather than take her to the pediatrician, they called an ambulance. She was taken to a children's hospital and put in the ICU. Soon thereafter, the hospital called Child Protective Services (CPS) . At this point, the family was told that shaken baby syndrome was behind Cerenity's drastic health changes, which included bleeding on the brain, paralysis and a transverse myelitis spinal cord disease diagnosis. However, the family later received an apology about the shaken baby accusation, and was instead informed that the child's bleeding had been present since birth.What followed were multiple visits to various Texas hospitals, which even involved the family moving in an effort to help save their daughter. At one point, they were even homeless, living out of their truck.You can imagine the family's shock when, years later, they were informed by a pediatrician that Cerenity needed to receive additional vaccinations."I hadn't allowed Cerenity to get more shots since the 6 month shots, but recently, her pediatrician said that if I don't give her more vaccines again, that I would be dismissed from their office," July explained to. "My daughter never recovered from the vaccines given at 6 months but the doctor insisted we continue to vaccinate her, which my husband and I did not want to do. After Cerenity was given those 6 month vaccines, every time we went to the doctors, they would push for more vaccines."Sadly, July says that she and her husband felt "bullied" into vaccinating their child again, adding that "the doctor made me feel like I had to consent." It's at this point that the situation takes a terrible turn for the worse as if the family hadn't already been through enough. You see, the family was told Cerenity would be given no more than three vaccinations, yet they were lied to. "Against our knowledge at that last visit, we found out the doctor lied to us," July states. "She did not tell me that they would be giving Cerenity the 5-in-1 combo DTaP-Hep B-IPV vaccine, along with the Hib vaccine."Although Cerenity is now 3-years-old and able to walk, she often experiences pain, is irritable, has terrible vision, gets headaches, walks only on her tiptoes and has difficulty communicating.Unfortunately, stories like this are becoming increasingly common, and it's downright shameful. Many families observe terrible health problems unfold in their child within days after being given a vaccination. However, parents are often falsely accused of shaken baby syndrome, denied access to their child's medical records, and even given jail time. The latter actually happened to John Sanders, whose baby girl died one day after receiving eight vaccinations. He received life without parole, despite the fact that he was with his child in the hospital the entire time after she fell ill, and in spite of many discrepancies being found in the child's medical records.It's beyond unfortunate that vaccine injury stories like these exist. There's nothing safe about vaccinations , yet they continue to be administered, and parents are often bullied by doctors to keep the endless cycle going. The number of armed agencies keeps growing Who are all these weapons REALLY targeted at? Agencies won't wage war against each other, right? (NaturalNews) Most Americans can understand why the FBI CIA , DHS and the government's various law enforcement agencies are all armed and some heavily but they question why seemingly benign agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which falls under the Commerce Department, and is primarily responsible for weather-related research needs so manyAs noted by's Rick Moran, the agency now has 96 armed agents, and that in the era of an uber-militarized federal government. NOAA the government's primary weather and environmental research agency is arming up at a time of increasing intolerance from Left-wing officials inside the Obama administration as well as some state attorneys general, over what they call " climate change denial ."NOAA officials justify the existence of armed agents as a means of enforcing various laws under the agency's jurisdiction. But honestly, if a waterway is being over-fished, or there is some other violation of environmental law, can't another traditionally armed federal agency handle the arrest?You know like the armed Environmental Protection Agency . Yes, that's right, the notorious EPA has its own armed force as well, and it wasridiculously) on display when the agency carried out an armed raid on a mine in Chicken, Alaska (real name), to enforce a provision of the Clear Water Act a raid that eventually sparked a special investigation and congressional hearing . After all, Chicken, Alaska, has a whopping population of 7 as per the last census.Nevertheless, asmagazine reported:"The agency sent a heavily armed team eight strong over possible violations of the Clean Water Act, an act the miners said amounted to intimidation. Residents questioned the need for armed agents to participate in what amounted to a water safety check, as well as the public safety threat the action posed."But whythe EPA use this tactic to enforce an insignificant statute? After all, when you're equipping a small army, the temptation to use it is obviously strong. As reported by The Daily Signal , the agency recently spent $1.4 million on heavy and automatic weapons, ammunition, night vision gear and camouflage clothing."We were shocked ourselves to find these kinds of pervasive expenditures at an agency that is supposed to be involved in clean air and clean water ," said Adam Andrzejewski, founder of public watchdog group, Open The Books. "Some of these weapons are for full-scale military operations."As further noted by"And not just a few weapons. Open the Books found that the agency has spent millions of dollars over the last decade on guns, ammo, body armor, camouflage equipment, unmanned aircraft, amphibious assault ships, radar and night-vision gear, and other military-style weaponry and surveillance activities."The question is, why? Based on this weapons list you'd think that the EPA was getting ready to invade Russia or something. Or maybe New Orleans.Next on the list is the Department of Agriculture, believe it or not. As reported by CNN in September 2014, the "food stamp" agency, like other federal departments, is using a provision of the Homeland Security Act as a reason to arm up:"The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General has 85 shiny new submachine guns, locked and loaded."They've long had a small police force, and they're not alone, thanks to a mostly forgotten provision in the behemoth 2002 Homeland Security Act that allows certain the [sic] Offices of Inspector General to equip themselves with agents who carry guns."Criminal investigators at agencies like the USDA, the Small Business Administration and NASA can carry firearms."The USDA has had the ability to arm agents since 1981,reported. But the 2002 "Homeland Security" legislation that Congress passed so quickly after the 9/11 attacks is obviously being abused by federal agencies that are spending taxpayer money on weaponry and military gear like drunken sailors and apparently without much congressional oversight or explanation to the public.That could be because Congress doesn't know much about the weapons purchases. Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, sought to request a Government Accountability Office study of all the purchases a couple of years ago, so the American people and their elected leaders could get a handle on the situation. He also introduced legislation that would strip OIGs of their weapons, but that didn't go anywhere."Americans don't see why dozens of federal agencies need their own highly armed police forces with the authority to raid homes and businesses," Stewart toldat the time.So how come investigators at agencies known more for meat inspections and processing crop insurance claims need automatic weapons?"Regarding the need for weapons' procurements, OIG's Investigations division conducts hundreds of criminal investigations each year, some of which involve OIG agents, USDA employees, and/or members of the public facing potentially life threatening situations," USDA Deputy Counsel Paul Feeney told the news network.Fine, but that still doesn't answer the question. And it doesn't answer the question about why other federal agencies like the Department of Education have armed agents.For his part, Stewart agrees that any legitimate law enforcement needs to be done by legitimate federalthat have much better-trained staff."When there are genuinely dangerous situations involving federal law, that's the job of the Department of Justice, not regulatory agencies like the FDA or the Department of Education," he said.Adds Tim Lynch, director of the Project on Criminal Justice at the Cato Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C., "There's no question there's been a proliferation of police units at the federal level. To me, it's been a never-ending expansion, a natural progression, if you will, of these administrative agencies always asking for bigger budgets and a little bit more power."And, obviously, they are getting it.Without question, the vast bureaucracy of the federal government no longer feels like its sole purpose and reason for existence is to serve the American people. Rather, the bureaucracy has become an entity unto itself, untouchable by Congress, and increasingly utilized by presidents as a weapon to suppress liberty, freedom and individualism . That much is evident by the level of armament these agencies think they need.These agencies aren't ultimately planning on warring against each other, Press On this page Springer Nature Press Office Please visit the Springer Nature Press Office Site for an archive of Springer Nature press releases (2015-2019) and contact information for corporate media inquiries and book or journal related inquiries. Press releases published before 2015 are available by downloading zip files via the links below. Press release archives (zip): 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 Susie Winter Director of Communications and Engagement, Research London, UK Phone: +44 (0)203 426 3325 E-mail: susie.winter@springernature.com Top of page Journals and Editorial Press Office The Journals and Editorial Press Office provides a service for science journalists and science writers. For enquiries regarding content in the Nature Portfolio journals, please contact press@nature.com or visit https://press.nature.com. Alice Henchley Communications Director, Journals & Editorial London, UK Phone: +44 (0) 20 7843 4562 E-mail: alice.henchley@springernature.com Lisa Boucher Press Manager London, UK Phone: +44 (0) 20 7843 4804 E-mail: l.boucher@nature.com Michael Stacey Senior Communications Manager London, UK Phone: +44 (0) 20 7843 4795 E-mail: michael.stacey@nature.com Sarah Hausman Press Manager New York, USA Phone: +1 (212) 726 9378 E-mail: sarah.hausman@nature.com Sarah McClenaghan Press Manager London, UK Phone: +44 (0) 20 7843 4570 E-mail: sarah.mcclenaghan@springernature.com Emily Cooke Press Officer London, UK Phone: +44 (0) 20 7418 5534 E-mail: emily.cooke@springernature.com Isobel Lisowski Assistant Press Officer London, UK Phone: +44 (0) 20 3192 2097 E-mail: isobel.lisowski@springernature.com Archeologists have stated that they have found the oldest glass factory in Israel. After excavation, it has been found that the glass factory dates back to the fourth century. They even unearthed what may possibly be kilns that are around 1,600 years old. This also indicated that Israel could have been one of the most ancient centers of glass production in the world. The kilts had a firebox in which kindling was used to produce a high temperature. The other half has a melting chamber in which the glass' raw material was melted and put together. Big masses of glass were produced this way. The raw chunks of glass could have weighed up to 10 tons. They were then sold to workshops where the chunks were transformed into glassware.The kilns was found nearby a construction of a new railway line located southeast of Haifa, near Mount Carmel. From historical evidence, it was earlier identified that the Valley of Akko was renowned for its high quality sand that was perfect for the glass factory during the Roman era. During ancient days, the method to make glass involved heating sand with a high temperature of 2.196 degrees Fahrenheit for nearly a week. Abdel Al-Salam Sa'id, an inspector with the Israel Antiquities Authority said, "We were absolutely overwhelmed with excitement when we understood the great significance of the finds." Apart from the fact that Israel made glass during the ancient time, this discovery also points out how Israel was a significant place in the Early Roman period, as per HNGN. It is quite interesting to note that most of the chemical components used in making glass vessels found in the Mediterranean region and even Europe point out the possibility of them being made in this region of israel, said Yael Gorin-Rosen, head curator of Israel Antiquities Authority's Glass Department, Live Science reports. China has deployed drones to pollution-prone factories that could possibly be emitting tons of polluted air. The drones were sent out to spy on polluting industries across major cities. This step is taken because of the lung-choking smog that has posed a big danger to China. The drones are used so that it can capture images that could not be censored while ground level investigation, as per GB Times. Drones will provide more precise images that will help in monitoring the pollution in these places. Flying 3,500 meters above ground level with a speed of 140 kilometers per hour, these unmanned flying machines can be quite effective even when the climatic condition is quite poor. The drones will examine any factories that are polluting the environment. Hebei, China's biggest steel-producing region, has been through such polluted state because of the many factors and the large steel sectors that are set up. Other worst affected areas are Beijing and Shanxi. There are a good number of coal-fired power stations and steel mills in these places that possibly emit toxic gases that pollute the air. Cao Yaming, an engineer at the monitoring station, said that the images taken by the drones will be evaluated. The companies that are found to be breaking the law will be punished. The effects of pollution have been quite bad in China, especially in the capital where nearly 22 million people bore the impact of polluted smog throughout the year. There have been campaigns and reports regarding how toxic the air pollution in China has become. One such video campaign points out to a young man who says he would not "blindly submit" to the pollution in China. Rather, he longs to believe in the blue skies that once existed. Check out the video for the campaign below. Stephen Hawking amazed the community once again. Together with esteemed colleagues, he recently launched a $100-million space exploration project called Breakthrough Starshot, which aims to reach the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, in a span of 20 years. During the formal launch last April 12, Stephen Hawking, together with the Russian millionaire, scientist and philanthropist Yuri Milner, discussed what Breakthrough Starshot was all about. In a report by Space.com, Yuri Milner, Breakthrough Initiative and DST Global Founder, said that their project "is a program of research and innovation exploring the questions of life in the universe." He said exploring the universe doesn't mean just the extraterrestrials, it also involves going to outer space to benefit the human race. Hawking, on the other hand, said that they are transcending limits with Breakthrough Starshot. Hawking said, "I believe what makes us unique is transcending our limits...I lost my voice but I can still speak, thanks to my voice synthesizer. How do we transcend this limit? With our minds and our machines." Hawking believes that the great divide between Earth and the nearest star system can be transcended by men, and that's what Breakthrough Starshot aims to achieve. He said that Alpha Centauri could be reached using light beams, light sails and the proposed smallest and lightest spacecraft ever built -- a nanocraft called Starchip. The said spacecraft, which is maller than an iPhone, is supposed to reach the nearest star system by traveling for 20 years. According to New York Times, the Alpha Centauri is 4.37 light-years away from Earth. They said that Milner recognizes the fact that it will take more than his lifetime to prepare the spacecraft as well as its lift-off and return to Earth. The philanthropist said he is content to just witness the take-off of the spacecraft. They also estimated that it might take $5 to $10 billion to complete the project. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, along with Hawking and Milner, will act as the board of directors for Breakthrough Starshot. Pete Worden, NASA's former director of Ames Research Center, will lead the project. "Today, we commit to this next great cosmos. Because we are human, and our nature is to fly," Hawking said. Celebrated NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who recently returned from his one-year residence in space, is set to contribute to another NASA space program. Together with his twin brother, ex-NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, Scott is undergoing NASA's "Twin Study" to understand the effects of living in space in preparation for a Mars exploration in 2030. NASA launched the "Twin Study" to conduct an investigation with Scott and Mark, who are identical twins. NASA said, "These investigations will provide broader insight into the subtle effects and changes that may occur in spaceflight as compared to Earth by studying two individuals who have the same genetics, but are in different environments for one year." The "Twin Study" is a large-scale and coordinated study conducted by universities, corporations and the government. In another press release by NASA, they said that the preparation for the journey to Mars requires innovative thinking. That's why they launched "Twin Study" to "safeguard future astronauts against the stresses of space to the human body." "Twin Study" was launched earlier and was conducted during Scott Kelly's one year stint in space. While his twin brother, an Ex NASA astronaut, stayed on earth for the whole duration of Scott's trip. Their contribution is significant to the future of space exploration. NASA said "For the first time, identical twins are providing opportunities to study the effects of spaceflight at a molecular level. Scott's identical twin brother Mark, himself a former astronaut, is spending the year on Earth, enabling researchers to focus on a near-identical comparison of the brothers' genomics and omics profiles". Mark Kelly posted a photo of himself tethered to devices teasing that he was locked up because his twin is back on Earth. At @NASA_Johnson for Twins Study tests. Now that @StationCDRKelly's back, they locked me up like Hannibal Lecter! pic.twitter.com/3yC2hmUrBr Mark Kelly (@ShuttleCDRKelly) March 3, 2016 Both the 52-year-old twins will be undergoing a lot of examination including psychological and cognitive tests and are expected to undergo rigorous testing for the "Twin Study" which is crucial for the preparation of NASA's three year journey to Mars. It pays to clean one's basement once in a while. A 1917 astronomical glass plate unearthed from the collections of Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California revealed the first-ever evidence of exoplanetary system. According to Carnegie Science, the century-old plate featured an image of a white dwarf made way back in 1917 in what was then called the Mount Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles. This observatory is also owned by Carnegie. However, upon further inspection, there was more to this astronomical plate than just a stellar spectrum of the distant star. Here's the backgrounder: Univerity College London researcher Jay Farihi made a request at the Carnegie Observatories for a material for his journal article. He was looking for the van Maanen's star, which was discovered by Dutch-American astronomer Adriaan van Maanen in the same year the plate was made. In the 19th century, such stellar spectra images were helpful in developing a system of star classification. These images are recordings of light emitted by distant stars, such as the van Maanen, a white dwarf. These spectra can allow astronomers to know more about the chemical compositions of stars, as well as how the emitted light is affected by things it passes before we can see it from Earth. Today, we use modern technology and digital tools to take images of stars. As requested, the plate was produced by the Carnegie Observatories. Everything seemed normal until Farihi noticed something different in the so-called "absorption line," which can indicate areas where emitted light passes through something, indicating interference. If you like looking at adorable penguin photos on the Internet, you may finally be doing it for a good cause. A team of scientists from Oxford University recently started a project called PenguinWatch, which relies on volunteers to look at Antarctica penguins and help them observe their daily lives. The highly addictive and interactive website employs over 75 cameras that monitor over 100 sites of penguin colonies across the continent. Each camera automatically takes a photo every hour, creating a huge resource for monitoring the penguins. According to BBC, this project is now considered as the "largest Antarctic science citizen venture in the world." The process is pretty simple. Just head over the website, log in and identify the adult penguins, chicks and eggs in the photos. (Yes, including the cuddly chicks!) You can just click on the penguin butts, heads or chests and classify them. The penguins can be classified as Chinstrap, Gentoo, Adelie, Rockhopper and King. Other nearby animals in the sites can be classified and marked to let scientists know who usually hang around the penguin colonies. There are also opportunities to speak and interact with other volunteers and even scientists to talk about your recent markings. With the huge number of photos, a great Internet army is just what this PenguinWatch needs. Lead researcher Dr. Tom Hart said they are counting on the volunteers to help them classify the hundreds of thousands of photos they already have. "We can't do this work on our own, and every penguin that people click on and count on the website - that's all information that tells us what's happening at each nest, and what's happening over time," he told BBC. At the moment, Canada Journal reports that over 3 million photos have been classified, thanks to volunteers. This huge project is important in helping scientists discover the threats to penguins in Antarctica, such as climate change and introduced predators. So what better way to spend your idle time or lunch break at work? Head over to PenguinWatch and binge on adorable penguin photos -- in the name of science. With momentum building off historic minimum wage wins in California and New York, Bay Area underpaid workers at fast-food restaurants and home care facilities joined what's being billed as the biggest day of strikes and protests to demand that the $15-an-hour salary become the federal minimum wage. Fast-food workers went on strike in the Bay Area and join local home care and child care workers for a massive protest Thursday. Telemundo documented dozens of SEIU workers shouting "You can see, you can feel, we are here, the union is present!" at the San Jose McDonald's on Story Road. Other locations for protests include the McDonalds on Market Sreet in San Francisco, the McDonald's on Jackson Street in Oakland, and the Frank Ogawa Plaza at Oakland City Hall. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton maintains a double-digit lead over rival Bernie Sanders in New York as both candidates aggressively campaign around the state ahead of Tuesdays primary, a NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll has found. Clinton had the support of 57 percent of likely Democratic voters in the poll released Thursday, while Sanders held 40 percent. Those numbers mirror a NBCNews/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll released Monday, in which Clinton was supported by more than half of the respondents and had a 14-point lead over the U.S. senator from Vermont. As the primary approaches, the back-and-forth of the candidates has not dramatically changed the New York contest, said Lee M. Miringoff, the director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, in a statement. As with prior polls, support for the two candidates appears to run along generational lines. Sanders was up by 13 points on Clinton with voters younger than 45, while Clinton enjoyed a 38-point lead with voters older than 45. Seventy-six percent of polled voters under 30 supported Sanders. Thursdays poll, which has a 4 percent margin of error and included 591 likely voters, also found a geographic divide between the two candidates. Clinton's backers are more heavily concentrated in the New York City area, where Sanders has been campaigning recently, the poll found; she had the support of 61 percent of polled voters in New York City, 60 percent in the nearby suburbs and 49 percent in upstate New York. Meanwhile, half of the likely voters polled upstate said they planned to vote for Sanders. The Brooklyn-born politician had the support of 35 percent of likely voters in New York City and 36 percent in the suburbs. The release of the poll came hours before a Democratic debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard's Duggal Greenhouse at 9 p.m. Sanders and Clinton have been campaigning in New York this week in advance of the primary. On Wednesday, Sanders walked a picket line with striking Verizon workers in Brooklyn, then held a huge rally in Greenwich Village's Washington Square Park. But he came under fire Thursday morning for a supporter who called some elected officials "corporate Democratic whores" for taking money from corporations. Clinton on Wednesday held rallies in the Bronx. She was criticized earlier in the week for being part of a skit at a political gala, along with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, that made use of a stereotype about black people. Like a cat with nine lives, former congressman Mel Reynolds managed to avoid jail again Thursday, even though a Federal Judge was so exasperated that he ordered Reynolds taken into custody and even summoned marshals to his courtroom. Youre a bad flight risk, Mr. Reynolds, said Judge Paul Darrah. On two occasions you havent lived up to your word. Indeed, exasperated prosecutors declared that Reynolds, who faces federal tax charges, was defiantly in violation" of Darrahs order that he return to the United States from Africa March 31st. He failed to make that date, and was immediately taken into custody when his plane landed in Atlanta earlier this week. Reynolds had received court permission to travel to Africa to visit his purportedly ailing daughter. But prosecutors told the judge today they were dubious about the severity of her illness. And outraged, they said, with a new discovery that he actually had two passports. It was stolen, Reynolds said of his first passport. It was stolen and they gave me a temporary passport to come here. But the government lawyers countered that they had looked at the entry stamps in Reynolds passport, and that they didnt seem to match with his travel plans. Plus, they noted, his supposedly near-bedridden daughter, had been posting on Facebook about a February trip to Berlin. My daughter is 22 years old, Reynolds insisted. She is looking for alternative medicine. She doesnt want to get sliced open! Im sorry, prosecutor Barry Jonas told the Judge. Im not buying this! Prosecutors at first asked that Reynolds be placed on electronic home confinement. But the former congressman told the judge that the family with whom he has been staying, had refused to have the equipment installed in their house. If there is no place where Mr. Reynolds can reside, I have no choice but to revoke his bond, the judge said. Two passports, no place to live, a sick daughter posting very healthy-looking photos on Facebook. It looked like a slam-dunk case for the government. But when all was done, Reynolds was able to stride out of the Dirksen Federal Building, past the burly marshals who were waiting to take him into custody, after defense attorney Richard Kling pleaded with the judge to give his client more time to get his life in order. If he thought that he was a risk of fleeing, I think he would have immediately taken him into custody, Kling said after court, where Reynolds insisted he had eventually always returned. When I was indicted, if you remember, I was in Africa, I didnt have to come back, I did, he said. When a warrant was put out for me, and I was in Africa, I didnt have to come back. I did, because I had no intention of not coming back, ever. A flight risk is someone who runs, he said. Ive never run and got caught and they brought me back, have I? The judge agreed to test out that theory. Reynolds is to return to court next Wednesday. Less than 3 weeks after a fatal limo accident killed one person and severely injured several others, another crash on the same stretch of the Illinois Tollway claimed a mans life overnight. At about 12:53 a.m. Thursday, police say a van plowed into a tow truck in the westbound lanes of I-90 at mile marker 63.5, between Barrington and Roselle Roads in northwest suburban Hoffman Estates. This area is an ongoing construction zone as the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway widening project continues. The 79-year-old Elgin man driving the van was killed, according to the Illinois State Police. The tow truck driver, a 44-year-old man who was standing near his truck when he was struck, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Since February 1, the Illinois Tollway has reported more than 50 crashes between Route 53 and Elgin. Drivers say temporary on-ramps aren't big enough, and lane configurations are often changing. The spot when you get on or off the highway needs to be a lot longer. It's too short. You're having people cut each other off. It's causing issues, said driver Rocco Paisano. They're constantly changing it with the walls that they put up, so something that's there one day that you're used to, suddenly, is just changed the next day, added Tollway driver Jennifer Louis. Just the fact that you're going from lane to lane, moving in areas that you weren't normally used to driving, I think that's where the problem occurs, said Arlington Heights Deputy Fire Chief Pete Ahlman. One of the biggest things is, people need to learn to slow down, he said, adding that a glare from the sun in the morning while driving eastbound can also be dangerous. Unfortunately, the recent fatal crashes on I-90 underscore the importance for drivers to slow down and focus on driving, not only in work zones, but when traveling at any time on area interstate roadways, the Illinois Tollway said in a statement. Within the next few weeks, we plan to add new speed radar feedback signs that show drivers how fast they are traveling and increase the number of message boards communicating with customers. Ten people were wounded in shootings Wednesday across Chicago. Most recently, a man was shot in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side. The 19-year-old was in the 12700 block of South Harvard about 10 p.m. when he heard shots and felt pain, police said. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn with a graze wound to his head. His condition had stabilized. At 8:24 p.m., a man was wounded in a drive-by shooting in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. The 28-year-old man was walking in the 5600 block of South Carpenter when a burgundy minivan drove by and someone inside fired shots, police said. He suffered a gunshot wound to the right leg and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition stabilized. About 8:10 p.m., a man was shot in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. The 23-year-old was standing on the sidewalk in the 5600 block of West Chicago Avenue when he heard gunfire and realized he was shot, police said. He took himself to Loretto Hospital, where he was listed in fair condition with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. An 18-year-old man was shot at 4:39 p.m. in the South Side Chatham neighborhood. He was walking in the 700 block of East 89th Street when shots rang out from someone sitting in a car parked in an alley, police said. The man was shot in the left knee and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was listed in good condition. About eight minutes earlier, an 18-year-old man was shot while driving in the South Side Chicago Lawn neighborhood. The man was traveling in a vehicle in the 2500 block of West Lithuanian Plaza Court about 4:31 p.m. when shots were fired from an unknown person standing in a group on the sidewalk, police said. He suffered a gunshot wound to the left shoulder and showed up at Holy Cross Hospital, where he was listed in good condition. A 19-year-old man was shot at 2:56 p.m. in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side. He was in an alley in the 11700 block of South Eggleston Avenue when shots rang out from a group of three males. He suffered a gunshot wound to the right leg and was taken in good condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Chicago Police said. A few minutes after 2 p.m., a 22-year-old man was shot in the West Side North Lawndale neighborhood. He was walking in the 1500 block of South Drake when a man in walked up and fired shots, striking him in the right arm and right hand, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition. About two hours earlier, a 38-year-old man was wounded in a drive-by shooting in the South Side Woodlawn neighborhood. He was walking in the 6400 block of South Evans at 12:09 p.m. when a red or maroon SUV drove by and someone inside fired shots. The victim, who police said is a documented gang member, was shot in the right thigh and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition stabilized. At 10:45 a.m., a man was shot while driving in the Southwest Side McKinley Park neighborhood. The 37-year-old was driving in the 3900 block of South Western when someone in a white car fired shots, striking the man in the knee, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital where his condition stabilized. In the days first shooting, a 16-year-old boy was also shot in Woodlawn. The teen was outside in the 600 block of East 62nd Street about 9:40 a.m. when shots were fired from a red car, police said. He was hit in the face and arm and taken in fair condition to Comer Childrens Hospital. Deep cuts are on the horizon for many state agencies but one family says cuts to mental health would be devastating. For Stacey Daves-Ohlin, her daughter's upcoming high school graduation should be a moment of happiness but now there's dread. Dread that the state cuts to mental health will hurt Sydney's chances and so many others. "She's a really good girl with a kind heart. She has an intellectual disability which requires her to have some assistance," said Stacey. Agencies like the Department of Developmental Services help children and adults across the state. For Sydney, they're giving her important opportunities to socialize, become independent, and help with the transition from school to the workforce. If deep cuts take place, though, that may all go away. "I want to be able to have the help to get a job and keep a job and be able to be successful," said Sydney. "There's a time when the parents aren't going to be here, and my daughter is an only child. If we're not here and she doesn't have a place to live independently, where's she going to go?" asked Stacey. Stacey says she knows cuts need to be made but that mental health isn't the place to do it. "I understand that people will lose their jobs possibly in various areas. I myself just recently lost a job," said Stacey. "But at the end of the dark hallway, there is a light. If you take these services away from these kids, there is no light. There's nothing." When Sydney first found out about the proposed cuts, she said she reached out to Governor Malloy and other lawmakers but got nowhere. Now she's scared about what will happen if services she and others depend on are gone. "You're sacrificing these people to live a life without purpose, to basically exist, not live a life. And I don't think that's anything any of us want," said Stacey. "Governor, I would like to ask you for a one-hour meeting because I understand at the high level you have to make these budget cuts but I don't think you understand the impact." Sydney says she wants to get a job helping children but needs help to make that happen. "I like helping [children], to help them grow and be successful," said Sydney. NBC Connecticut has reached out to the governor's office. A Hartford public schools employee is breaking her silence. She is accusing the administrator --who's been accused of sending sexual text messages with a teenager-- of being inappropriate with her too. This woman says she's dealt with uncomfortable communication from Eduardo Genao for years but she was too scared to speak up. The woman told the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters: "He sent me a photo of half his body in pajamas, and later on he asked if i wanted to see." She tells NBC Connecticut that the text messages came roughly once a month. She says not all of them were inappropriate but they started almost immediately after she was hired in Hartford nearly ten years ago. Troubleshooter Jill Konopka asks the woman: "How did you respond?" The woman said, "As best (as I) could. Try to keep it professional. Try to bring it back, in a way it doesn't escalate or go places. Try to bring it back work related." The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters recently sat down with this Hartford Public Schools employee who once reported directly to former school administrator Genao. He was forced to resign last week over allegations he was inappropriately texting a 13-year-old girl from New York. He has not been charged. Police are currently investigating. The woman told Nbc Connecticut, "When I saw it on the news, the first thing i thought was 'wow, finally he's been caught!' But, i was surprised that it said it did not involve school staff or a student." She believes she was sexually harassed both on and off the clock, for years. She showed us some of the texts she saved. Woman responded, "If it was a phone call, then it would go to inappropriate things. If it was a text, then it would go to 'what are you doing?' 'What are you wearing?' 'Can I see?' 'Can you send me a pic?' 'Do you wanna see what I'm doing?' 'What I'm wearing? Do you want to see where I am?'" She says it all came from his personal, not work, cell phone. And at work, she says Genao asked her into his office on a daily basis. The woman added, "He'd ask you to come and sit in the office and work. Who wants to sit with their boss and work right there. And he asked a lot of personal questions, so he knew all about you." She admits, she was too scared to speak up. That she didn't want to cause problems for herself, for Genao or his family. Woman added, "You feel very uncomfortable. He's in a very big position. And you know you could lose your job at any time with what you say or how you react." She now feels the weight of the world has been lifted from her shoulders. The woman added, "I am relieved. I won't get messages anymore. I won't have to figure out how to answer them. I am relieved i can move on and do my work like a regular employee. Always, 'oh my gosh, what can i do? You know, if I don't answer correctly or don't do this, maybe I'll lose my job, i just didn't know." That employee says she's surprised the district hasn't reached out to employees in the wake of the allegations against Genao. NBC Connecticut has reached out to school officials. Officials sent the Troubleshooters this statement, attributable to Pedro Zayas with Hartford Public Schools. "No form of harassment will be tolerated in the hartford public schools. We take these allegations very seriously. We strongly urge that person to please come forward and report these allegations through the harassment complaint procedure so that the allegations can be fully reviewed and investigated." We spoke with Genaos attorney again this afternoon, and he reiterates he has no comment on the case. We also reached out to Genao without success. A payroll error could cost the city of Fort Worth nearly a quarter-million dollars. An audit of the city's payroll system revealed that the city overpaid nine retired firefighters and 11 former city employees for unused vacation and sick time once they were no longer employed by Fort Worth. In a statement released Wednesday, the city said, "Due to the nature of firefighter shifts, they are compensated for either a 40-hour or a 56-hour work week. The rate of pay and vacation hours are adjusted to equalize compensation between these two schedules. Unfortunately, in these instances, the firefighters were compensated for leave hours associated with a 56-hour scheduled, but at a pay rate associated with a 40-hour schedule. The cumulative impact is approximately $244,000." The city wants the retirees to pay the money back. According to the Fort Worth Firefighters Association the city also wants to recoup the excess compensation from the widow of a retired firefighter. "It's the city's error, and these retirees, it's not their fault," said Michael Glynn, a vice president with the firefighters' association. "We've been bringing this up at several meetings. We've brought up the past several years. The city needs to correct it's payroll system." The city was alerted to the problem in December. On Thursday city leaders revealed that an additional 11 former employees were also overpaid by $7,500 collectively. The city began using the system in 2010. Six years later, Glynn said, firefighters still have trouble reading their pay stubs. "We can't read the checks. Your hours, time, your hourly rate doesn't always add up to your gross income," Glynn said. The city said it is "working with the software vendor to evaluate the solution and has implemented a manual review process for all firefighter terminal leave." "In addition, the city has contacted affected firefighters to make arrangements for reimbursement to the city for the overpayments," the statement continued. A Texas deputy constable is expected to recover after undergoing several hours of surgery for multiple wounds suffered when he was shot while talking to another constable following a traffic stop in Houston, authorities said Thursday. Harris County Deputy Constable Alden Clopton was wearing a protective vest when he was shot from behind late Wednesday, Constable May Walker said during a Thursday morning news conference. A motive for the shooting is unknown. Asked if authorities believed the shooter was targeting law enforcement, Houston police spokesman Kese Smith told The Associated Press that both deputy constables were in uniform and had marked vehicles. "I can't see how someone can mistake them for someone other than law enforcement," Smith said. The suspect fired six shots, four of which hit Clopton, Walker said. Officials had said earlier that Clopton had a bullet lodged near his heart, plus abdominal wounds. The other shots hit the other deputy constable's car and the ground. "It was virtually an ambush is what it was," Walker said, according to the Houston Chronicle. Authorities were questioning a male who showed up at nearby fire station after the shooting and matched the description of the suspected shooter, Smith said. The person had not been arrested or charged, he said, but authorities also were not actively looking for anyone else. Clopton is an 11-year veteran of the force who is married and has five children, said Pamela Greenwood, spokeswoman for the Harris County precinct seven constable's office. He comes from a law enforcement family, with three brothers who are law officers, and the Houston Chronicle reports he's married to a Harris County sheriff's deputy. According to Smith, the shooting happened after a female reserve deputy constable made a traffic stop and called Clopton to assist. The vehicle that was pulled over had left and Clopton was standing outside the window of the female's officer's vehicle when he was shot. Early accounts of the shooting by authorities indicated the gunman walked up to Clopton and fired, but Smith said Clopton was struck from behind as the assailant stood on the other side of a four-lane road just north of Texas Southern University. The female deputy constable got out and shot back, but it was unknown if she hit the fleeing suspect, Smith said. The person being questioned at the fire station did not have any injuries, Smith said, adding that the shooting was not related to the traffic stop. Clopton is the second Harris County law officer to be shot from behind in an unprovoked attack in the past year. Texas prosecutors in August charged a 30-year-old man with capital murder in the killing of sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth, who was gunned down while filling his patrol car with gas in what officials described as a "senseless and cowardly act. A high school near Fresno, California, will allow some of its staff members to carry concealed weapons, a decision the schools superintendent said will create "a safe environment for students and staff members." The controversial policy underwent months of review before being approved 5-0 by the Kingsburg Joint Union High School District Board of Trustees Monday, making the district the second in California to allow staff members to carry concealed weapons on campus, reported NBC affiliate KSEE in Central Valley. Folsom Cordova Unified, near Sacramento, has also allowed some employees to carry guns at school. The policy will allow up to five staff members with concealed-carry permits to carry guns at school after going through an application process and having their discipline records and school conduct evaluated. The staff will also have to undergo firearms training, held by the school district twice a year. Nobody on campus will know who is selected to carry the guns. "Its unfortunate we live in a society where we have to even consider these measures," district Superintendent Randy Morris told KSEE. "But the reality is we do." Morris said state law allows him to permit concealed-carry permit holders to have firearms on campus. "Its an opportunity to put our kids and staff in a better position," he said. It comes more than three years after 20 first-graders and six staff members were killed in a massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The rampage prompted schools across the U.S. to take another look at campus safety and security, with many carrying out drills, bolstering security staff and even installing bulletproof whiteboards in classrooms. Kingsbury district officials said the Sandy Hook shooting along with other recent school shootings and terror attacks prompted them to put the policy in place. "During Sandy Hook, six staff members died, 20 children died, and it lasted less than five minutes, so thats about one death every twelve seconds imagine if one of those teachers was also armed," said Kingsburg police Chief Neil Dadian. Dadian told KSEE he supports the new policy. "If a staff member wants to put themselves at risk like that I am all for that I will support them in any way I can," Dadian said. Not everybody is happy about the new policy, however, with some even comparing it to the Wild West. Opponents said a fence around campus and even a security guard are better options. "Now we are going to add something else for the teachers to think about shooting people, really?" Mary Lou Swenning, whose grandchildren are enrolled in the district, told KSEE. A former Ohio seminary student pleaded guilty Wednesday to trying to adopt and sexually molest infant girls in San Diego. In the plea agreement, Joel A. Wright, 23, admitted to writing numerous explicit emails where he described how he wanted to sexually assault infants under the age of 4 in Mexico. "There are no words to describe the horror that might have happened, had an innocent baby been placed in this mans arms," said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy, in a statement. "There is nothing more important on my agenda than keeping children safe from pedophiles." An Ohio student studying to be a priest traveled to San Diego Friday seeking sex with infants, according to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. NBC 7s Omari Fleming reports. Wright, a former seminary student at Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, posted Craigslist ads starting Nov. 25 seeking a female tour guide, according to the plea. When an unidentified witness replied, he told the witness he wanted to "adopt/own a baby girl (under the age of 3)" and have sexual intercourse with her, according to the plea agreement. In a different email to an undercover federal agent, Wright admitted to telling the agent he bought infant pain relief medication and a "pretty outfit" for a 1- or 2-year-old, according to the document. Wright flew into San Diego International Airport on Jan. 29 and called the undercover agent to say he had landed, according to the plea agreement. Special agents with Homeland Security Investigations met Wright outside baggage claim and took him into custody. According to officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Wright had planned to travel from San Diego to Mexico to have sex with at least three babies. Getty Images He pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted enticement of a minor. In the plea agreement, Wright admitted he had intended to adopt or purchase female infants and toddlers in Tijuana for the purpose of sexually molesting them. At his sentencing July 1, Wright faces a maximum penalty of life in prison with a minimum mandatory 10-year sentence, maximum $250,000 fine and lifetime registration as a sex offender. The woman charged in a bloody attack at Art Basel last December was in court Thursday. The art show turned into a crime scene when she pulled an X-Acto knife out and began stabbing a complete stranger. The suspect faced a judge Thursday on charges of attempted murder. The victim, wanting her voice to be heard, phoned in from hundreds of miles away. She also wrote a letter asking the judge for mercy for the woman that nearly killed her. 24-year old Siyuan Zhao will soon be headed to China after taking a plea deal Thursday. Those who witnessed the bizarre and bloody scene thought it was performance art, but it was a crime scene. The victim spoke to the court through a phone call from New York where she lives. She agreed to the plea deal the attorneys had worked out with Zhao saying she doesn't want her attacker to suffer by serving a prison sentence. "I think I have a better understanding of her state of mind," said Seo Young Shin, victim. That state of mind, according to her doctors, was insanity. Zhao pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder with a deadly weapon. She got no prison time because she is severely mentally ill. "She felt that ISIS was going to be at Art Basel to destroy the art," said Dr. Lean Melnick, psychiatrist. So she attacked the victim, a total stranger, who she thought was an ISIS agent. Zhao has a history of mental illness and violent behavior. She attacked a doctor while in treatment at Jackson Memorial Hospital and tried to kill several birds used in the pet therapy program. Part of Thursday's agreement also guarantees that she leave for China Thursday night. Shao will board a plane at 8 p.m. and will never be able to return to the United States. "[She'll] be able to resume her life, continue on her path to treatment for her mental illness," said Howard Srebinick, defense attorney. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Bhutan on Thursday, meeting with the Himalayan nation's popular king and queen with whom they have much in common. After arriving in a jet on a windy Thursday morning, Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, checked into their hotel in the capital of Thimpu and later headed to the 13th-century royal fortress. From their vehicle, they were ushered by traditional dancers, flag-bearers, pipers, drummers and Buddhist monks down a 500-meter (1,600-foot) walkway to meet Princess Chimi Yangzom Wanchuck, sister to the Bhutanese king, and Prince Dasho Ugyen Jigme Wangchuck. The royal pairs posed for photos in front of a statue of the laughing Buddha before going inside. Later, Will and Kate joined Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema to watch an archery match. Bhutan's royal couple are wildly popular in the nation of 800,000. Thimphu's open-air archery venue, with archers aiming at very small, brightly decorated wooden targets positioned 145 meters (476 feet) from where they stand. In the evening, they were meeting the Bhutanese royal couple's baby, born in February, and having a private dinner with Bhutan's king and queen. "Two of the world's young royal couples are meeting. It's a great message of friendship to the international community," said Tenzin Lekphell, who heads a management institute in Thimphu. On Friday, the British royal couple will hike to a Buddhist monastery called Tiger's Nest, perched at an altitude of 3,000 meters (10,000 feet), though there will be ponies on standby to help carry them should they tire on the trek. William's father, Prince Charles, had planned to make the same hike in 1998 but was injured in a polo match so instead stopped before the ascent and painted a scenic picture in watercolors. The visit "is a symbol of the centuries-old relationship between Bhutan and the UK," said Michael Rutland, who has lived in Bhutan since the 1970s and serves as honorary UK consul in the country. Agents of the British East India Company first arrived in the region in 18th century, at a time of tension and internal struggle between rival fiefdoms spread across the remote, mountainous region. The British engaged in decades of low-level trading with local rulers amid squabbles over borders and domain. In 1910, the two sides signed a treaty guaranteeing the British would not interfere in Bhutan provided the small nation on the northern border of what was then the British Empire in India accepted advice on external relations. The two young couples have much in common. Both were married in 2011, and both Kate and Jetson Pema did not come from royal families. The Bhutanese queen's father is a pilot, though her mother has royal lineage. The British royals are on a weeklong tour of India and Bhutan. They have already visited Mumbai, New Delhi and the wildlife reserve of Kaziranga National Park in the northeast Indian state of Assam, where they hoped to raise awareness of the plight of endangered rhinos and other animals threatened by poaching and habitat loss. A construction executive with ties to disgraced ex-NYPD commissioner Bernie Kerik was arrested Wednesday, months after he allegedly assaulted an FBI informant who exposed corruption involving Kerik inside a midtown hotel. Frank DiTommaso was charged with felony assault in the confrontation with Larry Ray at the Hudson Hotel on Sept. 17, police said. He was released on his own recognizance after a court hearing overnight. Ray, who was once close friends with Kerik and DiTommaso, told NBC 4 New York he believes it was an act of revenge. He said DiTommaso followed him to the Hudson Hotel and approached his table. Ray stood up to say hello and went to shake his hand, and that's when DiTomasso allegedly unleashed a flurry of punches at him. I was knocked out. He kept hitting me in the temple area repeatedly, said Ray, who suffered head trauma in the assault. Ray believes the attack was premeditated, payback for his providing information to local and federal prosecutors about Keriks corruption and his links to DiTommaso. I think it is revenge on Franks part for the court case, for sure, said Ray. DiTommaso -- whose construction firm was alleged to have provided $165,000 in free apartment renovations to Kerik -- was arrested Wednesday on felony assault charges. As he was led out of the Midtown North stationhouse in handcuffs, DiTommaso did not respond to NBC 4 New York when asked whether the attack was revenge on Ray for his cooperation. Ray, who served as best man at Kerik's wedding, has a criminal past but said there are witnesses and hotel security camera video now in the hands of police that confirm the allegations. Police said that is why they moved forward with felony assault counts Wednesday. During the investigation into Kerik's corruption case, DiTommaso was arrested on perjury charges but later cleared. Kerik pleaded guilty to felony state and federal charges in 2009, including tax fraud and lying to the White House, and served three years in prison. Spokesmen for the FBI and US Attorney Preet Bharara declined to comment about the alleged attack on a past witness. Former federal prosecutor Brad Simon said the case may be bigger than just an assault. If there is evidence that they were trying to intimidate this witness or punish him for giving testimony against Bernie Kerik, then I think it rises to the level of obstruction of justice or witness tampering, federal offenses, Simon said. Kerik, who was released from federal prison in May 2013 and now sometimes serves as a commentator on television, declined to comment about the case. DiTommaso is expected to appear at 100 Centre Street overnight on the assault counts. He is expected to deny any wrongdoing. Ray said DiTommaso deserves jail time. The right thing happens eventually most of the time," he said. On a recent weekday morning, Inspector Carlos Valdez stood nervously behind a podium as more than 200 top NYPD cops grill him about a surge in robberies and burglaries in the 40th Precinct in the Bronx. "Alright, Carlos, you know why youre up there," Chief James ONeill said. "A lot of things going on in the Four-o. Crime is definitely not headed in the right direction." Valdez defended his work, and that of the detectives from the 40th precinct, whore standing behind him. "Were up in robberies, assaults, burglaries and grand larcenies, but were also up in arrests for those index crimes," said Valdez, his voice cracking. The brass doesn't let up. "This is going on too long," snapped Commissioner Dermot Shea. "We need it fixed yesterday." This was the exchange the I-Team witnessed in an unprecedented look at Compstat, a crime-fighting innovation that helped make New York City into America's safest big city. It requires police officers to not just question suspects, but each other. Compstat, a statistical system for tracking crime, was introduced by Commissioner Bill Bratton and Jack Maple in 1994, during Brattons first stint as head of the NYPD. Twenty-two years later, Bratton is once again the city's top cop, Compstat is still in use, and crime has fallen 75 percent -- a fact Bratton calls a "New York miracle." New York had 1,946 murders in 1993, or more than a five a day. It had 352 in 2015. The system is based on tracking and stopping smaller crimes to stop bigger crimes, and to pinpoint hotspots where crimes are clustered. It has since been exported to other cities, like Philadelphia and Los Angeles, where Bratton also served as chief of police. The NYPD recently allowed the I-Team unprecedented access to one of its weekly Compstat meetings at One Police Plaza in downtown Manhattan. Television monitors displaying stats, graphs and maps line the walls, above long tables filled with high-ranking officers. At one end of the room sat the bosses, lobbing the questions, and at the other was a podium, where precinct commanders like Valdez take turns trying to answer them. Valdez was assigned to the 40th precinct several months ago to address a spike in crime. Valdez put out extra officers to streets with jumps in robberies. He also met with detectives about unsolved cases big and small from murders to burglary patterns. "Analyzing data, deploying resources and vigorous follow-up, that is Compstat," Valdez said. "In the end, crime prevention is really the goal." While the I-Team was visiting and recording his team at work in the Bronx, someone shot a 20-year-old man to death nearby right next to a playground, in the middle of the afternoon. In a separate incident several weeks ago, two police officers were fired on. Burglaries soared 400 percent in just a month. Valdez opened his case book to reveal more than 100 crimes that needed solving. At the Compstat meeting, the interrogators press Valdez for minute details of the precincts crime pattern, all the way down to how many smartphones have been reported stolen. I want to say its nine, said Valdez. How many have we obtained and put an alarm on those phones? asked Shea. Ill have to get back to you on that, answered a member of the Four-o team. ONeill told Valdez and his team they could do better. "If you have a robbery problem, everybody up at that podium needs to be tuned in. Im not sure Im hearing that." Valdez wasn't the only precinct commander to get grilled, though. Next up was Fausto Pichardo of the 43rd Precinct, also in the Bronx. Pichardo's precinct had no homicides to report -- but O'Neill was quick to point out the area had the highest volume of robberies in the city. "We took six robberies in sector Eddie," Pichardo responded. "We immediately deployed a dedicated uniformed robbery order on each single platoon." O'Neill also brought up up people who missed parole meetings. "I'm sure they're causing problems elsewhere," O'Neill said. Afterward, O'Neill and other NYPD brass work out a prescription for the precinct -- to target repeat offenders even harder. "The major takeaway is to follow through," Pichardo said. Pichardo said commanders are constantly adjusting anti-crime strategies whether or not police headquarters is calling for answers. "The problem is if we have to go in and tell them what we our plan is going to be we have already failed," he said. "We put the plan in place two weeks ago when we saw the trend was going up." But after the meeting, ONeill told the I-Team the point is not to embarrass anyone, but to ensure success. Were not looking to throw curveballs at people [we] just want to make sure their whole operation is efficient. I know Carlos will turn the Four-o around, said ONeill. Bratton, meanwhile, said the point is to hold commanders accountable. But he also praised Bronx commanders for the overall reduction in violence. We have never had a two month period beginning of a year with so few shootings, he said. O'Neill said he thinks the rigorous public interrogation that precinct commanders endure helps make a difference in crime in the city. "There is direct accountability," he said. "I think thats the genius of Compstat." New York's matzo factories and diners will take a backseat to the debate stage and talk show circuit as the entire presidential field two Democrats and three Republicans descends on the nation's largest city. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will hold their first debate in more than a month, a showdown Thursday in Brooklyn that comes at a tense moment in the Democratic primary. Republicans Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich will each speak at a state GOP gala before the latter two candidates make appearances on the late night shows. While the White House hopefuls have been blanketing New York state for several days, holding rallies and mingling at local hangouts, Thursday's events are among the last high-profile opportunities they'll have to appeal to voters. Front-runners Clinton and Trump hope the state can propel them past stubborn challengers and into the general election. Preference polls show Clinton and Trump leading their respective contests heading into Tuesday's primary. Democrats: Hillary Clinton debates Democratic rival Bernie Sanders at the Brooklyn Navy Yards Duggal Greenhouse at 9 p.m. The CNN debate will be moderated by Wolf Blitzer. Bernie Sanders will speak to the National Action Network, a civil rights organization founded by Al Sharpton, at noon. Hillary Clinton spoke to the group a day earlier at the same location. The debate comes a day after Sanders held a large rally in Washington Square Park. Republicans: Donald Trump delivers remarks at a Suffolk County Republicans dinner on Long Island at 5 p.m. Some people have criticized the Patchogue event for its proximity to the site of a deadly 2008 hate crime. They plan to hold a vigil and protest near The Emporium, where Trump is speaking. Others contend that outrage over Trump's visit is purely political. Suffolk County authorities said that they will be posting extra police outside The Emporium on Thursday in anticipation of the protests. Trump will then take a helicopter to New York City, where hell join fellow GOP candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich for the New York State Republican Gala. The gala will be held at the Grand Hyatt in midtown. Trump is scheduled to speak and protests are expected outside. Ted Cruz starts his day in Buffalo, where hes taking part in a town hall with MSNBCs Chuck Todd. Cruzs wife, Heidi, will join her husband for the event, which is being held at the University of Buffalo. It will be taped and air on MSNBC at 8 p.m. Thursday. After the Buffalo town hall, Cruz travels to New York City, where he appears as a guest on NBCs The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. It will air Thursday at 11:30 p.m. on NBC. Cruz then heads over to the Grand Hyatt in midtown, where hell join Trump and Kasich for the New York State Republican Gala. John Kasich kicks off the day with a town hall on Long Island. MSNBCs Chris Matthews will interview Kasich at the town hall, which is being held at the Milleridge Inn Cottage in Jericho at noon. The taped event will air on MSNBC at 7 p.m. Thursday. Kasich then travels to New York City to appear on NBCs Late Night with Seth Meyers. It will air Friday at 12:30 a.m. on NBC. Kasich then joins Trump and Cruz at the Republican gala in midtown. Police have arrested a local boxer and actor they say punched his girlfriend in the head inside their Brooklyn home this week and critically injured her. Josh Luteran, 30, was arrested Wednesday afternoon at what appeared to be a hostel on Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side. He faces robbery and assault charges. Luteran allegedly assaulted his 38-year-old girlfriend at their home in the area of Bedford and Jefferson avenues in Bedford-Stuyvesant at about 1 a.m. Tuesday, police said. Police are searching for a local boxer and actor accused of punching his girlfriend in the head inside their Brooklyn home early Tuesday, critically injuring her. Ray Villeda reports. The two had been fighting over money, according to law enforcement sources. By the time cops responded to the home, Luteran had left, police said. His girlfriend was taken to Methodist Hospital in critical condition and was placed in a medically induced coma. Josh Luteran Demo Acting Reel from Cassandra Munoz on Vimeo. A judge on Wednesday delayed the sentencing for a former police officer who fatally shot an unarmed man in a darkened Brooklyn public housing project stairwell as he decides whether to toss the verdict because of juror misconduct. The ex-officer, Peter Liang, was convicted of manslaughter in February in the shooting of Akai Gurley. Gurley had been walking down to the lobby when Liang was patrolling the inside of the building. Liang opened a door to the stairwell and fired his weapon once accidentally. The bullet ricocheted and struck Gurley. Liang's attorneys argued last week that Juror No. 9, Michael Vargas, initially told lawyers empaneling a jury that no one in his family had been accused of a crime. But after the verdict, he told a newspaper his father was sent to prison for accidentally shooting a friend to death. Vargas was subpoenaed by Liang's attorneys to appear at a hearing on Wednesday and was grilled by lawyer Paul Shechtman. The interrogation, at times, became loud and hostile. "You understood you took an oath to tell the truth and if any of your answers were knowingly false you could be subjected to a perjury charge?" Shechtman asked. "I guess so," Vargas responded. Vargas said he didn't know his father well. Shechtman: "You don't know your father had been convicted of manslaughter?" Vargas: "I don't know that for a fact, not even today. I do not know what happened. I was young, I was sheltered." The hearing will continue Thursday. Liang's sentencing was postponed to next week. The prosecutor has recommended the former New York Police Department officer be sentenced to house arrest and probation. Outside the courthouse, Shectman said Vargas "is not an impartial juror" and that his testimony on Wednesday "showed he's not an honest man." Vargas declined to comment as he left the courthouse on Wednesday. Liang, who was a rookie officer, was fired after the verdict. The chairman of New York City's police watchdog agency has resigned a day after being sued by its executive director. Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Richard Emery resigned Wednesday as chairman of the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board. Emery said in a statement that a "confluence of recent circumstances" would preclude him from continuing in his post. The executive director of the watchdog agency, Mina Malik, filed a lawsuit against Emery on Tuesday alleging he used a gender-based slur against her and was undermining her authority. The lawsuit claims he said of Malik and another female employee during an argument, "I don't know why everyone is acting like a bunch of p------." The attorney for the women said Emery also retaliated against his clients by "undermining their credibility, taking away different job opportunities and the like." The attorney, Douglas Wigdor, told NBC 4 New York the goal of the lawsuit was to get Emery out and they were pleased he had resigned. "It sounds a loud and clear message to other women in the workplace who may be undergoing harassment," said Wigdor. Emery has not directly responded to the allegations but in his resignation letter, he explained his decision, saying, "The issues of inhibitions on my law practice, several of my recent public statements and recent litigation have created daily distractions from the success of the CCRB." It's not clear whether the women plan to pursue their lawsuit. Emery had also come under scrutiny because his law firm represented some clients who were suing the city police department. When police unions complained about it, Emery told The Daily News they were "squealing like a stuck pig," a remark for which he later apologized. Patrick J. Lynch, president of the rank-and-file NYPD officers' union, said in a statement, "The next CCRB chairperson should be held to the same high standards that police officers are. Our hope is that whoever replaces him will be a fair-minded and reasonable person who has a basic respect for police officers and the difficult job that they do." The CCRB investigates claims of misconduct by police, but the NYPD has the final say on whether discipline is imposed. Operators of a transitional residence in Brooklyn, a so-called three-quarter home, are being charged with medicaid fraud and money laundering for allegedly forcing their tenants to attend drug treatment services and then accepting kickbacks related to the treatment. Yury and Rimma Baumblit were arrested Wednesday on charges accusing them of engaging in a monthly kickback scheme that netted them more than $600,000 in illegal kickbacks, said state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who announced the arrests Thursday. If convicted on all charges, the Baumblits face up to 15 years in prison. The Baumblits were the focus of an NBC 4 New York I-Team investigation in 2013 that explored allegations that they were sending clients to unnecessary and sometimes unproductive counseling sessions and inflating Medicaid bills for the treatment. The charges against the Baumblits allege that they received the kickbacks through one of four corporations under their control: Marketing Service Inc., R Y B Realty, Steps to Better Living Inc. and Orbit Management Group, all operating in Kings County. As our complaint demonstrates, Yury and Rimma Baumblit lined their pockets by preying on some of the most vulnerable members of society, Schneiderman said. Our complaint demonstrates that over several years, the Baumblits carried out a deliberate and illicit scheme to defraud taxpayers, rip-off Medicaid, and force residents into programs and services that benefited no one but themselves. We will deliver swift justice to the Baumblits once and for all. Yury Baumblit, 65, was charged last year with two misdemeanors accusing him of illegally evicting tenants. Three-quarter housing is regarded as a living arrangement somewhere between a regulated halfway house and a private residence. They typically provide shelter to poor people in treatment for alcohol and drug abuse, mentally ill individuals and people who refuse to go to homeless shelters. Investigators found that the Baumblits kept kept their three-quarter homes in deplorable conditions, often without heat or air conditioning, and with vermin, mold, persistent leaks and broken windows, Schneiderman said. Residents were also subjected to acts of violence and threats by the Baumblits and their house managers, and were locked out of the houses during much of the day, he added. In addition to the felony charges filed Wednesday, the Attorney Generals Medicaid Fraud Control Unit filed a False Claims Act lawsuit and other civil causes of action against the Baumblits and others seeking over $1.9 million dollars in damages plus penalties. In a military buildup certain to inflame tensions with China, the United States said Thursday it will be conducting joint South China Sea patrols and eventually air patrols with the Philippines, while dispatching U.S. troops and combat aircraft there on more frequent rotations. The announcement by Defense Secretary Ash Carter was the first time the U.S. revealed that its ships had conducted patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, a somewhat rare move not done with many other partners in the region. While Carter insisted the U.S. was "trying to tamp down tensions here" and not provoke anyone, Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin standing beside him at a news conference in Manila said he expects that U.S. forces, "with their presence here, will deter uncalled-for actions by the Chinese." While the military boost doesn't include permanent basing for U.S. troops, any increased U.S. military presence and activities in the region is viewed as a threat by Beijing and will likely trigger an angry response. During the news conference, Carter said the United States will be keeping nearly 300 troops, including Air Force commandos armed with combat aircraft and helicopters, in the Philippines through the end of the month. The U.S. will also increase troop rotations to strengthen training and support increased military operations in the region. Speaking in the guest house of the presidential complex, Carter said the joint patrols will improve the Philippine's navy and "contribute to the safety and security of the region's waters." The increase in military support comes just days after a Philippine diplomat asked that the U.S. help convince China not to build in the nearby Scarborough Shoal, which is viewed as important to Filipino fishermen. Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Cuisia Jr. said the Philippines is not capable of stopping China from constructing there. China has built man-made islands in other contested spots in the South China Sea. Charlito Maniago, the leader of a northwestern Philippine village where many fishermen lost access to the disputed Scarborough Shoal after China seized it in 2012, said the joint will spark hope that they can sail freely again to the rich fishing ground. "This will boost the confidence of our fishermen because they think the U.S. has the capability to defend them," Maniago told The Associated Press by telephone from the coastal village of Cato in Pangasinan province. "The presence of America will make China think twice." Maniago, however, expressed concern that if China takes a more hardline position because of Washington's increasing involvement in the disputed waters "a dangerous situation may happen and our fishermen may all the more lose the chance to fish in those waters." According to the Pentagon, the U.S. forces that will remain here are already in the Philippines participating in the Balikatan or shoulder-to-shoulder combat exercises which will end Friday. About 200 airmen, including special operations forces will remain at Clark Air Base, along with three of their Pave Hawk attack helicopters, an MC-130H Combat Talon II special mission aircraft and five A-10 combat aircraft. This initial contingent will provide training to increase the two militaries' ability to work together, laying the groundwork for forces to do joint air patrols as well as the ship movements. Also, up to 75 Marines will stay at Camp Aguinaldo to support increased U.S. and Philippine combined military operations in the region. The troops and aircraft are expected to leave at the end of the month, but other U.S. forces and aircraft would do similar rotations into the Philippines routinely in the future. Carter would not say how frequently those rotations would happen, but called it a "regular periodic presence." The increased troop presence is part of a broader U.S. campaign to expand its assistance to the Philippines, as America shores up its allies in the Asia Pacific. And it comes as territorial disputes with China, including Beijing's increasing effort to build manmade islands in the South China Sea, roils nations across the region. The U.S. and others have consistently said the military exercises and assistance packages are not aimed at China but represent America's continued support for its allies in the region. Last week the Pentagon announced that the U.S. will send about $40 million in military assistance to the Philippines to beef up intelligence sharing, surveillance and naval patrols. Carter said the aid will include an enhanced information network for classified communications, sensors for patrol vessels and an unmanned aerostat reconnaissance airship. The patrol sensors and surveillance equipment will help the Philippines keep a watch over its territory, including areas where there are overlapping claims in the South China Sea. The U.S. will also get access to five Philippine military bases to house American forces that will rotate in and out of the country for training and other missions. Scarborough Shoal is at the center of a case that Manila filed with the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international panel, in January 2013 after Chinese coast guard ships took effective control of the disputed land following a tense standoff with Filipino ships. The shoal sits about 145 miles (230 kilometers) west of the Philippines, and 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the Chinese coast. The court has agreed to take the case and is expected to rule in the coming months. Beijing has objected, saying the panel has no jurisdiction in the matter. Wawa lovers, rejoice! That cup o' Joe you grab at your favorite convenience store each morning is free Thursday in honor of Wawa Day. The promotion, which honors the 52nd anniversary of the Philadelphia region's convenience store giant, will give every customer a free cup of coffee -- any size -- all day long.[[375686311, C]] Wawa, which expands as far as Florida expects to give away 1.7 million free cups of coffee over its more than 720 stores Thursday. "1.7 million is a pretty big number, but the number we are most proud of is the millions of lives impacted through the charitable efforts of The Wawa Foundation," said Wawa president and CEO Chris Gheysens. Happy Wawa Day, everyone, we toast you all! [[255483001, C]] Wawa opened its first store in Folsom, Pennsylvania in April 1964. The Delaware County-based business launched its charitable Wawa Foundation in honor of its 50th anniversary in 2014 and has since made $22 million in contributions to combat hunger and honor every day heroes, said the company. "During the anniversary week of our entrance into retail, Wawa Day provides us with a chance to connect with and honor the millions of customers who have been so integral to Wawas growth over the past 52 years," said Gheysens. "At Wawa, we exist to go beyond filling customer orders to fulfilling the lives that we touch every day. Our core purpose is exemplified through the commitment of The Wawa Foundation to give back to the communities we serve, as well as through the dedication of our thousands of associates who make the Wawa experience so special. Its always meaningful to celebrate our customers, associates and communities with one of our most beloved Wawa products." Philadelphia Police found one man dead and another barricaded inside an abandoned West Philadelphia home Wednesday morning. Officers responded to a home along N Edgewood Street near Vine Street around 4 a.m. for reports of a gunfire. When officers arrived they saw a man inside who wouldnt let them in, said police. After about 90 minutes, SWAT officers broke into the house and found a 25-year-old man bleeding from his nose behind the front door, said police. He died a short time later at the hospital. SWAT officers found a 23-year-old on the second floor of the home, said police. "When they got to the second floor they found a 23-year-old male hiding in one of the rear rooms and SWAT officers took this individual into custody," said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small. No word yet on what led to the deadly shooting. An assistant for the Bucks County police chief is now facing charges after investigators say she and her husband stole thousands of dollars' worth of electricity to power appliances inside their home. Faith Friedhofer, the office manager and administrative assistant for Falls Township Police chief Bill Wilcox, and her husband Donald Watson are charged with theft of services, receiving stolen property, recklessly endangering another person and criminal conspiracy to commit theft of services. The investigation began back on December 17, 2015 shortly before 7:30 a.m. when firefighters and police responded to the couples home on the 200 block of Centre Street in Fairless Hills for a fire. PECO officials also responded to the home and disabled the power so that firefighters could safely bring the fire under control. When a PECO worker pulled out the electrical meter to disconnect power inside the home he noticed several spotlights were still on outside the house, officials said. If you think something is secured and unbeknownst to you the power is still on, you can get somebody hurt, said Falls Township Fire Marshal Rich Dippolito. You can get somebody shocked. Officials then determined Friedhofer and Watson were illegally taking electricity from a utility pole located directly behind their home. Investigators say the couple stole electricity from the pole and used it for several appliances, including a Jacuzzi, tanning bed, refrigerator, and flat screen televisions. In all, officials believe the couple stole nearly $20,000 worth of electricity. Watson is also accused of stealing from the Fairless Hills Athletic Association, allegedly ripping out six golf car batteries which caused more than $1,000 in damage. The way I look at it is youre stealing from my kids and youre stealing from the kids of this community if youre coming to a little league scavenging and stealing, said Little League coach Eric David. NBC10 reached out to Chief Wilcox but he told us he cant comment on the incident. Friedhofer and her husband are both out on bail. A man who pleaded guilty to participating in a 2014 carjacking that set off a devastating string of events leading to the deaths of a young mom and three of her children will spend 45 to 90 years in prison for his crimes, a judge ruled on Thursday. Jonathan Rosa spent his 21st birthday in court learning that he'll spend at least the next four decades behind bars for his role in the July 25, 2014 carjacking and crash that killed Keisha Williams, 34, and her children, 15-year-old Keiearra, 10-year-old Joseph and 7-year-old Terrance. Rosa pleaded guilty to four counts of third-degree murder, robbery, aggravated assault, conspiracy and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse in January. A year after a carjacking crash killed a mom and three kids in North Philly, survivors reflect on the tragedy and are planning a memorial barbecue to honor the lives lost. The deadly saga unfolded on that hot July afternoon when Rosa and his co-defendant, Cornelius Crawford, decided to carjack a realtor at 6th and Cumberland streets. Prosecutors said Rosa sexually assaulted the realtor in her Toyota 4Runner as it sped through North Philadelphia. Williams, her children and a neighbor, Thelma Brown, were setting up a stand to sell fruit at Germantown and Allegheny avenues when the SUV plowed through the intersection, jumped a curb and struck the group on the grass lot where they stood. Brown, who is in her 70s, survived. Williams and her children, however, died from their injuries. Crawford negotiated a guilty plea to four counts of third-degree murder, robbery, aggravated assault and attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse in March. He was sentenced to 12 to 25 years in prison. Its been a year since a car crashed through a fruit stand in Philadelphia killing three children. NBC10s Jacqueline London reports on a gathering to remember the victims in Tioga. Brown and Williams' two surviving sisters spoke with NBC10 over the summer, a year after the carjacking and crash. One of Williams' sisters has taken in her two surviving children, who were not at the fruit stand that day. Brown, who has suffered numerous health problems since she was badly injured in the crash, said she faced the admitted carjackers at their preliminary hearing, but that she doesn't wish physical harm on them the way many in her neighborhood and the city did in the wake of the crime that ended in tragedy. "The only thing I can say to them is God will judge you," Brown said. "I don't want nobody to do nothing to them, nothing at all, because I want them to live with what they did and with their regrets." Brett Griffin drank so much alcohol it killed him. His parents blame fraternity hazing and they're suing the frat and some of Brett's fraternity brothers at the University of Delaware. The suit claims the 18-year old pledge was under pressure to fit in and drank so much at a Big Brother Night party last November, he couldn't walk, couldn't talk and eventually passed out. The suit alleges that his fraternity brothers, who took turns watching over him, knew how bad off he was but let hours pass. No one called for any medical help until Brett's lips turned blue, according to the lawsuit. By the time medics got to him, Brett was unconscious. He died of acute alcohol poisoning. Brett's parents are suing the national fraternity, Sigma Alpha Mu, its local chapter and five students, including fraternity officers, the "pledge master" and the student who was assigned as Brett's "big brother" that night. He "did not die by simply over-consuming alcoholBrett died as a result of longstanding, dangerous fraternity rituals and the family intends to hold those responsible for his death accountable," attorney Douglas E. Feirberg told Delaware Online. Big Brother Night is one of the "three deadliest nights" for fraternities according to the lawsuit. A pledge is expected to drink an entire bottle of alcohol on nights like that, according to the family's lawsuit. Brett was drinking Southern Comfort. "I have not seen anything to suggest liability on the part of my client, the national Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity," attorney Michael P. Kelly said. He says the organization has "strict policies and procedures governing conduct." Feirberg calls those policies and procedures "flawed and dangerous" because fraternities rely on "untrained, unprepared, unsuspecting kids" to carry them out. Brett Griffin was from Kendall Park, N.J. The suit does not name the University of Delaware. A nun who was accused of driving under the influence last year defended herself in court Wednesday while recounting the events that led to her arrest. I was in my habit in handcuffs, Sister Kimberly Miller, IHM said during a court appearance Wednesday. Im a nun. I was in handcuffs. I was so upset. Miller was arrested during the early morning hours of Nov. 15 in Washington Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey. Police said Miller was driving erratically along Route 42 and backed her silver Chevy Impala into the front doors of a Meineke Car Care Center. Miller failed a field sobriety test after she was pulled over, according to investigators. Police also said her blood alcohol concentration was twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent. She was later charged with DUI. Miller told the court Wednesday she couldnt remember anything about her arrest, which was captured on dashcam video. Miller said she has a history of sleepwalking as well as a painful arthritic condition that she takes medicine for. Miller claimed the condition keeps her from sleeping so she often drinks wine to help her get some rest. Miller told the court she remembered going to an event at a Childrens book store then going back to her convent in North Philadelphia where she put on her pajamas, drank a glass of wine, took an Ambien and went to sleep. She claims the next thing she remembered was being at a police station in New Jersey and speaking to a police officer. I asked him where I was, Miller said. I asked him how I got there. I asked him what time it was. Witnesses and officers testified they spotted Miller driving erratically and that her speech was slurred, her eyes were droopy and they smelled alcohol after they stopped her car. Miller is a teacher at the Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls in Philadelphia. The Archdiocese of Philadelphias Office of Catholic Education placed her on administrative leave last year pending the outcome of the investigation. Students launched an online petition asking officials to let the well-liked sister keep her teaching job. "She has helped her students blossom into the women they are today with her selfless devotion and dedication to her faith and job as a teacher," the petition reads. "In light of recent events, all of the positive things she has done should not be overshadowed by one negative wrongdoing." The petition has over 2200 signatures. A decision in Millers case is expected to be made next Wednesday. A classic fast food brand is eyeing a major expansion in California. According to San Francisco Business Times, Dairy Queen is plotting as many as 400 new locations in the state that would hire for 50-100 job positions at each location. A representative for the company told the publications that no specific locations have been approved, but Oakland and San Francisco figure heavily into the plan. There are approximately a dozen Dairy Queen locations in San Diego Counnty. According to Jim Kerr VP of Franchise Development, one to two new locations in our region in the next year or so is a realistic number. A California appeals court handed teacher unions a big victory Thursday by reversing a trial judge's ruling that found tenure deprived students of a good education. The 2nd District Court of Appeal said the plaintiffs failed to show tenure and other provisions of the education code were unconstitutional. "The court's job is merely to determine whether the statutes are constitutional, not if they are 'a good idea,'" presiding Justice Roger Boren wrote. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge had ruled two years ago that five provisions of the state education code -- including policies allowing teachers to receive tenure within two years and be dismissed during layoffs based on seniority -- were unconstitutional because they deprived some of the state's 6.2 million students of a quality education by keeping more senior, but less effective, teachers on the job. In a ruling that threatened to shake up public schools across the state, Judge Rolf Treu had said the evidence "shocks the conscience." But in reversing that ruling, the appellate court said state law wasn't to blame for inequities. "Although the statutes may lead to the hiring and retention of more ineffective teachers than a hypothetical alternative system would, the statutes do not address the assignment of teachers," Boren wrote. "Instead, administrators -- not the statutes -- ultimately determine where teachers within a district are assigned to teach." Vergara v. California had pitted the state and its largest teacher unions against a group of students who asked the judge to consider laws regarding teacher tenure, dismissal and seniority consideration for layoffs. A Silicon Valley-based group called Students Matter brought the lawsuit on behalf of nine students, contending the targeted laws hinder the removal of ineffective teachers and disproportionately hurt low-income and minority students. The case was closely watched and highlighted tensions between teacher unions, school leaders, lawmakers and well-funded education reform groups over whether policies like tenure and last-in-first-out keep ineffective teachers in the classroom, particularly in already low-performing schools. The lawsuit was filed by nine public school students, including Beatriz Vergara, and backed by Students Matter, a nonprofit group founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Welch. Attorneys for the state and its teachers unions had argued that the case was flawed and should be overturned because no evidence was presented showing the disputed statutes are the cause of educational inequalities, saying the suit was never about helping students. A similar lawsuit was filed in New York after the Vergara decision, contending that state's teacher tenure and layoffs by seniority laws deprive students of a sound, basic education as guaranteed under the state constitution. Lawyers for New York's teachers union have asked for the case to be dismissed. Attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr. says in a statement Thursday that the 2nd District Court of Appeal's ruling is a "temporary setback" and expects to appeal the decision to the California Supreme Court. He argues that teacher tenure amounts to "egregious constitutional violations" of students. Check back for updates on this breaking news story. Sheriffs deputies are looking for a man who sucker-punched a train conductor on board a train from Oceanside to downtown San Diego. Deputies said the situation happened at about 7:30 a.m. April, when the man started acting strangely on the southbound Coaster bound for the Santa Fe Train Depot in downtown San Diego. A passenger pressed the trains emergency button, alerting the conductor to the mans bizarre behavior. The conductor then asked the man to get off the train. As the conductor was turned away from the suspect, thats when he punched the conductor, causing his glasses to fall off and his nose to bleed, deputies said. Deputies said the suspect then ran off the train. The conductor suffered a mild concussion and numerous lacerations suffered after falling into a pole, deputies said. The suspect is described as between 30 and 35 years old, white, about 6 feet tall and weighing about 170 pounds. He had dark hair, a light beard and was wearing glasses, a black tank top shirt, tan pants and a blue backpack around his waist. Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect. Anyone with information should call 858-565-2000 or the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at 888-580-8477. What to Know Credibility of star witness Jeffrey Thompson faltered as prosecutors investigated allegations about his sexual relationships. Washington Post filed suit for release of records from the investigation. Gray's lawyer warned he would use Thompson's personal life if Gray went to trial, sources said. The federal investigation into former D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray ended in part because of serious questions about the credibility of star witness Jeffrey Thompson, the Washington Post reported and sources told to News4. Thompsons credibility faltered last year as prosecutors investigated allegations about his sexual relationships with men and uncertainty about the ages of some of those men, the Washington Post reported. Federal prosecutors are expected to release new information from the shadow campaign investigation that troubled Gray while he was mayor. The Post filed suit to release records from the investigation, saying it wanted to answer a key question: Why prosecutors never brought charges against Gray despite clear public signals Gray's indictment was likely. Gray's case was dropped in December. Sources said Gray's lawyer, Robert Bennett, warned prosecutors Thompson's private life included questionable sexual relations with a variety of men and possibly some under age and that would be used against Thomson if Gray went to trial. The Post's report Thursday disclosed how the allegations about Thompson, including possible money and gifts to hide sexual relationships, undermined Thompson's credibility should he take the stand in a trial. Earlier this week, Bennett declined to comment. The U.S. Attorney's Office said it is not in a position to comment on the case. Earlier this week, attorneys for Thompson declined to comment on any aspect of the investigation. Thompson couldn't be reached. Gray is running for the Ward 7 seat on the D.C. Council against incumbent Yvette Alexander, who supported him as mayor. "As far as I'm concerned, that investigation concerning me was closed on Dec. 9 of 2015, and that's exactly where I leave it at this point," Gray said Thursday. Twelve people pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the investigation, which uncovered evidence of more than $3.3 million in illegal contributions to various campaigns between 2006 and 2011. Thompson admitted setting up an illegal $660,000 slush fund that aided Gray's campaign. Prosecutors said Gray knew about the money. Gray lost his bid for re-election to Mayor Muriel Bowser but maintained his innocence throughout the investigation. Background of the Investigation When Sulaimon Brown ran against Gray and former Mayor Adrian Fenty in 2010, he would lash out at Fenty during debates. After Grays victory, Brown got a job with a $110,000 salary as special assistant at the Department of Health Care and Finance in Gray's administration, but later was fired. Then Brown told reporters he was paid by Gray's campaign to attack Fenty in return for the job, which is illegal under D.C. law. When Brown went public with his allegations, Grays assistant campaign treasurer, Thomas Gore, and another campaign consultant, Howard Brooks, tried to cover up what they were accused of doing. Federal prosecutors said Gore used campaign cash to buy blank money orders that Brooks delivered to Brown. The 'Shadow Campaign' When former U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen began investigating Browns allegations, his office unearthed the shadow campaign. Money for paid canvassers who were put up in hotels and ferried around town in rented vehicles with paid drivers distributing thousands of yard signs, stickers and car magnets came from a D.C. businessman, federal prosecutors said. News4 sources identified him as Thompson, who owns several companies, including DC Chartered Health Plan, the most lucrative government contract in the District. Thompson wrote checks worth $653,000 to his longtime friend Eugenia Clarke Harris, federal prosecutors said. She pleaded guilty in July 2012 to funneling the money through her PR company so the shadow campaign could buy thousands of political T-shirts, yard signs and other campaign gear. Guilty Pleas On May 22, 2012, Gore became the first person to plead guilty in the investigation on one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making campaign donations in the name of another person. Two days later, Brooks pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators, telling a judge he was instructed to pay Brown for the attacks on Fenty. Brooks acknowledged in U.S. District Court giving $2,810 in money orders to Brown, but he did not reveal who told him to pay Brown. June 10, 2013, former Council member Michael Brown pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from undercover FBI agents and agreed to cooperate in the investigation into Grays campaign and its connection to Thompson. Charging documents revealed he received $20,000 in off-the-books campaign contributions from Harris. Lee Calhoun, the first Thompson insider to face charges in the investigation, pleaded guilty June 20, 2013, to making false campaign contributions and accepting reimbursements for them. He made $160,000 in straw donations including $76,000 to D.C. campaigns over the course of 10 years. Philadelphia businessman Stanley Straughter, who has done consulting work for Thompson, pleaded guilty June 24, 2013, to making $132,600 in political contributions for which he was reimbursed. In March 2014, Jeffrey Thompson admitted to setting up an illegal $660,000 slush fund that aided Gray's campaign. A few months later, Mark Long pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the District's Office of Campaign Finance by funding and concealing contributions that exceeded those allowed under campaign finance laws. Five other people pleaded guilty to offenses directly involving or connected to the 2010 mayoral election. What to Know Trooper Ezra Ganeshananda, 26, was parked on the shoulder of the Beltway when a Mercedes slammed into his car, police said. Police believe the Mercedes driver had just fled the scene of a hit-and-run. The driver, who also was hospitalized, will face criminal charges, authorities said. The Capital Beltway was partially closed in Maryland for nearly four hours Thursday after a chain-reaction car crash that left a Maryland State Police trooper with critical injuries. The section of the Outer Loop of the Beltway (I-495) reopened about 6 p.m. Thursday after a closure that left drivers in bumper-to-bumper traffic for miles. Trooper Ezra Ganeshananda, 26, was parked on the shoulder of the Beltway north of Annapolis Road (Route 450) and was wrapping up an investigation of a single-car crash when the driver of a 2011 Mercedes Benz C300 slammed into his car, police said. Police believe that driver, whom police identified Thursday night, had just fled the scene of a possible hit-and-run. Ganeshananda's car was hit a second time when a tow truck hit the Mercedes, pushing the Mercedes into the trooper's car again and trapping him inside. Another tow truck driver stopped and used his truck to pull the Mercedes off the patrol car, police said. Crews pried Ganeshananda out of the car, and a Maryland State Police helicopter landed on the Beltway and rushed the trooper to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, state police said. Ganeshananda, a road patrol trooper, remained in critical condition Friday. Ganeshananda, who has been on the job less than a year, is stationed at the College Park Barracks. Fellow troopers, including his brother, were with him Thursday evening as his treatment continued. Video footage shot from Chopper4 showed three cars with significant damage. Maryland State Police identified the driver of the Mercedes as 60-year-old Prasad Yadavalli, of Galloway Township, New Jersey. Yadavalli is believed to have been involved in a hit-and-run crash on the Outer Loop up to a mile or more south of the trooper, authorities said. Police said it was unknown whether Yadavalli caused the hit-and-run, or was struck by a vehicle that did not stop. However, police said a preliminary investigation indicated Yadavalli struck three vehicles in the fast lane on the Outer Loop before he hit the patrol car. Witnesses saw the Mercedes driving down the right shoulder of the interstate before it struck the rear of the patrol car, they told investigators. Yadavalli, who also was hospitalized, will face criminal charges, Cpl. Devaughn Parker said. "There will be charges here, coming soon," he said. "We're going to consult with the state's attorney's office to make sure all charges are appropriate." Police have identified a body found in a Manassas retention pond as a 23-year-old woman who went missing in February from a local hotel. Rose DiToro, of Annandale, was last seen about 3:51 a.m. walking down the back staircase of a Comfort Suites hotel, News 4s Pat Collins previously reported. On Wednesday, police said her death does not appear to be random and they do not suspect foul play at this time. The cause of death has not been determined, police said. Prince William County Police issued a warning on February 4, saying that DiToro was missing and endangered. DiToros sister pleaded for her safe return. No matter what youre feeling, youre loved. You always have been and you always will be, she said. DiToro suffered from bipolar disorder and had a history of drug abuse. Her boyfriend checked her into the hotel after she suffered a bipolar episode. Her body was recovered on March 29 from a pond in the 7300 block of Williamson Blvd in Manassas. District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser says the city needs a $15 minimum wage to help lift people out of poverty. The Democratic mayor joined union leaders and low-wage workers on Thursday to call for the wage increase. Her administration plans to submit legislation to the D.C. Council this week calling for the city to increase its minimum wage to $15 by 2020. The city currently has a $10.50 minimum wage that will rise to $11.50 in July under legislation signed in 2014 by Bowser's predecessor, Vincent Gray. Bowser says that increase "was a big step but doesn't get us to the finish line.'' Michael Czin, the mayor's spokesman, says details of the legislation are still being worked out, including how it will address workers who rely on tips. Four former George Washington University students and their attorneys will receive a total of $2.8 million after D.C. and U.S. officials settled the last lawsuit stemming from arrests at the 2002 protests against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Each plaintiff will receive $110,000 from D.C. and $5,000 from the U.S., the Washington Post reported. Their attorneys, including GW law professor Jonathan Turley, will receive $2.35 million. During the September 2002 protests, police used "trap and detain" methods, in which officers surrounded and arrested large groups of people. Almost 400 people, protesters and bystanders were arrested in the protests. According to the lawsuit, the four plaintiffs were not protesters and claimed they were unlawfully arrested and detained. RayMing Chang, a first-year GW law student at the time, was near the area observing for the National Lawyers Guild. Young Choi, Leanne Lee and Christopher Zarconi were all GW undergraduate students taking photos for The Hatchet, a GW student newspaper. Chang said he was detained by D.C. police for 18 hours, with his hands cuffed behind his back for 13 of those hours. Choi and Lee were cuffed ankle to wrist for hours before paying a fine for their release. Zarconi was held in the fetal position for more than 12 hours. D.C. and federal governments have made previous settlements for other related lawsuits stemming from these mass arrests: $2.2 million in 2015 and $8.25 million in 2010. Arrests from this event were declared "null and void" from previous litigation. The lawsuits have pushed D.C. police and U.S. Park Police to review and reform their policies on dealing with protests. D.C. police have since abandoned "trap and detain" tactics. Park Police will issue obvious warnings and point out clear exit routes. Eighteen months after he lost a bid for the state's highest office, Maryland's former lieutenant governor is finding that a safely Democratic seat in Congress is no easy consolation prize. Anthony Brown is locked in a tough three-way battle with a former prosecutor and a state delegate for the open seat in the state's 4th District. He'll have to persuade Democrats who were either disappointed he lost the race for governor or didn't turn out to vote for him. He also has to ask for fresh contributions from donors who helped him raise $21 million only to see him lose to Republican Larry Hogan in a blue state. Brown, 54, isn't shying away from the comeback narrative. "Whether you're an athlete, a doctor, a surgeon, a corporate lawyer, or even an elected official, if you lose but you believe in what you do and what your calling is in life, then you pick yourself up, you brush yourself off, you stay in the fight," Brown said. "I think voters look at me in a completely different way today than ever before. 'Here's a guy who hasn't had a straight-line trajectory to success.'" But donors haven't responded to Brown the way he might have hoped. He's third in fundraising, trailing former Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey and Delegate Joseline Pena-Melnyk. He's also still burdened by more than $400,000 in debt from his gubernatorial campaign. Brown isn't the only failed gubernatorial candidate making a comeback bid for Congress this cycle. In Florida, former Gov. Charlie Crist is seeking an open House seat after losing to Republican Gov. Rick Scott in 2014. Crist, who served one term as governor as a Republican, is now a Democrat and is favored to win. The Maryland primary race has attracted little attention beyond the borders of its suburban Washington district because, no matter who wins, it won't represent much of a political shift. Incumbent Donna Edwards, a liberal African-American Democrat who's running for Senate, will almost certainly be replaced by another liberal Democrat of color in the district, which is 53 percent black. The candidates have similar policy priorities and have mostly refrained from criticizing each other, and all three have endorsed Edwards in her U.S. Senate race against another suburban Washington Democrat, Rep. Chris Van Hollen. Each has tried to make the case that he or she is the best-qualified for the job. Ivey, 55, highlights his time on Capitol Hill as a former House and Senate aide in addition to his nine years as state's attorney, during which he addressed the use of excessive force by police while also overseeing reductions in crime. Brown, who was a state delegate before his two terms as lieutenant governor, points to his mix of legislative and executive-branch experience. And Pena-Melnyk, 49, has worked as a legislator, a prosecutor and a public defender. She also argues that, an Afro-Latina, she'd bring needed diversity to the state's delegation, which has just two women and no Hispanics. Brown and Ivey are African-American. At the end of last year, Ivey had raised $718,000, Pena-Melnyk had brought in $509,000 and Brown had raised $455,000. Ivey's campaign said it brought in $280,000 in the first quarter of 2016, bringing his total haul to more than $1 million. "I think we've made a convincing case to donors that we'd be a good investment, that it would make sense to support us, that we'll do a good job when we get there and that we've got the best path to victory," Ivey said. Ivey's resources, name recognition and well-run campaign make him the favorite, said John Gallagher, a Washington-based political consultant who has worked on campaigns in Maryland. Ivey also benefits from being part of a high-profile political family: His wife, Jolene Ivey, is a state delegate who ran for lieutenant governor in 2014. "Brown doesn't have any kind of organization," Gallagher said. "He hasn't raised the type of money that Glenn has and he certainly isn't deploying it as smartly and professionally as the Iveys are." All three candidates have pledged to protect Social Security and the nation's new health insurance system and to bring federal aid to the area, which includes poor communities bordering the nation's capital. Pena-Melnyk was endorsed by The Washington Post editorial board, which noted the lack of policy differences between the candidates and gave her the nod based on her work ethic in Annapolis. Gallagher said he's been impressed with Pena-Melnyk, even though he doesn't think she has the resources to win. "Anthony Brown and Glenn Ivey are heavyweights, and she's punching above her weight class," he said. "She's probably run the best campaign of the three." Associated Press writer Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed to this report. Follow Ben Nuckols on Twitter @APBenNuckols. His work can be found online here. Four D.C. police officers who shot and killed a robbery suspect on Christmas Eve 2014 will not face any charges, prosecutors announced Thursday. Gregory Marcus Gray, 33, was shot after police said he ignored their commands to stop and pointed a handgun at them. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said Thursday there is "insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights or District of Columbia charges" against the officers. According to prosecutors, Gray was the suspect in a robbery that took place Dec. 24, 2014 on the corner of 30th Street and Alabama Avenue SE. The officers found him three blocks away from the crime scene, and attempted to stop him. Gray ran from the officers, and ended up being positioned between the officers and an iron fence. Prosecutors said Gray then pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the officers. All four officers fired their weapons, killing Gray. Police first identified Gray as another man, but soon backtracked on that identification after the man called his mother to wish her a merry Christmas. Gray's mother, Barbara Thomas, said after the shooting she had thought her son was missing before she was notified he was dead. "I love my son," Thomas said. "He has a home, he has two kids. It's hard when you have to bury a child. I didn't think it was going to be this hard. [Mothers], grab your kids and hug them and love them." Howard University students and their families will be celebrating graduation, achievement, and exciting futures this spring -- with President Barack Obama. Obama will deliver the keynote address at Howards commencement ceremony May 7, the university announced Thursday. The Presidents commitment to education, especially for those who can least afford it, dovetails with Howards commitment to provide these same students with a rigorous, intellectually stimulating and academically challenging educational experience, university president Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick said in a statement. Obama, the sixth sitting American president to give the commencement speech at Howard, also will receive an honorary law degree from the university. Actress Cicely Tyson, physician L.D. Britt and former ambassador Horace Greeley Dawson Jr.also will receive honorary degrees at the ceremony. Howard will award more than 1,300 bachelor's degrees, 300 master's degrees and Ph.D.s in May, including more than 400 professional degrees in law, medicine, pharmacy and dentistry. Parents and lawmakers across D.C., Maryland and Virginia are concerned about children's safety at day care centers after recent deaths and cases of child abuse. A day care provider in Prince George's County, Maryland, was charged with murder last week in the death of 9-month-old Savannah Wright. Two day care center teachers in Prince William County, Virginia, were convicted last month of child cruelty and running what a prosecutor called a "baby fight club." Here are five things you can do as you search for a nurturing and safe child care provider: 1. Check that the care provider is licensed: It's important to make sure the center or provider has a current license and the staff is qualified, according to HealthyChildren.org. The links below will take you to websites where you can search for licensed child care centers in the area: 2. Ask about the provider's policies: Get the scoop on discipline, snack time, adult-to-child ratio, group size, television and illness policies, HealthyChildren.org recommends. Don't be afraid to ask plenty of questions. 3. Observe: Before choosing a child care center, go to the center and observe how the caregivers interact with infants and children. Baby Center says caregivers should be trained, responsible, enthusiastic and well-prepared. It may be helpful to talk to other parents who use the center and get feedback. 4. Make a safety check: it is vital to make sure the center is clean, child-proofed and stocked with age-appropriate toys and activities, Early Experiences says. 5. Follow your instincts: Child Care Resources says to trust your gut when making a decision, and keep searching if a child care center just doesn't feel right. The White House on Wednesday asked a political action committee that supports Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards' Senate bid to pull an advertisement on gun control for being "misleading.'' Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Edwards' opponent in the Democratic primary who is targeted in the ad, denounced it as "a new low in Maryland politics.'' Jennifer Friedman, a spokeswoman for President Barack Obama, said the Working for Us PAC was asked to pull the ad by David Simas, the White House political director. "He made clear that the use of the president's image and statement in this context were misleading,'' Friedman said. The ad shows Obama tearing up while talking about Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The television ad says Van Hollen supported a campaign finance disclosure bill that didn't include the National Rifle Association. The ad also says the congressman met with NRA lobbyists to put a loophole in the bill to exempt them, while Edwards stood up to the gun lobby. "We had nothing to do with the ad and would not have used the president's image, but Donna would never have cut a deal with the NRA like Congressman Van Hollen did,'' said Benjamin Gerdes, a spokesman for the Edwards campaign. Joshua Henne, a spokesman for Working for Us, said the super PAC will take the president out of the ad. "The ad speaks for itself,'' spokesman Joshua Henne said in a statement. "However, out of respect for the White House and the work they've done on this important issue, we will be taking President Obama out of the spot.'' Van Hollen denounced the ad during a news conference in Baltimore, where he noted he has long been an advocate for gun-control laws, earning him an F rating from the NRA. "This ad represents a new low in Maryland politics,'' Van Hollen said. "It's absolutely despicable to mislead voters on any issue, but especially on the tragic issue of gun violence. It takes such a toll on all our communities.'' Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, whose father Robert F. Kennedy was shot to death in 1968, defended Van Hollen as a strong supporter of gun-control laws, and she criticized Edwards for running a highly negative campaign. "We do not want dishonest,'' Townsend said, standing next to Van Hollen at the news conference. "We do not want people who don't tell the truth about what's going on in the state of Maryland. Chris Van Hollen has been fighting for the rights of people who need to be protected against gun violence.'' The competitive primary has been characterized by negative campaigning. Van Hollen and Edwards are running for a rarely open Senate seat when Sen. Barbara Mikulski retires at the end of her term. An administrator from Hartford Public Schools who resigned amid a police investigation is in police custody, the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters have learned. Eduardo Genao faces one count of risk of injury to a minor and his bond was set at $50,000. Last week, Genao resigned as executive director for compliance for the school district. Sources said the investigation involves allegations of inappropriate text communication with a minor out of state. "He began texting her. I guess she ignored it at first because she thought it was him being nice," the victim's mother told Jill Konopka last week. The text messages soon became inappropriate, the mother said. "It became very graphic," she told the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters. On Thursday, she issued a statement about the arrest. "Thank you to the Hartford Police Department for doing their due diligence in seeing that Eddie Genao answers for his wrongs and not allowing this horrible experience for my daughter and I to be in vain. Their quick response and handling of this matter demonstrates their ethic when it comes to children and they are to be commended. It is an example the HBOE should follow in cases such as these." After Genao resigned, a school spokesperson said they were fully cooperating with investigators and the investigation does not involve any other staff members or students in Hartford. "The Hartford Police Department has informed Hartford Public Schools that Mr. Eduardo Genao is under investigation and the district is fully cooperating with this investigation. As of April 5th, Mr. Genao is no longer employed by Hartford Public Schools. Mr. Genao was employed by Hartford Public Schools since 2005, and his most recent position was Executive Director for Compliance. The alleged victim of this investigation is not a staff member or student of Hartford Public Schools. For further inquiries, please communicate with the Hartford Police Department," a statement from the school department says. Genao worked for Hartford schools since 2005. The father of a woman found dead in her home Wedneday in Grafton, Massachusetts, says his daughter was "the greatest mother in the world." Kelly Sugarman, 36, was found dead an in upstairs bedroom. Her husband, 42-year-old Michael Sugarman, was found injured with an apparent self-inflicted stab wound to the neck. The investigation began when their 5-year-old daughter was seen walking down the street alone in her pajamas. Off-camera, Kelly Sugarman's father told necn he's "heartbroken" at the loss of his only child. But now, he's focusing on his granddaughter. The girl is in DCF custody now, but her maternal grandparents are working to get custody of her. Michael Sugarman is charged with assault and battery on a family member, though prosecutors had previously indicated he would be charged with murder. He appeared for his arraignment in Westborough District Court on Thursday afternoon in his hospital gown. "Mommy is sleeping. Mommy is sick," the child reportedly told police. necn Michael Sugarman was taken to the hospital. It is not clear if he has hired an attorney. The child was also examined at a hospital and later released into state custody. The exact cause and manner of Kelly Sugarman's death has not yet been determined. Police in Massachusetts responded to 32 schools for threats on Thursday morning. Officers responded to schools in Andover, Arlington, Billerica, Brookline, Chelmsford, Danvers, Dracut, Littleton, Lynn, Marblehead, Melrose, Methuen, Needham, Peabody, Stoneham, Tewksbury, Ludlow, Tyngsborough, Woburn. for threats. The Massachusetts State Police confirmed 32 schools in Massachusetts recieved robo-call threats. The department released a statement informing citizens that the threats are being tracked but "no hazardous devices have been found at any sites as of this time." The Department of Fire Services said they were "assessing each threat and the appropriate local response." According to the Arlington Police Department, officials swept Arlington High School and students returned to class. Officers also responded to Arlington Catholic High School. The threat at Littleton High School was also unfounded and the shelter in place was lifted. Danvers Superintendent Lisa Dana released a statement to parents informing them that Danvers High School was evacuated due to a threat. The statement also said, "after careful evaluation, it was determine that the situation was a low level threat...we continue to be vigilant as we ensure the safety of our faculty and students." According to the Andover Police Department, Andover High School staff and students were evacuated while the building was searched by fire officials. Officials determined there was no danger and everyone returned. Multiple threats were reported in more than a dozen schools on Monday morning as well. Victims of stalking and advocates for Vermonters affected by domestic and sexual violence are calling on lawmakers in Montpelier to modernize state statutes that pertain to stalking. One of the core reasons behind the calls for change is old legal language like "lying in wait" currently written into state laws. That could imply a stalker would have to, for example, be lurking in a bush waiting to commit a crime, argued Auburn Watersong with the Vermont Network Against Domestic & Sexual Violence. Watersong said today, intimidation or threats are not just in-person, they can come through technological means, such as intensely overwhelming messages delivered to smartphones through social media apps. "Stalking definitely changes people's lives," Watersong told necn, noting victims often feel forced to alter daily routines out of fear of encountering a stalker. "We know victims are afraid, we know they need access to protection, and that's what we're trying to provide." Watersong was referring to a bill that the Vermont Network Against Domestic & Sexual Violence has been championing, which seeks to modernize state stalking laws. H.818 would clarify what constitutes stalking, include 2016 methods like social media apps and GPS monitoring of smartphones, and would also note that stalking often becomes increasingly violent over time. The pending bill describes the course of conduct associated with stalking as two or more acts over a period of time, "in which a person follows, monitors, surveils, threatens, or makes threat about another person, or interferes with another person's property." Conduct spelled out under the bill includes phone calls, social media commentary, and email, as well as other means of contact. Watersong said in Vermont, three quarters of requests for civil stalking protection orders are denied. She said a main reason few are approved is the lack of clarity of the statutes and resulting challenges to police and judges in clearly interpreting the laws. H.818 passed the Vermont House of Representatives last month and is now awaiting action in the Senate Judiciary Committee. However, time is running out, because the Vermont Legislature is nearing the end of this year's session. "We're convinced there's a problem; the question is how quickly we can solve it," said Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington County, the chairman of the Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee. "I think we'll find a way to get to it, one way or the other." Sears told necn he has discussed the bill with Rep. Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, who chairs the Vermont House Judiciary Committee. The two have brainstormed how they could try to make the bill work on the limited timetable, Sears said. One way of accomplishing that may be to include stalking provisions in another bill that is currently in-progress, regarding criminal threatening. That bill, S.154, passed the Senate, and came in response to a rise in the number and intensity of online and in-person threats made against social workers. Last year, DCF caseworker Lara Sobel was shot to death, allegedly by a parent angry with Sobels handling of a child custody case. Victims of stalking are also speaking out, encouraging lawmakers to update state laws. "No one should have to go through the years of stalking that I have been through," a victim of stalking told necn. That victim, who requested anonymity because she fears for her life, said for years, an ex has regularly barraged her with angry online messages, posted false accusations on websites, and has even emailed coworkers in an attempt to smear her name. The communication has always made her feel she's being watching, the woman told necn. "I'm not so sure it will end," the woman sighed, in response to a question about whether she can envision a day where she is free of the behavior. A judge did grant the Vermonter a relief-from-stalking order after her ex eventually threatened the womans life. The woman said she hopes new laws could ease others' paths through the courts. "If it could help other people, at least that's something," the victim said of bill H.818. Sears said a challenge facing lawmakers is balancing concerns over what is protected speech, and what is not allowable. He said in the past, such as with work on S.154, he believes lawmakers have been able to achieve that balance. The U.S. Marine Corps intends to protect its networks and communications with a new cyberspace operations team. Notably, the organization said its new unit will have an offensive element. The Marine Corps is seeing the need for defense of its networks and communications, a press release on the Marines Corps website explained. That will include what can we do to hinder an enemy, said Sgt. Brian Mueller, a digital network exploitation analyst with the new Marine Corps Cyberspace Warfare Group (MCCYWG), in the release. He is referring to the offensive element. The Marine Corps sees its communications as being increasingly reliant on networks, and thus thinks it needs to get more proactive. Weve always had the means to communicate and the means to protect that communication, said Col. Ossen J. DHaiti, the commanding officer of MCCYWG, in the release. But today, were in an environment where those methods are more and more reliant on a system of transmissions, routers and networks. Planning and conducting full spectrum cyberspace operations is among the roles the new MCCYWG will perform, according to a U.S. Marine Corps Concepts and Programs website. That includes the usual organization, training and planning of defensive mechanisms to protect systems. In addition to that, it will plan and conduct Offensive Cyberspace Operations (OCO). Those are operations that fall under the umbrella of computer network exploitation (CNE), cyberspace intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and operational preparation of the environment (OPE), according to the organizations website. The group needs to be authorized before conducting OCO. The Marine Corps operates its own centralized IT network, a Fedscoop article reported. Fedscoop has published articles about the new cyber warfare group and has written in the past about the Marines IT network. The publication said late last year that the Marines wanted to continue working on its own network rather than participating in the Defense Departments mandatory all-services computer cloud called the Joint Information Environment. The Marine Corps network, Marine Corps Enterprise Network (MCEN), was described as being the networkofnetworks in an information update on the Marine Corps website in 2011. The update also said the network provides robust, seamless and secure endtoend communications, from the supporting establishment to our forward deployed forces. It's a network that is live in garrison, moves with us, is mature, scalable and then returns back to that shape, Brig. Gen. Dennis Crall, CIO of the Marine Corps, said in a Fedscoop article. Its one network that operates and extends, not from the flagpole to the fighting hole, but from the fighting hole backward. The Marine Corps is still working on building the new cyber warfare group and has only a few mission teams up and running now, but DHaiti banks on it getting bigger. Were still evolving, but I think five years from now, as the Marine Corps comes online and understands more and more what is happening in this space, the Cyberspace Warfare Group will look much different than it does today, he said in the press release. The military group activated the new MCCYWG cyber warfare group this month at a ceremony at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. Marines have served valiantly in every one of our nation's conflicts, the Marine Corps says on its human resources-acting website, the Marines. And indeed the global cyberspace battle might just be the latest of those conflicts. Jennifer Rexford, a professor of engineering and Computer Science Department chair at Princeton University, has been named the 2016-17 Athena Lecturer by the Association for Computing Machinerys Council on Women in Computing in honor of her contributions to computer science. The Princeton and University of Michigan grad was recognized for her work in improving Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and for contributions that have paved the way for software-defined networks (SDNs). Before joining Princetons faculty, Rexford worked for AT&T Labs on Internet measurements and traffic engineering. MORE: Tokyo hotel apologizes in advance for minute-long Internet disruption | Lack of confidence proving to be real killer for women in technology Technically, the Athena Lecturer citation for Rexford reads: For innovations that improved the efficiency of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) in routing Internet traffic, for laying the groundwork for software-defined networks (SDNs), and for contributions in measuring and engineering IP networks. (Check out Rexford giving the lowdown on BGP in the video below and read more about her views on BGP and beyond in this ACM interview from March, 2016.) In being named the Athena Lecturer, named after the Greek goddess of wisdom, Rexford will be invited to present a talk at an ACM event. She also gets a Google-funded $25,000 honorarium. BGP is the glue that binds the Internet together and Jennifers innovations have vastly improved the BGPs effectiveness, said Judith Olson, who heads the ACM-W awards committee, in a statement. Her work played an important role as the Internet became a worldwide phenomenon, and she continues pioneering work to address the growing challenges presented by issues such as scalability and security. Rexford is the author of more than 170 publications, including co-authoring the book Web Protocols and Practice: HTTP/1.1, and holds 12 US patents. She says she has a personal interest in Internet policy issues as well. Her efforts have not gone unnoticed until now: She also received the 2004 ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, given annually to an outstanding young computing professional. The number of websites barring access to users of Adblock Plus has been growing as of late. The latest that I found is Listverse, an interesting site full of top 10 lists similar to Cracked.com but without the snark. Its become the latest site I frequent that no longer displays its content if you have an ad blocker enabled. But at least its safer than Forbes. Still, denying you content is one thing, but threatening legal action is another. The Financial Times reports 17 members of the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) have sent a cease and desist letter to Brave Software and its founder, former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich, over the companys self-titled ad-blocking browser. The Brave browser takes ad blocking to a whole new level because in the process of loading a web page, it allows users to replace the online ads that come with the page with more privacy-friendly advertising from Braves own network. As you would expect, newspaper publishers, already in an existential fight to survive, take a rather dim view of this. Your plan to use our content to sell your advertising is indistinguishable from a plan to steal our content to publish on your own website, the notice reads. It goes on to say, Your apparent plan to permit your customers to make Bitcoin donations to us, and for you to donate to us some unspecified percentage of revenue you receive from the sale of your ads on our sites, cannot begin to compensate us for the loss of our ability to fund our work by displaying our own advertising. We expressly decline to participate in any way in Braves supposed business model. In response, Brave said in a statement that the publishers letter was filled with false assertions and that the NAA has fundamentally misunderstood Brave. Brave is the solution, not the enemy. Brave said its browser does not replace publishers ads with Braves advertising, it is not trying to steal profits from publishers, as the NAA asserts, nor will Brave share an unspecified percentage of revenue. Adblock Plus has had a good legal track record. The company behind it, Eyeo, has been sued five times in Germany and won every time. But this is the U.S., and Brave is a different animal from Adblock Plus. I wont even venture to guess the legal arguments of both sides, but I have to figure Eich has his legal ducks in a row, especially after what hes been through. Microsoft has sued the U.S. government in an attempt to strike down a law allowing judges to gag tech companies when law enforcement agencies want access to their users' data. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, argues that a section of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act is unconstitutional for requiring tech companies to keep requests for data under wraps. Microsoft argued the law is unconstitutional under the First Amendment, by limiting the company's freedom of speech, as well as under the Fourth Amendment's due process protections. Under one section of ECPA, judges can order a request for data be kept secret if they believe knowledge of its existence will endanger life, allow criminals to flee, or otherwise jeopardize an investigation. Courts have issued almost 2,576 secrecy orders to Microsoft over the past 18 months, with more than two-thirds containing no fixed end date, Brad Smith, the company's president and chief legal officer, said in a blog post. That presents a problem for the burgeoning cloud computing industry, the company said. "These twin developments the increase in government demands for online data and the simultaneous increase in secrecy have combined to undermine confidence in the privacy of the cloud and have impaired Microsoft's right to be transparent with its customers, a right guaranteed by the First Amendment," the company said in its lawsuit. The transparency is important for Microsoft, as more and more of its business is focused on enticing customers to move their data to the cloud. If the U.S. government can secretly request data from Microsoft when the company is asking more people and companies to entrust it with their data, that might slow adoption. The company isn't opposed to secret government requests in situations where they are necessary, but Microsoft wants that authority limited. Smith suggested that the government could sidestep the lawsuit with new policies or laws. The Department of Justice could adopt new policies limiting how it uses the authority it's given under ECPA, or Congress could amend the law to restrict what the government can do. Right now, though, it's unclear how Microsoft's lawsuit will fare. It would be "premature to guess" how successful Microsoft is likely to be, Jennifer Granick, the director of civil liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, said in an email. What's more, this case could take a while. Lawsuits frequently take years to work their way through the courts, and a case of this nature is likely to go through several layers of appeals. Don't expect the issue to be settled soon. A representative for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. A father and son go on the run, pursued by the government and a cult drawn to childs special powers. Theres an unmistakeable touch of Speilberg about Jeff Nichols sci-fi thriller Midnight Special Midnight Special (12A) Running time 1hr 52 min Rating *** ACTOR Michael Shannon and director Jeff Nichols have a symbiotic relationship. You might call the enigmatic screen star his muse hes appeared in every one of Nichols four features to date, and will also appear in his fifth. What he brings is something that arguably no other actor can impart. His intensity and indefinable magnetism are integral to the Mud and Take Shelter directors latest a minimal science fiction chase thriller thats moody in tone and ambiguous in meaning. Nichols assembles his story with an unravelling-mystery structure, but not only is he economical with his storytelling, he also holds back on character revelations back story and all. Adding to the hypnotic intrigue and muted sullenness, this approach means Nichols is in danger of withholding the life from his characters, which can be frustrating in an arena where were used to overdosing on exposition. Midnight Special is basically ET a grittier, more menacing version, mind. It starts with news stories of a little boy (Jaeden Lieberher) having apparently been snatched; we see him holed up in a darkened motel room with two men. One of these men (Michael Shannon) is his father. Its unclear who the other (Joel Edgerton) is. It soon becomes apparent, however, that all is not as it seems and that theres something unusual about this little boy. It emerges that theyre on the run, not only from the religious cult they were involved with but also from the FBI. A race against time ensues, with the trio hooking up with the boys mother (Kirsten Dunst) to get the boy to a certain location at a particular time, all the while with nefarious individuals hot on their tails. Theres an unmistakeable touch of Spielberg in Midnight Special, not only in the ET similarities but also in its parallels with Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the directors focus on people. Although back stories arent explicitly filled out, theres something very real and everyday about each of the main characters that gives them an unspoken roundness. Theres plenty to read into this film if youre prepared to work; it has lots to say, albeit in whispers. Moments of brutality are a sucker punch amid the films more frequent low-key, mundane elements, which is jarring and wincingly powerful. Nichols says that Midnight Special is the film he wanted to make, despite it being a studio movie. To know that he hasnt compromised a Hollywood rarity should be enough to make you want to see this latest project from a promising talent. Part-concert/part one-man play explores the extraordinary life and music of Carlo Gesualdo BREAKING The Rules is a theatrical production not for the faint-hearted. Coming to Newbury as part of the Newbury Spring Festival (May 7-21), it is one of the goriest stories in the history of classical music. This new kind of part-concert/part one-man play explores the extraordinary life and music of Carlo Gesualdo. Born in the 16th century, the arrogant nobleman Gesualdo murdered his wife and her lover in the most brutal way. Throughout the play the seemingly fragile and neurotic composer relives his past and goes on to reveal the full horror of his actions. Gesualdos impending madness is all in stark contrast to his exquisite music. The play is a collaboration between Clare Norburn, who wrote the dramatic monologue, and early music group The Marian Consort, who have always wanted to perform a concert of Gesualdos music. Norburn said: I wanted to explore the man behind the music and what led him to commit the violent murder, for which he is so well remembered. The dark life and music of Gesualdo has been admired and studied by many over the centuries, including by iconic figures such as Igor Stravinsky and Frank Zappa. The director of the Marian Consort, Rory McCleery, said: Its exciting to show audiences how his music was shaped by the events of his life. Breaking the Rules will be performed at the Corn Exchange on Thursday, May 19. The performance for the festival is the first date of a tour that also includes Brighton Festival and Cambridge Summer Music Festival. For more information and tickets, visit www.newburyspringfestival.org.uk Ken Buffa is joining WVIT NBC 30 (NBC Connecticut) as a reporter, New England One has learned. Ken is joining NBC Connecticut from KARK NBC 4/KLRT FOX 16 in Little Rock, Arkansas where he is currently a general assignment reporter. Ken told Arkansas Online that he is moving to Connecticut to be closer to his parents and fiancee. "I had to kiss my loved ones goodbye and tell them Id come back to New York a better reporter and a better man," he said to Arkansas Online. "Theres a lot Little Rock has given me. People in New York said itd be a culture shock, but its been a character shock. Its molded me into a better man." Prior to joining KARK in August 2014, Ken spent time at News 12 Networks in New York City as a multimedia journalist and a photographer. Outside of news, Ken was the head media specialist and involved in social media and video production at GraduationSource.com. A native of New York, Ken is a 2014 graduate of Quinnipiac University where he earned a Master's degree in interactive media. He earned a Bachelor's degree in 2011 from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh where he dual majored in broadcast journalism and television/radio production. While in college, Ken was involved with the University's television channel Plattsburgh State Television. He also spent time as an intern at WRGB CBS 6 in Albany. Ken starts at NBC Connecticut in May. Champaign, IL (61820) Today Partly cloudy and windy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 79F. Winds S at 25 to 35 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 62F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. Columnist Tom Kacich is a columnist and the author of Tom's Mailbag at The News-Gazette. His column appears Sundays. His email is tkacich@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@tkacich). Innate Immunotherapeutics Limited has closed enrolment into the Company's Phase 2B placebo controlled efficacy trial of MIS416 in patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). The study has exceeded the original recruitment target of 90 subjects with the successful enrolment this week of the 93rd patient. SPMS is a devastating condition that currently has no effective treatment, said Professor Peter Panegyres, one of the trials principal investigators in Perth, Australia. Were excited to be part of a trial that could see the development of a therapy that helps people living with SPMS manage their symptoms. Professor Panegyres said 75% of people with MS go on to develop SPMS, severely affecting their mobility, bodily functions and leading them to rely on others for their care. Professor Pamela McCombe, a neurologist at Wesley Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, and a principal investigator in the trial, said patients had been enthusiastic to be part of the study. Drugs used in early stage MS arent effective in treating SPMS so finding a treatment for patients that slows the deterioration of their symptoms is very important, she said. The U.S.-based National MS Society's Executive Vice President for Research, Dr Bruce Bebo, said the Society was "very pleased to learn that Innate Immunotherapeutics has now fully recruited patients into the trial of MIS416 in people with SPMS. We look forward to learning the outcome of the trial as there are currently limited options available for treating this debilitating stage of MS." The Society played an early role in helping Innate Immunotherapeutics obtain funding for the trial through its commercial research arm, Fast Forward LLC. As part of gaining ethical approval to conduct the current efficacy trial in Australia, the Company has undertaken to make MIS416 available to patients completing the 12-month study. To date nine of the 13 patients who have completed the study have requested support from their physicians to enable access to MIS416 post-study. The study will be completed this time next year with a substantive initial report expected about four months later. The Company also reports strong ongoing interest in the study from several major pharmaceutical companies (Pharma). These Pharma and the Company had multiple meetings prior to the commencement of the current Phase 2B trial in late 2014 with the study design benefitting as a result of these discussions. Subsequently Pharma have sought regular updates on the progress of the study as well as the ongoing scientific work into the novel mechanism of action of MIS416. Lab Diagnostics & Automation eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today Innate's CEO Simon Wilkinson said: "Im confident that a successful trial result in the first half of next year will quickly translate into a major partnering transaction." About Innate Immunotherapeutics Innate Immunotherapeutics Limited is an Australian biotechnology company with an exciting technology that targets the human innate immune system. The innate immune system is the bodys first line of defence against external disease causing pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, and internally caused diseases such as cancer. Disorders of the immune system can also cause or contribute to diseases such as multiple sclerosis. While the innate immune system is responsible for mounting the bodys initial defence against threats, it also plays a critical role in controlling the overall immune response and many for the body's tissue protective and reparative functions. SPMS - The Significant Unmet Medical Need Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disabling condition where the bodys immune system attacks the myelin sheath surrounding nerve fibres. The damaged myelin forms scar tissue which distorts or interrupts nerve impulses, disrupting the ability of parts of the nervous system to communicate properly. This can result in a wide range of symptoms, including loss of balance, muscle coordination, difficulty walking, slurred speech, tremors, stiffness, cognitive impairment, depression, fatigue and bladder problems. Within 15 years of being diagnosed with the early 'relapsing-remitting' stage of MS, and despite the 12 drugs approved to treat this early stage of disease, about 60% of sufferers go on to develop a more advanced progressive form of disease - SPMS. After 20 years the number of SPMS sufferers increases to about 75%. There are currently no approved drugs for the effective ongoing treatment of SPMS. The Company's clinical development of MIS416 seeks to address this important unmet medical need and significant commercial opportunity. About MIS416 The microparticle, MIS416, is a biologically derived novel immune modulator which can uniquely target both the regulatory and defensive functions of the innate immune system. MIS416 targets myeloid cells, a sub-set of innate immune cells not currently targeted by any other drugs in development for the treatment of SPMS. Myeloid cells can play an important role inside the brain of a patient with SPMS by down regulating inflammation, helping clear myelin debris, and upregulating tissue repair processes. By Lucy Piper US research suggests that physician-patient discussion about limitations on life-sustaining interventions following ischaemic stroke is low, poorly documented and often left too late. Among 198 patients, aged 80 years on average, who died within 30 days of admission to hospital due to stroke, less than 40% had discussions with their physicians about limitations on life-sustaining interventions documented during the index hospitalisation. Even among patients who died while in hospital or were discharged to hospice, only 50% had documented discussions about end-of-life treatment. This was despite 47% of patients documenting at or within 48 hours of admission their desire to forgo at least one life-sustaining intervention. "This suggests that there is an opportunity to improve patient-physician communication, and thus the quality of palliative care in stroke, in the early poststroke period", say lead researcher Maisha Robinson (Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, USA) and colleagues. Indeed, their findings showed that for most patients discussions occurred just 5 days before death and although unable to discern the reasons for this lateness, the researchers propose it could be due to worsening or lack of improvement of the patient's clinical condition or due to episodes of poor quality of care leading to clinical deterioration. Physician communication was a significant 56% less likely to be documented for patients with mild to severe stokes than for those with very severe strokes, particularly regarding preferences for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. "It is plausible that physicians are more comfortable initiating discussions about end-of-life care decisions in catastrophic situations or that these discussions more often lead to documented decisions to withhold life-sustaining interventions with severe strokes relative to milder ones, or both", suggests the team in Neurology. Ying Xian (Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA) and Winston Chiong (University of California, San Francisco, USA) stress in a related editorial that the highly preference-sensitive nature of decisions on life-sustaining therapy after acute ischaemic stroke and their ability to "profoundly influence consequent mortality" make them "essential" to ensure high-quality care. They conclude: "As has been noted elsewhere, such failures to incorporate patient preferences are themselves preventable medical errors, and these errors are particularly consequential in the setting of ischemic stroke." "Future initiatives to improve safety and reduce preventable errors in stroke care should include efforts to identify contributing factors associated with the lack of communication, develop interventions to promote healthy dialog among patients, their families, and the health care team, and ultimately improve patient-centered care at the end of life for stroke patients." Licensed from medwireNews with permission from Springer Healthcare Ltd. Springer Healthcare Ltd. All rights reserved. Neither of these parties endorse or recommend any commercial products, services, or equipment. Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), the charitable initiative aimed at bringing new treatments to cancer patients quickly, today announced Catalyst, a new program that will use funding and materials from the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostic and medical devices industries to accelerate research on cancer prevention, detection and treatment. Founding collaborator Merck; and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, are Charter Supporters. "The Catalyst program is a perfect fit with the SU2C mission of accelerating the pace of groundbreaking translational research that provides new therapies to patients quickly," said Sung Poblete, RN, PhD, president and chief executive officer of SU2C. "This will be a nimble program that will help speed up the rate at which we discover what works." Under the SU2C Catalyst program, companies like Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Genentech will donate funds to support collaborative research studies using products the companies will provide, such as new pharmaceutical compounds that they are developing or approved agents that can be investigated for other uses. Through its scientific partner, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), SU2C will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to the scientific community based on each company's commitment of funding and materials such as drugs and diagnostic tests. The RFP will lay out the compounds that will be available, the research emphasis, the estimated number of projects that will be supported, and funding available. Proposals are expected to follow SU2C's collaborative research model. The SU2C Catalyst program will be overseen by an Executive Committee chaired by Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp, PhD, chair of the SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee and institute professor at the Koch Institute for Integrated Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A subcommittee chair from academia -- selected by the Executive Committee -- will work with an industry-specific Steering Subcommittee consisting of an equal number of academic scientists, named by SU2C in consultation with AACR, and pharmaceutical industry members named by the funding companies, to review proposals for grants pursuant to each industry-specific RFP. The program will be administered by the AACR. Since 2008, SU2C has launched 19 Dream Teams, two Translational Research Teams, and 26 individual Innovative Research Grants, with funds committed by philanthropic, organizational, corporate and individual donors, as well as non-profit collaborators. More than 1,100 researchers at 131 institutions are or have been involved. More than 160 clinical trials have been planned, initiated or completed. Across the SU2C research portfolio, 69 pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotech companies have engaged in 140 collaborative efforts with SU2C-affiliated scientists and institutions. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today "We have a deep understanding of both the academic and industry perspectives and the powerful impact that collaboration has on research," Dr. Sharp said. "This program will bring those perspectives together in a new way for the benefit of patients." "Just as patients can benefit from a multi-disciplinary team approach to treatment, Merck believes cancer research can benefit from diverse team of experts in industry, advocacy and academia," said Dr. Eric Rubin, vice president and therapeutic area head, oncology early-stage development, Merck Research Laboratories. "We are proud to be the first to collaborate with SU2C in the development of the Catalyst initiative. Through our support of this program, along with other collaborators, we hope to more rapidly bring advances in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment to patients in need." "Bristol-Myers Squibb is proud to support the Stand Up To Cancer Catalyst program, furthering our joint commitment to improving outcomes for all cancer patients," said Awny Farajallah, vice president, head of U.S. Medical, Oncology, Bristol-Myers Squibb. "We are dedicated to continued collaboration with the goal of accelerating research and providing new therapies to the patients who need it most." "Collectively, we have made great progress against cancer and must continue to work together to drive new approaches to prevent and treat cancer," said Dr. Edith Perez, vice president and head BioOncology Medical Affairs at Genentech, and director of the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer Translational Genomics Program. "Collaborating with SU2C, AACR and the broader cancer community is an important step that can lead to new breakthroughs and possibly even a cure." "The new source of funding is very important, and so is access to drugs and other materials," Dr. Sharp said. "Cancer researchers face challenges in obtaining materials needed for clinical trials. This program will ensure the necessary supply of agents and will also make the opportunity to engage in this type of research more widely available to the research community." Source: Entertainment Industry Foundation GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. Red Hulk, Ronin, and more: 10 Heroes and Villains whose secret identities were hidden from readers There's a longstanding superhero tradition of hiding the identity of certain characters even from readers Home News Sports Social Obituaries Events Letters Looking Back Health Jewels Stitch in Time Could some of that Unclaimed Property be yours? Almost half of all Idahoans are listed as having property in Idaho's Unclaimed Property database April 13, 2016 from the Office of the Idaho State Treasurer Have you ever reached into an old coat pocket and found some cash? Most of us have and its a great surprise and one that doesnt happen often enough. You can relive that feeling by reaching into the State of Idahos unclaimed property database and see if they are holding money you didnt know you had. Right now the Idaho State Treasurers Office Unclaimed Property Program has approximately $13 million in newly submitted lost or forgotten money for Idahoans to claim. This money was turned over to the State in January, so even if a person has checked for their name in the past and didnt find money, their name could be there now. Businesses and organizations that cannot locate rightful owners annually submit abandoned money to the state. What is the source of the money? A few examples are overpaid bills, utility deposits, inactive savings and checking accounts, life insurance policies, stocks, and bonds. Currently, over 800,000 Idahoans are listed as having money in the Idaho Unclaimed Property Databasethat's nearly half of everyone in Idaho. Since July of last year, almost 16,000 Idahoans have claimed their money. We find it very rewarding when we see people filing claims and getting money sent to them that they didnt know they had. It really is the best feeling of satisfaction, says Cozette Walters, Unclaimed Property Program Administrator. The State makes it easy for citizens to search for their lost or forgotten money. With a new user-friendly website and web address, yourmoney.idaho.gov, Idahoans can search for their names and file a claim online. Searching and claiming lost money on the Idaho State Treasurer's Unclaimed Property website is always free and confidential. Questions or comments about this article? Click here to e-mail! Govt will pay cane farmers I understand that $52 million have come from the EU, and because they had agreed to give it to the cane farmers, we will carry out the commitment, because the word of the Government must mean something to the people of Trinidad and Tobago, Rowley said. He added that two weeks ago, when former planning minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie said Government had received money from the EU for cane farmers yet was still demanding payment, Finance Minister Colm Imbert, had to come and say he was lying. We had got no money, but there was money to come, Rowley said. The money received, Rowley added, was meant to replace, as a small token from the EU, the billions paid from the Treasury to cane farmers and workers and so on and so on. Referring to Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, he said, A prime minister said to cane farmers, we will give you the money. That commitment, being made by a government, that commitment will be honoured by another government of Trinidad and Tobago. He continued, The sugar industry was a private industry in (TT). You will never hear that from the UNC platform. There were a number of private sugar estates that were all going bankrupt and going out of business in 1975. It was a PNM government that bought all those estates, agglomerated them and changed them to Caroni 1975 Limited and gave the industry 20 years more of life producing sugar. He declared that, Nobody in this country was born with a navel string called sugar. When TT lost its market in Europe and the United Sates, he said, we lost the industry and it was time to leave it. You the taxpayers paid to sugar workers and others, billions of dollars. However, he said, You will hear them say they were left destitute and they were hard done by, and they were oppressed and racial discrimination. Hogwash! Directing his verbiage on the $1 million compensation to families of policemen killed in the line of duty, Persad-Bissessar, Rowley said, You dont have to go to court for the PNM to pay the million dollars to the families of policemen. It is our hope we dont have to pay it at all, because we dont want any policeman to be killed at all. No one, he said, will begrudge the families of policemen killed in the line of duty to look after their children, to pay off their mortgage, or to ensure their loved one did not die in vain. There is no need for us to go fight in court for that matter, he said noting that those who die in the line of duty will be paid the $1 million promised. 'He Had the Chance to Go in and Save the Children' (Newser) Binged a full season of True Detective? Amateur. Took in all 62 episodes of Breaking Bad in one sitting? Not impressed. That's because 25-year-old Brooklyn resident Alejandro Fragoso just set the Guinness World Record for binge-watching when he wrapped up a full 94 hours of TV-watching, CNBC reports. "It's just the most agony you've ever been in times 100," Fragoso tells Tech Insider, which has a video chronicling the record attempt. Fragoso started his binge Friday along with two friendsas well as Guinness record keepers and a doctor in case of emergency, according to WPIX. Their playlist included Adventure Time, Game of Thrones, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Bob's Burgers, and Battlestar Galactica. The rules were simple: No breaking eye contact with the screen, no prolonged conversation, and a five-minute break every hour. One of Fragoso's accomplices dropped out quickly; anotherMolly Enniswas disqualified in hour 60. Fragoso was napping during one of his breaks when his phone went off. Ennis looked at the phone to push it toward him, breaking the first rule of official binge watching. By the time Fragoso set the record Tuesday at hour 94, he was suffering from acute hallucinations, involuntary "micro-naps," and a raised heart rate. "I would not recommend it," he tells WPIX. In addition to cementing his place as a world-champion TV watcher, Fragoso won $2,000. He broke the record of 92 hours set by four Austrians just last month. (This 96-year-old woman woman set the world record for oldest adoptive parent.) (Newser) Among the perks of being president: Early access to new Game of Thrones episodes. Showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss say President Obama will get to see season six of the showwhich will start airing on HBO on April 24before the rest of us, after a special request from the president himself. "When the commander-in-chief says, 'I want to see advanced episodes,' what are you going to do?" Benioff says, per the Hollywood Reporter. "He's the leader of the free world," adds Weiss. An actor on the show told Vulture last month that Obama even "gets DVD copies before we do. And we're in it!" (Click for more of Obama's favorite shows.) (Newser) In a move that American officials are calling "aggressive," "potentially provocative," "unprofessional," and simply "unsafe," Russian fighter jets and a helicopter buzzed a US warship in international waters Monday and Tuesday. The Guardian reports that US European Command says the encounters were "simulated attacks" on the USS Donald Cook and in the closest approach, a Russian Su-24 came within just 30 feet of the destroyer while it was conducting helicopter landing drills in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Poland. The Navy says the aircraft didn't respond to safety warnings in English or Russian. A defense official tells the AP that a pair of Su-24s made around 20 close passes on Monday. On Tuesday, a helicopter taking photos circled seven times, followed by another pair of Su-24s that made almost a dozen passes, the official says. American officials say the Russian encounters count as "one of the most aggressive acts in recent memory," the BBC reports. Reuters notes that the encounters may have violated a Cold War-era agreement banning "simulated attacks against aircraft or ships, performing aerobatics over ships, or dropping hazardous objects near them." US officials say the incident is being addressed from diplomatic channels. There has been no official response from Moscow. (Read more Russia stories.) (Newser) A man and woman have been charged in a disturbing case out of Columbus, Ohio, in which police say a teen was raped while her friend streamed the assault on live-video app Periscope. Authorities say 18-year-old Marina Lonina and the 17-year-old victim were drinking with 29-year-old Raymond Gates inside a home when he raped the teen, whose ability "to resist or consent was substantially impaired," an indictment reads, per the Columbus Dispatch. The BBC identifies Gates as Lonina's boyfriend. Police say a friend of Lonina's living out of state contacted police when she saw the images. On Wednesday, a Franklin County grand jury indicted Gates and Lonina on charges of kidnapping, sexual battery, rape, and pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor. The rape charge indicates intercourse by force and is not related to the victim's age, a prosecutor tells the AP. "If Gates and Lonina are convicted for these charges, they each face a potential sentence in excess of 40 years in prison," he says. "It isn't a human reaction to record something like that," says a parent at New Albany High School, where Lonina was arrested on Wednesday, per 10TV. "It's vile." A lawyer for Lonina says she "categorically denies these charges." (Read more sexual assault stories.) (Newser) UC Davis spent a lot of money trying to scrub pepper spray from online search results after peaceful protesters were pepper-sprayed in the faceonly to generate more pepper-spray headlines for the institution. Documents obtained by the Sacramento Bee reveal that the university paid "reputation management" experts Nevins & Associates $15,000 a month for a campaign to "clean up" the "venomous rhetoric" directed at UC Davis and Chancellor Linda Katehi after the 2011 incident. Other companies were also paid to improve the university's online image, using a strategic communications budget that almost doubled, to $5.47 million, in the six years after Katehi became chancellor in 2009. The company, which was paid nearly $100,000 through July 2013, gave UC Davis a proposal for "eradication of references to the pepper spray incident in search results on Google," with strategies including a "surge of content with positive sentiment." Experts say such efforts to bury bad press tend to backfire. "It's inconceivable that they thought this was either a good idea or something that wasn't going to be seen or recognized eventually," a PR expert tells CBS Sacramento. Katehi is already the target of sit-ins calling for her resignation over her acceptance of seats on the corporate boards of a textbook publisher and a for-profit university, the Bee notes. (The campus cop who pepper-sprayed the student protesters was awarded $38,000 in workers' compensation.) (Newser) A male student was found dead of an apparent "chemical suicide" in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday that injured 11 others, police say. Residents reported a foul smell at the 21 Pearl apartment complex near the University of Texas around 2pm, which management officials traced to a specific apartment with a "Keep Out" sign on the door. Inside a closet bearing a sign reading, "Danger: Watch out, hydrogen sulfide," they found a man in his 20s suffering from cardiac arrest, per KXAN. By the time authorities arrived in hazmat gear, he couldn't be revived and was pronounced dead on the scene. Eleven people were treated for exposure at the scene, including six who were later taken to a hospital, an official tells the New York Times. The complex's property manager was among them. Officials believe the so-called "sewer gas," known for its rotten egg odor, was "intentionally created." Hydrogen sulfide "can be, at high enough levels, a lethal gas," an officer tells the New York Daily News. "This is not an uncommon method of chemical suicide." A rep for the building's management says the man is a student, though it's not clear if he attended UT. (The community was just rocked by a student's murder on campus.) (Newser) Ted Cruz showed up Wednesday for a CNN town hallor what Gawker frames as "another glimpse into the waking hell that is Heidi Cruzs daily life"with his wife and two young daughters in tow, and Heidi offered up a personal, if bizarre, nugget of life with the GOP presidential candidate. She dished on what her husband did right after they got back from their honeymoon: bought 100 cans of Campbell's Chunky soup. "I never bought 100 of anything," she told moderator Anderson Cooper. "This was shocking to me, so we had a tough conversation about it. I said, "You don't buy 100 of anything, much less canned soup. We can't do this." Heidi said that while Ted was sleeping, she brought all 100 cans back to the store, but after a panicked phone call to her mother "just to make sure I'd done the right thing as a newlywed," she realized the soup should stay. As the New York Daily News notes, that wasn't the only odd revelation about Cruz that emerged during the town hall. The man who once fought against masturbation also relayed how he'd once watched porn with Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. And in what may be one of the more scandalous tidbits to arise in Election 2016, Cruz's daughter, Caroline, who just turned 8, revealed she's got tape of her dad dolled up in granny panties and a pink feather boa at a father-daughter picnic. (Ted also has a Plants vs. Zombies obsession.) (Newser) The self-proclaimed oldest zoo in North America has provided animals to films starring names like Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen, but perhaps no Bowmanville Zoo animal has entered the spotlight like its Bengal tiger, which starred in the Oscar-winning Life of Pi. Now the Canadian zoo finds itself thrust in the spotlight for a less spectacular reason: Owner Michael Hackenberger has been charged with five counts of animal cruelty some four months after PETA released a 90-second video that allegedly captured him whipping a male Siberian tiger. The video (warning: language) also shows Hackenberger swearing at the tiger, named Uno. NBC News reports the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it brought the charges after spending "significant time reviewing the facility and interviewing all involved." The Ontario SPCA's statement outlines the charges, which include "one charge of causing an animal distress by pushing his thumb into the animals eye." Hackenberger maintains his innocence but resigned Wednesday as director "until such time as this legal matter is resolved," per the zoo's Facebook page. Though the Hollywood Reporter says the video seems to show the tiger being whipped 19 times, a 31-minute video the zoo made in the wake of the PETA video has Hackenberger saying the vicious whipping was of the air and ground, with the whip actually striking the tiger only three times; on one occasion he says the animal was moving to claw another trainer, per local media. The maximum penalty is a 2-year jail terms and $66,000 fine. (It's not the first set of animal cruelty allegations tied to the film.) (Newser) Oil giant BP lost $5.2 billion last year, but the company somehow saw fit to propose maximum bonuses for 2015 for its top executives, including a 20% pay increase for CEO Bob Dudleya proposal that 59% of shareholders roundly rejected by proxy vote at Thursday's annual meeting, MarketWatch reports. The company had indicated earlier in the day that it may also have to reduce its dividend, the Wall Street Journal reports. Dudley is set to receive the full bonus he was eligible for, which comes to $4.2 million (including $1.4 million in cash and a portion in deferred BP shares), per an earlier MarketWatch report. This amount was bumped up from the $3 million ($1 million in cash) he received in 2014. BP's CFO was also on the list to rake in his full bonus. "We think it sends the wrong message," a rep for shareholder Royal London Asset Management tells the BBC. "It shows that the board is out of touch." Not only did BP suffer straight-up monetary losses as the price of oil fell, it also announced it will be getting rid of about 7,000 jobs and taking other belt-tightening measures. And the Financial Times notes that other energy company execs saw their pay slashed in 2015. But a BP spokesman says "executives performed strongly in a difficult environment in 2015, managing the things they could control and for which they were accountable." Andy Critchlow, writing for the Reuters Breakingviews blog, agrees. "Dudley has to work harder than his predecessors," he writes, noting the CEO has helped the company recover from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster and improved safety protocol. "The mild-mannered American has had possibly the toughest job in the oil industry. His rewards look in line with that task." Carl-Henric Svanberg, chairman of BP's board, says the nonbinding shareholder vote won't alter the payouts they've already decided on, but that the board will take investors' concerns into account when coming up with next year's compensation packages. (Read more British Petroleum stories.) (Newser) A witness tells the Daily Breeze that a man at a Southern California tree-trimming company "just kind of hit the fan" Tuesday morning. That's one way of putting it. Another way of putting it: The man allegedly chased his boss around with a chainsaw and tried to run other people over with a utility truck. According to NBC Los Angeles, the out-of-control situation started with the man throwing rocks at a car and doing doughnuts in a utility truck. Police tell KTLA he was trying to run people over. When a security guard tried to calm him down, he allegedly picked up a chainsaw and started chasing his boss around. Other workers filmed the incident with their cellphones, and one can be heard yelling, "He's going to saw someone!" Police arrived and fired more than two dozen shots at the man, who they say was backing up toward them in the utility truck. The man wasn't hit by any of the bullets but did suffer minor injuries during his alleged rampage. He also allegedly crashed the truck into another vehicle. The incident started as workers were preparing to go out to trim trees around power lines. The owner of the tree-trimming company, who says he was the man's target, tells KTLA the man regularly comes looking for work and is occasionally hired for odd jobs. One worker says the man appeared to be on drugs; another blames "personal problems." The man, who the New York Daily News identifies as 44-year-old Jose Cortez, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. (Read more weird crimes stories.) (Newser) A chimpanzee named Chacha briefly lived out his King Kong fantasies Thursday after escaping from a Japanese zoo, the AP reports. According to the Japan Times, Chacha was discovered missing from his cage at the Yagiyama Zoological Park in Sendai around 1:20pm. The zoo was locked down, and workers starting searching for the absconded ape. Chacha was eventually spotted moving along power lines in a nearby neighborhood, having scaled an electrical pole. A local elementary school kept its students inside to prevent them from becoming Chacha chow. When I saw [the chimpanzee] on television, it was quite big, so we thought it was dangerous to let the children out, the school's vice principal tells the Times. Chacha was "agitated and screaming at zoo workers" from his perch on the power lines, the AP reports. Workers finally just shot him with a tranquilizer dart nearly two hours after he was first discovered missing, according to ABC News. Chacha, still trying to escape, dropped headfirst into a blanket held by workers. It's not clear if he survived. The zoo's director "apologized profusely for the inconvenience" of a loose chimp. And the zoo is investigating how Chacha managed to escape. (It's also unclear how many more caged animals will be inspired by Inky the octopus before week's end.) (Newser) "Dear Abby" is taking some heat for her recent answer to a letter writer, which some saw as blaming the teen girl for her own rape. The letter writer, a high-school junior who was a virgin before the incident she wrote in about, says a classmate invited her over to study and they ended up making out. That led to sex. "It wasn't fun or pleasurable," the girl writes. "I told him he was hurting me, but he didn't stop until the third time I said it. He was very upset with me." Abby (real name Jeanne Phillips) tells the letter writer she was sexually assaulted because of a "breakdown in communication." She says the boy made his intentions clear about wanting to have sex, and he "may have interpreted your willingness to kiss him after he took you somewhere other than what was agreed upon as a signal that you were willing, even though you didn't say so." A blogger at Jezebel says this response appears to blame the victim for her own sexual assault, something Raw Story notes women's rights activists have been trying to get people to stop doing for years. A "breakdown in communication" did not cause this assault, the boy "ignoring a person's humanity and agency" did, writes Heidi Stevens in the Chicago Tribune, arguing that the sex should have been over as soon as the letter writer told the boy he was hurting her. She calls Abby's response "lousy advice" that "sets up a disastrous dynamic about an act that should always, every single time, be utterly and completely mutual." Abby does go on to define date rape in her response to the girl, but she never says whether she thinks that's what did or didn't happen to the letter writer. (Read more Dear Abby stories.) April 13 is scheduled to be the general election in South Korea and citizens are ought to exercise their rights to vote. Not only usual people who voted but also, Hallyu celebrities' cast their votes in South Korea's 20th legislative election. Polling stations opened at 6 a.m. on April 13, with 13,837 polling locations across the country. Despite hectic schedules, hallyu celebrities never missed casting their votes in their respective polling stations. Many idols and celebrities were spotted exercising their rights to vote. Most of them even took selfie's and encouraged everyone to go out and get involved in a democratic process by voting. Here are lists of spotted stars who go out to vote: 1. Kim Woo Bin (The 'Uncontrollably Fond' main lead actor took a selfie after voting. Kim Woo bin also showed up to vote ! #kimwoobin # ## #dispatch A photo posted by Dispatch (@koreadispatch) on Apr 13, 2016 at 2:05am PDT 2. Actor Yoo Ah-in also arrived in his respective polling station and casted his vote 3. T-ara's Hyomin 4. NCT Jahyuns first time to vote 5. SNSD Seohyun 6. Dalshabets Subin 7. SNSDs Sowon 8. SNSDs Sooyoung 9. Sulli A photo posted by 10. Super Juniors Yesung ~ # # #2016 A photo posted by Yesung (@yesung1106) on Apr 12, 2016 at 7:11pm PDT 11. Rainbows Hyunyoung 12. Super Juniors Ryeowook ~ ~ ? ^^ pic.twitter.com/wCKDKGQ6xr Ever Lasting St (@ryeong9) April 12, 2016 13. Rainbows Noeul 14. Choiza A photo posted by Choiza (@choiza11) on Apr 12, 2016 at 9:56pm PDT 15. VIXX Ken 16. Brown Eyed Girls JeA 17. BEASTs Dongwoon 18. Kim Min Jae 19. BlockB Bbomb # A photo posted by B-Bomb (@bbomb2011) on Apr 12, 2016 at 7:03pm PDT 20. CNBLUEs Lee Jong Hyun ! ! A photo posted by (@cnbluegt) on Apr 12, 2016 at 10:56pm PDT 21. BTOBs Changsub ^^ A photo posted by (@lee_cs_btob) on Apr 12, 2016 at 10:11pm PDT 22. Actress and singer Uee !!!!^^ A photo posted by (@uieing) on Apr 12, 2016 at 9:15pm PDT 23. Jang Na ra ! . !~! A photo posted by (@nara0318) on Apr 12, 2016 at 9:39pm PDT 24. VIXX Leo 25. VIXX Hongbin 26. VIXX Hyuk 27. VIXX Ravi 28. B1A4s Sandeul 29. Se7ven # A photo posted by SE7EN (@se7enofficial) on Apr 12, 2016 at 10:34pm PDT 30. Han Groo 31. Dalshabets Serri 32. B1A4s Shinwoo New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated the 11-day 'Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday Abhiyan (Village Self Governance Campaign)' on the 125th birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar in Madhya Pradesh. The campaign, which starts on the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar on April 14 and concludes on the Panchayati Raj Day on April 24, will create awareness about various schemes of the Centre for rural India, among other things. On April 24, Modi will address all gram sabhas of the country from Jamshedpur. The campaign will include a 'social harmony programme' from April 14 to 16 under which villagers would pay tribute to Ambedkar and resolve to strengthen social harmony. Besides, 'Village Farmer Assemblies' would also be organised from April 17-20 to promote agriculture by providing information to farmers about various schemes of the government such as Fasal Bima Yojana and Soil Health Card scheme. On April 19, a national meeting focusing on Panchayat and tribal development will be held at Vijaywada, while gram sabha meetings will be held from April 21-24 across the country. The Parliamentarians and MLAs will also go to their respective constituencies to attend the gram sabhas. Central and state government officers will also attend these events. The campaign will not be organised in West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry where elections are underway, Singh said. Here are the Highlights of PM Narendra Modi's speech in Mhow: I am fortunate that I am here to salute the place where the great Dr Ambedkar was born Babasaheb Ambedkar fought against injustice in society. His fight was for equality and respect From 14 April to 24 April 'Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday' movement is being organized This year's budget is fully dedicated to our villages and our farmers. Aaj jis gaon mein bijli ab aayi hai vahan khushi mein naach gaane chal rahe hain Efforts towards rural electrification is done very transparently. The 'Garv App' gives real time progress It's matter of great regret that 18000 villages of our country have not been electrified even decades after Independence I compliment Shivraj Chauhan ji for a detailed road map to double the income of farmers by 2022 in his state For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: The mother and brother of Dalith student Rohith Vemula, whose suicide at Hyderbad Central University in January sparked protests at different parts of the country, converted to Buddhism in Mumbai on Thursday. They embraced Buddhism on the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar, the Dalit icon and the principal architect of the Indian Constitution. The ceremony was held at noon at Ambedkar Bhavan in Dadar. Rohith Vemula was found hanging in his hostel on January 17 even as he was banned from the campus and other areas over clashes with an activist from a students group. The students have since then protesting demanding justice for Vemula. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: Actress Amyra Dastur says she was starstruck on meeting Chinese actor Jackie Chan with whom she is currently shooting her upcoming film "Kung Fu Yoga". Amyra met Jackie for the first time in Beijing. "The first time when I met him I just told him I love him. It was like a kid moment. I was starstruck," Amyra told PTI. The actress, who made her debut with "Issaq" in 2013 alongside actor Prateik Babbar, is enjoying shooting action sequences for "Kung Fu Yoga". "Performing the action scenes initially was challenging. I learnt martial arts, hand-to-hand combat and some other basic stuff. Jackie Chan, being an expert, helped me while I was training for the action part. I got a few bumps and bruises, but that's ok," she said. Amyra plays a young happy-go-lucky girl in the film. "I play a modern young Indian girl, funky, sweet, but there is a twist to my role. She is good at martial arts," she said. Amyra had a good learning experience while shooting with the Chinese crew on "Kung Fu Yoga". "I had a very good experience as I got to work with brilliant actors like Jackie Chan, Sonu Sood and others. They were particular about the shooting schedule, the shoots used to start on time around 6.30-7 AM. At 12 noon we used to have our lunch and at 7 PM dinner, and then if we want we could train for sometime," she said. "Kung Fu Yoga" is a part of the three-film agreement signed between India and China during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India. The action-adventure film is set to release this October. New Delhi: The Islamic State group (ISIS) has threatened attacks on India and is planning to send local terror groups from Bangladesh and Pakistan, a report has revealed. The terror group has threatened to send its fighters to India to carry out guerrilla attacks in the country. The amir of ISIS fighters in Bangladesh, Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif, in a recent interview to Dabiq magazine, has vowed to wipe out Hindus from India and implement sharia law in both India and Bangladesh. He also revealed that the ISIS is not only providing training to its fighters in Bangladesh and Pakistan but is also seeking local Mujahideens help in the country, a leading English daily reported. Al-Hanif said Muslims are facing troble because of Hindus in India and the intention behind the attack is to get rid of disbelievers in the country. Bengal is located on the eastern side of India, whereas Wilayat Khurasan is located on its western side. Thus, having a strong jihad base in Bengal will facilitate performing guerrilla attacks inside India simultaneously from both sides and facilitate creating a condition of tawahhush (fear and chaos) in India along with the help of the existing local mujahidin there, al-Hanif was quoted as saying in the magazine. This would allow IS fighters to enter with a conventional army and completely liberate the region from the mushrikin (disbelievers), after first getting rid of the Pakistani and Afghani regimes, he added. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Kiev: Ukraines parliament today appointed pro-Western speaker Volodymyr Groysman as Prime Minister in a bid to end months of political gridlock and unlock vital aid to the war torn-state. Lawmakers voted by 257 to 50 to approve the resignation of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyukcondemned by President Petro Poroshenko for losing the publics trustand select Groysman in the first cabinet overhaul since Ukraines 2014 pro-EU revolt. I understand my responsiblities, the 38-year-old Groysman told deputies shortly before the vote. He vowed to ensure the permanence of our course toward European integration and oversee a government that does not tolerate corruption. Poroshenko himself called Groysman, a lawyer by training, a politician from a new generation. What do I expect from the new government? The same thing our society does, the President said while presenting his candidate. The start of economic growth and an improvement in peoples well-being. We have moved from a survival strategy, which was fully justified in 2014-15, to a strategy of accelerated growth. The fast-rising new premier is a Poroshenko protege who only two years ago served as mayor of the small western Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia and remained a relative unknown. He moved to Kiev and joined the government after the 2014 ouster of Ukraines Moscow-backed leadership and the countrys decision to strike a landmark EU trade and political association pact, a shift out of Russias orbit. Groysman was elected to parliament on Poroshenkos party ticket in October 2014 and became speaker the following month. He is seen as a coalition builder who has gained stature by keeping the notoriously rowdy parliamentprone to ugly brawlsin relative peace. He has also pronounced himself strongly committed to the belt-tightening measures prescribed by the International Monetary Fund when it approved a USD 17.5-billion rescue package for Ukraine in March 2014. But some economists worry that the mild-mannered Groysman may lack the toughness needed to stand up to a handful of tycoons who have dominated Ukrainian politics and made the former Soviet republic a breeding ground for graft. The new government may draw further concern of investors because it will not feature the respected US-born Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko or two other foreign technocrats Poroshenko enlisted in December 2014 to help stem Ukraines economic nosedive. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: NASAs Kepler planet-hunting spacecraft has discovered a new Jupiter-like exoplanet, orbiting a 2.6 billion-year-old star located about 545 light years from the Earth. Researchers, led by Marshall C Johnson of the University of Texas at Austin, used the data from the K2 mission to search for possible transiting planets. They identified two targets designated EPIC 211089792b (K2-29b) and EPIC 210957318b (K2-30b). While K2-30b was confirmed as a hot Jupiter exoplanet during previous observations, K2-29b is a new addition to the long list of Keplers confirmed extrasolar worlds. The astronomers also used three different ground-based spectrographs to conduct high-resolution spectroscopic observations of K2-29b, in order to definitely verify it as a hot Jupiter. Here, we present K2 photometry for two late-type dwarf stars, EPIC 211089792 (K2-29) and EPIC 210957318 (K2-30), for which we identified periodic transit signals, and our follow-up spectroscopic observations, the researchers said. These have allowed us to confirm both transiting objects as bona fide hot Jupiters, and to measure the stellar and planetary parameters, they said. Hot Jupiters are gas giant planets, similar in characteristics to the solar systems biggest planet, with orbital periods of less than 10 days. They have high surface temperatures as they orbit their parent stars very closely between. While the newly discovered K2-29b exoplanet has a radius that is about the same as Jupiters, it is less massive (0.6 Jupiter masses), Phys.org reported. It has an orbital period of 3.26 days and an equilibrium temperature of approximately 800 degrees Celsius. The planets parent star K2-29 is slightly smaller than our Sun, with 0.75 solar radii and 0.86 solar masses. The star is about 2.6 billion years old and is located some 545 light years from the Earth, researchers said. The research was published in the journal arXiv.org. For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Randeep Hooda and Richa Chadha, the lead actors of the film Sarbjit, revealed the much-awaited trailer of their upcoming film on Thursday. Sarbjit is a biopic based on the life of Sarbjit Singh, who was sentenced to death by Pakistan after being convicted on charges of terrorism and spying. The Omung Kumar's film focusses on the lives of Sarbjit and his sister Dalbir Kaur and her fights for justice. The trailer shows how the lives of Sarbjit (Randeep Hooda) and his family changed after Pakistani forces catch him as he claimed to have crossed over the (unmarked) Pakistan border in an inebriated state. His family hunts for him as it remains unaware about him being arrested, beaten and tortured by the Pakistani forces. The trailer also shows the happy days of Sarbjit spent with his family sister Dalbir (Aishwarya Rai), wife (Richa Chadda) and his little daughter. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is seen transforming from a beautiful girl to a simple woman who griefs for his brother and is not ready to give up the fight for her brothers freedom from Pakistani jail. She turns old, but is still fighting. As a young woman she looks beautiful as usual and as an old lady too she seems to be doing justice with the role. Aishwaryas shouting dialogues are convincing and pierce the heart. Richa Chadda, though is seen rarely in the trailer, but looks impressive. Randeep Hooda is a fine actor and has given a powerful performance. HARTFORD State funding for public schools in the most affluent Fairfield County suburbs would disappear entirely starting July 1, under the governor's latest budget proposal. Under Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloys plan, Darien, Easton, Greenwich, Ridgefield, Westport, Weston, Wilton and Fairfield public schools would be zeroed-out of current levels of funding, forcing local taxpayers to pick up the entire difference beginning in the next fiscal year that starts July 1. In Greenwichs case, that cost would be around $3.5 million. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Women want gun control to remain in the national forefront as the country prepares to elect a new president. This is a conclusion MarieClaire.com, in conjunction with the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, has come to in an in-depth national survey called "Women and Guns." The series of articles looks at women's relationship with guns, including the rise of girl gangs, the NRA's rebranding for women and personal stories about the question of gun ownership. The Magazine interviewed female victims of gun violence in the United States, and Stratford's Jillian Soto is one of those women. Soto's sister, Victoria, was a teacher killed in the Sandy Hook shooting. "It was probably one of the hardest interviews I've ever done but also one of the most powerful," Soto said in a phone interview. "No matter how hard it was to do, it was worth it to help people understand a little more about what happens when you lose someone so suddenly and so publicly." Soto said she declined doing the interview at first because the anniversary of the shooting was approaching and she just wanted to "lay low." When the magazine asked again in January, she said something made her feel like it was something she had to do. "I wanted to share not only more about my sister, but also why I am the person I am today. A different side of gun prevention. We are human just like everybody else," Soto said. In the Marie Claire interview, Soto talks about the last time she saw her older sister. "We talked about how it would be fun for the family to wear 'feetie' pajamas for Christmas. I was getting ready to leave for a ski trip that night, so I finished packing and ran out the door. I never said goodbye, never thought twice about it." Victoria Soto was 27 when she was killed (the same age Jillian is now). She died trying to protect her first-grade students. "In the days after the shooting, the world stopped and grieved with us," Soto told Marie Claire. "And then, the world started going again. But not for us." The Soto family is working hard to make sure Victoria's sacrifice is not forgotten. "I've made it part of my life's mission," Soto said. The family is currently involved in a law suit against against Remington, the manufacturer of the AR-15 used by Adam Lanza to kill the children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Soto said her mother wanted to get involved in the legal battle, so the family decided to do it together. "It has opened my eyesfinally being able to be heard," Soto said. "It's holding someone accountable for some of their actions." Soto is also heavily involved in Everytown for Gun Safety, a program that fights for gun reform. Through her activism, she has met other gun violence survivors, including many of the other women interviewed in the Marie Claire piece, which she says is a great support. "No one wants to be part of this club, but it's nice to have people who understand what you are going through." One of the happier moments for the Soto family came in August of 2015 when the Victoria Soto School opened in Stratford. "It was such a joy and an honor [to have a school named after Victoria]," Soto said. "That's something they do for presidents." The school honors Victoria in big and small ways like having staff members wear pink shirts and sit in pink chairs inspired by Victoria's love for flamingos. Before tragedy struck, Soto said she knew nothing about guns. She had never even seen a gun besides maybe on a police officer's belt. Her sister's death, she says, woke her up. MarieCclaire writes, "in a country tangled up in headlines about gun violence, rapes, and terrorist threats, women are on edge. While 49 percent of our female respondents report feeling more negatively about guns in light of recent shootings and terrorist attacks, fear for their personal safety has driven others to want to arm themselves18 percent of the general population of women have become more interested in owning a gun in the last five years." This is a sentiment Soto mirrors. "Gun violence destroys people's lives and their security," she said. "Now I need to know where the exit is; I look for places to hide in large groups," Soto told Marie Claire. "Every time another shooting happens, I actually get physically sick. I feel like the walls are caving in. I can't breathe." Soto is optimistic about the changes that have been made at a state level and the conversations being had at the federal level, but calls the fight against gun violence an uphill battleone that she knows she will win. "My sister's name isn't going to be forgotten," she said, "We are not going to just forget what happened." ______________________ Read more on MarieClaire.com: -The NRA: Women and the Gun Lobby - The Sport: Inside the Life of a Teenage Competitive Shooter -The Decision: To Own a Gun, or Not To Own a Gun, by Roxane Gay MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, April 14, 2016 /CNW/ -- Dealertrack, a Cox Automotive brand, today announced that Richard Evans has been named vice president and general manager, Dealertrack Canada. Evans officially takes the helm of Dealertrack Canada on April 25th. Evans joins Dealertrack from Davis & Henderson (D&H), where he was most recently vice president for Collateral Management Solutions responsible for that group's overall strategic direction and financial performance. Earlier, at D&H, he held several positions of leadership having originally joined the company following the purchase of ASSET Inc. in 2011. Evans holds a B.S. in Pure Mathematics & Statistical Sciences from the University of Western Ontario. Evans will initially work with Michael Collins, senior vice president at Dealertrack, as Collins transitions toward retirement. Following Collins' retirement, Evans will work with Mark Furcolo, senior vice president, Lender Solutions at Dealertrack, and Maria Soklis, president of Cox Automotive Canada, to continue the integration between Dealertrack and Cox Automotive, and deliver market leading solutions to Canadian clients, including dealers, lenders and strategic partners. "We are fortunate to have such a talented and experienced leader as Richard joining Dealertrack's Canadian team," said Collins. "Richard's extensive management experience, coupled with his strong commitment to uncover opportunities through client and industry engagement, and his deep and versatile background within the Canadian financial services software market, make him the perfect person to lead our team." About Cox Automotive Canada Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Cox Automotive Canada operates seven businesses including Dealertrack, HomeNet, Manheim, NextGear Capital, vAuto, VinSolutions and Xtime. About Dealertrack (www.dealertrack.com) Dealertrack, a Cox Automotive brand, delivers integrated digital solutions designed to enhance the efficiency and profitability for all major segments of the automotive retail industry, including dealers, lenders, vehicle manufacturers, third-party retailers, agents and aftermarket providers. Dealertrack Canada, a subsidiary of Dealertrack, delivers a comprehensive set of solutions, including Sales and F&I products; market data for dealers, lenders and OEMs; and digital document services. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151208/294124LOGO SOURCE Dealertrack For further information: Michael DeMeo, Dealertrack, (516) 734-3691, [email protected], http://www.dealertrack.com [April 13, 2016] Coalition Files FCC Petition for Voluntary Use of New Broadcast TV Transmission Standard A broad coalition of consumer technology companies, commercial and public television stations and public safety advocates today filed a joint petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)) requesting local television stations and television receiver manufacturers be permitted to adopt a new over-the-air broadcast transmission standard on a voluntary, market-driven basis. The "Next-Gen TV" standard was developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), a cooperative effort that includes the broadcast, consumer electronics, cable, satellite, motion picture and computer industries. Also known as ATSC 3.0, the IP-based standard specifies an entire next-generation broadcasting system, from the RF transmission through presentation to the viewer or listener. The new system would support innovative technologies such as Ultra High-Definition (UHD) TV, advanced emergency alert information, increased programming streams and channels, mobile broadcast TV, immersive audio, interactivity features and datacasting. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), America's Public Television Stations (APTS) and the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance jointly filed the petition at the FCC. The petition requests the FCC approve the core transmission technology for the new standard as an option for local broadcasters and receiver manufacturers. The petition also requests the implementation of certain rule changes to permit local simulcasting, enabling the new standard to be deployed while broadcasts in the current digital television (DTV) standard remain available without interruption to viewers. The industry would deploy the next-generation standard in parallel with the existing DTV standard to address compatibility issues. Under the approach, a temporary "host" broadcaster in a market would agree to simulcast on its airwaves the other DTV signals of those stations broadcasting with the Next-Gen TV standard. The "host" station's programming would reciprocally be carried as a programming stream by one of the stations deploying the Next-Gen TV standard. No additional spectrum or government funds are required for the new standard, and consumers would have no equipment mandates. Pay-TV providers' carriage of broadcasters' Next-Gen TV standard signals would largely be determined through business agreements. "This is an excting time for the broadcast industry. Next-Gen TV will provide broadcasters with the voluntary option of offering a higher-quality viewing experience, an IP-based infrastructure and greater interactivity with viewers," said NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith. "We believe our viewers will be the beneficiaries of new services ranging from breathtaking picture quality to in-depth emergency alerts and more personalized program content." "From 4K UHD TV to mobility and more, ATSC 3.0 offers consumers the most immersive viewing experience and more viewing options than ever before," said Gary Shapiro (News - Alert), president and CEO, Consumer Technology Association. "Our television manufacturers are excited to partner voluntarily with broadcasters, the public safety community and the ATSC to usher in this exciting new Golden Age of television technology and bring the benefits of this standard to devices throughout the home and beyond." "America's Public Television Stations believe the Next-Gen broadcast standard will give us even greater opportunities to pursue our public service missions of education, public safety and civic leadership," said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of APTS. "The FCC's timely adoption of the new standard may also help public television stations save money by combining some of the investments needed to deploy the new standard and to affect the repacking transition required by the broadcast spectrum auctions." "AWARN will provide a resilient and pervasive emergency communications system for a 21st Century America, a major upgrade to systems we have now," said John Lawson, executive director of the AWARN Alliance. "In response to manmade and natural threats, AWARN can deliver rich media, geo-targeted, and multilingual content - including video, storm tracks, evacuation routes, flood maps, and earthquake early warnings. And these alerts can reach millions of people simultaneously, even when the cellular network overloads or the grid goes down. ATSC 3.0 makes all of this possible." Elements of the Next-Gen TV standard will be on display at NAB Show April 18-21 in South Upper Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. In addition to featuring the first live Next-Gen TV broadcast in the U.S. originating from the "ATSC 3.0 Studio" (Booth SU16712), the "ATSC 3.0 Broadcast Pavilion" (Booths SU15709 - SU15814) offers broadcasters a variety of new equipment options and key technologies. The "ATSC 3.0 Consumer Experience" (South Upper Lobby) is providing demonstrations on the benefits of the new standard for viewers. For more information about the Next-Gen TV standard, please watch this video produced by Pearl, a consortium of major U.S. broadcast companies working on the standard. About NAB The National Association of Broadcasters is the premier advocacy association for America's broadcasters. NAB advances radio and television interests in legislative, regulatory and public affairs. Through advocacy, education and innovation, NAB enables broadcasters to best serve their communities, strengthen their businesses and seize new opportunities in the digital age. Learn more at www.nab.org. About CTA Consumer Technology Association (CTA) is the trade association representing the $287 billion U.S. consumer technology industry. More than 2,200 companies - 80 percent are small businesses and startups; others are among the world's best known brands - enjoy the benefits of CTA membership including policy advocacy, market research, technical education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CTA also owns and produces CES (News - Alert) - the world's gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. Profits from CES are reinvested into CTA's industry services. About APTS America's Public Television Stations (APTS) is a nonprofit membership organization established in 1979. APTS represents the overwhelming majority of the 171 public television licensees nationwide. The mission of APTS is to conduct - in concert with member stations - advocacy, planning, research and communications activities to foster strong and financially sound noncommercial television. APTS also works to ensure member stations' commitment and capacity to perform essential public service missions in education, public safety and civic leadership for the American people. About AWARN Alliance The AWARN Alliance is a coalition of major broadcast television groups and technology companies that are supporting the rapid deployment of the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN), which leverages the advanced emergency alerting capabilities of the ATSC 3.0 Next-Generation Television broadcast standard. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413006510/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 13, 2016] IEEE Computer Society's Rock Stars of Cyber Security to Premiere in Singapore and Address Top Singapore Cyber Security Threats LOS ALAMITOS, California, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On 26 May 2016, the IEEE Computer Society will host its premiere event, Rock Stars of Cyber Security, Singapore, at the Little Red Dot Museum, Singapore. In response to Singapore recognizing Cyber Security as a top concern, with organizations like Singapore's Cyber Security Agency (CSA) currently taking steps to raise standards and introduce the Cyber Security Bill in Parliament later this year, the Rock Stars of Cyber Security event is planned to educate, increase awareness, and introduce the latest technologies and strategies for the limitation and prevention of serious cyber attacks. As Singapore moves towards a Smart City and embraces rapid technology advancement, the interaction among telecommunications, financial and banking institutions, and other industries, means that a sophisticated cyber security breach remains one of the biggest concerns in Singapore. Key topics to be covered are: The importance f developing crucial risk strategies and building the right security programs to reflect them Protecting against malicious online activity through quantification of unknown security problems Speakers sharing cutting-edge strategies include: David O'Berry , Worldwide Chief Strategist, Intel Security , Worldwide Chief Strategist, Intel Security Kristen Hill , Senior Director, Information Security, CBS Corporation , Senior Director, Information Security, CBS Corporation Foong Sew Bun, Distinguished Engineer and Lead Cloud, IBM Justine Bone , Chief Technology Officer, Secured Worldwide , Chief Technology Officer, Secured Worldwide Eddie Schwartz , President and Chief Operating Officer, White Ops, Inc. e27 (Media Partner) MyRepublic (Supporting Partner) Association of Information Security Professionals, AISP (Supporting Partner) ISACA Singapore Chapter (Supporting Partner) (ISC)2 (Supporting Partner) Singapore Workforce Development Agency, WDA Register at www.rockstarsasia.com while early registration discounts are still in effect. About IEEE Computer Society IEEE Computer Society, the computing industry's unmatched source for technology information and career development, offers a comprehensive array of industry-recognized products, services and professional opportunities. Known as the community for technology leaders, IEEE Computer Society's vast resources include membership, publications, a renowned digital library, training programs, conferences, and top-trending technology events. Visit www.computer.org for more information on all products and services. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 13, 2016] Jiuxian.com takes a big step in executing on its global direct purchase strategy by partnering with McHenry Hohnen MARGARET RIVER, Australia, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- An executive delegation led by Hao Hongfeng, chairman of China's largest online alcohol retailer Jiuxian.com, paid a visit to the McHenry Hohnen winery located in the Margaret River wine region of Western Australia on April 12, 2016. McHenry Hohnen owner David Hohnen and partner Murray McHenry gave the delegation a warm reception at which Mr. Hohnen said, "We are pleased to welcome the management team of Jiuxian.com to McHenry Hohnen. We are fully aware of Jiuxian.com's reputation as China's largest vertical alcohol e-commerce company and one that hastens of millions of members. We are pleased to reach a strategic cooperation with Jiuxian.com, a firm which has rich experience in the Chinese alcohol market and proven brand promotion capabilities. We believe that the partnership with Jiuxan.com will serve to widen McHenry Hohnen's fan base in China." Mr. Hao explained some of the retailer's background: "Founded six years ago, Jiuxian.com is now a leading Chinese vertical alcohol e-commerce company with rich experience in management and a strong channel strategy. Jiuxian.com expects to build a bridge connecting Chinese consumers with fine wines from Australia. Our win-win cooperation starts now." Through the partnership with McHenry Hohnen, Jiuxian.com plans to introduce the wine maker's popular Rocky Road category to Chinese wine lovers. Rocky Road was rated a 94 by Australia's leading wine expert James Halliday, who, in his review of the wine, categorized it as an excellent value as a result of the high quality at a manageable price, and as one that merits being among the offerings at a sophisticated wine tasting event. The visit to Australia is a key step in the execution of Jiuxian.com's global wine direct purchase strategy. Since 2015, Jiuxian.com has been developing its wine business rapidly by choosing among high-quality wine products worldwide and enriching its production lines as a result of the initiation of the strategy of dealing directly with leading wine producers around the world. In 2016, Jiuxian.com's wine business is expected to contribute to 20 percent of the retailer's total annual revenue. Jiuxian.com decided to develop a global direct purchase strategy once the retailer noticed the continuing increase in the consumption of wine by the Chinese public. Data from China Customs show that the country imported nearly 600 million liters of wine in 2015, a rise of 44.58 percent over the numbers for 2014. The import value of wine grew by 34.30 percent year-on-year, setting a new record. Jiuxian.com expects to reach a strategic partnership with more than ten five-star wineries during the visit to Western Australia. Jiuxian.com plans to bring these fine wines to Chinese consumers by purchasing wine products directly from wine producers all over the world, providing Chinese wine lovers the opportunity to buy affordable foreign fine wines in their own country. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/355118 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jiuxiancom-takes-a-big-step-in-executing-on-its-global-direct-purchase-strategy-by-partnering-with-mchenry-hohnen-300251410.html SOURCE Jiuxian.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 13, 2016] Jiuxian.com, China's largest online alcohol retailer, visits Brygon Reserve Wines in move to initiate direct purchase of wine products MARGARET RIVER, Australia, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A delegation led by Hao Hongfeng, chairman of China's largest online alcohol retailer Jiuxian.com, visited Brygon Reserve Wines located in the Margaret River wine region of Australia on April 12, 2016 and reached a partnership agreement with the winery whereby the retailer will sell The Third Wheel and Humming Bird categories on Jiuxian.com. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/355127 Brygon Reserve Wines chief executive officer Robert Fraser-Scott gave the delegation a warm reception and followed up with a brief presentation on the winery's grape cultivation and wine making techniques during the delegation's visit to the vineyard. The CEO explained one of the winery's highlights: "The vineyard has a history going back 18 years, almost as long as our winery. Grape vines need to be allowed to grow and strengthen for ten years following plantation before they can be used to produce high quality wines. In its 12th year of cultivation, our Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard produced a finewine that won almost all the gold prizes at major Australian wine contests in 2009." Brygon Reserve Wines beat some of Australia's most prestigious wine brands to win over 200 gold awards at leading global wine exhibitions. The winery was included in the roster of Australia's Top 40 Best-Selling Wines chosen by leading wine and spirit magazine Winestate, as well as being named Best Wine in Western Australia and Wine of the Year. The delegation visited Brygon Reserve Wines' oak barrel aging facility as well as the winery's production and bottling lines. The winery has state-of-the-art brewing equipment. Each step of the brewing process is controlled and monitored by computer to ensure precise temperature control. All the wines are aged in new French oak barrels, assuring an ideal combination of oak and fruit aromas. Wine is gaining a growing share of the Chinese alcohol retail market in tandem with the continued rise in the country's living standards. Wine data analysis service provider IWSR said in a report that China's wine retail market was valued at around 78 billion yuan (approx. US$12 billion) in 2015, one third of which was contributed by imported product. In 2015, Jiuxian.com expanded its reach into the global wine market by initiating direct purchases with wineries worldwide. Jiuxian.com's direct purchase team has been touring wineries worldwide. By choosing to partner with wineries that produce better quality cost-conscious wines, Jiuxian.com is able to provide Chinese consumers with an excellent selection of wines through its e-commerce platform. Jiuxian.com expects to partner with more than ten five-star wineries during the visit to Western Australia. To celebrate its Wine Festival, Jiuxian.com has rolled out a series of popular promotions, including a limited-run flash sale for some fine wines priced at only 1 yuan (approx. US$0.15), providing interested shoppers with over 10 million yuan (approx. US$1.5 million) in discount coupons as an incentive. Jiuxian.com plans to offer Chinese wine lovers an increased selection of high-quality economical wines as a result of the purchases made during the visit to Western Australia. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] Big Basket Offers Express Delivery in Just 60 Minutes BANGALORE, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Surprise guests at home? Don't worry. Big Basket will deliver products at your doorstep in just 60 minutes. The new 'Express Delivery' service from Big Basket will allow users to select a range of products and get them delivered to the customer's doorstep within 60 minutes. This service is presently available in 8 cities across the country. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150911/10130176 ) Vipul Parekh, Co-founder of bigbasket.com said, "The biggest feedback we had from our customers was for faster deliveries to help them with top-ups and emergency purchases. With Express added to the business, we now cater to both the monthly bulk requirements of a household, as well as their top-up purchases. The Express service has received a great response at Big Basket, doubling business month-on-month." The Express delivery service helps people in their weekly top-ups like fruits and vegetables, milk, etc., with the option to choose from a wide range of products at ease, without worrying about having to stock up. One can place orderfor their daily essentials both from the BB app and also through the website. The BB app is available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Big Basket, based out of Bangalore, is operating in over 18 cities across India. Big Basket offers users to choose Express Delivery for daily essential products. At present, this service is available in Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. Big Basket offers over 18,000 products, ranging from FMCG, fruits to vegetables, meat, etc. About bigbasket.com bigbasket.com, a venture of Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt Ltd., was founded in December 2011 in Bangalore by a team of five - V S Sudhakar, Hari Menon, Vipul Parekh, V S Ramesh and Abhinay Choudhari. The team has both offline and online retail experience, as they had earlier set up India's first e-commerce site FabMart.com in 1999, and then established the Fabmall-Trinethra chain of more than 200 grocery supermarket stores in southern India. Big Basket has grown into India's largest online supermarket with over 20,000 products, from over 1000 brands and presence in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Mysore and Coimbatore, with plans to expand to other cities soon. Big Basket offers a variety of products across various categories: fresh fruits and vegetables, grocery and staples, beverages, bread, dairy and egg products, branded foods, meat, personal care and household products. BigBasket.com is excited about making life simpler and grocery shopping a breeze. Media Contact: Gaurango Banerji [email protected] +91-9003890059 bigbasket.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] NewVoiceMedia Raises Over 7000 for Naomi House & Jacksplace LONDON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NewVoiceMedia, a leading global provider of cloud technology which helps businesses sell more, serve better and grow faster, is giving back to the community by donating over 7000 to Naomi House & Jacksplace, a Hampshire-based charity which supports children and young adults with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions in Central Southern England. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140910/705584-a ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/354885 ) NewVoiceMedia's Foundation raised 7,178 from a range of staff and customer initiatives throughout 2015, which will contribute towards fundraising efforts for a new minibus for the charity. Naomi House & Jacksplace's hospices provide expert care to more than 280 life-limited and life-threatened children, young people and their extended families from Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Berkshire, West Sussex, Surrey and the Isle of Wight. Its support teams are experts in delivering the crucial emotional and developmental aspects of care that families need and its emphasis on innovation, clinical excellence and holstic care means the charity can support children and young people with some of the most complex medical needs. Launched in 2010, NewVoiceMedia's Foundation encompasses all charitable activities carried out at the company, focusing on skills-based volunteering, matched funding and fundraising activities. NewVoiceMedia also recently announced that it was among the first UK companies to join corporate philanthropy movement Pledge 1%. Founded by Atlassian, the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado, Rally and Salesforce.org, Pledge 1% empowers companies to donate 1% of product, 1% of equity, 1% of profit or 1% of employee time to improve communities around the world. Jill McDonagh, area fundraiser at Naomi House & Jacksplace, commented, "We are extremely grateful for NewVoiceMedia's support. The company's generous donation will help us to buy a new minibus, which will make a big difference to children and young people with life-limited and life-threatened illnesses. Without the tremendous generosity of individuals, businesses and groups in the community, we could not keep the doors of Naomi House and Jacksplace open and continue to provide much-needed respite, care and support for these families." Rohini Bali, NewVoiceMedia Foundation manager, said, "Naomi House & Jacksplace is an exemplary charity, and one that we are incredibly proud to support. We are pleased to have increased our commitment to integrated philanthropy over the last year and that we are able to give something back to the community while supporting the causes that are important to our employees." For further information about Naomi House & Jacksplace, visit naomihouse.org.uk. For more about NewVoiceMedia, visit http://www.newvoicemedia.com About NewVoiceMedia NewVoiceMedia powers customer connections that transform businesses globally. The leading vendor's award-winning cloud customer contact platform revolutionises the way organisations connect with their customers worldwide, enabling them to deliver a personalised and unique customer service experience and drive a more effective sales and marketing team. With a true cloud environment and proven 99.999% platform availability, NewVoiceMedia ensures complete flexibility, scalability and reliability. Spanning 128 countries and six continents, NewVoiceMedia's 500+ customers include PhotoBox, MobileIron, TNT, Lumesse, JustGiving, Canadian Cancer Society and Wowcher. For more information visit http://www.newvoicemedia.com or follow NewVoiceMedia on Twitter @NewVoiceMedia. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] DarkMatter Inaugurates R&D Centre Based in Toronto, Canada ABU DHABI, UAE and TORONTO, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Facility to focus on development of secure communications technologies Active recruitment programme sees R&D centre attracting tier-one talent DarkMatter, a cyber security firm headquartered in the UAE, today announced the opening of its research and development (R&D) centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The facility will focus on the advancement of DarkMatter's secure communications technologies and will work in concert with the company's R&D centre in the UAE. DarkMatter has established a built-to-spec R&D facility in Toronto staffed by a team with impressive prior experience building security focused products. DarkMatter continues to actively seek to hire engineers with experience across multiple disciplines and planforms, including embedded system, mobile, desktop, server and IoT for its R&D facility in Toronto. The company remains committed to attracting and retaining the best industry practitioners, reinforcing its ambition to be a cyber security company based in the UAE, with products and services being developed and shipped globally. Commenting on the opening of the new DarkMatter R&D centre, Faisal Al Bannai, Chief Executive Officer of DarkMatter said, "This is a significant milestone in the unfolding of DarkMatter's mission and vision to offer end-to-end protection of national and commercial infrastructure from cyber threats. We have assembled a world-class R&D team in Toronto and they now have cutting edge facilities from which to operate. I believe their efforts will be matched by those of the international experts we are attracting to the UAE, and together the teams will deliver a level of cyber security support that has never-before been experienced across geographies." DarkMatter's secure communications applications are designed to offer government entities and security-conscious businesses in the Middle East region and further afield the ability to deploy an utilise a regionally developed, word-class solution. Eugene Chin, Country Director - Canada for DarkMatter commented, "The team is enthusiastic about moving into our new premises and continuing our work on finding innovative solutions to challenging problems. DarkMatter is coming with a completely fresh approach to cyber security, taking a holistic view of it and ensuring end-to-end protection. The work we are undertaking in Toronto is crucial to this effort given the importance of securing environments in a highly connected world." Already a trusted partner to governments and critical entities, DarkMatter is staffed by tier-one international cyber experts who develop, manage and deploy the most innovative technologies. Solutions adhere to the company's Cyber Security Life-Cycle, which incorporates a four-stage approach involving planning, detection, protection and recovery. DarkMatter is leveraging this experience in the wider market as it looks to serve regional and international clients. The company provides a complete portfolio of cyber security solutions and services to organisations that have sophisticated security requirements, from governments and infrastructure operators to large corporations. About DarkMatter DarkMatter is a company that is transforming the cyber security landscape by providing a complete range of state-of-the-art services and solutions to government and commercial clients. Its end-to-end expertise extends to: Governance, Risk and Compliance We work with public and private entities in all verticals to audit and assess their performance against regulatory standards, helping identify gaps and meet obligations. Cyber Network Defence Our elite team of cyber experts, engaged across all competencies and functions, tasked with identifying and responding to the most advanced threats, threat actors, and cyber attacks. Managed Security Services We offer a remote monitoring remediation and resolution service that puts the full capabilities and resources of the DarkMatter organisation at the service of our MSS teams. Whether you need a SOC built and operated from scratch or you need assistance in upgrading what you currently have in place, DarkMatter can provide assistance. Secure Communications DarkMatter's Secure Communications Suite protects fixed and mobile voice, video, chat, email, file sharing, data communication, as well as device management across various platforms and operating systems. Infrastructure and System Integration This area underpins our professional services offering for governments and corporations, providing applications, services and solutions that ensure our clients remain at the forefront of cyber security. Smart Solutions We offer a comprehensive security suite of services comprising elements of protection for both homes and businesses: The Connected and Secure Home & Office; Technical Surveillance and Countermeasures; Mobile Peace of Mind; and Trusted Hardware supply. Staffed by global experts and headquartered in the UAE, DarkMatter provides peace of mind through consulting and project implementations that are scalable to clients of any size and that address any domain of cyber security threat or risk. As a trusted partner to governments and critical infrastructure entities, the firm also works with leading global companies operating in the field of electronic and cyber security. Agile and innovative, DarkMatter takes a comprehensive approach to helping its clients navigate the complex and ever-evolving world of threat and risk mitigation strategies, tools, policies and systems. http://www.darkmatter.ae Media contacts Kevin Healy, Executive Director, Marketing and Corporate Communications, DarkMatter Tel.: +971-56-538-7806 Email: [email protected] Lina Arke, Account Executive, H+K Strategies Tel.: +971-56-174-2468 Email: [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] Free File Program says 'Tax Filing Simplification Act' Would Create a Conflict of Interest & End a Free Program that's Working for Taxpayers WASHINGTON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Free File Alliance, a coalition of 13 industry-leading tax software companies partnered with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), today released the following statement after the Tax Filing Simplification Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate in a bid to end the Free File Program, and fundamentally change the country's tax system of voluntary compliance by having IRS prepare citizens' tax returns. "The Tax Filing Simplification Act is anything but simple," said Tim Hugo, executive director of the Free File Alliance. "Not only would the legislation create a tremendous and potentially harmful conflict of interest for the American people by enshrining roles of tax preparer, tax collector, tax auditor and tax enforcer together in one entity, the IRS, but the system's very creation would also be a huge burden for taxpayers. The IRS has cut 13 percent of its full-time workforce since 2011, and government budgets are shrinking, not expanding. The proposal would make the essential tax administration work of the IRS impossible, while disadvantaging the taxpayer." Hugo continued, "The reality is that Americans already have free and effective options for tax preparation which cost the public, Treasury and taxpayers nothing. The Free File program, which is regulated by the IRS, has provided $1.4 billion in doated tax software services, serving almost 50 million American families. Responding to an IRS survey, 96 percent of users said they found Free File easy to use, while 98 percent said they would recommend the program to others. It is also important to recognize that while Free File was created to further drive the IRS e-filing initiative and reduce tax administration costs, it has also engaged the tax software industry in providing free and innovative preparation options, which multiply every year." Through Free File, available at www.IRS.gov/FreeFile, taxpayers with a 2015 Adjusted Gross Income of $62,000 or less can access free, industry-leading tax software to prepare, complete and e-file their federal tax returns at no cost. Free state return options are also available to everyone making $62,000 or less. Eligible taxpayers have consumer choice, with free service offerings from 13 companies. Taxpayers who have an AGI that exceeds $62,000 can e-file their federal tax returns or an extension using Free File Fillable Formsa service designed for taxpayers who prefer working directly with the electronic equivalent of IRS paper tax forms and instructions. Free File is intended to particularly help lower- and middle-income taxpayers who may be eligible for refundable tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which Free File enables them to claim through their tax returns at no cost. Likewise, Free File helps taxpayers with the new health care requirements. Using Free File, most taxpayers simply have to check a box to report health care coverage for the entire year. The service is also available in Spanish. And finally, the program offers expanded services to active duty U.S. armed forces, and the families who are waiting for them back at home. About the Free File Alliance The Free File Alliance, a coalition of 13 industry-leading tax software companies, has partnered with the IRS since 2003 to help low and middle-income Americans prepare, complete and e-file their federal tax returns online. The Free File Alliance is committed to giving 70 percent of taxpayers free access to the industry's top online tax preparation software. For more information, visit www.freefilealliance.org. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/free-file-program-says-tax-filing-simplification-act-would-create-a-conflict-of-interest--end-a-free-program-thats-working-for-taxpayers-300251470.html SOURCE Free File Alliance [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] MagnaChip Schedules First Quarter 2016 Earnings Release and Conference Call SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation ("MagnaChip") (NYSE: MX) will hold a conference call Thursday, May 5, 2016 at 5 p.m. EDT to discuss the Company's first quarter 2016 financial results. Participating in the call will be YJ Kim, MagnaChip CEO and Jonathan Kim, Executive Vice President and CFO. The earnings press release will be issued after the market closes that day. The conference call will be webcast live and is also available by dialing 1-866-776-2061 in the U.S. or 1-706-679-0298 for all other locations. The conference ID number is 90598586 and participants are encouraged to initiate their calls at least 10 minutes in advance of the 5 p.m. EDT start time to ensure a timely connection. The webcast and earnings release will be accessible at www.magnachip.com. A replay of the conference call will be available the same day and will run for 72 hours. The replay access numbers are 1-855-859-2056 or 1-404-537-3406. The access code is 90598586. About MagnaChip Semiconductor Headquartered in South Korea, MagnaChip Semiconductor is a Korea-based designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products for high volume consumer applications. MagnaChip Semiconductor believes it has one of the broadest and deepest ranges of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platforms in the industry, supported by its 30-year operating history, large portfolio of registered and pending patents and extensive engineering and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com. CONTACTS: In the United States: Robert Pursel Director of Investor Relations Tel. +1.408.625.1262 [email protected] In Korea: Chankeun Park Senior Manager, Public Relations Tel. +82.2.6903.3195 [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/magnachip-schedules-first-quarter-2016-earnings-release-and-conference-call-300250785.html SOURCE MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] GSI Health Announces New Philadelphia Headquarters to Support Substantial Growth PHILADELPHIA, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- GSI Health, a leading healthcare technology company that enables healthcare organizations to more effectively manage and care for patient populations, today will cut the ribbon on its new headquarters, located in Philadelphia's Center City at the BNY Mellon Center (1735 Market Street). Situated on the building's top floor with 360-degree views of the city, the new offices will support GSI Health's continuing innovation and a planned 50 percent head count growth in 2016, primarily in software engineering and other technical positions. As a leading metropolitan area for healthcare innovation, Philadelphia offers GSI Health easy access to world-class medical and research facilities, the seat of national healthcare policy in Washington DC, and quick access to other progressive healthcare markets. In addition, the Company has deep roots in the community, originating with GSI Health founder and chief executive officer LeRoy Jones, a native Philadelphian. "Growing up in such a historic city as Philadelphia has given me an appreciation for the preservation of tradition, loyalty and pride of placeall of which I've tried to infuse into the soul of our company," said Mr. Jones. "I am proud to be a job creator in a city that has given me so much." Philadelphia's diverse population epitomizes some of the challenges facing the healthcare system that GSI Health's clod-based care coordination and population health platform, GSIHealthCoordinator, was built to address. By uniting medical, behavioral, social and human service providers to deliver collaborative, "whole person" care within complex communities, GSIHealthCoordinator is improving the health of individuals and entire populations. "Philadelphia serves a number of demographics and populations that have been marginalized within the national healthcare system," said Mr. Jones. "If GSI Health can provide leadership by delivering more technology innovation into the city's healthcare community, it will not only serve the region well, but also reach and benefit those that need innovation the most." The ribbon cutting ceremony will welcome GSI Health employees and stakeholders, as well as distinguished guests including Harold Epps, Director of Commerce for the City, Councilman Allan Domb, and Claire Marrazzo Greenwood, VP of the CEO Council for Growth, Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. The event will celebrate the Company's growth and preview its new, progressive facilities. An open environment designed to maximize collaboration and drive innovation, the headquarters feature nearly 13,000 square feet of space. Open workstations are surrounded by private offices with floor-to-ceiling glass panels that showcase panoramic views of Philadelphia. Creativity and innovation are facilitated through modern features such as collaborative spaces with writable walls, advanced conferencing capabilities and mounted touch-displays for projection and virtual white-boarding. Additionally, the site is conveniently located in close proximity to train stations, local restaurants and other city amenities. "Our new headquarters represents the next step in the evolution of our progressive work culture that enables distributed teams to build sophisticated, tightly integrated software systems," said Mr. Jones. "I am excited to build a technology center that supports the talents and innovation of our best-in-class team, and there is no better place for it than Philadelphia." Learn more at www.gsihealth.com. About GSI Health GSI Health's cloud-based software solutions unite patients, health care payers and care providers of all kinds, enabling whole person and whole population care through efficient communication, workflow, information sharing, and built-in analytics and reportingall on a single integrated platform. Our configurable solutions help care teams across the community manage, analyze, and engage with patients in real-time as they move through the care delivery system to prevent avoidable hospital readmissions and improve population health, so you can improve your ROI. Learn more at www.gsihealth.com. 2016 GSI Health LLC. All rights reserved. GSI Health LLC is a registered trademarks and the GSI Health logo is a trademark of GSI Health LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160321/346301LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gsi-health-announces-new-philadelphia-headquarters-to-support-substantial-growth-300248635.html SOURCE GSI Health [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] Effective-People, a GP Strategies Company, Earns SAP Quality Awards for the EMEA Region COLUMBIA, Md., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Global performance improvement solutions provider GP Strategies Corporation (NYSE: GPX) announced today that Denmark-based Effective-People, a GP Strategies company, received two SAP Quality Awards in partnership with Cargotec Corporation and Swiss Reinsurance Company (Swiss Re). The SAP Quality Awards for Europe, the Middle East and Africa celebrate customers who have exceled in the implementation of their SAP software solutions. These prestigious awards recognize customers who use SAP's quality principles to effectively plan, execute and manage their implementations; simplify business processes and deliver significant business benefits to their organization; and achieve fast, low-cost implementationsand meet today's demand for rapid time to value. Cargotec, a world leader in cargo handling, earned a Gold award. Cargotec has three distinct business areasKalmar, Hiab and MacGregor and wanted one consolidated view of all of its employees. With SAP SuccessFactors solutions, it has gained new HR insights that are helping it improve performance. Effective-People helped realize this using their proven methodologies for rapid deployment, implementation and change management services. As a result, Cargotec claims to have saved over 2m ($2.2M) since rolling out a cloud HR service to serve its 11,000 employees. Swiss Re, a leading wholesale provider of reinsurance insurance and other insurance-based forms of risk transfer and based in Zurich, earned a Bronze award. GP Strategies/Effective-People was responsible for the migration of its existing SAP Human Capital Management (HCM) solution to the SAP cloud solution SuccessFactors Employee Central, with localization for 25 countries. Swiss Re also expects significant cost savings through the reduced infrastructure costs resulting from the use of a cloud solution. "Congratulations to Cargotec and Swiss Re for winning two awards at the SAP EMEA Quality Awards Ceremony, which was held at SAP headquarters in Walldorf, Germany," stated Mikkel Krogsdal-Wogensen, Managing Director for Effective-People. "Not only did Effective-People deliver the best SuccessFactors projects in 2015/2016 in the largest SAP region in the world, but we also earned two out of three possible awards in this category. Both projects have realized impressive business benefits, and we look forward to supporting their future journey with SuccessFactors" Bill Finegan, Vice President for GP Strategies, stated, "I am extremely proud of this unique achievement, which emphasizes that our high-quality SuccessFactors delivery model stands out, not just on a regional level, but also on the EMEA-wide level. This business area is very important to GP Strategies, and we will continue to invest in resources to support the growth of our global SuccessFactors practice." For more information, visit: SAP Quality Awards About GP Strategies GP Strategies Corporation (NYSE: GPX) is a global performance improvement solutions provider of training, eLearning solutions, management consulting and engineering services. GP Strategies' solutions improve the effectiveness of organizations by delivering innovative and superior training, consulting and business improvement services customized to meet the specific needs of its clients. Clients include Fortune 500 companies, manufacturing, process and energy industries, and other commercial and government customers. Additional information may be found at www.gpstrategies.com. 2016 GP Strategies Corporation. All rights reserved. GP Strategies and the GP Strategies logo design are trademarks of GP Strategies Corporation. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130502/PH05881LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/effective-people-a-gp-strategies-company-earns-sap-quality-awards-for-the-emea-region-300251322.html SOURCE GP Strategies [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] Kerio Technologies Given 5-Star Rating in CRN's 2016 Partner Program Guide SAN JOSE, California, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Annual guide recognizes the best channel partner programs in the market Kerio Technologies, announced today that CRN , a brand of The Channel Company, has given Kerio Technologies a 5-Star rating in its 2016 Partner Program Guide. This annual guide is the definitive listing of technology vendors that service solution providers or provide products through the IT channel. The 5-Star Partner Program Guide rating recognizes an elite subset of companies that offer solution providers the best partnering elements in their channel programs. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150522/747083-a ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160414/355446 ) To determine the 2016 5-Star ratings, The Channel Company's research team assessed each vendor's application based on investments in program offerings, partner profitability, partner training, education and support, marketing programs and resources, sales support and communication. The Kerio Partner Program supports cloud service providers and IT resellers that are looking to provide small and growing businesses with email and messaging, voice and etwork security solutions. Kerio offers competitive solutions, pricing and a comprehensive support package of marketing, training and technical support to help partners build a successful business of their own. "Solution providers have more choices than ever before when it comes to selecting vendor partners. Identifying the right vendor with the right technologies and the right channel approach can mean the difference between successful adoption of a new technology or business model and an awkward, unnecessarily difficult integration," said Robert Faletra, CEO, The Channel Company. "Our annual Partner Program Guide and 5-Star ratings recognize the best channel programs available in the market today and serve as a valuable resource for solution providers looking for the right fit." "We are honored to be awarded a 5-star rating for our partner program," said Mirek Kren, CEO of Kerio Technologies. "This recognition is testament of our continued commitment to our channel partners. We're focused on delivering the cloud and on-premises solutions and support our partner's need, so they can help the small and growing businesses that power the majority of the world's economy to get the most from technology." The 2016 Partner Program Guide will be featured in the April issue of CRN and online at http://www.CRN.com/ppg2016. Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook Tweet This: @TheChannelCo names @keriotech to @CRN 2016 Partner Program Guide #CRNPPG http://www.CRN.com/ppg2016 About Kerio Technologies Kerio provides safe, simple, and secure business productivity solutions to more than 60,000 businesses and millions of users globally. Our award-winning email, UTM/firewall, VoIP, and collaboration solutions are distributed through a network of more than 6,000 reseller partners. Kerio is a profitable and growing technology leader headquartered in San Jose, California with offices in the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Russia, Australia, and Brazil. http://www.kerio.com About the Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. http://www.thechannelco.com CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. The Channel Company logo is a trademark of The Channel Company, LLC (registration pending). All rights reserved. SOURCE Kerio Technologies [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] ABI Research Identifies 60 Young and Reinvented Companies Set to Transform the Technology Marketplace LONDON, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- At this critical juncture for the technology industry, ABI Research, the leader in transformative technology innovation market intelligence, identifies 60 innovative young and reinvented companies in its annual top technology innovators report that are set to transform the technology marketplace. Rather than focus on the mega companies driving core markets, this research focuses upon those smallerharder to seeyoung and reinvented companies that are enabling real, sustainable change from the margins of industry. "While it is easy to spot the tech companies that cause disruption, the true transformative trends and companies driving those changes are harder to see," says Stuart Carlaw, Managing Partner and Chief Research Officer at ABI Research. "Our analysts assessed a great deal of companies for this report, many of which we consider to be disruptive market innovators. However, some of the groundbreaking companies will not see the fruits of their labor and will ultimately disappear as the market moves toward more sustainable and transformative trends." Those companies featured in the research are aligned around a number of core areas where technology transformation is ripe: The path to 5G and the future network IoT and its digitization of the physical world The vehicle of the future The revolution in urban management Mass transit for the future connected megacity Security and privacy in the hyper connected world of the future Augmented reality and virtual reality enhancing the enterprise workflow and consumer experience The human machine interface Next generation video experiences Robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and machine vision Digitizing the human domain with wearables, hearables, usables, and expendables Digital energy and powering the connected world "ABI Research analysts identified the young and agile companies that should be on the radar of all market observers," concludes Carlaw. "They should be considered pioneers, market makers, threats, disruptors, acquisition targets and transformation agents. Fundamentally, they represent some of the brightest value creators operating today." For more information, download ABI Research's complimentary Hot Tech Innovators (https://www.abiresearch.com/hot-tech-2016/) whitepaper. About ABI Research For more than 25 years, ABI Research has stood at the forefront of technology market intelligence, partnering with innovative business leaders to implement informed, transformative technology decisions. The company employs a global team of senior analysts to provide comprehensive research and consulting services through deep quantitative forecasts, qualitative analyses and teardown services. An industry pioneer, ABI Research is proactive in its approach, frequently uncovering ground-breaking business cycles ahead of the curve and publishing research 18 to 36 months in advance of other organizations. In all, the company covers more than 60 services, spanning 11 technology sectors. For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com. Contact Info: Christine Gallen Tel: +44.203.326.0142 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160414/355451 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151014/276887LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/abi-research-identifies-60-young-and-reinvented-companies-set-to-transform-the-technology-marketplace-300251716.html SOURCE ABI Research [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] NAMIC Announces Maria Elena Salinas as Recipient of the 2016 Mickey Leland Humanitarian Achievement Award NEW YORK, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) today announced Maria Elena Salinas, anchor, Noticiero Univision (Univision News) as the recipient of the 2016 Mickey Leland Humanitarian Achievement Award. Among the highest honors within the industry, the award was established in 1992 to commemorate the eponymous Congressman from Texas for his lifelong advocacy in social justice and equality for people around the world. Salinas will be honored as part of the NAMIC Annual Awards Breakfast scheduled for Wednesday, May 18, 2016 from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. ET at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, MA. The NAMIC breakfast is held in conjunction with the National Cable and Telecommunication Association's INTX: The Internet & Television Expo. Since the inception of the Mickey Leland Humanitarian Achievement Award, NAMIC has continued its tradition of honoring individuals and organizations affiliated with the communications industry that demonstrate a commitment to advancing concerns of people of color. "NAMIC is pleased to continue paying tribute to Congressman Leland's legacy, by honoring Maria Elena Salinas, a true humanitarian and diversity champion within the field of journalism," said Eglon E. Simon, president and CEO, NAMIC. Maria Elena Salinas co-anchors Univision Network's national newscast "Noticiero Univision" and the weekly primetime newsmagazine "Aqui y Ahora" (Here and Now). Called the "Voice of Hispanic America" by The New York Times, Salinas is the most recognized Hispanic female journalist in the Unied States. Her reputation as a serious, objective and highly trustworthy journalist has allowed her to tirelessly uplift Latino communities and bring their struggles to the public eye. Her career has been marked by her extraordinary commitment to pave the way for future generations. In 1984, Salinas helped launch the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. The organization's mission is to provide professional advancement opportunities, as well as create a unified vision for all Hispanic journalists. As a mentor, Salinas has been an invaluable resource to her colleagues and to young Latinos interested in media. She was instrumental in the creation of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, which has awarded over $470 million in scholarships to students, scholars, and their families. In 2000, Salinas started her own scholarship fund to support Hispanics students interested in journalism. In 2014, during one of the major humanitarian crisis in recent history, Salinas covered more than 5,700 miles over eight days to produce "Entre el Abandono y el Rechazo" (Between Abandonment and Rejection) to witness and expose the deplorable conditions that drove so many children in Central America to abandon their home in search of a better life. Salinas also explored and revealed the consequences of the massive exodus in the U.S. Mexico border, and wrote about it in The Washington Post. Salinas has received many prestigious recognitions for her distinguished career in broadcast journalism, including: the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Lifetime Achievement Award; the Peabody Award; a Gracies Award for Outstanding Anchor; five national and one regional Emmy Awards; a Walter Cronkite award; an Edward R. Murrow Award; the "Intrepid Award" from NOW; and the 2013 Outstanding Achievement Award in Hispanic Television by Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable magazines. Presented in partnership with Multichannel News, sponsors of the 2016 NAMIC Annual Awards Breakfast include the NCTA, Univision Communications Inc, Discovery Communications, REVOLT, Crown Media Family Networks and Scripps Networks Interactive. ABOUT NAMIC NAMIC (National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications) is the premier organization focusing on multi-ethnic diversity in the communications industry. Founded in 1980 as a non-profit trade association, today NAMIC comprises 2,700 professionals belonging to a network of 16 chapters nationwide. Through initiatives that focus on education, advocacy and empowerment, NAMIC champions equity and inclusion in the workforce, with special attention given to ensuring that the leadership cadres of our nation's communications industry giants reflect the multi-ethnic richness of the populations they serve. Comcast | NBCUniversal, Time Warner Cable and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. are NAMIC's Platinum Annual Corporate Sponsors. For more information, please visit www.namic.com and stay connected to NAMIC on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20060705/NYW092LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/namic-announces-maria-elena-salinas-as-recipient-of-the-2016-mickey-leland-humanitarian-achievement-award-300251852.html SOURCE NAMIC [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 14, 2016] Propeller Brings Technology, Music, Networking To Hoboken's Pier A Park HOBOKEN, N.J., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Propeller, a daylong event where innovators of the northeast will unite, today announced a full 14 hours of programming designed to inspire, educate, and celebrate over 5,000 expected attendees at Hoboken's Pier A on Friday, May 20, beginning at 9:00 am. Propeller is founded and produced by Aaron Price, founder of the New Jersey Tech Meetup, along with a team of over 100 volunteers and an eclectic group of partners, sponsors and exhibitors. "The northeast is rich with startup and tech activity, with over 200 investment funds, at least 15 unicorns, and hundreds of startups located in New York and New Jersey alone. The truth is, we're long overdue for an event like this, in our own backyard, that unites the innovation community," said Price. "We set out to create the ultimate experience that showcases all of the amazing people, companies, and opportunity in the area. We have, virtual reality, drones, a startup competition and talks from venture capitalists and tech luminaries. You can come and enjoy a locally made craft beer, check out some cool new projects, network, and enjoy a special musical performance as the day transitions from conference to celebration." ACTIVITIES Propeller attendees can expect: Startup competition co-hosted with Techstars and Newark Venture Partners Keynotes and fireside chats throughout the day from influencers in technology, investing, startups, and education Over 50 exhibitor booths featuring the latest projects from technology's brightest minds Networking with like-minded innovators, in lounges sponsored by DigitalOcean and Justworks Community area for local groups to co-mingle Virtual reality demo area presented by Audible Interactive guest experiences Drone competition Venture Capital "speed dating" session for entrepreneurs Human Digital Orchestra presented by Bell Labs Immersive VR Sound Chamber by Stevens Institute of Technology Jet.com recruitment Bar & Lounge Hello & Demo Bar with live startup demos Local food and drinks, with a portion of proceeds going to charity Inspiration, education and fun SPEAKERS Speakers and panelists will be featured throughout the day at Propeller, with sessions running concurrently from two separate venues: The Stage of Wisdom and The Stage of Inspiration. Propeller speakers, including best-selling author, podcaster and investor James Altucher; City of New York Chief Technology Officer Minerva Tantoco; Techstars Managing Director Jenny Fielding; and Marcus Weldon, President & CEO of Bell Labs, will discuss a range of topics at the intersection of technology, business, and culture, organized along three tracks: Future Of; Startups; and Corporate Innovation. "New York City tech is booming, and our secret sauce is diversity and a deep sense of community. You see it in our collaborative tech initiatives, tech meetups, our workspaces, and our public-private partnerships," said Tantoco. "There's no question that Propeller, and an opportunity to experience it at the soon-to-be new campus for Cornell Tech, will celebrate and foster the area's unique innovation community. We're proud to lead the way and to help unite the innovators of New York City and beyond." TICKETS General availability tickets are now on sale at propellerfest.com for $139.99. Each ticket includes a bundle of premiums valued at over $1,000 comprising: One-month Work Pass to Alley NYC One-month Work Pass to Mission 50 One-hour live coaching session from Entrepreneur Magazine Funds to spend at Jet.com One-year subscription to Entrepreneur Magazine A free audio book download from Audible.com WHERE AND WHEN Propeller Pier A Park 100 Sinatra Drive, Hoboken, NJ 07030 Friday, May 20, 9:00 am 11:00 pm ABOUT PROPELLER Propeller is a day-long event where innovators of the northeast will unite, created to foster a sense of camaraderie among the northeast innovation community. Headquartered in Hoboken's Pier A Park, Propeller brings together makers, entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators on Friday, May 20, to experience live music, the latest in tech, thought-provoking speakers, networking, inspiration, education, and fun. Propeller was created by Aaron Price, founder of the New Jersey Tech Meetup. For more information, directions, and tickets, please visit:www.propellerfest.com, and follow Propeller on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Media Contact: Rich Gallagher Resound Marketing for Propeller [email protected] 609-279-0050 x118 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/propeller-brings-technology-music-networking-to-hobokens-pier-a-park-300251963.html SOURCE Propeller [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] For a month after their kidnap by the Boko Haram sect, former President Goodluck Jonathan did not believe that 267 Chibok girls were ab... For a month after their kidnap by the Boko Haram sect, former President Goodluck Jonathan did not believe that 267 Chibok girls were abducted by the sect.The BringBackOurGirls coalition, which has been campaigning for the release of the girls since April 14, 2014 stated this in an interview with newsmen on Wednesday. The girls were kidnapped by the sect exactly two years ago today.The BringBackOurGirls coalition attributed the failure to liberate the missing Chibok schoolgirls two years after their abduction, to the delay by the Jonathan government in rescuing them.The BBOG spokesman, Tunji Olanrewaju, said the girls would have been rescued if the former administration had acted faster.He said, We believe strongly that the delay is a strong factor, no doubt about that and it was the reason why we came our very vocally against the government that they needed to do something, act faster and be more creative in how they go about it.Experts are of the opinion that in the case of abduction, if a rescue mission is not launched within the first 48 hours, the chances of successful rescue diminishes. Because of the doubt that permeated the government at that time, the right thing was not done and that is the reason we are where we are today.The first official response did not happen until after 18 days and then, the fact-finding committee was set up on the 19th day of the abduction, the implication was that the government was in doubt about the abduction and it was after the fact-finding committee submitted its report that we had an official response from the government that 219 school girls were abducted. That was how we came about the 219 girls; it was the Sabo committee that established that fact.Olanrewaju stated that though the international community established the location of the girls through the satellite, there was no concerted effort to rescue them.Responding to the reports that the some of the girls might have been used as child bombers by Boko Haram, the BBOG spokesman observed that most of the suicide bombers were below the age of the schoolgirls, adding that the youngest of the missing girls would be about 17 years.Most of the girls quoted in the report are below 12, they are below the age of Chibok girls who are about 17 years and above. We know that most of the child bombers may not be Chibok girls but they are Nigerians and this made us sad, he noted.Comparing the handling of the girls rescue operation by the Jonathan and Buhari administrations, the BBOG activist said latter was more proactive, noting that though it under-estimated the enormity of the challenges on the ground.According to him, Buhari was well aware of the issue of the missing girls before coming to power, stressing that his administration had recorded more gains in the war against the insurgents.He said, The sad fact is that the girls are not back, but we acknowledge that the response of the Buhari government as against that of Jonathan government has been more proactive and more hands-on.It was difficult for Jonathan government to even accept that the girls were missing, it took about 19 days for the government to react officially, it took almost one month after before the Sabo committee was asked to do a verification before the report was ready, it took a lot of time.Buharis government coming in knew there was a problem it had to solve and I know that it probably under-estimated the enormity of the challenge, which is obvious.It had not been able to give us the girls back, but it would be horrible to say he has not done anything soldiers are dying every day, trying to find the girls, soldiers are dying every day recovering territories occupied by Boko Haram, and that is something commendable and we are grateful for all they have done. On the flip side, this war would not have been won until the girls are found. The Acting Director Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, has said that the military was committed to the rescue of not only the... The Acting Director Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, has said that the military was committed to the rescue of not only the Chibok girls but also all persons held captive by the Boko Haram insurgents.Abubakar said that the military had rescued over 10,000 captives of the Boko Haram insurgents since the current military leadership was appointed.He stressed that it was a top priority of the Armed Forces to ensure that the missing girls were rescued.The Acting Defence Spokesman said that the Armed Forces would remain steadfast in waging the ongoing campaign against the Boko Haram insurgents and would not give in to blackmail.Speaking on the recent video on the Chibok girls, Abubakar said that while the military had seen the video, it had not authenticated it.He said that the video had nothing to do with the ongoing military operation in the North East even though the military had serious concerns for the presence of the girls in custody of the insurgents.He added that it was the characteristic of terrorist organisations to use the social media to confuse people who did not know their antics.Abubakar said that the video purported to be containing some of the Chibok girls could be concocted.He said, The Nigeria Armed Forces would never give up to blackmail and mere media war. We remain focused in dealing with the matter at hand and would be steadfast in that course.The truth will come to be in the nearest future; we are always hopeful through our unrelenting commitment to the protection of our country from any form of aggression. Our unified operations will go on and success is on our side.Terrorists by their nature rely on cheap publicity using social media to confuse those who dont their antics.In as much as we care for the rescue of the Chibok girls, which is our target, we are equally not closing our eyes to the rescue of any person or persons in Boko Haram custody as we have been doing in recent times.Over 10,000 Persons d have so far been rescued since the new leadership came on board in the military. And we shall continue he in that direction no matter the media reports.All these things are campaigns. In as much as we saw the so called concocted video, it has nothing to do with our own activities, even though we are sympathetic to the plight of our sisters and brothers with the ungodly group.In as much as we have seen the video, it has not nothing to do with our operations. In this era of social media, anything can happen. It can be concocted because in this era of social mega, anything can happen, so people should not carried away. Exactly two years after over 200 girls were kidnapped in their school in Chibok, Borno State, President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday app... Exactly two years after over 200 girls were kidnapped in their school in Chibok, Borno State, President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday appealed to the distraught parents of the girls to be patient with him.He urged them to show understanding as his administration continues to work round the clock to ensure the release of the abducted girls.Buharis position was contained in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.The statement was issued on a day security operatives blocked activists calling for the rescue of the girls from accessing the Presidential Villa, Abuja.President Buhari urges the (Chibok girls) parents to continue to exercise patience and understanding as the government works diligently to ensure that the girls return home unharmed.The President thanked all Nigerians, religious and civil organisations, and the international community for their continued sympathy, support and prayers for the return of the Chibok girls, the statement read in part.Buhari was further quoted to have assured the parents and relations of the kidnapped Chibok girls that he frequently reflects on the ordeal of the captives in the hands of Boko Haram terrorists and shares the pain of their continued absence from home.He reaffirmed that, as a parent and leader of the country, he understands the torment, frustration and anxiety of the parents and will not spare any effort to ensure the safe return of the girls.The statement added, The President continues to believe that with the total commitment of the Federal Government, Nigerian Armed Forces and security agencies, and the support of the international community, the girls will be eventually rescued.President Buhari notes that thousands of persons, mostly women and children, who were kidnapped by Boko Haram, have already been rescued and reunited with their families. He shares the hope of the parents that the Chibok girls will ultimately be rescued and reunited with their families as well.The President assures the parents that the Federal Government and security agencies will continue to explore all possible options for the safe return of the girls. Governor Ayodele Fayose has said the Federal Government should not use the report of a military panel set up to investigate the June 21, 2... Governor Ayodele Fayose has said the Federal Government should not use the report of a military panel set up to investigate the June 21, 2014 Ekiti governorship election.Fayose, who spoke through the Ekiti State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Owoweni Ajayi, on Wednesday, said the verdict of the Supreme Court on the governorship election was superior to that of any tribunal.Specifically, Fayose said that the report could not be used to prosecute the members of the Ekiti Peoples Democratic Party alleged to have been culpable in the rigging of the election.In an open letter written by the commissioner to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Alhaji Abubakar Malami, Fayose said that plans were afoot by the Federal Government to prosecute Ekiti PDP members over the alleged rigging.The state government said that the Supreme Court had put the contentious issues arising from the petition by the All Progressives Congress over the election to rest by delivering a judgment in favour of the governor and the PDP.The letter said, Although the AGF is vested with prosecutorial powers under Section 174 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the powers are neither absolute nor unlimited and they must be exercised with due caution and regard for the rule of law.It said the propriety or otherwise of the election had been decided from the tribunal level up to the Supreme Court and that any other panel, whether military or otherwise, could not sit over judgment on any matter already decided by the apex court.According to the governor, the sanctity of the judicial process and respect for the principles of federalism must be adhered to always.He added, Unless an alleged criminal act constitutes an offence under a federal enactment, the Attorney General of the Federation will definitely be acting ultra vires by any purported move to prosecute an alleged offender before any state or federal court in Nigeria without a fiat by the Attorney General of the respective state, vested with constitutional jurisdiction to prosecute criminal matters under the state law.Although the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) is a federal enactment, which creates several offences triable only in the magistrate or high court of a state in which the offence is committed, prosecution of such offences can only be undertaken by the Independent National Electoral Commission, upon a recommendation made to it by an Election Petition Tribunal for the prosecution of any person or individual disclosed in an election petition or upon findings, after a thorough investigation by the police. The controversy trailing the 2016 budget of the Federal Government got messier, yesterday, as legislators in the two chambers of the Natio... The controversy trailing the 2016 budget of the Federal Government got messier, yesterday, as legislators in the two chambers of the National Assembly, NASS, broke ranks with the official position of NASS which blamed the Presidency for the fiasco.While senators from the southern part of the country, in a formal position, asked the President not to give his assent to the budget, members of the House of Representatives in a closed-door session rose against Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who they blamed for orchestrating the face-off.The southern senators and members of the House of Representatives from across ethnic and party lines were miffed by what they described as the central role of Jibrin in removing the CalabarLagos rail line from the federal budget. While the Southern senators asked the President not to give his assent without the inclusion of the rail line, the House requested the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, to interface with President Muhammadu Buhari towards resolving the imbroglio.The face-off in the House ensued shortly after it went into a closed-door session and Speaker Dogara sought explanations from Jibrin on the issues concerning the budget.As Jibrin got up to explain the procedure adopted, he was faced with criticisms from several members, leading to an uproar.Members in different tones, accused him of muddling up the reputation of the House and putting the legislature and the Presidency in an unnecessary face-off. They alleged that recommendations put up by the House committees were unilaterally tampered with by the Jibrin-led House Committee on Appropriation.At the end of the session with members seemingly convinced that the problem arose from the legislature, the members urged the speaker to seek audience with the President to remedy the situation. Drakes View from the 6 could be linked to inspiration from his hometown Canada but his recent releases taps from diverse sounds across the world. The single, One Dance which features Wizkid and Kyla, is built around African vibes provided by producers Noah 40 Shebib, Nineteen85, and DJ Maphorisa, a DJ and artist from Soshanguve, Pretoria. In an interview with Genius, DJ Maphorisa said he was in Los Angeles two weeks ago working on Wizkids upcoming album when the opportunity to contribute to Drakes potential song of the summer arose. According to the 28-year-old, born Themba Sekowe, after remixing Wizkids Ojuelegba last summer, Drake collaborated with the Nigerian artist on One Dance via email. DJ Maphorisa, a co-producer of Drake's 'One dance' featuring Wizkid has revealed there are still three songs for Drake and Wizkid to be released.Drakes View from the 6 could be linked to inspiration from his hometown Canada but his recent releases taps from diverse sounds across the world.The single, One Dance which features Wizkid and Kyla, is built around African vibes provided by producers Noah 40 Shebib, Nineteen85, and DJ Maphorisa, a DJ and artist from Soshanguve, Pretoria.In an interview with Genius, DJ Maphorisa said he was in Los Angeles two weeks ago working on Wizkids upcoming album when the opportunity to contribute to Drakes potential song of the summer arose. According to the 28-year-old, born Themba Sekowe, after remixing Wizkids Ojuelegba last summer, Drake collaborated with the Nigerian artist on One Dance via email. For his contributions, Maphorisa slowed down the tempo of Crazy Cousinz and Kylas Do You Mind, a classic 2008 UK funky house track that became popular in the grime scene.I was recording Wiz when they sent [the files], Maphorisa said, referring to Wizkids background vocals on the song. There was nothing really there. We started working on itI added some production.The DJ said they finished One Dance in only a weekits one of four tracks they recorded. He says One Dance is blowing up in Mzansi and that it best sums up Drakes sonic ambitions. A 35-year-old man, Matthew Umeh, who was arrested by the Lagos State Police Command, has said he was drunk when he raped his wifes younge... A 35-year-old man, Matthew Umeh, who was arrested by the Lagos State Police Command, has said he was drunk when he raped his wifes younger sister, Mercy (pseudonym).It was learnt that Umeh was arrested by the Lion Building Police Division on Sunday.Our correspondent gathered that 15-year-old Mercy had been living with the Umehs since she was five years old.Umeh allegedly raped the teenager after he returned from a naming ceremony.The girl was said to have run out of the house after the incident, during which some policemen on patrol saw her. The victim narrated the incident to them and Umeh was arrested.According to the police, the suspect had allegedly been raping he girl since she was five years old.Umeh, who confessed to raping the girl only once, said he got drunk at a party on Sunday and mistook Mercy for his wife.When I came inside the house, I saw the girl. She tied only a wrapper. I did not know what I was doing and I raped her, he added.The victim, however, told our correspondent that Umeh raped her two times.The Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said the suspect would be made to face the law. The Ekiti governor, Ayodele Fayose, has written to the Chinese government to withdraw the loan it is prepping to offer the Nigerian govern... In the letter dated April 12, 2016, with reference number EK/GOV/28/10, addressed to President Xi Jinping of China and delivered by Chief of Staff to the governor, Barrister Dipo Anisulowo in Abuja on Thursday, through the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Gu Xiaojie, Fayose said some of the projects for which the loan was being sought were not captured in the controversial 2016 budget, which has been sent to the President by the National Assembly for his assent.I write as one of the major stakeholders in the project Nigeria, and a governor of one of the federating units making up Nigeria, to draw your attention to report that the Federal Government of Nigeria is on the verge of obtaining a $2 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of China.This $2 billion loan is part of the N1.84 trillion the Federal Government of Nigeria has proposed to borrow to finance the 2016 budget, which is yet to be signed by the President, Mohammadu Buhari owing to unending controversies between the Executive and Legislative arms of government.According to reports, Nigeria desires to raise about $5 billion abroad to cover part of its 2016 budget deficit. This is projected to hit N3 trillion ($15 billion) due to heavy infrastructure spending at a time when the slump in global oil prices has slashed the countrys export revenues.While conceding that all nations, especially developing ones need support to be able to grow because no nation is an island, I am constrained to inform you that if the future of Nigeria must be protected, the country does not need any loan at this time.The government of China should be mindful of the fact that Nigerians, irrespective of their political and religious affiliations are totally opposed to increment of the countrys debt burden, which is already being serviced with 25 per cent of the Federal Government annual budget.It will interest the government of China to know that some of the projects for which the loan is being sought are not captured in the controversial 2016 budget, which has been sent to the President by the National Assembly for his assent. For instance, the Lagos Calabar Rail project was not included in the budget proposal the President presented to the National Assembly and it was not included in the Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly.Most importantly, Nigeria is presently servicing debt with about 25 per cent of its annual budget and what will happen to the economy in 2017, when the country will begin to service the additional debt to be incurred this year is better imagined than experienced.The Chinese government must also be aware that some western nations approached by the Federal Government for loan diplomatically and cleverly declined.This must have been informed by the suspicion in the present governments capacity to salvage the nations economy as well as the sincerity in the fight against corruption. More so that Nigerias Foreign Reserve, which is the only guarantee for foreign loan has declined to a very uncomfortable level. Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state was on Wednesday blocked by anti-corruption crusaders on his way to office. Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state was on Wednesday blocked by anti-corruption crusaders on his way to office.Members of the Campaign for the Defence of Human Rights staged a public protest against corruption in Osogbo, the Osun State capital on Wednesday, and stopped the governor's convoy on his way to the office.The governors convoy met members of the CDHR in front of the Federal High Court but the group, armed with anti-corruption banners and leaflets, initially did not give way to the convoy until the policemen in the pilot vehicles came down and dispersed the protesters.The protesters said the amount of money looted from the public treasury was enough to provide first- class infrastructure all over the country. They lamented the hardship and endemic corruption which Nigeria had been plunged into. A former Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State, Dr. Tope Aluko, has said the plot to rig the June 21, 2014 governorsh... He alleged that the hotel was owned by the Chief of Staff to Fayose, Chief Dipo Anisulowo, where sensitive materials like ballot papers and result sheets were delivered to PDP chieftains by the Independent National Electoral Commission.Besides, he claimed the Governor Ayodele Fayoses administration had received the refund of the N5.2bn spent on Ado-Ifaki federal highway by former Kayode Fayemis administration.The government has continued to deny receiving refund.Speaking on a special interview programme on Adaba 88. 9 FM, Akure, on Wednesday evening, Aluko claimed that the electoral materials were delivered through Akure Airport.He claimed that INEC ballot papers were thumb-printed and result sheets filled by PDP members which gave their party the edge long before the electorate went to the polls.Aluko explained that operatives of the Department of State Services led by a female officer stormed Anisulowos hotel and arrested the PDP members perfecting the rigging but that they were released within three hours following the intervention of the Federal Government.He disclosed that a lorry conveying part of the electoral materials delivered through the Akure Airport was the one intercepted by soldiers led by the recently retired Brig.-Gen. Aliyu Momoh.According to him, the materials were later released after the officers received an order from above.The former PDP scribe alleged that the N5.2bn refund had been diverted to the Ado Ekiti flyover project following investigation conducted by the Department of State Service, the Police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.Aluko said, Ask him (Fayose) why did former Commissioner for Works, Kayode Oso run away? Commissioner for Finance Toyin Ojo told his interrogators about the finances of the state including the N5.2bn refunded on the Ado-Ifaki Road project carried out by Fayemi.You will recall that Fayose had earlier denied receipt of the N5.2bn refund but the revelation by Ojo while in custody now made him (Fayose) to divert the money for flyover construction because Ojo told them that Oso was in a better position to explain on the refund collected on road.Aluko urged Nigerians to pray for him because of alleged plans to assassinate him.Responding to questions, Aluko said the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Owoseni Ajayi, was liable for prosecution for his alleged role in an attack on the Ekiti State High Court to prevent the delivery of a ruling on a perjury case involving Fayose.Aluko said I pity Owoseni Ajayi who is saying that I should be prosecuted because he (Owoseni) was the one who placed a call to Fayose to organise the mob to disrupt the delivery of a ruling by Justice Olusegun Ogunyemi.Owoseni told Fayose on the telephone that should the judge deliver the ruling on the perjury case, it would go against him (Fayose) and his planned swearing-in would be in jeopardy.Aluko maintained that he never asked for forgiveness from Fayose as erroneously reported in the media but that the governor and former Ekiti Assembly factional Speaker Dele Olugbemi barged into a meeting he was holding with some PDP leaders.Olugbemi and Fayose barged into the meeting venue, Olugbemi is a pathological liar. Olugbemi had lied against Fayose, he lied against the APC, he lied against the PDP and he is working for the money and appointment he had just received from Fayose.I did not create a scene at the venue of the meeting because hefty men had been stationed around and my wife was afraid of what could happen. Fayose held my clothes that I should not talk when I wanted to say something.I feared for my wife who later disappeared from the scene and I did not know her whereabouts. They almost attacked me when I went to Channels Television but it was policemen led by the CP that saved me after being held up there for about three hours.I played safe because of my wife and to avoid the scenario that played out when I went to Channels Television to grant my first interview.Aluko said his trouble with Fayose began when the governor derailed from the plan and blueprint for the development of Ekiti State and not because he was not made the Chief of Staff. Ghanas national security sources have confirmed that a possible terrorist attack on the country is real, following the confessions of a... Ghanas national security sources have confirmed that a possible terrorist attack on the country is real, following the confessions of a Malian terrorist who is being interrogated as the brain behind the Grand Bassam attacks in Cote DIvoire. The suspect is being investigated by the Ivorian security agencies for terrorism.In a security alert sent to all the countrys security agencies dated April 9, 2016, a copy of which is available to Citi News, it said, Intelligence gathered by the National Security Council (NSCS), indicates a possible terrorist attack on the country is real.According to the report, Ghana and Togo are the next targets after the attacks in Burkina Faso and Cote dIvoire.The choice of Ghana according to the report is to take away the perception that only francophone countries are the target. The Ivorian security agencies investigating the attack on the Grand Bassam, gathered that the terrorists mode of entry into countries with their explosives and weapons is through concealment. They enter through approved and unapproved entry points.In the Ivorian attacks they reportedly entered from Mali using Niger register 44 vehicle. They reportedly concealed their weapons and grenade in the vehicles compartment for spare tyres, padded with cushions and bubbled wraps to keep them stable and prevent noise.Following the real threat of the attack based on the information from Cote DIvoire; Ghanas National Security has directed all controls, especially the Northern Borders with Burkina Faso to be extra vigilant. The statement asked all security agencies to treat the instructions as important.TB Joshua prays for Ghana, Nigeria over looming terror attacks The security alert statement dated April 9th was followed by a prophecy by the founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet T.B Joshua, predicting a possible terrorist attack on Ghana and Nigeria.The renowned prophet, who gave the prophecy during a Sunday service on April 10 broadcast live on his Emmanuel TV channel, thus asked his congregation to pray for the two nations in a bid to forestall such plans by the enemy.Terrorists targeting West Africa, Ghana at risk TB Joshuas prophesy comes on the back of a similar terror alert issued by the National Security Council in March, which said countries within the West African sub-region are at risk.The Council said based on intelligence from other agencies, it has every reason to believe that countries including Ghana is at risk.The National Security Council on the basis of briefings by the intelligence agencies and partners has determined that there is a credible terrorists threat to all countries in the sub-region. Already there have been attacks in Mali, Cote DIvoire and Burkina Faso. The Air Force said its fighter aircraft struck insurgents logistic base at Kangarawa in the northern part of Borno State. This is cont... The Air Force said its fighter aircraft struck insurgents logistic base at Kangarawa in the northern part of Borno State.This is contained in a statement by its Director of Public Relations and Information, Group Capt. Ayodele Famuyiwa, in Abuja.The statement said: The Air Force, in continuation of its employment of airpower to decimate the insurgents, has taken off another logistics belonging to the insurgents.The latest air strike was carried out on April 11 by NAF F7-NI Fighter Aircraft.It said the scale of accompanying inferno and multi-explosions, as could be seen from the footage of the air strike, suggested that the location possibly housed fuel or ammunition.The statement said the strike constituted another major setback for the terrorists, while providing evidence of the success recorded by the Air component of Operation Lafia Dole. HAMILTON TWP. -- A Little Egg Harbor man was checking on his child while driving when he rear-ended another car, according to police. The crash trapped the driver in her rear-ended car and she had to be extricated. Authorities were dispatched Wednesday to Wrangelboro Road at 8:30 p.m. for reports of the crash. The roadway was closed for an hour while the scene was cleared. According to Hamilton Police Department, Janis Martinez, 58, of Mays Landing, was in her Nissan Altima at a red light waiting to turn into Consumer Square Shopping Center. Eric Nixon, 36, of Little Egg Harbor, was driving his 2014 Honda Accord and was distracted from the road while checking on a child in his back seat. Both drivers and the child passenger were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash, police said. Cologne and Laureldale Volunteer Fire Departments freed Martinez from her Nissan. Hamilton Rescue Squad transported her to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center City Campus. The child was also transported to AtlantiCare for injuries. Nixon was issued a traffic summons for careless driving. Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook. NEWARK -- The lane closures at the George Washington Bridge that resulted in the 2013 "Bridgegate" scandal may have caused "improperly created traffic," but doing so did not violate anyone's constitutional rights, a brief filed late Wednesday by one of the defendants says. Attorney Michael Critchley, representing Bridget Anne Kelly, ex-deputy chief of staff for Gov. Chris Christie, argued that the inconvenience to motorists caused by cutting off Fort Lee's access to some traffic lanes at the bridge did not amount to a federal crime. "At what point does the inconvenience become a federal crime?" he asked. "Does the inconvenience associated with adjusting the access lanes from three to two constitute a violation of the as-of-yet recognized constitutional right to be free from inconvenience?" The filing, along with one from lawyers for Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is the latest effort to dismiss the federal charges filed against them about a year ago for allegedly planning and executing the lane closures as a way to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for failing to endorse Christie's re-election. Since the right to be free from improperly created traffic is not "clearly established," Critchley argued, the defendants did not have "fair notice" that what they were doing could be illegal. By that measure, several counts of the indictment against Kelly should be dismissed as a matter of law, the brief says. Critchley's brief also attacked U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman's argument that a federal anti-corruption statute could be cited against the defendants, with Critchley saying the prosecutors' argument is in "completely uncharted water." Instead, the filing says, the law is intended as an anti-bribery and theft statute, and neither Kelly nor Baroni profited from the lane closures. "The only purported 'benefit' that Ms. Kelly received was the alleged 'pleasure' of punishing Mayor Sokolich by creating traffic in Fort Lee," Critchley said. In a separate brief, Baroni's lawyers Michael Baldassare and Jennifer Mara also sought dismissal of the charges, saying there is no constitutional right to travel on roadways free of restrictions, and that they had no "fair warning" that their alleged acts might be unlawful. The bulk of Baroni's argument, however, was that his constitutional rights were violated. Baldassare and Mara charged that prosecutors used "immunized" testimony that Baroni gave in hearings in Trenton as the basis for the charges against him -- even though he was not sworn in at the hearings. Courts have "overwhelmingly found" that legislative committee witnesses could not be prosecuted for their testimony even if they were not subpoenaed or sworn in before testifying, the filing said. The brief asks U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to order a hearing at which the government would have the "heavy burden" of showing that the documents Baroni produced in the hearing were not the sole source of any allegations in his indictment. Baroni's rights to due process also has been violated, the brief says, by the "fundamentally unfair" treatment afforded to the defendants as opposed to a hands-off approach toward Gibson Dunn & Crutcher -- the law firm hired by Christie that issued a report exonerating him from responsibility for Bridgegate. The next step in the case will have the government and the defendants meet April 28 in federal court for more oral arguments and scheduling. The trial is now scheduled to start Sept. 12. Besides Baroni and Kelly, former Port Authority official David Wildstein also was charged in the lane closure conspiracy. He pleaded guilty last year. Also Wednesday, Gibson Dunn attorney Randy Mastro, representing the governor's office, filed a request asking for two extra weeks to provide materials subpoenaed by Baroni's and Kelly's lawyers. Wigenton earlier this year allowed the defendants to subpoena Gibson Dunn, which produced its Bridgegate report without any supporting notes, for more information. Two more weeks would move the deadline for producing the materials to April 28, a move that Mastro said the defendants agreed to, but is not supported by federal prosecutors. Mastro, in the letter, said the subpoenas were "overbroad," asking for far more materials than the government, adding that some of the documents should be kept private because they touch on non-public matters. Tim Darragh may be reached at tdarragh@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @timdarragh. Find NJ.com on Facebook. ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS - Police Chief Michael Cioffi was placed on administrative leave by a 3-2 council vote Wednesday night after the borough's attorney suggested Cioffi be investigated by a prosecutor, according to NorthJersey.com. The attorney, Brent Pohlman, said there have been complaints from officers, an investigation into overtime paid to officers, a whistleblower report and an investigation into an alleged ticket-fixing scheme. The ticket-fixing allegations stem from a Dec. 30, 2015 lawsuit by Lt. Scott Mura, who claims the chief illegally voided parking tickets issued to the mayor's political donors at a 2013 house party. Mura, who was accused of conducting an unauthorized investigation into the dismissal of parking tickets, faces demotion, according to previous reports. Cioffi has denied any wrongdoing. During Wednesday's meeting, Deputy Chief Michael McMorrow, the husband of recently elected Republican Councilwoman Carol McMorrow, was appointed acting chief during Cioffi's suspension, according to the report. Cioffi is one of the highest-paid police chiefs in New Jersey, earning $223,616 a year to head the 26-member department. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. front large.jpg The front of a mock U.S. Passport Card. (State Department) If a scammer gets your private information, your credit could be in trouble. Your identity could be stolen. We're at the mercy of businesses and government agencies who already have our info, including birth dates, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and more. Hopefully, their systems will never be hacked. But it happens. That's why we as consumers need to do whatever we can to keep our information private and out of the hands of those who don't need it. We've written about the issue before, when consumers were refused returns at stores because they wouldn't allow the stores to scan their driver's licenses. Yes, many retailers track how many returns you make, and they will refuse to accept a return if they believe you've made too many of them. Even some doctor's offices insist on scanning a license, refusing service to patients who won't comply. What's the big deal about sharing a driver's license number? It's another piece of data a crook can use to steal your identity. And it's an important piece of data -- now more than ever. That's because the IRS and state taxing authorities are requesting taxpayers give over license numbers when they file tax returns. The agencies want to use the license number as another way to prove identity and to protect taxpayers from tax refund fraud. Bamboozled reader Steve Gregory of Pitman wanted to share his strategy for keeping his driver's license number private. Gregory knows that retailers will require the scanning of a license when consumers make a return. He doesn't want his license scanned, but he's found an alternative form of ID that's accepted by many retailers. A U.S. Passport Card. "Any time I participate in a scheme to put my driver's license number 'out there' in any digital forum, especially the well-known risk of any retail store, I am participating in a scheme to facilitate the very real potential theft of my own identity," Gregory said. "That is not a choice I willingly make." Instead, Gregory said, he presents the passport card. Some retailers have accepted the card instead of a license, he said, and instead of scanning the card, the employee will key in the passport number to the store's system. "That's okay with me because I've not (yet) heard of passport records being accessed to steal identities," Gregory said. But others have refused to accept the passport card, Gregory said, with employees telling him he needs to present "a photo ID that meets our approval." We're guessing the card isn't accepted because the system some retailers use to track returns is probably through The Retail Equation (TRE), a company that tracks customer behavior for its clients. TRE's web site says nothing about passport cards. GETTING A PASSPORT CARD A passport card won't be the answer every time, but it will help lots of customers to keep information private. The card shows your name, date and place of birth and passport number. If you already hold a valid passport, the cost is $30. If you're a first-time applicant, the cost is $55. The card is valid for 10 years, and fits easily into a wallet because it's the same size as a credit card. There is a bar code on the back of the card, while a New Jersey license has two bar codes. One of the license bar codes contains the information found on the front of the card, the Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) told us in the past. As for the second bar code? We don't know because MVC refused to tell us. The back of a mock U.S. Passport Card. So we wanted to know what information is stored on the passport card's bar code. None, actually. Instead, the card has a vicinity-read radio frequency identification (RFID) chip. "There is no personal information written to the RFID chip," the State Department said. "This chip points to stored records in secure government databases." With the technology, Customs and Border Protection inspectors can access photographs and other biographical information, but the info isn't actually on the chip. Instead, the chip tells them what separate and secure government databases should be checked for information on the cardholder. So your private information lives on the separate databases and not on the card itself. "Businesses can't 'scan' the card and obtain any information," a spokeswoman said. "The only information they would be able to see is that which is printed on the card." You can learn more about passport cards here. Have you been Bamboozled? Reach Karin Price Mueller at Bamboozled@NJAdvanceMedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KPMueller. Find Bamboozled on Facebook. Mueller is also the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Stay informed and sign up for NJMoneyHelp.com's weekly e-newsletter. Carjackers.jpg Mark S. Magee and Joshua M. Wolfe (Submitted photos) Authorities caught two alleged carjackers who were on their way to Delaware in a stolen vehicle, according to police. Both men allegedly stole a 2004 Infiniti I35 from a 67-year-old Vineland man Wednesday night. The man was stabbed in the head during the carjacking. Mark S. Magee, 24, of North East Avenue, Vineland, and Joshua M. Wolfe, 23, of Sheppard's Mill Road, in Bridgeton, were both charged Thursday with carjacking, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon. Vineland Police Department officers were dispatched to the area of Main Road and Cedar Drive Wednesday at 9:20 p.m. for the carjacking. As Magee and Wolfe were stealing the black Infiniti, they stabbed the driver in the back of the head and drove away, police said. The man was able to find assistance at a nearby residence and was flown to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center. Delaware River Port Authority Police stopped the stolen car while it was traveling south on Interstate 295. Magee was held in jail in lieu of $200,000 bail and Wolfe was held in lieu of $150,000 bail. Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook. NEWARK -- A state appellate panel on Thursday upheld the conviction of a man for robbing and beating a pizza delivery man during a 2010 carjacking in East Orange. The appellate judges rejected Khalif Paden's argument that his 23-year state prison sentence is excessive, saying "the sentence imposed does not shock our judicial conscience." Paden, 27, formerly of East Orange, was convicted by a jury in 2012 of carjacking, robbery, aggravated assault and related offenses in connection with the Oct. 17, 2010 attack on Sawadogo Boukary, a Domino's Pizza delivery driver. As Boukary was making a delivery on North 17th Street in East Orange at about 11 p.m., three men approached him from behind and a fourth man, later identified as Paden, approached Boukary from the front and pointed a pistol at him, authorities said. During the incident, the assailants robbed Boukary of all of his belongings, including his wallet, his car keys, several pizzas and other food, authorities said. The wallet contained Boukary's license, bank card, and twelve dollars, according to the appellate decision. Paden and the others also severely beat Boukary to the point where he suffered broken bones in his face and temporary blindness in one eye, authorities said. The assailants ultimately drove off in Boukary's vehicle, authorities said. The following morning, when Paden and three other men attempted to purchase cigarettes at a gas station in Newark, he gave a bank card to a cashier, the decision states. But the cashier - who was familiar with Boukary and aware of the robbery from the night before - noticed the bank card had Boukary's name and picture on it, and she refused to accept the card, the decision states. After the men walked away, the cashier alerted a nearby police officer, who then followed the men in his patrol car and saw Paden toss something on the ground, the decision states. The men were ultimately detained and the officer determined the item Paden threw away was Boukary's bank card, the decision states. The cashier later identified Paden as the man who tried to use Boukary's card, the decision states. When Boukary reviewed a photo array of potential suspects, he identified Paden as the man holding the pistol during the robbery, the decision states. Boukary was unable to identify the other assailants, the decision states. As part of his appeal, Paden argued his conviction should be overturned, because his attorney failed to request a pretrial hearing regarding the out-of-court identifications made by Boukary and the cashier, according to the decision. But the appellate judges found the record of the case does not allow them to analyze that argument and said Paden could raise the issue as part of a petition for post-conviction relief, which involves claims of ineffective legal assistance. In challenging his 23-year prison sentence, Paden argued in part that the term was excessive because of the disparity between his sentence and the sentences of his co-defendants, Karoy Anthony and Quincy Hill, the decision states. Anthony pleaded guilty to a disorderly persons offense and was sentenced to time served, and Hill pleaded guilty to fraudulent use of a credit card and was sentenced to two years of probation. But the appellate panel rejected Paden's argument. "Because Hill and Anthony were convicted of different and substantially less serious offenses than defendant, they were not 'equally culpable perpetrators' and there was no impermissible disparity in the sentences imposed," the decision states. Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. NEWARK -- A Connecticut man who authorities say abducted his former girlfriend when she tried end their relationship turned himself in Wednesday in New Jersey, according to a report. John Robinson surrendered at the Essex County jail in Newark and will be extradited to his home state to faces charges that include kidnapping and assault, according to WFSB.com. John Robinson, 46. The 46-year-old assaulted the woman and dragged her into her 2003 Toyota Sequoia at their West Hartford home just after midnight Tuesday morning, police told Fox61.com. She escaped when they stopped for gas at a rest stop along Interstate 95 south in Milford, the report said. Though they apparently lived at the same residence, the woman obtained a restraining order against Robinson earlier this month, WFSB said. Robinson is the second fugitive from Connecticut taken into custody in North Jersey in less than a week. On Saturday, Fort Lee police arrested a 23-year-old wanted in connection with an arson at a Connecticut pizzeria. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook. NUTLEY -- The fate of a dog who police say attacked an 11-month-old child last month will be decided in court on May 4. Though the dog's future has yet to be determined, it will not be going back home to the neighborhood where the attack occurred, Nutley municipal prosecutor Angelo Servidio said in an interview Wednesday. "The dog is not in the neighborhood now, and he will not be returned," Servidio said. The dog, which police said ran out of a Satterthwaite Ave. house on March 25 and bit the little girl as she was being pushed in a stroller nearby, could either be returned to the rescue from which it was adopted, or ordered to be euthanized, Servidio said. The dog's owner is also facing fines connected to several summonses that were issued in light of the attack, he said. Since the attack, the dog has been confined at the Montclair Animal Shelter, which contracts animal control services to Nutley. Montclair spokeswoman Katya Wowk confirmed that the dog originally came from a rescue in Maine. "The dog was not adopted locally," Wowk said. And, although previous reports indicated the dog was a pit bull, Wowk said its vet records show it is a "primarily lab" mix. After the attack, police said the girl spent three days in the hospital, receiving about 70 sutures and plastic surgery on her right leg. "This was an awful tragedy that occurred ... (We) felt empathy for the family and the defenseless child that must have been traumatized by the incident," Nutley Mayor Alphonse Petracco said in a statement. The hearing is scheduled for May 4 at 10 a.m. Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook. WASHINGTON TWP. -- A Philadelphia nun charged with drunken driving and multiple related offenses went on trial in municipal court Wednesday afternoon. In the five-hour proceeding before Judge Martin Whitcraft, attorneys defending Sister Kimberly Miller said the nun had been driving in her sleep after taking Ambien with a glass of wine at bedtime. By the time she woke up, she claims, she had been arrested by Washington Township police. Miller, who had a blood alcohol level of .16 percent when she was arrested, failed field sobriety tests during the traffic stop, but says she has no memory of interacting with police on the street. What's more, she doesn't recall crossing a bridge or entering New Jersey. Miller's arrest occurred in the early morning hours of Nov. 7, 2015. Police say Miller pulled into the parking lot of an auto repair shop around 2 a.m. and backed her Chevy sedan into the building, shattering the glass entrance to the business. She then drove away, but was followed by a couple in a pickup truck who saw her driving erratically. The two called the police, who pulled Miller over on Watson Drive. Miller, who said in court that she has suffered from sleepwalking and a dissociative disorder for decades, testified that she had no memory of the incident. "I woke up, and I was in my habit and handcuffs," she said. Miller, who teaches at Little Flower Catholic High School in Philadelphia, runs an annual writers' festival each year in which published authors hold workshops for students. In preparation for this year's event, she had spent the evening of Nov. 6 meeting authors and book dealers at an in-store event in Haverford, Pennsylvania. There, Miller said, she drank two small glasses of wine before driving home to the St. Veronica Convent in North Philadelphia. Miller claims she had another glass of wine, along with an Ambien, put on her pajamas and went to sleep. She uses the sleep-aid to deal with chronic arthritis, the pain of which keeps her up at night. "What's the last thing you remember from that night?" asked Jeffrey Lindy, who defended Miller alongside Alan Tauber. "Going to bed," said Miller. "What's the next thing you remember?" Lindy said. "Waking up in the police station," Miller replied. Sister Francis Murray, the superior at St. Veronica, testified that she had heard Miller moving around the convent late at night. The defendant even set off an alarm as she walked about the building, but did not respond, according to Murray. When Prosecutor Scott Burns questioned why Miller would combine wine with Ambien, the nun replied that her pharmacist had not advised her of the possible side effects. Patients using Ambien have been known to sleep walk, and even sleep-drive, according to a medical expert who testified for the defense. "She was in fact impaired, but it was a result of Ambien," said Dr. Fran Jengo, a clinical pharmacologist. He said that Miller did not appear to have made the conscious decision to drive, and that her claims of not remembering her actions were common. "These are not predictable effects," he said. "We have found that there's no connection between [sleep walking] and length of use." Burns pointed out that Jengo had never personally treated Miller, and that there was no chemical proof that she had taken Ambien the night she was arrested. Miller had also failed to tell police that she had an Ambien prescription, despite telling officers at the scene that she took Cymbalta for nerve pain, as well as acid reflux medications. "There's no mention in the police report of any Ambien," he said. "She gave [officers] the names of several medications. This wasn't your run of the mill scenario where someone left the bar and got pulled over. Property was damaged, and she obviously left the scene." Furthermore, he said, Miller's actions were against the law regardless of whether they were intentional. "I don't see anything about intent in this statute," he said of the DUI charge. "You're either under the influence or you're not." Whitcraft adjourned for the day at about 6:30 p.m. He will deliver a verdict next Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. Outside, Lindy acknowledged that Miller's story was strange. "It's bizarre until you consider the facts," he said. "It is a unique situation, which is what we're asking the judge to consider." Miller remains on administrative leave from her teaching duties. Andy Polhamus may be reached at apolhamus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ajpolhamus. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook. Cooper University Hospital597.JPG Cooper University Hospital in Camden. (File Photo) (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media) Cooper University Hospital has been fined $55,000 by the federal government for failing to protect its employees from needle sticks and possible exposure to contaminated blood. An investigation of the hospital began last fall after the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration received a complaint. After reviewing the hospital's OSHA logs, the agency found an "unusual" number of accidental needle sticks and exposures to blood-borne pathogens. In addition, it found the hospital had failed to monitor employees who may have been exposed to methylene chloride, an industrial solvent that can cause cancer. The review turned up nine violations deemed serious, and another six "other-the-serious" infractions. Fines total $55,000, although the Camden hospital can choose to contest the findings. "Cooper University Health Care is committed to the health and safety of our patients and employees. Cooper is driving a culture of safety with numerous, long-standing initiatives and ongoing education and training with the input of employees, physicians and leadership," said a spokeswoman. "We are taking the report seriously and will actively address these issues." 'The citations and proposed penalties in this case reflect the seriousness of Cooper Hospital's failure to protect its employees from needle-stick injuries and blood-borne pathogen hazards," said Paula Dixon-Roderick, OSHA's area director in Marlton. "The hospital must continue monitoring and investing in sustained efforts to prevent these injuries from jeopardizing worker safety and health." Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at kobrien@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook. TRENTON -- The new CEO of Saint Clare's Hospitals in Boonton and Denville was the target of two sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits when he held the top job at Easton Hospital three years ago, according to court records. The cases against Brian Finestein were settled last year and the litigation dismissed with prejudice, meaning the two women who filed the lawsuits agreed they would not pursue future action. The attorney representing the plaintiffs, George Kounoupis of Bethlehem, Pa., said through a secretary he was not able to discuss the cases. Finsetein was named chief executive officer at Saint Clare's in Boonton and Denville in October, as Prime Healthcare Services acquired the St. Clare's Health System for $62 million, said spokeswoman Jessica Griffin. The CEO at Saint Clare's in Dover is Alma Ratcliffe, a physician. Finestein also oversees facilities in Sussex County, Griffin said. Prime is confident in its choice of Finestein for the top job, Griffin said. "In accordance with policy, Saint Clare's Health System does not comment on legal matters involving personnel, which in this case occurred years prior to Mr. Finestein's appointment," Griffin said in a statement. "Saint Clare's was aware of the matter and stands by its determination of Mr. Finestein as the most qualified to lead Denville's mission to provide high quality, compassionate care to the communities it serves," Griffin said. Finestein was named CEO of Easton Hospital in 2010 but left abruptly and without explanation in July 2013, according to the Express-Times. In July 2014, Elizabeth Senczakowicz, then the director of surgical services, sued Finestein, alleging he had made sexually suggestive comments to her "almost continuously and daily" from June 2012 until she resigned in 2013. The complaint said Finestein commented at a meeting with others present that her ID badge looked like something women get during Mardi Gras when they lift their shirts and expose their breasts. Finestein said he would be looking for pictures of her to see if she had gotten her badge the same way, the complaint said. Senczakowicz also sued the Easton Hospital parent company Community Health Systems, the chief nursing supervisor and the human resources director for taking no action against Finestein when she repeatedly alerted them to his behavior. Lisa Herzog, a nurse who worked for Senczakowicz, also filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Finestein and the same hospital officials. Prior to undergoing surgery at the hospital, Herzog said Finestein told her he "would take pictures of her naked body" while she was under anesthesia, according to the complaint. Herzog's co-workers would call her if Finestein was about to pass her unit "so (she) could hide from him," the complaint said. Finestein and the hospital officials fought the claims until both cases were settled out of court in 2015, according to federal court documents from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Prior to his tenure at Easton Hospital, Finestein was the CEO at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, Pa., and CEO at Tenet Healthcare/Graduate Hospital, part of a national healthcare chain, according to his LinkedIn bio. Research Editor Vinessa Erminio contributed to this report. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. TRENTON -- Corey Lewandowski, the campaign manager for Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, will not be prosecuted over a videotaped incident that shows him grabbing a female reporter at a campaign event last month, a Florida prosecutor announced Thursday. Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg said at a news conference there wasn't enough evidence to convict Lewandowski, 42, on criminal charges. Police in Jupiter, Fla., charged Lewandowski with simple battery, a misdemeanor, last month. He was scheduled to appear in court May 4. The incident happened March 8 after Trump, the billionaire businessman and former Atlantic City casino magnate, held a news conference in Jupiter. Video appears to show Lewandowski grabbing Michelle Fields, then a Breitbart News reporter, and yanking her backward when she tried to ask Trump a question after the event. Lewandowski has proclaimed his innocence. Early on, he denied he touched Fields and said he never even met her. Aronberg said Tuesday that Trump spoke personally with prosecutors and his campaign drafted a letter of apology to Fields, though it has not been sent. The state attorney added that the video shows a sequence of events: Fields making contact with Trump's arm as she tried to interview him, Trump recoiling, and Lewandowski grabbing Field's arm and pulling her away. But Aronberg said while police "acted well within their authority" to charge Lewandowski, prosecutors' "standard is higher." He also noted that while the video evidence "undermined" Lewandowski's defense it "did not outweigh" it. The Trump campaign said in a statement Thursday that Lewandowski is "gratified by the decision to drop the misdemeanor charge and appreciates the thoughtful consideration and professionalism by the Palm Beach State Attorney and his staff who carefully reviewed this matter, as well as Mr. Trump's loyalty and the support of his colleagues and family during this time." "The matter is now concluded," the campaign added. Trump has repeatedly defended Lewandowski, saying the video shows "very little" and declaring that he won't fire him and ruin his life. He has also suggested that Fields changed her story and is an "aggressive person" searching for publicity. Fields has insisted her story never changed. "Seriously, just stop lying," she tweeted last month. Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. hospital3.JPG The Memorial Hospital of Salem County in Mannington Township, seen in this December file photo. The hospital and its registered nurses are beginning contract talks. (Bill Gallo Jr. | For NJ.com) MANNINGTON TWP. -- Nearly five years since they first voted to unionize, registered nurses from The Memorial Hospital of Salem County have finally sat down with hospital representatives at the bargaining table. Negotiations began this week between the two parties, according to the Health Professionals and Allied Employees. The registered nurses at the 126-bed Mannington Township hospital voted in September 2010 to unionize and be represented by HPAE. "Nurses voted to form a union so we can have a voice to improve care for our patients and our community in Salem County and surrounding areas," said Pamela Thomas, an RN who serves on the HPAE Local 5142 bargaining committee, in a press release issued by the union. After the vote to unionize, court challenges by the hospital delayed the start of contract negotiations. In December, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of nurses and upheld an order for the hospital to being talks. "We have waited over five years to have a seat at the table, and our bargaining committee is more committed than ever to win safe staffing, improved working conditions, and fair wages," said Thomas, who has worked at the hospital for 11 years. The hospital Wednesday issued this statement about the talks: "We respect the D.C. Circuit Court's decision. Representatives of The Memorial Hospital of Salem County have begun negotiations with the Health Professionals and Allied Employees Local 5142 (HPAE) towards an initial bargaining agreement." "We are very excited and the nurses are very excited to be at the bargaining table," said HPAE Spokeswoman Bridget Devane. She said negotiations are expected to go on for several months before an agreement is reached. The talks are being held off-site with RNs forming their bargaining team assisted by an HPAE representative, Devane said Wednesday. Typically, nurses negotiate 2- or 3-year contracts with health care providers, according to Devane. There are 120 registered nurses at Memorial Hospital, the HPAE said. The hospital is owned by the for-profit, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems. On Dec. 1 it was announced that the facility was to be purchased by the Prime Healthcare Foundation, the non-profit wing of California-based Prime Healthcare. When the plan for the sale was announced, officials said Prime Heathcare would "hire substantially all employees into their same positions and compensations, with seniority recognized." The deal is scheduled to close this year. HPAE represents 12,000 healthcare workers across New Jersey. Among those are workers in the Inspira Health Network where negotiations also began this week. Bill Gallo Jr. may be reached at bgallo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow South Jersey Times on Twitter @TheSJTimes. Find NJ.com on Facebook. new castle airport.jpg Antique planes are seen in front of the old control tower at the New Castle Airport in New Castle, Delaware, in this file photo. A drill at the airport on Saturday, April 16, will test the readiness of emergency responders. (Submitted/Delaware River and Bay Authority) A passenger jet is attempting to land at the New Castle Airport and something goes terribly wrong. The commercial aircraft, with 114 passengers and crew on board, crashes at the Delaware airport just across the Delaware River from New Jersey. Along with the humans on board, there's also 3,000 pounds of fuel on the Boeing 737-400 aircraft. Those aboard urgently need help. What happens now? The scenario will be part of a full-scale emergency drill at the New Castle Airport on Saturday, officials say. The exercise will begin at 9 a.m. and continue through the early afternoon, according to Jim Salmon, spokesman for the Delaware River and Bay Authority which operates the airport. It will take place on the north side of the airport on Route 13 in New Castle. "Airport personnel, first responders and law enforcement professionals are trained to handle these types of emergency situations and coordinate with a variety of emergency service and rescue units," said Stephen Williams, the DRBA's Airports Director. "The drill itself and the corresponding assessments from the evaluators will enable the airport to determine the effectiveness of its emergency response procedures and implement changes or enhancements, if necessary," Williams said. Observers from the DRBA, state and federal agencies will view the drill and a group of evaluators will assess how well emergency units performed. The Federal Aviation Administration mandates that such a drill takes place every three years involving a simulated aircraft accident. The New Castle Airport is home to the Delaware Air National Guard. Many private aviators and air services are based at the airport, too. The airport is also used by Vice President Joe Biden when he flies home to the First State. The DRBA, along with the New Castle Airport, operates four other regional airports in Delaware and New Jersey and the the Delaware Memorial Bridge, Cape May-Lewes Ferry and a business center in Carneys Point. Bill Gallo Jr. may be reached at bgallo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow South Jersey Times on Twitter @TheSJTimes.A Find NJ.com on Facebook. SOMERVILLE -- Somerset County Assistant Prosecutor Frank Kolodzieski filed a motion Thursday asking Somerset County Superior Court Judge Robert B. Reed to reconsider his sentencing of Clint Benson. Clint Benson, the son of former N.Y. Giant Brad Benson, was sentenced Tuesday to three years probation for a 2013 alcohol-fueled incident in which he fled the scene after striking a man from behind with his pickup truck and fled the scene. The man he struck, Richard Lachner of Flemington, is upset that Clint Benson has received no jail time, said Kolodzieki in court documents. There will be a hearing on the motion on April 29. In an impact statement read to the court Tuesday by Kolodzieski, Lachner said the head injuries he sustained are permanent and have derailed his dreams of joining the Marines and later becoming a New York City firefighter. However, Lachner said has holds no ill feelings toward Clint Benson. Clint Benson, 24, of Hillsborough, was also sentenced to 364 days in the Somerset County Jail, but the first date he would have to serve is 18 months from now. If he complies with the conditions of his probation, he could avoid any jail time. He must also undergo a substance abuse evaluation, comply with all recommended treatment, undergo urine tests and continue psychiatric and medical treatment for depression. The judge said he based his sentencing on the fact that Clint Benson has matured and is not the same person he was three years ago, complied with the terms of his modified bail, had no previous convictions and is unlikely to commit such an offense again. Lachner suffered internal injuries, a fractured skull, face lacerations, a broken hand and cuts in the incident. In his impact statement, Lachner has a pending civil suit against The Neshanic Inn. He filed the suit on Aug. 18, 2014, against The Neshanic Inn, Clint Benson, Edison Motor Cars (the corporate name of then Brad Benson Hyundai/Mitsubishi in South Brunswick) and two bartenders from the restaurant. Clint Benson and Lachner have already reached a settlement agreement. The terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. It was not immediately known if a settlement agreement was reached with the two bartenders or Edison Motor Cars. In the lawsuit, Lachner alleges that bartenders continued to serve Clint Benson although he was "visibly intoxicated" and, as a result of their "negligence and carelessness," Lachner suffered "severe permanent bodily injuries" when he was struck by Benson's vehicle in the parking lot of the Neshanic Inn. Terrence M. King, the attorney representing the Neshanic Inn, said no settlement between the restaurant and Lachner has been reached. King said he was waiting for Clint Benson to be sentenced and for more discovery to take place. "At this time, we believe our client is not negligent," said King. "Our initial statements from the bartenders is that Mr. Benson wasn't visibly intoxicated." Flemington-based attorney Robert Ballard, who is representing Lachney, was not available for comment. Clint Benson entered an open guilty plea on Feb. 1, 2016, to third-degree assault by auto, fourth-degree possession of hollow-point bullets, possession of drug paraphernalia and several motor-vehicle offenses. The open guilty plea means the judge's discretion during sentencing will not be limited by the plea agreement. He was facing a maximum of seven years on the criminal charges under the plea agreement. Had he gone to trial, he was facing a maximum sentence of 26 years in prison if found guilty on all criminal charges. Clint Benson was accused of hitting Lachner with his Nissan Frontier pickup around 3 a.m. on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2013, on Woodfern Road in Branchburg. The hit-and-run incident occurred after Lachner confronted Clint Benson, who was sitting in his truck, about his reckless driving, authorities have said. As Lachner was walking back toward the Neshanic Inn, Clinton Benson reportedly struck him from behind with his pickup truck and continued driving south on Woodfern Road, authorities have said. Lachner was later treated for internal injuries, a fractured skull, a broken hand and cuts, authorities have said. Clinton Benson was discovered a short distance away after he crashed his vehicle into a guardrail, leaving the truck inoperable. Prosecutors have said his blood alcohol content was 0.20 percent, more than twice the legal limit. Brad Benson played with the Giants from 1978 to 1988 and won a Super Bowl in 1986. He also operates a car dealership in New Jersey. Dave Hutchinson may be reached at dhutchinson@njadvancemedia.com.Follow him on Twitter @DHutch_SL. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Bridgeton-Sweden Exchange Group.jpg Bridgeton High School seniors Daisy Reyes and Mary Linen along with business teacher, Lisa Burgess departed for Eskilstuna, Sweden on April 8 as this year's BHS-Eskilstuna Exchange Program representatives. (COURTESY PHOTO) Bridgeton High School seniors Daisy Reyes and Mary Linen and Business Teacher Lisa Burgess departed for Eskilstuna, Sweden on April 8 as this year's Bridgeton High School-Eskilstuna Exchange Program representatives. The exchange program started back in 2001. Each year two high school seniors and a teacher from BHS travel to Sweden during the spring term. In exchange, their families host two visiting students and a teacher from Bridgeton's "sister" city of Eskilstuna. The teachers escort the students and spend a week learning about their educational system, culture and the community while the students remain for an additional two weeks to attend classes with their hosts. As a business teacher, Burgess is "very interested in learning about their technology, work-study programs and how businesses in Sweden are involved with the local schools." Eligible students who qualified through high academic standing submitted essays to the Swedish Exchange Committee who made the final selection for the program. Both Reyes and Linen are outstanding students with impressive resumes. Daisy Reyes is a member of National Honor Society, Health Occupations Students of America, Teen Center, and Youth on Main Street. As a bilingual student she also serves as a student interpreter. Mary Linen is a JROTC Group Commander and Cadet Colonel. She is also a senior mentor. Both girls are enrolled in Advanced Placement courses at the high school and are members of the high school string ensemble. They will continue their violin and cello lessons while in Sweden. Before leaving, Reyes expressed that she is "looking forward to witnessing how the high schools of Sweden differ from those we have here in America." Linen is excited about the "opportunity for adventure" and sees herself as "a student ambassador for Bridgeton High School." The students will return to Bridgeton on April 29. This item submitted by Bridgeton School District. ELIZABETH -- A Kean University graduate accused of posting messages on Twitter threatening violence against black students was denied admission to a probation program that could have resulted in charges being removed from her record. Superior Court Judge William Daniel on Thursday rejected an appeal from Kayla McKelvey, a former student activist, who sought to enter the Pre-Trial Intervention (PTI) program. Daniel, reading a long decision that included the history of the case, said McKelvey had given a statement to investigators in which she admitted sending out the messages last November to bring attention to racism on campus. "I went about it the wrong way," Daniel quoted McKelvey as saying in her statement to investigators. The judge said McKelvey has submitted numerous and lengthy letters from people telling of her character. However, Daniel said the Union County Prosecutor's Office had recommended McKelvey's application for PTI be denied, and said the defendant had failed to prove that prosecutors engaged in a "gross use of discretion," which is required by law to overturn that recommendation. McKelvey, 25, who is black, is charged with third-degree creating a false public alarm for allegedly posting several threats on an anonymous Twitter account threatening black students, including one which said, "i will kill any black person i see at kean university." Union County Assistant Prosecutor David Schneider said the threats spread panic and fear on the campus of the university in Union Township. PTI is a program for first-time offenders, and if offenders in the program successfully complete probation, the charges are dropped from their records. McKelvey's attorney, Thomas Ashley, had argued before the judge that there was no real threat, and that his client is remorseful and has already suffered for her actions. The judge on Thursday read from the appeal brief filed by Ashley, which he said McKelvey had led a protest at the university on Nov. 7, 2015 in support of protests by black students on other campuses. However, Ashley said McKelvey became disheartened when only five students showed up for the protest. Daniel said that according to authorities, McKelvey went to a campus library, created a Gmail account and used that to create the Twitter account "keanagainstblk." She then returned to the rally and spread word of the messages using a bullhorn, prosecutors allege. McKelvey, when approached after hearing the judge reject her PTI application, declined to comment. Defense attorney Thomas Mirigliano, who is with Ashley's law firm, appeared with McKelvey in court. After the hearing, Mirigliano said that while it is possible to appeal the judge's ruling, no decision has been made on that issue. Prosecutors said $80,000 was spent for increased campus security and the investigation of the threats, which resulted in McKelvey being charged Dec. 1. The prosecutors have offered to recommend that McKelvey receive a six-month jail sentence if she pleads guilty to the charge of creating a false public alarm. Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook. ELIZABETH -- The continuing legal battle over the former Merck commercial property adjacent to Kean University may be resolved with the school obtaining a portion of the 46-acre tract. Richard Berger, general counsel for Russo Acquisitions, which wants to redevelop the property, confirmed negotiations involve the university getting some of the property. His comments came after a conference meeting Wednesday with Superior Court Judge Katherine Dupuis and gave the first indication about the status of the litigation and property that has been in limbo for more than two years. In February 2014, Russo Acquisitions development company reached an agreement to buy the land from Merck. However, the university subsequently declared it had the right to acquire the land, which is located across the street from the main campus. All of the land was originally owned by the Kean family. In January 2015, Dupuis rejected the university's claim of having the right to purchase the land, a decision hailed by Union Township officials who fear the loss of an estimated $4 million in property taxes if the public school acquires the property. Kean filed a motion asking Dupuis to reconsider her decision, but no court action has been taken on that motion because Russo and Kean have been in negotiation. "My impression is everybody has a basis of a decision," Dupuis said Wednesday in a brief hearing that followed the conference with the lawyers in her chambers. However, Dupuis added, there are "a lot of loose ends." Dupuis said that she would rule on the motion for reconsideration, but quickly added, "we're confident that somebody's going to appeal." Kean spokeswoman Susan Kayne, when asked about the negotiations, said the university and its attorneys do not comment about ongoing litigation. Union Township Attorney Daniel Antonelli, who attended the conference, also declined to comment on the case, except to say the township is concerned about the traffic impact of any settlement on the already congested Morris Avenue. Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Thomas C. Schelling Biographical I was born April 14, 1921, in Oakland California, spent most of my boyhood in California, with three years in the east and two in the Panama Canal Zone, my father being a naval officer. I attended the University of California, Berkeley (with two years out in Chile), graduating in economics in 1944. After a year and a half as an analyst with the U.S. Bureau of the Budget I attended Harvard University, completing my Ph.D exams in June of 1948. Appointed a Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows, I took leave to join the administration of the Marshall Plan, spending one year in Copenhagen and a year and a half in Paris, resigning my fellowship. In November, 1950, I joined the White House Staff of the foreign policy adviser to the President, which in 1951 became the Office of the Director for Mutual Security, the office that managed all foreign aid programs. I left in the fall of 1953 to join the faculty of Yale University. My experience abroad and in Washington mostly involved negotiations. I was an active participant in negotiating the European Payments Union in 1950; in Washington my responsibilities related to aid negotiations with European governments, primarily in connection with those governments contributions to the new NATO defense establishment. I had, at Harvard, become interested in bargaining strategy, and my government experience gave me much of the background I needed when later I decided to make bargaining theory my primary theoretical interest. At Yale I began publishing what I believe the Nobel selection committee considered my contribution to understanding cooperation and conflict, first an Essay on Bargaining in 1956, in the American Economic Review, and Bargaining, Communication, and Limited War in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1957. Interestingly, these two articles were completed before I had more than a smattering of acquaintance with formal game theory. In 1957 the book, Games and Decisions by Howard Raiffa and R. Duncan Luce was published; it was my professional introduction to game theory, and I spent at least a hundred, maybe two hundred, hours with it. In the spring and summer of 1958 I took my family to London, where I pursued what I considered my concept of game theory in a manuscript typed by the woman on Charing Cross Road who did all of Agatha Christies books and plays and submitted it to the Journal of Conflict Resolution. It was so long that that Journal decided to make it a whole issue. I persuaded the editor that a smart way to publicize the new journal would be to give me, without charge, instead of reprints three hundred copies of the journal to send to everyone I could think of. I called my article, Prospectus for a Reorientation of Game Theory. I was trying to get game theorists to pay more attention to strategic activities, things like promises and threats, tacit bargaining, the role of communication, tactics of coordination, the design of enforceable contracts and rules, the use of agents, and all the tactics by which individuals or firms or governments committed themselves credibly. I dont think I had any noticeable influence on game theorists, but I did reach sociologists, political scientists, and some economists. While in London I had made the acquaintance of several scholars and former military officers who were interested in theories of deterrence and limited war. I began to appreciate that the most immediate and important application of the kind of game theory I was pursuing was in military foreign policy, especially nuclear weapons policy. I became a close friend of Alastair Buchan, who was just establishing the Institute for Strategic Studies in London, an institute that was to be hugely influential in drawing scholars from all over Western Europe, North America, and Japan to its annual meetings at Oxford, Cambridge, Bonn, and other sites. I then became the guest of the RAND Corporation, in Santa Monica , California, for twelve months, before settling at Harvard University , which had offered me a position Id share between the Department of Economics and the Center for International Affairs. At RAND I continued my theoretical work, and went to Washington with a small contingent attached to the staff preparing for a prospective Geneva Convention on Measures to Safeguard Against Surprise Attack. I did not go to Geneva ; I did, however, produce two papers. One, Surprise Attack and Disarmament, explored the concept that the problem of nuclear surprise attack was the problem of the advantage, in case of war, of being the side to start it. Arms control should be oriented toward measures that precluded either sides acquiring a pre-emptive capability, a first-strike capability as it was called. And this objective, somewhat paradoxically, entailed arranging for the safety not of populations and industrial assets but of retaliatory nuclear weapons. At RAND I also developed the idea of a probabilistic threat, and spelled it out under the title, The Threat That Leaves Something To Chance. I also, that year at RAND, began drawing on an idea that is sometimes referred to as a Schelling point, or focal point, to argue that the only viable convention regarding the use of nuclear weapons would be no weapons, not some quantitative or qualitative limits. (This idea became the germ of my Nobel Memorial Lecture, forty-five years later.) Most of the work I have described appeared in 1960 as The Strategy of Conflict, Harvard University Press. I then spent thirty-one years at Harvard University, first in the Department of Economics and the Center for International Affairs, then in the Department but also, beginning with its establishment in 1969, in the John F. Kennedy School of Government. For ten years the Center gave me freedom to write and to consult, and I spent much of my time, especially during the summer, doing advisory work for the government. During my first year at Harvard the Center received a grant, together with the MIT Center for International Studies, to spend on some joint activity. A colleague at MIT and I decided wed establish a Center for Arms Control, that would meet every three weeks at one or the other faculty clubs for dinner discussion. The summer of 1960 I spent, with a dozen or more colleagues from Harvard and MIT at a summer study of arms control, financed by the Twentieth Century Fund. I had arranged to host a young colleague from the Yale graduate school, Morton H. Halperin, for his dissertation work, and took the occasion to make him a rapporteur for the summer study. At the end of the summer, Halperin and I decided to write a book reflecting the consensus the group was developing. We took advantage of the Harvard MIT Center for Arms Control by submitting chapter after chapter as the texts for discussion. The book, Strategy and Arms Control, 1961, was finished and available within a couple of weeks of the Kennedy inauguration. The timing was perfect. Kennedy appointed as his national security adviser a Harvard dean who had participated in the autumn discussions of arms control, and as his White House science adviser an MIT professor who had been one of the group; another member became Deputy Assistance Secretary of Defense for Arms Control, another General Counsel of the State Department. Because of these connections I was appointed chairman of several interagency committees concerned with nuclear weapons policy over the next several years. (One of them brought into being the hotline between the Kremlin and the U.S. Government, another initiated the process that led, after a hiatus caused by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.) Partly because I had connections, I devoted most of my research during the 60s to weapons policy, publishing Arms and Influence, Yale University Press, 1977. In the spring of 1970, upon the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, I led a group of Harvard faculty to meet with President Nixons national security adviser to declare our opposition to the invasion and break relations with the Administration. That ended my connection with the government. During the seventies and eighties two subjects intrigued me. One resulted from my participation, for seven years, in a committee of the National Academy of Sciences on Substance Abuse and Addictive Behavior. I observed that people who had habits or addictions or delinquencies often attempted, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, to deal with themselves as they might deal with anothers misbehavior, attempting, in effect, to commit themselves to avoiding the bad behavior or performing the good. Several essays on this topic are in two books of mine, Choice and Consequence, 1984 and, just recently, Strategies of Commitment, 2006. The second subject that occupied me in the seventies was the ways that individual behavioral choices could aggregate into social phenomena that were unintended or unexpected. One part of this work involved modeling spatial segregation, the ways that people who differ conspicuously in binary groups e.g. blacks and whites, males and females, officers and enlisted personnel, francophones and anglophones get separated spatially, in residence, in dining halls, at public events. Without knowing it I was pioneering a field of study that later became known as agent-based computational modeling. Much of this work was published in Micromotives and Macrobehavior, 1978. In 1980 President Carter was to attend a summit in Venice. The Chancelor of Germany had submitted, for the agenda, the carbon dioxide problem. The White House asked the National Academy of Sciences for advice on what to do with that item. I was invited to chair a committee that would do a quick study and prepare advice; I confessed I knew virtually nothing of the subject and was told I could learn most of what was known in the four weeks before the committee would meet. I took the job, I had a superb committee and learned a lot, we did a satisfactory report, and I thought that was the end of an interesting experience. A few months later the Congress appropriated funds for a longer, more substantial study, and, undoubtedly because I recently chaired a committee on the subject, I was asked to join the Carbon Dioxide Assessment Committee of the National Academy of Sciences. There I spent some fifty days over a two year period with a dozen scientists from the most pertinent disciplines and became an extremely well educated amateur. I wrote the chapter of our report on policy and welfare implications of climate change. That subject remains a major interest. Its relevance to my Prize is that mobilizing to do something about prospective global warming and climate change is what I expect to be, during this century, what nuclear arms control was during the century just past, namely an immense challenge to cooperation amid conflict. My latest thoughts on the subject can be found in the 2006 book mentioned above. In 1990 I retired from Harvard and accepted appointment as Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, in the Department of Economics and the School of Public Policy. I continued my interest in nuclear weapons policy, climate change, commitment, and terrorism, the latter interest stimulated by another invitation to participate in a committee of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine, the Committee on Science and Engineering for Counterterrorism, two months after September 11, 2001. As I reflect on my career I am struck with how much of what I am pleased to have accomplished was initiated by good luck and by the initiative of others. During the War, deemed unfit for military service by the Army and the Navy, I landed a superb job in the Bureau of the Budget; with that experience I was admitted to Harvard Graduate School with a teaching fellowship; I was invited to join the Marshall Plan and my boss took me to Copenhagen; from there to Paris and from there to the White House. RAND was by unsolicited invitation. The Kennedy Administration drew colleagues into influential positions and gave me access to senior officials. National Academy of Sciences committees approached me unexpected. Ive had all the advantages. And now the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel promises more opportunities. From Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 2005, Editor Karl Grandin, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 2006 This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/ Nobel Lectures/The Nobel Prizes. The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate. Thomas C. Schelling died on 13 December 2016. Copyright The Nobel Foundation 2005 To cite this section MLA style: Thomas C. Schelling Biographical. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022. Sun. 23 Oct 2022. Eye-Witness and Messenger The Jewish author, philosopher and humanist Elie Wiesel made it his life's work to bear witness to the genocide committed by the Nazis during World War II. He was the world's leading spokesman on the Holocaust. After Hitler's forces had moved into Hungary in 1944, the Wiesel family was deported to the Auschwitz extermination camp in Poland. Elie Wiesel's mother and younger sister perished in the gas chamber there. In 1945 Elie and his father were sent on to Buchenwald, where his father died of starvation and dysentery. Seventeen-year-old Elie was still alive when American soldiers opened the camp. For the world to remember and learn from the Holocaust was not Elie Wiesel's only goal. He thought it equally important to fight indifference and the attitude that it's no concern of mine. Elie Wiesel saw the struggle against indifference as a struggle for peace. In his words, The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. The federal government plans to pour $125 million into the fight against a mysterious disease that has ravaged corals in Florida and much of the Caribbean, and now poses a dire threat to the treasured reefs off the Louisiana and Texas coasts. WASHINGTON (AP) The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all. Every day, a downtown Council Bluffs facility attracts 1,000 people through its doors. During the last fiscal year, the number of people who came in person to enjoy what it had to offer numbered 393,000, up 10,000 from the previous year. Were the busiest anchor store in downtown Council Bluffs, said Kathy Rieger. Rieger was referring to the Council Bluffs Public Library, which is celebrating National Library Week. This is to give recognition to libraries and what we do for the communities, said Rieger, the library director. We educate everyone from age zero to 100. Thats our purpose. Started in 1958, National Library Week is sponsored by the American Library Association and features localized events, such as Tuesdays National Library Workers Day. We have a great staff here, Rieger said. Mayor Matt Walsh Monday evening proclaimed this week as National Library Week in Council Bluffs, with a big event Friday evening for teens who will time travel to the 1990s, 1980s and 1970s, Rieger said. This years national theme is Libraries Transform, and the local branch appears to be keeping pace with the needs of a growing digital society. During fiscal year 2015, patrons downloaded 35,000 e-books, 6,000 movies and 3,700 e-magazines, Rieger said. Our database traffic is up 206 percent from the year before, she said. To use its database, people can go to the librarys website on any internet-ready device and gain access with their library card. Included among its database options is a history of Council Bluffs through the words of The Daily Nonpareil, said Ben Johnson, adult services manager. The digitized archive already complete between 1857 and 1964. In March, there were 9,318 article searches and 16,967 articles either viewed or downloaded, Johnson noted, adding that old newspapers are still available on microfilm. Weve had a lot of positive feedback, Johnson said of going digital. But, in addition to online access, a library must contain physical things, Rieger said. During fiscal year 2015, the library loaned out more than half a million physical items, such as books, movies and CDs, she said. A popular item at the moment is novelty cake pans. We loan things that people want, she said. Community Its now easier than ever to connect and chat with others in your local area. You can connect with your community by asking general questions, give area updates and recommendations and even let your community know about local events that are taking place. EVANSTON, Ill. --- Coral reefs are early casualties of climate change, but not every coral reacts the same way to the stress of ocean warming. Now a Northwestern University research team is the first to provide a quantitative global index detailing which of the worlds coral species are most susceptible to coral bleaching and most likely to die. The world currently is experiencing the longest global coral bleaching event ever recorded, with the Great Barrier Reef and U.S. reefs among those suffering. Bleaching happens when stressed corals expel their life-providing algae, turning coral reefs stark white as their skeletons show through. Some corals rebound, but many do not. The coral bleaching response index was published today (April 13) as an Early View article by the journal Global Change Biology. Based on a massive amount of historical data, the index can be used to compare the bleaching responses of corals throughout the world and to predict which corals may be most affected by future bleaching events. Coral bleaching is an inescapable example of the effects of climate change, said Timothy D. Swain, the studys first author and a postdoctoral fellow at the McCormick School of Engineering. We can see it with our eyes, and we also clearly see the progression of climate change in our data. Our goal is to use data to understand what is driving bleaching and learn how we can protect the worlds coral reefs, so we dont lose them so quickly. Swain is a member of the interdisciplinary research team that analyzed publicly available data on nearly half the worlds corals -- including actual measurements of bleaching -- to produce the global index. The team was led by molecular biologist Luisa A. Marcelino and included Vadim Backman, both professors at McCormick. The global index is a standardized measure of vulnerability, by species of coral, to thermal stress. It identifies the species most susceptible to bleaching and those most likely to perish as a result of the damage; hardier species also are identified. The index ranks the corals susceptibility to thermal stress from 1 to 100, with the most susceptible first in the list. The index provides a valuable new tool to conservationists and park managers committed to preserving coral reefs and scientists interested in learning more about the hundreds of reef-building corals. Coral reefs are referred to as rain forests of the sea, said Marcelino, a research assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. They are not rock. Reefs are made of healthy, living animals -- individual corals. We want to know why corals are bleaching and why they are bleaching differently. Highly productive and diverse ecosystems, coral reefs help support approximately 25 percent of all marine fish species, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. As a result, the livelihoods of 500 million people and income worth more than $30 billion are at risk from coral bleaching. In our study, we observed a widely variable bleaching and mortality response among corals, Marcelino said. Now, with the index, we have a platform we can use to better understand bleaching mechanisms, both intrinsic and environmental. There is value in knowing which species are more resistant and why. With good tools, we can make more informed decisions and better manage coral reefs. Marcelino and Swain also are scientific affiliates with Chicagos Field Museum of Natural History. There they genetically characterize corals and their symbiont algae and, in collaboration with Chicagos Shedd Aquarium, expose different corals to thermal stress to better understand mechanisms of differential bleaching. The global index, representing close to half the worlds corals from 316 sites, is an impressive feat of data science: It emerged from a meta-analysis of all available historical records on coral bleaching from 1982 through 2006 -- the sum of human knowledge on species-specific bleaching during this period, according to Swain. Using very large data sets, we have teased out valuable information that will help researchers identify global trends and learn about individual corals, said co-author Backman, the Walter Dill Scott Professor of Biomedical Engineering. We want this index to be used to predict how corals might react to future bleaching events. This work is a good example of interdisciplinary research, Backman added. To make our analysis possible, we applied financial theory conventionally used to predict changes in stock prices in response to stock market variations to model how individual corals react to a change in the environment. The research team plans to make the index available online, so that data on corals can be added as it becomes available and make the tool even more robust. The National Science Foundation (grants EFRI-1240416, EFRI-623 0937987 and CBET-1249311) and the National Institutes of Health (grants CA-128641, EB-003682) supported the research. The paper is titled Coral Bleaching Response Index: A New Tool to Standardize and Compare Susceptibility to Thermal Bleaching. In addition to Marcelino, Backman and Swain, other authors of the paper are Jesse B. Vega-Perkins, William K. Oestreich, Conrad Triebold, Emily DuBois and Margaret Siple, of Northwestern; Jillian Henss, of the Field Museum; and Andrew Baird, of the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Australia. He stands alone as the most inspirational hooker to ever play Origin for New South Wales and now Danny Buderus believes it is time Eels No.9 Nathan Peats is handed his first Blues jersey. Troubled by injuries since joining the Eels from the Rabbitohs in 2014, Peats came back from a broken neck last season by making 60 tackles in Round 1 against the Broncos but then suffered a dislocated elbow in Parramatta's Round 2 win over the Cowboys. In his first game in a month he racked up another 40 tackles and ran for 90 metres in an 80-minute performance against the Raiders last Saturday and Buderus says in this week's issue of Big League that he has 'Origin mentality' coursing through his game. "Our elite No.9s Robbie Farah and Michael Ennis are both in their early 30s and have given fantastic service to the blue jersey, but within the next two years there will be a changing of the guard," Buderus tells Big League. "In my opinion, Nathan Peats has the right Origin mentality. "You have to have a specific kind of player in the Origin arena and Peats has the right defensive mindset. He plays tough and he's a competitor, regardless of the situation, which is why he was the only hooker named in the Emerging Origin squad at the beginning of the year." The development pathways that proved to be so critical in Queensland's current era of dominance has been replicated by the Blues hierarchy with Farah and former Blues skipper Brad Fittler overseeing a 'Blues in Waiting' camp for 16 and 18-year-olds in Narrabeen this week. Buderus believes that it is by identifying talent early and encouraging a familiarity amongst emerging players that the Blues can hope to create a dynasty of their own in the coming years. "It's a good way for the players to become familiar with one another as they move through the grades and potentially into the NRL," Buderus says. "The program was started by Ricky Stuart and is a good initiative to have, and one that will pay dividends as we begin to plan for life after Farah and Ennis. "The way that Queensland brought in Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk was masterful. The cohesion and clarity they've shown time and time again has been vital to their success and a similar move needs to be considered for the Blues' spine. "It's not likely to happen this year because we need to win a Series, but its about building for the future and sustaining long-term success." The Round 7 issue of Big League is on sale at newsagents and at the ground. Digital version also available through iTunes, Google Play and at www.zinio.com. It's a voice that is at its strongest within the confines of a rugby league field but quietly-spoken Broncos superstar Anthony Milford is now using his profile to encourage young men in Brisbane's south to have the courage to be heard. Fuelled by the tragic loss of close family friend Francis Winterstein last year, Milford volunteered his time to the students of Marsden State High School when he heard about their student-inspired program called 'Mates Talk Change'. Centred around young men being able to express how they are truly feeling, it is one school's way of addressing the alarming increase in youth suicide and one that Milford now dedicates time each week to participate in. Having completed his qualifications as a youth worker in 2014 at just 20 years of age, Milford said his primary role at Marsden is to give the students someone they feel they can talk to about whatever issues they may currently be dealing with. "A lot of them are shy of me at the moment but we're a month in now and they've opened up," Milford told NRL.com. "We all spoke about the fact that for this program to work everyone has to be committed towards it. Everyone is slowly opening up and everyone is getting to know each other's story. Just letting them know that there is always someone there to talk to and there are ways around what they're going through. "I think anything is fixable and I think that's just what they need to get through their heads, that opening up would help that. "Trying to keep things bottled in is not going to help your situation." In his role with the community arm of the Broncos, Jharal Yow Yeh often visits Marsden State High School to deliver the Beyond the Broncos program that encourages high attendance rates for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander kids. Yow Yeh has also had to deal with the loss of a close friend to suicide and said the presence of Milford will be leaving an indelible imprint on the students at Marsden. "He's Anthony Milford. He's a kid who is an absolute star, probably one of the best players in our game at the moment, and to be able to get him out to a school and send a message is a credit to him," Yow Yeh said. "It doesn't happen all the time and he's put his hand up to go out of his way on his days off to go out there. "I know what he's like as a friend and how passionate he is about helping kids. He lost one of his mates and I lost one of my mates and we don't talk about it much but when we do he gets real passionate about it. "Young men are realising that something's got to change and that you don't have to be embarrassed to talk about anything. "It's exciting that they've addressed it and they wanted to start this little group up and to have a mentor like Anthony there... He's been through it all and he's probably really, really happy that it's happening." With Samoan heritage Milford is able to form instant cultural connections with the large number of Polynesian students who attend the school and said he is encouraged by the work being done within the NRL to address issues of mental health in young men. "A lot of Polynesians that are coming through the NRL, especially through the 20s, are doing really well but then they get the sense of depression and pressures of different areas but they can get better if they know about it earlier," said Milford. "It's pretty encouraging that a lot of the NRL players and a lot of the NRL clubs are trying to get programs like that inside and trying to do more about it. "Educating the younger players coming through and notifying them that there's going to be pressures and there's going to be places that you are going to be put in that are very uncomfortable and that there are ways around it and different ways to handle different situations." To learn more about mental health visit the NRL's State of Mind website. In a worrying sign for opposition sides, Brisbane Broncos speedster James Roberts has revealed that he is still a long way off reaching the form that saw him score 16 tries for the Gold Coast Titans in 2015. Roberts is battling a hip injury that he picked up a couple of weeks ago against his former club, with the star centre going down in the first half of Brisbane's 24-16 Round 5 win. The injury appears to be plaguing Roberts, with the 23-year-old struggling to run at full speed. Roberts says he is battling to shake off the knock and doesn't expect to be back to his best in the near future. "I've been carrying a hip injury over the last couple of weeks so I can't see myself being at my best any time soon," Roberts said. "It's around my abs and my hips. It's going alright and getting a bit better each day. I'm still working on it, but it's certainly not 100 per cent. "If I was 100 per cent then I feel I would be up there for State of Origin, but I don't think I am at the moment. I have plenty of improvement in me so I'll see what happens." Roberts is yet to play State of Origin, missing out on selection for New South Wales last year in favour of Josh Morris and Michael Jennings. He was picked in the Emerging Blues squad at the start of the year and Laurie Daley has been keeping a close eye on his form so far in 2016. It's clear Roberts would love to be a part of State of Origin this year, but for now the Brisbane centre is remaining focused on getting his body back to 100 per cent. "It's not playing on my mind. At the moment I'm just focusing on my job at the Broncos. If an Origin spot comes then I'd be very happy," he said. "It's very honouring to be mentioned when I'm not 100 per cent. I'm not sure what the side will be, but I'll cross my fingers and hope I get picked. "I'm sure whatever team they pick they'll do a good job and hopefully they'll get the win." As most Hoosiers know, the state of Indiana is celebrating its bicentennial this year. During that time, generations of Indiana-born or raised entertainers contributed enormously to the performing arts culture of the state, nation, and the world. Dr. John Ban, who created a wonderful World War II program for the Lake County Library System last year, has turned his attention to the bicentennial with his latest program, Enjoying Indiana's Performing Arts Heritage," featuring a salute to many iconic Indiana legends who brought so much joy to people and who bring pride to Indiana. The free program will be presented at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 19 at the Griffith/Calumet Township Branch (1215 East 45th Avenue) in Griffith. Among them are comedic talent Red Skeleton; wisecracking David Letterman; pop superstars Michael Jackson; composers Cole Porter and Hoagie Carmichael; Grand Old Opry founder John Hay; and Golden Age of Hollywood actress Carole Lombard, among many other Hoosier entertainers, past and present. More: (219) 838-2825 or lcplin.org/events. REVITALIZED "SURVIVOR" BACK IN ACTION Chicago's hard rockin' hit-makers Survivor ("High On You," "Eye of the Tiger," "Is This Love," etc.) announced Cameron Barton as its new lead singer. Barton steps into the role left vacant by the tragic September 2014 death of longtime vocalist Jimi Jamison. One of Northwest Indiana's own -- region music veteran Billy Ozzello (aka "Billy O") -- is Survivor's longtime bass player and also the owner of Dynamite Music in downtown Griffith. Newly revitalized, Barton is confidently stepping into his role of lead singer with a group that has a hits-filled and historic pedigree, as Survivor set out on a national tour that brings the group back home on July 30 as headliners of Chicago Ridge Fest. Hes great, said band founder/guitarist Frankie Sullivan of Barton. After hearing him, I was in Nashville within 24 hours. I was in the studio with him a day later. I stayed with him for about four days, and put him through the ringer. He just kept getting better and kept delivering. He's a very focused guy. He learned 20 songs in about 8 days." More: SurvivorBand.com. MUSIC NOTES Surgical Meth Machine is the new project from Chicago industrial music pioneer, Al Jourgensen of Ministry. The self-named album is due out April 15 on Nuclear Blast Records, and was crafted over a 12-month period, mostly in Jourgensen's Burbank, California studio with longtime engineer Sam D'Ambruoso. Jourgensen's longtime guitarist and friend, the late Mike Scaccia, served as partial inspiration for what would become Surgical Meth Machine. Jourgensen declared Ministry over after the release of the group's 2013 swansong album, "From Beer To Eternity," after Scaccia died during the making of the album. Unburdened by the Ministry name and all that the band's legacy represents, Surgical Meth Machine gives Jourgensen a fresh slate upon which to continue his sonic journey while forging a new identity. Blues rockers Duke Tumatoe & The Power Trio return to Northwest Indiana after a long absence at 9 p.m. Saturday when they hit the stage of Leroy's Hot Stuff (333 West U.S. Hwy. 20) in Porter. Then on Sunday (4/17) Leroy's presents "Rebuilding Together Duneland Benefit Ride & Party," beginning with a 10 a.m. breakfast, a noon ride, and live bands at 3 p.m. for the post-ride party with music by Phil 'N' The Blanks and Trainwreck. Ride: $15 single/$25 couple. More: (219) 926-6211 or leroyshotstuff.com. Congratulations to Roger and Pattijo Porter - owners of Finnegan's Pub (1074 Joliet/U.S. 30) in Dyer - on the 15th Anniversary of their Irish pub. The Porters are hosting a celebration party on Monday, April 18 starting at 3 p.m. that includes a free food spread and Magician Rich Littlefield at 5:30 p.m. followed by live music at 7:30 p.m. performed by Gregg Ashby & Friends and Scottie Larson & Company. "We just want to do something to say 'thank you' to the many people we have met over the last 15 years who have become regulars and friends," said Pattijo. Catch The Nomad Planets blending their tasty original songs with some unique cover songs this Saturday at Finnegan's. No cover for either event. More: (219) 865-9896 or finnegansdyer.com. This Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel's Grand Ballroom in Merrillville (at U.S. 30 & I-94), the Mr. Funnyman Band will be performing their mix of dance, rock and pop cover songs as the headliners of "Inclusion Fest," a now annual fundraising event for In-Pact, the Crown Point-based organization which for over 20 years, has provided support services to Northwest Indiana residents with developmental disabilities. "This is one of two fundraising events that we do each year," said In-Pact CEO Herb Grulke. "It's important not just for financial reasons, but it gives people with disabilities a social event of their own to enjoy and it brings attention to In-Pact and our programs to help people in our community." Along with live music, there will be a magician, face-painting, hair and feather-braiding, balloon artists and refreshments. The event is open to all ages. People with disabilities enter free; with a charge of $5 for all others. More: in-pact.org. Purdue University Northwest students with the North Central Theatre group and Canterbury Winter Arts will present a series of performances of William Shakespeares beloved comedy, A Midsummer Nights Dream, set in Cole Porters America of the 1930s and featuring some favorite Cole Porter songs. This unique version of A Midsummer Nights Dream finds a link between Indianas own master of the ultra-ironic love song and a comedy where falling in and out of love can happen in the blink of an eye and with the help of a little magic. The shows are at Canterbury Theatre (807 Franklin St.) in Michigan City at 7:30 p.m. April 15 and 16. Tickets: $10 adults/$5 students. More: (219) 874-4269 or e-mail info@festivalplayersguild.org. Fort Wayne native turned author - Vicky Hamilton - moved to the Sunset Strip when she was 22 and became the first manager of the band Guns N Roses. Hamilton is the call-in guest at 1 p.m. Friday on the weekly "A Look at the Arts" program on 89.1FM-Lakeshore Public Radio in Merrillville to spotlight her new book "Appetite for Dysfunction." She also helped oversee the careers of Poison, Faster Pussycat and Motley Crue (to name but a few). Hamilton has nearly four decades of rock 'n' roll stories and many are shared in "Appetite for Dysfunction." Lakeshore Public Radio programs stream live in real time at: lakeshorepublicmedia.org. PORTER Indiana Dunes Tourism has welcomed two new board of directors members and two new staff members. Joining the board are Lisa Wodrich and Julie Jones. Wodrich, a Porter resident who was appointed by the towns of Chesterton, Porter and Burns Harbor, attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Indiana University. She and her husband, David, are owners of Third Coast Spice Cafe and Lemon Tree Mediterranean Grill, both in Chesterton. She sits on the Family Advisory Board for Ann and Robert H. Lurie Childrens Hospital of Chicago and acts as resource development manager for the For the Love of Chocolate Foundation, an organization that provides scholarships for culinary students specializing in the pastry arts. Jones, who was appointed by the towns of Kouts and Hebron, is manager of Birky Family Farms Country Gourmet and is a resident of Kouts. Her mother, Carolyn Birky, served on the Indiana Dunes Tourism board for years and Julie decided to get involved as well. Julie is a member of the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce, belongs to Open Door Fellowship Church in Kouts and serves on the Kouts Park Board. The new staff members are Nupur Arora and Brooke Allen. Arora, who is operations director, is responsible for various aspects of administration, building operations, community support, finance, human resource management, information technology and strategic planning. She has a masters degree in business administration from Purdue University and a bachelors degree in Zoology from Delhi University, India. She also holds the Professional Human Resource certification from Human Resource Certification Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management-Certified Professional certification from SHRM. She started her management career with the pharmaceutical corporation Eli Lilly and Company in India and has more than two decades of business and human resource management experience in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors in India and the U.S. She is a member and volunteers her time at the Indian American Cultural Center and the Northwest Indiana Indian Medical Association in Merrillville. Allen, who is community engagement director, oversees the organizations social media, handles graphic design projects and manages business partnerships and group businesses. Allen earned a bachelors degree in English from Purdue University and was an English and journalism high school teacher for East Porter County Schools. She was the yearbook advisor and was responsible for teaching her students graphic design, social media platforms, photography and photo editing. She also used social media platforms to communicate with her students, their parents and the business community. She used her design skills extensively to create graphic handouts, infographics, videos and picture tutorials to assist her in teaching. She volunteers with the March of Dimes and adult education/GED programs. Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders faced off in Brooklyn in Thursday's Democratic primary debate, co-hosted by TWC News/NY1. Follow along here and leave your comments below or on Twitter using hashtag #NYDebate. Watch the full debate online with no login required. 11:06 P.M. Clinton's closing statement: "New York, I've worked my heart out for you and I'll continue to do so...We won't make promises we can't keep; we'll improve the lives of people in New York and beyond." And that's a wrap. 11:03 P.M. Sanders' closing statement: "I disagree with Secretary Clinton's idea that you can take money from Wall Street and the Super PACs and then stand up to them...We need a government that works for all of us and not just the one percent. With your help we're going to win New York." 10:54 P.M. Dana Bash to Sanders: "Do you vow to take this fight to the floor of the convention?" Sanders: "I really think we're going to win outright." 10:53 P.M. Clinton, to cheers, says that she welcomes the political involvement of young people who support Senator Sanders, but that she hopes that the party unites around the eventual nominee. 10:49 P.M. Asked by Dana Bash, "Are you a Democratic?" Sanders, a long-time Independent, says to cheers that he is, and that "there are a lot of independents in the Democratic Party." 10:47 P.M. In response to a question about whether the candidates would support Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, both candidates tout their support of Roe v. Wade and their opposition to Citizens United. 10:36 P.M. Clinton questions Sanders' plan for universal healthcare and free college: "My father said when someone offers you something for free, read the fine print." Sanders' response: "Then Secretary Clinton is going to have to explain to the country why we can't do what so many other countries in the world do." 10:18 P.M. On the topic of Israel, Sanders receives cheers when he says the Palestinians have to be respected in the peace process. Clinton: "It's easy to diagnose the problem, but it's harder to come up with solutions." 10:12 P.M. Donald Trump gets a rare mention -- to boos -- when Wolf Blitzer asks Sanders if he agrees with the GOP front-runner's concerns about NATO's effectiveness. "You'd have to ask Trump," Sanders says, but says, "I would ask NATO members to do their fair share." 10:04 P.M. Asked by Errol Louis how to transition the country away from fossil fuels, Sanders says he supports the use of solar rooftops and a rededication to rail travel. 9:58 P.M. After a break, the candidates tackle the issue of preserving the environment. Clinton gets boos for having promoted fracking in the past, but when questioned about why she's against it now, says, "It was American policy to use natural gas to get out from under the use of coal, but it's only a bridge until we get to clean energy." Sanders, to cheers, says "Short term solutions should not be pursued at the expense of the environment." 9:45 P.M. In response to a question about crime, Clinton uses the phrase "super-predator," and Sanders says, "That's racist." The two then go on to call for revised drug laws and more educational funding. 9:38 P.M. Sanders gets scattered boos in responding to assertions that he doesn't favor holding gun manufacturers liable for the use of their products, saying that if a rural gun shop sells a gun to someone who then uses it in a crime, they shouldn't be held liable. 9:34 P.M. Blitzer asks Clinton about gun violence. Clinton, raising her voice: "Gun violence is a series problem. Senator Sanders wants to hold Wall Street responsible -- well, we need to hold the gun manufacturers responsible." More cheers from the audience. 9:18 P.M. Dana Bash asks Clinton about her paid speeches for Wall Street executives: "If there's nothing in those speeches, why not release them?" Clinton: "As I've said, if everybody agrees to do it, I'll do it." Sanders, in response: "I'll do it. I'll release all of the speeches I've made to Wall Street. And there were no speeches." Big cheers. 9:04 P.M. Both candidates take the stage to raucous cheers from the crowd. Sanders' opening statement: "I want to create an economy that works for all of us and not just the one percent." Clinton: "I want to build on the values that we share here in New York and take them to Washington." 9:00 P.M. We've live from the Brooklyn Navy Yards. Wolf Blitzer introduces panelists Errol Louis from NY1 and CNN's Dana Bash, then Broadway's Morgan James sings the national anthem. Mayor Bill de Blasio's approval rating is taking a nosedive in the city as a growing scandal threatens to engulf his administration and the NYPD, according to our exclusive NY1/Baruch College poll, which also shows Governor Andrew Cuomo faring much better statewide. Grace Rauh filed the following report. Mayor Bill de Blasio's poll numbers are suffering. His approval rating dropped 10 points from February to 48 percent. 31 percent of city voters say they disapprove of the job he's doing, and 19 percent say they are not sure. Our exclusive NY1/Baruch College poll was conducted from April 5 through April 10, right when a big story was breaking about a federal investigation into the police department and the mayor's campaign fundraising. Two de Blasio donors, who also served on his inauguration committee, are said to be suspected of providing gifts to top police officials in exchange for favors. "I am confident that we have done this correctly and appropriately and legally," de Blasio said Monday. Our poll found that New York City voters are split over the state of the city. 45 percent say it's headed in the right direction, but another 45 percent say it's on the wrong track. 10 percent are not sure. New Yorkers seem more pleased with city services. 71 percent say they are very or somewhat satisfied with them. 27 percent say they are not so satisfied or not satisfied at all. As for Governor Andrew Cuomo, a majority of state voters give him a thumbs up. 55 percent say they approve of the job he's doing, 28 percent disapprove and 13 percent are not sure. Our poll found that New Yorkers are worried about the possibility of a terrorist attack in our state. 66 percent say they are either very worried or somewhat worried. 31 percent say they are not too worried or not worried at all. But there is more division when New Yorkers are asked whether they approve of police focusing on Muslims to prevent terrorist attacks. 45 percent say they approve of the approach. 43 percent disapprove. As for the mayor, his poll numbers may be a temporary setback, or perhaps a sign that New Yorkers have little appetite for a scandal at City Hall. HAARLEM, the Netherlands When Damien Hirst, the man who submerged a shark in a tub of formaldehyde and sold it for millions of dollars, buys up nearly every piece at only your second gallery show, its a sign that you might be doing something right as a taxidermy artist. That is what happened last year to Jaap Sinke and Ferry van Tongeren, two Dutch artists who call themselves Darwin, Sinke & Van Tongeren, whose compositions of exotic animals bring to mind still-life paintings by Dutch and Flemish old masters like Jan Weenix, Frans Snyders and Melchior dHondecoeter. Those works offered an aristocratic version of life during the Dutch Golden Age, celebrating the wealth and abundance that was gained through the countrys global trading networks. We were fans of those animal still-life works, Mr. Sinke said. When I was a kid my mother took me to all these Dutch museums, and I didnt really understand it, but it left an impact. For those discerning buyers who purchase the Bugatti Veyron, the cars seven-figure price and single-digit fuel efficiency have never been much of an obstacle. But that does not mean that the cars gas gauge should give an incorrect reading or, worse, that a corroded electrical cable should pose the risk of a fire. To that end, Bugatti is recalling 85 of its Veyron 16.4 supercars in the United States. In both cases, Bugatti learned of the problem years ago, but only recently informed federal regulators. The larger of the two recalls involves 72 of the 2006-10 Veyron 16.4 and 2010-11 Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport models. LOS ANGELES Forty years in the making, Warren Beattys Howard Hughes film, still untitled, almost has a release date. The Hollywood Reporter reported that New Regency, which is backing the film, has confirmed that Fox will release the movie this fall in the heat of the annual film awards season. No specific date was mentioned, however. The confirmation came as Mr. Beatty paid tribute to New Regencys founder, Arnon Milchan, who was receiving an award on Wednesday at CinemaCon, a theater owners convention in Las Vegas. The film, which stars Lily Collins and Alden Ehrenreich, is a fictional story of two young people who find their way in 1958 to Hollywood, where they encounter Mr. Hughes and his strange world. The complaint identified nearly a dozen businesses in Manhattan that it said had operated as brothels, including Asian Flower at 599 Avenue of the Americas, near 17th Street; Secret Diary at 156 East 33rd Street, near Third Avenue; and Rainbow Spa at 45 East 34th Street, near Madison Avenue. It was unclear if the businesses were shuttered as a result of the investigation. Some of the brothels posed as legitimate enterprises, like a spa, and kept lists of patrons who had been vetted or vouched for by other brothels or customers and would cater only to them, the complaint said. Often the brothels identified by investigators specialized in a form of prostitution referred to as a Girlfriend Experience, or G.F.E., which was often priced at double the usual rate, the complaint said. The women would sometimes be rotated among a group of brothels with established relationships, in order to offer new girls periodically, the complaint said. Some clients would email the brothel specifically to ask if any new or different girls are available. The complaint made it clear that investigators had assistance from two cooperating sources. One cooperator worked in various brothels as a manager, making appointments for customers, collecting money and paying advertisers; the other, a Korean woman who came to the United States in 2003, worked her way up from being a prostitute to running a brothel. Two young sisters were killed Wednesday night when a fire swept through a Bronx apartment, officials said. The girls, 18-month-old Amanda Jabie and Jannubi Jabie, 2, were taken to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, where they were pronounced dead, the police said. Ten other people, including three firefighters, were taken to hospitals with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, a Fire Department spokesman said. The cause of the fire was under investigation. The fire, which started in Apartment 3F at 1368 Webster Avenue in the Claremont Village section, was reported around 6:30 p.m., officials said. The 21-story building is part of the Butler Houses, a New York City Housing Authority complex. One current and two former employees of a nonprofit that ran group homes in Brooklyn were arraigned on Wednesday on charges of falsifying records, the New York City Investigation Department said. The homes were closed last year after three teenagers sneaked out during the night and raped a woman in Manhattan. The three employees, Andrew Best, 23, Soraya Delancey, 36, and Stanley Stephens, 23, worked overnight at two of the group homes in Brooklyn operated by Boys Town. They failed to monitor their charges through the night and falsified the records to make it look as if they had, the Investigation Department said. Mr. Best was on duty at the group home in Park Slope where the three teenagers slipped out, while Mr. Stephens and Ms. Delancey, who the investigative agency said still worked for Boys Town, were employed at another home in the neighborhood. The investigative agency said another former employee, Orville Morgan, 25, who worked at the same home as Mr. Stephens and Ms. Delancey, would also be charged. The arrests followed a monthslong investigation that found staffing shortages, pervasive deception by overnight employees and a severe lack of oversight by the citys Administration for Childrens Services. The child welfare agency was aware that there was a problem with teenagers leaving group homes without permission but did not adequately develop policies to address it, making security lapses all but inevitable, the Investigation Departments report said. One of the biggest police misconduct cases in recent New York history, a criminal proceeding that riveted the city this winter and was swept up in the national debate about race and law enforcement, was threatened on Wednesday by an unusual and unexpected question: Did one of the jurors, a retired carpenter, hide his fathers criminal past in order to be a panelist at the trial? From the start, the case of Peter Liang, a former Brooklyn police officer convicted in February of manslaughter for the shooting of Akai Gurley in a housing project stairwell, has seen its share of twists and turns. Though the three-week trial was entangled in the furor over the death of Eric Garner on Staten Island, it never neatly fit the narrative of other police killings of unarmed black men around the country. There was, for instance, no direct confrontation between Mr. Liang and Mr. Gurley, who died from a ricocheting bullet that Mr. Liang fired while on patrol in November 2014 in a dark stairwell of the Louis H. Pink Houses in East New York. And even the man who pursued the case, Ken Thompson, the Brooklyn district attorney, recommended after the trial that Mr. Liang should not face time in prison, acknowledging that while he acted recklessly, there was no real proof that he meant to kill or injure Mr. Gurley. But the story that unfolded on Wednesday that of the retired carpenter, Michael Vargas, 62, and whether he had lied about his father took the case into its strangest place yet: It was suddenly possible that the entire prosecution could be thrown out because of what a juror had said about his private life. Updated, 12:13 p.m. Good morning on this bright Thursday. Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont head to their ninth Democratic presidential debate tonight, their final meeting before the New York State primary next week. The debates venue, the Duggal Greenhouse inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard, is an unlikely one. The warehouselike Greenhouse is wedged between a fish wholesaler and a dry dock for repairing ships. Like much of Brooklyn, the 215-year-old Navy Yard, in the Vinegar Hill area, has experienced significant change in recent decades. It now houses Steiner Studios, which produces movies and television shows, and its cavernous space is attracting local entrepreneurs and other business owners looking to expand. But theyre also still fixing ships there. Theres no glamour of any sort in the Navy Yard; its a truly gritty place, said Patrick McGeehan, a New York Times reporter who spent time there this week. Today, only about 7,000 people work at the city-owned Navy Yard. But officials say that number could increase to 17,000 in four years, with the help of growing companies like Russ & Daughters and Mast Brothers Chocolate Makers. On Tuesday, Rick Mast, the chief executive of Mast Brothers, stood inside a vast, empty structure in the center of the Navy Yard, giggling with anticipation. He and his brother, Michael, had just taken over a 65,000-square-foot space that they said would become the headquarters and primary factory for their business. Rick Mast said they planned to double their work force to about 150 people after they move into the Navy Yard next year from their base of operations nearby. They expect to hire 100 people within three years to make, package, sell and ship chocolate from the renovated building. The opportunity to grow in Brooklyn in a spectacular space like this, thats huge for us, Mr. Mast said, looking up at a vestige of the spaces shipbuilding past, an overhead crane capable of hoisting 10 tons. Join us for New York primary live updates. ALBANY It was just over two years ago that Donald J. Trump offered a blunt assessment of Edward F. Cox, the chairman of the New York State Republican Party. Hes never won anything, Mr. Trump said, so he doesnt know how to win. Mr. Trump delivered that brutal bon mot in the Grand Hyatt hotel in Midtown Manhattan in February 2014, as the real estate developer was flirting with running against Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Mr. Trump eventually decided not to run for governor, largely because of Mr. Coxs unwillingness to clear his way to the nomination. On Thursday, however, Mr. Trump will return to the same hotel for the state partys annual gala, basking in the praise of many of the partys elite. And welcoming him will be Mr. Cox, who has already declared himself thrilled at the prospect of Mr. Trumps presence, crediting the candidate and the competitive Republican race for reanimating the states long-somnolent primary on Tuesday. Perhaps the most glaring instance of self-bonding gone bad is Peabody Energy. Leading up to its bankruptcy, Peabody had been frantically trying to preserve its $1.47 billion in self-bonding agreements in states where they had been called into question by regulators. Two other major coal companies, Alpha Natural Resources and Arch Coal, recently filed for bankruptcy, leaving hundreds of millions in reclamation guarantees in limbo. A deal between Arch Coal and regulators in Wyoming suggests taxpayers will get stuck with the bulk of the cleanup costs. The company agreed to earmark at most $75 million to cover self-bonded reclamation liabilities of more than $450 million. This policy of self-bonding has been a failure. Congress should end it altogether and require all companies to purchase insurance to cover their reclamation costs. At the same time, many of the communities that depend on the coal industry not only for jobs but also for tax revenue are facing real trouble. In Campbell County in Wyoming, public officials are worried that Arch and Alpha will not make good on $50 million in local taxes due in May. In western New York State, NRG Energys closing of its coal-burning Huntley Station power plant in Tonawanda means layoffs, reduced tax revenue and an abandoned site. Community, environmental groups and the area labor federation forged a coalition to address the problems, and the recently passed state budget provides financial relief to schools and local governments that will lose tax revenues. This type of cooperation turns a community facing a loss into one with a plan to build its future. It must be done nationwide with federal support for workers, businesses and communities. The recent bankruptcies of the nations leading coal producers are the latest benchmark in the steady decline of the coal industry. The industrys problems are also hurting consumers, who are being hit by unnecessarily high electric rates approved by regulators to keep open coal-fired power plants that are no longer competitive with cheaper natural gas and renewables. In an act of pure indulgence, regulators have given the five banks nearly six months, until Oct. 1, to fix their plans. That is on top of a reprieve that the banks won in 2014, when the F.D.I.C., but not the Fed, rejected the wills of 11 banks, including four of the five banks that were rejected on Wednesday. Back then, the regulators disagreement led to a decision to give all of the banks more time to revise their plans. The longer it takes to develop living wills and enforce them, the bigger the risk of uncontrolled crises. But living wills are not sufficient by themselves to ensure financial system stability. They do not fully account for the ways that the failure of one bank could cause the failure of another and, in that way, become a systemwide problem. Ditto for todays higher capital requirements, which are an important regulatory tool for controlling risk. But the way capital is calculated does not fully account for the risks inherent in big banks holdings of derivatives. One of the reasons that Bank of Americas living will was found deficient is that the bank did not have a sound plan for winding down its portfolio of derivatives in a crisis. Neither Bank of America nor the other big banks are required to hold as much capital against their derivatives bets as is required of big international banks. Living wills are an important piece of the regulatory puzzle, but only one piece. Constant vigilance for systemic risks and bigger capital cushions for derivative holdings are just as crucial. Speaking of Democratic nominees: You have Hillary Clinton, whose greatest strength is pragmatic reality a message that doesnt exactly sizzle and whose saving grace is strong support from minorities, without which her candidacy would have long ago tanked. And yet she is surrounded by people, like her husband, who seem to be working assiduously to damage that minority support. Just last week, Bill Clinton launched into an awkward, rambling defense of the 1994 crime bill and his wifes use of the term superpredator. This week her supporter Bill de Blasio, New York Citys mayor, made a cringe-worthy joke (with which she happily played along!) about running on C.P. time, which I have always understood to be colored-peoples time, a corrosive stereotype of the perpetual lateness of black people. And then theres Bernie Sanders, the pied piper of pipe dreams, who articulates a noble set of principles but outlines unworkable and, in some cases, outlandish policies that will never see the light of day with the next Congress, which is not likely to be dissimilar from the existing Congress. The New York Daily News was brutal in its endorsement of Clinton this week: the papers editorial board referred to Sanders as a fantasist whos at passionate war with reality who has proved utterly unprepared for the Oval Office while confirming that the central thrusts of his campaign are politically impossible. Ouch. And the truth is that very little about this race has changed in the last month, though some might argue that Cruz has a gust of wind in his sails and Sanderss string of recent victories is impressive. But what largely gives the appearance of change is that contests have been held in states that favor a particular candidate over others. This gives the impression of momentum, when in fact it is simply a function of the map. The basic foundation of support remains relatively unchanged, and if those dynamics persist until all the contests have been completed, simple math tell us that the front-runners now will be the front-runners then. We are just watching cars crash in slow motion. Thats boring. There is a tremendous political media infrastructure whose job it is to make this sound like its still interesting, fascinating even, but its just not. Its boring. Now that was just one survey, from Fox News in mid-March. And Kasichs average lead over Clinton, a healthy 6.7 percent in the RealClearPolitics average, is clearly padded by his status as an also-ran in the Republican contest. Nobodys attacking him on the trail, nobody in the national media is going over his record, nobodys looking at his current policy positions in any detail. (Or, really, at all: Quick, name one!) But for all of that, its also true that if you laboratory-grew a Republican politician to win a presidential election in the current political climate, he would probably look a lot like Kasich. Now and likely more so in the future, the G.O.P.s path back to the White House is likely to run through the Midwest. Now and likely more so in the future, the G.O.P. would benefit from nominating a candidate who is religious but not a Southern evangelical, who has a blue-collar background and affect, who can point to at least one major break with his partys economic orthodoxies (in Kasichs case, that would be his support for Ohios Medicaid expansion) and who generally projects an air of moderation rather than ideological zeal. Of course not every aspect of Kasichs persona fits this ideal profile (his sojourn at Lehman Brothers, especially). But hes closer to the profile than Scott Walker, once (and perhaps again) the conservative movements Great Midwestern Hope, precisely because he has a little more distance than Walker from the official conservative movement line. And hes far, far closer than either Trump or Ted Cruz, which is why the gap between his general-election polls and theirs isnt just an artifact of his also-ran position. The question, then, is whether the party could ever actually nominate a figure with this profile. Or put another way, is there a 2016 counterfactual in which John Kasich doesnt end up as an extraordinarily persistent loser? PARIS A revolt over proposed labor-law reforms in France has set off an uprising among French youth, fed up, they say, over their governments failure to tackle a host of problems and thus robbing them of their future. Calling itself Nuit Debout roughly translatable as Standing Up at Night the movement recalls Spains 2011 anti-austerity Indignados movement and the Occupy movement in the United States. But there are also echoes of Frances own history of popular revolt, including the student-led protests of May 1968. It all began on March 31 after upward of 390,000 students and labor union members marched in several cities to protest a plan by President Francois Hollandes government to change protective labor laws to make it easier and less costly for employers to lay off workers. The idea, the government argues, is to open up jobs for younger people and reduce a seemingly intractable unemployment rate of 10 percent (nearly 26 percent among the young). Mr. Hollande has said he will not seek re-election if he cannot deliver on that promise. But the attempt to weaken worker protections whatever its intended benefits is, in the eyes of many on the French left, a betrayal by a Socialist government they did not elect to enact business-friendly policies long advocated by the right. This move has crystallized more general frustration with the Hollande government. On March 30, Mr. Hollande was forced to abandon a constitutional amendment that would have allowed citizens found guilty of terrorism charges to be stripped of their citizenship, a proposal that provoked mutiny in the ranks of the Socialist party. On Monday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced measures aimed at mollifying the students, including a government subsidy for graduates seeking work. Student leaders vowed to continue their protests. After the March 31 demonstration in Paris, a handful of protesters decided not to go home and headed for the Place de la Republique, where they spent the night. Every night since then, between several hundred and several thousand people have gathered there to call for nothing less than the invention of an entirely new political and economic order. Lee Carroll Brooker, a 75-year-old disabled veteran suffering from chronic pain, was arrested in July 2011 for growing three dozen marijuana plants for his own medicinal use behind his sons house in Dothan, Ala., where he lived. For this crime, Mr. Brooker was given a life sentence with no possibility of release. Alabama law mandates that anyone with certain prior felony convictions be sentenced to life without parole for possessing more than 1 kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, of marijuana, regardless of intent to sell. Mr. Brooker had been convicted of armed robberies in Florida two decades earlier, for which he served 10 years. The marijuana plants collected at his sons house including unusable parts like vines and stalks weighed 2.8 pounds. At his sentencing, the trial judge told Mr. Brooker that if he could sentence you to a term that is less than life without parole, I would. Last year, Roy Moore, chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, called Mr. Brookers sentence excessive and unjustified, and said it revealed grave flaws in the states sentencing laws, but the court still upheld the punishment. DUSSELDORF, Germany On March 27, Chinese police crashed my fathers 70th birthday party in Chinas southwestern Sichuan Province. They accused my family of causing a forest fire the day before by lighting incense and burning paper as part of the annual tomb- sweeping festival to honor deceased relatives. Three of my siblings were summoned to the police station and found out quickly that they were not being detained over an arson charge. As an exiled Chinese journalist living in Germany, I had written an article in mid-March for Deutsche Welle criticizing the Chinese government for secretly kidnapping a journalist, Jia Jia, in connection with a widely distributed open letter calling for the resignation of President Xi Jinping. The Chinese leadership, paranoid that the political opponents orchestrated the letters dissemination to stir dissent within the Communist Party, has taken a hard line against those suspected of being involved. As a result, my family in China was being harassed. Since Mr. Xi took the helm in 2012, the authorities have imprisoned dozens of journalists and human rights lawyers in an effort to consolidate power. But in an era when Chinese people can access news stories produced overseas, the government has realized it is not enough to intimidate only domestic journalists into submission. The leadership is now targeting writers and human rights activists outside China. In the past, it was common for the police to harass family members of overseas dissidents by inviting them to tea. Kidnapping the families of critics living overseas is a new tactic. A New York-based dissident, Wen Yunchao, was suspected by the government of being involved in the open letter, and late last month the police allegedly detained his parents and brother in China for a week. Human rights abuses in Egypt under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi have reached new highs, yet the Western governments that trade with and arm Egypt have continued to pursue business as usual with the argument that regional security and economic interests trump all. Now, a stalled investigation into the abduction and murder of an Italian student has forced at least one of these countries, Italy, to reconsider its relationship. It is time for other Western democracies to reconsider theirs. The brunt of Mr. Sisis crackdown has, of course, fallen on Egyptians, thousands of whom have been arrested, and many tortured and killed. Among the victims was Giulio Regeni, an Italian doctoral student at Cambridge University, whose badly battered body bearing all the hallmarks of the methods used by Egypts security forces was found on a roadside on Feb. 3, nine days after he mysteriously disappeared off a Cairo street. Like the United States, France and Britain, Italy has been counting on Egypt to help stop the spread of the Islamic State and deal with the chaos in Libya. Italy is also one of Egypts largest trading partners. But public outrage in Italy over Mr. Regenis death and a joint investigation with Egyptian authorities that is going nowhere is forcing the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to take action. Last Friday, Italy recalled its ambassador to Egypt for consultations over next steps after the investigation into Mr. Regenis death hit a wall of Egyptian lies and obfuscations, including preposterous claims that Mr. Regeni died in a car crash and, when that didnt fly, that he was robbed by a criminal gang. Italy has asked other European governments to put pressure on Egypt. On Tuesday, the British government finally called for a full and transparent investigation into Mr. Regenis murder but it did so only after a petition signed by more than 10,000 people forced it to respond. There has been shameful silence from France, whose president, Francois Hollande, travels to Cairo on Monday to sign a $1.1 billion weapons deal. Asheville, N.C. Malaprops Bookstore/Cafe is an independent bookseller in the center of Asheville, a beautiful, culturally diverse city surrounded by the mountains of western North Carolina. We host author events several nights a week, offer space to a dozen book clubs, set up forums on community issues, and welcome all kinds of folks through our doors. Were a place away from work and home where a person can relax, feel safe and be inspired. But there are days when I skip my yoga practice for an adult beverage. Radical vegans protested an authors grilling meat in front of our store, and evangelical Christians were angered when we hosted Reza Aslan. Ive fielded threatening calls and emails demanding we cancel events and been likened to Adolf Hitler when I didnt back down. Weve just entered a particularly rough patch, though, as we endure the repercussions of a new law that bars transgender people from the bathrooms of their choice and permits discrimination based on sexual orientation. This horrible legislation goes against what we stand for: human rights, tolerance and inclusiveness. Weve held meetings about how to respond. Weve helped write a letter from North Carolina independent bookstores to the State Legislature demanding a repeal of the law, and weve signed onto a letter from childrens book authors in the state speaking out against it. We are heartened that Ashevilles City Council just passed a resolution calling for the laws repeal. Pressure on Exxon Mobil and the energy industry increased on Wednesday with the release of a new cache of decades-old industry documents about climate change, even as Exxon pushed back against efforts to investigate the company over its climate claims through the years. The new documents were released by an activist research organization, the Center for International Environmental Law, which published the project on its website. The documents, according to the environmental law centers director, Carroll Muffett, suggest that the industry had the underlying knowledge of climate change even 60 years ago. The annual Salone del Mobile fair, held in Milan this week, is a collection of the worlds biggest design objects in one place. But amid it all is a very different kind of show: Neo-Prehistory: 100 Verbs, which is on view at La Triennale, attempts to boil down the totality of life on earth today to its absolute essentials. Its two curators, Andrea Brandi and Kenya Hara, aimed to subjectively break the full spectrum of human desire down to 100 actions, so they selected single items that correspond with common verbs and housed most in glass vitrines. The show begins with an utterly simple instrument representing the word exist: an unprocessed stone, found in nature. Objects two and three are stones, too: a crude ax head with a handgrip (hold), and another ground down into a progressively blunter instrument (destroy). The sequence of the selections grows increasingly more complicated and abstract: number 10, fear (an ominous granite burial chamber); number 22, love (a jade bead meant to attract spirits); number 41, improve (a Merino sheep, evolved in Spain by careful breeding); number 49, think (a manuscript of the poem LInfinito, handwritten by Giacomo Leopardi); number 68, fascinate (a 1950 bottle of Chanel No. 5); number 74, trend (a 1979 Sony Walkman); number 96, rely (a 2008 iPhone 3GS) The hundredth object, chosen to symbolize regenerate, is the visualization of a reproduced human heart, circling back to the origin of life itself. The succinctly conceived, linguistically charged exhibition lends itself easily to book form, and the accompanying catalog is filled with stark scans of the implements from the show and poetic descriptions of what our worldly impulses mean. This was the first time that the Department of Justice had ever approved such an intercept of this type, an F.B.I. agent wrote in a 2005 document summing up the case. The next year, six activists were convicted of conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise Protection Act in the case. An appeals court upheld the convictions in 2009, and said that the use of encryption, among other things, was circumstantial evidence of their agreement to participate in illegal activity. Ryan Shapiro, a national security researcher and animal welfare advocate, provided the documents in the case to The New York Times after obtaining them in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Several important details remain secret, including whether the tactic worked. The wiretap was disclosed at trial but the software hacking was not, said Lauren Gazzola, one of the defendants, who now works for the Center for Constitutional Rights. It is also unclear why the Justice Department, which is required to report every time it comes across encryption in a criminal wiretap case, did not do so in 2002 or 2003. The Justice Department and F.B.I. did not comment Wednesday. The Trail Mix documents provide an unusual, if dated, glimpse at the cat-and-mouse game that the F.B.I. has been playing for years with people who use technology to keep their affairs secret. The records show that, even when encryption was not widely used, there was a growing frustration about it in the F.B.I. To defeat it, agents built and used surveillance software earlier than was known. Someone is not having Sex With Strangers. For its production of Laura Easons two-hander about the frisky relationship between a female novelist and a younger male blogger, TheaterWorks, a theater company in Hartford, is featuring promotional artwork with a shirtless man embraced by an obscured woman. The title covers his chest. Her hand covers his stomach. Harmless beefcake stuff, right? We had one woman, an attorney, threaten us with a restraining order if we ever mailed anything to her again, Freddie McInerney, the theaters director of marketing and communications, said. She was deeply offended by the combination of the imagery and the title. It hasnt been all bad news for the production, which closes on Sunday, April 17. Folks in the lobby love grabbing extra postcards as keepsakes, Ms. McInerney said. Thats a good sign. Since it had its premiere in 2011 at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, Sex With Strangers has become one of the most produced plays in the country, helped by strong reviews (Charles Isherwood of The New York Times called it twisty and timely), a small cast and a provocative title. Do not give up too early on Nathan the Wise, an 18th-century morality play by the German writer and scholar Gotthold Ephraim Lessing being presented by the Classic Stage Company in a production starring the estimable F. Murray Abraham. Midway through the first act of this drama about clashes of faith and family, set in 12th-century Jerusalem, I found myself listing toward boredom. But beginning with the piercing parable that opens the second act about whether Judaism, Christianity or Islam is the true faith the play grows increasingly engrossing. Ultimately it proves to be a moving story that speaks, as you might guess, to conflicts that roil the world today. Edward Kemp has provided a new translation, which is in effect more an adaptation. He has sensibly condensed the original, trimming monologues to create fluid dialogue that moves the story forward more briskly. He has also, less felicitously, framed the story with an opening scene in which the characters talk over one another in three languages. (We are not provided supertitles, but you get the gist.) As the play opens the title character, played by Mr. Abraham with a serene dignity befitting the epithet defining him, has just returned from a trading journey to discover that in his absence a fire broke out in his home. His beloved daughter, Rachel (Erin Neufer), was saved from almost certain death when a Christian knight, known as a Templar (Stark Sands), pulled her from the building. WASHINGTON House Republicans told the leaders of the capitals beleaguered subway system on Wednesday that they would not bail you out, soundly rejecting pleas for more federal funds to support it. Instead, members of two House subcommittees responsible for oversight of the system, known as Metro, instructed its leaders to make significant organizational reforms and physical repairs before asking for more money. Im not here to make up for bad management. Im not here to make up for a poor safety record. Im not here to make up for a lack of action, said Representative John L. Mica, Republican of Florida, who leads one of the subcommittees, amid a sharp exchange with Metros chairman, Jack Evans. You are dealing with people who are broke, Mr. Mica said, referring to the federal government. I am not going to bail you out. Climate change affects everything in my life, from where Im going to live to whether I wanted to have kids, said Mr. Gardner, who added that he did not know many details about Mrs. Clintons policy agenda. Before Mr. Sanders took the stage, several celebrity supporters addressed one of his biggest challenges in New York: He has been a far more popular vote-getter than Mrs. Clinton with independents, yet only registered Democrats are allowed to cast ballots in the primary. They urged the crowd to do everything they could to persuade more Democrats to support Mr. Sanders and help turn out the vote on Tuesday. Mrs. Clinton, who will debate the senator on Thursday, has held a comfortable lead over him in recent opinion polls. But Sanders supporters at the rally said they thought the intensity of support for the senator could lead to an upset victory on Tuesday, similar to his win in Michigan last month. Change will not happen by choosing a candidate who is entirely entrenched in the dysfunction of the past, said the actor Tim Robbins, who recalled protesting in the park against the Vietnam War as a young man. Mr. Sanders told the crowd that its going to be a tough primary for us because independents could not vote and young people, among others, could not register at polling places on Tuesday. But he said he was still hopeful. Mr. Sanders, in no mood to wait, said the banks were bigger today than when taxpayers bailed them out in the financial crisis. If we are serious about preventing another major financial crisis and ending the enormous concentration of ownership within the financial sector, we have got to stand up to Wall Street and break these banks up, he said in a statement. Mrs. Clinton, by contrast, urged that the regulatory process play itself out under existing law, starting with banks submitting new living wills. Next regulators should impose higher capital requirements. And if these banks dont fix their problems over time, then regulators need to break them apart, she said in a statement. In the past, Mr. Sanders has called Mrs. Clinton too compromised to take on Wall Street because she has taken large donations from bankers as a candidate and was paid $675,000 for a series speeches to Goldman Sachs. He regularly needles her to release the transcripts of the speeches. Mr. Sanders pledged in January to break up banks that are too big to fail that is, so important to the economy they would need a taxpayer bailout within one year of taking office. He wants to reinstate the Glass-Steagall law of the 1930s that created a wall between investment banking and retail banks. It was partly repealed under President Bill Clinton, which Mr. Sanders maintains helped bring on the Great Recession a decade later. Mrs. Clinton has called Mr. Sanderss proposals inadequate because the financial crisis was caused not just by banks collapsing, but by the failure of shadow financial institutions like AIG, an insurance company, and subprime mortgage companies like Countrywide, which went on lending sprees. If all you do is look at the banks, you are missing shadow banking, she told The Daily News in an interview with its editorial board recently. Mr. Sanders also spoke with the New York papers editors, and in endorsing Mrs. Clinton this week they cited the Vermont senators lack of specifics on how he would execute his shock-and-awe bank-busting campaign. WASHINGTON Senators on Wednesday reached a deal to act on a comprehensive energy bill as soon as this week, breaking a three-month partisan standoff over the tainted water scandal in Flint, Mich. The bill, sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska and chairwoman of the Senate Energy Committee, and Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, the panels ranking Democrat, has broad bipartisan support and is expected to easily pass the Senate. It represents the first major energy bill to come to the Senate floor since the Bush administration. A similar measure has passed in the House, and President Obama has signaled his support for it. The bill is designed to address major changes in the ways that power is produced in the United States by updating the nations power grid and oil and gas transportation systems. But progress on the measure has been stalled since January, when Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan, sought to offer an amendment that would have provided $600 million in aid to the victims of the Flint water crisis. Republicans opposed her, a position that Democrats said embodied a passion for smaller government gone bad. But by the end of the day, Mr. Storey, who is the president of the Harpoon Brewery in Boston, had posted an apology to the companys website. I chose my words poorly, he said, and it came out all wrong. Harvard has a long tradition of all-male social clubs. In 1984, the university required these clubs to admit women. At that point, the clubs broke official ties with Harvard, and they remain unrecognized by the university. The clubs, which still play a major role in campus social life, have increasingly faced pressure from the university administration and others to reverse their no-women policy. Last year, the Fox Club and the Spee Club opened their doors to women. But six clubs, including the Porcellian, still admit only men. Harvard Colleges dean, Rakesh Khurana who said in a statement that the single-sex clubs were at odds with the aspirations of the 21st-century society was set to meet with graduate leaders of the groups, known as final clubs, on Wednesday for one in a series of discussions he has held with club members and alumni. The college has a responsibility to protect our values and our students well-being, even in the face of perceived short-term challenges of changing the status quo, Mr. Khurana said. A man in Austin, Tex., was killed and six other people injured on Wednesday in what the authorities were investigating as a chemical suicide in a housing complex near the University of Texas. The authorities said they responded to a call at 2:30 p.m. of a man in cardiac arrest at 911 West 21st Street, an off-campus apartment complex. When firefighters arrived they found a Keep Out sign outside the apartment door and another sign on a closet indicating the presence of hydrogen sulfide gas, said Lt. Kevin Haas of the Austin Fire Department. Hydrogen sulfide is a very poisonous gas with the odor of rotten eggs. The man, who was in his 20s, was removed from the closet and taken outside. Resuscitation efforts lasted for an hour, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, said Cmdr. Mike Benavides of the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services. The Chinese government announced on Wednesday that a group of Taiwanese citizens who were deported to China from Kenya would be prosecuted on charges of telecommunications fraud despite having been acquitted of the same charges by a Kenyan court this month. The move escalated a diplomatic battle that has outraged Taiwan, which sees the deportation of its citizens to China as an extrajudicial abduction. The case has also raised international legal questions and involved Kenya in the geopolitical maneuvering between China and Taiwan. The Taiwanese citizens arrived in Beijing on Wednesday, hooded and handcuffed, after being forced onto a plane by Kenyan police officers. Taiwanese legislators accused the Kenyan government of violating international law and its own laws to placate China. They noted that the citizens had been cleared of charges of involvement in a large telecommunications fraud ring based in Kenya. The intrigue began last week when The New York Times received a letter on official-looking stationery marked President of Ukraine. The letter was addressed to the papers executive editor, Dean Baquet (though he was referred to as Mr. Baquet Dean), and complained about an editorial that faulted President Petro O. Poroshenko for failing to make good on pledges to prosecute corruption. The letter was forwarded to the newspapers editorial board, which writes editorials. I would like to respectfully request a telephone conference with you personally in order to attempt to convince you that opinions published in the article are without merit, the letter read, finishing with the neat, curlicued signature of Mr. Poroshenko. A conference call with the editorial board was set up on Monday. The complainers comments were so suspect that the Times participants, including some newsroom journalists listening in, declined to publish an article on the matter, but instead began to investigate. AWARTA, West Bank The freshly spray-painted signs in this hamlet outside Nablus are a symbol of the new normal in the West Bank, seven months into a scattershot wave of Palestinian attacks on Israelis. With the Israeli military having shut down the main road, local teenagers put up signs to coax Palestinian drivers along circuitous routes to Ramallah, the seat of Palestinian government, and Huwara, a neighboring village. Such pop-up checkpoints and closings lasting several days have disrupted the routines of Palestinian residents, whose ability to move through the occupied territory was already precarious. But the pinpointed strategy targeting mainly individual villages sporadically is a stark departure from the widespread closings and curfews Israel imposed on West Bank cities during the second intifada, making its effect harder for the world and even people next door to see and feel. Palestinian officials and their backers denounce the road closings as collective punishment. They have not, however, gained much traction for protest among their own people, because residents of one village sometimes have no inkling what is happening a few miles away, and Ramallah, the center of West Bank political and civic life, has remained largely immune. WASHINGTON President Obama said on Wednesday that while the Islamic State could still inflict horrific violence on the innocent, the United States had made substantial gains in combating the group, reducing its forces to the lowest level in two years and squeezing its cash flow. We have momentum, and we intend to keep that momentum, Mr. Obama said after meeting with a broad group of national security officials at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Va. The ISIL core in Syria and Iraq continues to shrink. The meeting was one in a series of high-level gatherings Mr. Obama has convened outside the White House to take stock of the United States-led effort against the Sunni extremist group, also known as ISIS and ISIL, and to plot strategy for the months ahead. It was the first of those meetings since the bombings in Brussels last month, which killed 32 people and injured 300 more, the latest demonstration of the organizations continuing ability to attack Western capitals far from its base in Syria and Iraq. Mr. Obama said the attacks were intended to weaken our collective resolve. Once again, they have failed, he added. Their barbarism only stiffens our unity and determination to wipe this vile terrorist organization off the face of the earth. WASHINGTON The Senate voted on Wednesday to ban the import of virtually all ancient art and artifacts from Syria to discourage the looting and trafficking of illicit objects by the Islamic State and other armed groups. The Senate voted by unanimous consent, reflecting broad bipartisan support, but it did so after months of delay and debate over the legislation, which the House of Representatives passed last year. The bills provisions would fulfill commitments the United States supported at the United Nations Security Council more than a year ago to try to choke off the trade of so-called blood antiquities that the Islamic State, the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda and other groups use to help finance their military operations in Syria and Iraq. The Senates action, which closed a loophole in American law, came on the day that a task force of prominent advocacy organizations, museums and universities called on the Obama administration to take far more aggressive steps including military operations to halt the destruction and looting of cultural sites in Iraq and Syria. In addition to calling on Congress to pass the legislation the Senate voted on, the task forces report, titled #CultureUnderThreat, urged the White House to appoint a senior director to coordinate the governments actions against blood antiquities and to increase resources for stricter enforcements by customs officials, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service. Kevin James (Saturday) Mr. James is best known for his long-running sitcom King of Queens and roles in family-friendly films like Paul Blart: Mall Cop. On stage, hes an endearing observational stand-up with clean material about the inanities of life. At 7 p.m., Kings Theater, 1027 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, 800-745-3000, kingstheatre.com. (Czajkowski) Jen Kirkman (Friday) A hilarious stand-up comedian and writer, Ms. Kirkman celebrates the release of her new book, I Know What Im Doing and Other Lies, with a night of funny, personal and cringe-worthy stories. At 8 p.m., the Bell House, 149 Seventh Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn, 718-643-6510, thebellhouseny.com. (Czajkowski) One Funny Mother (continuing) The comedian, television host and former beauty queen Dena Blizzard performs her award-winning solo show about her hectic, hysterical life as a wife and mother of three. Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Thursdays at 7 p.m., New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, Manhattan, 212-239-6200, onefunnymother.com. (Information about discounted tickets for parents of children with special needs is available on the website.) (Czajkowski) The Oy of Sex (through Sunday) The comedian Alicia Dattners one-woman show explores the misadventures of her whirlwind love life. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m., the Bridge at Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street, Manhattan, 214-246-6655, theoyofsex.com. (Czajkowski) Rory Scovel (Thursday through April 23) Mr. Scovel is an exceptionally talented comedian who mixes absurdity and improv into his well-crafted jokes. Each one of his high-energy shows feels like a unique experience as he embarks on tangents, experiments with accents and pulls audiences members into the show. Thursday at 7:30 p.m., next Friday and April 23 at 7:30 and 10 p.m., Carolines, 1626 Broadway, at 49th Street, Manhattan, 212-757-4100, carolines.com. (Czajkowski) Views of Main Street, at the Studio Museum, offers a more comprehensive overview, in the form of a 15-year survey of Mr. McMillians art. (It was organized by the guest curator Naima J. Keith.) Here, its video that determines the overall understanding of his various works. In Untitled (the Great Society) I (2006), Mr. McMillian steps up to a microphone before a gathering at an art museum and recites the words of President Lyndon B. Johnsons Great Society speech of 1964. Another video, part of an installation called Neshoba County Fair (2012), offers a sharp contrast to President Johnsons inspirational rhetoric. In it, a ventriloquists dummy lip-syncs a recording of a controversial presidential campaign speech by Ronald Reagan in 1980, in which he argued for states rights. Mr. Reagans speech drew fire because of not only his words but also where he said them near the town of Philadelphia, Miss., where three civil rights activists were killed in 1964. On the wall opposite the video hangs a set of 27 amateurish drawings made by an artist named Horace Taylor in the 1940s and 50s, each a charcoal portrait of a white person. Evidently found in a thrift shop or flea market, the drawings are wrapped in cellophane with old price stickers still attached. Serving as an audience for the video, they suggest the sort of regionalist conservatism that Mr. Reagans vision appealed to. Mr. McMillians sculptures include Couch (2012), a used sofa split in half and rejoined by a thick section of poured concrete suggesting, in the context of the exhibition, the grotesque scars of slavery, the Civil War and racial segregation. Untitled (2009) is an Ikea chair with off-white cushions impaled by a nearly eight-foot-tall cardboard tube painted black an image, perhaps, of white fear and black rage, and a play on Robert Gobers Virgin Mary statue transfixed by a culvert pipe. After just two years in the position, Jed Bernstein is leaving as the president of Lincoln Center, the countrys largest nonprofit performing arts center. What in the world went wrong? Lincoln Center, in an announcement on Thursday, said that Mr. Bernsteins unexpected resignation was his own idea and that he has decided to step down to become involved again in creating and producing activities. For more than a decade, Mr. Bernstein led the Broadway League, the industrys national trade association. He produced Broadway shows and helped to re-establish the Bucks County Playhouse as a stage for live theater. People close to Lincoln Center declined to publicly discuss his departure. But some suggested that he may not have been entirely effective with donors and trustees. Robin Hood. Savings and Loans. Musicians have different terms for the practice of bending the tempo. Shorthands like these are reminders that the Italian term rubato meaning stolen time should not be applied in one direction only, slowing down a phrase to milk it for expression. As the example of Robin Hood shows, a thief can also give back. On Wednesday the Accademia Bizantina, an Italian period-instrument ensemble from Ravenna, led from the harpsichord by Ottavio Dantone, gave a concert at Alice Tully Hall that became a master class on the high art of rubato. In an all-Vivaldi program of works featuring solos for bassoon, cello and contralto, the players toyed with the tempo as if it were putty, stretching and compressing it to heighten the musics impatience, pathos or humor. Humor is not a quality often associated with Vivaldi, but the bassoonist Sergio Azzolini found plenty of it in the fast movements of the Bassoon Concertos in G minor (RV 495) and F (RV 491), in which he turned the repartee between soloist and ensemble into a Tom and Jerry chase, with teasing pauses and keep-up-if-you-can forward rushes. In the slow movement of the G minor concerto, his playing resembled that of a great jazz saxophonist, free-flowing and soulful. There was also a jazzy quality to the ensembles playing as a whole, with seemingly intuitive interplay between the members. The two cellists and the bassist often took on the role of a rhythm section, playing with percussive, resonant bow strokes. The 1991 Supreme Court nomination hearings of Clarence Thomas, and the public accusation by the law professor Anita Hill that he had sexually harassed her years before, popularized the phrase He said, she said. (With some help from the Kevin Bacon-Elizabeth Perkins movie of the same year.) But for every he and she in such a case, theres a they: the people who listen, who provide the soapbox, who control the microphone. Confirmation, a conventional but smart HBO docudrama airing Saturday, features a persuasive Kerry Washington as Ms. Hill and a fiery Wendell Pierce as Mr. Thomas. But it is also about the forces massed behind each of them and sitting in uneasy judgment. The film introduces Ms. Hill as a reluctant accuser, approached by Ricki Seidman (Grace Gummer), an aide to Senator Edward M. Kennedy (Treat Williams), on behalf of those who hope to scuttle the nomination in the Senate. Ms. Hill worked under Mr. Thomas at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which handles just such harassment complaints, and she knows what shes in for. As she puts it, The victim tends to become the villain, even when the balance of the judicial branch isnt at stake. (The conservative Mr. Thomas was named to replace Thurgood Marshall, also an African-American but a liberal.) But there could be a harsh payback in the future. Automakers that rely heavily on leases end up taking the vehicles back in three or four years and selling them as used often at big discounts. Ive seen this movie before; its not a pretty ending, said Mike Jackson, chief executive of AutoNation, a chain of 373 new-car franchises. In the mid-2000s, he railed against similar excesses that overheated the auto market, and hes fretting again. Manufacturer incentives are at a dangerous level, Mr. Jackson said. Pumping up sales through profit-eating incentives and high fleet sales, he added, is nitroglycerin. At the top of Mr. Jacksons concerns is leasing, which is a way of renting a new car for a specified period of time, like 24 or 36 months. Customers like leases because they typically make lower monthly payments than if they bought cars with loans. Automakers and dealers like leases because they get more flexibility to structure deals that enable customers to get pricier cars with affordable payments. Consider the lease secured by Allen Lin, a teacher from Altadena, Calif. A few weeks ago, he walked into a Lexus dealership and drove out about two hours later with a 2016 RX 350, leased for three years at $408 a month. The small sport utility vehicle one of the most popular on the market had recently been fully overhauled, and redesigned car models typically sell with little or no discounts. But Mr. Lin paid no money up front, did not trade in his old car and got $5,000 knocked off the cars list price of $43,779. Skip Hollandsworth knows his way around a crime scene. Since 1989, he has written about a wide range of subjects for Texas Monthly, but his most memorable pieces featuring bank robbers, disappearing teenagers, murdered prostitutes are about the grim events that get cordoned off behind yellow tape. The Midnight Assassin, his first book, is about a still-unsolved mystery: a series of murders in Austin, Tex., in 1884 and 1885. Its peppered with eerie set pieces: A wedding held on the grounds of the Texas State Lunatic Asylum. A baby found at one murder scene, sitting up, holding an apple, unharmed even though his nightclothes were crimson with blood. An injured woman fleeing an attacker and screaming, We are all dead! Fans of Erik Larsons 2003 hit, The Devil in the White City, about a serial killer who operated against the backdrop of the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago, will find similar pleasures here. Mr. Hollandsworth doesnt have the amount of raw material Mr. Larson did, and he doesnt have a known villain. But if you dont mind turning the last page without knowing who done it, this is true crime of high quality. Mr. Hollandsworth gives equal attention to history and mayhem, to absorbing context and cold fear. His unknown killer struck out against women, mostly with an ax to the head. (Witnesses who survived the assaults recognized the assailant as a man, but couldnt make a more specific identification.) He started by going after servants, African-American women whose deaths horrified the city and created big headlines but also allowed nervous white citizens in this deeply divided place a hope: Maybe the killer would observe segregation as well. LONDON In a symbolic slap against high executive pay at a money-losing company, BP shareholders have voted against the $19.6 million compensation package for the chief executive, Robert W. Dudley. Though it was a nonbinding vote that will not affect Mr. Dudleys pay for the year past, a BP spokesman said on Thursday at the annual shareholders meeting that investors had sent a message to the board that might influence deliberations on a new pay policy. The policy will be submitted to shareholders at the annual meeting next year, in a vote that will be binding, said the spokesman, David Nicholas. Investors have chafed at Mr. Dudleys receiving a 20 percent increase in overall compensation, despite a $6.5 billion loss reported by the company for 2015, as sharply lower oil prices exacted a severe toll on profits. According to BP, the tally of proxy votes cast before Thursdays annual general meeting in London was 59.1 percent against and 40.9 percent in favor. Nelson Peltz sat on the board of Legg Mason, the $3.7 billion asset management company, for five years while his hedge fund, Trian Partners, scooped up 10 percent of the companys stock. Mr. Peltz shook things up as he always does. He ousted the chief executive and got Legg to cut costs and return billions of dollars to shareholders. When it came time to exit the investment, Mr. Peltz sold his shares to the Shanda Group. Wait, what? You heard right. Shanda is a Chinese investment company that started out as an interactive-gaming company but now seeks global opportunities that offer business growth or unique breakthrough potential. On Tuesday, it spent $340 million to buy Mr. Peltzs stake in Legg, which got its start selling stocks out of a back office in the Baltimore Stock Exchange in 1899. The logic of this deal is hard to follow not least because Shanda paid a premium to the market price for the Legg shares, something that almost nobody ever does for a passive minority stake. Yet such situations are hardly unique at a moment when Chinese companies and investors are going wild for assets of pretty much any color or stripe in the worlds developed economies. On Wall Street, the phones have been a little quieter. The workload has been a little lighter. The happy hours have been starting earlier. For most people, that would be a good thing. But not for deal-hungry lawyers and bankers, who are experiencing a recent slowdown in megadeals. A series of broken transactions and stock-market volatility have shaken the confidence of some in the boardroom to tackle their next big acquisition. The value of abandoned deals has been higher than that of newly signed deals in the United States so far this year. Almost $340 billion worth of mergers have been withdrawn in 2016, while $282 billion worth of newly signed deals were announced, according to data compiled by Dealogic. The cancellations are skewed toward megadeals, defined as those worth $10 billion or more. Of the 26 deals pulled so far this year, including Pfizers $152 billion combination with Allergan, the average deal size is $13 billion, according to Dealogic. Another 2,800 deals have been announced, with an average size of $100 million. So the bigger acquisitions are being withdrawn, while the smaller ones are as active as ever. BRUSSELS After a wave of terrorist attacks in recent months, European Union lawmakers took a decisive step on Thursday in favor of bolstering security with the approval of a continentwide system to collect and share information on airline passengers. The new measures are the latest sign that efforts in Europe to improve safety are trumping concerns over protecting privacy and civil liberties, as the region grapples with the fallout from several high-profile assaults on major cities. They follow a similar pattern to the changes seen in the United States in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The vote at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, was the culmination of five years of arguments about whether the latest measures threaten personal privacy. To take effect, the law requires the final approval of a majority of the European Unions member governments, but that is expected to be a formality when interior ministers meet in Luxembourg on April 21. Europe today is demonstrating its ability to mobilize to ensure the safety of European citizens, Manuel Valls, the prime minister of France and a leading supporter of the law, said in a statement on Thursday. Locals particularly resent Brussels for its Common Fisheries Policy, which for decades has given all European fishing fleets equal access to the regions waters. The policy has proved disastrous because it set allowable-catch levels too high, according to Robin Churchill, a professor of international law at the University of Dundee in Scotland, who noted that the cod population collapsed in the early 2000s. Other specialists argue that British waters were overfished long before the fisheries policy took effect in 1983. And they cite some success at rebuilding fish populations since 2003, when the European Union required fishermen to reduce fleet sizes and set limits on the number of fishing days each year. Scientists say the North Sea cod is now recovering strongly and is likely to be certified as sustainable next year. That would not have happened without European Union pressure on the British government, which was too close to the fishing industry, said Howard Wood, chairman of the Community of Arran Seabed Trust. The group aims to protect marine habitats around the Isle of Arran, off western Scotland. If Brexit happens, Mr. Howard said, We just have to hope that we dont go back to our old bad habit of flouting rules and overfishing. Brian Tollis, a dock master here, is among the Brixhamites who would rather Britain remain in the European Union. If we come out, there could be lots of problems, he said. The other countries might gang up on us in terms of trade, and wed be worse off. An international panel of doctors has decided that a type of tumor that was classified as a cancer is not a cancer at all. As a result, they have officially downgraded the condition, and thousands of patients will be spared removal of their thyroid, treatment with radioactive iodine and regular checkups for the rest of their lives, all to protect against a tumor that was never a threat. Their conclusion, and the data that led to it, was reported Thursday in the journal JAMA Oncology. The change is expected to affect about 10,000 of the nearly 65,000 thyroid cancer patients a year in the United States. It may also offer grist to those who have been arguing for the reclassification of some other forms of cancer, including certain lesions in the breast and prostate. The reclassified tumor is a small lump in the thyroid that is completely surrounded by a capsule of fibrous tissue. Its nucleus looks like a cancer but the cells have not broken out of their capsule, and surgery to remove the entire thyroid followed by treatment with radioactive iodine is unnecessary and harmful, the panel said. They have now renamed the tumor. Instead of calling it encapsulated follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma, they now call it noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features, or NIFTP. The word carcinoma is gone. Ugliness is a crime against humanity. Because that smug, straight-faced remark by Luc (Eric Bruneau), a handsome, successful architect to a group of supercilious friends in An Eye for Beauty is not entirely facetious, you may never forgive him for it. Nor should you. Written and directed by the Canadian filmmaker Denys Arcand (The Barbarian Invasions, which won a 2004 Academy Award for best foreign picture), An Eye for Beauty is the cinematic equivalent of a photo spread in Vogue or Architectural Digest that taunts you with images of rich, well-to-do beautiful people leading the tastefully glamorous life. If the movie were a satire, which it should be, the vanity and snobbery of Luc and his circle of friends, many of them in their 30s, wouldnt be so suffocating. These people who appraise everything in sight with the icy scrutiny of art-world sharks, might as well be humanoids for all the warmth they exude. They also love to complain. How unfortunate it is, one laments, that ancient sites like Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat are being overrun with tourists. The name Ikea is spoken with such contempt that it sounds like a curse. At least we dont hear the p word (that would be peasants) applied to those less fortunate, which is almost everybody with less refined taste. The first sign of a crack in the facade of this cold, perfect world is the discomfort of Lucs beautiful wife, Stephanie (Melanie Thierry), while watching a television documentary showing the fall of Muammar el-Qaddafi. It disturbs the serenity of the couples modern aerie outside Quebec City and prompts her to wonder nervously, Are we real? Nowadays, the Wild, Wild West, that barren, mythologized frontier where good guys and outlaws used to shoot it out, may not be as overtly violent and lawless a territory as depicted in countless westerns. But its modern incarnation, portrayed in the French director Fabienne Berthauds intriguing misfire, Sky, feels only marginally more civilized. Ms. Berthauds third film to star Diane Kruger, this expressionistic portrait of the American West is an oddity that only a director from another country could have conjured. The dusty trails of yesteryear are heavily patrolled highways lined with garish motels, fast-food eateries and discount stores that suggest a boulevard in hell that stretches to the horizon. Las Vegas, the epicenter, is a woolly boomtown crowded with menacing riffraff in which Ms. Krugers demure character, Romy, stands out as a conspicuous alien. Here is where Romy lands after leaving her loutish husband, Richard (Gilles Lellouche), who has drunkenly tried to rape her in their motel room. She bops him on the head with a bedside lamp, then flees, presuming hes dead. Married for eight years, this childless couple, who live in Paris, are visiting America on a vacation meant to revitalize their soured relationship. She takes temporary refuge in a crummy motel with a broken-down showgirl and street entertainer (Laurene Landon) and dons a bunny costume with rabbit ears to work with a pair of Elvis impersonators. Everywhere, booze flows like water. If you were not a teenager in the 1980s, John Carneys Sing Street is likely to beguile you with the sweet, universal energy of youth. By the same token, if you were a teenager in that much-maligned decade, the movie might make you feel old and a little cranky. Dont get me wrong. As a 21st-century moviegoer, I was touched by this pop fable ofRR But as a grizzled survivor of the age of Duran Duran, I found myself picking nits about its musical choices (most of which are three or four years out of sync with the plot) and occasionally resisting its winsome, cheeky, post-punk spirit. Thats my problem, and its a problem less with the film an autobiographical tribute to Dublin, hair gel and the power of lip-syncing than with the passage of time and the tiny schisms that open up within a single generations experience. The narcissism of small differences, you might say. Envy and regret, you might say. Heaven knows Im miserable now. In any case, the charms of Sing Street should not be underestimated. Partly because its manner is unassuming and its story none too original a young mans coming-of-age amid the chaos of home, the rigidity of school and the riot of stirring hormones and budding ambition its easy to overlook Mr. Carneys ingenuity and sensitivity. A songwriter himself, he specializes in movies about striving tunesmiths who fuse dreams of glory with the drive for love, connection and authenticity. Early in this ostensible documentary directed by Andrew Rossi, a title card comes close to boasting about the access the filmmakers had to the creation of the exhibition and the attendant gala that are the films subjects. The First Monday in May refers to a day every year on which New Yorks Metropolitan Museum of Art closes to host a star-studded benefit that coincides with the opening of a special exhibition from its Costume Institute. The exhibition is the hit from 2015, China: Through The Looking Glass. Creators include the museums Andrew Bolton and the Vogue editor in chief and gala co-host, Anna Wintour. Mr. Bolton is seen waxing defensive over resistance to the idea that fashion and fine art are intertwined. (Hes not wrong, but his argumentation borders on whiny.) Ms. Wintour is portrayed in branding-friendly style: intimidatingly haughty but also effectively pragmatic. The movie is sloppy: A section concerning Asian stereotypes discusses the vintage film star Anna May Wong, but indiscriminately includes images of Ona Munson in The Shanghai Gesture. First Monday also coddles its interview subjects. The designer John Galliano is allowed to hold forth for minutes on end, as if his 2011 I love Hitler rant had never happened. A very few interesting conflicts are depicted, as when the film director Wong Kar-wai, an adviser to the exhibition, suggests to Mr. Bolton that he might not want to place an image of Mao in a room otherwise occupied by Buddha sculptures. The film reveals its true nature in a scene wherein Ms. Wintours top assistant, Sylvana Ward Durrett, is shown negotiating with a representative of Rihanna about an entourage budget. The number amounts are actually bleeped out. Ms. Durrett is also a credited producer of the movie. Caveat emptor. GLENN KENNY The First Monday in May is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) for salty language, and because (Im just speculating here) Ms. Wintour considers G-rated movies terribly plebeian. The assumption behind omnibus movies features built out of shorts by various directors, generally on a common theme is that the contributions will, on balance, add up to a satisfying experience. But this law-of-averages thinking rarely yields a full meal for filmgoers. Usually, the results are a few good shorts, a few terrible shorts and a frustrating lack of cohesion. So it goes with Rio, I Love You, the third anthology in a series that began with Paris Je TAime (2007) and continued with New York, I Love You (2009). The cycle has acquired corporate sponsorship (Fiat and Unilever appear prominently in this films credits) and the support of Rio de Janeiro. If the movie adopts an unfailingly rosy attitude toward the city Fernanda Montenegro plays a grandmother who lives on the streets by choice tourism is what it has to sell. Some segments stand alone; others are scrambled throughout. An early bit from Paolo Sorrentino (Youth), starring Emily Mortimer as an architects trophy wife, sets the standard for pointless, sexist grotesquerie. Guillermo Arriagas addition, about a one-armed boxer who needs money for his wifes surgery, leaves an even more sour taste. Well-known backdrops seem to have inspired slightly better ideas: A hang glider (Wagner Moura) argues with the Christ the Redeemer statue, and a movie star (Ryan Kwanten) climbs Sugarloaf Mountain. But apart from Im Sang-soos contribution of street-dancing vampires a sketch that, like several others, lacks a punch line imagination takes a holiday. The mother of two young girls killed in a fire at a public housing project in the Bronx said she had just gone out to get ice cream for them and check on laundry when the blaze began, the police and her imam said on Thursday. The woman, Haya Konte, 26, said she had mistakenly believed a roommate was in the apartment in the 21-story Butler Houses when she left on Wednesday night to go to an ice cream truck and then attend to her laundry at Webster Laundromat across the street, the imam, Musa Kabba, said. While Ms. Konte was loading laundry, a fire ignited by incense tore through her third-floor apartment, killing her two daughters, Amanda Jabie, 18 months old, and Jannubi Jabie, 2, according to the police and fire officials. It was not her intention to leave her family alone, Mr. Kabba said. She went to the laundry to wash her clothes. She was about to come back to them quickly. Ms. Konte was released after questioning on Thursday, and no charges were filed against her, according to the police. She is not considered a suspect, but her Gambian passport was frozen while the investigation continues, the police said. A nanny accused of killing two children under her care in their Manhattan apartment turned down an offer from a judge on Thursday that would have given her a prison sentence of 30 years to life in return for guilty pleas to both murders. Justice Gregory Carro told the nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, 53, in State Supreme Court in Manhattan that he would be willing to sentence her to 15 years to life for each murder, with the terms to be served consecutively, if she took responsibility for her acts. But Ms. Ortegas lawyer, Valerie Van Leer-Greenberg, said her client doesnt want to accept this offer at this time. She said she had discussed the judges offer, which had not been made public, several times with her client over the last three months. A prosecutor, Stuart Silberg, said the Manhattan district attorneys office did not agree with Justice Carros offer. The people believe the only appropriate sentence is life without parole, Mr. Silberg said. The family doesnt want that to be the disposition. Theres a significant amount of anxiety over the objections that seem to discourage investment in communities of poverty, Mathew M. Wambua, the housing commissioner under Mr. de Blasios predecessor, Michael R. Bloomberg, said at a fair-housing panel last fall. The fear is the idea of undermining investment in communities rich in culture, vibrancy and resilience. The challenge, from the perspective of housing advocates, is how to protect low-income residents from displacement as neighborhoods improve and market-rent newcomers drive up housing costs. In 2014, community groups in Downtown Brooklyn, citing gentrification concerns, won an accelerated schedule for the Atlantic Yards megaproject, whose developers had initially pledged to create 2,250 affordable apartments by 2035. By then, the groups argued, the black population would have dropped to 15 percent from 40 percent, according to demographic projections, which showed the number of white people almost doubling over the same period. The groups said soaring rents would force most low-income tenants out of the area, denying them a shot at the new units. The community groups, which support preferences for local residents in housing lotteries, succeeded in securing promises that the units would be finished 10 years earlier. The issue of community preference cuts both ways and an argument can clearly be made in certain neighborhoods, at varying stages of neighborhood change, that a community preference does in fact promote fair housing, said Michelle de la Uz, a member of the citys Planning Commission and executive director of Fifth Avenue Committee, a nonprofit developer in Brooklyn. City officials say the key to holding displacement at bay while building mixed-income communities is to do more both to preserve existing rent-regulated units and to monitor harassment by landlords who illegally evict tenants to take advantage of rising rents in gentrifying areas. Some say it also helps to take a long view. We need to be willing to look at the big picture and not at a neighborhood at a time, said Xavier de Souza Briggs, a Ford Foundation vice president and author specializing on economic opportunity and segregation. If we choose to fight for affordability only, one neighborhood at a time, that would trade away inclusion. It tends to perpetuate that segregated geography. A Connecticut judge declined on Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit brought against the maker of the assault-style rifle that a gunman used in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School to fatally shoot 26 people before killing himself. The lawsuit, which was filed last year by nine of the families of people killed and a teacher who was injured, claims that Bushmaster Firearms International, the manufacturer of the AR-15 rifle used by the assailant, Adam Lanza, bore responsibility for selling and marketing a military-style weapon to untrained civilians, creating an unreasonably high risk that it would be used in a mass shooting. But lawyers representing the gun maker argued that the suit should be thrown out because of immunity provided by a 2005 law that shields firearm manufacturers and dealers from liability lawsuits. In her ruling, Judge Barbara Bellis of State Superior Court did not agree with their argument. We are thrilled that the gun companies motion to dismiss was denied, said Josh Koskoff, a lawyer representing the families. The families look forward to continuing their fight in court. AS a report by a panel commissioned by Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago found on Wednesday, racism in the citys Police Department is rampant: Blacks are disproportionately subjected to traffic stops, Tasers and street stops that do not lead to arrest; they also account for an appalling 74 percent of the 404 people shot by the Chicago police between 2008 and 2015. What the report does not say, though and what many Chicagoans themselves may not know is that the rottenness is not confined to the Police Department. Racist practices extend far into the criminal courts, indeed they are the very foundation of the cases that enter into the court system. The hands of many judges and prosecutors are just as dirty as the bigots in blue. I know this firsthand. In 1997, I became a court clerk in the prosecutors office for Cook County, which encompasses Chicago. Many of my days started with my supervisors corralling police officers who were scheduled to testify. The officers, in plain clothes, would walk into the office with a rolled-up newspaper under one arm, as if they were walking into a mens bathroom rather than an office. Often, they would sit in the jury box, next to the judge (regardless of the appearance of impropriety) and would dutifully teach me how the justice system really worked, how black men really were dogs, and how judges and prosecutors who focused on due process nonsense were liberals who were throwing away their cases. To the Editor: Tax Evasion Is a Global Problem, by Juan Carlos Varela, the president of Panama (Op-Ed, April 11), is a great beginning in efforts to address this issue. Not only do we need the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries and other countries to take action, but the United Nations should also call upon all its members to adopt policies that close tax loopholes so that income earned reflects the reality of where it was earned and is taxed accordingly. This is a basic issue of morality in todays society. C. J. HOPPIN Peaks Island, Me. To the Editor: Re Can Liberals Frack?, by Gary Sernovitz (Op-Ed, April 11): As a physician who has studied the health side effects of the oil and gas extraction technique known as fracking as they have emerged over the last eight years, I am surprised this information is not more widely known. In 2014, Howard Zucker, then the acting health commissioner for New York State, recommended that fracking be prohibited in the state after consulting with health commissioners in other states where fracking was occurring and reviewing the emerging health literature. Short-term health effects include nosebleeds, burning eyes and throat, headaches, skin lesions and respiratory issues, indicating dangerous exposure to the highly toxic chemicals used in fracking. Stillborn and premature babies and birth defects have also been reported. But by far the biggest health concern is the long-term increased risk of cancer in workers as well as those living and working within a mile of a fracking site or pipeline compressor station, due to exposure to emissions of well-known carcinogens such as benzene and formaldehyde. To the Editor: Re U.S. Reins In Advice-Givers on Retirement (front page, April 7): Three cheers to the Labor Department for requiring brokers handling retirement accounts to act in the best interests of their customers! Lets hope this is just the first step. The Dodd-Frank Act, enacted in 2010, specifically authorizes the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt similar rules that would apply to all brokers who give investment advice to their retail customers, including those with nonretirement accounts. Although nearly six years have passed, to my knowledge, the S.E.C. has not even proposed a rule. While the Labor Department refused to bow to the lobbying efforts of the financial industry, the S.E.C., whose main mission is protection of investors, continues endlessly to study the matter. It should act now and avoid any suspicion that its a captive of the industry its supposed to regulate. NORMAN S. POSER Brooklyn The writer is emeritus professor at Brooklyn Law School. To the Editor: In Israels Unsung Protector: Obama (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, April 12), Lara Friedman argues that it would be a continuation of longstanding United States policy for the American administration to vote for a Security Council resolution outlining parameters for a peace agreement with the Palestinians. I disagree. Like all allies, Israel and the United States have had disagreements over the years. These differences of opinion were almost always related to a specific policy and were minor in relation to the strong partnership and close friendship that our two countries enjoy. The few Security Council resolutions critical of Israel that were supported by the United States over the decades were in direct response to these types of policy disputes. It is mistaken to extrapolate from a selective reading of history that it would be a continuation of American policy to approve a Security Council resolution prejudicing the final peace agreement we hope to reach one day. To the Editor: Re At Singular Risk for Zika, Miami Has Limited Money to Fight It (front page, April 5): If the Zika virus establishes a stable foothold in the continental United States, it is likely to do so through Miami. Miami-Dade County harbors large numbers of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes all year round, its ports accept many American and foreign visitors arriving from Zika-endemic areas, and a large portion of Miami-Dades citizens, especially in its less affluent areas, live and work outside the protection of screens and air-conditioning. Moreover, Zika is not the only mosquito-borne virus that threatens public health and our tourism industries. Both dengue and chikungunya viruses pose similar risks. This is why it is so dismaying to read that only $1.8 million is allocated to mosquito control in Miami-Dade County. In fact, most local governments lack the resources and long-term political will to adequately monitor mosquito populations and limit their habitats. To minimize a Zika outbreak in the United States, we need a sustained anti-mosquito program directed by state and federal authorities, with a complementary public education effort to enlist the help of our communities. Morels emerge in moist environments with air temperatures in the 60s and 70s and soil temperatures in the 50s, and stick around for about three weeks after that. Although it may seem like the mushroom pops up overnight it actually grows over a period of 10 to 20 days, as you can see in this YouTube video of the morel life cycle shot by Mr. Matherly. The 19 known species of morels in North America mainly black, gray and yellow tend to pop up in that order as the temperatures get warmer, according to Dr. Tom Volk, a professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. To find them, he says, look on south facing slopes first because they warm up faster. Though typically one to five inches in height, last year a man in Kansas found a morel that was a foot tall. About 36,000 Verizon workers on the East Coast went on strike Wednesday. Did you notice? If you did not, you have plenty of company. You should not notice any difference if you use your Verizon Wireless cellular or data services or go into a Verizon store, though you might spot pickets outside some Verizon Wireless stores. Most of the workers who went on strike were employed in the companys wireline business, though a small group of Verizon Wireless employees were among the strikers. But and this is a big but if the strike goes on for a while, Verizon wireline customers could see a gradual deterioration of customer service quality. The company says it has trained plenty of people to fill in for union employees who walked off the job, but you cant expect them to be able to provide the same quality as people who have been doing it for years. And the company has only trained 10,000 or so people to do the work of the 36,000 union members. Unfortunately, dont expect any discounts in your next phone bill if that customers service isnt up to snuff. Big technology companies have usually played a defensive game with government prosecutors in their legal fight over customer information, fighting or bowing to requests for information one case at a time. But now, in a move that could broaden the debate over the balance between customer privacy and law enforcement needs, Microsoft is going on the offense. The software giant is suing the Justice Department, challenging its frequent use of secrecy orders that prevent Microsoft from telling people when the government obtains a warrant to read their emails. In its suit, filed Thursday morning in Federal District Court in Seattle, Microsofts home turf, the company asserts that the gag order statute in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 as employed today by federal prosecutors and the courts is unconstitutional. This is not a decision by our Fathom brand, but rather a Cuba decision, Roger Frizzell, chief communications officer for Carnival Corporation, wrote in an email. Cuba allows Cuban-born individuals to enter the country by airplanes, but not by ships yet. He said the company has requested a change in the regulation and is working on the issue. The Movimiento Democracia, a human rights organization that organized Tuesdays protest, announced on its Facebook page that: this is not against the cruise ships traveling to Cuba. We believe that building bridges with free people will help build freedom to the oppressed Cuban people. This is against the apartheid by virtue [of] nationality policy that offends human rights and human dignity. The organization plans a flotilla to follow the Adonia on May 1 to Cuba in protest. The French cruise line Ponant also recently received permission to take Americans on cruises around Cuba. Its itineraries, set to begin in January 2017, require travelers to fly to the island to board the 64-passenger ship. Cuban-born travelers would presumably be prevented from taking those cruises as well. A representative for Ponant wrote in an email that the company will be in full compliance to any special requirements or regulations set by the U.S. or Cuban government. @evangeiselman Surfer 72,600 followers This is the second in a series of interviews with the creators of some of the most-followed accounts on Instagram those who travel for a living, whether it be surfing down the coastline in Chile, organizing a participatory art project in Paris, or orbiting the Earth. The world map section of Evan Geiselmans Instagram account is a gallery of some of the worlds top surfing destinations. Zoom in on the Pacific Ocean for local spots in Hawaii; scroll across the United States down to the Caribbean for the best waves around the islands; thumb your way across the world down to Australia and find even more destinations for the best swells Down Under. The traveling competitive surfer recently adopted the hashtag #justpassingthrough as another way to keep track of his favorite places. The title comes from a 12-part film series for Reef clothing in which surfers showcase their adventures in the best waves around the globe, according to the website, and which will be shown over the course of 2016. His first episode, in Bali, aired last month, and episodes about Mr. Geiselmans surf trips to France and Portugal will be released later this year. How did you get involved in Just Passing Through? I got involved through [one of my sponsors] Reef a little over a year ago. They got me on that hashtag #justpassingthrough, so everywhere I go, Ill tag the places Im surfing. I was just in Panama the other day, so I tagged that; its a local spot, in case anyone else want to go there and surf those waves. Its not necessarily the best beaches, its just where I was surfing that day. I was in Australia the other day for a contest at Manly Beach. Its not necessarily the best beach, but its where the action was happening that day. Are your travels mostly for surfing, then? I actually dont think Ive ever gone anywhere and not surfed, unless it was for a layover. In the last 20 years, that kind of nuts-and-bolts language disappears, Mr. Pestre said. Verbs are turned into nouns something that linguists have argued converts specific actions taken by named actors into abstract objects. (People and countries no longer cooperate, for example; there is just cooperation.) At the same time, the use of adverbs that refer to a particular time frame (such as now, recently or later) declined by more than 50 percent. Past tense verbs grew rarer, while jargon and acronyms proliferated. The pamphlet, which was published by the Stanford Literary Lab and appeared in the New Left Review, will be translated into Italian and German later this year. In it, the authors offer a side-by-side comparison. Here is how the banks report described the world in 1958: The Congos present transport system is geared mainly to the export trade, and is based on river navigation and on railroads which lead from river ports into regions producing minerals and agricultural commodities. Most of the roads radiate short distances from cities, providing farm-to-market communications. In recent years road traffic has increased rapidly with the growth of the internal market and the improvement of farming methods. And here is the report from a half-century later, in 2008: Countries in the region are emerging as key players on issues of global concern, and the Banks role has been to support their efforts by partnering through innovative platforms for an enlightened dialogue and action on the ground, as well as by supporting SouthSouth cooperation. The 2012 report does not refer to preventing hunger but rather to food security. Perhaps most intriguing, though, is the series of graphs mapping the specific changes in word usage. As one might expect, some reflect the World Banks changing priorities and concerns as well as historical events. For instance, in the late 1960s, when Robert McNamara becomes president and made the war on poverty a central mission, references to families, farmers, education and later, women, become more noticeable. In the 1980s, when many countries in the developing world are at risk of defaulting on loans, the language of debt becomes omnipresent, and there are frequent references to expanding trade, expanding the private sector and raising competitiveness. The word governance makes its first appearance in 1990, signaling a new preoccupation with ethics, responsibility and rectitude. The language of finance replaces the language of agriculture and industry. In the previous decade, the word portfolio is used 10 times as frequently as it was throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s. Bank regulators on Wednesday sent a message that big banks are still too big and too complex. They rejected special plans, called living wills, that the banks have to submit to show they can go through an orderly bankruptcy. The thinking behind the regulators call for living wills is that if a large bank crash is orderly, there will be no need to save it and no need for taxpayer bailouts. Pretty straightforward, right? Not for the banks. The regulators deliberately did not communicate the exact things the banks needed to do for their plans to pass muster. In this way, they kept them on their toes and treating powerful banks this way may end up playing a surprisingly important role in keeping the financial regulation effective over time. Over the decades leading up to the financial crisis of 2008, banks learned how to sidestep and water down the relatively tough regulations introduced after the crash of 1929. This ability of the banks to get their way was spotted by Hyman Minsky, a maverick economist who died 20 years ago. He was prophetic, too. He identified and warned about the sort of trends in the financial system and the wider economy that helped cause the last financial crisis. That is why when everything started falling apart in 2008, some commentators said a Minsky moment had arrived. A man shot and wounded a deputy constable at a traffic stop in Houston late Wednesday in what the authorities described as an ambush-style attack. The shooting happened around 11:20 p.m. as the deputy, Alden Clopton, stood outside the driver-side window of another deputys vehicle after a traffic stop, said Kese Smith, a spokesman for the Houston Police Department. The deputies were talking when a man fired six times from across Alabama Street, just southeast of downtown Houston, striking Deputy Clopton with four bullets, said Constable May Walker of the Harris County Precinct 7 Constables Office. The gunman was not involved in the traffic stop, the police said. This does not create any action against any class or group of people, he said during a talk radio show on April 5, the day he signed the law. All this bill does is stop the government from interfering with people of faith who are exercising their religious beliefs. Critics of the bill, he added, give the worst possible examples that may happen. An examination of the bill by Columbia Law School, however, found that it created a number of specific potential harms to gay, transgender and other people in schools, workplaces and government settings. Among the scenarios described in the report, which was signed by 10 law professors: A school mental health counselor could refuse to work with a transgender student A government agency manager could require female employees to wear skirts or dresses A religious university could fire a single mother working in the cafeteria In each case, the acting group or individual would only need to profess adherence to any of three religious beliefs specified in the bill: that marriage is between a man and a woman, that sex is reserved for heterosexual marriage, or that gender is determined at birth as male or female. Messages left with Mr. Bryant and the main sponsor of the bill, House Speaker Philip Gunn, were not returned. Image Gov. Phil Bryant, in the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., has dismissed concerns about the law as overblown. Credit... Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press I think its one of the most aggressive bills that we have seen that would target L.G.B.T people, said Eunice Rho, advocacy and policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. This explicit targeting of specific populations, many of whom are already fairly marginalized and face discrimination in everyday life, poses huge problems. Federal officials and the local police are investigating burglaries and hate literature that appear to be directed at Muslim students attending Idaho State University in Pocatello, where tensions have recently risen over an influx of students from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. In an email to Idaho State faculty and students Wednesday, the universitys president, Arthur C. Vailas, said the homes of about 50 Middle Eastern students had been burglarized over the past several weeks. As a result of these crimes, some of our students are seriously considering leaving I.S.U. and Pocatello, the email said. The burglaries follow reports that 17 vehicles, many belonging to Middle Eastern students, were vandalized last year, Mr. Vailass email said. More recently, DVDs containing hate messages were left on a number of car windshields on campus. The Pocatello police chief, Scott Marchand, said that his office was investigating the burglaries but had received reports of about two dozen, not 50. He also said there had been about 70 residential burglaries in town since Jan. 1. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has made Wall Street banks public enemy No. 1 throughout his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, and he now comes after the financial industry in its home market with a tongue-in-cheek tweak of Donald J. Trump in an ad titled The Art of the Steal. On Screen A book titled The Art of the Steal with a nondescript man staring out floor-to-ceiling office windows on its cover a takeoff on Mr. Trumps The Art of the Deal slides across a wooden table. It opens to the first page, complete with images of suit-clad lobbyists and a blaring headline: Ultrarich employ an army of lobbyists to write tax policy to avoid paying their fair share. The page turns to how this is an example of the corrupt political system keeping in place a rigged economy, as an animated graphic of a pulley scale, with a rigged economy being lifted by the weight of Wall Street and Congress, churns on the page. The final page of the book ends with how Wall Street buys off elections and stops meaningful oversight. The advertisement then moves to the skyline of New York City, as the female narrator proclaims, Nothing will change until we reject Wall Street money. She then encourages viewers to send a message to Wall Street banks as the ad closes with images of a Sanders campaign rally. While the evidence in this case is legally sufficient for the police to charge Mr. Lewandowski, it is not strong enough to meet the burden of a reasonable likelihood of a conviction, Mr. Aronberg said. Mr. Trump spoke with prosecutors as they mulled the case, noting that Ms. Fields had touched him, and also urged them to do the right thing, Mr. Aronberg said. Mr. Lewandowski did not speak with prosecutors, but his lawyer did. After the news conference on Thursday, the Trump campaign said in a statement that Mr. Lewandowski was gratified by the decision and appreciated the work of Mr. Aronbergs office, as well as Mr. Trumps loyalty and the support of his colleagues and family during this time. The matter is now concluded, the statement said. The resolution of the case against Mr. Lewandowski, 42, is a legal victory for him and provides a chance for the Trump campaign to try to move past a particularly controversial episode that put the Republican front-runner in the awkward position of supporting his top adviser amid criticism over his in-your-face style. Join us for live analsis of the Democratic debate. After much debate over whether to have a debate and when it should be, Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont will meet in Brooklyn on Thursday night to discuss their differences on stage before the New York primary on Tuesday. While most of their debates have been cordial affairs, this time could be different. Since their last meeting, the race for the Democratic presidential nomination has become increasingly personal, with Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Clinton questioning each others qualifications. There are several ways to follow the action: On television The two-hour debate will be broadcast live on CNN at 9 p.m. Eastern. It will be simulcast on CNN International and CNN en Espanol, and it will also air in New York on NY1. Online CNN will stream the debate on its website and on its mobile platforms with no cable login required. It will also be available online at NY1.com/live and on the TWC News app. Join us for New York primary live updates. The Democratic presidential race has grown increasingly bitter and personal ahead of next weeks New York primary, and Thursday nights debate in Brooklyn may be the clearest indication yet of how fractious the contest has become. Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont have clashed in sometimes caustic terms in recent days: Mr. Sanders has questioned Mrs. Clintons judgment, and she has criticized the credibility of his policy ideas with obvious exasperation. The only remaining debate scheduled between Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Clinton is likely to be an exacting test on both sides. Here are some of the dynamics to watch: Can Sanders fight outside his comfort zone? Mr. Sanders can be somewhat formulaic in debates and on the stump. He rails against Wall Street, declares that it is time to break up the big banks and get money out of politics, and argues that only a political revolution can change Washington. Beyond that, Mr. Sanders has often evaded and even struggled with thorny questions of policy. In a long interview with The Daily News last week, he repeatedly bristled and dodged when pressed on national security and foreign policy issues, and even on the fine points of some of his core concerns, like banking reform. He talked mostly about how he would deal with the complicated Middle East, including how leaders there had critiqued the Iran nuclear accord recently when he took a trip through Israel and several Sunni Arab states with a congressional delegation. His website displayed a video of the trip that included his motorcades, his meetings and visits to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount. But Mr. Ryan did not say he would walk away from the terms of the Iran nuclear deal or offer views, as Mr. Trump did in a recent interview with The New York Times, on how he would have negotiated a stronger one. Instead, he said America must strictly enforce its terms and impose new costs on Iran for its ballistic missile tests which do not violate the deal but may violate a new United Nations resolution that calls upon Iran to refrain from testing any missile that can carry a nuclear weapon. Mrs. Clinton, in a speech shortly after the deal was struck, embraced its terms but also called for enforcement so strict that the United States would leap upon any violation. One of the most interesting elements of Mr. Ryans 35-minute bagels-and-coffee breakfast with a group of reporters was his argument that Mr. Obama was right to be concerned about engaging America in new conflicts but had taken caution to a paralyzing extreme. He is in a massive retrenchment, Mr. Ryan said. I think he has gone way too far. Mr. Ryan said the Middle Eastern leaders he met were concerned about Americas long-term direction, especially that Washington is willing to let Iran take on a larger role in the Middle East. Those conversations appeared largely in line with what Secretary of State John Kerry confronted in his own encounter with Sunni Arab allies in Bahrain last week. WASHINGTON The Obama administration on Thursday unveiled a final set of regulations on offshore oil and gas drilling that are aimed at preventing the kind of equipment failures that caused the disastrous 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The publication of the rules, which the administration released in draft form last year, is timed just ahead of the sixth anniversary of the April 20 explosion on a BP oil rig that killed 11 and sent millions of barrels of oil into the gulf. The new rules come as the Obama administration has proposed opening up some pristine Arctic waters off Alaska to new drilling, angering environmentalists. The Interior Department rules represent the final in a series of actions responding to the spill, including tougher inspection requirements and an overhaul of the government agencies that oversee offshore drilling. The rules announced Thursday are intended to tighten the safety requirements on underwater drilling equipment and well-control operations. In particular, the new rules will tighten controls on blowout preventers, the industry-standard devices that are the last line of protection to stop explosions in undersea oil and gas wells. The 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig was caused in part by the buckling of a section of drill pipe, prompting the malfunction of a supposedly fail-safe blowout preventer on a BP well. As long as we have not closed our search for the girls, of course well keep talking, Mr. Mohammed said. But he sounded a note of caution about the video, saying the government had received a similar one last summer and had otherwise been inundated with tips. Most of these claims, they turn out not to be true, he said. The two-year wait for the girls to be found has been maddening for their relatives and friends, who complain the government has done very little to keep them informed of any attempts to locate and rescue them. Nobody can tell where those girls are, said Ayuba Alamson, whose two cousins, Ruth Amos and Mary Ali, were abducted. His sister and another cousin were abducted as well, but escaped the morning after the kidnapping. Mr. Alamson said he still cries when he sees or talks to other parents of the girls. At his little sisters wedding recently, he said, he cried because she reminded him of his missing cousins. Without serious provocation, I will drop tears, said Mr. Alamson, who is from Chibok. In 2014, Mr. Allen said, he arrived in Chibok while the school building was still smoldering to look for Ms. Wavi, who he said was about 17 at the time, and another cousin who also attended the school. He was too late. Both girls were long gone, Ms. Wavi having been carried off in a pickup truck among a small group of girls who were the first to be kidnapped. Ms. Wavis father is blind, so Mr. Allen said he had cared for her and sponsored her education at the boarding school in Chibok. She was the first girl in her family to attend school and hoped one day to become a doctor. There has been no suggestion of illegality. But the disclosure tapped a vein of rage for Britons laboring under the governments austerity measures who saw the papers as signaling a parallel universe of fiscal duplicity inhabited by the privileged and the rich. Every so often, the presentational masks acquired down the years by British conservatism slip, the columnist John Harris wrote in The Guardian, and the upshot is a sudden and sobering look at what the Tories might actually stand for. The view from here is different. Long before the Panama Papers were published, African governments were made explicitly aware of the damage inflicted by financial practices that have robbed countries of tens of billions of dollars a year. Over the last 50 years, Africa is estimated to have lost in excess of $1 trillion in illicit financial flows, said a report last year by an African panel headed by Thabo Mbeki, a former president of South Africa. This sum is roughly equivalent to all of the official development assistance received by Africa during the same time frame. The consequences run deep. About 414 million Africans live on less than $1.25 a day. On average, the report said, Africans per capita share of their continents economic output is only one-fifth of the global average. OTTAWA The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced legislation on Thursday to legalize physician-assisted suicide for Canadians with a serious and incurable illness, which has brought them enduring physical or psychological suffering. The proposed law limits physician-assisted suicides to citizens and residents who are eligible to participate in the national health care system, an effort to prevent a surge in medical tourism among the dying from other countries. If the bill passes, Canada will join a group of countries that permit some form of assisted suicide, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. Assisted suicide is legal in only a few American states, including Oregon and Vermont. Under Canadas proposed law, people who have a serious medical condition and want to die will be able to commit suicide with medication provided by their doctors or have a doctor or nurse practitioner administer the dose for them. Family members and friends will be allowed to assist patients with their death, and social workers and pharmacists will be permitted to participate in the process. TOKYO A powerful earthquake struck the southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu on Thursday, killing nine people, collapsing roads and buildings, and knocking out power, officials said. According to the government, some 1,000 people had been treated for injuries caused by the magnitude 6.2 quake, which struck just before 9:30 p.m. and was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks. About 40,000 people spent the night outdoors or in temporary shelters. HONG KONG After two years on the fifth floor of a Hong Kong office building, the only museum dedicated to the 1989 Tiananmen protest movement is expected to close this year. The organizers of the June 4th Museum say they are scrambling to find a new location. The 800-square-foot museum in the packed Tsim Sha Tsui shopping and tourism district includes photographs, descriptions of some of the protesters killed in the military crackdown and a replica of the Goddess of Democracy, a statue erected by students during their occupation of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The museum has been opposed by the buildings owners corporation, and the organizers faced a lawsuit that they have decided they do not want to continue spending money to fight, said Albert Ho, chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, which established the museum. Mr. Ho said he believed politics was behind the lawsuit over the museum. Its not the owners corporation thats paying to sue us. Its just one person, he said in an interview on Thursday. He was referring to Stanly Chau Kwok-chiu, the chairman of the corporation, who owns a clothing factory in mainland China. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Speculation about the political fate of Pakistans embattled prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was swirling on Thursday after he left the country in the middle of an unfolding scandal over his familys offshore wealth. Opposition politicians have pressed Mr. Sharif to resign after the so-called Panama Papers document leak revealed that three of his children controlled shell companies through which they owned expensive residential properties in London. Demands have picked up for a judicial commission under the countrys chief justice to investigate any potential wrongdoing by the prime minister and his family. Mr. Sharif has rejected any allegations of money laundering, claiming that his children have legitimate business abroad, and he has signaled his willingness to establish an inquiry commission. But as the political turmoil increased, Mr. Sharif flew to London on Wednesday for cardiac medical treatment that he described as a checkup. The timing of the visit immediately prompted rumors that Mr. Sharif might not return to Pakistan until investigations were completed. It has become difficult for the government to get cooperation from the opposition parties without amending its North Korean policy, which is lopsidedly about imposing sanctions, said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute, a research institute south of Seoul. Ms. Parks weakening domestic clout has also magnified the complex foreign policy challenges her country faces. Her government and Washington have been discussing deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, a United States antimissile system. But many of the progressives now in control in Parliament oppose such a deployment because it would raise tensions with China. As of Thursday evening, the only response to the elections from Ms. Parks office was a two-sentence statement urging Parliament to pass her economic legislation to improve the livelihood of the people. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga of Japan expressed hope that the results in South Korea would not affect the landmark deal the two countries struck in December to help settle their historical dispute over Korean women who were forced to work in brothels that serviced Japanese soldiers during World War II. That agreement is unpopular among many South Koreans, including many of the surviving sex slaves themselves, but analysts said on Thursday that they doubted Ms. Park would renege on the accord. But North Korea policy could be another matter, they said. Mr. Kim, the Korea University professor, said he expected Ms. Park to put a new emphasis on dialogue, accelerating efforts to induce Pyongyang to come to the negotiating table, using the pressure built up through sanctions as leverage. But Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University, said he thought it was also likely that Ms. Park would deploy adversarial language, highlighting the dangers posed by the North in a bid to consolidate support with her conservative base. Her government may even exaggerate the threats, trying to use national security to maintain her influence and relevance, Mr. Kim said. Ms. Parks government was accused of doing just that in the prelude to the elections. After the government said last week that 13 North Koreans working at a restaurant overseas had defected as a group, many suspected that the announcement had been timed for the elections. Mr. Zerkani was arrested in 2014. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison last summer, before the attacks in Paris and Brussels. The perpetrators of those attacks included several of Mr. Zerkanis recruits, including Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was originally identified as the on-the-ground coordinator of the attacks in and around Paris on Nov. 13, which killed 130 people, and Najim Laachraoui, who is believed to have made the bombs used in Paris and Brussels. The Brussels attacks, on March 22, killed 32 people. Three women were sentenced with Mr. Zerkani last summer, and one of them, Fatima Aberkane, also had her sentence increased to 15 years on Thursday. She was found to have worked with Mr. Zerkani to recruit young people to send to Syria. LONDON Until now, Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britains opposition Labour Party and a longtime critic of the European Union, has said relatively little about the coming referendum on the countrys membership in the 28-nation bloc. But on Thursday, he urged Britons to vote to stay in the union, warts and all, describing it as a crucial tool against climate change and tax evasion, and saying there was a strong socialist case for remaining. The intervention is significant because Mr. Corbyn, a left-winger, has won the support of many younger people, including students, who tend to vote in fewer numbers than older citizens. A new poll of British Muslims revealed attitudes on homosexuality and terrorism sharply out of step with broader public opinion, but also set off a debate about the reliability of such surveys. The survey was conducted by the polling company ICM Unlimited and commissioned by the British network Channel 4, which showcased its results in a documentary broadcast on Wednesday. The network said that the findings showed that the mainstream Muslim majority shared many values with non-Muslim Britons but warned that more extreme views lurked beneath the surface. Looking deeper into the results, a chasm develops between those Muslims surveyed and the wider population on attitudes to liberal values on issues such as gender equality, homosexuality and issues relating to freedom of expression, the network said in a statement. And it also reveals significant differences on attitudes to violence and terrorism. Trevor Phillips, the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, analyzed the results for Channel 4 and said in a statement that they showed Britain faced a threat of the establishment of a nation within our nation. MOSCOW In Ukraines most sweeping political reshuffle since its revolution two years ago, Parliament voted Thursday to seat a close ally of the president as prime minister and handed critical ministerial posts to presidential staff members. The new prime minister, Volodymyr B. Groysman, will replace Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, who resigned on Sunday. Mr. Yatsenyuk, a fluent English speaker, won praise in the West but was never able to manage Ukraines notoriously fractured Parliament, and he argued with President Petro O. Poroshenko. With his close ties to the president, Mr. Groysman will be expected to ease some of the rifts in the pro-European camp. The previous government was swept into power in 2014 on a wave of popular anger at the authoritarian, corrupt and Russian-aligned presidency of Viktor F. Yanukovych. But infighting soon broke out among the victors, paralyzing the government and stalling International Monetary Fund aid for an economy on life support. TEHRAN An opposition leader long under house arrest has written a letter to President Hassan Rouhani demanding a public trial, putting the president in a difficult spot and highlighting a deepening rift in Irans reformist wing. In the letter, published Sunday on a foreign-based Persian-language website, Saham News, the opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi, does not ask the president to grant him his release, since this is not in your power. Yet even asking for a trial presents a problem for Mr. Rouhani, a moderate who in the past has promised to end house arrest for Mr. Karroubi and two other leaders of the so-called Green Movement, Mir Hussein Moussavi and his wife, Zahra Raghnavard. Either he grants Mr. Karroubis request risking confrontation with Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his hard-line supporters or he denies it and looks weak. So Mr. Rouhani has chosen to ignore the letter and instead allow his infuriated supporters to respond to Mr. Karroubi. On Monday, April 11, Ms. Louis-Dreyfus, 55, who was in New York to host the April 16 broadcast of Saturday Night Live (where she spent a few exasperating years as a cast member in the 1980s), was seated in the lobby lounge of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, dressed in workout clothes and rectangular eyeglasses and sipping coffee as she spoke about her and her characters ascents. In these excerpts from that conversation, Ms. Louis-Dreyfus discussed her time on Veep and its lessons for the 2016 race; the sexism she sees in Washington and in Hollywood; and how she is still learning to swear like a proper United States president. This will be the second season of Veep in which Selina Meyer has actually been the president of the United States. Where can the show possibly go from here? Originally, when Armando [Iannucci, the Veep creator and former showrunner] said, What do you think? Lets make her president, I was like, yeah, sure, that sounds cool. And then after wed done it, we were like, we just painted ourselves into this corner. But whats good about this situation, comedically, is that even though she becomes president, its eluding her. She has not a moment to revel in this so-called accomplishment, which she got by default. She has to immediately campaign for the position. She has to quickly figure out some sort of legacy that she can create for herself. So it seems as if everything is just a grab away for this poor, ridiculous woman. So her holding the highest office in the land hasnt changed the shows basic premise? Well, nothing is as it seems, right? Frankly, look at Obama and his Supreme Court nominee. Hes ostensibly the most powerful person in the world and look how hes being stymied. And thats a grand and noble [duty]. We dont do that kind of thing on our show. Were anti-grand and anti-noble. And theres so much more to celebrate. Sure, some of the latest holidays exist purely in the confines of the cloud. No reasonable person is going to grab the nearest vegan because of Hug a Vegetarian Day. But other microholidays or hashtag holidays have crossed over into the real world. Susan McPherson, 51, a corporate responsibility consultant, was invited last year for the first time to a pie party in observation of Pi Day. There were tons of pies, she said. Of course, I posted a picture; the pies were so beautiful. Whether they originated as public relations opportunities or alleviators of boredom, these gratuitous celebrations can stir some of the same emotions the old stalwarts do. And just like traditional holidays, the new ones can manage to make you feel full and empty at the same time. Holidays online can be a wonderful way to feel like youre not alone in the world, Ms. McPherson said. But it can also make you feel like the loneliest person in the world. At the same time, social media celebrations can be a boon to the lonesome. Holidays online are a way for me to take the air out of how lonely it can be, said Tim Federle, an author and co-writer of the Broadway musical Tuck Everlasting. One Valentines Day, I saw a heart-shaped balloon sticking out of a garbage can, and I took a photo and posted it on Facebook with the caption Too soon! It got so many likes, it really bolstered me. That commiseration now takes place in real time. It used to be that at some point during holiday festivities, everyone would sneak off and go online and ask, Hey is anyone else there? said Clay Shirky, a global network professor at New York University and author of Here Comes Everybody. And it turned out everyone was there. People were done with their families, and had moved on to their adoptive families online. Only now, we dont have to wait or sneak away any more. According to Mr. Shirky, the Internet has a long tradition of embracing minor holidays, starting with April Fools Day when, in 1984, a group of Usenet regulars posted a hoax called Kremvax, in which the Russians supposedly sent a message from the Kremlin. Since then, holidays have been marked globally as they roll through successive time zones, and meta-holidays like Thanksgiving Clapback (people tweet out their holiday complaints) have blossomed based on existing ones. I opted for tamales, which Ive long loved but found hard to come by in Connecticut. I chose wisely. My pair of tamales arrived on the plate still wrapped in the traditional corn husks theyd been steamed in. One was stuffed with tangy, gooey queso fresco, chopped jalapenos and epazote (a leafy herb); the other contained moist shredded chicken slathered in mole negro, a darker mole variation flavored with chiles, roasted pumpkin seeds and chocolate. Juan Bautista, who has owned and run Los Poblanos with his wife, Miyra, since 2013 and who worked for more than a decade in the kitchens of other Connecticut restaurants after emigrating from Puebla, Mexico, said cooking authentic Mexican cuisine was a matter of both national and personal pride. Did you know that tamales, just like the ones you had at my restaurant, were one of the dishes the conquistadors first brought back to Spain? Mr. Bautista asked. They brought them as proof that civilization in Mexico was advanced. When I make Mexican cuisine, I feel like I am honoring that kind of deep history. Thats not to say, Mr. Bautista added, that the newfangled taco restaurants, which may take more liberties with traditional fare, dont have their place. Some of them are really good, he said. But on their days off, all their chefs eat here. Ms. H decided she had to move out of her mothers apartment last spring after her drug-addicted sister held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her. She packed up her stuff and her 6-year-old son and called a domestic violence hotline. When the hotline worker asked if she had a safe place to leave her cat, Ms. H froze. My mother is telling me, If you say you have to bring the cat with you, theyre going to say no, Ms. H said. Until very recently, pet owners who were abused invariably had to choose between staying with their abusers or leaving without their pets, because virtually no domestic violence shelters allowed pets. There was no question where Craig Vagell would live. As an applicant for a firefighting job in Jersey City, he had a residency requirement to fulfill. Mr. Vagell had been a volunteer firefighter in his hometown of Cedar Knolls, N.J., since his high school graduation. When he met Katie Guenther nearly two years ago, he was renting a studio in the Hamilton Park section of Jersey City for $1,275 a month. His apartment, in a brownstone, had both a washer-dryer and a dishwasher, unusual for that type of building. Mr. Vagell, now 33, commuted to Manhattan for his job in broadcast operations at a television network while he waited for his name to reach the top of the firefighters list. Arriving at the Metropolitan Museum of Art just as it opened one brisk April morning, the British playwright Alice Birch was on what she called a morbid little trip in pursuit of inspiration. Bunking on Wall Street in the run-up to her American debut at Soho Rep with Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., this 29-year-old had journeyed uptown to do research for a play shes writing for the Royal Court Theater in London. I think I want it to be about the police something to do with violence against women, she said, slipping into a gallery on the second floor, where a photo exhibition called Crime Stories mug shots, pictures of murder scenes, portraits of miscreants was on view. In the U.K., theres this real Sunday night TV watching: You sit down and watch a crime drama. You watch, usually, half-naked 20-year-old women get murdered. And I love those shows as well; I think theyre really compelling. But Im fascinated in why we enjoy that. If that sounds like a polite intellectual interest, thats not how Ms. Birchs plays roll. Like Revolt, a call for feminist revolution that a critic for The Telegraph likened to a cluster-bomb of subversion when the Royal Shakespeare Company produced it in 2014, they have a ferocity that is utterly absent from the playwrights personal demeanor. So quiet that you have to lean closer to hear her, she comes across as thoughtful, gentle and tenderhearted. In the exhibition, what struck her hardest was the poverty and sadness on display. RUTHERFORD, Calif. When Philippe Bascaules arrived here in 2011 to take over as general manager of Inglenook Vineyard, one of the first things he did was to present the owners, Francis Ford Coppola and his wife, Eleanor, a plan for managing and renewing the grapevines. The plan covered the next 50 years. Such long-range thinking is rare to see in California, where continuity rarely triumphs over fad. Even in Napa Valley, where cabernet sauvignon has long been established as the dominant grape, visionary thinking may encompass a decade. My first reaction was, Well, I guess I wont be around to see the upshot of this plan, said Mr. Coppola, 77, the film director and writer. But I was happy because I know this was something planned in the long term, and I am hopeful that my kids, and the kids of my kids, will be living at one of the treasures of the earth. Such a sense of stability comes naturally to Mr. Bascaules, who had spent the previous 20 years in Bordeaux at Chateau Margaux, the great first growth with an illustrious past stretching 500 years. The fish rise and fall in their wall of tanks. The crabs crouch like linebackers and tap their Morse code. Choose, you are told. At Bite of Hong Kong, a Cantonese restaurant that opened in Chinatown last spring, the trappings are classic: great round banquet tables draped in red tablecloths, lazy susans making idle revolutions and those faintly prehistoric fish that land on giant plates, swimming in ginger, still flaring their fins. One evening, mine was soon hock, or marble goby, a freshwater fish most likely plucked from the Chao Phraya River in Thailand. It was dark and mottled on the outside and delicate within. The familiar preparation steamed until the flesh seemed to quietly exhale, with little more than soy, scallions and ginger was simple and effective, a reminder of how satisfying dining in Chinatown can be when you know where to go. On another night, flounder arrived deep-fried whole and pancake flat, with armored frills of a thousand tiny bones. You can eat them. They snap under the teeth like matchstick fries. Soon all was gone, soy-drunk flesh and prickly ruff. Glucksman Ireland House, the Center for Irish and Irish-American Studies at New York University, presents a four-day program (Tuesday, April 19 through Friday, April 22) examining the American dimensions of Irelands 1916 Easter Rising. It will include film screenings (see below for location of screenings) and a symposium (at Pier A Harbor House, 22 Battery Place) featuring over twenty scholars from throughout Ireland and U.S. During the Easter of 1916, in the middle of the Great War, a rebellion took place in Ireland which sowed the seeds for the establishment of an Irish state independent of Great Britain. A seminal event in Irish history the equivalent of Americas 4th of July the Easter Rising had significant implications for other imperial relationships. Invoking the spirit of her 2.3 million exiled children in America, the rebels in Dublin proclaimed a new Republic one of whose role-models was the United States of America. As the Allies increasingly sought American support in continental Europe, Anglo-American relations were pressed on the Irish question and on Britains role in determining the fate of her small nation neighbor. Renowned historian and director of NYUs Glucksman Ireland House NYU Joe Lee has observed, No America, no New York, no Easter Rising. Simple as that. The full four-day program running April 19-22nd interrogates that assertion by placing the Rising in a trans-national and trans-Atlantic setting. Twenty-two scholars, from a variety of disciplines, will excavate the ways in which the United States was an equally critical theater of war in Irelands journey towards independence. The symposium will take place on Thursday, April 21 and Friday, April 22, at Pier A Harbor House, 22 Battery Place, New York City. As a prelude to the conference, Glucksman Ireland House NYU, will twice screen the acclaimed docudrama A Terrible Beauty followed by a Q&A with its filmmakers, on Tuesday, April 19 and Wednesday, April 20. Due to high demand, the film will be screen twice - Tuesday, April 19 at 7:00 pm at Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street; and Wednesday, April 20, at 7:00 pm at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo NYU, 24 West 12th Street. The symposium will conclude with a special event in Washington Square Park, New York City, on Friday, April 22 at 7pm. The Proclamation of the Irish Republic will be read in both English and Irish, followed by a short musical program by the Glee Club of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. Irish actress Lisa Dwan, known for her performances of Samuel Becketts work, will read the Proclamation in English; she can currently be seen in Samuel Beckett Trilogy: Not I, Footfalls, Rockaby at NYUs Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Full details for the programs, including ticketing, are available at http://irelandhouse.fas.nyu.edu/page/events or by emailing ireland.house@nyu.edu. ABOUT GLUCKSMAN IRELAND HOUSE NYU Glucksman Ireland House NYU is one of the top-ranked academic Irish Studies programs in the United States. Through innovative undergraduate and graduate academic curricula and extensive public programming, it provides access to the best in Irish and Irish-American culture. Its initiatives include American Journal of Irish Studies, an extensive oral history project, and a weekly cultural affairs radio program Saturday mornings on WNYE 91.5FM. Visit us at http://irelandhouse.fas.nyu.edu/page/home. International report shows NZ failing our poorest children 14 April 2016 An international report on child inequality shows that New Zealand's education policies have been failing our poorest children. The UNICEF Fairness for Children report on inequality in rich countries, shows that New Zealand has had a worrying and regressive trend in terms of support for children in the lowest income households since 2006. NZEI Te Riu Roa President Louise Green says the report is another wake up call for the government. New Zealand has had one of the biggest increases in disparity between the educational achievement of our poorest children and those from average income backgrounds." The UNICEF report calls for government action to strengthen childrens well-being and improve the educational achievements of disadvantaged learners. This again shows the need for urgent action to address our growing inequity. We desperately need better funding and more targeting of resources for schools in poor areas. The government has an opportunity to take strong measures to reduce this inequity in its review of school funding later this year. Louise Green says addressing inequity and the well-being of our poorest children needs to be central across all areas of government policy including health, housing and family income. Breastfeeding during the first 27 weeks of life had a risk-specific effect on reducing respiratory symptoms in healthy term infants, based on data from a prospective cohort study of 436 children in Switzerland. Breastfeeding is generally accepted to be protective against respiratory symptoms in early life, but most published studies on this topic are cross-sectional and more likely biased, wrote Dr. Olga Gorlanova of the University of Basel (Switzerland) and her colleagues. The researchers studied infants enrolled in the Bern-Basel Infant Lung Development cohort via weekly telephone interviews during the first year of life. In addition, weekly measurements of environmental particulate matter were collected from local monitoring stations. Risk factors included maternal history of atopy, vaginal vs. cesarean delivery, parents level of education, smoking during and after pregnancy, number of older siblings, child care attendance, and housing conditions. Overall, infants breastfed during the first 27 weeks of life had significantly reduced respiratory symptoms, compared with nonbreastfed infants (risk ratio, .70) The study suggests that breastfeeding attenuates the effects of risk factors such as sex, age, gestational age, cesarean delivery, and prenatal maternal tobacco smoking in healthy term infants, Dr. Gorlanova and her associates wrote. No significant interaction was noted between breastfeeding and child care attendance, number of older siblings, maternal atopy, or environmental particulate matter. Read the full study here (J Pediatr. 2016. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2016.03.041). The state Coastal Commission is set Friday to review a settlement agreement its staff worked out with Dana Point that would end a six-year legal tussle over public access to Strand Beach through the exclusive community of Strand at Headlands. The crux of the agreement is to have the gates in the center of the private community open daily from 5 a.m.-10 p.m. to allow beach-goers to reach the sand. Meeting with the Register Editorial Board, City Manager Douglas C. Chotkevys said, Those are fair and reasonable hours, consistent with other beaches and state parks. For example, those are the same hours for public use as at Huntington City Beach. Other access points at the northern and southern limits of the development will have their hours expanded to 24 hours a day. Issues involving gates will be pursued separately because we had to get the hours first, City Attorney A. Patrick Munoz told our board. The city also will continue working with the Ocean Institute to bring kids every year from the Inland Empire to enjoy the beach. Sanford Edward, who got approval for the development of 118 custom-built homes in 2004, said the beach access paths complied with coastal permits, the Register reported. He said the continuing disagreement between the city, himself and the Coastal Commission and Surfrider [Foundation] are in part a confusion over the original agreement. Edward contends the allegations are political. However, Public Resource Code Section 30211, a key section of the California Coastal Act, guarantees, Development shall not interfere with the publics right of access to the sea. Interpretation is critical, of course. But so is compromise after years of litigation. Superior Court Judge Randa Trapp ruled in September that fears of expanded hours leading to wild parties were unfounded. Mr. Chotkevys said a Register editorial Sept. 28 helped convince the City Council to work to end the impasse. This seems to us a reasonable compromise between property rights and the right of the public to its beach. HUNTINGTON BEACH A 39-year-old man was identified Thursday as the body found near the rocks at Bolsa Chica State Beach over the weekend. Daraline Bou was found dead around 4:45 p.m. Saturday by a family camping nearby. Bous foot was wedged between two rocks on the Bolsa Chica State Beach Tidal Inlet Channel, his body angled face down in the water, said Sean Franco, one of the campers who discovered the body. His foot was white as paper, Franco said Monday. It looks like he slid and his foot got caught in the rocks, and he drowned because he was upside down underwater, Franco said. Investigators did not suspect foul play contributed to Bous death. There was no obvious foul play, said Kevin Pearsall, the public-safety superintendent for California State Parks in Orange County. He obviously drowned. Contact the writer: 714-796-7802 or aduranty@ocregister.com PARIS The Islamic State fighters who carried out the attacks in Brussels honed their skills through combat in Syria, and the sibling suicide bombers were also crucial to planning the Paris attacks, according to the extremist groups magazine released Wednesday. In the English-language magazine Dabiq, the group drew a direct line between the two attacks and made no mention of the key suspects captured in Belgium. All preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels started with brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El-Bakraoui, the group said. Brussels was home to many of the attackers who struck the French capital Nov. 13 with suicide bombings and volleys of assault weapons fire that left 130 people dead. According to Belgian and French investigators, the same cell was behind the suicide bombings that killed 32 people in Brussels on March 22. The younger El Bakraoui blew himself up in a rush-hour Brussels subway train, killing 16 victims. That same morning, his older brother was one of two suicide bombers who detonated explosives-laden suitcases at Brussels Airport, killing another 16. The other airport bomber was Najim Laachraoui, the bomb maker for both the Brussels and the Paris attacks, who left for Syria in 2013 and was an early recruit of Islamic State. It is firstly due to the El Bakraouis that the attacks in the French capital occurred, Dabiq said. Subsequently, it said, Khalid El Bakraoui had a dream to carry out another attack. The magazine also prominently mentioned Mohamed Belkaid, the Islamic State fighter who was killed covering Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslams escape from a hideout during the final stages of preparation for the raid in Brussels. It said Belkaid, who had Swedish residency, took part in some of the extremist groups most important battles, including the capture of Ramadi, and decided to return to Europe with Laachraoui for an attack. Although it was light on new details, the magazine article offered a glimpse of how the attack cell was constructed and how the plot formed among supporters in Belgium and Syria. Abdeslam, who returned from France to Belgium after his brother blew himself up in the Paris attacks, is entirely absent from the narrative, as is Mohamed Abrini and Osama Krayem. All three were captured in the Brussels area Abdeslam just a few blocks from the Molenbeek home where he grew up. A Belgian television network on Wednesday released previously unknown footage from Molenbeek of Abdeslam, whose role in the Paris attacks has never been defined and who is not formally linked to the Brussels bloodshed. In the August 2014 clip from tvbrussels, Abdeslam is seen strolling through an open air market, talking to an unseen companion. Filip De Rycke, the stations news director, said the footage emerged by happenstance, while an editor was searching for archival material on the neighborhood, which is known as fertile recruiting ground for Islamic State. Abdeslams companion could not be identified and was hidden for that reason and in the interest of the investigation, he said. Belgian and French authorities have detained dozens of people in the investigation into the two attacks, but many have been freed quickly. Three people taken into custody during a police search in the Brussels district of Uccle on Tuesday were freed Wednesday, and Belgian authorities have not said what they were looking for, or what they may have found. Separately Wednesday, the management of the concert hall targeted in the Paris attacks said it is preparing to reopen and has scheduled a set of new concerts toward the end of the year. The Nov. 13 attacks in Paris were the second major strike against the city in 2015. In January, two attackers killed 11 people at the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo while another man launched a deadly assault on a kosher supermarket and killed a French policewoman. Amedy Coulibaly, who carried out the supermarket attack, appeared in a posthumous video pledging allegiance to Islamic State. A Frenchman suspected of supplying weapons to Coulibaly was arrested Tuesday with two other men in the southern Spanish beach town of Rincon de la Victoria on a European arrest warrant. A police raid on Antoine Denives house uncovered several false documents used by the 27-year-old, including a valid European passport in another persons name, according to a statement from Spains Interior Ministry. Police said they were also studying computer material found there. A Serbian man and a Montenegrin man also allegedly tied to arms trafficking were also arrested. The ministry said Denive left France several weeks after the January 2015 attacks and moved to the southern Spanish province of Malaga, where he allegedly continued illegal activity under a false identity. It said he was an arms trafficker with ties to Serbian arms traffickers. The arrest was coordinated by a court in Lille, France, and one in the Spanish city of Torremolinos. In court Wednesday, Denive denied selling weapons to attackers. As Seon Chun-Burbank shares how she and her husband gave up their dream of sailing the world so they could put 27 kindergartners through college, threads emerge that reveal how they came to such a bold decision. Chun-Burbank, a professor at Vanguard University, grew up one of five children in Seoul, South Korea. It was a time when struggling families such as hers spent what little money they had educating boys. Growing up in Huntington Beach, her husband, lawyer Marty Burbank, had a far different life growing up with two sisters. Yet both their journeys help explain why this couple will end up giving an estimated $1.1 million to help an Anaheim classroom of strangers graduate from college. In some respects, their decision seems simple. With tears in his eyes, Burbank says, When these kids go home, their parents struggle to pay for food. We asked ourselves, What can we do to solve that? But behind their decision are significant events, difficult decisions and strong values. Flipping through a flurry of smartphone photos of sailing trips, Burbank barely pauses over one that jumps out. It is black and white and grainy. The old newspaper photograph shows a little boy handing over his piggy bank to the president of the Westchester Jaycees to help feed the hungry. Below the photo, the caption identifies the boy: Marty Burbank. A PRIORITY During an afternoon at the couples ranch-style home on a cul-de-sac of a modest Fullerton neighborhood, the professor and the elder law attorney talk about love, the mystery of faith and the kids they call their spiritual children. Chun-Burbanks father had to quit elementary school to work full time. Her mother had to give up formal education in middle school. Her father supported his family working as a bricklayer. Chun-Burbank was a star student. She had been admitted to Ewha Womans University in Seoul, akin to being admitted to Harvard. But with five children, there wasnt enough money for Chun-Burbank to go to college. The family reached out to an aunt and uncle in Mexico City. Could they help? Her aunt and uncle agreed to pitch in. After earning her bachelors degree, Chun-Burbank taught in Singapore. But she wanted to go deeper into education, to mentor others in teaching young children. She scrimped and saved to reach her goal. Yet when she heard about a mission in Indonesia that needed $600 for a roof, she paid the entire bill. She was admitted to the University of Northern Iowa, where she earned her masters and then her doctorate. Later, she received a masters in public administration from Cal State Fullerton. Her first job in the U.S. was in Juneau, Alaska, at the the University of Alaska Southeast. There, she built statewide partnerships with school districts, community organizations and colleges. After Juneau, Chun-Burbank taught at Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, where she served as a consultant for the Center for Constructivist Education in Seoul. Along the way, Chun-Burbank joined an outdoor club that offered everything from hiking to sailing. On May 22, 2006, she drove along Bayshore Drive in Newport Beach, parking near the Galley Restaurant and climbing aboard a rental Hunter 36-foot sailboat. The skipper was a stranger. His name: Marty Burbank. Burbank grins recalling that day. Seon followed me around the boat. The 44-year-old professor laughs. No, no, he followed me around. NAVY VETERAN The son of a salesman, Burbank fell in love with the ocean as an teenager. A Sea Scout, he learned to sail small boats in Long Beachs Alamitos Bay. By the time he graduated from Marina High School, he shared the dream of many young watermen he was determined to become a Navy SEAL. Burbank enlisted and made the cut for SEAL training. But a broken leg dashed his dreams. Still, Burbank found adventure. He served in the Navy for 12 years, mostly as a medical deep sea diver working with Navy SEALs. Over time, Burbank realized he couldnt be a deep sea diver all his life and turned toward law. He earned his bachelors degree at State University of New York, a law degree from Thomas Jefferson School of Law and a masters in tax law from Chapman Universitys law school. Now 52, Burbank never lost his love for sailing. In 1983, Burbank crewed on the boat that won the Newport to Ensenada yacht race and held the record for 17 years. In 1997, he sailed his 33-foot boat from Hawaii to California; that trip took four weeks. In 2005, he sailed from Hawaii to Santa Barbara aboard a $3.5 million, carbon fiber, Transpacific Yacht Race boat. Four months after the couples first sail, Burbank proposed marriage on a voyage to Catalina Island. Today, the couple continue to rent boats and sail. But the world of wind and water is only a building block in a relationship built on love and grace. A MISSION Eight years ago, Burbank rode his BMW motorcycle along Pacific Coast Highway and headed north toward Long Beach. There was a crash. Burbank spent the next four months in a wheelchair. A friend suggested Burbank join the Roosters Foundation, an Orange County-based nonprofit that stands for friendship, fellowship charity and good times. Its charities range from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tustin to Lauras House, an organization that helps battered women. Being a member of Roosters, Burbank says, is one of the proudest things in my life. Chun-Burbank adds, Ive learned a lot from my husband about giving. Through Eastside Christian Church in Fullerton, the couple embraced the congregations mission of community service. At church, Burbank met Tessa Ashton, a kindergarten teacher at Rio Vista Elementary School in Anaheim. She mentioned that most of her students are from struggling families. If you need anything for this classroom, Burbank told the teacher, let me know and Ill help. When Burbank saw a bargain-priced pallet of Clif Bars, he bought it and donated it to the kids. When he spotted a pallet of notebooks, he gave it to the classroom. Then he noticed university flags in the kindergarten. The plan was to get the children used to the idea of going to college. But Burbank knew in his bones that there was no way most of the kids could ever afford higher education. The lawyer considered his hobbies, which include flying and sailing. Hed already pretty much given up the idea of buying a small plane. Next, he considered his plans to buy a sailboat. I realized that maintaining a boat for the next 16 years was about the same as getting those kids through college. Burbank shared with his wife the idea of setting aside the sailboat and instead putting the classroom through college. I was speechless, Chun-Burbank recalls. I said, God will bless you. Chun-Burbank took stock. Instead of getting paid back, her aunt and uncle told her to pay it forward. She also considered the possibility that the kindergartners needs crossing her path was the reason that God had not given the couple their own biological child. Wiping away tears, Chun-Burbank smiles. Now I have 27 children. Contact the writer: dwhiting@ocregister.com To assure its future, Lake Forest-based Johnny Rockets is scrapping much of its past. The iconic Lake Forest-based burger chain is saying goodbye to dancing servers in white paper caps, jukeboxes, red-vinyl booths and stainless steel counters. The 30-year-old chain founded in Los Angeles is unveiling today a contemporary restaurant in Syracuse, N.Y., with wooden finishes, pendant lighting and a self-serve ordering kiosk for to-go orders. We were showing our age. We were looking a little old; a little tired, Chief Executive Charles Bruce said in a phone interview Wednesday. While theres equity in the brand, Bruce said, the chains 350 restaurants have not seen the kind of repeat foot traffic needed to keep the chain going another 30 years. The frequency wasnt really good. The prototype New York restaurant looks like a modern fast-casual diner with glass globe lights, wood finishes on walls and tabletops, dark-colored booths and bright red chairs and barstools. This year, the chain plans to grow aggressively with 70 new locations domestic and worldwide. Of those, one-third are adopting the new look. The rest of the chain, including older locations in Southern California, will adopt elements of the changes in stages, the company said. The most dramatic changes are wiping out key 1950s-inspired features that have made the brand a Southern California institution. In New York, servers are dressed in black or dark denim jeans with white oxford shirts. No more paper hats and nostalgic soda jerk-style uniforms. Quaint hospitality-driven touches like servers creating smiley-face ketchup designs next to an order of fries and spontaneous dancing are also going away. Bruce, who came on board last year as CEO, said someone dancing isnt really relevant these days to most customers, including millennials. The changes are meant to move the brand forward by reaching out to millennials, while increasing sales among core customers families and Latino diners. In 2015, Johnny Rockets generated nearly $206 million in sales, down 4.6 percent from 2014, according to market research firm Technomic in Chicago. For now, the chain is focusing on making design changes to new restaurants. The core menu remains the same, though efforts have been made to add more limited-time burger specials in the last year. Darren Tristano, president of Technomic, said shifting from its nostalgic brand roots is risky. Moving away from what consumers identify with the brand could be potentially confusing, he said. Still, he said the chains decision to first introduce the change to newer locations is a good approach. I think you test and see if it works, he said. Chain officials declined to say how much capital the privately owned company is investing in the new design. However, Bruce said the redesign might look upmarket and eye-catching but the costs are on par with where Johnny Rockets has been. Contact the writer: nluna@ocregister.com Drugstore giant CVS is rolling out nine rebranded Southern California stores targeting Latino shoppers with more than 1,500 new items from Mexican snacks to home remedies. One of the CVS Pharmacy y mas stores is in Santa Ana and eight are in Los Angeles County. The revamped stores are an attempt by CVS to cater to the estimated 6 million Latinos living in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Prices also have been lowered on most products in the y mas stores, excluding prescriptions. Last year, the Rhode Island-based drugstore chain rolled out a similar test in Miami. We are trying to make sure we have the depth of assortment so we can be a one-stop shop for Latino consumers, said Lisa Grubbs, director of strategic growth for CVS, which has a regional corporate office in La Habra. Tim Powell, a retail and food service chain analyst at Q1 Consulting in Chicago, said the rebranded Southern California stores can be successful as long as the new merchandising and services are executed in a manner that doesnt alienate its core customer. The key to CVS success here is keeping the CVS banner clear in the y mas logo. That connection carries a lot of weight and does not impact its heaviest shoppers white females, he said. At a rebranded store in downtown Santa Ana, the Mexican candy section has doubled, including the addition of large bags for filling pinatas, Grubbs said during a recent tour of the store at 102 N. Main St. The store is stocked with home remedies, votive candles, and cold sodas from brands such as Jarritos and Jumex. It has added dried chili peppers and spices. Cleaning supplies include Fabuloso multipurpose cleaners and Suavitel liquid fabric softener. The snack aisle includes a new line of Bimbo sugary and savory snacks. New items are labeled with bilingual new/nuevo price tags another initiative aimed at Spanish-speaking customers. One of the most noticeable changes at the Santa Ana store is the addition of a fragrance section that looks similar to one found at a department store. The walk-up counter, staffed by a bilingual clerk, contains more than 360 perfumes and colognes for men and women. The stores also have added self-serve kiosks for bill paying and money transfers. On Tuesday, shopper Carlos Hernandez of Santa Ana dropped in to pick up some prescriptions. He said the Latino branding wont make him think of CVS as a convenience market. It doesnt really matter. I just come here for medications for my kids. Contact the writer: nluna@ocregister.com LOS ANGELES There are new complaints of a gas odor in the neighborhood where a huge leak forced thousands from their homes but officials say they cant find the cause. The South Coast Air Quality Management District received some 40 complaints Wednesday in the Porter Ranch area. Officials say their air sampling and inspectors at a nearby Southern California Gas Co. storage field havent found any source, and the utility says they havent found any leak. The AQMD found slightly elevated methane levels around 4 parts per million but nothing like the 20 to 40 parts per million that occurred during the four-month leak. On Wednesday, a state appeals court said SoCalGas must keep paying to temporarily house thousands of evacuees until April 27, when another hearing is scheduled. LAGOS, Nigeria A video appearing to show proof of life of some of Nigerias kidnapped Chibok girls is being aired along with images of tearful parents recognizing their daughters, unheard of since the mass abduction by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram two years ago. CNN on Wednesday showed video, believed made in December, of girls wearing the Islamic hijab covering and of one mother reaching out to a computer screen as she recognizes her daughter. My Saratu, she wails. On the night of April 14, 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Secondary School in the northeast town of Chibok. Dozens of girls later escaped, but 219 remain missing. While Boko Haram is thought to have abducted thousands of people over the years, the mass abduction brought the extremist group to the worlds attention. The campaign hashtag (hash)BringBackOurGirls went as far as the White House, used by U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. The failure of Nigerian officials and the military to rescue the girls brought international condemnation and contributed to President Goodluck Jonathans loss in elections last year. Jonathan at first had denied there had been a mass abduction, but international pressure soon forced him to accept help from other countries. The United States, Britain and France were among those that sent advisers, including hostage negotiators. U.S. and British drones located at least one group of about 80 of the girls, which was reported to Nigerias government and military, but nothing was done. Andrew Pocock, who was British high commissioner to Nigeria until his retirement last year, told The Sunday Times magazine last month that it was considered too dangerous to the other girls to try to launch a ground or air rescue. You might have rescued a few, but many would have been killed. You were damned if you do and damned if you dont, the magazine quoted him as saying. Nigerias military has cited the same fears. Yet that has not stopped them from attacking towns and villages where Boko Haram has held thousands of civilians captive. The military boasted last week that soldiers have rescued 11,595 civilian hostages since Feb. 26. But none has been from Chibok. CNN reported that the proof of life video was sent in December to negotiators trying to free the girls. It shows an interview with Information Minister Lai Mohammed saying the government is reviewing and assessing the video. Senator Shehu Sani, who has been involved in past negotiations with Boko Haram about the Chibok girls, told The Associated Press he found the video credible. Yakubu Nkeki, leader of a support group of parents of the kidnapped girls, said he briefly saw part of the CNN video, in between power blackouts frequent in Nigeria, and recognized some of the girls. We are all well, one of the girls says in the video, emphasizing the all. There have been fears that Boko Harams increasing use of female children and adults to carry out suicide bombings indicate they are turning captives into weapons, including the Chibok girls. Some hopes were raised last month when a girl suicide bomber who surrendered to authorities in neighboring Cameroon said she was from Chibok, but turned out to be from a nearby town in the local government area that bears the same name as the town. Theres been no word of the girls since April 2014, when Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said they had converted to Islam and threatened to sell them into slavery or forced marriage with his fighters. Many recently freed girls are pregnant. If any Chibok girls get home, some will miss their parents. Two mothers and 16 fathers have died since the mass abduction, some of them victims of Boko Haram attacks. Others died from illnesses blamed on stress, according to Nkeki, who spoke to the AP by phone from Chibok. Nigerias Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is due in Chibok on Thursday for the anniversary of the kidnappings, Nkeki said, complaining the issue has become politicized. He said the community is angry that their only school remains in the ruins created by Boko Haram, which firebombed buildings as they took off with the girls. Boko Haram has achieved its aim. They say they dont want us to have Western education and our children dont, he said. Jeanette Singletary sat quietly in the pew, holding a white, beaded bracelet, running her fingernail through each shiny sphere as if she were chanting the Rosary. But Singletary is not a churchgoer. It has been barely three weeks since Fahness Lutalo, the 44-year-old MMA instructor Singletary had been dating on and off for two years, died shot multiple times by an acquaintance in his Tustin gym. Im in shock, said Singletary. I cant believe hes gone. I still look at my phone to see if hes texted me. But, on Tuesday night, when she walked into New Hope Presbyterian Church in Orange for a town hall forum on gun violence organized by the churchs pastor, the Rev. Chineta Goodjoin, Singletary was hoping to learn something and get some answers. The issue is close to Goodjoins heart, too. She lost a friend, the Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, who was one of nine killed in the shootings in June at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. Speakers at Tuesdays forum included Goodjoin, retired LAPD Det. Greg Kading, retired Westminster police Capt. Bill Lewis, UCI experts Mark Petracca and Roxane Silver, and Ivan Pitts, senior pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana, one of the largest African American churches in Southern California. Throughout the forum, there was one oft-repeated word: Complicated. Speakers talked about the different facets of the issue such as gun regulation and the connection between race and gun violence. Petracca cited a recent study that showed while 19 percent of gun deaths involving white people are murders, that number is about 82 percent for black people. There is an enormous racial disparity when it comes to the use of guns and violence, he said. The reason we dont have gun control is because a majority of victims are black. Kading described himself as a white kid from Orange County with a high school diploma who went on to work 25 years in South Central Los Angeles, which is predominantly African American. Kading said he carries a gun in case he needs it to help himself or others in distress. But Kading said he supports regulations that prevent individuals from carrying assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. He added that all gun owners should be properly licensed and undergo annual training. Irresponsible gun owners should face criminal charges, Kading said. He said those who live in minority communities arm themselves for protection. Also, Kading said, illegally obtained weapons are plentiful in these communities. But then, is aggressive enforcement really the answer here? he asked. Its a Catch-22 situation. Pitts and Goodjoin, the pastors on the panel, called for a united front against gun violence. Goodjoin said the issue is so polarizing that a few pastors she invited to the forum called her and said they couldnt attend because they would risk alienating their congregants. This tells us we have work to do, Goodjoin said. We cannot be afraid of having this conversation. We need to overcome this idea of fear and step into that sticky place that leads to reconciliation. Pitts called for a grassroots movement fueled by love as opposed to vitriol and rhetoric. This, he said, would be more successful than fighting powerful gun lobbies such as the National Rifle Association. Mary Lewis, an Anaheim resident, said she was optimistic that gun violence can be prevented. Really, I want it to be controlled because Im scared, she said. To me, the solution is an awareness of God and more compassion. Singletary said her boyfriends murder was the first time she has directly been affected by gun violence. I feel like I have to do something, she said. I think, for me, coming to this forum was the first step. Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com He doesnt own a cellphone. Or a television. Or a car. Or even a bicycle. His travel goal, he said after some thought, is to visit a monastery in Greece Mount Athos where few people ever go. Pico Iyer, a journalist, essayist, novelist and professor, has carved out a reputation as a world traveler and an observer of what it is to build ones soul. In the age of globalism, we seem to know less about the rest of the world, Iyer said Wednesday to an audience of about 200 as the guest of the Register Book Club. Most people dont have a passport. Lack of curiosity is the most dangerous thing I see. Iyer is in Orange County for his yearly pilgrimage to Chapman University, where he is a presidential fellow. During his week at Chapman, Iyer leads discussions about travel and avoiding distractions. He splits time between his home in Japan, where he has lived for 28 years on a tourist visa, and his parents home in Santa Barbara. His new book, The Art of Stillness, was the most recent Register Book Club selection. It is my job to take the reader by the hand on a shared adventure, Iyer said. Places have their own character just as people do. Wherever he goes, he considers himself an outsider, which gives him the proper perspective. He always sees places with fresh eyes. Iyer said he finds Orange County fascinating. He remembers spending an entire day at South Coast Plaza. That is one of the snazziest malls in the world, he said. He loved seeing the band U2 at Angel Stadium. And he remembers visiting Disneyland when he was 21 (he is now 59). One section of the park was especially unforgettable. I love the Country Bear Jamboree, he said, referencing an attraction that hasnt been open in years. As you would expect, Iyer made a keen observation. Its a Small World, he said, is not accurately named because the world is getting bigger every day. His favorite travel spots? He says he likes going to places that present difficulties. I love going to Japan because it is very hard to find your way, he said. There are no street signs. He doesnt feel like a Californian, even though he has spent so much time here over the years. He knows what its like to live through fire season. In the 1990s, his parents home burned to the ground. We were encircled by 70-foot flames, he said. I watched the fire pick apart my house. In that fire, he lost writing projects he had been working on for seven years. But I came out with my life, he said. All in all, Ive come out ahead. He learned that my home is a piece of my soul. It is my favorite song, my favorite book. When he lost all his notes, he decided to stop writing nonfiction and try his hand at a novel. The result was Cuba and the Night. I just made everything up, he said. Iyer told the Register audience that he isnt motivated by money. He is more motivated by time. We live, he said, in a vicious, accelerating cycle. A busy man is rarely happy, and rarely kind, he said. Thirty minutes of sitting still are more essential than 30 minutes in a health club. As noted environmental activist Denny Larson was being led on a tour outside the citys trash facility, he was hit by a particularly noxious waft of air. Whoa, Larson exclaimed. Welcome to Oak View, said Victor Valladares, a community activist from the neighborhood. The next day, Larson accompanied a preschool teacher and other residents to the Oak View Elementary and preschools adjacent to the Rainbow Environmental Services waste-transfer yard to wipe down playground equipment and take samples of soot that had accumulated overnight. It was just horrendous, Larson said. It was one of the worst Ive ever seen. For a man who has been involved in environmental justice for more than 30 years and been to dozens of communities and countries seeking polluters, thats saying something. Larson, executive director of the Community Science Institute, was recently featured on 60 Minutes for his investigation of hazardous levels of formaldehyde in flooring sold by Lumber Liquidators. He came to Huntington Beach Friday night to provide residents from the beleaguered Oak View neighborhood with tools and training in their on-going battle with Rainbow Environmental Services. Larson, an expert on community-based monitoring strategies and environmental justice, has helped communities across the country create so-called bucket brigades of volunteers to test and monitor areas near possible polluters. For years, Oak View residents and school officials have complained about nuisance odors, dust, pollution and other issues emanating from the dump as well as the dump operators failure to act on promises to enclose the facility. Last year, the South Coast Air Quality Management District ordered the company to make more than $10 million in improvements to alleviate the problems. While residents say the company did a good job of monitoring the facility and keeping down odors and dust in the immediate aftermath of the ruling, recently the odors and dust levels seem to have increased. Rainbow officials said they were unaware of complaints or the formation of the bucket brigade. They said the company sought to be a good neighbor and was expediting facility improvements, including enclosing operations and expanding dust and odor controls, according to spokesman Russ Knocke. On Friday night, about 12 residents gathered outside a local home for an air monitoring training session staged by the UC Irvine Environmental Law Clinic and the Oak View ComUNIDAD advocacy group and led by Larson. The community also received equipment to test air, dust and soil in areas adjacent to the 17.6-acre waste transfer facility at Nichols Lane and Warner Avenue. I think the techniques will be beneficial, said Oscar Rodriguez, a community activist. Weve never done this before. Its more for awareness. We dont know whats in the air. But if there still is stuff in the air, well catch it. The AQMD ordered a laundry list of improvements, including building and retrofitting structures to contain trash-related operations. However, those arent required until the end of 2017 and will not encompass the entire facility. Although AQMD inspectors respond when complaints are made in Oak View, the smells can abate depending on wind and other factors. With the bucket brigades, Larson said residents can react quickly and efficiently when the air is particularly foul. To monitor the neighborhood, residents were given plastic buckets, which are equipped with airtight bags for so-called grab sampling, with air pumped into negative pressure bags. We can test for 100 gases, Larson said. That includes 20 sulfur samples, responsible for the rotten egg smell residents occasionally report. The sealed bags are sent to laboratories for testing. Residents also learned how to establish chains of custody and field survey protocols, to ensure the accuracy of the sampling. Other tools are special wipes that can test for particulate matter, 40 kinds of heavy metals and other airborne dust that settles in the neighborhood and in the playground and schoolyard at Oak View elementary and preschools. Larson said the best way to catch potential polluters is to involve residents. This allows those most affected to gain the intelligence and the data they need to advocate for themselves, he said. They are their own experts. There are those who debunk the validity of the findings from bucket brigades. The group Energy In Depth, a pro-oil and gas drilling industry group, said bucket brigades use scientifically dubious methods. However, according the Larson, the buckets have recently been approved by the EPA as scientifically credible. Suma Peesapati, a visiting assistant professor and attorney with the Environmental Law Clinic at UC Irvine, first learned of the concerns of Oak View neighbors when she attended a rally and protests in October. I feel like I can smell it before I can see it, she said with a laugh about the facility. I say it with a laugh, but its no laughing matter to those who live there. She said numerous studies show that poor communities and communities of color bear the brunt of pollution and its adverse health effects. Oak View is a largely Latino and immigrant community. Theirs is the untold story, she said. Larson said the AQMD orders of abatement are a positive step and the community had done a good job advocating for itself. However, he said he was still concerned by the sheer size of the facility, the wide array of waste it treats and its proximity to the school and children. You may be able to argue how bad it is for the kids, he said. But its not good for them. You cant say that. NEW YORK As Democrats readied for their first debate-stage clash in a month, Florida officials declared Thursday they would not prosecute Donald Trumps campaign manager for misdemeanor battery, the latest extraordinary development in a turbulent presidential primary season now focused on New York. Trump joined other presidential contenders from both parties who hustled into New York City ahead of the states Tuesday presidential primaries, a critical test as both parties front-runners fight to beat back surging challengers. New conflicts flared between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders hours before the evening debate in Brooklyn as protesters clogged the Manhattan sidewalk outside a state GOP dinner where all three Republican White House hopefuls were scheduled to appear. Trump was the target of rowdy protesters who hung an effigy of the billionaire businessman and chanted, How do you spell racist? T-R-U-M-P. The raucous scene came shortly after Florida prosecutors dismissed a criminal complaint against Trumps campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, two weeks after local police charged him with grabbing a reporter. Florida state attorney Dave Aronberg declared police were right to charge Lewandowski, yet the burden on prosecutors to prove the case was higher. Although there was probable cause to make an arrest, the evidence cannot prove all legally required elements of the crime alleged and is insufficient to support a criminal prosecution, Aronberg said during an afternoon news conference. Lewandowski initially denied grabbing the reporter before video surveillance surfaced of the early March incident. Trump accused the reporter of exaggerating and changing her story. Prosecutors said Thursday that a simple apology might have avoided the criminal complaint. Lewandowski was gratified by the prosecutors decision, the campaign said in a brief statement declaring, The matter is now concluded. On the Democratic side, Sanders jabbed Clinton while courting black leaders before the debate as he outlined policy prescriptions for jobs, education and criminal justice. If you believe that those issues can be addressed by establishment politics and establishment economics, youve got a very good candidate to vote for but its not Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator declared. The Democratic race has become increasingly heated in New York including Sanders first questioning Clintons qualifications to be president and then reversing himself and the tensions were likely to spill onto the debate stage. Early Thursday, Sanders distanced himself from comments made by a surrogate the day before that voters shouldnt continue to elect corporate Democratic whores. Sanders said on Twitter that the comment was inappropriate and insensitive. Theres no room for language like that in our political discourse, he wrote. Jennifer Palmieri, the Clinton campaigns communications director, responded on Twitter that it was very distressing language to say the least. Front-runners Clinton and Trump hope New Yorks April 19 primaries can propel them past stubborn challengers and into the general election. Preference polls show Clinton and Trump leading their respective contests. Sanders, a Vermont senator who was born in Brooklyn, has been touting his local roots as he seeks to upset Clinton in New York. While he is on a winning streak in primaries and caucuses, he needs a big victory in the state to cut into Clintons delegate lead and slow her march to the nomination. Sanders broadened his attack on his partys front-runner in a new ad unveiled Thursday. Nothing will change until we elect candidates who reject Wall Street money, the narrator says. Trump, meanwhile, hopes New York marks an end to the worst period of his candidacy, a stretch that raised new questions about his policy abilities and revealed his campaigns lack of preparedness for a delegate fight if the GOP race heads to a contested convention. A big victory in New York could increase his chances of clinching the nomination before the convention. He dispatched aides to Capitol Hill Thursday in the first of what the campaign says will be a series of regular gatherings with lawmakers. Trump adviser Ed Brookover said after the meeting that the billionaire businessman was on a glide path to reaching the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination. At the same time, Cruz appeared to be courting the GOPs conservative base, a group that could hold great sway at the partys July national convention. The Texas senator said he supports the ability of North Carolina lawmakers to pass a law restricting bathroom access for gay and transgender people. The state has faced a national backlash from critics who say the law unfairly targets gay and lesbian people. Cruz said during taping of a MSNBC town hall in Buffalo that states can pass such laws because men should not be going to the bathroom with little girls. That is a perfectly reasonable determination for the people to make, he said. SANTA ANA Placentias finance services manager was charged Thursday with embezzling $4.3 million from the financially fragile city. Michael Minh Nguyen, 34, of Irvine faces 17 felony counts of misappropriation of public funds and is being held in the Orange County Jail in lieu of $4.3 million bail. Nguyen, the No. 2 in the citys Finance Department, had access to city accounts and kept Placentias financial ledgers. He was fully responsible for all wire transfers and was also the point of contact for the banks to verify the wire transfers, so it was like the fox guarding the henhouse, said Orange County Deputy District Attorney Marc Labreche. Nguyen appeared briefly Thursday in Orange County Superior Court, telling the judge he did not have money to pay for an attorney. He will be represented by the Public Defenders Office. Nguyen was placed on administrative leave Tuesday, arrested Wednesday night and fired Thursday morning, officials said. ALLEGED CRIME From April 22, 2015, to April 12, 2016, Nguyen is accused of making 17 wire transfers from a Placentia account to several accounts belonging to him and others. Prosecutors allege he wired more than $300,000 to a personal account on Monday. The next day, he is suspected of wiring another $1.5 million. Nguyen is accused of trying to conceal the embezzlement by altering the citys financial ledgers. Placentia officials learned of the alleged embezzlement on Tuesday, when the FBI alerted them to suspicious transfers from city accounts, Labreche said. The transfers on Monday and Tuesday totaled $1.85 million, authorities said. The District Attorneys Office is trying to determine if money was mishandled prior to April 2015 and whether anyone else was involved, Labreche said. With the FBIs help, Tuesdays $1.5 million transfer was frozen and the money returned to Placentia. A forensic auditor will be hired to conduct a comprehensive review of the citys internal controls, officials said. That leaves $2.8 million outstanding. Our focus is to make sure we can recover the missing funds and thats the next step of the investigation, said City Administrator Damien Arrula. We are working towards recovery. Arrula said the funds appear to have been taken from investment accounts, and the embezzling would have been noticed by others if statements werent doctored. The citys auditor wasnt able to detect problems. We just had a clean audit, Arrula said. Anything can happen in any organization where an employee has a lot of authority. BIG SURPRISE The allegations against Nguyen stunned those who worked with him. I was flabbergasted when I heard the name, Councilwoman Connie Underhill said. He is a nice young man. Its kind of like, who would have thought? Nguyen married in 2012, has a young child and was widely liked, colleagues said. A graduate of Valencia High School, he earned a B.A. in business administration from Cal State Fullerton in 2005 and joined Placentia as a senior accountant in 2008. He did well. Two years later, he was promoted to finance-services manager, and in April 2014, he was named the citys employee of the quarter. Mike has done an excellent job in serving Placentia, assisting with strong leadership and professional contributions in managing the citys financial resources, said the citys internal newsletter announcing the award. Mr. Nguyen has gained significant experience and consistently demonstrated high levels of proficiency over the last six-plus years of performing in all operational areas within the Finance Department. Nguyen earned $101,521 a year, according to state data. He served as Placentias interim finance director when his former boss departed for another job. His countless efforts during this transitional period were critical to the city and helped ensure that the Finance Departments operations were maintained at the highest level, the newsletter said. Mikes efforts and continued contributions have made him a tremendous asset to this agency. Councilman Scott Nelson said he felt blindsided. For the past year, Ive had two city treasurers get up every other meeting and tell me how good our cash situation is, tell us everything is OK, Nelson said. They work directly with the Finance Department. This is tremendously disappointing, especially for the taxpayers of Placentia. Prosecutors declined to discuss possible motives. But colleagues said Nguyens late father had financial difficulties. If convicted, Nguyen faces a maximum sentence of 29 years in state prison and a fine of $8.6 million. MONEY TROUBLES For years, the city of Placentia has teetered on the edge of fiscal disaster. In 2000, Placentia created OnTrac to orchestrate a multimillion-dollar push to relieve traffic clogs at 11 rail crossings and silence dead-of-night train whistles. OnTrac was supposed to be a regional project to sink five miles of tracks into a trench, but OnTrac had trouble persuading its neighbors to join. In the end, OnTrac sucked down $54.4 million, forced Placentia to borrow heavily, and resulted in conflict-of-interest charges for several former city officials. The Great Recession, which led to slumping sales-tax revenues and flat property-tax revenues, hurt, too. Before OnTracs troubles, the city had $13 million in reserves but that had virtually disappeared, an official told the Register in December. Property was sold and employees laid off. Even so, the city is projecting a $6.1 million deficit for 2017-18 which means that Placentia needs to raise that total per year just to keep services at current, scaled-back levels. Officials are considering proposing a sales-tax hike. Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 or sschwebke@ocregister.com Twitter: @thechalkoutline Schoolyard-style chaos descended on Iraqs parliament on Wednesday as lawmakers scuffled and threw water bottles at one another amid a political crisis that is destabilizing the country. In a day of bickering and brawls in Baghdad, more than 100 parliament members signed a petition calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, President Fuad Masum and the speaker of parliament, Salim al-Jabouri, lawmakers said. About the same number are staging a sit-in in the parliament building. In reaction, Jabouri said he was looking to dissolve the assembly, raising the prospect of early elections. The move would give a new generation of lawmakers the ability to bring about reform, said his spokesman, Emadal-Khafai. The fighting marked the escalation of a crisis that has been building since last summer, when Iraqis took to the streets to protest graft and government waste, piling pressure on Abadi whose attempts at reform have been abortive, stymied by political rivals. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has further stirred the street in recent months, calling for a new cabinet of technocrats and drawing out hundreds of thousands to demonstrate. Abadi is facing a multitude of challenges as the government attempts to win back territory from the Islamic State. The country is also seeking financial bailouts as it grapples with plunging oil prices. Demonstrators protested in Baghdad, Basra and other towns in southern Iraq on Wednesday. The unrest in the capital has triggered some units in the battle against the Islamic State to be called back from the front lines to keep the peace. Abadis attempts at an overhaul in order to appease Iraqis have so far run into opposition. A session called to vote on his reshuffled cabinet was delayed on Tuesday amid similar scenes of chaos. The dispute in parliament on Wednesday began after Kurdish members of parliament said they had arrived at the days emergency session, which was called to vote on the new cabinet, to discover that other lawmakers had broken their name plates. We dont accept any insult like this, Alaa Talibani told parliament. Coming on the eve of the day of remembrance for Kurds killed by Saddam Hussein in the Anfal campaign, you are insulting their blood, she said. The dispute later boiled over into a brawl involving Shiite and Kurdish members of parliament. Parliament can be abolished on the request of one third of its members, with the support of the majority. Elections should then be called within 60 days, according to the constitution. It remains unclear how Iraq could carry out fair elections when large parts of of the country are under Islamic State control. California has enacted a statewide $15 hourly minimum wage that begins to phase in next year, before taking full effect in 2022. The economic merits of such an increase are certainly in question, and according to the New York Times, even liberal economists worry about a potential loss of jobs in a number of cities. Indeed, even Gov. Jerry Brown went as far as to say at the signing ceremony that the fundamental economics of a minimum wage may not make sense. Nonetheless, the group claiming credit for the increase, the so-called Fight for $15 movement, is declaring victory, and the wage increase will surely be a major talking point in Fight for $15s next round of street theater demonstrations, set for today. There have been several rounds of these demonstrations over the past few years, particularly in cities like Los Angeles and Oakland. While they have generated a fair amount of media attention, they have been far less successful at producing actual striking workers, who are allegedly the backbone of the movement. Press releases trumpet the hundreds of cities that will see massive Fight for $15 protests, but outside of a few major cities, no more than a handful of demonstrators show up, and some targeted locations see no demonstrations at all. The reason for that is simple: Rather than being a genuine grass-roots uprising, the Fight for $15 movement is actually a front for the Service Employees International Union, which is engaged in a campaign to unionize the fast-food industry. Which leads to the question: is Californias wage increase really a win for the SEIU? From a pure political perspective, one might say yes. It demonstrates that unions have a lot of clout in Sacramento, which isnt exactly news. But when one remembers the slogan SEIUs demonstrators chant at their protests: $15 and a union, the answer becomes less clear. In fact, in the three years since SEIU began protesting outside fast food restaurants, not a single union representation petition has been filed at any of them. That matters, because these protests indeed, the whole Fight for $15 movement isnt free. Its costing the SEIU a lot of cash. According to financial reports filed with the Department of Labor, the SEIU has spent approximately $55 million of its members dues money on Fight for $15. Since it started spending, SEIUs membership has actually gone down, not up. SEIUs dues payers may be getting antsy about spending so much money on a campaign that has done nothing to increase the organizations bottom line. According to a report in Bloomberg, SEIU veterans worry about the continued outlay for minimum-wage protests on behalf of non-union workers in light of the decline in dues-paying memberships. Even a former SEIU president has said that the union cant just keep transferring revenue it makes from bargaining contracts to pay for its social justice work. After all, one must remember that unions are a business, funded by dues. Throwing more than $50 million out the door without a return on investment in terms of new members is clearly not a sustainable business practice. Theres more than a bit of irony in the SEIU pushing for a $15 minimum wage. Because the union actually agrees to contracts that pay workers far less than that. Indeed, a quick search online for SEIU bargaining agreements turns up many that pay as low as $9.75 cents an hour. Yet, this is described as a poverty wage in SEIUs political manifesto. The SEIU would undoubtedly claim that they negotiated the best wage they could in a particular industry or region, and that the market simply wouldnt bear more than that for certain jobs. Of course, that wouldnt make for a very catchy slogan. But Californias Legislature might have better served the state if they had noted that point. Glenn Spencer is vice president of the Workforce Freedom Initiative at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. To learn more, visit www.workforcefreedom.com. Theres a price and a steep out-of-pocket cost for failure along Americas public education pipeline. Annually, millions of college students who believe they have done everything right taken all required high school courses, received qualifying grades, passed high school exit exams, applied to public or private colleges and received acceptance letters. Then, they take college placement exams and discover that their chosen colleges require them to enroll in remediation courses, covering material typical of high school math or English composition, in order to meet college standards. College students who dont meet academic standards or cant pass a placement test must take these remediation courses to graduate. Generally, these courses dont count for college credit even though students pay college tuition or fees for them. According to a new report from Education Reform Now and Education Post, the price for remediation is steep: Students pay $1.5 billion a year to learn concepts they should have mastered in high school. Analyzing U.S. Department of Education data, the report found that 25 percent of college freshmen enrolling directly after high school must detour and enroll in college remedial classes. While low-income, minority students are often stereotyped as being unprepared for college, the report points to an expansive failure by American K-12 schools to prepare all types students for college. According to the report, almost half the students who enroll in remedial courses come from middle- and upper-income families. Students from all socioeconomic backgrounds are left footing the bill, including an estimated $380 million in student loan debt. The cost of a four-year college and accompanying spike in college loan debt is now a hot topic of debate, particularly in the Democratic presidential primary campaign. While 57 percent of students enrolled in remedial classes attend public community colleges, 43 percent attend four-year public or private colleges, two-year private programs or both for-profit and nonprofit schools. Wealthy students who enroll in remedial courses at private, nonprofit four-year universities take more remedial classes than low-income students. That trend suggests that private colleges may have an interest in maximizing their enrollment numbers and tuition dollars. Private colleges may be accepting more high-paying wealthy students, even when theyre less academically qualified than lower-income students. For example, freshmen pay an average $3,000 for remedial coursework in their first year at a state or public college, while students at private, nonprofit four-year institutions pay an extra $12,000. Exacerbating the issue may be the current teachers union advocacy for opting out of standardized testing, further shielding the public from obtaining a picture of the quality of high school instruction and the reality of college preparation. Students from all income backgrounds are suffering the consequences of mediocre high schools, including: At private colleges, underprepared students from the top income strata are typically spending an extra $12,000 to study things they should have learned in high school; Across all income groups, at all types of colleges, students are borrowing an extra $380 million a year to take high-school-level courses in the first year of college. Data show that students are 75 percent less likely to complete college if they have to take a remedial course. Some reformers have suggested eliminating college remedial programs completely, placing students directly in credit-bearing courses and providing enhanced tutoring services to support the underprepared. A better option might simply be ensuring accountability and effectiveness in grades K-12 and enabling transformations of underperforming schools. Simply passing underprepared students is not the answer. Sooner or later, the piper will be paid in students lives, lost opportunities and cold, hard dollars. Staff opinion columnist Gloria Romero is an education reformer and former Democratic state senator. TORONTO Canadas new assisted suicide law to be announced on Thursday will exclude non-Canadians, which means Americans wont be able to travel to Canada to die. A senior government official told The Associated Press late Wednesday the new law will exclude non-Canadians, precluding the prospect of suicide tourism from the U.S. and elsewhere. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details ahead of the Thursday morning announcement. The law will also will exclude those who experience mental illness or psychiatric conditions. It will also ban advance consent. That is, it wont allow requests to end ones life in the future. The Supreme Court last year struck down laws that bar doctors from helping someone die, but put the ruling on hold while the government came up with a new law. New Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus Liberal government asked for a four month extension to come up with the new law. Canadas justice minister is due to announce details on Thursday. Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, Germany, Albania, Colombia, Japan and in the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico and Montana. The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg allow doctors, under strict conditions, to euthanize patients whose medical conditions have been judged hopeless and who are in great pain. Canadas Supreme Court declared last year that outlawing that option deprives dying people of their dignity and autonomy. It had been illegal in Canada to counsel, aid or abet a suicide, an offense carrying a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. Last years ruling immediately triggered emotional responses from both sides of the debate. The decision was spurred by cases brought by the families of two British Columbia women, who have since died. The decision reversed a Canadian Supreme Court ruling in 1993. At the time, the justices were primarily concerned that vulnerable people could not be properly protected under physician-assisted suicide. But the top court said last year that doctors are capable of assessing the competence of patients to consent, and found there is no evidence that the elderly or people with disabilities are vulnerable to being talked into ending their lives. It has been more than 20 years since the case of another patient with Lou Gehrigs disease, Sue Rodriguez, gripped Canada as she fought for the right to assisted suicide. She lost her appeal but took her own life with the help of an anonymous doctor in 1994, at the age of 44. DAMASCUS, Syria A top Syrian official urged the opposition to let go of its dream of easing President Bashar Assad out of power in a transitional government, complicating peace talks that resumed Wednesday in Geneva on ending the five-year civil war. As Syrians voted in parliamentary elections in government-held parts of the country balloting the opposition dismissed as a sham Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told The Associated Press that a transitional government amounts to a coup detat and will never be accepted. A transitional government is the centerpiece of the peace program that the United States, Russia and other world powers agreed on at a 2012 Geneva Conference. The terms have been left vague intentionally and are supposed to be worked out in the peace talks, but the presumption, at least in the oppositions mind, is that a transitional government means one without Assad. This will not happen, not now, nor tomorrow nor ever, Mekdad said, speaking at his office in Damascus ahead of the resumption of the indirect talks in Geneva that the U.N. envoy says will focus on a political transition. Assad recently floated the idea of a national unity government, rejecting the oppositions demand for a transitional ruling body, and Mekdad echoed the rejection. We believe such an idea has failed, it is outdated, it will never be acceptable. This amounts in fact to a coup detat. People organize a certain rebellion and then they get power. This will never happen in Syria, he said. He said most of the world except Saudi Arabia and Turkey the two top backers of the rebellion have all but relinquished calls for Assad to step down, having realized after five years of war that the president is fighting terrorists in Syria. We believe that if we have to proceed, then we need to forget or we need others to forget the dreams they had for the last five years and to come with factual, actual solutions to the problem, he said. This includes the possibility of establishing a national unity government or a broad government that includes members of the opposition. But in Geneva, U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told reporters that his recent visits to Iran, Russia and Syria led him to believe that those countries were supportive to what we are trying to do in terms of a political transition. There was no doubt on that. From Moscow to Tehran, even to Damascus, (they) agreed with the fact that this is the agenda, he said. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he spoke to de Mistura about the talks and urged all participants to adhere to the cessation of hostilities. There is an opportunity in these days ahead to be able to negotiate transition according to Geneva Communique of 2012, which is precisely what they say they want, Kerry told reporters in Washington. The Iranians have signed up to it, the Russians have signed up to it. The Turks, the Qataris, the Saudis, the Emiratis, most of the European countries, all of the countries that are part of the International Syrian Support Group. Aided by Russian air power, the Syrian army and allied militiamen have reversed the tide of the war in recent months, making rapid advances against its opponents. Syria also has benefited from a U.S.- and Russian-engineered partial cease-fire, which has allowed it to focus on fighting extremists like the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front, which are excluded from the truce agreement. The new 250-member parliament being chosen Wednesday is expected to serve as a rubber stamp for Assad. Western leaders and members of Syrias opposition have denounced the election as illegitimate and a provocation that undermines the peace talks. After casting his vote with his wife, Asma, Assad said the election was one way to defy the terrorists the term he uses to describe Syrias armed opposition. Parliamentary elections in Syria are held every four years, and Damascus says the vote is constitutional and separate from the Geneva talks. But the opposition says the voting contributes to an unfavorable climate for negotiations. Britain said Damascus decision to go ahead with the elections in the war-torn nation, where hundreds of thousands cannot take part, shows how divorced (the government) is from reality. Germany said it would not accept the results of the vote. Assads main ally, Russia, welcomed the vote, calling it necessary to prevent a power vacuum in Syria until a new constitution and elections are agreed upon in the peace talks. In the tightly-controlled Syrian capital, voters said they fully supported holding the elections. My vote is like a bullet to our enemies. I am here to continue the ongoing resistance since five years. I am here to support the Syrian Arab Army, said 18-year high school student Yazan Fahes, holding up an ink-stained finger. Most voters said they were mostly concerned about skyrocketing prices rather than security, which has become less of a concern in the capital since the cease-fire. Marah Hammoud, a 21-year-old journalism student from the central city of Homs, said it was important at this moment in Syria for people to choose their representatives. We want elected officials who care about the people, who can help end this war and control prices, she said. We live on this hope. The balloting, in which soldiers are being allowed to vote for the first time, was carried out only in areas under government control. Voting stations were set up in 12 of Syrias 14 provinces. The northern province of Raqqa is controlled by the Islamic State group, and the northwestern province of Idlib is controlled by its rival, the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, as well as other insurgents. The government has no presence in either province. While some parts of Damascus had sizable turnout, other less-secure areas on the outskirts of the capital and on the edge of rebel-held suburbs saw fewer people vote. In Tadamon, outside the Palestinian refugee camps of Yarmouk, which is largely under IS control, people were hesitant to vote, and polling centers were nearly empty for most of the morning despite the military presence. Polls were to close at midnight, after they were extended for five hours because of high turnout, according to state TV. Results were expected Thursday. As the Geneva talks resumed, de Mistura said the recent fighting in Syria amounted to incidents, and not a bush fire. He said the fragile cease-fire was holding despite a recent deterioration in some areas, and he vowed to press ahead with his efforts despite the messages coming from the Damascus government. De Mistura said he hopes to go deeper and deeper toward reaching a deal on political transition in Syria his ultimate goal. He hosted a delegation from the main opposition group, the High Negotiations Committee. A delegation from Assads government is expected to arrive Friday. The two sides do not negotiate directly in the proximity talks; instead, de Mistura meets with each side separately and shuttles between them. In Turkey, a local news agency said shells fired from Syria hit a southern Turkish area Wednesday, the fourth such cross-border incident in less than a week. The private Dogan news agency said the shells struck two areas of the city center of Kilis, causing panic despite hitting vacant land and causing no casualties. Turkey routinely retaliates after rockets or shells land on its territory. MOSCOW The speaker of the Ukrainian parliament was elected the countrys new prime minister Thursday in a vote that the government hopes will end a months-long political crisis but which reformers say gives Ukraines oligarchs a free hand in running the country. In recent months, political tensions have risen in Ukraine and some respected reformers have resigned, citing disenchantment with the governments cronyism and entrenched corruption. The Supreme Rada on Thursday voted 257-50 in favor of Volodymyr Groysman, a compromise choice nominated by President Petro Poroshenko after his apparent first choice, U.S.-born Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, was rejected by the governing coalition. The new prime minister and the cabinet will help to bring the government out of a months-long lethargy, Kiev-based analyst Vadim Karasyov said. Jaresko had been lauded as a West-friendly reformist untainted by Ukraines rampant cronyism and corruption. She helped to negotiate a deal to restructure Ukraines $15 billion debt and has been negotiating a bailout with the International Monetary Fund, but lost her post later Thursday when Groysman announced his new Cabinet. Ukraines outgoing prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, resigned this week after weeks of pressure for him to step down. Yatsenyuks cabinet survived a no-confidence vote in February, but two parties left the governing coalition to protest the failure to oust the prime minister, who was under fire over the worsening economy and the slow pace of reforms. Groysman, however, kept several ministers from Yatsenyuks government who have faced accusations of corruption and cronyism, including Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. In Groysmans acceptance speech, which was greeted by shouts and a murmur of discontent, the new prime minister said Ukraine faces three major challenges: corruption, poor governance and a populism that he described as a no less threat than the enemy in the east. Fighting between Russia-backed separatists and government troops in eastern Ukraine has claimed more than 9,100 lives since April 2014, and a political settlement remains a dim prospect. Oleh Lyashko, leader of the right-wing Radical Party that left the coalition earlier this year, dismissed Thursdays vote as an oligarchs coup to secure their vested interests. Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister and a leading figure behind Ukraines 2005 democratic revolution, announced that her party will oppose the new government. After a crushing defeat in the 2014 presidential vote, Tymoshenko largely disappeared from public view before being elected into parliament later that year. The latest opinion polls show Tymoshenko as the nations second-favorite politician, gaining ground on Poroshenko. In Germany, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier lauded Groysmans appointment as a chance to end the phase of political uncertainty in Kiev. He urged the government to speed up the pace of reform, saying that Ukraine has no time to lose. Ukraines gross domestic product fell a staggering 10 percent last year after a recession a year before. The Ukrainian economy is expected to return to a moderate growth this year but the country needs to persuade Western donors to unfreeze the transfer of $10 billion in loans. Karmanau reported from Minsk, Belarus. David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report. Southern California Gas Co.s plan to fully deploy a network of upgraded gas meters faces hurdles in some parts of Orange County as local officials assert they have the authority to approve where pole-mounted wireless transmitting units should go and how they should look, the Register has learned. Municipalities including Laguna Beach and Newport Beach have been involved in lengthy talks with SoCalGas over the setup of poles and antennas that collect data from advanced meters at homes and most businesses and send the data to the gas company. Cities across Southern California are in various stages of shifting to the advanced meter networks, which eventually are expected to eliminate the need for human meter readers. SoCalGas is still in the process of obtaining permits to install network units in Laguna Beach and Newport Beach. Buena Park has had the technology since late 2012. The network also has been set up in Irvine, but some recent installations were needed to fill gaps in the coverage. The systems in Seal Beach and Huntington Beach are works in progress. The local permitting challenges are the latest bump to emerge in the gas companys massive effort to upgrade millions of old analog meters and phase out the process of sending workers through neighborhoods to read the units manually. Over the last six years, SoCalGas personnel assigned to meter reading have been reduced from more than 1,000 to about 70, company figures show. The meter upgrades, which began in late 2012, drew opposition from a major watchdog group and the utility workers union after they were proposed eight years ago. And more recently, customers complained about big hikes in bills in January and February that some suspect may be tied to the meter changes. The company said the large bills were primarily due to cold weather that required more indoor heating. SoCalGas says that the advanced meters which, in most cases, are attachments or modules added to existing meters are highly accurate and cost-effective, and that their roll out has been a success. The company says it is 80 percent complete with the installation of advanced-meter modules in Orange County. But company officials also have said that recent changes in meter-reading schedules, in part related to the transition to the upgraded meters, resulted in longer billing cycles for some customers and larger bills. Customer bills are always reconciled and customers are not billed for more gas than theyve used, said Melissa Bailey, a SoCalGas spokeswoman, in an email. If one billing cycle was longer, than another one will be shorter. In recent weeks, several customers told the Register that theyve received corrected bills after gas company representatives told them their usage had been estimated some for as long as six consecutive billing cycles. Some customers said they were told the estimates were because of a shortage of meter readers, while others said they were not given any explanation. The company has noted estimates of usage for billing purposes are permitted at times under state regulations. Jerry Acosta, a spokesman for the Utility Workers Union of America, which represents meter readers, said he is not aware of any personnel shortages. Bailey, of SoCalGas, said there are enough meter readers to handle areas that are without a fully deployed, advanced-meter network, as well as customers who opt out of the program. However, a Feb. 26 report filed by SoCalGas with the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates the company, hinted at a link between possible delays in getting local permits for transmitting equipment and the continuing need to maintain meter readers. The gas company indicated in the report that as many as 245 of its planned 4,600 data collection units havent been installed because some municipalities are requiring the utility to obtain permits. SoCalGas has claimed it is essentially exempt from obtaining local permission to install its data collection sites because the company is regulated by the state utilities commission, according to the report and what some local city officials say theyve have been told by the gas company. If these municipalities continue to assert their current positions, they will considerably delay or prevent the network installation timeline, for the roughly 245 network sites, according to the report. That means SoCalGas will likely have to maintain certain functions including manual meter reading and related billing systems for far longer than was anticipated, the report says, which would negatively impact expected operational benefits. Among the benefits the system offers are operational cost savings and environmental benefits from removing 1,000 vehicles used by meter readers traveling nearly 7 million miles a year from the streets, Bailey said. The upgraded meters also are considered more accurate and eliminate potential for human error in reading the meters, she added. The SoCalGas report warns of potential problems in completing the state-approved system if local agencies are allowed to determine where data collection units can go and how they look. This discretionary permitting process, the report says. would effectively give a municipality the unilateral right to significantly modify the planned location or design of the DCUs and even preclude the installation of DCUs by the utility. Utilities commission spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said in an email that SoCalGas interpretation of the permitting situation is correct but offered no specifics. Several Orange County cities including Laguna Beach have remained firm in defending their permitting prerogatives. The states utilities commission approval of SoCalGas advanced-meter project didnt take away local jurisdictions, cities discretion for regulating time, place and manner, referring to the proposed transmission sites, said Scott Drapkin, Laguna Beachs principal planner. Gas company officials have been working with city officials there for more than a year to place roughly 20 wireless transmitting units around the city. City officials have been concerned the installations will interfere with ocean and canyon views. Generally, new poles can be 24 feet or higher, with a data-collection unit, antennas and a solar panel up top, according to some permit applications filed by the gas company. In some instances, data collection units and antennas are mounted on existing light poles, without solar panels an option cities tend to prefer because they arent as bulky. The number of meters transmitting to a single data collection unit varies, but on average, there are about 1,300 meters for every unit, the gas companys Bailey said. The proposed units in Laguna Beach would be mounted on new and existing poles, Drapkin said in an email. But city officials are seeking the least intrusive installation, designs and locations, he said. In Newport Beach, gas company officials felt they didnt have to go through a review process when discussions began two years ago, said Jim Campbell, the citys principal planner. After some healthy disagreement, both sides agreed that transmitting units can be mounted on streetlights, which helps reduce scale, Campbell said. SoCalGas has submitted permit applications for about 20 of its 30 proposed wireless sites, the city says. And its possible most permits will be issued within the next month to allow installation to begin. Bailey, the gas company spokeswoman, said in a prepared statement that since the start of the advanced-meter roll out the gas company has worked collaboratively with all jurisdictions in our service territory to receive the necessary permits for installations of our communications network/Data Collection units. The city of Irvine has worked with the gas company to locate the best locations for the wireless units, said city spokeswoman Kim Mohr, in an email. After complaints about a couple of sites, SoCalGas worked quickly to relocate the units, she added. SoCalGas received slightly more than 220 complaints and questions after installing more than 3,400 data-collection sites across its service area, according to the companys Feb. 26 report. Complaints touched on aesthetics, glare or location. Contact the writer: lleung@ocregister.com 30 years of dedicated service have finally paid off for Kifleab Tekle, a retiring security guard at an elite all-girls school in Dallas. While most people in his position would retire quietly, hes going out with a bang a $185,000 check gifted to him by members of the schools alumnae. When they first got to know of Tekles retirement, many of the staff members and former students of Hockaday School started reminiscing over his unwavering service to the school and a few members of the class of 2005 even decided to raise $2,000 for him as a small token of their appreciation. So they started a GoFundMe campaign, which got so popular that it surpassed the original goal in no time at all. We know how much Kief means to everyone! the campaign page reads. It wasnt an April fools joke, he is really retiring. We would love to collect money for a retirement gift for him. We are so excited that alumnae, current students, and parents are all donating. The original plan was to hold a private meeting with Kief in the school grounds on Monday, April 11, and present him with whatever money they had managed to raise. But the amount turned out to exceed everyones expectations a whopping $185,000. Kief was obviously beside himself, not only because of the generous gift, but also the fact that over 200 people turned up on Monday to wish him well. I was not expecting such a big farewell, he said, in a statement. It means stability for my family. The event was an emotional one for everyone in attendance, with former students recalling that he was their very own Hagrid remembering every students name and protecting them fiercely. In fact, he even broke his arm once, while chasing an intruder away from the campus. When someone as pivotal in the community as Kief announces his retirement, its breathtaking, but not entirely surprising the entire community has rallied like this, said Amy Patrick, who graduated in 2000. He kept us safe. And he fought for safety. The Dallas Morning News reported that Tekle was born to a rich family in Ethiopia, and grew up in an eight-bedroom villa. But his family lost their fortune with the fall of the monarchy in the 1970s. He moved to the US in 1986, and soon started working at Hockaday, an elite school with powerful alumnae, including former US President George W Bushs daughters. Tekle considered the opportunity his first real job, giving it his best shot. For 30 years, Kief was the emperor of the parking lot and carpool, and for all those years, Kief has been the heart and soul of Hockaday, said Headmistress Liza Lee. He has given us lessons in grace, lessons in courtesy, and lessons in love. GoFundMe Campaign Page The Wi-Fi Now 2016 conference April 19-21 in Tysons Corner, Va., after giving ODwyers press credentials, has withdrawn them after being told ODwyers would raise health issues related to Wi-Fi, cellphones and other radiation sources. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Photo: ITU/ M.Mouton The press boycott poses a problem for Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, who is to give a Fireside Chat Thursday, April 21 from 11 to 11:30 a.m. at the Sheraton Tysons Corner Hotel. Claus Hetting, of Hetting Consulting, Denmark, chair of the conference, has told ODwyers that discussion of health issues related to Wi-Fi is barred from the conference. Barred are presentations by any electromagnetic radiation health advocates. Such a boycott should not be allowed in America. An ODwyer staffer should be able to cover the Rosenworcel talk and ask questions. Wired Health Now 2016 Is Set Having been shut out of the worlds first Wi-Fi conference, health advocates have created Wired Health Now 2016 which will run in cyberspace on the same three days as Wi-Fi Now on the ODwyer website. Dozens of participants have been lined up who have already submitted texts that have links to scientific studies, YouTubes, testimony to government groups, etc. Technicians who have measured radiation levels in New York City apartments will present their findings. Topics will include actions by citizens groups demanding removal of Wi-Fi from classrooms and libraries; actions by government bodies in the U.K., France, Canada, Russia, Israel and other countries limiting use of Wi-Fi and warning about the dangers they present; lawsuits asking for monetary damages because of Wi-Fi; citizens groups protesting plans by Google and others to blanket the earth with Wi-Fi emitting radiation; use of wireless smart utility meters, and coverage of the failure of mainstream media to pay much attention to health issues and Wi-Fi, cellphones, cell towers, and other sources of radiation. A committee of Wired Health Now 2016 will target boards of PR groups whose memberships are largely women and whose boards are dominated by women, seeking to have them put the interests of children, babies and fetuses ahead of any political concerns of the groups. This includes the 22,000 member PR Society of America, which is nearly 80% female and whose 17-member board includes 11 women; the 1,200-member D.C. chapter of PRSA whose 16-member board includes 11 women, and the NYC chapter, whose 24-member board includes 14 women. Help of Commissioner Rosenworcel Sought Wired Health Now 2016 committee members will reach out to Commissioner Rosenworcel, who has put special emphasis on children having access to the web. She has been called an outspoken advocate for families and students unable to access the internet after school hours for homework. She has supported the Digital Learning Equity Act that has been placed before the House of Representatives. She is an outspoken proponent of pushing forward on 5G. the next generation of Wi-Fi technology. Critics say 5G poses new and more dangerous threats to users. However, Rosenworcel has never been quoted saying that caution must be used by children with cellphones and computers. EMF health advocates say cellphones should never be pressed to an ear, that laptop computers should never be placed on a lap, that cellphones should never be carried in pockets and that computers should have Ethernet wires, a wired mouse, and a wired keyboard, among other precautions. An email has been sent by ODwyers to Rosenworcel asking for her thoughts on charges that cellphones and computers are health hazards as well as communications aids. Telephone calls and emails have also been sent to PR staffers at the FCC. Thus far there has been no response from Rosenworcel or the PR staffers. Ryan Cohn While every company needs a social media crisis plan, that plan must be a living, breathing document that provides the opportunity for flexibility amid constant change in a crisis. If the plan is not appropriately flexible, it will fail to keep up with the constant twists and turns that come with any crisis. As Rachael Rensink, Manager of Social Marketing Strategy and Engagement at Delta Air Lines, explained, Do not create a plan and put it on the shelf until you really need it. Plan, test, practice, evaluate, re-test, re-evaluate, evolve, etc. Social media changes and evolves so quickly, and you need to evolve with it. This is not a situation where one size fits all, and one plan fits all. Is your company growing its social footprint? Is it growing its social staffing? Your plan needs to grow with it. Practice, practice, practice Its one thing to write a crisis plan, but another entirely to live it. Implementing a social media plan in the midst of a major emergency requires a clear definition of roles, alternative plans, and trained support options. Rensink explained how social media fits into the mix during a potential crisis at Delta. Social follows what is determined by the crisis coordinator during the event. Our social teams are there to not only execute the plan, but to help develop copy that is socially appropriate, by channel/community, and also to advise on what the current social conversations are, where they are, and what we might need to address. I cannot express enough how critical coordination is with all teams involved and that social is just one of the pieces of an effective crisis communications plan. In other words, during a crisis, social media must be tightly integrated with every other aspect of the response. Rather than being siloed from other elements of the crisis response, social media works in close conjunction with those elements. The reality is that crises are rarely short-term events. While the actual on-the-ground emergency may be over after a few hours, the crisis online may continue far longer. Thats the nature of social media. Discussion and analysis of an event continue long after the event has concluded. Social media teams must be prepared and ready to jump into action. You want to have backups and secondaries, and frankly you want to have people who can give other people relief, said Morgan Johnston, Manager of Corporate Communication and Social Media Strategist at JetBlue Airways. A crisis isnt going to only occur during normal business hours. You need to plan for an emergency response that can last for days, weeks or even months. So the question becomes, how do you relieve people so they can get some rest and be able to function properly? Listen first, talk second The power of social media as a listening and monitoring platform provides a variety of new ways to verify reports and take action promptly. Conversations are happening in real-time, with events being reported in a matter of moments instead of hours. A prime example is the earthquake that happened in Mineral, Virginia in 2011. The quake was being reported on Twitter 30 seconds before it was even felt in Washington, D.C., several miles away. Conversations and reporting happen at lightning speed on social media, and crisis response teams must be tuned in to those conversations. Before social media, it sometimes took up to an hour to even confirm that one of your planes was involved, said Johnston. Now with social media and the kind of real-time reporting thats happening, you see 14 different photos and 14 different angles of roughly the same scene, and you suddenly start feeling pretty confident that the flight is yours. As a crisis begins to unfold, social media teams must attentively monitor the online conversation to determine what is actually happening on the ground. Go all-in on engagement Social media, while vital for listening, can be even more powerful for framing and distributing your own news. According to Steven Frischling, a travel social media consultant, Social is the first place you have to go. You need to say the incident occurred and that you are gathering information and will keep the public updated. Then, every ten minutes, even if you have nothing new, you keep saying, Were still looking into it. All that matters is that youre on it, and as soon as you have something new to release, you release it. Its essential to understand that if you dont frame the news, someone else will. Social media gives everyone a voice during a crisis. If your voice isnt the clearest, youll quickly be drowned out by the noise. But where exactly should you distribute your message when everything is on the line and you dont have a second to spare? JetBlues Johnston pointed to a path out of the confusion. The difficult thing with having multiple channels is that there are multiple places where people think they need to go for the most up-to-date information. What you really want to do in a crisis scenario is limit the amount of places that people think they need to look. If you can centralize the information and use all the different channels to point to that central database of information, youre more likely to have your message delivered. Establishing the #hashtag Create your own hashtag, suggested Frischling. If you own the hashtag and immediately make it the primary hashtag, youll get the media using it, too. If someone is looking for info about your crisis and they see you use a specific hashtag, thats it. Everyone will come to you because youre using the hashtag and you now own that conversation. You can use that hashtag to track the conversation, know whats being said incorrectly and start correcting it as fast as you can. With most crises, misinformation runs rampant in the first 30 minutes. By using hashtags and getting out in front of the conversation, you have the ability to shape what is being said. According to Johnston, Hashtags help facilitate some alignment on the conversation so everyones paying attention to the same sort of thing. Were more likely to be able to insert the proper resources so that, as we verify information, its visible. Crisis communication has changed by leaps and bounds in the last several years. Today, the initial news announcement frequently comes from a participant or onlooker at the scene, followed by mainstream news outlets. Brands in crisis must be as truthful and transparent as possible. Thanks to todays technology, everyone is an amateur investigative reporter with the resources to find the truth, often before the brand owner even knows it. * * * Ryan Cohn is Vice President of Social/Digital at Sachs Media Group. After a long, tireless off-season preparing for the 2016 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season, Broc Tickle didnt exactly get off to the start he had hoped. Tickle only made two starts before breaking his wrist prior to the second Anaheim round earlier this year. It was bad timing, but sometimes an injury is a blessing in disguise, he said. Sometimes we get so focused on riding and training and doing all of this other stuff that we kind of get into that mode where were just doing it over and over but dont have a purpose. I feel like Ive regained that purpose now that Ive been on the couch and have kind of regrouped a bit. His hard work in the off-season didnt quite pay off on the track those first two races, but Tickle still feels good things are to come. In fact, even though his injury was in January, Tickle returned to action this past weekend in Indianapolis where he finished 14th in the 450 main event. Of course he would have preferred a podium finish, but making the main in his first race back is impressive nonetheless. Aside from keeping himself in shape and rehabbing his injury, Tickle made the most of his downtime by getting his truck a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 with factory aluminum suspension in order. Originally from the East Coast, when Tickle first came out west he saw quite a few lifted trucks in Southern California, although he didnt exactly embrace the style at first. After a negative experience with his 2007 Silverado due to a bad suspension setup that caused quite a few headaches, he changed his tune a bit. I had an 07 Silverado and it had a big lift and small tires, and I just ran into so many problems with that, he said. The off road look grew on me when I moved out here. Obviously there are off-road trucks and lifted trucks everywhere, so for me it kind of grew on me but I wasnt a fan at first. Tickle started out with a leveling kit on his new Silverado but didnt care for how the truck handled overall, so he turned to SoCal SuperTrucks in San Bernardino, California, to help him come up with a better gameplan. As I sold that old truck and got my new one, SoCal SuperTrucks helped lead me in that path, and Im stoked on it, he said. Its good for the track, its good for everyday driving, and I feel like my setup is a good all-around package thats not too crazy but itll get the job done. Although Tickles truck is still pretty trick (say that three times fast), it certainly isnt fitted with an abundance of upgrades. Instead, this collection of parts provides lift, improved suspension performance and a customized look without breaking the bank. One of the key components SoCal SuperTrucks added to the truck is a set of new Fox Shox, its new 2.5 Performance Series coilover shock with remote reservoir and DSC. Fox has offered a 2.5 coilover for quite some time now (in fact, we added some to our a 2012 Tundra a few years back), and these coilovers are a great option for many enthusiasts because they allow the truck to achieve up to 3 inches of lift to level the front end without needing a complete suspension lift kit. The shocks were born of Foxs off-road racing R&D and are still used in many race applications today, and thats why the remote reservoirs comes in handy since they provide added suspension oil volume to help keep the temperatures down to reduce fade in performance during extreme use. Fox also updated the Performance Series reservoirs to a black-anodized body for a clean look that also holds up to the elements over time. So in effect, these shocks provide lift and a big improvement in performance all in one package. To complement the Fox DSC remote-reservoir coilovers up front, SoCal SuperTrucks also swapped out the rear shocks for Foxs DSC piggyback shocks as well. The biggest difference between this newer version of the 2.5 Performance Series shock compared to the one we installed a few years back is it features what Fox calls a DSC dial, or Dual Speed Compression. The DSC system consists of two dials atop the reservoir that offer easy adjustment of both low- and high-speed compression via a twist knob on top of the reservoir, making it fairly simple to find that ideal suspension performance without needing to break out the tool box. Although the Fox 2.5 DSC coilovers are pretty much a direct stock replacement, to function properly they do require the replacement of the Silverados stock upper control arms on the front suspension. Fortunately SoCal SuperTrucks didnt have to look much farther than nearby off-road fabrication shop Total Chaos in Corona, a company fabricating off-road parts for enthusiasts and racers for more than 16 years. Total Chaos isnt run by a bunch of poseurs either, as owner Nicole Pitell-Vaughan recently finished second at the 2016 running of the all-female off-road race the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles. Total Chaos has traditionally been known for specializing in Toyota parts, but it actually offers a wide variety of suspension options for just about every modern truck out there and a few overseas models as well. The reason the Total Chaos UCAs are so important to pair with the Fox coilovers is simple: they allow for up to an additional two inches of wheel travel compared to the stock arms, allowing the Silverado to actually take advantage of the additional travel the 2.5 Fox DSC coilovers provide. The bolt-on UCAs feature a larger-than-stock 1-inch uniball for additional strength and improved travel. Urethane bushings are used instead of the stock control arms rubber bushings to reduce deflection and improve performance. The control arm pivots thoughtfully feature zerk fittings that allow for greasing of the bushings and inner sleeves without needing to disassemble the part. To finish the look, the UCAs feature a two-stage powder coat complete with a clear coat to help withstand off-road abuse. With new Fox shox both front and rear and Total Chaos UCAs fitted up front, Tickle then swapped out the stock wheels for a set of 20x9 KMC XD Series Grenade wheels. Since hell be hitting the dirt from time to time, SoCal SuperTrucks suggested a set of 305/55R20 Toyo Open Country ATII tires, a solid all-terrain tire that offers off-road performance but still retains great on-road handling characteristics. The increased height of the truck affords plenty of additional space for the larger 33-inch tires. The final piece of the puzzle for Tickles truck is purely cosmetic, as he simply didnt like the chrome and wanted it gone. SoCal SuperTrucks went to work stripping the chrome off of the front and rear bumpers and then painting them to match the trucks color. The grille, inserts and Chevy bowtie also received the same treatment. The door handles and mirror caps were also color-matched, while the moldings and badges all around the truck were removed for a clean finish. A lot of people have looked at my truck and like the package, Tickle said. I know some of my friends arent big fans of chrome, and Casey Coughlin at SoCal SuperTrucks helped me get that cleaned up. Looks aside, Tickles very happy with how the truck performs. For me, Im stoked on my whole setup, Tickle said. I appreciate everyone who helped out with the truck, and honestly I think well bring a little business to Fox, Total Chaos and SoCal SuperTrucks because I already have friends looking at my truck and wanting to get their vehicles done. Tickle also has the benefit of experience on his side, as his truck was first equipped with a leveling kit that allowed him to do a back-to-back comparison of the difference between that setup and the upgrade he made at SoCal SuperTrucks. My truck honestly drives a lot better than when I just had a leveling kit on it, he said. I know the Fox shocks are a little bit spendy for the average person, but I think its something thats worth the money in the long run Tickle wasted no time testing out his truck when it was finished. There are some fire roads over by my house, and even the first day I got it back I went out and rode on some of the roads Ive been on before and it really does handle a lot better, he said. The front end feels planted, and even on the highway the whole truck feels more secure and stable, and honestly even plusher, and thats a win-win for me, so I was stoked as soon as I picked up the truck and took it home. Most might be surprised to know that the Supercross racer has very little four-wheel off-road experience, but part of the reason he wanted to upgrade his truck was so he could explore the desert more and enjoy four-wheeled off-roading. Now that hes back on the bike, hell be looking to put a few solid finishes under his belt before the Supercross season wraps up and he looks ahead to the outdoor season. Now that he has his truck, he can venture out to the desert or the mountains anytime and know hell be able to tackle the terrain with confidence. CONTACTS Fox Shox 800-Fox-Shox RideFox.com KMC Wheels KMCwheels.com SoCal SuperTrucks 909/383-5454 SoCalSuperTrucks.com Total Chaos Fabrication 951/737-9682 chaosfab.com Toyo Tires ToyoTires.com Loading... OilVoice will be with you shortly... FREMONT Supporters of a proposed chicken-processing plant took a new tack Wednesday, organizing themselves to speak in favor of the plans for the first time in a public forum. People on both sides of the issue packed the Dodge County Board hearing room in Fremont in a standing-room-only crowd. Supporters said the project would bring needed growth to the rural county. The economic benefit to this area, this region, is enormous, said Chuck Emanuel of North Bend, Nebraska, a member of the Nebraska Corn Growers Association board. A farmer from Hooper, another Dodge County town, said the chance to add chicken houses to row-crop farms is an opportunity to boost farm revenue, which in turn would give the next generation a chance to stay on the farm, he said. If we dont allow economic development, peoples children and grandchildren end up going to other states even, let alone Omaha and Lincoln, said farmer Scott Wagner. And Fremont resident Kathy Rhea, owner of an Arlington cattle feeding business and a Fremont Chamber of Commerce ag committee leader, said recruiting agriculture-related business makes more sense than dreaming about high-tech companies. If were going to sit around and wait for that, were never going to have economic development in Fremont, Rhea said. Following heated opposition to the plant at an April 4 Nickerson Village Board meeting, the Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska told plant supporters not to attend an April 5 Fremont City Council meeting, where opponents planned to again speak about the chicken plant until the mayor unexpectedly adjourned the meeting without taking public comment. The ag groups director, Willow Holoubek, said Wednesday that the County Board meeting was orderly and a good venue for discussion. Project opponents were there, too, and reiterated concerns about traffic, waste, disease and an influx of workers. Randy Ruppert, an organizer of opponents group Nebraska Communities United, said after the meeting that he welcomed the chance to hear other views. This is what weve been asking for: debate, good old American debate, Ruppert said. Theyve been cloaked in secrecy and this is the first time we even got to hear from the proponents. The name of the company behind the project still is being kept secret. State and local officials have refused to name the company. County Board member Bob Missel, the owner of a Fremont clothing shop, told The World-Herald that he knows the name of the company behind the plans but has agreed not to disclose it, although he said he didnt sign a formal nondisclosure agreement. Contact the writer: 402-444-1336, barbara.soderlin@owh.com Iowa will be further ahead of other states in renewable energy when MidAmerican Energy installs $3.6 billion more in tax-supported wind turbines over the next 2 years. The Des Moines-based company, a part of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., plans to start construction of about 1,000 more wind turbines this year to qualify for $3.6 billion in tax credits over 10 years, said Bill Fehrman, MidAmericans chief executive. By 2020, he said, MidAmericans turbines will generate 85 percent of the electricity used by its customers, up from 58 percent when current projects are completed, and 40 percent of electricity used by all Iowans, up from 31 percent today. The dream is to get to 100 percent, Fehrman said Thursday. Were taking a big step to get to 85. How we fill that last 15 (percent) is yet to come. No state is close to Iowa in the share of renewable energy production, he said. A court order mandates a 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions in all states by 2030; wind power generates about 5 percent of Nebraskas electricity. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said the project would make Iowa the first state to generate 40 percent of its energy from wind power. Every wind turbine you see in Iowa means income for farmers, revenue for counties and jobs for Iowa families, he said. Bruce Nilles, senior director of the Sierra Clubs Beyond Coal Campaign, said in a statement, MidAmerican made clean energy history today. Iowa and MidAmericans rapid transition from dirty coal to affordable wind offers a game-changing new model for how utilities will reach 100 percent renewable energy more quickly than anyone would have predicted. Iowas renewable energy has helped attract several large data centers to the state, run by high-tech companies interested in locations with renewable power sources. Googles data center in Council Bluffs is an example. Fehrman said MidAmericans power plants that burn coal and natural gas will continue to be important to keep electricity flowing when wind isnt blowing. The new project will not result in any carbon-fueled plants closing, he said, although federal rules restricting emissions may lead to closings. Without the federal energy production tax credits, he said, the wind farms would not be affordable. He said the new project, titled Wind XI, requires no rate increases for MidAmerican customers and no extra state payments. To meet the tax credit requirements, he said, MidAmerican must begin construction, invest 5 percent of the costs and purchase 5 percent of the projects hard assets by the end of this year. Fehrman said MidAmerican plans to meet those requirements. MidAmerican asked the Iowa Utilities Board to approve its application by mid-September so it can complete those steps in time to qualify for 100 percent federal energy production tax credits. The available tax credits will decline to 80 percent next year and more in later years, making renewable energy projects more expensive for utilities and their customers as time goes on. It obviously gets more expensive to do wind as the tax credit levels decline, Fehrman said, but improving energy efficiency also can help the company reach its 100 percent goal. When Wind XI is completed, MidAmericans investment in wind energy will total nearly $10 billion since it began installing turbines in 2004. The electricity generated by the company goes into a regional power market, and MidAmerican buys back what its customers need. As a result, electricity generated by turbines in Iowa ends up anywhere in the regional network. Fehrman said the wind projects will help position Iowa to meet any coming restrictions on carbon-based power plants without a major economic impact on the state. The company is arranging leases with landowners and isnt announcing locations for the new turbines, he said. MidAmerican has wind generators installed or under construction in 23 of Iowas 99 counties, paying $18 million in fees per year to 2,400 landowners, $12.5 million in property taxes and $48 million per year in local operating spending. The companys wind projects include about 2,020 turbines that generate 4,048 megawatts of electricity. The new project will add about 1,000 turbines and 2,000 megawatts. Were planning to have 6,048 megawatts (in wind-generated electricity) on line before 2020 without asking for any sort of rate increase, and our rates are currently seventh-lowest in the United States, Fehrman said. We expect to keep them there. The Omaha World-Herald is owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Contact the writer: 402-444-1080, steve.jordon@owh.com Thousands of retired truck drivers and their families, including more than 50 from Nebraska and 90 from Iowa, plan to take part in a rally today in Washington, D.C., to protest proposed cuts to their union pensions. Theres a lot more of them wanted to be here, but theyre too sick or too old to travel, Mary Packett told The World-Herald on Wednesday. Packett, an Omaha resident, has been a vocal opponent of the proposed cuts, lobbying state and federal lawmakers. Packett is attending todays rally with her father, Fred Lowry, 76, a retired Teamster. More than 120,000 retirees, including 5,000 in Nebraska and Iowa, are facing pension cuts because of a federal law called the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014. Last fall, the Teamsters $18 billion Central States Pension Fund, which covers 400,000 active and retired Teamsters in 22 states, was the first and largest fund to file a petition with the U.S. Treasury Department declaring that it would run out of money in 10 years if benefits werent reduced. The Treasury Department, responsible for the reform acts implementation, has until May 7 to decide whether to approve the funds application. Fund officials have said the fund will run out of money in 2026 if cuts arent taken. Retirees should expect their benefits to be reduced an average of 23 percent, fund officials have said. But Packett and others, including Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa, said the average is closer to 40 percent. Contact the writer: 402-444-1142, janice.podsada@owh.com A 59-year-old rural Clarinda, Iowa, man has been arrested in connection with an investigation into whether motorists are failing to obey a stop sign. The Page County Sheriffs Office said the man was arrested Wednesday around 5 p.m. on suspicion of assault. The arrest occurred in connection with an ongoing case into motorists ignoring a stop sign in the unincorporated village of Hawleyville, which is northeast of Clarinda, the Sheriffs Office said. During its investigation, the Sheriffs Office said, deputies determined that the man confronted and then assaulted a person the man said had committed a traffic violation. The man posted a $300 bond and was released pending further court proceedings, the Sheriffs Office said. EPS, his supporters detained for trying to hold hunger strike in TN assembly Tamil Nadu: Light to moderate rain in the next few days Tamil Nadu: Check the list of special trains operating from Chennai this Diwali Blow before polls: Two Tamil Maanila Congress leaders join Congress Chennai oi-PTI Chennai, April 14: In a repeat of what happened in DMDK which saw a split albeit minor, Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) leaders Peter Alphonse and P Viswanathan on Wednesday rejoined their parent party Congress. 2016 Assembly Polls Full Coverage; TMC to contest in 26 seats Peter Alphonse, former Rajya Sabha MP and MLA, and P Viswanathan, former Lok Sabha MP, joined Congress in the presence of national General Secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu, Mukul Wasnik, TNCC chief EVKS Elangovan and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram at party headquarters Satyamurthy Bhavan. [DMDK rebels to contest from their own seats] Welcoming the duo, Elangovan said a big victory was awaiting Congress and it has gained strength by Alphnose and Viswanathan joining it. "A situation has now emerged in which Congress is a big party after the two big parties of Tamil Nadu (AIADMK and DMK)," he said. Chidambaram said, "Congress party has to undertake a long journey. In order to achieve the (party) ideals, party functionaries should work unitedly." Alphonse and Viswanathan lauded the Congress leadership in getting 41 seats for the party and said they will not contest the Assembly polls. Along with them, several of their supporters from TMC joined Congress. Reacting to the development, TMC chief G K Vasan said "some may think of breaking strong parties, but their intention will not be fulfilled...If some individuals and 40-50 persons along with them quit TMC", it will not weaken the party. "TMC does not need persons who weaken themselves by thinking that the grass is green on the other side of the fence." Soon after TMC formally sided with DMDK-PWF combine, voice of dissent began in the party which today culminated in two senior leaders leaving its fold. PTI EPS, his supporters detained for trying to hold hunger strike in TN assembly Tamil Nadu: Light to moderate rain in the next few days Tamil Nadu polls 2016: DMK faces protest over candidate selection Chennai oi-Shubham Chennai, April 14: The DMK faced protests from a section of its supporters in Tirunelveli, Vellore and Pudukottai on Wednesday evening over the selection of candidates for some seats in the May 16 elections, reported local television reports. Assembly Polls 2016 Full Coverage; DMK manifesto a 'bundle of lies', says BJP The protests occurred soon after party chief and former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi announced names of candidates for 173 seats the party is contesting. The party has given the rest of the 61 seats to its allies, including the Congress (41). The protests took a serious turn when the supporters of TPM Maideen Khan, the incumbent MLA from Palankottai seat in Tirunelveli district clashed with those against him. While Khan's supporters celebrated his nomination by bursting crackers, the opponents burnt his effigies. A section of DMK candidates from the Nellai, Vellore and Pudhukottai on Wednesday evening took to streets to protest the selection of candidates for some seats in the upcoming elections, reported Puthiya Thalaimurai TV. DMK chief M Karunanidhi announced the candidates for the 173 seats that the party is contesting, earlier in the evening. Clashes broke out between the protesters and supporters of incumbent MLA TPM Maideen Khan's selection for the Palayankottai seat in the Nellai district. While the protesters burnt effigies of Maideen Khan, the supporters celebrated his candidature by bursting crackers. In Vellore district, a faction of DMK supporters opposed the selection of district secretary AP Nandakumar for the Anaikattu constituency and demanded the candidature of senior party worker from the district, Babu. The angry protesters even barged into the party's district headquarters and carried out vandalism. Oneindia News If religion is a piece of cloth we wear, caste is like flesh and blood: Award-winning Dalit activist Feature oi-Oneindia By Maitreyee Boruah It's difficult to miss the hoardings of BR Ambedkar that have cropped up in every nook and cranny of Bengaluru to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the father of the Indian Constitution on Thursday (April 14). There is no doubt the political battle to own the legacy of the Dalit icon is in full-swing at a time when the country is once again witnessing a renewed vigour in the Dalit movement in the wake of the suicide of the Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad. OneIndia spoke to Bengaluru-based Dalit activist Y Mariswamy (43), who has been awarded Bhim Ratna award, 2016, in the field of human rights by Samata Sainik Dal, a social organisation founded by Ambedkar himself in 1926, with the idea of safeguarding the rights of all the oppressed sections of society. What does it mean to be a Dalit in today's India, when once again Dalit movement has picked up after the tragic death of Rohith Vemula? As a Dalit, I face identity crisis. I say this because, if I meet a stranger, he/she behaves with me nicely. Unfortunately, on most of the occasions they start acting weird once they come to know about my caste. I can give you many such examples. The reality is that caste-based discrimination and atrocities are rampant in society. The sad demise of Rohith is only one of the instances of many such cases, where young men and women from the community have been forced to commit suicide. Many of them have been killed also. The police generally refuse to register cases of atrocities on Dalits under SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Hardly victims of caste-based violence and discrimination have got justice. Our constitutional rights have been denied to us. What was the reason behind starting the organisation Samajika Parivarthana Janandolana (SPJ)? I have been part of the Dalit struggle in Karnataka as a school-going kid. I have been closely associated with the Dalit movement as a member of the Dalit Sangarsh Samiti. However, in 2007, we felt that in the larger Dalit movement scenario the issues of children and youths from the community are hardly addressed. Earlier, Dalit or marginalized perspective was missing in the arena of child rights. That is when we formed SPJ. We work for education of children to bring social transformation. Our areas of focus are common school system, child malnutrition, child labour, child marriage, child trafficking and atrocities on children. Most of the victims of child malnutrition and child labour are from SC and ST communities, as they are poor and come from marginalized sections. We also work with the Dalit youngsters in helping them get hostel and scholarship facilities. Because of SPJ's work with Dalit youths and children, now Dalit organisations across the state have started talking about the issues of children and youngsters. This is one of our biggest achievements. What is the status of Dalits in Karnataka? How far they have succeeded in achieving all-round development in terms of access to education and job opportunities? On a positive note, now there is a lot of awareness about Dalit-related issues. We have several leaders talking about our problems and what could be done to end the plight of Dalits. We have political representatives in the Assembly. There is access to education for Dalit children. The Dalit youths have jobs. However, most of the progress is on the surface level. Still same kinds of discrimination exist in a subtle manner. A lot needs to be done to end caste-based discrimination in every walk of life. There are many instances in Bengaluru itself, where even officers from the Dalit community have been denied rented accommodation by prospective tenants because of their caste. Because of privatization of schools and closure of a large-number of government schools, these poor children have no access to education. Similarly, public sector jobs have reduced and private sector has no reservation. Thus many of our youths are unemployed. Moreover, our Dalit politicians have stopped raising Dalit-related issues to avoid antagonising the upper caste voters. How old and strong is the Dalit movement in Karnataka? The Dalit movement in Karnataka was started in 1970s. It was at its peak in the 1990s. The movement was very strong. It vociferously raised issues like land rights, social equality, end of violence and atrocities against Dalits and hostel and scholarship facilities for youths, to name a few. The Dalit movement also relentlessly worked to end exploitative caste-based religious practices like Bettale Seve and Devadasi system. As a part of Bettale Seva ritual, earlier Dalit men and Dalit women offered their prayers in temples completely naked. Most of the Dalit and tribal girls were married off to a temple god or deity, as part of the Devadasi system. In Karnataka, Dalits are the majority with 1.08 crore people, out of 6.11 crore population in the state according to the Karnataka Caste survey, which is out in the public domain recently. Does the figures in anyway proved beneficial for the community? I welcome the revelation of the caste survey. Now, the figures are out in the open. Dalits are majority in terms of numbers. However, other castes have been always politically and economically dominant. Now, I am hopeful political parties will give the responsibility of leadership to Dalits, to attract Dalit voters. All these years, Dalits have been used only as vote banks and later forgotten by all political parties. What do you have to say about well-off Dalits giving up quota? It is a very controversial issue. The number of creamy layer people in the community is very less. They don't compete with the poor Dalits. The issue of creamy layer Dalits is used by the dominant castes to divide Dalits. The well-off Dalits should work for the all-round development of the community. Unfortunately that is not the case. Because of this a new set of Dalits are emerging. Do you think a casteless society can be built? No, it is impossible. Instead of talking about building a casteless society, why not build an equal society, where all castes have equal opportunities and rights, without any discrimination. Many Dalits have converted into other religions like Buddhism, Islam and Sikhism. However, the Dalit tag never leaves them. If religion is a piece of cloth we wear, caste is like flesh and blood. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, April 14, 2016, 11:38 [IST] India signs MoU with South Korea to Develop Ports Feature oi-Lisa By Lisa The importance of ports in the trade of India is continuously growing, however, the existing port structure is not adequate to meet the growing requirements. There are certain issues that Indian ports are facing and so are not able to leverage maximum advantage from trading despite having such a long sea coastline. Problems faced by Indian ports: Most ports have inadequate facilities which results in delay in pre-trade activities. This also increases time taken by the ships in finishing the trip. Though India has long sea coastline there are very few ports as the coastline doesn't have many indentations. The ports on the eastern coast of India are shallow and not able to accommodate large vessels that are now a days used. Due to heavy monsoon but for Mumbai, Kandla and Cochin all other ports on the western coast of India are not used from the month of May to the month of August. Other problem for trade through ports not increasing significantly in India is that the ports are not connected further by rail or road route. Western side it is difficult to connect ports with highways or railways due to the presence of Western Ghats. Ports on the eastern side of India face the problem of constant accumulation of silt as the coastline has numerous deltas. Solutions: Not wanting to get slowed down by such problems NDA government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been working hard to develop Indian ports. Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari signed MoU with the government of South Korea for cooperation and mutual assistance between the two countries in port related matters. MIS 2016: The South Korean delegation led by Minister Kim is in Mumbai to participate in the Maritime India Summit, 2016 (MIS, 2016). MIS, 2016 is a maiden flagship initiative of the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India that provides a unique platform for participants to explore potential business opportunities in Indian Maritime Sector. MIS, 2016 is being organised from April 14-16, 2016 at Mumbai and will have conference, exhibition and demo sessions. Republic of Korea is the Partner Country of MIS, 2016. A delegation of over 100 participants from South Korea are attending the Summit. Benefits from the MoU: The signing of the MoU is expected to help both countries to encourage and facilitate the development of ports, port related industry, maritime relationship and cooperate in the tasks of sharing of technology, experiences in the fields of port development and operation, exchange of information on construction, building, engineering and related aspects in the field of port development, Joint participation in port-related construction, building and engineering projects that both parties are interested in, exchange of experts including officials from the relevant ministries of each country in the field of port, and related education and training, other types of cooperation that may be mutually agreed upon between the two countries. Narendra Modi had visited Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard: While on the visit of South Korea last year Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard. PM Modi was highly impressed with the Shipyard and had asked them to come to India and explore vast opportunities that India has to offer with regards to port development and other related fields. Official programmes in Korea continue: now at the Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard. pic.twitter.com/CsoyDIbfas PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 19, 2015 Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard is very impressive. I asked them to come to India & explore the vast opportunities pic.twitter.com/yZintDIF1l Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 19, 2015 For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, April 14, 2016, 10:59 [IST] Maritime India Summit 2016 Inaugurated by Narendra Modi Feature oi-Lisa By Lisa Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping, Mr. Nitin Gadkari called it a historic day for India's maritime community as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first Maritime India Summit 2016 (MIS 2016) in Mumbai. South Korea is partner country for MIS 2016. At the event Mr. Gadkari informed the exteem audience that the government has launched an ambitious program called "Project Unnati" to modernise India's major ports. He had during the press conference informed media that two sessions on 14th and 15th April have been planned for signing of over 120 business and concession agreements and EPC contracts. These are worth over Rs. 82 Thousand Crores (over US $ 12 Billion). 20 LOIs are being signed covering an investment of Rs. 8,260 Crores (US $ 1.3 Billion). An MOU with South Korea on Port Development and Operations is also proposed to be signed. He also informed that major ports registered record profits of $650 Million in 2015-16. He added that, "The turnaround time in ports has reduced by 20% enabling customers to save over $200 Million (Rs.1300 Cr.)". The turnaround time in ports has reduced by 20% enabling customers to save over $200 Million (Rs.1300 Cr.) Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) April 14, 2016 Mr. Gadkari also informed that, "In Jal Marg Vikas project we are investing over $600 Million to make Ganga navigable from Varanasi to Haldia covering a distance of 1620 Km'. PM Modi at MIS 2016: Prime Minister Narendrda Modi after inaugurating MIS 2016 welcomed esteemed audience and said that maritime transport can be the most extensive mode of transport. It is also the most eco-friendly mode of transport too. He added that challenges of climate change have shown that even offshore human behaviour can change the ecology of glaciers and oceans. Our life style, transport systems and trading behavior should not spoil the ecology of the oceans: PM @narendramodi https://t.co/Iy8hu3vQmx PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 14, 2016 Today on the 125th birth anniversary of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Mr. Modi said that Dr. Ambedkar is also the architect of the water and river navigation policy in India. Mr. Modi threw light on contribution of Dr. Ambedkar in navigation policy by saying that, "Many of us may not know that Babasaheb created two powerful institutions related to water, navigation and power. The institutions were The Central Waterways, Irrigation and Navigation Commission and The Central Technical Power Board". Dr Ambedkar emphasised importance of new waterways policy to lay the foundation for a regime of prosperity for millions of poor of India: PM PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 14, 2016 PM boosted the confidence of those present by saying that With a GDP growth rate of more than seven percent, India is the fastest growing economy today and that his government has laid emphasis on building futuristic infrastructure. PM added that India particularly wanted to modernise its ports and integrate them with special economic zones. He added that long coastline of India along with diverse coastal regions and hard working coastal communities can become an engine of growth of India. Want to modernize ports & integrate them with SEZs, Port based Smart Cities, Industrial Parks, Warehouses, Logistics Parks: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 14, 2016 He further added that India's maritime agenda will complement the ambitious infrastructure plan for the hinterland which is goiing on parallelly. PM also informed that his government's vision was to increase port capacity from 1400 million tonnes to 3000 million tonnes by 2025. He said that it was being done to benefit the common man and to provide employment to the youth. It is my Government's endeavour to revive and restore India's position of eminence in the global maritime sector: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 14, 2016 PM Modi also informed that private ports have been growing at a very healthy pace and have nearly doubled their capacity in last five yers. PM also talked about glorious maritime history of India. He sais that India is on the path of shaping an even better maritime future. PM concluded his speech by saying that, "The maritime sector not only creates and facilitates economic activities; it also connects countries and civilisations'. The maritime sector not only creates and facilitates economic activities; it also connects countries and civilisations: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 14, 2016 Some quotes from PM Modi's speech: "We have embarked on the development of National Waterways in keeping with Babasaheb's vision and foresight. Dr Ambedkar emphasised importance of new waterways policy to lay the foundation for a regime of prosperity for millions of poor of India." "In the very early days of our Government, we announced the Sagarmala programme." "It is my Government's endeavour to revive and restore India's position of eminence in the global maritime sector." About MIS 2016: A high level CEOs' Forum has been organized on the first day of the conference where 19 CEOs from abroad and 17 CEOs from India, all from maritime companies are expected to participate. Participants: The event will have participation of delegates, CEOs and speakers from 41 countries in addition to India. A large delegation led by its Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Mr. Kim Young-Suk and comprising of two Deputy Ministers, senior Government officials and representatives of 52 maritime sector companies is participating in the Summit. Ministers from Mauritius, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Madagascar, Sudan and Maldives will also participate in the Summit. At UNSC, US calls on world to tell Russia to stop its nuclear threats US-India logistics exchange: Things that you need to know Feature oi-Pallavi By Pallavi In a recent agreement between the India and the US, it has been decided that both the military can use each other's assets and bases for repair and replenishment of supplies. The memorandum, better known as Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), was signed on Tuesday between the defence ministries of both the countries. LEMOA or LSA? LEMOA is actually a tweaked version of Logistics Support Agreement (LSA). This facilitates the provision of logistical support, services and supplies between the US Military and the armed forces of partner countries. American aircrafts can now land in Indian airforce base and vice versa for refuelling, repair and other logistics. No entry in Indian soil However, the sanction does not allow US troopers to stay on Indian soil. Manohar Parrikar, while signing the memorandum, stressed that this does not entail the Indian government to support any military action by the US government on friendly countries. "We can refuse access to our bases whenever we want," said Parrikar. Overhauling the influence of UPA regime The defence minister in the UPA regime-A K Antony- had oppesed the 3 foundational pacts-Logistics Support Agreement, Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum Agreement (CISMOA) and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (BECA). He argued that the pacts would compromise India's traditional strategic autonomy and would threaten the 'basing rights' of the US. The current memorandum would be a deviation from the one set by the UPA government. China cannot be cornered It was made clear in the memorandum that the pact was only meant for military cooperation and is not a coup against its neighbour China. Boosting Delhi-Washington ties The pact will further strengthen the Delhi-Washington military ties. US has been the largest arm supplier to India since 2007. It has bagged the Indian arms contract worth $14 billion. In fact, US and India hold joint military exercise together. IAF fighters and aircraft are on way for Red Flag exercise in Alaska from April 28. Design collaboration Aircraft carrier design and technology training between the two countries is probbaly one of the biggest projects since they launched the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) in 2012. India is gearing itself to get rid of a re-tooled Russian-built carrier and is looking forward to the US technology for launching heavier aircraft. Maritime security Bolstering the maritime security cooperation, the two states have stepped-up the complexity of its combat exercises and talks on anti-marine warfare. However, there are no intentions of joining patrols in the South China sea or elsewhere. India will stick to its policies. Make in India gets a boost With the US technology and acumen, India will start building the sophisticated weapons at home. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, April 14, 2016, 14:31 [IST] Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again B S Yeddyurappa formally takes charge as Karnataka's BJP President India oi-Shreyas Bengaluru, Apr 14: After BJP national leadership directed M P from Shimoga B S Yeddyurappa to take the helm of state leadership, now the former Chief Minister Yeddyurappa formally sworn in as BJP President of Karnataka on April 14. In the evening hours, at around 4.30 pm, the new BJP president will deliver a talk in a massive rally. The outgoing President Pralhad Joshi handing over the flag of the BJP to Yeddyurappa, transferred the charge at BJP office in Malleshwaram. This is the fourth time, Yeddyurappa swearing in as the president. During the charge taking ceremony, Union Minister Ananth Kumar, G M Siddeshwara, opposition leader (BJP) Jagadish Shettar , R Ashok, M P Renukacharya and other leaders were present. It could be recalled that, Yeddyurappa was president of the state BJP in 1988, 1999 and 2007. [K'taka: B S Yeddyurappa likely to return to state politics as 'BJP president'] Massive rally At 4.30 pm in Place Grounds (Gayatri Vihar) cadre rally has been organised by the BJP. In this rally, which is expected to be a massive one, Yeddyurappa will address the gathering to unite the party. OneIndia News Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again Digvijay's talk of working with Nitish "too premature": Congress India oi-PTI New Delhi, April 14: Congress on Thursday, April 14 dismissed as "too premature" party leader Digvijay Singh's remark that it is ready to work with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at the national level to bring about largest possible unity among parties to defeat BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The party, at the same time, said it has always worked in the larger interest of democratic, secular and progressive forces in the country. "It is too premature to comment on it," the party's senior spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters. He was asked for his views on party General Secretary Digvijay Singh's remark that the Congress is ready to work with Kumar, who was recently elected JD(U) chief, at the national level in the wake of his call for the "largest possible unity" among parties to defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Congress is also a part of the coalition government in Bihar. Sharma, however, hastened to add that as was seen in the Bihar Assembly polls and the current West Bengal elections, Congress has always worked to strengthen the secular and progressive forces in the country. In Bihar, Congress played a junior partner to the alliance led by Nitish Kumar in which Lalu Prasad's RJD was also a constituent. In West Bengal, Congress has entered into a strategic understanding with the Left parties to take on the Trinamool Congress. A senior party leader, who declined to be identified, said Congress has never fought Lok Sabha elections as part of a coalition at the national level and has effected tie-ups with smaller parties only at state and regional levels or has gone for post-poll alliances. Congress' first experience in sharing power at the national level was in 2004 when Sonia Gandhi-led party had succeded in ousting the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA from power and the first UPA government was formed. The UPA experiment followed the Shimla resolve of the party in July 2003. In the resolve, the party had changed tack and, for the first time, opened itself to alliances. During the 2004 elections as also in 2009 and 2014 polls, Congress had gone for alliances at the state level with different partners but there was no national-level alliance. In the last Lok Sabha elections, Congress not only lost power but its tally plunged to an all-time low of 44 in the 543-member House as it was swept off by the Narendra Modi wave. PTI DMK manifesto a 'bundle of lies', says BJP India oi-PTI Chennai, Apr 14: Taking a dig at the manifesto of DMK for the May 16 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, BJP leader H Raja today described it as a "bundle of lies". It was DMK which brought in liquor culture in Tamil Nadu. But in their manifesto, they said they would bring prohibition, Raja told reporters here. Read more: Special Coverage: Assembly Elections 2016 "So, it (the manifesto) is totally a bundle of lies," he said. DMK had also not taken any steps to retrieve Katchatheevu islet, ceded to Sri Lanka by India in 1976, Raja alleged. The BJP leader will contest from Thiyagarayana Nagar constituency in the upcoming polls. DMK President M Karunanidhi had released the party's manifesto last week promising prohibition, setting up of Lokayukta and a cut in the milk price of government-owned AAVIN. PTI IIT fee hike to be applicable from academic year 2016-17 India oi-PTI New Delhi, Apr 13: The IIT fee hike announced recently will be applicable from admissions that take place from academic year 2016-17 onwards, the HRD Ministry said today. In a statement issued here, the ministry said that "the revised fee would be applicable for students taking admission starting from academic year 2016-17 onwards. The students currently studying would continue to pay at the existing rates." The government had recently decided to increase the annual fees for undergraduate courses from existing Rs 90,000 to Rs 2 lakh, a rise of 122 per cent, from the upcoming academic session. Earlier, there had been protests by students of IIT-Kharagpur, after which the HRD ministry issued the clarification saying that students who are already enrolled in undergraduate courses have been spared from the 122 per cent fee hike. In a letter written to directors of all IITs also, HRD ministry clarified that the revised fee would be applicable from academic year 2016-17 onwards. The order came a day after IIT-Kharagpur students protested by shouting slogans at the campus against the fee hike. IIT-Kgp director Partha Pratim Chakraborty wrote an open letter to students saying that the protests have left him "very unhappy". "Unfortunately for me, in this instance, many undergraduate students did not have the basic courtesy to first engage with us before creating a disturbance and made some very unusual remarks on those receiving the waivers," he said, hoping that better sense would prevail in the future. "In the social media, other than expressing their problems, many students made disparaging comments on those receiving waivers which was completely unwarranted," Chakraborty said. PTI Prosecutions story may be attractive but should be backed by evidence ISIS threatens to rid India of Hindus in latest issue of its magazine India oi-Vicky New Delhi, Apr 14: The latest issue of the Dabiq magazine a mouth piece of the ISIS has a message for India. The magazine carried an interview which speaks about an attack on India. Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif who is the emir of the ISIS in Bangladesh speaks about the launch of a massive offensive against India. It may be recalled that intelligence bureau officials had stated that the real threat to India from the ISIS comes from Bangladesh. ISIS threat in India emerges not from Pakistan, but Bangladesh and West Bengal He says in the interview that the idea is to liberate India from the disbelievers or the mushikirins. Rid India of disbelievers: Hanif spells out the plan that they have for India. This man who is the head of the ISIS in this part of the world says that they are training fighters both in Bangladesh as well as Pakistan to launch a fidayeen or suicide attack on Indian soil. He also states that they would be taking the help of the local mujahideen or fighters in India. The intention is to rid India of mushikirins. The Hindus in India have been waging a war against Muslims and Islam. He says that the Hindus in India have been showing their animosity openly against the Muslims in India. There are Muslims in Bangladesh as well and while they too have an animosity against Islam, they do not show it openly. ISIS threatens to wage war against India; names PM Modi, Dadri in its e-book We will implement the rule of Sharia in India and Bangladesh. Until the law of Sharia is imposed we will not rest in peace. We will target Hindus in large numbers, the emir of the ISIS also goes on to state. A propaganda war: Intelligence Bureau officials in India say that this appears to be more of a propaganda material. The ISIS is desperate to rope in the Indian Muslims into their fold. Their campaign has not been very successful. If one looks at the previous calls that the ISIS has given, it has been subtle in nature. This time however the ISIS makes a strong call and gives specifics about its plans. Such things cannot be taken lightly as the ISIS is desperate to make its mark in this part of the world, the Intelligence Bureau officer also informed OneIndia. There will be more such calls and these are largely aimed at increasing their numbers in India and Bangladesh, the officer also informed. OneIndia News Gap between rich and poor has widened, needs to be bridged: Gadkari 59-year-old biker killed as tress falls on him JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar faces protest, car attacked in Nagpur India oi-Avinash New Delhi, Apr 14: Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Thursday faced protest, his car attacked as he arrived in Nagpur to address a gathering. Bajrang Dal activists reportedly attacked Kanhaiya's convoy as he arrived in the RSS bastion. As per ANI report, the JNUSU president was attacked by a group of Bajrang Dal activists who pelted stones at his car. The police also detained five persons in connection to this incident. Bajrang Dal activists later created ruckus during a public meeting at Nagpur, which was being addressed by him. Members of Bajrang Dal, reportedly, stormed the event and shouted ''Kanhaiya Kumar Murdabad''. Kumar's arrival in Nagpur has brought him in direct confrontation with right-wing organisations in Nagpur which houses the RSS headquarters. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, April 14, 2016, 15:44 [IST] Kerala HC to monitor probe into Kerala temple tragedy India oi-Vicky Kerala, Apr 14: The Kerala High Court today said that the Puttingal temple incident will continue to be probed by the crime branch. The court however added that the probe by the crime branch of the Kerala police will be monitored by the High Court. When hearing commenced the court today sought the opinion of the Kerala Government on whether to hand over the case to the CBI or not. The government told the court that there would be no need for the CBI to probe the case and the crime branch would continue to probe the matter. On the last date of hearing the High Court had indicated that it would be better for the CBI to probe the case and even sought the opinion of the state government on the same. The court was hearing a petition filed by a sitting judge of the High Court who had sought a ban on high decibel crackers. The court issued an interim order on the last date of hearing stating that there would be no bursting of high decibel crackers after 10 PM as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court of India. The court was also hearing a matter seeking permission to conduct fireworks at the Trissur Pooram. The court granted conditional permission to conduct a fireworks display. It however said that the guidelines of the Supreme Court shall be strictly adhered to. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, April 14, 2016, 18:20 [IST] Mahalaxmi temple row: Attackers wanted to kill me, says Trupti Desai India oi-Mukul New Delhi, April 14: Trupti Desai has alleged that she along with her Bhoomata Ranragini Brigade activists were roughed up by the local people on Wednesday night. Reportedly she sustained serious injuries in the scuffle which broke out after Desai successfully managed to enter into sanctum sanctorum of the Mahalaxmi temple. Desai was quoted by the ANI as saying, "People pulled our hair, tore clothes, and abused us. "I think the attackers planned to kill me". Reports say that she was admitted to hospital after she sustained injuries in the scuffle. On Wednesday night, a high drama took place after Desai entered inside the famous shrine by defying the "dress code" prescribed by the police and priests. Notwithstanding the "advice" given by the police to wear sari inside 'girbh griha' of the temple, the woman activist entered the inner sanctum in salwar kameez though some priests and devotees tried to block her way. Earlier in the day, Desai and other activists were taken into preventive custody by police when they tried to proceed towards the temple in a procession allegedly in violation of prohibitory orders. Desai headed towards temple in night after she was detained by police during day time. She and other activists had organised the 'Vijay' rally in afternoon to mark "victory" for the cause of women who were recently allowed to enter the inner sanctum of the temple in a major departure from the long-standing tradition. Desai and her associates were stopped in Tararani Chowk by police where they had gathered to organise the procession. The atmosphere around the temple was tense and shops downed shutters as activists of Shiv Sena and other organisations gathered in the area after Desai insisted to take darshan of the deity, clad in salwar kameez instead of sari, the formal dress code suggested by police and priests. Deputy SP Bharatkumar Rane said police tried to convince Desai against going in procession but she did not budge. She was taken into preventive custody for maintaining law and order, he said. OneIndia News (With inputs from PTI) Lord Ram will help us reach new heights: PM Modi in Ayodhya PM Modi pays tributes to B R Ambedkar on 125th birth anniversary India oi-PTI Mhow (MP), April 14: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, April 14 paid rich floral tributes to B R Ambedkar at his birth place in Kalipaltan area of Mhow cantonment town on his 125th birth anniversary. Ambedkar was born in Mhow cantonment town of Madhya Pradesh on April 14, 1891. The state government has built a grand memorial at his birth place. "Modi is the first Prime Minister of the country to pay a visit to Ambedkar's birth place, Mhow," Ambedkar Social Science University, Mhow, Vice Chancellor R S Kureel claimed while talking said. The Prime Minister was accompanied by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other dignitaries on the occasion. Modi took a look at the grand memorial and spent over 15 minutes there. He will later address a public meeting in Mhow and launch the 11-day-long 'Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday Abhiyan' (village self-governance campaign). Earlier, the PM was accorded a warm welcome on his arrival at the Indore airport by Chief Minister Chouhan and state Health Minister Narottam Mishra. From Indore, Modi left for Mhow in a helicopter. PTI Over 30 injured in Wednesday's quake in Manipur India oi-IANS By Ians English Imphal, April 14: The earthquake that hit the Myanmar-India border region on Wednesday night damaged structures and left at least 30 people injured in Manipur, but there has been no report yet of any loss of life, officials here said. At least 30 people, including women, were injured in the earthquake that measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, said the officials on Thursday. Several houses, school buildings and markets in Manipur were damaged by the tremors, they said. In neighbouring Assam, two persons were killed and over 70 others were injured in the quake. One primary school building at Khekman in Thoubal district of Manipur collapsed completely, destroying the adjacent house of Jamir Khan. Wednesday's earthquake exacerbated the damage caused to some structures -- such as the 150-year-old Ima Keithel or Mothers' Market complex here -- that had already been shaken by the January 4 earthquake. Following the January quake, the government had declared the Mothers' Market complex unsafe for the vendors, who are exclusively women. Officials told IANS on Thursday that the damage to the portions of the market complex has worsened. The district administration has barred women vendors from doing business in the complex. Several houses in Nungba sub-division of Tamenglong district were also damaged by the tremors on Wednesday. There are reports that several persons have been injured. The district administration is collecting information on the number of people injured and houses damaged in the hill district. Police officials told IANS in Imphal that so far there is no report of any death in the quake-related incidents. Health officials said that medical teams, medicine supplies and equipment have been kept in readiness in case any report is received of injuries in the far-off hilly and rural areas of the state which lack in proper medicare facility. IANS PM should step in to revamp Medical Council of India, say ex-bureaucrats India oi-PTI New Delhi, Apr 14: Charging that the Medical Council of India was "highly corrupt" and had lost credibility, a group of former bureaucrats and doctors have urged the Prime Minister to revamp the medical regulator, bring transparency and ensure that owners of hospital chains and colleges having "deep conflicts of interest" do not enter the body. Five former secretaries of health and bio-technology departments as well former MCI members and prominent doctors have written to Prime Minister Naredra Modi seeeking his "personal involvement" in revamping the regulator and alleged that successive governments have shown their "inability" in handling "compromised" individuals in the body. The secretaries and doctors have also urged the Prime Minister to take steps for revamping the curricula for graduate and post graduate medical education and separating the three functions of regulation, education and accreditation within the body. "We request that implementation of the recommendations is taken up without delay, namely replacing the elected council with medical and non-medical persons to be selected by an expert body in a transparent manner, in order to ensure that hospital chains and owners of medical colleges, having deep conflicts of interest, do not enter this body and subvert it once again for their personal gain. "Revamp the curricula for graduate and post-graduate education, separate the three functions of regulation, education and accreditation with eminent individuals known for their professional and personal integrity and the institution of a national entrance and exit examination so as to ensure better quality of the doctors being produced," the letter said. Among those who have signed the letter are former health secretaries Javid Choudhury, Prasanna Hota, Sujatha Rao, Chandramouli and Keshav Desiraju and MK Bhan, former secretary of the Department of Biotechnology, and Gautam Sen and Sita Naik (former members of the Board of Governors of MCI), Srinath Reddy, President of the Public Health Foundation of India, and eminent surgeon Samiran Nundy of Gangaram Hospital. A parliamentary panel had recently recommended restructuring MCI, stating that its current composition is "biased" against larger public health goals and is an "exclusive club" of medical doctors from corporate hospitals and private practice. The Committee had said the elected MCI neither represents "professional excellence nor its ethos", and that more than half of the members are either from corporate hospitals or in private practice. PTI Amid web of US sanctions, Iran looks to isolated port in far southeast Ports to be modernised, not corporatised: Gadkari India oi-PTI Mumbai, Apr 14: Rejecting any notion about the government being pro-big business, Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari today said it is not pursuing any corporatisation agenda for the state-owned ports and the priority is to modernise them. "It is not a problem of the unions. It is a political problem. The opposition parties want to establish that the government is against poor, this government is pro- industrialists. So it is a fight for the image," Gadkari said at a CEO roundtable at the maiden Maritime India Summit. He was replying to a question on whether the pressure from unions was coming in way of the corporatisation of state-run ports. "That policy which was already there regarding corporatisation of ports, presently we don't have anything in mind to take any decision on this subject," Gadkari said. The minister said the government has thought "seriously" on the matter and decided to modernise the ports, give them new systems and all advantages through beneficial policies. Unions have been opposing any move to corporatise state- run ports after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech last year said that the government will encourage ports in public sector to corporatise and become companies under the Companies Act. The opposition parties have also been alleging that the government was working to appease big businesses, a charge denied by the government. Some of the top government leaders have said in the past that it was possible to be pro-poor and pro-business at the same time. Earlier today, Gadkari said there has been a 30 per cent improvement in efficiencies of major ports after the government implemented a part of suggestions given by an international consultant and had also affirmed the government's commitment to do more. He had also said that the government wants to invest up to Rs 50,000 crore to construct 6-8 new major ports in addition to the current 12 ports. Gadkari had said yesterday that the 12 major ports together delivered Rs 4,200 crore profit in 2015-16, and their growth rates are faster than private sector rivals as well as global peers. PTI Not just future of Sena but democracy at stake, says Uddhav Diwali 2022: Major sites to be illuminated in Mumbai between Oct 22-29 Mumbai: Gathering of 5 or more, loud speakers, illegal processions banned for a fortnight from Nov 1 Amitabh Bachchan reveals he had to get stitches after he cut a vein on his leg Rohith Vemulas kin embrace Buddhism in Mumbai on Ambedkar jayanti India oi-Jagriti Mumbai, Apr 14: Kin of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit research scholar who committed suicide in Hyderabad, embraced Buddhism on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar in Mumbai. Babasaheb is considered as the Dalit icon and the principal architect of the Indian Constitution. Rohith's mother Radhika Vemula and his brother Raja Vemula will be given "deeksha" by Buddhist monks at a ceremony to be organised at Ambedkar Bhavan in Dadar. "We have organised the deeksha ceremony as the family approached us," said Babasaheb Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar, who is a former MP. "It is true that we are going to embrace Buddhism. We are on the way to Mumbai," said Raja. AAP govt offers job to Rohith Vemula's brother Delhi government has offered a temporary Group C level job to Raja Vemula, the younger brother of deceased Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, on "compassionate" ground, which has not yet been accepted by him. 26-year-old Dalit research scholar committed suicide on January 17. OneIndia News Siddaramaiah's son bags plum project in Govt hospital: Opposition draws first blood India oi-Vicky Bengaluru, April 14: With allegations of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son getting a plum project on a government run medical college, the opposition in the state is contemplating legal action. The allegation is that the Chief Minister's son, Dr Yathindra who was inducted into the board of a private medical diagnostic company in Bengaluru, Matrix Imaging Solutions Ltd was awarded a plum project to set up a diagnostic laboratory inside the premises of the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute which is run by the government. While Dr Yathindra has denied any wrong doing, his father has made it clear that the entire process was a transparent one and there is no illegality in it. His friend owns the company and he is a director in it the Chief Minister told reporters in Bengaluru. The background: Matrix Imaging Solutions set up in 2009 by two persons called Ramesh Gowda and Satish Prasad. In the year 2014, Dr Yathindra was inducted as a director. On September 19 2015 the BMRCI called for bids to set up a clinical laboratory and imaging service. The bid was bagged by Matrix Imaging. The opposition in Karnataka has sought for an investigation into the matter. Raising this issue BJP leader K S Eshwarappa said that if the Chief Minister claims that the process was transparent then he should not worry and a probe must be constituted. Dr Yathindra on the other hand says that there is no irregularity. I have spoken to my advocate and he is there is no conflict of interest. I am ready to quit if there are violations he also said. Matrix on the other hand explained that there were four companies at the pre-bid stage. Matrix and HLL were short listed but the latter did not submit a demand draft on time. There were objections: During the process there were objections that had been raised by several senior doctors. Firstly some questioned the need to set up a private lab when there was already a state of the art lab being in place. Moreover the other objection was whether it would be right to allow a private firm to make profit on a government land. However there were others who had overruled the objections by citing the Mysore Medical College. They said that in the year 2009 the Mysore Medical College had allowed a private lab to be set up on the campus. Opposition draws first blood: The BJP's newly appointed Karnataka president, Yeddyurappa said that he is contemplating legal action. The Chief Minister has misused his office and power the former Chief Minister informed. It is a major offence, he also said. Another BJP leader Eshwarappa sought for action. He said that the a probe must be initiated to find out if the the contract was awarded just because the son of the CM was a director in the company. Further he also said that if the CM feels that there was no violation then he must not be scared of initiating a probe into the matter. OneIndia News Thief calls cops for help after being caught by mob Bangladesh 'rainbow rally' cancelled over permit issues International oi-PTI Dhaka, Apr 13: A Bangladeshi rights group has cancelled a planned "rainbow rally" to mark the Bengali New Year, which had been threatened by Islamists who said the secular festival was un-Islamic, organisers said today. The street parade, planned for tomorrow, was scrapped over permit issues, according to organisers from the Roopbaan group which promotes freedom of love and gender equality in the Muslim-majority nation. "We've decided to scrap the Rainbow Rally this year as we did not have official permission from the authorities," an organiser told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. There was no immediate comment from officials. The group had earlier vowed to press ahead with the colourful New Year event despite online posts by Islamists against the rally, with calls to beat up parade participants posted on Facebook. The threats come after hardline clerics branded the Bengali new year celebrations, in which people carry masks of animals and colourful garlands, as "un-Islamic and Haram (forbidden)". AFP Cyprus minister: Egyptian hijacking suspect asks for asylum International oi-PTI Nicosia, Apr 13: A man who has admitted hijacking a domestic EgyptAir flight and diverting it to Cyprus is requesting political asylum on the island, claiming he is afraid of how he could be treated by Egyptian authorities because of his political beliefs, officials said today. Cyprus' Interior Minister Socrates Hasikos told The Associated Press that 59-year-old Seif Eddin Mustafa's asylum claim is being examined while a request by Egyptian authorities for his extradition proceeds. The asylum claim is based on Mustafa's fears about his possible treatment at the hands of Egyptian authorities, said his lawyer, Robertos Vrahimis. Vrahimis told the AP that he has yet to receive specific instructions from his client because of a dispute with Cyprus Central Prisons authorities over which Arabic-speaking translator to use. The prison authorities only allow a translator approved by them, which Vrahimis says would violate client-attorney privilege. He says he has sent a letter of complaint asking that he be allowed to bring a translator of his choice. A court hearing on Mustafa's extradition proceedings is scheduled for April 22. Vrahimis said Cyprus could extradite Mustafa if they don't approve the asylum request. [Read: Love spurs Egyptian man to hijack plane to Cyprus] Cyprus Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou told the AP that Egyptian authorities have given written assurances that the suspect won't face the death penalty and that he will be given a fair trial. A police prosecutor told a court last month that Mustafa had insisted during the six-hour hijacking that a letter be delivered to his Cypriot ex-wife in which he demanded the release of 63 dissident women imprisoned in Egypt. [Read: Cyprus agrees to extradite EgyptAir hijacker] Mustafa described by Cypriot authorities as "psychologically unstable" forced the Airbus A320 to land in Cyprus' main Larnaca airport by threatening to blow it up with a fake suicide belt on March 29. He was arrested when he stepped off the plane after all 72 passengers and crew were released unharmed. AP Fact Check: Old video from Poland showing train of lights shared as one from UP Poland's Walesa views files alleging he was a communist spy International oi-PTI Warsaw, Apr 13: Poland's Solidarity freedom hero Lech Walesa today viewed the secret police files that allegedly prove he was a paid communist spy, prosecutors said, adding that the former president again denied their authenticity. "Documents related to the collaboration of a secret agent codenamed 'Bolek' were shown to Lech Walesa," said the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), which prosecutes Nazi and communist-era crime. The 72-year-old "denied the authenticity of the documents," the IPN said in a statement, adding that it would now go ahead with handwriting analysis to see if the Nobel Peace laureate's signature matches that of the files. Walesa has been battling the allegations since February, when the IPN seized the previously unknown regime documents from 1970-76 from the widow of a communist-era general. Walesa, who is renowned for negotiating a bloodless end to communism in Poland in 1989, denounced the files as "complete fakes" at the time and said he "didn't cooperate" with the secret police. He enigmatically admitted, however, to having "made a mistake" and in the past had said he signed "a paper" for the secret police during one of his many interrogations. Experts have consistently raised doubts about the credibility of communist secret police files, arguing they could easily have been manufactured to frame opposition activists like Walesa. A special vetting court ruled in 2000 that there was no basis to suspicions that he had been a paid regime agent. But the rumours persist that he covertly fed the communist regime information while leading the freedom-fighting Solidarity, the Soviet bloc's only independent trade union. A book published by the IPN in 2008 alleged that while the regime registered Walesa as a secret agent in December 1970, he was cut loose in June 1976 due to his "unwillingness to cooperate". Poles have mixed feelings about Walesa. His boldness in standing up to the communist regime is still widely respected, but the combative and divisive tone of his later presidency earned him scorn in many quarters. AFP Priyanka Chopra Jonas announces sequel of ''We Can Be Heroes'' Did PM Modi, Priyanka Chopra, Akshay Kumar get vaccinated in Bihar? 2 comp operators suspended for data fraud Priyanka Chopra beats Modi, Sanders ahead of Hillary in Time online poll International oi-IANS By Ians English New York, April 14: Actor Priyanka Chopra has garnered more votes than Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a Time readers' poll ahead of the annual list of 100 most influential people in the world that the magazine publishes every year. The magazine said Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders won three times more votes than his rival Hillary Clinton, ahead of President Barack Obama, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai. In Pics: Rajinikanth, Priyanka Chopra, Sania Mirza and others honoured with Padma awards The magazine conducts an online poll ahead of publishing the list of 100 most influential people. The poll, a gauge of popular mood, though not essentially scientific, closed on April 13 midnight. The Time list will come out on April 21. Priyanka Chopra, who became famous in the United States for her role in the TV serial "Quantico", got 0.8 percent of 'yes' votes compared to 0.7 per cent for Modi. Priyanka got 0.8 percent of 'yes' votes compared to 0.7 per cent for Modi Sanders got 3.3 per cent to Clinton's 1 percent. Donald Trump, the Republican presidential contender obtained 0.6 percent of the votes. South Korean boy band Big Bang stood second in popularity after Sanders. The polls called for votes both in favour and against a person. Sanders, who has long benefited from digitally active supporters, led the readers' poll from the beginning. While he badly lagged behind Clinton in winning the delegates needed to capture the presidential nominations, his populist rhetoric and emphasis on income inequality has allowed him to sustain a stronger-than-expected challenge to his rival, the magazine said in a release announcing the results. Priyanka Chopra was also ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francoise Hollande and David Cameron in popularity among readers and online vote casters. IANS S Korea opposition wins in parliamentary elections International oi-PTI Seoul, Apr 14: South Korea's main opposition party won a surprise victory in general election, ending the the conservative ruling party's 16-year parliamentary majority. The vote, clouded by North Korean nuclear threats and a slowing economy, dealt a blow to President Park Geun-Hye and raised hopes for an opposition victory in the 2017 presidential election. With almost all ballots counted, Park's Saenuri Party yesterday won 122 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, while the main opposition Minjoo Party won 123, the most of any party. The splinter opposition People's Party bagged 38 spots, and another six seats went to a small opposition party, the Justice Party. "The Saenuri Party humbly accepts the election results and voters' choice," party spokesman Ahn Hyung-Hwan told journalists. "The people are deeply disappointed with us, but we've failed to read their mind," he added. It marked the first time since 1999 the conservative party has lost control of parliament, with the three opposition parties garnering a combined 167 seats, well over the majority. Voting begins in South Korean general elections Voter turnout was 58 per cent, up 3.8 percentage points from the 2012 election, and final official results were expected today morning. "This is a voters' judgement against President Park. Many voters are fed up with her authoritarian style of administration", Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies told AFP. Park has also fallen short on most of her key economic promises, a failure she puts down to legislative inaction. But critics accuse her of skewed priorities, poor decision-making and a dogmatic style of leadership. "People punished Park for her poor performance in economy," Minjoo Party President Kim Chong-In said. Political power in South Korea is firmly concentrated in the presidency, with incumbents limited to a single five-year term. Dissatisfaction is especially high among young people, with the jobless rate among those aged 15-29 at record levels. The left-wing opposition sought to frame yesterday's vote as a referendum on Park's economic policies. But it has suffered from factional infighting and breakaways that threaten to split the liberal vote. Kate Kim, an unemployed 25-year-old college graduate, said crippling levels of joblessness had persuaded her and many of her previously apathetic friends to vote. "This is the first time I have voted... our country desperately needs change, especially for young and jobless people like me," Kim said. AFP 'If NATO clashes with Russian army, it will lead to global catastrophe,' says Putin Vladimir Putin admits Panama Papers 'accurate,' blames leak on US International oi-PTI Moscow, Apr 14: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday acknowledged the accuracy of the Panama Papers revelations, but claimed funds had been spent on musical instruments as he blamed the leak on the United States. The Papers revealed that Putin's associates, notably cellist Sergei Roldugin, "secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies," according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Investigators end search at offices of Panama Papers firm During Putin's annual phone-in with the nation, a male caller asked the president why he did not react to "slander in Western media and "unreliable information about offshores." Putin sighed, saying that "strange as it may seem, they are not publishing unreliable information about offshores. The information is accurate." "I get the impression it (the report) was put together not even by journalists but most likely by lawyers," Putin said of the leaked information. "They do not specifically accuse anyone of anything." The leaks "just serve to muddy the waters" by raising the possibility that "money from these offshores goes to some officials, including to the president," Putin said. Those who investigated the Panama papers were "wide of the mark," he insisted. He alleged that "staff of US official institutions" were working on the disclosures, which he called "acts of provocation" ahead of Russia's parliamentary elections in September. "We should not expect any repentance from them, they will keep doing it anyway and the closer the elections, the more smear campaigns there will be," Putin said. In patriotic rhetoric, Putin boasted that Russia "cannot be manipulated" and must be "spoken to with respect." He reiterated his defence of his cellist friend, insisting Roldugin spends all his money on costly musical instruments and is not corrupt. "In Russia you can just about imagine a bribe paid in Borzoi puppies, but in violins and cellos? That's a new one to me," Putin said. Roldugin has now spent all his money on instruments and is in debt, Putin added. "Sergei Pavlovich has nothing left because he has spent more money on those instruments than he had," Putin said, using a respectful patronymic. Roldugin bought two cellos and two violins, Putin said. "The last one he bought ... cost around $12 million," Putin said, calling it a Stradivarius cello known as Stuart from 1732. PTI West Bengal polls 2016: Will abide by EC rules, says new Kolkata Police commissioner Kolkata oi-Shubham Kolkata, April 14: Soumen Mitra, who took over as the commissioner of Kolkata Police on Wednesday following the removal of Rajiv Kumar by the Election Commission (EC) on charges of favouring the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), said soon assuming responsibility that he would fully abide by the EC in the ongoing Assembly election. [Rajiv Kumar removed as Kolkata police commissioner] Assembly Polls 2016 Full Coverage Mitra, who has taken over in the middle of the high-profile election, has just a week before Kolkata goes to the election on April 21. The state capital will go to its second phase of election on May 30. The new commissioner said in a press conference that he is taking the new responsibility as a challenge. The first two phases of election held in the western districts of the state have seen enough incidents of clashes between the ruling and Opposition party supporters. The Opposition parties complained that if Kumar continued as the commissioner, then it would not be possible to see fair polling in Kolkata. The EC took its step soon after getting the complaints. The full bench of the poll panel was set to visit Kolkata on Thursday. The new commissioner is also schedulked to meet top officers on the upcoming elections. On Wednesday, Mitra, who was previoulsy the ADG, CID, went first to the CID headquarters, followed by the state secretariat and finally to the police headquarters. Meanwhile, Congress leader Manas Bhuniya, who contested this year's election from his constituency Sabang, has appealed to the EC to monitor the ex-commissioner as he felt he could be active despite being removed, said local daily reports. Oneindia News Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the Maritime India Summit at the Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre in Goregaon. This is India's first ever Maritime Summit and scheduled from April 14 to 16. Anti-Pakistan protests erupted in various parts of in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) over Islamabad's discrimination in employment to local youth. A shoe was hurled at Kanhaiya Kumar when he arrived in Nagpur to address a public meeting. Workers allegedly belonging to Bajrang Dal attacked Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students union leader Kanhaiya Kumar's car on Thursday when he arrived in Nagpur to address a public meeting. 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter ONeill will welcome Mr. Patrick Pouyanne, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the French Oil and Gas Company, TOTAL S.A., when he visits Papua New Guinea this week.Mr Pouyanne will arrive in Port Moresby in the evening of 14 April, and undertake a series of meetings with Government officials and private sector representatives, and meet Prime Minister ONeill on Friday morning.I welcome Patrick Pouyanne and his delegation to Papua New Guinea, and look forward to further discussing preparations to deliver the Papua LNG Project, the Prime Minister said.We are pleased to have TOTAL as a partner with Papua New Guinea as we work to construct the Papua LNG Project.Despite the challenges of the the oil and gas sector is facing, TOTAL and Mr Pouyanne remain committed to delivering the substantial project.The Papua LNG project will deliver well over 10,000 new jobs to Papua New Guinea in the coming years, in the same way as we saw during the construction phase of the PNG-LNG Project.This will see Papua New Guineans gaining more skills, will generate business for SMEs and empower communities that are connected with the project.TOTAL has shown true commitment to Papua New Guinea though its ongoing confidence in our economy, despite current slumped commodity prices.TOTAL is investing in Papua New Guinea for the long-term so is undertaking investment now in preparation for a stronger oil and gas sector in the years to come.Papua New Guinea further welcomes TOTALs commitment to downstream industries in the country and playing a broader role in our economy and our communities.Working together with our partners such as TOTAL, we will continue to see our economy develop and further strengthen.The Prime Minister said the relationship between Papua New Guinea and French companies continues to expand as a consequence of direct bilateral engagement, and this will continue to grow.PM ONeill addressed a series of business forums in Paris last year and will speak at a major business and investment forum that is planned for Paris in the coming months. JFIF ` ` Exif MM * ; Ji T > Cyclo 10 66 66 2019:03:15 12:52:08 2019:03:15 12:52:08 C y c l o 1 0 http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/ 2019-03-15T12:52:08.658 Cyclo 10 C '!%"."%()+,+ /3/*2'*+* C *************************************************** [T" } !1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w !1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ? $!= Y2s:&{X x.+P5x h@g8BKTTe$gt{(sn[e\iOBxOJoi@* Gz/cJ%]i1*1uR.oa* 4PC^a]Qz. >?o{ _XKP )%:W ^UUQl` }0g= 3nG(gY#PP+LveS'KpXgk)Ddja[|.I+Ai%?iwN&E((#:wlHfiS4I! T[Agj+R/ $&#.9*Rk43GIQTNN5:=Xg 't@ 9"O+7+d;/Wv0\6~tK&{0]o}?&l Torn and smelly banknotes have been in the banking system for long. Banks have kept recycling the notes to save sorting costs without considering the implications to the financial system and customers businesses. The clean note policy and banknote fitness guidelines unveiled by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is expected to reverse the trend as nearly N7.9 trillion pieces of unfit notes will be withdrawn from circulation. COLLINS NWEZE examines what it takes to rid the economy of such notes. EDITH Okafor, a Lagos-based consumer goods distributor, is worried that for the past four years, what she has been paid with were worn-out banknotes from her customers. Some of the notes are so bad that her customers kept rejecting them as balance after transactions. In some of the occasions, her customers would throw the dirty banknotes back at her, saying they needed cleaner notes. Whenever Edith tried to reject the banknotes, the feedback from her customers are always the same: I got this money from my bank or do you think I print money? Where do you want me to get cleaner notes? Perhaps, the customers are right. Finding new naira notes is like finding a needle in a haystack despite the fact that a countrys currency is its national pride. When the local currency is dirty, soiled, mutilated, or even defaced, such abuses impact negatively on the perception of the nation. For many Nigerians like Edith, the sorry state of the Naira notes in circulation is appalling and a serious source of worry. The Central Bank of Nigerias (CBNs) disclosure that a large proportion of the N7.9 trillion pieces of naira notes in circulation are dirty, mutilated, unfit for Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and over-the-counter payments has given credence to Ediths worries. The worrisome development is already affecting businesses, especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that need the local currency, especially the lower denominations to transact their businesses. The development has, therefore, prompted the CBN to begin the process of getting the commercial banks and stakeholders in the currency circulation project to implement its clean note policy and banknote fitness guidelines that will involve withdrawal of the dirty notes from circulation. CBNs Deputy Governor, Operations, Folashodun Shonubi and Director, Currency Operations Department, Mrs. Pricilla Eleje, spoke of plans to withdraw the dirty notes from circulation at last weeks launch of the policy in Lagos. The officials said the bank had the obligation of providing an adequate supply of clean banknotes to facilitate seamless payment and settlement of transactions by the public, the government and banks. The CBN described the measure as the first step in its bid to address the disturbing state of the notes in circulation and create a new culture for better handling of the currency. Mrs Eleje said the clean note policy provides a uniform standard for the circulation of only clean and fit banknotes; while the banknote fitness guidelines provide the industry with clear and acceptable criteria for determining the quality of notes in circulation. The policy guidelines, she explained, were developed after extensive collaboration and engagements with key industry stakeholders under the auspices of the Nigerian Cash Management Scheme, a Bankers Committee initiative. The plan will ensure that unfit, dirty, mutilated and counterfeit banknotes are not in circulation. This is pursuant to Sections 18, 20 & 21 of the CBN Act 2007, which prohibits the counterfeiting, sale and abuse of the naira. She said: The CBN cannot achieve these objectives without the collaboration of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), merchant banks, microfinance banks, government agencies, cash-in-transit (CIT), cash processing companies (CPCs), market associations, merchants/retailers, chambers of commerce and industry, security agencies, currency management equipment manufacturers , bank customers and the public. She explained that over the years, the growth in economic activities and the upsurge in population had necessitated the rise in the volume of banknotes in circulation. The CBN said: In view of technological advances, the CBN, like other central banks, has introduced various forms of electronic payment systems for effective and efficient settlement of transactions and to reduce the volume of cash usage with its attendant cost implications. Despite the prevalence of other forms of payment, cash remains king in our day to day economic transactions. As such, people still prefer to use cash in making payments, especially where there are no digital payment platforms. Consequently, demand for cash continues to grow despite technological advances. Thus, the volume of currency in circulation as at the end of 2012 rose significantly by 10.34 per cent to 7,914.70 billion pieces, as at the half-year of 2018. A large proportion of the notes in circulation were dirty, mutilated, not fit for ATMs and over-the-counter payments. To overcome the challenge, the CBN increases the supply of clean notes and withdraws the soiled and mutilated notes from circulation. In addition, the bank introduces from time to time a number of currency management initiatives to ensure that the production, issuance of new notes, processing by third service providers as well as recirculation by the deposit money banks (DMBs) conform to the predetermined standards. To ensure that the banknotes in circulation are clean and of high quality, the bank hereby issues the clean note policy. The clean note policy enunciated, therefore, by the bank, entails a spectrum of diverse currency management activities geared towards the efficient circulation of premium quality banknotes and withdrawal of unfit/soiled banknotes to guarantee public confidence and usage of the naira banknotes as a medium of exchange. Stakeholders back policy The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has given its support to the Clean Note Policy and Banknote Fitness Guidelines. ABCON President, Aminu Gwadabe, said the launch of the CBN Clean and Banknote Fitness Policy is not only apt but timely because of the high volume of unfit and dirty notes in circulation across the country. He said the policy will discourage the attitude of the public in stashing naira notes in their homes and farms as witnessed recently. He said the policy will also increase the level of money supply in the economy, and subsequently deepen the volume and value of credit available to real sector operators and other major segments of the economy. Gwadabe said the policy entails diverse currency management plans geared towards the efficient circulation of premium quality banknotes and withdrawal of unfit/soiled banknotes. This, he said, will guarantee public confidence and usage of the naira banknotes as a medium of exchange. According to Gwadabe, the move by the apex bank to sanitise the estimated N7.9 trillion pieces in circulation will enhance transparent currency management system, promote financial inclusion and enhance the confidence of the informal sector in the financial system. The ABCON boss said the CBN has through the new policy plans, demonstrated its commitment to seamless payment system adding that the regulator has the obligation of providing an adequate supply of clean banknotes to facilitate efficient payment and settlement of transactions by the public, government and banks. He said the policy guidelines are backed by the Sections 18, 20 & 21 of the CBN Act 2007 which prohibits the counterfeiting, sale and abuse of the naira. Gwadabe said ABCON, and its over 4,500 members will collaborate with the CBN to make the new policy a success. He said that Nigeria remains a cash-based economy and that the new policy is crucial to ensure that the local currency remains attractive to the people. The ABCON boss said despite the use of e-payment channels, majority of Nigerians still use cash in their day-to-day economic transactions, especially in making payments especially where there are no digital payment platforms. He said the BDCs have remained resolute in ensuring sustainable and stable exchange rate, price discovery and uniformity in the market pricing for the dollar against the naira. He said the CBN-licenced BDCs under the aegis of ABCON is not in business solely to make a profit but to protect the local currency and ensure that the economy thrives through its contribution to job creation and improved dollar liquidity in the economy. Policy implementation To ensure that the policy succeeds, Eleje asked bank customers to report any commercial bank that rejects dirty, soiled, worn out, defaced or mutilated naira notes for sanction. She said the apex bank will soon circulate the guidelines on clean note policy to banks, which will also be made available to bank customers for them to know when any lender is not complying. Eleje said the regulator will regularly carry out spot checks on bank branches, based on complaints from customers, which will serve as a guide on where to go. Complaints from customers on any bank not accepting dirty notes will serve as a trigger for the CBN to know where to go and the penalty for defaulting banks. There should also be a banner in every banking hall for customers to understand the Note Policy and Banknote Fitness Guidelines and also their rights as stipulated in it, she said. The CBN Director, also said the apex bank is planning mobile courts to try currency counterfeiters to serve as a deterrent to others. She said the CBN will continue to sensitise the public on the basic security features of the notes, the dangers of sale of the Naira, and proper handling habits of the banknotes by the public. She said that any abuse of the Naira is a criminal offence, punishable under the CBN Act of 2007. In his keynote address, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said currency management is vital to peoples daily lives because, despite the improvements in the electronic payments system, banknotes remain predominant for payment and settlement of commercial transactions in Nigeria. The effective use of these documents by relevant stakeholders would ensure that banknotes in circulation are clean and of high quality. Characteristics that are key to sustaining public confidence in the national currency, Emefiele said in an emailed statement. He added: The CBN has registered eight companies to carry out cash-in-transit and two cash processing companies to operate in Nigeria. Deposit money banks (DMBs) are expected to patronise only these registered companies for Cash-in-Transit and sorting services. It is expected therefore that more private sector participation in the currency management value chain would further strengthen the efforts toward ensuring availability of clean banknotes. He said the CBN has also put in place strategies to enable direct disbursement of lower banknotes to various market associations and merchants through their respective DMBs adding that the intervention commenced in Abuja and has been extended to Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Umuahia, Yola, Jos, Gombe, Asaba, Ibadan, Kastina, Uyo, Minna and Port Harcourt. Also, the apex bank has reduced the processing charges for DMB deposit of lower denomination banknotes N5 to N50 to encourage the return of unsorted banknotes to CBN for processing. The bank also intends to embark on a project that would enable mop-up of the over-circulated and mutilated banknotes from circulation. Furthermore, the CBN would continue to embark on sustainable institutional reforms and enact policies that will promote efficient currency management in Nigeria, Emefiele said. He urged Nigerians to handle the Naira banknotes properly; as it is a criminal offence to abuse the Naira adding that the local currency is Nigerias identity as a country and needed to be respected. He said it would affect commerce because people would be more inclined to spend where there are new notes in their hands. We believe it will definitely help the economy and it will complement the cash-less economy. He said the CBN has put in place measures to ensure that banks circulating unfit notes are sanctioned. The majority of the notes that are new, are processed notes. We are hoping that the private sector will help in sorting out the notes, to ensure that only fit notes are circulated. In an ideal situation, it is only the unfit notes and counterfeit notes that should come to the CBN for replacement. Thats the part we would want the private sector to help us in achieving desired results, he said. Classifying mutilated notes Eleje described a mutilated banknote as a poor quality banknote that requires a special examination to determine its value. The note could be partially or permanently damaged by fire, water, dye, insects, rodents or destroyed by natural disasters. The new policy, she added, was in a bid to enhance the availability of clean notes and effect expeditious withdrawal of dirty notes from circulation. The apex bank said Deposit Money Banks and Cash Processing Companies (CPCs) making deposits at the CBN should classify their cash deposits into fit and unfit notes. The CBN said the unfit notes should be sorted, classifying mutilated notes differently. An unfit banknote refers to a genuine banknote that is no longer fit for circulation in accordance with the quality standard set by the CBN. A banknote would be considered unfit for recirculation if it was badly soiled or if there was a general distribution/localisation of dirt. Other features that could make a note be classified as unfit were if the note presented a limp/rag appearance due to excessive folding that resulted in the breakdown of the texture and structure of the note or if the note had added image or lettering marked on it or it had a hole that was more than 10 mm, the regulator said. Continuing, it added: Other features that classify notes as unfit are torn parts of the banknote that are re-joined with adhesive tape in a manner that tries to preserve as nearly as possible the original design and size of the note; reduction in the original size of the note through wear and tear or fire, rodents and chemicals; perforation of the notes; and loss of more than half of the original size of the banknote. Unfit banknotes shall not be re-circulated by DMBs and CPCs. However, a penal charge of N12,000 per box or any amount determined by the management of the CBN shall apply for the deposit of unsorted banknotes. In addition, penalties, as may be determined by the CBN, shall apply for the re-circulation of unfit banknotes. The CBN said offenders would be liable to a fine of N50,000 or six months imprisonment or both under the provision of Section 21 of the CBN Act, 2007. It said the writing or graffiti paintings, mutilation, stapling, tearing or making a hole of any kind, spraying, soiling and matching are highly offensive and punishable. The CBN said it would ensure that the Automated Teller Machines deployed by DMBs and other service providers were configured to dispense and accept only genuine banknotes in all denominations. It added that the ATMs would only dispense notes that had been duly checked for authenticity and fitness according to the CBNs standard and operators whose ATMs contravene this provision shall be sanctioned in line with the existing guideline. The CBN and DMB shall continue to receive mutilated notes from the public. The procedures for the treatment of mutilated notes and the notes for exchange are as enshrined in the Central Bank Operational Manual for the Operation of Mutilated Notes, it said. Bankers Committee to sanction naira abusers Those who spray naira notes at parties risk going to jail, the Bankers Committee has also warned. Mobile courts are to try those bastardising the national currency, it said. Issuing the warning after its meeting in Lagos, the Bankers Committee said the mobile courts would be deployed nationwide to try those mishandling the currency. Speaking on the development, CBN Director, Corporate communications, Isaac Okorafor said the Police and the Ministry of Justice would be involved in the operation, adding: If a celebrant is dancing and you spray him/her, you may go to jail from the party venue because the law enforcement agents will be there, waiting to arrest you. It is the duty of law enforcement agencies to catch offenders and take them to court. Our collaboration with the police will intensify as we move to implement the mobile court for offenders. Admonishing Nigerians on how to use cash as a gift, Okorafor said: If you want to give, put the money in an envelope, and give it the celebrant. Lets know that anybody hawking and writing on the naira will face six months in jail or N50,000 or both. Managing Director of First Securities Discount House (FSDH) Merchant Bank Mrs Handa Ambah said people selling naira notes would be punished. She said: We need to let them know that this is money. The fact that you cannot spray money at parties does not mean that you cannot put money in an envelope and pass it to the celebrants. Other financial pundits insist that getting the clean note policy working would require banks and other stakeholders to ensure notes in circulation are clean and of good quality. The banks, they added, are also expected to classify notes into a fit and unfit category and return unfit ones to the CBN. The lenders are to equally ensure the adequacy and availability of currency banknotes in the right denominational mix to meet public demand and maintain confidence in the local currency. Only then will the dirty smelly banknotes circulating across the country and killing businesses will be a thing of the past. Opalesque Industry Update - Emergence, the French incubation fund providing seed funding for France-registered managers, and NewAlpha Asset Management, the proxy manager of the fund, announce the selection of La Financiere Responsable, the sixth company selected for the sub-fund of Emergence dedicated to European equities and currently closed to subscriptions. The long only European equity sub-fund of Emergence invested EUR 25 million in a strategy specialised in SRI investments in the Eurozone. This contribution enables La Financiere Responsable to ramp up the development of its flagship fund, and supplements the EUR 70 million already under management. It is the only SRI strategy that has been selected by the Emergence Investment Committee, comprising some of the most significant Paris-based institutional investors, at a time when institutional investors in particular insurers are increasingly favourable to an SRI approach to investing. Moreover, in France this strategy enables institutional investors to fulfill the non-financial reporting obligations set out in the Law on Energy Transition. La Financiere Responsable stands out in the SRI sector on account of its original, innovative and grass-roots methodology. An investor with conviction, La Financiere Responsable selects companies based on their strong growth (and therefore positive return) prospects over an average investment period of 3-5 years. In addition to the companys financial health and strategy, the investment process also explores social, environmental and governance aspects through the analysis of more than 80 non-financial indicators compared to the relevant sector, grouped together within the Eco-social (Ecosociale) footprint. As such, this method fosters the diversity and relevance of the factors helping to strengthen the companys overall performance. Formalised under the term Gestion Integrale IVA, this approach enables La Financiere Responsable to thoroughly analyse the companys value creation for its internal and external partners, and to considerably clarify its development. The quality of this non-financial research, all of which is carried out internally, has been rewarded every year between 2011 and 2014 with Young Innovative Company status, allocated to companies in operation for less than eight years by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. Since it was founded, La Financiere Responsable has been the only management company to benefit from the research tax credit related to SRI. For six years, La Financiere Responsable has provided its clients institutional investors, not-for-profit organisations and employee savings managers with excellent financial performance through its funds. Since 1 January 2010, when the method was implemented, the strategys performance has amounted to 48.42% versus 22.22% for Eurostoxx 50, with a low turnover rate and much lower volatility than that of the market. For this sixth investment, as with the five previous investments in Focus Asset Managers, Financiere Arbevel, Talence Gestion, Finaltis and Fideas Capital, the incubation fund Emergence provides its investors with the strong performance of selected funds and participation in their development through a revenue-sharing mechanism. La Financiere Responsable is the 11th company to receive seed funding from Emergence through its two sub-funds, which have allocated a total amount of EUR 350 million since 2012. Through Emergence, international investors are attracted to French entrepreneurial managers. Opalesque Industry Update - Dallas-based Coquest Inc., a full service brokerage and alternative investment consulting firm, has announced that Quantitative Investment Management is the winner of the 2015 Coquest Advisors CTA Challenge. QIMs Global Program finished the year with a 20.82% gain, beating out the other 26 CTA programs competing, as well as outperforming the S&P 500 and other key performance indexes in a very tough year for the overall asset management industry. The 2015 CTA Challenge, which officially ended at close of business on Dec. 31, 2015, recognizes and showcases top performing managed futures trading programs. The CTA Challenge is a global platform for CTAs of all sizes and experience levels to compete on a level playing field, said Maxwell Eagye, managing director at Coquest, Inc. Although QIM has a long history of success in the business, several emerging managers participated in the contest and held their own. Our purpose is to spotlight top CTA performance not only against each other, but against other asset classes. Jaffray Woodriff, Michael Geismar and Greyson Williams jointly founded Virginia-based QIM in 2003, after developing proprietary quantitative models to predict price movements for a wide variety of markets. The Global Program pursues a fully systematic short-term trading strategy and employs pattern-based time series prediction methods to capture short-term trading opportunities across global futures markets. QIM currently has more than $2.1 billion assets under management. The CTA Challenge is a year-long competition that allows commodity trading advisors to match their trading prowess on a level playing field against other CTAs. It is judged by a combination of risk adjusted return and volatility, therefore the top performing portfolios arent always those with the greatest end-of-year absolute return. Twenty-seven CTA programs entered the 2015 competition. Detailed information on the participants monthly performance statistics and strategy descriptions are available at www.ctachallenge.com . At the close of the 2015 competition, the top 5 participants were: 1. Quantitative Investment Management, LLC [Global Program] 2. Integrated Managed Futures Corp [Global Investment Program] 3. Dix Hills Partners, LLC [Absolute Return Strategies 1.0] 4. Clarke Capital Management, Inc. [Global Magnum Program] 5. Camkay Capital Management, LLC [Stock Indices Short-Term] Reprinted from Reader Supported News Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper recently fought off Congressional attempts to require the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies to disclose more information than currently called for on the promotions and firings of high-ranking employees, despite earlier promises to do so. A bill in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence would have required the DNI to "regularly provide names of those being promoted to top positions and disclose any significant and credible information to suggest that the individual is unfit or unqualified." Clapper opposed that language, according to the Washington Post. Clapper reportedly objected to the bill because of the "bureaucratic workload" that it would have generated. But the Post added that other sources said that U.S. "spy chiefs chafed at the idea of subjecting their top officials to such congressional scrutiny" and threatened that some candidates could drop out of contention for senior positions because of the reporting requirement. As a result, the bill that passed called for the DNI to provide only "the information the Director determines appropriate." The original language had been written and submitted by the CIA's biggest cheerleader and apologist on Capitol Hill, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Feinstein lauded the final legislation and said that it would ensure that oversight committee members would "know the names of senior intelligence community leaders." She added that the language is a "good first step." Wow. Senate overseers will now know the names of the people they're supposed to oversee. Feinstein, who actually showed some courage when she took on CIA director John Brennan over the CIA spying on Senate staff members and over the Senate Torture Report, should be ashamed of herself. At least, she should be embarrassed that the DNI humiliated her by essentially telling her to go fly a kite. Feinstein knows exactly what the CIA's personnel problems are. She's even spoken about them in the Intelligence Committee. These problems include the fact that "numerous CIA officers had serious documented personal and professional problems -- including histories of violence and records of abusive treatment of others -- that should have called into question their suitability to participate in the CIA's detention and interrogation problem," according to Senate Intelligence Committee investigators. In fact, in the Senate Torture Report, committee investigators wrote that "CIA Headquarters managers seem to be selecting either problem, underperforming officers, new, totally inexperienced officers, or whomever seems to be willing and able to deploy at any given time." Qualifications have nothing to do with promotion or assignment. Indeed, the old adage that those officers who could get on their knees in front of the director fast enough would be the first to be promoted appears true. Certainly, no intelligence service would want problem, underperforming, or inexperienced officers running things. But what about officers who beat their wives? What about officers who sexually harass subordinates? What about officers who play fast and loose with their accounting and who spend taxpayer money on prostitutes for themselves and their sources? All of these things happen. I know because I worked for some of these "leaders." Not all blame for this sorry state of affairs rests with the CIA. I also blame the oversight committees. The CIA has proven over the decades that it needs adult supervision. Otherwise, CIA officers and leaders will seek to get away with whatever is possible, without thought to legality, ethics, or the wisdom of doing what they're doing. Congress has to stand up. Former oversight committee chairmen who had the guts to stand up to the CIA are gone. Frank Church is dead. Pat Moynihan is dead. It's time for Congressional leaders to put their foot down on DNI and CIA intransigence and lead. Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News. In one chapter of his campaign book, A Time for Truth, Sen. Ted Cruz proudly chronicles his days as a Texas solicitor general, a post he held from 2003 to 2008. Bolstering his conservative cred, the Republican presidential candidate notes that during his stint as the state's chief lawyer, in front of the Supreme Court and federal and state appellate courts he defended the inclusion of "under God" in the "Pledge of Allegiance," the display of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the state Capitol, a congressional redistricting plan that assisted Republicans, a restrictive voter identification law, and a ban on late-term abortions. He also described cases in which he championed gun rights and defended the conviction of a Mexican citizen who raped and murdered two teenage girls in a case challenged by the World Court. Yet one case he does not mention is the time he helped defend a law criminalizing the sale of dildos. The case was actually an important battle concerning privacy and free-speech rights. In 2004, companies that owned Austin stores selling sex toys and a retail distributor of such products challenged a Texas law outlawing the sale and promotion of supposedly obscene devices. Under the law, a person who violated the statute could go to jail for up to two years. At the time, only three states -- Mississippi, Alabama, and Virginia -- had similar laws. (The previous year, a Texas mother who was a sales rep for Passion Parties was arrested by two undercover cops for selling vibrators and other sex-related goods at a gathering akin to a Tupperware party for sex toys. No doubt, this had worried businesses peddling such wares.) The plaintiffs in the sex device case contended the state law violated the right to privacy under the 14th Amendment. They argued that many people in Texas used sexual devices as an aspect of their sexual experiences. They claimed that in some instances one partner in a couple might be physically unable to engage in intercourse or have a contagious disease (such as HIV), and that in these cases such devices could allow a couple to engage in safe sex. Reprinted from Campaign For America's Future In April 2006, while Goldman was preparing an RMBS backed by Countrywide loans for securitization, a Goldman mortgage department manager circulated a "very bullish" equity research report that recommended the purchase of Countrywide stock. Goldman's head of due diligence, who had just overseen the due diligence on six Countrywide pools, responded "If they only knew ..." -- Annex 1, "Statement of Facts," Goldman Sachs/U.S. Department of Justice, April 11 2016 "In his capacity as Vice President of Credit-Risk -- Quality Assurance at Wells Fargo, Lofrano executed on Wells Fargo's behalf the annual certifications required by HUD ... Moreover, Lofrano received Wells Fargo quality assurance reports identifying thousands of FHA loans with material findings -- very few of which Wells Fargo reported to HUD." -- Department of Justice press release, April 8 2016 A $5.1 billion fraud settlement from Goldman Sachs, a $1.2 billion fraud agreement with Wells Fargo -- and that's just from the past week. Over the last several years banks have paid an estimated $200 billion in fraud fines and settlements. How many settlements, how many billions, will it take to convince some fact-resistant pundits and politicians that there is an epidemic of fraud on Wall Street? When a gullible equity research outfit recommended that investors buy into Countrywide, a Goldman executive who knew what was being kept secret wrote: "If they only knew." No matter how hard some politicians and press try to persuade us otherwise, the evidence shows that the banking community is rife with unpunished fraudsters. Its political influence, however, apparently remains undiminished. The latest Goldman Sachs settlement is a case in point. While the settlement documents are somewhat obscure and difficult to read (as is typical in agreements of this kind), the facts are incontestable. Simply put, the people at Goldman Sachs lied -- a lot -- to investors. The settlement included "a statement of facts to which Goldman has agreed," meaning that its high-priced lawyers aggressively negotiated each and every word. Despite those efforts, at least some of the ugly truth comes through loud and clear. Some excerpts: "Between December 2005 and 2007, Goldman, Sachs & Co ... securitized thousands of prime, Alt-A, and subprime mortgage loans and sold the resulting residential mortgage-backed securities ("RMBS") for tens of billions of dollars to investors nationwide ... Goldman ... made representations to investors in offering documents about the characteristics of the underlying loans and Goldman's process for reviewing and approving loan originators ... "As described below, in the due diligence process, Goldman received information indicating that, for certain loan pools, significant percentages of the loans reviewed did not conform to the representations made to investors about the pools of loans to be securitized, and Goldman also received certain negative information regarding the originators' business practices ... "Between September 2006 and 2007, certain Goldman-sponsored RMBS included a number of loans purchased from conduit originators that, at the time of securitization, had been 'suspended' by Goldman. Goldman's offering documents for those RMBS transactions did not inform investors that loans purchased from suspended conduit originators had been included in the RMBS." Translation: Goldman Sachs repeatedly sold mortgage risk to investors by claiming that it was making sure these mortgages were being written according to strict rules -- even when it knew that they weren't, and that a lot of the mortgages were in fact not what they claimed. That's fraud, plain and simple. And it gets worse. In the case of Fremont Investment & Loan, a loan originator, Goldman Sachs didn't just fail to disclose Fremont's bad underwriting to investors. When it learned there was a problem, Goldman "undertook a significant marketing effort" to tell investors exactly the opposite -- that Fremont had a "commitment to loan quality over volume." A lot of people must have colluded in that fraud, but no executives have been indicted at Goldman Sachs. Nor have its leaders exhibited any shame. They have participated in charity events (including the Clinton Global Initiative), and Goldman has a strong presence in the presidential race. One candidate was paid six-figure sums to give speeches at Goldman Sachs. Another received a Goldman Sachs loan for his Senate campaign and is married to one of its executives. Apparently fraud doesn't carry as heavy a stigma as it once did. Goldman Sachs still seems to have political clout, too, because that reported $5.1 billion settlement isn't all it's cracked up to be. As the New York Times reports, that figure is overstated by an estimated $1 billion. The watchdog group Better Markets estimates that as much as half of this settlement will be tax-deductible -- meaning that taxpayers will once again foot the bill for Goldman Sachs fraud. And, as Alan Pyke reports in Think Progress, some of the actions called for by this agreement will actually benefit the bank. As Better Markets' Dennis Kelleher noted, "a $5 billion settlement is meaningless unless it is publicly disclosed how much money was made from the illegal conduct and the total amount of investor losses." Kelleher also points out that the statement of facts is incomplete, that the settlement amount is trivial when compared to Goldman's net revenue, and that "every single individual at Goldman who received a bonus from this illegal conduct not only keeps the entire bonus, but suffers no penalty at all." Reprinted from www.dailykos.com (Image by rob kall) Details DMCA Acute observers like George Gallup Sr, the pollster; Noam Chomsky, the most-cited academic alive; and recently, John Kerry, US Secretary of State, say that Americans are way ahead of our government. Gallup: "On most major issues we've dealt with in the past 50 years, the public was more likely to be right"based on the judgment of history"than the legislatures or Congress." Leaders like Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Patch Adams, Daniel Ellsberg, Doris "Granny D" Haddock, Julia Butterfly Hill, John Perkins, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Coleen Rowley, Ralph Nader and Pete Seeger have all endorsed former Senator Mike Gravel's plan for national direct democracy. Mike ran for President in 2008 to publicize it, but the media gave him little chance. I worked directly for Mike in 2002, and signed up these folks, except Perkins. But famous supporters are the least of the reasons we should make direct democracy a top priority. Indeed, an advantage of direct democracy is it counteracts the "star system" that makes only the richest, most powerful and most famous the "deciders," politically and socially. As longshoreman/philospher Eric Hoffer put it, "Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many." Since "the 99%" have no representation in Congress, according to Princeton research, most Americans give up participating in their country's affairs. Remember "no taxation without representation"? Fortunately, direct democracy exists in crude form in 24 States and DC as ballot initiatives and referendums, and lets ALL voters be "deciders." If you can get enough signatures to get your proposal on the ballot, you can help set the agenda, too. We must expand this to the whole country, and improve the process. Initiatives and referendums were the start of everything from women's suffrage, child labor laws and secret ballots to minimum wages, 8 hour days and sunshine acts to renewable energy mandates, medical and legal marijuana. 1. Really getting money out of politics may require direct democracy: Polls show about 80% of all voters want it, but representatives for many decades have left loopholes big enough to drive trucks of cash through. Remember how Granny D walked across the US at age 90 to help get the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act passed? Now the problem is worse than ever. Money seeks politicians0, so we need to put people into politics, not just to elect representatives, but to keep money out and keep the country on track. 2. Bernie Sanders has repeatedly said that to get his agenda through an obstructive Congress, he'll need a million people to occupy the National Mall. That's doable, but occupiers eventually have to go back to their lives. Something permanent must remain to empower people, and make Congress our representatives. 3. Just as Progressives and Populists over a century ago demanded state initiatives and referenda and quickly used them to get women's suffrage, direct election of senators and secret ballots, polls have shown for decades that national ballot initiatives would advance our agenda. This is especially important when Congress is gridlocked or bought off. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Recently, Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, a close aide to Pope Francis, and the head of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican, invited USA presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to speak at an upcoming conference. The senator from Vermont will speak about creating a "moral economy." POLITICO claims that some of Sander's aids are sweating the visit. Others are fascinated by America's leading Socialist politician is invite by the pope at all. i think it is only natural that the pope and Sanders have ties. I will explain in this article. The Vatican conference on April 15, which Sanders will attend, is one in which Sanders will address social, economic and environmental issues. Recently, Sanders has said that the Vatican and he can find common ground on many matters. For example, Sanders notes, "'Pope Francis has made clear that we must overcome the globalization of indifference in order to reduce economic inequalities, stop financial corruption and protect the natural environment. That is our challenge in the United States and in the world.'" Interestingly, as the announcement for the April 15 invitation was announced last week, I had already been reading a book entitled Church, State and Public Justice: Five Views, edited by P.C. Kemeny. In this wonderful book I found an important article on "the Catholic Church's Social Teachings" or CST by Catholic Clarke E. Cochran, who teaches courses in political philosophy, religion and politics, and public policy. Clarke E. Cochran, in his article entitled "Life on the Border: A Catholic Perspective", outlines the Catholic church's positions and directions provided over the past centuries in the area of CST or Catholic Social Teachings. CST is often defined as "the body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of social justice, involving issues of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role of the state." Cochran emphasizes the concept of subsidiarity at work in CST. He explains, "Subsidiarity counsels that the primary purpose of the state is to assist ('grant help'=subsidium) the primary organs of social life (families, labor unions, businesses and other voluntary associations) to carry out their responsibilities. Secondarily, more comprehensive state institutions (such as the federal government) should provide assistance to states and local government when their responsibilities to the common good from their own resources." [1] This focus on subsidiarity overlaps with the views held by most democratic Americans and has reflected Sanders' positions as both Mayor of Burlington, Vermont and as Senator in Washington, D.C. In short, Catholic Social Teachers (or CST) over the past two centuries have greatly supported many of the social democratic concepts developed in the same eras. CST is grounded to a great degree in "Natural Law" theory which is considered the foundation for Catholic moral theology.[2] "Natural law is a philosophy that certain rights or values are inherent by virtue of human nature and universally cognizable through human reason. Historically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze both social and personal human nature to deduce binding rules of moral behavior."[3] Natural Law theory influenced many of America's founding fathers during the Enlightenment, but it had actually been introduced centuries earlier in the writings of Thomas Aquinas. Natural Law has influenced even more greatly both English and American jurisprudence. Catholic moral theology is a major category of doctrine in the Roman Catholic church, equivalent to a religious ethics. I should add, though, that Catholic moral theology embodies more than CST. "Moral theology encompasses Roman Catholic social teaching, Catholic medical ethics, sexual ethics, and various doctrines on individual moral virtue and moral theory. It can be distinguished as dealing with 'how one is to act,' in contrast to dogmatic theology which proposes 'what one is to believe.'"[4] In short, whereas CST is often something which Bernie Sanders and many socialists, democrats, and most Americans can and do embrace, the areas covered under the whole concept of moral theology are not always common ground, e.g. abortion rights, euthanasia, etc. On the other hand, I would emphasize that CST itself often embodies manyy important areas of common ground for many socialists, democrats and Americans: the Common Good, Solidarity, Social Justice, and Freedom & Dignity for all. (1) Common Good is considered the vary reason for government authority under CST. It is granted to the state by God as Cochran writes, "Government has the responsibility to promote community among the variety of social groups and individuals in society."[5] (2) Under Common Good comes the importance of promoting solidarity. Solidarity has the virtue, according to Cochran, of flowing from "the common good to CST. Solidarity is the 'Yes, I am my brother's keeper' affirmation of the bonds of common humanity. Solidarity is actively caring for justices and the common good, flowing from identifications with the needs of others."[6] Importantly, solidarity is "an aspect of the Church's attempt to distinguish its social morality from such ideologies as individualism, collectivism and nationalism (and indeed from liberalism and conservatism)."[7] In recent years, Pope Francis has been speaking up around the world about the need for a more moral economy. Sanders likely concurs with this aspect of the Vatican's direction because, as Cochran notes, "Genuine community cannot exist where social and economic conditions exploit some members of the community or place members of the community at too great a distance from each other."[8] This is a common understanding of many socialists world-wide. Since the instant collapse of Neo-Liberal and Neo-Conservative dominance in American thinking followed by the 2007 Global Banking Crisis, Americans and others across the globe have shown a greater willingness to support both CST and Democratic Social callings in economics and politics. The movement called Occupy was one example of these movements to fight the growing national and global inequalities brought on by the excesses of neo-liberal and neo-conservative political economic leadership as peoples have suffered under for nearly 5 decades. The rise of the Sanders for President Campaign is a more recent example of the new political and new moral directions in leadership that Americans --and most of the world--desire.[9] (3) According to Cochran, Social Justice in action or a Just Society is defined as a society "in which the common good is valued and pursued" as much as possible. [10] Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Leading Big Data Show in Asia BIGIT Technology Malaysia 2016 http://www.bigittechnology.com/malaysia2016/ KL, Malaysia, September 19 - 20, 2016 South East Asia has been seeing increasingly aggressive growth in the Big Data scene in the past years with much focus driven to understand the concept of Big Data as a powerful tool in deriving insights through the analysis of the data and the competitive benefits it brings through differentiation. Albeit so, only a handful of companies have started adopting Big Data Analytics in SEA to create valuable data and have its practical concepts and guidelines implemented to form smarter data management.Following its successful series of Big Data shows, BIGIT, which stands for Big In Technology is honored to present BIGIT Technology Malaysia 2016 which will be held on 19th 20th September 2016 at KLCC Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur with Fusionex and Delphix as its Titanium and Platinum Sponsor respectively, and Cloudera and Schneider Electric as its Gold Sponsors.Co-organised by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) Malaysias government agency leading the national Big Data Analytics initiative, and Olygen (under the brand BIGIT), the BIGIT Technology Malaysia 2016 will be the Anchor Event of the Big Data Week Asia 2016 that consists of the much anticipated 4th Big Data World Show, Data Security World Show and the BIGIT Exhibition. The event, which is recognised by industry experts as the Leading Big Data Show in Asia, aims to drive conversations and promote Big Data Analytics in SEA and introduce Malaysia as the regional hub for Big Data Analytics.Expect to: Learn how organisations benefit from big data used cases Gather with industry experts to discuss how innovative enterprises are changing way of business practices Pilot big data initiatives to validate value and requirements to encourage big data adoption Learn how other countries are regulating their information security and its effectiveness Discuss the security concerns that arises from the advancement of enterprise technology and ways to overcome these issues Business networking platform to foster regional business partnershipsList of Speakers include: George Roumeliotis Distinguished Data Scientist, Walmart, US Alex Twigg Group Head of Services, Woolworths Limited, Australia Richard Benjamins Group Director, BI and Big Data, Telefonica Amr Awadallah Co-Founder & CTO, Cloudera Mark Gallagher Managing Director, CMS Motor Trading (Grand Prix Motor Racing)And many more.With target audience of 3,000 delegates, 1,500 trade visitors, 45 speakers and 70 exhibitors from over 500 dynamic companies in 40 industries, expect to be surrounded by our exclusive group of established sponsors and exhibitors including renowned key players in the industry such as the C-level management, Directors of MNC companies, Strategic Decision Makers with high purchasing power and Key Government Personnel governing the national policy.Olygen is an event organiser and one of its brands BIGIT, has a successful track record of a series of events, ie: Big Data World Show (2013 - 2015), Internet of Things (IoT) World Show 2015 among others. BIGIT has since been creating a one-stop platform for Fortune 500 companies to network, gather and acquire latest insights on Big Data and IoT. BIGITs large-scale events are region-wide including major cities such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Shanghai, Jakarta, Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Johannesburg.For more information, please visitOlygen Sdn. Bhd.2B-12-3 Block 2B Plaza SentralJalan Stesen Sentral 550470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Nurse Call System Market Study To 2022: Grand View Research, Inc. http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/nurse-call-system-equipments-industry http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/nurse-call-system-equipments-industry/request The global nurse call system market is expected to reach USD 1.8 billion by 2022, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The decreasing reimbursement coverage, government penalties for hospital readmissions and the increasing support for digital healthcare are expected to drive the demand for nurse call system market.Additionally, technological advancements pertaining to introduce the next level of communication enabling the wide range of applications configuration to the hospitals, home care, and residential facilities are also expected to upsurge the demand for the nurse call system market. In April 2015, Mircom launched MiCare wireless nurse call system. The system was designed to enable its integration with the cloud technology. It had a unique mesh technology, which could be customized depending on the needs of the facilities.With the increasing life expectancy and changing healthcare requirements, the burden on national insurance bodies is constantly increasing. Owing to aforementioned factors, Medicare penalizes healthcare facilities which has hospital readmissions within 30days. The government is providing funds for research, which can help caregivers to streamline the entire process with the aid of technology. For instance, in April 2015, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) granted USD 160,000 pertaining to the appropriate and effective use of such technologies.Browse full research report on Global Nurse Call System Market:Further key findings from the study suggest: Wired communication equipment dominated the market in 2014 owing to the early adoption of the technology and continuous innovations such as integration Wi-Fi cordless telephone, IP DECT, and radio pocket pager for greater efficiency and safety. In August 2014, South Tyneside Hospital installed IPiN Ethernet-based nurse call system in its accident &emergency units, cardiac wards, and Special Care Baby Units (SCBUs). Wireless communication equipment is expected to witness rapid growth. With the increasing healthcare complexities, the need for integrated nurse call systems and electronic health records is driving the industry players to launch advanced solutions. In November 2015, RCare launched its G4 technology with Advanced Location Protocol (ALP) for senior living facilities. The I Got It button provides a state-of-the-art solution to allow staff to pinpoint locations with the aid of RCare pendant. In 2014, North America was the largest regional market owing to the establishment of separate certification and coding system. Increasing demand for remote patient monitoring and the subsequent introduction of technologically advanced nurse call system are amongst key factors for the regions large share. Europe was the second largest market in 2014 owing to the separate funding for nursing technologies and funding for effective patient monitoring devices. The European Union has funded over USD 558.29 million for the eHealth and mHealth technology since 1990. Moreover, in June 2015, Innovate UK funded the Oxehealth camera based patient monitoring study, which captured the real-time movements of patients to measure the vital signs and alert the staff accordingly. In 2014, the Hospitals have a majority of the market share owing to the patient flow and the increasing chronic and emergency case patients. Hospitals are revamping their older nurse call systems and increasing their budgets pertaining to the funding infrastructure supporting system integration. Market participants are constantly evolving the traditional nurse call system and incorporating newer techniques or devices helping caregivers to provide patient care effectively. For instance, internet protocol nurse call systems offer a higher level of integration with wired and wireless technologies. In February 2016, Austco Communication Systems launched Tacera Pulse intelligent solutions for the clinical business. Key players in the nurse call system market include Hill-Rom Holding, Inc., Tyco SimplexGrinnell,Ascom Holding, Honeywell International, Inc., Rauland-Borg Corporation,TekTone Sound & Signal Mfg., Inc., Stanley Healthcare, Azure Healthcare, West-Com Nurse Call Systems, Inc., and Critical Alert Systems LLC.Read detailed report or request for sample of this research report:Grand View Research has segmented the global nurse call system market on the basis of technology, end-use,and regions:Nurse Call System Technology Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 2022) Wired Communication Equipment Wireless Communication EquipmentNurse Call System End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 2022) Hospitals and Clinics Outpatient Departments (OPDs) Assisted Living Facilities Ambulatory Care Services Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs)Nurse Call System Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 2022) North Americao U.S.o Canada Europeo UKo Germanyo Franceo Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Indiao Japano Chinao Rest of Asia Pacific Latin Americao Brazilo Mexicoo Rest of Latin America MEAo South Africao Rest of MEAGrand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.Sherry JamesCorporate Sales Specialist, USAGrand View Research, IncPhone: 1-415-349-0058 legic rfid clear tag for vehicle tracking(gyrfidstore) RFID Disc Tags are widely used for inventory tracking system or Automatic production systems. The RFID Disc Tag can also work on metal surface with anti-metal layer on it, also can be attached to goods surface by adhesive layer. There are abundant size options from 12mm to 50mm. 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We will be happy to give you a quotation upon receipt of your detailed requirements.ADDRm1516, Qiangjin Building, QiXin Rd No.1318 ,Shanghai, 201100, China Growing Compliance to International Measurement Standards to Help Automated Optical Metrology Market touch US$1.5 bn by 2021 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/automated-optical-metrology-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=7640 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research Automated Optical Metrology Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2021, automated optical metrology market was valued at US$0.92 bn in 2014, at a CAGR of 7.6% from 2015 to 2021 to account for US$1.5 bn by 2021.There has always been the need to ensure accurate measurement data that comply with international industry measurement standards. International bureau of weights and measures is one of the vital organizations, which is responsible for setting up international industry measurement standards. Companies across various industries have to follow such international measurement standards and therefore, compliance to international measurement standards is one of the major factors driving the growth of the global automated optical metrology market. Also, quality control, inspection and measurement in the manufacturing process of industries are expected to drive the overall market.Optical metrology is the science and technology of measuring objects with the help of light. In addition, optical metrology equipments use sophisticated technology to measure unknown quantities and hidden dimension of objects that are either difficult or impossible to measure physically.Browse Market Research report atBy product, market is divided into three segments: video measuring machines, laser scanners and coordinate measuring machines. In 2014, coordinate measuring machines (CMM) was the largest contributor in global automated optical metrology market, accounted for a market share of more than 38%.By application, market is divided into five segments: automotive, consumer electronics, medical, and aerospace and defense. In 2014, automotive segment was the largest contributor in automated optical metrology market, accounted for a market share of around 30% because of the increasing usage of automated optical metrology solutions in the automotive sector.By region, Europe is the largest market of automated optical metrology in the world, followed by North America. However, automated optical metrology market has huge scope and opportunity in the emerging markets of Asia Pacific and Rest of the world (RoW). There is a dearth in the usage of automated optical metrology equipments by companies residing in the developing and under-developed countries of Asia Pacific and Rest of the world (RoW). Countries such as India, China, Japan, UAE and South Africa among others are the major automated optical metrology market falling under the Asia Pacific and RoW regions. With the increasing development of emerging markets and rising application areas of metrology solutions, the automated optical metrology market is set to improve in the coming years.Get More Inquries here-Some of the leading players mentioned in the report are KLA Tencor Corporation (U.S.), ASML Holding NV (Netherlands), Hexagon Metrology, Inc. (Sweden), Nikon Metrology NV (Belgium) and Steinbichler Optotechnik GmbH (Germany). The report provides company market share analysis of the various industry participants. Key players have also been profiled on the basis of company overview, financial overview, business strategies and recent developments in the field of automated optical metrology.Global Automated Optical Metrology Market: By Product TypeVideo measuring machinesLaser scannersCoordinate measuring machinesGlobal Automated Optical Metrology Market: By ApplicationAutomotiveConsumer electronicsIndustrialMedicalAerospace & DefenseGlobal Automated Optical Metrology Market: By GeographyNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaMexicoEuropeU.K.ItalyFranceGermanyRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaIndiaJapanOceania (Australia and New Zealand)Rest of Asia PacificRest of the World (RoW)Latin AmericaUAESouth AfricaOthersThe report provides a cross-sectional analysis of by type and of by application segments with respect to the above mentioned regions.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Mr. Sudip S90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: DRDO-FICCI ATAC program organizes an Innovation Roundtable with the US Secretary of Defence US Secretary of Defense meets and interacts with Indian StartupsNew Delhi. April 12, 2016: The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry today organized an innovation roundtable under the DRDO-FICCI Accelerated Technology Assessment and Commercialization Programme with the US Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter. Ten entrepreneurs spoke about their start-up models in sectors including aerospace, defense, and cleantech.The entrepreneurs comprised five companies to whom DRDO technologies were licensed under the DRDO-FICCI Accelerated Technology Assessment & Commercialization (ATAC) program and five start-ups that were supported under the DST-Lockheed India Innovation Growth Programme.The technologies discussed included breakthrough innovations in the field of aerospace (DSP based Adaptive Control Algorithm to guide missiles developed by Cybermotion), defense (Short Range Surveillance Radar developed by DRDO and licensed to Bharat Electronics Limited; Explosive Detection Kit developed by DRDO and licensed to Vantage Integrated Security), and Cleantech (Geothermal cooling developed by GIBSS).The entrepreneurs present shared details of their innovative technologies, their enterprises vision as well as their entrepreneurial journey before the esteemed panel. The entrepreneurs also discussed several ideas and thoughts how bilateral cooperation between Indian and US Start-ups could be enhanced particularly in the field of Defense.The panel comprised Honble Ambassador of the United States, H.E. Shri Richard Verma; Chief of Staff, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Eric Rosenbach; Director General, DRDO, Dr. S Christopher; Secretary General, FICCI, Dr A. Didar Singh;Mr. Phil Shaw, Country Head, Lockheed Martin India Pvt Ltd.; Senior Director, FICCI, Mr. Nirankar Saxena; Director, DIITM, DRDO, Mr. S. Radhakrishnan.With a rich experience of over 14 years India News CommunicationsLtd. (INCL) commands an in-depth knowledge of all the domains ofmarketing communications industry namely Advertising, PublicRelations and In-Film Promotion. Started with an ambition togenerate most creative communication strategies to maximize therecall potential, nurture the brand values and enhance the corporateimage of its clients, INCL today has many successful communicationcampaigns to its credit. From conceptualizing out-of-box conceptsfor highly memorable communication to identifying the right mediaplatform to reach to the target populace in-large, INCL alwaysstrives to ensure optimum benefits to its clients on their investment.Headquartered in Noida with branch and network offices in thevarious metros and state capital cities of the country, INCL closelyunderstands the baseline data regarding socio-economic profile ofthe populace of different regions and zones of the country. Thisknowledge enables INCL to develop the message which appeals tothe masses and put it across in such a manner that it brings theopposite synergy to the communication.B-121,, Sector-71, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301 Global Vitrified Bond Wheel Industry 2015 Market Size, Trends, Strategy, Analysis and Forecast by 2019 http://www.9dimengroup.com/market-analysis/global-vitrified-bond-wheel-market-2015-industry-growth.html http://www.9dimengroup.com/report/56183/request-sample http://www.9dimengroup.com/ 9Dimen Group presents Global Vitrified Bond Wheel Industry 2015 Market Research Report contains an in-depth analysis, industry segmentation, development, target markets, statistics and figures.The report begins with a broad introduction of the Vitrified Bond Wheel market and then drills deeper into specific segments such as application, regional markets, end-users, policy analysis, value chain structure, and emerging trends. The Vitrified Bond Wheel market report makes a case for investments in particular regions based on a realistic view of their regulatory environment, manufacturing dynamics and availability of skills and resources. Also, recommendations are made based on regions and market segments that are not poised for appreciable growth in the near future.Complete report is available @:The Vitrified Bond Wheel market and its dynamics are evaluated using industry leading tools and techniques. A qualitative analysis forms a sizeable portion of the research efforts as well. With emerging changes on the horizon, the Vitrified Bond Wheel market is poised for certain important change. It is imperative that market players gear up for these changes. The report helps companiesboth new and establishedto identify white spaces and opportunities for growth in the Vitrified Bond Wheel market.The leading companies in the Vitrified Bond Wheel market are profiled to offer a complete overview of their growth strategies, financial standing, product and services pipeline, as well as recent collaborations and developments.The reports analysis is based on technical data and industry figures sourced from the most reputable databases. Other aspects that will prove especially beneficial to readers of the report are: investment feasibility analysis, recommendations for growth, investment return analysis, trends analysis, opportunity analysis, and SWOT analyses of competing companies. With the help of inputs and insights from technical and marketing experts, the report presents an objective assessment of the Vitrified Bond Wheel market.Download Sample Report of @:A detailed segmentation evaluation of the Vitrified Bond Wheel market has been provided in the report. Detailed information about the key segments of the market and their growth prospects are available in the report. The detailed analysis of their sub-segments is also available in the report. The revenue forecasts and volume shares along with market estimates are available in the report.The competitive landscape of the market presented in the study profiles the most prominent players in the market.9Dimen Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact UsJoel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651Email: sales@9dimengroup.comWeb: Key Drivers Increasing the Adoption of Modern Liquid Handling Technologies http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=10262 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Liquid handling is ubiquitous in any chemical or biological industry. Liquid handling technologies provide innovative and efficient liquid handling techniques with respect to conventional liquid handling technologies. Further, inclusion of automation has arisen as a newest innovation in liquid handling technologies. Automated liquid handling technologies have proven to be effective solution in reducing manual labor in laboratories. These technologies further help in reducing error and improve throughputs in laboratories. Also, these technologies have reduced sample volumes and minimized pipetting. Liquid handling systems plays a significant role in genomic analysis, sequencing and high-throughput screening (HTS).The liquid handling technologies market is segmented on the basis of pipette technology, pump type and end-users. On the basis of pipette technology, liquid handling technologies market can be segmented as valve dispensing technology, syringe solenoid technology, inkjet-technology, glass capillary technology and automated liquid handling technology. To pump the liquid in the accurate measures, pumping technologies plays a major role. Thus, in terms of pump type, liquid handling technologies market is further classified as piston pumps, peristaltic pumps, pressure driven pumps and diaphragm pumps. On the basis of end-users liquid handling technologies is further segmented as medical/forensics laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, research institutions, chemical industries and others (educational institutes, food and beverage industries and government).The key drivers increasing the adoption of modern liquid handling technologies are the inclusion of automation in research and medical institutions. The latest automated liquid handling systems have significantly reduced the time spent in liquid handling and provided quality results. These automated liquid handlers are capable of handling laboratory tasks such as serial dilutions, stamping and plate reformatting. Also, augmenting demand for high-throughput screening and superior medical diagnostics has fuelled the demand for liquid handling technologies. The need for automated liquid handling technologies in cellular workflows and single cell analysis will further fuel the growth of liquid handling technologies market. Further, increasing spending on R&D in the field of health sciences and pharmaceuticals is expected to surge the demand for latest and state-of-the-art liquid handling technologies.More Information :However, high set-up cost and complex operability of latest liquid handling systems may restrain its market. Also, lack of reliability is key factor affecting its growth in case of crucial microbial or forensic studies. Development of liquid handling technologies which can suitably provide features such as more walk-away time, higher throughput, more flexibility, improved software and greater accuracy can be foreseen as a market opportunity in the near term. Further, enhancement of liquid handling technologies which are capable of handling smaller volumes of liquid can be highly suitable for microfluidic studies and single cell analysis in the future years.On the global scale, the North American region is anticipated to dominate the liquid handling technologies market in the coming years. The presence of automation and superior lab facilities is expected to the trigger market growth of liquid handling systems and technologies in this region. However, increasing R&D activities and rise in number of laboratories is anticipated to be propel the growth of liquid handling technologies market significantly in Asia Pacific region during the forecast period. Further, among the various end-user segments, demand from pharmaceutical is expected to be a key growth driver for overall liquid handling technologies market. The high capital inflow in terms of R&D by pharmaceutical companies is seen as key factor towards its market growth.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: mailto:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Thermal Power in China Market 2016 Outlook to 2025 Size, Trend, Growth, Analysis http://goo.gl/N2aGXw http://goo.gl/Xah4sn Thermal Power in China, Market Outlook to 2025, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Investment Trends, Regulations and Company ProfilesSummaryThe report "Thermal Power in China Market Outlook" provides in depth analysis on Thermal Power market in China with forecasts upto year 2025. This report analyzes the Thermal Power market scenario in China (also includes renewable energy, nuclear, conventional thermal and large hydro sources) and includes future outlook upto 2025. The report ( Thermal Power Market in China ) highlights installed capacity as well as power generation trends in China Thermal Power market from 2001 till year 2025. China Thermal Power Market Research Report also provides company snapshots of some of the major Thermal Power market participants.Scope:-The report analyses global renewable power market, global Thermal Power market, China power market, China renewable power market and China Thermal Power market. The scope of the research includes -- China Thermal Power market includes a brief introduction on global carbon emissions.Do Enquiry Before Purchasing Here :- Report on global Thermal Power market also provides brief introduction on global primary energy consumption on Thermal Power market scenario.- An review on China power market, highlighting installed capacity Thermal Power Market trends, Thermal Power generation trends and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources Thermal Power energy scenario.- Report "China Thermal Power market" covered for the historical period 2001-2014 and Thermal Power Market forecast in China during period 2015-2025.- Thermal Power Renewable power sources include wind (both onshore and offshore), concentrated solar power (CSP), solar photovoltaic (PV), small hydropower (SHP), biomass, biogas and geothermal.- Overview of the global Thermal Power market with installed capacity and generation trends, installed capacity split by major Thermal Power countries in 2014 and key owners information of various regions on Thermal Power market scenario.- Thermal Power Power market scenario in China and provides detailed Thermal Power market overview, installed capacity and power generation trends by various fuel types (includes thermal conventional, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) with Thermal Power forecasts up to 2025.Get Sample Copy of Report Here :Reasons to buy- The report (China Thermal Power market) will enhance your decision making capability time sensitive manner.- Thermal Power China Market report will help you to identify key growth as well as investment opportunities in China Thermal Power renewable power market.- Facilitate decision-making based on deep historic (2001-2014) and forecast data (upto 2025) for Thermal Power market in China.- Thermal Power China Market report will help you to position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the Thermal Power industrys growth potential.- Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events.- Identify key partners and business development avenues.- Understand and respond to your competitors business structure, strategy and prospects.About Us:QY Market Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact Us:Joel JohnDeerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Web: QY Market ResearchEmail: sales@qymarketresearch.com Picture Windows Industry Report Global 2016 base on Current Market Status Deep Research Report http://www.deepresearchreports.com/contacts/inquiry.php?name=179143 http://www.deepresearchreports.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=179143 Global Picture Windows Market 20162021 Trends & Forecast Report, Consistent with our stated policy of making available the best research and analysis report.The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Picture Windows manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry.The Global Picture Windows Industry provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Picture Windows market analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.Complete report on Picture Windows market spreads across 158 pages profiling 03 companies and supported with 242 tables and figures @Key Companies Analysis: - JELD-WEN, Hy-Lite and TAFCO WINDOWS profiles overview.The Global Picture Windows Industry focuses on global major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Picture Windows industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered. With the tables and figures the report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Place a Direct Purchase on this Report @Major Points Covered in Table of Contents:1 Industry Overview2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Picture Windows3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis4 Production Analysis of Picture Windows by Regions, Technology, and Applications5 Sales and Revenue Analysis of Picture Windows by Regions6 Analyses of Picture Windows Production, Supply, Sales and Market Status 2010-20167 Analysis of Picture Windows industry Key Manufacturers8 Price and Gross Margin Analysis9 Marketing Traders or Distributor Analysis of Picture Windows10 Development Trend of Picture Windows industry2016-202111 Industry Chain Suppliers of Picture Windows with Contact Information12 New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Picture Windows13 Conclusion of the Global Picture Windows industry 2016 Market Research ReportList of Tables and FiguresAbout Us:Deep Research Reports is digital databank of syndicated market reports for worldwide and China businesses. deepresearchreports.com offers market research reports to businesses, entities and organizations with an objective of assisting them in their decision making process. Our collection of 500,000+ industry & nation research reports shields 5000+ micro markets. We provide 24X7 available, online and offline support to our clients.Deep Research Reports is digital databank of syndicated market reports for worldwide and China businesses. deepresearchreports.com offers market research reports to businesses, entities and organizations with an objective of assisting them in their decision making process. Our collection of 500,000+ industry & nation research reports shields 5000+ micro markets. We provide 24X7 available, online and offline support to our clients.Ritesh TiwariUNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZMagarpatta city, Hadapsar,Pune, Maharashtra 411013, IndiaTel: +1-888-391-5441sales@deepresearchreports.com Nucleic Acid Aptamers Market Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2023 NVC7X6 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1330 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/nucleic-acid-aptamers.html Nucleic acid aptamers market are species of nucleic acid that are engineered in in vitro selection or SELEX i.e. systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment. Aptamers bind different molecular targets such as proteins, nucleic acids, cells, organisms and other molecules and assist in molecular recognition of certain characters that fight antibodies. Aptamers have remarkable advantage over antibodies as they can be easily produced through chemical synthesis and can be engineered in vitro. Aptamers are commonly developed as ligands offering molecular recognition properties that rival those of antibodies. Aptamers are also developed as binding molecules for small molecules, viruses, toxins and also metal ions. In therapeutics, aptamers are used as sensors to monitor cellular processes and as a guide for drugs to reach their target.Get Free Sample Research Report:The overall nucleic acid aptamers market can be classified on the basis of types of technologies used, and the applications of such aptamers in diagnostics and therapeutics. The major enabling technologies in this segment are oligonucleotide synthesis, nanoparticles and quantum dot labels, modified oligonudcleotides, surface plasmon resonance and biolayer inferometry, bioinformatics and next generation sequencing. The applications of aptamers are categorized as diagnostics and therapeutics. The diagnostics segment is further classified as application in human clinical diagnostic assays, environmental monitoring and veterinary diagnostics. The therapeutics market is classified on the basis of the currently available aptamer drugs, the various conditions targeted by aptamer drugs, drug delivery in cancer therapy, and use of aptamers in modification of surgical implants.Some of the major players in the nucleic acid aptamer market are Araxis Kits, LLC, Aptagen, LLC, Aptamer Sciences, Inc., Cytogenix Inc., Envirologix, Inc., Mitsui & Co. Inc., Quest Diagnostics and others.Full Research Report on Global Nucleic Acid Aptamers Market:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 IT Robotics Automation Market to Expand at 60.50% CAGR from 2014 to 2020, Need to Reduce Human Labor Dependency Drives Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=4045 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/it-robotic-automation-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Transparency Market Researchs new research report on the global IT robotic automation market says that the said market will exhibit a significant leap during the forecast period from 2014 to 2020. According to the reports findings, displaying a phenomenal 60.50% CAGR from 2014 to 2020, the valuation of the market will reach close to US$5 bn by 2020, increasing from US$0.18 bn in 2013.The report is titled IT Robotic Automation Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2014 - 2020 and is available for sale on the company website.Robotic automation involves utilizing a computer application or machine that mimics human actions in order to accomplish process-based tasks. For instance, in the IT industry, automation software is the means to achieve robotic automation. Likewise, request management, monitoring, problem management, access management, incident management, and availability management are some of the processes that can be accomplished through robotic process management.Avail a Sample Research Study on IT Robotic Automation MarketThe report says that IT robotic automation is emerging as a robust alternative to outsourcing, especially offshore outsourcing. Some of the benefits of robotic automation are cost benefits and increased process efficiency over manual processes, which are contributing significantly to the development of the global IT robotic automation market.Furthermore, robotic automation has the ability to access other software applications sans integration, because of which the adoption of these systems has been proliferating in the finance and accounts sector over the past few years.However, the global market for IT robotic automation will be adversely affected by security concerns due to misinterpretation of information by these automated systems. In the BPO sector, existing contracts for project outsourcing will restrict the utilization of IT robotic automation. Nevertheless, the IT robotic automation market has tremendous growth potential, provided robotic process automation programs and infrastructural management applications are in place.Browse Full Market Research Report With Complete TOC @Tools and services are the two segments into which the IT robotic automation market is divided on the basis of type. The tools segment is further sub-segmented into model-based application tools and process-based application tools. With the rising demand for robotic automation of application management, request management, infrastructure management, access management, and others in the IT sector, process-based application tools will exhibit an upsurge during the forecast period.The report divides the global IT robotic automation market into the regional segments of North America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, Latin America, and Europe. In 2013, North America and Europe emerged as the largest markets for robotic automation software.In North America, reasons such as fast adoption of technology, combined with worthwhile initiatives taken by tool providers for creating awareness about robotic automation tools have led to significant growth of the IT robotic automation market. However, Asia Pacific will exhibit the highest growth in the adoption of IT robotics automation during the forecast horizon.The market has been segmented as follows:IT Robotic Automation Market, by TypeToolsServicesIT Robotic Automation Market, by Tools:Model-based Application ToolsProcess-based Application ToolsIT Robotic Automation Market, by ServicesProfessionalConsultingIntegration and DevelopmentApplication ManagementInfrastructure ManagementBPOApplication ManagementInfrastructure ManagementTrainingIT Robotic Automation Market, by GeographyNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificMiddle East and Africa (MEA)Latin AmericaTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Mr.Sudip S90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Have a Happy Summer at Discovery Shores Boracay and Club Paradise Palawan www.clubparadisepalawan.com www.discoveryshoresboracay.com http://facebook.com/DiscoveryShoresBoracay http://facebook.com/club.paradise.palawan When its time for a Happy Summer getaway in a stunning tropical oasis, Discovery Shores Boracay and Club Paradise Palawan offers vacationers with special packages for an unforgettable summer holiday!Spend the summer in Club Paradise and bask in beautiful Coron, Palawan sunny blue skies, crystal clear turquoise waters, rich colorful marine life, lush greenery, awesome views and much more! 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The resort is consistently listed in Travel + Leisures Worlds Best Hotels and is a regular awardee on TripAdvisor.Discovery Shores Boracay is one of five properties of The Discovery Leisure Companys portfolio of distinctive hotels and resorts, and is a member of Preferred Hotels and Resorts Lifestyle Collection. Get updates through Discovery Shores Boracays Facebook on, Instagram @DiscoveryShoresBoracay and Twitter @DiscoveryShores.About Club Paradise PalawanClub Paradise Palawan is a 19-hectare island resort in Dimakya Island of Coron, dotted along UNESCOs marine sanctuary. The exclusive property features 54 rooms and cottages with scenic views of nature, as well as a spa, restaurant, and two bars. Coron is a haven for the gentle dugong, colorful flora and fauna, and world-class reef and wreck dive sites. 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Get updates through Club Paradises Facebook on, Instagram @ClubParadisePalawan and Twitter @_ClubParadise.Discovery Suites, 25 ADB Avenue India Power Market 2016 Size, Generation, Outlook to 2025, Investment Trend, Industry Analysis http://goo.gl/22nEVQ India Power Market Outlook to 2030 : India Power provides an detailed overview of India Power scenario.This report on India Power also includes an review of trial numbers as well as their (India Power) average enrollment in uppermost/top countries which are conducted worldwide.India Power report also covers disease clinical trials by country (G7 & E7), sponsor type, region, trial, research, review, Size status as well as end points status.Report India Power also Includes prominent drugs for in-progress trials (Note: based on number of ongoing trials and reviews).Get Sample Copy of Report Here :The report covers detailed analysis and forecast of important market dynamics of India Power industry including market drivers and restraints. 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This report provides all the unaccomplished trials on India Power scenario (Withdrawn, Terminated) with reason for unaccomplishment on India Power.About Us:Market Research Store is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact Us:Joel JohnDeerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Web: Market Research StoreEmail: sales@marketresearchstore.com North and South America Renewable Energy Policy Handbook 2016 Market Trend, Growth, Analysis 2025 http://goo.gl/nfRCFQ http://goo.gl/n6N51P North and South America Renewable Energy Policy Handbook 2016 is the latest policy report from the industry analysis specialists that offer comprehensive information on major policies governing renewable energy market in the region.The report presents an in-depth analysis of the renewable energy policies across the major countries in North and South America namely the US, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. It also presents the major renewable policy frameworks in place in some of the major states in the US and Canada. The report provides the current and future renewable energy targets and plans along with the present policy framework, giving a fair idea of overall growth potential of their renewable energy industry. The report also provides major technology specific policies and incentives provided in each of these countries. The report also provides insights to major policy initiatives for the market development of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, biopower and biofuels.Do Enquiry Before Purchasing Here :ScopeThe report covers policy measures and incentives used by the major countries in North and South America region to promote renewable energy.The report details promotional measures in different countries both for the overall renewable energy industry and for specific renewable energy technologies namely solar, wind, geothermal, hydro and bioenergy.The report also highlights the differences and focus of the renewable energy policy frameworks in different countries in North and South America.The report provides a platform for comparison of various renewable energy policies across countries. Major countries include the US, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.Get Sample Copy of Report Here :Reasons To BuyDevelop business strategies with the help of specific insights about policy decisions being taken on renewable energy by different markets.Identify opportunities and challenges in exploiting the renewable energy markets.Compare the level of support provided to different renewable energy technologies in different countries.Increase future revenue and profitability with the help of insights on the future opportunities and critical success factors in the renewable energy market.Be ahead of competition by keeping yourself abreast of all the latest policy changes.About Us:Market Research Store is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact Us:Joel JohnDeerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Web: Market Research StoreEmail: sales@marketresearchstore.com Norway Power Market 2016 Outlook to 2025 Capacity, Power Plants, Size, Trend, Growth, Analysis http://goo.gl/q7Qbaf Norway Power Market Outlook to 2030 : Norway Power provides an detailed overview of Norway Power scenario.This report on Norway Power also includes an review of trial numbers as well as their (Norway Power) average enrollment in uppermost/top countries which are conducted worldwide.Norway Power report also covers disease clinical trials by country (G7 & E7), sponsor type, region, trial, research, review, Size status as well as end points status.Report Norway Power also Includes prominent drugs for in-progress trials (Note: based on number of ongoing trials and reviews).Get Sample Copy of Report Here :The report covers detailed analysis and forecast of important market dynamics of Norway Power industry including market drivers and restraints. It also evaluates future growth & demand opportunities for its stake holders. The report throws light on upstream and downstream markets of Norway Power industry. The report provides detailed analysis of production price, production capacity, production volume, production value, production cost or profit margin and supply & demand analysis/forecast.Scope of Norway Power Report:-1. This report includes a snapshot of all over the world clinical trials and reviews landscape on Norway Power scenario.2. Report on Norway Power also provides high level data related to the Global clinical research by country (G7 & E7), sponsor type, region, trial, review, size status as well as end points status on Norway Power scenario3. Report reviews top companies involved in Norway Power as well as provides e all trials (Trial title, Phase, Research and Status) pertaining to the company on Norway Power scenario.4. This report provides all the unaccomplished trials on Norway Power scenario (Withdrawn, Terminated) with reason for unaccomplishment on Norway Power.About Us:Tech Report Store is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact Us:Joel JohnDeerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Web: Tech Report StoreEmail: sales@techreportstore.com Romania Power Market 2016 Growth, Size, Generation, Outlook to 2025, Investment Trend, Industry Analysis http://goo.gl/qOMfhv Romania Power Market Outlook to 2030 : Romania Power provides an detailed overview of Romania Power scenario.This report on Romania Power also includes an review of trial numbers as well as their (Romania Power) average enrollment in uppermost/top countries which are conducted worldwide.Romania Power report also covers disease clinical trials by country (G7 & E7), sponsor type, region, trial, research, review, Size status as well as end points status.Report Romania Power also Includes prominent drugs for in-progress trials (Note: based on number of ongoing trials and reviews).Get Sample Copy of Report Here :The report covers detailed analysis and forecast of important market dynamics of Romania Power industry including market drivers and restraints. It also evaluates future growth & demand opportunities for its stake holders. The report throws light on upstream and downstream markets of Romania Power industry. The report provides detailed analysis of production price, production capacity, production volume, production value, production cost or profit margin and supply & demand analysis/forecast.Scope of Romania Power Report:-1. This report includes a snapshot of all over the world clinical trials and reviews landscape on Romania Power scenario.2. Report on Romania Power also provides high level data related to the Global clinical research by country (G7 & E7), sponsor type, region, trial, review, size status as well as end points status on Romania Power scenario3. Report reviews top companies involved in Romania Power as well as provides e all trials (Trial title, Phase, Research and Status) pertaining to the company on Romania Power scenario.4. This report provides all the unaccomplished trials on Romania Power scenario (Withdrawn, Terminated) with reason for unaccomplishment on Romania Power.About Us:Tech Report Store is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact Us:Joel JohnDeerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Web: Tech Report StoreEmail: sales@techreportstore.com Global Aerogel Market 2016 Industry Shares, Insights, Growth, Overview and Demands http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=703152&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-aerogel-market-professional-survey-report-2016.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com Global Aerogel Industry 2016 Market Overview, Size, Share, Trends, Analysis, Technology, Applications, Growth, Market Status, Demands, Insights, Development, Research and Forecast 2016-2020.The global Aerogel market has been studied in terms of various parameters such as geography and applications. The growth of the service segments has been projected in the report. The entire supply chain of the global Aerogel market has been described in the report, with focus on the various upstream and downstream components. The current demand and supply trends in the market, along with recent developments have been mentioned to offer a complete picture of the market.The report offers a comprehensive overview of the global Aerogel market. The global Aerogel market is dynamic, thereby making it difficult for enterprises to analyze the present market scenario. Making it easier for existing and new players to understand the market condition, the report compiles accurate historical data regarding the growth of the market with the help of primary and secondary research methods. The key factors affecting the growth of the global Aerogel market have been studied and the size and valuation of the market in the coming years have been projected in the report. References and case studies as well as insightful views from industry veterans make the report helpful for market players.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Describing the competitive hierarchy, the report profiles some of the key players operating in the global Aerogel market. Detailed information about the players including their financial overview, product portfolio, business overview, revenue segmentation, product specification, and recent developments has been mentioned in the report. Analysis of the markets competitive landscape would assist new entrants to formulate strategies. Through SWOT analysis, the report points out the various growth opportunities for the market players. By examining the global Aerogel market and tracing historical statistics, the future outlook of the market has been defined.Browse Complete Report with TOC @QYResearchReports.com is the trusted source of market research reports among clients that include prestigious Chinese companies, multinational companies, SMEs, and private equity firms. Our market research reports focus on categories including but not limited to: Chemicals, Energy, Alternative and Green Energy, Machinery, Manufacturing, Glass, Pharmaceuticals and Materials.QYResearchReports1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Forecast On Drug Delivery Technology Market Global Industry Analysis and Trends till 2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1166 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1166 www.futuremarketinsights.com Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Drug Delivery Technology Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016-2026" report to their offering.Drug delivery system is the process of administering therapeutic substance through common route of administration to achieve a therapeutic effect in humans or animals. Drugs release the active ingredients in the target area so that in the period of time it controls though its formulation. The most important driving factor for drug delivery technology market is the increasing demand for effective delivery mechanisms of novel biopharmaceuticals.Recently, AstraZeneca signed a licensing agreement with Starpharma for the use of its DEP drug delivery technology aiming to enhancing the dosing and efficacy characteristics of pharmaceuticals. AstraZeneca agreed to fund all development and commercialization costs, including ongoing and future collaborative work conducted with Starpharma.Drug Delivery Technology Market: Drivers & RestraintsGrowing incidence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer, technological advancement, innovation, the growing focus on pediatric and geriatric patients, change in lifestyle due to growing urbanization, the increasing demand for minimally invasive surgeries, are the most important driving factors in drug delivery technology market. Since growth of biopharmaceutical market is fast, the demand for drug delivery technology market has increased.With so many advantages and splendid features of drug delivery technology, it has few disadvantages too. Side-effects related to drugs, patents expiry and regulatory hurdles are acting as key barrier for drug delivery technology.Request Free Report Sample@Drug Delivery Technology Market: SegmentationDrug delivery technology market is broadly classified on the basis of the following segments By Route of Administration :Oral RouteParenteral RouteIntramuscularIntravenousIntra-arterialSubcutaneous routeTransdermal RouteInhalation RouteNasal Drug DeliveryBy End User:HospitalsClinicsDiagnostic CentresHome care settingsOthersDrug Delivery Technology Market: OverviewThe drug delivery technology market has grown substantially at a healthy CAGR due to growing incidence of chronic diseases and change in lifestyle. With rapid technological advancement and innovation, drug delivery technology market is expected to grow globally. North America is the largest market for drug delivery technology and Asia Pacific would be the fastest growing market in the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Drug Delivery Technology Market: Region-wise OutlookThe drug delivery technology market is expected to register a double-digit CAGR for the forecast period. Depending on geographic regions, drug delivery technology is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America is the largest market for drug delivery technology market and is contributing the most as compare to other regions. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region in the forecast period.Drug Delivery Technology Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in drug delivery technology market are Johnson and Johnson Pvt Ltd, 3M, Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc, Glaxosmithkline PLC, Merck & Co., Inc, Antares Pharma, Generex Biotechnology, pSivida Corppration, Alkermes, Aradigm Corp., Vectura Group plc, NanoPass Technologies Ltd.Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Prchard Parks Maya Clinard Orchard Parks Maya Clinard, far right, took runner-up in singles at this past weekends Section VI Girls Tennis Championships at... Boys soccer peaking into sectionals It was not an ideal start to the 2022 season for the Orchard Park boys soccer team, dropping its first... Business / Companies by Thobekile Zhou Choppies Zimbabwe director, Siqokoqela Mphoko has said the retail giant is planning to open up a massive warehouse in Bulawayo."We are a Bulawayo company and our drive is to lead the revival of this city's economy and the creation of jobs. Plans are underway to construct the biggest warehouse in Zimbabwe which will be in this city."Botswana-based grocer, Choppies, which has its national headquarters in the city, has also been aggressive in its retail expansion in Bulawayo.Earlier this month, the retailer opened its 17th store in the city, bringing to 30 the number of stores it operates nationwide.This comes as most Bulawayo are again boycotting this years Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo.The 57th edition of the annual showpiece will be held from April 26 to 30 under the theme: Innovate, Integrate and Industrialise.Last week, ZITF board chairman, Bekithemba Nkomo, said 63 percent of local exhibitors would come from Harare, while 28 percent would come from Bulawayo. The rest would come from other cities around the country."At this year's edition, Harare based companies account for 63 percent of participation," Nkomo said.Companies in the second largest city have been struggling to remain afloat, with many either shutting down or relocating to Harare since 2009.Many large companies that once were the lifeblood of the city's industry have either liquidated or been placed under judicial management. Entertainment / Music by Zimra Duty on goods imported by post can be assessed at Post Offices in Harare, Bulawayo, Masvingo, Mutare, Gweru, Victoria Falls and Beitbridge.If goods are received from outside the country as mail (postal) articles carried by Zimpost and addressed to an individual, the individual becomes the importer of those goods.All imported goods including postal articles are subject to assessment for duty and other taxes and charges that may be applicable.The importer is liable for payment of the duties and taxes unless there is an exemption or concession that applies.The goods are also assessed for community protection risks, permit and approval requirements. Payment of duty on postal importations is done at Zimpost offices where the goods are held pending delivery.If goods received are an unsolicited gift sent to you by someone abroad, a gift rebate of US$75 is granted.What it means is that if the total Value for Duty Purposes (VDP) does not exceed US$75, you will not be required to pay any duty. If the value exceeds US$75, the rebate will not apply.The VDP consists of cost of the items, postage, insurance, and packing costs (where applicable).Where the importer is unable to provide evidence of the value of the goods, the customs legislation provides other ways of determining value.If a parcel (one consignment) addressed to an individual contains goods or other packages that were imported for other people (such as friends or relatives) and the parcel has a VDP exceeding US$75, the gift rebate will only apply to the consignment as a whole and not to the individual parcels contained therein.It is important to note that the gift rebate is granted to an individual or family only once in thirty (30) days.If an individual imports goods for personal use by post, there is no duty free concession extended and the individual will be required to pay the full amount of duty applicable.Goods which are not for sale or for commercial or industrial purposes, imported by private individuals will be assessed using flat rates of duty.However, should the importer prefer use of tariff rates, he/she may request such application, prior to payment of duty, and the parcel may be returned to Zimra by the post office authorities for re-assessment.If goods arrive in Zimbabwe by mail and require a permit or approval or are restricted or prohibited under any other law concerning the importation of goods into Zimbabwe, Zimra officials will hold the goods until such time when the importer can produce the permit or approval and the importer will receive notification to that effect.Goods which are for resale or commercial purposes and require to be cleared through a bill of entry are also detained, and the importer will be notified.Upon detention of parcels addressed to an individual for one reason or the other, Zimra will send the client a Postal Detention Notice.If the importer takes no action within seven (7) days, and is based in an urban area, a second reminder will be sent.For importers who are based elsewhere, a second reminder will be sent after 14 days.A third and final reminder will be sent if there is no response after the same period of time and a response time of 10 days is issued.If there is still no response then the goods will be taken to the State Warehouse where rent will start to accrue and if the goods are not cleared within 60 days, they will be disposed of through a Rummage Sale.Enquiries on ParcelsZimpost is the official carrier of international mail in Zimbabwe and if clients are advised to track their parcels or make an enquiry about delivery, they should directly liaise with them.Where clients need to make enquiries on duties assessed, they can contact the Zimra office at the post office where the duty was assessed.To contact ZIMRA:WhatsApp line: +263 782 729 862.Visit our website: www. zimra.co.zw.Follow us on Twitter: @Zimra_11.Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ZIMRA.11.Send us an e-mail: pr@zimra.co.zw.Call us (Head Office): 04 758891/5; 790813; 790814; 781345; 751624; 752731 News / Local by Nqobile Tshili THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has rejected a directive by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Joram Gumbo, to use its equipment to rehabilitate the Bulawayo-Tsholotsho Road.Minister Gumbo told The Chronicle on Sunday that the BCC was supposed to use a jetpatcher it was given by the Ministry to patch potholes on the Bulawayo-Tsholotsho road."In order to do professional patching on the Bulawayo-Tsholotsho Road, Bulawayo City Council will be doing the job. We gave equipment to Bulawayo through Zinara so it must use it to renovate the road," said Minister Gumbo.He said it was his Ministry's long term plan to widen the road."The advantage of using a jetpatcher is that it's quick and covers a large area. It's unlike someone manually patching the road which can easily be eroded. The ministry will work on its long term plan of widening the road but for patching the city council should do the work," he said.The Bulawayo-Tsholotsho Road needs major maintenance works as most of its parts have been destroyed.Responding to a question posed to him at Bulawayo Press Club on Monday, Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo said the local authority would not be involved in the Bulawayo-Tsholotsho Road project.He said the local authority has enough work on its plate to be rehabilitating roads outside its jurisdiction."We're struggling to rehabilitate our roads in Bulawayo and I don't think that we can go to Tsholotsho to work on their road," said Clr Moyo.Zinara has allocated BCC $440,000 for use during the first four months of this year to repair its roads. News / Local by Danisa Masuku MUSIC fans are warming up to afro-jazz artiste - Jeys Marabini's new album with most describing it as a quality production.According to Jeys, his latest album, the ninth in his career, is selling like hotcakes with 1000 copies sold.The 12 track album - Thula Sana, launched last month at the Bulawayo Theatre, is available for purchase at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo at $10 a copy.Fans who bought the album said it was money well spent.Nontokozo Buhali said she does not have regrets about buying Jeys' latest offering."I am happy with the album and feel this is one of his best offerings because it carries mature jazz songs such as Inkunzi emnyama which reminds us as African people that it is important to preserve our culture and not to adopt western life styles," said Buhali.After listening to the track Wanyamalala, Buhali shared her experience."The song reminds me of how I was brought up. I grew up being looked after by grandmother while my mother was working in South Africa."I was told my father denied responsibility for me and disappeared after learning that he impregnated my mother. As such the song invokes bitter memories about why my father had to desert my mother when she was pregnant," she said.Another fan, Albert Musariri said he enjoyed listening to all the songs and feels the album is worth it."It is not fly by night music that you listen to for a month and throw away but it was done in such a way that you could listen to the songs many times without getting fed up with the album. In that regard I can safely say Jeys can be compared to veteran Jazz muso Louis Mhlanga," said Musariri.Jeys' album was produced by Blessing Muparutsa who has worked with the late Andy Brown, Thomas Mapfumo, Hope Masike, Oliver Mtukudzi and South African musicians such as the late Vuyo Mokoena, Lundi, Rebecca Malope and Thembinkosi.Thulani Siduna said he appreciates the album because it caters for all tastes."I'm a Reggae fan. So I was happy to get what I like after carefully playing the album. The Reggae song tickled my interest and I am now Jazz fan," he said.Tracks that have proved popular are DJ, a song that appreciates the role played by the media in communicating information to the rural folk who have no source of information but rely on radio.The title track Thula Sana is a darling of many as the song talks about perseverance while encouraging people not to give up in their life endeavours.Another hit track from the album is Diaspora which was expertly done with reggae flair and relates to many who have gone outside the borders to seek greener pastures.Jeys believes the latest offering will surpass the previous hits like Uthando lwakho, Umuzi kababa, Amalungelo, Ezinyangeni and Julia Eighty-two Saginaw Valley State University students recently participated in the universitys Alternative Breaks program, a student-led organization that sends its members across the U.S. to perform volunteer work during traditional school break periods. There were eight trips organized by SVSUs Alternative Breaks during the universitys spring break period from March 7 to 13. Local participants included: Kortnee Thompson, of Midland, traveled with a group of 10 SVSU students to Washington, D.C. The group worked with the Church of the Epiphany to feed and serve the homeless in Washington, D.C. Thompson is a biology major. John Duly, of Midland, traveled with a group of nine SVSU students to Willow River, Minnesota. The group helped with building and maintenance projects at One Heartland, a retreat center for people affected by HIV and AIDS. Duly is a nursing major. Anthony Speckhard, of Freeland, Lindsey Summers, of Auburn, and Lauren Englund, of Midland, traveled with a group of 12 SVSU students to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The group helped Little Light House, a school for special needs children, by providing educational and therapeutic services. Speckhard is an exercise science major, Summers is an accounting major and Englund is a communication major. Breanna Summers, of Auburn, traveled with a group of 11 SVSU students to Hoschton, Georgia. They helped workers at Medici Project, which works with agencies in Atlanta to prevent urban poverty and human trafficking. Summers is a biochemistry major. Hannah Waslusky, of Breckenridge, traveled with a group of 12 SVSU students to Asheville, North Carolina. The group helped workers at the YMCA of Western North Carolina to develop service organizations in the community. Waslusky is an exercise science major. Samantha Leslie, of Midland, traveled with a group of five SVSU students to Kanab, Utah, assisting workers at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary with caring for abused and neglected animals. Leslie is a biology major. HOUSTON (AP) A deputy constable was rushed to a hospital after a suspect shot him from behind multiple times in Houston, authorities said. The shooting happened around 11:20 p.m. Wednesday as the deputy constable was standing next to another deputy constable's vehicle, Houston police spokesman Kese Smith told The Associated Press. Meanwhile, authorities were questioning a male who showed up a nearby fire station after the shooting and matched the description of the suspected shooter, Smith said. Smith said the person had not been arrested or charged, but also said authorities were not currently looking for anyone else in the shooting. The deputy constable who was shot was in surgery Thursday morning with wounds to the abdomen and a bullet lodged near his heart, said Pamela Greenwood, a spokeswoman for the Harris County precinct seven constable's office. "So right now, we're not really sure of his condition," she said. According to Smith, the shooting came after a female reserve deputy constable made a traffic stop and called the male deputy constable to assist. The vehicle that was pulled over was cleared and left and the male deputy constable was standing outside the window of the female's vehicle when he was shot. The female deputy constable got out and shot back, but it was unknown if she hit the suspect, who then fled, Smith said. The person being questioned at the fire station did not have any injuries, Smith said. Smith also said he did not think the shooting was related to the traffic stop. "It was completely unprovoked," Greenwood said. Asked if authorities believed the shooter was targeting law enforcement, Smith noted that both deputy constables were in uniform and had marked vehicles. "I can't see how someone can mistake them for someone other than law enforcement," Smith said. State Rep. Gary Glenn, R-Midland, will serve as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July after being picked during last weekends Michigan Republican Partys state convention in Lansing. During Friday nights caucus of 159 state convention delegates representing Midland and 14 other mid-Michigan counties in the 4th Congressional District, Glenn was elected as a national convention delegate for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who won Midland County in Michigans March 8 presidential primary. Its an honor to represent Midland County and all Michigan Republicans this summer at the convention in Cleveland, and to do my best to help ensure we nominate a presidential candidate who can make the case that the only way to restore Americas greatness is by returning to the principles of individual liberty and limited government found in our U.S. Constitution, Glenn said. Thats the only way well fulfill our duty to leave to our children and grandchildren the same free, prosperous and secure America that we inherited from our parents and those who came before them. Glenn praised Cruzs values. Senator Cruzs commitment to the Constitution and to fiscal conservatism, traditional American values and a strong national defense can be trusted because its a matter of principle, conscience and life-long conviction, Glenn said. Its a privilege to have the opportunity to join those supporting Senator Cruz at the national convention. Glenn will be one of the 4th Districts three national convention delegates after defeating three other candidates for the Cruz delegate position on the first ballot, winning 103 out of 159 votes. Margaret Copeland of Midland will serve as the 4th Districts national convention alternate for business executive Donald Trump and former state Sen. Alan Cropsey of DeWitt will serve as the 4th Districts national convention alternate for Cruz. The Republican National Convention will be held July 18-21 in Cleveland, Ohio. News / Local by Thobekile Zhou Most Bulawayo residents have said this years independence day is not worth celebrating due to grinding poverty.The country turns 36 on MondayBulawayo Progressive Residents Association secretary for administration, Anglistone Sibanda, said the majority of youths in the country were living in abject poverty, making it impossible for them to value independence."April 18 to most people is the day the chefs attained the power to loot. For now we need a new government that will return the significance of the day by delivering. We can't put new wine in old wineskins. It is time people changed wineskins in order to enjoy the benefits of the sacrifices made by others," said Sibanda.Ntandoyenkosi Dumani, a youth from Plumtree said achievements were meaningless as long as it did not afford citizens fundamental freedoms and rights."As a young Zimbabwean, my lamentation during times like these is that of a dream deferred, that is a dream for freedom. Right now I am not free to ask what happened to our US$15 billion diamond revenue not because of independence, but subsequent choices that we made as a country which suppress freedom of assembly, freedom of opinion, freedom of expression and freedom of the press," said Dumani.This was in reference to the US$15 billion, which President Robert Mugabe recently said was salted away by companies operating in Chiadzwa.Bulawayo based political analyst, Michael Mdladla-Ndiweni, urged government to take a leaf from President John Magufuli of Tanzania who suspended independence gatherings in that country last year and urged people to clean the whole country. 18th MXG ensures mission readiness 24/7 U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Jelani McCray, 67th Aircraft Maintenance Unit weapons load crew member, secures an AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile while being inspected by Senior Airman Sarah Owen, 18th Maintenance Group loading standardization crew, during a weapons load training session April 13, 2016, at Kadena Air Base, Japan. The 18 MXG provides training for more than 2,400 aircraft maintainers and munitions handlers. The group also provides maintenance support and facilities for all other forces assigned to or transiting Kadena. (U.S. Air Force photo by Naoto Anazawa) WASHINGTON, April 13, 2016 Defense Secretary Ash Carter participated this morning in a repatriation ceremony in New Delhi, India, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement. The ceremony marked the return of possible remains of U.S service members lost in World War II, Cook said. One set of remains was recovered in the Arunachal Pradesh state between Sept. 12 and Nov. 17, 2015, by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, he said. A second set of remains was unilaterally turned over to DPAA by a third party from the same region, Cook added. The remains recovered late last year are possibly associated with a B-24 Liberator bomber that crashed Jan. 25, 1944, while on a routine mission from Kunming, China, to Chabua, India. The eight crew members, assigned to the 308th Bomb Group, 14th Air Force, were all lost. The remains that were turned over to DPAA are possibly related to a C-109 Liberator Express cargo aircraft that crashed on July 17, 1945, while travelling from Jorhat, India, to Hsinching, China, with a four-man Army Air Forces crew. Today's ceremony, sponsored by the Defense Department, U.S. Embassy New Delhi and Indias government, highlights the secretary's strong commitment to bringing the nation's fallen personnel home and providing their families the fullest possible accounting, Cook said. It's also a testament to the deepening U.S-India defense partnership and a reflection of our shared commitment to universal values, the press secretary said. [The defense secretary] is grateful for the Indian governments support for this important humanitarian mission and looks forward to cooperating on future personnel accounting operations. After the ceremony, the remains were flown by U.S. military aircraft to the DPAA laboratory in Honolulu, Hawaii, for further identification. MACTAN-BENITO EBUEN AIR BASE, Philippines -- Awkward silences and blank stares are usually attributed to teaching in a foreign land. However, this was not the case for members of the U.S. Air Force 36th Airlift Squadron as they passed down airlifting knowledge to Philippine Air Force (PAF) C-130 pilots and loadmasters of the 220th Airlift Wing April 8, 2016, during Exercise Balikatan. Balikatan, a Filipino term that meaning "shoulder-to-shoulder," is an annual bilateral exercise between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the U.S. military, which focuses on the Philippine-U.S. partnership, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capabilities. This was exemplified as the 220th AW welcomed the 36th AS with open arms and smiles during an all-day training session on performing night flights. "It was very fulfilling to teach and have them be so excited about night vision goggles (NVGs) and C-130s," said USAF 1st Lt. Scott Brooks, 36th AS C-130 pilot. "This is something that I love to do and it was great to see how excited they were to fly on a C-130. It was a new opportunity for me and I'm fortunate to be a part of this exercise." The day began with casual lectures on low-level night flying, use of NVGs and USAF loadmaster techniques and ended in a night flight on a C-130 over Philippine Islands. Many of the pilots involved recently graduated flight school and have not been assigned to aircraft, making this flight their first time flying on a C-130. "I learned a lot from the U.S. loadmasters and pilots. Their gadgets are very high-tech and they know how to perform their jobs very well," said PAF Airman 1st Class Jack Navarro, 220th Airlift Wing C-130 hydraulic system maintainer and loadmaster. "Seeing the capabilities of NVGs was great. It lets us know that if we were able to get that ability here we would be able to land in many of the airfields here at night that don't have taxi lights." After having the chance to get to know and work with the Filipino pilots, Brooks was confident in the prospects of their career. "I'm excited about the possibility to work with the PAF in the future," Brooks mentioned. "There is no doubt in my mind about this new generation of Filipino pilots, they are 100 percent capable, willing and wanting to learn this stuff we're here to teach them. It's why we're here, to build relationships and friendships, so that's what we are doing." When the flight concluded, Navarro said thank you to the 36th AS for sharing their knowledge as a part of Exercise Balikatan and hoped that in the future there would be many more opportunities for the two countries to share knowledge with each other. KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- U.S. Air Force Airmen from the 733rd Air Mobility Squadron worked with U.S. Marines from the 4th Marine regiment, 3rd Marine division, for a joint inspection April 7. This joint inspection of cargo was in support of Marine forces in Australia as part of Marine Regiment Rotational Force Darwin. "We prepared the cargo for embarkation to get onto the C-17s," said U.S. Marine Corps Warrant Officer Matthew Langlois, 4th Marine regiment, 3rd Marine division mobility officer. "Then, we not only cleaned and packed up the stuff that is inside the containers, but also got the containers ready to be put on the aircraft to fly down there so it can get through the agricultural inspections down in Australia and also pass the Air Force standards to get on the aircraft." The Marines prepared the cargo in support of their forces while the Air Force inspected the cargo since Air Force aircraft would be used to transport it. "We ensure the safety of the flight," said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Lincy Thomas, 733rd AMS joint inspection program manager and shift supervisor of aircraft services. "We're inspecting to make sure they package and palletize all of the cargo that goes on this aircraft. We make sure that it is air-worthy so that nothing should happen during the flight." This JI proved to be a learning experience for both Marine and Air Force service members. "We have learned the different ways of ensuring that we are compliant with how the aircraft have to be loaded with all of their rules and regulations to make sure that the aircraft is safe," Langlois said. Load rules and regulations are different for both branches, but the members of this particular JI team were able to learn from each other about their work. "I enjoy working with other services because we learn so much from each other," Thomas said. "It's not going to be the last Marine movement; for the rest of our careers, we're always going to be working with each other. It's our opportunity to learn from each other and what we need to do to make this process better. It's like two different worlds colliding into one." NEWPORT, R.I. (NNS) -- Sixty former South Vietnamese naval officers who graduated from the Newport Officer Candidate School Program from 1970-1971 and later returned to their homeland to serve in the joint American-South Vietnamese 'brown water navy' visited Naval Station Newport, April 11. All were members of the South Vietnamese Navy OCS Association. Group members were accompanied by their family members who also toured training facilities at Officer Training Command Newport and visited the Naval War College Museum. OTCN provided a tour of classroom facilities in Callaghan Hall, the Lt. Michael P. Murphy Combat Training Pool, King Hall, and the officer candidate quarters in Nimitz Hall. The tour concluded with remarks from Capt. Kevin McGowan, commanding officer of OTCN, who spoke about the current OCS program. Approximately 800 South Vietnamese naval officer candidates trained for 20 weeks at the U.S. Naval Base, Newport. There were 12 classes of South Vietnamese naval officer candidates who completed the Newport OCS program. The Newport OCS training was followed by a month's training in river operations at the former Naval Station Treasure Island, California. The waterways around the Naval Station were considered similar to what would be encountered in South Vietnam. The graduates returned to their homeland to serve in South Vietnam's swift boat fleet. Small coastal and river patrol gun boats, provided by the U.S. Navy in 1969, patrolled the rivers and waterways of the Mekong Delta region, which were being used as supply lines by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese enemy forces. The alumni visit brought back many good memories for the association members, some of whom had not returned to Newport since graduating 46 years ago. "It was an opportunity to meet old friends and see where we trained," said Danh Le, Class 11, of Torrington, Connecticut. Le served on infantry landing craft and coastal patrol gunboats. "It was an opportunity to work with American naval officers and to protect our country." Each class consisted of three companies, each having approximately 60 to 70 officer candidates. The candidates were required to be able to speak and write English in order to qualify for the OCS program. After serving a year in the South Vietnamese navy, the graduates were promoted to the rank of ensign. Many South Vietnamese naval officers who were trained in Newport advanced to the grades of lieutenant junior grade and lieutenant until the fall of Saigon to communists in 1975. Lt. j.g. Du Tran, Class 2, of North Providence, Rhode Island, served as 3rd officer aboard Naval Flotilla #1 that patrolled along the coastline of Da Nang. "I am a proud part of the past where South Vietnamese navy officers attended school here," he said. Attending the OCS program here helped me to become a successful American." Dan Ly of Fairfax, Virginia, Class 5, was age 19 when he came to Newport. He served as a boat captain with Flotilla #5. "This visit brings back so many memories," Ly said. "I love this country very much and I have come to accept this country as my homeland now." Tran Le Tri, Class 9, of Quimper, France, remembered Ney Hall Galley. He said the tour of OTCN training facilities showed how U.S. Navy officers are trained. Quan Tran, Class 12, of Severna Park, Maryland, served as a navigation officer and operations officer in the South Vietnamese navy. "We were able to use the most modern technology at the time." "Finishing OCS served as a foundation for me to continue my education," said Tran, an electrical engineer. "The memories here have become a significant part of my life." WASHINGTON, April 13, 2016 The American-Indian relationship is one that will define the 21st century, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said yesterday in New Delhi. Carter and Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar also announced an agreement in principle to share logistics assets for humanitarian operations. The two defense leaders spoke during a news conference following a meeting at the Indian Defense Ministry. This is Carters second trip to India as defense secretary. Parrikar hosted Carter for a tour of the Indias Karwar Naval Base in Karnataka and toured the Indian Navy's aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. Relationship Grows The military-to-military relationship between the countries has grown, Parrakar noted. India has more joint exercises with the United States than with any other country, the defense minister said. In this context, he added, Secretary Carter and I agreed in principle to conclude a logistics exchange memorandum of agreement in the coming months. It is in both nations interests for the relationship to continue, Carter said. First, we have what I call a strategic handshake -- as the United States is reaching west in its rebalance, India is reaching east in Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi's Act East policy that will extend its reach further in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, the secretary said. The United States and India are acting upon their joint strategic vision statement and the 2015 framework for the defense relationship. Those documents call for the peaceful resolution of disputes, and for countries to make their own security and economic choices, free from coercion and intimidation. It also calls for freedom of navigation and overflight that have helped so many in this region to rise and to prosper for so many years, Carter said. Technology Initiative The secretary also spoke about the U.S.-India Defense Technology and Trade Initiative. We agreed to initiate two new DTTI Pathfinder co-development projects, one on digital helmet mounted displays and another one on a joint biological tactical detection system, adding to a growing list of initiatives, Carter said. Under DTTI, the Aircraft Carrier Working Group has been a success, and were deepening our consultation in aircraft carrier design and operations. The two nations also are finalizing four government-to-government projects valued at almost $44 million, an investment shared equally. The logistics agreement will allow India and the United States to share and exchange logistics. Carter and Parrikar said they expect that agreement to be finalized and signed in the coming weeks. We also agreed soon to conclude a commercial shipping information agreement to help our navies work together to defend our countries and promote and protect global commerce, Carter said. The secretary met with Modi before leaving for the next stop in his overseas trip. He is now in the Philippines. News / National by Mashudu Netsianda PUBLIC Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira has ordered disgruntled National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) workers, who downed tools last month over non-payment of salaries, to immediately return to work pending the determination of the matter.The Minister yesterday issued the order following an application to the Labour Court by the NRZ management for a show cause order.A show cause is a type of court order that requires one or more of the parties to a case to justify, explain, or prove something to the court."Pending the determination of this matter, I further direct that the collective job action be terminated immediately, and in any case within 24 hours of the serving of this order," said Minister Mupfumira.NRZ spokesperson Fanuel Masikati yesterday also appealed to the workers to return to work."As NRZ management, we're appealing to all our workers to heed the Minister's directive and immediately return to work so that our trains resume operations and start running again and we earn money," said Masikati.Over 4,000 NRZ workers, who are allegedly owed 15 months' in outstanding salaries, went on strike after rejecting an offer by management to pay them between $175 and $350.Ironically, NRZ top management received almost $1 million in salaries last year processed through an executive bank account held with a local bank.The workers across the country downed tools bringing to a halt operations including the transportation of imported wheat and drought relief maize.The ailing parastatal, which is saddled with a $144 million debt; $68 million of which is owed to workers, continues to experience plummeting traffic levels, which have negatively impacted on income.NRZ board chairman Larry Mavima alleged that some of the striking workers were behind the derailment of a goods train in Gweru last month.The train, with 26 wagons, was headed for South Africa with more than 1,000 tonnes of nickel.Media reports said preliminary investigations indicate that four points along the railway line behind Fairmile Hotel in Gweru were tampered with and covered with sorghum stalks to obscure the engine man's vision. NORMAL A local apartment company plans to demolish a pool where a 26-year-old man suffered severe spinal injuries last summer. Class Act Realty plans to replace the pool at Linden Trails, 808 S. Linden St., with an additional apartment building after the Normal Planning Commission approved the project last week. The plan goes to the City Council for approval on Monday. Ajmed Affaneh lost use of his hands and right leg after diving, hitting the bottom of the pool and injuring his neck July 19, according to a GoFundMe online campaign to support his medical care. The page was last updated in October. Two Normal police officers rescued Affaneh from the pool and were honored by the department last fall. Affaneh and two other men were cited for trespassing. Owner Michael Kahwaji said the accident helped the company decide to replace the pool and an adjoining pool house. "The pool is leaking. It's costing us $40,000 a year just to run the pool. It would cost us more to fix it," Kahwaji told the commission. "We think it's going to unify the property and increase the value." The new building, a $1.1 million project, would include eight units and 26 beds. Linden Trails currently has 42 apartments with 88 beds. The property will keep about the same number of parking spaces 100. Town staff pushed to reduce that figure to 86 because Linden Trails is in the parking impact zone, which has different regulations for areas surrounding Illinois State University, but Kahwaji resisted that requirement because 20 percent of residents aren't students and the complex is on the edge of the zone. Commissioner Michael McFarland voted in favor of the project but said he's concerned about the amount of housing going up near the university. "We're adding a lot of units, and I don't see ISU growing," he said. "When you have a lot more units, then people are generally drawn to the new stuff and not the older stuff, which sits vacant. Foreclosures go up. ... As a community, we should be helping to drive a little bit of that (older) market, too." Town Planner Mercy Davison said the town's staff is keeping an eye on the issue. "We aren't seeing big parts of town where (residential properties) are emptying out. ... The community isn't growing at the rate it used to, but we're not not growing at all," she said. "This is the kind of growth we probably need rather than single-family homes." One of historys most important battles happened here on a field you can walk across in less than half the 45 or so minutes the battle lasted. If George Washingtons audacity on Jan. 3, 1777, had not reversed the patriots retreat and routed the advancing British, the American Revolution might have been extinguished. Yet such is Americas neglect of some places that sustain its defining memories, the portion of the field over which Washingtons nation-saving charge passed is being bulldozed to make way for houses for faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study. To understand the gravity of this utterly unnecessary desecration, you must understand the astonishingly underestimated Battle of Princeton. In December 1776, the Revolution was failing. Britain had sent to America 36,000 troops at that point, the largest European expeditionary force ever -- to crush the rebellion before a French intervention on Americas behalf. Washington had been driven from Brooklyn Heights, then from Manhattan, then out of New York. The nation barely existed as he retreated across New Jersey, into Pennsylvania. But from there, on Christmas night, he crossed the Delaware River ice floes for a successful 45-minute (at most) attack on Britains Hessian mercenaries at Trenton. This was Washingtons first victory; he had not been at Lexington, Concord or Bunker Hill. Trenton would, however, have been merely an evanescent triumph, were it not for what happened 10 days later. On Jan. 2, 1777, British Gen. Charles Cornwallis began marching 5,500 troops from Princeton to attack Washingtons slightly outnumbered forces at Trenton. Washington, leaving a few hundred soldiers to tend fires that tricked Cornwallis into thinking the patriot army was encamped, made a stealthy 14-mile night march to attack three British regiments remaining at Princeton. They collided on this field. The most lethal weapons in this war were bayonets. The British had them. Few Americans did, and they beat a panicked retreated from the advancing steel. By his personal bravery, Washington reversed this and led a charge. An unusually tall man sitting on a large white horse, he was a clear target riding as close to British lines as first base is to home plate. Biographer Ron Chernow writes that, at Princeton, Washington was a warrior in the antique sense. The eighteenth-century battlefield was a compact space, its cramped contours defined by the short range of muskets and bayonet charges, giving generals a chance to inspire by their immediate presence. When the redcoats ran, the British aura of invincibility and the strategy of securing territory and handing out pardons (Chernow) were shattered. And the drift of American opinion toward defeatism halted. In his four-volume biography of Washington, James Thomas Flexner said: The British historian George Trevelyan was to write concerning Trenton: It may be doubted whether so small a number of men ever employed so short a space of time with greater and more lasting effects upon the history of the world. But such would not have been the result if Washington had not gone on to overwhelm Princeton. This ground, on which patriots blood puddled on that 20-degree morning, has been scandalously neglected by New Jersey. Now it is being vandalized by the Institute for Advance Study, which has spurned a $4.5 million purchase offer more than $1 million above the appraised value from the invaluable Civil War Trust, which is expanding its preservation activities to Revolutionary War sites. In todays academia there are many scholars against scholarship, including historians hostile to history postmodernists who think the past is merely a social construct reflecting the presents preoccupations, or power structures, or something. They partake of academias preference for a multicultural future of diluted, if not extinguished, nationhood, and they dislike commemorating history made by white men with guns. The IAS engaged a historian who wrote a report clotted with todays impenetrable academic patois. He says we should not fetishize space, and he drapes disparaging quotation marks around the words hallowed ground. The nation owes much to the IAS, which supported Albert Einstein, physicist Robert Oppenheimer and the diplomat and historian George F. Kennan. It is especially disheartening that a distinguished institution of scholars is indifferent to preserving a historic site that can nourish national identity. The battle to save this battlefield, one of the nations most significant and most neglected sites, is not yet lost. The government in todays Trenton, and in the city named for the man who won the 1777 battle, should assist the Civil War Trust. News / National by Lloyd Gumbo PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has implored younger generations not to be too ambitious in their quest for leadership positions but instead first learn the ropes of leadership from their superiors.The President made the remarks in his address during the burial of the late national heroines, Victoria Chitepo and Vivian Mwashita at the National Heroes' Acre in Harare yesterday.He said the conferment of national heroine statuses on the two comrades was testimony of the role that women can play in the development of the country.Said President Mugabe: "Determination now on the part of the younger ones is to defend the nation at all costs, to remain vigilant, to remain prepared to defend the country and to follow the path of acceptance that if you want to be leaders you must first want also to be followers. You must be prepared to be followers in the first place."And to be leaders who lead honestly, leaders who aren't selfish, who don't think of themselves first, who don't think of their positions first, who think of the people and the people and forever the people because it's the people we fought for and the people include, naturally, our women."He said it was important for men to accept that women could also surpass their male counterparts by contributing immensely to the country's development. He said the two late heroines were examples of love and courage which both men and women were supposed to take a leaf from.President Mugabe implored Zimbabweans to draw lessons from the contributions of Chitepo and Mwashita, which proved that women were capable of contributing significantly to the country.The President, who is the patron of war veterans, paid tribute to the late heroines saying their individual contributions to the country's liberation struggle deserved respect.He described Chitepo as an angel of a character, warm, loving, humble and motherly.President Mugabe said Chitepo was also strong, courageous and nationalistic, which saw her play a major role in the liberation of Zimbabwe despite being born in South Africa."Two people immensely influenced her political career. Her father, who was a South African African National Congress cadre and her husband (national hero Herbert Chitepo), who would land her in the heart of nationalist politics spearheaded by the NDP, Zapu and Zanu."Instead of choosing a bed of roses and a life of relative comfort owing to her good educational background and teaching career, Mai Chitepo chose a bed of thorns, characterised by nationalist politics of resistance against the oppressive white settler regime."And because of her political conviction, Mai Chitepo's life became one of lifelong commitment to the liberation struggle, fighting alongside her husband, when he was still alive and alongside other comrades in Tanzania and Zambia after the death of her husband."He said the Chitepos risked their lives by opening their Highfield house for nationalist meetings during the liberation struggle.President Mugabe said Chitepo also played a major role in the formation of the Zanu Women's League, besides smuggling books and other related literature to imprisoned nationalists at prisons such as Sikombela and Gonakudzingwa.He said even after the assassination of her husband by the settler regime in 1975, Chitepo remained committed to the cause of the liberation struggle, which also saw her being appointed to various government positions after Independence.On Mwashita, President Mugabe hailed her for going to the liberation struggle at a young age and contributing significantly to the country's independence."Like many of her peers, some of whom are ministers of government today, Vivian responded positively to the clarion call by our respective political parties, Zapu and Zanu then, to cross the border into neighbouring countries and joined the ranks of our young men and women, who were prepared to take up arms and wage a protracted war of liberation to end white settler colonialism."She crossed into Mozambique and joined the liberation struggle under the auspices of the Zimbabwe National Liberation Army (Zanla) in 1975. We're reliably told that she went there in the company of comrades Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Winnie Newanji, Erina Mukudu-Nyamweda, Susan Muchinguri and the late Tokodo Murinda," said President Mugabe.He said Mwashita, whose Chimurenga name was Kundai Mabhunu also survived the bombings at Nyadzonia (1976) and Chimoio (1977) by the Rhodesian forces.President Mugabe said Zimbabwe had the highest number of comrades who were killed by the settler regime in the whole of Southern Africa. He said former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith committed the worst atrocities as his forces indiscriminately bombed military and refugee camps in the process, killing hundreds of people including civilians.President Mugabe said it was important for Zimbabweans to emulate Cdes Chitepo and Mwashita by contributing significantly to socio-economic development. "We thank these two women for the exemplary lives that they lived. And we say to other women and especially to the young girls, there are the two examples, choose if you want to be a Mwashita, follow her."But your fight now must be a fight in order to assist government in transforming our economy, in improving the lives of the people. That's a fight we must fight, and we need you young girls. So be Mwashitas in our socio-economic struggle, be Mwashitas in our Zim-Asset. We need you."And to the rest of women who are mothers and mothers to be, there's an example of Mai Chitepo very humble. She wasn't known here. We brought her from Zululand. She came from outside the country and worked with our women to form the Women's League to show them that a committed woman can do what men do," said President Mugabe.He implored Zimbabweans to avail resources to families of the late comrades so that they could earn a normal living. "Dora The Explorer" actress, teen Fatima Ptacek, was suspended from Manhattan's Avenues: The World School after using an e-cigarette in the school bathroom. The "Dora The Explorer" actress was with two other friends when they were caught vaping. Mirror reports that the "Dora the Explorer" actress was lucky to have only been given a suspension. Avenues: The World School, a prestigious private school in Manhattan where Suri Cruise once attended, expelled one of Fatima Ptacek's friends for the vaping offence. The parents of this friend are now suing Avenues: The World School for what they deemed unfair distribution of punishment. While the "Dora the Explorer" actress was suspended for vaping, the third girl in the incident was not punished at all. "The fact that F.P. (Fatima Ptacek) is a known actress for being the voice of 'Dora Explorer' may have played a role in why she was ultimately not expelled even after the school threatened as much, and M.S. was expelled instead as a scapegoat," the lawsuit stated. The "Dora the Explorer" actress and her two friends were caught vaping by another student, who reported the trio to school authorities. The 14-year old M.S., who was expelled from the vaping incident, said that she only gave in to peer pressure because she wanted to be considered cool by the "Dora the Explorer" actress and their other friend. Us Weekly reports that the "Dora the Explorer" actress borrowed the vaping pen from another Avenues: The World School student. No word has been released over any action against the source of the vaping pen. The spokesperson for Avenues: The World School declined to comment on both the legal and disciplinary action cases. A previous Examiner article reports that Inspirations for Youth and Families South Florida, teen drug rehab program, indicated a growing number of drug vaping addiction among teens. Currently, debates are on-going over the exact nature of risks that vaping post to users, including the chemical risks that come along with the vaping instrument. The impact of the vaping incident on the "Dora the Explorer" actress' future as the voice of the popular Nickelodeon character is yet unknown. Fatima Ptacek has been the voice of "Dora the Explorer" since 2012. A new study labels the baseline assessments used by primary schools to measure students' progress as "inappropriate" and unfair." The Department of Education has announced that these tests will no longer be used. According to Telegraph UK, the baseline assessments used to measure the progress of reception pupils in England does not fit its purpose following results from a government-commissioned study. The Standards and Testing Agency released their findings on April 7, stating that the three assessments designed by three different providers have insufficient data that can create an unfair starting point. Baseline Assessments GOV.UK stated that the baseline assessments were announced in March 2014 as a new way of measuring primary school's progress. Schools are offered three different sets of tests from different test providers. The ultimate goal is to assess the progress of primary schools with their students, from reception year to the end of key stage 2 (KS2). The first tests were taken in September 2015. Standard and Testing Agency's Conclusion and Recommendation After the results of the study came out earlier this month, the Department of Education released a statement that the three baseline assessments cannot be used to compare pupils. The different testing systems were "sufficiently comparable", creating an unreliable basis to measure pupils' progress. The government will still continue to offer the tests this year with schools opting to use them for screening purposes. The schools will not be held accountable for the results. More so, the government is still committed to looking for "best ways to assess pupils in the early years." National Union of Teachers Rejoice Over the News The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has long since regarded the baseline assessments as an ineffective tool to measure learning. The union further believe that the tests may cause undue anxiety among students. In fact, the union has considered boycotting the baseline tests last month. The Association of Teachers (ATL), with the help of NUT, also conducted a research to check the relevance of baseline assessments and learning. Results show that only 6.7 percent of respondents agree that these tests are a good way to measure how primary schools perform. Furthermore, the results also show that the assessments may be damaging to kids. "The Government has been forced to recognise that the three tests schools were permitted to use do not produce comparable results and, therefore, cannot be used to form valid and reliable baselines of progress," Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said. To know more about baseline testing, check out the video below: Kody Brown and his wives Meri, Christine, Janelle and Robyn have all been mum about the rumors regarding "Sister Wives" Season 7's cancellation or if they are already filming the upcoming season. But with the family's latest legal battle, TLC might cancel their reality show for good. The "Sister Wives" stars have been reportedly pushing for polygamy legalization in Utah and they recently asked a federal appeals court to uphold a ruling that "decriminalized" plural marriages in the state. Unfortunately, the court junked the Browns' appeal, saying the family had no standing to take legal action against the state of Utah over its polygamy laws, Cosmopolitan notes. The latest blow in court suffered by the "Sister Wives" family came after they contended that Utah's polygamy ban violated the constitutional rights of Americans to liberally engage in their religion. They also stressed that the ban has violated the privacy rights of consenting adults, as well as the freedom of religious rights by prohibiting cohabitation. The state of Utah, on the other hand, argued that they don't prosecute consenting adults in polygamous relationships. Instead, they take legal action against the crimes connected to the practice, such as underage marriage, statutory rape and sexual assault, NBC News reports. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit sided with the state of Utah on Monday and junked the appeal made by the "Sister Wives" family. According to the court, the Browns were in no position to sue the state because they were never charged and prosecutors had later changed the laws on prosecuting polygamous adults. "Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction," the court wrote, Huffington Post quotes. "They lack power to decide issues - however important or fiercely contested - that are detached from a live dispute between the parties." Meanwhile, the "Sister Wives" family attorney, Jonathan Turley, revealed in a statement that the Browns are contemplating their next plans. Turley also added that the family would appeal the ruling and might take the battle to the Supreme Court. "The Brown family is obviously disappointed in the ruling but remains committed to this fight for the protections of religion, speech, and privacy in Utah," Turley wrote, as per USA Today. "The underlying rights of religious freedom and free speech are certainly too great to abandon after prevailing below in this case." With the Browns' latest court battle defeat, do you think TLC will cancel "Sister Wives" Season 7 for good? Racism in the U.S. has been reduced over the past few decades but it still exists in many parts of the country, even in schools. A group of African-American activists, parents and students expressed their complaints to education officials about Wake County schools' racial discrimination against black students. The complaints emphasize the abuse, aggression and unfair discipline that black students receive from students and school personnel, the News & Observer reports. U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights officials have already started to investigate the Wake County school system's alleged racial discrimination against black students. "The only thing I want for my babies is to get a proper education," Cecilia Glenn, an African-American parent, said via the News & Observer. "Why should it be so hard to do that?" Wake County schools discuss racial disparity in student suspension #racism #blacklivesmatter https://t.co/JVGErsRggj Mosi Ifatunji (@ifatunji) February 17, 2016 Wake County school officials sent a written statement for federal education officials to deny the level of racial discrimination against black students being complained about by African-American parents, students and activists. "About 90 percent of our African-American students are never suspended during their school careers," the school district explained. Wake County school officials also invited federal education officials to visit their schools in order to check for signs of racial discrimination against black students. They also noted that they use suspensions very sparingly nowadays and find other alternatives for discipline instead. But despite the decrease in total number suspensions for black students, the fact remains that there is a big disparity between the suspension rate of African-American students and other racial groups, Advocates For Children's Services attorney Jennifer Story noted via the News and Observer. One study also claims that many teachers are more likely to label African-American students as troublemakers, the Daily Mail reports. Several New Jersey schools became the target of bomb threats Wednesday and lockdowns were implemented to ensure the safety of the students. Authorities responded on scene to diffuse the situation and determined it's a hoax. They are looking into these incidents carefully. North Jersey reports that some 21 schools received the "non-credible recorded" bomb threats at 8 a.m. and safety and security measures were immediately set in place. As classes were temporarily suspended, law enforcement officers inspected the school premises and parents were notified of the emergency. Most classes were then resumed in the afternoon when the police cleared the bomb threats as fake. More Bomb Threats Happening Than Last Year Authorities said that there could have been more bomb threats if not for some schools closing for spring break. NBC New York reports that when schools re-opened after the Christmas holidays, some 31 bomb threats were made in Bergen country alone. That number eclipsed the 16 school bomb threats the county received in 2015. Schools in New Jersey towns like Clifton, Englewood, Fair Lawn, Garfield, Hackensack, Leonia, Mahwah, Tenafly, Teaneck and Waldwick received bomb threats between January to April 2016. Townsfolk activities have been disrupted and many locals are worried for the safety of their families. "It's getting to the point of ridiculousness," a father told CBS New York. "Obviously harsh punishment should be the mandate if these people are found." Bomb Threats Made With Computerized Messages The bomb threats were prompted by computerized voice calls, which experts say are not easy to trace. "These actors are utilizing anonymizing technology to spoof their true location," said the state's Homeland Security director Dave Weinstein. The pranksters also manipulate IP addresses to mask their identities. If the perpetrators are caught, they could be sentenced to 10 years in prison. Penalty could also include paying the overtime rate of the police force, which could amount to thousands of dollars. "This is something that your parents are going to pay because you decided to play a joke," said bomb technician Kenny Mercado in the reports. What can you say about the response of local enforcement to the bomb threats? Let us know in the comments! News / National by Staff reporter MDC-T supporters are expected to flood the streets of Harare today in a landmark protest against President Robert Mugabe's misrule after the High Court yesterday overturned a police ban on the demonstration.MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai is expected to lead the demonstration from the front.Justice Happias Zhou yesterday ruled in his chambers that the MDC-T demonstration should proceed as planned and ordered police to foot the party's legal costs.He said the police had failed to prove that the protests would disturb public peace and were a threat to national security.MDC-T lawyer, Sharon Hofisi said the judge ruled the claim by the police that the demonstrations would disturb human and traffic flow in the city centre were baseless at law."The court ruled that the assertion that the demonstration would disturb traffic and human flow had no merit at law and were unsustainable by the police. The judge also ruled that the excuse that most of the officers are engaged in Independence Day preparations was illegal, as they should provide security once they are sure the protest would be a threat to national security," she said.The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) on Tuesday ordered the MDC-T to stop its planned demonstration, claiming its officers were unable to provide security, as they were busy preparing for Monday's Independence Day celebrations.But Justice Zhou, according to Hofisi, ruled that the ZRP should provide security to the protesters as stated in the Constitution."The police were also ordered to pay legal costs of the case and the judge also interdicted the police from interfering with an MDC-T protest against rising poverty and the corruption scourge inZimbabwe other than providing security," Hofisi said.MDC-T secretary-general, Douglas Mwonzora said people had the right to demonstrate."We must come in our numbers to assert the people's right to demonstrate. We reiterate that this is a peaceful demonstration and we expect the highest standards of behaviour from our members and friends. There will be no violence and looting. We know the enemy may try to plant criminals in our midst. Our marshals and security officers will deal with these so that the public is protected."Among the issues we are demonstrating against is the grinding poverty that Zimbabwe has been plunged into by this regime," Mwonzora said."We are demonstrating in outrage at the $15 billion (diamond revenue) that was stolen by State officials and their criminal associates. The unemployment situation that has left most Zimbabwean graduates consigned to vending is also among the issues."The MDC-T yesterday launched a fundraising campaign requesting for at least $1 from its membership and other groups to cater for transport for those attending the march.MDC-T deputy treasurer-general, Chalton Hwende used his Facebook page to appeal for funding for the event before announcing that the Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe, led by former party stalwart Elton Mangoma, had made a $50 contribution through its spokesperson, Pishai Muchauraya.The money, according to Hwende, was being channelled through a mobile money transfer account that was being administered by Tsvangirai's secretary, Edith Munyaka.Muchauraya confirmed that his party would participate in today's demonstration and urged other opposition parties to mobilise their members to join in today's protest march."We support any initiative that would mean getting rid of Zanu-PF. We all want a better life and indeed this demonstration is going to push Zanu-PF to the edge. We appeal to our members to support this initiative and participate," Muchauraya said. A permanently disabled woman in Boise, Idaho has developed pulmonary hypertension and has to drag an oxygen tank wherever she goes just so she could breathe. Her current predicament could have been avoided had her parents allowed doctors to close a tiny hole in her heart when she was still a baby. Family's Religious Beliefs Prevented Her Life-Saving Surgery Mariah Walton, now 20, was born and raised in a fundamentalist Mormon community in northern Idaho. Her parents were members of an offshoot faith-healing sect called the Followers of Christ. The group migrated to Canyon County due to the region's faith-healing exemption, as per The Guardian. Walton and her siblings were denied of any medical attention as their parents believed illnesses could be healed exclusively by faith and prayer. As a result, Walton's pulmonary ailment grew worse over time. She also became more and more frustrated by her parents' utter neglect. That's why in 2014, Walton left home without a birth certificate or a social security number. "I would like to see my parents prosecuted," said Walton. "They deserve it. And it might stop others." She and her older sister Emily has since taken part in talks with lawmakers about the issue. As of the moment, Idaho is one of only six states where religion is accepted as a mitigating factor in felonies such as manslaughter, negligent homicide and capital murder. "As the oldest sister, I watched her," Emily told Magic Valley. "She was much smaller, she was blue, she wasn't growing." Emily regrets not taking Mariah to the hospital when they were younger. When her little sister was 18, she collapsed at home and couldn't move. Their mother guaranteed that Mariah was fine and warned them not to tell anyone about the mishap. Mariah found out she had pulmonary hypertension only when she went to see a doctor by herself. Calls To Reform Idaho Child Laws Has High-Ranking Supporter The movement to reform Idaho's child fatality laws has been headed by governor Butch Otter. The 73-year-old statesman is currently prodding lawmakers to create a task force that would study faith healing and child fatality in the Gem State. "I understand it is a challenge to balance the desire to protect children while still being supportive of religious freedom," Otter explained. "But, I believe we must give this issue a thorough examination." This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions Long before Bro-Country urged ladies to save horses and ride cowboys, before the recent surge in thought pieces surrounding feminism in a male dominated field, women in country music were rolling their eyes at the genres rodeo seats and recording anthems by women for women. This spring, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Martina McBride are set to release new records; two country music all stars that reigned during a decade of underrated feminist prowess. While the airways have always been saturated with machismo, the women of the 90s country class recorded countless mantras that proved not all damsels are in distress. Last year, Nashville radio consultant, Keith Hill warned against spinning too many songs by female artists in country music http://www.cmt.com/news/1754800/men-are-lettuce-women-are-tomatoes/, claiming male artists were what people wanted to hear, Trust me, I play great female records and weve got some right now; theyre just not the lettuce in our salad, Hill said. The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of our salad are the females. Some heavier in honky-tonk, some filled with heartache, here is a list of songs that showcase country musics Caprese salad of the 90s. In 1996, Deana Carter wrote an anthem so many women can appreciatea song that comically details the disappointment that comes with competing for affection in a me-first marriage, which highlights a laborious task any woman can relate to, whether married or single. An understated songwriter, Carter penned Kenny Chesneys You and Tequila featuring Grace Potter back in 2011, when it was nominated for song of the year at both the CMAs and a Grammy. In 2013, she started her own record label, Little Nugget Records, and in February she released a video for Thats Just Me. Suzy Bogguss forces a hard look at the adolescent expectations of a Prince Charming here, chronicling the harsh realities of the fairy tale fantasy post-matrimony. After the promises of the fable dont come to fruition, she looks to the Disney princess for answers, Through the years and the kids and the jobs / and the dreams that lost their way. / Do you ever stop and wonder? / Do you ever just wanna say, hey hey, Cinderella, whats the story all about? / I got a funny feeling we missed a page or two somehow. Contrary to the common theme of a loveless relationship, Reba sings about a woman who loves her family, but questions if there is still an opportunity to juggle marriage and motherhood and keep her identity intact. That same year she recorded Take It Back a jazzy, growling ode to a cheating lover she kicks to the curb. Remaining one of the most important faces in country music for more than 30 years, shes still choosing songs that encourage women to take charge. In fact, last year she recorded Aint Goin Out Like That about moving on from a relationship with pride. Martina McBride has recorded so many songs on the behalf abused and demoralized women and young girls that its hard to pick just one. Others include: Concrete Angel Independence Day and This Ones For The Girls. In 98, she recorded A Broken Wing, an inspiring ballad about emotional manipulation and the crushed spirit of a woman constantly put down by her husband until she eventually finds the strength to break the cycle. If Shania Twain invites women to get loud and happy, Martina McBride allows them to get so sad they get pissed off enough to fight back. Her attention to degradation of women and children doesnt stop with her music; In addition to her many charitable contributions, she was a spokeswoman for The National Domestic Abuse Hotline as well as The National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline. She will release her 13th studio album, Reckless, on April 29. A forerunner in the 90s feminist movement in country music, Mary Chapin Carpenters He Thinks Hell Keep Her is about fulfilling the societal mold of what it means to be a wife and a mother and the inner vacancy that a woman is left with when shes only recognized for the roles she plays. The song goes on to detail the womans escape from a suffocating, monotonous marriage, and comments on the gender struggles she faces even after she finds refuge. She sings, For 15 years she had a job and not one raise in pay / Now shes in the typing pool at minimum wage. Carpenter will release her 13th studio album on May 6. Nearly all of Mindy McCreadys songs on her debut album Ten Thousand Angelsbut most notably the title track, A Girls Gotta Do (What a Girls Gotta Do) and Maybe Hell Notice Her Nowpay homage to the dynamic range of difficulties facing women. Her tributes to women span both sarcasm and sadness. Most notably, her biggest hit Guys Do It All The Time mocks the often accepted excuses men use to avoid intimacy and distract from their responsibilities in a relationship. After a lifelong battle with addiction and depression, McCready passed away in 2013. In 1992, Lorrie Morgan echoed what women have been saying since the beginning of timeNO. Refreshingly condescending, and highlighting her matter-of fact-twang, she recounts the efforts a man makes to get her attention throughout the course of an evening. Despite her best attempts to ward him off, she sings, Ill be glad to explain it if its too hard to comprehend / What part of no dont you understand? Morgan has been throwing shade at men for decades with hits like, Watch Me Go Away and I Didnt Know My Own Strength. Any song that kicks of with Lets go girls is headed in the right direction. Like much of her writing, Twain invites women to rise up and rebel against the outdated feminine prescription, while encouraging women to embrace their autonomy and their sexuality. With over 85 million albums sold, its especially important to note that much of Twains reach and catalogue is dedicated to female empowerment with hits like That Dont Impress Me Much, Honey, Im Home and Any Man of Mine. After the country icon recently completed her farewell tour, she told the media she is finally working on her first record since the release of UP more than a decade ago. Iris Dement sings a powerfully perceptive message of encouragement to victims of sexual abuse in this song from 1996 . Through piercing vocals and a traditional folk sound, she recounts the heavy shame that washes over a woman carrying secrets for far too long. In 2015, she released her seventh studio album, Trackless Woods, based on the poems of Russian writer Anna Akhmatova. Although, originally recorded by Sons of The Desert, it was the brazen, fun, girl power of the Dixie Chicks that made Goodbye Earl an empowerment anthem in 1999. A satirical approach to combating domestic abuse, it tells the story of two women who kill Earl, an oafish and relentlessly abusive husband. Starring, Jane Krakowski and Lauren Holly, the video was controversial, as it appeared to casualize violent retribution, but it was simply a commentary on the power of women coming together and taking back power (and they even included a disclaimer about it in their liner notes). Coming up, the trio is reissuing four albums on vinyl in April and will kick off a 40-stop North American tour in June. Written by Mary Chapin Carpenter, if the title doesnt say it already, sung through Wynonnas growling howl, here is a fun, rebel yell about the taboo nature of a young girl with an affinity for a six-string. Bored by the expectancy to fulfill her gender roles, she hollers, Boys as a species were all a bunch of zeroes. She doesnt want to try out for the squad, but shes lookin at Hendrix like a love sick pup. A country music heavyweight, Wynonna is a longtime supporter of women in music, dubbing her mentors sheroes. In this sassy, honky-tonk farewell from 1993, country queen Patty Loveless warns a cheating lover of the impeding heartache thats about to wreak havoc on his ego upon her leaving. But before he gets any ideas about feeling sorry for himself, she encourages him to place the blame inward. No stranger to feminine anthems, Jo Dee Messina recorded Bye Bye back in 1998. A proverbial middle finger to too many excuses and an exhausted relationship, the song was actually penned by two menRoury Michael Bourke and Phil Vasser. Yet, it encouraged women to walk out of a bad situation with their pride intact. Even over time, its clear that masculine charm still doesnt faze her; In 2005 she released My Give Damns Busted waving off a codependent partner, and in 2014 she penned, A Womans Rant about juggling motherhood and identity. Messinas sixth LP, Masquerade, is set for release later this year. Written by Matraca Berg and Alice Randall, the lyrics, Shes trying to make it in her daddys world make it clear that this isnt a love song. Yearwood sings the story of a young girl looking up at her mother, taking stock of the battle scars of womanhood, hoping to flip the script for herself. As mentioned in the song, its a struggle best equipped with some Aretha Franklin and Patsy Cline cheering in the background. Exemplifying strength in both her personal and professional life, in 2009, Yearwood participated in National Women Build Week where she and 200 other women learned to build homes in and around Atlanta and Oklahoma. Shes released two cookbooks, taken on small acting roles and is currently on a major tour with husband and fellow megastar, Garth Brooks. Faith Hill recorded Wild One in 1992, giving a voice to adventurous, progressive girls. She combats strict conservatism in the song, as well as the idea that young ladies arent allowed to dream too big or draw outside the lines. In her own career, Hill is set to become the executive producer for a new daytime talk show that is slated to air later this year or next. In Little Good-Byes, the sisters of SHeDAISY send a cheeky farewell to a lethargic man in their lives. Taking a comedic approach, the song recounts all the little good-byes they leave behindtaking the television and the things that blocked attention in the first place. Emotional abandonment is a common theme for SHeDAISY and in a far more serious approach, they address the need to be seen and valued in 1999s This Woman Needs. A song about reawakening to life after the letdown of a relationship, LeAnn Rimes reminds women of their capacity to recover, with a one-way ticket and an open opportunity to start again. Shortly after the release of One Way Ticket, she the following single was Commitment, which reminded women to demand returns on their emotional investments. Terri Clark makes it clear in this anthem of constant eye rolling that she has better things to do than cry over some lousy relationship. In the same metaphorical tune, songs like Emotional Girl and Girls Lie Too embrace the dynamic nature of being a woman, and in 1996, she had success with Linda Rondstats Poor, Poor Pitiful Me. Clark is currently the only female Canadian member of the Grand Ole Opry. There will never be enough songs encouraging women to leave unfulfilling relationships. Painting a painful scene of emotional neglect, Chely Wright tells the story of a woman who went out for a pack and never looked back. Named Woman of The Year by the American Legion Auxiliary, Wright is an avid activist through and outside her music. In addition to her advocacy for adolescent music education, in 2010, she was named the National Spokesperson for the Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network). Chronicling the emotional seesaw that ensues when its time to leave a relationship, Kathy Mattea sings about the triumphant feeling that flows when a woman knows shes made a decision that honors herself. Though this track came out in 1994, Matteas last studio album, Calling Me Home, was released in 2010. Kelly Willis released this moody, earnest and thoughtful song back in 1999. What I Deserve serves as an ode to what she owes herself after a life of struggle, not limited to a thankless recording contract. In 2013, she released Cheaters Game. There are very few Indian foods that dont have spices in them. Spices, however, are not always hot. You can have a dish full of spices and walk away with a mouth bursting with delicious flavor and nothing else. Hold onto that glass of cold water; you wont need it for these spice-filled Indian breakfasts. It looks like a doughnut, but the crisp, deep fried vada is anything but sweet and gooey. A traditional South Indian breakfast, vadas are made of rice flour, urad dal (split black lentils), green chilies, pepper and curry leaves. Vadas are served with coconut chutney and tangy sambhar (a thin, soup-like gravy loaded with drumsticks, pumpkin, onion and a whole lot of ground spices). This breakfast is most satisfying when paired with a South Indian filtered coffee. The dosa is another ubiquitous South Indian meal that has found favor with Indians everywhere, which is not easy given that the population has very strong food loyalties. The original dosa is a crisp and thin pancake large enough to cover your plate when open. With dosa, there are options. You can have it plain, or with a potato filling. Get it tempered with spices (masala dosa) or try a contemporary variant like a paneer dosa (with cottage cheese). Theres even a noodle dosa (pictured), where a generous helping of noodles, julienned bell peppers, carrots and spring onions jostle for space within the neatly folded dosa. From the state of Gujarat comes this colorful and spongy breakfast favorite. Gujarati food is not heavily spiced and has an edge of sweetness. The dhokla cake batter is made from fermented gram flour, semolina, split chickpeas and spices like asafoetida, black mustard seeds, cumin and sesame seeds. Turmeric gives the dhokla its distinctive yellow color. The dhokla cake is steamed and then cut into squares, making it a healthy option for a morning meal or tea-time snack. If you are not inclined towards the spicy, leave the green chilie garnish alone. This traditional North Indian breakfast has made its way to restaurants across the country. Youll find various versions of the chole (boiled chickpea) gravy depending on which part of the country youre in. The authentic Punjabi or Sindhi version has a dark brown, thick gravy that coats the chickpeas. Add a whole lot of spices including dried mango powder while making the gravy and you have a tangy dish bursting with flavor. The chole is traditionally served with bhature, a large, puffed, deep-fried bread. From the plains of North India comes the kachori, a versatile, anytime food. Dough is stuffed with ground lentils, fennel, flakes of red chilie, and assorted spices, and then deep-fried. Serve with date or tamarind chutney or chilled yogurt for a healthier option and youre good to go. Goa might be known for its sausage pulao and other meat dishes, but when it comes to breakfast, Goans head for the simple, yet flavorful bhaji-puri. The potato bhaji comes in different textures in a dry version with just the potatoes lightly spiced, with gravy or mixed with other lentils. Have this with deep-fried puris or pao, the local bread. This traditional breakfast from the state of Maharashtra (of which Mumbai is the capital) is a crowd pleaser. Flattened, dehusked rice is briefly soaked in water and then sauteed with onions, potatoes, curry leaves, mustard seed and chopped green chilies. Served with a slice of lime, this is a super-quick healthy breakfast that will make you want to reach out for seconds. Chryselle DSilva Dias is a freelance writer based in India. She writes about people and places for publications around the world. Visit her website at www.chryselle.net or on twitter @chryselled. Top main photo by AJ CC BY News / National by Staff reporter Two Harare women, who are in a polygamous marriage take turns to sleep in their one-roomed house, with the other sleeping outside whenever their shared husband is home.This matter came to light at the Harare Civil Court yesterday, when Gracious Zwanda made an application for a protection order against co-wife Nyaradzo Siyakhula, saying she no longer wanted to live under the same roof with her."I don't want to stay with her anymore because she dated my husband while she was fully aware he was married to me," she said.Zwanda also told the court Siyakhula was in the habit of destroying her property whenever she (Siyakhula) had a dispute with their husband."Whenever she has a disagreement with our husband, she enters the room and destroys my property," she said.In response, Siyakhula said it would be unfair for her to leave the matrimonial room because she had moulded bricks for its construction."I cannot be evicted from that room because I laboured together with the builders and I also paid the builders with my own money," she said.The court further heard that each time the women's husband was home for the night, Zwanda and Siyakhula took turns to sleep outside the house."The bed that we take turns to share with our husband is actually mine, so I cannot leave the place," Siyakhula said.In her ruling, magistrate Gamuchirai Siwardi ordered Siyakhula not to verbally or physically abuse Zwanda, but said she would not give an eviction order."I won't evict her from the matrimonial home because she is still married to your husband. If I do that, I will have granted a divorce," Siwardi said."If you want to evict her, make an application for an eviction order. In spite of being Wall Streets favorite candidate, Hillary Clinton has received the support of many prominent liberal individuals and groups. Naturally, these endorsements boost Clintons progressive credibility. But should they? Lets take a closer look at Hillarys so-called progressive surrogates, starting with the man who has been stumping for her the longest: Barney Frank has been a stalwart of progressivism. As the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, he co-authored the Dodd-Frank banking regulation. In many ways, the legacy of his time in office was fighting to re-regulate Wall Street. Thats why it came as a big shock to many when he endorsed Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. It was an even bigger shock when he vocally attacked the Vermont Senator for wanting to break up the big banks by bringing back the New Deal Era Glass-Steagall law banning commercial and investment banks from merging. In a recent interview with PBS, the former Congressman explained his position: Its not their overall size. Its the indebtedness thats the threat. You could not now have an AIG, which got itself $170 billion beyond what it could pay off in derivatives, because we do not allow institutions under the law now to get so indebted without the capital to back it up. Lets step back for a moment and clarify a few things: The Senates Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations cited the size of the banks as a major contributing factor to the Subprime Mortgage Crisis in its 2011 report titled Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse. Even the crowd that denies the banks need to be broken up, insisting that Dodd-Franks regulations are sufficient including Paul Krugman cite the aspects of that law which, if enforced, inevitably lead to a government break up of the banks. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) recently responded to these claims that the size of the banks had nothing to do with the crash: There would have been no crisis without these giant banksThey encouraged reckless mortgage lending both by gobbling up an endless stream of mortgages to securitize and by funding the slimy subprime lenders who peddled their miserable products to millions of American families. The giant banks spread that risk throughout the financial system by misleading investors about the quality of the mortgages in the securities they were offering. This statement comes on the heels of an announcement by federal regulators that the banks are still too-big-to-fail, meaning that even one failure could cripple our economy. What Warren doesnt outright explain is that the megabanks were able to set industry standards thanks to their influence. The rating agencies were especially susceptible to this influence because they were (and still are) paid per rating. Competition for the business from the megabanks caused a race to the bottom who would give the highest ratings with the least amount of scrutiny. The ratings became completely meaningless. And this is how indebtedness got so out of control especially for AIG. AIG relied on the compromised ratings when it decided to insure products. The appearance of low risk made the decision easy: The amount of money to be made doing business with the large financial institutions outweighed any concerns about risk. Of course, when delinquency rates for mortgages began to skyrocket, it caused confusion and panic. Nobody was really sure of the value of the products they were holding on to. Lenders stopped lending, hurting small and medium-size businesses which rely on annual loans. In light of all of this background, Franks argument about indebtedness, and the provisions of Dodd-Frank which address the issue, seems myopic. Separating commercial and investment banks would have the effect of eliminating the problem of companies taking too much debt from derivatives while simultaneously eliminating the root causes of the crash. So why is Mr. Bank Reformer so opposed to this plan? Maybe it is because these days, Barney Frank sits on the board of Signature Bank, which has $28.6 billion in assets, and provides both commercial and investment services. In other words, maybe the reason he does not want the banks to be broken up by reimplementing Glass-Steagall, is that he works for a bank which would be subject to said break up. The former Governor and current Vermont Superdelegate who was once a famous progressive has raised eyebrows with his opposition to Bernie Sanders. He once called single-payer health care the most economically efficient system. However, now, he is vocal in his criticism of Bernie Sanders proposal for a single-payer system. Why would a famed progressive like Dean suddenly oppose the policy he once so vocally supported? Well, it may have something to do with the fact that he now works as a health industry lobbyist. As The Intercept reports: After Dean began working in the lobbying industry, he gave a talk about how to navigate the post-Citizens United campaign finance world. Ive advised a lot of clients in the industries that I usually end up working with, which are mostly health care industries, not to give any money to either side, or if you do, give it to both sides because politicians really dont know much about the issues, Dean said. But they remember the ads, and they remember who was on whose side and who wasnt, and it makes a big difference. At the very least, it is appropriate to say that Mr. Dean has a conflict of interest now in opposing single-payer health care. Many progressives were baffled by the Congressional Black Caucus endorsement of Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. This confusion is understandable considering the formers roots as a Goldwater Girl, her past remarks about super-predators, her support for the 94 omnibus crime bill and the 96 welfare reform bill, and her racially charged 2008 campaign against Barack Obama. It may come as no surprise to learn that many of CBCPACs donors have significant ties to Hillary Clinton including the Podesta Group, co-founded by John Podesta, Hillary Clintons campaign chair, JP Morgan Chase, UBS, Citigroup, and more. While there is no evidence of quid pro quo dealings, there is definitely the appearance of them. This is politics, after all MSNBC host Chris Matthews has been a vocal albeit irritatingly loud liberal voice in the media since 1994. His show Hardball is known for bold left wing commentary. However, while his support for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primary may not be surprising, his antipathy towards Bernie Sanders is. Matthews recently came under fire for giving Clinton a fawning interview, which prompted a petition calling for MSNBC to suspend him. It may not come as a surprise to learn that Matthews wife, Kathleen Matthews, is running for Congress, and, to that end, is receiving financial assistance from Hillary Clinton. Sherrod Brown has been described as Bernie Sanders closest ally in the Senate. When he endorsed Hillary Clinton, it caused a bit of a media stir. However, a quick look at his OpenSecrets page may provide some insight. As it turns out, Senator Brown is a major recipient of PAC assistance. Sanders has openly opposed, criticized, and shunned PACs. This difference in their approaches might be telling. Exploring the PACs page is also where we find something interesting: America Works. America Works is a leadership PAC that supports Senator Brown, Hillary Clinton, and a number of other pro-Clinton candidates and elected officials, including: Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) Bob Casey (D-PA) Harry Reid (D-NV) Kamala Harris (D-CA) Gov. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) Katie McGinty (D-PA) Jason Kander (D-MO) Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) Patrick Murphy (D-FL) Patty Murray (D-WA) Brian Schatz (D-HI) Chuck Schumer (D-NY) Ted Strickland (D-OH) Ron Wyden (D-OR) Even though America Works is just one PAC, and is not a huge spender, there is something of import to be gleaned here: Endorsing Hillary Clinton comes with benefits. There are many PACs and super PACs out there that are ready to aid Clinton and her allies. At a time in our history when elected officials spend a significant amount of their time fundraising, Hillarys political network gives her both power and influence. But what does it say about Hillary Clinton the candidate, or her policies, that so many of the progressives supporting her are financially tied to Wall Street and the big industries she claims she will regulate, or have vested interests in her, personally? What does it say about our political system that so many individuals and groups have aligned themselves with the candidate who wields political influence over the candidate who represents their espoused principles? Perhaps it is time we accept that money is inherently compromising in politics. Aging actors are all about reinventing themselves lately, especially when it involves turning to gritty, low-to-mid-budget genre fare. While Liam Neeson has seemingly reinvigorated his whole persona when it comes to claiming this mature action hero status, Sean Penn and Pierce Brosnan both tried their hand at it over the last few years, with less than stellar results. Meanwhile, guys like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger never really vacated their thrones. Which brings us to Kevin Costner: No stranger to thrillers, he took a swing and whiffed with 3 Days to Kill, but hes willing to give it another go with Criminal. Sadly, again, the result is not great. By far, Criminals greatest asset is its cast, which features two Oscar winnersKevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jonesas well as an Academy Award nominee (Gary Oldman), two newly minted mega-superheroes in the form of Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) and Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), and Alice Eve and Michael Pitt, who are great actors in their own rights. This assembly of top tier talent, almost all of whom are completely mis- or under-used in every instance, has to be the sole reason why Criminal didnt go directly to streaming serviceswhich is, lets be honest, where it belongs. More than an action romp, director Ariel Vromens film is an attempt at a slow-burn, John La Carre-style spy thriller. Unfortunately, a disjointed tonal vibe, lack of any real character development and whack-ass dialogue keep it from even its modest aims. Billy Pope (Reynolds) is a CIA spook in London running an op on a hacker known as the Dutchman (Pitt), who can access and control the entire U.S. military arsenal. Billy is the only one who knows of the hackers whereabouts, but when the agent is killed, his boss, Quaker Wells (Gary Oldman), has a doctor (Tommy Lee Jones) use an experimental procedure to implant Billys memories into the brain of a gruff, maladjusted convict named Jericho Wells (Costner). Jericho amounts to a sociopathic version of Billy Bob Thorntons character in Sling Blade, which Tommy Lee Joness character explains as the result of a childhood head trauma that left the convicts brain developmentally stunted. Thus, he feels no emotion or empathyor, as the felon explains it himself, My brain dont always work right. But, thankfully, hes got Ryan Reynolds in his head so the two personalities can duke it out over control and hopefully find the Dutchman before the hackers program falls into the wrong hands. This is where Criminal stands tallest, when Jericho struggles with these unfamiliar feelings, but any shining moments are buried beneath an onslaught of tedium and the unnecessary complications that take precedence over character work and a narrative arc. And yes, this is yet another body-swap movie involving Ryan Reynolds. Thus far on his resume he has Criminal, Self/less, The Change-Up and R.I.P.D., which loosely falls into this category. (There is also a Halloween episode of his old sitcom, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, where he trades places with a co-star.) So theres that. As complicated as this plot may sound, Criminal becomes even more tangled and convoluted as it unfolds. In addition to the were-all-going-to-die thread, Popes memoriesof his wife, Jill (Gadot), and daughterpoke through Jerichos crotchety surface, haunting him. The Dutchman achieves brief subplot status while trying to find Edward Snowden-type asylum in Russia, and a wealthy terrorist, with the incredible name Hagbardaka Heimbahl (Jordi Molla), further muddies the waters. Criminal is the kind of movie where the first time a person appears on screen, text pops up to deliver their name and a prominent character traitwhich is where the character development stops. Without such text, we wouldnt know that Heimbahl is a Spanish Anarchist. Even the half-baked science of trying to swap brains is explained away with a few sentences of authoritative-sounding jargon. The pace plods along, always on the verge of an action set piece but never quite delivering. Which is a shame, because: Scott Adkins, one of the premier badass cinematic martial artists currently working, is in this movie. Though Adkins is far from alone here. While he appears to be having a total blast when playing up Jerichos antisocial side, terrorizing unsuspecting shop owners, Costner mumbles and mutters his way through what, at times, borders on a slack-jawed hillbilly caricature. Oldman chews on every bit of scenery he can find, while Pitts defining characteristic is a vaguely Scandinavian accent. Tommy Lee Jones deserves better than his handful of scenes as a hangdog scientist, but then again, so do most of the other actors. The moments with Jill and Jericho come closest to reaching an emotional high as anything in Criminal. Were reminded that Kevin Costner still has acting chops, almost digging Jericho out of the muck. Gadot shows glimpses of emotional range that we havent seen much from her on screen yet. Sure, shes quick to accept that this incoherent, rambling older man she finds bleeding in her basement is truly a convict with her husbands memories stuffed in his brain, but who wouldnt? Visually, Criminal sometimes apes the handheld verite-style of the Bourne movies, complete with high-tech rooms full of CIA analysts lit by the blue light of their computer screens, and hazy snippets of flashbacks in Jerichos head. A droning, pulsing electronic score further underscores the aesthetic the filmmakers are after. But, perhaps appropriately, the best they can do with this pale imitation of a spy action-thriller is only nothing more than pale imitating at best. Director: Ariel Vromen Writers: Douglas Cook, David Weisberg Starring: Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Gal Gadot, Ryan Reynolds, Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Pitt, Alice Eve Release Date: April 15, 2016 Emerson College recently launched a groundbreaking virtual reality filmmaking class at its Los Angeles based campus. This is a good sign for the growing VR industry, as more film schools are starting to offer VR filmmaking courses to inspire students to work toward being leaders in the field. Following Emersons launch in January, New York University held its first VR class at their Tisch School of the Arts taught by Saschka Unseld, the creative director at Oculus Story Studio. The Emerson Los Angeles (ELA) class launched in January during the Spring semester of their Los Angeles Study Abroad program for junior and senior students. Micah Wright, who has written and designed almost 50 video games, like Call of Duty: Black Ops II and has worked in film, television and comic books, teaches the class of about 10 students. Wright believes the emergence of virtual reality is the next step for both the video game and film industry. The marketplace for VR is coming and Emerson College understands that, he says. Wright first proposed the course to Kevin Bright, ELA Vice President and Founding Director, and Dr. Mikhail Gershovich, ELA Director of Academic Planning and Digital Learning. This course presented a timely opportunity for us to pilot something truly innovative and unique that could have a tremendous impact on the College and our students going forward, Gershovich said in an article announcing the programs launch. Because the language of narrative storytelling in VR is only just beginning to emerge, this course offers our students a chance to contribute meaningfully to the development of a new art formand thats rare and exciting. The VR filmmaking class is designed for students to explore live action filmmaking for virtual reality headsets. The program provides the students with necessary software and equipment, teaching them how to create 360-degree spherical films so they are able to leave the class with content and experience to add to their portfolio. In a growing, yet somewhat small industry like VR, any experience will help students break in, and companies are looking for up and coming talent. Jack Siberine, a senior at Emerson pursing a degree in directing, says the class has provided a good mix of hands-on learning and group discussion about the latest technology and future of the industry. Right now were working on our third short film. Ive learned how to operate a multi-camera shooting rig, how to stitch and edit using software and, honestly, its all very cumbersome because there arent any rules that have defined how to do things yet, he says. But the class is great because, not only do we shoot and edit our own projects, but it also allows us to talk about different technology trends, where we think the industry is going and debate about which VR headset we think is the best. After experiencing the class, Siberine wishes he could change his major, stating hes made a shift in his career to focus solely on VR filmmaking. Its amazing to see how fast colleges like Emerson are adjusting to this avenue for students to pursue because VR technology hasnt really been adapted until the last year or two. Back in the 90s, there was a bit of an interest in VR, but neither the technology nor content producers really existed to push the industry forward. Siberine thinks the timing is better now, noting he views the VR industry as more of a community since its not a huge market yet. Once the market for VR becomes more well-defined, itll be like a land grab situation, Siberine says. But, for now, everyone working in VR is on the same team because we all want it to be successful. There is very rarely a communal aspect to competing companies and its great to see that in VR. Siberine has access to software and VR equipment through the Emerson program, which he describes as basically a rig and, a bunch of GoPros. For those interested in producing a VR film, Siberine says its refreshing to see more grants and opportunities being presented, such as the Wevr Transport technology or the Oculus LaunchPad program. This is another good sign for the industry, as more grants and companies are reaching out to content producers, knowing they need people to make VR so it takes off in the next couple of years. For anyone interested in a career in VR filmmaking, Siberine suggest taking a class if you have access to one, noting its a great starting point to learn how to use VR technology. Moreover, he says now is the best time to explore VR because its so fresh and companies are likely looking for new, young and creative people to pioneer the industry. I feel a little weird telling people to get into VR because it could flop, he says. But last year there was $13 billion in funding and theres already been $5 or $6 billion this year, which already points toward a growing industry. What makes a state home for a presidential candidate? Do they have to have been born there, or live there now? Is a home state a place they serve or served in office, or where they spent their early years? Can more trivial connections still make a home state? According to the media, Hillary Clinton has home-state advantage in about half of America. Four states at least are considered Clinton territory: Arkansas, where she lived for eight years while her husband was Governor; Illinois, where Hillary was born and raised; New York, Hillarys residence since 1999 and where she served as Senator from 2001 to 2009; and the most obscure, Pennsylvania, where her father was born, and a state which Clinton apparently shares values with. Then of course theres Washington DC, where Hillary served as both First Lady and Secretary of State, as well as Connecticut, where she graduated from law school, and Massachusetts, where she spent four years at college. Thats seven total for HRC, not including the Deep South states so favorable to Clinton, often referred to collectively as her Southern firewall. Altogether, its a formidable chunk of the US that Hillary Clinton can apparently call friendly territory. And what does Bernie Sanders get in the home state stakes? Just lonely old Vermont. Though he arguably has as good a claim on Illinois (where he studied for four years) as Clinton has on either Connecticut or Massachusetts, and also on DC, where he has first as a Representative and then as Senator been a regular since 1991 (two years before the Clintons moved into the White House), it has been decided that the Vermont senator has just the one home state. His literal home, meanwhile, has gone to Hillary Clinton. Habitually the press refers to New York as Clintons turf. Everyone from the pro-Clinton Washington Post to the Sanders-leaning Guardian describes it as such. The suggestion is that Hillarys opponent is playing on unfamiliar ground, venturing into some foreign battleground to scrabble for votes as the crucial primary approaches. In reality though, outside of Vermont, there is nowhere other than New York that Sanders could more accurately call home. Contrary to the idea that Sanders is currently campaigning on enemy terrain, the Senators connection to New York is, rather, deep-rooted. Born and raised in Brooklyn like his wife Jane, Sanders was also schooled there, went to college there and began his working life there. He first took an interest in politics in New York, running for student body president at James Madison High School, and in his time there also learned lessons about money (his family had little) and religion (he attended Hebrew school on weekends) that he says came to inform his entire political outlook. Though neither would last, Sanders also began both his first business (a carpentry firm) and his first marriage in New York. These were Sanders formative years; altogether he spent 23 of them calling New York home. Even after buying property in Vermont in 1968, he still continued to live part-time in the Empire State. It was, for a sizable chunk of his life, Bernie Sanders own. Today, you can still hear the New York in what Margaret Talbot calls Sanders unreconstructed borough growl. Sure, he may not know how the subway works anymore but then neither does Hillary Clinton, whose home state were so frequently told this is. Clinton has said that she simply knows the state a lot better than Sanders, and theres a good argument for that. Clinton has held residence in New York for 17 years, and has visited every single one of its counties during her time campaigning there. She has a home in Chappaqua, an office in Manhattan and a campaign HQ in Brooklyn. Its the reason that Clinton is in New York in the first place, however, that has proven contentious for some. To those people, theres another argument: that Clinton only decided to show an interest in New York at the point that it became politically advantageous. Sanders latest New York ad refers to him as a native son with values forged in New York. (Its half the truth: Sanders values were also forged at the University of Chicago, where he was active in the Civil Rights movement, and in Vermont, where hes built a political career over the past four decades.) Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, didnt come to New York until there was an opening for her to run for the senate there. That polls initially showed New York voters were uneasy about what looked to them like a parachute candidacy is the reason Clinton almost didnt go there at all. Meanwhile, that Clintons ties are strongest with one area of NYC in particular is the reason why some believe she lacks a connection to the average New Yorker, a connection that Sanders with his working-class Brooklyn background arguably has. So, who has the truest claim on New York in this race? Well, for many New Yorkers theres only one answer to that question: Donald Trump. While Bernie Sanders was born there and left, and Hillary Clinton moved there for political reasons and stayed, the Republican frontrunner has spent almost all of his 69 years in New York. A poll this week revealed that, out of all the 2016 presidential candidates, Trump is thought of by New York voters as the true New Yorker. He took 41% of their vote. According to that same poll, on the Democratic side Bernie Sanders comes out on top as the real New Yorker, barely, with 25% of the vote to Clintons 23%. Subjective though the concept of the home state may be, in the eyes of the New York public Bernie Sanders has a slight edge over Hillary Clinton when it comes to having reason to call the state home, but Donald Trump overwhelmingly beats them both. But the one of them that best represents New York Values, much discussed during this election, remains up for debate. Seriously you guys, maveth. If you thought it was going away after midseason then you clearly havent been paying attention. Punishment is reaching out to touch everyone tonight, and while Mays deadpan is always appreciated, theres no amount of hard enough killing that would have stopped the Anti-Ward. It seems instead that with a little bit of science help from Simmons, Coulson realizes just what kind of consequences killing Ward has brought down. Simmons tells us that Anti-Wards powers spring from the use of tiny organisms that eat living flesh, but can also reanimate living flesh with wellcomplicated consequences, not the least of which is freaking ZOMBIES! Seriously, Ward is the biological definition of a zombie virus: reanimating or eating living tissue as it sees fit. So obviously Marvel had to go and ask: what could make a zombie scarier? Im sure they pondered for a while, and then one night while watching a rerun of Jaws 4: The Revenge, a writing assistantlets call her Suzanhad the eureka moment to beat all eureka moments. Suzan realized that having an unstoppable killing machine come after you is about a million times more frightening if that killing machine is doing so because its holding a grudge. And this zombie will have to be different because this zombie will need memories if its going to remember why it wants to kill someone. And just like that Suzan figures out the mathematical formula for a sentient zombie. A sentient zombie that couldnt have existed without Coulson killing its current host and, in a lot of ways, adding more personal fuel to its revenge fire. Ward coming back to haunt you indeed, Coulson. The bigger surprise tonight, is that while punishment for violence touches everyone a little bit (Coulsons obvious penalty for Ward, Mays hubris in dealing with Giyera, Lincolns drunk driving), we spend most of the episode tagging along with Hydra. Its a difficult task: creating sympathy for a character you spend so much time building up as a villain, but thats exactly what Agents is aiming at when they decide to dedicate this episode to Gideon Malicks rise to power. Seeing the cult-like devotion Malick and his brother Nathaniel were raised with is pretty horrifying. Its made all the worse by a brief cameo from Nazi super scientist Daniel Whitehall. From a plot perspective, Whitehalls purpose is pretty clear. Hes going to do what he does best, offer cryptic hints that get under other characters skins and ultimately result in them making horrible, life shattering realizations. But whats more interesting is that compared to the Malick familys religious worship of Hydra, Whitehall comes off pretty much completely sane. Its true. He presents himself as a man of science and recognizes what a waste it is to send unsuspecting victims off to die in the service of an unknown, possibly nonexistent power. And when you find yourself siding with Daniel Whitehall in an argument, its time to reconsider the people youre hanging out with. Still, as most children raised in a strict religious order probably would, Gideon and Nathaniel reject Whitehalls advice, though not before discovering that their father used to cheat his way through the ceremony to protect himself from being sacrificed. That kind of thing could shake anyones faith, and if youre a scared teenage boy facing certain death, you might be forgiven for holding on to your fathers cheat method. Obviously lying to his brother, sacrificing Nathaniel so that he could live, wasnt Malicks most morally righteous moment. But if you put yourself in his shoes, you can certainly sympathize with his fear, his need for self-preservation. And thanks to some admirable acting from Powers Boothe we can see how this choice still haunts him, how he wishes he could have his brother back, while at the same time knowing that if theres anything left of Nathaniel inside Anti-Wards creepy tentacle head, forgiveness is probably not at the top of his priority list. And this brings us back to maveth. Because Malick certainly gets punished with death in this episode, but not quite in the way youd think. By using the clever red herring of last weeks vision, Agents keeps us just off balance enough to not really see Anti-Wards end game. Now, Ive never been a big fan of Stephanie Malick. We dont get to know her all that well, and beyond her familys obsessive devotion to Hydra she doesnt have a lot going on. Still her attraction to Anti-Ward is, from the start, creepy. Its laid on just the slightest bit too thick to read as anything but a horrible mistake, so when she dies, after a parasite make out kiss, I cant say its a completely unexpected end. Whats more interesting is that Agents leaves us with a bit of ambiguity as to why Anti-Ward really decides to kill her. Is it because the creature hes become simply wants greater control of Malick, to take everything away so that all Malick has left is his devotion to this god? Or is it more insidious than that? Is there some part of Anti-Ward, a part that is actually still Nathaniel, that wants to punish his brother? Either, neither, or a combination of these could be true. Its hard to understand the will of an unknowable zombie god. Still maveth isnt just limited to humans. Anti-Ward may just want to watch his back, because the one thing villains always underestimate when they take away the last person or thing that their minion cares about is this: if your minion has nothing to live for, how long until they decide that staying alive is a lot less important than punishing you? Maveth. Katherine Siegel is a Chicago-based freelance writer and director and a regular contributor to Paste. You can find out more by checking out her website, or follow her on Twitter. A bit more than halfway through this two-hour documentary on the band Chicago, the movie catches a spark. We encounter the 80s incarnation of the group, when the hits sung by bassist Peter Cetera-Hard to Say Im Sorry; Hard Habit to Break; Youre the Inspiration-launched them into a new era of commercial success. But with that success came resentment from the other band members, feeling that future solo star Cetera and producer/hit maker David Foster were undoing the democracy that had been established as a core principle in the bands beginning. Halfway through the film, at last we have that tried-and-true element of any compelling story, non-fictional or not: conflict. Before that, Now More Than Ever: The History of Chicago is both enlightening and frustrating. Right out of the gate, it races through the bands origins before we can get our bearings to understand why we should care. How did those ubiquitous horns, so closely identified with Chicagos sound, come to be? The film tells us next to nothing regarding each members inspirations, their early development as musicians, or how they found one another. Plowing ahead ahead chronologically through drug abuse and death, the film doesnt explore how the band managed to churn out so many albums year after year. Occasionally we get insight into the creation of hit songs like Lamms 25 or 6 to 4 and James Pankows Just You n Me. These are like oases in a desert of period photos and videos. Pankow reflects on the bands college-student fanbase in its early days, suggesting political affinity, but thats as close as we get to figuring out or seeing what he means. When Pardini allows the band to speak for itself through its live performances, we start to understand Chicagos enduring legacy beyond the hit songs. Concert footage of guitarist Terry Kath justifies an anecdote, repeated by the bands founders, that none other than guitar legend Jimi Hendrix heaped praise on Kath as the better guitarist of the two. The fate of drummer Danny Seraphine follows Ceteras exit and is another highlightagain, because conflict and resentment are the major forces behind this part of the film. Unfortunately, though perhaps unsurprisingly, the doc fast-forwards through Chicagos output from the 90s onward, flashing the years on the screen over time-period photos. But Now More Than Ever finds it bearings again by eliciting some candid talk from the band about what lies ahead, and Pardini delivers a couple of nice edits that segue smoothly between different performances of the same song. Close-ups of coarse black sand running through an hourglass are director Peter Pardinis artistic keystone, one he references between the interviews and enough archival footage for at least two films. Pardinis uncle is Lou Pardini, a member of the band since 2010, undoubtedly a connection that must have facilitated access to the trove of archival footage that appears to be used because so much of it exists, and not always for any bearing on the story being told at a particular time. The lack of participation by Cetera and Jim Guercio, the groups producer from its inception through most of the 1970s, is acknowledged, and it makes one wish they had decided otherwise. Now More Than Ever brings up Guercios creative community, and were left wanting more: to understand how the sounds came together in the studio, the role Guercio played, and what it was like to be in a band that didnt have a dominant personality that could connect with audiences. (The groups logo is likely more well-known than any member.) That the band deserves a documentary accounting of its fortunes should be obviousearlier this month, Chicago was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Famebut probably something more than this, which will only really find a very receptive audience among longtime fans. Director: Peter Pardini Starring: Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane, James Pankow, Walter Parazaider, Danny Seraphine Release Date: February 20, 2016 As per its now-regular tradition, The Daily Show announced today that it will be taking its production to this summers presidential nominating conventionsboth the Republicans in Cleveland and the Democrats in Philadelphia. Unlike previous years, however, the show is now hosted by Trevor Noah, who is not American. As someone who knows almost nothing about how American politics works, I look forward to spending two weeks with people just like me, said the affable South African in a statement. Itll probably be more important than ever to have a lighthearted take like The Daily Shows on hand at the conventions, because theyre both poised to be chaotic affairs. More likely than not, the GOP will have a contested convention for the first time in 40 years, and even on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is starting to stir up talk of an effort to flip superdelegates from Hillary Clintons camp. The Daily Show will broadcast from Clevelands Breen Center Jul. 19-22 and from Philadelphias Annenberg Center Jul. 26-29. Tickets for both tapings are free; get the GOP ones here and the Democratic ones here. Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun. It shines everywhere. Pope Francis writes too damn much. It really doesnt matter how much pastoral wisdom and warmth one emanates, a 300-page document will only be read by those who have a career-interest in reading 300 pages bloggers, ideologues, headline-hawkers and conspiracy theorists. Given that, for these careerists, What Anyone Says About Same-Sex Attraction will sell more effectively than What Anyone Says About the Divine Image Present in the Family, Amoris Laetitia is a recipe for reduction. (I, for instance, could write one of two posts: Francis Changes Church Position on Sex, Gays, Divorce or Francis Appropriates John-Paul, Benedict in Creative Re-telling of Church Teaching. Lets not play about which one will make me money.) And so Amoris Laetitia has been reduced. James Carroll, a writer God loves with an infinite passion, misreads the exhortation like hes being paid for it. His work, The New Morality of Pope Francis, is so glutted with ambiguous nuggets of would-be-wisdom (everybody in the Church knew that Humanae Vitae was a moral teaching with no center) it may as well have come from an ex-priest essay-generator. He takes the stance that, because of Franks change in tone and his emphasis on individual cases rather than general rules, the Church (who will not change her doctrines) will return to the moral underground of the 70s. We will quietly defy Vatican dogma when the situation [seems] to call for it tacitly agreeing that this nearly universal choice to disobey the Church not be spoken of. The Pope is framed as the guy who wants a new morality, but cant change Church doctrines. Thus, impotent to be the American-style liberal that Carroll and the bulk of the Press slaver for, the New Pope encourages everyone to figure it out for themselves. The goal of new moral norms is achieved by a collective meh towards old ideals. The Catholic in the modern age is a man gently haunted but ultimately unconcerned with a 2000-year tradition of moral teaching, knowing that he can always engage in some minor-league casuistry with an almost-dead confessor and, walking out of his fading, suburban church, feel relieved by the new words of absolution: Morality is complicated. The rules may not apply. There is a grotesque pessimism at the heart of these hopeful interpretations. Scratch the effort to ennoble man with grand democratisms like moral discernment belongs to the people and youll find a quiet despair that holds the human person incapable of genuine moral vision of recognizing truth when it is proclaimed. For Carroll, this impotence to be inspired by a clear-sighted vision of an ideal is a step in the right direction: The doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage, however much it is still held up as an ideal, will not grip the moral imagination of the Church as it once did. That is to say, we will get what we want (divorce without consequence) not through any positive change in doctrine, but through the de-emphasis and dissolution of guiding ideals and values. This, I would argue, is not the method of Pope Francis. His aim is not to dim the ideals of the Church, but to accentuate them in an age that abhors them with all the seedy bitterness of post-Christianity. Carroll may laud Pope Franciss emphasis on mercy toward the divorced and remarried as detracting from the ideal of indissolubility, but the gaze of mercy either presupposes the actual failure of the recipient of mercy, or else it is no mercy at all. This is missed by a culture that conflates mercy with allowance and forgiveness with acceptance: An increase in mercy is an accentuation and not a cloaking of moral ideals. Mercy is a negative proof of moral guilt. We recognize our guilt more fully in the gaze that forgives us than the gaze that condemns us and has rush to make excuses. (To anyone who thinks an emphasis on mercy is a turn away from our encounter with objective moral values and the subsequent demands they place on the human heart, I can only recommend Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky that or a more careful reading of Francis.) When he first splashed into the pool of our ideological self-indulgence, Francis argued that the Church needed to check its undue attention towards abortion, homosexuality, and other pelvic issues a window-opening declaration, by all accounts. This was predictably lauded as a step towards the New Morality that is, a blurring of moral demands that will allow for exceptions without actual doctrinal change. But no one read what he said: Proclamation in a missionary style focuses on the essentials, on the necessary things: this is also what fascinates and attracts more, what makes the heart burn, as it did for the disciples at Emmaus. We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel. The proposal of the Gospel must be more simple, profound, radiant. It is from this proposition that the moral consequences then flow. Rather than begin with moral consequences, Francis realistically assumes that we have lost the groundwork for understanding why the Church makes the moral demands that she does. He is a reverse engineer, advocating a discovery of moral consequences by way of a return to an original encounter with that goodness from which all moral demands flow. He is not indulging a shamefaced shuffling of awkward doctrines as if his papacy amounted to a desperate search for an out-of-the-way cupboard in which to hide Humanae Vitae, Casti Connubii and all the rest. (The Joy of Love quotes Humanae Vitae more than most documents.) No, Francis is concerned with making the heart burn again. He is educating a gaze which has become dim, fearful, and blind to the values expressed by the Church; stony-hearted and suspicious of her ideals; immensely hurt by a culture of sexual violence that renders all this joy stuff ridiculous. Francis is not dismissing Church teaching. He is exhorting us to live the kind of life that can comprehend it. He is spitting in the dirt and making a paste that will open the eyes of a squinting people a pedagogical paste of practical activity. Praxis as Education Francis, our Chief Reverse Engineer, does not expect our culture to intuitively grasp the value of indissolubility, unity, mutual service, or procreation in their own right. It was an optimism, and not some dark moralism, that had John Paul II boldly lay out the sexual ethics of the Catholic Church in the hope that her people would perceive and respond in accordance with their content. It is a certain pessimism, or better yet, a Jesuit-style caution that stays Francis hand. Francis does not explain as much as he exhorts the kind of life that enables the eyes to perceive and the heart to respond to the teachings of the Church. Disappointed schismatics, happy-go-lucky liberals, and vague people who delight in vague things like a place at the table are just as disappointed with this method as hard-line, Conservative Catholics. Like middle-schoolers who heard there was a sex scene in their reading assignment, we all skipped to the exciting bits about divorce and homosexuality, where we either bemoan that they represent no change in doctrine or bemoan that they do not impress the Churchs doctrine with enough oomph and vigor. Both moans express the following: The real message is buried in fluff. For the denizen of Basic American Morality, this amounts to the (assumedly pleasant) feeling of investigative journalism: You think hes all about loving others, but look, hidden away in paragraph 343, he denounces gay marriage! Follow the money! Expose the lies! For the Very Concerned Conservative Catholic, this amounts to the (equally pleasant) feeling of the man who knows whats really important: What the world needs is clear instruction, but look, hidden away in paragraph 343, shamefully snuck in a muck-pile about eating dinner as a family he finally denounces gay marriage. What no one is considering is that the perception of value requires a heart of flesh an openness to the realm of values. This is achieved, not simply by an intellectual workout as if anyone has ever changed their life on the basis of the logical realization that a utilitarian ethic is bad for society but by a life which regularly encounters these values through upright actions. How can we perceive the child as a gift, and respond to this value by rejecting the logic of surrogacy and IVF that would commodify the gift, if our daily education in the parent-child relationship involves bitter family feuding, resentment over each others imperfections, and an individualism that sees the family as springboard for self-fulfillment? How can we affirm that the family is the original cell of society, a domestic Church, if in many cases, parents come home exhausted, not wanting to talkmany families no longer share a common meal [and] distractions abound, including an addiction to television? How can we see that, as the Pope quotes, God hates divorce, if we do not have the simple virtue of friendship with our spouses, a groundwork of praxis in which we realize the other person is much more than the sum of the little things that annoy me? These bits of pastoral advice may be dismissed as fluff, but they seem to me like method. Amoris Laetitia leaves no evil in our laundry-list of sexual fashions free from criticism. But Francis primary purpose is to exhort the kind of life that frees us to encounter these truths to grow hearts capable of perceiving and responding to the values the Church holds up. He is a chemist where previous Popes have acted as philosophers he begins with the parts that we might see the whole. This, Ill admit, annoys me. I am looking for arguments to silence doubts, zingers to silence naysayers, and what I get from my Pope is the practical advice to take time, quality time, to avoid suspicion and envy, to apologize and make peace with my family at the end of every day. But even as I steep in my own vices, I know that a virtuous life enables me to perceive and participate in the values and truths revealed to the Church while a continuous praxis of incontinence obscures my vision. Francis advice to sinners like me seems to be this: Live well, and the proper horizons of understanding will follow. Araria: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, to mark the 39th death anniversary of noted writer Phanishwar Nath Renu at his native village of Aurahi Hingna in Araria district on Wednesday, patted his own back for being successful in implementing total prohibition in Bihar. "From Chandragupta Maurya to Karpoori Thakur, attempts had been made to ban consumption of liquor in Bihar. I amended the law in such a way to finally make this ban successful," Kumar, who earlier this week credited 'all parties' for the implementation of complete prohibition in Bihar, said. The Chief Minister credited veteran socialist leader George Fernandes for inspiring him to impose total prohibition in Bihar. "Once Mr. Fernandes told me that after any speech, one should drink hot water. I still remember that. I was already planning to impose total ban on alcohol in Bihar when some women in Patna encouraged me to do so. I promised not to disappoint them and now prohibition is a reality in Bihar," Kumar said. Continuing to justify total prohibition amidst widespread criticism against his 'my way or highway' style of functioning, the Chief Minister said that he was encouraged by the positive results of the ban in the short period of a fortnight since the ban went into effect on April 1. "My critics were saying that illegal liquor will now flow from other states in Bihar. I don't see it happening. I have set up a strong mechanism to prevent importing alcohol from other states. Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawans have been authorized to monitor within five kilometers of the Indo-Nepal border to prevent smuggling of liquor into Bihar and tough measures have been instituted for those who were caught breaking the law. I did not even care about the revenue loss of Rs. 5,000 crore because the benefits of prohibition far outweigh the negative effects of alcohol in the society," he said. To further bolster his case, Kumar said that other states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had greatly been inspired by Bihar's total ban and were contemplating passing similar laws in those states. "Bihar has shown them the path. I have done what Mahatma Gandhi, Jaya Prakash Narayan, and Karpoori Thakur had also talked about doing," he said. Taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Kumar said that once again certain parties were trying to create an atmosphere of hatred and communalism in the nation. "Students are being falsely accused of sedition and dalit students are being forced to commit suicide. However, I will not allow them to create such atmosphere in Bihar," the Chief Minister said alluding to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar and Rohit Vemula of Hyderabad who committed suicide causing uproar of discrimination in Indian universities. News / National by Stephen Jakes ZimFirst Leader Maxwell Shumba has urged members of his party not to join the MDC-T march today describing it as reckless.Shumba said he had been asked by a Zimbabwean journalist if his members would join the protest march being conducted by his former party MDC-T today and he said no."We do not engage in reckless politics of vanity. ZimFirsters are staying home because going to the demo is like trying to bring down a stonewall by banging one's heard against it," he said. "You only get hurt. (President Robert) Mugabe is a stonewall and no amount of banging our heads against the wall will move it. Wherever he is, the old bloke is not going to lose sleep because a few hundreds are out in the street demanding billions of which he sorbet have or millions of jobs which are not there."Shumba said Mugabe's police will take care of everything if the demo gets rowdy enough to threaten his peace."Therefore, rightfully ZimFirsters are asked to stay at home. We need all of them to be safe, sound, healthy and ready to do real battle using there brains when the time comes" he said."As a matter of fact if we were to hold a demo against Mugabe we would:NOT Seek permission from the same Mugabe (via his police) to hold the demo and it would not be in-one city-a-few-hours-event making unrealistic demands. How is success measured for such a demo? If Mugabe as expected ignores the demands the what's next? "He said Zimfirsters will stay home during the hours of the demo not because they are happy with Mugabe rule or are cowards but it because they fully understand that it's an except use in futility."They know that the struggle of now needs brains and not brawn," he said. Iranian VP Summoned to Judiciary for Commenting on High Execution Rate of Drug Traffickers 04/14/16 Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran Shahindokht Mowlaverdi, Irans vice president for Women and Family Affairs, has been summoned to the Judiciary to explain a comment she made in February about all the men in a village being executed for drug offenses. Shahindokht Mowlaverdi (file photo by Islamic Republic News Agency) Officials in Sistan and Baluchistan province have transferred this case to Tehran and Ms. Mowlaverdi has been summoned to the prosecutors office to give explanations and respond to the complaint, said Judiciary Spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, during a press conference on April 10, 2016. Mowlaverdi criticized the lack of social support for the families of executed drug traffickers during an interview with the semi-official Mehr News Agency published on February 23, 2016, and said: We have a village in Sistan and Baluchistan province where all the men have been executed. Their survivors are potential drug traffickers as they would want to seek revenge and provide money for their families, she added. There is no support for these people. Mowlaverdi did not say when the executions took place nor did she mention the village by name. The vice presidents comment was widely shared and debated on social media in Iran and abroad. Officials in Sistan and Baluchistan-a province in southeastern Iran bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan-denied any such village existed and filed a complaint with the government. The provinces deputy prosecutor, Mohammad Ali Hamidian, said Mowlaverdis thoughtless and completely false statements had caused a media wave against Iran by our enemies, according to an article published in the hardline daily, Vatan Emrooz, on April 4, 2016. This village does not exist at all, but even if it did, its wrong for the vice president to mention it because it causes public anxiety, he added. Mowlaverdis reaction to Hamidians comments came in the form of a brief statement issued on April 6, 2016 announcing that President Hassan Rouhanis legal adviser would be following up on the matter. Sistan and Baluchistan is one of Irans poorest provinces and has one of the highest numbers of executions per capita in the country. High unemployment has drawn many of its inhabitants towards illegally trafficking the drugs that are pouring into Iran from bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan. UN officials have repeatedly voiced concern over Irans use of the death penalty in drug-related convictions. Under international law, the use of the death penalty is restricted to only the most serious crimes, and the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions has explicitly stated that drug-related crimes do not meet this criterion. Nevertheless, drug offenders are routinely sentenced to death and executed in Iran. The Sistan and Baluchistan province experiences a high rate of executions for drug-related offenses or crimes deemed to constitute enmity against god in the absence of fair trials, said the UNs special rapporteur for human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, in a March 2013 report. In 2015, Iran executed a total of 1,052 people-the highest per capita execution rate in the world. The vast majority of these executions are for drug-related crimes-more than 70 percent, according to Mohammad Javad Larijani, Head of the Iranian Judiciarys Human Rights Council. In Shaheeds March 2016 report, he criticized the high number of executions in Iran for non-violent drug-related offenses, noting that changes in Irans drug laws in 2010 increased to 17 the number of drug offenses that could be punished by death. Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the Judiciarys Human Rights Council, described Shaheeds latest report as false and said the countrys high number of executions were legal according to Iranian laws. However in a sign that the ground is shifting in Iran regarding its use of the death penalty, in December 2015, more than 70 members of Irans Parliament presented a bill that, if ratified by the full legislature and approved by the Guardian Council, would reduce the punishment for drug trafficking from death to life imprisonment. The bill is still pending. Human rights activists as well as legal experts have noted that Irans tough anti-drug laws have not resulted in any reduction in drug-related crimes. EU mulls opening permanent diplomatic mission in Tehran: Official 04/14/16 Source: Press TV European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will discuss the opening of a permanent EU diplomatic mission in Tehran during her coming visit to Iran, a senior EU official says. "This is about us re-engaging gradually," the official said, adding that issues of bilateral interest will be discussed during the trip by Mogherini and seven EU commissioners to Tehran on Saturday. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini (center) during her visit to Tehran in July 2015. (Photo by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini (center) during her visit to Tehran in July 2015.(Photo by Mehr News Agency Mogherini is also expected to talk about the five-year-old war in Syria with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 270,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Some reports, however, put the death toll at as high as 470,000. Iran-EU economic talks During their meetings in Iran, the EU representatives will expectedly look at how to help energy-rich Iran join the World Trade Organization (WTO). The EU delegation will also talk to Iran about how to persuade European banks to do business in the country. "We need to improve the investment climate," the EU official said. Despite the removal of sanctions against Iran following a nuclear agreement, global enterprises and banks are complaining that trade with the country is still difficult as a result of lingering fears of US punitive actions. In a March report, Reuters quoted business leaders as saying that a key obstacle specifically affecting business with Iran is the unwillingness of international banks to process transactions with the country. The failure by European banks to play their due role in business with Iran has already provoked reactions from several EU leaders and business leaders. British Prime Minister David Cameron in early March rebuked Barclays for hampering companies trying to export to Iran. In a strongly worded letter to the bank, Cameron said that Barclays appeared to be operating "in opposition to the policy of the UK government". The EU officials' trip to Tehran follows visits by European government authorities, most recently by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi this week. Renzi arrived in Tehran on Tuesday at the head of a 250-strong political and economic delegation, making him the first major Western figure to travel to Iran after the lifting of sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (L) attends a meeting between Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (R) and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Tehran, April 12, 2016. (Photo by khamenei.ir) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (L) attends a meeting between Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (R) and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Tehran, April 12, 2016. (Photo by khamenei.ir) The trip came three months after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani paid a visit to Italy, the Vatican and France in an important bid to rebuild relations with Europe. Rouhani made the trip after Iran and the P5+1 group of countries started to implement a nuclear agreement, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), they reached on July 14, 2015. Under the JCPOA, all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Tehran by the European Union, the Security Council and the US were lifted. Women in Bukan, Iran weaving 'Peace Carpet' for UN 04/14/16 Source: Iran Daily A group of carpet weavers in Bukan, in the northwestern province of West Azarbaijan, is weaving 'Peace Carpet' which they plan to send to the United Nations to convey the Iran's message of peace to the world community. The carpet, to be weaved in two colors of white and olive green, with a texture of images of 196 doves carrying olive branches as a symbol of peace for the world, is in two separate pieces measuring 12 and 16 square meters that will be joined together, IRNA wrote. Forty percent of the work has already been completed. The bigger piece, measuring 2x8 meters, contains 16 million knots while the images of doves in pairs are woven on the edges of the carpet and the globe surrounded by the Milky Way would be woven in between the doves. The second piece of the carpet, which is 4x3 meters with more than 12 million knots, will be made in the form of the globe with a dove carrying an olive branch in its beak symbolically flying out from the heart of the globe spreading the message of peace and friendship to the world. Also, the word 'Peace' is written on the texture of the carpet in 105 world languages. The 'Peace Carpet' is to be woven in eight months and donated to the United Nations Organization by the Iranian president during the UN General Assembly session. Bukan is one of the major hubs of hand-woven carpets in Iran. Iran: Discovery of ancient kilns in suggests early trade in goods 04/14/16 Source: Radio Zamaneh An archeological dig at Yalda Hill in Sistan has unearthed 5,000-year-old kilns with a capacity for the surplus production of ceramics. Read related article (in Persian) by Kojaro.com The Shahrvand daily reported on Wednesday April 13 that the archeological team consisted of 25 archeology graduates headed by Hosseinali Kavosh, supervisor of the fourth season of archeological excavations from Zabol University. Kavosh stated that the discovery of the kilns indicates that the settlers of the hill had the capacity to produce ceramics beyond their own needs and perhaps exported them to other settlements. He added that in addition to the kiln, they have uncovered five architectural spaces, unique human and animal statuettes, seals, woven mats and counting tools. Sistan-Baluchsitan in southeastern Iran has been the site of several ancient archeological discoveries. Some 386,000 foreign students go to schools in Iran 04/14/16 Source: Tehran Times TEHRAN - Some 386,000 foreign nationals are studying at schools in Iran, while 360,000 of them are Afghan nationals, said Shahin Noushabadi, the deputy education minister for international affairs. Those under-privileged foreign nationals who cannot afford tuition fees will be either entitled to discount of more than 80 percent or can pay the fee in installments, Mehr news agency quoted Noushabadi as saying. Noushabadi went on to say that according to the decree issued by the supreme leader, all foreign nationals, even those who have no identification and are living in Iran illegally, can go to schools in the country. There are people who have proposed to build schools with educational curriculum of India, Pakistan, Iraq, Kuwait, etc., he said adding, "in case we succeed in obtaining the required standards for such schools we will set them up in Iran as well." After ten years of serving this country as a U.S. army 1-28 infantryman, PCC student Tomas Domingo has yet to stop doing everything in his power to help those in need. While working towards his degree in political science, he is also busy hashing out a plan to create a cost-free school for the children in his hometown in Guatemala, where families are stricken with poverty and the line between education and financial burden is non-existent. Born in the United States but raised in Guatemala, Domingo returned to the states at seventeen years old with nothing and no one with him but his determination and what he could carry on his back. Since then, hes lived in a total of six states while pursuing his goal of getting a quality education and making a life for himself. He joined the military as an infantryman at the age of 21, serving two tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I just woke up one morning and said, Hey, Im gonna join the military, Domingo said .. That was it. There was nothing else to think about. Im very proud to serve. Its one of those things Im very honored to talk about. After nearly a year out from service, Domingo has been focusing on his studies, determined to move forward with his education as quickly as possible. By taking classes throughout his military career, he will soon graduate with his Associate Degree in political science after spending only two semesters at PCC. I feel like I have a responsibility to my community, Domingo said. Where I came from, its a very a difficult environment where poverty is around 24/7. I believe getting into political science will help me evolve in a field where I feel like I can make a difference in my community and other communities. After graduation, Domingo plans to attend Pepperdine University, where he is currently on the waiting list for admission. He plans to use his major to help as many people as he can, and perhaps become an attorney one day. Aside from being a full-time student and family man, Domingo has also been hard at work with his own project to provide aid to those living in poverty in his hometown Zacueleu Central Zona 9 in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. He created the organization Korazon Kakao in December 2015, through which he lifts some financial burden from children whose parents are often faced with the choice between school supplies and food. Korazon Kakaos mission is to provide opportunity and knowledge, Domingo said. Its an opportunity to help others, mainly children, evolve and continue to pursue a way of living. Im aware that its a long process, however, I know its not impossible. Knowing the kind of determination that I have, its going to happen. Domingos main goal for the organization is to create an entirely cost-free, quality school for the children in his hometown. Now he is focusing on doing what he can to provide them with school supplies for the beginning of the school year, a costly necessity that causes many families to go hungry. What Im trying to accomplish every year is to take school supplies to a lot of these kids in this community, because they cannot afford it at the beginning of the school year, Domingo said. Its either they buy school supplies, or they eat. You buy supplies, you dont have money to put food on the table. This whole project is meant to take that weight off their shoulders for a while. During this past December and January, Domingo traveled to Huehuetenango for three weeks to give students packs of school supplies, which he funded out of his own pocket. He was able to successfully help around 300 children, though his expectations of the need in his town were fairly low and many needs were unfortunately unmet. Huehuetenango lies in a rural area of Guatemala, which would otherwise go unnoticed by the rest of the world if it wasnt for the ancient Mayan temples found there. The artifacts often attract tourists from all over, though the parts of the town littered with poverty are often out of sight and mind. Growing up in that kind of poverty himself, Domingo left Guatemala to the United States with a vow to someday go back to help in any way he can. I didnt get that much help when I was young, Domingo said. I know what its like. I feel that my purpose is to show people who dont have any help that there is actually someone out there to help them in any way. When I left Guatemala, I knew I needed to go back to help in some way. I didnt know then how I would, but now I know. If Im able to open up a school at no cost, that will help a lot in a big way, Domingo continued. This past trip of his to Guatemala was only the first of many. Domingo plans to go back at the start of every school year, hopefully with more resources and help from the Guatemalan community of Los Angeles. I didnt think the community was going to react the way it did, Domingo said. I didnt think a lot of people were going to show up, but it happened. And now I know for sure that next year Im going to do it more organized, with more resources and support. Domingo was welcomed with open arms in his childhood community, with many of the teachers at his old elementary school Escuela Rural Mixta Zaculeu Central remembering him and thanking him for coming back. To see the community react with a sense of joy and happiness is very fulfilling, Domingo said. It motivates me to do even more. His current focus is to help the students at Escuela Rural Mixta Zaculeu Central, but he hopes to soon have the means to spread the love to all of the schools in Huehuetenango, as well as open his dream school. If were fortunate enough to have food on the table and a roof over our heads, we should be able to help out others, Domingo said. That is my legacy. News / National by Community Water Alliance In a startling move, the newly constituted Environment Management Committee of the City of Harare chaired by Councilor Hebert Gomba made a resolution which was presented to the full yesterday on 07 April 2016 to go ahead with construction work on Monavale Vlei (wetland).Monavale Vlei is a Ramsar site which is amongst the seven wetlands earmarked for preservation by the Government of Zimbabwe in line with its commitment to the Ramsar Convention. The previous Environment Management Committee with the able leadership of the now Deputy Mayor Councilor Chris Mbanga had seen substance is preserving wetlands as important water sources. The current leadership has seen it fit to violate international conventions and frustrate efforts to realize the human right to water enshrined in Section 77(a) of Constitution Amendment 20.City of Harare is currently using USD3 million to purify water. The high purification costs are caused by heavily polluted raw water in Harare. Wetlands purify raw water free of charge. In the current environment of climate change, Monavale wetland act as an important carbon sink, discharge raw water into Marimba River and purify raw water feeding into Lake Chivero. Lake Chivero is now rated among the top ten dirty lakes in the world and this poses challenges on affordability of potable water. One chief component of the human right to water is that water has to be affordable; the charges for water should not exceed 5% of household income. Although the current charges of water in Harare fulfill this requirement, the decisions made by the Environment Management Committee is a catastrophic avalanche and a right to water violation juggernaut that compromise future endeavors to fulfill, protect and respect the right to water and sanitation.Sustainable Development Goals 6 and 13 which speaks to sustained access to water for all and climate change respectively, demands among other things waste water management; water efficiency; integrated water resources management; and protection of aquatic ecosystems. Wetlands play a very important role in fulfilling the targets and indicators for Goal 6 and 13.Community Water Alliance appeals to the Mayor of Harare Councilor Bernard Manyenyeni to exercise leadership and wise counsel so that the future of Harare water provision is preservation and restored. We implore the good office of the Mayor to provide remedy to the bad decision made on behalf of citizens and future generations of Harare. The Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate as well as the Environment Management Agency should also help in ensuring that wetlands in Zimbabwe Microsoft said it wouldnt support graphical applications in Bash on Windows. But enterprising geeks like w2qw on Reddit have already figured out how to run graphical applications with Bash on Windows 10. The underlying code is much more capable than Microsoft initially let on. Install an X server This is possible because the Bash shell for Windows is more than just a shell. Microsoft built an entire Windows Subsystem for Linux that allows Windows 10 to natively run Linux applications, even graphical ones. Install Bash for Windows 10 and youll actually have a complete operating system layer for running Linux applications and a full Ubuntu userspace environmentthat is, everything above the Linux kernel. The only missing piece is an X server that allows those graphical applications to appear on your Windows desktop. This is basically the same technique people would use to run graphical Linux desktop applications over a network. The Xming X Server for Windows works well for this, although there are other X servers for Windows and they should also work. Download and install it on your Windows 10 PC to get started. You can just use the default settings and itll work fine. Launch Xming and it will appear in your system tray, running in the background and waiting for you to launch a graphical Linux program. w2qw This is Windows 10 running Linux desktop applications. Launch applications from Ubuntus Bash shell Youll now need to install a graphical application, which you can do with the standard apt-get command in the Bash shell environment. The apt-get command has access to Ubuntus entire software repositories, so you can use it to install graphical applications without any additional tweaks. For example, to install the Linux version of Firefox from Ubuntus repositories, youd just run the following command: apt-get install firefox Once youve installed the program, you can specify the X server and then launch the application. For example, to launch Firefox, run the below commands. (To launch another graphical application, just specify its name instead of firefox.) export DISPLAY=:0 firefox Assuming youre running an X server like Xming on your Windows PC, the graphical application should run. It may not run as speedilyapplications cant use direct rendering to run on your hardware directly. This is currently a bit unstable. Many applications I tried were unable to run reliably. Some people report better success. But bugs are no surprise, as the Windows Subsystem for Linux is beta and this is its first release. As Microsoft improves the underlying code, applicationseven these graphical applicationsshould work better and better over time. The burden of Microsofts efforts to secure Windows 10 is now falling on PC, tablet, and smartphone makers. Microsoft is making a hardware-based security feature called TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0 a minimum requirement on most Windows 10 devices. Starting July 28, the company will require device manufacturers shipping PCs, tablets and smartphones to include TPM 2.0. TPM has been available for years, mostly on business PCs. TPM 2.0 provides a hardware layer to safeguard user data by managing and storing cryptographic keys in a trusted container. The TPM requirement will be enforced through our Windows Hardware Certification program, Microsoft said in a blog post. Hardware makers will need to implement TPM 2.0 in the form of chips or firmware. TPM will be activated by default, though its not certain if users will have the option to disable it. TPM could lead to wider use of two-factor authentication in Windows 10 to log into PCs, applications and Web services. For example, Windows Helloa biometric authentication technique using face, fingerprint, or iris recognitioncould be used along with encryption keys in TPM chips to authenticate users. TPM 2.0 has important security enhancements over the aging TPM 1.2, and is a minimum hardware requirement for Windows 10 going forward, Microsoft said in a presentation at UEFI PlugFest in late March. Many new business laptops, hybrids, and tablets with Intel chips already include TPM 2.0. Low-cost PCs typically dont have TPM, but will now need to comply with Microsofts new hardware requirements. Some Windows laptops now ship with TPM 1.2. Microsoft is also making TPM 2.0 a requirement for Windows 10 smartphones. TPM 2.0 wont be a requirement for devices like Raspberry Pi 3 with Windows 10 IoT Core, a slimmed down version of the desktop Windows 10 OS. The goal is to make the PC a more secure platform, said Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research. Windows is one of the least secure OSes around, he added. Microsoft is also encouraging Windows 10 PC users to move to advanced hardware like Intels Skylake chips, which are more secure than previous platforms. TPM 2.0 is a specification from Trusted Computing Group, and it was approved as an international standard by ISO/IEC (the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission) in June last year. A three-way merger between Fujitsu, Toshiba, and Vaio Corp., seen as a way for these smaller PC players to take on larger rivals like HP Inc. and Dell, is apparently collapsing. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the talks between the three companies were breaking down, and that Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) Inc., which owns a controlling stake in Vaio, had already walked away. As the Journal points out, though, the combined 2015 market share of all three companies is less than 6.5 percent, which falls just below Apples 7.1 percent of worldwide market share. If the talks fall through, its possible the companies would just go their separate ways, an increasingly risky proposition as the PC industry continues its downward slide. Its worth noting that JIP CEO Hidemi Moue publicly talked up the three-way deal as late as February. The PC market is shrinking, which means there are merits in working together to make the most of research, production volumes, and marketing channels, Moue told Bloomberg. At the time, Moue talked about the possibility of moving beyond PCs into smartphones, and predicted that a deal would be achieved by the end of March. With Vaio apparently out of the talks, its less likely that Toshiba and Fujitsu would combine forces, unless the two can find a particular niche to exploit. Panasonic, for example, has fallen by the wayside as far as overall PC unit sales are concerned, but the company has refocused itself on its Toughbook ruggedized PCs. Discussions of a three-way merger began last fall, when Japans Nikkei financial paper reported that the three companies were thinking of combining their notebook businesses, with each receiving a relatively equal stake in equity. The story behind the story: The most important number in all of this isnt the relative market share of HP, Dell, Toshiba, or any one PC player. Its the others category, the catchall for the smaller players that dont make the top five. As late as the second quarter of 2014, the others category sold 26.6 million PCs, worth 35.0 percent of the marketjust under double that of the leading vendor, Lenovo. Now, that total is down to 21.8 million PCs, and 33.6 percent. If the PC market continues to shrink, chances are the big players will become biggerand the smaller vendors? They could just fade away. Air passengers entering or leaving the European Union will have their movements kept on file by police authorities from 2018 under draft legislation approved by the European Parliament. Critics, however, say a lack of provisions to share the data severely limits the plans usefulness. Airlines running flights into or out of the EU must hand over the data to national Passenger Information Units (PIUs) that will hold the data for law enforcers. Member states may choose to gather data from travel agencies and to retain information about passengers on flights within the EU too. However, there will be no centralized EU database of arriving and departing passengers, and no automatic sharing of data between the various national PIUs. With open land borders between countries in the Schengen Area, and no mandatory collection of information on intra-EU flights, it will be difficult for investigators to use the data to determine whether a person of interest is in the EU. That calls the usefulness of the whole system into question, according to Joe McNamee, executive director of lobby group European Digital Rights (EDRi), who is no fan of the legislation. It is absurd that we are being told that these huge databases are hugely valuable to law enforcement, yet we are also told that member states rejected mandatory sharing of this allegedly valuable data. Beyond those practical restrictions on the usefulness of the databases, there will also be some legal restrictions on what law enforcers can do with the collected data. It may be processed only for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offenses and serious crime. Police forces wont get to choose what constitutes a serious crime in their book: There is a list. It includes trafficking in weapons, munitions and explosives, and human beings, participation in a criminal organization, and child pornography. Curiously for an offense that neednt involve physically visiting a country, cybercrime is also considered serious enough to make the list. The Passenger Name Record (PNR) Directive Directive still requires the approval of the EU Council of Ministers, but this is expected to be a mere formality since the text voted by the Parliament on Thursday has already been agreed with the national governments the ministers represent. Once approved by the Council, EU member states will have two years in which to transpose the directive into national law. After that date, PIUs will retain the data for five years. After the first six months, though, parts of it will be masked out so that users of the database cant see passenger names, addresses or contact information. This is supposed to protect passengers privacy. Accessing or searching on the hidden information will still be possible, but only upon application to the national data protection authorities charged with enforcing privacy rules. Other privacy protections include a ban on processing information that reveals a persons trade union membership; health; sexual life or sexual orientation; race or ethnic origin; political opinions, religion or philosophical beliefs so vegans can at least rest assured that their choice of in-flight meal will remain private. Law enforcers will have to keep an audit trail of how the passenger data is processed, and this will be used in a review of the laws effectiveness two years after it enters force. Many Members of the European Parliament resisted the PNR directive, with tactics including delaying the final vote. The issue was controversial because parliamentarians had long opposed an agreement obliging airlines to provide U.S. authorities with PNR information for transatlantic flights. European Parliament President Martin Schulz hailed the new deal as an important tool in the fight against terrorism and called on national governments to begin systematically sharing passenger data. But EDRis McNamee called the new legislation a disgrace. It is shocking that, less than two years after the European Court overturned a Directive on needless storage of data of innocent citizens, the European Union seems hell bent on adopting another Directive which does almost exactly the same thing. Google said the end was nigh, and now the time has finally come to say goodbye to Chrome support for a number of legacy operating systems, including Windows XP. Version 50 of Googles browser recently rolled out sans support for Windows XP, Vista, and all versions of Mac OS X under version 10.9, Mavericks. Google first announced that it would be dropping support for XP and Vista in November. If youve already got Chrome running on any of the legacy systems, youll still be able to use it. What you wont get any longer are new feature or security updates. The story behind the story: The most notable support loss with Chrome 50 is Windows XP. Google continued support for the aging OS because of its large user base for two long years after Microsoft tossed it to the webs wolves. The company also saw XP support as an opportunity to convince IT organizations to move away from Internet Explorer to Chrome. If youre an IT administratoryou can use Legacy Browser Support to set Chrome as the primary browser and limit the usage of the unsupported, legacy browser to only specific web apps, Google said in a blog post in late 2013. Adios, Windows XP, Vista, and numerous Mac OS X versions. Bye-bye Chrome If youre on a legacy operating system its inadvisable to continue using Chromeespecially if any of your other browsers are still receiving updates. (Though if youre still using XP, Chromes lack of support might not bother you since your OS doesnt receive security updates either.) Mozillas Firefox browser still supports all the operating systems Google dumped in the latest Chrome update. Google first promised to extend support for Windows XP in October 2013six months before Microsoft would end support for XP. At the time, Google said it would support Chrome until at least April 2015. As of mid-April, an estimated 181 million PCs worldwide were still using XP. Companies could face massive fines in 25 European Union countries if they mishandle citizens personal information, under a new privacy law due to take effect in 2018. New age restrictions will mean no more Facebook or other social media for European pre-teens. Today, fines for violations of EU data protection rules are typically limited to a few tens of thousands of euros, or hundreds of thousands in exceptional cases. Thats hardly enough to upset companies such as Facebook or Google, which both reported billions of dollars in net income last year. From 2018, though, data protection authorities will be able to impose fines of up to 4 percent of a companys worldwide revenue for breaches of the new privacy rules approved by the European Parliament on Thursday afternoon. For Google, the fine itself could now be in the billions of dollars. The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) also enshrines and extends the right to be forgotten created by a ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU in 2014. Where the court merely ordered search engines to make it difficult to discover certain kinds of personal information on request from the subject, the new regulation will enable EU citizens to request that companies entirely delete data concerning them. Exceptions allow companies to retain data for historical, statistical, scientific, and public health purposes, to exercise their right to freedom of expression, or where required by law or to fulfill a contract. Citizens also gain the right to move their data from one company to another so switching email providers will be easier and rules on obtaining consent to collect of personal information are reinforced. Pre-checked boxes or systems that require people to opt out of data collection will no longer be allowed. Jan Philipp Albrecht, Parliaments rapporteur for the new law, said the GDPR represents four years work by legislators. It replaces the 1995 Data Protection Directive, introduced years before companies such as Google and Facebook were even founded. Directives are first transposed into national law, often resulting in variations in rules between countries, whereas EU regulations such as the GDPR are directly applicable in the EU member states. The new rules, then, should be uniform throughout the EU and adapted to the Internet age, making it simpler for companies operating across European borders, online and off, to comply. There are a couple of glitches in this perfect picture, though. Three states, Denmark, Ireland and the U.K., have negotiated exemptions from EU home affairs and justice legislation, so the new rules will apply only partially in the U.K. and Ireland, while Denmark has six months to decide whether to adopt the new rules or reject them in their entirety. Other national variations will exist in rules governing the age at which children can consent to the storage of their personal information: It will range from 13 to 16 years depending on countries existing legislation. Whatever the country, though, it will mean no Facebook or other social media accounts for pre-teens across Europe. The second glitch is that the GDPR doesnt cover all kinds of data: Another piece of legislation, the 2002 e-privacy directive, covers information exchanged through electronic communications services such as fixed and mobile phone networks, and there are inconsistencies between that directive and the new data protection rules. The European Commission is aware of this, and on Monday opened a three-month public consultation on how this needs to change. The GSM Association, a trade body for mobile networks, welcomed the arrival of the new rules and called on the Commission to use the consultation to address the inconsistencies between the GDPR and the existing e-privacy directive. Consumers should be able to enjoy consistent privacy standards and experiences, irrespective of the technologies, infrastructure, business models and data flows involved or where a company may be located, said GSMA Chief Regulatory Officer John Giusti. He cautioned that too much privacy would be bad for business: The right balance needs to be struck between protecting confidentiality of communications and fostering a market where innovation and investment will flourish. John Higgins, director-general of IT industry lobby group Digital Europe, also warned that privacy has a cost. While we continue to believe that the final text fails to strike the right balance between protecting citizens fundamental rights to privacy and the ability for businesses in Europe to become more competitive, it is now time to be pragmatic, he said via email. National differences in implementation are also a danger for those doing business entirely online, and threaten the EUs plans for a digital single market. If Europe fails to properly implement the GDPR across all 28 EU Member States, this could render the digital single market incoherent, he said. Joe McNamee, executive director of campaign group European Digital Rights (EDRi), said the business lobby had already removed much of what legislators put in the original data protection package, but the essence had been saved. Approval of the GDPR makes a moving target of EU data protection law for officials working on the Privacy Shield, a legal mechanism allowing companies to guarantee compliance with EU privacy rules when exporting citizens personal information to the U.S. for processing. On Wednesday EU data protection authorities called for a revision mechanism to be added to the draft Privacy Shield agreement to take into account future rules changes, including those now due to take effect in 2018. Microsoft has sued the U.S. government in an attempt to strike down a law allowing judges to gag tech companies when law enforcement agencies want access to their users data. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, argues that a section of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act is unconstitutional for requiring tech companies to keep requests for data under wraps. Microsoft argued the law is unconstitutional under the First Amendment, by limiting the companys freedom of speech, as well as under the Fourth Amendments due process protections. Under one section of ECPA, judges can order a request for data be kept secret if they believe knowledge of its existence will endanger life, allow criminals to flee, or otherwise jeopardize an investigation. Courts have issued almost 2,576 secrecy orders to Microsoft over the past 18 months, with more than two-thirds containing no fixed end date, Brad Smith, the companys president and chief legal officer, said in a blog post. That presents a problem for the burgeoning cloud computing industry, the company said. These twin developments the increase in government demands for online data and the simultaneous increase in secrecy have combined to undermine confidence in the privacy of the cloud and have impaired Microsofts right to be transparent with its customers, a right guaranteed by the First Amendment, the company said in its lawsuit. The transparency is important for Microsoft, as more and more of its business is focused on enticing customers to move their data to the cloud. If the U.S. government can secretly request data from Microsoft when the company is asking more people and companies to entrust it with their data, that might slow adoption. The company isnt opposed to secret government requests in situations where they are necessary, but Microsoft wants that authority limited. Smith suggested that the government could sidestep the lawsuit with new policies or laws. The Department of Justice could adopt new policies limiting how it uses the authority its given under ECPA, or Congress could amend the law to restrict what the government can do. Right now, though, its unclear how Microsofts lawsuit will fare. It would be premature to guess how successful Microsoft is likely to be, Jennifer Granick, the director of civil liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, said in an email. Whats more, this case could take a while. Lawsuits frequently take years to work their way through the courts, and a case of this nature is likely to go through several layers of appeals. Dont expect the issue to be settled soon. A representative for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. Kids Fishing Derby coming to Lake Perris State Recreation Area PERRIS O.A. Tommy Thomas is hosting a Kids Fishing Derby from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 16, at Lake Perris State Recreation Area. The event is open to kids 15 and under. Information: Ranger Brady Her or Mike Dippel at 951-940-5647. Manny Otiko FONTANA On Saturday, April 16, the Inland Empire Alliance of Black School Educators (IEABSE) will award its It Takes a Village 2016 Scholarship to students. Special guests will include 47th District Assemblymember Cheryl Brown and Fontana Mayor Aquanetta Warren. The event will be from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Jessie Turner Center at 15556 Summit Avenue. Senior throughout the Inland Empire who won the scholarship will receive between $500 and $1,000. Applicants were evaluated based on academic merit, community service and leadership skills. Space is limited but the event is open to the public with a $20 donation. In addition to the scholarship ceremony, the I.E. Black Grade, Southern Californias largest High School Black Graduation Recognition Ceremony, will be held on May 14 at 2 p.m. at Cal State San Bernardino. Information: ieabse@gmail.com. Anne Marie Walker REDLANDS Musicians Suzanne and Jim Hale will perform Ballot Box Ballads, a collection of presidential campaign songs from the 19th century and 20th century, in a free concert Saturday, April 16 in the Assembly Room at the A.K. Smiley Public Library, 125 W. Vine St. The show is at 2 p.m. Staff report MORENO VALLEY Middle and high school student art work will be on display 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 16 at Vista del Lago High School, 15150 Lassell St. This is Moreno Valley Unified School Districts first annual district-wide Arts Festival. Art activities, demonstrations, live music and food vendors are part of the all-ages event. Admission is free. Staff report TEMECULA The Interfaith Council of Murrieta and Temecula Valley will present its annual Night of Music at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, April 17 at Grace Presbyterian Church, 31143 Nicolas Road, Temecula. The evening will feature groups and singers of various faiths from the community. Admission is free and a reception will follow the concert. Information: 951-698-6116. Staff report LOMA LINDA In preparation for their dental licensing exams, graduating dental students from Loma Linda University School of Dentistry will screen for adult patients, ages 18 and over, who need specific dental treatments, including fillings and dental cleanings. Adults whose dental needs match the exam requirements will be offered the needed dental care free of charge. Screenings will take place between 5:15 and 6:30 p.m. on April 19, April 21, April 26, April 28, May 3 and May 5 in the lobby of the Loma Linda University School of Dentistrys Prince Hall, 11092 Anderson St. Information: 909-558-4222. Staff report BEAUMONT Pass Area Supporting Soldiers is seeking donations for its next shipment of care packages for soldiers serving abroad. Boxes will be assembled 8 a.m. to noon April 21 at Albert Chaitgny Sr. Community Center, 1310 E. Oak Valley Parkway. Donations will be accepted until 10 a.m. Items needed include foot powder, antibacterial gel, cocoa packets, gum, beef jerky, chapstick, crossword puzzles, playing cards, disposable razors for men and women and pens. Information: Sandy Bleier at sandybleier@verizon.net. Staff report Send items for possible inclusion in Community Notes to community@pressenterprise.com. A vintage Ferrari reported stolen from an Orange County consignment lot 28 years ago was found by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex. The red 1981 Ferrari 308 GTSi is one of the storied car manufacturers most recognizable models. The 308 was Tom Sellecks car in the 1980s hit show Magnum, P.I. Customs officers first noticed something was amiss when examining the cars Vehicle Identification Number at the end of February in the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, said Lee Harty, a spokeswoman for the agency. The VIN matched that of a 1982 Ferrari 308 GTS that had already been exported from the U.S. to Norway, via Germany, in 2005. After an investigation lasting more than a month, officials found that the $50,000 car was reported stolen from a car consignment lot in Orange County on July 19, 1987, Harty said. The car had 45,000 miles on it at that time. This VIN discrepancy is what raised a red flag and prompted further scrutiny, said Carlos Martel, port director for Customs and Border Protection Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport, in a statement. Such keen attention to details by officers is commendable, especially considering they process a daily average of 500 vehicles intended for export. Customs investigators teamed up with a California Highway Patrol-Investigative Services Unit Investigator, a National Insurance Crime Bureau Special Agent assigned to the Foreign Export and Recovery Outbound Team and a Ferrari factory expert to positively identify the car as a 1981 308 model, Harty said. The cars owner, who wanted to remain anonymous, was previously compensated in 1987 by his insurance company, she said. The 308s fate will depend on what the owner and insurance company decide, she said. Contact the writer: greg.yee@langnews.com, @Gregoryyyee on Twitter Riverside is moving to evict Greyhound bus operations from the downtown terminal, after the city and the company couldnt reach agreement on a new lease. With the Riverside Transit Agency planning to stop using the city-owned terminal by early next year and the City Council eyeing the site for a new main library, Greyhound would likely have been asked to leave anyway. But according to the citys April 6 court filing, it is seeking to oust the company after Greyhound paid no rent or utilities for nearly six years. Greyhound spokeswoman Lanisha Gipson wrote in an email that the company is looking for a new location in or near Riverside and is striving to minimize any disruption to our customers in Riverside. The company has paid utilities when the City invoiced them, she added. A hearing on the lawsuit has not been scheduled. Greyhound has leased space at the University Avenue terminal since 1983. A company official said in 2008 that it had served Riverside for 60 years. Gipson said Greyhound doesnt share ridership numbers, but in 2008 the company said about 80,000 passengers a year used the Riverside station. For some riders, like Regina Reed of San Diego, who takes the bus about once a month to and from truck driving jobs, not having a station in downtown Riverside will be very inconvenient, she said. There arent many Greyhound terminals nearby the only other Inland stations are in San Bernardino and Banning and other options, like taxis, are too expensive, Reed said. Others wont miss it. Over the years, city officials, business leaders and downtown residents have complained about problems with drug deals, theft, vagrancy and other crimes around the bus terminal. Greyhound has a security guard at the terminal, but some say its not enough. This isnt about people who ride the bus, longtime downtown resident Chani Beeman said. Its about a vulnerable area that attracts crime. When inmates are released on parole, theyre put on buses to Riverside, the county seat, Beeman said. Some congregate in nearby neighborhoods and prey on the people who ride the bus, she said. Gipson described the crime and vagrancy concerns as neighborhood problems and said Greyhound is willing to work with cities and residents to address them. If the court allows the city to evict the bus company, it will have to sort out who owes who money. Since 1983, Greyhound was charged $1 a year to lease the terminal. But after settling a eminent domain lawsuit with the company in 2009, the city tried to negotiate a new lease at market rate, which would be about $3,000 a month, according to the recent court filing. At that cost, Greyhound would owe the city about $210,000 in back rent. But in the 2009 settlement, Riverside agreed to buy out the remaining 15 years on the companys lease for $625,000. The money was to be paid once Greyhound moved out. Emilio Ramirez, the citys deputy community and economic development director, said the lawsuit was filed by the citys former redevelopment agency, which put aside money to pay the settlement when the agency closed down. Whether or not we would pay it is a different question, he said. We have been working to execute a lease for quite some time, so theres a value of that amount that they havent paid. Beeman said shed like to see Greyhound moved near the Metrolink station on Vine Street, which city officials have said theyd consider. Its not about banishing bus riders. We want people to ride buses, she said. Its about managing transportation in our community and doing it safely. RELATED Main library to move to bus station site Main library could become childrens museum Contact the writer: 951-368-9461 or arobinson@pressenterprise.com News / National by Stephen Jakes Parents of an 8-year-old boy suffering from Osteromalitis (a bone infection) are appealing for financial assistance to have him treated.The illness has stopped Loyiso Ndlovu for attending school.His father Mpiloyezwe Ndlovu said Loyiso is suppose to be doing grade 2 at Emhlangeni Primary School in Nyathi, Matabalelena North, however he is not in school due to his condition."Loyiso suffers from Osteromalitis (bone infection), caused by bacteria in his right leg. Osteromalitis have affected his long bone in his right leg causing his long bone to rot as you can see from the photos," said the father."Loyiso has bone infection in her bloodstream. Initially Doctors thought it was cellulitis and they performed fascitomy, he then developed a lot of pus and was operated numerous times trying to drain the pus out but it kept reoccurring."Ndlovu said after three months of testing and checking that's when he was diagnosed with Osteromalitis."He remained in hospital for a while that's when they discovered that push was forming due to l his bone rotting," he saidIt is said the doctors wanted to amputate him but his parents asked Doctors if they can try treatment in South Africa"He started treatment in South Africa (Durban) Inkosi Albert Central Hospital. Surgeons in this hospital have managed to remove dead/rotten bone and pus. He remains in hospital. Next month he's due to have Bone graft (removing bone from another part of the body) and putting it on his right leg where they removed the rotten bone," he said."We owe Mpilo Hospital $954 and Inkosi Albert Central Hospital will give us the bill after they complete treatment. As of now we don't know how much we owe them. We don't know how much we will be charged after the whole procedure. We kindly ask for your help. Both of us are not working, his mother is with him in South Africa."He said they have to travel to and from as as he is looking after the younger brother."We love our boy, just looking at him in pain crying in pain made us take this step. We trust God that He will see us through.We feel helpless as parents and that's the worst feeling ever. Not being able to help your child or take pain away from him.There are days he experience a high temperature (fever) of 38C and bone pain, which can often be intense, his leg swells, becomes red and warm sensation around the affected leg," Ndlovu said."I'm hereby kindly asking for your help towards Loyiso's treatment. Every little helps and we will forever be grateful. My (Mpiloyezwe) contact detail are +263 77 245 2326."Detonations: https://www.gofundme.com/5rz2pqs8 Updates with dogs name A 9-week-old puppy that was supposed to be auctioned off to help raise funds for the Riverside Area Rape Crisis Center went missing Tuesday, April 12, while rooting around in the backyard of a Riverside home, and has been reported stolen. Lacey, a female Maltese-poodle mix, went missing between noon and 4 p.m., about two weeks before she was supposed to be adopted, Riverside County Department of Animal Services spokesman John Welsh said in a news release. The Crisis Center has auctioned off dogs each year for the past three years to raise money for crisis intervention for sexual assault victims. Each year the pooch auctions generate thousands of dollars for the center, the release said. Lacey was promised to the Crisis Center by the Animal Services Department. The volunteer who was housing Lacey filed a report with the Riverside Police Department Wednesday night, the release said, after attempts to hand out fliers didnt result in any tips. The dog is microchipped and the AVID microchip company already knows she has been stolen, the release said. Anyone who purchases Lacey on Craigslist wont legally own her. Riverside County Animal Services Director Robert Miller said in the release that officials wont press charges if Lacey is returned before the April 30 charity dinner and auction gala. If the thief wants to drop the dog off anonymously, he or she can use the night-drop compartments at the animal services building at 6851 Van Buren Blvd. in Jurupa Valley. The average monthly rent for an Inland-area apartment in 2015 was $1,155 an increase of 5.2 percent from 2014. Anticipating any help for renters? Not any time soon the number of permits to build new apartments, which could broaden access and lower rents, headed the other direction, decreasing 7.8 percent. The annual USC Casden Multifamily Forecast released this week noted the unemployment rate for the Inland area is the lowest in eight years, with growth in transportation and logistics accounting for nearly one-quarter of the areas new jobs in 2014. Job and population increases over the next two years, the forecast said, will push up rents along with home sales and prices as Southern California residents once again turn to the region for more affordable housing options. The forecast said average Inland rents are expected to increase by $84 by 2018, although that was lowest of the four Southern California regions examined. The Inland area has been historically more alluring for affordable single-family home purchases, and with rising housing and rent prices in the coastal counties, the familiar pattern of accelerated population growth for Riverside and San Bernardino counties will put pressure on both kinds of housing, the forecast said. In 2015 there was only a 1.4 percent increase in multi-family units for Riverside and San Bernardino counties. SINGLE-FAMILY FUTURE Single-family home construction will respond more immediately, with multifamily units taking off somewhat later in the cycle, the forecast said. The implication is that we are going to need a different mix of housing that we have had in the past, and to think about how we deliver that mix and make sure everyone can live comfortably in the Inland Empire, said Raphael Bostic, the interim director of USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. That is something that people across the region need to think about, Bostic added. The forecast looks at data, but does recommend any actions, he noted in a phone interview on Wednesday, April 13. The is something like an early warning metric, OK, the market seems to be evolving in certain ways, he said. The average vacancy rate for the Inland area went down slightly, from 7.6 percent to 7.5 percent in 2015. But in 2015 there was only a 1.4 percent increase in multi-family units for the two counties. Christopher Thornberg, director of the UC Riverside Center for Economic Forecasting at the School of Business Administration, said Inland wage-earners include people who commute to coastal counties and can earn more than the average income for the Inland area. He said those workers will continue to provide a market for single-family homes in the Inland area, for now. PRACTICAL ADVICE For those looking for a place to rent, Bethanie Le, who graduated as a public policy major from UC Riverside last month, said old-fashion bargaining and some checking around can help. She rented with four other women a four-bedroom, 2-1/2 bath home near the school three years ago for $2,100 a month. The rent was going to be $2,200 monthly, but from asking around, she found similar homes in the area, owned by the same landlord, were going for $100 less. She and her roommates asked for the price break, and got it. The also got a home alarm system installed, and individual locks on each of their bedroom doors for added security, plus an extra garage-door opener. The rent has not changed since they signed the lease, she said Wednesday. Do your research and know what you want to get out of your renting experience, the 21-year-old said. Discuss it with the other people living in your house so youre all on the same page. A state judicial panel has proposed redistributing vacant judgeships from counties where there are too many to counties where there are too few, including Riverside and San Bernardino counties, where a lack of judges has caused hundreds of cases to be dismissed. The action, detailed in a report sent Tuesday, April 12, to Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, addresses a call last year from Gov. Jerry Brown to balance the workload and distribution of existing judgeships before adding more. The most recent Judicial Needs Assessment Report, issued in 2014, estimated that almost 270 new judges are needed statewide. The trial courts in Riverside and San Bernardino have only 60 percent of the judges they need, according to the report from the Commission on the Future of Californias Court System. Meanwhile, trial courts elsewhere have more judges than necessary to handle their needs. Alameda County has three vacant judgeships and Santa Clara County has two, the report notes. From January 2007 to June 2009, 374 felony and misdemeanor cases were dismissed in Riverside County because cases reached their last day to be heard and no judge was available. Riverside County which has experienced a 30 percent growth in population in the past decade has 76 judges but needs 127, while San Bernardino County with a 13 percent growth in population has 86 but needs 143. The Commission on the Future of Californias Court System recommended that its proposal be referred to the Judicial Council the policymaking body of California courts to sponsor legislation that would redistribute the vacant judgeships. The commission also said legislation is needed that would give the chief justice authority to redistribute judgeships. No money has been approved yet to hire judges for the vacancies. State Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, authored a bill that passed the Legislature last year to authorize spending $5 million to fund 12 Superior Court judges. But Brown vetoed it in October. Former San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Marsha Slough, who in December was appointed to the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two, in Riverside, is a member of the commission. Contact the writer: brokos@pressenterprise.com or 951-368-9569 Lake Elsinore would get a tiny bit bigger if a proposed annexation on the east side of town gets through the countys boundary-setting agency. City Council members this week agreed to ask the Riverside Local Agency Formation Commissions permission to add 162 acres west of Canyon Lake and north of Greenwald Avenue. The vacant rectangular-shaped property is within the unincorporated area under Riverside Countys land-use jurisdiction. However, the acreage is situated in Lake Elsinores sphere of influence, giving the city the right to pursue bringing it within its boundary. The initiative stems from the landowners interest in having Lake Elsinore officials process his plan to build 350 homes there, consultant Ed Sauls said on behalf of owner Bruce Vinci. Our development team knows whats on the books and what the future is that youre leading for this city, Sauls told council members in their meeting Tuesday, April 12. Were excited about it. We want to be part of it. We want to be contributing to help make that happen. Having plenty of open space left, Lake Elsinore is one of the fastest growing cities in the region and state population-wise. Now approaching 60,000 residents, Lake Elsinores population is expected to top 70,000 by 2020 and pass 93,000 by 2035. While the annexation would expand the citys area by less than 1 percent, it comes on top of the 320-acre Third Street annexation east of Highway 74 in 2012. Another 667-acre expansion straddling Nichols Road on the citys north side awaits approval by the boundary commission. Those additions would add about 1 square mile to Lake Elsinore, enlarging it to about 43 square miles. That would make it second to Menifee as the largest cities area-wise in the countys southwestern section. With the councils unanimous endorsement of the annexation request, getting through the boundary commissions process and gaining approval could take a year or longer, Lake Elsinore Principal Planner Justin Kirk said. Though no one from the public spoke against the councils action, Councilman Bob Magee warned of potential opposition from Canyon Lake, whose residents ride horses in the area where the property is situated. Contact the writer: 951-368-9690 or michaelwilliams@pressenterprise.com Press-Enterprise photographer David Bauman has won a national honor for a photograph taken the day of the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino. His photo won second place in the 82nd National Headliner Awards, which were announced Tuesday, April 12. It was one of three awards earned by the Southern California News Group. Baumans photograph showed a woman embracing a man wearing a white shirt with blood stains outside the Inland Regional Center. It appeared in newspapers and websites across the nation and became an iconic image of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. The entry was in the Photography and Graphics category for daily newspapers, news services and syndicates. The winner in that category was Mother Loses Son, by Stephanie Strasburg of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Bauman, a Riverside resident, has worked at The Press-Enterprise for 40 years. The staff of The Sun received third place for coverage of the San Bernardino terror attack in the category spot news in daily newspapers, all sizes. First place went to the Baltimore Sun for coverage of the Baltimore riots and Freddie Gray case. Second place went to the Dallas Morning News for stories on the Dec. 26 North Texas tornadoes. Ken Steinhardt of the Orange County Register won third place for Dog Day Afternoon in the newspaper feature photography category. Our journalists work tirelessly to serve readers in our communities, consistently producing outstanding work, said Frank Pine, executive editor of the Southern California News Group. The Southern California News Group, formed after Digital First Media purchased The Register and The Press-Enterprise in March, consists of 11 newspapers and more than a dozen community weeklies in the region. The annual Headliner contest is one of the oldest and largest in the country that recognizes journalistic merit in the communications industry, according to the award committee. Contact the writer: community@pressenterprise.com In this election season, I find myself in somewhat of a quandary. Hillary Clinton is a money-grubbing opportunist who will say and do anything to keep her presidential bid alive. Most of the American people dont trust her, so how can we expect the heads of foreign countries to trust her, especially in the matter of keeping state secrets safe from external cyberattacks? Donald Trump is definitely not presidential material, and I shudder to think of him negotiating with foreign heads of state. He would, in very short order, antagonize many who are, at the moment, considered to be our friends. I also feel that, in one respect, he would be like President Obama, in that he would disregard the opinions of his advisers and act unilaterally. That would put many peoples backs up, including many of the American people. As for Ted Cruz, I cant understand how he has managed to get so far, since he appears to be so disliked by so many people. However, throughout history there have been many great people who have not been universally liked. As for Bernie Sanders, some of his ideas are appealing to the takers in our society, but not so appealing to the givers. As a person, he is much more likeable than Clinton. That leaves John Kasich, who has remained low-key, and is the only one who has almost completely refrained from insulting other candidates. I also have the feeling he would listen to his advisers, whereas none of the others give me that impression. One other point: Clinton has collected millions from big business, while Sanders has collected his funds from masses of ordinary people all over the country. Who do you think is most likely to look out for ordinary people? Don Bennett Grand Terrace A lawsuit is challenging Highlands approval of the Mediterra residential development. The Coalition to Protect Highlands Heritage filed a petition for a writ of mandate in San Bernardino Superior Court on Friday, April 1, against the city, the projects developer Sunland Communities LLC and the land owners, claiming the citys approval of the project in March violated the California Environmental Quality Act, city code and state law. Whether the project is stalled by the filing of the lawsuit is really up to the developer, said Craig Steele, Highlands city attorney in an email Wednesday, April 13. At this time, there is nothing that would legally prevent the project from proceeding. The Mediterra Planned Development by Sunland Communities LLC would include 200 low-density residential lots, 110 medium-density units, six estate lots, two parks, landscaping and a water quality management basin on about 178 acres on Greenspot Road, east of Santa Paula Street. The site is near the East Valley Water District and south of the San Bernardino National Forest. The land is owned by Calvary Chapel of San Bernardino with 59 acres on the west, Greenspot Corridor LLC with 119 acres on the east and the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District with 2.6 acres along Greenspot Road. The Coalition to Protect Highlands Heritage was formed because of concerns about land use, the environment and quality of life in the city, according to the lawsuit. Michael Raley, who owns 1.6 acres of the property that is not part of the development, is the only member of the Coalition named in the lawsuit, filed by attorneys with Temecula-based Johnson & Sedlack. Raley spoke against the project during public meetings, citing potential environmental impacts. The lawsuit alleges that the City Councils adoption of a declaration that the project will not create a significant impact or that measures will be taken to reduce any impact violated CEQA and that the city failed to adopt all feasible mitigation to reduce the projects impacts. The lawsuit contends that the project is inconsistent with the citys General Plan. According to the lawsuit, 22 sensitive species could be impacted by the project, including the California glossy snake, San Bernardino Kangaroo Rat, Santa Ana Sucker and Mountain Yellow-legged Frog. The project would also cause the removal of citrus trees. The project has potential impacts on aesthetics, agricultural resources, air quality, biological resources, cultural resources, geology and soils, greenhouse gases, hazards and hazardous materials, hydrology and water quality, land use and planning, noise, traffic and cumulative impacts, among others, according to the lawsuit. The Planning Commission recommended approval of the project in February. The City Council unanimously approved the project on March 8 and held a second reading of the zone change ordinance on March 22. Camille Bahri, president of Sunland Communities, said Wednesday that the Mediterra proposal has been well received by the panel, council and community. Several residents and the Highland Chamber of Commerce spoke in support of the project during the Planning Commission and City Council meetings. Unfortunately CEQA leaves a lot of opportunity for whomever to decide to challenge and it costs money and causes delays, but we believe in our project, Bahri said. Bahri said Sunland has been developing homes in Highland for 18 years and was involved in developing the East Highlands Ranch community. The property has been at the center of litigation in the past. In 2006, the city approved Calvary Chapels plans to build a chapel with offices, classroom and facilities. Residents with Highland Citizens United to Protect the Environment sued, challenging the City Councils approval of the project, particularly the construction of an amphitheater. The church and residents settled the lawsuit in 2007, with church officials agreeing to seek environmental approval for the amphitheater prior to construction. The project was abandoned. A court hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. May 31. Contact the writer: sandra.emerson@langnews.com or @TheFactsSandra WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) Donald Trumps campaign manager will not be prosecuted on a misdemeanor battery charge after prosecutors determined there wasnt enough evidence to convict him of forcibly grabbing a female reporter. Police charged Corey Lewandowski last month after determining a video recording showed the New York City resident grabbing reporter Michelle Fields by the arm as she tried to ask the Republican presidential front-runner a question while he was leaving a campaign event March 8. State attorney Dave Aronberg said during a news conference Thursday that police were right to charge Lewandowski, but the burden on prosecutors to prove the case was higher. Although there was probable cause to make an arrest, the evidence cannot prove all legally required elements of the crime alleged and is insufficient to support a criminal prosecution, Aronberg said. Fields, who worked for the conservative Breitbart News website at the time, tweeted a photograph of her bruised forearm and said she had been yanked backward. Lewandowski had denied grabbing Fields and Trump had stood by him, rejecting calls by his opponents to fire him. Instead he went after Fields, accusing her of exaggerating and changing her story. The investigation proved, however, that Lewandowski pulled Ms. Fields back as she attempted to interview Trump, according to a memo by another prosecutor, Chief Assistant State Attorney Adrienne Ellis. The memo says that Lewandowski could have believed Fields was making unwanted physical contact with Mr. Trump that led him to pull her away. Mr. Lewandowski may have had apparent authority to assist in the protection of the candidate, specifically to maintain the protective bubble around the candidate, Ellis wrote. While the facts support the allegation that Mr. Lewandowski did grab Ms. Fields arm against her will, Mr. Lewandowski has a reasonable hypothesis of innocence. At a Wisconsin campaign rally hours after Lewandowski was charged, Trump read Fields account aloud: Maybe he touched (her) a little bit, but I didnt see, Trump told the crowd. It was almost like he was trying to keep her off me, right? Fields weighed in on Twitter: My story never changed. Seriously, just stop lying. She quit Breitbart shortly after the altercation, saying its editors didnt support her as they tried to maintain their relationship with Trump. Other Breitbart employees also quit. Aronberg said he had talked with Fields and she was disappointed he decided against pursuing the charge. The prosecutor also said Lewandowski could have signaled to Secret Service agents if he thought Fields was a threat, and he couldve apologized. In a case like this we do encourage an apology. Had an apology been given at the beginning of all this, we could have avoided the whole criminal justice process, Aronberg said. The prosecutors announcement came days before the New York primary next Tuesday. Trump hopes New York marks an end to the worst period of his candidacy, a stretch that raised new questions about his policy chops and revealed his campaigns lack of preparedness for a potential delegate fight if the GOP race heads to a contested convention. The prosecutor said he understood the case had garnered international attention, but the political climate did not affect his decision. Trumps campaign said in a statement: Corey Lewandowski is gratified by the decision to drop the misdemeanor charge and appreciates the thoughtful consideration and professionalism by the Palm Beach state attorney and his staff who carefully reviewed this matter, as well as Mr. Trumps loyalty and the support of his colleagues and family during this time. The matter is now concluded. Louie Villanueva wasnt sure if he would get into college, but one recent afternoon he was among 51 Valley View High School students being welcomed to UC Riverside for the fall. Villanueva doubted whether hed get in because of what he called a tough transition after transferring from a Los Angeles school two years ago. But the 17-year-old senior who wants to be a writer worked to get his grades up and was accepted at UCR and Cal Poly Pomona. It feels good, said Villanueva, who chose UCR. Not a lot of people in my family go to college so its something big, I guess. Valley View was among about 30 Southern California campuses mostly in the Inland area that UCR admissions officials are visiting this spring as part of a new effort to connect with students early and encourage them to enroll. University of California President Janet Napolitano and UCR Chancellor Kim Wilcox will take part in the initiative with visits Thursday, April 14, to Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Eastvale and Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga. At Roosevelt, Napolitano and Wilcox will meet with students admitted to UCR and take part in a rally for students who plan to apply to UC . At Chaffey, they will join a roundtable discussion about how to transfer to UC and barriers that African American students and other students from the Inland area face in applying to four-year colleges. Napolitano plans to sign a memorandum with Chaffeys Umoja Program, which encourages African Americans to pursue higher education. As part of the agreement, UC will provide counselors to help students who wish to transfer to the system. The partnership includes a way for students to track their progress in meeting UC requirements for majors at the nine campuses. CLOSE-BY CAMPUS As part of its Achieve UC program, the UC system hopes to boost the number of California residents admitted to its campuses by 5,000 this fall and another 5,000 over the next years, UCR spokeswoman Sarah Nightingale said. The system is on target to increase the number of in-state admissions by 14.7 percent this fall, according to the UC presidents office. Its campuses are also seeing more underrepresented minorities. For example, the number of Latinos rose to 32 percent this coming fall, up from 28.8 percent last year. The number of admitted African Americans climbed 32 percent from the previous year. UCRs initiative aims to foster early ties with admitted students and encourage those still weighing their choices to pick Riverside, said Emily Engelschall, UCRs director of undergraduate admissions. The visits are taking place in the weeks before the May 1 deadline for students to submit their statement of intent to register. University officials also hope younger students will notice the celebrations and be encouraged to consider UCR and start preparing to apply. I think lots of time theres a perception that the University of California could be out of their reach or theyre not quite there yet, Engelschall said. We really just want students to understand that there are great opportunities for them at the University of California at a campus that is close by. UCR PRIDE At Valley View, the Commons dining area at the Moreno Valley school was decorated with white, blue and yellow balloons reflecting the universitys blue-and-gold colors along with UCR pennants. A table in the back offered food, including cupcakes with orange and blue frosting along with swag for the students: orange stress balls, pens and water bottles with UCRs name on them. The UC system is very selective, so you should be very proud of where you are, said Sarah Jamal, a UCR admissions counselor who gave students an overview of what to expect when they start school in fall. Arlene Herrera, a 17-year-old Valley View senior, said she was impressed that the university is reaching out. I like how they put this whole thing on just for us, she said. It gives me a lot more insight that they want me. Herrera, who wants to study biology and is deciding between UCR and UC San Diego, said she found Jamals presentation helpful for its information about student housing, transportation and deadlines. Her mother, Leticia Herrera, appreciated the fact that parents could attend. I thought it was great, she said. She wrote down everything we needed. Luke Baguio, 18, whos choosing between UCR and UC Irvine, said he went in undecided, but the presentation made him lean toward Riverside. I thought the person giving out the presentation was really enthusiastic, he said. Valley View Principal Karen Johnson said the welcoming ceremony adds a personal touch for the campus 51 UCR-admitted students. The group is the largest so far for the school, which had 22 students enrolled last year. The students get a glimpse of what its like to be in a college atmosphere while theyre in high school, Johnson said. Thats awesome. Contact the writer: 951-368-9558 or ighori@pressenterprise.com UPDATE: Mixed-martial arts news site Sherdog.com reported Thursday that Dan Henderson will fight Hector Lombard in a middleweight bout at UFC 199 in Los Angeles on June 4 in the wake of the abrupt cancellation of Saturdays fight with Lyoto Machida at UFC on FOX 19. The report cited sources close to the negotiation, as the UFC has not confirmed a new bout for Henderson. Henderson, a Temecula resident, was scheduled to fight Machida in the co-main event of Saturdays UFC on FOX 19 card before Machida was disqualified on Wednesday for using a banned substance. The UFC issued the following release on Wednesday: The UFC organization was made aware today by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, that Lyoto Machida declared the usage of a banned substance during an out-of-competition sample collection last week. Machida stated that he was unaware that the substance was prohibited both in and out of competition and, in accordance with the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, his disclosure of usage will be taken into consideration by USADA during any potential results management and adjudication process. Given this information, UFC officials have elected to remove Machida from his scheduled bout against Dan Henderson this Saturday in Tampa, Fla. Henderson will be re-booked for a new bout in the near future. Henderson (31-14) has one fight remaining on his current UFC contract and suggested recently that his fight against Machida (22-7) would possibly be the last in a prolific career spanning 19 years. This could very well be my last fight if things work out right or if I decide to keep fighting, Henderson, 45, said in a conference call on Saturday. I was going to wait until after this fight to decide. I know that Im close to the end. Maybe I will fight two or three more times after this. Maybe this is the last one, I dont know. Henderson has held titles in Pride, Strikeforce and UFC and is currently ranked No. 14 in the UFC middleweight division. The fight with Machida would have been a rematch of Hendersons split decision loss to the 37-year-old Brazilian at UFC 157 in Feb. 2013. Contact the writer: grizk@pressenterprise.com News / National by Staff reporter A goods train travelling from Harare to Shamva depot has derailed at Whitecliff in Glendale, spilling 80 000 tonnes of maize meant for drought relief in the process.Those who witnessed the accident said the train was speeding.At the time the ZBC News crew arrived at the scene of accident, no report had been made to the Zimbabwe Republic Police prompting fears of the security of the maize.National Railways of Zimbabwe Spokesperson, Mr Phanuel Masikati confirmed the accident, adding that they are in the process of ascertaining the cause of the accident.Meanwhile, the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Mrs Prisca Mupfumira has issued an ultimatum to the NRZ employees to immediately terminate their industrial action and go back to work.The minister said the order is to be effected within 24 hours of issuance in line with the provisions of the Labour Act which gives her such a mandate.Mr Masikati also confirmed that his company's employees received such an order and said management is also appealing to workers to go back to work.The NRZ strike entered the second week on Tuesday after workers have gone for 15 months without pay. Willow Smith has scored Teen Vogues cover for May 2016, making all former/existing 15-year-olds feel downright deplorable in comparison. Here it is in full: A photo posted by Teen Vogue (@teenvogue) on Apr 12, 2016 at 5:00am PDT Fire, gurl. But its not that fact that shes a bloody beaut creation (being the offspring of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith will do that to you) thats got our tongues wagging like Miley on speed. The teen/musician/all-round life slayer is also intellectually stimulating beyond her years, and has let her impressive mental capacity rip in her interview with the glossy. In addition to being blown away by the fact that her photographer for the shoot was a woman (Australias own Emma Summerton, mind you) and using the opportunity to discuss gender equality (There is such a need for more female photographers, physicists, astronauts, doctors), Willow shared her wisdom on the below: ON FASHION: I have some cool shoes on and I wear crazy eyeliner, but its really all about emulating the colours you feel inside. A lot of clothes are cute, but after you buy the Yeezy shoes, after you get your hair done with a weave, youre still the same person. I feel like more and more kids are starting to realise this. A photo posted by Teen Vogue (@teenvogue) on Apr 13, 2016 at 3:27pm PDT ON RACE: Being a young African-American woman with dreads, it blows my mind that Im a Chanel ambassador. Like, how am I a Chanel ambassador? It is so beautiful. Im coming into a new part of my life that is completely unknown, and Im jumping right in. All I can do from here is continue to shift paradigms and continue to push the envelope further and further. But I am doing it every day just by being myself. ON JAYDEN: Were like binary stars, like two parts of one thing. I know what hes thinking at all times. And he knows what Im thinking. Were not identical twins, but it feels like that in a lot of ways. For more enlightenment and A+ photos, read/see the full Teen Vogue feature HERE. . Source: Teen Vogue. Photo: Instagram / Teen Vogue. News / Press Release by Thobekile Zhou The Welshman Ncube led MDC has scoffed at statements by Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere that he will build an exclusive Zanu PF youth township in Bulawayo. Last week, Kasukuwere told Zanu PF youth that he would make sure that Bulawayo City council will avail 300ha of land to build more than 20 000 units. Below is a statement by MDC:The recent announcement by Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere that his ministry will soon roll out 900 hectares of land for the construction of 20 000 housing units for youths in Bulawayo at a time when the majority of youths are unemployed and the Bulawayo City Council has a more than 100 000 people on its housing waiting list is not only ridiculous but cheap politicking at the expense of thousands of desperate home seekers in the city.If Kasukuwere was genuine about the welfare of the youths of Bulawayo he would be addressing the housing backlog and corruption at the BCC first before pledging stands.The Minister should be expending his energies in ensuring the more than 100 000 desperate home seekers who have been on the waiting list for several years are provided with reasonably priced stands. The very fact that the minister is choosing to ignore this huge housing backlog indicates his insincerity in providing access to housing.The Minister's promises to the youths comes after his party failed to deliver a single job after promising 2,2 million jobs to restore economic stability for Zimbabweans in their 2013 election campaign. It is unfortunate that once again youths are being hoodwinked by ZANU PF through promises of stands whose chances of being developed and maintained are unlikely, given the high unemployment rate. The mere fact that the majority of youths are forced to spend most their time blocking pavements of bottle stores or selling airtime juice cards when they are graduates due to lack of employment is itself ample proof that Kasukuwere is lying through his teeth when he claims to the youths ZANU PF is a party of action.As MDC we advise the Minister to stop deceiving the youths and push for government to address their real problem which is unemployment. After government creates employment it can then start negotiating with council to allocate stands to the youths, after the housing backlog for desparate home seekers has been dealt with.Secondly, it is clear that these stands will not be allocated to Bulawayo youths but ZANU PF youths only, as has been the party's tradition of Stands for pals'. As MDC we are watching closely and will not sit back while our local authorities countrywide are being abused by greedy politicians and their unholy agendas.Mbuso SisoMDC Deputy National Spokesperson Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, right, shakes hands with U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter during his courtesy call at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines on Thursday, April 14, 2016. Carter is in the country as US and Philippine forces participate in a joint military exercise called shoulder-to-shoulder or "Balikatan". (Romeo Ranoco/Pool Photo via AP) FILE - This July 3, 2014, file photo, shows the Microsoft Corp. logo outside the Microsoft Visitor Center in Redmond, Wash. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, April 14, 2016, Microsoft is suing the U.S. government over a federal law that lets authorities examine its customers email or online files without the customers knowledge. The lawsuit comes as the tech industry is increasingly butting heads with U.S. officials over customers privacy rights. (AP Photo Ted S. Warren, File) News / Regional by Roberta Katunga MANUFACTURERS in Bulawayo are facing additional costs when importing raw materials due to the long route they take to get inputs to factories.Local firms are often forced to consolidate cargo with companies in Harare to share costs.Datlabs technical director Victor Basopo said 80 percent of the inputs the company uses are imported but due to the fact that there were few factories in Bulawayo, the consignments often go through Harare."When we order materials, we use one truck to transport the goods and they're delivered to the door. But if the consignment isn't big enough and can't fill a truck, it's loaded with stuff going to Harare. The clearance is then done in Harare and our goods are transported to Bulawayo," he said. Basopo said this becomes an additional cost to manufacturers in Bulawayo and that was also resulting in delays."At our peak, we used to employ 500 people but at the moment we've about 160 workers including the marketing team in Harare. We're facing competition from finished drugs that are coming into the country duty free while raw materials have a duty levied on them. We also need to automate and retool our factories," said Basopo.In a separate interview, Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) Matabeleland chapter president Crispen Mugova said the few companies still operating in the city were sometimes failing to order in bulk.He said this meant that companies had to consolidate with other buyers and in the end accrue additional costs as carriage inwards becomes costly."This also applies to air cargo as there's no cargo flight to Bulawayo so everything goes through Harare which then makes the cost of bringing in raw materials costly for manufacturers," said Mugova. Most of the industries in Bulawayo rely on imports for raw materials like the leather industry which imports material chemicals.Bulawayo was for years Zimbabwe's industrial hub and boasted a number of large manufacturing and engineering companies. However, over the past years, more than 100 companies have closed shop or relocated from the city leaving thousands of workers jobless. Bring on Bhutan! Prince William and Princess Kate arrived in the magical mountain kingdom on Thursday for the next leg of their week-long tour of South Asia. Amid the magnificent culture and landscape of the Buddhist kingdom, they are set to have their long-awaited meeting with the young Bhutanese royals popularly known as the Will and Kate of the Himalayas and awesomely known as the Dragon King and Queen. The couple stepped off the plane following one of the most challenging touch-downs in the world. Known as a captain-only landing, the pilot has to maneuver the plane dramatically on the landing between mountains. (We bet Captain Wales would have loved a chance to take the controls!) Want to keep up with the latest royals coverage? Click here to subscribe to the Royals Newsletter. They were then taken on a scenic drive on the way to the capital city of Thimphu. A welcome procession known as a chipdrel was planned for their arrival at Thimphu Dzong, a fort monastery that houses the government, the throne room and the Kings offices. The couple will have a private audience with the King and Queen and perhaps meet the baby Dragon Prince, who was born in February and is expected to be named this weekend. Later, William and Kate will experience Bhutans national sport, archery. Participants aim at tiny, brightly decorated wooden targets positioned 475 feet away. (We have a feeling Kate would be a natural.) On Friday, the pair will tackle a challenging five-hour hike in high altitude to Tigers Nest one of the most breathtaking temples in the world and also the most spiritual place in the whole of Bhutan. It is a magical place that The Duke and Duchess are thrilled to be visiting, their spokesman said previously, adding that the trek will allow them to get a real sense of the natural and spiritual beauty of the country. Princess Kate and Prince William have met the Will and Kate of the Himalayas King Jigme and Queen Jetsun of Bhutan. The young British royals met the Dragon King, 36, and the Dragon Queen, 25 who both studied in England before ascending to the throne in the small Himalayan nation. Will and Kate arrived in Bhutan after making a dramatic landing from the cockpit. They had been invited to do so by the King and Queen, PEOPLE was told. Kate glowed in a Paul and Joe cape-style top and a regal skirt made in London from Bhutanese fabric. The fabric for the skirt (called a Throngdrel), woven in Bhutanese tradition, was made by Kelzang Wangmo, a renowned weaver in Thimphu. It was Kates suggestion to source some fabric locally and use it to make a skirt, a royal source tells PEOPLE. Royal Double Date in the Real-Life Magic Kingdom! brightcove.createExperiences(); The royals are in Bhutan to increase links between the two countries. The fact that William, 33, and Kate, 34, are similar ages to the Bhutanese royals means the meeting is an opportunity to create a new link between the nations. Want to keep up with the latest royals coverage? Click here to subscribe to the Royals Newsletter. William and Kate were led to the Thimphu Dzong, the Bhutanese palace, by a Chipdrel procession, a traditional Bhutanese welcoming ceremony. Musicians and drummers lined the red carpet route across the square. Like at the airport, the red carpet had been decorated with intricate designs created from colored rice. Just after William and Kate walked through, gusts of wind swirling around the square whipped up the carpet and tossed the rice away, but it was quickly fixed during the royal couples meeting. The royal couple strolled along the carpet to their meeting with the king and queen of Bhutan. Inside, Kate curtsied and William bowed when they were introduced. The two royal couples then emerged after about 30 minutes and walked through the courtyard and posed in front of a giant thanka, traditional tapestry.The two couples were clearly getting along. When William and the King moved ahead, they went around a corner and paused, waiting for their dawdling wives who were deep in conversation. After their meeting they headed to the temple where they lit butter lamps in the temple. St. Mary's gets win No. 300, Felten sets 8-man kicking record What could have been a game to overlook was a milestone night for Gaylord St. Mary's in its final home game of the regular season. Oil falls as producer meeting will have little binding commitment Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin Pump jacks are seen at the Lukoil company owned Imilorskoye oil field, as the sun sets, outside the West Siberian city of Kogalym, Russia, in this Jan. 25, 2016 file photo. SINGAPORE Petroleumworld.com 04 14 2016 Oil prices fell on Thursday as OPEC warned of slowing demand and Russia hinted that there might only be a loose agreement with little commitments at the upcoming exporter meeting to rein in ballooning oversupply. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs said that productivity gains by U.S. shale producers were keeping alive its "deflationary outlook" for oil prices as drillers manage to adjust to lower prices, and with confidence in the recent price rally fading, traders have positioned themselves for further price falls. Brent crude futures were at $43.59 a barrel at 0642 GMT, down 59 cents, or 1.35 percent from their last close. U.S. crude was down 1.55 percent at $41.10 a barrel. Russian oil minister Alexander Novak told a briefing that a deal on an output freeze scheduled this weekend will be loosely-framed with few detailed commitments. "The agreement will not be very rigidly formulated, it is more of a gentlemen's agreement," one of those present said, paraphrasing Novak's words at the gathering. Another person present said: "there is no plan to sign binding documents." This would make it unlikely that the meeting by exporters in Qatar on Sunday will rein in production of around 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in excess of demand. "We think any agreement actually sets up bearish catalysts for the months ahead," said Morgan Stanley. With the likelihood of a binding freeze by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia fading, analysts will look to the U.S. oil industry to see if lower drilling will result in falling production. Here too, the outlook is for production to remain higher than many expected. "Shale productivity gains remain a key driver of our long-term deflationary outlook for oil prices," said Goldman Sachs. "Our analysis of shale productivity ... (is) broadly in line with our expectations for 3 percent to 10 percent (year-on-year) increases," it added. With no end in sight to the supply glut, much will depend on demand to determine the size of the market's oversupply. While demand has been strong, OPEC on Wednesday cut its 2016 forecast for global growth and warned of further reductions. World demand will grow by 1.20 million bpd in 2016, OPEC said in its monthly report, 50,000 bpd less than expected previously. "Economic developments in Latin America and China are of concern ... Current negative factors seem to outweigh positive ones and possibly imply downward revisions in oil demand growth." Morgan Stanley pointed to several bearish risks for oil, including "significant selling pressure from producer hedging if prices rise... (and) reemerging macro headwinds." The bank said it was "bearish oil prices into 2H16" and that "sustaining a price above $45 WTI in the front will be difficult... into 2017." News / Regional by Melody Baya A BULAWAYO mother and her 18-year-old daughter are each set to perform 315 hours of community service after they teamed up to terminate the teenager's six months pregnancy.Nompilo Bhebhe, 36, and her daughter Simphiwe Bhebhe, 18, were jointly charged with unlawful termination of pregnancy.The court heard that Bhebhe gave her daughter a pill to abort the pregnancy and they then dumped the foetus in a sewer pond.Western Commonage magistrate Themba Chimiso convicted the two women on their own plea of guilty."For your crime you will each perform 315 hours community service at Nkulumane police station," said Chimiso.The court heard that the pair was apprehended after an anonymous caller alerted the police of the crime.Simphiwe told the magistrate that she resorted to abortion because she did not have the means to take care of the child."I admit to the charges being levelled against me. I terminated the pregnancy because I wasn't going to be able to keep the child since my boyfriend denied responsibility," she said.Prosecuting, Kenneth Shava told the court that the abortion was carried out on March 28 at around 9PM."Simphiwe took a pill given to her by her mother and the foetus was expelled from the womb. With the help of the mother she took the foetus and wrapped it in a newspaper and put it in a plastic bag. They disposed of the foetus in sewer pond," said Shava.The prosecutor said Simphiwe was examined by a doctor who confirmed the abortion. News / Regional by Stephen Jakes Comesa has launched a garment making project in Kisumu, Kenya targeting 430 small and medium enterprises at a cost of USD200, 000.Zimbabwe is part of Comesa.Comesa website reported that Assistant Secretary General in Charge of Programmes Dr Kipyego Cheluget said the project based at the Kisumu National Polytechnic Institute will help grow the garment industry and is expected to have a positive impact on the community in that County.He said the introduction of clusters to incubate entrepreneurs would give SMEs a chance to competitively prove themselves across East Africa."This project will provide the youths with skills that will make them self-reliant through self-employment. I urge you to use this opportunity to sharpen your skills, train more people and create jobs. Also focus on registering your businesses," Ambassador Cheluget added.Kisumu National Polytechnic received funding from the Technical Cooperation Facility (TCF) for the formation of a Garment Making Cluster and establishment of a textile and garment incubation centre in Kisumu as part of Implementation of the COMESA Cluster Initiative Programme. The TCF is a facility funded by the European Union and managed by the COMESA Secretariat to provide member States with the necessary technical and financial resources to assist them in implementation the commitments made under the COMESA regional integration agenda.The main aim is to strengthen the process of regional integration in COMESA and to enhance the region's trade competitiveness globally, and promote trade within the region and with the EU. A number of activities have been achieved with this funding, including management training skills of SMEs in garment making, marketing member's products through exhibitions and networking, improving quality of member's products and procurement of state of the art modern equipment with the aim of establishing an incubation centre in the country.Bando Technical Training Institute's Deputy Principal Agripa Oluch, who is the brainchild of the initiative, said they aim at creating up to 20, 000 job opportunities through the project.He said the polytechnic now has machines for all garment making processes that include cutting materials, Sewing, button making among others. Opinion / Columnist It is all very well for WC Field to say, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it." When you are a Zimbabwe opposition politician with no other useful ideas other than the dumb one then try, try again and again and again and make a damn fool of yourself again and again and again.How many Zimbabwe opposition leaders have proposed that, to unseat President Mugabe and his Zanu PF party, the country's opposition political parties should forming a grand coalition? Forming a coalition has become the holy grail of opposition politics; if achieved, the panacea for electoral victory and if not, the ready-made excuse for electoral defeat. Hardly a month will go by without one or two opposition leaders talking about an opposition coalition; Jacob Mafume, the spokesman of Tendai Biti' PDP, is the latest to talk up the opposition coalition."We are talking to all the political parties informally. What we are grappling with now is the creation of a formal negotiating platform that will be announced publicly through the agreed channels, but there are informal talks, there are movements towards an agreement and no party is excluded," Mafume announced.Zimbabwe's opposition parties are notoriously freckle; the parties are known for breaking and splintering into different parties at the drop of a hat. Having broken away they then spend a lot of time and treasure attacking each other with the savagery they have never showed attacking Mugabe. After knocking the political wind out of each other, they then engage in these endless coalition talks!The coalition talks are just a waste of time and treasure because the reason why they split up was not over ideology but because each wanted to be the top-dog and will not accept a subservient role. They could form a coalition to achieve a set objective(s) but since the only objective they really care about is who holding what position; their unity talks get nowhere because they are ultimately about who is the top-dog.The irony is; even if the opposition leaders could be forced to put aside their individual ambitions to be the top-dog and get all the opposition parties to form a grand coalition and unit behind one opposition presidential candidate, one opposition parliamentary candidate, etc.; the opposition electoral victory will still not be assured! Tsvangirai and his MDC party did not lose the July 2013 elections because the opposition vote was fragmented; he lost because President Mugabe blatantly rigged the vote.For example, President Mugabe paid NIKUV, an Israeli company, to tempter with the voters roll so that nearly one million voters' details were not in the constituency they expected and so did not vote. It should be noted that President Mugabe's winning margin was just over one million.Zanu PF controls the whole electoral process and the party has failed to release the voters roll, the smoking gun of the vote rigging, although this is a legal requirement.In the 2008 elections President Mugabe used wanton violence to intimidate, harass, beat, rape and even murder innocent people to force the people to vote for him.With such a well-established and funded vote rigging machinery there is no doubt that Mugabe and Zanu PF are unbeatable! Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were warned not to take part in the July 2013 elections without implemented the democratic reforms necessary to stop President Mugabe rigging the elections but they would not listen.So even an outsider would be baffled with opposition leaders' obsession with forming a coalition and yet have still done nothing now two years since the rigged July 2013 to implement the reforms necessary to stop vote rigging and violence."Do not be puzzled my friend," one would explain. "The opposition cannot deliver free, fair and credible elections and they are therefore making complete fools of themselves, according to CW Fields, taking part in elections knowing will be rigged. Mr Mafume and his fellow opposition leaders are wasting time and treasure pursuing this grand coalition, a red-herring, to hide the fact that they doing nothing to implement the reforms.""In other words Mafume is doing something foolish to hide his foolishness; there is madness in his madness!" Opinion / Columnist It is very mischievous for the former Finance minister, Tendai Biti, to say that President Robert Mugabe has this year alone blown almost $20 million on foreign trips. There is nothing wrong for the Head of State and government to visit other countries as this improves international relations. People who are not patriotic and lack in the national vision criticize these crucial trips as a sanction busting measure.The foreign trips has helped a lot in trying to improve Zimbabwe's tainted and demonized image as mega deals have been made with a number of countries. Landmark deals worth $4 billion dollars signed between Zimbabwe and China will convert provisions of the government's economic blueprint, Zim Asset, into programmes of action.The two nations signed 12 investment agreements covering different sectors of the economy. The deals include financing for the expansion of Hwange Power Station, construction of a new parliament building and a pharmaceutical warehouse, expansion of a national optic broadband project and provision of wildlife mining equipment.Deals were also made with Russia which included the hydro-power plant deal. Russia is part of a group of the world's fastest growing economy that includes Brazil, India, China and South Africa going by the acronym Brics. It is a known fact that Zimbabwe has for the past 15 years, been unable to secure long-term loans to fund infrastructure because it has been in arrears with global lenders IMF and the World Bank.President Mugabe's trips abroad are meant to help the country to come out of the economic quagmire it is in because of the economic sanctions imposed by the West. He is penetrating the international markets, thereby retaining faith in a country under economic and trade sanctions. Taking into cognizance the amount of mega deals made, the alleged $20 million spent is just a drop in the ocean. Moreover, international trips help to improve the country's image and in diplomatic cycles we say that no country can stay in isolation.Biti's efforts to blame President Mugabe's decision making on economic matters is both importune and unfortunate and leads to the conclusion that the leader of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) is a lightweight on issues of economic importance. It seems that he believes that Zimbabwe's economic woes, past and current should be solely laid at the door of one man and his party. He is in a desperate mode to raise his political profile.Biti and the PDP on their own are insignificant coterie of individuals politically; it is who they represent that is a great threat, which is White Western capital. During his hay days in the Inclusive Government as the Finance Minister he used to sanction these trips; and now the grapes are sour. The truth is that this man suffers from an extreme case of premature self-congratulation.It is a shame that Biti and his British counterpart, John Longworth have likened President Mugabe to the embattled British Prime Minister David Cameroon, after his government has been accused of spending 9.3 million pounds of taxpayers' money on a pro-EU mailshot. It is the anti-thesis of reality as the Zimbabwean government does not abuse public money as alleged. In fact the President should try by all means necessary try to lure many investors in order to make Zim Asset a reality. MEDIA QUESTIONNAIRE Name of Publication Established (Give exact date) ADDRESS TELEPHONE FAX NO NAME OF EDITOR Name of Printer Language Frequency Please attach a copy of declaration certificate Off Days Please specify whether morning, evening or state the date of issue Date on which the first issue was brought out Any special edition Price per copy Annual subscription Editorial Objectives and policy Appeal to any special community, class or section News services subscribed to Special regular features (i.e Womens or Children page etc) & when appearing The Mercosur trade offer, which is currently being debated in Brussels, could open the EU market to an increased level of imports from South America, according to AHDB Pork. Based on indications that EU negotiators are preparing to offer some South American countries import quotas for selected agricultural products, AHDB Pork believes there could be an increase in pork imports, although probably at a low level. Potentially more significant, however, could be the prospect of the Mercosur deal setting a precedent for the continuing trade negotiations with the United States. A draft of the EUs offer to Mercosur, due to be tabled next month, reportedly includes an offer of a tariff rate quota for pork, said AHDB Pork. This would allow the Mercosur countries to supply 3,000 tonnes of prime pork cuts and 9,250 tonnes of lower quality pork to the EU, provided it was Ractopamine-free. This would be subject to a 83/tonne levy but this is well below current tariffs, which range from 467 to 869 per tonne, depending on the cut involved. The offer is part of the reopened negotiations with Mercosur, a block of five countries established in 1991, which covers Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. Negotiations over a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Mercosur and the EU had been stalled for some time but the election of a new government in Argentina at the end of last year has allowed them to recommence. Among the Mercosur countries, only Brazil is a significant pork exporter. AHDB Pork added that, if fully utilised, the new quota would more than double EU pork imports, which totalled just 8,000 tonnes in 2015. However, the quantities involved are small relative to overall EU supply levels, so would probably have little impact on the market, said AHDB Pork. Nevertheless, there may be some concern that the offer to Mercosur could set a precedent for negotiations with the United States over the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership. The US is a much larger pork exporter than Brazil and would like access to the EU market. At the moment, there are no clear indications of what the EU might be prepared to offer the US. Get Our E-Newsletter - Pig World's best stories in your in-box twice a week See e-newsletter example Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy From Our Firehouse to Yours COOKS - It is sort of strange how things get started, some projects take a lot of time and thought, others are off the cuff ideas. In the case of... Seul Choix Haunted GULLIVER - The big fundraiser for the Gulliver Historical Society, Haunted Lighthouse is coming this weekend to a real haunted Lighthouse located in Gulliver, Mich. Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse is... Opinion / Columnist As the country celebrates its 36th Independence Day anniversary, this is a time to address a growing tendency by some Zimbabweans to express unwarranted nostalgia for life in Rhodesia while disparaging the gains so far registered under a new Zimbabwe.Such behaviour appears to be borrowed from unrepentant Rhodesians like T. Williams who recently wrote an opinion piece titled: We all miss Rhodesia and Ian Smith, in which he romanticized life in Rhodesia while trashing present life in Zimbabwe.Willams expressed undiluted contempt for the life in Zimbabwe and paints a gory picture of degeneration and desperation among the common people in Zimbabwe.He glorifies the Rhodesian times, saying: "Ian Smith was a hardworking exemplary leader, humble, dedicated and yes he helped built a dynamic country called Rhodesia where everyone had access to food, quality life and plenty of jobs and world class cities with a well-maintained infrastructure."Williams further claims that: "Voters qualified to cast votes by property and educational qualifications. This was a perfect solution to avoid any Jack and Jill who had no clue on country management or economics to cast votes for incompetent leaders like the Moorgabies and Zumas of this world."To place weight on his warped argument, Williams also cited one William Henry Chamberlain, who once described Rhodesia as follows: There were few Police and no soldiers in sight. Many Africans lay stretched out in city parks, quite at easy. Rhodesia was prosperous and every educated person had a chance."What hogwash!Which Rhodesia are these two charlatans hallucinating about?Why paint Rhodesia as a society of equal opportunities?The two deliberately neglected to mention that all the described bliss and boom of that time was a well-guarded reserve of a handful white minority.If blacks were not allowed to visit towns like Harare without a pass and even set foot in First Street, how would they have really "lay stretched out in city parks"?These are all falsehoods.The Rhodesian education system they are so fond of talking about was severely restrictive and stricken with bottlenecks that ensure that only a fistful of Blacks proceeded for secondary education, later alone tertiary education.As unwittingly highlighted by Williams, the education system was also used to disenfranchise the black majority who were disqualified from voting in elections because they did not have any educational qualifications or own any properties in towns.This cannot be compared with the universal suffrage being practiced now, with any adult Zimbabwean ascribed the right to vote in elections to choose the country's leaders.Now Zimbabweans, whether qualified with PhDs or living with Grade seven educations, living in mansions or squatting in the streets, have a democratic right to vote for leaders of their choice in national elections.They have an inviolable right to determine their future, and would not repose their destiny into the hands of a few privileged and educated individuals as was the case in Rhodesia.Government has come up with numerous schemes including free education, Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) and opening up more academic facilities around the country to ensure easy access to education for all.It is only in the liberated Zimbabwe that people of all races could afford to lazy around urban parks not in Rhodesia.In Rhodesia, there was no sleeping in the park as the black majority have to toil and sweat in farms and industries to sustain the luxury of the white minority.While it would be excusable for a die-hard Rhodie like Williams to reminisce about the brutal colonial and racist Rhodesian establishment, it is vexatious and unforgivable for blacks to also glorify the days of Ian Smith.This Rhodie mentality appears to have infested social media talk, with some Zimbabweans born after Independence and without any colonial experience, suggesting that Rhodesia was a better place to independent Zimbabwe.Whether it is jest or real concern, we frown at such low-levels of contempt and ungratefulness to those who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of the country.The independence to tweet and write disdainful opinions on social media is not the one they fought for.Independence came with responsibility and patriotism, the ability to appreciate that despite any challenges that might bedevil the country, patriotic citizens would not rubbish their freedom to wish for the bondage of colonialism.No-matter how the Americans or Europeans are bombed or savaged by terrorists, we have never heard them reminiscing for the dark eras in history.In fact those challenges have an effect to coalesce them against their adversaries.We cannot accept those who belittle our country and attack our leaders in the safety of the independence they are rubbishing.Our independence was hard-won and should be cherished and given due respect.No amount of suffering should spur people to wish for colonialism.Happy Independence Day Zimbabwe. I believe these two statements are actually at odds with each other. Consensus for human spaceflight is very difficult, given the lack of an external authority to unite the community or even being able to clearly define what the human spaceflight community actually is. And given the current nature of partisanship in the United States, achieving consensus for the human spaceflight program might actually be undermined by strong actions of a President attempting to provide clarity to NASA. To see how this happens, I recommend reading the book Beyond Ideology by Frances Lee. The authors larger premise is that issues having no intrinsic relation to stated party ideology have become increasingly polarized in recent years. This is a function of the two party nature of our political system. If your party coalition wins, the other one loses. Its zero-sum. Your party can win in one of two ways: you can make a better pitch to voters by demonstrating the superiority of your agenda; or you can undermine and stymie the agenda of the opposition party, making them unpopular with voters, and pick up the seats that they lose. Since youre the only other political party, you gain in either scenario. Im not sure if youve noticed, but the undermine and stymie approach has been popular for quite some time now in the U.S. Congress. Given this situation, the President and their policies naturally become the symbolic target of the opposition party. Anything promoted by the President effectively induces opposition by association. Lee demonstrates the magnitude of this induced polarization on various types of issues. For highly polarized issues like the role of government in the economy, or social issues, the impact is minimalthe opposition has already been clearly defined and generally falls into clearly defined ideologies of the Republican and Democratic parties. But for issues that do not fit readily into a predefined political ideologylike spacethe induced polarization by the President can be significant. In fact, Lee showed that space, science, and technology issues incur the greatest increase in partisanship based on their inclusion in the Presidential agenda. One need only look to at the responses by political operatives of the opposing party to the strong human spaceflight proposals by Barack Obama in 2010, George W. Bush in 2004, and George H.W. Bush in 1989 to see this reflected in recent history. This isnt to say that Presidents cant have a significant impact on the space program. Clearly they can. But the broad consensus needed for stability after their departure from office may be undermined by the very priority they gave it during their tenure. It what amounts to a mixed blessing for NASA, the U.S. space program does have an unusually strong bipartisan group of politicians who support the program due to NASA centers in a variety of states throughout the union. Berger notes this throughout his article, and it does, in a way, act as force that is resistant to change for good and bad. This mitigates somewhat the pure polarization seen on other science and technology issues. But for a Journey to Marsa major effort that would, at best, require stability and significant funding over many Presidential administrationsthat may not be enough. Perhaps the solution is for the next President to maintain a light touch on space. Maybe they should speak softly through the budget process, and avoid the Kennedyesque speeches and declarations to Congress that induce the types of partisanship we so dearly need to avoid. Opinion / Columnist While I appreciate efforts meant to mount pressure on the Mugabe regime and not taking away MDC-T's achievements so far, i beg to differ with the people who think that the MDC-T is the only game in town because they mobilised hundreds in Harare for fundraising purposes.Its not about the demonstrations that show or measure an election outcome.The same Mdct has less than 20 seats in a 210 chamber in Zimbabwe because they are just hollow in terms of strategy and leadership.The mdct alone will never beat Robert Mugabe in an election unless and until they swallow their pride and agree that they cannot make a breakthrough alone.An equally balanced coalition at this stage is the best way to go and if Morgan Tsvangirai concludes that the Thursday demonstration signifies 2018 victory alone then he will be leaving in a fools' paradise and shall die as an opposition leader.Tsvangirai is not what the doctor ordered for Zimbabwe and is not the kind of a leader Zimbabwe wants.The real winning team is coming and there is no going back and he has to be part of the team but not as a striker at the moment because we all helped him to get where he is today and he failed to score though he thinks that he should be credited with the formation of the MDC.The crowd that the MDC-T mobilised in Harare does not point to victory in 2018 and followers should not lie or mislead him into believing that the rented crowd means anything at this point.This is another greedy and selfish move meant to loot funds from unsuspecting donors who are on the brink of releasing money to Morgan Tsvangirai's project for salaries and Tsvangirai's consumption.A lonely project like this remains divisive especially if it does not involve some of the civic groups in the countryThere is a lot taking place behind the scenes bigger than the mdct's fundraising crowd.There is nothing that Zimbabwe wants from Morgan Tsvangirai even if he mobilises the whole of HarareThat is not the crowd expected for Tsvangirai and without any other alliances this to me means nothing.As a loyal citizen of Zimbabwe i salute initiatives that are reportedly being taken by pro democracy forces such as Zapu,Mavambo,NCA,Zunde,RDZ,PDP and the MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube. Continuing on the theme of silicic areas, the Lunar Volcanism session on Tuesday afternoon had quite a few talks on silicic volcanism! Most volcanism on the Moon is basaltic (the dark areas you see when you look up at the Moon are extensive basalt flows), but a few rare volcanic complexes on the Moon have silicic compositions. Silicic lavas produce lighter-colored rocks like granite and rhyolite. They have lower density, lower eruption temperatures, and higher viscosity than basaltic lavas, and are considered a "more evolved" form of volcanism that happened late in lunar history. The morphology, enhanced thorium concentration, high reflectance, and spectral signatures of these features indicate they are silicic in composition. Samples of granitic materials have been found in the Apollo sample suite, so we know that these types of rocks exist on the Moon. Walter Kiefer, Staff Scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, has been using GRAIL gravity data to determine the crustal density, and therefore constrain composition, at Hansteen Alpha and the Gruithuisen Domes. Both of these complexes have lower bulk densities than basaltic mare areas. The lower density could result from a different (silicic) composition, but it could also be caused by porosity from vesicles or pyroclastics, up to 10% porosity. Kiefer suggested that albite, orthoclase, and quartz are the most likely minerals at Gruithuisen Domes and Hansteen Alpha. Silicic volcanics are near and dear to my own heart. I presented my work using high-resolution Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) images to study how silicic regions reflect light differently when viewed from different angles. This is a powerful tool for understanding the mineralogy and compositional and physical properties of planetary surfaces. I created maps of the light-reflecting properties, also known as single-scattering albedo, of two silicic regions: the Compton Belkovich Volcanic Complex (CBVC) and Hansteen Alpha. The single scattering albedo is strongly related to composition and mineralogy, and these maps allow us to see variations in albedo properties, and therefore composition, on 1-meter scales. In the map for a portion of the CBVC, pictured here, higher albedo values (yellow and orange) correspond to areas with less iron and titanium than areas with lower albedo values (greens and blues). Traffic on Chicago's Eisenhower Expressway was disrupted Tuesday night when a Black Lives Matter vigil held over the death of a 16-year-old turned into a march, reports UPI. Several lanes of the expressway were blocked, and two protesters were arrested. The march was preceded by a Black Lives Matter vigil mourning the death of 16-year-old Pierre Loury, who was shot and killed on Monday by Chicago police. Police stopped a car Monday evening that matched the description of one sought in an earlier shooting. Pierre jumped out of the car and tried to flee the scene on foot. Chicago Chief of Detectives Eugene Roy said an "armed confrontation" followed, in which officers shot Pierre, whom police describe as a documented gang member, after he allegedly pointed a gun at police. Police said a weapon was recovered. A witness claims he saw officers "high five" one another after Pierre was shot down. Another witness said Pierre was climbing a fence when he was shot. Pierre was pronounced dead at a local hospital due to gunshot wounds to the chest. His death was ruled a homicide. "We do believe that this individual turned and pointed the handgun at the officer the handgun was recovered at the scene where the young man was shot," 1st Deputy Supt. John Escalante told reporters. The officer who fired his gun has been placed on administrative duties for 30 days. Opinion / Columnist If Robert Mugabe is counted a war veteran is it any wonder that war veteran' word is losing meaning and sense of purpose among Zimbabweans as strongly aligned to corruption, adulteration of the word sacrifice, cruelty and selfishness. How else will history be written for our children to learn if for thirty-six years and beyond none told Mr. Mugabe Zimbabwe was not a personal property to be gambled with, used for selfish desires of an individual or a handful in any name than by the collective, us all, we, the Zimbabweans?Farm grabbing in 2000 by all who wielded political power, even if it appeared politically correct was illegal, chaotic, not an empowerment of the people whatsoever and an introduction to jungle law by authorities in Zanu pf. Undeniably, though, Mr. Mugabe by powers delegated him in Zanu as first Secretary of the party sanctioned the farm grabbing as was with many other unfair practices perpetuated by Zanu thereafter in Zimbabwe.Only from those who benefited and are benefiting unlawfully from Mr.Mugabe's being in power, is the glory of Mugabe survival, even though he is now frail and aged beyond capacity and willing to retire anyhow if retirement is such that he will not be in danger of the sins' he committed while in power. It is true that people liked and even admired Robert Mugabe in the 1980s as also it is true to realize that he eroded leadership goodwill either by surrounding himself with weakness or revealing who he really was through the length and breadth of time.There is neither exaggeration at all in the late James Chikerema nor malice when he observed that from young days Robert Mugabe was selfish and would, when angered at the meadows, take his cattle away from the village pastures and gather them in meadows far off others. He only came back into the fold of others when he felt his views were receiving respect. No doubt, such tributes weigh heavily towards the Machiavellian character of domination and Plato's autocratic tendencies that have since proven true of Mugabe's drive for political power. More testimonies on Mugabe behavior, unsuited to leadership, will come out more now that he exceeded limits of valuing other people in his life except him, his new' wife and kids.None, whatsoever in Zimbabwe can explain why Mr. Mugabe would not stand those who criticise him even when they are harmless peasants whose lives drive joy from the humour of ridiculing each other as a pattern of traditional life style (Kunemera in Shona) without any malicious intent at all: Except attribute it to cruelty. It is absurd for anyone suggesting that Mr. Mugabe favours dragging of peasants or ordinary people into courts for bemusing each other in busses or in rural areas by imitating him or observing on some of his ugly acts of the past. It is a fact that some surrogates have sought favour and promotions through heinous and cruel means hiding behind his name, have also surrounded him with a higher-than-mighty-image' agenda. In addition, it is true that absolute power can only account for his being so corrupt today.The eyes of the ordinary Zimbabwean hold Mr. Mugabe with mixed feelings simply because even though some pockets of masses go silent, they watched and saw loved ones die at the hands of Mugabe surrogates. They are silent because they fear facing reprisals through political witch-hunt. The parents and children, who for example, are beneficiaries to the Zanu scholarship program, would say nothing ill against the system that feed them. The scholarship program is a system that benefits few randomly selected to go to Universities in South Africa mainly. Scholarship programs from president office bear no record of other political parties affiliated youths as recipients, indicative that the program is a political tool to buy support.Families with children who are recipients of Zanu scholarships through president's office no doubt are selected based on being party cardholders. In spite of this gift by president, many students on completion of school will not go back to Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has no jobs, security is not guaranteed, and freedom of speech and association is virtually absent except you are aligned to Zanu political party. The young generation view Mr. Mugabe as a man who cannot keep promise in building a robust economy but would not voice the opinion openly for fear of political witch-hunt and abuse by his state machinery.The media considers Mr. Mugabe and Zanu as headmasters who inspect prints every day and use strict editing policy based on Zanu ideology and more for pandering to president hate speeches on westen nations, sanctions and black puppets from whom he divorces himself as a radical and revolutinary'. The media knows no peace on its corridors except banishment as was the case with the 1990s Daily news demise for being an objective reporting newspaper on all events without favor.The judiciary has had its turn of scrutiny evidenced by the exit of many judges who flew out of the country to seek asylum in Africa, Australia, Britain, America, and Canada in fact everywhere. The Human Rights Watch in New York has written extensively of the 2000s acts of witch-hunting on the judiciary by the Mugabe regime. The impression painted is that Zimbabwe did not care much about the loss of skills for as long as the lonesome president Mugabe is secure. Zimbabwe is a one-man leader' nation dictated by the hierarchy of army surrogates confessing patriotism through war veterans qualification excluding every other Zimbabwean who was not in the liberation struggle even though Mr. Mugabe never carried a gun in combat.The rest are fence skaters simply because the mode through which a nation has gone for the thirty-six years of Zanu rule were characterised with heinous crime, favouritism and corruption sanctioned from the top most office in the land that is oppressive and frightful to talk on let alone oppose. For all its mistakes in poor governance and human abuse, Zanu government has blamed everything on western governments and the limited sanctions imposition of the 2000s. Yet within and among Zimbabweans much has gone on without transparency or account.No one, for example, has explained fully the plight of Rushiwe Guzha disappearing and death in 1990, who then was working in the president office as typist. Much gossip and rumors surrounded Rashiwe Guzha death and the sad reality is like many others after her, she died in the hands of state agents. If people were not afraid to face punishment and death sentences clandestinely, much would have come into the open on this young woman's fate, which I hope will one day soon be public information.State implication as suspect in the case remain alive in the eyes and minds of many Zimbabweans and the chief witness then deputy director of Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) Edson Shirihuru died three years later in August of 1993. He seems to have died with the story of what happened to Rashiwe because since then the story had cold water on it to this day. The truth on human loss would require revelation to give final restitution to the poor souls who died innocently. Many of these poor souls must have died possibly as cover up to wrongs committed elsewhere in government, by government officials under the watch of Mr. Robert Mugabe, however, out of the poor souls' control.In 2000 Patrick Nyabanyana, then David Coltart election agent, was dragged out of home by state agents at night and was never seen since. There was no state of security emergency in the country to warrant invasion of a citizen at night for purposes of arrest except as acts of vandalism authored by the government itself. In 2007 a freelance cinematographer formerly working for state TV was, suspected for having released Morgan Tsvangirai savage beatings of 2007 to the world media; abducted by plain-clothes men and found dead 80kms out of Harare two days later. In 2008 among numerous atrocities committed to many innocent citizens in the country during presidential election between Robert Mugabe of Zanu and Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC, Tonderai Ndira was taken from his house by masked eight armed men and found dead a week later.The president never personally said anything on all the series of people abducted and possibly murdered in cold blood. Rest assured, that apart from its illiteracy in terms of anxiety to read newspapers, the ordinary people-masses- are frightened from too much negativity on these developments and only know that it is an offense to talk about these occurrences, let alone, gather to converse on any of these issues except privately. History will bear the fact that the radio station in Zimbabwe do not dwell or even talk about such disappearances or abductions of human rights activists, a clear indictment of their guilty since they are under government control as well as the newspapers.In 2009, March Jestina Mukoko a Zimbabwe Peace Project director was abducted together with a baby at night from her home in Harare. The pattern of abduction is clear. Those abducted by government agents are vocal individuals against social injustice in the government of Zanu to one-ill act by government or others publicly committed acts of injustice given publicity through media or during an open demonstration. Government has a record of ill-treating persons who come together to speak or demonstrate against mistakes committed by any department of the president. Evidence is there that the 2004 criminal Procedure and Evidence Amended Act #14 was drafted with punishing those who may be interpreted as having crimes acting in a demeanor demeaning the person of president. There are excesses in this law that may be in violation of freedom of people rights.Jestina Mukoko who the government had emphatically denied abducting, was later on traced into police custody and finally released. Her stories on the torrid interviews she encountered and the sadistic postures of the torturing forces of Mugabe's CIO are more savage than any terroristic organization will effect on its captives. It is beyond imagination how abuse of power can convert humans into animals without heart and feelings for each other. Jestina is still well and alive to give life testimony and naturally, the case against government abduction on her citizens and causing terror on citizens is and can open any time. A case on crime against humanity is possible given different terror approaches given on petrified relatives of those who disappeared and are living and lived in a state of fear.Too many cases are against Zanu government on abuse of humans. A year ago in March 2015 Itai Dzamara abduction was in daylight. Itai Dzamara , who was forced into a vehicle from a barbershop receiving a haircut has since never seen again. His whereabouts are still unknown. The perception people have of President Robert Mugabe ranges from that of ugly and cruel to modest depending on the treatment relations have received in the last thirty-six years of Zimbabwe independence from the government secret agents.The tendency to trivialize life loss in Zimbabwe hardens as more and more pressure mounts on the poor governance and human rights records against Mr. Mugabe as a person and single feasted leader of a beleaguered Zimbabwe.Zimbabwe and in particular Mr. Mugabe perception on political opposition grew from cold to callous and then brutality. The presence of Lt. Colonel Magistu Mariam, former dictator of Ethiopia, must have strengthened the resolve of Mugabe to stay on in power even to the point of death. Grace Mugabe helped inject wild ambition to an aged elderly man who graciously should have rested by now pending a natural waste in life.Today Zimbabwe cannot go quiet no matter how terrifying Mugabe surrogates may work to drive fear into minds and lives of citizens. There can be more room to store fear in the hearts and minds of Zimbabweans more so after thirty-six years of gruesome cruelty torture and helplessness and massive exodus. Help never came from the neighbour South Africa. Instead, suffering increased then concealed by Thabo Mbeki and today still so under watch of Jacob Zuma. Southern Africa will not be free if connivance of dictators continues.What is not known by many on Zimbabwe remains in the hearts and minds of the peasants who one day will ell their stories to a Commission on Truth on Mugabe and his thirty-six years of ruin. In one of the languages called Shona there is a proverb: 'Zvinozikanwa neivu kuti mwana wembeva unongwara" Translated into English it will mean: Only the soil knows the welfare of the baby rat. Zimbabwe is like an underground world. Even though open into the world, only those bruised by Mugabe brutality and poor governance can tell the story eloquently. Officials at the California Correctional Institution (CCI) in Tehachapi are investigating an assault that ended with a correctional officer being stabbed in the head, reports KERO. At 7:03 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, inmate Durrell Puckett, 30, summoned correctional staff to his cell. While speaking with staff, Puckett covered his cell door window so the officers could not see what he was doing. A medical emergency was announced, and as staff entered the cell, Puckett threw an unknown substance on them, officials said. He then used an inmate-manufactured weapon to stab a correctional officer in the head, according to officials. The officer was taken to an outside hospital where she was treated for abrasions and lacerations. She was released from the hospital that evening and is recovering at home. Staff used physical force, an extraction shield, pepper spray, and baton strikes to subdue Puckett. He was transported to a separate outside hospital and treated for a laceration to the back of his head. He was transferred to Corcoran State Prison and has been housed in the Administrative Segregation Unit pending an investigation. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Ted Cruz came off more like Richard Nixon than warm First Family material at a weird CNN town hall. The Cruz family is way ahead of the Trumps from the beginning because Sen. Cruzs small daughters looked scared to be at the town hall. They looked like real little girls, not some overly rehearsed adults who were trying to sell the country on Trump as a family man and a president. Heidi Cruz talked out being blessed and meeting other families that shared their values. Heidi Cruz told a questioner that American needs more principled people running for office. Our first moment of hypocrisy came when Mrs. Cruz told the questioner that she needs to be herself because voters want authenticity. This insight came from a woman whose husband was caught on tape admitting to donors that his core values are a fraud. Sen. Cruz tried to blame his New York values comment on Donald Trump. Cruz ran into the same problem that plagued Trump at the family town hall. Ted Cruz is creepy, kept delivering a stump speech, and showed little warmth. In fact, Cruz was rather creepy. His ambition for the White House was obvious and spent more time in the first thirty minutes of the town hall attacking New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio than talking about his family. In the second half hour, Sen. Cruz did talk about meeting his wife. He called it love at first sight, and said that she was his soulmate. He talked about the early days of their relationship. Heidi Cruz said she let her husband tell the story because he loves telling the story. Heidi Cruz said Ted Cruz is an incredible listener who cares about what is in your heart. Cruz did talk about games he plays with his daughters, and how they get their good night hugs. Unlike Trump, Cruz seems to actually interact with his children in a non-professional capacity. Cruz went back to his talking points when asked about personal attacks on family. Cruz went back to attacking Trump and calling for more presidential debates. Heidi Cruz delivered the family talking points on freedom and security. She played the working mom card and hinted that Obama has made America less safe. The problem with these Republican town halls that focus on family is the Republican presidential candidates all lack personality and warmth. Listening to Cruz was a bit like imaging Richard Nixon trying to do an interview on Ellen. The CNN town halls were supposed to have a humanizing element to them, but instead they revealed that the Republican candidates lack empathy for the rest of the country. It was telling when asked Heidi and Ted Cruz could name an obstacle that they have had to overcome. The Ted Cruz town hall was a bizarre voyage into Republican family values land. Compared to Donald Trumps out of touch bunch, the Cruz family looked like the better choice for Republicans. However, Heidi and Ted Cruz related as well to ordinary Americans as Ann and Mitt Romney did with an equal ability to creep people out. Not even by an appearance on stage by the Cruz daughters could save the day, as the Republican presidential candidates are just too strange to pull off these family town halls. Heidi Cruz blamed the news media and Washington insiders for the unlikable image of her husband, but the truth is that Ted Cruz isnt likable because he acts like the demon love child of Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print * The following is an opinion column by R Muse * Americans hear Republicans talk about President Obama not doing anything to confront or combat the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, IS, Daesh) and pledge that the extremists are only getting stronger and more dangerous because America is impotent with a Democrat in the White House. However, the facts do not substantiate the Republican warmongers assertions and in fact, ISIS is losing ground and substantial assets due to Americas actions. The Pentagon reported that just American airstrikes alone have killed 25,000 Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria; with no American boots on the ground. Add to those statistics, American bombs have also incinerated millions of dollars plundered by the militants. The Pentagon reports that Americas air campaign targeting oil fields, refineries, and tanker trucks have also cut ISIS oil revenue by a third. Because of Americas air power, Iraqi and Kurdish forces recaptured 40 percent of the land ISIS seized in Iraq, and with backing from the West, friendly forces have taken back a significant amount of Syrian territory that had been controlled by the Islamic State forces. Of course that is good news, and even better is that the feat was accomplished with a concerted multi-national forces effort and without American troops fighting and dying on the ground. However awesome the battlefield successes are, America and its allies military superiority cannot stop the extremists spread into Europe, North Africa, Turkey and Afghanistan. American officials, terrorism experts, and military leaders are cautious about predicting progress or success on the ground because the fighting is likely to go on for years. And it is likely not going to always be on the ground (battlefield). During testimony in front of a congressional committee this week, Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said, Even as we advance our efforts to defeat Daesh (ISIS et al) on the front lines, we know that to be fully effective, we must work to prevent the spread of violent extremism in the first place to stop the recruitment, radicalization and mobilization of people, especially young people, to engage in terrorist activities. Experts advise that the best course now is not focusing all the attention on a pseudo-state in the Middle East whose fighters have proved susceptible to American airpower. The United States and its European allies must now also engage in a far more complex struggle against homegrown militants who need relatively few resources to sow bloodshed in the West. Whatever one thinks about the intelligence community, part and parcel of that complex struggle is a very robust intelligence gathering program to track communications, and especially what little finances ISIS extremists are using to fund Western terrorists. According to a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Treasury Department now at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, Jonathan Schanzer said, Defeating the formal military presence of a terrorist group will not significantly mitigate the threat of lone wolf or small independent cells that are based in the West. Attacks in the West are cheap to finance. Mr. Schanzer estimated that the terror attacks in Belgium cost from $10,000 to $15,000 for the lab and materials to make the explosives used in Brussels attack. It is a huge mistake to portray, as many officials have, the recent terror attacks in Europe and Turkey as clear evidence that the Islamic State is getting desperate as a result of its losses on the battlefield. Real experts rightly claim that attacks off the battlefield are yet another indication that like Al Qaeda and the Taliban, the Islamic State is not a problem that will be quickly or easily overcome with military might alone. Probably because like the other Middle Eastern extremists, and like religious groups and bigots plaguing America; ISIS is fundamentally a desperate ideology that knows no borders and has no national identity. As the Deputy Secretary of State said, the only fully effective way to prevent the spread of violent extremism in the first place is to stop the recruitment, radicalization and mobilization of people. That wise counsel should have been heeded by the Bush administration after 911, and it contrasts with current Republican candidates idea of combatting violent extremism; their approach is helping ISIS recruit, radicalize, and mobilize people to launch attacks in the West. Here is the primary difference between an intelligent human being and all Republicans. A little over a year ago when an ISIS leader published a laundry list of directions telling the West precisely how to aid the Islamic State in recruiting and radicalizing activists in Europe and America, President Obama stayed the course and condemned Republicans for attacking the Muslim community. Republicans, on the other hand, seemingly read the extremists instructions carefully and immediately followed directions to the letter. And, it is not just Donald Trump portraying all Muslims, including American Muslims, as the devil or targeting them like Americas mortal enemies. Many Republicans have incited frightened Americans into singling out the Muslim community for scorn and suspicion in their homes, workplaces and where they worship. That demonization of Muslims no doubt had some influence on the terrorists that launched the mass shooting attack in San Bernardino; an attack that was precisely what the ISIS leaders promised would happen if the West followed ISIS directions carefully. There is no easy solution to stop the spread of extremist ideology and it is worth noting yet again that without a Republican president invading and occupying Iraq and exterminating three-quarters-of-a-million innocent Muslim civilians, there would be no ISIS. It is why President Obamas approach to cleaning up Bushs mess has had a measure of success in and around Iraq and America has not suffered the type of home-grown terrorist attacks witnessed in France, Belgium, and Turkey. Unlike threats from Republicans, President Obama is not ordering carpet bombing to kill the guilty and innocent alike, deploying tens-of-thousands of troops as an invasion and occupying force, or contemplating dropping a nuclear bomb on extremists like leading Republicans threaten. Regardless of what Republicans claim, President Obama is combatting ISIS and winning. However, no-one will be able to stop ISIS attacks on the West, or America, until idiots stop helping ISIS recruit, radicalize and mobilize people to strike back at being targeted for having the wrong color of skin or not worshipping in the local evangelical church. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Democrats have taken action against the Republican plot to steal the 2016 election by filing a lawsuit against Arizona Republican officials over their voter suppression tactics. A DNC press release described the lawsuit: The Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee are filing a joint lawsuit in the United States District Court of Arizona on Friday on behalf of voters affected by voting irregularities resulting from the actions of state officials. The suit is a response to decisions that caused extremely long lines and needlessly disenfranchised voters, especially minority voters, during the states March 22nd presidential primary election, and includes affected voters, Former Chairman and First President of the Navajo Nation Peterson Zah, the Arizona Democratic Party, and the Ann Kirkpatrick for Senate campaign as plaintiffs. Among those named as defendants in the suit are the Arizona Secretary of State, Michele Reagan, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and the Maricopa County Recorder, Helen Purcell. In particular, the suit cites the states decision to drastically reduce the number of voting locations, forcing thousands of voters to wait in lines for up to five hours, as well as the states arbitrary rejection of provisional ballots at alarming rates, especially those cast by Hispanic voters. In Maricopa County alone, which has a large Hispanic population, more than 2,800 ballots were rejected in 2014. Furthermore, the suit points out that more minority voters will likely be disenfranchised in future elections as the direct result of a new state law enacted in March, which makes it a felony for one voter to turn in a signed, sealed ballot to the county registrar on behalf of another voter. These policies taken together have imposed onerous burdens on Arizona voters generally and Maricopa County voters specifically, and threaten to drag the state backwards when it comes to discrimination. The Hillary Clinton presidential campaign also announced that they have joined the lawsuit, We share the concerns of Arizona supporters of both campaigns who encountered barriers and appreciate the DSCC and DNCs willingness to let us join the case as a party. After reports that Arizona Republicans intentionally did not have enough polling stations open in Maricopa County, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said, In the United States of America, democracy is the foundation of our way of life. And what happened in Arizona is a disgrace. I hope that every state in this country learns from that and learns how to put together a proper election where people can come in and vote in a timely manner and go back to work. The lawsuit puts Republicans all across the country on notice that they are not going to be able to carry out their plans to steal the 2016 election unchallenged. Democrats are to the Republican voter suppression tricks. Arizona is the first is what is expected to be a series of lawsuits against state Republican plots to rig the vote. Republicans have decided that if they cant win the vote, theyll steal it. Democrats are ready, and the lawsuit in Arizona sends a strong message that this election wont be stolen. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is praising a decision by a Connecticut judge to allow the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre to sue the gun manufacturer. After Judge Barbara Bellis denied a motion from the gun manufacturers to dismiss a case brought by the families of the Sandy Hook massacre victims, Hillary Clinton said, Todays ruling in Connecticut is an important step forward for these families, who are bravely fighting to hold irresponsible gun makers accountable for their actions. They deserve their day in court. Period. Unfortunately, PLCAA the sweeping immunity law that protects gun manufacturers and dealers still remains a major obstacle for these families and others seeking to hold these gun companies accountable. That is why, as president, I would lead the charge to repeal this law. Nothing can make these families whole again after losing their children and loved ones in Sandy Hook, but they deserve a president who will fight for them, and I am committed to doing just that. The presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders has yet to release a statement on the decision, but in the past Sanders has said that he is not in favor of the gun manufacturers being sued for selling a legal product. Gun policy has been a major point of difference between the two Democratic presidential campaigns. It is a near certainty that this topic will be brought up at the CNN Democratic debate. The Sandy Hook families deserve justice. The American people should not sit back and accept the slaughter of children as the new normal, and the Judges ruling is a step towards holding the gun manufacturers accountable for the products that they produce and sell. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print So did you hear the one about Republican presidential candidate John Kasich and the students of the Talmud? Sadly, its not a joke. It does have a punchline of sorts. Whether its funny or not depends on your point of view. While campaigning in New York Tuesday, in what Jewish Insiders Jacob Kornblush calls a pre-Passover learning tour in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, Kasich first had a debate with Ezra Friedlander a Democrat by the way about who is the most admired person in the Torah. Friedlander: I would say, Moses. Kasich: What about Abraham? What happened to Abraham? Friedlander, as Kornbluh relates, then explained that the story of the Jewish people accepting the Torah from G-d started when they left Egypt led by Moses. To which Kasich responded: What are you talking about? Get outta here. The story of the people are Abraham when God made a covenant with Abraham, not Moses. Friedlander: Yeah, but you know what? In our prayers, we do mention Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (here Kasich interrupts with, Yeah, like they were important) but we refer to the laws as the laws of Moses and Israel. So, Moses is up there. Opportunity to look the fool rained down on Kasich like manna from heaven, for he then ran across the group of Hasidic yeshiva students. Now, as Wikipedia will tell you, yeshiva is a Jewish institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. This gave Kasich an opportunity to show the world just how clumsily he can handle himself around non-Christians. And its not like the world is full of those, or anything. This is how Kornbluh describes the encounter: What are you studying? he asked. Talmud, one student replied. Okay, but what are you learning now? Kasich pressed. Shabbat laws, they said. Do you know who I like? Joseph, Kasich started lecturing them. Now as Judaism 101 will tell you, or as you no doubt can figure out for yourself, Shabbat corresponds to Sabbath and what they were studying were laws concerning the Sabbath. As any Christian should know from a reading of the New Testament, there are some laws concerning this topic laws Jesus himself ran afoul of. Perhaps Kasich doesnt know this. Perhaps he doesnt care. Perhaps he just likes to hear himself talk. So he said, You study Joseph? What do you think about Joseph? Did you hear what was the most important thing Joseph said to his brothers? My brothers, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Did you know that? This facepalm moment was followed immediately by another: They sold [Joseph] into slavery, and thats how the Jews got to Egypt. Right? Did you know that? No, I bet they didnt know that. They only study it all day long. Watch courtesy of Jacob Kornbluh: What is as distressing as Kasichs derisive tone is his refusal to look at the man who is talking to him, Friedlander as you can see from the screen capture above, or from the video, if you have the intestinal fortitude to subject yourself to it. As Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine quipped, this is a bit like visiting MIT, wandering into a physics lab, and asking people if they ever heard of this guy named Isaac Newton. Only a Republican Naturally, this caused some mirth on Twitter, where Tablet Magazine editor Yair Rosenberg tweeted, John Kasich meeting Hasidic yeshiva students and explaining biblical stories to them is my new everything: https://t.co/W3bTjTyhy9 Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) April 13, 2016 There is another side to this of course, and not everybody had a negative reaction. Friedlander, perhaps being polite, perhaps enjoying the public discomfiture of a Republican candidate, or perhaps just amused, said he enjoyed the impromptu theological discussion. But the rest of us are trying to picture this moment with Kasich and a group of Muslims instead. Jamelle Bouie, Slates chief political correspondent, tweeted I think it says a lot about Kasich and none of it is good. None indeed. Never were the differences between the polished and erudite Barack Obama and your average Republican candidate more apparent than in these exchanges. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are not exceptions to the rule, but rather examples of it. And Kasich proved you dont have to be a Donald Trump to be an oaf and a clod where, not the policies of the state of Israel, but actual Jewish people are concerned. Portfolio English Edition's premium content is available only for subscribers Learn about the hottest news of the day, along with immediate follow-up analyses and 1000's of exclusive articles with full access to the premium content. Register and apply for a 14 days free trial period. On what seems like a daily basis, Minnesotans are lectured against the evils of Islamophobia. In October, Gov. Mark Dayton weirdly instructed white, B-plus, Minnesota-born citizens to suppress their qualms about immigrant resettlement in Minnesota, according to the St. Cloud Times. If they cant, they should find another state, he added. Andrew Luger, the United States Attorney for Minnesota is a paragon of political correctness who has inveighed against the current wave of Islamophobia and has stayed on the attack. Yesterday Luger and others gathered at the prestigious Minneapolis law firm Dorsey & Whitney to decry Islamophobia. Walter Mondale is of counsel at the firm and was a featured speaker at the event. The Star Tribune reports on the proceedings in Minneapolis legal community, Somali-Americans latest to unite to confront Islamophobia. The Twin Cities have received thousands of Somali Muslim immigrants in the past 20 years or so. Their presence is conspicuous, yet signs of bigotry against them are virtually nil. The star victim on display at the Dorsey & Whitney conference yesterday was Asma Jama (middle name Mohamed, by the way). Jama was assaulted by a patron at a local Applebees who flew into a rage because she spoke a foreign language. Jama speaks Swahili. The perpetrator of the assault on Jama was one Jodie Burchard-Risch. Burchard-Risch is a nut who has probably had to push 1 for English one too many times. The Star Tribune provides no evidence for deeming her an anti-Muslim bigot. (MPR has a good account of the assault here, with photos.) So far as I can tell, Islamphobia had nothing to do with the assault. Indeed, Im going to go out on a limb and guess wildly that alcohol was a substantial contributing factor to the incident. And when it comes to Islamophobia, this was the best they could do, so to speak. Islamophobia is a concept fervently promoted since 2000 by the Organization of the Islamic Conference. It seeks to stigmatize expressions of disapproval of Islam as irrational manifestations of fear and prejudice. Implicitly, it raises the question of whether any fear of Islam is necessarily crazy. It also raises the question of whether some fear of Islam might be rational, but it instructs us to keep any unapproved answer to ourselves. It seeks to make us afraid to talk about perfectly reasonable fears. Andrew McCarthy has more on the provenance and uses of Islamophobia here. Since the early 1990s, Minnesota has been flooded by waves of Somali Muslim refugees and immigrants. The number remains in doubt; official sources place it at something like 35,000. Unofficial estimates put it at well over 100,000. Whatever the number, it is large and growing. Politicians like Dayton have proved highly effective in inhibiting public discussion of legitimate concerns about Minnesotas Somali community. When I sat down to interview Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek in his office this past November, he bristled in response to my question about security issues related to the Somali community. Why was I focusing on that community? I referred to the congressional task force report recognizing Minnesotas responsibility for 26 percent of the American fighters joining or seeking to join the ISIS. I just came from an FBI briefing this morning, Stanek told me at the time. They told me were 20 percent. OK, but that still leaves Minnesota at No. 1 in a ranking where we would like to be No. 50. Ten Minnesota Somalis have now been charged by Lugers office with seeking to join or support ISIS. Four have pleaded guilty. The charges represent the culmination of a 10-month FBI investigation. Reading the criminal complaints and underlying FBI affidavits supporting the charges in these cases is an alarming experience. The young men who have responded to the call of ISIS are full of hate for Americans and for the U.S. If they choose to act it out somewhere closer to home than Syria, we will have a major problem on our hands. After the massacre in San Bernardino, youd think it might be time to talk about it. The 10 men present something of a case study that belies the cliches around the subject of radicalization. These men were connected to schools and jobs. Their cases demonstrate plenty of opportunity for advancement and financial support. One of the men even maxed out his federal student loan account with a $5,000 withdrawal before seeking to depart Minneapolis for Syria. Unnamed local mosques figure prominently in the cases. Islam is, of course, a common denominator. The 10 men are all Muslims seeking to join the jihad waged by ISIL. Hillary Clinton actually had a useful observation buried in her Minneapolis speech this past fall on the subject of terrorism. She quoted Deqa Hussen, the mother of one of the 10 Somali men charged with supporting ISIS. Addressing other parents, Hussen said: We have to stop the denial. We have to talk to our kids and work with the FBI. Clinton herself added: Thats a message we need to hear from leaders within Muslim-American communities across our country. Which raises a question or two: Why dont we hear that message more often from leaders within the Somali community? For that matter, why dont we hear more expressions of gratitude from within the Somali community for their rescue from Third World disorder by the U.S. or for opportunities afforded to them in Minnesota? Kyle Loven is the Minneapolis FBIs chief division counsel and media coordinator. Speaking about Somali-related law enforcement issues to the National Security Society in Richfield in October, he conceded that the community gave rise to special challenges for law enforcement. We walk a tightrope with this community, Loven observed. Every time we have to indict somebody, you should see the remarks we get. Every time we have to make an arrest, it is a setback [in our relations with the Somali community]. Luger is nominally responsible for a pilot program to prevent radicalization of Somali-Minnesotans. The program goes under the name Building Community Resilience, a classic euphemism of the Obama era. The program is to funnel as much as $1 million to support Minnesotas Somali community. The memorandum of understanding between Luger and Minnesota Somali leaders reflects the wariness of Somali-Minnesotans. It stipulates that the program will not be used for surveillance purposes by any law enforcement agency or by any person working for or on behalf of any law enforcement agency. You can see why the authorities might want to shut down discussion of reasonable concerns raised by Minnesotas Somali community. They really would prefer not to talk about them. They would prefer to sweep them under a well-worn rug. NOTE: This post is adapted from my December Star Tribune column Islam and Minnesota: Can we hear some straight talk for a change? I hope that was a rhetorical question. The answer is obviously no. Here at Power Line, we have argued strenuously that President Obamas orders suspending enforcement of various immigration laws are unconstitutional because they violate the Take Care Clause. Law professor and former appellate judge Michael McConnell makes that point powerfully, reviewing the long struggle in Great Britain over royal prerogatives, the context of the founders inclusion pf the Take Care Clause in the Constitution, and its subsequent legal history in the U.S. The case seems to me to be not just persuasive, but overwhelming: One of the most closely watched cases before the Supreme Court this term is United States v. Texas, the immigration case that is scheduled to be argued on April 18. The Supreme Court surprised most observers when it asked the parties in that case to address a question they did not raise in their briefs: whether President Obamas Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) order violates the Take Care Clause of Article II of the Constitution. The Take Care Clause, found in Article II of the Constitution, the Executive Power Article, is comprised of only nine words: the president shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. But an understanding of those nine words requires an appreciation of their roots in English history. Like many other structural features of the United States Constitution, the Take Care Clause derives from the long struggle between Parliament and the Crown over the extent of prerogative powersthat is, the monarchs asserted powers to create laws or otherwise to act unilaterally. The most important struggles over prerogative during the Restoration period (1660-1688) involved the suspension and dispensing powers: the power to suspend the execution of a law, and the power to grant dispensations or indulgences permitting people or corporations to act in ways that would otherwise be unlawful, notwithstanding (or non obstante) the law. As defined by a leading historian, the power to suspend a law was the power to set aside the operation of a statute for a time. It did not mean, technically, the power to repeal it. The power to dispense with a law meant the power to grant permission to an individual or a corporation to disobey a statute. When the Framers met in Philadelphia in 1787, they too discussed the royal prerogative to suspend laws or grant dispensations. On July 26, the Convention referred the executive power question to the Committee on Detail, which was chaired by Rutledge and dominated intellectually by Wilson, two of the delegates who had expressed concern about executive prerogative on June 1. The draft Constitution at that point vested a single person with power to carry into execution the national laws. The Committee changed this to read: he shall take care that the laws of the United States be duly and faithfully executed. As a result, the execution of the law became a duty rather than power, as indicated by the word shall. This effectively precluded any assertion of a dispensing or suspending power. The Take Care Clauses rejection of the suspending and dispensing powers is so unambiguous that it has been accepted even by the executive branch. Apart from its subject matter, the executive action challenged in this case precisely parallels James IIs use of the dispensing power. The Immigration and Naturalization Act defines persons who entered this country without authorization and do not fall into any of its specific exceptions as being here unlawfully. That includes the beneficiaries of the DAPA order. Among the consequences of unlawful presence are ineligibility for work permits and for many social welfare programs. Moreover, the INA expressly provides that every day a DAPA beneficiary spends in the United States should accrue as time under the individuals unlawful-presence clock. These consequences were set by Congress for the purpose of discouraging illegal immigration. And unlike deportation, which necessarily involves enforcement discretion, these consequences are absoluteunless there is an explicit statutory exception, these consequences apply to every person in this country unlawfully. During a pitching change in tonights Washington Nationals game, I switched over to Megyn Kellys show on Fox News. Kelly was interviewing Al Sharpton at an event he holds every year to which politicians come to kiss his, um, ring. Kelly asked Sharpton why race relations have deteriorated during the Obama administration. Sharpton said its because President Obama has stepped up and done things for black people. Like what, Kelly wanted to know. Sharpton pointed to the fact that the black unemployment rate has fallen during Obamas years. Do whites resent this, Kelly wondered. Sharpton responded that the employment picture has improved for all races, but whites somehow only notice the improvement for blacks, which makes them believe the president is singling out one race for special treatment. What a moron. Next, Kelly asked Sharpton about the emergence of black extremism as exemplified by Black Lives Matter, with its charming rallying cry pigs in a blanket, fry em like bacon. Sharpton noted that for as long as he can remember, there have been two strands in the civil rights movement the non-violent strand associated with Martin Luther King (which Sharpton falsely claims always to have been a part of) and a more radical one. This is true. One recalls Malcolm X, H. Rap Brown, the Black Panthers, and so forth. But heres the big difference: Leading Democratic politicians werent afraid to criticize Malcolm X and his progeny. And they certainly didnt pander to them. At this point, with the pitching change completed, I switched back to the ball game. Thus, I missed the best part of the interview. Kelly raised the issue of Ferguson and, specifically, Sharptons incendiary remarks shortly after Michael Browns death that Officer Darren Wilsons account didnt make sense and that Wilson couldnt have feared for his life. Kelly pointed out that the Obama Department of Justice concluded, to the contrary, that Wilson shot Brown in self-defense and that witnesses who incriminated him werent credible. She then asked Sharpton do you feel bad about having incorrectly represented the situation, thus helping to ruin Wilsons career. You can see what happened next, including Sharptons mic grab, by going here. The short version is that Sharpton doesnt feel bad because he relied on the accounts of several witnesses who appeared on his television show. The fact, pointed out by Kelly, that Sharpton opined on this highly charged matter without having talked to a fuller cross-section of the witnesses bothers him not at all. The fact that the Obama Justice Department found that the statements by the witnesses Sharpton talked to did not hold up doesnt bother him either. Sharpton acknowledged that he never corrected his ugly accusations against Officer Wilson. The best he could do was to point out that, once the Justice Department released its findings, he stopped protesting the Michael Brown shooting. Who knew that there are limits, these days at least, to Sharptons demagoguery? The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, has given additional 150 days for investors in the Nigerian Stock market to get their e-dividends registration. Equally, Capital Market Operators (CMOs) who were unable to meet the September 30, 2015 initial deadline on minimum capital requirement have been given additional 15 months grace till December 31, 2016, to do so. Those disqualified for non-compliance, or inability to substantiate claims of compliance by the audit firms have also been allowed to come back to the market, but on condition that they show sufficient evidence of compliance within the stipulated period. Operators who did not meet the requirement within this period will have their operating license cancelled the Director General of SEC, Mounir Gwarzo, said at the first Quarter Post-Capital Market Committee meeting in Lagos. He said the Commission would bear the full cost of the registration as an incentive to encourage more peoples response. Registration would attract a charge of N100 subsequently. Mr. Gwarzo said the public enlightenment and investor education by the Commission since last year has yielded substantial results, with over 4,000 investors embracing the e-dividend registration policy in the last three months.. The e-dividend management system was launched last year by the Commission in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) to enable investors have direct access to their dividends whenever they were paid. The Commissions concern is to bring back retail investors to the nations capital market. In the next 10 years, we will raise the participation of the retail investors to 45 per cent, from less than two per cent presently, Mr. Gwarzo said. He said this was what informed the Commissions various initiatives like e-Dividend, Direct Cash Settlement, National Investors Protection Fund (NIPF), among others, to attract retail investors to the capital market. The Commission, he pointed out, has pursued various such initiatives in the last year to address the lingering complaints of retail investors who are the owners of the capital market. As a country, the DG said Nigeria has less than two per cent participation of retail investors in the capital market, against nine per cent in Malaysia; South Africa, 19 per cent; USA, 43 per cent, and UK 13 per cent. Due to foreign investors domination, Mr. Gwarzo said each time they move out of the market the market goes down, adding that the Commission was determined to ensure that the level of retail investors involvement was raised to at least 5 per cent in the next five to 10 years. As retail investors face difficulties in accessing the market, Mr. Gwarzo said he believed the Commissions recent initiatives would make the process more productive. With the legislature already supporting the various initiatives, the SEC DG said a presentation has already been made to the Executive Council of the Federation, while exploring prospects of getting the government to buy into the Capital Market Master Plan in the current year. As the daughter of an assassinated Nigerian leader, Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode was used to conspiracy and denial theories but she is determined the abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria two years ago will not be turned from fact to fantasy. It was a Friday morning in February 1976 when Ms. Muhammed-Oyebode was picked up from her boarding school in Lagos by her uncle under the guise of attending a family function. But it was not until two days later that the 12-year-old was told the news that threw the entire country into mourning her father, General Murtala Muhammed, Nigerias young, reformist head of state, had been shot dead in an abortive coup attempt. Each time I tried to talk about my grief in public, people hushed me as if I was making them uncomfortable, Ms. Muhammed-Oyebode said in an interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation as she discussed a book she is working on about the girls missing from Chibok in northeast Nigeria. Ms. Muhammed-Oyebode said she feared the same public unease about the abduction of 276 schoolgirls by the Islamist group Boko Haram in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, on April 14, 2014, was leading to a growing trend to question and even deny the event. The kidnapping of the girls, of whom 57 escaped but 219 remain missing, became politicised with Nigerias government and military facing heavy criticism for their handling of the incident, sparking protests in towns and cities nationwide. President Goodluck Jonathan, who declined to comment on the kidnappings for almost three weeks, was criticised for his slow reaction, and became the first sitting Nigerian president to lose an election, in May 2015, defeated by Muhammadu Buhari. Ms. Muhammed-Oyebode, 52, chief executive of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation that aims to improve the quality of life of Africans, said she now regularly meets Nigerians who doubt that the Chibok abductions actually happened and believe it was merely a political stunt to embarrass the previous government. Last month a Nigerian state governor, Ayodele Fayose, publicly described the kidnapping as a sham and a hoax, driven by politics. Denial and Fear Some of the denial no doubt is out of debilitating fear, said Ms. Muhammed-Oyebode, who is also leader of the Lagos chapter of the Bring Back Our Girls group set up after the abduction to campaign on their families behalf. Our minds are refusing to acknowledge that this happened in our Nigeria because doing so means accepting that it could happen to any of us. She organised a peaceful demonstration in Lagos about two weeks after the kidnapping at Chibok that sparked an international outcry and drive on social media hashtagged #bringbackourgirls joined by celebrities and politicians. Her own personal experiences following the death of her 37-year-old father and then the death 18 years later, in 1994, of her eldest brother Zakari, who was shot dead by a friend in a homicide that remains unresolved fuelled her drive to campaign for the girls. She said the pressure she was put under not to talk about these deaths and to move on inspired her to document the stories of the 219 missing schoolgirls to make sure their lives are not forgotten. Boko Haram is estimated to have abducted over 2,000 girls and boys in recent years, using their victims as cooks, sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers but Chibok remains the most high profile kidnapping by the group. Ms. Muhammed-Oyebode said it was tragic these girls remained largely faceless so has been leading a project since mid-2015 which has involved talking to the parents of the missing girls and taking photos for book to be published later this year. This has involved sending a team of interviewers, a photographer and videographer to Chibok where they have interviewed parents of about 201 of the girls and taken photos of their lives, such as family portraits and personal items. Ms. Muhammed-Oyebode said the aim was to humanise the missing girls, to capture their lives before the abduction and to highlight how their families have struggled to cope afterwards. She was determined the culture of denial that she faced after her father and her brothers deaths did not extend to the abduction of the Chibok girls. Ms. Muhammed-Oyebode said the parents needed support to deal with the disappearance of their daughters and to ensure that their abduction did not disappear from the headlines. I sense that they feel that they have no right to grieve openly, and I sense they probably also feel they do not have a right to demand that we find their children, said Ms. Muhammed-Oyebode, a lawyer and mother of three. We must document their stories and by doing so acknowledge their pain and their right to feel pain. By documenting their stories, I hope we can give the parents and their children a voice. This story was originally published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has distanced itself from a report suggesting authorities of the West African country are investigating the Swiss Ambassdor to Nigeria for allegedly sneaking his gay partner into the country. Eric Mayooraz, the Swiss envoy, was alleged to have brought his same-sex spouse from Switzerland, violating Nigerias strong anti-homosexual laws. Quoting foreign ministry sources, the papers reported that the Swiss embassy attempted to register his partner as member of the Association of Spouses of Heads of Mission (ASOHOM) in Nigeria. But in a statement signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, the federal government said it had no knowledge of such affairs and could not have provided the details reported by the newspapers. The Government has learned with shock and dismay of a defamatory article in a Nigerian newspaper against the Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation to Nigeria, Mr. Onyeama said. I wish to state categorically that the government has no knowledge whatsoever of any of the matters discussed in the article and could therefore not have authorized anyone to speak on its behalf in respect of them. With regard to the defamatory article, the government has ordered an investigation and appropriate measures will be taken for any wrongdoing. It is to be emphasized that Nigeria and Switzerland enjoy very cordial relations, Mr. Onyeama said. A bill for an amendment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal and Bureau Act scaled second reading at the Nigerian Senate, Thursday, just 48 hours after it was first read. In Nigerias lawmaking process, rarely do bills get such accelerated legislative action. The bill, sponsored by Peter Nwaoboshi (PDP-Delta State), passed second reading and was subsequently referred to the committees on Judiciary and Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions. The committees is to report back in two weeks. THE AMENDMENT The bill seeks to amend Section 3 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act to give every public officer appearing before the Bureau fair hearing as provided for under Section 36 (2)(a) of the CFRN 1999 which provides: For an opportunity for the person whose rights and obligations may be affected to make representations to the administering authority before that authority makes the decision affecting that person. The existing law, Mr. Nwaoboshi said in his lead argument, does not provide for the Bureau (CCB)to take written statement from concerned public officers before referring a matter of alleged non-compliance to the Tribunal (the CCT). Mr. Nwaoboshis bill therefore proposes that before a public officer is accused of breaching the Code of Conduct law and referred to the Tribunal, the officer should first be allowed to make a statement in writing. That is the crux of Mr. Sarakis argument against his ongoing corruption trial at the Tribunal. He repeatedly asked that the case against him be dismissed since he was not invited by the CCB to give a written statement. The amendment bill also seeks to stop the CCT from using the Criminal Procedure Act and the Criminal Procedure Code as a procedural template. The bill was supported by several lawmakers who yelled hai when the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, put the question. There was silence when the nay question was put. Senators Dino Melaye, Jibrin Barau, Abu Ibrahim, Abiodun Olujimi, Samuel Anyanwu spoke in favour of the bill. FUELLING PUBLIC SUSPICION The bill, along with another one by Isah Misau (APC-Bauchi State), which seeks the amendment of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, was read for the first time on Tuesday. The bill seeking an amendment of the ACJA 2015 wants the provision of the Act not to apply to a Court Martial and such other Courts or Tribunal not being courts created and listed under Section 6 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended. In essence, if passed the ACJA amendment bill will make the usage of the criminal justice law illegitimate for the Code of Conduct Tribunal. It was also slated for second reading Thursday but was stepped down, and its consideration fixed for a later date. The two bills were introduced at a time the Senate President Saraki is facing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal with prosecutors relying on the two laws for which amendments are now being sought. The senators action has fuelled suspicion that the amendments are being vigorously pushed to help the Senate President stave off conviction. The haste at which the amendments are being rushed such as slating them for second reading within 48 hours has further fueled public suspicion. The two amendments were sponsored by two of Mr. Sarakis staunchest supporters, Messrs. Nwaoboshi and Misau. A Senator of the All Progressives Congress from Kebbi State, Abdullahi Yahaya, raised that point in plenary, saying the timing of the amendments would remain a subject of suspicion, although he did not oppose the action. But Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said the amendment was not meant to favour Mr. Saraki. The amendment is not to affect the current CCT trial in which the Senate President is involved, he said. He maintained that the amendment would in no way benefit Mr. Saraki since his trial started last year before the effective year 2016 of the proposed law. He said the Senate only summoned courage to ensure justice for everyone. Also justifying the amendments, Mrs. Olujimi said, If you dont assist your neighbour when his house is burning, it will extend to yours. The Federal Government on Thursday reassured that it will continue to strive hard to find the 219 missing students of the Government Secondary School Chibok who were abducted on April 14, 2014 by suspected insurgent. Amina Muhammad, the Minister of Environment, said this while speaking at the 2nd year anniversary of the abduction of the girls in Chibok headquarters of Chibok Local Government Area of Borno. Ms. Muhammad led a delegation consisting of two other ministers and two ministers to the event. It is with heavy heart that we visit today. We visit today because it is not for want of efforts that your children,our children have not been found. We had prayed that we will bring good news to you now, but the only news that we are bringing to you is our continuous commitment to bring back those daughters to their families and their communities, she said. Ms. Muhammad said that government would continue to liaise with the military and its allies in the international community towards finding the girls. Other members of the delegation were Minister of State for National Planning Zainab Ahmed, her works, power and housing counterpart, Baba Shehuri, Senator Muhammad Ndume (APC-Borno South) and Senator Binta Garba (APC-Adamawa North). The ministers joined Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno to offer prayers for the safe return of the teenagers . Some parents and relations of the abducted girls called for more effort for the release of the girls to relieve their pains. A leader of the parents, Yakubu Nkeki, in a speech, said the grief and sorrow of their missing daughters were boldly written on their faces. We cannot fathom your definite location and the condition you are in right now. Are you alive or dead? Are you pregnant, put to bed or empty?. Have you eaten the food of your choice or forced to eat something against your will? Have you taken your bath today? How do you take care of yourself during your menstrual flow? He said they were aware that nobody could answer some of the posers except the abductors of their daughters, urging the government to step up efforts at freeing the girls. The Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, said former President Goodluck Jonathan should be blamed for the woes of the Chibok parents. He said the schoolgirls would have been freed few days after the abduction had the former president acted. The president didnt even believe the abduction took place. Perhaps that was why he and his wife never visited Chibok even for once. He asked the people to submit the lists of indigenous contractors of Chibok extraction to the government for consideration for the award of contracts for the building of new schools and hospital in the Chibok town. Senators Ndume and Garba, in their separate remarks, appealed to the parents and families of the girls to be united in prayers. President Buhari is committed to securing the release of these girls but we need to be focused and support the government. It is not time for blames, they said. They said the presence of government delegation of three ministers, senators and other senior officials in Chibok to pray with the people underscored the sensitivity of the presidency to the Chibok issue. The Chairman, Chibok Local Government, Abba Lawan, thanked the Federal Government delegation and the state government. The initiator of #BringBackOurGirls# campaign, Aisha Usman, also attended the commemorative event. The Minister later announced governments donation of a truck of food items, clothing and money to the mothers of the missing girls. (NAN) Nigerias Interior Minister has blamed social media for escalating herdsmen/farmers clashes across the country. Clashes between herdsmen and their host communities (mainly farmers) have caused the deaths of hundreds of people in the past year. The Interior Minister, Abdulrahman Dambazau, said the crises between herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria constitute a threat to the peaceful co-existence of the country. Speaking during an inaugural meeting for stakeholders on the conflict in Abuja, Mr. Dambazau said the effects of the conflicts have been loss of lives, dislocation of people and communities, as well as the destruction of socio-economic activity. He blamed social media for the way the crisis is viewed by Nigerians The rise of the social media has given scope to the non-traditional media outlets which has seen interest groups frame stories surrounding the conflict in ways that tend to undermine the cooperate existence of Nigeria, he said. Mr. Dambazau said the meeting, which hopes to bring together ethnic, religious, geopolitical, civil societies and other concerned parties, will after its inauguration on Thursday serve as a basis for deciding on the membership of subsequent stakeholders meeting on the conflict. Although the problem is currently within the Niger-Benue river basin regions of the country, it has a wider geographical implication affecting the West and even Central Africa. While the ongoing conflict and present meeting is centered on Nigerias internal security, I believe it might be necessary to also consider the larger West and Central Africa region in arriving at an understanding of the Niger-Benue basin as an arena of conflict because of its rich pasture and water resources where pastoralists converge seasonally to graze their cattle. It is duly recognised that the conflict spawns beyond the immediate Niger-Benue river through to even south-eastern and western Nigeria, where similar conflicts; even with violent tendencies, are being recorded regularly, Mr. Dambazau said. He said the stakeholders meeting is aimed at assessing the Pastoralist/sedentary farmers conflict in Nigeria, a plan by the Federal Government to put together the results of various investigations and documentation about herdsmen/farmers clash in Nigeria, in a bid find a lasting solution to the problem. There have been a number of committees and think-thank type investigations into the conflict in the past; and it is the intention of the Ministry of Interior to gather these together and note which have been implemented, highlighting the effects and failures of each, in order to arrive at narrative and doctrinal certainties, Mr. Dambazau stated. He added that deliberate effort will be made to avoid religious or partisan agenda; and previous legislations on the matter will also be assessed for necessary interventions. This will in turn inform the design of a definite policy intervention, which will see multi-level convergent action that will in turn lead to an abatement of the conflict, Mr. Dambazau said. The rift between the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, and President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government took another dimension as the governor wrote a scathing letter to Chinese authorities urging them to halt a $2 billion trade loan to Nigeria. In the letter dated April 12, a copy of which was made available to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday, Mr. Fayose said the Chinese authorities should know that all Nigerians, notwithstanding their political and religious affiliations, are against any applications for new foreign loans. He said servicing current debt burden already gulps over 25 per cent of the countrys annual budget. The Chief of Staff to the governor, Dipo Anisulowo, delivered the letter. which has the reference number EK/GOV/28/10, to the Chinese government through the countrys Ambassador to Nigeria, Gu Xiaojie, in Abuja Thursday. An accompanying statement hinted that Mr. Fayose will personally deliver a copy of the letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of his ongoing official trip to that country. Mr. Fayose accused Mr. Buhari of attempting to obtain the loan under false pretences because some of the projects for which federal government sought the loan were not captured in the 2016 appropriation bill. The letter read in part: I write as one of the major stakeholders in the project Nigeria, and a governor of one of the federating units making up Nigeria, to draw your attention to report that the Federal Government of Nigeria is on the verge of obtaining a $2 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of China. This $2 billion loan is part of the N1.84 trillion the Federal Government of Nigeria has proposed to borrow to finance the 2016 budget, which is yet to be signed by the President, Muhammadu Buhari owing to unending controversies between the Executive and Legislative arms of government. According to reports, Nigeria desires to raise about $5 billion abroad to cover part of its 2016 budget deficit. This is projected to hit N3 trillion ($15 billion) due to heavy infrastructure spending at a time when the slump in global oil prices has slashed the countrys export revenues. While conceding that all nations, especially developing ones need support to be able to grow because no nation is an island, I am constrained to inform you that if the future of Nigeria must be protected, the country does not need any loan at this time. The government of China should be mindful of the fact that Nigerians, irrespective of their political and religious affiliations are totally opposed to increment of the countrys debt burden, which is already being serviced with 25 per cent of the Federal Government annual budget. It will interest the government of China to know that some of the projects for which the loan is being sought are not captured in the controversial 2016 budget, which has been sent to the President by the National Assembly for his assent. For instance, the Lagos Calabar Rail project was not included in the budget proposal the President presented to the National Assembly and it was not included in the Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly. Most importantly, Nigeria is presently servicing debt with about 25 per cent of its annual budget and what will happen to the economy in 2017, when the country will begin to service the additional debt to be incurred this year is better imagined than experienced. The Chinese government must also be aware that some western nations approached by the Federal Government for loan diplomatically and cleverly declined. Therefore, like the foreign aid that is reportedly being mismanaged, whatever loan that is granted to the Federal Government of Nigeria by the Chinese Government may be mismanaged too. Mr. Fayose told the Chinese government that Mr. Buhari had claimed that Nigeria has enough money accrued from the implementation of the Treasury Single Account and increased tax revenues. It is also important for the Government of China to note that the Federal Government of Nigeria claimed to have recovered and still recovering trillions of Naira allegedly looted from the treasury. For instance, over $200 billion is expected to be recovered from Dubai, the United Arab Emirate while N3 trillion was said to have been saved from the Treasury Single Account (TSA). The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has also said that it will generate not less than N4.5 trillion this year. What then is the rationale behind the $2 billion loan from China? But Chris Ngwodo, a foreign policy analyst, said Mr. Fayose is only making a mincemeat of himself on the international stage because he has no legal or strategic standing to write such a letter to either Chinese authorities or any foreign government with diplomatic ties to Nigeria. The loan is part of our economic policy which is also tied to our foreign policy. And you know foreign policy falls completely under the purview of the federal government and President Buhari is current the custodian of that authority, so I dont know what informed Mr. Fayoses letter, Mr. Ngwodo said. Mr. Ngwodo admonished Mr. Fayose to focus on addressing fundamental issues that affect his state residents rather than attempting to usurp the undisputed power of the federal government. Right now, Ekiti State is functionally bankrupt with workers having to endure several months of unpaid salaries, he said. I think it will be in his best interest to focus on that rather than embarrassing himself by attempting to usurp the power of the federal government, which is incontrovertible. The Nigerian Navy has arrested six persons suspected to be engaged in pipeline vandalism and illegal oil refining in Rivers State. In a statement issued Thursday, the navy said the suspects were picked up from a large warehouse at Ogbogoro Uzoba waterside, around Choba in Port Harcourt. The warehouse is suspected to serve as a storage facility for illegally refined products, the naval headquarters said in the statement by Christian Ezekobe, a Commodore and Director of Information. Also discovered in the facility include three wooden boats containing about 20,000 litres of suspected illegally refined AGO, 350 drums, several GP and metal tanks ranging from 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 litres storage capacity as well as seven pumping machines. The arrest came as President Muhammadu Buhari threatened to descend heavily on pipeline vandals in the same manner as Boko Haram terrorists. The navy also said a patrol team from NNS DELTA discovered and destroyed two illegal refineries in Jones creek in Warri South West local Government Area of Delta State. The items destroyed at the site, according to Mr. Ezekobe, include a Cotonou boat laden with about 66,000 litres of suspected stolen crude oil, 4 GP storage tanks measuring 500 litres each. The GP tanks contain 2,000 metric tons of products suspected to be illegally refined AGO, said Mr. Ezekobe. Other items discovered at the site are 50 Jerry cans measuring 50 litres each containing 2.5 MT of products suspected to be illegally refined AGO, pumping machine, large metal tanks and a Cotonou boat. The statement further said a Naval Patrol team deployed from NNS BEECROFT intercepted a gang which specialized in vandalizing and siphoning petroleum products from NNPC pipelines in the Atlas cove area. The gang were arrested by a naval team on routine surveillance patrol of the area who discovered they were loading PMS from the NNPC Single point mooring at Atlas cove. On sighting the naval team, the suspects jumped into the water to evade arrest, said Mr. Ezekobe. In view of this, the patrol team confiscated the equipment they use for the illicit act including a wooden Cotonou boat laden with 245 empty drums measuring 250 litres each, 91 empty Jerry cans measuring 25 litres each, and 21 drums of 250 litres each loaded with stolen Premium Motor Spirit. Justice Kuewumi Babs of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has convicted and sentenced Abdulhakeem Daud to three years imprisonment for credit card fraud. The convict was arraigned before the court on Thursday on a two-count charge bordering on possession and fraudulent use of credit card. He pleaded guilty to the charges and was subsequently convicted and sentenced to three years in prison. One of the charges read: That you Abdulhakeem A. Daud( a.k.a Adewale Adeyemi) between the 23rd of October 2015 and 7th of January, 2016 at Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, used Visa Credit Card no.4147788569112614 issued to one Thomas A Boyer and obtained services worth the sum of Three Million Eight Hundred and Forty Five Thousand Six Hundred and Seventy One Naira, Forty Four kobo (N3,845,671.44) from Radisson Blue Anchorage Hotel of 1A, Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, Lagos and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 33(1) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition Prevention) Act ,2015. Justice Babs sentenced him to two years imprisonment on count one with an option of N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira only) fine. On count two, Daud was sentenced to one year imprisonment with another option of N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira only) fine. The sentences are to run concurrently with hard labour while the fine shall be cumulative. Trouble began for Daud when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, received a petition from Radison Blue Anchorage Hotel, Lagos alleging that the convict made use of its services and paid all his bills with an un-funded credit card. Investigations were conducted and several incriminating documents were discovered in his hotel room. Findings showed that the purported credit card the convict used to pay his bills was actually issued to one Thomas Boyer, an American. No fewer than 13 rape victims have been treated at Funtua General Hospital in Katsina State from January to date, the hospitals Medical Director, Tijjani Bakori, has said. Mr. Bakori told the News Agency of Nigeria in an interview on Thursday in Funtua that most of the cases were severe. He disclosed that some of the victims had to undergo surgery in the hospital. The medical director lamented that three of the rape victims were admitted by the hospital in the last four days. This signifies the magnitude of the problem in Funtua and environs, and it is important for all stakeholders to intensify efforts to address the menace. According to him, all the victims were below the age of 13 and mostly from less privileged families. He noted that there was no presence of International and National Non Governmental Organizations in the area to support the victims, noting that respective families of the victims were left to shoulder the burden. He urged the Katsina State Government and local councils in the area to ensure that the perpetrators were traced and severely punished. A victim was admitted on Monday, and another, aged 12, had undergone surgery in the hospital on Wednesday because of the severe injuries she sustained, Bakori said. The 12-year-old was raped by a security guard while the other victim, aged 13, was allegedly raped by her neighbour, one Dahiru Lawal in Bagari area of Funtua on April 12. While speaking, Jummai Musa, mother of one of the victims said her daughter was sent to buy cooking oil when she was lured and raped by Mr. Lawal. She said that the victim lost a lot of blood and had to receive blood transfusion at the hospital. According to her, the suspect has a wife and three children. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Aminu Sadiq, did not respond to inquiries on the issue, but police sources in Funtua confirmed that some suspects had been arrested in connection to the 13 rape cases. (NAN) The publisher of Sahara Reporters has accused Nigerias Senate President, Bukola Saraki, of cloning his newspaper and stealing his brand identities to create fake versions of his website. Sahara Reporters, a U.S.-based news website, with special focus on Nigeria, said it believed the Nigerian senate president, who is facing charges of false asset declaration, is masterminding the proliferation of imitation of cloned versions of the newspaper aimed at circulating lies to the public while disguising as Sahara Reporters. The publisher, Omoyele Sowore, said his team had so far blocked three fake websites since January 2015. He said the faking websites were blocked from Google, Web4Africa and Twitter. The only one left is a Facebook account, Mr. Sowore said. The outstanding fake account is named Sahara Reporters Rescue. Checks by PREMIUM TIMES showed that it had assumed the branding features of the original Sahara Reporters with insignificant modifications. Mr. Sowore said Sahara Reporter Rescue had succeeded in deceiving about 30 thousand people while circulating contents praising and defending Mr. Saraki. Its bio is an exact copy-and-paste version of the original Sahara Reporters. I know Saraki is directly behind it, Mr. Sowore said, explaining that he was only concerned the public might mistake the page for the original Sahara Reporters. Identity theft is an emerging fraud in the Nigerian cyberspace, mainly used by politicians to clone digital identities of critical media house with the aim of using the clone to pass down propagandist inform, faking endorsement. It is a form of cyber attack that utilizes deception, rather than the brute force of DDoS attacks. PREMIUM TIMES was a victim of similar attacks. The latest is by individuals linked to the current governor of River State, Nyesom Wike. While many other digital businesses treat identity theft with urgency and seriousness, Facebook is notorious for being slow in checking the crime. Facebooks clumsy reporting process and policy make fighting clones and replicas almost impossible for victims. The suspected pirate The suspected pirate is Osinuga Oriola Mcleish, a blogger and member of the Kwara All Progressives Congress. Although Mr. Osinuga denies the crime, investigations by PREMIUM TIMES traced his digital footprints on the downed websites and the fake Sahara Reporters Facebook Page. I dont know anything about it, Mr. Osinuga said before hanging up during an interview. Mr. Sarakis new media team also denied involvement in the crime. Sahara Reporters is not that important for me to waste my time on, Bankole Omishore, a new media aide to the Senate President told PREMIUM TIMES. We no longer monitor Sahara Reporters. Mr. Omishore said Sahara Reporters had been critical of his boss, claiming the newspaper was hired to promote propaganda to sack Mr. Saraki. The publisher of Sahara Reporters denies any personal grievances with the senate president, saying , I only have beef with thieves. Ive been covering Saraki since 2005 with the same tenacity I covered (James) Ibori, he said. I know very well he (Saraki) has stolen a lot of money and should not be Nigerias number three man. The former Secretary, Presidential Committee on Financial Action Task Force, PCFATF, Jalal Arabi, on Thursday told a Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Maitama, Abuja, that Stephen Oronsaye concealed the identity of the Access Bank account he opened in the name of the committee. Mr. Oronsaye, a former Chairman of the PCFATF is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a two-count charge bordering on abuse of office and obtaining by false pretence before Justice Olasumbo Goodluck. The former Head of Service, HoS, is alleged to have used the account to receive N190 million, part of a N240million grant for the committee, received from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and converted same for personal use. Mr. Arabi, who testified as the third prosecution witness, further told the court that the only legitimate account of the committee was domiciled in Zenith Bank. Led in evidence by prosecuting counsel, Offem Uket, he added that the beneficiaries of a total sum of N63 million in the Access Bank account, were not members of the committee neither did they perform any task for the committee or on its behalf. The committee opened an account with Zenith Bank, and there are two signatories, myself as the secretary, and Oronsaye as the chairman, he said. Since 2009 till date, the committee only maintained the Zenith Bank account and we had only three inflows into it. He further told the court that he only got to know about the existence of the Access Bank account in July 2015 when he was summoned by the EFCC to answer questions concerning it. Earlier during the court proceeding, Olubunmi Ojoko, the second prosecution witness, and a staff of Access Bank told the court that Mr. Orosanye issued cheques to various beneficiaries to withdraw from the said Access Bank account. Justice Goodluck has fixed May 19 and 20 2016 for continuation of trial. Four separate documents retrieved from the massive #PanamaPapers database have countered the claim by the founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Temitope Joshua, that he had no link with any offshore company at the British Virgin Island (BVI), a notorious tax haven. PREMIUM TIMES had, as part of its #PanamaPapers coverage, exposed Mr. Joshua, one of Africas most famous televangelists, as having link with Chillion Consultancy Limited, a shell company incorporated in BVI on June 20, 2006. But shortly after the story ran, the pastor posted a statement on his churchs Facebook Page, denying ownership of the company and suggesting the report was fabricated to pull him down. However details in the documents PREMIUM TIMES is now making public point directly at Mr. Joshua and his wife as owners of Chillion Consultancy. The documents include: Certificate of incumbency which shows the company as being in good standing at least until December 13, 2006 Register of members Register of Directors Case Details Shareholders/members of the company. The documents show that while incorporating the company, Mr. Joshua or his agent provided Mossack Fonseca with details of his valid passport at the time with which he was identified in all transactions related to him and the company. Mr. Joshuas passport number at the time was A3369050A, and that was reflected in the Panamanian law firms record. The documents show that the pastor and his wife owned one ordinary share each, although the company, with registration number 1033675, was authorized to issue a maximum 50,000 no par value Shares of a single class. The document also revealed that Chillon Consultancy Limited has no physical address but uses the office address of its registered agent, Mossack Fonseca (Akara Bldg., 24 De Castro Street, Wickhams Cay 1, Road Town, Tortola) as its contact information in the British Virgin Island. The pastor had ignored multiple telephone calls and an email requesting him to comment for the story before it was published. A spokesperson for the church, who answered his telephone, insisted the man of God was not available to answer your call. He advised the reporter to send an email. But even that email is yet to be responded to. Mr. Joshuas name popped up as PREMIUM TIMES dug into the leaked internal data of the Panama-based offshore-provider, Mossack Fonseca, obtained by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with PREMIUM TIMES and over 100 other media partners in 82 countries. The unprecedented year-long investigation involving 11.5 million secret documents which stretched from 1977 to December 2015 exposed the hidden underground of the world economy, a network of banks, law firms and other middlemen that utilize shell companies, sometimes using them to hide illegal wealth. The 2.6 TB files, involving 214,488 entities, also revealed hundreds of details about how former gun-runners, contractors and other members of the spy world use offshore companies for personal and private gain. The investigation unveiled the cloak of secrecy provided by Mossack Fonseca, a law firm that specializes in creating offshore companies, some of which have been used by con men and women to hide Ponzi schemes, predatory lending scams, and other financial frauds from their victims and from the authorities. Many people using offshore companies do so legally and offshore companies indeed have many legal purposes. But shell companies like Mr. Joshuas, experts say, are entities that have no active businesses and usually exist only in names as vehicles for another companys business operations. In essence, they are corporations that exist mainly on paper, have no physical presence, employ no one and produce nothing. They are frequently used to shield the identities of owners and/or to hide money. Because shell companies are at times associated with fraud, their activities are of big concerns to international bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Money laundering, billing schemes, fictitious service schemes, bankruptcy fraud, tax evasion, and market manipulation are some of the fraudulent activities facilitated by shell companies, several past investigations by ICIJ and this newspaper have shown. The Court of Appeal in Sokoto on Thursday upheld the decision of the Kebbi High Court which reinstated the deposed Emir of Gwandu, Mustapha Jokolo. The appellate court also ordered that all his salaries and entitlements for the 10 years that he was not on the throne be paid to him. The incumbent Emir of Gwandu, Muhammad Bashar, had appealed against the judgment of the lower court, which reinstated Jokolo. In a unanimous judgment, the three judges of the court led by Tunde Awotoye, held that the deposition of Mr. Jokolo by the then governor contravened Sections 6 and 7 of the Chiefs Appointment and Deposition Law of the state. It was because the governor neither made an inquiry into the allegation against the emir nor consulted the states Council of Chiefs before arriving at his decision. The former governors action had contradicted Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The deposed emir was not given a fair hearing before he was dethroned and as such the decision was null and void, the court held. The judge ordered the reinstatement of Mr. Jokolo and the payment of his 10 years salaries and entitlements. In his reaction, Counsel to the appellant, Hassan Zakariya, said they were not satisfied with the judgment. Mr. Zakariya said they would study the judgment and advise their client on the next step. But Jokolos Counsel, Ahmadu Zumaru, commended the court, and described the judiciary as the last hope of the common man. (NAN) The Kano State Hisbah Board has arrested 21 girls, mostly teenagers, engaged in alleged immoral activities in the state capital. The Boards Deputy Superintendent In-charge of Operations, Sani Sidi, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Kano on Thursday. According to him, of the 21 suspects arrested, all of them are between the ages of 14 and 20. Our men were on patrol in the afternoon hours at about 12:00p.m. on Wednesday and arrested 13 suspects at Dogon Gida, along Abedie St., while in the evening hours at about 10:00p.m., they arrested another eight suspects around Tishama and Naibawa. Mr. Sidi explained that all the suspects were screened and the first timers were released on bail, while those found to be habitual offenders were referred to the Boards Legal department, for further action. He added that the mandate of the board was to discourage bad deeds and encourage good ones in the society. Mr. Sidi, however, noted that most of the suspects were from broken homes. He advised parents to endeavour to tolerate each other and work for increased stability in marriages, to stem acts of immorality in their children and wards. (NAN) Over 1,000 returnees of the ceded Bakassi Peninsula have alleged that both the Cross River State and federal governments have neglected them since they relocated from Cameroon to the country. On October 9, 2012, Nigeria conceded the disputed Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon in line with the ruling of the International Court of Justice, ICJ. The displaced persons, who are currently camping at the St. Mark Government Primary School, Akwa Ikot-Eyo Edem in Bakassi Local Government Area, have alleged that since they moved into the camp, they have been living like refugees. According to them, the government has refused to listen to their cries for assistance. The complaints were made during a one day visit by the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA, Muhammad Sidi, to the camp. Mr. Sidi was represented by the South-south zonal Director, James Eze. The camp leader, Etim Okon-Ene, explained that over 5,000 returnees were brought into the area in 2013. Between that time and now, he said no fewer than 50 returnees have died as a result of poor welfare and lack of adequate medical services. He alleged that the state government only showed concern when they were brought to camp. The government later failed to fulfil its promise of moving them to a better abode, Mr. Okon-Ene said. This is exactly three years since we moved into this camp. We were told that the place is a temporal camp, while government was making arrangements to build a befitting place for us, Mr. Okon-Ene said. But as I speak, nothing has been heard from the government. We survive here by the grace of the Almighty God. Look at this building, over 100 persons sleep inside a classroom both young and old. There is no electricity and so we sleep inside the class rooms in darkness. There is no ventilation in the classrooms. Feeding here is a problem. If one is lucky to eat once or twice in a day, a good Samaritan might have donated the food. Mr. Okon-Ene said the health centre in the camp has one community health worker but lamented that the centre has no equipment and drugs. He said, Sometimes we resort to taking herbs when we fall sick. Our children cannot go back to school because there is no money to pay their fees. Our pregnant wives cannot go for antenatal because we do not have money. They die during labour. We are multiplying in this camp but the Nigerian government has shown no concern. Mr. Okon-Ene said they have written to the state government on several occasions to no avail, adding that out of 5,000 displaced persons that moved into the camp in 2013, only 3000 are remaining. While the strong ones go out to the bush to eke out a living for themselves, he said, the elderly among them stay at home. Responding, the NEMA boss said the condition of the displaced persons is pathetic. It was pathetic listening to the ordeals of the Bakassi Peninsula returnees after a long period of being displaced, Mr. Sidi said. I am amazed that the returnees have been occupying a primary school building for the past three years. Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, cannot reside perpetually in this kind of environment. Their children have been denied education and it is something the government should look into. Besides, the state government should have put them somewhere and not to occupy a school building for so long. He, however, promised to address the problems of the returnees by presenting a report of their ordeal to the leadership of the agency. According to him, NEMA has been in the business of assisting the displaced persons since they came back to the country. I urge them (returnees) to be steadfast, government will resettle them shortly, he said. Also speaking, the Director General of the Cross River State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, John Inaku, said the first and second batches of the returnees have been relocated to newly built camps. However, he said, the new camps do not have the capacity to accommodate all the affected persons. He attributed governments failure to respond swiftly to the cries of the returnees to the economic downturn in the country. These returnees are our brothers and sisters. We have different tribes in this camp including Igbos, Yorubas, and Ijaws, said Mr. Inaku. They are Nigerians and should be treated well because they have lost everything they had laboured for over the years. However, we have reached out to the Presidential Committee on Flood, National Lottery Trust Fund and NEMA to assist us address the problems of the returnees. A Senior Special Assistant on Media and Public Affairs to Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, Curtis Ugbo, was on Thursday arraigned before an Oredo Magistrate Court for unlawful gun possession. He was also accused of publishing statements capable of breaching public peace. Mr Ugbo, 47, was arraigned on a three-count charge of publishing an article against the governor in a manner likely to cause breach of public peace and illegally possessing a double barrel gun without a valid license. Reading the first of the three counts, police prosecutor S. Iredia said that the governors aide committed the offense on April 12 at No 2b, Ugbor Road in Benin City, Edo State. The charge sheet reads: That you, Curtis Eghosa Ugbo, m, on the 12th April, 2016 at No. 2b, Ugbor Road, Benin City in Oredo Magisterial District did made a publication in internet, with the caption: Whats wrong with my Boss? The ground breaking of Edo State own cement industry in partnership with a private company under Government Public Private Partnership and stakeholders, no State House Members or Speaker and National Assembly Member Presence Notice. Is Edo State now a personal business of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole? Knowing same to be capable of disturbing public peace and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 59 (1) of the Criminal Code, Cap 48, Vol. II, Laws of the defunct Bendel State of Nigeria 1976, as applicable in Edo State. After listening to the accused persons plea of not guilty, the Presiding Magistrate, C. A. Nwoha granted him bail bond in the sum of N100, 000.00 and a surety in like sum, who must own a property with Certificate of Occupancy in the district. The magistrate adjourned the case to April 29 for trial. During a keynote address at the 1st annual Enugu Investment Summit, the Chairman of Heirs Holdings and United Bank for Africa Plc, UBA, Tony Elumelu, presented a compelling case for a sub-regional approach to economic development for Eastern Nigeria. In doing so, he also pledged to invest more steadily in the region. Mr. Elumelu called on governors of the five South East states to harmonise economic policies in order to spur economic development and provide an enabling business environment. The truth is that the public and private sectors must collaborate strategically to orchestrate the regions development. We need the combined effort of regional leaders to create Eastern Industrial hubs; the existing state-by-state fragmentation wont work in todays economic reality, he said. Organized by the Enugu State Government, the 3-day summit, themed Beyond Oil: Fostering Inclusive Economic Growth and Sustainable Development Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi affirmed Mr. Elumelus strategic steer, noting his mission of transforming the state into an economic powerhouse, and a preferred destination for investment. This first edition of the summit is aimed at showcasing Enugus enormous economic potential. The summit will ultimately develop an economic agenda for the five South Eastern states, and promote integration and shared prosperity for South East Nigeria. While urging Eastern governors to offer regional incentives, he also highlighted the responsibility of private sector individuals. For so long, we have condemned our government for their inability to meet our developmental goals. We have shied away from playing our own role in making things work, he said. But wealthy Africans should realise that in the 21st Century, wealth is no longer measured by the amount in your bank accounts. You should invest in industries and infrastructure. Mr. Elumelus eponymous Foundation is currently investing in Enugu state through the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP). In fact, drawing on the success of the programme in which 31 youth from Enugu State are among the 2,000 beneficiaries of the $10,000 seed capital provided through TEEP he made a call to successful people in the eastern region of Nigeria to invest in the youth as a sustainable means of developing the African continent. The summit attracted foreign and local investors including the Consul General of the Embassy of France in Nigeria, Laurent Polonceaux; the Nigerian Director of a French Group known as Proparco, Olivier Follin; the Irish Ambassador to Nigeria, Sean Hoy, as well as director of an Irish organisation, Sustainable Food Systems Ireland. Others were members of a conglomerate made up of Chinese, Singaporeans and Nigerians known as Fit Consult/Yuanda Group, including Wang Yijun of Yuanda Group, Loretta Aniagolu; Wang Xingjun, MJiang Xin, Ronnie Tan all of the Yuanda, Paschal Dozie of MTN, Samuel Onyeishi of Peace Mass Transit, Ugochukwu Chime of ECCIMA, among others. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Thursday said the State Government would sign a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with investors for the construction of the proposed 4th Mainland Bridge before May 29. Mr. Ambode, speaking at the Third Quarterly Town Hall meeting in Ikorodu, said that the bridge would run from Ajah to Ikorodu, to Isawo, and berth at Ojodu, Ikeja, back to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Many investors have shown interest in the actualisation of our dream for the 4th Mainland Bridge, he said. Mr. Ambode said that once the MoU was signed, works would begin on the bridge, which would boost the economy of Lagos-East Senatorial District. He also said that plans were underway to convert the Ikorodu-Imota-Itoikin-Agbowa Road to an eight-lane road under the Build-Own-Transfer (BOT) scheme. He said that though the government did not have fund for the reconstruction of the road, some investors had shown interest in the project. He said the road would be built under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programme. It will be a PPP Project; there will be three lanes on both sides and the remaining two lanes in the middle will be reserved for rail development in the future when the government has funds for the project, he said. On commercial motorcycle riders operating on Mile 12- Ikorodu Expressway, Mr. Ambode ordered the Commissioner of Police and other security agencies to enforce the law in the area. He said that from now on, they would no longer be tolerated, as government would take drastic action to nip the menace in the bud for the safety of lives. As much as Okada is dangerous to our safety and security, we as government must create alternative. I am happy that all our leaders and traditional leaders are here; with what we have provided on the Mile 12 axis, that is the BRT buses, I do not think anybody will want to ride Okada again. It will fizzle out before I take my final action, Ambode said. He also ordered the taskforce to serve evacuation notice to all occupants of shanties at Ajelogo-Akanimodo in Ikorodu , after which demolition should commence in earnest, noting that such places harboured criminals. Mr. Ambode, while reeling out the achievements of his administration in the last three months, said the state had achieved major breakthrough in the area of security. He said that since the launch of the N4.78 billion security equipment, the state had won several battles against crime. Mr. Ambode said the quick response in the rescue of the kidnapped girls in Ikorodu and the quelling of the Mile 12 riot were testimonies of the effectiveness of the security system in the state. The governor said that many criminals had so far been arrested since the launch of the security equipment. I am ready to pay monetary compensation for information on hardened criminals as we proceed to make Lagos crime-free. We are happy to report that crime rate has also reduced in the last three months, he said. Mr. Ambode said his administration had also recorded success in its Light Up Lagos Project as 68 rural communities were recently connected to the national grid. He said that places like Ile-Zik down to Tollgate on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway had been lit up. He disclosed that the Light Blue Rail project was now about 85 per cent complete. On education, the governor said N561 million was paid by the State Government as West African Examination Council (WAEC) fees of 46,000 public school students in the state for this years Senior School Certificate Examination. This government is methodically and strategically pursuing our programmes to put Lagos on the world stage as a megapolis. Please pay your taxes and take ownership of the projects we have initiated and together we will build the Lagos of our dreams. I solicit your support in ensuring the full realisation of our policies and programmes to achieve our goal of a safe and prosperous Lagos, Mr. Ambode said. (NAN)